He never had blue jelly before, yet it was undeniably delicious. The gelatinous mass ran itself between chips of white bread, the whole chunk of food coating his taste buds as he chewed. A simple dish had put his mind at peace, for once.
Inside a rather busy restaurant, the reserved Zero sat alone at a table, a whole ring of people chatting amongst themselves as he ate. This was his best first time in a restaurant since two days ago. Every other eatery he went to was left with bleak financial outcomes and shed tears. He never really was one to stay in the same place, finding a job here, taking some money there, training elsewhere, and the like.
The only thing, his only friend, was that crimson blade sitting on the chair opposite from him. Its ruby color was something to behold for him, and it carried a starry glaze on the offensive end of it, with a silver curve caving its shave slightly. The dominant red reminded him of his warm friend, and it stood out from the usual browns, greens and even the golds he saw back in the village he lived in, and hated...and ravaged; the latter he had done several months ago. His black, canine lips parted in amusement as he remembered seeing those elderlies cowering from him. It was one, lonely day in the forest where a simple solution to his shortcomings in combat came to him-don't think it. Do it. His claws and fangs that he trained on many defenseless trees, stones, even beasts months before did nearly all the talking for him, driving panic into the hearts of all the citizens. Their fighters were no match for the unexpected prodigy pounding them into the ground from whence his bullied body had laid. The town was undoubtedly afraid of the Unlucky's return, and before he could do further damage did they satisfy one impromptu request.
His glossy twosome-lens took a liking to the red sword which sat in the elderly shrine of the wheathside. He remembered hearing about its uniqueness, its ability to pave visibility to its color for even the most color-blinded victim to see. And it was definitely a one-of-a-kind sight, the way the beads of carmine glitter engraved in it danced restlessly against every shift and tweak of his eyes reminded him of the way the still-less fire rapidly ruptured itself against any and all things motionless. He forgotten the masks, as they never held his mind together, never gave him the comforting blanket of warmth, nor did they give him an inclination to scratch that daily, pugilistic itch that subconsciously irked him. The prime elder's aged hand shook in fear while it trudged itself to the Unlucky, fingers holding the sword of all swords. And when the scarred jackal grabbed it, all savagery dissipated from him. He simply strode through his hometown left slashed and bitten by his own vengeance.
Before he ventured back into the outskirts again, he saw his grandmother, stubborn and moved by the seeds of culture laced in their kin, standing front and center admist the damaged horizon. Her mask was joined by an ensemble of talismans which claimed to heal what was stricken by the Unlucky. She tried keeping a strong posture, wobbling under knobby knees while both hands held her own blade. She was still capable of running straight towards her grandson, blade hoisted by her side, intending to dispel the sword he held, but Zero was faster. Unlike her, he was able to leap and get in a direct slice. She fell to her knees as the halves of her mask clattered on the ground. She tossed her hands into her eyes while she cried, knowing that her charms failed to stop the evil, and now that her protection was broken, she too was cursed. Cursed by the renegade. Those soft cries almost made him stop walking, but his mind told him to leave with his newfound gift, his official 'peace treaty' he made in accordance with the town. And so he did. The town's fate as a whole was unknown to him; he gave him back the smiting they gave him, and he finally got what he wanted. He was known to them as a renegade jackal, ruthless in his delivery, merciful in his exit.
Nonetheless, blueberry jam tasted pretty nice compared to the thick supporting columns of straws his tongue bristled on.
He looked up at the chocolate, pastel orange mixture of colors plastered on the leaning ceiling, created by the illuminated chandeliers strewn about it, hovering over the chatty floor. From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something moving on the topside, a sentient shadow among idle ones.
A kunai stabbed through the last piece of bread, slicing into the plate as a note hung around its handle.
The bridge of disturbed busybodies had noticed the sound of the weapon zipping through the air, and was now fixed on the jackal. Zero slowly turned his head, and the crowd quickly went back to their business the moment their eyes met his, and this time the cheerfulness of their conversating was now a little more attentive.
Zero didn't mind this, luck was on their side for not instigating at all. He unhinged the string off the weapon, and unfolded the letter.
...
"You carry the Crimson. But can you control it?"
