Fighting for the Dullahan

There are always rules when it comes to these things and the first rule is to never cause too much chaos in a universe that isn’t yours. It’s more along the lines of being a good house guest and not causing too much damage to their bathroom after eating or drinking too much.  ~Andrew on when accessing other universes

Pargon Narokath Pargon Pargon Redgamor Pargon Mantorok

The sound of all seven whispered runes surrounded Andrew as he knelt down on the ground while taking a deep breath. He could see his body disappearing as he nodded his head. “Okay, invisibility is active and now I can start exploring.” He didn’t know much about this world other than knowing that it seemed quite similar to the movies set in during the time of the Wild West that his mother watches. But he knew better to than just simply look around, especially with how he looks and dresses. As much as he would rather wear clothes that match this time frame he needed money above all else and that was going to take a little creativity on his end.

He moved through the town, carefully not making any signs of his existence when he heard the sound of a woman begging for help. He followed the sound of her voice and placed his ear to the wall. He could hear her sobbing, begging for whatever was happening to end. The hairs on the back of his neck started to rise as he could hear the cold voice of a man simply relishing in her torment. His hand clenched tightly as he shook his head. Even though he had his rules, this was the one exception he had to make: intervene if the need was great.

He put his watch to his mouth as he spoke softly. “Gigas knuckle.” Green data started to swirl around his right arm, encasing it in armor with the forearm and fist portion starting to grow several times bigger than his own limb before slamming it straight through the building. The woman screamed in surprise and escaped in the debris he made. As he stepped through his invisibility started to wear off as a bright blue rune started to burn brightly in the darkness. As he looked around he could hear someone clapping while he kept his calm. “Bravo, I must admit this whole endeavor has just become something completely new.”

Andrew couldn’t see the man who was talking, but he could feel his gaze on him. Even with the rune’s light he was unable to see anything past his face. “I’m curious, what is this woman to you?” Andrew continued to scan the dark as he spoke with a clear voice. “I do not know her, but whatever you are doing to her stops right now.” The man grinned as he had an idea. “Tell you what, since you seem to be new to this town I will give you a fighting chance. Prove to me you are capable and you can claim her.” Andrew clenched his teeth in silent anger. The man in question treated her as a slave and he now had even more reason to stop him.  “Fine, I will play your game.”

The man chuckled and started to laugh as Andrew started to hear whispers. At first he thought it was his own mind playing tricks, but then he felt something stab into his stomach. He coughed up blood, groaning in pain as the man chuckled. “Some hero you turned out to be. Not even able to save yourself from my traps.” Andrew continued to hear the whispers and then felt his body drop to the floor. When he started to rise to his feet he saw the wound was gone. But now he could hear something scraping along the ground. As he raised his head, he could see a deformed mutant standing over him with a massive two handed greatsword swinging right for his head.

He immediately flattened himself to the ground, his mind racing to figure out the way this man works. He remembered being impaled, but now there was some kind of monster ready to kill him? This had to be some kind of sanity attack Andrew thought to himself. And that only meant one thing for Andrew to do: beat madness with mindlessness. The monster swung its blade at Andrew again, but this time he was ready for it. He saw the face of the blade and threw his large fist to launch the monster several feet back. Not forgetting this as an opportunity, he put his hand on the ground as a red rune started to glow brightly from his right arm.

Pargon Nethlek Pargon Pargon Redgamor Pargon Chattur’gha

The man watched as seven runes started to rise around Andrew’s body, wondering what he just did before watching the circle slam into the ground. The sound of glass shattering could be heard as the illusions started to melt away, leaving behind not only himself but the one who was speaking to him. To Andrew this man seemed to be looking like he had seen better days. His hand alone told him that this guy must have been sick at best. But he seemed to be taking notes about his power as he spoke with a calculating voice. “Fascinating, not many people could be able to knock out what I create. I shall have to take note of that in the future.” As he turned away, he felt the ground shake underneath him as Andrew slammed his fist into the ground. “Deal is a deal, where is the girl?” The man simply sighed and pointed into the darkness. “She is over there, but keep in mind she is not what you would expect.” He walked back into the darkness as he smiled. The fact he had these powers were interesting, now he just needed to find their source.

