Torvil
Days were starting to blend together. After the harrowing escape from… whatever the creatures had been, the two had found themselves above the valley they had started in, but with not much distance back toward civilization and salvation. Forward progress had become further impeded by another set of attacks, from different creatures this time, which had harried them in such a way that they had lost their bearings. Or at least, Wardite had lost his. All the rocks and crystals looked the same, and as he sat for a moment, perched on the outcrop high above the valley, he wondered if they were going to die.
They had two days worth of water, three if they rationed well. They had no food, but the Starseeds had been keeping them going, even if they were starting to feel thin. Wardite had been feeling aggressive across the board the last day or two - more so than usual. Everything felt hazy and his fingers itched to slip into his jacket and grab another Starseed. He forced himself to wait.
Once Piy woke up they could go, they’d had to sleep in shifts to scare off the more opportunistic creatures lurking around, but they needed to move and make good time today if they were going to make it out of this hellhole before the starseeds dried up, or they ran out of water…
—
Sleep was the only time Piy felt worth a damn in the past week or however long it had been since they had last seen another living soul. Those beasts didn’t count. They were demons covered in the flesh of make-believe animals that only served the purpose to speed up their ever nearing death. Death that Piy was growing more and more certain they were going to meet.
She had been awake now for a few minutes but had refused to stir. Even with the starseeds being used as their food and energy source, every day was taking more out of her. She could feel it slipping. The sanity had gone first. Sure she had kept it logically together after the first round of panic but that didn’t mean that in the quiet of her mind, Piy didn’t feel as if every ounce of humanity was slipping farther away from her grasp. It would just have been easier to let one of those demons take her. And far more painful.
But the sweet feeling of pleasure at what she imagined Leucite’s face would be if they walked through the Rift and came back on the other side. She would live long enough to see that. He would not get the pleasure of claiming her blood was not on his hands.
“Any sign of life?” Piy finally called out, lifting her head from the ground and turning to see where Ward had taken up his watch shift. “Any sign of anything that isn’t….rocks.”
---
“I don’t know what’s worse,” Ward said from his perch. “The fact that I can answer that with a, no - just rocks, or the fact that the last thing that tried to eat us waited until we were both asleep.” He wanted to spit at that, they’d managed to find a bolt hole and had almost crashed out when they’d been woken by the small creatures attempting to strangle them in their sleep. Thus had led to the sleeping in shifts. He didn’t begrudge Piy her extra few minutes - she needed it more than he did. The itch grew worse knowing that she was awake, and so he turned from his spot, shuffling back along the ledge to where she now sat, hand reaching into his jacket to provide Piy with a starseed.
“Here,” he offered, before grabbing one of his own to swallow down. Normally he would have shuddered with the pleasant sensation of the energy filling his entire body - but it wasn’t even doing that anymore. It was just… hollow. He felt stretched to the breaking point - skin around bones and nothing else. The entire world was hazy, and there were moments where he thought that it would be easier to just start chewing on the monsters for food - if they didn’t turn to dust as soon as they were damaged or destroyed.
Maybe if they could have collected the dust and mixed it with some of their water to make some sort of gruel… It would be better than nothing, if their starseeds ran dry. Granted, with as malnourished as they likely were from the days of no food, they might not even have that much. He looked to Piy for a moment, and there was a flash of raw, urgent need that found him leaning in to bite at her ear, growling into it for a moment before he forced himself to pull back, growling and chuffing as his brain restrained his beastial urges.
“Don’t have time,” He muttered darkly to himself. “Can’t waste the energy… We’ve got to get moving so we can get out of this ********, God damn pit.”
Getting up he moved over to the water jug, took a long sip before placing it next to Piy. “Get a drink and then we’ll move - I don’t know how much further we’ve got - but I’m hoping we can make it out of here in the next day or two. We’ve got two days left on our water - three if we’re light with it… But I’d rather that not be an issue.”
They had less than that much time left just with starseeds… He was pretty sure, he’d have to count again - but he was pretty sure they only had two days worth, if they kept to their three a day.
