Virmir's Stories n' Junk

The Fennec and the Naga
by Virmir

"You are crazy. No water? No gragg? You will die before the day's end!"

He ignored it. Just a miserable merchant.

"Fine! I no rent graggs to stupid fens who die and cannot return them anyway!"

The open gate towered before him, and he hastily made his way through the dusty street, not wanting to spend another moment in this filthy hovel of a town. True, there were other fennecs around, but he felt no kindred to them. Not anymore, at least.

Past the town, the road melted into a sea of endless sand. The brilliant crimson sphere that was the rising sun clipped the orange dunes. He followed it, a smile crossing his muzzle as it burned away the horrible frigid night air. Soon the day would swelter. He pressed forward, the loose sand clinging between his toeclaws.

The heat came quickly, like a gushing stream. As the sun changed from crimson to gold, its invisible flame scorched the sand all around, which reflected the fire back up to him. He unfastened his white cloak to let the warmth caress his chest.

The tingling began in his ears as they fanned towards the life-giving orb in the sky. He perked them to keep his hat fixed upon his head as a light breeze kicked up some dry sand. The sensation spread down his neck and his exposed arms and chest. In the bright sunlight, his tawny fur began to glow a golden yellow. Wisps of translucent flame almost jumped from the strands as they absorbed the light. It felt wonderful. He considered removing his cloak so that he might enjoy the sensation upon his back and tail, but did not want to carry it along with his pack.

He preferred the night once. But that was long before he ascended. Now it was the light that gave him strength. The raw power of the sun that fueled his body. The scorching desert that killed all other life was his personal heaven. Here he need not eat nor drink. Only bask in the life-giving rays.

But his gift was also a curse, for it made darkness his enemy. The bitter cold shadow sapped his strength. He dare not sleep without at least a flickering candle to cast light upon his body, lest he die in the night. Like the most wretched of fools, he too was afraid of the dark.

But here he didn't need to worry about such things. The light was so intense during the day, he could store enough energy to last a full night. And the infrequency of clouds promised a full recharge as soon as the sun rose. He brought an oil lamp and candles just in case...

It would take many weeks, perhaps months. But he would find it. Few had lived to tell tales of the floating stone hidden somewhere amongst the endless sea of fire. But then again, none thrived in the burning sands like he.

To some it was a castle. To others a gargantuan jewel, hanging just off the horizon. A mirage-- an illusion beckoning thirsty wanderers, promising an escape. Some searched for it. Others fled at its sight.

He would find out. And then take what secrets it held.

For endless days he walked in the heat, the bright rays sopping up whatever fatigue he would otherwise know. During the nights he huddled inside his tent with his tail between his legs, cursing the darkness as it slowly chiseled at his energy stores. Oftentimes he would wake shivering from a half-forgotten nightmare, and need to light a candle and stare at its comforting flicker to lull him back to sleep.

But morning always came, and with it a renewed strength and determination.

Some said that the floating stone only appeared to the utterly lost. He lost count of the number of times the sun rose. But at long last a shimmering glimmer reflected the sun's rays off something upon the horizon. He steeled his nerves as he approached. He had conquered the desert; now he would conquer the unknown.

The silver speck of light remained formless for two days as he approached. On the third, a steely sphere floating above the land became evident, growing in size until he finally crested the sandy ridge surrounding the floating stone. A metallic ball hovered in thin air above a weather-worn temple, serving as a sort of shining silver marker to point out the otherwise invisible old structure.

He descended into the sandy valley, craning his neck to look up at the edifice and the giant floating ball. The temple climbed skyward on tiers that grew smaller each section up. As he drew closer, he noted brown vines that crawled upon the surface of the walls like snakes. Whether they were stone carvings or evidence of a long vanished oasis, he could not discern.

The temple doors yawned wide, rusted open for ages, taunting him to enter where none have returned. This was what he came for.

He paused at the entrance, regarding the dead vines dancing upon the mighty jambs once more. It was dark inside. Very dark. But he did not come this far to be defeated by shadows. He lit his oil lamp and drove on.

The cold stone stung the pads upon his feet, and each reverbing click of his nails echoing throughout the hollow corridor chiseled at his resolve like the ocean eroded the shore. In the darkness he was so alone... The bright rays of the sun could not find him here. He had only his stores which he soaked up throughout the day. And he could feel the heat sapped from him with each heartbeat. His bleeding energy sucked away by the horrible blackness around him.

But it would last. He would last.

A breeze. The flickering flame he held in his hand tried to die. Tried to abandon him in the blackness. But he would not allow it. Supplementing the lamp with a trickle of power from his own aura, the fire lit anew, and its light spread throughout the largest chamber he had seen after too many tense moments navigating the suffocating corridors.

