Callum x Rayla-Darkness

Discoveries

Callum and Rayla had reached the newest town on their long list of stops. They were asking around to see if there had been any dark magic incidents that had happened in the area. They were hoping to get a lead on where Viren might be holed up. All they got were rumors though. They kept traveling north and found the mountain town in the human kingdoms. "So do you want to go and get some food for yourself?" Callum asked Rayla. She wanted to answer no but her stomach growled in defiance. They had both run out of food yesterday and needed to resupply. Callum took out a pouch filled with coins. "Go get something for yourself and meet me back at the inn over there," Callum said.

"What are you going to do?" she asked him.

"I need food too, and unfortunately, there is only one way to get it. Don't come and find me unless you want to see something you can't unsee," he answered. He looked down. He was still ashamed of himself. Yes, it was necessary for his survival, but that didn't lessen the guilt. Her instincts were telling her that it was wrong for him to do this, but she also knew that Callum had to do this to live. It was like humans eating cows or pigs. But, Callum had been human and he knew what it was like to be one. This weighed on him. Rayla tried to understand it, but she knew she would never fully get it.

"Yeah, okay," she said as she took the coins. He walked off.

He went down and found the part of the town that was more run down than the rest. The more run down areas of cities and towns had more criminals and Callum had long ago decided that he would never kill an innocent person for food if he could avoid it. It wasn't that he was fond of killing the guilty either. He just saw it as the lesser of two evils. He scanned the alleys that he walked past for any thing out of order. He found nothing. He decided to go up on the roofs and get a closer look. He climbed up and began walked across the several buildings in the area. Eventually, his hearing picked up screaming not to far from his position. He turned on his heels and ran towards it. It was several blocks away but he found a woman in the alley trying to fight off an attacker. He had a knife and was either trying to rob her, or something worse. The guy knocked her out just then. "Perfect," he thought. Now there would be no witnesses. He jumped down and made his presence known to the man.

"Hey kid, unless you got a death wish, I'd suggest you move along," the man said. Callum said nothing in response. He only walked forward towards him with a blank expression on his face. "Your funeral kid," he said as he ran towards him and stabbed at his face. The blade hit Callum's forehead and bent on impact. Normal steel and iron couldn't cut him. He only felt mild discomfort. The man backed up in surprise. Callum decided to finish this. He wasn't one to play with his food. He brought out his kagnue and slit the mans throat with one of his tentacles. He died instantly. The woman was still unconscious which was good. Callum quickly brought her out of the alley before she woke up and returned to his kill. He stabbed his hand through his gut and pulled it out. It licked the blood of of his hand. It didn't have the best taste in the world but it was okay. He wasn't a dark magic user at least. Callum brought out the enchanted bag and began cutting the body up and filling it. He at some of the pieces too. He was hungry. Just then he heard someone coming around the corner.

"Hey Callum, I know you said to not go looking for you, but it's been over 2 hours and I got-," she paused at the sight before her. Callum's chin was bloody and his eyes were black again. He was sitting there with a bag and a dismembered body. Callum continued to work, but he looked down again.

"Sorry," he said, "I'll finish up quickly."

"No, don't apologize." The sight made her want to puke, but she held her stomach. "I admit it, I'm not used to seeing a person have to do something like this, but I know that deep down inside, you are still the same person. Being a ghoul hasn't changed that. If it means anything, I won't run away because of it," she said. Callum paused for a moment. He closed the bag and got up. He threw a tarp over the remains.

"Thank you Rayla. That means more than you know," Callum said. Rayla hugged him.

"Hey, I got good news," she began, "the innkepper told me about the dark mages. Apparentely, one got drunk and mentioned their hideout. Nobody was sober enough to remember it, but he did. He thought that it was just made up nonsense but he told me anyway. It's further west in these mountains. Might be worth looking into," she finished. Callum nodded.

"Yeah, we'll go check that out after we get some sleep. We need to be at our best if this really is their base," Callum said. Rayla's sore muscles agreed with him. They had been traveling nonstop for about 2 weeks now. They went to the room at the inn that Rayla had bought them for the night. Callum set his stuff down on one of the beds and lied down. Rayla sat on the other one. She then decided to get up and join him in his bed.

"Move over," she commanded. Callum obliged and moved to make room for her. The beds were made for only one person, so they had to be really close for them to both fit. Rayla usually slept in her armor, but the inn allowed her to sleep without the uncomfortable apparatus. He thought it was nice that she got to relax. Rayla snuggled up to him. "Goodnight Callum," she kissed him. It was soft, yet it still warmed his cheeks. After all this time, she still made him feel like this. He didn't ever want to not feel like this. It felt, comfortable.

...

Viren paced around the room with Aaravos and Claudia sat at a table. "Are the soldiers ready?" Aaravos asked.

"Yes, all of them are prepared to move on your command," Viren responded.

"Good, we are leaving immediately," Aaravos said. "We have to act fast." Viren left the room and gathered his things. Ge got a box of stuff he needed for spells and walked down the hall of the base. On the way, he ran into one of the lower rank casters. And he dropped the box.

"I'm terribly sorry sir, let me help you with that," the man said in fear. Viren was agitated. The man finished cleaning up the mess and Viren took the box.

"Consider yourslef lucky that I am in a generous mood today," Viren said. The recruit paled and walked away. Viren took the box and went about his business. However, he failed to notice an item missing.