Author's note:
Starting up the 'prequel'ing' to 'Mobian Adventures: Freedom'. Here ya'll learn of a race of bears. It'll make sense when ya get to it. Yes... you have 1 more chapter of this to go through before i start posting up 'Mobian Adventures: Freedom', so please, relax. My PM box can't handle sooooo much. haha.
P.S. the bear civilization and ... such ... is generously donated by Ultrabot Ultimus The Hedgehog, and you'll be seeing more of his contribution in 'Mobian Adventures: Freedom'.
At any rate,
-Enjoy
Other
"Hey sleepy head, get up!" came a familiar voice
Thoice woke up to see a vaguely familiar room around him, the walls were lined with gothic art and a book shelf was up against the wall. A desk from across the room of the bed, and a far too happy fox at the foot of his bed. Then he remembered, "Oh Alyssa, it's you. Sorry, I was having the most peaceful nap" he said, finally happy to of slept for once without some cruel flashback attacking him.
"It's alright, you looked pretty cozy. Too bad you aren't one who cuddles…" she said with a giggle "Anyways, I just came up to get ya. Took me forever to figure out how to get in here…" she admitted with a mischievous grin
"Yeah… how did you get in?" he asked, feeling the power of the shadows surging through him. He tried to dismiss the presence, but quickly figured that the presence was bound to him, much like one's identity is.
"I had to ask the crystal for access…" she said with a frown, and he looked at her trying to discern the truth or not. He realized he couldn't read her mind.
"Most peculiar, last night I was able to read her thoughts as if they were my own. But here I am, talking to her as mere mortals do. My how joyous" he thought with a grin "Super then, so I take it the gem wishes to divulge my 'mission' as it were?" he asked, getting out of bed. His shadow interacted with the physical realm and quickly made his bed, before he even noticed.
"Thoice… did your shadow just make the bed?" she asked, cocking her head in confusion
"I guess it did. Pretty nifty if I say so myself" he laughed, no longer dismissing the fact he was no longer a typical mortal "I'll find out whatever else it can do later, but I have a conversation with some mysterious power. You wish to escort me?" he asked, holding his arm out playfully
She looked at him, joy beaming in her eyes as she looped her arm through his and said "Right this way sir" with a giggle.
The two left his room and the wall slowly shifted over the door to his room, hiding the existence of his private study once more. The main room was basked in a multitude of colors, but upon Thoice's presence reaching the gem, it slowly diluted to a ghost white. Alyssa stopped at the stair case and removed her arm from his, albeit begrudgingly
"Are you not allowed up unless asked?" he asked, for the first time actually realizing this phenomenon
"Well… no. That is an honor for the disciples and not the protectors…" she said, casting her eyes elsewhere "Well, go on. Talk with your buddy"
He dismissed her odd behavior and walked up to the gem. Its rich voice echoed in his mind
"Greetings child, did you find your slumber befitting?" it asked with genuine interest.
"I slept just fine, why have you beckoned me now?" he asked back
"Well… it seems that you are ready to begin the initiation ritual…" the gem begun to say
"Ritual!" Thoice interrupted angrily "You've already taken me as a follower. You converted me into this unholy beast without my knowledge. And now I must perform a ritual for you?" he angrily spewed
"Relax; it's not as severe as you think. Now let me explain myself" the gem hummed. Thoice relaxed his shoulders and let the gem talk "Thank you, now in the past the ritual consisted of sending the disciple to eliminate some target. And this will be quite the same, as it is traditional. I'm sorry child, but your future is soaked with much bloodshed, and it is my current task to help you gain a concept of 'responsibility', as it were" the gem stated
"To kill again?" he replied slowly, looking at the gem with a soulless gaze "I'd sooner slit my own throat than send another soul into the oblivion" he remarked viciously
"Again, you jump ahead. You must take responsibility for your role. You guessed it some time ago, you are an arbiter. Just you had your employer all wrong. There is no 'God' that employed you, but me. Your eradications have been carefully planned by me, and each one served its purpose to help shape you into the kind person you are now" the gem said
"You!" he stated in pure disbelief "You're the reason I'm haunted by my past, and now you want me to believe this is all for a better future? What about my future damn it, I'm tired of closing my eyes and seeing the corpses of the people I've killed and the past life I was robbed of!" he cried out, tears freely flowing.
"Calm yourself child, I'm sorry if you dislike what your life is to be, but understand it is for the best. Each person you took into the afterlife helped the world to become a better one. You have prevented world wars from breaking free, you saved cities and you've liberated lives. Is that not enough reward for one soul?" it asked quizzically
"To most, that would be plenty. But not me. I never asked for this life, nor did I ever aspire for this. I lost my parents to the cruel fate of this world, I lost my innocence to the tides of chaos, and I lost my sanity somewhere over time. But my freedom to rectify my past, that I've help onto feverishly" he remarked calmly.
"But you've never had that freedom. I've told you, Fate marked you early on. Your life is full of death, betrayal and sin. But ultimately, you're the hero that saves Mobius from a fate worse than death. You save billions of lives and let them lead a life of freedom and choices, because of your eternal sacrifice. Remember, what was written in the past, encouraged the good of the future. You've impacted the collective conscious of Mobius once already, why not again?" the gem asked
"Because I did what was right. I fail to see why the world can't grasp this concept, and live a life free from the vices of the temptations of sin" he begun to say, feeling the shadow energy surging through him rapidly as his emotions built "But to make me an eternal arbiter, destined to take away the impure beings from the world. I shan't be destined for such a life" he remarked, the shadows encompassing him. The energy swirled around him, blocking all contact with the gem. He could feel the crystals power brushing against the shadows that encircled him, but he kept his wall up as he sat and crossed his legs to think what had just happened to him.
