She couldn’t for the life of her remember where it had gone wrong. When had Mereid… When had this happened to her old friend?
She might have been sick. She was going to be sick.
Deliha had watched her friend, someone she trusted, turn into a monster. Someone who killed, who took pleasure in killing; was that always what Mererid was? Was she always a monster?
Deliha couldn’t remember. She wanted to believe it wasn’t the case; that Mererid had been ruined somehow.
The voice of the once-friend echoed in her mind, as she drifted to unconsciousness in the bamboo forests of the windswept plateau: “if I ever see you here again, you’ll be the next in a long line of hopeless souls, all mine for the taking!”
“Hey guys, I found someone.”
Deliha jolts awake as she is poked with a rather large stick. As anybody in her position would, she screeches; startling the three goons around her and making them join in on the squawk-fest.
“Woah Woah lady! Calm yourself down!” a young spiral holding the stick in his mouth backs up in order to not get squished by the wiggling Deliha.
“Who are you! Have you not learned to maybe… I don’t know, NOT poke a random stranger with a stick!?” she lets out a bit of a hiss still shaken up from the sudden jab to the wing.
“Okay, I’ll give the lady credit there. Maybe poking her wasn’t a good idea Halton,” the guardian looks down at the spiral, whose name was evidently Halton.
“Well jeez how was I supposed to know she was gonna start screaming?”
The guardian shrugs, looking back towards Deliha. “You aight miss?” She leans down so she is actually eye level with Deliha. “I apologize for Halton there, he’s a bit dense.”
The guardian chuckles at her own comment; Halton narrows his eyes. “Really now, Livia? We’re going there, are we?” he scoffs.
“Hush; not now.” Turning her attention back to Deliha, the guardian continues, “well, anyways, let me properly introduce us!” She grins, motioning a bogsneak over, deeming Deliha safe for now. “This worm is Halton; Cameran is the bog, and I’m Livia! I am, of course, the leader of this fine group!” Her chest swells as she boasts about the status she’s obviously given herself. Pausing only for a beat, she continues “Halton’s an entire butt, but once you get to know ‘im he’s chill. Cam is shy and not much a talker, but he’s sweet; y’know?”
Deliha blinks for a second, before deciding she ought to introduce herself as well. “Deliha; my name’s Deliha. Why are you guys around these parts?” She pauses, swallowing as the bitter memories resurface. “Don’t you know about Mererid?”
The three glance at each other; Livia doesn’t stay silent for long. “‘Course we have, but we were coming to defeat her.”She speaks with all the pride and confidence of a hatchling who’s never been harmed by the world.
Deliha feels herself pale at the thought of these three children fighting Mererid. Mereid, who’d subdued hardened warriors with her spells! “What? Don’t you see how dangerous she is? Word of her has gotten out to whatever clans you three were from; doesn’t that tell you anything?”
Cameran, ever nervous, looks at Livia with a ghastly pallor Deliha only assumes her face must match. “S-see, I told you this was a bad idea...” he whispers to Livia, whose confidence has been visibly hit.
“Well, she can’t be that powerful, right? Not like she’s an all-powerful being like the gods!”
Evidently not enough of a confidence hit to stop her from being a stubborn child; who, Deliah decides, must make at least three bad choices before breakfast every day.
Her eyes shift to Cameran, then back to Livia. “How strong are you three?”
“Well-,” Livia; likely about to start on a number of childish exploits, all remembered in greatly embellished detail, is cut off.
“How many battles with the beastclan hoardes have you fought? Are any of you trained magicians, or else warriors of your clans?” Livia’s jaw snaps shut.
“We- we haven’t fought anything but dummies before,” Cameran mumbles, gaze dropping to his paws. Deliha visibly stutters in her whole body language; wings pinned up in shock, as she realizes again that while the trio may look like adults, they are in fact children.
“You mean to tell me that you were about to fight someone who has a vast army of magic’d monsters- someone who swallows souls, who can turn the dead with a wave of a claw; you were going to fight her with nothing but the clothes on your backs and a dream of glory?”
