The Disbelief of Humans

In the dimly lit tavern, the air was thick with the smell of sweat and desperation.

Quaraun’s gold plated mechanical prosthetic hands hummed softly as he moved through the crowded room, his twelve foot long silver jellyfish tentacle hair swirling around him like a whirlwind. His pink pupiled, crystal blue eyes scanned the faces, searching for familiar targets among the sea of strangers.

No one seemed familiar.

Good.

A seat.

A place to sit.

To rest his lame leg and eat a meal in peace.

Without being disturbed.

That was what he sought today.

But no place was safe.

Not around Humans.

As the Pink Necromancer, the Thullid possessed Moon Elf named Quaraun, had grown accustomed to the whispers and scornful glances that followed him wherever he went. He’d long ago stopped caring what others thought; especially Humans. Human opinions never mattered.

A group pointed and whispered.

Jerring.

Laughing.

“Look! It’s the insane Elf! That crazy guy who believes in magic and thinks he’s a wizard!”

The crowd laughed.

“Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane!”

Several more Humans sneered and heckled the Elf, shouting about the fact that magic did not exist. Wizards were fake. Blah. Blah. Blah. He’d heard it all before. It was the same in every village. Humans were incapable of magic. So Humans believed magic did not exist.

A group of them were chanting together now.

“Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane!”

Quaraun sighed.

“I am not insane,” he muttered under his breath.

He hated being called insane. Magic was real, whether they believed it or not. He was a Wizard of the Di’Jinn Order, no matter what they said. But sometimes, like now, he yearned for acceptance. Sure, he had BoomFuzzy and GhoulSpawn. But they were not accepted either. The Faerie and the Demon were just as much misfitted outcasts as he was. It was why they stayed together.

He was alone today. GhoulSpawn and BoomFuzzy had gone on ahead to scout the docks. Find out what ships were expected this week. Quaraun normally would have gone with them, but his hip was acting up today. His lame leg was more lame then usual. He needed to rest. So BoomFuzzy had suggested Quaraun stay at this tavern, eat a meal. and just rest his leg while they scouted the docks. They’s be back in an hour or two. Quaraun could keep out of trouble that long.

“Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane!”

He had to resist the temptation to pull out his Rainbow Ward and explode the skulls of his harassers.

“Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane! Quaraun the Insane!”

He closed his eyes and imagined their brains spattered all over the wall. An evil smile slunk it’s way across his face.

Chuckling he made his way to a booth at the back of the tavern, and slipped into the bench seat. A waitress arrive with the menu, and he ordered his meal.

A few moments later the bouncers ushered the hecklers out of the tavern.

Finally.

Quiet.

After his meal arrived, Quaraun eat, ignoring the Humans in the room.

The tavern was dark, the shadows long, but the warmth of the fire and the smell of hearty stew made Quaraun relax as he settled into the corner. His mechanical hands were steady as he broke off a piece of bread, dipping it into his soup, while his silver hair swirled in calming circles around his shoulders.

A commotion at the door caught his attention.

“Hey, look at that,” a voice called out from the doorway. “It’s the Pink Necromancer. The one with the big reward on his head.”

Quaraun winced but didn’t look up. He had been trying to get some peace in this place, but it was too late now.

Bounty hunters flooded in, their faces twisted with determination and greed. Clearly the hecklers had gone about blabbing that Quaraun was in the tavern.

Quaraun’s eyes narrowed as they zeroed in on him.

As the world’s most wanted criminal. The Pink Necromancer knew that look all too well — it was the same one he’d seen on the faces of countless villagers who’d crossed paths with him over the centuries.

The leader of the group stepped forward, his hand nervously twitching on the grip of his blaster.

“Well, well, well. Look what we got here,” he sneered, eyeing Quaraun’s gleaming silver hair and ornate pink robes, decorated with pink fur and tiny silver chains. “The infamous Pink Necromancer. We’ve heard a lot about you.”

Quaraun exhaled slowly, his eyes never leaving the bounty hunter. He knew that look all too well — it was the same one that said: “We’re going to make you pay for what you did.”

The bounty hunters moved closer, eyeing him like predators closing in on prey. There were three of them this time, each with weapons strapped to their sides. Quaraun took a slow, deliberate sip of his soup, pretending not to notice them as they circled his table.

The Pink Necromancer’s reputation had preceded him, and many believed that he was a monster, a creature who used dark magic to control the undead. Which, he did.

The bounty hunters moved closer, their eyes gleaming with excitement. They’d heard about the reward on Quaraun’s head — 10,000 gold pieces, dead or alive, preferably dead.

“You’re under arrest, Necromancer,” one of them said with bravado. “We’ll take you in, collect the reward, and be out of here.”

Quaraun sighed and set his bowl down. His hair twitched.

They didn’t understand what made Quaraun so valuable. He wasn’t just a necromancer; he was a guardian, a protector of the forgotten and the lost. A threat to Findaru’s Justice Mages.

Quaraun smiled to himself as he reached into his pocket and produced a small vial filled with glowing shimmering opalescent liquid. The liquid crackled with energy as it touched the air, forming a tiny sphere that hovered above Quaraun’s hand.

“You really think you can take me down?” he asked the bounty hunters, his voice dripping with amusement.

The room shifted around them. The walls seemed to warp and distort, as if reality itself was bending to Quaraun’s will. And it was. Quaraun was more then just a necromancer. He was also a Thullid. The Moon Elf had died centuries ago. A tiny pink jellyfish had crawled up his nose, burrowed into his skull, eaten his brain, grew her tentacles into his nerves and out his skull like hair, and now controlled his reanimated UnDead corpse.

The Sacred Pink JellyFish was more deadly then The Pink Necromancer. A psionic Elder God, she was the Mother Brain of the entire Thullid race. And she liked her privacy.

