Homecoming (IV)
10,000 years ago
'NAKU!'
His eyes suddenly snapped open, taking the sharpest intake of breath he ever recalled in as he jolted awake. Though he couldn't recall ever falling asleep in the first place to wake up from…But as the rest of his senses started to return into focus, other memories, fragmented as they were, started to reform. The Demons…the planned attack, how it had so quickly fallen apart…the others…
The others!
He shot up, looking around and was immediately met with the palest grey eyes imaginable, encased within the eyeholes of a dirt-laced mask, its original colour of yellow long since faded from wear and tear. Now, it closer resembled the shade of a week-old bone than the petals of a sunflower.
"Yei?" he questioned.
"Naku, come on! Get up!" the yellow-masked Wolf urged frantically, grabbing onto his armoured and furred forearm and effortlessly yanked him to his feet, despite the slight size and height difference noticeable only when the pair were standing once again. "Sage is wounded, come on!" And without even a glance back to Naku, Yei took off, nothing but a faint yellow blur tearing through the red-drenched terrain.
Naku finally took a moment, and took a staggered step back as he finally got a good look at his scarred surroundings.
It was as though the very sky was wounded, bleeding and left for dead. The crimson-tint seemed to have bleed over onto the ground, where physical wounds in the dirt couldn't be avoided even if he were to try. Bodies were dotted around the battlefield, some easily distinguishable between his own kind and their opposition. Others…he didn't dare look at too long. To prevent this, he quickly took off after Yei, vanishing into a faint black streak that swerved around the battlefield.
Bodies-Wolkein and Wolves alike-fell and clashed all around him, fresh blood splashing onto the ground, staining the grass and dirt. He could hear final screams of his fallen people; some farther, others close enough for him to individually identify, by name.
"Naku! Here!"
Yei's voice cut through the chaotic noise and devastation, bringing him to a sudden stop and turning to the source. And all at once, the noise, the other surroundings, everything went silent and dark when he spotted the lying form of the limp Wolf.
"Sage…" he uttered, barely above a whisper, his chest suddenly tightening, seeing the state the wounded Warrior was in even at this distance. He quickly rushed forward again, recovering after his legs initially grew weak and nearly falling into the dirt.
As he neared, he noticed two other Wolves already attending Sage; one was Yei, trying desperately to remove Sage's chest armour plate, but even with the leather straps completely untied, it still refused to budge. Though that may have had something to do with the several large, black spines thrown into his chest, piercing the armour as though it wasn't even there.
"Don't pull on it! You're making it worse!" the other, younger Wolf pleaded, trying to bat Yei's urgent hands aside. But a sharp growl from the female Warrior quickly silenced the healer, his ears folded back flush with his skull. Though Yei's hands did loosened on Sage's armour, she refused to budge from her spot at his side.
"Yei, we have to go!" Naku urged, finally realizing who the healer was-the heavy smell of blood and dirt across the battlefield clogged his nose beyond anything he ever smelt before-by the voice, and quickly jumped back onto his feet.
He tried lifting the Yellow Warrior back onto her feet, but Yei immediately fought him off, forcing him back a few steps as she remained firmly at Sage's side. "I will not leave him like this!" she barked, throwing a look over her shoulder at Naku, even as the battle around them grew ever more dangerous.
One explosion in particular rocked the very ground beneath them, nearly knocking Naku off his feet entirely. He turned to look at the distant source, just as another, more powerful one tore through the skies above them; it was as though night briefly turned to day. Shielding his eyes from the sheer brightness, Naku backed up to the others.
"If we don't end this now, it will only end with every last one of us dead!" Naku argued back, his tone on the edge of desperation as he tried to urge Yei to leave her mates' side.
"Yei…"
Even in the heat of battle and clear strain audible in his voice, Sage's words rang clear in Naku's ear, drawing his, Yei's and the healer's complete and utter attention. Though the mask continued to muffle his voice, in reality it wasn't fairing much better than its wearer; blood trickled from the holes in the mask that covered the protruding muzzle, with a number of hairline cracks starting to form across the width and length.
"Sage," Yei whispered, equally as soft, taking Sage's hand in both her own gently. "I'm here."
