Chapter 4

Cold, Nathair whimpered, tightening around the only heat source available. So cold.

His warmth continued to bleed from his many wounds, hindering his ability to think clearly. Despite the rage that still simmered beneath the surface, lingering in the back of his consciousness, his pain and the shivers that invaded underneath his scales were too prevalent.

He didn't even move or uncoil himself from the living heat source he'd tucked within the folds of his tail. Even when night fell and Demons came to inspect the area, he continued to shiver around it.

The fear scent from within him had long ago subsided. He gave his prey just enough room to breathe after forcing her into unconsciousness, refusing to let her die simply for his own benefit.

With orbs white, hating how the air felt colder than usual rushing over his scales, he opened a coil just enough to check on a Demon with one orb. They ignored his presence as they licked the ground for human blood and entrails.

Nathair's own scent hid the woman within him, so they left him be. He was thankful for that, as his wounds were already rather debilitating. He didn't wish for another battle.

As much as he would have preferred to sink within his deep pond, shifting from breathing upon land to underwater came with many changes.

There would be a few seconds where his body had to adjust to the morph of breathing water, requiring a transformation into what most Mavka would consider their monstrous form. A physical change occurred, one that allowed him to adjust to the temperature of the water in some way. However, that first dive... if the liquid was too cold, it'd feel like blades against his flesh.

He hated the delay, and how it clutched him all the way to his bones. He'd scream, writhing beneath the water until his gills took over and offered him salvation.

Rather than subjecting himself to such agony, he coiled around the woman he'd... saved. He'd never intended to reveal himself to her when she'd been drinking from his pond, but he'd leapt from it at her loud screams. The high pitch of them, the utter terror in them... He'd been unable to deny their beckoning call. It didn't instil hunger within, but panic.

He groaned as he absorbed her heat, relieved when it seeped beneath his flesh.

Why did I save her?

He had no reason to, nor did he care for her wellbeing whatsoever.

Creating enough space to wedge his arm forward, he clutched at the side of his skull when voices wailed within his consciousness. Women and men of all different ages pleaded for help, for mercy, for someone to save them from the Demons that tore at their flesh. They made his blood run colder. The perception of their wounds infected his own, making them ache and throb tenfold.

Make it stop. His heat source let out a quiet gasp, and he forced himself to soften around her.

"Please, stop," a woman cried within his mind. "I'm scared."

They were always scared at their deaths. They felt like the world had abandoned them as they suffered as prey. A man roared, twisting as he tried to crawl away, and a tanned hand became his own when nails dug at dirt to escape.

The memories twisted into something else, thankfully more pleasant.

A blanket was put over him as he stared at a fireplace, before a mug of brown steaming liquid was placed in his hands. "Thank you. I feel much better now," a young teenage boy said, as he smiled up at a red-haired woman who suddenly became Nathair's parent.

Nathair huddled around his own living fireplace desperately, waiting for the chill of night to fade.

Ruminative fragments of memories slipped into the front of his mind. Some pleasant, most not. He wanted to sleep, to rest, but resting out in the open never allowed him peace.

A Demon crawled on top of him.

He ignored it, since it wasn't attacking him, and it eventually left. Many of the Demons throughout the night had eaten dirt just for a speck of human blood or flesh, but they ensured it lessened the scent for Nathair and gave him slips of lucidity.

His wounds helped, centring him in the shitty reality he found himself in.

The question remained, why did he save this human?

Perhaps a part of him thought if he protected one, it may stop the many voices that pleaded throughout his conscience. It didn't, but he was tired of hearing their call and being powerless to stop them, to save them.

Although he couldn't care less about the female he held onto, he'd watched her from his pond. He'd wondered why she'd chosen to fall asleep out in the open, alone, considering most of the humans in his memories never left their towns alone.

Why did she not want to go with those humans? Her scream had been ear piercing, even when muted through the water.

She'd kicked and fought, which had slapped a rather harrowing memory into the forefront of his mind. One in which he was a victim at the hands of human men.

