Illian: Return

Story by Markus Snow on SoFurry

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#12 of Illian: A world born anew


Knowing he was just joking, she gave him a playful smile and replied "you know I would never hurt you on purpose Markus."

At this, he just laughed, turned around, and replied in an unusually cold voice "you never know, my little kitten, I may just end up being...malicious." After he was done, Markus just began heading towards their campsite to leave Kia to unravel what he had said. Even as he was leaving, Kia could see the black runes shining at their full malignant potential; Valecruiz was in control again. At this realization, Kia just shuddered and wondered 'how long does he have before this Augment eats him alive?' Quickly, she shook this thought out of her head, not wanting to worry about the future, especially with her current task of bringing the deer back and preparing them for supper.

****

While Markus had been out gathering wood, Valecruiz decided he needed to be free once more. While he could easily admit that the body he inhabited was stubborn as hell, he knew that within a short while, the Evizilan man would break, giving Valecruiz full access to his rich supply of magic. For the one flaw about Valecruiz, as well as everyone else of his kind was that even though they are born with the mastery of every single known magic on Ill, his species has no magic to fuel it. What Gree had in mind when he decided this, Valecruiz couldn't be sure, but he knew one thing, the god that had placed him in Markus's Augment knew that Valecruiz would fight for domination over the body. Subtlety, Valecruiz began making his way forward into the young Evizilan's soul, until finally, he had full control. The moment he had gained control, the young man realized what he had done and began thrashing about, hoping it would somehow give him control of his mind, as well as his body. But soon, both he and Valecruiz knew it wouldn't matter, and before long, he had no choice to submit. Now that he was in full control, the runes on Valecruiz's 'body' began to glow once again, but he didn't mind. At this stage in his takeover, Valecruiz couldn't use Markus's magic, but he didn't mind waiting, for the deep pool the young man had proved to be invaluable to the inhabiting soul. Knowing the young man's lover would grow suspicious if he returned without wood for a fire, he quickly used the Evizil's sharp wolf-like claws to tear apart a large tree. When he gathered all of the wood he knew he would need, Valecruiz returned to the campsite, dropped the wood off, and decided to check on the young feline that was his body's lover.

Valecruiz hopped from tree to tree until finally, he found Kia feet away from a small family of deer. With a mild hint of excitement, he watched as the young woman emotionally paralyzed the deer and began killing them off with her small throwing daggers. 'Markus my boy, you really have chosen a fine woman, I'll give you that' Valecruiz thought, knowing that Markus was waiting deep down inside his mind, searching for the moment to be free. When she had killed them all, Valecruiz just jumped down, cleared his throat, and used Markus's voice to say "I should remember not to piss you off."

Now he noticed the young girl shuffle a bit, showing that she was embarrassed that he had watched her kill the deer. With a smile she replied back "you know I would never hurt you on purpose Markus."

Suddenly, Valecruiz felt Markus pull on his mind, furiously looking for a way to gain control. Knowing he had to keep talking to the girl to avoid suspicion, Valecruiz just replied back "you never know, my little kitten, I may just end up being...malicious." Shocked, Valecruiz realized that not only did he use his own voice, but he had said something completely opposite from what he wanted Markus to say. Before the young girl could speak any longer, Valecruiz headed back to the campsite, all the while telling Markus 'damn you boy, when I gain full control of you body I will torment you for the rest of our joined existence.'

When he reached the campsite, Valecruiz took off his cloak, revealing the black runes in all of their mysterious glory. Underneath the cloak Markus was wearing a black vest, black expandable pants, matching Evizilan underwear, black gloves with holes where the finger go, and a Blood Oath pendant filled with his mother's blood. As he placed the cloak on the ground as his sleeping mat, Valecruiz looked at the outfit and wasn't sure whether to laugh or spit on Markus's body. Before he could decide, the young, stunning feline came back with the four deer that she had killed. Using Markus once again, Valecruiz looked at her and said with a tone of pity "did you want me to help you with those Kia? All you had to do was..."