...
The note was written in his tongue, to his surprise. It questioned him of his authoritative prowess. Controlling Crimson? Of course! He knew it was in his blood, countlessly swinging sticks and jabbing them into the surrounding tree trunks to point of imprinting and perforating, making them leak red sap for him to drink, unless there was something missing...maybe there was a link between himself and Crimson. Maybe this could be something good for him.
He knew this had to have been from a jackal; there were even claw marks kneaded into the corners of the note. Were there other jackals leading lives similar to his? First blueberry jam, now this. Zero's day was getting even more interesting, and he flipped the last two bits of bread into his mouth before he slipped the letter into his dreads, picking up his crimson blade.
"E-excuse me sir," a waiter beckoned, trembling as he held the crazed customer's bill in one hand.
Ignoring him, the jackal twirled around, and heard their steps carefully trudging around a column. Zero rudely squirmed past and shoved through several bystanders.
The eavesdropper had already swung himself out of the entrance as a huge hand grabbed Zero's shoulder.
"Hey—!"
"—Take your hand off me," his gruff voice announced.
And before the elephant guard said another world, Zero forcefully shoved his shoulder out of their grip and latched a clawed hand around their neck, causing the large elephant to fall. The floor shook as the others gasped while Zero threatened the security guard's face with his crimson sword.
"...I should gouge you" he grunted between calloused teeth. He released their neck, swiping his clawed fingers across a tusk before seamlessly leaping off of his belly, grabbing ahold of the golden rimmed entrance as he tossed himself over it, and onto the ledge outside of the restaurant.
With one hand perched on the sill, Zero peered outwards, concentrating. In his personal horizon, a few kids were playing hopscotch, a waiter was serving a couple drinks at some other rinkydink restaurant, and someone was trying to fix those slavish mobile creatures, twisting a tool on the front of it until a spring nearly slammed into their face. Meanwhile, his nose concentrated on investigating the air, and soon enough it caught the figure's unseen scent trail within the nightly skies. He leapt, bouncing a foot off the top of a street pole, launching himself to a slanted rooftop.
The town itself was along a steep incline, with buildings shaped to compliment the terrain. A minor complaint Zero had as he thrusted himself forwards, plodding worn shoes along the shingles of a house, holding his visionary focus on the fleeting figure. Zero jumped from chimney to chimney, somersaulting over a tower of smoke-only to see the figure disappear from his peripheral view as he advanced up the rooftop. His eyes beckoned to the right-there he was! He took note of a pole extended out from the edge of the rooftop, and drove his feet into a furious sprint, running along the length of the pole, and scrunching himself on the ballpoint of it, hoisting himself across the air as he sailed past the town's flag, and onto another ramptop of where the figure still ran.
He somersaulted as he landed, grunting from the pain spotted on his shoulder from the landing while he continued his pursuit. As he saw the figure running, Zero started to think of the possible paths they may break off to. Zero scanned the ground below-several cars lined next to the curb. He looked back up, taking a gamble as he surmised they were drawing their attention towards a small alleyway, and he threw his sword horizontally just as he fell off the edge of the roof.
The evading runner dodged it, and the sword wedged itself in the crevasse between the two buildings. They kicked the sword from the gap, leaping forth with an outstretched arm, anticipating its drop after it stopped arcing, until they heard the noise of spring-a flying Zero tossed a foot into their back, causing their aerial momentum to go forward a notch-the canine grabbed his trusted weapon once more, holding it with both hands as his body was able to line itself just enough over the other enigmatic figure, bringing the blade as high as he could. He had a jackal's high, the rush making him feel powerful. He was indeed the Crimson. And then with a battle cry, he felt himself sauntering towards the ninja while gravity took them to the ground, the prey colliding into a dumpster painfully as they rolled onto the blacktop, staying still while a crimson tip was only seconds away from puncturing them—ting!
A foot stopped his attack.
"Huh?" Zero looked at the one who interrupted this altercation-a jackal, female at that. Her golden eyes looked at his own dumbfounded pair while she slowly lowered her leg, her steel-tipped boot reflecting the moonlight that broke upon the dense clouds. The girl stepped back, steely eyes trained on him.
