the wyrm's mask part 5

“You know, with all this crap we’ve been picking up, we’re gonna need to get a backpack like the mask guy’s.” Verity was handed the new mask as they exited the Great Primogen’s cave and headed to the south, tapping at it’s front and grimacing the best her little reptilian face could.

“I know.” Zora groaned. “Maybe we’ll look into it if we get too overloaded at the swamp. I dunno. It shouldn’t be that hard to maintain, right? Just grab it before we time travel. Whatever, here’s the gates.”

An extremely large woman, serious and stalwart, stood fast at the gates of town, unmoving and vigilant. In one hand, she carried a sword meant for two, a testament to her sheer size and strength. Never the less, she stood blocking the duo’s way, and stared down at them from her high stature.

“I’m sorry, it is simply too dangerous outside the town walls. I cannot allow a child like you to- Ah… you have a blade in your hand already. I do apologize.”

“Also, I’m twenty-five.”

“And lo, another apology. Truly, it is my mistake. The Southern Swamp lies this way, traveler. Be wary.”

“Yeah… thanks.”

After everything that had gone on in town, it was something of a relief to see what lay outside for them to explore. Sure enough, the earth grew dry and desolate to the east, and the wind carried a sea breeze from the left, just as Verity had explained. And dead ahead, lush vegetation waited. The further the pair traveled from the town walls, the wetter the earth felt underneath where they tread, and the more humid the air grew.

But curiously, just as they were about to pass into proper swampland, Verity nipped at Zora’s ear to tell her to stop, and floated off of her shoulder, drifting to the base of a large, old-looking tree. She brushed one tiny claw over a worn chalk drawing, of a small child and two little drakes.

“...We drew this with them, when we first met them… Ariel wasn’t a bad person. When we found them, they had run away from a broken home. Their mother hated them… they were all alone. For a while, things were nice. Then they found that mask… we didn’t steal it, I promise. I think Fingers McGee might have dropped it. It was just laying on the ground. They liked it, because it made interacting with others easier. But then… then they changed… Then they started causing all this trouble. Started hurting people…”

“Mmm… then we’re going to fix it. We have to. An entire world is at stake because of this thing. We saw it ourselves.”

“I wish this didn’t have to happen. I miss our friend.”

“I know, Verity. I miss my friends, too.”

After a while longer of contemplated the faded drawing, the two stood upright again, and turned in the direction of the swamp. They were soon towered over by trees and hanging moss, and the dirt and rocks around them were slick with algae and wetness.

Too wet, perhaps. As they continued along the path, a puddle began to coalesce before them. Two round, snail-like eyes poked out from a slimy green creature that looked something like a slug made of swamp muck. It spotted them in short order, wiggled a bit, and then hopped forward at them with a wet spatter. The spray of its fluid on Zora’s leg caused it to tingle and sting like she’d been sprayed by a chemical, and she hissed.

“Why you-” She hopped backward and growled a bit, assuming an attack position with her foil like it was second nature. Her mind’s eye felt her body being gently corrected into the right stance for attacking by a practiced hand, both distracting and invigorating. With a single, fluid thrust, she sheared through the creature’s fluid body, and pulled the blade to the side, sending it splashing back into the earth from which it came.

“Alright. Cool. Slime beasts from the dirt. Normal.”

“What’s the problem?” Verity seemed legitimately confused. “It was just a Chuchu. Sometimes they have things in their stomachs but they aren’t really all that harmful. Maybe sting a little bit, but not dangerous.”

“You can’t tell me that’s just some ordinary thing.”

“Have you never seen one before? Wow, you really aren’t from around here. They’re pretty much everywhere.”

“Hm… fuckin’ weird, mate.”

A large amount of the trail passed in silence after that. Zora couldn’t help but note that Verity got jittery at the sight of the bats flittering around in the air. It was still strange to her, she was so used to bats. She loved them, but not as much as she remembered her sister did. As they watched them flutter about, they also noticed something very much out of the ordinary, in a gecko creature floating overhead on a balloon. The map-maker, in fact. They glanced at each other, but said nothing. It was best to leave it alone.

Their entry to the swamp proper was hallmarked by the strong smell of peat and the great, twisting plants growing across a channel of brackish water. Already, as far as she could tell, something was very off here. The water was discolored, and the odor of it slightly burned her nose.

