Mistral: Battle For Majini

Breathing Smoke

The voice of the stranger carried an unfamiliar brogue. Added to the curious way that it strung words together to form sentences, those two things presented some difficulty for Ejay to decipher the full meaning of a few of the things spoken to him. Some of what he'd heard whizzed straight over his head. Others had seemed too far out there for him to attempt making heads or tails of. And what he thought might be useful to him, his brain strived to make comprehensible. 

Declare yourself seemed an odd way to ask someone to state their name. At least that's what Ejay thought the stranger was demanding of him -- his name and probably, his purpose for encroaching on what it had termed its domain. Those weren't unreasonable requests and he imagined that, had he a home of his own, he would want to know why a veritable foreigner entered without invitation. Despite coming to that conclusion, he was wary of revealing too much to a person he could not see. Being that he was at the mercy of the dark and his new company, it didn't seem wise to do so and if he had to die here and now, he would not be making a fool of himself while doing it. 

"Declare myself?” he questioned for clarity. "Are you asking me for my name?" And added quickly, "so there is a way out of the dark?" just so that it was known to whomever he was speaking with that he had no plans of remaining for longer than was necessary. 

A frustrated groan from his companion pulsed in the air around him before the voice stated, "yes," with just as much annoyance. The one word was firm and loud and spoken with a note of incredulity – like he was daft.

“State who you are and your purpose or…or…suffer my…incredible wrath,” it sputtered. 

For the first time since he approached the forest, Ejay felt his breathing calm. If it wasn’t for the abject dread continuing to buffet him, he might have chuckled. Whoever this keeper of the dark forest was appeared far less sure about themselves than he was about his self-appointed mission and that gave him a sense of ease. He didn’t lose his defensive stance that he’d adopted, however. Nor his weapon. 

“I’m Ejay,” he answered in the hopes of encouraging an alliance with the voice. "Who are you?"

“Hmm, a peculiar name,” the voice said and Ejay could picture its owner scratching his chin in contemplation. “If that is what you really wish me to call you, Ejay. Might I enquire as to the unfortunate set of circumstances which have lead to you to what is now called the forbidden lands? Or have you not heard? No one comes here.”

The fact that the place where he was now standing had been dubbed the ‘Forbidden Lands’ did not escape Ejay’s hearing. Oh no. For the time being, however, he chose to ignore it lest he truly lost his nerve. Just as soon as he had some sense of direction, he intended to circle back to that terrorizing piece information. For the time being, he answered, “I’m trying to find my friend.” 

There was pause. A long enough one to put in Ejay's mind that he'd made a mistake by saying so. He tried to back track and think of something else to say to prove that he was there peacefully. To his dismay, nothing came to mind.

The voice was first to break the silence. Relief that he hadn't incurred that aforementioned incredible wrath surged through him when it stated, calmly this time, “and I’m trying to find the lie in your words. It’s there. I can smell it. Ooh, I’ve lost my touch. It’s been too long. Your friend, you say?” it rambled. "What happened to him?"

Now it was Ejay’s turn to weigh his response. “She’s a girl," was the only information that he was willing to surrender, just yet. 

“Of course!” His new friend spoke with glee. “Why else would a lad take a chance here but to impress a beautiful maiden? Young love,” he ahhed. 

“You talk funny,” Ejay noted but silently thanked the strange darkness for concealing the tinge of red he could feel creeping into his fair skin. 

“And you smell funny but that is neither here nor there,” the voice said, obviously dismissing his concern. “About the girl,” it continued. “Where did she make off? How did you come to misplace her?"

Slightly offended and largely confused by the suggestion, Ejay replied with indignation, “I did not -- misplace -- her! The dragon..." he started to explain. 

On account that it might be better to feed the stranger the lie that he’d lost girl rather than spewing such nonsense about fire breathing dragons, he cut himself off. If anything, the very supposition that he'd encountered the great beast of legend was ludicrous and impossible in his own mind. It was logical to believe that someone else would find that he'd gone stark-raving mad and maybe he had. 

Or maybe this was all a dream. He must have hit his head and all of this was his brain's reaction to blunt force trauma. 

“You are most assuredly not dreaming,” the voice was quick to inform him. "But I cannot say that you did not hit your head if you are willing the confront the vagaries of this land." Then it prompted, "a dragon you say?"

