Private Tales A Different Kind of Monster

[Isaac]

Elbion
Briar

Mreow.​

"Oh yes I am well aware that this is not your fault." Isaac said with a roll of his eyes, fingers interlaced with one another as he sat on the small roof top. Rain drops were pattering down, though none seemed to touch him as a field of warped air hung above his head. Still, the ground was fucking soaked, his boots were wet, and he was pretty sure that his socks would soon follow.

He hated being out here, and he especially hated being in this fucking city.

"You promised the fucking thing wouldn't be here." Isaac said, looking at the cat stretched out on the only dry patch of stone on the roof top. It's bright yellow eyes staring up at him with nothing but innocents. A huff left the dropouts lips, and he rolled his eyes as he turned his attentions back to the dark alleyways. "Nothing can ever be fucking easy."

Isaac complained as Teekle laved his tongue over his paw and folded it over his ear. A clear sign that he was neither listening, not particularly had any sort of care for what the Warlock was saying. Another roll of his eyes carried his gaze towards one of the further alleyways. Lips thinning as he noted the distinct lack of anyone else on the street. "Are you sure it's even in the city?"

Mow.​

Teekle's answer came.

"I thought you said it wasn-"

Mreeeeeeeeow!​

"Okay, okay, I get you." The Warlock said, lips thinning for a brief moment as he let his fingers slowly smooth some of the wrinkles in his coat. "I just think there's better ways of doing this than standing on a cold roo-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud screech echoed out in the distance. The sound carrying even over the patter of raindrops and immediately drawing Isaac's attention. His gaze flickered towards the newly constructed buildings in the distance, some of the scaffolding still clinging to the architecture with coverings flapping in the breeze.

Mow.​

Teekle said, and Isaac let out a groan as he snapped his finger. A strange haze flickering on the stone wall besides him. "Don't brag."

The Warlock admonished as he stepped into the rippling wall.

 

[Briar]

It had been far too long since Briar Atherton set foot in Elbion. A few years at least. While true, she had spent the better part of a decade a resident- her inheritance securing her a small home deep within the city, she’d left the place to collect dust while she traveled west in search of the creatures that gifted her that inheritance far too early in life. Her mentor, Faera, invited her a few years back to join an exclusive group of monster hunters and she had been traveling with them until now.

Until there had been rumors. A monster in Elbion. A monster near her home.

A monster who’s description was eerily similar to the one she had given to authorities the night her family had been slain.

She’d been wrong before. She’d been fooled by the bounties placed on creatures from Elbion to deep in the Spine claiming to be the very creature she was tracking- never quite matching what she had experienced. But the memories still clawed at the edges of her mind, threatening to consume her as she navigated the familiar cobblestone pathway.

It was quieter than she remembered. Her heart was deafening with how hard it pounded in her chest. Memories of the townsfolk laughing, singing, celebrating were now a distant echo that mixed with the howling wind. She’d never seen her home without the bustle of its inhabitants throughout every hour of the day and night. The people were scared.

It was then, as she turned the corner past a bakery, that she heard it. The screeching of something nearby. Her hand tightened around the hilt of her moon-forged blade and she pivoted on the balls of her feet, changing direction to get her closer. With each step, the howls grew louder. The monster of her nightmares was nearby.

The hunt was on.

Isaac

 

[Isaac]

Three roof tops over, the cobbles of one of the walls began to warp and shift. They pulled into one another, melting into a seamless mass of stone from which stepped Isaac. Teekle pranced out just a few seconds later, the glow of his bright yellow eyes burning through the lingering dark of the night.

Isaac’s gaze scanned quickly through the half constructed building.

Most of the outer edifice had been completed. Walls and even a roof already having been finished, but the inside was nothing less than hollow. No furniture, flooring, or even windows had been installed. As the Warlock stepped inside, his footsteps echoed out within the empty building, fingers clicking loudly as he rid himself of the shield above his head.

Mrow.

