Nagith Chronicles: Discovery

His frustration mounted through the day as time passed. Once again he could not find Rachel and once again he found himself reluctant to find other forms of amusement. So he spent the majority of his day skulking around, at one point visiting the spot in the grounds where he had burned the remains of the strange creature. He didn’t stay there long, he found it…uncomfortable, somehow. Thought it wasn’t long, it seemed like forever to him by the time the party was officially underway. Putting his plan into action, he began to seek out his master but instead spotted someone else he had been looking for, Rachel.

He stared a moment or two, feeling that throat-tightening sensation again. There she was, after trying to find her all day here she was at the party, flirting with some of the attendants. She’d smile and touch their face and arms, batting her lashes and laughing at their advances. One was already making her an offer. Charin saw him offer a gem-encrusted bauble and suddenly he was between them, smacking the man’s hand away.

“What the-?!”

“Charin-! What are you doing?!” Rachel hissed, grabbing his arm.

“What are you doing!?” He snapped back, feeling heat flush up through his face.

“I’m working, what do you think?” she snapped, putting her hands on her hips. “Why are you trying to drive off my clients?”

“Clients-!”

“Lord Charin, with all due respect, I was making her an offer,” the man he struck said, a low hiss in his voice. “If you’d like a turn with her at least wait till I’m done. I was here first.”

On an impulse Charin swiped out with his claw, slicing across the man’s face. The noble howled and staggered back, clutching the gash and the busted eye. Rachel was yelling at him but he could only focus on his anger and disgust. How dare this filthy bastard even talk to his Rachel, how dare any of them-

“Now what exactly is going on here? Hm?”

His hot rage suddenly stifled under a wave of chill. Even Rachel fell silent as the crowd parted and Tensombrek strolled up, an amused look on his face and a drink being held up by one of his feathers, the tendril stirring the blue liquid about laxly.

“Lord Tensombrek,” Rachel bowed her head in submission.

“Boss-“

“Well, is there going to be a fight?” Tensombrek tilted his head, an eyebrow arched with interest. “I don’t think he’d be much of a match for you, Charin, he’s a pretty wretched looking blob.”

Though wounded and insulted the man Charin struck kept their head bowed and said nothing, gripping at his face. Charin bit his lip, eying the man and then looking back at his master.

“I just struck him for angering me, Boss.”

“Mm hm.”

Tensombrek had lost interest apparently, given that his gaze had instead now settled on Rachel. His free feather slid up and cupped her chin, lifting her head up. Rachel stiffened but looked up at him, careful not to meet his eyes.

“And who might you be, my dear?” a small smirked cracked his lips, his eyes half-lidded.

Charin felt another surge of rage blended with a strike of horror. He went to say something and then stopped, trying to mask his strange mix of reactions as Rachel answered their deity.

“Rachel, my Lord,” she said.

“Mm hm…” Tensombrek said again, his eyes tracing her body. “You know her, Charin?”

“Lord Charin is one of my clients, my Lord.” Rachel answered stiffly.

“Oh?”

His smirk grew and his eyes drifted over to Charin, a mischievous hint to his expression.

“Is she any good, Charin?”

If not for it being his master who spoke, Charin was sure he would have ripped out his throat. As such he hesitated just long enough for Rachel to cut him off, smiling sultrily at Tensombrek.

“I doubt I would be worthy of you, my Lord,” she said.

Charin stared at her, eying the way she smiled and the tone of her voice. It was the same tone his mother used to use when she was trying to strike up a deal with a wealthy potential customer.

“Well then, perhaps we should go find out,” his master chuckled.

The feather slipped around Rachel’s waist and pulled her beside Tensombrek, who slipped an arm around her and began to walk off with her.

“Wait-! Boss- don’t-!” Charin stammered.

“Whatever is the matter with you, Charin?” Tensombrek snorted, looking back over his shoulder at him. “I’m sure she’ll still be open to business when I’m done with her, go amuse yourself with another one.”