Quaraun raised his hand lazily, and the room shifted. One of the bounty hunters found himself slammed face-first into the wooden floor, pinned by the force of an invisible barrier.

The second bounty hunter’s feet shot up in the air, and he was left hanging upside down by an invisible thread of magic.

One of the bounty hunters stumbled back, caught in a whirlwind of swirling colours that left him disoriented.

Another found himself trapped in a cage of illusions, unable to move or see through the distorted perceptions.

The last hunter drew his blaster, but Quaraun simply flicked his wrist. The weapon turned to ice before the hunter could fire, his fingers numbing as the weapon shattered in his grip.

Quaraun chuckled as he raised his hand, and the sphere of energy shot forward, striking the last hunter with incredible force. The blaster clattered from his hand, and the hunter collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

The bounty hunters scrambled for cover, but Quaraun simply shook his head. He’d been doing this for centuries; it was almost second nature.

“You see, I am not just a necromancer,” he said as he stepped forward, his eyes locked on the leader of the group. “I am The Sacred Pink JellyFish, and you have interrupted my meal.”

The room fell silent, and Quaraun could feel the weight of their gaze upon him. They were so blinded by their own doubts that they couldn’t see the truth — that Quaraun was a guardian, a keeper of the balance between life and death. It was his job to protect Nature from these vile Human parasites who sought to destroy her. Humans would never understand this. Humans saw themselves as the Hero. Humans were incapable of seeing how evil they were.

Quaraun stood, stepping over the frozen bounty hunter.

“You really ought to listen when people tell you that magic is real.”

Without another word, Quaraun turned on his heel and walked out of the tavern, leaving the bounty hunters to pick up the pieces of their shattered dreams.

As he vanished into the night, the room settled back into its natural order, the shadows retreating as if in relief.

“The docks are not far. I shall meet Unicorn and Glinta there.”

Quaraun walked through the dark streets, his twelve foot long silver jellyfish tentacle hair shimmering like moonlight. He moved with purpose, knowing that there was still much work to be done. The world needed guardians like him — people who understood the power of magic and the importance of balance and the evil of Humans.

As he disappeared into the darkness, Quaraun couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness. He longed for acceptance, for someone to see beyond the myth and legend that surrounded him. But he knew that until the world was ready, he would continue to walk this path alone — a guardian of the forgotten, a keeper of the balance between life and death.

|©2025 Wendy Christine Allen | All Rights Reserved|

The 2nd 500 Story Challenge: Story #046 OF 500 | This work of fiction is a part of a long-running series of novels, novellas, short stories, and poetry. (Known as The Adventures of Quaraun the Insane, formerly known as The Twighlight Manor Series). I have been writing & publishing it since 1978 (50th anniversary coming in 2028!) spanning over 3k published works.

The Pink Necromancer, Moon Elf silk weaver & merchant: Quaraun on Noodle Beach. His master chef Phooka turned Lich husband: BoomFuzzy with his 1968 VW Bus Beach Noodle Food Truck. And their on again/off again mad scientist Sheep Demon lover: GhoulSpawn with his 1974 AMC Gremlin time machine. Time Travel setting swings back and forth between 40th century Maine after a comet hit the moon decimating the planet, and the 1970s, Maine. Quaraun in the main character, he and BoomFuzzy are a married gay couple. GhoulSpawn is their shared live-in lover. Art by Wendy Christine Allen.

BoomFuzzy King Gwallmaiic aka BoomFuzzy the Unicorn: Quaraun's husband, BoomFuzzy aka King Gwallmaiic, a Scottish Phooka, who is King of The UnSeelie Court. Quaraun is his court mage and advisor, as well as the only Elf in The UnSeelie Court. BoomFuzzy is a "classic fantasy type" Necromancer who uses sorcery to raise the dead. Being a Faerie he is also an illusionist and master of trickster magic. By profession, he is a Master Chef, owning the global monopoly on restaurants, taverns, pubs, and food trucks. Until his death, BoomFuzzy was regarded as the world's most powerful wizard. He is now a Lich. BoomFuzzy is also half-Human. His mother was a Mongolian/Chinese Human, which is why he wears distinctively Asian outfits, along with a great kilt worn as a cape. Known as BoomFuzzy the Unicorn, he often takes the form of a purple Unicorn. BoomFuzzy's exact age is unknown, though he was well over two thousand years old at the time of his death, and Quaraun resurrected him as a Lich around 500+ years ago, making him close to 3,000 years old. In his BlackBird form he is fifteen thousand years old. Art by Wendy Christine Allen

Quaraun Quaraun aka The Pink Necromancer: The F2M transgender Persian Moon Elf main character: The Pink Necromancer, Quaraun The Insane, with BoomFuzzy the Unicorn. F2M for those unaware = Quaraun was biologically born female, but transitioned to live as a male; this is why there are stories where Quaraun is sometimes pregnant, in spite of being male and using he/him male pronouns. Quaraun is a Necromancer by the actual dictionary definition of the word, meaning he is a psychic medium who sees and hears ghosts, and uses tarot, spirit boards, and seances to communicate with the dead. By profession he is a silk weaver/tailor/silk merchant. Quaraun is an Elder God JellyFish who takes the form of an Elf to blend in with society. His 12 foot long hair is made out of venomous, stinging jellyfish tentacles. Quaraun is BoomFuzzy's apprentice and regarded as the world's most powerful still living wizard. Quaraun's exact age is unknown, but he is somewhere around 750 years old. In his SunTa form he is twelve thousand years old. The Scared Pink JellyFish that lives in him, is stated to being over two million years old. Art by Wendy Christine Allen

Books By Wendy Christine Allen
Currently Available on Amazon Kindle: