This is Alternia. Yeah, we're troll Vikings. We take part in regular, normal activities that trolls take part in every day.
Like lusii competitions. They fight, we fight, it's a great exercise for both of us.
After my ex-guardian Mindfang tried to steal my lusus last month, my life has been a lot less self-deprecating. I can't believe I thought she was cool a sweep ago. Of course, my mind-reading lusus sees to that. She's great.
And did I mention she's a dragon?
Yeah, we have dragons here. Well, one dragon. Mine. As far as I know, and as far as Pyralspite has told me, she's the last one of her type. Whatever that means. She's very private. It's aggravating, and I'm nosy, but I try not to pry.
It's hard and nobody understands.
"Terezi, what in the blazing sick fires do you think you are doing?" His voice boomed over me. Ah yes, Karkat. I didn't even have to open my eyes to smell his unique scent flowing towards me in the breeze. I picked a good tree to lay under today. The white bark is really soothing on the senses. I tried to focus on that instead of the flaming cloud poisoning my "view."
"Sleeping," I answered, smiling up at him. One of the things I wish I could see was his face when I called him something cute.
"Okay," he said, grabbing my arm and hoisting me up. "Time to get up and smell the dragon feces."
I made a face. "You're gross."
"So is your new outfit."
"My new outfit is great!" I designed it myself, as does everyone around here. I burned that fur thing that Mindfang made me. It wasn't me. I got myself some cool armor from her shop, a couple of shoulder pauldrons and a helmet I barely use. Knee poleyns didn't hurt, either. I glued some fur to those because that's the aesthetic around here. In my boredom of recovery, I made some wide leather straps that hang from my belt in the front and the back and some gloves, dying everything a deep red. They don't cover my fingers on purpose. I still like to touch things. I also traded my old, form-fitting piece of cloth for an actual tunic. It's a lot warmer, which is good because it's cold this time of sweep.
"Come on, weirdo, we're going to be late!" He's talking about today's match. Team Charge has challenged Team Bloody Mary and, "I want you to be there today."
"Aww, I pity you, too." I gave him a peck on the cheek and his face warmed up immediately. He made a half-hearted push and led me back to the village, all the way to the front row of the arena. We keep the seat warm when we watch the other compete.
Team Bloody Mary consisted of Karkat and Kanaya. It's easy for them to be in a team because they grew up together. They fight well together. Their lusii… not so much. Kanaya assures everyone that they get along, but I'm not so sure. I tried to investigate last night before the sun rose, but Kanaya caught me and kicked me out. I'm not jealous that they're living together, I'm not that petty. Vriska and I make up the Scourge Sisters, also growing up together. We had a rough patch after she found her lusus, but it's all in the past now. Team Charge was Aradia and Tavros. I have no idea why. We played as grubs sometimes but I don't really know much about them nowadays. Everyone's been accepting me now, and not because I finally have a lusus. Aradia and Tavros are nice, though, and they always have been. I think they bonded over roleplaying, and then having the smallest lusi in the village.
Usually, teams are reserved for moirails, Team Charge and Team Meowrails are perfect examples of that. Scourge Sisters and Team Bloody Mary are different because it's in our comfort zone. Sure, Kanaya bosses Karkat around and Vriska bosses me around, but…
But enough about feelings. I'm ready to see the fur fly, so to speak. We've been waiting a long time. I'm surprised the announcer hasn't said anything snarky about their punctuality yet.
That's when Aradia bursts onto the field, alone and snatching the amplifier away.
"Team Charge forfeits," she said into the cone tearfully. I could hear it in her shaky voice. I stood up suddenly, fumbling my way down there. At some point I had to use my stick because I hate stairs with a passion.
"Aradia!" I called out to her.
"Hi Terezi," she mutters.
"What's wrong? Why are you forfeiting? Where's Tavros?"
"Nothing, nothing, and he's okay. We're both okay." She continued to walk away and I continued to follow.
"You don't sound okay."
Aradia remained silent until I followed her all the way back to her hive. "My lusus is missing."
I widened my eyes. "What!?" I put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Do you have any idea where she might have gone?" My investigative instincts tried very hard to take over.
Aradia just shook her head. "Yesterday I was sparring with her with the muleta and the next thing I know I was unconscious in the grass. I was out for maybe a few minutes." She began to sniffle. "She protected me from so much, and now I can't do anything for her in her time of need." I bit my tongue and gave her a light hug.
"We'll find her," I told her with confidence. "I'll help you. Me and Karkat!" I volunteered him because he has no choice. He's already one of the best around, so he could afford some down time.
"Thanks, Terezi," Aradia said, hugging back.
"We're going to do what?" I asked in the most incredulous tone I could muster. Terezi had to be kidding. It's almost sunup and she wants to go on a hunt for Aradia's lusus? "Are you insane? The sun is coming up soon. Only idiots go out at this hour. What makes you think I'm going to go?"
