My mouth trembles hingelessly as I pant with narrow eyes on her now stationary body, their fingers beckon me. A collection of four daring me to succeed where I have only failed up until now. I've chased images and the past so far, the present always comes on erupting air. Everything intentional has missed and failed, so what do I do?
Glancing up at the night sky, I steamily groan with all I have before ending it with an 'aaaaaahhhh!'
Leaping into the cold air with all I can muster, a memory of the thunderous skies of Anvil-Peak enters my mind. She arrives behind me with her usual alien swiftness and grabs the back of my neck with a full hand. Holding me out towards the closest of the nearby mountains, she tuts. We descend slowly towards it and she tosses me onto the mountain.
Rolling all the way down, I get stuck on a rock as my face goes into moss and rare, high-living grass. Awkwardly moving my turned arm so I can try and stand or even sit up, it slips into the spongey rock. It leaps for a close-by patch of mountain soil and I try to calm myself down. There's no one up on this mountain but me, what happened with Vadei isn't going to happen here...
Vapooliar can keep herself safe in these circumstances, she's a strong woman, the most powerful I'll ever know. With a heartful of desire for victory and a headful of stupidity, my right arm comes back to my chest, then, it grasps the rock. I squeeze the stone outcrop as my left hand reminds me of how something like this should feel. Firm, hard, unwavering and near-eternal.
Memories of that rust-armoured bug come back to me, but, oddly, this also feels instinctual, like it's the natural way to do it. The inclined ground rumbles with a noise I cannot hear, only feel. A part of the mountain bulges and then shoots out into the sky in the shape of a flat-faced cylinder. It happens again, again, again, again!
A lethal, spaghetti mass of night-lit terror heads for Vapooliar and she is taken aback. One loud and proud laugh erupts from up ahead,
"Ha!"
An explosive cacophony creates a shower of rain made up of dark orbs that fly up and fall down, whistling with strength. My creations draw life from their mother and they chase after the flying soldier.
Vapooliar's shadow reappears briefly again and again before mighty crashes destroy the worms. Pressing against each other, they crack, bend and shatter into debris. Unlike the monster whose image lingers in my head, my weapons made of Oungicorcer's creations are sluggish. I watched that beast just shift solid masses through one another, but I cannot, mine do not.
She bursts into existence right in front of me, bathing me in emerald power as the last of my worms destroy each other. Her hands are twitching, with that marked palm of hers moving particularly threateningly. Our eyes meet, a slight, shard-shaped flash veins into existence in her eyes, the colour of her magic. I now have my opportunity, she's just waiting right there for me, my one solid blow on her!
With high energy and excitement, I throw myself at her, yelling with the gibberish of a lunatic. She stops me before I even get off the ground, then, I am driven back into it with painful force. Wide eyes try to take in the bared teeth above as a crushing grip continues to push me against the earth. Rumbles shake into my ears as the last of the abused mountain collapses around us.
She's refused to restrain my right arm.
I just need that one solid blow. It's dirty and foul, I know she hates this arm nearly as much as myself. But, to win I need to use it, I must exploit her crippling disgust towards this vile limb. I throw it up at her, plunging it into this water-like covering flowing off of her. She is alight as if gasoline was insidiously poured on her, only, it howls like the wind and blows with astounding pressure.
The bandages hiding my hideous arm are ripped off, revealing a carapaced, three-digit claw going right for her. She freezes completely as it comes -for her,- that dreaded sight she can never forget. One blink and fury is all she has, my arm is back in the ground with a burst of yellow flying out of it. I turn to my new wound as it registers in my head after the longest instant moment of my life.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SON OF A-!" I scream as my left snaps onto my caved-in, bleeding wrist. Hissing, I try to hold in as much of the noise as possible but I can't. It breaks free of its restraint each time and the puddle of blood grows and grows. Soaking the ground the length of my arm and beyond all ways.
Vapooliar breaks away from me, "I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!
Taking me into her arms like a child, she snatches up my arm as she continues to apologize. Her magic gently hums as it seeks out my mouth and nose, my wound glows and the pain starts to vanish. Energy fills it and all its aches and lethargy go extinct for the time being. A horrible, nasty wound disappears at the click of my fingers.
I move away slightly as I clutch the blood-covered, but unharmed arm. I hate this arm so very much, everyone I know right now does. But, for that one moment, that briefly eternal moment of pain-filled screaming... I didn't want anything bad to happen to it.
The steps on the grass grow quiet after they become greatly distant. I blink towards her before falling onto my back with a neither blank nor a busy mind. Notcing how she can't keep her attention straight, how she fails to banish the jitters, I smile. Does she understand I am trying to tell her it is alright?
Nothing is making sense right now... All this strength and power, Anvil-Peak is real, I am turning into a monster. Breathing in the light of this, indomitable woman heals grievous wounds that left me a chunk lighter. It's so easy to laugh, or, to cry.
