The Beast in us All (Kolath x Risi)

[Kolath]

Long ago and far away the legend went,. A lord with a large holding of land had been one of the most handsome and sought after suitors in all the lands. He had his pick of all the woman and all that led to a very prideful and arrogant man. Add to all this the fact that he was a naturally talented wizard and it only added to his already arrogant nature.

That all changed one day when a homely woman came seeking his hand and he turned her away in no uncertain terms. The woman smirked and with a sudden flash of light she changed into the goddess of love and beauty. "Know this thou haughty and vain Lord, Beauty is nothing if not tempered with a loving and caring soul of which you have shown neither. From this moment you are cursed never to die till you find one that will show you the love that you have not shown me." With the flick of her hand she cast a dreadful spell ripping at the flesh of the mage lord shredding the beauty that he prized so much.

The years passed and though some from his former life tried to they couldn't bring themselves to look past the horror that had become his face. Finally he was left alone with only his magic and the memories of days gone by to keep him company. His life turned to nothing but dark brooding and self doubt and pitty. The only thing that made it at all bearable was the times he could escape the cold confines of his castle and walk in the deep woods now grown wild since his estates was lost to memory.

 

[Risi]

The night was dark and foggy, the moon was nowhere to he found as she scaled the castle wall down. Her hair was pull back in a tight bun under the heavy black velvet close that disguised her. When she was about a foot from the ground Wren let go of the small stones and let herself drop to the cobblestone. Perching on her ties and fingertips, fabric sprayed around her, she listened for guards footsteps. After a half a minute or so, she stood and let the hood of the cloak cover her dark sea irises.

Soon enough, she was riding off into the dark of the night. The haunted woods would be better than her husband of three hours any day. When she reached the treeline, the horse whined and paused for a second, Wren urged him forward though, wanting to be in the cover of the trees. There was little activity that she could see within the forest, the little that she could see that is. A wolf howled far off, catching her attention and making her, and the horse, turn their heads. "Its okay," she told the horse softly, but she was also telling herself, "Jutting keep going. It's only fables."

There was a burst of fire then, steaming from the nostrils of a dragon. Wren screeched and the horse reared back on its hind legs, throwing the small woman off in the process. The dragon then reached out, grasping the horse and throwing it into his gullet. After he licked his lips, he turned to the dazed girl on the ground, beginning to reach for her. Her face was scraped and it was bleeding from hitting rocks of sorts on the ground, it didn't help though when the dragon's great claw reached for her shapely legs and dragged her along the ground towards himself. The clasp around her legs was strong, strong enough to break one of her femurs in half. When that happened her screams were filled with hurt sobs of pain and even louder screeches. "Hush now," the dragon slithered, "What's a nice girl like you doing in the woods at this time of night?"

He was goading her, playing with her mind. His mother had never told him not to play with his food.

 

[Kolath]

Kael walked through the forest the creatures of it giving him a wide berth knowing full well what could happen if he took a mind too. His cloak was heavy around his shoulders and covered his face hiding what was his now disgrace and no longer his pride. His mind wondered around the past and future that in his mind held nothing but loneliness and despair as he knew deep in his soul that there was no one that could do what was impossible.

It wasn't till the shriek of pain and terror filled the forest that he was drawn out of his brooding. He looked around noticing how close he had come to the edge of the forest closer than he had been in a long time. He watched the shadows for a moment listening and then was off feeling the fear and lust for food and perhaps more rolling away from one direction.

It wasn't long before he came to the dragon's clearing and narrowed his eyes under the hood of the cloak seeing the girl in his claw. He knew that taking on a dragon was never a wise move for anyone but he did have the advantage of the dragon being rather distracted. He began casting a spell slowly waving the magic through the air waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

 

[Risi]

Wren's eyes were clenched shut as the dragon twiddled her around in the air. His clawed talon was easily the size of her body and he used that to his advantage as her cloak hung above her head, and so would have her dress, had she been wearing one but she had stolen a pair of her husband's pants instead.

"Please, don't eat me," she cried to him, beggimg him to spare her, even with her injured leg. The dragon cackled, "Oh dear, you are going to die here. If not by me, then by some othr creature of these woods." He twirled her about yet again, teasing her.

Her blonde hair fell from the bun on the back of her head, shaken free from the violent movements of his talon. Her leg was on fire, especially as he used it to torture her further, her screams only relented for sobs. Suddenly though, he stopped shaking her and let her drop. Quickly she moved to cover her head with her arms to take the brunt of the impact of the long fall. It was the last straw for Wren's body then, and she promptly passed out as her body crumpled to the ground.

 

[Kolath]

The strike came just before the final strike that would have killed her. He released the pent up energy that he had been holding back sending wave after wave of it into the dragon. A single wave of energy would never have stopped the dragon, but the consistent rain of wave after wave of magic pouring into the blood of a magic being threw every rhythm of its body off. With a sudden jerk and shudder the dragon roared and fell forward collapsing in a heap of dead flesh.

In the next moment Kael was across the intervening distance and brushing his hand down over the woman's face his eyes half closed. Slowly he let his hand travel feeling out the damages done to her due to the attack. She was too badly hurt to move in any conventional means, which left only one option. He slowly gathered the energy around him building it up and letting it roll into the fabric of the world. In an instant it ripped a hole through the fabric and sent the two of them speeding to his home; where she came down on a soft bed, never seeming to move just the bed appearing beneath her.

He left the room for a moment to get some medicine and bandages to help her heal all the more. Although his servants had all left he still kept the place clean through magic.