“But-“

Rachel glared at him, slipping her arms around Tensombrek.

“Don’t ruin this for me, Charin,” she snapped, venom in her voice. “You don’t own me.”

They slipped away and Charin could only stand there staring after them, not sure what was going on inside him. Anger, of course, and horror- but why horror? Why was this affecting him so much? What was wrong with him? She was just working, and he never claimed to own her. She wasn’t a concubine after all, she could choose who she wanted. Then why was he making such a big deal out of this? Maybe they were right, he just had to go calm down, there were other people around selling. Yeah, he’d just do that and then later he could be with Rachel when she was done.

He quickly went away from the scene, the floor now sticking with blood from his victim who lay on the ground moaning. He ignored it, rooting through the crowd. The only thing he had to think about right now was getting a bed-partner, he didn’t have to think about everything else- he didn’t want to think about anything else. About these feelings, these thoughts, about Rachel with Tensombrek putting his hands on her. No, he needed a distraction, right now.

“Oh, Lord Charin.”

A broad, slick-haired man with a beard came up to him with a little smile.

“You’re as fetching as the stories have said…oh and so strong too, hm?” he grinned, tracing Charin’s arm.

“Not interested.” Charin said dismissively, scanning the assembled party-goers.

“No? Oh well that’s just a shame,” the man pouted, taking a gulp of his drink. “You’re so cute, too. I’d always wanted to bed a dragon but Lord Tensombrek has only been into females the past few generations…and Lord Malochite is such an odd one, isn’t he? Some say he doesn’t have interest in sex at all! How odd.”

“You’ve got better luck bedding a rakyal than the Big Guy,” Charin smirked a bit, glancing back at him. “I heard the head of the Rasu clan is into your type though, he’s not bad looking, maybe try there.”

“Why, I might just do that. Such a generous recommendation.” He smiled broader. “No wonder my sister is so fond of you.”

“Your sister?” Charin raised a brow, frowning.

“Yes, you’re one of her clients.” He replied, taking another swig of his drink. “She’s having good luck tonight, apparently. I heard Lord Tensombrek himself is doing business with her tonight, I must say I’m quite envious.”

“You’re Rachel’s brother?” he stared.

“Indeed I am,” he smiled again. “Raem is the name, by the way.”

“You said she’s fond of me?”

He was a bit baffled a moment that that was the only thing he picked out from that conversation, it must have befuddled Raem too because he laughed.

“You are odd. Yes, she’s fond of you. Unusually so, in fact…well at any rate I’ll go see if I can find Mister Rasu, hm?” he smirked, strolling past Charin. “Enjoy your evening, my Lord.”

Charin recounted all the interactions he had had in the past few minutes and tried to glean his position with Rachel from it. If she liked him then-… He slapped his palm into his face, cursing himself. All this and he had completely forgotten what his real goal had been this entire night. How could he be so easily distracted? He wanted to know about the strange things happening and he had so quickly forgotten how badly he wanted to know. Well no more, he decided, steeling his resolve. If not Tensombrek then he would pry answers from Malochite, he had to know something even if he was playing dumb. Malochite was the only one that Tensombrek trusted to any reasonable extent, his confidant, so if something had bothered the master then surely he would have told him.

Unfortunately for him the bulking figure of Malochite was nowhere to be found, he was not present; after all there was no way to overlook his towering form in this room. Why was nothing going right these days? It felt like he was walking on glass as of late, like if he took one wrong step the ground under him would shatter and he’d fall-

Proo

He froze.

Prooooo

His eyes widened and his eyes swept the area, attempting to locate the source of the sound. How? Was he imagining it?

Proo!

Then he spotted it, somehow, across the vast hall, tumbling and weaving between the feet of the party-goers. It rolled about, unnoticed, as small as it was. Charin astonishment immobilized him for just a second and then he took off through the crowd. He wouldn’t let it get away, he wouldn’t let this slip by him, he couldn’t let this go! The furball! No- no it couldn’t be the same one, it wasn’t, it was another one. How could there be another one? How many were there? Where did they come from?