"That damn crystal has been playing me a pawn all my life. I killed sixteen cruel men, albeit for a better future for Mobius, but at what cost? I have dipped my paws in the eternal fountain of sin and bloodshed, and I wish for nothing more than to cleanse them of the past. This damned being wishes to send me back into the cruel path I once followed… do I accept, knowing that Mobius's very existence may teeter on my conscious decisions?" he asked himself, looking at his paws for the answer
The crystals tendrils broke past the shadow and asked a simple question "Thoice… why do you hide from your fate?"
The question shocked him, for up until now he was able to dismiss it as tragedy and cruel life events… but to hear the crystal ask him with such a basic question… well it hit him deep. The shadows phased from him, sinking back to the darkness in the room and he replied emotionally "Because I never wanted it… why can't I protect people with my potions, rather than kill them with my poison?" he asked plainly
"Because your life is a double-edged sword. You must kill those who deserve it, and save those who need it. In time you'll see the weight of your existence. It's just too soon for you to fully realize your responsibility" the gem replied
He stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes "Very well. I give up. Apparently my soul is doomed to an eternity in purgatory, so I might as well take my apparent 'responsibility'. Who is my target" he asked coldly, officially detaching from his emotions
Images flashed in his head rapidly, of some large bear who wore a headdress. He had tribal marks all over him and seemed a power of authority. "This is Kai-Chi, and he is the grand shaman of an ancient tribe in the north. These proud people are dead because of him, your job is to remove the shaman before he removes the entire race from the planet" the gem stated
"Wait… if they are dead, how can I stop something retroactively?" he asked, looking into the gem at the depiction of the bear shaman
"Simple, I shall transport you into the past. Did you think you can only affect the present? No, you're a disciple of the crystal of time. As such, I shall dispatch you across the eons of existence to eliminate and save certain key individuals. Thanks to dear Sierra, I've been without direct contact for some three-hundred years, so we have to play some catch up…" the gem digressed
"So, let me get this straight. I have to go back in time, kill a powerful bear shaman, to preserve a race of people who technically don't exist right now?" he asked
"Yes and no, you see… Time is fickle. Events can change, and futures can be altered. You, are blessed for you radiate my power, thus making you immune to any paradoxes that can be created. The world however, shapes and alters due to these acts you commit in the past. Essentially, you painstakingly travel into the past, to ensure a better future. Wiping the cruel and diseased existence from the timeline, and replacing it with a healthier alternative. Imagine, a gardener removing a series of dying crops for a plethora of healthy ones." The gem tried to explain
"I see…. So I remove these bloated existences of sin and folly from existence, to ensure the overall future to be better?" he asked
"Correct. But I will also send you into the future and occasionally the present to help guide events. Only in the past can you personally alter the time line, anywhere else and you're far too young to rectify the results. Mayhap in time…" the gem digressed
"Fair enough. Shall I head this alone? And how do I return?" Thoice asked, anxious to get out of the room with the gem so that he could relax and take in his new life
"You shall be taking Alyssa with you, for she is a sworn protector to you. Since she'll be with you, she shall also be immune to any such paradoxes. As for your return, you will return to this room soon after you complete your mission. Time will snap and the good future will overtake the bad one, causing a spatial distortion. You'll be safely thrown from the disturbance and brought back to here, and now." The gem said, albeit cryptically
"Fair enough, send me into the past master" he replied, kneeling to the gem
"Summon you're protector and prepare yourself" the gem stated
"Alyssa, please come here and prepare for an active duty assignment" Thoice instructed
She walked up the steps, carefully at first and then hurried next to Thoice, almost scared of the crystal. She stood next to him, seemingly ready for whatever was going to happen next. He grabbed her hand and the room stopped rapidly.
Time seemed to wind in reverse, pressure fluxed from very intense to lack thereof and weird sensations fluttered between the two. He desperately reached for his shadow to protect him, if not just Alyssa, but to no avail as no such thing existed in this pocket in reality. Finally, his field of vision snapped and faded to white, only to be immediately taken in by a serene forest and a dirt trail through it leading up the hill side.
The two were thrown forcibly away from another, into the lush grass. The noonday sun tore away at Thoice's flesh, so much so that he hissed in pain and instinctively reached out to the shadows to protect him. They rushed to shield him from the sun's gaze, only to be slowly eaten away by the sun's constant stream of existence. He took the time to quickly rush to a nearby tree and bolstered his being in the shadow overcastted by the tree's formidable form.
