Chapter 7: immanent insanity.
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Ivy Stretched her paws while Ullr stared vacantly at her, Ivy looked at him her tail resting on his tiny little head. He quickly got under it before pouncing on her tail playfully biting it and cuddling with it. Ivy felled something warm in her heart something that replaced the usually cold and vacant space that was her mind, but she openly welcomed the change. She grabbed the small kitten and stroked his pelt clean with her tongue even tough he tried to struggle free, when she was finished, she shifted into her demi-human form. "Alright Ullr stay here please, I'm going to buy some milk with the money I found…" she paused on the word found she never 'found' the money, she robbed the people she murdered and robbed their homes, leaving nothing but death and destruction in her wake. She smiled while she put on her clothing while Ullr grappled with her leg, purring and mewing all the while. She quickly finished putting on her clothing, before quickly rubbing Ullr chin who nudged back into her hand his fur was insanely soft like a cloud. "Now stay here and stay hidden if someone enters" Ullr nodded happily before running back inside his small feet making him wobble a bit. Ivy laughed at his cute little way of walking. "See you later my little fur ball"
When she entered the market she once again heard the familiar screaming of market vendors praising their wares, But in the distance she saw stalls managed by adventures. She should probably stay clear of that area as much as possible as the mages, scouts, clerics, or rogues who wandered there could easily cast 'detect' a medium-level spell, and then her disguise would be useless. She quickly approached a nearby vendor that was selling dairy products. The man looked her up and down as she approached, and Ivy stared back. It was a dwarf big for his species around half her size but still. "What do ya' want?" he croaked when Ivy looked over his products. "Milk that is safe for newborns to consume." "Oh, ya' want mermaid milk yes. Good for every species newborn, if that's ya' choice I have some in the back, costs five pieces of silver for each can" he grumbled "Alright I will take two" the man nodded stood up and went to the back of his little tent before returning with two iron cans filled with milk. He slammed them down on the counter leaving a small dent into the wood. "Here's ya' cans" Ivy nodded before placing a big silver on his table and taking the two cans before hauling them back to her den.
Ullr came jumping out the den as she neared his little tail wagging behind him. "I've got your milk!" Ivy called, Ullr yelped in excitement "Yay, milky milk!" Ivy laughed at his antics before opening a can and pouring milk into an adventure's helmet. Ullr sat beside it waiting patiently before digging in after the helmet was filled with the sweet milk. Ivy shifted back into her fox form before laying down and watching Ullr as he's drinking. Ullr playfully swatted Ivy's tail as she placed it on his shoulder. She started smiling and also playfully swatted back claws sheathed, Ullr clung to her giggling. Ivy's heart started feeling warm again. "Mom, who is Tsalice? You say her name in your sleep." Ivy looked at him. "Tsalice is the god I believe in. She is a very kind leader, she watches over us, guides us and helps us." Ullr nodded thoughtfully as Ivy spoke. "Can I speak with her?" Ivy looked at Ullr not sure if she could say yes or no. "I don't know sweetheart." was all she could say.
"Sure, you can speak with me." a familiar voice echoed from inside the den as a small version of Tsalice stepped out around the size of a rat. Ullr stared at Tsalice in wonder before swatting at her his paw went through the little Tsalice. She laughed "Now, now, young kitten I'm not food" Ullr swung his head back to look at Ivy "That's Tsalice I thought she would be bigger." Ivy looked at Ullr before looking at Tsalice. "Yes, she normally is a LOT bigger." was Ivy's answer. Ullr nodded before swatting at the small goddess again. Tsalice jumped away before looking at Ullr "I like your name. Reminds me of a god. Ivy you should make some money and not in questionable ways." Ivy nodded. "I don't want to leave Ullr alone for long periods of time." Tsalice showed understanding in her concern. "I can summon a medium-high grade ice golem to guard Ullr. This time I will not ask you anything in return but next time it won't be free." Tsalice commented after a while. Ivy thought about it even tough it was obvious that it was a good deal. "Can you keep Ullr company?" Tsalice looked at Ivy before nodding. Ivy looked at Ullr. "Ullr. Tsalice is going to keep you company until I return, it may take a few moments so stay safe." Ullr nodded intensively. Ivy looked at the little kit he reminded her of herself all those years ago when her family was still alive.
