Full Moon Rising

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Wistful Beast

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A female figure stood within the forest, listening closely to her surroundings. There was the light sound of her breaths, the thrumming of her heart, though the natural hum of the forest had died down to a whisper. The fauna had seemed to quiet with apprehension, the cries of birds growing distant and the chirp of bugs subdued. All around the woman was towering trees with thick, brown bark of varying shades and branches that clawed out at the sky and the undergrowth underneath. The sky was mostly concealed by the trees, leaving only afternoon sunlight that filtered through emerald colored leaves and thin, deep green needles.

Surrounding the young woman were other people, men and women alike. They all wore leather, tribal style clothing, and armor. All shared intricate sleeves of tattoos on their right arms and also shared the common trait of red facial paint and feathers woven into their thin braids. One could assume they were readied for battle, which was confirmed by the medieval weapons they wielded. Among them were mostly spears, axes, tomahawks, long knives, a few bows, and even a studded whip. The fact that a few of the group of twelve appeared to be large wolves clued in that all were werewolves, one of the three most common races of this world.

In the dimness of the wilderness, they waited with bated breath. A tall male next to a shorter, brown haired female perked up and whispered to her in a rough tongue, "Kai. You hear that?"

The female, Kai, perked up as well and looked around as others did the same. "What was that?"the male asked her quietly.

Standing with rigid muscles, Kai's eyes shifted back and forth. "Sounded a lot like the sound a blade makes when it meets the air..."she mumbled a response in the same odd language.

Others murmured their agreements, beginning to argue as to whether they should investigate or not. After all, this meeting was expected to be tense since all three main races were meeting to converse. The mixing of their races never ended well since vampires, werewolves, and elves had always had a bloodied history in this realm. The alpha of this particular pack had sent his warriors to back up the werewolf king. While there were many werewolf packs led by alphas and not monarchs, they had all managed to elect a representative for them under the title of king. Danali Swiftfoot was a more likable man, respecting the boundaries of the packs and their general desires. While Kai and the others would have much rather followed their own alphas, it was best they were out of the way.

Alert, all of the werewolves suddenly heard a new sound. A loud, mournful howl slashed through the silence. The message was clear. The wolf king was dead, done in by one of the other leaders or their guards. All of the werewolves were aware of what was to be done if the king had been assaulted and murdered. They all tilted their heads back and released their own rallying cries, making it even clearer that they were on their way. Rage twisted in Kai's gut, the mere thought of some arrogant vampire or cowardly elf running a knife through the mighty werewolf's ribs while he was mid speech making her blood boil. Her howl was bitter and harsh, melding in with the howls of her fellow warriors.

Now they were tearing across the forest towards the sound, some leading the chase as wolves on thundering paws. The forest flashed by Kai as she ran forth, yanking her tomahawks free of her belt. In a flash, she had assumed a partial shift, stripping herself of both clothing and armor to leave her as a bipedal wolf with her lips pulled back into a snarl. They all followed the sound of snarls and steel to a large clearing where grass gave way to dirt and trees gave way to sparse ferns. Here as expected, fighting had began. Pale skinned vampires grappled with the few wolf guard members that had flanked the king, tall, lean elves joining in. Guardsmen and warriors of various species clashed, blood splattering upon the ground and clotting in the dirt. The sight of the werewolf king, strewn on the ground with his great bear skin cloak covered in blood and run ragged with blades earned a feral roar from Kai's maw.

Common sense was gone and replaced with more feral wolf instincts. Rushing forth behind the other werewolves, she looked over to see a stream of elven and vampiric warriors enter the clearing and join the fight. The first vampire she neared received a tomahawk slash to the face, a mighty swing of Kai's blade catching the unsuspecting first victim. A sickening crack ensued when Kai pried the blade from the vampire's now mangled face. It hissed angrily and attempted to lash out with a spear, Kai easily dodging the feeble attack and slamming a fist down onto the back of the man's head to send him into the ground.

