M.D.Syl
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Chapter 56 colorless
🕑 Added 2023-02-21 13:55:18 +0000 UTCChapter 56 Scorpion.
Don’t let fear cloud your mind,
but expect the worse from your enemy.
Use your head to make the choice,
but expect the worse possible outcome,
and plan accordingly.
Nuriss, the Maiden of War.
I freeze. What now? With my heart beating loudly in my chest, I look at the woman with the large scorpion mask on her face. No idea… I can jump off… and probably halt my fall somehow? Maybe? But I don’t think I’d be able to get away… this woman is quite strong…
“Going to glare snow at me all day sista? Hand over that mask! I’m waiting!” The woman says impatiently.
I’m covered in goosebumps. I don’t see a way out… with this floating rock she can probably fly faster than me and… “I don’t really have a choice do I?”
“Pfff… do you even need to ask?”
I guess not… trying to buy time… “Sure… I’ll hand it over… can you at least answer a question?” I say, taking off the mask slowly.
She shrugs, and the lion mask floats to her. “If I feel like it.”
“Why do you keep calling me sister?”
“Because you’re my sista.” She hops off the floating rock and sits on the edge of the thick branch with her legs dangling over the edge. I raise my eyebrows when she takes off her own scorpion mask.
Her heart shaped face would have been extremely beautiful if not for her eyes. Her eyes are black, there isn’t any sclera, and there are tiny dark veins spreading out like roots around the corner of her eyes and eyelids.
“How come?” I ask, my voice fragile. Is she my sister from my mother’s side? Did my mother have another child? Or is she another apprentice to the hag? That would make more sense… she voted for her…
She yawns and stretches, masks resting by her side on the tree branch. “How much the old bitch promised you for surviving the night? Two hundred gems?”
She’s another apprentice to the hag… phew… she won’t harm me… I hope… “Three hundred at first, I haggled her up to five hundred.”
She focuses on me, blond eyebrows raised. Her black eyes send a chill down my spine. “Haggled with her?! Why did I never think about that? Pffft I was scared witless back then. You got some big peas sista. Respect! And five hundred? How’d you manage that?”
“I impressed or amused her… not sure which. But the hag was in a good mood and agreed to give me five…”
“The hag?” A big smile forms on her beautiful face. “Pffft I really like you sista. And now I feel bad about taking this…” the lion mask floats back to me. “You can have this piece of junk back, just don’t tell the old bitch that I gave it back on my own ok? In fact, don’t even tell her we’ve met tonight.”
“Ok!” I snatch the mask from the air, my heart beating with excitement.
“Mind telling me your name sista?”
“Mari…” I bite my tongue in a reflex. Venom no! I’m not supposed to give up my name! “Um… I think… I think I’m not supposed to tell you? It’s Inara…”
“Wet snakes! You almost fell for it!” She slaps her hand on her lap.
So this is why she’s really here… “So your real task tonight isn’t to snatch my mask, it’s to make me say my name? That’s the real test isn’t it?”
“Pffft… you think you have the old bitch figured out, don’t you? It’s both. I’m just feeling bad taking five hundred gems from a little girl like you.” She leans back on her hands, arching her back and hanging her head backward. She looks up at the thick leaves and branches above our heads. The long blond braid moves by itself, crawling on the branch surface like an odd snake. I eye it wearily when it hisses.
“Fair enough, thank you.”
“You’re welcome sista.” Still looking upward she stretches a long pale hand, palm open toward the tree branches and night’s sky above.
“You're quite powerful. You're a full mage right? So the hag called someone like you tonight, just to steal the mask and make me say my name?”
“Pretty much… wait, how did you figure she called us tonight especially?” She moves her hand back down and focuses on me, her black gaze sends another chill throughout my body.
I find myself panting, covered in sweat and goosebumps. She feels like a predator. And Unlike the predatory cast of the hag’s calm eyes, there is no patience in Scorpion’s eyes, as if she’s going to pounce on me at any moment. I force myself to take a deep breath and focus. “That fat shark was happy to see you and said you weren’t there in the previous meetings…”
“Snakes! You’re right! pffft… You’re much smarter than I was your age Inara. And you’re not insufferable about it like that snaking spider! I like you.”
