King Ad Rock
Abednego
The following was originally posted by @King Ad Rock in the previous IC
@King Ad Rock as
The Sexy, Suave King of Dance Ziek Sidane
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@King Ad Rock as
The Sexy, Suave King of Dance Ziek Sidane
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Location: Jakka's Crossing, Libertia
Date: Month 6, Day 15
Time: Between the first and second hour of morning (1:30 A.M)
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"Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world, it's hard to get by just upon a smile, girl…"
The ales, wines, and meads were flowing. Drinking glasses chimed together as their alcoholic contents spilled over their rims, splashing on the old wooden countertops. The sounds of the lyres, lutes, and vielles strummed on all night due to a certain patron continuously tossing gold coin in the tavern band’s direction without fail.
The young, undeniably intoxicated man that, just a few hours before had tossed a bag of gold coin on the barkeep’s counter, now had each arm around his fellow peers and well-wisher’s necks, and was bellowing out a chant-y drinking song alongside a cacophony of drunken voices. Dancing of the wait staff to the music was not only asked for, but also almost comically demanded. The noises of joy and laughter echoed out of the old, wooden building, and off into the deep and dense Libertian rain forests. The egregiously loud singer, that had bought the whole tavern several rounds, was Ziek Sidane.
He had stumbled into this minor fortune, which was quickly dwindling, by slaying a Jungle Tral-el that was giving builders of the new Libertian city, Melsias a bit of trouble. This particular scaled beast was not massive like its ancient brethren, but it had speed and maneuverability that Ziek had not seen before in the gigantic creatures. The jovial drinker was no stranger to hunting the ferocious and fanged monstrosities of Zeldwa. Ziek spent the better part of the afternoon tracking it down to its nest deep within the Swazi Forest. The Tral-el put up a commendable struggle and fight, but ultimately was taken down and decapitated by the former mercenary. After dragging the enormous, severed head behind his back for several miles, he brought it to the leader of the city building crew. Ziek collected his rather hefty remuneration and made a straightaway for the local tavern in Jakka’s Crossing, Bergen’s Drink-Hole.
Jakka's Crossing, Berchen's Drinkhole
No sooner did the burlap bag of Libertian currency hit the counter top did the festivities start with a sudden, thunderous strum of music and clanging of glasses. The local and usual patrons of the shady establishment gave each other half-smiles of missing teeth and wide-bloodshot eyes as filled to the brim glasses were slid down the counters and tables their ways. The drinks were flowing But all good nights and times of celebration and enjoyment must slowly ebb and come to an end. The tavern dwellers soon began to decline the paid for drinks, and chose to stumble their way back to their huts and ancient homes built into the trees of the forest. The band was now tired out from continuous strumming and their voices horse from the endless singing. They were packing their instruments and belongings and were now heading to the front door, pockets ringing with the sound of gold coins. Tavern-maids now had brooms in hand as they wearily swept broken glass and tracked dirt. The shorter and much more attractive of the two slowly closed her eyes and rested her flush cheek against her broom handle until a raucous holler jolted her from the momentary slumber.
There was only one person left that the tavern owner, Berchen Sandwater was having trouble getting to leave, and that person was currently shouting and swaying in the front doorway, using his large spear as a means from falling flat on his face. Ziek was still not ready to call it a night:
"Alright Ziek, We want to thank you so much for everything, but we’re goin’ to be closin’ up shop now. It's so much later than we usually close so-" Berchen could not get another word out before a sticky, ale-covered hand grabbed him by the shoulder and alcoholic soaked breath sailed from Ziek’s mouth, watering the elder Nomasdae tavern owner’s eyes.
“Hey-hey-h-hey… Calm down, calm down Berchen, my friend.” Ziek let out a slurred hush and put several of his dirty fingers lazily on Berchen’s lips, flicking his bottom lip, much to Berchen’s disgust and dismay. “I gotsch to ask- Oh, your lips are so soft *Hic* -I gotsch to ask you somethin’…” Ziek trailed off as his half opened, blood-shot emerald eyes were now looking past Berchen, back into the Drink-Hole, eyeing the two young Nomasdae tavern-maids who were trying to tiredly clean up his mess.
