Alledia: What waits in the Dark

Chapter 3: First Impressions

Toxyn growled as he came to the edge of a bog.
"Dammit."
Toxyn cursed again. The scent stopped at the edge of a thick swamp. He was almost at the first scout camp. It was just about another mile ahead. But that was just it. Her scent lead almost directly towards it, veering the slightest away from the direction of the village. At first Toxyn judged it as an off-course coincidence, but a fully trained soldier who just went rogue, would'nt go anywhere near a camp if they were trying to avoid it.
Then it hit him.
"Shit!"
He turned and ran around the edge of the swamp, heading for the tallest tree and launched at it, using his claws to haul himself up, climbing swiftly. Once he reached a steady, high branch, he started jumping and running along the tree branches that interwove with one another, joining many of the trees together. He didn't even try to track the scent now. He raced straight towards the camp.
          Toxyn stopped himself from calling out. He wanted to warn the guards, but if the camp had already been attacked he would just give his position away.
Just as the camp came into sight and the thought rushed through his head, he saw something dull green fly in an arc in the air and it then fell down towards the roof of a cabin built at the centre of the camp. The guards noticed and turned their attention to it as it landed on the roof.
"Oh no-"
Toxyn was cut off by the massive blast of a grenade exploding and debris flew everywhere, smoke rising from fires all over the ground where it hit. He took cover against the other side of the tree trunk. When he glanced back, a flash of white shot out from behind a tree and landed on one of the guards. The flash of white came into focus and showed the form of the she-wolf in the picture he was shown. Toxyn growled when his target tossed another grenade into the path of a couple of his fellow soldiers and the concussive explosion killed them both instantly. The explosion caused more fires.
          Toxyn wanted to move to help his comrades, but he needed a clear path to get to his target without giving himself away. He watched as the she-wolf started fighting hand to hand without a weapon when she ran out of grenades, fighting the last 7 soldiers after she killed the first to come at her. She was fast and ruthless. Toxyn could see her eyes were black. A chill when through him from excitement. She might actually be a worthy challenge.
        He watched as she jumped high into the air, twisting her lithe body over a guard and she grabbed his head, twisting it harshly and snapping his neck. As she landed she then threw his body into the air and slammed it down on another guard, crushing him under it helplessly while she stole his knife and stabbed into his heart. She yanked out the knife and slashed at the throats of two more men who ran at her and then threw the knife straight through the skull of one behind them. Two left.
          Toxyn watched as she turned to the last two. They shuddered and clung to their swords, holding them up at the ready. She stood still and then dropped to her knees like she was surrendering.
"What?"
         Toxyn questioned quietly. She didn't seem the least worn out, after she'd taken on all 8 of the first soldiers. He didn't buy it. The guards left however, did. They rose their swords, getting ready to strike her down. Right as they brought their swords down on her, she reached up like lightning and grabbed a sword in each hand, ripping them out of the guards hands and spinning them, gripping the handles and swiftly stabbing them up into the hearts of both men.
        Toxyn stared silently. So she was just as described. Ruthless and unpredictable. He felt bad for not intervening to save the men. But he'd underestimated her, and might've actually gotten hurt... And that would've been bad. For his reputation at least. He watched her closely as he slowly climbed down the tree, keeping an eye on her. She was standing silently and panting lightly, facing away. His footsteps made a soft crunching sound and she turned to see him walking closer. Toxyn stiffened. Her eyes were back to normal.
She turned her body to face him, ears back against her head and she growled.
"Who're you?"
"Toxyn. You must be Arys."
"Come to do the dirty work?" 
         She spoke angrily and mockingly. She knew he'd come for her. He smirked as he started circling around her and she did the same, keeping pace with him. She held no weapon. Toxyn had a sword, a dagger and a gun. But he knew weapons were'nt a good equal to her. He chuckled to himself and shrugged.
"Someone has to take out the trash."
"Funny. You must be his entertainment     when you're not being his pet."
         Toxyn growled, feeling his anger build and something black and slender emerged from his back, unseen by Arys.
"Listen here, woman-"
"Why? All I hear is a spoiled child's banter."
          She was getting cheeky now.
"You'll watch your tongue, or I'll cut it off."
"Bite me, mom."
          The black slender tendril emerged more from Toxyns back, lengthening outside of her view. Toxyn stopped pacing in the circle and so did she. He cleared his throat.
"Listen here. You can come peacefully or I can kill you first. Your choice."
He was surprised to see her shudder and then hear her following response.
"I'm not going back to that hell while I'm still breathing. If you want me back you'll have to kill me first."
         Toxyn laughed and shrugged, not caring either way.
"Whatever the lady wants~..."
Arys growled and turned away. Toxyn's face turned serious as he watched her start to walk away.
"Where are you going?!"
"Away from you and that damned hell! I told you I'm not going back and I'm not fighting you. I'm done here."
"You're not done till I say you're done."
Arys spun around to rebuttal but screamed when the growing tendril from Toxyn's back slammed into her and pinned her against a tree behind her, pinning her by her throat. She coughed and choked, struggling and Toxyn grinned. The wind became chilling as Arys glared at him, seeing his smirk and her expression changed from surprise to anger and dismay.
"You find this fun... You low life bastard!"
Arys kicked and batted at him with her claws, unable to reach him. The tendril tightened it's grip around her neck. His mutation gifted many enhancements including black tendrils which he could use for almost anything, including agility, protection, and as weapons. She squirmed and whimpered finally calming and going still, panting hard. He watched her determined expression go dull and she stared at the ground as his tendril kept her pinned and he walked closer with his sword in hand. She whimpered.
"Don't bring me back... I can't survive another ten years of being poked and prodded at." Toxyn's ears perked as her words inflicted curiousity on him.
"What? Ten years?"
She nodded solemnly. It's a trick, he thought to himself.
"Bullshit. It only took an hour for my mutation to take hold."
"Not everyone's so lucky."
"It couldn't have taken ten years. That's ridiculous."
"That's just my luck. Be thankful you didn't go through what I did. It's a painful process."
Toxyn laughed.
"Oh yeah!? Like what."
Arys didn't respond. She glanced up at him gravely and then looked away, her expression dull and emotionless. But it held so much foreboding it made Toxyn shudder. He went quiet and a long silence stretched out.
He growled and shrugged off the weird feeling he felt creeping in his insides and grinned.
"Guess I'll put you out of your misery then~"
He pushed the blade of his sword lightly against her throat and she looked up at him suddenly, eyes turning black and she growled. He was about to slit her throat when her eyes went back to normal and she gasped, coughing and shaking. It took him by surprise and he dropped his guard while she stared at him in pure horror. Without any warning she reached up and grabbed the blade of his sword, pushing it away, cutting her hand and cutting through the tendril with it and she backed up against the tree, pushing back against it as she jumped up and kicked Toxyn right in the chest. It was like being hit by a truck and it knocked him hard against another tree behind him, hitting his head hard against it. The blow to his chest knocked his breath away and he gasped, falling back and his vision went blurry. He could feel himself passing out and he slid down against the tree, staring up at the growing blur of the white wolf. The last thing he saw was Arys standing in front of him, and then everything went black.
      
