Marrtuk's feet slapped the comfortable mud-saturated moss as he leapt along.
While one of his eyes stayed focused on the path ahead, the other roamed
freely around the area. Only a few weeks had gone by since the trolls had
been driven out of Ogguk - now Gukta - and the thrill was still present in
the air. After all that time cramped in that underground complex, after
the eternal war with the undead, there was now... space. Freedom to move
around, freedom to leap, freedom to *breathe*. Marrtuk happily speared a
nearby domesticated bleeder and swallowed it contentedly. It had all
happened as Mithaniel Marr had foretold; his people had a place to call
their own.
Marrtuk happily leaped into the air and did a backflip before continuing on
his way. He had duties to perform. As a newly-consecrated holy warrior for
Mithaniel Marr, he had some tasks to carry out. A note to be delivered to
the head of his order, to begin with. Other duties to be assigned. It was
a new world, a new life, and he was looking forward to starting it.
His roving eye locked onto a figure and he stopped abruptly. There, on the
other side of the stream that ran through Gukta, stood a tall creature. One
of the mammalian races - not a troll or an ogre. Marrtuk tried to recall
his studies. Broad chest, rugged features, white fur on the face indicating
a male of the species. Beyond that, Marrtuk could make no distinction.
Elf? Human? Maybe one of the cold-humans, the barbarians of Everfrost.
The male, whoever he was, was an imposing figure. A dark blue breastplate
shone dully, accented by armored legs, arms, and gloves of a light pink
color. The winged helm was also light pink, and unfortunately hid the ears
that would help Marrtuk make a species designation. The male was peering
around, and lifted up a softly glowing weapon - a steel rod, at the end of
which hung a length of chain leading to a spiked metal ball. Some kind of
quiet, serene power seemed to emanate from it. Marrtuk watched it,
fascinated.
Almost without thinking about it, Marrtuk began bounding towards the
intelligent mammal. The male watched him approach, appearing to be calm but
alert. Marrtuk stopped in front of the male and spoke in the common tongue.
"Hail."
"Hail." The male's voice was weak and scratchy, like all intelligent
mammals.
How they must envy our deep, rumbling tones, Marrtuk thought to himself.
Out loud he asked, "Are you an elf?"
The male smiled slightly. "No. I am a human, from Qeynos."
A human. Marrtuk tried to fix the image in his head for future reference
against other intelligent mammals. "Welcome to Gukta! My name is Marrtuk."
"Hail, Marrtuk. My name is Monual Lifegiver, Archon of Rodcet Nife."
"Hail, Monual." Marrtuk politely focused both eyes on the human. "What's
that weapon you have? Why's it glow like that?"
Monual was still smiling. "It is a Water Sprinkler of Nem Ankh. It glows
because it is imbued with the blessing of the Triumvirate of Water."
"Wow. How did you get it?"
"It was the result of a long quest. Perhaps one day you, too, will
undertake a similar quest."
Marrtuk let his whole mouth open slightly in his own expression of pleasure.
"I hope so! If we can drive out the evil of the trolls, there's nothing
else we cannot accomplish."
Monual looked at him, the smile disappearing. "You truly think so?"
"Yes! There is much evil in the world, and it is my duty as a chosen of
Mithaniel Marr to strive against this evil."
Monual looked at him for a moment, and Marrtuk began to wonder if he had
said something wrong. Perhaps Rodcet Nife worshippers did not like the
chosen of Mithaniel Marr. Marrtuk thought that the two gods were aligned,
but he wasn't sure. Certainly the human would not be walking about so
freely if he was going to bring evil into Gukta; the guards would certainly
have stopped him. Or attempted to stop him, Marrtuk thought as one of his
eyes focused on the Water Sprinkler. This Archon seemed utterly confident
and unafraid.
So focused was Marrtuk on his internal dialogue that he jumped in the air
and did a backflip when Monual spoke again. "My friend Marrtuk, I would
like to speak with you for a time. Would you permit me to engage you in a
protracted conversation?"
Marrtuk mulled that over for a second to make sure he understood it. Then
his skin rippled with excitement. "Sure! I would be glad to talk with you,
friend Monual."
"I am pleased." Monual settled himself on his haunches, his hands on his
thighs, his back ramrod straight. A very rigid posture that Marrtuk could
never imagine imitating. He felt comfortable enough standing, almost
eye-to-eye with the human.
