Om's Quest

Part 1

The harsh winds whipped against it's back
The monster clung to it's flag
It's scaly clawed hands wrapped around it's staff.

It's eyes were stone, and it's large ears flapped in the wind
It spit when it saw a figure making it's way through the dessert
Hah
It better not come to him
Nirdok had been waiting patiently for a wayward traveler for eternities
And was due for a meal.
He licked his lips and readied his verminous teeth

A young man in a suit made his way through the sandstorm
He was in shirt and tie
And was shoeless
An arm sheilded his eyes from the storm.
Slung over his shoulder was a deer skin purse.

The human approached the demon,
Who at 9 feet stood dwarfed the lost human.

Nirdok's laugh was hungry and heartless
The human was making his way towards him!
Nirdok loved an easy meal.

The human looked up at Nirdok.

"I need directions."

"Hahaha." cackled Nirdok
"Oh you need directions do you?
And where do you need to get to?"

"I need to get to New Jerusalem."
Spoke the human bravely.

Nirdok bellowed.
"You need to get to Jerusalem.
Ha, no human I'm sorry,
But you look too delicious for me to just let you go.
You see you poor sap,
I'm starving, and you look like you'd be delicious with a side of charon,
Heheheheh."

The traveler looked past Nirdok,
"Is New Jerusalem that way?"

Nirdok bobbed his head.
"Uh...hahaha. Human I think you are confused."

"No, I'm not confused.
I've made my way
Through self discipline and meditation
My mind is sharpened
And my knowledge of the arcane is unmatched
You don't scare me you stupid humonculous
Now show me too New Jerusalem
Or face the wrath of my Master."

Nirdok stopped.
"And what's to stop from chewing on your heart while you still breathe?"
The traveler glared at the demon
He raised his hand
His palm bore the mark of his master
A cobra's head

Nirdok only laughed
"Hahahaha, you stupid thing, what is your name?
Who are you to show such arrogance?"

"My name is Om."

"Om eh? Well Om, good luck.
I will show you the way to your destination
Hahaheh...but that won't do you no good
I align with your master
So I will let you pass unharmed,
Be warned though,
Many here fear that mark you bear
But not all,
Many will kill you for it!
Don't go sharing it with everyone
Or you're likely to get your throat slit
Or worse.
New Jerusalem is that way,
You will get lost in the dry sea.
Don't trust the night.
Don't trust the singing
Don't trust anything,
But your own lack of direction.
May I ask,
What would bring a human to the Dead World?"

"I'm not here to share stories demon.
Thanks for the directions."

Without Om pushed passed the demon
Nirdok growled
"I hope you lose your mind here human."

Om traveled the dessert.
He could feel is physical self
Attached to this astral projection by a thin ethereal thread
This was another world
He had traveled hear by calling upon the dark arts
His master,
The Snake King,
Had sent him on a quest
To collect something from this realM
Only then would he be able to return to his physical self.

His dark journey into the depths of Dead World had just begun.
God help us all.

Suki's Choice Pt. 2

Suki's Choice Pt. 2


She lay softly asleep
The grass bend and leaned back,
Hosting the sleeping Suki
She sucked on her thumb

The flowers and grass whispered amongst themselves
Gossiping about the strangely horned girl

“Hey she's waking up!” was announced

Silence fell the over the plants as Suki yawned and stretched
She sat up slowly
Reaching her arms into the sky and arching her back
She felt itchy and hot
As the noon day sun cooked her blood stained robes.

She shed them quick
Leaving herself naked save for black whore panties
The warmth felt soothing on her skin
The smells from nature
And sounds of life put her at ease

Sounds of Life

She grew suddenly aware of herself
She looked down at her breasts
And saw a scar betwixt them

She felt her heart ache
“Spider?”

“Hm...Oh....”
The spider yawned and stretched it's several arms
“Suki...you're awake...”

Suki rolled her eyes upward and blew her hair out of her face
She examined her sorroundings
The remains of the brothel still lingered
Though the ashen blanket was replaced with a field of grass and flowers
And the remaining skeleton of the brothel was covered in moss and overgrowth
As if the brothel had burned down ages ago
Curiouser and Curiouser
“Spider...was this field here...earlier”

“Mervyn.” said the spider, stringing a web between her antlers.

