Third and final chapter of FntS: Rise of the Daemon.
Without any further ado, read, review, and most improtantly enjoy.
An End and a New Beginning
Garth slowly trudged down the mountain side, the howling wind at his back and the dead weight of the wolf in his arms. The pain in his shoulder and on his face would have been unbearable, had it not been for the pain of loss he felt in his heart, the loss of his friends, comrades and the loss of Kalieen. The woman who would have been his wife had it not been for their duty.
Inside he questioned his actions, why was he helping the one who had caused so much pain and death, what possible reason did he have for sparing her life when all of his training demanded him to make the final blow, why hadn't rage at the loss of his love descended on the one who had taken her life so cruelly?
The memory of her death repeated over and over again as he stomped through the snow. He refused to cry, mainly due to the fact that at this height and temperature his tears would freeze his eyelids shut, and since his right eye was already frozen closed with his blood he couldn't afford to lose his left, but also because a Forlorn was taught and trained to never show emotions of fear or sorrow, they were to be stoic and unnerved against all atrocities and actions of their enemy. They were to be a bulwark against which other warriors would stand strong.
He did however feel sorrow, he did however feel fear, and all he wanted to do was sit down and weep, releasing everything in a single cascade of salty tears.
But he couldn't. He wouldn't.
He still had his duty to fulfil, and although he couldn't bring himself to kill the helpless wolf in his arms, he still had to find a solution, still had to ensure the safety of his clan, and the world.
And as he slowly made his way down the mountainside, he preyed that the person he was seeking was not only where he hoped they would be, but also that they would be able to help him.
By the time his feet stepped out of the snow and onto the grey stone, the wolf in his arms was slowly coming too. A number of times her eyes had flickered open and closed, an occasional moan easing through her lips.
Her whole body ached and a sharp throbbing pain plagued her shoulder and her forehead. The first time her eyes had opened she had caught a sight of the one carrying her. His face was bloody and yet set with a grim determination.
She couldn't remember… anything. It was like her mind was completely blank. She didn't know where she was, didn't know who was carrying her, or why she was in such pain. She couldn't even remember her name. All she had was a distinct feeling of regret, and the sensation that something was wrong, very wrong.
She felt the cold, saw the snow, but didn't feel the sting of the cold wind, quickly realising that whoever held her in his arms was also acting as a shield against the bitter wind.
She felt weak and often slipped in and out of consciousness. Every time she closed her eyes, something changed. Either the sky had grown lighter, the snow fall had slowed, or the sound of the wind softened.
Although she had every reason to be afraid and confused, for some reason she felt safe in the strangers' arms. So secure in fact, that she slowly drifted to sleep.
His legs were beginning to burn when he finally saw his destination. A small wooden shack stood out on the horizon; jutting out of the stone at an odd angle like the building itself was attempting to lean out of the wind. He had been here once before with the other Forlorn, when Rukrh had led them here to acquire knowledge on the creatures' abilities.
They had learnt from an eccentric old man with orange hair and an energy far beyond his years. He taught them about the powers of Chaos, and its natural flow some Mobians, especially anthro. He showed them both the destructive and healing effects Chaos energy had, and Garth had been very interested at how, with a certain amount of Chaos energy, an individual could increase their natural speed, strength, endurance and abilities more than ten-fold!
The man, a Professor Von Schlemmer, then told them that the best way to counter the powers of Chaos, was to let it run its course or counter with an energy infused being of equal or greater power. It was then that Rukrh had dismissed him as a madman and stormed out of the small shack, taking the Forlorn with him.
Garth was, therefore extremely glad to see smoke slowly drifting from the lopsided chimney sticking out of the roof.
He soon reached the front door. With his hands full he kicked the door thrice.
As soon as he had, he heard a cry and a crash.
Shortly afterwards the door was pulled open and the echidna was greeted by the wide eyes, toothy smile and bushy orange eyebrows of the very man he wanted to see. He looked over the two gaunt and bloody anthro with a wide grin on his face.
"Come in, come in!" He practically pulled Garth inside and sped off into the depths of his surprisingly large home. "You're just in time to see my latest invention!"
Garth gently laid the wolf onto a bed which looked like it hadn't been slept in for months. He looked about the contraption strewn single room house, and was once again at a loss to how it was so large on the inside when from the outside it was little more than a wooden shack. Even the walls looked different from the inside; they were solid stone and covered with a strangely nauseating green coloured paint.
He started to examine the injuries he had sustained in a nearby mirror when the kooky Professor came rushing back into view carrying an odd shaped machine in his arms.
"I call this Multi-Hairial Trimmer-Kajig! Designed to cut your hair to your very own personal specifications!" Garth gave the Professor and odd look. It was clear that if the machine were to be used for trimming hair, the user would get an extremely short haircut, and never need one again. He shook his head.
"Listen, Professor Von Schlemmer-"
"Who?" The Professor interrupted. Garth paused for a moment, hardly believing his ears.
"You." He finally replied flatly.
"Ah yes of course!"
"Shut up and listen for a minute!" The echidna snapped. "I need your help."
The utterance of those words caused the Professor to perk up to new heights of eccentricity. "I need you to get me some medical equipment. A needle, some thread, alcohol and some bandages."