“Um… thanks… I really like the way you look…”
“Oh, you think I’m beautiful?” She beams at me. The chill is gone, replaced by a weird sense of warmth in my body. Her black eyes no longer look so menacing.
“Yes! Anyone with eyes would think you’re extremely beautiful… I wish I could look like that… Especially in the height and chest department…” I admit. She’s not as bad as I thought my siblings will be… considering she’s a cannibal…
She chuckles. “When you’re strong enough, I’ll teach you how to shapeshift your body to look like that too. If you pick shapeshifting of course.”
“Shapeshift? These aren’t your natural looks?”
She frowns, and the chill in my spine comes back for a moment and disappears. “Nah, I don’t think a woman can naturally grow like this.” She points at her body. “If it’s possible, then I’m not one of the rare brainless girls that do. This is magic, it’s like wearing makeup. Only that it applies to the rest of your body, and it’s permanent. Not exactly permanent actually, I can change it whenever I want. But I don’t have to apply it to my body every morning. Just don't mess with your face or you'll forget how you originally looked like.”
“Sounds great. Would be really nice to look like that without working on it every day.”
“Oh yeah, it is! But you’ll have to ascend to a rank one mage. I don’t think you have the mana for this type of change yet.”
“How much mana does it need?”
“Something between three hundred to five hundred gems depends on the changes you’re making. But you can do it gradually with three hundred gems each time. It’s how I did that for the first time. You’re pretty beautiful naturally, you won’t need much work.” She grins at me. “I used to look way worse than you do now, and I used to be flat too.”
I’m not flat I’m just… ugh… “Thank you…” Warmth wells up in my body. I can tell it’s coming from her eyes, a weird sense of sympathy.
“After you ascend. I’ll teach you how to do this. We’ll have such a…”
The man with the owl mask floats up to the tree branch, making her stop half sentence. “Hand over that mask.” He demands, pointing at the lion mask in my hands.
“Aahhhha!” The blond woman lets out a frustrated cry. “Snake off Firuk!”
“We’re not supposed to talk to her,” he says. The owl mask still covers his face. His red robes flutter and his silvery hair floats violently around his head in the strong winds.
Scorpion spits at the darkness sprinkled with torchlights below us. “I can do whatever the snake I want! Now snake off!”
“I can only assume you tried getting her name out in a friendly manner. Was your method successful?” Firuk asks stiffly, ignoring the violent winds fluttering in his hair.
Scorpion jumps up to her feet, the thick branch shakes as if she’s way heavier than she looks. “Do you wanna fight?”
“I’d prefer to avoid it, harming civilians is expensive.”
“Snakes… you’re right, the old bitch will leech all of our gems… I’m not in the mood anyway… just go away ok? Inara is really nice, not some snotty brat like Kabit <Spider>. We’re not taking away her prize money!”
So now she’s protecting me from the others?! Wow she’s nice!
The man in the owl mask crosses his hand on his chest. “That is not up to you. Move aside or I’ll go tell mother that you’re interfering with…”
“Pffft, You little momma’s boy! Go tell the old bitch whatever the snake you want!”
“Very well.” He floats down on the winds.
The blond woman sits back down. The branch doesn’t shake this time, as if she’s not as heavy as she was a minute ago. She throws the scorpion mask off the ledge, it disappears into the night below with a glint. “Stupid piece of junk!”
Wasn’t that important? Oh well, not that I’m complaining… “Thank you!”
“Ya welcome sista!” She takes out a piece of trimmed meat, seemingly out of thin air, and starts chewing. “Want some?”
I eye the meat wearily. “Human meat?”
“Elf,” she replies with a grin. "Ever tasted an elf? Their meat is like butter, trust me it's good! I have no idea why the old bitch never cooks elves. Expansive I guess..."
Right… “I’ll pass thank you…”
She raises a thin blond eyebrow. “Why? Don’t like elf meat?”
