Just Wandering (Brisinger)

[zozee9]

Mera had finally made it to La'marri after a long journey over water. After being so long without a pack, she was about ready to get settled again. But first she wanted to explore the city, known for its magic. Seemed like a logical place for a new werewolf pack to form.

Walking into the city, Mera didn't bother covering up her wolf like features. A city like this wouldn't think too much about a girl with ears and a tail and if they did, well, oh well. Since she planned on staying around here for a while, it would be logical to search for a job. But she didn't know the rules of the pack yet and didn't want to get on their bad side before she even joined. There shouldn't be another full moon for over half a month, so she had time to wander casually.

The sun was burning bright and it was making the back of her neck all sweaty from her hair. If she had to cover up all of her oddities, she felt as if she would be melting right about now. Water sounded superb and some good meat to go with it after all those days of cold food on the boat would taste heavenly. So Mera entered the closest cafe she could find and sat down carefully (so she wouldn't squish her tail) at a table for two, alone. The food smelled delicious.

[Brisinger987]

Kirnardaz had been sat relatively peacefully watching the town of La'marri, the mage haven, from the barriers between the realms, images floating in fire in Vorax.

The town's ways seemed quaint, almost queer to him. Naturally he was curious. He scanned the town looking for signs of purity and corruption beyond salvation. No corruption, but some purity. A werewolf too. But in the daylight? Very strange indeed.

Kirnardaz watched for a minute before he saw the poacher looking man spot her. Then he decided to drop into a nearby body. That was the most silent way to do it. And the best option seemed like the man in the alley nearby.

He possessed the man for but a split second. He ejected from the body and got his own form back. He donned some armour, but not his, a different set, one that marked him as an Adelan Blue Skull assassin.

He walked over to the girl, and sat down in front of her, leaning in.

"That man over there has poaching kit, and he recognised you as a werewolf my dear. We have to options. You can let me deal with it, and not scream or flee. Or you can deal with him. I can be incredibly discrete though." He beckoned to his eyes, which flared with fiery letters, spelling out "Demon" in each eye.

[zozee9]

Mera's eyes widened in shock as a tall man sat in front of her and started talking without even introducing himself. It seemed awfully suspicious to her. But when she glanced over at the man he was talking about, it did seem as if he were correct. Even still, she understood why he might poach her when she was a wolf, but she doubted he would poach her when she was still in her human form. What would the point of that be?

After finally regaining her thoughts, Mera calmly replied, "Do you honestly think he's going to poach me? In broad daylight? When I look like this? Thank you for your thoughts, but I'm afraid dealing with him won't be necessary." She didn't want to get caught up in demon business, anyway. Then she realized that arguing with a demon probably wasn't the smartest choice. But she had never met a demon before and didn't really know how to deal with one... in fact, all she had heard was too avoid them. But it was too late for that now.

When a waiter came to serve them, Mera asked, "May I please have an ice tea and some steak? Medium rare, please. And get whatever this man wants, as well." If she was at a cafe with a demon, might as well buy him breakfast. It seemed like the polite thing to do.

[Brisinger987]

"Just tea please. However it comes is fine thank you." Even as a demon, Kirnardaz had manners. He tried to be polite most of the time. It was just when people weren't polite to him that he got nasty.

"You misunderstand. He has nothing to lose. He can simply take your pelt, and walk away. Notice the errors in the guards clothing today. One has the wrong pin on. That's an Adelan guard pin, not a La'marri guard pin. Small errors that amateur criminals make. They are on someone's payroll. I would wager that they would turn a blind eye to a random werewolf being killed. But, if I simply point out that I am a demon prince, no more bother should ensue. He can't kill me. Only my offspring can." Kirnardaz smiled at her politely. He would not defend her if the poacher came closer and tried to kill her. It was simply her choice to fight or flee.

"Of course, I can always possess him and make him attack an actual guard. Nothing serious. Just a serial killer. I'm good like that."

[zozee9]

"My pelt?" Mera asked, scrunching her nose. "Meaning my skin? I get taking my pelt if it was fur—not like I'd appreciate it—but what use would normal human skin be? He could target anybody for that." She was starting to doubt that the guy talking to her was completely sane. Demon prince? Poacher taking her skin? Seemed like a bad book. Or a horrible way to pick up girls.

"If it's really bothering you, I can go somewhere else." There was no way she would tell him to attack a guard. And even if he was right and it wasn't actually a guard, Mera wasn't one to support fighting in the first place. She was still trying to wrap her head around his story. She believed that guards could be bought off or replaced by others, but it wasn't as if the cafe was empty. There were other citizens in here, and she doubted there was that much werewolf discrimination, if any. Plus, they had no proof she was even a werewolf. Sure, she had ears and a tail, but she had met wolf people that weren't werewolves. Just normal people that happened to have wolf features.

