A loud bang echoed through the otherwise quiet house, causing Shanoa to jump in surprise. Occurrences such as this were usually cause by her youngest son, and she was, in fact, used to them. However, it still startled her, every now and again. From beside her, a young elf, no older than seven, sitting at the table, perked up a bit. She had peculiar silver eyes, that immediately gave away the fact that she was not, in fact, a full blood elf. Her raven hair was thick and straight, and her skin was pale, and a bit off colored. Without warning, she shot from the table, eagerly calling after her brother.
"Valc! Is that you? Are you home!" She exclaimed happily as she darted out of the kitchen.
"Madix!" Shanoa huffed. "Get back here!" The young girl, however, didn't listen. Shanoa loved her son. She loved all her children, make no mistake. She had just noticed, much to her chagrin, that Valcan's state hadn't improved at all. She had thought it would, after seeing how Valcan had cared for the pup he'd taken in. But, it seemed, that was as far as it went. As the years passed, he was growing increasingly careless and rather hateful of the other citizens of Silvermoon City. He was in fights constantly. He stole from the merchants without remorse, and found joy in watching others' pain, physical or otherwise. It even went to the point of the boy setting traps and hazards to set such things into motion, simply for his own amusement. Madix idolized him, and Shanoa was growing quite concerned that the impressionable young girl would begin to take after him. Some good had come from the pup Valcan took in, though. Despite his obvious indifference to others in the city, he loved that pup without a shadow of a doubt. He had succeeded in training her, himself. And quite well. She listened to him fabulously. Their relationship was something rather extraordinary, considering the way Valcan acted toward others of his race. Shanoa never thought she would see Valcan care about anything that much, and this was the reason she allowed him to keep the pup. Of course, after four years, it could hardly be called a 'pup' anymore.
"Mum!" Madix shrieked as she had bolted down the hall, immediately causing a chill to run down Shanoa's spine and snapping her out of her thoughts. "Mum! Come quick!" At this, Shanoa immediately broke into a run, after her daughter's voice. The first thing she noticed was blood. A lot of it. It covered the front door, the handle, the floor, stairs, and railing. It was everywhere. She continued following the trail, glad to find Madix was alright, until she reached a closed and bolted door on the second floor. Valcan's room. What had happened?
"Valcan?" She called, trying the handle futilely and rapping on the door in slight desperation. If he had gotten hurt, there was nothing she could do from the other side of a locked door. "Valcan, are you alright!" She demanded.
"I'm fine! Leave me alone!" The thirteen year old snarled from inside the room.
"What happened! Where did all this blood come from?" She asked. "Is it Avana? Is she hurt?"
"Not as badly as that damn group of rat-bastard scumbags!" The animal-like, deep snarl behind her son's voice, as he replied, sent a shock and worry through Shanoa that made her feel instantly sick. What had he done?
"Valcan!" Malachai shot, as Shanoa heard him enter the house, below.
"He's up here. He's locked himself in his room." Shanoa announced. Malachai didn't reply. He made his way up the stairs silently. He looked tense and stressed, even somewhat angered. Shanoa suppressed a yell of surprise as her husband drew his axe, easily breaking through the door handle and kicking the door open the remainder of the way. She followed quickly as he entered, Madix close at her heels in curiosity.
"Get out!" Valcan growled. He was as far on the opposite side of the room as he could get, bow drawn and raised at his father. Although Valcan was only thirteen, and Avana did appear to be hurt, Malachai swiftly came to a halt in caution. Valcan had trained, over the past few years, to be a hunter. He proved to be rather skilled, as well. He was able to hit the practice targets, at nearly any range, still or moving, dead on in the center. His accuracy, the trainers had said, was equal to that of a very practiced specialist. Also, due to the loyalty Valcan had built up in the white wolf, Avana, she would attack anything the boy shot at, hurt or not, in attempt to aid him. Though she had one paw raised in pain, and blood dripped from a large wound on her back, her head was lowered in a dangerous snarl, the hair on the back of her neck was on end, and her body was tensed, ready to attack the moment Valcan released his arrow.
"Do you have any idea what I've just had to go through!" Malachai began angrily, though he stood back, and made no attempt to move closer. "One of them died, Valcan!"
"What!" Shanoa suddenly shrieked, her stomach turning. Valcan had killed someone?
"There was another fight today, out in the woods, between Valcan and the boys from Gallager's shop." Malachai announced.
"And he killed one of them!" She couldn't keep the hysteria from her voice, as tears of shock and disgust rimmed her eyes.
