Greedy Corelings
Posted by Meg
Next up we have three new entries!
Here I offer my first of three entries. A little cliché? Perhaps yet, at the same time, I feel it needs to be done. I have zero visual artistic talent so here’s a little write-up coming at you.
There was a rumbling sound of sand being tossed about violently, though it was only a distant thing at first. Unfortunately, the pain was not. Kalidan had never been in such agony before as pain thrummed through his body to the steady beat of his heart. Again and again, he struggled to rise – to return to the fight and help his fellow sharum – but his body resisted his every command. Grinding his teeth together, Kalidan tried again with all he was worth. This action reminded him that his mouth was lined with sand and blood that would have brought severe discomfort if it was not something he was used to. Being trained as one of the sharum meant blood and pain on the desert floor daily, and he had learned to accept it as one accepts the burning rays from the sun above. On this night, however, he was victim to more pain than perhaps he could handle. The only thing keeping him from simply giving in at that point was the refusal to die on his belly. Everam watch me! Shar’Dama’Ka watch me! I will die with honour for the glory of the –
“Eeeeaaahhhh!”
A blood-curdling screech interrupted Kalidan’s thoughts and provided the last bit of motivation he needed to reach deep, deep down and find the strength he needed to move again. It was still an achingly slow process that sent fresh jolts of pain lancing through his being, but move Kalidan did. In what felt like forever, he had lifted his head enough to take in his surroundings for the first time since the ambush had begun. Kalidan squinted through one blurry eye as the other refused to open and found his inner rage growing with each mangled and mutilated body his eye fell upon. All from his tribe. All honourable sharum he had fought beside for years in the maze. All slaughtered by a single alagai. How could this have happened? The Shar’Dama’Ka had provided wards for defending against alagai attacks and battle wards for delivering swift death upon them. How could one alagai have brought such ruin to a dozen battle-hardened sharum? Kalidan was past asking such questions if ever he had – his memory was blurred at the moment from loss of blood. What he did know was his hunting party had been beset by an alagai unlike any other they had faced before or heard of. A creature that moved beneath the sand like a fish through water and always struck where least expected with frightening speed and incredible power.
Straining every muscle that would still answer the call, Kalidan got a knee under him and used his spear to help rise further. He could barely move his left leg, and his left arm wouldn’t respond at all. When the alagai had first struck, it had been targeting the man walking beside him, Guthembir, who had been unlucky enough not to die right away. Kalidan had received a grazing blow from the attack but even that had been enough to incapacitate him. Until now. Shaking with every jerking motion, Kalidan rose to his feet leaning heavily on his right leg. His breathing came in ragged gasps that burned his throat, but he pushed the discomfort far from his mind while attempting to turn around. Sliding his foot through the sand he soon turned his body slightly and could crane his neck just enough that he found the survivors from his party. Two men, standing back-to-back, scanned the ground around them searching for their attacker. Kalidan couldn’t see their expressions while they wore their veils, but he confidently guessed they would have spoken of two warriors ready to die.
A moment later the ground erupted beside them and from it sprung the alagai striking before either could move to meet the challenge. One second the two sharum stood vigilant and the next one had lost everything above his waist and the other was missing his right arm and, as he spun with the force of impact, his back had several enormous gashes revealing bone underneath. His screams ended as quickly as they began with blood spilling out from his mouth. Kalidan focused on the creature for the brief time he could. It was most closely resembled to a very large worm but with scales like a reptile though ones capable of breaking bone and tearing through flesh. The steel-like scales themselves were single overlapping rows spaced evenly apart and, when the alagai twisted, parted to show much softer – relatively speaking – muscle beneath. The alagai slid back under the sand with ease as its body continued to flow from its point of attack, spanning some ten meters in length once the end finally appeared.
Sand sprayed against Kalidan and threatened to blind his one functioning eye as he lost his balance and fell to his knee. Through the settling sand, Kalidan could see the alagai moving through the ground close to the surface. It was aware there was only one left to kill; one who was barely able to move and therefore not likely to prove an actual threat. Wait for me brothers; I’ll join you in just a few moments.
