Why me? [closed]

[Ren]

Ren wasn't exactly happy. Just a few moments ago he had slipped on a particularly steep surface and upon reaching out to steady himself he had sliced his entire forearm wide open. The teenager steadied himself as he gritted his teeth from the pain and lifted his arm into range of the light from the torch he carried. Blood pumped from the wound viciously, even though it was steadily beginning to heal. The stench of his own life essence assaulted his nostrils and Ren found himself hissing between his teeth, "Jun freaking owes me big for this."

The young nimbus had ventured into the underdark on behalf of his older brother, and was now regretting his decision. It wasn't so much the darkness or the unstable terrain that bothered him, rather Ren felt a bit insecure with the fact that his presence could easily be detected by anything living in the area. First the light he carried, and how his blood. It was almost as if he was sticking a neon sign above his head that said 'eat-me.' Ren didn't particularly know if there were monsters in the cave bowels, but the smell that had lately been seeping from the area led him the believe that something had to be down here. So, naturally, because he was the better fighter, Jun had insisted that Ren check it out.

Yes, Ren was an excellent fighter. Yes, he was trained in the fine art of being quiet, sneaky, and so on. However, it was hard to do so in such dangerous terrain. Ren was also incredibly impatient, which was one of the reasons he had previously slipped. He wasn't exactly watching his feet as well as he should be. While Ren would have preferred to traverse the area in his mantel form, he had realized quickly that he would have no limbs to defend himself should something come along. So, for the moment, he was doing it in his regular form, and the boy was not happy.

Cursing under his breath, Ren held his injured arm closer to him, ignoring the blood that washed over his white shirt, and continued on his way, taking a little bit more caution when it came to where he placed his feet.

[Skylla]

Ren continued on, nothing but the hollow sounds of the cavern accompanying him as he walked. Occassionally, Ren would find himself standing in a puddle of some stagnant water that smelled, but it was nothing similiar to the stench that had been leaking out into the underbelly of the court.

The caverns were devoid of life, it seemed, until an odd slithering sound, one not unsimiliar to the Unseelie roses, echoed in the distance.

[Ren]

Traversing the UnderDark was not easy. Although Ren had begun to watch his steps more closely, his pace had slowed quite a bit. This was driving Ren mad. He was the type of Fae that liked to get things done quickly. A bath, clean clothes, and precious sleep awaited him back in the Unseelie dormitories. That and he desperately wanted some fresh air. Although Ren usually liked to spend his time cooped up in his room, he found the Unseelie caverns stuffy and annoying. He usually spent most of his free time outdoors, though as of late it had been quite cold, prompting him to stay in the warmth of the cave.

Ren was inwardly grumbling to himself when the slithering noise caught his attention. He froze, though not in a stiff manner, and just listened. He soon concluded the sound wasn't coming closer, rather, it was further out in the depth of the caverns. Ren narrowed his brown eyes, his demeanor suddenly serious. He shifted the torch to his left, injured arm, still knitting itself together, and started forward again, his footsteps now silent, his body quite a bit more fluid than it had been. His fingers were poised over the trigger to the dagger concealed within the metal bracer on his right forearm, set to extend above his hand in case of combat, and laced with the poison of his own mantel form.

[Skylla]

The slithering grew louder as Ren progressed further into the belly of the Underdark. The noise sounded from the right, out of the corner of Ren’s eye he could see movement, but the by the time he looked the source of which was gone.

The slithering sounded behind him, it sounding incredibly close for a moment before vanishing. For a moment there was silence, save for a distance dripping of water from a stalagmite. The hushed sounds of voices, their words undistinguishable could be heard just around the corner.

[Ren]

Ren once again came to a stand still. He knew for certain now that something was there, something that moved faster than he could follow, especially in the dim light his torch offered. The slender boy narrowed his eyes in what appeared to be frustration but was really just concentration. Normally he would have been a bit creeped out by this, and in essence a part of his mind was. Ren highly doubted anyone liked to be stalked, which is what this situation certainly felt like to him.

His fingers itched to press the trigger to release his dagger but he maintained his stance. The silence that followed seemed almost deafening to him until the whispers began. Ren’s self preservation instincts kicked in. Living in the realm of mortals for so long had taught him valuable lessons in mortality. While Ren knew of no other way to die save for an invocation of mortality, or perhaps a hand dealt by the Fate above, he was still wary. It didn’t hurt to be cautious.

