Clysotra's Curse (Vhexo | OctopusPrince)

[Vhexo]

WORLD INFORMATION AND BACKSTORY
This post will hold relevant background information about the story and will be updated when necessary.

CLYSOTRA

Clysotra has deep tan skin that is mottled with pale spots, but beyond that 'birth defect', she is an exceptional beauty. She has pale green eyes, which are quite rare for her people and long, wavy black hair that hangs to the backs of her thighs and is normally braided and wound with jewels and jingling trinkets. Her eyes are trusting and bright, framed by long eyelashes that only emphasize them as a unique feature, and she has soft features and full lips. Her body, despite its infertile state, looks perfect for rearing children, supple breasts and wide hips, her body curved and muscled like a dancer's from her training in the art, as is appropriate for women of her family. She has her septum and her nipples pierced, and she has dark red dyed tattoos across the backs of her hands and the tops of her feet. She has all of the grace and dignity that is appropriate for a queen, and is quite reserved, even more so under the ire of her king who finds her inadequate for her inability to bare them heirs. Despite that quietness though, she is clever and observant, and has a good sense of humor, though that hasn't shown itself in many years.

CHARACTERS

King Dunaín - Currently Alive: 35 y/o
Dunaín is the current king of the mountain kingdom of Rhodoc, and also Clysotra's former husband. He has not been in power for long, but has been generally well regarded by his people as a steadfast and brave man. This is in part also due to the fact that he possesses the intelligence to hide his darker traits from the masses, as those close to the king know he is quick to anger and does not possess a high degree of empathy.

 

[Vhexo]

Born as a noble, married to a king, cursed by the gods, and now bound to a bloody post. There were many fates and destinies to be had in the mountainous kingdom of Rhodoc with its many tribes and clansmen, valleys and rivers, jungles and stones, but surely none were as unfortunate as Clysotra’s had turned out to be. Raised as the child of a prominent family at the court of king Dunaín’s father, the late king, she had more than most. With her exceptional beauty, grace, and wit, it was no surprise that her family managed to arrange a marriage with the prince and soon-to-be-king.

However, it was not meant to be. Clysotra’s family harboured a secret, a curse that streamed through their bloodline which turned the wombs of their women barren, unable to give life. Not all women in their family were cursed, but those it did curse were marked with pale spots adorning their body and easily recognizable. Clysotra was one of those marked.

Now, this was something that could have been overlooked due to her beauty, even by the king, were it not that the kingdom had another curse residing within it, one that plagued their entire population. Some called it a monstrosity, many others revered it as a god, but everyone had learned to fear the black shadow that stalked the skies at night. It was as old as the kingdom itself, and had been here for decades, abducting and killing people as it pleased, or sending horrific creatures to punish those seeking to kill it. Now, no one knew exactly what the monster was, as those unfortunate enough to make its acquaintance never lived to tell the tale, but the bodies it left behind and the creatures it sent made it clear it was a hunter, one that stood above the laws of man and nature.

The people of Rhodoc quickly learnt that this beast was sated by blood, and tried to sacrifice some of their own to spare the others of the beast’s wrath. This worked, for a while, and thus a tradition of sacrificial offerings began, repeated every so often to satiate the beast and show submission.

Recently, the beast had grown active again, and with the number of missing people and discovered bodies increasing by the day, king Dunaín saw an opportunity. He had grown angry with his queen’s infertility, something which he did not discover until after the marriage, and saw the beast’s return as a means to rid himself of his barren wife, placate the beast for a few more moons, and buy his men time to find a way to rid themselves of the monster. As such, he bribed the priests to call for an offering, a sacrifice worthy to sate the beast, and what better offering than the blood of a royal?

So, after pressure from the clergy and the masses behind them, the king ‘reluctantly’ ordered his wife to be sacrificed to the beast. Clysotra was only made aware of this fact that moment she was apprehended and bound by the guard, who, accompanied by priests, brought her to the sacrificial altar deep in the jungles, along the edges of the mountains.

---

The sun had begun to set, and after the priests said their prayers and performed the ritual, Clysotra was left alone, bound against a stone pole in the middle of a raised platform deep in the jungle. Everyone that accompanied her to this place had ignored her every action thus far, unwilling to even look her in the eyes, as they knew what it meant to be sacrificed. The dried blood on both the pole and the ground around it were testimony to what happened to those that were left here, and the moment light began to fade the priests hurriedly said their final words before quickly departing and making their way back to safety.

