Chosen [Part 22]
Nov. 22nd, 2011 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Original
Summary: Ras has just been chosen by the Gods to protect humans from geists, beings that prey on people's souls. Sent by Them to aid her is Aldran, a psyven; through the bond forged on their first meeting, Aldran can pass his magic to Ras for her to use against the geists. Only those bonded with psyvens can fight the geists, as a psyven's magic is the one magic that is truly effective against them.
But stories are told to children to placate fears and soothe nightmares. Ras has to learn that Aldran and living as a khertan are not what she expected and that the danger is very real.
While she adjusts to her new life, she and Aldran begin to discover all is not as it seems; however, realising and accepting the truth is not easy and ultimately, in the end, is it worth it?
Rating: PG-13
Notes: You can find my commentary on this part here.
Genre: Fantasy/Friendship
Word count: 2,261
Total word count: 53,266
Status: Work in progress
The victims had been fed on at different places, which also worried her. If they were working independently… Who knew how many geists there were in town.
And if they couldn't sense all the geists… Ras closed her eyes and sighed. She both wanted and didn't want to worry about that, because she needed to know that it was a possibility, but if she started to worry that there was a geist in every shadow…
Unfortunately, there were a lot of shadows of a geist to hide in, the sun having just set not too long ago. But there hadn't been any surprises while they had been working with Ceilha and Dracer, so hopefully it wouldn't happen again any time soon.
They stayed together as they searched the alcove for any clues, making sure there was always someone on the lookout, but they didn't find anything.
Where they were at least meant to would be harder to ambush them, Ras mused as they left. There was only one exit – and Ras crashed to the ground, the wind slammed out of her, but her attacker didn't follow through, and there was another slam as Aldran hit the wall.
Ras' stomach tingled from where she was punched. They – dammit – one of them was going to have to start watching the exit and entry of places, one part of Ras babbled dryly as she scrambled to her feet. Hopefully they'd have a next time to do so.
Ras was kicked in the chest before she could fully straighten herself out and her head cracked on the wall behind her. The world span for far too long, and just when Ras was able to focus, a pair of slitted eyes was all that she could see.
"Do not move," a familiar voice whispered, and Ras struggled out of instinct, but it was already far too late. Her body moved to do the command that Ras didn't want to follow as easily as the last time.
The geist breathed out slowly, leaning back. "I suppose you've found out that I had been lying to you the whole time," it said, its voice soft. But there was something there that told Ras it wasn't confessing, a bitterness of…never being believed?
"You can speak."
Aldran was still there behind the geist, far less harmed than he had been the last time and definitely within range of their link being able to open. If she could just distract the geist, keep them there, then maybe…hopefully, Aldran would gain consciousness soon.
"No…" Ras said quietly. She had found the opposite in fact, seeing that it had been telling the truth. It wasn't the full truth, but there was truth hidden amongst the lies.
The geist blinked in surprise, cocking its head to the side, a curious expression on its face. "You believe a geist? How interesting." It shook its head slowly and Ras' stomach sank. "I would have enjoyed steeping your soul in raw emotion, but there isn't the time."
Ras gritted her teeth at the geist's words. Unless this was the geist's new way of making her react again… Dammit, Aldran still wasn't – he was conscious, a small tentative prod at their link before it was gone again.
She almost gave it away – and it wouldn't have mattered if she had nodded or not, seeing as she still couldn't move.
Ras poked back at the link, and then Aldran's magic was flooding her once more. She didn't use finesse or any of the sort – just flung it out as soon as she could.
It worked, breaking the hold the geist's magic had on her body and Ras tackled the geist to the ground, hoping that it would be enough to catch it off guard. It fortunately was, the Gods looking out for her and Aldran for once. She ignored the smell of burnt flesh.
Ras was just gathering Aldran's magic to cast it right in the geist's chest, but it recovered from its surprise far too quickly, lashing out with a fist and catching Ras under the ribs. She tumbled away from it, the air from her lungs gone once more, but she kept a tenacious hold on Aldran's magic, he still keeping the link open and steady as well, only flicking very briefly.
There was suddenly another blast of magic from elsewhere, making the geist leap back and Ras used that distraction to also attempt to hit it. Her magic was able to catch it in the side, and Ras felt a vindictive satisfaction at giving back what the geist had done to her. Now to kill it.
Clutching at its side, blue blood spilling onto the ground, the geist snarled, ducking another blast of magic from Ceilha, and dashed away.
