The Deep-Sea Witch opened her mouth and gasped. It seems she hadn't breathed the fresh air for a very long time as immediately she started coughing. Then her lips started to move. My farlens immediately started listening on. The sounds she made didn't sound like any language spoken by sapient races. What she spoke had a hint of happiness, a hint of anger and sadness, and a whole lot of hints of relief. And as her mouth moved more, something left them. A lump, black as coal, and dripping down to the sea like tar. It floated near her head.
And somehow I knew it was a word...
Black Speech is a language, a curse, a spell, and a condition all at once. It's a normal speech so filled with
Blackness that it gets warped by it. The change is so strong, the words become a physical thing, lumps of black viscous substance that drip on the ground below, and follow the one who spoke them. They have the ability to invigorate or weaken anyone who sees them.
The language
Unless one knows how to manipulate the
Black Color or learns how to "clean the words", it is impossible to understand the
Black Speech, much less speak it. The words spoken in it sound compressed and wet. This language, however, is very good at conveying emotions (probably caused by strengthening aspect of
Color Black), as even people who don't understand a word spoken in it can easily tell what feels one who speaks it.
A curse
A strong enough caster could curse someone in a way that would force them to use
Black Speech against their will. Such a curse is a very dangerous one as any word spoken by the victim drains their body of its natural reserves of
Black Color, slowly taking away their sense of touch, strength, and in worst cases, completely paralyzing them or killing them if they spoke one word too many. It's a very hard curse to get rid of, as to do that, one needs to almost completely get rid of the
Black Color inside them and replace it with a "fresh, uncursed batch".
A condition
Whenever someone is close to death or transformation due to the
Oversaturation (condition) from
Black Color, everything they try to say will turn into
Black Speech, no matter if they want it or not. Sometimes, if they already left the area contaminated by
Oversaturation (geographic anomaly), this can save them, as their bodies will use up the excess of
Blackness inside them. However, some caution is needed, as unatended, this condition could quickly turn into the curse version of
Black Speech.
A spell
Any caster with a supply of
Black Pigment or
Color can turn things they say into
Black Speech. This spell was often used on the battlefields as the skilled caster could manipulate the positive and negative aspects of
Blackness to strengthen their allies or drain their enemies of stamina.
I'll have to look into this mysterious language. I wonder what she said...
I love how you use the continuous narration to introduce new elements into the world, its really interesting! Being cursed to speak with Black Speech sounds horrible. I'm fascinated with the idea of replacing your cursed black by a new, uncursed black. How would that even work? I hope we get to find out!