Memories, Random snippets of the Daemons...

[Freyr]

(Everything posted here will be AU, in other words, my characters' REAL backstories, not "Lum" backstories." )

His paws pounded the ground, faster, FASTER! He dug his claws in the earth, launching himself forward, bringing the horizon ever closer, dragging that line between stony ground and starry sky closer to him desperately, desperately toward the three blurry figures fighting frantically on that edge of sky and earth. His jaws were open, tongue lolling, sucking in air, ears back, spine flexing, snapping up and down, rippling with speed, tail streaming-

Hayla!

Hayla! Watch out! Hang on!

He howled, unleashing his spirit in the form of a voice powerful and beautiful, haunting with its silver tones.

Her ears pricked! She heard! Falling back from her opponent so he could slam his paws into its torso, fangs finding the jugular.

“ Hayla!”

“ Lein!” she was on the ground, but recovering herself, flipping back onto her feet, despite the blood that ran down her stomach and thighs, shining darkly in moonlight. “ Lun?”

“ Coming with-ARGHH!” The creature landed a blow on Lein’s forehead, and he let go to land nimbly on his haunches, a perfect attack angle. He jumped again, jaws sinking deep beyond the armor, penetrating bone, catching and ripping sinews. The arm now swung around crazily by a mere inch of skin. Lein hit the ground again, twisting and leaping to catch the other armpit, severing through the softer plating completely this time.

Another howl, and a feline roar, and two more figures materialized from darkness of distance. Hayla and Lein answered with their own, Hayla’s voice straining from battle fatigue. Nevertheless, her roar did not lack in power. That was Hayla, burning no matter what people thew at her to douse her. As he watched her, a small part of Lein wondered at his love for her ferocity.
~~~~
Hayla sucked in another sharp, painful breath, diving under the arm as it swung by, like some rogue comet streaking out of its damned orbit. Her thighs protested, her body straining from the run and fight. After all that training, she was still not enough to take on two of these Gajh by herself.

Each Gajh had heavy armor of slick oily black, punctuated by bumps and hard knobs, crusting the arms, legs and lobster claws like clubs. A rounded shell protected their backs, armor plating did so for their front sides. Their heads were mere bulbs of armor jutting out from the juncture of shell and bony segments, two round eyes flashing eerie green and purple. The only places that weren’t plated were the joints in their 4 arms for articulation, and the best way, actually the ONLY way aside from hurling them off canyon cliffs, to beat them was by dismemberment.

She had managed to sever 2 arms off one Gajh early in the fight, but she was only one soft-bodied tiger, and the long claws and giant mouth-stings of the Gajh had already raked her up pretty badly. She could not not slash with claws, bite with teeth, land a blow that did not hurt herself. She could not hurl herself against them, since that was as effective as slamming herself into bedrock. That left her basic defense, dodging and weaving endlessly, forced to blocking arms thick as her torso if she were too slow. Despite their heavy armor, the Gajh were strong enough to move swiftly, agile enough to seize her out of midair, pluck her off the ground if she dared dart or leap past them. She was tiring, getting dizzy. Their arms slammed like giant mallets into the ground, buckling it into craters with precision, while her arms felt like flailing pieces of heavy, wet cloth.

This was why the Gahj had always won. No single Daemon had ever defeated two or more of the monsters by themselves. At best, they lived to tell the tale, at worst…

At worst, her message was doomed…it would never reach the other side of the valley.

A grim spark of her humor flashed. At least she had lasted this long…She grit her teeth from frustration, a painful surge of anger coursing through her. She’d wanted to do more damage than this, SO MUCH MORE before she went down! She’d wanted to at least kill one by ripping off its head, if not win the battle entirely. She’d wanted to deliver the message. She’d wanted to succeed for her friends, for her people. She’d wanted to live more, to see the future and the tides turn good fortune to her people again, she’d wanted to, wanted to-

Then she heard it-too late, the other Gahj’s steps behind her, the groan of an immensely heavy arm as it rose up to kill her-

Then a wolf’s howl pierced the night.

~~~~

Hayla seemed to take heart after seeing Lein, for she leapt back after the Gahj with only two arms-the one she’d mutilated and the one she planned to finish off-with renewed force. Lun and Kayla joined the fray soon after. The night echoed with sounds of tearing and slashing, roaring and eerie, high screeching as the four beasts tore and bit through Gahj-flesh.

