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[OOM] Dwarf Woodlands: The Huntsman
Jun. 15th, 2018 10:50 pm“You told me these keybearers would bring me Snow White’s heart.”
The statement is calm, but the black Chirithy can hear the accusation in it. He sits up and stretches, opening his paws wide and shutting them again.
“I said nothing of the sort. I told you that they would be willing, and that they were able. Those things are both true,” he says. “As it so happened, the boy was more able. That in itself is compelling new data.”
“I don’t care -- …” The Queen starts as she whirls on him. The black Chirithy angles his face towards her, settling one button-eye on her.
“Careful. For every Chirithy, there is a keybearer, and mine is closer than you know,” he murmurs. “And you’ve yet to provide me with payment.”
The Queen scowls, then lifts a bell from her desk, ringing it. The black Chirithy slides back into the shadows as a servant enters.
“Please, bring in the Huntsman.”
The servant bows, exits, and returns with a portly man, with bloodshot eyes and a black, wispy beard. The Queen gives a nod, and the servant exits again, locking the door behind them.
“Your payment,” the Queen says, “as promised.”
The black Chirithy emerges from the shadows again, circling the bemused looking man. “This is who you were planning to send before I arrived? This cowardly little man? Still,” he bounds onto the desk, raising a paw and settling it to the Huntsman’s chest. “Even cowardice has its uses.”
---
“Did you make this? It’s so cute!”
“Well, things are going to be getting a lot more hectic around here. But this Spirit Chirithy should help. Probably.”
“Eden.”
Eden opens his eyes, to see Chirithy peering at him.
“Heartless,” Chirithy says.
“Guess it’s that time, then,” Eden sighs, slipping off the tree branch, rolling his shoulders to loosen them up. “How far is it?”
“Close.”
Eden doesn’t have time to say anything else, as a bank of darkness, like a wall of fog, rolls in, engulfing the trees, the house, and finally rolling over Eden himself. Chirithy flickers away, and Eden hears him land somewhere nearby, but the sound is echoed, distorted too much for him to tell where.
“Chirithy!” He calls.
“I’m in the tree!” Chirithy calls back. He sounds almost too far away for that to be true, but then, the voice seems like it’s coming from every direction at once. “This Heartless has some kind of -- miasma or aura.”
Eden holds up a hand, a few blue-white sparks flying off him.
“Suppresses my light magic, too,” he murmurs.
As Eden turns in place, summoning his keyblade, he sees the two yellow eyes in the darkness, just for a moment before they vanish again. He catches a glint of the again before a shape formed from shadows barrels at him through the darkness, scraping knife like claws over his shoulder.
Eden grimaces, touching the claw marks with one hand as the bloody gashes are instantly transmuted into silver-white crystal. He sees the yellow eyes in the darkness again, circling, then vanishing and reappearing on his other side.
“Fine, guess we’re usin’ the new Skill Card,” he says, tugging the card from his pocket. There were two -- things depicted on the ornate front, a blue man and a red man, both with beards and without legs, wound around each other, above the word ‘MAGNET.’
He tosses it up in the air, taking a step back as the fuzzy shape of a magic circle opens beneath his feet, and sweeps the edge of his keyblade across the card, setting it to spin. A blue ball of energy explodes from one end, a red ball from the other, the two of them spiralling up to form a vortex above him.
The miasma around him flickers for a moment as it’s magnetised, then drawn upwards and into the vortex, clearing the area around Eden. One by one, the trees become visible, then the house, and then finally, the Heartless nearby. It’s bipedal, bulky (even portly, Eden thinks after a moment) clawed, but with an almost humanlike face, with reddish marks around its eyes and a wispy beard.
“That’s better,” Eden says, mildly. “Cowardly little thing, aren’t you? Well, that’s fine.” He taps one foot against the ground. “We can do this properly now.”
---
The Heartless is fast, almost fast enough to keep up with Eden, but not quite. Eden doesn’t bother going for slower, more powerful strikes, instead hitting it from every side it can with quick, light attacks.
Eventually, it seems to shift form, rearing up onto its hind legs, becoming more humanoid in the process, summoning an axe with one hand and a knife with the other. Eden sees the swirl of darkness above them get dragged away from his Magnet spell and flow towards the Heartless, forming a heavy armour over it.
He grabs the Magnet card as it drifts down, stowing it away in the card pack on his belt.
“Eden!”