---
Piy fingered the starseed in her hand, eyeing the points and edges to it. Several days ago and she would have almost purred at having one. Now...Now she just had to scoff at it before sliding the thing into her mouth. There was no more pleasure in eating them. The high was gone. The desire was gone. All that was left was the animal need to live.
Well, live was only part of it.
Ward’s sudden growl in her ear brought the other, hidden animalistic need to the surface. The last time the two had banged it out had been before they had been locked away. Even since they had been abandoned alone there hadn’t been time. It had just been the same thing every day: walk, sleep, walk, sleep, run like hell, try not to die. But the little something else still toyed in her mind. If she was going to die here then ******** he better be desiring her still. At least then she could go down with a smile on her face.
Eyes flicking away, she slid the water back towards him and shook her head. “I’m fine for now.” Without thinking of much else, Piy lifted her hands up and began to undo her uniform jacket showing off the top of the black, skin tight bodysuit that was under the black and green over layers. “Just need to cool off. “ She didn’t remove it but left it open as she gazed out. Leaning over the rock next to her, she mentally went over which direction they had come to figure which they were heading. Sweat was over her body and the heavy rise and fall of her chest gave her a small bounce.
“My guess, that way.” She pointed out towards a flat expanse in front of them. “I remember there was part of the walk that was nothing. Maybe it’s the same area.”
---
Ward watched Piy as she opened her jacket, his eyes going over the curve of her body and how the bodysuit exposed what was hidden underneath. High stress situations did strange things to people, and theirs was no exception. They were both - at the core - very hedonistic people, and one of their major outlets had been denied to them both for long enough that, at least in Wardite’s case, he was on the verge of snapping, letting his guard down and taking hers down with him. Oh, they would probably die if that happened - something would get the jump on them while they were too busy giving into the raging fires that had no doubt built within them in their time separated - but what a hell of a way to go.
It took entirely too much effort of will to pull his eyes from her chest when she spoke, moving to where she pointed with a lopsided grin and a nod of his head. “Yeah, no, I vaguely remember that stretch.” He said, his voice low enough for her to hear, knowing it would carry further than he thought - and he didn’t want to suddenly call down another legion of beasts on their head if he could help it.
“That way it is then,” He said, moving to her to give her a firm, playful swat on her firm, shapely rear. “Let’s get a move on.” His hand lingered for longer than it needed to, before he finally pulled away to make his way toward that direction. If they got out of this alive - he was going to do such horrible, horrible things to Piy. Hell, he might not even wait that long - his body was practically running on animal instincts at this point - all he needed was an opportunity and the right signal and he was pretty sure he’d lose his focus entirely and after that…
Well he wasn’t one to apologize for what he did - and he doubted Piy would care afterward, so what would the harm be?
---
Well that was at least one less thing she had to worry about. One slip of her wrist, one jerk of her hip and he would lose it all mentally. Things like that were a sweet distraction as she stepped from her place and began the journey towards the so called ‘plains’ beyond them.
The climb out of the cliff face had been such a joy to make that Piypite couldn’t help but turn around and flip the cliffs off as she found her feet on flat, solid ground. She wasn’t sure if it had been the weakness in her body or the cliffs themselves that had made her stumble so many times. The blood on her cheek said it was her own fault when she fell face first and slid.
Not that she would admit it.
Now back on solid ground, Piy turned and looked out past them. “You know if we start out that way, we lose all chance of cover we have…”
---
There had been nothing for it, when he’d watched her slide face first down a portion of the cliff face. They didn’t have rope - they didn’t have harnesses - they didn’t have anything beyond their arms and legs and those were pushed to the point of complete exhaustion. A paranoid part of his mind wondered if this was really some sort of hellish training regime set up by Stibnite to push them beyond the realm of humanity - it was sadistic enough that he could believe it to be the case. All the same, when they were finally back on solid ground, his eyes kept being drawn to the blood on Piy’s cheek…
He heard her words, looking out along the plain, before leaning in to lick the blood away from her face, the salty, irony tang of sweat and blood mingling on his tongue for a moment before he tore a strip from his jacket to press it against her wound as he debated.
