Seeds of Discordia

Liam panted as he exited out from the spider infested section of the forest. He kept going for a little while longer until he felt his Danger Sense start to lessen to a light feeling. As soon as he felt the changes he slowed down to a fast pace walk before stopping.

He took in big gulps of air trying to calm his beating heart. He quickly pulled out a Weak Orange Stamina Potion and drank it. As he placed the empty vial back into his inventory, he looked around and was surprised by what he saw.

Once again, his surroundings had changed. The trees had spaced out quite a bit giving more room to move around. The trees were still an icy white color and the leaves glowed brightly thanks to the majestic moon above. The new addition to this were the vibrant flowers that were scattered around the trees.

Liam slowly approached a small group of them and noticed they were all different colored orchids. Their colors ranged from light blue to neon green, dark violet to fiery orange. Most blended with assorted colors while some remained a solid one. The beauty of these flowers were enhanced greatly by the light of the moon that shined down over them. Liam was both amazed by their beauty and wary of them. These flowers obviously didn’t belong here.

Liam looked around to see if there was anything that stood out amongst these flowers. He couldn’t find anything amongst them, but he did see an open path that led deeper into the forest. He looked around once more to see if there were any signs of other ways to move about this vibrant garden of orchids but didn’t see any.

He let out a sigh as he muttered, “Guess there’s only one way to proceed.”

As he walked down this path he noticed the flowers had started to grow along the trunks of the trees. That wasn’t the only thing he noticed either. There was a light pink mist that floated around them as well but didn’t hover over the path. This made him curious while at the same time made him a bit glad because if that mist were harmful he wasn’t sure if his mask would be able to block out whatever effects it contained.

As he continued to walk down the path he noticed the pink mist start to fill the area outside the path even more. After a few more feet, what was once a light mist was now a thick fog. As he breathed he tasted a faint sweet fruity flavor that he couldn’t quite place. He wasn’t sure if the taste came from the pink fog that had filled the sides along the pathway nor did he really care. There wasn’t any Debuff warnings or icons appearing, so he paid it no mind.

After walking a few more feet he heard a faint sound dancing in the air. It sounds like strings being lightly plucked. The sound each string made was soft and gentle while the notes they carried sounded alluring and tantalizing. Each step he took the sounds that danced around grew in volume. A silvery and soothing voice suddenly joined the dance of the alluring string notes.

 The voice didn’t produce any words as it mixed with the musical notes. Instead, the voice produced a wonderous and mesmerizing display of vowels. This feminine voice displayed an excellent mix of breathing control, diction, blending, and balance as she went through each vowel. If Liam remembered correctly, this technique was a practice that helped a singer warm up their vocals. And what a beautiful demonstration she performed. The additur of the string instrument gave life to her voice even though she didn’t actually sing.

Liam could feel his body start to relax as the notes and vowels danced around him in the air and he noticed the flowers had started swaying back and forth in a rhythmic motion with the vocal exercise. After a few seconds more had passed from walking, he finally entered a wide open clearing that left him breathless.

The trees that surrounded the clearing were covered from the ground to the top of the trees with bright and colorful orchid flowers of varied species and sizes. All of the smaller flowers were in full bloom while the medium and larger ones were closed in a budding state. Scattered across the ground were the same flowers in a similar state that surrounded a giant White and hot pink bloomed Orchid flower. The flower sat up and opened, facing Liam. The petals were positioned in a way that the bottom one acted like a seat while the two on the sides were arm rests and the top one was a cover.

Sitting on the bottom petal of the white and pink orchid was Tantalizing Orchid. Her entire attire had changed from when he last saw her. Besides the mask that she always wore, hugging tightly against her skin in a very sexy and alluring way was a white dress with hot pink flowers that scattered all around her body. Resting in front of her was a harp that looked to be made of mossy green and brown vines.

The way she sat, the dress she wore, and the way the moon majestically shined down upon her skin making her look bewitching…every bit of detail he could see made him feel captivated.

