"Koda.... stop.... STOP!" 311Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCh0UMVb8V
It hadn't taken long for the spell to break.
He kept his eyes shut tight and focused on the movement of his body against hers. Happy thoughts, he told himself over and over again, trying to drown her screams.
Happy thoughts.
"Why..." Taiga mumbled through tears, using up her remaining strength in continuous attempts to rip her arms free from his grasp. "Why.. WHY." She choked and then stopped struggling, completely consumed by her tears. "Why are you doing this? You... you...."
Koda stopped, opening his eyes to stare down at her destraught face. She was so ugly when she cried. His eyes betrayed his stone cold face, two orbs consumed in regret and despair, but he knew she wouldn't understand even if he explained to her right then why it had to be so. His reasoning encompassed way more than just the two of them. He had imagined for years what the first time would be like. His soft skin against hers, her smile, her pleasure, the way their bodies moved together as if... as if they were always meant to be that way. But now that was ruined forever. All of his dreams, his love for her, was being shattered into a million pieces right before his eyes, and spilling out on to the ground through her tears. He had betrayed her. Happy thoughts.
He slammed his eyes shut again. Happy thoughts. He had to force himself to finish.... somehow.
"Taiga...." He whispered, his voice almost cracking as he felt control slipping away. "Please trust me." She was silent. Her tears had given away to hatred now but she had stopped fighting. That in itself was a blessing for him.
He began to thrust again, his movements a forced fluidity. Koda relaxed, focusing on all of his happy memories of her and sped up. Taiga was shaking under him. He ignored it, assuming that the tears were flowing again, afraid of the hate he had seen in her eyes. If he had been watching her he would've seen the hatred give way to pleasure. She may not have wanted it, but it had come anyway, for the body reacts separately from the heart and mind in times of complete and total despair. The reaction of her body around him gave him the ability to forget, just long enough, that he was ruining everything he loved. His mind gave way to his dreams and after what had been an eternity of ripping his soul apart, ejaculated into her body.
When the pleasure had passed he removed himself from her quickly, his eyes surveying the positioning of the sun. It had taken him longer than he had planned, and time had slipped away from them. Soon she would know the truth about everything, about him, about the war, about why he did what he did. This was not the way he had wanted her to find out.
Taiga was sitting up now, watching him in silence. She was covered in blood and there were dark bruises on her arms where he had held her, but she didn't feel any pain, just a lingering pleasure and a numbness that was sweeping through her body. Then a tingling. It started at her groin and consumed her body inch by inch. When the tingling reached her head her ability to think became fuzzy again. Then she screamed, her hand clawing at the runic marking on her chest. It was glowing a dark red. The pain was unbearable.
Koda turned around in time to see Taiga's eyes roll back into her head and her body droop down to the dirt.
"Shit," He muttered under his breath. He moved towards her and picked up her limp body, cradling her as close to his chest as he could.
"I'm so.... so... cold," she grumbled under her breath, her eyes glazed over.
He sat with his back against the tree and held her close, his arms wrapped around her body. They must look like a mess, he thought to himself, covered in blood and dirt and bruises. His face hardened again and he brushed matted curls from her face.
"I'm not going anywhere."
* * *
When his eyes opened again it took him a minute to realize where he was. There was a pounding in his head, a throbbing pain that increased in severity when he tried to look around. The trees were dancing in the wind. So he was still in the forest, that was a good sign. How long had he been out? Then his eyes grew wide in panic and he tried to remove himself from the tree only to find he was tied down to it with vines. Taiga! Where was she? Was she alright?
"Finally awake?" Her familiar voice floating down to him put him at ease and he relaxed his throbbing head against the bark, his eyes catching a glimpse of her body in the tree branches.
She jumped, more agile and carefree than she had ever remembered being, and landed with a soft thud in front of him. Her eyes were a mixture of so many emotions that he almost looked away, guilt stabbing at his heart.
"Taiga, did you hit me in the head?" His voice was raspy, but a smile played on his lips. The fact that she had survived what he had just done was enough to bring a sliver a joy, no matter how momentary. Her recovery was astounding.
A mocking smile, and then a soft laugh. Her eyes had nothing but hatred now, and he was forced to look away.