Suddenly, her eyes flared with a heat that Valecruiz would have never expected out of her as she replied "silence you parasite! I don't know what you've done to Markus, but you'd better give him back to me or I'll bring you down myself. By the way, your cursed left eye doesn't really help hide when you take over."

At this, Valecruiz just laughed as he used his real voice to say to her "my word, it looks like someone is in a bad mood. Trust me, little kitten, Markus will be back, but not for long. With him, I can take my rightful place as the High King of Ill."

"First, this world hasn't been called Ill for over three hundred years, after the recreation, it was renamed Illian by the Ultimate Force himself. Two, why do you need Markus, you seem like you can take out almost anyone already."

"I need your precious wolf boy because his magic is invaluable to me for two reasons. One, his almost limitless amounts of magic stored in his magic pool can fuel every spell I know, including the Forbidden Three. Two, with his master of the two polar magics, I could become virtually unbeatable once I regain my true form."

"True form?"

"When the time comes my little kitten, you'll know, but for now, it looks like I have some pests to take care of." As he said this, Valecruiz formed a pentagon, creating the seal for a class 5 spell. In each hand, orbs of magic that looked darker than any shadow on Illian formed until finally, they reached their peak.

Knowing they were ready, Valecruiz launched both orbs into two separate trees and released a massive, revolting smile, all the while screaming "FURY OF THE VOID!!" When the orbs hit their mark, they suddenly expanded to massive sizes and exploded, causing two Malar Shadow Squad members to come falling down.

While Kia knew they were the enemy, she couldn't help herself from gasping in terror as she saw the bodies. In the places where the orbs had hit them, those parts of their body were completely gone. There were no tears, no bites, no bits of flesh hanging; it was almost as if the air itself had perfectly eaten away that part of the body. Terrified, she mumbled "wh...what did you...do...do to them?"

Knowing that he had filled the young girl with fear, he laughed as he replied "I showed them the true power the Void can bring."

"Bu...but you...you completely decimated...their bodies!!"

"I know, it's so fun seeing the looks on their faces, if they had any when the spell is finished, as they see parts of their bodies being devoured by the Void."

Out of nowhere, Markus decided now was the time to gain control. He thrashed around so violently and so surprisingly, Valecruiz had little time to hold onto his control. As the two fought for dominance, Valecruiz grabbed his head and shouted "boy, learn that sooner or later, your body will be mine, and when that day comes, I will use you to rule the world you hold so dear." As he made his point clear, Valecruiz felt Markus give a final thrash, causing Valecruiz to lose his control. As he sank deeper into the mind of the young Evizilan man, he couldn't help but smile as he thought about how much fun gaining control was going to be.

When he finally had control, Markus sank to the ground and began pounding on the dirt, hoping it would vent out his anger. "Damn it, damn it, damn it, how could I let myself be taken so easily? Kia...I'm sorry you had to go through that, he just came out of nowhe..."

Kia just came over to him, placed her paw over his mouth and said "shhh...I know you didn't mean to let him out. You're not alone Markus, you never are, just remember you have a mate and child-on-the-way who are standing by you."

Filled with an uncontrollable love for his feline wonder, Markus just hugged her and began passionately kissing her with pure affection. When he broke the kiss, he managed to get out between gasps "you have...no idea...how much...I love you."

With a lustrous smile, Kia began lifting her shirt as she said "I have a feeling I know just how much you love me, but if you want to prove me wrong, I'm all yours." Knowing she was speaking the truth, Markus quickly stood up, took off his vest, helped Kia out of her shirt, and whisked her away to the large cloak. When the two of them reached it, Markus let Kia down and began passionately kissing her once again as the two of them helped each other out of their clothing. When the two of them were nude, Markus gently grabbed Kia's arm and pulled her down onto the cloak.

Knowing the two of them would never be able to stand messing around; Markus pulled Kia all the way down with him and rolled the two of them so that they were facing each other. As the two stared at each other and once again began kissing, Markus asked Kia "you ready?"

