Hey Yo! NerdRyuu here, I'm not dead yet and welcome to the 13th chapter of Udan's Legends!
First of all, I want to apologize for the long wait, I had to take some time to rest my mind, my mental health's never been worse! I absolutely don't want to force myself to write, I care too much to just spit out a half-assed, low-quality chapter, this is also why I've put Back From Death on hold, that story means a lot for me, and I don't want to release something I'm not satisfied with!
Another thing I want to adres is, I have been receiving a lot of DMs of artists proposing art comms, and I just started to not even answering, I really, really, really apologize for that, but I just can't talk to people, much less declining something like that. I don't wanted to be rude, but I don't have conditions to accept any of those propositions, and apologize again.
But without anything further, let's get to the Chapter!
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own The Loud House
A full week has passed since Lincoln and his friends freed Tsharlith and dealt with the Cytinn infestation under the fortress, and the four adventurers were welcomed to rest on the island.
Lynn was still quite weak due her injuries in the fight with the Cytinn, and Luna wasn't in a better shape, so they decided to wait for her to be able to endure the rest of the journey, so they had decided to use these few days to relax and recharge their spirits before resuming their quest.
Later in the same day they defeated the Cytinn nest, just after they had reached the surface, The Jarl's men scouted them down the muddy road to the Annecia town, where they got to the town's healer to tend on their injuries, Lynn had to be hospitalized there, so the healer could tend of her wounds properly.
Lynn was frustrated by the prospect of being bedridden, arguing why couldn't Lincoln heal her up again, but both the healer and the young wizard said that such extensive injuries shouldn't be treated in haste would result in lifelong complications, like chronical pain on her liver, one of the organs she had damaged.
With the end of the endless storm, the town slowly had restarted to return to it's former friendly and populated state.
The people there was quite friendly, Lincoln thought while he walked alone through the cobblestone roads of the town. Kids played in the streets, carriages moving goods down the port, that prepared to reopen, and people walked around.
Lincoln felt good knowing that they didn't arrived to late to save this place.
And by the end if that day, the people had organized a commemorative party on the town square, with the presence of even the Jarl and his court.
Was there where the Jarl explained to the town's folk exactly what happened, from the dragon to the arrival of the four adventurers and how they saved the island. Lincoln felt proud of himself when the whole town made a toast in honor of them. And to put the cherry on the top, Jarl Rubben made one more speech, directly to him.
"I may be repeating myself boy, but I truly apologize for my actions, and thank you and your friends. You quite literally faced a dragon to protect my people, didn't falter to challenge me and my men when saw that I was in the wrong, and I am humble to recognize that I was wrong. And you also ventured through a nest of Cicata to avenge our fallen sage. You and your friends are always welcome to Annecia, and to you, Lincoln Snowtop, I grant you a position in my court, as a Thane of Annecia."
Lincoln stood in silence. A rush of emotions raced across his mind into a incoherent babble from his mouth, as the boy didn't knew what to say.
"But of course, I know very well about your quest to seek the Arch-Mage." The Jarl interjected before Lincoln could respond. "I'm not asking you, or your friends to stay in Annecia, I know well how it is to have great responsibilities." He made a brief pause, his smile dropping for a bit, perhaps pondering if he should continue, Lincoln imagined. "I have a favor I want to ask you. When you reach the Arch-Mage. Please notice the passing of Sage Vito."
Lincoln's smile deflated. The boy may not even have met the sage, but, he felt sad by the death of Vito. The boy sighed and nodded. "I am sure the Arch-Mage will appoint another sage for your court my Jarl." Rubben made gentle smile and nodded, sitting down again to resume the festivities.
Lynn almost jumped on her bed when Lincoln said that he received the title of thane later that night. The healer allowed them to stay with Lynn on her house while the knight healed, staying on the tranquil town would be better for the to enjoy their short and somewhat forced vacation on the island.
Leni decided to stay with them for now, She claimed that was to give support to Lynn as she healed, but Lynn couldn't leave the thought that the actual reason was because of Lincoln.
The knight really wished that it was just her being a little jealous by how Leni acted towards the young wizard, very clingy and a bit too sweet for Lynn's taste.
