Strung Part 5

Author: Irk
Title: Strung Part 5

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Strung___
Snared in the Lacings___
Part Five___

There was only one thought in Lina's head as the flash of the talismans woke her from the morning's grogginess.
Run.
Before she could change her mind, her feet were on the ground, pelting away at breakneck speed.
She tried to regain her senses. Why was she running? What was she doing awake at this hour? But rational thought slipped away and panic came to the fore. She had to run. She had to run or be caught!
Lina knew not what was chasing her but didn't look behind her. Turning meant slowing down. Slowing down meant getting caught. She must not be caught. She must not be caught!
Everything was chasing her, wasn't it? Shubranigdo was chasing her, demanding to know why she killed his brethren, why she killed his shards over and over again. Demanding that she kill his next piece, his next child, his next army. Mazoku cried out for her blood, avenging their father. Monsters leapt at her ankles and bandits slashed for her throat. They all wanted her. They all wanted to fight her. Only her...the Lord of Nightmares wanted only her...
Lina tripped over a root. The ground embraced her roughly, bruising her knees and arms. With the smell of dirt came clarity. The sorceress dragged herself up to a sitting position, groaning. Her body ached from the run and the fall.
What the hell was that? A morning stroll?
Lina shook her head and scrambled up the trunk of the tree. She walked out along a thick limb, squinting down. Nothing was chasing her. Nothing was in this forest at all, save for squirrels and other harmless wildlife. Even wolves were rare in these parts. She must have woken from a dream and let it get the best of her before she realized she was awake.
She sighed. "Stupid, stupid, stupid..." The girl sat down on the limb, stretching a leg out on each side of it. She was probably just hungry. When she got hungry, her dreams got a little wierd...
Lina winced as her stomach cramped up. Food would sadly have to wait. That run had ruined her appetite. She leaned back against the trunk of the tree and waited for the pain to subside.
A moan emerged from her lips. Lina gritted her teeth as the pain ground through her. It penetrated so deeply that she trembled. She decided a recovery spell was a better idea now. What she thought was a mild ache was turning into something that was definitely worth the trouble of fixing with magic. Her lips parted, but the pain surged deep into her before she could speak. She curled forward, whimpering through the cramp. Another came as she straightened up. She fell back against the trunk and tried to ride it out.
Agony welled up from inside of her, cutting off thought, cutting off motion. She could only sit there as invisible swords ran through her gut again and again...as a phantom dragon bit into her inner thighs...as clawed fingertips clutched at the flesh between her legs...
Lina cried through it, unable to stop the pain and equally unable to focus on anything else. By the time the blood finally came she was uttering prayers of gratitude that the ache had relented just the tiniest bit.
* * *
Sorceresses in Lina's world had plenty of problems to worry about. The worst problem by far, however, was the human menstrual cycle. It came every month, and when it did, it took away any magical power they might have. Even the strongest could barely manage a light spell during their periods. It was a very difficult problem to deal with. When magic was your business, you couldn't just schedule a week off every month. Bandits and dragons and monsters didn't take rainchecks just because it was 'that time again.' A client wasn't likely to 'check back in a week, when I'm feeling a bit fresher?' Female mages were getting poor. Even worse, they were getting killed.
The witch who invented the cure to this universal feminine ailment was rich within a month.
It was very simple. The sorceress paid for a special ritual to be performed on her. After a good night's rest, she was ready to hit the road again. The ritual would hold off her period until she wanted to bear children. Until then, she was free to roam, knowing that she could always cast magic and never get pregnant.
Needless to say, no customer had any complaints.
This treatment had been invented just before Lina Inverse fought and killed the shard of Shubranigdo buried in Rezo the Red Priest. After the battle, she had the ritual performed on her on the way to Atlas City. She was a happy customer, needless to say. Of all sorceresses, Lina Inverse was the one that most needed the continuous use of her magic. The lack of pregnancy, she figured, was a benefit she'd explore when she found a man worthy of her captivating eyes and cute, petite figure.