“Well,” He said, his voice low and raspy as he tried to not think too much on how much his body enjoyed the taste of her blood right then. “We’ve got two options - we make a mad dash across the plains and hopefully find that crazy defile he led us down in the first place - or we hug the cliff face and maybe we end up lost… I mean - s**t - we could end up lost either way, but some of this kind of feels familiar.”
He couldn’t say looked familiar because in all honesty - everything looked the same purple-grey and it was all he could do to tell the ground apart from the sky.
“I think we risk it. We just keep an extra sharp eye out and we get ready to straight up murder anything that comes our way - with it’s own face if necessary…” He added, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.
---
“You sound like you are completely out of ideas and trying to be impressive to some idiotic maiden that you just saved from a castle.” Piypite commented, her eyes narrowing as she used the dirt covered strip of his jacket to brush at her face. That had been a very odd thing to do and frankly it didn’t sit well with her. There was little kinky things and then there was starvation. It was the idea of the later that made her concerned.
Their arrangement had always benefited them both. Now that it was just them…
Brushing away more of the blood, Piy stepped forward to join him at his side. She couldn’t let the pain and anger and hunger divide them. They had been a team since the night she had been….killed. Like it or not, they were stuck together.
“Let’s get going then because standing around here debating is wasting time. If we have to kill something, then we kill it. Because if we were suppose to die out here then I would have rathered jumped off that crystal ledge days ago.”
---
“Oh like you ever need rescuing from any castle,” Wardite replied with a short, bemused snort of incredulity. “If anything the castle would need to be saved from you.”
Wardite ignored the taste on his tongue, mainly because the salty, iron-coppery flavor made him want to drink more water, and was causing his stomach to flip. It wasn’t that he wanted to survive at the expense of Piy…
Wardite viewed her as a partner, an equal even. They had been thrust together into this insane, power filled world by whatever guiding force drove the universe. They satisfied needs and urges in each other that others wouldn’t - couldn’t - understand. Ward didn’t have the mental or emotional wherewithal for love - but Piy was his partner and he would kill for her - it was the closest thing to actual affection his power addled sociopathic mind could manage.
Her second statement had him nodding. “We’re in fire from the hip territory at this point anyway.” He said, hefting the water and moving to match her stride.
They walked for HOURS the flat, empty plane seemingly unchanged with each mile they travelled. When their next rest period came, Ward passed Piy another seed, downing his own with the assistance of a sip of the water. The energy was barely enough to keep on. He felt so thin, stretched to the point that he was about to tear apart from within. He needed to vent his frustrations, but with only Piy around and no cover to try and alleviate the stress in a more constructive way, he was forced to grit his teeth and bear the strain.
“I recognize that peak,” he said as he pointed to what he assumed was the Southeast. “We make it there it’s two days to that crazy gate.”
He was sure of it.
—-
Wardite’s words snapped Piy out of the gaze of a walk she had been in. Her eyes had been glazed over as she walked, following the sounds of his foot prints and and sense that he was next to her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had been debating what next. They would have to make it at least one day pushing through to get back to Negaspace. After that, then what would happen?
Leucite had said he would ‘absoble’ them. Like he was God...HA! So he might forgive them but she would not be so kind. After all, hell has no fury like a woman’s scorn.
“Not that I doubt you but please tell me how that one is different than all the rest? I think it’s melting together in my mind.” Piy did not want to let her hope show. She wasn't ready. She would not be ready until the dirt was behind them and cold tile was under their feet. Then she would be ready to hope that they were alive.
Dirt behind them.
“Uh...War…” Piy finally managed out when she jerked her had back to look at something that caught the corner of her eye. Trailing them, coming from the path they had taken was a cloud of Rift dust. It was too small to be a sand storm, not to mention there was no wind. Yet it was too large to be a single object just moving. Something was causing it...or someone? “I don’t think we are alone…”
---
“It’s flatter on top,” Wardite said, “It’s also taller, I think.”
He was mostly sure. Not to mention that unless they got completely turned around, this was back the way they had come, minus one or two detours due to the crazy creatures and having run along the top of the ridge as opposed to the bottom.
Her statement made him perk up, and he swore.
