Private Tales A Life to Live

[Chasmine]

Blessed with well-fitting pants. The world truly worked in strange ways.

Chasmine lingered behind Ed when he slowed to speak to his newfound friends. She supposed she had not given much thought to how she conducted herself in the body of a large male orc warrior. Looking down at herself as she walked, she could not see anything wrong with it. Not as if she were walking in some queer way.

Hm. Oh well. Chas-orc lifted a hand and waved at the other orcs, not quite smiling behind the tusks.

"You make friends quickly," the orc said after Ed, a curious sort of envy muddled in the tone of the orc's voice.

 

[Edric]

A frown touched Edric’s lips, at first thinking Chasmine was making fun. Only catching the lingering desire in her tone just a second later. ”Not before I got here.”

He said quietly, chewing on something for a moment before he seemed to move on.

”I think…I think it helps that the Orcs are a lot like me.” Edric continued as they rounded another corner of tents. ”The Proctors always said other species were dangerous, evil even, but if that were true then I'm probably twice as bad as half of them.”

The Rogue admitted. ”Most of them just want to find a place for themselves, a home. Make sure their kind and tribe are alright, and…sometimes they just want to fight.”

He shrugged before continuing on the path. ”Honestly, I fit in better here then I ever did at the Academy.”

 

[Chasmine]

Chas wasn't so sure she found that to be true. Before here he'd made friends among the warriors of the fighting pits. Even those he'd bested in the pit had later come to speak with him like a comrade. She couldn't recall a time where making friends had ever been so easy for her.

Everything had been difficult no matter where she was.

"I'm glad," replied the orc when Ed seemed to have finished his thought, "that you are making friends."

It meant that he was becoming more his true-self day by day. Undoing the years of indoctrination layered upon him at the Academy.

"You're not a bad person, Edric," orc-Chas went on, "you just make a better orc."

 

[Edric]

Edric snorted in laughter. "Maybe I am."

There was some odd truth to Chasmine's words, he knew. The more time he spent among them, he more he realized the culture here fit him far better than what it was back home. Though he hadn't really bothered to reflect on why.

"But right now there's only one friend that matters." He reaffirmed to himself. "And that's you."

Edric had made his promise, and despite the newfound comradery he had here, he would see it through. "Ziri's tent is right up ahead."

The Dreadlord said, stalking forward towards the high masted canvas. His knuckles rapping against the outer tent-pole a second later to signal they were coming.

 

[Chasmine]

Before Edric could finish his last sentence on the whereabouts of Ziri's tent, he'd find himself being scooped up by the arms of orc-Chas in a tight orc-hug.

Did orcs hug? She had no idea, but there was suddenly a hint of alarm among those that had been guffawing at not-Chas just moments ago. It may have appeared that the black orc had woken up from its girl-possessed stupor and decided to attack.

A hug from normal Chas would certainly not have been capable of lifting the larger man off his feet as this one did. For her, the embrace was indefinably more real in this borrowed body than any of their interactions as her incorporeal self. Even if Edric was strangely able to make contact, this body could actually feel his warmth and the beat of his heart, though it was still somewhat dulled to the spirit within.

"Thank you," said the orc, eyes beading with tears as Chas suddenly felt overcome by all the emotions from the last several weeks. "Thank you Edric."

 

[Edric]

There ere very few people in this world who could manhandle Edric, but lately he'd been meeting more of them.

It seemed he had to add Chasmine to the list, or at least her green version.

In mid-stride Edric suddenly found himself swept off his feet, legs kicking in the air and hands waggling at his side almost comically. "Ow ow ow."

The Rogue Whispered as Chasmine used almost the entirety of her newfound strength to express just how thankful she was. A breath sucking into his lungs as dozens of Orcs around them stood, some of them quickly grabbing weapons.

Edric's hands rapidly waving as he was still held in his embrace, trying to show them this as no assault.

"It's alright!" He called, both to the surrounding Orcs and Chas herself. "It's alright, Chas."

The Rogue said, his lips splitting into a grin as he looked over his shoulder. "I told you. I promised you."