She finally arrived at the guild the alcohol smelling as putrid as always the loud clatter of armor and weaponry bouncing off the walls, the chaotic voices of the many adventurers drowning each other's voice out. Ivy walked to the desk the receptionist quickly spotting her as she approached. "Hey Ivy, are you looking for something to do?" She called to Ivy, She nodded in response. "I don't actually know your name. Can you tell me?" The receptionist looked at Ivy before nodding slowly. "It's Niyam." Alright, now Ivy knew her name. Now she just needed to ask for a party. "Alright Niyam, I want to do a quest hopefully on the lower difficulty. I don't have a party, so can you find one? I wanted to say I'm not very keen with mages, scouts, clerics, or rogues." Niyam looked at her with surprise but didn't say anything. "I found a party on the list here that containing: a human swordsman called Vlad and an elven archer called Delmira. They're going on an extermination mission that will take place tomorrow" Ivy nodded in response before agreeing to take the mission.
Ullr once again rushed out of the den the moment she neared before jumping onto her easily landing on her shoulder. He squealed in excitement while rubbing his head against her chin, Tsalice left the den a few moments later before nodding to Ivy and vanishing into thin air. Ullr sprang off Ivy's shoulder landing as quiet as an owl flew. She shifted into her fox form and gently nudged the bundle of fur inside their den. "Alright Ullr, I'm going to take in the five goblin cores… no, I will take in four, and you can take in one. Maybe you can protect yourself a bit then." Ullr nodded intensively. Ivy went and grabbed the cores, they shimmered a silvery white with the mana they contained. Ullr grabbed one and quickly bit into the core, his body started glowing as he absorbed the mana, the fur around his right eye darkened, growing until it reached his shoulder while smaller dark patches sprouted out the main patch like branches before ending in big leaves.
Ivy stared in amazement as the dark spot grew and grew beginning to resemble a plant. Ullr also looked amazed tough he couldn't see it, he probably just felt it. Ullr quickly formed a little ice shard, the mark that resembled the plant lit up in a pale blue comforting light before quickly dimming as Ullr stopped the spell. They both looked at each other, Ivy didn't know what to say she was mesmerized by the mark. She knew most high ranked beasts created marks without knowing it, that allowed them to cast spells unconsciously while also giving them knowledge of everything that was commonly known, those marks always represented something they held close, lower ranking monsters could also create marks, but that would be much harder and there were conditions. Ivy also quickly consumed the remaining cores feeling her mana increase to the point that she could at least cast five low-level spells. "The plant that my marks resembles is called an ivy." Ullr pointed out. Ivy looked at him, tears started forming in her eyes she didn't know what to say. She curled around Ullr and started sobbing, she didn't know why, she couldn't stop. Ullr curled up to her belly seeking her warmth before quickly falling asleep. Ivy just couldn't stop crying she was overwhelmed with emotions she never thought she would feel this ever again.
--The next morning--
Ivy opened her eyes blinking at the light that filtered into her den, Ullr was sleeping peacefully at her belly. Ivy smiled at how adorable the sleeping kit was, she traced the outline of the mark on his soft fur. Standing up she shifted into her demi-human form prepared milk for Ullr and called for Tsalice to guard him. After a walking for an hour she finally arrived at the guild. Tsalice hadn't charged her for looking after Ullr as she was intrigued in his mark. The two adventures just glanced at her as she approached before nodding. They didn't say anything like they were afraid to share something with her. "We're leaving." one finally said after a long uncomfortable silence. Ivy nodded before following the two retreating figures.
