Totoka River The Pig God

Ganon moved northward, finding very little trace of his brother, dead or alive. The warlock had a lot on his mind, beyond finding his littermate. What was going on between Damien and his followers, and Maegi and Ramsay...his family. What would he do? Could he do anything? It would be best if they reconciled, but he knew that that could not happen. Ramsay and Maegi seemed disillusioned with their family's past, while Damien was all but fanatical, a new God-king to replace the Goddess that was Meldresi. Ideologically he followed his sibling-niece/nephew. He was loyal to their family, but not what they worship and what that represents. Ganon fled before the destruction that killed his Uncle and grand-uncle and scattered his family to the winds. He came back to the skeletal remains of his family. Could he have done something? That possibility reverberated in his head once more. Again and again. Gods, Vaati would hate him... He already does doesn't he? 

He was thinking too much, again. Ganon cursed to himself and kept striding forward, his nose low to the sands for signs of his brother.

the girl had lost none of her hateful will towards ganondorf in the days that followed. he had stolen a treasure most valuable to her, and she would see to it that his blood spilled freely as a result. 

most days, the girl hung well out of visibility, deliberately sneaking beyond detection.. but today, while the man seemed preoccupied by his thoughts, the black wraith stole close with murderous intent hardening her gaze. 


she was dreadfully silent as she closed in; like a raptor stalking her prey she flitted from shadow to shadow, steps light and sights focused on the fiery form of her enemy. when she was at last within kiss or kill distance, the dark terror sprung for ganondorf with a demon’s bloodthirsty shriek, pouncing upon him with vicious intent and fully hoping to kill him then and there.

He really should have expected this by now.

The wraith — the creature that was his cousin — had been on his tail for days. He was half aware of it as he traversed the shore. That should have been a sign that the stone meant a lot more to the spirit than Ganon initially thought — it was more than just some interesting trinket. Or perhaps it was a trinket, and she was just angry that he had stolen from her. But he was oblivious to either fact, just angry that she kept at him, following him.

And now attacking him. 

The stone was in his mouth at the time when she struck. He tightened his grip on the rock, determined to hold onto his prize as long as possible. He was much, much larger and sturdier than her, and had been trained to fight (though never with a self-inflicted handicap). It immediately struck him that this would be a difficult fight from the start — she had the drive to kill, he had no teeth to bite her with. He struck out with his paws, the movement awkward but forceful. He did not want to kill her, but he would if she gave him no choice.

merrick had indeed read the girl's patterned message in the grass, and had tracked her in the days that followed. there was no reason to do so, for he felt no true sense of loyalty toward the little wraith, but all the same he followed her from outside the mountains to the place of strife he found her now.
merrick came upon astara as she struck the much larger wolf, a male who did not seem to immediately respond. the young coywolf paused in his steps, attempting to survey the situation before coming to her aid. while he did not doubt she had her reasons, it seemed a foolish, stupid move.
nevertheless, they had eaten meals together, slept near one another; if it had not been for her hospitality after the eagles, merrick was unsure that he would have been able to survive. and so he held back his charge in favour of loping toward the pair, tail upflung as he glanced between his demonic companion and the powerful man who appeared to be her quarry.

unsurprisingly, astara's bloodcurdling scream had alerted ganondorf to her presence. with the smooth ease of a man assured in his might, he struck for her and sent her sideways, the force of his blow enough to force her trajectory elsewhere. like a demon who just had scalding holy water thrown upon it, astara hissed and retreated, her gaze fueled with hateful fire.

she fled at a scathing trot. she had no hope to overcome him, and without the element of surprise any second attack would be futile. a growl clipped in her throat as she circled menacingly, bobbing her head back and forth to ensure ganondorf still held the stone. it was then she saw merrick and froze, the growl cut short.

lowering her head with a snort, the ghoul took one step closer to ganondorf, her form bent like a darkened hyena. the longer he held that stone, the more accursed her rage would become -- eventually ganondorf might rationally come to the conclusion the stone was cursed, and she was the physical embodiment of that darkened arcana.

The blow connected, sending the small demon flying with amazing force given how strange he felt by using his paws only. He was so used to using his muzzle, his teeth to attack. But he could not let go of the stone. No. He couldn't.

He snorted, watching as she reeled back and began to circle him. He followed her every move — literally Z-targeting on her body as she danced around him. His body tensed in anticipation for her next strike, but she froze and looked behind him. He looked back for an instant and his eyes widened.

Oh, gods, there were two of them.

Fuck, Ganon grunted, his mouth muffled by the stone. Not two. Fuck fuck fuck fuuuuckk.

He had only given the second attacker a quick glance, unwilling to keep his eyes off of the creature. She stepped forward and he answered with a rush. When he got close he reeled back, raising his front paws to slam down on her body.

the girl caught sight of him, but circled back to reinstate her attack. there was an energy to his silent companion he had not before seen, and merrick was struck with a morbid curiosity as he continued toward the both of them.
only when the larger wolf lunged for astara was the coywolf galvanized into action. a snarl broke from his jaws in a welter of saliva; he broke into a run and aimed a defensive blow along the brute’s shoulder, not a true threat but with the intent to deter him from injuring the wraith.

the thief turned his sights upon her and struck like a warhammer. astara was an excellent sneak -- but she was no hardened warrior -- ganondorf's aim was true, and a second time the girl was repelled with astounding force.

brought down to the ground, astara yelped. ganondorf's pile-driving maneuver had struck the wind from her, and she writhed prone on the ground as merrick flew to the auburn wolf's side. as much as her wild instinct commanded her to rise to her feet and rip ganondorf's throat out from him while he was preoccupied, astara could not will her limbs to collect under her. a roaring fire burned in her gut, and in her peripherals dark spots swam and oscillated outwards.

gasping in the dirt, the girl's limbs trembled and shook, but she did not rise.

oh no what have i done

Ganon felt a burst of joy as his paws connected with the creature's body. She went down, down! Her body crumpled under his blow; the first sign of mortality that Ganon had seen from the wraith. He had little time to truly celebrate — his brain clicked back into gear just as her companion lashed at his shoulder. He felt the sting, lacking the reflexes to dodge, but this new challenger was just as small and thin as Astara. Ganon outweighed them both and he was starting to shift his strategy accordingly. 

