With the Roc's Divine Protection--The Roc
By Natasha Weber
"When you say the boy was ivory and the wizard was obsidian, what do you mean?" Clarice asked the Roc as he was telling her the story.
"All creatures of Dru were made of rock at first--excluding me. They were made of ivory or obsidian. That was just has things were. Until Connie changed things. Let us make a deal, sweet lady. I shall tell you my story, and you will tell me yours. If I find you worthy, I will fight with you against the Wicked Goddess." Annabelle-Roc said firmly.
Clarice nodded. "Deal."
The Roc looked up at the sky. "Connie ran away--I came with him. Four more years past, and we lived together in peace in a nearby city named after the leader who lived there."
***
Connie kept the Roc safe from the rest of the world as he found work in the nearby city of Klive. The Roc stayed home all day while Connie worked.
Connie had a job as a farmhand--and it was hard physical labor.
The Roc never saw him doing the work, but Connie would always come home exhausted with dirt on his ivory cheeks. He would lean against the Roc and close his eyes.
The Roc would try to get Connie to play with him, but Connie was just too tired. Connie said to his brother, "I'm sorry, Roc. I'm just too tired."
The Roc cooed soothingly and wrapped his brother in a wing.
"This is really hard work..." Connie said. "But it's worth it to keep you safe and happy."
The Roc felt worthless; he wanted to cry like the people of Dry did, but he couldn't. He was just a bird.
***
Things got easier for the both of them as time went on, Connie got used to how difficult his work was, and forced himself to play with his brother nonetheless. It actually helped him to relax when he got home to play with the Roc. His mood picked up, and it made it easier for him to go to work everyday knowing he had someone he loved to come home to.
Before, Connie had kept his brother cooped up in the house, but eventually, the Roc got too big, and so Connie told his brother to explore far away from town when Connie was working.
The Roc found many plains to explore--from rocky to grass to stony. His red eyes were filled with wondrous sights, and he felt genuinely free. He wanted to show Connie all of these things, but he was too busy.
The Roc was often not careful enough. He got noticed by multiple people in multiple towns, and they pointed at him excitedly and fearfully. That was the beginning of why they began worshipping him.
As years went by, the people of Dru knew of his existence and began sacrificing to him. Connie caught wind of it and said to his brother angrily, "you haven't been careful! They know you exist! The obsidian wizard will find us! More importantly--these sacrifices... Roc, they're sacrificing people to you! You have to stop this!"
The Roc cocked his head to the side in a question.
Connie sighed. "I know what to do, but it will be dangerous. I'll be your confidant. I'll make myself known as your holy messenger, and I'll tell them exactly what you want, alright? These acts they're doing for you are barbaric. Just promise me... If Father finds out, you'll protect me?"
The Roc reared up and spread his wings threateningly and cawed ferociously.
Connie chuckled and embraced his brother. "Of course you will!"
***
At first, the many stony people of Dru came to Connie's house to ask the Roc for favors. Connie instructed his brother on what to do when these people came. Some of the simpler tasks Connie did for the Roc. Connie gave people gold if they asked for it--although he had not much--and he would help them with any household chores they wanted him to. But if something bigger were needed, such as curing someone's sickness, the Roc had to step up.
Neither Connie nor the Roc realized the Roc had the power to cure sickness. It was only when a tearful mother came to them with her sick toddle--and Connie was crying that he could not help her--that the Roc stepped in and surprised everyone by taking the toddler into his wings and curing its sickness.
Connie was overjoyed as was the mother. The mother bowed to the Roc, sobbing heavily and curtsied deeply. "I can't thank you enough."
Their good deeds caught up to them after that. The people in the city built them a temple big enough to contain the Roc and Connie.
The Roc was just following Connie's lead, who had previously been doing most of the work and good deeds. But they worshipped the Roc and not Connie, which confused the bird.
Their followers made ridiculous clothing for both the Roc and Connie that matched. It was a green robe for Connie and a green cloak for the Roc. They also gave Connie and the Roc a circlet made of gold.
Connie and the Roc made it clear that sacrificing stone people would anger them, and that cracking eggs at the altars people were erecting all around the world were much preferred. In time, Connie quit his job as a farmhand and devoted himself to being the Roc's messenger. He and his brother were always busy.
But, Connie got sick as time passed. He was coughing, and limestone was spreading from one of his ears.
***
One day, the obsidian wizard showed up at their temple. Connie stared at him with fear in his eyes.
"Connie, enough time has passed. You have been silly. Come on home. Father will take care of you. Let's get rid of that limestone."
Connie hung his head. "I...I..."
The obsidian wizard raised his voice. "Come here, Connie."
Connie walked down the temple steps sullenly. The obsidian wizard seized his arm roughly. The Roc was angry.
The Roc fluttered downwards next to his brother and screeched threateningly at the wizard. The obsidian wizard, shocked for a moment, released his son. The Roc grabbed his brother and tucked him protectively in a wing.
The wizard was unphased. "Give him to me, Roc, or he will pay the price."
Connie was frozen with fear. He never knew how to face his father. He simply hoped his father would go as he clung to his bird-brother fearfully.
The wizard smirked and said, "you will give him to me--I have no doubts."
And with that, the wizard disappeared.