He continued. "There's no need to thank me for that."

 

[Chasmine]

Big, blobby tears were now bursting from the orc's eyes and smearing across it's war-battered face as Chas hugged at Edric with an expression of the heart that translated into brutish strength.

"I'm sorry," said the orc over a smiling sniffle, still hugging at Ed, "these big arms are terribly convenient."

Imagine all the things she could lift! Boxes of dirt for her gardens! Big rocks! That heavy looking thing over there! But also an Edric - who would probably be much easier to travel with if the act of picking him up and taking him away from bad situations had been an option. He didn't weigh nearly as much as he looked. In fact he felt quite light.

The orc released him at last and let him drop back to his feet as Chas lifted her ruddy orc hands to wipe tears away from her ruddy orc face. "I-" it said with a sniff, "I've been wanting to do that for a while now."

When Chas finally broke her gaze from him, she noted the alarming amount of tribesmen around them standing at the ready. "Oh..." said orc-Chas, lifting an awkward clawed hand to wave innocently at them, "I do not think they like hugs."

 

[Edric]

Edric landed with a thud, his head shaking as he turned to face the oversized green Chasmine. "Well, you'll only have to wait a little longer to do it with your own arms."

He assured her once more, confident that they were now finally on the right track.

The book Ziri had given him had already given him an idea of what they would need to do next. Hopefully when the two of them spoke things would become even more clear. Finally he felt as though he wasn't lost, as though he had an actual direction.

"Actually, I think they do." He said with a chuckle, recalling the amount of embraces he had suffered. "I Just think the Orc you're in isn't usually...a friend."

The tribalism here ran deep. A fact Edric had come to quickly understand. The Orc's were not like Aniria, not like at home where ever Human was a Human and and Elf was an Elf. Here the Tribe seemed to matter more than anything, and Orcs often hated other Orcs far more than they did anything else. "But I'll introduce you later."

He said, a smile easing on his face as he reached up and grabbed 'Chasmine's' shoulder. "Ziri first."

Then everyone else.

 

[Chasmine]

She supposed that made sense. Especially since she'd showed up in manacles and a cage. The orc nodded in understanding, smiling just behind its tusks. Even in a borrowed body, the physical interaction was nice. Just the simple hand on the shoulder was enough to grow a knot in her metaphysical chest that she could actually feel. Falling into stride alongside him once more, orc-Chas followed him to the Shaman's tent with growing apprehension and curiosity.

Being tribal and of the wylds to begin with, the encampment had been decorated in a wide variety of macabre and savage things. Doubly so with the presence of Ma'Ziri - the witch doctor had erected several carved totems bearing the skulls and bones of Maui's enemies to drive away spirits other Shaman's might send to do her and her people harm in the name of those who opposed her.

Ziri's tent was encircled by a picket line fence upon which any member of Maui's clan could place offerings in return for spiritual defense. Indeed, they were not necessarily the most spiritual of people, but orcs held great reverence for their ancestors and Ziri had provided plenty of guidance from them. Not to mention she also made a pretty phenomenol brew, was an accomplished apothecary, a skilled healer, and curiously potent sorceress. All things that made for a powerful ally to someone wishing to retake her throne of the Steppes.

Chasmine could feel the emanating power of the woman even from a distance as they approached, and it occurred to her that she had created a nexus of energies around herself that filtered into the spiritual realm in a way that she had not experienced before.

Hesitating at the entrance, the orc looked around at all the signs and felt the fog of darker powers than she ever wielded settle over her. Taking a step forward after Edric through the break in the picket fence, the orc immediately crumpled forward to the ground as Chasmine was forcibly ousted from its body. The orc lay face-down, breathing but unconscious.

Chas hung mid-air, the image of her incorporeal self flickering in and out of view as she struggled in a net of spectral webbing. "Edric!" she yelled after him, frantically trying to free herself, "I can't- ...somethings....!"

"Ahhh...." clinking of bones sounded as Ma'Ziri emerged like a pouring of blackened smoke from the gaping maw of a dragon, "little raven, kyot in my web."

 

[Edric]

It took a second. Less than the span of a breath.