[Brisinger987]

"If he does attack you, I won't stop him. What would you need to convince you of any of this?" Kirnardaz knew that the eye trick had been just a bit of beauty magic, an illusion to tell her something about himself. If needed he would possess her and make her kill something. Something she didn't want to kill.

"I can possess you, disintegrate him, possess him, disintegrate you, summon a minion to kill/possess you or him, have the minion dice up and eat the waiter. I have limits in a realm no my own, but I can take you to my realm briefly. You will dislike it and possibly die, but I can do that." Kirnardaz leaned back in his chair, keeping his eyes trained on the poacher, who looked to be lurking, but his eyes were fixed on this girl.

[zozee9]

Mera paused before responding. There was still was one thing that didn't resonate well with her. "Why me? Like, if you really are the demon prince, why are you talking to me? Why do you care what I think? If he kills me, that's that. My fault. I accept it. But instead you come over here and warn me—I appreciate that—and then start threatening me. But why?" So maybe it was more than one thing. But even still, it didn't make sense.

She didn't believe that he would possess her or him. If he wanted to, he could have done it long ago. So he was either playing it out and seeing what would happen or he was bluffing. But if the poacher truly did come after her, she would be in trouble. Her best option in that situation was to turn into a wolf, and that was a horrible option. Mera had confidence that the poacher wouldn't make a move any time soon and if he did, like she had said, it was her fault.

[Brisinger987]

Kirnardaz let his dark soul expand and gain somewhat of a foothold in hers, allowing her control, and keeping his form. He smiled, and his mind boomed out in hers. "I am not threatening you... You are interesting to me... I am a bored Demon Prince... Here, let's have a listen to my soul to prove it..." He reached into her soul and powered it up, forcing her to latch onto his soul to survive. It was usually something demons did for fun, soul swapping. On mortals it could be forced, unless the mortal had a strong will. Hopefully she wouldn't.

He let the voices and screams flow from his soul and into her mind. The combined noise was everyone Kirnardaz had crushed the souls of. The loudest scream was his mother's. The loudest shouting was his father's. She could hear them all saying things.

"No! Please! Noooo!!!"

"Nonsense, why would a demon possess you?! You're pathetic! Now put the knife down..."

"Not my baby, please! Pleeaase!!! NOOO!!!"

"How could you Kirnardaz? I raised you! I bore you into this realm! You ungrateful little demon! You would try and crush your ow- AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!"

"You have come to kill me like you killed your mother Kirnardaz? Tell me... You think you ca- Oh gods... No... Kirnardaz, NO!!!! PLEA- AAARRRGGHHH!!!"

Kirnardaz shut the flow immediately after that, feeling she had seen enough now. He was crazy perhaps, and no doubt she would try and run. The chase would be fun though.

"Now do you believe me? That's more than enough proof for me being a demon, hahahahaha..."

[zozee9]

The second Mera felt Kirnardaz start to go for her soul, she immediately started pushing him away. Then the voices came, and her will started to waver. What she heard was horrible and if she hadn't already heard similar things, she would have been screaming. But as a doctor, she had heard screams of pain before. And as a werewolf... she had seen horrible things.

She had also heard the stories—created werewolves that killed their parents when they weren't in control yet—but to purposefully kill your own parents? That was horrible, and that was what it sounded like the screams were saying. It terrified her and she kept pushing it away. She could feel the power start to get weaker, and pushed harder, doing her best to ignore the voices. Then they went away. She knew it wasn't her own power that accomplished it and that the man chose to stop his power.

After taking a few deep breaths, Mera dropped money on the table, stood up, and started walking away. She believed he was a demon—a full blown demon. Just as bad as she had heard. He was bored, so he came to bother her. Then because she didn't believe what he said, he invaded her soul and sent voices into it. He really was insane.

[Brisinger987]

Kirnardaz leant back as she got up, and his tea arrived just in time. He muttered and indiscernible spell, and the tea turned to lave, which he set on the table. As he walked off he heard people scream as the tea bomb went off, splattering molten rock everywhere.

As he walked towards her, he noticed the poacher taking his chance to kill her. He walked forward, taking strides of a hunter. Then he noticed the aura round the poacher. Another werewolf. Best not to tell this girl that. Mera she was called. It was amazing what one could learn through the power of the mind.

He followed the hunter silently, talking to Skalos as he went.

"Skalos-friend, I may have you feed in a minute, would you like that?" Kirnardaz grinned in real life as he spoke.

"We are hungry, Kirnardaz-lord...."

[zozee9]

Mera jumped as she heard an explosion and quickly looked behind her. As a doctor, she couldn't just ignore all of the innocent citizens being hurt. So she turned around, walked past the demon while glaring at him, and went back into the cafe

Taking her bag off of her shoulders and reaching into it, she pulled out a salve. Finding a woman with a hurt child, Mera walked over and rubbed the salve on the kids burn. Then she turned to the woman and gave her the salve. "Do me a favor and rub this on people's burns. It will numb the pain and make them go away faster." She always kept various potions and salves with her for situations like this.

