by The Ranger
"It's like walking into another world, isn't it?" she asked, gazing at the dingy buildings that now surrounded them.
"I feel I should be more… affected by all this," Edmund grumbled.
"What do you mean?" Richard joined in.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I can't feel whatever 'death' you're sensing, but I believe you. And I saw what happens when you… when someone strikes Lucan the wrong way. It's all horrible, really it is— but after the surprise of it… I don't feel much terror. And, to me, that feels… wrong?"
Khora understood his feelings. She almost wanted to compare the experience, ironically, to a raging fire. It is an undeniable truth that the flames are swallowing up everything in its path, yet it is impossible to see just what has been lost until the fire is quelled. Once that has been done, it's time to see what can be rebuilt and what is forever gone.
"I think," she started. "It will be some time before we begin to live and feel as we should. This… this is something new, and something we won't know how to handle until it's done."
Richard offered her a side-glance but did not take his attention off the road.
"I agree," he added. "Better not to dwell on things like that now, not when we have-"
He froze, causing Edmund to collide with him and Ranger to bump into his master.
"Why are you-" Khora stopped herself as a loud creak rang out behind them.
They turned towards the source of the sound and managed to catch a glimpse of a man hiding behind a broken gate.
"I see him," she murmured, reaching towards Edmund to retrieve her weapon.
"There's more than one," Richard revealed. "There's a dozen or so, just watching us."
"Well, if they are here in search of a battle," Khora whispered. "They may regret who they challenge…"
She scanned the derelict buildings as she prepared to fight the encroaching bandits and saw their eyes peeking back at her. However, their gaze was not filled with rage nor battle-lust, but instead, there laid within a pulsing fear.
"Wait!" a voice cried. "I know them!"
Khora dropped her fighting stance and moved her attention towards the woman who had spoken out. She seemed battered and bruised, but there was a lively energy on her face. One she recognized.
"Tonya?" Khora called out. "Is that you?"
She broke away from the rest of the Marinians and slowly approached them, extending her hand to touch Khora's elbow.
"W-we survived him," she whispered, a desperate relief plain across her face. "We're some of what's left…"
As the Marinians that surrounded them began to assemble behind Tonya, it became apparent that they were not warriors at all. They appeared to simply be more of what Khora had seen at Bogar's camp— they were those who had not managed to leave before things took a turn for the worse.
"How did you-" Khora attempted to ask.
"How many of you are there?" Richard cut in, closing the distance between himself and the two women.
"A few dozen," Tonya answered. "Most of those who stayed — and lived — made it to the coastline. They're gathered at what's left of Marinia's old shipyard. But the rest of us, we're on our way to a guard post along the city's southern edge. I… I've been guiding who I can out of this mess."
"How did you escape him? The sorcerer?" Khora questioned.
Tonya looked back at her, her attention faltering for a moment as she met the other woman's gaze. Her lips parted as if she were about to speak, but she simply shook her head and turned her eyes towards the emptied streets.
"A monster," she began to explain. "I… I don't know how, and I could never… never understand why— but a monster saved our lives. Most of the fighting was far from us, and we realized it… it had ended when the night was no longer stained by fire. Except, those creatures, those deathwalkers… they came to find us. Even without their master, we wouldn't have survived their attack."
"But something stopped them," Edmund muttered, drawing closer to her. "Something protected you?"
"Yes," she told him. "It was big and shaggy and fast; I was moments from being killed by one of those creatures when it came between us and ripped through the other monsters. I'm not even sure it meant to save me, but that's how it happened. W-we tried to see why it did this, or maybe what it was, but it turned on anyone who approached it. We had to flee, in fear of it attacking."
"If it was able to hold its own against a horde of Seekers… it must be powerful," Richard murmured. "Dangerous."
"Well, we can't know for-" Edmund tried to assure.
"It's still here," Tonya revealed. "We've been avoiding it, trying not to cross its path, but that creature… it lingers."
Khora looked to her side and saw Edmund standing there, fidgeting uncomfortably. She watched him tug at the end of his shirt and pick at his hand, wondering why he seemed so apprehensive. Then her mind returned to her lost friends, as well as to the monster that had slaughtered the skinchangers.
"We should pursue the creature," she suggested, a new thought beginning to enter her mind. "I— we should… we should see what this monster is."
"We have to find Eren and Aven," Richard rebuffed. "I don't think this thing is a danger right now."
"I don't either," Khora returned, meeting Edmund's nervous gaze. "And we do have to find our friends. But, I think… we should do this first."
"I-I agree, Rich," the youth whispered. "I think Khora's right…"
The young boy gripped his hands together worriedly as he finished speaking and turned again to look at her. She could see it on his face: confirmation to that which she already feared.
"If you feel so strongly about this," Richard started. "Then I will trust your instincts."
"Thank you," she whispered while wishing he might not be so oblivious.
"Where did you last see… it?" Edmund asked, looking towards Tonya.
"I can show you the way. We're close enough to the guard post that my people can regroup there without me," she answered. "And where I last saw that thing, it isn't far either. We can join the rest of the survivors once we're done, and if you're searching for your friends, you may even find them there."
