Spirits of the Earth

Castles in ruin, legendary warriors of all houses had fallen. Arlgrad was faling to ruins. The keep had been destroyed by the enemy coalition of houses. The war was incited by the death of her father. And soon, her mother persecuted rival houses that had made it known to challenge the throne.

Before and after the death of her father. She took it merely as an excuse to toppleany opposition. Ofcourse, this caused friction. And soon, they had a civil war on their hands.

And the move was made. An enemy coalition had started attacking their holdings and the keep. Plumes of fire incited the machines of war. And those only fueled the anger on both sides. Both sides suffered many losses this very night. And one of those was her mother, poisoned and weakened.

She ushered her only child to the caves below the castle and explained an intricate ritual to her. One that required a sacrifice of blood, yet it would ensure her survival. "Now run!" Those were the parting words her mother gave Evelynn. Bright blue eyes teared up, silver hair stained with blood from the earlier battles swayed softly as the young girl turned around and fled into the caves. The last thing she heard was the battlecry from her mother. Followed by the sound of spells being cast.

But those soon were drowned out as the young mage fled further inside the network. But as sound faded, so did the light. And soon, she was covered in complete darkness. But she still fled, before smacking facefirst into the wall of a sharp turn she couldn't possibly see. She landed rather ungracefully on her butt and held her bleeding nose with a soft sobbing. She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready for any of this.

Footsteps moved in. Multiple. Persecutors that aimed to kill off the Draconia bloodline like that. The faint torchlight slowly illuminated the halls she was in. And she knew her pursuers were close. And they would catch up soon. Which would mean the end for her. Tears stung in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She didn't want to die yet.

But the footsteps, the shouts and the torchlight only drew near. They were following her magical presence. She couldn't hide. Evelynn had to make it to the shrine. The girl picked herself up and rested her hand against the wall, proceeding her trek into the darkness yet again. But now, slower. She just had to make her way to the shrine.

And soon, she entered a room that oddly stuck out from the caves. Decorated by remarkable runic carvings in the wall. A pedestal in the middle of the room. And what this pedestal held was an glass orb, filled with darkness, several chains around the pedestal and anchored in the walls of the cave.

"Here she is!" The blood in her veins turned to ice and her eyes widened, face contorting into pure terror. She pulled out a knife and rushed over to the orb, she just needed to splash blood on it. And she'd be saf- A blood curdling cry came from Evelynn as a searing hot pain pierced the back of her lower leg, she tripped, looking down at her now unusable leg, an arrow sticking through her calf and shin. She grit her teeth, almost breaking them. She looked at the shrine and crawled forward with the knife, making a slice in her hand and reaching up.

She just needed to do this. Just a little bit closer and.

Her head was slammed against the shrine, the knife pulled from her grip and instead used to slam through the back of her hand, pinning her against the shrine. "Let's have some fun with this Draconia bitch first," her assailant snarled towards his fellow soldiers. She felt rough hands on her sides, aiming to tear her clothes off. More tears rolled down her cheeks as she used her other hand to touch the blood-soaked knife that still pinned her hand to the shrine, before managing to make a soft streak of blood against the orb. "Kulthanos-... I summon thee," she croaked painfully, before her head was slammed into the pedestal once more to shut her up and keep her down.

That slight touch of the girls hand upon the smooth surface of that perfectly round orb was just enough to set it listing to one side. It did so, rolling perhaps an inch or two before coming to a stop against the chains surrounding it.

Suddenly, it rolled in the opposite direction, defying physics as it did so, moving of its own volition. It struck the segment of chain and immediately bounced in another direction, picking up speed as it bounced again.

Soon, the sound of glass on metal was constant, louder and louder as each blow became more forceful than the last. Then, a straining sound as the glass cracked. Still it bounced, almost impossible to see.

And then it shattered, and the only sounds to be heard were the tinkling of glass shards upon the stone floor, followed shortly after by the sound of liquid splashing upon the floor. The girls would be rapists stopped at the sound.

Above, previously unseen by the girl below, as well as her aggressors, a skeleton leered. Suspended as it was by the chains encircling it, it hung loosley, barely held together by ancient withered ligaments and rotting cartilage. Suddenly, though, the empty eye sockets of this long-dead Guardian filled with a blue light.

The black, oily liquid upon the floor suddenly pooled in a single spot, an inky tendril rising up into the air, seemly solid now. As it rose, it twisted about, as if searching for something, perhaps scenting the air. This way and that it jerked, before pointing straight up to the silent, dead spectator anchored by its prison of chains.

The tendril of blackness, now fully off of the floor, gathered in the dead skulls slackened, loosely hanging jaw, sliding down the ancient bone and covering it in an oily film. Gradually, as the men below gaped up at the spectacle, each and every bone was awashed with this sinister substance, turning darker with each passing second until each dusty frame was colored a pitch black.

All was still silent through these events, until the chains began to rattle as the weight upon them lifted - the blackened frame of the ancient corpse liquified, the same black substance that had started all of this falling to the floor at first in drops, then on short gushes, until the entire thing was gone, lying there upon the floor in a large puddle.

Gradually, the puddle began to rise again, forming a vaguely humanoid shape. This shape appeared almost to be comprised of a multitude of small, black tendrils like the first, one great writhing mass. Upon what passed for the things face were two pinpricks of bright blue light, placed as though they were eyes. The lower half of the head split wide, as though a mouth. A loud, gutteral roar, unintelligible and primal, issued forth from this orifice, echoing throughout the shrine.