“Ugh… well, this isn’t good...”

“Hah… what a rare sight, indeed...”

It was a voice that didn’t speak aloud so much as whisper like the raspy voice of Death, that came from their immediate right. There, sitting on another statue like the one they had seen in town, was a massive raven, with an impressive beard and the ruffly feathered ‘eyebrows’ that denoted age.

“What-”

“A child… of heraldry...”

“I’m twenty-fi-”

“All… are as children to me… now… What business do you have… in this poisoned and dying swamp…?”

“Dying?”

“Ha… child… this swamp is… destined to fade. It has… lost its guardian… and it is not the only place… If you dare not venture further… I will pass no judgment… But… if you wish to proceed… in the face of destiny… if you possess… the courage and determination… then I will teach you… something useful.”

“Useful, you say…?”

“Yes… I know… you have seen the statues… in my visage. I have placed them… to aid the child of heraldry… with the willpower to change destiny… wherever she may appear...”

“I’m not that important.”

“An endless cycle… of self-doubt… and modesty…. Must be broken. You are more important… than you know...”

“That sounds fake and gay but okay.”

“Listen well to me, child… if you have left… proof of our encounters… on these statues… then the song carved below… will surely come to use… Remember it well… and play it whenever the need arises...”

“Uh… sure. I like music.”

“You are… a musician unparallelled… your song will change… the course of worlds uncountable... Starting with this… when first you play this song… we will become bound… you will… be granted the transportation… of a being beyond time and space… able to appear anywhere you wish… even when you turn back the hands… when you play it...”

Without letting her reply, the raven took wing and flew off. When she examined the statue, it awoke, just like the statue in Clock Town. Etched into the base was a staff and a series of notes, just as the raven had said. It was a simple enough chord progression to follow. One-two-three, one-two-three.

As she strummed it out, she felt a certain coolness, like a dark cave or a graveyard on a summer night. It was a soaring feeling, somewhere deep in her soul. After she was sure she had it memorized, she turned back to the swamp, and looked it over.

Now that the big bird had said it, that acid smell was probably what he meant by poison. The water burned the roots of trees and bases of plants that grew out of the water. The only remotely healthy-looking things left were a series of frankly gigantic lily pads, stretching out in a line as far as she could see.

Verity sort of ruffled a bit. “This isn’t normal… the swamp isn’t supposed to smell or feel like this, at all. There are monsters in the water, and the fish are starting to die. Look...”

“I mean, don’t think I don’t see it. I’m not really sure I want to touch that.”

“Probably for the best if you don’t. The Changelings around here cultivate those giant lily pads, though. I bet you could use those to get around.”

“It’s worth a shot.” Zora took a breath, and jumped across the water, landing on a pad. It held her weight only for a moment, before the swamp water began to spill into it, searing her legs and ultimately throwing her off. The wade back to shore was painful and uncomfortable, and with a grimace, she watched the lily pad pop back to the surface like nothing had ever happened. She looked down at her skin, patches of which were now reddened and irritated, making her many tattoos stand out even more against it.

“It was not, in fact, worth a shot.”

“Looks like you’re a little too heavy, at least like this. Hmm… wait. He said that that mask would turn you back to what you were. Right? And that form was tiny.”

“I mean, I guess. Not really looking forward to wimpy noodle arms, but if that’s what it takes...” She unclipped the mask from her belt, and stared at it a moment. The eyes staring back at her still looked so sad, sad but burning with a fire behind them. It was a fire she knew, that she remembered. If this girl set her mind on something, she would make it happen no matter what. As she held it, she could feel something tug at her mind to get on with it.

When she eventually pressed the mask to her face, the experience could be described as searing. She felt every inch of her body scream as the mask transmogrified her back into that form, and even she, as tough as she was, couldn’t help but let out a pained shriek. When it was over, she nearly collapsed, groaning a little bit.

“That was bad...”

“That… that did not look pleasant. Hey, though… where did your guitar go?”

“What?! Oh god damn it, not again...” Zora reached around to where her guitar had been, and found instead, a flute, in stained crimson metal, with a gear shaped charm hanging off of one end. “… huh. It changed with me.”

“Like your sword did.”

