Announcement
↓ There are some CWs in this chapter ↓
Spoiler
Cannibalism, inference of cannibalism.
This is where shit hits the fan so... Beware!
[collapse]
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--- Sally ---
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I awoke with a groan, finding myself cushioned between a fatty stomach and chubby arms. After a few moments of confusion, I remembered how I’d ended up there and the reason for my misfortune, Orion.
I carefully extracted myself from Aylin’s grubby little hands, making sure that she didn’t wake up as I slipped out, I really didn’t care to get molested for another hour. Last night was miserable, she just continued hugging me until I passed out from exhaustion, my back still hurts from when she squeezed hard enough that a few joints in my back cracked.
How does a little girl have so much-*snort*.
I froze, stopping my movements as Aylin snored, my body half-way out from underneath her hands. She started to move, rolling over from her back to her stomach while I was still on top of her, I nimbly jumped away, narrowly avoiding getting squashed as Aylin flopped onto her front.
I tried not to imagine what’d happen to me if I got caught under all that weight, shuddering at the idea. I looked around the tent I was in, spotting Icarus sleeping a few centimetres away from where one of my feet landed, my claw barely missing his nose.
I carefully stepped away, avoiding the two large human landmines, and noticed that Orion wasn’t in the tent with the rest of us. I slowly made my way out of tent, the first pale rays of dawn visible through the trees, it was still dark enough that I think my night vision was the only reason I was able see the ground at my feet.
And on the floor, wrapped in a blanket and laying in the dirt was Orion, the man staring up into the sky, staring at the rapidly vanishing stars as the sun slowly appeared. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all, deep and dark bags sitting under his eyes as he emotionlessly stared skywards.
“SOO-ME-THING UP?” I joked, my pun not landing as Orion continued staring upwards, not sparing me a glance as he thought.
“Hmm? Oh nothing.” Orion blatantly lied, even for him it sounded cheap, like he wanted me to ask.
So, I obliged and sat next to him, laying my head next to his as I joined him in his stargazing, without the light pollution of earth, there was an amazing array of stars in the sky. But there was strangely no moon, must be that time of the month.
“it’s just… I’m wondering why I got backstabbed” Orion muttered, reminding me of how I found him in that cave, bleeding out with that dagger in his midsection. He hadn’t ever explained his story, why he was in that tunnel, who he was with, anything really.
“WHAT’S YOUR STORY?” I encouraged, making an attempt to get him to talk more.
“I got summoned here.”
“Then the city of the sun sent me to the dungeon.”
“And I got stabbed there.”
I sighed at could be only the most lacklustre explanation of something as dramatic as getting betrayed, stabbed, and pushed off a cliff.
“ANYTHING… STICK OUT?” I asked, probing for something that might’ve caused it.
“I did have a dispute with the leader.”
That does sound like something that’d get you-
“And then we talked and he apologised.”
Nevermind then-
“I said I was going to leave, as I didn’t think the team needed me or suit me.”
Okay, nevermind that nevermind, from what I’ve heard about the city of the sun, they sounded like the kind of people to kill deserters, even if the party he was with was fine with it. Tying up loose ends and such.
“SOUNDS LIKE THE… CITY OF THE SUN” I announced, telling Orion my findings as he slightly frowned.
“Really? But the entrance was sealed, and they couldn’t get in.”
“BY?”
“The city of the sun.”
“But the people we met weren’t evil and the city was nice?” Orion weakly countered, making me snort in amusement.
“WHO SHOWED YOU… THE PEO-PLE… AND CITY?” I wheezed.
“The… city of the sun.”
I let out a little chuckle at his naivety, finding it kind of endearing how he didn’t think that there was a possibility that the city of the sun could be evil.
“WELL… DOESN’T MATTER NOW” I laughed, Orion turning his head to look at me with that blank yet confused look of his.
“Why?”
“HERE NOW, WITH ME… NOT THERE… WITH THEM” I explained, Orion mulling over my words for a second before smiling, the first genuine, open show of emotion I’d seen from him. It was a wide-open smile, dancing on his lips with unrestrained joy as I saw his dazzling teeth and squinting eyes, completely unlike his usual weak shows of emotion. It left me stunned for a moment, it was just so…
“You’re right, I’m here now” Orion decided, breaking me out of my moment of… whatever the hell that was. Probably the bond, definitely the soul bond.
But I… didn’t do anything about it, I just basked in this feeling of… what?
Not being alone?
Happiness?
Comfort?
I… I don’t…
I glanced over at Orion, the man having gone to looking back to staring at the stars, that smile still lingering on his face. Maybe this bond wasn’t so bad, if it meant feeling this-
F#ck, sh!t, is this what it did? Make me want it?
“ORION!”
“Be quiet!” an angry grumble from the tent demanded, Icaro reminding me that I’m loud and I still don’t really have the control to be quiet.
“Talk, later” I told him in my quietest voice, which still wasn’t that quiet, to which he nodded. He looked up to the sky again and I joined him, enjoying the silence while I could.
I had an annoying feeling that today was going to be long and exhausting.
…
It didn’t take long for Icaro and Aylin to get up, which of course had nothing to do with me screaming in the early hours of the morning. Soon the campsite became lively, Icaro busying himself with packing up some scattered pieces of equipment and grabbing the leftovers from last night.
He knelt there and got out an old-fashioned Firestarter kit, taking some kindling and placing it on the half-burned firewood. He got out a flint and piece of metal, striking it again and again, sending sparks flying onto the kindling.
I felt a bit bad for him, so I sauntered up to the cold campfire and spat a onto it, the ashy wood instantly catching alight.
