Morphine - The Changeling's quest

Chapter 1: Out of the Labyrinth

Quick note before we start; this Fic was mostly made as a side thought as a way to clear my head to try and get some ideas for my RWBY fic but then i ended up with about five chapters in the span of a day so given how weirdly easy these are to write so far I might focus on this story if enough people read it; if you like it or have some ideas on how to improve it please let me now but for now; enjoy.

When my father promised me he'd make it possible for me to see everything the world has to offer I was ecstatic, but now I almost wish he had kept me locked away in that small room like he did for years before because if this is what the world has to offer I'd rather not continue to see it; the dark tunnels seem to stretch on forever and no matter how far I walk I never seem any closer to finding the way out, the rank air and congealed gobs of substances I don't even want to speculate are comprised of making this place all the more abhorrent to my senses… to think some rodents actually attempt to live down here makes me question the survival instinct of the creatures, before I can continue to analyze the potential circumstances that would make them stay another draft whips throughout the channel forcing me to stop in my tracks, the cold had been tolerable for the first while but the further I venture the more frequent these gust become making me think that I draw near to the exit but so far my progress has yet to yield a way out.

Another draft of wind hits me and I nearly drop to my knees in hopes of warming myself, but I know if I lye down there is a good chance I wouldn't get up ever again, I shudder from the chill but push forward and cross my arm over my chest and rub my bicep to warm it up, I can only do this too my right arm though as its holding the last gift my father ever gave me; it was an attache case made from some sort of metal I don't recognize with a small round crystal in the center, I don't know of its contents but father told me to open it if I'm ever in danger and it would become… I pause for a moment as I try to recall his words but all the sounds and sights of those moments blend together and I can't remember…

*Plink*

I freeze, that was the sound of a glass bottle tapping against a solid surface; a sound that shouldn't be heard in a desolate sewer with no nearby surface access like this.

"Darnit, I really need to get a stronger belt; the last thing I need is for my delightful venom to get spilled."

I move into the nearest nook I can find as the source of the voice draws closer, I curl up as small as I can and keep my gift behind me in hopes that the lack of light will help conceal me; I don't want to know who, or what is the origin of that awful scratchy voice. I pull myself as close to the wall as possible as I hear an unsteady click of the being's feet move down the tunnel; for a brief moment I see a silhouette of the voice and learn that whatever it is, it certainly isn't human. A few more steps and the creature passes my hiding spot and continues moving in the direction I had come from, as its footsteps fade into the distance I realize how long I had been holding my breath and before I can stop myself I gasp for air, I cover my mouth with my hand and hope that the beast didn't hear me but as I listen for its steps I hear nothing, after a moment I stand up and try to continue walking quietly, silently praying to the star-child I was unheard, though as I move I can't help but notice the stench has only grown stronger…

"Oh, hello! Huhahahahaa!"

I fall back on myself and hit the cold floor as the monster suddenly appears before me from out of the putrid air, its disgusting long muzzle inches from my face; now that I could see it in the diluted light I could see how repulsive it truly was as it bore disturbing resemblance to the gutter rats from home; I tried to crawl backwards away from the beats while blindly groping the ground around me for my gift, as I manage to get a few feet back and find my gift I stand as the creature continues to stare at me; apparently amused by my fear.

"Now what's a smelly little morsel like you doing on my territory then? Other than leaving a bad stench that is."

The beast continued to glare at me; and as it did I could see a protrusion on it's back; it looked like a weapon of some kind but I could only see the handle, it appeared to be some kind of fire-arm which meant that running from this abomination would be dangerous so I tried seeing if I could talk my way out of the situation; surely if the beast was capable of speech it could also be capable of mercy.

"I… I'm sorry mister... uhh… mister?"

"Call me Twitch; its what all the ladies call me."

The thought of these creature anywhere near a woman made me feel sorry for the visual and nasal trauma they would feel in this things presence, but I tired to be respectful with my approach;

"Mister Twitch, I deeply apologize for trespassing in your home but I am lost and simply trying to find my way out."

As the word lost is made audible Twitch's face draws into what I believe is supposed to be a smile, maybe the creature wants to help me.

"So your lost huh? And when something is lost down here that means no one wants it, and if no one wants it then that means…"

Twitch begins to reach for the device on his back and reveals it to be a crossbow, he then proceeds to level it with my chest…

"That your mine!"

