Irade
April 30, 4:01 pm BT – 2:01 pm UT, The Gorge At The Iron Gate Pass, China
The bear-man chewed his fish thoughtfully.
"Hm."
He seemed to be in deep thought as he tasted his fish. Irade watched, eating her own fish from the safety of the other side of the fire.
The bear-man had gotten quiet while eating. Before, he had been asking questions non-stop about the purpose of fire, why she was opening the fish, etc etc. The more he spoke, the less human he seemed.
That, coupled with the way he listened to every word Irade said was a little creepy. His eyes, though small and beady, were deep and endless. They were piercing in a way that made Irade felt he could see into her soul.
Even the way he ate was weird. He had waited until Irade started eating before picking up his fish. At first, Irade thought this was an attempt at politeness of some sort. Then, as he imitated her way of eating, she realized that he had just been waiting to see how she would eat her charred fish.
"I have finished eating this not good fish," said the bear-man. "You were correct. It is not good. However, I have learned more about humans from this experience. I thank you for teaching me about this."
The bear-man bowed while sitting. Irade accepted it with a nod, swallowing her fish.
"Usually we use things like salt and spices to make it better," said Irade. "I just don't have any."
Although her voice sounded casual, inside, her heart was beating out a dance track. Despite the bear-mans's current politeness, Irade knew that if he decided to attack her, she would not come out unscathed. That was why she was continuing this polite exchange; she didn't want to give him any reason to attack her.
"If you had some now, would the fish be good?"
"I don't know if it would be good. But it would definitely be better."
The bear-man contemplated this apparently difficult statement.
"I see," he said. "It seems humans do not think of the world as simple good and bad. I thank you for teaching me this."
He bowed again.
That was when Irade noticed the large knife hanging off his waist.
As he rose his head, Irade quickly looked back at the bear-man's face.
"I have a question," said the bear-man suddenly. "Why are you here?"
Irade felt her already accelerated heartbeat speed up.
"I don't understand the question," she answered stiffly. "What do you mean?"
The bear-man scratched his head.
"It seems I was vague. I apologize," he said, bowing again. In Irade's opinion, he bowed too much.
"I meant to ask what is your purpose in coming here? It does not seem like a good place for humans, with such little salt-and-spices, and no caves made of strange rocks for you to live in."
Irade stared at the bear-man, who was looking at her just as intently as before. Yet, for some reason, Irade felt that this was a dangerous question.
"I came here out of spite," she said. "Someth...someone told me not to come here, so I did just to spite them."
The bear-man forwned at that answer. It seemed like he hadn't expected that.
"Why?" He asked.
Irade shrugged.
"I was angry," she replied honestly. "And I was curious. What was down here that was so dangerous? I don't think-"
Irade stopped herself from finishing that sentence, breaking out into a cold sweat. She realized that the last bit would've been a lie. Because she did think that she had found something dangerous here - Black Wind.
But she had a feeling that she shouldn't tell that to the bear-man.
"What don't you think?" He asked, frowning.
Irade poked at the fire with a stick.
"Why are you here?" She suddenly asked, deflecting.
The bear-man's face twisted into a scowl. Irade's heart skipped a beat in fear.
"You didn't answer my question," he growled, sending a shover of terror through her spine.
No. Be calm. Just...tell the truth.
"I don't think this place is dangerous," she said. There, the truth.
The bear-man kept galling at her for a moment, then his gaze softened, allowing Irade to breathe.
"I am sorry," he said. "That was rude of me. Please forgive me."
He bowed once more.
"In response to your question; I came here to finish hunt."
Irade blinked. That was unexpected. Hunt?
What could he...
Irade narrowed her eyes as the gears in her brain started to turn.
"I have been hunting a particularly powerful beast," the bear-man went on, unaware of Irade's sudden change in temperament. "Not because of anything he did, but because he offended my Master."
"Your Master?" Irade couldn't help but ask.
Inside however, she was furiously connecting the dots. Her eyes darted once again to the knife on the bear-man's waist.