         Toxyn gasped awake, glancing around wildly, seeing a white room around him and it came into focus. He was back in Doc's lab on a patients table. Doc was looking at some vials and smiled when he saw Toxyn was awake.
"Welcome back!"
"Ugh... what happened?"
"A scout coming back to camp after reporting his daily data back to the facility, found all of his crew dead and you passed out against a tree. I take it you ran into the wild one, eh?"
Toxyn shuddered. He knew Doc meant Arys. Doc pushed on when he looked shocked.
"You're lucky to be alive. She could have easily killed you. I'm so glad she didn't."
He sounded taunting at that last part.
"But you did get her good with your sword. I was able to get the sample I needed for another bioaccumulation of the mutagen from her blood... Now we can give it to others."
Doc finished off quickly when Toxyn seemed to draw a blank with his fancy science talk. Why didn't she kill him? She'd had him right there...
He pushed his doubts aside and thought of what to do next, knowing he was fine.
Another ability his tendrils provided was healing.
"Call down Zalgo, Loki and Zyx. I underestimated the bitch. I figure I'll need backup."
"Right away."
Doc used a mic over speakers in the building to call the soldiers to his lab.
"Thanks, lab rat."
Doc frowned but didn't reply to the new nickname.
Toxyn didn't care. He was too busy thinking about his failure. He'd never misjudged a target before and it made him feel weak. And angry. Doc turned away to continue his work on the other side of the room. Toxyn thought to himself as he waited for his comrades to join him.
I'll get you Arys. And I won't fail to get the job done next time...