Twitch begins to cackle maniacally in his sickening high pitched voice and the noise echoes through the tunnels giving the illusion that there are hundreds of him surrounding me in the dark… I need to get away now but if I try to run past him he can shoot me, but if I turn back around the last bend and run I'll be trapped to run back home… I can't go around him or over him so I guess I have to go… through.

I take my gift and hold it in front of me like a shield and run a Twitch which catches him off guard as I ram into his chest and manage to knock onto his back, for a five foot tall rat he wasn't terribly heavy; after knocking him over I continue to run as fast as I can away from him trying to put as much distance between the two of us as possible, as I run I see a bend coming close and run around it just as a soft 'thunk' hits the wall just behind me meaning Twitch has gotten back up and is probably perusing me. I continue to run dodging left and right in hopes of making it harder for him to hit me, a few bolt s fly wide past me while I run.

"Stand still! My eyes are on the side of my head!"

The beast shouts as he continues to miss, it seems he can't aim and run much to my delight as this mean I should have an easier time escaping than I thought; so long as I avoid any dead ends but I wasn't worried by that as father once told me the old sewer tunnels were a series of twists and turns but still on long tunnel that ended at the ocean, as I mull over a moment what the ocean would look like I notice that there hasn't been a crossbow bolt or angry comment from Twitch for a few moments; I consider looking back but don't stop running and frankly I'm glad I didn't stop as just as I turn my head I see Twitch appear from the shadows much closer behind me than previously,

"It's me! Hahahahaa!"

Now he was only about six feet behind me but instead of trying to fire more bolts at me he instead takes a cask from his coat and hurls it towards me;

"I'm gonna want that back!"

The cask hits the floor inches from my ankles and a green ooze splashes across the ground nearly hitting me, it bubbles and churns like some sort of acid and reeks almost as bad as Twitch himself but it don't let it distract me and I continue to push onward, knowing Twitch is closer behind than before, as we run he tries throwing another bottle; this time it lands ahead of me and covers most of the floor leaving me very few options, as I quickly draw closer to the puddle of sludge my mind races trying to think of a way around it or at least a way to buy me more time… Inspiration hits and just as I come within inches of the ooze I turn and hold my gift out like a shield once again and Twitches eyes widen in surprise as he slams snout first into my gift and falls on his back clutching his nose in pain, now that I had a moment I managed to sidle along the wall and avoid the puddle of bubbling filth, once past it I continue running noticing how the drafts I felt before were staring to feel more like a consistent breeze the further I go, logically this mean I should be very close to the exit and soon both these awful sewers and horrid rat will be long behind me.

"Hi!"

Once again Twitch had reappeared close behind me from the aether but thankfully further behind this time, I kept running as some more bolts hit the walls around me,

"Aim, then shoot. Aim, then shoot."

I can't even begin to fathom why Twitch would use a weapon that requires one to take time to be accurate since he seems to rely on speed, but what was that expression? 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth' I think; Well I at least was certain I wouldn't look a mutant rat in the mouth. Another turn and at the end of the long tunnel I notice the lights that hardly illuminated this tunnel seem to end in about another fifty feet and drop into darkness… this could mean two things; one is that the lights blew a fuse and broke the chain and I'm going to have to try and escape this rat in the pitch black abyss ahead, or: that's the end of the tunnel and its dark because outside its still night time, as thought Soraka herself decided to deliver hope a gust of salty wind caresses my face from directly ahead meaning I've found the metaphorical light at the end of the literal tunnel, I was filled with so much determina-

"AAAUGGH!"

I hit the ground face first as Twitch manages to drive a bolt through my shoulder.

"Hope that gets infected."

The bolt ran through my arm leaving a hole a bit larger than a pencil, it hurt like a burning needle and I could feel a thin layer of reside on the entrance wound which smells of Twitch; who was now closing in for the kill.

"I gotta say; for an ugly little welp like yourself you're not bad at staying alive; but I'm afraid that's over!"