Dammit, Ras didn't want it getting away but Aldran was hurt! And there wasn't much use chasing after the geist if she couldn't hurt it in a permanent way. Ras ran to Aldran's side, crouching next to him, and when Ceilha and Yaran dashed past, they waved to Ras and Aldran, telling them to stay put.
Ras' lip twisted at that, because they weren't that badly hurt, and they would be able to follow the trail that the geist had left anyway, its blood glowing clearly in the moonlight. She held out a hand and Aldran grabbed it, a grateful smile on his face.
"Are you all right?" she asked, as she pulled him up, peering at him. There didn't seem to be any blood, but the light wasn't that good and if he'd hit his head, she might not see it because of his hair.
Aldran winced, the link dissolving between them. "I will be in the morning."
Ras frowned. "What's hurting?"
He waved a hand. "It doesn't matter – I…" He trailed off, seeing the sceptical look on Ras' face.
"I'll worry about you either way," Ras told him, "so it makes little difference not telling me."
"If that's the case, then I don't have to tell you," Aldran pointed out.
And Ras didn't have a response to that. She huffed a laugh, elbowing him lightly. "And you've been worrying too much about me – or I've been making you worry too much, with how much I've been getting injured," she amended. "It's only fair that I spend some time worrying about you as well."
There was suddenly a horse's scream piercing the sky, and after a quick glance at each other, Ras and Aldran dashed towards the sound.
It became even more obvious where the horses had come from, the thundering beat of hooves guiding their way, as well as seeing them bolt from the stable. Both Ceilha and Dracer were knocked to the ground, only just getting back up when Ras and Aldran reached them.
"What happened?" Ras demanded.
"It loosed the horses," Ceilha grunted, eyeing in the direction out the town.
"And then it ran?" Aldran asked.
"No," Dracer said, shaking her head as she checked Ceilha. "It stole one of the horses."
Ras growled in frustration. How many times was it going to get away?
"And we can't chase after it," Ceilha added, waving Dracer away with an affectionate exasperated look. "All the other horses have scattered."
Ras looked around, and saw than none of the horses that had just been there were anywhere near them. By the time they caught one, calmed it down and then started riding, the geist would have far too big a lead on them, and they didn't know what direction it had went in, or if it had changed direction since then.
"Could we track its blood?" Ras wondered, seeing a small trail that she hadn't noticed before.
"Maybe," Ceilha admitted, making her way into the stable. "But we saw it grab a few blankets as well, so it might be using them as bandages."
Godsdammit, wonderful.
"And we can't leave either," Dracer said, glancing around, and Ras could see peeking at them through their windows. "If the group is bigger than we've seen and we leave this place unprotected…"
If the group-? Ras peered at Ceilha, realising that she was paler than usual, her breathing hard and shaky as well, the reaction too strong for what Ras had seen her do. "How many?"
"Only two." There was a small pause. "It's better than the last group we fought together."
Ras couldn't help but snort. They were all still conscious, they were slightly more prepared than they had been last time (neither Ceilha or Dracer looked injured), and the numbers had been less. Definitely, it was a much better outcome than last time. Though…last time, that had been when the geist was there was well…
She sighed, shaking her head and then started to check their surroundings with Aldran again. "So, we can only wait again?"
Ceilha nodded. "And hope it doesn't come back when we leave."
* * *
As the towns folk tried to round up the horses again, the four made their way back to the inn. On the way there, Ceilha turned to Ras, a serious look in her eye.
"When we arrived, the geist…"
Ras nodded, ducking her head. "We don't know how to stop it from controlling me." Or how to stop it from ambushing them all the time.
"So you know about that," Ceilha said quietly. She huffed, sending Ras a sympathetic look. "I don't think a lot of khertan and psyvens know that's even possible, let alone met a geist who has the ability to do it."
"And we've met it twice already." Ras scowled. Hopefully there wouldn't be a third (because another khertan and psyven had killed it), but if there was, Ras sincerely hoped that she and Aldran would be the ones to kill it.
At that, both Ceilha and Dracer looked surprised at her words. "And last time it had…" Ceilha trailed off, but it was obvious what she was asking, and Ras nodded, not wanting to think about what it had told her.
"I see."
"We haven't had that much experience with mind control," Dracer admitted. "All we really know is to avoid eye contact with it."
That made sense. She couldn't plug her ears to stop hearing its voice, but it did keep making sure they had eye contact before it gave her body an order, so that had to be one of the conditions before it could do it. She hoped.
* * *
Lesten scrutinised Ras and Aldran, a worried expression on his face. "And this was the second time you've met?"
