The Adventures if An Afflicted

Part 4: Project H.E.A.L Helpful Egomaniacs Advise the Limited

Through the vortex, Dokk and I tumbled. We hit the grass hard on the other side. I glanced back just in time to see the hole in the air disappear and resolve into a sheer rock face.

Taking in the scenery I couldn't help but notice a pack of dinosaurs running across the green landscape. "Uh, Dokk," I started nervously.

The Asura didn't turn to look at me he just shrugged and shook his head. "What now Fishman?" he asked irritably.

I put aside my annoyance at his undeserved impatience, I was getting used to it now. "I take it this is where you live?" I asked.

With an audible sigh, he turned to look at me, giving the impression that he was somehow looking down upon me, despite physically looking up. "Of course it is. If you look into the distance you can see Rata Sum, my home."

Sure enough in the distance I could see a walled formation. "Okay," I said," what do we do about the dinosaurs?"

"Avoid them of course," Dokk said sarcastically and began a march towards a pack of Raptors.

I followed as best I could not wanting to be too far adrift from Dokk who had now become my guide. One of the monsters broke off from the pack as we approached and loomed up in front of us. Dokk seemed unafraid as the two-legged beast stopped in front of him sniffing the air.

Dokk stopped and allowed the creature to absorb his smell. "You remember me," he told it soothingly. His manner surprised me; it was the first time I'd heard Dokk speak without scorn.

Sure enough, within a few seconds the dinosaur was licking the Asura's hand. "It knows you?" I asked, instantly regretting my outburst as the monsters attention switched to me. It growled menacingly and advanced on me.

"Uh, Dokk…" I said with panic as the beast sniffed me, growling as it did.

"Your best bet for survival is not to breathe too loud Bookah," Dokk told me. It was going to be a problem though, I wasn't breathing at all as the dinosaur pushed its nose it my chest, then opened its jaws and roared in my face.

All I could see was teeth.

"He doesn't like you," Dokk said as the creature knocked me off my feet with its tail in a move I hadn't even seen. "That's enough now," I heard Dokk say in the background. His voice drifted through my fear, sounding hollow and far away. I'd closed my eyes but I could still feel the hot pungent breath on my face.

Suddenly the heat was gone and a cool breeze blew across me. I don't think I ever felt so relieved, but it still took me some time to open my eyes again. When I finally did, the beast was on its back and Dokk was tickling its tummy, like it was some massive dog.

"Who is a good boy," Dokk said as he played with the beast.

Gradually, the power of speech came back to me. "You have dinosaurs as pets?" I asked disbelieving.

The Asura laughed at me. "Do not be ridiculous. They are not pets, but we have domesticated some of them. How would we negotiate our lands with such creatures roaming around threatening to eat us all the time? No, no. It is only strangers who are in danger from the dinosaurs."

"Oh, good," I said. "I take it that now I've been introduced, they won't eat me right?"

Dokk smiled and said; "I would not test that theory if I were you Bookah. While I am with you, you are safe from them. Do not walk these lands alone."

I took Dokks warning to heart and stuck very close to him as we continued our walk through the land before time that the Asura knew as home.

When we reached the door to Rata Sum, Dokk introduced me to the Krewe member would was guarding the God shrine. Any hopes I had about other Asura being less judgemental than Dokk evaporated as the guard simply said; "Disgusting" and looked the other way.

Inside the walls, I was introduced to everyone as "Fishman," a name, which persisted despite how many times I interrupted with the word "Derek." The gathered Asura – and there were many more than I could count – took it in turns to prod me with things, mostly staffs, which they would then sniff to see what they could make of me. Phrases like "utterly appalling" and "diabolical" rippled through the crowd.

"You enjoying the freak show?" I asked Dokk, before I realised that he was gone. Where I'd thought he was, another Asura was examining one of my many bulbous protrusions.

"It spoke to me," the Asura said with a start. "What is it you want The Fishman?"

"Derek," I said irritably. "Dokk said we should come here because you had a cure for my condition."

All of the Asura nearby and there were many, scoffed at this. "You should not listen too much to Dokk Fishman. He is merely an Experiment Krewe Member, not a healer of note."

