Across Archavec

Nic and Sergei were traveling around in their moving house. They decided to temporarily settle down in a village but the people are reluctant to let them. The chief of the village ask them to do them a favor and that they would be able to stay only if they do said favor. Nic doesn’t say yes instantly, he first asks for clarification as to what the favor is. A few days ago a villager lost one of his sheep in the nearby cave while he had left his herd graze. He then asked for the Palightin guardian to find it for him, he went but never returned from the cave. The villagers want the duo to go in the cave and bring back both their guardian and the missing sheep.

N “He’s been in there for days? Can he even still be alive? I thought Palightin needed sunlight to survive…” S “I heard they turn into monsters if they go without sun for too long.” N “Hmm... I remember the tales saying they shrivel up and die similar to a plant without water” S “maybe they do both? Turn into a monster they dry up? Idk man it’s just a legend... or at least it never happened in so long it became one…”

The villagers press then more and more to save their guardian, but it seems they have less concern toward his well-being but rather worry about how they might grow less crops or be more susceptible to get diseases without their guardian holy protection. 

Nicolai and Sergei reluctantly accept to help but not without concern and worry. What if they too get lost or trapped down there? What if there’s something inside that will attack them? What about the Palightin… Is it worth it to go down there? He might be dead already, or maybe he just took the opportunity to leave the village since these people don’t seem to care about him and his well-being.

To prevent themselves from being lost in the dark, Nic pull out his wand and start creating a light trail. It lights up the way and is easy to track back. It takes them hours of walking up and down the cold and humid dark tunnels to finally stumble upon a trace of life: screams and hisses. Nic considered shouting and asking who is screaming and if they are okay but decided not to. It could be a wild beast.

The two brothers followed the source of the noise cautiously. Down a hole they find the lost Palightin. He’s unrecognizable; his body is pure black, smoking, like a solid shadow. They wouldn’t have known it could have been the person they were looking for if he wasn’t wearing the clothes the villagers described. 

Inspecting their surroundings to find a way to go down and back up to save him they take a closer look at the situation as a whole. It seems that the floor gave under him and in the fall one of his legs got stuck between rocks. Next to him is a carcass of what they assume to be the lost sheep. At least he had something to eat while trapped down there they though.

Nic created a rope of light for Sergei to get down into the hole. Putting all of his strength into his arm, Sergei shapedshift his hands and get the rocks out of the way. The hissing Palightin jump away, he doesn’t look thankful, he look rather feral and ready to attack. Sergei back away as much as he can and try his best not to provoke the guy.

S “Uh Nic... some help?” N “get back on the rope, get up there and then I’ll figure out how to help him” S “What if he pounces when I go for the rope tho?! Do something NOW!” N “Do what?!” S “I don’t know?! He’s missing light isn’t he? That’s why he’s like dat? So I don’t know.. Shoot him with your light magic. Maybe that will turn him back”

A bit panicked and not knowing what else he could do Nic concentrated and struck the beast in the chest. He fell down. He was either dead or knocked out. Sergei stood there relieved but also shocked. After gathering his though he picked up the Palightin, checked his pulse to see if he was still alive and climbed back up. All they had to do now was follow the light trail back out.

As they walked out they noticed that the unconscious man was slowly turning back to normal. His skin went from the smoky black to a pale purplish white and his hair back to dark blue, the tips of his spines starting to glow faintly. While Sergei’s idea might have been a bit brutal, at least it was working. Soon enough the man regained consciousness.

The Palightin groaned and clutched his chest. Nic’s light strike left a big scar on his chest and it was painful. They stopped to check a bit more on him now that he was awake, asking for his name and get a bit more information about what happened in general. His name was Kdishjins and as they first concluded the floor gave in below his feet when and he got stuck, after two days of being down there with no light he slowly turned into this feral light-deprived form. The lack of food didn’t helped and he ate the sheep.

Nic and Sergei explained to him how they got to find him, how none of the villagers wanted to go down themselves but really wanted Jin back solely for the sake of their crops and for protection. Jin wasn’t the least surprised. That’s how humans were with Palightin, some Foreign-bloods too. They pretend to see them as messengers of the Sun God but truly use them like nothing more but replaceable scarecrows.

