Disclaimer: I do not own Everquest. Everquest and all of its characters are owned by Sony Online Entertainment and its affiliates. This story is for entertainment and creative purposes only. I am not getting any profit from this story whatsoever.
Chapter 4: Gekkdar's Haunt
"Fufufufufu!" A sinister chuckle echoed through a dim auroral chamber dotted with flames of cobalt. A quick movement of shadows sparked a flurry of furry wings, and a cluster of bats screeched in surprise and swarmed from their resting nooks into the impregnable darkness.
"My, my..." The deceptively calm voice echoed out once again. "I rarely get visitors here in my humble abode, and it certainly has been awhile since you've graced me with your presence up here...Ryuu."
Ryuu narrowed his eyes slightly as he registered the source of his current ire. Hidden away in the shadows, and just beyond his sight, sat Vunder. Vunder the Dark, his moniker amongst his Drakkin brethren was. The necrotic-obsessed outcast smirked as Ryuu released the tension in his body as a result of his sudden appearance and tried his best to nonchalantly walk past him.
"Don't flatter yourself and think I've come up here to see you again," Ryuu responded with an abrasive tone, which only served to widen Vunder's characteristic smirk.
"Then pray tell me why you are up here then, Little Ryuu," Vunder prodded his guest with a hint of amusement in his vile voice. "You know as well as I and all citizens of our domain that Gekkdar's Haunt is a forbidden zone. Besides the Guildmasters, only specially-permitted wardens and sentries are allowed to patrol these decrepit halls."
Ryuu halted his gait and looked back in Vunder's direction, his eyes becoming more adjusted to the dark-he could make out Vunder's outline from within the shadows, his opulent robes still and stiff as a board, thick like the air surrounding them; he could make out his head, his grey hair slicked backwards in a self-gratifying manner. Vunder's eyes, more orange than the ripest of citruses, pierced the darkness with his gaze, challenging Ryuu to meet his, which the fledgling Drakkin wizard most certainly did not.
The Moonfire apprentice let Vunder's words dance around in his head. He did have a point, the twisted bastard. Gekkdar's Haunt, also known as the Third Floor, was especially forbidden for all but the strongest of Drakkin guards and leaders. After all, there was a reason why the twists and turns of the third level were off limits.
They were crawling with the undead.
Spectres, ghouls, skeletons, and zombies, hordes of them, occupied the deeper expanses of the Haunt. First contact with them went about as well as you would expect: it resulted in several (unprepared) wardens being slain in the skirmish. The aftermath was the decree that the third level was off-limits until the Guilds could sufficiently find a way to eliminate the undead before plans to revitalize the decayed level could even begin to be carried out.
That isn't to say that the decree stopped unfavorables like Vunder from encroaching upon Gekkdar's for their own malicious reasons-Vunder's being that he carried all sorts of experiments within unknown chambers on the floor in his bid for power on the Council, and being up here allowed him to avoid the scrutiny of the majority of the sentries below.
"I can read you like a book Ryuu," Vunder snapped Ryuu out of his musings. "You're here simply because no one else, besides me and my fellow Warden, are up here. You savor the solitude." Ryuu simply glared back. "Is it because you simply cannot get over the fact that you're different than the rest-" Vunder was cut off as Ryuu stormed off into the sprawling catacombs that was Gekkdar's, having heard quite enough from the raving necromancer, his mirthful chuckles bounding off the cracked walls as Ryuu made his way deeper in.
"Fufufufufu! Try as you might, you can't run from yourself Ryuu!"
Ryuu's footsteps echoed down the archaic halls of Gekkdar's, his body twisting along the winding catacombs expertly, the memory of the trail towards his favorite hiding spot lingering within the confines of his cluttered and distracted mind. He made a hard right, descended down a flight of crumbled stairs, took another right into a seemingly insipid room and slowly shut the door behind him; it would do him no good if he attracted the attention of the wandering undead because he was careless.
"Ahem," a sudden, unexpected voice echoed from behind Ryuu, causing him to jump upwards in surprise before he twirled around, his hands encased with burning flame, ready to scorch whoever was intruding on his privacy.
Golden, amused eyes met his startled purple ones and he dropped his hands down to his sides, the flames he once wielded fizzling out with a hiss. "Tatsuo...I should have known you would find my secret spot." Ryuu crossed his arms across his chest and puffed his cheeks, pouting that he had been found out.