Perhaps that is why he leapt to her aid. He'd suffered through a mere fragment of terror and assault in comparison, and he'd panicked, thinking that was her fate. Just a taste of it, and he knew the action was repulsive and cruel.

If given the opportunity, he'd eradicate all such disgusting perpetrators from the world. Alas, he was a Mavka, and his justifiable desire to neuter would likely see all humans within his vicinity eaten.

I no longer desire to eat the humans. Or any creature.

He just wanted to rest, to cope with the chaos of his ill mind, so why the fuck had he gotten involved? Now he was in pain, freezing, and felt unwell from his rage and the males he'd just eaten, as if their flesh had been rotten.

Now that the Demons were gone, and it was safe, Nathair leapt forward when his gut twisted further. Keeping the female covered, he supported himself on straightened arms as he hacked. Drool flooded his mouth. When he retched for the third time, ethereal tears floated as tiny white specks around his eyeholes.

With all the flesh he'd eaten already fully absorbed, nothing physical came out, no matter how hard he tried to vomit.

Get out, he pleaded, whimpered, anything to remove what he held onto. His entire body quaked in repulsion as he hacked again, and again, until something came up his throat.

It burned on its way out, hot and painful. When it was in his maw, he spat out one of the souls he'd been carrying. The white flame, the evidence of a dead soul he couldn't fully consume, and therefore, couldn't bind to himself, was saturated in drool when it splattered against the ground.

Within seconds, it floated, before disappearing to whatever would tie it to this world. He'd once wondered if the souls he'd been expelling would later become Ghosts, unable to go over to an afterlife, as he wouldn't ferry them. As much as he wanted to carry them to Weldir's black mist like he was supposed to, as both his son and servant... he couldn't.

The idea of consuming souls had left his mind broken, and he feared he'd obtain their memories and deepen his suffering. He was aware it was some kind of fucked-up Mavka eating disorder, but he just couldn't overcome the paranoia of potentially worsening his sickened mind. It was a mental barrier that gave him a horrifying physical reaction.

When he violently hacked up the second and third souls, he sighed in relief, despite the pointlessness of it all. In the back of his mind, he knew it didn't matter, but the irrational paranoia meant he couldn't hold them.

As much as giving him new life meant he now lived, he was no longer useful as a Mavka. His purpose, his reason for existence, was pointless if he did this.

The Witch Owl had been horrified when she'd witnessed the first time it happened, but she'd also comforted him. That only earned her a new claw strike from a confused and panicked Nathair, but she'd been lucky to evade his paralysing venom when he attempted to strike her.

His poor mother creator had been violently attacked many times by him. Yet, she never abandoned him, nor blamed him, only offering comfort and guilt-deepening pats in understanding.

Now that the souls had been violently and painfully expelled, he slunk back within the comfort of his tail. He moaned at the heat that surrounded his torso, shifting the female within it so she could warm another part of him.

He tried not to press her against his wounds.

With dawn slowly ascending, he let her soothe him. He focused on her subtle and constricted breathing, her heartbeat, the way she spread salvation through his flesh.

With a last shudder, he refused to sleep, but rested in the only way he could: orbs bright, but body lax.

With a groggy groan, Linh stirred.

When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by suffocating darkness. I feel so heavy. Every breath was tight, her limbs weighed down, her mind hazy.

I can't even move my arms. She tried to rip them closer, but both had gone numb. The grainy, deadened feeling in them caused her to wince, so she wiggled her fingers to ease it, doing the same with her toes. Somehow, that made it ten times worse.

"Ah!" she gasped, recoiling from the pain.

Where am I? The walls around her were tight, unmoving, and she was so dizzy that she found it hard to feel fearful despite the spike of unease. Thank goodness she wasn't claustrophobic – otherwise, she may have screamed.

But the constriction was unsettling.

Linh tried to think of what she could last remember. I fell asleep... Then I woke to Bragg's men... Her eyes flung open wide. Oh my gosh! The Duskwalker!

Turning her head proved futile, but she managed to wiggle enough that smooth scales brushed over her cheeks. Well, at least feeling them meant she wasn't nestled within his stomach. That would have been harrowing to discover.