Even though he felt like he just wanted to stand there and indulge in staring at her, Liam felt a sudden prick in the back of his mind. That prick snapped him out of his thoughts, making him say while trying not to feel embarrassed, “This area you’ve set up is…different compared to the last two. Is your portion of this test a personal concert for me?”

Tantalizing Orchid stopped plucking her strings and her vocal exercise before letting out a giggle. The sound of her laughter was just as mesmerizing as her vocal exercise and almost made Liam want to forget what was going on.

He forced his will to stop this as he listened to the woman’s response.

“Little Kitten, a personal concert from me would be too costly for one such as you,” Orchid said in as much of an innocent and alluring voice as she could use. “However, I could give you one if you really want me to…” She gave him a wicked and teasing smile before adding while licking her lips, “For the right price that is.”  

This sent a shiver down Liam’s spine. He wasn’t a fool. He recognized a look like that one. He didn’t even need to see her eyes to know that the meaning behind that smile, licking of her lips, and her words. The payment would be his death.

Liam brought up both hands and stated with as much of a calm tone as he could muster, “I think you’re right. It would be too costly for me.”

Orchid made a pouting face as she replied, “Oh but I insist. You don’t have to worry about the cost. We can use the test as an excuse for me to…practice my vocal skills.”

Liam felt a pull in the corner of his mind as he listened to her sweet, honeyed words dance in his ears. After a quick shake of his head, Liam placed both hands up and replied, “As much as I feel that would be a nice treat…I’m going to have to pass. After all I am in the middle of a test.”

Tantalizing Orchid gave him a wry smile as she stated, “You’re right. I guess I should be doing my job right now. If that is what you have decided on then I must oblige.”

Orchid then strummed a couple of fingers down the row of strings on her harp. As she did this the few orchids that weren’t in bloom all around her started to vibrate.

“That being said though,” Orchid started back up as she started playing a delicate and slow melody. “You will be getting front row seats to one of my creations…”

The vibrating flowers then shifted after her words. They rose up to stand higher than their bloomed siblings. Their budded petals then faced the tree line as they swayed back and forth following the flow of the musical notes.

Liam had a sinking feeling as he watched the swaying of the budded flowers start to move a bit faster as Orchid quickened the pace of her fingers strumming the harp. He took a step back while keeping his eyes on Orchid.

Orchid stopped her fingers and let the note hang in the air. This suddenness confused Liam as he stared at her. She waited for a brief moment before she said in almost a whisper, “I call this Tantalizing Dream, the Ministry of Love and Hate…Try not to lose your mind.” She then snapped her fingers causing the area all around him to suddenly change.

The abruptness of the changing surroundings frazzled Liam’s mind as he felt a wave of vertigo hit him hard. His sight swayed for a brief moment before the spinning stopped. He quickly looked around while raising his hands up in the air, ready for anything. The area was nothing but a white vast space. This confused him. He was just in the mind of a forest with flowers all around him. Even Tantalizing Orchid was there, but now…now there was nothing. No one around him. Just this vast never ending white space that seemed to never end.

A ripple suddenly expanded from a spot not too far from him. As this ripple expanded, a deep harp sounding musical note flew right by him. It was there for a brief moment and then disappeared. Before he could think about it another ripple expanded from a different area. Then another. And another. Soon several ripples expanded from different areas of the white vastness bring forth a carefully orchestrated song. What happened next wasn’t what he was expecting.

 The ripples changed the scenery around him as words filled the space giving life to a scene before him. Two people with blurry faces appeared. They were looking down at a baby that was wrapped up in a blanket.

“From the moment you were created, from your first heart beat…” Orchid’s singsong voice whispered around him as she started to sing. “In the middle of this heat. A human being creates feelings such as love or hate.”

Liam watched as the two people stared down at the child. While their faces were blurry, he could still make out a smile formed on their lips.

“Emotions run like crazy. With our eyes all hazy…”

The colors of the scene started to change. Giant patches of red, blue, and green suddenly splat all around like someone had flicked them against a screen. Quickly the colors started to swirl as the scene started to get blurry.

