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salineaTitle : The Last Babylon (working title) 1/?
Genre : fuzionfic, angsty fantasy
Words : 1826 (i can't believe i wrote all this tonight ~_~)
Summary : King Seishirou is the best hunter of the land. He sees a prey that catches his interest.
Notes : First, a warning, this is unbetaed and very drafty (I count for you for that, that's why I friend locked it, but I wanted to post it in time for Seishirou's birthday. Seishirou ! Happy birthday !
Seishirou : *snarkily* Why thank you, I never recieve enough badly edited fanfics for my birthday.
You're welcome. Second, this is dedicaced to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
link621 and shineko for insisting for me to write it, as well as tamchronin for providing the unmeaningly the inspiration that made this plot bunny complete. Girls, you rock.
Now onto the fic
King Seishirou was the best hunter of the land.
He had hunted fierce dire wolves from midnight forests where the sun never shown, and quick sand
snakes in the burning deserts of the south. In the jungles of blue mist where one couldn't see
past one's nose, he had preyed on ghost tigers and brought back their shimmering pelt. He had had
men as his game, the tougher criminal and the most chivalrous warriors. He had killed fays,
mermaids, dragons, gorgons; he had slain children and beasts, monsters and mortals. It was no
kind of creature that he had not one day given chase to and laid doom onto. It was not that he
liked giving death so very much, but there were very few things that amused Seishirou, and the
hunt was one of them.
It was said that one cold winter day his mother, the Witch Queen, had wished for a son with hair
as black as raven, a smile as sweet as blood, and a heart as cold as snow. Whether that rumour
was true or not, it was evident indeed that nothing ever touched Seishirou’s heart, and that his
smile, beautiful and composed, never wavered as he extinguished one more life.
Despite this strange hobbit, Seishirou wasn’t a bad lord. He was powerful and shrew, smooth
enough to stay in good terms with most of his neighbours, unconcerned by corruption, and unlikely
to spend the kingdom’s money foolishly. He liked the fine art of hunting, but war held no appeal
for him; and he had even begotten a heir already to another queen who had been interested in the
magical lineage of his family.
Still, at times, he would race the deep forests of the land, searching for a challenging game to
shake him out of the boredom of his days. Mounted on one of his finest horse, his familiar hawk
on one shoulder and his great bow in the other hand, Seishirou tracked one of the most elusive
trail he had ever found. It disappeared at times, but shone with moonlight at others; it leapt,
it curved, it sprung, getting deeper and deeper in the thick woods; until at last Seishirou could
glimpse the bright hint of a white deer.
At once, the creature was gone, a mere soupcon of quicksilver disappearing under foliage. At
once, Seishirou was after it, pressing the sides of his mount while the goshawk was rising in the
sky, lending its piercing eyes to its master. The prey was swift and lithe, and knew the forest
by heart; it ran unbearably fast, bounding between trees like a trout between waves, and it gave
Seishirou the best chase he ever had. However, Seishirou was the best hunter the land had ever
seen, and his heart was thrilled with joy from the game, and he was not likely to give up. They
ran for hours, and animals of the forest fled from their wild course, and dawn was almost
breaking when Seishirou at last backed the against a precipice, and caught his first good sight
of it.
Against the grey dim of the sky, it gleamed immaculate white, and the single horn on its head as
the animal reared caught the last light of the stars to robe it in flickering aura. It was a most
beautiful sight, probably more beautiful that anything in the world. He wanted to kill so very
much. Not a deer then, but a rarer creature, one that Seishirou had never killed. He knew already
it would be his favourite game.
The hunter drew his bow, the black long bow his mother had gifted him with before she died. She
had enchanted it to never miss a target, and what quarry it found was forever branded. Restless,
dazed, the unicorn was desperately trying to escape, and when Seishirou unleashed his arrow, it
was already leaping in the void.
Jumping down his horse, the King ran to the edge of the gap, but below him stood only darkness
and thorny bushes, woven thickly with mysterious magic. Impassive, Seishirou smirked. Already the
mystical link between prey and hunter was established, and he knew the creature was alive (It was
an immortal after all) and that he could find it whenever he wanted. This chase was promising to
be so enjoyable, there was no reason to rush through it. He would find the breath-taking beauty
of the unicorn again, and he would kill it. He had no doubt whatsoever about this, therefore, he
could be patient.