“I guess that makes as much sense as anything else that’s happened. Whatever, let’s see if… this… works...” As soon as she got near the water again, she froze. “Ugh. Okay. Gotta… just… get my nerve up. I don’t know what it is about this form...” With a running leap, she landed upon the pad again. This time, it seemed not to sink, and actually seemed fairly solid even under her weight.

“Good!” Verity cheered, “You can do it. We aren’t crossing the swamp otherwise.”

“Yeah… yeah I know.” While she stood there, Zora eyed a building nearby them, stood up on tall stilts. A boat lay under it, unmanned and empty. A part of her wanted to steal it, but she would have no idea how to steer it. So, hopping across lily pads would have to do.

When she reached land again, after a number of jumps to the east, she coughed and tapped at her chest. “Fuck...”

“Are you okay?”

“Little shit must have been asthmatic or something, I need a minute… the air is all spicy so it’s making it tough to catch my breath.”

“Take it slow, we’ve gotten as far as we can right now.”

“I’m trying...”

After a little while of pained deep breathing exercises, Zora was able to force her lungs to obey and her legs to stand again, though not without the occasional coughing. The only thing she could do was keep walking.

A brief jaunt through a winding path in the trees led her to another alcove, just before a patch of old-looking woods. The standing pool in the center of the clearing was perhaps the freshest water she had seen since she had arrived here. In the center of it, stood what may have been a tree at one time, but now served as the support for an odd building made from sun-baked clay and shaped strangely like a teapot.

Underneath the building proper, and the small porch that the ladder up was bolted to, there was a deck of sorts, built just above the water. It was here, that Zora once again chose to sit for a moment, to fully catch her breath away from the burning fumes of the rest of the swamp.

Verity patted her on the shoulder a bit. “Take your time.”

“Fucking hell… do we even know what we’re looking for in this place?”

“I mean, the best place to go in the swamp is the Freehold. But we’re never getting there while the water is like this and while there’s so many monsters blocking the way.”

“Do you know what the boat was for? I thought about stealing it, but...”

“I think that’s swamp tours. If it were being manned, it stops at the Freehold, but… the girl who drives it is gone.”

“Great.”

“Without that, or some way to shoot at the monsters, I don’t think we’re getting through this swamp.”

“So, we’re fucked.”

“Basically- wait. Wait what was that.”

The pair quieted down and listened toward the woods behind them. It took a moment more, but rustling could soon be heard, putting them both on high alert.

“Who’s there?!” Zora eventually called out.

“Aye, lassie, calm yer furry titties.” Out of the brush stepped an older, blond man with a cigar planted firmly in his mouth, who brushed stray leaves off of his priestly outfit. “D’ya think ye can follow me a bit? Got a bit of a situation back here.”

“Um… sure?” Zora got up, and approached the man, who led her deeper into the woods. She followed him through a strange, winding path, dodging out of the way of tremendous spined turtles and several colonies of rather aggrressive bats. She was insisted to just swat them out of the sky, by the strange forest preacher and Verity both, but refused on the grounds of her memories. If Anya found out that she had harmed a bat, there would be hell to pay.

Soon though, she was led to a clearing, where an older woman sat next to what looked like a barely-legal teenage girl, about as frail as a cancer patient. Verity’s head snapped up at the sight of her.

“That’s the girl that runs the boats!”

“Shit, really?” Zora approached her slowly, and kneeled down to her level. “Miss… miss, are you alright?”

“Ugh...”

“Please… she needs help. A potion, from the shop just outside. That should do her nicely.” The woman spoke. “She’s been wounded. We think she’s been out here for some time...”

“When I see that… kid with the mask again, I’m gonna… I’m gonna zap him. Gonna zap him bad...”

“Yes yes, we know. Shh… save your energy.”

The man coughed. “Ye want me to take th’ wee Changeling back then, Marine?”

“Could you, Manus?”

“Wait.” Zora interrupted. “Yes, please take me back, but… I can get her back there.”

“Ye look like yer skin n’ bones under all that puff!”

“No no, watch.” She reached a hand up to her face and grabbed at a seam invisible to the naked eye, prying off the mask. The sensation of removing it was far more pleasant than the sensation of having put it on in the first place, and within seconds, she stood there in her default form, and lifted the girl over her shoulder.

