The True & Honest Account of Samkenami

This is the true and honest account of Anideshi Samkenami Irakagu Mansurnah, who apprenticed under Dandeli as a healer.

I was in the Perennial Woodlands collecting herbs for my teacher, Jushihan Dandeli. Not for the first time, I wished I could have been born of a stronger bloodline with wings instead of sloshing through the muck of the marshlands to find Crimson Swamp Mallow. This herb can aid kindred whose urine burns.
I spotted the Crimson Swamp Mallow and leaned over to collect it. I leaned perhaps a bit too far and fell, facedown into the muck. Embarrassing as it is to admit, it is relevant to this story. I could not quite get my footing as I tried push up, I kept falling down. A hand appeared out of nowhere and without thinking, I accepted the hand.
As it pulled me up, I realized it was heavy with wrinkles. As I looked up at the face, I realized she had a strange sort of smile. I did not thank her. I had heard a rumor that a yamamba did not believe that favor had been given until an individual gave thanks. This was wrong. "I offered you aid," the yamamba said.
I offered her the three grandest favors I could imagine. She turned them all down. And I braced myself, waiting for her kiss. I could survive the Sapping Fatigue. I was luckier than most as my jushihan knew how to cut the bonds. Though I may lose a few years of my life. Perhaps never recover what little strength I had. But a Yamamba's Kiss was no longer a death threat. The pride my foolishness would cost my family.
The kiss never came. Instead, she told me that I needed to collect six fruit from a tree wrapped with a dragon, hidden in a city lost to all. That was all she said. I agreed. I felt an icy dread seep through every portion of my blood as she clamped the Blood Bond Bracer around my wrist. One instant of acute pain as its coils stabbed into my neck and into my heart. I felt the sudden compulsion to complete my oath. Like a scratch I could not quite reach. I knew that it was futile to try to run. That I would never be free until I was successful.
And so I set off on a journey. Knowing only that this supposed city was in the East of the Perennial Woodlands. I wandered for days, wondering if my family thought me dead, only stopping to gather fruits for food. My training had taught me what fruits were safe to eat. I thought about bringing back six rare fruits and saying it came from the tree. I was overcome with a headache. My heart skipped a beat. This Blood Bond Bracer was strong.
It was six days later when I felt the strange vibration and before I could even turn, a giant catfish leaped forward. I recognized it instantly as an onamazu. Of course, understanding a creature's name didn't stop it from swallowing me whole. Nor does understanding that I had exactly ten minutes before the gastric acid of the onamazu disintegrated me into a form unrecognizable. And perhaps a few hours after that of paralyzing pain until it finally reached my brain to turn it all off.
I had allowed my mind to make peace that my last hours would be agonizing and alone. That I would live a life without merit. That perhaps my mother was correct and I should have just sold trinkets for coin.
Suddenly, I was spit out. I pushed myself up to my feet, wondering if it was possible to be beholden to two yamambas at once. I pulled my eyes up from the ground. Standing before me was the most beautiful creature I had ever encountered. It stood at over ten feet tall, it's clear scales reflected in the light of the forest, sending a rainbow prisms in every which direction. It's mane stood tall like billowing clouds. And though its eyes are just bright light, I knew its eyes were intent on me, staring into my soul.
This was a Kirin. I felt it in my heart before it even spoke.
Its steps were light as it floated toward me. I wanted to turn away. The kirin was so bright, so magnificent, so awe-inspiring. And me, covered in acid and sores. Slime and mud. Trapped in a bond with a yamamba for the foolish mistake of accepting a hand.
The kirin pressed its snout against my forehead and sunlight filled my very being. When he stepped back, the pain was gone. An ache in my legs that I didn't know existed was gone. The blood bond bracer was still there.
It did not seem to matter to him though. His lips almost curled into a smile.
"Pure Hearted Child. I know what you seek." The words echoed in my mind. As a telepathic, I have spoken this way many times before. Words were an intrusion into your brain. When the Kirin spoke, however, it was as if he spoke from far away. That his voice filled the entire forest. "I will help you."
