as written by Script and Moonscar
Some time earlier...
Emeka was on his last few threads of life. He was clinging as tightly as he could, but he could feel himself slipping away farther and farther with each step. He had slid his bandages to the side, and with a wrinkled, stony grimace, he observed the hot redness of his skin rising in infection. Eventually it would turn green and develop pustules. The infection would kill him if he didn't do something.
Glancing at the water, he had a thought. The water wasn't purified, but it would be cold this time of year. Enough to cool the inflammation just a bit.
He moved towards it, slothing with his back bent. His was a haggard mess. His breathing was deep and heavy, accompained by a groan. However, before he reached the grainy white sands of the beach, something caused him to pause.
The reeds rustled. There was a growl. It wasn't like a dog's, or a wolf's, or anything as low or natural. It was a high, vibrating cherrup. It kept going and going and going, higher and higher, until it rose into a scream. Emeka's eyes widened like saucers beneath his glasses. "No, you go away!" he hissed, stepping backwards, away from the reeds. "I made you. I created you! You answer to me! Get back!"
From the bushes came an utterly vile and rejectful creature. Surely the gods of man wouldn't have allowed a monstrocity so disgusting to live. To continue to ilve.
It had the face of a man. Or rather, just barely so. The mouth was drawn into a permanent gape, and flopped limply as though the lower jaw had been removed. The forehead melted over its eyes, from which Emeka could barely glimse, black and beady. None of the whites. So it could see. So it could see so well at night even with its face partially concealed.
"You were a mistake!" growled Emeka. "You were supposed to die in your cage and rot! Move!"
It lumbered toward him, not on hands and feet, no. Its long neck, like that of a snake's, attached to a glob of a body. A glob filled with holes that oozed a diseased, yellow liquid, bubbling and boiling. Carrying it were insectoid legs.Million of them. As it moved out of the bushes further, it revealed that it had more of those globulous sections of its body. Bubbling. Crawling. Screaming.
There was no way for Emeka to run. The creature was so quick. They'd designed it that way.
He had designed it that way.
"God damn."
He'd found himself clamped in the jaws of the creatue before he could even try and make his escape. Not the human jaws- those were no longer there. He'd removed them. He remembered removing them from the man, still alive, on the operating table. He remembered what he'd replaced them with. Those mandibles that slithered out from the back of his throat, strong enough to crack a human skull.
Those same mandibles wrapped around his head, clamping his mouth shut, as it dragged him into the reeds.
As Emeka had staggered towards the lake, the waters had begun to stir. Ripples emanated outwards from a point just off the shore, and had he not shortly been distracted by the sudden assault of the oozing centipede-creature, he might have noticed the surface bulge, and the shape of a face begin to form.
When the creature had revealed itself, the face had splashed back into the water. Teo had been aware of the creature since it arrived - the lake was his domain, and all those who came to it were within his 'sight', as it were. But up until this point, it had not given him cause to eject it. Of course, it was unpleasant, but it had done no more harm than any other predator.
He had been unfortunately too late to warn this man off, however. Now he felt he had to intervene. As the creature clamped down on Emeka, he might have noticed a strange flow of water from the sands reaching his foot and rushing up his body. It climbed up his form until it reached his head, gathering there within the mandibles of the creature. And then, it sprayed outwards. A forceful jet of water directed itself into the thing's throat, causing it to drop Emeka to the ground. Before he hit the floor, more tendrils of water caught him, laying him gently to the sands.
Between him and the centipede, the air sparkled with droplets of water that swiftly began to converge on one another, steadily coalescing into the shape of a humanoid figure. When their glimmering light faded, there stood what appeared to be a young boy in his teens, blue-haired and pale-skinned. He seemed almost translucent in places, and was clad solely in shimmering currents of opaque water.
Teo stared the creature down without fear, before casting a cheerful smile over his shoulder to Emeka. "Do not be afraid!" he called, voice soothingly ethereal, "You won't come to harm on my shores, traveller."
