"My death?" I repeat, briefly surprised by how...empty I feel after such a revelation. Then again every day I dance with death, fuck I mean I almost died twice in less than a day! After so many brushes with death, finding this out doesn't surprise me. "Yes, your death," The creature echoed as it walked behind me with disturbing speed and grace. I turn around and meet it's morbidly majestic eyes, "All men are curious about how they die, do you want to know yours?" The creature whispers, it's voice tickling my ears. "We all die, knowing how changes nothing but drives one mad, madder than they already are at least," I reply, taking the initiative of this conversation.
"What's your name? And what power can you offer me?" I ask I need the power to change this wretched system, no matter the cost.
"You may call me Alrticus, and since you reject to know the way you die, I curse you with the power to know what and where everyone else dies" Alrticus declares, one of his clawed fingers impaling my left eye, tearing it out with a flick of his finger. I fall to my knees, not giving him the satisfaction of my screams. Surprised was the last of my feelings as Alrticus climbed its way into my brain, the pain none like I ever received.
I scream endlessly into the forest of the damned.
"What are you" Annalise whispers, tears silently falling out of her eyes as she watches Ruak scream endlessly in pain, his whole body spasming into pain. His screams slowly turn into deafening pleas and cries, and those pleas only make me cry more for him, I can't even dare to fathom the pain he went through, or what's he going through now. After what seems like hours of nonstop suffering, his screams and pleads finally stop, the night falling into a deathly silence.
*Looking back now, I wish he died that night, I think we all do.
I wake gasping for air, almost shitting my pants as I lock eyes with Alrticus, who as usual has no sense of personal space. "Fuck" I groan, the worst headache ever ringing in my head. "Ever heard of personal fucking space Alrticus" I rasp, my eyes darting around for water. "Fenrir, I literally reside in you," Alrticus fucking disappearing, reappearing not even a second later with a cup of water in one hand and one of his clawed fingers pointing at my heart. I greedily grasp the offered cup of water and chug it down in record time. I thank the shadow of the damned, too tired to even question how I know that information. "Fenrir?" I question the shadow, grunting in pain as I get off the improv carriage bed. "Ruak died last night, your heart stopped beating and your pulse was no more, you technically died, and you were reborn. Your Ruak no more, now rise Fenrir '' With a snap of Alrticus's hand the pain that was radiating from my head to my toes lessened dramatically, enough to still annoy me like a fragging mosquito, but manageable. "What can you do for me?" I ask Alrticus, wanting to better understand the newly added skills to my arsenal.
"I granted you the ability to see how and where someone dies, you'll see a mark on the specific body part that causes his/her fatality, and a small vision of how they died, shot by an arrow? Poisoned? Blah blah. Since I am you and you are me, I can freely roam among you mortals, basically, I can scout for you. Usually, I am invisible but I can be seen by others when I wish, I can also fight, kill, and feed, but I need to be visible for that. My diet can be anything edible, but if you consume human flesh I can fasten your healing process for a short time by like, 1 and a half more than normal." Alrticus, fuck it I'll call him Alty lists off. Hm, a scout, a plus one in battle, and a faster recovery are good, but it sounds too good to be true. "I'm sensing a but here Alty" I reply, stretching my groaning muscles. "Your pain is my pain youngblood, I can't do anything against magic, and because of our bond, your more hungry, thirsty, and horny" Alty finishes with a wink, which was the most eerily fucking thing. "Good to know" I stifle a yawn as my stomach growls, talk about timing. I peek my head out of my carriage to see that we're moving, and if my internal clock is right we are maybe a day around from the nearest town. I gaze at the ever-changing landscape thinking for a moment, just a moment, that the worst of this clusterfuck expedition is behind us.
Pela's perky fucking tits was I wrong.
Not even an hour later of relaxing later did Alty's pale, tall self unnaturally climb itself back into the carriage. "What's the situation?" I question the shadow. "Bandits, 150 of them, they aren't even trying to hide, dumbasses" Alty ends with a dry chuckle, his head twisting in angles that shouldn't be possible and his eyes lock with mine.
"What's the play?" The demon askes me, bloodlust swimming in his eyes.
"We'll walk into it, stick to the shadows and kill them silently, the only people who see you are the ones you kill," I command Alty, grateful for the trump cards under my sleeve. "Start the slaughter on my signal." I finish, taking out Slum's Vengeance and sharping it on my whetstone.
"What's the signal?"
"You'll know."
"Bandits ahead, around 150 of them" Zane reports with a yawn, finally happy to have some action, that Ruak fella been taking the spotlight.
"Finally, some fun! This whole trip I have been cramped in this small ass carriage." Bethany replies, taking a sandwich offred by a terrified butler.
Taylor only grunts in agreement, while Sarahs and Charles say nothing, content with eating and drinking in silence. After ten minutes or so of total silence, the carriages roll to a stop, finally letting us all out. "Ah, that's the shit" Zane groans as he briefly stretches, everyone getting ready for the battle to come. "Nobles your up! Don't disappoint us" Alanus gruffly shouts.
"When do we?" Oliver murmurs, side-eyeing Ruak as he stands in front of us, one of his hands on his sword breaker sheathed above his ass, his other hand flexing and unflexing.
Then he whistles, and a fucking bear charges at the bandits, Ruak sprinting right behind it.
*Someone else is saying this? Who? You'll find out...