Dreams of the Cursed Child

The Child Dreams of Home

An appendage with four eyes snakes up and twists around the floating girl, the eyes staring malevolently at her. As one of the eyeballs explodes, the girl shudders in her sleep, and her dreams begin to play across the surface of the bubble of shimmering light.

"Wake up! Wake up!" yells the nanny, shaking the child awake. "Princess, you must wake up!"


The child's eyes open wide, as she stares at her nanny in confusion. Her nanny is plump and elderly, her once black feathered wings are gray and drooping. Picking up the child, the nanny holds her tightly and begins to run through the castle.

Screams sound throughout the castle, as the floor shakes and dust fills the corridors. Several guards escort the nanny at a brisk trot as they wend their way through the castle. The child's heart is thumping hard, tears in her eyes.

They enter the throne room, and her mother's advisor, the High Gayine, is standing before the Emerald Egg and gestures at nanny to come towards him. Around the crystalline construct are the Priests and Priestesses of the Nest, chanting fiercely as the entire castle rocks and sways. The Emerald Egg glitters with internal fire, slowly turning in the air.

The nanny brings the child to the High Gayine, who picks her up briskly and settles her into the throne. Guards rush into the throne room carrying long iron pikes, and then exit down the main corridor.

"Where's the Queen?" asks the Nanny, her voice quivering.

"The Queen is dead!" shouts the High Gayine. "The princess is the last of the royal line! She must ascend now!"

"She's just a child," cries the Nanny, wringing her hands.

"We have no time to wait for her to grow. Muud is here, woman!" the High Gayine weaves a spell through the air, locking the child into the throne. "Hurry! Hurry!"

The throne rises up into the air as the Priests and Priestesses of the Nest continue to chant, then floats slowly into the Emerald Egg. The child screams as green flames course around her and through her. She is in terrible pain, yet she cannot escape from the bonds around the throne. As the emerald fire burns through her, she watches in horror as a hideous ooze seeps into the throne room. The child watches the flesh of the nanny dissolve into the putrid ooze, which surges forward to devour guards, nobles and others whom the child knows well. Though their screams are silenced, the child's screams continues on and on.

Finally, the burning fires through her stop and the child is released by the Emerald Egg. The child flies into the air, but a column of the churning ooze shoots up from below and wraps around her. She screams in terror and agony, as the ooze seeps into her leg and sucks away at her essence.

The High Gayine shoots blasts of elemental magic at the tendril of ooze that is wrapped around the child, burning it away. A mental blast of frustration screams out from the ooze, which surges towards the child. The High Gayine throws himself in its path.

"Flee, princess!" the High Gayine yells at her, even as he dies. "Flee! Flee! Flee!"

The great windows of the throne room have been flung open, and the child flies out and up into the night sky. Below, the castle, her home, is crumbling, being devoured by the hideous ooze which covers almost the entire mountain.

Beyond crying, filled with terror, the child flies away as her people are destroyed.

The girl visibly shudders in her sleep and curls tighter in a fetal position.

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The Child Dreams of Snow

An appendage with four eyes snakes up and twists around the floating girl, the eyes staring malevolently at her. As one of the eyeballs explodes, the girl shudders in her sleep, and her dreams begin to play across the surface of the bubble of shimmering light.

Flight, endless flight. How long has the child been flying? She cannot remember. The ooze chases her, always chases her. She flies north, towards the cold, into the snowy wastes. She knows the ooze doesn't like the cold, for the cold makes it slow. Exhausted, the child descends and lands in a deep bank of snow. She closes her eyes.

At some point, she wakes as strong arms surround her, lifting her up as though she weighs nothing. The arms are warm and furry, gentle and kind. The child is carried into a warm cave, and bundled in thick fur blankets. She drifts to sleep. When she wakes up, she looks up and sees two faces staring down at her, each with sky blue eyes. The faces are covered in thick, white fur. The couple step back to regard the child, and she sees they are huge, three times as tall as she is and five times as wide.

"Who are you, child" asks the female. "How could you have survived in the cold? Surely your kind wasn't built for it! Have you seen any like her before, Rebo?"