The older Drakkin, Tatsuo, chuckled out loud at Ryuu's childish behavior and stepped towards him, placing an arm lazily around his shoulder. "Now, now, don't be like that Ryuu!"
Ryuu, on the other hand, relented, and looked up towards his friend. He was a true son of Keikolin the Enlightened in every sense: golden yellow orbs accompanied by dancing yellow flames that lay etched upon his entire body, his bald head seeming to further illuminate his chromatic skin scheme. He puffed his cheeks further and reached his hand up to playfully rub his shiny dome for a head.
"Hey, knock it off!" Tatsuo was quick to swipe his hand away. He still had his pride as a Drakkin fighting elite to think about, and he couldn't have people using his head as a de-stressor of sorts.
Tatsuo quickly discarded his signature goofy visage and took on a much more serious one. "Heshyrr sent me to find you," he spoke softly, eliciting a look of surprise from Ryuu. The golden Drakkin placed his palm up to stop Ryuu from speaking. "And before you say anything, yes, we've known that you come up here instead of attending your lessons with the Moonfire Guildmasters for quite some time now."
Ryuu furrowed his brow in confusion. "Then why wait this long to confront me about it?"
Tatsuo shrugged. "Heshyrr requested that both I and Tanis not bring up the issue. Personally, I think that you can take care of yourself, even if I would prefer you not come up here as often as you do."
Ryuu hung his head down and left his gaze at the dusty floor. "I'm sorry if I worried you all..."
Tatsuo sighed and sat his young charge down on the floor before sitting beside him. "You know you can tell me anything that's wrong, right?" Ryuu hugged his knees to his chest and stayed quiet. "I've noticed that you've slowly become more despondent than usual," Tatsuo spoke slowly. "Ryuu. Tell me what's wrong."
"I feel like I don't belong..." Ryuu finally whispered after what seemed like several minutes of agonizingly awkward silence.
Tatsuo perked his ears up at that. "'Don't belong'? What do you mean?"
Ryuu suddenly stood up and glared down at his yellow-scaled comrade. "Don't bullshit me Tatsuo! You know what I mean! Why am I here!? Where did I come from!? Everyone has something that I don't! They have family! Parents! Memories!" Ryuu choked out that last word, hot tears stinging from within him, just aching for release. Ryuu tried his best to ward them off.
"Everyone either has parents they can cherish or they remember their origins from the Circle!" Ryuu continued his tirade. "I have neither! I have no parents or 'origin'! I simply exist for no explainable reason, and I can't stand that fact!"
Tatsuo calmly stood up as Ryuu yelled at him with teary rage, although internally he was quite startled; Ryuu had never yelled at him before.
"I don't have anyone-!" Ryuu's emotional rant was cut short as Tatsuo's strong arms embraced him in a gentle yet firm hold. "That's not true," Tatsuo calmly whispered into his ear. "You have me, your sister Tanis, Heshyrr, and Mystrana. You will always have someone."
Ryuu's dams spilled forward as he sobbed freely, allowing all of his pent up anger, stress, and despair spill out of him and onto Tatsuo's tunic-not that he minded in the least. Ryuu would later admit that crying is not all bad, and it certainly isn't a sign of weakness like he had thought for a long time.
And not just us either, Tatsuo thought as he comforted his younger brother figure. Someday you'll find others who would be proud to be your friends.
Several minutes of choked sobs later, Ryuu had finally managed to mostly compose himself. "All better now?" Tatsuo asked worriedly.
"Y-yeah," Ryuu sniffled. "I feel better now. Thank you, Tatsuo..."
"Hey, what are brothers for? Just be sure to thank your sisters too when we get back! Or it's the Dragon Fist for you!" Tatsuo glowered at him jokingly. Ryuu chuckled; he had always found Tatsuo's pride in being one of the strongest members of the monk guild, the Fangs of the Dragon, amusing.
"Come on, let's get out of here and see if Sanura from the downstairs bakery has anything fresh we can munch on. What do ya say? My treat!" As quickly as he had initially discarded it, Tatsuo's happy-go-lucky attitude had resurfaced, infecting Ryuu with his aura.
