A Bloody Reunion...
They run...
Fenrir howls at the forefront of His stampeding Pack, the monster's burning blue eyes fixated on the rapidly approaching narrow passage ahead. They're approaching the Hunting Grounds: Fenris's ceremonial dinner table tonight...
They drool...
The Beasts gain speed, trampling everything underneath razor-sharp claws as their pants, snarls, and enchanted howls fill the air; an ever-looping buff to their strength in preparation for the dangerous Hunt to come. Flurrying snow pelts their vicious features while bright moonlight and scattering shadows fight over their hunting forms. On this night, They live like their Predecessors...
They Revel...
They approach the outskirts of the narrow path in bloodthirsty vigor, the anticipation of gorging on the flesh of Mammoths an irresistible thought. Yet, despite Their hunger, none fought for an advantage over one another. For They are not competing with enemies; They are hunting with allies...
Fenrir leads...
But, Aerin directs...
And now a King...
Shall face His first TEST...
... ... ...
They near Her dinner table...
They crave that flesh, oh, so sweet...
But, grudges are rarely unable to…
… … …
The mountains rumble...
Fenrir looks up as the mountains surrounding His Pack throw boulders of destruction upon His Lycans. The house-sized slabs of solid stones avalanche from all sides upon the beasts. They're so close to the end of the pass that He refuses to be stopped. The Primordial Beast maintains a near triple-digit sprint ahead of most of the Pack, tensing its powerful muscles and gathering Primordial Energy inside its bulky form. This magical energy surges so powerfully inside Him that its power forces a transformation.
His howl turns into a vicious ROAR toward the Heavens; His saber-toothed teeth on display...
A booming shockwave of energy lashes out, destroying the avalanches entirely.
Not even dust remains...
Fenrir's engorged form dissipates, and those spikes of pure Primordial Energy jutting from its form like dermal armor vanish in wisps of fleeting energy. He viciously snaps his jaws as if laughing at Nature's pathetic attempts to subdue His Monsters! The larger, darker-furred Lycan following close behind laughs in his bestial form, mimicking a hyena's cackle but with a deeper, hungrier tinge. They rip out the ground at their feet while running, further mocking Its attempts to defeat them. The open expanse of Her Hunting Grounds is mere seconds from sight. Fenrir excels ahead and gradually gains distance from his brother despite the latter's greatest efforts to keep up.
"A King takes charge and leads..." He thinks...
But, foolish Kings outpace their army!
Cyrus notices first that something is suddenly wrong…
They've been separated...
Cyrus barks for his brother's attention the second that familiar scent rushes across his nose; he smells the attack before anyone else. But, it was too late by then. Aerin's too far ahead! Fenrir turns around as a flashing swathe of red and black tears across the narrow path leading out of the mountains. Aerin breaches the exit in time to escape; They aren't so lucky. Unfortunately for their King, that wasn't the worst of it. His blue eyes flash pale, and a vision pierces his mind.
Of the day He had failed...
Because He trusted that b-
Aerin reverts to his human form, blinking in severe confusion while looking into his hands. "Huh!?" he says, his heart pounding in his chest until those ethereal blue eyes notice the woman standing several meters before him, barring his approach to the massive wall of magic obscuring his sight. The Lycan draws his Warwolf Blade without thinking and assumes a feral defensive stance; as if he thinks he's going to die. His entire body shivers amidst the cold while the young female Vampire dressed in all black flashes him a twisted look of...
Ecstasy?
"Heh, heh heh heh...!!!" She laughs while extending her arm, then curling her slender pale fingers as if grasping the air. She tears into reality, then rips out a mass of Burning Blood that forges itself into a black-flamed scythe. She lunges at Aerin the moment her Blood Weapon appears, screaming at the top of her lungs as she goes for his neck!
"BLEED! YOU MONGREL!"
Aerin's blood splatters against the snow...
----------------------------------------
His Blessing suppressed, and strength stripped no less...
By a Goddess of Blight, who smiles his way with delight...
Her white hair is so lovely, she's a beautiful sight...
Her silken skin is so pale, she's flawless on this night...
Yet Her Eyes are so EVIL, They want to kill off His Light...
She glares at him with Bloodlust, her voice anticipating the fun...