Every ounce of magic he had stored within him. What he'd taken from the fallen Dreadlord's who'd dared hunt him. What he'd stolen from the countless dead of villages and wylds. The power of the fae he'd taken which still echoed within him.

Edric was a blur as he closed the small distance within the tent. He moved fast enough that the very pace of reality came into question. His fingers wrapped around Ziri's throat the very moment the last breath of her words passed over her lips.

There was an impossibility to it, an Injustice to the very laws of magic as Edric moved within the span that made the blink of an eye look like an eternity.

"Hurt her." He warned. "And I will strip the joy from your very soul."

As he spoke, the entropy of Edric's being reached out and clawed at Ziri. Dragging, pulling, tearing. "In this life, the next, and any that may come after. I will tear the satisfaction from anything you may ever feel."

His words were steel. His grip squeezed, drawing the breath from her lungs.

"You've seen me. You know what I am." His fingers tightened, cutting the air from her lungs. "I will break you. I will break everyone you ever known, loved, and held close."

Entropy clawed at the witches skin. "Help her."

He demanded. His eyes filled with madness that would stagger even the Archons of old. "Or find out why death itself walked away from me."

 

[Chasmine]

Years ago she might have panicked and lost all sense of self, but this was not the first time Chasmine had faced adversity or trials within the spirit realm. It was simply the first time she'd faced it on a plane that seemed to cross between them. She'd been caught off-guard and unsuspecting, having never known such things could be.

But watching Ed open himself up to that darkness within so quickly, so willingly, on her behalf brought the fright of her mind to a sudden halt.

"Ed..." the spirit breathed after him, shaking her head, "Edric no."

He wasn't listening. He already had his hands around the Shaman who grinned easily into his ire as someone who more likely than not was not entirely there, mentally. It wasn't uncommon among those who consorted with the dead.

Ziri made a cackling, gasping, sputtering sort of sound, a black substance seeping from her lips, eyes, nose, and ears the tighter he squeezed.

Now Chas struggled not simply to be free, but to bring Edric back before he let himself come undone completely. He'd decimate this entire clan and Maui too with little effort, and his rage might very well make him blind to it. It was terrifying, watching him uncoil, and Chasmine strained against the webbing, trying to think of something she could do to free herself.

Her right hand flexed, incapable of reaching for the unseen scabbard that held her colichmarde at her hip. It appeared only when she needed it, and in this time of desperate need Chas willed the weapon into her hand. The sword appeared, glowing a pale green and sizzling with the energy of the souls and spirits she'd already captured with it. With a yank, she swung it out in a broad swooping arc to slice at the webbing which sizzled and screeched like tensioned wire twanging free.

Whatever energies were present here, swirling about the Shaman's tent like a veritable Nexus, it was empowering Chasmine's every move. She pulled up on it, wincing at it's curious flavor and the sting of darkness attached to it. It wasn't her preferred essence - this taint of dark magic - but desperate times and all. With another swing she felt her blade slice through more of the web.

Slicing and cutting, sizzling and screeching, until she felt the last of it give way and release.

Ghosts didn't necessarily stumble but it took her a moment to regain what semblance of place she had as she staggered back and forth between the living and spirit realms. Then, as quickly as she could manage, she pressed forward to the tent where Edric had Ziri ensnared in his powers and she looked quite like a candle whose flame was sputtering out.

"Edric!" Chasmine shouted at him, and the force of it sent a billowing rush of energy out that rattled the hanging ornaments and pulsed against the inside of the tent, "Edric look at me!"

"You must stop!"

 

[Edric]

Ziri's face disappeared.

Her laughter became little more than a distant discordant din. The void wrapped around Edric, and within it he saw no person, no people at all. Only pinpricks of light.

They surrounded him, not like distant stars, but lanterns floating just within reach. Each spark was a life, power made manifest for the entropy that reached and clawed from somewhere within. He could feel himself reaching out towards them. Grabbing and clawing away at the Vitality within their bodies. Drawing strength into himself as his grip became a crushing weight.

