Chapter 39: Ani
“With that said, we can finally return to Soaring Sun after such a long journey!” Dante said as a particularly strong gust of wind tried to drown out his words, “I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I’ll feel a lot better seeing Viola’s face again.”
Some time away from Aurora, strong winds had started to pick up around them. Luckily, only a bit of dust had started to be picked up, but they would need to stop soon and find shelter before it got too rough.
Krista moved to his side on Tera, her earth nymph, “This Viola, just who is she? She’s going to be the next Pharoah of Soaring Sun, but I’ve never heard of her before. Is she even related to the former Pharoah?”
“Distant cousins,” Cleo answered, “She’s from a relatively withered branch of the Cold family, so she had a small but real claim to the throne. More so than plenty of the others who tried to claim it. She’s a good woman, and a fine leader. The only thing I don’t appreciate about her is how close she can be with Dante.”
“What’s wrong with some skin ship between friends?” questioned Dante.
“She tried to kiss you!” screamed Cleo.
“So have you, that girl back in Cosmos, those twins, and a few others!” Dante shot back. “It’s all in good fun.”
“Just be happy I find it adorable how dense you are,” related Cleo.
“Forget about this Viola person for a bit,” Damien said pulling up from behind on Nightshade, “Are we really not going to address the little girl who just threw a guy without using wattiez. At least I think she didn’t. I didn’t see any aura around her.”
The little girl in question continued to walk beside Melody on her wind nymph, having kept pace with them for nearly two hours. She never did take off the mask as they left Aurora, and she refused to talk to anyone who was not a Shining Twilight member. In fact, the only people she actively spoke with were Melody and Raven, surprisingly.
“I told you she’d reveal herself when she wanted to,” responded Dante.
“So, it is her,” Damien had assumed as much but wanted to hear it with his own ears. Animus, the one of the four names he was aware of before even coming to Stellar, but the one he was the least familiar with. The name was only said as a whisper, a rumor that none of the soldiers of Acumenos could prove was true. A beast that tore through their ranks, regardless of equipment or number. A monster but all Damien could see in front of him was a little girl. “What’s with the Raven cloak? They like shopping at the same store?”
“She doesn’t look it, but Ani is naturally suited for the same type of work Raven partakes in,” explained Dante.
“Oh?” Damien wondered. “What type of work may that be?”
Dante answered immediately, “Why, assassination, of course. Have I not mentioned that before?”
Krista hid her face to hide her shock. Raven’s past as an assassin was already known to both her and Damien, she shared that bit of information after she received it from Cassandra, so the reveal was not what surprised her. Rather, it was the fact that Dante gave such information so readily. Sure, Dante always seemed more than ready to share information when it was asked for, but this was just too much.
“Now, I may be a farm boy from back in Horizon,” Damien laid his fake accent on a little harder than usual, “but is assassination a normal thing ‘round these parts?”
“It’s not something I try to hide in the first place,” Dante responded, “Raven’s always too aloof. It usually calms people down when they learn there’s a reason for it. Although, I can’t say it doesn’t hurt that people tend to be more agreeable once they know. Especially when dealing with the… unsavory sort.”
His words caused Damien to raise an eyebrow, “Subtle threats and illegal business? Doesn’t quite fit the image you’d set for yourself, Dante.” Damien said all this without even a hint of introspection.
“You need to crush eggs to make them floppy eggs,” said a small effeminate voice. Animus had appeared beside them without making her presence known until now; saying some strange phrase.
“Omelet, Ani” corrected Dante.
Animus nodded her head and corrected herself, “You need to crush eggs to make floppy omelet.”
Dante didn’t care to correct her further, “Krisha, Darius, I’d like to introduce you to Ani or rather Animus. Fair warning, do not touch her hair, only Cleo and Melody are allowed to do that. I still have a scar from the first time I tried.”
Neither Krista nor Damien could even see her hair, as it was covered by the hood she wore. Honestly, Dante’s words only made them more curious to see what she looked like under that hood and her visage that she had yet to take off.
Animus caught their prying eyes and glared back at them, “Eyes in your own head!”
Her words fell on deft ears as a timely gust of wind blew down her sleeves revealing her arms. From her shoulder to her elbow was a reddish fleshy substance, but not in the way skin was. No, it was far too red and… stretchy, would be the best word for it. Past that and throughout her forearm were scales, a dark ocean blue that flowed seamlessly from the previous section of her arm. Last was the hand, and there was that fur. That sheen of silver-grey fur that Damien had seen on her neck earlier. Almost feline, it still resembled a human hand with its five fingers and thumb.
Animus’s body, at least her arms, were comprised of at least three different animal parts. This, in itself, was not all together strange, at least to anyone born in Stellar. Augmentation based affinities allowed for similar such phenomena, however, there was no wattiez that could be seen or sensed emanating from her body. Altering the body to resemble just one animal would be considered difficult and strenuous. What Animus had achieved, even the Grandmagi Cassandra would find this incredible.
“Multi-animal augmentation?!” yelled Matilda. “How did you do this? Why is there no aura around you? Can you alter your body to reference other animals?”
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A verbal blitz from Matilda targeted towards Animus as she found a new toy to play with. Excited with her new prospect, Matilda quickly ended whatever conversation she was holding with Amelia and Dmitri in order to bring herself close to Animus.