He felt his hearts pounding in his ears, both his main and the spare. If this thing got away from him or was destroyed like the last one, he didn’t know what he would do. This thing was the key to his answers, he just knew it. He weaved and pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring any protests or obstacles. At one point he simply hopped on top of a table and ran along it, knocking food and drink over, smashing dishware. None of that mattered, none of this mattered at all anymore. The white puffball had exited the main hall, hopping and tumbling through one of the smaller corridors.

Charin tore down the side hall, his eyes sweeping for the white creature. Where had it gone? There was only one path, it had to be just around the corner. He turned the corner at such a speed he nearly slid and slammed into the wall, then turned to find the cooing creature sitting on a window ledge, looking up at him.

Proo?

He panted, trying to catch his breath as he stared at the little thing. It looked just like the last one, its big eyes blinking up at him. It wiggled a bit, hopping up and down.

Proo!

“Where did you come from?” he whispered, absent-mindedly wiping sweat off his face.

It blinked again, as if confused by his question. It rolled over onto its back, kicking its little spade feet.

Paroop paroo proooo

What the hell was it doing? Then again, what was he doing? Obviously this thing wasn’t intelligent, why was he asking it questions?

Suddenly he felt stupid. What was he thinking? What did he think he was going to accomplish by catching this little creature? It’s not as if it could tell him anything, and the only ones who could tell him anything about it he wouldn’t dare bring the creature to. They would just kill it like the last one. Charin sighed and slumped against the opposite wall, leaning against it as he stared at the puffball, which was amusing itself by rolling about on the window sill.

“Well, now what?” he muttered to himself. “What do you think, furball?”

It rolled onto its feet, looking up at him.

“I guess I could call you something other than ‘furball’.” Charin bit his lip. “Dunno what, though…”

It hopped up and down again, then rolled off the sill, bouncing when it hit the ground. It shook itself off then began to waddle down the hall. Charin watched it for a moment and then sighed, following behind it. He followed it seemingly aimlessly for a few minutes, watching it hop and bounce about. They were so far from the festivities after a while that he could just barely hear the gathering, his footsteps and the small cooing creature more apparent to his senses. At one point it stopped at a door, then to Charin’s surprise, flattened itself and scuttled under it.

“Huh-? Hey, don’t ditch me-“ he opened the door.

It was difficult for him to describe this moment later in his life. It should have been simple, standing in the doorway with his hand on the door handle, looking into a normal room. Normal except for the large, twisting sphere of white light that hovered in the center. The furball was standing in front of it, then rolled backwards, looking at him as he stared at the strange sight. He had never seen anything like it, he didn’t know what to think. He could never fully explain what it felt like, or how he knew to his very core that this, this thing, this moment, that everything in that instant had culminated to grant him the chance to his answers. If he took this step he would find what he was looking for, but if he took this step things would change, not only would it change but things would be hard, he would struggle, he would suffer… He knew it would be hard.

He also knew he wanted this more.

He reached out and touched the light.

It was bright, too bright! It was blinding! He squinted, bringing up his arm to shade his eyes as he strained them against the brightness, trying to make out any kind of shape or form. It smelled weird, the air smelled…he wasn’t sure, and he felt…air? Like air when it moved past him when he flew quickly through the sky, like the air was moving, except he was standing still. It moved past him, through his hair, ruffling it gently and blowing his coat around his legs. Slowly his eyes finally adjusted and he was met with…with…what- what was this? There was so much- color! There was green, tons of green, different types of green everywhere- there was green on the ground!

He stumbled backwards, his back hitting something hard. Charin whipped around and saw a large trunk with brown bark- a tree? It didn’t look like any tree he had ever seen, it was straight and thick and it was so tall! HE had to back up and crane his neck just to see the top of it, and it was covered in green! Green needles- were they toxic? But there were others like it, but different shaped, and the green on them were flat and had strange shapes. And the sky! The sky was blue, a bright, rich blue like he’d never seen. This place was insane! It was bright and too…too much, too much everything. Too much light, too much color, too many shapes, too many smells, too many sounds too much everything. It was loud and gaudy and obnoxious.

