Chapter Text
Suhan slogs through the burning desert sands, cursing the luck that has tormented him for thousands of Moons. A shadow of his former self looms in the back of his mind, the man that was calm and patient. Now reduced to a shambling individual with an insatiable hatred for any and all living thing that dared or was misfortune to cross his path.
“TRIBUTE MUST BE PAID!” He stopped questioning if the woman’s voice was truly a part of the blade, or some attempt by his warped mind to cope with the grating demands. “I LONG FOR FRESH BLOOD”
“And I long to be rid of you, yet here we are” Talking back was a habit that grew out of the incessant voice. While his actions always tended to violence, he strangely still had control of his voice. A few had been spared his blade, and was the cause of his currently predicament. “The wizard potentially could have separated this damn cursed blade from me, but noooooo. I had to faulty and give in to the vicious blood lust you constantly push me to.”
“RIVERS SHALL RUN WITH THE SOULS OF THE FALLEN!”
“Yes, yes, and the battlefields will be fertilized by the bodies of the fallen..” Suhan was growing weary in the unrelenting sun, of the solitude as well. Hard to make any lasting companions when you have a knife drives every thought to thirsting for death from all with a pulse. He remembered the last time he knew a woman physically. It had been so long ago.
“COAT US IN THE ENTRAILS OF THE WEAK!” Not too far away, Suhan spotted what looked like a small thicket of dead shrubs, with a tree with dense branches. The sand underfoot gave way to the telltale signs of a dried riverbed. He thanked whatever gods were listening for at least a chance for shade, collapsing under the tree and breathing in the less hot air. “BATHE ME IN THE HOT FLUIDS OF LIFE!” Oh that is rich, Suhan thinks to himself. In his exhausted, delirious, and agitated state, he gets a stupid idea. He doesn’t care for the consequence, as he hasn’t encountered a soul in the dessert since he was teleported five days ago. Curse sustained life was the only thing keeping him going at this moment, and may have warped his sense of decency.
“Oh, you dirty blade, I have nothing else to spare but I have something like that I can offer, so I’ll honour that request.” The blade is unmoved by this statement. It watches with stoic lack of interest as Suhan disrobes his lower half, and knees straddling the guard, grip and pommel. “Accept this tribute, you life fucking cursed blade.” His release wasn’t impressive, but it still coated much of the blade. The exertion was the last straw, making the man collapse beneath the shade and fall to slumber.
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Suhan is awoken by a kick to the ribs, followed by a foot of some kind slamming onto his chest and pressing down. His eyes snap open, as he gasps for breath. The blur of sleep leaves his vision as he takes in the figure standing upon him. She is a sculpture of feminine power, easily over nine feet tall. Membranous wings spread behind her to accent her threatening position. Her scales are deep black like obsidian, glistening in the afternoon sunlight. Drakenoid face contorted into a scowl of pure revulsion. Her nudity the only thing stopping him from attempting to flee.
“YOU’RE A DISGUSTING PIECE OF FILTH THAT I SHOULD REMOVE FROM THIS EARTH!” Well it seems you have gone completely off the deep end of sanity, as the voice inside your head has now manifested into this menace towering over you. But something else is different. The rampant desire to inflict pain was gone. A miasma of murder had parted from his mind.
“Many have tried.” Suhan gruffly pushes at her shin, surprisingly knocking her off balance to fall away from him. He takes the opportunity to grab for the blade that up to this point has only ever been a nuisance and a burden to him. “Perhaps someone like you will... finally... sate...” He is stopped mid sentence as he sees the blade in his hands, or more rather, the lack of it. All that he holds is the guard, grip and pommel.
“YOU DARE RAISE A HAND AGAINST ME?!” She rises off the ground, claws ready and poised to attempt to rend Suhan’s flesh. “I AM QUEEN RUEMUDRI, OF THE GREAT ARKORIL DYNASTY! I JUDGE YOU A LECHEROUS PEASANT FOR DARING TO SULLY MY SCALES WITH YOUR UNCLEAN EXISTENCE!” She snarls and steps towards Suhan, prompting an impulsive defensive stance with the currently useless weapon.
“That Dynasty was dead and disappearing beneath the sands of time three dynastic orders before I became a grave robber, and that career ended many moons ago.” Suhan watches her every move, trying to anticipate her attack. It felt right and wrong to choose to lift the blade. Before it was to hurt those who dared be in his view, while now it was the only thing he dared use to defend himself.
“LIAR!” She screams, lunging at him with a right handed sweep. Reflexes only work so well, and Suhan’s didn’t account for lack of blade under his control. While his body moved by memory, he couldn’t stop himself from flinching expecting her claws to sink into his face. The strike never came, and he opened his eyes upon feeling the grip hum violently in his hand. Ruemudri had pulled her claw back, and was hissing at his weapon. “WHAT MAGIC HAVE YOU DEFILED ME WITH, HUMAN!?”
“I’m no wizard!” Suhan angrily retorts, already regretting a desire for company. “But I won’t begrudge what is probably the only good thing this damned blade has granted me all this time.” He huffs, putting the useless grip onto his worn out belt. “Fuck this shit. I’m not sticking around to deal with your crap, especially if I don’t have to.” Without giving this ‘Ruemudri’ a chance to protest, Suhan just starts walking without looking back nor expecting her to follow.
Despite all the trouble with the dragon woman, Suhan was thankful for the rest he had managed in the dried riverbed. With the sun behind him rather than above, the trekking through the sand dunes was far easier. He was even starting to see signs of recent travel by others. The sand kicked up in clear valleys of footfalls.