“I… I don’t eat mortals…”
“At all? Then how do you… oh no, snakes no! You’re trying to live on magical beasts?!” The black eyes seem to swallow me. I’m trembling without any semblance of control, large droplets of sweat run down my body, and my heart is trying to burst out of my chest. Panting in fear I stare back at her, I can’t speak, I can’t think, I can’t even do anything. Then she blinks, and the feeling eases up a little.
I gulp and nod.
She gets up sharply. “Snake this! I’m out of here!”
“Why?” I ask in alarm, the fear is gone now.
She jumps off the ledge disappearing into the night.
Never even got her name… I doubt she’d give it… her mage name at least… Nothing I can do about it… It’s best if I change location… that owl guy knows where I’m at, and I doubt he’ll be as nice as her…
I get up, grab the lion mask, and run up the massive branch. It’s not a steep climb, and the branch is wide enough for two or three people to stand along its width.
I yelp when a pair of hands lift me up by my armpits. I struggle, but before I can do anything, the person who lifts me throws me off the ledge.
I scream falling down. Casting a 1st level spell is impossible, I can barely do it with cantrips. “Latsa ni!” <lift me!> my fall doesn’t slow down, but I know I should land safely, I’ve jumped from the fifth floor testing this.
The hands snatch me out of the air again. I look up this time. A gigantic black bird is carrying me in its talons. Flying away.
“Myrsha ritsa!” <gravity repulse!> The bird’s leg explodes in a hail of gore and black feathers. It caws in pain and drops me. This time I’m ready, I drain the mana directly from my necklace into the patterns. “myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Lu myrsha ni kull lah! Nia wuan nalahi myrsha!”
<Gravity, I command you! Do not pull me onto you! I am free from your reign!>
I keep moving downward from the fall, but I’m no longer falling down, only drifting. “Felul!” <wind!> The breeze carries me at an angle, dodging the bird’s attempt to swipe me again. I aim for the streets. There’s only so much I can do against full mages up in the air, and even the mana in my necklace will run out eventually.
I land on the dark empty street and cancel my spells, I need every bit of mana I can save. I have no idea where I am in the city. It doesn’t matter.
I push the nearest door and enter the stony hallway with the staircases. Breathless I climb up the steep stairs and push the first apartment door. It’s locked. Of course it’s locked… I really need a lockpicking spell… I try the next door and the next.
I gasp when something catches my hand. The world spins, and my back hits something hard. When I come to, I find myself sitting with my back against the wall, my left hand pulsing with overwhelming pain. Looking at my hand, it’s twisted in an unnatural way, definitely broken. My head and back are aching and screaming, and every breath hurts.
I reach for the potion in my belt and the shadows form into the man in the owl mask. He takes the lion mask off my face. “Your name.” He says in an apathetic tone.
“Inara.”
“Your real name.”
“Janara.”
He kicks my shoulder. “Liar. Your name.”
I shift and groan with pain, every movement hurts. “I can’t give you that.”
I scream when his leg hits my tummy with a hard kick.
“Your name.”
“Snake you! Was this really necessary?! I know we’re on the same side! I know you’re working for the hag! Why…” I scream when another kick hits me. I cough violently, spitting out blood. The sharp pain in my chest is alarming, and each cough makes it worse.
“Your name.”
I don’t respond. I crawl into a ball and cover my head with my single functioning hand. He won’t kill me… he won’t! The hag wouldn’t let him kill me! Not after investing so many resources in me! This is just like another slaver who's out to beat me... it'll pass... I just need to wait it out... apathy...
“Your name.”
Go away! Go away so I can take a potion to ease the pain… snake you! You stupid piece of venomous rot!
Another kick. I grit my teeth as hard as I can just so I won’t scream, I won’t give him the satisfaction! “Your name.”
I cough in response, spitting blood on the floor. The pain is excruciating.
I can’t help but to scream when he lifts me by my hair. He forces me to look into his eyes. His orange irises lack a pupil, they take the shape of rhombuses on their tips.
He’s no longer wearing the owl mask. His pale face lacks any color, he’s cleanly shaved or never had any facial hair to begin with. His thin silvery eyebrows and his long silver hair frame his face perfectly. He’d look more girly if not for his strong jaw and masculine face.
“I don’t have time for this! How about I pay you to give me your name?”