Although it was difficult for Marrtuk to read human expressions, he made an
educated guess that Monual was carefully composing his words. "Marrtuk, do
you know of the Curse of Norrath?"
Marrtuk twisted his head from side to side. "No. What's that?"
"Depending on how you measure time, it happened thousands of years ago."
Monual paused, then began speaking in a measured, careful tone, as if
delivering a sermon. "The lands of Norrath were a place where things
happened. Wars were fought, alliances were made and broken, cities rose and
fell, people loved or hated each other and passed that on to succeeding
generations. Then it all stopped.
"How or why we do not know. But suddenly, time had no meaning. People
stopped aging and remained pretty much where they were. Wars stopped
happening. People stopped dying."
"They what?" Marrtuk's eyes protruded slightly in his shock. "That's not
true. Frogloks die all the time."
"They do and they do not." Monual inhaled and exhaled audibly. "This is a
difficult concept to understand, let alone accept. What's happened is this:
the world was frozen in one moment in time. We appear to go from hour to
hour, day to day, year to year, but at the end of each hour or day or year
the world is exactly the same as it was before. Even death is not enough to
break the curse; anyone who is killed will suddenly reappear a few hours or
a few days later, with no recollection of having been killed. People around
them will not remember that they ever died. All their memories get reset to
that one moment, that one time, when the world was frozen."
Marrtuk croaked uncertainly.
"Let me give you two examples from my personal experience." Monual's tiny
mouth drew down in the corners; he was frowning. "I went to the continent
of Velious and there took part in a massive war. The Giants of Kael Drakkel
were invading the Dwarven town of Thurgadin. I was among those who tried to
defend the town. Hour after hour we fought against the invaders. We would
fight off a score, only to find a score more lumbering towards us. We
fought, we fell, we were forced to give ground. Then we were overrun. The
Giants broke through the defenses into Thurgadin and they murdered
*everyone*.
"I walked through the town in the aftermath. Corpses littered the icy
streets. They had been butchered where they stood, and the town was a ghost
of itself. It was the most horrific thing I have ever seen. And yet, a few
hours later, the corpses disappeared. And then the townspeople reappeared,
every one of them. If you asked them about the war, they would look at you
quizzically. If you asked the king about the Giants, he would talk about a
pending war that must be thwarted. It had never happened. The town had
never been invaded. And that, I suppose, is a good thing.
"But... in the lands where I grew up, in the fields around Qeynos is a
creature called Fippy Darkpaw. A gnoll that, for reasons unknown, is filled
with a murderous hate for the Priests of Life. Whenever he appears, he is
driven by this urge to seek them out and kill them. He rushes towards the
gates of Qeynos, only to be quickly overwhelmed and killed by the guards. A
few minutes later, he reappears and charges the gates again."
Monual's voice contained a hint of sadness. "His entire life is a few
seconds full of hate, violence, pain, and death, repeated over and over
again in an endless cycle. Perhaps he deserves no less for allowing hate to
consume his heart so. But... I mourn the fact that he will never have a
chance at redemption, never have a chance to renounce his violent nature."
The human's gaze grew intense as he focused on Marrtuk. "That is the Curse.
That is what it has done to our people, our lands. The same plots hatched
and carried out, the same battles fought, over and over again all to no
avail - everything returns exactly as it has been, and we cannot move
forward, for good or ill. This is our world, this is where we live, and we
must acknowledge and accept it."
Monual reached out his hand grasped Marrtuk lightly on the shoulder. "Go
out there. Fight evil, that is still your calling as it is mine. But be
aware that all of us, evil or not, are laboring under the curse. While you
fight the forces of darkness, remember that few things ever change, and that
your ultimate goal, your very reason for *being*, should be to find a way to
lift the Curse and make Norrath free to live once more."
Marrtuk felt a strange heaviness in his mind, a kind of shock he felt deep
in his soul. The human's words frightened him terribly. "B-but we took
over Gukta. We made it our own. Will... will that be undone?"