Slowly, she replied "yeah, but this time, go Lycan, I want to see how strong you are when you're a big boy."

Realizing this was just a way to spice things up, Markus laughed as he took no effort in breaking the second guard. Once he was in his Lycan form, Markus gave Kia one last kiss before he quickly entered her hot sex. As both of them expected, Markus's Lycan manhood filled her sex much better than his lycanthrope form, but not to the point where it hurt. With her feeling of wholeness brought to a new level, Kia couldn't help but let out a mew of ecstasy. With each pulsing stroke, the two of them rocked on the cloak, releasing small traces of fluids every now and then. Yet, with their passion growing, the sex became ultimately a wild experience. Breaking out of their tradition, Markus began pumping much harder, yet oddly slower, allowing Kia to fully experience each stroke in all of its glory. Barely able to control her body with the amounts of pleasure she was feeling, Kia managed to bring herself farther down on Markus's manhood, as well as engage the Ecstasy Link for the first time in two months. As Markus began feeling Kia's wholeness, and Kia began experiencing Markus's strokes inside her sex, their lovemaking finally hit its highest point. Now filled by passion, Markus started giving his all by barraging the feline with hard, fast strokes. As her sex began burning with the pleasure her lover was giving her, Kia began shuddering as she hit her climax. Even when she had released all of her juices, Markus still continued to fill her until finally; he also hit his limits and began expelling his seed.

Even with that, the two of them knew they weren't finished, and so Markus turned Kia around, flipped on his back, and entered her comfortable ass. Now that she was facing the sky, Kia had to admit that this was a very different way for them to have sex, but with the pleasure it brought, she didn't mind. Like before, Markus started with slow, strong strokes, and as their sex progressed, he increased in speed and power. As Kia rocked in time with Markus, she couldn't help but feel as if her breasts were being unattended for, and now that the two shared minds, Markus felt the same way. As a way to fix this, Markus placed his hands on her large, magnificent orbs of delight and began lightly kneading them. Surprised at how well he was massaging her, Kia let out a large moan of pleasure. Finally, when she knew that this was too much, she clenched her ass muscles and mewed once again as she climaxed for a second time, this time at the exact same moment as Markus. Even through all of this, the two carried out three or more bouts of lovemaking until at last, the two were completely worn out. When they were finished, Kia slipped herself off of Markus and said "were did you learn to fuck like that?"

"Guess it's just one of those things that comes with age" Markus replied with a smile on his face.

"Markus...you realize your cloak is ruined now, right?"

Markus just looked down at all of the juices and seed that now littered the cloak and responded "yeah...looks like that barely lasted the trip."

At this, Kia just laughed and suddenly remembered the question she had wanted to ask Markus all night. To get it off of her chest, Kia finally asked Markus as she started putting her clothes back on "where are we heading to first exactly? You never told me."

Following suite, Markus began donning the rest of his clothing, all the while replying "let me pull out a map first, it will make it so much easier to explain." When he finished putting on his black underwear, pants, vest, and gloves; Markus went back to the cloak and pulled forth a large map from one of the unstained pockets. With the map in hand, Markus made his way towards Kia.

When he reached the feline, Markus knelt down, fully unrolled the map, and motioned Kia to kneel down beside him. As she did so, Markus began saying "as you can tell, it's a full map of Illian, I thought we could use it to track and record every spot we're going to hit on our search." Next, he pointed towards the Coppice Vale and began tracing his way through the large forest, until when he reached a massive opening where bold letters printed the name Terin (Tear-in). When his finger was on the bold letters, Markus continued on by saying "our first stop is the small town of Terin, the first place I came to when I had first turned into an Evizil."

A bit surprised, Kia replied "how long has it been since you were there?"

"Two years, so this is going to be quite a reunion."

Now knowing where they were headed, Kia got up, dusted herself off and said "then let's go; I want to get done with this quest as soon as we can."

At this, Markus just looked up at Kia and laughed, all the while saying "this isn't like a week long thing Kia, we could be gone for years." When he had gotten his point across, Markus rolled up the map, placed it in one of his pant leg pockets and put on his Blood Oath pendant.

