The undiscovered country | Glowfic Constellation

There is a moment of disorientation, then he lands, hard, on paved stone.

This doesn't look like the inside of a snake. It looks more like an old, ruined city. The stonework is crumbling and covered in vines, plants grow through the cracks between the paving, and the only signs of people are a pile of crumbling bones to his left, and a more complete skeleton leaning against the wall to his right. It's still holding a sword, although its clothes seem to have rotted away.

Okay, first of all: ow. Second: what kind of shitty discount magic powers are so bloody difficult to use? Third: he should maybe get up. He does that, looking cautiously at the variously shaped remains of things.

He feels - something. A hint of something, buzzing about in the crumbling bones, draped over and sewn through the skeleton. The fuck..?

The sun is either rising or setting; if he waits a minute or two it will become obvious that it is setting.

Darkness begins to fall over the city, which Vinas might notice is completely unfamiliar, even down to the architectural style. He won't have too much time to appreciate the stonework, though, with the growing night hiding the finer details.

As the remains of the walls shield the skeleton from the setting sun, it begins to stir. At first, it is no more than could be attributed to the effects of the wind, or of some small animal. Before long, however, the skeleton is turning its head towards Vinas, and beginning to creakily rise to its feet.

He stares suspiciously at the skeleton, eyes flicking to the crumbling bones and then back to the skeleton. There's - something going on there, and he doesn't know what, but it makes him nervous. He takes stock of his surroundings cautiously, giving the skeleton a wide berth. There is freaky magic going on there, and he wants nothing to do with it.

It's not that surprising when it turns out to move.

"The dead should not be walking around!" protests Vinas, more indignant than scared. "Stop that! That is - is - it's disrespectful, the dead should stay dead!"

The skeleton doesn't respond, at least not out loud. It doesn't seem to have any vocal cords, but its lack of other muscles doesn't seem to prevent it from moving as though they are still present.

It finishes standing up, and turns towards Vinas, still moving slower and more stiffly than a living human but picking up speed as the sky darkens. Raising its sword, it begins to advance.

Someone looking closely might be able to see a faint green spark floating in the darkness of each empty eye socket. They burn with a light which seems strangely cold.

He's looking closely. He notices the faint green spark. Faint green spark. Well. Taking in that, and the way he can sense the skeleton and the weird magic buzzing in the bones that are not currently walking around, he probably gave himself freaky death powers. Damn it, color green, he trusted you. Why have you betrayed him. He knew he should have gone with the color that went with his eyes.

"I don't suppose you're getting up to creepily offer eternal servitude in undeath to me. Because my answer is no, good night, go back to sleep. Or death. Whichever."

Because he doesn't think he's that lucky, he draws his sword. Damn it.

How astute of him.

With the sun sinking ever lower on the horizon, and the moon beginning to rise on the other side of the sky, the skeleton charges. It's not especially smart, but it does know how to use a sword, and it's aiming to kill.

Yeah, that was predictable. While he wouldn't say he's a proper swordsman, he has ever used a sword in his life, and is good enough with it to know how to make a fighting retreat. That is, how to run away while not getting stabbed. He does that.

Okay. So he probably has some freaky death powers. Maybe he can use his freaky death powers to get himself out of this mess. There's a lot going on with that skeleton, maybe he can just make it stop. He attempts to tug at one of the string-like things holding the skeleton together. With magic. After a few fumbles, he feels a rush of chilly energy, tugging at the skeleton from his mind -

"Go back to sleep," he hisses, and something in his palm flares green and rushes towards the skeleton.

The green sparks flicker, once, and go out. The skeleton crumples to the ground, in a manner reminiscent of a puppet whose strings have been cut.

Its sword winds up a foot or two away, hitting the stone with a resounding clang.

"... Good skeleton."

He sheathes his sword, then rubs his face. Okay. Freaky death powers. Sure.

Right, well. He's somewhere he doesn't recognize. He should figure out what his surroundings are like, see if there's a place to hole up in for the night.

There are houses! Some of them are even free of skeletons!

He seems to have landed in what used to be a residential district, although pretty much everything organic has been lost to time, which makes it a little difficult to tell. Fortunately, the night is fairly warm, so he won't freeze to death for want of blankets or a door to close against the night air.

Here's a house with steps leading up to the door. The interior seems to be completely undisturbed, unlike many of its neighbours.

Well, this house can officially be his base of operations, then. Until he finds something better. Though he checks to make sure it's free of skeletons. It's free of skeletons, right?

Not even a single bone. Maybe skeletons can't climb stairs?

It doesn't look like any wild animals have been in here either, although the passage of time has done enough on its own, reducing practically all of the furniture to dust. A thick layer of it covers the floor in every room.

Ick. Well, if he decides to sleep here, he'll have to take a little while to try and clear it of dust. As it is, he's going to have a look around. Since he can use his green powers to take out the skeletons that might want to bother him.

Are there any more nearby?

Actually, they seem to be starting to congregate in this general area.

If he heads outside, any skeletons in sight will start shambling towards him. Just one or two at a time to begin with, but gradually increasing in number. Some of them are armed with swords, but most are wielding more improvised weapons, including bones. One seems to have detached its own left arm to use as a weapon.

How charming. He is charmed.

Well. One by one, he can make them go right back to being dead. Good night, skeletons.

This works fine for the first few. It continues working for the first ten, fifteen, twenty.

They keep coming, shambling forward over the remains of their vanguard. Bones clack against each other in a constant rattle.

Okay, now he's starting to feel like he's magically running on empty. It's harder to reach for the magic. Or harder to fuel it. He can feel it replenishing, but it's not as fast as he's using it.

He considers, then turns and briskly walks into the house with the stairs. Are skeletons beaten by the almighty power of stairs?

It appears they are. The ones at the front keep walking forward, tripping over the bottom step, and getting up to try again.

Skeletons continue to congregate at the base of the steps, until there are easily twenty mindlessly shoving at each other to get closer, or walking into each other's backs over and over.

That's kind of darkly hilarious.

Well, he'll just sit up here and return them to rest, at a leisurely pace he can actually maintain. Good night, skeletons.

More keep arriving, but the rate begins to slow down after a few hours.

By this stage, there's a pile of bones at the bottom of the stairs, which makes for treacherous footing but also means skeletons occasionally make it onto the first step by walking over the heap.

Oh no, a single step, whatever will he do. Oh wait, there are other stairs after the first stair. So he's completely safe. What a surprise. He has long since lost all sense of fear of these things. They are too stupid to be afraid of. He feels like he's some kind of skeletal pest control.

After the first hour, he starts experimenting, more from boredom than anything else. He can cut the 'strings' holding them together just fine, but can he do other things with them...?

Another two hours of idle magical flailing, and the faint green sparks in one of the skeletons' eyes flares much brighter. The skeleton turns to stab its fellows.

"Uh," says Vinas, alarmed. "Nnnno, nope, nope." The skeleton summarily falls apart. "Sorry. I'm new to this."

This appears to bother the remaining skeletons no more than his earlier efforts, although a couple of the closer ones tilt their heads as if listening to his words.

It doesn't look like they're going to stop showing up any time soon, although the rate seems to have stabilised.

"... Wait. Hold on. Can you understand me?"

He stops putting the skeletons back to sleep. He's going to feel really bad if these are people. People that are really bad at cause and effect. And also stairs.