He then turned his attention back to the centipede. "Get lost!" he demanded, water rising from the lake to swirl towards him, "Or I'll eject you myself!"
Emeka cringed into the ground as he gazed up at the figure standing in front of him. His hands pressed against the ground to sit him up, but he wasn't getting up.
He had spent so much time inside that damned labyrinth by himself, often sending his niece somewhere else so she wouldn't get tied up in everything. The only people he had dealt with were Sarka and her monsters, which came by and gave him the materials he needed to continue his work. They weren't friendly. They weren't good people. And the second he did encounter two kids who didn't intend to force him to do the devil's work, he had to hurt them. And then they'd resolved to kill him.
This must have been the first time in months that he'd met someone trying to help him.
The creature rose up on its half a million hind legs and screeched at the boy, confused and hostile. It darted forward, spilling its fluids all around, striking as quickly as a snake.
It was met with a cascade of water, barrelling into it with force enough to propel it entirely off the ground and several meters down the beach. Teo gathered more water from the lake, and again, sent it lashing out at the creature, not giving it any respite. He moved like a dancer, flowing with effortless motion reminiscent of a current of water himself. Each gesture blended seamlessly with the next, in tandem with the motion of the water.
"Kill the beast!" cried Emeka. "It's an abomination. It's unnatural!"
The creature slid in the sand, but didn't fall over. For such a wonky animal, it had surprisingly exceptional balance. It dropped to the ground and sped in a serpentine maneuver toward Teo, observing and dodging the lashes in a manner that hinted an intelligence beyond that of a simple animal, even if it couldn't be reasoned with. Once, twice it was struck, but it was hardy. A creature covered in its own stomach acids had to be.
Trying to get close enough to Teo, it opened its mandables and inflated its elastic throat like a croaking frog, filling a sack with venom that came spewing towards Teo and Emeka.
Reacting quickly, Teo brought his hands up in a swift gesture. The water swirling around him rose like a barrier and abruptly solidified into ice, blocking the venom off. He then swept his arms forwards, and the wall of ice liquified once more, rushing forwards to slam into the creature, splashing around it in a wave to once again push it off the ground. In the next moment, it was ice again, encasing part of the creature's body in a frozen tomb, suspending it in the air.
It thrashed unhappily, every leg spastically twitching as it tried to break free. Emeka grit his teeth.
"It was a man," he rasped at the boy. "Turned into a monster. It needs to die."
Ignoring Emeka for the moment, Teo walked forwards towards the immobile creature. His eyes were sad as he gazed upon its struggles, floating up through the air to come level with its face. "I'm sorry," he said to it, voice sorrowful, "All you know is pain, and hatred. You're blinded by it, you've lost who you used to be."
Sparkling water rose up from the lake to gather around the hovering spirit, and then snaked outwards to the writhing creature. Where the water touched, a soothing and numbing sensation spread through its body, until it was entirely coated in glimmering light. "The person you once were, they're in there somewhere. You know what you've become. I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but I think that it's what you want."
The human centipede glared at Teo from beneath its heavy brow, mandibles clacking at him... thoughtfully. It peered past the boy at the scientist behind him. It looked at Teo once again, and motioned toward Emeka with a low, hateful moan.
Emeka beat the ground with his fist. "Quickly end it! Please. Please!"
"I do this for who you were before," Teo said quietly. He moved forwards as a tendril of water snaked outwards and into the creature's mouth, shooting down its throat until it reached its chest. The water spirit gently cradled its head, and the water burst outwards. Spikes of ice pierced the creature's heart. He held it until it died, before gently lowering himself back down to the ground.
He turned to face Emeka, eyeing the man with distrust. "You said that you created it. You, then, are the one that turned it from man into monster?"
Something of a sigh escaped Emeka as the beast slumped over in death. He rested his head in his hands and slumped forward.