Then again, Lynn thought that Leni was way too airheaded to even realize she was flirting with the boy. And Lincoln was also way too naïve to notice Leni's buxom rubbing on his arm as she side hugged him. Lynn blushed disgruntled when she saw that, not being able to deny her jealously of Leni's curvaceous body.
Luna on the other hand, started to hang out with Lincoln a lot more. She's gotten more laid back and Lynn couldn't stop noticing how good chemistry they both had. Such good chemistry that the knight weren't able to actually tell if their interactions were flirtatious or not.
Lynn was jealous of the attention Lincoln was getting from the two, that she couldn't deny. She was his friend first, she hadn't saw him for years prior just some days ago, there was still a lot for them to catch up! But being bedridden she couldn't do much beyond just observing them.
Not that Lincoln was neglecting her attention, he would stay sitting on her bedside reading his book while making some small talk with her, sometimes he would even try to practice some magic spell to try to cheer her up, such as conjuring dancing bubbles that transmutated itself onto a floating stone ball that still popped when she touched, or creating illusions that messed with her depth perception. It's just that she never thought she would see Lincoln around so many different girls. Meh, she was sure that she had nothing to worry, they were their friends after all.
Lincoln liked to walk through the Annecia's town roads. It was a lot more populated than the villages he's been visiting, kids played on the now dried dirt road, wagon pulled by horses, people carrying groceries, it was like he had returned to Mireworth, but unlike Mireworth, he had some time to just stop and appreciate how life was in the big city.
He was on a hurry the last time he was in Mireworth, and he felt oddly relaxing when he laid under a tree to read his tome, hearing the noises the people made just by living.
It was just a few days they were staying on Annecia, but the boy used all the time he got to learn as much as he could, practical spells was what he focused most, as he already got a good grasp at the theory by now.
Alteration and Illusion were the schools he wanted to improve next, these schools were among the hardest to master, due the volatility of Alteration and unreliability of Illusion.
Alteration was the art of changing the physical properties of matter, transfiguring an object, or even a living being into another, liquefy solids and solidify liquids, transform sand into dirt, dirt into rocks, rocks into iron, iron into silver, silver into gold. Although, even if Lincoln eventually learn to do such a complicated series of transmutations, creation of gold with magic was against the law, prohibited on Udan ages ago by the Arch-Mage.
Illusion was in some ways the little sister of the school manipulation, but while Manipulation penetrated the mind of someone with the intent of doing something the victim doesn't want to, Illusion used the senses of the target to trick them in several ways, from harmless things like make the target smell, hear or see something that doesn't exist, to more drastic spells such as messing the sense of direction of someone, blinding, removing the hearing and some truly devious situations, like putting the victim into a infinite spiral of endless nightmares. Marlin's tome even noted the possibility of putting someone on a infinite dream world were the person doesn't even realize it's on a dream.
Lincoln chilled when he read that passage, no, no, no, for now, it was best if he stuck practicing simple visual and auditory illusions and practice the ways of detecting and unmaking Illusions.
One thing that bugged him, however, was that female creature they fought down under Annecia. It certainly wasn't human, but he wasn't sure if it was Cytinn also. He looked into many different tomes in search of something about that, maybe it was a Cytinn queen after a metamorphic change, but he found nothing. But what worried him most was that he wasn't sure if they had killed it.
Lincoln only could hope that they did. The boy pursed his lips then bit his lower lip. He hope he did. He sighed, what Leni had said to him was his only comfort when he remembered what he did.
It isn't a sin to fight to protect who you love. There's some that you couldn't simply talk to.
He repeated that to himself continuously, hoping that he would eventually believe himself.
Black, burnt sails flapped on the scorched sail boat as it travelled on the sea. It was large, strong, and must had seen many battles in the high seas, as almost the entire bowl was burnt black. In the top of the highest mast a white flag burnt into becoming black, crudely painted into it with orange paint, skull made of flames.
Right, below the flag, sitting on a small nest, a man with a scruffy, long beard and filthy dreads on it's head, under a three-point hat, looked through a copper instrument with lenses in both ends. He could barely see on the horizon the island of Annecia. And what was his delight when he noticed that the storm that surrounded it was gone. He made a smile, his golden tooth twinkled in the sun.