"I give up..." I tell her as I hold out my still-normal hand so she can help me back to my feet.
"Sorry..." she squeaks once again as I shake my head at this pointless, needless regret. I put my normal arm up to her and continue to shake my laughing top.
"No... I am the one who should apologise. I know how much you hold this limb in contempt, but, I still used it. I didn't think properly for that moment and I paid the proper price for it. I am sorry, Vapooliar." I explain to her as I try my hardest to scramble together some kind of a cover for it. However, there's nothing for me to use, my shirt is in tatters and my bandages are gone.
I decide on hiding it as well as I can in the dark of this peculiar night and we look around at the mess.
"How... How do you know that spell?" she asks as she eyes the offending limb with uneasy footing, "Did the Earth Shaman teach you in the time I was unable to..."
I shake my head, surprised she even suspected such a thing, though, with how in my head that thing is, I was certainly inspired by it.
"I don't have an answer, sorry, Vapooliar. Everything with this limb sort of just happens when I touch anything that ends up as pebbles. It feels spongey and all these other feelings come into play so easily." I explain as I wave the arm about seeing as she won't let it hide in the dark.
"How long has it been doing that?"
"I guess, technically, ever since I escaped the hive, when my arm first became this thing..." I answer after little thought about it. The rock never felt like sponge when I still had my right arm, only after I broke out into the open from the depths.
Vapooliar nods with grim curiosity and shuffles back slightly, "Well, this is a first for me, if that matters. I have never heard of or read about a human using the casting techniques of the osibindah."
"Techniques? I just touch the ground with this arm and it feels all spongy." I say, though, I refrain from making an example of it.
"Magic techniques are a lot different from say, how I might punch or kick you. It's all unique to the experiences of the caster. Only they can truly grasp why it's the way it is, or, those close to you." she tries to clarify for me.
My bug arm flexes its three digits as I draw blanks on why I should be able to do this.
"The people at Suhurlodst might be able to make proper sense of it. Their reputation for magical curiosities and the minds to figure it out reach the whole world over. A human using osibindah magic techniques? You'll be a very interesting point of study."
"I, we, are not going there so I can be someone's essay." I joke with a small smile, hoping she'll return one herself so we can move past what has happened.
"I know, I know... I'm just making it clear that we will have an easier time making use of the school. So long as we take advantage of what you specifically can offer their knowledge-lusting greed." she clarifies as I nod in understanding. I suppose it makes sense, but...
"Will they be able to put my arm back to normal?" I ask, hoping she knows enough about this place to tell me yes. Please, Vapooliar, tell me that the answer is yes! Please...
She goes quiet, her face sullens, it shakes from side to side and I look at the ground. I was hoping for that yes so badly. The nightmares about this arm would finally have an end in sight. I can stop keeping half my arms in reserve because I am paranoid over how this one behaves...!
"We will have to see, Nin. I don't think there's ever been a man like you before." she answers with little confidence. Her subtleties betray the obvious, she wants to give me the answer I want, but can't in good faith.
"Oh, stuff and drop it to the ground. I am an Effort a whole floor." I bitterly as I hate the idea of being called unique right now. Oh, so this is what it's like to long for normality... This is not something anyone should be a standout sight for!
"If it's any condolences, Nin, even if they cannot return your arm to normal. I have heard rumours of men of medicine who can replace it with something automotive." she pipes up at and I try to smile at it, I really do. Having a mechanical arm would be fun, but I want my arm...
"A doctor and a mechanic at the same time, eh?" I question as I close my eyes and try to lose myself in the fantasy of what it might bring. Maybe I could get a well-polished arm made of brass or bronze, something brighter than this almost ebon shell I now have. Three digits flex and bring me out of my dreaming.
Vapooliar sits down, her bare knees raised with her arms locked around them, "Is there anything else you want to do?"
I blink at this out-of-the-blue question.
"Answer some of my questions?" I answer as her confusing action lingers in my head as I speak. She floats back towards the seating area and I follow her in the loosest sense.
"Why did you go all the way over there?" she asks me as I lean against the wooden walls of the platform. I huff a small amount of joy out.
"Why did you move so far away from me?" I throw back to her and she shakes her head before coming right over. I drop my head back against the wood and glance up at the moon.
Noticing how close she is, I turn to face her right as she leans on me the same way she did when she fell asleep the other night.
"Do you just like this side of me or something?"
"So, what do you want to ask me?" she asks, ignoring my little quip.
"What exactly are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"As in, what it was you were or maybe still are at heart. It's easy to say soldier, but there's clearly more to this, Vapooliar. Everyone around you gives you this air of respect that simply is not anywhere else." I explain to her as I recall the way she is treated. She might as well be a goddess, here in this flower, everyone gives her their full, undivided attention. The children entertain themselves watching her and there she is so very often... Just floating along in the sky in a way no one else can match.