"You must…go, with your brother…" Sage wheezed, only able to manage a slight squeeze of Yei's hand. His pale green eyes turned to Yei; unfocused, yet very clearly on her. His other hand struggled to cross his body, particularly with the spines driven into his body, but he managed to enclose both of Yei's hands, giving a firmer squeeze. "End this…as Zeta's…wrath-" he broke into a fit of bloodied, racking coughs, his whole body shaking. Yei immediately went to wrap her arms around Sage, but Naku got to her first.
"We need to find the others and finish this, or all this loss and pain will be meaningless!" he argued, giving a side look down at Sage towards the end of his sentence. Even as Yei struggled against her brothers' hold, Naku forced her to face the other direction. "See if you can find where Retu and Zandi are and there state-"
A great impact to the ground a short distance away cut Naku's request off, bringing both his and Yei's attention, and weapons, focused into sharpened point directed at it. The light, what little of it there was breaking through, caught their weapons at the right angle to glitter, despite patches being caked in dirt and the dried blood of fallen foes; aimed at their next target, ready to draw fresh.
From the cloud of dust and dirt, a pair of menacing red eyes broke through, and the towering outline of an armoured figure could be faintly see as the cloud settled. But Yei didn't wait around to see what kind of creature she was facing; instead, she snarled and charged forward, the streak of yellow she became vanishing into the cloud. She definitely collided with something, if her vicious growl and the bellowing roar of whatever she had run into were anything to go by.
"Yei!" Naku called, almost running after her to back his sister up, but caught himself when he noticed something Yei, in her haste to focus her rage or protect Sage-Naku wasn't sure which one came first-hadn't noticed. Another figure was skulking in the cloud, emerging like a phantom from the shadows. A hand slowly rose, brushing a few lingering crumbs of dirt from the bronze shoulder pad.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," the slimy mockery dripped from every word that came from Fear, his cool gaze breezing over Naku's tensed form, briefly catching the pair of wolves behind him, one attending to the others' injures. "Though…it seems I already have."
\/\/\/
It may have been mere seconds in real life, but as he came back into the present, Zen-Aku felt as though he had been standing, staring for years on end. And it was only now did he realize just how heavily his breathing had become, and just how tetchy the Wolkeins surrounding him, Merrick and Savage were becoming.
"What's the matter, mongrel? Finally ran out of bite to back up your bark?" Batibat mocked, coming to a stop beside Death once again. Her face was twisted into a sinister smirk, her eyes visibly dancing with malicious glee at the pathetic sight before her.
But Death stepping out in front of her caused the smirk to quickly drop, and a sour glare replaced it as his words came.
"You've toyed with your prey for long enough," he commented sharply, bony fingers tapping rhythmically against the handle of his sword. Batibat taking note of the steadily growing volume of the tapping; she could feel the growing irritation radiating from the Hand. "We will end this now, and then we can get rid of the Warriors."
Though she let out a not-even-subtle scoff and gave a roll of the eye, Batibat bit back an irritated response. Instead replying, "Fine. Master's orders, anyway."
With a side glance at Death, Batibat slowly advanced, one of her daggers extending out to form a fully-fledged sword. With evil intent in her gaze, the she-Demon bared down on Zen-Aku and Merrick, the former of which started backing up with the latter.
As she prepared to bring down a final blow, Death caught movement just to the side of his vision; turning to find Savage's unconscious form starting to recover; small rolls of the head, shifting of the shoulder. If he were to leave him a bit longer, Death was sure the Wolf would quickly recover entirely.
Not that he was going to allow that.
He marched across the clearing, flicking the handle of his sword around to have the glowing blade facing the ground, the very tip skimming the grass; causing it to wither and die upon contact. As he neared Savage, the Warrior managed to gather himself enough to roll onto his front, pushing himself onto his hands and knees.
Savage was sure there was something wrong with his snout; the mask no longer rested over his face, he could smell blood, and felt something had come loose that shouldn't have. A quick spit launched the loose tooth from his muzzle, accompanied by an alarming amount of blood. His breathing came out as raggedy, shallow pants, clogged with the mixture of salvia and blood dripping from his jaw. But his breathing slowed when his eyes partially looked up, finding the approaching Hand of Horror baring down on him.
"I will make this quick," Death spoke, coming to a stop directly before Savage. Out of the corner of the Wolf's eye, he caught the glow of Death's blade. His breath paused momentarily as he caught movement from the blade, as it was brought up.
With a low growl of deviance, Savage dug his claws into the soil and, with no small amount of effort, pushed himself onto his knees, his body barely able to hold him up straight as he stared up at Death.
The Demon had paused momentarily at the Wolf's movement, more out of curiosity than anything else. But when the stubborn glare of deviance went searching under his hood, Death felt a small spike of, what only could be described as hollow amusement. "You wish to stare your demise in the eye? Face…to face?"
Slowly, his sword was brought upwards once more, both hands coming to grip beneath the cross-guard, the flat edge of the sword brought before his hood.
Out of the corner of his eye, the Wolf noticed the shattered remains of his treasured mask, scattered across the grass. Savage's eyes narrowed as he turned his burning glare to Death, ears standing erect as his muzzle quivered with the start of a vicious snarl. His hand tightening into a fist, obscured by the armor he wore.
"Then you will die braver than most."
The blade twisted, the sharpened, narrow face dividing Death's hood down the middle. And with a grunt, the killing strike came down.
\/\/\/
"Try and hold him steady!"
"What do you think we're trying to do?!" Kyle exclaimed, as he desperately tried to gather a foothold, while simultaneously attempting to maintain his hold around the colossal Demon's forearm. But judging by the bellowing roars and ever growing power of its attempts to grow free, Kyle knew his grip couldn't last forever.
It didn't help matters when a flying backhand caught Tyler off-guard, releasing his grip on the other hand and receiving a backhand for his troubles. The force sent him flying backwards, flailing as he was sent crashing through what remained of a coffee shop; its stability finally giving in, and the rest came collapsing down on top of him.
Kyle followed his flight with his eyes, claiming, "Uhh, guys! Prob-!"
The now free hand grabbed him by the helmet, and threw Kyle to his other side; through several ruined buildings, and continued to roll across the ground, far out of sight of the others. "…lem," he groaned upon finally coming to a stop, lying on his back as he stared up at the sky through a cracked visior.
The would be shackles thrown free of his arms, the Demon turned its attention back to the other three Wolf Rangers, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, not that far in front of him. A belligerent roar echoed from it, shaking what weak structures stood nearby, and started its approach.
"You sure this'll work?" Natalie question, side glancing around Isaac, to try and catch Tanya's eye.
"Yeah…course it will," Tanya replied, giving a slight side nod over to Natalie, turning her attention back to the ever-approaching Demon; watching as he effortlessly threw an unfortunately placed car out of his way, flipping it over onto its roof.
"Love how confident you sounded there," Isaac uttered under his breath. This was quickly followed up by a grunt, courtesy of a sharp jab to the ribs; he threw a look across at Tanya, hand over the tender side as he stood up fully again.
"Alright, let's focus," he resumed, bringing his Howler up across his chest, hand clenching into a fist. He felt the growl travel up and down his forearm, all centring around the Howler on his wrist, the 'eye' starting to glow.
Tanya and Natalie quickly followed suit, mirroring Isaac's movements, and were quickly aware of similar growls traveling up their arms. Both looked down at their Howlers, seeing the eyes starting to glow and the growls increasing in volume.
The only other sound they could hear as clear was the destruction going on in front of them, as the Demon continued to bear down.
"Unleash the Spirits!" Isaac called, his previously clenched fist flying open, the red glow radiating from the palm and onto his chest; he could hear the faintest howl amidst the sound of whirling energy. He could feel the plan working; the Wolf Spirit could feel itself being channelled, the longingness to be released after being cooped up for so long.
As one, the three Warriors thrusted their arms forward, palms twisting around to have the palm facing the ever-nearing Demon. Beams of bright lights-burning red, shimmering yellow and blinding white-shone from their palms, bright enough to nearly consume them from the Demon's sight.
The unexpected brightness stung the Demon's eyes, forcing it to let out a screech of pain as it dug its heels in, tearing the ground up in the process of coming to a standstill. It raised its muscular arms in an attempt to block out the light, but it seemed to find its way through even the smallest of cracks; though it didn't help that the crushed-over lava it wore as armour hindered its flexibility.
But the armour did help when, all of a sudden, what felt like the full force of a Hand of Horror's fury struck the Demon, sending it flying down the same street it had previously been charging down. But even as it was flying through the air, another force struck it down, throwing it into the road and tearing up the tarmac and concrete.
When it finally came to a stop, the Demon snarled as it pushed itself up, knocking aside any rubble that had collapsed over him during the destruction of the road. As it rose, however, the blinding light dimmed just enough for the Demon's eyes, giving him his first look at his powerful attackers. And when its eyes adjusted enough, they narrowed into a ferocious glare and a vicious roar bellowed from the depths of the chest in attempts to intimidate his opposition.
Standing between the Demon and its Warrior targets, like a translucent barricade, stood three towering Wolf Spirits; Red stood tall at the centre, with the minutely shorter Yellow flanking his right and the equally tall White. All three sets of eyes, the brightest point of each Wolf, were zoned in on the Demon that stood against them; three pairs of ears lay flush with the skull, snarls shook the very air around projections.
"Wow."
Tyler nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to stop, wide eyes looking at the three Wolf Spirits before him. He crouched down beside a pile of rubble, trying to remain out of immediate sight of the Demon; though judging by where all the roaring and shouts were being thrown, he didn't have to worry about being discovered, so long as the Wolves had its full attention.
The standoff lasted for minutes, before the Warriors projecting the Spirits gave the command, and the three Wolves charged down the street, one right after the other. The Demon dug its heels into the ground, thinking it had a strong enough foothold to withstand the three powerhouses charging at him. As they neared, it began to position itself for its beam attack; chest pressing forward, shoulders rolling back and the orb in its chest started to heat up-
But before it had a chance, the Red Wolf lunged, its powerful jaw engulfing the Demon's head whole. The Demon's infuriated bellow was muffled by the Spirit's bite, and found itself dragged to the ground. Its hands immediately tried clawing at the Red Wolf, but another set of jaws latched onto both wrists, tearing them away from Red's head. The Demon fought back, but little by little, its arms were ratcheted down to their widest reach, and the Wolves started to violently shake their heads. Back and forth, their jaws firmly grasping the Demon's body, switching between keeping it in place and giving a short, sharp shake of the head when the struggling grew too irritating.
"Shit…" Tyler whispered under his breath, unable to stop the grin slowly spreading itself across his face. While he was a bit unsure whether it was a way for nerves to escape or in amazement at the sight before him, he had a feeling it was more the latter than the former.
"What are ya just sitting there for?!"
Kyle's sudden voice almost made Tyler jump out of his suit, as the Black Delta came jogging up beside him. He turned to look back at the sight in front of him, and asked, "Well…what are we supposed to do? Seems like they've got things under control."
"They've got him pinned down and occupied; he ain't gonna be getting up, so long as they got a grip on him," Kyle pointed out, gesturing to the three Wolves, then to the pinned Demon firmly held in place between them.
It suddenly twigged in Tyler's head, and immediately, the slight tilt of the helmet was corrected.
"They're giving us an opening," he realized, looking down to the Wolf Blade in hand; normally he would be surprised as to how he still had possession of the weapon after the amount of abuse he had received at the fists of the Demon. Seemed like he had finally started getting used to some of the things that came with being a Power Ranger.
Though it wasn't like he wanted to grow use to the nastier side.
Tyler quickly brought his thoughts back into the present, and quickly jumped back to his feet. He looked across at Kyle, who had similarly raised his Wolf Blade up to rest against his shoulder, and asked, "Ready?"
"Waiting on you!" Kyle replied, quickly running off towards the fight; Tyler only keeping pace thanks to the enhanced abilities. Their feet pounded across the road, the streaks of black and blue rapidly closing in on the struggling Demon. Blades were turned outwards, the streaks splitting up as they neared, taking different routes to get around the struggling mess of Demon and Wolf Spirits.
Tyler ducked beneath the lashing tail of the White Wolf, finally coming to a stop on one side of the pinned Demon; the struggling had subsided only slightly, yet it was still putting up a fight. He had to avoid getting crushed beneath the adjusting paw.
"Come on! Get that crystal!" Kyle shouted, jumping up onto the struggling Demon, focusing to maintain his footing after the Demon's fidgeting started anew; clearly he could feel the added weight on the crusted over armour.
Tyler was quick to join him on the Demon's body, but nearly got thrown back off again when the Demon got momentary loose, but the White Wolf quickly readjusted and doubled down on its grip of the forearm. The bright white glow of its eyes seemed to stare right back at Tyler when he looked back, almost taken aback by how it stared right through him.
And he through it; he could have sworn he saw Natalie's face mixed with the Wolf's, giving him an apologetic look…
"Tyler!"