“What's that?”

“My name is Mervyn, you don't have to call me Spider. And what are you asking me?”

“Wasn't this field covered in ash...and everything burnt?”

“You must dream vivid, for you to mistake your dreams for reality.”

With that Mervyn returned to his humming.
It would appear that Ariel's visit had been a dream
Though since dying, the line between what was real
And what was a dream
Seemed less and less important

Suki bit her lip as she walked through the field to the trees
The grass and dirt felt welcoming in her toes
She felt energy brewing in her knees
For the time being
The riddles Ariel had posed
And the pain of her death
Were a distant memory

For now,
The sun was bright
The air was warm
And the earth was soft
For now,
Suki just had to run.

She flew through the forest
Her feet gliding over the earth
She ran with grace
Her running was a dance
She loved her body
She loved how the wind cut over her ears

Suki galloped through the thicket till she came to a stream
She heard Mervyn humming over the song of the water
Suki knelt down and dipped her hand into the water

The drink replenished her
It cooled her throat
And revitalized her mind

She had been given a choice
Be a tool for the Gods
To bring happiness to this world
Even a small amount

Or continue on into oblivion
To leave this purgatory of ghostly servitude
In favor of sweet embrace of the forever after

Suki wanted to bring love to the world,
She did
But the burden of being the messenger of the God's
Could her soul bare it?
Would she let them down?
She could not imagine that she had the strength to do what they asked.
And with what tools did they expect her to do so?

In death,
The Gods gifted her with an ear for all creatures
It did not surprise Suki that the animals could communicate with the dead.
But how this would bring happiness to the miserable
She could not guess.

The water glided before her
Toy sized fish gazed at her from beneath the surface
Their bodies fragile and glass like

They stared silently

Here, in these woods
In this water,
In death
This bestial after life
There was a peace

A heavy step snapped a branch

Suki looked up
Her ears perked
Her antlers raised
Even Mervyn's humming went silent

Suki strained to listen

Silence

Nothing

Then,

Calamity

The air ruptured at a rifle's rapport

And Suki was off.

She ran.

The arms of the trees swiped at her face
The bushes grabbed her ankles
The foliage screamed
“Don't!”
But she ran towards the sound.
Why can't I run faster?! she begged

She broke into the clearing and froze
They all did.

Two men
A doe

The doe lay in the grass
Blood spilling from her neck
She gasped for air
Her panic stricken eyes pleading wildly for help
Her legs kicked

Suki stared.

One of the men was kneeling over the doe
He had a knife out, to finish his kill
A rifle strapped to his back
He stared dumbfounded at this naked horned girl
Who had stumbled upon their kill

Suki stepped towards the doe
It's eyes caught her's

This is my life, the doe said with it's gaze

The Doe's life flashed before Suki's eyes

She had been born the youngest of her siblings
Her mother's only daughter
Noriela
She had fallen in love with a stag who had been shot by hunters years ago
His name had been Enteimos
Noriela kept her love a secret her whole life
They had shared one night
A moon before Enteimos's death
They had shared each other's warmth
I will forever be yours he had whispered

Noriela stared deep into Suki
She looked forward to seeing Enteimos again

Suki felt her heart broke
Noriela's beauty was lost.
Suki looked up at the hunter

He had fallen back
And trembled at this ghostly visitor
He gripped his knife tight
“Stay back!” he stammered

“How could you?” Suki said through rising tears

“She was beautiful...”
Suki grew furious
“You killed her for beauty...”

With that the hunter lunged at Suki.
A yell escaped from his throat
And he swung his knife wildly

Suki grabbed his face,
Palming it
She squeezed, reaching past her fingers into his head.

The Hunter felt the coldness of death,
Tendrils of the abyss squirmed in his brain
Suki's eyes went white
And her breath froze as it escaped her lips

The Hunter saw the beauty that had been Noriela's life
He saw the beauty he had just stolen with his rifle.

The Hunter collapsed with remorse
Unable to bear the pain he had caused
Reliving the horror over and over again

He collapsed a muttering mess
His mind melted into a miserable mush of despair and self loathing

Suki yanked the rifle off his back
She examined the instrument
Then raised it at the second hunter

“Suki? Suki what are you doing!” Mervyn cried into Suki's ear
“Are you going to shoot him?”