“We need to move,” he growled, hating that they couldn’t get a moment to check their bearings better. But the cloud of dust was swirling ever closer, and he had no desire to wait and see what was…
His eyes caught another swirling cloud of dust, closer than the first, on their flank. He swore again, grabbing Piy’s wrist to pull her out in front of him as he started to pick up speed.
“They’re flanking!” He shouted, moving to try and get into a steady run… When a third cloud blossomed into view even closer, and he caught the mangy, baleful eyes of large canines bearing down on them from three sides. They had nowhere to go but the flat topped spire.
It felt like a trap. It probably was.
But it was run, or die. Ward chose run.
—-
Move was an understatement. They needed to FLY. Whatever the hell it was kicking up that dust was closing in quickly and two under powered humans were not going to stand a chance unless they got some sort of advantage. Getting out of the middle of this maneuver would be advantage one.
“Whichever one of us thought this was too easy needs to be taken out back and shot at sunrise.” Piy offered, breaking into a full sprint. Her legs hurt. Her chest rose and feel faster than it should have. Her vision was slightly blurred at the edges. Piy didn’t have the strength to keep up the pace she needed to for long. She was built already for short, fast distances or to cover long ones at a slower pace.
Run for your life across the ******** desert towards Pride Rock was not included in basic training.
But she pushed herself through the pain, taking longer, ragged breaths than she knew she should have. It was run or be eaten. Run or die. Run or…
Trip over a bloody stone that came out of nowhere and fall flat on her face.
---
Wardite moved to keep pace with Piy, his own body screaming and burning as he pushed it harder than he had any right to, running on borrowed energy, borrowed time, with no real sustenance and with nothing but the magical energy to heal the small breakdowns in his muscles as pushed his body to the absolute limit of his endurance. But it was run or die, and he didn’t want to die.
Piy went down, to what he didn’t see. If this had happened a few months ago, hell, a few weeks ago, he would have left her there - he would have kept running to save his own skin, her own be damned. But, they had gone through literal hell together - and that counted for something, even in Wardite’s messed up little universe. She was his partner, and that meant she was his - and nobody was going to mess with what was his.
He skidded and forced his momentum back the way he’d come, moving to grab Piy by both her jacket, and the rest of her uniform lower down, attempting to haul her to her feet before the dust could get to them. He hadn’t looked to see how close they were, a part of him didn’t want to know how fast they could actually cover ground. And as he was helping her get to her feet, a heavy weight barreled into the small of his back, and suddenly the two were surrounded by snapping fangs and growls from a pack of mangy canine type youma that bore a striking resemblance to their warden’s own personal youma - save they were probably all of half a foot smaller at the shoulder. But they still snapped at the two, trying to get a hold of limbs in their sharp teeth, tearing at clothes as jaws rang like bear traps.
“s**t!” Wardite hissed as several pairs of teeth raked again his calf, thigh, and upper arm, as he did his best to kick, punch, and otherwise fight the beasts off as they attempted to bite at Piy’s rising form, likewise going for her limbs to try and keep her down.
---
Piy let out a scream just a hair too late. It was a sound that was damn near ear shattering as it released all the fear and panic welded up inside her body. As quickly as she could react, Piy threw her hands upward to cover her head and neck. She could not longer hear anything else but the breath and snarling sounds that came what whatever beast had decided to claim them as their prey. They had come on fast and strong. They had singled the two humans out and nothing would take them away from their goal. Ward and she had been sitting ducks. Even sitting dinner…
The plains had been their only way out...
And their only choice had turned on them.
Claws and teeth sank into her flesh. Her back was being ripped to ribbons and every physical blow made her think they were hitting far more than skin and muscle. Bone had to be exposed. There was no way the pain that seared through her were flesh wounds alone. All she could do to try and curl herself tightly into a ball to protect her vital organs.
Beside her, she thought she could sense the heavy thud as something hit the ground. In a brief moment where her attackers look away towards whatever had caused the sensation , Piy dared to open one eye. Blood and dirt were smeared across her face and blurred her visions. It coated her hands and as she shifted her fingers to look, it only made to sensation of the warm life liquid all more real. She had gotten enough of a look to make out Ward doing what he could against the attackers. From the small glance, it wasn’t much but it was more than her. From the small glance, he had a chance to run.
