WARNING!! -- this is very old and shall never be updated, enjoy if you want anyways ^-^
- Created By itsumademo
Tewoeklon: Chapter Six
The bits of bread I gnawed on where like warm chunks of sawdust in my mouth. An appetite was far from anything I had or wanted right now.
I tossed the contents of the dinner tray out my open window like I did every night, hearing the familiar ringing shatter of the clay bowl on the ground never ceased to aggravate my sensitive ears. Yet I’d been doing it every evening for the last week.
Considering my state of mind I would have thought my rented room to be a disheveled sty, but instead I almost felt my skin itch at the compulsion to wreak havoc and yet maintain perfection. No wonder half breeds were so rare…just trying to live normally during this “maturity” was a torturous agony of body and mind.
I drug my nails down my upper arm, feeling again the cool brown blood rain down my skin. I could already sense the tissue begin to weave back together, slowly but surely. Even the old ones I still felt, stitch stitch stitch… like a rhythm that droned on in my skull.
I grabbed some rolled bandages on a dresser against the wall.
The sun was just about down completely so I slipped off my shoes and tied on the fabric strip covering my eyes. I had to hunt once more tonight.
The second day after my arrival a murder occurred in one of the larger neighboring towns. I hadn’t thought it would be a big deal in this place but every whispered piece of gossip I caught was about not only the latest murder but several dozen more that had been going on for the last 10 years. My spine tingled with curiosity at the idea of actually doing something other than waiting for a possible and likely minute notice of my friends. I decided to take it upon myself to figure out what was going on. Probably just another human with blood lust…
I slipped out of the window and crawled up the brick siding until I came to the roof’s lip and flipped myself over it, to land my bare feet quietly on the flat surface. The air was far less stale up high; off the dirty, human infested ground.
There was a sudden, disturbingly fresh scent dancing around the town. It tickled at my nose.
I leapt from my perch and continued to jump from the rooftops, following the scent. I all of a sudden inhaled sharply and had to stop my speed before I fell. My hands reached out to catch my fall but the aroma’s shock and the fast, almost straight down, descent had ruined any balance I had and my arms gave way beneath me. I skidded across the rough top and just barely managed to stop myself before the edge came up to try and drop me.
A heavy sigh escaped my lungs as I took a brief glance at my hands; the skin was ripped to pieces and painted red. I could sense the same lovely image all along my side. As I brushed the clotting blood out-of-the-way as best as I could I already noticed the skin weaving together ever so delicately. I crawled up using my elbows and began leaping yet again until the abrupt scent turned into a wall.
I slowed my pace and lightly dropped onto a window ledge as quiet as possible. The night had already settled in and through the sickly sweet fragrance I could taste the tang of blood on my tongue. I was a little too late.
“Damn”, I muttered under my breath.
I pulled off my blindfold and tucked it into the bosom of my clothes; as fast as I could I grasped onto the window siding, pushed off from the ledge and swung into the glass, shattering a hole just large enough for myself to glide through. Although the whole panel cracked at the force, causing high pitched shearing fractures that rung deeply in my ears.
I caught myself in a small tumble and stood up. The room was just as black as the outside world, with only the fragmented moon to highlight the masses and cast their shadows. My illuminated eyes added a disturbing green depth to everything I looked upon, it was a bizarre thing to be the color that you were seeing…almost like have tinted film over my eyes, but not.
I was just about to smack myself to shut up my brain when a soft female voice broke the silence of the room.
“Why hello.” A small, grinning giggle followed her greeting.
I sensed her steps head toward me and the scent ran me over like an ocean’s wave. It seemed as though I could lose my balance to an unseen force.
I breathed deeply, trying to keep as calm and cool as possible and then nonchalantly turned in place, setting my hand on my hip. I kept my eyes nearly shut in order to remain in the dark for the moment, with my face downcast as best as I was able to without looking like a moron.
“I must say, I wasn’t expecting to find a young woman.” I grinned at her in return, attempting to match her cynical humor.
She shrugged at my comment. “You should have expected the unexpected then.”
