princess
Alby47
RemramMenzai Isanami
Time: Night
Location: Gaurav
Interactions:
Mentions:
Equipment: White Haori, Gauravian luck charm bracelet, Steel Chain Shirt of Deflection (3 uses per day), Disguise ring
Gaurav
A walk that felt long and taxing, became more bearable upon entering his home. The familiarity, the warmth and the myriad of scents; assorted flowers, their flowery aroma gently permeating the air alongside freshly grown berries, a mix of raspberry and strawberry. Though it was the sense of his family embracing him which soothed his bruised and battered body, the seal's painful after-effect lingered all across his prickling skin.
He thought to take it somewhat slow but knew that the group lagging behind would be coming along shortly, too drained for any more interaction for the night. Only pausing briefly to wash and clean his blood-stained right hand, the cool water stinging his palm; a faint, but sharp intake though thankful for it helped distract from the headache pounding persistently so.
Taking notice of his Gaurav Charm gently hugging his wrist softly clinking and splashing. The charm, consisting of five fangs, each tied to the hair-thin silver strand of spider thread; three of them adult while the remaining two were from adult. Each of them were sharp, save for the smallest at the center, clearly not a wolf’s tooth, but stranger yet, were the ruby red lines seemingly etched throughout it.
The unpleasant thoughts creeping at the fringes, claws scratching faintly still. It seemed whatever had stirred was quite yet finished.
Footsteps nearing the front door reminding the wolf, who then carried on his way towards the main hallway connecting to the room. There, he paused briefly; gazing at the door to his parents room; even as the pounding persisted, he wished to check on them.
Their heartbeats confirmed no irregularities and with it came a bit of relief which lightened the pressure assaulting his body currently, albeit only slightly.
A moment more lingering, Menzai quietly made for his bedroom, the door plain and the least assuming of the door save for a few claw marks at child height.
Hand paused briefly on the doorknob as he acknowledged them, a slow, drawn out exhale through his nose.
An audible wince leaving the battered wolf’s lips, now safe in the privacy of his den. Whatever pretense of strength he had held was finally allowed to rest, though with it came a crushing weight, his own haori, it’s fabric normally light as snow now felt like lead.
His body now sagged forward, tired eyes peering into the room without really seeing.
Vision blurred, head pounding fiercely; shadows crept the edges of his eyes…a low hissing whisper rasping against his flickering ears.
Whoosh
A stark glint suddenly caught his gaze, immediately letting out a small surprise gasp from shock. Heart pounding in his chest..or was it the rap of his mind until he realized it was the mirror placed on the back wall.
And like that, he was back in his room. Dark and quiet save for Menzai’s slight panting. Yet, even without light, the wolf had the room (and the entirety of the house) memorized.
A saving grace in this moment for Menzai’s head was pounding like drums that kept building tempo with each passing second; before long it felt as if the room was spinning.
Unsure of what else to do, he trudged his way through the darkness, each step feeling as if walking through tar.
An unknown amount of time later, a semi-heavy thud followed by the faint clacking of something being knocked over. Some quiet fumbling before his clawed hand found the box of matches, experiencing the first difficulty with the loss of his hand.
A most frustrating and poorly timed experience as both the pounding and his breathing continued to worsen; panic beginning to course icily through his veins. Each failed strike would increase in frustrated aggression
Strike; pant
Strike; Pant!
Strike! Gasp
Strike! Gasp!
Stri-
The warm glow of a newly lit candle crackled to life, illuminating the wolf who had just been gasping, now crouched over the desk and with it finally found the ability to breathe; sweat spilling down his face.
Menzai could do little else but remain crouched, hovering over the candle as he feared doing so might allow the overwhelming sick sensation curling within to take over.
Just as well, with his head still a cacophony of pain, leaving him to work on regaining his breath first before attempting elsewise.
Minutes passed; time he attempted to spend thinking over the events that occurred today though as expected; proved difficult with his mind in such a frazzled state.
Nor the immense weight bearing down on him. So much so that, once the wolf regained his composure, had carefully pushed off the desk where he would gingerly undo the haori, finding himself needing to almost peel the fabric from his skin as if it had nearly melded to flesh.
A relieved sigh as the apparent heavy robe was dropped over the edge of the desk, it’s damaged sleeve barely hanging on by a few threads. A fair representation of how he was feeling in this instance.
Was it over? Menzai could only hope as his barely conscious body wobbled weakly, held up only by his sole arm now. The lack of weight from his left side easily felt, though it was the unsettling sense of still being there, much like the phantom limb phenomena he read about.
