Morimens story · Psyche Deepdive
Blood and Sand
6 scenes, 327 lines
1. Guide, Mage, Thrall, before the fight
101 linesIn @2, the Pope lost his grip on power and the crown rose in his place The holy city of Acre became a prize worth any war Fearing the Mamluk forces under Baibars the Prince called the realm to march east and take back Acre
And so the curtain rose once more on the Crusade, in all its terrible scale...
...
You open your eyes after a long, deep sleep. Desert stretches to the horizon in every direction.
Awake, are you? Bloody hell. Two steps into this place and the guide drops from heatstroke. What kind of joke is that?
At least I only have to set foot in this godforsaken place once in my life, @1!
Guide? Where... where is this...
The blazing sun bakes you until your head swims. You look down at your hands.
Burnt brown and dry, the lines across the palms deep and unruly, these are a warrior's hands.
Jamila @1, age 32. Former Mamluk mercenary, now a guide in the desert...
You quietly take in your new identity.
It seems you've entered Morpheus once again.
Hey. What are you muttering about over there? If you're awake, get on your feet, my slave and I have business to attend to.
The short, stout man in the outlandish clothes is your employer for this job: Ludwig Prynn.
He says it impatiently, jabbing his whip vaguely behind him.
Hssss...
Uvhash?!
Only now do you notice the man hidden behind the dune.
He stays crouched, long arms propped loosely on the sand, like a beast waiting to spring.
Your shock makes him grin, baring a row of pale, gleaming fangs.
What, you know me?
Before you can answer, the sorcerer's whip cracks down hard across Uvhash.
A word of advice, friend, don't talk to him.
He may have eyes and a nose like ours, but underneath he's nothing but a savage beast. Or rather...
The whip lands on Uvhash again, harder.
He's a demon.
Lash after lash, and Uvhash doesn't so much as blink.
He wipes at the blood running down from his temple, lifts his palm to his nose for a sniff, then, in no hurry at all, begins licking it off his fingertips.
There, you see? The dog that guards my house has more humanity in it than he does! Lower than an animal, hahahaha!
Hey... old man, you're swinging a lot softer today. What's the matter, can't even keep a grip on the whip?
Hmph...
Animals are animals because they can never keep their mouths shut, or learn their place.
No matter. I'll teach you properly...
Prynn's beard bristles with rage, and then he shoots off toward Uvhash like a rubber ball flung from a sling.
Wait.
You catch Prynn by the wrist and haul him back.
Give me the whip.
Let go of me! I'm going to teach that animal a lesson...
Mr. Jamila, I am your employer now. Surely I don't need to explain what that means?
Sorry. All I know is that I'm the guide on this trip. And since I'm the guide, you do as I say.
Otherwise I walk right now, and the two of you can find the battlefield yourselves.
Hey, hey...! Let's talk this over, talk it over...
One more thing.
You frown and look over at Uvhash.
The two of you rarely crossed paths on campus, but you still know a thing or two about the things he's done.
He is not the sort of man who lets anyone hold him.
What did you do to him? There's no way he'd take orders from you.
What, are you questioning my abilities as Chief Sorcerer of the Levant?
This is an ancient secret art of our trade, and my private business as your employer besides. I'd ask Mr. Guide to keep his nose out of it...
Not talking? Then I'll beat it out of you.
Hey, wait, Agh!
Ssss, that hurts... You, you're no ordinary guide!
Speak up, are you a spy sent by Remouahe to intercept me?
You ignore Prynn's question. Something else has already taken all of your attention...
A thin chain flickers in and out of sight in the daylight, giving off a strange light.
It runs from Prynn's wrist all the way to Uvhash's throat.
I've seen this trick before... someone told me about it once...
If it won't listen, just put a dog chain on it. Problem solved.
That's illegal in Londinium, Miss Agrippa. I'm afraid we'll have to walk you through a few basics of the law...
