forum Private with Serpentess

Started February 11, 2022 by @emilyevewrites group

tune

Farah dipped her head a bit in acknowledgment. She knew what he meant, and she felt what he felt. Her empath abilities were strong, causing her to feel everything Mardicos felt, if not stronger than he felt it himself.

The moments passed, and still, his gaze on her didn’t break. She clasped her book tightly in her hands and chose to study the rest of his face, aside from his captivating eyes.

His features were sharp, broad, and commanding. On the other hand, she was nimble, reserved, and lithe. Though she was tall for a woman, he still dominated her significantly in height. By all standards, she should be viewed as the weaker of the two, but she had a certain air about her that made it impossible to understand the complex and powerful nature of her abilities.

But she flushed brilliantly after his remark. No one had ever told her it was “strangely hard to resist” staring at her. She’d never thought of herself as much of anything before, especially when she served as Rosalind’s protégé.

Damn her, Farah thought, feeling guilty herself for letting Rosalind continue to pierce her mind even though she was worlds away. It was like a cord was strung between her and her old mentor, and the latter woman kept pulling at it as a reminder.

"You're mine, Farah," Rosalind had told her once. "And don't think there's anything you can do about it."

Farah shook her head subtly and attempted, not for the first time that day, to banish the woman from her thoughts while she looked back at Mardicos.

"I-I'm sorry," she stumbled through a polite response. "I'm… not entirely how to apologize for that."

Mardicos glanced up from the floor, noticing her blush. It brought a grin to his lips, and he nearly chuckled. She looked so sweet with a blush.

The runes grew hotter, stinging him, and he closed his eyes, taking a subtle deep breath. The familiar sensation of the wolf rising to the surface haunted him, but in a weird way. It wasn’t trying to break out this time, but it damn sure wanted to peek out. It also wanted Farah. Unfortunately, Mardicos couldn’t tell if it desired her, or desired to eat her. It could go either way.

The runes slowly grew hotter, and the wolf steadily grew bolder, urging Mardicos to get close to Farah, to grab her, hold her…

Farah’s words brought him out of his jumbled mind and eased the burn of the runes. The wolf calmed a bit, but still lingered close, biding its time, and leaving Mardicos in even deeper confusion than he was already in.

“No need to apologize. I… honestly don’t mind,”Mardicos replied with a chuckle.

The wolf approved of his words.

Mardicos hated full moons.

“Oh…” Farah forced her blush to go away, and while she did, her slightly embarrassed expression melted into one of concern as Mardicos’s demeanor shifted.

She noted a deep breath when his eyes were closed, and his features seemed to tighten. It was like he was forced to hold something inside him back.

Her eyes glowed a moment, and in an instant, his confusion flowed into her conscious mind. Curse her empathetic abilities. But she felt something else too.

Her (location where the rune is on Mardicos’s body) began to heat up, continuing to do so until it felt like something was searing itself onto her skin. It burned much too painfully for it to just be normal pain receptors, and with a start, Farah withdrew from her powers.

Though his words had a chuckle, she could sense the burning pain he was in and the focus he was needing to hold whatever other side of him back. It finally registered in Farah’s mind that he was a lycanthrope, and she wondered if the wolfish side of him was attempting to make a showing.

“Mardicos?” she asked quietly. “Are you alright?”

(Sorry about being vague on the location of the runes. I couldn’t decide how vague I wanted to be, and I was apparently too vague, lol)

As Farah read his mind, the runes seemed to sense the intrusion, breifly heating up again. It reminded Mardicos of the day they were magically branded on him by a seductive priestess. He barely remembered the ritual, as the priestess’s Order was notorious for using drugs, but he remembered well the way she drawn the runes on his upper, inner thighs. It would’ve been extremely awkward for him if he’d been sober, considering that she never said a thing about the ritual prior to doing it.

The wolf rose again, as if daring Farah to look deeper into the depths of Mardicos’ mind, but Farah withdrew. The wolf was disappointed, but otherwise didn’t react.

Her gentle words brought Mardicos out of his thoughts again. He sighed, still bewildered by the effects of the runes.

“I am honestly unsure. I’m also most likely half asleep, so that isn’t helping. But, I know I can’t tell what the fuck is actually going on. This has never happened to me before,”he said, trailing off a bit as he tried to figure out how to describe it.

“It’s… like I’m about to morph, but… I’m not. The wolf is just sitting there, goading me into… I don’t know. It’s obsessed with you somehow, that much I can tell,”Mardicos attempted to explain.