Realizing Markus was telling the truth, Kia put on a large frown and replied "it had better not take too long, I want us to be able to enjoy a nice summer breeze in the country side before I lose you Markus." As she said this, Kia couldn't help but form tears in her eyes at the thought of the inevitable day when Markus would become a slave to the vile creature known as Valecruiz.

Fearing she might break down, Markus quickly got up, walked over to her, and held her in a strong embrace. When Markus had enfolded Kia in his arms, she buried her face in his warm white coat and said "please, please don't ever go Markus. In the five months we've been together I have never felt so happy in my entire life, and I honestly don't know how I can raise our child alone. Markus, I need you."

To calm Kia down, Markus began stroking her wonderful orange fur and replied "I'm going to fight this thing for as long as I can, I promise you. I will not allow this Augment to ruin your life like it is ruining mine; and I swear to the Ultimate Force himself that for as long as I am able to, I will raise our child with you."

Knowing he was putting his whole heart into what he said, Kia just brushed away her tears and began laughing, knowing that the future never looked so much brighter for her or her soon-to-be child. When she had finally calmed down, Markus picked her up, used his rage to turn into the Thrall form, and began bolting off into the woods. A bit worried, Kia said "shouldn't we clean up the campsite?"

Markus just looked down at her with his pure blue eyes and replied "enemies are coming; they probably picked up the large...scent we left behind. We have to go now or never, so I chose now." Realizing what he had said made sense; Kia just nodded in agreement and buried her head in his fur as the wind whipped past like tiny, invisible daggers.

****

Four hours later, Markus and Kia arrive at the small gate that separated Terin from the outside world. Like Markus had explained to Kia, it was a small village that was an assortment of houses, gardens, and one large inn named The Grinder's Home. The Grinder's Home was named just that because of how many lumbermen came through Terin on their way to other towns or villages as they built homes and such. Overall, Terin used the inn as their main way of money, and so far, it hadn't let them down. As Markus began returning to his lycanthrope form, he had gently removed Kia from his coat and placed her on the ground. When he was back in his lycanthrope form, Markus just smiled and said "we'll be staying in the inn for the night, is that ok?"

"Sure, just don't forget to ask around for any signs of the Trinity Prophet" Kia replied after returning a smile to Markus. With nothing more needed to be said, the two entered into town and opened the inn door. The inside of the inn was filled with clumsy drunken dwarves, equally hammered customers, barmaids and tavern wenches of every race and finally a lone bartender with his bar stand in the back.

When Markus noticed an open table, he just looked down at Kia, pointed to the table and said "I'm going to go to the open table over there, if you find any information, don't feel shy to come over, no matter what company I have with me."

Understanding, Kia just nodded and walked into the bar with a seductive strut, hoping that using her physical qualities might bring more information out of the drunks than gold would. At this, Markus just smiled and took his place at the table, and before long, two hooded figures took their places in chairs that were parallel to his own. Before Markus could greet him, the one of his left said "we hear you're looking for the Trinity Prophet."

Shocked at how fast people had found out, Markus just replied back "yes...that's true. How did you find out?"

Now the one of his right just said "we know because we were pissed off when you left without taking us with you." As the figure said this, they pulled down their hood, revealing the person underneath it; Eon. While Markus was surprised at this, he was doubly surprised when the second figure pulled down their hood, revealing Oz in all of his broodling might.

Overjoyed, yet confused, with the appearance of the two, Markus lightly hit his left hand on the table and said "well I'll be damned, how did you two find us?"

To this, Oz just touched the end of his dragon-like muzzle and said "never doubt the sense of smell a dragon has, it outranks yours by a long-shot Markus."

Knowing his old master was right, Markus just agreed with a nod. Before he could ask the two another question, Eon looked at him and blurted out "I've learned how to use a bow! The Evizil say I'm a natural at it, in the two weeks I've been using it, I've already learned how to split my own arrows!!" As he said this, Markus couldn't help but feel the sense of pride Eon let out and gave a small inward laugh as he remembered the first time Eon had told his parents that Markus had taught him to use a sword.

