The Shadows Book One: The War for EarthEnd.

Chapter Seven - Culling the Herd.

Liki Wolfspirit.

It wasn't long after his time in the Areana before Skip was leaning across the ledge of a boat, sick to his stomach. He hated boats. He was an Otter damn it! He could swim to whereever he needed to be!

But no, he had to take the stinking boat...

"Can't be no help to an invasion if I'm sick for two days after getting there..." He mumbled to himself before resisting his stomach's attempt to once more blow chunks out his mouth. "Urgghhh..."

He gazed to his right, where the desert land of the Anubians was in the distance, and he deftly reached a hand out toward it. "Land..." He groaned like he was dying. Even when near sick, his easy humor never failed.

He began to slip over the ledge wearily, before a hand caught his shoulder and heaved him back up to a standing position. Skip stared into the face of his sister, Jaklya.

Skip loved his sister more then anything, even more than the taste of blood and the thrill of battle. She was the only one who was like him, the only one who could understand how much he loved to fight.

"Heya Sista." He said in as cheery a way possible without throwing up, he instantly hovered his body over the edge again, his stomach groaning at him and churning something up.

Jaklya sighed and handed out a small cup to him, filled with sticky red liquid. "Here." her voice sounded deep for a female, her body was buff but had a definate female curve to it. Her tan short fur was ruffled in some places while smooth in others. Both of them were wearing the armor of Anubian Generals, made specially to fit their Aquari bodies. Compared to Skip, who liked to keep his fur straight and smooth and was more muscular looking being male, she looked almost harmless.

Skip knew that wasn't the case however, Jaklya was just as destructive as him once their time came.

Skip took the cup and sniffed it, his stomach instantly settling. "Blood Wine? What's the um...?" He couldn't think of any word to say, he was only taught in the arts of war, not words, and commonly sounded like a three year old. Jaklya was once the same before as well, expect she had self-taught herself to speak more fluently during her own free time, while Skip used his to go out killing things, usually little critters, just for the fun of it. He took a sip of the concoction, savering the taste of fresh blood going down his throat. He straightened himself, feeling much better.

"This always happens to you when we go on a boat. And I know that Blood Wine seems to be the only thing that keeps you steady. We need to be ready to go as soon as we get there. Wherever we're going." She looked out to the sea ahead, the Anubains still bustling around them to finish readying the ship for the voyage ahead.

"You don't know either?" Skip asked surprised.

"All I know that this one is really, really important to Visry. It's someplace called EarthEnd. I have no idea what the place really is..." Jaklya said and paused a moment before walking away, "Anyway, I've had the Anubians bring aboard enough Blood Wine to get you through the trip. Just take it as you need it Brother."

"Thanks Jakky!" Skip called her by his own given nickname as she vanished below decks. Skip recalled his time in the Areana while he took another sip of his wine. He had never had to fight four trolls before. Usually it was just two, once it had been three, but never four. Trolls weren't easy to take down either, even for him. They had come close to smashing him a few times back there. That and Visry had not stayed to watch the whole event, which kinda made Skip a bit nervous.

"I might just meet my match here..." He mused and watched his drink swirl around in the cup, "And it won't be Jakky...That will indeed be fun."

PyreFox and Cammy ran toward the gates where four Anubians quarded it. As they saw the two Foxens, one called out to them.

"Hey Commander!" he waved while saying, "What's going on in the camp? What's all the excitement about?"

It was then that the one next to him shouted while waving his pike at PyreFox and Cammy's direction, "Hey! That's the other Foxen that tried to escape with some civilians earlier today! What's the commader doing with her?"

Before anymore could be said, PyreFox and Cammy both lifted their hands while still running at them, one at each of the four Anibians. Pillers of flame shot forth from each palm, slamming against the Beasts and ramming them up against the stone walls of the city.

One screamed in pain while the flames engulfed him, searing his body. The other three had been knocked out on impact with the wall, but were all being similarly burned alive. The jets stopped as the two Foxens ran through the gates, letting the four Beasts slide back to the ground. The one still awake writhed and continued to scream in agony as PyreFox led Cammy along the wall of the city.

The Foxen reached the same lines of shrubs and bushes that he had used to leave earlier that day, and started to move away from the city with Cammy in tow behind him. As they went up the hill he heard a small voice whisper out to him in a bush.

"PyreFox?" A small Fangren boy pushed out of the bush and hugged the Foxen's legs. "You're back!" The boy stared around, then whimpered, "Where's Liki?"

"Blackpaw." PyreFox gasped, "I had completely forgotten about you." He took Blackpaw's black hand and began to pull the white furred Fangren up the hill with Cammy behind. "We've got to go!"

Blackpaw whined and pulled away, "No, not until Liki comes back."

