-Silhouettes-
-Part Five-
For the first time it what seemed like seasons the sun had found an escape from the cold embrace of the overcast sky. It's golden rays lit up the landscape with an eerily beautiful glow, the skeletal figures of the trees lifting their branches towards the life-giving sun. It was a picture anybeast would call the perfect picture of winter, a strange sort of warmth amidst the cold. As they marched along however, the beauty of the glistening landscape was the last thing on their minds as they glanced around from the vixen, following her paw prints in the snow, thankful for a break in the blizzard's wrath.
"How far could she have gone?" John wondered along for what must have been the third or fourth time within the hour. Used to his life within the walls of Saint Ninian's the otter wasn't as hardy as most of his kind, more of an indoor beast then Ciel.
"Pretty damn far . . ." Ciel muttered in a low voice, annoyed by the otter's repetition. He was starting to remind her of her little brother, always repeating himself until he heard his personal truth.
"On frost-bitten foot paws?" The otter continued on, ignoring the look of exasperation on the mouse maid's face as her paw shook terribly on her walking staff, trying hard to resist the urge to knock the otter out.
Jus' think, you'd have ta carry 'im back . . . She told herself, toying with the idea in her heard anyways to pass the time.
"Why do you think she left anyways?" The otter asked her, directly this time, finally changing the topic at paw.
"I don't know, maybe fear, maybe curiosity. Why does anybeast leave?" She replied in a soft tone, glancing around for any signs of the vixen as she shrugged her shoulders.
"She had to have a reason though . . . right?" He asked, confused as he stumbled through the snow, mostly out of breath by now as he tried to keep up with the more experienced mouse maid.
"Well . . .I guess we'll find out when we get to her." Ciel replied, her words suddenly failing as she looked ahead to find the end. Abruptly the paw prints seemed to simply vanish into nothingness, the snowscape ahead perfect and uncorrupted by anybeast. "Stop."
"What?" John whispered hoarsely, glancing at the mouse maid, confused by her words as he caught up to her, breathless. "What is it?"
"Doesn't somethin' seem wrong with this?" She whispered, a fresh chill crawling down her spine as she spun around, looking for something that continually eluded her. Something was close, something horrible.
"Ciel, look." The otter muttered with confused tone in his voice, pointing into the still snowscape. Following the otter's claw she found in, a small piece of fabric standing amongst the peaks and valleys of snow, an unnatural mountain peak.
"Wait here a moment." The young mouse maid whispered to the otter, holding the walking staff out in front of herself defensively as she stalked carefully towards the unnatural mound. Suddenly, just as she made it about halfway to the fabric she felt something snag her foot paw, sending her face first into a snow bank, a high pitched yelp escaping from her throat as she found herself blinded by the snow.
"Ciel!" John cried out as she fell, the snow bank falling with her to reveal the head of some creature, immediately leaping into action, the otter swung his own staff hard, bringing it down on the creature with a sickening crack. Whatever it was, it was unfazed by the blow as Ciel sat up, spitting out a bit of snow and John stood, confused as his staff rested in the creatures skull. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, jus' tripped over . . ." Ciel trailed off as she glance to her right to find a pair of empty sockets staring at her, the tip of a staff buried in the top as her heart skipped a beat.
"What do you think it is?" John asked as he stepped towards the skeleton as Ciel carefully brushed snow off of it to reveal a corpse, most of the body had been picked apart by insects and buzzards, nearly all the bones were broken, most held together weakly by strands of cloth.
"Better question . . .who do you think it is?" She wondered as she examined the bones carefully, it was elongated and by the shape of it she guessed it were some sort of fox or perhaps a wolf, if one were to come so far south, but she bet it was a fox. "This is her family . . .that's why she ran . . .she had to come back to find this."
"What do you think she did when she found this?" John wondered with a lump in his throat as he glanced around the snow-covered forest, trying his best not to look at the skeleton before him.
"I dunno . . .never lost anybeast before . . .couldn't 'ave sat too well with her though . . .that much is fer sure . . ." Moving carefully the mouse maid moved to the otter's side, staring at the bones, she knew something horrible must have happened there. Suddenly she snapped her head around at the sound of paw steps falling in the snow.
