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 Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:42 am
Quest Time!
When waking one morning, Loki finds Lue stone dead. And it seems something's gone a bit weird along the way, someone's playing silly buggers- Lue's body is that of Loki's original familiar, a spider! ... a very dead spider.
Perhaps something can be done if the familiar's spirit can be found, but what lengths will Loki go to to find it?
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Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:14 pm
[xx] Quest PT 1
It wasn't until that afternoon that the fire-exorcist had happened upon the bodies. Or rather, one body that had caught his attention right away. It was an amalgamation of sorts, two different bodies that seemed to have merged together. Such a thing angered and disturbed Loki, mostly due to the fact that one of the bodies was Lue's, but he didn't dare touch it; doing such a thing might have serious consequences. Also, if he were to suck up that husk into his lantern, the spirits inside would have far too much fun with inhabiting the now amalgamated body that lay soulless on the floor.
Gritting his teeth, Loki shook his head and lifted his foot, stomping down upon the thing and smashing it into the dirt in which it lay, making sure the things crunched and weren't repairable or gained by ill-gotten means to any spirits who wanted to pose as the first so-called familiar had. His first 'familiar' wasn't really such, mainly a demon-spirit posing as a familiar to get closer to Loki. To kill him.
But now, with Lue gone, Loki felt an ache in his heart the same way he had when he had lost Lola. They might have had their disagreements, but Lue had always been there, through the god-killing and the near-death experiences.
It still troubled Loki that the gods had been far too easy to kill - surely an all-powerful god could not be killed as such? Shaking his head, Loki took one last look at the now red stain on the ground, walking into his house and retrieving his lantern. He grabbed it and hooked the ribbon to his pants, letting it swing as he walked a few steps. The position it was in wouldn't work; it swung against his hip and hindered more than helped, so he finally consented to just carrying it and moving back outside, starting to walk an unknown path.
There had been no one around again, but Loki knew that Kanth had other things to do.
He let his mind continue to mull over the last fights he'd had, as well as the turn of events; things seemed far too precise to be just contradictory. It was almost as if things had been laid out into one elaborate scheme. While thinking, Loki didn't realize that his feet led him to a graveyard until he had glanced down upon the soft soil, ears perking forward in slight interest.
There was a spirit sleeping there.
She looked rather peaceful in her afterlife slumber, though as she began to push herself off of the ground, he froze in mid step. She floated in midair with ease, other, smaller spirits rising around her with tired expressions, though they soon turned to that of worry. The smaller spirits were animalistic in nature, though they held no intelligence beyond the basic needs that a normal animal held. One squealed when her arm shot out and grabbed it around its midsection, squelching the ethereal skin before shoving it between her lips and crunching down.
It was stranger to Loki yet that the spirit made no other sound when she bit down on it - almost like she was eating air. He took an involuntary step back when she turned to look at him, licking her lips in what looked to be ghost blood.
"You seem surprised, Loki." She echoed, a small smile tugging at her lips. She raised her hands and slid her fingers to sort out her messy dreadlocks, unraveling a few while leaving others in place. Her hair was the color of soot, while her body was a pale shade of white, though she seemed to gain more solidity as she had devoured her meal, her black eyes glancing to either side of her. Another animalistic spirit was snatched up and shoved between her lips as she ate it with fervor, disregarding Loki's expression before she grinned.
"It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, exorcist. Aren't some of your kind the same way?" A hoarse sound that escaped from her throat as he stared, and it took him a moment before he realized that she was laughing.
"You're the hag of this graveyard..." Loki began, and she quieted, looking at him with intense eyes. "Have you seen anyone pass by here...?"
She stared at him for a moment. "You're asking if I've seen either living or dead, correct?" He nodded in reply, and she put her finger to her lips in thought. "I could tell you... but I'd need something for payment."
It was Loki who pursed his lips now. He thought for a moment before looking at the ground. Was Lue really worth it? Yes, he thought, without a moment's hesitation. But the price she would ask might be too much.
It was worth it. "Yes." Loki finally stated, meeting her eyes. She seemed intrigued.
"It seems you have your mind made up." Drifting over, she fawned over his hair a bit before grabbing a few select strands and pulling them out of his scalp, making the boy grimace under her. "This will suffice." She held in her clenched fist five black strands, which made Loki's eyes widen in realization.
"Why-"
"Ah, you will see in time. I would rather like to see you free, Loki. You are not the god some think you are, but in some ways, you're better than him." She laughed at his expression, spinning and weaving the black strands into her dreadlocks. "He is quite an interesting fellow. Perhaps you should meet him sometime. He might take a liking to you... after all, you're his son, in a sense." She grinned. "Not quite as much of a riddler as he is, but you're getting there. The lizard you seek is that way." She pointed in a particular direction, her smile unwavering.
"... thank you." He gave her another strange look before walking that way, his lantern clutched tightly in his hand.
