[Mkguild] Young Love? Malakai and Sargosa

[kyle.vernon at gmail.com]

Sargosa, her deal, it's finally explained! And you thought she was just
some adorable background character didn't you? In Metamor Keep, appearances
can be deceiving.

Probably the shortest story I've done for MK.

Young Love? Malakai and Sargosa

Malakai woke up having pretended to have been sick since the curse claimed
him. All day he had buried himself in his room, not letting Grandmother
Amare or Sargosa find out that he was lying about being a woman under a
curse giving him the guise of a man. Malakai realized this was going to
happen and he’d blow his cover, but something had gone horribly wrong with
his spell. It was Malakai’s intention to have two curses at once,
reflecting his subconscious and his true dedication to the Flesinoir. Two
of them, the animal curse of the Third Gate and the gender bending curse of
the Second Gate, leading him to become a female squid with which he could
mutate into an impressive form and with the capability to lay eggs and
become a mother she would be not a Price an impressively macabre Flesinoir
Queen. One that would kill Grandmother Amare and Sargosa before leaving
Metamor Keep. Things however didn’t quite turn out that way as no matter
how much he thought of the idea and convinced himself that he had to,
killing Sargosa and Grandmother Amare just felt wrong. Like if he did so
he’d feel bad, like he’d miss them. Malakai found this most queer as he was
quite unrepentant of all the killing he had done for the flesinoir since he
was a mere babe. Yet now this raccoon and rabbit had somehow poisoned his
heart with these feelings of affection and love.

Malakai couldn’t rationalize it. It wasn’t the first time he played the
game of befriend a kindly stranger and then burn their house to the ground
when you leave, and he had never felt any guilt the previous times he did
this. Zyhx had offered to do the killing instead, but the most difficult to
believe for Malakai of all was that he had actually ordered Zyhx not harm
Sargosa or Grandmother Amare. Malakai could tell Zyhx didn’t like this, but
he did outrank him so that was that.

Malakai hadn’t seen Zyhx lately, who had transformed into a rather
magnificent and horrifying emperor scorpion. Malakai being a flesinoir, a
cult obsessed with mutating flesh into macabre shapes,  was practically in
love with how frightful and menacing Zyhx now looked. It was so elegant a
painting of creative destruction that Malakai practically wanted to marry
Zyhx. Perhaps Zyhx could have made a fitting father had Malakai’s original
plan of becoming a female squid-beast had been pulled off. Instead what his
visage now resembled was something truly worthy of his fear. Something so
hideous that even Lilith, Queen Of The Undead, would have puked at the mere
sight of it. Malakai got up at of bed and looked towards a dusty old mirror
that looked like it had not been cleaned since Duke Thomas had feet instead
of hooves and gazed upon a terrifying aftermath of two curses working in
unison, a five year old child who resembled a fluffy white rabbit so cute
he could easily be mistaken for a very well crafted doll. “Gahhh! I’m… No…
This visage is so vibrant and full of life, so beautiful and reflective of
nature’s natural raw brilliance… The exact OPPOSITE of the Flesinoir
vision.”

The white rabbit prince had studied his notes several times to try and come
to an understanding of how and why this had occurred yet all he been able
to figure out what was that something in his subconscious really wanted him
to have a form resembling a small rabbit-like child. As though this
combination of blood and flesh was somehow inscribed into his very soul,
fitting like the perfect armor. Very efficient, not too light, not too
heavy, it took him a while to realize it but he didn’t even feel the
slightest bit of the sensation known as Body Dysphoria that normally
occurred from botched transformations. Malakai had no idea how this made
sense, or how many people would burn down both this reality and the world
that follows for a gift as glorious as this one.

Malakai rose from his bed and realized he had to act. Eventually Amare or
Sargosa would check on him by entering the room and it was better that they
find nothing as opposed to finding a confused lapine child and it was the
Fleisnoir way to learn new things when possible. Thus the Flesinoir Prince
was left but with one option. Sneak out of the house and head to the
strange School System Metamor Keep possesses in which nobles are taxed so
that the poor can be educated. Something Malakai found truthfully amazing
as those with coin aren’t necessarily those worthy to wield power,
something he hoped that his God would fix once summoned into this world.
The land of the Flesinoir in Malakai’s mind was one where all where all who
wished to seek power were free to have it and all those idiots who felt it
necessary to be humble towards those who have power well they would kindly
get their wish as test subjects. A beautiful world in Malakai’s mind where
as long as one didn’t mind having their consciousness expanded and a few
extra tentacles added to their person they could be an amazing scholar of
the dark magical arts while anyone lacking imagination or clinging on to
these insane notions of the laws of nature or the will of Eli or that of
any of those Lothanasi types.

Hiding his Flesinoir texts under his bed and trusting that Amare wouldn’t
bother them and knowing full well that the beautiful Sargosa would be
attending classes alongside him. All he had to do was pretend not to be the
same person he was a couple of days ago.

Sargosa awaited at a bench placed down the path to Keeptown, her friend
Raleigh now a moth with a Mage’s Guild job who didn’t have to go to school
anymore. Sargosa was happy for her friend though found herself hungry for
company in her absence as looked up into the sky trying to find shapes in
the clouds. It had been a little game she used to play with Raleigh, trying
to read one another’s fortunes by constructing tall tales out of what
clouds looked like. It was very rare anything ever came out of it outside
of a coincidence here or there, unlike stars or enchanted cards, clouds had
no astral properties and thus couldn’t predict the future accurately. Still
cloud readings were fun and the stories the two had come up with were
amusing.

