From the Waters of the West I Come

[The Count]

Is Esker suggesting what I think he's suggesting?
UD: That would explain how she...
Shh, don't give it away, let Kelly tell her story her own way.
Cantus: We all tell our stories the way we have to tell them, no other way but our own.

More please?

 

[RedPiggy]

Since my laptop was mindwiped, I lost my notes about how this was going to go, so even I don't know the particulars, LOL.

 

[The Count]

Well, I kind of got the implication that Esker's suggesting Mizumi do to her mother what she did to her daughters, if that's where you're going.

 

[RedPiggy]

LOL, you're so smart.

While the particulars are new due to the laptop crash, it was always my intent to have her mother look similar to Drumlin. It's just now I get to add another reason why.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 16

Esker sat on a small patch of bright green moss in front of a roaring waterfall. He said something to Mizumi as she kneeled in front of him, but she tilted her head quizzically, for the rush of the frothy foam surrounding them deafened her. He finally frowned and grabbed her hand and forcibly held it up to his forehead, wincing as a fine mist started to swirl around him.

The toddling Esker applauded happily to himself as the small minnow frosted over.
Suddenly the applause was joined by another, much louder than his. Turning, Esker looked up to see the gaunt features of an elderly man with a black robe draped around him. The man smiled. “Such a bright young lad,” he told the boy, rubbing the shiny black hair of his head.

The man kneeled and stared into the boy’s eyes. “I see a bit of myself in you, boy. You are of Moraine.”
The boy nodded. “I am of Moraine,” he repeated proudly. “I am going to wear a crown, too.”

The man laughed. “Are you, now?”

Esker nodded again and jumped into the man’s lap as he reached for the elder’s lips as though to peer down his throat. “My crown is gonna be white an’ I gets to have armor an’ I gets to wear big boots an’ then I’m going on a mission an’ I wanna come back with freslin.”
The man shoved the boy off and grabbed him by the throat. “HOW DO YOU KNOW OF SUCH THINGS?” he screeched.

Esker pushed Mizumi away, gasping. His face hurt, as though weevils were burrowing just underneath his skin.
Mizumi panted, taken aback by the vision. “What is freslin?”

Esker shrugged, trying to catch his breath. Why did his face hurt so? He couldn’t bear to look at her. “I had never heard it before, Princess. I remember thinking of the word when I sat on your father’s lap. It had something to do with pleasure or love or something. Perhaps it was a potion. At any rate, I doubt you’ll find any in Moraine.” He looked at his hands and was shocked to discover pieces of loose flesh hanging from them. Looking over at Mizumi, he noticed her face was white with horror.
The transfer wasn’t going well.

“You must continue, Milady,” Esker nodded, wiping his forehead only to discover in revulsion that some of his forehead draped over his fingers. “Please continue, or all will be for naught. To find the King of the Universe, you must do this … you must protect Moraine at all costs.”
Mizumi hesitated as she held out her hand, unwilling to touch his face. The mist began to form, without her doing so, however.

Much older now, the still young Esker ran as hard as he could into a swamp, scattering small goblins away from him. No matter how much the swamp made his nose retch, he had to continue, for he could bear the visions no longer.
The other citizens of Moraine, especially those inheriting the royal talent for manipulating water, might be content to live blindly, but the visions haunted him of the king hovering over a young girl with white hair, as though he were not the Black Heron but a horrible, terrible smoke dragon slobbering over a large, unprotected egg.

The image of him was as though his arms were arching over her, an image of a pendant he once saw when some female classmates were bragging about a pendant they saw in a storybook about the King of the Universe.
He leapt onto the girl to protect her from the sharp beak of the Black Heron, crying out with each blow.

When his back began to numb from the pain, he awoke in his own bed, with his gentle mother soothing his wounds. “Such a strong boy,” she said sadly. “Ydra forgive me for telling my precious son, but I have no choice: your strength will place you in the king’s wrath and you shall find your end in his grasp.”
Esker cried out in agony and fell to the ground, the rushing water drenching his head for a few seconds before Mizumi pulled him away, gasping and trembling.

Esker sat up and felt a clarity he could only imagine before. Glancing at the surrounding water of the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, he found his head to be as white as the froth, smooth as a river pebble, his skin so taut it appeared to be merely a skull barely attached to his shoulders.
He looked over at Mizumi and bowed before her. “I live to serve Her Majesty,” he gargled softly.

 

[The Count]

Sorry for not reading sooner, I was otherwise entertained last night.

Freslin... Write that down, that could be important.
*Chuckles at the pendant reference.
Smoke dragon indeed.
*Marvels at the flashbacks adding glimpses of depth to the story.