“Come on then – show me the fire in your eyes!” The alagai answered Kalidan’s final roar as it turned straight for him with all speed and shot to the surface. A wide, circular, maw opened up releasing a horrid stench and showing row after row of razor-sharp teeth descending down the alagai’s throat. The further down, the smaller the teeth became, which was likely to deal with the ever shrinking chunks of food. The first row seemed to reach out to him, ready to dig deep into his flesh. Kalidan bared his teeth in a fierce grin as he hefted his spear for one last lunge and pushed off from where he knelt. He was about to die but he was fine with it for he had left many sons to carry on the honour of his family. More than that though, he knew the Shar’Dama’Ka would lead all the Krasians to victory against the alagai no matter what spewed forth from the Core.
Name: Tunneling Coreling
Height: 1-1.5 meters
Length: 8-12 meters
Physical appearance: A large worm with scales as hard as a rock coreling’s carapace. Its entire body is not covered with the scales, but the scales are just long enough as to cover all skin despite each row being spaced at least a hands-length apart. Above ground these scales protect the coreling’s muscle but also act as offensive weapons as the edges are sharp, though not as much as a well-kept sword, enough to cut through the human body with the momentum of the coreling’s movements. Below ground, these scales are actually part-way extended and the coreling twists its body, being able to twist different parts of its body in different directions, to push the ground away and make moving through the ground easy. As mentioned in the short above, inside its mouth are rows of teeth that are spaced apart but by only half a hands-length and do become smaller the further in. The front row is capable of extending out to pierce the intended target and pull in. It actually has four eyes, two on top (a term used loosely) and two on the bottom (also loosely), which are surrounded by armour-like skin.
Strengths: Stealth, fast movements, sharp and extendable scales, extended front row teeth for lunging attacks like a spear, very dense scales, can only be attack when above ground unless some other means of otherwise is discovered.
Weaknesses: Can’t make sharp turns above or below ground, scales don’t always cover all of the body, vision is very limited as eyes that are below the skin don’t do well on bright nights, never travel in more than pairs.
Habitat: A tunneling coreling can’t move through anything, especially rocks. They live in deserts and muddy areas like riverbanks or where it has been rainy recently. Some of the much stronger ones can travel through soft earth but the harder the ground, the slower they become.
Ward: The ward for a tunneling coreling is that of a wind coreling’s that has been inverted with traits of a rock coreling’s.
Entry Two: Attack of the Entries.
Silence hung heavy in the forest as the Warded Man rode upon Twilight Dancer’s back. He and his steed, which was also his closest friend, were among the few who braved the night – in fact they had no fear for it at all – but they were also members of the even fewer who fought back at night. No matter what corelings they came upon and no matter how strong their numbers, the Warded Man and Twilight Dancer stood defiant and strong. On this night, however, they had yet to encounter a single coreling, and that had both wary of their surroundings. Even from a distance, the Warded Man had not seen any wood corelings, which he would have expected in abundance here but instead there were only trees – and no sound. The silence was so strong as though nothing lived. It had the Warded Man not exactly nervous but tensed for the slightest hint of movement. He could feel how Twilight Dancer felt very much the same, but Twilight Dancer was no ordinary horse. From birth he had been trained to be fierce against corelings and obedient to the Warded Man’s every command. Over the years they had formed a bond that transcended words.
Ears twitching, the Warded Man turned his head at the same moment Twilight Dancer did to a distant sound like that of branches snapping. Then again, only closer. Something was coming towards them and that meant they were not likely to last the rest of the night without ridding the world of at least one coreling. Patting Twilight Dancer on the neck, the Warded Man dismounted and flexed his arms and rolled his shoulders. As he did skin became visible revealing tattoos. He had tattoos all over his body. They allowed him to face corelings as he wanted, with his bare hands. If there were many he would remove his cloak to allow all the wards covering his body to work but if there were only a few then he doubted it would be necessary. Still the sounds drew closer, but he could not yet make out what he faced through the trees. Only that it was clear his aggressor was large. Twilight Dancer stood patiently off to the side, ready to join the fight if the Warded Man required help or if there were enough to go around.
