Duck Lake Your heart engages into heartless throes

"I'll be back in a little bit!" Burr called over his shoulder as he padded away from the small traveling group. They would reach Easthollow by the end of the day, but before they reached the borders, Burr wanted time to be alone with his thoughts. He needed to decide how he was going to deal with seeing his parents again. He needed to decide how he could forgive them for leaving Rowana and him alone for so long. He needed to sequester away the blame, and be better.

So he headed toward a quiet wood arranged along the side of a frozen lake, nearly unidentifiable by the heavy snow over its frozen surface. Weak white sunlight filtered down overhead, offering no warmth, and a cold wind blew eastward across the valley. He found his way into a plowed trail left by a roaming moose and padded along, ignoring the occasional twinge in his ankle that told him he was stressing it more than it was accustomed to. His plumed tail bobbed as he strolled along, enjoying the solitude and silence for the time being while he attempted to sort out his feelings.

You know who you are.

iliksis had spent the night by the frozen lake's shattered edge, where a part of the bank had been shattered by brute force (moose, he suspected) and a sliver of the dark water welled underneath, swelling with fractured sheets of glass. he had supped his fill from the icy water, and had set into the woods for sustenance.

he came across beaten snow, trod down by massive cloven hooves that dwarfed his own pawprints. curiously he noted the intermittent striding of pawprints that were distinctly canine, and as he lowered his muzzle into the snow he detected the scent to be fairly recent. with dark ambition he followed the ploughed crosscut, until at length he saw the bobbing form of a wolf wrestling the trail same as him. he made no noise save for his footfall as he sped his approach, his attention mostly on the strangely plumed tail that bobbed absurdly with each leap the yearling made through the unevenly beat pass.

He ran through scenarios in his mind, attempting to best simulate the real encounter with his parents so he could prepare himself. He had seen Mawk since his accident but he'd been too overwhelmed at the time to find any words to confront his father; now he was feeling bolder, empowered by Morningside, in a way. Burr wasn't one to hold a grudge at all, especially for an accident, but these days, he also wasn't one to hold his tongue. Telling his parents how he felt was necessary to move past the apprehension clouding him.

He became aware of the sound of paws in snow at the same time he began to feel like he was being watched, and turned sidelong, expecting Pema or Dauntless. Instead it was a stranger, cast in dark shades of grey with fervent yellow eyes, mistaken at first for a woman. Only when Iliksis was nearer did Burr smell that he was a man instead. "Oh, sorry," the adolescent said with a sheepish smile, pressing into the thicker snow at the edge of the trail in order to give Iliksis room to pass. He was going nowhere fast, but the stranger seemed to be in a hurry. He'd hate to be in the way.

iliksis did not alter his course when burr became alerted to his presence; the yearling bid to step off of the trail, and iliksis pressed forward. he offered the wolf a strange smile as if appreciative of his consideration -- and for a moment, it looked as if the shadow would pass burr by. two strangers, alone in the wildnerness affording each other simple courtesy as they each forged their own separate paths in the snow.

when he drew along burr's shoulder he suddenly altered his trajectory; like a whip he lashed upon the stranger, jaws parted for the youth's neck. burr may have seen the hate brimming in his gaze, or he may have even detected the predatory shift of iliksis' measured steps -- but it would not alter the bludgeoning momentum of his blows.

if iliksis struck true he sough to grab neck and pull the youth down into the ground, his front limbs splayed in front of burr's own in the hopes to flip him practically upside down and render him defenseless for iliksis' next onslaught.

As the strange man drew alongside him, Burr experienced a sudden ripple of a nameless feeling down his shoulders and back. His smile faltered even as Iliksis shared his own; this wolf had a feeling about him that wasn't good. Before Burr could shuffle away and find some other path to follow, the stranger turned suddenly—the younger wolf's gaze snapped back to him, alarmed—and planted teeth into the side of Burr's neck.

