What lies beyond these castle walls...

Rani quickly moved out of the way of the charging woman and a snarl slipped past her lips. She opened her mouth and let out a maddening howl filled with sadness rage and every emotion in between. She charged at the pair with her jaws snapping hoping the howl had at least distracted them if anything. On lesser creatures it demented them and drove them to suicide on occasion. Which made them easy meals.
 
Rusti dropped the girl and immediately ran up to a tree staying behind it watching the battle go down, completely unaware of the girl he was planning to kill earlier. "This is so fascinating!" he smiled at the site.
 
Harold sat in a corner in one of the rooms of the castle. "Everyone's kept in the castle for their own safety" he was told. He sighed and rested his face on the palm of his right hand as he drew circles in the dust on the floor with his left index finger. The boy always wondered what it was like to be a monster. Obviously, him being a human teenage peasant, he had no such experience. As he sat, bored and tired, his ears perked up at what he heard from a group of people surrounding a table nearby. They spoke of the types of monsters that lurked outside of the castle at night in the shadows: werewolves, vampires, ghosts, ghouls, demons, banshees, and any and all "sinful creatures" from folklore and campfire horror stories. When the people spoke of these creatures as "abominable and should not be allowed to exist", Harold cringed.

He'd learned the hard way of what it was like to be discriminated against. Since the boy was always interested in mythical and supernatural things since he was a young lad, he used to be made fun of by his peers all the time. Rather than playing with the village's children, he'd sit alone by the riverside and imagine that he was a ghost or a phoenix or a wizard. If humans could hurt other humans so easily, Harold could only imagine how much easier it would be for them to hate and hurt monsters. He felt his heart tighten as he sympathized with the good monsters, who seemed to be treated the same as the bad monsters. Not all humans were the same, and Harry was sure that not all monsters were the same as well.

Harry stood up and dusted himself off, heading for the exit of the room and soon enough, the exit of the castle. The corners of his mouth pulled into a smile as he whispered to himself, "I'm going to find me a good monster! Maybe then, monsters and people could get along together! Perhaps it's just hopeful thinking, but I'm sure I'll find one somewhere. If there's a person like me who cares for monsters, then there's most definitely a monster out there who cares for humans." Taking no provisions and mentioning to no one of his plans, the teenager managed to slip out of the castle while the guards were occupied. He was always fairly stealthy and good at hiding from the people in his village whenever they began to tease and bully him about his interests, so escaping from the sight of a few guards wasn't so hard. Not taking a single look back at the castle, he walked into the darkness of the forest; the black forest looked as if it were eating Harold as the lightless place enveloped him.
 
No food. Suddenly no food. Where.... Koh stumbled and fell. She had been planning on eating and now there was nothing left to eat. It was almost like going up a staircase and suddenly tripping over your own legs because the last step was missing. The scent of rot and resin, freshly damp leaves, filled her nose instead of the flesh of the human. She groaned again, much more human sounding this time, though, and curled up amid the dirt. Her stomach felt as if it were eating itself. Heh. Maybe it was. Absently, she acknowledged a howl from the beast. It prompted nothing more than an annoyed sigh.
"Shut up, shut UP, SHUT UP!!!"
Koh didn't feel like killing it. Beasts don't taste good, anyways. Besides, if the beast ate Koh's flesh she wasn't sure exactly what would become of the creature. Maybe her madness would spread, like a disease, infecting people, making them eat each other. Koh wasn't sure how she had become what she was, her memories started when she was fully grown, crouched above the dessicated corpse of a little girl. The girl could've been anyone, but Koh always imagined it to be her little sister. Just to torture herself a little bit. Maybe the beast would eat her whole and she would die somewhere in its digestive tract. Seemed like a good prospect.
Faintly, the scent of human again permeated her senses. It was a male, a teenager, probably. Silly boy. Doesn't he know there are monsters in the woods?
 
