Floor B666, Underground Dungeon, Gensokyo
Guarding the bridge to the underworld was a quiet job. A boring job. A lonely job. Not many beings wanted to travel between worlds and it was Parsee Mizuhashi's job as guardian to keep people from traveling the bridge to the Former Capital. Once in a while, humans would come down to investigate earthquakes or look for hot springs, Kisume and Yamame would come by to visit. Most of the time though, there was nothing for the blonde Youkai to do but keep watch and play her flute.
She was in the middle of practicing a tune called "Flight of the Bumblebee" when the ground began to shake. Not a problem for a being who could fly, she thought as she began hovering above the ground. She continued her practice until, as bits of gravel fell from the ceiling, that the rumbles were growing more intense. That was more of a concern; it usually meant someone was trying to leave. She spun around, ready to fire blinding waves of energy when she saw that the approaching figure wasn't a demon, a Youkai, a human, or anything she'd ever seen during her guardianship of the bridge. It was large, winged, scaly, ugly, and it was also wearing some strange round lens over one eye with an even-stranger hat.
"Halt! Who goes there! Turn back now!" she ordered. "You can't leave."
The beast grinned at her, showing a mouth full of teeth as big as she was. She tried not to gulp too loudly, but held her ground.
"Madam, I snuck past you with so much ease on my way in," the creature said. "You're fortunately that I chose to reveal myself on my way out instead of just sneaking by or, worse, stepping on you."
Such condescension...Parsee's blood began to boil. Everyone who came her way looked down on her. Powerful demons who had permission to come and go, bothersome humans who felt they could just blast their way in, and now this stupid reptile. She raised her flute and began to play a tune she'd written, Green-Eyed Monster, as she manifested flowers made of energy around her.
The petal-like blasts left trails of glowing power as they wrapped around Parsee's new enemy, easily slipping around the creature's neck and wings before constricting. Yet the chains could not break the creature. Parsee changed the tune, firing a staggering rapid-fire stream of energy balls as she teleported around, hitting from all sides.
It yawned.
The guardian growled and prepared to change tactics again when a massive foot came down, pinning her to the ground.
"Is this your reaction to everyone?" the beast asked. "It's spirited, I'll grant you that, but compared to the likes of Arcturus Mengsk, the Society, the Deck, and a roly-poly White Mage you've got a lot of work ahead of you if you wish to destroy the likes of Gentleman Draco."
Parsee struggled to get up, spitting and cussing as she went. She HATED HATED HATED being treated like this! She deserved better! She...she...
"You've got power to be sure, but you waste it sitting down here," Gentleman Draco said. "You spend all your time down here, guarding this bridge, and you get no respect for it. You probably hear tales of other inhabitants of this area going out into the world and doing amazing things."
"What of it?" Parsee growled, feeling like she almost had an arm free.
"I just think it's a shame you have yet to try and actually obtain prestige for yourself. If you truly want to get out of here and do things, earn the respect you crave, accumulate wealth to make other envious of you, come with me and I will teach you the ways of Greed," Draco offered. "Or you can stay here in your pit, guarding your bridge, and getting ignored the rest of your life."
It was such an offer that Parsee ceased her struggling. Leave her post? Leave her BRIDGE?! In exchange for a chance to become great, famous, and more? Dueling fear and desire made her tremble. The dragon looked down with that big grin once more and took a step back.
"What would I need to do?" Parsee asked. "How long will it take?"
"As long as it takes and everything I ask of you," Draco answered. "No more, no less. But if you do as I instruct, you shall have all that you desire and more."
Once the corners of her mouth began to twitch upward, Draco knew she was hooked. "Even what you have?" she asked.
"If you learn everything I know and master it beyond my abilities, there is nobody who can stop you from having what is yours."
"And where can I learn this?" Parsee asked, hovering to look her new mentor in the eye.
"As the humans say, Vegas, baby! Vegas!"
No comments:
Post a Comment