ankoku-n
Ankoku
A collection of short stories and journal entries
13 posts
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THE DOPE COLLECTION
Text
The Meeting
Several days after the undead attack on her restaurant, Bridget and the family had finally finished cleaning up and repairing the damage caused by the Raen girl and her followers. It didn’t take long for the word to spread across Kugane about some horrific headless woman turning into an abomination and murdering a few people. The form the creature took was something the Miqo’te had never heard of. Sure, there have been reports in the past about the dead rising and feasting on the flesh of the living, but nothing about a body moving without a head, never-mind turning into a monster.
After the attack, Takeshi had strengthened the family’s defenses, ensuring there was double the guards on hand, each armed with a sword and a pistol. Bridget wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without at least ten bodyguards, making it impossible for her to move without drawing attention. So, she delegated, issuing orders from the safety of the basement of the restaurant.
The day after the attack Bridget had ordered a messenger to track down a former family member, an assassin from days past. He had left the family shortly after Kakeru, the previous oyabun, killed himself. After that he simply vanished off the face of the planet, fading into the dark and leaving no trace. But, Bridget was surprisingly good at tracking people down. She was able to locate him within a few hours from the safety of the basement, reaching out with her echo.
As the staff busied themselves with preparing for another busy night, Bridget sat in the main dining hall, a stack of papers sitting in front of her. The accountants had run into an issue with the ledgers, so she had offered to look over everything and attempt to figure out what the issue was. Before her, the previous oyabun had been pretty lazy when it came to keeping up the books. So of course they were going to run into issues down the road.
Without a word, someone pulled out a chair and took a seat across the table from the busy Miqo’te. She looked up, a pair of reading glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, dark bags lingering under her bright green eyes. The paper Bridget had been studying was laid down on the table before setting aside her pen. Siting across from her was a Hyur with black hair slicked back with a tab of styling gel, a pair of dark brown eyes studying the Miqo’te. The man leaned back in his chair, lit a cigarette and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Thank you for taking the time to come and see me,” Bridget said with a soft smile. “It’s really good to see you again, Ankoku.”
“How could I resist? When an oyabun reaches out and contacts someone out of the blue it must be an important matter. Let me guess, your voidsent friend is back.”
“Sharp as ever,” Bridget said softly, leaning back into her chair. “I need your help killing it.”
“Last time you didn’t need my help. What’s changed?”
“It has a new host for starters.”
“Yeah, and? So do I, but that doesn’t change how strong I am,” the Hyur replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Is this thing even a voidsent?” Bridget asked as she reached across the table and grabbed the Hyur’s pack of cigarettes. She stole a bent cigarette from the crumpled pack, placed it between her lips and lit with with a small magical flame. Upon seeing this, Ankoku raised a single eyebrow and shot the Miqo’te a quizzical look.
“When did you start smoking?”
“Few days ago,” Bridget said as she blew smoke from her nose. “Been under a lot of stress lately. I wasn’t expecting to see that thing again so soon. It showed up here and killed a handful of people before vanishing a few days ago.”
“Ah, so that’s why you called me here? You know I’m not an assassin, Bridget. At least not anymore. I live in the middle of nowhere and I quite like the life I have now.”
“So you won’t help?” Bridget asked, staring at the Hyur.
“No, I won’t. I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I came here.”
“Coward,” Bridget spat out.
“Right then. I’m just gonna see myself out,” Ankoku said as he scooted his chair back and rose to his feet.
“No, you’re not going anywhere,” Bridget replied with a shake of her head. She brought up her right hand, snapped her fingers and motioned towards the Hyur. “Take this coward and lock him up in the warehouse. Oh, and he’s a Voidsent. So if he resists,” Bridget turned her gaze onto the Hyur. “Kill him.”
“What?!” Ankoku shouted as two men grabbed him, dragging him away from the chair. “This isn’t the Bridget I knew! You can’t do this!”
“Unlike you, Ankoku, I do not run from my problems. I face them head on. This THING is threatening my family and I will do anything to protect them from this evil,” Bridget said as she crossed one leg over the other.
“You can’t do this, Bridget!” Ankoku continued to shout as the thugs dragged him away.
“Help us and I won’t lock you away for the rest of time,” the Miqo’te called out, tapping the ashes of her cigarette into an ash tray.
“Kakeru wouldn’t do this!”
Bridget stood up so quickly her chair toppled over, the noise causing every family member in the room to draw their swords. The two men dragging Ankoku away stopped, holding him in place as their oyabun approached. Once she was within reach, Bridget backhanded Ankoku, glaring into his dark brown eyes.
“Kakeru would burn this city to the ground if it mean saving his family; MY family. Don’t you dare speak of him as if he were a coward,” Bridget said through clenched teeth, her face inches away from the Hyur’s. “Kakeru was more of a man than you ever will be. If you speak poorly of him again I will kill you myself.”
Ankoku fell silent for a moment, his head drooping forward as he considered his next words. He knew exactly what kind of person Kakeru was since they shared a body for some time. Bridget was right, he would have burnt Kugane to the ground for the family. Kakeru would’ve done anything to preserve the Naruse-kai legacy.
“I’ll help,” Ankoku finally said, his voice weak. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to speak ill of Kakeru. I miss him just as much as you do, Bridget.”
Bridget took a step back and waved her right hand and the two men holding Ankoku in place released him, causing him to fall to his knees. Now that he was free, the Hyur ducked down low, practically kissing Bridget’s feet as he begged for her mercy. She dropped down to a squat, placing a hand on the her old friend’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Ankoku, I didn’t mean to be an asshole, but this is serious. This thing wants to kill all of us, not just the family. When it was here, in this building, I could feel its emotions. Its desires. It is so blood thirsty I fear that it wouldn’t be content killing all of Kugane. It wants more than just Kugane. It wants the world, Ankoku. We need to stop this here and now.”
Ankoku peeled himself off the ground and looked into the Miqo’te’s bright green eyes. It looked as if Bridget had aged ten years since the last time they saw each other. There was a look of determination in her eyes but also love. Even through all of this, Bridget still cared for the voidsent, despite him being a literal monster feared by many.
“Then we need to work together to figure out a plan,” Ankoku said, placing one hand over Bridget’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Please tell me you have more assassins on the way. We can’t kill it if it’s just the two of us.”
“I’m going to be helping,” Takeshi chimed in, towering over everyone else in the building. He strode over to his oyabun and the former assassin, peering down at the pair. “It is good to see you again, Ankoku.”
Takeshi held out both hands for Bridget and Ankoku and they took hold of his hands, pulling themselves back up to their feet. The Hyur dusted himself off, his clothing still dirty from the trip to Kugane. He made a mental note to steal one of the family’s suits, something he had missed wearing since leaving.
“I also have an idea. A dangerous idea,” Bridget said, first looking at Ankoku and then up at Takeshi. “Remember the Hyur we kidnapped a few weeks back?”
“Oh gods, please don’t tell me you want to bring them into the fold,” Takeshi groaned. “Please no. My ears are still ringing after their last visit.”
“I would like to bring them in. Takeshi, I need you to send some guys to Ul’dah. Find the twins and bring them back alive and unhurt. Oh, and make sure you pay them first. I don’t think people like that are gonna budge without some kind of compensation.”
“Hold on, who are you two talking about? I’m lost,” Ankoku asked.
“After I first sealed the Thing away, I locked it up into a soulstone. It took a great deal of effort to put it in the stone, but once inside it was trapped. Someone, a Garlean I’m guessing, broke into my apartment in Eorzea and stole the stone. It took us some time to figure out who had done it, but once we knew he stole it we brought them in for questioning. That was when the Thing was freed from its prison. The Garlean male smashed the stone and fled in the chaos.”
“What’s a Garlean?” Ankoku asked, clearly out of the loop.
“Long story short,” Takeshi chimed in. “They’re a group of radicals from the north that were hellbent on dominating the world before the Warrior of Light stepped in. As far as I know, the Empire doesn’t exist anymore, so these twins may be willing to help us. I won’t lie, it would be nice to have an experienced soldier in on this. We have a lot to gain from being an ally to someone like that.”
“Right then, let’s get to work,” Bridget said, clapping her hands together once. “Takeshi, get some of our best fighters and dispatch them to Ul’dah to find the Garlean twins. Offer them money and tell them there’s more where that came from if they want to help us. I’m giving you a blank check, so please avoid spending all of our money. Ankoku, you’re with me. You’ve got some catching up to do.”
Takeshi nodded his head once before bowing and quickly walked off and leaving the restaurant. Bridget and Ankoku stayed behind and retreated to the basement so the voidsent could become reacquainted with the family and its movements after he left. The voidsent’s cooperation would definitely help in the long run, his skill-set something not easily found within the Naruse-kai family. Bridget just hoped this would be enough, knowing that if they didn’t put an end to this now, the creature would run rampant with hell following in its wake.
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Text
Lies
Ankoku had been in the best mood since last night upon hearing the good news from his partner, Ulan. The two of them were going to start their own little family, something he had hoped would happen in his lifetime. For the first time in ages, he felt like a regular person and not a creature from the Void all thanks to Ulan. They meant the world to him, feelings he didn’t even know he had rising to the surface whenever his mind drifted in the direction of daydreaming about his partner.
The Viera went through the process of unlocking the door leading into his apartment but grew confused when he found the locks already disengaged. Odd. Did he forget to lock the door when he left earlier? Thinking nothing of it, Ankoku opened the door to his small apartment and stepped inside. Almost immediately he heard someone else in the room and flicked on the lights. And to his surprise, Bridget was there!
“Hey, Bridget! Man, I have the best news for you,” Ankoku said as he walked over to the Miqo’te.
“I don’t care,” was her reply, bright green eyes flicking over to look at the Viera. Both of her eyes were bloodshot and bruised, her nose showing signs that it had recently been broken and snapped back into place. Her clothing was simple, a stretch of black fabric wrapped around her chest where a set of pantyhose were attached to a pair of black shorts.
“Oh, we’re still doing this?” Ankoku asked, deflated. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“Nope. I have no plan on telling you anything,” she shot back, returning her attention to the cabinet she was rooting through.
“Okay… So, are you going to tell me why you’re here then?”
“I’m taking what’s mine,” Bridget muttered as she tossed in several boxes of ammo into a large black duffel bag.
“Bridget, none of this stuff is yours. This is all my stuff.”
“No, it’s not. It’s Kakeru’s belongings. And last I checked, this shit is all mine. He didn’t leave you shit in his will. Don’t worry, I won’t take it all, but I’m taking everything that he left me.”
“You can’t just… Come in here and take whatever you want, Bridget. I thought we agreed to share all this?” Ankoku asked before lighting a cigarette.
“I changed my mind,” Bridget said, glaring over at Ankoku. “The guns, soul-stones, ammo, his sword… All of it is mine.”
“Whoa, hold on now. I’m not giving you his sword. You gave that to me!”
“Yeah and now I’m taking it back.”
Bridget looked over at Ankoku and glared at him as she filled the duffel bag. She moved over to another cabinet and threw open the doors revealing an impressive collection of soul-stones. Using one hand the Miqo’te swept them all into the bag and before moving onto the next cabinet, threw a few of the stones out onto the floor. Ankoku watched as she opened the display case housing all of their firearms and carefully placed the double barrel shotgun, bolt action rifle and both handguns into the bag. Once they were secure she took the ammo for each gun and dumped it into the bag, zipped it shut and slung it over her shoulders.
“The sword. Give it to me,” she said, extending her hand.
“Not happening,” Ankoku said with a shake of his head.
The Miqo’te let out an annoyed sigh and stormed over to the other display case. She took hold of the door handle and tried to open it only to find that it was locked. With almost no effort, Bridget broke off the handle and ripped the door out of its frame, causally tossing it aside. Now that the door was out of her way she reached in and took the sword that had once belonged to Kakeru.
Ankoku stormed over to Bridget and reached out to grab her by the shoulder. She was faster than he was, ducking out of the way and stepping off to the side. The Miqo’te transferred the sword to her left hand before drawing the black blade, surprising Ankoku with her willingness to use the weapon on him. She pointed the tip at his chest and shook her head, as if to tell him not to try taking the sword from her.
“Can you at least tell me why you’re doing all of this?” he asked, arms crossed over his chest.
“Your carelessness and lies caused the death of my parents,” Bridget spat out, glaring death at the Viera. “You said they were safe! You even said you made the extra effort to ensure they were safe! BUT NO! YOU FUCKING LIED!”
Bridget flipped the sword around and lashed out at Ankoku, smacking the flat side of the blade against his head. She snarled and took a step forward after flipping the blade around, holding the sharp edge against Ankoku’s neck again. For a while neither of them said anything, a hurt look washing over Ankoku’s features.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t think she’d go after them since she didn’t know where they were.”
“WELL SHE FUCKING DID!” Bridget screamed at him. “YOU LIED AND THEY DIED! FUCK YOU, YOU LYING PIECE OF SHIT!”
Ankoku sighed, reaching up with one hand to push the blade away from his neck. Despite his best efforts, Bridget was clearly stronger than him, adamant about keeping the blade where it was. As he tried ti push it away she pushed against him, pressing the sharp blade against the soft flesh of his neck.
“I never want to see you again, Ankoku. We’re through being friends.”
Bridget whipped the sword away from the Viera and quickly sheathed it before making her way over to the front door. She glared back at Ankoku who was having a staring contest with the floor. He had a look of regret on his face, finally knowing what was going on with his former friend.
“Oh, Yuki and Ulan are fired. I don’t need their help anymore.”
And, with that, Bridget stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. She started preparing the proper spell to teleport herself away and in the blink of an eye was simply gone, leaving behind no trace that she was even there. Inside the apartment Ankoku remained where she had left him looking hurt and feeling sorry for himself. After a few minutes he sighed and started cleaning up the mess Bridget had made, humming a somber tune to himself as he worked.
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Text
Love
さよならできずに
歩き出す僕と
ずっと一緒に
“I was reading today, and I realized something,” Ankoku said as he lowered himself down, taking a seat on the grass, leaning up against a tombstone. He set his guitar down in his lap before dragging a duffel bag closer to him. The zipper was quickly undone and the Viera pulled out a portable record player with a small built in speaker. Once the player was all set up he reached back into the bag and carefully took out a record in a white slip of paper.
“Yeah, and what was that?” Kakeru asked, looking down at his former voidsent.
“It was a story about moving on from ones past. These two boys grew up together, hand in hand, much like you and Ichigo. After one of the boys found his father’s corpse, he shut down and withdrew into himself. His father was a wicked man and would hit his son whenever he spoke, so it’s not like he was missing out with his father now dead. If anything, he was probably better off.
“The two boys took care of each other, choose each other over other people. They were rarely seen apart, almost as if they were destined for each other. The boys would reject the advances of women and men alike, once more choosing each other. And then, one day in winter, one of the boys killed himself.”
Kakeru had planned on making some witty remark up until the last sentence was spoken. His yellow eyes looked away from Ankoku, focusing on a particularly interesting patch of crab grass and crossed his arms over his chest. He let out a soft sigh and shook his head slightly, as if the words had offended him.
“The surviving boy shut down completely. He stopped expressing himself, keeping all of that grief locked away in his heart. His heart broken, he traveled life in a daze. It wasn’t until he started playing guitar that he realized that he has to let it out. Unleash the beast, so to speak. I now realize and understand why you killed yourself to be with Ichigo. I’m sorry for being mad at you, Kakeru.”
The dead Miqo’te looked down at the Viera as he started tuning the guitar. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. What could he say to something like that? I’m sorry? It felt as if any apology would be meaningless. He was dead and this wasn’t even the real Kakeru, just something Ankoku’s brain kicked up to cope with his death.
“I know how important he was to you, and it wasn’t until I saw it through the eyes of someone else who had gone through similar troubles. You mortals are good at one thing and one thing only, you love to hurt each other. Emotional or physical, pain is in your nature. Either you cause it or you’re in it. What your father did to you was awful and cruel. Abandoning his child on the streets is something he should have been killed for.
“Ichigo was the one who was there for you. Didn’t matter if it was a problem you had caused, he was there to help clean up the mess. He never questioned your actions or asked for anything other than your company. The bond you shared grew as you got older and you discovered that you were in love.
“From there, your hearts soared into the heavens. You grew even closer, never spending time with anyone else. When you were done with work, you were there with him, in his arms. You listened to the same kind of music and laughed at the same jokes. One day you came home with a ring in your pocket, eager to ask the man you love to marry you.
“And that’s when it happened. You were at the club and you got a call. Ichigo had been stabbed and poisoned as retaliation for something you did. The best doctors and healers of Kugane were at his bedside, working hard under threat of death by your crew. When no cure was found, you caved in and accepted his fate.
