Wherever I May Roam (Mulciber)

[Shouriko]

The sun was past its zenith overhead and along a wildlife trail tred an unusual creature. The ears flicked forward and back from time to time as she stepped onward. Fern fronds and leaves from other undergrowth brushed against the brown hide, softly swishing back into place as she passed. Behind her were no tracks, her cloven hooves didn't even touch the forest floor.

She paused and lifted her head higher. There were the ruins of a castle not far from her, it cast its shadow over the wood. That was not what she was looking for. There was a quiet pool off to her right, fern and moss growing along the edges. The wildlife trail she'd been following had a departure that led to it. She was feeling a bit parched...

Her pace quickened to a slow trot, tail trailing after and hair shimmering in the dappled light. Within two strides from the pool she slowed and closed the rest of the distance with delicate, hovering steps.

Oh, but you do smell sweet and fresh! she thought aloud to herself, voice soft and fluttering like a breeze. Her head dipped down to the still, cool waters and at last she drank.

[MadEmperor]

Eyes like twin blue flames observed the curious creature from an out-of-place shadow, too dark to be cast by the surrounding foliage. The being they belonged to tilted his skeletal head. What sort of creature was it that had wandered onto his land? He sensed no malice from it. Should he leave it be? He had ventured out to indulge the animal souls bonded within him, but they weren't interested in this creature. It, however, piqued his curiosity.

The qilin might notice the slight chill that followed her observer or the feeling of density his presence carried, as if she had an entire audience waiting with bated breath for her to perform.

Unable to contain himself, the shadow took on the shape of a deer and stepped out of the bushes. It would never pass as flesh and blood, but neither was the dragon-skulled entity undead; it simply was.

[Shouriko]

The air in the forest had changed and Qixia was not so green as to miss it. She lifted her head and looked one way, then another, ears twisting and flicking around as she listened. The air had grown cold, not still, and while the forest had been quiet, it had not gone silent. Whatever else was here, it wasn't something that didn't already belong. That didn't mean that it wasn't dangerous.

A rustle and the tense Qilin stared at the brush on the other side of the spring pool.

A deer? Her head cocked to the right, long hairs moved silkily over in a slow cascade. She righted her head and started to step around the pool, approaching the deer slowly. Qixia liked deer, they looked most like her.

She stopped. No. A deer, but... not a deer? Qixia was puzzled, but unafraid. She'd been alive a long time. She'd walked and flown over all manner of lands and seen so many different creatures, even different kinds of deer. Something wasn't right about this one. She grew a little excited. I've not met a new creature in such a long time! Qixia remarked.

How did it communicate? Could it? Body language? Some kind of vicalization? Would she be able to learn it? Were there others like it? Qixia hadn't anticipated that she'd discover something new today!

[MadEmperor]

"What are you?" the entity asked with calm curiosity, his voice seeming to emanate from its fleshless, unmoving mouth. He didn't expect it to be able to answer him or even understand him, but he had to try. Beings of flesh were so varied in ability that he couldn't be sure of their intelligence.

[Shouriko]

Oh! Qixia straightened up and backed up a step, eyes wide in surprise. It spoke!

Animals, most creatures, didn't use the tongue of humans. Well, not usually, it was very rare and quite the odd chance from her observations. It certainly startled her now that she'd found one who did. And while she knew the languages, Qixia had barely put any of it into practice.

Could this be an opportunity?

"What... are... you?" She repeated slowly, awkwardly. The movement of lips and tongue were unfamiliar, but not entirely foreign. "Me, I..." What was she again? Her instincts warmed in her chest and reminded her of the word, "Qilin." It was clear she was still working out sounds and tempo as she spoke, "Qixia. My name... Qixia." It was getting a little easier. "You... no deer. What... are you?"

She overtook that back step and stepped even closer. Whatever it was, there was nothing evil about it. No bad karma that needed to be dealt with. Nothing that called on her to act in some fashion as she did. Just a fascinating new creature she'd never met before.

[MadEmperor]

Excellent, it understood. So rarely did he get to talk to another being, let alone one who didn't look upon him with fear.

"There is no word for what I am, but I call myself Mulciber." His shadowy form reshaped into that of a well-dressed man with long, blue hair, clothing materializing from the darkness. However, his face was still that of a dragon's skull. He bowed politely. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

[Shouriko]

Fascinating! Although her true morph wasn't capable of showing much expression, Qixia was able to do so in the lift of her head, the forward flick of her ears.