The blade on his hip acted weirdly. At first it the weight coming and going, which confused him until he realized that the blade kept slipping in and out of existence in his hand as he walked. The blood lust of the blade also came and went with its weight. The constant shift of calm and agitation becoming a drain on his newfound but small reserve peace. This persisted until it finally disappeared one final time.
“PEASANT, I DEMAND YOU HALT THIS INSTANT!” He growls in displeasure as the midnight colored Drakenoid chased up behind him. She drew level with him with ease thanks to her long slender and muscular legs. He didn’t bother greeting her. “WHATEVER MAGIC YOU HAVE PUT UPON ME HAS MADE IT DIFFICULT TO BE RID OF YOU AND YOUR FILTH. I HAVE FOLLOWED YOU TO ENSURE THAT YOU WILL FIND SOMEONE COMPETENT TO UNDO YOUR IDIOCY!” She strode with regal grace alongside him, his only response a grunt.
Mercifully she was quiet, which was something Suhan had to become used to again after so long with the blade’s incessant demands. He internal appreciated the peace of not having to restrain his own augmented blood lust. Foolishly, he considered trying to fill the empty air with small talk, looking over to where Ruemudri had been walking beside him. He saw nothing, his blood steadily becoming lava beneath the skin, He stops to scan all around and above. There was no sign of the large Drakenoid. She had made a spectacle of joining him, yet disappeared with a word? For a self-proclaimed royal, it was hardly farfetched behavior, which itself cut into his restraint to be calm.
“Greeting’s traveler!” The voice of a merchant drifted to Suhan as he had crested the dune in his path. He recoiled inwardly, fearing the outcome of this encounter. Already his blood and the blade were thrumming with the thirst that prolonged his suffering. The merchant was stereotypical, round, well dressed for the desert, and a pair of dromedaries lugging the man’s wears. “You look tired, my friend. It should please you to know you’ll reach the town by sunset.”
“It is, appreciated. I sadly have no pleasing news from my crossing of this dessert.” Suhan tenses with all the restraint he can muster as he stops to give the merchant a light bow in thanks. The two continue to walk past each other, the merchant a perfect victim to be assaulted from behind. It would even be beneficial to Suhan, having an entire trade to take up and use to hide. Could it even hide him while he continued to kill?
“For my trade, no news is good news, haha!” And with that the two men parted ways, the town the merchant spoke of peaking above the last dunes. Suhan’s breath was ragged from such a simple interaction, and now he was daring to enter an actual settlement filled with dozens of wriggling maggots that must be slaughtered and gutted.
Thanking the divines again for reaching the gates before sunset, his disheveled appearance and armament receiving nervous glances from the gate guards, but they were better armed and armored, and so let him in with a verbal warning to follow the laws once within the limits. Perhaps they saw his shaking form as just a symptom of a fool traversing the desert by himself without a camel to carry supplies, but those tremors were the outward signs that his restraint was failing. He was becoming so tired.
The man’s inner thief quipped that “law is for those that follow it.” Wondering the streets, Suhan with haste but no less finesse parted a number of coin purses from their well off owners. He made sure to discard the lost purses, his own becoming reasonably full. He always joked about how strange money had a way of finding its way to him. Soon he had enough for a decent night with a roof over his head. He enters what seems to be a mid-class inn, and through gritted teeth he manages to pay for a room, a meal, and time in the bath house. He was undressing when a clawed hand wrapped itself around his throat. He could feel an intent to choke him, and to lift, but never could be fulfilled. He quickly guessed who owned the claw.
“PEASANT, WHAT IS THIS PLACE, AND HOW DID WE GET HERE FROM THE DESSERT!?” Suhan had to drop his top wear back down, as the arm blocked him from fully undressing.
“It is an Inn, this is the bath house, and if you don’t mind, I wish to cleanse myself of the grits of the dessert.” He pushes her arm away, quickly fully disrobing. The Drakonoid shifted uncomfortably in front of him. Her significant natural height made it impossible for her to stand above him under the wooden lattice roof. She also seemed to be looking everywhere but at Suhan. “I only have so long in here, so if you must accost me, allow me to at least be clean! Be quiet about it though, for I only paid for a single person’s use of the bath.”
“MU...!” Her voice catches in her throat as Suhan climbs into the water. A small aqueduct from some nearby spring gently flowed fresh clean water onto the large communal bath bowl. Normally it was intended for the families of merchants, but the Innkeeper had taken one look at him and decided it best he be kept separate. “Why am I only able to see things when we’re alone together?” He noticed that her tone had changed.
“Probably because I’ve finally lost my mind and you’re just a hallucination of my woman starved mind.” He takes a measured amount of time to wash, appreciating the calm that came with this dragon being in his presence. Whatever curse raised his blood to fire must have somehow been tied to this woman. I leaned back and relished the experience of civil civilization. He dips his whole head underwater, scrubbing dirt from skin and hair. Breaking the surface of the water and clearing his eyes, he spots Ruemudri climbing in also. He rolls his eyes, expecting more royal degradation from her.
“Keep to your side peasant, after you pass me that soap...” Incredulous, Suhan fulfills the simple request. Rinsing himself off, he checks the hourglass.
“You’ll need to be quick considering I didn’t pay for some self-proclaimed royal to use the space.” He climbs out, grabbing some basic replacement garments for himself. The blade hangs lightly upon his belt. He hears the Drakenoid climb out, assuming that even if she is just a hallucination, he should at least practice some amount of decency.
“There is nothing here suitable for me to wear..” She continues her less imposing tone. He turns to suggest she just walk around nude when the Innkeeper opens the curtain, thumping him out. You see the moment her body disappears and the weight of the blade pulls down on your belt, the fire in in your blood returns and is seemingly targeted at the man. The Innkeeper grunts at Suhan, perhaps suspicious of the number of occupants.