#ikuchi

The oceans are the perfect creators of legend and myth. An endless plain of blue that can be still as glass one moment then turn to a dark boiling storm of mountainous waves and unabated fury. A world that delves so far down that light cannot even reach, and gives home to creatures one would believe impossible. To travel this realm, to experience its vast loneliness and mystery, is to embark into one of the great unknowns. What fate does the sea hold for you? What will you find out in that blue void? The many tales that arise in dockside taverns will let you know that there are plenty of horrors and mysteries to be found out there. So many stories of great serpents and vast leviathans. Of ethereal ships and alluring maiden voices that come from inhuman throats. They are always fascinating to listen to, but there is certainly a bit of magic lost from them as the world grows more known. The strange beasts of the oceans have names now, and are mortal flesh like the rest of us. The bizarre phenomenon are understood and the mysterious grows more mundane. I would think that this knowledge has slightly dulled the luster of myth, but then there are times I think it makes it shine even brighter. Where understanding lets us realize the true beauty of these encounters, and how our dissections of these legends reveal something even more bizarre. One such species that comes to mind is the Ikuchi, a fabled serpent that slithers through the depths of the ocean. While the Ikuchi is not the biggest, most dangerous, creature out there, its body has certainly catapulted it to a mythical level in sailor's eyes. Whales and such have the great bulk that dwarfs ships and makes you believe in ocean giants, but the Ikuchi is one that makes you question reality. It is a beast of impossible length, its serpentine body seemingly stretching farther than one can see. Those who glimpse it slithering beneath their ships say that it has no end, never seeing a head or tail of this creature. Legend claims that it would take an Ikuchi hours to pass by a boat, though many don't stick around to truly test it. While I must say that this species does indeed have ends to it, that really doesn't rob the awe that comes from seeing a specimen in the flesh. It is still an insanely long creature, putting many land serpents to shame! They stretch onward for hundreds of feet, the sheer size making it almost impossible to get a real measurement. How can an animal even survive at such ludicrous lengths? How can it ensure its entire body remains unharmed by predators and nature if there is so much of it to protect? Even so, how long does it take nutrients and blood to make it from one end to the other?! The answer to those questions have turned out to be absolutely fascinating. The truth of the Ikuchi shows that my previous statements are wrong. I keep saying "a creature" and "an animal." I refer to it as a singular entity when, in fact, it is a massive colony of many. The Ikuchi is indeed a species, but every individual monster we see is actually a collective that is strung together in this serpentine form. A close look at a specimen reveals it to be made up of hundreds, if not thousands, of fleshy bulbs, sacs and tendrils. At first we believed them to be mere appendages and growths, but now we know that each individual piece is its own entity. All the parts are members of the colony that have specially grown with a purpose in mind, with a role to fill. Some are meant to help it swim, some grow to help it sift nutrients from the water, and others develop to defend the collective from harm. It is how such an absurdly long specimen can survive, as every inch of it is its own cluster of individuals that can live, eat and grow on their own. It is essentially like a caravan train that has no end, each cart with its own people and supplies who can fend for themselves and get what they need. This would mean that this "serpent" technically has no end! There is no true head or tail, just more individuals that happen to sit at the ends of the great chain. Indeed, the ends form special growths to help it navigate towards promising waters, but it is no true brain. If you were to chop the Ikuchi in half, the two halves would simply swim their own ways without any issue. That is pretty much how this snake-like form "reproduces," as a colony gets so long it eventually breaks into pieces. They simply get longer as more of these fleshy bulbs split and grow, more individuals joining the everlasting serpent. While it is a fleshy long chain, it isn't defenseless. It certainly would seem ripe for predation, what with no "head" to spot danger or obvious weapons to ward off attack. In truth, special individuals line the entire body that are capable of producing a fluid that turns water into thick choking slime. When a cluster feels a disturbance nearby, these pieces squirt out the liquid and coat the section with this goo. Anything that tries to bite them will get a mouthful of nasty gunk instead. Even the waters around this segment will be clouded with slime, clogging gills and throats of those who get too close. It has also been found that these agitated clusters will alert their neighbors, telling them to fire off their slime glands as well. This ensures that the predator doesn't just simply move down the line to a cleaner segment. It also causes the entire area to be quickly consumed by the slime, which I feel leads to the legends of this "serpent" being so great and deadly that the seas empty in their presence. This defense mechanism sounds pretty solid for foes in the water, but it doesn't seem so threatening to those above on the surface. Why would fishermen and sailors flee the presence of an Ikuchi, when all it does is make slime? Well, first off, an ocean of slime is not an easy one for a ship to move in. Rudders get stuck, oars get caught in the gunk, and sailboats are held fast by the floating patch of glue. As for fishing lines and nets, forget about those! Once they get swallowed by the goo, there is no getting them back. Even if you did, the cleaning would take days to get it all off! So people don't want to get stranded if one of these colonies below get agitated. The other thing is that this species is also worried about threats from above. If the source of irritation is on the top or surface, the slime is unleashed and also the segment of the creature will begin to rise and writhe. As it gets closer to the surface, it coils and loops, spreading more gunk and looking to entangle those that would dare threaten it. This is to get their foes covered in thick slime, which can sink seabirds and asphyxiate other creatures. If a boat happens to be near an angered Ikuchi, the slithering segment may find them and believe them a threat. One of the coils will land upon the ship and release its slime, hoping to choke this strange wooden beast. Though the sailors don't have to worry about drowning in goo, they do have to worry about the sticky glue that is starting to fill up their vessel. If they can't escape the segment fast enough, or can't remove the gunk quickly, their boat can be mired in this gooey bog and sink. If that happens, and you fall into this slime cloud, your chances aren't looking so good. It will slow your limbs and make swimming difficult, causing you to tire out quickly. Simple acts like getting into your boat or swimming to safety are difficult chores in this gunk, and many tend to drown when they lose the energy needed to keep them afloat. So thus, many are quick to paddle as fast as they can away from an Ikuchi, lest they suffer this fate. And it is not like you can just wait for it to leave, because that may take a couple hours!

