User blog:W074/Getting back into writing

 A Passing 

Prologue 

The arrow flew from my recurve, a slight twist was added to counter the anticipated draft. It flew towards the destination of my target, rather than the target itself. The wind was not of natural origins, but of the fires that strangled the air with the stench of my dead comrades and the enemy monsters. Thermals would hinder my shot had it not been for the adjustment, which needless to say, yielded satisfactory results.

A pike-head arrow was used, for had it been broad-head, the acidity of the blood would’ve dissolved too quickly and might have caught some rib. Monsters can heal open wounds passively due to their store of magic, no matter how grievous the wound. But if there are more than one open wound, it causes too much strain on the mana stores and heavily drains the amount of energy needed to heal it. I always wondered if the old wives tale of monsters howling their actual soul out while slowly dying was true. An ethereal shriek followed by a miasma of darkness confirmed such tales. “GAAOOHH!”

With the last of the enemy defeated I collapsed in the mud soaked with the searing mixture of my comrades and those we were sent to destroy, while still clutching my bow. Bite wounds and deep gashes riddled my body, as my mithril chain and leather did not hold to the Monster Lord’s vanguard elite. Humans cannot heal as a passive skill because the majority of us do not have mana stores. Even mages at this day and age are hard pressed to heal their own wounds because the human body is not adapted to hold magic like a tool, much like using a candle wick made out of paper.

How weak and outmatched we are. What we lack in strength we make up for in numbers and wit. Doomed to be the prey of a superior being, we still fight against the oppression. I still fight. I have fought and killed countless in the name of vengeance, in order to sate my bloodlust – not for the benefit of mankind.

And after all these years of battle, my head lays down on wet, burning earth, my chest rises slower from labored breath, and my eyes close for the last time. I’ve heard death is a serene sensation. A warm blanket that covers your being while a cosmic tune carries itself in your ear. Words escape the description – no, they don’t do it justice. Justice?

Ha. Justice is a word twisted by people in power to justify their unspeakable deeds. There is no justice, no peace. Only time and space. Ever expanding and constant.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As the feeling from my limbs and head numbed, another wives tale was confirmed. A flickering light in the distance of my mind grew brighter and brighter, until I could make out images of my past. And what a sad one it was.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Childhood 

