The reptile slept a well deserved nap, hidden in the depths of a very dark and murky alley. He had curled himself in a ball, far away from the rests of blood and the sprawled bones and feathers, now being gnawed by rats, cats and other city animals. Tidus didn't care, he was full and happy, and had dozed into a profound sleep full of images of peace and calm.
The boy smiled gently at a woman, her silvery hair fell of clear strands at the sides of her head until they reached the neck. Amber green eyes sparkled so lovingly and gently at the man, so softly. She was very pretty, with fair features, gentle, rosy lips, and a sparkling, pale skin so much like his own. She gripped his hand and placed it over her stomach, once flat, and now showing a considerable bump.
"Do you feel her Tidus?" inquired the woman so lovingly, gazing at the two hands resting on her swollen stomach.
"I… I do! She is kicking!" Tidus exclaimed with a large grin, proud and so dreamy, his eyes sparkling hazy, proud and mostly lovingly as he gazed at the tummy and at the woman.
"She is your daughter Tidus." The woman explained so gently, so lovingly, smiling with that purity only pregnant women had.
"My daughter, my daughter…Laise." Commented the boy still caressing the tummy with the tender and loving care of someone who could ask for nothing else.
"The Light, how appropriate!" commented the woman gently, nudging at the boy with her nose, breathing at his neck.
"What is to be born of the union between the Spirit and the Valiant, Lya?" inquired Tidus proudly, teasing her lightly with a humorous smile, and a loud burst of laughter.
"Oh, Tidus, you are so immature!" commented the girl attempting to become mad, and pushing the boy's hand away.
"He's there!" Tidus had been about to respond when voices echoed in the distance, he felt something was out of place, as if those voices didn't belong to that scenery at all. Dog's barking in the depths of darkness, Tidus stood up and took one step forward, becoming stiff and strong all of a sudden, protective over the woman.
"What is wrong Tidus?" inquired the woman worried, glancing forward and holding her stomach protectively.
"I'm not sure but Yethas has arrived, I think she brings a message!" Tidus explained more calmly, and he saw the woman relaxing slightly, however her senses were still alert.
"Over here!" those voices repeated, and Tidus felt the scene fading, his conscience returning to the real world, leaving him with a hollow feeling of emptiness, a terrible sensation of loss shattered his heart. He realized that the animals feeding on the carcass of the chocobo were gone, no sound of gnawing, or squealing, or meowing, nothing that would have revealed the presence of those little inhabitants of the suburbs. Dogs barking, men stomping on the ground, yells, howls, sniffs and speeded up steps. Tidus' eyes shot open suddenly, he had been dreaming, and now the hunters had gone out to pursue and kill him.
The white Vihur stood up and leapt forward towards the next branch of alleys, escaping and evading the hunters. Arrows were fired and dogs barked ever more furiously, running at full speed after him. The reptile felt a little heavy, but his strong muscles propelled him forward at the fastest speed he could manage. Furious hunters followed bellowing and waving their weapons menacingly. One group of such chose a path through the alleys to try and stop his flee.
Tidus ran as if the very Sinh was biting his tail. He had an unfortunate encounter with the two men and the dog that had tried to cut his runaway, unfortunate for the dog and the men. The dragon creature ran faster, lowering his head and rampaging like a rabid bull, snarling and growling, baring his fangs. The dog, big and white with tan spots, growled and showed his fangs, the silky fur standing on end. Tidus emitted a furious growl, stopped two small second before the dog and cut his throat open with a swift slash of his sharp claws. The animal collapsed on a heap, laying on a pool of his own, draining blood, whimpering with guttural sounds.
The reptile galloped past the two men, both of whom were too stunned to react and try to stop the fiend. A whistling sound cut through the air, a stinging feeling coursed through his right hind leg. He didn't stop. The dragon continued running through the streets, and once he was out of the enormous city, until his exhausted paces had climbed the heights of Mount Gagazet. Only then did he realize that there was an arrow situated deep into his flesh, in the very femoral muscle. Tidus started limping, snow was falling all around, and gusts of cold wind blew around himself, freezing every scale of his body. Warm blood was pouring from the wound in drops, staining the pure snow with crimson spots.