“Now picture it gone. You can’t feel a thing.”

The blurriness of the scenery suddenly imploded and disappeared, returning Liam to the white vastness. He felt a sudden longing and then emptiness as if something were taken away that he didn’t want to lose, but at the same time he couldn’t understand what it was he lost.

“It’s your Fate. With only one thought you’re thrown away into the Ministry of Love and Hate.”

A new scene appeared out of nowhere. Rain was pouring down hard. People stood all around staring at him. Their faces too were blurred out. However, even if he couldn’t see their faces he could feel the hate they had towards him.

“It hurts so badly…”

He could feel the heat of their gaze upon him, but he didn’t pay it any mind. Instead, his sight was on the woman who was on her knees. She had her arms wrapped around the neck and chest of a man who laid their limp and lifeless.

“Yest you can’t feel a thing…”

Liam stared at the two.

“It looks so heavy. Yet you feel so light…”

Liam felt his body suddenly jerk as the scenery changed again.

He was now standing in the middle of the street. The speed of the day had increased showing people running throughout the chaotic streets. Fights broke out in certain areas as windows were smashed and buildings were broken into.

“You’re a ghost in this town, From Dawn to Night.”

Liam looked up towards the sky as Orchid’s beautiful whispers asked what his mind suddenly thought after looking at all the chaos.

“Is this my fate? To be thrown into the Ministry of Love and Hate?”

He was suddenly taken to a new scene leaving him in the middle of a crowd. He looked around and spotted familiar figures. Even though their faces where blurred out he could recognize the clothes they wore. He tried to reach a hand out to them as they got closer. However, as he went to touch the closest one, his hand fell right through their shoulder.

“Like a wave in the ocean the fish don’t feel a thing. In this sea full of people, to you, my existence doesn’t mean a thing.”

A feeling of loss and longing filled Liam as he watched them walk on by.

“So, you’ll just stand here and let them walk on by.”

Memories that were locked away flashed through Liam’s mind as he watched them walk by. Memories of their laughter, their happiness, their talks, and resolves…he remembered them all. They were suddenly replaced with anger, disappointment, and betrayal. All of these didn’t come from him, but from the ones he once called comrades.

“Like a ghost to their eyes you’re no longer in their sight. You know they’re just a memory but it’s that memory that keeps you feeling alive.”

Liam felt the air around him shift as he was brought to an apartment. Along the walls were pictures and notes. Each picture and note held an importance that held a lot of importance. Some had red circles while others had red X’s.

“You don’t want to fade into nothing and become another mistake.”

His eyes turned to a couple of pictures that rested on the counter. One of a man with a younger version of himself and two other younger males. The other held a group of people. Each wearing a mask to hide their faces.

“How could it be that You couldn’t see? They followed your beat. Only to use you…To get themselves back up on their feet.”

Anger filled Liam as emotions swirled inside of him. Thoughts of that time, the time he spent with them trying to make a difference, trying to stop the destruction and chaos that was created by them, filled his very being. It stirred something within Liam as Orchid’s voice continued on.

“Through thinking if it was Love or Hate. You found out what was your fate.”

Those words rang within him as an old memory he locked away deeper than any resurfaced for a brief moment. The sound of a whip cracking briefly echoed in his mind as chains rattling mixed with each crack. The anger that had stirred within him let out a roar that vibrated throughout his body, clamping down on the memory hard and locking up once more. He had found out what his fate was that cursed day. To this very moment he was still fighting it.

As Orchid’s soothing and alluring voice continued, the area around Liam returned to a vast whiteness. However, this time he wasn’t alone. Four blurry figures stood a great distance away from him. As soon as he saw them, he planted pictures of faces on them. Each person held one of their faces.

However, the ones that pissed him off were more than just four. He didn’t know how it happened, but each of the faces that appeared over the blurry figures switched out as the four took a step closer to him.

“How dare you show your faces,” Liam growled.

“This thing called the Ministry plays games with you. But You know one thing is true…”

Liam watched as the four blurred out silhouettes took another step towards him.