The men turned and fled, and the thing seemed to feed on their fear. From its chest, a single long tendril, black as the night, shot forward. The closest man was pierced through the middle, a great gout of blood signalling it's exitting from his chest. Still the tendril continued forward, speeding up now as if strengthened by the blood it had spilled. A second man was pierced through the back of the neck - a second later, with a grinding, bone crunching sound, the side of his skull exploded outwards, gray matter splattering the wall and the man running next to him.

This man experienced a fate that was quite painless - the tendril shot forward, passing him to double back and plunge into his eye, the extreme speed it now had instantly liquifying his brain and exiting the skull.

The fourth man was spared, running screaming with boots slapping upon the stone.

The three men whom shared three gristly deaths were pulled together, slamming into each other with a splash of gore, held aloft by that sinister black tendril. Slowly, the three corpses were drawn in to the tendrils source.

The humanoid monster with the blue eyes seemed to explode, as if a large stone were thrown into a pond. The parts of its mass that were blown outward suddenly closed over the three entangled corpses, pulling them in like a giant maw.

And the ensuing change was immediate. Writhing tendrils ceased their movements, drawing within to form a smoother surface. The blackness lightened to a flesh color, slightly pale and waxy as if light had not touched it in quite some time. A thin, handsome face emerged from the monstrous head, intense blue eyes showing forth. Arms and legs, bare to the open air, touched upon the ground as it fell to hands and knees. Shaggy brown hair fell to cover its face and eyes, and a thin but fairly well muscled chest heaved in its first breaths.

With blue eyes unblinking, the male creature came to stand, and with balanced, sure-footed steps moved down the few steps to move around the central pedestal. It stood over the girl, her clothing torn and bloodied, intense eyes looking her over with a hard glare.

Idly, the creature remembered this girl as one of its targets. The very first target. It wondered why it was unable to kill and consume her - even now, it wanted to, but it couldn't. Even now, it was trying, but it's body wouldn't respond to its commands.

The creature looked down at its body for the first time to see the black mass of writhing substance where it's heart would be, if it had one, and wondered what happened to it. Then, it's eyes flicked back to the girl.

"....why..." it said, in a soft voice that was vastly different from the gutteral roar it had made before it had a body.

"...why can I not....kill you....?"

Yet, the transformation took a tad too long, the bouncing of the orb wasn't enough to pull attention. And by the time it shattered, Evelynn's body was being forced back and forth violently due to her assailant. She grit her teeth and sobbed silently against the pedestal.

Yet, he suddenly pulled away as she heard the tearing of flesh and the squirting of blood. The scent of death clouded the air in the small caves.

The words of Kulthanos only made her whimper and curl up slightly, letting out soft, pained sobs. "I.. You're-.. You're mine," she stammered. "Free.. me," she croaked the command. "And heal me.."

The creature stared down at the girl for a moment after she spoke, body vibrating as if fighting against something inside. The monster on human flesh recoiled backwards, and then took an unwilling step forwards. It bent downward to grasp the dagger sticking through the girls hand, holding her pinned down.

It ripped the dagger free, a small splash of blood splattering on its arm. The red droplets upon its flesh rapidly sunk into its skin and disappeared. Suddenly, the monster froze in place, and it's intense blue gaze shifted to red for a split second.

"You...are Evelynn. Draconian. You...resurrected me."

Those eyes shifted back to blue, but it's stance remained frozen for several seconds. Inside what passed for its mind, the girls blood memories implanted within, flashing quickly.

Suddenly it stood.

"Kulthanos. I am...Kulthanos. And your mother...."

Those eyes narrowed, and within it was screaming as the rage tried to take over, willing it's body to maim and destroy this girl before him, tear her asunder and consume her flesh, feast on her blood.

But it couldn't. It - he, since there was a name now - couldn't harm the girl there. Some force held him back.

"....your mother killed me. Your father, too. Ripped my essence from my form and imprisoned it for their own use."

Kulthanos glared hatefully, and focused on the girl before him. He knelt down and ripped the arrow from her calf and tossed it aside with a clatter. When he stood, he regarded her with narrowed eyes full of spite.

"You are free. Heal yourself - it is not within my power. I am a weapon, and I have no anodyne for your pains."

"They," she swallowed heavily, sitting up against the pedestal, her face bruised and bleeding. One of her eyes was so swollen she couldn't look through it anymore, it was completely shut. Tears slowly trickled from her undamaged eye, however. "They imprisoned you.. Because you were dangerous," she breathed, whincing in pain. Not to mention the mental trauma she just suffered. But she had to get through it.

"You.. You are bound to me.. I die, you die," she croaked softly. "No.. Second chances.." She glanced at her leg through her one good eye. "Take me.. To a healer.. Protect me.."

Kulthanos glared. "I cannot....cannot die. No. Not..."

But inside, he knew it was true. The spell of compulsion that held back his actions seemed to pull something of him towards her...

This worried him. He could feel his insides crawling as she continued bleeding. He glared at bed again, hatefully, yet still bent to pick her up with one arm under her knees and the other under her shoulders.

"A weapon....to protect? They made a poor choice. But... I will."

He pulled her to his bare chest, feeling her warmth seeping into his cold not-flesh. Usually, physical contact with another would instigate instant consumption....but his body made no reaction.

He truly was tied to her, completely. He hated it.

Bug nonetheless, he was compelled to obey. "I know not where we are. I will take you where you direct me."

He then carried her down the long hallway, leaving bloody footprints behind as he walked through the gorey corridor.

"Peacekeepers.. Also possess weaponry," she retorted in return. As he picked her uphead, however, she hissed in pain, eyes sliding closed. "There'll be an exit.. Soon," she explained, more than obviously at the end of her reserves.

