From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Kaiden eyed the sand warily as the shell creature burrowed. They raised their stick, bracing themselves for its appearance. Hopefully they could smack it as it appeared and avoid what was certainly going to be a painful bite.
The mershark heard a noise to their left and their eyes shot over to try and pinpoint where the creatuer would emerge. Although they correctly determined from what direction the shell was coming, they were unprepared for its speed. The shell burst out of the sand, sending grains flying. Kaiden took a swing but in the commotion missed the monstrosity.
"Ow!" The mershark hissed as the sharp mangled teeth bit into their tail. With as much force as possible, they thwacked their tail against the sand, dislodging the shell and indenting it into the sand. Turning sharply, they attempted to slam their stick down on the shell.
The shell broke under the hard slam of the stick, but Trinket didn't much care about that. Now broken in two, she simply gave each broken piece its own command: bite their tail, she told one, the piece that still had enough sharp teeth left. It bounced back across the sand in little hopes, snapping its teeth at the mershark.
The other piece of broken shell was little more than a jagged shard now. Stab she commanded it. The shard wiggled through the sand, inching closer until it was close enough to try to pierce the mershark's scales.
The entire time, Trinket stood perfectly still. She watched dispassionately, not blinking, not twitching a muscle. The pain inflicted on the mershark was curious, but of no concern. It was just a game. Pain simply meant losing the game. Death would only be the final defeat. But there would always be more games. There were plenty of people for her to play with.
This time the shell only just barely managed to prick Kaiden before they swung and slammed their stick onto the shell. Raising their tail, the mershark gave a hard whack to the water, making a wave rise up in the hopes of splashing the demigod. They weren't sure if it would work but they wanted to make Trinket's expression change, even if just a little. The blankness was creepy on a normal day. When the kid was trying to stab someone, it was downright freaky.
Trinket was getting weirder by the day anyway. Maybe catching her off guard could slow it down a bit?
The shell broke under the blow, going limp as Trinket released it from her command.
When the water erupted over Trinket, she stood perfectly still. Her eyes closed for a moment on reflex, protecting her from the saltwater, but beyond that, she moved not a muscle. Water dripped from her hair and ran in rivulets down her skin. She registered that it was cold, but otherwise, she had no concern for the dampness. It was merely water. Water was boring.
"Why did you splash me?" she asked. Her tone bore no hint of anger or annoyance, merely curiosity. "Is that part of fighting? Water doesn't seem like a good weapon. Unless you're trying to drown me, but you would need more water for that."
The shells stopped trying to harm the mershark, while Trinket considered whether the fight was won or lot. She hadn't killed the mershark yet, but since this fight was just a game, she supposed she wasn't meant to do that.
Kaiden blinked in surprise when Trinket stopped her assault. "It was a strategy. To distract you so the shell would slow down, and I'd have a better chance of hitting it." They explained with a shrug. If the mershark had known that the girl was wondering if she was supposed to kill them or not, Kaiden would have been baffled and kind of horrified. This was a game, practice. Not an actual fight to the death.
"But hey, it worked. You stopped fighting." Kaiden lifted their chin with satisfaction, "Does this mean you give up?" Did they win? They wanted to win.
"Distraction," Trinket said with the tiniest of nods. "Distraction is a good strategy."
When they asked if she gave up, Trinket tilted her head to the side, curious. She stood in that exact pose for a long moment, considering the mershark's words. She had never considered giving up before. Usually, she simply played until she got bored.
"How do you win this game?" she asked. "Do I have to give up, or do I have to kill you? But it's not the killing game. Do I have to hurt you more? Make you bleed?" There was no malice in her tone. No emotion at all.
She glanced at where the shell had poked and prodded the mershark. Their scales were thick. She hasn't done much damage. Perhaps, she pondered, she needed a bigger weapon. Unfortunately, there were none to be found.
Still, her eyes slowly scanned the beach, searching for something that might make Kaiden bleed. The doll's eyes remained fixed on Kaiden the entire time. Unmoving. Watching. Weighing. Waiting.
Gods this brat was going to murder someone one day and not even realize it. Kaiden suppressed a shiver before letting out a snarl, "No. You don't kill me to win. That's not how this game works." They glanced around in thought, "This game....it ends when one of us gives up or if one of us loses our weapon."
