Khalys
Legacy Name: Khalys

Judgment

A small boy ran through the mountains at a dead sprint, never looking over his shoulder for fear that the evil man might be following him, the man that had killed his friends. Tears ran down his face as he pushed himself forward, the muscles in his legs burning and his lungs gasping greedily for air. As he slowed down to a walk, he finally dared to turn around. He was so tired now; the sun was hot, he had no water, and he was hopelessly lost. Maybe it was better if he was caught; at least he could be with his friends again.

However, nothing was behind him, only the mountains toward which he had run. Turning back again, the boy stopped at a rock to rest. It was then that he noticed it had suddenly grown dark around him. His heart frantically beating in his chest, the boy looked up. With a sigh, he collapsed in fatigue and astonishment against the rock, vaguely registering the soft fur that brushed against his face, and the soft sound of feathered wings beating the air.

* * *

"Are you sure this is safe?"

"Of course it's safe! We've been going to him for help for years. Just relax and stop pestering me," Arnic said for what felt to be the hundredth time on this journey. Why was he always stuck with the recruits for these missions?

"Um… Sir?"

"For the last time! IT'S SAFE!"

Shrinking away from his superior commander, the recruit replied, "N-n-no Sir… I just wanted to tell you that we're here."

"Oh…well then, thank you," Arnic said, letting some of his frustration escape in a sigh as he looked ahead. They had been walking through the forest, but where the trees ended, a dirt path began, stretching up a small slope and ending at an entrance to a dark cave.

Slowly, Arnic made his way up the beaten dirt trail that lay before him. The other knights he was with stopped at the edge of the tree line, apprehensive to leave the false sense of safety that they offered. The knights had no clue what lived up in the cave, but Arnic did, and he knew the trees were no safer than an open clearing.

The closer to the cave he got, the more Arnic noticed an eerie silence that grew with each step. Khalys was near, Arnic knew, or else the birds would still be talking to one another. Taking a deep breath Arnic stood before the cave and called, "Khalys! We need your help!"

Nothing but silence followed Arnic's plea, so after a few tense moments of waiting he turned to leave."You ask for my help and not even offer anything in return, Arnic? I thought by now you would know the routine… Or have you forgotten once again?"

The deep growl of a voice came from behind, and Arnic instinctively whirled around on his heels with his sword already partly out of its sheath. When he saw what stood in the mouth of the cave, he sheathed his sword. "You make me nervous, Khalys." Especially on this day, Arnic thought to himself.

"So I see…" Khalys replied with a snarl that showed all of his teeth. He stood around 7 ft. tall and looked to be a freak of nature, like he was put together with spare parts from various animals, some of which still roamed the land. He had the body and head of a werewolf with fur as black as night. His eyes burned an intense blue, a slight spark of anger in their depths. On his back, right below his shoulder blades, sprouted two great black feathered wings. Fully spread, they were more than twice his height. Starting from the tip of his nose and moving along his spine down to his tail, small spikes protruded, light grey in color. Atop his head curled two long light grey horns, the tips stopping just in front of his ears.

"I've brought what you want." Turning around, Arnic lifted his arm to signal to the others that they could approach with the crate.

"Good. Now who am I to go after?" Khalys asked, eyeing the younger knights as they nervously walked up the path.

"You are to go after a man who has been reported to be seen in the mountains just south of here. He dresses in a brown cloak and goes by the name of Ralcon."

"And you cannot go get this man? You have neglected to tell me what he has done."

"He…" Arnic trailed off, trying to come up with the words to describe what he had seen. "He killed a few homeless children. Probably thought we wouldn't care, but they were children, Khalys! However, no one in the knighthood will go after him, not even I. The way we found the childrens' bodies has troubled everyone in town. It was a very horrific sight…" Again Arnic trailed off. "Their heads were--"

Just then, a crash sounded from the path. Turning around, Arnic saw the youngest recruit in front trying to pick up the front part of the crate he had been carrying. "Ahhh…Why was I cursed to travel with such idiots…"

"S-sorry, Sir. I tripped on my sword…" the young recruit replied, turning slightly red as he and the others brought the crate up and put it behind Arnic. Not once did they look Khalys in the eye, nor did they even try to acknowledge his presence.

Khalys silently walked past Arnic, his claws making no sound in the rock-strewn dirt. Kneeling down, he opened the crate to look over the contents to make sure nothing was broken. He had acquired a taste for fine wine since working for the knights. He found that something in the drink helped soothe his thoughts.

"Does that work for payment, then?" Arnic asked.

"Yes…It does. I will bring you this Ralcon when I find him." Khalys then picked up the crate of wine and headed back into the dark depths of his cave. Arnic had not finished telling Khalys what had happened to the homeless children, though he really had no need to do so. Khalys already knew from a different source that their heads were no longer attached to their bodies - nor were any of their other limbs for that matter.

"Are you sure he can be trusted, Sir?" the young recruit asked, repositioning his sword on his hip as they walked back to town. "I mean… what if he doesn't do what we paid him for?"

"Khalys can be trusted. Sometimes I think he has more honor than some of the other knights." Arnic then took a deep breath and sighed. He had known Khalys for years and respected the strange creature, though he also feared him. In fact, he was the only one Khalys really spoke to that he knew of, which Arnic found odd. For such a fearsome creature, he certainly kept to himself a lot.

"Yes, Sir," the recruit responded, slightly insulted at what his commander had said, but also agreeing with him. Some of the older knights were very full of themselves and would often go out of their way to push the newer recruits around.

* * *

Khalys quietly stalked his prey through the mountains, patiently waiting until he could strike. He had searched the south side of these mountains for two days until he came across the lone traveler. The man Khalys followed was wearing a long brown hooded cloak, tattered at the hem, and he kept his hair cut close to his head. This was Ralcon; he suspected it be so. Arnic had not been as efficient in his description of the murderer as he had been in giving Khalys his payment, and wrongfully attacking an innocent so appalled Khalys that often times he was overly cautious.

Silently moving along the top ridge of the small canyon in which Ralcon had wandered, Khalys kept his wings close to his body. It would not do to be discovered quite yet. He needed one last glance at the traveler to completely ascertain that this was indeed, Ralcon.

Looking up, Ralcon had the eerie suspicion that he was being followed. There were no sounds of animals anywhere. All was quiet, yet still he could not see nor hear what may be following him. Fool, he thought to himself as he spun in a circle, continuing on his way. Pulling his cloak tighter around his body, he made an effort to pull his hood lower over his face.

As Ralcon looked around, Khalys saw his eyes, a dark grey in color. It was him alright. Hiding behind an outcropping of the upper ridge further along the path, Khalys waited until Ralcon was right below him before spreading his wings and jumping, claws outstretched. Khalys landed on Ralcon, or what he thought was Ralcon. Looking in his claws, all he held was a brown tattered cloak.

"Fool of a beast! I won't be caught that easily!" Ralcon screamed as he pointed at Khalys. What came next was an incomprehensible word and fire. The cloak immediately burst into flames, singeing Khalys' fur, the smell of burnt hair quickly assailing his nose.

Snarling in rage, Khalys dropped the cloak and took flight, deftly making his way around the small canyon. He avoided all the outcroppings that had previously acted as his cover, sometimes shortly landing on one before pushing himself off in a separate direction. This was how he preferred to hunt. His plan was always to disorient his prey before striking.

As Khalys moved through the air, Ralcon had trouble properly aiming his spells to incinerate the beast, always just barely missing the tail. The faint smell of burnt hair still lingered in the air. "Stop and fight me, you coward!" Ralcon screamed. He was quickly growing tired of this game. Seeing the direction that the beast was going, he engulfed the outcropping ahead in flames.

