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Aerials {PRIVATE} - [COMPLETE]

Started by Celegwen, August 09, 2017, 09:53:34 PM

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almighyxcavus

Xanuthos heaved a sigh of relief, he knew he needed to concentrate on two things: finding Zukiro and snapping him out of whatever trance he was in, as well as calming Aithusa down to the point where he wouldn't rip Zukiro's head off as soon as he saw him.
Xanuthos focused as hard as he could, he closed his terrifying dragon eyes, and reopened them, the vertical pupil and iris inverted colors with each other. It was now a white slit against a night sky, Xanuthos detected heat signatures with this vision, really helped out finding food on cold nights.
Aithusa I need you to promise me you'll calm down, this is Zukiro, whatever my body is doing, is not me, something came into my trance and reminded me of my nightmare I had last night, I don't know what it is, but I know it's not me. Celegwen is perfectly fine, in fact she is laying down in a bed sleeping comfortably. Xanuthos can't stay in this state for long, but in the meantime I can communicate to you through him.
Xanuthos had found a trail, it led into the river.
Xanuthos is telling me to tell you, hang on, TIGHT.
Xanuthos soared high into the sky, he then began a straight nose dive for the river. Aithusa held onto Xanuthos's wings as much as he could.
HOLD YOUR BREATH
They hit the water at a blinding speed, streamlining with the current faster than any other sea creature, Xanuthos found an opening in the rocks underneath the river. Xanuthos popped out of the water into a gigantic cavern with a waterfall covering the entrance. Across the cavern was a trail lead by unlit torches, it was too small for Xanuthos to pass through.
Follow the trail, it will take you just outside of where she is, look for a tent with shadow creatures dancing in the drapes.

Celegwen

Aithusa jumped off of Xanu's back and ran over to the trail. He grabbed a torch from the wall and his pupils blinked to vertical slits. He blew a steady stream of fire onto the torch, setting it ablaze and switching his eyes back to human.

"You better not be going anywhere," Aithusa said to Xanu, the fury in his voice well suppressed but definitely not absent.

He had no idea why or how Zukiro would reach out to him through Xanu, but he didn't have the ability to think clearly enough to work it out. He made his way through the shockingly long trail with the torch casting shadows along the wall.

Follow the trail Zukiro's voice rang in Aithusa's head. Look for a tent with shadow creatures dancing in the drapes.

Aithusa drew closer to the end of the trail and started running. There was a tent with shadows seemingly sewn into the fabric itself. He ran around to the entrance and stopped. He wanted nothing more than to burst through, but he wasn't sure he trusted what he would find. "Zukiro!" Aithusa shouted, creating echoes in the cavern. "Zukiro! Show yourself! Now!"

There was no response and he just couldn't manage to stay where he was anymore. He opened the flap to the tent and walked over to Celegwen's unmoving body. Aithusa knelt next to her and squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his forehead against hers. He stomped out the torch and picked her up. She weakly, almost out of instinct, placed her arms around Aithusa's neck, and he stepped out of the tent.

almighyxcavus

"LET GO OF MY AMELIA."
Zukiro appeared from behind Aithusa, he tripped him faster than he could react dropping Celegwen. Thankfully Zukiro caught her just before she anything hit the ground.
"She is not yours or Amesos's to take away from me. She has always loved me and she WILL be my betrothed!"
Zukiro's eyes were still as black as the night, his fur had grown back a significant amount already as well. "This place isn't large enough for you to turn into your dragon form boy, I suggest you leave and never turn back, Amelia is MINE."
Aithusa that is not me! My body is being controlled and it's using my sub conscience to take over! You need to be careful, it thinks Celegwen is Amelia because they look so similar, he will fight with no holds barred, and with my body that could almost kill you even in dragon form! You need to watch your back.
Zukiro's body took off the necklace that the real Amelia had given to him and placed it around Celegwen's.
"I will not let her fall into another man's arms."

Celegwen

Aithusa was using every ounce of his willpower not to light everything on fire. His eyes were practically glowing, something that happened on the extremely rare circumstances where Celegwen's wellbeing and safety were completely out of his control.

