BoL Event II - Narci and Ivera

-BEGIN STORY-

Narcissus awoke to various sensations. He could hear the crackle of dying embers, animals moving throughout the foliage, and the gentle slap of waves upon the lake shore. He could smell smoke and wet grass. He could see bright blue sky with lazy, white clouds. .. And he felt a cringing pain in his neck.

The blue man did not remember when he had exactly fallen asleep with a log as a pillow. Nor did he remember ever retrieving the dull blanket that laid atop him. It was not the softest in the world, but it felt comfortable.

He shot upwards in sudden realization, causing a yelp at the pain that shot from his spine. Narcissus looked about and did not see her. He did see the blue roan look at him from a distance. It snorted as if it was rolling its eyes. The man almost tumbled in his hurry to stand.

“Ivera? EE-VER-AH!” he called with his palms pressed against his lips.

The reply he received was a snicker. The woman clutched three small birds that hung upside down with beaks permanently twisted and agape. Narcissus had to admit that Ivera was relatively clean of cuts and scratches from panicking birds. He admired her speed and apparent strength.
“Miss me?” she smirked, tossing a bird to him. “Breakfast.”

Narcissus flailed to catch the corpse. This caused another snicker from Ivera and a creeping red blush from embarrassment in response. “I was worried about you,” he responded.

“Why would you be worried? I’m just as capable in that jungle as you are, if not more.” Her tone lacked offense. It was more of amusement than anything. She placed one bird by their campsite from the night before. Then she sat down and began plucking the other. When Narcissus did not follow, her yellow eyes motioned for him.

He sat down awkwardly a few feet away from her and idly picked at the feathers upon his bird. Its neck was twisted, but Narcissus could still see one half-closed eye staring at him in annoyance. Yeah. She’s really going to bite you, the blue man imagined the dead animal saying with squawks thrown in.

“After we eat, we’ll prepare a bit before leaving. You still have that friend of yours to apologize to,” Ivera began. Seeing Narcissus bite his lip, she attempted some humor to lighten his mood. “I also took the liberty of bathing.. Naked.. This morning while you slept.”

He laughed.
------

She had been rather fast with her preparations. The roan nibbled on sparse grass with bags hanging off his shoulders. Hanging from one hind leg was Narcissus’s magic white box, filled with some remnants of his pretend pantry. The horse did not seem to mind as long as food was offered.

Nodding to the woman seated upon the saddle, Narcissus ventured back into the hut. He glanced about the room, sensing no danger. Then he tentatively lifted the top of the painted chest. Though he had some trouble with counting, the blue man could tell that there were more coins there than he remembered.

“Ivera,” he murmured in realization. Narcissus smiled weakly, running his fingertips across the top of the box fondly. He planted his lips upon it as a promise. I’ll come back for you soon. Then he hid his treasure beneath the earth.

-----

Narcissus had traveled upon foot, and most of his travel was spent pulling upon the lead rope. The roan was rather stubborn and gluttonous, and it often snorted in annoyance when not allowed a visit towards Ulrien’s rather vibrant greenery.
Ivera carried small conversations with Narcissus and found the roan’s antics amusing. When she found herself almost veering over off the side, she yelled at the beast, flaring out her wings to steady herself.

The horse stood on its hind legs, using its front legs to paw at the air. Narcissus leapt to the side, and Ivera leapt off to avoid the danger of an uncontrollable horse. The animal then barreled past with the contents of their satchels and the magic box spilling upon the ground behind it.

The two laid on the ground stunned from the debacle that just took place. Narcissus scratched the back of his head, trying to recover from a brief daze. Ivera rubbed her sore tail and bared her fangs viciously.

“I don’t know about you, but I am definitely hungry enough to eat a horse!” she shouted. Ivera scrambled upwards and began her hunt for the roan.

Narcissus continued the pursuit after he regained some of his senses. He did not know how he was going to be able to find the woman. She had a knack for disappearing from his sight of vision, despite her purple complexion. The man decided to focus on finding the horse. Ivera could trace back to it surely.

He hoped that the still silence of Ulrien forests would enable him to locate the dumb beast easier than Rindrir jungle. Then again, Narcissus was ensure exactly what type of beasts lived here. He ran with as much caution as his feet would allow on fallen leaves and branches.
Narcissus could see strange prints. One set looked very much human. He checked his feet next to one print in a comparison to make sure that he was not running around in circles. The prints were smaller. That meant that there was someone else lurking within the forest.
Narcissus sniffed the air and twitched his ears.. Something smelled. Badly. His lip curled slightly in disgust. The fish man became curious and followed his nose towards what he assumed to be a dead body by the stench and prints.
The culprit appeared to beneath a rocky alcove, past the tree where Narcissus stood. Narcissus glanced up at the top of the cave-like structure. Nothing strange. Narcissus glanced at its nearest side. Nothing strange. When he turned to go around the tree for further inspection, the silence was erupted by a terrified scream.

