The Adventures of An Afflicted
Part One: The Unexpected Redemption
The sun was shining beautifully in the blue sky above me, although my concentration was almost solely on the reflection of that sunlight glaring off the cold steel of the sword that flashed before my eyes.
"Arrrrggggghhh," I said angrily and I pulled a green spirit from the underworld. It burst into the world from the beneath the earth and threw a bolt of light at the man wielding that deadly sword.
I would have smiled but for the rasping pain that seared through me as a result of a slice that the damned warrior had cut into my right arm a second before.
"Arrrrgggghhh," I said again.
My apologies for my lack of proper dialogue, you see at this point I was still an Afflicted under the powerful sway of the traitorous Shiro Tagachi. As a result I didn't have much of a mind for anything but staying alive and killing any would be 'Heroes' that tried to kill me, oh and of course, saying "Argh" a lot.
I had been a trainee Ritualist, studying at the Shing Jea Monastery under Professor Gai and his boss Master Togo, at least until Togo had been drawn over to the mainland to fight Shiro and his Afflicted minions in Kaineng City.
I had stayed behind to continue my training, while some of my quicker classmates went on to the fight. Days after they left I found myself struck down with illness. Turned out that it was the Affliction that had spread from Zen Daijun and changed the servants and guards of Minister Cho's Estate.
Leaving my wife and friends behind, I ran into the mountains then down into Zen Daijun and hid under a rock, literally. Unfortunately, there was no escape for me and soon I was just another servant of Shiro, fighting on the wrong side of the battle.
Anyway, back to the point.
I was, in my Afflicted state, fighting against a warrior who wasn't too well trained and probably wouldn't last long unless he learned some better moves. So I'd brought up the Spirit of Pain to take care of him.
The sudden arrival caught the warrior by surprise, I could tell because he said; "Whoa!" and fell backwards on to the grass. I was about to say "Argh," again, but instead I fell over myself.
There was a sensation that was like a shockwave that rolled through me and I think I lost consciousness for a second. When I awoke, if indeed that was what happened, I coughed a little and went to say "Argh" again, only this time instead of argh came the words "Get that ghost away from me!"
I don't know if I was more surprised than the warrior, but it definitely came as a shock to us both. "What did you say?" the wannabe hero asked.
Disbelieving and indeed thinking on my own, without the Shiro echoing in my mind for the first time in weeks, I said; "I said, get that ghost away from me!"
"Ok," the warrior said carefully. "I didn't know your kind spoke like, well in human speak," he added, clutching his sword tight in his hand.
I tilted my head and saw the hideous pulsing growths that covered my body. I was still Afflicted in body at least. "We don't," I told him. "I don't know what's going on. I mean, I'm Afflicted, but my mind is free."
The warrior was eyeing me with real suspicion now. "I don't know what's going on here and I'm not really happy with thinking too much. Mostly I just hit things, you know, with the sword. Can't we just fight and get it over with? I'll kill you and get on with my day ok?" he asked.
Looking at him and wondering how he ever got through any kind of screening for the monastery training. "To be honest," I began gently, "I think that sounds like a terrible idea. I'd rather go back to my family if you don't mind."
The warrior shrugged and with an exaggerated sigh, put his sword into its sheath. "Fine," he said. "But, if anyone asks you, you never saw me," he added, "I won't live this down."
With that, the idiot turned away and walked off mumbling something about forgiveness and Balthazar.
With a laugh of relief, I did a little jump in the air. I was free at last. Free from Shiro Tagachi, free to finally go home. "Woohoo," I exclaimed and began a slow waddle towards the mountains and far away to home.
I hadn't realised how slowly Afflicted Ritualists moved.
Getting home took longer than I thought, but where I'd expected trouble in the mountains, the Yeti's had run from me in fear. Apparently, they hadn't seen my kind before and didn't like what they saw too much.
Regardless of my physical condition I had nothing else to do but head home. So within a couple of days I found myself looking at my home in Tsumei Village, a place I thought I'd never see again.
It was nighttime when I got there and nobody had seen me arrive, which I figured was probably for the best in my current condition. I approached the door to my house and knocked three times.
Slowly I could make out a flickering light through the glass in the door. With a creak it opened and someone stepped out with a candle in hand. Well, I say someone stepped out, what I mean is a man stepped out.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked my oldest friend Raynor as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.
"Derek?" he asked uncertainly.
"That's right Raynor, its me," I told him angrily (to be honest I felt like saying "Argh," but I didn't think it was appropriate after everything I'd been through) "Now where's my wife?"
He stalled for a second and raised the candle to get a better view of me. "By Grenth man have you seen yourself?" he asked with shock in his voice.
