Creatures Beyond The Walls

Focusedheart

Focusedheart

Through all, smile. Through the worst, smirk.
The years had seemed to slow and the nights growing colder as time passes. The earth was at a stand still ,lost between innovation and the dust of the past.
People usually stayed in what few cities there where. They were large places full of lights and sounds, a mixture of pleasure and pain.
Outside the walls of those cities though were the danger lands. Areas over run by creatures that long ago had just been stories. Now they roamed like haunted nightmares throughout the lands.
The landscape was vast with lush greens and tall trees in areas where they could thrive then in others it was sand and unbearable heat.
It was said that this creature controlled the land outside the cities and it was death to any human. A king of sorts. All rumors but then again the creatures were just rumors before too.
Over the years humans stayed to their cities and the creatures to their land but as all things, peace never lasts.
****present day****
Racina Sli had grown up with the imagination of most children but with the horror stories of what lay outside the walls. Still it never seemed to stop her from sneaking away from her privileged parents to explore.
Her small frame allowed her to hide easier than most as she darted through the crowds of people to get to the wall.
She barely stood five feet and her black hair had to be kept on a braid to keep out of her way. Her eyes were a soft brown and though she was close to seventeen, she appeared much younger.
Once she reached the place in the wall where long ago she had found a hole big enough for her, she wiggled her way along it darkness.
Out the other side, she looked around carefully, taking in every detail before standing up. Her soft blue dress dirty from crawling but she didn't mind or care.
 
It was a harsh, merciless and unforgiving life in the dark places of the world. Here lived everything that could and would kill anything it saw to be weaker than itself. Few few beings that lived here were exempt from these dog eat dog rules. It was a delicate balance. One he frequently absconded from. Everything you could think of existed whether it swam, ran or flew. He only ran when it suited him and whilst he never could fly, he certainly could give the impression. He was swift of foot when he so chose. He chose more rarely these days that entertainment and food were scarce. There was little he could hunt for sport and he had learned over time to hunt only for need. He sat in his favourite tree in the darkness watching as a group of centaur walked past. Another group the creatures of the Dark Places rarely attacked. Centaurs were too much hard work. Like the humans that kept to their overcrowding cities, they had intelligence so vast and indescribable it would hurt the mind yet they were aloof, so disconnected with what was around them, one could never quite anticipate their next move. They fought just as well as their equine halves. He learned to steer clear of their hooves from an early age.

He gave a deep sigh. Young was a cheat word for him now. It was an age since he had been truly of worth to be called as such. He had undergone so many dark rebirths that he was almost the laughing stock of the whole group. Another reason for a pressingly solitary lifestyle. He caught sight of a Satyr skirting around the undergrowth and he gave a grunt of irritation. They made good eating if you could be bothered for such a long and exhausting run or climb. Skinny goats were not worth getting up for. He was too tired for them. He would leave that for something else.

Times were changing.

At first he had been the last to have recognised this fact but that was when life was good and delicious. Now it was boring and bland. There was nothing to do and yet the creatures of old here ruled with an iron fist. They were older than most, mostly Vampires, which lived everywhere. Even some cities but those were ancient, supremely well attuned to hiding their thirst by exceptionally boring human means. Yet some here were not meant to have been forced to eke out their lives here. some were once the gods of men and he was such a being. He had been revered once so very long ago but had since been forgotten. He was not unique in this. A lot of creatures that had once favoured godhood now tasted the same loneliness he was feeling every day. the humans had forgotten and he grew ever more confused and embittered.

Snarling and in so doing, scared the Satyr from its collecting of roots, he descended from his favourite tree and slunk away. Long walks helped to calm his mind. Otherwise he knew he would simmer and boil, growing angry at something that had happened too long ago to do anything about now. If only he had been more forthcoming, more lenient and understanding... Perhaps now would have been different and he wouldn't be condemned to live with the other outcasts and dark folk that wandered and thirsted. It was true. Some monsters did live in the Dark Places and they did deserve to be put down out of their misery. He did so when he had the element of surprise. Some even made decent eating. It wasn't as if they could ever hope to kill him. He snorted, it was pure irony that a caretaker of the Underworld should wonder at the feeling of it so.

It had been his prime interest and motivation for taking care of the human's deceased. It was an empty job now. The job required favour.

He walked and walked, his form languid and graceful as all felines should be. His tail was perfectly balanced and bright yellow eyes heralded his presence in the midst of a black coat. He was often called majestic and he loved the word. It had made him feel special and wanted. Now he was just another damned bygone. He walked to the skirts of the forest and he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He just wanted to walk, calm his mind and find his centre once more. Only then would he hunt. Only then would he return to his favourite tree.