“You… can use magic?” Icaro asked, raising an exasperated eyebrow at me.
His reaction left me annoyed, what could possibly be wrong now?
“You realise what that nature spirits can’t spit fire, no?” He asked again as I casually shrugged, I feel like magic should be common in a world with giant crazy snakes and cannibalistic monsters.
“Can you do anything other than spit fire?” Icaro asked seriously, to which I nodded. I excitedly puffed out my chest, stretching out my wings as I prepared to show off the trick I learnt while falling down that hole in the dungeon.
The familiar misty aura came out of my wings like before, the blue mana gaining substance and doubling the size of my wings. Icaro watched the spectacle in silence, the old man eyeing how my mana slowly rolled off my wings and evaporated into the air with tired eyes.
“Why did I have to live long enough to witness this” Icaro muttered as he sat down onto his stump, rubbing his eyes with his hands in apparent frustration.
“That isn’t from the sun god, nor does the moon god give out spells without rituals. Where, did, you, find, it?” Icaro intoned seriously, leaving me very, very confused. I let my head roll to the side to show off how little I understood of what he was asking.
“Do even understand how magic works?”
I shook my head again, the old man withering in his seat from frustration.
“Magic is meant to be impossible without a god to give it shape, the energy of our heart and souls are meaningless without something to give it purpose beyond its formless shape.
When the gods still cared about us, they gave us prayers and items that could allow mere mortals a taste of the divine power that they wielded. Other things like the great beasts and ancient monsters could do it, but it takes something of immense age and power to make the energy of the world into something usable.
But one day, the gods broke their promises without explanation, leaving us without anyone to answer our prayers or fuel our rituals, robbing us of magic.
However, two gods appeared in the ruined Brekun, the gods of the sun and the moon. They didn’t care much for us either, the sun only answers his most delusional follows who’d die for him. The moon only gives lunatics their magic, allowing them to cause chaos wherever their go.
Yet here you are, doing magic that they’ve never made or given to a living soul.” Icaro narrated, briefly explaining the interesting history of this world. It’s an interesting idea, that magic is something exclusive to the gods.
Ah! Does the make me special again? Am I some sort of godling that can use magic? Please please please let that be the case.
Wait, Orion can summon arrows out of thin air…
F#CK, I was so close to being the chosen one.
It’s the system that probably does it, which is interesting, because it doesn’t work half the time, yet it can do things only gods are supposed to be able to.
“THE SYSTEM!” I shouted at Icaro excitedly, the old man flinching a little at the loud noise.
“You say the… ‘system’ lets you use new and unseen magics?” Icaro sceptically asked, to which I enthusiastically nodded.
“You should be much more careful with strange unexplained things like this ‘system’. The gods are cruel things that enjoy tricking mortals, not even a few months ago, the moon god appeared in the nights sky, their white disk appearing for the first time in gods know how long. They whispered words that could be heard by everyone in the lands, and the reason why I left the town in the first place.
‘Find your fate, Ask for your path under the moon’s grace.’
Suspicious words from them…”
Icaro’s words faded out of focus when he told me the moon god’s words, the sentence sounding extremely familiar, though I couldn’t quite figure out how. They sound important, like it weight to it, kind of like prophecy. Though I wouldn’t trust that freakish moon god with my life.
But I snapped out of my internal world when I realised that Icaro still hadn’t stopped talking.
“-The most important thing in this world is one simple rule that every child, man and women knows, something that defines the history the land.
The gods lie.” Icaro monologued, finally finishing his lecture as I nodded like I listened to everything he was saying.
“Good, now let’s go find out what your friend is up to.” Icaro decided as he stood up, waiting for me to follow him before he started walking off into the bush.
After a short walk we found Orion sitting on the dirt ground with Aylin, the archer was drawing something in the dirt, showing Aylin a surprisingly well-drawn picture of an armoured person riding a horse covered in rags.
“The Nazgûl were hunting little Frodo and his friends, chasing them through the woods, and they had to hide beneath the roots of a tree, holding their breath so their hunters wouldn’t find them.” Orion retold, the story sounding very familiar, was it really fine to tell a kid about Lord of the rings? I feel like it’s at least for ages twelve and up?
“But, before the dark rider left, Frodo-”
“What are you telling her?” Icaro demanded, interrupting the peaceful scene with his grumpy words, both Orion and Aylin turning around in surprise. The little girl immediately ran up to her grandpa, launching herself onto him and latching onto his waist like an enthusiastic sloth climbing a tree.
“HE WAS TELLING ME A STORY!” Aylin screamed, muffling her voice by shoving her face into Icaro’s chest.
“What kind of story?” Icaro investigated, training his eyes on the sitting Orion. I trotted over to him, sitting by Orion as I looked at Icaro.
“A GOOD ONE” I answered, giving Icaro my best you-know-it stare, to which he snorted.
“As much as I would like to criticize your story-telling, we have better things to do. Namely what we are going to be doing about our ‘village’ problems.” Icaro reminded us, the fact that we still had no idea on how to deal with the crazy village and its hungry cannibal.
“But, we can talk about that later, first lets get back to camp and get some chores done” Icaro said, causing Aylin to groan and the mere mention of the accursed word chores.
I let out an animalistic chuckle, running over to Orion and jumping on his head before he got a chance to stand up, claiming my carriage before he started walking off.
But he didn’t complain, accepting it like it was the natural conclusion before standing up and following Icaro back to camp.
The next few hours were spent cleaning up the campsite, getting water from a nearby creek and other menial tasks. Eventually it was noon, and Aylin had disappeared into Icaro’s tent for a nap.