“Bothersome woman, grab your mouth before Animus has them for dinner,” she chided.
Unsure of what Animus had meant, Matilda looked to Dante, “Hold your tongue before she makes you eat your words… You get used to the way she speaks after a while.”
“Animus,” Damien spoke slowly, reliving the stories he had heard in the past of a beast roaming the battlefield. He guessed that those stories were more than just tall tales. “We’ve heard quite a bit about you. Care to tell us a little more about yourself?”
Animus pushed Matilda aside and made her way towards Damien and Krista, pointing a finger at the former, “If Sir Dante allowed it, Animus would put her foot through your digestive system backwards, so keep your words away from Animus.”
Dante was going to translate, but Damien stopped him, “I think I get the message, Animus.”
In response to his words, Animus leaned forward towards Damien, to which he merely raised an eyebrow. Not getting the response she wanted, Animus touched at her face and realized that she still had the visage on.
She took off the mask and in its place was the first piece of human skin that could be seen on her, and it only covered about 20% of the skin around her right eye. The rest was a split between the red, squishy flesh from her arm and the scales. The feline piece came out in the form of her left eye, the one not surrounded by human tissue.
Animus had her tongue stuck out towards Damien, forked, unsurprising to him at this point. As she pompously turned away, Damien found himself unable to get a read on the girl. Based on the few times Dante had described her, he expected a quiet, shy girl who would prefer to avoid a problem by hiding away from it, rather than face it head on.
This girl fit anything but that description, “Jikan, you nimrod! Animus’s statue still looks like it fell down a wall. Was your promise a load of nymph dung, or does Animus need make eggs with your brain?”
“I said we’d fix it, so we will!” Jikan responded, “Don’t blame me for Imai’s laziness. He was the one that was supposed to do it for you.”
Sometime after the dust storm had subsisted, the sounds of the two youngest Shining Twilight members arguing rang throughout the campsite as Animus dragged Jikan outside of his tent.
“Animus does not care who corrects the mistakes of the past, just know that if someone doesn’t do it soon, you will be burdened with an extremely long rest,” Animus retorted as she finally let go of the leg she dragged him by.
“I would’ve said that sounded nice if the ‘long rest’ wasn’t a reference to knocking me unconscious,” Jikan said without even sitting up, “Can’t say it isn’t good motivation, though. Imai will have it done by tomorrow.”
“Good, so long as you-” started Animus.
“If I don’t forget, at least,” finished Jikan.
Animus quickly lifted the poor boy of the ground and shook him violently, “To the bottom of the barrel with you!”
“Stop it Animus!” Jikan managed to shout.
“Are you sure that you want to keep doing that?” Krista asked as she made her way beside the two alongside Amelia. “Jikan’s looking a bit green there. I get the feeling that you won’t like what happens next if you keep doing this.”
Animus stopped her shaking but still kept a hold on Jikan, “You, you are the girl, no?”
Krista wasn’t too sure what she meant by that, but she held her arm outstretched anyway, “Krisha, I don’t think we’ve formally met yet.”
Unfortunately, Animus didn’t take it, “Dom says you are trustworthy, but you are friends with the basilisk.”
“Basilisk?” Krista questioned. A dangerous beast with a mental affinity known for luring it’s prey in close so it can strike them when they’re at their weakest… “Oh, you’re talking about Damien. Listen, he’s no worse than a fairy once you get to know him.”
“He is now Shix’s daddy,” stated Animus.
“That’s because of a silly bet between the two,” Krista argued, “He’ll probably let her off the hook after a while.”
“Master Raven and Ms. Cleo are both missing some of their jewelry, and Animus doubts it will be in your pockets or in one of the animals.”
“That’s… true, I’ll definitely talk to him about that if it’s true, but do you have any evidence?” said Krista not really sure which of the two she was trying to convince.
“He’s tried to expire Dante at least six times since we left Aurora!” Animus finally exclaimed as she pulled out a familiar throwing knife, “Return this to the basilisk, he left it in the latest attempt.”
Krista took the blade; it was definitely the one she gave to Damien, but she found herself not really wanting to admit it.
“Talking about me ladies?” Damien asked as he suddenly slung a shoulder around Krista, “Oh, hey! There’s the knife I was missing. Was doing some practice throws when one of my shots went awry. Sorry, I’m such a klutz sometimes.”
As he laughed it off, Krista started to feel a bit uncomfortable. Not from the slight elevation in heart rate due to their close proximity, but the apparent disregard Damien had been showing. She was used to Damien being calm and collected, excitable and crazy sometimes, sure, but not to the point where he’d do something that could bring harm to her. No, not only herself, but Amelia too, and that’s where Krista drew a line.
“Darius, could we get a moment alone, I need to talk to you?” asked Krista.
“Right now?” He asked inquisitively, “Actually, I wanted to get to know a little more about Animus here, and I promised Melody to play alongside her again. From the last few times, I think we’re making a pretty good duet.”
“Away from Animus you beast!” Animus said without a hint of irony, “Animus fears being too close to you for too long will cause Animus’s hair to fall out.”
Damien, instinctively, was going to make a rude remark concerning what type of hair was going to fallout when Krista pulled hard on his cloak, “Yes, we need to talk right now.”
He could see that Krista was serious, so Damien didn’t keep Krista waiting, “Sorry, Animus, we’ll talk later.”
She bared her claws at Damien but simply walked off.