There was one drawback, however. When a woman finally decided to have children, she would of course have the spell taken off of her body. When this happened, the woman would experience a great deal of pain and bleed very badly for a day before her period set in. Because of this, women prepared very carefully for the day they would have the spell banished. They summoned healers or herbalists to numb the pain and give them the strength to sustain the blood loss.
But that day was far away for Lina.
At least...she thought it was...
* * *
Xelloss could barely move himself when he awoke. Everything hurts...everything hurts... He squeezed his eyes shut and stayed limp.
The bodies that lay with him shifted, their owners murmuring sleepily. A few questions rolled lazily between them, the answers ambling forward. One body tucked an arm around Xelloss' waist, pulling him closer.
The pain flickered and then finally was snuffed. Xelloss sighed.
"Shhh. Go to sleep." A figure buried its head in Xelloss' cloak. "It's time to rest."
My...cloak? But...Zelas always strips that away when she... Xelloss opened his eyes. Darkness fell away, revealing...darkness? He was surrounded by shadow, floating in a sea of black laced with rippling gold. It was if all the stars in the night sky had melted and run together, glazing the surface. Xelloss thought of the Sea of Chaos. But this sea was not bright and shining. It was a dark, quiet ocean. And he was not alone in it.
Five bodies rested with him, almost piled in a heap. The light here was so dim that they were bathed in shadow, barely distinguishable from each other. In fact, two of them were so alike that he couldn't tell them apart...
Xelloss jumped with the realization that flooded into his mind. A pair of arms wrapped around his legs, holding him down as he tried to struggle away. They didn't seem to have strength so much as a languid, immobile weight in them. The tangle of bodies underneath him shifted, clamping hands around his limbs. One figure nuzzled Xelloss cheek.
"Behave, brother Xelloss. You are a guest here, and it is rude to wake the residents."
Xelloss persisted in his struggle until the five bodies finally untangled themselves and stood in a circle around him. Xelloss couldn't see their faces. Everything was in shadow here. "P-please. I didn't know she'd killed you. I swear I didn't know!" He jerked away as a hand reached for him. He had to get away. They'd tear him apart. But there was nowhere to run!
A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind. Xelloss tried to struggle, but as a kiss graced the back of his neck, an alien lethargy oozed through his limbs and rendered him limp. The 'brother' behind him lowered him slowly, delivering him into another brother's waiting arms. The brother cradled him, dotting kisses on his forehead.
"It's okay. We'd have forgiven you long ago if you'd ever done anything to us." He smoothed Xelloss' hair back as another trailed his fingers down the priest's cheek. "There's nothing to worry about."
"But...but I heard you. I felt you!" Xelloss tried not to drift off as reassuring strokes came from each brother. He had forgotten what it was like, being with the Five. They had been taken away so long ago... "You said I had betrayed you all!"
"Not us," said the tallest brother, who had kissed him. "We have rested in this place for millenia. All that remain of us in your world are tattered scraps, shards of broken vessels. Trinkets that Zelas keeps and warps for her own amusement."
"But I heard them!"
"And they spoke only lies. Our true forms sleep here. Zelas possesses merely the lingering ghosts of death-pain." Xelloss' panic began to ebb as the languid energy of the brothers seeped into him. "We are beyond pain and suffering here. We are beyond anger. Perhaps our anger remained behind with our pain, Xelloss. Perhaps that is what hurt you." Palms ran down his back, rubbing away stress and fear. Xelloss sighed under the treatment.
"It distresses us that our remains bring you torment, Priest. Tell them that we forbid it. Tell them that we are dead, and they should die as well." Xelloss looked up, startled, as the brother used his title. It felt like centuries had passed since he had heard someone address him that way without rancor. The brother's lips touched his as he was given a parting embrace. "Go tell them, Xelloss. We will not stand for our ghosts to hurt you like this."
As the blackened waters of tarnished gold rushed through his hair, Xelloss heard another brother ask sleepily why he looked so thin. After that there was only the darkness of sleep and nightmares.
* * *
Zelas ran a single claw through the fine strands of Xelloss' hair. The priest had barely lasted out the act this time. She had tried to rouse him for another go, licking his member and stroking it, but he stopped his whimpering and half-mumbled pleas before she could get him hard. With the priest's silence came stillness and what must have been sleep. Zelas growled, angry and unsated. She liked the taste of him while he struggled against the bloodbeads. She had been hoping she could exploit him for a few hours at least.
