The Southern Cross & The Snapdragon

THIS CHAPTER IS NOT MY WRITING. This is 100% the writing of my friend, since it started out as his solo project. Glide (an anthropomorphic deer) and Niqi (an anthropomorphic wolf) have recently arrived on Seisen. Glide has been here before, Niqi hasn't.

Before I begin, I'd just like to make some comments, since this is a very involved story. Glide has a very complicated past and is the favorite and most in-depth character my friend has. He is in many, many other stories, so some details about him won't be mentioned at all during the story. Most of the mysteries about him that emerge during this story are answered later, however. Some random facts, since a lot of things go unmentioned: Niqi is sort of an apprentice Crusader, while Glide became a real one during his last visit here. Selkies are a humanoid species with elf-like ears and a tail.

Enjoy the story!

 

 

 

 

 

“What is it?” Niqi asked, paw instinctively grasping her katana’s hilt.

Glide shook his head, using his thumb to flick his own katana out of its sheath, just enough to draw quickly. “It’s the Southern Cross, a haven for demons. We should avoid it, if you don’t want a fight.”

Niqi followed Glide’s gaze, noticing a large cross on a hilltop a few miles ahead. “The Southern Cross, huh? Think the ‘Demon King’ is there?”

“What, Oda Nobunaga?” Glide asked, grinning. “In all seriousness, though, I’m not sure. He might be.”

“Let’s go check it out, then.”

 

...

 

Niqi allowed Glide to lead the way, staying behind the Varixian and looking around warily. “Don’t draw attention to yourself.” Glide whispered. “Play it cool and they won’t know who we are. But if you f**k this up and I have to let... her loose, I’ll kick your a*s.”

Niqi nodded silently, looking into the window of a shop as they passed by and noticing several horned men exchanging glowing white coins. “What are those coins?”

“Soul Coins.” Glide said, taking a moment to adjust the sling that kept his right arm hidden. “Demon currency. Forged from damned souls in hell. Odds are, everybody here has some. S**t, I’ve even got a few, if we find something interesting here.”

Niqi opened her mouth, about to ask where Glide had acquired Soul Coins, when a clawed hand fell on her shoulder. Letting instinct take over, she whipped her katana from its sheath, twirled around, and pressed the blade to the demon’s throat. “Back off!”

“What did I tell you!?” Glide snarled, the other demons in the area forming a circle around them. “Now they’ve found us out.”

Niqi severed the demon’s head, then stepped back to stand beside Glide. “It’s not my fault, it knew already!”

Glide shoved Niqi aside, an axe crashing down mere seconds later, sticking into the ground where Niqi had been standing. “Jesus, do I have to warn you about everything?”

Niqi spun around, spotting a demon wielding a gargantuan sword behind Glide. “Watch ou-”

The Varixian didn’t bother drawing his sword, only turning to face the demon, smirking. As the demon swung, Glide tilted his head back, the blade barely missing his chin. “Oh, swing and a miss. Care to try again, ugly?”

With a growl, the demon lifted its blade and swung again.

Glide bent backwards, the blade passing over him again. “Strike two. Come on, third time’s the charm.”

“Would you stop screwing around with it!?” Niqi snapped, flicking her blade forward into the stomach of another demon, then giving it a swift kick.

Glide sighed, rolling his eyes. “Whatever. But if one more person snaps at me, I’m gonna snap their f****n’ neck.”

The demon Glide was fighting raised its blade for another swing, though it never got to attack. Glide pulled his right arm from the sling, revealing the long chain wrapped around his forearm. “Break down the walls...” The Varixian muttered, reaching up with his left arm and grabbing the demon’s wrist. “Shetani, it’s time to go to work.”

            Black mist spiraled up Glide’s arm, seeming to originate from the chain. A few seconds later, it looped back down, drifting off of Glide’s paw and tapering, then hardening to form a spike. Glide paused, the spike beginning to glow with dark purple energy.

            Nothing moved for what seemed like an eternity. The Southern Cross became silent, until, finally, Glide struck. “Yami no yari, the spear of darkness!”

The spike pierced the demon’s chest, Glide allowing it to suffer for a moment before twisting his arm, splitting the spike into four blades, which neatly quartered the demon and folded back up.

“I think we should get out of here...” Niqi said, noticing several more demons moving into the streets from inside the nearby buildings. “Something tells me there’s a lot more where these came from.”

“Whatever.” Glide shrugged, dismissing the shadow spike with a shake of his wrist. “You wanna try to convince them to let us by, or should I?”

Niqi parried a demon’s sword thrust, then dropped into a crouch and swept its legs out from under it. “Yeah, I get your point, they’re not just gonna step aside and let us go.” She muttered, stabbing her katana into the prone demon’s neck, and then giving its head a hard kick.