"Are you okay?" John asked, frightened a little by the sudden look of fear on the mouse's face.
"You hear that?" In the background something was moving through the woods, circling them, the sounds of steps seeming to echo in the frigid winter air, resonating eerily. Glancing around with a frightful look on his face the otter immediately went to the corpses side, working quickly to free his staff.
"What is it?" John muttered as he finally freed the staff's end from the skull, which rolled onto the ground and a second later the otter as well.
"John!" A ball of black colored fury slammed into the otter from behind with an unearthly growl of what Ciel swore to be some sort unimaginable pain. Whatever it was, it was far from any sort of thinking above basic animal instinct as it slashed at the otter relentlessly, a cloak whipping about with it's movements.
"Get off! Get off!" John cried out, almost begging with creature as he fought to protect himself, several long gashes appearing as it attempted to disembowel the otter. Moving as quickly as she could, Ciel brought her staff down on the creature's spine, hitting a loud crack. The creature immediately stopped attacking John, who had by now been knocked unconscious, a small trickle of blood running from his head into the snow along with several others. It turned to face the mouse maid and Ciel heard herself let out a gasp as blue eyes burned into hers.
"Sana . . ." She muttered, not sure if it were a question or a statement, it didn't even particularly like Sana, it was a fox; its fur was dark, almost as if something had drained all the color from it. The vixen's eyes burned feverishly, a definite animal instinct lurking just beneath the surface of those clean orbs, all the intelligence, the awareness was gone. It was like looking into the eyes of a snake.
What happened here? Ciel wondered to herself as the vixen stalked towards her slowly on all fours, lips pulled back in a cruel snarl as a guttural growl rose from its throat. It moved ever slowly, just waiting for the mouse to make a move, waiting for the fear to set in, the instinct of self-preservation. Fight or flight. Fight or flight. That was her choice. Knowing this well enough she fought back the instincts that told her to run, to get as far as she could from the creatures, whether or not in was Sana.
"What 'appened ta you?" She tried questioning it, trying to see if there was anything else or if the vixen's mind was truly gone, lost somewhere far from here. Holding out her staff she tried baiting the snarling animal into making a move, trying to get some sort of advantage of the beast. "What is this, Sana? Where are ye?" She whispered to it, still holding out for some sort of miracle and then she got it, from behind the vixen a staff came down on her skull hard, knocking the vixen senseless. She stumbled forward a few steps before falling into the snow unconscious, tongue lolling out.
"Is it dead?" A very tired, beat-up looking John asked, standing weakly behind the body as he leaned heavily on his staff. Trails of blood had appeared all over the otter's body, open sores gushing freely, blocked only by scraps of cloth.
"Don't worry about that, just rest." Ciel whispered in response as she rushed to the otter's side, examining his briefly. To her relief the otter hadn't received any terrible wounds; most of them had been glancing and had left him with at least a dozen or so glorified scratches, luckily for him. "Ye should be fine . . .nothing went deep.
"Yeah, I know . . ." John whispered, standing a bit taller, one paw clutching his skull as bells seemed to echo in his head ceaselessly. "What was that?"
"I think that's what's left of her . . ." She replied, glancing down at the body as she tore off a bit of her cloak, making four long strips.
"Of Sana? How?" The otter asked as he sank slowly into the snow before falling completely, exhausted by the short lived 'battle' he had endured.
"I dunno, never 'eard of this sort o' thing before . . . guess death did that." Ciel paused for a moment, glancing to the west shores to find the sun descending steadily towards the horizon. "We're running out of daylight. We better get back." She murmured as she went to the vixen's body, the otter simply staring up into the sky.
"Aye . . .but what about her?" John asked, glancing up to find the mouse maid tying the vixen wrist and ankles together with the strips of cloth.
"That's the easy part, mate." She muttered, with a glance at the way back, their paw prints disappearing far ahead, it was a long journey back.
