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Phoenix Cycles
Night of the Daemon Werewolf
By: TigerClaw
Life is composed of cycles, several kinds of cycles in fact. People
go through cycles, cycling through different pleasures and emotions,
or cycling through history, repeating it. Some people try and be like
others, creating a small endless cycle of laughing at those that are
different, or won't conform. But through it all, life keeps on going
through cycling, each one the same, yet different in its own way. I'm
TigerClaw, just an 18 year old boy that ran across a phoenix, which
in turn ate and fused itself with me, to where we were transported to
a magical land where many things exist. From the dragons to the avians,
the humans to the crossbreeds, creatures of legends to creatures without
names, creatures of light, and creatures of dark, I've met several,
but through it all, I've learned that the cycle of life can be changed,
if one tries hard enough. These are my cycles, the Phoenix Cycles.
Last Time:
"Grandpa, he's dead!! It's all Dark Pheonix's fault! Only it could
do this!" With that, she ran at him and hugged his waist, head
buried in his chest, sobbing. Still not sure what to do, TigerClaw hugged
the child close to him, wrapping his wings around her. "I'll kill
Dark Pheonix, I'll kill it if it's the last thing I do!"
TigerClaw stared at the girl, then he asked in his mind, * Pheonix,
are we Dark Pheonix? *
{ I don't think so, but I really don't know. }
* So this girl swore to kill us? *
{ Yes, I'm afraid so }
TigerClaw looked up as the sun started to rise in the horizon. * Why
did I have to answer that message and go to school? Why? *
Now, two days later:
I leaned over the spring and drank the clean water, thinking. Phoenix
and I decided not to tell the young girl, Gemeny, that we were, well,
possessed by the spirit of Dark Phoenix. Dark Phoenix, the monstrous
being that destroyed Gemeny's home, her friends, her family. She had
told me the legend of the Dark Phoenix, yet she seemed so sad, as if
this legend used to be a story she enjoyed hearing, now turned into
a nightmare. I've been trying to cope with the fact that not only was
I fused with a kinky bird that had eaten me, and on top of that, transported
me to this land, but also had a monster living inside me. It was a tad
much to take in only a few days. But I felt I should watch over Gemeny,
after all, there might be a way to expel this Dark Phoenix from my new
body, and the like. So Gemeny joined us as we traveled, hoping to find
out how to kill Dark Phoenix, while I just wanted to find a way home,
or at least get these two phoenixs out of my body! But there another
reason Phoenix and I had Gemeny join us.
It turned out that Phoenix knew absolutely nothing about this world,
and we needed a guide. It turned out that Gemeny new a great deal about
magical creatures and the like, and we realized we'd be in serious trouble
without her knowledge. We started traveling north, towards another kingdom
that Gemeny said we should go to, mainly because we needed things to
survive. There was plenty of food in the cellar she had been in, but
we would need better supplies, and this kingdom Gemeny was leading us
to was the closest one to us. We had been making good time, I think
we were anyways. After all, I lived in a REAL city, with electricity
and everything, this land seemed stuck in the medieval times!! I wasn't
cut out for this kind of life.
As I gave an exasperated sigh, Gemeny glanced at me. Her green eyes
looking at me from behind her blond hair. She had seemed scared a bit
when Phoenix and I had transformed into, our, human form. I guess I
have to call it ours, because we're in the same body. She quickly pointed
out though, how funny I looked with feathers in my hair, but they seemed
to be a part of it, and hurt when she tugged them. I still owe her for
that. And after a while, she seemed to like Phoenix, though he never
mentioned eating people with her. Of course, I was the one telling what
he was saying, just in case. It seemed that no one could hear him but
me, unless he took control over our body, and he could only do THAT
in what he called our Hybrid Form.
We were walking upstream, hoping to find a place to camp out before
it got too dark. One nice thing about all this, though, was the fresh
air and water. And all the stars in the sky, it could almost make me
forget about all the things that had happened so far. Almost. { I'm
just saying, we could eat bad people, like that Katrina. SHE was a murderer,
and those two prison guards, I hate to say it, but they got what was
coming to them. We'd only eat people like them, people no one would
miss! } Phoenix persisted in my head. He seemed quite insistent on eating
people, and that bothered me. He had taken control over our body when
we became that Hybrid Form, and eaten Katrina, a captain that was going
to kill us.
* Phoenix, the answer is still...NO!!! Now stop bugging me about it!*
{ Just think about it, you've dreamed about that kind of thing for ages.
So now that you can bring those fantasies to life, why won't you? }
"Would you shut up already?" Gemeny looked up sharply at me,
confused. Sighing, I tapped against my head, "The bird won't shut
up, sorry." She looked away, but as she did, I think I caught sight
of a smile. She was coping pretty well with what happened to her, I
think. I don't know too much about kids, so, I'm not too sure how she's
holding out. Or how she should be holding out. Sheesh, I've been in
this land, what, four days? and already my life's too complicated! Why
did I have to answer that message and go to school?