“I’ll cut us a path.” Glide said, slowly moving his right paw to grasp the hilt of his katana. “Y’know,” he mused, “it’s times like these that I wish I had my own theme song.”

The two demons closest to Glide were rent in half in a flash of purple light, Glide’s blade glowing with Shetani’s energy. “Come on, let’s go!”

Niqi yanked her blade from the demon’s corpse, sheathing it and following after Glide.

 

…

 

“The Crusaders of the Northern Cross, reduced to running away…” Glide griped, sheathing his blade and tucking his arm back into the sling. “I can’t believe this s**t…”

“So, there’s a Southern Cross and a Northern Cross. Are there Eastern and Western Crosses, too?” Niqi asked, glancing around. “I don’t see them anywhere…”

Glide stopped in his tracks. “We don’t talk about the Eastern and Western Crosses. And you don’t see them because we’re in an untamed area. The Crosses aren’t just cities; they’re territories, countries.” He explained. “Each Cross has its own unique symbol, and four stone crosses. Each stone cross has its Cross’ symbol carved into one side, and the neighboring Cross’ symbol on the other. The neighboring Cross’ symbol is always pointed into the Cross’ territory, so those that live there know what’s beyond what stone cross.”

“One stone cross for each boundary of a Cross’ territory.” Niqi said.

Glide nodded. “Exactly. The Northern Cross is home to the Crusaders, and is, as the name suggests, in the north. You know what lives at the Southern Cross. The Western Cross... is home to the humans. We have an agreement; they don’t come out, we don’t go in. And the Eastern Cross is home to the selkies. They hunt the Southern Cross’ demons, as well, and figure we Crusaders are stealing their prey. So if a Crusader comes into the Eastern Cross, they’re usually killed on sight.”

Niqi almost didn’t realize that Glide had started walking again. “Usually?” She asked, jogging to catch up to the Varixian.

“The leader of the Crusaders and some of his higher-ranking soldiers, like us, are exempt from that rule.” Glide said. “But we have to relinquish our weapons when we come in and can’t purchase any while we’re there. We’re also not allowed to kill any demons within the Eastern Cross’ territory. Of course, I know a way around that...”

Niqi snickered. “Of course you do. Now you’ve got me curious; how can you get around the rules?”

“Well, I can’t get around the rule about weapon purchases without the Eastern Cross’ king’s permission,” Glide said, shrugging, “but since the chain and Shetani are part of me, I don’t have to give them up when I go into the Eastern Cross. And if I have my eyes on a certain demon, all I have to do is lure it out of Eastern Cross territory and then kill it, and they can’t do anything about it.”

Niqi raised an eyebrow. “They really can’t do anything, even though you’re luring a demon out of their territory?”

“They’re not stupid enough to f**k with me.” Glide smirked, snatching an apple from a tree as he passed and taking a bite out of it. “The selkies know I’m Shetani’s keeper. They also know that starting s**t with me is like swallowing a grenade without a pin. No matter how it happens, it’s gonna lead to your death.”

“Mister Confidence.” Niqi laughed.

Glide shrugged, taking another bite of his apple, then tossing it into the bushes. “So? I gotta have someone I can count on here; it might as well be myself.”

“You can count on me.” Niqi said. She held out her paw, and after a few seconds, a dragonfly landed on it. “I’m trustworthy.”

            “I’ll only ever be able to truly trust you when you beat me in battle.” Glide said, stopping at a crossroads. “It’s getting dark, we need to move faster... Should we head through the swamp or the forest?”

“Which one is more dangerous?” Niqi asked, blowing the dragonfly off her paw.

Glide thought it over for a moment, glancing from one path to the other. “They’re both about the same. Wildkin, monsters, stray demons... they live in either area. We go through the swamp, we’ll probably get stuck and end up sinking or something. We go through the forest, they’ll have plenty of stuff to jump from, take us by surprise.”

“At least we can rush through the forest without getting stuck.” Niqi said.

Glide scoffed. “Think again. The muck’s thick in the forests around here, remember? And anything living there might’ve set traps.” He paused for a moment, pulling his arm from the sling. “I’ve got an idea.”

Niqi watched as Glide crouched down, scooping up a flat rock and using Shetani’s power to turn one side of it purple. “We flip the rock. Purple side, we take our chances with the swamp. Gray side, we take the forest route.”

Niqi nodded, taking the rock and flinging it into the air. She held her breath as it came down, landing on its side and beginning to teeter back and forth. To her surprise, it didn’t fall, staying upright.

“You have got to be f****n’ kidding me.” Glide muttered, kicking the stone over and sliding his arm back into the sling. “Screw this, I’m takin’ the swamp route.”

Niqi followed after him, darkness quickly descending over the land.

 

...