Seeing the necklace placed around Celegwen's neck was enough in and of itself to set Aithusa off, but he wouldn't risk acting against Zukiro while Celegwen was in the middle.

"What the hell am I supposed to do, Zukiro?" His anger was no longer hidden and he was a pin drop away from snapping.

almighyxcavus

You need to... break the necklace... it needs to be completely eradicated
Zukiro even though he was speaking telepathically, you could hear the breaks in his voice, he didn't want it to come to this, but for the sake of Celegwen there was no other choice.
He's not going to hold back, but you need to give it everything you've got, your best shot, is to to predictable up until the very last moment, Aithusa I'm counting on you and I know Celegwen is too.

Celegwen

Aithusa took a deep breath, trying to hold onto every bit of his humanity. If he shifted into his dragon form, there would be no turning back. Zukiro would absolutely be dead by the time the fight ended. He saw it was different. It wasn't Zukiro and two lives were at stake, so he had to keep his cool.

"Zukiro," Aithusa said, taking a step forward with his hand extended slightly defensively. "Zukiro, I don't want to hurt her. If you want to get me out of her life, you're going to have to kill me." Aithusa knew he might've been taking a risk, but he was hoping the primal part of Zukiro that had taken over cared enough for Amelia that he would listen to Aithusa's reasoning. "Just put her safely down so we can settle this like men."

After the longest few seconds in eternity for Aithusa, Zukiro set Celegwen on the ground. Zukiro instantly lunged at Aithusa. He dodged the surprise attack, but Zukiro landed a decent gash on Aithus/ cheek.

First blood.

The two of them were at each other's throats, fighting without the use of magic or weapons. Zukiro was fast, really fast. Fast to the point Aithusa was beginning to worry he wouldn't be able to beat the wolf. Zukiro didn't have his manola bow staff with him, so it limited his power. Still, Aithusa's fire would have little to no effect on Zukiro.

Aithusa was able to land several decent blows, but Zukiro's healing ability gave him an advantage. While Zukiro and Aithusa both took many hits, Aithusa didn't have the speedy recovery.

"Zukiro, I'm not your enemy!" He knew he couldn't reason with Zukiro in this state, but anything to try to break through to the real him.

Zukiro grabbed Aithusa and threw him into the tent, breaking the wood and earning Aithusa a nasty gash in the thigh. Mumbling a short chant, Zukiro manipulated the ground to harden around Aithusa's injured leg. Aithusa's heart was pounding and he was struggling to catch his breath. He managed to break open the ground as Zukiro jumped toward him.

Aithusa yanked the broken wooden stick from the side of his thigh and slammed it into Zukiro's chest, right below where his ribs met. Had it been three inches to the left, he would've punctured the heart. The wolf cried out, and Aithusa got to his feet as quickly as he could. Still, Zukiro crawled with labored breaths and grabbed Aithusa's ankle. He tore through Aithusa's left calf, but Aithusa stretched just far enough to reach Celegwen. He ripped the necklace from her, grabbed the dagger in her belt, and slammed the blade into the necklace repeatedly, smashing it to bits. Aithusa whipped around and pulled the wooden stake from Zukiro's chest, before he collapsed from the pain.

almighyxcavus

Zukiro body sat straight up on its knees, his mouth was gaping, and his eyes were as wide as they could be. His body began to shake vigorously and black shadows began to spew from his eyes and mouth. After about 5 minutes of his body spewing whatever darkness that had invaded itself into Zukiro was finally gone, he fell back onto his stomach slowly regaining consciousness. Once his eyes had opened he surveyed the scene and looked down on the broken necklace.
"Must be a shame to whoever necklace that was," he glanced over to Aithusa who had a severe gash in his thigh, Zukiro rushed over, "Aithusa! Your thigh! Let me take care of that for you."
Zukiro began a small chant, and nearby water started to flow from within the cracks of the rocks and onto Aithusa's leg flowing serenely around the wound, he also make a crutch out of earth that adjusted itself as Aithusa moved.
"This should be enough for you to walk on."
Zukiro started one more chant and air started flowing from underneath Celegwen and Aithusa, bringing Aithusa into a standing position, and Celegwen into Aithusa's arms. Celegwen, almost out of instinct, wrapped her arms around Aithusa's neck.
"Follow me, you are not turning into your dragon form with that gash, we're taking Xanuthos back to the fields. And while we're walking, mind telling me what happened?" 