"Find the nearest village, name no names," she instructed with a soft, hitched breath. "And.. Let me be healed.. Hurt-," she let out a whimper. "-No one.. Just.. Run.."

Kulthanos found this exit, and stepped outside into harsh midday light, a very cold wind whipping against his naked flesh. Luckily, he wasn't technically alive, and didn't feel it.

But he felt that she did, and felt the need to hurry. He glanced from side to side, until he spotted curling smoke in the distance, white line that of a fireplace or cookstove.

Pressed for time, he broke into a dead sprint, propelling them forward at great speeds, heedless of the burning city behind him. He leapt up and over whatever obstacles presented themselves, jumping at heights mortal men would be incapable of and landing with an impact so soft it was as if he never left the ground.

He raced into the small village, stopping in front of a man, who stared in shock at the naked man carrying the beaten, silver haired girl.

"Healer. Now."

The man simply lifted an arm, pointing at a nearby cabin.

"....thank you." Kul tilted an eyebrow even as he said this. He'd never thanked anyone for anything. Ever.

What was wrong with him?

He stepped to the cabin, and kicked the door, breaking the lock and stepping inside. He kicked it shut again, and walked to an open bed and laid Evelynn down upon it.

"Healer!" he yelled. "Heal her!"

One of the attends present screamed in terror as a naked man violently kicked ini  the door. He did make quite an entrance there, immediately having the attention of everyone present. Some silent and, nervous whispers surfaced, whispering the name of the girl Kulthanos wass holding. The same girl that was now unconcious.

"And what in the seven blighters o' hell is goin' on here?!" An elderly woman called out as she came to see what thethe commotion in her hospital was about. She was way too busy with treating the commoners caught up in the conflict. Yet her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she finally grasped the identity of the girl he was holding. Thank all gods above this was a loyalist village.

Yet the elder healer also knew that the young princess was hunted. "Follow me," she stated, turning to push open a door and entering a long hallway. A series of doors visible. She walked to the end of the hall and opened another doorsoft, stepping in. "Put her down on the table," she commanded, scowling softly. "And.. What are you? You reek of malice."

He laid Evelynn upon the table, and stumbled backward immediately upon doing so. When he was able to straighten himself, one could see that the intense blue of his eyes was lightening to a paler blue, the color gradually fading. She was weakening - so was he.

After a moment, his gaze flicked to the old healer woman. "....I am Kulthanos. I am a weapon...bound to her life force."

He pointed at Evelynn, lying there unconscious. "If she dies....I die. I do not want to die. So, stop paying attention to me."

He raised his hand, and it began to narrow and lengthen, fingers fusing together and forming an odd, silvery blade. Tendrils of an odd black substance crawled and writhed up and down its surface. "Heal her. Or I will consume you. I want some clothing, also. Heal her, and bring me clothing. Or I will consume you."

His speech was odd, disjointed as within him two separate instincts warred against one another. One wanted to kill and consume everything within the village....the other was compelled to save Evelynn's life.

"Kulthanos," she spat the name, more than aware of what he was now. She had heard the, tales from when she was a child. The menace, the abomination. But, regardless, she had her princess toto save. And she did what was told, paying no heed to the creature. One wasn't afraid of a mongrel in chains, despite how loud it may bark.

She extended her hands, a dim, golden glow appearing as she began to heal Evelynn, hands shaking visibly. Nut slowly, the wounds closed, the scratches and bruises on her face started to disappear and the swelling on her eye seemed to lessen. And soon, the healer was done, letting out an exhausted breath.

"Leave," she stated. "Before you endanger the village even further."

"I cannot leave until she awakens...I am...compelled to stay."

He looked at the old woman, and narrowed his eyes. "And I am compelled to defend her life.....but as it is..."

Suddenly his face became manic, his eyes wild and wide, and his mouth twisted into a broad, insane smile.

"...I have no such things stopping me from killing you! YOU HAVE A CHOICE BRING ME CLOTHESCLOTHESCLOTHES!!!"

He stepped forward, his entire body shaking, that insane grin ever present.

"NAAAAOOOOOW!!!"

The commotion and shouting woke Evelynn from what was a feverish coma into a rather fitful sleepsleep due, toshe the healing. She sat up, eyes widening as Kulthanos loomed over the elder. Who seemed to be in a state of shock and pure terror.

"Silence! B-back off!" Evelynn called out, pushing herself up and rushing over towards the healer. Who had sunk to the ground. Eyes wide in fear. "Sorry," was all she could murmur. The healer glanced at her. "My lady.. please.. Leave," she croaked, before looking back to the floor, shivering all over.

Evelynn could only nod. Defeated by the fact one of her loyalists now had a panical fear. She glanced up at the weapon. "Kulthanos. We leave now."

Suddenly the blade that his hand had become warped and twisted, before forcefully snapping backwards, it's form writhing until it melted back into a hand.

His aggressive stance disappeared, and be stood straifhg, hands at his side. He glanced at Evelynn, his face passive but with barely restrained rage in his eyes.

"...Yes. Let's leave...where do you want to go?"

His voice was soft once again, no hint of the maniacal screams left behind. But still, the rage in his eyes danced like fire, just beyond the bounds of his compulsion.

"I-.. I don't know," Evelynn answered with a soft sigh. "We need to find my uncle," she pushed herself up from the table and moved towards the door. "He'll know what to do, when we reach him, you'll be sealed again, your service will end."

She pushed the door open, feeling still weak and nauseous. "Assassins will have come for us, we need to move," Evelynn murmured, walking through the hall, before weakly slumping against the wall. "Carry me." Her voice was a pained croak, her eyes closed slowly. Yet she was still conscious.

