[M] - Silence of a Soul

Jaden Ohanzee · 01-29-2011, 02:57 PM

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WARNING This thread contains: Strong violence starting with the 1st post. Reader discretion is advised.

For anyone who is not into lots of reading or does not have the time (including my RP buddy) skip past the first two sections. They are divided by a large space. Sorry for the incredible size :> Helpful information found in the first two sections can also be found @My profile/Jaden’s Inventory Items :3 Big Grin enjoy!

Words-5,440

A bitter wind bit at Jaden’s nose as he ran across a frozen landscape. It was early morning in the silent woodland that surrounded the dark colored wolf. There was not a sound but his light steps through the crisply frozen grass and the slight rustle of the wind caressing the large trees around him. That wind was unforgiving and although it was not harsh or fast, it was brutal. Its cold grasp enveloped Jaden’s body while he moved, only to be stopped by his wonderfully thick fur. It was times like this when Jaden truly felt lucky to be an Alaskan wolf. When his natural protection rendered the cool fingers of Mother Nature completely useless. That was when he loved the fur. In only a few months when he was scratching the loose fur from his under coat and constantly having to clean himself, that is when he would be wishing his thick fur away.

Jaden was warm, that was undoubtedly true, but he was far from comfortable. His muscle ached and cried in agony with every quick movement he took. His lungs were on fire and his paws hurt horribly from the constant abuse they were under. He had been running every day for almost two months now. Since he had left the shelter of the Kaktowik pack, he had been hunted. He did not see his hunter and he was happy about that. If he saw one of the ruthless killers of Uva Atka he would surely already be fighting for his life.

They were ruthless, just like he had been. Just like he somewhat still was. It was ironic that he had savored the fear of his game and the hunt he could only feel when hunting a predator. The hunt of a fellow wolf he had felt so many times in his three years of living. He had killed countless and countless had begged him not to. Talked of a litter that would die without them, or a sick mate they had to get back to. He had heard it all and never shown mercy. Most of the ones he killed were infected cowards or coyotes, creatures who he had deemed unfit for this world. But, he knew in the back of his hardened mind that some of them were telling some truth in their sad stories. Now he ran from the same hunters he had almost been an Alpha to. They had decided HE was unfit for this world.

That is what he had been, but he was no longer. He no longer had a faith to enforce, or a pack to please. He was absolutely alone in this world. He no longer had murder and fear to define him, but that was all he knew. He didn’t know what he was now. A coward? A Matchitehew demon?

Jaden mentally shook away those thoughts. It didn’t matter now. He could feel later. The only thing that mattered now was survival. Kaktowik said they would distract Uva Atka for as long as they could, but he doubted they would have gotten more than a week of hiding his absence. Uva Atka was smart enough not to attack Katowik, but not stupid enough to trust them. So he ran. Where was he headed? ‘Souls. That was simple. He had a debt to pay. His only problem was that every assassin his former pack had sent after him would not stop until they had succeeded in putting on of their weapons into Jaden’s heart. How many he had to worry about was unclear, but he would have to kill them. ALL of them if he ever wanted to escape. He was not sure who would catch up to him if he stopped. That fear kept him running. Jaden recalled the fear in the eyes of his packmates when they had seen him as an enemy. He remembered the only one that did step up to face him too. But Jaden cut that thought short before it could poison his consciousness with grief. Survive. That is all he had to do now. Survive.

The Alaskan wolf was easily the most agile defender in Uva Atka, and therefore the fastest runner in the pack. The only problem was that he had been running for so long. With little rest and time to hunt, Jaden was slowly destroying his body. He was still strong, but he could not keep this up for another two weeks. He had been slowing for the past three weeks till now. He was at almost half his top lupus running speed.

The weight on his back didn’t help either. He still held his satchel that was packed with weapons. The shoulder bag/back pack had been specially designed so he could ware it in both his lupus and secui forms by simply adjusting the neck strap. Inside the black elk-skin bag and strapped to the outside were an assortment of things. The outside straps held Jaden’s, short bow, four arrows, and a shoulder strap for carrying weapons without the satchel itself. The inside of the satchel held a pouch with different vials that each held a different herb. Also in his satchel were his dagger, a whetstone, some cloth he had scrounged from the human cities he had gone through, and a large pair of blades he only had one name for.

