Hey people. You've waited long enough, so here's Chapter 21 of Darkstalkers: Deeping Dream. Wow. Barely halfway through the story, and I'm already one chapter past what I thought I'd go. Way back around chapter 10, I thought this would stretch to twenty chapters- but now I think I'll easily get to thirty and beyond.
Kudos to all the reviewers- you guys are great. Someone asked why Jon was so short (I think it was Jonathan Tailban) and the answer is this; I noticed on the game that Jon can duck under almost any attack, and that he doesn't seem very tall when compared to the other characters. So I made him short, to fit in with the evidence. Besides, where else are you going to read about a five ft, six inch werewolf?
You're not here to listen to me gibber on, so it's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 21
A Fever of the Mind
The Felinos have a saying for every subject, whether it be love ( "Like sunshine in winter, a rose growing from a sword"), war ( " A destroyer, but not just of dreams; sometimes nightmares have to be destroyed too"), or food ( "Never, ever trust a cook who won't eat their own makings.") They also have a saying on the subject of the insane, in the form of a riddle:
" What feasts on dreams, and yet hungers for them?
What dwells in shadow, yet walks in light?
Weaker than everything, yet strong as ten men?"
Anyone who has ever met or dealt with the insane can solve this riddle: the mad think they walk in the light of truth when they are wrapped in lies, feed off their own tortured dreams and yet never really sleep, and nothing is weaker than their mental state. The last part, of course, refers to their incredible physical stamina. It is beyond belief, something true in both Makai and our own world.
The same was true of Morrigan at that moment.
Morrigan's mind was fractured, had been fractured since her first love, an incubus whose name
* Garik, his name was Garik*
she never allowed herself to remember, had betrayed her. Half her mind hiding the truth from the other half; it was the only way she thought she had to deal with it. Pyron had cracked the protective shield around her memories, and as she fought, her tentacles lashing, her mind was a babble of voices.
[ You loved him,] one voice cried.
[ He never existed!] another part cried.
[ He ruined you,] one whispered.
[ Lies!][ Truth!][ This can't be happening...] [ Why me?!? Why.... why did you leave me?!?]
At the moment, Morrigan's head was bedlam.
One of the Corpse Hungers, seeing an opening in the twisting whirlwind around Morrigan, leapt forward with a roar. Seeing it, she reacted instantly with the unnatural speed of the insane. Her headless tentacle (it's spear tip had been torn off during the fight in Moongrace, and hadn't regrown yet) came striking like a club, battering the Corpse Hunger so hard it flew off the small rockpile. It struck the ground yards away, twitched once as it's skull cracked open, and then lay still.
The remaining Hungers stayed back, snapping at the tentacles when they could. Morrigan was striking wildly, not using her tentacles like striking snakes as she usually did, but simply flailing about wildly, lashing at everything in range. Dust and rocks flew as she smashed the rockpile again and again. Felicia and Jon had just reached the bottom of the rockpile when both Hungers, abandoning reason as the smell of blood from the bite wound in Morrigan's wing drove them into a frenzy, leapt as one. Morrigan's tentacles, like the whips of an over-enthusiastic taskmaster, soared through the air at them. One lost part of it's right side to her edged tentacles; the other was lucky and managed to escape unharmed. Inside the range of her tentacles, the creatures thought (as well as such things are capable of doing, anyway) that they would now be able to devour her with ease.
They couldn't have been more wrong.
The monsters were inside her whip range, so Morrigan simply switched to her hands and feet. Her right leg kicked out in a full-fledged punt; it struck one Hunger right in the stomach and sent it flying backwards. It hit the middle of the rockpile with a thud, right next to Jon and Felicia. Felicia and Jon looked at each other for a minute, amazed at their companion's newfound strength, and then killed the Hunger with claw and shield. They then heard Dimitri cursing, and ran to help him.
Dimitri was in a very small space, just big enough to lie down in. And the main problem with using a spear as a weapon is that a lot of space is required.
[ Oh great, here we go,] he thought, struggling to get the blazing Ebonrule in the right position. [ Gonna get eaten alive by monsters that don't even reach my belt. Hell of a way to go.] The first monster poked it's head in while he was still trying to reverse Ebonrule. He butted it in the head with Ebonrule's flat end, then did it twice more. It looked at him in a lopsided, almost comic manner, as if offended by being poked in the head like an abberant dog. It then hissed at him. He poked it with Ebonrule again, right in the roof of it's mouth. It bit down and promptly shattered all it's own teeth. It screamed, what remained of it's jaw clenched on Ebonrule, and then Dimitri's foot lashed out, knocking it off Ebonrule and out of the cave.
He didn't know that two were after him; consequently, when the second grabbed his boot, it surprised him. Before he could pull his foot back from kicking it's brother, it had bit his boot. He cursed loudly (this is what Jon and Felicia heard), trying to get his boot back. He could feel the incredible strength in those jaws, the force in those muscles, and wondered that the Ebonrule could survive those gnashing jaws. The monster began doing something... what was it doing? Dimitri tried to shake it off his foot, and then stopped, dumbfounded. It was trying to pull him out. Against all reason, the damn thing was trying to drag him out into sunlight.
