Shadow Slayers

Oxy ran further into the woods, not waiting for Enoch or Manasa to catch up. He sped into the darkness, following the sound of his mother's voice, before coming to a halt as he stared at the massive creature that stood in front of his terrified mother, who had fallen to her knees from the shock. Instead of being scared of it, he growled and bared his teeth, running straight for it. He stood in front of his mother in a protective stance, snarling at the thing that threatened her."Back off!" He yelled.

Celty blinked, managing to register her son was here. "O-Oxy, no, get away from here!" She tried to push him out of the way, but he stood firmly and didn't budge. The deep growls coming from his throat frightened her, even though he was doing it to protect her. Her son was kind, and loving, and couldn't even raise a finger against the creatures that sought to kill him. And yet here he was, gnashing his teeth and acting suspiciously as though he had been trigged without any outside source to do so. He tried to lunge towards it, but she held onto his arms, using every ounce of her strength to keep him from attacking something 20x his size. "Oxy, calm down, we need to go!" She shouted, trying to drag him away from the creature. This wasn't something they could fight with so unprepared. It was just them against this...this thing.

It seemed Oxy had the same thought, for not a moment later he opened his mouth and screeched, the monstrous sound she hadn't heard until the last time it had ended his short life time. It startled her so much she released him, her eyes fixed on her son with horror creeping into her expression. He went to the power so naturally now, like it was instinctive to do so. She didn't want him relying on these tainted abilities, but it seemed she didn't have a choice.

From almost nowhere, a group of hound fearen slinked out of the shadows, eyes glowing red at they centered in on the beast. It was all happening so fast, not even a minute had gone by since Zerah’s ‘death’ and everything was spiraling out of control. They had just won, they’d just defeated one of the worst foes they’d come across, and so quickly things turned sour. Celty’s shoulders shook even more when she noticed her son had stopped screaming, but his hold on the fearen hadn’t subsided like in previous attempts. They growled in unison with him like their minds were connected, and this frightened her more than any beast.

“Oxy, you have to stop, tell them to leave,” She pleaded, reaching back out towards him and grasping the corner of his cloak. Her words were quick and rushed, melding together as she started to pull on his cloak, worried what would snap first: her son, or the monster, “Oxy it’s okay, I-I’m okay, come on. Remember what we told Enoch, right? We aren’t a threat. Does this seem like something a good boy would do?” Her voice was shaking and unstable as she tried to convince herself her son was still the same innocent little boy as the day before. “Please, little one, just go back.”

“No!” Oxy snapped his teeth together angrily, pulling forward, “you…you can’t die too!”

And just like that, the cloak Celty had ingrained in him to never take off since birth unhooked from his shoulders, the weakened pendant no longer having the strength to keep properly snapped. The illusion fell in an instant.

Altheron had only just now calmed down after being reassured by both friends that the monster the imp had spoke of didn't exist, still clinging onto Daryn's arm when a loud shriek coming from the forest tore the warrior's arm away from his grip, causing him to fall slightly forward. Once he righted himself, Altheron stumbled into a sprint, trailing after Daryn as they looked for the source of the screams. 

A crowd began to gather around the beast, the creature snarling and growling at all the figures that appeared. The beast stood up on it's hind legs, standing at about 15 feet. It let out a horrendous roar as it raised it's arms, crushing the fearen Oxy had summoned. It stepped forward, towards the group, raising it's enormous arms again. Only this time, it grabbed at the mask. It yanked at it as hard as it could, the black blood desperately trying to hold on. With one final pull, the mask went flying forward, and the black ooze fell into a puddle. In the center of the puddle, laid the small imp. The imp got up from the ground, his mind racing. He stood up, continuously whispering "it....it was just...supposed to be..a prank.." Zerah seemed lost in a trance, when he shook himself out of it, now seeing the group that had gathered. Zerah wasn't putting two and two together, but felt as though his head was much lighter. Zerah began to panic as he felt his hair, realizing the mask wasn't where it normally was.

"WHERE'S MY MASK!? WHERE IS IT!?" He shouted, clearly panicked.

He saw the mask near Enoch's feet and began to rush towards it like a rabid animal. He stumbled forward, fumbling to grab the mask and put it back on his head. When it was back in place, he sighed in relief. This relief, however, was short lived, as he realized these people seemed ready to kill. Zerah backed away from the group, trembling like a leaf in a windstorm.

"I...I'm so sorry....I....Th-that wasn't....s-supposed to happen...." Zerah spoke softly, trembling like a mad man. He looked down at his gargantuan claws and began to scream, a mix of agony and sadness in his voice.

"DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM DAMN THEM DAAAAMN THEEEEM!!!" Zerah began pounding at the ground.

"Damn it you bastard! You scared us all to death, you know! If this was supposed to be a prank I suggest getting some different material, bub!" Daryn yelled at the imp man. She had arrived just in time to see him transform back to normal. She walked forward to Celty and her child, passing Enoch in the process. The woman had sounded so frightened just moments ago, she had to make sure everything was alright.