After looking at the sky for a solid 3 minutes the raccoon girl began to
connect some pieces. “The Prince Of Bunnies shall come and take the lonely
girl on a Grand Adventure!” Sargosa declared with glee. “To find a cauldron
of wishes and…. and...”

“And what will you wish for?” The white rabbit child that was Malakai
walked forward dressed in a brightly coloured blue tunic with green
leggings draped over thick wide legs of an unmistakably lapine nature.

“I’d wish for my Auntie back…” Sargosa said, looking over the kid. “Hmph,
I’m unsurprised to see you like this Malakai.”

Malakai felt a chill, as though a snake made of ice decided to wrap around
his spinal cord and bite his neck. “How… How could you possibly know that?”

Sargosa smiled baring her fangs to the bunny. “You have secrets of your own
Malakai, and I have mine. For starters..” The girl held out her paw in an
open palm and conjured an hourglass made entirely of a black flame.

Malakai looked this over the hourglass seemed to solidify its black
colouring turning a paler colour and gaining a very sickly image to it, as
if the hourglass would turn to dust if one breathed on it too hard. It was
the curse within Malakai, or rather one of the two, in physical form.
Looking closely one could see that there was blackened charred sand, no not
sand, ash at the top of it that just wouldn’t go into the bottom. “You’re a
rather talented mage. Would the curse in me end if you destroyed this?”

Sargosa shook her head. “No one alive or undead has THAT power. This is
just the manifestation of the abomination of nature coursing through the
human portion of your blood.” she giggled placing the hourglass on the
ground.

Malakai took a few steps back from Sargosa a little afraid at this point.
The hourglass she had summoned reacted violently flashing between red and
purple before turning into dust and surrounding Malakai before disappearing
into his aura. “I… I…”

“You thought I was just some dumb little kid?” Sargosa gave her most
sinister and evil smile. “I don’t know why you pretended to have the curse
already, and I don’t think it was by accident that you carry it now.”

“Sargosa… you’re scaring me.” Malakai hyperventilated.

“My Aunt is DEAD, murdered, and you’re the most suspicious person I can
think of. Do you think you’re not scaring me?” The raccoon walked up to the
rabbit and much like a dog began to sniff over him. “Give me a damn good
reason, why I shouldn’t pretend to have found your guts cut out by a lutin
who conveniently ran away!”

Malakai thought this over for a few seconds breathing heavily, he was
visibly scared much like a hare in the wild staring down a hungry fox.
“Because… I’m your best chance at finding the scorpion who killed her.”

Sargosa cackled like an insane murderous little hen that happened to be
furry and striped. “A Scorpion you say? That’s already an amazing lead. So
I find the would-be assassin of Ms. Porcupine and I find the one I need to
rip the entrails out of.”

“You?” Malakai raised an eyebrow. “You are only a child.”

“And still the toughest little tramp you’ve ever seen.” Sargosa’s smile
grew more sinister, Malakai swore he could see a glint of pure evil in her
eyes. “I have more questions for you hare. PROVIDED! That you can survive a
deadly trial!”

“And what would that be, child?” Malakai was most curious to hear this
challenge.

Sargosa held an ear out and grinned. “Public taxpayer funded education.
Mwhahahahaha~” she cackled as a cart full of children some with fur, some
with scales, some with feathers, and most with regular human flesh had
arrived being driven by a snuggly Panda with two horses pulling it.

The day flew by as Malakai paid close attention to the classes, people kept
asking him questions about where he came from and who his parents were, but
he dodged them with refusals to answer and changing the subject. Sargosa
and the teachers were all very shocked but how well he was able to focus on
a variety of subjects taught. Almost like he was a genius mage of darkness
who only looked like a child, but of course no one would suspect that
unless he was TOO obvious. Though to be too obvious for Metamor Keep one
would have to run through the countryside lighting the buildings on fire
and turning the kids into talking hats or something of that nature.

After school Sargosa and Malakai walked through Keeptown wandering
aimlessly with no real goal in mind. Malakai became on edge as Sargosa
started to look disappointed. The rabbit was about to ask what the raccoon
had on her mind when suddenly she confessed. “Ya know, when I had found you
in that body, I thought I had something in mind. I don’t really. I do find
you suspicious, but I also don’t have anyone to play with as my best friend
turned into a moth around the time she started entering womanhood and my
Auntie is dead because of Zyhx.”

“Aging or gender change?” Malakai honestly couldn’t tell which Sargosa
meant as he watched a blonde female blacksmith inspecting a sword she had
just finished taking out a bin. A woman who looked far too pretty for her
trade, then again so did the knights. Perhaps it was a quality of the curse
to help women who used to be men and still act very much like men continue
to look just as stunning as a woman who put above average effort into their
appearance.

“Aging, you were at her birthday party.” Sargosa threw herself onto
Malakai’s shoulder. “To be honest, I’m lonely and needed someone to run
amuck with, but my heart’s not in it.”

“You don’t want to kill me?” Malakai was confused. “You suspect me of being
responsible for your aunt’s death and you just wanted someone to be your
friend.”