Black liquid dripped over his palm, beneath his grasp, but Edric could not see it. It was not rage that gripped him now, but something else entirely. Lost within that eternal sea, it would have been easy to kill them all. To rip the shards of life into himself and becoming something utterly unstoppable.

Maui, the warband, and any semblance of life within the valley would be gone. Left behind only a barren landscape that would make the Blightlands appear a verdant forest.

Then he heard it.

"Edric!"​

It was distant. So far away. An echo barely reaching over the cacophony within his mind.

"Edric look at me!"​

The Words called to him, his name. A familiar voice recognized this time. His eyes turned, shifting away from the shriveling light in front of him and towards a blazing sun just behind his shoulder.

Edric felt something strike him, wash over him like a cascading wave.

He stood there, within it's tide, staring at the burning gleam behind him. There was a familiarity to it, something...something he knew. Within that light, he saw... "Chasmine."

The word tumbled from his lips, a hazy recollection within the infinite sea of stars.

"You must stop!"​

It was a cry echoed within his ears. Close. Beside him. The resounding thunder of Chasmine's words seemed to rip Edric from the veil that had swam around him. Within an instant, the pinpricks of lights tore away, within the span of a second he found himself once again standing within that tent.

His hand snapping open as he allowed the Shaman to tumble to the floor.

 

[Chasmine]

And tumble she did, dropping like a ragdoll and sputtering for all the breath and life that had been leeched away.

Chasmine frowned deeply at the sight of the Shaman and of Edric seemingly blinking out of a trance or arriving at a curious reverie. She had seem him in varying shades of anger and she had been witness to his powers before, but Chas could not recall ever seeing him in such a state as this. It had been terrifying - even as she was Chasmine could feel the raw churning of power.

She didn't know what it was about that power, but it scared her to think he could lose himself so easily to it.

Wishing in that moment that she could offer some kind of physical comfort, Chas moved toward him and placed her free, ghostly hand on his chest, "There's no need for any of that," the voice was as soft as it ever was but carried a level of chastisement she only ever used with him, "See? I'm right here."

Her gaze shifted up, still at the height she had been on the day of her death and Edric had grown beyond what she remembered him at the Academy. Chas offered him a worrying smile and lifted her hand from his chest to the side of his face, "She cannot help me if she is dead... and you cannot help Maui if she is either. You must learn to control this temper before you hurt the ones you care about."

 

[Edric]

A chill ran over him as Chasmine reached out and through the armor covering his chest. The feeling of her cold palm settling against his skin bringing him further back into the heartbeat of the moment.

Slowly his breaths began to still, his lips pressing to a thin line, his eyes closing as he steadied and calmed himself. "I-"

For a moment, everything was forgotten. The shaman in a heap behind him. The war camp which surrounded them. The life which he had clawed at. The cast sea which he had been utterly consumed by. All of it fell by the wayside as he stood there. As the soft press of her palm drew over and through him.

"I've lost so much." Edric said softly as her palm drifted from his torso and to his cheek. His own palm coming up, floating gently over hers...and then curling around her ghostly grasp. "How could I lose you too?"

The Dreadlord asked, a hint of panic folding into his tone.

Unable to stand the loss of another promise. The loss of her.

 

[Chasmine]

Oh.

Something twinged within what used to be Chasmine Gray's chest. Sensations were a strange thing in the afterlife in that they weren't really a thing at all. Yet with this curious bond she had now with Edric, somehow when they connected it was like she was almost a real living girl again. If she brought to him the peace of death, then he brought to her the chaos of the living.

Chas felt that pang knot up within her and it likely showed on her spectral face. "I told you," she said to him with a small, trying smile, "till the end." They'd never really defined what the end was but that hardly mattered in the moment. For now, Chasmine was already dead and while there were still threats to her unlife, she was less worried about them here than she ever had been. Something told her that she'd been under no threat at all.

From behind them coughing and hacking and sputtering broke the moment as Ziri slowly pushed herself up, "Are...yew....CRAZY?!" The Shaman staggered to her feet, ornaments in her locs clattering as she swung to face Edric and his ghostly companion, "Do yew noh wat yew cudavdun?!"