"Never seen any of her kind in the snow wastes, Riva," says the male named Rebo, blue tongue flickering out momentarily from behind black lips.

The female named Riva feeds the child some hot fish stew. Watching the couple timidly, the child eats politely and quickly. When they pick her up to put her back to bed, she whimpers softly. They hug her gently, nuzzling her with their noses, before tucking her back into bed. Riva sings a lullaby to the child who finally falls asleep.

"Don't think she can talk," says Rebo later. "Think she may be simple?"

"Maybe she just don't know our language, eh," says Riva, though she doesn't sound convinced. "The Snow Witch will know what to do with her, maybe send her back to her people. Let's send for her when the frost bridge clears."

Months passed before they are able to send for the Snow Witch. During that time, Riva makes the child a tunic and trousers from seal skin, decorated with beads. Rebo carves an ivory
Finally, when the frost bridge clears, the Snow Witch comes to visit. She is another of the large furry people like Riva and Rebo except much older, an ancient. She arrives on a sled pulled by reindeer. She carries a thick wooden staff tipped with pine cones.

The Snow Witch shuffles toward the cave home of Riva and Rebo, but pauses to stare at the child whom she sees peeking through the door. A frown furrows the Snow Witch's face and she enters the cave carefully.

"Can't understand me, birdie?" the Snow Witch asks, crouching down before the child. The child doesn't answer but holds Riva's hand tightly.

"She don't know our language, I don't think," says Riva, putting a furred hand on the child's shoulder.

"Maybe she can, maybe she can't," says the Snow Witch. "How long has she been here?"

"Just through the winter," says Rebo. "Maybe four months or so."

"Has the child grown any?" asks the Snow Witch.

"Nae. Not that I can tell anyways," says Riva.

"Riva and Rebo, it pains me to tell ye this," says the Snow Witch. "But this is the Cursed Child. You must send her away."

"What!" shouts Riva, protectively circling an arm around the child.

"The Cursed Child," says the Snow Witch, looking older than when she entered, "travels the entire world, and behind her is destruction and grief. Keep her here, and she'll bring doom to us all. You must send her away!"

"How do you know this is her?" demands Rebo.

"The Cursed Child appears as a small girl with wings," says the Snow Witch. "All stories agree with that. And look at her, so skinny and frail looking. Her kind wouldn't survive a week in the winter snows! And yet you find her in a drift deep within the snow wilds as hale as a thick furred cub?"

The Snow Witch suddenly darts forward, grabbing the child from Riva's hands, then throws her to the ground. The wooden staff swings towards the child. The pinecones at the end of the staff suddenly pop into balls of flame and shoot into the child. The child cries out, covering her face as the balls of fire and burning sap explode.

"Snow Witch, are you mad!" screams Riva, pushing the old woman away from the child.

The child is crying as Riva picks her up and cradles the child in her arms. Rebo protectively moves in front of the Snow Witch and growls.

"Look at her," says the Snow Witch softly. "That blast was enough to kill a snow cat. Is the child harmed?"

Riva pulls the sobbing child's hands away from her face and inspects her. The child sniffles softly, and Riva strokes her trembling wings.

"Not a scratch," says Riva.

"Aye, she's the Cursed Child," says the Snow Witch. "Whoever harbors her brings doom upon themselves and all who are near. I'm sorry Riva and Rebo, but in the name of the Tribes of the Snow Waste, I must command you to get rid of the child."

Riva and Rebo say they would obey, but they never do. They hide the child in their cave when visitors came around. The child is happy, knowing laughter for the first time in an age. As the years pass, the child never grows older and never does speak. But Riva and Rebo love her all the same.

One night, the nightmare catches up with the child. The air fills with the sound of a terrible hiss, echoing throughout the valley, as the ooze bubbles through the snow. The ooze creeps forward towards the child, and the child once again feels the mind of the terrible ooze hammering against her, hungry for her, filled with the desire to consume her. Riva and Rebo scream at her to flee, to escape, even as the ooze dissolves their fur and flesh.

And, once again, the Cursed Child flees.

The girl visibly shudders in her sleep and curls tighter in a fetal position.

