Jellyfish - Chapter 11 The Story

“You’ve heard the stories right?”

“I’ve heard them all. Shoot away.”

“Trust me; you’ve never heard this one.”

“Is it about the Outsider or the fact that we can’t die?”

“Close.”

“Ah. So it is.”

Two figures sat at a lonely table above the sun-baked dirt. They lifted up barrel sized mugs and downed an entire lake’s worth of alcohol, all in one sip. The two merry drinkers slammed their drinks down on the table, and then they faced each other before slamming each other’s faces with their mugs.

There was a splash of wine.

“You two are going to kill each other if you keep chugging and slapping each other like that.”

A woman with tanned skin walked up to the fighting drunkards with two more barrels under her arms. She wore what appeared to be a poorly stitched dress made of cotton and a few Cockatrice feathers. Under her clothes, and sticking out slightly from her legs and arms, were scales that seemed almost like they were shedding.

“Oh shut it Ya’Fu. These hits will barely scratch us. See?”

One of the drinkers tossed his cup, hard, towards Ya’Fu. The mug smashed her face in and broke the delicate features of her nose and lips. A second after she had wiped the alcohol off, her nose and mouth had returned to their usual states. There was no sign of injury.

“Out.” hissed Ya’Fu.

The girl grabbed the drunken man by his tail and swung him away as if he was a bottle. When the man hit the ground, he broke his spine and was paralyzed from the neck down.

Ya’Fu walked up to him, and she kicked him the rest of the way towards the tents and village homes.

“Come back when you’re sober.”

She turned back towards the other drunkard who gave her a terrified look. It seemed the fear of death still ran through some.

“Before I throw you out for causing trouble in my bar, I’ll ask you what your story was.”

The terrifying lizard women sat down in front of the storyteller with a pint of her own. She didn’t take a single sip from it.

“U-Uh.” muttered the man.

“Stooooorry,” she demanded. “Tell me your story.”

“Ok! Ok…”

…

It happened when the Outsider had come, and the Nomad had just met her. The villagers instantly recognized the odd Immortal as a god that had come to save their Valley. She had the strength of ten men and the will of many more. When we asked, the Outsider listened and watched over us.

Moss, the Nomad, was wise and she sought to win over the god’s favor. She took her around the village and showed her all that was good, and then she brought the Outsider to the Ivory Cliff and let her view the valley from there. When the Outsider saw that everything here was splendid, she felt a need to defend the people, and so she vowed to protect us.

When the Serpents of Glass first came to attack our town, it was she who went out to save them all along with the help of the Nomad. Though the Outsider fought valiantly, even her undying body could not keep the rest of the hunters around her alive. Tragically, everyone but herself, including the Nomad, died noble deaths in the service of the Outsider.

The loss saddened the god, and so she returned to our village with Moss in her arms.

They say she cried for several days and her tears are what became the rain. As she mourned the deaths of her comrades, the skies filled with dark clouds and all the monsters in the valley fell silent.

On the morning after, the village found itself changed for all eternity.

It happened one day when an old hunter fell on his sword.

“Wait, wait a minute. A hunter fell on his sword.” interrupted Ya’Fu.

“It’s true. That would be old Rock, who lives away from the Valley with the Nomad’s spirit.” answered the teller.

“Birdshit,” spouted Ya’Fu. “Who falls on their sword?”

“Apparently, Old Rock did.”

“Whatever. Keep going.”

“A-Anyway…”

Old Rock was shouting, and the entire village heard him as he squirmed around in pain. The screams were terrible, and the blood that was pouring out of him made it look like he would die at any moment. There was nothing they could do to help him.

Then the Outsider came as she heard the screams. Feeling pity for the injured man, she took his hand and comforted him while pulling the sword out of his body. That’s when everyone in the village realized something. They saw that his stomach had closed and the wound disappeared. It was as though he had never been stabbed in the first place.

They say old Rock was the first of us to become an immortal, just like the god.

From then forth, a lot of crazy things happened. The Outsider smiled as she watched the people she swore to protect fight without fear. Why should they be scared of anything anymore? Death had no more meaning. No matter what happened to our people, they would not meet the end.

Over time, the Outsider would make sure that we were blessed. As we became closer to the god, our bodies changed to match our new states. Our scales fell off but underneath was beautiful skin and flesh. Though we still have our tails and a few other relics of our past, the rest is still very close to godliness.

“And here we are today, demigods walking among the desert. We aren’t too hot and never too cold, so we can be awake whenever we want and do so much more. Farming, drinking in the day, and having fun.”

Ya’Fu nodded. She backed away from the storyteller and let him finish his drink.

Getting up from the chair, the girl moved away as the drunken man found another person to drink and talk with.

“Trust me. You’ve never heard this one…” heard Ya’Fu.

…

The Outsider, Rei at the time, was resting in her tent when Ya’Fu came in and handed her a drink.

“Thank you, my sweet child.” said the Immortal.

“Don’t say that,” responded Ya’Fu. “It’s disgusting.”

“Ah. But you’ll let me say that anyway because you love me oh so much. Just like everyone else in the village, right?”

Rei shifted in her bed and stared right into Ya’Fu’s eyes. The jellyfish that surrounded the Immortal floated off around the tent and surrounded the woman.

“Now. Hurry up and try the next batch. I wanna see if it works.”

The Outsider pointed towards the vials resting on a table next to the bed. In the glass, liquids of all colors from puke green to vibrant yellow. Acids, poisons, and concoctions Rei had gathered from across the Valley were scattered across the surface of the table.

“Which one…” grumbled Ya’Fu.

“The one I used on your brother. The one that makes your skin crawl and turns the organs into wet goop. It also makes for a nice softener for skin. I think it might make also feel like falling, on a sword.”

Ya’Fu grit her teeth. She wanted to stab the Immortal, to poison her, and to gouge out the eyes of her tormenter.

But what difference would that have made?

The girl picked up a glowing red vial.

…

Buried deep beneath the sands, in a cave, that no one but Rei knew existed, a boy in a cage would shiver as he felt the next dose coming. A jellyfish entered his mouth, its light shining beautifully green. He was forced to breathe or swallow the things in, but he had learned over time that swallowing was just the fastest way to get this over with.

Ya’Fi cried as the world around him went black once more.