His soft footsteps where nearly silent as the man trudged through the forest. Standing at 5'9 with jet black hair, the carcass of an animal thrown carelessly over his shoulder. Tenkei walked and walked, keeping an ever careful gaze on his nearby surrounds. The animal thrown over his shoulder was just one who found him walking, and thought it was a good idea to attack. Little did this creature know, Tenkei was the ex Commander to the Special Forces group, where their last training exercise was to survive in the wilderness for a week with nothing but a knife. He chuckled to himself softly, remembering how bad mouthing his commanding officers at that time warranted himself a week with nothing but a butter knife. Strapped to his right thigh was a .357 revolver, to his left was a rather large hunting knife.

"What is that?" He thought to himself as he walked forward, far in the distance was a light, or better yet a series of lights melted into one due to the distance. He released a breath of relief, thinking that it was somewhere he could hold up from this dreadful walk. As he walked, he was so tunnel visioned on the light, he failed to notice the predator following him. The man stopped and turned his head sideways, and that's when it sprung for an attack! He jumped to the side, dropping the game he already scored. Walking up to him was some sort of cat, standing on four feet and it's fur was as dark as the forest itself. It's eyes were bright yellow as it stared at it's soon to be dinner. Walking to surround Tenkei, common to most animals on the hunt. Tenkei circled in the same direction, his bright red eyes never leaving those yellow of the creature. Withdrawing his hunting knife, which was nine inches long with a serrated edge. The creature launched itself at Tenkei, it's long bloodsoaked teeth bare, and claws ready to dig into the man's flesh. Side stepped quickly and plunged his knife into the creatures hind leg. With a horrible yelp of pain, the creature landed and fell. Now limping, it darted towards the man again. This time Tenkei jumped, kicked off a tree and landed on it's back. Riding it for a moment before he sunk his blade into the back of the cat's neck, ending it's fight for survival.

Deciding that the creature he just killed was too big, he left it there. It's dying body for the next creature as a free snack, grabbing his previous game and heading towards the light. About half an hour later, he was at the Castle's door, animal in one hand, hunting blade in the other. "I wonder if I should knock or.." He thought to himself once more, looking the gate up and down.
 
Rani leapt upon the demoness' back and snapped at the back of her neck hoping to sever her spine before the woman could dole out too much damage to her. Her wide white eyes glowed a little brighter as the scent of blood under her sharp claws reached her sensitive nose. The claws had barely punctured but it was enough. She snapped again and snarled loudly. She became vaguely aware of another person nearby but she was more focused on the woman now. Though she wasn't sure why.
 
As the claws broke skin, Koh felt nothing. Nothing at all. It was like a big, gaping, empty mouth had opened up and sucked every last scrap of feeling from her body. She could feel the undead flesh knitting itself back together already. She kept her eyes open, she wouldn't look inside herself, no, and waited. And waited. Still waiting, one green eye rolled upwards to meet that of the animal, until she sensed that her spinal cord had been severed. The body, not hers at the moment, twitched spasmodically, while the one green eye looked from the dirt and wet leaves still up at the beast.

"Like I've never tried that before."

Her tone could only be described as melancholy. How ironic is it that while humans go to such great lengths to preserve themselves, building their walls, hiding behind their fortresses, a monster such as herself could not even commit self slaughter, and be done with the senseless ordeal. The seizure had stopped, and the spine fused itself together with a final pop, as if to mock the idea of death all together.

"Now if you'll excuse me..."

Rolling into a sitting position, Koh buried her hands into the beast's black fur and pushed, moving the animal off to the side. If there was a struggle, Koh didn't care enough to notice.
 
Rani hopped off to the side as the demoness healed herself and pushed her off. She pinned her ears and bared her teeth but stepped back, unsure of what to do in a situation like this. Her tail twitched nervously as she circled around the demoness and the black mist around them lightened slightly as she thought. A few animals went skittering away into the trees as the movements inside the dome startled them. Finally Rani sighed and sat, looking from the demoness to the man behind the tree. "Well..." She said with a soft sigh and cocked her head. "Then I am at a loss." She said still sounding slightly confused.
 