* * *
"Grandma ! Grandma ! Wake up !"
Lady Sumeragi reluctantly opened her eyes. She had learned from experience that it was mostly
useless to try to avoid the persistence of her nine-years old energy ball of a grand-daughter.
"What is the problem Hokuto-chan ?" She said sternly, trying to summon enough authority in her
voice to hide her worry.
"Grandma, there’s something... someone by the well... hurt and you really should see them !"
Hokuto said very quickly, urgency clinging her voice. "Please !" She added as an afterthought
remembering her grand mother’s many remonstrance about appropriate politeness.
There was no need for that, as Lady Sumeragi was already ushering as quickly as her age permitted
outside of the small house where the two of them lived.
Against the old stone of the well, as Hokuto had described, laid the broken, bloody, shivering
body of the unicorn of the forest. It raised its graceful head as she came near it, bewildered
eyes full of miserable panic.
"Honoured immortal of our wood", she said gently, using her honed skill at dealing with spirit
and magical creatures to soothe the beast, "do not worry as we mean you no harm."
Reassured, the unicorn let her hands check on the wounds, its unearthly sea-green eyes showing
blind trust.
"You have to do something ! You have to !" Hokuto capered nervously around her.
"Do not be so upset Hokuto-chan, most of these wounds are mere bruises. Not pretty to see but
nothing deeply unsettling, I’m sure it will be back to shape in no time. Now stop sauntering
about and make yourself useful, what did I tell you about proper-"
Lady Sumeragi suddenly stopped herself, her hand immobilized a mere inch from the black shaft
protruding from the unicorn’s left leg.
"Grandma, what is it ?"
In a dark voice underlain with bleak ice, she answered : "This is a magical talisman worked by
the Witch Queen. The wound it caused leaves trail for its familiar spirit to be able to see, to
find, even here in this haven we have spent so much time hiding and covering from her eyes."
She felt the unicorn shudder again under her touch, bending its head slightly as if in apology.
Mindlessly she stroke its neck.
"But the Witch Queen is dead ! You told me you felt her die three years ago !" Hokuto protested.
"Setsuka had a heir, and I have heard nothing good about the new King, even before his crowning.
He will come to us, sooner or later, and he will finish his prey, and his mother’s work seven
years after she began it." There was only hopeless certainty in her voice.
Clumsily, but with a poignant dignity, the unicorn rose and started stumbling a few paces away
from them, and she let it do.
"But Grandma ! You cannot let it go ! You cannot ! You have to do something to save it !" Hokuto,
cheerful Hokuto who never lost heart, was crying. "What is it worth our magic, our family’s
tradition, everything you taught me if we cannot help a unicorn ?"
Lady Sumeragi took a heavy sight. What was it use indeed ? Long she had believed in the role of
her family to guardian the use of magic and keep black sorcerers from misusing curses and demons.
That’s why she had opposed the Witch Queen. That’s how most of her family had been wiped away,
her children killed and a once powerful house of magicians been reduced to the two of them.
Wearied of grief, she had decided to protect her remaining family member and retreat into these
deserted woods to raise Hokuto. However, no matter how much you fled your responsibilities, they
always came chasing after you, as inexorable as the backlash law of magical forces; and there
were things you simply couldn’t let happen when you had a shred of power to try to prevent them.
"There is one thing I could do, and I am not sure it would work, and I am not sure it would thank
me for it."
"Then do it !" Hokuto fiercely encircled the unicorn’s neck, rubbing her cheek against its cheek.
"Because if you let it leave, I will leave with it as well !"
Lady Sumeragi nodded, unsurprised by her granddaughter’s willpower and pure heart.
"Then I will do it. Stand aside, I need you as a model."
Confused, Hokuto obeyed, the unicorn simply wearily letting itself fall on the ground.
Lady Sumeragi started the incantation.
It had been long, since she had done a spell of this magnitude, and the thick bitter taste of
magic filled her mouth like childhood sweets.