There hadn't been any more attacks so they departed for Winolock again – after a day of exploring Winolock, finding a couple of areas that didn't look like it was being frequented any more, inches of dirt coating the floor, Ras and Aldran had bumped into Lesten and Yaran again.
Ras nodded. "The last time…" Her gaze flitted away from his and skipped away from Yaran as well. "That was the geist that had lied to me." It was only after the words had left Ras' mouth that she realised that Lesten and Yaran may not remember that conversation – how long ago had that been? Nearly two weeks now? How many people did they interact with on a daily basis?
"Ah, yes, I remember," Lesten said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Do you remember what it told you?"
Ras blinked at him in confusion. Why would he want to know its lies?
"If this geist knows how to control minds," Lesten began to explain, "then it has had a lot of practice in tricking people and lying. If we know what it told you we can warn others so that they won't be caught off guard by it."
That sounded reasonable, but… Ras wasn't sure about telling them. She couldn't explain it, but there just seemed to be something off, how Lesten and Yaran had approached them, how the conversation had gone instantly to talking about the geist, how intently both Lesten and Yaran were gazing at her, expectant of an answer.
And yet she couldn't fault them, because this was about a geist that could control minds that they were talking about.
The biggest thing that was affecting Ras' decision was the fact that Aldran was doing his best to be unobtrusive again – and had always been like this whenever Lesten and Yaran were talking with her. But she had been thinking for far too long already.
"I don't remember," she told Lesten, trying to make sure she kept eye contact. "I made sure to forget its lies."
Lesten sighed, slumping his shoulders. "I see. That was still a wise decision." Lesten's pendant glowed green, and he tossed Ras and Aldran a wry smile as he and Yaran left . Ras waved to them in goodbye before she stole a peek at Aldran's tail as she turned to him: it was, as she expected, still and held close to his leg. Not a good sign.
"Want to go out?" Ras asked him, not sure where the words had come from but not questioning it.
"Go out…?" Aldran repeated, his carefully blank face easing into puzzlement.
Ras nodded. "Just out the front doors – I'm rather interested to see what the outside here looks like."
"…If we can find them," Aldran teased, a small smile growing on his face.
Ras grinned back at him. "Then we do both – we find the front doors and then we see what the outside looks like."
Aldran nodded, his shoulders relaxing. "Let's do it."
* * *
Summary: Ras has just been chosen by the Gods to protect humans from geists, beings that prey on people's souls. Sent by Them to aid her is Aldran, a psyven; through the bond forged on their first meeting, Aldran can pass his magic to Ras for her to use against the geists. Only those bonded with psyvens can fight the geists, as a psyven's magic is the one magic that is truly effective against them.
But stories are told to children to placate fears and soothe nightmares. Ras has to learn that Aldran and living as a khertan are not what she expected and that the danger is very real.
While she adjusts to her new life, she and Aldran begin to discover all is not as it seems; however, realising and accepting the truth is not easy and ultimately, in the end, is it worth it?
Rating: PG-13
Notes: You can find my commentary on this part here.
Genre: Fantasy/Friendship
Word count: 2,261
Total word count: 53,266
Status: Work in progress
The victims had been fed on at different places, which also worried her. If they were working independently… Who knew how many geists there were in town.
And if they couldn't sense all the geists… Ras closed her eyes and sighed. She both wanted and didn't want to worry about that, because she needed to know that it was a possibility, but if she started to worry that there was a geist in every shadow…
Unfortunately, there were a lot of shadows of a geist to hide in, the sun having just set not too long ago. But there hadn't been any surprises while they had been working with Ceilha and Dracer, so hopefully it wouldn't happen again any time soon.
They stayed together as they searched the alcove for any clues, making sure there was always someone on the lookout, but they didn't find anything.
Where they were at least meant to would be harder to ambush them, Ras mused as they left. There was only one exit – and Ras crashed to the ground, the wind slammed out of her, but her attacker didn't follow through, and there was another slam as Aldran hit the wall.
Ras' stomach tingled from where she was punched. They – dammit – one of them was going to have to start watching the exit and entry of places, one part of Ras babbled dryly as she scrambled to her feet. Hopefully they'd have a next time to do so.
Ras was kicked in the chest before she could fully straighten herself out and her head cracked on the wall behind her. The world span for far too long, and just when Ras was able to focus, a pair of slitted eyes was all that she could see.
"Do not move," a familiar voice whispered, and Ras struggled out of instinct, but it was already far too late. Her body moved to do the command that Ras didn't want to follow as easily as the last time.