Celegwen

Aithusa reached down and grabbed the necklace, putting it in his pocket. "What happened?" Aithusa repeated as they walked. He limped severely, regardless of the assistance Zukiro provided for him, and blood dripped from nearly everywhere on his body. "What happened is that you have some serious issues!"

They walked through the trail as slowly as could be. Aithusa's arms trembled, pained and weak, but he refused to let Zukiro carry Celegwen. Whether the wolf was actually better now or not, Aithusa wasn't taking the risk.

"You were trapped in a trance," he said. "That necklace was yours. Something that connected you to Amelia." He noticed the wolf's sudden shift in energy, but it wasn't a threatening shift. "You thought Gwen was Amelia and knocked her out to bring here. Kept saying that she was yours."

They reached Xanuthos after a decently long walk. Aithusa limped over and placed Celegwen on the dragon's back. "Zu, I know that you wouldn't have done any of this is you were in your right mind, but you have to understand where this is coming from."

Aithusa landed a powerful right hook to Zukiro's jaw. Zukiro stumbled backward and Aithusa groaned in pain, holding his already injured right shoulder.

almighyxcavus

Zukiro looked back at Aithusa shocked.
"What the hell are you talking about? Who the hell is Amelia? Look I have no clue what just happened, but I know for certain that I would never harm a woman! I have never experienced anything even remotely close to a woman's touch! I don't know how you got your gashes, but healing you and bringing Celegwen back into consciousness is of my upmost priority! Believe me when I tell you I don't know what you're talking about!"
Zukiro was furious at the assumptions made, but he didn't know, smashing the necklace removed all the memories of Amelia his first and only love, as well as everything after he entered the trance. He refused to hit Aithusa back since he was already wounded enough, but he may have had some reasoning as to why he did. He started another small chant that helped Aithusa onto Xanuthos's back, the group soared through the waterfall onward back to the fields.

Celegwen

Reaching the fields, Zukiro got off Xanu's back and Aithusa slid down, hitting the ground harder than he wanted to. He took hold of Celegwen and made his way over to the tree they had slept under. He looked at Xanu who almost appeared to be thankful to Aithusa.

"Zu, you clearly have no memory of what was said or done, but I promise hitting you was justified." Aithusa wanted to make sure the wolf knew that the punch in the cavern wasn't just a random attack.

He placed Celegwen on the ground and sat behind her with his legs extended on either side of her and his back against the tree. Every movement was painful. That battle with Zukiro was more than he had ever taken. His previous fights have always been with an enemy that was formally trained or had someway to reason with them. That fight was against a primal beast with incredible strength and a passion to protect. Plus, Aithusa couldn't transform into his dragon self.

"I'm sorry, man," Aithusa said, knowing the wooden stake through the chest couldn't have been enjoyable.

almighyxcavus

Zukiro tended to Aithusa's wound, chanting all the healing spells he could, one he was finished chanting he spoke:
"I would be surprised if it wasn't, look all I know is what you did for her, whatever it was, is far greater than what any other rider would do for their dragon let alone the other way around. As far as whatever this wound is, its fine, the only thing that can kill me is a beheading, not even a stake through my heart would cause significant damage, it would just rebuild itself within a couple hours. I can tell that it did have something to do with me, and I express my deepest apologies for whatever I did, but whats important right now is that the two of you are safe and Celegwen should thank her hero for coming to save her."
Zukiro bounded back and forth tending to all of Aithusa's wounds. Celegwen began to nudge a little bit.

