FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Lykos Redemption

\\\** \\\\Act IV/////**

Ch 3: Krieg kommt schnell

Coulter DarkClaw

Melaeneus looked upon Athens with a detached air. They'd been living apart for much of their lives and today was no different. In the city, the bakers would be up prepping their ovens; the cobblers would be up sorting their leather. The night guard going to sleep and the day shift starting their duties. Life went on for them. They had no idea the drama about to occur. What treachery and horrors were about to be committed mere milia* away from their precious city. Yet here Melaeneus was sitting on the outcropping upon which they had built their small home. He knew full well what was coming for him and his brothers and he just couldn't think of anything short of bribing the Fates that would change the deaths he'd see today.

"Love, it is nothing of which you need to be ashamed. We are all afraid of what is to come. War is never easy to face. Remember courage is not the lack of fear, my love. It is the embracing thereof. Do not despair, though. We are here beside you. All of your brothers and their families will gladly aid you in this fight." Melaeneus' mate, Agape, said from behind. She was right, of course.

Mel stood up and faced his love, who was accompanied by their eighteen month old son, now able to stand on his own. Though controlling his form appeared to be a problem. He looked rather adorable in his pup form. "Agape, you truly are the love of my life. I want you to know that no matter what happens, I will always love you. You are my rock. You and Aegeus are what I live for." He approached his mate and kissed her lips in a tender, loving, chaste manner.

She smiled ruefully. She knew as well as he that this may well be his last among the world of men. Thanatos would claim him at some point on this day. "And you are the same to me, my alpha. I will love you for eternity."

"And I you."

***

Nyktimus looked at Apollo and Apollo at him in return. Their silence was neither awkward nor angry. It was peaceful and happy. Neither he nor Apollo wished to break the silence. They were happy speaking to each other with their eyes. And their eyes said it all. In that tender moment the love that they held for each other was so potently obvious that Eros had to chuckle. He hadn't expected how close these two would become when his arrows pierced their hearts. Yet here they were expressing their love for each other in a way only two people who knew each other on such an intimate level could do.

"Eros, we would appreciate it if you would leave us alone." Apollo said.

Nyctimus turned and beheld the god of lust. "Have you been there the whole time?"

"Yes, my boy. I have been."

"Leave us be, would you." Apollo ordered and gave the god a glare that would melt stone.

Eros chuckled but obeyed. He left the two lovers in peace understanding very much so that this could be their last night on earth together.

Nyctimus sighed. He kissed his lover deeply. "I love you, my sweet, sweet darling. You are my whole world."

"And I you, my darling. Are you scared? Have you any fear?"

"I have you at my side and my brothers at my back. Tartarus, himself could not scare me on this day." Nyk replied before giving Apollo a quick peck upon his lips. He smiled briefly before getting up and grabbing his turquoise himation*. His staff lay next to his baxae** and both had previously been lying next to the turquoise rectangle of cloth.

As he dressed himself Apollo looked out across the vast city of Athens. He knew what was coming. He knew what needed to be done, yet still he, a god of Olympus, was afraid. He was afraid of losing the man that he'd fallen head-over-heals in love with, he was afraid of losing his loved ones. Yet he was most afraid of dying himself. He was technically mortal now. It wouldn't take much to kill him. He sighed when Nyk's hand appeared in his view. He grasped it and stood himself up and donned his own clothing. "I really would hate to see this city of my sister razed to the ground."

"Then we will have to ensure that that doesn't happen." Nyk smiled at the former god lightly, hugging him and then leading him back to the house.

***

Demeas watched as the life drained from the eyes of a city guard. He'd done nothing but surprise the wolf and Demeas lashed out. With him in his wolf form, the man's life stood no chance against Demeas' claws. He gave a gruff grunt before devouring the human as though it was nothing more than a pot roast. Others from the pack began to join in and before long there weren't even bones to show that a man had died in this place of carnage.

When the meal was done, Demeas' wolf let loose a low, guttural howl that reverberated throughout the city of Athena. His wolves started to run throughout the city, trying to find and kill the wolves who their human halves thought had cursed them to become these monstrosities. When they smelled a dog, they went after it with a hunger belonging to demons not beasts.