Bones surrounded him. On all sides. Pristine white bones, as if the meat had been sucked from them and the inedible remains discarded. Skulls with gaping muzzles and jagged canines stared at him through empty sockets. He shuttered, trying to avert his gaze, but they covered the chamber entirely. Fennec skulls...

Ignoring the overwhelming staleness assaulting his nostrils, he forced his tail from between his legs and stepped forward, avoiding the prickly ribs and tailbones in his path. He froze upon hearing a light rasping sound, and angled both his wide ears towards the center of the room.

The mass before him shifted, and through the darkness he made out a faint figure rising. "Welcome... welcome..." it said. Or rather she said. He curled his lips in a slight snarl. The sultry voice sounded fennec enough, but he knew better.

The lithe form rose slowly, trumping his height and then pressing further towards the black ceiling. "You've come to me all alone... I shall see to it that you join your fellowsss." She drew her arms wide, stretching the final syllable into a sibilant hiss. She was twice his height by now, and still gaining. Green wisps appeared in the air around her, casting a pale glow upon her baleful body...

Black sunken eyes stared down at the fennec, framed by glimmering olive scales. "What is it that you seek?" she asked through fanged teeth. Her lower body melded into the torso of a colossal snake that twisted behind her, the end lost in the darkness.

He chuffed at the display, despite having to take a step back. "Why, to kill you of course."

Of course. That was how it always went. A one-liner delivered with a smirk and a wink. He'd done this a hundred times before. With a flourish he threw off his cloak and hat. Time to fight.

The naga chucked a raspy laugh, arcing her back upward and spreading her arms wide. A calm, practiced laugh. She'd done this a hundred times before.

The fennec thrust his right claw forward, a brilliant sphere of crimson flame igniting in his palm. A small summation of the sun's rays he had absorbed. The intense light painted the walls orange, and the naga flinched. Just a bit. He took a second to savor the power at his clawtips, then fired the orb at her head with the full force of a cannon.

The naga dodged, ducking downwards with a hiss. In the same motion her tail ravaged across the ground, smashing the array of floor skeletons as the fennec evasively jumped into the air at the last instant.

He flipped in the air once, twice, then kicked off the nose of a tall serpentine statue. He rocketed towards the naga, snarling as his body burst into flames. He reared his foot to the side, then kicked firmly into the temple of his adversary's scaly head with a resounding crack. The naga roared as she crumpled, spinning wildly as she spiraled clear through two stone pillars. Boulders rained from the ceiling and the temple groaned.

He floated in thin air a moment, flames caressing his body as he gathered the energy for the finishing blow. A huge globe of fire formed above his head. It would be dangerous, but he would rather risk a cave-in than a monster unslayed.

As the burning orb reached critical mass, the naga twitched and he sent it rocketing downward. Green wisps of light rushed to save their queen and all collided in the center of the room. The explosion blasted the fennec clear out of the air, and he tumbled amongst the bones upon the floor, the fire around him vanishing.

He stood, snarling as his eyes readjusted to the darkness. Too late to see the tail. With a snap he flew backwards, his body embedding itself into the wall as it crumbled. He fell forward and she caught him in her coils...

Tighter and tighter... he struggled as her tail wrapped around him, suspending him in the air. He called forth the flame but it fizzled out as she constricted. Soon only his head was free of the snake's coils. He opened his muzzle wide and bit down, but could not penetrate the scales.

Her head loomed above, and he flinched at the fangs. Closer and closer she drew. No, he would not scream. He would not give her that. He felt her fetid breath upon his face, and defiantly snarled as she bit down...

"Karl...? Karl!"

Karl shook awake at Frank's voice, his dream shattering like a pane of glass. "Dozin' again, huh?" Frank leaned forward, his pudgy features contorting into a grin. He set a stack of papers on the desk and adjusted his tie. "Marketing will need that by the end of the day."

Karl nodded, accepting the stack and flipping through the pages as he leaned back in his seat. "Right."

Frank sipped his coffee and left, leaving Karl alone in the cubical. He rubbed his eyes drearily and stared at the monitor's dim luminescence. 1:30 the clock read. Only four hours to go.

Just. Four. More. Hours....

He began his work, typing lines of code. This made perfect sense. Everyone did this. Everyone worked for a living, whether they liked it or not. He needed money to survive. Everyone did. Perfectly normal.

He worked tirelessly, straining his eyes and wrists as he typed. Others passed his workspace, some trying to start idle conversation. He waved them away, focusing on the project.

Before long his mind wandered and his focus wavered. He had vague recollections of some dream. A dream filled with terror and danger, yet somehow more appealing than the harsh dullness of reality. He shook the thought from his mind, fighting the fatigue to press on with writing his code.

