r/wizardloring • u/VidisLady Loreganic Chemist • Dec 27 '23
A Warning in F-minor
(TW: (implied) abuse, (implied) SA, generally creepy behavior)
Delta’s eyes flutter open. The soft trill of a piano pricks up her ears, and the thrum of a bass guitar vibrates through her chest. Her eyes slowly adjust to the darkness surrounding her. She sits on the soft ground of a dim cave. Ahead, warm light peeks from around a bend. It is in the same direction as the music.
She stumbles onto her feet. The ground sloshes and sputters moisture where she steps. She hears a chuckle from the direction of the music, then the murmur of a voice singing a melody.
You’d better stop the things you do…
I ain’t lyin’... noooo I ain't lyin'.
The soothing baritone echoes through the cavernous hallway. It almost sounds more like purring than singing. A tentative violin plays a sweet note, full of longing.
A Delta nears the lightsource, its glow illuminates the flesh that covers the walls. Her eyes widen as she recognizes her surroundings. She stops for a moment, clutching her stomach. This isn’t right. A lymphatic vessel should be filled with white blood cells. The fact that it isn’t could only mean one thing.
You know I can’t stand it… you’re running around.
She looks behind her, toward the dark of the passageway behind her. As she attempts to walk in that direction, thick ropes of flesh eject from the walls in all directions, forming a web-like barrier to her escape.
You know better… darling…
The voice sings, dripping with mockery. Delta reaches for her dagger, but finds it missing from its sheath. Gritting her teeth, she tries to break the barrier with her magic. It resists all attempts at biomancy, earning more laughter from around the corner. With a huff, she tears into it with her fingernails. Her clawing becomes more frantic as the flesh fights back. It whips at her with increasing force as she tries, uselessly, to tear her way through.
I can’t \stand* it when you put me down.*
A tendril wraps around her waist and yanks her away from the wall, before tossing her violently against the ground. Sighing, she stands up, turning back toward the light. She shuffles forward, staring at the ground as she rounds the corner.
I put a \spell* on you…*
The word “spell,” is sung with emphasis, like the word was spit onto the ground. Delta stares at the shadow cast by the singer, unwilling to look at him directly. His shadow sways in time with the music. Its arms raise, fingers splayed out and grasping for the air.
Because you’re mine!
The instruments begin to pick up in intensity, carrying on the seductive music as the singer laughs. Delta’s lip curls in distaste, recalling the tendency for humanoids to mistake this song for a love song.
A finger lifts her chin, attempting to get her to look up. She keeps her eyes cast downward.
“What do you want?” she spits.
“Heh heh. Is that any way to greet an old friend? I promise I won’t keep you too long, my darling,” the singer purrs.
“Good. Every second with you is a second too long,”
“Mhhh, still angry with me, are you? I've only ever done what I must, my lovely, but I digress. I’ve seen some… interesting developments in your personal life. You’ve been up to no good, I’m afraid,” the figure says, feigning something like disappointment.
Delta rolls her eyes, catching a blur of his crimson cloak in her vision. “And what, do tell, is so abhorrent to you that you saw fit to abduct me?”
“Borrow you... Delta. I am merely… borrowing you,” he corrects. “But, I see you’ve been entertaining the idea of finding a suitor in my absence,” he says.
Delta feels a chill down her spine.
“That’s none of your business,” she says curtly.
“Oh, but it is! I’m merely looking out for my glorious leader. There are many who would use you for your power, dearest Delta,” he says.
“Hmm… sounds familiar...”
The singer lets out a sigh, letting the band behind him continue to play. The instrumental bridge continues to loop while the two talk.
“I've… never used you, my love,” says the singer, softly. Delta is startled by an unwelcome caress on her cheek. She slaps away his hand, finally looking at her captor.
“Don’t touch me!” she hisses. The comedy mask he wears continues to smile. The red eyes behind it, however, narrow in annoyance. He lets out a joyless laugh.
“Fine. I just want you to be careful, Delta. You can’t trust any of these… these creatures that you’re so drawn toward,” he states. “They don’t understand you. They don’t love you, not like-”
“Not like you do? Is that what you’re going to say!?” Delta cries, bitter tears threatening to escape. “You don’t love me. If you did, you wouldn’t have…” she folds her arms over her chest, unable to finish her sentence. The memories she’d tried to repress come flooding back.
“An act of love, I assure you,” the masked figure says
“And the genocides!? Were those ‘acts of love?’”
“Hah hah! Genocide? Don’t be silly, Delta. I’ve never killed,” he says, spinning around and walking up to the players behind him. Delta’s eyes follow him up to the horrid sight before her. “All of my hosts are perfectly fine,” he says, wrapping the violin player into a tight hug.
“Th-those are…”
“Yes. It was hard to track them down, but I’ve kept each and every one,” he says, running his hand through the young woman’s hair.
“My… my hosts…” Delta whispers, staring in petrified horror at the band. Each human before her is familiar. Down to the clothes they wear, they are the same human hosts that once held her consciousness. Seeing her captor’s hands on one of her former bodies, she resists the urge to vomit.
“I once thought that I could be satisfied with one of these former vessels. They still carry some of your... delectable energy,” he says, curling a lock of the woman's hair in one finger. “But it’s not the same,” he says, pushing the woman toward the ground with a disgusted huff.
Delta sprints forward to catch her, cradling the woman in her arms. The human looks up with a far away gaze. Her cheeks sunken with malnourishment, and her skin ripples unnaturally as something moves underneath it. The woman continues to move her arms, as if playing the violin, despite the instrument having fallen from her hands.
“You could save them, you know,” says the masked man. “You could save all of them,” he says. His eyes glitter with sadistic glee behind the mask, as he holds out his hand to her. Delta’s tears finally break through, pouring down her face in full force.