The Roc cooed worriedly. Connie sighed and smiled. "You know, he still has all this power over me. If it weren't for you, I would have gone with him. What's wrong with me?"
The Roc wished he could tell his brother that there was nothing wrong with him, but he was a bird. The Roc released his brother from the protection of his wing, and Connie leaned against him as he nestled down.
"I have bruises on the inside and out from that man. He's always in the back of my mind, telling me I can't succeed or do anything worthwhile. I want to be accepted by him, more than anything."
The Roc needed to become human somehow--so he could talk to his brother. His brother was chained to this man he called father, and he could not break free. His brother was the kindest, most selfless person he had ever known, and he had not a bone of confidence or aggression in him. But he needed those bones, or else he would end up right back with his father.
***
"He was silent much of the time from then on. He still helped me with all the good deeds I was doing for others, but he was distant and aloof. I kept a sharp eye on him, but once I took it off, he went back to our father."
Clarice had tears in her eyes. "Why?"
Annabelle-roc shook his head. "I never understood it. The creatures of Dru... They create bonds with their parents. It doesn't matter whether they love their parents or not--they want to be accepted by them. They need it in order to function properly. Connie couldn't function properly without it. He wanted so badly to be loved that he took any abuse thrown at him by his father in an attempt to get it."
"How did he...?" Clarice asked.
The Roc looked up. "I went travelling to a distant land to heal a dying, obsidian elf. I tried over and over again to get him to come with me, but he wouldn't."
***
"Go ahead! I'll be fine while you're gone. I promise I won't go with my father--even if he shows up. Besides, you left me with all these guards!" Connie said to the worried Roc while they were inside their temple. "You've postponed this for two days already while you're worrying about me!"
The Roc enveloped his brother in his wings and Connie chuckled, patting his bird-brother's wing. "There, there... I'm an adult. I can look after myself."
The Roc finally was convinced to leave.
Connie watched him go with tears in his eyes. Half of him was limestone now. His father had consistently been sending him letters that told Connie he was sorry and wanted to make up. He also told Connie he would cure his limestone and then let him go back to the Roc.
What he actually did was use Connie as a bargaining tool.
***
When the Roc came back from his venture Connie was nowhere to be found. The Roc was in a panic. But one of his guards read a letter Connie had supposedly left for him.
I'm going back to father. If you want to meet up with us, go to the mountain.
The Roc knew that Connie was speaking of the mountain he and Connie grew up on. But he also had a feeling Connie was directed by his father to write that letter.
The Roc was angry. He screeched and took off with worry gripping his heart.
***
The Roc arrived at the mountain and spied his brother and the obsidian wizard in the cave of the mountain where he used to live. Connie was reading something while sitting on the stone floor. The obsidian wizard had him trained well. Connie didn't even need to be chained up to be kept there.
The Roc was too big to fit in the cave. He stood on the mountainside and peered in. The Roc shrieked in rage when he saw that the obsidian wizard had cut Connie's stone arm off.
Connie looked at the Roc with a dead expression and said nothing. The obsidian wizard was smirking. "You want him back?"
The Roc tried to snap at the wizard, but Connie jumped in the way. The Roc withdrew, stunned at this mind control the wizard seemed to have over Connie.
"I have to live here now..." Connie said to the Roc.
The Roc was heartbroken. He cooed sadly. The obsidian wizard put a hand on Connie's shoulder. "Connie wishes to stay with me. He wishes to be of use to his old man. What about you? Won't you help me?"
The Roc's red eyes were on fire with rage, and the wizard knew it. The wizard continued, "you are now being worshipped as I always knew you would be. You should let me be your advisor. Connie will come as well."
The Roc looked at his brother pleadingly. He wondered if this was what he truly wanted. Connie looked down at his feet. "He'll be a better advisor and assistant to you than I was. Don't worry, I'll still be there with you."
But you will only be there as a slave. As a tool for the wizard to threaten me with to make sure I don't disobey him. The Roc thought to himself.
"I have rigged my son, by the way. I planted a flame in his heart. He will be consumed by the fire if you kill me." The wizard explained coldly. "Now, let me rule over all the creatures in the land as your advisor."
***
"I let him rule over me, and therefore every creature in the land, for three years. I had to watch him crush my brother's spirit, threaten him, and turn him into little more than a lapdog to fetch the obsidian wizard things he wanted. I, on the other hand, was forced to do things I didn't want to do. He made me eat people. Old enemies of his who had long challenged his dark ways. You see, the obsidian wizard was once in a council with other wizards. The first wizards ever to exist. There were seven wizards in the council, and they all had their own idea about how to use their powers.
"The obsidian wizard wanted his wife to reign over all other people with him. But she and the other wizards disagreed. They wanted to use their powers only here and there and only for good or harmless things. The good wizards caught wind that the obsidian wizard was in control of the Roc--and that was why, instead of helping the people of Dru, the Roc was instead abusing the people who worshipped him. Forcing them to erect monuments to the obsidian all around and forcing them to donate gold to the wizard under pretenses that it was for the Roc. The people who worshipped the Roc were treated no better than slaves."
Clarice listened intently. "The good wizards came to stop you, right?"
"Right, and I ate them. I can never get that out of my mind. They were innocent, good people. It will forever be a stain on my conscious. My brother watched me suffer for three years, struggling with the things I had done, and he could watch me no longer.
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