"Oh, and Loki." She drifted to the edge of the graveyard, gripping a tombstone between her palms. "Remember that not all ghosts are bad, and not all need to be exorcised. I have a feeling that you won't be needing that lantern... in the far future... it uses you more than you use it." She tilted her head again, laughing.
"Mad woman." He muttered under his breath, huffing a breath of hot air.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:38 pm
[xx] Quest PT 2
It was some time before Loki reached a shrine, a medium-sized building held together with stone and overgrown with creeping vines that held no flowers. Loki had no doubt that this was the place that old hag was talking about, as it was the only thing that lay in his path. Everything else was shrouded in darkness, and Loki couldn't seem to pull away from this place, as if it had a task that he alone could only do.
"It's burned into your bone!!" Looking for the source of the voice, Loki was instantly on guard the moment those words had been shouted, and nearly jumped out of his skin when cold, clammy ghostly fingers grasped his arm in a strangely gentle fashion. By now, he should have been well-used to ghosts and spirits popping up just out of nowhere.
"What's burned?" Loki growled between clenched canines, staring at the ghost point-blank.
"The marks. From your lantern." The ghost made a motion and slid up Loki's sleeve, unwrapping his bandages. "See, burned through flesh, and now bone. But you can't see it unless you slice the skin." The ghost gave a wide grin.
"Did the hag send you?" Loki asked, ears pinned flat against his skull.
"Huh? Hag?" The ghost floated for a moment, seeming thoughtful. "Oh, HER! That hag! Yeah, she mentioned something about you. Can't remember what it was, though." The ghost giggled, rolling in midair. Loki rolled his eyes.
"Did it have anything to do with a lizard?"
"Lizard? Hhnnnn, no, but it did have something to do with a fire-eater. Oh yeah! Little fella loved fire. Asked for some person named Loh... Low-key?"
"... that would be me." Loki grimaced, showing his canines in a frowning growl. "Tell me where Lue is."
"LUUUE! Oh yes. That phantasm."
"Pha... excuse me, what?" Loki balked, this new wordage unfamiliar to him.
"Wow, you really are a greenleaf aren'tcha?" The ghost smirked, spreading out his fingers and grabbing Loki by his shirt, lifting him up and floating over to toss him in a chair. "A'ight, sit there and listen boyo. I'm only repeating this once." Loki moved to get up, but stopped at a point from the ghost, and sat back down in reply, a grumpy look on his face.
"We'll start with five. Five types of us to begin with. I am what you know as a ghost. Middle-middle. Spirits are one level higher than me, Phantasms higher than Spirits, and Specters higher than that. Umbra is one level below me. Got all that?"
Loki raised an eyebrow. "There's a difference?"
"... well, yeah. You're the famous ghost-sucker exorcist thing, you should know." The ghost snorted. "Anyway. Ghosts are ... well, ghosts. We usually have a reason to stay behind. Usually some kind of grudge of sorts. The lowest forms are called Umbra. They're basically shadowy apparitions, or spectral images to the naked eye. Sometimes they look like the characteristic of a companion, but mostly you can chalk one up to being your shadow. Spirits are a bit higher up, some are pure, others stay in certain spots to warn others of the danger of their death. Or warn others off of their own death." The ghost gave a shrug, enjoying the lecture he was giving. "The phantasm is a creature that... well, I'll let you find that out on your own. Your little pet's a phantasm. Heh! Betcha didn't know that-" The ghost flew backward as Loki had launched up and decked him with his lantern. Loki looked far too unhappy with the ordeal.
"Just tell me where Lue is." Lue wasn't Loki's pet. He was a friend, and he would always remain as such to Loki, whether or not anyone else agreed. Loki knew it in his heart, and he knew that Lue felt the same way as he did. They'd been inseparable.
At least, until this had happened.
"You have to travel the journey yourself, Liver." The ghost then disappeared, giving Loki a rather rudimentary gesture. Loki scoffed and eyed his lantern, staring down the spirits within. They were different this time, as if he'd gained more respect in their eyes.
Lue was his treasure, and he had to find it. One way or another, he wasn't going down without a fight, and he wasn't leaving without Lue.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:39 pm
[xx] Quest PT 3
Walking away from the area and leaving the ghost far behind, Loki found himself shiver as a cold wind blew. He jerked up in surprise to find his flame-scarf fall around his neck, wrapped around in a gentle fashion as if to keep him warm.
"Lola?" Loki's mouth dropped open, and he reached up to press his hands against hers. "Lola..."
"Keep moving. Gotta stay strong. Don't forget." She tugged on his scarf, indicating that's what he had left behind. "Don't forget." She gave him a soft smile, tilting her head and looking rather serene in that moment, making him take a step back in awe.
"Lola... you're a ghost, aren't you?" Loki ran through the terminology he was just given, remembering what ghosts were; people who had a reason to stay behind. "You stayed... so you could watch over me." She gave a small nod before pushing herself off from him and drifting in the air, doing a small twirl.
