The Seaward Fox Trial

[Willstertheking2 1101]

The Seaward Fox

 

“Really? Where I’m not comfortable?” 

 

Viran Illera Vulnrith hopelessly spit the taste of salt out of his mouth and over the side of his small wooden ship, truly nothing much more than a dingy he knew no one would miss. Just a few miles before him lay The Great Storm, the elf ensuring his small ship stays well clear. The shadow of Aevos in the opposite direction gave the ame some heart. 

 

He’d adjust the spear held awkwardly in his hands as he peered into the bottomless well all around him. His eyes drifted to his fox companion as she stood proudly on the meager prow.

“I see why my Maln never finished a dedicancy now.” The elf complained to the fox though its enamor with the sea was all that had been keeping Viran alive. The fox would routinely jump into the sea and return, its red coat shimmering as it came up with small fish that stated both of their hunger. “Had I ne found you as a kit I would believe there was Almendrim roots inside you, however you became my companion, I do not know.”

 

The fox ignored Viran’s petulance. They had been at sea for three days on his trial and Viran felt no closer to completing this trial as he did when he disembarked. He had seen sharks, whales, and even massive 8 legged creatures venture to spy on his ship though either when Viran stabbed at them, missed a throw of his spear, or went toppling over the side they swam off at a speed Viran was hopelessly outmatched for. For three days all of his actions were fruitless.

 

As the sun sank beneath the horizon for a 4th time the light of the moon danced across the ocean, Viran glanced up at it, there in its full glory shining down on his endeavor. The sea around his boat grew more rough, water lashing up onto the deck and obscuring the water below him so Viran turned from the side. “Another fruitless day.” He’d mutter out as he laid on the deck his eyes scanned the stars above him, many were missing due to the light of the full moon though there were some to follow. 

 

Viran would be abruptly awoken a few moments later as his Vuln jumped onto his chest. A sharp exhale leaving him as he glared at the fox. It’s shivering frame cowered in the corner of the ship as it cried out several times. Viran immediately recognized the fear in the fox as that of a prey. His hand went for his spear as he sprung up to his feet, the ame’s eyes dancing around the ship as he saw nothing but the rough sea around him. His eyes went to the fox one more time as it continued to cower in the corner, he knew her instincts were right as both of his hands gripped the spear.

 

As his eyes raced about till near the edge of the boat he’d see something slimy and grotesque rise onto the lip of the boat, then another, and another. Three large and sharpened tentacles pulled down on the front of the ship, listing it into the water as the snarling face of a Shulkra. Rose above the boat. Its tentacles reared backwards as it eyed Viran. A wash of terror passed over the ame as his eyes went wide. His hands loosened on his spear as despair wracked his heart, the hope of land fading from him before he felt a gentle nudge on the back of his leg. 

 

There his fox stood, terrified and cowering behind him. He watched her as her eyes rose to him, there in them he saw the eyes of his people, his Talonnii, his Mar’haelun, his Haelun, and his Oem’ii, those who he wished to have the strength to protect, the reasons why he walked the paths that he does, the reasons why he stood now on this rickety ship in the middle of the ocean, the reasons he now stands toe to toe with a Shulkra.

 

His grip tightened around the spear in his hands as his gaze returned to the Shulkra, a fire in his belly as the beast tugged further on the boat. His eyes closed for one moment as a prayer was uttered. “Mani guide my spear.” 

 

Viran leaped towards the beast, his own teeth bared as he thrusted the spear against the hard carapace of the beast's head. The spear would screech along it haplessly before a tentacle lashed against Viran, its sharped point opening up a gash along his side before he went flying back in the boat, landing with a thud. He quickly forced himself to dodge another incoming tentacle as it whirled at him, it lodged itself into the side of the boat as the Shulkra let out a thunderous hiss that shot Viran back against the side of the ship again. 

 

Viran gripped his side as the beast shrugged to rip its tentacle free, his wound soon scabbing over with unnatural speed just as the tentacle ripped free, as it did another tentacle shot towards Viran as he slinked to the side as stabbed the beasts tentacle all the way through, blood began oozing out onto Viran’s hands before he held onto the spear and ripped upwards, the tentacle tearing and ripping after before the Shulkras 3rd tentacle lashed towards Viran. He was forced to release his spear as the Shulkra’s tentacle lashed just over his head, his hands dropped to his sides as he drew out his two matching daggers and crossed them before him.