Celegwen

Aithusa combed his crimson-stained silver hair back on his head as if it had some kind of gel in it. He put the red strand of Celegwen's hair behind her pointed ear. "Hey," he whispered. "Time to get up."

She tried to stand up, stumbling back a bit and accidentally placing her hand on Aithusa's injured thigh. He bit back the pain, letting her get her balance. Celegwen stood, immediately checking herself for all weapons. She noticed she didn't have the dagger from her belt. "What hap-" She saw Aithusa's overwhelming injuries and her jaw dropped. "Oh, my gods, Aithusa! What the hell happened?"

He looked at her and smiled softly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. What happened? You look like your on the verge of death!"

Aithusa laughed and coughed a little blood up. He glanced at Xanu and then to Zukiro who was awaiting Aithusa's answer. The dragon sighed and forced a small smile. "We were practicing our maneuvers and there was a bit of a mess up. You ended up falling off the saddle. I caught you and crash-landed on a rock bed. Got torn up. You hit your head pretty badly, but I tried to keep you mostly safe. Won't be surprised if you don't remember."

Celegwen grinned and took his hand. "Thank you," she whispered, lightly kissing his forehead. She looked at Zukiro. "I'm assuming you have more experience treating wounds than I do, so I'll get you some water." Celegwen stood up and walked away, disappearing to the edge of the river.

almighyxcavus

Zukiro went around Aithusa tending to every injury he had, the gash on his thigh finally looked like it was starting to close up, but he was still far from comfortably walking on it.
"If anything, I would at least remember that you still have't given her a shot." Zukiro said with a grin whilst tending to the wound.
"If that ain't love at its core, then I don't know what is, and I've never loved before. If your looking for signs, security, or anything else to confirm something stop looking because you're becoming blind to the beauty that is right in front of you."
Celegwen returned with more water, Zukiro took off his shirt dunked it in the water rinsed it out, and dunked it again. He placed the wet shirt onto Aithusa's thigh, then after a brief chant the shirt was completely frozen.
"Im trying to keep the blood in place so it can start scabbing as soon as possible. Once we can see the part just beneath the skin start to dry up, you should be able to start walking on it comfortably, in the meantime...," Zuiro motioned Celegwen to grab his bow staff, "I want you to walk with this, I've had this staff since I killed my father. Personally, not only for the medicinal sake, I think you should have it. You could make way more use of it than I can." Zukiro was grinning from ear to ear as he placed the 6'0 manola staff into Aithusa's hands. "It is made from the wood of a hundred year old manola tree, thus the only thing that can break it is demoncraft and black flames. Celegwen could you kindly bring the rest of this water to Xanuthos, he's probably dying from thirst."
Celegwen took the bowl of water to Xanuthos, as he was about to finish about half of the bowl, he spat it out completely.
Not. Funny. Sweaty. Wolf.
Zukiro was laughing hysterically, he turned back to Aithusa and whispered.
"Also take it as a gift, for your future betrothal ceremony, " Zukiro winked , "I'm going to head into the markets, see if I can cook us up a lovely dinner for tonight, I should be back before sundown. I'll leave Xanuthos with you two just in case, I do not want you to turn into your dragon form until that gash is almost completely healed," Zukiro started to walk to the gate, he shouted to everyone "don't do anything fun while I'm not around! I should be back by sundown!."
Zukiro disappeared into the gate, still carrying an unusually large amount of gold with him. Man those self defense classes REALLY do pay off.

Celegwen

Celegwen knitted her brows with a slightly uncomfortable grin. Aithusa glanced at Xanu and Celegwen. "He just gets quirkier and quirkier," she said, kneeling next to Aithusa. "How do you feel?"

"He might be quirky, but the wolf knows how to treat a wound." Aithusa leaned most of his body weight on the bow staff and painfully got to his feet, denying Celegwen's assistance.

"You shouldn't be standing yet. Your leg is far from healed."

Aithusa laughed, grimacing as he took a step. "Come on, Gwen. When have you known me to let any injury stop me?"