"I... I've done many things," he admitted, a weight in his voice of all the horrific things that had transpired in the last few months. "I hardly had a choice. You... you have to understand. I'm not a bad person!"
That's what he kept telling himself. Night and day. For the longest time.
Teo made his way over to where Emeka was slumped, kneeling down and placing a hand gently on the man's shoulder. "There will be time to talk about those things later," he said, "But you're injured. Let me help."
As he had done with the creature, Teo directed a gentle wash of water towards Emeka's injuries, to soothe and numb them. Where the water passed, after a few moments, it cleansed the infections that had been festering in the wounds.
"You should rest. You're safe here. Your body needs time to recover." he said, smiling. "I'll take you somewhere sheltered."
Water flowed out from the lake again to gather beneath Emeka, cradling him upon it and lifting him to follow Teo as the spirit drifted across the water's edge towards a small alcove in the lake's bank, where he laid him down upon a patch of moss.
Emeka looked around confusedly, then lifted his gaze to Teo. He lifted the bandages and frowned.
"Why?" he asked the spirit. "Why do this? What are you?"
"Because you needed help, silly." Teo replied with a bright smile, "I don't need any more reason than that, do I? My name is Teo, and I'm this lake's spirit. If someone turned up on your doorstep injured, would you not take them in to help them?"
The older man clenched his fists and broke his gaze with the spirit. He let out a sigh.
"Thank you," he said. Though, with everything he'd been through, he felt wary. Spirits had been known to be tricksters. That's what he'd heard. He never had a chance to make sure himself.
"There'll be more of them out there," Emeka said to him. "And... two boys. If they're alive, they'll be trying to find me."
From the inside of his shirt, he plucked a small vial, looking into it. Two eyes peered back at him. "It'll be bad if anyone finds me."
"Why is that?" Teo took a seat on one of the rocks in the alcove, watching Emeka curiously. "You said before that you had no choice, in turning that man into what he was. Tell me, what have you done? And how were you forced to do it? I would like to understand. And what is your name?"
The man juggled with the information he should be giving out. He'd only just met the boy. He had saved his life, but he had only just met him.
"I was threatened. My life, and the life of others, were on the line," he answered grimly. "I am Emeka. A geneticist in Wing City."
Teo nodded his head. "I understand, then. People will do terrible things to protect those close to them. But, perhaps you can yet redeem yourself?" he tilted his head, "Your situation suggests that things have not gone according to plan. You fled from something, or someone. Whatever bargain you made, does it still stand now?"
Emeka looked down again, at the vial. "I... I don't know," he said. "Something happened. But I don't know what. I don't think I'm scott free, but things have changed."
Teo thought for a moment. He wasn't clear on exactly what Emeka had meant by that, but he forged on. "Who threatened you? Why did they want you to make monsters?"
"Someone with a goal. You might know her name, you might not. I was told that, a century back, they were prominent in this world. Inkson. Sarka Inkson. I'm still not sure why. Ruling the world might be it. But that seems wrong."
"I haven't heard it before," Teo said, shaking his head, "But I'll remember it."
He paused to consider, "If you need a safe place, for yourself or for the other people who were threatened, then you can bring them here." he said, smiling. "Very few things can overpower me in my home. And I'd welcome the company. I don't get very many human visitors, and animals don't have a lot to talk about, usually."
Emeka smiled tightly. "I may take you up on your offer, but understand my hesitation. I've not been through the best times this past year. It's hard to put my trust in anyone right now. But thank you."
Teo nodded his head, "Of course. Now you should sleep. Your injuries will heal faster if you rest." he said, "Nothing will harm you while you're here."
Nodding, the wounded geneticist lay down. a hand covering his eyes. At least, if he was killed here by the spirit, it would be away from every nightmare he created himself.
He would be at peace.
As Emeka drifted off into sleep, Teo stepped away and quietly melted back into the lake. Of course, he was still there - but there was no point holding his human form when nobody was watching.