As drowsiness threatened to overtake him, he rose and stretched. The trip to the restroom was all the diversion he could afford. He didn't go because he had to go. He went for the walk, short as it was. He paused for a moment at the window in the hall, catching a glimmer of sunlight between the skyscrapers. For a moment he imagined himself basking it its life-giving rays, but shook the nonsensical thought from his mind.

After he shut the stall door, he felt something strange. His tail was there. Tawny furred, slipped through a slit in the seat of his pants... He blinked and it was gone. Tail? No, normal people don't have tails. Certainly not him. Certainly not anyone. He scratched his head. Simple delirium from work.

As he washed his hands, he thought he saw his ears in the mirror. Giant yellow-- no, just normal human ears.

Human? Yes, human. Perfectly normal.

Except on his way back to his cubicle, everyone had a tail.

He tried not to stare as he passed his co-workers, each with a tawny-furred, black-tipped appendage swaying behind him or her. He blinked as they flicked in and out of reality, settling in as ghostly phantom appendages. Oversized translucent ears rose from the tops of their heads. Some of the humans laughed and joked, but their phantom muzzles cried out in pain and sorrow...

Karl made it back to his desk sweating. He wiped his brow with the sleeve of his shirt, leaning back in the chair and breathing. He checked the clock. 1:30.

Just four more hours.

Four more hours?

He stared at the face, overcome by a sense of deja-vu, but unable to remember what exactly it was.

"Hey Karl."

He jumped as Frank entered the cubicle, stack of papers in his hand. "Day dreamin' again, huh?" The larger man leaned forward, his pudgy features contorting into a grin. He set the papers on the desk and adjusted his tie. "Marketing will need that by the end of the day."

"Right." Karl nodded. Frank left, translucent tail swaying behind him. Karl leaned back in his chair, watching the ghostly appendage slip out of sight before he jumped up and peered around the corner. Ducking low, Karl followed.

Then he saw her.

In a dull green dress she stood, talking to another man. She laughed. A sick maniacal cackle. Karl hid behind the neighboring cubicle wall. It was her. His boss.

The naga.

Nearly level with the ground, he poked his nose around the bend once more. He could see through her illusion, the vile beast... Intertwining with the human façade was the sinuous snake, translucent tail wrapping down the maze-like passages born from cubical walls.

She moved and he followed. His tail came back. His ears, muzzle, and fur. His suit melted into his white cloak. His dress shoes fell off and he dug his toeclaws into the carpet.

The fennec darted from passage to passage, laying low, hiding behind equipment and half-walls. He peered his muzzle over trashcans and around corners. The office workers eyed him curiously, but he paid them no mind. He snuck behind, stalking the ghostly tail as it dragged through turn after turn.

Finally it disappeared into a room by itself, the door shutting behind it. Her office...

He tip-toed to one side, ensuring the coast was clear as he pressed his back against the wall. Tail anxiously waving and ears folded, he turned the latch and burst in.

"Karl? Can I... help you?" She sat at her desk, papers strewn about. "What's wrong?" She asked in a sickenly innocent tone, folding her hands under her chin.

The fennec growled. That name. Such an oddity. A foreign word his muzzle could not hope to pronounce. "You know full well why I'm here," he said, extending a claw. "Release me at once!" A brilliant plume of flame sprang to life upon his fingertips.

She pursed her lips, staring into his eyes. Was she ignoring the spell? How audacious! To pretend not to see it! "Karl... I'm going to call security if you don't return to your desk."

He snarled. Talking never worked. He released the ball of flame, sending it spiraling towards her head. Somehow she moved so subtly that it appeared her head had been cocked to the side the whole time. The raging fireball rocketed past, striking the window at the rear of the office and sending a spray of glass upon the cityscape beyond with a resounding clash.

Her head slowly turned back to face him. "Bad Karl..." her eyes narrowed as glass rained upon the desk, blown inward from a sudden exterior gust. "Very bad..." Her form rose, her flesh melting off revealing the scales beneath. And the tail grew, pushing her upward and upward...

"Bad bad bad!!" She screamed as a plume of green burst from nowhere and slammed into the fennec's chest. He sputtered, eyes bulging as he flew backwards into the hallway and through the next door. Splinters of wood clattered in his wake. The tail loomed from above and struck him into the ground as he futilely tried to block. "Sleep!" she hissed. "Go to sleep! Sleep!!" Again and again the tail struck, beating every sense out of his body.

"Karl...? Karl!"

Karl nodded, accepting the stack and flipping through the pages as he leaned back in his seat. He blinked. "R-Right."

Frank sipped his coffee and left, leaving Karl alone in the cubical. He rubbed his eyes drearily and stared at the monitor's dim luminescence. 1:30 the clock read. Only four hours to go.

No. Way.

He stared at his hands, turning them over. Pink skin. Perfectly normal.

No, that was what she wanted him to think.