Kulthanos blinked, eyes narrowed. "I do not want to be sealed again. I don't want to be stuck inside another blasted little artifact only to be used again."

Apparently his sense of self preservation was stronger than his compulsion to obey - he stepped toward her, visibly angry, his arms writhing with dark tendrils for a moment.

"I will take you where you ask and I will slay everything that moves to stop us, but I will not be sealed again."

"You have no choice," she answered, weary, tired eyes glancing up to him. The normally brilliant blue eyes, normally filled with joy and life were now faint and lifeless.

"You're a danger to all."

If a being such as him had blood, he'd have paled.

"Then....I'll stay with you! You tell me what to do, and I have to obey. Don't seal me again. Just....keep me around?"

He moved to lift her into his arms again, and began walking. "....I suppose I can fulfill other uses than a weapon. I feel almost normal while you're close. The rage is....still there, but it's suppressed...and manageable. I can think clearly..."

He looked down at her as he walked, the color of his eyes slowly returning to normal as he looked into hers.

"...don't put me back in there again. P...pl....please."

He stammered out that last word. He'd never used it before.

"Maybe..-" she let out a tired breath. "We'll see," she closed her eyes as he picked her up. "Kulthanos.. You killed friends and family of mine.. Why? Because you felt like it," Evelynn murmured as they walked out of the hospital.

"I loathe you from the bottom of my heart."

Kulthanos was silent for several moments. He had no idea why he did the things he did. There was no reason to it, no reason to him.

His eyes turned go the path before them, but seemed faraway. When he spoke, his voice was soft and expressionless.

"...if a sword, forged and meant only for battle, could walk and talk and act, I imagine it would do the same. The difference between me and such a thing is...a sword has a wielder. Up till now, I did not. When unchained, I exist only go destroy, but... Fettered by this binding between us, I act on your will."

He glanced down at her again. "....I cannot say I like it. But if it can keep me alive, so be it. I cannot apologize for the things I've done, as I have no memory of doing them other than the screams and the fire and the blood."

He looked up again. "If I am bound to you, I am your sword.And, perhaps, also your shield."

"And I will seal you once again," she responded with a soft frown. "As a sword needs to be sheathed, so do you," she retorted, following him in his figure of speech. "Else, it will cut innocent people. And you were unsheathed for too long."

She sighed softly. "Just.. Move on," she stated. Forcing herself to keep awake. Because when she was unconscious earlier, her guardians had almost killed a healer. It seemed her control slipped when she slept.

The guardian gave a sound like a cross between a grunt and a growl, and continued walking, otherwise silent. It seemed he was destined to return to that state between life and death, able to think and rage but with no body or senses with which to act.

....that only enraged him more, but he couldn't act on it further than clenching his jaw hard enough his teeth cracked, audibly so.

They just reformed anyway...it wasn't as if he was capable of doing any lasting harm to himself.

Finally he spoke again, not looking at her. "How far is your uncle from here?"

"I.. Do not know where he is," Evelynn replied with a pained sigh. She didn't care for the anger he portrayed. He couldn't vent it on her. He couldn't even harm her. She woud let him seethe. The girl felt no sympathy for Kulthanos.

"We'll move on to the next village and ask for information."

Kulthanos nodded, unaware of the familial bonds that people shared, and not at all finding it odd that she didn't know where her uncle was located. They would simply have to search the land.

But he'd leave the questions to her.

"....is there a direction that I should head in?"

"Just follow the road," Evelynn murmured, eyes slowly sliding shut.

After a short while, an armoured warrior blocked the path. And one stepped from the brushes behind them, lighter armoured, though. "Put her down 'n leave," the heavily armoured character stated with a soft sigh towards the still very naked Kulthanos.

Krulthanos stopped in his tracks, staring at the warrior before him. His intense blue eyes, sharp like that of the predator that he was, bored into the gaze of this other.

He simply turned around, intending to simply walk away, and saw the other, too.

This one, though....black hooded coat over chainmail, black cloth pants, boots....Kulthanos smiled. He turned to step towards the side of the road, and gently set Evelynn on the ground.

"....you'll see. I can be your sword...and your shield."

He turned away from her and whatever response she might have, and looked to the heavily armored man first. Steel armor didn't suit Kulthanos at all...this man could be consumed. What served as the guardians stomacj writhed within his belly.

His head tilted to the side, his eyes narrowed and his mouth widening into a maniacal grin.

"There. She's on the ground....take her. I dare you."

His voice was shuddering as he barely restrained his excitement, but these men may instead assume it was fear.

Evelynn glanced up at Kulthanos as he set her down. "Dispatch of them," she answered with a weak murmur. "As humanely as possible."

The knight glanced at him. "Step away from her," he warned, approaching. Yet, he had drawn his blade and was ready to fight.

The one behind him had drawn a crossbow, trimming it at Kulthanos' back.

Kul heard the sound of the crossbow priming, and smiled. These fools truly had no idea what it was they were getting into.

He spread his arms wide, showing that he was unarmed, as if it weren't obvious. He took deliberately slow steps forward, towards the man in heavy armor. The distance wasn't great, only a few more paces and he'd be nose to nose with him.

But he didn't need to be. He suddenly shot both arms toward him, and as he did they were wrapped in those same dark tendrils as before. They lengthened and thinned, bladed barbs ribbing the entire length as they shot forward

One of these deadly, bladed tentacles wrapped itself around the mans sword hand, the extra length twirling itseld around the actual blade. The other speared straight through the mans helm, through the visor, his face, and out the back, then wrapping around his torso.