He hesitated to mention the runes, considering their context, but he quickly reminded himself that Farah had been kind since they met, and they both knew each other’s darkest moments. He had nothing to fear, except for maybe a bit of embarrassment for both of them.

“Also, I long ago acquired a pair of runic marks. The temple where I gained them was one that studied darker magics, including conditions such as Lycanthropy. They offered me a way to better access the wolf, that I could be more conscious of my activities during a full moon. I accepted, and they performed a sort of ritual where they magically branded these runes on me. I barely remember any of it, but nothing much ever came out of it. They haven’t done shit, until now. And, I have no clue why, or anything else for that matter,”Mardicos finished.

Farah bit the inside of her lip to stifle a quiet moan. The location of his runes was unexpected for her, and she unintentionally felt a bit of an ache between her legs for a moment before the feeling faded. Damn.

She felt a touch of disappointment radiate from him, but it was odd since the expression on his face didn’t match.

“Oh…” Farah said as she listened. You could practically see her mind processing the information. She was desperate to understand. To know.

“It’s obsessed with me?” she questioned, her brow wrinkling in confusion. “And that’s odd. I…” She trailed off, embarrassed to tell him that she’d felt the place where she assumed his runes were. And it wasn’t exactly a comfortable place to discuss.

Mardicos smelled a breif change in Farah’s scent, but he couldn’t quite tell what it was. Though, his wolf apparently could, and it was practically drooling at whatever the change was. He wondered if it was wise being so near Farah while he was out of sorts, but he wanted to know first if she might have more clues than he did on what might be happening.

The way she listened to his every word was immensely intriguing. She was so attentive and willing to learn more about him. It warmed his heart to know that, finally, someone was actually willing to listen to the human side of him instead of only heed his beast side.

“Very obsessed. And, it seems to be increasing with each minute that passes. I honestly have no idea what to do. It’s… biding its time right now, I think, but… I don’t know what exactly it’s planning, or when. Though, I’m pretty sure it will act by tonight, at the latest,”he said.

Mardicos honestly had his suspicions that the wolf wasn’t looking to eat Farah. Rather, it had an entirely different sort of feast in mind, and one that Mardicos wasn’t sure he, as himself, was ready for. His past was proof enough that he didn’t fare well with fast relationships.

He smelled her embarrassment and noticed the way she trailed off. Remembering that she was telepathic, he started to wonder if she knew more than she was saying.

“You know, don’t you? Where the runes are?”he asked.

Farah couldn’t help the blush that made its way onto her cheeks. Damn, she thought again, trying to cool herself down.

His wolf was very obsessed with her? Did that mean… what she thought it to mean? It will act by tonight, at the latest. How ideal. So from now until whenever his wolf decided to pounce, the fairy would be on edge. Just what she wanted.

Just as she’d managed to dispel most of her blush, it instantly returned. “Ah, yes,” she admitted, finding it suddenly hard to make eye contact with him. “I’m afraid I do know…”

Mardicos was mostly unaware of Farah’s inner struggle, except for something being off about her. Though, he was quite aware of the wolf’s presence, as it studied Farah with growing intensity, pleased by her every reaction so far to its, now clear, desire for her. It wouldn’t make a move yet, but it was testing her for now, inspecting her, and memorizing her every move. She was his prize, and the wolf would claim her somehow, even if it ended up waiting until the next full moon.

At her answer, Mardicos couldn’t help an embarrassed chuckle. He looked away, scratching at one of the white streaks in his hair.

“The Order within the temple definitely had no shame. And, many of their rituals are… esoteric, at best. I suppose that may be one reason they always blew powdered herbs in my face, so that I would be more ‘open-minded’ to their ways. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of my memory, because I barely remember shit of my time there,”he mentioned with a sigh.

Farah could feel the desire rolling out of him in waves. It got to the point that the feeling was so much that she had to retract her empathetic abilities deep into herself to avoid feeling it. Because whether she would admit it out loud or not (and she would hardly admit it out loud), the wolf’s desire led her to feel similar feelings. She subconsciously gripped her book tighter and shifted a bit in her seat.

“I can imagine,” Farah murmured. She remembered the heat she’d felt on the inside of her thighs, and she blushed again. It had been so hot she wondered for an instant if it would sear her skin too, but she quickly dismissed the possibility of that.

The wolf yipped, as if laughing at Farah’s need to retract her empathy. It then curled up in a content ball and faded back into the depths of Mardicos’ mind.

Mardicos paused a moment, confused by the wolf’s decision to leave, and utterly exhausted now that he could relax again. He still couldn’t resist a sigh of relief, and he started to massage his temples. He quickly realized that he was sweating. His sense of smell also seemed to return, and now Mardicos understood why the wolf was so happy with Farah’s reactions.

