”Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhhhh!”
On a cloudy night, when the triplet moons of the planet Anosha hung like a chandelier in the centre of the sky, a city not unlike any other found itself devoid of life in an instant. No sound to be heard, no creatures to be seen, only the roiling winds surrounding a grey-skinned humanoid making any disturbance in the environment. Its face betrayed its rage, scrunched up to the point where it barely seemed like it could go any further.
Towards the skies, it roared, and myriad strikes of lightning crashed onto the city walls,
“Bunali ahm, Dransis. Bunali! Ahm! Unsui’ahm set!”
Its words were heard by none, but were clearly directed at some manner of creature. Perhaps it was a grudge built over centuries, but regardless, its rage had been subjected unto people uninvolved in the matter. With a wave of its arm like a conductor directing its orchestra, the air itself crystallised and was flung at the buildings around it, bringing the city ever closer to a state of rubble. More and more of the city crumbled, as the creature clawed its arms at the air wildly in its murderous frenzy.
“Bunali… ahm…”
With every swing of its arms, the amount of buildings that fell lessened and lessened, and its body grew more hunched and haggard. The air around it calmed from hurricane-force winds to a calm breeze, as it slumped and started mindlessly walking. In the centre of the city, where a grand town square once was, a mountain of fresh bodies young and old laid. There was no discrimination in the slaughter.
With heavier steps than its body should allow, it climbed up the stairs of flesh. With every step, a crunch or a squelch rang out into the silent city, which looked more like a distinctly overprotected quarry now that only the grandiose walls remained. Upon reaching the peak, the creature fell into the mound of flesh, laying on top with its back exposed to the sun. Its mouth still moved, making the same shapes over and over. Even as life drained from its already grey eyes, until the very last moment before it could not move anymore, it kept cursing at the one who wronged it.
Days passed, and the triplet moons separated once more, signifying the coming of a new season. Snow fell across the northern reaches of Anosha, and with the cold desolation came Haulers, brave souls who carried resources from city to city to ensure the continuation of as many lives as possible.
Not many travellers came to the city of Silah, besides a band of three Haulers who belonged to the Northern Survival Troupe. Pale of skin and with golden-haired, the three men looked closer to triplets than the moons which hung above their heads, but their heights and facial structures betrayed their differing heritages. Footsteps trailed behind them for many miles, though the large backpacks they wore left greater trails still. Within contained supplies for 2 cycles of the triplet moons, all intended for the city of Silah.
“Just two minutes out now chaps, we’ll be seeing them sweet walls o’ Silah as soon as we cross this corner,” the taller of the men shouted with a grand guffaw.
“Aye boss!”
The other two men yelled at the same time, as if rehearsed previously.
They trudged on for a short while longer, and turned the icy corner which hid Silah away from the world. And then, with the light thud of backpacks hitting the ground,
“B-boss, is Si-ilah meant to be… that?”
“Haaahh… nay, kid. Looks like it's been hit by a Lyi.”
“Y-y-y-you’re jokin’, right?”
“Stench of burnt corpses in the air, everything but walls rubble, and a big fat mound of… whatever that is in the centre? All the signs point to one.”
“It ain’t still there, right boss?”
“Don’t worry yaself, lad. It’ll have been killed or eaten by now. They run out of steam mighty fast.”
“T-t-that’s good, t’en. Stay safe, Boss Kilki”
The shorter, more muscular of the men picked up his pack, and trudged towards the city, though his two comrades stayed behind. In scenarios like this, it was standard procedure for the leader of the group to investigate first, to ensure the safety of their juniors.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. The snow under Kilki’s feet cracked as he walked forwards through the dilapidated city gates. Howling of myriad predators rang out throughout the city, but none seemed to approach him. The central street still had a stifling wind about it, and those predators could likely feel what the beast which came before them was capable of.
Kilki swung his head around as he wandered through the city, and towards its centre. This wasn’t the first situation like this he’d had to deal with- Lyi weren’t an uncommon predator to the Northern Survival Troupe, despite their seemingly infrequent attacks. First step of investigating a Lyi attack: check on the corpse mound in the centre.