Kulthanos pulled both arms back, and one removed the mans hand and blade. The other pulverized his skull, sundered his armor, and sawed through him like his armor was made of cheese.

The tentacle that had grabbed the sword released it to allow it to fly, spinning end over end, toward Kulthanos. With greater speed than before, he retracted the bladed tentacle, morphed it into a normal arm again, and caught the sword by its hilt.

Quickly he turned, and with strength that belied his stature, launched the sword toward the crossbowman.

At the same time, a crossbow bolt found Kul's neck, while a sword blade found the others face.

The Guardian ripped the bolt the rest of the way through his neck, and looked to the first man, seeing only a writhing black mass as his physiology transformed the corpse into more of whatever Kul was. He pulled this mass toward him, and summarily absorbed it into his body.

He lowered his arms, the entire exchange having lasted less than ten seconds. Looking to Evelynn, be gave a small smile.

"...there was fear... But no pain. If it's all right with you
.I'm taking the clothes off of that one." He jerked a thumb to the corpse with the crossbow.

Evelynn watched the ensuing scene, Kulthanos tearing through armour and killing the man within the blink of an eye. It only affirmed her suspicions. This creature was dangerous and it needed to be sealed as soon as possible.

Granted, she needed his protection. By no means could she protect herself with her current aptitude to cryomagic. She was an ice elemental, an enchantment involving ice essence made sure she was born one. So she had great potential.

But potential was all she had.

And this gore was more than sickening. She felt her stomach pull together and soon, she doubled over, leaning on both hands. And soon, a retching resounded as whatever was still in her stomach pooled on the floor. She panted heavily, before looking up at Kulthanos. "I-.. Don't mind.. Take it. Be quick."

He'd dressed quickly, stripping the corpse of its clothing in record time. He left it alone after that - he felt the need to not sicken his...handler...more than he already had.

By the time he'd returned to her, he was just slipping the coat on. He'd left the chainmail and tunic alone - armor was unnecessary for him, and he only needed enough to look decent. Besides, he liked the look.

He glanced at the puddle of sick beside her, and crowned. "....I apologize if my...methods...turn your stomach. But surely you were told what you were getting into by resurrecting me."

He extended a hand to her. "Perhaps you should walk. If carry you, any jostling might upset your stomach more."

Why do you care!? came the thought, the rage just held in check beneath the surface.

He didn't know. But he was liking having a clear head.

"I knew exactly what I was getting," she spat, before closing her eyes with a deep breath. "I had to. Else the Draconia bloodline would be destroyed."

She glanced at the hand and slapped it away, getting to her feet. "Don't act as if you care," she said, squinting at him, before shaking her head and moving on. "Because I know you don't. Let's just move," she murmured.

And she didn't want to think off her mother. She was all alone now. But she couldn't mourn now.

As she stepped past him, he followed her with his gaze, that hand still outstretched after she slapped it away. After a moment, he  shoved both hands into the pockets of his coat, and called out to her.

"Your parents are gone, Evelynn. Your kingdom burns around you - I saw it, in your blood, when I pulled the dagger from your hand."

He began taking steps toward her, keeping close to her lest the spell of compulsion fade with distance.

"You're all alone...except for me. You might as well get used to it! I'm all you have right now."

He shook his head, and sighed. Human thoughts and emotions were...complicated.

"What I'm trying to say is....take what you can get, Evelynn. Because, otherwise, there's nothing left. Eventually, you're going to have to trust me. You may not like it, but as far as friends go....I'm all you've got. So we're going to have to get along, somehow."

Because you're all I've got, too... came the lonely thought. Now where did that come from? Sanity made no sense to him.

She grit her teeth as he approached, shaking her head. "Shut up," she murmured softly. Forcing her eyes shut as her steps slowly came to a halt. As he drew near, she didn't say anything. She didn't move. Except for her shoulders, which shook every so slightly.

"Shut up"!" She cried out as he finished his own remark, turning around to look at him. Tears in her eyes. Her teeth were bared in a disgusted scowl. "Don't even try to act human!" She said, the tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. "You're not! Do not speak of my mother! Do not speak of my legacy! Just-.."

It was only then that she noticed the tears, before dropping to the ground. Sinking to her knees with a pale face. Not due physical pain or exhaustion. But because of grief. It seemed the shock had finally hit her.

"You were a mistake," she murmured softly, sobbing between her words.

If Kulthanos was at all shocked by her words, he didn't show it. He let her scream at him, his hands shoved in his coat pockets. Only when she slumped to the ground did he speak.

"Of course I'm a mistake. My very being is a mistake." He turned to the side, now-booted feet crunching on the frozen earth. This time, when he spoke, he didn't look at her.

"I may not be human...I may be a mistake. But with the control I have now, with my being bound to you, I feel human...and I may be a mistake, even just your mistake by summoning me...where would you be if I wasn't here? If those men who chased you into my shrine instead chased you into the hills and caught you?"

He then turned his head, glancing at her out of the corner of one too-blue eye.

"It was a horrible scene that I had stopped. I may not have prevented it, but....what if you hadn't summoned me?"

He turned his head more fully to look at her, his eyes sharp and hard, an unusual look on such a passive face.

"Where would you be now, Evelynn, if you hadn't summoned me, and I hadn't saved you? Where would you be, if those men had their way with you? You would be dead. Bleeding to death alone in the dirt."

He pulled his arms out of his pockets, and began walking. As he passed her, he huffed. "At the very least, a little appreciation would be nice. Let's go. It'll be dark soon."