Then she left the cafe again and headed down the street to exit the village. If that demon wanted to talk, he was going to have to do it with nobody else around. And if by chance he was right about the poacher... well, that would also have to be dealt with in privacy. So her plan was to leave the village and head into the neighboring woods, where no civilians could be hurt.

[Brisinger987]

Kirnardaz followed her, from an exceptional distance. So did the poacher. But the poacher was gaining.

Kirnardaz reached into the man's mind, and it was a mess. He couldn't connect two thoughts together. He was no poacher. He was a psychopath, hunting for human skin. Unique human girls to be precise. Not a good tiding for Mera.

Kirnardaz sped up slightly, not gaining, but holding distance.

The poacher stopped, and pulled out a crossbow. He loaded it and fired,  aiming for her leg. In the man's current state of mind, unspeakable horrors were planned. And Kirnardaz wouldn't have any of it.

[zozee9]

Mera could hear a couple of people following her as she watched and rightly assumed it was the demon and the poacher. Apparently the demon was right about the poacher wanting her for some reason, but that didn't make what he did right.

Just as she reached the edge of the forest, her ears picked up on the sound of a crossbow loading. Sounds of weapons were engrained in Mera's head and she could hear them in almost all conditions. So before the arrow was even fired, she was already jumping to the side. When the arrow shot past her, it only lightly grazed her leg and instead wedged itself into a tree.

Turning around, Mera asked, "What was that for?" Taking a close look at the poacher, it was clear that he wasn't in his right mind. His eyes were bloodshot as if he hadn't been sleeping much and his whole body was shaking. She didn't know how she had missed that before. She knew the demon was nearby, but couldn't see him.

[Brisinger987]

Kirnardaz heard the crossbow go off, and smiled. Maybe now he could watch her corpse. It would be curious to see how much he could harvest from this man. Interesting. Truly.

He stood in plain sight, his soul opened to everything listening. The weakened state of mind made Kirnardaz's job easier. He highlighted the worst kills, the most gory, the most begging for mercy. In amongst those was the repeat of his voice.

"See me... I see you... I know you... I am coming for you..." Kirnardaz projected his mind so that Mera could hear what he was saying.

"I know you George... Skalos knows you... Skalos is hungry... Let him feed..." Kirnardaz wouldn't summon Skalos. Not today.

[zozee9]

Mera glared at the demon as he threatened the poacher. It was creepy how she could hear him, but she did her best to tune his voice out.

The poacher, however, clearly was more frightened than she was. As crazed as he was, he wasn't fearless. He had curled himself in a ball, trembling. She felt bad for him but was also weirded out by the laughing that he was doing. He just rocked back in forth, laughing.

Then he suddenly stood up. He picked up his crossbow, still laughing, and aimed it at Mera. While she was sure she could dodge another arrow—this time without getting scratched—if he shot one, she was more worried about what the Demon Prince would do to him. 

[Brisinger987]

Skalos is here George... Turn around...

As the man turned around to look, he blocked where Kirnardaz was from Mera's sight. When the mere second passed, Kirnardaz was gone.

And when the man turned around....

Skalos stood, growling at the man, the tendrils on his back producing a horrifying screeching drone.

The poacher screamed. Just in time for a second of sound, before Skalos ripped the man's neck out and began mutilated and devouring the body. But, surprisingly, the man was still screaming as it happened, experiencing the full agony of Skalos' attack.

Poor George...

[zozee9]

Mera winced when the screeching sound was produced, but was not at all prepared for what was about to happen. The poacher screamed and she immediately stuck her arm in her pouch, reaching for the secret pocket. But before she even got there, the poacher was being ripped apart. Now Mera screamed.

She could deal with seeing blood and guts and torn apart people. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that she didn't normally actually see when people got injured. She just saw them when they already were injured. If only she had paid more attention to the demon... or dealt with the poacher in some other way. Maybe he could still be alive. Mera knew it would be a waste of time and energy to try to save him now.

[Brisinger987]

Skalos looked up from the gory mess on the floor that used to be the poacher, and looked at Mera.

Hello Mera-friend... Can we taste your flesh, like we tasted George-friend's?... The voice emanated from Skalos, before Kirnardaz made him seemingly pop out of existence, back to Kirnardaz's realm.

"Now that the poacher is gone, would you like to talk?" Kirnardaz used his ability to materialise in this realm again, right behind Mera.

[zozee9]

No, I would not, thought Mera. But that man eating thing had scared her enough to push those thoughts away. Her whole body was trembling—minus her hands—while she slowly turned to face the demon.

"If you would like to," she replied, her voice only slightly wavering. The image of the man's gory body was still in her head.

[Brisinger987]

"I wouldn't have let Skalos do that to you." Kirnardaz threw a fireball at the body, and it erupted into bright orange forks of heat.

"Come, we will walk as we converse." He began to walk off, intent on making some constructive use of time