“I should.” said Suki
The tears had ceased to come
She was now filled with rage at the heartlessness of the hunters
At Noriela's death
“They killed her,
She was beautiful, so they wanted that beauty for themselves.
They shot her.
They are ugly.
They are monsters.”

“And if you were to kill? Is he not entitled to his life as well?”

Suki stared down the rifle
Gripping the barrel tightly
She wanted him to hurt the way Noriela did
She wanted him to die the way Noriela had
She wanted vengeance for Noriela

“Suki...he's scared...” worried Mervyn

The man trembled

Suki tensed

She saw the panic in his eyes

She lowered the rifle.

She spoke,
She didn't tremble

“Leave.
Your friend has gone mad with misery
A fate you will narrowly escape
Tell your friends that for now on”
Suki gripped the rifle
“The woods shoot back.”

Suki's Choice Pt. 1

Suki's Choice Pt. 1

The sun was rising when Suki stepped on the yard.
To her confusion, the brothel was not there
Instead a strangely constructed house


Neither a merc or a whore in sight
Shinu could not be found
Kanji had faded away
And the Mistress was nowhere insight

The cages were gone,
the ganj fields missing.
The bar and tents had vanished
But their skeletons were there.
Charred skeletons,
Giving the illusion of where the buildings once stood
The sky grew white as the sun rose

Suki stepped through the phantasmic scene
Ash blanketed the soil

“I must be lost.” she whispered

“What was that?” begged the spider.

“I'm lost...this is not the brothel where I was killed”

She navigated the deadened landscape
The ash crumbling warmly beneath her feet
It was alien

The Bird, Ariel landed on her shoulder
Suki turned and glared at the thing
"You again!"

Ariel fluttered down to the ash
It looked up at her and said nothing

"Why do you torment me so?” cried Suki,
“What have I done to you?
I died!
I should not cling to this riddle of a world!
I want Forever!"

The bird spoke
It's large blue eyes looking up at her
"This is your Forever, Tsukiko."

Suki for the felt tears rising
"Leave me!"

She ran
Pushing through the jungle of ashen wood
Navigating a thicket of charred remains
At length she reached the pool
Where she had once bathed

She saw it's water was black
Stained in the afterlife
Suki fell to her knees
And wept for the darkness of this deathly world

She fell forward
Reaching out for oblivion
She collapsed on the dirt
Her finger tips touching the sable waters
Staining it crimson
She wept
The Ash clinging to her face

At length
Ariel landed beside her face
And said not a word
Suki wept
Then finally
"What is this?"
she begged

Ariel sighed
"You were beautiful Tsukiko
You wished beauty and love on all those around
Even those who did you wrong
You were grace
You were gentleness
you were strong
We look kindly upon you
those who are beautiful in body
and spirit."

Suki stared at bird
sniffling back her tears
"W...we..?"

"We've been called Gods before, Tsukiko.
We blessed you with a mark of your unfaltering beauty
They grew from your beauty, fed by your heart
And they have brought you to death
To Us."

Ariel was no longer such a small bird
She was larger now
Having grown
Her wings spread
And wrapped around Suki
Comforting her

"Oh Tsukiko...
Your story does not end at your death
It warms our hearts to see the love you bring to the world
Tsukiko
The world is empty of a love like yours
In death you can exist forever
Brining beauty and love back to the world
Do you not want to be our Eros,
Oh heart broken one?"
Suki cried

Ariel was now no longer a bird
But a beautiful glowing woman
Her skin as white as her feathers had been
And eyes a radiant blue
She was adorned in a flowing white robe
With which she coddled the weeping ghost
"I...I don't know..." said Suki
She curled into ball
Enveloped in the encompassing warmth of the white robe
Sinking into a sea of comfort
Ariel kissed Suki's face
"I...I don't know if I can....the world..."

"Hush...." whispered Ariel
She tenderly kissed Suki's tears
"Sleep girl...
The dead can afford to rest like no other
Rest
when you rise
May the new world treat you well
Treat you well child...
Treat them well..."

1. Image by YoshiyukiKatana