"I said shut up!" She called out, looking up at him. Her face contorted in a scowl, positively growling at him. Yet the tears were still in her eyes. And as the words left her mouth, a ripple of arcane energy thrummed through the ground. And slowly, the dirt started to freeze, growing hard and cold. A flower became encased in ice.

And soon, a tree in full blood became frozen, leaves shattering in a thousand miniscule ice crystals. And it didn't stop there. Even Kulthanos, the abomination he was, could feel his very magical being slowly freeze. She had a lot of power and potential. What she lacked was control.

It didn't take several minutes of the feeling of one's very life force being frozen until it was over. Indicated by Evelynn's head slumping to the ground. She was panting erratically, before dropping forward on all fours, still desperate to catch her breath.

Kulthanos was frozen - quite literally - in his tracks. His legs sheeted over with crystalline ice, and he couldn't move them.

He dropped his gaze to the ground, sighing irritably - this was the most anger he seemed able to vent, despite the fact that what he wanted to do was to  tear the ground to pieces, rip his own legs off and rage against her with whatever limbs were left over.

He couldn't, though. He was rendered completely powerless, completely immobile, and all he had to use was his voice. And that seemed to be doing more harm than good.

His insides roiled, the amorphous mass that formed his body fighting against the cold, constantly circulating within his form to redistribute whatever warmth he had. But it wasn't enough.

He turned to look over his shoulder at her, watching her there on the ground. He stared at her for several moments, and then -

"...I'm sorry, Evelynn." He turned to face forward again, crossing his arms over his chest. All he could do was wait for the ice to thaw. Or wait for her to free him.

Neither option seemed like it would occur anytime soon. But he could wait forever.

The ice shattered, just like that. Whatever life around that that hadn't been ruined resumed it's natural course. Yet the trees and flowers, the grass, critters and insects were now small shards of crystalline ice. Still humming with ana overload of arcane energy from the young girl.

Even the corpse that had been left over by Kulthanos shattered in thousands of pieces. Yet the crystals of those weren't clear. Instead, they were stained with the victims blood. Everything that could freeze inis the body was frozen solid..

And Evelynn was still on. The floor. Panting heavily. And if Kulthanos were to approach, she'd feel unnaturally cold to the touch.

Kulthanos looked down, noting his legs were suddenly free as the ice that had nearly completely encased them suddenly was no more. He raised a brow, and turned to look at Evelynn.

".....?" He said nothing, slowly moving to stand over her. 

He'd felt the magic in her blood when he'd freed her - the ice was no surprise to him. Honestly, he didn't know if he could be surprised. But....why was she still so cold?

He got down on one knee, silently. He could feel the air around her, alive and buzzing with an excess of energy - it set his insides boiling, as if in response to some threat. But, nevertheless, he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Evelynn...are you okay?"

He noticed his fingers quickly frosting over, but he paid it no mind. He'd absorbed enough organic mass to easily repair any damage, and so he gave her a gentle shake,  unsure of how else to rouse her. "Evelynn..."

"I'm fine," she stammered between deep and unsteady breaths. Kulthanos could feel how her body slowly started to warm up again from the absolute zero temperature.

"I.. Just need to rest," she added, her breath still hitching. Her heart began throbbing once again. Slowly at first, but soon, near the heartbeat that could risk a cardiac arrest, as it was working overtime to heat her back up.

She had outbursts before, but none of them were even close to the raw, arcane power she portrayed now. And as soon as she could rationally think again, she was petrified.

Kulthanos' senses worked in overdrive constantly. He could hear her erratic heartbeat as if it were his own, and his brow arched as he listened to it.

"...I'm quite sure you almost died, Evelynn." He took her hand, completely without her permission. She was warming up again - good. ".....if you want to rest, you can. But let's find  shelter, first. I'm fine here, but...I can tell, you're weak."

He stood, and crossed his arms. He glanced around the area, frowning. "....there's nothing nearby, though. I suppose I can carry you again....so  long as you're not going to scream at me anymore."

Then it would've also gone noticed that her heart, while he was completely frozen, had stopped. Completely. Not even the faintest of throbs were heard, or mayhaps felt. She glanced up at Kulthanos when her hand was grasped, her lips pressed together as she tried to glower at him. Yet the energy to expend to it was sorely lackig.

"Fine," was what Evelynn settled on. It wasn't like she had the energy to form any kind of worthwhile protest, let alone scream at him. Which in itself was another reason why he was correct. She was just too weak.

His thin lips curled into a smirk, and he released her hand to instead slide his arms beneath her knees and under her shoulders, maneuvering her to lay comfortably in his arms. He stood, lifting her with nearly no effort.

"If you continue to expend energy like that, every time you are angered, this will be a very short journey for us both. You are aware of that, yes?"

He began walking, speaking to her with his eyes on the path before them. "Perhaps.... There would be a say for you to change the binding between us. Tether our lives in both directions - perhaps we can share our life energy. Mine is...boundless, without being bound by yours."

He smirked again, glancing down at her now, intense blue eyes studying her face to gauge her reaction. "....why, you could be very well live forever."

She glanced up at him weakly, before letting out a soft huff of breath. "I won't rest until my family is avenged," she breathed softly, before closing her eyes. Which cracked openopen as he spoke again.

Watching his face, the very movement of his lips closely. She had to admit. The Kulthanos her parents had warned her about seemed far more mad. And she knew that some extent of her control allowed himto rational thought. Somewhere, she found herself unsure which he enjoyed most. The rationality or the madness.

"And relinquishing my control over you?" Her face contorted into a disgusted scowl, making her mind lean towards the latter. "I would rather not. My lifeforce may deplete, but as long as my magical essence remains.."

