Heartworm

“Axun, purossta?” Nessyndra responded, her tongue slithering and clicking in an unfamiliar arrangement of noises.

“Vaer durti wux zluls urrshafaerrves vyh, Nessyndra?” Nessyndra’s father responded in the same slithered tones. I could only assume that he was her father without any sort of identifiable words. The way he spoke down to her reminded me of all of the times I was scolded by my own parents.

My parents. They had to know something about my fate at this point. I wondered what their reaction to the news might have been. Would they mourn me? Perhaps they knew I wasn’t really dead, though the idea brought even more uncomfortable thoughts to mind. If they knew about me now, they’d most likely support the hunt for me. I’d like to think it would be out of love, the idea that they could ‘cure’ me in some misguided way. It was nicer to imagine that then the alternative that they would want to put me down. The failed son that would live as a testament to their inability to control their own offspring.

“Vaurs mthrigj wuxl rerossta osspersvekn?” The man spoke once more, the words hissing through my ears with an uncomfortable resonance. This language didn’t ring any bells within my mind. I was struggling to follow their conversation through expression alone, made all the more difficult by how inexpressive the two of them were. It had been a long time since I found myself listening to a language that I couldn’t comprehend. Most all who lived within the Empire spoke the same language with only a few exceptions across Kistram. While Kistrin was the majority spoken, some sections of Kistram still stuck to their historic languages. I had taken the time to learn even those languages. Whatever the two were speaking had no roots in any language I had learned. It felt almost otherworldly.

“Does it help if I say sorry?” I tentatively spoke in the short break between their conversation. I quickly began to wonder if speaking up was a good decision when the two of them spun their heads towards me in confusion.

“Pok yas plerr renthisjiss! Yas kthrigj dtiams vyh!” The man drew back away from me. He pulled himself back into the doorway, his body pressing against the bubble allowing him a quick exit if he needed one. I had no idea why he was so afraid, especially when I had done little but speak and look at him.

“Ester, please remain silent for the time being. I will handle this.” Nessyndra spoke to me with words that I could finally understand. While I might have been incredibly enthusiastic about the unknown, it was less exciting to be thrust 20,000 leagues out of my depth with wherever I was. Everything that I looked at or touched was unfamiliar and bizarre.

“Wux renthisj osspa gursraurus? Wuxl rerossta shiothoh ekess nthricm.” The man had a truly shocked expression as he slipped through the bubble and left. With the distant shuffling and speaking from on the other side of the ‘door’, it was clear he was leaving for something. Or someone. I was desperately trying to make sense of some of the repeated words that I had heard. Rerossta had come up once or twice. Could that be a name?

“I apologize that you needed to witness that.” Nessyndra shot a soft smile towards me, so subtle in the features of her face that I almost missed it entirely.

“I’m not even sure what I missed. I don’t understand any of what he said. Is he mad at me? Or is he upset with you?” I asked, fighting the urge to lay back down on the table in order to still my spinning head. I hadn’t had to digest this much information so quickly since I was in my Varenthell classes.

“I am thinking of how to simplify this for you.” Nessyndra paused for a moment with her eyes closed. Was that a method to help her concentrate? It was hard to make assumptions for a race I was entirely unfamiliar with. Things that might seem self-evident can turn out to be entirely opposite. That was for the different races I had researched at Varenthell, at least. This was a whole new level of undiscovered where assumptions might land me in hot water. Speaking of hot water… if we were deep within the Uroro lake the climate should theoretically be cold. Far colder than it currently was, at least. There was so much I wanted to learn about this place when I had more time. The fact is I had no time to waste. Before I died I was-

The sudden realization of everything that occurred in Urden washed over much like a- no, no time for puns or anything else at the moment. I needed to get back to Cecelia! She had stabilized before I had left, but there was no telling if she had managed to be treated yet. Phern had the capability to heal her if they found the right materials on the other side of the lake. But if they hadn’t made it to the other side yet… or if the Empire was waiting for them…

Every grim possibility flashed through my mind in just a few moments, all culminating in the same thought. I needed to find them. I needed to reunite with the bandits.

“I have thought of an explanation. You are-” Nessyndra began to speak before I cut her off.

“Sorry, thank you for saving me and all, Nessie, but I need to get back to the Bandits. I need to make sure that Cecelia is safe.” I replied, racing towards the door of the room. As unappealing as it sounded to walk through a door made up of magically viscous water, I had just seen the man from before do it twice and it seemed simple enough.