I was a bit taken a back at her comment. She was rather composed for someone who just committed murder. My brow furrowed.
“Might I inquire something?”
She seemed shocked by my own copy cat of herself, but nodded with a white smile glittering in the shadows. As she did so I saw the slight glint of a bloody weapon glide through a dirty cloth in her hands.
“Are you the one who’s been responsible for the murders over the last decade?”
The fabric against her blade stopped short, then continued through after which she placed the object back into its hidden sheath.
“Clever. Most wouldn’t have noticed the pattern as belonging to one person.” Her voice had become a bit more serious; however I could still hear her patronizing grin.
I continued to study her demeanor. She was just too average and shielded in her actions.
I opened my mouth to reply but instead voiced my sudden thought, making sure to mirror her condescending attitude. “A feat, I suppose, would not be too difficult…for a seasoned and professional assassin.”
Her eyes widened but then slipped back to normal.
“Pity.”
“And why’s that?”
“I was really getting to like you, but now…I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you as well.”
She ran at me with the stained dagger brandished in her left hand. I easily stopped her thrust.
“You’re pretty fast…and strong…” I added as I held back her still forceful arm; it was then I chose to fully open my eyes bathing her surprised face in green light. “…for a human.”
I pushed her away from me, expecting her to slam into the wall but she flipped over and landed in a crouch. A small gasp slipped past my lips. But I barely had the time to wonder at how she did that because again she lunged at me.
Left, right, up, down, spinning in circles. I had a hard time keeping myself at her pace; she wasn’t necessarily super fast but merely incredibly agile. Every time I knocked her away, whether it be a punch or kick or block she came rushing back at me, full speed.
Her face was severely distraught. It was like she had never come across anyone who could best her before. Despite my difficulty at matching her ever changing positions I was still very much the stronger opponent and being so I chose to end the fight right there.
I was already beginning to sense her own exhaustion as well as the several cuts and bruises that riddled her body…the two types of blood mixed with her overwhelming scent were beginning to give me a headache.
I took hold of her weapon wielding arm, squeezing so tightly I thought for a moment I crushed her bone. I pulled her up to my face so that we could each get a good look of the other. She was a fairly pretty woman, with short, blood red hair and two bits that went down past her shoulders in the front, a strange heart-shaped looking mole on her upper left cheek, and a straight old scar that scratched both lips on the left side. The scar was strange for one so young and skilled, but what disturbed me the most was her eyes.
I felt that her life was written on every bit of pigment; she was screaming inside them. We both stared at each other my green eyes pushing into her silver-brown ones. I don’t think I had ever come across such a unique looking human before.
She seemed completely enthralled by my appearance. Not surprising, although I wasn’t very used to being stared at. All the humans I lived with were more comfortable with my looks.
“What are you?” She whispered.
I lowered my eyes in guilt. “I’m sorry.” All my strength coiled and then released. I threw her from my hold; she flew from me so quickly and burst through two walls before stopping.
Past the first hole I could see the nearly cold body of her most recent victim, lying on an old rug in a pool of his own sticky, thick blood. I ran my eyes from him to the young assassin slouched against the farthest wall. I sighed and walked over to her.
She looked so helpless and tortured; like a broken child.
The sympathetic tug at my heart got the better of me. I picked her up and left the destroyed home, leaping from rooftops until I returned back to my own rented dwelling.
I slowly put her down onto my bed and proceeded to sit on the floorboards breathing heavily. I had never had to carry a full grown person while also running and jumping at my normal speed…it was much harder than I first thought.
“I really…need to train more.”
Once my heart had slowed again I turned my face back to the sleeping woman. She looked pained even in unconsciousness.
Exhausted muscles moved me to the opened window where I happily stopped to rest and watched the small town sleep. I had barely been there more than an hour before I dropped my head and drifted away as well.
When I finally came too, I reluctantly opened my eyes to find two silver- brown ones starring straight at me. I jerked back and smacked into the wood of the window I had been once peacefully latent on.
