[Mkguild] MKGuild Digest, Vol 116, Issue 5

[kyle.vernon at gmail.com]

IT's my story, it's from "Hawl Enroygall"

And it's entitled "Young Love?:Malakai & Sargosa"

On Sat, Nov 26, 2016 at 11:48 AM, <mkguild-request at lists.integral.org>
wrote:

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>    1. Young Love (cokane8116 at aol.com)
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>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: cokane8116 at aol.com
> To: mkguild at lists.integral.org
> Cc:
> Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2016 11:42:50 -0500
> Subject: [Mkguild] Young Love
>
>
> I am reposting this as the mailing list seems to have eaten the original
> message.
>
>  Its from Kyle
>
>
> Chris
>
> ******************
>
>
>
> I'm not sure who to send this to to get it on the site 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
> prince 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 kill them in a freak accident to
> erase any trace you were there, 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 the most revolting of all the monstrosities the Flesinoir had
> turned them into would have puked at upon knowing one of their own had
> taken this form. 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 see where it was
> that Sargosa had done schooling. There was a rumor Malakai had heard that
> the Keepers had a public school funded by the noble’s taxes. Something that
> if true Malakai would find 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 on 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. “An idiot trying to educate young
> children. 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 at how well he was able to
> focus on a variety of subjects taught. Almost like he was a genius mage of
> high level magicks 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 my friend Raleigh’s birthday party alongside me.”
> 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 then 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 thinks.”
>
> “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 up to Malakai’s neck.
> The blade could only give a nasty round of splinters but the gesture’s
> intent was still clear. “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
> filling in for the usual owl Mael Murie, 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
> hadn’t been bothered much or even locked since the death of the owner,
> between investigations from the guard, respect for the dead, and
> superstitions about the recently deceased few had reason to bother it.
>
> 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 the dubious 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. It seemed as though it
> were silk, but something about the texture that he just couldn’t place
> seemed off. “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.” Malakai gagged with disgust, he had
> heard the people were drunken rice farmers and he wanted little to do with
> them. Though this was about all he knew of Yamoto to his confession.
>
> “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 easy to use 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 engraved 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 in
> turn captivated his heart meant more to him than anything else.
>
> “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 but 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 Zicks.
>
> 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, almost pink-ish
> 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 garbed  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 referred to as the
> Flower Of Life from the Sacred Geometry. “I’ve noticed 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.” Zyhx 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 scorpion 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 garbed 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 discard
> when need arose 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 feet she walked right up to the
> scorpion and made herself look big and intimidating by standing on her
> hindpaws. On 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 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 gone 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 armor of blackened leather 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 not ask too many
> questions even after this adventure. 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
> audible level that Sargosa’s magick 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 ticked 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 way 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 given my fur coat 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.”
>
> ...
>
> [Message clipped]
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