dizzylagoon
Writer
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2025
- Posts
- 64
Gabriel closed the lid of his suitcase. Was he ready? He had to be. A job like this, an opportunity like this…only came once in a lifetime.
Besides…he wasn’t leaving anything important behind. He stood, glancing around the shabby interior of his one bedroom shanty. It was all he needed, but he’d be lying if he said it was all he wanted. Gabriel was a man of simple means. He didn’t need a manor, didn’t need to swim in gold, never saw the use in vanity. But he could do without the leaking roof and cold winters.
It didn’t matter anymore. This wasn’t home, anymore. In less than four days, he was expected to live in, all things considered, opulence manifest. A little slice of heaven, owned by individuals so high on the societal totem pole they may as well be deified.
The Lomcust Family. A family comprised of the closest thing this country had to a king and queen. Through all of his time living in this prosperous nation, he never had a reason to care about them. Honestly, he had never heard of them, before that night in the bar.
It was a stormy night, and he had just gotten off of a job. It was easy work, cooking some simple meals for a small party of adventurers before they threw themselves into the next death trap they called a dungeon. But after a long, long detour due to some festival, he desperately needed a pick me up.
And that’s when he heard the rumors. The compound way out, past the countryside. That there was a family with more money than the entire parliament, the entire state, held in liquid assets. A family so wealthy, they puppeteer the government like a cheap marionette. Typically, he wouldn’t care. Just some ramblings from an old drunk. No need to die chasing ghost stories through the endless rural streets and forests. But then, they mentioned something else.
That they weren’t human.
That passerby would see them, once in a blue moon. They seemed regal, ethereal. Like they popped out of a storybook. They said they all had this snowy white hair, sort of like wool. They move so gracefully they nearly glide, and paired with the hair, they looked like if a cloud came to life and adorned themselves with all the gems they could find.
But they said a man had stumbled just a little too close. He was shambling, much too drunk to be in such wealthy company. And he bumped into one of them. And for a fleeting moment, you could see the glimmer of sharp fangs. After that night, nobody had ever seen that man again.
It was just some ghost story. It had to be. But Gabriel was interested, due to his other line of work. It was Gabriel’s job to exterminate inhuman, man-eating monsters. They often hid in plain sight, and…this seemed to fit the bill.
And so, for the next few months, he sought to find a way into the inner circle of the Lomcust house. There was no way his networking skills alone could get him into their good graces. From his social position, finding someone who knew someone who knew someone all the way up would take millennia. But the ultra-wealthy always needed servants. How else would they keep their incredibly expansive properties sparkling?
And so, through ruthless hunting for advertisements, he finally found an opening for a butler’s position. It was, expectedly, very scant on the details…but he had to apply. Situations like these were his duty to handle.
Today was the day. He’d pack up his life, and make the long journey out to coordinates in the mountains to work for monsters.
The first of Gabriel’s issues was the weather. Specifically, the endless rainy monsoon he had to fight his way through. As he was on foot, all he could do was endure. Clutching on to his thick cloak and ducking his head from the torrential downpour, he could only focus on taking one step, then another. That, and dodging snakes before they sunk their fangs into his tender shins.
But after just two days of scarcely dodging venomous reptiles, hellbent on ending his journey early, while trying not to drown in the hurricane-like storms that racked his body, he finally made it…to his final issue. That being the high cliffs that separated himself and the manor. The advertisement said there was a clearing on the other side, and advised to prep his horses for the perilous climb.
Yeah, it’d be a lot easier if he could afford horses. No, Gabriel had just two saving graces that just might allow him to survive. One, the storms had finally subsided…and two, a sturdy looking walking stick.
As Gabriel began his ascent, one thought prevailed in his mind. How stupid was he, to put his life in the hands of a stick? If only he could’ve saved his rope, but he used it to pull himself away from the grip of a powerful river’s current several hours prior. This journey had been hell.
As Gabriel approached the peak, he slowed, just for a moment. The air was thinning. He expected this, he could manage this, but…keeping pace was difficult when the air was shallow. And at the peak, he could see the clearing.