He concentrated. The flesh faded. The black pads upon his palms returned, along with the tawny fur and claws. He stood, as his tail made sitting uncomfortable. Transformation complete, he briskly strode down the hall.

He paused at the door, ears perked as he listened for any sign of movement. Sensing nothing but her rasping breath, he burst in, claws at the ready. "If you think--"

A brilliant flash of green greeted him. Once again he soared backwards, pummeled by the green wisps. "Sleep! Go to sleep!" The tail followed, decimating the hallway. Beams and splinters rained from above. He rolled to the side, avoiding the scaly tree-trunk as it gouged the carpeting. Again it came. This time he caught it, summoning flame into his claws as he dug in.

The naga screeched and tossed him skyward. He held on to the appendage and flew through the ceiling then wall after wall, obliterating workstation after workstation as the tail flailed about. Head struck multiple times, the world faded as he was jettisoned, landing in a crumpled heap as papers flew about.

"Karl...? Karl!"

Karl stood and punched Frank square in the face. The heavyset man flew through the air, spinning once and clipping the edge of the cubical wall, bringing the entire structure down. The girl next door screamed as the flying man smashed her computer, sending sparks surging in all directions and popping sounds bursting through the air.

The fennec darted through the halls as the lights flickered. He slowed a good distance from the door and cupped his hands to his sides just above his hip. Brilliant flames radiated between them, casting the walls in a crimson radiance. Silently he stepped towards the door, the spell's intensity increasing with each second.

This time he did not bother opening it. Instead he shoved his hands forward and decimated the frail portal with a searing blast of crimson energy. The wave of fire struck the waiting naga on the other side head-on. She hissed in rage as she spiraled backwards through the pane of glass, plummeting hundreds of feet towards the city streets below.

He did not wait for her to strike ground. He darted through the charred office, leaping through the gaping hole in the wall even as the glass hung in the wind. Spotting her flailing below as he rocketed down the side of the building, he fired two fireballs that streamed through the air as they honed their target.

She crashed into the street before the burning projectiles struck, the pavement rippling under her as she dampened the fall with her long coils. With a wave of a hand, her green wisps rushed to meet the fennec's orange flame, the rustling blasts decimating the windows of the surrounding buildings. Chunks of asphalt rained upward at the fennec as he fell, but a spray of flame from his claw obliterated those in his path. He landed on the roof of a car, crumpling it entirely as the alarm screamed.

By now the naga had scooped up another vehicle and quickly slammed it down at him. He rolled off the car as it exploded, then leapt straight into the air to avoid the sweeping tail. Rearing his foot back, he planted a kick upon the side of her muzzle and the giant snake spiraled backwards, crashing through the support pillar of an open-air parking garage.

An impenetrable cloud of dust engulfed the edifice, and he squinted as a gust blasted the grains into his eyes. The asphalt beneath his feet exploded as the tail burst upward, sending him into a spiraling flip. "Sleep!" His footpaws clicked upon concrete as he blindly dodged a second time, the massive scaly appendage breaking through the frail stone on the way down. "Go to sleep!"

The third time she had him. Wrapped in coils one more, he clenched his teeth as she dragged him underground, rock sliding upon his flesh. Then the crushing weight of the world smashed his body into a thin slime.

Karl jolted awake, breathing heavily as he sat up in bed. He buried his face in his hands and shuddered.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

It was her. "You..." he snarled.

She folded her arms and leaned against the headboard, her innocent look of concern melting away into stern irritation. "Why? Why do you resist?"

His jaw dropped. "Why? You ensnare me and then ask why I struggle?"

She grinned, a devilish smirk of amusement. "But I can give you anything... you are so very alone out there, are you not?"

"You know nothing." His skin tingled as the fur began its return.

"You don't know what you want." She grinned, fangs elongating.

"No..." he fell back, nearly tripping out of the bed. But he caught himself and stood, claws returning to catch the carpet. "You can't do it, can you?" He grinned as his tail brushed the wall. "You're frustrated because you can't take me."

"Lies!" She hissed, her scaly tail bursting from under the covers. "Sleep! GO TO SLEEP!!"

The fennec sidestepped the appendage as it tore a hole through the wall. Snarling, he grabbed the thick flesh and heaved the monster across the room. The naga flailed as she crashed through the far window, a glowing cityscape framing her lithe silhouette. She twisted and caught the sill before dropping hundreds of stories once again, instead pulling herself up with a bestial roar. Her eyes burned green as she peeked over the edge and slithered back into the dark room.

He would have none of it. With a touch of his claws the bed burst into flame. The naga flinched at the red light. He effortlessly heaved the burning object over his head and catapulted it into the far wall with the window. The building groaned under his feet as the entire face gave way, the naga hissing under the plummeting fireball. Ceiling tile tumbled and floorboards rocketed around. He threw his head back in laughter as reality withered and died.