To show his support, Markus just shook his hand at his replied "good, this means that you can use that SecondSight of yours now doesn't it?" At this, Eon blushed a little as he realized what Markus had meant. Since he was born, Eon's silver eyes had given him the ability to use SecondSight, an ability normally taught to Mindbenders. SecondSight is a technique that makes the brain focus more of its concentration of the sense of sight, giving the eyes one of two abilities; the ability to see farther distances, or the ability to see into the body, down even to the very bone. While Eon has the ability to do both of these things, Eon tended to use his SecondSight to see farther distances, which had helped Markus, him and Jessica Wrymheart in many of their childhood pranks when it came to spotting adults.

When the two were finished shaking hands, Oz began loudly clearing his throat, signaling to Markus that the conversation had gone completely off of the intended track. To fix this, Oz bluntly told Markus "we're coming with you to find the Prophet."

Now deeply shocked, Markus began saying "no, this is a journey me and Kia..."

Oz let out a large, dragon-like snarl as he replied "Markus use your head for a moment. How do you plan on finding the Trinity Prophet when it's only the two of you searching? It will take you years just to reach the other end of Illian, much less make a full trip across the world."

Not knowing it was even possible, Markus was even more shocked than before. Finally, he gathered his bravado as he replied "how did you even know I was planning on making a full round trip of Illian? I only just thought of doing that on the way here."

At this, Oz just gave one of his large, draconic smiles as he said "I taught you everything you know, young man, so obviously I would figure out how you would find the most logical way to tackle this situation before you did."

Just as he was about to respond to his old teacher's comment, a gorgeous Evizilan barmaid strutted over to the table. The girl had a grey coat, moderately sized breasts, decent hips, and the cutest smile anyone had ever seen. Trying to follow routine, the girl looked at the four and said "what can I get you....Markus, is that you?!?"

Finally realizing who the barmaid was, Markus just laughed and said "Reign, it's been a long time."

Now knowing she had been right, Reign gave a squeal of delight and jumped at him, allowing herself to be caught by the young Evizilan man. When he had caught her, the two said in perfect harmony "just like old times" and laughed together."

Rudely breaking the moment, Oz stepped into the conversation by saying "I see you two know each other?"

Markus just smiled and said "the two of us had been best friends while I was here; she even tried to strip me of my virginity once or twice."

At this, Reign just playfully hit Markus and said "hey, it's not everyday the hottest piece of Evizilan ass stumbles into a small, forest based town like Terin you know."

Now, Markus just let out an even greater smile, but soon stopped as he saw Kia advancing towards the table. By the fiery look in her eyes, she was pissed to find another girl in his arms, so to fix this, Markus just let Reign down and said "Kia, it's not what it looks like."

Not changing the look on her face, Kia walked up to Markus, bent over to his left ear and whispered "I know you're smarter than to betray me for a tavern wench like her, right? Just remember, I can do things to you this C-cup hussy can't."

Knowing he had to set things right, Markus just quickly moved back and introduced Kia to Reign by saying "Kia, this is Reign, an old friend of mine from Terin. Reign, this is Kia, my future mate and the bearer of my child."

Uneasily, Kia shook Reign's hand and said "nice to meet you...Reign."

Just as uneasily, Reign replied back "likewise...Kia. It's good to see that Markus found a mate, I was afraid he was going to be single his whole life."

A bit shocked, both Kia and Markus said in perfect unison "what? Why?"

Now Reign just gave a small giggle and answered "Markus, you know as well as I do that everyone was intimidated by your ability to use the Thrall form at the mere age of 16."

At this, Kia just looked at Markus and said "you've been able to use the Thrall form for three years now?"

To show his embarrassment, Markus blushed as he replied "yeah...it was one of my...special qualities."

Reign just laughed as she said "special? The last Evizil to be able to use the Thrall form at that young of an age was Rethoran Valecruiz."