A scent carried in the fog that was slow to clear in the darkness. He frowned, it was new and strange. He shook his head and ignored it. There was nothing new here. Except more monsters. Always monsters and still the humans did nothing but ignore them in their fear, their refusal to understand and to accept. He did not understand that either. He carried on and it was only when something loomed overhead that he gave pause to his unconsciously calculated stride. He stood with his legs aligned beneath a sleek yet powerful body, his head lift with a noble line to his crown. The wall was not what had caught his attention. Every decent creature knew the walls of the human worlds but it was the girl. A single girl in fine blue. Never had he seen such vibrancy in between its stains in so long till now. It was brighter for him. He could see well in the darkness. His eyes worked independently of each other and thus humans deduction that his lower brethren were fore-tellers.

He stood and stared as if struck as a dumb animal. Never had he seen a two leg such as this girl before now. It had been so long. He had tried to emulate their forms many times and he had succeeded mostly. It was hard now where once it was easy. He required favour. Favour another term for belief. He continued to stare at her amazed and his tail hung low, the end bent and twitched in his curiosity. His ears were pricked forwards and his gaze that of intrigue. What would make a girl venture beyond the wall? The human's fear was understandable but he doubted they had sent her. Was that not a man's job? He didn't know, didn't remember. The days were so long and vast that he forgot their time, theirs ways.

Akon sat then, his eyes openly inviting her to draw the first word. He was not yet sure she even saw him for he knew his coat was so coal black that sometimes the fog and the dark hid him completely. Yet his eyes shone bright with his curiosity, his need to know why she had come beyond the wall too great.
 
A shiver ran down her as the cool air touched her skin. Taking a step from the wall, she rubbed her arms a little before letting her arms fall back to her side's as she takes another step.

Her eyes were wide as she took in the sights before her. They were looking for any sign of movement as her hears listened.

For a moment she didn't see anything or hear a sound. Her eyes weaker from the poor environment of the city. Then suddenly ,every part of her froze as if like prey she knew she was being watched.

Stepping back carefully towards the wall as fear seeped in but then she stops again. There was something bright in the distance. She blinks a bit as she tries to get a look at what she saw.

Her voice was soft as she spoke up. "Hello....is someone there...?" This had been the furthest she had ever gone since finding her hole in the wall. Usually she just stayed hidden in the wall ,out of sight.
 
He cocked his head to one side when she spoke and sighed softly. He never quite understood the two legs. He had found them perhaps a little too endearing or amusing at time but their dynamics were complicated. Too complicated. He watched her for a long time before he stood and inched forwards a few steps before sitting down again. His eyes shone brighter in the gloom and he said nothing wondering if her courage would go a little further.
 
Was that movement? Yes the glow was closer now. She stared as if transfixed on that glow. It indeed had taken her a moment to realize those were eyes. A creature was staring at her.

Biting her bottom lip, she glanced up at the wall and to her hole. Did she really dare leave the safety of being close to the wall?

Then she looks back towards those eyes. Those old stories her parents told her as a child, they were used to just scare her and the others weren't they?

Pushing away all her questions and all her unease, she took a breath as if preparing to step into water. Then she stepped forward, moving a little closer to those eyes. "Hello....?"
 
He sat patiently. He had all the time in the world to wait. She did not. Her life as a human was short and compared with his own, stupendously meaningless. Yet, there was once a time that they could achieve great things in that short space of time. Perhaps they could do so again.

She took the bait. He smiled. Very few could look into sch bright eyes and feel drawn to them enough to overcome fear and approach. He blinked them. Just the once. He waited till she took a few more steps before he spoke, still hidden by the dark fog an his black coat.

"Hello little one," he purred, "You're far from home."
 
Ad his voice reached her ears, she froze a little. No, she hadn't imagined it. She did hear that voice. Those eyes, they were the brightest thing she had ever seen.

Home? Could she really call where she resided at home? People were constantly dying around her and her parents continued to try and hide it. The city was killing them.

She gazed in to the dark but could not make out the form who spoke to her. "I wanted to see beyond the wall...I don't believe my parents...They tell stories but I don't believe them."
 
Not too far away, but at the moment unnoticed by either of them, a demon with his common human disguise was climbing a tree, trying to get at a fruit he knew was hidden behind the leaves. It was the best thing he could find to supply him with energy without any real human souls to feed on.