She sighed, flicking a claw across his cheek. A ribbon of blood welled up, rich and scarlet. She pressed her tongue to it, licking it away in one long stroke. The red lady smiled. It tasted human.
* * *
Lina lay back, slumped against the tree trunk. She didn't even try to move. The blood flowing between her legs was draining her strength away. Why bother? She couldn't stop it. She couldn't stop the pain either. But at least she could let her mind drift now. Her mind drifted easily without blood to weigh it down.
What happened? The ritual never failed. Had she banished the spell herself? That wasn't possible! The pain and blood that seeped through and from her, they weren't possible either! What could she do? She couldn't go for help, not when she couldn't even walk. And she couldn't help herself without any magic or strength. As free of danger as these woods might be, Lina didn't feel safe with this much blood around her. What if some faraway predator followed the scent? She would be defenseless!
A streak of pain wiped away Lina's thoughts for a moment. She sighed, shaking her head weakly. It was useless to worry. What would happen would happen. She might as well get comfortable and try to sleep this sickness off. In the meantime, she should take the few precautions that were possible in her condition.
"...Lighting," Lina whispered.
A ball of light hovered over her, the one spell she could cast. It might signal other people to come to her aid, and would keep the animals away at night.
* * *
Xelloss awoke very slowly. His body was numb and heavy with exhaustion. Blood oozed from a cut on his face that he couldn't recall the origin of. His gaze drifted around him. With an alien surge of joy, Xelloss realized that Zelas was nowhere to be seen.
He sat up with some difficulty, gathering his wits. The sheets tangled around his legs were not the liquid silk and satin of his mistress' chambers. They were plain, cheap linens. Their humble coarseness was a welcome change from the oily familiarity of silk's embrace. The bed he sat in was also mundane, its mattress modestly soft, its headboard simple and wooden and plain. Happiness reeled through Xelloss' weary mind. This was a servant's room, not plush or rich or soft but merely adequate. It was his room. If he was in it, then Zelas had found some other diversion and no longer wished to drag him with her wherever she went! He could do whatever he wanted in his own room, keep himself busy in millions of ways. He had free time. By gods and devils, he actually had free time.
The last time Zelas had ever given him a break, Lei Magnus was just a child tossing light spells around to make fireflies dance.
Xelloss rose from bed, his body making little complaints that he could ignore. He dressed slowly, smiling when his fingers touched his cloak and sighing when he reached for his clasp. That shining piece of crafted silver and polished rubies was in Zelas' possession now. He bit his lip, holding the cloak shut with a pin. Fibrizo had given him that brooch. It was the only ornament he'd ever recieved as a real gift. She had been so happy when he wore it. He loved that clasp. And Zelas had stolen it.
He chastised himself. He must not think of it as theft. Xelloss' rebellious mind could be a comfort sometimes, but if it grabbed hold of his tongue it would mean trouble. Zelas was his mistress, and thus his possessions were all rightfully hers. He had to think that. It wasn't right and it wasn't true, but he had to think that way. It frightened him that once, long ago, he wouldn't have needed to force himself into that mindset. He was so different now. And really, that made it harder.
Leaning against the simple dresser, Xelloss stared into the mirror. That cut was rather nasty. He flinched. Red blood again, human injuries, pulse and breathing and all. Zelas liked him that way, and as her servant he had no choice but to cater to her whims. She liked that best about him, he thought. The normal mazoku couldn't do this for hours and weeks and years. But Xelloss could be human for just as long as Zelas liked. He pressed his hand against the scratch. A glow bloomed underneath his fingers. When he took his hand away, Xelloss' face was unmarked.
Apparently, Zelas saw fit to restore Xelloss' powers. He was glad for their return, but wary of why Zelas wanted him to have them. A thought strayed across his mind. The priest held out his hand, hoping that he was right. His suspicions were confirmed as a familiar weight settled into his palm. Xelloss grabbed his staff and smiled. He had missed it.
