[8 Years Later]
Leyndell, the Royal Capital, located at the foot of the Erdtree, beyond the golden plains of the Altus Plateau. It was a massive, sprawling city of majestic, golden grandeur, situated on a large gaping hole filled with water, giving the illusion of a grand lake.
It was once said that the hole was actually a crater, created long ago due to a shooting star crashing into the land.
The city itself was a blend of towering spires, magnificent statues, and intricately carved buildings to reflect the brilliance of the Erdtree that loomed over the city, bathing it in rays of gold.
Massive walls, reinforced with golden fortifications, stood proudly on the city's outskirts, denying passage to any bearing ill intentions, to the streets of the lower district, paved with smooth, golden bricks, traversed by knights, merchants, and commoners.
They went about their day, either guarding, selling, or laboring under the watchful gaze of the deity that resided in the Royal Palace, in the top-most district of the city.
Nevertheless, despite all the golden grandeur, the city wasn't without its flaws. It hid something horrifying deep below, for there was a secluded part of the city, hidden from the naked eye.
In a more isolated part of the lower district, distant sounds of splashing water echoed through the ears of some, who blissfully ignored the source of it–a well, situated in the corner of an unassuming alleyway.
Those residing within this particular district knew the purpose of the well, and where it led, so they did what anyone would do in their situation, and refrained from going anywhere near it.
To them, anything that was not considered acceptable within the standards of the Golden Order was to be forced deep below the city, through one of the many wells located throughout the city.
Below, a simple network of sewers was established when the city was built, which slowly morphed into a network of pipes, tunnels, sewers, and chambers over time, as a multitude of intricate passageways and blind alleys connected to form a maze-like structure.
Anyone descending here would be met with dark, damp walls, covered in moss and grime, as their noses would be assaulted with filth and decay, and their feet would be muddied by puddles of stagnant water, sewage, and muck that covered the ground.
Infestation ran rampant as swarms of different species of insects nestled in the deepest corners of the sewers, and it was not only them but also rodents that ran amok, mainly rats–as big as a human child.
In the vast network of tunnels, a lone rat scurried about, wandering through a random pipe, chittering hungrily as it searched for food.
Its dirty and wet paws rested on the hard surface of the pipe, as it sniffed the ground.
It traversed the darkness, its eyes having adapted long ago, allowing it to somewhat see amidst the dark.
Curiously, one of its ears perked up as it picked up the sound of dripping water, and something else drew the rat's attention. It moved, hurrying towards the source, as the sounds became clearer.
Pitter-patter.
It was the sound of rhythmic tapping on wet ground, something the rat was familiar with as it, along with every other creature it came across, produced when they moved.
With its limited intelligence, the rat realized the source—the sound of footsteps.
It chased after the source—most likely its prey, with gusto, hunger being an avid motivator. Soon, it came across a corner, turning, it found three paths leading in different directions.
Momentarily confused, the rat felt its sharp senses pinpointing it toward the pipe in front of it, its ears sensing the echoes of footsteps.
It continued running, hearing the sounds getting closer, only to become fainter as it soon came across another fork in the road. Again, it trusted its senses, rushing into one of the pipes as it gave chase once more.
Closing the distance, only for the prey to get farther away, repeatedly, the rat chased after it, frustration filling its veins as it started chittering loudly, fury filling its vision with red.
This continued until the rat noticed something peculiar—it was starting to approach its prey, as the footsteps became less and less frequent until there were no more sounds.
But it did not matter to the rat, as it soon spotted the source of the footsteps standing before a dead-end—a bipedal, humanoid creature with a horned tail, wearing plain, tattered clothing, its size slightly smaller than the rats.
Its back was turned towards its predator, not knowing that its supposed doom was quickly creeping towards it.
Getting close to its target, the rat slowed to a crawl as it approached what it assumed was its prey's hearing distance, carefully stepping on the damp surface of the pipe, making barely a sound.
Sneaking closer, closer, and closer, it did not stop moving, until it was a few meters away from the humanoid creature. Its prey was right in front, and the rat could not be more delighted.
