A/N: Hello! I know what you're thinking "where have you been? it's been almost a year since your last update" well all I can say is I am sorry, this update's delay is entirely my fault, I haven't organized my time well enough and have been generally lazy, so again I apologize, does this mean that updates will be more frequent? I truly hope so, but I won't give any promises I can't keep. All I can say to the people who read my story is thank you whether you reviewed it or not my thanks still goes to you; I will try my best to make my updates a bit more consistent.
Disclaimer: Konami still owns suikoden and all of its characters….
Snake: heh you say it like your admitting your guilt
M2D: ignore him
As it started its descent into the horizon, the sun acquired a fiery orange like glow, it was as if the sun was trying to bid farewell by shining with this new light, the people replied to these slow parting moments differently, some closed their shops and got ready to return to their dwellings, others quickly walked to their homes fearing the arrival of the night and its legion of darkness and some went on with their business, obviously being apathetic when the subject concerned the time. Slowly yet surely the fiery light began to grow weaker with every minute that passed, leaving its territory for the darkness that would soon arrive, the sun began to descended further beyond the peoples eyes, its rays of light shined till the last moments of its presence, leaving the people with whatever comfort or warmth it could muster before it left their land.
When the sun was finally out of view, people began to notice the shining figure of the moon, its rays were calm and relaxing, but they offered no warmth, it felt like its rays of light were sad because of the blanket of darkness that surrounded it, yet it was hopeful that a new day would come and banish the lightless sky that entrapped it. Sailing through the blackness of the night was a shadowy figure that was almost unnoticed by the people who walked through the streets, the almost soundless flap of his wings was barely caught by the ears of the residents of Radat and when some one did grab hold of that noise, they usually persuaded themselves to believe that it was only the wind.
Sid flew between the buildings of Radat like a phantom; he only stopped under the shadow of a building or inside dark alleys that were untouched by the moon light, his smile never wavering as his slim frame glided from building to building, enjoying the feeling of fright he had thrown into the souls of the people he came by, he could barely stop himself from letting his usual laugh get the best of him, but he knew that the longer he kept quiet and kept freaking them out with the flapping of his wings the longer he would enjoy this night.
'Come to me Sid' were the words that were spoken in the winger's twisted mind, informing him that his time for fun and games has ended and the time for him to carry out his "queen's" orders has begun.
His smile was still frozen on his face even after he halted his parade of fear through the skies of Radat. Sid listened carefully to the directions he received about the location of his summoner, and then turned towards the meeting place chosen by the vampire queen. It was true that he was slightly displeased that his personal time of enjoyment was cut off short by the beckoning of the coven mistress, but she did promise him salvation from the boredom he endured at Dragon Castle and since the journey began he didn't feel the presence of a single dull moment, so he thought that he had no choice but to be loyal to her and carry out her orders with no questions asked what so ever, not to mention that he felt that he wouldn't feel any boredom with the type of work she'd give him.
Sailing through the wind like a bird of prey, Sid maneuvered between the many buildings of Radat, slightly lowering his flying speed as he made a sharp shift to his left side to avoid one of the many chimneys he passed by, his long hair danced with the wind as the slender winger continued his flight towards the location he was told about, just as he got closer he shifted his body vertically to be able to pass through a tight space between two buildings. After exiting that gap between the small households the black winged creature lowered his dash through the air by flapping his dark wings towards the opposite direction of his flight, causing his body to erect into a vertical stance that made it seem as if he was standing in mid air if it wasn't for the constant movement of his wings.
Slowly yet surely the winger began to lower the speed of the flapping of his black wings causing him to land silently on the roof that was directly under him, Sid smiled as he began to walk casually on the wooden roof, his clawed feet barely emitted any sound as he made his way toward the left edge of the building, when the distance between him and the edge of the roof became a mere footstep the creepy winger took that one step, hesitation and fear unable to invade his heart or mind.
A street of paved stones is what awaited Sid at the end of his plunge, but their meeting was declined thanks to the sudden vertical movement of Sid's dark wings, this caused him to decrease his falling speed tremendously, finally he ended his trip when he was face to face with a window on the second floor of the inn.
