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mauve-n-arcadia · 5 years ago

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The Pining of the Void: Chapter 6 - The Shadow Walk

“Sha-bah! Sha-bah!” Glush shook Shadbak over and over. He shivered as he looked over her body, she was still in one piece, her limbs were unbroken, her clothes were untattered, and yet she was still limp in his arms. “Sha-bah!”

“Move over!” Dul struggled to peel Glush away, tossing the big orc on his ass.

“No!” Glush jumped back up and grabbed Dul’s arm. He was about to Yank Dul away when his hands began to glow with a soft amber light. “What-”

“Hands off, ya big lug! I’m trying to help her!” Glush frowned and tightened his grip.

“What you doing?” He demanded. Dul winced.

“Ack! Easy! I’m trying to see what’s wrong!” Dul said. Glush looked at Shadbak, who’s eyes were still pitch black, then let go of Dul.

“What wrong?” Glush asked. Dul sighed as he worked, moving his hands up over Shadbak’s eyes.

“Well, it seems like she’s caught between planes… her body is here, but her spirit has been pushed out by shadows.” Dul said. Glush’s heart sank. Dul sat back on his haunches, the light of his magic disappeared. Reflexively, Glush leaned in to feel for Shadbaks pulse.

Her skin was not cold, but somehow the sensation of touching her seemed far away. Her heart was beating like an echo from deep in the caves. How were they going to do this mining operation without Shadbak? How was glush going to move on without her?

He felt Dul put a hand on his shoulder.

“Her spirit is wandering the shadow walk,” he began. “She will survive, at least as long as her body does, and… “ Dul stopped and shook his head, “Well… hopefully she doesn’t meet anyone on the walk…“

Glush kept looking into Shadbak’s eyes hoping she would snap back to them at any moment. He looked at her, feeling like he was looking into a deep pit,listening to the echo of her heart. It beat, and beat, Glush’s ear twitched and he looked off to one of the doors in the room.

He squinted at the doorway that was barely brighter than the void crystals on either side. Her heartbeat was coming from there!

Glush stood with determination.

“Dul,” He proclaimed, “Take Shadbak to tent, I go.” He turned to walk towards the faint ba-dum he could hear echoing.

“Wait!” Rudy said, putting an arm out to touch Glush’s shoulder. “You can’t go alone, then we’ll just have two people missing!”

Glush rolled his eyes. “I’m fine.” He said. He brushed Rudy’s hand off his shoulder and made his way towards the darkness.

As he neared the door, the air around him grew colder. It gave off an odd non-presence. Glush reached for the handle, and his hand passed into nothingness. He couldn’t pull back through, the thick shadowy air compelled him to move forward.

He didn’t take a single step, but he found himself on the other side. The cold was firm. It lightly pressed into him from every direction, over every pore, and slid him through the barrier without any effort on his part. He turned to look. The door was still there. He could still hear Shadbaks heartbeat in the distance, but no inkling of sound from Dul and Rudy reached him.

Glush looked around himself. He was alone, and in a small room. This change was a bit jarring, seeing as he was just in a wide cave.

The room seemed darker as well. Glush was good at seeing in the dark, but the darkness in this room was on another level. There were objects in the room, but the darkness conspired to make them amorphous blobs that Glush could barely make out.

Glush sighed, and listened intently.

Ba-dum Ba-dum Ba-dum, it was faint, his ears swiveled. It seemed to be coming from the leftmost corner of the room.

Glush started moving in that direction. His own footsteps took precedence over all the other sounds of his environment. And listening past his own breathing took concentration, but there were a few other sounds of note.

Water was moving somewhere in the distance, as well as an occasional drip. These were sounds Glush was used to from spending time in caves.

An occasional scratching noise could be heard, like claws. It sounded far off as well. Glush noted it as a sound to pay attention to.

But overlaying everything, and coming from no direction in particular, was a faint hum. A deep noise. It permeated through the walls, and through his very bones. But it didn’t feel threatening.