“You did what anyone would do in your situation. You pulled a few strings, got the band back together and played him the music he loved. They played all night as the two of you listened on the sofa with front row seats. You could feel the intensity of the music surge through you, savoring every last second. When he died, it was in your arms.
“Your world ended when he died. You lost all passion and drive. The light was gone from your life and you filled it with drugs, drink and whores. You fucked your problems away, and when you couldn’t take it anymore you killed yourself.”
Ankoku let out a sigh when he finished talking, his hands moving on autopilot as they lit a cigarette. He took a few puffs before taking a long drag, blowing the smoke from his nose after holding it in for a few seconds. Next to him, Kakeru was silent, his eyes locked onto the tombstone next to where the Viera was seated.
It was Ichigo’s grave and next to it, his mother and father lay. This was his family’s grave and Ankoku was sitting on his. Kakeru had chosen this spot because he had been the one that planted all the seeds here. It had been a passion project during his teenage years. He had used enchanted sakura tree seeds, designed to bloom year-round. The trees were planted in a circle with the largest sitting dead center and under it were where the last of the Naruse family had been laid to rest. It was a beautiful spot, one far away from the prying eyes of Kugane.
“I’m sorry,” Kakeru said after a long silence, shifting his gaze back on Ankoku. “You still remember all that?”
“I remember it all vividly. Like I’ve told you before, you were apart of me and vise versa. When you die, part of me died with you and part of you lived on within me. But,” he turned his silver eyes up to Kakeru. “I think it’s time for us to part ways, Kakeru. It is time I moved onto my own life. I cannot carry this grief with me anymore.”
Kakeru’s jaw clenched and he quickly looked away, reaching up with both hands to rub his eyes. After another silence, he let out a sigh before squatting down so he could look Ankoku in the eyes. He reached out with his right hand, placing it on the Viera’s mop of a haircut and ruffled it playfully.
“Yeah, I think you’re right, Ankoku. You’ll visit me still, right?” he asked with a toothy grin.
“Of course. Every week, on the last day before a new one at noon. I’ll come and play your favorite music and read you poems, just as you did with Ichigo.
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you later. Thanks for everything.”
Kakeru shifted his hand downwards and cupped Ankoku’s cheek, rubbing it gently with his thumb. Just as he pulled back, a single tear streaked down the Miqo’te’s cheek. He rose to his feet and looked up at the sky with a smile as his body slowly drifted apart and scattered with the wind, intertwining with the cherry blossoms as they danced in the summer air.
Ankoku took a deep, staggered breath and placed a hand over his heart. He could feel the pit in his stomach growing in size and intensity, knowing that this would be the last time he would see Kakeru. It was time to move on and start his new life in full. Knowing this, it still hurt to say goodbye.
“There’s one thing I forgot to mention,” Ankoku said, resting the back of his head against the tombstone. “I finally know what love feels like. I didn’t just like you, I was in love with you, Kakeru. Hell, I still am. Thank you. Thank you for making me feel human again.”
With a light thump, the Viera bumped his head against the slab of marble and closed his eyes. His hands fell down to his guitar, his left hand wrapped around the neck as his fingers pressed down, where his right fell to the strings. For a while Ankoku sat in silence, content to listen to the song beards as they sang.
“I’ve had this song stuck in my head for a while now. I wrote it for you.”
Before he started playing, Ankoku reached out and took the arm of the record player, carefully moving it over and resting it down on the record. His finger trailed down and toggled the switch, powering up the magitek battery. After a few snap, crackle, pops, a guitar started playing with a drummer and bass playing along. His hands took up position on his guitar and he started playing along to the song. With some hesitation Ankoku cleared his throat and began to sing, growing louder with each passing second. After some time, emotions poured forth into the song as tears fell freely down his cheeks, landing on the guitar.
(( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhl9FaxiQ_E ))
Just like the snow that hasn't completely melted
Protecting from the sun in the shade
I go on living with these feelings inside me
Tell me,
How can I close the door
On this love
Your everything has lost
Its tomorrow
And is now
Wandering through eternity
Along with me
Who was unable to say goodbye
or move on
Just like a spell that still won't break
Or some kind of curse
I'm still carrying some heavy baggage
Tell me,
What kind of tomorrow
Am I supposed to look for
In this town?
Aah...
My cold tears freeze in the sky
They pretend to be kind
Right when
They fell down on my face
Two people who were always together
Are torn apart
That's all there is
To this story
Even if your everything
Loses its shape one day
You will always be here
With me
As I tried to move forward again
Even though I couldn't say goodbye
You will always be here with me
When the song ended and Ankoku finished singing, he turned the record player off and moved the arm off of the record. His eyes cracked open and a hand was brought up to rub the tears away. He looked down at the moisture on the back of his hand, shocked by what he saw. Never in a million years did he think he would cry. Is this what heartbreak felt like? What is the appropriate response when you love someone who has since died? How does one move on from this? He had questions but no answers to them. So he sat, alone in a valley of the dead.
“So, this is love,” he muttered to himself.
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Text
The Death of a Friend
Back up, temperature is rising, and my teeth start to grind
Someone, stop me; embrace the hate
I’m over trying to hide
This is who I am
I'm over trying to hide
This is who I am, this is who I am, just a fucking monster
(( The following contains scenes of intense and graphic violence. ))
(( I will be including songs that sets the scene at certain parts. It is highly recommended that you listen to them while reading to properly set the tone for what you are about to read. ))
“Ankoku, you missed the fireworks!” Bridget called out to her friend as she made her way into the shooting range him and Kakeru had made several months ago.
“Oh, is that what all that racket was?” Ankoku asked, pocking his head out of the small cabin that sat at the edge of the clearing.
“Wait, you’ve never seen fireworks? You didn’t see them at all when you were Kakeru?”
Bridget set down her duffel bag on the table the two of them used to reload their magazines and hold all of their gear while they trained. Laid out on the table was a wide range of weapons, ranging from a simple double barrel shotgun to advanced weaponry from the fallen empire. Resting next to each rifle were three fully loaded magazines and clips, several empty boxes of bullets scattered about on the ground.
“No, Kakeru wasn’t a fan of them. I know what they are, but didn’t make the connect last night when it was all happening. What was it for, anyway?”
Ankoku stepped out of the cabin, shirtless and wearing a pair of black shorts, his feet bare. The days had started getting hotter and given his inability to regulate his body temperature he was as warm as the air around him. He walked over to the table and picked up one of the M4 assault rifles he had managed to find up in the ruins of the capital city of Garlemald and loaded in one of the magazines before drawing back the bolt and letting it snap back into place.
“It was apart of the summer festivals Kugane does every year. It marks the end of the school year for the students here and welcomes the summer with fireworks and lots of really yummy food. I’m pretty sure I put on five pounds last night with all the food that I ate. So, what’s the plan for today?”
For the last five weeks the two had worked hard on bringing Bridget up from a combat novice to someone you didn’t want to anger. She was humble about her surprisingly quick progress, always saying she still had more to learn. While the statement was true, Ankoku was confident that she could handle herself in a fight without the need to even draw out her nouliths. They had first started with basic shoot exercises and the very basics of martial arts and swordsmanship. The two had went to put her skills to the test last week, and despite the loss of two of their hostages, they had come back successful.
The experience had haunted Bridget, but after a few days of coming to terms with the death of the children she was finally smiling again. Ankoku had grown to really like having the Miqo’te around, constantly looking forward to seeing her every day. He wondered what he would do when they finished her training. Would she still want to hang around someone like him? It took one look at the woman to know that yes, she would still want to hang out with him, despite the fact that he is a voidsent.
“Same deal as yesterday. You’re gonna use this baby here,” he said, offering her the M4 rifle he had just armed. “And I’m going to time you. Your mission? Shoot all thirty targets in under thirty seconds, so that’s one second per target. Think you can do it?”
“Hmm,” Bridget mused, tapping her chin with an index finger, a soft smile lingering on her lips. “Maybe not on the first try, but I think I can do it! Can I watch you do it first?”
Ankoku gave her a thumbs up and tossed her a small pocket watch, one of the many accessories he had stolen from Kakeru’s old room. She caught it with one hand and flashed a toothy grin before taking up position behind Ankoku. Just as the minute hand ticked over, she let out a loud, “Go!”
The barrel of the rifle snapped over to the nearest target and a round was fired, the shot echoing in the dense forest. In quick succession, Ankoku shot each target once but failed to meet the thirty second requirement. Once he was done shooting he lowered the rifle, smoke drifting up from the barrel and he shook his head.
“Some teacher I am,” he muttered to himself as he ejected the magazine.
“Aw, come on! Don’t sell yourself short, Ankoku! I think you did great,” Bridget said with a smile as she gently laid the pocket watch down on the table.
(( Recommended listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2KhCu8x7WY ))
Before Ankoku could shoot back some witty reply, a loud twig snapped and his head snapped over to the direction that the noise had come from. He quickly loaded in a fresh magazine, drove the bolt back and let it snap back home, the weapon armed and ready to be used. Bridget turned around and looked in the direction where the twig had been broken, her nouliths starting to give off a faint light blue glow as she started to channel her aether into them.
From the shadows stepped a white haired Hyur woman wearing tattered and dirty clothing. Her white eyes were locked on the pair as she casually walked into the shooting range, lips slowly parting to reveal sickly yellow teeth as a toothy grin was formed. The Hyur came to a stop a few feet away from them and pointed at Bridget.
“Not today. Not anymore,” the woman spat out before she shot forward, grabbing Bridget by the neck.
Ankoku took aim, but with his friend in the way, there was no way he was going to risk shooting. The moment the woman’s hand made contact with Bridget’s flesh, her nouliths quickly moved away from her back and took up formation around her. Spell circles formed around two of the magical weapons, signaling that they were preparing a devastating attack. The moment they opened fire, the beams hit a barrier and surged around it rather than into the shield, showering the trees behind the Hyur with blue bolts of unaspected magic.
“Goodbye little girl.”
The Hyur woman cocked back her free hand, balled it into a fist and with an insane amount of force drove it forward. The woman’s hand made contact with Bridget’s rib cage and plowed through the sternum. Once past the bony stricture she undid her fist and took hold of the Miqo’te’s heart and without hesitation tore it free from her chest. Bridget watched in horror was her still beating heart was dropped to the ground, discarded like it was a piece of trash.
“FUCK! NO!” Ankoku screamed, tossing aside the rifle. He ran forward and caught Bridget as she fell backwards, bleeding from the gaping hole where her heart once was. Blood poured from her mouth as her mouth opened and closed wordlessly, eyes locked on Ankoku. The Viera watched the only friend he had in this world died in his arms.
First Kakeru died and now this. Emotions he didn’t even know he was capable of feeling rushed to the surface as tears started to run down his cheeks. Ankoku lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Bridget’s quietly sobbing and mourning the loss of his best friend. Something inside of him snapped and the sorrow bled away only to replaced with raw fury.
Suddenly the forest was quiet, the Hyur woman grinning as she watched Ankoku break before her. She spread her arms wide as her grin grew, the flesh splitting as she grinned from ear to ear, revealing a set of pointed teeth. Unable to contain herself, the Hyur started to laugh, starting off as if she heard a good joke and quickly evolved into the laughter of a madman. She started to spin around in circles as the sky grew dark, thunder booming off in the distance.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Ankoku said quietly as he gently laid the now dead Bridget. He used one hand to carefully close her eyes before crossing her arms over her chest to cover the gaping hole. Once he was done the Viera rose to his feet, hands balled into tight fists.
“Bridget was the one holding me back. I promised to her, for as long as he lived, I would never violate another being’s aether. I swore I would never steal aether from a being that did not deserve death. Today I break that promise.”
Ankoku stared at the Hyur woman as she danced around in place, laughing maniacally and obviously ignoring the man’s words. She didn’t seem to notice or care when the Viera host’s body fell backwards, stiff as a board and completely lifeless. A skeletal hand burst forth from the host’s chest as the voidsent pulled itself out of the corpse, silver eyes locked onto his friend’s murderer.
Just then birds started to rain down from the sky, hitting the ground with soft thumps. Larger animal like deer and foxes withered away and fell over. Everything within 200 feet, from the grass and insects to mammals and birds. The only thing that didn’t wither away was Bridget’s corpse which remained completely untouched by the feeding voidsent.
Now free from his host’s body, Ankoku tore the large black cloak off his skeletal frame and tossed it aside, the large garment covering the table. Fist sized balls of aether started to drift towards the voidsent as he sucked the life out of everything around him. Finally, the woman had stopped laughing and watched as Ankoku fed, that grin still plastered all over her pale face.
(( Recommended listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI03rSPMUQk ))
As aether poured into his body, strands of muscle and sinew started to form over his skeletal frame. In less time than he had spent shooting and showing off his once frail form was now that of someone who practically lived in a gym. His flesh became white as snow, ancient runes tattooed on his flesh in bright red ink rising to the surface like floating wreckage in a sea of ice.
A hiss of steam was pushed through exposed teeth, the voidsent having no lips to cover the large, sharp teeth the littered his mouth. Silver discs set in a lake of darkness where his eyes would be, his nose two slits half an inch above his toothy grin. A pair of horns burst forth from the side of his head and curled around and pointed forward, black as the void of outer space.
His arms were long and well toned, long claws jutting forth from the tips of his fingers. Large, clawed feet dug into the ground, a large cycle like claw tapping the ground, eager to rend flesh. Unlike a typical humanoid’s knees, Ankoku’s bent backwards rather than forward, giving him an advantage when it came to running and jumping.
One moment Ankoku was standing before the Hyur woman and the next he was standing directly in front of her, phasing back into reality with a low buzz of a thousand angry wasps. A clawed hand shot out and grabbed the woman by the throat and threw her at one of the trees on the fringe of the shooting range. She hit the trunk with a loud crash, her body breaking through the dead wood and into another tree. Her body was stuck in a hole created by the force of the impact and for once, she was actually scared.
The buzzing sound rang out again as Ankoku blinked back over to the Hyur, letting out a low growl as he watched her struggle to pull herself free. She let out a string of curses as she pushed herself free from the tree, stumbling forward on a broken leg. The woman let out a cry of pain and fell forward, hands shooting out to prevent her head from making contact with the ground.
Roaring with fury, Ankoku lashed out and grabbed the Hyur by her broken leg. He lifted her off the ground with ease, bringing her face up so that he could get a good look at the woman who killed his friend. His jaws parted before his head shot forward and bit down on her neck, his long fangs digging deep into the soft flesh. With another roar, Ankoku jerked his head to the side, ripping a chunk of flesh out with a sickening wet tearing sound before spitting out the mouthful of skin, muscle and veins. Blood gushed out of the new wound and the woman started to trash around, trying to free herself from death’s embrace.
Not giving her a chance to recover, which would be impossible given her wounds, Ankoku slammed the woman down onto the ground. He picked her up and then slammed her down again, repeating this several times. With each impact the sound of bones shattering filled the still air, growing louder and louder with each impact.
By now the Hyur woman was barely clinging to life, most of the bones in her body broken. Despite this, Ankoku continued to slam her against the ground, lift her up and then repeat the motion. He was screaming as he attacked, growing angrier and angrier with each body slam. A moment after his hulk smash, the voidsent drove the woman into the ground and placed a single foot on her chest.
Two clawed hands wrapped around the Hyur’s shattered leg and with relative ease he tore the limb off with a disguising wet ripping noise. The leg was tossed off to the side, discarded like it was a gum wrapper and not an entire leg. With a wet slap the leg hit the ground and came to a rolling stop before blood oozed out of the stump that once met with the woman’s hip.
“You will never defeat us,” the woman gasped, looking up at Ankoku with a wicked grin. “We will be victorious!”
Ankoku reached down and gingerly lifted the woman up off the ground, holding her up by her broken arms. He leaned in close, his face mere inches away from hers, breathing hot steam on her. The voidsent let out an annoyed scoff, tightened his grip on the her arms and simply tore them off. Her now armless body collapsed to the ground like a sack of moldy potatoes.
With a vicious snarl, the voidsent stood over his fallen prey, pointing his horns down at the Hyur. A crimson sphere fizzled into reality in the space between Ankoku’s horns, quickly growing in size. In the blink of an eye it went from the size of a grape to that of a grapefruit. Bright strands of energy poured forth from the ball of dark aether as it grew in size.
“I wgah far'al zuq ni shn!” Ankoku spat out before unleashing his final attack.
The orb of dark aether shot forth and slammed into the body of the Hyur woman and vanished into her chest. She started screaming and writhing around in the dirt as cracks of crimson energy started to from on her exposed flesh. Her screams grew in pitch before the ball of magic exploded, sending chunks of Hyur flesh in every direction, leaving nothing behind but a few stray bones and large hunks of flesh. Covered in the blood of his enemy, Ankoku reared back and let forth an inhuman howl, pouring forth all of his sorrow and rage.