“Fucking shit,”Mardicos gasped, glancing at the moisture on his fingers before turning back to Farah.

He hadn’t been aware of the sweat, or his faded sense of smell, or the influence he seemed to have had on Farah. The wolf had hidden it from him. It hadn’t changed him, but it had damn sure tried to take over his body.

“I’m sorry. The fucking wolf loves to fuck with people’s heads, including mine. It’s also the last day of the full moon, and goddamn is he fucking devious around this time,”Mardicos said, shaking his head and sighing.

Mardicos couldn’t help another embarrassed chuckle. He avoided her gaze, wondering if she was thinking about the runes and heat too. They were definitely in an influential location, that was for damn sure. Hopefully, he could figure out why they had started up before they did it again and he fully lost control of himself.

Farah nodded as he spoke, still trying to rid herself of the strong wave of emotion that had washed over her. Her thighs were tired, and they hadn’t even done anything. Not to say that they would, but… She had felt the intensity of the wolf’s desire. A desire that was aimed at her. If Mardicos couldn’t control it, what would that mean for her?

“I’ve had enough of people trying to fuck with my mind,” she replied without thinking. Her eyes widened at her own words, and again, she blushed. “I’m sorry, I just… it’s hard to…” The fairy took a deep breath and shook her head. “She was such a big part of my life for the longest time. I’m not sure how much of me is me, and how much of me is… her.”

Farah didn’t need to say the wicked fairy’s name – they both knew who she was referring to.

And she couldn’t help but wonder… if the runes would repeat their magic. Oh gods, she didn’t know if she’d be able to hold her reaction back the next time.

Her words stung, but he knew what she meant. It was indeed hard to deal with constant manipulation, among all of the other unpleasantness.

“I understand, Farah, truly. I’ve been fighting the memories of Eidna, and the wolf she cursed me with, for centuries. Though, with this particular incident, I’m lost. This was the first time I’ve ever had that happen to me. The runes have never activated before, nor has the wolf ever tried to take over without wanting to morph. I don’t know how, or even why, either happened,”Mardicos admitted.

He also wondered if the wolf knew more than he did. The way it had acted, with such bold certainty. It was like the wolf knew exactly what it had been doing, and had even been waiting for that strange moment for a long time. Somehow, the wolf had more context on the runes than Mardicos, and he wondered if the wolf actually remembered the ritual. That might explain a few things.

Farah pursed her lips in thought. “I wish I was able to do more research,” she murmured, thinking aloud while her eyes roamed over the spines of her books. “I despise not knowing things. Especially important things.”

She rose to her feet and stepped easily around the piles of books on the floor to get to the shelf. She reached up and brushed her fingers over the spines while reading them, looking for a hint or clue. Something that could help her solve Mardicos’ mystery. She selected another runes book, a magical creatures book, and a book on witchcraft in her arms before returning to her chair and lowering herself back down gracefully.

“These may help, though I’m not sure how much they will. I’ve never had to seek information on such a potent or interesting topic before.”

Mardicos chuckled,”I know the feeling.”

He watched her curiously. It was fascinating how her fingers glided over the books before grabbing the ones she wanted. She moved with such grace and focus, even as she sat down. It was breathtaking.

Her words surprised him. He understood well what she meant by ‘potent’, but he hadn’t considered that she might think the incident as ‘interesting’. Though, after a moment, he wondered why he hadn’t thought about it. She had been greatly affected by the wolf’s desire. Both of them had, actually.

“I could draw the runes, so it’ll be easier to find any information on them. Also, I know the name of the Order that performed the ritual, even though that might not really help. They’re an extremely secretive and elusive group,”Mardicos offered.

Farah opened the book of magical creatures, and she flipped studiously through the pages, looking for anything even slightly related to lycanthropes, werewolves, or wolves in general.

The rune book was underneath, and at his suggestion, she quickly moved it on top of the creatures book and looked up at him with widened eyes. “Oh, yes. Those details might just help me narrow down my search.”

Her fingers absently opened the runes book and ran down the words and symbols on the pages.

(I actually have a doodle of the runes, if you want to see. No worries if you don’t)

Mardicos watched her look through the creatures book, wondering if that would help at all. He was a Midnight Wolf, which was an extremely rare and extremely powerful variant of werewolf. What information existed on Midnight Wolves would be hard to find.

Her enthusiasm at his offer made him chuckle and he glanced around for paper and something to draw with. He quickly found those very things on the nearby table and he drew both runes. They were both three triangles, two upright and one upside down, under a crescent moon. Though, one was solid and the other was spread apart.