Berchen made a delicate attempt at removing Ziek’s hand from his person, only to have Ziek strangely put his palm directly on the man’s wrinkled forehead in a patting motion. A large, drunken smile crept across the boozed merc’s chapped lips:
“Ziek, please, it is almost dawn-“ Berchen's implorations were cut off and ignored yet again.
“I gotsch to ask.” Ziek’s words were slurred and almost incoherent. “Those bar-maids... *Hic*" He paused for a moment and appeared to swallow something before continuing. “You ever, after closin’ up the place, and you close and you’re a dirty-dog and you say ‘I’m the bossh’ and then you grab them from behind!” Ziek was rambling and incomprehensible.
He furrowed his brow, realizing his words were not making a lick of sense. The copious amounts of liquor he had consumed the hours before were fuzzing his thoughts and twisting his speech. His hand gestured to the female workers:
“You and them…?”
“Ziek-" The barkeep looked concerned about what was to come next.
“I-I mean, Holy Azae be damned, look-look at that tall one.” Ziek adjusted his weight against his spear in his off hand as he let out an exaggeratedly exasperated “Woo” at the end of his mumbled sentence.
Berchen stopped trying to interrupt his tipsy loiterer for a moment and looked confusingly back towards his employees. The taller barmaid, who was now wiping down the counters and table, looked up from her cleaning and grinned a toothless, haggard smile:
“Ziek, listen-" Berchen attempted his fruitless protests again.
“If I was you, you don’t know how you’d get any-any *Hic * of my work done. Just be lookin’ at em’. Starin’ at em’…” Ziek trailed off, as he appeared to fall asleep for several seconds, then shook himself awake:
“Goddamn hands would wander!” He shouted out of nowhere, acting as if he had never dozed off.
“And that lil’ one over there, right over there. Ohh- " Ziek pointed again but his praises for the women were interrupted by an unexpected belch.
“She looks like she’s played a few games of ‘hide the pickle’ in her day, if you know what I’m saying.” Ziek had an ear-to-ear grin as he looked past Berchen again into the tavern. “And I’m willin’ tah bet gold to assholes that she’s undefeated too.” Berchen spoke once more while Ziek ignored him and continued his inebriated ramblings.
“Ziek, those are my daughters” Berchen put emphasis on the last word. He was almost pleading with this last sentence.
During this revelation Ziek was making a parting motion with both of his hands in the air and sticking his tongue out in a crude manner; but upon hearing these words and allowing them to digest in his booze-soaked mind, Ziek froze and grimaced at his host:
“W-w-wait-wait. What?”Ziek stuttered and choked out. It appeared as if he refused to accept or process the information that was just given to him.
“Maybe he didn’t hear me.” This was a ridiculous thought, of course, considering Ziek had nearly shouted every word that had come out of his mouth for the past few hours.
“You are talkin’ about my daughters, Ziek.” Berchen’s face showed exhaustion more than any type of anger. At this point, all the old man wanted to do was lock the front door to his business and get home to his awaiting wife.
“Oh.” Ziek said lifelessly, followed by a much more emphatic, “Ohhh!” suggesting the idea was just occurring to him.
The wobbly drunk let out a sudden and sharp hiss of air as he gritted his teeth and winced:
“Shit, whoops...” Ziek's voice tapered off. "I'msshure she's doesn't even like pickles, and never hid any in her life, I bet *Hic*" Ziek, without intention, let one last hiccup escape to punctuate his poor attempt at an apology.
Berchen sighed quietly to himself and patted Ziek on the shoulder, almost knocking the drunkard off balance:
“Go get some sleep.” He said with an amazing amount of patience.
"But wait!" Ziek blurted out with urgency. Berchen paused in the doorway, the only light now in the city shining from behind him, and stared back at Ziek, "Yes?"
"Let me get one for the road you goddamn handsome sonofabitch." Ziek said with enthusiasm. It was the most coherent and straightforward thing he had phonated all night.