"OY! CAPTAIN!" The pirate shouted back, the many other men from the ship turned to the man at the lookout, including their captain.
A young, fair girl with a round face, and two ponytails that pointed directly down. Her pirate hat looked quite large for her, as it covered her entire forehead, and combined with her large grin, with a noticeable gap between her front teeth, gave her the impression of having a longer face than she actually had.
Her clothes may have been regal once, now they were tattered and scorched, one couldn't even tell if her overcoat was black or brown covered in ashes.
"ANNECIA SIR!" The lookout spoke. "THE STORM'S OVER!" There was an collective shout of excitement of the crew.
"GREAT NEWS GOLDENTOOTH! SET SAIL TO ANNECIA. BUT NOT TOO CLOSE, SOON SHIPMENTS WILL START TO SET SAIL! WE'LL WAIT TO GRAB OUR BOOTY!" She shouted, raising her fist, the crew made another shout. "AND REMEMBER BOYS! IF ANYONE THAT TRY TO DEFY US, WILL MEET THE SCORCH OF THE SEAS!" She shouted once more, and from her raised fist, sprouted a twirling tongue of fire that flew up and down, forming the shape of a skull in the sky, a spitting image of the image painted into the flag.
The pirates erupted in shouts and laughs, before they started to chant In unison.
OF THE SEAS, SHE'S THE SCOURGE!
WE'LL SEE OUR ENEMIES ABLAZE!
THE SEAS SHE'LL SCORCH!
SHE'LL SET THE SEA IN FLAMES!
THE SEA WILL BURN!
THE SEA WILL TURN!
TO LOOK AT OUR CAPTAIN!
IN THE END, ALL THEY'LL KNOW IS
PAIN!
The captain laughed as she chanted along, that was her favorite song they made for her. They love me. It's what she thought that moment.
By the great black forest of the province of Glorimeul, there was a small rural village, the worried villagers hurried to get inside their houses and locking their doors tight, herding their cattle inside their barns and securing that no soul was left outside. Because the sun was about to set.
A lady with dark skin, silver hair and pointy ears counted heads as her children entered the house. "Three… Wait… Where's Luke?" She questioned, growing rapidly startled.
"He was playing by the woods mama." A young girl with her mother's hair responded, pointing to the dark forest.
The dark elf mother turned worried, hoping that her child would appear soon so she could close their door. She looked up, the sun was almost gone from view. Hidden by the same woods she so desperately looked. There was no more time.
Tears started to stream down her cheeks. Oh, how much she wanted to run into the forest to search for her son. But behind them there were other three children that needed her too.
It was with a heavy heart that she closed the door, crying more and more as grief started to feel her. Just like the father of her kids.
Inside that forest, trees grew so close together that almost none of the light of the setting sun penetrated the dense foliage.
The small boy was terrified. His dark skin camouflaged him in the dark forest, but his silver hair reflected the little light that came from the shining moon up above.
"Mommy…?" He cried out trembling. He had lost himself and wasn't able to find the way out the forest in time. He was alone in the dark.
But he wasn't alone.
At first, he thought it was just the wind hustling the branches of the trees, but a guttural grumble made his blood cool.
The eyes of dark elves typically were good in the dark, his mother had a great sense of sight in the dark, but his daddy, before he was taken, was just a human, and unfortunately, the boy had inherited his father's eyes. He could see a thing in the dark.
The only thing he could see was a pair of white dots way in the distance and… It was approaching. He could see the dots weaving through the trees, going in and out of his sight.
The boy was paralyzed by the fear, his legs wobbled like they were made out of pudding, his mouth was agape, he wanted to scream, to cry, but no voice came out.
The two dots were approaching rapidly, he was now able to hear it's rushed footsteps, cracking twigs and dead leaves. The boy closed his eyes.
It pounced on him.
But something caught it in the air. He looked up. Unable to see anything but the vague shape of the creature that pounced at him, being held by the neck by a tree trunk. No, it was an arm? He looked back.
Something gigantic was standing behind him. So big that the boy didn't match the thing's knees. The vague humanoid shape was extremely broad, and the shape of it's head, obscured by the shadows, looked like a lion's mane.