He waited for the man to vanish before running back into the darkness while keeping the gauntlet on his hand. “Hey, you can come out now. The man is gone.” He could hear the girl sob softly as she spoke up. “How do I know if this is real? What if you are an illusion?” Andrew started to work things out in his mind as he did his best to explain. “I have the power to dispel magic, illusions being one of them. I promise that you will never need to worry with me. I will never hurt you.” He could hear a body stirring and he was taken by surprise by what he saw. The girl was headless, but he was more curious why not only it could still walk but he heard her voice. As he approached the body, he walked around the female form. She was fully clothed in a green dress with boots that appeared to be size 11. He almost wanted to poke her to see if she was real but before he could poke her shoulder he heard the voice again. “I’m sorry, I forgot to mention about my sister. I’m in the back, he put my head in a jar.”

He blinked in confusion as he moved into the back to see the head sized jar. “Did I hear you right? Did you say a j....” he stopped talking when he saw the head.  He blushed brightly, almost feeling a crush as he saw how beautiful she was. Her hair was cropped short and golden in color and her eyes were a brilliant green to match her dress. He was almost speechless, which made her blush as she spoke. “Sorry, you see I’m not really human.” But she looked at him now with a confused expression as she spoke again. “But you aren’t afraid. Why aren’t you afraid?”

He snapped back into reality, his once laser like focus switched with shyness with this beautiful girl as he spoke. “Well, there’s a reason for that. Mind if I borrow your body for a second?” The girl nodded her head, but still was confused as he brought the body back to her. He had been holding her right wrist, positioning her hand over where his heart was. She just looked more confused with his actions, but her eyes went wide in as much surprise as his when he saw her as she felt the heartbeats. She could feel four heartbeats instead of the normal two that a human was supposed to have. She nodded her head, understanding what he meant as she spoke once more. “I understand what you mean. Thank you for saving both my life and my sister’s life. My name is Dulla Coryea and you have already met my sister Hana. What is your name?” He continued to blush as he then helped her head out of the jar as he spoke with a shy tone. “My name is Andrew, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

He put her head back into the body’s hands as she smiled appreciatively. He was unsure what to say to her as he looked at the ground. But as looked at the ground speechless, Hana sensed his shyness and moved her arms so that Dulla could look up at Andrew to speak to him. “What kind of magic did you use? I have seen some magic in my life but I never seen anything like you.” Andrew’s eyes then lit up, smiling happily as he showed Dulla his right arm again. “It’s a form of rune magic. The basic spells require a noun, a verb and the color responding to it. In this case I used the red rune to knock out the illusions.” Dulla’s head shifted to make a nod, listening intently as he spoke. “Do you have any other colors?” He then showed her his left arm and forehead. While the left arm had a green colored rune, his forehead had a blue rune. “I also use a purple rune, but it’s not a symbol on my body. The second set of heartbeats you heard comes from the creature that uses that rune.”

Dulla nodded her head, absorbing the knowledge she could learn from him as he then had a question. “So here’s my question, are you a robot or something?” Dulla had a confused expression on her face when he asked that. “Ro...bot? What is this robot?” Andrew maintained his quizzical look as he nodded his head. “Okay, that’s a no,” he said while continuing to think. “I was just trying to figure out how you are able to survive while being headless.” Her eyes lit up in response when she figured out his question. “Oh! I understand what you are trying to ask me now. You see I’m a dullahan which is why I can be able to function while being headless.”

Andrew then started to nod his head in response to her question. “So, are you some kind of undead then?” She shook her head while giggling. “No, it’s not like that. I was born like any human would be born.” Andrew nodded his head again, now understanding that she is a flesh and blood body as he comprehended her nature. “Are you able to put your head back on your shoulders.” She nodded her head as she then placed her head back on her neck while saying as she giggled,”Ta-da.”