It was gorgeous. The clearing, with a radius that must’ve been several acres, glowed as if it was something out of a fairytale. He could see a myriad of distant lights, coming together to illuminate what felt like a piece of another world.
And the castle was even more jaw dropping. The entire building was painted a brilliant It featured tall spires of ivory, gilded with spiral patterns on their tips. The castle had a multitude of different attached sections, and from what he could tell, an archway that stretched over a huge moat. Gabriel was so transfixed that a powerful stray gust of wind caught him off guard!
He slipped, the stony grey gravel under his feet giving way and sending him tumbling down off of the edge of the cliff! In a moment of quick thinking, he barely managed to catch the stick around a scraggly corner of the cliff, just barely saving himself from being impaled by the spikes below him.
God damn it. Maybe bringing the stick was a good call.
After hoisting himself back up the cliff side and rolling back onto solid ground, he let out a silent prayer. He had never truly been one for death-defying stunts, even through his old stint as an adventurer. He placed his hands behind his head, cupping the back of his head and ruffling his raven black, shoulder length hair. He sat up, staring at his hands. They were rugged, wrought with scars. Maybe all of those fights did it. Probably the farming jobs. Didn’t matter. He’d have to soften up, being in a manor like that. He’d have to fit in.
As he finally worked his way down the cliff side and through the clearing, he finally got a good look at where he was to live for the foreseeable future. Just as lavish, only some details were now apparent. It felt as though, from the archway to the statues infront of the huge oak double doors, everything had at least one engraving. Most likely a symbol of a family, that he’s never seen before. Reaching into his pocket, he snatched out his mini-notebook. It was just a handheld pocket-sized notepad, but it was useful for his line of work. Both puzzles in dungeons and important stealth missions required memory he simply didn’t have. He jotted down the symbol, a circle that held two sharp acute triangles hanging down from the top, like incisors in a maw.
Very direct.
He moved forward, clutching his backpack, as he examined the incredibly tall doors. Gabriel was about average height, maybe 5’11, and he felt dwarfed by these doors that loomed high above him.
He dusted off his coat, stowing his cloak to be just a little more personable, and knocked on the door of the Lomcust family manor.
Besides…he wasn’t leaving anything important behind. He stood, glancing around the shabby interior of his one bedroom shanty. It was all he needed, but he’d be lying if he said it was all he wanted. Gabriel was a man of simple means. He didn’t need a manor, didn’t need to swim in gold, never saw the use in vanity. But he could do without the leaking roof and cold winters.
It didn’t matter anymore. This wasn’t home, anymore. In less than four days, he was expected to live in, all things considered, opulence manifest. A little slice of heaven, owned by individuals so high on the societal totem pole they may as well be deified.
The Lomcust Family. A family comprised of the closest thing this country had to a king and queen. Through all of his time living in this prosperous nation, he never had a reason to care about them. Honestly, he had never heard of them, before that night in the bar.
It was a stormy night, and he had just gotten off of a job. It was easy work, cooking some simple meals for a small party of adventurers before they threw themselves into the next death trap they called a dungeon. But after a long, long detour due to some festival, he desperately needed a pick me up.
And that’s when he heard the rumors. The compound way out, past the countryside. That there was a family with more money than the entire parliament, the entire state, held in liquid assets. A family so wealthy, they puppeteer the government like a cheap marionette. Typically, he wouldn’t care. Just some ramblings from an old drunk. No need to die chasing ghost stories through the endless rural streets and forests. But then, they mentioned something else.
That they weren’t human.
That passerby would see them, once in a blue moon. They seemed regal, ethereal. Like they popped out of a storybook. They said they all had this snowy white hair, sort of like wool. They move so gracefully they nearly glide, and paired with the hair, they looked like if a cloud came to life and adorned themselves with all the gems they could find.
But they said a man had stumbled just a little too close. He was shambling, much too drunk to be in such wealthy company. And he bumped into one of them. And for a fleeting moment, you could see the glimmer of sharp fangs. After that night, nobody had ever seen that man again.