Just as the scream ended, he heard Bridget calling out to him. His head snapped back and looked down at the corpse of his friend, watching with confusion as her lips moved as if she were talking. Something took hold of his body and shook him violently and continued to shake him, the Miqo’te’s voice calling out to him.
“Ankoku! Ankoku! Wake up! It’s just a dream!”
----
The Viera’s silver eyes popped open and he let out a cry of surprise and sat up quickly. He looked around, finding himself laying down on the ground with Bridget clinging to him. For a moment the woman’s words fell on deaf ears as he realized that he had been the victim of one of the Hyur woman’s mental attacks. What exactly was she trying to accomplish?
Without a word Ankoku lurched forward and wrapped his arms around Bridget and squeezed her tight. She let out a cry of surprise and wiggled around in his embrace, giggling at the sudden show of affection. After a moment of bear hugging her, Ankoku pulled back and looked into the his friend’s bright green eyes, a soft smile on her lips.
“You fell asleep, silly! I got here and I found you passed out in the dirt having what I think was a nightmare. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I… Fuck. Our voidsent friend just paid me a visit.”
Once Ankoku had calmed his racing heart he explained in great detail what happened while he was unconscious. At first Bridget looked scared, then angry, then sad. She leaned forward and pulled the Viera into a hug, gently rubbing his back.
“It’s okay, it’s done now. Do you want to skip today’s lesson?”
“Gods yes. I need to get the fuck out of here. Let’s go visit Nimo.”
Before leaving the shooting range, Ankoku and Bridget cleaned up the mess Ankoku had made when he was loading up the magazines. They stored all but two rifles away in the cabin, the Viera locking the door with five different locks. There was far too much in that cabin so he needed to be sure that no one would be able to pick all the locks. A great deal of money went into the door after he had replaced it from the last time the Hyur woman showed up. He passed one of the M4’s off to Bridget and slipped his own rifle’s sling around his neck, letting the weapon hang there form his neck like a very expensive necklace.
“Alright! Time for a lazy day! To Shirogane!” Bridget said with a smile before the two left the shooting range, making their way towards the Dawnlight Haven estate.
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The Mission
(( The following contains scenes of graphic violence. ))
“Okay, so here’s the situation,” Ankoku said as he laid a map on the ground between him and Bridget. “Our targets are here and the hostages are here,” he pointed at a marked spot on the map, tapping it with his index finger before moving it slightly to the left where a small house was drawn. They had been hired by the Naruse-kai family to dispatch a splinter group of violent bandits known for taking hostages.
“I will be here,” his finger was then moved to an area not far from where they currently sat. Ankoku used a small flashlight to illuminate the map as he talked. “You are to approach from the south, the main entrance to the farm where our targets have holed up in. Stick to the shadows and wait for my signal before revealing yourself. Once you have made yourself known we have to move quick otherwise they’ll kill the hostages before we get a chance to save them.”
“How many people are we talking?” Bridget asked, leaning forward to get a better look at the map. She wore a full suit of armor painted black with gold accents and a mask pulled up over her nose and mouth. Attached to her hip was a katana nestled safely in its sheathe and slung around her shoulders was an assault rifle with a small flash suppressor attached to the barrel with two different types of scopes on the upper railing.
“I was told to expect twenty men, all armed. They also have a healer with them so we have to dispatch him as soon as possible. If we don’t take him out he’ll just keep bringing the others back up to fighting form. I have a hunch he’s in the main house since I haven’t seen him at all since we started watching them.”
Bridget continued to study the map before looking up at her friend who was wearing a similar suit of armor. They had left Kugane two days ago, training as they made their way deep into Hingashi. The Naruse-kai family had hired them to take care of a problem that had been killing their merchants, making it damn near impossible to get supplies and other goods to their members in other cities. After Kakeru’s passing they were pressing hard to expand operations to all of Hingashi, trying to stick to the legal plans their late oyabun had laid out for them.
“Do we know what kind of arms they have?” Bridget asked, turning her full attention to her friend.
“No, I wasn’t able to get that information. My guess is that they’re all armed with katana and maybe the occasional gun. From what I know, they’re not well funded. But,” he paused, looking up at Bridget. “Your armor is more than enough to stop a bullet. I don’t think they have anything that’s armor piercing, but it would be ideal if you avoided getting shot. Armor or not, it’ll hurt like a motherfucker.”
“Got it, don’t get shot,” Bridget said with a nod of her head.
“Don’t make yourself known before I start shooting. I won’t be using a suppressor, so they’ll know I’m out there after the first shot. I’ll try and dispatch as many of them as I can before I have to switch to close quarters combat. Once I’ve started shooting, that’s when you start causing problems too. Best bet would be to use your nouliths and rifle in tandem. Think you can do that?”
Bridget nodded in reply, knowing full well she was more than capable of splitting up her attention. The two had been training hard for the last five weeks, spending several hours every day doing combat drills and marksmanship training. Bridget went from being a complete novice to a force to be reckoned with and Ankoku couldn’t be any more proud of her quick progress.
“Alright, I think we’re ready. Any questions?”
“Nope! Let’s do this!”
-----
(( Recommended listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5i9M8LejQY ))
Kallard hated the new crew he was running with. After having his ass handed to him by the shortest Xaela in the world, he had given up his life of crime in Ul’dah and moved to Kugane where he joined up with his current gang. They were a bunch of angry, violent young adults, mad at the world because they grew up poor or had to steal to survive. He understood their frustration, but what they were doing now was going way too far. Hostages were okay in his book, but taking children hostages was a completely different story. There were some things, even in the criminal world, you just don’t do and taking children as hostages was one of those things you simply didn’t do.
For reasons beyond his understanding the gang had decided to attack a farm that was obviously run by one of the many yakuza families in Hingashi. They all wore the same colors, black and red, marking them as Naruse-kai. He had heard the stories about one of their members, the Devil of Kugane. From what he had heard the Devil was the fiercest assassin in all of Hingashi and was someone you didn’t want as your enemy. But, they were far from Kugane so the chances of running into the Devil were slim to none. Or so he thought.
“Yo, Kallard, pass the fogweed,” one of the gang members asked, making grabby hands at a jaw full of premium bud.
Without reply, Kallard used a foot to slide the jar over to Sado. The thug took the jar and dumped out a decent amount onto the wooden coffee table situated in the living room. He watched as the dark skinned man broke the bud up with his fingers before rolling a thick joint. Using a match, the thug lit the joint and took a few puffs before passing it off to the left.
There was a group of ten men, each of which all hailed from Kugane. They had decided to leave once the yakuza pushed them of the city, wanting nothing to do with their violent ways. The initial gang was all situated before Kallard, the rest of the crew they picked up along the way. They moved away from Kugane and started attacking merchants on the main roads before deciding to assault a farm. They were hoping to use hostages as bait to lure in their would be saviors and overwhelm them with their superior numbers.
It had been two days since they made the farm their new home, the hostages kept locked away in the master bedroom. The farm was run by a small family, a typical heterosexual couple with two kids, one thirteen and the other ten. For the most part the hostages were well behaved, knowing it would be stupid to cause any problems. The kids were scared out of their minds, but also curious about their kidnappers.
Just as the joint made its way over to Kallard, a single gunshot came from outside. Everyone seated in the living room jerked their heads over towards the front door. Someone started screaming before a second shot rang out, putting an end to the noise. The joint was flicked off in a random direction as the thugs scrambled to their feet, each of the ten men arming themselves with katana where as Kallard had a simple bolt action rifle. He had found the weapon in the master bedroom and declared that it was his. Having never used a gun before, he was a terrible shot but had been working on his marksmanship during the daytime.
“Alright boys, looks like our plan worked! Get the hostages and bring them outside!” Kallard shouted as ran towards the front door. Before he could get his hand on the doorknob someone flung the door open and stumbled inside, the man’s eyes wide with fear. He fleeing thief tripped and fell over and crawled away from the door and eventually propping himself up against the nearest wall.
“Fuck! Ryo was takin’ a piss and out of nowhere someone shot him! Fuck! I watched his head fucking explode!” the scared man shouted, placing both hands over his face as he started to hyperventilate.
Before anyone could reply or attempt to calm the man down, a third gunshot could be heard from outside. Kallard took up position next to the door and leaned over slightly, poking his head outside to take a look at what was happening. From his vantage point, he could see the now dead Ryo and a couple feet away was the dead body of someone he didn’t immediately recognize give that half of his face was missing. Whoever was firing at them was using a high caliber rifle capable of beheading someone with a single shot which meant going outside was a death sentence.
“Fuck, I can’t see where the shots are coming from,” Kallard muttered as he turned his attention to the ten men in front of him. Two of the men slipped away and started storming up the stairs to grab the hostages. After a moment they were back downstairs, dragging along the family who owned the farm, each of them bound and gagged.
“They won’t shoot us if we use them as meat shields,” one of the thugs said as he drew a rusty katana.
Before Kallard could object to such a stupid plan, the two men who had the hostages shoved them towards the front door. At first the family objected, their words muffled by the gags shoved into their mouths. The two children started to cry as one of the men grabbed them and roughly shoved them forward and through the doorway. The adults started screaming through their gags, begging to be taken instead of their children.
From outside there was more gunfire, Kallard watching in horror was two more gang members fell to the ground. From the shadows emerged a well armed Miqo'te with black hair and a matching suit of armor. She held her assault rifle up at the ready, keeping it trained on the thug using the children as shields. There was a bright flash of light as lightning struck a tree a few hundred feet away, a deafening clap of thunder boomed just as it started to rain.
“Release the hostages!” the Miqo’te shouted and took a tentative step forward.
“Pay us and we will!” Kallard replied as he slipped outside, bringing his rifle up and taking aim at the assailant. His hands trembled as he held the rifle, raindrops pelting him.
“I will not repeat myself a third time, release the hostages!”
“Fuck you,” said the thug hiding behind the children. He drew a dagger and without hesitation drew a line across the necks of both children.
Bridget watched in horror as the bandit murdered the children in front of her, ignoring Ankoku’s cries over the linkpearl. Her breathing started to quicken as fury poured into her heart, feeling as if she failed in her mission to protect the hostages. Before she was able to stop herself, Bridget opened fire at the murderer, showering him in a flurry of rubber bullets. The non-lethal rounds struck him in various spots as he stumbled backwards before falling over, knocked unconscious.
“FUCK!” came Ankoku’s voice over the linkpearl. “Don’t do this alone, Bridget! Wait for me, gods-dammit!”
After emptying her magazine, Bridget slung he rifle around so that it wouldn’t get in the way. By now the Miqo’te’s nouliths had taken up position around her, giving off a bright light blue glow as she channeled her aether into them. As she shot forward, the bandits were showered with bolts of energy, appearing as short bursts of lasers. She reached down to her katana with her right hand and then whipped the weapon out of its sheathe.
“What’re you gonna do with that?! It ain’t got a blade!” Kallard shouted and laughed as the eleven men poured out of the house. He kept his rifle trained on the woman as she advanced on them. He squeezed the trigger, firing once at her chest. The gun belched fire and the round took her dead center forcing her backwards a few feet and putting an end to her advance.
Without a word, Bridget took up the blade with both hands and aimed it down towards the ground. There was a bright flash as a blade composed of aether formed with a snap hiss. The magical blade hummed with power, sounding like a swarm of angry hornets. Having never seen anything like it, two of the thugs ran towards her, swords held high as they went in for the killing blow.
The nouliths continued to spray lasers at the thugs, forcing the two attackers to zigzag around the attacks. In the blink of an eye they were in front of Bridget and swung their swords in unison, forming a scissor. Moving on muscle memory alone, the Miqo’te brought her sword up and impossibly cut through the hardened steel blades. In one motion the two katana were cleaved in two, the blades tumbling to the ground.
Before the attackers had a chance to retaliate Bridget sliced at the other and he let out a cry of pain as his entire body went rigid before falling over, body twitching violently. With one thug down, Bridget sliced at the other and he fell to the ground, jaw clenched tight as his entire body was rocked by tremors.
Upon seeing his two crewmates fall, Kallard drew back the bolt of his rifle, ejecting the spent round and loading in a fresh one by driving the bolt back home. Just as he brought the weapon up to take a second shot, Bridget was in front of him and his rifle had been cut in two. Not wanting to give him a change to draw another weapon, she drove the base of her hilt into the side of his head, knocking him out in one blow. The remaining thugs were on top of her and formed a circle around Bridget, putting her at a severe disadvantage.
Just as a handful of men moved in to attack several gunshots rang out at once, nearly drowned out by a second clap of thunder. Ankoku emerged burst forth from the darkness, firing at the group with his fully automatic assault rifle. Just as the gun clicked empty, he tossed the weapon aside and drew a black blade katana and continued his advance.
Now that Ankoku was on scene, Bridget launched into a full scale frontal assault. She deflected blows from the thug’s katana, using her magical blade to disarm the men with a single stroke. Her Viera friend pushed and cut his way through the murderous thugs and took up position behind Bridget, allowing them to watch each other’s back and fight at the same time.
The two worked in complete unison, ducking and dodging out of the way as they cut their way through. As the rain continued to pour from the heavens, Bridget and Ankoku made short work of the bandits. In just a few seconds they had either been disarmed or knocked unconscious by either Ankoku or Bridget. All those weeks of intense training were really starting to pay off, Bridget moving with practiced ease as she continued to take out the child killing thugs. Her anger was intense, burning like a hot piece of charcoal in her chest.
While the two attackers did their jobs, Bridget’s nouliths continued to lay down cover fire. During her training Ankoku made sure she could shoot and use her sword while the nouliths buzzed around, hiring at whatever target she was focusing on. As more thugs spilled out of the house, the floating weapons made short work of them, blowing out their knees out or taking an arm off. As angry as she was, Bridget tried he hardest not to kill anyone. She wanted to be the hero, not someone who murders people because they did something bad, even if they killed a child in front of her.
Despite their best efforts the bandits were dispatched, a majority of them still alive albeit missing a limb or two. The fight hadn’t lasted more than a few minutes but it felt as if the two had been fighting for several hours without a break. After confirming everyone was out of the fight, Bridget’s nouliths returned to their spot behind her. As she sheathed her magical katana, the blade winked out of existence the moment the tip touched the sheathe.
The two worked in silence as they gathered up the thugs and brought them back inside. While Ankoku tied them up, Bridget tended to their wounds despite the Viera’s protests. Doing nothing more than putting an end to their bleeding, Bridget ignored her friend’s words. No matter what, she would not kill someone nor would she be the reason someone died. It didn’t matter what they did, it wasn’t her job to judge these men for their crimes. She had been hired to put an end to their violent antics, not slaughter them like pigs.
“That could’ve gone better,” Ankoku muttered to himself as he sat down on the sofa and retrieved the joint and lit it. He watched as Bridget spoke to the parents, trying and failing to lift their spirits. They had watched their children die before their very eyes so it was understandable that they were an absolute wreck.
“Yeah, I know,” Bridget said as she took a seat next to her friend after sending the couple upstairs to sort through what just happened. There wasn’t anything she could do or say that would calm them down.
Despite having taken care of the problem, Bridget still felt as if she failed the mission. Watching the kids did would be something that would stick with her for the rest of her life, no matter how long or short it would be. She internally vowed to never let anything like that happen again, and if it meant she had to kill someone to save a child, then she would be more than willing to act quicker in the future. She just hoped something like this would never happen again.
“The local authorities will be here in the morning,” Ankoku said as he passed the joint over to Bridget. She took it and puffed on it for a minute, having taken a liking to the substance after first being introduced to it a couple weeks back. It felt better than getting drunk and didn’t leave her hungover in the morning.
“Let’s stick around for the night, then. I don’t want these jerks getting any wise ideas. Your life of crime is over!” she said, glaring at Kallard.
“Ya know, just for the record,” the Hyur spat out. “I wasn’t okay with these jackasses taking kids as hostages. I tried to stop them but they wouldn’t listen.”
“I don’t give two fucks about what you did or didn’t do, jackass. You ran with these people knowing how violent and unpredictable they are. You made the conscious effort to not only help them, but travel and work with them. The blood of those kids is on your hands, not ours,” Ankoku said, glaring at the tied up thug. “Want to live a better life? Stop running with fools like this. Do better.”
“The fuck do you know about doing better? You’re a fucking bunny boy putting your life on the line for fucking strangers. Ten gil says you got paid to come here, so this sure as fuck wasn’t done by the good of your heart.”