Had she been careless? Xelloss reached for one more thing with his mind, one power that might save him from all of this. But nothing heeded his call. His shoulders sagged. Zelas had remembered to block his teleporting ability. He couldn't escape.
At the thought of escaping, Xelloss' eyes subconsciously flicked to the door. He paled. Zelas had apparently taken other measures to keep him where she had put him. The beads were wrapped around the doorknob, glistening like the cut on his face. Xelloss remembered the Five, remembered his brother telling him he had nothing to fear from his kin. But the memory did nothing for Xelloss. It did not matter how sure he was that he would not be harmed by them. He would not dare touch that cursed string of beads. Zelas was still just as cunning as ever. She had trapped him completely.
Sighing, Xelloss turned to his desk and started rummaging. It was time to see what he had left in there the last time that he'd been locked in.
* * *
Zelas coyly stroked her bottom lip with long red nails, inspecting Fibrizo's creation. She was trying to look impressed but aloof. Dynast was watching her, and the quiet little bastard was far too uppity tonight. "It's very pretty, my sister." She smiled. "How long have you been working on this one? Much longer than with the Five, I imagine." Silly chit-chat, just to appear interested. She wouldn't have to play conversationalist as much, now that she had led Fibrizo to her favorite subject - her work.
Lina blinked. She was dreaming again? She must have nodded off soon after casting that light spell. She quickly scanned the room for Veil, but could not locate the phantom. Damn it. Lina had questions to ask, but wouldn't risk missing the scene in front of her to search for her stray guide.
Fibrizo smiled, her dark eyes glowing a little with pride for her creation. "The Five took as many years to be completed. That averages to about a year for each of them, though my method was not so linear. They are, after all, a collective and a group of seperate beings. Much of my work on them had to be performed simultaneously, and it's really quite a different project than this altogether," She gestured to the body on the couch. "This one is a single being, capable of thought on a more individual level than the Five are. The method for building him isn't even comparable to that of the Five's. And there are more drastic differences...but I'll explain that all later. While the purpose, function, and even creation were not the same, this project can still actually be compared very accurately to the Five in terms of time spent being an indication of the detail and difficulty inherent in its mechanics." Her smiled warmed. Her gaze was fixated on the body and she had no chance of seeing Zelas roll her eyes at her babbling. "As I said, the Five took five years, a single year for each of them. This project took ten years, and he is but one being." The chamber grew silent for a moment as Fibrizo's answer sunk in. Zelas was impressed by it despite herself. Dynast had already known the time Fibrizo had spent on her project, but hearing her explain it caused him to smile shyly with pride for her.
Zelas crossed her arms, nails gliding over the skin on her shoulders. "I must say, sister, I am very impressed. I look forward to seeing him in action. I'm sure he's just as perfect at work as he is at rest." She reached down and stroked his hair, smiling at its softness. Dynast tensed a little. He resented Zelas' presumptuousness in touching Fibrizo's creation, and he hated even more the Queen's possessive body language. Before he could think of something to say, however, Gaav cleared his throat.
The tall Lord nodded at Fibrizo as she looked up at him. "So, what's his name?" His voice echoed a tiny shred of annoyance for the omission. All this discussion over a creature and nobody had neither asked of or volunteered a name for it!
Fibrizo blinked. "Why, Gaav! Thank you! I never realized I hadn't properly introduced all of you to him." She gestured to the body. [Lina blinked as the haze obscuring the figure from her vision was lifted a little. She still couldn't see it clearly, but she could now at least tell that it was male.] He rose at her command, moving with a grace that was not natural for a being who had just been asleep. He bowed before the Mazoku Lords, his gaze low and his posture humble. Fibrizo spoke to him with complete adoration in her voice. "These are the Kings and Queens of your kind. Gaav, Dynast, and Zelas. They are your masters and caretakers." She directed her voice to her fellow Lords now. "This is your servant, to be shared by each of you and to honor all of you with his deeds. I have named him Xelloss."
Lina did not see or hear what happened immediately afterwards. She was too busy calling out to Veil, screaming, demanding to know what the hell was the meaning of this.

You can find more of Irk's works at http://www.mazoku.com/~snapple/ficarc/

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