Here be Dragons (Caz/Closed)

A field of flowers, as far as the eye could see. Poppies, lilies, daisies, and others growing in patterns and designs. An assortment that would please even the most callous of hearts. The boy...that’s what he was? He reached out for the flowers, paying no heed to the sky painted violet. Warmth from the sun touched his skin, forcing a smile to his lips. A body that was his but seen from without, it frolicked and played in the field of flowers for what felt like hours.

As time passed, the sun settled on his skin longer. Grew hotter. Yet he paid no heed to it as pedals were kicked about his feet. Childlike giggles escaped the boy but seized as the heat began to grow too unbearable.

“Hello, sweet boy in the dark.”

A wave of darkness swept over the field like an inferno, engulfing all the light from around the child. Despite the heat, cold sweat broke out all over the boy as he slowly turned to the honey-sweet voice that echoed from behind. Dark red energy whipped about, reaching into the sky and forming the shape of a woman. Her smile split the energy as her eyes opened to reveal a darkness that put the pitch black around them to shame.

“Did you not care that you trampled such flowers underfoot as you played?” She asked, the once sweet voice now dipping a distorted echo as she took a step closer. Light snapped back into existence around the boy. Flattened flowers shifted into twisted limbs and unblinking eyes from faces that stared into nothing.

His form was no longer that of a child but a man, fully grown and worn down. Tattered clothes and mangled hair, sunken eyes and skin stretched over a thin frame. Sol breathed heavily as the woman approached, the sky itself twisting into fire and ash. Falling backwards and trying to crawl away, the woman let out a laugh that was as thunderous as the rumbling in the black clouds forming above. The smile was quick to disappear, a frown forming on her incorporeal face.

Sol’s hand landed on something solid, the vagrant tearing his eyes away from the woman to land squarely on what appeared to be a gigantic curved claw. Eyes wandering up, breath caught in his throat, the vagrant took in the sight that was in front of him.

An enormous beast, looking like a lion made of smoke and fur. Great wings unfurled from behind it as it sat squaring off with the woman made of wicked energy. One by one, eyes opened on the great beast’s face, seven in total, all gleaming with a deep red that matched the erratic energy pouring off the sinister woman. Snarling, soot and smoke pouring from its maw, it looked down at Sol with what could only be described as disappointment.

“COWARD. FILTH. SHAME, YE SON OF ZANAD. WAKE FROM THY NIGHTMARE, PITIFUL CREATURE.”

The great maw from the beast opened wider, a pit of green molten fury beaming from within. Before he could let out a cry, the teeth came at him.




Sol awoke with a start, face pressed firmly against metal bars. Blinking, trying to get his bearings, he winced as he noticed the red lights flashing. Shifting he froze as he found his hands were bound behind his back. A smell of leather hit his nose as he looked around in a panic. Glass divided the passenger seats from the front, a CB radio sitting on the dashboard. Following the cord, he saw an officer talking on the end just outside open driver’s window. The officer had just finished talking and now noticed Sol was awake.

“You awake now? Hmm? You were sleeping in a playgr-hey! Stay awake!” The cop snapped his fingers as the vagrant found himself drifting and trying to stay away. He had been...dreaming. Something bad, that much he knew, but it was difficult to tell as the voices began drowning out his own thoughts.

“My medicine.” Sol mumbled as his head lolled back and forth, shaking his head and trying to stay awake. This was bad. He couldn’t afford to be caught.

“Look, hey. Where’s your passport? Are you American? English? Huh? Your accent is...look, you’re obviously not from around here. Speak up.” The officer was very rude, the thought almost forcing a giggle out of him yet he suppressed it by clearing his throat.

Looking away from the officer, Sol squinted his eyes at the plaground. A line of trees bordered the edge of it, making it difficult to tell what was hiding out in the dark. Dark? It must have been passed midnight. Yet there were a few children still playing, though the swings barely moved and the seesaws didn’t matter. Chains hung from their chests and the vagrant let out an exasperated sigh when he noticed. Just spirits…

“Ben seyahat ediyorum. Eh...traveling. I’m, uh, my medicine. I have a bad heart, please let me out.” Sol said half-heartily to the officer, not really paying attention as he squinted his eyes. Voices began to strain against his better judgment...the vagrant could have sworn he saw something along the treeline. Whispers roared into his mind.