Livia looks to the side, her tail curling around her a bit. “Well, when you put it like that… it starts to sound pretty silly...”
Deliha sighs heavily. “Wonderful. You all’re in such a dangerous area- do your families know you’re out here?” Deliha stares hard into Livia’s face. The guardian only twists her face further away. “There are better places to learn how to fight in real battle; that’s not here. Now leave!” She hisses at them, bitter resentment in her every action and word. “You can’t hope to beat her!”
Livia pauses to let the outburst soak in; her voice returns suddenly, a triumphant gleam in her eye. “Then what are you out here? You’re in just as much danger as us three!”
Deliha, despite having had every intention to get out of the area, groans a defeated sigh. “Fine; I’m out here, sure, but if I were going against Mererid, at least I know what I’m up against! You lot don’t!”
Livia stomps her foot; the ground shaking under her guardian mass. “We can help you!”
Deliha feels more and more like her skull might split in two. She isn’t a clutch-sitter, and the adamant determination of Livia to fight what she has no chance against… Deliha gives a resigned sigh. It wasn’t worth the effort of fighting with the hatchling child. “Fine; you lot can help, BUT we have to train first. Got it? All three of you?”
Livia nods vigorously, while Cameran gives little more than a subtle nod.
Halton shrugs, his eyes half-lidded in genuine disinterest. “Whatever Miss Feather-Butt wants.” He jumps atop Livia, blowing a raspberry at Deliha. Perhaps because she is so much their elder, the action only serves to confuse her.
She collects her meager belongings, gesturing with a flick of her tail for the trio to follow her. “If you lot are so determined to fight her, you’re going to want to set up a camp near her borders.” Livia, draped as she is with her nuisance noodle, happily walks in line behind Deliha; Cameran trailing after, only a few paces back.
(i'd like to take a moment and thank my awesome friend @ZippoFeuer for helping me make my thing not look like a 12-year-old tried to write an edgy fanfic and fail miserably, thank you friend)
She might have been sick. She was going to be sick.
Deliha had watched her friend, someone she trusted, turn into a monster. Someone who killed, who took pleasure in killing; was that always what Mererid was? Was she always a monster?
Deliha couldn’t remember. She wanted to believe it wasn’t the case; that Mererid had been ruined somehow.
The voice of the once-friend echoed in her mind, as she drifted to unconsciousness in the bamboo forests of the windswept plateau: “if I ever see you here again, you’ll be the next in a long line of hopeless souls, all mine for the taking!”
“Hey guys, I found someone.”
Deliha jolts awake as she is poked with a rather large stick. As anybody in her position would, she screeches; startling the three goons around her and making them join in on the squawk-fest.
“Woah Woah lady! Calm yourself down!” a young spiral holding the stick in his mouth backs up in order to not get squished by the wiggling Deliha.
“Who are you! Have you not learned to maybe… I don’t know, NOT poke a random stranger with a stick!?” she lets out a bit of a hiss still shaken up from the sudden jab to the wing.
“Okay, I’ll give the lady credit there. Maybe poking her wasn’t a good idea Halton,” the guardian looks down at the spiral, whose name was evidently Halton.
“Well jeez how was I supposed to know she was gonna start screaming?”
The guardian shrugs, looking back towards Deliha. “You aight miss?” She leans down so she is actually eye level with Deliha. “I apologize for Halton there, he’s a bit dense.”
The guardian chuckles at her own comment; Halton narrows his eyes. “Really now, Livia? We’re going there, are we?” he scoffs.
“Hush; not now.” Turning her attention back to Deliha, the guardian continues, “well, anyways, let me properly introduce us!” She grins, motioning a bogsneak over, deeming Deliha safe for now. “This worm is Halton; Cameran is the bog, and I’m Livia! I am, of course, the leader of this fine group!” Her chest swells as she boasts about the status she’s obviously given herself. Pausing only for a beat, she continues “Halton’s an entire butt, but once you get to know ‘im he’s chill. Cam is shy and not much a talker, but he’s sweet; y’know?”