As soon as she did so, Icaro stuck his head into the tent, making sure she was asleep before motioning at us to come towards him.
“Finally, we can discuss this without worrying little Aylin” he sighed, plopping himself onto his log, sounding tired and exhausted. I’d seen how much effort he’d been putting to make sure that Aylin didn’t notice a thing, so that she wouldn’t gut hurt or traumatised about her parents, her village.
“First, let’s talk about the wendigo. Do you know what a wendigo is?” Icaro started off, his demeanour becoming weary and bitter.
“It’s a cruel beast that sometime appears, mostly in times of famine to prey on starving villagers. It takes the shape of some sort of misshapen beast, like a twisted caricature.” Icaro described, sounding exactly like the thing we’d since a couple nights ago.
“It did sound strange” Orion mentioned, Icaro frowning for a moment before nodding at his statement.
“They’re weak to blades, swords and arrows are how we usually deal with them.”
“They appear often?” Orion questioned, Icaro just shook and nodded his head in a vague, ‘kind of’.
“Every few years or so, they emerge from the forests from starving travellers when the wendigo fever hits them. Then we have to *sigh* y’know, when they show up to town.” Icaro tentatively explained.
“DOES… FIRE, MAGIC?” I asked Icaro, wondering if any of my tricks would work on it.
“I wouldn’t know, I’ve barely ever seen it used, let alone knowing whether it’d work against a mundane monster like a wendigo.” Icaro mused, leaving me enthusiastic about the possibility of fighting the wendigo even with my small body.
“But I do have some plants and herbs that’s poisonous to wendigos. Cypress, for mourning and to ease restless souls and yew, for the end of life and continuation of the cycle. The symbols of death that it hates”
“They hate death?” Orion noticed, it is strange that something so sickly and morbid looking would avoid it, it looks like it’d revel in it.
“Yes, it is something that clings to life desperately, a perverse version of it. It’s someone- no, something that’d eat its fellow man for another day on this earth. Death is what it despises most, and life is what craves above all else, what it eats, devours. The scent of living things is what brings wendigos and other beasts like it to towns like ours.” Icaro explained, before he frowned.
“But, it should have never gotten this bad, that it’s entering the village without resistance, and my people are giving each other up as sacrifices to stave it off. There are-, were hunters plenty capable of killing something like a wendigo.” Icaro mused, leaving me a bit surprised, who’d thought that regular hunters in a random little village expected to be able to kill a monster like that. I can’t tell if the hunters were just that strong, or if the Wendigo is a lot weaker that we thought.
“But my tools alone should be enough to ward it off, but the support of an archer would be… appreciated.” Icaro asked as politely as it looked like he could. Orion just gave the old man a slight nod and the plan was made.
Tomorrow we would confront the beast and kill it, saving the village and leaving Icaro to deal with all of the aftermath.
Orion and I of course had some other things to do, many important… things.
Like breaking this bond and finding some civilisation, with its luxuries.
…
…
Much later, with Aylin tucked in for bed and hidden away at camp, we snuck towards the village, the sun beginning to set, its light quickly becoming stained red with the coming of dusk.
The plan that Icaro described was simple, he begins his ritual, that involved no magic other than some plants and a censer. Which he would use to spread the smoke of burning cypress and yew bark, and according to Icaro, it would be forced to flee from the foul smell.
And while he did this, Orion would be covering him with his bow, making sure that it didn’t try to rush him while he spread the smoke.
And as for me, I’ll be relaxing by Orion, doing nothing but watch the show go down. While the idea of getting very little XP from this is annoying, being an infant is dangerous and I don’t want to get accidentally squashed.
With the plan in mind, Orion climbed up onto the roof of a little cottage by the edge of the village. It was also right next to the main road going through the village, giving him a good vantage point for anything going down.
And when he got up onto the prickly thatch roof, I jumped off of him, sitting next to him as we spied on the empty streets. The whole place seemed even more abandoned than before, with a cold gale blowing though the empty roads and doors creaking in harmony with the wind.
The quiet gave off a scary feeling, full of tension, like a wintery forest at night, or a western town at noon.
“COME ON OUT MONSTER, FACE ME!” Icaro screamed, his face contorted with rage as he held the burning censer from a chain, smoke pouring out its holes as the medicine man sauntered into town. He acted with an arrogant sort of rage, a ‘how dare you’ and ‘I’m going to squash you like a bug’ sort of attitude. It was obvious that he had no doubt in his mind that the wendigo was going to be dealt with easily.
Icaro swung it back and forth, slowly spreading the smoke between the buildings and creating a thick smog on ground at his feet.
“AREN’T YOU HUNGRY?” Icaro taunted again, leaving a trail of smoke as he moved further into the town, the shadows growing thicker as they layered the town in murky darkness. But with his second shout, there was a stir deeper in the village and the elder stumbled out of his home, hobbling with a cane and looking frailer than ever.
It like watching an old and frail hound hobble around its house one last time, pitiful.
“AH! Ah, I-Icaro, you’ve r-returned!” the elder stuttered nervously, hurrying out of his dilapidated home and towards Icaro, much faster than his frail body should let him.
“H-how was your-”
“Quiet, where is it” Icaro demanded, hissing at the elder as the old man quickly changed direction and stumbled backwards under the medicine man’s sudden aggression.
“Where i-is what, I-Icaro? Ah Y-your granddaughter. She has be-e-en missing for a day now… maybe you should-”
“WHY ARE YOU HIDING THAT MONSTER?” Icaro screamed, sounding unhinged as he stomped towards the elder, turning the rage of losing most of his family on the old man.
“What. Happened. Here?” Icaro asked the elder through gritted teeth, towering over the hunched man and causing him to shiver in panic.