By the time Ciel and John returned to Saint Ninians the sun was hovering on the edge of day and night, lighting up the entire forest with crimson rays. They found the church mostly as they had left it, nothing out of place at all save for the windows, the normal glow of the candles absent from them. Moving quickly they slipped into the building to find it devoid of life, only a pair of candles to light their way as they moved into the main aisle, the vixen's still unconscious form slung over Ciel's shoulders as she leaned on John for support.
"Set 'er down 'ere." Ciel commanded and together they set the vixen down on one of the many benches before moving quickly down the aisle towards the pair of candles that stood at the front of the hall.
"Should we light the rest so we can at least see?" John asked as he held up one of the candles, welcomed its warmth, no matter how miniscule.
"May as well." The mouse maid said as she picked up the other candle and a few minutes later they had lit all the candles, lighting the hall with their flickering glow.
"Much better." John muttered to himself as he lit the last candle, setting his own down next to it. Glancing around the hall the otter immediately felt more comfortable despite the constant burn of his body from the cold and the cuts that littered his torso and limbs. The frigid cold finally gone from his mind the otter glanced around, wondering where everybeast was, the hall almost seemed abandoned. "Ciel?" He called out as he found her missing from his sight, a trickle of fear running down his spine as he moved cautiously towards the front on the hall.
"John?" He heard her voice echo in response, coming from somewhere in the back.
"Ciel, where are you?" The otter called, hurrying a little more as the shadows seemed to ebb and flow around him in strange patterns. He felt himself give a little involuntary shiver of fear as he stared at the shadows high above on the ceiling as they shifted ominously, like a predator watching its prey from the bushes. It felt as though every movement were being watched by some unknown presence and upon reaching the door he glanced back to where they had set down the vixen, to his relief she sat there still, unconscious and oblivious to the world. "Ciel?"
"Right here." He heard the mouse maid whisper emotionlessly as he walked into the small room in between the kitchen and the main hall to find her standing there, a blank look on her face.
"What wrong?" John asked the mouse maid, a look of worry on his face as he saw the blank stare; she almost looked dead to him.
"Just look . . ." She whispered in response, pointing towards the fire. Following her gaze he saw it, all the beds full, white sheets draped over their former guests, their blood dying the sheets crimson. John felt sick suddenly, it was one of the few times he had seen such things in his life and he had never gotten used to it, the smell was thick in the air, threatening to gag the otter.
"What happened here?" He wondered aloud, frozen in shock, unable to even cover his muzzle and shield himself from the wretched smell.
"I wish I knew . . ." Ciel muttered softly as she wondered over to the first bed, pulling back the slightly to reveal the head, she could barely recognize it save for the eyes. The kindly old eyes staring up at her from another world, face frozen in what seemed to be some primal terror. Pulling back the covers entirely she found designs carved into the mouse's flesh, horribly intricate designs that circled and twisted around the mouse's body. "Who would do this?"
It couldn't have been true, could it? Ciel wondered to herself, the dream suddenly seeming fresh in her mind, the eerie omens and the shadow. How could that be? It's impossible? Isn't it?
"Why would anybeast do such a thing? What did, Father Samuel ever do to anybeast?" John almost looked on the verge of tears or at the very least at the edge of hysterics as he stared down at the mouse, his former mentor, the beast that had served as his family for so many seasons, just gone in that one moment.
"Why does anybeast kill anybeast?" Ciel wondered aloud, wishing that somehow the sun could roll back the time and bring them all back, the stench in the air a horrid reminder.
"Only one who commits such acts can ever know . . .they are the only one that can comprehend such insanity." John muttered to himself airily, repeating what the now gone mouse had taught him in some season long past. "Pleasure . . .that's what it was . . ." The otter whispered to himself, an eerie look in his eyes as he stared into the mouse's frozen eyes.
"Pleasure? What kind of creature could take pleasure in this?" Ciel asked in a loud, a look of complete shock gracing her features, waving a paw to indicate the mouse and the half-dozen other beasts that had similar fates.
It can't be . . . it's not possible. Ciel murmured to herself silently, glancing down at Samuel's corpse when her concentration was broken by a loud crash.