Inside the room on the second floor of this building sat Sierra on the right edge of her bed, letting her feet touch the wooden floor. The emotions that showed on her face were those of boredom and disinterest, for now she was doing one of the things she did not bode well with and that was waiting but she was thankful that these dull moments she sank through from time to time were a lot less frequent in arrival compared to her time at the castle, to her that castle was nothing but an almost endless pit of loneliness and dreariness, making this journey seem like a rope of salvation she had been waiting for since the war she fought in ended.
Another thing that made this vengeance motivated trek interesting to the vampire queen was her "partners" or so she liked to call them. Pesmerga was a complete enigma even to her but she planned to explore what he had to hide behind the walls of darkness he has placed around himself, as long as she was on the road with him anyway, purely to feed her hungry curiosity of course but beyond being the living mystery to her, he was also completely unsociable, rude and disrespectful but no puzzle came with out a certain level of annoyance not to mention that he agreed to help her with her little dilemma and he was the one to start this little group with her, even though she was the one doing all the recruiting. One of her recruits was Bob the lycanthrope who have done nothing but entertain her with his quick temper since the beginning of this journey, she also thought that he would come in handy whenever there was boring physical labor that needed to be done and last but not least there was Sid who had a unique of enjoying himself, he also seemed like he would make a good source of information and a person she could trust with certain tasks, she just hoped that he wasn't a person who enjoyed making people wait for him.
The sound of a knock on the window of Sierra's room disturbed the vampire queen's thoughts. She sighed then got up from her bed lazily and turned towards the window that delivered the sound it was intended to send by the late night knocker, she cut the distance between her and the glassed hole in the wall with two silent steps, placed her pale hands on the handles of the window and opened it with a smooth swing of her arms.
What she met was nothing but the image of the different buildings and streets that was cloaked in a nightly shade. The coven mistress sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest and appeared to be staring blankly into the darkness "Sid, I know you're hanging on the wall just above my window…" spoke the vampire queen in a voice that hinted of the slight boredom she felt while waiting for the winger, then she turned away from the window and walked towards the edge of her bed, grasping the sound of giant wings howling into her room.
"HEHEHE…you're sharp" said Sid, his voice had the tone of someone who was amused and entertained. He was sitting on the wooden frontal side of the bed his clawed feet hanging to the frame of wood while he bent his knees till they almost were on the same level of his chest, while he rested his head on the back of his two hands, his right over the left, as for his face; it was decorated with a wicked smile.
"So I've been told but I hope you have more than compliments for me" replied Sierra, turning her face to the left, looking at the creepy winger as she offered him a small smile that hid many meanings, meanings that many people and many creatures never wanted to discover.
"HEHEHEHE then let's see what else I've got" spoke Sid as he lifted his right hand above his head, holding his spear firmly in it. When his hand reached its limit in height, the winger somewhat relaxed his grip on the pole arm, not enough to let it fall but sufficient enough to let him spin it slowly using his fingers, which he did.
There was truly a tiny amount of light in this room, it invaded the darkened room through the window but it was more than enough to project the shadow of the spear as it rotated over the vampire queen, the blunt side of the spear hit the wall immobilizing it, leaving its shadow cast upon the left eye of Sierra, at that moment Sid caught the sight of the Blue moon rune bearer's pupil covered by the thin line of darkness, somewhat glowing with a red hue.
The moon just released itself from a group of clouds that have cleaved through its pure light; now free to shed its rays upon the surface. The calm light slightly increased its crusade through a number of windows, not excluding Sierra's room, which now was the stage to a motionless play. Both night dwellers stood still for many seconds as if they were turned to stone by the small amount of light that illuminated them, the one to break out of the spell of immobility first was the creepy winger, shaking his spear gently, he then made an almost invisible swipe with his left hand, as if he was catching an unseen object that was dropped from his spear.
In Sid's hand shone a dagger, held from its blade by the winger's nimble fingers. Accompanying the weapon he presented to his viewer with a snicker as he watched the vampire queen turning to face him. Slowly she began to diminish the distance between her and her late night visitor, her face unchanged and unaltered by emotion, appearing like a wolf as it hunted down its prey.
Her hand slipped over the hilt of the ceremonial dagger, and then she wrapped her fingers around it and began pulling it from between Sid's hand, as if the weapon was sheathed. At that moment a smile grew on her face, leaving behind her rarely used emotionless mask.