Professor Von Schlemmer rubbed his hands together and darted back out of sight behind his various experiments and inventions. He quickly returned with all the echidna had asked for to find him sat next to the unconscious form of a young crimson furred wolf, gently dabbing the deep gash in her eyebrow with a damp cloth.
"Four tails!" He exclaimed loudly. "I've only ever seen someone with two tails and that was-"
"Professor!" Garth reached out and grabbed the items from the odd humans' hands and set to work carefully cleaning and stitching the gash closed.
Professor Von Schlemmer looked on in uncharacteristic silence as the echidna continued with his precise yet gentle healing. He placed a thick medical padding over the now sealed cut and proceeded to wrap a small bandage around her head to keep it in place. Once he was finished he leaned back and analysed his work before standing up and taking the equipment to the mirror.
"You are very skilled with a needle." Said the Professor admiringly. He turned around just in time to see Garth carefully wash his eye clear of blood. He saw the echidna frown at his reflection. "Something the matter?"
"It's odd. Last night my friends were brutally killed, and I get away with just two scars." He chuckled sadly, holding his slashed eyelids open with his fingertips. "I should have lost this eye. But here I am, with both eyes working just fine…"
He trailed off as he recalled all those he had seen get killed, some he had known for his whole life.
In silence he took the needle and doused it with more alcohol before rethreading it and bringing the point to his eye.
"Professor, don't do anything to startle me. I'd rather keep my eyesight if its all the same to you." Von Schlemmer answered with a nod and watched in fascination as the echidna carefully began stitching his own injuries closed. After several minutes, Garth dropped the needle from his shaking hand and proceeded to bandage his eye with white clinical cloth. He then turned he attention to the stab wound in his shoulder.
"Thank you for helping me Professor." He said as he continued working. "But I'm afraid I must ask another favour from you."
"Of course! I am always willing to help those in need!" Garth smiled at those words.
"Good. The wolf on your bed is in danger here."
"Then we must get her out of here!" Shouted the Professor, making a move to pick the sleeping girl up.
"Not here!" Garth snapped. "She's in danger from, and a danger to Mobius as a whole. And I've brought her to you because I think you can help."
Professor Von Schlemmer rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"It is possible that there are a multitude of other worlds to which she can be sent, saving her and our planet in one quick swoop! It is a very helpful coinkydink that I have just invented a machine capable of transporting someone to a completely different dimension!"
Garth looked at the Professor sceptically as he began bandaging his shoulder. "Right…"
"Oh yes indeed! Come quickly, and bring the guinea pig!" The echidna suddenly realised that he could relate to Rukrh's view of the Professor as he carefully lifted the wolf in his arms. The movement caused her to stir and open her eyes.
"Who… where am I?" She asked weakly. Garth looked down into her silver eyes and considered how to answer her. Her expression changed to one of confusion. "Who am I?"
Garth heard a hint of fear in her voice and felt a pang of sympathy. She looked and sounded so different to the creature she had been and he couldn't bring himself to remain silent. "Your name is Ashlie."
He wasn't sure where the name had come from, but to him it sounded right. She seemed to take some comfort from the name, the panic leaving her eyes. "Where am I?"
"Somewhere safe. We're going to send you somewhere safe." She frowned and her eyes were beginning to flutter, she was close to falling asleep again.
"Who are you?" Garth laid her down gently on the machine Professor Von Schlemmer had led him too.
"Someone who…" He paused, trying to find something comforting to say. "Someone who'll watch over you, should Chaos deem it necessary."
The wolf closed her eyes and her breathing became rhythmic and shallow. Garth turned to Von Schlemmer.
"Are you sure this will work?" The Professor pressed various buttons and flipped several switches making the machine hum rather ominously.
"There is always a chance that our reality will be torn apart be the activation of this machine, or that every dimension and reality will fold in on itself making everything no longer exist!" Professor Von Schlemmer produced a red Chaos Emerald from the recesses of his coat and placed it into a section Garth could only assume was for power.
"So this thing could kill us!" The echidna cried out.
"There's only a seventy-three percent chance of that happening though." Garth barely had time to register what Von Schlemmer had said when he flipped the main power switch causing the machine to activate and emit a bright red glow which obscured the wolf, Silhouette from view.
Moments later the light vanished, along with the Chaos Emerald which had provided the power, and the prone figure of the newly named Ashlie.
"It worked!" Von Schlemmer exclaimed in wonder. Garth walked up and laid his hand on the now empty bed, an unreadable expression on his face.
Shortly afterwards, Garth said his farewells to the mad Professor and left his shack. He took one last look back at the small wooden building and shook his head. He turned his feet towards a down slope, deciding that he would do something he had wanted to do for many years. Explore the world.
The elderly Professor was walking through the rain. He hunched his shoulders against the cold and the rain as he walked from the university he worked and back toward his house. Suddenly a bright flash of red light caught his attention and he jogged towards the area it had come from.
What he found was a strange humanoid creature with red and black fur, four tails and features resembling that of the common wolf.
His name was Professor Cratermass, and his life was about to change completely.
And that brings us to the end of FntS: Rise of the Daemon.
But that doesn't mean we won't hear from Garth or Ashlie again!
As this story was written as the origin to Ashlie/Silhouette the Daemon-Wolf, you can follow her adventures by checking out Silhouette's profile page.
As for Garth, we will be following his adventures another time.
And so, follow your dreams and maybe you'll do or find something that changes your life completely.
Till next time!
-Corrupt TE-