Elisud kept himself hidden as the dark rain poured down all around him, a steady THUDDA-THUD-THUDDing echoing through the air from the thick and heavy droplets of water. It was pouring so hard you could scarcely see two feet in front of you, it was as if all around him was hidden by a curtain of water. What he could see, though, was various irritated-looking bunny guards who were looking up at the walls of Dublin Town, holding tightly onto spears and grumbling their unhappiness at each other.
"S'been SIX WEEKS since we got here and they still ain't given up yet. The other's gave up two weeks ago, they couldn't last a bloody month!" The first one remarked as his compatriot sighed, both of them having distinct English accents.
"Well, y'know, not everyone's got what it takes. Some people are just a load of poncy gits that can't hack it." The second bunny guard remarked.
"Yeah, but why do WE gotta hack guard duty today in the worst bloody rainstorm I've ever seen?" His friend wanted to know. Both were wearing cloaks over their round-helmed heads, having thick boots, thick gloves, and looked as miserable as can be, their bunny ears poking up through little holes in their cloaks. "Remind me again why we can't just get our platoon of merfolk to handle this? They love water, don't they?"
"They're sick, remember? They've actually caught colds except for Selkie." The first bunny guard remarked. "Evidently, they're really, really sick too-SHH. Here she comes!"
Elisud realized that the clanking of armor was coming this way and he quickly hid himself right behind the backs of the bunny guards, turning around just as they did, remaining as hidden as he could as a female merperson approached. Unlike others of her ilk, Selkie had a distinctly darker color of skin that was faintly seal-like in color, and she was much more well-built and toned in her muscular structure. On top of that, she was wearing tight-fitting armor under the rain cloak she wore and yet had a distinctly big pot belly on display that jiggled a bit as she looked the two bunny guards over, frowning a bit, with very deep brown eyes.
"Any humans come by? None of them trying to sneak out?" Selkie demanded to know in a distinctly Icelandic voice, her cadence very thick indeed and with dark black hair flopping down her features.
"Believe us, ma'am, we've had our eyes and ears peeled and we ain't seen or heard a single one!" The bunny guards insisted as they both saluted.
"Yes, we've been very closely guarding this section of Dublin's wall, and we've not seen a single bloody human. They're all staying sheltered inside the town or up on the top of the walls overlooking all of us, but they've not even tried shooting at us or anything, it's as if the rain itself just saps their strength." The first bunny guard confessed.
"If I had to guess, ma'am, I reckon humans don't much like being out in the rain." The second bunny guard admitted. "They're probably more miserable here than we are, and we're from England, we're very used to rain, ma'am!"
"BAH, you call this a drizzle? It wouldn't even give the women in my homeland the sniffles. You all can barely hack it." She told them with a scowl, sticking her mottled-looking tongue out, which made the bunnies cringe. "The mer-platoon can't seem to stomach this either, they spend so much time in the lovely Italian or Spanish sunshine or hanging around with the Portuguese and in other lovely warm waters, none of them really know what it's like to be in cooler, more trying temperatures." Selkie muttered. "Builds character!" She proclaimed, smacking her chest with her gauntleted fist. "At any rate, keep an eye out. Maintain your post!" She demanded. "All three of you little bunnies." She remarked, nodding as she walked on off, the two bunny guards saluting after her.
"Yes, ma'am! Of course, we're gonna…"
Then they stopped, staring at each other. "Wait, did she say…" the second one began, the first one nodding as they turned to look behind them…
But Elisud had already taken off, he was now climbing up the wall as best he could, using blue magic to elevate himself up, up, onto the ramparts, flopping down right next to, of all people, Solomon and Eri, the two currently on guard duty themselves at that spot of the Dublin wall as Hadiya and Abel were patrolling a section across from them. "Oh!" Solomon intoned, looking surprised as he held up a shield of strong webbing he'd waterproofed over he and Eri's head, Elisud picking himself up. "My, my. Who might you be?" He inquired. "I can tell you're a mage from that fine little display of blue magic. I'm Solomon, and this is Eri, and you would be…?"