Almost as soon as he grabbed it, his foot slipped on the branch and he landed on his back on the ground below. However, he quickly got up and saw that he had succeeded in getting the fruit and it was undamaged. He smiled and took a bite as he finally noticed two silhouettes near the wall, one sitting down and a smaller one on two legs like him. Out of curiosity, and the wishful thinking that a human had gotten through the wall, he started approaching them, knowing invisibility was pointless as a majority of the creatures exiled from the town could see through it.

The demon hid behind the closest tree to the two figures, enough that he could make out some kind of black coat on the closer creature and what appeared to be a little girl, though he couldn't see her face. He became intrigued and continued to watch them, while also keeping a tight grip on his fruit to make sure he didn't lose it and a watchful eye around him. It wasn't too rare that one creature or another mistook him for a human, he had his disguise on so often.
 
He watched with all the patience of his appearance's sake. Cats were notoriously patient ambush predator only releasing their bursts of speed when the opportune moment arose. To waste energy before then was not something they could even consider if they wanted to not go hungry. The success of a hunt was all about patience, endurance and observation skills. He sometimes hunted, gave into the instincts withing and from that he had trained his situational awareness to be highly acute. He had to be aware of the ground, where rocks and pebbles were so that his paws didn't then disturb them and make a sound. He had to be aware of the land around him and often went for long walks just noting land conditions. The sky too though is usually was always fogged over in an eerie mist was something he also had to consider. He didn't rule the skies and sometimes the sky lords would alert his prey just for their amusement in watching his prey run off before he could catch it. He had to make sure they were scarce or that he was within good favour.

She knew he was there. How could she not. He was aware his eyes were contrasting against the darkness that enveloped him. He found pleasure in knowing this. That she knew something was out there watching her.

He gave a deep raspy chuckle, the kind that could make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, "All stories have some shred of truth in them, little one. Even the nasty tales they use to frighten you with." He spoke with a rueful note of regret and sadness. There was such a time when man was right to fear the beasts and demons of the world that they called monsters but they had chosen to run in their fear and shut themselves away instead of respecting all right to live and breathe on what the Earth provided. They could co-exist for the most part. A few of their kind might fall to a fiend's maw or lose their way to a demon's enchantments but equally Akon knew it went the other way too. How many had man killed in his failure to understand them? If a beast or demon attacked with no provocation then man had to right to defend themselves.

Running away behind their walls however... There was little respect to be found in it.

"Come closer, child, I won't bite," he spoke with a grin. He wanted to test her courage.
 
It was hard to know what was better to do at this point. She wanted to go closer,she wanted to see the form of the one who spoke to her but at the back of her mind, instinct told her to stay put. To go closer to what she couldn't not fully see and after all the tales of monsters, it meant trouble instantly. Didn't it?

Still she ignored her own instincts and did move a few steps closer. "Which part of the stories are you? " she questioned. "Are you one of the monsters? Or is there more to out here than what they say?"
 
So far, so good, the other two didn't notice him. But he still couldn't quite make out what they were saying. He let a small part of his human disguise slip, just enough to show his wings, so he could fly up to a branch that seemed sturdy, and was a bit more out towards the other two beings.

Once he was sitting comfortably on the branch, he hid his wings once more and continued to watch them. He could make out a little more of what was being said, but not all of it was clear. It was good enough for him, though; he'd rather be safe and unable to know much than knowing everything and at risk of being caught and torn to shreds.
 
He gave that same raspy chuckle again but she did it. She moved. More than he was expecting. Curiosity was such a fine thing. Curiosity lead to questions the demanded answers. Answers that were truths, not lies fed by generations of scared little rabbits. It was the humans like this that he found more respect for. These were those worth his time for.

"Depends who labels me a monster or not, these days," he responded paused to lick a paw. He sniffed the air and peered round for a moment as if sensing something else but what yet he could not see, could not detect. He peered back to the girl and stretched languidly, completely at ease with his surroundings. "We're all monsters and bogie-men here... Isn't that what mummy and daddy tell you at night? That we lurk in the dark, ready to jump you the moment you climb out of bed?" He snorted. Only some of that was true and not all of it evil.

Some did visit those at night, the nightmare wielders, the dream weavers and the illusive vision granters. Rarer still were the monsters that lurked in the dark spaces but there were so little spaces that could allow for such in most bedrooms. He doubted they'd have much luck now.

"Myself? Your kind considered me their god once," he purred, "We're all fallen,"
 
Racina gazed into the shadows at the creature. Her fears forgotten for the moment as she listened to his words. "I don't think you are a monster." She finally said. Then adds. "If you were, I would have been dead already." She gives a little shrug. "At least that is how they have spoken of all who are out here. "

She shakes her head a little. "We have forgotten our courage and our strength. We hide behind a wall and pretend everything is okay. We are all dying slowly..."

