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 Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:26 am
Twin silver orbs, like miniature moons, glittered from the shadows of the silent trees, never disappearing from sight, for the creature they belonged to never blinked. The wolf with the perpetual snarl, Krishna seemed made of shadows as she paced, her fur letting her blend seemlessly with a thick darkness that encroached in the wake of a dying day. Her ears were ever twitching, searching for stray words and thoughts that others usually couldn't hear or see.
Yet no wolf called her out on them. No wolf accused her of mental instablity or of spewing lies from her snarling maw.
Krishna was a prophet.
When images flashed in her mind, some so brief she hardly caught them, others so severe and intense they left her a twitching heap on the ground, she listened, paid the utmost attention to them. And so did those around her, usually from a safe distance.
The pack had assembled at her call, for she felt . . . restless this night. The moon shone brightly on the horizon, as if trying to mock the shadows with its light, but the darkness continued to creep even though the sun had left the world over an hour ago.
Its brightness would not touch the shadows tonight.
"Krishna! Why have you called us here? Are we to stand idle beneath this lively moon and miss out on the bloodbath of a good meal?" Thanatos called out as he stalked from between the darkness, his voice rich, commanding, and annoyed at having been called away from a hunt. Hypnos, brother and confidant, walked beside him in silence.
The alpha of Kalosis bared his fangs, the gesture made more menacing by the half-skull of the saber cat that adorned the left side of his face. His bi-colored eyes were narrowed in annoyance, the rich amber orb glittering from the black depths of the skull's eye-socket.
"No no no, my lord," Krishna stammered, dropping until her belly dragged like the lowliest omega. "I sense a change, my lord. The spirits, they cry out to me. A warning, but it is jumbled, unfocused." Her gaze met his, pleading and trying to reassure that she had not called this assembly for nothing, but the words remained scrambled, muffled, coming to her from every direction that created something garbled and mismatched in her head. "I can't . . . "
The forest suddenly fell silent and the female's crazy, unblinking silver eyes lost focus, her lips peeling back from her yellowing fangs. She began to sway on her feet, rumbling growls falling like thunder from her maw. The assembled wolves shifted from paw to paw, exchanging nervous glances. Thanatos stared raptly at the prophet, his bi-colored eyes intense.
Words suddenly filled the air, sibilant, hissing through the silence. Krishna's voice wrapped around the wolves surrounding her, at first a caressing touch. But then the words began to sting and bite, crawling along their flesh like fire ants.
"To control the Three who speak as one
Brothers wage war under a dying sun
The Fates are held in the paws of them all
In the end Sleep will rise and Death will fall"
A silence hung thick in the air and Krishna collapsed, the only sound that of her labored breaths. Thanatos stood silent, his bi-colored eyes wide as he stared at Krishna with something akin to wonderment. He mouthed the short, yet spine tingling rhyme, repeating it back to himself now that the Prophet's tainted magics had left the air, picking apart the words in his mind.
His wonderment quickly vanished under a shadow of fury that made his eyes flash dangerously. Lunging, the lithe male was suddenly on her, bloody paws digging into her throat. He leaned down, the long fang of the saber skull pricking the flesh just below her eye.
"These words, they are truth? Not one of your jokes, old hag?"
She tried to swallow, but the claws digging into her windpipe kept her from doing so. "I speak the truth, my alpha! No lies. No jokes. This I swear to you. I swear!!"
A snarl bubbled from his jaws, but he left her, his thoughts racing.
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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:38 pm
As the harvest moon slowly crept further into the sky, the ending of the day as brilliant -if not more so- as the beginning, brought with it a sensation of life. While much of the world was settling in, taking this time to wind down, it was foolish to say the night alone was the sandman's reigning hours. In fact, perhaps they were his least. With the death of the day, life slowly crawled from the depths of its hiding places, pulling from trunks of trees and deep underground caverns creatures that found solace in darkness rather than a bright, scorching sun.
With life came action. The call had been an occurrence that often brought with it both anxiety and relief, but always anticipation, a breath of intrigue that beckoned the wolves forward to see what sort of news they would soon be blessed to receive. Or cursed. Perpetual steps echoed as the alpha made himself present, his silent comrade mimicking his paws with the same stroke and brush of dust to the point it was impossible to tell whose steps were whose by sound alone. Even the rattling of the chains draped around his neck -licking the ground as they went- were hardly audible.
Like his brother, his mix-matched eyes focused on the female, observing her behavior with mild curiosity. With every meeting it seemed this haggard female offered something fascinating; even when not using her powers she held a certain air to her that begged for attention. And Hypnos gave it to her. But now, now when she was revealing some urgent message, he seemed all the more trained on her, his [removed](though half-lidded and somewhat tired) genuinely interested.