Neither had to wait much longer before they could make out the sight of trees being knocked over and tossed aside, seemingly with ease. Something large was beginning to loom into view. A rock coreling? No, it wasn’t quite tall enough and was much more round. What was it? The Warded Man had spent the majority of his life traveling and he had gone far, coming across many corelings until he had thought he knew them all. Right now, however, he couldn’t guess at what he was about to kill. Not yet anyway. It was then that the coreling got so close it swiped at a tree and sent it flying at the Warded Man. Calmly he ducked under the immediate threat but almost before he could recover the coreling was close enough to strike with a huge fist. The ground shattered where the Warded Man had been an instant before, but the coreling had followed his movements and attempted to hit him with a backhand. In response, the Warded Man leapt away and grabbed onto a tree branch before swinging up to crouch atop it. The coreling paused for a moment and the Warded Man took the opportunity to study what he faced and indeed it was no coreling he had faced before. In fact, it didn’t really look like a coreling but more a pile of rocking rocks. It looked more like a rock coreling than a rock coreling. Glowing red eyes stared at him from within dark pits of stone. A wide mouth opened to let out a harsh moan as it took a step towards the tree the Warded Man was on. Its every movement sounded of rocks being ground together. Short stubby legs held the coreling up, so short were they that the Warded Man wondered how it had moved so fast. His eyes drifted to where the coreling had made its entrance and saw trails in the ground as though something heavy had been dragged along. Had the coreling been sliding through the dirt?
Seeing that his opponent was drawing within arm’s reach of the tree, the Warded Man decided it was time to test the coreling’s ability to take a hit. Removing his sandals and diving from the branch feet first, the Warded Man drove his heels into the chest of the coreling; the impact jolting through his legs but nothing else. Bits of rock fell away but there was no light. Confusion fluttered through his mind then as to why the wards on his feet hadn’t activated. Perhaps they were covered with something. Only a second passed before the Warded Man changed his attack and bent in close to slam his fist between the coreling’s eyes. Pain shot up his arm causing him to wince as again his only reward was that of rocks breaking away from the whole. Before the Warded Man could recover from his shock at this fact, he was tugged roughly by his right leg as the coreling slammed him down to the ground. Head bouncing off the hard dirt road, the Warded Man barely had time to react to the fist plummeting towards him. Feeling his legs scape along the massive hand, the Warded Man flipped back onto his hands and then again onto his feet to face his enemy. Again that mouth opened to let out a disturbing moan but the coreling did not move right away. Something unexpected happened then; dirt and rocks began crawling up the coreling’s legs and arm. The Warded Man watched through narrowed eyes as what little damage he had been able to cause was repaired. Once the final rock fell into place, the coreling shot forward taking the Warded Man by surprise as the coreling slid across the ground. He attempted to leap away but the coreling’s long reach proved too much, and the Warded Man found himself in a crushing embrace.
Pain exploded throughout his body as the coreling began to squeeze, straining every bone and squishing every muscle. Was this how he was going to die? Did his journey really end here? Was the Warded Man about to join Arlen Bales? Suddenly there was sweet relief as the coreling released him, and he fell to the ground coughing. Straining to see through blurred vision, the Warded Man could just make out Twilight Dancer pulling its horns free of the coreling’s round body. For a moment it struggled to stay on its feet but then collapsed. Rocks falling away until it were in fact nothing more than a pile of rubble. Slowly rising to his feet, the Warded Man walked over to what remained of the coreling with Twilight Dancer at his side. Determined to know what happened, he began tossing aside rocks and dirt for something – anything – that would give an answer. It didn’t take long before he found what he wanted. At the center of it all was a thin creature, though as tall as a man it was about a third in width. Its skin looked like wrinkled deathly grey parchment. The cause of death was easily located as it appeared one of Twilight Dancer’s horns had stabbed through the abdomen; nearly cutting the coreling in half in the process. Understanding dawned on the Warded Man then. He had discovered a coreling that used the very earth as armour. A rumbling brought the pair’s attention away from the carcass and down the road where they could quite clearly see another such coreling approaching quickly.
