04-29-2020, 11:33 PM
GHAUL
i can take you there, but baby, you won't make it back
Ghaul has never stopped to wonder why he is so different from his father – a pale, handsome lion with a soft smile. Nor is he at all like his mother. Instead, some dark thread of magic twisted him cruelly into the monstrosity that he is today. This has been his shape since before he drew his first breaths, though, and he does not care enough to dwell on why anyone looks any kind of way. He is Ghaul, devourer of empires, and she is Lepis, executioner of Loess. It is for him to accept and do nothing else.
His mind revolves entirely around her vengeance, however, and he watches her wings dare to match his own. The gesture brings a smile to his face that he does not mind to bear. The meek and the cowardly disgust him and inspire his wrath, but the brave ones like her bring a warmth to his heart. In short, he thinks it is a joy to carry on conversations with her. He reserves his compliments for perhaps another day when she speaks, though.
The smile across his face dims with the corners remaining curled upward as he listens. There is no greater judge of the weak than one who has clawed his way up from weakness himself. A harsh winter had sought to end him the moment he slipped into the blood-drenched snow and yet he prevailed by the virtue of his own fire. But. But, she makes an offer, and he issues a quick series of clicks as he considers her words carefully. Loess would yield to him in the only way that mattered, it seemed. The clicking ceases and he gives a slow nod.
“I will spare that which has already burned. Tephra, the Isle, and much of Nerine will not be subject to my wrath,” he explains carefully, laying out his plan for the first time aloud. “You may take refuge there or in the East, which I will also leave untouched. My homeland does not suit the weak, and that which does find its way there is torn out, root and stem.”
And then his smile fades as his thoughts drift to his end of the bargain. His wings reach their full extent as his tail whips back and forth anxiously. Ghaul wonders what sort of prey would drive a lover to turn on her partner and take up a crown just to snuff out their life.
“Rebelle will finish out her sentence in Pangea and be returned to Loess. After, we will begin an armistice until both of our needs are satisfied,” he muses aloud, pausing briefly in case she objects. “Now tell me, who is that you desire to punish? Should I hunt them down now or wait for your signal?”
His mind revolves entirely around her vengeance, however, and he watches her wings dare to match his own. The gesture brings a smile to his face that he does not mind to bear. The meek and the cowardly disgust him and inspire his wrath, but the brave ones like her bring a warmth to his heart. In short, he thinks it is a joy to carry on conversations with her. He reserves his compliments for perhaps another day when she speaks, though.
The smile across his face dims with the corners remaining curled upward as he listens. There is no greater judge of the weak than one who has clawed his way up from weakness himself. A harsh winter had sought to end him the moment he slipped into the blood-drenched snow and yet he prevailed by the virtue of his own fire. But. But, she makes an offer, and he issues a quick series of clicks as he considers her words carefully. Loess would yield to him in the only way that mattered, it seemed. The clicking ceases and he gives a slow nod.
“I will spare that which has already burned. Tephra, the Isle, and much of Nerine will not be subject to my wrath,” he explains carefully, laying out his plan for the first time aloud. “You may take refuge there or in the East, which I will also leave untouched. My homeland does not suit the weak, and that which does find its way there is torn out, root and stem.”
And then his smile fades as his thoughts drift to his end of the bargain. His wings reach their full extent as his tail whips back and forth anxiously. Ghaul wonders what sort of prey would drive a lover to turn on her partner and take up a crown just to snuff out their life.
“Rebelle will finish out her sentence in Pangea and be returned to Loess. After, we will begin an armistice until both of our needs are satisfied,” he muses aloud, pausing briefly in case she objects. “Now tell me, who is that you desire to punish? Should I hunt them down now or wait for your signal?”