Suddenly a shadow darkened the moon’s disk. Wide white wings bate and descended on one Gahj, golden claws finding hold around the neck, then ripped up and away, hurling the head on the other monster’s as an insult. Dark blood spewed, a guyser of foul toxin from the dead Gahj’s swaying body, then it hit the ground, motionless but for the flowing blood.

The Gahj left over could sense its demise coming, and barreled into the beasts, intent on destroying them. But three more shining hides flashed in the dark, and together, jaws and fangs overpowered and ripped the Gahj apart.

Lein regained his breath, panting hard, cooling oxygen rushing to his exhausted limbs and head, restoring steady vision. “ Ranne, Ankar, Ranna, Aethal, how’d you all come-“

“ Our dear master, “ The large, lean snowy bird landed with a click of claws on rock, cocking its head sharply, green eyes flashing,” heard and saw what happened with Hayla with his thousand-li eyes and ears whatever, and remarked rather casually to us that he’d changed his mind and it were best if we 4 came out too.” Aethal bristled his red crest.

“ It’s not his fault. If he…and we had known the enemy was two steps ahead of us, he wouldn’t have spaced out our departure times like that.” Lun defended their master.

“ ‘ Caution turns to tragedy…’ Ironic, isn’t it?” Ankar muttered one of their master’s adages as she washed herself of blood with a white paw.

It was unsaid that the twins in the pack would groom each other first. Ranna and Ranne, Lun and Lein, Hayla and Kayla. They washed the blood off each other with soothing licks then spat the offensive tasting bile back out. Aethal, feathers unsoiled, remained aside, watching the horizon, scanning with far sight even into night, unnatural for his kind. But he had trained. They all had…these past 30 years.
Hayla was the worst off, and Kayla had literally a mouthful trying to clean her up. The former was sitting, fiery eyes subdued from battle fatigue. Lein eyed her, then broke away from Lun with a smirk. Lun simply rolled his eyes and went to help Ankar. Lein padded over to Hayla, licking her muzzle. She started and glared.

“ What? You looked like you needed some help.” He grinned.

Hayla scowled, hating the feeling of being babied for wounds she gotten for herself, that she deserved. She was too tired though…maybe it was better to keep her gob shut…

Lein moved in again and tended her muzzle and shoulder wounds with care. Kayla, seeing that there wasn’t much left for her to do, moved away to help clean Ranne and Lun. Hayla watched her go with resentment, flexing her paws restlessly. Nevertheless, Lein was comforting and gentle…and warm….WARM?!

She leapt back, swatting at him, snarling with bared canines.

HE’D JUST KISSED HER!!!!

Lein smiled his dashing wolfish smile, “ What?”

“ DON’T YOU WHAT ME, YOU-“

But Lein merely bounded over and pushed his muzzle against hers once again, dodged her second swat, and leaped over to tangle with Aethal and Ranne, “ At least your’re clean!”

“ NO, I’M NOT! I’M FILTHY! Kis*coughhackcough* by a CANINE!!”

[Freyr]