This sure is alot bigger than the last attack I investigated… 30,000, no, at least 40,000 corpses on there. Tough climb.
Though Kilki complained internally, he grabbed out at the pile of rotting corpses and began his climb up. With the freezing temperatures the corpses managed to retain a surprisingly good amount of solidity, despite their rotting state. It took little longer than 5 minutes for him to reach the plateau, upon which a bare figure spoiled by wounds and a layer of solidified blood laid, clearly not like the rest.
Someone’s alive? Nay… that’s not an Anshoran… it’s not a Lyi, that’s for sure. Should get it to shelter and get it clothed, atleast. It may be alien to me, but it's clearly a victim here too.
With a harumph, Kilki picked up the creature, but dropped it again almost immediately and spoke spontaneously,
“Wings? Yer mother a bird or something? Don’t recognise the golden hue aye, but if anything about you is unusual, those definitely are. How am I meant to clothe a thing with wings? Nothing will fit you, little creature. Aii… it's not your fault. I’ll find ya something.”
With his surprise passing, he picked up the winged creature once more and hauled it over his shoulder, beginning his walk back down the fleshy mound. The first step was complete, though having a single survivor was unusual for an attack like this. Second step, establish the type of Lyi that invaded.
Based on the stifling air, Kilki knew it was a magic-type Lyi, the most common of them. Scorch marks on the ground betrayed either Lightning or Fire types of magic and if it was previously a Mage it assuredly knew Force. That was all he could glean, being a Lord himself, rather than a Mage.
The third step was not an art he could perform, nor could the rest of his travelling band. Besides, he had an unusual creature completely knocked out on his shoulders, and the species research division would need to look into it first before any progress could really be made in the now ruined city of Silah
”Treshna, Hylimdem?””What is this?”
”Ajio… Dransis. Juni ata undeta.”
”Where am I?”
”Unsui’amo tes. Kia’ra.”
”Who’s voices are these?”
”Ti, oiamo.”
”Why does Hylimdem sound familiar?”
”Nresa?”
”Who am I?”
“Un… kalao esamo.”
Stolen story; please report.
”What am I?”
“Hahahah, utamo, utamo!”
"When will this st-”
As if just a dream, it opened its eyes. A bright light shone into its eyes from the roof above, bringing a stinging sensation; one it couldn’t stand. Swiftly sitting up, it took a glance around the room in which it had woken up in, one that was distinctly unfamiliar. Not that anything would be familiar to it, considering it didn’t even know what it was. What it did know was that it was cold, and it stayed tightly wrapped in the blanket in which it had woken up.
No… it wasn’t cold. Though it was shivering, it could tell that it was a totally different sensation. One born of a genetic response, though it couldn’t quite figure out what was causing it. It being alone didn’t feel like the right answer, and neither did the lack of knowledge seem to affect it. Though, maybe it’d be best to figure that out later, and figure itself out first.
Letting the blanket slip off as it got up from the metal-framed bed, it wandered up to a mirror. Before it had got up, it faintly seemed to be able to see the room in reverse through this reflective surface, so perhaps it would be able to figure out what it was?
Sure enough, upon walking up to the mirror, it could see itself, confirmed by outstretching its hand and watching the reflection mimic the action. Sheet white skin, almost the same colour as the walls around it if just barely a bit more tanned, contrasted by the long brunette hair that ran down to the small wings sprouting from its lower back; whose feathers seemed to match the colour of the hair. Large, regal purple eyes traced up and down its body, which seemed like it was completely featureless besides that it was soft to the touch - it was practically just a blank slate. Pointing out from the sides of its round face were a pair of long and sharp ears, decorated by two arrowhead-shaped holes each and lightly swaying up and down in a manner filled with curiosity.
”This is… me? But who am I? What am I?”
It spoke aloud with a voice that could only be described as soft and euphonious.
”Do I… have a name?”
Its mind raced, trying to recall anything from before this room, but all it could remember was the short conversation in a foreign language it had heard before it woke up. The only thing that seemed vaguely familiar to it was the name Hylimdem, perhaps what it had been known by before it had woken up here? For now, it decided to adopt that name.