It’s Izana and Queenie. Eden takes a second to remember how he’s meant to act, pulling a lazy grin on his face, slouching slightly as he turns to look at them.
“Hey, guyyyys,” he says, waving. “Took your time gettin’ here! I thought you’d been eaten. By Heartless.”
Izana laughs embarrassedly. “Sorry, sorry. There were Darkballs everywhere. I didn’t even know they were native to this world.”
“They aren’t,” Queenie says. “This the Heartless after Snow White?”
“Seems like it. It’s got, like, sixty-thousand different abilities, and they’re all really annoying,” Eden whined. “And I hate him. We should kill him.”
Queenie sighs. “I suppose we’ve no other choices. Form up behind me, both of you.”
---
The battle is a lengthy process of wearing down the Heartless’ armour. He’s lost all his speed now, but he makes up for it with sturdiness, and it takes far too long for Eden’s tastes for them to crack his armour.
As soon as they do, Queenie wreaths her keyblade in a massive blade of lightning, and brings it down on the crack, digging into it. At the same time, Izana directs a stream of flame at it from its other side. Eden fires off a barrage of light bolts, striking its armour like a net of white light.
With a yell, Queenie bisects the Heartless down the middle, and her Chirithy catches the glowing heart escaping it as its shadowy form dissolves into smoke.
Eden’s Chirithy materialises on his shoulder, glancing around. “I’m not detecting any more Heartless in the area.”
“Good,” Eden says, giving a glance towards the cottage, and the dwarves staring at them through the windows. “Let’s go home. This place is too dwarfy.”
---
The Queen watches the blurry image in her mirror as the Heartless falls and dissolves.
“Ah, he failed,” the black Chirithy remarks from behind her. “Unfortunate. Still, you’ve held up your end of the bargain. I believe this concludes our deal.”
“For all the good it did us,” the Queen snaps. “Snow White lives, and so does this boy you’re so fascinated by.”
“Please, don’t trouble yourself with my plans, Your Majesty,” the black Chirithy says. “Whether the boy lives or dies doesn’t concern me at present, so long as he is sufficiently tested.”
The Queen gives him a disdainful look.
The black Chirithy doesn’t smile, instead waving a paw dismissively. “Until next time, Your Majesty.”
Then he’s gone, vanished in a puff of a violet smoke.
The statement is calm, but the black Chirithy can hear the accusation in it. He sits up and stretches, opening his paws wide and shutting them again.
“I said nothing of the sort. I told you that they would be willing, and that they were able. Those things are both true,” he says. “As it so happened, the boy was more able. That in itself is compelling new data.”
“I don’t care -- …” The Queen starts as she whirls on him. The black Chirithy angles his face towards her, settling one button-eye on her.
“Careful. For every Chirithy, there is a keybearer, and mine is closer than you know,” he murmurs. “And you’ve yet to provide me with payment.”
The Queen scowls, then lifts a bell from her desk, ringing it. The black Chirithy slides back into the shadows as a servant enters.
“Please, bring in the Huntsman.”
The servant bows, exits, and returns with a portly man, with bloodshot eyes and a black, wispy beard. The Queen gives a nod, and the servant exits again, locking the door behind them.
“Your payment,” the Queen says, “as promised.”
The black Chirithy emerges from the shadows again, circling the bemused looking man. “This is who you were planning to send before I arrived? This cowardly little man? Still,” he bounds onto the desk, raising a paw and settling it to the Huntsman’s chest. “Even cowardice has its uses.”
“Did you make this? It’s so cute!”
“Well, things are going to be getting a lot more hectic around here. But this Spirit Chirithy should help. Probably.”
“Eden.”
Eden opens his eyes, to see Chirithy peering at him.
“Heartless,” Chirithy says.
“Guess it’s that time, then,” Eden sighs, slipping off the tree branch, rolling his shoulders to loosen them up. “How far is it?”
“Close.”
Eden doesn’t have time to say anything else, as a bank of darkness, like a wall of fog, rolls in, engulfing the trees, the house, and finally rolling over Eden himself. Chirithy flickers away, and Eden hears him land somewhere nearby, but the sound is echoed, distorted too much for him to tell where.
“Chirithy!” He calls.
“I’m in the tree!” Chirithy calls back. He sounds almost too far away for that to be true, but then, the voice seems like it’s coming from every direction at once. “This Heartless has some kind of -- miasma or aura.”