"I'm Elisud, sir." Elisud bowed his head at him, then at Eri, who's hand he shook. "I'm here to deliver a message from Cu Chulainn, if you would hear it. We've mustered our forces not far from Dublin Town, and we're ready to help you. We've an idea for a pincer attack, you in the town can sweep forth from your city and we'll come racing in from behind. I just need to give Cu Chulainn the symbol and we'll put the plan into action." The green-robed young man informed the two. "Who's in charge here of the town's defenses?"
"The mayor'll be very happy to here this!" Eri intoned. "Finally, we've been waiting ages for some kind of backup!" She joyously grinned as she held out her arms.
"Oh, geez, s-sorry, I don't want to get you wet…" Elisud admitted nervously as Eri chuckled.
"Get me wet." She insisted as Elisud hugged her, Solomon chuckling a little.
"I'll go alert our friends, then. How are we going to signal your lord Cu Chulainn's forces? A fire of some kind?" He inquired of Elisud as he shook his head.
"No, you just need me. I'm to manifest the biggest, largest green shield I can manifest on top of the ramparts. But we'd best wait for this awful rain to clear." He added before a THWIZZZ sound rang through the air and he cringed, gasping in pain, an arrow had stuck right into his shoulder, and damn, did it hurt!
"Human mage, human mage!" One of the bunny guards below roared out as Solomon quickly maneuvered his shield he'd been using to protect from the rain in front to shield Elisud and Eri as they scrambled to move down to the town streets below on a ladder, Elisud cringing as Eri brought him into a nearby house to remove the arrow, more arrows flying at the ramparts as the cries of angry monsters rang out.
"Hold on…this'll hurt a bit." Eri said, taking a deep breath as she grasped the arrow, then quickly yanked as hard and swiftly as she could, tugging it out. Elisud panted heavily, wiping his brow as he held his hand up to his shoulder.
"Just need to focus a little…could I have some water?" He asked as Eri nodded, turning to a small group of Dubliners who were standing around them.
"Water, please." She insisted as one of them raced off, bringing back a waterskin, made from sheep skin. Eri raised it to the young and bearded lad's lips and Elisud took a few swigs, closing his eyes.
"Thank you very much. God bless you." He softly intoned as he smiled at them all before the hand on his shoulder glowed with a soft green light. Bit by bit the wound from the arrow began to fade as he sighed, now he just had a tear in his cloak instead.
"Ah, so that's how green magic works." Eri remarked, looking very impressed indeed as Elisud rubbed the back of his neck. "You're a "Kindness" soul."
"Yes, Miss Eri." He remarked as he looked into her eyes, and a faint tingle rose up in him. "Would…would you happen to be a magic user too?" He asked of her. "I've got this hunch inside me that you are."
"Oh, yes, I can use purple magic." She remarked. "I'm able to bring the things I draw to life." She told Elisud. "It's helped out a little when it comes to replacing torn waterskins or broken furniture or food items, but it takes a lot out of me. On top of that, we've kind of gone through a lot of the parchment I could use to make such things."
"You burn it for fires, then?" Elisud inquired.
"…well, not at first…" Eri admitted with a sigh, shaking her head back and forth. "I'm very glad you're here because it was getting horrible. I mean, we've utterly run out of tablecloths now, people are that desperate. And you don't wanna KNOW how we get rid of all the waste."
SPLOOOOORSCCCGGGGGHHHHH! Catapault loads of very unpleasant things indeed had been jettisoned out from the town square and now flopped down onto the armored, irritated and infuriated forms of the besieging monsters outside as they held their shields up, cringing in disgust. "You people are GARBAGE!" King Maecoal furiously bellowed out as he hid underneath his own enormous shield, the monsters around him gagging in disgust at the smell.
"Speaking OF, have a little more!" Hadiya yelled back from over the wall as she turned back to the town. "Give 'em another load!" She called out as Abel pinched his nose tight with one hand, the other holding up a shield to protect himself and Hadiya from the inevitable onslaught of retaliatory arrows that were sure to follow after this, as they always did. They had run out of the material needed to make "Greek fire", a kind of dark oil, "crude oil" in fact. So they'd figured out something else to toss at the monsters that was proving just as effective in its own disgusting and childish way.
"Thank God we'll literally never run outta shit to throw at them." Abel remarked as Hadiya began to laugh so hard she doubled up.