It was just some ghost story. It had to be. But Gabriel was interested, due to his other line of work. It was Gabriel’s job to exterminate inhuman, man-eating monsters. They often hid in plain sight, and…this seemed to fit the bill.
And so, for the next few months, he sought to find a way into the inner circle of the Lomcust house. There was no way his networking skills alone could get him into their good graces. From his social position, finding someone who knew someone who knew someone all the way up would take millennia. But the ultra-wealthy always needed servants. How else would they keep their incredibly expansive properties sparkling?
And so, through ruthless hunting for advertisements, he finally found an opening for a butler’s position. It was, expectedly, very scant on the details…but he had to apply. Situations like these were his duty to handle.
Today was the day. He’d pack up his life, and make the long journey out to coordinates in the mountains to work for monsters.
The first of Gabriel’s issues was the weather. Specifically, the endless rainy monsoon he had to fight his way through. As he was on foot, all he could do was endure. Clutching on to his thick cloak and ducking his head from the torrential downpour, he could only focus on taking one step, then another. That, and dodging snakes before they sunk their fangs into his tender shins.
But after just two days of scarcely dodging venomous reptiles, hellbent on ending his journey early, while trying not to drown in the hurricane-like storms that racked his body, he finally made it…to his final issue. That being the high cliffs that separated himself and the manor. The advertisement said there was a clearing on the other side, and advised to prep his horses for the perilous climb.
Yeah, it’d be a lot easier if he could afford horses. No, Gabriel had just two saving graces that just might allow him to survive. One, the storms had finally subsided…and two, a sturdy looking walking stick.
As Gabriel began his ascent, one thought prevailed in his mind. How stupid was he, to put his life in the hands of a stick? If only he could’ve saved his rope, but he used it to pull himself away from the grip of a powerful river’s current several hours prior. This journey had been hell.
As Gabriel approached the peak, he slowed, just for a moment. The air was thinning. He expected this, he could manage this, but…keeping pace was difficult when the air was shallow. And at the peak, he could see the clearing.
It was gorgeous. The clearing, with a radius that must’ve been several acres, glowed as if it was something out of a fairytale. He could see a myriad of distant lights, coming together to illuminate what felt like a piece of another world.
And the castle was even more jaw dropping. The entire building was painted a brilliant It featured tall spires of ivory, gilded with spiral patterns on their tips. The castle had a multitude of different attached sections, and from what he could tell, an archway that stretched over a huge moat. Gabriel was so transfixed that a powerful stray gust of wind caught him off guard!
He slipped, the stony grey gravel under his feet giving way and sending him tumbling down off of the edge of the cliff! In a moment of quick thinking, he barely managed to catch the stick around a scraggly corner of the cliff, just barely saving himself from being impaled by the spikes below him.
God damn it. Maybe bringing the stick was a good call.
After hoisting himself back up the cliff side and rolling back onto solid ground, he let out a silent prayer. He had never truly been one for death-defying stunts, even through his old stint as an adventurer. He placed his hands behind his head, cupping the back of his head and ruffling his raven black, shoulder length hair. He sat up, staring at his hands. They were rugged, wrought with scars. Maybe all of those fights did it. Probably the farming jobs. Didn’t matter. He’d have to soften up, being in a manor like that. He’d have to fit in.
As he finally worked his way down the cliff side and through the clearing, he finally got a good look at where he was to live for the foreseeable future. Just as lavish, only some details were now apparent. It felt as though, from the archway to the statues infront of the huge oak double doors, everything had at least one engraving. Most likely a symbol of a family, that he’s never seen before. Reaching into his pocket, he snatched out his mini-notebook. It was just a handheld pocket-sized notepad, but it was useful for his line of work. Both puzzles in dungeons and important stealth missions required memory he simply didn’t have. He jotted down the symbol, a circle that held two sharp acute triangles hanging down from the top, like incisors in a maw.
Very direct.
He moved forward, clutching his backpack, as he examined the incredibly tall doors. Gabriel was about average height, maybe 5’11, and he felt dwarfed by these doors that loomed high above him.
He dusted off his coat, stowing his cloak to be just a little more personable, and knocked on the door of the Lomcust family manor.