{ Because you're a sucker for punishment? }
* What did I say about going through my thoughts?! I could have sworn
I told you NOT TO DO IT!!! *
{ Don't yell at me because you think loud, and stop complaining, I think
this is a good place to camp out. } I looked around, we were in a small
clearing.
"This is good, we can rest here," Gemeny said, as if she knew
what Phoenix had said, though of course THAT wasn't possible, me being
the only one who could hear the blasted bird.
{ I heard that! }
* If you don't keep out of my thoughts, that won't be the ONLY thing
you hear! * Phoenix just laughed in my head. "Great, of all the
phoenixs in the world, I get stuck with this one," I muttered under
my breath. I started preparing things to camp out. I did know how to
do that much, at least. It was a good thing it didn't look like it would
rain, because we didn't have a tent. Instead, we rolled our bedrolls
on the ground, and tried to go to sleep. We didn't have any means of
making a fire, so we went without one.
"Thank you for coming with me, TigerClaw," Gemeny said softly.
I sat up and looked at her questioningly. "I don't know why, but
I feel safer around you. It's nice of you to waste your time going with
me to Waynaru. Thank you."
I smiled, "Actually, we don't have much of a choice, Phoenix and
I, we're both...new around here, and need a guide to keep us out of
trouble. So let's call each other even, shall we? You guide us around,
and we protect you?" I asked. She looked at me and smiled.
"Yeah, sure! Together we can kill Dark Phoenix, right?"
"Right, but now, it's bed time, kiddo," I gave her a stern
look, and she giggled softly, turning over in her bedroll. Sighing softly,
I turned over and went to sleep.
Gemeny's POV
Gemeny turned over in her bedroll, thinking. TigerClaw had what her
Grandpa called a protective aura. He said people that are with people
who have protective aura's feel safer and more comfortable talking about
things and the like. Remembering her Grandpa, she almost broke out crying,
but she couldn't, she wouldn't, she would be strong. She'd have to be
strong to be able to destroy the Dark Phoenix. And the strong didn't
cry. The weak cried. So, biting her lower lip, she drifted off into
sleep, determined not to be weak.
She woke up to the sound of TigerClaw yelling a bit. Quickly, she sat
up, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and looked around. The full moon
was high up in the sky, illuminating the area. TigerClaw quickly stood
up, his face pale, and turned around, and around, as if he were looking
for something.
"What's wrong?" she asked, curious as to what was going on.
"Trouble, really BIG trouble, that's what!"
TigerClaw's POV
I woke up to Phoenix yelling loudly in my head. Giving a yell, I sat
up. * What the hell is wrong with YOU?! * I yelled at him.
{ There's something coming here, something very wrong } I quickly got
and looked around, nervous from the tone of Phoenix's 'voice'. He sounded
very worried, and if there was something coming that would make a phoenix,
well, ex-phoenix, worried, I better be careful.
"What's wrong?" Gemeny asked, causing me to jump. I had forgotten
about her.
"Trouble, really BIG trouble, that's what!" I could feel it
now, and Phoenix had made an understatement, whatever it was, it wasn't
very wrong, it was extremely wrong, and evil. "Quickly, let's get
up a tree, I don't like this!" There wasn't a sound anywhere, no
crickets, no owls, nothing. The moon gave us enough light to see by,
and we found a tree with a branch low enough we could climb up on. Well,
I could, but I had to lift Gemeny up to it so she could get up first.
Then I moved her to a higher branch that she could barely reach with
me holding her up, but I couldn't get any higher. Not that I would have
a chance, for it was then that something decided to enter the clearing.
Gemeny screamed, not that I could blame her.
It was a wolf, that was the closest thing to describe it. It stood on
two long legs, obviously made for speed and endurance, and had an extremely
muscular body. Its tail was bitten off at the end. Its extra long, muscular
arms reached down to its kneecaps, and it was bent over, so its fingers
were actually being dragged on the ground. And its hands were a lot
bigger than they should have been, and each of the thing's four fingers
ended with a sharp claw. Its head was that of a wolf, a really big,
mean, snarling, nasty one. Did I mention big? One ear was ripped off,
and there were scars running all across it's long snout, which was sniffing
around. Drool hung from its mouth. It was covered in black fur. Oh yeah,
even though I was standing up in a branch seven feet up...it was at
eye level with me. The damned thing was at least thirteen feet tall!!
It's eyes seemed to be glowing a blood red, and I got the feeling they
were looking at me as a chill ran down my back.
"A daemon werewolf," Gemeny said in terrified voice. A werewolf,
greeeeat, and whatever that daemon part was didn't sound too nice either.