Meanwhile, Tobias, Toriel, Seiichi and Sakamoto were having a meeting with the most powerful blue mage in town, which, in their case, was none other than Leopold, and as they went to approach his home, they stopped in mid-walk, staring in surprise, seeing the unmistakable sign of Leopold giving a skeleton monster, and a male one at that, a kiss on the cheek. The two had been practicing lifting Gaster up into the air along with Gerald, and now Leopold had gotten so good he no longer really seemed to need much additional magical aid from the faintly UFO-shaped alien anymore.
And as Leo had bounded up and down for joy, holding Gaster in his arms in a hug, the moment had happened, a quick kiss right on the cheeks, first the left, then the right!
"OH." Toriel had remarked aloud, Tobias gaping, mouth wide open, Seiichi staring ahead as Sakamoto went "Huh", shrugging a bit as Gaster, Leo and Gerald turned to look at them. "Um…h-hello."
"Oh! Uh…" Leopold turned almost as white as his long hair. "Just, um…er…"
They all stared at him, Toriel glancing away as Tobias cleared his throat. "I'm, ah, going to pretend I didn't see that." He murmured to them. "I'm not going to judge you for what you do in your spare time, but you probably should not be doing that sort of thing anywhere in town. Unless you both decide to engage in "Adelphopoiesis" but you're too young to go into a "brother making" ceremony. Not everyone is Saint Sergius and Bacchus."
"How old do you have to be?" Leopold asked quickly as Gerald held up a finger to his lips.
"SHHHH! SHH-SHH-SHHH. None of that, none of that! Not right now, we've got a dragon in front of us!" He said quickly as Sakamoto chuckled.
"In OUR culture, we don't really give a damn about who marries who, in fact, we have "open" marriages. If we so desire, another man or woman is allowed to sleep with those not their husbands or wives, we simply understand that, in the end, they will come back to their truest love."
"That seems…" Toriel frowned. "I'm sorry, that seems very reckless and naïve to make such an assumption, you're almost inviting cheating on you, inviting your heart to be broken."
"A risk we don't mind taking." Sakamoto intoned. "What is your species's hangup with homosexuality? Animals in nature engage in it, it's not that strange, the Greeks were famous for it."
"Yes, but they were also famous for rather disturbing things with boys." Tobias said quickly. "I've read up on it, good sir, they're not beyond reproach. I would just prefer people keep their more…erotic feelings to themselves and to their homes." He commented.
"Have you ever been in love?" Gaster asked of Tobias, looking the brown-haired young lord over, seeing his rosy complexion. My, my, my, he was quite a lovely specimen of human himself. Seiichi wasn't his type much, but he was kind of cute in a charming sort of butterball-like way.
"Um…well, I've had infatuation, perhaps." Tobias mumbled in a deflective tone. "But at any rate, you seem to be an exceptionally wonderful mage, Mr. Leopold, and we'd like you to join our little campaign. King Maecoal himself is at Dublin Town, laying siege to it. We wish to completely overwhelm him. Capturing him, we'll force the Monsters he commands into signing terms of surrender." Tobias went on. "It will be difficult, admittedly, because he's amassing more of his troops based off intercepted communiques we've gotten hold of, but if we strike quickly, we can get to him before his backup does."
"And while he may be able to handle one, two, maybe even three mages at once, having about half a dozen fighting alongside hundreds, if not thousands of humans, including the one and only Cu Chulainn is another thing entirely." Sakamoto intoned. "So what say you?"
"You JUST want to capture him?" Leopold asked quietly, looking from them to Gaster and Gerald, biting his lip.
"Yes. We would capture him and force his surrender, we would prefer not to kill him. But it's best we get there soon as possible, because from what I've heard, Cu Chulainn is not famed for his patience, nor his mercy." Seiichi remarked. "Tobias and Ms. Toriel have been regaling me with all kinds of stories about him. Can he really turn into a demon?" He wanted to know.
"Oh, yes, I can testify to that." Gaster said. "My brother Garamond has fought with him, his skin becomes all red, scaley, he gains horns, a tail, claws, taloned feet…" He shuddered. "Evidently he also smells like brimstone, too. A true demon, that's his unique ability, that's not in dispute at all."
