Kid Quest

Salem.....The Duck

Rain fell on a rocky street. A lone quack, echoing in the distance, in the early hours, breaking the silence as a small duck waddles out of an alleyway.

Quack Quack, chimed the duck, its beautiful blue feathers shining in the breaking sunlight as the storm clouds slowly dispersed. It was a beautiful sight, shining feathers or not, and Salem couldn't help stare at the moon, his favorite night sky object, as it slowly disappeared. If he were a wolf, he would howl, but his little wings flapping and his quacking would have to suffice.

He waddled to the center of the town, looking around as the misty clouds he'd grown to love orbited around the fencing, like a moon, when he felt a chill through his feathers.

From the door of a house burst a young girl, a child, followed by another small creature in armor. They were pursued closely behind by a large and terrifying creature, a beast, a monster. It destroyed the doorway chasing after the duo, howling into the night. Salem found himself intrigued by the event, and followed them.

They were faster than him, and he had trouble keeping a quick pace, but he stopped in his tracks as the duo led the creature out of the town, and into the mist.

Salem waddled up to the town gate, watching as the mist swirled by, wondering where they thought they were going. No one leaves, the mist brings you back. But as the small duck watched the gate, moments turning into minutes, nothing happened. They did not suddenly come rushing back into the town, as Salem was accustomed to seeing, nor did their screams echo from the depths of the mist.

Salem felt something within him, urging him forward. He hesitated, but slowly began walking into the mist. As his feathers crossed the threshold, he was met with a biting cold, sending another chill throughout his feathers.

He continued.

Walking through the mist left Salem disoriented, no wonder people kept coming back, even without the magic that Salem could smell on the mist, people would have a hard time leaving town.

Thump, thump, thump. A loud thunderous noise echoed from close by, a noise that took Salem completely by surprise. How could something so loud not be heard by the townsfolk? He turned swiftly to find two gigantic feet on either side of him. Before he could react, an equally gigantic hand plummeted down through the mist, grabbing Salem. The wind whipped at his bill and feathers as the enormous hand picked him up, sending his stomach spinning.

As Salem broke the mist, standing in the palm of an impossibly large hand, he looked upon his surroundings and found a loss of expression. The beautiful sunrise, peeking just above a mountaintop, met his eyes. Salem, having grown up in the town, a duck beloved by the people and spoiled with treats, had never seen such a magnificent view. He looked to the being which had granted him this chance, only to be met with the possessed and furious gaze of a giant. He jumped, nearly leaving his feathers, and shook in fear as the giant raised its other hand.

A large red glowing circle swirled in the palm of the giant's raised hand. Then it spoke, its voice loud and thunderous, booming from its throat, yet at the same time coming from somewhere else entirely.

"Little duck," it said, it's eyes a solid purple, "your destiny begins."

Its hand came down, the glowing circle consuming the duck, and the resulting clap sending a shockwave that, for a brief moment, dispersed the mist.

Salem opened his eyes. He didn't remember closing them, but it didn't matter. He looked around and saw a room, a large room with elegant tapestry. A royal hall perhaps. Through the windows shined a beautiful blue light, but Salem was too small to see what was making it. Ahead, sitting on a massive throne, eyes black as night, skin like fire, horns that splintered in different directions, and a flaming halo above his head, was a being Salem had never seen before.

"A duck!" A voice echoed in Salem's mind, "I ask for a vessel suitable for the king of the great abyss, and I am sent a duck! THIS IS LUNACY!" the voice continued as Salem approached, "HERESY! BLASPHEMY! I DEMAND TO SPEAK TO THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE!!"

The words boomed in Salem's thoughts like a drum in a small room, and the creature before him did not move an inch, not even to speak the words that reached Salem's mind. He found that the closer he got, the louder and more disorienting the voice became.

Salem collapsed at the feet of the being, who remained motionless, sitting on his throne. After a moment, the creature finally bent down and lifted Salem, their eyes meeting for the first time.

Salem doesn't remember if he did so out of survival, or because he'd been so drained after being transported that he wasn't processing things properly, but as he stared into those black eyes, he felt something calling to him. From within the creature, like a voice, incoherent but audible. On instinct, as if told to do so, Salem suddenly bit the being's arm.

It collapsed into the throne, still grasping Salem, as the duck's blue feathers began to glow. Brighter and brighter, like the flames outside the windows. Now visible to Salem at this height, the blue flames burned brightly on the landscape outside. At the same time, the creature's arm began to wither, its entire body following shortly behind, as the duck almost impulsively consumed the being. It collapsed with horrible crunching and twisting sounds until, small as a raisin, it was swallowed whole by Salem. A shockwave burst from the duck as its feathers turned pitch black, and its eyes glowed red.

With a new sense of self, and a strange experience over with, Salem called upon his new power, as though he was being gifted the information necessary to use it. He spread his wings wide, looked up to the ceiling, opened his bill, and a small red circle appeared below him, through which he fell while giving one last call to the strange throne room.

"Quack." The single, solitary noise, echoed through the halls as Salem disappeared. Leaving the mighty castle in which he had stood, abandoned, alone, and now that Salem had somehow eaten the previous resident, empty.