"With me and Aradia of course," she interjected.
Of all the grubsniffing… "That's even worse! She's the lowest in the castes, and what on this godforsaken planet isn't hazardous to her health?"
"Stop patronizing her! She's stronger than that and you know it."
She's right, that was shitty of me to say. "Well, if you really insist, I don't think I have a choice in the matter." Terezi always comes to me first when she's already decided that I have to join her on these adventures of hers. Sure I pity her, but this shaves sweeps off of my life that I'm not sure I even had in the first place. "When do we leave?"
She smiled. "Now."
I sighed. "I'll get my shit together." It's not like I was doing anything important. I should have sharpened my sickle last month, after Mindfang threatened to shatter it, and not to mention it was about as dull as Kanaya's sewing lessons.
"We don't have all night, Karkles." My eye twitched.
"Calling me names I hate isn't going to make me go faster."
"Fine!" She turned on her heel and tapped her stick to the door. "I'll be outside."
I got all my shit together and met the two girls outside. Kanaya still wasn't back yet, even though the sky was already a light gray. I put on my sun gear and whistled for my lusus, who came skittering around the house a few seconds later. I took Kanaya's advice and dug a pond for him. He's a lot happier, I think. He hasn't told me otherwise, so I assume he's satisfied.
As soon as I started to mount my lusus, Pyralspite landed next to us with a loud thud. I jumped, because I hate it when that scaly terror shows up without warning. I've never gotten used to that. It makes me wonder how Terezi deals with that. Maybe she smells her coming and braces herself.
"I'll take the low road," I stated offhandedly. "Search for tracks, et cetera."
"Good idea," Terezi said. "I'll try to see if I can get the big picture." She turned to Aradia. "You ready?"
The blood in Aradia's face drained. "What? Up there?"
"Trust me, flying is fun when you get the hang of it!" Terezi nudged Aradia. She shot me a fearful look, but I just shrugged.
"Karkat, tell her that I won't let her fall," Pyralspite said out of literally nowhere. Something else I can't get used to. Talking lusii. I closed my eyes so that they couldn't see me rolling them.
"She says she won't let you fall," I told Aradia. She gives me a quizzical look. "Yes, the dragon said it. Now let's go before we waste daylight." The entire conversation already seemed like a colossal waste of time. Crabdad leaned down and let me up, and I told him which way to go.
We must have searched all day because the next thing I know, I felt like the village idiot. I asked myself what I was doing countless times.
"Mom, Pyralspite, whatever, I don't know if you can hear my thoughts, but they aren't pretty or very grub appropriate."
"I understand, Karkat," she answered like she was next to me the entire time. "I'll let Terezi know that you're giving up for today."
"I'm not giving up!" I shouted. "It's hot and I'm tired!"
"Would you say you're…"
"Don't you dare, I will rip off your scales one by one!"
"Crabby?"
"I'm done." I reared Crabdad back and led him back to my hive. I don't have to deal with this mental torture. My thinkpan has had enough of the female variety today. "I wish you luck or whatever."
I didn't get a response, so I just went back to my hive and went right to sleep, but not without taking off my armor. I don't just immerse myself in slime without a care in the world, I'm not a barbarian.
A few hours later, I'm woken up by Terezi, thankfully at night.
"Nothing," she reported. "No evidence! No blood, no fur, no scrapes. It's like she was abducted by aliens!"
I bit my tongue before I could say anything too insensitive. "Really? Zero evidence?" I realized I was still in my pod and started getting out and putting normal clothes on.
"Well, there was something strange…" She paused, sniffing.
"Well? Are you going to tell me or am I going to have to kick you out?" I was still getting dressed as she was giving me a sniff-over, trying not to smile.
She narrowed her solid red eyes at the comment, but told me anyway. "We took a closer look in her pen and there was half a bootprint in the dried mud."
"That's it?" She nodded. I rolled my eyes. "And let me guess, you're going to continue the search tomorrow?"
"Nope."
I stopped, determining that just my boots and minimal armor were good enough. "That's not like you." Usually, she investigates until she's solved the case. Giving up after 24 hours seems really out of character.
"We enlisted Sollux and he helped us search the whole island."
"Are you sure his lusus didn't stomp out any evidence?"
"Karkat!"
"What!"
"Rude!"
I resisted the urge to claw my own eyes out.
"In any case, Aradia agreed that she's not on the island anymore, and I assured her that we won't forget to keep looking."
"We?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
She just smiled.
The next few days, we took day trips off the island on Mom and made maps to check our progress. To the uninhabited ones, we named them stupid things like nookherd and bulgehair. Big islands, small islands, and one didn't even deserve the title "island" because they looked like a floating patch of dirt. We named it "Karkat's Temper." I allowed it because it was true.