 

“Look.” Niqi said, pointing up toward the moon. “Doesn’t it look like there’s an eye on the moon?”

Glide looked up, then back down. “You’re seein’ things. At least keep your eyes on the swamp and not the sky. Last Crusaders that passed through here got eaten by a marsh drake.”

“Marsh drake?” Niqi asked, turning her gaze from the moon to their surroundings.

“It’s a false dragon.” Glide explained. “Marsh drakes look like dragons, and they use that fact to keep away predators that would otherwise kill ‘em. They ain’t exactly at the top of the food chain.”

“That’s great.” Niqi muttered, drawing her katana. “Was there anything like that in the forest?”

Glide paused to think, shrugging after a moment. “Not that I know of. The forest is mainly home to the Wildkin. It was only recently that the monsters started moving in, and they don’t usually bother the Wildkin.”

            Niqi stuck her blade into the ground, flicking a small stone up and catching it in her paw.  “Something tells me there’s not going to be an inn waiting at the edge of this swamp.” She said, sending the stone skittering across the ground.

“Actually, there’s a place called the Snapdragon about a mile north.” Glide grinned, bending back to watch Niqi upside-down. “Only problem is money. They don’t take your currency; haven’t since Earth was destroyed a few years back. I’ve only got about fifty Drakes on me, and they charge a hundred a night.”

“Where do you keep all that?” Niqi asked. “You seem to have a bit of money from every planet in the omniverse.”

Glide shrugged. “Wallet.” He responded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wallet made of snakeskin. He opened it, showing Niqi a variety of metal cards, then closing it and putting it back in his pocket. “To save time, barely any money is minted in our omniverse. Everything’s on cards. Each planet has their own card, just like they have their own unit of currency.”

Niqi nodded, going silent for a few moments. “... So, what’s the plan for the inn? Are you going to mug someone or just sleep with the innkeeper?” She joked, sliding her blade back into its sheath.

Glide’s grin disappeared in an instant, the Varixian wearing a decidedly aggravated scowl. “You are so lucky Seisen’s Northern Cross has a law against slaying fellow Crusaders. Contrary to what you may believe, and what you may have heard, I am not a w***e.”

“Lighten up.” Niqi said, rolling her eyes. “When did you become such a tightwad?”

“Don’t push your luck.” Glide muttered. “There’s no law against severely maiming a fellow Crusader, especially one you outrank.” He opened his mouth to add something else, then closed it again, his nose twitching.

Niqi raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Smells like cinnamon.” Glide said. “I guess the Snapdragon is closer than I thought.”

“The inn... smells like cinnamon?” Niqi asked.

Glide nodded, pulling his feet from the muck. “Sure does. It’s the innkeeper. She burns cinnamon to keep the Wildkin away.”

Niqi moved to walk beside Glide, shaking some of the mud from her tail. “Does it work?”

“To a point.” Glide said, shrugging. “Burning cinnamon has a weird effect on the Wildkin. If they get too close, it’s like getting ‘em drunk as f**k. They won’t be able to do anything until all of it’s burned up.”

 

...

 

After a few minutes of walking, Niqi and Glide came upon the Snapdragon inn, an old wooden building painted dark blue. A small sign hung from a steel rod over the door, ‘Snapdragon’ written on it in weather-worn letters. “Well, here we are.” Glide grinned.

“Nice place.” Niqi commented, pushing the door open and stepping inside.

They were greeted by an old selkie woman, whose blonde hair had yet to fully lose its color, despite the fact that she was clearly well into her eighties. She wore a dress made of rich brown fur, her hands hidden in gloves of the same. “Belleza!” Glide exclaimed, hooking his left arm around the old selkie’s frail-looking shoulders and embracing her. “Still running the Snapdragon after all these years, huh?”

“Of course, dearie.” Belleza replied, a smile appearing on her wrinkled face. “Do you and your friend need somewhere to stay for the night?”

“I’ve only got fifty Drakes.” Glide sighed. “And I don’t want to feel like I’m stiffing you.”

            “Nonsense, dear.” Belleza said. “You’re welcome to stay for free. It’s an unusually slow month; the only time people come in is to drink downstairs...”

“Well, if you insist. You’re too good to me, Bell.” Glide replied, smiling. “Better be careful; you don’t want people to walk all over you.” He joked.

Belleza chuckled. “I still have enough in me to give any cheapskate a good trouncing. Oh, since you’re staying the night, be sure to go down to the basement and say hello to my grandson, Lujuria. He’s tending our little tavern.”

 

...

 

Niqi followed Glide down the stairs, leaning against the banister once she reached the last step.

Glide stayed at the foot of the stairs, grinning and watching a small, slim selkie arranging bottles and glasses.