“…… Ivera… What are.. You doing?” Narcissus asked, pressing a palm to his face.

She was hanging upside down from part of the crevice, using her strange feet and leg muscles to help her remain in suspense. Her wings were outstretched, and her tail appeared to be wagging in some form of excitement. From Narcissus’s position, he could see that her hands were held to her face, and her tongue was sticking out. Ivera grinned and couldn’t help but laugh. “Entertaining.. A very.. Foul smelling guest.”

The smell radiated back to his nose in greater strength than before.

--------

There was a lengthy interrogation from Narcissus. He began first with Ivera upon the condition of the rogue roan. She had smirked after descending from her perch, twisting her tail from side to side. “I was distracted from my search by the stench. I have no idea where the stupid beast went.”
Narcissus bit his bottom lip. That horse had his magical box. That magical box enabled him to visit Kyroh. He did not care much about whether the animal lived or died, but that box was like a ticket to happiness.

But first, his attention was directed towards the strange man cowering in the shadows. He would be cowering. Two scaly monsters stood over him. One had jagged teeth, and the other had jagged wings. It made sense for his fear to be evident.
The young man’s clothes were ragged and stained upon his thin body. His hair was matted and long, and a beard was developing. He looked frail and broken with sunken eyes and a quivering lip.
Something caught Narcissus’ eye. There appeared to be some sort of letter pinned to the man’s degrading pants.
“Th-the f-f-our lead the w-wayyy to one,” he read. Narcissus had moved closer to the young male’s chest in order to read it. Another scream pierced his ears.

“D-d-don’t you t-t-touch m-meeee! Who-w-what are y-y-you? B-b-beasts!”

She was on him in less than a second. Her fingers squeezed his neck, and the other hand clutched a raised dagger. Her lips had moved back, baring her fangs. “If you want for me to, I can be very beastly… I wouldn’t even waste my blade on your filthy throat.” Ivera released her grip but did not pocket the dagger. The woman glared hatefully at the man. “Now, who are you?”

The young man mumbled, pressing his back firmly against the tree and shivering. His face seemed to depict pain. “Tur-turstan.”

Narcissus’ eye widened to the point that it may have popped out. “Turstan? Prince Turstan?” he repeated with his mouth agape. His face was more fish-like than usual in an almost comical way.

Ivera’s own expression had flickered in shock, but she quickly regained her composure. At that point, she withdrew the knife. The woman’s eyes glanced towards Narcissus, and without warning, the side of her palm hit the prince’s neck. He collapsed against the tree.

-------

Narcissus had yelled, “WHAT THE HELL?!” He had screamed that due to the sudden random act of violence. The man had wished that she hadn’t done that at that moment, but now, he was really, really wishing that she had not.

The fish man had been coerced into an accomplice act with the promise of becoming an actual hero. He had thought of the glory and general attraction of the populace towards him if that happened, and Narcissus had almost instantly agreed.

Due to the absence of the horse, Narcissus had thrown the prince across his shoulders, and that was when he realized exactly what that smell was. It wasn’t a pleasant situation for really anyone. Weighing upon his shoulders quite literally was that two ‘monsters’ were about to march into Vingard with a badly beaten lost prince. Nothing good could possibly come of it.

He wondered how Ivera had thought of the idea so fast and what exactly her motives could have been. Narcissus did not think that her motives could have been ill. Perhaps, she wanted to prince to his thrown in exchange of gold, but perhaps, she simply wanted to return a son to his mother.

Every now and then, Turstan would stir and begin screaming again, and the leader, Ivera, would simply turn around and strike that pressure point again. Narcissus had asked how exactly she had learned that trick, and the woman had just given him a cheeky grin in response.

Since they were quite a while away, Narcissus had questioned her to continue a conversation. He had asked innocent questions. ‘What is flying like?’ At one point, the man had asked, ‘What is having a tail like?’ Ivera had wiggled it from side to side, and the fish man had to look up at the sky and think of Kyroh with his brightening blush. Purple butt did that.

-----

They had reached the walls at dusk. Thirst and hunger were very evident at the time, but the prince was the first priority at the moment. Narcissus licked his parched lips and sighed. He hoped that he would not go berserk and throw Turstan against a brick wall or something of the sort.

The problem was now to slip inside the city and past the watchmen. Their lances looked very capable of piercing even scales.
Ivera displayed her cleverness again. “.. Stay close to me, Narcissus. I am going to attempt to use my light magic to disguise us.”

Realizing that his hands were full, the woman grabbed the hem of Narcissus’ shorts. She used it like a leash. Ivera murmured some language, and soon, they were cloaked by a veil of reflecting light. “Stay silent, and don’t let me let go of you.”