Some time earlier...
Emeka was on his last few threads of life. He was clinging as tightly as he could, but he could feel himself slipping away farther and farther with each step. He had slid his bandages to the side, and with a wrinkled, stony grimace, he observed the hot redness of his skin rising in infection. Eventually it would turn green and develop pustules. The infection would kill him if he didn't do something.
Glancing at the water, he had a thought. The water wasn't purified, but it would be cold this time of year. Enough to cool the inflammation just a bit.
He moved towards it, slothing with his back bent. His was a haggard mess. His breathing was deep and heavy, accompained by a groan. However, before he reached the grainy white sands of the beach, something caused him to pause.
The reeds rustled. There was a growl. It wasn't like a dog's, or a wolf's, or anything as low or natural. It was a high, vibrating cherrup. It kept going and going and going, higher and higher, until it rose into a scream. Emeka's eyes widened like saucers beneath his glasses. "No, you go away!" he hissed, stepping backwards, away from the reeds. "I made you. I created you! You answer to me! Get back!"
From the bushes came an utterly vile and rejectful creature. Surely the gods of man wouldn't have allowed a monstrocity so disgusting to live. To continue to ilve.
It had the face of a man. Or rather, just barely so. The mouth was drawn into a permanent gape, and flopped limply as though the lower jaw had been removed. The forehead melted over its eyes, from which Emeka could barely glimse, black and beady. None of the whites. So it could see. So it could see so well at night even with its face partially concealed.
"You were a mistake!" growled Emeka. "You were supposed to die in your cage and rot! Move!"
It lumbered toward him, not on hands and feet, no. Its long neck, like that of a snake's, attached to a glob of a body. A glob filled with holes that oozed a diseased, yellow liquid, bubbling and boiling. Carrying it were insectoid legs.Million of them. As it moved out of the bushes further, it revealed that it had more of those globulous sections of its body. Bubbling. Crawling. Screaming.
There was no way for Emeka to run. The creature was so quick. They'd designed it that way.
He had designed it that way.
"God damn."
He'd found himself clamped in the jaws of the creatue before he could even try and make his escape. Not the human jaws- those were no longer there. He'd removed them. He remembered removing them from the man, still alive, on the operating table. He remembered what he'd replaced them with. Those mandibles that slithered out from the back of his throat, strong enough to crack a human skull.
Those same mandibles wrapped around his head, clamping his mouth shut, as it dragged him into the reeds.
As Emeka had staggered towards the lake, the waters had begun to stir. Ripples emanated outwards from a point just off the shore, and had he not shortly been distracted by the sudden assault of the oozing centipede-creature, he might have noticed the surface bulge, and the shape of a face begin to form.
When the creature had revealed itself, the face had splashed back into the water. Teo had been aware of the creature since it arrived - the lake was his domain, and all those who came to it were within his 'sight', as it were. But up until this point, it had not given him cause to eject it. Of course, it was unpleasant, but it had done no more harm than any other predator.
He had been unfortunately too late to warn this man off, however. Now he felt he had to intervene. As the creature clamped down on Emeka, he might have noticed a strange flow of water from the sands reaching his foot and rushing up his body. It climbed up his form until it reached his head, gathering there within the mandibles of the creature. And then, it sprayed outwards. A forceful jet of water directed itself into the thing's throat, causing it to drop Emeka to the ground. Before he hit the floor, more tendrils of water caught him, laying him gently to the sands.
Between him and the centipede, the air sparkled with droplets of water that swiftly began to converge on one another, steadily coalescing into the shape of a humanoid figure. When their glimmering light faded, there stood what appeared to be a young boy in his teens, blue-haired and pale-skinned. He seemed almost translucent in places, and was clad solely in shimmering currents of opaque water.
Teo stared the creature down without fear, before casting a cheerful smile over his shoulder to Emeka. "Do not be afraid!" he called, voice soothingly ethereal, "You won't come to harm on my shores, traveller."