“N-nothing, i-its just that M-MY grandson, d-d-did something a little bit n-n-naughty.” The elder mumbled, not making much sense as Icaro trembled with rage, the refined and wise old man nowhere to be seen.
“WHAT DOES YOUR MISERABLE GRANDSON HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?” Icaro screamed, the elder taking a step away from Icaro as he waved away the smoke coming out of the censer, obviously bothered by it floating into his face.
“w-well, he was hungry s-s-so…” the elder whispered, barely hearable from my spot on the roof.
“So?” Icaro angrily demanded, seemingly annoyed about this out of place conversation.
“I-I-I n-needed to give him something to eat.” The elder answered, and at the exact same moment he muttered those words, there was a thunderous roar of breaking wood as the house next to the two old men exploded, a mishappen and large body bursting out of it and slamming into Icaro.
“So, I did!” The elder giggled as Icaro was sent flying across the street and into the wall of a building on the other side, falling limply to the ground. The thing that attacked Icaro stood up properly, joints popping loudly as the cloak covered monster properly revealed itself, its black hood falling off to reveal blackened bone and empty sockets.
“Y-you must understand Icaro, I had to feed him. W-W-What sort o-of g-grampa would I b-be if I-I-I didn’t” The elder deliriously explained, his words finally snapping Orion out of his shock at watching Icaro get attacked, the ranger immediately standing up from his laying down position and loading his bow.
“I’M HUUUUNGRY!” the Wendigo cried out, a slimy back tongue rolling out of its skeletal mouth and licking its decayed lips as it began to move closer to the unconscious Icaro.
But before it could move past its first step, Orion unleashed an arrow at it, sending the projectile flying straight towards the monster’s head. But the iron was simply deflected by the bone, ricocheting off into one of the houses and embedding itself in a wooden door.
The Wendigo hissed and crouched, it’s head whipping towards Orion, who was still standing on the roof in full view of the monster.
“Go check on Icaro” Orion casually ordered, leaving me a bit speechless as he ran off, easily jumping to the next roof as he made distance inbetween him and the monster. How is he so goofy some of the time, and then cool action hero the rest?
The Wendigo let out an unearthly howl, a deep and guttural moan that echoed through the streets as it chased after the archer. But then I processed Orion’s words, I had to go down there and do something. I thought the whole point of this plan was that I had to do nothing?
I mean I don’t have to put myself in danger I could just stay-
But my thoughts were interrupted when the elder reached under his shabby robes and pulled out a rather basic knife, obviously it hasn’t done much other than cut vegetables, but it definitely could still kill an unconscious old man.
F#CK, fine. I’ll go save him.
I quickly scampered along the thatched rooves, scurrying towards the house that Icaro got pounded against.
“You’ll make a g-good meal, m-m-medicine man.” The crazy old man chuckled, turning the knife in his hand so that it pointed downwards in preparation to stab Icaro. So, before he could, I reached the roof directly above them and prepared to jump.
But… did I really have to, I mean a baby really shouldn’t have to fight, right?
“Y-you l-l-look tasty” he whispered to himself, the words forcing me to admit that I definitely didn’t have a choice. So, I perched myself on the edge of the roof and jumped, sailing downwards with my claws outstretched directly towards the old man’s face.
[: activated]
[: activated]
And with a viscous smack, I collided with the old man’s face, my claws slicing through the saggy old skin with little resistance. The elder screamed out in pain, shaking me off his face with fast jagged twists of his head, and tearing my talons through him on the way out.
I landed on the floor hard, grunting in pain as I rolled to where Icaro was lying. And it seemed like he was in pain and on the verge of consciousness, twitch and moving a bit, muttering incomprehensible words the whole time.
I glanced at the elder who still seemed to be recovering from his mauled face, clutching at the torn-up flaps of skin as gooey and clumpy blood poured from them. While he regained his senses I got up and jumped onto Icaro, grabbing his rough robes and shaking them violently.
As Icaro’s head got pulled back and forth, his eyes gradually opening and his mumbling beginning to make more sense.
“s-s-stop already, I SAID STOP!” Icaro eventually had to shout, he might’ve been conscious earlier, nut I wanted to… make sure. The medicine man glanced around for a bit as he regained his bearings, and his eyes went wide when he spotted the mauled elder.
Icaro got up from the ground with surprising agility, not warning me as I got thrown aside. Fine, I won’t save you next time then.
“Chief! You Dare!” Icaro angrily accused, realising something that I obviously didn’t.
“W-we had t-to Icaro, I h-had to feed my g-grandson a-and I-I made sure the rest… helped.” The elder pleaded, sounding desperate and sorry. I might’ve believed him too if he didn’t just call Icaro tasty a minute ago.
“Quiet kin-killer, a f#cking cannibal cannot find forgiveness in my heart.” Icaro cursed, that elegant and regal old man I met yesterday was nowhere to be found, only an angry man with a target for his hatred. But at this point I felt really out of the loop, so I used , why not?
[using ]
[Infected wendigo cultist – level 3
A twisted reflection of familial bonds
Wendigo fever is an insidious thing, creeping into your thoughts and taking advantage of your hunger to drive an accursed temptation. When one falls, the rest become tempted, the desperation giving everyone an excuse to follow in their sinful path.
But Wendigo fever is more than just an idea, it a magical disease that spreads through the indulgence in the worst of the worst.
But sometimes it happens easily, sometimes people let it in, why?
Maybe they’re forced, might’ve been manipulated.
Could be that they’re stupid.
But in the end it always ends with meaningless madness.]
Just my F#cking luck, contagious cannibalism.