With a startled cry, Burr took the full brunt of Iliksis' lunge. His assailant was skilled in combat, expertly hooking the unsuspecting juvenile by the legs and throwing him to the ground in a maneuver that felt effortless. Burr's body twisted to the side as he went down, landing hard on his shoulder and forcibly rolling onto his back in the deeper snow from Iliksis' momentum. He thrust his forepaws out in front of him, trying to catch the strange male in the soft space just above the armpits, and his hind legs scrabbled for purchase on his attacker's underside. He struggled against the ground, thrashing in an effort to get up and get away, all the while crying out his fear and surprise with wide eyes.

it would be a lie to say iliksis was not satisfied by the precocious success of his attack: the juvenile hardly knew what had hit him, and crumpled into the snow underneath him. iliksis wasted no time in attempting to straddle the youth with the entire of his body weight, though he felt the grey's hinds kicking furiously under him with sharp pangs of pain. the pain only made him furious, which made his attacks that much more vicious in their iniquitous nature.

burr's cries were heard, but they did not dissuade iliksis from his task: with burr still upended, the male flattened his body as much as he could, pressing as close to burr's struggling body as he could to eliminate the boy's kicks from gaining any power. like a spider he sought to wrap himself around burr's frame and hold him there, until exhaustion crept into his struggles. once that panicked fatigue was achieved, iliksis would pull back just enough that the pressure was lifted from burr's frantic body. the male deliberately left enough room between their forms that burr could feasibly have flipped over onto his stomach and attempted to claw his way out.

iliksis remained poised over burr with a thrill strumming in his heart -- and as soon as burr's feet collected under his young body and he rose, iliksis would strike again. this time iliksis lunged for the back of the boy's skull, his teeth seeking to close around the very beginning of the hapless youth's neck. the second his wicked teeth found contact, iliksis would swing back with all of his force and heave his neck sideways in a hurling manner not unlike the swing of a hammer -- a gesture designed to mercilessly snap burr's spine immediately, and leave him wholly helpless to iliksis' advances.

He struggled as fiercely as he could, but Burr was no fighter. In fact, he had acquired very few advanced skills in his life. He didn't have the patience for hunting, the drive for sparring, or the interest in any named pack role to pursue it. Consequently, Burr's resourcefulness was little more than a withered sapling, and he struggled to formulate a plan under pressure. There was no time for it; his usual go-to manner of thinking failed instantly when Iliksis pressed down on top of him, forcing him into the snow with swift strikes. He didn't know to fight back. He only knew to cower.

There was a split second of opportunity, and amidst the pain and encroaching weariness, Burr tried to take it. He managed to squirm over onto his side, kicking and screaming, and got his feet under him. A surge of relief shot up through his belly, only to be coldly dashed when his assailant seized him by the back of his head. He hardly even had time for his eyes to bulge and for a shriek to build in his throat before his head was wrenched violently to the side with a sharp pop, and suddenly his whole body felt frigidly liquid and out of his control.

He fell to the ground, unable to command a single voluntary muscle in his body, and wheezed through the blinding pain that pummeled his senses. He screamed so loud his throat tore raw and his eyes saw nothing but white. He tried to struggle, but his body was motionless, paralyzed but just beyond the mercy of a quick death from Iliksis' tug.

just like that, burr's struggle was over with a deeply satisfying pop. for an irresolute monster like iliksis, such an untenable act was truly that easy. killing came to iliksis the way breathing might come to a creature like burr -- only now, burr was facing his eventual end and sometime in the future, would breath no longer.

burr hung limp in iliksis' mouth, his blood warm, his flank still rising.  the wraith breathed deep then despite the screams that flooded the forest, a flush of victorious hubris engulfing him.

the forest around them was eerily still, as if the violent ritual that had just transpired somehow stalled their quietly beating hearts. iliksis dropped burr to the ground - the juvenile collapsed with a listless whump. he looked over burr's form impassively, a strange peace sinking through his riled blood.

there would be no further struggle here on burr's behalf, though unfortunately for the silvery juvenile, iliksis had no intention of truncating his newest toy's life short that soon. after a moment's respite to soak in the thrilling sense that was his indomitable power, iliksis turned back to the boy and started to drag his debilitated body deep into the fen.