Getting a closer look, it could tell that the humanoid being was large enough to feed it for a few days before the rat would have to start hunting again.
With renewed vigor, it laid low, as close to the ground as possible, preparing to pounce. Tensing its muscles, it waited, and waited, and waited…
Drip.
Until a stray drop of water fell from the ceiling of the pipe, acting as a signal. It lunged forward, making one mighty leap as it attempted to jump on top of its prey, using its weight to pin it down.
Hearing the sound of its jump, its prey abruptly turned around at the last second, its front facing the rat, revealing a face belonging to an eight-year-old child with dark grey, fur-like skin, and horns protruding from his forehead.
It did not get much time to look at the boy's features, as gravity brought its weight down onto the child's body, sending them both sliding across a meter or two, until they stopped right under an open pipe, connected to the one they were currently in.
The impact of the fall elicited a cry from the boy. His face was twisted in pain, his back having scrapped across the rough surface of the pipe, most likely resulting in rashes and bleeding.
Yet the rat did not care.
Instead, its baser instincts kicked in as it enjoyed seeing the pained expression on the boy's face, its snout forming a twisted grin as it chittered mockingly at its prey, the sheer malice oozing from its being seeming to terrify its prey.
It brought its nose close, greedily sniffing the boy's scent as it ran its tongue around its mouth, licking its lips in anticipation.
Finally, the hunger visible within its ravenous eye won over its sadistic urges, and it began to feast on its prey, starting with the neck.
Everything was going well for the rat until it didn't. It opened its jaw wide, drooling uncontrollably, but its eyes fell on the boy's face, finding something amiss.
The boy was no longer terrified, rather his lips had morphed into a relieved smirk. With a hurried intensity, he screamed aloud.
"Now!"
As if waiting for those words, something fell on top of the rat, the impact causing its knees to buckle as it collapsed limply on top of the boy.
It tried to get back up and regain its bearing, but it didn't get the time.
Schlick.
Suddenly, half of its vision went dark, the other half having parts of it dyed in red. It didn't realize what had happened, and before it could make any sense of it, pain flared through its body.
Screech!
Its eye had been gouged out, the realization sending it into a frenzy as it started screaming and flailing around, banging its body on the side of the pipe, hoping to make the pain stop.
On the contrary, the pain intensified as the weight on top of it held on to its fur, not letting itself get knocked off.
Blood flew everywhere as the rat thrashed around, before it jumped in a desperate attempt, landing on its back. This did the trick, as the crash sent the thing on its back careening off with a yelp.
Taking a few moments to right itself, it took a closer look at what the thing was with its remaining eye, finding a horned, grey-skinned girl recovering from the fall.
Finding the perpetrator to be another child, its anger increased twofold. The fact that it was wounded, by a child of all things, filled its mind with fury.
It switched targets, rushing at the girl, who was terrified as she started crawling backward, trying to put distance between herself and the rat, but her efforts were for naught.
Within seconds, it covered the distance and rammed into her, sending her flying into a wall.
"Argh!"
With a thump, her back hit the wall, eliciting a heart-wrenching cry from her. She tried to regain her bearings but it gave her no time, running up to her.
Its chittering sounded like a death knell, preparing to take a bite out of her. It put both paws on her, holding her down as she tried to escape.
It took all of its energy to keep her in place, its wounded eye especially hindering its efforts causing it intense pain as it continuously lost blood, distracting it from properly focusing on the girl.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
However, in its haste, it had forgotten one important thing.
Loud footsteps echoed through the pipe, momentarily reminding the rodent of the existence of its prey. It turned the undamaged side of its face towards the sound of the footsteps, its remaining eye shooting wide open…
Squelch!
Only to be stabbed, completely blinding it. But it didn't stop there, the object went through its eye and directly stabbed into its brain, puncturing it.
The impact from the stab had pushed it onto its sides, making it fall over.
The rat tried to screech, but all that came out was a guttural squeak. It tried to muster any strength, but nothing happened.
Slowly, its consciousness started to fizzle out, and the last thing it saw was a long, twisting dagger, and the boy from before wielding it before its vision went dark.