“Oh I still want to kill you, I just wanna know how much fun I can have
with you first.” Sargosa looked up at the clouds. “I’m out of ideas really,
if I were a writer telling a tale of a Bearded High Mage Scholar from
Pallowtry wearing an unremovable disguise of a little raccoon girl after
discovering the Philospher’s Stone and her mysterious rabbit boyfriend
would be a great way to stall for time while my brain thanks.”

“You weren’t a girl before you came here?” Malakai raised an eyebrow.

“No I definitely was, the Mightiest Female Pirate of Arabarb and a real
cutthroat! Came to Metamor because my boys were going to mutiny and I just
didn’t feel like killing them all. Not worth the effort of my Super Form!”
Sargosa laughed playfully as she made a bunch of magic sounding woosh
noises, the kind kids made when they pretended to be wizards and cast
spells on each other.

“...That’s a completely different story from the first one.” Malakai
groaned.

“Yeah, I learned the art of telling tall tales from my dad growing up in
Sondeshara where he taught me how to shave. Course I had to kill him
though, because he was a Were-Boar who gored my mother on his tusk!”
Sargosa sighed. “That’s why I live with Grandmother Amare, always wanted a
mommy…”

“Now you’re just messing with me.” Malakai grew bored of this Multiple
Choice Backstory game.

“Then where did I get this?” Sargosa found a nearby bench and opened her
school satchel. Malakai seemed unnerved when she pulled out an old tome of
spells written in a tongue too complicated for any non-mage to decipher no
matter how much of a linguist they happened to be.

Malakai picked up the book and examined it closely “Isn’t that the Grimoire
Of The Grand Stage? Do you have any idea what you need to go through to get
a copy of this? They don’t just sell it at any book store, you have to pull
it straight from the void! My father owns a copy and he’s never let anyone
seen it, how do YOU of all people…?”

“Like I said, Philospher’s Stone. I made one, but then I painted it to look
like an ordinary rock and left it inside of a mine so the people who were
onto me would never get their hands on it.” Sargosa giggled, this story was
a complete lie and on some level Malakai knew that.

“So you were the Mage, that’s the true story.” Malakai snapped. “You play a
very convincing minx of a girl, full of feminine mischievous wiles, perhaps
this gender is your true calling?”

“But if that’s the case, where did I get THIS?” Sargosa reached into her
satchel and pulled out a very familiar looking pirate flag, one with a
purple background with two Green Hourglasses intersecting in the middle.

“Captain Britney Becker of the Times-Up Pirates? You aren’t as innocent as
you seem, you’ve murdered, pillaged, and raped so many. What is it like to
be a man raped by a woman I wonder? You never hear of it happening, some
argue it can’t happen because a man would enjoy it. Especially if Britney
is as beautiful as they say, still those who claim it happened to them do
not paint a pretty picture.” Malakai looked towards the book Sargosa pulled
out of the satchel, a black tome with pink page and on the front the
symbols of the masks of Comedy and Tragedy. “Of course, Becker disappeared
at sea day. You must have stolen the Grimoire from a very influential
party, of course you had to come here! Amare doesn’t question how long
you’ve been here because you’ve used the magick in this tome to make her
uncurious about your aging or lack thereof!”

Sargosa’s smile began to twist. “Am I truly the worst criminal you’ve ever
seen?”

“Not at all Becker, my manservant Zyhx has killed many people on my command
and my magick has twisted them to inhuman shapes. Even in Death. Now that
he’s transformed into the arachnid shape he has now he should be far more
deadly than you ever were.” Malakai reached for the Grimoire of the Grand
Stage hoping to have a look at this copy while Sargosa was pulling out one
more thing from her satchel.

“Yeah I was hoping you’d say something like that, it makes the last thing I
have to show you so much worse news for you.” Sargosa said in a near
monotone voice as the last thing she pulled out was the long rotted face of
a humanoid pig, one with a splotch of blood on his tusk. There was some
leather attached to the face to make it into a crude mask, one she put on
after Malakai had a good look at it.

“Wait, which of these stories of yours are true?” Malakai breathed in
deeply, half-sure this pig face should be taken as a threat. The poor
rabbit prince almost wanted to puke, almost, which was saying something
given the things he’d seen.

“All at once, and none of them.” Sargosa pulled a toy sword from her
satchel next, one made out of wood and looking very crude. “What’s the most
important thing to know about someone who can get these three things?”

“Not to get on your bad side I’d assume.” Malakai put his paw away from the
Grimoire out of fear at this point.

“Pretty much.” Sargosa said, holding the toy sword to Malakai neck. “And
that’s why when I ask if you want to meet me at my Aunt Vercetti’s house
tonight I can trust you’ll say….?”

Malakai was silent as he was still trying to digest what all was going
around him.

“I’ll tell you the true story of who I am if you do.” Sargosa batted her
eyelashes and blew Malakai a kiss.

“Oh sorry, yes, tonight around midnight?” Malakai asked.

“Exactly! That way it’s all ooky spooky and maybe we can see her ghost.”
Sargosa clapped in enjoyment. “If you don’t want Grandma to know the truth
about you, you should stay somewhere else for now, but I’ll see ya. Tonight
at midnight, and if I don’t. Well I’ll find ya. Bye” With that the raccoon
girl left.

