Chereads / Darling zero dawn / Chapter 43 - Art in the dark 1

Chapter 43 - Art in the dark 1

Astrid was in the process of changing her clothes, leaving her completely naked before Matt's hungry eyes.

Her silver white hair flowed down her bare back, trailing along the well toned and beautiful muscles, almost reaching her ample ass.

Her slim and agile body reflected the experiences she went through, fair skin covered here and there with scars and her thin but muscular build did nothing to ruin her beauty.

The one thing that had changed was her pale skin that had been decorated by a complex and colorful tattoo drawn on her back, partially hidden behind her long hair.

A majestic and sinister representation of a mythical wolf, about to destroy the world.

The silver wolf's entire body sat upright as it looked into the sky, howling.

Its white fur ending in spikes of ice, represented by different shadings of blue, the same color used to create the beast's realistic alpine blue eyes.

Finally, the wolf sat on a snowy rock stained with blood. A decapitated head leaning the boulder and a cut off hand grasping the wolf's ankle.

It's other paw was restrained by a shackle and a short chain directly implanted into the boulder .

Many small details were hidden amidst the tattoo that could only be admired from up close like the small sun between the beast's jaws, the little glint in its eyes or even the reflection in the small iron shackles.

IMGS AND LORE HERE

(Fenrir is literally the son of a god (Loki) that ate his grandpa (Odin), the king of Norse gods as a vengeance for having been betrayed by him and the other gods that have foreseen the destruction he could cause.

They chained him up atop a Boulder until he finally freed himself and swallowed the sun, starting ragnarok, aka the apocalypse. )

This was something that Matt thought of a few weeks after returning to Valhalla.

What if he could draw a checkpoint on Astrid and himself so as to always have the initial checkpoint on him and be able to teleport directly to her.

He didn't know the specifics of how it would work but he knew that thanks to the two 'organic checkpoint coupons' that idea was feasible.

As you could imagine, Astrid was elated to always have a way to be together and basically be marked by him.

You might have noticed it but that is why Astrid was away from Matt while he handled his duties this afternoon.

While the comfort of knowing that he could always teleport to her in case he was in danger reassured her, it didn't solve the root of the problem.

You could say that by making this link, Matt bought himself more time before her separation anxiety kicked in and started the ticking time bomb.

He had a few clues as to how he could help Astrid with her fear and split personality to become more… "socially adequate" but he decided not to rush things since he liked being with her and she… well obviously.

This tattoo idea mainly came to him thanks to the new 'Ink sac' mutation he unlocked recently.

So he trained by drawing prototype runes on paper before trying tattooing on a pig.

A pig that didn't like being a canvas at all but Astrid who was always next to him was… enjoying its suffering.

Matt's way of doing it was… basic, even barbaric at best.

He first needed to form an inc sac inside his throat and just that small change made him feel like a freak.

He then punctured a hole in the pigs skin before filling it with an ink pen using some of the black ink he spit out of his mouth.

In the end, the tattoo was a disgusting black and red stain vaguely resembling a wolf on the pigs back.

He didn't have much time so he left it as is and tried out different methods during his free time in the next few days.

Until he found the perfect way to tattoo a poor little pig.

What if he used the space inside his 'bone harpoons' that has a space for poison sacs to use 'Ink sacs' instead?

He persevered on his experiments, a strange artistic behavior that didn't escape the Valhalan's nor the pig's eyes.

The former trying out the new art introduced by their young leader and the latter creating a pig hierarchy depending on who had the most ink on them.

So, one day instead of heading to the farms with Astrid, he brought her back to their home and asked her if she was ready.

"Are you sure? It's going to hurt. "

"I am. Can you make two of them for me? Just to be sure."

He looked at her like she was a lunatic and she responded with a cute smile.

*Sight* "I'll only make one for now, making the ink makes me really hungry so I don't want to squander it. Please take off your top and stay still."

They both took off their shirts and stayed in silence.