"Listen," PyreFox sighed and rubbed his temples, "We don't have time to wait for him. I'm sorry Blackpaw but-"

"Let's wait for him PyreFox." Cammy said while she was kneeling down to rub the small wolf's chin.

Blackpaw whined and looked to the male Foxen again, "Liki said he would return, he promised, we can't just leave without him. You said his promise was a garentee too..."

Both Cammy and Blackpaw were giving him looks he couldn't resist, and the Foxen turned while throwing his hands in the air, "All right fine! We'll wait for him to catch up." He sat down on the ground to hide in the bushes while crossing his arms in mock anger. He knew they were right, and his mark wasn't burning, so there was no harm in staying here he supposed. Still, he liked to pout, it reminded him of his childhood, back when he wasn't trying to hold onto a fragile promise...

As the first Anubian made contact with the shadowy Liki, the Fangren vanished in a large poof of purple smoke, which dissipated into the air as more Anubians proceeded to pile onto the poor fellow in a continuing rushing tackle. There was a general air of confusion as they eventually realized that their target was not underneath them, and angry words as they tried to back off of eachother.

Once the last Anubian managed to stand back up, his shoulder now dislocated from the weight of the others having tackled on top of him, they mumurred to each other while staring at the spot Liki had stood earlier, a small wisp of that same purple smoke trailing up from the ground where he had stood. Dozens of questions and statements were made all at once.

"Where'd he go?"

"Is he a rogue or a mage?"

"Fighters don't use magic."

"Don't be stupid!"

Shouts of anger rose before the general roared and all fell silent. "Enough! Standing here arguing will get us nothing! Go on you numbskulls, find him! He has to be close if it's an illision!"

A voice called from the near edge of the group, frightened, "Sir! We have a squad down!"

Attention was turned toward that edge as the general pushed his large body through to find about five Anubians on the ground, throats cut open. The general looked around at the soldiers standing there, "Who saw this happen!?"

"No one saw it sir," A grunt asnwered meakly, "I turned around and there were just laying there, dead..."

"Sir!" A voice yelled, this time way on the entire opposite end of the scence "W-We have a-another squad down!"

All attention shifted once more to fine another four bodies laying on the ground, again noone knew or saw what happened, it was the same as before. As the general wondered what was happening another yell filled the air. This time the Anubian who owned the voice dropped his weapon and ran out into town. Gasps and frightened whispers sounded as yet another three bodies were seen next to the first five.

Suddenly the night didn't seem very calming, the eeriy silence of the air around the camp served to work up the nerves of the rest of the Beasts as they huddled together to stare out into the curcumverence surrounding them. The Genaral stood near the middle, using the hieght he had on the other soldiers to cast his gaze in circles. He continued to see dark figures move in the darkness beyond their group. Fear was slowly creeping it's way through his head from dark corners of his mind with the shape of a wolf in a shadowy form with blue glowing eyes. This Fangren was like an evil specter, slowly killing them off groups at a time. The only thing keeping him from being truly terrorfied was that he forced himself to conclude that this punk was trying to scare them. Perhaps this was all an illusion as well...

It was then that he heard a soldier behind him gag loudly, and he turned just in time to see that same soldier fall to the ground with blood pouring down his neck and a large plume of purple smoke dissapate in the air and vanish.

Panic took over the general and he broke away from the circle without another word. Seeing their general flee in terror broke the minds of the soldiers, who in turn fled in random directions, abondoning their weapons. The general fled through the camp, past the command tent and to another tent about half as big that was behind it. He opened the tent flaps and flung himself inside to the farthest corners from the entrance, cowering. His mind was truly overcome with fear now.

He yelped as a shadow wifted it's way across the cloth walls of the tent toward him, and he lept away and whimpered, finding himself in the middle of tent. The four candles that lit up his general's tent cast his own shadow to the four corners of the room. He stood, eyes wide and legs shaking.

"What's wrong big guy?" The general froze at the voice, that echoing, scary, demonic like voice, "I thought I was a runt. Didn't you say you could take care of me easily? What happened to the big guy earlier? All I see here is a little puppy."

The Anubian turned to where he heard the voice coming from, and shook his head at what he saw, "No...No...It can't be!"

His own shadow was staring at him with those blue eyes...those piercing blue eyes!

He spun to avoid the gaze, only to scream as he saw that the other shadow of him had the same eyes. Staring. Unblinking. He turned around in a circle, seeing that each of his four shadows in the four corners of his tent were staring at him with the same haunting stare.

"GO AWAY!!!" He hurled his claymore at one of the shadows, ripping the tent open, but the shadow, and the eyes, remained. Outside the tent through the hole, he saw nothing but absolute darkness. The world outside the tent no longer existed, there was nothing but pure enending darkness beyond the cloth. The candles in the tent were the only source of light.