The geist breathed out slowly, leaning back. "I suppose you've found out that I had been lying to you the whole time," it said, its voice soft. But there was something there that told Ras it wasn't confessing, a bitterness of…never being believed?
"You can speak."
Aldran was still there behind the geist, far less harmed than he had been the last time and definitely within range of their link being able to open. If she could just distract the geist, keep them there, then maybe…hopefully, Aldran would gain consciousness soon.
"No…" Ras said quietly. She had found the opposite in fact, seeing that it had been telling the truth. It wasn't the full truth, but there was truth hidden amongst the lies.
The geist blinked in surprise, cocking its head to the side, a curious expression on its face. "You believe a geist? How interesting." It shook its head slowly and Ras' stomach sank. "I would have enjoyed steeping your soul in raw emotion, but there isn't the time."
Ras gritted her teeth at the geist's words. Unless this was the geist's new way of making her react again… Dammit, Aldran still wasn't – he was conscious, a small tentative prod at their link before it was gone again.
She almost gave it away – and it wouldn't have mattered if she had nodded or not, seeing as she still couldn't move.
Ras poked back at the link, and then Aldran's magic was flooding her once more. She didn't use finesse or any of the sort – just flung it out as soon as she could.
It worked, breaking the hold the geist's magic had on her body and Ras tackled the geist to the ground, hoping that it would be enough to catch it off guard. It fortunately was, the Gods looking out for her and Aldran for once. She ignored the smell of burnt flesh.
Ras was just gathering Aldran's magic to cast it right in the geist's chest, but it recovered from its surprise far too quickly, lashing out with a fist and catching Ras under the ribs. She tumbled away from it, the air from her lungs gone once more, but she kept a tenacious hold on Aldran's magic, he still keeping the link open and steady as well, only flicking very briefly.
There was suddenly another blast of magic from elsewhere, making the geist leap back and Ras used that distraction to also attempt to hit it. Her magic was able to catch it in the side, and Ras felt a vindictive satisfaction at giving back what the geist had done to her. Now to kill it.
Clutching at its side, blue blood spilling onto the ground, the geist snarled, ducking another blast of magic from Ceilha, and dashed away.
Dammit, Ras didn't want it getting away but Aldran was hurt! And there wasn't much use chasing after the geist if she couldn't hurt it in a permanent way. Ras ran to Aldran's side, crouching next to him, and when Ceilha and Yaran dashed past, they waved to Ras and Aldran, telling them to stay put.
Ras' lip twisted at that, because they weren't that badly hurt, and they would be able to follow the trail that the geist had left anyway, its blood glowing clearly in the moonlight. She held out a hand and Aldran grabbed it, a grateful smile on his face.
"Are you all right?" she asked, as she pulled him up, peering at him. There didn't seem to be any blood, but the light wasn't that good and if he'd hit his head, she might not see it because of his hair.
Aldran winced, the link dissolving between them. "I will be in the morning."
Ras frowned. "What's hurting?"
He waved a hand. "It doesn't matter – I…" He trailed off, seeing the sceptical look on Ras' face.
"I'll worry about you either way," Ras told him, "so it makes little difference not telling me."
"If that's the case, then I don't have to tell you," Aldran pointed out.
And Ras didn't have a response to that. She huffed a laugh, elbowing him lightly. "And you've been worrying too much about me – or I've been making you worry too much, with how much I've been getting injured," she amended. "It's only fair that I spend some time worrying about you as well."
There was suddenly a horse's scream piercing the sky, and after a quick glance at each other, Ras and Aldran dashed towards the sound.
It became even more obvious where the horses had come from, the thundering beat of hooves guiding their way, as well as seeing them bolt from the stable. Both Ceilha and Dracer were knocked to the ground, only just getting back up when Ras and Aldran reached them.
"What happened?" Ras demanded.
"It loosed the horses," Ceilha grunted, eyeing in the direction out the town.
"And then it ran?" Aldran asked.
"No," Dracer said, shaking her head as she checked Ceilha. "It stole one of the horses."
Ras growled in frustration. How many times was it going to get away?
"And we can't chase after it," Ceilha added, waving Dracer away with an affectionate exasperated look. "All the other horses have scattered."
Ras looked around, and saw than none of the horses that had just been there were anywhere near them. By the time they caught one, calmed it down and then started riding, the geist would have far too big a lead on them, and they didn't know what direction it had went in, or if it had changed direction since then.
"Could we track its blood?" Ras wondered, seeing a small trail that she hadn't noticed before.