Glush took another deep breath and let the hum reverberate through him.

Ba-Dum Ba-Dum, he could hear the beat a little better now.

He felt his way to a door in the room. It was a regular door this time. He pushed it open, and the old worn hinges screamed into the open air.

The rusted screeching echoed into the hall beyond. There was a bit more light here. There was hardly more to see, but Glush still drank in his surroundings greedily. It was a place not entirely unlike the top of the cave, with its multifaceted geometric walls, dark growths, and sparse sparkling lighting. What surprised Glush was the sheer size of the room. He was not far enough underground for the cave to be this big at all, and yet it was like the sprawling wilds of the outdoors with a shadowy twist.

He padded over mossy hills, glowing blue and purple, ducking under the void like mushrooms which had grown to monumental heights. There was a skittering in the distance, and Glush froze, trying to listen for the source. With the walls of the cave so far away, the echoes of the cave were faint at best, Glush almost didn’t believe his ears when he could hear footsteps along with the light thumping of Shadback’s far off pulse.

“Ah yes this one is nice and plump, ohh but maybe i should take the dry one instead. Oh where is that damned chicken…”

Glush lost all sense of caution as he hurried towards the voice of his friend.

His hurried footsteps alerted an addled Shadbak, she whipped around quickly and Glush stopped short at the tip of her blade, millimeters from Glush’s stomach. She bore her fangs at him, her hair was unkempt with little crumbs of something all over. Her clothes were in tatters, as if she had been wearing them a bit too long.

Her hardened stare transformed into the widest smile Glush had ever seen on her face.

“GLUSH!” She screeched gleefully, storing her knife back into her belt loop.

“I haven’t seen you here yet! No one ever comes to visit me” Her eyes darted from place to place, almost taking in each piece of Glush as a separate entity. Suddenly, she launched herself at him.

“Ahh! Shad-shabak!” Glush exclaimed, making a move to catch her. She passed right through and slumped to the ground behind him.

“Awww.” She said picking herself up from the cave floor. “I can’t touch you!” She lay her cheek on the ground dramatically. A mushroom was laying beside her.

“Stupid Glush” Her eyes landed on the mushroom. “Being all ethereal.” She lazily moved her head forward and took a bite out of the mushroom.

Not getting up, she continued to munch on the mushroom.

“Well if you’re here. I might as well introduce you to everyone else.” She sat up, still chewing a bit.

She threw her head back and screamed. “MIZZY, MYSTERY, MINNY!”

A slight skittering could be heard in the distance.

“You of course already know Mystery,” Shadbak said, gesturing to a blank space of air. Her eyes narrow conspiratorially, “She can talk now” Shadbak whispered.

“I think Mizzy is….AH yes, today was Mizzy’s turn to dig the latrine. She better not been slacking! Sometimes I swear, she’s lazier than you, Glush!”

Shadbaks head turned, “Ah that’s Min now”

The skittering grew louder, and louder still. Glush hovered his hand over his toolbelt. A large, reptilian foot emerged from behind one of the tall mushrooms, its claws were inky black, its scales were a deep charcoal grey, and when it fully emerged, there was a 4 foot tall creature covered in onyx feathers.

“Chicken?” Glush said, bewildered.

“Minny!” Shadback scrambled over and hugged it. Minny squaked and beat its wings a couple times. “See Glush! Minny lets me touch her. What’s the big deal with you all being so intangible?” she pointed around, accusingly at the air.

Glush tried to form words, but came up short. This was clearly Shadbak’s spirit, and she was also clearly in a bad way. How was one supposed to escort a spirit you can’t touch out of this weird place? Especially one who was acting so strange.

“Sha-bah, you, uh-” He rubbed the back of his neck, wishing he could find a less frank way to ask her this, “you bathe?”

“Bathe? Bathe! Why would I bathe in ink?” She half laughed, and half yelled. Glush shrank back.