Heehee. I'm not stupid.
Have you heard of @1?
It's an ancient secret art. The caster can control another person with an invisible chain...
As for the price...
What was the price again? Damn, I can't remember...
You're still lost in the memory when someone yanks the mask off your face.
Three winding rivers... You're a Mamluk slave-soldier?!
The words are barely out of Prynn's mouth before Uvhash, who hasn't shown the slightest interest until now, turns and looks at you.
Interesting...
No, no, that's not right. The Mamluk forces should be out on the battlefield now...
I see. You're a deserter.
You touch your face without thinking.
So there's a tattoo on my face...
Sure, I'm a deserter. My hometown is Remouahe, but I don't want to go back...
Deserters still have to eat, so these days I make my living as a guide. Don't worry, if I have one virtue, it's that I never cut corners on a job.
I'll get you to the battlefield, guaranteed...
Squelch.
Having seen enough of the farce, Uvhash stretches and strolls over to you.
He throws an arm around your shoulder, then gently turns your chin until you're looking straight at the silent sorcerer.
Since we're all slaves, or used to be, let me give you a little hint.
If I were you, I'd shut my mouth right about now. Know what kind of man he hates most?
...Being taught to watch your tongue by him of all people. What a strange feeling.
...I'm listening.
Pain flares through your shoulder, Uvhash is roaring with laughter, slapping you hard on the back.
Of course, it's the Mamulu mercenaries from Remouahe!
...Wonderful. He must be the only one here who finds this funny.
This one has a real gift for making enemies.
Heh...
Back then, the Mamluk mercenaries butchered tens of thousands of my countrymen. My wife, my comrades, my mentor... they all died here.
There. My tragic tale is finished. You may all go back to laughing.
My apologies, Mr. Prynn. Let me explain. I'll admit I have a... well, a less than honorable past.
But that's the past. It has nothing to do with the man I am now.
Prynn waves you off.
Under the blazing sun his round face has ripened into a big red apple, though this particular apple is in no mood to be admired.
Save it. I've nothing to say to you.
Mercenaries are a godless lot, every one of them. And slaves? A slave hasn't the faintest notion what dignity or honor mean.
You and that thing over there, at bottom, there's no difference between you.
Still, I'm well past the age of acting on impulse.
First, I can't beat you in a fight. Second, you're still of some use to me.
Whatever hole you crawled out of, here and now, keep us moving, my dear Mr. Guide.
2. Solar Expedition, before the fight
82 linesNorthern Cuhsi Desert, Night
Snrk... snrk... phwoo...
Snoring rolls like thunder through the silent night. Whatever happened during the day, it clearly hasn't cost Prynn a moment of sleep.
You can't take another minute of it. At last you push aside the tent flap and step outside.
So beautiful...
Good evening, Mr. Guide.
!!
Uvhash appears from the corner without a sound, grinning at you.
The invisible chain still binds him. All he can do is sit twisted awkwardly on the ground, his whole shape all but swallowed by the dark.
...Didn't think you'd still be awake.
A golem doesn't need sleep.
A golem...?
So he caught that glance of yours after all, the one you thought looked casual enough. He really does have the instincts of a beast.
My teacher told me once...
Back in ancient Rome, a mad alchemist made the first golem, and paid for it with a mountain of human sacrifices.
It's also the closest thing to an Awakener in any ancient text.
That golem, that was you, wasn't it?
That's right... it was me. I became Caligula's lapdog, and I killed a great many people for him.
Then they had no more use for me, so they chained me underground where no light ever reached. And there I stayed, until that old man let me out.
As Uvhash speaks, his eyes flick toward Prynn, still snoring away inside the tent.
And the condition?
The condition is to serve him like a dog and kill many Remouahe people on the battlefield.
Then we part ways, and each of us goes on living as he pleases.
Uvhash stretches lazily and sprawls back against the dune, legs splayed wide.