Clysotra was left alone now, hands and feet tied to the cold stone with nowhere to go. The scent of incense still wafted through the air, a thick curtain of smells almost masking that of old blood and the jungle around her. The sun had properly faded away now, and no rays of light could find their way through the canopy to reach her, basking her surroundings in darkness. Only a few lit braziers at the corners of the altar lit up the top of this platform, but the jungle was dark, and eerily silent. Birds should be singing, insects should be chirping, but all that she could hear was the sound of her own breathing and heart. That, and also the soft scraping of claws against stone behind her.

 

[OctopusPrince]

Clysotra was terrified. She had lived her life with as much dignity and grace as was appropriate for her station, had been loyal and faithful to her king and everything a queen ought to be... except fertile. Did she truly deserve this fate? It was her king, who had provoked the series of onslaughts on the villages of their kingdom, refusing to give tributes to the ancient god of the jungle. Dunaín thought the creature nothing less than a beast, its followers a pack, creatures feeding on scraps that had been given more power than they deserved, but Clysotra had always believed the god of the jungles surrounding their kingdom deserved more reverence than that. Perhaps that opinion, gently spoken and violently rebuked, had earned her this fate as well. She still bore the bruises of his hand wrapped tight around her throat from that night, demanding her silence and obedience.

She had written to her family desperately when the proclamation from her king was that she was to be sacrificed, but they had been silent, soaking up all of the attention they'd received for their daughter's noble sacrifice just as they had eagerly taken all of the accolades for their daughter becoming queen. She had known they had never truly cared about her more than what benefit she could provide, but the would leave her to this? See her dead on the altar while pretending to weep over her loss?

She had maintained her composure when the priests had delivered her there, even though her heart was thundering in her ears, her breaths tightly controlled to seem like she was prepared for this, had accepted it for the better of the people. But the reality was that she was frenzied with fear, reduced to panting and weeping once they had gone away as she awaited her gruesome death. Would the old god's beasts come to tear her limb from limb? Would the god itself appear and flay her, make her watch her insides spill out and onto the already blood stained altar? Her mind conjured all sorts of violent horrors as she struggled fruitlessly against the rock only to sink against it, weakened and breathless. Her life... what had it all been for, to come to this? The sacrifices of life had been necessary to quell the old god, she knew that, but never had a queen been given up, never even a royal. Had she not dedicated her life to politics and knowledge and grace and dignity for nothing? She tried to calm herself, tried to truly accept her fate, because there was no escaping this. She was a queen... she ought to meet anything with some level of calm, just as she had the arranged marriage that had torn her away from her first and only love, or her husband's hatred when all attempts to make her with child had utterly failed, or the way he had smiled at her, when he had announced before the other royals of their court, that he would damn her to this painful, terrible death. All that she had endured...

She would only have to endure one more thing. She took in slow, steady breaths, and raised her head, eyes focused on the darkness before her. Just one more thing... perhaps the afterlife would be kinder.

 

[Vhexo]

The scraping sound slowly grew closer, the claws of whatever beast approached her taking their time to make their way towards the centre of the altar. Slowly but surely, ever closer, until the thing stood beside her... to then proceed to walk into the light, its dark feathered body and stalky blue head waggling about before its beady, black eyes looked towards her. The cassowary, with its large casque adorning its head, took a wary but curious look at the bound queen and pecked a little at the dried bloodstains on the altar floor, before swaying its head back to look at the woman, completely oblivious to her predicament.


That is, until a large figure suddenly swooped through the canopy, loudly breaking branches and twigs, its speed so fast it was almost a blur. The large bird only had time to let out half of a squawk before the creature reached its position and grabbed its neck, instantly crushing any sound the birds was about to make. Within a second, the creature had flown up again through the sea of leaves, snatching the large bird with such speed and ease that the only evidence of the cassowary's existence was a handful of its black feathers, slowly falling towards the ground.

Another two seconds went by before a black mass plummeted through the tree branches, but this time it was not the creature. Only a couple of feet away from the altar, still in range of the braziers' light, the headless remains of the bird hit the ground with a heavy thud. Moments later, the head followed, landing right in front of the queen and spraying fresh, warm blood across the stones.

Slowly, the black creature descended to the ground, its large, red wings flapping in a slow rhythm, but much more quiet than one would assume from their size. Its claws and talons were stained red with the blood of its feathered victim, and two burning coals for eyes stared down at the defenceless human, its lips curled in a snarl to show its sharp and jagged teeth and fangs.

It landed in front of her with a loud thud, a small vibration going through the stone as the mass of the creature stepped down onto the altar. It looked at her, teeth bared, ready to pounce and tear at her body, its nostrils quickly opening and closing.