"Its lovely" said Sierra, her voice clearly signifying pleasure and happiness, she then turned away from Sid and slowly began to walk to the middle edge of her bed and sat on it.
Replying only with his terrifying laugh, Sid lowered his spear and placed it on his shoulders, then immediately he wrapped his arms around the pole arm. He began eerily staring at the dagger in the pale girl's hand "Is something bothering you?" asked the true rune bearer as she gazed at the dagger while she felt its blade with her left hand fingers.
"HEHEHE just how did you know that this dagger was in this town?" answered the winger with a question of his own, not changing his sitting position that almost made him look like a gargoyle on the edge of a building.
"I have my sources" replied the vampiress in a calm manner, still giving her full attention to the ceremonial weapon in her hands.
"If you won't tell me how you knew it was here, how about you tell me what you need it for? Asked Sid with a voice that was a mix of interest and curiosity, while he kept his eyes fixated on the vampire queen, his stare sharing the same emotions that influenced his tone of speech.
"Hmmm I guess its okay to tell you that much" stated Sierra as she stole her attention away from the weapon in her hand "I am going to use it to set a little trap" she continued while she got up from the bed and walked towards the table, placing the dagger on the wooden piece of furniture.
"Who's your lucky target?" continued Sid with his series of questions as he lowered his head letting a shadow crawl over his face, amplifying the winger's frightening expression.
"Oh but if I told you, I'd ruin the surprise" said the vampiress as she turned to face the winger, offering him a simple smile.
Sid only replied with a laugh, the sound of his laughter grew louder and louder by the second and thanks to the open window it was well heard by anyone who happened to pass by the inn "I love surprises!" he spoke at the end of his sinister laugh.
"Wonderful! But before I put this little plan in to motion I need you to find Pesmerga" said Sierra but this time her voice began to take a more serious tone, she then sat down on the chair next to the wooden table.
Sid only responded with a simple smile then he disappeared into the ocean of darkness beyond the gate of wood and glass, at that moment the vampiress let a grin sneak its way to her pale face 'If all goes as planned this journey will be shorter then I thought it would be' she spoke to her self mentally as she made her path to her guest's entry and exit way, when she reached the window, she let her arms rest on its lower wooden corners and slightly leaned her upper body out of the squared hole letting the wind manipulate her white hair as it pleased, she then raised her head and left her eyes to stare at the moon 'what a beautiful night' she thought, as she lost whatever attention she possessed to the world around her.
"What a night!" said Bob in a loud, anger filled voice. Walking through the dark alleys of Radat wasn't exactly something he enjoyed doing, horrendous smells greeted his nostrils and unattended roads welcomed his eyes, his only companion now was his shadow, unless it too decided to abandon him like the rest of his so called partners.
Finally the lycanthropic warrior made his way to a somewhat large alley at the final right turn of a street he was treading through. It was large thanks to a gap in one of the stores and another right next to it, the wall behind the two buildings separating this empty space from another street on the opposite side of the two dwellings made of brick.
The alley held no horrible scent to be smelled or trash to be seen. Bob decided to stop in this empty spot and shield himself from the world around him, obviously to try and subdue his anger and frustration that he couldn't let out on the ones that were the cause of it. Even if he did would he be able to do so? That thought only served as food for his uncontrollable rage, did they take him for a fool? Or some dead weight they could drop whenever they felt like it? These questions fueled the fury with in Bob and he didn't mind letting it loose, until he felt his grip and focus on his rune weakening as his anger grew in strength "NO" he shouted as he placed his hand on his forehead and fell to one knee, his breathing accelerating as he could feel his finger nails slowly growing into claws, he felt these developed weapons on his fingers poke at his forehead with their sharp ends, as if they urged him to release the beast within him, and it seemed that the lock on that beast would soon be opened. But to the dismay of his primal side, Bob slowly regained control over himself, leading to the halt of his transformation and the return of his human appearance.
'Not the place and not the time' he thought, as he got up on his feet and took a deep breath. At that point he felt he had control over himself once more and it was time for him to find a place to rest and forget about his anger-filled thoughts before they got the best of him. He slowly began walking towards the alley's exit only to be stopped by the body of a boy that fell face first in front of him.