As she slipped into her prophecy he stiffened. The words didn't even initially prompt reaction - instead it was just the change like a torrent upon her that swept him into attention. And when the words did come, each slithering tone beckoned him listen further. 'To control the Three who speak as one'. Hypnos could imagine who it was she mentioned but lingered on them hardly. 'Brothers wage war under a dying sun'. Was this directed toward the two of them? His eyes swiveled to Thanatos, measuring his reaction as if to gage how he should respond as well. Who was this so called war for? 'The Fates are held in the paws of them all'. The Fates, the three mentioned before, correct? Would this mean whoever possessed them would hold their power as their own? The riddle was spindling a tapestry of questions in his head, each begging to be answered, but not so clearly as what arose with the prophets last words: 'In the end Sleep will rise and Death will fall.' His eyes dare not stare at the large masked wolf beside him.
The sandman moved simultaneously with his brother, but not in a violent attack toward the female, but instead to block any further advancement Thanatos might have had on the cowering Krishna. Without thought he left the female on the ground, followed after his brother, and motioned to talk, his expression not at all hinting the serious nature of the moment. What else could he do to remedy the tense air than to put ease to the one who he knew would be most troubled.
"Brother, do not let her words bother you now. I fail to see how her tale can possibly come to fruition."
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 1:01 am
The alpha started to pace, the leather wrapped about his paws dragging lightly in the dirt as he walked back and forth. Fur bristling, he seemed enormous, and his anger and confusion were palpable, almost choking. Even the moon itself seemed to cower beneath his sudden rage, hiding behind the cool gray clouds that started to blanket the sky.
But as always, his brother's calm words penetrated his thoughts, slowed his pacing. His anger seemed to fizzle and now he simply pondered the words of the old crone, picking them apart, asking himself questions much as his brother had.
The first three lines were but riddles, nothing of true importance. Brothers waging war had many meanings, and he wasn't about to jump to conclusions on that one. At least not until he repeated the last line to himself. The last line sent a small shiver down his spine, made the possible meaning of brothers waging war a little more clear.
Thanatos stopped his fervent strides, and stared at his brother with his head half-cocked, what rays the moon gave off making the skull shine like purest white, the old bloodstains turning to black.
"Do you believe she speaks lies than, brother? Or do you think she has finally snapped?" The skull-clad male lowered to his haunches, his head tilting the opposite way. At once he seemed both young and uncertain, and fierce and every bit the absolute ruler he had become. Hidden was the sudden suspicion that wriggled in his heart as he looked at Sleep, his twin and confidant, his only true family and his closest friend.
"If she has lied, I -will- punish her. But I trust your judgment, brother. I leave you to make the call."
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 2:40 pm
The heavy steps of the large male were equaled by the thick brush of leather though the dirt. Unknowing where else to settle his eyes, the gamma focused on the thick little quarries etched through and then erased by Thanatos's sweeping gate. The anxiety slipping through the air was unbearable. If it wasn't his own mind betraying him to blasphemous thoughts due to the prophecy, then it was the air of displeasure emitting from his brother. Those around them stood in silence as well, keenly watching. Krishna, however, caught his attention momentarily. The glare that floated from his eyes lasted but a fleeting moment while he stared at her as if she were to blame, even when her innocence was as someone else who could not control powers others were not so fortunate to contain.
When Thanatos paused, looking directly toward him, he too pulled forward, unable to pull from the magnitude of his brother's presence. The black stains were vibrant tonight.
As he heard him speak, Hypnos moved, his paws drifting in the female's direction but never moved more than two feet. He didn't need to think of an answer...Krishna was not lying. They all knew this, they all knew when she grew rigid as she did that there was no way for her to control her behavior or the spouting that followed. It was his turn to talk.
"No, she isn't lying, you know that as well as I," he paused, glancing toward the female before turning his gaze to stare back into the same specks his brother looked through, "And I don't believe she's lost it either. Her usefulness to the pack certainly outweighs any doubt I might have of her. Maybe, maybe the riddle isn't as straightforward as it seems. Maybe it means something else."
With a few steps toward his alpha he gave an earnest expression. What had he to gain by overthrowing his brother? For what reason did he have to even fathom the possibility?
"My loyalty to you is like the strength of a fortress, impregnable."
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:33 pm
Krishna bowed under the weight of her alpha's gaze, falling to her belly, but she looked to Hypnos as she spoke, a gesture that made Death's hackles raise. "Yes, yes. My riddles are always opaque. Not as crystal clear as a rivulet of water, nor as foggy as a fall morning. But somewhere in between."
Thanatos pondered that, moving slowly towards the crone. Shadowed as he was with the moon at his back, the alpha resembled some wicked demon just escaped from the depths of Telk, his eyes glowing with a slight light of their own.
"Krishna, my brother is right. You are useful to this pack," he murmured, leaning in towards her flattened ears. "For now . . . " Those two words were a hiss and they slide around the female like a hungry snake, the threat very, very clear to her. A shiver rippled through her shadowy form.
Slipping past her, he circled the clearing filled with wolves, looking at them each in turn. Shinsa and Bital, his loyal lieutenants, Grimmjow, that little fiend Krishna had brought with her. The crone herself, cowering like an omega ready to lick his paws. Hypnos, a brother he had never been without. The thought of someday not having Hypnos by his side actually saddened him, but it was something he did not show.
Sadness was a weakness, and as a god, weakness was unacceptable.
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