The next vampire presented herself, black hair in disarray and deadly fangs bared menacingly. Red eyes met golden ones and their snarls tried to dominate each other. This vampire wasn't as easy to kill, using her advanced speed to dart around and dodge Kai's wild slashes. One of the vampire's daggers slashed Kai's chest and left a shallow wound, a mere glancing blow that she couldn't feel due to her mounting adrenaline. The vampire danced around some more and when she lunged forth again to try to land another slash, Kai had been prepared and two tomahawk blades rushed down to meet the enemy's back. They cut through the black leather vest the woman had worn, slicing through flesh. The vampire fell with a thud, bleeding and writhing. Muttering a hasty prayer to one of the many warrior spirits, she swung down and caught the dying vampire by the neck. Blood splattered forth in a gruesome display. As much as Kai may have believed vampires were evil enough to bleed out, her religion prevented her from killing without mercy.

A Wood elf nearby punched an arrow through a vampire's unprotected throat and more followed, lodging feather deep. The elf turned its attention to Kai now, taking aim. Before Kai could dodge, an arrow caught her shoulder and pierced half way through, pain assaulting her system and eliciting another roar. Her roar mingled with that of her fellow warriors as they fought or fell to their deaths all around. Death was coming rapidly and snatching away lives of any race, turning the ground red in a bloodbath.

Angered by her wound, Kai moved her uninjured shoulder and poised to throw. A tomahawk sliced through the air and met the archer's chest with a thunk. Jogging forwards, Kai slashed or snapped at the throats of any enemy that dared to get in her path. She reached the corpse and used brute strength to free her blade from the man's breastbone, causing gore to splatter her boots. To her utter dismay, Kai watched as more vampires and elves fled in. The werewolves were already outnumbered, though a few were in the process of tossing vampires and elves aside in beast like fury. Still, the threat of loss was high.

Kai was never one to back down though, nor did she recognize the possibility of death. Having been spotted standing towards the outside of the clearing, seven vampires sprinted towards her with great speed. The first one that reached her aimed a flying kick to her chest. Due to her strength, she was merely displaced instead of hurled aside. Scrambling to maintain her balance, the bottom of one tomahawk collided with the vampire's chin with a loud crack. The other vampires soon flooded in, surrounding her and slashing at her with long knives.

In pain and fury, Kai released another beast like roar. It rumbled in her throat, snout scrunched up in a snarl to expose long teeth. Flailing her arms out to try to knock the vampires away, all but two dodged. The two that hadn't moved had been cut down with a sharp hissing sound, being forced to limp off with grievous wounds. Before Kai could ready her tomahawks again, a sudden burning pain reached her ribs. Casting her attention downwards, she saw a silver dagger embedded in her flesh. A low moan of pain rattled her body and the flesh around the wound sizzled angrily, the fur giving way to reddened flesh. Tomahawks dropped, Kai swung out and tried to punch the vampire in the face.

Instead, the young male vampire had pulled the knife out harshly and sidestepped away. However, Kai's blow had reached another vampire and knocked them off of their feet. The vampire hit the ground and Kai was about to shove a clawed paw into their face when another jolt of searing pain overtook her body. This time a long slash had been sliced across her chest, being deep. The pain took her breath away and led her to drop to her knees, another inaccurate blow taking out the wrong vampire. The she wolf's mistake was met by the silver dagger being buried into her already injured shoulder, the wound above an intricate crescent moon that was hidden within her sleeve of tattoos. The blood trickled over the moon, staining it red.

Whining like an injured dog, Kai felt fist blows from surrounding vampires. They felt dull on her skin, hardly anything when compared to the pain brought on by the silver. Clawing wildly, a few groans and hisses confirmed hits. She had managed to fend off most of the group, but the young one with the dagger was persistent. He sent a knee into Kai's chest wound, making her double over. When doubled over, the vampire slashed her back with the silver dagger, leading to more burning. Falling onto the ground on her stomach, Kai reached for her tomahawks. Deftly, the vampire kicked them away with a hissing sound alike to a laugh. Just as he raised the knife and readied to plunge it into her throat, a werewolf kicked him away. Those two began to brawl, leaving Kai on the outskirts of the clearing in a pool of her own blood. She tried to push herself to her feet and failed, whimpering and flopping back down with a thud. Her claws dug into the ground, muscles twitching feebly. Reverting to a smaller and less obvious human looking form, Kai squirmed into the bushes to recover.