“Ester, no! You cannot go out there!” It was the most expressive speech I had heard from her yet, but it didn’t change anything about my actions. I didn’t have any time to waste at the bottom of this lake, for all I knew Cecelia could be withering away in the custody of the Empire while I was down here. I couldn’t-I wouldn’t- sit around to be diplomatic with a civilization I knew nothing about.

Before I managed to slip through the door, a slick scaled hand wrapped around my arm to pull me away from leaving. When I turned to face her I expected some level of anger or reprimand within her eyes. Instead, a soft concern gazed back at me from behind the nictitating membrane of her eyes.

“You cannot. They are afraid of you out there. You must be careful, something with which I can help.” Nessyndra smelled distinctly of salt, and overwhelming scent that burned in my sensitive nose as we remained locked in a strange staring contest a few feet from the door.

“Afraid? Pft, yeah I’m getting used to being unwelcome wherever I go now. I can try to disguise myself as human if that helps you, but I’m leaving either way.” I responded quickly, already closing my eyes to focus on the strange sensation of magically disguising my features. Something which would most likely be made more difficult by the addition of a brand new tail I would need to account for. Oddly enough, the recent memory of disguising my features for Calliope and Sebil helped in visualizing what I would need to do.

Calliope? No, that wasn’t my memory. It was Lilith’s memory, yet it played through my mind while dead as if it was my very own. It felt so… normal. An uneasiness twisted within my stomach. How had I not noticed that memory wasn’t mine? If that had slipped past me, what else within my mind belonged to Lilith without me realizing. I needed Lilith back within my mind. There were far too many questions twirling betwixt my ears, and she would need to answer for every single one of them.

“They are not afraid of Deathless, Ester. They are afraid of everything. If you were to look like a human, it wouldn’t change a thing.” I opened my eyes when she spoke to me. At least I wouldn’t have to attempt the disguise again, it was always obnoxious to put it on to pretend to be human. Or… was it? I’d lived my whole life as a human until recently, was that truly my feelings on disguise? Or was it Lilith’s repulsed view of being human that colored my feelings?

“They’re scared of everything?”

“Yes. Anything that is not Crutia, is a threat. Hamartia of my kind. They believe that any presence of the surface will sicken our people and lead to the destruction of our kind.”

“Crutia?”

“My kind.” Nessyndra gestured to herself from head to toe- or fin? I wasn’t sure what the right terminology for her anatomy was. While the concept of learning about a new race was exhilarating, I was not excited for the prospect of being Uroro’s newest plague in their eyes.

“Well what the fuck do I do? You’re saying if I leave people will freak out, but I’m sure as hell not staying here! I need to get out, Nessie. I need to get back to Cecelia!”

“The… blonde one? She is Cecelia, correct?”

“How do you know that?”

“I spoke before of how I watched you, did I not? You are fascinating to spectate.”

“Is stalking people viewed differently for Crutia? Or are you just fine with being creepy.”

Nessyndra cocked her head to the side as she looked up towards the ceiling. If it was her thinking, it was a very odd display. “I suppose it is strange for us too, but I did not mean for it to be that way. It was a delight to watch you and your friends, even though some of what I saw didn’t make much sense to me. Is sparring a gesture of kindness? Love?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I need to get back to Cecelia. She was injured, and I have no idea how long I’ve been down here, where they are right now, or if they’re even still alive!”

“Then we will find them together.”

“...we?”

“Am I using that word incorrectly? I intend for the both of us to find your lovers.”

“Lovers? No. Friends. We’re finding my friends. I am finding my friends.”

“May I not come with?” Nessyndra asked, a flicker of sadness running across the length of her words. She seemed passionate about joining me. Something which made absolutely no sense for me. She had just explained to me that her people view me as some sort of sickness. Would she even be safe around me?

“I don’t understand, I thought you just said that anything other than Crutia are a threat to your kind?”

“That is what my people think. It is not true. They are all stuck inside of their beliefs. I will unstuck them from their beliefs. That is why I want to follow you.” She must have taught herself to speak Kistrin by watching and listening to people along the lake’s edge. It was impressive that she had such a grasp of the language from that alone, despite a few hiccups here and there.

“So you’re using me as your ticket out of here? Is that why you saved me from drowning?”

“Empathy made me save you. A trait I am learning to study. But since bringing you here was necessary to save you, it follows that you can help me leave, since you will be leaving here regardless. As you said.” Nessyndra smiled at me as I processed all of her words carefully. I was slightly confused when she mentioned empathy as a trait she was learning, but now didn’t seem like the best time to press that issue.

“Fine. I need to get back to Cecelia, whatever it takes. If that means leading a fish out of water, then so be it.” Any other time I might have been more gracious, but I was far too scared to extend my usual kindness. If Cecelia bled to death on a boat while I was deep under the water I could never forgive myself. The memory of Vyra on the floor of her own room caused my hands to shake. I didn’t need another regret to eat away at my heart.

