Death sat upon the shoulder like a friend, a new friend for every new life. During that time, all those years, the caressing hands whisper and call with gentle whispers. Mindlessly every single creature follows those friends like children following breadcrumbs. As the story goes they follow to the witch’s house, except they never come out. Who is to say what their dear friends had done with them, all that is known would be that they’re gone. She could imagine her own friend sitting upon her shoulders as she walked, their blades sticking up with the bulk of her strengthened physic. Underneath her paws came the crunch of bones, deliciously giving their snaps to her ears. They were not bones but leaves even if her imagination was to say opposite. Her heart thudded in her chest calmly, dull as it was only a step to survival. Pulling herself away from the lovely crunching, she broke into the clearing. It was quiet as usual when she was around, as if they all scattered simply by her presence alone. Quite foolish though she was not sure else what to assume for not once had her eyes rested upon one of her packmates. Huh, packmates... That might be what they were or what they are, she would never know until she had a proper impression. The pack was to be strong, she knew as such, but all she had met were weak and utterly ridiculous creatures. Sometimes she did not blame them, sometimes she would blame Mother Earth for failing them oh so miserably. Like a neglectful parent, she must’ve turned her back and let them find either beauty or love. Both were so fickle they were but simply an irritation. The beta stalked to the kill pile and took something feathered between her jaws, though as long as it was edible she did not care. She knew soon the pack would be coming to settle down or creep away into their dens for some slumbering comfort. Usually she would be the one to not come out, to remain away and asleep from the creatures who hadn’t dared come to find her. Nyx bit into her meal and settled on the ground as her mind teased itself, wondering if she really felt neglected. A slight laugh left her and, though it was true, banished the thought within moments. She shrank back in distaste to realize her meal was not even the least bit warm but took into account that she was not the one to kill the creature. Or maybe she was, it was hard to tell and the beta only wished for peace by her definition.

It became dark and still the fae did not creep back into her den like a fearing animal. The sunk sank more yet cast its light across her eyes, igniting the ice in her left like a sparkling crystal. Yet the dark within her right refused to shine, taking the light and defiantly glinting it back to its source. Slowly her meal became nothing but bone and still she waited for the creatures would come along soon enough. The game of what she would see persisted, their colors and sizes were all taken into account. If they had not died then surely she would see creatures she had met before, and if they had then that was too bad for them. They let the friend pull them away and murder them until they were nothing but pathetic pelts upon a wall. She could not care any less than not caring at all, and she did not believe anyone ever really could. A mirage of relaxation replaced the calm wariness though that too was an ungodly lie. Every muscle within her body tightened one by one until it felt as if they all might snap. Still she watched the sun and wondered if, in fact, anyone really saw such a thing as beauty. Quietly her eyes would watch the forest and break through its quickly darkening barriers, searching for a paw or a tail or any indication something was alive. There was not hope but expectance for she knew they would come and when they did, their beta would be waiting. Tensed and lusting for what traveled through their veins she waited to meet them with smirking eyes and bored ears.

The eyes of the Beta were locked upon the male from the very fist paw step taken within then clearing. Her pupils expanded to accommodate the dark, returning everything yet giving nothing with an eerie quality. Like a locked weapon her body automatically became taught, a wire ready to snap. She knew her appearance would be taken in as if she were electric eel disguised as a rubber duck. Oh, she pitted the poor fool who decided to take a bath with the duckie. Her lips peeled back from their blackened seems as she bit into her meal with a satisfying crunch. The silence she kept loomed over her as an ominous thing, and yet she ignored it with ease. The heterochromatic eyes she called her own did not miss a beat of the male’s movements. She watched the subtle tick of his jaw as he lifted his own mass of feathers. Nyx’s own had been torn open before here, spread out in a delicious array of entrails and old blood. Her teeth bit down to feel a muscle give way and crimson to spread over her tongue in starbursts of flavor. Chewing slowly, meditatively, only was she to swallow of her own body’s volition. The hunger had not hit her gut with a particular pang in weeks, assuming she wasn’t hungry yet her body fed her anyways. Maybe it would be a cruel desire to speak to these creatures such as the one whom seemed to be moving ever closer. Her lips lifted to reveal her jagged teeth, a silent warning telling him that he was close enough. As of late her pack reeked of weakness, and if it was permitted she would be rid of them altogether. Desire crept into her muscles as a urge to hunt them all down herself. Their blood could paint the forest, spatter and grow the foliage into a mind of twisted beings. Maybe then the earth would be satisfied, maybe then it would not wrench the truly strong from the earth. She had to admire its cruelty, for they all were born of it themselves.