Unintentionally, Kia's eyes grew wide and she mumbled out "di...did you say...Valecruiz?"

Not understanding why Kia had freaked out, Reign just replied back "yeah, according to the old Evizil legends, he was the Evizil used to make the first Sinan, though no one but the Night Mother, the Ultimate Force, and Everin are sure."

Hoping to break the unnerving silence that had now grown between the five of them, Markus asked Reign "do you know anyone who might know something about a person claiming to be the Trinity Prophet?"

Reign thought for a moment and then said "sorry...no...but then again, we don't get much news around here, but I have heard a creepy old guy claiming he would save Illian has been spotted in the caves just south of Brimble, near the edge of the Great Scar."

With a hint of excitement, Markus stood up, hugged Reign and said "really? Oh thank you Reign. All right, Eon, Oz, Kia, we have our next destination; we're heading to the Great Scar."

As if his excitement has radiated to the others, the three followed suit by standing up, nodding and saying "right."

With all of the information they needed gathered, Markus couldn't wait to get moving again. As he looked at Kia, he could also tell that she wanted to start looking for this old man just as much as Markus did. Just to make sure, Markus asked her "do you want to leave tonight, or wait for tomorrow, Kia?"

In all seriousness, Kia looked into his left eye and said "we should leave tonight, but not by Thrall, it's getting late and I don't think any of us could stand an all-nighter trying to get to the Great Scar."

Realizing that her words rang true, Markus nodded in agreement and said "well then, Eon, Oz, if you really want to join us, then now's your chance." With that said Markus pushed his chair in and headed towards the inn door where he waited for Kia and the others to follow.

Just as he was about to leave with the others, Reign walked up to him, gave him a light, friendly hug and said "it was nice seeing you Markus."

Markus lightly returned the hug and said "you too Reign, maybe you can see the pup when this is all over."

"I look forward to it." As soon as she had said that, Reign turned around and headed back into the bustling tavern, resuming her job as a barmaid. Now that there was nothing more to be said, Markus just sighed and left the inn.

****

Just as the dawn light began ascending to its throne in the sky; Oz had left Markus and the others by their grassy campsite to talk with Cyn in a nearby field. As always, Cyn had beaten him to the meeting place, but with her wings much larger than his, he really couldn't complain. As he flew down besides his mate, Cyn bent down and gave him a large kiss, afterwards saying "good morning, my little Oz."

Oz just smiled and said "good morning, honey."

"Oz, sorry to get down and dirty, but I need to talk to you about your werewolf friend."

"You mean Markus, what about him?"

"Something isn't right about him, I don't know what, but I can sense it. I know you can as well, something is out of place with him, almost as if..."

"As if someone was inside of him, right?"

"Exactly, I knew you could feel it too. Look Oz, Obviously you noticed the runes of Relsinger on his face, arms and chest, and obviously they travel further down. Oz...I've seen runes like that before."

"What...where?"

"Long ago, I mean even before Ill was destroyed, a pack of Malar made a deal with Uru to gain unstoppable power. In the end, they were given the strength of an enchantment known as the Augment, a magic spell that wraps itself around the soul and increases the power and magic of the body tenfold. I feel that those runes on Markus's body are the same thing, an Augment."

"But...there is no way he would ever give himself up to the Races of Dark, no matter what. In my four years of being his master, I learned one important thing about Markus, he never, I mean never, like being controlled. No matter how hard I tried, I could never break him; so finally, I tried teaching him as a friend, not a teacher, and surprisingly it worked."

"Then the Augment was forced on him by another god. In either case, this Augment is far stronger than the ones those Malar used. The one Markus has increases his abilities a thousand fold."

"A....a thousand fold? You can't be serious Cyn, an enchantment that strong..."

"Would eat him alive, I know that, and sadly, I feel that's what it is doing to him. Oz, I don't just feel the Augment, something far worse than that Augment is using Markus as a harbinger."

"What do you mean Cyn?"

"I mean that whether he likes it or not, I believe Markus will unleash an evil the likes of which this world hasn't seen for over a thousand years."