Kaiden nodded, going with their impromptu rules. "So, I win this round. But now we play a new round. And if needed a third. Whoever wins two rounds first, wins the whole game. Deal?" They adjusted the grip on their piece of driftwood, ready to play if Trinket was. It was a simple enough game, but they doubted it'd be easy to win. Not against this brat.
Trinket considered this for a long moment. She didn't need to actually fight the mershark. If he lost his weapon, that would be enough.
Trinket looked around. She spotted something at the edge of the beach, in the water. It was some sort of cloth, perhaps some lost clothing or a piece of a sail. She looked at it and commanded it: come.
The cloth slithered across the sand. It was slimy and grimy, bits of seaweed clinging to it. Quite filthy. It slid across the sand towards them. Once it was close enough, she commanded it: wrap around the wood.
The mangled cloth slithered towards Kaiden. When he swung at it this time, instead of trying to dodge the way the shell had, it would wrap itself around the end of the branch, then start climbing up it towards his hand.
If the slime and filth wasn't enough to make Kaiden pull his hand away, Trinket would command the cloth: grab his wrist. Then she would use the cloth to pry the driftwood away from his grip.
Kaiden was satisfied when Trinket agreed to the rules, relieved that further violence was abated for now. The mer didn't really want to fight to the death against a kid. A duel however, that was fair game.
And what a game it was. The disgusting cloth flung itself towards the mer and Kaiden grimaced as it wrapped around their improvised bat despite their attempt to dodge it. The cloth began to make its way closer to their hand and Kaiden just barely managed to refrain from dropping it. They were ok with grime and dirt. But there was some weird ooze on the cloth that made their self-preservation instincts squirm about potential disease.
The cloth soon wrapped around their hand and Kaiden hissed, shaking their arm forcefully to get the cloth off. With their other hand they began to try and pull it off.
Trinket watched silently as Kaiden struggled with the slimy cloth. The look on the mershark's face was interesting. The hissing sound he made was interesting.
She wanted to make him make more sounds.
She gave the cloth another command: tighten.
The cloth began to squeeze, like a snake constricting around its prey. It continued to squeeze harder and harder, the inanimate object never growing tired. Though perhaps the mershark would be able to yank his hand free. If not, then perhaps the cloth might grow so tight that his hand would grow numb and he would drop the board.
Trinket decided it wasn't enough to just wait and see. If she were going to win the game, she would need to do more.
She looked at the scattered rocks and shells in the sand. None were particularly large or dangerous. But they might be enough of a distraction.
Jump, she commanded one, directing it to leap at the mershark. She gave the same command to another, and another, one by one, until the mershark's tail was being pelted by small, annoying objects. Enough, perhaps, to distract him from the struggle with the cloth. Such a distraction might make him lose his grip on the cloth, so that it could squeeze his hand until he dropped the wood.
Despite Kaiden's best effort, they were unable to get their hand free of the cloth. Between their continued struggle and the sudden incoming pebbles, the mershark was less than happy, Ignoring the cloth for a second, they swung their bat, cloth and all, to force some of the pebbles away.
But the demigod sent more than they could handle. At least, more than they could fend off without the cloth becoming too much of an issue. And an issue it did become as the cloth tightened to painful levels. Letting out another hiss Kaiden scoffed and threw their bat at the pebbles, "Son of a....grrrr." They just barely managed to bite their tongue and language.
Weapon now on the ground, Kaiden grumbled and reluctantly glanced at Trinket, "Alright. You win." They rubbed the redness from their hand as they spoke.
Trinket released the cloth from her command. It went slack, falling down to the sand.
When the mershark admitted defeat, the tiniest, ever so slightest of smiles touched Trinket's lips. Or perhaps not, it was hard to tell.
"You're fun to play with," she said. "We should play again soon. But not the fighting game. You should think of a new game for next time."
She scooped up her doll and held it against her chest. The doll continued to stare at Kaiden, but if it were possible, it almost seemed as if its eyes bore a gentler gaze. Perhaps.
Without another word, Trinket turned and walked away. Once she had taken a few steps, her arms fell absently to her sides, the doll dangling from one hand, its tiny porcelain feet dragging in the sand. The doll's head swiveled around, no longer staring at Kaiden...it was looking for someone new, now.
Perhaps, Trinket thought, she would find someone in the city to play with. There were always lots of interesting people in Torchline.