But it no longer had time to think for itself - a knock rang out on the door that led into the room. Without waiting for an answer, another thing that looked somewhat like it stumbled into the room; clearly it was in a massive rush. Hylimdem stared at the creature, comparing it to itself; a more whitish hair colour and smaller, lacking the wings but also having strange, flowy black and white skin much unlike its own. Backing up from this unknown entity, Hylimdem pushed itself against a wall, to try and get as far away as possible. But the creature didn’t seem to want to harm it; rather, it spoke,
“H-hello, I’m sure you must be v-v-very confused right now. We heard your questions j-j-j-just from the room over, can you understand me well? Do you want me to slow down? I am called Hovi, I am an Anshoran, female, and I work as an unknown species research specialist which is USRS for short, at a group called the N-Northern Survival Troupe which is NST for short. We’ve c-currently taken the liberty of naming you Mina, which is our way of saying magnificent, but do you have a different preference?”
Hylimdem looked curiously at the Anshoran that called herself Hovi. She spoke much faster than it had expected, as compared to how it barely managed to eke out a sentence or two in the time it had taken her to speak 5 much longer ones. Mina was what she called it, but it had a distinct dislike for the name - it much preferred the one it had found itself.
“Mina... no, I like… Hylimdem. That… that is my name.”
Upon Hylimdem speaking, Hovi’s bright blue eyes noticeably widened and lit up, and she produced a small white box with a thin but long blue device that she pushed against the box. She seemed to noticeably calm down when it had spoken to her in a language she understood.
“Hy… lim… dem. I wonder what it means, it’s so much different than any name here! I’m glad you understand me, Hylimdem.”
"You're speaking Kingslanguage. It's only natural I wou- how... how do I know that? How do I know what Kingslanguage is? I... I..."
Hylimdem's face lightly scrunched in confusion, it's pointed ears drooping slightly downwards.
"Hovi... how much of my past before this room do you know?"
Hovi's incandescent expression of happiness slowly faded into one of melancholy,
"We know nothing besides that we found you in the city of Silah, which had its Anshoran population totally annihilated by a Magical Beast we refer to as a Lyi. You were... the only thing alive that even slightly resembled us. Kingslanguage is a common tongue in this region though, perhaps you heard it somewhere before this."
"I see... do you... no, if you didn't recognize my name, you won't recognise the other words that were in my head... "
"Likely not, no. We shouldn't dwell on your past right now, Hylimdem, not until we both understand more about you. Do you know what I mean by that?"
"Yes... yes I do. Please, take me where you need t-"
"We don't need to go anywhere for now. Do you remember the bed you woke up on? Would you mind taking a seat on that?
Hylimdem's face went through a variety of expressions, ranging from deep sadness to utter confusion, before it settled on a straight face once more. It nodded at Hovi, taking a seat on the bed once more. The Anshoran laid down the white box, keeping the long blue device in her hands,
"Would you be able to track this pen with your eyes please?"
"Pen... okay."
Moving the pen from left to right, back and forth, infront and behind of the winged Hylimdem, Hovi nodded to herself. Picking the box back up, she pushed the pen into it once more to keep track of whatever results she had gleaned from the little test.
"So, Hylimdem, you're sentient, have good eyesight and can track things, and it seems you can hear well enough. Would you mind if I run a few tests on those wings and ears of yours, also? They seem to be your biggest difference from us, so we need to understand them."
Another nod, another set of tests. Rinse and repeat, this lasted for no less than 50 unique tests. By the end of it all, Hovi looked incredibly tired, but inquisitiveness still lived on in her half-shut eyes. On the contrary, Hylimdem hadn't changed in the slightest, still sat on the bed with the same blank expression as before, and still lightly shivering every few minutes.
"So, to summarize... you're a uniquely resistant being. Your skin and hair are both hard to damage, and those wings of yours barely even move an inch; though, you're just a tiny bit more resistant than us. It's a good thing, you won't really get any scrapes or bruises as you move around, but that's about all that'll get you. You are incredibly light, however, so be careful around anything heavy. Those ears of yours definitely serve a purpose in making your hearing alot better, though I'd recommend covering them when you get a chance based on the reaction you had to their being touch. Not sure what the holes in them are for, but that might be something that comes about as you mature a little more."