Announcement
↓ There are some CWs in this chapter ↓
Spoiler
Cannibalism, inference of cannibalism.
This is where shit hits the fan so... Beware!
[collapse]
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--- Sally ---
-------------------------------------------------
I awoke with a groan, finding myself cushioned between a fatty stomach and chubby arms. After a few moments of confusion, I remembered how I’d ended up there and the reason for my misfortune, Orion.
I carefully extracted myself from Aylin’s grubby little hands, making sure that she didn’t wake up as I slipped out, I really didn’t care to get molested for another hour. Last night was miserable, she just continued hugging me until I passed out from exhaustion, my back still hurts from when she squeezed hard enough that a few joints in my back cracked.
How does a little girl have so much-*snort*.
I froze, stopping my movements as Aylin snored, my body half-way out from underneath her hands. She started to move, rolling over from her back to her stomach while I was still on top of her, I nimbly jumped away, narrowly avoiding getting squashed as Aylin flopped onto her front.
I tried not to imagine what’d happen to me if I got caught under all that weight, shuddering at the idea. I looked around the tent I was in, spotting Icarus sleeping a few centimetres away from where one of my feet landed, my claw barely missing his nose.
I carefully stepped away, avoiding the two large human landmines, and noticed that Orion wasn’t in the tent with the rest of us. I slowly made my way out of tent, the first pale rays of dawn visible through the trees, it was still dark enough that I think my night vision was the only reason I was able see the ground at my feet.
And on the floor, wrapped in a blanket and laying in the dirt was Orion, the man staring up into the sky, staring at the rapidly vanishing stars as the sun slowly appeared. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all, deep and dark bags sitting under his eyes as he emotionlessly stared skywards.
“SOO-ME-THING UP?” I joked, my pun not landing as Orion continued staring upwards, not sparing me a glance as he thought.
“Hmm? Oh nothing.” Orion blatantly lied, even for him it sounded cheap, like he wanted me to ask.
So, I obliged and sat next to him, laying my head next to his as I joined him in his stargazing, without the light pollution of earth, there was an amazing array of stars in the sky. But there was strangely no moon, must be that time of the month.
“it’s just… I’m wondering why I got backstabbed” Orion muttered, reminding me of how I found him in that cave, bleeding out with that dagger in his midsection. He hadn’t ever explained his story, why he was in that tunnel, who he was with, anything really.
“WHAT’S YOUR STORY?” I encouraged, making an attempt to get him to talk more.
“I got summoned here.”
“Then the city of the sun sent me to the dungeon.”
“And I got stabbed there.”
I sighed at could be only the most lacklustre explanation of something as dramatic as getting betrayed, stabbed, and pushed off a cliff.
“ANYTHING… STICK OUT?” I asked, probing for something that might’ve caused it.
“I did have a dispute with the leader.”
That does sound like something that’d get you-
“And then we talked and he apologised.”
Nevermind then-
“I said I was going to leave, as I didn’t think the team needed me or suit me.”
Okay, nevermind that nevermind, from what I’ve heard about the city of the sun, they sounded like the kind of people to kill deserters, even if the party he was with was fine with it. Tying up loose ends and such.
“SOUNDS LIKE THE… CITY OF THE SUN” I announced, telling Orion my findings as he slightly frowned.
“Really? But the entrance was sealed, and they couldn’t get in.”
“BY?”
“The city of the sun.”
“But the people we met weren’t evil and the city was nice?” Orion weakly countered, making me snort in amusement.
“WHO SHOWED YOU… THE PEO-PLE… AND CITY?” I wheezed.
“The… city of the sun.”
I let out a little chuckle at his naivety, finding it kind of endearing how he didn’t think that there was a possibility that the city of the sun could be evil.
“WELL… DOESN’T MATTER NOW” I laughed, Orion turning his head to look at me with that blank yet confused look of his.
“Why?”
“HERE NOW, WITH ME… NOT THERE… WITH THEM” I explained, Orion mulling over my words for a second before smiling, the first genuine, open show of emotion I’d seen from him. It was a wide-open smile, dancing on his lips with unrestrained joy as I saw his dazzling teeth and squinting eyes, completely unlike his usual weak shows of emotion. It left me stunned for a moment, it was just so…
“You’re right, I’m here now” Orion decided, breaking me out of my moment of… whatever the hell that was. Probably the bond, definitely the soul bond.
But I… didn’t do anything about it, I just basked in this feeling of… what?
Not being alone?
Happiness?
Comfort?
I… I don’t…
I glanced over at Orion, the man having gone to looking back to staring at the stars, that smile still lingering on his face. Maybe this bond wasn’t so bad, if it meant feeling this-
F#ck, sh!t, is this what it did? Make me want it?
“ORION!”
“Be quiet!” an angry grumble from the tent demanded, Icaro reminding me that I’m loud and I still don’t really have the control to be quiet.
“Talk, later” I told him in my quietest voice, which still wasn’t that quiet, to which he nodded. He looked up to the sky again and I joined him, enjoying the silence while I could.
I had an annoying feeling that today was going to be long and exhausting.
…
It didn’t take long for Icaro and Aylin to get up, which of course had nothing to do with me screaming in the early hours of the morning. Soon the campsite became lively, Icaro busying himself with packing up some scattered pieces of equipment and grabbing the leftovers from last night.
He knelt there and got out an old-fashioned Firestarter kit, taking some kindling and placing it on the half-burned firewood. He got out a flint and piece of metal, striking it again and again, sending sparks flying onto the kindling.
I felt a bit bad for him, so I sauntered up to the cold campfire and spat a onto it, the ashy wood instantly catching alight.