Koh's lips curled back, exposing the shark like teeth, crusted blood still visible on some of them. It was actually a smile, though it might've looked otherwise. She felt like patting the animal on the head, but she didn't feel like waiting around for her hand to grow back afterward. Rubbing the back of her neck instead, her hand came away with the blood leftover from the now closed wound. Koh knew nothing of medical science besides that blood was supposed to be red. Her's wasn't, It was black. She frowned and wiped her fingers in the grass. It would've been a perfect time to kill the wolf, it was just sitting there looking confused, but all the woman did was stand and brush the leftover dirt from her ass. There was no point in killing it if she couldn't eat it. The man behind the tree was less than appetizing, and the teenage boy had yet to show himself. The day had been a useless effort.

"Sorry to disappoint you."
 
Sage bid farewell to her healing pet and hopped out the window to the small ledge below. She glanced at a grotesque gargoyle that crouched next to where she landed and suppressed a shutter, knowing there would be more frightful creatures in the forest. She continued to climb down the wall, using vines and overgrown plants. Once she reached the bottom, she pulled her red hood over her face and started walking into the dark shadows that the menacing trees cast, her mind set.
It's only been a few months. She swallowed, thinking of the rumors that were spread in the castle. I should still be able to find them. Maybe they found the next city. Maybe they're still safe. She hoped silently. She let her hand graze each tree as she passed, her eyes squinting in darkness. However, it didn't take long for her eyes to adjust. She breathed in the cool autumn air, taking in the new smells that she wasn't accustomed to. The colorful leaves fell and danced around her, bring a peaceful smile to her lips. She had never imagined that it would be beautiful on the outside.
 
"Why waste energy on something that won't die..." She said and her tail wagged once at the slight joke. She stood and stretched slightly her long back popping all the way down. "I guess we are at a standstill here." She said then turned her head towards the man behind the tree. "And with a gaurd out here who could call attention to our little party at any moment she said as the dome suddenly dispersed letting in the moonlight. She ran her tongue over her nose and sniffed the air once.
 
Koh folded her arms and refused to look at the man. If he wanted to hide behind a tree, he could go back behind the walls with all the other sheep. The shadows dispersed suddenly. "Hm." She thought it was just a part of the scenery. Hearing the wolf's words, she sighed inwardly. She wasn't creative with problem solving. "I vote that we eat him." It was a halfhearted comment, though. Who ever heard of a depressed zombie anyways?
 
"We could..." Rani said as she made the shadows move their way up his legs. "Never tried a human before." She said standing and walking towards him as she looked up into his eyes. "Will you run from us?" She asked, a playful tone coming over her as her tail wagged slightly.
 
Harold's ears caught sound of other living beings, not far from where he was at. He'd only gotten a couple of feet into the forest when he heard what seemed like a fight between... Well, inhuman creatures. The teenager was at a loss of what to do: if he got close, he'd surely be eaten by either one of the monsters, but if he didn't, then another monster would be left to die too close to the castle and the castle's guards. What COULD he do? It's not as if he had any prior fighting experience or medical experience to stop the fight between the monsters and help to fix their wounds. The boy massaged his face and sighed after staring in the direction of the sounds for a minute. After some thought, he finally made a decision, "I've got nothing to lose. If they want to eat me... They can ea...!" Harry stopped mid-sentence, squeezed his eyes shut, and suddenly ran towards the area where he heard the monsters from, without any negative thoughts to distract him. His heart pounded so hard, he could've sworn it was as if he was running towards the predators with a siren blaring on top of head and a white flag saying "eat me".

When Harold came into the vicinity of the monsters, he noticed that the two were staring at a guard who was only a few yards in front of him, hiding behind a tree. He already knew what they were thinking: perhaps they got tired of fighting each other and decided to team up to take out a skilled guard with weapons. The boy decided to walk towards the three persons and tried to think of a negotiation plan as he did so. He managed to walk past the guard and into the visions of the monsters, but then he tripped and landed on the left side of his face. Dirt scratched his face as a puff of dust snuck into his eyes and nostrils; his eyes squeezed shut as they watered and he sneezed up a storm. After a few minutes of making a raucous, he calmed down and decided to stay flat on the floor like prey; his face flushed from embarrassment of his own pathetic-ness. If I die, so be it. I could not have caused myself more embarrassment than this...
 