He couldn't help but feel guilty once more, ears wilting at the fact he hadn't been able to save her. Even more guilty at the fact that he had been reborn, and not her.
"I don't... blame you, Loki." Drifting over to him again, she pressed her lips to his forehead, giving him a small token of her affection. "For luck." She gave a small pause, glancing away. "... he needs you as much as you need him."
"Lola, I-"
"I'm not leaving you." She smiled again, her silver, see-through eyes meeting his. "You would find a lot more trouble for yourself if I did." Her arm stretched out to point to a grassy plain but a few feet away, her body drifting towards the ground.
"Over... there?" Lola slowly nodded.
"Watch where you step." Waving, she faded completely from view, leaving Loki standing there for a long moment until he decided to follow the way she had pointed.
He'd never had a reason to distrust her before, why should he start now? In silence, he started to walk that way, glancing around... but he wasn't watching where he was walking. He ended up pitching forward, and windmilling his arms didn't help one bit; he fell anyway, and ended up falling down a long set of stairs, into a pitch black room with no light whatsoever.
The stairs suddenly ended, leaving Loki grasping for them as he continued to fall, air whipping at his sides as he clutched his lantern and held onto it for dear life.
Whatever this turned out to be... he wasn't sure he was ready for it.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:40 pm
[xx] Quest PT 4
He didn't realize how sore he was until he regained consciousness. Ears twitching, he groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head and finding his blonde hair loose and hanging in every which way. He stretched his wings and flexed them - at least they weren't damaged in the fall.
Shifting his arm, he still felt that he was holding onto his lantern and relaxed a bit, letting out a sigh. Loki slowly glanced up as a flicker of light appeared far away, lighting up a passageway that looked to be a long, stone hall.
Standing up, Loki let out a soft hiss as he started to limp down that way, trying to be warily careful of his injuries, whatever they might be - he could sure feel them.
The glow grew brighter and larger once he got closer, and he soon found that once he reached that particular area, there was a tall man with his extended hand turned palm-side up, the flame dancing upon that palm.
The man had haunted eyes, but his grin was unmistakable; Loki had the strange feeling that this man was his exact namesake.
"You're a tough one to find, even for gods, fallen or not," The man murmured, his grin spreading. Black hair fell over his face in an unkempt manner, but he held out his hand with the dancing flame for Loki to take, though the boy found that he could not.
"...what-"
"You must choose his form. This is your test." Only then did the flame release, sliding right into his lantern and staying there. Loki brought the lantern close and peered into it curiously, the flame flickering just barely. "You must hurry. Lue does not have much time left..." The god frowned now, crossing his arms and snorting. "When you are finished, meet me again. We have much to talk about."
Loki nodded, not daring to contradict or argue against this god; he felt it would be unnecessary, not to mention a bit trifling in the trickster category.
Walking back the way he'd come, Loki kept intent crimson hues upon the flame in the lantern, not paying attention to where he was going.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:44 pm
[xx] Quest PT 5
It was a dead end.
Though, curiously, his gaze was torn away to land upon a lone spiderweb, wherein a black spider sat in the middle, fixing tears to no avail. It finally began to tear it down, sending the tattered threads to the ground and beginning anew.
Loki made a face, not quite understanding.
It seemed to take hours for the spider to finally get enough leverage between one point and the other, but once she did, the web-building began, the spider taking careful time to make every thread count, making no error in what she did.
After all, she was a professional.
The flame within the lantern seemed to flicker, but Loki paid it no mind; he was enthralled in the web-building, watching with awe as she finished her web and scooted from the middle just as a fly landed in her work, to which she pounced on with great eagerness, making quite a meal out of it.
Once she was finished, however, she slid it off of her web and the fly seemed to fly drunkenly away, seemingly unharmed.
It made sense now; of course they had time - they were all spirits down here. But the spider itself... slow, meticulous, cunning... they could afford to lay traps and wait for prey to land in them, as their work was gorgeous and something else entirely. In fact, it was out of this world... in a manner of speaking.
The spider's eyes seemed to land on Loki, the spider herself taking a comfortable position. "You seem intrigued."
"I... well..." Loki glanced to the flame in his lantern, unsure of how to proceed with the question. He believed that a spider would suit Lue's form best, and would help serve his needs... Lue, being a spirit himself, could help trap other spirits, no matter what they were!
"You do not have to ask, likeness-of-Loki-god." She seemed to smile, chuckling. "Let me see him." Drawing down upon a thread, she swung over to the lantern and seemed to slide through the glass, soon dancing with the flame inside. Their spirits seemed to mingle for a moment until breaking apart, now two spiders instead of one; the she-spider seemed to glow as she stared at Lue, her smile unbecoming for one of her nature and body; she left him as she slid along her thread back to her web, content with matters at hand.
Loki stared at Lue now, amazed at his transformation. "T-thank you..." He murmured, glancing up to the she-spider... only to find that she had gone.
He was alone, once again.
But now he had Lue back, and that wasn't going to change.
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