"I'm not saying relinquish your control. Keep your will over me - merely change the tether. I...enjoy being able to have thoughts, and feelings other than rage. And I won't lie - such a bond would allow my freedom, as well."

His gaze flicked down to her for a moment, and he noted her scowl - his face only softened in response. "And so long as I am under your directive, I remain...subdued. I carried you to your doctor...and I only lost control after I completed your command."

"Good. Do not lose control again. Ever." She commanded. Lips pressed down in a thin line. And to the contrary of the ice earlier, her eyes were vivid with anger. "I may consider it," she finally said with a soft huff.

"It just.. You understand you're very dangerous." She closed her eyes nonetheless andand sighed softly. "When I summoned you.. The first thing you wished to do was-.." And it was at that moment everything caught up. The events, the pain, her mother, the rape. And she curled up into a small ball in his arms.

And her temperature steadily dropped.

As he heard her command, he felt something enormous change within him, as if someone had pulled a large lever marked 'everything.' He stopped walking, and gave a violent shudder.

Inside, instinct raged as it was forcibly sealed, fighting against the command with every iota of power it held. A berserkers flame was suddenly caged, and inside it burned white-hot, condensed and ready to explode.

But the cage held, and gradually Kulthanos ceased his trembling, and his distant gaze snapped into focus, though with much less intensity than before. He had control, but...

He felt...different.

When he spoke, he sounded subdued, as if something in his psyche were changed, unable to give proper thought and emotion to his words, the inflection in his speech sounding markedly confused.

"Yes...dangerous...what...just happened to me..?"

His gaze flicked down to her when she spoke again, and he responded in kind, his tone off. "I was seeking to consume that which was closest in order to give myself a proper form. There was no rational thought to the action, merely hunger. It was the binding that redirected my hunger."

Despite the odd quality of his words and the repression of his rage - her command seemed to have changed something in him - instinctively he pulled her tighter against his chest when she curled against him.

Comfort. From a weapon...or a shield?

[Well. During lunch break. But the one 24 hours after the promised one. Sorry ^^']

The words reached her. His flat, emotionless tone was more than audible. She heard it. But she didn't acknowledge it. The vestiges of her mind were shaken, rapidly crumbling under a myriad of emotions. The most prominent being stress, horror and disgust.

Her mother died. Her home in ruins. Her innocence lost and purity scathed. She had no idea how she could ever cope with it.

But among all those. Anger boiled up. It was the first time ever, but she wanted revenge. She wouldn't rest until the entire house that dared to lay a finger on the pristine name of Draconia would be dead.

And she was completely obvious to how hypocrit this was of her. She commanded Kulthanos to don't give into the very same thing she was now pledging vengeance to.

"Find a place to rest," she murmured softly. "Somewhere private.."

[No big deal, dude! I'm patient.]

Kulthanos had just been figuring out the emotions and  thought processes of a quieted mind, and now his thoughts seemed mired in thick slop. Everything came so slowly.... But it came.

Of all the things he was capable of, he'd never have thought expressing himself would be so hard. He could feel it there, compressed into a white-hot point, but it was like he could only draw so much from it.

Ahead of them, he could see what appeared to be the remains of a village. He stopped walking, as images flashed behind his eyes.

Fire. Screams. Blood, hot and so aromatic, mixing with the rain and the mud. He could remember the parts of his body being torn asunder over and over again, even as he ripped apart the defenders and consumed their bodies.

This was the last village he'd come across before he'd raged on to the castle. In all this time, the ruins stood. Kulthanos closed his eyes, and sighed. When he opened them again, he found himself looking down at her.

"There's... Ruins ahead. I'll find the most intact, and you can rest within."

The most intact was obvious, a single story house of brick, it's stones scorched and blackened from the fires so long ago. The door was still left standing open after the years, and with a loud creaking, he shouldered it open and stepped within.

The furnishings within were all still there and, thankfully dry, if not a bit dusty. He explored until he found the bedroom, and he laid her down as gently as possible.

"...rest. I will attempt a fire to warm you."

Evelynn didn't say a word. Not even a remark of the village she had loads of friends in.

The village -he- destroyed. She couldn't speak of it. Not due to the horrors he had committed on this very place. But, due to the shock and the panick attack that had petrified her. She was all alone now. No father to protect her. No mother to teach her. No mentor or army to fall back toat.

Only an abberation that was forced to protect her. One that only now started to grasp at basic emotions. She looked up at Kulthanos as he wanted to leave again, before biting her lip. She'd regret this. "Stay," she commanded. "I.. Don't need heat."

Though, the following command came out as a croaking struggle. "Comfort me.. Console.. Me."

Kulthanos stopped mid-stride the instant the word 'stay' fluttered from her lips. He turned very slowly to look at her, his eyes glowing only very slightly in the dark confines of the room, a pale blue light.

She said she didn't need heat, yet she had been freezing in his arms. This confused him, but he paid it no mind as her next words threw him for a loop.

Stay? Comfort and console her? He supposed he was capable, but...she wanted that from him?

Whether he was of the mind to disagree or not wouldn't have mattered anyway, though, because any resistance he would have had would have been crushed anyway. So rather than voice his questioning, he merely strode toward the bed and sat beside her.

In as gentle a manner as he could manage, he slid an arm beneath her shoulders and drew her up to him, pulling her against his chest.

"...it will end, Evelynn. I swear it, with all my power, that you  will not run any longer than necessary." His other hand would slide over to rest on her stomach, holding her.

"I will see to it that your life is made right again. But in order for me to be strong, you must be strong beside me. Do you understand, Evelynn?" He turned his head just slightly, and settled his chin upon the top of her head. "Everything will be okay."