When we got home one morning, we found Tavros. It turns out he had tried to chase down Tinkerbull as he was carried off by someone or something flying him away, and ended up at the bottom of a short cliff. It wasn't very high, but enough to paralyze him from the waist down. We flew him back to town, the trip silent. Tavros probably didn't want to look weak by not crying like a wriggler but there was something about his demeanor that just screamed that he was about to lose it, and not about losing his ability to walk. I thought about my lusus, and we aren't that attached… are we? I stopped thinking about it just in time for Aradia to notice our return and freak out over her moirail. They did some bullshit shoosh-pap session before Aradia hoisted him over her shoulder and took him home.
The one person I didn't expect to be as pissed off was Vriska. She had some weird flush crush for him that seemed to pop out of nowhere.
"I'll kill 'em!" she shouted, barging into the communal mess hall. Feferi, Eridan, Nepeta, and Equius all jumped in their seats. The only one who didn't was Terezi, who kept on eating her second cluckbeast.
"Who?" Feferi asked.
"The thief! My sevenfold will be on full force in the morning, that's for sure! They're so gonna feel my wrath! I have traps set up around the pens just in case."
"How do you know that the lusii you're protecting doesn't get caught in them instead?" I asked snidely. I was basically asking for it, but she didn't take the bait.
"I have my ways," she said confidently.
I decided I'd had enough and announced I was going home, not forgetting to give Terezi a small peck on her forehead. I disgust myself at how flushed we act sometimes.
"Terezi, someone's coming, flying in fast." Mom's voice was urgent. "I don't like the smell of him, either. It's a rotten orange color with a brackish aftertaste." I shuddered at the mind picture.
"I'm on my way," I muttered softly. "Guys, my lusus says something's coming." Vriska reiterated her master plan and basically shut down my warning. I grabbed my cane and tapped out the door, leaving my dinner behind. I was almost done anyway. Karkat left only ten minutes ago, so he should be at his hive by now.
I passed by Pounce De Leon and Arthour outside the hall, keeping each other company while their partners were inside. I gave them each a pet of encouragement where I knew they liked it best: Pounce behind her ears and Arthour on his lower back. Then I set off to find Karkat.
I found him in his hive, sharpening his sickle. "Mom says someone's flying in fast."
"She told me the same thing, that's why I'm sharpening my sickle," he replied shortly.
"Did she tell you his description?"
"Every grueling detail. Do you think she's fast enough to catch him once he gets here?"
I cackled heartily. "What do you think?" I grinned. "She can take down anyone she wants. She's a fucking dragon!"
"TEREZI!" The sound of Mom's voice startled me for the first time since I met her. "HE'S ABOVE YOU!"
"Karkat! He's right above us!" I exclaimed. Immediately, he shoots up and races outside, weapon in hand. I draw my canesword and follow him out.
I get a whiff of the situation: Karkat is trying to calm his lusus, who got himself trapped in Vriska's stupid web just outside of his pond.
The figure is high above me. He's muscular but not extremely buff, his leather and armor covered in old blood that I can barely even smell. I can smell him in the purple moonlight, and he seemed brackish to his core. He looked at me, then looking at something else. Is he scouting? He floats away on rotten orange wings, believing that I was blind enough to not follow.
"Mom, keep your distance, he's scouting, like he's hunting."
"I can't read him at this distance." She needs to make eye contact to make a proper connection, and it works on blind trolls. Unfortunately, she warned me after we first met, it sometimes goes both ways. I still have no idea what that means.
I continued my trek, paying attention to literally everything because I can't see shit. Sometimes I have to duck between hives when he looks down in the slightest. "We're nearing the communal mess hall. How fast can you get there?" I thought about Pounce and Arthour, who aren't being protected by any pen or silly traps. I walked faster.
"I'm just outside the arena. I can be there in seconds."
I was about to make the order to blow him out of the sky when he suddenly takes off. I heard a sharp hiss—Pounce! Then I smelled it. A long, white tentacle.
"Mom!" I cried out, sticking up my arm. Seconds later, as promised, I was snatched up and tossed onto her back. We followed the tentacle carrying Pounce until I heard desperate whinnying. Arthour was being taken by another tentacle! It didn't drop any sea water so I assumed the tentacle was very long indeed. There's only one kind of tentacle that could be that long. Both lusii were being taken in different directions. With a pang of guilt, I chose to follow Pounce, because if I could free her, I could free Arthour.
And without even giving the order, Mom let out a fireball. Direct hit! The tentacle shuddered, but then Mom jerked to the side. I turned my head back, barely able to smell our pursuer, the orange-winged guy. His mask was menacing at this vicinity. He put his hand to his mouth and whistled again. I told mom to turn around so we could take him down, but as soon as we did, we were literally knocked out of the sky, plummeting right into the water.
By the time we resurfaced, they were long gone.
The Summoner bowed once again to the Grand Highblood, not empty-handed in lusii or news.
"Sir, I have some news," he reported.
"SPIT IT OUT!" the Grand Highblood bellowed.
"I have found a dragon."