Immediately Berchen thought back to just an hour before when Ziek had been sick all over their floor, emptying several ale glasses full of his stomach contents:
"Goodnight Ziek." With that uttered, the tavern owner moved with haste to behind the threshold of his establishment and swung the door close, taking the light from Ziek’s person with it. Ziek stood there, not moving for several seconds, his nose just a few inches from the cracked, wooden door as he could heard a heavy lock being put into place. Finally, he turned and strolled over to the forest while speaking out loud to no one in particular,
“Motherfucker..." Ziek muttered.
He had hoped he had consumed enough of the God's nectar to bring the sweet slumber that escaped him more often than not. The drinking was always an attempt, never a guarantee, at sleeping. It didn’t hurt to be drunk either. The familiar urgent sensation in his lower regions was both the reason for his leisurely stroll and getting worse by the passing second.
The bright stars in the Libertian night sky were beginning to fade as the morning hours were creeping in. The cool night breeze that was blowing Ziek’s medium length, messy, black hair would be dying down soon and giving way to a hot and humid jungle day.
Down the main dirt road of Jakka's crossing was the inn that Ziek had rented a room in for the past few days, but before returning for attempted repose, he needed to handle nature's calling. The forest was eerily silent for these twilight hours. Had Ziek not been in an alcoholic stupor, or in a rush to empty his bladder, he might have taken notice. After making it several yards into the forest brush for a bit of privacy, Ziek found an appropriate tree and leaned his right hand out against it to steady his wavering balance as he started to relieve himself.
The feeling of relief was close to euphoric as he involuntarily let out a small moan into the night. Looking up, he noticed that what looked to be storm clouds were beginning to form and gather in the sky above the heart of the Swazi. A faint noise began to emanate from elsewhere in the forest. Some kind of buzzing sound was increasing in decibels from further within. Still very under the influence and naturally curious, Ziek finished up, grabbed his spear, and stumbled deeper into the rain forest. He followed the strange noise for several minutes as the sinister looking clouds continued to congregate and grow overhead. Ziek stared as the clouds smashed together and blotted out the setting moon:
"What the hell...?" he muttered out loud to himself as he stuck out his empty hand, waiting for rain.
A crash of blue lightning struck the forest floor with enough ferocity to gouge out a small crater just a few feet away from Ziek. The thunder roared like the sound of some hellish beast. He jumped back, shielding his eyes from the intense light. Heavy rain crashed down instantly from the ominous storm clouds and with force. That's when he saw it, the source of the hum. A glowing black orb with crimson tendrils lashing out with a chaotic vengeance, only to come crashing back into the orb, descended from the storm clouds high above head. Ziek watched as the cycle renewed, pulling everything back to itself as it tore itself apart once more. He could not pull his gaze from this otherworldly thing as it hung there by an unknown force. This terrifying scene filled him with fear, but for some inexplicable reason, he could feel a deep primal rage also growing from within inside of him.
Not being able to move his eyes away, he watched as the raven black and blood red ball of energy began to shape itself into what appeared to be the form of a man. A skeletal frame formed in the swirling blackness. Ziek could feel his legs begin to tremble, but they refused to take him anywhere as this unholy sight unraveled before him. The being that was assembling would tower over even the most tremendously sized T’Odis. This entity, whatever it was, stood at an immense ten feet tall. Bone and sinew materialized from the dark energy, creating massive arms and legs. The vegetation underneath this monster burned and singed from the creation.
A face, demonic in its appearance, wrestled itself to life from mass that was to be its head. Skin, dead grey in its color, stretched and grew over the muscles that were also coming into creation.
“What the hell was in that ale? Liquor doesn’t turn? Does it...? A bald headed, beast-man now existed, crouched and nude, with swirls of red energy dissipating around him.
The monstrosity brought his chin up to meet Ziek's eyes with his own inhuman snake-like pupils. It spoke, seeming to struggle with the words, with a voice Ziek could not have imagined,even in his worst nightmares. The words were just garbled noises in their first attempts, but eventually the beast’s lips formed the word in way that he could understand. “Fear.” One word is all it spoke, perfectly summing up Ziek’s current feelings.