His energy faded completely, the loss of blood, the infection on his leg, the arrow piercing his flesh more profoundly by step, and the cold that surrounded him had drained him of all energy. The Vihur felt his legs trembled and buckled under his weight, and his body collapsed onto the snow, blending and vanishing with it. He exhaled several ragged breaths before falling into unconsciousness.
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"What is wrong Yethas?" inquired Tidus, Lya's contained breaths and interested gaze could be sensed.
"The spies have found some terrible news, there is an emergency council right now." Yethas explained. She was a young girl with amber eyes and flaming hair, her skin was tan and she was not specially pretty, but had a delightful sympathy.
"Lets go then!" Tidus said determined, although worry reflected on his pale factions.
"I'm coming!" Lya exclaimed before Tidus fled through the door with the messenger.
"No Lya, not like this!" Tidus stared at the woman, his blue eyes dull and sombre with worry.
"I'm also a Guardian, Tidus!" bellowed the girl angrily, clutching her stomach with fury.
"I said no Lya, you won't be putting the baby and yourself in danger!" Tidus growled with so much anger that Lya recoiled, lowering her head sadly, tears brimming inside her eyes, falling in dense streams through her cheeks.
Tidus felt empty, completely miserable, but he worried too much for the girl to allow any danger come to her. It might just be a council, but he had seen the gravity in the golden eyes of the other girl. Tidus followed Yethas through the streets of Zanarkand, leaving Lya in the calm, peaceful park where they had been enjoying the warmth of a festive summer day.
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Laethos' blue eyes were serious and grave, glancing with some worry at the battlefield before him. Rikku stood there, panting, silver and golden wings were placed where her arms should have been, her green eyes glanced forward. Another figure was equally exhausted, this boy's hands were covered in black fur, and sharp claws glistened in his hands. Razor fangs and swift paws were placed as part of his anatomy. Laethos stared at the two combatants with worry, this was the second trial, to fight summoning weapons from the animal spirit anatomy. It was complicated since a general and complete shapeshift was bound to be eliminated from the trial, automatically failed.
The man was glancing at the girl seriously, she was tired, exhausted by her own foolery, her mind placed elsewhere, placed wherever Tidus was. He looked down for a brief moment, absorbed into his very own thinking, somewhat feeling guilty yet knowing this was necessary. A thud, the sound of a body collapsing onto the ground, a dead weight. Laethos looked up alarmed, and saw a pair of enormous wings extended before his eyes, triumphant, luminous and exultant. Before the winged girl laid the dark figure of a boy with panther traits. The High Priest smiled pleased with himself.
"I did it!" Rikku turned around and grinned at the man, bright and full of euphoria.
"Congratulations Rikku!" Laethos' words were gentle, but however worried, distant and cold, as if he himself was elsewhere. "However you must be much more centred next time, the third trial is very hard and requires a lot of concentration!" explained the man severely, yet with worry flooding his face.
"How can I? I'm worried, Tidus is a fiend in a world full of hunters, of safety forces, we will not survive outside Macalania!" called Rikku extending her wings, her spiralled eyes shinning with a mixture between concern and reproach.
"Tidus is stronger than you think Rikku, he will survive well outside this woodlands as he has survived much harder penuries than a journey through Spira." Laethos seemed patient, however his voice quivered with pain, distant eyes gazing into the horrors crouching in his mind.
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"Zanarkand and Bellanoxt are going to war, our spies have confirmed that the two cities will be entering an open and declared fight." A man with cold, grey eyes and an equally grey mane spoke, his skin, however, was black like onyx itself.
"A war? What's with us?" inquired a galliard man with golden hair and amber eyes. "Let humans kill themselves, it's in their nature!"
"Yeah, let them kill themselves!" chorused the rest of the assembly.
"Humans at war? No, that's not so serious to call an assembly, there is something else, right?" Tidus thought, yet remained silent, observing the events.