[ You have got to be kidding me,] Dimitri thought, somewhat scared at the implications. [ No monster is that smart. Is Pyron... behind all this, somehow? Does he know where we are? I thought we lost him after Moongrace...]
Dimitri easily weighed two hundred pounds, mostly from muscle. The Corpse Hunger weighed about fifty pounds. The result was no contest. The Hunger's striving did not budge him more than a few inches; still, he had been spooked, and badly. If Pyron knew they were here...
The train of his thoughts were interrupted by the shield that suddenly separated the head and body of the Hunger. It's strange tuggings stopped, it reflex bit his boot once more, then relaxed and fell onto the floor of the crawlspace. Dimitri kicked it out. Jon's face appeared in the small patch of light that was the opening of the crawlspace.
" Hey, Dimitri! You all right?" he asked, worried.
" I've been attacked by midgets, but am otherwise okay," Dimitri said. He'd found he was getting a sense of humor on this trip; just another oddity on one very strange journey.
" Good," John said, turning to look at something. " Morrigan and Felicia... hey!" He stared at something Dimitri couldn't see, his jaw dropping and his eyes widening in shock.
" What is it?" Dimitri asked, but Jon didn't hear him. His attention was understandably riveted on what was happening at the top of the rockpile.
Morrigan had the last Hunger in her hands, literally choking the life out of it. The Hunger snapped it's jaws and screamed, but it's cries were weak and half-hearted. Morrigan was, quite literally, strangling it. Her hands were wrapped about it's throat with all the single-minded determination she could muster (which, at the moment, was quite considerable). Felicia, standing nearby in a battle ready position, lowered her claws as she stared at Morrigan in disbelief. Was she nuts?
" Morrigan! What are you doing?"
" Damn you Garik! Damn you! DAMN YOU!" Morrigan cried, punctuating her yells by bashing the unfortunate Hunger's head into the surface of the rockpile. It's eyes rolled wildly as it began to die, it's lungs choked and starving for air. " DAMN YOU!"
Finally, as it died, she dropped it's beaten body. She stepped back, then sat down with a tired, hurt look on her face. She broke out into sobs and curled into a ball, wrapping her wings around her, rocking back and forth slowly, saying something in a low, whispered tone that was almost a whimper:
" Garik.... why?... why did you?... damn you..."
Jon looked back at Dimitri, eyes wide with wonder.
" I'm not for sure," he said, glancing back at Morrigan as he did so, " but I think your girlfriend just went nuts."
Dimitri stared at him for a minute, than sighed and said, " Why not. Tell me what happened."
- See you guys later! Bye, and happy Valentine's Day!
Kudos to all the reviewers- you guys are great. Someone asked why Jon was so short (I think it was Jonathan Tailban) and the answer is this; I noticed on the game that Jon can duck under almost any attack, and that he doesn't seem very tall when compared to the other characters. So I made him short, to fit in with the evidence. Besides, where else are you going to read about a five ft, six inch werewolf?
You're not here to listen to me gibber on, so it's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 21
A Fever of the Mind
The Felinos have a saying for every subject, whether it be love ( "Like sunshine in winter, a rose growing from a sword"), war ( " A destroyer, but not just of dreams; sometimes nightmares have to be destroyed too"), or food ( "Never, ever trust a cook who won't eat their own makings.") They also have a saying on the subject of the insane, in the form of a riddle:
" What feasts on dreams, and yet hungers for them?
What dwells in shadow, yet walks in light?
Weaker than everything, yet strong as ten men?"
Anyone who has ever met or dealt with the insane can solve this riddle: the mad think they walk in the light of truth when they are wrapped in lies, feed off their own tortured dreams and yet never really sleep, and nothing is weaker than their mental state. The last part, of course, refers to their incredible physical stamina. It is beyond belief, something true in both Makai and our own world.
The same was true of Morrigan at that moment.
Morrigan's mind was fractured, had been fractured since her first love, an incubus whose name
* Garik, his name was Garik*
she never allowed herself to remember, had betrayed her. Half her mind hiding the truth from the other half; it was the only way she thought she had to deal with it. Pyron had cracked the protective shield around her memories, and as she fought, her tentacles lashing, her mind was a babble of voices.
[ You loved him,] one voice cried.
[ He never existed!] another part cried.
[ He ruined you,] one whispered.
[ Lies!][ Truth!][ This can't be happening...] [ Why me?!? Why.... why did you leave me?!?]
At the moment, Morrigan's head was bedlam.
One of the Corpse Hungers, seeing an opening in the twisting whirlwind around Morrigan, leapt forward with a roar. Seeing it, she reacted instantly with the unnatural speed of the insane. Her headless tentacle (it's spear tip had been torn off during the fight in Moongrace, and hadn't regrown yet) came striking like a club, battering the Corpse Hunger so hard it flew off the small rockpile. It struck the ground yards away, twitched once as it's skull cracked open, and then lay still.