He then turned his attention back to the centipede. "Get lost!" he demanded, water rising from the lake to swirl towards him, "Or I'll eject you myself!"
Emeka cringed into the ground as he gazed up at the figure standing in front of him. His hands pressed against the ground to sit him up, but he wasn't getting up.
He had spent so much time inside that damned labyrinth by himself, often sending his niece somewhere else so she wouldn't get tied up in everything. The only people he had dealt with were Sarka and her monsters, which came by and gave him the materials he needed to continue his work. They weren't friendly. They weren't good people. And the second he did encounter two kids who didn't intend to force him to do the devil's work, he had to hurt them. And then they'd resolved to kill him.
This must have been the first time in months that he'd met someone trying to help him.
The creature rose up on its half a million hind legs and screeched at the boy, confused and hostile. It darted forward, spilling its fluids all around, striking as quickly as a snake.
It was met with a cascade of water, barrelling into it with force enough to propel it entirely off the ground and several meters down the beach. Teo gathered more water from the lake, and again, sent it lashing out at the creature, not giving it any respite. He moved like a dancer, flowing with effortless motion reminiscent of a current of water himself. Each gesture blended seamlessly with the next, in tandem with the motion of the water.
"Kill the beast!" cried Emeka. "It's an abomination. It's unnatural!"
The creature slid in the sand, but didn't fall over. For such a wonky animal, it had surprisingly exceptional balance. It dropped to the ground and sped in a serpentine maneuver toward Teo, observing and dodging the lashes in a manner that hinted an intelligence beyond that of a simple animal, even if it couldn't be reasoned with. Once, twice it was struck, but it was hardy. A creature covered in its own stomach acids had to be.
Trying to get close enough to Teo, it opened its mandables and inflated its elastic throat like a croaking frog, filling a sack with venom that came spewing towards Teo and Emeka.
Reacting quickly, Teo brought his hands up in a swift gesture. The water swirling around him rose like a barrier and abruptly solidified into ice, blocking the venom off. He then swept his arms forwards, and the wall of ice liquified once more, rushing forwards to slam into the creature, splashing around it in a wave to once again push it off the ground. In the next moment, it was ice again, encasing part of the creature's body in a frozen tomb, suspending it in the air.
It thrashed unhappily, every leg spastically twitching as it tried to break free. Emeka grit his teeth.
"It was a man," he rasped at the boy. "Turned into a monster. It needs to die."
Ignoring Emeka for the moment, Teo walked forwards towards the immobile creature. His eyes were sad as he gazed upon its struggles, floating up through the air to come level with its face. "I'm sorry," he said to it, voice sorrowful, "All you know is pain, and hatred. You're blinded by it, you've lost who you used to be."
Sparkling water rose up from the lake to gather around the hovering spirit, and then snaked outwards to the writhing creature. Where the water touched, a soothing and numbing sensation spread through its body, until it was entirely coated in glimmering light. "The person you once were, they're in there somewhere. You know what you've become. I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but I think that it's what you want."
The human centipede glared at Teo from beneath its heavy brow, mandibles clacking at him... thoughtfully. It peered past the boy at the scientist behind him. It looked at Teo once again, and motioned toward Emeka with a low, hateful moan.
Emeka beat the ground with his fist. "Quickly end it! Please. Please!"
"I do this for who you were before," Teo said quietly. He moved forwards as a tendril of water snaked outwards and into the creature's mouth, shooting down its throat until it reached its chest. The water spirit gently cradled its head, and the water burst outwards. Spikes of ice pierced the creature's heart. He held it until it died, before gently lowering himself back down to the ground.
He turned to face Emeka, eyeing the man with distrust. "You said that you created it. You, then, are the one that turned it from man into monster?"
Something of a sigh escaped Emeka as the beast slumped over in death. He rested his head in his hands and slumped forward.
