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Chapter XXII: Mel’s Madness
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Mel walked up a slope near a familiar field riddled in the skeletons of goblins. And within the middle of that field floated a blueish figure who lifted balls of earth out of the ground, only to fling them at the nearby tree line. Mel gazed in awe at the sight yet composed himself non the less and continued to walk towards the figure.
Boo launched the earth that he was controlling straight to the ground and called out, “Master! Has you comes to trains me?!”
Mel continued to walk towards him, and muttered, “Hmm, more like, you’re going to train me, ha…”
Boo floated down to the ground in front of Mel and asked, “What did you says?”
Now face to face with Boo, Mel said, “Oh nothing… I see your training has been coming along nicely. You have truly become an expert caster like myself. At this rate, you may even create your own unique magic and become a master.”
“Ohs, you ares too kind master. I only hopes to be as good as yous onedays,” said Boo as he scratched the side of his head with his staff.
Mel bit his lip and then said, “Ha, yes, of course… Anyways you’re probably wondering why I’ve come here and interrupted your training. I, um, need some advice you see.”
Boo started to jump with glee and said, “Master needs helps from mes?! Anythings! What is its?!”
“Well, I’m not sure how to say this, but I no longer feel my Goddess’s blessing… Every time I pray, it’s like my voice falls on deaf ears. I almost feel as if lady Estra herself has forsaken me to damnation! Ahg… Does your God still speak with you by chance?” asked Mel as he stared at the ground in distress.
Boo frowned, laid his hand on Mel’s shoulder, and said, “I’m sorrys, Mels. But to answer yous, yesss, my God still speaks to mes.”
Mel fell into Boo’s black robes and sobbed, “I am lost my student, it’s as if I’m not worthy of the truth! Please, I need to know why my Goddess has abandoned me!”
Boo rubbed Mel’s back and said, “My Father would gives yous the paths to achieves your truths. I’m sures of it.”
*Sniffle* *Sniffle*
“What do you mean when you say, ‘my Father,’ do you mean Olmer?” said Mel as he pulled back and gazed into Boo’s black eyes.
Boo looked away, grabbed his chin, and said, “I has been ponderings this for whiles nows, but I believes dis Olmer and Father to be one of the sames.”
“Ah, I’m not sure of that. Bah, I’m not sure of anything right now! I need an answer! I’ll do anything right now for an inkling of truth!” said Mel as he crushed a goblin skull with his stomp.
Boo looked up at the sky inquisitivly and said, “Let me consols Father, maybe he has somes-”
“I’ve made up my mind, and to be honest with you Boo. I made up my mind before coming here. It’s about time that I joined you,” said Mel with a quivering lip.
“You wishes to become like mes? Dats strange master. Most resist Father’s blessing with der entire being, and tos accepts it, hmmmmm,” said Boo.
Mel knelt in the mud and pleaded, “Please my student! I must do this to gain the truth as to why I have been forsaken! At the very least I need to gain the power to seek out the truth, please!”
Boo flinched away and said, “Master, do not kneels before me, it makes yous look weak…”
Mel cried into the mud and said, “I am weak! I seek strength! Please Boo!”
“Most lose their santities master, and Father may punish mes!” exclaimed Boo.
“Please!” cried Mel.
Boo sagged his shoulders and said, “As you wishes master,” and he slowly plants his staff onto Mel’s back.
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The high-bog then closed his eyes and proceeded to chant under his breath. As he chanted, the winds ramped up around them and their robes blew radically in all directions. The air darkened within the field, tree leaves turned over, and unforeseen energies went astir. There were no remnants of calmness within the field, as unhinged chaos took the scene.
Boo now held onto the staff with both hands and shouted, “Oh blessed Father, hears my calls! Allow this being known Mel to finds the truths he seeks. Let hims bask in your guidance for eternities to comes! Joins us! Joins the tribe as one of the strongs! Rise! Oh, rise!”
*Boom* *Clap*
A great flash exploded outwards across the open field, and then quickly slammed back in on itself to a single point. There within that single point of blue, now laid a new being casted in a shimmer of light. The surrounding winds and land had slowly reverted back to its previous state. And after a few minutes, a second high-bog stood tall.
“Master? Are you ders? Do you still feel yourselfs?” asked Boo as he sat down and tried to look under Mel’s hood.
Mel began to float up into the sky and said, “Amazing! It’s all clear to me now.”
Boo gulped and said, “Master, new tribe members often feel the needs to, umms, asserts their place withins the tribe… Please, do not attempts this nows,” and he promptly ascended into the air along with Mel.
Mel conjured human sized lightning bolts in each of his hands and said, “I have no need to assert anything but the truth. However, I do understand what you mean. This new body seems to have an inclination towards violence, yet I’m not sure if it’s derived from the body at all,” and he launched his bolts of lightning.
*Kra-boom* *Crack* *Snap* *Thud*
Boo watched as a massive willow tree split in half and shouted, “Amazing master! Do you feel fatigues? Surely you musts?”
“Not in the slightest my student. Let’s train a bit and test my newfound capacity. Who do you think can strike down the most trees within a minute? How about it?” said Mel as he floated next to Boo.
Boo smiled ear to ear under his hood and said, “Master wills surely best mes, yet I wills give yous the runs like a rat from a spawning. However, what mays the-”
“Brother! C’mon downs from ders! Father requests us to assembles,” shouted Rou as he barreled across the field.