He turned from Astara then, focusing on the more current threat. He rushed forward again, determined to barrel the small male over — but with more weight came less stamina. Ganon could feel his breathing intensify with the second lunge. Saliva dripped readily from his mouth as it was continually held open by the stone. He could feel his bite slipping as he salivated more and more, and his jaw become numb with the strain of clamping on further, but he redoubled his strength, determined to keep his prize.

she was struck to the ground, and her failure or inability to rise distracted merrick somewhat. his own blow had rung true, but now the bull of a wolf was rushing him, and the boy took the brunt of the lunge in his ribcage as he turned sideways in an attempt to mitigate the damage.
it occurred to merrick, albeit belatedly, as he sailed downward to meet the girl upon the earth, that the man and his stalwart defense lacked teeth, in a literal sense. by now he himself would have slashed several times, but the man seemed only insistent on knocking them away like flies.
merrick gathered himself up to the backdrop of astara’s laboured breathing and leapt again, curiosity driving him despite the danger of it. his teeth aimed for the side of the brute’s face; perhaps he would be enough of a distraction for the demon-girl to rise and attack again.

astara fought, but still her breath did not come. it was as if her throat were afire, her stomach and lungs suddenly a vacuum — each gasp became more and more hoarse as her limbs gradually stilled. 

curled up with her limbs tented like a spider freshly deceased, astara grappled with the agony of having the wind struck from her while merrick harried the thief; she still did not rise, for her breath was elusive and slow to return.

Sorry for the wait friends!

The wraith's wheezing acted as the backing track for the fight, seeming far louder than the mammoth warlock or the other dark creature that she had conjured. It was a solid reminder that the creature was indeed mortal and indeed — truly of his blood and not just an apparition. But her status as a Melonii, as one of his cousins, meant nothing in the face of his own livelihood. Coward and traitor that he was, he did only what he had to do to survive.

So despite the burning of his jaws, the feeling on his shoulder, the exhilaration at striking down his foe, Ganon glowered at the daemon that Astara had conjured as he struck. The larger wolf knew he was too slow to dodge the wolf as he leaped at his face and instead sought to counter. He used his head as a battering ram, attempting to stop the wolf's blow before it came, or to push against it and deal more damage. His timing was nebulous enough that Ganon could not predict for certain what would actually happen if his blow connected.

astara still did not rise, and it perturbed merrick a great deal. thus he was distracted as he struck forward.
and his quarry reacted swiftly, again not with teeth as merrick continued to expect, but with the full blunt force of his broad skull, wielded like the edge of a heavy sword. 
the blow caught merrick glancingly across his cheekbone, enough to topple the boy again and this time with a growing bruise upon his cheek. striking the ground harshly, merrick felt the nausea rush in, the dark miasma — he floundered to keep hold of consciousness, refusing now to rise again for the purpose of the dark girl.

the little wraith wheezed, clouds of dirt rising above her struggling form. several times her hind end kicked out abruptly and her front limb circumducted alone in the air -- there was a high, strangled gasp as her lungs suddenly opened again and a torrent of air flew down her starved throat.

flying to her feet (albeit shakily) the waif fixed her disoriented gaze on the tumult in front of her. ganondorf still held the stone, and in a matter of seconds had bludgeoned merrick with his head. astara's eyes sharpened as gradually her view became more clear: gasping roughly, she bound to merrick's prone side and stepped over him protectively. her breath came in staggered gasps, but she lifted her head and bared her teeth, prepared to snap if ganondorf approached merrick.

the stone was important, and she would kill ganondorf for his treason, but merrick was her friend, and she would not let him be beaten senseless by the auburn brute.

Both of his enemies were on the ground, gasping. His body throbbed with adrenaline, sending a shine into his amber-colored eyes. He salivated more and more, feeling the liquid lubricate the stone and continually threaten to loosen it before his jaws gave out entirely.

It would be an easy thing for him to kill them. He thought he nearly had with the wraith — the sound of her wheezing was torturous even for him. He should have killed them, but Ganon feared to let go of the stone so close to the spirit, disarmed and weak as she was.

He took the opportunity to flee as they floundered on the sand. There was a flicker of hope inside him that they would see this as a warning — a threat that if they were not careful he could do immense damage to him.

But this was probably not the case. And so he kept on running.

merrick glanced up with muzzy gaze as astara stood over him, his eyes weakly traveling to the brute as the muscled wolf turned and fled them. why she had attacked a wolf much larger than the pair of them ceased swiftly to matter to merrick; his eyes darkened, and as he gasped for the air around them, a crystalline lust began to char his soul.
what would the man sound like if merrick could pull back the skin from his muscles, expose the white fat beyond?
slowly, the coywolf staggered to his paws, and swayed against the shadow, facing in the direction that the man had gone. one stiff step, then another; oh what a foul thing, to have for an enemy the emboldened frost of merrick's soul.

she stood over merrick’s thin form, the simmer of her rueful gaze raking past the orange man as he fled. he may run, but he was mortal — and mortal things left trails easily tracked.

merrick’s gasp beneath her stole astara’s attention; stepping back, astara shifted her shoulder towards her grim faced companion, knowing well the meaning of that cool flicker in his sunburnt gaze. together, they limped behind ganondorf; two hateful souls with cruel purpose.