A frown quickly melted over top of the expression on Chasmine's face. Lingering before Edric for a moment longer, she withdrew and moved to place herself between him and the Shaman, "He does not know," Chas spoke for him, still holding her colichmarde in her other hand, "he was just trying to protect me."

"Dat web proteks ME!" Ziri snarled around Chas at him, "Dere iz mor den jes wand'rin solz in dis worlt." She righted herself, sniffed indignantly at him and then turned her attention to his own wandering spirit, "Yew cyan stay. Him must GOH." Ziri lifted a hand and pointed very directly back out through the entrance of her tent.

Still frowning, Chasmine looked just over her shoulder at him and nodded, "It's okay."

 

[Edric]

A slow nod tipped his head down at her words. Fingers tightening at his side as he allowed some of the tension to ease away from his chest. "The end."

He echoed softly.

"Do yew noh wat yew cudavdun?!"​

The words made Edric cringe, and despite Chasmine's defense he could not help the shame which rose within him.

He knew better than most would he could have done, what he'd almost done. Aside from the consequences Ziri yelled at him about, those which he didn't even understand, Edric knew very well that they had been inches from standing in a graveyard.

So as the Shaman yelled, Edric offered none of his usual indignance. No argument. Nothing.

He only stood there, and let the woman shout. Wincing slightly as Chasmine offered an argument in his favor that even he felt he did not quite deserve.

Still, despite feeling suitably cowed Edric felt a spark of resistance as Ziri pointed her gnarled finger at the exit of the tent. His lips parting to speak in objection before Chas turned over her shoulder and gave a simple reassurance.

For a moment, the Rogue Dreadlord lingered, but eventually he turned. Tent flap thrown away and a gruff voice calling to him. "Got on the Shaman's bad side, eh?"

Makrath called out to him, one of the Orcs whom he'd made friends with.

"Doubt she's gonna let you borrow more books!" He laughed, never knowing how close this camp had come to being undone.

 

[Chasmine]

Ziri did not, in fact, allow Edric to borrow any more books.

She did not need to - Chasmine was able to read them just fine all on her own and being that she was very much dead she could read without any requirement to stop for sleep, eating, or any other necessity of the living. So read she did, pulling up on the vast amount of spiritual energies surrounding the Shaman's tent.

Three days passed by.

The black orc was once more hostage and no longer available for Chasmine to possess, though she had little need for a physical body while she was able to sustain upon Ziri's abundant stores. She spent all day there, watching, observing, and learning with the Shaman on a myriad of subjects and skills that one of their affinity might use or possess. At night she would return to Edric's tent and read or visit with the exile, as he was not always there in the twilight hours.

Chasmine did not seem to mind his absence and made no effort to question him about it. He was always near and within the camp, that much she could sense, so she assumed he had made friends or was performing some job or duty for the Chieftain.

On the fourth evening, the spirit returned to find Edric in his tent, and having expected him to be gone she blinked in faint surprise.

"You are here early," she remarked, fading from view and then rematerializing near the small stack of books from Ziri that sat off to the side. With a gesture, the book on the top lifted into the air and hovered in place before her. It cracked open at the spine and began slowly flipping pages.

The quiet in the tent felt different. Ed wasn't very verbose but he'd never ignored her.

Chasmine did not like to pry. She'd learned asking too many questions often resulted in unwanted ire from others. But...

"Is there no feast tonight...?"

 

[Edric]

Edric was quiet, because Edric was naked.

Standing bare-assed and stark as the day he was born, the Rogue Dreadlord was frozen entirely in place. As though Chasmine's ghostly vision might somehow be based on movement. One hand slowly lowering to cover himself. "N-no there is."

The Dreadlord said, casting a glance towards the still fluttering tent flaps. His nose crinkling as he briefly wondered if Ghosts had a sense of smell.

"I was just...uhh..." Eyes flickered towards the bedroll, foot kicking out to catch the blanket and drag it over a rather obvious wet spot. "Relaxing."

He said, still not moving as he began to search for where his clothes might have ended up.