"Did you REALLY THINK that you would be able to get away with the bonding and not have some sort of repercussion?" She reached out and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look her in the eye. She was so strong now. Her strength had more than tripled. "Koda..... I need an answer." Her voice was dead serious. She sounded so much older than she was. "Why did you do that? WHY! You know a Priestess cannot ever be...." Her voice cracked as she tried to face her reality. He had cursed her, reversing her ritual. If everything she had been told was true she should've died. She could no longer channel the blessings of the spirit world, or protect her tribe. Her entire destiny has just been shattered. Now she was sure to be banished from the tribe. A wanderer. Trying not to break down, she fueled her anger and turned her attention to a different issue altogether.
"And how did you spell me?" She let go of his chin and stepped back, . "No human can do magick, Koda. No human!"
Fuck. Last thing he wanted was to be tied to a tree at a time like this.
"Taiga..."
"Fuck you!" Her anger was growing substantially. "Answer my question or I'll chop off your man hood." He groaned at the thought, subconsciously crossing his legs.
"Taiga, I'm not Koda. Koda died twelve years ago in an accident in the western plains. I'm not Koda. And you are right, I'm not human." Koda closed his eyes and started to.... pray? Was it praying if he didn't believe in a higher being? He was going to die by the hands of a monster he created. What an ironic ending to his pitiful meaningless life.
Taiga watched him closely.
"So." Her voice had become harder, like a stone fist against his face. "What is your name, then, if not Koda." Sarcasm. Perfect. "What are you if you are not human?"
Suddenly the truth became apparent to her, he didn't need to say a thing. Their was only one creature able to take the shape of a human. They could choose their own appearance, and then change that appearance at will, making them the masters of deception. Taiga closed her eyes and choked back tears, fear spreading like a virus. She stepped back. No. No it couldn't be. A shade. He was a shade.
She recalled all the stories that had been shared with her as a young girl. Shades, the dark minions of the devil, had been granted the face of a human by day, but as the sun retreated from the Earth would shed the false appearance and become the monstrous beings they actually were. No one looked upon a Shade's true face and lived to tell about it.
She slumped down to the Earth, her eyes wide, her heart broken.
"Taiga. Taiga please." He had to hurry. Their time was running out. "I may not be Koda. You may think the last ten years we spent together were a lie. But please. You never knew the real Koda. You knew me. You've always known me. I'm still that same guy..."
"No. NO! SHUT UP!"
"Taiga... PLEASE." So much he had to tell her. So much she needed to understand. Their wasn't enough time.
"STOP IT." She screamed, rising back to her feet.
"Your tribe is in danger. They are coming.... they are coming, Taiga. I knew i couldnt stop them on my own.They were going to kill you. I did this to PROTECT you."
"Protect? You wanted to protect me? What am I? What am I now that I've been bound to a shade?" She was suddenly running. Her hands gripped his shoulders and shook him violently, pounding him repeatedly into the tree. "What have you DONE to me?" Her arms dropped and she began to cry uncontrollably. "Am I evil? Am I a shade now too?"
"No...." He whispered softly. "You..."
Before he could finish his answer the sound of drums echoed loud across the forest. The sound of war. The sound of eminent danger.
"NO!" She screamed. And then she was gone, running through the forest back the way they had come.
His eyes looked up towards the sky, surveying the position of the sun. It was twilight. Their time was up. He had failed miserably...
"Shit."
* * *
Her new found strength surprised her greatly. She flew through the trees with a speed unknown to man, faster than the hunters of the plains; her feet making no noise as they barely even skimmed the uneven ground. Despite being pleased with her acquired speed, she found no pleasure in this particular run; a sense of urgency, the fear of war, the unwanted truth, and the uncertain future were the only things driving her forward into everything she feared. When Taiga finally burst through the tree line into the open fields of her tribe she came upon a scene out of her worst nightmare.
They were racing against time itself. Bodies of bloody and bruised warriors were facing off against mere shadows. Swords, knives, lances, bows and arrows.... nothing harmed them, ripping and slicing through what appeared to be translucent black fire. They moved identically to a human being, nimble and stealthy, trained in the art of killing. Taiga was rushing down the hill, head first into the fray. Every able bodied child had taken up arms, the enemy towering high above them, but they were taught to be courageous and slashed at shadowed legs to no avail. On she ran, deeper into the blood shed but no closer to the answer. It was a slaughter. They had no chance against something they didn't understand.