A chain like that couldn't possibly hold you. Why not just kill the sorcerer and walk away?
Because he told me there would be plenty of people on the battlefield.
Where there are many people, there is much blood.
It's been nearly a thousand years since I last tasted blood...
...
That one hardly looks like a man who keeps his word. What if he's lying to you?
Then I kill him. Simple enough, isn't it?
...
You have to admit, he has a point.
An evening breeze drifts past, and the dunes roll gently on and on before you. Under the boundless sky, only two small figures remain.
You look up at a sky thick with stars.
To pass the long night, you decide to trade a few thoughts with the golem in front of you.
Being locked away underground can't have been pleasant. Once you hold up your end of the deal, you'll be free again. How does that feel?
And you? You stopped being a slave a long time ago, and you still spend your days scraping a living out of this desert. How does that feel?
...
Not great, honestly. You can't even see the sun in this godforsaken place...
You must be blind. A sun that big over the desert, and you can't see it?
You don't get it. I mean the gentle kind, the bright kind, the kind that's warm on your skin... You won't find that in the desert.
You yawn, and sleep starts pulling at you. With your guard down, the talk turns easy.
To your surprise, Uvhash makes a halfway decent listener.
You probably won't believe me, but I've got a job of my own to finish...
And once everything that has to be done is done, I'm going to find somewhere to lie in the sun and eat a whole lot of little cakes...
...Makes no sense to me.
Golems are born of darkness and fear sunlight by nature, and nearly a thousand years underground has only deepened his loathing of it.
I really do pity you. Lying in the sun is the finest thing in this world...
Though for someone like me, even a wish that small is hard to come by...
The wind picks up. Drifting sand weaves veil after pale golden veil, floating gently beneath a sky full of stars.
You listen to the clean sound of the wind coming from far away, and at last you fall asleep.
...
Northern Cuhsi Desert, Day
Bloody hell! Weren't you the one who swore up and down there wouldn't be a sandstorm for days?!
Prynn stares, wide-eyed, and points at the sand boiling in along the horizon.
Now you tell me, what is that @1 ?
Uh...
Before you entered Morpheus, the body's original owner had made a few promises he never meant, all to fleece this rich fool.
This isn't the time to argue. That storm's almost on us, run!
With that, you take off at a dead sprint, leaving Prynn far behind.
Hey... you get back here!
A sandstorm? What's that... The view looks rather nice to me.
Uvhash runs backward with easy strides, pulling up alongside you, eyes never leaving the horizon.
You've never seen a sandstorm before?
Uvhash shrugs.
I never got farther than the walls of Rome. There's a great deal I've never seen.
Ugh... hnngh...
The chain snaps taut, and Prynn, trailing far behind, is yanked off his feet into the air.
S-slow down... I'm dying back here...
Tch. Almost forgot about the old man.
Uvhash doubles back and hoists the squat little sorcerer up like he weighs nothing.
W-what do you think you're doing?
Nothing. Just helping you run a little faster.
With that, Uvhash tucks the sorcerer under one arm, steps forward, digs the ball of his back foot into the sand, and coils like a drawn bow.
Hey... I'm warning you, this is no time for games, AAAGH!!!
Uvhash drives off his back foot and shoots away like an arrow off the string.
I, you... you stinking @1, put me down!
Uvhash bursts out laughing. The laughter rides the wind, tangled with golden sand and dust, racing merrily off into the distance.
Not a chance. I still need you alive to win my freedom back for me!
3. Solar Expedition, after the fight
12 linesHoo... caught up at last. I'm warning you, Uvhash, you know what happens if you wander off without me, don't you?
Shh!!
Uvhash crouches atop a high dune, hissing impatiently through his nose, like a beast intent on its hunt and pestered by flies.
His lips part slightly, his nostrils twitch, and the blood-red light in his eyes burns brighter than ever.
Found it. Found it...
You follow his stare down the slope...