All the while several other jackals scattered about rooftops on either side and fire escapes stared at him silently.
Zero didn't know what was happening, but instincts told him a fight is ready to brew, with him hunching his body low, one hand kept securely onto the handle of his sword, the other perched straight out defensively.
"It is the Crimson, held by the Scar!"
No one spoke, however. The source came from dead center, somewhere in the angular darkness in the dead end of the sloped alleyway. Zero's feet shifted a little wider.
"Together."
They all dropped to the ground, under the voice's command. They formulated into position, all in individual stances, yet signified as one through ironic disparatity. Zero strummed his fingers on his weapon, palms beginning to perfuse sweat. He gulped before emitting a bassy growl. It wasn't the heat of the battle that was scaring him, it was just that blackness ahead of him leaving him to wonder, to dread.
"Bite!"
A whisk of a blur shot outward, resembling untamed jaws and a large tongue sandwiched between them, hurtling towards him with weighty hands floating next to them.
Zero barely had time to think as he soared over the massive assaulter, who stopped their dive with huge palms careened into the sides of the buildings, crushing brick and asphalt alike.
"Hahaha! We finally found this sacred treasure!" the deep voice echoed while the targeted jackal was already in a deadly dance, swiping his sword in several directions, warding off deadly metal, all in the form of a kris, kunai, an axe, a lance, a hatchet, boots—and plain ol' teeth!
From the split-second encounter, Zero surmised that those fangs were worse than his!
The jackal lashed a foot to the side, rolled under a swinging lance, slammed a hatchet out of a couple palms, swept a foot-the battle was intense for him. The Moonlight guided his sight, but it wasn't enough. He felt things would've been in his favor had the moon been red tonight!
His sword was wedged between a lance, a hatchet and a kris, and Zero strained himself before he used his strength to counter them all away, leaping forwards into a four-way battle with the other three combatants.
For a second, he thought they were starting to back off, but was too busy to notice that a growing shadow was threatening him.
Zero grunted as a belly punched him back, straight into that slanted shadow within the alleyway as solid nothingness planted him into the brick wall.
With determined steps, the crazy, gigantic jackal approached him with loud breaths streaming out between those fearsome teeth and nostrils. Tugging chains rustle around his huge belly as Zero blinked and saw clearly the one that struck him down. He weakly fell onto his knees and picked up his Crimson sword, struggling to stand on one foot when the bigger canine's huge wrist caught Zero's shoulder and threw him back into the wall.
Their eyes laid a dormant shade of red, tilting in tow with their owner's head as the leader clamped his hand around Zero's waist.
The smaller one still felt the sword in his hand, but the tight grip around him was slowly making him lose feeling of his body. The huge smile in front of him got even wider, even showing his dark gums as his fixed stare glazed over Zero.
Seeing this sight made Zero scared for the first time in a while. It wasn't the fact that he couldn't feel half his body, no, that was only a part of it...it was just those red eyes. The stories he heard about creatures bearing those lookers could make one's fur stand on edge, as it was now. Provoking any type of physical actions to harm red-eyed beasts could invite scornful pain even worse than his scar brought. And while it did that, it never blinked. Zero couldn't bat an eye because he couldn't, either. He was forced to watch the suffering clawing at them.
What made matters worse was that he was unsure if the jackal was possessed or a living, breathing representation of the dark beasts. It made him shiver while his mind desperately frolicked about in his head for an answer.
The trapped renegade started to whine underneath sputtering breaths. The bigger one looked amused by this.
"Heterochromia..." he spouted out.
Every single syllable could've made Zero's body jump if it wasn't for the hand which seized most of his freedom. The two of them kept their stares at each other for a moment.
"...Don't cha see it? The luck?" the leader gave an erratic glance to the special blade as drool slid off his glistening lip, feeling his foe's feeble body shake within the giant palm.
Zero witnessed the red eyes driving a connection between themselves and the sword. The leader jackal's lip was swerved across by his hand, dampening it with saliva as he continued.
"I'm cursed, too! They said I was blind to this color because it already leaked ta' my eyes. I knew this 'ticular color, crimson, had to be visible somehow. And I can see it now...'you do too."