They found only the four-legged friends of the city-folk. Not a single lycan was to be found in the city on that evening. As the dark wolves spread out each following trails which sent them into the wilds around the city, Demeas scented Nyctimus on the air. He was close. He growled; Apollo always seemed to be joined at the hip with the man who had started these events--in the crazed wolf's mind--and it drove the person inside the wolf mad with anger. This only egged on the wolf and he dashed off through the city, toward the wilds in the direction of his youngest brother's scent.

***

"Are you ready, brother? Another battle yet comes. We must prepare." Melaeneus asked the Shepherd who knelt upon his knees, his Crook in front of him and his head bowed--as if in prayer.

When Nyctimus looked up to his eldest brother he wondered at the shock upon the wolf's face. He knew for what the shock was. On Nyctimus' brow glowing in bright turquoise light was the sigil Nyctimus had wrought on his forehead when they had first set upon this journey, a new moon over a stormy see. However, now there was more to it. Atop the moon glowed yellow a regal eagle--the symbol of Zeus. Below the waves glowed blue the head of Poseidon's Trident. Under the trident, black as night stood a Greek Omega--the symbol of Hades. The three sons of Kronos had given him their blessing. His sigil wrought on his forehead with the magic of Hecate and as Mel took notice of Apollo, one could assume that it had been drawn by the demigod whom Nyk called his lover. The gods were on their side in this battle. They could not lose. "Yes, brother. I know this well. Indeed I am ready. Yet, know now the ceremony must be done to Apollo. Ready our brothers for battle and we shall be ready ourselves."

As Melaeneus conceded and left, Nyctimus turned and grabbed the waterskin he had that had been filled with the blood of each of the wolves of Melaeneus' pack. He poured it into a mortar and grabbed of the soil on the ground next to him. Adding that to the mortar he grabbed the pestle and began:

"I anoint this one with the solar eclipse.

He who is the sun, yet presides over the creatures of night.

He who walked with the sun now stands side by side with the creatures of the night.

In this the truth behind the eclipse comes forth:

One who comes from or falls from greatness in order to serve those whom he loves--

He deserves the symbol of the eclipse."

Apollo knelt before his husband. Nyctimus dipped his finger in the bloody goop and then drew a circle in the middle of Apollo's forehead and filled it in. Then concentrically drew another circle, before he drew eight s-shaped curves radially outward from the filled in circle.

As the last line touched the filled in circle. The larger circle and the s-shaped lines glowed a bright white. The filled in circle glowed the pale blue that was associated with Artemis--goddess of the hunt and of the moon. An image of an eagle appeared, glowing brightly yellow above the eclipse. Poseidon's trident, Ares' arrowhead, Poseidon's trident, and Eros' pierced heart appeared as well. Lightning and Sky. War. Romantic Love. The Sea. The Sun. The Moon. The gods' divine light emanated strongly from the sigils etched in wolf's blood upon their foreheads. They did not go into battle alone.

It was not solely they against the demons of Tartarus. Nor was it solely they and their brothers. It was the gods, the wolves, the shepherds of the pack. These were who strode through the forest to confront Demeas' demons. These, the ones who wouldn't correct the course their life had taken, were the ones whom they confronted. It left Nyctimus an ominous feeling in the depths of his gut. "Let today's battle end in our victory!" He said in quiet whispers to his love. Then he disappeared into the trees.

***

The lupines in the forest ran full-force toward the scent their alpha had captured. They craved, no, needed to taste his blood on their pallets. That overriding need meant they had lost track of the other scents of the forest. Their blood lust blinded them to the other scents which would have otherwise grabbed their attention. The other wolves hiding in the shadows, the keepers of the pack in the trees, the other wildlife quickly retreating from their advance would all have been quite obvious had they not been in such a rush to taste human flesh.

