Why Zrego Trains (Rather Graphic) -- The Middle of Nowhere

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 00:24:47 12/24/02 Tue
Author: Raptors and Korats
Subject: Why Zrego Trains (Rather Graphic)

The female Lavanian raptor stood over her kill with pride even as the life-blood dripped from her own flank. Her sides shook heavily with pain, but she laughed, for the Korat she'd faught would be the first to die. The beast beneath her shook with silent agony, he was ancient, with tinges of silver about his muzzle and scars across his flank that stood as emblems of battles past. A rebel mane worn by those many generations younger than he hung tattered from his blood-stained head, and his ears flicked back against it. He curled his lips back in a final snarl, glaring at his killer with unforgiving eyes whose gaze did not break... though they grew dimmer with each passing moment. The raptor screeched at this, and dug her claws into the Korats hide, but the male did not flinch. However, the scent of new blood caused a stirring among the bushes, and shining eyes of other Raptors revealed themselves from the shadows. The female turned to hiss at them, then placed her blade along the Korats throat. He spat on her paw. She cuffed him once across the face, then raised her blade again... but the blade did not come down.

"WE SAVE NU'QUA! RAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!"

The female Raptor was hit full force across the chest by two vicious foreclaws of a vengeful youth known as Zrego. His blade flew faster then she could rise to her feet and before the spying eyes of the other Raptors who lay in wait, the female fell lifeless to the ground, her bloody head laying a few meters away from her body. With a roar of anger the other Raptors flung themselves from the brush, and Zrego leapt backwars slightly, meeting the first raptopr head on, parrying him aside after a moment of bladeplay, then leaping to his left to find another Raptor with it's blade at his throat. A flash of gold and Zrego's attacker was on the ground and gutted, despite the layers of cartiledge, tan Tamayan's black blade was sharp, and her blood lust gave her unknown strength. Zrego turned to watch as the other member of his training group faught bravely against three Raptors, white Fashi's muscle rippled under a blood-stained coat as he cut one beast in two with his blade, and ran another through with a hind claw. Zrego was there for the third one, flipping deftly over his head to thrust a long-claw through the Raptors neck as he twisted mid-air. Tamayan picked up the pace a bit and pulled her full speed, springing off of trees and occasionally throwing out her small blade to immobalize a beast or two as she dodged and flipped. One Raptor dealt her a forceful blow to the head as she passed however, losing his arm in the process, but knocking her unconscious from the sheer force of the collision. The Raptors fell upon her immediately, and though Zrego snarled and flung himself into the fray, the tan was dead by the time he'd gotten to the middle. Howling once in anguish Zrego the red-striped black flung his neck out at the nearest Raptor and ripped it's throat out from it's form, relishing the sweet blood and losing himself to rage. His blade flung wildly at any beast that came in sight, he began to merely run a hid claw through anything that moved, and if they dodged, he'd leap left, fake in, and kick them through their head. He was oblivious to the many wounds he recieved, his furious bladeplay slaughtering all in his midst... until finaly his own loss of blood did him in, and he collapsed upon the red-slickened ground.

He awoke hours later, his fur clumped together from mud, sweat, and blood. He struggled to his feet, focusing blindly on the dull throbbing pain in his hind haunch until it subsided with a brief healing. Zrego shook his head, trying to clear the vision that seemed to twist and turn before his eyes... and when he did, he fell to the ground again and prayed that he'd be blinded once more. The dead lay strewn about his feet, and the stench of the rotting gore that lay all about the clearing was unbearable. Zrego grimaced, bit his lip until it bled, then forced himself to rise again. His eyes flicked over the scene before him, hundreds of Raptors dead, and there... the mangled body of Tamayan. He stepped away from it, leaping forward as his backtreading caused him to stumble upon the body of Fashi, though the white's head was nowhere to be found. Zrego stumbled away in horror, then turned to hear groaning... "Mri'qua... You live..." The youths voice was strained, half glad and half... filled with disbelief and shock.

"A warrior does not die until he is heard. You Zrego, you have caused death, and you... you are too young, unready for this. You must recieve training, some kind of control."
Zrego eyes grew wide and he placed the blunt of his blade and the red's chest, "I'll recieve it from you! From you! You will live! You will teach me!"
The old Korat shoved Zrego's blade away with a foreclaw, "My carelessness today has caused you the loss of the only family you ever knew. I would ask too much for forgiveness, so instead promise me Zrego... promise me you will find another pack, promise me you will find control... promise me..."
The red-striped adolescent shook his head, "No. No Mri'qua!"
"Promise me Zrego..."
There was a sigh, a moment of pain, "You have my word."
The red's eyes shone fiercely for a moment in a long remebrance of days of youth, then grew dim as he joined his brave students in the other realm.

Zrego stood away from his first trainer, and the only father he'd ever known, saluted him once with his blade... and then ran.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]