Complete - Fool's Fate

The Crystallized Zalra... Iván hasn't heard good things about this place. In fact, everything he's heard have all been warnings. It's a dangerous place, they said. It's horrible, they said. Only death comes to those who are foolish enough to explore the place, they said. Death... Iván has died before. He would die to see him again.

"Beasts?" Iván was more interested about what the man had heard, was hearing, than his current state. Crystals have overtaken his leg, conquered it, and was preventing him from moving. From the looks of things, the man was anchored to where he was. If he dared to move, he could lose his leg. Iván wondered why such a young man would be out here. Was he just an illusion? Maybe another trick from the otherworldly being he had encountered in the Spire. If he remembered correctly, that being did not appreciate illusions. Maybe not on him. "What kind of beasts? What do you hear? What did you hear? Tell me!"

He's traveled so far, so wide, to come up empty yet again. Iván had to know more about that otherworldly being. He had to meet him again. To do all that, he was willing to risk his own safety, security, again. He was willing to die. He was willing to risk his leg. He was willing to play the daring fool. He must, he must, he must.

@Izzy

 

Ugh. If Iván didn't have his face covered with both an exaggerated turtleneck and dark-tinted goggles, not to mention a hood that drowned most of his features in shadows, his disgust would be apparent. This man, this boy, was at the brink of glorious death and he's crying for his mother? Why? If these were tears of joy, Iván would understand. He might even celebrate with him. The boy was about to quite possibly meet his savior. Yet he wasn't as excited as he should be. These were tears of fear. Iván at least knew the difference.

If he could just meet his own savior any time, he would take the boy's place. But his was special. The masked purple god-machine-thing was, Iván was certain, only accessible through the Spire. Unfortunately for the masked illusionist, going back down there, especially on his own, was not an option. Not only did the lazy rangers go ahead and put it under their stinking protection but no one sane, not for any amount of gold, would accept an offer to go down there with him, especially not after the same rangers spread terrible stories about the dangers the Spire contained.

Well, to be fair, the dangers were real. There were giant underwater dragon monsters, one Iván and his group faced, leading to him and someone else getting cut and slashed while an unluckier part of their expedition getting one ear torn off. There were also giant spindly monsters that could kill you just by stepping on you, faceless porcupine monsters that guarded hot springs, and a fog that who knows what else contained. The Spire was not for the weak-hearted. The Spire was perhaps even hell itself.

"Werewolves? Talking werewolves?" They were finally getting somewhere. A smile streaked across Iván's well-hidden face. It didn't sound like anything he had encountered down in the Spire but it could all be connected to the otherworldly being he encountered down there. Not just talking werewolves, too, but gambling werewolves, betting on a child's organ, or organs, taking to the idea of torture as fun. Yeah, this could be connected to the masked purple god-machine-thing. The one thing that was consistent in the Spire was how fear dominated the place, creatures born out of what people are most afraid of. These werewolves could very well be the same thing.

Iván simply stared at the boy as he pleaded for his life, as he requested the illusionist kill him, as the curse of the crystal started spreading around his lower torso. Should he kill the boy, give him the sweet release of death himself? Was he worthy enough to do that? No. Iván can't. In order to witness the enlightenment that he had down in the Spire, he had to work towards it, sacrifice pieces of himself, feel as much pain as possible and in the end hold out until his body could no longer. Only then did the otherwordly being graced him with its presence. Only then did the masked purple god-machine-thing saved him from himself. The boy needed to do the same to be worthy. The boy needed to be strong, to show he was more than he could ever be.

"No," Iván deadpanned, realizing that not only has he given the boy the grand opportunity to prove himself in the face of his great fear and even death itself, but he has also given the boy the grand opportunity to serve a greater purpose: become bait to draw the talking werewolves out. "You're welcome, child."

Slowly, carefully, Iván walked back, away from the boy, while making sure he could still see him. Some distance might prove useful to scope out the wolves when they came for the boy. If they truly were in existence. Maybe they were just musings of a delusional dying child. Iván would be very disappointed if the latter was true.

@Izzy

 

It's been an hour. Yet what was an hour to an eternity of enlightenment? Iván could wait. He had to wait. The talking werewolves would come for the poor boy, that was, if his crystal curse wouldn't end him sooner. The latter might take more time, though, so the wolves could still make it. Iván hoped they would make it. It's been one failed pursuit after another. He wasn't whining about his constant failure to once again meet the otherworldly being from the Spire, but a man could get exhausted. Iván was still, after all, just a man.

Iván waited patiently. As patiently as anyone with a mission could. He noticed that it should be sundown soon. Maybe he should leave now, take his losses and go home, fight another day? No. He has to stay. He has to persevere. He has to prove to the masked purple god-machine-thing that he was worthy for another meeting. There was nothing that would deter him, could deter him. Iván must stay. He must be strong. He must be patient.

Yet nothing came. Despite the boy's cries, screams, the talking werewolves did not come. The crystal curse might come sooner than the predators. Should Iván just leave? No, he can wait for a little while more. Like he thought, the boy would succumb to either the crystal curse or the wolves. What purpose would a crystallized human serve predators? He would wait until the crystal curse takes the boy or the werewolves arrive. It was one or the other. If he left, he might miss the opportunity. He would stay for a while longer.