Still, the light from his torch would be visible the moment he rounded the corner. Perhaps it would be best for him to shift into his mantel form, though the lack of arsenal at his disposal was somewhat unnerving. For several moments Ren stood there, mulling over his options and listening to the voices. Finally he made the decision to maintain his fae form, and headed around the bend, his steps absolutely silent.

[Skylla]

Ren's steps carried him around the corner, he could see nothing except a pitch blackness that seemed to consume any light. Then, out of nowhere, the darkness moved, undulating like a living creature. A feral hiss escaped the black mass and the voices that Ren had heard earlier yelled, "Faerie!" The black mass moved once more, as if to scamper away from Ren. In doing so the mass moved to reveal two bat-like creatures whose wings beat with a terrible ferocity in the opposite direction of Ren.

Before Ren could act, however, something wrapped around his ankle, pulling his legs out from underneath him. The tentacle that now encircled his limb pulling him towards the entrance of the Underdark.

[Ren]

Well, of all things, Ren certainly hadn’t expected moving shadows, or whatever that thing was. And he definitely hadn’t expected bats; maybe small ones, but not big ones. The nimbus shifted back as the ferocity of the wind produced by their wings beat against his face. At that time he had already made up his mind to get the fuck out of there. If Jun wanted to know about the Underdark so badly, then he could freaking come down here and poke at things screaming faerie.

However, within the split second that it had taken Ren to come to this decision, his weight was violently yanked out from underneath him. He hit the ground hard, dropping his torch and miraculously avoiding hitting his head in the process. Shit shit shit shit shit! Ren inwardly cursed as he felt his body dragged forward. Inwardly he wished he had worn his boots with the hidden blades, but he had figured they would have been a bit too clunky for this mission. Instead, full of adrenaline, Ren wrenched himself upwards into a sitting position and stretched forward as his blade extended from the bracer on his right wrist. Though blind, Ren knew enough of his anatomy to know where his leg ended. He swiped for the space just after his foot instead of attacking the tendril wrapped around his leg directly because if he missed and nicked himself, the result would not be pretty.

[Skylla]

The blade bit into the tentacle and a high pitched squeal sounded somewhere alongside of Ren. The tentacle recoiled but not before a second and a third were produced, these two continuing the work of pulling Ren towards the Unseelie entrance of the Underdark.

[Ren]

Well of course anything with one tentacle is going to have another! Whatever had Ren been thinking? Had Ren been otherwise unoccupied, he would have rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. Instead, he was gritting his teeth and attempting to deal with the situation. It was then he realized just how stupid he had actually been. Although Ren was not happy about this, it was his only option. Without another seconds worth of hesitation, Ren shifted to his mantel form, his body thinning and vanishing, hopefully out of the grip of the creature. At the same time he honestly hoped it was not immune to the poison of one of the most (if not the most) venomous snakes on Earth, which should be coursing through its blood at that moment (assuming it had blood). Ren hoped it would buy him some time to slither on out of there.

[Skylla]

The tentacle that had been bitten blackened almost immediately under the snake’s fangs; it recoiled, the shrieking continuing. The second tentacle lessened its grip, but kept pulling as the faerie. It obviously wanted Ren out of the Underdark. Another tentacle appeared but before it could wrap around Ren, a voice spoke, ”Lynn.” The tentacle stopped almost immediately, ”Let go.” The other tentacle unwrapped but remained in view, both waiting for another command.

Whoever spoke remained behind Ren, but if he bothered to look he would only see the silhouette of a robed individual at the mouth of the tunnel. The voice came again, ”Leave faerie. Unless King Cel sent you here, you have no business in the Underdark.”

[Ren]

Ren was happy to comply. Had the creature let go in the first place Ren would have left without the whole dragging ordeal. A part of his mind chided him for being so stupid. In this situation Jun would have gone with the flow. Ren had reacted violently, and, much to his own amazement, out of fear. Was he really unequipped mentally to deal with this sort of situation? That thought bothered him immensely, so much so that he hesitated in complying with the wishes of the figure he could not make out but could sense through both vibration and heat. Had Ren been in Fae form he would have hung his head slightly and shambled away. Instead, he slowly slithered out back towards the Unseelie court, all the while brooding both in anger and in frustration.

[Skylla]

The being who had spoke watched as Ren exited the Underdark. He let out a deep breath, "I can no longer hide this. I must speak with the King." He turned and moved back in the depths of the Underdark, a large ball of tentacles emerged from a side cavern and following him.