((Double Monday -- Page 1 of 2))
They had resided here in Himmekel for over a thousand years, according to the one called Diego. And yet, these “people of the fire” showed no sign of wanting to escape this place. None of the Hun’Sho they spoke with seemed interested in leaving... or even just wanting to know about the outside world all that much.
These people demonstrated a lack of curiosity. Of ambition.
The one called Diego seemed to think it was due to their inability to age, that the Hun’Sho lacked any sense of urgency in their desires because they had all the time in the world to pursue them. Perhaps one day, they would leave and explore the world, but for now, they were content to remain here, where time was all but standing still.
Royo could see the logic in that interpretation.
But he did not trust it.
An entire society which lacked curiosity? Or the pursuit of betterment?
That was disturbingly unnatural. It was hardly even human, to his mind.
The only way Royo could rationalize the existence of a culture of such willful ignorance was by means of some coping mechanism. Perhaps the Hun’Sho had been prisoners in this place for so long that they had grown to love their imprisonment.
They had given up, in other words.
But that made sense. The Hun’Sho were a defeated people. Maybe not quite extinct as had been believed, but certainly broken in spirit.
In the ancient tales passed down by his Hun’Kui ancestors, the Hun’Sho were portrayed as a wicked and terrifying people, monstrously cruel and intelligent. Something to be feared and hated. Yet as he observed them now, beings that should have been legends brought to life, Royo found himself not only disappointed but also hating them for an entirely different reason.
They were pathetic. Shameful.
These people were blessed with immortality, yet what were they doing with it? Nothing. They whiled away the days down here as if time was of no value or consequence to anyone.
He could not imagine a greater insult to mortals like himself.
The superhumans at least seemed to understand that much. While Royo did not necessarily like them much more than the Hun’Sho, he did still have respect for them. They clearly possessed values. Principles. Dreams. Goals of their own. There was sentiment to be admired there.
The most maddening thing, however, was certainly the way that the Hun’Sho did not speak directly to him or any of the other Hun’Kui present.
At first, Royo had thought that they simply did not understand Modern Hunese in the same way that he did not understand their Ancient Hunese.
But then he remembered that the one called Carver was fluent in Modern Hunese. And the man had mentioned teaching several languages to the Hun’Sho over the course of his last five years here.
“Did you not teach them our language as well?” Royo had asked him.
“Ah--I did, yes.”
“Then why do they not answer when we speak to them?”
“Ah, yes... that is rather strange, isn’t it?”
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every day at noon PST by ~400 words.
Monday, December 18, 2017
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Page 1438
“Yeah,” said the one called Diego. “Oh! Are you saying they’ll adapt to your little whatchamacallit, too?”
“That is exactly what I am saying. In order for this EWE to work a second time, it must be retuned.”
“Hmph. How do we retune it, then?”
“...Trial and error, unfortunately,” said the one called Carver. “On the bright side, it can be done from a... relatively safe distance away, provided you can see them in the dark. Which I have another device for. But, um, ah--I was hoping one of you fine gentleman would do it for me, this time. I must admit, it has always terrified me beyond measure.”
“Fine.” The one called Zeff took the box from him. “I’ll do it.”
“Oh, thank god!” The one called Carver suddenly hugged the other man. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to have such a dependable companion! Please never leave me!”
Everyone involved in the conversation just kind of stared, and the one called Zeff slowly peeled the man off of him.
The one called Carver was red in the face, though Royo did not understand what that meant. “I, uh--please, I apologize--ah, it was just a joke, you see--aha--um--”
The one called Zeff kept holding him at arm’s length. “How long will this take?”
“Oh, um, well...” The one called Carver bit his lip. “A few days, most likely. Perhaps shorter. Perhaps... longer. It sort of depends on your luck, I suppose. Just cycling through all of the potential frequencies. In theory, you could nail it perfectly on the first try. That would be amazing! But then again, you ARE amazing, aren’t you?! Aha!”