That settled her fear so she could get a bearing on what was going on. She needed to stay calm, to not be afraid if she didn't wish to be eaten. Although information about the Duskwalkers' existence was mostly rumour-based, she'd read all she could on them.

She needed to be smart if she wanted to survive.

Did it protect me? Why? On second thought, who cared? She was alive, and still no longer in Bragg's clutches, thanks to it.

The fact I find being trapped by a Duskwalker better than being with Bragg just proves how much of a piece of shit that man is. He was worse than a monster. Or maybe I've just gone insane.

She snorted a mild laugh at that, as she stared at the nothingness.

Linh could fret, or she could just accept this super-weird cuddle. She was choosing to just let it be. It'd let her go eventually, and she could figure out what to do from there.

It's a serpent... and it does feel rather cool. Does that mean it's cold-blooded? Or, at least, had a lower body temperature than most other creatures? I saw it shivering. Maybe it's soaking up my heat?

Weren't most reptiles heat seekers?

Alright, you freaky big danger-noodle. Soak up as much of it as you like. She closed her eyes. You have a little longer. If you don't let me go, then it's your own fault if I pee on you.

Linh didn't know how long she lay there, unafraid but absolutely wary. However, now that her mind was alert, the more her bladder gave an uncomfortable throb.

Ignoring it as best she could, she pondered on her predicament. It'll take me roughly a day to get to Duneside. There likely wouldn't be an opportunity to sneak inside due to Bragg's soldiers, so she'd have to pass it. Then it'd take her a week or so to go around the mountain, and then another to walk down to Slater Town.

Her lips pursed and puckered forward. Slater Town is military, but I don't know if they'd be willing to send out that many men.

Colt's Outpost, though, was the largest village in the north, and they trained all the soldiers within the region. Many Demonslayers started their training there before moving to Hawthorne Keep further in the east.

Unfortunately, Colt's Outpost was further away. The longer she was outside of protective walls, the higher the likelihood she'd be eaten.

I miss home, though. She'd been forcibly taken over two months ago. If Bragg doesn't catch me, will he tell my parents I'm out here by myself?

Biting her lip, she held back tears at how much they would be suffering. The guilt they'd feel for letting her be taken, even though they tried with all their might to stop it.

She buried her face against the monster who had protected her.

If... if only you could help. A sob broke, only for it to shake out of her as realisation dawned. Wait... didn't it kill like three men within the span of minutes?! Minutes! All by itself, the Duskwalker had destroyed and eaten those men like it was nothing.

Her mild pulse spiked as possibility, hope, and excitement bled into her veins.

What if... what if I ask it to save us? Then she could be home within days!

The Duskwalker could gorge itself on vile bandit meat for all she cared. She'd toss pieces at it, shove them down its bony maw herself, if it meant their freedom.

Kicking her legs, she squirmed to get free. She wanted to talk to it, and her bladder was seriously starting to throb. If she waited much longer, she'd be bursting and unable to hold it.

"Hey," she called, her lips brushing over it and muffling her voice. "Hey, let me go!"

The smooth, scaley limb wrapped around her clenched, rending a gasp from her. Then, as if woken or startled, Linh was crudely dumped against the ground as it uncoiled itself. The Duskwalker slithered to get away from her, just as she let out a cry when her head smacked against the ground.

Bringing her knees up, she cupped the back of her head with a pained groan. "Ow! You dropped me!"

Linh then remembered what she was in the presence of, and swiftly sat up and turned to it. Heat bled from her features at the sheer size of it towering over her!

Oh my gosh. It's... it's huge! She scuttled back, just to get out of its mere shadow to take it in.

The Duskwalker stared down at her with dark-orange swirling vortexes that seemed to glow brighter in the sun. Unsettled under the scrutiny of its luminous orbs, Linh drew her gaze over each of its features.

Its snake skull looked like a mix of a death adder and a viper. The black horns on top of its head almost looked ram-like as they hooked backwards, their tapered ends pointing towards the ground.

Bones protruding outside its flesh made it look undead and fierce, causing the scaled flesh around them to puff like it was trying to absorb them. With the sunlight glittering down on them, the Duskwalker's black scales glistened with subtle rainbows, the blue and purple hues being the strongest.