"You... change?!" Qixia exclaimed and then quickly made to do the same. Her tail swished and she gave a shiver, all the velvety fur and shimmering scales flashed briefly and then she, too, had changed. Another couple of quick steps forward and she pressed a hand to her chest. She was not a short human, long hair and eyes like tiger-eye jems. "Me... I change!"

His change wasn't exactly complete, now was it? He sort of looked human, but definitely wasn't. And he had looked like mist, dark mist, that was called smoke she recalled. "Mulciber..." Qixia repeated, but no name to call what he was. "So, Mulciber is... just Mulciber." Her hand reached out, curious to learn if there was any real substance to his form.

[MadEmperor]

Mulciber allowed her to touch his arm. He was cool to the touch, but as solid as any physical being. There were none of the usual signs of life but, at the same time, he seemed absolutely full of it. It was as if he were a great many lives bound together.

"Mulciber is many," he answered cryptically. In fact, he was; he was a lord, a lady, a dragon, a knight, a dog, a cat, and more. But also none of those. He had never been able to properly convey what he was, for not even he was entirely sure.

[Shouriko]

Qixia found that he was indeed solid, at least now he was, but ge had appeared as mutable as a cloud. The coolness was also intriguing to her. All living beings had some kind of warmth to them, even reptiles were warm with the lifeblood that pulsed through their veins.

"Many, but one?" She queried of Mulciber. "How?"

Was this why she had yet to encounter a being such as he was? Because he was an individual made of many? And what of his head? How was it that there was seemingly no flesh or blood and still he was alive? It was very curious to her.

Qixia could barely suppress her curiosity, "Do you eat? Drink?" Her questioning began. "Do you sleep? And do you dream?" These seemed like perfectly normal questions to her.

Her expression shifted as she recalled him asking what she was. Not that she had ever conversed with another creature using any of the human tongues before, but not even the animals she'd encountered recognized her. Qixia was still the only Qilin she knew of, even though she was sure there were others. More dejectedly she remarked, her eyes going hazy, "You're the only one like you, too."

[MadEmperor]

Though he possessed no ability to outwardly express it, he was absolutely delighted by the barrage of curiosity. It was the most any being had ever attempted to understand him. He took care to answer every question, having no cause for secrets.

"I, indeed, am many, but one. My understanding of creation is, regrettably, limited, but once the castle that I call my home was full of life and all that comes with it.  There was an incident of which my recollection is fractured and incoherent, in which every inhabitant found their souls untethered. These poor souls were forced together, becoming something trapped forever in the space between life and death. In this existence, I require no sustenance and know not the gentle embrace of sleep."

[Shouriko]

Whether all or none of her questions were answered, Qixia pressed on. Even her momentary dip into depression was passed by. Being the only one known of was a bit of a lonely existence, but knowing she may not be the only one who was an only made it a little less so. Besides, the story Mulciber presented of his origin was much more intriguing.

"Incident?" Qixia questioned. "An accident?" Then she peered past her new acquaintance to the forlorn and empty castle, clearly a shadow of its prime. "Or on purpose?"

Maybe there was work for her to do after all. If there was some good that should be done here, she may be able to do it. However, that depended, "When? How long ago?" To commit such an affront against life, whoever or whatever did so would surely carry the load of karma. Qixia was certain she could find such a being.

[MadEmperor]

"It was centuries ago; the exact number I cannot say. My existence... has not always been as lucid as it is now. For a long time, I simply floated through my castle without thought," he explained, for the first time showing that he had actual feelings through his lonely tone.

"I do not know for certain, but I believe the perpetrator either dwells within me or was destroyed by his own spell." It was painful to suspect that such an evil could lurk within him, but he couldn't discount the possibility. He simply didn't know enough.

"I believe they intended to draw the power into themselves but were perhaps interrupted. I know for a fact that the one the souls attached themselves to is no necromancer, but he is the only one capable that I can rule out. That is why I took his name."

[Shouriko]

"Centuries..." She murmured. That meant it could have happened before she had begun exploring the whole world. And if the guilty party had already perished, then the karma was wiped clean.

Qixia wasn't so lost in thought that she wasn't listening to Mulciber. It seemed that he had learned to take on corporeal form. That was pretty impressive, but more than that was how he had managed to create a singular mind out of many considering the story he'd told.

"How long did it take to learn to do this? Take shape?" She asked first. "Are you always this mind? Or do you change minds?" And to think he knew of at least one mind. "Do you know the other names? The number of lives that made you up?" Qixia had so many questions. "Do you have all the memories?"

[MadEmperor]

"I know all of their names," he answered with solemn pride. "My namesake made it a matter of pride to know the name of everyone at the castle, regardless of station. His memories are the easiest to access."