Moon blades. Jaden had found them in his pack after he had escaped Uva Atka. They were from his mate, Laura. A last gift that was never meant to be a last gift. She had tampered with his bag before it was given to him and set them in it. Jaden had trained hard with short blades as a main focus, after his archery, for fighting. His favorite type of short bladed weapon was one the metal workers in Uva Atka had begun to craft called crescent knives. The weapon was simply a semi-circle blade with a grip you held your in palm. When you closed your fist, it held the 12-inch circular blade right across your knuckles so that if you were to punch someone, they would meet the blade’s edge before your skin. They were simple slicing weapons that had nearly no defensive qualities.

Laura had fixed this problem as well as giving the blades artistic beauty. Not only were the moon blades crescent knives, but they also had thicker and more durable blades as well as full metal gauntlets connected to them that protected the users forearms gaving him or her an effective way to deflect enemy weapons. She went even further than this to customize them especially for Jaden’s needs. She knew what a fine archer he was and created the moon blade’s gauntlets to allow him to hold his bow and arrow with them on by simply unlocking the blade with a twist and popping the entire blade and fist guard off. It was a very simple design, but effectively turned the moon blades into protective archery gantlets.

She had left a note with them to. One she had probably written days before he was taken into custody. It read “To a defender, a leader, and the father of my pups. I crafted these for you my love, a simple gift but one I am proud of nonetheless. They will keep you safer than any crescent blade ever could. The only thing I ask for in return is that you use them. You have a family now that is nothing without you.”

Jaden’s heart ached as he remembered the beautiful and elegant print she had written the note in. It was much more graceful than anything he would ever be able to write. Then he began to slow his run. He had let the thoughts through, and now he didn’t want to move. He stopped in the middle of a frozen clearing as the morning sun sparkled over the dark mountains at his back. Pain froze his paws and cramped his legs. Pain for the loss of his family and his whole world. He stood there, wondering again. “What am I?… What am I running from?”

He truly didn’t know. Death was welcome, as he had nothing left to live for. Why should he not just lay in the cold clearing until someone came along to slit his throat? The pain would end quickly and his death would be satisfying. No more pain and no more sorrow would be enough for him.

But her words haunted him. The woman who’s blades he carried and who’s love he had lost to deaths cold vice. “Live for me.” Three simple words that were strong enough to melt his paws free from pain and relax his exhausted muscles. It was enough to keep him going. He looked over his shoulder at the mountains behind him wondering how long he had before they caught him. Then he turned back to the forest ahead of him and restarted his everlasting run.

It was morning again and Jaden felt no better than he had the day before. He pulled himself off the frozen ground and stretched his sore limbs. He had slept near the edge of a small cliff like he did whenever the chance presented itself. The last half of yesterday had been exhausting because he had spent it moving over steep mountain terrain to get to where he was now. From the cliff, the Alaskan wolf could see miles into the distance the way he had come. This was planned because now he could look for signs of hunters following him. Doing this before had revealed that the forest held nothing for him but its bittersweet silence, but it was worth the look.

Jaden stepped to the edge of the cliff and looked out on the dark sky. Monstrous clouds were coming toward him in the distance that looked as if they might suddenly descend on the earth and consume everything. Something caught his eye against the dark purple clouds though. In the distance there was a stream of white smoke rising above the treetops. His gaze froze on that long and ghostly smoke. He blinked in disbelieve as he hoped the smoke would suddenly disappear like a hallucination or a dream in the night. But it was day, and the wind began to pick up from the distant storm as it edged closer. The moving air brought with it the unmistakable sent of burning wood. The smoke was from his enemy’s camp. Jaden had been caught up to.

Without another thought, Jaden spun from the cliff and began to shift. He needed the speed of his secui form now because he knew his hunters would have already left their camp for the night. He needed a river. Masking his sent was the only chance he had to loose them. The shifting was done quickly and Jaden used his new found urgency to as energy. He ran down the mountain and into a valley where he hoped dearly was a river. He ran so fast, his balance began to falter with the incredible speed. The wind was pounding him ruthlessly in the face as the wolf ran and Jaden cursed silently. His sent would be on the hunter’s noses long before he even knew they were close.