She wanted to scream for him to go. Save his own damn life. Her’s should have been over long ago anyway. She had always believed she was on borrowed time. Time that was running out.
Fangs sank into her calf, yanking her hard enough that she was jerked from her protective ball and forced to expose her more sensitive middle. There was no time to screem. There was no time to react. All she could do was watch as the creature released her leg and jumped towards her throat. Mouth open. Fangs covered in blood. Her blood…
She was going to die.
She was going to die and no one would care. She was going to die and be left here to rot away in the ballows of hell. She was going to die and…
Her hand tightened around something that stabbed into her palm. In the split second she had, Piy forced her hand to her mouth and swallowed the starseed she had been given seconds before the attack. It was her only hope!
The rush of energy washed over her body and she had a half a breath to jerk herself to the side before teeth cut off her windpipe. The jerk caused her body to flash with pain enough to turn her visions white but she didn’t care. It was enough. Already she could feel a second wave of fighting spirit return to her. Already she could sense the fire in her core burning alive. Burning. It was burning her alive!
Forgotten was the physical pain. Piy was screaming over another pain coming from her chest. It was rising from the depths of her very being clawing its way out. Each gasp of air she took, it clawed that much farther. All over her body, where she had felt flesh torn, now she felt as if something rushed to cover it. Something rushed to restore her form.
No, not restore. It was claiming her.
“GET THE ******** OUT OF ME!” Piy was on her knees, hands flying to her skull as she racked nails over her face. Nails that she then looked at had turned blue. Nails that felt her rage and extended into daggers. Nails that channeled down her hands until she noticed the skin growing up between her fingers.
“AH!” She screamed again as the pack backed away from her. Those that had targeted her were slowly stepping back, moving towards the male. Still a small guard watched as the woman’s body continued to shift.
“STOP IT! YOU ARE TEARING ME APART!” her ears were on fire as something broke through the upper lobes. It raced down her jaw, sealing parts that had been torn open in something that shifted oddly to her movements.
Even her chest and hips were shifting. She could feel her bones alter as her hips suddenly felt uncomfortable for the pants she wore. Her chest was pushing at the black fabric holding it in. All over her body, something was rushing to escape.
And then it stopped.
It stopped and what was in its place was and was not Piypite. What was in its place would never to be same.
“I will kill you all….” The voice had raised an octave. It sounded oddly sweeter, more alluring but every bit as dangerous as she had always been. “I will erase you from existence.” A clawed hand jerked out towards the closest youma and sank into its skull. The creature let out a cry before falling lifeless to the ground.
“RUN.”
---
Wardite had been trying to get to Piypite, trying to at least cover her with his body as he’d been taken down by fangs in his calf. He could hear Piy scream as he was dragged under the tide if slashing fangs and tearing claws. Rage and terror rose in Ward’s throat, an angry beastial roar as he used what remained of his reserves to fight and gain ground against his attackers. He’d had a small advantage over Piy, he’d been upright, and he’d been around canines enough to know a few places that would make them yowl and shy away if struck.
But soon enough they had him down, fangs tearing through fabric and the soft flesh beneath. His hands were torn to shreds, the beasts taking hunks of meat and exposing bone as they glutted themselves on useless flesh. His roars of defiance became whimpers of pain, before Piypite’s defiant transformation sent half the pack skittering over, attempting to avoid the stronger creature’s skull crushing grip.
They grabbed his legs and began to drag Wardite away as he bled out, breaking the pile and giving the pain delirious youth a view of his transformed partner. A soft grin lighted his face at the strangely familiar siren.
At her call for them to run, even the most stubborn of the pack dropped their quarry, running at full tilt away from the new threat. Wardite gave a delirious, gurgling laugh, ruined hands attempting to drag himself onto his side.
“Nice… trick… that,” Wardite rasped at Piypite, his hair was bloodied, his scalp torn. His face was a wash of blood, dirt, and ripped flesh. His fingers tried to reach into his jacket, trying to grab the lifesaving starseed but too damaged to gain ground.
“Need…to...keep….movin-“ Wardite barely managed, eyes lolling back from shock - he was beyond pain now, several organs too damaged to function and in desperate need of repair.