"The person who gave me the power of humans," he answered. "He saw my potential as one of the rulers of this world, and gave me the power to help me achieve that goal."
Irade noted in the back of her mind that he suddenly became a lot more articulate when talking about his Master. However, she was a little more preoccupied with the realization that a blade such as the one sheathed at the bear-man's waist could have been the weapon that injured Black Wind.
Not to mention the fact that the bear-man had come out of its way to come here, a place with no one else but her and Black Wind.
"However, it seems I have lost the beast," the bear man sighed. "I followed the trail here, but it looks like it ends at the waterfall. And I can see from how clear the water is that his body is not underwater. I don't know how to move on. What should I do?"
He looked up at Irade.
"Have you seen an injured black wolf around here?"
Irade grit her teeth. Looks like she didn't even need to use her detective skills; he had just straight out admitted it.
But beside that, Irade felt a burst of anger blossom up in her chest, surprising her. She had thought she had cried out all her anger weeks ago. Yet, here she was, somehow finding the fuel to burn more anger.
She didn't even really knew why. All she knew was that this bear-man's clueless face was annoying her. That, coupled with the fact that he was the one who had hurt Black Wind, the one living being in Irade's recent memory that treated her with any decency, was apparently enough to make Irade forget how to speak for a moment.
The bear-man's eyes narrowed.
"I sense anger," he said. "Why are you angry?"
That question annoyed her even more.
Irade took a deep breath through her nose, and let it out of her mouth. She leaned forward, down onto all fours.
"Because you're talking about my friend you a**hole," she whispered venemously.
Overheard, a bird chirped. The hot sun beat down on the dry rocks, the light shimmering and refracting through the waterfall. The sound of crashing water and birds were the only thing audible for a moment.
In the next moment, the bear-man's eyes changed, his brow furrowing, twisting his face into a mask of rage. A black, piercing aura seemed to radiate from his entire being. For moment, Irade's entire being wanted nothing more than to run away.
No, she chided herself. Not this time.
Irade grit her teeth harder, and stared straight back at the bear-man's furious, pitch-black gaze.
And then, everything seemed to stop.
Irade saw the bear-man reach out, faster than a man his size seemed capable of, his hairy hand reaching towards her. She had time to notice that his nails had elongated, becoming claws.
But Irade was on the move too.
By the time the bear-man's claw reached where Irade had been, she already used ['Dash'] to get behind the bear-man.
With his knife drawn in her hand.
Before the bear-man could realize his knife had been stolen, Irade struck.
She had already made her resolve. Whoever this was, he wasn't human. He was trying to take over the world, and that made him a bad person.
And he hurt her friend.
She swung the knife straight through his neck, ending it once and for all.
Or she would have, if the he didn't immediately fall into a bow, dodging. Immediately after, he turned his head around, eyes full of murder.
Before she even knew what she was doing, Irade used ['Dash'] to get to the other side of the waterfall. They glared at each other from opposite sides of the running water.
"I don't know why you attacked me," said the bear-man, getting up. He stretched his arms a little, warming up. "But it seems you want to fight. At least that, I understand."
"You talk too much," Irade spat. "It's annoying."
The bear-man thought about that for a while.
"I see," he said, bowing once more. "Thank you for tea-"
Irade was in his face before he could finish the sentence, swinging the knife up at his neck once more. The bear-man was only barely able to dodge by standing back up. Irade immediately went for his crotch, which he also was able to dodge. She started a flurry of attacks, slashing at his joints or other weak points in his lower body, weaving between his legs as he evaded her attacks.
She knew that she was at a disadvantage in this fight. One good hit from him would immediately disable her, ending it. She held the momentum for now, but the longer this went on, the more that would turn into a disadvantage, forcing her to tire herself out faster.
So why was she even doing this?
Irade was so goddamn tired of thinking that.
Why did she have to have a reason for the things she did? Wasn't it enough that she wanted to do something?
Who cared what other people thought?