"Thoice, are you alright?" Alyssa asked as she jogged up to him, worry apparent in her eyes
"Yeah, I'm alright. I wasn't ready for the sun though" he winced, as he looked through the branches at his celestial enemy
"Don't you have your vial of stuff to protect yourself from the sun's ray?" she asked, remembering the conversation they shared the night before
"Typically I would… but I left it on my desk…" he slowly said as he rummaged through his cloak "I don't think the proper ingredients are here…" he added, carefully thinking of how he was going to circumvent the sun
"What do they look like, I might be able to find them" she suggested, optimism leaking from her voice
"Don't be daft girl; such ingredients don't just grow everywhere. I'll just have to use the trees for cover and … I guess hope for the best" he stated plainly, thinking of any alternative
"Fair enough, but if it gets too much, don't stress yourself. We have plenty of time to do whatever we are here to do" she said, looking around and sniffing the environment "Odd… I smell civilization nearby…" she said aloud
"Oh quite, a thousand apologizes. I keep forgetting I converse with the gem mentally" he said with a chuckle "we are here to kill a shaman of this tribe. Apparently his actions doom the entire race of these people, and they are needed in the future. I have no idea why, for the gem didn't elaborate… but that is the mission" he stated, looking around to take in the territory
"Ok, so are we … like in the past or something?" she asked
"Yes, but I can't say how far back. We may be able to discern based on social customs and so forth, but until we can say for certain I need you to play the part of a traditional woman. Namely, nothing personal, but I need you to be subservient to everything I say and do and never speak unless spoken to. Chances are we are back in a time before women had standing rights, and thus your actions would doom us to appear as outsides" he explained remorsefully
"Fair enough, but I will protect you regardless of it 'giving us away' or anything, just know that" she said, barring her teeth in glee
"I never dismissed your duties. I merely stated how you should act. I ask that you be professional." He stated
"Oh listen to you, being all mature about this. Damn it's actually kind of sexy" she teased as she brushed up against him playfully before bouncing off down the dirt path to figure out where it led
"Yes… quite. Well enough of that, I need to be able to protect myself… maybe…" he thought as he willed the surrounding shadows to him. He slowly fed the shadow through his clothing, placing a very thin layer around him, just above his fur. Slowly he emboldened the cocoon he placed himself in, hoping that this would at least give him a fighting chance of standing under the sun for a few moments. "Alyssa how does this look?" he inquired
She looked back and cocked her head to the side before grinning and saying "Well, you look silly to me. But to everyone else you'll appear as a black cat. Well done" she laughed
"May not be the most fashionable choice, but let's hope that doesn't impede function" he thought as he followed behind her, gingerly walking wherever shadows were casted to continuously bolster his 'shell' from the sun.
The two continued down the dirt path until they came to a large wooden wall. Adjacent to the wall were two large burly bears, armed with spears and the most festive of battle garb. They had feathers adorned across their hair, war paint down their face and most of their upper torso and tomahawks strung across their sides. They seemed far more than capable of defending the entrance to whatever they guarded, which only sent a pang of concern down Thoice
"I hope I speak their language" he thought, quickly brushing across all the languages he had learned over his extensive research into alchemy. They approached and the bear man to the left lifted his paw up
"Stop, you are travelers, are you not?" he asked rehearsed
"Why yes sir, we most certainly are. We seek refuge you see, for we have traveled many moons without rest" Thoice said, hoping his back-story would at least work at the man's sympathy
"Quite, where do you hail from traveler?" he asked
"A small port city located towards the south. We are heading north to visit her family you see, for her mother is rather ill. I but her boyfriend, and thus it is my job to ensure her safety. Does this appease you sir?" Thoice replied confidently, for he had been a master of creating identities on the spot in his past
"Aye. I hope you and the miss a kind trip. You may use our lodging and partake of our wares, but be warned. If you do anything that offends the clan chiefs, we will be forced to exile you from our lands" the man warned as he opened the gate to them
Thoice and Alyssa quickly walked inside, holding hands to hold up the illusion that they were dating, to continue to pass their story.
"So, I'm your girlfriend now, am I?" she teasingly whispered to him
"Remember, don't speak unless spoken to" he replied, not taking his eyes off the massive city
The city was clearly pre-industrial. Log cabins and canvas tents littered the settlement. Bears of all sizes walked among the path, most having either war paint and/or feathers adorned on their heads. Some took odd looks at Thoice and Alyssa, clearly not used to the concept of travelers. But none dared interrupt their journey as they continued with their day-to-day business.
Thoice led Alyssa to a nearby lodge, a large log cabin structure. The front had a couple symbols on the front, which he identified as alchemic symbolism. He knew he was among the far dated 'Grizzly Tribe'. He was really anxious to learn if they were as alchemically advanced as his texts made him believe.
Inside was a large bear, he had a headdress of feathers and war paint across his face. Very curious markings crossed his body, and Thoice identified him as the target the crystal identified for him "Damn, of course it would be my fate to kill off their alchemist. How cruel is irony…" he thought dejectedly
"Greetings child of the sands, how have you traveled so far?" the man asked Thoice
"Excuse me sir, but child of the sands?" he replied
"Oh excuse me; I thought you were one of the desert cats. I guess your dark complexion would explain otherwise" the man laughed "I am Kai-Chi, the medicinal shaman. How may I be of assistance?"
"Oh, I wanted to see the legend at work" Thoice replied with a grin "I have studied alchemy all my life and I crave to learn from the best of the best. According to what I have learned, you are a master at the numbing toxin" he said slyly
"Hush" he said quietly, looking around the store for any eavesdroppers "Please, follow me" he said getting up and opening a door to the back of the store. Thoice and Alyssa followed him inside
"Nice place you've got here" Thoice remarked as he took into account all the beakers, test tubes and flasks littered around the room on work benches. Herbs, roots, small animals and other organic compounds were carefully stored away in containers all across the room, clearly the room of an alchemist
"How did you know of the toxin?" Kai-Chi asked cautiously
"I did my homework. I know how to brew the dose as well" Thoice replied, taking a small vial from his coat and handing it to the man "I embellished on your original design and found new ways of hiding the protein within, giving a more stable reaction with the victims hemoglobin" Thoice said cleverly
"My, my, my. I would have never thought of adding Adder's tongue to the brew" Kai-Chi said as he analyzed the bottle with his eye, shaking the contents back and forth "And what is this, sodium bicarbonate?"