Within the foliage, she rested her cheek on the ground and saw the fight unfold. More discomfort wracked her body, making her whimper again and bite a nearby stick. It snapped easily within her jaws, leaving her unsatisfied. More bodies littered the ground in bloodied heaps, the clash of fists, metal and fangs continuing. As the blood seeped into the ground a dying warrior stabbed his spear into the ground. A large crack formed in the ground, making a jagged scar in the earth. Blood seeped into the crack as the dying warrior fell beside it. For now, it seemed pretty insignificant.

For what seemed like forever in Kai's suffering state, the battle raged on until at last, the survivors either fled or lingered to briefly check their dead. Kai was left laying on the ground, bleeding heavily. Vision fading, her mouth began to go dry and hang out as she panted. half laying in the bushes and half out, her body was sprawled out a few feet away from her discarded tomahawks. Biting her tongue to avoid whimpering, Kai hoped that no one would come around to do her in. If she was lucky, she could wait it out and maybe drag herself off, though it seemed bleak. Kai had not yet considered death, instead praying softly to her spirits.
 
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Everything was wrong.

Aldon knew the meeting of the three races would end in disaster. He knew it even as he packed his bags and left the home he'd built for himself, far from this chaotic world of fighting and racism that was boundless in it's horror. He'd left his manse at the edge of the Elvish border with a heavy heart and a mind constantly on alert. Being the strongest warrior nearby had proven to be a terrible disadvantage. To be offered peace for a hundred years in exchange for an escort seemed like a simple bargain, one a younger and stupider version of himself would have accepted with a grateful heart. But this was not those times, and Aldon was not that creature anymore. He was wiser, smarter. And he was no longer alone.

"You can't go." The vision of the Elvish girl had stood at the edge of his dreams, worry etched in her fine young face. "You could die. I fear it would break my heart to see anything happen to you. This connection is special, a gift. I do not wish to see it severed."

Aldon had been touched by her sentiment, but shrugged it off as he always had, trying to act as though her kindness had no effect on him. "You shouldn't worry about me. Don't pretend to be so concerned."

The look of defeat on her face was one he would never forget.

Still, as he stood before the carnage of what remained of the treaty for peace, he knew he should have told it true. I will miss our connection too, he thought, watching the great crack in the earth grow larger, the orange glow of hellfire illuminating the greenery and bloodshed around him. I should have stayed in my manse and ignored this, like you said. I don't want to die here.

But there was no time left to ponder. Forcing aside the sorrow at the sea of death, he trudged through the bodies and scanned empty faces for ones he knew to be familiar. His friends, his foes. Anyone who would be of use to him.

A savage strike of pain hurtled through his body. Aldon cried out and clutched his side, at a wound that wasn't there. He sensed that horrid stench of wolf nearby and felt a strong presence, a sense of need unlike any he'd felt before. It's power was overwhelming. The core of his being pulled him to the source unwillingly. He followed that odd sense of intuition as if the Elf in all her beauty had led him there, and he rummaged through the bushes and foliage until he found the corpse of a wolf-girl, hideous and repulsive as he knew her kind to be.

No, he thought suddenly. Not a corpse. The beast still drew breath, blood pooling around her in a sickening way that he knew meant death was near. He dared not touch her. "What do I do?" Aldon muttered, kneeling beside the wolf and looking out to the trees as if his Elf could hear him. "Dammit girl, tell me what to do!"

Help her.

"Why?! She's a--"

I don't know why. She's important...don't you feel it too?

Aldon cursed himself. The day he listened to an elf to help a werewolf was the day he should have damned himself to oblivion, but he obeyed, for reasons he could not decipher. He put pressure on the she-wolf's wound and told her to quit her whining, hopeful that he could move her before the situation around him could possibly grow any worse. Aldon sensed that the Elf from his dreams was nearby, and he continued to aid the pathetic beast until she arrived.

"Shut your mouth," he told the werewolf. "Can't stand your whimpering."
 
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Laying face down on the ground, Kai's breaths came in short bursts. Head foggy with blood loss, another wave of burning pain wracked her body. Again she pulled her lips back into a wince, eyes screwed shut and nose wrinkled. "Ugh..."a nearly silent moan of protest escaped her parched mouth. Finger tips clawing the dirt again, blood became caked underneath her fingernails, the smell telling her it was her own. So much blood had been lost already, especially from the ragged wound that dashed across her chest. As much as she had tried to roll onto her back, Kai was stuck laying on her wound, blood oozing over her leather vest and making her skin sticky and warm.