N “why don’t you just leave?” J “To go where? It will be the same in any other village or settlement I move to” S “We don’t settle down, we’re on the road most of the time. Put wheels on ya house and ya good to go!” N “You could stay with us for a bit if you want.. I feel like it’s the least We.. I could do… After hitting you pretty bad like that… I'm sorry about that… I didn’t know what else to do…” J “You two pretty much saved my life.. I could have stayed trapped down there and died.. You could have chosen to kill me instead or I don’t know… I'm alive and out of this and it’s all thanks to you so I can’t say you owe me anything, quite the opposite” N “My offer still stand.” S “We have a third bedroom anyway so it wouldn’t be an issue. It used to be my artelier but I moved it to the attic and Nic turned the room into a guest room… I don’t know why, we never have any guests…” J “I suppose I could join you… I don’t think it could be any worse than my current life.. and maybe a change could do me some good…” N “That settles it then! From now one you’ll travel with us!” J “But what if the villager wont let me leave?” S “we could pretend you died. If ya ain’t alive no more they can’t force you to do nothing.”

Nicolai gestured his wand toward Jin and asked for one of his boots. Jin was confused at first but gave him one of his shoes. Beside blood and light magic there was one other trick Nic had in store, turning people into frogs: an old but effective trick. He explained to Kdishjins how it would work as he handed him a small vial to drink up. He couldn’t just use his wand for that, otherwise he would have done that earlier to prevent Jin from potentially attacking Sergei earlier.

A sip of drink later Jin was a small green blob of a frog. The witch boy picked him up and placed him under his hat, “careful up there, I store a lot of my stuff there, okay?”.

S “Why the boot? I mean I know you’ll use as like ‘look he dead, that’s all we found’ but don’t you think the shirt would work better? I mean you tore it good with your shot! It’d make it pretty authentic if you ask me” N “Uh… I don’t know… It feel weird to ask someone you barely know to take their shirt off.. I guess?...” S (mockingly) “How someone as pure and virgin as you could possibly handle the sight of someone else’s nipples~” N “Oh shut it already!”

It took then a little less than an hour to get back out, no need to endlessly wander the many tunnels this time: the light guided their way. Once out they put on their best saddened faces and to the chief of the village to tell about their find. They weren’t too worried about the villagers not believing them, to be quite frank they didn’t seemed to be of the smart type. If anything the only thing the brothers were worrying about what whether or not they would like to take the boot back, leaving Jin with just one boot would be an inconvenience.

Nicolai explained to them that beside the boot and sheep bones nothing was left and that a beast must have eaten the both of them. It obviously didn’t please any of the villagers but they bought it. Whispers started to pass within the crowd until they reached the chief’s ears. What shall be done with a beast living next door to them? Should they leave? Close of the cave? go in and slay the creature? Sergei couldn’t help but laugh.

S “Why don’t ya build a door on the darn thing, so if any of ya’ll wanna prove how tough you are can go in and kick that beast’s ass! As far as I'm concerned my bro and I did what you asked us to so we deserve our stay” N “We won’t stay for long really, we wanted to stop for our house to ‘rest, refill our water tank and restock in food.. mostly meat.. We could trade, we have a few vegetables for some meat, but if you’d rather have us buy it it’s fine, we have gold to spare!”

While The two Wallace were negotiating with the villager Jin was waiting. There wasn’t much he could do for the moment. not only was he stuck as a frog until they left the village but he was also temporarily trapped in the pocket dimension that was under Nicolai’s hat. There was a bit of everything in there: a guitar, magic books written in tongues he’s never seen before, a dozen of potions of every color you could think of, a customized broom and even a couple of snacks.

It was weird being in there. It was like being in a big wooden chest In the middle of the ‘floor’ of this impossible room was a tuft of snow-white hair, probably the top of Nicolai’s head oddly popping into this storage dimension. Jin wondered how all this worked, if time or anything else science-related was any different here. Would he run out of oxygen eventually? or run of of light? All he had to fend of the darkness was the candle at the tip of the broom and he doubted it would be enough for his kind’s basic needs, But he was a frog right now, not a palightin, so he might not even need light at all for all he knew.

He didn’t needed to reflect on his situation any much longer as an arm grabbed him and pulled him back out of the hat then placed him on the floor before being turned back into his original form. He was now in a bathroom, he was in the house of his new friend.

N (handing him his boot back) “Let’s get to the point. You’ve been in a stinky cave for a week with a dead sheep.. You need to take a bath and pronto! I will be at the door. Undress and give me your clothes so we can wash them as well.”