Deliha blinks for a second, before deciding she ought to introduce herself as well. “Deliha; my name’s Deliha. Why are you guys around these parts?” She pauses, swallowing as the bitter memories resurface. “Don’t you know about Mererid?”
The three glance at each other; Livia doesn’t stay silent for long. “‘Course we have, but we were coming to defeat her.”She speaks with all the pride and confidence of a hatchling who’s never been harmed by the world.
Deliha feels herself pale at the thought of these three children fighting Mererid. Mereid, who’d subdued hardened warriors with her spells! “What? Don’t you see how dangerous she is? Word of her has gotten out to whatever clans you three were from; doesn’t that tell you anything?”
Cameran, ever nervous, looks at Livia with a ghastly pallor Deliha only assumes her face must match. “S-see, I told you this was a bad idea...” he whispers to Livia, whose confidence has been visibly hit.
“Well, she can’t be that powerful, right? Not like she’s an all-powerful being like the gods!”
Evidently not enough of a confidence hit to stop her from being a stubborn child; who, Deliah decides, must make at least three bad choices before breakfast every day.
Her eyes shift to Cameran, then back to Livia. “How strong are you three?”
“Well-,” Livia; likely about to start on a number of childish exploits, all remembered in greatly embellished detail, is cut off.
“How many battles with the beastclan hoardes have you fought? Are any of you trained magicians, or else warriors of your clans?” Livia’s jaw snaps shut.
“We- we haven’t fought anything but dummies before,” Cameran mumbles, gaze dropping to his paws. Deliha visibly stutters in her whole body language; wings pinned up in shock, as she realizes again that while the trio may look like adults, they are in fact children.
“You mean to tell me that you were about to fight someone who has a vast army of magic’d monsters- someone who swallows souls, who can turn the dead with a wave of a claw; you were going to fight her with nothing but the clothes on your backs and a dream of glory?”
Livia looks to the side, her tail curling around her a bit. “Well, when you put it like that… it starts to sound pretty silly...”
Deliha sighs heavily. “Wonderful. You all’re in such a dangerous area- do your families know you’re out here?” Deliha stares hard into Livia’s face. The guardian only twists her face further away. “There are better places to learn how to fight in real battle; that’s not here. Now leave!” She hisses at them, bitter resentment in her every action and word. “You can’t hope to beat her!”
Livia pauses to let the outburst soak in; her voice returns suddenly, a triumphant gleam in her eye. “Then what are you out here? You’re in just as much danger as us three!”
Deliha, despite having had every intention to get out of the area, groans a defeated sigh. “Fine; I’m out here, sure, but if I were going against Mererid, at least I know what I’m up against! You lot don’t!”
Livia stomps her foot; the ground shaking under her guardian mass. “We can help you!”
Deliha feels more and more like her skull might split in two. She isn’t a clutch-sitter, and the adamant determination of Livia to fight what she has no chance against… Deliha gives a resigned sigh. It wasn’t worth the effort of fighting with the hatchling child. “Fine; you lot can help, BUT we have to train first. Got it? All three of you?”
Livia nods vigorously, while Cameran gives little more than a subtle nod.
Halton shrugs, his eyes half-lidded in genuine disinterest. “Whatever Miss Feather-Butt wants.” He jumps atop Livia, blowing a raspberry at Deliha. Perhaps because she is so much their elder, the action only serves to confuse her.
She collects her meager belongings, gesturing with a flick of her tail for the trio to follow her. “If you lot are so determined to fight her, you’re going to want to set up a camp near her borders.” Livia, draped as she is with her nuisance noodle, happily walks in line behind Deliha; Cameran trailing after, only a few paces back.
(i'd like to take a moment and thank my awesome friend @ZippoFeuer for helping me make my thing not look like a 12-year-old tried to write an edgy fanfic and fail miserably, thank you friend)