“Ow….” I held my head and mumbled with slight irritation.
“Why am I still alive?”
The woman seemed to be in utter disbelief.
My eyes blinked in shock of my own, I didn’t really know how to respond to her. “I-I honestly can’t answer that.”
She cocked her brow at me then sat back, with one leg dangling out the window.
I blew air out my closed lips, wafting my bangs up as I sighed. For a moment I starred at my hands then moved off the window to stand further in the as of yet unlighted room.
I could feel her eyes on me, like a hawk eyeing its rival rather than prey. The feeling was…unnerving.
Her feet touched the flooring, lighter than most humans could step.
“Seriously though. Who are you? What are you? Why am I here?”
Her questions felt so difficult to understand for some reason. I found I couldn’t quite function properly. My hands cupped my face as I breathed as calmly as possible.
A fluttering touch reached my shoulder. “UGH!” I screamed grabbing the hand and whirling around to face her. “I don’t know alright! I just don’t know!” She looked far more placid that I would have expected but in her eyes I saw fear.
I released her bruised hand and walked to sit on the bed; it was soft. I grinned to myself.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry. I uhh…I-I think you should leave.”
She was holding her injured hand close to her chest, the fear wavering back and forth from her face.
“No.”
“What!?” I jerked up to look at her. She had dropped her already purple right hand and her eyes were stern.
“I’m not leaving. You owe me explanations and I want them. Now.”
I blinked at her in shock, my mouth agape.
She sat down beside me and looked straight into my eyes. “Alright, spill.”
My surprise changed to confusion and I tilted my head slightly to the side at her phrasing. “Spill?”
“You know, tell me everything. All I want to know.”
“Oh uhh…al-alright.”
She was strangely persuasive.
I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. No words passed across my mind’s eye.
I saw her eyes glance at me while I kept my own glued to the wood floorboards. “Here, I’ll start then.” She stated beside me.
I nodded instinctually.
“Okay, what are you?”
I shook at the cobwebs in my head and proceeded to answer.
“I’m a…I’m a hybrid.”
The girl on the bed jerked at the word. “Hybrid? What kind of hybrid? What do you mean?”
I sighed. “I am an elf-human hybrid. However…” I paused. “…both my parents have passed on.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Though she apologized with intended sympathy her voice seemed tense and slightly indignant to the idea. I tried to ignore it.
“Um, I am currently the only one in existence and I’m also…rather lost.” I giggled at the idea that something supposedly as powerful as I could be lost, but power wasn’t in me…not really.
“Lost? How could you be lost?”
I laughed again.
“It’s uhh...a very long story. But essentially I ended up here with no one I know and no idea how to get to the ones I do.” I stretched up and looked out the window at the morning. “Pretty pathetic, huh?”
The girl was quiet for a change. I looked over to her; she was just staring at nothing.
“I’m sorry if I upset you?”
“Huh!? Oh no no, I was just thinking about something.”
She was methodically tapping her fingers against her lips.
“Alright!” She pounded her fist onto her thigh and then jumped up off the bed.
I slanted away from her as she leaped; the girl was being so enormously bizarre. Her firm silver-brown eyes looked down at me as she grinned almost manically.
“I am going to help you find the people you lost!”
My face was terribly dumbfounded. My mouth was wide open, my entire brow furrowed, and my eyes couldn’t move from her obnoxiously excited stance.
“WH-WHAT!?”
“In thanks for sparing my life and taking me from the scene to your own apartment.” She briefly glanced around “well, room.”
She smiled happily at me, although, my face had yet to change at all other than in minor twitches.
She glanced out the window then fell from her proud stand. “Oh SHIT! I have to go; another job later on.” She grinned at the latter.
Before she went from the open window she lightly placed a full kiss on my cheek. “You shouldn’t smile like that, you’ll get wrinkles.” She winked at me.
She ran to the window and placed her foot on the old ledge. “Bye bye for now!”
My face had softened since the impromptu kiss and quick farewell. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would hopefully never see her again until suddenly her face popped back into view.