He loved it.

The thought crossed his mind before the bubbling sensation in his chest occurred, a mix of excitement and…happiness? Was that what it was? It was so potent and sharp, and it hadn’t flicked away yet. Something about this place was sustaining it, but what specifically it could be he could never figure out. There was just so much! What was this? The green on the ground, were they plants? He knelt down to inspect each tiny blade, his eyes lit up as he ran his fingers over them. They were! Tons of tiny plants sticking out of the ground, carpeting it! Most of them were blade like but still there were others! Flat ones, rounded ones, ones with shapes and ones with clusters of what he assumed were seeds, some with fibers and- what was this?! A little purple bulb sticking out of one- it looked like that soft-plant from his sleep-sight.

His breath caught in his throat and he stared, slowly taking in the small plant. What was this? Were the other types of that soft-plant? Is this where they were? He looked up and searched through the trunks, as if he would find the white plant just sitting there waiting for him. Even if it was he wondered if he’d be able to pick it out right now. There was just so much! Everywhere he looked there was something that caught his eye, something new, something strange and so, so interesting. There were things on the ground that looked like they came from the trees, but they were dry and brittle, and dark. Dead? Were the green things on the trees little creatures, parasites perhaps, that lived off the trees and then fell to the ground when they died? And there was a buzzing, from the small creatures that lived in the plants and flew through the air. Insects? They were so small, and so many different kinds! A small hopping creature leapt by a few feet away and he could swear that round rock over there was moving.

There was a trickling sound- water? He raced toward it without significant thought, letting out a gasp when he found the source. It was water, a small river but…the water was clear! He could see into it, see the rocks and small swimming creatures and the surface flickered with golden light. Where was the light coming from? The sky? He looked skyward and winced, quickly averting his eyes. There was a light in the sky, too bright to look at and burning yellow. Was that…a sun? Was that what it looked like, when the clouds were gone? This place had clouds too, though…just here and there, but they were white, puffy, soft looking, they reminded him of the furball creature- wait, where had that little thing gone to anyway? Had it come from this place? What even was this place? Where was it? How had he gotten here? He needed to know! He needed to know everything about it! It was so wondrous and beautiful and-

Wait, there was smoke. There was a fire? And…sounds, voices almost, like people. But they weren’t saying any words he’d ever heard before- That wasn’t important, what was far more interesting was that there were apparently people in this strange place. He followed the scent and the sounds, carefully. They could probably react violently to a stranger, but even so, he needed to confirm his suspicions. He slunk around the trunks, careful not to step on anything that looked like it would make any loud sounds. It was far more difficult than he thought it would be, there was just so much on the ground! Was there even dirt under all this green stuff? He’d look into that later. The voices were getting closer.

Finally he peered around one trunk, through some of its green attachments at the sight. There was indeed a fire and a small group of people sitting around it. People! But like this place they were…different, they were too colorful. There was one with pink skin and red hair- red! How was that possible? There was a dark brown skinned one, and two or three smaller ones- a family? The smaller ones skin tones ranged between the brown one and the pink one, maybe they were offspring? They had a strange dwelling that looked like cloth propped up with black sticks, and a myriad of strange and colorful devices. They were talking amongst each other and from the looks of it, cooking these strange tubes of meat over the flames.

Proo?

The furball! He heard it, where-?

A shriek met his ears and he winced, quickly directing his attention back to the group; had he been spotted?

From the looks of it, no, but he had also found the location of the furball. The brown-skinned one- a female from the sounds of it- had spotted the furball near their fire. She grabbed the smallest of the offspring up into her arms and the larger two drew back, the red-haired one coming forward in a protective gesture. The furball didn’t seem alarmed by their reactions and simply rolled about, making its strange cooing sound. The people were talking rapidly to each other, their gazes locked on the furball. They seemed afraid of it- or at least, surprised. Was the furball dangerous after all? No, no that didn’t seem right, maybe it was just that they had not seen something like it before? So the furball wasn’t from this place?