@Izzy

Hidden: OOC

How long with it take the crystals to fully consume the boy? Can Iván stay until that happens? If not, then at least six hours would do.

 

If Iván was someone else, perhaps he would've felt more pity towards the boy, especially as his crystal curse had all but consumed him. Not only that, however, but something was changing. He was changing. It was as if the boy was transforming, but into what? Iván was more interested in what was happening to the boy rather than how the boy was taking to his own metamorphosis.

The illusionist tried to remember if there was anything from the Spire that resembled a crystallized creature, but all he could think of was the Ant Queen's own transformation during his first mission for the Aristocracy. He instinctively turned towards the ring on his finger, his spell ring, which had been wrought from the aforementioned Queen's crystallized form.

That was when the howls arrived. The grin on Iván's face, hiding behind his turtleneck, was inspired by pure excitement. This was what he came here for. This was something that could finally point him in the masked purple god-machine-thing's direction. Finally, after all his hard work, after all his wild goose chases, he was now one step closer to meeting his salvation once again. Or was he?

The wolves could indeed talk, the boy wasn't hallucinating that part, but turning into one of them? The boy was bitten? Of course! He did say he was bitten by one of them. How could he have missed that? He had focused all his attention to the fact that the werewolves were talking, that he failed to consider another obvious fact. Then again, the boy's limb was crystallizing. How was he supposed to immediately connect a werewolf bite to that?

The wolves were not only talking but they were mostly loudly talking. Iván thought a few words might have been enough for them, but apparently, these creatures loved the sound of their own voices. Wait, why were their fur shimmering? Crystallized wolves? Like the Ant Queen... Crystallized Zalra... Iván sighed, gritting his teeth. Everything was now starting to become clear to him. At least the parts that were laid out before him. He should've seen the signs earlier, understood what was happening, but it was way past that. The wolves were looking to eat the boy, their own, before he could fully turn into one of them. Always want to eat them? So they've been eating those they've infected? Does that mean they were the only ones out here?

Crap... Iván closed his eyes, shaking his head. Where the hell did that branch come from? One of the wolves was onto him now. A howl, a warning. He needed to think fast. He needed to do something. Should he run? He doubted he could outrun a wolf, three would be instant death. As his mind started to drown in thoughts, possibilities of escape, alternatives of survival, his eyes darted back towards his spell ring. Maybe he could use his illusion magic to make the trio of wolves see him as one of them. His ring was crystallized as well. Maybe if he pretended to be one of them, he could also use his ring's appearance to make them think he was above them, a leader, a chosen one, a deity.

With no other option aside from dying, Iván used his illusion magic to try and appear like he was one of the wolves. He wouldn't be able to fight them anyway, it was three to one, so all he could do was try to outwit them.

@Izzy

 

Thank you, my savior... It worked. The spell had worked. The wolves, crystalline as they may be, were as mindless as beasts could be. Or at least as weak-minded as beasts were always meant to be. Iván's illusion had tricked them into thinking he was one of them. They were just wolves, after all, fueled by hunger and instincts. They weren't like Iván. They weren't worthy. They weren't privy to the truth of things. At least that seemed to be the case for a few moments.

One of the wolves seemed to have been tricked by Iván's magic. The other two? They weren't as duped. In a span of seconds, they were all over Iván. He managed to dodge one of them but his luck wasn't known for always being on his side. He yelled in pain as his upper leg was the first to get caught, the wolf's teeth digging through his coat set, through his flesh. It was bad enough that he was bitten by a flea-infested creature, crystalline as both probably were, but the added weight of all that crystal flesh rendered any further attempts to save himself null. Iván was anchored to the ground, shackled, by the crystal wolf's teeth.

What happened next happened fast. The wolves used their weight to keep Iván from going anywhere, ripping his throat and then his heart. It was a painful death but a faithless one. Iván murmured through the pain the words his savior had bequeathed him during their first and only meeting.

“Such paltry tricks are beneath you, Bound Prince.”

Despite the agony, Iván still managed to grin, wincing as he felt each bite, each scratch, each cut, the wolves were nonchalantly bestowing upon him. Before everything disappeared, Iván chuckled to himself, "Paltry... Tricks..."

Most people would feel a sense of warmth whenever they wake up, an inherent gratitude that another day has come. Waking up from death, however, made a lot of people forego that warmth for something else, a shiver down their spine, a nagging guilt, an explained fear. Iván felt none of that, no shiver, no guilt, no fear, not even gratitude. All he felt was disappointment. He had died. Again. But this time, his savior was nowhere to be found. The masked purple god-machine-thing, the otherworldly being from deep beneath the Spire... Nothing bid him goodbye before he passed away. Nothing met him at death's door. Nothing welcomed him back to the world of the living.

"What have I done wrong?" Iván swallowed air as he sat on the floor of the temple of Idna. He had failed. His quest had failed. Did this mean he was never going to meet his savior again? Or was it just something he did wrong, a minor setback from his ultimate goal, from his destiny? What was he supposed to do now? "How... Why... I must..."