"Among other things, yes. I even use some thyme to help agitate the compound for maximum effect on organic targets" Thoice said with a grin "All thanks to you, sir Kai" he said with a bow to the man he was destined to kill
"You are beyond clever, and so young… how have you mastered so much at such youth?" the bear asked, handing the vial back
"Simply by pursuing the great questions of life" he replied, pocketing the vial. "This is my friend, Alyssa. I am Thoice. Pleased to meet you" he said, now formally introducing himself to his soon-to-be victim.
"Honored" Alyssa said begrudgingly, clearly not used to being cultured and mimicking whatever it was Thoice did
"So, tell me why you are truly here" the man asked, taking a seat on a wooden chair propped up in the middle of the room, next to a small stand carrying pages of notes
"Like I said prior, I wish to glean what you know, to further my alchemic knowledge. Do you think you would be able to part with some knowledge?" Thoice inquired
"Well, judging by the vial you showed me… I probably would be the student here. I'm sorry master Thoice, but I can't teach you. You have surpassed me in ways I never dreamed. I am only able to teach you traditional recipes of the Grizzly Clan, and those aren't allowed to outsiders. So pardon me, but I have a royal batch for the chief to work on" Kai-Chi said, gesturing them to the door as he thumbed through his notes
Thoice left with Alyssa and when they closed the door and stood in the main room he carefully looked around the room and said "That's our target" in her ear
"Really?" she replied, worried and concerned "but he seems so nice, how can you be so certain"
"Unless he has a twin… Notice how I haven't killed him. We must perform some research of our own." And with that, he took her and they walked back out into the noonday sun.
The beams continuously brushed against Thoice's layers of shadow over his flesh, but at a rate constant with the regeneration from the nearby shadows. He rationalized as long as he minimized exposure to only a few minutes per session, he would be able to blend in as semi-normal among these bears.
"Hey, you, come with me" said an echidna with a few followers. They all had beads in their dreads, and ink across their body. The leader was of a pasty-brown color, and the rest were either of a dark shade of brown or silver.
"Why would I wish to?" Thoice responded to the strangers
"You're a stranger here, are you not?" the man asked
"Yes…" Thoice replied cautiously
"Then please follow us, we have much to talk about Thoice" the man said cryptically
"Wait… he knows me? How the what now?" he thought rapidly as he decided to follow the band of echidnas.
"Are you sure about this Thoice?" Alyssa whispered into his ear
"I think I can take them if need be. Besides, I have you to protect me, unless you doubt your abilities. Also, remember. Mum's the word" he whispered back, reminding her of her silence
They walked out into the nearby forest, leaving the safety of the town. They then continued down the path, taking a detour to the left to enter the thicker reaches of the forest. It was a clearing in the middle of the forest. The echidnas continued walking till they reached the center, then the five turned to face Thoice, the four accomplices taking out wooden stakes
"Was it really so easy to trick the 'accursed alchemist' so easily?" the man said with a laugh
"Blast, an ambush!" Thoice cursed in his head "What do you want?" he asked, keeping his voice calm
"Why, we wish to end your life now. Quite simply, we don't appreciate such a horrid being walking among the living, the world of Mobius needs you to die, no offense" the man said sarcastically as his men slowly walked out to encircle Thoice and Alyssa
"But I don't get it. I haven't done anything … if anything, the things I've done have been good. Right?" he asked, confused by this turn of events
"Sure you would like to think. But killing our chief sort of makes us want to exact revenge, surely you remember that?" the man asked, defensively and angry
"No, I don't. I have never met your people before" Thoice cried out, desperately trying to make his assailants understand this "I have a simple mission to carry out. Please, let bygones be bygones" he asked hopefully
"I'm afraid we can't allow that. For as long as we have blood in our veins, rather than drenching you're accursed fangs, we shall fight you to our dying breath. Get him!" the man ordered
The men rushed at Thoice, wielding their stakes primed to kill the ocelot. He reacted by dipping into his left pocket with his paw, taking a vial out and breaking it in his paw, thus drenching his paw. He then jumped back to the shade of the trees so that he could bolster his shadow-barrier. He kept his right arm held against the tree, so that he could use it for balance and other acrobatic maneuvers.
Alyssa took a different approach; she extended her claws and burst out into some bizarre hybrid form of her lycanthropic state. Her fur grew, but she remained bipedal. Her muscles bulged with strength, but her eyes kept a state of consciousness deep within them. She roared fiercely and leapt at the attackers. They were ready for her however, and drew swords. The blades reflected brightly in the sun's light, shimmering and almost blinding Thoice's vision.
They swung hopelessly at her, while she dodgde the attacks and attempted to rend the attackers in twain. Her first victim was torn in half from the power of her claw, his disemboweled being splattered across the clearing. Her fur took the tinge of the blood that soaked over her, while she growled in delight. The remaining three attackers encircled her.
The front most attacker went to attack her, she dodge his swing and went for her own in which he parried the attack and thrust his blade at her. She leapt in the air as he gashed across her chest, resulting in her bounding to the tree to then climb up them for a predatory advantage, growling at the attackers with primal anger and hurt pain. Blood dripping from the branches in the trees, showing just how much pain she was in.
"You thought we were fools? We brought silver-tipped blades for your little pet Lycan. The silver negates her regenerative powers, allowing us to slowly hack away at her till she dies. And for killing one of us, I can further guarantee her death now" the man said proudly
"Very astute, but you forgot one thing." Thoice remarked, a sinister grin on his face, anger boiling inside of him for seeing someone he cared about getting hurt
"And that would be?" the man replied, looking around the clearing for some type of trap
"ME!" Thoice roared as he rushed from the trees. The sun tore slowly at the shadow encasing him, but he didn't care. Such primal rage boiled up inside of him, that he wished to only tear the men in half to soothe his undying hate for their mere existence.