Kyle's snap brought him back to the present, and both quickly brought their Wolf Blades up. "We're not going to have long; smash the shit out of the crystal!"
The pair quickly set about bringing the sharpened ends of their Wolf Blades down, attempting to create even a hairline fracture in the crystal, embedded deep within the Demon's chest. But the moment they made their first strike, a muffled, gurgling shout came from within the restricting confines of Red's muzzle. The struggling began anew, and Tyler quickly noticed between strikes, looking over Kyle's shoulder, that the Yellow Wolf was struggling to hold on…
"He's not liking that," he commented, while quickly adjusting his stance and resumed the strikes, only with more effort put behind every additional blow. Kyle copied the intensity of the attacks, the two quickly figuring a rhythm out to keep the pressure on, as one raised their blade, the other brought theirs slamming down again. All while the Wolf Spirits fought to keep the Demon's struggling body in check.
One particularly powerful one-two combo finally drawing the faintest of hairline across the surface of the Orb.
By the time Tyler brought his blade up for another strike, the Demon managed to wrench one of its hand free; despite the Yellow Spirit clinging on with all the might Tanya could manage, the crusted armour and thick skin had the strength to slowly pull itself free. Chunks and tears of flesh ripped from the forearm, before the jaw snapped shut around empty air with an aftertaste of charred flesh between its teeth.
Kyle was the first to be sent flying; letting out a shout, bordering the line of alarmed and surprised, as the clawed hand grabbed him and threw him again; sending him right through the Yellow Spirit's hide, hurtling into the distance.
Tyler was a quick follow up; barely raising his eyes in time to see the hand come back in, this time as a fist, landing the blow square in the chest. The wind thoroughly knocked out of him, he was sent flying back, quickly striking the ground again and sent rolling a short distance. But his clawing hand managed to find a dent to latch onto, keeping him from rolling any further; remaining still for a few seconds, recovering his breath.
Even with his breathing rate high, he managed to gather himself enough to raise his head; seeing with wide eyes, through the partially cracked visor, the three Wolf Spirits getting thrown from their tether points. "Shit…" he uttered, looking over to where, in the distance, the other three were standing. All at once, the three were thrown back, as if being struck by an invisible force the moment the Demon tore through the Wolf Spirits. His eyes snapped to the recovering Demon, trying to get back on its feet, shaking its head to clear the light daze.
A bellowing roar broke from the Demon, globs of saliva sent flying, as it looked around for the scattered Warriors. And just at that moment, Tyler caught movement in the distant; Kyle decided now, of all times, was the right moment to recover and try to stand.
"Nononono…" Tyler uttered, as the Demon caught the Black Delta's distant movement. He tried picking himself up, pushing himself onto his feet, anything as the Demon turned to face the staggering Warrior. But he found the strength suddenly escaping him, unable to support even his own weight as the toll the battle finally catching up with him.
The staggering Black Warrior square in his sight, the Demon knew enough was enough; he had dragged this out long enough, and it was time to end this. With a deep nasal exhale, its shoulders quickly rolled backwards, and pushed its chest forward.
"Kyle…Kyle!" Tyler strained to call out, crawling a short distance in the direction of both the Demon and Kyle before trying once again to stand; he actually managed to get to his knees, but found he could go no further without suddenly feeling faint. But, unsurprisingly, his faint words went unheard, as Kyle continued his attempts to recover; hands supporting on his knees, head hanging loose.
By the time Kyle finally took notice-the combined shouts of the other four seemed to be it-the Demon was drawing the final bits of energy, the Orb starting to glow a menacing orange. Only…Kyle squinted slightly, trying to get a better look. Was he seeing things, or was that tiny crack in the Orb growing…?
The Demon's latest roar brought him out of his thoughts, sending him staggering back a few steps and eventually landing on his ass in his attempts to crawl away. He watched with wide eyes, as the Demon's chest pressed forward, and expected to face the full force of one of this Demons' attacks; already feeling the air growing hot around him, awaiting the inevitable attack.
An explosion tore through the air, and Kyle could do nothing but close his eyes, clench his fists and pray to whoever was listening that it would at least be quick.
Only…the attack never came.
Carefully, he turned around and opened his eyes, expecting the Demon to still be towering over him. But Kyle found no shadow cast over him. As he sat up more and looked around, Kyle found that the towering form of the Demon was nowhere near him. "Uh…" the right words seemed to allude him, as he slowly shifted onto one knee.