"Why did we even go behind the wall?" She asks suddenly. She could not pick up on the fact that someone else was nearby. Her hearing was not as strong as others and her sight not as well either. The effects of not using such senses has weakened them over the generations.
 
Part of him wanted to at least let the girl know he was here, maybe not the cat creature. After all, he didn't know what the other creature could do to him. He was just curious to see the girl's reaction if she did actually see him. So he stood up and made his way across the branch, closer to the two others. He spread his wings for balance, but it probably also help to get her attention. Just to hold himself over, he took another bite of the fruit in his hand. He didn't want to have to fight the cat for prey, he'd probably lose easily.
 
He looked at her marvelled by just how ignorant her people seemed to choose to be. No man could run from what they feared for long. They had to face it eventually. Death wasn't as simple either. He licked his paw clean again once more before he blinked slowly at her, breaking his headlamps. "They forget not all monsters will attack or harm straight away. Others find favour in deceiving their prey,"

Akon glanced to the wall the human civilisation hid behind and nodded solemnly. "Death finds us all... Well, most of us," he intoned and stretched, showing his paws and claws in the gloom.

His ear twitched and he glanced upwards. He couldn't see the figure lurking nearby but only that of the wings. A sniff of the air told him all he needed to know and he sat back on his rump. He was not frightened by very much. death for him was just another upset in the day's givings. He doubted the figure had come here for that however.

He peered back to the girl, "Fear, ignorance, cowardice... All sorts of reasons, girlie. Man was strong once, some of them stronger still. There was a time monsters were right to fear man but then man lost their way. Time changed, and the heart your kind had? Well, it fluttered away and you were reborn young and naive. You forgot why you fought them, all you learned was fear. That, and sorceress' might have had something to do with it. A curse lies thick in the fog."

"You can join us without the need for spying," Akon remained looking at the girl but his words were not directed to her. Akon disliked those who felt they had to hide. Hide like man had done in his failure to understand, in his fear and cowardice.
 
His words, she understood them despite her raising. She saw more truth to what he said than what her parents had said.

As he moved in the gloom though, she saw more of his form. Her eyes widen some as she realized what he was. There was some fear in her but she would be foolish to not be afraid.

"Sorcerer? Like magic?" She asks curiously.

She started to think about what he said but was pulled from her thoughts as she heard him spoke not to her but to someone else. She tenses up a bit at the idea that there was someone else out there. She looks around and saw the shape of the wings above.
 
The demon's voice came from above them, seeming playful and calm at the same time. "Hmph. Well, I typically prefer to be safe and not let myself get torn to bits, but if you insist." The demon then leapt from the branch and flew over to them, landing by the cat-creature's side, albeit a couple of feet away. He looked the girl up and down and smiled mostly to himself.

Red's human disguise allowed him to appear to the girl, and hopefully the cat-creature, as a teenage boy with pale skin and red eyes that almost glowed in the gloom. The dead give-away to what he was at the moment were the red, leathery wings sprouting out of his back, his red jacket seeming undisturbed by them.
 
He watched her for a moment and smiled slightly as she began to realise what he was.

"Magic, of the darkest kind, yes," he breathed deeply, nodding lightly. "One day we might be able to lift it... might not... "

He looked at the demon now and watched as they figure flew down near to his side. He yawned, unimpressed by the whole show, "I can still climb trees, 'boy'. I have good odds catching you from early flight," he rasped a chuckle and then shook himself all over, stretching languidly before he peered back at the girl.

"Even his kind fear their place here. You kind are not the only ones who are suffocating, girl," he spoke, watching the wall again. Sooner or later her parents would learn she was missing if she did not eventually return.
 
She watches the flying one curiously as he lands near the other but she noticed the distance he kept. He looked human almost.

She blinks a bit at what the creature said then nods slightly. "There is no balance anymore..."

She noticed the cat creature look to the wall again. "They won't look for me...at least not for a few more hours..." She shrugs a bit.
 
He glanced over to the cat-creature as he spoke, putting his wings away now that he was on the ground. "I see no reason for you to say such a thing to me. I've done nothing to provoke a threat, to my knowledge. It was just my curiosity getting the better of me, that's all. A motive no different from this girl."

He glanced up to the wall as the girl spoke, still smiling a little to himself. "It's a bit strange no one's noticed your absence, though perhaps they're too busy trying to cover up their fear to notice any of the world around them."
 
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