The men sheathed their swords quickly and took their stakes to hand to prepare a quick stab at his heart. Thoice engaged one in close combat; he madly brought his right paw down on him, to which the man pushed off with the stake, leaving him open for Thoice's left paw. The claw dragged across the man's chest, causing blood to soak his paw and give it a sinister presence over his white fur and slowly decaying black shell of shadow.
The man fell to his knees, crying out in pain as he clutched his chest and fell over, ceasing to breathe. The other men bolstered their nerves and drew their swords to fight him. He rushed at them, sending his shadow as tendrils to the men. They parried the attacking shadow, leaving them open to Thoice assault. He pounced the man to his left, taking him to the ground. He punched his left paw through the man's stomach, letting his poison drenched paw seep through the man's innards before leaping off of him to engage the final attacker, pulling his entrails out with him as he leapt.
The man cried out in inhuman pain as the poison attacked his very being, as his nervous system was attacked first, making the screaming more than unreal. His blood seeped into the lush grass, as his entrails spilled onto the floor. He cried out in one last shriek of pain before collapsing to the floor.
The last man was ready however. He madly swung at Thoice, hitting his shadow a few times. Thoice grinned madly as he rushed to the man. He stabbed the stake straight through Thoice's chest, as he slashed away at the man's chest with his left claw. They fell away from each other, Thoice's shadow leaving him and the sun tearing down at him.
The unreal pain of the sun caused the pain to finally hit him, the stake had just missed his heart by mere inches, but the pain was still more than enough. The unfortunate echidna however simply clutched his heart and fell to his side while screaming silently. A truly horrified expression on his face as his eyes stared at Thoice.
Thoice grabbed the wooden stake and tore it from himself, causing clumps of his flesh to fall from him. He then turned to see the last man still standing there, sarcastically clapping his hands.
"Well done Thoice, well done. I expected nothing more from the man who brutally killed our chief. Unfortunately for you, this is the last day you get to live, you unholy monster" he said, as he grabbed a sword.
The sword was covered in holy symbols, crosses and psalms adorned the blade. The handle had a clove of garlic tied to it, and the tip was dripping some type of water. "You like the blade that will kill you? It is fashioned from the most blessed steel in all the land, adorned with religious symbols of the cross and the words of the saints. The tip is dipped in holy water and the base has garlic designed to force you to keep your distance. A mere child could kill you with such a perfectly designed blade, but I shall take the honor" he said gleefully as he rushed towards Thoice
Thoice looked at the blade, and only grinned madly. He didn't care about the blade. He didn't care about this man's seemingly inhuman grudge against him, nor the fact he was probably going to die. He just smiled like a fool and felt unnatural power seeping through him. A tendril of shadow sprouted from him and shot to the heavens, causing a beam of pure shadow to come from the sky and encase Thoice. The wild echidna stopped running at him to gaze at what was happening
The blue sky started to tint to a shade of blood red, the clouds became hollow shades of black against the sky. Lightening crackled in the sky and the ground glowed an eerie glow. Fog slowly rolled from where Thoice stood, slowly covering the ground in a dense and unforgivable obscuring mist. He just stood there, cackling madly as he arched his back and clenched his fists in undying rage. His left paw grew long unholy nails, which solidified with pure shadow. An unholy aura spewing from where he stood, giving him an unnatural glow
"What are you!" the echidna cried out, worry finally taking his face
"Death!" Thoice cried out gleefully as he vanished from where he stood. In a heart's beat, his long claw was through the echidna's chest, appearing from nowhere. The man realized only moments afterwards as he coughed up blood onto Thoice.
He then opened his hand inside the man's chest, slowly pulling away at the structure of the ribs until it ultimately popped, tearing the man into an indescribable pile of flesh and blood. All while the echidna screamed in pain that caused the very sky to smile with a cruel amount of pleasure.
Thoice looked at the torn corpse and smiled with an unholy appearance, savoring the man's corpse. He then grabbed the blade, feeling the pain sear against him as he broke it in half and cackled "This! This is the best mortals have against me! I am a god compared to such trivial things!" he laughed, as he threw the remains at what was left of the man's face.
He strolled over to the corpse that was most intact, lifted it to his mouth with his shadows and drained the corpse in a matter of seconds "Pity… I thought such 'heroic' fighters would taste better" he said with a cruel laugh
"Thoice! Please… stop!" Alyssa said as she limped over to him
He looked at her, and with her limp an image of Sierra shot through him. "Sierra…" he said dumbly as the power faded from him. The sky returned to a peaceful blue, the clouds became white once more, the fog lifted and the cruel aura encasing him ceased to be. He clutched his gaping wound in his chest and fell to the ground, crying.
"There, there Thoice. Let me help you" she said as she leaned down and threw his arm over her shoulder and walked him to the shadow of the nearby tree, to spare him from the sun.
"The pain…. Is… refreshing" he said with black humor, watching his wound slowly seal itself and disappear. His outfit then begun to repair itself within the shadow, and soon he looked as good as he did before the fight. "Odd… no fatigue this time… I wonder why?" he asked
"Oh… you don't remember?" she asked, a terrified face accompanying her question
"No… I remember you getting cut by that blade…" he started to say, looking at her wound. The gash was across her chest, and clearly was not going to heal normally. "Here, let me fix that" he said, as he leaned her back on the grass.
"Oh, kinky" she teased as he simply grinned and checked her wound carefully. The gash was just between her breasts, riding up from the lower left and going over the right. "Interesting… seems they were right. The silver is stopping you from regenerating…" he admitted, going through his left pocket for vials and flasks. "But, I think I can help here…" he said
"Thanks …" she said, blushing as he looked over her figure. She had a modest body, easily a pair of 'C' cups adorned on her chest. The soft white fur that rode up her belly was only angelic in appearance, but the gash ruined the overall peace of her figure. He knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he fixed such a problem.
