When it was first bestowed upon my being I never thought of it as a curse. Living forever isn’t a horrible thing, I had told myself, trying to take to the punishment as positive as I could. If anything, I could complete anything I ever wanted. I could live longer than any other man. I could never die. I was immortal, a dream that many alike wished for and lust after in such a world like this. But to be used as discipline for a crime? Blasphemy. Instead of acting remorseful I just turned to the goddess and dipped my head, laughing as I uttered simple thanks instead of grieving as she would have expected. To this day I remember the confusion her face—she, the goddess of the realm, the supreme maker and I, nothing but once was a mortal—as I spoke to her. And then she smiled. Why, I do not know. It was an oversized grin that stretched upon the surface of her face as she released a shrill laugher, as if taunting me for my lack of understanding. Taunting me for being so naive. It is sad that sometimes realization can take much longer than one would hope to achieve it.
Years soared past as I stood still. Age could not touch me, could not embrace me, but could only claim others who stood around me. Ones who I had held so dear in my arms p*censored*ed away with Time, friends and family abandoning me and receding into the forever darkness of death. Or maybe it’s light. How would I know, I can never reach that far. I can only dream of dying. Okay, so that might sound a little morbid. But when you have nothing to reach for in life, no one to be able to share and express feelings with for the fear they will never live as long as you, or for the fear that they would age and fade away sometimes you only wish to be free. Of course with the infinite token of immortality in my hands I could master anything my heart desired, and as one would expect I did just that. An expertise at the skills of weaponry I became, a master, a legend, a hero. One goal coursed heavily through my blood as did my want and will to die, to fade away and finally be free of my curse; to destroy anything related to the Goddess. With this, it was mainly represented by beasts in myths and of her creations.
My name went down as one of the best bounty hunters the world had known; the world that the people of this realm knew, at least. Stories of my amazing slayings had been made and people stared at me in awe when I would come close. But I sought no prize or gain for my victories, for there was nothing I could desire that the world had to offer me. Mortal possessions bore no profit; money was nothing but a mere possession for the living. And one of my biggest features—I worked for no one. I would not let anyone take claim of gift. I was like a god myself, able to make even the strongest men tremble before me. I could destroy anything. I WAS immortal. But if that is true, then why am I in the situation I’m in now?
.:Time’s Medallion:.
Chapter 1: Unnamed.
(ti
tle is not official.)
I knew it was near. It could not hide from me, even in the thick clouds of fog that rolled through the great rising cliffs of the mountains, even with the deafening silence that controlled the premises, almost as though to create a false sense of security. Never before had I been faced with such a brutal adversary; my heart was thumping uncontrollably under my chest and my back was pressed against a rough pillar of rock, one hand gripping the solid handle of my blade and my other keeping a hold on the wall behind me. I found despite my concealing calm emotions my body was shaking terribly and I was drenched in my own sweat, cuts that I gained from my enemy oozing with blood and a strange clear colored liquid. My condition was quite horrible, not one for fighting, but I was immortal. I was not scared of death; I wanted it, though I could not have it. But as I continue to sell these statements to myself I begin to truly wonder if that’s the truth, and if, somehow, I was to die, what would be in store for me.
Beside me stood my steed, his quiet snorts becoming more and more frequent, sign to me that my foe approached and that I only had so much more time to brace myself for its full throttle attacks. It was a beast that knew of my intentions, a beast so powerful and relentless I guessed it was one of Vaue’s most fearsome creations. Vaue. I clenched my jaw at the thought of the Goddess’ name, fingers beginning to fiddle the hilt of my sword momentarily as I regained my composure. My companion’s unsettling noises had soon become quite urgent, and I looked at the animal beside me. He was a Leigen, a breed of rare winged horses said to have only been spoke of in myth. His coat was a red sheen, wings a deep brown and tips of his feathers a deep chocolate color. Maroon tones coated near his hooves and nose, and his mane and tail were a black coloring. He was a truly magnificent beast and though he was a creation of Vaue’s he had served me well and was completely loyal to my wishes.
Suddenly the thick mist before me seemed to fade as a large figure pushed through, a loud and monstrous growl echoing through the large cliffs around me. It was terribly large head, about the size of a room framed with lethal horns twisting in different directions. The face reminded me of a knight in armor for it looked as though metal coated its being. A deep, deep crimson coloring like blood was the tone of its scales and it seemed like a nightmare approaching me through the shrouds of fog. Compared to the towering peaks that I had thought were so big before the creature before me looked like a colossal, easily maneuvering through the stones that stood like a forest throughout the area. And to make things worse, it was a dragon. Of all the beasts.