“I’m going to kill you,” Liam snarled. He then spun around and added, “I’ll fucking kill all of you.”

“From the moment you were created. From your first heartbeat. In the middle of the heat. You created feelings such as love and hate…Emotions ran like crazy. With your eyes all hazy…”

Liam didn’t know when it started, but his eyes had started to water from all the anger he was feeling. The faces he saw belonged to those who took away everything he held dear before the chaos over the planet had started. He tried to take a step towards one of them, but as soon as he took a couple of steps chained shot out from the ground behind him and wrapped around his wrists and thighs.

Realizing what was going on, he then snarled, growled, and threw his arms around trying to break free as the four kept getting closer. He threw out threats and tried to forcibly free himself.

“And when it was gone. You couldn’t feel a thing. Leaving your body motionless and empty.”

Liam’s emotions of hatred and anger continued to grow as the memories kept flashing back to back.

“You came to the realization that it has been your fate. With only one thought You had been thrown away into the Ministry of Love and Hate.”

Not able to contain his anger any more. Liam let out a deep and throaty roar of frustration. When he did this the world of white suddenly shattered. This brought back all the color than white, broke the chains that held him in place, and brought him back to the forest where Lady Arachne, Noxi, Silent Saboteur, and Orchid stood circling him not too far.

Liam spun around, looking for the old men from his memories. The old men that created the hell that befell the world before he was transported out from it. He couldn’t find them. Instead, all around him he saw the four members of the Fiddler’s Spider Web staring at him with shocked expressions.

Their expressions, or rather body language brought Liam’s mind back to what had happened before this moment. He took in a few breaths and closed his eyes as he muttered the words, “Calm the Storm.” He repeated the words over and over, trying to calm the anger that had built up within him.

At first it didn’t want to calm down. The anger and hatred that filled him tried to resist. It wanted to be released. It wanted to rampage. However, the practice of using this technique he had gotten back in the Tutorial Area was able to calm the beast within. After he felt his heart and mind calmed down, Liam opened his eyes again and looked at Noxi.

“You being here must mean that the second test is finished?” Liam asked with as calm of a voice as he could handle.

Noxi didn’t say anything. Instead, he gave Liam a slow nod.

“Damn,” Liam muttered. “I was hoping I would fully pass this test.”

The four didn’t respond to his comment. They just stared at him. It took him a good minute to realize they hadn’t spoken at all, but just continued to stare at him. He looked at each of them and asked, “What?”

With a cautious and careful tone, Noxi finally asked, “Are you alright?”

Confused, Liam replied with a slow nod, “Yeah. Why do you ask?”

Noxi looked towards Lady Arachne. The shorter woman felt the other two’s gaze fall upon her as well. Deciding to be honest she said, “Well, we’re asking you this because you released quite the bloodlust. I don’t know what it was that you saw, but it must have been something so bad that you exuded quite the power. A power that broke you free from Tantalizing Orchid’s powers.”

“Her powers?” Liam questioned. Confusion etched on his face. He hadn’t seen her use any magical abilities. She just played her harp and…A sudden thought came to mind which made him turn to look at the Mantis masked woman and asked, “Do you have bard abilities?”

A little surprised at his sudden question, Orchid responded, “Yes. I have worked and created a synergy between my current Bard abilities to work with my Illusion Magics, Charm Magic, and Advanced Field of the Senses to create my Tantalizing Dream skills.”

“Tantalizing Dream skills?” Liam asked.

“I don’t like revealing everything. A girl has to have some secrets,” Orchid commented. However, after what she just witnessed she felt he deserved some sort of answer. “However, I will tell you that by using an instrument of my choice and pair it with a song, a poem, or whatever I choose…I can create an illusionary world for my target to lose themselves in. Depending on how my targeted audience resonates with both of those it will place you in a trance that dives you into your memories. Whether they are good or bad depends on how you perceive what I’m singing.”