The back fin from yesterday is gone. The others were light grey. Almost like a ruffle of fabric that started from its humanoid sides, they trailed down to its tail tip. More fishlike fins lined the backs of its forearms.

It looked so strange.

She eyed the muscled dips of its abdomen and chest, only to frown at its navel. It has a belly button. Does that mean it was birthed rather than hatched from an egg like a reptile? She noted its dark-grey nipples, and something became startlingly apparent.

It's a male.

The Duskwalker's torso was masculine in shape, since it appeared to lack breasts. His waist was narrower than the rest of it, showing he was lean, yet his broad chest and thickly muscled tail stated otherwise. Her gaze darted down to what she thought may be his hips, since she could see the lightest imprint of hip bones. She found no genitalia, but could see a section of scales that appeared smoother and had a seam line down the middle.

From what I can tell, his junk must be beneath his flesh, like most snakes.

And this male Duskwalker had to be at least thirty feet, if not more, long!

"H-hey," she shakily greeted, forcing a smile upon her face. "Thank you for sav– Hey!"

Linh reached out when he spun to the side and walked on his hands towards the pond's edge. He moved so fast, and panic clutched her throat. Stupidly, foolishly, thoughtlessly, she pounced on the end of his tail.

"Wait! I want to talk to you!" she pleaded, grabbing ahold of him as tightly as she could. She squealed when she went sliding with him.

Despite using all her strength, Linh did nothing to stop him. However, he did halt and twist around to stare down at her.

The little hairs all over her body stood on end when he released a quiet growl. Throwing her hands up in surrender, she fell back to give him space.

What the hell am I doing?!her mind screamed. I just grabbed him like an idiot!

"Sorry," she blurted out, hiding how freaked out she was as best she could.

I've gone insane. I'm asking a Duskwalker to stay when most people would be fleeing.

She looked at the colour of his orbs, noting the red hue of them, and lowered her arms. Oh. I didn't know their... ‘eyes?' changed colour. Didn't take a genius to figure out what this colour meant, since he was giving her a warning growl, even though it had softened now that she'd let him go.

She blew a strand of hair from her face as she thought, hypocrite. He'd been the one using her as a teddy bear all night against her will!

Still, she made sure her forced smile remained. "L-look, Mr Duskwalker..."

He sucked in a triple snort before letting it out as a deep, obviously annoyed, huff.

It was impossible to tell if he was actually listening. Maybe they aren't as intelligent as we were told? So far, this one hadn't attempted to speak with her, and she wondered if he could even understand her.

Oh, screw it.

Sucking in a deep breath, she prepared to just spit it all out quickly. "I wanted to thank you for saving me. I really appreciate you coming to my aid."

His orbs shifted to a bright orange, just as he reared his head back and his whole upper body went with it. Linh gestured to where the corpses of Bragg's men once were, thankful they were gone, as she didn't particularly want to see dead and dismembered bodies.

"I'm not sure if you understand what I'm saying, or if you noticed, but those men were bandits who have been terrorising these mountains for the past seven months."

As if he didn't care for what she was saying, he twisted towards the water.

"Wait! Please!" She reached a hand out, despite refusing to touch him. "We need help."

He halted once more, and without turning his body, the Duskwalker slowly twisted his head to the side to face her. Dark yellow lifted into his orbs, swirling inwards to eat at the orange that had been there.

Then he finally gave the first indication that he was truly capable of intelligent thought. The Duskwalker lifted an arm and pointed his index claw against the white protruding bone of his sternum. He creepily tilted his head, and she could almost see a question mark forming over the top of his bony head.

"Yes," she stated with a nod. "You killed those men with such strength and speed. I know if you were to aid us, they would leave."

Before he could even think about leaving or denying her request, Linh shuffled to her knees, dropped down to her chest, and crossed her arms against the ground. She laid her head down to bow to him. It was the biggest gesture she could think to give something like him, a monster, but she hoped it conveyed how desperate she was. It also likely showed trust, which was utterly false on her end – she couldn't trust him as far as she could toss him, which was not at all.

