Twisted Desire || Yanderes x Reader

The Manticore [Yandere x Reader]

Summary: Stay away from the mountain. They'll tear you apart. They'll eat you alive. The martyahvārah will skin you and rip the flesh from your bones.

Trigger warnings: Violence, yandere tendencies, overall creepy behavior, death (mentioned in detail), (possible) choice words (profanities), blood, really really rushed marriage, insanity, monsters, historical inaccuracies, toxic relationship

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Cyrus was scared of the mountains. A fear which had been instilled into him from his very birth via stories of their dangers. But he was a teenager now, so he should have abandoned such feelings long ago.

He was a man now. And he had to provide for his family. Theodosia needed medicine for their dad - and the medicine man was a town over.

More specifically, over the mountains.

So he had two options. Be a coward and allow his step-father to die, or grow a pair and get that medicine.

The young man prayed the gods would shine down on him - that Zeus would grant him passage and the possibility to save his father. That he be offered the chance to redeem himself - and prevent his own history from repeating itself.

His dad had died when he was a child. Then for a brief time it was merely Cyrus, Theodosia, and their mother. At least, it was that way until his mother remarried.

Their new step-father had been a gruff man with a taste for the old ways—superstitions and fears deeply embedded in his upbringing. He spun tales of creatures lurking in the shadows of the mountains, of beings that feasted on unwary travelers. Of spirits in the mountains that allured in ways untold. Of corruption. To him, the wilderness was a place of malevolence, a battleground between the forces of darkness and those too foolish to respect the boundary.

Cyrus had internalized those fears, making them a part of him. Yet, his step-father was not the one who would die if he failed to cross the mountains.

His manhood would disappear.

Every step towards the mountains was a battle against the whispers of fear that echoed in his mind. The stories of the martyahvārah—the monstrous beings that supposedly roamed these peaks—were never far from his thoughts. But as he approached the base of the mountains, he steeled himself, pushing those stories aside and focusing on the task at hand: saving his step-father and proving his own worth.

His step father had provided for him for a long time. This was the very least he could do.

Even though he felt more nauseous with every step.

"You look like you're about to shit yourself."

The intrusion of a new voice caused the dark haired boy to stumble. Cyrus quickly caught himself before spinning around. "Can you please stop doing that?"

Theodosia smiled. She inherited the same curls their mother had - and the same soft smile. "Sorry. I wanted to come by and wish you safe passage. And to remind you not to fall for the tricks of the gods."

The older boy laughed. "Well thank you I suppose. May the gods shine down in my favour."

She bowed her head. "May the gods shine down on you."

It was sweet. She still believed he had a chance of making it back with the medicine. Theodosia was always more optimistic than he was.

And while it was bitter, he wondered how she would have fared if she was in his position.