If Narcissus did not have a sweating mass of the funk, Kyroh in his mind, and several men with weapons in his view, he would have found this to be incredibly arousing.

They began slowly creeping along, keeping mostly to the shadows of alleyways. Turstan had grown quite heavy and progressively fouler since his discovery.

Ivera had begun panting. Her grip was sweaty. At one point, she dug her claws into Narcissus’ thigh. He had bit his lip to keep from yelping, and she had murmured an apology weakly. The exertion of concentration put into magic was beginning to take its toll.

They had just made it at the the castle gate when she lost it. The magic faded, and at that same moment, the prince awakened. He began screaming absolute bloody murder, thrashing and kicking at the blue man that held him.

Ivera slumped against the gate. Her muscles strained themselves to remain standing. She could not manage to pull off her trick, no matter how much Narcissus called her name.

Guards swarmed out of seemingly nowhere with their lances poised for attack. When a guard approached the prince, he had pointed an accusing finger towards the beasts. At their yelling of commands, lights began to fill Vingard, and the streets were becoming populated again with curious onlookers.

The fish man dropped the prince and wrapped his arms around Ivera instead. Kyroh was surely going to stab him for this, but it was absolutely necessary for survival. She would understand after a while. Narcissus held her bridal style and began sprinting.

Her head bounced against his heaving chest. Adrenaline and fear flowed through his veins at each shout. Some guards had begun pursuit upon the suspicious ‘monsters’. His nostrils flared much like a horse’s, and his eye kept glancing back. His sore feet pounded against the cobblestone.

Narcissus never meant to intentionally hurt anyone, but in the stressful situation and his increasing anger, the man felt that he had to. Water began erupting between the cobblestones, springing into the faces of the pursuers.

The man groaned at the amount of energy that had cost him. His running had slowed, and his breathing had grown harder. The weight in his arms seemed to be increasing. The distraction had confused the guards, but they still continued their chase. There was no hope.

Capture was imminent.


And then lightning struck. The surge of electricity caused Narcissus to jump. He paused momentarily to glance around wildly. It was a rather clear night. There were no clouds in the sky.

Suddenly, Narcissus felt his wrist being grabbed. Not even the heavens could save hi- That thought was cast out. He was being ushered in a different direction, away from the palace. Often times, the savior had to pull upon the fish man’s wrist. “Hurry!” a young male’s voice hissed.

When Ivera was taken from his arms, Narcissus instantly recognized that face. “Lu-Luka?!”
“Just hurry.. Siria’s distracting the guards.”

Narcissus bit his lip and began feeling his eyes irritate. The two people that he had caused immense pain to were assisting him? He didn’t understand. The fish man had been a true monster towards them with his selfishness. Why would anyone help someone who had caused them such pain?

The male in front of him grinned as if reading the fish man’s mind. “Friends don’t let each other suffer.”

-END STORY-

Team Monster finished kind of late, but darvit, we finished and made that deadline! D:<

Aherm. I would like to say that is was a pleasure to work with Jenna. She provided me plenty of encouragement, internet hugs, and beautiful lineart to work with.

On my half of the collaboration, I typed up the story while drunk over Coke Zero, which explains the sick sense of humor thrown through out it.

(The foul odor from Prince Turstan is what happens when you're kidnapped by a big-a-- dragon for days without showering and a change of pants, and then two more scaly critters come up on you after you're trying to recover, making you want a new pair of pants even more.)

As for the ending of the story, I decided to be ironic and have Narci be the one to be saved by Siria and Luka. I just thought that they'd still be there for some reason, and they'd just happen to hear the prince's scream and come to investigate. Though, Siria would wait for Narci to tire for a bit before she helped. For the ironic justice, yo. >8;D

I also colored it haphazardly. The splotches on Vee's and Narci's skin are supposed to represent scaly places. Also, I put a little Easter Egg in there. Not sure if anyone will get it.

A lot of the success came from Jenna's lines. See those individual blades of grass, strands of hair, tree bark, and cracks in the rock? That definitely did not come from me.

I had a freaking heart attack when she first sent them to me, and Lesbocat had to slap me into reality. My poor friend I was video chatting with did not know what the hell was going on. xD;;;

Aherm.

Lineart, Concept, Ivera (c) (Jenna)
Coloring, Story, Narcissus (c)

Event, Prince Turstan, Luka (c) (PRINCESS OTTER-SAMA)
Siria (c)




Beasts of Legend: Narcissus
-Part 1-

[link](The Prince Disappeared)
[link](CRUNCH) - Comic
[link](CRUNCH) - Story

-Part 2-

[link](Team Monster, GO!)
Finding the Prince - You're here!