Shadow Slayers

Enoch let out frustrated grunt as he pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, trying to process everything she was telling him. There was a lot of heart-string tugging information in there that he needed to prevent from clouding his judgment. But while she had been speaking, a crowd started to form. Several other people had gathered around them, and this was no longer solely his burden to bear. Now with this much awareness, they could all keep a collective watch on the child. If something, Archex forbid, were to happen...

The priest sighed and stared down at Oxy once again. He didn't want to hurt or outcast the toddler. He was at a complete loss. This was the same kid that had just been leaning against him at the campfire moments ago. The same one that introduced Galystris with such a smile. The same one that helped save Ooro. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the bloodied corpses of the hound fearen. The same one that summoned those fearen.

Enoch looked back at Celty, starting to speak coldly. "Celty, can he control himself, or are we one night, going to wake up surrounded by fearen that he accidentally summoned? What are we supposed to think? What are we supposed to do?? I sure as hell don't want to--" He lost control of his tone for as he grew more visibly upset than he intended, taking a moment of silence to regain composure. It didn't matter what he wanted or didn't want to do. "I'm going to ask you the same question as I did that night. And I want a truthful answer."

He glanced around at the group. Daryn, Galystris, Manasa, Zerah, Luair, Altheron, they were all within earshot. His sharp gaze returned to the woman in front of him. "Can he control his powers? Is he a threat?"

If she lied to him now, she would be lying to everyone.

Oxy glanced at Galystris suspiciously, uncomfortable with the conversations surrounding like he wasn't there at all. He may be young, but he could pick up when people were talking about him. He reached over to the cloak in Celty's hand and plucked it out of her grasp, fastening the barely-intact pendant and allowing the illusion to fall into place once more. If anyone else from the camp came now, at least the sight of him wouldn't cause more chaos, although he did this purely because he felt naked without it and it provided him with some comfort. He wrapped the edges around his arms and sniffled, leaning into his mother. He rubbed his fingers over the embroidery Manasa had done, trying to distract himself from the scary talk the adults were discussing.

Celty knew she was not in a position to try and weave another tale. It was time to be as honest as she could, but before she could open her mouth, a small warning flickered in the back of her mind.

I'm still off the table, sweetheart. Say a word about me and I'll slit that child's throat. But go on, damn him now if you want to. 

She bit her lip. So perhaps she could just...skip over the part about the witch for now. She wasn't lying if she just didn't mention it, right? She took a deep breath, her arms still wrapped around her child as though he was going to vanish from her grasp if she loosened them for a moment. 

"He is fine...as long as you don't touch him," she winced a bit at this revelation of information, but she tried to keep eye contact with Enoch so he could see she was being sincere this time. "You've never been a fearen, so you don't know what it's like, but I have. If he doesn't make skin-to-skin contact, he's perfectly safe to be around. I-I can find him some new clothes, cover him better if that's what you wish." It was clear this was hard for her, as covering her son would mean a lack of mobility on his part. If he couldn't properly shift his hands, he might as well be just a normal human child, but excuses wouldn't help her right now. "Rylan knew about this," She added quickly, and her son stiffened at the mention of the name, "and he accepted him still. It's an easy thing to work around. The fearen-calling is something new. It killed--." She cut herself off before rushing forward again. "It almost killed him in the last battle. I don't want him using is anyways." She fidgeted uncomfortably. To her, it felt like she was checking things off a list of reasons to kill him on the spot with each uncertainty she revealed. "If we kill off all the fearen--if we stop this--it won't matter anymore though, will it? Maybe...maybe that part of him will vanish too if we win. Then he can be normal, and you'll never have to hear from us again." It sounded like a pipe dream, but it was one of things that had been keeping her going. That if these fearen were some sort of curse on humanity, if it was broken, her son too would be freed of it. Or he'd...he'd...she couldn't bare to finish the thought.

Oxy looked up at Enoch after his mother rattled off secrets she'd been forcing him to keep quiet about for a year now. He too felt very squeamish having Celty put to words all her insecurities about him in a few sentences. Despite this, he didn't have to do any pretending, as he never had been anything but sincere. Right now he was scared, frustrated, and not enjoying being in the spot light one bit. 