Ankoku snarled as he slid off the sofa and walked over to Kallard. He grabbed the man and hoisted him up to his feet and leaned in real close. Behind the Viera, Ankoku’s true form drew out from the Viera host. The skeletal voidsent glared down at the Hyur as the man pissed his pants. Never in his entire life had he seen anything like that, only having her stories about how brutal voidsent can be. He never thought that he’d be staring one down after having been defeated by this being of pure evil.
“I know a lot about doing better, asshole,” the voidsent spat growled, voice low and gravely. “I know more about doing better than any of you fucking mortals. You’re lucky she’s with me otherwise I’d kill every single one of you and drink your aether like a fucking fine wine. If she wasn’t here, you’d all be soulless husks for the buzzards to feed off of.”
“F-fuck,” Kallard gasped as he stared up at the terrifying visage of Ankoku’s true form. His knees gave in and he fell to the ground, handing in a puddle of his own piss. It felt as if he were looking death in the face, those shiny silver eyes digging deep into his soul. For the first time in his life he was truly afraid.
“Consider yourself lucky,” the voidsent spat out before rejoining with the Viera host.
“Enough scaring the bad guys, Ankoku,” Bridget called out from the sofa. While Ankoku was terrifying Kallard, she had laid down on the sofa, legs crossed and staring up at the ceiling. The joint had found itself in an ashtray, the smoke drifting lazily upwards.
“Fine,” the Viera muttered as he kicked the terrified thug in the stomach before joining Bridget on the sofa. She lifted her legs up and he took a seat next to her, allowing the Miqo’te to rest her feet on his lap.
“Try and get some sleep. I’ll keep an eye on the riffraff.”
Bridget nodded without verbally replying and covered her eyes with the crook of her elbow. She knew it would be impossible to sleep after this, but that didn’t stop her from trying. After a while she eventually drifted off to sleep, reliving the death of the children on repeat. It was going to be while before she would fully recover from tonight’s events.
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A Chance Encounter
The sun has just begun to rise over the city of Kugane and despite the early hours the city was rife with activity. The merchants had finished setting up their stalls and were barking out their goods, claiming to have the best prices. At the Aetheryte plaza, people were winking in and out of existence, going about their days. Ankoku and Bridget phased into Kugane and both looked relieved to be back in civilization.
“Oh my gods, I smell,” Bridget said as she fanned herself. Her face was covered in old dirt, caked on with dried sweat, her clothing was just as dirty. She was long overdue for a shower and a change of clothes.
“You always smell,” Ankoku muttered as he lit a cigarette, his own clothing a state of disaster.
A week ago the two had left to get some intensive training done and to allow Ankoku to take care of a job he picked up shortly before they left. Things had gone smoothly, the two spending a majority of their time beating each other up in the name of training. Despite repeated injuries the two had a lot of fun stepping away from the world to work on themselves. Neither of them had sad anything to their friends or associates, effectively falling off the face of the planet.
“I hope Yuki didn’t burn down the bakery while I was gone,” Bridget had said to herself. She had left her business in the capable hands of one of Ankoku’s friends. Yuki claimed to be a good cook and Bridget was eager to see if he was all bark and no bite.
“I’m sure your bakery is just fine. Yuki’s a good kid and works hard,” Ankoku said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“I hope so! I couldn’t afford to close it down while we were gone. I gotta make that dough!”
Ankoku rolled his eyes with a smile before reaching out and ruffling the Miqo’te’s hair. The more time the two spent together, the closer they got. It was nice having her around, given how she was almost always positive and cheerful. It really balanced out his often sour moods and general bad attitude.
Before either of them could get another word out a group of five men ran past them, laughing about something. Ankoku watched as they shot past them, immediately recognizing as members of one of the many yakuza families in Kugane. They wore the colors of the Inagawa-kai, one of the bigger families, boasting over five hundred members. From what he knew of them, they were one of the largest distributors of illegal drugs and also ran regular wet work.
Bridget watched as the group of young men vanished behind a corner. Despite their sudden departure, she could still hear them as they made their way through the busy streets. Shortly afterwards, a Lalafell ran into view and came to a stop when she couldn’t spot the thugs. The Lalafell looked around with a worried look on her face, hands wringing together as she chewed on her lower lip. When she spotted Ankoku and Bridget she ran over to them and started making broad gestures with her hands, mouth moving quietly as she mouthed the words she was signing.
“Whoa, slow down,” Bridget said with a smile and ducked down to a squat. “Did those boys hurt you?”
“They stole my harp and my dog!” the Lalafell signed quickly, looking more and more anxious as time passed. When she wasn’t signing frantically, her hands were wrung together as the panic set in.
“Oh! Let’s go get your stuff back!’ Bridget said with a firm nod of her head.
“What’s up?” Ankoku asked as he adjusted the straps of the duffel bag slung around his shoulders, Bridget carrying a similar sized bag.
“Those guys who just ran by stole her dog and her harp. Come on,” Bridget rose to her feet and smiled. “Let’s go get your stuff back!”
Without another word Bridget took off in the direction where the thugs were headed, leaving Ankoku behind with the Lalafell. The Viera looked down at the much smaller person and sighed before he dropped down to a squat. He held his arms out with a soft smile, motioning for her to come closer.
“No offense, but we’ll get where we’re going faster if you let me carry you.”
The Lalafell looked up at the stranger, then back over at Bridget as she dissipated around the corner. She bit down on her lower lip and stepped forward into Ankoku’s arms. He wrapped her arms around and stood up, holding her close to his chest. The girl’s cheeks flushed, clearly embarrassed about being carried.
“Hold on tight,” Ankoku said before sprinting off after Bridget.
Meanwhile, Bridget had closed the gap between her and the thieves. As she ran her nouliths took up position behind her, two on each side, one angled down towards the ground and the other pointing towards the sky. In the space between them bursts of light blue energy discharged, turning her nouliths into a set of jet boosters. The Miqo’te shot upward and then back down. On her way down she tucked her legs under her, effectively turning her knees into a battering ram as she soared into the back of the slowest thug.
The moment Bridget touched down she flung her hands forward and he nouliths zipped forward and formed a barrier around the remaining thieves. The thieves started shouting in their native tongue as they slammed into the barrier. They turned around to face the Miqo’te, whipping out their katana as they moved, snarling at the interloper. Bridget remained kneeling on the thug she had stopped, two of her nouliths hovering in the air next to her.
“Give back what you stole and I’ll let you leave,” she said, glaring at the four armed men. “Otherwise you’ll have to deal with him.” Bridget hitched a thumb behind her, pointing at Ankoku as he drew closer.
“Oh… Fuck me,” one of the thugs muttered, lowering his sword slightly. “Guys, we can’t take him. That’s the Devil of Kugane.”
“Damn right!” Ankoku shouted as she finally made his way to Bridget and her group of trapped thieves. “Like the girl said, give back what you stole or I’ll make you regret it.” He carefully set the Lalafell down and drove a fist into his palm, glaring daggers at the would-be thugs.
“Get fucked!” one of the thugs called out.
Ankoku shrugged his shoulders and cracked his knuckles with a toothy grin on his face. In the blink of an eye he was standing before the trapped thugs having channeled aether into his body. Taken by surprise, the four men all backed up against the barrier behind them, swords trembling in their hands. The Viera slowly advanced on the group, glaring daggers down at them.
“F-fuck it!” one of the thugs reached into his yukata and tossed a Lalafell sized harp to the ground while another set a black Shiba Inu down. The dog took off towards his owner and snarled at the group who had stolen him. A look of relief washed over the girl’s face as she hugged her puppy close, nuzzling her head against his.
“There! You got your shit back! Now let us go!”
“Sorry, I lied,” Ankoku said with a shit-eating grin.
The Viera stepped forward and started assaulting the thugs, smashing his fist into the f ace of one while another got a kick to the groin. The former assassin didn’t need long to reduce the would-be thieves into a pile of human garbage. After a minute or two of beating them senseless, the thugs were strewn about the ground either unconscious or too injured to move. While the thugs were getting what they were owed, Bridget turned her attention to the Lalafell.
“Are you okay?” she asked with a warm smile, taking a seat next to the girl and her dog. Honey peered down at the Shiba from his perch on Bridget’s shoulder, big green eyes watching the larger animal. He reached out with a paw and tried to boop the dog, but was too far away so he just pawed at the air instead.
“I am now,” the Lalafell signed with a smile. “Thank you for your help.”
“You’re welcome! Are you or your dog injured?”
Now that the thugs were taken care of, Ankoku returned to his friend and the Lalafell, looking down at the two. He plucked his cigarette from his lips and flicked it at the pile of thugs before lighting a fresh one. His arms were crossed over his chest as he watched as the men scrambled away, vowing revenge.
“We should probably leave before more of them show up, Bridget. Come one, we can take our new friend to your place,” he said in an effort to get the two women off the ground and away from the scene.
Bridget stood up and held her hand out to the Lalafell with a smile. She looked up at the Miqo’te and then up at Ankoku before reaching out and taking the Miqo’te’s hand. When everyone was ready, the group continued their walk back to Shirogane, Bridget and Ankoku chatting with each other while the Lalafell listened in silence. When they got to the Dawnlight Haven’s estate, the Lalafell started jumping up and down in excitement. Her new friends were actually her coworkers!
“We’re coworkers!” the signed with a big smile, nodding her head in excitement.
“Wait, really?” Bridget asked with a smile.
“What, what’d she say? I can’t read hands,” Ankoku asked, puffing away at his cigarette.
“Oh, she said she works for Tsubaki! What’s your name, miss?” Bridget asked as the three entered her room.
Ankoku slipped out of his boots and left them by the door next to his duffel bag. Bridget had already removed her shoes and tossed her duffel bag onto her bed. Nimo looked at the others and took her shoes off as well while Plum started sniffing around the room. Now that they were inside, Honey started to run around the room in an effort to get the dog to play with him.
“My name is Nimo,” the Lalafell signed, looking up at her new friend.
The rest of the day was spent getting to know each other while Bridget baked for the trio. Ankoku was sprawled out on one of the sofas, looking up at the ceiling. At some point he would make his way into Bridget’s bathroom to bathe and change into something that didn’t reek of sweat and wood smoke. The Miqo’te would also take a bath while Ankoku chatted with Nimo. The trio remained together for the rest of the day, the Viera and Lalafell spending the night in Bridget’s cozy apartment.
Nimo was happy she had taken the initiative and joined up with the Dawnlight Haven. She had met so many nice people so far. It was a nice change of being homeless and without any friends. She could certainly get used to having Bridget and Ankoku around, the saviors of her day. Maybe her luck was making a turn for the better.
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The Devil of Kugane
As it rises, I embrace the chills
From my spine, into my fingertips
The voices start running through my head
They’re telling me to let out the monster
(( The following contains scenes of graphic violence. ))
(( Recommended listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_qPlCULEBA ))
After wrapping up Bridget’s lessons for the day, Ankoku went about cleaning up the shooting range, putting all but two of the firearms back in the storage cabin. He slipped his trusty handgun into the holster located at the small of his back, hidden by the back of his shirt. Once the gun was concealed Ankoku took two loaded magazines and slipped them into a pouch that was attached to his belt. While he wasn’t anticipating anything going down, he was never the type to wander around without some kind of protection, a habit drilled into him by Kakeru.
With the handgun and spare magazines safely stored on his person the Viera picked up his brand new rifle and gently laid it out on a soft foam bed inside a hard shell carrying case. Alongside the rifle were three spare magazines, two different scopes and a twist on suppressor. He smiled as he looked at the gun, admiring the build quality and the design of the weapon itself. Nestled in the case was an advanced firearm hailing from Garlemald, built shortly before the fall of the Empire. It was one of a kind and easily Ankoku’s favorite weapon to use now.
Once he was done admiring the weapon he closed the case and toggled the lock and scrambled the number wheels to prevent someone from just opening the case and stealing its contents. With the case in hand Ankoku took a moment to make sure he had cleaned up everything and started preparing a teleportation spell. After a minute or two the Viera was gently lifted a few inches off the ground and then in the blink of an eye he was whisked away from the shooting range outside Kugane and deposited in Ul’dah’s Aetheryte plaza.
As he phased back into reality several other adventures teleported in at the same time as him and went about going on with their lives. Ankoku reached into his pant’s pocket and pulled out a bent cigarette. He placed the cigarette between his lips and lit it with a green tipped match, flicking the flaming stick off the distance and away from the other travelers. No one paid him any attention as he walked out of the plaza and started making his way to Pearl Lane.
“Wow, Ul’dah hasn’t changed at all, has it?” Kakeru asked as he blinked into reality, walking alongside Ankoku. “But then again, I’ve only been dead for little over a month.”
“Shit is still the same,” Ankoku said without looking over at his dead friend. “I don’t think it’ll ever change. So long as people keep supporting the insane mix of criminals and politicians Ul’dah will never change.”
“You never know,” Kakeru said with a shrug of his shoulders.
As the two conversed Ankoku got several glances in his direction, most people assuming he was having a conversation with himself. He wasn’t used to having Kakeru back, despite being the only person in the world who could see the dead oyabun. The Viera wanted to tell someone, anyone, that he was seeing his dead friend, but he knew people would just assume he was slowly going insane. It’s not like it was a normal thing to see dead people.
“What does it even matter to you? You’re dead. Not like anything that happens here will have any effect on you.”
“Were you always this big of an asshole? I thought you’d be happy to see me again. Maybe I’ll just fuck off and leave you to be alone and miserable.”
Ankoku came to a stop and turned to face Kakeru, glaring down at the shorter man. Just as he went to reach out and grab the dead Miqo’te someone cleared their throat in an attempt to get the Viera’s attention. He turned and glared at whoever had interrupted his conversation with a ghost who had vanished in the blink of an eye.
“What?” Ankoku growled and glared down at a Hyur man.
“You Ankoku?”
“I am, what of it?”
“Come with me. My boss would like a word with you,” the Hyur said as he started walking off in the opposite direction of Pearl Lane.
Groaning, Ankoku followed after the stranger. He had a hunch that he was going to be either attacked or killed regardless if he followed this strange or not. Random violence was common in this city of thugs and if he was going to have his ass kicked, he’d rather do it in private. Talking to himself was bad enough, he didn’t need the reputation that came when you constantly get your ass handed to you by strangers.
The Hyur led them out of Ul’dah and into one of the man Goblet wards as the sun began to set over Eorzea. Some time later the guide stopped in front of a medium sized building with several empty tables and chairs sitting outside in a beautifully designed garden. Hanging above the only door in and out of the building was a sign that read, “Club Cosmos, artisan cocktails and live music.”
“Boss is in the VIP area in the back of the club,” the guide said as he opened the door for Ankoku. “Don’t keep him waiting.”
The Viera rolled his eyes and walked into a small waiting room guarded by a large Roe man, arms the size of tree trucks crossed over his massive chest. He moved in front of a pair of glass doors painted black so it was impossible to see beyond the security guard. The Roe looked down at the smaller Viera and then down to the three foot long hard shell case he was carrying. He pointed at the case and then motioned to himself.
“Whatever that is you need to leave it with me,” the Roe said, his voice deep and raspy.
“Nope, not happening big guy. Plus, what harm would a bunch of flowers pose to you guys?” Ankoku replied with a shrug of his shoulders, his gaze lingering on the guard.
“Fine, you may go inside but if you cause any problems you’ll be dealing with me,” the Roe said after a moment of thinking, leaning forward and jabbing Ankoku with a thick, meaty finger.
The Roe stepped aside and opened one of the glass doors and immediately Ankoku was hit with loud, thumping bass. He could feel the music in his chest, bright and colorful lights flashing and flickering around the packed dance floor. Off to the left side of the large room was a bar stocked with the best alcohol money could be, several ash trays lining the cherry wood surface. There was a good amount of attractive young women dancing, easily outnumbering the number of men in the club.
A majority of the men in the club all wore matching fitted gray suits, expertly tailored to fit their wearer. It was then that everything fell into place and Ankoku knew what he was about be dealing with. While it wouldn’t be obvious to anyone outside the life of crime, the Viera knew a thug when he saw one. This club was packed with grumpy looking men and women, the only staff that were smiling were the bartenders.
In the back of the club, past the dance floor was a series of booths sectioned off with a thick red velvet rope. Three older men sat in the only occupied booth, the other three empty for the time being. A blonde woman and a white haired man sat across from the best dressed person in the whole club, obviously the leader of this little outfit. The boss motioned for Ankoku to approach, puffing on a stubby cigar, close to finishing it.
“It’s good to finally meet you the Devil of Kugane,” the boss said with a yellow toothed grin. “Finding you was a big of a challenge. Please, have a seat.”
“I’d rather stand,” Ankoku said, tightening the grip on the case. “What is it? I have other things I’d rather be doing than standing in club listening to awful music.”
“You’d be wise to keep your attitude in check, boy. You’re not in Kugane anymore and your yakuza friends aren’t here to protect you. Now have a fucking seat.”