"Are you alright? What's wrong with your kid? Does he need some sort of medical attention?!" Daryn was frantic, and while she didn't quite know what to do, she knew she couldn't leave the situation alone, not after her nerves were strung so tightly.

Enoch froze as he watched the child scream, presumably calling the pack of hound fearen that rushed into the area. A group of fearen just walking distance away from the camp. What else could Oxy summon? He stood there, gripping his weapon in stunned silence.

Celty promised. She promised he wouldn't be a threat... Thankfully before he could even swing his weapon, the hound fearen were crushed by the hulking beast which very soon revealed itself to be Zerah. The priest stiffened up and jammed his glaive into the ground, letting out a loud growl of frustration once the bottom made contact with the dirt. He was so damn tired and this was nothing but a waste of time. A waste of time that nearly turned out badly as far as he could tell. Marching over to Zerah, he glared at him and began to shout as Daryn finished giving her piece of mind.

"I don't care about ghost stories. Whether they're fake or real, I couldn't give less of a damn. But after all the shit we've been through today, I would think really, really hard before attempting to play another prank like that again. You nearly got yourself and other people hurt!"

His scowl shifted from Zerah to Celty, his noisy anger suddenly simmering down into a silent rage as his yelling petered out. The priest locked eye contact with the woman and simply stared. He couldn't even find words to say to her. If Zerah's massive form hadn't crushed them, they all would have been dragged into another fight against the fearen. Right outside where many injured and exhausted fighters were resting. She gave him her word, and he had believed her. Was he wrong? Had he been putting the guild in danger by shielding their secret? Enoch walked wordlessly over to Celty, kneeling down next to the trembling woman. His hand gently gripped her shoulder, that previous eye contact still not broken.


With a level voice, and an expression filled with a medley of confused and conflicting emotions, he quietly murmured just two words. "You promised."

Mimisko been seeing all the commotion that was going about. What was going on? Is Celty okay? This better not be another fearen attack! Mimisko got up.

"Nicolas, on second thought, stay put near the campfire. I gotta check up what was going on."

Mimisko ran off as fast as she could. Please don't let it be another fearen. I don't want the other guild members DEAD! Not another one...

Mimisko has yet to see what's ahead of her.

Celty stared at her emptily. Her son had just been outed to all those who were nearby (Luiar, Daryn, Manasa, Altheron). For the moment, they seemed more concerned with the safety of their long-term guild members, but once they took a closer look at him...her hand tightened on the discarded cloak. It would be useless to these people now, anyways. They'd seen him, and knew he had powers beyond what a simple shapeshifter could perform. How long before they turned on her and her boy? She lowered her defeated gaze. "There's nothing wrong with him." She muttered more defensively then she intended, her chin hitting her chest. "All this...for a prank."



She raised her head back up slowly to look Enoch in the eyes after he grabbed her shoulder, those two words that sounded to her like a death sentence leaving his lips not moments later. There were so many emotions flickering on her own face, and she was at a loss for how to respond to him: this man that protected them for so long, only to have her son put them all in danger right after a large battle, where it was revealed he was the offspring of one of the most vile creatures to ever walk the earth. "He's my son..." Was all she managed to say, her eyes pleading. She didn't try to deny anything or defend herself, it was just that simple. "What was I supposed to do?"


Oxy struggled in the cloak Manasa had scooped him into, hissing and spitting as he tried to claw his way free. He still had no idea the battle had ended, and didn't even know what had captured him. "Let me go, let me go!" He screeched. A few moments later, he split open the fabric and rolled out, once again in plain view of everyone in the area while in his true fearen form. His eyes scanned Zerah for a moment, a look of confusion on his face as the small imp seemed to have replaced where the beast had been, before falling on Enoch and Celty. "Ma!" He ran to her and pushed past Enoch, jumping into her lap and burying his face in the tatters of her cloak, sobbing into her chest. "M-Ma!" He choked out again, unaware of the threat around them from their own friends.

Celty gripped him tightly and scooted a bit backwards from Enoch, her eyes never leaving the half-elf. "Shhh," she whispered kindly to her son, stroking his head. Her gaze didn't waver, although tears were threatening the corners of her eyes as stress and fear started to consume her. "My life span is shortened drastically," she suddenly said, might as well come clean as best she could. "I don't know when I could be taken away from my son, I paid a heavy toll in order to get that cloak for him. I had to find a place he could be safe in. Our time is running out...of course," one of those small tears escaped her eyes and trickled down her cheek, "Of course that's all for nothing if you chose to dispose of us right now."

Oxy looked over at Enoch with his own look of betrayal in his eyes, holding his mother even closer as though he were shielding her with his body. A low growl escaped his lips at the mention of being 'disposed' of, and Celty forced him to look away as he certainly wasn't making the situation any better with such an aggressive attitude.

"He's just scared," She whispered, "He's a child, what do you expect? I'm all he knows. I wanted to change that, to make a world he could feel safe in." She tightened her grip on him, refusing to let him go. "But even if I succeeded, he could never be accepted for what he is, right? You'd just kill him anyways once I was gone. I was foolish to think otherwise..."