The selkie wiggled his hips as he moved back and forth behind the bar, not noticing Glide and Niqi on the stairs. He looked up after a moment, raising one pale-skinned hand to brush dark blonde locks out of his face. Finally taking notice of the two newcomers, his green eyes lit up, a smile appearing on his face as he vaulted over the bar. “Glide!”

Glide suddenly found himself wrapped in an embrace, Lujuria’s face buried in the soft fur of his chest. “Hey, Lu. Funny, I don’t remember you being this affectionate last time...”

“Glide,” Lujuria whined, “I haven’t seen you in over a year! You owe me a hug at the very least!”

Glide smiled, shaking his head and wrapping strong arms around Lujuria’s lithe frame. “I’ll try to come see you more often, okay?”

“That’s not good enough.” Lujuria said. “I wanna come with you.”

“You can’t.” Glide murmured, running a paw through Lujuria’s hair. “Belleza needs you here.”

Lujuria only squeezed Glide tighter. “Please?”

Glide went silent, slowly letting go of Lujuria. “I’ll think about it.” he said after a moment, grinning. “You just ask me again in the morning, okay? Let me sleep on it.”

“Sleep in my room.” Lujuria smiled, pulling the key from his necklace and handing it to Glide. “I want you to tell me everything about the Crusaders tonight. And maybe I’ll be able to convince you I can handle it.”

 

...

 

Glide led Niqi up to the second floor of the inn, stopping in front of one of the doors. “Listen, I’m gonna take Lujuria up on his offer and spend the night with him. You’re on your own until morning.”

Niqi rolled her eyes. “He’s crushing on you, y’know. He only wants to come along to spend time with you, he has no idea the kind of danger Crusaders face on a daily basis.”

“... I know.” Glide sighed. “I know. Just... get some rest. It’s a long walk back to the Northern Cross.”

Niqi watched as Glide moved away from the door, unlocking another door and stepping inside. With nothing left to do, she opened the door in front of her and entered the room.

 

...

 

Niqi glanced at the bed, the pillow apparently a plush wolf, then shook her head and sighed; she wasn’t tired in the least, but had nothing to do until morning. She walked over to the bookcase nearby, grabbing one of the books - titled ‘Dwellers of the Untamed Lands’ - and opened it. She skimmed through the book, front cover to back, then in reverse. “Boring.”

She set the book back on the bookcase, moving to sit down on the bed. The window at the foot of the bed offered a view of the swamp to the south, where an enormous shadow moved through the muck. “A marsh drake...?” She stood up, opening the window and leaning out to take a closer look. The shadow had no form, and seemed to be shifting even as it moved, almost like a swarm of insects.

Looking to her left, she noticed Glide, leaning out the next window. “Grave Flies...” The Varixian hissed. “Close your window; if they get in, you’re f****n’ done for.”

Nodding, Niqi closed the window and lay down, finally deciding to get some sleep.

Strangely enough, after a few moments, her pillow seemed to begin breathing. “You’re not a plush.”

The wolf eyed her sleepily, then just closed its eyes again. Niqi snickered. “I was hoping for conversation, but whatever.”

 

...

 

Niqi met up with Glide in the hall, a somewhat dejected-looking Lujuria following after the Varixian. “What’s wrong with him?”

“I gave it to him straight.” Glide said. “I told him exactly how dangerous our lives as Crusaders are.”

Lujuria remained silent, walking past the two and down the stairs.

Glide sighed softly. “I wish we could’ve taken him with us, but he’s... not really a fighter.”

“It’s for the best.” Niqi said, descending the stairs.

 

...

 

“You know what?” Glide asked, as he and Niqi exited the inn.

Niqi shrugged, glancing up at her companion. “No, what?”

“F**k the Northern Cross.” Glide smirked. “We don’t need to check in or anything. Let’s head west.”

“That’s against Crusader law.” Niqi stated. “You’re the one that told me that.”

Glide shrugged, pulling his arm from the sling and starting to flick small spheres of Shetani’s energy into the air, watching them explode like tiny fireworks. “Doesn’t matter. They can’t do anything to me, and as long as you’re with me, they can’t do anything to you, either.”

Reviews

[selkietales]

This is great and if the rest is as awesome as the first chapter then I'm pretty happy there appears to be multiple books :) my only real problem with it is that you used the term selkies for those people so in my mind I'm imagining seal people that live in the ocean and rarely come ashore when in your story they're wayy different from the myths.

[KEi]

-midread-
"It's times like these I wish I had my own theme song."

Love that. xD I think I have a new favourite fictional character.


I'll read more later.

-finished-

Haha. I'm liking this.
It's well written, and it's just my style.
Reminds me of an anime called Bleach somewhat, but I think that's what I like about it.
:D
I am so reading this, and I am fully reviewing every chapter.
Cuz it's fab.