Andrew smiled and continued to blush, to him she was very beautiful and quite adorable. “So what did you want to do now?” Dulla seemed uncertain with that question, her feet shifting as she contemplated the question. “I don’t know, but I don’t want to be taken by that man again.” She hugged her body, shuddering at the memories in her head and everything that he had done to her before Andrew touched her hand. “If you like, I can travel along with you Dulla.”

Dulla blushed in surprise when he said that. “A...are you sure you want to travel with me?” She seemed worried but she couldn’t help but see Andrew smile kindly. He nodded his head happily as he spoke. “Yup,” he said simply. She smiled kindly in kind as she nodded her head. “Thank you.” As she got up, she stumbled a little on her feet and was about to fall before Andrew caught her. Both them blushed as Dulla looked into his eyes. “Thank you, I guess Hana might be a little bit tired.”

Andrew nodded his head as he looked at her feet shyly. “If you like, I can give you and your sister a foot massage.” He closed his eyes tightly, almost expecting her to be repulsed but as a couple minutes passed, he opened his eyes a little to see Dulla tilting her head in confusion to his reaction. “Why did you close your eyes? Are you scared of me?” Andrew blushed and shook his head. “I was thinking you would be angry about me asking that.” She smiled kindly as she giggled. “Oh no, I’m not angry with you. You were one of the nicest people that I had met. If you like you can massage my feet.” She placed her feet near him as he blushed, his hearts beating hard in his chest. He had not expected this outcome.

He slipped her shoes carefully off her feet, blushing as he saw her bare soles. Just like everywhere else on her body her feet were breath taking. Not to mention her feet were size 11, some of the biggest feet he had ever seen with a girl. As he placed her feet on his lap, he couldn’t help but marvel at her feet. As he kneaded her soles, she giggled and cooed happily at the sensations. He had looked at her toes, noticing they weren’t painted but he didn’t care. He was just happy that Dulla wasn’t too scared of his liking of her feet.

He continued to massage her soles before his finger slid along the pale skin. A soft gasp escaped her lips as she gave a cute smile. Andrew blushed again as he looked up at Dulla. “Are you ticklish?” Dulla squeaked cutely and nodded her head as she curled her toes in response to that question. Andrew blushed brightly and continued to gently tickle the sole of her right foot, watching as she squeaked and giggled happily. His fingers explored every inch of her large pale feet, even wiggling her toes one at a time as her cute laugh started to flow freely from her lips.

He had almost lost all track of time before seeing on his watch that thirty minutes had passed. He had given her a break with Dulla with a bright pink blush on her cheek as her toes wiggled slowly in relief. “Sorry about that, I lost all track of time.” Dulla giggled and shook her head. “That’s okay, you were quite gentle.” Andrew blushed to her response as he spoke. “Thank you.” But as he watched Dulla put her shoes on, he then realized something. He had sighed as he looked at the ground. “Great, and now I just remembered that I do not have any clothes to match this area, let alone any money.” Dulla slipped her other shoe on as she seemed to have an idea. “Wait right here, let me see what I can do.”

She walked away for what seemed to him like an hour before she came back with some clothes for him to wear. She had been able to locate a variety of clothes that matched with the colors of the runes on his body. Along with a pair of tan pants and a pair of boots with socks she had also found him a red button up shirt, a green vest, a belt with purple markings, and a hat with a single long blue feather that had been Hana’s idea. Andrew smiled appreciatively at Dulla before changing into his new attire. He set his clothes aside as he presented his new look to the dullahan. “Well, be honest, how do I look?” Dulla smiled and clapped her hands. “Now you can be able to blend in.”

Andrew nodded in response as he took out a small pouch on his person. Dulla was unsure what the purpose of the bag was as he grabbed his clothes. But her eyes went wide with wonder as he put everything in and the bag didn’t change in size. “Wow, how did you do that?” Andrew looked at the bag as he smiled. “I got this bag a long time ago from helping out a priest. It’s useful to have when you don’t want your presence known. So, shall we get going?” Dulla nodded her head as she blushed, holding her hand out to him before leaving the building together. Dulla didn’t know why but she felt strange with him. Though he was very peculiar, something about him made her feel safe. She knew deep down inside that he would fight to protect her.