Haze & Chaos - Reunion B Part 5
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Yale was restless that night on account of the unpleasant memories that flooded back into his head of the battle between The Liger Brigade and The Death Knell Coven that took place in his old forest. What was once an undiscovered forest deep within the reaches of the European continent had become a battlefield when The Death Knell Coven had started logging it for their profane magic practices. And then came the fire and smoke, destroying the beautiful forest Yale once called home. There would be no more pleasant afternoons listening to the birds sing their songs, no peaceful sunsets lighting up the horizon with a relaxing orange glow, and no more guiding wayward travelers back to civilization. All of it was taken away from Yale in the blink of an eye–and he nearly lost his mind, on the cusp becoming primal until Milan had discovered him all those years ago.
Yale had always been fairly tight-lipped about the tragedy–and getting him to talk about it casually was next to impossible, as the pain was unbearable. He always masked his sorrow with a ‘willing-ready-and able!’ persona that could convince any stranger of its legitimacy. There were some days, however, where he would fly off into any woods or forest he could find and weep–this was not one of those times, however. Ripsaw definitely deserved a bit of sting for his skulduggery… but at the same time he nor Esteri were present during that godawful battle. In fact, from what Yale had heard through the grapevine was that the two really enjoyed nature despite their outward appearances. He needed to witness them firsthand without them knowing he was there, and thankfully fairies were always good at avoiding the prying eyes of humans.
Upon smelling the faint smell of a campfire, Yale focused on a plume of smoke just barely visible against the starry night sky. Casting a spell on himself to turn invisible, he zipped over and found the three sitting around a fire, roasting marshmallows–obviously following what looked like some meals they had already finished. They seemed to be relaxing, so Yale quickly went around their stuff to see what they had been up to. Aside from some notebooks, some bivy tents, and food-related items–he did not find much that would actually indicate a proper scheme. There was a butane stove and it seemed like someone had prepared a chicken, broccoli, and macaroni & cheese dinner for the group–which was most likely Ripsaw as Yale had heard of his rough childhood and poor relationship with his father. Honestly Yale had to wonder why Ripsaw had to be such a bully when he was clearly a handy man in his own right. Yale then glanced over at Esteri and noticed her thumbing away on her phone, clearly typing something as he calmly hovered over to watch over her shoulder.
Ripsaw sighed a little as he pulled his stick from the fire, checking the well done marshmallow. The charr mixed with the creaminess of the gooey center took his mind away from the troubles they had run into earlier and brought his mind back to a simpler time. “You know? I always wondered why I didn’t get sick doing this as a kid…”
“Oh, I’d imagine the sticks weren’t that dirty,” Anker pointed out as he took his out. “The fire is hot, kids are full of energy…”
“Probably ingesting all sorts of nasty shit that goes straight to the immune system…”
“... that too.”
Ripsaw then prepared another marshmallow and stuck it in the fire. Something was creeping him out, and the hooting of an owl mixed with the call of a wolf did not help that feeling. “You know that moon up there? The one with the skeletal smile? That’s supposed to be Threrth himself…”
“No doubt about it.”
Ripsaw looked at Anker weird, as that response had a level of certainty that was quite eerie. “Right… Jeez, does it ever creep you guys out that we’re just allowed to be here? I heard Threrth doesn’t allow people he doesn’t like to be in Ertheval period…”
Anker prepared his next marshmallow. “Well, I mean I have been helping out The Star Eater, so I imagine that puts me in good standing…”
Ripsaw nodded as he turned his marshmallow into a s’more. “Oh yeah, all that weird Commercialverse stuff and whatnot…” his s’more turned out quite tasty, if a little messy, and he washed it down with the last of his soda. “Good lord I hate canned soda–bottled or bust.” Ripsaw then glanced over to Esteri, who was still texting away–and he could have sworn he had seen something hovering over her shoulder. “Esteri, what are you doing?”
“Hold on…” she replied… she had said that multiple times already.
Softly grumbling, he went over to look. “Who you texting?”
“Just a minute, I’m almost done…” she said as turned her back to him.
“Come on, show me already!” he shot back as he went to swipe the phone. Esteri quickly grabbed his arm and kept texting with her other. “Come on, Esteri…”
She groaned as she wanted to keep it private, but her boyfriend was going to find out either way she supposed. “Fine–I’m texting a girl I’ve been chatting with–she’s in a bad spot and considering getting into drugs…”
That sent a chill down Ripsaw’s spine. “Is… is there any way we can help?”
