The Keepers: Song of Sorrow

Chapter Four

Pain, burning pain. Words cannot describe perfectly the delicious pain he was forced to endure. How many times? How many times had he taken her this way? This was the first time he managed to not get her killed. He could feel his body being ripped away from him, and yet he was still whole. She never took his true form well, that was understandable. Mana and his brothers had made a mistake this time around. Breaking the avatar he was trapped in broke the seal on his powers. He pushed his body fourth, dark as night and glistening. A field of eyes as numerous as stars and bright as fire opened and flared out their vengeful glee to the temple and its occupants, row after row of black, razor teeth gleamed in the darkness. If anyone tried to describe his true form they'd say he closely resembled a wolf, they'd be only partly right. Tendrils grew and retracted into his body as he needed them, and he needed them to completely free himself from the ruined form below. He shook himself black ooze splattering from his body and maw into the wall and floor. It would return to him later. His first thought was the fight ahead. Now free of the mortal prison he'd been trapped into he was a full power and full of rage. The fight itself didn't last long, it never did, even without Addac by his side he could easily take the Demon Triplets of Time.
Rather than stay and fight the three lesser Eldritch fled when they realized their mistake. Jesper followed them as far as the hole they'd made in his ceiling and only ripped one of Melchrom's tails off for good measure. Now came his least favorite part, remaking the body and explaining to Maria that he wasn't a threat. Well at least not to her. He sank back to the floor and moved over to the body. The ooze was already making quick work to fix the breaks. It was hollow inside, no organs or blood, he'd provided that. He looked over to the little halfling that had long ago gained his affection, he'd restarted the Dream so many times to keep her safe, and many more times after that just to meet her again and again. It was always the reveal of who he really was that either broke her or broke her trust in him. He closed his mouth and tendrils sealed it shut into a snout with no seam.
"Maria." He said softly. She stared at him in wide eyed fear, tears welled at the corners and threatened to fall. He whinged back at the idea. "Are you hurt?" He asked. She shifted in place, in an instant she recoiled as if struck, the terror over took her.
"WHAT ARE YOU?!" She screamed her voice high and shrill.
"I'm Jesper." He said moving back slightly. He glanced back at the avatar willing it to be fixed soon, getting on her level and back in an easier to comprehend form might help things.
"YOUR AN ELDRITCH!?"
"Yes, sort of."
"Why?" She asked and he was at a loss for words. She'd never asked why before. It had always been words of calling him a monster or simply leaving without words.
"Why?" He repeated and quickly sat down on his haunches. "I don't know that's just how I appeared."
"Appeared?" She repeated herself, sounding very much like a parrot, but they both were on this moment.
"I wasn't born or created and just didn't exist and then I did." He said simply. "I'm not sure that's the exact way to explain it though...."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"That's the difficult part," he started, "this isn't the first time I've met you. Mania, the one who spoke oddly, told you that the Dream was ending. It is, The Sleeping God is starting to wake. You wouldn't notice because you don't know the signs, we do, and every now and again the whole Dreams disappears, everything gone and back in an instant. At some point though it won't come back. To stop the Sleeping God awakening the idea for a sacrifice came. They picked me without my knowledge. I was trapped in that body you met, eventually we come here to meet Mana and his brothers there's a fight and we get sucked into stopping the Sleeping God from waking. You don't live past a certain part of the journey and in my distraught state I reset the Dream to the point where I meet you." Maria had sat down to listen to him. He stopped.
"Are you still following?" He asked, leaning down. She nodded.
"So I've actually met you twice?" She asked him. Jesper shook his head.
"More than that I'm afraid." He said. "Too many to count." The body was done, he moved towards it and as he got closer he shrank his form to fit into the avatar. His tendrils sealed the avatar closed as he entered. He felt himself push out until he filled every nook and cranny of the form as he settled into it once more. He opened his eyes slowly and adjusted once again to the duller senses of the mortal form. Getting up slowly he stretched out his limbs.
"Does it feel weird," Maria asked, "going from one body to another?" He looked over at her and shook his head no.
"I'm used to it by now, but it's always a good idea to go slowly at first." He stood up and looked wistfully around the old ruined temple. He'd missed this place, he'd made it his home for thousands of years.
"You don't have to come with me." He said, still looking around.
"What do you mean." It was more a statement than a question.
"The Sleeping God is waking, I have to put him back to sleep," Jesper said, "some of the others may not want him to wake but there's plenty that do. It's dangerous, even for me."
"Don't be ridiculous, you can't go by yourself you don't even remember to brush your teeth by yourself." She said putting her hands on her hips. He looked down at her with fondness.
"Very well, but you'd better keep up or else I'm going to keep throwing you." He grinned as she looked mortified.
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Try me.