Soon the unicorn was surrounded by a tornado of sparkles, and its shape started to blur. Round
and round it twirled, until the creature was totally surrounded by a cocoon of magic, and then it
disappeared leaving only a little boy in its trail.
Wide-eyed, Hokuto cried out : "What have you done to it ?"
Gathering his small arms around his naked shape, the boy once a unicorn blinked at them, utter
confusion overriding his eyes
"The brand he bears cannot be erased, ever." Lady Sumeragi explained. "However if the one who
bears it is changed, if its shape doesn’t correspond anymore to the one the familiar spirit will
seek, it will probably fail to find it and recognize it as its prey. Thus was the only way I knew
to save the unicorn."
"I...", whispered the former unicorn, unsettled by its own child’s voice.
"Why does he look like me ?"
Hokuto fidgeted unsure whether to cry or to rejoice in her grandmother’s magical rescue.
"I needed a model for his human body, I thought yours would do better than mine as this is
obviously a very young unicorn."
"My... body... ?" The unicorn was still very confused.
"Hokuto-chan, listens to me, this is now your brother and we will care for him together."
Hokuto nodded gravely, getting her jacket off to put it gently around the new human’s bare
shoulder.
"My brother...", she whispered with wonder, hugging him close.
"As you have a star name, we will name him as well Subaru after the Maiden who changed themselves
into stars so as to escape their pursuer."
Between Hokuto’s protective arms, Subaru shuddered again.
"I can already feel it die around me...", he murmured.
- TBC -
Thank you for reading. All comments and criticisms appreciated, as this is as yet unbetaed. As a serie it shouldn't be long. I think probably 3 parts.
This is the first time I was trying to write Hokuto and Lady Sumeragi, ever, and I'm not sure how they turned out (even 9 years old, Molly fuzioned Hokuto) I had to keep writing the Unicorn as an "it" because i could never envision her, err it, as male. I think i even slipped quite a few female pronoun here and there while writing it - hope i didn't forget to remove them all.
Errr, and well thanks for reading.
In case you never heard of it, The Last Unicorn is both a wonderful book by Peter S Beagle, and a brittish animated movie (Ghibli studio collaborated thought), and it's highly reccomended.
Genre : fuzionfic, angsty fantasy
Words : 1826 (i can't believe i wrote all this tonight ~_~)
Summary : King Seishirou is the best hunter of the land. He sees a prey that catches his interest.
Notes : First, a warning, this is unbetaed and very drafty (I count for you for that, that's why I friend locked it, but I wanted to post it in time for Seishirou's birthday. Seishirou ! Happy birthday !
Seishirou : *snarkily* Why thank you, I never recieve enough badly edited fanfics for my birthday.
You're welcome. Second, this is dedicaced to
link621 and shineko for insisting for me to write it, as well as tamchronin for providing the unmeaningly the inspiration that made this plot bunny complete. Girls, you rock.Now onto the fic
King Seishirou was the best hunter of the land.
He had hunted fierce dire wolves from midnight forests where the sun never shown, and quick sand
snakes in the burning deserts of the south. In the jungles of blue mist where one couldn't see
past one's nose, he had preyed on ghost tigers and brought back their shimmering pelt. He had had
men as his game, the tougher criminal and the most chivalrous warriors. He had killed fays,
mermaids, dragons, gorgons; he had slain children and beasts, monsters and mortals. It was no
kind of creature that he had not one day given chase to and laid doom onto. It was not that he
liked giving death so very much, but there were very few things that amused Seishirou, and the
hunt was one of them.
It was said that one cold winter day his mother, the Witch Queen, had wished for a son with hair
as black as raven, a smile as sweet as blood, and a heart as cold as snow. Whether that rumour
was true or not, it was evident indeed that nothing ever touched Seishirou’s heart, and that his
smile, beautiful and composed, never wavered as he extinguished one more life.
Despite this strange hobbit, Seishirou wasn’t a bad lord. He was powerful and shrew, smooth
enough to stay in good terms with most of his neighbours, unconcerned by corruption, and unlikely
to spend the kingdom’s money foolishly. He liked the fine art of hunting, but war held no appeal
for him; and he had even begotten a heir already to another queen who had been interested in the
magical lineage of his family.
