80th of Frost, 4621
Through the desert on his new, empowered legs, Arkash made his way. The tattered shreds of his deep green tunic blew in the direction of the wind, carried by the billowing razor-like dust that was the sand it carried. The rifle strapped to his back hung low, weighty enough to withstand the force of the gale. The ground beneath his feet shifted unnaturally, like liquid that ran over his wrapped feet and tried to swallow them with its endless dry thirst.
Somewhere behind him, the girl followed against the wind. Occasionally, he looked back to see her, and caught a glimpse of his reflection in her goggles through the haze. Even through the sandstorm, Arkash saw completely fine. His endurance was so massive that he hadn’t tired even a little. His body was weightless to his strength, and the speed at which he moved was unreal like the world couldn’t keep up with the fluidity of his movements.
That was to say that the girl couldn’t keep up with him either, as she fought the shifting sands to climb toward him. Arkash held firm while the dune rushed downward like a pouring cascade. There he stood while he waited, and focused the glare of his eyes on the woman as she drew close. “Come on!” he said with a tone that was almost casual if not for the elevated volume. “It’s nearby, right?!”
“Just a bit further!” She called over the raging winds.
With a roll of his eyes, he seized the girl by the arm and took her weight with his form. He could all but feel the trembling weakness in her legs, the way she stumbled and breathed against the cloth covering of her mouth. Though Arkash was made to squint in the rush, he saw her entirely without so much as looking in her direction. It was odd, but he could almost perfectly imagine how she appeared in those moments and later confirmed his mind's eye to be true when he turned to look at her. It was the sound, the smell, the feel. All his senses together painted an accurate picture of the world around him, even with his eyes almost closed.
The cave she’d suggested came into view, and the closer they got to the stone formation, the more the wind eased up. It was a gash in the side of some crag, some long scar-like indent in the stone that Arkash and Izzy easily slipped in, and paused as the relentless storm was removed from their skin and scales.
There was sand in his mouth, in his nose, in his eyes, just about everywhere between the cracks of his scales and within the crevices and contours of his hide. He let the woman go and began to clean the granules from his carapace with a few coordinated brushes of his claws. His muzzle didn’t have the physical ability to spit, but the likes of his eyes and nose were easy enough to clear.
It was there that the click of a gun’s hammer caught his attention. He could almost hear it in her hand, her weapon. A glance over his shoulder was all it took to affirm his suspicion, as he found her pistol aimed at him from the entry of the cave.
Arkash had not yet tested the limits of his regeneration, the first thought to cross his mind was whether or not he would survive the gunshot, and the second was why she hadn't shot him yet. The shine of his crimson eyes lifted from the weapon, and settled their piercing stare on her eye from the dark of the cave's depths. "...Well?" he asked after a moment's pause.
"I'm not goin'," she said flatly, with no hesitation in her stance between her quickened breaths. "I'm not goin' to Greater Daravin," she elaborated. The moment Arkash turned to face her, she held the gun with a firmer grasp and curled her nose beneath her face mask. "Dun' test me, bitch!" She called with an aggressive wave of her firearm.
The rath, with his quilled hands low, stared on at the woman with his fiery eyes. His heart was steady, if not for a little elevated in its rhythm. Slowly, he lifted his hands to hold them up, clear in the woman's one-eyed line of sight. She furrowed her brow and lifted the gun to aim at his head, but didn't move on the trigger. She didn't want to kill him, he reasoned in his head. If she did, she would have already shot him, just as Raphael had attacked him without warning. Still, she was serious and wanted him to know that. Why? He'd have to humor her.
"Why'd you pay me to take you there, then?" He asked, tone flat in contrast to the previous jovial way in which he spoke with her.
"I haven't paid ya yet,' she prefaced her answer. "An' I told you; I want protection, not t' rot as a serf under the rule of the Entente."
Arkash looked a touch to the left and nodded. "...And how's shooting me gonna protect you?" He moved a foot back quietly when she realized her bluff was called. What she wanted and what she was doing were in direct contradiction with each other.
That second of hesitation was all he needed. A bend of his knee preceded a full extension that saw him spring toward her with supernatural speed. In a blink he was upon her, and in a burst of panic, she squeezed the trigger at the same time that Arkash gripped the firearm. A boom sounded as the flintlock weapon fired low, and a flash of pain and adrenaline overcame him as he threw her against the wall of the cave with just enough force to daze her. His hand was on her neck, burning cold claws wrapped around her jugular while his other hand held her firearm to the wall.
Her free hand gripped his arm in a way that flattened the black quills against his pale scales, and her knee came up to drive straight into his groin while his stance was wide to hold her in place. Arkash didn't so much as flinch; he had no such external weakness in his true form.
