The air was thick and slow, flowing around Cormac's face in a sluggish trail. The dark sky swallowed the small flickers off light coming off of his torch. He could smell the beasts, their stench painfully strong. But it was still quiet...
They were tracking him for over twelve miles now, waiting for him to either fall over and die, or just lose all strength. Not like he still had any.
The only reason they did not attack yet was his gift. They felt the unfamiliar danger, that little voice in their head telling them not to approach. They would anyway, all manner of men and animal stop listening to their better judgement at some point.
Cormac was just hoping they would attack as soon as possible.
He faked a limp to provoke a faster reaction, started losing his breath and coughing on purpose. But these beasts were not as easily fooled as he had hoped. Still, if he had succeeded at his plan, that would actually be a positive.
But he had to stop now, he needed the little strenght he had.
Cormac found a little opening in a rock face, a cavern opening to a spacious room inside. There was precisely one way in, and only one way out.
He quickly assembled a few of the bigger rocks into a makeshift throne. It might have felt overbearing and exaggerated, but it seemed to help. He sat on it quickly and posed himself upright.
He focused at his expression and calmed his breathig. He was composed, he was attentive, he was a spitting image of a ruler.
Now came the challengers.
The beasts started coming into the cavern, lurking in the shadows around the walls, purposefully avoiding the little rays of light entering the room from a small crack in the ceiling.
He counted and observed. Four in total. He could make out their shapes only roughly and only thanks
to his enhanced perception. They were beasts of fur and claws, looking mostly natural. Though deciding if the animal was either a feline or a canine seemed impossible. They varied wildly, some having a loud snout with long whiskers and cat-like eyes. A posture of a wolf, coupled with the tail of a mountain cat. Another the exact opposite.
He looked at them, over them. Surveyed them.
He was ready and he would succeed.
"Kneel." he said.
The beasts stopped in their tracks. They observed him back. They felt the authority wash over their existence. They had not resisted greatly, but they were still untouched by him. But he was not done.
"Kneel." he repeated, his voice calm and loud.
Some of the monsters heads jerked violantly, as they tried to frantically shake off Cormac's infuence. Others stopped and calmed, bowing their head slightly, almost convinced.
"Kneel!" Cormac gathered all the willpower he could muster and exclaimed his order for the third time. Unwilling for his wish not to be heard.
But heard it was.
The four of the monsters dipped into a bow, placing both their forelegs flat on the ground. Prostating before him
He had them. He felt them. His...subjects.
Cormac woke up in a pile of rubble. His body screamed and his head buzzed. All he could hear was a ringing in his ears. His dream, interesting and questions evoking it might have been, disappeared from his mind the second Cormac realized what situation he was in.
The whole building caved in on him.
Slowly he checked his body. He could move most of his limbs, though only a little bit.
He was lucky, the debris seemed to have fallen around him. Instead of squishing him, the bricks of stone just caged him in their embrace. He squirmed around, trying to find a place that would give in, let him pass. There was the danger that he might push something that was holding the debris above him. But that was a risk he had to take.
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He lengthened his arms forward, finding a hole big enough for him to slowly crawl to. Twisting and turning, Cormac slowly made his way from under the rubble. As he crawled out onto the pile before him, he could see the starry sky above.
Finally, his thoughts started to pour in the normal flow they did in.
He was in the building reading the diary, when the ceiling fell. He had to remind himself, then his heart stopped as his mind thought of something wicked.
He hefted his pack from under the rubble and quickly started climbing on the fallen beams.
He left the remains of the mansion and looked where his companion should have been waiting on him. There was a flock of crows, happily jumping and skiting over a pool of blood.
Cormac's mind turned blank as he ran towards the flock, scared of what he might see. The crows protested loudly, but flying away from him. Landing at the burnt tree twigs and house frames. When he came closer, a wave of relief washed over him. Aviana was gone and in her place, was a body of an elder watchman, lying on the ground. Bits and pieces missing from the carcass.
Cormac still recognized him as one of the watchmen that he narrowly avoided during his travels. He never confronted him or anything, they always managed to either run, or hide and run later.
A bloodied dagger laid on the ground next to the body. A dagger Cormac knew. Did Aviana kill him?