Malakai sat there collecting his thoughts for a few minutes more. The
rabbit had no idea what to make of Sargosa or if she was either a help or
hinderance to him. He’d definitely need to investigate her further before
making any conclusions. Perhaps she’d make a great Flesinoir with the
proper training. It was during the fifteenth minute thinking that Malakai
asked himself. “Wait did she call me her boyfriend?”

Nightfall came quickly for Malakai as he pre-occupied himself with staying
in Metamor’s library and reading up all he could. Fox Cutter the librarian
shooing him out at around 10pm so he could sleep was the only way he knew
to even leave. Not having anywhere else to go the rabbit prince headed
toward Vercetti’s shop early.

The store was quite comforting the first time with its high quality
woodwork and a smiling gila monster ready to take your coin for anything
your heart may desire, even if it did seem a little disingenuous.
Especially with bullshit lines like that Inkay Squid locked in the basement
that Malakai had doubted the existence of from the first second the line
was uttered.

Approaching a bookcase by some barrels Malakai looked over the tomes for
sale and found a book on charisma charms. Being some what interested in not
only the tactics used by Vercetti but in coming across as more trustworthy
to potential converts to the grand truth he knew as the ways of the
Flesinoir, the bunny opened it up and sat on a barrel. It was just when
Malakai had finally gotten cozy that he heard a loud sound throw him face
first from his comfy barrel.

“BOO!” Screamed Sargosa as she jumped out of a barrel full of carrots “Ehh,
what’s up doc?” she teased as she bite into a carrot slowly.

Malakai hyperventilated as he picked himself up. “Are you trying to give me
a heart attack?”


Sargosa hopped from the barrel and offered one of the carrots from the
barrel to Malakai who ate of it greedily enjoying it far much more than he
had any carrot previously. Previous carrots had tasted only of a bland
vegetable, an edible root and absolutely nothing more, this carrot however
gave the young lad the kind of sensation the local apothecaries of Mugal
would deal only under the table. Did the curse do this? Was this just how
rabbits tasted carrots? Perhaps that wasn’t the case, perhaps Malakai
wasn’t as he feared in the back of his mind as he greedily adopting all
mannerisms and intricacies of the lapine. Maybe there is some form of
enchantment or potion of eye of newt upon these vegetables that is giving
them some kind of a kick. These were all lies of course just a foolish
lapine in denial of how much the curse was affecting the process of his
thoughts.

“Alright Sargosa, what have you brought me here for?” Malakai asked his
curiosity peaked as somehow he doubted that he was present. “Somehow I
doubt it was to feast on the carrots of a beloved dearly departed.”

“Actually, you’d be right. I have something far more sinister in mind.”
Sargosa raised her left hand high which due to her magick immediately set
ablaze and turned an ashen black. “Get it, because that also means
left-handed.”

“You better be careful who you show that trick to….” Malakai pointed
towards Sargosa’s burning hand, he could think of at least three kingdoms
he had known of where just writing with one’s left hand was enough to get
you executed. This trick would have people screaming that the daedra were
upon them like the hammer of the gods. Malakai found it quite amusing that
people scared so easily at anything no matter how minor that they perceived
to be a sin when the unholy abominations of the Flesinoir not only existed
but if unleashed upon the world what a scream that would be. The very Earth
would become tainted flesh and the trees upon it would be like tumors
coated with blood and pus, all minerals would become bones and meat. There
was always a more horrifying demon and a brighter light than whatever one
believed was the threshold and would be the case for as long as there were
those who practiced magick, or at least those who held a pen.

“I know what I’m doing little bunny bunny.” Sargosa said reaching into her
barrel and throwing an old silken bag that caught Malakai’s eye, mainly
because it was of a material he hadn’t seen before. Sure it was silk, but
the kind of silk in question was the mystery as whatever worm it came from
he had never seen before. “Little thing from Yamoto that my auntie picked
up at a fair showing old treasures found at the keep. This thing’s been at
Metamor since the year 666, wooooo, am I kidding? No, I actually am not.”

“I’ve heard their people have yellow skin and slanted eyes that look
closed, what freaks they must be.”

“Said the permanently six years old talking rabbit boy.” Sargosa teased
wriggling her little fingers at the rabbit before beginning to tickle
Malakai who threw himself to the floor with laughter.

“Wha...wha… what’s in the bag Sargosa…hahahaha…HAHAHAHA! Stop, stop, unhand
me you vile manling.. Woman-ling… hahahahahaa....” Malakai was laughing so
hard that he would soon be out of breathe and his own lungs gasping out for
air with various pain signals from the center of his nervous system.

Sargosa chuckled clearly having her fun as she let up to pull an object
from the bag, one that looked like a flat plank of wood. “Okay, but
seriously. This thing, requires more than one person to use it. The magick
on it is feasible but it’s kind of hard to keep up the innocent little girl
routine when you use something like this.”

Malakai looked towards the board which seemed to be rather ancient, it had
to have been at least sixty years old at the youngest though what kind of
wood it was made of was entirely beyond his ability to recognize. Upon the
board was written in blade various letters and numbers. All the letters A
through Z, numbers listed 0 to 9, with “Yes” and “No” written on the bottom
in the common tongue of the humans from this region. The rabbit placed his
paw over the board attempt to feel the carvings but he found himself unable
to do so a wall of green light acted as a barrier between him and the
board. “Most peculiar item”

“Aunt Vercetti told me about it, it’s called a Spirit Board. If you bring a
group of mundane people then together as a group you can create enough
magick to contact the dead without any adverse effects. It’s supposed to be
twice as effective if you actually bring it where someone died. Ordinarily
we’d need a group of five, however given that we’re both magically strong
we can do it with two.” Sargosa explained showing that she could not touch
the surface of the board either, though she could carry it from the side or
underside.