Anker shared the sentiment as he stepped over. “Surely there must be…”
Esteri thought for a second and sent her message. She then tapped into a menu and sat herself in a position that would make it easier for all of them. “We can make a minute long voice recording. Her name’s Jane–and make it count, alright?” The men both nodded. “Hey, Jane, it’s Esteri–look, whatever you do, please don’t get into drugs…”
“Yeah–Malte here–You don’t want to go down that path. Literally do anything else…” Esteri glared at him a little. “...within reason.”
Anker cleared his throat. “It would be an absolutely terrible fate–throwing away your life for nothing more than to just become some statistic in some authoritarian’s quest to take away our freedom–Anker, by the way.”
Despite Esteri shooting the two looks asking them to be more graceful, Ripsaw kept going. “Jane–you’re obviously in a low spot, but you haven’t hit rock bottom yet. Look at the three of us–we’re kicking it around at the bottom rung, considered worse than dirt–but we’re still trucking, and we’ll keep kicking until our last breath. Don’t give up–not now.”
Esteri finished the message off with a joke at Ripsaw and Anker’s expense that made them all laugh, even Yale. Once he was sure the message was sent, Yale flew off, figuring it was time to head back to the mansion. Ripsaw had caused a lot of trouble as of late, but the three could not have been all that bad–they were just in a rough patch having a little trouble climbing back up the hill. And the four had no way of knowing this, but that night Jane packed up her essentials and ran for it. She left the crumbling home she had been forced to live in for the majority of her life and kept going until she could not–a victim of circumstance who had finally had enough. She eventually got on a bus and never looked back–leaving her shithole neighborhood behind once and for all. Once she found her way to a homeless shelter, she would get a job at a breakfast restaurant where through happenstance she would end up meeting her boyfriend and future husband–living a long and happy life having given birth to three smiling, bright-eyed children who went on to be successful in their own right. Jane made sure her kids did not repeat the mistakes her parents had made. And Jane never realized that the ones who had given her the strength to change her life that night were involved in a great war for the Cosmos as a whole–but such is life.
Yale failed to maintain his invisibility once he was out of sight, as he was choking up with emotions as he thought about what Esteri had done for Jane. He had a feeling that tagging along with Will back in The Unlight would shake things up for him–and he was not cursing it in the slightest. Sure, his past still weighed on him, but he would cut Esteri and Ripsaw some slack. He was so distracted that he did not realize he had flown into something sticky… “WHAT THE HELL?!” he cried as tried to buzz around, only to wind himself in a tight, rubbery cocoon of goo that squeezed him as hard as it could–clearly quick and cheap parlor magic…
“Ah hah!” a familiar voice said as he fumbled out of the bushes. “Mother always said I was good at catching bugs–oh wait, I don’t have a mother…”
“HMPH!?” Yale had to bite some of the goo away, which tasted sickly sweet as he wobbled back and forth in a web made of the stuff. “PERKELE!?”
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” Truthfully Perkele’s comedian-like demeanor was a little nauseating to Yale… or maybe it was the goo he was trapped in. “Now, my dandy little dire fairy–you’re coming with me to undo that little spell of yours…”
“Damn it–I knew this would happen…” Yale grunted to himself. “What for, clown?”
He grinned with a mischievous smile. “Company secret…”
“Really? What does Sebastian want the fragment for?”
“Oh no no–not him. My other master wishes to study it.”
Yale could have sworn he sensed something… infernal about Perkele–perhaps… something Faustian one could say… “Alright, who then?”
Perkele raised an eyebrow at him as he put on a rubber glove. “And you think I’m just going to tell you and ruin the surprise?"
“Oh yeah, because he’s just a good citizen helping out…”
“Arrogant to assume my other master doesn’t have good intentions.”
Yale scoffed. “Okay, nice try, clown…”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
The snicker made it clear Yale was messing with him. “I didn’t say that–”
“You are thinking it, you little bug,” he rebuked with a finger in Yale’s face. “Make no mistake that my master wishes to keep the fragments out of the hands of that insufferable Ultinn-Lacksus…”
Yale sighed as Perkele started to walk off with him. “Well, Perkele–as fun as this was, I need to get back to the others, so…” he then spit a weird substance into his captor’s nose that looked like purple pollen.