Still, at times, he would race the deep forests of the land, searching for a challenging game to
shake him out of the boredom of his days. Mounted on one of his finest horse, his familiar hawk
on one shoulder and his great bow in the other hand, Seishirou tracked one of the most elusive
trail he had ever found. It disappeared at times, but shone with moonlight at others; it leapt,
it curved, it sprung, getting deeper and deeper in the thick woods; until at last Seishirou could
glimpse the bright hint of a white deer.
At once, the creature was gone, a mere soupcon of quicksilver disappearing under foliage. At
once, Seishirou was after it, pressing the sides of his mount while the goshawk was rising in the
sky, lending its piercing eyes to its master. The prey was swift and lithe, and knew the forest
by heart; it ran unbearably fast, bounding between trees like a trout between waves, and it gave
Seishirou the best chase he ever had. However, Seishirou was the best hunter the land had ever
seen, and his heart was thrilled with joy from the game, and he was not likely to give up. They
ran for hours, and animals of the forest fled from their wild course, and dawn was almost
breaking when Seishirou at last backed the against a precipice, and caught his first good sight
of it.
Against the grey dim of the sky, it gleamed immaculate white, and the single horn on its head as
the animal reared caught the last light of the stars to robe it in flickering aura. It was a most
beautiful sight, probably more beautiful that anything in the world. He wanted to kill so very
much. Not a deer then, but a rarer creature, one that Seishirou had never killed. He knew already
it would be his favourite game.
The hunter drew his bow, the black long bow his mother had gifted him with before she died. She
had enchanted it to never miss a target, and what quarry it found was forever branded. Restless,
dazed, the unicorn was desperately trying to escape, and when Seishirou unleashed his arrow, it
was already leaping in the void.
Jumping down his horse, the King ran to the edge of the gap, but below him stood only darkness
and thorny bushes, woven thickly with mysterious magic. Impassive, Seishirou smirked. Already the
mystical link between prey and hunter was established, and he knew the creature was alive (It was
an immortal after all) and that he could find it whenever he wanted. This chase was promising to
be so enjoyable, there was no reason to rush through it. He would find the breath-taking beauty
of the unicorn again, and he would kill it. He had no doubt whatsoever about this, therefore, he
could be patient.
"Grandma ! Grandma ! Wake up !"
Lady Sumeragi reluctantly opened her eyes. She had learned from experience that it was mostly
useless to try to avoid the persistence of her nine-years old energy ball of a grand-daughter.
"What is the problem Hokuto-chan ?" She said sternly, trying to summon enough authority in her
voice to hide her worry.
"Grandma, there’s something... someone by the well... hurt and you really should see them !"
Hokuto said very quickly, urgency clinging her voice. "Please !" She added as an afterthought
remembering her grand mother’s many remonstrance about appropriate politeness.
There was no need for that, as Lady Sumeragi was already ushering as quickly as her age permitted
outside of the small house where the two of them lived.
Against the old stone of the well, as Hokuto had described, laid the broken, bloody, shivering
body of the unicorn of the forest. It raised its graceful head as she came near it, bewildered
eyes full of miserable panic.
"Honoured immortal of our wood", she said gently, using her honed skill at dealing with spirit
and magical creatures to soothe the beast, "do not worry as we mean you no harm."
Reassured, the unicorn let her hands check on the wounds, its unearthly sea-green eyes showing
blind trust.
"You have to do something ! You have to !" Hokuto capered nervously around her.
"Do not be so upset Hokuto-chan, most of these wounds are mere bruises. Not pretty to see but
nothing deeply unsettling, I’m sure it will be back to shape in no time. Now stop sauntering
about and make yourself useful, what did I tell you about proper-"
Lady Sumeragi suddenly stopped herself, her hand immobilized a mere inch from the black shaft
protruding from the unicorn’s left leg.
"Grandma, what is it ?"
In a dark voice underlain with bleak ice, she answered : "This is a magical talisman worked by
the Witch Queen. The wound it caused leaves trail for its familiar spirit to be able to see, to
find, even here in this haven we have spent so much time hiding and covering from her eyes."
She felt the unicorn shudder again under her touch, bending its head slightly as if in apology.