While his thumb gently restricted her airway, his burning eyes stared her down with all his constrained hate bared to her in the razor-like glare he asserted. Terror filled her one eye while she choked, and raspy breathing escaped her lungs. "What... The fuck-?!" She mouthed, voice strained under the pressure on her windpipe. His grip on her arm tightened with unnatural strength, and her teeth bared beneath her shut eye while she tried to resist, but succumbed when she dropped the empty weapon. The moment he heard it hit the sandy floor, he let her arm go and loosened his hold on her neck. She gasped deeply and wrapped his arm with both hands as her teary eye opened again. "S-stop!" She coughed. "Please... Please don't kill me!"
He could feel her pulling on his arm, trying to remove it from her jugular to no avail. His arm alone was stronger than her whole body. "You shot me," Arkash spoke calmly. "I've killed people for much less than that," he said as he leaned in with his burning teeth on display, frigid black flames spewing from the gaps in his lips.
Her eye fell low at his words, where she saw his tunic pooling deep red at the thigh. "F-fuck..." She said as she met his gaze again. "I'm... I'm sorry! It was an accident!" A quiet metallic clatter sounded between them, as though a penny had dropped. Arkash looked down in tandem with her and saw the bullet that had struck him, warped and bloody, ejected from his wound. Her eyes were wide then they returned to his blood-red gaze. "You... You're one of them...!" She said, eyes alight with recognition. "A dranoch...!"
Arkash furrowed his brow, unimpressed. "What gave it away?" He asked, tone rich with sarcasm.
Her face reddened a little at his response. "I... I thought you were just a weir-" She paused, lips pursed hard. "I mean -exotic- Rathor!" She spoke in reference to his quills and the sharpness of his burning claws and teeth.
"You thought wrong," he said with a shrug.
"Dude... Please," She said, some stability to the rhythm of her strained heart. "Please just let me go, I'm not suicidal."
Arkash rose a brow. He supposed there was no harm in it; she'd already fired her gun and it wouldn't cause him any long-lasting damage either way. He shrugged again as he let her neck go, and spied the silver gash that ran a streak down her exposed skin, where his claw had touched. A flick of his tongue was all it took to confirm that it was her blood; her silver blood. "Sil'Norai?" he asked as he took a step back.
"Half..." She said as she reached for her neck and felt the shallow weeping wound there.
Through the desert on his new, empowered legs, Arkash made his way. The tattered shreds of his deep green tunic blew in the direction of the wind, carried by the billowing razor-like dust that was the sand it carried. The rifle strapped to his back hung low, weighty enough to withstand the force of the gale. The ground beneath his feet shifted unnaturally, like liquid that ran over his wrapped feet and tried to swallow them with its endless dry thirst.
Somewhere behind him, the girl followed against the wind. Occasionally, he looked back to see her, and caught a glimpse of his reflection in her goggles through the haze. Even through the sandstorm, Arkash saw completely fine. His endurance was so massive that he hadn’t tired even a little. His body was weightless to his strength, and the speed at which he moved was unreal like the world couldn’t keep up with the fluidity of his movements.
That was to say that the girl couldn’t keep up with him either, as she fought the shifting sands to climb toward him. Arkash held firm while the dune rushed downward like a pouring cascade. There he stood while he waited, and focused the glare of his eyes on the woman as she drew close. “Come on!” he said with a tone that was almost casual if not for the elevated volume. “It’s nearby, right?!”
“Just a bit further!” She called over the raging winds.
With a roll of his eyes, he seized the girl by the arm and took her weight with his form. He could all but feel the trembling weakness in her legs, the way she stumbled and breathed against the cloth covering of her mouth. Though Arkash was made to squint in the rush, he saw her entirely without so much as looking in her direction. It was odd, but he could almost perfectly imagine how she appeared in those moments and later confirmed his mind's eye to be true when he turned to look at her. It was the sound, the smell, the feel. All his senses together painted an accurate picture of the world around him, even with his eyes almost closed.
The cave she’d suggested came into view, and the closer they got to the stone formation, the more the wind eased up. It was a gash in the side of some crag, some long scar-like indent in the stone that Arkash and Izzy easily slipped in, and paused as the relentless storm was removed from their skin and scales.
There was sand in his mouth, in his nose, in his eyes, just about everywhere between the cracks of his scales and within the crevices and contours of his hide. He let the woman go and began to clean the granules from his carapace with a few coordinated brushes of his claws. His muzzle didn’t have the physical ability to spit, but the likes of his eyes and nose were easy enough to clear.
It was there that the click of a gun’s hammer caught his attention. He could almost hear it in her hand, her weapon. A glance over his shoulder was all it took to affirm his suspicion, as he found her pistol aimed at him from the entry of the cave.