Perkele let out a violent sneeze as he dropped Yale, and began stumbling around like he was high. “What was–” he sneezed again. “What did you do to me, bug!? Someone pass the brownies…”
“Have fun, clown!” Yale said with a laugh as summoned a portal that sucked him in and teleported him away. Perkele would spend the rest of the night running from Ripsaw and company, as the spell acted like a beacon for the three. Yale soon found himself plopped on the nightstand of Will’s bed. Him and Sam looked comfortable, and he did not want to wake them up. “Damn it…” he muttered as he fell asleep in his cocoon.
Sam and Will were up at around 7 in the morning, and the latter yawned and stretched his back until he felt a satisfying pop. “Morning, Sam…”
“Good morning, Boyo. Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah…” he said with a yawn… he then smelled a weird smell, a sweet one right next to him like a cake that had been left out all night… “What the hell is… What the–Yale!?”
Yale grumbled a little as he tried to get up–only to realize the cocoon had gone ‘stale.’ “Morning, Will…”
“What happened!?”
“Ran into Perkele last night…” he groaned as he tried to wriggle around.
“WAIT–WHAT?” Will and Sam questioned in unison.
“Could you guys get me out of this? I’m sweating like crazy…”
Will nodded to Sam, as she was more skilled in alchemy than he was. “Jeez, Yale–just what were you thinking?” she questioned.
Will then realized the sore thumb in the situation. “HOLD ON…” he exclaimed as he stepped over to the dresser to indicate for Haze to hop onto him. “You get on my ass for that incident with Eloise–yet look what happened here!”
Yale groaned as he pried his limbs from the awful goo as Sam created a crack in it with her magic. “Alright–I went to spy on Ripsaw and the others and had a run-in with Perkele. He wanted me to undo the barrier spell I cast on the area of The Lost Fire Temple…”
Sam’s concern was shown by her hair and eyes turning purple. “Boyo?”
He nodded and picked Yale up to put him on his shoulder. “I’ll go take him to talk to Milan while you get dressed.” He also took the cocoon to be thrown out, but gagged a little in the process. Haze was not phased, but he had to concede it was a little unpleasant to handle.
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ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
Yale was restless that night on account of the unpleasant memories that flooded back into his head of the battle between The Liger Brigade and The Death Knell Coven that took place in his old forest. What was once an undiscovered forest deep within the reaches of the European continent had become a battlefield when The Death Knell Coven had started logging it for their profane magic practices. And then came the fire and smoke, destroying the beautiful forest Yale once called home. There would be no more pleasant afternoons listening to the birds sing their songs, no peaceful sunsets lighting up the horizon with a relaxing orange glow, and no more guiding wayward travelers back to civilization. All of it was taken away from Yale in the blink of an eye–and he nearly lost his mind, on the cusp becoming primal until Milan had discovered him all those years ago.
Yale had always been fairly tight-lipped about the tragedy–and getting him to talk about it casually was next to impossible, as the pain was unbearable. He always masked his sorrow with a ‘willing-ready-and able!’ persona that could convince any stranger of its legitimacy. There were some days, however, where he would fly off into any woods or forest he could find and weep–this was not one of those times, however. Ripsaw definitely deserved a bit of sting for his skulduggery… but at the same time he nor Esteri were present during that godawful battle. In fact, from what Yale had heard through the grapevine was that the two really enjoyed nature despite their outward appearances. He needed to witness them firsthand without them knowing he was there, and thankfully fairies were always good at avoiding the prying eyes of humans.
Upon smelling the faint smell of a campfire, Yale focused on a plume of smoke just barely visible against the starry night sky. Casting a spell on himself to turn invisible, he zipped over and found the three sitting around a fire, roasting marshmallows–obviously following what looked like some meals they had already finished. They seemed to be relaxing, so Yale quickly went around their stuff to see what they had been up to. Aside from some notebooks, some bivy tents, and food-related items–he did not find much that would actually indicate a proper scheme. There was a butane stove and it seemed like someone had prepared a chicken, broccoli, and macaroni & cheese dinner for the group–which was most likely Ripsaw as Yale had heard of his rough childhood and poor relationship with his father. Honestly Yale had to wonder why Ripsaw had to be such a bully when he was clearly a handy man in his own right. Yale then glanced over at Esteri and noticed her thumbing away on her phone, clearly typing something as he calmly hovered over to watch over her shoulder.