In the end, all that was left was a bloody carcass, both its eyes having been brutally destroyed.
The tables had turned, and the predator had become the prey.
X — X — X — X — X — X
[1st Person POV]
"Hah, hah, hah…"
The sound of huffing echoed through the pipe as I took in deep breaths, blood pooling out of the rat's corpse that lay at my feet, staining the already damp surface of the pipe in crimson.
I had underestimated the rat's resilience, not expecting it to fight back so desperately.
Well, it was to be expected since it was our first time hunting something bigger than us. Not only that, but I'd let Mehg deal with—
Mehg!
"Sister!"
I looked around frantically, my eyes falling on the resting form of my twin sister, her back laid against the side of the pipe, her nostrils greedily inhaling the moist air as she tried to calm her beating heart.
I ran over to her, my hands instantly patting across her body as I hurriedly checked for any wounds.
"Norgott... Dr–drother, I'n fine…" she uttered slowly. She looked fine for the most part, not counting the little scratches she received during her tussle with the rat.
Yet, I did not stop as I continuously searched, observing closely for any bigger wounds until she grabbed my face, forcing my eyes to meet hers.
"Twuly, I an fine," she insisted, pushing herself off the ground and turning around, revealing her back, and something else.
With a flap, feathery black wings unfurled from her back as she spread them out, mired in dirt and grime, just like the rest of her body.
Though, that's not to say I was any cleaner than her.
"'Ine wings danhened the vernin's assault, so I an unhurt," she tried to assure me, knowing I would keep worrying over her. So I did not press further, trusting her words and my judgment.
With a sigh, I gave her one final lookover before I stopped, putting my concern to rest.
"Onestly drother, thou'rt overly drotective," she said out of nowhere, dusting off the tattered rags covering her body and folding the wings back to make moving easier in the enclosed space.
I raised an eyebrow at the remark, throwing a question her way to expose her "hypocrisy."
"And yet, thou wouldst do the same, wouldst thou not?"
She gazed away in embarrassment as I asked the question, peeking a look after a moment, only to turn away again as she saw me looking at her with a smug grin.
Finally, her eyes landed on me as she faced me fully, giving her answer.
"...Yes. Yes, I wouldst," she said, her voice meek.
"Hehe, no need to be embarrassed," I teased, my hand resting on her head.
Unlike me, no horns were growing from the top of her head. Her hair, rough and coarse as it may be, was left unmarred, something I was quite thankful for.
"I an not!" she exclaimed, trying to pout which looked quite strange, considering she did not possess any upper or lower lips.
She was born without them, meaning her sharp teeth were displayed to the world from the moment she was born.
It also made things like speaking a lot more difficult for her, but she never let it stop her, eventually learning how to speak, even if some words came out completely broken.
I raised my hands in mock surrender, giving the teasing a rest.
"Fine, fine, whatever thou sayeth… tsundere," I said, though I realized moments later that I'd blurted out the last part, which my sister picked up on.
"Soon-de-rei?" she mimicked, butchering the foreign word in her attempt to repeat it.
Normally, I would've teased her for it, but I was distracted, trying to figure out where that word came from, and what it meant.
"Drother?" She called, eying me in concern as I seemed out of it. Hearing her voice, I snapped back to reality, giving a curt answer, so as not to worry her any further.
"I– It's– I am fine," I replied hastily, trying to appear as if everything was alright.
It was fine, I was simply tired, perhaps because of those strange dreams that had started invading my mind not too long ago.
"A'right, 'ut how shalt we re'urn wit' dis to da Shunning Gounds?" she asked, pointing to the rat's corpse, which had stopped bleeding out for the most part.
"Why of course," I started, a sarcastic grin etched on my face, "we shalt carry it back."
Her only response was a complaining whine, and without any words, she grabbed the corpse by the tail end, while I grabbed the front, and together we began the long march, giving our best to drag the carcass back to the Shunning Grounds, as quickly and safely as possible.
X — X — X — X — X — X
man, the dialogue was a pain to write, trying to mimic someone speaking without their lips is easier said than done.