"I don't know." Monual lifted his hand away and looked around. "That is
why I am here. I said the world was frozen in a moment of time, but now
and again there is a slight thawing. Some things *do* happen. The magical
gates to the Luclin moon were discovered. The Books of power that lead to
the mystical planes appeared all around Norrath. How or why these things
change, no one can say. But it does happen, and it gives me hope." Monual
looked back to Marrtuk. "I hope this, too, is permanent. I think it will
be; this change has persisted for quite some time. But I cannot guarantee
that it is. You may wake up tomorrow, Marrtuk, back in the catacombs of Guk
and find that no one recalls having invaded Grobb. You may come back here
to find the trolls complacently going about their business, unaware that
they ever fled to Neriak."
The fear in Marrtuk's mind grew into an anger. The anger consumed his mind.
He shook free of Monual's grasp and bounded around in circles, the thought
of losing Gukta unbearable, unthinkable. He stopped abruptly and threw back
his head and let out a great cry, from deep in his gut and throat, and it
echoed off the walls and back to him and washed away the anger and replaced
it with a dark, grim resolve.
He bounded back to Monual. "What can I do to break the Curse?"
Monual had been looking at him with same intense gaze. Now it seemed to
soften slightly, and Marrtuk could see his muscles lose a bit of tension.
"You are young yet, Marrtuk. You have not yet experienced much of the
world. Go out and protect your people, much as you have already planned to.
The battles will test you and make you stronger. If you have the will and
the determination, you will eventually grow in power. Then, perhaps, you
can join those of us who labor to understand and lift the Curse."
"I will." Marrtuk spoke clenched his hands into fists. "By the blessings
of Mithaniel Marr, I will fight this Curse."
"I know you will." Monual smiled again. "You show desire tempered by
restraint, which is quite rare. Will you wait with me a moment?"
Marrtuk suddenly remembered he had been on his own task. That seemed so
trivial now; what use when no one would remember a few minutes later? "I
will wait with you, friend Monual."
"Thank you." Monual stared off into empty space. His lips moved, but no
sound came out.
Marrtuk tilted his head so that his auditory canal was facing Monual, but he
still could not hear anything. "What are you doing?"
Monual finished his silent speech, then glanced over at Marrtuk. "I was
speaking to a member of my guild."
"Your guild?"
"An alliance of people, like myself, who strive against the Curse. It
contains people of all races, all classes, from the elves of Felwithe to the
Ogres of Ogguk. For all races, good and evil, suffer from the same
affliction, and they all recognize the need to lift the curse for the sake
of all Norrath."
"Neat!" Marrtuk's curiosity was percolating back up through the shock of
recent revelations. "Can I join?"
Monual laughed in a good-natured way. "I admire your spirit, Marrtuk, but
you are yet too young. When you have tested yourself against the world and
gone through some of its trials, then speak to me again. Perhaps we will
find you a place then."
"Oh." Marrtuk used one eye to focus on a nearby guard. "Could I form a
guild with my comrades here?"
"No. As I said, most people in the world don't remember. They are stuck in
very rigid patterns of behavior, and very seldom do they break free. I,
too, was stuck in those patterns for many hundreds of years. Then, shortly
after the continent of Velious was discovered, I broke free and became
aware. I remembered all that happened even when those around me forgot. I
knew you were 'aware', too, when you came up and hailed me. No one who is
still frozen in time will initiate a conversation with those who are aware."
Marrtuk twitched and thought that over for a long time. His thoughts were
interrupted at the sight of another intelligent mammal approaching. This
creature was quite different - its skin was pale, almost white. The fur
that grew from its head was long and yellow, and two pointed ears could be
clearly seen. It was wearing long black robes that covered the exaggerated
mammary glands of a female of the species. In her hand, she carried a short
staff with a peculiar metal device on the end that had small sparks of
lightning crawling back and forth.
The female beamed a smile at them. "Hail, Monual."
"Hail, Aenene." Monual stood and bowed. "Thank you for coming. Allow me
to introduce Marrtuk."
"Hail, Marrtuk." Aenene frowned and looked back at Monual. "Is he...?"
"Aware? Yes. He hopes to join our fight against the Curse."
The elf smiled widely. "A noble goal. May you know success, Marrtuk."
Marrtuk found himself strangely awed by her grace. "Thank you, friend
Aenene?"
"Friend? That's quite presumptuous." Her tone was light and she was
smiling, by which Marrtuk guessed he was being teased. He wasn't sure how
to respond.
Monual solved the problem. "Come with me, please."