“Not ink, water, bathe in water.” Glush stammered.

“There is no water, Glush. It’s all ink down here! Look at my boots!” She gestured with one hand at her boots which were indeed pitch black. “That’s what happens when you step in a puddle!” she laughed and threw her arms back around Minny.

Glush’s eyebrows furrowed.

“You no...drink ink?” He asked, concerned. Shadbak cackled even harder, falling into the giant black chicken, and making it stumble.

“Drink Ink!” She screeched between laughs. “You can’t drink ink!”

Glush’s eyebrow furrowed further. He’d never seen Shadbak like this. Not even drunk.

“You need drinks!” He said, and he produced a water pouch from his belt and held it out to her. She took the pouch from him with no problem. Where her hand would have brushed against his, it went through him instead.

She unscrewed the top and peered inside.

“I can see the dark in here!” She exclaimed proudly. Then she up ended it over her head and the water poured over her poofy locks.

Glush whimpered.

“Uh….we find more water.” Glush said, more to himself this time. He looked around hopelessly for a moment and sighed. “Sha-bak, come” He implored.

Shadbak did not. She stared at him blankly.

“Sha-bak, we go!” Glush tried to grab on to her arm. He passed through her again.

The chicken, Minny, scratched its large foot on the ground, and seemed to look as thoughtful as a 5 foot tall jet black chicken could look.

In a deep voice it declared “I know where you could find some water”

Glush stared at the Chicken.

After a long pause “… chicken… talk?”

“Minny is a very special boy-o!” Shadbak yelped defensively. Minny cleared his throat with a sort of clucking sound.

“Yes, er, my name is K’thelix, actually, and your friend here has been surviving off of the local fauna since I found her.” He pecked at the flecks in shadbacks hair and she smiled back at him.

“You mean the mushrooms right? Was it the mushrooms I saw you eating? Or was that Mystery…” Shadbak said. Glush felt his stomach churn. The strange plants down here couldn't do any real harm to her. She wasn’t really eating them, right? Then again, how was she even able to eat anything right now? Then it occurred to Glush, Shadbak had only just had her spirit wrenched from her body moments ago, but she looked like she had been out here for days.

“Ah- kah the… kah the… kah…” Glush twisted his tongue around the alien sounding name, but alas could not get the syllables right. “Minny, uh- when you find Sha-bah?” K’thelix may have had fixed eyes, but he made the closest gesture he could to an eyeroll still.

“I’ve been watching after Shadbak for a fortnight. For all the spirits I’ve found wandering these caves, she is by far the strangest. Can’t say I’ve seen your kind down here before, you people are much hardier than the waifish humanoids that wander into the caves every now and then.” K’thelix said. The longer Glush spent talking to these two the less he felt like he understood. He wished he had brought someone who was better at talking, Usually Shadbak would take care of that, but… well…

Tears began welling up in Glush’s eyes. He was overwhelmed to say the least.

Even in her sorry state. Shadbak could not abide seeing her friend upset.

“No, nonononono!” She said hurriedly, rushing to his side. She tried patting at his cheeks. “No sadness. I’ll….give you a mushroom!” She said plucking one from the ground and presenting it to him. Glush didn’t react to the mushroom, and tears welled up in Shadbaks eyes as well.

“No sadness!” She exclaimed louder as her tears began to flow.

K’Thelix made a sound between clearing his throat and a cluck. Coming over to them, he put a wing around them both.

“Come on” He said in his throaty rumble “Let’s go refill that water skin”

K’thelix was a bit too large to be a regular chicken, Glush thought. He wondered if there were more pitch black, larger than life creatures that lived down here, surely there wasn't just one lonely chicken feeding on a bunch of mushrooms.

“I’ve taken your friend here, what did you call her? Shabbah?”

“Bak, BAK!” Shadbak corrected, though with the way K’thelix ruffled his feathers, it seems he did not understand.