He brought the paper to Farah, showing her the drawing.

“The ‘open’ rune is on my right thigh. The ‘closed’ one is on my left. And, the group is called the Order of the Chthonic Temple. The name is very fitting, in several ways,”Mardicos explained.

He saw the way her fingers caressed the book’s pages, and he abruptly remembered an integral part of the runic puzzle.

“Also, there’s a phrase, a… riddle, of sorts, connected to the runes. It’s supposed to be a clue on how to activate them, I think. ‘Between two seas, below the moon, the earth shall thrive immune.’ I have yet to figure out what it means,”Mardicos added.

Farah was aware of the difficulty of finding information on Mardicos’ species. However, she had always welcomed a challenge before, and she knew the extent of Rosalind’s personal collection went deep – deeper than Farah knew. Plenty of the books surrounding them were ones Farah had not yet read or had barely begun to crack open.

She watched with eagerness as he drew the runes. “Interesting,” she murmured, studying the sketch with her intelligent brown gaze. “I’ve never heard of them… but it’s worth an attempt to look them up. Most times, even the most secretive groups have to document things. Or be documented about.”

But the riddle clearly had her stumped. “‘Between two seas,’” she repeated, spinning the words over in her mind. “It must mean land. What else could exist between two seas other than some form of land to split them? ‘Below the moon’ could mean anything below the atmosphere, I suppose… and I haven’t the faintest clue of the meaning of the last line. ‘The earth shall thrive immune’ sounds rather poetic, don’t you think? And how it all would connect together… I have no clue.”

The woman was clearly irritated at the mystery, and as a result, she dove back into her books to search for answers.

Mardicos shrugged,”The Order does have a massive library, but I don’t think they share much with outsiders. Likely, the only reason they are even known in the world is because of visitors that wrote about them after they’d left.”

He considered her attempt to decipher the riddle. He had once thought it was a literal meaning, but he had long ago figured out that the riddle was definitely metaphorical.

“I think the riddle is more… personal. Also, the ritual itself was to help me control the wolf, and the Order loves its metaphors. So, my guess is, ‘Below the moon’ is likely related to my lycanthropy. It could even be time-related, maybe? ‘The earth shall thrive immune’, I… Somehow, I think it correlates to the wolf as well. I’m just not sure how. ‘Between two seas’, there’s a lot of things it could mean, and I can’t figure out which meaning. It could be a link between me and the wolf, or… sun and moon, or… maybe, consciousness and unconsciousness. I don’t know,”he said.

Mardicos drifted off into thought as Farah went back to her books. He recalled the way the wolf had acted earlier. The sheer desire it had for Farah. Could that be related to the riddle? Between two people?

“Or, ‘Between two seas’ could be two individuals. That might explain why the wolf likes you so much,”he added.

Farah nodded at his remark. “How much do you remember about their location or proceedings?” she asked. “Are there any others that you know who have visited there? Or do you know who has written about them?”

She listened closely to his analysis, then blushed lightly. “I’m sorry… I take everything literally. Very by-the-book. But you’ve had much more time to think about it… But that last line has us both stumped, doesn’t it?”

But her head jerked up quickly at his idea of the seas meaning something other than a literal body of water. Two seas… two people.

“That’s it!” she exclaimed, uncharacteristically shooting to her feet and placing the books that had been on her lap on top of another haphazard pile near the chair.

She made her way back to the largest shelf, murmuring to herself as she looked for a book. She appeared to have a specific one in mind as she passed over the majority of the spines before vigorously selecting one. The cover read 20th Century Poetry Collection with a golden inlay that shone in the light.

Her fingers quickly found a page about halfway through, and she sighed while reading it. It was partial relief and partial… love? She looked up at Mardicos with triumph in her eyes. “I knew there was something poetic about that damn riddle. ‘Between Two Seas,’ by Kendrick Smithyman.”

And just like that, Farah began to read the verse. Her voice was as flowing and smooth as honey dripping on one’s tongue.

“Sweetheart, our island / between two seas resists / wave’s battery and wind’s. / Air and ocean swear my love / hills are hiding in the rain. / The commerce we dare / befits the state of man / who’s nasty, brutal, short: / yet something more I sought / to be for you, my dearest, / though hills were hiding in the rain. / Tasman saw rugged / monsters here, roaring drunk / hauled off, and sailed away. / Malevolent, our day / won’t turn out kind to lovers – / hills are hidden by the rain.”

When she finished, she looked up at him expectantly. “It has to mean two people.”