Larry seemed to be in a good mood, at least he wasn’t radiating his usual tense, thunderstorm aura, so Akira worked up some nerve and prodded him lightly in the arm. “ Hey, can you tell me some Daemon words?”
Larry looked at Akira squarely, and then shifted in his seat to face him.
“ How do you say, Cow, cat, dog, arm, right, left, sun.”
Larry raised an eyebrow, “ Those were all random weren’t they?”
“ Why do you care? Just tell me.”
“ Okay, cow….You mean cow as in the species or cow as in female cow?”
Akira thought the other was being difficult and it must have shown on his face, because Larry quickly amended, “ There’s a difference.”
“ Oh. God, just tell me all of them!” said Akira exasperatedly, throwing his arms up.
“ Cow as in species is Ku. Cow as in female is Ku-sa. Bull is Ku-ra. It’s the same with almost every tribe, you just plug ra or sa on the end of the species name.”
“ So “sa” is woman, “ ra” is man?”
“ If you want to say woman, then you say, “ Sar”. And man is “ Rar.” If you use them as suffixes, take off the extra ‘r’.”
“ Oh.” Akira digested this, “ Hmm, ok…What about cat?”
… ten minutes later…
“ How do you say, ‘there’?” Akira pointed off towards the setting sun in the distance.
“ Ija.” Larry replied.
“ Here?” He pointed toward the ground near their feet.
“ Ira.”
“ Ija, ira….” Akira pursed his lips, mulling his new vocabulary list in his head. He sat with his face in his hands, elbows on his knees.
“ You just need to watch your diphthongs. If you mess up my name and call me “ Rary”, I’ll-“
“ I know, I know, kill me. Or if that’s too straightforward, scalp me, burn me, and then crush me to death with stones like I were a witch.”
“ Oh, you learn so quick.”
A second passed, then they both laughed.
“ Had a good time? You two don’t laugh together often.” Ranna stepped over the packs on the ground, bringing two plates of food.
“ He was teaching me words.”
“ That’s fantastic. It won’t be long until you graduate to sentences,” Ranna prodded Akira’s head playfully as she handed him his dinner.
“ Ah ha ha,” Akira sarcastically prodded back. All of a sudden, an explosive WHOOMPH coming from the direction of the cook fires interrupted their play. The explosion was followed up by a clattering of many pans rolling around in the dust. (There was also a sound that seemed to be a wok’s.)
Akira leapt up, craning for a view, but though the fires were shrouded in dust and many Daemons were shouting back and forth, it didn’t seem to be anything serious at all. On the contrary, there was laughing as some Daemons tried to clear the swirling clouds of sand. Ranna heaved a sigh and shook her head. Larry hadn’t even so much as turned around. Instead he had dug into his food.
“ You didn’t even look,” remarked Akira in a bland tone.
“ Why should I? I can even tell which uncle it was.”
Ranna laughed.
“ And besides, I wouldn’t mind if a lost an uncle or two. It’s like losing unwanted weight.”
Ranna laughed harder and put a hand on her nephew’s shoulder, “ Surely not mine?”
“ YES yours!”
The redheaded Daemon continued laughing as she moved away.
“ Thanks!” Akira called.
“ Akira,” said Larry suddenly.
“ Huh?” The teen turned around, “ yeah?”
“ You an only child?”
“ Yeah…why?” Akira answered slowly.
Larry snorted, “ That’s kinda obvious.”
More sounds came from the ruckus of the campfires. Akira thought he heard Lein or Lun cursing.
“ I see….Yeah, it was always just me and mom and pop,” Akira spooned his food around his plate thoughtfully.
“ I would be glad for the peace and quiet.”
“ Hmmm…” Now that he thought about it, Akira realized he had never felt particularly lonely. He’d always thought it was because he was happy with his lot in life, but then again, sometimes, when he got déjà vu…he always felt like he was missing someone or something…. Could it be here? In this strange place?
“ What about Marin?”
“ Huh?”
“ Marin? Is she an only child, too?” asked Larry again.
Akira frowned. Marin again. Why did Larry keep asking about her? “ I don’t know. Why don’t you ask her?” he said briskly, staring at the other pointedly.
The Daemon teen blinked, eyes showing none of the emotions Akira looked for. “ You’re right. I should have asked her myself.”
A sulky silence followed, and the two continued with their own meals. Eventually, Akira couldn’t stand it and gulped down the last bites, hurrying off to find Marin even as the rest of the Daemons came back from the cooking fires. May sat down next to Larie.
“ You’ve got him jealous, “ she teased in Daemon.
“I was just asking him if Marin was an only child too,” Larie rolled his eyes. “ Since you know what Maxwell said, when Daemons or gods or others of the races from our plane have to reincarnate into the Human-side, they do so into lives without siblings or even as orphans in order not to keep many blood ties to humans. He took it the wrong way. I hate it when humans do that, “ he rolled his head back to look at the stars starting to shine in the deepening sky, frowning.
Mayak’s lips curled, then she began laughing so hard her fangs were bared.“ Haha! That’s YOUR problem! Hahahaha!”
“ I wish this trouble was yours,” Larie glumly replied.

[amria]

wow! Great story! I AM SPEECHLESS.....

[Freyr]

Wah, thank you!

[amria]

welcome^-^ write more so i could know wat happen later.

[Freyr]

I'll try. Expect it maybe in the next decade. Like Elana's. Hahaha. Jk.