“Hey, how did you know what I was thinking?” Ejay queried. “You’re confusing me.”

“None of that is important, boy. About the dragon. Describe the creature to me,” the voice demanded. 

“You believe me?” Ejay answered in awe. 

“Well, of course, I believe you. You are on the borders of the Kingdom of Majini, are you not? Dragons are known to roam over our heads above the trees, though less and less, of late. We have fallen on strange times."

It spoke the last words pensively. 

"Well thank, God for that," Ejay muttered and he laughed – a very short snort -- because he’d just confirmed that he was either certifiable or dreaming. “Majini?” he repeated. “What kind of name is that? Where is that?” he questioned. 

If he had to hazard guess, he’d say that Majini sounded like a region which lies somewhere East of the Mediterrenean or maybe – possibly –India. He made an attempt to recall but it was no place that he could remember ever hearing about. Not even in his boring world history or geography classes. Either way, where ever this Majini was located, his companion had just confirmed that he must be in some really freaky stage of REM. Though he couldn’t force himself out of it, and he did try, fervently, to do so, Ejay was immensely relieved and grew a bit more confident because of it. As such, he straightened his stance to something friendlier and welcoming, lest his companion thought him a hostile threat. However, just incase this...whoever it was...thought that he would make an easy meal of him, he kept a firm grip on his stick. 

“You seem friendly enough,” he posited to test the waters a little more. “Is there any way to switch on a light or something? Or get out of here? You know, back to the real world?” he asked and crossed his fingers in hope. 

Whoever was with him huffed their exasperation. “If by switch on a light you mean roll back the darkness…not until you tell me about the dragon. And I cannot begin to hypothesize what you mean when you say, the real world, but it sounds very foreboding,” his companion rattled dismissively. “What colour was this dragon?" the voice pressed. "What size was it? Did it have any testicles? Did it say anything to you? Could you hear him speak?”

The only one out of the barrage of questions thrown at him that Ejay could not provide an answer for was whether the great beast which had tried to kill him had any testicles. Not only had he been too scared at the time to notice, the thought to look for a hanging pair had simply never crossed his mind. 

“It was red and definitely huge,” he supplied. “It looked to be covered in rubies or something of the sort." 

Not believing that he'd actually used the term something of the sort, he paused amidst his explanations with his brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Well don't stop there. Continue," the voice commanded. 

The hint of impatience in the order shook the observation straight out of Ejay's mind. He committed himself to doing as he was told, hoping to secure his position in his interrogator's good graces. For all he knew, he could be conversing with some sort of serpent or rabid monster. 

"I do not know if it was a boy or a girl," he hastened to explain."The voice was pretty growly." 

“Red and huge,” his companion mused. Then he gasped, his excitement growing palpable. “He spoke to you, you mean? You heard and understood? The words? What did he say?”

Remembering the edict that the great red beast had growled into his mind was quite easy for Ejay. He didn't think that the words of a creature who wasn't supposed to exist, but appeared to him, in all its terrifying magnificence, was something that anyone was likely to ever forget. 

But, this time, when he spoke, his voice was no longer his and his ability to control his own movements were considerably impaired. Something he could only describe as an external force was fast taking hold his body and burrowing its way inside him. At first, Ejay tried to resist the pressure but had no power to fight the invasion. An uncomfortable pebble of heat kindled in his gut. He wanted to wrap his arms around his middle to soothe the dull ache there but found that he could not so much as shift his pinky finger. Soon, the small fire burning inside him mushroomed into a raging inferno that climbed up his sternum and expanded to his extremities and into his head. He was set aflame from within and all he could do was stand there and endure the intense, agonizing burn. The only motion he seemed capable of doing on his own was breathing and, thank god, he could squeeze his eyelids shut against the searing in his eyeballs. He was entirely disappointed because it did not provide the smallest measure of help to alleviate the pain. And when he blinked them open again, his irises glowed a menacing red in the darkness.

A sharp gasp echoed in the empty darkness around him. 

"It's you," the voice breathed quietly. 

Steady puffs of smoke streamed out of Ejay's nostrils with ever breath that he exhaled. A soft growl vibrated in his chest and rumbled in the quiet. 

.