A Drexlin Tale - Saga 4
*
YOYOY strode into the quaint tavern, the finest drinking establishment he’d ever known. With confidence he strode right to the bar, taking a seat and smiling at the familiar half-elf, half-dwarf friend that presided there. His cheery grin was parted in favor of an order, but before the request could escape the confines of his lips the barkeep interrupted.
“YOYOY, what are you doing here?!?”
Indeed, Drex stared at the hooded man of many questions with a look of abject confusion, like he was lost, or as if he’d just witnessed the spontaneous decapitation of a three-headed rabid purple turkey.
YOYOY raised an eyebrow, wondering of the sudden question. He slowly looked back and forth, as if to make sure there wasn’t a crowd staring. Satisfied, he leaned forward and narrowed his gaze.
“Um, having a drink?”
Drexlin chuckled.
“I just meant, you know, it’s been a while.”
YOYOY released a wistful sigh while nodding.
“It has, hasn’t it? Now let’s have some mossbrew and wormroot stew.” “Coming right up, sir scribe.”
YOYOY secretly felt giddy at having been called ‘sir’ by the very leader of the Conspiracy of Lightheartedness, the one so adept at such games as Guess That Card!, having officiated it along with the likes of tMmM and DarkGuardian. The thought then struck him like an errant train that the threesome were all dwarves. What could this mean? If anything, that is. Perhaps just a casual coincidence, an anomaly never fully appreciated.
His thought process was cut short by the entrance of another being, one of ill form, a dark creature of death and decay, of feces and maggots, of mists and fogs. Only a select few recognized him as CardinalFang, but no matter, as he apparently had news of great peril, gasping as if from a long run.
“Ter-Soth is coming!!â€
Gasps were head, all in keen recognition of the demonic name spoken. Was there any hope of repelling the all-powerful? Crossbows and swords and axes were drawn, all eyes pinned to the entryway, all voices stilled, all ears straining to detect any advancing footsteps. Drexlin himself had drawn a great crossbow, YOYOY with his club at ready.
Seconds passed, time slowing to a crawl, the atmosphere growing uneasy amidst the cool breeze wafting in. Drexlin blinked, then rolled his eyes and groaned. At this, CardinalFang began to laugh, a massive bellyshaker accompanied by much rolling on the floor. Many sneered and went back to their drinks, YOYOY chuckling in fond remembrance.
“Remember when that was funny?†“Yeah…â€
Drexlin fired, a large bolt piercing what most would assume to be CFang’s head, the wretched cursed being of darkness driven back to the Hades from which it came. Poor thing.
Somewhere outside, you could see Siege911 and DarkGuardian arguing over who should be the next Mod.
Drexlin shook his head.
“Guess we’ll never see Ter-Soth again, being dead and all.â€
YOYOY nodded.
“Yep.â€
Drexlin nodded in return, then frowned.
“Wait, aren’t you dead too?!?â€
YOYOY snickered.
“Nah, not for the moment anyway. Made a deal with graveghoul. See, there’s a message he needed delivered to a certain denizen of Anything, but he couldn’t do it himself, needed a being of flesh. So he went about his personal realm, trying to recruit the bravest of the dead. But such a dangerous mission, nobody in Hades willing to perform the will of its hellish lord. Except me.â€
He grinned goofily, Drex still a bit lost.
“You? Why?â€
YOYOY confidently crossed his arms.
“Because, don’t you get it? The longer I stall and don’t deliver the message, the longer I can stay up here and actually be alive! Yeah, that’s right, I pulled a fast one on the very master of the damned, heh.â€
Both had a good chortle. Then YOYOY sighed again, faraway look on his visage.
“We had some good times, didn’t we?†“Back in the ol’ Fellowship?†“Yeah. I’ll never forget the first time we assembled back in my castle, and you entered with the cry of I come bearing drinks!â€
Drexlin chuckled, nodding before his response.
“Then Advocate kept peeing in them…†“Hey, can you still make that liquid napalm stuff? I always thought that was incredible.†“Oh, what, this?â€
He grabbed a few things in his rapid whirl of arms-flailing drink-mixing fury before tossing a jar of his explosive concoction out the nearest open window. Upon impact with the ground erupted a flaming wall of, well, fire. Something screamed and gurgled, YOYOY applauded and whistled.
“Nicely done.†“Thanks.†“I also remember your toast before entering Haplo’s foreboding locale-“ “To warm memories and hot reflexes!†“Yeah, that one! I would’ve thought you’d forgotten!†“I never forget a toast.†“What happened to you in that castle, anyway? You never told me.†“Oh, I got stuck in a pit.†“Really? How’d you escape?†“Well, after hours of pondering that very problem, I realized it was only about five feet deep. I managed to climb out.†“… Oh.†“Then a mighty warrior plucked me right from the ground, tucking me under his armored arm like I was a football!†“Wow! Who was it, how’d you survive?!?†“It was Lady Tornhawk, before we recognized her.†“… Oh.†“What about you, scribe? What was your harrowing adventure within the black maw of sure demise?†“I found a room in which I was compelled to write.†“…that’s it?†“Yeah. Sorry.†“Uh, that’s alright… I guess… hey, did I ever show you this?â€
YOYOY squinted as Drexlin turned, reaching up to a shelf and slowly sliding his hand across its surface, finding a hidden artifact and carefully withdrawing it. He set it in front of YOYOY, both staring at the little item.
