A Safe Place (P)

Salzem prowled through one of Suna's many desert caves. It was the only real safe place he could practice control of his new Lycanthrope form. The white wolf panted heavily, claws scrabbling on the dry stone beneath as he stalked through the cave on all fours. The dryness of the air was painful to the wolf, drying out his sinuses and giving him a blinding headache. At first, the transformation's dominance over his humanity was.... astonishing. It almost demanded complete control at the moment of his transformation. Gradually, he was able to force down the animistic instinct, but who knows how long that will last? He didn't know, nor did that seem to matter at the moment. He'd just picked up on the scent of fresh meat deeper into the twisting caverns in the cave. The darkness was no hindrance, not with his enhanced hearing and sight. He could hear the quick heartbeat only a little farther in, hearing it echo off a grand chamber deeper within. He also picked up much more vile scent. Sick.... artificially so.... poison... His senses almost immediately shut down, clearly disagreeing with everything the poison was. His wolven body just wasn't designed to handle foreign toxins. It didn't have the antibodies for it. Regardless of his body's objections, he pressed forward. He was just too hungry to pass up this human.

As he stalked the person, he wondered what his humans would think he they saw him slaughtering their kind like pigs. Perhaps they would call him a monster. Perhaps they would kill him. Worst of all, maybe they would capture him and starve him or EVEN worse, make him eat and drink their dead flesh. He shivered at the thought, then he stopped, contemplating this. He wasn't quite disturbed he was thinking this and perhaps that should be the first indicator that he lost his humanity again. He didn't think so.... He still had control.... Salzem looked down at his matted white fur speckled with a dusty grey of the cave's grime. This was his body. He could do what he liked with it... His nose picked up the confusingly intertwined smells of poison and human flesh again and within a moment, he was moving again, prowling. Within a few seconds, he came to the mouth of the cave's great chamber.

