'Though heartfelt, an apology without amend is always a half-measure. But where repair cannot be and a half-measure is all that you hold, do not hesitate to give up your empty palm'
Noise faded to the throb of a wayward heart. Heat sloughed off me in piles, steam rising off the wet cave floor around me. Around my feet lay misshapen bodies of ratmen and fiendlings. Their armor was unblooded and glinted under the torchlight, but only where it was not burnt.
I reached behind me, searching for the wound the fiend had given me earlier. A gasp escaped my lips as I felt the edge of my opened flesh just above and to the left of spine-end. Pain returned, sharper than light and faster than thought. Tired legs gave way to the pull of the cavefloor, and I found myself on my knees. I ventured again, my fingers slipping and sliding over my back until they found where my flesh had bloomed its perfect shade of blood red. I traced it, teeth gritted and fist clenched until it receded into dirty, scratched but unharmed skin again at my right shoulder. A clean arc. Atleast the bastards knew their cut. I brought my fingers back into my sight and they gleamed in the dull torchlight with my spent blood. A drop found its way on to my palm, irrigating the grooves and bruises with its inky darkness. My young body ached, crying for rest , clawing for sleep. The trials of the last few days were like chains around my limbs, digging into me with their weight.
I cannot stop now. First, the bleeding. I exhaled and felt the familiar heat gathering in my chest. Warmer and warmer , a pinprick of whiter and whiter fire. Pressure gathered and the pain of suffocation intensified as the ball of heat grew. I poised my bony little fingers at the ridge of my wound again, eyes closed. In my mind's eye, a single point of light twinkled. I imagined it in the distance in front of me, its light pulsing closer and closer until it suddenly poured itself into my eyes. I fought off the my desire to thrash and gritted my teeth as the fire forcefed itself into my mind. The pain in my chest was released and like breath returning, heat exploded into my limbs. It coursed through veins, burning and searing. My skin charred, and erupted. I pushed my fingers into my wound and cried my silent curse as flesh and blood , muscle and bone turned incandescent, immaterial. Like a blaze shooting down a trail of oil, I swiped down across the arc of my opened flesh.
I opened my eyes a moment later and bent over double. Coughs wracked my body and smoke escaped my lips. Even as I pushed myself onto my feet I felt the river of balance realign within me. Heat radiated off me, shimmering the air around me. I gingerly touched my back. Though I could not see for myself, the freshly healed skin would be red-tinged and unblemished. I filled my lungs with air. Though revitalized, I knew I could not suffer such an injury again. I needed to replenish soon, or I would burn out.
Through sixth sense or simple recollection I realized I was not alone. She was watching me with a smirk. She was about as tall as that mage girl from before, and maybe the same age. Her face was made for smirking it would seem, even through the dirt. She leaned forward on her spear, and various trinkets and tools hanging from her belt sparkled in the dim torchlight. Among them was, suspended on a chain, an emerald set in star shaped pendant. It was the object of my quest, the reason I delved deep into this dungeon. She looked like a hunter, dressed in both the spoils and grime of her trade.
Before I could say anything she stated, 'your magic is funny', lips still curled in that smirk. It felt strange and wonderful to hear words again. Spoken by another, no less. From the accent, it clearly wasn't her native language but it was something.
'It's not magic,' I replied instinctively. 'It's...It's something else. It's something I can't explain, not something that...It's like a ..It wouldn't make sense to you...It's just something else alright?'. As I trailed off and my words echoed off the the chamber walls and the armor of the broken and dead fiends around me, I realized how stupid it sounded. I wondered dimly why I was being defensive.
Her mouth formed an 'o' as she mocked deep thought. 'Do thing without explain? Do not sense? I have good word for it. It magic!'. She grinned as she said it. A chill ran down my spine despite the residual heat.
I held back my retort. Instead I brushed it off, saying 'It doesn't matter' and jumped when she indignantly stabbed the edge of her spear into the ground, the emerald mocking me as it swayed.
'Oooooooooooh! But it matter, fire-brother! Your secret not safe even if you not explain! I know you. I know all you! I know your magic , I know your reason!'
Fear came with no preamble, not even the whisper of a knife unsheathing. What does she mean? Does she really know what I am? The cave was suddenly very cold. A thousand questions bloomed in my mind instantly and scattered suddenly like a school of fish. Two facts rose through the murk of deep water, teeth bared. One, the only beings capable of understanding my nature without being told are those that share it. Two, when two beings of such nature collide, only one survives. They were immutable , undeniable. What irony! The first person I meet in weeks is not only the person I was originally looking for, but someone who I would likely have to kill or be killed by.
The room shimmered around my peripheral vision as the light hint of a breeze wrestled with the torchlight. A sharp pressure fell on my mind, her stare boring into my eyes. Her smirk widened. Is this her weapon? Is this her nature? Is the world crystallizing? I wrenched myself away, turning around quickly to locate the cave's entrance. Fight or flight, I'm going to have -mistake! I felt it whistling through the air even as I spun back around to face it. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Even children know not to turn their back on their enemy!What a way to die!
It hit me square on my forehead. It wasn't her spearhead. The sound of stone floor and pendant colliding echoed. She laughed. It had mirth in it, and carried through the cave. I stood dumbfounded.
A moment passed.
She sighed, and shook her head. 'You fight good, boy. I see you another day. I show you my reason.' Before I could say anything, she turned her back on me and began walking deeper into the shadows of the cave.
I called out, 'I never said I'm sorry!'
She kept walking, 'Dont say. I know. I know all you.'
