The Beast
Jarvan IV leaned back in his seat, having just heard the entirety of the message. He smiled at the prospect of danger. "I hope this is not just another wild goose chase."
"No, sire," the messenger spoke with his head to the ground. He knew all too well what awaited him if his words led the prince to a fruitless endeavor.
"Well then, let us embark in a few hours."
Garen and Xin Zhao raised their brows in shock. Garen spoke. "A few hours? We'll need more time to prepare."
"Nonsense. A Demacian cannot ignore such a promising lead of potential conquest. Whatever beast is hiding there is practically begging me to dominate it right now." The bloodlust had consumed Jarvan as of late. In the name of the kingdom, he had brought many great beasts and monsters at least twice his size down to his level, towering over their corpses in the end. The sight of the subdued creatures aroused in him an excitement and pleasure unlike any other. His recent fixation on the hunt worried Garen and Xin Zhao. But they knew their positions and continued to enable him, going along with him on these hunts.
The other two exchanged knowing glances. "As you wish," they said, beginning to head out.
"Xin?" the prince called out.
"Yes?"
"Bring the girl along too."
"We would very much like your support, Lady Sona. Jarvan IV has requested you specifically." Xin Zhao stood at the door of the musician, having just told her of the plan.
She grasped his hand and wrote out one word on his palm. Why.
Xin shook his head. "I personally do not know why. But it would be an honor to have you accompany us."
Her head lowered as she thought about it. Could she even ignore a request from Jarvan himself? Many times she had seen him return to his beloved kingdom, triumphant in glory at his most recent conquest as adoring citizens praised him. However, she had also had many private listening sessions with a troubled Xin Zhao. He had confided in her his anxiety concerning the prince and his increasingly strange behavior and shift from his public persona. A betrayal on his side for sure. But who could she tell?
The denizens of Demacia idolized him but from what Xin Zhao had told her, she had also grown concerned. She again wondered how she fit into all this. Had some higher power called upon her to be some sort of savior for the ailing prince? Was the kingdom itself at risk? A new hope lighted up in her heart and drowned out the screams of impending doom in her mind. She looked up at Xin and agreed to go along.
"I very much enjoyed your performance last night."
She smiled in response as they stood near the entrance into the woods. A bit nervous. She was in the presence of royalty and unsure of how she should proceed. How she was even allowed to proceed. She hesitated and gestured towards his hand.
"Oh yes, I heard you do that." He extended his hand and stared expectedly. She took it and wrote. Thank you. Up to now, they had both performed the formalities but neither expected much conversation with the other. She fingered her instrument nervously and again wondered if she had done the right thing in agreeing to come.
He interrupted her thoughts. "I ordered you here because I thought you were something special. I've been around but you are quite unlike any woman I've seen," he said with a grin. Her sense of uneasiness grew more pronounced. She was suddenly aware of his eyes as they mischievously danced across her full figure, piercing her skin with lustful steps. She did nothing but smile in response like she had always done.
"Lady Sona!" The increasingly dark mood was broken as Xin Zhao and Garen returned from scouting the area.
Before she could respond to the call of her name, Jarvan separated himself from her to speak with the duo about the particulars. Her mind began to drift as they spoke and she absentmindedly started to stroke her etwahl. It was just as natural as one twirling her hair or crossing her arms. She knew better than anyone how it had allowed music to be her voice. Through her effort, the songs carried with them some way for her thoughts to enter a person's ear and her emotions to reach one's heart.
She looked back at the prince. He had been at her most recent performance. The piece she played was created right after one of her meetings with Xin Zhao where he confided in her about Jarvan. She had taken care in an attempt to play the tune of soothing deliverance to quell the growing darkness in him. Of course, he did not know about her worries at the time but had she reached him that night? She was listened to, but had she been heard? She remembered what Xin Zhao had said. "I worry that it will consume him. I have a past as well. I know what it is like. There is a duality of people that is not always visible to one at first. Whether they are hiding it or not. I know that even Garen has a dark side. A forbidden longing but perhaps another day for that."
"Let us be on our way." She was spoken to and the four moved deeper into the woods.
They came across a clearing. It was a canvas of destruction as naked branches lay strewn throughout the floor, having been ripped from the mother plant without consent. The thick smell of blood filled the air as trails of it created a labyrinth with no exits, only leading to even darker and deeper pools of red. There were no signs of the owners.
"I would guess it is near here somewhere," Garen said drily as he examined the ground.
"Excellent." She saw Jarvan's eyes and felt his bloodlust nearby as he readied his weapon. Dangerous looking footprints covered the ground and Sona felt a twinge of uneasiness at more than just the thought of their owner. They remained silent as they quickly glanced around for signs of movement. And then they heard it.
"GNAR!"
"It came from over there. DEMACIA!" The party prepared to fight as they charged toward the source of the sound.
They found a crushed stump with a furry creature happily laughing and rolling around on top of it with a boomerang of sorts next to him.
He looked nothing like what Sona expected the beast capable of such destruction to be. In fact, she was pretty sure he was not the one they were looking for. This one was rather…cute. Without thinking, she poked him in the belly.
"GNAR!" The creature sat up. His big eyes found Sona and he hopped off the stump towards her, boomerang in hand. "GNAR!"