As the flames erupted before him, Khalys used the smoke to his advantage, hiding within it and reeling in the air toward his target, though the smoke burned his eyes and throat with each breath. Barreling into him, they went tumbling along the path. Both tried to right themselves, but Khalys was faster, grabbing Ralcon around the neck with one claw. As Ralcon tried to twist free so he could breathe easier, Khalys' grip tightened. If only Ralcon could manage one last spell, one last attempt to be free. Easing one of his hands out from underneath him, he began to grope for the beast's claw so he could get it away from his throat, and in doing so, all he found was pain.

Khalys was cautious, as always. He didn't want to kill the man; that was not what he was paid to do, but he also did not want to die himself. He knew nothing about what the human had just done, how he could possibly make things spontaneously burst into flame. So, as soon as Ralcon got one of his hands out and reached for Khalys, he instinctively grabbed the hand and broke the fingers, quickly doing the same to the other hand. With lack of oxygen and such excruciating pain, Ralcon lost consciousness in Khalys' grip.

* * *

Arnic walked the back wall to the stables that were located at the far end of the citadel that watched over the bustling town. To his right were the stables, the horses inside walking around their stalls. To his left were the mountainous forests that claimed much of the surrounding scenery. As he rounded a corner, he came upon a startling sight in a nearby clearing. There stood Khalys, a limp form in one clawed hand dragging on the ground, and a helmed knight dangling before him in his other hand. Khalys said nothing as he stood there. When he saw Arnic approaching, he put the knight down and nodded his head in recognition. As he moved, Arnic noticed that Khalys' feathered wings were ruffled as if he had somehow landed on them."What is going on here?!" Arnic questioned. It had been a few days since he had left Khalys, and during those days, he had gotten nothing but grief from his superiors for trusting a monster to undertake such a mission.

"I came upon… upon this monster in the clearing, dragging this man. I got no reply to any of my questions, so I attacked," the knight replied, his head held high. Khalys just stood there and regarded Arnic with a calm look in his eyes.

"Weren't you listening to anything I said these past couple of days? You were supposed to immediately report to me if Khalys showed up with Ralcon," Arnic said, putting a hand on his now aching head. "That is Ralcon, right Khalys?"

Khalys made no reply; he simply threw Ralcon on the ground before Arnic with not so much as a snarl. Ralcon's hands were purple and his fingers were scratched and bent at odd angles. He had bruises around his neck and cuts along his face as if he were dragged the entire way here. His mouth was gagged with what looked to be a piece of what was once a brown cloak, but which was now burned.

Staring down at Ralcon, Arnic asked the obvious, "What happened, Khalys?" No reply came, and as he and the knight looked up, Khalys was no where to be seen.

"Is that normal of him?" the knight asked, pointing at Ralcon.

With a shake of his head, Arnic replied, "Usually he brings them back in a more presentable state."

* * *

Once back in his cave, Khalys opened a bottle of wine and drank it down in a few minutes. Anger surged through him as he threw the bottle against the wall, "And they call me the monster!" At last, he could vent the frustrations that Ralcon had caused. Who could possibly kill little children?

Grabbing another bottle of wine, Khalys heard a sound behind him. Turning around, he looked at who stood there. Putting the bottle down, he walked over to the young child that he had found in the mountains, abandoned. He had thought about giving the child to Arnic, but something in those deep green eyes said not to.

"Khalys… What's wrong?" the child asked, clearly unhappy about Khalys' current mood.

During his hunt of Ralcon, Khalys realized that Ralcon was most likely searching for the boy that had escaped into the mountains. "Nothing, little one," Khalys said softly as he knelt down, embracing the child in a hug, his wings protectively wrapping around the small being. Ralcon would not hurt this child as he had hurt the others.

Credits

Code and profile by Ziva
Story by me, edited by dwarven

Art!

By Phantom: :heart:
By GhostDragon: :heart:, :heart:, :heart:
By Sandraudiga: :heart:
By NotTomorrow: :heart:
By Choco: :heart: