Soaring high after delivering a resounding barbaric “COOOOOCK!” Success, Peacock sees the clear sunrise sky morphing gray. Large dark clouds curtain the sharp light of the horizon but there is still some sunlight blinding the bird in his flight back to the capital. It should be warm in the capital, knowing that every are jampacked together like ants in a colony. Gusts of hissing breeze push him from side to side and there is a strange tingle in the air. Maybe because it is his first time as a flying peacock or there really is something going on with the coming weather.
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He passes high above Fogsight fort where the bloody mess is being cleaned by soldiers in black smoke like leashes. A lady with a red wavy hair sits on top of a hunched child while drinking a champagne of crimson liquid—but with how pale her skin look, Peacock assumes them to be a vampire. ‘And, well, it’s not the princess’s fault because they are vampires in that fort’, he thinks. Then comes screeching from behind. He looks over his wings and see gargoyles! Wretched bats with rat bodies and long chicken legs. But their wings are the scariest of all, large and thrice their size keeping them at a pace faster than Peacock. Their hungry gazes lay on his body and Peacock can feel run up his spine.
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Diving and trying to tackle Peacock but he has masterfully flowed and flap around the air like a master agile swimmer. He quickly outflaps his pursuers, leaving them breathless and hungry. The three inner walls of Kinguin are shadowed and grim like the under wing of those gargoyles. The people below pull in their washing from lines strung between houses, shoppers scurrying about and stall owners opening umbrellas. Smokes from chimneys thicken with less billowing plumes. Perching on them would probably paint his feathers black so he flies to the higher levels—to the clout district.
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A subtle tang mixed with the ugly scent of garlic abundance. Still, it is quite the freedom to be flying around anywhere, and…what a scandal he is seeing through the eldest princess’s room. At the golden desk is a female working on writing letters, completely focused but her eyes cannot help but gaze at where the rough and stoned moaning is coming from. The royal bed creaking and bobbing about with the blanket covering the debauchery happening. Oh, the horror in the female writer’s face—though Peacock commends her calligraphy works. Still, that’s a lot of letters and what an uncomfortable situation that must be for her.
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Peacock flies for the leftern towers, might see another scandal in Princess Thean’s chambers but alas. There is no one inside. But there are some in the left-wing library. Men in black robes with the familiar symbol of Yralla! Those men, are like the one that raided the bandit camp he visted yesterday and made a destructive mess. With the Princess Thean sitting in the middle of this cult like gathering. Speaking as if she is scolding them…is she using those cultists as her way to clear the barbarians around castle? Although, he has heard about some people talking about how Thean’s soldiers have been earning reputation by helping the neighboring villages and fields with strange magic…strange magic being the Heshapes they control!
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Goodness, it seems today really makes Kinguin cry for these rulers. Peacock hesitates and hates to do it but he has to check on that evil psycho who almost made him into roasted peacock. Where, oh where could she be? Not around the towers, not in her bedroom, not around the wings or courtyards. Maybe the underground…?
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“Have you seen Princess Rumen?” A maid asks a chamber guard, “The prince he invited asks an audience for her…”
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“And who is this prince?” The guards question
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“Well, he’s a dwarfized daemon named Naberius. And he just arrived at the basement just now and…and…he is eating all the dwarfs in Princess Rumen’s jars…” her legs fail her as the horror jitters her jaws and shake her eyes. Then the guards say that Princess Rumen is at the Violet district holding an execution as well as an experiment. By which the Peacock quickly flies over to the said district without any delay. It is expected that Rumen would someone find a way to invite an unlikely guest. A demon for goodness sake. Why didn’t the magister even put-up restrictions on who they are allowed to invite.
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The violet district is around at the second layer where the amaranth believing houses still remain. Rumen shows up and as expected, jeered and cursed at by the people around here. But instead of hating it, she loves it. Saying as she takes off all her bearings, “I love you~ I love you Amaranth level~ Your hate is my love and I cannot express how grateful I am! It is all because of your love~ That I am trying to keep your heads from being beheaded~” The guillotine drops on a poor elderly woman and the basket, suddenly comes alive with teeths, devouring the head. Terror shrieks the audience while the manic princess laughs at the successful experiment. “I have done it! I have made a head eating basket!”
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He did not know what to expect from this experiment of hers other than gruesome and gore. Truly, twisted. Peacock drops off the amaranth armor as well as the letter at the friendly old man gatekeeper before asking about where Ober is. Yes, even the guard and gatekeeper are surprised to hear this peacock, flying and talking. In which they respond, “Last I’ve heard, the lord magister is somewhere down at the Thrum district inviting nobles who comes and go in the brothels.”
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Peacock gives his thanks and flies down to the lowest level and to the district which is known for their brothel services. Also considered to be as a noble zone because of all the wealthy clothed individuals visiting this degenerate place. Ober is found walking out from one of the brothels, together with two ladies in noble glittering dresses that barely covers their upper. The old man speaks with them for a while, persuading by the look of his gestures before handing both of them a piece of paper and waving goodbye.
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“Hey magister!” Peacock touches down in front of Ober, “I’ve done what you said,”
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“Oh…” Blackened eyes showing a slight glint of life, his rumbling and raspy voice lilting with a glad smile. “Peacock, didn’t expect you to comeback.”