"Yeah, I'd like that..."
Tatsuo pushed open the door of the scorched room , letting Ryuu walk out first. Wait. Scorched? Tatsuo glanced back towards the walls of Ryuu's private little area. Sure enough, the walls at one end were their normal dusty grey color while the other side of the room was jet black with burn residue. Tatsuo smirked as he closed the door behind him. So, you've been getting stronger up here all this time, have you? I'd like to see just how far you'll go, Ryuu...
Ryuu smiled slightly as Tatsuo caught up with him, walking beside him when he suddenly heard a light clacking noise from behind them. "Hmm?" He tilted his head back and paled. Peering at them from behind was a decayed, burnt skeleton, eerie green orbs lit up its eye sockets as it stared unflinchingly at the two Drakkin. Without even muttering any incantations, the skeleton channeled a surge of magic through its bony fingers, coldness and bits of ice coalescing around its osteal fists before launching the Shock of Ice spell at its quarry.
Ryuu deftly shoved unsuspecting Tatsuo to the ground before channeling his fire spell into his fists before launching it back at the undead mage. "Flame Shock!" Ryuu yelled out, his spell colliding with the blast of ice before overriding it completely and engulfing the skeleton in a small, fiery combustion. The skeleton opened its charred jaw and a shrill cackle emanated from within its unholy being, causing Tatsuo to tense up as he picked himself off the floor.
Tatsuo hadn't spared a second glance when he spotted dozens more skeleton mages rounding the corner, passing their burning and decayed comrade as they slowly shuffled their way towards the monk and the wizard. "We gotta move!" Tatsuo grabbed Ryuu by the collar of his robe, dragging him up and down the hallways the same way they'd came in from. But their relief was short-lived as another horde of skeletons were waiting for them atop the stairs Ryuu had come down from.
"Get out of my way undead scum!" Tatsuo yelled out in annoyance, his grip releasing Ryuu to run for himself as he curled his hands into fangs and leaped towards the nearest skeleton before him.
"Dragon Fang!" He slammed his fanged fists straight through the sternum of his foe, its entire body shimmering violently before it exploded into dust, the shock wave from the master monk's attack blasting back the rest of the horde in front of them either against the wall or to the ground, disoriented and stunned.
Needless to say, the two Drakkin were quick to haul ass before the skeletons that were slowly but surely approaching from behind caught up to them. Only a few more tense moments later, and both were before the elevator shaft that led down towards the city's second level, which was unfortunately down, preventing them from immediately hopping on it.
"Thank goodness you two are safe and sound," a cheery voice sounded from behind them. The two whirled around to see Vunder, dark robes and all, grinning at them. "I was just about to come and look for you two, seeing as how I'd heard an ungainly commotion coming from deep within those wretched catacombs. I hope you're alright."
"Your insincerity is comforting as always Vunder," Ryuu replied stoically.
Vunder placed his hands over his chest and arched backwards theatrically. "How bland! Are you so easy to shrug off the caring concerns of your fellow Drakkin, Ryuu?"
"Ryuu is quite fine and alright. He can handle himself, and he was with me after all," Tatsuo quickly intervened into the conversation. He never trusted Vunder.
Vunder bowed mockingly towards the monk. "Of course, of course, Tatsuo-sama, who would I be to dare question the skills of Master Yusi'ru's foremost apprentice?" Pet... Vunder sneered within the confines of his twisted mind.
Before Tatsuo could address Vunder's not-so-subtle sarcasm regarding his status, a low rumbling followed by a sudden shaking sensation reverberated throughout the entire antechamber, leaving all, including Vunder, confounded.
"What was that? A rumble like that had to have been felt throughout the entire city...is it an earthquake...?" Ryuu mumbled to himself as the pulley mechanisms of the elevator shaft suddenly began to operate, pulling the elevator platform upwards towards the third floor. When it finally reached it, the three Drakkin blinked in surprise as one of the city wardens collapsed before Tatsuo's feet, the monk acting quickly to kneel down and hold him steady.
"Thabit!? What's going on!? What's happened!?"
The warden known as Thabit panted heavily as he did his best to regain his composure before looking up towards Tatsuo with a face of desperation.
"It's the Mucktail Gnolls! They're raiding the settlements out in the Hollow!"