"Then show me a healer," I demanded. "I've been poked and prodded by you crazy creatures long enough."

My demand was met by further prodding with more intrigued, disgusted comments. Fed up I began to walk through the crowd, which followed close by, poking and prodding as I walked.

Eventually I saw Dokk, speaking with some older looking Asura in a corner of the town. "Dokk," I shouted and he turned to look at me waving a dismissive hand in my direction.

I plodded along slowly, occasionally swatting at the staffs, which jabbed at me as I went. As I got closer to Dokk the crowd began to move away from me much to my relief.

"Dokk, this place is insane," I told him.

Ignoring me he address the older Asura who were all sat on boxes, looking down at him. "Elders, this is the Afflicted Fishman," Dokk introduced me.

They looked at me with a great deal of arrogance. The middle one looked me in the eye and said; "Dokk has told us of how he bravely dragged you from the land of Cantha far away."

I didn't argue, it wouldn't help I knew.

The one on the right spoke up in a slightly more shrill voice, "You have been a great burden Fishman, but we had faith in Dokk and despite your influence he has brought us back some interesting information on the Destroyers."

Dokk spoke up then. "With respect Elders, the Fishman Derek has been of service and I did present to him that we would seek a cure for his condition."

It hit me a moment later that he had actually used my name for the first time. True he'd said 'Fishman' too, but it seemed like progress to me.

The Elders stared at him and the one on the left poked me with his staff, a rude act that I ignored. These creatures didn't seem to have any time for nicety. The Asura sniffed at the end of his staff and then announced; "I shall examine this and see whether there is anything in the knowledge base, which can aid you.

"Thank you," I said, to which I received an indignant shrug.

It was a few hours before I heard anything from the Elders and I took the time to look around the place. The town looked ruinous and I wondered why a species so small and frail seeming would choose to live in this land, where dinosaurs and Grenth knows what else roamed free.

Eventually Dokk found me and dragged me back before the Elders.

"We have found no cure for your Affliction," the one in the middle told me. "There is nothing like it in the knowledge of our people."

I sighed and said, "Then truly there is no hope for me."

"Be that as it may, we did not say that there was no cure to be found, only that we hadn't found one yet," the left standing Asura told me.

I perked up a little.

The middle Elder spoke again; "We have determined that there is no cure in these lands. Your best hope lies in journeying to Norn territories and beg the use of the Raven Shrine from Olaf Olafson whose home is in Olafstead."

I couldn't help but smile. "Olaf Olafson in Olafstead?" I asked barely containing laughter.

"You would do well not to smirk in the presence of the Norn," lefty gravely told me. "They don't take well to humour," he warned.

"Okay, okay," I started, "how do I get there?"

The Asura were silent for a second and then looking from one to the other, each gave a small nod. The middle one then said; "Dokk shall be your guide through our lands."

"WHAT?" Dokk squealed. "Have I not been through enough?"

I looked at my companion, who I had been thinking of as the nearest thing I had to a friend in this insane place full of curious midgets.

He looked back at me and said; "No offence Bookah, but I have many duties…"

"Yeah whatever," I said cutting him off.

"You will take the Fishman Dokk," lefty spoke up. "He will not survive without you walking through these lands. If when you get to Norn country you decide to turn around we will not force you to decide here."

"Great," Dokk said angrily. "And what of my Experiment Krewe?"

The Elders looked uneasy. "They will be fine," the middle one said. "We have a temporary replacement in mind."

Dokk was furious I could tell. "You are taking me off of my assignment…" he trailed off and regained control of himself. "We capitulate to your wisdom Elders. Come Fishman!" he demanded. "We must leave at once."

I did a little bow and started to say thank you for the advice of the Elders, but Dokk grabbed my arm and dragged me away explaining quietly, "They would not care for your thanks. Besides, they have given you nothing."

"What do you mean?" I asked as we walked hurriedly towards the door back to Riven Earth.

"They have no knowledge that can help you," Dokk told me. "They have sent you on a fools errand because they have no better ideas. And worse, they have sent me too."