burr would find no further joy in his life - not with iliksis' cruel jaws around him. once the male had dragged burr to a more isolated environ, he dropped his prize again and turned upon him with a wicked smile. for a while, he simply laid next to burr, his small ribcage rising in union with the paralyzed wolf's -- they shared the same air, the same space; iliksis enjoyed the soft plush of the juvenile's fur against him, and the heady warmth of his struggling breath.

iliksis knew his quarry was not long for this world in his present condition, and after a while he stirred again, his baleful gaze contorted by dark purpose. he pulled the boy along the snow, nosing his limbs so that he was spread plain in the white powder like a deer about to be gutted. iliksis took special care as he brushed his nose along burr's exposed abdomen, a tingling sensation of raw excitement consuming him as he positioned burr flat-outright across the ground.

he stepped back and for a moment seemed to admire his handiwork -- and then without warning, fell to burr's exposed stomach and started to eviscerate him alive. burr's flesh presented no protest -- iliksis' teeth hooked through skin as if the tissue were fragile flower petals -- and within seconds his muzzle was rimed in warm blood and the thick stench of organs drowned his senses. the snow matted darkly by iliksis' work, bright droplets of crimson flaring along the white powder while a deep and foreboding black oozed from the boy's disemboweled stomach.

as if in ceremony, iliksis pulled back from deep inside the hole he had chewed through burr's midsection, bulging intestines clutched in his muzzle. the color was one iliksis had no name for -- oily of sheen and a deeply swollen, bloodied mauve -- he extracted their contents on the snow and stared adoringly down at the blooded spectacle he had created; a grim and violently red painting that clashed vividly against the soft white blanket of snow.

The white in his vision turned to black, and his screams quieted with a croak. Burr was unconscious while Iliksis dragged his broken body through the snow into the privacy of the woods. He was unconscious as the sadist laid alongside him, sating whatever sick emotional needs he had. This was a blessing and a curse. Burr's mind would have snapped then and there had he known what was happening, but perhaps that would have been better than what really happened.

Burr came to as his body was nudged into position. His senses were dulled to the point of complete detachment; he could see his grim reaper through the blurry haze of impending death, and watched, unable to move or produce a single sound besides a gurgle, as Iliksis nosed his belly. He felt the slice through his skin and muscle but it was a clinical sensation, his nerves already numb and mind already shattered. His breath was hard to draw, like breathing through a straw; his heart was sluggish. He watched through rapidly fading vision as Iliksis extracted something from his belly, and something inside him recoiled, curdled, desperately screamed to reach out and stuff it back in, but there was nothing his paralyzed body could do.

Death was swift in coming after that. Burr's vision fizzled first, then his strangled breaths, and finally his struggling heart as Iliksis strew his innards about in the snow.

iliksis' gaze fell to burr, who seemed to stir into consciousness with a detachment that suggested death's order would soon come for him. he stepped gingerly over the mound of strewn organs and hunkered down next to burr's prone skull, his gaze searching deep within the glassy and hollow eyes of his victim. no spark of life stirred between those blackened pupils -- only a vacancy that swam in tight rings of pain.

iliksis stared at those soulless eyes a moment longer, and brought his lips to burr's forehead in a tender kiss as burr labored with his last shuddering breath --- and then, he was still.

if iliksis was ever capable of sadness, it was then -- a disappointment overcame him that his prey was that short-lived. he lifted his muzzle and rose slowly, trailing his nose along the tufts of burr's quietened neck. he seized burr's -- or, rather, the dead wolf's -- neck and dragged him then, thick ropes of the boy's gutted intestines dragging in the snow behind them. their progress stained the snow a deep gout of black and red, and iliksis left the blotted organs where he had carefully pared them in the naked snow.

he would drag the boy for miles then, over stone and snow and dirt, until burr's pelt was dusty and his eyes were two sunken, hollowed voids that sorrowed the world with their passing. he would delight in parsing burr's tail for @Ithrik, and would keep the boy's lifeless, corpulescent body as his companion for some time.