Khora glanced at Richard, and he returned her gaze with a slight nod before turning back to Tonya.
"Then that's what we'll do," he accepted. "Show us the way."
The walk towards the creature's last sighting seemed to last an eternity, much longer than their short trek across the land Lucan had darkened.
Khora didn't feel the same as she had when dealing with the other creatures they had encountered. Instead, it was a cold unease that crawled through her veins whenever her thoughts returned to Aven and Torfir's cavern.
"Are you prepared to face him?" Tonya asked.
The question forced Khora back to the present and the young woman leading them through what was left of Marinia.
"Th-the monster?" she stammered.
"The wizard," the other woman corrected. "Although, I'd call him a monster too."
Khora wanted to be confident in her abilities and those of her allies, but it was difficult to do so, seeing the destruction Lucan sowed. Having her mind fogged by drowsiness did little to improve her resolve.
"I don't know," she finally answered, sparing a glance towards Richard. "We have no shortage of determination, but it will take more than that. Far more than that."
She smiled slightly at Tonya before allowing a small laugh.
"You were determined too," Khora claimed. "You stayed here through this whole disaster."
"That wasn't determination," she refuted. "That was… cowardice. I… I didn't want to believe we'd have such bad luck twice. Not in my lifetime. I couldn't leave my home, even if it hasn't been what it was for a long time."
"I understand," Khora whispered. "My home… it may still be out there, but it is… it is lost to me. A fact that I would have done anything to prevent not long ago."
"And now?" Tonya inquired.
"Now what?" she mur
mured.
"Would you still do anything to have your home back?" the woman explained. "Even now, years later."
"I… I feel that I should say yes," Khora sighed. "I feel like the answer to that is 'yes.' Yet, I'm unsure. For as long as I have been here, this spear has been all I had to connect me to my homeland. I have looked at it and thought of the sweetness that would be my return home. But…"
"That place hasn't been home for a long time, has it?"
All Khora could do was nod and wonder when her feelings had begun to shift. It had always been difficult to dwell on a place and a people that were far and away, yet that had never stopped her before.
"After this, what do you think you will d-" she tried to ask.
"There!" Richard yelled out. "I see it ahead!"
They turned their eyes to follow his finger and saw it landed on a crumbling temple that laid further down the road. Perched atop one of its deteriorating spires sat the creature they sought. It was a large mass of black, and it sat huddled close to itself to hide the extent of its form. Yet, Khora found recognition when she looked upon it; she saw there the same fur that had been gripped in the dead skinchanger's hand. She saw on the beast a pair of green, glittering eyes that stared back at them.
"No," she whispered. "I wanted to be wrong…
Before another word could be uttered by any of them, Edmund broke away from the group. He raced down the road towards the derelict building and waved his arms as he ran.
"Ed, wait!" Richard cried out, sprinting towards him. "You don't know what that monster is capab-"
The creature leapt away from the spire, revealing its shape as it cut through the air and crashed onto the old stones below. It was massive; if it had been standing upright, it might have been twelve or thirteen feet tall. However, as it was bent over on all four limbs, it was still difficult to tell. It possessed long ears that pointed towards the sky, and it emitted a low growl as the sunlight swept over its body.
"A lycan? No… a werewolf," Tonya gasped. "I hadn't seen it clearly until now…"
The creature slowly moved forward, closer to Edmund, who had frozen in place when it landed on the ground. However, he seemed devoid of fear as he brought his hand up towards the monster. Khora grew apprehensive as the creature neared him, but it was only for a moment.
"Get back, Ed!" Richard yelled out, yanking his friend closer as a vine ripped through the earth and slammed into the werewolf. It wailed as it collided with a roadside hovel and broke through its rotting walls.
"What were you thinking!" he nearly screamed. "That thing could have killed you!"
"I wouldn't have been hurt," Edmund rejected. "We aren't in danger!"
The stones shifted, and the creature emerged from within. It was slow to move at first, scanning them intently until its eyes landed on Richard. The monster snarled and pounced forward, dashing faster than anything Khora had seen until then.
"Stay back," Richard told them, pulling another vine from the earth. "I can keep the thing awa-"
A large paw slammed into his breastplate, launching him backward with enough force that Edmund fell to the ground without being touched.
"Hold back the dog, Tonya," Khora murmured. "I have to stop those two from killing each other."
She ran ahead without waiting for the other woman's response and carefully watched as the werewolf circled the pile of rubble where its assailant had crashed. Khora cracked her spear against the ground, scratching the steel against the stones intermittently. The monster turned to look at her, and, for a moment, it seemed to calm when it did. However, the rubble it stood over shifted, and an arm poked out from within it.
The werewolf howled as it grabbed the exposed limb and pulled it forward. Richard hung in the air as the monster raised him up, holding him in front of its face. He tried to lay a hand on the creature, but the beast flung him forward before he could do so. He crashed into the same abandoned temple the werewolf had been perched upon earlier.