Il recherche des proies, it knows not of mercy...it creeps, creeps, mommy, mommy where, it stalks, merde, hunger...der drache kommt.


Edit: Colors....

Cazador appeared on Earth earlier that morning. It was quiet and the hollow had an odd fascination. Where other hollow specifically hunted souls for food, Cazador treated them like trophies, the few times it got them. Most of the time the hollow would appear, trap a few humans with weapons, and then vanish as quietly as it had arrived and this time was no different. The monster was on the edge of town, just where the rural area ended and the houses started drifting further apart. It stared at flashing lights as they arrived at the location.

It's head tilted, as it looked on with a sort of sick fascination at the weird feelings coming off one of the beings, and the lights flashed. Cazador had always liked the flashing lights, that meant someone fighting. It was drawn to combat, targets, things to stalk and and claim victory over. Curious, was Cazador's personal art, often it would not see its traps do their work with it's own eyes. It would simply wait for the carnage, and then continue stalking, hunting. As the humans in the dark outfits got out to go near the other human with weird feelings surrounding it, the monster moved out from the treeline, dragging a few small objects and setting up a generic block of invisible teeth and a tie across. A simple old trick, but with items from it's home world the humans wouldn't be able to see the trap.

It did this with purpose, the monster didn't like dealing with the giant metal containers that humans seemed to adore so much. It made a loud clicking noise, knowing full well, nothing could see it. It wasn't exactly fair, and if it could, it would let them see it if they knew they were being stalked. Loud footsteps thundered across the road before the monster disappeared into the lines of the shadows again. More traps, these ones much like bear traps on each side of the road, near the spiked trap. It knew the humans would get out to investigate, which was their mistake. Loud sounds thundered as the monster clicked again, and vanished.

Somewhere off the beaten road, a cry went out as Cazador prepared for its prey, it took cover in a set of bushes just off the side of the road, waiting, patiently as it breathed in slowly from behind its mask. It watched the humans in outfits talk as its mask swayed and it waited, all that was left was to wait for the humans to stumble into the hunt.

The odd part was that the spirits, near the ground could all sense Cazador, but it seemed to have no interest in things that it knew, wouldn't fight back. In fact, the entire time it set up traps and stalked around, it never got near the spirits. It wasn't stalking, if they couldn't do anything back. Another soft clicking sound rang out in the darkness as the cops got into the car, and started the engine... soon, very soon.

“Sato, hey, hurry up. Try to get through to the foreigner. He’s got to belong somewhere...” Another officer said loudly as he shined his light across the treeline, unimpressed and letting out a harrumph.

“Of course, sergeant!” Sato said with a smile before mumbling to himself, “What do you think I’m trying to do?”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing, sir!”

“No...hey, no, listen. Y-you need to let me out. Get me my medicine. Quick!” Sol snapped, frantically looking back and forth between the treeline and the one questioning him. His frantic speech was doing little to remove the vexing look on Sato’s face.

“Okay, sir. Just remain calm. What does your medicine look like?” Sato let out a long sigh as he propped open Sol’s bag and let out a whistle, eyes wide as he shined his vest-light to get a better look. “Holy...Whatever country you’re from, your embassy is going to have a tough time protecting you. I mean...wow. That is...a lot of pills.”

Sato leaned over and showed the other officer what was in the bag only for his fellow to let out the same whistle. Again there was a clicking in the distance, Sol’s eyes darting about. The spirits that were playing were looking about just as frantically before they scattered. Something Sol wished he could do.

It draws close, close, tătic mai aproape, oOoOoh haHAHaha, da da, YES-YES, almost time. Le temps? Time is now, it waits, emekleme, doing many creeps with little oh yes, the little hehehe! Shut up! FUCK, shit kill it, kill it now have to, no, run-run-RUN-RUNrunrun, the skull it takes, the skull it keeps, the skull it wears! Ta skallen! Stop, please, too much...Wear you like a fine suit it will, ripped soul for the boy, cry! NOW! Pigs oink, bacon ready, itwillkillnomercyDIEDIE!