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The Child Dreams of Peers

An appendage with four pincers snaps at the floating girl, a pair of pincers closing against the skin of the bubble and pricking at it. As the pincer breaks apart, the girl shudders in her sleep, and her dreams begin to play across the surface of the bubble of shimmering light.

How often do families take in the Cursed Child? She doesn't remember. She tries not to stay around other people for long, for she knows they will be doomed. She knows she is cursed to kill all those that she loves. So the Cursed Child always is always running.

But sometimes she tires, sometimes she feels so lonely that her heart weighs her down. She settles down on some rocks, high up on a mountain trail. Vaguely, it reminds her of her home so long ago, the castle in the mountains. She doesn't feel the nightmare near so she allows herself to sleep.

The child is awakened by rough hands. She sits up and stares at the strange people who surround her. They are not much taller than she is, though three times as wide, with long bristling beards.

"Who are ye, child?" asks one of the small people. "We are clangoru, eh. What race are you? Can ye understand me? "

The child doesn't answer. It is the same old dance whenever the she meets others. She knows she should run away, but she is tired and lonely. She allows the clangoru to take her to their home. It is a kingdom within the mountains that they call Grimkeep.

The clangoru put the child in a room of her own. She is near other children, who are delighted when she flies in the high roofed ceiling. She finds it easy to be lulled in the easy life of these people.

But soon enough, as always, the child feels the nightmare approach, its hunger for her beyond reason. When the nightmare is near, the clangoru don't let her leave Grimkeep. They say it is for her own protection. She cannot make them understand, so she withdraws to her room, sitting on in a corner with her knees drawn up to her chest.

Something different occurs this time. She is visited by two strange people. One is tall, dressed in black armour, his skin ebony and glowing with power, two iron tipped tusks jutting up from either side of his mouth. At his side is a clangorim, but the clangorim has gleaming gold skin and a bristling red beard falling down his chest like a river of burnished bronze.

"So this is the runt," says the clangorim, hands on his hips. "Grimkeep kept her here so I could see her for myself. I think the old legends are true, Urlach!"

"The legend of the Cursed Child," says Urlach. "And we're the ones to have found her, Klangratch. She certainly is fast. I bet she could give Shanth a run."

"Listen, lass," says Klangratch to the girl, "You know what you are? You know you're a Vernal God?"

"I'm not sure she understands us," says Urlach. "She seems to be simple."

"What in blazes were her people thinking!" growled Klangratch. "Raising a simple minded child as a Vernal God! What a colossal waste of power!"

Urlach doesn't answer, but just wraps a band of dark power around the child's waist. The child tries to run away but cannot escape the band that holds her. She doesn't understand why the glowing pair hold her.

There is a battle in mountains around Grimkeep as the nightmare finally comes. The child is frantic to escape but the band holds her. She waits for the inevitable. For the nightmare to finally claim her.

But the glowing people have powers that the child does not know exist. Before the nightmare reaches Grimkeep itself, the one called Urlach opens up magical passages that allow Klangratch to lead the clangoru to safety. Urlach himself picks up the child and takes her into the strange catacombs, which twist and turn and confuse her.

The child is eventually taken to a secluded cavern far away, and there are only Klangratch and Urlach for company. The clangoru have been taken somewhere else. Unable to move far from the cavern because of the band around her waist, the child sits miserably on a rock with her head against her knees. Sometimes she hums a lullaby that Riva had sung to her, but most often she just stays silent.

Others like Klangratch and Urlach begin arriving to visit the child. The child tries to hide from them, but Urlach always pulls her forward and let the others inspect her and try to speak to her.

"Well you were wise not to take her to any of our enclaves or near any population," says the one called D'varsha after inspecting her for some time. "Muud has part of her essence and can track her anywhere. He's probably on his way here now."

"This is disgusting!" rants the one called Dionamus. "You are treating her like an animal! And you are holding her against her will!"

"She's like a magnet for Muud," says Urlach. "Surely we can use that to our advantage."

"She's an innocent," says Dionamus. "She's only a child!"

