Post by Dominic Alenko on Mar 1, 2012 1:56:04 GMT -8
Spring, 2009.
Day 1
“Wake. Wake and despair! Open your eyes, and see the truth!”
I was already awake. I’d tried to not show that fact, to get my bearings, but I must’ve given something away, some hint. All I knew was that my head was hurting like I challenge the sept elders, and I was chained spread-eagled to a wall. It was strangely round, and it forced my spine to curve out, exposing that area we predators love so much.
How the hell had I gotten here? Just thinking that, and I realized my head was fuzzy. Not the fuzzy you want to snuggle up to on a cold night, but the fuzzy you only get after you’ve been knocked the hell out. Hard. So I opened my eyes. I know it was a bad idea, but hey, it was said with a challenge, and I am Garou. I immediately wished I hadn’t opened them, not a peep.
In front of me stood an affront to Gaia in the flesh; a Black Spiral Dancer. I looked upon his twisted form, and it all came back in a rush.
I remembered everything.
The Spirals’ attack on my sept, Bumpy Roads; them falling upon our people like a plague of teeth and claws. When too many fell too fast, I remembered the call to retreat and evacuate. The Philodox in me knew it was the right decision, the smart play, but the Garou in me was furious.
I remembered that my pack, the Skyslayers, volunteering to guard the rear. The Dancers must watched our sept, for they hit us right when we were weakest. Most of our renowned warriors were away from the sept on quests of great importance. Even our elder council was half gone. But we stood our ground anyway. We all knew we were going to die, but we were going to take as many of them with us as possible. They were a great ocean of evil pulling back from the shore as the wave comes closer.
Screams and blood filled the air. I saw Vincent get literally covered in Spirals, and fall under the weight of them. I saw a glint of silver and watched my Alpha, Wall-of-Gaia, look confused when he put his fingers to his throat, and felt the front of his spine as it glistened wetly in the darkness. I felt that Rage upon me, the one all Garou love and fear. But there was no fear this time. This time, I wrapped that Rage around me like a blanket on a windy winter’s eve. I ripped, I clawed, I chewed. I was the Render of Darkness!
But I was not enough. I know I killed many, but I remember seeing the a silver screaming face hurtling towards me, then a flash of white, then nothing but blackness. And now, here I am.
“Ah, you open your eyes. Good. I am Slay-the-Children, War Leader of this hive.” The Spiral chieftain rose from his haunches, and struck in imposing figure. Easily 7½ ft tall, probably 4 ft across at the shoulders, and covered in scales, he was a beast. In his hand there laid a the hilt of a massive Grand Klaive. It was stuck in the ground, yet still came to his chest. At it’s widest, it was almost 6” across. Formed out of the blade itself, crying faces adorned the middle of the sword, as if it’s victims were trying to push out of the silver blade.
“You like me blade, eh? I call it Torment’s Wail. I killed many a wolf with this beaut,” he snickered at me. “Matter o’ fact, I killed me your alpha, the self righteous prig Wall-of-Gaia. Now, I take his beta. You will dance the Spiral, and you will help my sword drink the blood of the rest of your people!”
“Like hell. I’ll die before I become filth like you!”
“Maybe, but not for a long time...a very, very long time.” That unsettling laugh escaped his lips again, and the gleam in his eyes made me very nervous. “But before you try and get all heroic on me, I’m gonna do things to you your precious Galliards couldn’t even thought up in there worse nightmares.”
“Hah! I AM RENDS-THE-DARKNESS, FOSTERN AND PHILODOX OF THE PROUD UKTENA, BETA OF THE SKYSLAYER PACK! You will never break me, you will never defeat my will and pride as a warrior of Gaia! I can take anything you can think of!”
The startled look on his face that appeared when I started my little speech faded into that laughter. There was something wrong with that laugh. You felt it, like a cold tongue down you spine, reminding you that sometimes it’s okay to still fear the dark.
“That may be,” he said as he raised his hand and waved in my direction. The rock I was chained to slowly lowered into the ground. I pulled and yanked against those chains hard enough to cut my wrists and ankles, but they were too strong. I kept sinking til I was eye level with his belt.
He smiled. “You are a dominant little thing. One day you will be a proud Alpha of a war pack in worship to the Whippoorwill. You will be a great warrior. But first, I will show you how we assert dominance in this tribe. You need to and will learn to respect your betters.”
“You are worth less than the shit this wretched place smells like!”
Anger flashed through those beady eyes, and his arms started to move. His smile slowly got bigger as he saw the realization flash through my own eyes.