Thank you for posting. *Leaves mug of hot chocolate before the rock freezes to a standstill on the solstice.

 

[RedPiggy]

LOL, well, to be fair, I only wrote it last night.

Some of these terms I admittedly get from a list of slang on Farscape's Wiki. They have some great words there, LOL.

Getting Esker's flashbacks was annoying, in that I hadn't yet really planned on what his background would be (and my laptop was wiped of any hints I had saved up). I just tried to let his story flow so we could find out how he looked the way he did in Return to Labyrinth as well as some of his issues in both that story and my universe.

 

[The Count]

Figured that was where you were going in developing that character. I'm enjoying what you write and look forward to what's next.

 

[RedPiggy]

Next victim's coming up. Decided to use some bamboo stencils in my room at the moment. I have the chapter after this one in my head, just not ... well ... this one, LOL.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 17

The large throne room glistened in shining ice draped all the ceiling and the furniture, throne, banisters, flags, etc. All the towering windows were let open to let the sunlight dazzle the partiers, for this was the winter solstice, and the kingdom feared not the ice as they felt it was terribly beautiful, a promise by nature that the chaos of liquid can yet become solid and orderly once more.
The king had not yet arrived, but the Queen of Moraine sat comfortably on a silvery sled inside the throne room, sipping tea as the revelers danced and sang and made merry.

Suddenly Mizumi stood next to her mother, causing the latter to frown briefly. “I seek knowledge, Mother.”
The Queen sipped some tea thoughtfully, her eyes glistening.

“Have you nothing to tell me?” Mizumi asked, her jaw set, her eyes piercing. “Darkness overtakes the Kingdom of Moraine, and you … you can’t even fear it.”

Her mother sighed, taking the teacup from her lips. “No, I cannot, my daughter, for when I do, darkness shall consume the kingdom.”
Mizumi took her mother by the hand, causing the latter to gasp silently.

The slightly less rotund form of the female fae not yet Queen stared into the lake, breathing deeply, letting the mist rise into her nostrils, her eyes taking on a grayish hue. She could see the starry sky, a world far from anything she had ever seen in the vastness of space. She had lived amongst humans, deep in the frozen tundra, but after kidnapping a child, assuming the dreams of the child would summon the King of the Universe, she was later banished and on the run from furious humans. She found a small icy cave and, in fatigue, rested against the arch, which transported her to a wondrous cave filled with tunnels as far as the eye could see. Lights, brilliantly colored, led her to a large tunnel where snowflakes flurried. Entering, she found herself on the wintry coast of the lake of Moraine.
As she wandered the coast of the lake, a man appeared to her, dressed in a black robe. He took off his hood and smiled the smile of a predator. Sensing the power within, she immediately declared her love of him and they were forever after the Black Heron and the Snowy Owl, the latter a chubby little bird of prey with piercing eyes and snow-white feathers accented by black, as though being in love with the Black Heron had amalgamated her coat.

Mizumi let go of her mother’s hand, panting with effort. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
The Queen sniffled and sipped some tea, calming instantly. “My precious daughter, trolls had provided many magic mirrors. Some could see the future, some the past, and some, like the one I had experienced, made humans see the vile natures within themselves. The dreams of the child had indeed summoned the King of the Universe, but it was Hunger, not Hubris, I had summoned, for the dreams were, in fact, his greatest nightmares. I had offered up the boy’s soul and instead brought disaster to the world.”

“The King of the Universe created the Underground, though.”
“Indeed, daughter, but it was, as the Gorg kingdoms say, Sir Hubris who opened the portal to the other world, who ablated the planet and provided a means of escape for all those whose lives could not last in the growing sentience and hostility of humankind. However, Hubris does not wish to share his power, being what he is, so with Hunger present, Hubris is Heaven-knows-where, and there is nothing else I can do for my kingdom save protect as many as I can.” She raised her teacup. “There are plants in this Underground with profound abilities, such as turning your heart to ice and removing all fear. Without fear, Hunger cannot harm me.”

Mizumi stared at the sled, oblivious to the well-wishers who cavorted around her. For several moments, nothing existed except her own heart, a small crystal against the backdrop of nothingness.
“My father …”

The Queen placed Mizumi’s hands on her heart, wincing as her knowledge poured into her daughter’s soul. “Mal … dis,” the Queen whispered and gasped, suddenly slumping forward.
The party turned to chaos as screams overshadowed the music and frivolity, as Mizumi crumpled in agony, the entire universe coursing through her young veins.