"Scream as LOUD AS YOU CAN FOR ME!"
"BUT DON'T DIE TILL WE'RE DONE!"
The King faces Aleria, The Black Flame...
----------------------------------------
On the other side of Their veil...
Aerin’s brother takes control...
He’s the next best candidate...
Cyrus barks again and again at the impenetrable wall of Her Burning Blood. The Lycan, however, doesn't care. He viciously slashes at the wall of energy with all his might, but his meat-hooked claws recoil with nothing for their efforts but rapidly regenerating singed hands. The wall of Burning Blood is too viscous and hot even for his pain tolerance. Cyrus's never seen anything like this, but that scent told him everything. Unbeknownst to his little brother, Cyrus and the rest of the Inner Circle discussed this possible scenario, along with another, too.
Cyrus spins and faces his disoriented Lycan allies and howls for their attention. Once silenced, Cyrus's bestial gaze takes the helm, facing off against a figure descending through a rift of Icy-Blood. Her long, messy black hair has traces of icy white, and its length contours her tall, endowed figure until reaching her thighs, drastically contrasting her ghostly pale skin. And those arrogant and disgusted red-eyes look down upon Him. She scowls, her Freezing Blood coalesces around her figure when she touches the ground mere meters from this beast looking at her. Those uninterested eyes warring with the glare of this monster. Cyrus attacks without hesitation, rushing the woman and lunging with bared fangs and extended claws. He moves within moments, yet Her eyes show no fear.
"Freeze..." She says, her words soft as the snow when she speaks and snaps her fingers. Cyrus is Flash Frozen. But, She’s not done. "And shatter..." She demands, tapping her booted heel against the ground and shattering the Lycan’s flesh; his bloody form pincushioned with spears of Frozen Blood. Cyrus collapses. He’s taken down as an afterthought.
The ambushed Pack of Lycans snarl and bark before swarming the lone Vampire. She prepares to slash her wrist and wipe them out with her Blood. However, an attack from behind snatched the Vampire’s attention and she spins around as a blackish-green Lycan lunges for her nape. Despite this, the mysterious woman still effortlessly freezes a wall of iced blood between her and the rushing pack; this green and black wolf-monster wasn't there before…
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
The Vampire squares off against a quadrupedal, lioness-sized Beast bearing her venomous fangs at her enemy, drawing the latter's curiosity. Suddenly, the Vampire remembers Her.
"... Anesthesia, was it?" the Vampire softly says, her voice as icy as the blood coursing in her veins. Anesthesia ferociously snarls at her enemy, but her ire is ignored. The red-eyed woman raises her hand as Anesthesia rushes her, a trail of lethal toxins chasing her lithe, transformed state. The Lycan lunges forward, teeth bared for a death-dealing bite onto any part of her enemy. She misses, and those green eyes flick toward an icy-blood spear stabbing her way. She tenses, the now glowing green patterns on her black fur spraying venomous acid at her attacker, the caustic solvent effortlessly melting through those spears of frozen blood and repelling her opponent's advance. The Vampire vanishes backward in a splashing burst of blood that freezes into vanishing mist as She says…
"I don't have the time to fight; I'll let Him deal with you..."
... ... ...
"And a disappointment that I am sure you shall be..."
He calmly steps into the fray from bloody shadows...
----------------------------------------
Beyond the wall of Frozen Blood...
Another pair of Lycans stand strong...
One a colossus of muscle...
And One whose strength is all but gone...
Their Huntress a sight...
Her hair brings out those eyes...
Her skin, it's so pale...
And Her features are divine...
The Mongrels face Serah...
Thorned-Rose of the Night...
A solemn-looking, almost doll-like young woman appears amidst a floating rush of pink blood with a twin-blade with thorns wrapping around the opposing, double-edged cutting surfaces like snakes. Kraven's polar bear-sized form dwarfs this tall and solemnly beautiful killer. And She stands alone, but not for long...
That icy Demoness manifests through cold mist, her eyes fixated on the one she came for: a smaller, quadrupedal, and frailer-looking Lycan with clear signs of age. The darker-furred creature hides behind her Brutish Brother, whose roaring howl rallies the rest of the pack: several hundred strong...