"Strange," Xin muttered. "No signs of anything else nearby. Be careful of that thing."
"Come on, I think you're letting the tension go to your head," Garen said with a grin, slapping Xin on the back. Jarvan looked irritated and began to draw back.
"GNAR!" The creature tugged at Sona's dress.
"He keeps saying that."
"Maybe that's his name?"
Gnar shook up and down as he circled the party, waving his boomerang. He laughed as he again moved toward Sona. His eyes widened and he looked curiously towards the etwahl with one finger next to his mouth.
She played a few notes. Gnar let out an excited laugh. She played more as he began to dance to the music. Xin and Garen could not help but smile. Jarvan looked on with disinterest.
"Shall we get back to what we came here for?" Jarvan asked. The music stopped and Sona looked worriedly at him. She certainly did not want to displease the prince. "We know the beast is somewhere near," Jarvan continued. "We should go search the premises."
Sona looked back at Gnar. Jarvan saw the whimsical look on her face. "Stay here with the rat if you like, girl."
Xin sensed something dangerous about the prince's attitude. "I think that may be for the best, Lady Sona. If anything happens, play something and we will come running."
They left her.
She played with Gnar, letting his cheerful attitude and curiosity towards everything infect her as she began laughing inside as well.
Time passed. Something seemed wrong. They had been gone for what seemed like too long. She suddenly spied Gnar walking away. Perhaps he had grown tired. She tried to signal him back but he did not listen. She had grown attached to the creature in their time together and soon found herself following him.
Before she knew it, she no longer recognized her surroundings. The clear view from before was gone and she now saw so many trees that they obscured the light.
She heard growls. A pack of wild dogs. Snarling as saliva eerily dripped from their bared fangs. They were looking at Gnar and seemed rather upset. She set aside her instrument, bent down and picked him up, intending to protect him when they suddenly leaped towards her. She reached out to play her etwahl in defense when Gnar jumped out of her arms and threw his boomerang. It hit one in the jaw and it yelped in pain as it shrank back while Gnar expertly caught the boomerang as it propelled back to him. But two more took its place. And another. And more after that.
Sona watched in amazement as her furry knight jumped around, throwing his boomerang over and over again, fending off the dogs. She found herself smiling as she realized. He was trying to protect her. Finally, the dogs seemed to have had enough and ran off, barking madly. As she watched them scatter back into the darkness of the forest, she looked back at her savior.
Something was happening.
His body started to shake. His fur started growing darker and the same cute sounds he had made when they were playing before changed into deep growls midway. The smell of blood pierced her nose as she looked at the now humongous beast in front of her. She heard a high-pitched yelp. One wild dog from before had been left by the pack. Her eyes darted to the animal lying on the ground. One of its legs looked disjointed. It let out a shriek of terror as it attempted to scramble to its feet. It clumsily fell and desperately clawed the ground.
Time seemed to slow down as she watched what had before been Gnar stomp its way over to the barking animal and silence it with a sickening thud. He let out a roar and seemed to look around. She found herself looking into its eyes and froze. The change she had witnessed had crippled her. Her body felt numb as it refused to listen to the muted screams of her mind telling her to run.
She finally snapped out of her trance and reached for her instrument that she had set aside when the dogs first came. But that previous moment had sealed her fate.
The beast roared again as it swung its fists down. The etwahl was caught in their path and Sona watched helplessly as her companion was crushed to pieces. She now truly had no voice. Her power was gone.
Still in frenzy, the beast hunched over to where she was and wrapped its hand around her waist. Her hands pushed against the blood-stained fur to no avail and for the first time in a long time, she opened her mouth to try to make any kind of sound. She heard the deformed noise scraping against her throat. It was her worst performance and it soon found itself drowned out by the thundering growls of her captor.
Her face slammed into the ground and the beast pushed down on her back with its hand. Her mind slowly started to give out, refusing to process what was happening. Her breasts pressed against the earth, dirt staining her skin. As she sensed the last traces of her mental sanity fleeing, she fruitlessly began to write in the dirt. Help. She watched as her plea was smothered by a fresh layer and brushed away. Her clothes put up a futile defense as pain penetrated her body. The higher power she had envisioned calling her to the quest now seemed to mock her, cruelly reminding her of her powerlessness as she felt the rhythm of the beast in heat. The distorted melodies defiled every part of her being while the twisted orchestra of wild animals far away occasionally chimed in.
"Where did she go?"
The sound of the voice somehow clearly reached her despite her circumstance. She raised her head as far as she could, opening her mouth to once again try to make any sound possible.
"She has her instrument with her. She should be able to make a sound if she is near, like we told her to."
"If I may ask sir, why did you bring her along?"
"Something to treat myself to after the conquest," the reply came with a laugh. It was met with quiet shuffling but the speaker did not seem to notice.
She bitterly closed her mouth and let her head crash down, tasting the dirt as it crept in. Demacia was rotten, a beast standing in line to rule. It seemed the basest of all actions had awaited her either way.
She heard the monster crash exhausted to the ground beside her as its grip loosened. She stayed still, not even bothering to pick herself up. Tears streamed down her face nurturing the corrupted soil as she gazed sorrowfully at her broken instrument. Silenced.