The King of Beasts(Akryn and Xierak)

Akryn laughed at Xieraks idea, retrieving his jacket before frowning at the claw marks in it. It was old. Well worn and comfortable. It had been with him for quite some time. But it was ruined. Akryn sighed as he tossed it aside, eyeing the massive lion again and already mentally choosing the choice sections of skin for a new coat. "No. Just the head. Those bastards don't deserve the meat, or even the sight of it, and I don't want to deal with them trying to take some. Wouldn't do for us to get this far and I get in trouble for cutting off a thiefs hand. Leave the carcasses here. The smell of blood will either ward animals off or lure in more possible prey for us, either way, its ours in the end. I think I could make a nice marinade for one of those massive rump roasts there." He said as he walked over to the massive lion and in a flash, whipped his swod out and then back into his sheathe, to fast to see. The results of the slash were easy to see however as the head would roll away from the body. "There we go, Lets go." Akryn said, turning and trusting Xierak to grab the head. "Hey tell me something, how do you think I would look with some facial hair?" he asked, rubbing his hairless chin. "I've been considering trying to grow something. Maybe a goatee, or just a soul patch, eh?" he asked with a large grin on his face.

Xierak watched and listened to Akryn intently, and after some thought when the wind mage finished he nodded, “Fair enough…” Xierak then watched as Akryn quickly decapitated the carcass and then slowly started to walk towards the village. Xierak look at Akryn go for a moment and then looked back at the mammoth carcass,  after a moment he nodded, and then pointed at various different sharp shards and let the pieces start to rapidly and precisely move through the air with his gravitational manipulation. He then quickly and cleanly skinned the entire lion and then rolled up the skin into one roll and nodded. He then grabbed onto the head in one hand and the skin in the other, he then started to walk after Akryn.

When he heard Akryns next question he cocked his head in confusion and started to think for a moment, Beard… that’s a new term… is it a type of clothing or…. Wait… hair on the face… that’s right… that’s what she had corrected me when I first called it that… Xierak then looked at Akryn and studied him for a long moment and then nodded, “I guess it could work for ya… but I don’t think I would be a good judge on what your kind look like. After all, you people are a weird bunch…” Xierak then continued walking for a good bit until they reached the main road, which he then turned and started to walk down the road until they reached the main gate.

When the two guards saw them they were for somereason not so surprised at the sight of the Xierak hold the hide and head of the lion, they tossed Akryn a bag of jewels and kept a watchful eye on Xierak, “You two did a good job, our village is finally freed from that beast…” As one of the guards said this Xierak heard movement to his right and left, and managed to spot a group of armed hunters on either side, “Akryn…”

Post 23/30

Akryn saw the hunters as well, and a deep frown formed on his face. He tossed the bag of jewels to the side before drawing his sword, the black star cutter. And then stabbing it into the ground, before then unlatching his seven cuts and letting them fall. "You lot seem to have taken a real interest in my friend there. Judging by your significant lack of surprise at our return, and the unnecessary amount of weaponry, Imma go out on a limb and say you lot were watching. That means you saw what he has under that hood of his. And, as a bunch of so called hunters, I'm betting you all look at him and see a real big trophy, right?" Akryn said, as he removed his red glove and dropped it with the seven cuts.

Xierak would see something about Akryn at this point. Like a shadow rising up from the ground to engulf Akryn. Anger, no, rage, and murderous intent were almost over whelming, as it rolled off of Akryn in waves. His hands were clenched into fists, and the veins were beginning to become visible on his hands, arms, and neck. As he stood there, the wind would begin to whip up, viciously, focusing into a small whirl wind around Akryn. Akryn was currently putting off an aura of pure menace, enough menace to force the gathering hunters to back pedal, enough menace to likely frighten even Xierak, or any monster that might have ever witnessed it. "Xierak is my team mate, and my brother. If you lay a single hand upon him, or attempt to harm him in anyway, I shall personally lay waste to your pathetic village. I shall flatten everything you hold dear, tear this place plank from plank, shatter its very foundations, and leave not a one here alive." He snarled, the wind kicking up more and raising his hair up wildly. "I am the real monster, and you don't want to cross me."

As mad as Xierak was, he was saddened as he saw Akryns mood turn for the worst he then heard out what Akryn had said, and bowed his head. He then dropped the head and reached over and placed his hand on Akryns shoulder. He then shook his head and simply said, “Don’t Akryn… It is not worth it… Bloodshed should only be done as a last resort or they truly deserve it…” Xierak had never spoken against Akryns tendancies, mainly because he was to caught up in fighting, the thought of death always gave him an odd feeling deep down within himself.

He then closed his eyes and focused on the hunters, “As for you all… I will gladly relieve you of your weapons…” Xierak then focused on all of the spears, well more specifically the gravity around them, and then lifted up the hand on Akryn’s shoulder and closed it into a fist. Then Suddenly all the spears were ripped out of their hands and sent high into the air. After a moment they all hit the ground blade first getting stuck firm in there. “Now then..-“ “All of you pups Stop this now!” A familiar voice echoed out from the village which made all the hunters cringe and turn around sharply to see their chieftain.

“I thought I told you all to leave the mage be! The greatest Lesson any hunter should learn, Ones appearance does not dictate who they are.” At these words Xierak tensed and his eyes widened, “The only thing that determines who they are, is themselves, and what lies within their heart, why this creature has shown more humanity than any of you, while you had acted like a thoughtless monster when he came back here from doing the task we had asked him and his companion to do, Shame on all of you! You Digrace the title of hunters of this village!”