No one else laughed with him.
Royo had only pity for the poor bastard.
In the end, the one called Zeff did not nail it on the first try, as Royo had not even seen the man since. Though that was no great loss, to Royo’s mind. He did not much care for that man’s presence. He seemed perpetually on edge. And irritable, to boot. And with as much power as that superhuman had at his fingertips, Royo could all too easily imagine him simply snapping and going on a killing spree after someone said the wrong thing to him.
Given a choice, Royo much preferred the company of the other superhumans, and so he’d decided to use this downtime in order to learn more about them.
The most problematic on that front proved to be the Senmurai, who quite easily spoke the least and frequently went off on his own. He’d changed his armor, too, as if to compound the mystery further.
Difficult as he was, though, Royo had to admit, the Senmurai was the one who most intrigued him. More so than the Hun’Sho, even. Though, perhaps that was not saying much. What Royo had thus far learned of them, he did not like.
“That is exactly what I am saying. In order for this EWE to work a second time, it must be retuned.”
“Hmph. How do we retune it, then?”
“...Trial and error, unfortunately,” said the one called Carver. “On the bright side, it can be done from a... relatively safe distance away, provided you can see them in the dark. Which I have another device for. But, um, ah--I was hoping one of you fine gentleman would do it for me, this time. I must admit, it has always terrified me beyond measure.”
“Fine.” The one called Zeff took the box from him. “I’ll do it.”
“Oh, thank god!” The one called Carver suddenly hugged the other man. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to have such a dependable companion! Please never leave me!”
Everyone involved in the conversation just kind of stared, and the one called Zeff slowly peeled the man off of him.
The one called Carver was red in the face, though Royo did not understand what that meant. “I, uh--please, I apologize--ah, it was just a joke, you see--aha--um--”
The one called Zeff kept holding him at arm’s length. “How long will this take?”
“Oh, um, well...” The one called Carver bit his lip. “A few days, most likely. Perhaps shorter. Perhaps... longer. It sort of depends on your luck, I suppose. Just cycling through all of the potential frequencies. In theory, you could nail it perfectly on the first try. That would be amazing! But then again, you ARE amazing, aren’t you?! Aha!”
No one else laughed with him.
Royo had only pity for the poor bastard.
In the end, the one called Zeff did not nail it on the first try, as Royo had not even seen the man since. Though that was no great loss, to Royo’s mind. He did not much care for that man’s presence. He seemed perpetually on edge. And irritable, to boot. And with as much power as that superhuman had at his fingertips, Royo could all too easily imagine him simply snapping and going on a killing spree after someone said the wrong thing to him.
Given a choice, Royo much preferred the company of the other superhumans, and so he’d decided to use this downtime in order to learn more about them.
The most problematic on that front proved to be the Senmurai, who quite easily spoke the least and frequently went off on his own. He’d changed his armor, too, as if to compound the mystery further.
Difficult as he was, though, Royo had to admit, the Senmurai was the one who most intrigued him. More so than the Hun’Sho, even. Though, perhaps that was not saying much. What Royo had thus far learned of them, he did not like.
Saturday, December 16, 2017
Page 1437 -- CLIV.
Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Four: ‘Hark! And unravel...!’
Click to display entire chapter at once -- (mobile link)
At first, Royo Raju had spent the majority of his time following the one called Diego, but when it did not prove nearly as fruitful as he had hoped, he began wandering about on his own more. It certainly would’ve made things easier if he could speak or at least understand Ancient Hunese, but even with as prepared as he always liked to be, he’d never thought he would have much use for a dead language, especially when there were still so many other, living ones to spend his time on.
An oversight, apparently. And an extremely annoying one.
Now, he only knew what the superhumans deigned to tell him, which was not very much.
Of course, it was also quite possible, and indeed likely, that these Hun’Sho were simply not revealing very much. They had every reason not to want their treasure discovered.