“Why two and not one? We are no neophytes in the arts.” Malakai wanted to
know.

“If the spirits have to go through both of us at once we’re harder to
possess, a protective barrier on the Spirit Board won’t even let you try by
yourself.” Sargosa pushed harder on the surface on the board only for the
barrier to appear even stronger. “You could contact the dead, or you may
find a demon pretending to be someone you cared about on the other side.”

“And you want to speak to your aunt.” Malakai put two and two together and
this was the best conclusion he could muster up.

“I’d kill you where you stand just to have another day with her.” Sargosa
looked up with puppy dog eyes as she rubbed under the bunny’s chin. “Which
would be a shame because you’re rather cute.”

“Do you really think that or are you just trying to charm me?” Malakai
blushed a little, he truly was enjoying the fact that the raccoon had a paw
on her. He would have enjoyed more of her touch. Nothing sexual, the curse
had rendered him too young to feel anything stirring in his loins. What he
was not too young to feel was the embrace of someone he had grown to care
so fondly for over his time in Metamor Keep, someone of such pure innocence
and playful ways when he had seen nothing but the darkest sins imaginable.
The fact that this Sargosa woman fancied him too to a degree and had

“A little bit of both Mr. Fluffy Bunny” Sargosa laughed placing her paw on
the Spirit Board. “Well, place your paw on mine and we can begin.”

Malakai and Sargosa joined their paws together onto the board and upon
doing so a small glass bubble big enough to highlight only one of the
letters of the board at a time formed on the board. The two could feel an
otherworldly power coursing through their very veins, though the two
children were full of life they could feel the very essence of the
hereafter circulating through their blood and giving the children the
strangest feeling. It was as though the raccoon and rabbit were warm and
intact on the outside by in their inside they felt so cold and as though
their skeleton and organs had been replaced with some strange ichor. The
two’s eyes became a glow with a strange indescribable colour that neither
of them would be able to tell anyone else about as neither looked to the
other, both were entirely transfixed upon the spirit board.

“Auntie Vercetti! I call out to you in the name of Sargosa!” Spoke the
raccoon, daring not to even blink as she looked at the board.

Nothing happened, for about forty five seconds when Malakai decided to take
a look at the board’s placement of letters and words suddenly getting an
idea about how it was meant to be used. “Is the spirit of Vercetti among
us?” he asked.

The two felt their paws instantly against their will heading towards where
the board was marked Yes.

“Okay, Sargosa, anything we say has to be in the form of a question.”
Malakai announced.

“Kind of got that figured out Chief.” Sargosa elbowed the bunny a little.
“Auntie Vercetti, I have to know. Who was the one who killed you?”

As much as he tried to fight it fearing the answer would shock Sargosa and
make her despite him, he couldn’t help the movements of his arm. “Z-Y-H-X”
the two read aloud.

“Huh, that’s completely gibberish….. Can you do any better than that
Auntie?” Sargosa was confused and not really sure what these letters meant
when spelt. No matter how hard the child forced her tongue she couldn’t
sound out anything that Z-y-h-x could possibly spell. Malakai was grateful
for this as he knew damn well it was the spelling of his man servant's name
Zyhx, pronounced Ziz.

The two’s arms continued to get jerked around as the deceased Vercetti
begin to really get talkative. Sargosa began to shout every single letter.
“H-O-L-D-O-N-L-E-T-M-E-T-H-I-N-K-O-N-H-O-W-I-N-E-E-D-Y-O-U-T-O-H-E-L-P-M-E-S-A-V-E-T-H-E-M-T-H-E-F-L-E-S-I-N-O-I-R-K-I-L-L-E-D-M-E-T-H-E-R-E-I-S-A-S-A-V-A-G-E-K-I-L-L-E-R-A-F-T-E-R-X-H-Y-Z.”
Sargosa called out the letter though she wasn’t able to actually put any
words together because of how fast they were spelled out. Malakai however
had his mind modified by the Flesinoir and thus had a huge difficulty
forgetting things.

The rabbit fearful that spirit of Vercetti would give away too much
immediately took his hand off the board. “Sorry she was going too fast for
me, did you catch any of that?”

“Not really, but I know when you are lying. You killed Vercetti didn’t you,
you bastard!” Sargosa growled at the rabbit before shoving him down and
running back to the barrel of carrots and reaching inside for something
special.

“I swear…. I didn’t.” Malakai could have made some quip about how force
feeding him carrots would only result in a swollen belly and not much else,
however Malakai realized Sargosa would take anything outside of complete
fear would be perceived as a threat. The raccoon was the kind of person who
needed to feel like she was the one in control or she would use worse wild
cards than usual. An individual like this was rare, but dangerous.
“Sargosa, I had nothing to do with it…. Zyhx was the one who….”