Ripsaw sighed a little as he pulled his stick from the fire, checking the well done marshmallow. The charr mixed with the creaminess of the gooey center took his mind away from the troubles they had run into earlier and brought his mind back to a simpler time. “You know? I always wondered why I didn’t get sick doing this as a kid…”
“Oh, I’d imagine the sticks weren’t that dirty,” Anker pointed out as he took his out. “The fire is hot, kids are full of energy…”
“Probably ingesting all sorts of nasty shit that goes straight to the immune system…”
“... that too.”
Ripsaw then prepared another marshmallow and stuck it in the fire. Something was creeping him out, and the hooting of an owl mixed with the call of a wolf did not help that feeling. “You know that moon up there? The one with the skeletal smile? That’s supposed to be Threrth himself…”
“No doubt about it.”
Ripsaw looked at Anker weird, as that response had a level of certainty that was quite eerie. “Right… Jeez, does it ever creep you guys out that we’re just allowed to be here? I heard Threrth doesn’t allow people he doesn’t like to be in Ertheval period…”
Anker prepared his next marshmallow. “Well, I mean I have been helping out The Star Eater, so I imagine that puts me in good standing…”
Ripsaw nodded as he turned his marshmallow into a s’more. “Oh yeah, all that weird Commercialverse stuff and whatnot…” his s’more turned out quite tasty, if a little messy, and he washed it down with the last of his soda. “Good lord I hate canned soda–bottled or bust.” Ripsaw then glanced over to Esteri, who was still texting away–and he could have sworn he had seen something hovering over her shoulder. “Esteri, what are you doing?”
“Hold on…” she replied… she had said that multiple times already.
Softly grumbling, he went over to look. “Who you texting?”
“Just a minute, I’m almost done…” she said as turned her back to him.
“Come on, show me already!” he shot back as he went to swipe the phone. Esteri quickly grabbed his arm and kept texting with her other. “Come on, Esteri…”
She groaned as she wanted to keep it private, but her boyfriend was going to find out either way she supposed. “Fine–I’m texting a girl I’ve been chatting with–she’s in a bad spot and considering getting into drugs…”
That sent a chill down Ripsaw’s spine. “Is… is there any way we can help?”
Anker shared the sentiment as he stepped over. “Surely there must be…”
Esteri thought for a second and sent her message. She then tapped into a menu and sat herself in a position that would make it easier for all of them. “We can make a minute long voice recording. Her name’s Jane–and make it count, alright?” The men both nodded. “Hey, Jane, it’s Esteri–look, whatever you do, please don’t get into drugs…”
“Yeah–Malte here–You don’t want to go down that path. Literally do anything else…” Esteri glared at him a little. “...within reason.”
Anker cleared his throat. “It would be an absolutely terrible fate–throwing away your life for nothing more than to just become some statistic in some authoritarian’s quest to take away our freedom–Anker, by the way.”
Despite Esteri shooting the two looks asking them to be more graceful, Ripsaw kept going. “Jane–you’re obviously in a low spot, but you haven’t hit rock bottom yet. Look at the three of us–we’re kicking it around at the bottom rung, considered worse than dirt–but we’re still trucking, and we’ll keep kicking until our last breath. Don’t give up–not now.”
Esteri finished the message off with a joke at Ripsaw and Anker’s expense that made them all laugh, even Yale. Once he was sure the message was sent, Yale flew off, figuring it was time to head back to the mansion. Ripsaw had caused a lot of trouble as of late, but the three could not have been all that bad–they were just in a rough patch having a little trouble climbing back up the hill. And the four had no way of knowing this, but that night Jane packed up her essentials and ran for it. She left the crumbling home she had been forced to live in for the majority of her life and kept going until she could not–a victim of circumstance who had finally had enough. She eventually got on a bus and never looked back–leaving her shithole neighborhood behind once and for all. Once she found her way to a homeless shelter, she would get a job at a breakfast restaurant where through happenstance she would end up meeting her boyfriend and future husband–living a long and happy life having given birth to three smiling, bright-eyed children who went on to be successful in their own right. Jane made sure her kids did not repeat the mistakes her parents had made. And Jane never realized that the ones who had given her the strength to change her life that night were involved in a great war for the Cosmos as a whole–but such is life.