I was silent as I walked for a little while, but eventually my intrigue won out. "Why did they send you with me Dokk?"

The Asura stopped and looked at me. "They believe that I failed to protect the gateway in Cantha and now they have to send a new Krewe to fix the gate," he explained. "They would not listen to me about the Destroyers. They can fix the gate, but the Destroyers will come back mark my words Derek."

I stared at Dokk. "You said my name," I said disbelieving.

The Asura turned and walked away and I quickly followed. "I have learned some things since my return," he told me. "We Asura are not so wise as we may think. We have been foolish to disregard all others and I…I…well I apologise to you for some of my behaviour."

I stopped stunned as the Asura shuffled nervously onwards. He got quite away ahead before I regained my composure and shuffled quickly to catch up.

At length we came to a long rope bridge across a wide ravine. As we stepped on to the bridge my feet slipped through the gaps in the wood threatening to tip me and Dokk into the river waiting below. It was while doing a sort of shuffle/slide thing and moving incredibly slowly that I looked up and saw the floating rocks in the sky.

I was astounded and almost slipped again. "Dokk, how the hell does that work?" I asked pointing to the bridge in amazement.

"You would not begin to understand," Dokk told me. "It is a process of vary complicated…"

"Alright, I don't get it, but it is cool," I said.

Dokk actually smiled and carried on walking.

Our journey from Rata Sum to Umbral Grotto passed by with a series of death defying adventures, which would be way to long and complicated to explain. Suffice to say, that when we got there we were covered in blood sweat and spider webs.

We took a while to rest after our hard journey.

"So," I said to Dokk, "this is where Asura turf runs out huh."

Dokk nodded. "That is correct my Haunted companion," he said.

I sighed. "I guess you'll be heading back to your people then huh?"

To my surprise Dokk turned to me and said; "No Fishman. I've dragged you this far, it wouldn't be fair to send you into a land run by bear-people to beg a favour would it?"

"Uh, I…"

"You need me and I have nothing to go back to," Dokk said with a bowed head. "I must go on or turn back in shame."

I placed a podgy afflicted hand on the small creatures shoulder. "Dokk," I began, "you're right of course. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without you. Come on my friend, let's go see the bears."

With a monumental effort we hauled ourselves up and began the shortest part of the journey yet.

Tip toeing through a cave of giant Ogre types was fun, especially when Dokk couldn't suppress a sneeze in the dusty air. There was a tense five minutes while a load of Jotun's sniffed the air and grunted a lot nearly discovering us creeping in the shadows, but we got away with it.

That is to say we got away with it until we came out of the cave and one of the giants spotted us and chased us into a herd of beserking bison. With more than one indelicate cow horn prodding us in the back, we ran as the herd pushed us to the very gates of Olafstead.

As we ran up the ramp and through the gates, there was a hell of an uproar inside the town. Everyone there was surprised by our arrival. A bunch of heroes were lurking around the doors as we burst in.

Swords, staffs and daggers were drawn and arrows placed on bowstrings in appreciation of our arrival. A cry of "Afflicted" went up amongst those who had clearly been in Cantha at least once recently.

"Whoa there," I said as we came staggering to a halt. "We come in peace."

"You'll be in pieces if you don't state your business this instant," said one of the Norn who had turned into a bear.

Dokk spoke up then; "Listen to me you dunderhead. We have journeyed from the lands of Cantha seeking a power to cure my friend of his Affliction and we have been sent to seek the blessings of the Raven Shrine. And if anyone of you stands in our way, you will regret it."

The Norn stared for a moment, and then laughed a deep hearty laugh. "You Asura are fantastic," he said. "I am Olaf Olafson. Welcome to Olafstead."

With that everyone put their weapons away and the Monk, Mhenlo steeped forward. "I get the feeling that we've met before Ritualist," he told me.

Memories of a few days previous went through my head. Me and Dokk in Kaineng Centre during the celebrations…

Dokk started to say something, but I nudged him into silence. "Yeah, I think we met once at the Monastery," I said politely sidestepping our last encounter.

"Ah yes, that must be it," Mhenlo agreed.