“Crutia. We are not fish.”

“I know. It was a joke, a play on an old saying.”

“Care to explain it for me? I would love to have more jokes to entertain others with.” Nessyndra smiled at me in instant understanding when I mentioned it was a joke.

“Another time, perhaps.”

“Ah, yes. We are lacking in time. My father will be back shortly in order to initiate the trial.”

“The what?” My satisfaction at correctly guessing that the previous person was her father was instantly overwritten by the fear of an imminent trial.

“A trial. You will be put on trial so that my people can determine if you should be put to death for the betterment of Uroro, which they will almost certainly decide on.” Nessyndra explained the situation without a change in tone, as if she was simply reading the morning’s news. My expression showed every single emotion in a succinct display, yet I thought it best to voice those same emotions just in case the message had yet to come across.

“Put to death?! Why the fuck didn’t you say any of this until now?! I need to get out of here before he comes back.” I said, rushing towards the door once more.

More forcefully than last time I was pulled away from the door. The strength she had was unfortunately not enough to keep a Deathless at bay as I continued to walk towards the door despite her struggling grasp pulling me away. With a swish of her scaled arms, the floor beneath me was quickly drenched in water. At least it looked like water, but in practice it felt far more slick and slippery than normal water as I slipped on the liquid and slammed into the ground.

“Do not struggle! We will win the trial with ease!” Nessyndra assured with an unsettling smile, the breadth of her sharp teeth on full display. I wondered if my own teeth were sharper than hers. My pride assured me that they were despite having no way to check in the present moment.

“Win the trial? I can’t speak your language, let alone understand it! How am I supposed to defend myself? I won’t even know if we’re losing until they try to hack my head off and find out that it’s not so effective.”

“That is part of my argument in fact! I am under the impression that Deathless cannot be killed outside of very specific magical means. Something which my people do not possess.” It was a convincing point, sure, but it was also deeply unsettling to me. They would certainly find the prospect of an unkillable being to be a horrifying threat. By all means, I was. If I truly wanted to, there might not be much they could do to stop me from slaughtering their entire race. The thought made me sick to my stomach, but if they were already predisposed to believing outsiders as a threat, an immortal threat would not be looked at kindly.

“No. There’s too much risk involved. There’s no way that we could convince them I’m not a threat! I mean look at me! I’m a perfectly constructed murdering machine. The only reason that I’m not a threat is because I choose to not be a threat. That’s not a level of trust I think they will afford me. Not to mention that if I don’t find myself some food I might not have a choice in the matter. If I go feral and hurt someone down here, my prospects of finding a peaceful way out of here go down the drain. Which means you won’t be coming with me if that happens.” I didn’t feel great about putting her freedom on the chopping block, but I had no other way of ensuring that she knew the stakes of finding me food. I had no intentions of harming anyone here in Uroro.

“Oh. Food? I have plenty of seaweed on hand when I am hungry. You may have as much as-”

“Meat. It needs to be meat. Strictly carnivorous, sorry.” I gave her a sheepish shrug. I knew I shouldn’t be embarrassed to state a dietary restriction that was out of my hands, but it still made me feel strange.

“We do not eat fish down here. We think of them as family.” I thought back to the row of incredibly sharp teeth that she possessed. It was strange that herbivorous creatures like the Crutia would have such sharp teeth, but perhaps it was necessary for some of the tough seaweed in the depths.

“Cool, well they’re family to me in the same way that Daniel Lee Duncan in my Spellometry class was family.”

Nessyndra looked at me with a blank expression.

“Which is to say that they aren’t family. Give me any one of them and I’ll debone them faster than you can say ‘I can’t believe how fast that Deathless deboned that fish’.”

“I can’t believe how fast that Deathless deboned that fish.” Nessyndra spoke and watched expectantly, as if I would be able to find and eat a fish in the time it took for her to say it. Yet again, that one might have been on me for a lack of explanation.

“I… I need a fish first. It doesn’t work without one.”

“Oh. I suppose I can find you one. I will bring it to your cell before the trial starts.”

“My cell?” I asked, finally picking myself up from the slippery floor of the room.

“They will be back any second to imprison you, but fret not, you will have ample time to prepare yourself before the trial actually starts. During which we will prepare you with a proper defense and get you acclimated with our language.”

“Wha- the entire language?! How long will I be in that cell?”

“Two hours.”

I blanched at the idea. Learning enough of a language to be able to defend myself in a trial in only two hours… I might have been a good student, but I didn’t think I was that much of a fast learner.