It was this blindness that would ultimately be their undoing. Nyctimus knew that as he watched them approach the large barrier at ungodly speeds. He noticed that none of them flinched at the sight of the glaringly bright white barrier. Nor did he flinch as the first wave hit the barrier with a sickening crunch.

The bloodlust was no surprise to Nyctimus, who knew that these creatures were more demon than beast. They vied solely for two things. One was attested to by the blood soaked fur. Violence. They loved it. The other was obvious by the jet black, mutated, canine shafts that hung low between their legs. It was obvious to Nyctimus then, that in this form these creatures had been so far debased by Zeus as to not even come close to being an animal. He gagged in revulsion at what his brothers had become.

He recovered quickly and whistled. An escalating three-tone scale. Their signal. What these lupines had failed to see on their way in to rip Nyctimus to shreds was that awaiting them in the clearing was Apollo, alongside many of Nyk's brothers, who were themselves in their transformed state. Apollo called his barrier into existence and together Nyctimus and Apollo wrapped an ethereal prison around the mostly knocked out dire wolves and Nyk's compatriotic brothers.

Nyk forced himself to watch as his wolven kin excised the source of life from the corporeal forms of their counterparts. The sight was filled with gore. One by one the werewolves moved from one motionless body to the next and punched them through their rib cage and manually grabbed their heart before tugging it out of the chest cavity and clawing at the vessels baring the creatures' blood.

Nyk and Apollo dropped the barrier as the last Direwolf was extinguished. They nodded as Thanatos approached the bodies, preparing to bring the fallen's souls to the justices of Hades. Though that was unnecessary. Hades had made it plain where the souls of Lycaon's children would end up. Before Thanatos was finished with his duties had Nyctimus and his company vacated the space. They prepared to fight their demons head on and win.

***

Demeas' wolf watched keenly from the shadows. He watched where Nyk's crew headed. He looked on with a murderous grin as he followed the scent trail that lead him to his ultimate goal. He'd been lusting after this moment from the second he tore out of his human cocoon.

He slunk after them with barely a sound awaiting his chance. He knew that among the group he followed was the rival. The one who challenged him. He would have his rival's throat before the night was through. That was a promise that his human side shouted from where it watched behind his eyes.

He snuck behind them for what seemed to be hours before the next clearing. Here he would take his place on top. Here he would extinguish the one whom he so greatly despised. He growled low. A challenge. The lycans heard it clearly. They all turned to see the biggest of the Dire wolves before them all. They charged. All of them made to kill the giant beast. He swung. They flew. He moved forward. Finally he was before his rival. With a crowd surrounding them, Demeas howled triumphantly at the sky as he swiped his rival's head clean from its shoulders.

***

The keening howl that erupted from the depths of the wilds surrounding Athens could be heard for miles and miles. Nyctimus let out his own shout of despair as he watched as this giant Dire wolf performed a crude cephalectomy on his eldest brother. The head flew to the ground in front of Nyctimus' form as he fell to his knees. Melaeneus' body fell forward, spurting blood all over the Dire's feet. With tears pouring from his eyes, Nyctimus yelled louder than even he knew was possible, "STOP!!!!" before slamming the crook he held in his hands upon the ground.

All motion stopped around him. He rushed forward and plunged Akonito into his second-eldest brothers chest. And he did so again. And again. And again. He fell to his knees, bawling as he realized that his beloved brother had been killed by the conniving son of a bitch he had just stabbed. He couldn't quite make sense of all the emotion welling up inside him. Though he knew most of it was grief.

Then something touched his shoulder. Gently. And his bawling became wails of grief. Then the ground fell beneath him and he was in a strong embrace. The wails became bawling became weeping. Soon, the tears had been exhausted and time renewed its pace.

With a heavy thud Demeas' wolven form fell behind the two lovers. They stood and embraced for another moment before Phineas came forth. "Brother, Shepherd, We need to move. Mel...Melaeneus is gone. We have got to move."

"Aye. We shall. Come then." Apollo replied for them both.

The pack picked up their leaders body and soon enough they were heading back toward the plateau upon which they had made their home. So it was that the war between Claw and Fang began in earnest.

///////////////END ACT IV\\\