Sounds of bones breaking and muscles twisting appeared from Matt's back along with two long tentacles ending in a sharp spike that flayed around like insect feelers.

He didn't seem to mind the pain that much but Astrid clearly did as she shuddered from the sound and grimaced like she was the one feeling the pain in his stead.

These tentacles approached her tender skin before slightly puncturing it.

A cyan blue pearl of liquid came out from a minuscule hole at the tip of the spike and stayed stuck under her skin once the tentacle backed away.

This process was repeated thousands of times with different colors and shades before Matt finally came out from his focused state and touched her bare back with his hands.

She jolted at the different sensation before calming down and realizing he was finished.

"So? How does it look?"

"Stunning, just like you."

She blushed at his cheeky comment before standing up from the wooden chair and passionately kissing him.

"Now I want to see yours."

"Of course."

So he sat down before having his tentacles do the same to him on his left shoulder.

He had already done a sketch and a detailed version of what he wanted on paper but he still wasn't serene about it.

He didn't want a shitty tattoo for life after all.

But he still did it, he started by giving it all a shape as he controlled his tentacles and guided them by looking into a mirror.

He continued adding Inc and spent the next few hours fully concentrated on himself.

His tattoo was much darker than Astrid's, he wasn't an emo or anything, he just liked the color black.

While her tattoo took up half of her back, his started on his left shoulder and reached all the way down to his hand and hip while also covering a little of his back.

It resembled an incredibly realistic cloud of smoke or smog separating into eight parts that roamed his body as if they were flowing down from his shoulder.

Some strings or pieces of tentacles come out from under the smoke for a short distance before hiding behind the veil again.

Hinting a little bit of what was hidden under the abyss while also keeping incredible resemblance to real matter.

The tentacles looked rough, almost like scales while the small purple strings (also tentacles but the jellyfish kind) looked glossy and fragile.

The further you went up, the thicker those little surfacing tentacles became.

His shoulder, as the centerpiece of his tattoo, revealed the highly suspected creature to be the mythical giant kraken.

Its appearance was neither grotesque nor horrifying, it was so terrifying and realistic that it almost became beautiful, like an elder god that lured you to bask in its splendor even though you can see its twisted and monstrous appearance.

A big head that emerged from the ink black clouds with two piercing dead white eyes that seemed to suck in your soul.

The skin just like the rest of its tentacles looked dry and scaly, as if it was an octopus that didn't swim in the sea, or something that wasn't an octopus at all.

A little purple hid around the head like thunder hiding between the clouds, the emergence of the kraken seemed to have brought other things to the surface as little human skulls floated on the clouds below it.

IMG HERE (Just a reference, mine is much better)

'Literally being stung by a thousand needles does hurt but from the pain I've experienced before it feels more annoying than painful.

The most difficult part was not moving an inch and controlling my tentacles with a mirrored projection without making a mistake. I'd hate having a shitty tattoo for the rest of my life.

'Create checkpoints.'

A light appeared from both of their tattoo's before disappearing.

{Organic checkpoint token - 2.

Cool tattoo designs, obtained a map folder.}

Fast travel :

Checkpoints (4 / 4) :

-Hermes facility

-Cauldron of famine

-Host

-Wifey Astrid

Map (2 / 3) : Shit quality map

Upgrades (3) :

[All bodily fluid checkpoint creation]

[Map quality x1]

[Checkpoint of movement creation]

[Map folder]

'What's a map folder?'

{Are you stupid? A folder is a place you store documents, so now you have a place to store the maps surrounding your checkpoints.

Instead of only being able to open them while near your checkpoints, you can now open them wherever you want.}

1650 words

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Alright, I won't lie I've gone through a little burnout with this story and I'm really annoyed by the constant contract problems webnovel sends me that I think I'll have a little brake and focus on my studies.

Don't worry I have a few chapters prepared for the next few weeks but after that, I'm not sure I'll post anymore.

Hopefully see you soon :p