"Maybe," Ceilha admitted, making her way into the stable. "But we saw it grab a few blankets as well, so it might be using them as bandages."
Godsdammit, wonderful.
"And we can't leave either," Dracer said, glancing around, and Ras could see peeking at them through their windows. "If the group is bigger than we've seen and we leave this place unprotected…"
If the group-? Ras peered at Ceilha, realising that she was paler than usual, her breathing hard and shaky as well, the reaction too strong for what Ras had seen her do. "How many?"
"Only two." There was a small pause. "It's better than the last group we fought together."
Ras couldn't help but snort. They were all still conscious, they were slightly more prepared than they had been last time (neither Ceilha or Dracer looked injured), and the numbers had been less. Definitely, it was a much better outcome than last time. Though…last time, that had been when the geist was there was well…
She sighed, shaking her head and then started to check their surroundings with Aldran again. "So, we can only wait again?"
Ceilha nodded. "And hope it doesn't come back when we leave."
As the towns folk tried to round up the horses again, the four made their way back to the inn. On the way there, Ceilha turned to Ras, a serious look in her eye.
"When we arrived, the geist…"
Ras nodded, ducking her head. "We don't know how to stop it from controlling me." Or how to stop it from ambushing them all the time.
"So you know about that," Ceilha said quietly. She huffed, sending Ras a sympathetic look. "I don't think a lot of khertan and psyvens know that's even possible, let alone met a geist who has the ability to do it."
"And we've met it twice already." Ras scowled. Hopefully there wouldn't be a third (because another khertan and psyven had killed it), but if there was, Ras sincerely hoped that she and Aldran would be the ones to kill it.
At that, both Ceilha and Dracer looked surprised at her words. "And last time it had…" Ceilha trailed off, but it was obvious what she was asking, and Ras nodded, not wanting to think about what it had told her.
"I see."
"We haven't had that much experience with mind control," Dracer admitted. "All we really know is to avoid eye contact with it."
That made sense. She couldn't plug her ears to stop hearing its voice, but it did keep making sure they had eye contact before it gave her body an order, so that had to be one of the conditions before it could do it. She hoped.
Lesten scrutinised Ras and Aldran, a worried expression on his face. "And this was the second time you've met?"
There hadn't been any more attacks so they departed for Winolock again – after a day of exploring Winolock, finding a couple of areas that didn't look like it was being frequented any more, inches of dirt coating the floor, Ras and Aldran had bumped into Lesten and Yaran again.
Ras nodded. "The last time…" Her gaze flitted away from his and skipped away from Yaran as well. "That was the geist that had lied to me." It was only after the words had left Ras' mouth that she realised that Lesten and Yaran may not remember that conversation – how long ago had that been? Nearly two weeks now? How many people did they interact with on a daily basis?
"Ah, yes, I remember," Lesten said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Do you remember what it told you?"
Ras blinked at him in confusion. Why would he want to know its lies?
"If this geist knows how to control minds," Lesten began to explain, "then it has had a lot of practice in tricking people and lying. If we know what it told you we can warn others so that they won't be caught off guard by it."
That sounded reasonable, but… Ras wasn't sure about telling them. She couldn't explain it, but there just seemed to be something off, how Lesten and Yaran had approached them, how the conversation had gone instantly to talking about the geist, how intently both Lesten and Yaran were gazing at her, expectant of an answer.
And yet she couldn't fault them, because this was about a geist that could control minds that they were talking about.
The biggest thing that was affecting Ras' decision was the fact that Aldran was doing his best to be unobtrusive again – and had always been like this whenever Lesten and Yaran were talking with her. But she had been thinking for far too long already.
"I don't remember," she told Lesten, trying to make sure she kept eye contact. "I made sure to forget its lies."
Lesten sighed, slumping his shoulders. "I see. That was still a wise decision." Lesten's pendant glowed green, and he tossed Ras and Aldran a wry smile as he and Yaran left . Ras waved to them in goodbye before she stole a peek at Aldran's tail as she turned to him: it was, as she expected, still and held close to his leg. Not a good sign.
"Want to go out?" Ras asked him, not sure where the words had come from but not questioning it.
"Go out…?" Aldran repeated, his carefully blank face easing into puzzlement.
Ras nodded. "Just out the front doors – I'm rather interested to see what the outside here looks like."
"…If we can find them," Aldran teased, a small smile growing on his face.
Ras grinned back at him. "Then we do both – we find the front doors and then we see what the outside looks like."
Aldran nodded, his shoulders relaxing. "Let's do it."