"He deserved it!" Valcan roared, glaring to his mother, though he kept his aim on Malachai. "They all deserved it!"
"She's just an animal, Valcan! She isn't worth-" Malachai started. He was cut off, however, when Valcan finally released his arrow. It whistled through the air quickly, and Malachai barely ducked out of the way in time. It skimmed past his ear, slicing into it a bit, but nothing more than a small nick. Avana started forward, but Valcan gave a sharp whistle that made her immediately stop, holding her ground.
"Avana is the only thing that matters to me! I will not stand by and allow them to kill her, just because you can only see her as a beast!" Valcan argued heatedly, quick to aim another arrow.
"I told you this would get out of control! That he was dangerous!" Shanoa was sobbing, brought into full tears by the fact of Valcan's lack of hesitation to shoot an arrow at his father's head. "I warned you of this! Did I not! He's cra-"
"STOP SAYING THAT I'M CRAZY!" Valcan roared, sounding more like a rabid animal, than a young boy, as he switched his aim to Shanoa. "I am NOT crazy! Those who are crazy have no idea what they are doing! I know exactly what I'm doing! I have reasoning and logic behind me and it is NOT MY FAULT if you and the rest of your pathetic kind are too damn scared to embrace the natural damn instincts of survival!" He was snarling. "So, call me crazy ONE MORE TIME! I DARE YOU!" He demanded. "IT WILL BE THE LAST THING YOU EVER FUCKING SAY!"
"Valcan!" Malachai finally interrupted, moving forward. Without even a pause in blinking, Valcan turned the arrow back to Malachai and fired it off. This one, due to Valcan's speed, Malachai was unable to dodge it as efficiently as the last. It sunk with a thick thud straight through his shoulder. Of course, if Malachai had been on duty, that day, if he had been wearing his armor, it wouldn't have been able to pierce the thick plate. Valcan didn't even flinch, and immediately strung another arrow. Shanoa cried out, rushing for her husband, but stopping as Valcan turned the bow on her, again.
"LEAVE HIM!"Valcan ordered. Malachai hissed through the pain as he tore the arrow from his shoulder, the serrated edges spreading the wound a bit, but over all it was nothing fatal. Malachai moved quickly, sending a spell that hit Valcan faster than he could react. Valcan swayed a bit, then collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
"We have to move." Malachai announced as he moved forward, scooping up his son and placing him on the bed before taking the bow and arrows from the floor. Avana seemed more concerned with the unconscious Valcan, than with attacking Malachai, jumping onto the bed beside her master and resting her head on his shoulder as she whimpered a bit.
"Move?" Shanoa repeated, watching her husband cast healing spells over the wolf, and himself. "To where?"
"I think Undercity. They tend to overlook instances like these with-"
"Overlook! You want to ignore the fact that our son just killed someone!" She gasped. "Malachai, no! If we just ignore this, he will be taught that this sort of thing is perfectly acceptable!"
"They want to send him to the Asylum, Shanoa. You're willing to have him go there?" Malachai huffed, glaring to her. She nodded without hesitation.
"Yes! Whatever it takes!" She said, and Malachai faltered.
"You can't be serious.." Malachai muttered.
"I've never been more serious about anything. He needs to get help."
"You know as well as I do, what that place does to those they lock up. He'll be deprived of sleep, experimented on, malnourished.. And you call that help!" Malachai shot, narrowing his eyes. "I will not send my son to live like that."
"At what cost, then, would you have him stay with us? He will continue thinking this is alright. Thinking others' lives mean nothing and doing as he pleases. It's clearly even gotten to the point that he doesn't even care if he hurts his own flesh and blood!" She exclaimed, gesturing to Malachai's shoulder.
"He'll be alright, we just have to-"
"No! I have had enough! There is nothing you and I could possibly do for him! We cannot fix this, Malachai, no matter how badly you may wish we could! And you know that! We have to hand him over." Malachai looked just as reluctant, as he gave a glance to Valcan, laying still on the bed. "He will wake up and he will be even angrier at what you did. He's proven he could hurt you. He could hurt any of us. You may think you can deal with it, if he comes after you, like he just did.. But what if he goes after me, or the other children.. Are you willing to risk our lives, just to try to save someone who clearly cannot be saved?" At this, Malachai shook his head no with a small sigh.
"He'll hate us for it." Malachai muttered.
"He already does.. " Shanoa commented. "He never cared, he's just gotten less careful about hiding it."