Hylimdem's eyes fluttered, looking up at Hovi with a bit of curiosity,
"Mature?"
"Yes, based on the tests... you're only a week or so old. And since we found you four days ago, and the Lyi attack has been assumed to happen around eight, its a bit of an enigma. You also don't seem to be made of the same stuff as us, flesh and bone. Rather, you're much more... Magical in nature. On my assumption I'd think that you were born, if that word is even applicable to you, when the Lyi that attacked Silah collapsed and the remnant Magic laid dormant in it spread into nature. It'd explain why you're so fragile as compared to other Magic creatures, and why your skin is much less... static than theirs. Though, we still don't understand the purpose of your wings... they're immovable. Perhaps they're just aesthetic to your race, but as with those holes in your ears, maybe they'll be usable as you grow older. Ah, we'll have to determine a name for your race, after we find out more about what you can do. We'll need to declare some more personal things about you too, in time. Like your sex, there's... really no way to figure that one out for you. "
She lightly sighed, having said her piece. Lightly dropping her hand onto Hylimdem's shoulder, she used her other to ruffle its rough, brown hair.
"But, we're all done for today. You can rest now, and we'll get you cleaned up properly tomorrow. Besides, we need time to get some clothing fit to you, especially with those wings of yours. They'll be a bit of a challenge for our tailors, but we have the measurements at their base. I'll make sure they make one that's tighter around them and one that's looser to find which best suits you, okay? I'll see you tomorrow, whenever you wake up."
With that, Hovi left the inexpressive Hylimdem to its whims, and closed the door behind her. With a sigh, she nearly collapsed outside the door, pushing up her hair at the sides of her head. She knew very well what that creature was, but in some way, she knew it was different. Taking a look at her notes, she hung her head high after taking a moment to herself, and brought herself back to her feet.
After a minute or so of walking, she entered a room that had a one-way view into the room storing Hylimdem. The creature was laid in its bed now, clearly trying to get some sleep under the warm blanket they had provided. Besides her in the room, 3 other researchers looked at her with a mortified expression whilst a man in militaristic garb stood watching the creature with an unwavering glare.
"So, you mean to tell us that Hylimdem is the result of a Lyi fulfilling its desire? That it's part of their natural lifecycle? That can't be, it's so... passive? And all of its Mage tests came back full negative, it can't use Magic in any proper capacity besides maintaining itself."
"Yes, Hasha, it's the lifeform birthed from the death of a Lyi. But we have nothing to worry about, it doesn't want to hurt anyone. If anything, it's just confused. It knows Kingslanguage, at the very least, though it doesn't seem to understand much else. Perhaps in the process from Lyi to... Hylimdem, they lose all their memories, but retain knowledge of communication, Magical maintenance and basic movement. It seems like all that species needs to survive on its own, considering how it seems unaffected by lack of drink and food. I'm the one who talked to it for 7 hours, I may as well be the leading researcher in its species."
"Y'reckon it'll come to learn Espiology, Hovi?"
"Seems resistant enough to be a Lord, too"
"It's, by all classifications, a Magical Beast, Gezo. I'd be surprised if it couldn't learn it. And it does have very strong skin, Loc. So, we have a potential strong Magelord on our hands."
"A Magelord, you say, researcher? Those are rare soldiers."
The militaristic man had a grin on his face, clearly betraying his thoughts of wanting to use the creature as a special type of soldier.
"Mizem, you will not be using Hylimdem as a soldier. It's practically a child!
"Fine, fine. It's your stray anyways. Who knows if the Lyi blood in it will send it into a frenzy again. I won't be dying in a Hauler petshop."
"Fuck off, Mizem."
"Gladly."
Mizem walked out of the room promptly, obvious contempt for the researchers flashing in his eyes. After his departure, the atmosphere in the room clearly lightened as the researchers took another glance into Hylimdem's room. They had a feeling that their work on this creature, that was much like them, had just started.