“I found this in the pit, made sure to take it back with me. Looked like it might, you know, be something.â€
YOYOY’s eyes widened as he watched the object. It at first appeared as a simple metal cube, but its corners melted away and its very structure smoothly changed into a sphere. But it did not roll, remaining perfectly in place. Then its sheer surface began to change color, darkening, then lightening, then allowing multiple colors before settling on a particular theme. Then a round jewel appeared, encrusted, with tiny writing around it in a language YOYOY thought he recognized yet did not comprehend. It then shifted back into the plain cube and began repeating the process.
“What is it?†“I have no idea.†“Have you asked any Mods about it?†“Nope. Figured they’d just confiscate it.†“That’s incredible… when are you going to press the button?†“I dunno. I’ll get bored someday.†“Let me know when you’re about to do it. I mean, it could be the start of something epic, for all I know.†“Alright.â€
Both endured a moment of awkward silence before Drexlin dared speak again.
“I wonder if DG remembers the time I probably saved his life.†“Oh?†“Yeah, nightcrawler had caught him off guard. I had an errant swing with my mug, caused the beastly thing to teleport away. We soon had the matter taken care of.†“Ah, yeah, I remember that. Hey, didn’t you get decapitated once? By chaosnake?†“Hey, yeah, I guess I did!†“Then Archer, you know, saved everything.†“Yeah. He still lurks, you know.†“Oh, I know. Has he stopped in here lately?†“Yeah, the other day he came in. Kept quiet. Had a funny look about him.†“Shame. I bet he’ll be back.†“Always is.†“Hear about DarkGuardian?†“What?†“7000 posts.†“And Siege is becoming a Mod around here?†“Yeah, something like that.â€
Drex allowed a solemn nod.
“Were those the good ol’ days? Back in the Fellowship?â€
YOYOY seriously considered the thought.
“I dunno. These recent days aren’t so bad.†“Yeah. Anything’s just so different now.†“Isn’t it always, though? I mean, things change. It’s the way of life. Would we honestly want it to remain exactly the same for all time?†“I guess not.†“Then I say, good for Anything!†“Hey, you’re right. It’s had its struggles, but so does everything.†“I know one thing’s remained the same this whole time.†“What’s that, chronicler?â€
The writer grinned.
“You’ve always been the cülest provider of liquid refreshment around.â€
Drexlin blushed embarrassingly.
“Thanks… have one on the house.†“Ha! It worke- er…â€
YOYOY coughed and innocently looked aside. Drexlin just shook his head and smiled.
*
Good times. Thanks Drex.
*
YOYOY stared curiously at the bizarre object still smoothly morphing in its infinite sequence in front of him.
“Drexlin, I’m sorry, but if you don’t press that button soon, I will.” “Wh, what? Why?!?”
The scribe sighed.
“It’s who I am. I have a morbid curiosity, a questioning nature, an insatiable thirst for further knowledge. Sometimes it doesn’t make any sense, the totality of it, but it’s there, this mental quirk of mine, I can’t help it… you don’t understand…”
Drex took a careful step back.
“What if it’s dangerous?” “There’s only one way to find out.”
Drexlin stared at it, in wonder, until finally nodding.
“Fine. I’ll press it. But only because I’ve already been through enough crap in this realm. This can’t be that bad…”
He gingerly extended a finger and waited precious seconds until the odd-yet-beautiful button appeared again.
He pressed it, even to hear a satisfying click.
The sequence stopped.
But only for a moment.
The morphing resumed, as if nothing had happened. YOYOY sat there, mouth agape. Drexlin frowned, trying to form thoughts into words.
“I don’t understand.”
The chronicler bit his lip, Drex continuing.
“Maybe you should try.”
The writer gulped.
“Alright. Agreed. Here I go…”
He tapped it quickly, withdrawing his arm as if the artifact were infected with a truly black plague.
Again, a short pause, then nothing. Drexlin shrugged.
“Oh well. It’s still a neat little thing.”
He reached out and gripped the object to put it away, but YOYOY grabbed his arm, Drexlin shooting him a look.
“Wait. There’s something about it…”
YOYOY leaned in closer to the thing with an intense gaze. His next words were in whisper, barely heard by the barkeep.
“I think this has something to do with the message I’m supposed to deliver…”
Just then, MatB walked into the establishment and Drexlin yanked the prize away, hurriedly placing it back on the shelf unseen.
The Mod sat next to YOYOY, grinning.
“What are you doing here?”
YOYOY’s brow furrowed.
“I was just leaving.”
And with that, indeed, he left.
Soon enough, Drexlin had struck up a conversation with Mat, any thought of the artifact far from his mind.
Meanwhile, YOYOY sat outside, mind in a whirl of activity. He didn’t quite understand. But this was to be expected, given the nature of his message.
He could only wait.
*
© Eric Bailey