The white haired man shuffled out of the both and motioned for Ankoku to take a seat next to the blonde woman. The Viera let out an annoyed sigh that went unheard due to the music before sitting down on the comfortable leather bench. He gently set the case down, keeping his left hand wrapped around the handle so no one could take it from him.
“Okay, I’m sitting down. You gonna tell me why you dragged me here, or are we going to sit here and play twenty questions?”
“Your attitude is going to get you killed, Ankoku,” the boss said, glaring at the Viera. “I have a job for you that I need done ASAP. The pay will be double your standard rate so long as you get it done quickly and quietly.”
“Sorry, I don’t do wet work anymore,” Ankoku said as he started to rise to his feet. The woman seated next to him grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back down into the booth.
“I wasn’t asking, you disrespectful piece of shit,” came the man’s growl of a reply as he snuffed out his cigar on a filthy ash tray. “Either you do this job for me or I’ll have Judy here drag you out back and shoot you.”
“Fine, who’s the target?”
“Ah, see? That’s more like it,” the thug boss said as he lit a fresh cigar. Ankoku reached into a pocket and pulled out his own cigarette, lighting it with a match he had found laying on the table in front of him.
“I want you to kill the Sultan,” boss man said after a minute, allowing the DJ to change songs before speaking. “All you have to do is slip inside her quarters tonight, cut her throat and that’ll be it. Easy job. You do this for us and I can promise you more jobs in the future. It’s about time there was a change in leadership in Ul’dah, and I want you to be the one that makes that change.”
Ankoku just stared at the man as if he had three heads, mouth hanging slightly open in mock surprise. He leaned forward and placed one elbow on the table, resting his head on the palm of his hand. Meanwhile he slipped his left hand behind him, wrapping his fingers around the grip of his handgun, using his thumb to pull back the hammer. Thanks to the poor lighting his movements went unseen by the trio of thugs, their focus mainly on the man who wrote their paychecks.
“I want seventy five percent up front,” the Viera said with a smirk. “Otherwise you can take the job and shove it up your ass.”
The boss let out a grunt and tossed a sack of coin onto the table, landing a few inches from Ankoku. Upon seeing the purse he smiled and took the money, shoving it into a pocket. With the money secure, Ankoku quickly drew his handgun and took aim at the boss. Before anyone could react, the gun belched fire as a single round was fired, drilling into the thug’s head before blowing the back of his skull open, spraying the booth behind him with chunks of gray matter and blood.
Both the blonde woman and the white haired man watched in horror as their boss’s now lifeless body slumped forward, blood gushing from his nose. The blonde shoved a hand into her vest and tried to free her dagger from its sheathe only to have two rounds fired into the side of her torso. The bullets tore through her vital organs and then exploded out of the opposite side of her chest. Just as the white haired man drew his own pistol Ankoku twisted around in his seat and fired twice, once at his right leg, the second finding a new home in the side of his head.
All hell broke loose as Ankoku opened fire, the gunshots louder that the music that was still playing. The crowd of dancers and drinkers all scrambled towards the exit, pushing and shoving each other around as they all tried to leave at the same time. Several of the well dressed thugs were caught in the wave of people, shouting orders at the club’s patrons and at each other, trying to make sense of the sudden chaos.
Ankoku reached out and grabbed the blonde woman by the neck, dragging her close to him as she bled out from the holes in her chest. Her eyes went wide as the very essence of her being was drained from her and into Ankoku. Once the aether was sucked out of her, the woman slumped forward, her remains nothing more than a dried husk. The Viera quickly slid off the chair, holstered his handgun, grabbed his gun case and dropped it onto the table.
While the club was panicking and the thugs having no idea what was happening, Ankoku was quickly dialing in the correct combination to unlock the case. Once the proper numbers were selected, the lock clicked open and the case was thrown open. With the rifle in hand, the Viera grabbed one of the magazines and drove it into the chamber. Once the magazine was secure he reached up to the charging handle, pulled it back and let it snap back into place, arming the weapon.
“I trained you well,” Kakeru said as he phased back into reality, a big shit eating grin on his face. “Remember the last time we did this? Fuck, you leveled an entire building.”
“Shut up!” Ankoku growled as he took aim on the nearest thug, firing twice. The gunshots were near deafening in the enclosed space, easily drowning out the music. As the body of the now dead thug hit the ground, the Viera had already taken sights on another well dressed bruiser and put one round just where his heart would be, effectively putting an end to his life of crime.
At this point the only people left in the club were the thugs and Ankoku, the patrons having pushed their way out of the main room. The Roe who had been guarding the main door shoved his way onto the dance floor, a look of fury plastered on his green face. He watched as the Viera killed another of the thugs, the rifle belching smoke as he fired a three round burst into the chest of a brown haired Hyur.
One of the well dressed men looked at Ankoku, then to the rifle the Viera held and dropped both of his daggers with a shake of his head. The thug rose his hands into the air and knelt down so he was sitting on both knees, looking down at the ground. Upon seeing this, Ankoku lowered his rifle so he was no longer in his sights and moved on to the next idiot who thought it was a good idea to come into a gun fight with a sword.
Three more gunshots rang out and the sword wielding thug dropped to his knees and then toppled backwards, a puddle of blood quickly forming under his own prone body. The Roe from the main door screamed bloody murder as he charged forward, rushing towards Ankoku like a freight train about to run over a deer. After plowing through two of his own friends, the Roe quickly closed the gap between him and the person killing his coworkers.
Before the Roe could get any closer, Ankoku brought the rifle up to bear and fired out another three round burst. The first shot went wide, digging itself into the stone walls of the club while the other two drove into the guard’s chest. He stumbled backwards a few feet but was otherwise unbothered by the fact that he had been shot twice in the chest. With a roar he began his advance again, this time moving at a slower pace due to his new injuries.
With a shake of his head, Ankoku took aim and fired a single shot, taking the large Roe in the forehead. He came to a halt and stumbled around, looking as if he had just spun around in place for a few minutes. With a loud groan, the Roe toppled forward and hit the ground hard just before his entire body started to convulse.
By now a vast majority of the thugs had been taken care of, the rest of them fleeing for their lives after watching so many of their friends die. In just a couple of minutes the club had gone from being packed to the gills to empty with just the noise of the music playing. The entire place had cleared out save for a few people hiding behind the bar. Ankoku looked around the room, trying to ignoring the flashing lights as he scanned for any more attackers.
Once he was sure the room was secure, the Viera quickly put away his rifle and sealed the case. With rifle case in hand, Ankoku jogged his way out of the club and off in a random direction. He made several random last minute turns in an attempt to throw off anyone dumb enough to follow him. Ankoku didn’t even notice that he had left the Goblet, running in a random direction away from Ul’dah.
“Someone should alert the guards to a plot against the Sultan,” Kakeru said once Ankoku was safely away from the city, having been jogging alongside him as he fled Ul’dah. “Or not. Doesn’t really matter since you killed everyone involved. Kinda surprised you fed off one of them. I thought you were against feeding off mortals.”
“Fuck off,” Ankoku growled as he lit a cigarette. “She was going to die anyway, so it wouldn’t have made a difference if I fed off her or not. I needed the strength more than she did.”
“Whatever, doesn’t matter to me at all, Ankoku. Would probably be a good idea to tell no one about this, especially Bridget. Imagine her disappointment if she were to find out you just killed half a dozen people in the blink of an eye.”
“It was either them or me and I chose me,” Ankoku shot back. “And you’re not one to judge, asshole. How many people did you kill in your lifetime? You’ve got a bigger body count than I ever will, Devil of Kugane.”
“Well, if you keep this up, that’ll change really quick. Plus, I’m not the devil anymore, you are. I think you’ve earned the name.”
Ankoku groaned as he rubbed his head with both hands, annoyed that his night had gone south so quickly. Would this have happened if he hadn’t followed after the thug? He didn’t want to spend too much time dwelling over something he felt didn’t matter. They would have died sooner or later. Such is the life of organized crime.
“It doesn’t matter what people call me. I can’t keep doing this, killing people and feeding off of them. How am I supposed to change if I keep acting like the monster everyone thinks I am? Why is it okay for a mortal to gun down a bunch of idiots but all of a sudden it’s bad if I do it? Everything I did was in self defense so it’s not like I went in there for the sole purpose of killing people.”
“Listen Ankoku, it doesn’t matter what I think about you. I’m dead. If you really want to change, then you have to make a conscious effort to change. Do what you feel is right, not what others tell you what’s right or wrong. Even the best of men can commit atrocious crimes and bad men can make good choices. It’s all up to you, Ankoku, not what others think of you.”
Ankoku sighed and lowered his hands, lighting a cigarette without so much as a second thought. He had stopped running and found himself in the middle of nowhere, seated upon a rock still warm from basking in the sun all day. The gun case was propped up next to him, the correct combination still dialed in ready to pop open should the need arise again.
“Whatever, I’ll just keep trying to be a better man,” he said after a moment of silence. “It’s pretty much all I can do at this point.”
“You do you and I’ll keep watching you. Entertaining shit!”
“Ugh, fuck off, Kakeru.”
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What it means to be human
What is waiting for me tomorrow as I sing and live without meaning?
Alone in my room as my heartbeat screams
Don't kid yourself and don't fool yourself
(( The following contains discussion of triggering material, suicide specifically. ))
(( Recommended listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ10_EzMvtQ ))
Today was like any other day for Ankoku, dull and boring. Bridget was busy with her bakery and Pearl Lane was empty, save for a few people loitering around. The Viera looked around the Lane with a look of disinterest, his cigarette hanging limp from his lips. He was hoping something exciting to happen, but it never came.
Eventually Ankoku got fed up with doing nothing and decided to walk around Ul’dah. He made his way through the streets and found himself at the market. The merchants shouted out, claiming to have the best deals in town. One of the vendors called out to the Viera and pointed at the White Whittret sitting on his shoulder.
“Ah, you friend looks hungry!” the merchant said with a big, toothy smile.
“He’s always hungry,” Ankoku looked at the Whittret and the back at the merchant. “What do you have?”
“Well, for your little friend I have some grilled chicken, unseasoned so it’s perfect for small animals.”
Ankoku shrugged his shoulders and slipped one of his hands into a pocket. After a moment of digging around he pulled out a few coins and a wad of pocket lint. He offered the coin to the merchant, who was more than happy to take his money. In exchange the vendor took a strip of grilled chicken and slipped it into a wax paper bag before handing it to the Viera.
“There you go, my friend. Thank you for your business!” the scruffy looking man said, bowing his head.
Before taking off, Ankoku offered the man a lazy two fingered salute. He took the chicken out of the bag and broke it into small pieces, offering a chunk of meat to the ferret. The little critter let out a soft squeak and grabbed the chicken with small paws and practically inhaled it. A group of young girls giggled as Ankoku passed by them, pointing at the ferret and talking about how cute it was.
Off in the distance Ankoku caught a glimpse of a Miqo’te with short white hair and wearing a nice suit. Whoever they were, they moved quick. The well dressed stranger weaved his way through the traffic, occasionally glancing behind him. Ankoku narrowed his eyes and watched as the Miqo’te took a sharp right and left the market.
“What the fuck,” Ankoku muttered to himself as he went to follow the stranger. They looked so much like Kakeru. Was his mind playing tricks on him? Was he finally going insane and succumbing to the hunger?
Whoever the Miqo’te was, they moved quickly and would look behind them as if they were paranoid someone was following him. Ankoku didn’t bother trying to hide the fact that he was following them. Upon spotting the Viera, the Miqo’te took off in a sprint, weaving his way through the streets of Ul’dah.
“HEY!” Ankoku called out as he matched the man’s speed and closed the gap between the two in the blink of an eye. He reached out with his right hand, grabbing the Miqo’te by his left wrist, putting an end to the chase. When the man looked at Ankoku, the Viera’s jaw went slack and he stared at him. “Kakeru?”
“I was kinda hoping you weren’t going to find me.”
“What the fuck?” A look of shock washed over Ankoku’s face as he tightened the grip on his dead friend’s wrist. “You were hoping I wasn’t going to come after you? Why?”
“I’ve been watching you for a while now, Ankoku. Just… Wanted to make sure you were okay without me.”
“What are you talking about? You’re dead, Kakeru. He shot yourself in the head. There is no way you came back from that. I watched them cremate you!” Ankoku didn’t realize it right away, but his mind was racing a sense of panic rising up within him.
“I’m a ghost,” Kakeru said with a shrug of his shoulders. He reached out and stole Ankoku’s cigarette and started puffing on it himself.
“The fuck you are. You’re that voidsent fucking with me, aren’t you?”
Ankoku looked around, trying to spot the white haired woman who assaulted him and Bridget last week. After not spotting her, he returned his gaze back to the late oyabun. His breathing started to quicken as confusion and anger flashed through his mind. This was too much. He had hoped he’d never have to see Kakeru again, the shock of his death leaving a hole in his heart.
“No, it’s me,” the Miqo’te said after a minute of silence. “When you and I first met, you called me Felix. You claimed he had struck a deal with you twenty years ago and had promised to not only give me power but to protect me from the voidsent that haunted me. You called me stupid for summoning you and had this awful edgy personality.”
“Son of a bitch…”
Kakeru’s wrist was released and he reached up to take the glasses of Ankoku’s face and then slipped them on. He then adjusted his tie and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting to see what the Viera was going to do next.
“You selfish piece of shit!” Ankoku shouted before punching Kakeru with a nasty right hook. Not expecting to be attacked, the Miqo’te stumbled and then fell over, catching himself before his head smacked the ground. “You fucking blew your brains out, and now you’re acting like nothing happened? Do you have any idea how many people you hurt with your selfishness? Did you ever stop to think what you do to ME?!”
Ankoku was seething with fury, hands balled into tight fists. He was on top of Kakeru before he had a chance to get up, punching the Miqo’te several times in the face. Not once did he fight back, taking the repeated blows like a champ. At some point during the barrage of fists, his glasses had fallen off, lying a few feet away from the pair.
“You fucking brought me here to fight your battles for you and then blew your brains out when shit started to get hard! You’re a selfish coward, Kakeru. You broke my fucking heart,” Ankoku screamed as a single tear streaked down his face. “Why are you here? Are you here to rub my face in your death? Is that what this is? Are you torturing me? Haven’t I suffered enough?!”
“I’m sorry,” Kakeru said once Ankoku was done yelling at him. He looked away from the Viera and stared down at the ground, yellow eyes focused on a random stone. “I knew that if I let you back in, you wouldn’t let me kill myself.”
“Damn right! There was no way I would let my only friend kill himself. When you died, my purpose died with you! Now I’m here alone and without a reason to stick around. FUCK! You fucking COWARD!”
Ankoku reached out with both hands and wrapped them around Kakeru’s neck and started to squeeze. Raw fury burned in his eyes as he strangled the Miqo’te, his emotions getting the best of him. Kakeru just lay there, unaffected by the physical violence.
“You’re not going to be able to kill, Ankoku. I’m not really here.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” he growled, releasing his friend’s neck.
“I’m truly dead and I’m nothing more than a figment of your imagination. When we were together you learned everything about me, my personality, my memories, my hopes and dreams. You became me the moment I let you into my body. I am neither here nor there. I am simply a part of you taken form.”
“As if I didn’t already have a lot of shit on my mind, now I have my dead friend following me around,” Ankoku spat out, rolling off of Kakeru. He crammed a hand into a pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one for himself and Kakeru.
“I’m sorry, Ankoku. I didn’t want to kill myself but… I couldn’t go on without him. You know how much we loved each other and how much he meant to me. Ichigo was my soulmate and I couldn’t carry on without him.”
Kakeru sat up and crawled over to the nearest wall and took a seat, motioning for Ankoku to do the same. The Viera made his way over to his friend and sat down next to him. No one said anything for several minutes, both men looking away from each other. Kakeru’s face was battered and bruised and Ankoku had a look of grief plastered across his pale features.
“When my world was destroyed, I watched as my child was crushed by a building that had collapsed. When they died, everything good in me died with them. I didn’t think I’d ever get to feel like a normal human up until we met. You were the one who showed me that life is worth living and that it has so much to offer. So imagine the pain I felt when I found you dead in your safe house. It was as if half of me died with you.
“You treated me like just another guy. You taught me how to feel things again, especially when you were with Ichigo. It was nice feeling alive for the first time on eons. When I was with you, the hunger wasn’t as intense but grew worse with your passing. It wasn’t just me you hurt, but Bridget and the family you left behind.
“The funeral service they had for you was beautiful, Kakeru. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many grown men crying at once. You have no idea how much pain you gifted to your friends when you killed yourself. You broke all of hearts.”