"Damn it," Khora sighed. "I-I don't want to hurt you!"
She raised her spear, intent on throwing it at the creature when it crept into the temple and out of her sight.
"We have to stop him!" Edmund shouted, running towards them.
"We have to be careful," she added, following her friend into the temple. "They're both-"
She froze in place when she stepped into the structure. It felt like the same change in the air that had occurred when Tala appeared before them. The room contained something dark and vicious, something that radiated unbridled fury. It possessed her friend.
"I'm fine!" Richard called out, his hand hovering near the hilt of Prince Lucian's blade. "Stay back, I can handle this myse-"
The monster stretched its limbs as it began to stand upright; its arms and legs buckled and cracked when it moved. Its growl echoed across the chamber when it bared its teeth and lunged towards him.
"Aven!" Khora screamed. "Stop, please!"
The stones in the floor cracked as the beast dug its claws into them. One of its massive paws held firm against the floor, and the other was frozen inches away from Richard's face.
"It's a werewolf," she revealed to her friend. "It's Aven."
Richard, who, up until then, had kept a glaring eye on the monster, turned back to look at her.
"What?"
"She's right," Edmund muttered, approaching the beast. "I… I knew before, but… but I hoped the monster Tonya told us about… wasn't him."
"Aven?" Richard whispered. "Is that… is that you?"
The werewolf turned its head towards him but suddenly yelped and backed away from them. It rose upwards, smashing its head into a low-hanging ornament. It cried out as the stones fell around its feet, and it spasmed as it lay on the ground. Slowly, its fur receded, and his bones splintered until his shape could almost be considered human. A few moments of ragged breathing, and intermittent snarling, revealed Aven's form. He sat in the darkness, light from above pooling at his feet, as he curled up to hide his nude body.
"How did this happen?" Richard questioned, moving towards their friend.
"Don't," he growled. "Please, step back. Please."
He nodded and pulled Edmund closer and away from the man on the ground.
"He was born with lycanthropy," Edmund described. "He told me two or three years ago."
"I found werewolf fur in Torfir's lair," Khora admitted. "Needing to find the rest of you, and needing still to battle the spriggan… I did not take the time to investigate. I… I never knew."
"Because he's always been careful," the boy whispered. "And he could always control the change."
"Until now," Richard poked. "Why?"
Aven finally broke his eyes away from the ground and peered up at them.
"As we came closer to the sorcerer, his darkness grew more powerful," he explained. "It… it was harder to resist the compulsion to turn, and eventually I co-couldn't keep it down any longer."
"But your medicine," Edmund reminded him.
"Like trying to stop a river with a single stone!" Aven snapped, his fists clenching for a moment.
They stared at him, and he eased himself back into a calm state.
"But Lucan is gone; why are you still… like this?" she asked.
Aven glanced up at her, a slight resentment running across his face.
"I no longer have a soul," he revealed. "In my rage, I bounded towards him, hoping… hoping I could just— just kill him, quickly. But… everything went black, and I woke up feeling empty. I was stuck in the other body and knew that I was… that there was nothing else left of me."
Khora felt like her own spirit had been pulled from her as Aven's words rang through her ears. She thought of how she had spoken to him just hours earlier, but it served nothing more than to fan her guilt. She should have known that Richard would have been fine on his own, and she scolded herself for not joining them in the Ashlands. She wondered if, together, they could have managed to defeat Lucan.
"If yo
u knew what would happen — if you knew you would turn — why did you try to confront him?" Richard grumbled, his face wrinkled in despair.
Khora slowly turned her eyes to him and saw his hand trembling as he held it out in front of him. Almost as if he could somehow bargain for the return of Aven's soul with the empty air around them. Only Edmund stood silent and unmoving, except for the occasional twitch of his neck as he quietly sobbed, his hands balled and wavering at his sides.
"I couldn't let him come alone," Aven sighed. "I wouldn't let him face this alone."
Khora felt another pang of remorse as she remembered Eren and sensed her own breath quicken when Richard took a step closer to their friend.
"W-where is he?" he almost squeaked.
Aven did nothing but point in front of himself, his finger settling somewhere to Khora's left. She forced her head to rotate as she brought her attention to the ground at her side and felt disgust climb through her when she saw a limb lying on the ground.
It had been hidden by the stones that had likely crashed onto the ground when Aven first ripped through this temple. Khora might have wept if she had not begun to recognize the arm obscured by the crumbling rocks.
"Is that Torfir's?" Richard murmured.
"It was all I managed to find," Aven gasped as he began to shiver. "My memory is clouded, but I remember looking for him after I found Tonya."
Khora had nearly forgotten about her.
"When you saved her, did you know who she was?" she questioned.
He nodded slightly, his eyes narrowing as a sliver of pain passed through them.
"Her face is the only one I remember clearly from my… the time outside of my control," he moaned, his shoulders tensing as he leaned forward. "I'm sor-sorry, staying like this is becoming more difficult."
He drawled his last few words, and sweat began to trace the edges of his face. Khora was certain they had very little time before whatever restraint he had left vanished.