“You… can use magic?” Icaro asked, raising an exasperated eyebrow at me.
His reaction left me annoyed, what could possibly be wrong now?
“You realise what that nature spirits can’t spit fire, no?” He asked again as I casually shrugged, I feel like magic should be common in a world with giant crazy snakes and cannibalistic monsters.
“Can you do anything other than spit fire?” Icaro asked seriously, to which I nodded. I excitedly puffed out my chest, stretching out my wings as I prepared to show off the trick I learnt while falling down that hole in the dungeon.
The familiar misty aura came out of my wings like before, the blue mana gaining substance and doubling the size of my wings. Icaro watched the spectacle in silence, the old man eyeing how my mana slowly rolled off my wings and evaporated into the air with tired eyes.
“Why did I have to live long enough to witness this” Icaro muttered as he sat down onto his stump, rubbing his eyes with his hands in apparent frustration.
“That isn’t from the sun god, nor does the moon god give out spells without rituals. Where, did, you, find, it?” Icaro intoned seriously, leaving me very, very confused. I let my head roll to the side to show off how little I understood of what he was asking.
“Do even understand how magic works?”
I shook my head again, the old man withering in his seat from frustration.
“Magic is meant to be impossible without a god to give it shape, the energy of our heart and souls are meaningless without something to give it purpose beyond its formless shape.
When the gods still cared about us, they gave us prayers and items that could allow mere mortals a taste of the divine power that they wielded. Other things like the great beasts and ancient monsters could do it, but it takes something of immense age and power to make the energy of the world into something usable.
But one day, the gods broke their promises without explanation, leaving us without anyone to answer our prayers or fuel our rituals, robbing us of magic.
However, two gods appeared in the ruined Brekun, the gods of the sun and the moon. They didn’t care much for us either, the sun only answers his most delusional follows who’d die for him. The moon only gives lunatics their magic, allowing them to cause chaos wherever their go.
Yet here you are, doing magic that they’ve never made or given to a living soul.” Icaro narrated, briefly explaining the interesting history of this world. It’s an interesting idea, that magic is something exclusive to the gods.
Ah! Does the make me special again? Am I some sort of godling that can use magic? Please please please let that be the case.
Wait, Orion can summon arrows out of thin air…
F#CK, I was so close to being the chosen one.
It’s the system that probably does it, which is interesting, because it doesn’t work half the time, yet it can do things only gods are supposed to be able to.
“THE SYSTEM!” I shouted at Icaro excitedly, the old man flinching a little at the loud noise.
“You say the… ‘system’ lets you use new and unseen magics?” Icaro sceptically asked, to which I enthusiastically nodded.
“You should be much more careful with strange unexplained things like this ‘system’. The gods are cruel things that enjoy tricking mortals, not even a few months ago, the moon god appeared in the nights sky, their white disk appearing for the first time in gods know how long. They whispered words that could be heard by everyone in the lands, and the reason why I left the town in the first place.
‘Find your fate, Ask for your path under the moon’s grace.’
Suspicious words from them…”
Icaro’s words faded out of focus when he told me the moon god’s words, the sentence sounding extremely familiar, though I couldn’t quite figure out how. They sound important, like it weight to it, kind of like prophecy. Though I wouldn’t trust that freakish moon god with my life.
But I snapped out of my internal world when I realised that Icaro still hadn’t stopped talking.
“-The most important thing in this world is one simple rule that every child, man and women knows, something that defines the history the land.
The gods lie.” Icaro monologued, finally finishing his lecture as I nodded like I listened to everything he was saying.
“Good, now let’s go find out what your friend is up to.” Icaro decided as he stood up, waiting for me to follow him before he started walking off into the bush.
After a short walk we found Orion sitting on the dirt ground with Aylin, the archer was drawing something in the dirt, showing Aylin a surprisingly well-drawn picture of an armoured person riding a horse covered in rags.
“The Nazgûl were hunting little Frodo and his friends, chasing them through the woods, and they had to hide beneath the roots of a tree, holding their breath so their hunters wouldn’t find them.” Orion retold, the story sounding very familiar, was it really fine to tell a kid about Lord of the rings? I feel like it’s at least for ages twelve and up?
“But, before the dark rider left, Frodo-”
“What are you telling her?” Icaro demanded, interrupting the peaceful scene with his grumpy words, both Orion and Aylin turning around in surprise. The little girl immediately ran up to her grandpa, launching herself onto him and latching onto his waist like an enthusiastic sloth climbing a tree.
“HE WAS TELLING ME A STORY!” Aylin screamed, muffling her voice by shoving her face into Icaro’s chest.
“What kind of story?” Icaro investigated, training his eyes on the sitting Orion. I trotted over to him, sitting by Orion as I looked at Icaro.
“A GOOD ONE” I answered, giving Icaro my best you-know-it stare, to which he snorted.
“As much as I would like to criticize your story-telling, we have better things to do. Namely what we are going to be doing about our ‘village’ problems.” Icaro reminded us, the fact that we still had no idea on how to deal with the crazy village and its hungry cannibal.
“But, we can talk about that later, first lets get back to camp and get some chores done” Icaro said, causing Aylin to groan and the mere mention of the accursed word chores.
I let out an animalistic chuckle, running over to Orion and jumping on his head before he got a chance to stand up, claiming my carriage before he started walking off.
But he didn’t complain, accepting it like it was the natural conclusion before standing up and following Icaro back to camp.
The next few hours were spent cleaning up the campsite, getting water from a nearby creek and other menial tasks. Eventually it was noon, and Aylin had disappeared into Icaro’s tent for a nap.