“I knew you’d sell me out you weakling.” Spoke a haunting voice that
ordinarily brought comfort to Malakai instead sent a shiver down his spine.
Ascending through the floorboard came the mighty visage of a powerful
Emperor Scorpion, a green one covered in light magenta polkadots. The
visage was ridiculous, but was welcomed by the arachnid as Green and Purple
were the colors of the Flesinoir. The scorpion that Zyhx had become was
downed in robes, not the mysterious black robes the Flesinoir had been
wearing for some time to show that they were of a forbidden group but
without revealing which one, but instead purple robes adorned with green
symbols that were what many mages refered to as the Flower Of Life from the
Sacred Geometry. “I’ve notied you, you’re more kind to Amare and the brat
than you are to your own father. My suspicions were confirmed where when my
curse was set to change me into a form matching my own inner self, the
brutal majesty of the Emperor Scorpion…..”

Zyhx clacked his mighty scorpion pincers rhythmically for emphasis. “And
you… a bunny… a child… something so cute. A perfect form for your
pedophillac smittening by the rugrat.”

The scorpion approached at first slowly but Zhyx became far more beastial
as he increased speed, switching from a bipedal scorpion to what the
Keepers referred to as a taur form. “Six legs… six wonderful… powerful
legs… father would be so proud…”

“So you’re the one who tried to attack Pascal too!” Sargosa glared reaching
further down the carrot barrel. “Your body is discolored, she must have
thrown her dyes at you. When she reforms into a solid shape again I’ll be
happy to tell her how I took care of you!”

“Child, you can feed me all the carrots you like. Your transformation into
a lifeless corpse will not be delayed in the slightest.” Xhyz charged at
Malakai and pinned him by his neck against the wall, the sharp pincer
snipping at the rabbit boy’s neck. “You know Malakai, the Flesinoir do not
enter the afterlife like others. They become one with Azatoth’s madness,
their sanity being washed away as they become synonymous with the cosmos
themselves. I am not sure if I should be jealous of what I’m about to do to
you or if you should be horrified.”

“Those called back from Azatoth do tend to share in a madness some find
painful, and some find pleasant” Malakai spoke making peace with his fate.
“What are you going to tell my father? The Dead Emperor, Leader of the
Flesinoir. Surely he’ll be angered that you had slain me.”

“I’ll tell him that he has lost a son, but gained an experiment.” Zhyx
replied as he raised his tail and plunged his stinger towards Malakai’s
forehead aiming right for his mind’s eye.

Malakai closed his eyes and calmly accepted his fate, he would not raise
arms against the Flesinoir even if his life depended on it. True Malakai
was strong enough to slay his scorpiod manservant if he desired to, but to
die in the manner would not be so bad if it was truly for the Flesinoir.
The rabbit waited for himself to be parted from his body, it is simply
amazing how time stands still right in those dying moments. Is this what it
means to have one’s life flash right before their eyes? Malakai didn’t see
anything except for the inside of his own eyelids. “Zyhx, I understand that
you can’t let Sargosa live, but you can at least give her the chance to run
away…. Zyhx? Zyhx?”

Malakai opened his eyes and saw that the venomous stinger had indeed
connected, to a carrot that Sargosa had thrown. The rabbit was quite amused
by the fact that the reason the Emperor Scorpion had not killed him was
that Sargosa was pelting him with carrots.

“Eat up!” Sargosa cackled a bunch of carrots in her left hand as she threw
with her right.

Zyhx let go of Malakai who fell to his soft tush, and ran towards the
raccoon.

“You don’t want any of this!” Sargosa taunted

“A carrot does not inflict pain, I will show you how to do that when I eat
you alive BEFORE I kill you.”

“Well duh, you can’t eat me alive if I’m not alive.” Sargosa stuck her
tongue out before throwing three carrots. Two of them did nothing to slow
the vicious arachnid donned in an outfit colored of grape juice, but the
third seemed to explode on impact knocking Zyhx back. There was no major
damage to his exoskeleton, but the pain had left him recoiling somewhat.
“That’s right I can make Magick Missiles that look exactly like these
carrots!”

Zyhx realized that this meant that he would have to dodge every single
carrot that Sargosa had to throw without any way to tell which were real
and which weren’t. The scorpion pondered his next move and then put it into
action charging up to Sargosa and smashing the carrot barrel. The edible
root was now everywhere spread out as far as the eye can see. To make
matters worse Sargosa’s carrots had also been dropped onto the floor.

“Huh… I can’t throw a carrot without picking it up first, giving you an
idea which are real….” Sargosa looked towards the broken barrel and saw the
object she had been fishing for just laying on the ground ready for the
taking. With hope in her eyes and a smile in her heart, Sargosa ran towards
the precious object managing to avoid a quick pincer swipe as she turned
the run into a slide across the floor.

“Come to mama!” Sargosa cheered as her hands gripped an object that could
turn this whole situation onto its ear, a wooden toy sword. “Now I have the
mighty Fissuresk!”

“A wooden sword is your ace in the hole?” Malakai stepped forward shaking
his head. “I don’t really see what you can do with that, but, I will help
you! I...”

The rabbit took a few steps back from Zyhx, he looked for a weapon of some
kind before realizing that he now had claws. Extending a few claws and
reciting the words to a basic fire spell Malakai realized he had a choice
to make here. He could stand with Zyhx or with Sargosa, a tool to discarded
when need arised or a cunning metaphorical minx who could potentially be
made into the Princess of the Flesinoir. “Zyhx, I’m afraid your services
will no longer be necessary, I outrank you and it will be YOUR corpse I
will explain to father!”