"I... I've done many things," he admitted, a weight in his voice of all the horrific things that had transpired in the last few months. "I hardly had a choice. You... you have to understand. I'm not a bad person!"
That's what he kept telling himself. Night and day. For the longest time.
Teo made his way over to where Emeka was slumped, kneeling down and placing a hand gently on the man's shoulder. "There will be time to talk about those things later," he said, "But you're injured. Let me help."
As he had done with the creature, Teo directed a gentle wash of water towards Emeka's injuries, to soothe and numb them. Where the water passed, after a few moments, it cleansed the infections that had been festering in the wounds.
"You should rest. You're safe here. Your body needs time to recover." he said, smiling. "I'll take you somewhere sheltered."
Water flowed out from the lake again to gather beneath Emeka, cradling him upon it and lifting him to follow Teo as the spirit drifted across the water's edge towards a small alcove in the lake's bank, where he laid him down upon a patch of moss.
Emeka looked around confusedly, then lifted his gaze to Teo. He lifted the bandages and frowned.
"Why?" he asked the spirit. "Why do this? What are you?"
"Because you needed help, silly." Teo replied with a bright smile, "I don't need any more reason than that, do I? My name is Teo, and I'm this lake's spirit. If someone turned up on your doorstep injured, would you not take them in to help them?"
The older man clenched his fists and broke his gaze with the spirit. He let out a sigh.
"Thank you," he said. Though, with everything he'd been through, he felt wary. Spirits had been known to be tricksters. That's what he'd heard. He never had a chance to make sure himself.
"There'll be more of them out there," Emeka said to him. "And... two boys. If they're alive, they'll be trying to find me."
From the inside of his shirt, he plucked a small vial, looking into it. Two eyes peered back at him. "It'll be bad if anyone finds me."
"Why is that?" Teo took a seat on one of the rocks in the alcove, watching Emeka curiously. "You said before that you had no choice, in turning that man into what he was. Tell me, what have you done? And how were you forced to do it? I would like to understand. And what is your name?"
The man juggled with the information he should be giving out. He'd only just met the boy. He had saved his life, but he had only just met him.
"I was threatened. My life, and the life of others, were on the line," he answered grimly. "I am Emeka. A geneticist in Wing City."
Teo nodded his head. "I understand, then. People will do terrible things to protect those close to them. But, perhaps you can yet redeem yourself?" he tilted his head, "Your situation suggests that things have not gone according to plan. You fled from something, or someone. Whatever bargain you made, does it still stand now?"
Emeka looked down again, at the vial. "I... I don't know," he said. "Something happened. But I don't know what. I don't think I'm scott free, but things have changed."
Teo thought for a moment. He wasn't clear on exactly what Emeka had meant by that, but he forged on. "Who threatened you? Why did they want you to make monsters?"
"Someone with a goal. You might know her name, you might not. I was told that, a century back, they were prominent in this world. Inkson. Sarka Inkson. I'm still not sure why. Ruling the world might be it. But that seems wrong."
"I haven't heard it before," Teo said, shaking his head, "But I'll remember it."
He paused to consider, "If you need a safe place, for yourself or for the other people who were threatened, then you can bring them here." he said, smiling. "Very few things can overpower me in my home. And I'd welcome the company. I don't get very many human visitors, and animals don't have a lot to talk about, usually."
Emeka smiled tightly. "I may take you up on your offer, but understand my hesitation. I've not been through the best times this past year. It's hard to put my trust in anyone right now. But thank you."
Teo nodded his head, "Of course. Now you should sleep. Your injuries will heal faster if you rest." he said, "Nothing will harm you while you're here."
Nodding, the wounded geneticist lay down. a hand covering his eyes. At least, if he was killed here by the spirit, it would be away from every nightmare he created himself.
He would be at peace.
As Emeka drifted off into sleep, Teo stepped away and quietly melted back into the lake. Of course, he was still there - but there was no point holding his human form when nobody was watching.
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