"I was a Valkinvar... Was... Feels so strange hearing this. I never thought I'd ever have to say words like this." she tears up at and I hold her gently.
"Things don't go as we foresee it, we have that in common." I point out as I jostle my arm up her tricep.
"I was not a soldier proper, not like the trio of Ironcoats I came here with. Or, the flexible guard force as is the case with the aelenvari thorns. What I was, was a warrior for the Grand Temple of Waionr back in my home mountain-state of Thurn's Forge. The leading city in His country, Waionr's Chosen Theocracy. An ecclesiastical order tightly tied to the armies of my home, its territories and allies."
"So, outside of fighting, what did you do? Waionr is the God of War, sure, but he's not just that, obviously. There's his savage side from when he was first born, according to the legends. There's that myth where Undwote took him to find the Beast of Pride. That other one with the God of Law where he hammered it in the values of boundaries in all kinds of conflicts over mere games Waionr could not win."
"Yes, I like that story a lot, when he became Honourable War, more than just the god who knows all of war and how to wage it." Vapooliar tells me as she smiles visibly over at me.
"Yeah, see, you know, so, what else did you do other than fight?"
"Oh, well, ceremony, ritual and... And..." she trembles and tears up, "Preparing ourselves for the day we died in battle. So that we might go on to fulfil our duties as His wives. All this time I've spent preparing to be finally married to him and now it's... It's never going to happen."
I blink as I try to reassure her. Wives? I've never heard of any such stories about Waionr. The only people I know he tends to are the war-fallen dead.
His obligations to them and how they lead to his closeness with Undwote...
"What do you mean by that, exactly?"
"Mean by what?"
"Being Waionr's wives... Why would a god take on multiple mortal wives?"
"I don't understand... Were you never properly taught about Waionr?"
"What...?"
We stare at each other, both under the impression the other does not actually know what they're talking about.
"You really are an odd man, Nin Urtuan. The gods and goddesses made everything clear about the divine origins of the world and its people in the Tomes of the Three Arks. So that we should not forget them and the truth of our world." Vapooliar says to me, though, she does not seem sure of it.
"Something wrong?" I ask as I notice how she can't stop looking at the moon.
"They say we sleep so that we ignore the fourteen, evil gods trapped within the moons. Everything was taught to us so clearly and everyone understood. Then that heretical empire came to be, contradicting everything and all our beloved ancestors knew." she admits with a low-placed gaze as she tries to hide from the domineering lunar eclipse of Jhrarda the Mighty.
"Those people that have you worried?"
"The war I have been fighting or... was, yeah. Those men and all the people of their arrogant union don't believe in the gods and goddesses like they should. What they did was reject it all out of hand for some made-up refuse of a story about the Mighty Moon." she explains vaguely.
"Should I change the topic?" I ask as she seems to be getting quite disturbed by the current discussion.
"I don't mind, I did say I would answer your questions, and I will."
"Alright then, what's a mountain-state?"
"A city-state based out of a mountain settled long ago, during the Time of Liquid Mountains."
"And what was that thing you just mentioned?" I ask, the name being quite the hooker for how strange it sounds. Liquid Mountains... Did everything melt or something?
"As I understand it, going by what I was taught during my few grand-cycles in school. In the ancient past of this land, so many millennia ago, something saw this continent flooded through magical means. Rumour having it that a great, maritime empire from the desert west is responsible. All of the valleys, craters, caves and tunnels, taller than the smallest mountains and a threat to the greatest of them. It all became flooded and the only safety was to be found on the barren-topped mountains. I am glad those who came long before us found a way to survive and that is all I want to know about it."
"So why 'Liquid Mountains' if it was a flood?" I ask, noting the peculiarity of the name and the event that happened. She shrugs at me.
"Don't know, sorry."
"That's alright, so, this place we're going to, it's also a mountain-state?" I ask and she nods before she starts to smile a bit.
"It's technically two while also being one. The Valkinvar also used to dwell in the Ringed City of Suhurlodst, many years ago. So long ago."
"Good time to see how they once lived, then." I point out, smiling. Maybe this trip can offer her some closure or something close to it.
"Apparently the Valkinvar used to be divvied up into groups based on the main species of bird of our land. Rather than the Four-Winded Ordoars that we... They currently have." she comments and I nod along.
"Even cowardly cluckers?" I question, smirking a little.
"There's a tale about that. During a siege of an island mountain-state, a mysterious weapon was deployed... The name escapes m- The God-Bot! To defeat it, a member of the... Order of the Clucker... Heh... He stood up to this ancient weapon, enveloping himself in a spell representing its ancient ancestor, a beast known as the Tyrant Lizard."