Each word, each syllable rattled in his mind with a different voice to match. Hundreds, thousands swelling back and forth. Eyes wide and bloodshot, Sol ground his teeth and pressed his head firmly against the bars on the window. Tendrils of black darker than the night waved in the air like traces left over by something...something vile, not meant to be in the world. Somehow Sol could sense it. Or rather, feel it looking at him. Sinister eyes sizing them up, making the hair on the neck and arms stand on end.

“We’ll just put him in lockup for the night. Let the morning crew handle it, I don’t want to deal with the paperwork…” Sato and his sergeant went back and forth for a few moments as the younger man put the car into drive and they moved forward.

A sense of dread washed over the vagrant, eyes staring murder into the dark. The voices giggled but shifted into screaming in unison as an invisible force reached forward. No, not reached. Shot forward with violent force. It slammed into the center console and mangled the engine in the process.

Startled yelps and shouts came from the officers as they panicked, sparks and the sputtering death throes of the engine as the car came to a slow stop.

“What the hell! Shit!” The sergeant was cursing every other word out of his mouth as the younger hopped out of the car and patted himself, face as white as a sheet. Sol’s eyes fluttered for a moment, energy drained as his head lolled back and forth.

“We...have to...run…” He muttered, trying to stay awake as the two officers tried to figure out what happened. His voice too quiet for them to hear.

Cazador howled in victory as the metal horse came to a stop, and even better, the younger uniformed man got out of the car just a few steps. Cazador flexed its wrist, the small bone portending from it almost a razor and it got ready. It lowered itself slightly, knees bent and ready to run at full speed towards the human the moment it fell into the monster's trap. It reminded Cazador of another hunt it had gone on, long ago, though there had been more and bigger things back then. Back before it had started hunting in civilization. When the sounds of battle in the wilderness would draw Cazador like a moth to a flame.

The young one, Sato, looked around the car knowing something was wrong as he got out. Seconds later he took a few steps away from the car, going to survey what had happened as something snapped in the darkness and a newfound pain made him scream in agony. It was then, that everything had gone wrong. The thing that Sato saw, wasn't human. It was too big, it couldn't have been, but he didn't really see it, he simply saw the sort of weird outline it had. It moved fast. "SERGEANT WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" He exclaimed and tried to move as a sticky wetness and the pain in his leg surged.

Cazador moved the second Sato stepped into the trap, it's feet thundering on the ground as it clicked and screamed. It moved its hands down to its side as it began to circle Sato and the car. Waiting for the uniformed man to, a second later a shot ran out and Cazador ducked and screamed again. The other one! The shot wasn't aimed where Cazador directly was, so the one still in the car couldn't see Cazador at all, where as Sato seemed to get its direction. It moved to the car and reached into the window to grab the gun, grabbing the sergeant's arm and hauling him out of the window, with a loud scream.

Cazador lifted the man and screamed point blank in his face before cracking his arm and kicking him down. It would take it's trophy from both men soon. What it wondered about was the other human, it circled the car slowly, looking at the vagrant. For the first time, Cazador felt the despair of its kind, without the power of its kind. It clicked actively at the vagrant as it wondered what to do as Sato pulled its gun and shot Cazador in the arm, which made it duck behind the car again. It let out a wail again.

Gunfire woke him from his stupor. Bolting upright, head whipping back and forth, Sol tried to get his bearing of the situation. Whatever it was, it was big and moved fast. The officers made every effort to bring down the monster but had trouble pinpointing it. From what he could remember, normal people had trouble seeing the evil creatures.

Muscles ached as Sol strained against the zip-tie that held his hands in place. That cold sweat never left his body, the many layers of clothing he wore only made it feel more sticky and humid. Each man was dispatched with ease by the beast, moaning on the ground and whimpering like children. The vagrant almost wished he could join them as the voices erupted in a blaring, synchronized scream. Head whipping up fast, he caught the briefest glimpse of the creature as it circled the police car like a shark.