For the Werebear Slayer takes the lead on the blood-stained battlefield...
Kraven's roar emboldens his allies with him at the forefront: Their mightiest shield...
His Lycan Brothers rush them...
"Serah..." She calls to her choppy pink-haired Family, and her kin moves on command, gracefully swirling that twin-blade through her light-colored hands when those beasts rush them. The sword bleeds pink while draining her blood.
Serah steps forth, her form graceful and flourishing when she slashes the air, discharging large, horizontal arcs of her Lacerating Blood, slicing through groups of her prey. Freezing Blood spears accompany those Bloody Slashes, smashing against any stragglers. Their attacks barely slowed Kraven's emboldened allies, however. They barge through the attacks, their flesh shredding and freezing beneath the torrent of enchanted blood splattering their way. The bulk of their culminating injuries were absorbed and transferred to Kraven. The brutish Lycan's bear-like visage was covered in the most terrible injuries until He wasn't. Kraven's brownish and golden-eyed Beast Form rapidly heals through the sustained injuries of his allies, howling again into the night.
They quickly change their target...
The first Lycan of the approaching swarm lunges at Serah, the woman's slender form a blur of energy the moment she counters with her twin-blade impaling the much larger, attacking creature's chest. Her weapon fails to pierce its heart, for that Brute's enchanting strength toughens Their hides. Serah's doll-like face flashes with surprise, and those curious red eyes peek through choppy pink hair at the Horde overpowering her. She's swallowed by them...
"Blossom..." She whispers...
And liquid spikes of her Lacerating Blood bloom like roses under Their forms...
Kraven staggers. His massive form was covered in bloody slashes and gouges...
As those Lacerating Blood spikes hoist dozens of those attacking Lycans, Serah's doll-like visage is seen unscathed and unharmed amidst a sea of beautiful thorns of blood. The impaled monster's flailing and tearing at the viscous pink fluid inflicted constant Bloodloss on them, all of which transferred to Kraven's Form. Serah takes this opening and rushes Kraven with her twin-blade, her speed nearly making her a blur of energy as she aims for Kraven's heart...
A nearly fatal mistake on Her part...
Kraven ignores the rupturing agony of Her Bloodloss as she rushes him, the Brute tensing his massive muscles and snarling at the Vampire. The moment Serah goes for his chest, Kraven unleashes his counter: The more damage he suffers, the harder and faster he hits, and his regeneration increases. The Beast slams his arms into the snow and ice-covered ground with a savage bark, an eruption of debris rising and forcing Serah to stop moments before contact; a sea of airborne ice and rock obscuring her vision. She recoils, noticing a little too late Kraven's massive form when he swipes at her with steel-shredding claws and enough force to crush boulders. Serah raises her arms and blade in defense, but her red eyes widen with shock; she's not surviving this...
A suddenly appearing wall of Frozen Blood shatters under Kraven's might, saving Serah's life. The impact recoil sends the Vampire tumbling toward Her side...
"I've heard stories of you..." She quietly remarks as her red eyes fall upon Kraven's rapidly regenerating form; his wounds gone within seconds despite the continuous transference of Bloodloss through the Bloody Thorns keeping most of Their lesser forces restrained in conjunction with her Freezing Blood. She quickly realizes Kraven's resilience to status effects inflicted on his allies and changes her approach.
The ice-blooded Vampire snaps her fingers, her blood manifesting outside her body into a serpentine mass resembling Titanaboa: a massive prehistoric python that coils around her, obscuring most of her form as chilling mist fumes around them. Her eyes flick to Her hiding behind Kraven, those cold, red eyes looking into the golden hues of that old, decrepit Lycan hiding behind her brother.
"Your kind was much more powerful in the past..." She glances at the supposed army of mongrels nearby trying to free their impaled kin from Her earlier and still active attack, blowing frost from her nose before looking Kraven's way again in disappointment, then at Her again, before coldly decreeing.
"Your time is over. We will extinguish you all here..."
Kraven roars...
Their battle begins...
----------------------------------------
She runs through the Boreal Forest...
Her racing thoughts and adrenaline are a torrent...
The falling snow tells a story as she searches...
For a moment where her true purpose emerges...