The giant used it's other hand to grab the creature by the leg and effortlessly pulled. The boy heard the squishy sounds of the creature being pulled apart and it's entrails oozing to the ground. With a heavy thud, the giant dropped the two halves of the creature.
The giant then made a step back and knew down, lowering it's head a lot to meet the boy's eye level.
The kid was still frozen by fear.
"Are you good kid?" The giant asked it didn't sounded like a monster lime he expected, it was low, gentle, a voice of a girl, maybe the age of his eldest sister? "Did I scared you?" The girl asked, tilting her gigantic head a little, he still couldn't see her face. "I am sorry little one, but it's dangerous going out in the forest in the night. Monsters appear." She spoke. The boy, with his teeth clacking, forced some words out.
"I-I got L-lost." He spoke before his voice broke into crying. "I am scary miss! I want my mommy!" He cried hugging the girls neck, that was almost as wide as his own body. He felt her skin, it was very smooth, but the muscles under it were like sculpted rocks, that lady was very muscular, he could tell.
The giant girl was surprised by the sudden hug. But delicately returned the hug, he was so small and fragile, and she was so big and strong, she could break him like a twig, even easier than that creature if she didn't wasn't careful.
"It's okay kid I'll tale you to your mommy, okay?" She gently released him, and the kid did the same. "Don't be scared little man, you got me to protect ya!" She said flexing one arm. "What's your name?"
"L-luke." He said sniffing. The girl smiled.
"Come Luke" She responded, offering her hand for him to hold. The boy accept and was surprised when the woman lofted him of ground and gently placed him on her shoulder.
"Sorry kid, Hold tight!" She said before they heard leaves rummaging behind them. "They'll not stop coming till morning." The girl said, cracking her knuckles.
Sun was starting to shine behind the mountains, the ending of the night was afoot, and the dark-elf mother peeked through the window.
Her eyes were red and puffy as she cried all night, grieving for her lost child.
There is no word for a parent who lost their child.
That's how unimaginable that situation was. The son she cared and loved so much was gone like that, over night. She didn't even remember the last time she saw him yesterday, she did, however, telling him to not walk to far into the forest.
She shouldn't had allowed him to go out that day, or she should have noticed that he wasn't coming back sooner, or should have seek out him, or…
She felt like a horrible mother.
Cracking sounds snapped the mother out of her self-pity, she saw something coming out of the forest.
The light if day wasn't there to help her discern what was coming on the direction of their house, but was something big.
No something huge, as it approached, the creature kept getting bigger and bigger, fear started to grow on the mother's chest as that monstrous silhouette walked past the window. She heard the creak of the floorboards of the front porch, it was getting to the door.
The mother ran past the dinner table, grabbing a rusting hatchet from behind the counter, where her children wouldn't be able to get, and approached slowly the door, waiting for the creature to barge in.
She had little hope to stop whatever was behind that door, but she wished she would be able to buy enough time for her children to get away.
She heard whispers from the other side, sweat dripping from her face, her elven ears twitching up and down.
And then she heard gentle knocks at the door.
Moments of tense silence passed as the mother didn't moved one inch. Until it knocked again.
"Hello?" Called a female voice from the other side. The mother was still tense, she didn't recognize the voice, and it was way too early in the morning to anyone of the villagers to start getting out of their houses yet. That must he some sort of trick, she couldn't let herself be fooled now.
"Is anyone in there? I saw you through the window. I found your kid on the forest." The feminine voice continued. The mother's heart skipping. Could it be? Or was it part of the trick? This thing must be the one that killed Luke, and now was trying to kill her other kids!
"Mommy!" the voice of her son called from the other side. And so, her maternal instincts and desperation took the actions. She didn't thought a second time when she tossed all rationality, forgot her daughters that slept just a room away and opened the door.
And the universe seemed to gift her a miracle, as her son leapt onto her embrace with a teared eye.
"Luke!" The mother said grabbing his head and looking around, crying in relief. "It's really you!" She cried hugging him once again. "Ne-never g-et away from me a-again!" She stuttered between hiccups. "I-I thought I had lost you!"
"Mommy! I'm sorry!" The boy spoke crying. "I got in the forest!" Luke released from the embrace, cleaning his teary eyes. "But she protected me!" He said happily pointing back to the person behind them.