“This!” Sargosa cried activating her own taur form forcing herself onto
four legs, fearlessly with these four feetsies she walked right up to the
scorpion and made herself look big and intimidating by standing on her
hindpaws. One head level with Zyhx she began to repetitiously bludgeon Zyhx
again and again until the arachnid’s exoskeleton began to crack.

“Ow… ow… stop this at once… ow….” Zyhx covered his head with his pincers
and scurried off away, with his outer shell beginning to crack and the
possibility of Malakai joining the fight the scorpion realized he could be
vanquished here. “Watch the shadows, both of you will die.”

With his former manservant Malakai looked to Sargosa with a smile, Sargosa
smiled back. The two held one another closer and pressed their lips
together. Though they were children in form their tongues only knew how to
join together the way they did because they had already known adulthood
even if their minds and bodies weren’t entirely geared for it anymore.
Since both seemed to be around 6-8, Malakai having no idea if he could make
himself any older or not, this was about as eroctic as the two of them
could get. Yet with having survived a killer as vicious and effective as
Zyhx, this guilty display of the innocent was well deserved. “Sargosa… You
do know that anything killed by the Flesinoir becomes itself a Flesinoir
right?”

“How can I? Your cult’s not been on the map since the Sondeckis and
Kankoran called themselves buddies, of course the Flesinoir almost taking
over the world… Okay not the point. The point is how does that help me now.”

“The Flesinoir are capable of resurrecting their own through their Flesh
Pools, we could only be defeated back then because one brave Sondeckis
plunged his Sondeshike into the Flesh Pool.” Malakai snickered, his hands
clasping together so malevolently. “It took us FOREVER to build another or
even know where to start, but there is one more in the town of Mugal and I
do know Sondeshikes are harder to come by than back then.”

“You can give me my Auntie back?” Sargosa’s eyes lit up.

“If Zyhx really killed her, yes. I suspect the only reason you were able to
summon her here is because you had someone who shared her newfound
connection to Azatoth.” Malakai explained looking over towards where the
spirit board was, or rather where it used to be. “Zyhx took it on his way
out…..”

“Do we need it?” Sargosa asked

“No, but I’d have loved to study it.” Malakai forced his shapechanging
Flesinoir robes to a spectacular full body black leather armor with a long
flowing red cape. “Come my lady, an associate left me some rather swift
Flesinoir beasts of burden we can ride back with, and then I will give you.
Your Auntie back.”

“Oh Malakai, if our bodies were more mature I’d…. Well, it’s not proper for
a maiden to bring up before she is wed.” Sargosa teased. “Get the wagon
ready, we leave tonight…. But first I have do something.”

“Of course my love.” Malakai rubbed under Sargosa’s fuzzy little chin.
“I’ll wait here for.”

On all four legs Sargosa ran into the night to find one particular girl. No
one knew Sargosa was capable of entering the taur form. The difficulty in
doing so combined with the amount of training required for an adult to use
the shape meant that Sargosa was rather secretive about the form taking it
in private and only when in a hurry to get somewhere if ever. If there was
anyone who would benefit from learning from the Flesinoir there was only
one to whom Sargosa could come out to who both be able to learn from the
experience and would be enough of a skeptic to even after this adventure
wouldn’t ask too many questions. Raleigh Chamberlain the Moth.

Getting Raleigh’s attention without waking her parents would be simple as
long as Raleigh was burning the midnight oil by shoving her insect nose
into a tome on advanced magical theory. Oh how confused the bug would be if
Sargosa revealed that she not only pretended to be oblivious to the meaning
behind the equations in her books, but also that she had a much higher
understanding of the texts than she did. Since Raleigh now had the body of
a moth, there was one surefire way to get her attention. “Om….”

Sargosa closed her eyes and shifted her focus to her very core bringing her
energy from the center of her soul and forcing it to the palm of her hand
with concentration and will. “OM!” and from her fingertips came forth
energy that quickly assembled into a bright green ball containing the very
life essence of the raccoon. To a lesser being the idea of summoning the
force that binds the soul to the corporeal body thus making physical
existence possible would seem like a revolutionary mind-altering event that
redefines one very philosophy as here in your hand was Eli’s greatest gift.
To one such as Sargosa even the biggest scale magick didn’t surprise her
anymore, she had already seen it all. When you’ve seen it all you react to
anything that doesn’ fall into the definiion of all not with emotion or
curiosity, but survival instinct, you have no time to have your mind blown
you must immediately skip to adapting to the ramifications.

The rustling of wings and the squeaking of springs were indicators on an
audial level that Sargosa’s magicka was having the intended effect of
attracting to her presence a moth. A humanoid moth, most specifically an
actias luna. Sargosa had remembered that Raleigh was most concerned with
being hideous and easily distracted by light as a result of her change, the
former seemed no longer a problem. Once the change completed Raleigh began
to look as though she were constantly wearing a luxurious coat not out of
place for a woman of high social class, it made her look adorable. As an
adult she would have quite a regal and desirable appearance because of it,
Sargosa found herself salivating at the thought of what her friend would
like but dismissed the thought. Even if Raleigh would have interest, a girl
with another girl would be a harder sale than the fact that the raccoon
wouldn’t be aging anytime ever. Oh well at least the girl reassured herself
in the fact that she had a delicious young rabbit to court or kill,
whichever ended up feeling more like the right thing to do.