"What the…" inquired Bob as he stared at the lad that unintentionally blocked his path. The boy seemed to have only seen fifteen winters or so; messy brown hair concealed his head till it reached his forehead and neck, his cheeks and cloths had black stains, the area around his left eye was blue in color; suggesting that he had been punched on that area of his face.
The boy slowly started to get up by supporting himself with his arms and legs but as he did, the sound of footsteps haunted the alley. 'Five people huh?' thought Bob, easily deriving the number of people heading his way.
"Come on now John…if you are going to put up a fight at least make it interesting", drawled the young man who stepped into the alley ignorantly, his eyes too busy with his current prey to notice the presence of Bob.
At first John did not respond to the words of his tormentor. He looked up as he tried to get back on his feet and saw the staff wielding lycanthrope. All his senses and thoughts screamed for one thing: survival, and by looking at Bob he gained an idea; even though it seemed quite deceitful, he had no choice but to yield to his basic instinct of survival and put his sinister plan in motion.
"Listen Al, if you don't back off I'll let him loose on ya!" said the bruised boy as he turned to sit on his bottom and pointed at the lycanthrope with his thumb, his face showing a well developed faked smile.
All of John's hopes crumbled as he felt a ferocious grab at his tunic, which was simultaneously followed by him being raised up till his feet couldn't touch the ground "You'll let who loose on them? Ya damn brat!!" shouted Bob with a tone composed of anger and utter irritation.
Bob's stare into the helpless boy's frightened orbs was only interrupted by an arrogant laugh from the young man that stood in the entrance of the alley. "You crack me up John! I mean instead of throwing your money at weak bums like him for protection you could just give it to me, I could spend it real well for ya!", said Al in a voice that was a mixture of over-confidence and sarcasm. He then leaned against the wall of the alley's entrance, continuing his laughter which was now louder in volume.
Throwing John away as if he was a weightless pillow, Bob glared at the laughing young man with pure malice that was only going to be calmed down by pounding on the head of the egotistic boy. Al noticed the look Bob threw at him and welcomed it as a challenge. He responded to the lycanthrope with a calm wave of his hand that gave a signal to the four people behind him to enter the alley.
Each one of these young men seemed to have been raised on these streets and nurtured in these alleys, their clothes and hair styles suggesting that they liked nothing more than to create trouble and beat their adversaries senseless. Most people considered them nothing more than monsters hidden behind human flesh but sadly for them their false sense of strength would fall like the untrue words that spoke of them as monsters, for now they faced the strength of a being that if enraged could truly be called a monster.
The five hoodlums surrounded the lycanthrope, cornering him against the wall, thinking by doing so that they had gained the upper hand. They knew that they were wrong when they almost couldn't follow Bob's lunge at one of their own who was at his left side, the lycanthropic warrior grabbed the young man's face violently and slammed him into the left wall with all the force in his right hand, completely knocking his opponent out.
Bob focused a bit more on his adversary's appearance, and he noticed that he had long hair, its bangs covering his face, that reminded him of a certain winger. This only helped in generating more malice to feed his angered soul. The sound of another gang member behind him gasping at what he saw brought the lycanthrope back to the rhythm of the fight.
When he turned to face his next opponent he saw the image of Pesmerga wavering around the scared young man's body, the only words he ever spoke to the lycanthrope rang through his anger possessed mind "stay out of my way…huh? How about you stay out of mine!!" howled the lycanthrope as he ran towards his confused target; a shadow covered the staff-wielding warrior's face that was twisted by the burning rage inside of him.
Once he was in range, Bob brought down his raised staff ferociously on the head of the young man, not even giving him the chance to wail in pain the lycanthrope launched his two hands into the air, hitting his opponent with the other side of his weapon, causing blood to spray from the gang member's lower jaw, a few drops making their way to Bob's face. The scent of the red liquid invaded his sensitive nose but he paid no attention to it. He continued his two violent attacks with a swift knee to his opponent's midsection causing the youth to tumble down into a sitting position; his knees were at the same height as his lowered head while his back was against the right wall of the alley.