It loomed over me like a giant, maw opening to reveal a set of sword like fangs, each the same size or bigger than the blade I carried. Its glowing purple pupil-less eyes bored into my being, again seeming to scan over my deepest secrets and thoughts that I tried my hardest not to make evident. Although I tried to remain calm—I tried so very hard—I knew that my eyes were filled with the essence of fear at the monster that slowly moved closer to me with a hungering lust in its eyes for my destruction. I could only wonder if it wanted to know why I would decide to try and attack it instead when it was a beast that people feared, a dragon so horrible that it had been recorded through all ages, as had I.
“Foolish human… You dare enter my domain. You dare try to hunt ME?!” A deep voice rumbled from the depths of the dragon’s being, shaking all that was around. This included me and my Leigen and we could do nothing but tremble before its might. “You thought that you could defeat me. Do you know who I am?!”
“Of course I know who you are. You’re Valdric, one of Vaue’s most powerful and vile creations…” Hatred seethed into my voice.
“Then why do you seek to destroy me? I am more fearsome than you know. You could not have expected to defeat me.” There was a moment where silence slipped into the clearing, but it was disrupted by Valdric crushing one of the pillars between his claws, gravel falling out his palm.
“I know I can kill you. I am Immortal. Nothing can stop me!” I was yelling now, pushing myself off the wall behind be even though my limps screamed with protest.
As I stepped forward I could see a grin of amusement beginning to show on the dragon’s snout and my steed seemed to shake his head, backing away from me slowly. For some reason I felt determined to cleanse the world of this vile beast though I knew that it was something far beyond my reach. My feet spread apart as a fixed my stance, head dipping forward slightly and my red hair beginning to fall before my eyes. Through I found my ex
pression intimidating, it was not enough to get any sort of reaction from Valdric. Instead he snarled, eyes burning with a sudden rage.
“The one with clear eyes; he with colorless pupils. You truly are the accursed one. Well then, if you think you can defeat me, come at me! Show me that I have something to fear!” Valdric was roaring at me now, his wings unfurling and beating against the mist in the clearing. Some of the granite surrounding us even seemed to crumble from the force. “Prove to me that I can be slain!”
Accepting his challenge I began to charge forward, the speed of my gate soon picking up to an inhumanly speed. Valdric curled his head back before lashing my direction, a strange hissing noise filling the air before a loud sound, almost like an explosion escaped him. At the same time a huge blast of neon green fire shot from his mouth, burning the cliffs around us to nothing more than ashes. I only could smile at him mockingly, easily leaping swiftly out of the way from his blasts. Maybe it was because I seemed to move much faster and more agile than a normal human that a hint of confusion showed in his eyes, but I could comprehend nothing from his ageless gaze. His attacks were rapid, varying from attacking with his claws and tails to the different variations of fire that he shot at me. Yes, tails. Valdric had two tails, somewhat uncommon for a dragon, in my opinion, but there none the less. And he sure did know how to use them. As I had perfected my battling it seemed he had too, only in what ways a beast could. Every time I seemed to get close enough to inflicting a wound with my blade he would somehow seem to be able to twist around and block everything I tried, despite his enormous size.
But even though I could not harm him that didn’t mean he couldn’t harm me. Though I had been able to counter his flames with what magic I had, sometimes it seemed I just wasn’t fast enough to block all his furious attacks. Minutes p*censored*ed as I endured the heavy pain that progressed to seize my limbs, beginning to flood my thoughts and cause me to become more and more vulnerable. It wasn’t long until I was at the point where I could dodge no longer, breaths coming in great heaving gasps that seemed to wrack my whole being. I could do nothing buy parry with my blade, being pushed closer and closer to the bottom of a mountain before us.
“So this is the hunter I get to fight. The one who thought I could be defeated.” Valdric let loose a loud laugher as be continued to walk forward, tails raised over him and striking me from both sides. “I must admit, you are probably the most skilled that has ever decided to fight me. But you are not good enough. I will end this now! Prepare to suffer for the rest of eternity, Immortal!”
He didn’t give me much time to prepare as he lunged forward and a horrible screaming like roar sounded. His eyes were locked with mine and I couldn’t do anything but act on pure instinct at that moment, praying to myself that somehow I actually wouldn’t suffer for the rest of eternity as Valdric had stated. His jaws seemed to fling open and a great blast of golden flames swirling around me. I muttered a spell quickly, the fire beginning to curve around my being but the warmth of it still being there. It was too intense and I knew that there was no way I could hold this for any longer than two minutes at the most. Clenching my eyes shut I did the only thing I could think of and thrust my blade into the depths of Valdric’s throat, feeling an odd sense of satisfaction as a loud tearing noise sounded from inside.