Mindlessly she stroke its neck.
"But the Witch Queen is dead ! You told me you felt her die three years ago !" Hokuto protested.
"Setsuka had a heir, and I have heard nothing good about the new King, even before his crowning.
He will come to us, sooner or later, and he will finish his prey, and his mother’s work seven
years after she began it." There was only hopeless certainty in her voice.
Clumsily, but with a poignant dignity, the unicorn rose and started stumbling a few paces away
from them, and she let it do.
"But Grandma ! You cannot let it go ! You cannot ! You have to do something to save it !" Hokuto,
cheerful Hokuto who never lost heart, was crying. "What is it worth our magic, our family’s
tradition, everything you taught me if we cannot help a unicorn ?"
Lady Sumeragi took a heavy sight. What was it use indeed ? Long she had believed in the role of
her family to guardian the use of magic and keep black sorcerers from misusing curses and demons.
That’s why she had opposed the Witch Queen. That’s how most of her family had been wiped away,
her children killed and a once powerful house of magicians been reduced to the two of them.
Wearied of grief, she had decided to protect her remaining family member and retreat into these
deserted woods to raise Hokuto. However, no matter how much you fled your responsibilities, they
always came chasing after you, as inexorable as the backlash law of magical forces; and there
were things you simply couldn’t let happen when you had a shred of power to try to prevent them.
"There is one thing I could do, and I am not sure it would work, and I am not sure it would thank
me for it."
"Then do it !" Hokuto fiercely encircled the unicorn’s neck, rubbing her cheek against its cheek.
"Because if you let it leave, I will leave with it as well !"
Lady Sumeragi nodded, unsurprised by her granddaughter’s willpower and pure heart.
"Then I will do it. Stand aside, I need you as a model."
Confused, Hokuto obeyed, the unicorn simply wearily letting itself fall on the ground.
Lady Sumeragi started the incantation.
It had been long, since she had done a spell of this magnitude, and the thick bitter taste of
magic filled her mouth like childhood sweets.
Soon the unicorn was surrounded by a tornado of sparkles, and its shape started to blur. Round
and round it twirled, until the creature was totally surrounded by a cocoon of magic, and then it
disappeared leaving only a little boy in its trail.
Wide-eyed, Hokuto cried out : "What have you done to it ?"
Gathering his small arms around his naked shape, the boy once a unicorn blinked at them, utter
confusion overriding his eyes
"The brand he bears cannot be erased, ever." Lady Sumeragi explained. "However if the one who
bears it is changed, if its shape doesn’t correspond anymore to the one the familiar spirit will
seek, it will probably fail to find it and recognize it as its prey. Thus was the only way I knew
to save the unicorn."
"I...", whispered the former unicorn, unsettled by its own child’s voice.
"Why does he look like me ?"
Hokuto fidgeted unsure whether to cry or to rejoice in her grandmother’s magical rescue.
"I needed a model for his human body, I thought yours would do better than mine as this is
obviously a very young unicorn."
"My... body... ?" The unicorn was still very confused.
"Hokuto-chan, listens to me, this is now your brother and we will care for him together."
Hokuto nodded gravely, getting her jacket off to put it gently around the new human’s bare
shoulder.
"My brother...", she whispered with wonder, hugging him close.
"As you have a star name, we will name him as well Subaru after the Maiden who changed themselves
into stars so as to escape their pursuer."
Between Hokuto’s protective arms, Subaru shuddered again.
"I can already feel it die around me...", he murmured.
- TBC -
Thank you for reading. All comments and criticisms appreciated, as this is as yet unbetaed. As a serie it shouldn't be long. I think probably 3 parts.
This is the first time I was trying to write Hokuto and Lady Sumeragi, ever, and I'm not sure how they turned out (even 9 years old, Molly fuzioned Hokuto) I had to keep writing the Unicorn as an "it" because i could never envision her, err it, as male. I think i even slipped quite a few female pronoun here and there while writing it - hope i didn't forget to remove them all.
Errr, and well thanks for reading.
In case you never heard of it, The Last Unicorn is both a wonderful book by Peter S Beagle, and a brittish animated movie (Ghibli studio collaborated thought), and it's highly reccomended.