The closer Taiga got to the center of the village the more bodies she had to navigate through- the more blood shed she witnessed. The lady two houses down was wailing with the body of her youngest child in her arms. Taiga slowed to talk sense into the woman, only to witness her decapitation before a word could be spoken. There had to be a way. There had to be. And the only person.... the only person who had any information... any inkling of a clue what to do was the elder. Taiga forced herself to keep running.
She rocketed into the elder's hut, the force slamming her into the opposite wall with a thud. She only allowed a second to catch her breath, there was no time.
"Krea? KREA?" She was racing through the house, slower this time to avoid any more unnecessary collisions. "Elder? Are you here?" She stopped, giving up hope as she surveyed the second room. And then she heard it.
"Ta... taiga?" She found the elder slumped in a darkening corner.
Kneeling by the old woman's side she realized that their wasn't much time left for her. A wound to the Elders chest was free bleeding, it was a pure miracle the woman had stayed alive as long as she had.
"Did he... did he... ?"
"Did he what? Please Elder, stay with me. I have to end this." Tears started to spill over. So much death and destruction. There was nothing left to save, and Taiga knew that but just one life... if she could save one life. "Please, tell me how to end this."
"K.. Koda. Did he..."
Taiga's eyes closed quickly as the tears came faster. Why...
"Elder, he... I'm no longer a Priestess."
"I know, child." Krea smiled softly before enduring an uncontrollable coughing fit. When it had subsided she took Taiga's hand firmly. "He is Koda.... and he... he... saved you."
"No... what do you mean? Elder, please. What do you mean?" Taiga shook her frail form gently, but she knew the time had come. The old woman was gone.
And then she saw it, lurking in the doorway, nearly invisible in the growing darkness of the night. She heard it laughing, a deep throated chuckle that sent chills down her spine. Before Taiga could rise to her feet it had a hand wrapped firmly around her neck, choking her as it slammed her body into the nearest wall. More laughing.... harder and louder this time.
Taiga closed her eyes and summoned anything that would give her the courage to fight, in this case it was the anger that answered her. When she opened her eyes again the Shade was peering into a dark blood red that had consumed her entire eye ball. The runic marking on her chest glowed red. The laughing stopped. She wrapped her hand around his wrist and squeezed as hard as she could and it dropped her with a shrill high pitched shriek. The sound brought her immense joy.
"A marked... how! Where did you come from?" It's voice, still deep, was somehow so much smaller now. Taiga smirked.
"I wish upon you an eternity of pain... now PERISH!" It's black translucent body turned a light blue hue as it caught fire and burned brighter than anything she had ever seen. More laughter, but this time it was coming from her.
She walked slowly through her village, her eyes always cast forward in the direction she was headed. No more energy was required for her task. Any time she laid eyes on a dark shadowed figure they were consumed by a flame, fueled by her hatred. It didn't take long for them to retreat from her lands and disappear into the night as if they had never been there to begin with. Taiga was left with only a consuming despair and the fire that was still burning the flesh of the dead around her. Her legs took her to the protector's stone and she rested her hand on it's surface. The blue runic markings turned red and glowed dimly, and she screamed in dismay, withdrawing from it immediately. The light from the full moon suddenly dimmed, and she looked up towards the moon to see it's brilliant light turn red. That was when she knew. The stories she had always heard were true. This was the end. Taiga sank down to the ground, shedding tears of blood until the fire eagerly consumed her. 311Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBuXfiAGI7y
* * *
Koda stepped out of the forest with the light of the sun rise, his flesh a light mocha color against the soft hues of orange and red. His naked body moved bare foot through the wreckage, navigating the ash and burnt pieces of splintered wood from what use to be the structures in the valley. He went straight to her body, her skin crisp and mangled where the flames had kissed her. She must have wanted death, for that was the only way they could've ever touched her. Bending down he picked up her body, now barely alive, and cradled her to his chest.
She wasn't allowed to die. 311Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GCZUKBTKb