A flurry of sickness and confusion wracked the injured wolf’s body; skin feeling hot and cold all over as if inflicted with the flu. He barely acknowledged the shivering or anything around him as he tried to focus on the lone flickering flame, the only protection grounding him.
Slowly the poundings started to die and ebb and with it so too the sensations wracking through him.
Quieter and quieter until the crackling candle and gentle breathing were all that remained. Relief etched his face, thinking the ordeal over finally.
Tap tap tap
The tap of finger on glass. Barely perceptible, and only due to his hearing, was he able to pick it up. The relief, once more turned to confusion.
Scrt scrt scrt
Again…but this time it was closer to claws scratching against glass.
Scrt. scrt Scrt!
On the sound persisted; like nails to a chalkboard to the wolf, whirled in place or as much as capable without removing his arm, being the only thing supporting him.
Turning his head sharply to and fro, scanning each part of his room with slow and deliberate scrutiny.
Nothing.
He was alone. That had not changed and yet the scrt scrt scrt kept clawing with no source seemingly in sight.
The normally calm and reserved wolf started showing desperation and fear.
But saw nothing to warrant. For his room offered no real hiding place, being plain and simple that consisted of a single bed that with a single glance could tell had not been slept on. A single bookshelf holding only two books, the desk Menzai currently leaned against where three photos rested, the center one having been knocked over revealing what had fallen previously.
For a moment he thought to place it back when….
Scrt Scrt Scrrrrrrrrrt!
A pained whine came from the wincing wolf as the drawled out scratch continued.
So loud, now revealing its source as Menzai spun around, where at first he thought to glimpse a terrifying beast standing just outside his room, causing Menzai to try and take a defensive stance, but succeeded only partially as any further would surely make him drop without the desk supporting him.
Realization dawned on him seconds after…what he thought was merely his reflection.
Menzai finally caught a full view of himself and what he saw was far from pleasing. For his skin was nearly ghostly pale and colorful bruises (majority healed by Phia, thankfully); soaked in cold sweat, making the tattoos inscribed over his upper body and back stand out in darker contrast.
( LIke this though the portion of the neck is more at the nape of his neck giving a faint resemblance to a collar)
(The middle and bottom ones inscribed over his abdomen and lower stomach)
They stood out, like black ink on a blank canvas that seemed to still let off the faintly dark violet glow. Along the etched lines, signs of minor red burns and wrinkling as if they had been digging and burning into his flesh.
Though most eye-catching was the tattoo etched onto his breast, directly over his heart.
( LIke this but the wolf in between the twin crescent moons overlapping)
Much like his own eyes, it shared a tiny red glint and were any to take a good, close look might find the tattoo almost appearing like an inky black hole spearing through.
The sister’s blessing….and his curse.
Nothing of what he saw of himself looked pleasing to the eye; images of Darius and Phia’s faces flashed through his mind as he was forced to take in his own gruesome and sickly visage.
All the while, he sought to avoid looking at his left shoulder, but no matter how he tried, the reminder could not escape him.
Scrt! Scrt! Scrt!
It came, yet again. That insufferable scratching sound and then his gaze rested upon his own face.
The pale, sweat soaked face stared back with uncertainty and fear, his breathing beginning to pick up.
Eyes widen in shock as he finally saw it.
Scrt! Scrt! SCRT!
A set of huge, black feral wolven claws scraped at the mirror’s surface, almost as if scratching at his reflection.
Just then, a wolf’s face flashed and overlapped over the left side of his face then pushed against the glass. Black fur rustling; eyes glowing a fierce bright crimson stared back, malice and bloodlust dripping from its rankled maw.
Scrt! Scrt Scrt!.....Groooowllllllllllllllllll.
Scratching; a bone chilling growl permeated the air astride the acrid stink of blood filling his nose like before, only stale.
Menzai found himself rooted in place; unable to process or understand what he was witnessing as he soon felt pressure gripping down on his body or was it his heart; uncertain if it was fear or the seal.
Whatever it was he was feeling, one thing was for certain. This…this apparition? Beast? Whether real or not…was dangerous.
Blood! Rage!
That feral voice rasped yet again in his mind; clawing and scraping.
It was then that black smoke began to form at the bottom of the mirror; rising like black smog, the stench of blood permeating now mixed the rancor of death filling up the mirror till it surrounded his body in the reflection.
Kill! Danger! Spared them…WHY?!
The ephemeral wolf spat wickedly, rage and lust dripping in it’s every words.
Intruders…threatened…..must protect….why?
Why Deny us…Deny me!