The lycanthrope's instincts pointed towards his next adversary, turning to face the gang member. Bob once again saw a vision but this time it was an illusion of the vampire queen, appearing clearer than the past image he saw. The fact that this image was far from reality did not interest him, for it was finally his chance to punish the vampiress for all the annoyance and aggravation that she caused him. Not knowing that by giving into this temptation Bob was slowly losing his hard-earned control to the play staged by his mind, gradually building a wall between him and reality.
Bob placed his left foot on the left shoulder of the downed youth to his right. Using his unconscious opponent as leverage, Bob ascended into the air, His hands grabbed one end of his staff as he brought it to his back to gain enough momentum to perform his next strike. Not wasting any time to eye his assaulter the gang member retreated to backwards as if withdrawing from a fissure that was forcing him back, barely dodging the vertical strike that was aimed at his head. But he felt a rush of wind slam against his body as he saw the vicious attack hit the ground he was standing over, cracking the floor it slammed into.
As the youth tried to turn and run away he felt a sudden pain in the left side of his abdomen. The lycanthrope had stepped forward while executing a horizontal blow stunning the hoodlum with pain, following that attack with a rising diagonal strike with only his left hand, leaving his right free to deliver a ferocious back hand to the face of the gang member. Not stopping the half circle motion of his arm even after it struck its target, he returned it to the face of his target with a strait punch that promised to disfigure the youth's nose.
Bob's right hand dripped with the blood of his enemy as he watched him fall to the ground with a thud that rang through the dark alley. Standing a few feet away on the left side of the lycanthrope, was another gang member who unlike his other friends did not succumb to the phantom of fear that spiraled around this alley. He charged towards Bob, his face twisted with anger and his hand pulled back, preparing himself to mold the face of lycanthropic warrior with his fist.
What appeared before Bob was not the punk rushing towards him, but the dark knight they were chasing, brandishing his sword and rushing towards him with a sadistic smile. This illusion appeared much more realistic than the first few visions that came before the werewolf, proving how strong the barrier between Bob and reality had become.
The punch that was aimed towards Bob's façade was diverted by the swift rising motion of the left side the lycanthrope's staff. Before the youth attempted to execute another attack, the lycanthropic warrior landed the right side of his staff on the right cheek of the hoodlum with a short horizontal motion; the left side of the staff was brought back because of the initial attack, using this stance Bob preformed a vertical attack with the left side of his weapon and changing his standing position so that the left side of his body was facing the stunned hoodlum in front of him. Halting the movement of his staff when its end reached the midsection of this youth he launched his staff with a stabbing motion, causing the youth to grab his abdomen and lower his upper body.
Pain surged through the youth's upper body. He could feel his feet buckling, warning him that he might fall to the ground any second now. Even though he acted tough in the beginning and showed no fear, slowly and with every blow he began inhaling the smoke of fear, and began losing his soul to it. All that this youth wanted now was mercy but even though he didn't see Bob place his right foot backward and then execute a solid side kick, he knew he would never get any from this enemy. All he received was pain.
Al's jaw fell when in seconds he saw his whole gang on the ground with pools of blood around their heads, created by their bloody noses and mouths. Bob stood amidst the fallen bodies of these youths; no movement was shown by the lycanthropic warrior, as if he and his fallen enemies were part of a painting that portrayed pain and victory.
The gang leader turned around swiftly not wanting to look at the alley that will constantly remind of his defeat, if he was able to escape from it with blood still flowing through his body. He began walking slowly not wanting to alert the senses of his enemy who did nothing but stand still; as if he was consumed by a trance. Bob knew that he was not in Radat anymore, for all he saw now was a number of houses that varied in size but had the same design and were made of the same materials; the wooden walls and leaf filled roofs seemed familiar to him, along with the many trees that surrounded these houses from all directions. He looked at the ground at his feet to see fresh dew covered grass "I am…" before anymore words could escape him, the scene of flames blooming from the trees and huts around him sent a chill down his spine that wasn't affected by the heat of the garden of fire that surrounded him. He watched in horror as the flames devoured everything in their path. All he could do was witness this vision, his desire to move and act before it was too late was immense but he felt as if he was bound to the ground by invisible chains.
