Occluded Front (An Organization Aurora Background Story)

Well, I've been planning on this for a long time. This is simply a background fic for my character Nositch from Organization Aurora, which can be seen in its own subsection in the roleplaying section.

For anyone who does not know, Nositch has the ability to control weather. This is extremely vague, yes, and he oftentimes uses it to his full advantage.

Anyway, a little about the fic itself. Due to Nositch's nature as a traveler, this fic will be mostly episodic, though I may insert a central plot eventually. However, this will for the most part be in "x of the week" form, so don't expect any central plot for a long time.

"Episodes" in next post...

The first "episode," "Terror of Syras" is exceedingly short and hastily written. I did this on purpose, just to get a feel for the "x of the week" form. I assure you, future episodes will be better.

 

Spoiler: Prologue

The stars gleamed in the night sky above the single person camp that layed in the middle of the large plain. In the distance, the outline of some relatively high hills could be seen against the deep, black sky. The man who built the camp sat by the flame that lit the cloth tent just a few feet away. He wore a white tunic, leaving no contrast between his somewhat pale skin and dirty blond hair. The man then lay his back down against the yellow-green grass, looking up for no real reason at the stars that graced the dark expanse above the cool earth.

After looking for a few minutes at the sky, recognizing most of the constellations that he saw, the man sat up again, still just as silent. Looking at the flame he had made a few hours earlier, he sighed, lifting a hand towards the raging conflagration. Not long afterwards, a strange gray cloud appeared about three feet over the flame. Almost immediately, some water drizzled out of the cloud, dowsing the fire and putting it out with a short sizzling sound.

The man then stood up for a moment and stretched, his muscles cramped from sitting by the fire for such a long time. After his ankles and arms cracked, he knelt down next to the small shelter he had built for himself, crawling his way inside. The tent was small, and had no floor. The only real reason he had made it was just in case some large animal were to come by looking for food. Within just a few minutes, the man had easily fallen asleep. Yet another day of wandering had passed.

--

"Nositch, can you hear me?" the young boy with blond hair looked up from his fetal position at the woman calling his name, tears blurring his vsion, "I know that everyone is gone now, but you have to keep your head up. You don't need to cry anymore."

Nositch but his head back between his knees, giving a sob. "But," he cried, giving another sob followed by a quick sniffle, "but mama... and daddy..."

"Nositch, you have to go," the woman replied, a soft smile on her face. "You can't stay here mourning your whole life. Find somewhere else to go; find someone who can take you in. You can stay here for today, but you should leave tomorrow."

"What about you?" the boy asked, poking his head up again, "can't you come with me?"

"I'm sorry, Nositch," the woman said, "but I don't have long either... My burns are much to severe. I won't survive until tomorrow."

"But... auntie..." Nositch cried, "you, you can't... You can't die... You just can't!"

"Sorry, honey," the woman replied, giving a small kiss on the boy's forehead, "but it can't be helped." The woman coughed in her arm, a small cloud of smoke coming out of her mouth because of the preceding fire.

--

Nositch Muraki, the waderer who had set up the camp, opened his eyes quickly, not wishing to recall the memory that had just invaded his sleep. A soft light could be seen outside of the tent, meaning that morning had come without incident. Crawling out of the shelter, Nositch sighed. A sharp wind hit his creation as he raised his hand, knocking his tent to one side. Picking up the fallen cloth, Nositch folded it into a makeshift cloak, putting the staff that held one side up into his tunic. The stick that held up the other side he threw onto the grass.

"It can't be helped..." Nositch mumbled, continuing his journey westward.

Spoiler: Terror of Syras

Nositch entered the town as the sun began to set over the western sky. Strangely, he saw nobody leaving or entering any buildings. The wooden constructs seemed empty and barren - what had once been windows were now boarded up, contrasting against the older wood of the main structure. Nositch wandered through the town, eventually coming upon a building that had an old, almost unreadable sign on it. Squinting, Nositch could make out the word "INN" marked on either side of the sign.

Nodding to himself, Nositch put his hand on the oaken door, pushing so that the portal gave off a loud squeek as it opeened. Wiping his sandals on the floor right under the door, Nositch walked inside, looking around the room to see if anyone was there. Behind the counter, another door opened with the push of a rather large man, his frame seeming to barely fit through the seemingly small door.

"What's an outsider like you doing here?" the man remarked with a gruff, scratchy voice. Lighting a candle, light flooded the counter, revealing more about the man's appearance. The orange light showed him to be of an older age than Nositch, perhaps fifty or sixty years old. He wore a tattered green shirt that only just covered his girthy frame. His face was full of thick wrinkles that belied his age, but his short, brown hair showed him to be younger than he looked by the face. "Syras is cursed. You should leave if you know what's good for ya'. We've been cursed for years now, so go away now."

"I need a place to rest for the night," Nositch said with an indifferent tone, seeming to ignore the warning that the inkeeper gave, "I have some coins here. I have no need for anything but a bed and a room."

"I said the town is cursed!" the man retorted strongly, his face turning into a scowl, "so you sh-"

"And I said that I need a room," Nositch replied calmly, his demeanor unchanging. "I won't leave until morning. I think you'd rather get paid for housing a man traveling by his lonesome than having him stay for no charge."