Teekles voice echoed quietly in the building, his paws softly pattering against the stone floor as he moved towards the left. ”Careful.”

Isaac said as he moved forward, his gaze falling on a trail of blood that had been stretched across the ground and into the next room.

”The thing can kill you too.” He reminded the little cat, and then slowly followed after the trail of blood. His stomach churning as he found where it lead not soon after. A woman lay half crumpled against the far wall, her stomach split open, her face a mask of terror locked in a scream.

 

[Briar]

She ran, and ran until the she was forced to stop at a door slightly ajar. Just as strange as the open door in a city of fear was the sudden silence. She peered around the door's corner into a dark room of nothingness. No monster. Nothing.

Unless...?

Her glowing white eyes slowly scanned the stone flooring for any sign of visitors, welcome or not. The place was nearly pristine. Nearly. Briar tiptoed further in, holding her breath as she followed what appeared to be droplets of blood.

She drew her weapon as the droplets merged. The body must have been too heavy for the monster for they soon became a thick trail leading from one room to the next. Her smile was wicked with excitement to face the beast which slay her family just one room over.

"Halt." The man in the room was greeted by a stern voice and a shimmering blade held threateningly in his direction. Briar had to admit it, she was not prepared for the beast to look like a weak man...but she knew so little of what it was she was chasing. For all she knew, it could have the ability to steal the likeness of those it eats. For a time it may have even looked like her own parents.

Regardless, she would not let it steal another soul not yet ready to traverse to the beyond.

Isaac

 

[Isaac]

"Are you sure you saw it-"

"Halt."

Ah. That was a new voice, and as soon as he heard it Isaac froze like a statue. His joints turned to stone, casting a shadow in the moonlight as though he'd been caught in some sort of spell. A comical mockery of anyone in the criminal profession.

Isaac had been caught enough times by the local Guardsmen to have a quiet loathing for their ilk. Offering them mockery, if only he understood it, was the least he could do. "Get away from that, Teekle."

Isaac said, unfreezing in the moonlight and glancing towards Briar.

"We'll likely have to incinerate it." As the Warlock spoke, Brirar would suddenly feel the press of something small and furry gently glancing up her leg. She would find the small housecat, gently purring and buzzing with excitement.

Mreeeooow.​

 

[Briar]

"Away from that?" Briar was snippy with the unwanted visitor.

She studied him in the moonlight, her glowing eyes allowing her vision to adjust to the night. A brow raised, her head tipped to the side. Her hand never left the blade.

A human. Her eyes darted beyond him and back. She had not expected the beast to be able to shift. The books she scoured, and years of training, did not once ever mention that it could take the shape of something so harmless. A chill ran down her spine. Had that been how it infiltrated her own home all those years ago? A helpless, filthy looking human boy looking so pathetic that her parents had allowed him to stay in the middle of the night.

The chill stopped and she glanced down at whatever brushed against her leg. It had a friend. In one swift move, Briar kicked the housecat several feet away and moved to pin the man-beast to the floor. Her blade was inches from his neck.

"Why are you here?" Her voice was cold, full of anger and hatred. She should have killed it when she had the chance.

 

[Isaac]

Teekle hissed loudly as he landed a dozen feet away from Isaac, Briar's blade flickering through the air and stopping just inches short of his neck. The moonlight flickering out from a nearby window and casting over the Warlock's face. "Ooo."

Isaac intoned, waving off the cat as it stalked back towards Briar. Teekle's face having shifted slightly, fur curling back to reveal a second pair of eyes and having tripled in size in just a dozen strides. Yet as it passed through a shadow, the cat seemed to return to normal. Bounding quietly closer towards the Warlock.

"I'm hunting a monster, of course!" Isaac declared enthusiastically. "I heard there was trouble in my old neighborhood, and I just had to help!"

One might have heard a note of sarcasm in Isaac's voice.

His hand slowly came up, fingers unfurling to reach out and grab the edge of Briar's blade. "I mean you no ill-will, I assure you."

The Warlock said, offering his most rapacious smile.