Tengu Tamer

Jaimess.

23rd of Ianua, 1492.

Melbenzar Forest, NW. Rhar. The Rocks, Thaphos Village.

12:03 PM.

***

Corym.

The days that passed after we greeted him were strange. He seemed… agitated. On edge. Worried. Then, after five days, he grew angry. As did we. But unlike us, Corym then grew saddened. Then determined. Signs I'd been taught to look out for. Signs of grief.

Signs that marked him as guilty of sending those hunters after Amun.

Their failure saw him take his ire out on us. Passively, of course. But he paid close attention to us, demanding and insisting and entreating us to heed his words despite Amun- and by extension us, knowing everything we'd need to know to move further down our paths. So, we took heed to his words. Just not the ones he expected. And not in the ways he desired.

While he spoke of tracking, we looked and learned of the strangely living, oddly industrial forest hidden beyond the veil of the grove. While he spoke of the druidic arts used in our class, we studied the ways of the wood elves watching us with mixed expressions from their tree houses and groves.

But when he spoke of favored enemies, he grew angry.

There were eight rangers in this conclave, as it was called. Only two of them were not of the Legions. Zohnos Lagunath, the Triton who still seemed to be dour from his loss against Amun, judging by the way he glared at our insignia; and Zaos Torhorn, the wood elf who rarely said anything with his mouth and all but screamed hatred with his eyes.

The two of them had immediate answers to Corym's demand to choose a type of creature to focus our skills on. Undead and Fae respectively. Their 'natural' enemies, they said. But Corym's ire seemed to know no bounds when we told him of our enemies. Or rather, our lack thereof. Then, he seemed to become offended when we told him we only had creatures we like to study outside of our class.

They were the same type of creatures the wood elves around us chose. Elementals. Undead. Celestials. Monsters. Beasts of all types.

I thought it strange that Corym, and by extension, the rest of the wood elves grew more offended when we told them we wished for all creatures to exist as nature intended. They even went as far as to call it sacrilege, assuming we were attempting to absolve ourselves of the duty to protect the civilized lands from the beasts that threatened them.

Even when we corrected them, stating we would do that and fight those who wrongly poached or hunted creatures for simply existing, they looked at us with disgust. Worse, they began showing preferential treatment to Zaos and Zohnos. Coddling them, as we saw it- making them weak.

Of course, we paid them little mind. We practiced our skills and martial prowess of our own volition, guided by Amun and his tablets rather than pretentious elves who claimed themselves to be rangers, despite never leaving their sacred forest.

We showed them, silently and stoically, our skills with blade and bow and spell. Well, they did, for I decided to play by the rules of the Tengu, fighting unarmed for the rest of my days. Yet another difference that caused an outpour of hatred from the elves. Yet another thing that left me... amused.

By the time our enchantments came, their brimming hatred turned to seething rage. Disrespectful. Unnatural. Uncultured. Disgraceful. Every word in the dictionary was used in response to our walking up vertical surfaces. To our vehicles and machines. To the talking skulls hanging from our packs or hips. To our growing habit of taking the strength or lifespan of the creatures we felled.

The end of the month marked the time for us to go off and accomplish whatever tasks we had for our subclasses. However, Corym and his seething elves demanded we pick a favored enemy before we departed, despite us stepping far past such things already.

We weren't angry, frustrated, or even impatient. By then, we were bored with the tight canopy of Melbenzar Forest and were all too eager to leave. So, we did as adults do. We compromised.

"Rangers must choose a favored foe." I nodded to him, more playfully than I otherwise would have. "Any type of creature, such as an elemental. That's what you told us." I playfully wagged my finger, singing joyously. "I bet you didn't know we could put the sentient species of the realms on that list."

Curious Twig, innately as playful as I had become, pounced from tree to tree, attempting to speak to as many elves as she could. "Two species, we can!"

"So," Duke began with puffed feathers; among all of us, the noble Aarakocra was sicked by the elves' behavior the most, "we have made a compromise."