He grabbed a few vials of acid, and a couple that would help encourage cellular re-growth. "Ok… now to mortals this is going to hurt like hell. I don't know about Lycanthrope thresholds of pain… or heck, really their anatomy. But let's see what happens" he said with a grin
"I trust you" she admitted, a coy smile
"Let's hope that isn't the last thing you say" he laughed as he dripped the acid onto your wound. Quickly sending his shadow tendrils to grab and restrain her limbs for her reaction.
She screamed in pain as the acid touched, and tried to flinch her body reflexively, but the shadows endured her struggle. He slowly moved the acid throughout the gash, incurring new screams and a stream of curses as the pain shot through her. "Please Alyssa, this is for your betterment, try to endure" he said calmly
"Easy for you to say!" she retorted between clenched teeth "You're not the one getting an acid bath!" she cried out
"Would it make you feel better if I told you I've had worse?" he asked
She nodded as she shook her body in pain as the acid was finishing up its job
"I've experimented on myself for so many years; I can endure most poisons… But it comes at a cost, dear. I've been through pain that sent me through hell and back. Heck, the night I died, I almost died prior to that from a poisoned sword wound. I had to use so much of this special blend that I nearly blacked out… which at that case would have caused death…" he said with a laugh
"You're laughing at death?" she marveled, as the pain seemed to subside in her
"Like I said, I've been on death's threshold so many times that such a phenomenon is nothing new to me" he remarked plainly.
"You're a mad-scientist" she remarked with praise and fear mixed in her voice
"Ok, now that the acid ate away at the silver… I'm going to apply this healing solution now. It will be a slight shot of pain, but nothing in comparison" he said as he prepared the dosage
"Ok… make it quick" she said, squeezing her eyes shut and bracing for impact
"Cute… she is terrified of me…. I wonder why I killed their chief…" he thought, thinking back on the echidnas, looking out at the field and seeing the strewn corpses across the field. Their limbs and blood covering what was once a peaceful clearing. He applied the potion and she made a small moan of pain, and he then got up to look at the corpses, retracting his shadow-tendrils back to him.
He looked at the corpses, marveling how they died. "Really… this is crude but very well done. Whoever killed these people had a finite knowledge of the anatomy of the living, and a pinpoint accuracy on what to strike" he thought, analyzing the corpse of the man who had his organs dragged out of his gut.
He walked over to the other man, who had a strong gash across his chest. A pair a pin pricks adorned his neck, with a clear intent to drain the victim place on it. The man had a pale and ghost like appearance, as if he had been dead for months rather than minutes. "Wow… who killed this one?" he asked Alyssa
"Oh…" she said, getting up. Her chest wound slowly sealing up "That was you, as well as him, him and him" she said, gesturing to the man with a torn out gut, the one with a gash across his entire torso and the pile of what was the chief
"But how? I didn't do anything… did I?" he asked innocently
"Look… I don't know what happened, but you sort of just lost it when I got hurt… I guess. You rushed at those guys madly. You took him down with one quick swing" she said, pointing at the one who had a claw mark clear across his torso "and he shriveled over and screamed as he died" she said with a shudder at the memory
"That one" she said, pointing at the one with a gut torn out "you tackled madly and punched right through his abdomen. You then tore out those organs as he was already dying. Another horrific scream accompanied that death…" she said, still dealing with the mental picture
"As for him" she said, pointing at the one he was holding "you fought him rather fair. You let him drive his stake through you while you clawed his chest. You lived from it, and he clutched his heart and died in screaming agony… what did you do to those men?" she asked in shock
"Like I said… I know alchemy. It means both poison and potion. The extract I showed our target earlier… that is but a simple precursor to the death poison I used on these poor souls…" he said, remembering slowly how he fought them, as Alyssa jogged him memory. But he hit a part he could not remember. "Hey, after this guy I don't remember anything but… you" he said, wanting to say Sierra at first
"Oh… him" she said, pointing at the pile of flesh and blood "he got the most unfortunate demise. He brandished some supposed sword designed to kill you… something about holy symbols and water" she said, he nodded as he understood "Well… you seemed to of lost it with the stake near your heart. You tore it out and cackled madly as some crazy event happened" she said, shuddering as the memory came back
"You had your shadow come to you, and it shot up into the sky. Then the sky turned the shadow, but that wasn't it. The day got dark as the sky turned blood red. And I felt such a primal urge to kill surge through me… I felt indestructible…" she admitted, almost savoring the memory "well… then the clouds turned pitch black and some eerie fog fumed from you. You cackled madly as you grew some mad claw over your left paw, and you just vanished and impaled the poor man. But that wasn't enough for you…" she said, wanting to stop her description
"Please Alyssa… what did I do?" he asked, feeling sickened by saying that it was him
"You opened your claw inside of him, resulting in …. That" she said, gesturing to the pile of flesh and blood "you literally tore him to shreds. You then grabbed his 'holy blade' broke it with a laugh and walked over to that guy" she said, pointing at the corpse next to his feet "and drank what blood he had left…" she finished, turning away from Thoice and walking down the path
"Just as I feared… my primal sense is far too powerful… I warned the crystal. But did he listen! Of course not!" he cursed in his head. He jogged to catch up with Alyssa "Do you hate me?" he asked as the two walked back
"Well… no. I'm just…. I dunno" she said, not sure what to say "I mean… part of me admires what you did. It was the perfect hunt. I could follow you to hell and back with how much you inspired me to kill… but at the same time" she said, flicking her hair around "You terrified me. I wasn't sure if I should run from you or with you…" she said, nervously looking around "Ya know?" she asked
"Unfortunately I don't. I'm sorry I put you through that" he replied "What say we finish up our little mission and head home" he said
"I'd like that a lot" she replied
The two walked back into town, nervously walked past the guards and went around town to view people. A few hours passed, and the sun was beginning to set. Thoice felt the surge of power rush to him, as the sun set and the moon took dominance in the sky. He smiled happily, having finally no need to hide from an ever-present enemy.