I didn't get the chance to ask her anything, because at that moment,
the daemon decided to charge. The action took me by such surprise I
slipped and started falling backwards. I would have fallen to the ground
if something hadn't grabbed my leg, so as it was, I was just hanging
upside down, facing away from the werewolf, and that wasn't good. I
heard Gemeny scream above me, and when I looked all I could see was
the werewolf holding onto my leg with its mouth.
Giving a yell, I started kicking it with my other leg. That didn't last.
It quicky snapped its head forward as I kicked, and the next thing I
knew, both of my legs were in it mouth. "Oh no, I'm not going through
THIS again! LET ME GO!!!" The werewolf only growled, and swallowed,
bringing my feet into its throat, and my butt into its mouth. I could
feel drool and saliva soaking through my pants and boots, but there
wasn't really too much I could do about it, because then the werewolf
lifted its head up bringing me from being upside down looking up at
it, to being right side up looking down at it. Unfortunately, I was
now sliding down the monster's throat as gravity pulled at me. Quickly,
I put one hand on the werewolf's bottom jaw, and the other on its nose,
and shoved. Lot of good that did me, the werewolf swallowed again, and
my stomach was brought into its mouth. My legs were tightly pressed
together inside the throat as I disappeared further inside it.
I started pounding on the daemon's nose, hoping for some reason that
that might work, but of course, it didn't. The werewolf swallowed again
and brought my shoulders into its mouth! Its hot, moist breath surrounded
me as it breathed around me. Slowly, my head sunk past its front teeth,
and my back was resting against its tongue. I was forced to pull my
arms in the creatures mouth as the jaws started closing. And before
I knew it, I was trapped in the daemon werewolf's mouth, legs stuck
in its throat. The feathers that were in my hair were glowing, allowing
me to see the rotted teeth covered in saliva, and the pink tongue that
was tasting my back. Soon I was drenched in the thing's drool, making
me extremely slippery, and it was then it decided to swallow again.
As the tight, powerful muscle held onto me, the only part of me that
was free was my head, but that didn't last long as the werewolf swallowed
again. I was now completely trapped in the throat, and heading down.
Soon I was emptied into the creature's gut, sliding around the slick,
slime covered walls. I couldn't breathe, but I could feel the werewolf
moving around, and then there was a muffled scream. The werewolf was
going after Gemeny! Not knowing what else to do, I began concentrating
on the Hybrid Form, hoping to fill this monster up enough to give Gemeny
a chance to escape. After a bit, there was a cracking sound as the werewolf
did something to the tree. And just as I felt the effects of the transformation
starting, I passed out from lack of air.
Gemeny's POV
Gemeny stared at the daemon werewolf as it swallowed her friend. Screaming
she tried to climb higher up the tree, but she couldn't get anywhere.
Glancing down, she saw the monster looking up at her, and move closer
to the tree. She screamed again as it calmly pushed the tree over. As
she hit the ground, pain lanced through her left arm. Tears streaming
down her face, she turned around to see the approaching danger. The
daemon werewolf stood only a couple feet away, towering over her, drool
dripping down from its jaws as it belched.
The werewolf reached down for her, then stopped, staring at its stomach.
Gemeny looked in time to see it swell a bit. The werewolf put a clawed
hand over it, like it was having a stomach ache. After a moment, the
monster looked at her again, rather angrily. It lifted one arm and swung
it down at her. Gemeny closed her eyes and screamed, waiting for the
blow to come and kill her, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes
and looked. There was TigerClaw as she first met him, holding the clawed
hand up.
He glanced down at her, < Ya miss me? Good, now RUN! > Gemeny
didn't argue, she got up, trying to ignore the pain in her arm, and
ran. < Yeah, it's me again, hope you saved room for seconds, ugly!
> That was all Gemeny heard, as she ran into the darkness.
TigerClaw's POV
I opened my eyes in time to see the flames around me die out. Quickly
standing, I looked around, realizing I was in our Hybrid Form. * What
happened?! *
{ We, we were reborn! It seems that we have some phoenix powers, I had
thought they were lost! }
* Great, where's Gemeny? * Running quickly, I came into the clearing
where we had made camp in time to see the daemon werewolf raise its
hand to crush Gemeny. Rushing over, I caught the hand as it came down.
I looked down at Gemeny, < Ya miss me? Good, now RUN! > I yelled,
not even bothering to wait for her to answer. I turned back to the werewolf
as the girl got up and ran. The werewolf was staring at me in shock,
like it couldn't believe I was back, < Yeah, it's me again, hope
you saved room for seconds, ugly! > I taunted as I shoved the hand
back. Strange, I'm much stronger now, must be another perk for being
in this Hybrid Form. * Phoenix, you concentrate on seeing if this Form
of yours has any other tricks hidden in it, I'll keep the puppy busy.
* Phoenix sent me a wave of agreement, and set to work.