It’s voice slowly became more coherent, as if this beast…this monster was gradually improving or gaining strength and at an scarily alarming rate as it's aggression grew in ferocity every time Menzai denied the mirrored beast.
Denied me…allowed them to live!….Why?!
Protect….must protect…isn’t that……all that matters?!
The beast clawed and snapped at the glass; all the while gradually enlarging and becoming more monstrous; fur sharp like razor sharp needles and rows of vicious teeth sprouting in its maw, all dripped in crimson poison.
You…desire to protect…only to fail!
The wolf growled out; this time, however, almost out of wicked glee as if relishing in his fearful denial.
no.
Menzai whispered in response.
A cruel gravelly chuckle rumbled out of the beast, it’s tongue dragged over the surface.
Failure…only failure awaits without me…
no
You need me…
No
Weak….far too weak….but not me….
No.
You can’t deny me
No.
You can’t run from me
No.
Lies….all the lies…but I know
No.
Wanted to tear….rip…thrash….kill...but you denied us
No.
Wretched Fairies….they will take her…
No
They want to take her from us! Let me end them!
No…
KILL TH-
NO!
Menzai exclaimed in fury, refusing to listen any further to the monster's disgusting mockery; having finally gathered his strength combined with the shock of the beast’s murderous declaration.
To put an end to this, Menzai had quickly followed this rebuke by grabbing his haoi and tossing it over the mirror.
As the robe draped over the glass surface, the remaining seconds of visage from the wolf came with its most wicked chuckle yet with an almost cheshire smile, or as close as a wolf could with those crimson eyes glinting with terrifying glee.
Hahhhhh *black smog exhaling from its twisted maw*….hide and run…ignore me…but the day will come…..you will regret letting them live…until then….I shall dream... for the day I shall savor.... the taste of our enemies…
“ Enough….foul beast and return to your slumber.” Menzai sought to challenge confidently, but could only manage a tired whisper.
Then a most unsettling sound between that of a raspy growl and laugh as Menzai saw a single eye staring back, filled with nothing but repressed malice and anger all directed at him. A spine tingling cold filled the grip pressing down on him at all sides.
None may take her from me…any who dare shall feel my fangs….
With the haori finally covering the mirror fully, the horrific sounds and smell of blood vanished.
Next thing the wolf knew he was slumped against the desk; breathing haggard and rough as his body ached and burned in numerous ways. HIs body is shaking from this terrifying experience with a part of him hoping this to be merely a nightmare.
But he knew this to be real..whether in his mind or not.
The monster that had been in deep slumber; now awake and biding it’s time. Parts of him started to doubt and wonder if he could even trust..
No!
He refused to let this…this…. Beastly instinct to stop him. Now here... not now. Not after coming so far! Not after sacrificing his arm!
No matter how difficult or painful, Menzai would not give in to his own instinct’s extremities. For he was Gaurav’s Guardian and he would do everything to keep his pack safe.
To keep her safe.
These thoughts pushed the cruel words from his mind; comforting him. Enough so to afford him enough energy to stand up, where he would pick up the knocked over picture.
Lifting it up, revealing the picture of a young Trinity and Menzai lounging together against a tree, a book on the boy’s lap. With it came the charm that had been hers with its four fangs; one being his own.
A painful twinge struck his heart as he held them gingerly in his hand. A rush of emotions he had long since buried away started flooding through him.
Such that he could normally resist, but in such an abysmally weak state, it was proving overpowering.
Long pass having had enough this night, Menzai hastily placed the picture back in its place in between the other two. The left picture showcasing the Isanami family pre-Phia all huddled together and much like the previous one, the young boy cub could be seen smiling brilliantly.
The remaining picture had Phia hugging Menzai’s side, but unlike the other photos and to Menzai’s own dismay, could see himself neither returning the hug or smiling.
A heavy sharp exhale through his nose; regretting how he had treated her at first and now it was forever saved in this picture. There were countless better ones…
But these were the ones he kept. Further reminders of his resolve and now with Phia’s original family, along with the brothers would be under his care.
Gripping both of the siblings' charms in his hand, the beaten wolf allowed himself to slump down to the floor; back to the desk.” I must be strong. I will endure through it all…long as I breathe, I will not allow any to harm my pack...not from unknown evils…nor myself..” Clutching the charms in his hand to the point the fangs could be felt against his palm.” For them…for Phia.”
“ For you…Trinity.” Whispering his promise, voice cracking at the end as hugged the charms to his chest, a comforting blanket.
Quietly, the wolf sat there, slumped against the desk. Sleep did not come easy, but the comfort of the charms and exhaustion allowed sleep to take him.
Tears spilled with sullen bitterness and longing.