"What was that?" Ciel said with a start, panic flooding her mind as she glanced around for a source of the sound, it had come from the hall, echoing eerily off the walls.
"I'll see." John stated in an almost unnatural tone, disappearing out into the hall before Ciel even had the chance to respond. Ciel stood at the bed, listening to the soft sounds of the otter's paw steps as they echoed in the hall, continuous and almost comforting for the mouse maid, but suddenly they fell silent.
"John? Did you find it?" Ciel shouted towards the doorway, but there was no response, simple silence and nothing more. "John? Are you there?" She shouted once more, straining her ears, trying to hear even the softest of sounds, but there was nothing save for the sound of her own frightened breathing. Moving slowly on unsteady legs the mouse maid wandered towards the door, keeping a paw on the wall at all times, claws digging in with fright.
Be there . . .please . . . Finally she made it to the doorway, she stood there for a moment, trying to collect herself.
"John? What's goin' on?" She called out into the hall, her voice cracking slightly. However, only silence greeted her calls, only the sound of her own heartbeat thudding away in her chest as a comfort. "John, come on, this isn't funny." She yelled, fantasies playing out in her mind, wishes that everything could somehow be made right as well as the absolutes horrors playing themselves out together. Everything seemed possible for that moment as she refused logic, refused instinct, refused what the voices in the back of her mind were telling her.
Everybeast is gone; you're all alone, little maid. The voices whispered, but she silenced them and forced herself into the main hall, eyes squeezed shut. Opening them slowly she found only darkness, the hall nowhere to be found, its features lost in the shadows, candles extinguished.
"John?" She whispered frightfully, peering into the great void of darkness before her, everything was missing, everything askew. "Sana?" She whispered, hopeful for even the vixen, but there was nothing there.
Ciel . . .
Come . . . A voice whispered in her mind, somewhat familiar, but still that of a stranger. A shiver coursing down her spine, the mouse maid backed into the room where she had come from, fearful of the gathering darkness outside her little sanctuary.
Run, little maid.
You should have listened.
You should have run. The voice continued as the maid dug her claws into the wooden wall of the room, her breathing erratic and shallow as she stared at the darkness, as it seemed to pulsate and flow around. Turning around, Ciel glanced at the bed to find them all empty, only the bloodied sheets left behind as the fireplace casting an eerie orange glow across the beds.
"Who's there?" Ciel whispered frightfully, eyes glancing every which way as she stood rooted to the spot, trying to banish the fears from her mind.
This isn't real . . .it can't be.
It's jus' some fantasy. She whispered silently to herself, trying to build up some sort of confidence, some sort of delusion to keep herself safe.
"Hello again, little maid." Turning, Ciel found a figure standing at the bottom of the staircase, holding a glowing lantern that seemingly gave off no light. "Come." It beckoned, disappearing up the stairs.
"Wait!" Ciel yelled after it, impulsively giving pursuit, taking the steps two by two. As soon as she reached the top of the stairs she found herself alone once more in the darkness. "Hello?" She called out, her voice echoing down the hallway, a bit of fear creeping back into her mind.
"Come . . ." The voice whispered and the mouse maid found the lantern once more, bouncing eerily in the shadows. Ciel took off like a shot, giving chase to the light out of some twisted desperation, running from the infinite darkness around her.
"Come back!" She shouted after it as she ran, never able to catch up with it, finally she simply collapsed onto the ground, exhaustion catching up with her as the light bounced and swayed in the shadows before simply disappearing. "Please . . .don't leave . . ." She whispered weakly, staring at the spot where the light had disappeared. "Come back . . ." As if on cue, everything was suddenly light, a brilliant, blinding white filling the mouse maid's vision and she found herself suddenly in a forest, the forest she had been in mere hours ago, but this time there was no snow, the ground was littered with leaves, a cool autumn breeze blowing through the trees.
"Help . . ." A soft voice whispered, the sound echoing lightly through the forest. Glancing up from her place on the ground Ciel found that the world had a red tint to it, an unreal quality that told her that it couldn't be real. "Please, anybeast . . ."