The grass engulfed their shoes as they entered a vast open plain a few trees stood tall scattered across the open space, a few steps away from Vlad a river broke open the field like a vein. Ivy smelled the numerous mice scurrying along the ground their feed barely touching it. "So, the monster's nest is around that oak over there." Delmira called out while pointing to a massive oak in the distance easily dwarfing the other oaks around it. Vlad nodded before drawing his sword, its silvery surface reflecting the sunlight in a dazzling flash. Ivy hurried next to him. "Alright, let's go!" Vlad shouted. The group quickly neared the monster nest the oak towering over them more and more as they came closer. As Vlad came too close to a nearby hole something jumped out to attack him, he dodged just in time before cutting it in half, another creature lunged at him from another burrow but quickly got an arrow to the head. Ivy quickly got closer to see what it was but froze the moment she realized what they were hunting. Laying before her was an earth fox eyes glassy blood drooling out its mouth, dead.
Kits squealed in the background as the other two murdered more and more of them. Twisted gurgling started filling her ears, vision of her people being ripped open, and their cores extracted, kits pierced by blades, others looking at her for help. All of it filled her vision, the screaming, the sobbing and the sounds of dying foxes echoed in her ears. Her breathing became labored, her mind starting to cloud, she stared at the river. The water began turning red, screaming faces appeared in it, the sky turned red, corpses of her kin littered the ground stretching on for what looked like forever. Then it happened voices started whispering to her before quickly screaming at her. "Kill them, rip their eyes out! Eat them alive, torture them, feed them to the living!" Ivy grabbed her head it felt like it would burst any second. Vlad winded up his sword to kill another, but he didn't have the chance as ice exploded out his veins piercing through his bones, skin, and nerves. He shrieked in pain unable to even move his hand.
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Delmira just stared at Vlad's hand, the ice shards that were poking out the color of his blood. She turned her head to regard Ivy who was grabbing at her head screaming and clawing at her face. A thud reverted her attention back to Vlad whose hand just fell off, the blood gushing out his wound freezing into stalactites as they hung there as cruel jokes. She looked back at Ivy just in time to see her lunge at Vlad. She wanted to yell but nothing escaped her lips as if her vocal cords were frozen over. She watched as Ivy's nails turned to claws before they bored into Vlad's eyes straight to his brain, he went limp. She stared in horror as Ivy ripped out Vlad's eyes before chewing on them, what's worse was that her superior hearing made her pick up the sickening popping sounds as Ivy bit down on the eyes. She wanted to throw up, but she couldn't, she wanted to scream, instead it came out as a gasp, she wanted to fight, but her bow looked useless.
RUN was the only thing that her mind voiced to her, urging her to escape this hell. She turned around to run to escape. Her legs quickly picking up speed, before she came crashing down as she tripped over a rock. She looked behind her and Ivy stared back at her face inches apart from her, she felt her warm breath covering her face. A sadistic smile crept from ear to ear making her shiver. She tried to plead for her life, but she could form no words. Then she heard it a fox cub screaming as it died, numerous corpses littered the ground, the sky turned red and behind Ivy stood a massive fox numerous tails waving behind her in a hypnotic rhythm, it smiled at her before vanishing into a pile of blood soaked snow. She stared at Ivy as she finally realized that Ivy clawed hand had pierced her chest ripping out her heart and as she started feeling cold, she remembered her life, her mother smiling at her, her father teaching her how to shoot the bow and her child who was her most precious gift. As her vision faded to black the last thing she heard was maniacal laughter.
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Characters:
Ullr: gained a mark and is generally rather powerful for a child.
Vlad: A human swordsman, Is there to die nothing special.
Delmira: An elven archer the rest is the same as Vlad, is also a mother.
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General info of the world:
Money:
There are three tiers of coins: copper, silver, and gold. Normal pieces are the basic form of each tier a big coin is ten pieces of the basic coin. You need fifty pieces of a normal coin or 5 big coins to have the bigger tier. So fifty normal copper pieces or five big copper pieces is one normal silver piece.
Magic:
Conscious magic: takes longer than unconscious magic as you need to choose the point, power, and spell you want to cast.
Unconscious magic: Is faster as mana is separate from time it knows at which point it's cast, and which spell it will be. The caster just needs to regulate the power.
Mana: Is a force with a will. It's not alive, but it thinks, creates and understands things. (don't think too hard about it.)
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Writer's note:
I have nothing to say.