She said she didn't need heat, but regardless he continually and soundlessly cycled the mass inside of him, generating enough warmth to radiate just slightly. Doing so consumed more energy than he would have liked, but he felt as though she would want a human body to seek comfort with. Not the cold frame of a monster such as he.

He'd deal with it, and feed in the morning. He could waste himself away to nearly nothing and still survive. So he'd manage. For her.

The touch on her stomach seemed a bad one. She whinced softly and just curled up tighter, trying to force the horrors from behind out of her mind. She didn't reply. Or paid no heed to his words. Maybe she didn't even hear them, lost in thought, trying to catch up and cope with all she had endured. She felt dirty. But not just any amount of hot water, soaps or perfumes would clean her.

Like a stain on her soul. One she couldn't remove by any means.

"I.. Understand," came her weak retort, shivering in his arms. Not because of cold, she was impervious to it, but due to fear and anxiety. Yet her temperature did seem to stabilize due to Kulthanos' effort. And slowly, after an hour or more of hitched breathing, silent sobbing and just complete silent gazing to the nearest wall, Evelynn finally drifted off.

Kulthanos sighed. She was finally asleep...but he couldn't move without disturbing her. And he didn't sleep. Ever.

Well, at least she could get a break from the events of the day. He stared at the wall for a period of time, and then contented himself by closing his eyes and listening to her breathe.

But sleep would never come for this creature.

Her sleep was deep. Yet fitful, plagued by nightmares of the now previous day's occurences. Her breath hitched occasionally, sometimes she moaned or murmured something incomprehensible. Yet it was filled with either fear or discomfort.

Yet, the same always recurred. With each movement, she tried to push closer against Kulthanos, seeking out his heat. By now, her body heat was back to human standards.

She blinked awake, before softly pushing herself up from Kulthanos' chest, a small string of saliva still connecting her nether lip. Her mind and thoughts were sluggish at first, her brain slowly waking up.

He could sense the difference between her fitfull stirring and the movements she made as she awakened. When she lifted herself away from him, he opened his eyes.

"Good morning, Evelynn," came his voice from beneath her. He pulled his arms off of her, and wiped her spittle from his chest.

"...how do you feel?"

She glanced down at Kulthanos, frowning and rubbing her eye. "How long did I sleep?" She murmured the question softly. A deep breath followed and she shook her head. "Bad.. Repulsed.. Wounded," she answered. "I don't know how to feel."

"Hmm. I think, 'better than yesterday' would suffice, if it were true."

He sat up, a slight tremble present in his movements. He needed to feed, and soon - his body was becoming unstable due to the sheer volume of mass he'd burned through to provide her with warmth.

That heat was gone, now. He had no more to give.

"....I must hunt for something. Man, animal, I care not. Otherwise, you'll have nothing but a puddle of angry sludge to protect you."

She glanced up at Kulthanos as he spoke, nodding slowly. "Go," she stated faintly. "Hunt.. Then return to me.. Do not harm anyone innocent," she added, before moving to get off of him. "I will," she frowned, before shaking her head with a soft sigh.

"I'll wait.."

The weapon watched her for a  moment, the intensity of his eyes following her as she moved. It had almost seemed to him as if she were going to say something else, but he couldn't guess what.

After a moment, he gathered himself and stood off of the bed. "I'll return shortly. Don't draw any attention to yourself while I'm away."

Kulthanos stepped toward the door, and opened it with a creak of the hinges. He glanced at her out of the corner of one eye, that cold blue clearly visible. "Please."

He slipped out the door, and was gone.

"I won't," Evelynn answered, voice still soft and shaking. She glanced at Kulthanos as he moved out, sitting  down on the bed again.

"And be quick," she added, drawing her knees up to her chest, in order to hug them tightly.

He was already out the door at this point. He could feel various portions of his chaotic anatomy threatening to shut down and let go of the structured framework of the human body his shattered memories had provided him with.

His steps gradually quickened once he was outside until he found himself running. Quite of their own volition, his hands had lengthened and curled into deadly claws, fingers nearly like scythe blades. Prey was nearby, and his body could sense it long before his mind had.

His body carried itself over the wall of a ruined building to come to rest upon its roof, and here he stopped for only a moment. He glanced around quickly, his vision shifting so that all his surroundings seemed grayed out and insubstantial. And then, as if lit from within, there were a group of deer, some twenty yards out.

That hungry smile surfaced as he leapt from the building with an explosion of slate tiles and stone, the force of his ascent shattering the feeble framework of the ancient structure. The velocity and angle he used arched him up and over the group of animals, and he shot one arm downward.

The limb stretched toward the ground with startling speed, plunging through the body of one deer and striking the ground, anchoring their. Like a bungee cord, it pulled him downward to the ground, rocketing him downward so he could strike the earth like a stone.

As he rose from his landing he pointed his other arm at the retreating group of animals, and the claws of his hands shot outwards, like five blades attached to ropes.

The animals were quickly caught, tangled in the fleshy coils, strangled by them and torn by the blades. And then they seemed to simply melt as the chaos inside of Kulthanos took over, turning them into the same black, amorphous substance that he was made of.

The creatures were absorbed, and his hunger was sated....time to head back.

Evelynn, didn't have much to do, when she was alone. She sat on the bed, hugging her knees, shivering. And altogether, looking like a little bundle of pathetic, primary colours white and blue.

Even the slightest creak of wood made her flinch. And slowly, her head sunk down behind her knees, a soft sobbing soon ensued.

Everything was fucked up.