The two hooded figures then briefly looked at one another, slid their hands into their sleeves, and slowly descended to the ground. Upon landing, both of them spent their excess time spiffing up their attire while the red high-bog raced across the landscape to them.
Boo pinched his forehead and asked, “Brother, is it times for our punishments?”
Rou now heaved out of breath in front of the two and said, “Nooos! It’s good news- Waits! Who’s dis?!” he asked, as he pointed at Mel.
Mel unhooded himself and said, “It’s me nephew. It’s Mel, you know, your betters,” and he sneered at Rou’s dingy half-plate armor.
Rou paced around Mel, sniffed him a bit, and said, “Mel is not better than mes! And you smells of frog shit likes Mels, yet Mels has pink skin, not blue... Whos ares you really?”
Boo sighed and said, “Bother, I swear it’s Mels, trust mes. Now, why has you comes?”
Rou’s eyes flared as if a light went back on, and he said, “Awes, yesss. Father wishes to travels to the halfmens that we’s been raidings! Yets, he not knows of everything…”
Mel noticed how Rou bit his tongue on his last phrase, so he asked, “You two are hiding things again, aren't yea?” and he looked intently at the both of them.
Boo’s shoulders went slack, and he said, “Yesss, master-”
“No! Mel is not alloweds to know anythings!” exclaimed Rou as he extended his arm to hush his brother.
Boo slapped that meaty arm out of his face and said, “Mel is ones of us now! Furthmores, he has joined the colors of da strongs! Plus, we’lls probably head ders before we’s seeks out the halfmens.”
Mel watched Rou clam up, and asked, “You two are fucking werid… What are you going on about?!”
Boo leaned up against his staff and said, “We has been raidings some halfmens for wells over a month now. Whenevers we’d bring things to mother, we’d lie and say we founds it on a hunt.”
“First off, they’re not halfmen, they’re fucking gnomes, and I know all of this already. Big whoop! You’re just lucky that I didn’t rat you out to your mother earlier,” said Mel as he waved his finger at the both of them.
“We has several hundred boggarts at ah fort, near these, um, ‘gnomes’ as you calls them,” said Boo.
Mel’s jaw dropped, and he sputtered, “Hundreds?! What- How? And just, how does such a colony even exist?!”
Boo then said, “Uhhs, wells, we always stationed one of us threes at the base, and lied for him. Mother never caught on. Actually, Yee is der right now, dats why he’s not heres.”
“So let me get this right. A single one of you manages, what, three hundred, four hundred, no, five hundred goblins at a single location?! From all my studies, that’s impossible, they’d scatter and kill each other instead of coexisting together,” explained Mel.
Rou stopped eating his boogers and said, “Mel thinks he’s so smarts, yet it simples. We beats the strong with a stick like Father dids to us, and we has their strongest beats the next ones with da stick, and so ons. We thens rewards those strongest with mates and shinnies.”
Boo now looked at Rou and said, “Goods explanation brother, nice! Howevers, why does Father wishes to ‘assembes’ us?
Rou pulled out his club with a smile and said, “Oh, tos silence thems of course, just like dem other halfmens!”
Mel coughed and said, “Dwarves you fu-”
“Okays, I understands! Yets, there are many so questions dough. Like, do we brings the females to fight? Will any of da other high-bogs come with us? Should we kills them alls or force dem to join da ranks? Hmmm,” said Boo as he picked at his warts.
Rou slammed his club into the ground and yelled, “We has da numbers and strengths to crush them alls! I hopes Father will us allow to run amongst them as they scream!”
Mel chuckled and said, “Don’t get too hopeful now you big oaf. My cousin will likely just want to secure our secrecy as he’s done before, nothing more. However, with that said, a new part of me feels as if silence is not enough.”
“I know what you means master, yets we must heed the words of the Father,” exclaimed Boo.
Just as the three were about to dive further into the discussion on the events to come, a group of high-bogs emerged from the woodlands. They were dressed in pelts and carried large packs on their backs. Their bodies were pudgy and relatively short for high-bogs, yet even from a distance, they oozed with confidence.
Mel sniffed the air and said, “This new nose is ridiculous. I see how you guys were so frustrated with me when I couldn’t smell enemies or prey. Hmm, and one of them smells quite familiar.”
Fundinn trudged ahead of his group and yelled out, “You guys about ready to go?! My men are ready to settle out now if you can’t tell!”
Mel met him halfway and asked, “More or less, but where is Alakar? Why isn’t he with you and ready to go too?”
“I am not his damn keeper. I’m just here to safeguard my kinsmen who wanted to come,” said Fundinn with a huff.
“Well then, um, is this supposed to be the existent of our party then?” asked Mel.
Fundinn sniffed the air between them and said, “You seem disappointed Mel. Are these not enough men to send off to slaughter?”
Mel put both his arms out and said, “Oh Fundinn, don’t push your hatred of my cousin onto me now. And I’ll answer your question since you don’t wish to answer any of mine. I don’t think your men will be a part of any slaughter, well, unless they want to. You’ll see.”
“How can I not hate him… He turned me and you into these things, these warty, ugly, unforgiving pests,” grumbled Fundinn.
Mel shot off into the air and shouted, “You’re wrong. I chose this! Now follow my nephews! Your king and I will catch up soon!”
*Zooooom*
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