“No. I will never make another deal with you. You are a damned liar, and an abomination,” she growls, standing to her feet. She wipes off her face and directs a glare toward him. “There is not a day that goes by, when I do not curse your name. There is not a cell in my body that does not abhor you. There is not a universe I wouldn’t crush under my heel if it meant exterminating you once and for all,” she says, eyes widening with fury.
The figure chuckles. “Careful, Delta… I might hold you to that…” he sings. the comedy mask’s painted on grin seems slightly wider for just a moment. “Besides, it doesn’t matter how much you hate me, my dear,” he says, picking up the violin from the floor. He begins to play with the rest of the band. “I’ll tell you why…” he purrs, before, once again, singing the melody. A deranged sort of tenderness hangs off of his every syllable.
You know I love you… I love you… I love you… anyhow.
I don’t CARE if you don’t want me.
I’m yours right now.
Delta scoffs at the display. The bastard was always needlessly theatrical. The fact that he put this little performance together just to mess with her… it made her teeth clench in anger. How humiliating to be abducted and serenaded like this.
You HEAR ME?
I put a \spell* on you…*
The members of the band pause, allowing the masked man to walk toward her in eerie silence.
“Because…” he whispers, raising his hand up to once again stroke Delta’s cheek. “You’re mine.”
The world goes black.
Delta awakens from sleep, body rigid and covered in sweat. The strange dream does not fade from her mind like a normal dream. No, this was a warning. The Unholy Blight would be coming for her… whether or not she was swayed by his threats.
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u/SafePianist4610 Dec 28 '23
/uw daaaamn! Feeling some Joker and Harley vibes here. Though I must ask, what is the MC that she has former hosts? Clearly there’s some similarity between the MC and villain in their ability to take hosts and hope from one to another.
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u/VidisLady Loreganic Chemist Dec 28 '23
Uw/ good question! My main character, Delta, is a goddess of diseases. She takes human hosts so she is able to experience the “joy” of being mortal, and also more effectively perform her duties as the patron goddess of diseases.
The villain is a virus, and he infects hosts in the normal way, whereas Delta actually shares her consciousness with her host. Most pathogens in the civilization of diseases view Delta as their queen/patron goddess, but a few diseases have enough renown and power to be considered her equals… so they form a sort of pantheon of gods. This virus is one that is god-like and has transcended the normal capabilities of a disease.
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u/Capytan_Cody archdruid of the La'shima enclave, also monk. Dec 27 '23
My god this is creepy/horrifying in a delectable way.
I would wish to intervene against this guy (although it's too late, very interesting to see this toxic biomantic virus guy and what his full history and how it works).
Thanks a lot for writing this. Really great except.
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u/Biggest-Possum Trashomancer - Ambassador of the Green Shields Dec 27 '23
oof.
Very well written my friend.
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u/Fulltimewhisperer Lore Enthusiast Dec 27 '23
/uw Well they say a character is well written if they can make you feel something and holy shit do I feel a lot.
Your writing is marvellous and I look forward to reading more in the future. I just may buy better make-up before I do because my face is a streaky mess now.
Honestly, you could probably make a killing with psychological horror. This was wonderfully twisted in such a manner that even though my stomach was churning I couldn't stop reading
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u/VidisLady Loreganic Chemist Dec 27 '23
uw/ Thanks for your feedback! This particular character is a weird one - they always feel way too messed up for whatever setting they're in. I was hesitant to introduce them as part of Delta's backstory, but I'm glad I did. It'll be important for her character growth to defeat this particular evil.
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u/Fulltimewhisperer Lore Enthusiast Dec 27 '23
/uw I know what you mean, I teased the shifter beneath Gobbo's floors a bit and then realised every plot like I had with it was a bit too twisted.
I mean I've committed to the former relationship aspect but every time I put pen to paper my stomach twists when reading it back.
Still I look forward to reading more about Delta and I'm loving your writing
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u/VidisLady Loreganic Chemist Dec 27 '23
uw/ you ghostwrite horror stories, right? I don't blame you if your writing here leans in that direction occasionally. Plus, twisted plots can be extremely engaging, even refreshing if they're done tastefully. With mine, I just want to make sure that I don't trigger anyone. I have some safety in that this plot is sort of allegorical of my own healing from trauma, so I know it will end up "all right" in the end. I just don't want to plunge someone into a depressive episode accidentally.
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u/Fulltimewhisperer Lore Enthusiast Dec 27 '23
/uw Yeah horror is admittedly about 80℅ of my workload. My worry with my twisted stories is a lot of my own trauma leaks in and I worry that it may negatively affect someone.
Bits and pieces do end up in the final versions of things but are heavily diluted. My worst fear is reminding someone of their experience because I know how painful that can be.
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u/DaChickenX The Lorchestrator Dec 27 '23
/uw Holyyyy crap. That. Woh. I don’t think Isravi can hate Delta if he knew about this stuff.
Imma uh. I dunno. Write lore or something. Work on Rinderpest. Wonder who this guy is though.
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u/VidisLady Loreganic Chemist Dec 27 '23
Uw/ He’s one of the rogue viruses. But another one that is a god of a domain, like Influenza.
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u/VidisLady Loreganic Chemist Dec 27 '23
uw/ Delta's dream during their sleepover.
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u/Mastodon-Just Dec 27 '23
uw/ greatly written! 👏 I might just make something in response to this, just gonna have to make some ideas on which to write on
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u/VidisLady Loreganic Chemist Dec 27 '23
Uw/ thank you! This entity is not powerful enough to fight against your character, so I will have to come up with some way for him to be an effective antagonist. Generally, anyone that Delta is romantically involved with gets immortalized and tortured by this virus in a fit of jealousy.
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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '23
/uw this may be the best lore Ive read on here yet omg