Oyaji no Baka.
Where was he? Last he could remember he had been running from those cat things. No wait... he remembered something. There was sand.. something about the sand rumbling before everything went dark? What the heck did that mean? Why was his memory so blank anyway? Far as he could remember, the only time that ever happened was when he fell into the Neko-ken, or he ate some of Akane's soufflé surprise, but other then that it hadn't happened before.
If it was possible, his head felt worse then the rest of his injuries combined. Like getting stabbed in the eye with a red-hot poker, only it felt like some one had done it multiple times.
Ignoring the piercing burning headache, he struggled to turn his head; the action sent a wave of nauseous daggers stabbing into his abdomen. Man, he must have really gotten the ass beating of his life to end up like this! He had only ever felt this bad when he ate Ukyo's special Sauce, the stuff he had ruined when he popped the seal accidentally before she let it age for ten years. Now that had been a huge mistake, which reminded him, he still owed Nabiki for the emergency stomach pump operation.
Fighting to clear his blurry vision, he grumbled as he took stock of the room he found himself in. "Where on earth am I now?"
He found himself laid upon a slab of obsidian stone that stood in the center of this circular room. He realized with a small sense of dread the room appeared to be similar to one of those surgical rooms he had seen while rummaging through the hospitals as a kid. He had never liked hospitals, something about faceless doctors and sharp metal blades scared the heck out of him.
The room's construction consisted of similar colored stone like the slab he was resting on, only the walls themselves were smoother and had a reflective tint to it with itty bitty runes etched across its surface. The strange unfamiliar runes would occasionally light up, a mix of green white light that flared bright enough to leave sunspots in his vision, before dimming down and fading away leaving him to wonder what the heck was the point of it all.
The only possible exit he could see was blocked by a large intricately carved wooden door. Mahogany he figured by the burgundy color. Opposite the exit and against the wall was a similarly designed desk with various papers and books littered across the top. To either side of the desk and extending outward till about the middle of the room were thin study shelves, which confused the young boy when he realized they were some how staying in place despite no obvious holds keeping the shelves in place. Littered all over the shelves were thick leather-bound tomes, strange glowing crystals, and beakers filled with a green opaque liquid that keep the insides indiscernible to the outside viewer.
"Ugh" he turned to stare at the roof before closing his eyes. God damn! What the heck was going on? Where the hell was he?
"Ah.. you're awake."
His eyes flashed open as he painfully turned in head in reflex to the sudden intrusion. He spied a tall older man, dressed in midnight black silken robes, the hems sewn with an intricate wind swept leaf pattern that began at the base of his robes before flowing up the front until it reached a strange spherical clasp in the shape of a smiley face just above the man's chest. The man walked towards him with a confident gait, with long seemingly well-groomed gray hair and a long trimmed beard being the only hint of his true age. His green eyes watched him as he did the same with a quizzical and entirely curious gaze.
"Who?" Ranma blinked as the man strode across the room. His voice failed him when he saw a shimmering feild snap into existance around the stone table as the older man passed through, before it calmed and once again disappeared. "Great." he thought, "Some strange force feild lookin thing are my bars."
He tried to stand up, to put on a defiant face in front of his captor, but found when he tried immense pain lashed through his entire body; every little bit of him seemed to scream out in protest from his motions.
The man ignored the boy's movements, coming to a stop by the stone table. "I wouldn't move, if I were you." he cautioned, examining some bandages around the boys chest that were exceptionally bloody, "You were swelled by a sand worm, it's stomach acid did a number on your body before we were able to get you out."
Ranma hissed when the older man pressed his fingers against the bandages on his chest a little too harshly. The boy endured the older man's inquisitive painful prodding as he checked his wounds, discovering after a few moments he was wrapped from chest to toes in gauss. He was practically a mummy!
"Wha? What the heck is going on? Who the heck are you!?"
"Ah!" the man started to laugh, running a hand through his long gray beard, "Forgive me young one. You may call me Gneiss. And as for whats going on.."
***
Theo clutched his arm, hissing in pain as he focused hit Aura towards healing the deep cuts and acid burns that riddled most of his body. His Aura, a faint shimmering blue, snapped slowly into place around his body.
"God damn!" the young mage cried as he fell to his knees, his aura guttering out as his strength left it. God damn, how did his dad ever get the hang of this healing ability? He had been at it for hours, trying to heal the numerous wounds he had sustained with his trip to the desert and aside from the more superficial wounds he was still a bloody mess.
This was that boy's entire fault! He didn't know who he was, how the heck he was able to do what he did, but most of the wounds he sustained were from them trying to pacify the deranged boy. Why, if Gniess hadn't cast that strange Medigo Flare whatever spell Theo didn't think anyone would be able to stop him! Of course, his Master had waited a good five minutes before stepping in to stop the boy, which really irked Theo. Gniess was really starting to seem the type to let his students get in deep shit to learn from their mistakes and actions.
Take his healing, for example. Theo had expected Gniess to at least heal the more serious wounds, but noooooooo.
"Boy! Lesson two! Aura Healin! Get to it!" Theo ranted in an older voice. Yeah right! Like it was that freaken easy! Dad must have been smoking crack when he sent him here to learn under this old cook! Whenever he wasn't butchering his damn name, he was putting him through hell!
***
Alura rubbed her forehead and annoyance, "So.. Your official report on this matter..."
Gaja nodded, eyeing the older Were-lion, "Just as it said. We encountered the mysterious source for the recent Ethereal drain, the Seer Raiders and their contingent of domesticated Sand Worms, and of course Master Gniess and his apprentice, Simon, Alive, Theodore."
Alura grumbled, picking up the report, "This report says there was only one apprentice.."
Gaja sweat dropped, "Ah, can't explain it. Gniess just seemed to come up with names for his apprentice..."
"Couldn't you have just asked him? It would make our paper work easier."
"Uh, the apprentice..." Gaja chuckled, "He wasn't able to give us a definitive answer after he was attacked by the bezerker."
"You mentioned that, a Bezerker.." Alura stapled her hands, leaning forward on her desk, "What happened with him?"
"Master Gniess subdued the creature after he tore the Raider's sandworms apart and looked ready to turn on us. The apprentice had tried to subdue him, and was heavily wounded in the process. After which, Gniess decided to take the bezerker back to his tower for research and observation."
"I see.."
Lets Look Towards:
See other episodes by Matdeception
(Posted Fri, 23 Jan 2004 16:18)
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