Ryn managed to tail Them through the mountain pass from a distance thankfully far enough that when They attacked, She wasn't trapped inside their barriers of Burning and Freezing Blood. However, the energy she feels from Them tells her everything and confirms her greatest fears: Lycans weren't the only things returning from legend.
Ryn quickly hears the sounds of combat over the massive wall of Frozen Blood barring her way and obstructing her view. It doesn't take her long to figure out what's going on, and she stands there in shock. What's she to do in a situation like this? This is her first time encountering these monsters at war with those beasts. Ryn pauses and looks at her shivering hands, and not because of the snow. She's terrified. Every roar, snarl, and impact she hears beyond the large wall causes her further anxiety. She's already contemplating running back home. This wasn't something she expected. Their magic alone instills a sense of uselessness in her spirit; she doesn't compare based on the levels of mana she feels coming from Them. Ryn nearly shrieks when Kraven's roar follows a thunderous shattering of blood; she turns her shaky eyes toward the obscured battlegrounds again, stepping away in growing fear.
"I..." she thinks to herself...
"I can't compete with them..."
Ryn turns and starts running away, abandoning her foolish ambition in favor of surviving. She reminds herself of why Humans were always at the bottom of the food chain, and takes this frightening experience to heart: Marcus was right; she's out of her league. As she picks up speed and gains distance from them, though, something happens...
A vision of His future...
And his gruesome end at Her hands...
Ryn stops running...
She suddenly grasps her head in frustration, screaming. "FUCK!" she yells into the moonlit forest while snow cakes her form. The black-haired woman frantically paces, her heart warring with her brain. "I can't let him die..." she tells herself, still shaking at the thought of running back into that. And yet, she can't resist it. Adrenaline pumps through her veins, and Ryn bites her lip before turning and sprinting back toward the mountain pass, her barely tethered-together resolve fueled by one thing. A rather foolish and utterly stupid thing. She knew this, yet still ran to Him.
"No risk, no fucking reward!" Ryn loudly tells herself while magic gathers in her body, increasing her speed tenfold as she dashes toward the wall of Frozen Blood. Then, she claps her hands together and interlocks her fingers. The glow in her eyes increases, and those strange, tattoos covering her arms spread toward the rest of her body once more. She's seconds from slamming into that lethal wall of magic. She grasps her right arm with her left, making a gun gesture with her fingers while casting her magic.
"Indra's Lance!"
A concussive blast of supercharged energy blasts through the wall of Freezing Blood before Ryn jumps through the quickly recovering gap in the spell, landing in a roll to her feet and immediately seeing a woman and her Freezing Serpent engaged in a titanic battle. Kraven's Bestial Form aggressively grapples, bites, and slashes a summon trying to corral and freeze him to death, but is unable to due to His size, strength, and power. Kraven's simply too much for even Her serpent, but not both at once. Ryn sees that woman disappear into cold mist, and Ryn contemplates helping Kraven or finding Him. Her decision's decided for her as that other Vampire suddenly rushes Ryn with her twin-blade.
Ryn notices Serah's attack despite the latter's speed, the former's reflexes massively enhanced by her transformed state. The Human dodges with a messy roll under the slicing weapon until she's behind Serah and Ryn counterattacks. Her hands spark with Spirit Energy when she claps them together before drawing one back as if pulling on a bowstring: a projectile awaiting release. They square off as Kraven and the other woman battle in the distance. Serah tilts her head at Ryn's arrival, as if genuinely confused, yet awestruck.
"You are a Human?" She softly remarks, raising her thorned twin-blade at her side and taking a rather regal, almost majestic battle stance; those red eyes appraising Her transformed state. Ryn curls her fingers tighter near the posterior end of her Spirit Arrow, tightening her control and increasing the potency as she speaks. Her words are shaky, but true to her heart.
"Yeah, I am..." Ryn emphasizes, and her once fearful eyes suddenly calm and resolved upon seeing her enemies face to face at long last. What Ryn says next is something she wishes she kept to herself, but can't resist saying; She's reached her first turning point...
"And, I'm going to save Them..."
Her fate is her own. She's taking control.
Next Chapter: ALL OUT WAR! A King's Resolve & A Brother's Rage!