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“HAUGHH? As if I cameback for you!? I only came back to tell you that I finished your job and maybe…work out these wings a bit more because I’m bored.”
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“You seem to like yourself now”
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“I’ve always loved myself thank you~ But indeed, this body you have given me is better than being a peasant in the barracks. Butttt, knowing my failure of assassinating you which reminded me now!!! That you be careful old man. Because the one who asked me might come back with more than ever.”
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“You’re worried about me, even what I said to you…”
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“That--- well, I just found the trip enjoyable and truly better than being stuck in the barracks waiting to be killed…Where’s that brat?”
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“Isaac…” Ober’s head slowly drops and the grayness of the clouds shadows his entire wrinkly face. Lips bitten with clenched fist, “He’s missing…I don’t know where he is.”
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“Anddd what do you mean by that? He’s your servant shouldn’t that be the other way around?”
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“I cannot ask the guards for a missing person request because the princesses have shut me off, using the task I gave to them as their excuse to leisure around. But I always have a tracking magic on his person, but I cannot track him. Somehow I can’t”
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“That’s a bit pathetic of you, knowing that you are the best mage in Cyndoryll.”
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“It’s my fault…”
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“GAAAAAH! This sulky sky and mood just makes me depressed instead of feeling proud of my very good job!”
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“Yes…you did a good job inviting the people Peacock”
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“Huhu, and maybe I can help you find this brat. I owe him for putting himself in-between me and that psycho princess back at the servants hall.”
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“Alright…Then let me tell.” Ober utters silent words before the brothels and streets around them shift into air and they found themselves in a dark and quiet alley. “I cannot go there because I still have to invite many others for the festival.”
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“Do your due preparations old man, Just tell me where I need to go.”
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“Fly for the foggy marsh.”
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“T-there? Hey, hey, that’s like sending me to my grave—there’s the lochness in there.”
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Ober ponders for a second before honestly telling him in a calm disclosure, “My magic won’t work in there and there is no lochness.”
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“W-wh-wait what!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE IS NO LOCHNESS?.”
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“That fog is someone else’s magic and the lochness is simply a shadow that they use to ‘play’ as a backdrop.”
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“I don’t follow you old man.”
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“Just head for the foggy marsh. That’s the only last place I think where Isaac is. And, carry these with you.” Bending the space in front of him for a black box to appear. “This contains magic nulling coats that I always ask Isaac to wear. Wear one yourself, though it might be a hassle. It will allow you to go in and out of the mist without going around in circles.”
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“That sounds good and horrifying at the same time.”
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“Be careful of the feral monsters that live there. And, if you encounter child like figures, I’m sure you have heard the myth of the four smaller lochness in the mist.”
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Peacock nods,
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“They are the Children of the marsh. Stay on their good side. That’s all, find Isaac and bring him back.”
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“Gods, you make it sound so big when I’m just finding one person.”
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“Hurry, you don’t want the princesses to start mobilizing and get caught in their clearing. Isaac will surely get caught as well.”
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“RIGHT! You said that those wenches will do a monster hunting competition. Ugh, still though. I just need to get Isaac out of that marsh and done.” Peacock wears one of the cloaks, overly oversized as he flies, carrying in its talons the black box. Flying and flying for the western Foggy marsh. With thunderclaps booming behind him.
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A veil of clouds that never rise. In he dives and instantly feel his feathers tingling and pulling as if something is trying to pluck him off. A giant dome of vines and mountain that he has never seen in the map before looms into view. The swampy pools below are ashen instead of muddy and there are floating white wraiths—no, Bryals! Why would there be Bryals in a swamp! He expects them to be in a forsaken undead forest, not in here where wraiths should be the only residents!
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He finds a tower with a lone window to perch into. Inside are countless bones of dead mice as well as dung almost as if someone has been living here. Could it be Isaac? Peacock dares not to make any noise. There is a torn off finger with a noble’s ring inside. Fairly new fresh too. Then suddenly, the living tendrils of roots and vines find their way into the tower and start wildly hacking it to rubble. “COOOOOCK!” Peacock flies with all his energy, trying to escape these living tendrils before finding a boy on a frozen ground. How is that part frozen when the rest is a swamp! The figure of the boy reminds him of what Ober mentioned about the children of the marsh. Wraiths suddenly charge for him but he does not look like he will block their attacks. Still feeling proud and brave, Peacock dives down, elongating his tail of feathers to sweep the undead squad, actually hitting the to his and the boy’s surprise.
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The brown-haired boy looks up at him before pulling Peacock close to his side and cutting tendrils of roots with wind slices—without even bending or needing to utter a single silent word. ‘T-this one is scary’ Peacock thinks
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“I-Ipos…M-my name is” Ipos pants, “Well, w-whoever you are, great Unyan beast. T-thanks for saving me.”
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“M-my PLEASURE! ALWAYS MY PLEASURE!” Peacock takes flight once more before quickly flying away to find one and only boy, Isaac. “Where are you, where are you brat? Ughh, this place makes me want to shed of my skin and actually burn myself into a rotisserie.”
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