Royo wondered what the one called Diego would do if he actually found it. Would he take it from the Hun’Sho by force? He doubted that the man had such conviction. Perhaps his curiosity was purely that. Curiosity.
Then again, he supposed that it would also depend on what the treasure turned out to actually be.
Ah, but he was twisting himself into knots over this blasted treasure again. Yes, it would be nice to get his hands on, but he couldn’t let it distract him from everything else. That was a good way to end up dead, he knew.
The more pressing matter, of course, was dealing with the worms. Potentially, the golem and feldeath could be snuck past--at great risk, of course, but it was an option. Instead, however, Royo had hoped to learn more about how the one called Carver had apparently been able to subdue all of the worms just prior to their encounter with him. The man was obviously not a superhuman like the others, given his need to wear one of those suits, so there must have been some other reason for it.
And eventually, he did learn that reason, though it was not nearly as helpful as he’d wanted it to be.
“Oh, that was because of this,” the one called Carver had explained, presenting a small, mechanical box in the palm of his hand. “It is what we call an EWE, or Enhanced Wave Emitter. You see, worms have a particular frequency at which they are vulnerable, and if you are able to strike that frequency with perfect precision, you can effectively put them to sleep.”
“Fantastic,” said the one called Zeff. “Then let’s use that to get out of here right now.”
“Uh, it would still be quite a hike to Capaporo,” said the one called Diego.
“Indeed,” said the one called Carver, “but there is a bigger problem to address, first. As I’m sure you are aware, worms are highly resilient, and perhaps the primary reason for that is their adaptable anatomy and biochemical makeup. You mentioned seeing them fuse and split apart multiple times, yes?”
Click to display entire chapter at once -- (mobile link)
At first, Royo Raju had spent the majority of his time following the one called Diego, but when it did not prove nearly as fruitful as he had hoped, he began wandering about on his own more. It certainly would’ve made things easier if he could speak or at least understand Ancient Hunese, but even with as prepared as he always liked to be, he’d never thought he would have much use for a dead language, especially when there were still so many other, living ones to spend his time on.
An oversight, apparently. And an extremely annoying one.
Now, he only knew what the superhumans deigned to tell him, which was not very much.
Of course, it was also quite possible, and indeed likely, that these Hun’Sho were simply not revealing very much. They had every reason not to want their treasure discovered.
Royo wondered what the one called Diego would do if he actually found it. Would he take it from the Hun’Sho by force? He doubted that the man had such conviction. Perhaps his curiosity was purely that. Curiosity.
Then again, he supposed that it would also depend on what the treasure turned out to actually be.
Ah, but he was twisting himself into knots over this blasted treasure again. Yes, it would be nice to get his hands on, but he couldn’t let it distract him from everything else. That was a good way to end up dead, he knew.
The more pressing matter, of course, was dealing with the worms. Potentially, the golem and feldeath could be snuck past--at great risk, of course, but it was an option. Instead, however, Royo had hoped to learn more about how the one called Carver had apparently been able to subdue all of the worms just prior to their encounter with him. The man was obviously not a superhuman like the others, given his need to wear one of those suits, so there must have been some other reason for it.
And eventually, he did learn that reason, though it was not nearly as helpful as he’d wanted it to be.
“Oh, that was because of this,” the one called Carver had explained, presenting a small, mechanical box in the palm of his hand. “It is what we call an EWE, or Enhanced Wave Emitter. You see, worms have a particular frequency at which they are vulnerable, and if you are able to strike that frequency with perfect precision, you can effectively put them to sleep.”
“Fantastic,” said the one called Zeff. “Then let’s use that to get out of here right now.”
“Uh, it would still be quite a hike to Capaporo,” said the one called Diego.
“Indeed,” said the one called Carver, “but there is a bigger problem to address, first. As I’m sure you are aware, worms are highly resilient, and perhaps the primary reason for that is their adaptable anatomy and biochemical makeup. You mentioned seeing them fuse and split apart multiple times, yes?”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)