Banshee

As Seiun wandered around her small, ramshackle hut, her eerie concoction was brewing. With her careful skill she had brewed a thick liquid, with swirls of black and white and blinding yellow. It smelled like almonds. Slowly, ever so painfully slowly, the colors in the cauldron began to separate, until there was a distinct section for each. Black, slimy muck lined the edge of Seiun's dastardly brew, shining yellow pools of liquids of an ever-changing consistency glowed from the center, and the two were separated by an incredibly thin line of milky white foam. Seiun promptly shifted her attention back to the bubbling pot, and upon seeing the progress unleashed a toothy grin. This is it, she thought with certainty, this is where I begin my ascension into the greater knowledge of the universe, not even a god could stand in my way.

She tore a wooden staff off of her rickety wall and began to stir. She stirred and stirred and mixed and mixed, but the pattern of the brew remained unchanged. Black, white, and yellow, always in that order, always. She whispered to herself in confusion, muttering the ancient fathertongue everyone knew, but never learned. She grumbled in frustration, anger boiling over, she could feel it within her, like a disease sent by Plaguebringer herself. She slowed down, closing her eyes. No need to get angry over such a petty little thing, my knowledge will reign eternal, eternal. Her wicked grin reappeared as quickly as it had vanished, and she wandered over to her papers.

Spread out across the floor, the old witch went over her notes again and again, analyzing everything she had gathered in her life up to this point. This point, this detrimental point, the point she could never turn away from. She had to figure it out, the secret that rattled her brain ever since she looked into the eye. She had to know, she had to know, to know, to know, to know. Her mind had begun to tangle itself again, she let out a frustrated grunt and threw her papers across the hut in one swing of her arm. She once again took a moment to compose herself, and didn't seem to realize what had happened. She wandered over to the brew, smiled, and went to sleep.

That night, the soup began to change. The clear distinctions of colors and fluids began to shift and merge, the now thick concoction wove itself together in an endless stream of tendrils, around and around and around. they began to become even more compact, until a clear coil of muck could be seen. On and on the tendrils went, looping and squelching and tying and forming. Forming... yes... they were forming something. Something unknown and dark. Something uncanny. As the tendrils became more akin to tendons and veins, a single smooth lair of muck covered the winding being that had been engendered from the cauldron. The thing slithered round and round and round inside it's birthplace, still in shock at its very existence. Without warning, two bright yellow eyes of ever shifting consistency opened. The being raised out of the cauldron like a snake preparing to strike, it's long body seeming to never end. When this new creature finally vacated itself, it wandered over to the only thing it could see- another figure, unmoving, slowly breathing, a strange film blanketed what he could see, but not her corporeal form.

Seiun, who sensed herself being watched, awoke abruptly and filled with fury. She leapt at the form hovering over her in her dark quarters, only to fall completely through it. It was as though the figure she saw so clearly, was not truly there. Seiun, being a dragon of innate curiosity, stared at the creature before her, taking in everything she could. It did not seem to be hostile, only confused, lost really. With that thought, she gasped. She ran to her cauldron, her beloved cauldron, the soul of her lifework, and peered inside. She saw nothing. She glanced again at the being, filled with wonder and joy and fear and every feeling you could possibly imagine. She staired at the creature, the beast, and thought, Welcome, welcome my child, you are safe now. I have freed you from the unconscious universe and brought you into the light of knowing. The being stared at her, with those thick, shifting eyes. She moved closer, filled with the vigor of success and a tenderness to this being that she had brought forth into the world. She reached up to the beast's eyes and moved her claws through their fluid form. It was the only thing about the creature that was corporeal, a part of this physical realm.

Years went by, with the two of them only having each other. Now, years can last a long time, and during that long time Seiun learned a great deal about this creature of the soup. For one, she learned his name was not "the creature" or "the beast" or even "the being", but rather, it was Banshee. (At least, that's what he thought his name was... You would be a little muddy on the details if you had just been born after occupying some form of space time for millions of years while at the same time being unaware of your existence). Two, Banshee did not see the world as a native physical creature would. Despite being semi-corporeal, he is unable to see as the rest of us. He can only see the lives of others, all else is an unending blackness. He learned that the film around Seiun he had seen when he first arrived was a map of her very being, and that which enveloped her was what she held in value above all else: the pursuit of the purest and most infinite knowledge as possible.

Being able to only see life is a beautiful thing, but like all beautiful things, there is a horrible shroud of unrest at all times. He can see the life fading, and when he does it's like an entire piece of his world has been torn away from him. He can see it happening, fading, blinking, about to disappear from the world. He cries. He screams, he wails. It's unbearable, seeing beautiful life echo out of existence. He can see it before anyone else, the faint shroud of death. They slowly fade away, sometimes it ebbs and flows, sometimes it's instant. Whatever the case may be, Banshee knows, Banshee cries.

If you hear the beast of the mountains scream, make your peace.