Akryn did not turn to look at Xierak, instead fixing a glare of utter threats on each and every one of the hunters, as he slowly retrieved his gear and the jewels, backing out of the village, his glare never leaveing the hunters that had, as he felt it, betrayed him, and Xierak. If he had his way, he would level this village, and tear its traitorous inhabitants limb from limb. Betrayal was the worst of sins, especially for something as simple, and easily broken, as pride. He spat on the ground as he passed through the gates before turning to walk away.

He angrily began putting his seven cuts back on, as he stabbed the black star cutter back into its sheathe. He was livid, absolutely enraged, at what had just happened. "Xierak, we are gonna make a sled out of some trees, use that thing to get all this meat back to the guild. I can cook up that big guy with a sweet, savory sauce on it that will be to die for. Meat will be falling off the bone, it will be so tender!" He said, faking a smile to Xierak. No matter how upset he was, there was no reason to let Xierak on it any more than he already was.

Still, Akryn felt guilty. Extremely guilty. He had almost lost control in that village, and he had been ready to level it. He liked that he was building a good connection with someone, even if they weren't human, but he needed to get control of himself. He had issues, he knew he did. A lack of concern for the lives of others was the kind of mentality he had taken on inorder to fight Scorpion Tail. But where was the line?

Xierak stood there for a long moment, the words of the chief sinking in and picking up a storm within his heart, bringing back memories of that time of his life when he was first told that and what had followed. He gritted his teeth and placed his arms to his side, forming incredibly tight fists. He then then heard Akryns idea and quietly nodded. He picked up the head and the hide once more and turned around and walked off, when suddenly a large roll of burlap and two very large bags of salt were presented, “Take these Lads, you will need them." Xierak turned and looked at the items and nodded, he then manipulated the gravity around the objects and made them float behind him as they walked. He walked in silence for a while until they reached the site of where their battle took place.

Xierak sat down the head hide and the other items and turned to Akryn, “I will leave you to the carving… I will make us a sled…” Xierak then turned and walked towards a group of trees that was still standing from the sheer chaos of the fight, he then nodded and focused on the gravity around all of them by outstretching his right hand palm out, and then leveling it out and lifting. Then all of the trees were uprooted out of the ground and then dropped to the ground with a large amount of noise being created, and a entire flock of birds who had taken rest in the trees after fight took off. Xierak watched them leave and then walked over to one of the trunks of the trees and picked it up with his left hand, he then removed the glove off of his right claw and extended out the five spikes on his hand and begun to split the wood with them,

Akryn nodded at Xieraks statement and headed towards the carcass, drawing his sword as he did so. He stopped as he approached however, looking down at the ground and nervously shifting from one foot to the other. "Xierak..... Back in the village.... what happened..... Xierak I am not ok with how I lost my cool back there. I would have killed them all, I would have leveled the whole village, with out a second thought. Xierak, remember that. I would have killed every one for trying to harm you. But you, the one they wanted to hurt, the one every one would run away from, you were the one to stop me. This world is full of bad people Xierak, with a handful of true monsters. Being a monster is dictated by your actions, what you will and wont do, not what you look like. You are not a monster Xierak. You are more human than anyone I know, with an understanding and acceptance of human failures that few others can grasp. I am a monster Xierak, a monster that I choose to be, to complete my goals and protect those around me. I am a monster so that others do not have to be. But a monster unleashed is a terrifying thing. Thank you for stopping me, and being that leash." Xierak said before going to work, cutting at the lion with ferocious determination, starting first on the shoulders, working to split the skin along the bottom to gut the creature, with frightening precision, before stabbing his sword into the ground and drawing a knife instead, to start working at the skin. "What do ya say big guy? A nice cloak for ya, with the head as a hood? Nice and intimidating!"

Xierak managed to create over a half a dozen rough slabs of wood and started to carefully bind them all together with sever cords of vine that he managed to find. After a few more minutes as Akryn talked Xierak had managed to create a massive sled big enough for the task of carrying the meat. He then unraveled the tarp and laid it across the entirety of the sled with a good amount of excess. Xierak then stood up and placed the glove back on his claw, “Thank you for seeing that Akryn… but don’t think you have to sacrifice your own self to be the monster… No one needs to be a monster… or a demon… when they have allies who care about you and are fighting alongside you….” Xierak then stretched a bit and then got two more cords of vine and attached them to the sled.

“As for your clothing advice… I am quite happy with my current wardrobe… Its nice and simple, easy to blend in into a crowd.” If there was ever a moment Xierak was oblivious to his size, this would be it. He would then pick up one of the bags of salt and started to throw some on to the fresh cuts of meat as Akryn got done with them, he made sure to salt the head to preserve it as well. He would then procede to load each of the pieces of meat onto the tarp in a very organized manner. This will be a nice workout… pulling this load all the way back to clover… I can’t wait to actually be able to enjoy the meat in my cave… alone… private… over a nice fire after being slowly roasted for a few hours, it will be a nice bit of heaven on earth….

Akryn laughed a bit as he strapped the skins over the top of the meat pile, as both a cover, and to transport them, the massive kings skin rolled up and drapped over the top. "That's a matter of opinion Xiery old boy. But we can discuss morals later. For now, lets pack these bad boys up and get em back to the guild. I plan to cook the big one up for the whole guild, lots of garlic and cumin, maybe some pepper to. Oh, or I could cook it up in a slow roasted style, with a cream and mushcroom gravy! Maybe just fry it up in steaks and strips even! Damn, my mouth is watering. How you like it big guy, rotisserie style, medium rare? Maybe with a good side of bacon potatoes I think."

After everything was packed up, and Akryn had made sure to snatch up any teeth that might have been knocked out, Akryn grabbed one of the sled straps and began pulling it, right along side Xierak. "Hey Xierak....you ever think about family? I didn't much know mine, though I think maybe I might have found one of em.....but its not something I am used to. I'm glad we came to blue Pegasus. I feel like its the closest thing to a family I can get right now."