"Hello?" Ciel croaked out as she lay still on the leaf-covered ground, staring into the forest, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Help, please . . ." That was its only response, but it was enough for the mouse maid to find the source, there in a pile of leaves next to what served as the beaten path. She rose quickly and ran to the small pile, hope dashed as soon as she saw him, a young fox lying amidst a pool of his own blood, chest ripped wide open as he sightless eyes glanced around with the helpless desperation of a beast facing death, pain forgotten as he hovered on the border of life. "Help . . ." The fox's voice was soft gurgle as he tried to speak around the blood that clogged his throat, suffocating him slowly.
"What happened here?" Ciel whispered, holding the fox's paw in what she hoped was comforting manner as she choked back a bit of bile, the smell of blood suffocating as it hung heavy in the cool fall air.
"It came . . ." The fox answered, swallowing a bit of blood as he spoke in an almost inaudible whisper, it was a miracle it was even still alive with such wounds. "Please . . .help her . . ." With those words the fox's eyes flickered and closed, his breathing choked as he collapsed into unconscious and finally fading away into death. Ciel stared at the fox for a moment, tears blurring her vision, she felt alone again, helpless in the horrid, crimson hued forest. A soft wind blew through her fur, almost as though nature were trying to comfort her to no avail, she simply stared at the death before her, staring as the wind seemed to sweep the world away and within moments she found herself staring at a mangled skeleton, the bones littered across the forest floor.
Can you see, dear maid?
Can you truly see? The voice whispered softly in her ear, the wind wrapped around her body.
"What is this?" Ciel whispered in a choked voice, staring down at the pile of bones, all she saw was this death, the bloodstained beds the only thing she remembered. Death was all that mattered, this line between life and death upon which she found herself standing, a thin blurred line that all beasts feared.
You do see it, don't you?
You see the purpose.
"You see clearly, dear maid, do you not?" The voice continued, a silhouette appearing before her, just behind the fox's ancient corpse. A flowing black grab gracing the shadow's figure, it stood there, an indiscernible figure in the crimson forest. "You see the purpose, you see the basis."
"Survival." Ciel whispered in response, never once glancing up at the shadow, staring at the skeleton as it cracked and melted into dust, blowing away in the breeze, the forest following suit as the mouse maid found herself once more in the hall, the candles lighting in up eerily as she found herself standing over John's corpse, a crimson stained blade in her paw. Staring at him for a moment, the mouse maid glanced from the blade to his corpse and to the blade again, disbelieving of such a reality.
No . . .
No . . . Ciel repeated the word over and over in her mind as the blade slipped from her paw to fall with a clatter on the cold floor. She felt her strength simply give out as she collapse to the ground, leaning against one of the benches, staring into the otter's cold, unseeing eyes, a look of shock written on his face.
"You see now, don't you?" A voice whispered as Ciel sat motionless on the floor, body sapped of all its strength, mind unable to comprehend the reality in which it found itself. Suddenly she found it in front of her, a pair of blue eyes surrounded by shadow staring into her own with a look of what was almost pity for the maid. "Tis a shame, indeed." The voice whispered into her ear, glancing at the corpse of the otter. "One of the few that understood, but he's gone now. Sacrificed to the greater good." It whispered and Ciel could almost picture the sickening smile that must have been on its face as it spoke those words.
"Why?"
"Oh, so you don't understand. Come now. You know the fundamental fact. Everybeast knows it. Deep down you all bow down to it. That's your cowardice." The eyes told the whole story, Ciel found it within their cool depths, fear disguised by pity.
"It is yours as well."
"Only because of your kind. You are the reason for such corruption, it is their pain I feel, his pain. That is what I thrive upon. Such creations can only have one end." The voice spoke through thinly disguised hatred, but finally Ciel understood it, she knew what this was all for.
"End is near . . ."Ciel whispered as she heard the scrape of metal on wood, the glint of the blade in the candlelight as it was raised above.