PRoo!

One of the larger offspring grabbed a rock and hurled it at the furball, shouting at it. The puffy creature rolled away from it, giving a distressed coo. Wait, were they going to kill it? No. No he couldn’t let them do that. The last one had been killed before he had even given it a name and this one had led him to this place, he couldn’t lose this chance again! He rushed out and scooped up the furball and ran off back into the trees before the family could properly react to his presence. They let out sounds of alarm but he didn’t stick around to see what their response would be. As curious as he was, the puffball was more vital to his needs.

Once he thought he was a safe distance away he leaned against a tree, letting out a sigh of relief and looking at the furry thing in his arms. The animal let out another coo, looking up at him with its big eyes.

“You owe me, little guy…though I guess you showed me this place so we’re even.” He smirked lightly.

Proo…

His smirk split into a grin, looking up at the sky through the canopy. Everything was so bright, so colorful, so beautiful. He could’ve stayed in this one spot forever, feeling the air slipping through his hair and around his face.

But he knew he couldn’t. He had no idea where he was, how exactly he got here, and why the furrball- ah, he really needed a name for this dumb thing bynow. Hmm…

“Cal. I’m gonna call you cals. All right, little cal?”

The thing responded with a single blink followed by a purr. Well, it wasn’t a no. It gave a coo and scuttled up his arm, then slid into the collar of his coat.

“Hey- what are you doing?”

It just gave another coo and snuggled into the coat, probably cuddling into the warmth. Charin sighed and pushed off the tree, looking around.

“Well I guess you can’t tell me anything, since you can’t…y’know, talk. So I guess I’ll look around and see what I can figure out.”

He continued to head away from the gathering of strange people, but he didn’t get very far before yet another surprise occurred, this one not very pleasant.

Charin.

He spun on his heels, seeing only a dark whirling mass.

“What the- AH!”

The world seemed to twist and swirl around him, the bright colors of it fading away into monochromes and then suddenly his surroundings refined into focus once more. The same room that he had found the glowing mass in, back in the castle. How had he-?

A feather wrapped around his throat.

Oh.

He was slammed into the floor, choking as he looked up at his master, who looked down at him with a blank yet somehow horrifying expression.

“What did you do, Charin?” he asked calmly. “How did you do this?”

“I- I didn’t. Boss, I just found it-“

“You ‘found’ it? It just randomly showed up here and you decided to go through and fool around?”

“…Yeah, basically,” he answered sheepishly, forcing a weak smirk in hopes it’d curb his master’s temper.

It did not.

He choked as the feather tightened around his throat, pulling at it with his hands.

“Do you find this amusing, Charin? I fail to see the humor in it, myself…”

“N- No- Boss, I just wanted to investigate!” he managed to force out. “Th- there’s a completely different world through there! I-“

He was tossed against the wall and Tensombrek turned his attention from him to the ball of light. In his coat he felt the small cal scramble about and he tightened it around him. If the little guy got out the boss’d just kill it like the last one. Charin eyed his master as he pushed himself up off the floor. The entity was scanning the churning light, his feathers twisting about to express his agitation. As he got to his feet Charin’s eyes darting between the scene and the door, wondering if he could slip away from his master or if he would be punished for leaving.

“Leave.”

That answered that question.

He quickly slipped out the door and found the nearest vacant spot, opening up his coat to check on the cal. It popped up from his collar, blinking and making a questioning cooing sound.

“You’re lucky you hid before he grabbed me,” he said with a soft smirk, patting its head. “Though I have no idea how- ….what was that place? You lead me to it right? Got any other weird things you want to show me?”

It blinked once in response, then dove back down into his coat.

“Guess not.”