It shouldn't come as a shock that this species is seen with some fear and reverence, as its sheer size is impossible to ignore. Some claim it to be a spirit of the ocean, while others suggest it is born from the souls of those who drown at sea. Its never ending body is often used as a symbol of eternity or for a path that stretches onward forever. I have seen it used on clothing and equipment of those who have sworn themselves to an eternal duty, and warriors tend to liken it to an unending march. As for the actual animal itself, it remains unbothered by most. Its flesh is watery and useless as food, and hunting one will only result in a slime logged boat. It seems for now that these massive colonies will be left to their mindless swimming, forever drifting in the void. It makes me wonder if they even know we exist, if they are aware of any of the life around them. Perhaps they remain ignorant to everything that isn't a direct threat, and somehow didn't hear the delighted squealing of a dryad seeing her first specimen slithering beneath her boat.      

Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian -----------------------------------------

“Ikuchi”

(Snake Summoner Mayu AU, because I have no control over my brain.)

It is bitterly cold in the mountains.

Ikuchi should not be here. She should be nesting down in a warm cave, belly fat and full, sleeping til the spring.

But the summoner has commanded she undertake this mission. It is a task beneath the summoner’s dignity, but the client is willing to pay good coin for its completion.

Enter the samurai nest. Find the hatchling of the client’s kin. Kill it.

She had been selected for her pale scales, her small size, her venom.

The summoner had remarked these made her perfect for infiltrating the snowy mountains the nest was hidden in with a cruel smile.

Manda is all too willing to swallow even small snakes like her who refuse or question the summoner’s commands.

She does not wish to be eaten yet.

So she slithers through another snowdrift, desperately praying to the Sage that she won’t freeze before she even arrives.