His eyes flashed, activating part of his dragon self, and his pupils became vertical slits. He made his skin heat, unfreezing the shirt and making it fall off of his leg. Celegwen frowned, folding her arms across her chest while knowing protesting his actions would be completely useless. Aithusa smirked, knowing what she was thinking.

She let him limp over to the firepit, but helped him sit down on a log. "Gwen, would you mind getting some more fresh water? I'm gonna start a fire."

She smiled softly and took the bowl down to the river. Aithusa started a fire and turned to Xanu. Can you get Zu to stop with that? It's one thing to talk about it with me. I don't want her to overhear anything.

almighyxcavus

Xanuthos while attempting to clean his mouth from wolf sweat.
Sorry. I. No. Know. Love. Zu. Know. Keep. Secret. Trust. Zu. Plus. It. Funny. Watching. Your. Face.
Sit. You. Need. Heal.

Xanuthos sported quite the evil grin, but with all good intention. Aithusa rolled his eyes.
Zukiro made his was through the markets looking for ingredients to make a fine meal for everyone.
He stopped by the butcher and got 20 venison steaks for just one gold bar. Making his way over to the spices he managed to buy at least one of everything. He went through each and every one of the shops perusing everything they had to offer. He even went back to the brewery to grab two more kegs if the ale he fell in love with as well as the blue ale that needed some ginger, Zu approached the brew master's son.
"Ah, hello again good sir! I have to say thank you, for whatever you did the other night really helped my father's business skyrocket, as a token of appreciation, any barrel you want on me."
"Mind if i could get the blue tinted one?"
"Why of course! Also I added the ginger as you suggested, and now its one of my most selling brews!"
"Told ya. Also let me get two more of the gold one."
"Coming right up. Also let me get you a wagon for your other items."
The son came out with a wagon, Zu dumped all of his other purchases from the day in it, Zu tied the three barrels onto his back and dropped another 3 bags of gold on the table.
"Sir, I only needed one, the blue ale was a toke-"
"Its my way of saying thank you, to your father, make sure he knows that his old friends son is a proud werewolf monk. I hope to meet him soon again one day."
Zukiro stepped out of the brewery of the man that shot the arrow that changed his life forever.
It was just before sundown, and just as Zukiro was waddling back with the wagon and barrels, he spotted Celegwen and Aithusa chuckling at Xanuthos who was attempting to eat a fish he caught from the river from atop his nose.
Zukiro set everything down, started a small chant, and tables made of hardened ground arose. Some were just around the firepit for cooking purposes, whilst there was a larger table just off to the side designated as the dining table.
"Hey everybody! I got all the stiff for tonight, also Celegwen I brought this special brew just for you. Since I remembered you don't drink, this brew has barely any kick to it, even after having half a barrel you'll barely feel any difference."
Zukiro set all his ingredients down and went to work.

Celegwen

"Oh, Zu, you didn't-"

Aithusa shot her a look, and she stopped talking. "Thanks, Zu."

The wolf masterfully cooked the steaks like he'd done it thousands of times before. Realistically, he probably had. Aithusa poured pints for the three of them, passing them out. As they evening progressed, Celegwen was quieter than usual. She was normally on the quiet side, preferring to watch from afar than interact directly. Still, it was different.

"Are you okay?" Aithusa asked, lightly squeezing her thigh.

She nodded. "Zu, I'm sure you would have observed by now my overall personality," she said. "What you may not know is that Dragonriders are specifically taught not to question their masters. The teacher-pupil relationship is built upon respect and trust, so students are expected not to question what they are taught. I was actually almost expelled from the academy multiple times because I ignored that rule completely. I believe it's one of the reasons why Aithusa and I are the most successful team.

"You must understand that I respect you as a student would a teacher, but I can't stop thinking about what you said earlier. Did you really kill your father?"