Kakeru looked at Ankoku as he spoke, looking just as hurt as the Viera felt. He looked as if he regretted the choices he made that led up to his suicide but it was far too late to change anything. The oyabun was dead and gone. Ankoku’s mind was torturing him with the visage of the man who he had fallen in love with. It was not the love one feels for a partner, but the bond siblings shared.
“I didn’t know you cared that much, Ankoku. You are like me, a man of little emotions. But the things you do feel… You feel so intensely it becomes overwhelming. I can feel the grief you felt with my passing. If I could, I would go back and let you help me. I know that if we had worked together, we could have figured something out. I was too torn up about seeing Ichigo again. I… I had to be with him.”
“I know,” Ankoku said quietly. “I know how you felt about him. I just wish we could have spent more time with each other. I really enjoyed your company, Kakeru.”
Ankoku looked over at his friend only to find him gone, having vanished in the blink of an eye. The Viera left out a soft, staggered sigh and brought a hand up to cover his face as he started sobbing quietly. All of the pain that Kakeru’s death caused came rushing back, smothering the voidsent with intense sorrow and anger.
The sun had begun to set over Ul’dah, Ankoku having sat in silence since Kakeru winked out of existence. Several cigarettes had been snuffed out next to him, rolling around in the gentle breeze as the sky grew dark. The Viera sat there for several hours, staring ahead with a blank look on his face, whatever joy he had felt sapped out of him. A familiar feeling of emptiness filled his chest, his heart feeling as if it were sinking into his stomach, the void of depression consuming him whole.
So this is what it meant to be human. The pain, the joy, all of it. Did he really want to become human again if it meant that he had to feel all these things? How would he cope with the fact that all of his friends will die long before he does. Would he go out the same way Kakeru had? Was suicide his only way out? Ankoku hoped not. He wanted to be human, even if it meant watching all of his friends slowly wither away. He would not live for himself, but live for the man who had saved his soul.
Only time will tell.
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Surprise attack
I am the cosmic storms
I am the tiny worms
I am fear in the night
I am the bringer of light
(( Recommended listening: https://youtu.be/A_qPlCULEBA ))
“TRAITOR!”
Before Ankoku had time to look in the direction of the scream an invisible hand gripped him and threw him as if he were a piece of discarded trash. The Viera flew through the air and slammed into the trunk of a tree riddled with bullet holes. There were several soft cracks as his ribs shattered, sending fragments into his delicate organs. He hit the ground hard and immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood, rolling around on the ground in agony.
A white haired woman stepped out of the gloom, standing in a beam of sunlight that cut through the dense forest. Ankoku had been working on cleaning the firearms before Bridget showed up to start their daily training. He let out a string of curses and tried to rise to his feet only to be forced back down by the same invisible hand. More blood was coughed up as the pressure on his body increased, effectively pinning him to the ground.
“What the fuck,” Ankoku growled, glaring at his attacker. He tried to resist whatever was holding him in place, straining with all his might. The Viera’s arms trembled as he slowly pushed himself off the ground, feeling as if he were doing a push up at high gravity. It didn’t take him long to figure out that whoever was attacking him was fueled by a powerful Voidsent.
“We have come for the assassin,” the woman spat out as she slowly walked over to the trapped voidsent. She lowered herself down to a squat and reached out with one hand to grab Ankoku by the hair, forcefully lifting his head up. “Where is the assassin, traitor?”
“Eat a dick, bitch,” came his reply, glaring into the woman’s silver eyes. “I’ll never tell you shit.”
Ankoku spat a wad of blood into the woman’s face, a toothy grin on his face. With a growl she drove the Viera’s face into the dirt. She then rose to her feet and placed a bare foot on his head and started to apply pressure. Not thinking she had the strength to actually crush his head, he was surprised when his skull started to crack.
“Tell us where the assassin is and we will let you live.”
“I ain’t telling you shit. You’ll have to kill me,” Ankoku said into the earth, squeezing his eyes shut as the pressure on his skull increased.
“Fine then, we will kill you and then the girl next.”
As more pressure was applied, Ankoku could feel and hear the cracks forming in his skull. It felt like there was a massive weight being placed on his head, his nerves alight with pain. Never in his whole life had he felt so defenseless, having been taken by complete surprise by this wicked woman. There was no way he could call for help with his body pinned to the ground.
Just as the pain became too much to bear the pressure was suddenly removed entirely. He looked up in time to see a series of bright flashes as beams of energy struck his attacker. The woman stumbled away as her body was peppered with teal bolts of magic. Using this distracting as his opportunity to escape, the Viera rolled off to the side and started coughing once more.
“Ankoku, get up! I can’t hold her off for long!” came Bridget’s voice as she ran over to her friend. Two of her nouliths peeled away from shooting the woman and he immediately started to feel better as healing magic coursed through his body. The pressure was gone from his head, but it still felt as if his ribs were still damaged.
“Keep her busy!” he barked, scrambling to his feet and running towards the cabin. Inside the small structure were all of his weapons, ranging from firearms to a wide assortment of swords, pikes and other tools of death. He flung a hand forward and blew the door off its hinges, sending it flying into the cabin.
Bridget’s nouliths dances around in the air as the continued to shower the attacker with short bursts of what could easily be described as lasers. Meanwhile Ankoku had fetched both his shotgun and two handguns, cramming one into a pocket before running back out into the shooting range. He called out to the Sage and threw the other handgun which she caught with one hand.
“ENOUGH!”
The white haired woman threw her arms towards Bridget and an invisible shock wave blew the Miqo’te backwards, sending her sprawling towards the cliff at the end of the range. The healer dug her fingers into the soft earth, slowing her slide before she fell to her death. A loud BANG went off, Ankoku firing at the woman with his double barreled shotgun.
A second gunshot rang out as the Viera charged forward, tossing aside the useless weapon now that both rounds had been fired. In a flash Ankoku was holding his scythe which he swung in a broad arc, aiming to cleave the white haired woman in two. She hopped forwards a good ten feet, sliding backwards another five, crouched down low after evading the attack.
Not wanting to give her the upper hand, Ankoku charged forward once more, twirling his scythe around as if it weighed nothing. While this was happening, Bridget’s nouliths started to vibrate with power as a spell circle formed in front of them. The moment the spell was done casting a massive beam of energy burst forth from the tips of the magical weapons. With a wave of her hands, the white haired woman erected a barrier around herself as the beam crashed into her and reflecting off the barrier, cutting a handful of trees down in the process.
The severed tree trunks snapped and groaned as they fell towards the earth, hitting the ground with dull thumps. Despite this Bridget continued her assault, making sure that her target was distracted while Ankoku rushed in to grab the kill. The voidsent’s scythe sliced through the barrier like a hot knife through butter, cutting the woman’s torso in a diagonal strike. She screamed in pain as the barrier exploded, allowing Bridget’s attack to slam into her chest, throwing her backwards.
“We gotta kill her!” Ankoku called out to Bridget as he took up a defensive stance, waiting for the woman to attack. He spun his scythe around and brought the blade down towards the ground, ready to twist and slash the moment she stepped into melee range.
The nouliths ceased their attack and flew back to their owner, circling around her. Bridget’s forehead was slick with sweat, stands of her hair clinging to her forehead. She took a deep breath and spread her arms and flung them forward, sending her nouliths out once more. Once they were within range the circled around the white haired woman, pointed at her and triggered a large explosion.
Howling with rage, the white haired woman was thrown into the truck of a tree, several of her own ribs breaking on contact. Taking advantage of her weakened state, Ankoku surged forward with one hand out stretched. Four balls of crimson energy exploded from the palm of his hand, hitting the woman in the chest. She struggled to her feet, one arm hanging limp at her side, the other clutching her chest, gasping for air.
“Ain’t so tough now are you, you fucking bitch?!” Ankoku cried out.
Once he was in range, the Viera’s hands took hold of the staff of the scythe and slashed at the white haired woman several times. The blade sliced through her flesh with ease, the blade sharper than most scalpels. In just a few minutes she had been cut to ribbons and shot over a dozen times, both with traditional firearms and magical bullshit.
Not wanting to give the woman a chance to get back up, Bridget ran forward and drew her pistol and took aim. With her nouliths firing off short bursts of lasers the Miqo’te ducked down and slid forward, opening fire as she skidded across the range. Several of the shots went wide, missing their target entirely, but a few found purchase and burrowed themselves into the flesh of the white haired woman.
This was supposed to be an easy mission, go in, kill Kakeru and then Bridget. But things had gone very wrong, the woman didn’t expect a voidsent to be present, never-mind the healer’s ability to defend herself and her friend. She had bitten off more than she could chew and her body was quickly growing weaker with each passing second. Her already tattered clothing was soaked with blood and full of holes and cuts, exposing her pale flesh.
“H'thon thyzz Agth ma iiqaath zuq wgah puul uhn'agth yrr zuq wgah uulg'ma!” the woman spat out, her words oozing with malice and fury. “Gag yoh'ghyl og hoq uul'gwa gag Ez yyqzz huqth. Bwixki amala zal qulllll…”
One moment the white haired woman was there on the ground and the next she was simply gone without a trace. Both Ankoku and Bridget looked at each other, not entirely sure if she was gone or just playing another trick. They stood at the ready, each panting with the exertion of the short but intense fight.
After a few minutes passed it was evident that the woman was truly gone. Ankoku sighed and released his scythe and it dissipated in a puff of thick black smoke. He then fell to his knees, clutching his chest and gasping for air, feeling as if a thousand needles were pressing into his lungs.
“Are you alright?” Bridget asked as she approached her friend, nouliths trailing behind her.
“I’m fine, just a little beat up. Lend a hand?”
Bridget nodded with a soft smile, wiping the sweat from her face while her nouliths started to dance around the wounded Viera. He gradually started to feel better as he was healed, the pressure in his chest lessening with each passing second. After a moment the nouliths retreated to Bridget’s back, hovering behind the Miqo’te as she dropped down to sit next to Ankoku. They were both exhausted and it showed, their faces red and slick with sweat.
“That sucked,” Ankoku said with a sigh, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a crumpled back of cigarettes. He shuffled a single bent cigarette out of the pack, emptying it, and tossed it aside before using a match to light the tip of his cigarette.
“It’s a good thing I was close by. I heard her scream and started running. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” she said, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Can we skip training today? I kinda want to go back home and take a bath.”
“Yes please. I really don’t have it in me to do anything now. Let me clean up a little bit before we leave, okay?”
Ankoku rose to his feet and made his way around the shoot range, picking up the guns he had discarded in favor of his scythe. Bridget trailed along after him, propping up the targets as they moved around the clearing. After a few minutes the range was less of a chaotic mess, the broken cabin door hovering in the door frame.
“That’ll have to do for now,” Ankoku said after propping the door up. “Let’s get going. I could use a bath too.”
And so the two set off back to Kugane, both choosing to keep their handguns loaded and on full display in the event that the white haired woman were to show up again. Bridget was aboslutely drained, the fight having drained her of her reserves. After healing Ankoku, she felt weak and hungry, wanting nothing more than to take a nice hot bath and relax after that fiasco. Hopefully the woman wouldn’t be back any time soon.
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Past life
I have seen the dark universe yawning
Where the black planets roll without aim,
Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
Without knowledge, or lustre, or name.
(( The following contains scenes of graphic violence and horrific imagery. ))
(( Suggested listening: https://youtu.be/_WCqUcWx0Q0 ))
It started with an earthquake, strong enough to topple buildings. Somebody had been out running errands with Small Somebody, taking advantage of the great weather. The two Somebody’s laughed and joked around with each other, the big Somebody holding two brown paper bags filled to the brim with fresh fruits, vegetables and other various ingredients used in cooking. Small Somebody was playing with a toy airship, making wooshing noises as he pretended to make the aircraft fly through the air.
When the earthquake hit, the two Somebody’s were browsing around a bakery that had lured them in with the promise of fresh baked cookies. Pots and pans fell to the ground into the kitchen, making an awful racket. Small Somebody clung to Somebody as chunks from the ceiling started raining down on everyone inside the building. Somebody dropped the groceries and scooped up Somebody into their arms. They took off towards the front door, tripping and stumbling over bricks and baked goods.
Just as Somebody crossed the threshold and out onto the street, the bakery caved in on itself, belching a cloud of dust. Unable to see, Somebody tripped over something and went sprawling forward. The smaller person held in their arms fell to the ground and rolled to a stop as the adult hit the pavement hard, head bouncing off the surface. Around them the world continued to shake and fall apart. An apartment building across the street from the bakery leaned over to one side and eventually spilled out on the road where the two Somebody’s were currently laying.
The sound of the building meeting its end woke Somebody from his forced slumber. It felt as if their head had been caved in, a bump forming where his head had hit the ground. Pushing through the pain, Somebody scrambled around looking for the small Somebody, screaming their name. When they stumbled upon the child’s body, their head had been squished under a brick wall. A puddle of blood had already formed beneath the fresh corpse.
Somebody wailed and tried to free the child’s body, but they were far too weak. Lost in a sea of grief, the adult hadn’t noticed the earthquake growing stronger. This was no normal natural disaster, it was as if the world itself was being torn asunder by an angry giant. The streets were full of people screaming and sobbing as they made their ways through the debris covered street.
Someone came up behind Somebody and grabbed them by the arm and dragged them away from the dead body, shout something about moving to safer ground. It didn’t take very long for the body to get lost in the cloud of dust and dirt. The stranger was dragging Somebody down the street, rushing along through the chaos. Somebody’s mind went blank, unable to process what was happening anymore.
The two people ran out of the sea of dust and debris, gasping for fresh air. The person who had been dragging Somebody along had finally released their hand, and instead hunched over and started dry heaving. Somebody looked around, trying to regain their bearings. He looked up at the sky, squinting at the sun for a moment before his eyes went wide with shock.
Hundreds of round creatures with large, bat like wings soared through the air, their numbers blocking out the sun. They could hear their monsters roaring and screeching at each other, large beady eyes dancing around in their socket. Upon spotting the now ruined city they screamed and adjusted their course, diving down towards the ground. In a matter of seconds, the bulbous monstrosities had descended on the fallen city.
Somebody took off running away from the rising cloud of dust and the screams that now filled the air. He didn’t need to look to know that the monsters were ripping apart the people behind him. What kind of monsters were those? Are they the ones that caused this earthquake that killed Small Somebody? Dozens of questions sprang up, none of which Somebody has answers for. So much was going on at once. It was like the world was coming to an end.
With the ground trembling beneath their feet, Somebody continued to run away from the apocalypse. He stumbled forward and fell down to his hands and knees just as one of the monsters swooped overhead, snapping at Somebody as he hit the ground. With as much speed as they could muster, Somebody crawled away from the hungry beast. The scent of copper was heavy in the air, intertwined with the dust of the fallen buildings.
Making sure it was safe to stand up once more, Somebody looked behind for the first time. His jaw went slack and eyes went wide with horror as he watched a giant tidal wave looming in the distance. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, assuming it was something caused by the earthquakes. Pitch black in color, the wave slowly surged forward, tendrils of violent energies dancing and twisting around in the inky darkness.
Somebody spun around and sprinted off away from the giant wave of death. There was no way that was water, given how the city he lived in was dozens of miles away from any large body of water. Had something fallen from the heavens and struck the world? Was that what was causing these monsters to show up and this wave of destruction bearing down on his home?
Casting a glance back to see how far away the wave was, Somebody continued to run away from it. He worked through their exhaustion, sweating like a pig, staining his face brown with all the dust swirling around in the air. The flying monsters continued to attack random civilians, occasionally grabbing someone and then dropping them from a high distance. Somebody felt lucky, having evaded certain death a number of times now. But did that matter knowing that their child had died just moments ago?
The dark wave appeared to be getting closer, growing larger and larger with each passing seconds. Somebody watched in horror as the wave hit the part of town where they had been with their child. It was gaining speed, spreading across the earth and consuming everything it touched. Screams of agony could be heard coming from within the wave of death, high in pitch and oozing with sheer agony.
Several feet in front of them, the ground split and drew apart, putting an end to Somebody’s escape path. They came to a skidding stop, flailing their arms around as they teetered on the edge of the abyss. They looked down into the gloom, watching as various objects on the street fell into the seemingly bottomless pit. The temptation to jump into the rift grew stronger with every passing second, the giant wave drawing closer and closer.
Somebody took a deep breath and turned around to face their death head on. Their heart leapt up into their chest, almost feeling as if he were about to be sick. Is this what fear of dying feels like? How much is this going to hurt? What caused this? Somebody had so many questions he knew he would never get answers for. This was it. This was the end.