Daryn sighed in aggravation as she took in all the new information she'd just learned about her guild mates. She looked intently at the child, who now looked as he usually did. She heard what Pinky had said, but it only fueled her opinion. She looked up at Celty and began to speak.

"Look, lady. I've seen things in these past few weeks that I never could have dreamed up in my whole life. Sure I didn't know what your child was, but you know what? I didn't know what a Fish-canyon was. I had never seen a fairy. I never met an elf and I still don't know what Ooro is." She looked back down at Oxy.

"I might not know exactly what he can do, but if you know how to control his outbursts, I say, why make this innocent's life any worse than it already is?" She breathed out hotly, controlling her own emotions on the subject for her own sake.

"We're in this together now. We're a team now. Celty, I'm willing to trust you and your child, if you can only trust us enough to warn us if he's become a danger to his teammates."

Manasa struggled to firmly hold onto the child, afraid that if she were to let go he would go running off once more. Yet ultimately, the boy's own strength outmatched her own. Het slashed at Manasa's cloak and in turn her, freeing himself and running towards the comfort of his own mother. Manasa feel backwards to the ground with a cry, her cloak fluttering down in two pieces in front of her. A deep slash on her unprotected arm formed, puffing up in a light yellow brown hue before leaking out a spill of golden blood. The vishkanyan let out a pained cry, clamping her eyes shut and doing her best to hold the large wound with her small, dainty hand. She shut out the world around her unto a very familiar set of stinging words snapped her back to the conversation at hand.



The words from Pinky's mouth echoed the very same Manasa's brother would say whenever his actions needed justification. Manasa look towards the suit of armor and then towards the child in his mother's arms, realizing that had it been a few weeks ago she would have said the very same. Manasa opened her mouth to speak, yet the words became lost and mixed up in her throat. "I..."

Zerah looked to Luair for a moment, then to Altheron, fear completely engulfing his face. He turned back towards the ground, still curled up into a ball, trying to muster up the courage to even stand. He couldn't tell them about Algarees, not now. Not ever...

"Leave the kid alone!" Zerah finally shouted.

Zerah stood up from the ground, still shaking like crazy. He stepped forward a bit, keep his head hung low, not wanting to look anyone in the eye. He put one hand over his arm, but quickly removed it, his face contorting in disgust. 

"He...He's just a kid...He was scared....it....was, uh.....my fault...I didn't expect..what happened to happen.." Zerah didn't want to admit he had no control over the mask, but dishonesty would do know good in a situation like this. "I thought I could...control the mask....the whole..grabbing me and transforming......that wasn't supposed to happen....." Zerah shuddered. 

Zerah finally mustered the courage to look at the group, a mix of frustration and fear in his eyes.

"It's not Oxy's fault you people can't see him as something other than a monster! Wanting to kill a child, just because of how they look. Then who's the real monsters here?" Zerah asked, more towards the hesitant members of the guild.

Enoch sighed and eased up his hand on Celty's shoulder, sitting back and looking at the mother and child. Celty's answer was far more truthful than he'd been expecting. He was banking on having to take another vague promise at face value, but her frankness and openness put his mind at ease. If everyone just made sure to avoid skin to skin contact...

The priest lightly took Oxy's small hand in his gloved one before frowning at Celty. "He needs to be careful with his healing abilities in that case. Otherwise, if we all know how to avoid triggering him..." He let go of Oxy pushed himself to his feet. "I see no problem here."



Enoch paused as Pinky spoke, turning towards the looming metal puppet. Something about his words struck his heart sharply. Something familiar.

It would have been better if you were never born.

It hurt to think about, but he tried to understand the logic. Tried to understand the point Pinky was making. But... He glanced down at Oxy. He didn't seem unhappy earlier. Every encounter he'd had was with a contented, innocent child. A contented person. Who were they to say he would not be able to lead a fulfilling life? He agreed with the shaman entirely.

Enoch responded firmly, frowning and eyeing the warrior's weapon cautiously. "We don't know what kind of life HE will be able to lead, Alroth. That is not our call to make. All we know is that his powers can be controlled, and therefore he will not be a threat. That should be the only concern to us."