When the deep bass gurgle of a large river filled the secui’s ears he knew he had some luck. He burst onto a riverbank and came to a sliding stop as he almost went head first into dark water. With out looking at the river he began to shift again. He was out of breath from the run and now the shift took a lot out of him too. Minutes later he stood in Optime form on the sandy bank. Jaden bent down to his satchel that now lay in the sand where he had dropped it to shift. He pulled from the pack his short bow, the moon blades, and his shoulder strap. With ease, he strapped the gauntlets to his forearm and the shoulder strap cross his body. He took the moon blades off their gauntlets and strapped them onto the shoulder strap near his hip so he could use his bow before the enemy was close enough to strike. The shoulder strap also made it possible to carry his satchel on his Optime form, so he quickly strapped it to his back and turned to the water.

Jaden froze. The river was not what he had hoped for. It roared at him as if it challenged him to step into its dark depths. Memories flashed back to Jaden of the Uva Atka ritual he had been forced to under go when he was only a pup. He remembered a large frozen lake and dark figures carrying him. Then without warning he was flying through the air only to come crashing down on the lakes ice. He smashed through and was submerged in freezing darkness only to swim to the frozen surface and scratch uselessly at the frozen barrier between him and air. The river struck this fear into him and he could not bring himself to put a single paw into it.

He tried to banish the fear and started to move up the river’s bank. He need to get as far away from the point on the other side of the river he wanted to exit at as possible so his sent could not be picked up easily again. He glanced to the other side of the bank and noticed a large pointed boulder. He would watch for that when he was swimming down the river.

Jaden pushed himself to get over his fear of the water. He knew he could swim to the other side, but there was still something in him that refused to let up. His heart beat furiously as he tried to convince himself to enter the water. Jaden ran along the wide river for a few hours trying to muster up the courage to jump in. As afternoon approached, large flakes of snow began to fall. They danced and spun through the air as the wind began to die down. Jaden knew he had to get into the river soon or he would run the risk of freezing before he made it to his destination. So he stopped a little while later and concentrated. His heart raced as he prepared to jump into the moving water.

Jaden suddenly felt eyes on him as he stared the water down. His instant response was to look over his shoulder into the forest. Standing in the tree line and watching him was the hunter. Mya’s white fur stood out against the dark tree bark, but nearly blended with the two inches of snow on the ground as she watched Jaden. They looked eyes. The two had been friends since they were pups and knew one another well. The gaze they shared was not hostile, but simply an acknowledgement one another. But she had come for him and he knew it all to well from the bow in her hand and the quiver of arrows on her back.

Jaden moved first. He finally dove into the monstrous river. Within seconds Mya had an arrow strung and sent it whizzing only inches from Jaden’s head as he resurfaced and floated down the quick river. Mya shouldered her bow and ran along the bank after him.

Jaden had miss judged the monster’ power and was having trouble keeping his head above the water as he was hurled and jerked in the river’s currents. He began to panic as large boulders hidden by the dark water smashed into his body and limbs. This was just as bad as he remembered and every instinct in him said to swim for the bank.

Mya was getting ahead of him as she watched her target struggle in the river. She looked up the river and saw a fallen log hanging over the water. It was a perfect perch to take a shot.

Jaden was slowly moving toward the opposite bank and did not notice Mya moving into position on the fallen tree. He clawed his way onto the bank finally and gasped for air. He looked over his shoulder and saw Mya with her bow raised. Jaden quickly dodged to his left and an arrow struck into the snowy sand and rocks where he had been a split second before. He pushed himself to his feet and ran into the forest.

Fast as lighting, Mya had another arrow strung, but trees now blocked her shot. She jumped down onto the riverbank and perused Jaden into the forest with the bow and arrow still strung. She would take the first shot she got. If just one of her arrows penetrated his skin, Jaden would be dead in hours. She had coated each arrow in Wolfs-bane the night before.

Jaden ran and weaved through the trees as quickly as he could. The only thing he knew was protecting him from Mya’s poison tipped arrows were the trees that blocked her deadly accuracy. When a clearing appeared ahead of him he knew he only had one choice. He stepped into the open and pulled the bow from his shoulder. He Spun around and strung an arrow, aiming it into the trees.