Arkash had not yet tested the limits of his regeneration, the first thought to cross his mind was whether or not he would survive the gunshot, and the second was why she hadn't shot him yet. The shine of his crimson eyes lifted from the weapon, and settled their piercing stare on her eye from the dark of the cave's depths. "...Well?" he asked after a moment's pause.
"I'm not goin'," she said flatly, with no hesitation in her stance between her quickened breaths. "I'm not goin' to Greater Daravin," she elaborated. The moment Arkash turned to face her, she held the gun with a firmer grasp and curled her nose beneath her face mask. "Dun' test me, bitch!" She called with an aggressive wave of her firearm.
The rath, with his quilled hands low, stared on at the woman with his fiery eyes. His heart was steady, if not for a little elevated in its rhythm. Slowly, he lifted his hands to hold them up, clear in the woman's one-eyed line of sight. She furrowed her brow and lifted the gun to aim at his head, but didn't move on the trigger. She didn't want to kill him, he reasoned in his head. If she did, she would have already shot him, just as Raphael had attacked him without warning. Still, she was serious and wanted him to know that. Why? He'd have to humor her.
"Why'd you pay me to take you there, then?" He asked, tone flat in contrast to the previous jovial way in which he spoke with her.
"I haven't paid ya yet,' she prefaced her answer. "An' I told you; I want protection, not t' rot as a serf under the rule of the Entente."
Arkash looked a touch to the left and nodded. "...And how's shooting me gonna protect you?" He moved a foot back quietly when she realized her bluff was called. What she wanted and what she was doing were in direct contradiction with each other.
That second of hesitation was all he needed. A bend of his knee preceded a full extension that saw him spring toward her with supernatural speed. In a blink he was upon her, and in a burst of panic, she squeezed the trigger at the same time that Arkash gripped the firearm. A boom sounded as the flintlock weapon fired low, and a flash of pain and adrenaline overcame him as he threw her against the wall of the cave with just enough force to daze her. His hand was on her neck, burning cold claws wrapped around her jugular while his other hand held her firearm to the wall.
Her free hand gripped his arm in a way that flattened the black quills against his pale scales, and her knee came up to drive straight into his groin while his stance was wide to hold her in place. Arkash didn't so much as flinch; he had no such external weakness in his true form.
While his thumb gently restricted her airway, his burning eyes stared her down with all his constrained hate bared to her in the razor-like glare he asserted. Terror filled her one eye while she choked, and raspy breathing escaped her lungs. "What... The fuck-?!" She mouthed, voice strained under the pressure on her windpipe. His grip on her arm tightened with unnatural strength, and her teeth bared beneath her shut eye while she tried to resist, but succumbed when she dropped the empty weapon. The moment he heard it hit the sandy floor, he let her arm go and loosened his hold on her neck. She gasped deeply and wrapped his arm with both hands as her teary eye opened again. "S-stop!" She coughed. "Please... Please don't kill me!"
He could feel her pulling on his arm, trying to remove it from her jugular to no avail. His arm alone was stronger than her whole body. "You shot me," Arkash spoke calmly. "I've killed people for much less than that," he said as he leaned in with his burning teeth on display, frigid black flames spewing from the gaps in his lips.
Her eye fell low at his words, where she saw his tunic pooling deep red at the thigh. "F-fuck..." She said as she met his gaze again. "I'm... I'm sorry! It was an accident!" A quiet metallic clatter sounded between them, as though a penny had dropped. Arkash looked down in tandem with her and saw the bullet that had struck him, warped and bloody, ejected from his wound. Her eyes were wide then they returned to his blood-red gaze. "You... You're one of them...!" She said, eyes alight with recognition. "A dranoch...!"
Arkash furrowed his brow, unimpressed. "What gave it away?" He asked, tone rich with sarcasm.
Her face reddened a little at his response. "I... I thought you were just a weir-" She paused, lips pursed hard. "I mean -exotic- Rathor!" She spoke in reference to his quills and the sharpness of his burning claws and teeth.
"You thought wrong," he said with a shrug.
"Dude... Please," She said, some stability to the rhythm of her strained heart. "Please just let me go, I'm not suicidal."
Arkash rose a brow. He supposed there was no harm in it; she'd already fired her gun and it wouldn't cause him any long-lasting damage either way. He shrugged again as he let her neck go, and spied the silver gash that ran a streak down her exposed skin, where his claw had touched. A flick of his tongue was all it took to confirm that it was her blood; her silver blood. "Sil'Norai?" he asked as he took a step back.
"Half..." She said as she reached for her neck and felt the shallow weeping wound there.
Image source.