[amria]

ITS OKAY I COULD WAIT. UNTIL I DIE

[Freyr]

Since the forum is DEAD. I present this:

He paused in the doorframe to look at Gaia’s mess. It included (but was not limited to): tank tops, socks (she insisted on having her own pairs to play human with), underwear, pants, sports-bras (and only sports-bras), ties, half-done knitting, novels, scrolls, papers, bags, unfinished odds and ends (anything from poetry to elaborate tapestries), fraying scarves, duct tape, wires of all sorts (some, he noted with a snort, were entirely fire hazards), magical reference tomes as thick as idiots, a jar of mayo, a clock, dangling copper wind chimes, pens, oil pastels, random literature (anything from African legends to southeast Asian bestiaries), cups of paint, test tubes, a laptop, a mini-supercomputer (probably from Maxwell), an iPod, blankets, computer parts, holograms, wire gauze, a Daemon com-link, a grimy soldering gun, hard drives, trench coats, a rubix cube, boots, glass phials, pestles of ground sand, pipettes, a wok full of chemical liquids and a dangerously tilting jar of unfinished peanut butter with a knife stuck in it (most likely also from Maxwell). Luckily the only thing it would spill into was probably a vat of kerosene containing sodium. Delicious.
Thankfully, the whole concoction of junk mysteriously stayed obediently on HER side of the room, never spilling over despite its volume and obesity.
When he was done with inventory, he turned to go, but stopped as he sensed her behind. She was blocking his way out of the hall, standing in black shorts and a gray tank top shaking a green, wet towel out, apparently absorbed in house chores. He sighed through his nose.
“ What are you about to say? ‘Your mess is completely useless?’ ‘Thanks for keeping it on your side of the room?’ That’s notoriously difficult to do, you realize.” She smiled sanguinely at the thin cloth.
Tarren turned around. “ I love you.”
Now that did it. She glanced at him sharply, though her hands continued folding the towel. Then, her eyes softened into their normal viridian. That smile returned, curling deeply. She came over and wrapped her arms around his neck, the wet cloth slapping coldly on his back. They shared a quick kiss. Then she drew her warm arms away, and stepped into their room.

[Freyr]

He screamed.

He had lost and it was eating him.

It had its jaws on his left arm, and he felt with every burning nerve ending in his frame the teeth slice through his flesh, tear his arm in half. He screamed again. He was being taken apart. He was alone, he was exposed, completely helpless. He was ashamed and viciously ferocious. He was deeply enraged. He was dehumanized. It was worse than rape.

He was being eaten.

He stopped screaming suddenly. Pain deserted him. Shock and denial clouded over everything, made his existence a haze. Tremors and spasms racked his body, but he did not feel them. He sank away from the sky and the ground seemed to let him fall away.

The eyes of the Daemon Hunter caught him. They glinted madly with single-minded intent on eating his arm, screaming silently, desperate as he.

Akira's face changed, it calmed, then felt the pain of the other.

He's only hungry...

He had been past pain. He was beyond remembering now...

~*~*~*~*

The Hunter seized up. Something was terribly wrong. He clasped his claws to his stomach. He had been on the verge of dying from hunger, and his fear and rejection of dying young had made him hunt this young god. Now he was sated, bloated, unnaturally acute pain spreading from his stomach like poision along his veins.

He dropped the arm, cupped his mouth, willing the flesh to stay down, and only barely surviving. He felt as if he were expanding to the point of bursting out of his mind, and his mind out of his mortal shell.

Quickly, he lay down on his back, breathing shallowly; there was no space in his chest for air. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the hours to come.

He was a Hunter, but he would not have to hunt for months to come.

(Did ya get it? I love giving no context at all. I think only one person on the forum knows what I'm talking about. ANyway, it felt weird writing this on pepto-bismol pink)

[akira]

Aw... kisses >.< how sweet

I love this quote: "I wouldn’t mind if a lost an uncle or two. It’s like losing unwanted weight"

great job, but I was like how did a quick kiss and going into a room jump to being eaten alive? I was like wtf??? Lol, but anyways keep it up!

[Freyr]

Bleheheheh. I have achieved my purpose. I was in a weird, " I feel like writing violence" sorta mood. ^__^;;