 

It was then there was a pause as the Shulkra stared into the faint blow glow of the knives. Viran eyed the beast, seeing his spear dangling in one of the three tentacles, leaving it mangled and unusable. Its hardened carapace backlit by the moon, Viran’s eyes scanned desperately to find some flaw in the Shulkra’s defense before letting heavy sigh and bolting forward. The Shulkra snapping out of its daze as its three tentacles went lashing at the ame, whirling around Viran as he jolted side to side to avoid the blows as he closed the distance between him and the Shulkra. The tentacles rang against his blades as he parried one, then the other, the beasts neck now within reach before it let out another cry that shot pain and confusion through Viran’s head, pausing him for a moment as a tentacle thudded against his body forcing Viran to the ground. The other healthy tentacles rose high above him as he went to stab down and impale Viran. 

 

As it lashed downwards, Viran’s Vuln would leap from the side of the ship and dig its claws into one of the eyes of the Shulkra, a deep crimson ooze pouring out of it as the fox dug deeper, the Shulkra recoiled in pain as it lashed its head about, the Vuln hanging on desperately before being flung through the air and landing in the ocean. The Shulkra’s one good eye trained onto Viran as he recovered to his feet. The two daggers illuminating the ship as a anger welled inside the ame as the sight of his Vuln being thrown. Another desperate charge was launched as he circled to his right and into the blindspot of the Shulkra, its tentacles were less precise and far more clumsy as Viran took chunks of flesh with each parry as the Shulkra’s blood slowly began to fill the ship. In desperation the Shulkra lashed its injured tentacle forward and Viran slipped to the side and ripped his daggers into the flesh around the spear and rotated them. The whole tentacle snapping free as the Shulkra recoiled in pain as its dismembered tentacle flapped around in the boat. 

 

Viran reclaimed his spear as the Shulkra recoiled into the water, submerging beneath the depth the ame finally had time to collect himself. He would look down and see dozens of cuts across his arms and legs though the massive cut on his side seemed to be holding beneath the scabs he had applied to it. A deep sigh escaping him as he now looked about the ship, the Shulkra was circling him now, its two remaining tentacles left above the water as they waited for a moment to strike. Viran prepared himself for the inevitable but just as he felt it was to lash out, it sunk beneath the waves, vanishing as Viran cried out in shock as his hunt eluded him, completely forgetting the desperateness of the situation.

 

Though just as Viran peered over the edge he saw it coming, the blood trail ozzing out of the Shulkra now looked like a pillar climbing straight for him, its speed growing as it aimed for the bottom of the ship. The ame let out a small sigh as he looked around the ship, already crumbling around him, he shrugged and mumbled “One shot at this.”

 

He stood in the middle of the ship and as the Shulkra slammed into the bottom of it and ripped through the middle of the ship, Viran waited patiently as the floor beneath him shattered until his saw the empty eye hole of the beast rising through the shattered planks. With all the might left in his weary bones he would stab down with the spear, the sound of its steel head crunching through the flesh and bone of the Shulkra head echoed through the waves as the beast momentum crashed into Viran all at once as the world went dark around him.

 

There he lay in darkness, a coolness washing over him as an ame stood over him in the black. his green eyes peering down as his mouth began to move as muffled voices filled Viran’s head. He would tilt his head to the side as he forced himself to focus on the lips of the man as the voices grew in desperation, his face straining as he watched the man mouth “Wake up”. Just then a sharp pain ripped across his cheek as his eyes lashed open, his Vuln was biting at his cheek, as Viran opened his mouth the admonish the act, his lungs filled with saltwater as the realization that he was drowning quickly set in on the ame as he looked upwards at the warping face of the full moon and began to crawl towards it, kicking and pulling as the familiar darkness began to set it before he broke the surface of the ocean. Saltwater poured from every opening on his face as he let coughed his way into consciousness and reached for the closest shadow near him. Holding on he would recollect himself before looking around, the remnants of his ship lay broken and shattered all around him. Viran let out a small cry of desperation as chunks slipped beneath the sea, his eyes soon looking towards what he was holding onto. 

 

There it was, his hands had grabbed hold of the floating carcass of the Shulkra, his spear jutting out of its head as it floated atop the waves like a saving grace. A smile quickly crawled across his fatigued face as climbed atop the corpse with a huff masked by the start of a laugh, his Vuln jumping atop the corpse at it let out several happy yaps. Viran would spread his arms out as the mood light rippled across him and the corpse beneath him before his eyes set on Aevos in front of him.

 

“Now, to get back.”

 

Spoiler

Just a Dedicancy Trial Post, nothing to see here, move along.