Tyranny: Onwards

Chapter 84- Mortubrae

Up I go again, trying to show no symbol of my pain. Worry ceases the hearts of everyone, it's plain in their eyes as the flames of anger are lit in a few, others have pure empathy and sadness. Aegis does not move for a while, starring and thinking I would guess, as he always seems so thoughtful, a lot of the time I ponder on what he might be contemplating.

"Phoenix, go do what you know you must." Aegis sighs and tenses his muscles when he says it, as though it causes him pain. I am confused but feel I should not dare to ask, I almost feel too worn and weak to form the words at all.

He saunters over to a tree, leaving the legacy of slight dents in the snow, though my eyesight is not the best in the winters night. Phoenix nods and disappears to who knows where.

I follow Aegis to a Pine tree where there is no snow yet at it base or on its raised roots, we all take seats in relief but also a new kind of tension. It seems hours before he returns, for the horizon is pale with light. When he arrives, Aegis stands and confronts him, there is a deep dank shadow over the now red eyes of Phoenix, his face charred with emotion; for a moment I suspect he's found the body of one or both of the brothers, but then decide it must not be so.

"Is it them?" Aegis confirms solemnly.

"I'll kill every last one of those fucking beasts." Phoenix whispers harshly in animosity.

"I want an explanation." Despite the knowledge that this is not my place at all, I step up and search for the truth of Phoenix's hunt.

"There are beasts that live in areas with large hills, though they dare not to go by mountains, but they tunnel deep into hills and that is where they dwell. We have named them 'Mortubrae', it means 'Shadows of Death' or any version of such." We follow Genesis on as he explains softly.

"We named them this after we encountered them so long ago, for their bodies are made purely of dark shadows, Mortubrae have body structures as a wolf, but are as tall as a full grown man at the smallest when they are on all four legs. These beasts have the power to control their own shadow they cast upon the ground and the shadows of the their very own bodies, they also travel and live in great packs. Their tunnels are extremely intricate so we never dare enter them. Genesis could not sense them because Mortubrae leave behind no scents nor footprints just as any others shadow of the world leave behind no legacy." Aegis must be concealing his emotions to a terrific amount to show no emotions.

"I must assume they stole him and are planning to eat him if they have not done so already, they enjoy playing with prey more than any cat; some might suggest this to be lucky for us, that it should provide some amount of hope. Their eyes emit a deadly glow of red, and it is a theory we bear that they are held in this form of shadow by a soul of a human, they are considered sort of like what you Humans call 'Demons', they are wisps of shadow that latch onto the soul of evil people who were filled with Pride and Greed. Once they take it, all the colours of life and memories are eradicated, so the soul acts as a magnet to hold the shadow, the reason for the form is unknown, for it is rare to inspect them. The only reason we know as much as we do, is because someone saw it occur once and a few other risky experiments."

"They appear with spiked fur which is sharper than any of your blades but they do not gleam for they absorb and kill any sunlight that touches them. Mortubrae are considered almost more deadly than even a dragon." Aegis describes everything he seems to know.

"How do you kill them?" I ask, wondering how we could possibly get Dagwood or Blaze back from a pack of these monstrous shadows more difficult to defeat than any dragon.

"That's the hard part, you have to stab the soul; but the catch is that you can't see it and each one has it somewhere else, but if you pierce them you can be swift to gaze about and maybe see the nasty red gleam of the devoured soul." This is just getting more and more unlucky as we learn.

"So their eyes show the gleam that emits from the soul within them then?" I inquire further.

"Probably, but I wouldn't put too much on such a theory," He shrugs and seems still strong and steady as he walks into the abyss of danger.

"So if the eyes gleam is weak then the soul is further from their eyes, if it's brighter then it's closer?" I consider out loud and Aegis ponders on it for a few minutes silently.

"Maybe but hmmm... I don't know Claire, try it out if you can I guess but that risk is up to you, be careful; no sense in dying pointlessly when you're saving someone, defeats the whole purpose of the mission. Okay?" He points out and adds his wisdom.

"Well I'm sure we can recover him and I'm sure we can do it without dying in the process." I make an attempt at affirming him and the others.