A loud noise drew her attention again, Facta was easy to be distracted and all these new sounds and words were slightly overwhelming. It sounded as if a heave object first came running towards them and then it fell. Her eyes snapped open, just as fast as she had formed her body it disappeared again, turning white with the golden orange before those threads vanished into a spark, becoming the orb like distortion for long enough to shoot towards the male. Another spark and the glowing golden threads were back, rapidly forming her head and torso along with a right arm. She bent forward and over the male, her glowing irises holding some kind of interest for this creature. the pale white darkened again her gold becoming blue and slender legs made out of pure black skin formed underneath her. Her body was black again, her hair long and her eyes a glowing blue, threads still seemed to come out and withdraw back into her body when she blinked and gazed down upon the male. "Human...? " Her voice was soft, the echo of a thousand spirits. Faintly she had been aware of the struggle of the two monsters and the human. The sneeze startled her slightly, making her hop back slightly and frown. Besides the curiosity in her eyes held her face no expression, cold as stone despite the odd color. Very carefully she outstretched her hand, slender black fingers with the same dark nails poked the cheek of the male, he didn't smell good nor bad, somewhat neutral even. ​"You... human...? "
 
Harold felt something touch his cheek. It seemed like a finger, but it didn't feel like a touch from a human at all, which he confirmed when he opened his eyes to see another inhuman creature. He stared at the monster beside him, and after a moment, sat upright, only to continue staring at her. He knew what malevolent eyes looked like; her eyes looked nothing of the sort, better yet, she looked simply interested in him and not in the "you look tasty" way. This was his first real encounter with a monster, and although he wasn't too scared, he was unsure of how to interact with her. It would be fine if he greeted her normally, yes? Harold stood up, dusted himself off, and smiled at her, "Hello, my name's Harold. And yes, I'm human."


Observing the guard at the tree, he realized something: the guard wasn't scared of the monsters, not at all! He wasn't hiding behind the tree because of fear, he was just observing his prey, the same as the two monsters who were watching the guard. The teen omitted the creature next to him from the list of potential dangers and instead kept looking back and forth between the monsters in front of him and the guard behind him. Unable to decide which side was more dangerous, his view kept switching between the two until his eyes could take it no longer and he fell on his butt from dizziness, eyes practically swirling.
 
Rani Jerked her head to the side as crashing sounds came through the woods and a boy came stumbling into view. She pinned her ears as he fell to the earth and Facta went to investigate him. She watched silently a moment before coming forward and scenting the air nearh him. He looked between her and the gaurd until he fell on the earth and she stood over him with her ears pricked. "What is someone as young as you doing outside of the castle?" She said as a growl creeped into her voice.
 
"Um... Hi," Harold fought his natural instinct to run away at this point and trembled slightly from hearing the growl as he looked into the eyes of the beast above him. The beast must've been fairly intelligent to learn human speak and at a closer look, it was kind of cute in a way. Then again, the teen's version of "cute" was distorted from the norm since he was into mythical and supernatural things. Harold couldn't believe he could be so terrified of something but at the same time, felt as if he should hug it and rub its belly. He chuckled a bit and responded, "Looking for new friends," he gave into the urge to pet the monster's head and scratched her ears, "specifically ones not human."
 
"More like looking to get eaten." Rani said and shook her head her curled eartips wiggling slightly. She shook her coat and sat. She was still taller than him even in this position. She looked to the rest of the people. "Seems like we have somewhat of a party going on here now." She said as her white eyes moved over each one then back to the boy. Her tongue ran over her nose once as she sniffed the air towards him once more. He smelled like the rest of the sheep in the castle, fearful and probably having some sort of adrenaline rush from all this.
 
"Well, being eaten's my second concern. My first one is getting you and the other creatures away from the castle right now. You do realize we're too close to the castle right? You 3 could be shot at or killed because the guard at the tree could decide to call for backup or cause a scene by trying to kill you all himself," the boy blinked several times before he crinkled his nose and waved his hand in the air as if to blow a foul stench away, "your breath stinks, have you been eating the forest's skunks?"
 
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