It did not register that the brute was speaking until she caught subtle movements of his mouth that were not, in fact, eating. His confidence of his place caused her to give slightly veiled interest. The beta returned his gaze with one of her own, as flat and unrevealing as a mirror. Tiny images of himself would be spat back at him as if her eyes disregarded him without respect or an ounce of considering. His manner with her was not submissive, as it was with most of the disrespectful whelps within this pack. She’d grown immune to their ignorance, their lack of respect for their higher ranks as if they were all commoners. If she were to want something to be done her management would treat them as if they were sheep. As going to battle with Helidos was highly unlikely, she would fight blindly for the potential she knew the pack could have. This male wasn’t a curious creature in her eyes, her lack of emotion not taking any desire for his appearance. These things weren’t his fault, she was lost within the veil all pitiful creatures call life. She was left wandering and waiting for the better to happen, hoping to be surprised by at least something. Every opportunity failed her, miserably so in fact. Her eyes flicked to her meal only for it to be discarded by her mind the very second she saw the brute’s smile. Surely he knew who she was, hated amongst the pack as she believed herself to be. Why on earth he would smile at her? She was definitely not in the mood to be played with like a cat and a mouse. In another life she would find his smile charming, but all she simply held was the desire to snarl and scratch at his face until the smile was of bloody shreds.

“I do not tend to use my company unless it is a meal to feed myself. Unless you are a meal, you do not suffice to anything. But, since I just might have the desire to speak to another creature, you will simply have to do.” She said no more and was quiet, her eyes unwavering with their dark and light contrasts. Moments she would spend this way whilst she waited for the male to speak. Her expectance was for him to walk away as she simply knew most would. Even her alpha had walked from her more than once. It was to be expected, for twisted minds should only be met with the same. Nyx was not animated about things, her lack of speaking simply proved that point. Not once before had she had any interest in conversing with her pack and she was disappointed again with the lack of a turn out. Make no mistake, it did not sadden her but simply caused her belief in her already strong opinions, nailing them down into her bones. The brute might as well be given her time; she had already made the effort. Curling her tail around her hind legs, the beta settled and continued to stare at the male in expectance.

Smiling was something the beta never did and never cared to do, and yet the male was smiling at her as if she should smile back. As if she could smile back. After a while she simply found the muscles in her face would simply not work in that direction. Gravity had injected lead into her veins and filled her bones to the brim. Many times she watched the ground, sure it was dragging her towards its depths. Surely she belonged there, though it would only be on her agenda when she was done. Her eyes were tempted to turn towards the ground and snarl in a defiance purely her own. Beneath her layers of fur she found an irritation to be arising, causing her to shake herself free of it as her lips peeled back and she huffed. As much as this male could have distracted her, he did not. A specimen she wouldn’t mind allowing her eyes to rest upon every once in a while though she did not care much for looks. Quietly she wondered what lengths it would take to make this male go away though she wasn’t particularly sure she wanted him to. After all, she had been searching for company. Or maybe she was trying to pick the weak from the strong, find exactly whom she would need to eradicate for their uselessness on the earth. In her honest opinion the male did not seem weak.

If he’d been among the masses, she would not have taken a certain liking or been stricken by him in any particular way. Looking upon him now, her flat gaze reflecting himself back to the brute, she examined the behaviors and found them to not be exactly cheery as the smile upon his face. It could have appeared friendly if she hadn’t considered the odds. If anything, the beta was not a fool to fall for the charm in one’s smile. So deceiving they could be that she often imagined them as a grotesque twisting of one’s face. If dallied on too long, they could become something of an eerie feeling. And yet, this did not bother her. With old turpentine she would wash away the mask that she was sure this was, unbinding layer by later if it meant tearing him piece by piece to reveal the flesh underneath. Oh, how creatures could sing in pain. Every secret tumbles from the mouth with an evil laugh in utter betrayal of its keeper.