“I do not cluck, Shabbah, now hush. Anyway, I take her here once a day, so she’s been getting plenty of water.” He stopped right in front of a glowing pond, or rather a large puddle. It was a foot deep, maybe a few around, and surrounded by dark foliage that swallowed its light.

Glush’s heart swelled with gratitude as he knelt by the pond. He dipped his hand into the icy water and cupped a small amount up to his lips. He took a tiny sip.

It tasted a tiny bit metallic but seemed fine for drinking, so he dipped both hands in and took a few more gulps.

He wasn’t sure if Shadbak actually needed to drink. But the dryness in his throat made him certain that he did.

Shadbak lowered her head and drank greedily. As she rose the cool droplets spilt down her chin and onto her neck.

Her eyes shot up and made contact with his. She cracked a smile, and for a moment seemed like her old self. Then she pouted.

“We should nap!”

Glush tilted his head. He was very emotionally drained, and could probably use a moment of rest. But K’thelix shook his head.

“Not here.” The giant chicken said vaguely.

Glush too pouted for a moment. “Why?” He asked.

“This is the only clean watering hole in the caves” K’thelix stated tilting his head. A expression that while, very different from an orc, seemed reminiscent of the same expression Shadbak gave him when he said something stupid. Glush was still not sure why, and just returned the head tilt.

“Ugh, what kind of creatures are you two? This is the ONLY watering hole, all the creatures that live here come here to drink, that includes ones that might find you or I to be a tasty treat!” K’thelix squaked. Glush remembered that there were more dangers than simply other creatures in the caves. Shadbak was on a timer, and no matter how exhausting this all was, he had to get her out now.

The problem was how to get her out. She was being incredibly uncooperative, and Glush had the feeling that even if he were better with words, that they wouldn’t help him here. He dipped his canteen into the pool of water and gazed over at Shadback, hoping she would suddenly snap back to her usual self.

She was plucking mushrooms from the edges of the pool and humming a tune. It was something familiar, an old orcish lullaby. Old enough that it was something every orc learned from their grandparents. Shadbak had a glazed over look in her eyes as she plucked away at the mushrooms, as if in a trance.

“Ah!” Glush swiftly plugged up his canteen and strapped it back to his leg. He reached into his jacket pocket, and produced his flute. This might be a long shot, but it was worth a try. “Sha-bah-” she did not respond. “Sha-bah!” she was still deep in a trance. He made a strained sigh, at least the song made her focus.

He put his flute up to his lips and took a deep breath, placing his fingers over the keys of the first note. Softly at first, he blew the first phrase out in time with Shadbacks humming, they perfectly matched each others pitch. It was a story all Orcs knew, and a tune you would have to be tone deaf to mess up. As Shadback ended the last phrase of the song, and breathed in, ready to loop to the beginning, Glush played just a bit louder than her hum.

As his fingers danced over the notes, playing the tale of a weary traveller, Shadbak’s eyes widened. She looked to him slowly, like his flute was illuminating the cave.

Slowly he began to edge his way away from the water. She, practically slack-jawed, followed him. A triumphant smirk threatened to mess up his air flow as he gained confidence that she would follow.

He absent mindedly began retracing his steps. Going back the way he came would surely lead him out and back to Shadbaks body. He had a good enough sense of direction that he could let his feet find the way while his mind focused on the song.

He continued to play. Glush was never great at communicating through words, but music was a different story. The yearning for the family that he had found satisfied in Shadbaks company cried out throughout the song, urging her forward.

The notes echoed from the high cavern walls, reverberating back creating a harmony that enveloped both Glush and Shadbak.

Glush thought he heard a faint voice calling after him, as his feet and music carried further into the darkness.

#orc fag plays a tune #original content #original writing #original fiction #fantasy #fantasy series #fantasy romance #orc #gay orcs #this story is getting to be rather long #one day the plot will happen #world building #wow #idk here's another tag

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