The remaining Hungers stayed back, snapping at the tentacles when they could. Morrigan was striking wildly, not using her tentacles like striking snakes as she usually did, but simply flailing about wildly, lashing at everything in range. Dust and rocks flew as she smashed the rockpile again and again. Felicia and Jon had just reached the bottom of the rockpile when both Hungers, abandoning reason as the smell of blood from the bite wound in Morrigan's wing drove them into a frenzy, leapt as one. Morrigan's tentacles, like the whips of an over-enthusiastic taskmaster, soared through the air at them. One lost part of it's right side to her edged tentacles; the other was lucky and managed to escape unharmed. Inside the range of her tentacles, the creatures thought (as well as such things are capable of doing, anyway) that they would now be able to devour her with ease.
They couldn't have been more wrong.
The monsters were inside her whip range, so Morrigan simply switched to her hands and feet. Her right leg kicked out in a full-fledged punt; it struck one Hunger right in the stomach and sent it flying backwards. It hit the middle of the rockpile with a thud, right next to Jon and Felicia. Felicia and Jon looked at each other for a minute, amazed at their companion's newfound strength, and then killed the Hunger with claw and shield. They then heard Dimitri cursing, and ran to help him.
Dimitri was in a very small space, just big enough to lie down in. And the main problem with using a spear as a weapon is that a lot of space is required.
[ Oh great, here we go,] he thought, struggling to get the blazing Ebonrule in the right position. [ Gonna get eaten alive by monsters that don't even reach my belt. Hell of a way to go.] The first monster poked it's head in while he was still trying to reverse Ebonrule. He butted it in the head with Ebonrule's flat end, then did it twice more. It looked at him in a lopsided, almost comic manner, as if offended by being poked in the head like an abberant dog. It then hissed at him. He poked it with Ebonrule again, right in the roof of it's mouth. It bit down and promptly shattered all it's own teeth. It screamed, what remained of it's jaw clenched on Ebonrule, and then Dimitri's foot lashed out, knocking it off Ebonrule and out of the cave.
He didn't know that two were after him; consequently, when the second grabbed his boot, it surprised him. Before he could pull his foot back from kicking it's brother, it had bit his boot. He cursed loudly (this is what Jon and Felicia heard), trying to get his boot back. He could feel the incredible strength in those jaws, the force in those muscles, and wondered that the Ebonrule could survive those gnashing jaws. The monster began doing something... what was it doing? Dimitri tried to shake it off his foot, and then stopped, dumbfounded. It was trying to pull him out. Against all reason, the damn thing was trying to drag him out into sunlight.
[ You have got to be kidding me,] Dimitri thought, somewhat scared at the implications. [ No monster is that smart. Is Pyron... behind all this, somehow? Does he know where we are? I thought we lost him after Moongrace...]
Dimitri easily weighed two hundred pounds, mostly from muscle. The Corpse Hunger weighed about fifty pounds. The result was no contest. The Hunger's striving did not budge him more than a few inches; still, he had been spooked, and badly. If Pyron knew they were here...
The train of his thoughts were interrupted by the shield that suddenly separated the head and body of the Hunger. It's strange tuggings stopped, it reflex bit his boot once more, then relaxed and fell onto the floor of the crawlspace. Dimitri kicked it out. Jon's face appeared in the small patch of light that was the opening of the crawlspace.
" Hey, Dimitri! You all right?" he asked, worried.
" I've been attacked by midgets, but am otherwise okay," Dimitri said. He'd found he was getting a sense of humor on this trip; just another oddity on one very strange journey.
" Good," John said, turning to look at something. " Morrigan and Felicia... hey!" He stared at something Dimitri couldn't see, his jaw dropping and his eyes widening in shock.
" What is it?" Dimitri asked, but Jon didn't hear him. His attention was understandably riveted on what was happening at the top of the rockpile.
Morrigan had the last Hunger in her hands, literally choking the life out of it. The Hunger snapped it's jaws and screamed, but it's cries were weak and half-hearted. Morrigan was, quite literally, strangling it. Her hands were wrapped about it's throat with all the single-minded determination she could muster (which, at the moment, was quite considerable). Felicia, standing nearby in a battle ready position, lowered her claws as she stared at Morrigan in disbelief. Was she nuts?
" Morrigan! What are you doing?"
" Damn you Garik! Damn you! DAMN YOU!" Morrigan cried, punctuating her yells by bashing the unfortunate Hunger's head into the surface of the rockpile. It's eyes rolled wildly as it began to die, it's lungs choked and starving for air. " DAMN YOU!"
Finally, as it died, she dropped it's beaten body. She stepped back, then sat down with a tired, hurt look on her face. She broke out into sobs and curled into a ball, wrapping her wings around her, rocking back and forth slowly, saying something in a low, whispered tone that was almost a whimper:
" Garik.... why?... why did you?... damn you..."
Jon looked back at Dimitri, eyes wide with wonder.
" I'm not for sure," he said, glancing back at Morrigan as he did so, " but I think your girlfriend just went nuts."
Dimitri stared at him for a minute, than sighed and said, " Why not. Tell me what happened."
- See you guys later! Bye, and happy Valentine's Day!