"…oh. Oh, well, um…that's…" Seiichi looked considerably disturbed. "I…well, so, er…are you going to come with us?"
"Yes, yes I will." Leopold said. "But I would very much like for Gaster to be allowed to come with me alongside Gerald. They're very dear and helpful to me."
The others nervously looked at each other. "We'll uh…discuss it while you have a chat with your two "nakama"." Seiichi murmured. As they walked off, Seiichi put his hands in his robes pockets, biting his lip, looking down at the ground as Sakamoto glanced back at him.
"Whatever is the matter?"
"An actual demon? A real demon? I mean…" Seiichi sounded sick. "He's a real demon! We have LEGENDS of demons where I'm from but I've never heard actual evidence of it, never heard the animals talk of them, there's always just been spirits angered by others, who felt unjustly wronged and who wanted to get even with humans, like the youkai. But if demons are truly real, then maybe…maybe evil is real. And I've been taught for years it really wasn't, but-"
Sakamoto quietly nodded as Toriel then gently placed her hand on his shoulder, and Seiichi looked quickly up at her. She smiled warmly back at him.
"I've also heard Cu Chulainn had a wife and son he loved even more than fighting. Anyone like that can't truly be evil, can they?" She offered.
"Do you believe in the Devil, Ms. Toriel?" Seiichi asked. "Do you not think he's evil?"
"I think he's delusional and pitiable." Toriel told Seiichi. "We've had prayers for many people, but none for the one who needs mercy the most…the most pitiful, deluded, utter fool of all who had paradise and threw it away. And if he was good and smart enough to realize it, he'd be welcomed back into God's arms. Yet even then, the Devil still sometimes does God's work, sometimes we need to be tested and tempted to emerge stronger. Try to think of this as a test. Maybe you'll come out stronger for it."
Seiichi gave her a big, fat hug. She smiled, hugging the twelve year old back. "Children like you shouldn't have such great a burden placed on you. I'm sorry that you do."
"You're wise beyond your years, Ms. Toriel. I wish more people were like you."
"Yeah. That's what's so amazing about her." Tobias said with a nod and a big smile at Toriel as Sakamoto slightly clucked his tongue, and shook his head back and forth.
Gaster and Leopold, meanwhile, were sitting in the kitchen in the house Gerald and Leopold were staying in, Leo and Gaster holding hands.
"Will your mother allow it?"
"I'm old enough to make decisions for myself." Gaster said firmly. "I don't care if she DOES say no, Leo. I'm going with you. You couldn't stop me even if you told me not to and tried to tie me down."
"You really want this?"
"Yes."
"So do I." Leo squeezed his hand. "I just wouldn't want anyone else besides you and Gerald by my side for this."
Gerald rubbed the back of his head. "Don't be going all sentimental on us, m'boy. We've got a lot of work still to do. You'll be out on the front lines, no kind of safety net. You'll have to either sink or swim. So can you promise me you won't drown?"
"I'm a damn good swimmer, Gerald." Leopold insisted. "I think I'll stay above water. And I'll make sure you do too."
And so, as the sun began to descend, it was decided. They would go to Dublin Town as quickly as possible, travelling upon Sakamoto as Tobias left the town in the charge of his parents. He'd instructed the court mage and his sons to find a way to keep in touch with him though.
"We've got an idea that could work." Said Mr. Bloke, the ghost monster smiling as his adorable sons pulled off the cover of an enormous mirror, which reflected…nothing. It was all swimmy and dusty and dark. "Say your name, milord."
"Tobias." Tobias said quickly into the mirror as the others gazed on, mesmerized by the sight as the swirling black inky abyss in the mirror transfigured itself into, sure enough, Tobias!
"It's you!" Mr. Bloke laughed. "See, this mirror is enchanted. We're going to work on having it hone in upon your very soul, sir. And it'll, in turn, then hone back on us. You will see us, we will see you and anyone else who's currently touching your body and in front of the mirror. Right now though, it's not quite finished, it only lasts for five minutes." He added as Tobias could see the visage in the mirror fading away to darkness once again. "But it'll prove invaluable, we'll let you know how things are back home and can provide you with news from feelers we've sent out across our lands. If more monsters are coming to Dublin Town, if there's going to be rioting in Germany, you'll know almost as soon as we know."