Without realizing it, Ziek had started to hold his breath in awe of what had transpired before him. The hulking creature as if mocking him, inhaled and exhaled heavily while never breaking his gaze. The burning in the young man's lungs reminded him to finally gasp a mouthful of air. Oxygen seemingly being all he needed to break his trance-like state, he shook his head and snapped out of it, although the fear was still present in his mind.
Hearing the tremble in his own voice, Ziek spoke, "W-what the fuck is that…?” The frightened man was speaking to himself but the giant showed signs of understanding.
The beast-man paused before responding, his eyes darting back and forth, likely searching for the words in his mind. His mouth fought to form the words with a fiendish smile, the monstrous voice that escaped from it sounding like several men speaking at once creating a devilish echo. “Garnerge." It bellowed out.
It's enunciation of it's own name brought a sickening smile to its face. The otherworldly abomination that now had a name examined Ziek, letting his almost glowing eyes fall upon the spear that was tight in the man’s grip. A smile spread across Garnerge's face, pulling his dark lips from ear to ear, exposing inhuman fangs jutting from his bottom row of teeth:
"Creature, are you a warrior on this rock?" The words were coming more naturally to him now, although they had not lost their supernatural tone. "Come, help me test out this new body... If you manage to amuse me, I will make your death quick and painless" Showing no signs of letting his colossal frame slow him down, this bestial mammoth sprinted forth, raising his massive fists high above his head.
Instinct and over a decade of training kicked in as... Ziek turned tale and fled for his life. The jolly intoxication that Ziek had worked hard to achieve was now forgotten as adrenaline began coursing through his veins and terror steadily tried to invade his conscious. Darting through the trees of the forests with nimble yet still drunken speed. The thunderous sounds of his pursuer’s footsteps and the piercing cracking of trees being ripped apart and torn from the ground, echoed through the closing, silent night and drove him to move faster. Deep, guttural laughter stormed out from what sounded to be just feet behind him.
“Holy fucking Azae, is this how I'm going to die? Some naked giant is going to appear out of thin air and rip me apart? This has got to be a fucking nightmare.” Ziek could swear he could feel hot breath on the back of his neck.
Pumping his legs to pick up speed, his eyes narrowed in on a branch. He listened intently to the explosive stomps of Garnerge and tried to time his jump perfectly. Using a stone erupting and bulging from the earth for leverage, he leaped and reached with his left hand. His palm, rough and calloused, gripped the branch, and using the momentum from the vault, swung his body up into the air. He gripped the tree's appendage tightly, stalling himself upside down for split second. Ziek watched the mass of naked beast whirl by in a blur.
Releasing his grasp, he fell gracefully to the ground, his feet now reversing and taking him into the opposite direction as fast as they possibly could.
"A quick and clever one you are!" Garnerge roared.
With unrealistic agility for a being of his size, Garnerge came to a skidding halt and barreled through in the converse direction also, right behind Ziek, knocking over the trees in his paths as if they were mere sticks.
That's when the desperate young man saw his chance at survival. In his path, in the middle of the upcoming clearing to the forest, was a corl; a one thousand year old, tremendously tall tree found in the Swazi. Ziek ran full-speed at the tree, raising his spear and cocking it into throwing position. He let the weapon go with prodigious force and watched it soar through the air, planting itself deep into the trunk of the tree several feet higher than his head. Using it as a spring of sorts, he leaped on top of it and sprung himself far up the base of the tree, grabbing the nearest thick branch. Wasting no time, he wrapped his calves firmly around the branch, dipped himself upside-down, and with quick and forceful pull, plucked his weapon from the corl's bark. Pulling himself back up, he positioned himself in a sturdy stance, and watched as Garnerge exploded into the clearing.
Ziek’s muscles twitched with anticipation while his eyes scoped in intently. Coming to a stop and watching Ziek cautiously, Garnerge spoke:
"Are all the beings of this rock as cowardly as this one? Come and show me what this pathetic planet has got!" his voice was full of barbaric rage and fury.
