User blog:Redknight910/WWYD Ryu Zacharychi

I stand strong and give my men their orders. We came to fight a dragon, and that's what we'll do. The storm goes from soft to pelting rain and vicious winds. I run at the ryu, sword in hand, dodging claw and tail. My men stand back, shooting arrows which just bounce off of its scales.

As I reach the beast it takes to the sky, out of reach of my blade. I see its tail sweep away my men, each of them being knocked down the cliff. It moves to strike me again, and I roll beneath its clawed talon, thrusting my sword into its arm. It releases a deafening howl of pain, dropping lower, before the rain further intensifies, hitting like stones.

I do not waver, I run into it and stab at its belly. My blow misses as it weaves away, and then I'm trapped, caught in the beasts coil. Its head lowers to look me in the eye, the single golden orb staring straight through me. In a moment it transforms back into its corrupted form, still having me wrapped in its tail.

There is a trail of blood running down its arm, its face contorted in pain. I hate when they do this. When they start to show emotion beyond their own lusts. Eyes too human to ignore, but forms too twisted to stand.

"Why?" It asks, the rain letting up, a miniscule gap in the clouds letting light through. "Why must we fight? There is no need." I growl at it. I won't be swayed from my duty, no matter what torturous methods it has in store for me. The accusation actually makes it flinch, a look that would almost be troubled on a human face.

"I... I could never torture you. Nor anyone." I see a glimmer in her eyes, but just play it off as the rain. "I only want to soothe the burning rage in the hearts of those around me. To give life to the crops of the farmers. Water for those who need it to live. Why must we fight when I want only to help?" I look across the cliff, where my men were thrown about with a single blow like leaves in the wind. It dares to say she wants to help?

"You left me no choice." Looking at it now I can't deny the water running down her face isn't rain. "None of them are wounded, I promise you this. Please, the people in this place need me." I glare at it. They only need it because it's made them dependant on it. They've grown weak and placid on its bounty. I feel a brief tightening of its coils around me, before they relax again.

"You don't know how they lived before, how they suffered... would seeing them suffer so again make you pleased?" The strength of men should come from their own toil and work. Not from some gift. Now she glares at me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"And how can you claim that,  hero ?" I flinch as I realise what she means. "You gained the skills you have now thanks to divine blessing, what right do you have to question them?" Her coils are tightening again, and her calm voice is starting to break. I trained to hone my body into what it is, to make my skills sharp as a razor.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"And they must harvest their crops and sow their seeds!" She shouts. "I have aided them, as you have been aided by your god." But she isn't a god! "And?! Does that mean that simply because I am not of divine birth that my gift should be hoarded?" Her voice lowers back to that calm, almost chiding tone. "I only wish to aid them when they need aid, give them strength when they are weak. Why does the fact I am not a god make me unable to help?"

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I... I can't think of anything. Why must a monster be unable to provide aid to men? Because they are evil? This creature clearly is not evil, so why can't it help those around it? I look to the cliff, and spot my men, laying scattered across the ground beneath us, some regaining their senses and pulling themselves to their knees. I look at her again, and tell her to flee.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">She gives me a confused look, and I cast another glance down to my men. When they see us like this, me wrapped in her coils and at her mercy, they will attack, and this situation will cycle over. She needs to flee, if she truly wishes only to help others. She gives me a soft look, then pecks me on the cheek before flying away. I watch her go, before the sounds of my men calling for me brings me back.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I walk to the edge of the cliff, and tell them I'll throw a rope down to them. I tie the rope off to a stone and help them climb back up. When all of us are back on the cliff we look out to the horizon, where the ryu is flying in a graceful pattern.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"It... let us go?" One of my men asks, clearly confused. It did, and I feign ignorance of why. We walk back to our camp, now quite waterlogged after the rain. We sit and contemplate for a time, until the setting sun spurs us to settle. I take first watch, my men sleeping soundly under the full moon.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">As I sit, I look up, watching the moon instead of my surroundings. A good monster. Could such a thing really exist? Or was I simply falling to temptation? I sit there, spending my watch thinking, contemplating, and then I get distracted by something.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Movement through the trees, even though there's no wind. I ready my blade, looking around for it's source. That's when I see the long, serpentine body winding down from the trees. It lands not far, with such grace that I have no doubt as to what it is. I lower my blade and look across the camp. No one appears to be stirring. I quietly greet her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Hello." She replies, settling down next to me. "I wanted to thank you properly for letting me flee." I chuckle to myself. Letting  her  flee? I think I should be the one thanking her for not killing us.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I couldn't. It's against our nature to kill humans." I look at her curiously. Does she mean the nature of her temple?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"No, our nature as monsters." I refuse to believe that. One monster of many being kind is one thing, but all of them? No, I know more than enough men who have been slaughtered by monsters.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"It is the truth." She says, eyes downcast. "We monsters only kill if we believe there is no other way to keep ourselves or our husbands alive." Husbands?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Yes, our husbands. When we make love with a man, if he is to our liking then we bond to him, imprint our scent on him to keep him from being violated by others. That is how we mark a man as ours. Many of us have different ways of achieving this, seduction, force, some even achieve it through pure kindness. But we all have our methods to secure a husband." And what happens to these husbands?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've heard of men corrupted into incubi, but how does that truly happen? What magic can make men into pseudo-monsters? She blushes at this, and starts playing with the end of her tail.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"W-well, we just, um... we just make love with him." I raise my eyebrow. That's all it takes?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Yes, sort of. As we make love with a man, when we take his spirit energy, some of our own energy is drawn into him. We're not sure what happens but his body somehow turns this into more energy for his own being, and as this happens more and more, he'll get stronger, faster, more enduring. He'll become an incubus through many long nights with his beloved." I look at the ground, processing this.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Through the union of man and monster, the man will grow stronger. The more I learn from this creature, the less certain I am of the scripture we were taught.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I... I would show you. But only if you allowed me to." I give her a sharp look. She's talking about betraying everything I've ever been taught and giving in to the lusts of a monster. But then, she's a kind monster. And so much of what I know is already in question. Her face seems pleading, begging me with her eyes. Why would she want me, when I've hurt her so?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Such a wound is easy to heal." She removes part of her clothing to show where I slashed her. There's barely a mark. "I want you because you listened. You listened when you could have ignored and defied me. You are good, and kind. That is why I want to be with you." I look around, my men still sleeping, not knowing how close I am to committing treason. With a sigh I ask for but one thing in return.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Name it." That my men be allowed to return home, without being harassed by monsters. She nods, smiling warmly at me. "I will ensure they return just as they are now." I nod, and offer my hand to her.

<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">And so I'm whisked away in the night, my men never to know what fate had befallen me, never to know what pleasures I experienced with that dragon. Perhaps one day they will realise, as I have, that the monsters are not our enemy. Perhaps, they will find their way to our shrine, and I will show them myself.