Countless tiny black specks litter the rolling dunes, like ants crawling across a sand table.
Clashing blades, roaring voices, thundering hooves, rising and falling in waves. A vast panorama of war unfurls before you.
Remouans, Leonians... Good, very good.
You have reached the end of the road at last. Prynn forces two strange chuckles out of his throat, shaking all over with the fire of vengeance.
Go on, Uvhash...
Kill your fill.
4. Vermilion Rite, before the fight
61 linesEdge of the Cuhsi Desert Ritual Site
Good. A layer of sulfur first, then the powdered charcoal...
No, that's wrong. Let me see what the book says...
Less than fifty yards from the battlefield, Prynn works away at his preparations.
Uvhash, at Prynn's insistence, sits in the center of a ritual circle drawn in sulfur.
Huff... huff...
Impressive. Sleeping through all this...
I've got a technical question for you, Mr. Prynn. Doesn't the wind just blow all that powder away?
Heh, you can never rely on the insight of the Remouans. Keep your eyes wide open and watch...
Prynn pulls a ritual knife from his sleeve and opens his own wrist without hesitation.
Dark red blood falls drop by drop onto the sulfur circle, and the miracle happens...
Like water sinking into parched desert, the circle drinks the fresh blood and blooms with ring after ring of deep red light.
They burn like flames under a blackened sky, licking greedily at the wind-torn sand as if to swallow the whole world.
Do you see? This is what real magic looks like! Hahahaha!
Hahaha... GAAAH!!!
Prynn drops to his knees with a thud, his hands clamping around his own throat beyond his control.
The chains connecting him to Uvhash rapidly pull taut, wrenching their flesh and souls tightly together.
Ngh... what...?
Uvhash can no longer hold that easy, lounging pose.
An unseen force flips him onto his back, and he stares, dazed, at the ritual circle about to spin out of control.
Prynn lies sprawled on the ground, watching Uvhash writhe with vicious delight, and starts to snicker.
Does it hurt... good, it should hurt...
Our minds are bound tight together now...
Did you see how the Remouahe dogs slaughtered my kin and defiled my wife... did you feel it...
Answer me, you thing, dumb as @1 !
Heh heh...
Don't gloat too soon... old man.
The day I break these chains, you're the first thing I tear apart, ngh!!
A shame. I don't think you'll be getting your wish this time...
Breathing hard, Prynn closes a trembling hand around the invisible chain, then hauls back on it.
The chain that held for a thousand years shatters, just like that.
Heh heh @3 AAAH @1 AAAH!!
Purin lets out an agonized wail as the flesh on his face rots and peels away like bark, revealing the raw flesh beneath.
The magic circle opens its dark, gaping maw, devouring his flesh bit by bit until the sorcerer is reduced to a hollow skeleton.
I have sacrificed my flesh, my soul, and everything... and you?
You will never achieve true freedom until you have killed 10,000 Remouahe dogs!
Uvhash rises slowly to his feet.
Invisible flames have burned his face down to black ash, and it flakes away in the wind.
The charred warrior stands unmoved in the searing firelight. His eyes are red, and nothing comes from his throat but a hoarse rumble.
There has only ever been one thing I, Uvhash, truly care about...
He lunges, too fast to follow, and drives the sorcerer to the ground.
Then he bares his fangs and bites clean through the sorcerer's throat.
It is blood!!
Mr. Prynn!
This life... take it... vengeance @2 help me...
Help you? Old man, I think you've got this wrong...
Prey does not get to make demands of Uvhash.
I obeyed you because I could have smashed your toy chain any time I pleased, not because of that damn pact we signed.
Playtime is over. Now keep your eyes wide open and watch...
Watch me butcher your enemies, your own kin, and every living thing in sight...
<Change>Devil... you devil...
Prynn's blood spills freely across the ritual circle, until even the blood-red glow looks pale beside it.
He sacrificed his own life in exchange for Uvhash's freedom.