"Here ya' go ya’ ugly bowl of shit!" was Ziek's response as he launched his spear from his perch on the tree with deadly accuracy; and watched as, within a split second, the gorgeously crafted, serrated steel tip plunged deep into the right eye of the taunting brute. The inhuman shriek of pain that escaped Garnerge’s jaws would have been music to Ziek's ears, had it not been so loud that it felt like his eardrums were about to burst. The force from the impact of the projectile had caused Garnerge’s enormous head to cock back suddenly, as he let out the piercing cry into the Libertian forest's sky. Ziek's dirt covered hands involuntarily flung to his ears, his fingers plugging them up.
He was still convinced that this had to be a drinking induced nightmare.
"Now that’s a goddamn bull's-eye." He chuckled nervously at his own terrible joke, only to have his laugh cut off by a much louder one from the forest floor.
The monstrous screams of pain screeching out from the giant had died out to become nightmarish guffaws. Any feelings of triumph quickly disappeared as fear and panic immediately washed over Ziek once again. He was frozen with terror, unable to move a muscle, as he watched Garnerge perform another feat only read about in books of fiction.
The giant slowly brought his head back to a prone position, his good eye, a shining, golden orb in the moonlight, fell upon the crouched warrior while his mocking laugh became almost hysterical. The spear was lodged deep within his right eye-socket with a grey blood-like liquid oozing from the wound. Garnerge lifted his tree-trunk sized arm and brought his gargantuan hand to his face, wrapping his fingers tightly around the weapon jutting from his head. With an effortless tug, Garnerge pulled it from his eye-socket, creating a revolting and wet sound. The entire right side of his face was decimated, his eye now a gaping hole. Despite the spear being longer than Ziek was tall, it looked humorously like a child's toy in Garnerge's grasp. Ziek could only flinch at the sound of his beloved weapon cracking in two as the otherworldly being clenched his fist, although it's loss was the least of his problems at the moment.
"You thought you had me there, didn't you creature?" Another fiendish smile crept across Garnerge’s black lips.
Ziek refused to believe what he saw next. The crater on the right side of Garnerge's face started to reform from nothing. The hole in his skull almost seemed to give birth to a new eye. Skin and muscle appeared, pulsating, and multiplied across his cheek. In nearly an instant, the monster's face was now entirely unharmed.
“Please, let this be a dream...” Ziek wasn’t sure who or what he was pleading with in his mind, probably just himself. The words echoed over and over again in his skull.
"I think it is my turn."Garnerge howled while storming forward at improbable speed.
There was no time for Ziek to react as the roaring giant's formidable arms stretched out, and his oversized hands slammed close around the corl's trunk. His fingers splintered the bark and penetrated deep into the wood. Ziek braced himself against the tree and watched his attacker in confusion. Garnerge squatted, and with horrific strength, ripped the corl from its roots. Large clumps of jungle earth fell by his sides from the gnarly root system. In a panicky, high-pitched, yet still defiantly sarcastic tone Ziek yelled down the tree:
"Hey! Cut that shit out!"
Ignoring his prey's laughable plea, Garnerge wailed "I see no wings on you creature, but let us see if you can fly!"
With all his might, the being known as Garnerge flung the ancient tree high up into the heavens. The wind blew around Ziek's greasy and unwashed hair, while he held on for dear life to his wingless ride as it spun wildly through the air.
What a sight it must of been, had anyone been in the area, to glance up and see this several stories tall tree move through the night with someone riding upon it like some kind of ship. The tree was only airborne for seconds, yet it felt like minutes to Ziek as dizziness and nausea set in. Everything was a green whirling motion blur. He could feel himself begin to lose consciousness as well as his grip to his out-of-control vessel. It was at this moment that he had come to the conclusion that he was not awake. That this was all a terrible, terrible dream and he has indeed been sleeping peacefully this entire time. It was only a matter of time now:
“Wonderful. I hope I wake up soon.”
The tree and Ziek's body plummeted back towards Azae at an alarming speed, like two crashing meteors.
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