It had clicked at him, sending a nervous shake down to his bones. Another pop from Sato’s gun left a ringing in the vagabond’s ears. Tears welling in his eyes as the creature roared, Sol felt the invisible force flare up once more as the pupil in his right eye split apart and began shuddering in place.

Surging forth, a wall of invisible energy shot forth and ripped off the car door. It hovered in the air, bolts and bits of metal clattering on the floor as it wavered slightly. With monstrous force, the door was flung at the humanoid Hollow, Sol stumbling out of the door soon after.

Landing with a heavy thud, panting heavily, the vagrant barely had time to look up as the sergeant was now aiming his gun at the white-haired man with his one good arm. With lightning speed, the unseen force ripped through the weapon and unfortunately tore off a few of the officer’s fingers. At this point Sol wasn’t sure who was actually having the worse night but the lack of fingers was definitely giving the sergeant a good lead…

“We have to RUN!” Sol barked, his voice hoarse as spurts of red smoke drifting from his right eye only enhancing the menacing look he gave the screaming sergeant.

Cazador found itself being pushed through the air by a door from the metal horse.  It luckily got away from Sato's incessant need to empty his clip but at the same time, it hadn't encountered something that could do that since it had attacked Los Angeles.  It screamed loudly before clicking and tossing the door to the side and hoping back to its feet and letting out a beastial roar before jumping over to Sato.  The young unformed officer struck at him but being caught by the trap made his movements unable to get at the near invisible being.

"It's cloaked how is that fair!?" He asked as Cazador reached a hand into it's back and tore Sato's soul out of his body, holding it up as the body went limp, screaming at the soul in victory.  It ripped the soul chain out of Sato's soul entirely, killing him as it then took the chain and fashioned it around its waist as a trophy and screamed loudly before clicking and looking towards the Vagrant.  It could easily claim the sergeant now so the only issue was the glowing eye.  It's mask tilted back and forth as it circled and studied the Vagrant.

If there was a way to convey fascination, Cazador was doing so through its odd actions.  It had never seen a human that had smoking eyes or the power to hurl it.  It clicked as if asking the Vagrant what it was. Its mask rocking back and forth.

Intimidating was an understatement as the creature stalked about and tilted its masked face back and forth. However that fear that held him in place was quickly being overshadowed by another dormant emotion surging forth. Fury bubbled up in him that it was almost too much to bear. As it kept creeping closer, eyeing the vagrant with fascination, the anger within began to bubble up as the voices clawed forth from the depths of his mind.

Flee, hide, run! It can’t, it will, it, itititit! Mamma vil ikke la det skade meg! The crack of spine, of spirit and bone. Twists and turns, ripped skulls, no no no no NO! YES! I love the way it looks at me, ojos profundos, seductive. Oh baby, oh no, oh no, never! Save me! Rädda dig själv! KILL! No mercy, no mercy for shadows of baser pleasures. We have to, YES, run, NO, slay the beast. One ugly mother fucker, yes? No, shoot, stab, poke, prod. Like you, oh küçük çocuk! Make the pain, dig deep! CRUSH IT!

Red smoke erupted from his eye as the vagrant let out a cry, a hundred voices echoing out of his mouth at the same time. Earth beneath caved and buckled, cracks splitting the asphalt as cop car nearby was suddenly crushed with unseen force. Like a jackhammer the monstrous force smashed into the ground again and again, leaving craters as it sped towards the monster.

Cazador turned and started running. It's massive feet thumping on the ground as the cop car exploded. This, wasn't something that people could do normally. The crushing blows shattered the ground and Cazador almost lost it's footing as it ran. Each stride longer than the last before a wall of powerful force slammed into the large monster, causing it to scream out and go flying, into a nearby tree suspended for a moment before a resounding thud slammed the tree and the monster to the ground. Cazador was instantly hurt as it scrambled to open a gate back to Hueco Mundo, a piece of it's bone like weapon on the ground from where it had slammed into the tree.