 

[Chasmine]

Ghosts did not have a sense of smell. Another ghost of a more self-aware disposition might've picked up the very glaring hints of what had just gone down in this tent not so long before their arrival, but Chasmine was a rather distracted sort. At least, that's what most people believed.

Perhaps she noticed and simply did not care. She was a ghost, after all.

"I see," said the ghost, distractedly as she attempted to find her place in the book where she'd left off. The book continued floating and the pages continued to flutter.

"I did want to speak to you about Maui," page movement stopped as she found her place once more, then turned to look at the very naked Edric. She stared for a moment, neither bewildered nor particularly taken, but mildly confused, "it is a bit early in the day to be without pants, what has happened to your clothes?"

 

[Edric]

Edric left his mouth ajar, stuck between an explanation and an excuse. It was hard not to consider the latter, though perhaps surprisingly he chose the latter. "Maui."

He said by way of simple explanation, deciding that it was better not to lie. He had never said that he wouldn't, and some would argue that every man and woman had a right to lie, but it just didn't feel right in that moment.

"She ahh, tends not to care where they're flung." Edric explained, deciding that it was enough information for her to piece it together. His feet doing an odd shuffle as he leaned down to pluck something from the floor. Exposing his backside briefly to her as he found his trousers. "But, what did you want to talk about?"

The Rogue Dreadlord practically scrambled to pull on his clothes. Half falling over and only catching himself by the tent pole as he struggled with the second leg. "I'm all ears."

He declared, at least half dressed.

 

[Chasmine]

Even Chasmine could admit to Edric have a nice ass, but having briefly looked away and looked back only to be met by a full moon took even her slightly off guard. Spectral eyes bugging slightly, she gently cleared her throat and decided to focus on the book while he dressed. He would at least be afforded some modicum of privacy this way.

"I wanted to ask if she has given you any indication that movement on the warfront will be forthcoming..." Chasmine furrowed her brow, "and when that might be."

 

[Edric]

"Yes." Edric said as she looked around for his tunic, he was sure that it had ended up on the chair but...

"There was a War Council this morning." He had not been invited, of course. Though there were many that loved him in the camp, he had neither Tribe nor status. Maui could have pushed the issue, but relations among the camp were a careful thing. Edric did not feel the need to interfere. "Two days from now we head out to Ralgol."

A 'city', though it was more of a bandit camp made permanent. Carved into the very rocks of the steppe mountains. The town perched above a plateau which would serve as a good staging area. "And then..."

He shrugged.

"From there it'll start." Though there would not be huge battles to start, Edric had ideas to stoke that fire.

 

[Chasmine]

Making a sound of thought she nodded, "That is quite soon. Then I suppose this will have to wait."

They had come all this way, it would be rather rude of her to simply request that they leave now.

"I have spoken with Ma'Ziri on the subject of my... return to the living. It has been done before, but she knows of it happening successfully only once and it requires quite a bit more than I thought."

 

[Edric]

"No, it doesn't wait." He didn't even let her explain what she wanted before he said the worst. Edric had made his promise, and he would ensure that he followed through with every word.

"Maui can fight without me." The Rogue Dreadlord had spent the last few days going over various tactics of war with the other Tribes. Though not more advanced, the Anirian method of fighting was particularly effective in the Steppe. At least that was the theory. "What do we have to do?"

If they had to leave, they had to leave. At least they would know where there was a place that could offer them safe haven. He doubted any Dreadlords would come calling when they while they were in the midst of an Orc Warband.

 

[Chasmine]

There was much to be said about Edric's devotion to this cause and his promise, but sometimes Chasmine wished he would take a moment to think about things before his decisions. Not just that it would be better for him in the long run, but also that it would take some of the mental load off of herself when her mind was already fragile.

"We must construct a phylactery," he brow furrowed, "according to Ziri, she believes my sword is already acting as one for myself in the spirit realm, but if I were to attempt to return only using that - I would still be rooted in this realm, and not the living. Essentially, I would return as something more akin to a lich."

A frown pulled at her lips, quite deeply at that as she looked back at Edric, "I do not wish to become a lich."