Amidst the flames stood the figure of a woman, her long hair was tied back and braided to form a long pony tail, her robs were not even touched by the flames as if they had some kind of unknown alliance, she was the one who took away everything from him and he loathed her for it. His hatred for her grew with every day that passed over him, and what slowly chipped away at the dam that held the flood of his anger, was the fact that she was presumably dead and he had no hand in ending her life. But there she was smiling sadistically at him as she sundered his village with fire. Now was his chance to take his vengeance upon her in the sea of flames she ignited, the sea of flames that took away his old life, the sea of flames that molded him into the hate filled monster he was today.
The beast inside of him did not need to try and fight through the prison called sanity to be released, for it was Bob who unlocked the chains that held his primal self in place. Now was possibly his only chance to release all of his anger, malice and grief upon the one who brought it upon him. In a few seconds his body began its usual transformation, his skin soon became buried in the fur that grew out of it, his fangs began increasing in size and sharpness, what he called finger nails slowly took the form of deadly claws, his face that bared the looks of a human now uncovered the face of a wolf.
Not believing his eyes, John tried to scream in fear but no voice escaped his gaping jaw, it was as if his voice was as terrified as he was of the monster that stood in front of him 'what have I done?' he asked himself for the hundredth time, for he began asking himself that when he saw Al's gang crumble in mere seconds. He did not wish for this to happen 'he was only supposed to scare them away maybe knock one or two of them out' he thought as if he believed the lie he told about arranging this with the lycanthrope that was now focused on Al.
Dashing on all fours towards his next victim, Bob only saw flames and burnt greenery around him, the only other person around him now was that witch. He did not realize that he was trampling over paved stones and his supposed witch was a frightened teen who was frozen with fear. In one swift move the werewolf took to the air, ready to pounce on the center of his pain filled memories.
At that moment Al felt that this was the end for him. He could almost feel those claws digging into him, the jaws of this beast ripping through his body. Fear and regret were his only friends at this moment, fear was invited because of the monster that crushed his gang in moments and now wanted to end his life, but he never expected regret to pay him a visit at this time, was it because of how he lived his life? Or maybe because he felt like he never accomplished anything? What ever was the reason behind the unsuspected visit of this feeling, he knew that he would have a long time to think about this, after he has been devoured by this monster.
"NO!" a scream erupted from behind the lycanthropic warrior, awaking his sane side, causing him to land next to his target instead of over it, drawing a crack on the paved stones he landed on. He looked around this world created of his own illusions to see a little boy, he had dark skin and brown hair and tears were filling his brown orbs "WHY DID YOU KILL MY MOM???!!!!!! DAMN YOU!!!" shouted the boy, his voice carrying weights of anger, despair and agony.
Bob's eyes looked at the boy's feet only to meet with the corpse of a brown skinned woman; he could see her face smothered in her own blood, an everlasting look of pain on her façade. Her image was and will always be engraved in the mind of Bob, she was the woman who raised him since he was born and made sure that as long as she was alive that he will always be safe. Even her death was a way to ensure his security and safety. That fact scorched him like the hottest flame, and brought him to his knees when ever he remembered it, and now he was once again experiencing the same pain through this vision.
Releasing a long and sorrowful howl into the air, the werewolf's soul was now a slave to his pain and suffering, he could no longer think about his revenge or his desire to kill and destroy. The only thing that consumed his energy was his pure sadness and despair, in order to try and alter this hazardous state of thinking, his mind unconsciously ordered his body to escape, hoping that by doing so his eyes won't have to bear witness to this scene any longer, acknowledging that command the lycanthrope's body leaped towards the left wall of the alley and then he bounced from that wall to the one that was facing it, then he leaped towards the roof of a near by building and continued moving his huge figure with unbelievable quickness. In a few moments the beast that spread the ropes of fear that were wrapped around the residents of the alley was no longer seen and the ropes slowly started releasing their grips; giving a chance for rational thinking to come back to the minds of these frightened teens. Now that the beast was unleashed upon Radat, they knew that it would only be a matter of time before the whole town would be nothing but a graveyard for the ghosts of fear to roam in.
A/N: another chapter ends hopefully the next one will come soon, all I can say is expect a big bloody fight, so bloody that it will make snake's boss fights seem as peaceful as a tango dance
Snake pulls out his gun: hey!
M2D: I bet you love waving that around…
Snake: you bet I do
M2D: sigh see ya later people I have some other apologies to make...unless I want to get shot…