It managed too after a second, vanishing into the ether between realities to get away from the human that was far more monster than Cazador would ever hope to be. The only evidence of the monster being its green blood and the small piece of bone that had broken off as it got slammed around like a child.

Back in Heuco Mundo Cazador was thrilled but scared. It wasn't often that humans got it this worked up, it screamed loudly.

~exit

His eyes followed the fleeing monster, the voices screaming in protest as saliva dripped from the vagrant’s mouth. Smoke continued to flicker violently as the unseen force tore into trees and ripped the ground apart behind the creature as it ran. Flung from the explosion, the vagrant moaned in pain yet through the haze of red he could feel his will extend outward, could feel a part of himself slam into the monster. It was sickening, almost as if a part of his soul had mingled with that of the murderous creature.

A split in a reality. Distorted. Twisted. It emanated a sinister aura, greater than a lone monstrosity could ever hope to lay claim to. He could feel them all, just beyond that veil. A ravenous cluster, an army of demons, a world of beasts hungry for more. And as quickly as it had appeared, the rip in space vanished, the humanoid Hollow gone with it.

Letting out a ragged breath as the voices died down, Sol propped himself up. That grating feeling, a sense of being hunted and in turn wanting to hunt, began to fade as well. Dreary, shaken, he stood up and witnessed the devastation he had caused.

Fire licked the ground, roaring from the devastated vehicle. It looked very much a scene of a catastrophe. He heard coughing and a gurgle, Sol looking over to see the sergeant from earlier was struggling to move. Having been launched from the explosion himself, metal shrapnel dug into various parts of him as tried to crawl. Flames engulfed the man as he tried to cry out but was too badly hurt to even let out a sound. A hand outstretched, reaching for the vagrant who could only stare in horror.

Light from the fire danced in his eyes, fear taking hold of the white-haired man as he stumbled back and memories flooded back to a time of such wanton destruction. Holding his head, unable to pry his eyes away from the frightened eyes of the dying man, visions of the past mingled with his current predicament.

A woman with hair of flame.

Please! No! NO!

A child, small, frail, holding a violin.

No, no, no, stop, stop, go away...

A village that clung onto the far reaches of his mind, a sense of familiarity and suddenly dread as it was lit aflame.

ENOUGH!

Knifes. Blood. Fire. Screaming.

People had begun to come out of their homes now, Sol snapping back to reality as sirens blared in the distance. A pungent, sickly sweet smell lingered in the air as the sergeant had passed from his wounds. Just a pile of flaming meat, a trail of smeared and charred blood as he had tried to crawl away was all that remained. A faded light hung above the corpse but Sol no longer had time to linger.

Forcing his body to move, he fled deeper into the wooded area. Sticking to the shadows, out of view of the people leaving their homes to gawk at the tragedy that had befallen the officers. Gasping for air as he stumbled, scrambling as he fell over and over again. Any seasoned tracker would have been able to follow him, a sense of guilt piled onto a mountain that had already formed did little ease his worry. He fell head over heel as he slid down a steep hill.

Slamming onto his shoulder, a loud pop ringing in his ears, he forced himself to his feet in a panic and found himself in front of a slow moving train. A cargo train trotted lazily forward, the vagrant taking the opportunity to latch onto the nearest cart and pull himself in with a strained yelp. Eyes darting, looking for anyone who had seen him in the darkness, he forced himself into one of the carts, falling as he pried the locked door open with strength not meant for a normal human.

He paid little mind to the fact as he slid the door shut. Breathing heavily, he fished into his jacket pockets frantically as he wedged himself between several containers in an attempt to hide. Finding a handful of pills, a godsend as relief washed over him, he munched on them with a maddening fervor. The train moved forward, unaware and uncaring of the events that had transpired.

Clik-clack-click-clack.

A steady rhythm as Sol clutched his knees to his chest, tears streaming down his face as the image of the burning officer plagued his mind alongside past misdeeds and the glimpse of a desert world that terrified him. Sleep slowly took him as the voices in his mind were drowned out as the narcotics did their work. Yet he would find no safety in his dreams.

He never did.