The Language of Nightmares

Ankou hugged it's long arms around his body and pulled him up into the air. "[Hounds of Humbaba] hunt in the edges of things, the hard angles and spaces between. They know only the language of nightmares. Fear and pain are the only words they listen to, and they have found us."

The Hounds never stopped. They pivoted at a right angle and ran into the air as it was solid. As they ran, more smoke continued to ooze out of the corners around the statue of [Iron Tooth]. Ankou was fast, streaking through the air at least twice as fast as the Hounds. As they two sides chased through the empty void above the platform upon which [Iron Tooth] rested, he couldn't follow their movements. He could barely see, but he had [Scent the Wind].

The Hounds long proboscis shot out when Ankou let them get too close. Ankou's wings blocked on, shielding him from a direct hit. Several hurled green globs of radiance at them. The green radiance undulated, elongating into chains that tried to wrap around them. Still with ever maneuver the Hounds got closer. Then when the Hounds had them surrounded in all directions, making it impossible to escape, Ankou used [Shadow Jump] to disappear from their center in a ball of darkness and reappeared by the statue. Simultaneously, Ankou conjured [Shadow Doubles] of itself. Four doubles appeared behind four of the Hounds and attacked. The four Ankou Doubles' claws ripped off the tentacles on the hindquarters of the Hounds.

"Claim [Iron Tooth] and let us quit this place." Ankou hissed, "We will buy you a moment." Then Ankou used [Shadow Jump] again, appearing behind a fifth Hound. No longer attached to Ankou, he could nevertheless feel the movements of the five Ankou against the thirteen Hounds. In a part of himself, he could even watch through the five Ankou's collective twenty violet eye slits, but he couldn't process it all. The movements were too fast and the thoughts too alien. Ankou thought in darkness and blood; it was only the veneer of civility that fooled him into thinking Ankou was in any way like him.

As he laid his hands upon the statue, he urged his radiance to do something. Without Ankou to interpret the will of Osz, it now flowed directly into him. As a Child of Osz, he experienced it differently than his father had described it. In truth no one in his family had ever understood his pa meant when speaking about such things.

[Bind the essence of Sakshin Who is the Witness to your Path Grace? Yes or No?]

He wasn't sure who Sakshin was, but perhaps it was Iron Tooth's real name? [Yes] he responded with his radiance.

[Sakshin rejects your Path. Sakshin requests it's essence to be incorporated to your Mask Grace. Yes or No?]

He had no idea what his Mask Grace was. He only knew about his Path Grace because of what he'd learned from Ankou.

[The Mask Grace is the principle definition of your shape. It is through this Grace that you acquire form and meaning. Sakshin in his at the heart of your meaning; therefore, it is compatible with your intent.]

One of the Hounds had broken from the melee and noticed him. It was diving through the air, it's inside out, flesh woven body ripping through the emptiness between them. Only one of Ankou's shadow doubles was left. Ankou jumped through the darkness and wrapped its body around him just as the first of the Hounds descended. The Hound's proboscis pierced through Ankou's wing and latched onto his body. He could feel it burying through flesh and bone, implanting a kernel of nightmare within his essence.

[He would have said yes.] Ankou responded, before turning to rip the proboscis from the Hounds face.

[Path Grace override accepted.]

Ankou's mouth was incapable of smiling; it's mouth was just row upon row of teeth. However, it's mouth pulled wider and a yapping sound emitted from it as it watched the changes happening. While it couldn't [Shadow Jump] anymore, it could still out fly the Hounds. The corpse of Hounds had taken significant damage, and they'd been marked. Still, they had accomplished their objective, which was all the mattered to it. With it's other hand, it inflected serious wounds upon the Hound nearby them by channeling a torrent of negative energy into the Hounds Mask Grace, shattering its form.

The dissolution of one of the Hounds gave Ankou the opening it needed to burst up through the way they had come. Ankou's [Shadow Double] covered their return. Ankou was a killer assassin, but more than anything Ankou only cared for success. There was nothing to be gained by antagonizing the Hounds further. Ankou and Sakshin returned back to Ebonfair.

———

Sakshin was once more instantiated into the world of Ebonfair, now integrated into the essence matrix of a Child of Osz. Sakshin had borne witness to countless ages across Ebonfair from the time of darkness to ages of spring and now back to endless winter. Bears were great at protecting, watching, and hibernating until they were needed again. Now that cycle was broken.

"What-" the Child of Osz started to say out of his mouth, except it wasn't exactly his mouth anymore it was their mouth. "Have I done?" His hatchet was in his hand. His knuckles cracked and turned white. "I wanted revenge from you!" He tilted his head back at the sky and roared.

Sakshin joined him, or rather they roared as one.

Ankou whispered, "It was the only way. All other paths were much worse."

"Ha!" Sakshin said, "Only because you and your Mother made it so. It's the only thing that makes sense."

"What?" The Child of Osz said.

"C'mon kid, you can't be that naive? They chose you, not you them."

"What?" He said, whipping around, but of course Ankou was always behind him. "Is this true?"

"The choice was yours, child. It was always yours," Ankou replied.

"I'm sorry kid, I really am. I wasn't in my right mind that day. I see that now through your eyes. Sure, my nature is to antagonize Walkers, especially those that trespass upon my domain. Your father was one such, but there was more madness. A yellowness had infected his mind. It didn't clear until I bound myself to your Grace."

"He is a child of Nothing; Oblivion ate your madness," Ankou replied.

"Not likely. Those Hounds were prowling around on the hunt for it. They have it's scent now, and they won't let it go."

"They are of green; we are of violet," Ankou whispered.

"Aye, and then where did the yellow go?" Sakshin snorted. "The least worst path my hide!" They both roared again, and it felt glorious.

"None of this makes any sense!" He said, smacking his head. Outside the cave the blizzard still raged. The howling of the wind echoed his own frustration. "I need to hunt."

"Yes!" Sakshin growled. "With my [Survival] bonus and the ability to [Scent the Wind], this should be doable."

"There's the Walkers as well. We'd do well to get a distance from them," Ankou whispered.