“Oh, I completely forgot to ask you your name!”
I sighed in annoyance…it seemed I had a stray following me home now. “Noir. My name is noir.”
“Noir. That’s a pretty name.” She gave me a sincere smile for once. “I’m Kisneyla.”
“Pleased to meet you…Ney.”
She gasped in surprise then returned to her previous visage.
“Is it alright if I call you Ney?”
“Yes…I-I would prefer it actually.” Her head turned away to leave, but just as she did I thought I caught the scent of salty tears in the wind.
Tewoeklon: Chapter Four
We rammed into the stone pillar-like walls on the opposite side of the cave. I had propelled toward the man with so much force that we completely cleared the water which opened itself up in between the two sides of the underwater cavern.
Beneath my own growls and screams of anger I heard him below sounding just the same as he continuously made attempts to throw me off him.
“What is your problem, Bitch!?”
He pushed against my arms with great strength, but my fingers were dug deeply into his shoulders and the inertia of the moment merely thrust us from a place against the wall to another only a few feet away. My body smashed into the stone and then his crushed up against mine, my face was crammed up beside his neck. I felt his hands press in against the wall in order to force himself away but I kept my hands firm.
“Let go of me!” He screamed into my ear.
“Fine.” My voice had a nasty rumble to it.
I released my grip and the man toppled backward before making a quick flip and landing nicely on his feet. I coiled back on my calves and lunged toward him again, this time he blocked my kick. Instead I punched him in the face, forcing him back again into the pillar we had first hit.
“Holy Shit!” He stood from the broken indent in the stone and wiped the blood leaking from his mouth.
I gave a cynical smile at his angered expression and leapt lithely back over to Syren, who had still not moved since my attack.
“Sy, are you alright? …Syren?” I had taken her hand in my own while I watched her blank face. Her eyes moved to look behind me and in the reflection of her large pupil I saw the red haired man standing back on our side of the water.
I glanced at him once, his lip was already nearly healed and his face now held an understanding when I glared at him. I moved back to speak with Syren but before I got a word out she placed a finger against my lips. Her eyes appeared to be the normal golden color and she smiled slightly at my confused face.
“Thank you for trying to protect me Noir. But I can see I was mistaken.”
“Mistaken…?”
Syren moved away from me and over to the man I had just tried to…practically kill.
She placed her own hand in his, speaking to him in hushed tones, so quiet I couldn’t make out any of it. I furrowed my brow in utter confusion.
“Sy, who is this man? You were so afraid a second ago.”
The man frowned at me, but Syren faced me with a grin, different from any I had seen her wear before.
“Noir, this is Joryn. He has been my very close friend since childhood.”
I shook my head in refusal, “But that doesn’t explain why you were petrified at his appearance?”
“The last time I saw Joryn he was dead…or I was sure he was dead.”
“Then shouldn’t you be pleased to see him?”
“Generally, I would…but….” Syren and Joryn looked to each other. “…well, lately, back home, there have been unusual things happening on the battlefields. About four decades ago, Joryn and I were fighting as part of the palace guard to protect one of the smaller villages from an attack by some mountain dwelling dwarves. Things were going very well and once we had pushed the rebels back to the border we returned to our fallen comrades. It was there I found Joryn…and a few others.
“Suddenly two of my soldiers, dead according to the physician presiding there, got up! They retrieved their weapons and licked the blood off the blades, watching us like we were no one and as more returned I began to hear their murmurs of bewilderment. However, since I was a high ranking member of the guard, during a meeting of our senior staff I had been informed that something odd had been occurring among our dead, and that we were to destroy all deceased comrades immediately upon death or battles end.
“As I recalled this information nearly all members of the dead were again moving towards us, all except Joryn and his second in command, Tan. I ordered the squads to eradicate everyone that had arisen, some were uncertain but many obeyed. By the time we had burned all the bodies, as well as Tan’s, Joryn had not been accounted for.”
“So, you thought that this, he, was one of these…things?”