The bird at her paws long forgotten, she watched the brute bat his eyes without so much as a twitch within her facial muscles. It seemed like he would be speaking to her as he cleared his throat. Surprising, really, since she had told him he was nothing to her. The words out of his mouth did not fire back a retort, but rather the star of all questions. What exactly did she wish to speak about. Thinking for a moment, Nyx found she simply had no clue. No particular interest of hers was careless enough to speak about. There were the things she had in common with her, but those were sacred and never to be spoken of. Wondering quietly she found the truth tumbling out of her mouth for she was trained to do no different.

“That is your question, brute. Or are you a sheep as well? Always going with the flock, maybe? I just might want to speak with a creature with the potential to be spoken with, but you have yet to prove that to me. Though, if you identify yourself, I may bother to give you the proving chance.” She knew well enough the male had no clue as to the first thing about her. He wouldn’t know she had offered to pay actual attention to what he had to say, only then would she allow herself to decide if he interested her or not. It was quite a deal for the Beta would rather turn and walk away than bother to listen to the newest gossip; She heard enough from the entrance of her den. Quickly she lost interest but it was enough to bore her into the blackness of sleep. Nosing through her mass of meatless feathers, she found a stronger bone and began to chew absently. A habit of hers that had nothing to do with irritation nor annoyance, she simply found comfort in the motions. The feel of her teeth girding against the rough surface again and again until the bone had memorized the imprints of her teeth in jagged grooves. Purposefully she took her concentration from him, pressing her focus into the gnawing as she waited to see if he could manage to capture her attention.

A fae, a male and a raven which were the words that came into his mind when he saw the three souls gathered in the pack clearing. With a hare in his jaws, the winter-born hunter gazed at them with a blank expression plastered on his handsome features. Though, emotionless was his usual countenance. A faceless, empty mask that was no doubt only one in a mass of robotic, mindless souls doomed to function only on their biological nature without the life that made a soul actually alive. Course, that was what he had assumed. Truly, if he were to take the only three wolves he had met as a whole representation of the pack’s assumed reputation for being heartless monsters he’d have revised his opinion according to the facts presented in front of him. But perhaps, the two that were there could actually solidify the reputation that Erenyx held for callousness and malevolence, if not for being complete sociopaths. Perhaps he had just been looking in all the wrong places. Elias headed with silent steps towards the kill-pile, setting the dead hare down noiselessly with its equally dead brethren. He glanced sideways to the pair, his hollow amber eyes staring at them with the appraising, ruthless look of a hunter as if he were searching for their weak points or how to best take them down. Elias saw bodies first, imprinting their forms and appearances in his mind for future reference before he considered anything else. Then, and only then, his mind moved to other important things such as what their names were, their rank and relevant enough to him, their physical and by association, mental condition.  The female carried herself in a manner that signified she was higher in rank than a normal wolf. Beta, probably. The male, he couldn’t assuage definitively but most likely, healer or care-taker. A warrior or fellow hunter was possible but his appearance didn’t allude to a life of fighting or hunting. His body wasn’t as hard-worn or muscular to show it was subjected to years of constant or strenuous physical activity. His attention switched to the female. Nothing given, nothing entering on her face. She was on the surface heartless and perhaps she was the same underneath. Without a heart in the metaphorical sense. So he was in the right place it seemed with like-minded company.