“Be- be careful! She’s injured!”

“Look, she needs to get out of these woods and get treated, alright? You did what you could. Let’s go, sir.”

“...Bloody good enough fer me.”

The walk back was, strangely, much shorter than arriving at the clearing was in the first place. Nevertheless, when they arrived back at the odd, kettle-shaped building, Zora was forced to stop at the ladder leading upward.

“I may not have thought this through.”

“I got this.” Verity spread her wings wide, and body-slammed the door at the top. “HEY! HEY OUT HERE! EMERGENCY!”

They heard a thump from inside, and a shout of “Khul!”

“...I would have used a little more tact.” Zora placed her face into her free hand.

“Tact is for people who don’t have injured kids to worry about.”

Verity drifted back downward as the door was thrown open. Standing in it, was a man who could best be described as a sausage in a sweater, who was either very angry about being disturbed, or had resting bitch face on constantly, forever.

“What! Who’s there!”

“We’re down here.”

“You could have come up to the-- !!” It was somewhat astounding to watch the man leap down the stairs like he did when he laid eyes on the girl. “Lucine!!”

“We found her in the woods. She’s wounded...”

“Here! Here. Take this. Take it. Fix this. Fix it!!” Zora found a small glass bottle pretty much forced into her hands. “Have her drink it, quickly!”

“Um… yes sir.” She readjusted a bit, and pressed the lip of the bottle to the girl’s lips. As soon as it passed, the girl grabbed the bottle of her own power, and chugged the rest like a frat boy on free beer night.

“That’s Emil’s brew alright… I feel so much better.” The girl kicked off out of her arms and hovered in the air. “So, you got me back here? Don’t know what those other two were doing then, just faffing about. Anyway, I’m Lucine. My mentor here runs the potion shop we have here in the swamp. And I do boat tours, if you’re interested.”

“Actually… yeah, we’re interested. We heard you make stops out at the Swamp Freehold?”

“Oh yeah. I get Changelings headed out that way all the time. Are you headed out there for some reason?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“Huh. Whatever floats your stoat, I guess. I’d be careful if I were you, though. They don’t let non-Changelings in the Freehold gates, you know. And on top of that, I hear talk there’s been trouble in paradise out that way.”

“Trouble? I mean, as it happens, we’re here looking for trouble… wait, no. That wasn’t good words.”

“I should hope you aren’t.”

“What I actually meant to say was that we’re hoping to find some leads on the misdeeds that the kid in the mask has done and we want to try to help.”

“Well you’re already doing great. All I was trying to do was find truffles for Emil here, and he just knocked me out of the air like it was nothing. I couldn’t even move. I haven’t felt that helpless since… never mind. If you think the trouble out there was caused by them, I’ll take you. But you’re gonna have a tough time getting in.”

“I have my ways, miss. Trust me.”

“Yeah, sure, that’s what they all say. Just be careful. That Summer King is punishment-happy. If it weren’t for one of the spring courters, well… things would be way worse than they are out there, I’ll say that much.”

“Noted.”

“Hurry up and go then.” The sausage man grumbled. “Whatever’s happening out there, standing here chatting idly isn’t going to get it fixed.”

“Don’t be such a grump.”

“No promises.”

“No, I agree.” Zora interjected. “It’d be great if we could get out there as soon as we possibly can.”

“Alright, come out to the shack toward the entrance of the swamp. You must have seen it on your way here.”

“I did, yeah.”

“Come see me at the counter. We can get you your tickets and get on your way. Free, even! You did save my life, and all.”

“Alright, thank you.”

Zora watched the girl drift off into the air in the direction she had come from, and then watched the angry sausage man climb back up the ladder and into the potion shop. The two old people from the forest seemed to have left sometime in the middle of the conversation.

“You know, for what it was, that was a lot easier than I thought it was gonna have to be.” Verity chirped.

“It kinda was, wasn’t it. Like, what was the alternative?”

“Swimming through corrosive, monster infested poisoned swamp water.”

“Yeah, fuck that. I’ll take the convenient floating teenager boat ride.”

“Let’s head back out there, then. I don’t know what goes on at the Freehold but if there’s trouble out there then we had aught to look into it. Couldn’t hurt, could it?”