Eden holds up a hand, a few blue-white sparks flying off him.
“Suppresses my light magic, too,” he murmurs.
As Eden turns in place, summoning his keyblade, he sees the two yellow eyes in the darkness, just for a moment before they vanish again. He catches a glint of the again before a shape formed from shadows barrels at him through the darkness, scraping knife like claws over his shoulder.
Eden grimaces, touching the claw marks with one hand as the bloody gashes are instantly transmuted into silver-white crystal. He sees the yellow eyes in the darkness again, circling, then vanishing and reappearing on his other side.
“Fine, guess we’re usin’ the new Skill Card,” he says, tugging the card from his pocket. There were two -- things depicted on the ornate front, a blue man and a red man, both with beards and without legs, wound around each other, above the word ‘MAGNET.’
He tosses it up in the air, taking a step back as the fuzzy shape of a magic circle opens beneath his feet, and sweeps the edge of his keyblade across the card, setting it to spin. A blue ball of energy explodes from one end, a red ball from the other, the two of them spiralling up to form a vortex above him.
The miasma around him flickers for a moment as it’s magnetised, then drawn upwards and into the vortex, clearing the area around Eden. One by one, the trees become visible, then the house, and then finally, the Heartless nearby. It’s bipedal, bulky (even portly, Eden thinks after a moment) clawed, but with an almost humanlike face, with reddish marks around its eyes and a wispy beard.
“That’s better,” Eden says, mildly. “Cowardly little thing, aren’t you? Well, that’s fine.” He taps one foot against the ground. “We can do this properly now.”
The Heartless is fast, almost fast enough to keep up with Eden, but not quite. Eden doesn’t bother going for slower, more powerful strikes, instead hitting it from every side it can with quick, light attacks.
Eventually, it seems to shift form, rearing up onto its hind legs, becoming more humanoid in the process, summoning an axe with one hand and a knife with the other. Eden sees the swirl of darkness above them get dragged away from his Magnet spell and flow towards the Heartless, forming a heavy armour over it.
He grabs the Magnet card as it drifts down, stowing it away in the card pack on his belt.
“Eden!”
It’s Izana and Queenie. Eden takes a second to remember how he’s meant to act, pulling a lazy grin on his face, slouching slightly as he turns to look at them.
“Hey, guyyyys,” he says, waving. “Took your time gettin’ here! I thought you’d been eaten. By Heartless.”
Izana laughs embarrassedly. “Sorry, sorry. There were Darkballs everywhere. I didn’t even know they were native to this world.”
“They aren’t,” Queenie says. “This the Heartless after Snow White?”
“Seems like it. It’s got, like, sixty-thousand different abilities, and they’re all really annoying,” Eden whined. “And I hate him. We should kill him.”
Queenie sighs. “I suppose we’ve no other choices. Form up behind me, both of you.”
The battle is a lengthy process of wearing down the Heartless’ armour. He’s lost all his speed now, but he makes up for it with sturdiness, and it takes far too long for Eden’s tastes for them to crack his armour.
As soon as they do, Queenie wreaths her keyblade in a massive blade of lightning, and brings it down on the crack, digging into it. At the same time, Izana directs a stream of flame at it from its other side. Eden fires off a barrage of light bolts, striking its armour like a net of white light.
With a yell, Queenie bisects the Heartless down the middle, and her Chirithy catches the glowing heart escaping it as its shadowy form dissolves into smoke.
Eden’s Chirithy materialises on his shoulder, glancing around. “I’m not detecting any more Heartless in the area.”
“Good,” Eden says, giving a glance towards the cottage, and the dwarves staring at them through the windows. “Let’s go home. This place is too dwarfy.”
The Queen watches the blurry image in her mirror as the Heartless falls and dissolves.
“Ah, he failed,” the black Chirithy remarks from behind her. “Unfortunate. Still, you’ve held up your end of the bargain. I believe this concludes our deal.”
“For all the good it did us,” the Queen snaps. “Snow White lives, and so does this boy you’re so fascinated by.”
“Please, don’t trouble yourself with my plans, Your Majesty,” the black Chirithy says. “Whether the boy lives or dies doesn’t concern me at present, so long as he is sufficiently tested.”
The Queen gives him a disdainful look.
The black Chirithy doesn’t smile, instead waving a paw dismissively. “Until next time, Your Majesty.”
Then he’s gone, vanished in a puff of a violet smoke.