The mother screamed in terror upon realizing a gigantic monster was so close. She clutched the boy in her arms and turned away, trying to protect him.
"I-IT'S YOU! GET AWAY FROM HERE FREAK!" She demanded in a mix of horror and rage.
The person that saved Luke was leaning down in front of the door, almost putting herself on fours just to he able to see inside the house.
Said person was a humongous human girl, her muscles seemed to be sculpted the goddesses in a attempt to depict the peak of human physical condition. No. That girl before her wasn't just the peak of what a human could be, something beyond. In size and mass, she was way beyond what even the strongest of Orcs could even dream of, even looking at her muscular frame was enough to make the mother intimidated.
Although her size, the girl wasn't in the nude, but her clothes made apparent how difficult was for her to find something for her to wear. She wore just a two piece suit made by a tight sleeveless top that covered really only her chest and breasts, leaving most of her chiseled abdomen exposed, and a matching skirt made by several strips of cloth and leather overlapping, that made a better job as a piece of clothing, coming down to the middle of her thunderous thighs. Her clothes were an off-colored blue, probably worn out due usage, they looked that were made with several animal hides sewn together crudely.
And although the appearance of her body suggested a strong ferocious look, her face was slim and young, pretty even, with gentle cheek-bones and suave jaw-line. Her eyes were sapphire blue, her skin was fair, and dotted with freckles.
Her hair had several strips that varied in tone, but was undeniably blonde, with a buttery color, it was being held in a secure with a band, but it didn't fall down like a ponytail, but jutted out in all directions, scraggly, unkept and naturally messy.
The girl frowned upon being called a monster, revealing that she was missing her two front teeth, leaving a large gap in her smile.
"No mom, she helped me, really!" Luke said, freeing himself from his mother, who looked at him in confusion.
"But the other villager said…" The mother spoke but trailed off, after moving there with her family, long before the attacks of monsters starting and her husband being taken, she heard some gossip about a farm in the middle of the forest, and the daughter of the farmers was a huge freak of nature. Sometimes, they would come to the village to trade crops, that's when the rumors warmed up, she heard that they were keeping their freak daughter away from the village by the desire of the other townsfolk.
The dark-elf mother had deduced that the daughter was dangerous somehow, and was suggested to keep away from the forest or she and her kids would come upon the freak.
But crouching down on her porch was the one who not only saved her son, but protected him all night from certain death and in the end even accompanied him all the way to his house.
The girl sighed and stood up, her upper half disappearing of view. "I see you know the rumors." The girl spoke. "Well, I've come here to ensure Luke would be safe." She explained as the mother and Luke slowly walked up to the door to look at the girl better, who had turned and was about to start leaving.
"Wait, are you going already?" Luke called walking outside, by his mother's concern. The giant lady turned back again and made a gentle smile, exposing her missing front teeth, before kneeling down to his eye level. "Don't you want to meet my sisters?"
"Sorry little one." She said gently. "but I can't stick around, the other towners don't like me that much." She explained.
"B-but you're so strong and cool!" Luke argued, punching the air excited. "And you can beat those scary monsters! What if they appear in the village? Again…" He muttered the last word in a somber tone.
The girl looked down for a second, then looked back at Luke.
"Don't worry about that. That's why I'm guarding the forest at night, so no monster can enter the village again." She said. The boy looked down sadly.
"But… I want to help… I want to be brave like you."
The girl made a side smile. "Hey, you were very brave back there." The boy looked back at her. "How about this, you can help me, by preventing other kids from entering the forest. How this sounds?"
Luke smiled.
"I-I can do that!" He said excited. The girl laughed and ruffled the boy's hair before standing up again.
"Wait miss." Now it was the mother who called, the girl's smile dropped when she saw the dark-elf leaving the house and walking up to her.
"What? I'm already leaving!" She said annoyed, she had heard the same thing over and over again from the others. How dare you freak to show your freaky face on this village! There's kids present, don't stand here with your freakish body! Don't get even close to the plantation, you'll trample over it all! It just got annoying after some point.
"S-sorry." The mother spoke, catching the girl by surprise. "I am sorry for calling you a freak." The mother bowled down apologetically. "Thank you so much for saving my son! II can't even explain how grateful I am! You're not a freak, nor a monster! You're a hero!"