Now all I had to do was stay alive. I tried to keep my gaze from looking
at its rounded gut, feeling a little disturbed that, well, I was still
in there...sort of. I jumped back as claws slashed at me, eager to rip
me limb from limb. < Gotta do better than that, hairy! > I ducked
in and gave a hard kick to its leg. It felt like kicking a brick wall,
but from the way the werewolf roared afterwards, I'd say I hurt it a
bit. Then it was time to dodge as it tried to grab me. Twisting at the
last second, I avoided the hands again, and I was starting to get confident,
and that's were things started falling apart.
I had forgotten the werewolf had teeth, and it used them to bite into
my shoulder, lifting me into the air. I opened my mouth to scream, but
all that came out was a bird's cry. That seemed to startle the werewolf
a bit, and it let go. I landed on my feet, and jumped back to a moderately
safe distance. My arm was healing, but it was also leaving me tired
a bit. I took the moment to catch my breath, and take stock of some
new information. In this form, I was telepathic, but if I tried to use
my mouth to even scream, only bird calls came out...great. And my healing
power tires me out, why did this body have so many balances? For one
good thing, there's a bad thing. It was then that Phoenix gave me his
report. { Alright, I believe I know how to use our powers, but they're
not very nice. }
* We don't want to be nice, we want to get rid of this thing so it won't
hurt anyone! *
{ Then shall we? } I grinned, feeling more what he was talking about,
than knowing.
< Lets dance > I let my control lessen a bit, and Phoenix took
what I dropped. In a matter of a second, both of us were in control
of the body, minds acting as one.
The daemon werewolf roared and we hissed back at it, and attacked. We
half charged, half flew and rammed its swollen gut. The werewolf reared
backwards, caught off guard as we pressed the attack. Jumping down in
front of it, we flapped our wings as we jumped up, swinging our fist
up in an uppercut, hitting the monster in the jaws. Drool flew everywhere
as the head snapped back. As we landed, we gave a quick kick down south.
The roar that followed was by far the loudest. We jumped back to avoid
the claws as the werewolf swung at us.
VILLAGE
In a nearby village, a tavern was getting ready to close up when a howl
broke through the night. The keeper of the tavern opened the door and
looked outside, and saw many other people looking out of their homes.
The howl had come from the daemon werewolf, which had been terrorizing
them for months. People started coming out of their houses, wondering
what was going on. The howl had been one of pain, and the hunters they
had hired had refused to start working until morning. As they stared
at the direction the howl came from, a form came out of the shadows
of the forest. It was a little girl.
"You have to help him, it's a daemon werewolf! He's fighting it
alone, you have to help!"
TigerClaw's POV
Our fight had taken us to the stream. The werewolf was on one side,
we were on the other. As the werewolf jumped at us, we quickly folded
our wings in front of us. Opening them quickly as we made a pushing
motion with our hands, a wall of fire appeared in front of us, and right
in the path of the werewolf. It wasn't able to move out of the way,
and crashed right into the shield where it hung there, fire burning
at it. The smell of burning hair and flesh met us, but we kept pushing,
keeping the wall there as we brought our wings back. Sweat trickled
down our face as we held the wolf in the air and prepared a direct attack,
hoping we'd be able to pull this one off. Giving one last shove, we
let the shield drop and whipped our wings forward, sending a torrent
of fire from them. We weren't able to keep that up very long and the
flames died out. We stood there, gasping for air, covered in sweat.
The werewolf was lying in the stream and wasn't moving, so we carefully
walked up to it.
The werewolf's arm suddenly rose and slashed our face as it got up once
more. Part of its claws caught on the mask that covered the top half
of our face, and pulled it free, and there was chaos as strength flooded
our body. Energy coursed through us so fast it sounded like we were
in a hurricane, it felt like we were on fire. We barely had mind enough
to try and gather some of the energy and direct it at the werewolf,
and then it was silent, and we collapsed, the energy leaving as quickly
as it had come.
Gemeny's POV
The villagers were organizing a search party while her arm was being
looked at. It had gotten quiet since the explosion sounded off from
the forest. People were running around without talking, all trying to
prepare to look for TigerClaw when someone gave a yell. Villagers stopped
what they were doing and stared. Gemeny got up and when she saw what
they were looking at, she felt tears of start swelling up. TigerClaw
was walking out of the woods, and he was dragging something behind him.
He was in his human form. Her face went from happiness to horror when
she saw all the wounds on him. His shirt was nearly gone, and there
were slashes all over him. He was staggering towards them and looked
as if he were about to collapse. As he entered the village area, he
looked around, "Anyone want a werewolf head?" And with that
he collapsed, out cold. She quickly ran over to him, trying to ignore
the sharp pain in her arm, and saw that he was still breathing. The
villagers looked from her, to him, to the disembodied head of the daemon
werewolf, unsure as to what was going on.
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