"Well… I don't see anyone else who matches his description" she whispered to him
"Me neither… what say we take care of business" he replied as they walked back to the alchemic shop
The entered the building casually, went behind the counter and opened the door. There was Kai-Chi, sitting there as if he was waiting for them.
"Thoice, your back. I thought for certain they would be capable of killing you" he said smugly
"You! Really, why did you want me dead?" he asked in anger
"Isn't it obvious? Not only are you a better alchemist than I'll ever be, but you're an unholy abomination. I think it's about time for the grand bear spirit to banish you to an eternity in the fires" he cursed
"I take it that is your way of saying for me to go to hell?" he replied smugly
"Exactly, I think I'll be more than enough of a challenge for you" he laughed as he grabbed a nearby vial.
"Really? You want to have a brew-off?" Thoice laughed
"Close, but no!" and with that Kai-Chi through the vial to the ground. A blinding bright light filled the room, but to Thoice, he felt the searing pain of the ultra-violet light searing against his flesh. The shadows of the room were completely eaten away by the burst, leaving him completely vulnerable to the beam. He fell to his knees gasping in pain as the light subsided
Kai-Chi laughed maniacally "I may not be able to best you in alchemy, but our ancestors brewed these years ago. We use it to create lanterns and such, but a slight modifications and 'boom', anti-vampire in a bottle" he laughed as he grabbed a few more vials
"You bastard!" Thoice cursed, the pain still reverberating through him
"I may be, I may not be. But you are soon to be dead, any last words you blasted abomination?" Kai-Chi teased
"Only three" Thoice managed to say
"Oh? And they would be? Let me guess. 'Go to hell' or something along those lines? You westerners seem to love that line far too much" Kai-Chi giggled
"Nope. 'What about her?'" Thoice coughed up, as the pain still shot through him
"Her whom?" he replied as he was tackled by Alyssa. "Oh her!" he cried out as he roared in frenzy. He threw the bottles to the ground all at once, causing the room to be blinded in holy light, and again causing Thoice to cry out in unbearable agony as he desperately tried to limp behind a desk to survive the glow
"I'll kill you for attacking my master!" Alyssa swore in primal furry, her fur having fully grown and her claws being bared with her fangs. She growled menacingly at the bear.
"Oh correct. You vampires tend to have obedient bitches to order around. No matter, I can more than handle some rabid bitch!" he roared as he grabbed a nearby vial and drunk it "FEAR ME!" he roared as his body shook with power
His muscles rippled in magnitude, and his voice deepened. His claws grew out and his eyes became narrow slits of a primal predator. He growled menacingly back at Alyssa, who held her ground and readied her assault on the large predator. "You have no chance girl! I'm more powerful than you'll ever figure!" he growled as he rushed at her
She rolled out of the way and clawed across his side. He roared in pain as he claw traveled through his flesh, but that didn't stop him. He turned to her and swung his paw at her. She was thrown across the room and smashed into a cabinet. She whimpered in pain but staggered back up and rushed back at her attacker.
"Blasted fool, she doesn't understand the simple mechanics of fighting someone larger than you" he thought madly, remembering when he fought the kingpin. He tried to pull himself back up to his feet, but the pain from the bottles of solar energy still had him completely drained. "She is going to die if I can't help her!" he thought with rage as he forced his body to respond to his will
Meanwhile, Alyssa was leaping at Kai-Chi, determined to kill him. He would take her small frenzy of attacks and then he would smack her away with one powerful swing of his claw. She returned each time, with a more pronounced limp and a beaten exterior. But she would not relent, as she continued to leap into her enemy, determined to kill.
Finally Thoice managed to get standing, with a massive swagger in his step as he painfully lunged in every which direction. His sense of balance still coming back to him, so he fell against the wall and tried to slowly recuperate himself, watching Alyssa continue to madly attack her target. He couldn't help but admire her determination.
Finally, Kai-Chi grew tired of this game and grabbed her with his paw. He lifted her above his head and threw her with all his force into the ground. She hit with a heavy thud, and cried out in pain as he begun to bring his giant fist down upon her. Each hit echoed throughout the room, followed by a yelp of pain. He merely laughed madly as he continued to rain down upon her.
"I must help!" Thoice thought as he limped off the wall. He grabbed out into the room and found the shadows that had recovered since the light flares. They pooled to him, much like water would in a depression in the sand. He then felt the shadows revitalize him and grinned with the new energy surging through him. He sent a tendril from him right into the right pectoral muscle of Kai-Chi. He cried out in pain, and looked at Thoice with an intent to murder on his face
"So, the beaten feline is finally ready to fight, is he now?" he growled as he begun to lunge towards Thoice.
"Oh shut up" he cried out as the shadows rained down upon his attacker. Kai-Chi put up his claws and clawed away at most of the tendrils that were coming down upon him, but several made it past him and pinned him to the floor as if he were nailed to cork board.