The innkeeper stared at Nositch in disbelief. Usually travelers went running upon hearing about the town's curse. This man seemed either stupid or stupidly brave. "Fine," the innkeeper relented, holding ut his hand as Nositch paid him a few coins of vastly different nationalities. The bulky man looked closely at the metal disks, recognizing only a few of them. He closed his hand and put them under the counter, preferring to not be picky at a time like this. "Choose any room you want," he mumbled just loud enough for Nositch to hear, pointing to the stairs just beyond, "they're all the same charge."

"Thank you, sir," Nositch said, smiling at the gruff innkeeper. He then turned towards the stairs and proceeded up them rather nonchalantly. He went into the first room he saw, proceeding quickly to the single bed that was in the middle of the room. Laying down, he fell asleep within a few minutes.

"Crazy kid," the innkeeper mumbled as he went back into his own bedchamber, "oh well, I'm sure he'll be gone before the night is over."

--

Nositch awoke to the harsh shrill that permeated the town. He quickly jumped up, calmly, but still rather quickly,walked across the room out the door. Once out on the balcony of the two-storey inn, overlooking the main floor, he walked down the stairs rather quickly, and proceeded to the counter where he had paid the keeper. The keeper, as if expecting Nositch's arrival, opened the door and walked over to the counter. The man raised his eyebrow at the fact that the traveler was still in the town.

"What was that sound?" Nositch asked, his tone of voice showing no panic.

"The creature that cursed this town," the older man answered bluntly, "we haven't named it. We just call it the curse."

"I see," Nositch remarked, bringing his hand up to rub his chin. Turning towards the door, he began to walk outside. As he put his hand on the wooden door, the gruff inkeeper spoke again.

"You running away?" the rough man chuckled, expecting nothing else.

"No. I'm going to see it," Nositch replied casually, as if it was some kind of attraction for the town.

"Are you crazy?" came the innkeeper's retort as he slammed his hands on the wooden counter, "That thing could kill you easily!"

Without a reply, Nositch walked out the door, wondering where the "creature" that had made the shriek would be. As he started to walk slowly, he heard the foul shriek once again. As the shriek finished, Nositch started running in its general direction, taking a few sharp turns between buildings. In a small amount of time, he finally reached the main square of the town. In the center was some strange creature that Nositch could not recognize.

The creature was quardapedal, and had the basic structure of some canid. However, where its eyes would be, there were only slits, if only there to not look extremely strange. Where a normal wolf's or dog's ears would be were more slits, but these were opened wide, and faced a slightly different direction than the slits that replaced eyes. The creature was hairless, its skin being a grotesque pink, wrinkly like some ancient man's face. Its most striking feature, however, was the gigantic mouth, completely round and lined with multiple rows of teeth.

"What a horror," Nositch remarked, reaching into his tunicand pulling out a small metal rod. Pressing an outcropping in the center, the rod extended to just slightly shorter than Nositch himself. "I doubt it's friendly."

The thing screeched again. Being this close, Nositch had to nearly double over from the volume and extreme pitch of the shrill cry. Almost as soon as Nositch recovered, the creature rushed towards Nositch, mouth agape and as wide as Nositch's entire head. Nositch waited until the creature got to within a few feet of him. As soon as it came within range, Nositch quickly sidestepped, striking the thing on the back of the head with his staff.

The creature did a strange, half-growl, half hiss as the staff struck between its ear-slits. Nositch then jumped back, his distance much farther than a normal person could possibly jump from a standing position. Nositch then started an uppercut motion with his staff. As the bottom rose off the ground, he sped it up.

A cold wind came from the staff as he swung. On the front of the wind, ice could be seen forming into sharp shards, all pointing towards the creature that cursed the town. The thing made another loud screech as the ice crystals struck it - the wind pushing it back towards a building.

As the creature turned around, Nositch, recovering from the massive sound, jumped towards the creature with his staff held above his head. At the tip of the staff, a strange glow could be seen frming. Within moments, it was a ball extending half of a foot from either side of his staff. Many observers would call this "St. Elmo's Fire" because of its similarity to the sailing phenomenon. As he struck the creature, it spasmed in a way that a fish out of its watery home would. Within a moment, it fell to the ground.

"That was surprisingly easy," Nositch laughed, creating an extremely cold wind to freeze it just in case the thing had only passed out. Picking the creature up by one leg, Nositch carried it back as he walked back to the inn. When he opened the door, the innkeeper was still standing behind the counter.

"Is that..." the keeper started, his mouth going agape, "did you actually..."

"Yes," Nositch said before the man could finish, "and you would never believe how easily it went down. It's almost as if it gave up."

"Impossible!" the man bellowed, running around the counter to observe the creature Nositch held, "I would have never thought that the curse would ever be lifted!"

--

Before even an hour had passed after sunrise, the entire town of Syras had found out about the death of the foul creature. The innkeeper had hung it up in his inn for the time being so people could see it. Nositch endured the gruff man's extreme remarks, getting compliments from all the townspeople. Nositch figured the innkeeper must have been a fisher by hobby -- his telling of how Nositch defeated the creature so grandiose Nositch had to simply chuckle.

"I must take my leave now," Nositch announced to the celebratory crowd, "I hate to say it, but this is simply not my place. I must continue on. Goodbye."

With that, Nositch walked out the door of the inn. As he got out of the town, he looked back and smiled, happy that its inhabitants were now safe. "I will find my place someday," Nositch mumbled to himself, "I don't care how long it takes."