“I see,” breathed the Warded Man as he reached into a pack Twilight Dancer carried, “so that’s how it is then.”
As the coreling came within ten feet, blood-red eyes meeting that of its prey, it reached out with large grasping hands and let out a foul triumphant moan. It was then that the Warded Man drew forth a warded battle-hammer and spear and met the charge head-on, feeling the confident weight of both weapons and, as always, the presence of his best friend and protector.
Name: (tentatively named) Earth Coreling
Height: 5’10 – 6’2 without armour, 7-9 feet with armour
Physical appearance: Without armour the coreling appears almost harmless being very thin and without any natural protective armour or claws. Without the ground, its only means of defence are its tiny razor-sharp teeth. Its skin is a dark grey like stone and appears much wrinkled like paper after years of use. There are two large red eyes for it to see with and three slits above the mouth that act as a nose. With armour the coreling appearance is best described as a walking mound of tightly packed rock and dirt. Appearing more round and lightly jagged than covered with muscle. Of formidable height and sporting long arms with large hands on the ends, an earth demon is an intimidating sight even with short stubby legs. The first thing one sees of the coreling is usually its blood red eyes and the last thing they hear is one of its unnerving moans.
Strengths: Can form a thick coat of rock and dirt around its body to protect against attacks; including warded ones. This also offers considerable offensive ability as well. If there is any damage to the armour the coreling can easily repair it so long as it is touching the ground. Is capable of sliding along the ground with ease. Works well with other earth corelings. An earth coreling can literally smell emotion thanks to its third nostril and often hunts by that means.
Weaknesses: When it first rises from the core, it is virtually defenceless. It takes time for the coreling to form its armour – the thicker the armor, the longer it takes. While the armour is forming, or damages are being repaired, the coreling is immobile. Has difficulty with senses while encased in armour. True body is fragile even by human standards. Unable to cross wide spans of water. Earth corelings have a sort of rivalry with rock corelings and will often go out of their way to challenge one, especially if the life of a human is involved, though rarely is this a good idea.
Habitat: Earth corelings are most often found in the mountains, caves or quarries where they can find the strongest material for their armor; more than one landslide has been attributed to them. Sometimes they will explore into other areas but never the desert, unless chasing prey, or near large bodies of water.
Ward: The ward for repelling an earth demon is a semi-circle with three triangles, one behind the other, inside and a jagged line cutting through diagonally.
Entry Three: Lord of the Entries Return of the Entry
Ildila awoke to being shaken violently by someone. Her heart pounded in her chest from her mind being ripped out of the dream she had been in. Uncertain and afraid she lashed out, swinging her arms in defence, but was quickly restrained by strong, familiar hands. Finally her eyes adjusted to the dark enough that she could recognize Hernon, her husband. She was about to throw a few choice words at him for waking her, and so rudely too, when he placed a finger to his lips telling her to remain quite. It was then that she saw the urgency and … fear in his eyes. Her mind started to race then as she considered what the problem could be and the scenario that was foremost in her thoughts was that the wards had failed. She listened to the sounds outside, of the corelings shrieking, but couldn’t make out anything that would indicate that the corelings had breached the magical defences. Hernon was pulling her out of their bed when she leaned in close to whisper in his ear.
“What’s happening? Have the wards failed?”
“Yes,” he replied and her breath caught, “I mean no – I don’t know! All I can tell you is something big trampled through the fields and is in the barn right now and, well, I’m surprised the screams didn’t wake you.” The blood drained from Ildila’s face as she thought of all the animals they had left in the barn. Tears were beginning to slide down her cheeks when she broke from her husband’s grasp and headed for the door.