Mya stepped into the clearing in full sprint and froze when she saw the mistake she had made. Just before Jaden let the arrow go he had aimed at her chest, there was movement to his left. Mya had not come alone. Her mate Christopher lunged at Jaden’s legs in his Secui form. Christopher hit shoulder first and took Jaden’s legs out from under sending the arrow he had strung harmlessly into the sky. Jaden fell to the ground hard, but quickly caught Christopher’s maw as the secui came back and tried to close his powerful jaws on Jaden’s throat. Christopher’s teeth ground on the armored gauntlets as Jaden let the wolf jump into Mya’s aim. She had strung another arrow and was waiting for a clear shot, but her mate was on top of Jaden now and she didn’t want to hit him.

Christopher tore at Jaden’s gauntlets and his bites were deflected. Jaden reached down for one of the moon blades on his belt slowly as he tried to keep from being bitten by the sharp fangs before him.

One of the gauntlet’s smooth metal surfaces slipped out of Christopher’s mouth suddenly and caused Jaden’s arm to swing out a little too far. Christopher sunk his teeth into Jaden’s thick bicep and warm blood filled the cream colored wolf’s mouth. Jaden grunted as the sharp pain of Christopher tearing his head back and forth raged through his body. The secui was mangling Jaden’s arm, but he had reached and unclipped one of the moon blades from his belt. With a quick movement and a yelp from Christopher, Jaden slashed at the secui’s nose.

Mya watched as the fight continued. She could see Jaden reaching for one of his blades and Christopher was not noticing because he was to distracted by the taste of blood. She shouldered her bow and sprinted toward the fight. She drew her dagger as Jaden rolled over on Christopher. Her mate still had the murderers arm in his mouth and was tarring at it fiercely. From this position nether of them could kill the other. As she stood behind Jaden and raised her dagger into the air, she did something an assassin should never do. She hesitated. The realization that she was going to take her best friend’s life suddenly struck her. “These are Jaden’s last few seconds of life.” She thought with bitter sadness and surprise at the way she felt.

During her hesitation, Jaden had freed his biesep by slashing a deep gash into Christopher’s chest. He quickly locked the blade onto his gauntlet and pinned Christopher’s head down. He looked into Christopher’s dark brown eyes as he prepared to take another life. That was when he noticed Christopher’s gaze was not on him, but on the Optime who’s shadow now stood over both of them. Without a second thought, Jaden spun and slashed deeply into Mya’s muscular white belly. Blood spattered the fresh snow and a shiver ran through Mya’s body. Christopher yelped in agony from the sight. Jaden had swung off Christopher and was on his feet now. He watched as Mya dropped her dagger and fell to her knees, then onto her side in the snow. Christopher was trying to stand, but he couldn’t move his front legs without intense pain because of the deep gash in his chest. Jaden kicked him swiftly onto his back and crouched over the wolf. With his unarmed hand he turned the secui’s head and exposed his neck for a final blow. Christopher whimpered and shut his eyes.

“Jaden.” The voice was weak but familiar. Mya was calling to him. He looked over at her body in the red stained snow. Her eyes pleaded with him and her voice held pure... sadness. “Please, don’t kill him,” She winced. “If you ever cared for me.” Jaden looked down at Christopher who was breathing quickly. Steam bellowed from his cream snout with every huff. “Please.” She begged. She knew the slice to her abdomen was fatal. She already felt cold from the blood she was loosing and she needed desperately to save her mate.

Jaden thought about it for a second. He wanted to acknowledge his friend’s request so strongly, despite the fact she had tried to kill him. He had watched his mate be killed and he knew the unbearable feeling of pure weakness. But he knew Christopher would not stop coming for him once Mya was dead. He could smell the blood heavily in the air and knew she did not have long. With a quick movement that spattered his body with the assassin’s blood, Jaden ended Christopher’s life. Once the secui’s last movements faded, Jaden stood from the body. He slowly walked over to his dieing friend. She had closed her eyes and was breathing shallowly in a spot where her warm blood had melted away the snow. Jaden kneeled by her and looked at the wound in her belly. It hurt him deeply to see Mya this way. She had always been his strong willed best friend. Now she lay weak and dieing because of him. “I’m so sorry-” Jaden started after a moment of silence, but she cut him off.