Even if Kai had managed to roll over, another slash ran across her back, though currently concealed by her vest since she had received it in another form. The blood form that wound made her vest stick to her even more so, though the discomfort was shadowed by the pain of her defeat. Hissing lightly, she chastised herself for having failed to defeat more enemies. Imagining the spirits looking down on her didn't allow the needed strength, as she felt they would not honor her failure. In a sane mindset, she'd have known they appreciated valor and wounds, but on the ground in a position of groveling didn't aide her morale.

For a moment, she came to the realization that she may die here. The thought conflicted her emotions. Oh how she'd love to just take one last breath and rise up to meet her ancestors, to dine and hunt with their greatness. The sweet relief of pain would have made her mad with joy. However, fear also took a hold of her mind. Death wasn't a possibility for she was a warrior, and with each passing moment she yearned instead to run back to her pack. To tell her tribe of the news, to greet friends and family alike, and to defend the remaining fighters. Alas, she could not move in this weakened state.

Soon Kai heard a figure approach her, casting her head up weakly. What she saw was her murderer, another vampire coming to finish the job. Of course she would not let that vile creature reach down and sent a knife into the soft flesh of her throat. The thought of this stranger possibly feeling excited to take out a fallen enemy further angered Kai, as she assumed he was definitely here to harm her. "G..go away..."she growled lowly, the golden flecks in her eyes glinting with menace even in this vulnerable position.

Werewolves never groveled to an enemy, never gave in, even when hope was bleak. The man crouched down, too close for Kai's comfort. She snapped the air in warning, teeth clicking together with less strength than she had anticipated. The weakness in her body frightened her. Kai had been wounded before, but never this badly. No matter how much Kai willed her muscles to move, they only managed to twitch a few times. Damn it.

The man's hand found her back above one of her wounds, palm on her vest. Another wave of pain threatened to make Kai whimper, but instead she caught her lip in her teeth and bit down. She soon wounded herself, blood beading on the small hole her fang had caused. "Away, I said!" she growled in a throaty manner, one that would have been potentially threatening if she wasn't bleeding out on the ground.

The vampire had the gall to tell her to shut up, eliciting a rumbling sound in her chest that was soon cut off with a low pained sound. He even scolded her for her whimpered, which was a slap to what pride Kai still possessed. Keeping that in mind, she decided not to give this disgusting creature the satisfaction of hearing her in pain. Even though most creatures couldn't handle an arrow deep in the shoulder followed by multiple deep slash wounds that had burned her skin. Werewolves had great durability, but even this was much. Although admittedly Kai had forgotten about the arrow lodged into one shoulder, the pain from the silver having given in the effectiveness of a paper cut.

Still the male vampire remained, not yet fulfilling his task of doing her in. Enraged by this man's lack of mercy when dealing with killing a dying enemy, Kai mustered her remaining strength and managed to snap,"If you are planning on killing me, just do it already. I'm not a plaything for your kind." Kai then spat out some blood onto the ground, looking up at the vampire with narrowed eyes.
 
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Stubborn as always. Aldon scoffed and damned himself inwardly for ever taking a second glance at this heinous creature, this bleeding thing that reeked of savagery and pure beast. But he had made a decision, and Aldon was never one to back down when his mind was made. He could feel her wounds, could sense where they were though the leather of her strange armor and the blood pumping from her torn skin. She wasn't going to last long like this. He had to move her, and soon.

Aldon hissed at the stench of wolf-blood on his hands, but there was nothing to be done about it, not yet. "You think I would want a plaything that stinks of piss and dog?" he snapped. "I'm trying to help, damn you. But I could easily grant your wish for death, if you continue to fight me." The vampire scratched his beard and assessed the situation, trying to figure out how best to carry this infernal thing to a safe place without letting her bleed to death. How could ever explain this? She would surely scoff and refuse to believe the truth if he chose to speak it; there's an elf-girl in my head who tells me what to do. And how could he convince this creature that the connection he felt to her was real and oddly empowering?

There was no time to ponder. The ground began to shake violently, quaking with the force of hell's rage and joy to be opened before the world. The great crack in the surface of the earth began to fester and boil like a plague, and Aldon knew there was little time. "Don't fight," he ordered the werewolf, and he picked her small form up in his arms and hoisted her over his shoulder. Aldon broke into a sprint faster than any his kind was capable of, letting the forest disappear behind him and a desperate search for safety overwhelm his being.