His other humongous hand shot out unexpectedly for its size, clamored into the blackness, hearing it buckle from impact. "I know ya do, Lucky." He brought his claws downwards, diagonally towards Zero's ears, through the thick wall of pitch black. The smaller one had tried his best to let his ears huddle into themselves.
The leader jackal's hands interchanged their grips, with the one above clamped onto Zero's head as his shaking became visibly apparent. Before the dominant one could utter another word, Zero brought his sword straight into his face.
It caught him.
It caught him straight between his sharp teeth as his head hung to the side, eyebrows cockily bobbing before he swung his head to the side, the airborne sword dropping itself into the hands of the others.
The giant canine slowly twirled his head back upright once more.
Zero was unceremoniously ripped from the shadowy wall, simply witnessing the jackals standing before the two, the ninja holding the weapon, blissfully showing its semi-faint sparkling.
"We have the Crimson now...it belongs to us, don't 'cha see?" he brought Zero's face to his. The giant canine's red eyes seemed to glow into Zero's own as his meaty fingers pressed into his head even more, nearing him closer to those lively eyes.
Their huge nose bounced up and down with every sniff.
"...I can taste your fear...and it tastes delish," he said the last word just as he bent down, straight into the smaller Zero's eyes.
"'Scars always do. And yours...heh, yours is the biggest one I've eva' seen!"
He brought a giant index finger to point accusingly at Zero.
"Ya see this? This's the living example of a goner!"
He released Zero from his hand like a claw machine, disposing him on the ground.
Zero blinked, looking up to see the potbellied canine towering over him, yet the Moonlight towering him.
The fire was telling him to keep calm. You can defeat him.
The confident jackal stood back up with a growl as the leader moved forward again. His efforts were stopped by a heavy swat to his torso, forcing him to buckle down and fall on his back.
A boot stepped on his abdomen, ejecting a chestful of air out of his lungs.
"Now that we have da Crimson," the leader jackal swung his shoulders and head towards Zero's face before he continued to intimidate him.
"We get rid of you," he said casually. "Well, I do."
His giant foot taunted Zero's life, cramming weight on top of him in exchange for air.
"Whattaya gonna do, now, Lucky? Squeak as I crush the everlasting air out of you? Outta your pathetic, lil' lungs...? Speak, speak, speeeak..."
Zero's eyes were stricken with fear, and he knew it. But the more this jackal talked, the more this inner rage inside him started to boil and crack underneath that shell of fear. The bigger one started to look less like the nightly beasts, and more in lieu of one of his childhood bullies stamping their mark on him.
The leader swiped his foot back, causing Zero to slide towards him for a second before his huge hands were glued to Zero's shoulders.
"Last chance. Any last words...?"
Zero's mouth had already grew into a wide grimace along the width of his muzzle. The 'scarred' jackal's stare looked...off. Like it tampered between the bridges of frightfulness and untamed anger. It was peaking over the usual jackal's high. But the leader didn't notice it.
"Weak," the huge one's voice confidently said.
Weak.
Weak.
The fur on Zero's body had stood, and his mouth began to foam. The larger being, who in this split-second instance of swinging his hand down at Zero's face, took a second to look down and notice, and that was when Zero bore his fangs.
Someone screamed, and the other did too as the ground shook several times.
It rocked the world of several sleepers, with their dreary eyes peeping through their windows, only to see the process unfold before their very eyes.
The group of six other jackals had stayed in consolidated silence, but their faces told a different story, and their reactions contorted to the motions unbounding in front of them. But they stayed quiet, even after the grounded storm had been settled. It was a moral code worked into their subconscious as being apart of a band of thieves.
The night was quiet again, but in this little pocket of town, it was not a pleasant sight.
Animated breaths had cooled down into a milder pattern, accommodating to the quiet body of fear of which surrounded them.
Slowly, the hesitant ninja lunged his arms forward with a bowing head, heeding forth his Crimson sword.
Inf.'s blue jelly line was so bad I had to just jam it inside the beginning of the ch.
This chapter was pretty long already when I first started writing it, and I didn't realize til publishing the story that this is the LONGEST chapter of them all. Goddang, so much text.