“Go to Lila’s room and bring her to the kitchen.” Ildila had already been planning on doing exactly what Hernon had just said. There was no chance in the Core that she was going to let some monster get her baby girl. She moved swiftly down the hallway and took a left to enter Lila’s room where she gently lifted the slumbering child into her arms. When she turned around Hernon was waiting at the door anxiously with a hatchet in his hands. Against a coreling, the weapon might as well have been a wooden spoon, but it probably made the man feel just a bit safer.
Hernon ushered his wife through the house until they reached the kitchen where he bent down to uncover the cellar door. They would hide until the morning. Ildila watched as her husband braced himself to lift the wooden panel. It wasn’t that the door was heavy, but it often became stuck and hard to move, Hernon always said he’d find a day to fix it. Just then both adults turned around at the sound of a gurgling roar. Something they had never heard from a coreling before. The baby began to wail in Ildila’s arms as the two looked towards where the sound had come from, frozen with fear. Another loud noise reached them, this time it sounded like wood being snapped, like a wall being smashed to pieces, and that was enough to break Hernon out of his stupor. With a surge of strength and a howl of defiance he throw the cellar door open and stepped to the side, motioning for Ildila to go first. A second crash came from behind causing Ildila to pause for a moment to instinctively turn towards the sound before rushing to the stairs and climbing down.
She reached the bottom and turned to watch her husband begin his descent as a third and very close crash erupted and bits of wood flew over Hernon’s head. They both knew what that meant even though Hernon hadn’t seen the wood and there was terror in his eyes. Ildila reached up with her hand to help her husband down as he began pulling the cellar door shut behind him. Suddenly, a bulky yellowish-green arm with four talons shot into view and grabbed Hernon. The hand squeezed, and the talons ripped through cloth to reach flesh. Ildila listened to the scream that came from her husband’s throat at the pain and, likely, from knowing what was about to happen next. Feeling the fear herself, Ildila began to climb the stairs to aid her husband, the man she loved and had begged her father to marry. She reached out to grab his hand and expected him to do the same but he didn’t. He motioned with one hand for her to back away, to get to safety, and swung the hatchet he still had at the fingers of the coreling while tears flowed from his eyes and blood dripped down his legs. A face came into view behind Hernon and a large mouth opened as he was drawn closer but Ildila had eyes only for her husband and watched him being torn away from her.
“I love you!” He cried just before that large maw clamped shut taking his head, neck, and collar bone with one bite. Blood sprayed out, splattering onto Ildila’s face but she did not so much as flinch as she looked at what remained of her beloved as the coreling’s head pulled away. He was dead, gone; she would never again feel his arms around her when she was sad or feel his lips against hers in joy. She almost reached out again to pull him in, as though that would be enough to bring him back, but then the coreling’s head appeared again for a second bite and seeing that massive mouth open to reveal large jagged teeth with flesh from varying species stuck between them was enough to wake Ildila from her grief for the moment. Grabbing the rope to pull the cellar door closed, she yanked it with all she was worth and it flew shut separating her and her child from the nightmare on the other side. Lila was still screaming in Ildila’s arms and, as the mother looked to the daughter, had not escaped the flurry of blood. Fresh tears welling up in her eyes, Ildila began wiping the blood from her baby as she walked over to the back of the cellar. She reached the wall and turned around to slide down it when an arm burst through the cellar door.
Ildila screamed at the sight as the arm lashed about grabbing at air, trying to find her no doubt. There was still a fair distance between her and the arm’s reach however and so she remained safe with her baby girl. After a few moments the arm slowly, almost grudgingly, retreated. Immediately after, the floorboards above creaked ominously as the coreling moved throughout the kitchen tossing furniture aside and rummaging through cupboards. Sounds of destruction and the sick smacking of lips reached Ildila where she cradled her child. They remained there in silence, Lila having cried herself out, letting the sounds above wash over them. All they had to do was wait till morning and then, then they could figure out what to do next. Ildila had just about nodded off to sleep when she realized something. The noise above had stopped. Perhaps the coreling had moved on?
