What is it that you wish to see? What kind of world do you see yourself living in? For me it's one that throws a festival for me. A world that weighs itself on my scale. Those were what the hooded woman wanted, what drove her to this wretched place of Atlas along with so many Aspirants who thought they had what it took.
But maybe that's what it meant to survive and become a shaman. Maybe the consumption of one's soul for failure is nothing but a gift of solace. After all, the woman had seen what kind of world laid out for those who gained that flimsy title. She had her whole life.
She watched as Naren and Cairo drew their flimsy tiresome breath. She had made sure to strip them both of water, of food. To throw them in the cage of the dungeon, but despite all that, they still fought each other.
For some reason, their fight weighed heavy on her, heavier than she'd like to admit. But she didn't show it, she couldn't show it. It was getting long and strenuous, but she was the only one who had to persevere. The only one who could.
Cairo's head had busted open from his earlier fall, blood trickling down now more pronounced. It had taken quite a few beatings from Naren, disrupting it more.
Naren stood just as battered, deep gashes all over his body. An especially deep one on his jaw that seemed to go down to the bone.
Both their breaths were heavy and draining. Even breathing was a chore at this point. But Naren was dead set on beating Cairo a bit more. Maybe not enough to kill him, but to drill into him to respect his scarf.
"You...done...already?"
Cairo's smile never wavered in contrast to his heavily bruised body. He was sure some bones were fractured, but didn't let it show. He was just especially pissed that Naren was getting in between him and the woman who stole his sword.
He spat out blood to his side, never once looking away from Naren.
"I ain't...close."
Cairo grasped the glowing kunai in his hands, a line of flames dancing in symphony of cinders. Naren adjusted his stance, dropping his hands lower.
They squared each other up, on the balls of their feet, they had every fiber of their body yelling and screaming to stop. To just rest but neither did. Instead they were just one muscle impulse away from being at each other throat.
Their breathing regulating for one final push.
Just then, the woman had strolled up to Cairo, who was too focused on Naren. Even Naren didn't hear with how tunnel visioned he was on Cairo.
Cairo flicked his head towards her, but his exhaustion had caught up with the sudden movement. His body was weak. Weak enough for someone like the hooded woman to break through.
A pitch black needle, a meter long, with a worn leather handle shot forward. Cairo barely blocked, but that was what the woman was aiming for. The needle slid right into his forehand, skewering it, and landing on his neck.
Cairo instantly increased is body temperature, planning to burn the woman now. But nothing happened. Nothing changed. Instead his vision began to blur.
"You...got one...too..."
Normally, Cairo, even in the state he was in wouldn't fall. But the woman's blade pierced his neck into a very specific nerve. One that would render the victim completely motionless within the next second.
With his final haggard breath, Cairo fell to the floor. All of his embers wisping away into nothingness like a dandelion in the wind.
Naren's bare feet touched down right atop the glistening black needle. Landing on the balls of his feet right in front of the woman. Naren could barely stand, wobbling in place, as the woman took a couple steps back.
He extended one arm in front of him, two fingers hung up, as he took a step forward.
"I just...two seconds..."
Then with one swift motion, Naren lunged forward, but tripped over his own leg, falling right into the woman's arms. But this was his plan, as a coy smile crept onto his face.
In the process, he extended his other arm grabbing on the hood as he fell.
Strands of dark blue almost black hair cascaded out in a rhythmic beauty. The woman was young, maybe a year older than Naren. Her face was soft and pale, pitch black eyes staring right back at him, caught by surprise.
Naren's vision waned as he fell into her arms.
"Caught...you."
In the next second, his vision completely blacked out. The last thing he heard was a whisper from the woman.
"I'm Yuna. Remember it, Naren."
——————————————————
Vera watched in horror, Cairo's flames dying out. Only the burning debris now clung tightly to life, barely illuminating the terrace. For good reason.
What Vera saw had her heart racing, from a primal sense of fear. Her words croaking out in hoarse voice.
"...A...gain..."
Her breathing was haggard as she clutched to her chest. Expecting her heart to rip out at any moment. He knees wobbled and her hands trembled, as she crashed to the floor below. Unable to move.
Before her, Naren was held in the woman's arms, completely unconscious. And both him and the woman...
...Had the top halves of their bodies bitten off.
A low growl pressed through the air in a suffocating trance. Two big yellow eyes hidden behind shadows had their top halves hanging from it's teeth. Mounds of blood and innards pouring out.
Vera threw up in her mouth and swallowed it. Too scared to let it out in front of the beast before her.
Snapping of bones was the only thing audible as the mouth, which as split into three jaws, chewed. Crunching and crunching away at Naren.
Patches of thick grey hair coalesced the beast's body, it's limbs far too long and far too meaty. It was at least four meters tall, standing on it's hind legs. The yellow bestial eyes snapped into a permanent gaze at Vera.
It was a werewolf. An abhorrently disturbing, unnervingly hungry one.
Vera's eyes wavered for a moment. Just a moment, before everything returned to black once more.
—————————
Naren's eyes shot up too pure darkness. He laid their for a second, as if forgetting something, only the sounds of dripping water keeping him company.
That and the various breathing from all the prisoners in here.
Getting up to a seat, Naren shook his head trying to remember. There was something that he was forgetting. Something about two? Or maybe, maybe something else. Suddenly he looked down at his scarf in the empty darkness. Thinking he might see it burning.
"Weird."
He shook his head once more, trying to reach a branch just out of reach before falling down the tree all together. Then a thought crossed his mind. Cairo and Vera turned on him. They cast him in this dungeon.
"Shrimpy! Cairo! Get me out!"
A footstep approached, placing a hand on the bars. It was too dark for Naren to see, but he felt the gaze of the stranger right on him. Siobhan's voice spoke.
"Quiet."
"I don't suppose you're here to let me free?"
All Naren could hear was the shallow breathing of Siobhan as he felt her gaze on him intensify. And he could swear her heartbeat began to increase slightly as well. But it was strange, like she had several heartbeats in one body.
Without uttering another word, her footsteps grew quieter and quieter. Though Naren could still hear it long after leaving the dungeon, just muffled and consumed by all the foot traffic above ground.
Naren sat down, leaning on his hands while putting his legs up on the bars.
"Not much of a talker, huh?"
He yawned, then for some inexplicable reason flung his head to the right. So hard that he hit it against the floor.
Writhing in pain, Naren rolled around for a bit. The dungeon cell now filled with laughter.
"Hahaha...You dumbass!"
An ember flickered through the air, an orange glow illuminating a sharp face with bandages wrapped around one eye. The flame's burning from Cairo's hair.
He felt a sense of anger towards him. Not the one from him throwing Naren into this dungeon, but one rooted in something else. Placed much deeper in his soul. Then for a split second, an image flashed through his mind.
One quiet image that shouldn't have been there.
An image of Cairo.
Bleeding from his head, laying on warm stone floors in the dead of night.