by Northstar. » Fri Jan 24, 2025 2:45 pm
username: Northstar.
fable name: Luatha and Pear
prompt:
"Luatha, fabled explorer of Hessepeia, bringer of knowledge, finder of lost artifacts, friend to the king, felled by a broken leg and an infection in the cursed jungle alone... his independence and stubborn nature would lead to his ruin. Or that's how I think my eulogy would be read, who knows.
Maybe it would be shorter, something like:
Hr was a good man but not very smart and did not double check his knots - Luatha Tiernan McKinley, felled by a loose rope."
Luatha Tiernan McKinley never claimed to be sane, but here in the jungle far from home he fears he is loosing his mind. Two days ago he descended into the deep, cavernous ruins of millenia past, in search for knowledge or perhaps fame. The ruins below the earth and roots were strange, like the jungle grew over huge cities.
It was a maze of metal and stone, moss and dirt, hallways and rooms interconnected by stairs or dropping into darkness. Huge, cavernous amphitheaters, with stalactites and glowing mushrooms. Luatha had found the strangest metal object with ancient engravings when he'd heard stirrings of the behemoth serpents that sleep below.
They would swallow him whole.
He'd fled with his treasures, running back the way he came. He had been climbing up to the sunlight when his rope snapped and he fell.
"Here lies Luatha Tiernan McKinley, may he rest in peace," Luatha laughs deliriously. He's pretty sure he hit his head, too. Dust covers him and there's a sharp pain in his back. "Not getting outta this one," he giggles, staring up and up and up at the starlight far up above. "My second moonrise," he smiles, "They don't look like that in the city."
The twin moons rise in the small section of sky he can see, and fairylights dance in the jungle branches.
"Never seen one of those. Shy, stubborn creatures... there's nothing I regret," he says boldy, "A life well-lived - can't ask for more than that."
The fairylights dance in circles and he blinks. Each blink grows slower and slower and slower....
"What the high mountain is this?" he yelps.
The fairylights had descended into the caverns, floating just above his head. He can make out each individual wing of the creatures and hear their voices - like tinkling bells.
And then, in the distance, the sounds of the behemoth slithering.
"Shoo! Shoo!" Luatha huffs and puffs at the fairies, blowing air at them. They tinkle and jingle in mirth. "This is not how I wanna go!" Luatha hisses. The slithering sounds draw closer. Luatha closes his eyes, and for the first time in his life, he prays. "Dear Overlords, or whatever, Fate Bringers, Destiny Givers, please don't let me be eaten by a giant snake. I don't taste good. I am bitter and sour and chewy. I'd cause indigestion. Spare me and I'll owe you a boon, a favor, a wish if I can grant it."
He peeks an eye open. A giant basilisk serpent stares at him. It's eye is bigger than his head. The fairylights float around them both.
"Spare me and I'll owe you a boon, a favor, a wish if I can grant it." his voice echoes back from the fairylights.
"Are you mocking me? On my deathbed?" Luatha gasps, outraged.
"A boon," they repeat, "Two become one."
"What does that even mean?" Luatha asks. The giant serpent nudges forward a misshapen, broken egg. Oh. "What did I get myself into?"
"Two become one."
"Two become one?" Luatha questions, confused.
The fairylights become blindingly bright.
Luatha passes out.
The fairylights darken, then flash.
Luatha lay sleeping where he fell, fully healed and patched with nothing but a few scars to show for it... and a new little snake where his tail once was.
And that, Luatha would later say, is a fantastic beginning.