Liam let that information sink in. He thought about everything that had happened while in that…Tantalizing Dream world. It checked out. He also came to a decision as he thought about it. He looked back at the woman and said, “That ability is bullshit. Also, what was up with that pink mist and fog?”

Orchid gave him a smile. “That pink mist belongs to one of my Plant Magic spells that helps relax the target and loosens their minds to better help my abilities out.”

Liam was about to ask another question, but was cut off as Orchid added, “The fog is a distraction to allow the mist to slip by and affect you.”

Liam thought about it. It looks like he got his answer on how well his mask fended off outside influences. He nodded then looked back at Lady Arachne and asked, “What now?”

“Take an hour to rest up before we proceed to the next test,” Lady Arachne stated as she pointed to a door that had manifested not too far away from them. “Before you go I would like to say something.”

Liam stared at her, waiting to hear whatever she had to say.

“You did well,” she started back up. “Much better than any of us had expected. After your last test I will go over everything we felt you did right and possible areas to work on.”

Liam nodded. Before anyone else could say anything, Liam left the area. He felt drained and tired after all that. He also felt angry and didn’t want to do anything stupid towards the people who didn’t deserve.

 

                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Eri stared at the water bowl. She had been watching her Champion taking the tests. She was happy with the results of the first test. The way he handled himself against the poisonous snake was wonderful in her eyes. Of course there were things she thought he could have done, but the looks on their faces were priceless.

However, during the second test she felt she was taken by surprise with both the Owl-folk and the Spider girl. The portly Owl man not only taming beast with Lunar magic but also having it himself was a pleasant discovery. Few had that magic. If she didn’t restrict Liam from using it himself, she would have had him request the man teach him more about the Field.

That surprise only grew more with the spider woman. She recognize exactly what she was now after seeing her control those spiders. Those weren’t summoned or tamed beasts. They were something more. Something Liam would have to deal with later on when he started growing in power. If she had known about this, she probably would have restrict him using Shadow Magic so the woman wouldn’t be able to realize his secret.

Luckily for both her and Liam, the Spider woman had a big misunderstanding thinking Liam was a full blooded Beast-kin. Thanks to that misunderstanding, she wouldn’t realize the connection they both shared.

Both of those were pleasant surprises. They put her in a great mood. A great mood that was quickly shattered as she watched his run in with the Orchid Mantis woman. While they couldn’t see the illusionary world Liam had going on in his mind, she was able to. She was also able to see a certain memory that he tried to lock back away.

Although it was brief, she was able to see two particularly crucial details. Vital details that explained his attitude towards killing and about his current seal. That last one pissed her off royally. She didn’t know how it was possible or who gave them both the information and skills to pull it off, but that shouldn’t have been doable. Especially in a world that shouldn’t have had magic.

“I need to find out more on what exactly happened,” Eri quietly muttered to herself.

She looked back into the bowl of water and noticed how unstable her champion looked. She knew he didn’t realize what he had done in the end. Hell, even she was still trying to figure it out. However, one thing she did know was whatever those men did to him, they didn’t fully understand how monstrous they made him. One wrong move could spell the destruction of a lot of lives…including her champions.

Thinking about that, she wondered how many people they did this to. How many ticking time bombs were walking in their world. Waiting to be released. As truly chaotic those events would bring, this was one type of chaos she’d actually not want to see happen. This just made her want Liam to get stronger quicker. If he could reach the appropriate level then maybe he would be able to control that thing better.

Eri let out a sigh. There was no rest for the wicked or, in her case, the chaotic. Now she needed to figure out what she needed to have Liam do to prepare. It won’t be easy, but she felt he could handle whatever she had him do.

A sudden thought came to her mind as she thought about all of this. “That explains why he was able to get that ability and use it even though he doesn’t have the appropriate field. Maybe he already did, but it was being suppressed. If that is the case then maybe he could get more. Maybe even…something from the other six.”

That thought gave her so much pleasure that she now changed her mind and wanted to see the chaos those idiots had created. “This is getting better and better by the day. Fel is going to be pissed when he finally realizes it.”