Aww it was really cool to see a fan-written scene like this! Thanks so much for sharing!
Meeting Cattington--- an Eldritchrune fan scene
I was given the OK. My creative juices shall now flow.
I was allowed to write. So now I will write. (and sketch stuff bc Lynx's Eldritch Catti/Jockington is so friken fun to draw.)
Meeting Cattington
Tracking a beast was harder than it looked.
From some sketchy information off a Darkner in this new realm, Kris and their friends had been searching the area outside of a settlement for any new lead. Apparently there'd been another Eldritch beast lurking around in the surrounding area. So at Ralsei's urging, they'd decided to go and seek it out, both to recruit a new party member and to prevent a potential attack.
And if Kris had to put up with any more, they'd officially go insane.
The newest addition to the party in particular, Berdly, was proving a real headache. Sure, he was helpful at times, but he seemed to be using this opportunity to rattle off knowledge that only he seemed to have any idea of. They'd been putting up with it since they rescued him from Queen, but they could not take any more of it.
"Ralsei. Please. Is there an arcane command for "shut up?" they asked, grabbing his shoulders and feeling the slight warmth of the flames they knew to be beneath his robe.
"I-- I don't believe there is---" he started to say.
Kris groaned. "Uuugh how do you listen to him!? I am seriously regretting taking him along."
"I can think of better ways to say 'shut up' than your weird little magic commands," Susie quipped from nearby.
"Please don't kill Berdly."
"Don't kill Berdly," the annoying Eldritch bird in question agreed.
"Oh no," Kris whispered under their breath. "We summoned him." Then, louder, "Berdly, can you shut it for a bit? I'm really stressed right now."
"Of course! I will gladly deprive you of my invaluable information for the time being! I apologize for any stress I may have--"
"Hey bird brain, when someone says shut up, they mean do it without any monologuing!" Susie complained.
"Shutting up," he muttered.
Aside from Berdly, there were also environmental considerations to take into account. The entire area was covered in pointy, rocky cliffs. Kris had fallen off at least two already (thank angel for Ralsei's soul revival). It was also cold. Really cold. And there were lots of hostile enemies (as usual). And now they were scouring a cliffed area attempting to track a beast.
Just then, something in the air seemed to... shift. There was no other way to explain it than a shift. And everyone in the party felt the unmistakable sensation of being watched. And one other thing...
"Guys?" Noelle asked. "Am I crazy, or did it suddenly get a lot... darker?"
Indeed, it was darker out. Too sudden, even for the Dark World. So dark, in fact, that all Kris could see in the dark were the glowing eyes and feathers of Susie and Berdly. In this unnatural darkness, they tripped over a rock, falling on their face. Fortunately, they weren't hurt, but it did cause Ralsei to stop and help them up, an apologetic look glowing in the gloom. "Kris! I'm so sorry! I forgot you don't have darkvision." He removed his hat, revealing the green-and-white glowing fire demon. This side of him scared Kris, but this time, they were grateful for the light.
However, a second source of light, too bright and harsh even for Ralsei's flames, cut through the dark. It was bright, and round, and... as it bounced away off the cliff, Kris could make out the unmistakable shape of a ball the kids at Hometown used to play with a lot. If they were remembering correctly, that was called... a soccer ball?
Weird.
A second one bounced from nowhere, traveling at a fatal speed. It narrowly missed Kris, and bounced off the cliff again.
"Kris! This has to be the beast!" Ralsei shouted. "Be careful, the terrain and the darkness will make this challenging! But I'm always here if things go wrong!"
With that reassuring thought, they reached out their hand towards where the soccer balls had come from and shouted the command for "stop".
A third ball narrowly skimmed the top of their head, bounced off a rock, and hit Susie in the side. She roared in pain, "Why didn't that work?! Aren't your commands supposed to be a 'no negotiation end all?"
"Maybe it doesn't work because I can't see it?" they called back.
"Whatever it is, stop it! I've already had enough of this thing."
Kris decided to try the direct approach. They called out to the shadows, "Look! We just want to talk! And if it's my soul you're after, forget it!" They jerked a thumb toward Ralsei. "It belongs to him. Not me. And certainly not you! So this is going to take forever unless you---"
A soccer ball hit them square in the chest.