"Our favored species," Rebecca Plassein sneered with indigence. "Our most favored enemy, as you put it, will be you."

"Elves." Zeke Smeal corrected with a beaming grin. "Elves and humans will be our favored enemies."

Corym's vibrant eyes burned like the sun as they peered through ours to witness the cold conviction within our souls."You wouldn't." He growled.

"We already have!" I laughed. "We chose human and elven scum, worms like you, as our favored enemies. The chances of us fighting creatures like you are much higher, after all. And." The amusement suddenly fell from my face- all of our faces. "Let's not forget the dogs you sent after Amun." I sang.

Then, all the amiability drained from my face as I looked the seething elf in the eyes. "Consider this your first and last act of mercy, Corym Lichenwind. Send someone after us again, and you'll find yourselves playing with the Legio Noctis."

Those words, coupled with a final bow, were the last we hoped to see of Corym and their 'sacred' forest. We relished in our new freedom. Not even using vehicles to travel north towards the Rhar mountains to make camp, laugh, play, and rest before we rested to rise and go our separate ways.

I watched them all spread to the winds, feeling the same pride I was sure Amun felt. They weren't even my subordinates, but I was proud of their rapid progress all the same. Naturally, more was said for my subordinates, close by. Hidden in a cave I carved after dropping down to the Plane, they'd been drinking mana sensitivity potions, attempting to connect with divine creatures on their own.

I didn't go to them, at first. I watched Duke take to the skies with his wing of men and women and other creatures adapted to the skies in awe. I watched Curious Twig fly off into the dawn with Tao, the celestial panther, bounding from boulder to boulder with the utmost glee. I saw Becca, fighting creatures with swords and other weapons made from her plasma. And Smeal, searching for new places for the homeless and downtrodden to settle.

Only when they were gone did I move, using paper wings and my memories to search the mountains of Rhar for my old friends.

I knew not how long I looked, for the journey was a sort of play in and of itself. Eventually, though, I returned to that otherworldly platform atop that isolated summit and looked upon the empty expanse around me, seeing no movement other than the creaking trees or drifting mist; feeling nothing more than cold air blowing over my clothes.

And so, I crossed my legs to sit atop those mosaic tiles. To meditate on that world throne. To try and attach to that feeling I felt just over half a year ago.

Perhaps it was due to our sabbatical in Eotrom, or even my raised world within, but I felt it after what felt to be only seconds. The pushes and the pulls. The ebbing and flowing of mana, glowing in the grasses and trees like a light enchantment amidst the thick clouds shielding the sun overhead.

And, just like last time, something else appeared from the mist shortly thereafter. Another light, but a light akin to hot iron. Warm and bright and gentle. Bubbling with joyful energy. But, not from the three bobbing forms I was familiar with. It came from… below. It came from the seemingly ancient tiles beneath me and entered my spirit readily.

As that heat rose within me, I suddenly recalled that fateful day in a way that couldn't be described. It wasn't a dream, nor was it a memory. It was like I was… there, reliving a variation of the experience. Like, as Amun called it, Deja Vu.

I felt high on mana sensitivity potions. Bursting with energy because of this immensely gentle heat. I saw the tengu before me, eager to play. But they were different. Humanoid. As tall as me but with fantastic wings of crimson and gold. Still, though, they were the same. Eager to play. And so play we did.

Gone were the gentle taps that pushed me back a step, however. Their blows sent me barreling into mountainsides and tumbling through forests. And there was pain, of course, but no malice. Only joy. Only… play. And so, I tagged them back. I laughed and punched and kicked my way across the Ligin and Rhar mountains until the game came to an end.

That was what I saw before the budding heat extinguished. To all others- and thus to NoxNet, however, there was a different story to tell.

The records showed me in the center, a tengu to either side, and the third below. With a split kick, the flanking tengu had their flames extinguished. But not the momentum of their attacks. Feathered legs arced inward to meet my head at the center, nearly extinguishing my flame. But just before my light dimmed, just before I fell, just before I lashed down, I was lashed back. And all went dark.

