~ Love And Agony ~
LYKOS
It's been hours since the two hunters had left him alone in his ravine home. The day had given way to the night, but at least the clouds had finally cleared to cast the starlight over the land. Lykos lies curled up in the snow, his tail swept over and around himself and his muzzle tucked beneath it. His body and mind drift towards sleep, but not peacefully. Memories of his past from centuries upon centuries ago, threaten to plague his mind and poison his dreams. He still remembers very little from his old life.
His name and the names of his family and his friends are among those memories that which have left him. The name of the homeland he held dear to his heart has also been forgotten. What he does remember is his home being ravaged and destroyed, his family and friends being massacred. He remembers being tormented and harassed by the pack for years. He remembers leaving them many times to escape the mistreatment, seeking out solitude in the wilds and keeping to himself.
He remembers who he had met during one his many lonely hikes, her name and her face forever burned into his memory.
It was a warm, spring morning, centuries ago.
The songs of the small birds can be heard all over the woods and grassy, meadow hills. There are chirps of squirrels and grunts of deer, the wildlife foraging peacefully amongst the trees and grazing on the hills. A light breeze sweeps over his fur as Lykos pads along the tree-line, his head held low to the ground. He had just left the Pack for what must be the hundredth time, having been harassed by the other wolves for refusing to join in on their feast… a feast where the main course was freshly slaughtered demigods. Some sons of Ares and Hermes, and a daughter of Demeter.
It was Kano who had led the attack on the unsuspecting party, and the fight was brief and bloody, and it was he who drove Lykos away for his inhibitions.
Lykos couldn't care less. He hates him. He hates the Pack. He hates this life. He should just run away, far from here, far from the Pack. They wouldn't miss him. Even Lycaon himself belittles him for his life choices. Living as a lone wolf wouldn't be so bad, would it? Maybe he could be happy on his own, or at least, less miserable living by himself in the wilderness.
But he knows better.
He knows he'd return to them. He always does. He has no place to go, no allies to turn to in a world full of demigods and monsters that would constantly be hunting him. He doesn't belong in the world of man, or demigod. He doesn't belong with the Pack. He doesn't belong anywhere.
His brooding thoughts are interrupted by the scent of fresh water and suddenly, he feels very thirsty. Parched, even. Normally, other wolves quench their thirst with blood, but Lykos will not allow himself to stoop their level. Water is a perfectly substitute… a thought that none of the other wolves share with him.
Picking up his pace, Lykos trots into the open woods, following the scent of water for a few minutes before he hears the soft trickling of a stream. Perhaps he'll find a place to rest after drinking. He pushes his way through some shrubs and finds himself near the bank of the stream. It's a rather beautiful site, stirring a small sense of peace within him. Lykos pads to the water's edge, his claws scraping quietly over the small stones. He lowers his muzzle to the gently flowing water and begins to lap it up, finding relief and refreshment from the cool water and closes his eyes until he's drunken his fill. Droplets drip from his muzzle after he lifts his head, and he wipes them away with a short swipe of his tongue.
Distracted by the splash of a small fish, he returns his gaze to the water and finds himself staring into his own, slightly distorted reflection. Icy yellow eyes of a wolf stare back at him from the water's surface. For a moment, he imagines them to be blood-red, like those of his ravenous brethren. The thought repulses him and he shakes his head to clear his mind of the image. He'll never be like them. Never.
No more brooding. He has to at least try to keep those thoughts clear of his head or he'll end up giving in to them. Perhaps a brief splash will help.
With a sigh, Lykos closes his eyes and focuses. He feels a strain on his body as his anatomy rapidly and drastically changes, feeling his bones shift about. The process only takes a couple seconds, and when he reopens his eyes, his reflection of a wolf has been replaced with his human self.
Or at least, most of his human self.
