Flame of the Fateless

by Cryptic Keyboard

Chapter 5

Chapter 5
Kuroko and Asura

Asura and Kuroko. Two little balls of ethereal matter that would no doubt cause me great pain in the near future. They had done nothing except float idly next to me, Asura on my left and Kuroko on my right. So far I had tried multiple times to engage in conversation with them but they remained mute. Not wanting Yiang's final attempt at trickery to slow my process;.I hurried onwards. So far the forest had shown little resistance both in terms of foliage and creatures. By now I was doubting that the threat of creatures was even existent. Its not like they were plotting, animals are stupid in comparison to humans. I may be a wolf but I'm a wolf with a humans brain, that means these filthy animals had no chance when it came to a game of wits.

On cue to make me eat my words came the colossal form of what looked like a lion. It had hidden itself under a fallen tree trunk and had waited for me to walk past. As the beast roared its foul breath over me; a pair of leathery wings broke away from its back.
That may be a problem.
In time with the appearance of the wings came a scorpion's tail, with the bulging venomous tip already spraying its deadly payload.
Well that's just taking the piss.

I dodged to the side and prepared my fangs to fight back, only to have the white sprite dive between me and the beast. The ball of light loosed a sudden burst of shine and the beast reared backwards in pain.

"Run you muppet!" It said with a voice almost identical to Stephen Merchant. "That thing is waaaaaay to powerful for you right now."

"Do as he says." The other sprite said, this one sounded like Johnny Depp as Captain Jack. "That right there is a manticore, AKA something that is about to seriously mess up your day. So run."

"So now you talk?" I said dumbly as the manticore's paw smashed the ground next to me; I got the message and ran as fast as my legs would carry me. The beast recovered from its momentary blindness fast enough to give chase. I began my symphony of swears almost immediately, trying desperately to find a way to shake it off.

"Can't you two do anything?" I growled; I was hoping that Yiang has actually given me the power to speak.

"I just gave you some help!" Asura said indignantly. "Now you have to put in some legwork too!"

"Fat lot of help that light-show was, now its angrier than a woman that just got proved wrong!"
Lycan the Irish Wolf, master of wit.
Even when in mortal danger.

The manticore was clearly not in the mood to let its prey escape so it must have seen my flight as a game; too bad for me it was winning. So I was five minutes into the real start of my journey and already I was being chased by a murderous mutant monster, a bad omen if I have ever seen one. My supposed guides were being useless beyond measure, my legs were starting to hurt and the creature was gaining ground. All I needed now was Yiang adding her regular pointless opinion and my life would be complete. I ran for what seemed like another hour; the manticore was nearly upon me. Then I experienced one of the weirdest sensations of my entire life. The world around me slowed to a near halt as did I. Ahead were two paths, one had Kuroko floating beside it and the other Asura. How had they gotten ahead of me? Regardless, there was something ominous about where each of them were. The path that Kuroko was beside had a faint tint of purple and seemed to shift and warp irregularly. Whereas the path that Asura was next to was like a solid block of bright colours; nothing was out of place in the slightest. Such perfection was unnerving.

"You must choose one of us." The sprites said in unison. "This will be the most minor of your tasks."

"T-Tasks?" I asked; the sprites were starting to go all cryptic.

"We are the taskmasters of Yiang. Sent in her stead to guide you. For now you lack the power to even be called a pawn. We are to guide you to that place. But some day you will ascend above even that role. You will one day topple a king."
My life had crashed around me. This was beyond surreal and had instead ventured into the land of the totally insane. A king!? I'm no great shakes at chess but even a child knows the king is the most important piece on the board. Why - and how - would I take something like that down? Even if the king isn't the strongest in play its always protected by an army of other pieces. Taking on something like that on my own was inconceivable.

"You cannot do it as you are. Neutral and weak." The sprites continued. "Learn to master the threads of the Yin-Yang; take a leap of faith. Choose what you wish. Good or Evil, Order or Chaos, Light or Dark. This decision cannot be made by another, Lycan. This is your fate and yours alone. No other creature will have a hand in it; except you."
The world began to speed up once again. "You have enough time to take one path. No indecision can take place. Choose now, or die."

That was it? I had to be Good or Evil? I had to choose on side of the coin and forgo the other?
Fuck that.
As soon as I felt my legs move at their regular pace I sprinted for the path I had chosen. It was not the one Kuroko was beside; nor was it Asura's. Instead I ran for the road between them. It was another thick layer of trees with a gap that was (I hoped) big enough for me but not the manticore. The two sprites began shouting hysterically at me. Something along the lines of 'what are you doing?! That's against the rules!"
Well its not like the rules are needed because they said it themselves.
This is my fate and mine alone.