“Sargosa…. This ball of… life force.. Is so pretty....” Raleigh fought as
hard as she could to look away, yet for all her struggles she could not
manage as much as even the meekest blink.

“Yeah, it’s mine and looking at it, unless I’m careless around arrows I’ve
got a lot of time on the mortal coil. Lucky me.” Sargosa snickered
absorbing the energy back into her body. “Raleigh… Do you notice anything
off about me?”

Raleigh shook her head re-orientating herself to the world outside of the
light she had been staring at. “Wait how did you summon your life energy
like that, that can kill you if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing….
And… wait a second… one, two, three…. Taur form? Wait, are you that
shapeshifter? Hawl, what… what do you want from me? Are you here to kill
me?”

A stirring of gears counterclockwise tickered through Sargosa as she looked
up at the stars. The raccoon had heard rumors of the polymorphic entity
known as Hawl nothing that she could back up with observations as she had
never seen him before. No one had even spoken to her directly as no one
wanted to rile up a child with the boring mundane politics of day to day
grown ups such as an entity of unknown origin with the power to change
bodies as easily as most can change clothing that claims falsely to be an
evil wizard foretold in prophecy and confined to the dungeon, as opposed to
childish things like faerie stories with mysticism and monsters. The fact
that there was one with a form so malleable did mean there were limited
ways to prove identiy, but Sargosa took one look at the moon and in doing
so remembered the cruelties of the world and with this remembrance of the
minds of malice. “You may be right to fear Hawl, or you may not. All I know
is this my friend, unless I were the real Sargosa I’d have no one of
knowing what a complete dweeb you are with your face buried in those books.”

“Okay, then I’m going to need you to explain the four legs….” Raleigh
believed Sargosa about her identity, the fake Sargosa would likely have
tried to sell a spiel about what good friends the two are or something of
that nature. A direct insult, that was the true sign of not a friend, but a
best friend.

“Metamor Keep’s been a fun place, you know, all the times I called you book
worm or egghead. It was really my way of cheering you on, I was a bit of an
egghead back when I was a grown-up. It lead me to being able to recognize a
truly boring unfun time when I saw one.” Sargosa gave a fake yawn. “I’ve
got to get a move on. A new opportunity has shown up that I must try to
take full advantage of, but giving my furcoat it’s a strong probability
that I’ll have to be back at Metamor Keep some day. Though what I have to
check out could be linked to forbidden and ancient magicks the likes of
which haven’t been seen in centuries, or what a lot of the Keep’s heroes
refer to as, the usual.”

“....Umm okay… I just got an in with the Mage’s Guild, it’s kind of what
I’ve been working up to my entire life. If I disappeared now it could ruin
my career as an aspiring mage.”

“I figured you’d say that, but I’d just hate myself if I didn’t offer.”
Sargosa turned around and walked a few steps only stopping when Raleigh
spoke up once more.

“I… I won’t tell anyone.” Raleigh called out.

“I know Chamberlain…. Because you are too smart to go blabbing about things
you barely understand. That’s why I kept my offer so vague.” Sargosa smiled.

The moth nodded and that was the last words shared between Sargosa and
Raleigh, at least, for now. Raleigh went back to bed, it was difficult to
get to sleep now that she had something to think about, so she decided to
burn the midnight oil with a dusty and weighty tome. The dust of these
things didn’t bug her as much now that she had the body of an insect.

Sargosa began to head back as fast as she could to her late Auntie’s
general store but found her attention taken by a red spark flying into the
air and exploding into a red S with an arrow pointing downward over the
main entrance to Metamor Keep. An S for Sargosa the raccoon assumed
especially since she saw neither floppy ear nor cotton ball tail of Malakai
in what little of the old general store she could see.

It was a guess that paid off as once Sargosa made her way to the gate she
saw two female knights on the ground looking lifeless with Malakai smiling
triumphantly over them clapping his paws together. “Don’t worry Sargosa my
dear, we leave as thieves in the night. They are only comatose and trapped
in a dream world of their own invention. When they awake tomorrow they’ll
just remember having the most vivid and wonderful dream feeling most
refreshed. Your dissapearance alone would raise flags, there is no reason
for anymore killing.”

Sargosa nodded slowly. “How are we getting out of here?”

“Regorez took what we refer to only by the simple title of Beasts Of
Burden, a Flesinoir creature faster than any horse. When he left with Leo
he had instructs to leave the beasts he took here where myself and Zyhx
could find them. Zyhx is the Keepers’ problem now.” Malakai took one last
look back at Metamor Keep. “I’m kind of glad Klaus told Regorez to come
here with Hawl. I’m not sure why… but I’m glad I did, it’s a beautiful
place, with beautiful women.”

Sargosa looked coy and whether she pretended to accept the compliment or
she was genuinely flattered she didn’t know. “This chest will never be
full, thus I know you lie.”

“Eh… I’ve always been into older women, but perhaps I’ll find more luck
with someone... “ Malakai grabbed Sargosa’s paw and proceeded to kiss it.
“My own age.”

The raccoon-taur patted between Malakai’s ears before gesturing to her
taur-back. “Hop on, I can’t show how to do this tonight, but I can offer
you a ride to wherever the mounts were rested.”

“Intriguing.” Malakai said, having not actually noticed Sargosa’s unusual
ungulate-like form in the night until it was pointed out. “Woman of mine,
you are full of surprises.”

“Yes, yes I am.” Sargosa chittered.
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