Wild, jaw-length raven hair. Lightly tanned skin. Sharp facial features and a figure like a sprinter… similar to how most wolves look in their human form. However, his fangs and eyes will never let him see his human form as anything more than a disguise. He is not human anymore. Those icy yellow eyes remain with him now, and they will forever remind him that who he was before no longer exists.
Shaking his head, Lykos cups his hands together and dips them into the water before bringing it up to splash over his face. He releases a deep exhale of bliss, enjoying the cool refreshment and repeats the action. He runs the water over his arms and around his neck, feeling as if he's washing away the pain and the agony.
A twig snap and a rustle of the brush behind him has Lykos twisting around in an instant…
And his heart skips a beat.
Standing no more than five meters away is a girl. A human girl, with long, braided cinnamon hair and radiant hazel eyes. She has a slim, petite figure and a face that has his eyes going wide. She wears a flowing white dress that goes about halfway down her thighs and a golden circlet in her hair. Lykos' first thought is that she's a child of the love goddess. She is far too strikingly beautiful to not be.
And she's also staring him right in the eyes with fear and realization on her face.
"Y-you're a…" she stammers, stumbling backwards and dropping the jug she had been carrying.
Lykos snaps out of his trance and quickly tries to think of something to say, to calm her down before she screams and possibly brings down trouble upon him.
"No! It's okay!" he cries, standing up much to quickly for her liking. She trips over a stone and tumbles onto her back before scrambling backwards, away from him.
"Wolf!" the girl shrieks. "Stay away, please!"
"No! I'm not-" Lykos pauses over that, rethinking his answer. "I mean, I am a wolf but I'm not like that! I won't hurt you!"
"I'm supposed to believe that?!" the girl retorts, snatching her jug up and hurling it at him. Lykos' enhanced reflexes kick in and he's able to catch the jug before it can strike him.
"Stop! I'm not going to do anything to you, I- ow!" he yelps, his reflexes failing him this time as the small stone bounces off his head. He stumbles backward and falls with a grunt, furiously rubbing the spot where the stone had struck him. A second stone pelts his shoulder and he yelps again.
"Quit it!" he growls, shielding himself from the third stone.
"And let you eat me?!" the girl hisses, already reaching for more stones. What is wrong with her?!
Lykos growls and drags himself away, feeling his hand touch the water of the stream. Glancing behind him, he spots a small fish nibbling away at the algae on a rock and snatches it. Yanking the squirming, wiggling fish from the water, he dodges another stone and returns fire, hurling the fish with perfect accuracy and scoring a hit right on the girl's face. She gasps and falls back once again, leaving them both on even ground. She seems so surprised that she doesn't even reach for another stone, only casting her wide eyes from the fish to the wolf.
"Did you just-" she begins.
"It's not fun to have things thrown at you either, now is it?" Lykos growls, glaring at her.
"You threw a fish at me!" she snaps, her initial fear gone and now replaced by anger and surprise.
"You were throwing rocks!" he retorts.
"What would you do if there was a monster in front of you?!"
Lykos can't believe this girl. "You mean if I was still human? Probably not throw things at it!"
"Well, if you- wait." The girl frowns at him with confusion. "If you were 'still' human?"
Oh, he realizes what he just did and inwardly kicks himself for it. Suddenly, the girl is regarding him with curiosity rather than suspicion.
"Look. I'm a wolf, yeah, but I'm not going to eat you. I'm not like… them," he mutters. "If I was going to hurt you, I'd have done it by now. I definitely would not have just let you throw rocks at me. That hurts, by the way!"
The girl now looks a little ashamed, though Lykos isn't sure if she's ready to stop throwing rocks.
"Um… sorry," she murmurs.
"Whatever." Lykos stands up and dusts himself off.
An awkward silence falls over them. Despite the fact that she just got hit in the face with a fish, Lykos can't help but note that she still looks strikingly beautiful. He hair is only slightly disheveled, with a few strands now hanging loosely over her face, but if anything, that makes Lykos think she's even more-
What is he doing?!