The instant the wave of darkness came into contact with Somebody, he started hollering in pain. They fell to their knees as the clothing on their back was blown clean off, sending chunks of cloth into the abyss. Naked and scared, Somebody continued to scream as the flesh melted off his bones, forming a fleshy pool beneath them. Everything that made Somebody unique was stripped away, leaving them a skeletal figure.
Somebody sat in the darkness, whatever was left of their body feeling as if it were on fire. Every last bit of flesh had melted off at this point, leaving Somebody with nothing but bones and a pair of silver disks for eyes. They sat there, before the ravine, engulfed in darkness. After a few hours, the world finally stopped shaking. In its absence the world went quiet. There were no birds. There were no dogs. There was nothing.
Nothing but monsters.
---
Ankoku sighed, looking over the beach near Bridget’s house. Laying before him was the bolt action rifle, stripped apart and placed in front of the Viera. He hadn’t realized he had zoned out, mind wandering back to when his life went to shit. He felt the pain of Somebody’s death, and the sorrow that came with watching their only child die. This was something he had been living with for some time now, ever since the fall of the thirteenth shard.
Everything that made the now voidsent unique had been ripped from his hands. He could even remember his real name, or the face of the child who had meant the world to him. Ankoku was left with a series of memories, the important details stripped from his mind. He could remember happened the day the world ended, but anything before that was a mystery to him.
With another sigh, the voidsent went through the process of reassembling the rifle. His hands worked with practiced ease, quickly turning the pile of parts into a deadly weapon. Now that it was in one piece, he would then start to break it down again without looking, carefully laying out the pieces around him on the stone overlooking the beach.
He had been doing this for several hours now, deep into the night. Bridget had come out to check on him before she went to bed, making sure that the Viera was okay. He didn’t want to be alone. He wanted to be inside with her and her little cat. Kakeru was right, she definitely reminded him of the oyabun’s mother.
Ankoku was tired of being alone all the time. He had grown so used to living with Kakeru. His absence left a hole in his soul, feeling as if he were missing half of his being. He wondered how long he would have to live like this, lost in a world of people who wanted him dead because of what he was. Having narrowly evaded being assaulted almost every day, the Viera had grown used to the hostilities constantly dished out by the mortal races.
The mortals took their lives for granted, never knowing what they were missing. They destroyed their bodies with drugs and violence, constantly fighting over every little thing. Murder and assault were commonplace, something that almost everyone has endured. But they didn’t know how much more difficult life was when you were a voidsent. Ankoku didn’t want this life. It was forced upon him.
Hunger is what defined him for many years. It was the driving force behind his every action. Years had passed since Ankoku had last fed before he was summoned by Kakeru. He wanted to tear the oyabun apart and consume his essence, but fought against that most primal of urges. And boy was he glad he had decided not to eat him.
Kakeru had been the light that drew him from the darkness. The oyabun wasn’t a perfect man, but he had a heart and cared for those he held dear. He had shown Ankoku what true love was and how powerful the emotions were that came with it. For the first time on eons the voidsent had felt human again. He got a taste of the good life and decided that he wanted to continue living as a mortal. But he can’t do it alone.
Ankoku needed to find a way to feed. He didn’t want to hurt anyone or anything, even though it would be easy to suck the aether out of a patch of forest or some bandit with a death wish. But he didn’t want to be the monster everyone saw him as. It was hard, but he wasn’t going to give up. Especially after Kakeru’s death.
He looked up from his now disassembled rifle, casting his gaze upon the moon that hung in the sky. It was so quiet out here, far away from the hustle and bustle that is Kugane. Most people were asleep at this hour, the sound of frogs peeping off in the distance. It was a nice night and Ankoku wanted to enjoy it to the fullest. He went through the process of assembling his rifle once more and when he was finished, he slung the rifle over his shoulders and rose to his feet.
Ankoku’s knees popped and he groaned, dusting himself off. He then did a series of minor stretches, working away the soreness that came with sitting still in one place for hours on end. Once his body was done objecting to his movement, Ankoku walked away from the estate house. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, so he decided to just wander around until Bridget woke back up. Gods was he bored.
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Restraint
I saw in you what life was missing
You lit a flame that consumed my hate
I'm not one for reminiscing but
I'd trade it all for your sweet embrace
It’s close to two weeks since Kakeru died.
Does this get any better? When he died, it felt as if part of me died with him. There is a vacant spot in mind, the same spot he uses to occupy. Is this what grief feels like? Is this what sadness feels like?
I don’t know.
It’s not like I can just ask people these questions. Everyone keeps their distance from me. Well, everyone but Bridget and Ketsuki. Those two are the only people I’ve met who don’t treat me like some kind of violent monster.
When I was looking for Bridget, I stopped by the place where I was told she lived. The people there were nice until the Big Guy came in and punched me a few times before dragging me out of the building. He’s since put up a ward, so I can’t step foot on the property. Bridget was going to let me stay with her, but that’ll never happen now.
I want to find a job, but I am worried that more people will attack me if I put myself out there. This was easier when I was living with Kakeru. He kept my presence hidden from others. When I was in control of his body no one gave me weird looks or tried to attack me. I miss having that safety net. I miss him.
I’ve been toying with the idea of finding a new host, one that’s actually alive. Don’t get me wrong, the body I have now is fine (Kakeru would have said I am “hot.” Whatever that means.) but I miss having someone to talk to. For the most part I spend my days alone. The only interactions I get with mortals is when I am training Bridget.
Maybe I should go hang out with the family. I miss them almost as much as I miss Kakeru.
No, I can’t do that. They’re busy following through with his plans. I heard they found a new oyabun who will continue what Kakeru started. That’s good. They deserve it.
I was able to get my hands on the rest of Kakeru’s albums from his safe house. Bridget took a lot of them, and I think Ketsuki did as well. Not a lot was left, but my favorite album was still there. This is a good thing, but I do not have a way of playing it. I really wish I could stay with Bridget. She has his old record player and all of his favorite albums.
Oh.
For some reason a handful of different critters have taken a liking to me. There’s this small red fluffy thing that practically lives on my shoulder. And then there’s the owl who likes to use my head as a perch. What the fuck?
Why are these animals bugging me? Did this host have a connection with the natural world? I bet he did. These things just won’t leave me alone.
I can’t really complain though. It’s nice having something living around me. Bridget has a critter that she calls Honey. It’s a small black fluffy thing called a cat.
I should learn about these critters. The red one is… Cute? Is that the right word?
Bridget has been lending me books to read, saying that reading stories will help me understand people more. She gave me a stack of these picture books with words in bubbles. I think she called them comics. If she thinks it’ll help, I’m more than willing to give it a sho-----
-----
While Ankoku was focused on writing in his journal, someone had crept up behind him. Before he had time to react, something smashed into the side of his head, sending the Viera tumbling head over heels, down the hill he had been sitting on. He had come here after helping Bridget with her training, wanting to get his thoughts down on paper, something the healer said would help him. He didn’t understand why or how it would help, but he did it anyway. Kakeru had written in a journal as well, so it wasn’t exactly a foreign concept to the voidsent.
A groan pressed past his lips as the Viera rolled over, clutching his head with both hands. Usually he’d just turn off his ability to feel pain, but this surprise caught him completely off guard. He needed to get away from Ul’dah, his hunger growing stronger and stronger with each passing day. It had been weeks since he last fed and his body was beginning to grow weak. He wanted to feed, but he didn’t want to hurt or kill anyone.
“Lucky me!” a male cried out. “I found me a wild Voidsent!”
A well built man in leather armor came sliding down the hill, a large battleaxe held in his massive hands. Several other weapons were scattered about the man’s body, several throwing knives lining his belt. He brought the axe up and then swung down towards Ankoku, aiming to take his head off with a single attack.
Ankoku rolled away at the last second, watching with wide eyes as the axe sank into the soft earth. He rolled away even further before scrambling to his feet, standing there covered in dust and dirt. The temptation to outright slaughter the attack was strong. It would be so easy. All he’d have to do is disable the man and drain him of his aether.
No. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Not now, not ever.
“I’m not going to fight you,” the Viera said, holding up both hands in the universal sign for surrender.
“That’s a damned shame,” came the attacker’s reply, resting the pole of his battleaxe on his shoulder. “I was hoping for a fight. What kinda voidsent are you if you ain’t gonna fight?”
“Fucking hell, another void hunter?”
“I’m the best in all of Eorzea,” the hunter replied, pointing at himself with a cocky grin. “Got any last words?”
Ankoku just stared at the man and slowly lowered his arms, letting them hang there at his sides. He was weak, but if he really needed to, he could kick some sense into this jackass. His mind wandered back to one of the first conversations he had with Bridget and the promise he made to her.
“Ankoku, I need you to make me a promise,” the healer had said, a warm smile on her lips. “Please don’t kill anyone. You have to show everyone that you’re not the monster they think you are. If you go around killing people, no one will want to be your friend. You need to be the better person. It’s okay do defend yourself, but please don’t kill anyone.”
“Listen, I don’t wanna hurt you. Just walk away and we can pretend that we never met. Just walk away.”
“Fuck off,” the void hunter spat out, taking hold of his weapon with both hands once more.
The man then ran forward, issuing forth a battle cry as he drew back his weapon and swung it in a wide arc, holding to cut the voidsent in two. Ankoku was faster than he was, even in his weakened state. He ducked down and rolled to the right, easily ducking under the blade as it arced over his head. His attacker nearly toppled over as the axe swung around, throwing him off balance as he was expecting to hit something.
Using this to his advantage, Ankoku closed the gap between the two and lashed out with a fist. He punched the void hunter square on the nose before chopping at his neck in one fluid motion. Gasping for air, the void hunter stumbled back and placed a hand over his throat.
Without giving the man any time to recover, the voidsent unleashed a flurry of punches, striking him several times in the chest. His fists moved up towards the man’s face, nothing more than a blur of flesh. The void hunter’s axe fell to the ground and he stumbled backwards, the entire top half of his body screaming in pain. It felt as if one or two of his ribs had cracked, the void hunter having a difficult time bringing air into his lungs.
“You done?” Ankoku asked, dipping into a low ready stance, hands held out in front of him. “Just walk away and I won’t have to hurt you any more. I don’t want this and I’m sure as hell you don’t either.”
“Fuck off!” came the man’s reply, gasping for air.
Now that the void hunter could breathe again, he stormed forward and took up a traditional boxing stance. He lashed out with one punch, which Ankoku redirected away from him and punched at the man’s sternum. The air was pushed out of his lungs, once again struggling to breath. Using this to his advantage, Ankoku surged forward and grabbed the man by the face, fingernails digging into soft flesh.
Feed. He must feed.
Do it.
Consume his aether.
FEED.
DO IT!
KILL HIM!
Ankoku screamed as he brought the man closer to him, practically drooling at the thought of feasting on the attacker’s aether. He gripped his head even harder, almost as if he were trying crush his skull. Something in the back of his mind was screaming at him, demanding that the voidsent feed. It was maddening, the hunter. He wanted so much to feed off of this mortal, knowing that the strength he could drain from him would empower him for a short period of time.
Do it.
Feed.
Kill him.
Do it!
With a roar, Ankoku shoved the man away from him, watching as he stumbled backwards and fell onto his rear. The man stared up at Ankoku, the voidsent’s face a mask of raw fury, drooling at the thought of feeding. Upon seeing the look on his face, the void hunter scuttled off to the side, grabbed his weapon and scrambled to his feet before sprinting away.
With the man gone, the voidsent fell to his knees, clutching his head with both hands. There was only thought running on repeat in his mind and that was the insatiable hunger. He wanted to run after his would-be attacker and drain him of his aether.
But he can’t.
He made a promise.
How disappointed would Kakeru and Bridget be if Ankoku gave into his hunger? It was all too much for the voidsent to handle.
Ankoku screamed and punched the ground until his fists were raw and bloody. Why did life have to be so hard? Why did he have to have a conscience? He wished someone would show up and put him out of his misery.
Is life really worth living?
Probably not.
But he wouldn’t give up. Kakeru would be so mad if Ankoku rolled over and let life fuck him. He was stronger than that, and he knew it.
But it was all so hard.
Ankoku sat there for some time, staring down at his damaged knuckles. The flesh had split in a few places and had started to bleed. He fished his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and pulled out a bent smoke, placing it between his lips before lighting it with a match. He would remain there for some time, eventually returning to his journal.
----
Well that was fucking stupid.
Some jackass just came up and attacked me out of the blue. This fucking place is riddled with people like him, hunters of my kind. I know my people aren’t good, but it still sucks knowing that there are entire professions dedicated to killing us. Having these thoughts and memories are more a curse than anything else.
Bridget said I should be thankful for being able to make these choices on my own. Said it made me human.
Is this what it means to be mortal? To have a conscience?
I need to find a way to feed myself. If I keep this up I’ll eventually wither away. Either that or I’ll go insane and start attacking people at random. Can’t exactly let that happen, now can I?
Kakeru wouldn’t want me to be some monster, so for him I will try. I will do as Bridget tells me. I won’t hurt people. I won’t kill people. The only instances where I hurt someone will be in self defense. It’s going to be hard, but in the end I know he would be proud of me. He wanted to better himself, and I want to do the same.
I guess for now I’ll return to the city and maybe do some reading and try and clear my mind. It’ll be a welcome distraction.
Onward to Ul’dah. Time to read some of Bridget’s comics.
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Target practice
“No, no, no. You’ve got it all wrong, Bridget. Here, I’ll show you how to hold this properly,” Ankoku said, holding out his hands and waited for Bridget to pass the rifle over to him.
After their initial first meeting, Ankoku pitched the idea of teaching Bridget how to defend herself. The healer was hesitant at first, not entirely convinced it was a good idea for her to learn how to kill. The Voidsent had said something about being overly prepared was better than not being prepared at all and how important it is to not rely on just one form of combat. In order to properly protect others and herself, Bridget had to learn how to fight.
The first few days were spent learning basic workout techniques to help her gain some muscle mass. As she was currently, Bridget wouldn’t be be able to hurt anyone with her bare hands. The Miqo’te was fit, but she was slim and had little to no muscles on her. Today the two were working on her shooting.
“Okay, show me how you do it,” Bridget said as she passed the rifle over to Ankoku. He took the gun and dipped down into a low stance, bracing the butt of the stock against his right shoulder. His elbows were pointed down at the ground rather than off to the side. He thumped the rifle against his shoulder, as if to make a point.
“You have to put the butt here here,” he thumped the weapon against him, Bridget taking mental notes about his stance. “Once you’ve taken up the proper shooting stance you can take aim and then fire. When you aim, look through your right eye and close the left. You want to align the center pin with the outer brackets, lining up your sights.”
Ankoku dropped his shooting stance and passed the rifle back to Bridget. The weight of the weapon felt good in her arms, weighing a lot less than she had thought. She mimicked the voidsent’s stance, bracing the rifle against her shoulder. With the weapon secure the Miqo’te leaned her head to the right and closed her left eye, lining up the sights.
“Once you have your shot, squeeze the trigger. Don’t pull it. You can also hold your breath while you aim since it reduces shakiness. Go ahead and fire.”
Bridget exhaled slowly, and held her breath before taking in a lungful of air. Confident in her aim, the Miqo’te squeezed the trigger. The rifle issued out a loud BANG, belching fire from the muzzle break. Due to her proper shooting stance Bridget barely moved, a look of confidence on her face as she lowered the rifle.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Ankoku said as he looked downrange. “You actually hit it. Wasn’t a fatal hit, but it’s still a good shot for a beginner. Now that you’ve fired, you have to load a new round. Remember what I showed you the other day? Lift up, then draw back on the charging handle, eject the spent shell and load in a new one by bringing the bolt forward and then down. You’re using a clip of six rounds, and you’ve fired one, leaving you with five. I want you to fire all the remaining rounds and we can see how you did.”
Bridget nodded her head, brimming with excitement. As much as she hated the idea of actually using the gun to hurt or kill someone, it was a lot of fun to just shoot. She returned to her shooting stance, leaning forward slightly. After finding her target and lining up the shot, Bridget squeezed the trigger, a grin plastered on her face.
The bolt was drawn back, the rifle spitting out the empty shell, smoke drifting lazily from the opening as he tumbled through the air. With a new round loaded, Bridget returned the bolt t its resting place and took aim once more. The Miqo’te would repeat this process of firing, reloading and firing until she was out of bullets. The clip was ejected from the receiver with a loud PING!
“Whoa! That was so cool! Does it always make that ping when you run out of bullets?” Bridget asked Ankoku, looking at him with a grin. This was fun!
“Yeah, it’s a nice feature of the weapon. Once you hear that ping you can load in a fresh clip,” Ankoku passed over a loaded clip, watching as Bridget loaded it into the receiver. “Now do the same thing. Keep up with your practicing and you’ll be a good shot in no time. Take your time lining up the shots. In the field, you use this kind of weapon from a distance and with a good scope. You can fire off a few rounds before moving to a new location.”