Fortunately, it wasn't as fatal of a speed as they'd judged it to be. Just knocked the wind out of them. What would however be fatal was the rapidly approaching ground: the ball had knocked them off the cliff. They braced themselves to hit the rocks at the bottom and be splatted into a Kris puddle, but they looked up and saw they had a far more painful way to go out in store for them.
The ball, or a second one, had dislodged a chunk of rock from the cliff, that was rapidly falling toward Kris. They sighed. Death was more of a nuisance than anything at this point. Sometimes it was really painful, but other times in their final moments before Ralsei brought them back, they could think something like, Oh! So that's what being stabbed in the gut feels like. Interesting.
So now, they braced themselves for impact as they lived through the novel experience of having their body crushed by a giant rock.
Kris felt the tug of death that was all too familiar, then another tug that was Ralsei pulling them back.
As they got up, a voice rumbled from the shadows, sounding vaguely like a cat purring, but with the subtle reverb of the Eldritch beasts. "Hm. Not bluffing."
A pair of yellow eyes blinked from the darkness, and a second voice spoke. "If we kill it enough we can, get it eventually."
A soccer ball materialized again, hurtling towards them. Kris called the "stop" command in the general direction of the eyes, and to their relief, it worked this time. The ball disintegrated inches from their face.
"You can, speak to us?" said the second voice, with utter disbelief. It was sibilant and smooth, like a snake, but without the hiss on the S you'd expect from one.
"Yes," Kris agreed. They indicated Ralsei again. "He taught me. It's also how he has control of my soul."
"Shame," the cat voice said. The shadows let up, and a catlike silhouette jumped down from its position on a crag. It looked like an outline of a cat drawn by someone who only vaguely remembered what one looked like, except for the tail, which had the yellow eyes on it and was lashing far too expressively to be that of a cat.
When it reached the light, Kris's eyes went wide.
This was the most visually stunning beast so far. One one half of its body, it was a white-furred cat with cosmic purple designs scattering across it, and a perpetually closed eye. On the other, it was a shadowy void, with multiple white, reflective eyes and a sharp-fanged smile. Its tail was a bright green snake with the same galaxy patterns. It had long, lethal-looking claws on five-toed paws, and a swirl that looked like a universe model Kris had seen when they were younger floated above its head. Rings, gold on the void side and silver on the cosmic, glinted in its ears.
"Whoa.." they whispered.
"Yeah it's a shame," the snake tail said. "We could've gotten, a really cool spell from your soul!"
"Cool... spell?" Kris asked, remembering they were talking with the beast.
"Souls are power," the cat explained, bending down so close to Kris that they flinched a little, but it only sniffed, then withdrew. "Yours is strong."
"So you make spells out of souls?" Kris asked. The snake tail nodded. "Well, then, hear my proposition."
The beast settled, laying down to listen to Kris.
"I'm headed to the Light World."
The cat cocked its head, interested. "Why?"
"Retribution," Kris replied, hoping it wouldn't ask them to elaborate. To their relief, it didn't. "If you couldn't get my soul... how does lots of others sound?"
"Lots of others?" the tail asked, interest clearly peaked. "I'm, interested."
"If you accompany me, and do what I ask, then you can get those other souls," Kris continued. "And other spells."
"A bird in, the hand," the tail said doubtfully.
"Would I lie to you?" Kris asked, annoyed (and surprised the beast knew that expression). "When I'm being faced with a deadly Eldritch beast?"
"No," said the cat. "You aren't lying. I can tell. We'll accompany you, human," it continued, rising to its paws and shooting an annoyed glance at its snake tail.
"Kris is fine," they replied.
"Kris, then."
"You are?" they inquired.
"Catti," the cat said. "I'm Jockington," the tail chimed in. "Cattington, combined."
Cattington walked ahead a little. The other beasts looked very confused. As Kris watched Cattington integrate with their other friends, Ralsei suddenly patted Kris on the shoulder, making them jump. "Well done!" he said with a grin. "You recruited another beast, and I'm sure those Darkners will be happy to have them gone!"
Kris said nothing, but nodded. The magic Cattington had was going to be quite valuable.
"Yes, well done!" said Berdly, flying up. He kept rambling, rambling, rambling... until suddenly he abruptly stopped talking. His beak moved, but no sound came out.
Kris looked over. Catti had raised a paw, grinning ear to ear. It was evidently clear she'd made Berdly stop. Kris returned the grin. The magic was going to be quite valuable indeed.
Eldritchrune by @lynxgriffin. This is a fan scene for their AU, hope you like it!
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