“You… cough aaahh, you should’ve led with that…”
“Maybe you’re right, how much is mother paying you for the mask?”
He won’t kill me! I spit blood on his face. “Snake you! I’m not selling you my name!”
A punch to my ribs sends a pulse of extreme pain throughout my body. The world goes black.
*
*tip tap tip tap tip tap*
The monotone sound of water drops is all I have to accompany me in the darkness. I’m not bound, but I can’t see anything. Even the slightest of movements brings an excruciating pain, breathing is a torment, and the cold hard stone beneath me isn’t an accommodating bed.
Where am I? Where did he take me?!
My rapid breath induces more pain in my ribs. A painful cough erupts and I can’t help but spit blood.
“You’re awake. Good.” I don’t even see the man who speaks, only a pair of orange irises floating in darkness. “Your name.”
I sit up and back off from the eyes. My back hits a solid wall that sends another pulse of pain throughout my body. “You… *cough cough* you can hit me as much as you like. I’ll be *cough* I’ll be free in three days… go ahead and torture me. But I’ll remember it…” And when the time comes… I’ll kill you! You absolute piece of shit!
“I see. That’s what you think.” Some of the darkness in the room disperses. It’s still rather dark, but now I can see a window near the ceiling. It’s night outside. The pair of dark orange eyes are gone, and I’m left alone.
I wait for five minutes, to make sure he truly left. Then. Time to get out of here! Hissing in pain I crawl to the wall near the bars leading outside. The bars are clearly rusty iron, but below them is a stony wall. “Myrsha ritsa!” <gravity repulse!> My magic dissipates before even creating a blast.
There’s probably iron inside the bricks… Or the floor...
Giving one last look to the iron door, I carefully sit up and try to enter a meditative state, doing my best to ignore the pain each breath sends throughout my body.
Time crawls alongside me, and soon the morning shed light on the room. Looking around I’m in an empty stony room. There is no furniture, and save for the metallic door and the tiny barred window near the ceiling, there isn’t anything of note.
I curl myself into a painful ball and somehow fall asleep.
*
*BREEEEEEE!!!!* A loud noise in my ears wakes me up. It feels like I’ve barely slept, it’s still barely morning out there. A piece of moldy bread and a wooden cup of water rest on the floor near me. I eat, drink and go back to sleep.
*
*BREEEEEEE!!!!*
A loud noise wakes me up again, and again. Every time I manage to fall asleep, the same insane ringing appears in my ears. I’m dizzy, sore, and tired. I just want it to end. Three days… I only have to last three days…
*
*BREEEEE!*
*BREEEEE!*
*BREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!*
It’s been days, and I’ve lost the track of time. Morning, noon, night, it’s all one big mesh. I can’t sleep, I can’t think, I can’t meditate. I can barely eat and take care of my needs and even that is painful. I keep coughing clotted blood and feel like I’m going to die soon if I won’t get help.
“It’s been four days, no help is coming. Your name.”
I don’t notice the man until he’s already standing in the room. But the cellar gets darker again, and I notice a pair of floating orange rhombuses irises scanning me from the dark cloud.
I ignore him and just lay down. Apathy… he’s lying… the hag wouldn’t let me die…
A kick and another and another. I curl, protecting my head with my healthy hand, waiting for it to be over.
“Your name!”
I’m going to die… I’m going to die… a leg presses against my side, and the pressure on my broken ribs causes me to scream. I hold onto the leg. “Myrsha ritsa!” <Gravity repulse!> Somehow I manage to form this spell even without the mana patterns. The leg explodes in a hail of gore, and the man lets out a painful grunt. The next moment he disappears, and the daylight returns to the cellar. Pain comes out from my hand, I realize I blew off three of my fingers. I rip parts of my dirty dress and bandage my fingers, trying my best to keep my eyes open.
Don't pass out!
*BREEEEEEEEE!!*
Sleep…
*BREEEEEEEEEE!!!! BREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!*
It’ll be over soon… I just have to hold on! Hold on a while longer…
*
It’s been a few more days, nothing matters anymore. I ignore the food offered to me. The pain is no more than background noise. Even the dry excrements on my legs don’t matter anymore. The man shows up again and the room darkens. “Your name.” He seems healthy enough, he doesn’t sound like he’s in pain. I wish he was in more pain… I blew up his snaking leg!