"That is your hope." The voice whispered thoughtfully, a paw holding her neck as the blade cut through the air towards her, plunging deeply into her chest. She felt no pain as it cut through her body. She only felt a calm, cold realization of the fact before there was nothing. No pain, only darkness and nothing more.
Soft golden rays of sunlight filtered down through the trees as the vixen watched, the golden light reflected off the rivers surface, casting complex patterns on the ground. A soft autumn breeze blew through her fur as she sat on her mother's knee, watching the river as her father sat at the edge, showing her brother how to fish. It was another beautiful day of the fall season, Sana almost wished they would never end, that she could just wait in this moment forever and ever. Wait in her sanctuary from the world, stay within these innocent memories.
This is your truth . . .
The delusion can only take you so far . . .
Wake up, dear vixen . . . She heard a voice in the back of her mind, but she couldn't understand it, all of it unintelligible mumblings, inane ramblings. Glancing up the young vixen smiled, snuggling into her mother's arms.
"It's beautiful isn't it, Sana?" Her mother asked in the soft, singsong voice she always seemed to use, brushing a paw through her child's fur idly.
"Yeah, mama . . .it is . . ." Sana whispered back, watching the waters ebb and flow.
"Just a shame that your father and brother don't seem to share the same appreciation." Her mother muttered with a soft laugh as Teague jumped into the river, splashing water all over his father who merely glared at his son, before laughing at the now sopping wet fox.
"It's okay, mama. We'll appreciate it for them." Sana whispered, playing with fur on her mother's arms in a sort of idle laziness that such days provided.
"Just wish these days would never end." The older vixen whispered to her daughter with a soft sigh, staring into the forest, a blank look in her eyes. "It can't last forever, Sana. You can't stay here, it's coming and nothing can prevent it."
"What are you talking about, mama?" Sana asked, raising her gaze to look at her mother, but suddenly she was gone and the young vixen found herself on a rock overlooking a great chasm. "Mama? Mama, where are you?" She whispered frightfully as a cold breeze whipped through her fur, before she was forcibly snapped back to reality to find herself on the roof of Saint Ninians, snow tearing at her as she sat, staring at the ground far below.
This is your choice, Sana . . .
This is the line of transition . . .
Last chance . . . A part of her mind, her own mind, whispered to her softly. The snows below seemed so inviting for she saw not the death waiting below, but the life before. Soft breezes and beautiful sunshine, it seemed so long since she had seen such things, all that was left was the winter's cold touch on her shoulders telling her to turn back, to cling to life.
"You do not want such things, vixen." A voice called from behind her and turning she found it standing there. The living shadows, the silhouette of the past standing there, a smug look in its black eyes. "You cannot want such things, it is not your nature."
"You speak as if you know."
"I do know, I know all your kind, I know your cowardice better then any of you could ever. You do not wish to face such demons. You would give anything for just a few moments more." It said with a sneer, taking a few confident steps forwards, but Sana saw the fear in the shadow, sensed its apprehension.
"Then why do you fear this?" Sana asked, taking a step backwards towards the edge. "For what other reason then fear. What is it that you need?"
"I need nothing from you, vixen." The shadow growled, seemingly offended by such a remark as it drew to within an arm's length of the vixen.
"If that is . . ." Sana whispered with a slight shrug of her shoulders before she glanced behind herself at the ground below, finally realizing why she was there and what the voices had meant. Things couldn't stay as they were, the past couldn't last forever and there she stood, the last thread to the past left to be severed. With soft smile at the shadow she backed out to the ledge, staring always at the shadow before she allowed the wind to take her, footpaws slipping from the shingles and she felt herself plunge downwards for moment before something caught her arm. Looking up she found the shadow there, a paw gripping her arm tightly as she dangled on the edge of death, the vixen however merely smiled. "So it is." She whispered softly to herself, voice swept away by the wind before with her free paw raked her claws across the shadows arm. With a silenced scream the silhouette let go and she found herself free, floating in the air, white flurries surrounding her, nothing save for a brilliant, beautiful white. In those few moments alone in the air, the earth far below she lost herself in that memory, just her sitting on her mothers lap, staring out at the river and then there was nothing, not even the shadows could find her.