He bent down then. I knew the Kirin meant for me to use him as a mount. I could not imagine debasing such a creature, such a god, like that. He waited. Finally, I acquiesced.
Suddenly, we were in the air, moving faster than I ever thought possible. The sky was like a streak behind us, the trees like a green blur. We stopped. He set me down. He pressed his nose against my forehead once more. "You will always know how to return to your ancestors' home." His snout pressed the blood bond bracer. "If the creature asks for another favor, take the kiss before you give her anything more from this place."
"Six fruit will not do much harm." The kirin looked up then. I looked up.
Whatever majesty I felt towards the kirin was temporarily overshadowed by the beautiful tree before me. Fifty feet across with bark the color of gold. From above, I could see fruit growing, the size of my head and two hundred feet away. Wrapped around the tree, was a stone snake. No! A stone serpentine dragon that seemed to fly into the sky from where it was coiled.
"Your people will follow you here when peace returns." Before I could wait for a response, the kirin is in the air. And I am alone.
I took in my surroundings as I stared up, it seemed as if the trees above me were unending. Vines with purple bellflowers hung throughout. Amongst the green were stone building, many simple some majestic. The ones still intact looked like elongated oval blossoms that have not yet bloomed. I wandered away from the tree, trying to get a closer look at my surroundings.
I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head. My heart skipped a beat as my bond bracer suddenly turned to ice.
Apparently, I could not hesitate in accomplishing this quest the yamamba gave to me. I set to retrieving the fruit. Climbing the tree took some time, as I was not one to spend time outdoors unless forced. But I managed to retrieve the fruit, along with some other items of note from the tree and surrounding area. I noticed a door painted on the tree's bark. I am not one of magic, so I was unable to figure out its code.
The pain of the blood bond bracer was in the back of my mind. Yet now that I have the fruit, I couldn't help but to risk a little city exploration. If it could be believed, the City of my Ancestors. I took a few artifacts, along with some of the rubble fallen from the buildings which resembled the blossoms of the dragontree fruit. I tried to take some samples of a strange moss, which I had never encountered before. The moss suddenly jumped at me. I flung it away but not before I heard a voice in my head.
"A dragon has come to demolish our home!"
All of the moss started jumping on me then, as if in attack.
Somehow, I managed to tell them that I came in peace. Little holes pock-marked my body from where they had attacked. They retreated then, and I moved as far away from the moss as I can. Interesting, to say the least. But I didn't want this story to end with my demise at the hands of moss.
Never a stream, I saw some strange plants almost as tall as me. When I go to examine it and take some samples, a tiny bear started yelling at me in an unfamiliar language. More bears showed up from the plants and the stream, brandishing little but deadly spears. I stumbled away from the riverside.
What were all these tiny folk?
I suddenly felt a tug from my blood bond bracer. It is unhappy. I am stalling, I know.
So I began walking. Somehow I knew that traveling towards the sunset would take me in the right direction. Until I ran into a limestone cliff. My head craned upwards. That was when I realized that I was underground. Caught in a sinkhole in a cavern network. Wings would make this easy, of course. Or a simple fly spell. But I am neither that draconic or gifted with magic.
I spotted an entrance to the cavern. And then I made my way through the underground maze. It took me three days. I would have been lost forever within the tunnels if not for the blessing of the kirin.
When I finally exited, the yamamba found me. As if she had known where I traveled. Her smile was slow as I gave her the promised six fruit. It made me nauseous to hand them to her. But she simply released the blood bracer bond from my wrist. Warmth spread within me as I turned to go.
"Would you like a bite?" the yamamba asked as her teeth curled around the fruit. The old crone tried to trap me in another favor! I shook my head and went on my way. Once returning, I gave Dedeli the account of all that I discovered. I have written this account on his behalf.

by homrak

Type

Report, Scientific