It was massive, with a natural staircase heading deeper into the cavern. At the bottom, obscured by a black cloak was the human. The smell of poison was so strong, it almost made him recoil in sensory agony. His head, his nose, his ears and his body ached and pulsed at the smell of this human. Oh yes, he could smell the blood in him, succulent and delicious, but atop that smell lay the veil of sickening poison. Then the human held out a vial in toward the werewolf filled with a clear, but thick liquid. the closer it got, the more agony Salzem was subject to. That was the poison! He looked around for something he could use as a projectile and found that next to him was a nice 3 ft long stalactite. With his massive strength, Salzem ripped the pointed stone off the ground and with a roar, hurled it at the human, point aimed at the person's middle. He/she was quick however and jumped, easily clearing the danger zone, landing deftly a few feet to the right of the pointed rock as it crashed into the rocky floor with an echoing cacophony. The noise wracked Salzem's wolven ears, causing him to recoil in pain. Obviously, this was not the smartest move he's ever made. While he was blinking stars out of his eyes, the unknown human took this opportunity to attack. He slipped a knife from his belt and threw it end-over-end, aimed right under the middle of his ribcage, right at his heart. In Salzem's attempts to escape the noise he created, he didn't notice the knife, but, by sheer luck, one of his claws cut the cord of his necklace, activating it's ability. The cord and beads danced wildly around him, one smacking into the knife, tossing it out of harms way. As soon as Salzem recovered, he manipulated the necklace so that the beads slipped back onto the cord, then he controlled the cord so that it slipped around his beastial neck, again becoming a necklace. The unknown human threw two more knives at Salzem, both aimed at his heart. He backhanded one, his claws deflecting the blade. The other, he caught between his fingers with his other hand. Salzem seemed to stare a the knife for a moment, marveling at it's unique shape. It wasn't a kunai knife, nor was it made of the same metal. It was silver, thin with a long flat blade, almost resembling a kitchen knife but smaller and with a handle curved at the end of it's hilt. He tossed the blade over his shoulder lazily in an attempt to enrage his unknown attacker. If he succeeded, he could not tell. The damn black cloak still prevented him from getting a good look at his/her features. He growled, frustrated, then charged the human on all fours. This was what the unknown human was waiting for however and almost in an instant, a vial of his/her poison was thrown between him and Salzem. Salzem's sanguine eyes widened as he saw the poison one second too late as he collided with the glass vial, the poison spilling over his body, burning his flesh on contact. He howled and crashed to the ground, the unknown human stepping out of the way of the flailing wolf. Salzem scrabbled and clawed at his body in an effort to remove the poison, but it just wouldn't leave. It feasted off him for a few moments, eating away his skin, but then stopped. It seemed this poison was only designed to maim, not kill... He lay there on the cave floor, whimpering and twitching in pain. The unknown human wouldn't let Salzem recover however and raised another knife over his neck, intending to finish him off. Salzem's senses returned to him however and he twisted his body around, much to his discomfort, so that he was facing the man and let out a roar that could potentially bring the entire cave ceiling down. If Salzem wasn't in blinding pain already, he might've noticed the damage he was doing to himself. He did notice, however, the damage he was doing to the human. They fell back a few steps, clutching his/her ears in agony. Salzem took this moment of distraction and forced himself up. Ignoring the pain, he swiped a clawed hand across the man's arm, knocking the knife from his hand. He then leaped atop the person, bringing the person down with Salzem on top. pink/red blood dripped from Salzem's burnt body and onto the black hood of the person as he snarled down upon them. One claw held down the person's left arm. The other swiped at the hood of the person, attempting to to shred it so that he could see this person's face... So he could eat them knowing they'd feel similar pain that he felt now. His claws shredded the black cloth, revealing not a face, but a mask. A flat, white wooden mask like that the anbu wears but without ears or animal characteristics. He could not see the eyes through the mask as they were obscured by shadow as well. He stared at the mask, actually unnerved by what he was seeing. Something about the mask seemed vaguely familiar... Unnaturally potent deja vu... The person didn't wait around for Salzem's killer instinct to kick in however and with his/her free hand, slipped another knife out from their cloak and stabbed it into Salzem's arm holding down his/her hand. The white wolf roared in agony and rolled off the black-cloaked assailant, breaking the blade so that it's broken edge stayed inside it's wound. He whined and whimpered as his arm went slack, blade blocking most of the bleeding that would ensue. The unknown person leaped toward the exit, but not before throwing one last knife. A kunai landed right in front of Salzem's wolven muzzle and attatched to it but a small string, was a lit letter bomb. Salzem's eyes widened, then he yelped and ducked for cover behind a nearby stalagmite just as it exploded. The noise wracked the whole chamber and the force shattered his cover, sending him sprawling with rocky shrapnal dug into the singed flesh of his back. He no longer had the breath to scream in pain, nor did he have the energy to preform a counter attack. He whined like a kicked dog, then whimpered pitifully as he clawed the knife blade out of his arm. His breath seized, then he coughed viciously, blood splattering the already red-painted cavern floors. He took a shaky breath, then another, before limping and nearly falling towards the cave chamber. He couldn't smell his assailant anymore, though he couldn't smell much more than his own blood. He whimpered and yelped every step as he drug his broken and battered body through the cave tunnels again, his tainted blood drip, drip, dripping as he went, creating a blood-trail as he went. His seared flesh still felt like fire danced across it, vertigo starting to take it's place in his head as the blood loss set in. He cried out as he fell, landing face first at the mouth of the cave. Maybe.... Maybe he'd just sleep there for awhile.... for a while.... yeah.... he'd just do that....

Salzem awoke to the darkness of the outside, the moonlight shining inside the mouth of the cave. His eyes slowly inched open and to his surprise, his wounds were completely healed... Not only that, but there wasn't a single drop of blood on him. He felt invigorated.... alive... as if none of the events prior to this ever happened. Salzem got to his feet and sniffed the air. No blood.... He rushed back down into the mouth of the cave, back into the cavern where the unknown human was. There should be blood, shattered stone, burn marks. Indications of battle should be all throughout that cave. However, when Salzem reached the inner chamber, there was nothing. Not a single pebble was misplaced, not a single stalagmite broken. It boggled his mind. Had this just been some kind of hallucination? Had this been a dream? No. It wasn't! IT WAS REAL! It felt TOO real! Salzem paced around the cave, sniffing for any faint scent, blood, human, poison, anything! Nothing but dust and rock. He stared at the spot where he remembered falling, coated in that searing poison. Agony. He remembered it. It was real! He stared at the same stalagmite he hurled at the unknown human. He remembered it's lumpy, smooth surface. Salzem lumbered over to it and ran a massive, rough paw over it gently. Just as he remembered... He glared at the cave, clearly frustrated before lumbering out without another word. He never felt so unnerved his entire life.

EXIT
(WC: 1865)
Claiming remaining words for Lycanthropy Ascendance

Approved of Appropriate Rewards