As soon as she did so, Icaro stuck his head into the tent, making sure she was asleep before motioning at us to come towards him.
“Finally, we can discuss this without worrying little Aylin” he sighed, plopping himself onto his log, sounding tired and exhausted. I’d seen how much effort he’d been putting to make sure that Aylin didn’t notice a thing, so that she wouldn’t gut hurt or traumatised about her parents, her village.
“First, let’s talk about the wendigo. Do you know what a wendigo is?” Icaro started off, his demeanour becoming weary and bitter.
“It’s a cruel beast that sometime appears, mostly in times of famine to prey on starving villagers. It takes the shape of some sort of misshapen beast, like a twisted caricature.” Icaro described, sounding exactly like the thing we’d since a couple nights ago.
“It did sound strange” Orion mentioned, Icaro frowning for a moment before nodding at his statement.
“They’re weak to blades, swords and arrows are how we usually deal with them.”
“They appear often?” Orion questioned, Icaro just shook and nodded his head in a vague, ‘kind of’.
“Every few years or so, they emerge from the forests from starving travellers when the wendigo fever hits them. Then we have to *sigh* y’know, when they show up to town.” Icaro tentatively explained.
“DOES… FIRE, MAGIC?” I asked Icaro, wondering if any of my tricks would work on it.
“I wouldn’t know, I’ve barely ever seen it used, let alone knowing whether it’d work against a mundane monster like a wendigo.” Icaro mused, leaving me enthusiastic about the possibility of fighting the wendigo even with my small body.
“But I do have some plants and herbs that’s poisonous to wendigos. Cypress, for mourning and to ease restless souls and yew, for the end of life and continuation of the cycle. The symbols of death that it hates”
“They hate death?” Orion noticed, it is strange that something so sickly and morbid looking would avoid it, it looks like it’d revel in it.
“Yes, it is something that clings to life desperately, a perverse version of it. It’s someone- no, something that’d eat its fellow man for another day on this earth. Death is what it despises most, and life is what craves above all else, what it eats, devours. The scent of living things is what brings wendigos and other beasts like it to towns like ours.” Icaro explained, before he frowned.
“But, it should have never gotten this bad, that it’s entering the village without resistance, and my people are giving each other up as sacrifices to stave it off. There are-, were hunters plenty capable of killing something like a wendigo.” Icaro mused, leaving me a bit surprised, who’d thought that regular hunters in a random little village expected to be able to kill a monster like that. I can’t tell if the hunters were just that strong, or if the Wendigo is a lot weaker that we thought.
“But my tools alone should be enough to ward it off, but the support of an archer would be… appreciated.” Icaro asked as politely as it looked like he could. Orion just gave the old man a slight nod and the plan was made.
Tomorrow we would confront the beast and kill it, saving the village and leaving Icaro to deal with all of the aftermath.
Orion and I of course had some other things to do, many important… things.
Like breaking this bond and finding some civilisation, with its luxuries.
…
…
Much later, with Aylin tucked in for bed and hidden away at camp, we snuck towards the village, the sun beginning to set, its light quickly becoming stained red with the coming of dusk.
The plan that Icaro described was simple, he begins his ritual, that involved no magic other than some plants and a censer. Which he would use to spread the smoke of burning cypress and yew bark, and according to Icaro, it would be forced to flee from the foul smell.
And while he did this, Orion would be covering him with his bow, making sure that it didn’t try to rush him while he spread the smoke.
And as for me, I’ll be relaxing by Orion, doing nothing but watch the show go down. While the idea of getting very little XP from this is annoying, being an infant is dangerous and I don’t want to get accidentally squashed.
With the plan in mind, Orion climbed up onto the roof of a little cottage by the edge of the village. It was also right next to the main road going through the village, giving him a good vantage point for anything going down.
And when he got up onto the prickly thatch roof, I jumped off of him, sitting next to him as we spied on the empty streets. The whole place seemed even more abandoned than before, with a cold gale blowing though the empty roads and doors creaking in harmony with the wind.
The quiet gave off a scary feeling, full of tension, like a wintery forest at night, or a western town at noon.
“COME ON OUT MONSTER, FACE ME!” Icaro screamed, his face contorted with rage as he held the burning censer from a chain, smoke pouring out its holes as the medicine man sauntered into town. He acted with an arrogant sort of rage, a ‘how dare you’ and ‘I’m going to squash you like a bug’ sort of attitude. It was obvious that he had no doubt in his mind that the wendigo was going to be dealt with easily.
Icaro swung it back and forth, slowly spreading the smoke between the buildings and creating a thick smog on ground at his feet.
“AREN’T YOU HUNGRY?” Icaro taunted again, leaving a trail of smoke as he moved further into the town, the shadows growing thicker as they layered the town in murky darkness. But with his second shout, there was a stir deeper in the village and the elder stumbled out of his home, hobbling with a cane and looking frailer than ever.
It like watching an old and frail hound hobble around its house one last time, pitiful.
“AH! Ah, I-Icaro, you’ve r-returned!” the elder stuttered nervously, hurrying out of his dilapidated home and towards Icaro, much faster than his frail body should let him.
“H-how was your-”
“Quiet, where is it” Icaro demanded, hissing at the elder as the old man quickly changed direction and stumbled backwards under the medicine man’s sudden aggression.
“Where i-is what, I-Icaro? Ah Y-your granddaughter. She has be-e-en missing for a day now… maybe you should-”
“WHY ARE YOU HIDING THAT MONSTER?” Icaro screamed, sounding unhinged as he stomped towards the elder, turning the rage of losing most of his family on the old man.
“What. Happened. Here?” Icaro asked the elder through gritted teeth, towering over the hunched man and causing him to shiver in panic.