I try to speak, to tell him that I know the hag wouldn’t let me die, but the words don’t form. I can barely make a low sigh.
The darkness disappears, exposing the handsome man who previously wore the owl mask along with the woman with the long blond braid the one who wore the Scorpion mask. “I have a healing potion for you sista, a higher grade one. It'll heal broken bones and all of your internal injuries and inflammations. All you have to do is give us your name and you’re free to go.” She says, dangling a metallic flask above my head.
I shake my head. This is obviously some twisted test set by the hag, the blond woman practically admitted to it or at least hinted at it. They won’t kill me. I just have to hold on…
“It’s give us your name.” She says.
Just my name… with how the hag acted when I guessed her real name… names must have something really powerful about them… I’m not giving you monsters any power over me… and the only way to pass this test is not giving them my name… I’ll wait… there’s a limit to how long they’re going to torture me…
Mother… what kind of mother tortures her child… I’m not sure how she expects me to acknowledge her as my mother like this…
“You’d rather suffer?” The man asks.
“How about this.” The blond woman suggests. “You give me your name and I’ll morph your body however you want tomorrow. Plus the potion.”
Really? Do you really think I’d give up my name for a little beauty and bust?! As much as I’d love to be more beautiful I’m not that shallow…
Snake all of this… I just want to sleep… it should be over soon… I shake my head and close my eyes.
Firuk kicks me again. I curl up. Apathy... it'll be over soon...
“Firuk stop." The blond woman pulls the silver haired man back with his wrist. "How about this? I’ll morph your body. Pay you five thousand gems and give you the potion if you give us your name. I’ll do it before you give me the name. But if you don’t give me the name after I do that for you, I’ll let Firuk here keep torturing you for another week.”
I keep shaking my head.
“Pfff scratch that. Firuk is horrible at torturing people he can only keep beating you up, he’s a very simple man. Do you know why I chose to wear the scorpion mask?” There’s a hiss from her general direction, overlapping with her words. “My mage name is Balusha. In case you’re stuck in learning your Kush <Earth> it means a Scorpion. I’m an expert when it comes to venoms… I’ll inject you with so much pain you’d be begging to die! Your choice. Give us your name, and you get a greater healing potion, free morphing job, and five thousand gems from me personally. Or you stay here with an Akali venom in your veins.”
I shake my head. She wouldn’t…
I gasp when her hands grab me by my armpits. I open my eyes and see Balusha black beady eyes glare at me. Her braid floats near her face, hissing. I notice a sharp pointy needle at the end of the braid. “Last chance,” Firuk says at her side.
She wouldn’t… the hag… the hag wouldn’t let her… I have to pass this test! I can’t give them my name… I have no idea what they can do with it! They're absolute monsters!
I can’t…
I shake my head.
The hissing braid lashes toward me like a pouncing snake. The needle pierces the side of my neck and I feel something entering my bloodstream. Then she drops me on the ground like a sack of potatoes.
*pain*
*PAIN*
*PAIN*
*PAIN*
I lose my vision a few time, but something keeps me awake, and the sheer *PAIN* overwhelms my senses. The stone against my skin. The cloth of the torn dress against my skin. My hair against my scalp, back, and neck. Every contact of my skin with something brings more *PAIN* I can’t even scream, just lay on the ground in *PAIN*.
*~*~*
Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 14 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 4 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating.
Light: Noxi’s Light, Lako’s Blinding Light.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet.
Earth:
Wood:
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.
Spells known:
Gravity: Alino’s weightless bodyb.
Focus capability: 10 patterns
Social status: ?
Wealth: ?
Items:
Magical necklace. Contain a 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keep the pouches’ content fresh.
Fresh rose petals, 5g
Companions:
Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> 9/10
Myrsha <Gravity> 5/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Injuries and scars: Akali venom. Broken ribs. Broken left hand. Right index middle and ring fingers missing. Back, lightning scar.