Heh heh... aaah @4...
Uvhash raises his head slowly, blood still unlicked at the corner of his mouth, his eyes long since eaten away by the dark.
He has become a true beast. Or perhaps this was always what he was.
It's back. It's all back...
5. Tragedy's Curtain, before the fight
25 linesEdge of the Cuhsi Desert, Battlefield
Hey, did you hear? Another one's snapped. Killing anything that moves.
They say he is neither Leorian nor Remouahean... no one knows where he came from.
Point is, we get out of here, now...
...
Wh-when did you get here...
Aaaah! Run...
!!
Go...
Uvhash crushes the skull of the one in his way without effort, then walks slowly up to the next soldier.
Blood... I want more blood...
He raises his hand, slowly.
That's right. It's me.
You step between them and turn to the soldier behind you, dropped to their knees in terror.
Go. As far from here as you can get.
Move!!
Y-yes... I'm going...
The soldiers stumble and scramble away.
Why do you stop me? I had only just tasted the blood... the joy of the fight...
You want a fight? Fine. I'll give you one.
You? Hahahaha. And what are you...
You press your scimitar to Uvhash's throat, calmly meeting eyes that lost their focus long ago.
Only one way to find out, isn't there?
6. Tragedy's Curtain, after the fight
46 linesVultures shriek in the blood-red light of the setting sun. The battlefield is empty now.
Less than ten yards apart, you and Uvhash look at each other in silence.
Hey... how long have we been at this?
...
Who knows... An hour? A day?
...
A thousand years... It's been almost a thousand years since I had a fight this good.
You're a born warrior.
Now that's a surprise. Since when did you learn to flatter like a human?
As the fight goes on, you feel it clearly: Uvhash is failing, and failing fast.
Side effect of the pact or not, he has nothing left in him.
A fight is only worth having when both sides are matched. I don't mind being the weaker one for that.
I have never cared what humans think, no more than a human cares what an ant thinks.
But you're different. There's a great strength inside you, and you know how to hold it back.
Keep at it, warrior. Those dull little wishes of yours, the sun, the cupcakes, maybe they really will come true.
Just idle nonsense I let slip, and he actually remembered...
Go... to that place you talked about. Where there's sun.
?!
And you?
Me...? The old man kept one trick in reserve. I won't last long. Heh heh...
The old man dies, and so do I... That's the true price of breaking the pact.
He comes toward you slowly, every step an effort.
Then he tears his own wrist open with his teeth.
Crimson blood pours out, sharp and reeking, onto your scalp, your eyelids, then down the bridge of your nose to your parched lips.
This blood... consider it my parting gift.
Vultures circle above him, their eyes already on the dying prey.
I was born from myriad flesh and have wandered this world for nearly a thousand years...
I have seen gold leaf swirling through the air at a triumph, and I have seen palaces of gold burn.
I have feasted on the sweetest blood, and I have known the most savage battles.
I slaughtered humans, and humans bound me and used me, and in the end, as anyone might have guessed, I die by human hands.
Now it's time for me to go...
He towers over you, looking down, nothing at all in his eyes.
Thick blood drips from the tip of your nose onto the ground.
You are like an initiate at a baptism who understands nothing, lost before everything happening in front of you.
I return all my flesh to you and to this world.
They belong to the sky, they belong to the earth... they belong to you, but not to me.
Now get out of here... get out, and don't look back.
At last a red haze closes over your sight. You shut your eyes as the dizziness comes in waves, as if the ground beneath you were sinking away.
What came after, you could never quite remember.
Maybe you had already walked away. Maybe you died out there in that desert alongside him.
None of it matters. Because you will always remember that last moment before he died.
A flock of black vultures passed overhead just then, cutting off the evening light behind him.
The light dimmed, shadow spread all around, and he knelt in that shadow and watched you.
He said...
Get out of here.
Go find that damn place where the sun shines.