“Be… back…”
—-
Piy had managed to get to her feet as the creatures headed towards the depths of the Rift they had come from. She made to follow but was quickly stopped by the sound of a male voice. Her eyes jerked from the hounds’ trail towards the man grabbing at his jacket soaked with blood.
“Ward…” Her voice was a whisper but she moved, clothes barely hanging off her body, towards his side. “Hang in there. Stay with me….” She cried, words began to race as she scanned his body. Hers had been bad. His was…
The thought clicked in her head. Had been.
Grabbing for his jacket, she yanked it open to find the pouch of starseeds. Hands slipped trying to get it out as her nails tore it open. She wasn’t thinking. She was doing.
“Swallow.” The command came out in one breath while she grabbed his jaw to pull his mouth open and dropped the starseed into his throat. “Just swallow.”
---
What was likely a woozy, delirious quip was muffled as the nails dropped the seed into his mouth, the shine of the seed visible through the welter of gore around what had been his face as his body reacted to the starseed on pure muscle memory.
Wardite swallowed.
There was a long moment before his body tensed, his half-lidded eyes suddenly going wide as his body seized spasmodically. He broke from her grip, rolling onto mangled limbs the ruins of his hands knitting over - not with pink skin, but with a black smooth flesh that ended in smooth slightly curved claws. Claws that dug furrows in the rough dusty soil as he opened his mouth - and roared.
It was a deep, beastial, painful thing. His body tensed, growing slightly more bulky, but maintaining his streamlined form. Everything within him, without him, was pure white fire and there seemed to be no escape. His clawed hands tore at the knitting flesh of his brow, tearing away old, ruined flesh as a pair of curved, pointed rams horns quickly sprouted from his brow, their points curving forward.
His roaring faded to gulps for air, as his eyes turned toward Piypite, his muscles quivering under the strain of their dudden transformation. He slowly rose to a knee, body tense as if ready to spring, his eyes never leaving her form. As his lips twisted into a dark grin.
“I feel better already…”
—
There was only a split second she had to jump back when he rolled away from her. What she watched, what she heard made her entire body tense. Parts and pieces were changing. Things were...growing?
But that dark grin. That twisted, dark grin made the shock of it all disappear. It drew a twisted smile across her own face as she made a show of scanning the new appearance of the man in front of her. Both of them were in nothing more but rags at this point. Both of them bore new physical appearances.
Both of them were alive.
Piypite’s smile became a smirk. A slow, twisted, meaningful smirk. “How much better?”
---
How much better did he feel? It was an interesting question, and her outfit - or rather, the tatters of it that remained - were an interesting distraction. He felt good - no GREAT. He didn’t think he’d ever felt better before. Nothing hurt, there were not aches, no dull pains from the injuries he’d sustained. Everything felt… whole - if a little unnatural. But, his body was thrumming with power and energy, and he licked his lips, his strides closing the distance between them with quick, bouncing steps.
His hand cupped her chin, the claw rubbing against her cheek slowly - not nearly hard enough to draw blood, it would take some force to do that, but enough for her to be aware of the pointed tip of the smooth digit - as he grinned slyly at her, leaning in to n** at her lip before wrapping his arm around her hip, and hauling her over his shoulder, caveman style, like she weighted barely anything at all.
“Why don’t I show you, eh?” He said with an evil cackle of a laugh, before they were off, his steps bounding with a speed and surety he’d never felt before - crossing the wide open expanse around them toward a shelter of rock outcroppings they had been heading for at the start of their trek.
---
“Why don’t….EEAY!” Piy cried out as she was lifted from the ground and flung over his shoulder. “Hey! What am I? A sack of potatoes?” She kicked at him, pretending to fight but at the speed, he was moving too fast that she knew she wouldn’t have kept up either way.
The distance they covered was unimaginable. Where did he get such speed? Such strength?
“The sooner we make it back, the sooner we can see if anything else changed.” The promise and the item she was alluding to was there bright and clear.