She was willing to bow to him like he was a god.

"They aren't good people. They choke our supplies, stop us from freely trading, all under the guise of protection. They are killing us, both directly and indirectly, through famine and sickness. They take our food, our medicine, and then barter with us with those supplies we desperately need when towns outside of the valley try to bring it."

Eerie silence greeted her.

When it went on for far too long, she fisted the grass stalks in front of her. Once more, she wondered what the hell she was doing. But... Linh was so desperate, she couldn't stop.

I'll die if I go around the mountain.It'd been a dream, a hope she knew didn't truly exist. It had been action, but it also would have landed her straight into a Demon's stomach. But this Duskwalker. If it helps me, us...

"I know you have no reason to care or help us, but I am asking you anyway. It will take me weeks to leave our valley and get to the villages south of here." She'd have to go northeast and then southwest, just to do a freaking loop. "More people will die, and the chance of me making it there is low. You saved me from them, from being eaten throughout the night, so–"

She flinched when a hand gingerly slid under her forehead, and she lifted her face. Linh tried not to recoil when his snake skull was less than a foot from her nose. She didn't resist him when he lifted her chin and forced her upright on straightened arms.

His touch was surprisingly gentle, especially with his claws.

Her long, straight eyelashes fluttered as she blinked in surprise. Oh wow, I didn't notice the tiny streaks of gold in his skull. They were so tiny they were only the thickness of hairs, as if someone had glued perfect pieces of his skull back together. They looked more like hairline fractures, but the way they streaked over his skull made it obvious it'd been broken.

Do their scars always appear golden?

The Duskwalker parted his maw, let his serpent fangs come down, and released a quiet, yet bone-chilling hiss! Her heart clenched so powerfully, it sparked pain all throughout her chest. Before she could even properly react, he dived into the water. A large wave washed over the grass right next to her, ripping a squeal from her as she backed away to avoid its spray.

Her heart nearly came up her throat, and she fell to the side as a delayed reaction to such a frightening and menacing warning. He nearly scared the pee out of her, which was already threatening to burst from her at any second.

But he hadn't hurt her, and that made her remarkably foolish. She was also just so frazzled from the past twenty-four hours, she let the most unhinged thoughts prevail.

A stone the size of a fist caught her eye, and she threw it into the pond.

"You big jerk! You didn't have to hiss at me!"

Heat bled from her face when he popped his head above the surface with blood-coloured orbs. Then she squealed again and threw her arms up when he squirted water at her from his mouth.

"Ew!" she cried, fighting the long stream of water by tossing her arms around.

Wet and now cold, the top of her completely soaked, she shot him a foul glare when he stopped.

She swore she heard a snicker as he creepily sunk beneath the surface, leaving behind large bubbles that popped at the top.

Inching slowly towards the edge of the pond, Linh hesitated as she peeked into it. He was gone, fading into the abyss, as if it was much deeper than she originally anticipated. She couldn't even see the bottom of it.

She stumbled away and palmed her rosy cheeks, dozens of shocking and startling emotions heating them. Oh my fucking gods. I spoke to a Duskwalker! Well, at him would be more accurate, but still! He only squirted her with water, further proving he wasn't as bad as his hissing and monstrous exterior seemed.

Pouting in thought, she wondered if she could convince him to change his mind – since she figured his little tantrum was a rejection.

I'm pushing my luck though, aren't I? The longer she lingered, the more likely he might turn her into a yummy snack.

Her shoulders fell as she averted her gaze to the forest surrounding the large clearing and this small pond in the middle. Her gaze landed on the western peak of their valley's mountains.

I'm out of luck, and I was out of it two months ago. If she'd been lucky, or if the cosmic universe cared about her wellbeing, it wouldn't have allowed her to be taken in the first place.

There were very few options for someone in her position, which was a horrible realisation. The reality was: her future, her next heartbeat and breath, was all uncertain. Hopelessness radiated throughout her entire being.

She could either brave the perilous journey ahead of her or remain in hopes this Duskwalker helped her.

Both could end with her dead.