He was taking off his belt.
Day 1
“Wake. Wake and despair! Open your eyes, and see the truth!”
I was already awake. I’d tried to not show that fact, to get my bearings, but I must’ve given something away, some hint. All I knew was that my head was hurting like I challenge the sept elders, and I was chained spread-eagled to a wall. It was strangely round, and it forced my spine to curve out, exposing that area we predators love so much.
How the hell had I gotten here? Just thinking that, and I realized my head was fuzzy. Not the fuzzy you want to snuggle up to on a cold night, but the fuzzy you only get after you’ve been knocked the hell out. Hard. So I opened my eyes. I know it was a bad idea, but hey, it was said with a challenge, and I am Garou. I immediately wished I hadn’t opened them, not a peep.
In front of me stood an affront to Gaia in the flesh; a Black Spiral Dancer. I looked upon his twisted form, and it all came back in a rush.
I remembered everything.
The Spirals’ attack on my sept, Bumpy Roads; them falling upon our people like a plague of teeth and claws. When too many fell too fast, I remembered the call to retreat and evacuate. The Philodox in me knew it was the right decision, the smart play, but the Garou in me was furious.
I remembered that my pack, the Skyslayers, volunteering to guard the rear. The Dancers must watched our sept, for they hit us right when we were weakest. Most of our renowned warriors were away from the sept on quests of great importance. Even our elder council was half gone. But we stood our ground anyway. We all knew we were going to die, but we were going to take as many of them with us as possible. They were a great ocean of evil pulling back from the shore as the wave comes closer.
Screams and blood filled the air. I saw Vincent get literally covered in Spirals, and fall under the weight of them. I saw a glint of silver and watched my Alpha, Wall-of-Gaia, look confused when he put his fingers to his throat, and felt the front of his spine as it glistened wetly in the darkness. I felt that Rage upon me, the one all Garou love and fear. But there was no fear this time. This time, I wrapped that Rage around me like a blanket on a windy winter’s eve. I ripped, I clawed, I chewed. I was the Render of Darkness!
But I was not enough. I know I killed many, but I remember seeing the a silver screaming face hurtling towards me, then a flash of white, then nothing but blackness. And now, here I am.
“Ah, you open your eyes. Good. I am Slay-the-Children, War Leader of this hive.” The Spiral chieftain rose from his haunches, and struck in imposing figure. Easily 7½ ft tall, probably 4 ft across at the shoulders, and covered in scales, he was a beast. In his hand there laid a the hilt of a massive Grand Klaive. It was stuck in the ground, yet still came to his chest. At it’s widest, it was almost 6” across. Formed out of the blade itself, crying faces adorned the middle of the sword, as if it’s victims were trying to push out of the silver blade.
“You like me blade, eh? I call it Torment’s Wail. I killed many a wolf with this beaut,” he snickered at me. “Matter o’ fact, I killed me your alpha, the self righteous prig Wall-of-Gaia. Now, I take his beta. You will dance the Spiral, and you will help my sword drink the blood of the rest of your people!”
“Like hell. I’ll die before I become filth like you!”
“Maybe, but not for a long time...a very, very long time.” That unsettling laugh escaped his lips again, and the gleam in his eyes made me very nervous. “But before you try and get all heroic on me, I’m gonna do things to you your precious Galliards couldn’t even thought up in there worse nightmares.”
“Hah! I AM RENDS-THE-DARKNESS, FOSTERN AND PHILODOX OF THE PROUD UKTENA, BETA OF THE SKYSLAYER PACK! You will never break me, you will never defeat my will and pride as a warrior of Gaia! I can take anything you can think of!”
The startled look on his face that appeared when I started my little speech faded into that laughter. There was something wrong with that laugh. You felt it, like a cold tongue down you spine, reminding you that sometimes it’s okay to still fear the dark.
“That may be,” he said as he raised his hand and waved in my direction. The rock I was chained to slowly lowered into the ground. I pulled and yanked against those chains hard enough to cut my wrists and ankles, but they were too strong. I kept sinking til I was eye level with his belt.
He smiled. “You are a dominant little thing. One day you will be a proud Alpha of a war pack in worship to the Whippoorwill. You will be a great warrior. But first, I will show you how we assert dominance in this tribe. You need to and will learn to respect your betters.”
“You are worth less than the shit this wretched place smells like!”
Anger flashed through those beady eyes, and his arms started to move. His smile slowly got bigger as he saw the realization flash through my own eyes.
He was taking off his belt.