So originally this was a story that I adapted to be a fan fic for the game Rift Planes of Telara. Really the main markers of it being fan fic is the names used - but really it could adapted for any setting, but beings that the story was inspired by it I have still left the names intact. This was written several months ago.
Read below the break and let me know what you think.
Jungle Heat
By: Kartys
The witch-doctor’s muscles burned with fatigue as he fought against walls of the forest. He clawed at the flowering vines, but the tangled mass only gave inches when his efforts were worth miles. The deeper he pushed the more nature pushed back. A sharp cry echoed down from the green canopy above, holding a note that resounded in the witch-doctor’s head, pushing him to the limits of hysteria. It’s only a bird. The feigned reassurance was wasted on him. Early in his flight he learned not everything is as it seems in the depths of the Aegea jungle; he had not started out alone.
Talos Roda jumped suddenly as sharp pain shot up his leg. Blood was beginning to well up from two pin sized punctures on his ankle. He backed up quickly from the nest of flowers at his feet. Vibrantly colored petals laced their way along the ground, moving more than with the breeze alone. A red droplet rolled its way to the center of the flower closest to where his foot had been, past the bright orange colors into the deep purple center. The vine sprang to life, writhing and twisting, searching for its meal.
Frozen, the witch-doctor’s eyes flared with hate. He had come to loath the jungle that for centuries had been his people’s neighbor, but he had a special hatred for the moving vegetation. Such a plant had already claimed three of the few escapees. A brief pause was all it took.
Bent over panting, with the cries from their village close enough to find them, they had been unprepared when the screams started among them. A small girl had become tangled the moment she sat down. The vine took the two others trying to help her before the remainder of the small group fled.
Deeper
A chill shook Talos from his reverie, starting from his chest and racing to his head. His limbs moved of their own accord, not along the imaginary path he had been traveling but directly toward the heart of jungle. The chill that revived his body dulled his mind, higher thought abandoned him to be left with only the need to push deeper.
Just as abruptly as the impulse to move had come, it left. Talos blinked, wiping the daze from his eyes. There was no telling how far he’d traveled, but by the setting of the sun he guessed he’d been moving for several hours. Dampened rags served as a pitiful excuse to clothing, his only protection against the swarms of insects the night brought out.
The heat in the air was suffocating. Having lived in the volcanic land, Talos credited himself with being accustomed to the heat, but nothing could prepare him for this particular assault. The jungle had turned into a cauldron, bubbling and foul.
The landscape had changed drastically. Water was everywhere. It rained from the leaves, it sloughed around his ankles, and it shrouded everything in a fine mist. Through the mist the land rose sharply marking the foot of Aegea’s famous volcanoes. Slimy green bubbles rose bubbled to the surface of the water, bursting with a slight pop and puff of steam.
Life around seemed to be in a constant state of death and rebirth. From decaying remains rose new life, though twisted and sickly. The bright green trees and vibrant plants were replaced with putrid oranges and browns, as if the jungle had become infected with a festering sore. A constant chorus of sound surrounded him, marking the ebb and flow of life in shrilling screams of animal birth and the haunting wails of death.
The spongy ground worked against Talos, his feet sinking several inches into the soft earth, each time taking more strength to pull out. He didn’t make it far before a new sound stopped him cold. A deep rasping chant rose up behind him.
From the fiery halls of Maelforge, we come.
Fear took over, pushing the witch-doctor’s body forward. The ground would not give up his feet, and he fell onto his hands and knees.
We come to fight, we come to break, we come to burn.
On all fours, he thrashed against the muck holding him. Foul water splashed over him, covering him in mud and weeds. Tears mixed with the slime as fear turned to panic.
Maelforge will return, and this world will be cinder.
There was nothing left of Talos now, merely an animal desperately seeking escape.
“Maelforge will have this land, elf! His flames will consume you and from you will be born one that serves.” The chant followed Talos’ into the darkness of his mind, leaving only his body to the pain.
#
His body broken, Talos lay against the rise of the volcano. His head lolled from side to side, glazed eyes taking in but his mind not comprehending. The chant returned and a day passed.
He could hear laughter, manic and wild. It was his own. The chant returned and a day passed.
His waking moments knew nothing of time, only of the pain that racked his body. The chant returned and a day passed.
#
Lucid thought found Talos on the fourth day. He awoke screaming, but he was himself. By midday he could lift his head enough to survey his ruined body. For the first time since fleeing his home, he really saw himself. There was no evidence of the rags he once wore. He was clothed now in splashes of mud and his own dried blood. Cuts and slashes lined his body with a precision that spoke of the torturer’s skill. The intent had never been to kill, at least not yet.
White bone protruded from one of his legs, the wound around it infected and festering. Talos knew he would have to set the bone before he could make an attempt at moving. He felt little of the pain before the blackness returned.
#
Vengeance.
A quake brought Talos back to his senses. The moon had risen and from his spot on the slope he could hear his tormentors returning. He could not make out the words, but there was no need to. Talos fought against the pain and flipped over so he could crawl away, but in his wrecked state he did little more than flail against the ground. Tears of frustration blurred his sight. The volcano rumbled beneath him again as the chanting grew louder.
Pinpricks of red light fell from the sky, sparks from the volcano, tinting the world in an eerie twilight. Talos tried to scramble into the long shadows they cast, hoping to hide in the darkness. He knew escape would be near impossible. But the lights followed him
Vengeance is yours.
The voice resounded in Talos’ mind, halting his desperation. Several of the lights began to change as the chanting grew louder.
We can deliver you from this place, to take your justified vengeance. Accept us.
Talos began to chuckle, and he knew his mind had gone mad/. Dark shapes began to advance up the slope. He reached out for the closest spark. Pain seared his flesh on contact, but left no mark. Awestruck, Talos reached out again.
Steel yourself! Though the agony be great…
This pain was different, it was ecstasy.
…my cleansing flames will burn away the darkness within…
A brilliant white light filled Talos Roda’s mind.
…and reforge your very soul.
~~~~~~~
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