She stopped being able to see a while ago.

Her tongue feels like it will snap clean off if she tastes the icy air too frequently.

Only the faintest sensation of vibrations keeps her from curling in on herself to preserve whatever smidgeon of warmth she has left.

Only that makes her push her frozen muscles to keep going, heading towards rather than away as her instincts feebly hiss.

Where there are vibrations, there are humans.

Where there are humans, there is heat.

She will not freeze if there is heat.

She will not die on this Sage-forsaken mountain. She will not.

She forces herself to crawl forwards.

Ikuchi is so so cold.

She stiffly twines herself up and around something not-alive, slithering cautiously over new terrain with tiny bumps in it.

There is no snow anymore, thank the Sage, but it is still so so cold.

She cannot even taste anything anymore.

Her head bumps into something else. She noses it carefully.

Not-alive. Safe to climb.

She sluggishly heaves herself up the not-alive thing.

There are faint vibrations coming from above her. She needs to get to the vibrations. She’ll die if she can’t get to them.

If she could just heave herself over the edge of this not-alive thing—

Heat.

Lovely, warm, delicious heat.

She twines eagerly around the source, burrowing her head under where it is hottest, letting out a hiss of contentment as the cold burns out of her blood.

Aaaah.

The heat source rises and falls rhythmically, a gentle thud-thud-thud vibration filling her senses.

She shuts her eyes and lets herself drift in the warmth.

She is jostled awake when the heat source lets out a snuffly noise and wriggles slightly before settling.

As the heat source has saved her from dying an ignoble death via cold, she graciously decides not to bite it to stop it from moving.

Instead she retracts her head from the warmest spot to get a good feel for what exactly her new warmth generator is.

Her tongue flickers out over soft, faintly downy skin, over small features that scrunch up at the inspection before smoothing back out in sleep.

It’s a human hatchling. A very young one at that, barely a few days out of the egg at her best guess. Or was it weeks for humans? Or maybe months?

Humans are strange, Ikuchi reflects.

They’re so vulnerable for so long early in life, it’s a miracle that any of them even survive to adulthood.

That’s probably why the adult humans that are running around are so hardy. The summoner is proof enough of that.

Though other adult humans calling for the deaths of hatchlings, like the client, probably don’t help survival rates much.

Wait.

The client.

The mission.

Ikuchi pokes her head over the edge of the hatchling’s resting place and tastes the air.

A bigger human, also asleep.

Stuffy cloth.

Tatami mats.

Sharp metal. Lots and lots of sharp metal.

She retreats back down and noses over the hatchling, searching its cloth coverings until she finds what she was hoping she wouldn’t.

A stylized bird with wings raised, its beak piercing its own breast to draw blood.

The symbol of the client and his kin. The kin whose hatchling she’s supposed to kill.

Well.

Hm.

She settles her head back down in the warmest spot, burrowing under where the hatchling’s head meets its body and tries to think.

It’s...regrettable that the hatchling is what saved her from an icy death. But she has a job to do. A mission to complete.

It’s not like she particularly wants to do it. No, no, if she had it her way, she’d gladly bite the summoner and the client for good measure. Teach them for sending her to die in the cold for worthless bits of round metal.

But she has to complete the mission. Manda will eat her for failing the summoner otherwise.

All it will take is one tiny little bite. The hatchling will only suffer for a few moments.

...Okay, more like several minutes. It’s not like it’s her fault the venom will take longer because the hatchling is so big. She’s not a constrictor!

She flicks her tongue out irritably.

One bite.

Just one bite is all it would take.

Then she could be back in the caves with her brothers and sisters and never have to think about warm hatchlings and their weak, pathetic, pitiful death throes ever again.

The hatchling above her makes a little cooing noise and shifts above her, covering more of her coils in warmth as it squirms.

It even considerately takes some of its weight off of where she was beginning to feel a bit squashed.