Stop thinking about how pretty she is! She just pelted him with stones for gods' sake!
"What's your name?"
The question catches him off guard. She's looking at him expectantly, waiting for his response, but he finds himself unsure of how to reply. What is his name? What is it? Why can't he remember? He didn't forget yet, he did not.
"Lykos," he finally says.
She raises a brow at first before offering a small smile and replying.
"Katarina."
"-and then he fell off the horse into a pile of dung! He was engulfed by that stink for days!" Katarina finishes with a laugh that Lykos shares with her. She had been telling him a story about one of the boys in her village and his first time trying to ride a horse.
It's been nearly seven months since their first encounter, and after the hostile and awkward meeting, they had spoken with each other a little more and became friends. Lykos found himself wanting to see her again and remained in the area, returning to the stream at the same time every morning. She too, remained consistent and each time she came to fetch water, she would meet with him. At first, their interactions were of simple conversation. After a few days, they would tell each other about their backgrounds, where they came from. Then, they would sometimes forage or fish together… well, she would forage, but Lykos' carnivorous diet had him paying no interest to the fruits or nuts she would find.
After a couple months, they learned to have fun together, splashing in the stream or running about the woods, with Katarina hiding and Lykos tracking her down. He had to be extremely careful. The Pack was still lingering about the region, and the mere thought of what could happen if they discovered his friendship terrified him so much that he would make sure to thoroughly wash himself in the stream to rid himself of her scent. Katarina also had to tread carefully. Her village folk would most definitely not approve of her friendship with him either.
They had to keep it a secret, something they did very well.
"Adonis sounds like an idiot in all your stories," Lykos snickers, sitting on the bank beside her.
"Oh, trust me. He is. He once shot himself in the foot with an arrow while trying to hunt a fowl," Katarina says.
Lykos frowns at her in amused disbelief. "How did he manage that?"
"We don't know! He just returned to the village with an arrow in his foot and told us that's what happened!" she laughs.
"Incredible," he remarks.
A baying howl suddenly rings out in the distance, and Lykos snaps to attention. However, he realizes that it's just the baying of a hunting hound from Katarina's village and he settles back down.
"You should relax about this," she says. "Every time you hear the hounds, you tense up."
"I can't help it. My first thought is that Lycaon and the Pack are nearby," he mutters.
"I thought you said that your pack's camp is far away," she says. Lykos frowns at her, waiting for her to remember what he said about them. Her eyes widen for a moment when she realizes what she said wrong. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to call them your pack."
"It's okay. And yes, they are far away, but still. It would take them only a day to get here, as the wolf lopes," he replies.
"You could get us out of here if they come for us, right?"
Lykos raises a brow at her question. "Yeah, but what about your village, your family?"
Katarina sighs. "I don't know… Don't get me wrong. I do feel a strong connection here. It's my home, but my village isn't exactly what you'd call a 'caring community.' I mean, if they found out that I'm friends with a wolf, they'd probably publicly execute me."
"And the Pack would tear me apart," Lykos adds.
"I guess both our people are pretty terrible," she says with a giggle.
Lykos smiles at her humor for a moment, before he finds himself meeting her remarkably bright green eyes. He feels as if he's getting lost in them, and her own gaze becomes wistful as she stares into his. They begin to slowly lean in towards each other, their eyes beginning to close as the space between them shrinks. Her scent is intoxicating, and he wants nothing more than to inhale it forever, to run his fingers through her cinnamon locks, to have his arms around her. She's so close, her lips just about to brush with his-
Lykos snaps awake, sending snowflakes fluttering at his sudden jolt, finding himself back in the present, back in the ravine. He shakes the snow from his head and glances about, and realizing that it was just a dream, feels a pang of sadness and longing stab his heart. Katarina… the only other person who ever gave him a chance, who saw him for more than just what he is. The only person who he ever…
With a sigh and a soft whimper, he drops his head back onto his paws. He hates this feelings of longing, to miss someone so terribly that it hurts. It's as if his heart is being constricted, painfully so. He can't bear the thought of having to go through this again. What he feels for Saphira is a different kind of love from what he felt for Katarina, but it's just as intense. He doesn't want to lose her too, and despite his promise to her that he would run, he can't imagine how he's supposed to do that. Leave her to a horrible fate at the hands of either Artemis or Lycaon, while he escapes to live on? How? Why?