More of his sickening laughter, I dare not turn toward him as I'd rather the last thing I see not be that wretched monstrosity, I'd rather see… my gift! I look ahead and see where my gift landed and crawl towards it; if there was ever a time I was in danger it would be right now, I throw open the case and within an instant the tunnel is filled with a brilliant blue light causing Twitch to scream, I suppose his eyes would be sensitive lining in the dark like this. Once the light fades I find a crossbow identical to Twitches lying in my gift, how this was possible I had no idea as the case was only about a foot and a half wide and six inches thick but there it was; a crossbow that matched the one wielded by the disgusting beast behind me, I decide now is the time to look a mutant rat in the mouth and I grab the crossbow and aim it straight at Twitch who was starting to recover from the burst of light, it takes him a moment to realise the situation and that I now have the advantage.

"Alright listen and listen good you disgusting amalgamation of filth; your going to scurry back down into those filthy tunnels you apparently call home and we're both going to pretend like this unfortunate little confrontation never happened; am I understood?"

Twitch glares at me clearly trying to think over his options but given that I have a crossbow aimed at his head and I'm only about two feet way meaning he wouldn't have much space to dodge he raises his hands in defeat;

"Alright; you win this one you little beast, but I better not see you down here ever again or the next bolt goes in your head."

Twitch backs away and leave around the bend at the far end of the tunnel and I hear his ragged toenails clip against the hard stone as he walks away, the sound gradually growing softer and softer until it was dead silent save for my breathing, I keep my eyes down the tunnel and crossbow aimed a while longer just to be certain but after a few more minutes I lower the weapon and stand up, I check my arm to see whether the hole had healed or not; sure enough there was no evidence of a wound save for a small patch of my skin being slightly paler that the rest of my body, that always happened after I healed up. Once I was sure that I wasn't in danger of being attacked by that vile beast I turned my attention back to my gift, upon inspecting it once more I noticed a lot of hardware and strange runic symbols inside the device and a slip of paper, it was a note from my father…

My dear sweet daughter, the fact that your reading this means that you have left this sordid place and begun your quest to find a real life for yourself, it also means that you have encountered someone or something that wanted to harm you and you retaliated by using the gift I have left you, it will allow you to call on the secrets of your enemies; their power will become your power and you can fight back with both your might and theirs, but remember my dear: all power comes with a cost.

Stay safe my child

Your father loves you.

I fold the note and place it in my pocket and deposit the crossbow back into my gift where it dissipates into a flurry of blue sparks that gather inside the case which then re-seals itself, I feel a small tingle in the back of my mind as an image of the weapon is etched into my memory, I retrieve my gift and make my way into the darkness of the tunnels end, at first I couldn't find a way out as it was heavily grated what with it being meant for sewage but with after a bit of groping around in the dark I find an upward shaft with a ladder where I can see small peaks of light at the top, with one hand on the ladder and the other gripping the case I slowly start climbing up the ladder, I don't know just how long the climb was but it felt like an eternity as I slowly pulled myself up rung after rung into the black void of empty space that was this shaft, but eventually I reached the last rung and found a hatch that has small glimmers of light squeezing through the rust, I take a hold of that hatch and twist with all might but it doesn't spin as it remains plagued by rust after what looks like years of neglect; I try again this time using both hands, forcing me to balance the case on my chest whilst I try to open the hatch, and this time with some resistance it finally gives and I'm able to open the hatch, I pull myself out of the dark and onto the surface, for the first time I feel the cool, clean breeze of the world on my face, no longer choked out by the smog and chemicals lingering from so many companies and their experiments, and to smell the salty air of the sea… the sea; it was just like father described it and yet so much more, an endless body of water that stretches farther than anyone could see, just watching the gentle waves lap against the shore in a soothing rhythm was almost hypnotic; I might have stood their staring for hours had my attention not been drawn by something even more mesmerising: the sun rising in the dawn over the Guardian sea, words alone could never do justice in describing what seeing the sun rise over the ocean for the first time is like, all I could do was stand in awe and watch the sun as it climbed higher into the sky…

The sound of the gulls squawking over head woke me up from my sleep, I suppose I fell asleep some time after making it to the surface, I suppose it was inevitable after running for two days and then fighting a giant rat that fatigue would catch up to me, guessing by the position of the sun in the sky it appears to be about noon, I grab the case and begin making my way further up towards the North-West; apparently there was a small ferry that could take me across to Piltover; father said that would be a good place to start my journey, from the city of privilege to the city of progress… is this what they call poetic?