"Brilliant!" Tobias said happily, giving Mr. Bloke a hug…or rather, trying to. His arms passed through Mr. Bloke as he cringed. "Oops. S-Sorry." He murmured as he shuddered. "Wow, I can't feel you, yet you're icy cold!"
"A regrettable side effect of being dead." Mr. Bloke admitted. "It's always very chilly for me. Like it's a winter's evening and I've plumb forgotten to put on any pants."
Toriel began laughing so hard she fell off Sakamoto. "Okay, little rule. Nobody tell ANY jokes when I'm flying!" Sakamoto insisted as Leopold hovered her right onto the dragon's back. "Can we agree on that?"
"No promises." Toriel giggled mischievously.
…
…
…
…all of us thought the rain would clear up. Unfortunately, it hasn't. As I write this, it's been raining for a solid five days now and people are beginning to get seriously worried. There are concerns of flooding to consider now here in Dublin Town and the worst part is that the weather's getting colder and colder, so the rain has now begun to turn into freezing rain and sleet.
Maecoal managed to get reinforcements. Evidently it had taken them a while to get here, but they'd left the minute they heard he was at Dublin Town. We know they're new because ol King Maecoal has been patrolling the outside of the town with not only Sir Garamond by his side and Jocasta, leader of the Minotaur Men, but also Selkie and Melusine, the two greatest Merfolk warriors of all.
Melusine, however, clearly isn't much into any of this though. It's common for us to catch her looking at a little picture that her young daughter drew of her and her distinctly human father. The kid's skilled, she was able to carve it onto a stone tablet and the resemblance is uncanny. Evidently "Undyne" would make for a wonderful artist!
Jocasta is clearly very terrified of messing up. She got in quite a lot of trouble, from what we've heard of whispers from the guards, for taking prisoners from the last city she raided and she doesn't want to mess things up. She tried to make up for this by being exceptionally cruel and sneaking up the ramparts to forcibly tug some of our guards off the top and then pulling them off to messily disembowel them as a "warning" of what will happen to all of us.
So, needless to say, there's no more napping on top of the ramparts. Everyone's now on edge. The only good thing about the fact the rain's turned icy and sleety is that she can't scale the walls the way she used to. Cold comfort…literally. We're all freezing.
I'm not too put off by this though, I'm a sailor and I'm from a town used to unpleasantly cold weather. What I am put off by is that horrible faint whispering I keep hearing. It's gotten louder and is now a low voice, and I'm sure that it is HIS voice. He Who Lurks Beneath The Waves, the Old One, That Which Lives In His Own Eyes. He has so many names and they're all horrifying and foul and the stench is like someone squished fish eyeballs under your nostrils.
He's not best pleased with me running off. He didn't like that I rejected him and left my hometown. I think he very much "wanted the set".
Well he can't have me. I value my freedom. Wave over wave, sea over bow, I was happy a man as the sea would allow! There's no other life for a sailor like me than to sail the soft sea, boys, to sail the sea! Yes, no other life but to sail the soft sea. The work it is hard, the hours are long, but my spirit is willing, my back it is strong.
And when the work's over, the whisky we'll pour, and I'll dance with the girls upon this foreign shore. I eagerly await for this to be over, but-
Abel put the feather quill he'd been using to write down, quivering. Knocking. Knocking at the door.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.
He took a deep breath, taking up his oil lamp. Torches weren't very helpful, they didn't provide a lot of light and they generated too much smoke more often than not. No, no, simple candles and oil lamps were what worked best. And he held his oil lamp up, approaching the door.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.
He took in a deep, long breath, kneeling down, looking underneath-
…nothing was there. There wasn't anything on the other end of the door, and yet…
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.
"GO. AWAY." Abel said firmly, cringing, his grip on the oil lamp slightly quivering and shaking. "Go. Away. Now!" He demanded.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.
"I! SAID! GO AWAAAAAAAAAAY!" Abel yelled furiously, roaring, as the door thudded and shook even harder than before and then…
Then it was over. Abel sighed, hanging his head, returning back to the desk-
TOK-TOK-TOK!
Rapping at the window. He lifted the oil lamp up…nothing there either.
But he did not sleep well that night. Not one bit.