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Mom, that hurts!” She was tugging my hair with a comb in an attempt to free the blackberry thorns from my hair. “Well gee, if you just listened to me and got the berries I asked for instead of going snake hunting we would’ve already been eating blackberry topped hot cakes that are now cold because of my 5-year old tornado! And stop calling me Mom, I’m your friend, not your family.” Lucy hates it when I call her Mom “You know I don’t like it when you don’t call me Miss Silver or Lucy.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">   “Sorry Lucy. I didn’t mean to get the house dirty, I just wanted to show you the snakes in the garden for your work.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I see her soft smile from the mirror. “Alchemy requires extensive thought and research before formulas and conclusions can be made. Even then, the potions and elixirs might not work because of the quality of the materials themselves. It was very thoughtful of you to help me, though.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Her gentle tone cheered me up a bit. “So next time I want to help, I should ask you what you want?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Precisely. My, you catch on quick. You’ve always been a gifted one haven’t you?” When Lucy was happy or proud of me, she had a twinkle in her eye that made me swoon. She plucked the last of the thorns out of my hair.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“I think the tea and berries are done, now. Why don’t you set the table while I get the food ready?” As her fingers combed through my hair, my heart skipped a beat and my face felt hot. “O-okay, see you downstairs.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">   I ran out of her room trying not to make eye contact with her. Sometimes my lower parts would feel tingly and I would have to get away before she saw anything. Plus, sometimes she smirks at me when I looked embarrassed.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I got the plates and utensils then set them on the table with a glass vase and a paper flower I made for her. I didn’t know her birthday, but I thought I could do something nice for her since she always takes care of me. That, and the last time she saw me pluck a tulip from the garden, she was upset because ‘It didn’t have much longer to live’. The flower bulb was luscious red and the stem was slender and verdant green. I tried to make it look like a rose from the herb lore book in the library and used blank colored paper from an arts and crafts book Lucy got from the Far East in a country called Zipangu, but this was the first time I made anything besides cranes.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I make cranes because one of the books said if I make 1000 I can use it to heal someone from any sickness. Since Lucy always takes care of me when I was sick, I thought I could return the favor one day when she would get sick. So far I have made 723. I’ve never seen her sick, but once a month she gets scary and blows stuff up and end up sleeping in the garden where it smells sweetest.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Are you ready for breakfast?” Lucy called from the other room. “Yes, the blackberries smell really good from the table.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Can you get the tea cups from the cupboard? They should be on the top shelf.” I pulled out the tea cups and saucers with matching hydrangea decals and set them next to our plates Lucy came out with the griddlecakes on one hand and the teapot in the other. Her favorite tea was a blend of dried and diced herbs that was tested many times before we both decided it reached its finest state. As she poured the tea, the aromatic fragrance filled the room with a pleasant smell that opened my pores and tickled the back of my mouth. Lucy gave a generous serving of blackberry topping on our griddlecakes.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I cut off a piece and stuffed it into my mouth. “Mmm! Diff if rearry goog! Danks Rushi!” Blackberry juice trailed down my mouth.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“I told you the griddlecakes are cold. Are they really that good? I can’t stand it if my main course isn’t fresh.” I washed down what I had with some tea, careful not to scald my throat.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Whatever you make is always delicious. I don’t care if it’s cold or not. I’ll eat it ‘cause you made it.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Lucy blushed and fidgeted with her breakfast. “Well, if you’re still hungry, I’ve got an idea for lunch. I’ll have to head to the market, so you’ll be on watch.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">For some reason, Lucy always left me in the mansion whenever she ran errands. Must be a scary place, outside of the glade. “Okay. Is there anything I can do while you’re gone?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">She twirls her hair in thought. “Hmm. There’s not much other than your studies and exercise routines to keep up with. Would you mind cleaning the table and washing the dishes?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Sure. What do you plan on making?” She gathers her cloak and pack and replies, “That’s a secret.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">After I cleared the table and set the dishes to dry, I lit some candles made from lavender and beeswax. Lucy said it helps me focus but to stop chewing on them because it makes me gassy. I went upstairs to get Lucy’s reference book on ‘Wartime Inertia’. It talks a lot about having a standing army and the consequences a leader can have on their performance in battle. It even goes on about aftermaths and 2nd and 3rd order effects from political and national amendments, wide-scale upgrading, and how it affects the population of citizens and their willingness to join based on the power of an army.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As usual, Lucy’s room was immaculate, but perplexingly mind boggling. Symbols and beakers pulsating and hundreds of papers neatly organized for quick note-taking or formula-fixing on the walls and ceiling.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">But this time, something seemed out of place. A blue velvet folder was peeking out from behind the titanic bookshelf and gave me a weird feeling I’ve never felt before. The folder was soft and a shiver ran up my spine. I had second thoughts on whether to open it or not, but I had to see what was inside.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Miniature paintings that were very thin depicted people that I’ve never met before were taken from angles. . . almost as if the one taking them was hiding. Some of these people seemed familiar, almost as if I’d met them before. The last one showed a man and woman armed to the teeth, holding a baby with big smiles. The more I looked at the three, the more I felt as if I’d seen it before.

<p class="MsoNormal">''<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Maybe I should put this back and forget about all of this. ''