Now what? There was no way he was getting back to that place through Tensombrek, not with him the way he was now. Maybe he’d sneak back later? Or once the boss calmed down maybe he could talk his way into it… He had so many questions; about that world, how he got there, if it was another world at all, if the cal had come from there, if the cal had lead him there on purpose, if the cal was even intelligent or if this was all in his head… Also, why the boss seemed so on edge about all of it. Sure it was all really strange, so he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit wary too, but…his curiosity seemed to overpower that anxiety.

So that meant the question was how he could go back. He started wandering back to his chambers, going over options and possible plans in his head. If only he had grabbed something from there, one of the weird plants, or at least a leaf. Then again he supposed he was lucky he had at least one abnormal specimen on him. Not that that did him any real good- oh.

Oh! Rachel! The furball was proof of his story, and it was interesting enough that she would at least listen to him long enough to forget her anger with him…

“C’mon little cal…got someone I want to introduce you to.”

Unfortunately he could find no trace of Rachel that night, nor did he see another glimpse of his master. Even Malochite was strangely absent. Rachel had probably left though, she had probably made enough money to last her a while after servicing the boss- He suppressed another hiss at the thought, shaking his head and focusing on something on the wall. Really he should be happy for her, she had a very successful night in terms of business; but still…

“Been a weird few days.”

The cal on his desk gave another proo, blinking at him as Charin propped his head up on the desktop.

“So where did you even come from, huh?” he tilted his head, scratching the cal’s head with his finger. “The boss said he didn’t make you, and you didn’t come from that other place…”

Not surprisingly, it didn’t answer him, it merely rolled around his desk, like a clump of dust, light and soundless.

“Well I guess you’re gonna be my roommate for a bit. What do you eat? Where even is your mouth?”

It responded by stopping in mid-roll, upside down, blinking up at him.

“Well we’ll figure that out tomorrow.” Charin sighed, pushing back from the desk. “It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted.”

The cal watched him cross the room and plop unceremoniously into his bed, curling up in a ball much like one would expect from his reptilian form. He didn’t bother pulling up the covers or situating himself more comfortably. He was spent from the strange day and from his endless streams of thoughts. That world, the cal, the boss, and Rachel…

It’d be nice to sleep and forget it all for a little bit. All he needed was a break.

Though usually sleep would have provided that for him, apparently that was not longer the case anymore. Instead images and sounds bombarded him in his sleep, the sleep-sight again, but different than it had been the first time. The first one had been….comprehensible, it had been a world he was more or less used to, with a set course of events. This one was disjointed, more like different places and things slamming into him, letting him observe only to rush off so another could impact him from a completely different angle. It was a mix of the bright colors and images from that new world, along with more familiar but disturbing ones. The child that had died in the alley, Rachel’s look of irritation as she walked off with Tensombrek, the white furrball rolling about his desk, the first one being crushed in Tensombrek’s feather…

And the plant, that white plant again, from the first time.

So in the end he woke up feeling somehow less rested than when he had gone to sleep. He groaned and rolled over on the bed, burying his face into the blankets with a muffled grunt. Judging by the darkness it wasn’t even morning yet, he probably hadn’t slept long. Great, well at least that mean that he had some more time to get some sleep that was actually restful. He rolled over again and was stopped by a loud squeak. The man jumped upright, startled and then looked to see the source. The cal was blinking up at him, puffed up with its hairs pricking out.

“Oh, didn’t mean to do that.” Charin sighed, gently scratching the top of what he assumed was its head. “You look okay though, I mean, as much as I can tell.”

The cal eyed him but deflated a bit, bouncing up and down a bit toward Charin’s scratching finger. He smirked a bit and then picked the animal up, placing it on his bedstand before curling under his blankets.

“We’ll figure out what you eat later,” he said through a yawn.

It gave a small squeak and then went silent, so Charin assumed that meant it was going to sleep too. If it even slept, he didn’t really know much of anything about the weird little creatures. For now he’d just sleep on it. It’d be there in the morning.