He knows that he shouldn't expect such an unlikely outcome, but he's hoping dearly that her sisters will heed Saphira. Even if they don't accept him, at least let her go without punishment. He can accept being rejected and driven away. He's dealt with that his whole life, and he can deal with it again so long as Saphira goes unharmed.
Lykos heaves a heartbroken and agonized sigh, pinning his ears back against his head. He closes his eyes, but he suspects that sleep will not come back to him again.
There is a rustle of snow, and the sound has him lifting his head again. He scans the ravine, searching for signs of life, but he sees nothing. Has Saphira returned?
No, couldn't be her. She never comes to see him after dark. Narrowing his eyes, Lykos rises from the snow and shakes off his pelt. His ears turn this way and that, trying to pinpoint which direction he had heard the noise. Perhaps it's a woodland animal having strayed down here, searching for water. If it's an animal, Lykos doesn't feel the need to be worried. Even a bear wouldn't want to challenge him.
Then, he spots a glimpse of movement; a dark, shadowy beast prowling amongst the boulders surrounding the clearing. Lykos feels his hackles rising as a growl begins to build in his throat. That is no animal. There is another shadow, and another. More pour out of the ravine passage and spread out into the clearing. Burning crimson eyes glare at him from the darkness, and he glares right back, baring his fangs in a warning.
Growls and snarls fill his ears as the wolves begin to surround him, backing him into a corner against the ravine wall. A pair of dracaena also slither their way into the ravine, followed by a hyperborean that manages to squeeze its humongous gut through the rocky sides. He is outnumbered, and very much outmuscled, yet, he stands his ground. His eyes dart from one flank to the other, keeping track of all his encroaching enemies.
What are they doing here? How did they find him? An even more horrifying thought; if they found him here, that means they may know where the hunters are encamped! They could be preparing to launch an attack this instant!
Lykos has to try to get out of here and warn Saphira.
One of the dracaena charges him with a hissing screech and a javelin aimed for his chest. Fortunately, the snake-woman must not have realized that her weapon is not made of silver. The bronze blade bounces harmlessly off his chest before he snatches the shaft in his teeth. He twists his head, pulling the dracaena towards him and turning back to set upon her with his fangs. The humanoid serpent shrieks as his fangs tear into her chest and his claws shred through her stomach.
A heavy weight slams into him from the side, knocking him away from the gurgling, dying dracaena, but Lykos doesn't miss a second in turning on his new attacker. A wolf, larger than himself with its fangs going straight for his neck. Lykos is faster and snaps his teeth together on the wolf's cheek, thrashing his head about until he tears the flesh right off the wolf's face. The black beast yelps and leaps away, pawing furiously at its cheek and splattering its blood over the snow. Lykos is about to lunge for it and go for the throat when a heavy thud in the snow distracts him.
He only has enough time to turn his head to see the hyperborean looming over him with a large, ice-covered fist swinging towards him. The frost giant's fist collides with his flank, launching Lykos through the air to crash against the frozen-rock wall of the ravine before he collapses to the snow. The air has been forced completely from his lungs, and his vision is being threatened to be overrun by a ring of darkness.
The little vision he retains is blurry and swaying, rendering him unable to focus clearly. His head is throbbing, his body is numb, and his limbs feel strengthless, feverishly clawing at the snow and failing to regain his footing. The blurred figures of the wolves and the hyperborean are bearing down over him as he collapses again, feeling his consciousness slip away.
Then finally, the world fades to black.