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As they say, ignorance is bliss. I have no idea whose it really was. And even if it was Lucy’s I don’t think she’s done anything. As I put back the folder from where I found it, a click echoed through the room.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“What-”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Suddenly, the bookcase starts opening outwards and a gust of stench grips my throat and waters my eyes. The room lights up by itself, illuminating glass boxes of armor and skulls.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It shocked me at first to think something like this was in the mansion, but curiosity overwhelmed my fear, I had to see more. On the boxes small inscriptions of names and dates told the reader the bloodlines and mapped out what appeared to be ‘dead ends’.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Nausea swirled in my stomach and decided it was best to leave more for later, Lucy would not be in a good mood if she saw me in here.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Unfortunately, she already did. A cold voice emanates behind me.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“I see you’ve met your family. Rough ones they were, but where’s the fun in a hunt without a challenge?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I whip myself around to see what appeared to be a complete stranger. Lucy’ eyes glowed violet, and the air around her seemed to vibrate with a miasma of bloodlust. I barely registered her statement.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“My. . . what?” She’s never told me about my family, my mother or father, but the question never rose to me as to how she ended up taking me in.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“As you can probably tell, I’m not some simple alchemist living away in isolation. I’m a monster who hunts the most prestigious of warriors, those who crawled from the mud, filthy humans.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Bones and cartilage crack as her frame expands and muscles explode from her back to expose pitch black wings riddled with holes and a scarred tail with a serrated spikes growing out near the tip. Horns curve their way out of her crown. Crow black hair now radiates with dazzling silver. Her dark expression gets worse as it twists into a hungry smile.

<p class="MsoNormal">''<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Succubus. ''

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“I’ve been meaning to cook up a good story about how you came to be in my possession, but I guess it’s a little too late for that.” She steps closer to me, and I instinctively back away from her until I hit the end of the room.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“I hunted your parents the same way I hunted your entire bloodline for seven hundred years. You’ve seen the red X’s on the charts, you’ve no more blood family. Your ancestors were very careful about breeding perfect warriors and keeping them safe away from me. Why, I just finished with your grandfather’s lingering soul today, the old bat left quite a number on my mana system. I don’t even know what he did to me, so I run back to nullify the effects, whatever they may be, and here I find you in my trophy lounge.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Your parents were the most accomplished barbarians of this era, they cut my arm and tail off even while losing a liter of blood. Your mother tore off some of my cheek before I sucked her soul out while your father dislocated my jaw with his knee and tore out my eye before I bled him dry and forced him to watch your mother’s last breaths leave her shriveled body.” Her body quivers at the memory with satanic delight.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Shock and pure terror nearly take my ability to speak, but I manage to try and grasp the situation as she stops not a foot away from me. “So why did you take me in? Why did you raise me if I was the last one?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A guttural giggle pours out of her flaring nostrils.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Haven’t I told you before that the meat is best marinated for several hours in a controlled environment before you tuck into it? I needed you to mature, when your testosterone reached to my liking and your happiness at its peak. Plus, you were a pleasant prize to remind myself of the night I killed your parents and stole you away from their fortress while decapitating your aunt. I even stole a copy of the picture of you and your parents on your crib – oh wait that’s right, mini painting, lord, you cattle are stupid. I was going to watch the disbelief on your face as I would tear into your intestines and leech away at your fading energy. And it was all going so well.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">My mind raced to comprehend the truth splaying my reality into a mess. Body grew hot, bile heaved its way up to my mouth, legs lost power. Mind fizzed to white.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">No. No, no, NO!

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Something seemed to take control of my body as I watched myself from an inside perspective. Everything seemed like a dream, a false reality. Lucy reaches out to lift my chin and force my face to look at hers.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“It might be a little too soon to call you my meal, but I never say no to an appetizer.” A cruel smile reveals razor sharp teeth as she lunges towards my face. I can’t really explain what happened next.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I puncture her throat with my left hand in a deathgrip. Surprisingly, she halts her assault and starts clawing at my arm to pry free. The predatory anticipation morphed into panic. She uses her left to claw at my face with talons, but I catch her forearm and twist it. A sickening mix of squelching muscle and snapping of bone is exposed as the bone marrow jiggles back and forth wildly.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Squeaks of pain leak out of the Succubus’s open airway as my grip digs deeper into her flesh. Her tail and legs flail about on the floor like a pig who just got its head smashed with the back of an axe head.