Where? he asked the void. Where are you?

Go to the river.

He obeyed.


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She could feel the evil growing in the distance. Estelle tried to control the trembling in her hands, sitting by the window of the small abandoned cottage she'd used as a safe haven. She held her arms and looked through the transparent glass, sensing that Aldon was close with the strange third in tow. She didn't know what to expect. Estelle wondered if she was crazy, for allowing these two strangers from another race under her protection. But there was a mystery there that had to be solved, and Estelle was never one to let a puzzle go without conquering what it had to say.

When the presence became close, Estelle rose from her seat and rushed out the front door. "Move," she heard a deep voice bark, and she leapt aside before she could think twice. The massive vampire, strong in his nature and frustrated beyond compare, burst into the house and dumped the dying werewolf on a nearby featherbed. "You said you could save the creature?"

"I--yes." Aldon? Estelle eyed him warily as she moved to her supplies, fumbling for what she needed. "You are weary. P-please, sit down. This place is safe. I've made sure no evil can harm us here."

"Pfft," he replied. Aldon slumped down in a chair and held his face in his hands, groaning. "Just get it done."
 
The vampire's response fell upon Kai's ears, her mood only darkening by the racist comment. It seemed he did want to help her for some reason, but he did call her a dog and claimed she smelled of piss. "Wolf, not dog..."she grumbled a correction, rolling her eyes and spitting out another disgusting wad of blood form her mouth.

What took her aback more than the rude comments was the fact that this vampire wished to help her for some reason. Why would an undead savage want to save her life when his brethren had tried to take it away? Vampires had cut her down and beat her almost senseless, yet this one chose more peaceful means of dealing with the werewolf. Kai was baffled, but not relieved. If a vampire wished to save her life, something was clearly wrong about this situation. What was also odd was that deep down, some odd part of Kai made her believe he should be trusted. The thought was soon ignored and deemed to have been brought on by blood loss.

Violently, the ground began to tremble, leaving kai to wonder what else would try to kill her. Lifting her head ever so slightly, she saw that flames illuminated the crack in the ground. Where did those come from? Expanding, the crack in the ground gleamed an angry red as if it were a wound. The earth had been scarred and evil would soon emerge, though as of now Kai was not familiar with what was to ensue from the slaughter that had been waged on this day.

Before Kai could react to the vampire's command, her whole body was engulfed in more pain and she couldn't help but release a low groan. Feeling that she was now in the disgusting vampire's arms, the source of her sudden pain had been located. Even though she had the burning desire to latch onto this man's throat now that it was so close, the sudden movement left her weakened than before and it seemed every muscle in her body was aching. The arrow in her shoulder had jerked when she was thrown, tearing the wound open a bit more. Kai released an obscenity uttered in the rough werewolf tongue and held onto the vampire as best as she could while he began to run forth.

The speed was breathtaking, faster than even her wolf form allowed her. It was almost surreal being carried like this by a creature of the same species that had rendered her in such a ravaged condition. Where is this lunatic taking me? Why? What does he have planned for me? Kai's mind raced wildly with thoughts, though they were beginning to slow as weakness further set in and enveloped her broken body.

Vaguely, Kai felt herself enter an enclosure of sorts and smelled another being. Without second thought, the vampire had proceeded to dump her onto a soft surface. Kai landed on her back, the pain that ensued more numb than she had remembered it to be. Kai's strength was waning as well as her consciousness. Now she could hardly lift her head, some primal fear washing over her. Where am I? Who are these people? Am I going to die? Why won't they kill me? She wondered, smelling that the newer figure was not vampiric, nor wolf, meaning they were elven. What would these enemies want with a dying werewolf? Opening her mouth ever so slightly as her head lolled back onto the strangely soft surface, she mumbled, "Why...?" That seemed to be the most pressing question she had in her mind right now, utterly confused. These were not her packmates, they had no business with her except for combat.

Also, for some reason Kai couldn't quite pinpoint, these people were important to her. They made her wish to stay with them, to trust they'd help. These thoughts merely served to further frighten and confuse her as she lay bleeding on the bed.
 
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