The palightin followed the witch’s order without complaining. He was quite happy to be able to get cleaned. Relaxing in the warm tub of water was more than welcome after the rough week he had, the boring life he had even. Long gone were the days of being the villagers fancy living lucky-charm. He could do whatever he wanted. He could go on the road with these two brothers, he could leave them whenever he wanted if he felt like doing so. For once it was all up to him, or at least it felt like so. Maybe it had always been the case, it just never felt like it.

He soaked in the water for what felt like an eternity, an eternity that ended when Nicolai came and knocked at the door.

N “Sergei is about to cook dinner, do you have any specific diet? Something you’re allergic to or can’t eat for whatever reason? Anything note-worthy?” J “I pretty much only eat bread and meat.. That’s about it…” N “Can the meat be cooked or you only digest it raw?” J “Im fine with both. I prefer it cooked but if it’s easier for him to leave it raw it’s okay.” N “Alright, I will let him know!”

Around half an hour later dinner was ready and Jin was out of the bath. As his clothes were still drying he had no choice but wear the slightly too small clothes Nic prepared for him. It was probably better this than Sergei’s clothes, they would be both too short and too loose. 

He exited the bathroom but didn’t really knew where to go. Beside this room, the house was totally foreign to him. He was about to try to simply follow the smell of food to reach the dining area when Nic popped up from his right where the stairs were. “The kitchen and dining room are downstairs. Come on down Sergei made you a couple of steaks. You must be real hungry.”

Kdishjins followed him down the steps, stopping at one of the window. He remembered what Sergei said earlier about putting wheels on the house and traveling that way. He would have been surprised if he hadn’t already experienced such magic back when he was inside Nico’s hat. He found it quite amusing. A house that simply move around on it’s own, that’s was giving a new meaning to ‘living on the road’.

Jin eventually broke out of his daydreaming episode and sat at the table to eat with his new companions, plates ready and full in front of him. His had a couple steaks while Sergei’s had a more varied assortment of vegetables. Nic on the other barely had anything in his plate, he wasn’t a big eater from the look of things.

S “I stitched ya shirt back up. I made it as discreet as I could and honestly, it look as good as new. For now it’s still taking the air and dryin’ up with the rest of ya clothes but y’know. It’s something.” N “Next stop we’ll buy you some new clothes too, you can live on just one outfit, until then Sergei will probably make you some. He’s good with a needle and thread!” S “I'm no high class professional ‘couturier’ but as long as I can cover my cheeks with a durable pair of pants of my own confection I think I can say I'm good enough! Any let’s cut the chat have a bite and tell me whatcha think about my cooking. Is it fine cuisine or what?” J “I'm sure it will taste great, but I don’t know if that could count for anything based on what I’ve been eating so far.” N “You’re not a good cook are you?” J “I’ve never really cooked at all to be quite honest. The villagers have been bringing me my meals for as long as I can remember and more often than not it was raw meat. I guess as soon as they knew I could digest raw meat just fine they pretty much stopped putting effort into cooking… I can’t really complain though, I was getting my meal served without needing to ask so why would I spit on my feeding hand?” S “how about ya’ll stop killing the mood and eat already! I didn’t cook all this for it to get cold and shit!”

The two chatterboxes apologized and dug at their plates. As much as Kdishjins wanted to savor his food he was far too hungry for that now that he had the meat in his mouth. He engulfed his food and despite having more food than Nic, he finished his plate faster than the witch could. Sergei sure knew how to work a pan far better than any of the villagers could whenever they bothered to cook for him.

Eventually dinner was over, everybody was full and satisfied. Sergei got up and gestured at Jin requesting him to  pick up the plates and follow him.

S “I cooked, did laundry and sewed your clothes back up so you don’ mind if I ask ya to help me with the dishes right?” J “Oh sure! The meat was great by the way, and thanks for everything, really…” S “It’s okay toots, couldn’t leave ya in that shithole of yours.”

With two pair of hands it didn’t take long for the monster boys to clean everything. After that Sergei gave Jin a quick tour of the house. He showed him the front and back porch, the small farm plot on the first floor, his arting-space in the attic and finally what will now be Jin’s bedroom that Nic’s have been setting up while the two were doing the dishes. It wasn’t a big place but it had almost all they needed, and for what they didn’t have inside they could find outside.