The shadows swallowed her and I was alone in a corpse filled cave. On the floor, the emerald twinkled. I picked it up. I guess it would do.
Noise faded to the throb of a wayward heart. Heat sloughed off me in piles, steam rising off the wet cave floor around me. Around my feet lay misshapen bodies of ratmen and fiendlings. Their armor was unblooded and glinted under the torchlight, but only where it was not burnt.
I reached behind me, searching for the wound the fiend had given me earlier. A gasp escaped my lips as I felt the edge of my opened flesh just above and to the left of spine-end. Pain returned, sharper than light and faster than thought. Tired legs gave way to the pull of the cavefloor, and I found myself on my knees. I ventured again, my fingers slipping and sliding over my back until they found where my flesh had bloomed its perfect shade of blood red. I traced it, teeth gritted and fist clenched until it receded into dirty, scratched but unharmed skin again at my right shoulder. A clean arc. Atleast the bastards knew their cut. I brought my fingers back into my sight and they gleamed in the dull torchlight with my spent blood. A drop found its way on to my palm, irrigating the grooves and bruises with its inky darkness. My young body ached, crying for rest , clawing for sleep. The trials of the last few days were like chains around my limbs, digging into me with their weight.
I cannot stop now. First, the bleeding. I exhaled and felt the familiar heat gathering in my chest. Warmer and warmer , a pinprick of whiter and whiter fire. Pressure gathered and the pain of suffocation intensified as the ball of heat grew. I poised my bony little fingers at the ridge of my wound again, eyes closed. In my mind's eye, a single point of light twinkled. I imagined it in the distance in front of me, its light pulsing closer and closer until it suddenly poured itself into my eyes. I fought off the my desire to thrash and gritted my teeth as the fire forcefed itself into my mind. The pain in my chest was released and like breath returning, heat exploded into my limbs. It coursed through veins, burning and searing. My skin charred, and erupted. I pushed my fingers into my wound and cried my silent curse as flesh and blood , muscle and bone turned incandescent, immaterial. Like a blaze shooting down a trail of oil, I swiped down across the arc of my opened flesh.
I opened my eyes a moment later and bent over double. Coughs wracked my body and smoke escaped my lips. Even as I pushed myself onto my feet I felt the river of balance realign within me. Heat radiated off me, shimmering the air around me. I gingerly touched my back. Though I could not see for myself, the freshly healed skin would be red-tinged and unblemished. I filled my lungs with air. Though revitalized, I knew I could not suffer such an injury again. I needed to replenish soon, or I would burn out.
Through sixth sense or simple recollection I realized I was not alone. She was watching me with a smirk. She was about as tall as that mage girl from before, and maybe the same age. Her face was made for smirking it would seem, even through the dirt. She leaned forward on her spear, and various trinkets and tools hanging from her belt sparkled in the dim torchlight. Among them was, suspended on a chain, an emerald set in star shaped pendant. It was the object of my quest, the reason I delved deep into this dungeon. She looked like a hunter, dressed in both the spoils and grime of her trade.
Before I could say anything she stated, 'your magic is funny', lips still curled in that smirk. It felt strange and wonderful to hear words again. Spoken by another, no less. From the accent, it clearly wasn't her native language but it was something.
'It's not magic,' I replied instinctively. 'It's...It's something else. It's something I can't explain, not something that...It's like a ..It wouldn't make sense to you...It's just something else alright?'. As I trailed off and my words echoed off the the chamber walls and the armor of the broken and dead fiends around me, I realized how stupid it sounded. I wondered dimly why I was being defensive.
Her mouth formed an 'o' as she mocked deep thought. 'Do thing without explain? Do not sense? I have good word for it. It magic!'. She grinned as she said it. A chill ran down my spine despite the residual heat.
I held back my retort. Instead I brushed it off, saying 'It doesn't matter' and jumped when she indignantly stabbed the edge of her spear into the ground, the emerald mocking me as it swayed.
'Oooooooooooh! But it matter, fire-brother! Your secret not safe even if you not explain! I know you. I know all you! I know your magic , I know your reason!'
Fear came with no preamble, not even the whisper of a knife unsheathing. What does she mean? Does she really know what I am? The cave was suddenly very cold. A thousand questions bloomed in my mind instantly and scattered suddenly like a school of fish. Two facts rose through the murk of deep water, teeth bared. One, the only beings capable of understanding my nature without being told are those that share it. Two, when two beings of such nature collide, only one survives. They were immutable , undeniable. What irony! The first person I meet in weeks is not only the person I was originally looking for, but someone who I would likely have to kill or be killed by.
The room shimmered around my peripheral vision as the light hint of a breeze wrestled with the torchlight. A sharp pressure fell on my mind, her stare boring into my eyes. Her smirk widened. Is this her weapon? Is this her nature? Is the world crystallizing? I wrenched myself away, turning around quickly to locate the cave's entrance. Fight or flight, I'm going to have -mistake! I felt it whistling through the air even as I spun back around to face it. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Even children know not to turn their back on their enemy!What a way to die!
It hit me square on my forehead. It wasn't her spearhead. The sound of stone floor and pendant colliding echoed. She laughed. It had mirth in it, and carried through the cave. I stood dumbfounded.
A moment passed.
She sighed, and shook her head. 'You fight good, boy. I see you another day. I show you my reason.' Before I could say anything, she turned her back on me and began walking deeper into the shadows of the cave.
I called out, 'I never said I'm sorry!'
She kept walking, 'Dont say. I know. I know all you.'
The shadows swallowed her and I was alone in a corpse filled cave. On the floor, the emerald twinkled. I picked it up. I guess it would do.
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