“N-nothing, i-its just that M-MY grandson, d-d-did something a little bit n-n-naughty.” The elder mumbled, not making much sense as Icaro trembled with rage, the refined and wise old man nowhere to be seen.
“WHAT DOES YOUR MISERABLE GRANDSON HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?” Icaro screamed, the elder taking a step away from Icaro as he waved away the smoke coming out of the censer, obviously bothered by it floating into his face.
“w-well, he was hungry s-s-so…” the elder whispered, barely hearable from my spot on the roof.
“So?” Icaro angrily demanded, seemingly annoyed about this out of place conversation.
“I-I-I n-needed to give him something to eat.” The elder answered, and at the exact same moment he muttered those words, there was a thunderous roar of breaking wood as the house next to the two old men exploded, a mishappen and large body bursting out of it and slamming into Icaro.
“So, I did!” The elder giggled as Icaro was sent flying across the street and into the wall of a building on the other side, falling limply to the ground. The thing that attacked Icaro stood up properly, joints popping loudly as the cloak covered monster properly revealed itself, its black hood falling off to reveal blackened bone and empty sockets.
“Y-you must understand Icaro, I had to feed him. W-W-What sort o-of g-grampa would I b-be if I-I-I didn’t” The elder deliriously explained, his words finally snapping Orion out of his shock at watching Icaro get attacked, the ranger immediately standing up from his laying down position and loading his bow.
“I’M HUUUUNGRY!” the Wendigo cried out, a slimy back tongue rolling out of its skeletal mouth and licking its decayed lips as it began to move closer to the unconscious Icaro.
But before it could move past its first step, Orion unleashed an arrow at it, sending the projectile flying straight towards the monster’s head. But the iron was simply deflected by the bone, ricocheting off into one of the houses and embedding itself in a wooden door.
The Wendigo hissed and crouched, it’s head whipping towards Orion, who was still standing on the roof in full view of the monster.
“Go check on Icaro” Orion casually ordered, leaving me a bit speechless as he ran off, easily jumping to the next roof as he made distance inbetween him and the monster. How is he so goofy some of the time, and then cool action hero the rest?
The Wendigo let out an unearthly howl, a deep and guttural moan that echoed through the streets as it chased after the archer. But then I processed Orion’s words, I had to go down there and do something. I thought the whole point of this plan was that I had to do nothing?
I mean I don’t have to put myself in danger I could just stay-
But my thoughts were interrupted when the elder reached under his shabby robes and pulled out a rather basic knife, obviously it hasn’t done much other than cut vegetables, but it definitely could still kill an unconscious old man.
F#CK, fine. I’ll go save him.
I quickly scampered along the thatched rooves, scurrying towards the house that Icaro got pounded against.
“You’ll make a g-good meal, m-m-medicine man.” The crazy old man chuckled, turning the knife in his hand so that it pointed downwards in preparation to stab Icaro. So, before he could, I reached the roof directly above them and prepared to jump.
But… did I really have to, I mean a baby really shouldn’t have to fight, right?
“Y-you l-l-look tasty” he whispered to himself, the words forcing me to admit that I definitely didn’t have a choice. So, I perched myself on the edge of the roof and jumped, sailing downwards with my claws outstretched directly towards the old man’s face.
[: activated]
[: activated]
And with a viscous smack, I collided with the old man’s face, my claws slicing through the saggy old skin with little resistance. The elder screamed out in pain, shaking me off his face with fast jagged twists of his head, and tearing my talons through him on the way out.
I landed on the floor hard, grunting in pain as I rolled to where Icaro was lying. And it seemed like he was in pain and on the verge of consciousness, twitch and moving a bit, muttering incomprehensible words the whole time.
I glanced at the elder who still seemed to be recovering from his mauled face, clutching at the torn-up flaps of skin as gooey and clumpy blood poured from them. While he regained his senses I got up and jumped onto Icaro, grabbing his rough robes and shaking them violently.
As Icaro’s head got pulled back and forth, his eyes gradually opening and his mumbling beginning to make more sense.
“s-s-stop already, I SAID STOP!” Icaro eventually had to shout, he might’ve been conscious earlier, nut I wanted to… make sure. The medicine man glanced around for a bit as he regained his bearings, and his eyes went wide when he spotted the mauled elder.
Icaro got up from the ground with surprising agility, not warning me as I got thrown aside. Fine, I won’t save you next time then.
“Chief! You Dare!” Icaro angrily accused, realising something that I obviously didn’t.
“W-we had t-to Icaro, I h-had to feed my g-grandson a-and I-I made sure the rest… helped.” The elder pleaded, sounding desperate and sorry. I might’ve believed him too if he didn’t just call Icaro tasty a minute ago.
“Quiet kin-killer, a f#cking cannibal cannot find forgiveness in my heart.” Icaro cursed, that elegant and regal old man I met yesterday was nowhere to be found, only an angry man with a target for his hatred. But at this point I felt really out of the loop, so I used , why not?
[using ]
[Infected wendigo cultist – level 3
A twisted reflection of familial bonds
Wendigo fever is an insidious thing, creeping into your thoughts and taking advantage of your hunger to drive an accursed temptation. When one falls, the rest become tempted, the desperation giving everyone an excuse to follow in their sinful path.
But Wendigo fever is more than just an idea, it a magical disease that spreads through the indulgence in the worst of the worst.
But sometimes it happens easily, sometimes people let it in, why?
Maybe they’re forced, might’ve been manipulated.
Could be that they’re stupid.
But in the end it always ends with meaningless madness.]
Just my F#cking luck, contagious cannibalism.