I am a stranger in this land; a land that I know nothing of. I have been warped into a dog of the wilds and given the power to manipulate magic. These are the tools I will use to create my destiny. Nothing will prevent me from taking my path.
My real name was forgotten the moment I died in a hospital in Ireland. From there my spirit was stolen and turned into what I am now. I am no longer that Irish boy who was killed by a drunk driver.

My new persona is Lycan the Crimson . This is the start of my story.

I bolted through the gap with ease; barely a tuft of fur was disturbed. The manticore on the other hand smashed painfully into the solid wall of bark. It roared in frustration and began to hack away at the barrier with its huge claws. Not wanting to waste a second of my lead I continued running. Leaving the manticore - and fate - far behind.

*

It would seem that for as far as I could run I could never escape my new companions. I had been travelling for no more than five minutes when the two sprites appeared once again. They were none too happy.

"What the hell was that?" Asura asked confusedly. "You were supposed to pick ONE of us, not neither of us!"

"Now that you pulled that little stunt the both of us are stuck with you." Kuroko growled. "One of us was supposed to return to Yiang."

"Well you guys said it yourselves, my fate is for me to decide. When you told me Good or Evil I pick Neutral." I said with less interest than they would have liked.

"Well guess what kid? Now you have to put up with TWO fairies of morality. Enjoy us!"

"Asura, Kuroko?" I asked. "Would you guys do something to designate which one of you is talking?"

"What?"

"Its simple really. If a voice pops into my head randomly its not like I can tell who it is if I'm in the middle of something."

"But we sound nothing alike!"

"Still, something tells me it will stop a lot of confusion before it starts.
Kuroko did what I assumed was the fairy version of pouting. "Fine. How about I end every sentence with toru and he ends every sentence with a hum of some sorts."

"That would work."

"Then its settled, toru."

Now that I had performed what in most parts actually seemed a rather pointless task of getting the two sprites to add useless phrases to each sentence I began my questioning.

"So why ARE you two here?"

"Its simple." Asura said. "The original plan was that you pick one path at that fork in the road, hmm. You were to either take the path of Yin - me - or the path of Yang - Kuroko - so that the one you picked would train you, hmm."

"However because you decided to take a path that neither of us has prepared. or you put it the neutral path, we are now both stuck with you, toru."

"So does that mean that both of you will train me?"

"Well do you remember how Yiang gave you power toru?

"Well she made me do a task then she gifted me with power. Is this how you guys are going to train me?"

"Indeed toru. However your body will only have the capacity for eleven of the powers we can give toru."
I gave them a puzzled look. "The capacity for eleven you say? What does that mean?"

"Its simple boy, hmm. We will each give you a task and offer a reward." Asura began to float in front of me. "However; these powers are not normal. Each one will give you an advantage that many of your foes lack. Because of this Yiang has decided to limit our power to give you only eleven of these skills. Once you hit eleven, you gain nothing more,hmm."

"It also has to do with your body not being a natural house for such power, more than eleven and you will die toru." Kuroko said bluntly.

Well that made sense I guess. "So how's this gonna work; will you take turns giving me tasks?" I asked.

"No,hmm. Considering that we both planned what we would do around being the only fairy its now a kind of contest, hmm."

"What my light-hearted brother means is that we will both offer tasks at the same time toru. You are then to accept ONE of these tasks and complete it, but by accepting the reward and task from one of us you may lose the chance to gain the other toru."
So that was the contract in ins entirety? Well its a better than what some may get if they were in my position. Considering I have nothing better to do now I'm free I may as well check out the offers.

"Tell me what you two are offering right now."

"I offer the power of camouflage toru." Kuroko said. "You will be able to blend into your environments in a way that will make you more difficult to detect; you will not be invisible however and all sounds you make will still be heard at the same volume, toru. All you have to do, is steal from the rich toru."

"I will offer the Sky-Dance to you." Asura said proudly. "You will be able to travel short distances using nothing more than the air as your pathway, it is the closest you will get to flying, hmm. All you have to do, is free a hostage from captivity, hmm."

So my tasks were going to reflect who offered them? That means Kuroko's tasks will always lean towards moral evil whereas Asura's will lean towards moral good. Both of the fairies were offering a good reward in exchange for doing as they asked. But in my eyes, Asura won this round.

"I accept Asura's offer of the Sky-Dance. Lead on fairy."

---

This is Cryptic.
I just want to make a note to you guys by saying that Asura's name is pronounced Ah-Shu-Ra not Ah-Sur-A.
That's all I needed to say in regards to characters. But don't think that all the powers are going to be OP as heck, I'm going to find a balance between power and skill so that Lycan won't become an unstoppable killing machine.
I will update again soon! - Cryptic.

Comments

[Hard-Pressed Scribe]

FOOL should have taken the Camo