“You…” She breathed. He picked up her head lightly in his claws when she didn’t continue. Her eyes fluttered open at the movement. “You were my friend…” Her gaze wandered to her dead mate. “You were my friend…” She reached weakly for the dagger she knew was near her thigh. “DIE!” She cried and with surprising agility she stabbed the dagger at Jaden’s throat. He had seen her movement before the attack though and caught her wrist. The dagger shakily hung in the air inches from his Jaden’s fur. He felt her strength pressing against his as she still desperately tried to imbed the blade into his flesh.

Only a few seconds later her strength relented and her arm fell. Tears fell too from her sky blue eyes as she looked up at him. “I never believed it,” She breathed, “But your heart really is cold and black. I’m sorry I didn’t do it. I should have killed you…” She sobbed lightly for a second then looked at Jaden again. “Laura deserved better, Matchitehew.” Matchitehew… Dark Heart.

That last look scarred him. His friend’s eyes were filled with hate and such deep sadness. Then she closed her eyes and relaxed. A soft breath issued from her nose before she faded into eternal darkness. The words she uttered swirled through Jaden’s mind for hours as he sat by her now cold body.

Jaden felt hollow. He had killed his best friend after taking her mate before her eyes. Time began to blur as Jaden sat there in the cold snow. The sun began to set and snow was building on the bodies as he felt the painful hollowness.

He finally shook himself into reality and stood so he could dress his wounded arm and brush the snow and ice from his fur. He was alone again. The forest’s silence gave away not an ounce of sympathy for Jaden. Was he a murder now? Still the question of what he was. No longer did it need to be answered. It didn’t matter to him right then. He had promised to live and so he still lived. He let his mind go blank as he began to through the woods. He wondered until he found a shallow cave where he set up camp for the night.

Jaden moved out of the cave he had found last night slowly, still in his Optime form, which was strange. He had lived so long believing luperci was a curse that even now he didn’t like being in the body for so long. But he didn’t feel like shifting back. He didn’t feel like doing much of anything this morning.

After the events of yesterday, Jaden had to sleep next to a fire to keep from freezing. He also needed the warmth to get the water out of his equipment and dry his bow. He didn’t want the blades to rust or his bow to split.

The morning had ushered in the smell of smoke and new pain. Jaden found many bruises and tender areas that had not been apparent yesterday. Now he was walking with his dagger and bow packed in his satchel on his back. The only weapons he had in veiw were the moon blades on his shoulder strap. He was wearing the black gauntlets.

The forest was still silent, but now it was also covered in a layer of snow. The snow made the silence even more absolute than before. Now not even the trees moved and the sky was a light gray color from horizon to horizon. The lack of life didn’t help Jaden’s mood.

He walked for most of the day through the rough mountain landscape. From what Kaktowik had told him of his journey to ‘Souls, he was very close. As he wondered along the base of the mountain range, he smelled coyote, many coyotes. There was a pack who’s land was butted against the mountains near here. Jaden had NEVER met a coyote he hadn’t killed, much less liked. So he hurried on his way hoping he didn’t run into one of the annoying little dogs and spent a few hours going around the pack lands. Once he finally got to flat ground that was not polluted with the sent of coyote, he headed away from the mountains with a sigh of relief.

Jaden stopped only a little while after leaving the hearty mountains to change the bandages on his bicep. He had wrapped it in cloth and used some of the herbs he had and boiled snow water to cleanse it. As far as Jaden could tell, the wound was not infected. This was a relief because he knew bite wounds were prone to infection from first hand experience.

The Optime was sitting on a hollow log as he rewrapped the wound in fresh cloth and finished packing his supplies back into the satchel. H swung the satchel over his shoulder, and heard a hollow THUNK! Jaden was not sure at first what the sound was and his ears twitched questioningly. Then he looked up at a tree in front of him. Imbedded half an inch in the tree was a large throwing knife. Jaden slowly turned around.

The sight behind him was heart stopping. Standing almost eight feet tall was a behemoth Optime. It was not just any luperci though, but an Uva Atka worrier by the name of Zev. Jaden had known him for quite sometime, but Zev was very quiet when it came to speaking in his former pack, so Jaden had never known him well. Though he really had no want to. Zev was borderline horror movie big. His muscle rippled with every small movement he made and his fur was a dark brown. He stood more than six inches taller than Jaden who was not a small luperci to begin with. But the scariest part was the monstrous six-foot sword he held in his massive claws now.