"Of course I haven't," I growled back at him, "they don't hand out mirrors to the Afflicted you fool. Shiro didn't come to me and say, "Hey, sorry about the pulsating bulges, here's a stylist, he'll make the best of it for you!"
The commotion must have woken the wife, because, scantily clad, she arrived at the door. "Who is it Raynor?" she asked with a yawn. "Tell them to come back in the morning."
"It's me," I spoke up. She was so beautiful, even in the limited glow of the candle I could see again, that which I had missed in my exile.
"Derek? What are you doing…ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
There was a thud as she hit the ground.
Raynor looked at me, I think with sympathy. "You really should petition Shiro for that stylist mate," he told me.
"Curse you," I yelled. "She was my wife…"
"Hey, calm down buddy. She thought you were dead. Nobody comes through after they get the sickness," Raynor tried to explain. "You should be glad that someone was there to help her through while you've been away," he added.
I didn't wait around; I hit him with my staff around the head. And when he didn't fall down, I hit him again and again until he did.
Taking one last glance at my wife, I turned aside from Tsumei Village and decided never to return.
Three days I wondered lost and lonely around Shing Jea Island. Wherever I went people ran from me and doors were slammed and locked. Even the snake like Naga hissed in disapproval, before slithering away. One Kappa even threw an ice dagger at me for Grenths sake, which to be fair earned him a spirit burn for his troubles.
I felt as low as I'd ever felt. Even the days before I became Afflicted, when I knew what was coming, the sense of hopelessness was never as complete as it was in those days after I left my home.
At length I came to the sea. It was a clear day and I could see across to the mainland. Towards the north, the sky rained with fireworks. Shiro had been defeated I had heard as I travelled the lands, which explained my freedom of mind. I wondered if my body would ever share the same freedom.
Standing high above the water on a cliff face I made another decision. With a deep breath I threw myself off of the cliff.
The water slapped me hard and I felt myself sinking for a second, but all too soon the buoyancy of my inflated body pushed me back to the surface. Irritated I let the current of the water bear me wherever it may.
I wasn't at sea very long. A boat from the mainland came close by and I was caught in a large net, to cheers from the crew that they had the biggest catch any had ever seen.
Content merely to be left alone, I acted as much like a cod as I could, flapping about a bit and then pretending to die. The way I saw it, I was basically on a free ride to the city where I hoped that people were a little more forgiving than those of the island. They had culture and style and sophistication in the city, so I put my faith in that small hope.
As the boat dropped anchor I saw my chance and got up. That caused a stir. The men ran around shouting and one suggested getting a couple of maggots on a fishing line to bait me back into the boat.
With a sigh, I walked from the dock among cries of "Stop that fish!" So ended my hopes of sophistication.
I hadn't gone far when I heard someone cry out in the dockyard. "Get off of me you vile oafs," came a shrill voice. Turning a corner, I saw a funny little creature with big ears, armed only with a fiery looking staff, trying to fight off a group of three purple clad men.
They had the little creature backed into a corner. "Give us that pretty staff," one of the men said and reached out. He got his fingers bit by the little creature for his efforts.
"It's mine you cretin," the creature answered angrily. "Leave me be," it added.
The men laughed and one of them said, "You don't know where you are do you little freak? You're on the Jade Brotherhoods turf now big ears. Give us the staff and be glad we don't take your head for the insults."
Hearing enough, I spoke out. "Gentlemen," I began and all of the gathered focused their attention on me. "I think you should let the little thing go," I told them with as much authority as I could gather.
A laugh rippled through the group again. The same man spoke again; he was the leader I guessed. "Why would we take orders from a fish?"
I smiled, thought I guess it didn't resemble much of a smile on my twisted features. "If you don't listen to this fish, it'll make you sorry." I didn't think they'd listen so I pre-empted their response by calling a spirit to help persuade them.
"Meet my friend…Pain!" I said, deepening my voice for the word "Pain!"
The effect was dramatic and with a cry of fear they ran away, one shouted back "what kind of fish can call the spirits of the underworld to fight for it?"
"I'm not a fish," I shouted at their fleeing backs. They didn't turn around though, just kept on running.
"Not a fish hey?"
I looked at the little creature that had just spoken to me. It held its staff defiantly, as if daring me to try to take it.
"You don't have to be scared," I told the creature.
It gave a little snort of derision. "Scared? No! You are the most funny looking Bookah I have ever seen, but I don't fear you," it told me.
"What are you?" I asked it.
It smiled a crinkled little smile. "I'm Dokk, bookah," it said. "I'm an Asura," it added as if that explained everything.
Relieved that something finally wasn't either running away from me or calling me a fish, I said, "Hello Dokk, I'm Derek. And I'm an Afflicted."
To be continued…………