She was doing this because she wanted to. And if someone didn't think that was a good enough answer, go die.
"AAARRRGH!"
The bear-man roared as Irade finally got a slash in, on the back of the his thigh. She had missed her actual target – the back of the knee – but it was her first hit. She wasn't going to complain.
"Annoying!" he growled, slashing at her. Irade dodged, using ['Dash'] to slip between his legs. She jumped, and slashed at his side.
He was much larger than her, so she used her size in the only way it would give her an advantage; by being as annoying as possible. Irade kept in his blind spots, climbing up his body and around him, slolwy killing him with a thousand cuts.
But not matter how fast she moved, or how strategically she positioned herself, the bear-man kept his neck and head protected. Any attacks up there were immediately blocked, forcing Irade to retreat, to hit less vulnerable areas.
Gradually, Irade began to tire, and the tides of battle began to shift.
"AAAAAAAARRRRRRGHHHH!!"
With a roar, the bear man stomped his foot on the ground, causing the ground to shake. The sudden mini-earthquake caught Irade off guard, making her lose her balance. The bear man seized this small opening, knocking Irade to the ground.
Then, small, beady eyes full of murder, he struck.
Irade dodged, activating ['Dash'] as quickly as she could, getting out of the way. But for some reason, she felt like something was wrong. A sudden pain in her left shoulder that just as quickly disappeared, leaving only a weird sense of lightness.
She looked down at her left arm, only to find nothing there.
She blinked then looked at her shoulder. There was no arm attached, only a bloody stump.
Ah. That's what that feeling was.
At that same moment, her shoulder exploded with pain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Irade screamed her throat hoarse, unable to bear the pain. It was almost as bad as the taser, except this time her body let her express just how much it hurt. She fell to the cold, hard floor, the stump of her arm bleeding.
In the back of her mind, she realized from the floor and the echo of her voice that she was now in the back in the cave. That said, she was a little more focused on her missing arm.
She started crawling away from the waterfall, deeper into the cave.
"This is yours," said a cold, growling voice.
With a wet thud, Irade's missing arm fell beside her.
Gritting her teeth, Irade looked behind her to see the bear-man looking down at her. He looked furious.
Irade didn't care. She glared, teary-eyed and snot-nosed as she held back another scream of pain. She did not want to give him the joy of her suffering.
"You will die now," he said matter-of-factly. "This wouldn't have happened if you had told me about this cave before. This really is all your own fault."
"How about you go f*** yourself," Irade spat.
The bear-man frowned.
"How exactly would I-"
The rest of his questions was interrupted by a black blur suddenly coming at him, aiming straight for his neck.
Miraculously, the bear-man managed to dodge, and turned to find Black Wind glaring at him, fangs bared.
"Why do you both keep interrupting me?" the bear-man wondered. "You wolf-people are so...rude. It makes me so...angry."
Black Wind didn't answer. He simply attacked again.
Irade took her cue to keep crawling, back to her rucksack. She whimpered as she bled a trail down the cave, but eventually reached her goal. She fumbled, struggling to open the rucksack with a blood-soaked hand.
"C'mon," she whispered, frustrated as her tears refused to stop, keeping her vision blurry. "Come on!!"
Finally, she managed to open the rucksack wide enough to take out the singular Miracle Plant.
She hesitated for a moment. How was she supposed to use this?
Screw it.
Irade shoved the plant in her mouth, leaves, roots and all. It tasted a lot more bitter than she expected, a little like ginger. Without even waiting to swallow, Irade quickly rolled over to the water.
One of these was supposed to help heal her. She chewed furiously as she grabbed her torn-off arm, and jammed it to her stump, sending another wave of pain through her body.
Bearing through her tears, Irade rolled into the water.
As she did, she watched as the bear-man slashed at Black Wind, injuring him once more.
SPLASH!
As Irade swallowed the Miracle Plant, she made a vow.
"Please," she prayed. "Heal me enough to rip this monster apart."
Nothing happened for a moment. And then-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"