(I honestly didn’t realize there was a poetic correlation to the riddle, lol. That’s pretty cool)

“Unfortunately, not much. They had me drugged most of the time, so it’s all vague. Though, it’s hard to forget a massive temple hanging from giant chains in the middle of a cavern stretching beyond eyesight. Remembering how to get into the cavern is another story. It’s deep underground, so there’s a maze of tunnels between it and the surface,”Mardicos explained.

“It’s fine. Indeed. I have no idea what it could be,”he replied.

He rose an eyebrow when she jumped up and headed to one of the bookshelves. Watching her, he saw the title of the book that she finally picked, and he had no clue what it meant. ‘20th Century’? He’d never heard of years like that. He knew of the Second Millenium, but not the Twentieth Century.

He listened to Farah read, savoring the sound of her voice. Though, his mind caught on the sound of one word. ‘Lovers’.

Mardicos nodded at Farah, totally agreeing now. But, he suspected that it went farther than that.

“Two people? Or two lovers?”he asked, speaking his thoughts.

He looked directly at Farah. There was too many signs pointing to the latter. Their mutual fondness, the wolf’s desire, and even the way the ritual went those many years ago. Mardicos wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but the more he thought of it, the more convinced he was.

(I just looked it up and found that poem lmao. I was hoping there would be something, since Farah is very literary-inclined, and that one I found is literally perfect ;))

“Two people or two lovers,” Farah repeated absently. She was still looking down at the book, rereading some of the lines to herself. “If we’re basing it off of the poem, it would appear to be two lovers. Though I’m not sure the Order had this poem in mind when they gave you that riddle, did they? This poem isn’t from this world, so how would they know about it to begin with? And I’m still not sure about that last line from your riddle. What do you…”

The fairy finally looked up and blinked quickly. The way he was looking at her. And the words she had just said finally processed in her mind.

“Two lovers,” she breathed quietly. “Oh…”

(Nice, lmao!)

Mardicos listened to her, waiting for realization to hit her. When she mentioned that the book was from another world, it explained a lot.

“No. This world is mostly isolated from any others, so they likely don’t even know it exists,”Mardicos replied.

When she finally registered the words, an embarrassed chuckle escaped Mardicos. He rubbed one of the white streaks in his hair.

“Yeah… So, ‘Between two lovers’… possibly ‘Under the moon’, as in, at night. Now, it’s just figuring out ‘the earth shall thrive immune’. I still believe it somehow correlates to the wolf. I just don’t know how,”Mardicos said.

He tried to remember more of what had happened during the ritual, or even afterward, but it was just too vague. He only had pieces, the rest was blurred to the point of being basically useless.

“Two lovers at night,” Farah murmured. “And ‘the earth shall thrive immune…’ Perhaps… Does it mean… Maybe…”

The fairy stopped herself every sentence she tried to start. She sighed, pressing her fingers to her forehead and rubbing tiredly. “It could simply refer to whatever happens between the lovers has no effect on the earth as a whole. The earth is resistant to their destiny and is even able to flourish — thrive,” she said softly.

A humorless laugh escaped her. “Though I’m beginning to get a headache from all of this metaphorical thinking, so what I say may not be of much use now.”

Mardicos waited for her suggestion, but he quickly noted how she seemed worn out by the puzzle. He understood completely. He hadn’t been able to make any progress on the riddle in centuries, until now.

Her last suggestion didn’t really make much sense, but he didn’t complain. At least, she was making an effort. Besides, he was getting flustered about the riddle anyway, and his mind was also steadily becoming foggy with exhaustion.

“I understand that quite well. At least, progress was made, because I haven’t been able to do it on my own at all,”he said, his tone drowsy.

He stared at Farah appreciatively. After a few minutes, his eyes slowly started to droop. He was barely aware that he was dozing off. Farah was all that was on his tired mind. Her kindness, her knowledge, her beauty…

Farah lifted her head and made brief eye contact with him. She felt the exhaustion and weariness beneath his gaze, and it nearly made her fall right asleep herself.

“I’m glad I was able to help,” she murmured as his eyes slowly closed. Once she was sure he was asleep, she rose from her chair and left the room only to return a few moments later with a woolen blanket. She draped it over him, though the blanket was meant for her and wasn’t big enough to cover the lycanthrope’s entire form. Still, it would be enough for now.

“Goodnight, Mardicos,” she murmured, pressing her fingers briefly to his temple and letting her own calm feelings transmit to him through her touch.

After a moment, she pulled away and went back to her chair. She fell asleep moments later with a book open on her lap. Her head tilted to the side and rested on her shoulder while she dozed off.