Chapter 3-Shurn

The soft sounds of cooing birds woke Shurn. A fine mist covered the ground and the air was still. Soft warm rays of light coaxed him awake.

Which was a nice distraction from the log-splitting migraine. Pain, pain, pain.

“Trrainted ggggoooodssszz.”

Something unpleasant smelling was smeared across his mouth. Shurn discovered it was froth. Yeuch.

Head spinning, he attempted to sit up. And attempted. Gods he was so thirsty. And the ground kept shifting from underneath his feet. No, that was just the migraine and dizziness making life interesting.

Legs wobbling, Shurn picked his way slowly and painfully down and out of the cave. He could vaguely recall passing some water in his mad dash here. . . where was it now? Just up ahead. . .

The young man absolutely cried as he saw it. He was past caring if there was anyone around to see. Shurn didn’t bother scooping some up, he dove in a clumsy shuffling motion and went face first into the stream.

The water was so cold he could feel it spiking through him as he desperately gulped it down.

It was only when he surfaced, shivering and definitely not crying with relief that Shurn realized he was still holding the club. Funny, he’d completely forgotten about it until this moment.

Even more strange, the more he thought about the club, the more foggy his mind became until finally he was staring slack-jawed at the thing with drool dribbling down his chin.

Shurn didn’t know how long he stood there until he saw a pretty spark ignite from the club, glowing and dancing merrily. The light hovered there for a moment until it lanced painfully between his eyes.

Cursing, he made to throw away the club when fear flooded him right down to his bones, rooting him to the spot.

Very, very slowly he lifted the club to chest height and stared at it.

“W-what the hell are you? What do you want from me? Look, I don't know if I sold my soul or something but, please can I put you down? I'll pay you! Well, I mean, I don’t have money but I-I can go get some! Uh. Blood!! Blood! I can get you blood! Just, um, please let me put you down? Hmm?”

A sense of restlessness.

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Then a vague impression of the mind-shredding visions from the night before. Those quickly winked out.

Almost half-heartedly, a new vision revealed itself to him. Shurn saw himself exactly as he was walking, club in hand. The sun rose and set many times. He saw a town, with a sign in front proclaiming it to be ‘Wihnterwalz’. Odd, he’d never learned how to read?

A twinge from the club brought him back to the vision.

Vision-Shurn left the village and hiked toward a foreboding looking mountain, through a valley with dark yellow mushrooms growing at the bottom. In a cave near the bottom was a monster. A massive two-headed cat slept in the middle of the cave. Stripes along its flank marked it as a Tiger of the Wastes.

Past the Tiger, deep in the cave was a grotto, on the walls of which were small patches of dimly glowing lichen.

The vision became almost painfully precise. He saw himself carefully scooping up five handfuls of lichen and placing them in his shirt. Leaving the cave, another long journey took Shurn to a city with a sign reading ‘Welcome to Ulshetz’. A white haired man with pockmarked arms gawked at the lichen, and handed him a chest filled with gold coins.

Shurn breathed. The stream gurgled and splashed. He’d started out yesterday as an outcast with nothing but a crushing sense of loneliness and rejection and the clothes on his back. Now he barely had the clothes. They were rent and torn like a beggar’s, parts of them having been lost to the dog, the brush, and the stream.

On the bright side, he was alive and had a club that liked to show him visions and hated being put down. Was that a bright side? He wasn’t sure. Based on the vision, the club seemed to be clumsily attempting to bribe him with empty promises of gold in a cave someplace much too far and dangerous to think about.

On thinking about it, this thing was clearly way more trouble than it was worth. Shurn, like most normal people, would much rather be a beggar someplace nice and safe than go on some ridiculously suicidal hero quest with an evil club. While the club seemed to be able to heal him and had blown his mind more effectively than Old Solevas’ mushrooms, he wasn’t going to get roped into killing himself over it.

“N-not just no! HELL no!”

He threw the club as hard as he could into the stream.

Interlude-The Furious One

What the f–*!@ I was so furious I nearly gave myself an aneurysm. No mean feat considering I dont have corporeal blood vessels TO HAVE AN ANEURYSM IN!!

Ok, so he threw me away. Fine. Not like I needed him anyway. I’ll just find some other sucker to make my comeback in. I’ll show him! I’ll show them all!!!

RRRGHNGNGRRGNNNNNNO! No! No! I wont accept it! This little. . . PUNK!!!! He has absolutely nothing! He is in the perfect position to be manipulated into doing my will! Happyland, I’d even shown him a place where he could get Transcendent Moss! Alchemists go crazy for it!! Yes, it’s a few weeks away and there is a wee little Tiger but that’s no problem for someone carrying me! He wouldn’t even have to eat anything while travelling if he just held onto me!!

I’m honestly starting to doubt my own abilities.

That’s it. I’m gonna go Old Testament on this kid. I haven’t been this angry in several millennia. Not from getting my essence banished to the Void. Not even from getting struck down by the literal GODS of you puny little flesh sacks has ever upset me this much!!

Wait. I know. I just need to reel him back in. Bait on a hook? Fine! You wanna play? Let’s play.