"Kyle!" "Kyle!"
The others rushed over, Tyler sliding onto his knees beside Kyle in his haste to stop and help. His hand went to support Kyle by the shoulder, his heavier breathing through his filter making it difficult to figure out what he was trying to say.
"Wh…Where'd he go?" Kyle asked, still looking around for the potential threat, despite the fact he had the others backing him up.
"Must have damaged that rock in his chest," Natalie explained, gesturing to where the Demon had been previously standing. Now he had recovered and sitting up higher again, Kyle noticed the ground beneath where the Demon once stood was badly scorched; as though flames had been forced against the tarmac, actually melting the road surface in places. The road markings were tarnished, large chunks of previously fallen rubble blown back; more than likely the result of that explosion.
The pieces started to come together to Kyle.
"Well…that backfired for him, didn't it?" Kyle dryly remarked, as he let out a laugh littered with coughs as he moved around Tyler's supports and, rather ungracefully, slumped back onto the ground. One of his arms haphazardly brought over his vision, blocking out the sun. He heard a few of the others quietly chuckling, though whether that was because of his comment or from him giving into exhaustion, he couldn't tell.
"Don't get too comfortable," Isaac's warning voice cut through Kyle's momentary peace, as he stepped over the Black Warrior's lying form.
With a heavy sigh, Kyle's hand slumped off to the side next to him; already he could see the start of the Demon reforming, only hundreds of times larger than before.
"It'll give you a chance to properly kick his ass again," Tanya commented, giving a light nudge to the side of Kyle's helmet, to which she got a groan and roll of his head as a response. Tanya smirked, and added, "Plus, you'll actually get to use that new Zord MUTT was working on."
"Oh, those are all such damn positives," Kyle groaned, forcing himself to sit up once again, rolling his head around his shoulders as he, along with the others, looked up as the horned Demon fully formed once again, on a far larger scale than before.
\/\/\/
"That's…not possible!"
Death exclaimed, pushing himself up from the ground; the impact knocking the handle of his sword far from his hand. Not that it was much use to him anymore.
The shattered remains of the extendable blade lay across the ground, useless, as the green slowly oozed out of the demonic steel. Even the handle of the weapon hadn't escaped unharmed, cracks running up and down the entire length of the grip. The decorative open 'jaw' at the head of the handle was smouldering, permanently damaging the weapon.
He faintly reached out towards the remains of his weapon, only to let his hand fall just shy of the handle. The bony finger tips of Death dug into the earthy soil, creating long, deep grooves in the grass as he dragged his hand back to him; clenching into a fist by the time it was held back against his chest. The faint glow of his eyes beneath his hood started to grow brighter, yet the fury radiating from the Hand of Horror was unmistakeable.
Death's gaze snapped back to the cause of this atrocity, peering through the dust and smoke that had been kicked up between, and all around, them. He vaguely heard Batibat shouting something explicit and demonic distantly, but bared his fellow Hand little thought after the destruction of his weapon.
He watched the Wolf rising from the dust, his outline only visible from the bright glow radiating from the one fist; bathing him in a sinister red light, casting half of his face in shadow and highlighted the glare he shot right back at Death. The entire force of the Wolkeins could have been fighting all around them, Zen-Aku and Merrick could have even been up and fighting again. Hell, the earth could have given out around them and all that remained was the ground they stood on and the gap that separated them; nothing else mattered right now.
Just the two warriors of opposing sides.
"What ARE you, Wolf?" Death demanded, taking a threatening step closer, his bony hands opening and closing menacingly at his sides; the absence of his sword didn't go unnoticed, which only managed to further fuel his rage.
Savage stood silent for a few moments, the tattoos beneath the one side of his body shone brighter, the fur only partially obscuring the intricate designs; the absence of his mask highlighting the designs across half of his face. The markings shaped around the look of fury etched into his expression, fists tightly clenched, the one hand ablaze with the same red glow.
He gave a slight tilt of his head, the faintest flash of his fangs visible with the accompanying snarl.
"Your reckoning."
TO BE CONTINUED
Yeah...bit of a long wait, AND a slightly shorter than expected. But hopefully, I'll be able to get the (hopefully) final chapter of this part before the end of the month. Hope y'all like how this series is going, don't forget to R&R!
-Nf991 signing out.