Yale failed to maintain his invisibility once he was out of sight, as he was choking up with emotions as he thought about what Esteri had done for Jane. He had a feeling that tagging along with Will back in The Unlight would shake things up for him–and he was not cursing it in the slightest. Sure, his past still weighed on him, but he would cut Esteri and Ripsaw some slack. He was so distracted that he did not realize he had flown into something sticky… “WHAT THE HELL?!” he cried as tried to buzz around, only to wind himself in a tight, rubbery cocoon of goo that squeezed him as hard as it could–clearly quick and cheap parlor magic…
“Ah hah!” a familiar voice said as he fumbled out of the bushes. “Mother always said I was good at catching bugs–oh wait, I don’t have a mother…”
“HMPH!?” Yale had to bite some of the goo away, which tasted sickly sweet as he wobbled back and forth in a web made of the stuff. “PERKELE!?”
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” Truthfully Perkele’s comedian-like demeanor was a little nauseating to Yale… or maybe it was the goo he was trapped in. “Now, my dandy little dire fairy–you’re coming with me to undo that little spell of yours…”
“Damn it–I knew this would happen…” Yale grunted to himself. “What for, clown?”
He grinned with a mischievous smile. “Company secret…”
“Really? What does Sebastian want the fragment for?”
“Oh no no–not him. My other master wishes to study it.”
Yale could have sworn he sensed something… infernal about Perkele–perhaps… something Faustian one could say… “Alright, who then?”
Perkele raised an eyebrow at him as he put on a rubber glove. “And you think I’m just going to tell you and ruin the surprise?"
“Oh yeah, because he’s just a good citizen helping out…”
“Arrogant to assume my other master doesn’t have good intentions.”
Yale scoffed. “Okay, nice try, clown…”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
The snicker made it clear Yale was messing with him. “I didn’t say that–”
“You are thinking it, you little bug,” he rebuked with a finger in Yale’s face. “Make no mistake that my master wishes to keep the fragments out of the hands of that insufferable Ultinn-Lacksus…”
Yale sighed as Perkele started to walk off with him. “Well, Perkele–as fun as this was, I need to get back to the others, so…” he then spit a weird substance into his captor’s nose that looked like purple pollen.
Perkele let out a violent sneeze as he dropped Yale, and began stumbling around like he was high. “What was–” he sneezed again. “What did you do to me, bug!? Someone pass the brownies…”
“Have fun, clown!” Yale said with a laugh as summoned a portal that sucked him in and teleported him away. Perkele would spend the rest of the night running from Ripsaw and company, as the spell acted like a beacon for the three. Yale soon found himself plopped on the nightstand of Will’s bed. Him and Sam looked comfortable, and he did not want to wake them up. “Damn it…” he muttered as he fell asleep in his cocoon.
Sam and Will were up at around 7 in the morning, and the latter yawned and stretched his back until he felt a satisfying pop. “Morning, Sam…”
“Good morning, Boyo. Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah…” he said with a yawn… he then smelled a weird smell, a sweet one right next to him like a cake that had been left out all night… “What the hell is… What the–Yale!?”
Yale grumbled a little as he tried to get up–only to realize the cocoon had gone ‘stale.’ “Morning, Will…”
“What happened!?”
“Ran into Perkele last night…” he groaned as he tried to wriggle around.
“WAIT–WHAT?” Will and Sam questioned in unison.
“Could you guys get me out of this? I’m sweating like crazy…”
Will nodded to Sam, as she was more skilled in alchemy than he was. “Jeez, Yale–just what were you thinking?” she questioned.
Will then realized the sore thumb in the situation. “HOLD ON…” he exclaimed as he stepped over to the dresser to indicate for Haze to hop onto him. “You get on my ass for that incident with Eloise–yet look what happened here!”
Yale groaned as he pried his limbs from the awful goo as Sam created a crack in it with her magic. “Alright–I went to spy on Ripsaw and the others and had a run-in with Perkele. He wanted me to undo the barrier spell I cast on the area of The Lost Fire Temple…”
Sam’s concern was shown by her hair and eyes turning purple. “Boyo?”
He nodded and picked Yale up to put him on his shoulder. “I’ll go take him to talk to Milan while you get dressed.” He also took the cocoon to be thrown out, but gagged a little in the process. Haze was not phased, but he had to concede it was a little unpleasant to handle.
Next:
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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