<p class="MsoNormal">''<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">No monster can keep pumping blood without its pump. Tear the bitch’s black heart out, my boy. ''

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A nostalgic voice emanates in my head as I follow its instructions. I  twist my body and ram Lucy’s head into hollow beneath the floorboards and straddle her torso. Freeing my right hand of the forearm barely hinging on its own sinew, I plunge a bloody fist into her chest. Vibrations ran up my arm as my fingers worked its way around the aortas.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Her tail whipped around and penetrated my right cheek with spines, but I hardly noticed them. Time seemed slow, pain was nonexistent – save for the bitch.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In a twisting jerk I used every bit of my newfound strength to send the heart flying and breaking one of the glass boxes.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Blood sprayed out like a jet, spotting the room with black blood, burning everything it came in contact with. Lucy’s struggles ended and her body glowed white. I turn to leave when two specters stood before me. The one in front was the voice from before. Her body was pale and transparent, but her apparel was the same as that on the miniature painting. The other was covered in scars with wearing a tattered robe and a proud smile.

<p class="MsoNormal">''<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Grandfather and Mother. ''

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">She steps to me with inaudible footfalls and kneels eye-level with a warm, exhausted smile.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Hello, my son. I never got the chance to name you, your father and I had to go out that last night. Then again, you don’t need a name, do you? You’ll always be my flesh and blood no matter what title you bear.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A gentle, misty hand caresses my cheek as my mind comes back out of its third-person massacre mode. Her voice is sweet but raspy, she’s probably using all of her energy to speak.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Lucifina Silver has been preying on man since they huddled around the fire. Her magic and prowess made nearly drove us to the brink of extinction, but you are the final product of meticulous breeding and training. We, the Yaneltz, descended from one of the seven deadly sins – Wrath, while your father’s side became renowned across several continents through the ages as ‘The Nightwalkers’, an unrelenting tide of graceful and deadly warriors and wizards who held an eternal campaign against the growing mass of hell spawns.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Our ancestors met seven hundred years ago, when the Yaneltz beamed in admiration of the fruits of the Nightwalker’s progress. Unfortunately, Silver took note and began to pick us off, damn her black soul.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">All the adrenaline started to fade and I felt fatigue taking its toll on my body, but I was determined to learn more. “How is it a five-year old killed her even with Grandfather dissipating her mana when she’s devoured everyone but me?”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Mother bears a toothy grin with a hint of madness in her eye.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“You panicked in the transformation of the most powerful succubi, and that lowered her guard. Your might and immunity to magic and charm is genetic, passed down from offspring to offspring. I guess she didn’t realize the ‘prize’ she held in her hands was the peak of our lineage as she snatched you away from us. That night when we were devoured she flooded herself with all sorts of magic, not even flinching, let alone bleeding as we lopped her limbs.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Her body starts to fade as well as Grandfather’s. “The souls of the ones she hunted are long gone, consumed by her power over several years of assimilation. I’m actually thankful for her stupidity when she ate your father, but that’s only because of his body being saturated with monster blood from ones he killed since childhood.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">She blushes an icy glow. “Well, his lips were succulent too.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I didn’t need to know that, but I’m too tired to care or look away in embarrassment.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Grandfather guffaws with a hand on his stomach. “Come on, Draeve, you’re going to meet him again very soon, spare the little warrior your sex life.” Is voice his rough on the ears, but his tone is light and kind.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Mother ruffles my head with both her hands and pecks me on the cheek. “I love you, my son. Time to live your own path now, whatever it may be. You have avenged the Yaneltz and the Nightwalkers, and their name carries great lore and legacy to them. Be careful of challengers and bandits seeking to make a title for themselves.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Her body explodes into light and streaks across the sky first. Grandfather walks up to me and squeezes me in a bear hug. “Don’t worry about us, we’ll always be in your heart and blades. At least that’s what the Nightwalker in me says. The Yaneltz says to tell you to kill everything inhuman.”

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">He gently places me down and says something that lingers in my mind for the rest of my life.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Even the gods themselves.” He explodes into light with a wicked smile and streaks after Mother, eager to beat her to the Heavens in a competitive nature.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">After he takes off I collapse into bed, unwashed of Lucifina’s black.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">My world crashed down on me in the span of forty-five minutes. Too exhausted to think of anything else, I fall into a less-than peaceful slumber.

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