She finds it distinctly annoying that this tiny human she’s supposed to kill has done more for her than her own summoner.

At this rate, she’d rather throw her lot in with it instead of continuing to—

Wait.

She pokes her head up again, considering the hatchling.

...Below average chakra reserves. But those should increase as it grows, right?

And she could help guide its growth.

Make it a much better summoner than her current one, or even his student.

Perhaps most importantly, she knows the Great Snake Sage will not let Manda eat her if she is contracted to another summoner.

He had thrown a tantrum when the summoner’s student had turned on him, but the Sage had not let him eat those snakes contracted to the student. She will be safe from his wrath.

In the caves at least. If they meet on the field of battle, she’ll be fair game.

But even one safe haven from Manda is better than none.

The scroll is heavy and difficult to unravel for a snake her size.

Still, she gets it open and props it up against the wall of the hatchling’s resting place.

After ensuring that the right segment is where she needs it to be, she twists around to look at the tiny human,

The hatchling looks back at her.

Its dark grey eyes do not focus on her, moving with the restless blindness of the very young.

“I am Ikuchi of Ryuichi Cave.” She hisses softly. “By your blood on this contract, we will become bonded. Do you accept?”

The hatchling gurgles.

Close enough.

She carefully pricks the hatchling’s finger with her lower fangs.

It wouldn’t do to poison her summoner.

Not yet anyway.

The hatchling whines, wiggling weakly as if that would make the pain stop. Blood beads on the appendage, bright red and hot.

She coils her tail around the tiny, soft wrist, and guides it to drag against the blank space on the parchment.

A rush of chakra.

A sensation not unlike a successful shed, useless dead scales sloughing away for gleaming new ones to take their place.

Ikuchi hisses in pleasure.

Ah. Her summoner is crying.

Squalling really, red-faced and snotty-nosed, thoroughly miserable.

The bleeding on its hand hasn’t stopped. It looks like it might have gotten worse, actually.

Ikuchi racks her brain for what little she knows about human physiology and healing.

Did the bastard summoner say it was saliva or excrement that slowed bleeding?

A shadow falls over the resting place.

She coils back on the chest of her summoner, ready to strike at the intruder. Did the client already send another assassin, despite paying the bastard summoner? Was betrayal planned from the beginning?

The adult human above them has its teeth bared in threat, eyes furious yet frightened.

“Get the hell away from my daughter.” It snarls, drawing a short blade from its midsection.

What?

Oh.

It’s trying to defend its hatchling.

Ikuchi reluctantly slithers off of her summoner’s chest and does her best to look small and unassuming.

The human scoops up her summoner in a flash, one hand cradling its head while the other bares the blade, ready to strike at any moment. It’s an instinct she approves of, even if it is completely pointless in this particular instance.

She curls up in the warm spot her summoner left behind, and announces, “I intend no permanent harm to the hatchling. It is contracted to me, and in my best interests to protect it.”

The human’s face creases in confusion, before its eyes land on the contract scroll.

Color drains from its face.

Huh. Ikuchi hadn’t known humans other than the bastard summoner could look like that. Maybe it was indicative of an emotion the bastard summoner felt all the time.

Name: Ikuchi

Type: Folkloric

Culture of Origin: Japan

Description: An enormous serpent covered in oil.

Myth: N/A

Facts:

The Ikuchi is a Yokai from Japanese folklore.

The Ikuchi is a massive creatures, miles in length. It appears as a large serpent or eel covered in oil.

It slithers over ships and leaves oil on them, which can cause the ship to sink if not bailed out.

Caspian and Ikuchi, two new dragons I had to show off because I’m so happy with them :D I’ve finally decided it’s okay to spend money on apparel so I’m redressing a bunch of dragons lol

Prince Caspian is very self important, and talented with spears. There are rumors he’s not the queen’s real son, but those rumors are quickly snuffed out. He can be charming when he wants to be, but he hates most dragons.

Day 9: Woah Is That Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Ikuchi)