Gluttony and the Wolf

[Guest]

The sun was beginning to sink in the sky and behind the distant mountains, and the fields of ice and snow were painted with vivid colours of orange, pink and yellow. The nomadic wolf warrior had left the strange human settlement called North City earlier the same day, heading north on a supposed lead on the man he hunted. These frozen wilds were nearly nostalgic. They filled the Kadzait man with longing thoughts for home, back in the snow covered mountains, forests, and tundra of Kadazait lands. It had been five, long, grueling years since he had last scene his home, his tribe, his family....But who he missed most, was his sister. The man with the wicked grin, he would find him and free his beloved sister, or he would avenge her restless spirit, if her life had already been drawn out from her body. He had not seen her smiling face in years. He had grown older and stronger since the day she was taken away. If only he had been so on that day five years ago, then he might have saved her. He couldn't be sure of whether or not she was alive now, but either way, he was bound by the whims of heaven and the spirits to circle death with the human that had cursed him and his tribe. He would kill him, or he would be killed by him. That was his fate.

Though he felt more at home than he had in years, her in the endless expanse of frozen, open plains, where he could see the forest in the distance, he was still an outsider in this land of humans. The people of this land were pale skinned with hair coloured in brown and gold, they spoke words he could not understand, they wore much clothing that seemed odd to the scantily clad Amaruk, whom only wore his long, trailing, patterned breechcloth, stone gray leggings, hide sandals, and tattered fur waist cloak. Seldom was it cold enough that he needed fur and cloth to stay warm, but his minimal clothing sufficed, it did not slow him down, and it did not hamper him when he traveled through the alien sands of the desert to the east.

Yes this land was strange and alien to him, and often he was lost in its mystery and cautious of its unearthly aspects, such as those he encountered in the grand human village to the south of this plain. But soon the moon would rise and fill him with its mystic light, and the great lunar spirit would protect him once more on his journey after its absence in the dark sky, a night of no moon, when the moon spirit slumbered. Kadzait anticipated the coming moon, it was instinct, it was spiritualism, it was their life force, it guided them on their journey to the afterlife. Tonight would mark beginning of the growth cycle, when it woke slowly from its sleep. Perhaps soon, when the moon spirit was fully awake, the full moon would guide him to meet the man he was destined to face.

The silent warrior stopped in his tracks, knee deep in snow. His dark and canine ears stood alert as a faint humming sound grew closer from the distance. The wolf caught a scent on the chill wind, the scent of humans, and the putrid smell of smoke that their metal mounts gave off. From the sound of their roaring steel beasts, they were heading towards his direction. Amaruk turned to the direction of the city he had came from, and surely enough, on the horizon and rapidly approaching, were four figures, each riding upon a roaring steel mount that sped across the snow like a ghost, unhampered. These humans were after him, he could smell their intent in the air, so he stood his ground patiently, bathed in the fading crimson sunlight. The four riders did not stop when the were finally upon Amaruk, no, instead, with laughter and mischievous grins, they began to circle him, yelling at him over the roar of their engines in that deep and guttural language he could not understand. However, he could understand the tones of their voices. For whatever reason, these humans meant him harm. He had no wish to kill these men, as they were not the man he sought the blood of. He would give them fair warning.

The wolf chimera stood tall and unyielding, his feet spread, his tail still, his teeth bared, a display of feral ferocity meant to intimidate his attackers and prevent unnecessary bloodshed. He did not want the taste of human blood sullying his mouth, but the men continued to laugh, taunting their subhuman prey. A young and arrogant one, dressed in black and adorned with silver chains and studs shouted something to his friends, who responded with roars of encouragement. The young one broke from the encirclement and brandished a metal gleaming metal stick, something that was perhaps like a club, thought Amaruk. He drove towards the wolf-man, the narrow metal club raised high above his head, read to bare down and strike its target. But it never hit its mark, for its wielder had missed. In a flurry of motion, so quick and unexpected that it left the other three humans astonished, the foolish assailant fell to the ground, his chest torn open and stained with red, his life nor more.. His riderless mount continued onward without him, sailing right into one of the others. With a scream, he fell the the ground, and he quickly scrambled to evade the entanglement of the metal snow riding machines. The grounded man, with a broken arm and a scarred face, looked up fearfully, and let out a nearly inhuman squeal of terror, for standing over him, against the backdrop of the darkening sky, that yielded a sliver of pale moon, was a great and terrible beast, a Kadzait warrior, or, as he imagined, in all his terror, a werewolf.

[Shula Brighton]

{BUMP}

[Sal]

As cold as the night was in the North, as impossible as it was to see during snow storms (especially in the dark), there was something about the night time that made Sal want to go out into the frozen wilderness quite often. Fortunately there was no blizzard this time, but the temperatures were at extreme lows, even for this area. The small homunculus took this as an opportunity to go out without having to worry about who might be following him; nobody in their right minds would be out here now that the sun was setting unless they had to - it was simply too cold and the area had become quite dangerous recently. Of course the danger aspect was something that went right over his head, but it didn't matter. No one would be dumb enough to mess with Captain Sal, and it was quite clear who he was as he donned his signature orange pirate clothing, which included his plumed pirate hat. Anybody would be cautious just upon seeing his silhouette, as small as it was, and likely wouldn't even approach him unless they had a good enough reason to do so.