Elias remained where he was though, watching and waiting with his usual unfathomable expression. His muzzle tilted slightly as he heard snippets of their conversation. Of meals and sheep and following the flock. Of philosophical rhetoric and questions that swam in the mind in its most peaceful, undisturbed moments. And by the sounds of it, a fae who could not be bothered to give another the time of the day if their words were anything to go by. By only giving others the time who she deemed worthy to speak to her precious time and only then, deciding if they interested her or not. It seemed she desired very little beyond carnage and destruction which was so, so very normal.  He entertained the notion that she was often bored which was a plausible explanation and would explain her chewing the bone save unless she found some nutrients leftover in the marrow. Or, it was a habit that made her feel some sense of comfort. Elias still didn’t let go of the notion that she was a bloodthirsty vixen. Or perhaps she was simply insane. The male, as it were, carried some kind of interest in her that was of the heinous kind with intentions that were not entirely good-natured. Elias recognized that glow. It was what he had seen in his own reflection once and only once, when he’d been privy to a brain disease that had captured the mind of one of his former pack wolves. At a time when he’d been far more innocent and far more emotional. His eyes, which had been bright amber, had lit up like honey underneath sunlight at the prospect of diagnosing the disease and curing it. At that time, he’d been filled with excitement and a kind of barbaric, sadistic interest in what caused the body to react the way it did without any care for the wolf’s emotional state and wellbeing. There were some remnants that had survived his descent into the heartless creature he was now. They were in the form of his interest in diseases, in healing and picking apart a wolf’s body to see how the diseases affected it without any regard for their feelings or fears. With that in mind, there was no reason not to introduce himself to them. He picked up the hare and moved, silently and swiftly, lean legs pushing his muscled body towards them. The darkness shrouded him but a wolf’s eyes weren’t so easily fooled. His silky, well-groomed fur was mostly white, scattered with shades of light grey-black on his back, the back of his tail and the back of his neck along with the stripe of his muzzle. His black-trimmed ears were forwards. Luckily, he wasn’t hunting or he would’ve been seen. But he was unnervingly silent, as if he was the spectre he resembled. Death was already clinging to his soul, integrated with no means of letting go. It had consumed him far too much. But there was no escape. He appeared in between them, adjacent to the Beta and placed the hare down in front of her as a form of respect uttering in a wintry quiet, chilling voice,“I was under the impression that in order to gauge potential you have to allow others the chance to speak for a little longer than you have been my lady.”

Nyx rolled her eyes at the Healer as she became utterly bored with his attempt at a charming manner, or at least it was what he seemed to be going for. His smiling did nothing for her for she decided to take it in no particular way. At first she might’ve been curious, but an invasion into her mind as she felt was in the works shut her down completely. Everything was blank to him, even more so than it was before. Nyx did not play mind games nor did she enjoy them being played upon her. Speaking in riddles and rhymes could only last so long before it began to irritate her and cause her attention to be elsewhere. Whether a name was given or not she could no longer particularly care, though it seemed as if the brute wanted to toy with her rather than obey; Not a quality that interested her at all. Her annoyance towards him made her want to taste the crimson in his veins rather than hear him utter another word. Her bi-colored eyes flicked around in a flighty manner, nothing holding her will to care for the moment.

At one time in her life she could’ve stared at the scenery for hours. Fortunately for her, she was no longer so ignorantly-minded. Like  Her jaws pressed into the featherless bones and grinder down again and again, resisting to do the same to the brute she was somewhat conversing with. Now that his bounds had been overstepped she watched their conversation dull until it was among the many shades of gray to float off into nonexistence. She listened to him play yet another toying card, using her own words against her. Ever so quietly she spoke. “Obviously, brute, you were not aware of the test you so miserably failed. Give your name, don’t give your name, I do not particularly care anymore. I do not have to prove myself to you, though my reasons for your proving to me are disclosed for those that have shown their worth.” Being done with hearing her own voice, she turned her head away and eyed the other male coming towards them.

It was as if she might as well be speaking to the same brute she had been before, though this one bothered to give a show of respect. For a moment her eyes flicked over him as she observed him quietly, turning her attention away just as soon as he had gotten it. She went back to her forgotten bones out of boredom, chewing once again and listening to them cheer to have her focus in the cavernous walls of her mind. Her body grew uncomfortable and she changed her positions, resting partially on her side though from her chest to her head remained in an upright position. She knew it could easily be mistaken as comfort or relaxation; The Beta felt neither. To capture what she wanted would be to challenge her, as they both slightly had, but how they would come about it was the real balance. The Healer hadn’t apparently grasped it, but the newer brute was slightly following the right path. Still, he had more path to follow.

Unfortunately for them both Nyx was in no mood to help as she never was at all. No breadcrumbs would be left for them to follow, no extremely long braid for them to climb. Her mind was a locked tower but she was no princess and there would be no prince. Rather the Beta was there purposefully, silently willing her to kill the weak as she pleased. She’d take delight in watching their blood spatter and paint the leaves, finding a manic joy in the fray of murder. Nyx had not really noticed the hare in front of her until her thoughts turned to those of blood, scarlet pain weaving lovely tendrils in her mind. Without a word she began to eat again as her canines jaggedly tore through flesh to find muscle. Once she took pause -her muzzle slightly stained- she addressed the brute that had given her the meal. “I believe that actions speak louder than words, the chance to gauge potential isn’t simply through speak. Though you so rudely invaded in the conversation with corrections, you might as well join in though you know absolutely nothing other than what you’d overheard.” Quietly her ears flattened against her skull and she looked around through the dark. The Beta turned her attention back to both males simply for the curiosity of their conversing, entertaining her boredom and eyeing them both for what they could possibly do next.