He strode along a path next to the river. Aenene arched an eyebrow but said
nothing as she went after him. Marrtuk trailed along, his mind full of
questions he couldn't quite express.
They wound deeper into Gukta until Monual stopped before an older Froglok
standing behind a counter. Monual murmured a request, and the Froglok
handed him a large bag. Monual grimaced as he took it; he immediately
turned and handed it to Aenene.
She took it, her face scrunched up in what Marrtuk guessed to be an
expression of befuddlement. "What's this for?"
Monual gestured towards Marrtuk. "Give it to him, please."
"Mon! Are you certain? You don't even know him."
"I didn't know him before today, but I have felt the strength of his
conviction and the goodness of his soul. He is worthy. We need more like
him, Aenene. Too many of those who are 'aware' simply exploit those still
frozen for their own personal gain. Marrtuk has sworn to help lift the
Curse. If I can help him help us, it increases our own chances of success."
Aenene sighed. "If you're sure, I won't try to stop you." She held the bag
out towards Marrtuk. "Here."
Uncertainly, Marrtuk took the bag. He nearly dropped it; the bag was
impossibly heavy. Grunting, Marrtuk looked inside. There were coins of
platinum inside. Thousands of them. He croaked in surprise and looked up
at Monual.
Monual smiled. "Use it to buy yourself some weapons and armor. They will
help you in your struggles and allow you to gain power quickly. Then,
perhaps, you can help join our struggle."
Marrtuk felt overwhelmed by emotion. Both eyes stared at Monual for a long
time before he was finally able to get out, "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Deposit it in the bank; they will keep records and make it
available to you anywhere you can find another bank."
Marrtuk turned towards the banker. He was unable to even move, but he was
able to lift the bag and place it on the counter. Without a word, the
banker noted the amount, showed it to Marrtuk, then somehow made the bag
disappear.
"Aenene," Monual said as Marrtuk turned towards them once again, "can you
translocate our friend to the Nexus?"
"Um, sure, if he wants to."
Monual looked back at Marrtuk. "I would recommend that you go up to the
Nexus of Luclin. From there, take the south corridor towards the Bazaar.
From there you can find armor and weapons you can use to equip yourself for
the battles ahead. After that, acquaint yourself with the Books that allow
you to move throughout Norrath. You may want to stick close to Gukta to
begin with, but as you become more familiar with your weapons and spells,
you can try other places, other cities, even other worlds."
Monual knelt in front of Marrtuk and grasped his shoulder again. "The path
is yours to take, Marrtuk. All I ask in exchange for the platinum I gave
you is that you never forget the Curse, and that you never forget that,
ultimately, it is the curse we need to fight, not each other."
"I... I understand." Marrtuk reached out and placed his hand on Monual's
shoulder. "I will not forget. I will fight against the curse so that no
one need ever forget again."
Monual smiled. "Good."
They squeezed each other's shoulders once, then Monual stood. Aenene began
waving her hands and talking in a strange tongue. And then, suddenly,
Marrtuk became aware of a choice. A mystical force was pulling on him, but
it would only really take him if he allowed it to do some. Uncertainly
washed over him, and he looked back and forth between the two mammals. They
were both smiling at him. Monual lifted a hand. "Farewell, Marrtuk."
"Farewell, Monual. Farewell, Aenene." The words seemed so inadequate but
he could think of nothing more to say. Instead he simply let the force of
the spell suck him away, and the last sight he saw was of Aenene waving
brightly at him before his world faded away.
~*~
Author's Notes: Part 2 may be a while coming; it all depends on how much
time I get to play Marrtuk when SoY comes out.
I want to acknowledge the inspiration of Straha of WTF comics -
http://www.teamxspeed.com/wtf/ . His entertaining comic about his two
characters interacting with each other in the world of Everquest put the
idea in my head to do the same with Monual and my planned character of
Marrtuk.
Any thoughts you care to share - good or bad - about this story I'd love to
hear. =)
--
-Richard
Monual Lifegiver
Archon of Rodcet Nife
Winter's Light
Drinal server
This page is Copyright by Skaarak; Everquest (TM) is property of Sony Online Entertainment
All stories and art work are Copyright@ by the origial owner/writer.
Most, if not all stories, were taken from newsgroup alt.games.everquest (AGE), I recommend that anyone who gets a chance to read it should!