I smiled and turned my attention to Olaf. "Mr Olafson, could you help us get to the Raven Shrine?" I asked.

The Norn laughed again. "You are wise to be polite. Never anger a Norn. Remember that. Anyway, the answer is yes. I can help you, but why I would is not something you have suggested yet small one."

So for the fiftieth time in just a few days of un-affliction I explained the story up to this point. "...and then the bison chased us into the town here."

The Norn was silent for a second. "I know only what little Mhenlo has told me of Shiro and am not entirely convinced he's as nice a guy as you seem to think child," he told me.

"Well, I'm sure he had his reasons," I said much to the outrage of Mhenlo. I didn't have any more patience though and told him straight, "Shut up Mhenlo. I need help and your thoughts and feelings about Shiro are of no consequence to me."

Dokk nodded approval. "Well said Fishman, my presence is beginning to have an effect on your vocabulary. Fascinating."

"Thanks Dokk," I said. "Olaf, will you help me?"

The Norn regarded me gravely. "The journey to the Raven Shrine will put you in great peril, but if you are ready, you may go."

"Excellent, I am ready," I said firmly.

"While you are there you will face Destroyers from the depths of Tyria," he told me.

I could only think of one thing to say; "Let me at them!"

And with that, the world around me disappeared and I reappeared in some icy caves with Dokk at my side.

"Well my friend," he said, "lets go."

We didn't get far before some frozen creatures attacked us with big scythes. Luckily though Dokk was able to melt most of them with his fire staff and we continued towards what I hoped would be my salvation.

Very soon we came to some gates, which were flanked by two monument statues to Grenth. I shuddered at the sight of them, but Dokk calmly said; "I see no Grentches my friend worry not." And we carried on into the chamber.

As we approached the Shrine Destroyers popped out from nowhere and began to attack.

We fought off waves of the things before eventually they stopped appearing.

"Maybe we got 'em demoralised," I said to Dokk.

I then moved to the Raven Shrine and stood upon it. A bright blue light engulfed me and an image of a bear appeared on the floor beneath me. I felt the call of the spirit and accepted its gift.

In an instant a whole set of skills I'd never seen before resolved in my minds-eye. One stood out amongst them and so I called the arcane words to my mind. "Return me to my form of old. Restore me…Totem of Man!"

At first nothing happened, then I felt different. A pain lanced through me and slowly, one of the lumps on my arm began to peel away. More pain and more peeling occurred and slowly a green slime oozed between the various lumps that covered me.

"Disgusting," Dokk offered.

I tried not to yell out, in pain and elation as the bulbous parts of my anatomy fell to the floor with a splat.

Minutes after I had uttered the words that had broken the spell I was stood facing Dokk, a naked, pink human man, as I had been what felt like a thousands years ago.

I danced around and shouted and whooped and grabbed Dokk, hoisting him from the ground and spinning him round and round until I fell over.

"So I take it this is what you are supposed to look like then?" Dokk asked not looking convinced.

"Yeah, of course it is," I told him still smiling.

"Hmmm," Dokk said. "I cannot tell the difference."

Epilogue:

I stood upon the docks of Kaineng City looking out across the calm deep blue water.

It was a clear day and I could see Shing Jea Island glittering like the glorious Promised Land in the distance.

Things had been different for me since I had shaken off the Affliction. I still had to use the Totem of Man skill to keep me in my human form, which annoyingly had forced all of the spirit spells I had spent so long learning out of my head, but everything else had been easier.

Getting a boat from Lions Arch back to Kamadan, where I had learned that Abaddon had been defeated and Kormir had indeed stolen her place among the Gods. I silently thanked Shiro as the boat departed those lands and made sail for Kaineng.

Memories of my journeys across the lands raced through my mind and the peace I had expected to find once I looked upon Shing Jea was nowhere to be found.

"So," Dokk said from my side interrupting my reverie, "what are you waiting for? We travelled back to Cantha and home is but a stones throw away."

I looked at my companion, then back to Shing Jea Island so perfect, so near, so not right for me anymore.

"You know Dokk, I'm about ready for another adventure," I said and turned away from the view of what had once been home and walked away never to return.

THE END.