The sound of a sad sigh emerged from the skull as his shoulders drooped. "But I know not the number. The nearby wildlife, and even the rats in the walls, were also caught by the spell."

Straightening up, he chuckled lightly. He was being a poor host. "Let us continue this inside, shall we? I have no food or drink to offer, but what comforts there are are yours to enjoy. Mulciber, you see, was the butler, and most of me is composed of servants, besides. Serving those who stray into my domain pleases me."

[Shouriko]

All the names! "How many names?" Qixia asked almost immediately. "There must be so many!" An entire castle worth of people and then the animals. Surely some of the animals had names themselves, so maybe there's as well. "You must have so much in your head!" The Qilin marveled.

"The wildlife..." She murmured. "Even the flowers and the trees?"

There was a forest now, but perhaps at one point it had been as bare as if a blight had struck. Life did often find a way forward again, creeping back and flourishing anew. Qixia helped with that a little in her own way.

Then Mulciber invited her inside. She straightened up and brushed some of the hair from her eyes and tried to tuck it behind an ear. "What is inside? Is it safe?" Her thoughts lurched some, "Were the bodies buried? Were there bodies? Maybe they didn't need to be... if centuries, maybe they have returned to the earth on their own?" It was morbid to think of the remains still being in the castle, living among them. Would it be more respectful to leave them? Or to bury them as many a human culture did?

"Do you get many visitors?" Qixia asked next. Her barrage of questions were seemingly endless thus far.

[MadEmperor]

"I assure you, the only danger within is loneliness, and that will be remedied by your presence. And worry not about the dead; what bones remained upon my awakening have been buried," he answered matter-of-factly.

"I... do not get many visitors who aren't seeking treasures that are no longer there. Treasures, or the fame acquired from ridding the land of a restless shade." The entity wasn't exactly hurt by the misunderstanding; it was more that it contributed to the feeling that he was something apart from the world.

[Shouriko]

"So you are alone." She murmured softly. Qixia didn't necessarily mind being alone herself, but it wasn't the physicality of being alone, rather the existential thought of it that bothered her. Although she knew there were other Qilin, never meeting another or another being that had seen one before caused her heartache. How then could Mulciber bear it? Being many, but one, and no other like him... what a curious and strange existence he had. Sad, too.

At hearing that the departed had long since been born back to the earth, Qixia hurried her steps. Quickly and quietly she caught herself up to Mulciber's side. From there she smiled and told him, "You honored their lives, that is good." Even if the one who had caused their deaths was in him, that being could not overpower the others. Qixia decided then that he was definitively good.

"Treasures? What is a treasure?" The Qilin asked. Thinking back, there were many a possession coveted by humans, sometimes not just items but animals and even other humans. Why they desired them so desperately Qixia didn't quite understand. Wasn't life the greatest treasure? "Shade?" She considered that word a little longer than pointed at Mulciber, "You mean you?!"

She stopped and asked him, "But why?" Qixia found that wrong. "You are not alive but still you live." She protested, her brows furrowing deeply over her eyes and creases spreading across her forehead, around the remnants of her horns. "You think. You have memories. You have free will. You are good." She said these things decisively.

[MadEmperor]

Good? Was that really something he was? The people he'd encountered didn't seem to think so. To them, he was a monster—something whose very existence was a threat. He didn't understand himself enough to declare them wrong. Yet, here was this creature,  amazed and unafraid, emphatically telling him that they were.

Taken by surprise, he stopped mid-stride to gaze at her. "Good? You think so?"

[Shouriko]

When Mulciber stopped and asked her for confirmation, she promptly strode right up to him. "Yes." Qixia told him firmly. "I... know it." She pressed a hand to her abdomen and as she spoke, pat it as if to further emphasize her words. "In here." Her instincts were backing up her present experience, short as it may be.

"If you were evil, I would know." Qixia began to explain. "Your karma would be bad, I would be compelled to punish you to bring back balance." She gave a shake of her head, "You don't feel like that."

But she didn't say the other way she knew. That he had not attacked her or tried to harm her. That he was kind enough to entertain her questions and welcome her in to the place he called home, was a sure sign. Qixia's gaze was unwavering at Mulciber and repeated, "You're good."

[MadEmperor]

"Karma? What is this karma?" Mulciber asked with childlike curiosity, not unlike her own. Context suggested she could feel another's moral character. Could it be that thing he sensed when a visitor possessed dark intentions? Or was it some energy he was unaware of? Could she discover if the one who destroyed House Bloodwood existed within him? Or is this karma erased upon death?