"Innocent!" laughs Klangratch. "She's a bloody herald of Muud. How many peoples have died because of her, Dionamus? You want us to let her free? To wreck havoc on how many more civilizations?"

"And she is certainly not a child," says D'varsha softly. "Look at that necklace she wears. Those runes are from a tae'dae tribe of the northern wastes that have been extinct for 300 years."

"Look at her. She doesn't understand any of this," says Dionamus, but he leaves shortly later.

Indeed, the child doesn't understand. She trembles and looks beseechingly at these powerful people who prod her and poke her with magical instruments. All she wants to do is to run away, to flee, as she always does. Before the nightmare finds her.

The girl visibly shudders in her sleep and curls tighter in a fetal position.

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The Child Dreams of a Trap

An appendage with four long spikes rears up and snaps at the floating girl, one the spike plunging through the bubble and poking into the child. As the spike dissolves, the girl shudders in her sleep, and her dreams begin to play across the surface of the bubble of shimmering light.

The child is more miserable than she has ever been. Trapped by Klangratch and Urlach, they do not let her flee as she always has done before. Instead, they experiment with the child, devising magical constructs to surround the child, allowing the nightmare to get closer and closer to her before jerking her into the catacombs that Urlach opens. Each time, the nightmare becomes angrier and angrier, if that is even possible, inflaming his terrible desire for the child, which bats at her relentlessly.

Always on the move, Klangratch and Urlach continuously use child to lure the nightmare hither and thither, just before escaping through the catacombs. Surrounding her with ever changing globes of magical energy, they eventually allow the nightmare to get close enough to touch her magical prisons. Finally, one day, they clap each other on the shoulders, congratulating themselves, finally having produced the perfect magical globe after so many years of work. They take no notice of the miserable child within.

Klangratch and Urlach place the globe with the child inside to hover in the air over a swamp. Soon enough, Muud comes after the child. She is frantic with terror but she cannot leave the globe. Muud bubbles below her, sending up tendrils of ooze towards the globe. But the tendrils that cling against the globe's surface cannot pull her down, nor can they release her. Muud sends more tendrils up at the child, only becoming more severely stuck.

Klangratch and Urlach finally approach to see how well their trap has worked. They are extremely happy to see that Muud can do nothing but try to engulf the child.

"This is it," says Urlach. "Muud is ensnared. He cannot release himself until he devours the child, and he cannot reach the child so long as she lives. Both their energies feed the trap, making it stronger than the sum of themselves."

"Pity we can't save the child," comments Klangratch.

Other shining beings come to observe the child. They monitor Muud and the child, circling around them until they are sure the trap will hold.

"Won't the other Soulless just free Muud?" asks the shining one known as Tzaraziko.

"Not if we sink her here," says D'Varsha. "This basin has always had a destabilizing aura that somehow stifled psychic communications. I don't think they'll be able to be found if we sink her into the swamp."

"I cannot countenance this!" says Dionamus for the hundredth time.

"What choice do we have now?" asks Tzaraziko. "Surely, we cannot free Muud?"

"She was raised as a vernal god," says Juliana to Dionamus. "And as vernals, it is our duty to battle the Soulless in any way we can. Obviously, she should never have been raised but since she has, does this negate her duty? Wouldn't any of us make this sacrifice if we could?"

"But this isn't her choice!" says Dionamus.

"It is still her duty," says Juliana. "And her sacrifice will save the lives of millions of mortals, and it will be a step towards winning our endless war. Could you in good conscience walk away from that to save her?"

Dionamus doesn't answer but shakes his head, and departs. There is no triumphant joy as the shining ones surround the child.

"This is a terrible thing we do," whispers Tzaraziko. "It will be remembered as our greatest crime."

"There's no other choice," says Urlach and none are left to argue.

Summoning their magics, the shining ones circle around the child and Muud. The child screams as Muud begins sinking into the swamp, pulling the child with him. Steam rises up around them, thick and putrid, billowing in air like cancerous clouds. Slowly, they sink deeper and deeper into the ground and away from the world above.

Where it will be forever silent and dark.

The floating girl thrashes in her sleep, silently crying out.