"Gwen..."

almighyxcavus

Zukiro shot Aithusa a look.
"Aithusa its very rude to question someone's curiosity, I'll admit it's more of a darker scene than i would like to remember, but an important one nonetheless." Zukiro fixed himself in his makeshift earth chair sitting upright.
"My father was a proud dragon rider and a good one at that, almost as good as you two but he just didn't have as much of a bond as you two do. Regardless, watching him fly on Xanu was the coolest thing I saw as a child, it made me so jealous. So one night, while my father was on night watch, I snuck out to Xanu's stable and attempted to fly with him. Everything went perfect, the mounting, jumping off the cliff, and then soaring through the night sky. That night I felt alive, I felt as if I was one with the wind and with Xanuthos. Then I was struck by an arrow in my arm, and I plummeted to the ground. Since I didn't have any gear on Xanuthos, he didn't notice until it was too late. I woke up sometime later completely covered in fur, I was beyond scarred I didn't what to do, where to go, where I was, so I just started walking. After a week or so, apparently I had made my way just outside of Serendipity, I found this woman sitting by a small stream watching the fish pass by. She saw me and knew exactly what had happened, she took me into her home and taught me how to become at peace with myself. She never taught me how to handle women though, " Zukiro chuckled a bit, he tapped Aithusa's foot just a tiny bit under the table, " I spent about two or so years with her, since I never got to know my real mother she filled in the gap and I was the happiest Werechild you could've ever had seen. Then one day my father came and found me, after he saw what I had become he blamed it on the woman and plunged a spear right through her heart without even giving her a chance to explain."
Zukiro began to tear in the slightest bit, but he held it back, his claws on his right hand extended completely.
"In my own self-righteousness, for killing the only woman I ever truly loved, and who I saw as a true mother, I plunged my claws into my father's ribs, tore his heart clean out of his chest, and crushed it with own right hand.
After seeing the look on my father's face, I knew I had made a grave mistake, I was in complete agony. I lost both of my parents because of my idiotic decisions, but I've come to live with that and have grown stronger since. The only reason Xanuthos didn't burn me to a crisp that day was because he saw that I knew what I had done, he was the first to comfort me."

Celegwen

Aithusa rubbed his shoulder slightly, his emotional or mental pain always manifesting as physical discomfort. He glanced at Celegwen, who looked sadly at the table.

She twisted the ancient-looking ring on her left middle finger, remembering her own father and the pain that came from losing him. To have taken his father's life must have been one of Zukiro's greatest regrets.

The three of them sat momentarily in silence. Aithusa kept his eyes on Zukiro's extended claws, the dragon's shredded leg a painful clue to just how powerful the wolf was. It wasn't too surprising Zukiro was capable of ripping a man's heart out.

Celegwen shook her pain away and glanced briefly at Xanu. "To be completely honest, I'm surprised the Dragonriders didn't come after you, especially after Xanuthos. There's a whole process to a dragon's retirement, which couldn't have taken place without your father." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Zu."

Aithusa smirked, breaking the bit of tension. "Zu, if you ever need someone to teach you how to handle a woman, I'm your dragon."

almighyxcavus

Zukiro chuckled at Aithusa.
"Son, until you've understood the masterpiece that is sitting right next to you I'll take a pass on that for now."
Zukiro turned back to Celegwen.
"After a about a week since the incident, they performed a proper ceremony for my father, although I requested the sword be kept in the throne room next to his captain's. it was really hard trying to make up a story for that claw mark though, thankfully they bought it."
Zukiro chowed down another piece of venison before looking back at the two.

Celegwen

The two of them nodded, Aithusa smirking a little. "Sometimes I wonder what we'll do when we retire," Aithusa said, rubbing the side of his jaw with no injuries.

"Retire?" Celegwen said. "You are more likely to live in Connlaoth for the rest of your life than retire."

Aithusa looked sarcastically at her. "That's you."

She smirked and pursed her lips. The three of them continued to talk and actually get to know each other, until Aithusa threw back two pints and painfully got to his feet. Celegwen watched him with a slight frown, and he successfully hid the agony of any pressure on his leg. Just on the one leg, he had gotten a wooden stake through the thigh and his calf was torn to shreds.

"I think I need to stretch my wings a bit," he said, leaning Zukiro's bow staff against the table.

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