The girl stood in silence, not expressing any reaction at that words. It definitely wasn't what her expected, though.
"How can I ever repay? I-I'll tell the other villagers! They'll change their minds about you! I promis-"
"Forget it." The girl interrupted. "I'm happy about your gratitude, but I don't want anything. And don't even bother with the other villagers. They're more thickheaded than a Giant Rock-Beetle. It's not the first time I do something for the village, and it won't he the last time they are ungrateful for it."
"I…" The mother spoke looking down. "See…" The girl again turned to leave. "But… can I at least know your name miss?"
One last time, the girl turned back, before turning back and finally leaving, and disappearing in the dark forest, the giant lady answered.
"Lana."
The girl that previously Lincoln and company had met in a deplorable state, Luan, was now even worse. She wandered deserted trails, roaming aimlessly by the plains, meadows and forests of west Udan.
The Sorrow upon her had took over her small body. She was gaunt, pale, sickly, her brunette hair had darkened into a deep black and was greasy, dirty, unkept, uncared, very much like the rest of herself. She looked covered in greasy substance that made her skin look damp. Her veins were very pronounced, pitch black, like the blood running through them wasn't really blood, but thick tar.
The black patches on her body covered great majority of her skin. Sick beyond belief, one would look at that pitiable person and assume that it would die soon.
"I hate her, I hate her I hate her." She muttered repeatedly, with her bloodshot eyes glazing the ground. She stopped for a second when rain started to fall, but immediately resumed walking.
After so much, how was she still not good enough? She was a dead-girl walking, and it wasn't enough yet? She had done everything she could! She sacrificed her body and mind to help people from the Sorrow, and it wasn't enough? What could she do?
With her mind full of doubt and weak legs, Luan tripped on the muddy road and fell on the wet mud. She stood there, feeling the rain pouring over her, her face was on a puddle, and she couldn't breath.
But the girl didn't lifted her head. She pondered the option of just letting herself drown on that muddy puddle. A pathetic death to a pathetic person.
She really wasn't enough. Her father was right, she was a complete failure of a person. She had gave up. It had nothing she could do to prove to herself the contrary. She was going to die there, broken, sick and alone.
Rise Luan.
The girl heard a faint voice in her head, startling her to lift herself up.
"What?" She whispered, looking around as she sat up. She was still alone on that road.
Don't give up now Luan.
The voice spoke again, it was low and hoarse.
You are almost there Luan.
She had finally gone mad, she concluded, she was hearing voices in her head.
All the Sorrow is almost gone Luan.
You are almost there Luan.
Only you can get rid of all Sorrow Luan.
You are almost there Luan.
The girl gulped. What was she hearing?
You can show that elf you are better than her Luan.
The girl's eyes widened.
All the Sorrow you're gathering are only making you stronger Luan.
"I-it d-does?" She questioned uncertain.
It does Luan.
You are getting rid of Sorrow and growing stronger Luan.
You are almost there Luan.
"I… Am." The girl agreed.
The elf will pay for what she said Luan.
"Yes she will." She repeated.
Then, march forth Luan
The girl slowly rose to her feet, her newly found motivation made her body move despite her sick and weak body.
The voice had silenced but Luan didn't needed more words, she was resolute on continuing her journey to get rid of people's Sorrow.
N/A: This one was a transitionary chapter, to finish the last arc, stablish future plot-points and future arcs and tease some awaited characters!
We meet here pirates! there's pirates in this world! And their captain seems to be a noteworthy character! hm... I wonder who she is... I had lots of fun writing the sea chant.
We also meet my take on the Tomboy Loud sister Lana! I don't want to spoil much, her arc is coming and we'll learn more of her, but I'll say: She, along with Lola, are some of the characters i liked the most creating!
Finally we see what Luan has been up to and... She doesn't look good. The part of her almost drowning on a puddle of mud was very loosely inspired by Nagato/Pain's backstory, but very loosely, I don't really remember what exactly happened on that scene of Naruto.
Anyways, next chapter our characters will be ambushed by pirates!
If you have something to say, ask or question, feel free to! all feedback is welcome! till next month! be good!