Colin's posts

Francis continued to back up, until he hit a tree, crying out in pain again.

"Ah... ah... ah..." he stammered.

"You... you're... you are..." he stammered further.

"...the... you're the Devil!" he yelled.

"You're a damned demonic Devil!" he yelled further as he tried to scramble away again.

"...pathetic." one of the other drows hissed.

Francis hadn't taken more than a few steps, before he yelped in pain, and fell to the ground.

Which caused him to yell out once more, and writhe in agony.

"N-no!" he exclaimed.

"No, stay away!" he yelled.

He then formed about 10 orbs of drow mana in front of him, and fired them desperately at her.

"STAY BACK!"

The wolf gasped for air as it pawed impotently at the air. Its claws raked at Ryker's arm, but the man didn't even seem to notice. Or if he did, he didn't care.

He was silent, before he took the beast, and slammed its head down on a nearby rock.

Hard.

A disgusting crunch was heard, and the wolf's body fell limp and lifeless.

"........." Ryker was silent for a moment, before he clutched at his chest, and collapsed to his knees, groaning in a fluctuating tone, between how he sounded recently, and how he sounded when they first met.

Ryker looked at Eke as he sputtered, gasped, and wheezed, before narrowing his eyes.

The rustling around them grew louder, and suddenly, the wolf from earlier leaped out from the surroundings trees, its large fangs bared, its mouth wide open, drool frothing around its gums.

And it was leaping straight for Eke.

However, it never reached him, as Ryker was suddenly in between them, and his arm was extended out. His hand had grabbed the wolf's throat, and Eke could see that the arm looked to suddenly be more toned and muscular than before.

"...all right little doggie, let's teach you to play dead." Ryker said, almost sounding like a different person.

"..............." Ryker was silent as he looked into Eke's pleading eyes.

Normally when people tried to stop him from doing what he wanted to do, he pushed them away and brushed them off. But this time was different. Something about Eke was suppressing that reflex.

He then sighed, and shook his head.

"Oh..... fine." he said.

"Just.... fine." he muttered.

The wolf kept its distance, but it was clear that it was merely assessing the situation. It was only a matter of time...

"Do I plan to fight?" Ryker asked.

"No." he responded.

"Quite frankly, I'd be quite content to let the beast tear me apart." he said further, as a shaggy-haired grey and white wolf-like beast with long sabre teeth emerged from the woods.

Just as it did so, Ryker grasped lightly at his chest, right about where his heart was.

"Unfortunately... I'm going to fight, regardless of what I want." he admitted, a slight undertone of darkness to his voice now.

The drows looked at each other, before shrugging.

"Sure." the male replied.

"Hit him where it hurts." he suggested.

"And you know what I mean." he added, as Francis' face paled.

"N-no! Stay away from me!" he exclaimed, as he turned and started to run.

Ryker was about to answer, before he looked closer at Eke, seeing just how bad a shake he was in.

"Person to travel with?" he asked.

"We'll address that later, but what is up with your-" he started to ask, before they both heard a low growl emanating from within the floral that surrounded them.

"....mm." the man muttered.

"Maaaaaybe we'll save that discussion for later." he said further.

"Seems like one of the Sabre Wolves has decided that at least one of is is an entree."

Francis yelped in immense pain as Liz smacked him.

"D-damn it." he cursed, as a pair of incognito drow started to pass by them.

"Hey!" he called to them.

"Little help?" he asked.

The male of the couple looked sharply towards him.

"We all know who you are, what you are like, and what you have done." he responded. "You are a disgusting disgrace to our kind." he spat.

"....." Francis was silent as he heard that, and realized just what his situation was now.

Francis was silent as Liz did what she did, and said what she did.

"Why you little..." he snarled, before throwing another orb of mana at her.

Nothing happened.

So it did it again.

Still nothing happened.

He tried again and again, close to 7 times, before he stopped, his arm outstretched... and he started to sudden feel very scared.

It was then that a small leaf fluttered from atop a tree... and landed softly on his bare outstretched arm.

"AH!" Francis exclaimed, flinching in pain... before his eyes suddenly grew wide.

"....oh." he muttered.

"Oh dear..." he said quietly, as his eyes met his daughters.

'His behaviour is... extremely odd...' Ryker thought, raising an eyebrow again.

"Well... that is a fair question about what you're running from." he admitted.

"And yes, cursed." he told him. "The beasts of this forest are stronger than anywhere else." he said. "Some say it's because of how they have to compete for what little prey wanders in here." he went on. "Some say a strange energy empowers the animals, but causes them to become rabid, essentially." he then said further.

"Regardless, nobody that ever comes in here makes it out alive." he then told him.

"And why am I here?" he asked.

"Because I want to see if my own curse is stronger than the death curse in these woods." he said simply, getting off the rock. "I want to see if these woods have the skills to finally end my miserable suffering." he added, an unnerving plainness to his tone.

Francis just growled.

"Such impudence." he said.

"You're nothing more than a half-breed." he said further. "No better than that damned abomination that Encrae created." he hissed, referring to Chris.

"But if you insist, I will show you, again, the strength of a pure-blood drow." he finished.

With that, he formed a ball of deep crimson mana in front of him, and launched it at her.

Francis just smirked as he leaned in even closer.

"That's right." he said.

"Be a good little girl." he told her.

"Come on." he then said further.

"Let's go someplace a little more... private." he suggested.

"Oh, but I AM." Francis responded, suddenly grabbing her shoulders harshly.

"Down in that blasted realm, you usually had some form of protection... most of the time." he growled. "And even then, I couldn't properly enjoy it." he hissed.

"Hell wouldn't let me." he went on.

"But now... now we are alive." he said further.

"We are alive... and I can enjoy the pleasures that only you can provide me once again, dearest daughter." he finished, his tone lustful and hungry.