“Exactly, but that was only my first encounter with them, afterwards, we began receiving more intelligence about these creatures. Ones left alive after seemingly coming back to life during battles were found to be similar to who they once were, with the same memories and mannerisms, though they were more aggressive and prone to murder if angered. Some were immediately found to be strange, while others took time to notice the change. Apparently after some time their eyes or skin would change color to a pale white or yellow, although a few stronger ones were known to stay the same. Eventually they would leave the places they were brought to, several after leaving trails of dead family and friends.”
I sat down; I couldn’t believe what I was being told. That…after all this time, elves could be some blood thirsty creatures? Syren also settled before me, and in my lowered view I spotted Joryn sit as well.
“Noir, I understand how difficult this is to take in. But it’s now been 25 years since any of these creatures have been spotted or reported anywhere.”
“Did they ever figure out what caused all this?” I leaned a bit towards Syren in my curiosity.
“No, they didn’t, but the few who were kept frozen for study after the initial attacks were found to be somewhat altered…but no one outside the medical team, security chiefs, and the royals knew anything of it. …But in my experience, I found that elves who had been transformed did not bleed. Not a drop of blood at all. That was how I knew Joryn was not a creature.”
“I too, have come across some after I managed to escape the battle.” Joryn spoke with a strong but low voice. “I have only met two since they were said to be diminished. Both were strong, but I did find that none of them bleed. I removed the arms of the last one I encountered, it was…strange. The bone and muscle were there, but were anatomically wrong, the bones were blue and had black tinted nicks all along them and the muscle tissue was larger but completely brown in color.
“I examined the creature before I burnt it and there are no lungs or heart in the body, and the ribs were fewer and warped into one another. They were virtually no organs left in the body, just bone and an excess of muscle, a few veins were still there but when I touched them, immediately they fell to dust. Which I found in numerous places inside the body.”
“Did he have a brain at all?” I had been intensely watching him speak about these beings; I was curious what they were.
He looked over at me, as though he had forgotten I existed, which irritated me and I glared at him.
“I had no chance to look, I had spent too much time probing his body, and he would have come back again had I not set him on fire.”
“Hmm….” I leaned onto my hand. “Syren, did they ever name these beings? They don’t sound like elves too me, nor humans, or even hybrids. They aren’t like any of the creatures I have come across or red about.”
“As far as I know, they had been called Tewoeklons.”
“That’s an odd name…is it elvish?”
“I do not believe so; I think it was a combination reached by some of the elder scholars…a mixture of several languages. The closest meaning I know of was Hollow Murders.”
“I know I don’t know these creatures, but isn’t that rather prejudiced? Have you found that all these mutated beings are killers?”
“Of course they are!” Joryn shouted at me, his orange eyes flared like fire.
“I simply mean that…” I stopped speaking and looked to the stone walls. “Syren, the ship is taking up anchor, they’re about to leave.”
“Yes, I know.”
Syren placed her hands on Joryn’s. “I am very glad I was able to see you again, after all this time.” They stood together.
I followed, though somewhat less graceful.
“I assume you need this cavern, I will stay up on the ship tonight.” She released her hands from Joryn.
“Sy, are you sure? You said the smell is hard on you.”
“Yes, I’ll stay up with Menya.” She flashed me a small smile.
“Ship?” Joryn looked confused. I simply narrowed my eyes at his voice, I know I had no place to judge, but this man bugged me.
“Yes, Menya and I have been working with Noir’s village for the last few years. We assist in raids and hunts.”
“Menya? You mean Men, from the archery squad? The giddy pink eyed girl?”
“Yes, she’s been working with me for almost 20 years now; around the time when we came to the human’s village.”
“Ah yes, the hybrid.” They both turned to look at me, though he clearly did not hold any kind feelings towards me.
“Well, pardon me for not being perfect.” My anger flared up again.
“So why are you with this hybrid anyway?”
I moved to stand next to Syren and crossed my arms in defiance at his clear dislike of me and my ancestry. As well as his endlessly irritating propensity to speak as though I weren’t even here. Syren then placed an arm across my shoulders.