"Oh, you think you've won have you?" the bear cackled
"No… I know" Thoice said calmly as he had a tendril slowly slither up behind him and go over him much like a scorpion's tail "When you see Satan, let him know I sent you. You might get your own personal Hell" he said coldly as the tendril drove straight through the bear's skull.
The head caved to the force, causing the organs of the head to seep out from the crushed skull. The brain leaked a little through the wound, the eyes rolled out of their sockets and he lay there limply. A smile still on the corpse, which gave Thoice some sick satisfaction. He then walked over to Alyssa, who was lying on the floor bleeding profusely.
"Geez, and here I thought you could protect me" he teased as he sent a few shadows underneath her to lift her up to him
"Oh quiet you, I'll recover in no time… can't say the same about Kai-Chi can we?" she said, a cruel smile on her bloodied face
"Sadly no. I tend to be a pacifist if given the choice… but he crossed the line a good while ago. I wish no mercy upon his immortal soul" he said in disgust to the corpse
"Seems unnaturally cruel of you" she remarked, her wounds slowly starting to close "odd… I don't tend to heal this early" she said as she looked at Thoice
"Yeah… it's me. I'm siphoning the dark energy in this room to speed up your recovery rate. And yes, I'm going to do this. Don't talk me out of it" he said plainly, carefully applying his anatomical knowledge as he repaired her wounds
"I can't win an argument with you, can I? Isn't that suppose to be my job?" she teased as her wounds closed up and her blood was slowly cleaned away.
"Atypically yes… but for your lover. I'm essentially your master and employer. Therefore, I'm right even when I'm wrong." He laughed as he finished her repairs, the surge of fatigue rushing through him "And… I think I'm done with fighting today" he said as he fell to one knee
"Damn it Thoice, stop overexerting yourself. I would have healed anyways!" she said angrily as she helped him to the wooden chair in the middle of the room so that he could sit down.
"Yeah… but I need you ready just in case we are ambushed again" he said defensively, hiding his real motive that he didn't want her to be hurt because of him
"Whatever… so when do we go home?" she asked
"It should be in a few minutes…" he replied, feeling the room slowly feel more pressured "Feel about now" he remarked
The room became dense, and hard to breathe in. Then they were yanked through the nether, feeling an inducing feeling of vertigo as they were spun through a colorful tunnel. A sensation of feelings flooded into their beings, as they were thrown onto the floor of the altar.
"Good… your back" the crystal said allowed
"Yeah… you happy? I have blood on my paws once more" Thoice remarked in disgust
"In part I am. You got to learn more about your vampirism, meet someone you once idolized and still preformed your mission and then some. You showed great courage and leadership taking care of your subordinate" the crystal remarked
"That was great and all… you know until the part where she ALMOST DIED!" he cried out in anger
"Almost and 'did' are two different states of being. She is alive, and you both have learned. I say you've learned about 'Responsibility' now" the crystal said
"That's it! You put her life in danger so that I'd learn about responsibility? What good does that do, when we put mortal lives in danger?" Thoice said angrily
"It does well for you. You must master your emotions. Maybe in time you'll be ready to transcend to a more powerful state, but as of now you're too preoccupied with mortal feelings. Remember you affect the scale of Mobius much more than anyone else. Your actions carry far more weight ultimately, thus you must be an arbiter of good rather than self reason" the gem rationalized
"Damn it! Your right, but don't think that I forgive you for endangering her" Thoice cursed, hating that he was losing an argument to a rock "Also, you had me get ambushed by some group of vampire-haters. Why didn't you warn me of them!"
"I didn't think they'd get to you so soon… but yes. There are cults out there to stop me as well as cults to stop vampires in general. You're usually all lumped in as deranged killers who work on the carnal pleasures of life… you and Sierra being exceptions to this. The general populace doesn't see that, so you two incur societies hate… But these people aimed to kill you for what you did to them and what you're going to do in your future" the gem replied
"The hell does that even mean?" Thoice asked
"It means that at some point in your future, you shall affect their past. Your life will remain hectic for some time, and for that I'm sorry. But remember, you are something Mobius needs, which required you to be in many places at many times." The gem said as it receded away
He angrily stamped the ground and took a couple of calming breaths. He then grabbed Alyssa's arm and helped her down from the altar. "Do me a favor Alyssa, go get some sleep alright?" he said, taking some of the shadows from around him to empower her
"Yeah… sure" she said distantly, as she left him "and get your energy out of me" she said playfully as she left the room
"Well… there we go. I caused the death of five people today… but to whom was I more cruel to?" he thought as he walked to his room. The memory of the man with a torn-out gut appeared in his head, followed by the echidna that was torn to shreds followed by Kai-Chi's corpse. "Maybe they all died equally horrible…" he thought as the wall opened up to his door.
He went to his desk and quickly jotted down notes of what happened today, far too tired to actually write up a fully detailed list. He drew a picture of Kai-Chi, as to immortalize the first target in what he felt to be a long list of targets.
"Here is hoping for a better day" he said, as he drew a cross threw the drawing of Kai-Chi. He then got up and went to bed, thinking solely on the image of Sierra limping towards him and why that was what he thought of.
"Sierra… I will find you" he mumbled to himself as he slumbered
Clearly, the darkest chapter yet. So that is what i primal vampire is like. Gee, hope that doesn't happen more than more... *nudge, nudge*. At any rate, how did you like it? Too dark? Not dark enough? too much animal cruelty? (what are you, PETA?. Let me know either in a sweet Review, or heck hit me up on the Forum or PM it to me. Yes, my box is full of love from you guys... but i still enjoy reading it.
Thanks to the fans,
-Steven 'ZiGeNaToR' Ziegler