The pirates were well known around this area, but not as criminals, and certainly not as heartless villains. Sal, as captain, set the precedent for how the pirates were viewed, and while those individuals who thought it was but a dress-up hobby did exist, most knew that captain Sal did whatever the less capable asked of him. He was a generous Captain, and if necessary, would work for lower or even no wages at all. There were some who feared the pirates, but those would be the ones who were given to the crew as targets for some particular task. Regardless, one thing was clear - in North City, people knew who the pirates were, and knew their leader, Captain Salazar Masu. The crew, a handful of people with extraordinary skill and their own share of secrets that they would rather keep hidden, even from their fellow shipmates.

The small boy decided that tonight was going to another one of those nights - time to chase down some bears. As the saying goes, "don't judge a book by its cover", and this holds especially true for the small Ishvallan boy who began a routine patrol of the frozen plains. While small in stature and quite innocent in appearance and in his normal behavior, this boy was far from weak and harmless. Inhabiting his body, due to an absorption of a philosopher's stone, was a beast known as Gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins that Father had cast out of himself in order to become the perfect being all those years ago. However, his enemies would be lucky, because the monster inside of him was still in a slumber, not quite ready to awaken. At first glance, his eyes were just the characteristic red of any individual with Ishvallan blood, but on a deeper examination, they held such deep, conflicting emotions that it would have been difficult to tell exactly what he was feeling at any given moment. The cat ears and tail that protruded from and were part of his body were visible scars of a painful past that he would rather not revisit. Even someone his age could hold such heavy emotional burdens without breaking down.

As he reached the start of the forested area, his eyes sharpened, and he proceeded into the thick of the forest while scanning for any trace of movement, a scent, a sound, anything. It grew increasingly dark as the homunculus moved his way toward the thicker parts of the forest, but the variety of smells increased dramatically as well, signifying the abundance of life here, even in these extreme temperatures. It was a marvel, really, that creatures and trees could grow and prosper in such harsh conditions, almost like the hunter who tread through the depths of the cold. Suddenly a rustling sound escaped from a nearby cluster of trees, and the homunculus made his way in the direction of the sound, hoping that he had found a valid target.

Out from between the trees marched a large, adult bear that seemed to be searching for something. It held its face down toward the snow, as though trying to pick up its target's scent. After a few moments, it lifted its head, alert, sensing something. "Okay, big guy," Sal muttered as the bear turned in his direction, "You and me are gonna play a little game today!" The bear, sensing the threat, let out a roar in an attempt to intimidate the boy, who simply took a few steps toward the large animal. "Is that all you got?" With a playful giggle, he ran toward the furry creature, who stood up on its two hind legs to prepare a swing of its paw. Just as the massive paw came at the small boy, the latter dropped into the snow and rolled out of the way before running toward the nearest tree. In a rage, the bear began to run toward him, only to dodged at the very last moment - the bear crashed snout first into the tree.

This was becoming routine for him, predicting how the bears would move, and so it had developed into a game. All he had to do was get them to lose their sense of balance or let down their guard, then he could work his magic. As the vicious creature shook its head to recover from the blow, Sal quickly hopped onto its back, slid up to its shoulders, and grabbed the fur on its neck. The beast shook its whole body in an attempt to rid itself of its parasite, but Sal's grip was impossibly strong. After numerous failed attempts at getting the boy off of its back, the bear finally gave in, for the most part. Sal loosened his grip to wrap his arms around the animal's large neck. Bears were always so warm and comfy!~

Suddenly, lights flashed in the distance, and they seemed to be circling in the same area. It was suspicious, and Captain Sal didn't like it at all when strange people waltzed around in his playground without him knowing. He grabbed the skin of the bear's neck and pushed it forward, causing the animal to move in an attempt to free itself. Sal felt very much at home atop this bear, and it didn't take long before he learned how to coax the bear to move in different ways. Once he got the hang of that, he managed to get the animal to run toward these..."bandits" just as snow began to fall. A snowflake got in the boy's eye, and he blinked a few times before rubbing it, causing him to miss the action that took place. When he looked back up, there was only one figure still standing.

Sal charged into the group with his new "friend" whom he let go of just as he got close to the standing man. As he fell into the snow, he rolled onto his back and stared at the man. The boy could tell that this man wasn't from here at all just be looking at him, but there was something that caught his attention more than anything else - the man's ears and his tail. With a gasp, he got up, covered in snow.

"You are like me!" Sal shouted, ignoring the groans of the injured men around him. "See," he continued, touching his ears while pointing to the man's, then doing the same with his and the man's tail, "You ARE like me!" He looked at the man for a while, then past him at the bear that had turned around and was beginning to backtrack to its home. Sal didn't want his fun with the bear to end so soon, he had to do something! But he wanted to know more about this man with the ears and the tail that were kind of like...a wolf's! He'd seen pictures of wolves in books before, but he'd never seen one for real, and this was close enough for him. Grabbing the man's hand gently, he pulled him toward the bear while pointing at the large beast.

"Come on! We need to be fast before it goes home without us! Come with me!"

[Guest]

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