He looked closer at the body, the neck was cut. It was by all means of the word, a fatal wound. He picked the dagger and cleaned it against the dead man's shirt, then he put it under his belt.
Cormac averted his eyes from the body and looked around. She would not run away and leave him, Cormac knew her enough to know that, but she was nowhere to be seen…
And that is when Cormac realized, watchmen never wander alone.
His mind raced with what might have happened. Uncomfortable ideas and images flooded his mind.
He did not know where they would go.
Aviana was a murder suspect, if she was not pronounced the murderer directly. Only because she helped him when he needed it.
The crows impatiently cawed as he walked in circles around the body.
Cormac would not let such injustice stand. People like Aviana should not suffer for the misdeeds of others.
Angry and resolute Cormac turned to the cold body.
He remembered the dream he had, the power that he used there. He ordered the world. His will was absolute.
He sobered his thoughts and calmed himself. Then he began.
"Tell me." he said. But his voice accompanied no strength, no will. He did not feel the wind stir. He did not feel the world tremble as his will was shown.
"Tell me!" he tried again, but with no answer to his call.
His dad was a ruler, so it made sense for him to be as well. Why could he not order? Why did he lack the authority? Why did the world still see him as beneath the other folk?
Maybe...he was looking at this the wrong way.
The body was dead, cold already. He would be ordering against the very rules of the world, if he was trying to bring it back, if only to tell him something. His father told him of this, of the way rulers have to use wit with their orders. He could not just possess a body to walk.
But he could order something else here.
Cormac examined the crows slowly. Some were cawing, some were looking at him weirdly, some just did not feel right. But he found a crow. He was an outcast, the flock leaving him to be alone on a tree.
He was smaller than the rest and he was watching Cormac intently. He was not in distress, nor was he cawing. His only movements a slight head adjustments, so he could see Cormac from all angles.
Cormac felt something. A feeling he could not describe to anyone. Something he never felt before. It was as if he grew a new organ, one that pleasantly moved through his whole body.
He looked at the crow and was met by its eyes.
"Serve me." he told the crow, but it did not move at all. Cormac still did not feel it. He commanded the animal, but only with his voice. There was something lacking.
If he is to serve me, Cormac thought, I need to tell it what I was, what I am, what I plan to be. Why would it follow blindly?
Cormac focused on it all.
On the moments of despair he felt since he was a child. On the weakness of his form and his spirit. On the regret his potential future self felt. The hatred in his…adoptive mother's eyes. How content he felt when he met his first ever friend - Gavin. How talking with Aviana brough joy to his days. How, even when he was being followed and hunted, he felt more alive and sure of himself than ever before. How he had a responsibility, how he needed to stop whatever was happening. How scared he was, but how resolute he is.
He fit all his thoughts and emotions into the two words.
"Serve me." he ordered. He could feel the wind quicken, the earth tremble ever so slightly. A vibration moved through his whole body, the indescribable feeling growing in power. As his will connected with the animal, he felt its own thoughts.
He felt them connect, as the animal accepted. He felt the animal, felt the emotions it had at the moment.
It felt…as if it had a place to belong, for the very first time. He felt the crows determination and…loyalty? He knew he could trust the crow, even if he did not know why.
Before he could command the crow, something had to be done. The crow used to have a name, Cormac felt it, but he was deserving of a new one and it was Cormac's decision to make.
"You are…" he started. But realized that he did not know yet. The moment felt important and Cormac did not want the name to be of nothing. Shadow? Beaksy? Those were the names of child pets. If Cormac was a ruler, then that would make him a regal crow.
"You are Obscuro." Cormac said. He felt his words linger in their bond. The crow thought over the name offered. Cormac did not make it an order for that reason. He did not want to enforce his will like that. A name should be related to the person, or animal in this case, that carries it. Suddenly, he felt the bond tighten. It was not unpleasant, but it was unexpected. The crow…Obscuro signed his end of the deal.
Cormac nodded and his familiar landed on his shoulder.
"Lead me where they gone, Obscuro." he ordered and his crow flew from his shoulder into the skies.
He was gone for about twenty minutes, but then he arrived. His caw alerting Cormac. He found a trail and he would lead Cormac through it.
Cormac set off after the crow, running all the while.