To his absolute horror, the four dark forms in the corners of the tent pulled and slowly pried themselves off the cloth, gaining mass and becoming whole. Like zombies they took steps toward him, surrounding him. The Anubian general feel to his knees, eyes wild and sweat triklling down his face. Suddenly he realized that his body had changed, he was no longer in his armor. He had become a small Anubian child, his voice small and reduced to whimpers and cries.

He curled into a ball on the ground, trying to desperatly ignore his terror as any child would, whimpering pathitically and crying out in a small voice, "No! No! I don't want to die!"

"Don't worry little pup," That echoing voice told him soothingly yet still only fueled the fear, "You won't die, only be lost in a sea of darkness."

"No! Please!" His now high-pitch voice quivered as the light provided by the candles was blocked by the large shadows of his formor self hovering over him. He stared up at the four pairs of blue eyes that were using the shadows of his former body. "Please! Don't!"

The four creatures above him reached down with their large hands, drowning out more of the light with more of their darkness. As the hands touched his body he felt a chill run though his flesh and each hand covered a different part, covering over it like ink and chilling him slowly to the bone instead. He could only scream as the last hand covered his face and left him stranded in a sea of empty black...

Liki quivered and stopped his illusion on the Anubian general, glad he was done with his task. It wasn't fun to him, scaring the living hell out of others, but it was admittively effective. The general lay on the ground before him, still large and in his armor, but now quivering and mumbling things about 'the dark' and whimpering 'no more' like he was a puppy. His eyes were wide open, the pupils wide in fear, but he seemed oblivious to his surroundings. His mind was gone, broken. The terror had finally got to him and shattered his hold on reality. It had taken a small toll on Liki even in his Shadow form to do what he had done.

The him the Anubians had attempted to tackle earlier had also been an illusion, he had tapped all their minds and gave them the illusion that he was still standing there, while using his Shadow cloak to sneak to the very fringes of their circle. Tapping into all those conciouses at once was difficult, it was easier since they had wanted to believe he was there to begin with, though it was still pushing his limits.

It became easier after he had been able to releash that illusion and focus on his next step. While the Anubians had been busy trying to get off from atop each other in what he himself joked at the time could have been mistaken as an orgy, he took the lives of five soldiers on the edge of the group and then moved to the other side by moving around them.

As they discovered and examined the five bodies, he silenced four more then moved agian back over to the five as they noticed them next and took three more down. He was slowly culling the herd.

But it seemed that was all it took to scare them silly, as they gathered together and left no opening for Liki to make a move again. Liki had pondered what to do, until he realized the only one holding together their fragile courage was the general, who was standing in the middle. Liki could feel the fear that was creeping in the general's mind, and with that it wasn't hard to tap his mind and give him more illusions that fed on that fear. He caused the general to hear the gagging of a Anubian being killed right behind him, to see that said Anubian fall to the ground and see the plume of smoke that implied Liki had been there only to vanish the instant he looked. Even though it did not really happen it worked greatly on his imigination and nerves.

And so the general had fled in terror, causing the rest of the group to break down and run off in different directions. Liki followed the general in his Shadow cloak, entering the tent right behind the general while still tapping his mind. He proceeded to scare him to the breaking point with his illusions. It would be a long time before the Anubian would regain hold on reality, and even then, there would probably be long-term fits of fear and paranioa or some other phobia. Liki had now significantly ruined the rest of this Beasts life.

He sighed, his Shadow form falling away from his body like snake skin and falling apart to dissipate in the air. He rubbed the back of his head as he regarded the large quivering Beast on the ground before him.

"Hopefully your people will find some way to accomidate you." He said, "Sure you're doing bad stuff but still...better to break your mind then kill you in the end I suppose...You're just following orders too afterall..." He turned and left the tent, vanishing as he turned on his cloak again, leaving the Anubian to continue his mumblings.

Liki was truly troubled as he left the city unhindered any farther. Most of the Anubians were hiding somewhere right now he believed, and the guards of this particular gate were dead already, apparently burned and singed.

That was probably PyreFox and Cammy's doing he decided, and was once again reminded of PyreFox's attempted lesson earlier that day.

In doing what he percieved to be good, Liki had done a horrible evil in the process, ruining the life of another Beast.

It was for the sake of thousands of others but...did that make it right? Would it have been better to kill the Anubian general and put him out of his agony rather then feel bad and be merciful?

He heard a voice in his head as he moved across the walls, "Our Shadow is finally learning and growing up it seems." The voice reminded him of Uriay, but it had a distinct tone to it that sounded like himself as well.

Liki spun quickly to his left where he heard the voice coming from. There was nothing there but empty hills of grass. The wolf stood a moment, flicking his ears in confusion.

What, or who, was that?

The wind blew his gray fur for a few minutes as he stood still, but nothing else was heard or seen, so Liki turned his head, his green eyes giving a final glance to his left side before he started walking again.