“Joryn, this is Noir. Daughter of Captain Jonathin Schar and Sena of Toryl.”
“Sena? This is the only child of Sena of Toryl?”
Syren nodded.
“Toryl? What is that?” I looked to Syren but she did not turn to face me, she seemed to be ignoring my question.
“Noir, I hear Kayne looking for you. You should go and eat with your father and friend.”
“But, what about you?”
“I’ll be fine; I would like some time to catch up with my friend before I return to the ship.” She set both hands on my shoulders. “Inform Men that I’ll be a little late.”
I looked over at Joryn briefly, “Alright. I’ll see you later.”
I walked backwards to the water and jumped in, all the while I watched Joryn. He continued to annoy me, even without saying anything.
The waters were much colder than before and certainly darker as well. Thankfully, at least the swim to the surface was much quicker than to the trove.
I wonder what those Tewoeklon are really like. My thoughts seemed to unwittingly wander back to the images I crafted when Syren talked of the creatures once plaguing the elves. I pushed the idea away though as I came closer to the darkened shadow casted by the Snyaria.
Once I breeched the water’s exterior and I quickly climbed up through our cabin’s window. I hated being in wet clothes, my hair and skin would take a little longer to dry outside the cave as well. Menya wasn’t in the room and the door was still locked.
I quickly pulled myself out of my damp clothes and unwrapped the bandages I still wore. My wounds were looking quite well, though I had never been much of a physician. I put on my other set of clothing, a looser and slightly more formal outfit but my only other set.
I decided to let my hair down, especially as it was nearly dry, and anyway my father had always liked my hair down. I ran a brush through my hair before stepping out of the cabin, too the laughing voices of the men preparing for dinner below deck.
“Hello.” Kayne spoke suddenly at my side.
“Kayne.” I nodded with a smile. “How have things been today?”
He chuckled at my nonchalance. “Things have been fine, noisy though. We should be at the city tomorrow at dawn. Everyone has been getting somewhat anxious.”
“So then…tomorrow we go in.”
“Yes. Will you be alright?”
“Of course, I’ll be fine.” I grinned up at him, but when I lowered my head I felt the nervous flutters of the realization that I would be back where my mother never left.
“Noir.” Kayne placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from continuing along my path. “Are you sure you’re ready? You don’t have to go; I can speak with your father.”
“No, no.” I shook my head and lightly placed my hands against his chest. “I’ll be fine; I want to help provide for our home. It’s my duty to help.” I continued to stare down at our feet; the memories of the other night when I broke down and Kayne and I shared a long embrace came to mind as my fingers twitched against his chest. A hot blush came to my face.
I swallowed deeply and tried to ignore the feeling.
“Kayne…you’ll stay with me right?” I looked up at him and his face was shocked; a slight pinkish tint glowed on his cheeks.
“Uh…wwhat do you mean?”
“When we reach the town, you’ll not leave me, you’ll stay by my side?”
He sighed. “Yes, I’ll stay with you.”
“Thank you Kayne!” I wrapped my arms around his torso, my face pushed against his warm chest.
I quickly regained my senses, released my grip, and hurriedly walked away from Kayne with a silly, half embarrassed look on my face.
Once I reached my father’s cabin, I took a moment to breathe as I leaned against the doors; I tried my best to push away the strange emotions dancing around inside me.
I took hold of the large wooden handle and pulled it open.
My father was sitting quietly on his bed.
“Father?”
“Ah, Noir. Are you ready to eat?” He stood up slowly and walked over to the threshold, where I was waiting.
“Yes…I am.” I looked at my father’s face; he seemed pale and his eyes distant. “Are you alright?” I reached my hand out to his cheek, he felt cold.
“I’m just fine, darling. No need to worry.” He placed a hand on my head.
“…Father…?” As he stepped past the door his hand began to slip from my head and his body toppled forwards.
I caught him as best as I could. “Father? Father..?? Come on, wake up!” I shook him slightly but he remained unresponsive. “KAYNE!”
End