“I don’t miss.” He said simply as Jaden gawked. “That was once I did not kill you. That just would have been too easy.” He shifted the large sword in his hands. “I need payment for all the traveling I have done.”

Jaden was already twisting his Moon blades into place when the Worrier had finished speaking. “Why not just kill me? It is not part of your vows to show mercy.”

“Mercy you say?” The monster laughed, “I do not show you mercy. I will take your head to Daren, I just wish to have some fun first.”

“Entertainment? Your ignorance will cause your death. Your pack’s beliefs are a sick lie and your fun is in the killing of the innocent.” Jaden said bluntly.

Zev shrugged and stepped toward Jaden. “Call it what you want. I will kill you for spilling the blood of Uva Atka pack members.”

Zev quickly swung the blade strait for Jaden’s head. Jaden ducked and Zev’s sword sunk deep into the bark of a tree. The jolt caused snow from the branches over head to fall with soft PLOT noises. Jaden got close enough to slice at his foe’s body, but Zev simply took one of his hands from the sword’s hilt and punched at Jaden’s chest. Jaden blocked the hit with both gauntlets, but the force of it still made him topple over.

Jaden rolled backward to his feet and faced Zev again. Zev yanked the sword from the tree and grinned. “You see, this is fun, is it not?”

Jaden didn’t answer. He kept running the scene through his head and trying to find a way to out maneuver this luperci’s shear power. This was not going to be easy. Zev swung at Jaden again but this time Jaden parried the blow with his gauntlets. Zev came back with another hit, then another and another. Jaden kept deflecting the sword but each blow rattled his arms so brutally he was afraid more strikes might break his forearm bones. He deflected two more then spun after deflecting a third so that he was close to the giant again. He had to get past the reach of the large blade. He slashed Zev’s chest once. Zev suddenly slammed his elbow over into the side of Jaden’s head, nearly knocking him senseless. The quick hit was followed by another hit to the gut and then Zev slammed the hilt of the sword into Jadens injured arm and slashed with an upward sweep at Jaden’s body.

Jaden cried out in pain from the hit to his injured arm. It brought it out of his momentary stupor. He managed to jump back as far as he could but still didn’t escape the sword’s edge completely. He felt the familiar painful tang of steel run up his chest as the blade cut him shallowly from the bottom of his rib cage to his collarbone. Jaden stumbled back clutching his body. He pulled his hand back and saw the dark blood on his already maroon colored hands.

Zev felt the small wound Jaden had inflicted. “That is the second time I could have killed you. You disappoint me Jaden. I thought you would have been more… entertaining, from what I heard about you. You are boring me so I will not give you more time alive. Raise your weapons and I’ll end this.”

Jaden couldn’t win against this beast. He was outmatched by the large sword AND the Optime wielding it. He should have expected this. Zev was a worrier. They had been trained differently. Jaden was fast and quiet. Zev was meant to be unmatched in power. So he did what any smart wolf would have done. He turned tail and ran. He sprinted away from his death holding his sliced chest as he escaped. He could feel the blood seeping into his fur and feared he might have been cut too deeply for the bleeding to stop on its own. The wound was surprisingly painless because of the sharpness of Zev’s blade.

Escape ended up being impossible though. Zev’s practically uninjured body easily caught up with Jaden and he begin to swing his sword. Jaden heard Zev and waited until the beast’s first swing, then ducked and spun, swing the Moon blades for Zev’s hand. Then he curled into a ball and got as low as he could. Zev had not expected this. Two of the Optime’s fingers were severed and the sword went sailing out of his hand as he tripped over Jaden’s curled body.

The force of his running enemy’s knees as they slammed into Jaden’s body also took his breath. He gasped and stood as quickly as he could, trying to escape while Zev picked up his sword. Little did he know Zev was not worried about his sword now. Unluckily for Jaden, the beast was in a rage and all but ignored the loss of his fingers and weapon. He tackled Jaden pinning his bladed arms with large knees and began to strangle the smaller Optime.

Jaden pulled at his arms and tried to push Zev off, but it was like an entire mountain had just been set on his throat. He struggled to no end as the enraged Zev held his throat closed from air.

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