Dark Forest [[Private for Mirukani and I]]

[GoldFox]

Caliban sighed to himself as he leaned against a tree. He’d been searching every inch of this new section of forest all morning and NOTHING! Not a Little One in sight anywhere! He sniffed the air, but it was also unhelpful.

He kept walking though, hoping to find something soon, his footsteps amazingly silent as his red eyes scanned the ground.

Soon enough, he scented something on the wind and grinned, starting to walk more cautiously, searching for the source of the smell.

[Mirukani]

Rarely, only rarely, did the temples in the city require material components for their spells. And they all chose the Rydal temple's newest monk to go get them. Seishak yanked his robes out of the thickets, cursing in every language he knew as the fine black cloth tore apart.

The least that could have accompanied him were a few archers or crossbowmen. Feral werewolves were not as big of a problem in modern times as they were in the past, but the problem was still there nonetheless. But no, the red haired necromancer was left with just his magic to rely on. "Bastards. All of them," he muttered to himself.

Seishak decided to pause for a few minutes, looking through his shoulder-pack to find the book he'd been given. It was full of illustrations of the plants he needed to find, and a slip of paper listed off how much of what he was to bring back. "Thirteen nightshade blooms, eight foxglove... eight foxglove WHAT? The whole damn plant, the roots, what? Dear gods, they need to be more specific."

[GoldFox]

Caliban smirked to himself when he saw the small creature in a small clearing. He licked his lips, already eyeing the man, his fingers already twitching. Oh, talk about wonderful timing!

He remained standing for now, knowing that this was an easier way to hide in plain sight. Often time those Little Ones just weren’t observant enough! Caliban then chuckled and decided to play a little with his snack.

Staying out of sight in the shadows, Caliban then coughed, once and clearly, but then going silent, watching the little man. He couldn’t smell anyone else, so he wasn’t worried about loosing his quarry. Thus, he had time to play a little bit before having his snack.

[Mirukani]

Seishak looked up from his list and notes, startled by the sudden noise. He didn't notice anything around him that might have been out of the ordinary. Then again, he also didn't know what might be in the ordinary in the woods. He was a city boy, through and through. The ocean he could deal with. Kind of. Woods? Eh, no.

Better to be safe than sorry. If there was someone or something out there, the least he could do was find out. There were spells that could allow him to see anything living, excluding plants, of course, all around him. Seishak didn't know those spells. He was a necromancer, first and foremost, and almost all of the spells he knew went along with that.

So, since he didn't know any spells to let him see what was out there, he'd have to do it the old-fashioned way. "Hey! Anyone out there?" he shouted, his harsh accent getting lost among the trees.

[GoldFox]

Caliban smiled to himself. Was this man really that clueless? Looking at him more, Caliban realized that this was someone who wasn't often out in nature, and was... Oh what was that term? Oh right; a 'city kid'.

A smile graced the huge mouth as Caliban reached down and picked up a dead branch. He was going to have fun with this... He then aimed and carefully threw the branch so that it landed about 5 feet behind the man.

But he knew that this would shock him because the 'branch' Caliban had picked up was actually a fallen tree trunk, easily 3 feet in diameter in it's thinnest spot. He then remained still, squinting his red eyes to hide their glittering light as he watched, smiling again. He was starving, but a little fun wouldn't hurt anything!

[Mirukani]

Seishak was already on edge, straining to hear something - anything - and he definitely got it. The tree trunk that fell to the ground behind him made the necromancer scramble forward in the least graceful manner as humanly possible, landing face-first on the ground.

The redhead pushed himself up, his hands immediately going to his braided hair. He felt stupid, seeing that it was just a tree. On the other hand, it had landed awfully close to him. The woods were dangerous. Next time the collective temples wanted to send someone out to get supplies, he'd tell them exactly where they could shove that list, and it wouldn't be back on the shelves, either.

[GoldFox]

Caliban smirked at the reaction he got from the little guy and figured that he simply couldn't wait any longer. He waited until the man was distracted just for a few seconds, and then rushed out into the open, grabbing him in his fist and then cupping him in both hands.

He knew for a fact that his movements had been too fast for the man to have seen much more than a blur, and he couldn't wait to see how the man reacted to this new and odd sensation.

[Mirukani]

Seishak was not even fully aware of what happened. One moment, sunlight was weakly filtered through the trees. The next, he was being squeezed rather too tightly for comfort. And finally, he was enclosed in total darkness.

No. Not total darkness. The necromancer peered up (at least he assumed up was still up and he wasn't suspended in some sort of spell) and saw little cracks of light. Like he was a bug cupped inside of someone's hands. His first thought was to reject the idea as entirely impossible. There was nothing - NOTHING - that big in any sort of record made. But he stopped to think a moment.

Working with magic, and particularly necromancy, had taught him never to reject anything as impossible. There were only things that were highly improbable. And, however improbable it might seem, Seishak had to assume one of several things.

1: The entire thing was either a hallucination or a dream. Could be caused by bad magic or handling something he shouldn't have.

2: He'd been shrunken and was being picked up by a perfectly normal-sized peson.

3: He was still normal-sized and had been picked up by something or someone abnormally huge.

4: .... Let's not go into what kinds of trouble thoughts 4 and on included. Especially the cussing.



((OOC: OMG I'm sorry for the delay! *sniff* Being sick sucks! >.<))

[GoldFox]

Caliban was a bit surprised as the little guy didn’t even move around after being caught. He was probably too confused or scared! With a grin, Caliban sat down and leaned back against one of the trees, carefully keeping his hands cupped.

He then opened his hand, cupping them gently around the little guy, smiling broadly at him. Oh he was going to be a terrific little snack! He smiled at him again and then said quietly, “Hello there… What’s your name?” He wondered just how this guy would react, expecting everything from screams and a freak-out to shouts of anger and confusion.

[[And hey, no worries! I know what it’s like to be sick. >___< Not fun at all! Here’s to hoping you feel better soon!]]

[Mirukani]

Possibilities 4 and on were pretty well thrown out the window. Thankfully. Possibility 1 was still in the running, although looking a bit unlikely. Bad magic or odd toxins usually produced stranger hallucinations, nothing that so neatly made sense as this.

Which left possibilities 2 and 3. Seishak looked up at his captor, trying to determine which it could be. He was a necromancer - a few more spells, and he'd die. The possibility of your own death being tomorrow changes how you look at things.

"Seishak. Who're you and why are you holding me?" No point in dancing around the issue. This little redhead had done more than enough of that before becoming a monk, and the game tired him. Especially when it might be his life on the line. True, he was used to the idea of 'hey, I might die today!', but that didn't mean he wanted to if it was avoidable.

[GoldFox]

Caliban raised an eyebrow. This wasn’t the kind of reaction he’d been expecting! But he decided to play along for now, answering, “I’m Caliban. What are you doing out here all by yourself? Don’t you know that it’s dangerous out here? There are many things out here looking for a meal.”

But then he frowned and shifted the little man until he was sitting on one palm, asking, “Seishak? That’s your name? Pretty interesting…” He then leaned close, about to start tormenting his little snack, but an odd scent caught his attention and he pinched the back of Seishak’s clothes and lifted him to his face, sniffing at him. There was a very odd scent around this little guy… It was a little bit unpleasant and he didn’t know what to make of it. “What are you?” he asked, curious about this find of his. “I’ve never smelled anyone like you before!”

[Mirukani]

Just because he knew his captor's name didn't make the situation less dangerous. Especially because he dodged Seishak's second question of "why". But he still had plenty of magic at his disposal - magic that wouldn't deplete what little life he had left, no less. It couldn't hurt to play this game out a little longer, no matter how dangerous it was.

"I'm here because the temples in the city decided someone should gather necessary supplies. I'm their errand-boy." He was decidedly more uncomfortable after being shifted so his robes were the only thing holding him up from the giant's hand. Especially with his hair so close to that general vicinity.

"What am I? I'm a necromancer. A servant of Rydal, the god of Death. Now would you please put me down? I don't like being touched." The redhead tried to shove Caliban's face away, although only succeeded in making himself swing a little by his robes.

[GoldFox]

Caliban chuckled. “Don’t like being touched, eh? Well, I have to say, then you’re going to be having a VERY bad day today.” When he was greeted with a confused expression, Caliban grinned and stood tall. This dangled the little necromancer a few hundred feet above the ground.

He then looked closer at the little man, saying with a smile, “I’ve never heard of a necromancer before. I wonder how they taste…” He licked his lips, looking at the little guy with very hungry red eyes.

The demon lifted the little man higher, eyeing him. “Hmm… But you are SUCH a small little thing! Barely even worth it!”

[Mirukani]

Seishak had never particularly thought about hungry giants as a danger in the forest. If he somehow managed to get out of this alive (doubtful - even if he killed Caliban, he'd probably waste what little was left of his life in the process), he'd have to reprimand every person that sent him out there in the first place.

The next thought that ran through his head was indignation. Okay, so he was shorter than average, standing only at 5'4". But with someone the size of Caliban, how in all hells would just a few inches make that much of a difference? Wait... He didn't intend to be eaten. Why did he even care?

And then there was his hair. Due to a freak magical accident, his hair was his very soul. Even brushing it too hard hurt, in a very physical way. Seishak had accidentally leaned too close to a candle about a year back, and oh dear gods, he'd been in physical pain for a week afterwards. Acid? Not just all over him, but on his hair, too? Nuh-uh. Wasn't gonna happen. If he was going to die, it would not be like that.

Time to teach Caliban how much eating a necromancer could hurt. Seishak reached up to grab onto the giant's finger, concentrating as hard as he could on manipulating his own life force to start draining his captor's. In theory, he could kill any mortal creature this way and might, in rare circumstances, add a few years onto his own life. In theory.

[GoldFox]

Caliban was again surprised by his little prey as there was no freak-out reaction, no begging or pleading. The demon just stared in surprise as the little man looked back at him with indignation, of all things! Caliban smirked. Apparently, his comment about the man’s stature had touched a nerve of some kind.

He then watched as the little man reached up and put both his hands on his fingers, and began to concentrate. Curious, Caliban allowed him, wondering what he was up to. He was surprised to suddenly feel himself grow warm and felt the warmth start to flow very slowly into the little man. He laughed to himself, and gave him a gentle shake. “What are you trying to do?” It felt like Caliban was a water source, and it was trying to flow through a tiny little hole. It just wasn’t going to hurt Caliban at all!

He allowed this to go on for a few minutes, not feeling ill in the slightest way, and then finally chuckled, reaching with his other hand to gently muss the little man’s hair, patting it gently, a feat of accomplishment for the huge being.

“What are you trying to do?” Caliban questioned. It wasn’t normally like him to talk so much with his food, but this wasn’t a normal man, so he deemed that he could at least find out more about this guy before eating him.

[Mirukani]

When it was perfectly clear that his necromancy didn't have any effect whatsoever on Caliban, Seishak stopped. The theory was all there - he'd even tried it out on mice and other small creatures, and they all died. In pain, no less. So there was no reason it shouldn't work on Caliban... Unless he was either extremely long-lived or...

Immortal? Seishak refused to believe that. Immortality was something people had been striving towards for humanity's entire existence. Aside from the gods, there was absolutely no precedent for anything like that on earth. But why...?

And then, of course, Caliban completely derailed his train of thought by messing his carefully braided hair up, and then patting it as if he were an amusing animal. Despite the treatment being gentle, it shook up Seishak's entire thought process and started him shivering uncontrollably.

It registered that Caliban was saying something to him, but it was very hard for the redhead to put his control back into place. "That... would have killed anything else I know of. What in all hells ARE you?"

[GoldFox]

Caliban raised an eyebrow in surprise and then grinned when he finally saw fear on the little man. There, that was a much better reaction!

When asked about what he was, Caliban grinned hugely. He gently cupped the little Seishak and smiled hugely at him, saying, “I’m pretty sure the word you people use is ‘demon’. Does that answer your question?”

He noticed how the little man was shaking and was intrigued by his earlier statement. “And what did you mean, ‘that would have killed anything else’? Were you trying to use a spell on me or something?” He then smiled widely, showing off his teeth. “Because it obviously didn’t work.”

Then, just to tease the man, Caliban brought him closer. He recalled that for some reason, Seishak didn’t like to be touched and he had been especially annoyed when Caliban messed with his hair…

With an evil smirk, Caliban suddenly brought Seishak close to his mouth and closing his hand around him, licked gently at the top of his head, utterly soaking the red hair, his tongue swiping wetly over his head and the extra saliva trickled down his face, into his clothes. It must have felt disgusting…

[Mirukani]

Oh. A demon. How nice... His thoughts were still a bit too jumbled to properly grasp that until Caliban smiled at him. "Yes. I should have drained all of your life energy away and left you an empty shell. Won't work on you."

He would have said more, but when the giant brought him closer and licked his head, the necromancer shuddered and outright screamed. Seishak squirmed around inside Caliban's hand, desperately trying to get his hair - yes, just his hair - away from the mass of saliva coating each strand. He felt dirty all over, but at the same time too warm. "Let me GO!"

Now, despite being a monk, Seishak didn't have a lot of religious piety. He joined the temple purely because it allowed him the chance to research. But he wasn't unfamiliar with any of the beliefs, and just one clung to him even with his thoughts being jumbled and a pervading feeling of filth. There wouldn't BE an afterlife for him, because his soul would be deteriorating in the human world instead of being a proper link to the spirit world.

Damn.

[GoldFox]

Caliban laughed at the amusing response of his little prey and gave him a bit of a shake, replying, “Why would I let you go? I’m hungry and you’re the perfect size for a little snack.” He then grinned hugely and dangled the little man over his head, saying with a grin, “Speaking of which, I think we’ve wasted enough time…”

He opened wide and started to lower Seishak without another word, soon getting him into his mouth, shutting it firmly behind him. He then spent time licking and tasting his prey, grinning lazily in delight.

After a while, Caliban started to push the little body backwards, wanting to feel this little man wriggling his life away in his greedy gullet and belly.

[Mirukani]

Seishak tried resisting, even though he knew there was only one thing he could do, in the long run. Unfortunately, before he had a chance to do anything about it, Caliban dropped the little mage right into his mouth. He felt saliva soaking through his monk's robes and coating every part of his body. The prolonged contact of it with his hair made him squirm and try to push away from... well, everything.

He felt his hair unraveling from the braid, spreading out further over the giant's tongue even as felt it lifting him back towards his throat. Seishak screamed again, trying to turn around and scrabble forward. His fingers tried in vain to claw into the slick surface, or even a tooth. Somehow, he briefly managed to snag hold of one of Caliban's molars, but couldn't keep hold when his slimy bed moved underneath him.