"I'm afraid things are not so easy, our explorers have seen something!" the old man said, his voice thundering over the hoarse roar the rest of the group emitted savagely.
"What is it then?" Yethas inquired very curiously, shifting over the uncomfortable position of sitting on her knees.
"Our explorers have seen a creature swimming towards the city, it seems attracted by hatred, by anger, by cruelty." The Chief of the assembly explained.
"Bah, what a problem, we will destroy it and that's all!" Aerun, the youth with golden hair, said inflating his chest with pride.
"Aerun, don't you think the explorers would have done such already had they been able to?" Tidus spat at the impetuous youth with some exasperation.
"Erudite, just because you would not be able to defeat a troll during daylight doesn't mean true fighters can't. I bet it is Lya, pregnant and all, who protects you more than you protect her, right?" Aerun said smirking cruelly at the youth.
"Take that back!" Tidus stood up clenching his fists so tightly that his already pale skin turned transparent, his chest inflated and heated with an uncomfortable fire, his throat vibrated with a deep rumble.
"Well, the peacemaker releases the beast inside him, how tragic!" Aerun stood up smiling to himself, the fire of the expected fight began to surge his veins, and he began to prepare his body for the change.
"Stop!" roared a loud voice, the dark figure stood before the two members of the Assembly, looking sternly at both of them, "The explorers did nothing because this creature is bigger than any of us, as big as Zanarkand itself." He began much more calmly.
The group of people sitting on their knees in a circle stared at the ancient man before them. Murmurs rose in level, urgent whispers, worried voices and one or two whimpers were all sounds heard in the assembly. Tidus looked down shamefully and sat, he felt hurt by these words, he had never lost control so easily, however he was worried, worried for Lya. Aerun was full of fire, full of pride, and that would bring him down to disaster on the long run, his voluptuous mind and his sacred rely on strength would, more likely, cause his downfall. This man, although respectfully silent, never replaced his smirk, and kept glancing at the other boy.
"Humans will never be able to destroy something that big, but maybe with our help this common evil might be destroyed." The Chief commented staring at the group with dispassionate and dull eyes.
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The dark grey fur stood out against the white snow. The blizzard was becoming more violent, and the sun was setting, darkening the sky. Clawed feet sank into the snow, amber eyes glanced so sharply at the white rug extended over the ground. The ronso kneeled onto the ground and placed a clawed hand before the droplets of crimson that stained the white snow. A growl echoed in his throat, and the lance was held tightly on his right hand while the large body stood up with majesty. He had been following the trail of blood left, it might be a human as well as an injured animal. In both cases it would suppose a benefit. If it was an animal, the hunt would be easy and he would have lunch, if it was human, he would save it. With a snort, and pulling the thick, skin coat closer to him, the ronso continued his path through the intense blizzard.
Following the trail, the big, feline like beast almost stepped on that focus of his pursue. The ronso had avoided stepping on it due to the fact that it shifted slightly, and emitted a soft, pained growl. The beast man stared at the animal with curiosity, his stomach rumbling slightly with the knowledge that dinner would be warm, roasted meat for his carnivore fangs and likes. The animal was a lizard, larger than a dog, but not reaching the size of a man, with sharp fangs, claws, a thick tail, strong, muscular chest and powerful jaws. Everything might be normal except for two facts, it was white like the snow itself, and a human arrow was deeply stabbed into his leg.
The ronso simply shrugged his shoulders, staring curiously at the animal. It was a predator, dangerous to humans and the cubs of his people, and anyways this animal would die out here in the storm, bleed to death or frozen. The hunter raised his lance, pointed the sharp edge at the animal's chest and tensed his muscles, ready to strike the deathly blow with enough force as to penetrate the hard scales. Then, the ronso released the tension in his arm, propelling the lance forward, towards the white vihur.
To Be Continued…
AN: Sorry for the delay, but I have been very occupied, and when I could write I didn't feel with the inspiration to write. Anyways, there you have another chapter, are you liking it? Please, read and review, tell me what you think. I don't think it'll be much longer till this is finished, and I can assure you will be surprised with how it is going to end.