The flames seemed to disappear instantly and Valdric began to wail, a high pitch screeching that rung through my head and caused my vision to go blurry. It was so horrible, so painful, and so high that I knew before that my ears were probably bleeding and I might have gone deaf. But the next thing that happened shocked me. As my arm was still lodged in the dragon’s mouth the blue liquid flowing from Valdric’s newly gained wound drenched my arm and unexpectedly began to burn through my skin. I found myself screaming at the same time, now desperately trying to pull my arm free as the strange acidic blood destroyed my flesh. I don’t know if it was because he sensed my intentions or was not willing to go out without a final blow, but Valdric snapped his mouth shut, teeth sinking into my shoulder. I shut my eyes from the pain that was sent through my body, shuddering slightly from how intense it was. My efforts to get him to open his mouth became weaker and weaker, as I could only pound lightly on his snout in attempt to get him to open. Valdric’s head soon rested on the earth and I had sunk to my knees, pleading for him to release.
“It seems we have both reached an imp*censored*.” Valdric murmured; his once powerful voice no more than a muffled whisper. I figured it was because of the sword lodged in his throat and my arm.
“So we have. Now let go of my arm, you damn creature!”
“I refuse to let you go. I know your attack was one that was fatal to me, and my Time is growing nil… But I refuse to die, and with that I have a request for you… If you do not accept, I will tear you apart before my life ends.”
His words shocked me, and I could only bl
ink in disbelief. “You’re trying to make a deal with me? Who do you think you are? I’m here to kill you, not make some de—“
“SILENCE!” He opened his mouth to roar, blood splattering upon my being. I could only wince and yelp as it began to hiss and burn as it had done with my arm. “I am not ready to die. You will make a pact with me. You will bond with me, and I shall live through you. I will not let you think it over. NOW, I command of you!” He hissed, head edging forward.
I could feel my eyes widening from the request. No, the command. We were both suffering because of one another, but at the same time we both held a token to heal ourselves; he was a beast and I was a man. The two things required for the Pact of Enova that would crest both of them with a seal. I knew I would regret doing this for the rest of eternity and I would never forgive myself, but right now I saw no other way. Shaking slightly from my own insecurity and unease about using such a spell I reached down to a open wound of mine hastily and began to draw the crest upon Valdric’s forehead, fingers cutting slightly from the roughness of his scales. Once that was completed I grabbed a rock nearby and opened his mouth again, dabbing it in the blood that filled his jaws. Then, after hesitating and shutting my eyes to prepare for the pain, I drew the emblem on my own forehead. As it began to chew through my skin I could do nothing but bite my tongue to resist yelling; now continuing the ritual through the pain.
“As this is the Pact of Enova, both man and beast must trade something of equivalent value with one another. As you both are suffering and in some cases death creeps in the shadows, you must now both state what you are to trade, and forever be chained to the bonding…” I trailed off slightly, staring into his lavender toned eyes.
“I shall share with you the gifts of a dragon. As I will be inside you most of the time I will lend you my powers, allowing you to change into half man and beast. You will be able to blow fire as me, see as I can, sprout wings to fly and much, much more. All in exchange for the Pact, as I give to you.” He snorted, trembling slightly as the life was starting to drain from his eyes.
I was tempted to ask how he knew so clearly what he was going to trade, but seeing as he didn’t have much time I rushed to finish my part. “I shall share with you the gift of Immortality. You and I shall be as one with this curse, a prize but a poison, the token to living forever. You shall stay the age you are forever, and you shall never die, no matter how wounded you become. Death is not on the horizon, only life, and it shall become but a fragment of a dream…”
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. I began to feel an anxiety growing in me, for I feared I had done something wrong. Was the whole ritual for naught? Had I forgotten something? As the different questions started to pile in my mind I soon noticed that both I and Valdric had started glowing, my skin and his scales becoming almost see-through. My head then began to spin as a pressure started to increase; Valdric’s laying form changing into a strange swirling tide of colors before my eyes. I tried to reach forward, hoping that I would touch him and my mind would clear. But that did not seem to happen. The world was turning, tilting, and I felt as though I was being tossed in different directions. It was not long before darkness soon followed, and I had slipped from consciousness as fast as it was there. But during my period of fainting a voice resounded through my skull, filling me with an odd sense of wonder.
Larsir and Valdric; man and beast now as one. The Pact of Enova has been created and shall forever be eternal, following even after death. You are both intertwined forever, fates and destinies, to share thoughts and feelings with one another. To be as one. Man and beast.
~*~*~*~*~
Story in the works. This is probably the first chapter or something...
I didn't really re-read for grammatical errors and such, but feel free to point them out. I'm also open to critique, but nothing heavy, please, for my sake. Be respectful.
I'm going to be posting the chapters up here as I go, so hopefully it draws attention. :D
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