“I think we’re safe now, Lila.” Something heard Ildila’s whispered words because it rushed across the floor above and stopped directly over the woman whose heart threatened to burst from her chest. She looked at the spot above her head waiting for whatever would come next. There was then more movement above but this time it was dissipating as the coreling moved away from her until it seemed to disappear. The moment was just that, however, the quiet before the storm.
Wood exploded down to bounce upon the cellar floor and through the hole came the coreling dropping to the ground with a great thud that sent dirt flying into the air and causing the house above to shake. Ildila screamed at the sight as she found herself staring into the eyes of a monstrosity. A coreling like none she had ever seen or heard of before. It must have towered eight or nine feet and almost as wide. The creature could only have been described as fat and horrifying. Any muscle it had, and it had displayed evidence of such, was buried deep beneath thick layers of fat. Its oily yellow-green skin was revolting and it exuded a reek that couldn’t be described. Large bulbous red eyes held Ildila’s gaze as a wide smile that revealed long pointed teeth crept across the coreling’s lips. It took a step towards her, and then another as a long arm reached towards her with curved talons.
Ildila turned away from the sight to face the wall and took Lila in her hands. Bending in close she kissed her beautiful, wailing, baby girl on her forehead and gave the best smile she could. Behind her the coreling took another step and she could feel its longing grasp close to her back. Inwardly asking how the Creator could have led her to this point in time, Ildila placed on hand on her child’s head and gave a quick twist. The wailing stopped. No coreling will have you Lila, thought a broken woman just before she felt greedy claws rip into her flesh.
Name: Glutton Coreling
Height: Original height set at 5 feet but potential height could be without limit.
Physical appearance: A glutton coreling begins life as a thin creature with yellow-green skin knowing only hunger. It has long arms with four curved talons on each hand and has a wide mouth with powerful, long sharp teeth. Glutton corelings eat, that is what they do, and all the time, as their hunger is never satisfied. The more they eat the larger they grow. When they return from the core the next night they appear empty, as though all they had eaten had been drained from them, it’s unknown what happens to what they eat other than that it is quickly processed into a pasty substance within their bodies, and what is left is a creature with large folds of skin, like someone wearing clothes much too large for them and their hunger has only increased. By all accounts a glutton coreling’s skin has no limits and will continue to stretch to accommodate all the coreling takes in.
Strengths: Is physically very strong and gets stronger the more it consumes. When its skin is pierced, a paste-like substance, which is what it eats turns into, spills out to disorient attackers before clogging up the wound. A glutton coreling can eat anything organic and, depending on strength levels, just about anything non-organic. Skin is hard to puncture. Has long arms with sharp hook talons on the end for catching prey. Teeth are nearly unbreakable. When a glutton coreling has set its sights on something or someone its determination to consume makes it a terrifying and near-unstoppable force. A glutton coreling will also exhibit surprising intelligence when food is the goal.
Weaknesses: Has no armor and therefore can be hurt by weapons without battle wards. However, there needs to be significant strength behind the blow. Is very single-minded, particularly after first materializing from the core, wishing only to eat and will even ignore danger or potential danger to reach or finish a meal. Isn’t very fast or stealthy making it much the opposite of a bank coreling, which glutton corelings actively attempt to eat. Doesn’t work well with other corelings, including other glutton corelings.
Habitat: Glutton corelings have no single home. They travel where they will and that is always where they can find organic matter to consume.
Ward: The ward for a glutton coreling appears as two capital e’s facing eachother only with the bottom line of the left angled up forty-five degrees, and the bottom line of the right angled down forty-five degrees. It is wise to make the ward as large as possible as its effect on a glutton coreling will be relative to the coreling’s size. If the ward is five inches by three inches it’s not likely to keep out an eight foot tall glutton coreling.
There we have my three entries. It’s taken me longer to finish than I had thought and I’d like to say that’s mostly due to work and other commitments, but I wouldn’t be able to keep a straight hand. See what I did there? Didcha? Never mind…hope you at least enjoyed.
Wow! An amazing set of entries. I love the characters created in the first and third stories and the bond described between Twilight Dancer and the Warded Man. Wonderful job!