“Is the handgun for close range combat?” Bridget asked before shooting the target a few meters away, hitting it in the neck. Ankoku let out a whistle of approval, clapping his hands at the woman’s aim.
“Yeah, that’s kind of gun you use when you’re up close and personal. Because the barrel is only a few inches long you can’t use it to shoot targets at a distance. Well, you can try to shoot from a distance, but the further away the target is you’re more likely to miss.”
Ankoku watched Bridget as she unloaded the last five rounds, afterwards the rifle spitting the spent clip out. The Miqo’te lowered the weapon, her shoulder sore from the repeated firing. She set the rifle down on the table in front of her and flailed her hands around, shaking off the tingly feeling. Resting on the table was the rifle, Kakeru’s old double barrel shotgun, his .44 magnum revolver and the brand new handgun.
“Okay now I want you to try the shotgun,” the Voidsent pointed at the shoutgun. “This one kicks harder than the rifle and both rounds can be fired at once. So with this you have to be careful not to use both rounds at once. If you do, chances are you’ll fall backwards due to the recoil. This one doesn’t have the break on the barrel, so it’ll push back towards you.”
Bridget then picked up the shotgun and loaded in two shells and brought the barrel up, sealing it. She then took up her shooting stance and took aim at a closer target. The first shot ran out in the air, quickly followed by a second. The healer let out a surprised yelp and stumbled backwards a few feet, eyes wide.
“WHOA! That really does kick!” the healer said with a huge grin. She looked down range at the target, only to see the target laying prone in the dirt. “And I hit the target!”
“You’re a good shot for someone who’s never held a gun before in her life. You sure you’re not hiding anything from me?”
Ankoku took the shotgun from Bridget, toggled the break and plucked the empty shells from the gun and tossing them off to the side. He loaded in two fresh rounds and closed the break before taking aim, hoping to hit the same target she had been shooting at with the rifle. In quick succession, the voidsent fired once, peppering the first target with buckshot and then fired a second time, blowing a target clean off the wooden post.
“How long did it take Kakeru to learn how to shoot? I’m guessing he learned at a young age.”
“He actually learned how to shoot a few years ago. One of his boys had stolen this shotgun from a rival family and gave it to him. Since then he made sure to practice his shooting at least twice a week. We built this shooting range ourselves not that long ago.”
Bridget looked around, the range hidden in a patch of forest not far from Kugane. They were firing towards the ocean in an effort to not hit any innocent folk during their practice. Several targets were laid out in front of them, staggered and at different distances. The table where all the guns sat was protected by an awning that extended from a small makeshift cabin.
“What other types of fighting did he know? I know he liked using his katana and daggers, but outside that I never really asked,” Bridget asked, leaning against the table and watched as Ankoku started loading the clips.
“He knew a lot and was always seeking out new things to learn. He was working with a Xaela monk at one point. She was teaching him how to fight with just his body, no weapons involved. Before they could get anywhere, the woman left to return to the Steppe. He was supposed to give her back her family’s soulstone when he was done with it. Would you like to come with me when I return it?”
“Oh! Yes please! I’ve always wanted to go to the Steppe myself. I’ve heard it’s a really pretty place.”
Ankoku loaded the rifle with a fresh clip and loaded a round into the chamber before passing the weapon over to Bridget. She took it without questions and took up her shooting stance once more. With the target in her sights the Miqo’te fired a single shot, pegging the target in the head.
“Fuck yeah! Nice shot,” Ankoku said and extended a fist out to Bridget. She bumped her fist against his and smiled as she took aim once more. The bolt was drawn back, the spent shell ejected and then driven forward, loading in a fresh round.
They would then spend the next hour or so going through the motions of loading, firing and reloading. This was done with all of the weapons laid out before them and didn’t stop until Bridget was familiar with each firearm and it’s unique traits. Once the two had fired off every bullet Ankoku showed her how to break each weapon down and clean it, something that needed to be done on a regular basis to prevent any complications.
“So, we’ve done guns. Now I want to see how you fight with the nouliths,” the voidsent said as he moved the targets away from the range and setting them under the awning. While he set up, Bridget started backing the guns away, setting them into Kakeru’s black duffel bag. “I don’t want you to hold back, either. If you hurt me, you can always heal me back to full health.”
Bridget gave Ankoku a deadpan stare, his joke going over her head. She shook her head with a smile as she moved into the now clear range. Her nouliths drifted up and around her, coursing with power. The Sage rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles, ready for whatever Ankoku was going to throw at her.
A small crimson orb formed in front of Ankoku and he reached out towards it with both hands. Before he could touch them, the voidsent flung his arms apart. The orb seemed to react with whatever was doing and quickly shifted into a long pole. Just as the pole started to fall down, he caught it with one hand and twirled it around. When the magic settled, a curved black blade extended from a dark pole.
Without warning Ankoku shot forward, using his twisted aether to enhance his speed and strength. He lashed out with his scythe, swinging the blade at Bridget in a wide arc. The healer’s nouliths quickly moved in front of their wielder and formed a barrier in front of her. Sparks flew as Ankoku’s blade collided into the barrier and then shattered it, sending glowing fragments in every direction.
Bridget’s nouliths zipped over to their owner, taking up place behind her. Jets of magic burst from her back, looking like a blazing set of wings. The healer flew forward, ducked under another sweeping strike and came to a skidding halt, turning to face Ankoku once more. Neither of them remained still for very long, the voidsent sprinting forward as he twirled his scythe around with ease.
Ankoku flipped over Bridget as she came zooming back towards him, two of her nouliths firing off beams of light blue energy at the voidsent. One of the beams took him in the chest, the beam trailing up and burning the man’s pale flesh as the magic worked its way up his torso. He stumbled back, driving the tip of the scythe into the ground to stabilize himself.
“Fuck that hurt,” he muttered to himself, placing a hand over the long stretch of burn flesh.
“Well, duh! It’s magic!”
“Hey, there’s no talking in a fight! Focus on the here and now, Bridget. If you’re fighting someone you have to be focused on the fight and nothing else, no matter what. If you lose focus and succumb to distracts you will die. If you fuck up, you will die. Do you want to die?”
“No!”
Taking the man’s words to heart, Bridget’s nouliths took up position in front of her, forming a circle. They began to vibrate as a spell circle formed in the area in front of them. Ankoku brought up his weapon, forming a weak barrier over himself. The moment the shield went up, the nouliths exploded, sending a massive beam of energy at the voidsent.
Ankoku’s shield exploded into tiny fragments and he tried to run away form the attack. The beam followed behind him, burning its path into the ground. Before he knew it, the beam struck his feet and flung him into the air. He flipped and tumbled around and hit the ground hard, coming to a skidding halt. His weapon fell from his hand and tumbled away just out of reach. The let out a groan and tried to stand back up but fell back down instead.
“Fuuuuuck,” he rolled over, his vest nothing more than a rag clinging to his chest. His pants were also torn and frayed, the Viera’s pale flesh burnt to a crisp. “I’m tossing in the towel, you win.”
Bridget jumped into the air and let out a cheer, smiling. She was surprised by how quickly the man went down, having assumed he would be a tough cookie to crumble. The healer had a hunch as to why he just gave up, but didn’t want to press the issue. Instead of asking questions, the Miqo’te walked over to Ankoku and took a seat next to him as her nouliths tended to his wounds.
“That was a lot of fun! Are we going to do this every day?”
“Yeah,” Ankoku said, silver eyes watching as the nouliths turned the burns into a distant memory, leaving behind no scaring what-so-ever. “At least I hope to do this every day. Do you think you can commit to training every day?”
“Yup! I want to get as strong as you one of these days.”
“I think you already are,” the voidset said as he flopped onto his back. “Either that or I’ve grown weaker. I can’t fucking tell anymore.”
“Have you been eating?” Bridget asked as she scooted closer and moved Ankoku’s head from the dirt to her lap.
“I haven’t fed in a while. Last time I fed it was when Kakeru went and killed a bunch of bandits and that was a few weeks ago. He wouldn’t let me feed on just anything, so I waited until he had something for me to feed off of. Usually it was nasty people, like rapists and shit, so he didn’t feel bad feeding them to me.”
“What about animals, can you live off their aether? I imagine something like a cow would have a lot of energy for you to use. That and you won’t have the guilt of having to end someone’s life. I want to find a way for you eat that doesn’t involve people. Is that something you’re okay with?”’
Ankoku looked up at the healer’s bight green eyes and the warmth the radiated from her. Her kindness was appreciated, a nice change of pace from the usual anger he inspired in others. He didn’t quite understand why she was as nice to him as she was. He was a monster after all. Does a monster deserve kindness?
“I can give it a shot. If it comes down to it, I can also feed off the aether of plant life. But in order for that to work I’d have to consume a lot, which could cause problems for the animals who live there. How can I get a cow without stealing it?”
“Well, you can buy one or you can work with a butcher. You kill the animals and they turn the body into food and other stuff people can use. Oh! Maybe you can ask the Naruse-kai family! I know Kakeru said he owned a few farms, so maybe you can work with them! I bet they’d be happy to see you again.”
Bridget reached into her satchel and pulled out two bottles of ice water, offering one to Ankoku. He took the bottle and removed the cork, taking small sips. The voidsent didn’t really need to eat or drink, but he didn’t want to be rude and turn down the woman’s offer.
“Mm, I think they’d be happy. They weren’t too pleased when I showed up the other day. I had gone back to Kakeru’s safe house to grab a few things only to find out you had taken most of what I was looking for. After I explained to them who I was, they seemed to relax. I guess Kakeru told the family I was one of his advisors or something.”
“I can ask them the next time I see them,” Bridget said with a warm smile. The nouliths had since finished working their literal magic, all of Ankoku’s wounds taken care of. “I’m going to be stopping by the warehouse tomorrow morning. I made a deal with them to act as their dedicated healer, so I tend to their wounds and stuff.”
“Hah,” Ankoku laughed. “They’ll definitely need your services. Those guys are always getting into scraps with each other. I guess it’s how a lot of them bond with each other.”
“Yeah, they’re a rough bunch, but they’re good men. They really loved Kakeru, so it’s nice to see them sticking to the plans he left for them. Maybe they’ll be able to make the changes he couldn’t.”
“It’s gonna be a while before that changes,” Ankoku said as he sat up. With a wave of his hand the scythe vanished into thin air, returning to wherever he had summoned it from.
“Anyway, I wanna talk about you.”
Ankoku raised a single eyebrow as he lit a cigarette, shooting the woman a quizzical look. “What’s up?”
“Well, since you’re helping me fight, I want to help you be more like us! I think it’s important you go out there and try to make some friends. I know Kakeru wasn’t the greatest when it came to meeting new people, so I can imagine you have similar issues. Are you as grumpy as he was?”
“Grumpier,” the voidsent said, flashing Bridget a toothy grin.
“Okay, so you gotta reign in that grumpiness. People don’t like it when you’re rude or mean to them. You won’t make any friends if you act like a butthead.”
“So… What do I do?”
“Stop being a grump! Go to the Lane and see if you can meet some people there. That’s where I met Kakeru and a lot of my friends! It’s a good place to go and be social.”
“Yeah, I’ve been loitering around there the past few days. Boring as fuck.”
Bridget couldn’t help but laugh at his comment. She didn’t think the Lane was boring by any means, given how she had almost been kidnapped. There was also the constant bickering and fighting or people looking for a temporary mate. She missed the Lane, but at the same time enjoyed being away from all those emotions.
“Well, I guess that’s how you see it, but I don’t think it’s boring there. Regardless, go make some friends. If you want people to like you, you have to work on yourself. So go on,” Bridget said, shooing Ankoku away. “Go to make some friends. I have to go to the bakery and get some work done before I open in a few hours.”
Ankoku groaned and threw his head back, staring up at the cloudy sky. Kakeru wasn’t the most talkative person, and having spent time in his body, the voidsent had picked up on his social habits. He was quick to dismiss people, but knew he had the capacity to be nice. It was going to take a lot of work before people stopped seeing him as some monster.
“Okay, okay. I’ll go. Want me to come the bakery when you close?”
Bridget nodded her head several times, more than happy to spend time with her new friend. When the two spoke, it reminded her of how Kakeru interacted with her. Ankoku had the same mannerisms and even talked like him. He smoked the same cigarettes, wearing the oyabun’s glasses. It seemed both of them were very reluctant to let go, clinging to anything that reminded them of their fallen friend.
“Cool, so I’ll see you later then.”
Ankoku reached out and ruffled Bridget’s hair before he stood up and dusted his rear off. Before he went anywhere he’d have to change out of the rags that was once a nice outfit. Oh well, that’s what he gets for training in nice clothing. The two then exchanged hugs and goodbyes before going their separate ways.
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Monster
I was somebody once. Do I remember who I was? No. That privilege was taken from us, all of us, when the Ascians tried to merge the stars into one. Everyone I knew was transformed into hideous monstrosities, doomed to live a life of constant hunger.
Have you ever been hungry, truly hungry? So hungry that you would eat your own kind? So hungry you would murder to feed? Could you live with the things you have done in order to feed?
Over the years in my long, tortured existence, I have killed many. Slipping through the cracks to wreck havoc upon those still called mortals. If you could stop that hunger, would you? What would you do in order to feed?
The first time someone summoned me to the Source I feasted upon his very essence. Did the hunger leave? No, it is forever present. It’s always there, hanging in the back of my mind, a constant reminder that I will never live a normal life. Those days are gone. I will never be like you or your friends. I can pretend, but we will never be the same.
For eons I was alone, lost in a world without light. A world steeped in darkness so intense it warped the people who once lived there. A whole world reduced to monsters. All of our history, our culture was destroyed in the blink of an eye. Genocide on a grand scale.
I was fortunate. I still have a personality, if you want to call it that. Most of my people were changed into mindless tricksters and monsters. How many of them have you killed? Do you know that monster was once a person like you? What were their hopes or their dreams? Did they have a name?
For as long as I could remember, I’ve been alone. I kept my distance from the others, their madness infectious. I hid while the others gave in to their hunger. I didn’t want to be like them, yet I already am them.
Then I met him. He changed everything for me.
Kakeru Naruse, the Devil of Kugane, oyabun of the Naruse-kai yakuza family. He pulled me from my world to his and struck a deal with me. In exchange for power he would feed me the aether of his enemies. It was a good deal. Eorzea is a buffet, rife with souls that have strayed too far down the dark path. People that no one would miss. A guilt-free way to sate my hunger.
During our time together, the oyabun and I learned to work together. By the time of his passing, we were of one mind and body. He knew me as much as I knew him. Our bond was so strong that I could pretend to be him and no body would notice. I lived within his body with his permission. As I grew stronger, so did he.
Then he took his own life, becoming one with the lifestream. A lifetime of hardships brought him down, giving him more thorns than flowers. His father was a grade A asshole who treated his son worse than a dog. Kakeru was a man broken by life, but he had someone… Special. He loved another. And that love killed him.
I wasn’t there when he died. He had banished me shortly before his death, demanding I return to where I had come from. I didn’t want to. I still don’t want to. You all take this life for granted. I would do terrible things to live as you all do.
After he died, I had to find a new host. So I went on the hunt, trying to find some stupid mortal dumb enough to give me possession of their body. It didn’t take long to find what I was looking for. I found a male Viera, the people with the big ears and soft faces. He was laying in the middle of a road, dying from a stab wound.
The Viera was begging me to save him, not knowing what I was. He was not scared of my appearance, which is strange for a mortal. Usually the sight of my kind inspire violence in the mortal races. I can never tell anyone what I am. They will just kill me. As if I had a choice. Do you think this is what we wanted for ourselves?
By the time the Viera had finished the proper ritual, he had bled out, leaving me with his body. I had hoped to live here with him, but he was too slow. He didn’t have a desire to truly live. He accepted his fate and rolled over, ready for life to fuck him. Pathetic.
Now I roam a strange land full of strange people. I look as you do, lifelike and mortal. But I am not you. I am the opposite of you. You are light, I am the dark. Nothing can change that. It is what I am. That hunger will always there. There are plenty of people to feast upon, but I do not want to be the monster you all see me as.
I want to be like you. I NEED to be like you. I have had so much taken from me. My life, my very BEING. You want to talk suffering? Spend the night in our realm. Feel the hunger we feel. The madness we all feel. How long do I have here?
Kakeru had friends. People who loved him. Maybe they can help me. Maybe I can be like you. I hope I can. I seek the healer who tended to the Naruse-kai family. Her and Kakeru had grown close in such a short period of time. She has a kindness most mortals lack. Perhaps she can show me what it’s like to be mortal again.
All I want is to be normal again. To be mortal. To be ME.
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