---
Wardite let out a low booming laugh that resounded out across the plains as they moved swiftly. He wasn’t sure where all this had come from - but he LIKED it. The unspoken promise only drove him on more as he grinned, licking his lips at the thought. “Hmmm, I like the sound of that,” He growled playfully to her as he turned his head slightly over his shoulder.
He found that he was able to move in a straight line very quickly, his legs eating ground as he found a loping, almost galloping gait. It wasn’t long before they made it to the rock outcropping that had been their target - and then they were moving through the rough-hewn valley that they had exited a few days prior. He found himself having to slow a bit, but he was still moving with a steady speed.
Though eventually - his energy high from the transformation began to wind down, and he felt a little odd in his own skin. The horns were new weight and he had to take his time to adjust his head when he looked around to ensure he didn’t poke Piy with them on his shoulder, the tips were quite sharp - and he was sure they’d do some damage if he could ever bring them to bear - given how fast he was able to move on his feet.
But only in a straight line - like a charge - as the valley started to turn slightly he found himself having to slow to make the turns, else he ran the risk of running himself and piy into a wall - and he couldn’t have that. But, he wasn’t tired - not like he would have been before. So he kept running, even when his other self would have tired. He didn’t count the time, and kept an ear open for if Piy ever spoke. Her voice was music to his ears - he liked the change in her voice, made his spine tingle and he wanted to see what other noises that voice could make…
In what would have taken them three trudging days, he managed in half the time, grinning broadly as they broke up out of the valley floor and out into the area around the strange gate they had entered so many days before. He should have been tired - but he was barely feeling it now. His body practically sang with power. He put Piypite down gently to the ground, his clawed hand giving her rear a playful pat as he did so. Then he rolled his head slightly, and let out a low breath.
“Well, we made it,” He said, stretching his arms out in front of him. “Let’s get the hell out of this place.”
He didn’t break stride with her, though he had to slow his pace he realized to keep in time with Piy’s as they entered the gate that would lead them back to Negaspace.
---
It was cold at first, like a winter chill drying her skin as he zoomed through the space. For a long time, she couldn’t find a place to put her head that didn’t result in her eyes drying out. Once she finally did, she wasn’t sure she wanted to watch as the surroundings changed so quickly.
By the time her feet touched the ground again, Piy felt stiff. Leaning back, her hands on her hips, she heard a few good cracks before she realized her fingers were not touching flesh.
For the first time she gazed down, yanking at some of the ribbons of fabric still covering her and found the cause for the new sensation.
Scales. Teal blue scales covered her in areas currently unknown. That would require time...and a mirror...to see them all. But they were there. They were part of her now.
That was when she looked up, a curt little smile on her face as she turned to gaze at the gate.
“Why don’t we go say hello and thank you to the man who did this to us?” That lick of her lips. That narrowing of her eyes.
Oh she was going to enjoy this.
---
Wardite grinned at her, nodding his head in agreement. “Aye, I think that’s the least we can do,” He rumbled. His voice held a slightly different tenor now, slightly deeper, with a bit of a rumbling lilt to it that complimented his accent nicely. He escorted Piypite out of the gate, but they did not have to go far to find the man they sought to rub their victory into.
Leucite stood on the other side of the gate, leaning lightly on his spear. Iucideal stood at his side, a larger version of the beasts that had laid into them, that had driven them to their change. The general’s eyes were cold and hard as he stared at the pair as they exited the shadowy gate, his face creased into a frown. He shook his head slowly.
“Well, at least your outsides match your insides now,” He grunted, matter of factly, looking at the two.
Wardite began to open his mouth to shoot a mocking retort at the man, before Leucite raised a hand to silence the both of them.
“I would think, long and hard, about your next words,” Leucite said coldly. “I’m a man of my word - you have been granted a reprieve. I will not kill you - but the monsters you have awoken within yourselves surely will, given time, if you’re not given the power to control them.”
The man’s tone was cold and matter of fact. His eyes looked over the two of them.
“You will come with me, and we will see to it that you don’t slip further into becoming useless husks,” He grunted, turning then, but not presenting his back to them fully. “After that, we can discuss what comes next. I might still have use for you abominations.” He said - his voice not hiding the contempt he felt for them.
And all the while, his only thought - was how he was going to explain all of this to his wife.
---