…

Through NoxNet, all could be seen in retrospect. At that moment, however, all I remembered were three embers fading, returning, and multiplying. One left, leaving two, but then returned to make four. Another then left, leaving three, only to return with another to make five. And again with the third to make six.

In retrospect, I witnessed myself slumped over a tree growing out of the cliffside. Three Tengu, appearing as fuzzy grapefruits with wings, latched onto my clothes, skin, and hair desperately, even while unconscious. Until… one woke up and flew away.

When it returned, it wrapped a straw and feathered cowl over my back and nestled into the crevasse of my shoulder. Then, the second one flew away.

When it returned, it strapped a large fan to my hips and nestled into the crevasse of my other shoulder. And then the last one flew away.

When it returned, it looped a sash around my dangling frame thrice, tying a gourd to my waist before it flew up to nestle atop my head.

And then came the moment I assuredly felt. A burst of brilliant heat spread across the entirety of the mountain range.

I felt it. And more potent than I ever have before. And yet, I still had not a name for this abundant and blissful heat that now swirled within me. I knew it was no divine energy, nor was it celestial magic. Thus I pondered and hypothesized until I felt something, heard a grunt, and proverbially opened my eyes to see the strange sky above me for the first time.

Moreover, I opened my eyes to see a colossal, bearded, long-nosed humanoid covered in bright red furry feathers and a robe of equal color, squatting on the balls of his feet atop a distant mountain temple with three smaller beings surrounding him.

"We thought your play exceptional, human. But to think you could make your way here. Admirable, it is."

'Here.' I thought, looking- feeling around this place that was not unlike the Faewoods were said to be, but also strangely different. The grasses were lush and green, flowing with a wind that seemed to flow in one direction always. The streams were crystal clear and yet oily, showing strangely colored rocks amid beautifully scaled fish. And many beings flocked within, other than tengu. Beings that ranged in all shapes and sizes. Incorporeal some. Large and massive, others.

Almost like… "The Spiritual Realm."

"And wise beyond measure." The great Tengu nodded. "Tell me, human. Why do you seek us earnestly so?"

"So that I can learn from you, and you from me. And… so we could play again."

"'Tis precisely why we seek companionship with humans. Though our play often breaks them, thus they believe us to be malevolent." The Tengu chuckled, though his mouth didn't move, not even as a great red finger thrust in my direction, blowing a severe gust over my suddenly small body.

"You are different! Your wisdom has impressed the tengu of Mount Sojobo. We accept and ask of you, Human Jaimess, to take our young Daitengu as companions on your travels. Learn from them, and they from you. Play. Build temples and spread tengu in the name of your… Amun."

"It would be my honor." I bowed lowly, filled with as much humility as this heat- this spiritual energy flowing within me. And when I stood, I found myself laying atop a branch, feeling the distant bite of the wind on my body being protected by a feathered cowl dissimilar to the one issued by the Legions.

I thought to the other items and before I could think further, the gourd appeared in my hand, in mid-swig. A new strength surged within me before I even realized the gourd was back in its place, my lips slick from its oily contents.

With a simple push- a push meant to lift me from my stomach, the branch supporting me shattered. I soon found myself staring at my new companions in free fall. Three tengu in their familiar forms, the teardrops with long noses. One had a face of intrigue, bumping into me with its nose as it tried to get a closer look at my features. The next simply stared at me with a face of indifference, yet somehow retained its trademark scowl. The last had a somewhat anxious face that looked away nervously whenever I gazed upon it, melting my heart a little.

An artist, a poet, and an artisan, they were. Masters of ancient arts they revered above all. others.

Arts that I would have to master as well.

Me and my subordinates.

"We're going to teach our friends how to play." I looked up to see a silvery glow take shape over a nearby summit, then turned back to my friends with an apologetic smile. "But first, we have to find some new grounds."