Suoh's Seals

Chapter One: Glowing Blue

"Why are you glowing blue?"

Nell stared at the creature before her.

It was a strange question to be asking. Out loud. Admittedly to herself. Because she knew nobody else was around to answer her. Yet here Nell was, asking it nevertheless.

It was a valid question. After all, the other couple of times she'd snuck off to snoop around the property, the strange beast certainly had not been glowing like a lit lantern.

Having just been recently hired, perhaps nosing about was not the smartest of Nell's ideas. Especially with an employer like Idris Willard.
But the confined creature intrigued Nell. For she had never seen anything quite like it.

She had initially assumed it dead, or at the very least close to it, as it lay in a constant unmoved state against the concrete within its putrid confinements. But tonight was a different story. Tonight it was upright and moving. Well, sort of.

Apparently the effects of glowing gave it the strength to look considerably less like it was about to give up the ghost. In actuality, the new look it was emulating beautified its normally depressing features.

Its short legs appeared as if they could actually support the rest of its bodyweight; Another feat Nell had failed to see until today.

Its long body had unfurled from its usual position around itself. The imperfections, many wounds, and filth plastered over the creature's emaciated frame, were presently blurred by the vibrant azure that was encasing it.

It had a long muzzle, but its mouth remained sealed shut by tightly bound rope. On the bridge of its snout keratin grew into an uneven exposed bony horn-like structure.

Between its huge ears, more traditional-looking horns grew out from its skull. The smooth ivory reached back in a clean motion towards its body.

Although ratty and unkempt, a greyish teal mane grew out from the top of its head. It reached all the way down its long neck, along its protruding spine, and ended enthusiastically bushy at the tip of its lengthy tail.

In addition, the creature was not the only thing strangely lit in blue tonight. The lower portion of the little prison was made up of concrete barriers; the bars that were cemented into it were thoroughly covered in pieces of paper charms. Despite them being out against the elements, and the structure itself looking eroded with age, the talismans remained unaffected. And tonight the squiggles inked into them also shined exuberantly.

The cage that the poor creature was kept in was the furthest one out in the yard of Sir Willard's property. And it was also only one of the few that still actually contained something.

Once exhibits he proudly showed off- or so Nell had heard, Willard's private zoo of exotic beasts now dwindled. But even as age began to catch up to the brutish man, he still boasted himself as a "proud collector". Most of the creatures were now instead preserved in jars, taxidermied, or their bones reconstructed for show inside his office which doubled as his private museum. A place that sent shivers down Nell's spine.

Nell dared herself to step closer towards the cruel spectacle. Squinting through the brightness of the curious light.

Normally the serpent-shaped creature's eyes were lidded shut upon its shadowy sunken face. But for the first time, she witnessed its head rise upwards and its eyes were opened wide.

Its pupils were flat and murky. Nell wondered if the poor thing could even see at all. But its bright verdant irises absorbed the particles of shimmering moonlight greedily.

Nell stared in awe as she regarded the beautiful eyes glistening like brilliant emeralds.

And then it looked away from the night sky and at Nell. Stared directly at her unblinking. Straight into her own marbled grey eyes. Those eyes were so pained, yet glimmered against the reflection of the vivid full moon. It pierced deep into her soul and tugged heavily at Nell's heartstrings.