The first thin he noted about the other male's appearance was that it was odd, almost abnormal in a strange, whimsical, twisted way. A little like Elias’ faded, dulled eyes in its eccentricity. Before he could inspect further the female spoke again, her words directed to him. The hare he’d brought had been ripped apart without mercy and it was in that moment that Elias abandoned any thoughts that the Beta held any kind of propensity for anything good-natured. She was what she was, which was a sadistic monster. A stone-cold vixen who delighted in killing and torture. But as much as she wanted to see his blood spray, to watch him squirm and scream he would be as equally interested in seeing her reactions to deadly plants and herbs and opening up her insides to see what havoc it would cause on her internal organs. And if she wanted to destroy his psyche, there was nothing left to destroy. No life to extinguish when there was none in his eyes or heart in the first place. The question was, would she be able to inject some life into him? Carnage and destruction wasn’t in her immediate grasp apparently so she was left with nothing but something that could ignite her. A challenge to capture her attention. One which the other male may still be working with. However there were some hidden gems of success as their Beta was speaking with him which proved that he had at least managed to hold some of her attention even if it was only for a short while. Perhaps it was his overall demeanor that entranced her, however it brief it was. Complete submission was apparently unwelcome and the other male had probably thought the same. He didn’t think that he had submitted completely. He did not know what drove him but he was not a submissive servant based on the fact that he was playing with their Beta which showed he had his own will in his own way. One that didn’t involve physicality and strength. It was along the same vein of Elias’ way and perhaps they were cut from similar cloth. Elias’ absence of emotions to even the most trivial of things made him speak in facts and cold logic. And if he were to express his thoughts it would be done in the same way. The intention and emotion behind his words were mainly non-existential and impossible to glean. His responses, as it were, were mostly borne from customary respect and civility.                  

“Yes you’re right. It was rude of me to do so and I apologize. After you’re finished with my friend here would you care to enlighten me on what I can perform for you to show my worth? If you claim that actions speak louder than words,” Elias said, replying to her. He did not know if he had earned her respect but she was speaking to him so that was positive. If it was a challenge their Beta desired, he would throw his proverbial self into the arena but only after the other male had finished his turn and if she would be generous as to grace him with a task to be done. He would remain as he was, watching and listening without interruption. If anything, his fellow pack-mate’s appearance was fascinating enough to examine in the time being. There was something intrinsically unsettling about it that pointed towards a possible illness or an onset of some kind.

Within the midst of the dark her ears nearly perked at what she thought she saw. As for exactly what it was, she would and could not name. She simply saw a pair of eyes as everyone else would, but that color in the night nearly caused the Beta’s face to crease in pain. After nearly a year it would be the first emotion to be expressed upon her face. Ironic enough that it was pain, of course it would be. Only fitting that what she wished to cause would backlash onto herself. Nyx refused to let the emotion mask her beyond her eyes until it faded and she resembled a state of boredom once again. She watched the male she had originally been speaking with dismiss himself, a pity really. He had been interesting. She would seek him out again if not for anything but the amusement of wit being slung back and forth on a metaphorical battlefield. The Beta watched him leave for a moment, noting it was the healer’s den he took residence in. With her suspicions confirmed she turned to the other male and looked at him with her bi-colored eyes. Maybe he would walk away as well and be among the many toy soldiers this pack was made up of. She gazed at him without a single blink, the most attention he had gotten from her yet. Albeit she was looking at him, her mind wasn’t really focused on him.

It was true that she desired to torture him as she did all others but she held a single thread of curiosity that maybe he wished to harm her too. Unfortunately, if that were the case, he would be very disappointed. She almost offered herself to be subject to his mechanisms, if only to laugh when he found physical pain was anything but a minor itch. If she had cared for her own wellbeing then maybe she could give him the satisfaction of a response. But no, she would sooner throw her body into a fray of claws and teeth than turn tail in concern that she could be hurt. So tempting it was to play the little game upon him that she almost wished she could offer, but she had bigger plans than that.

A slew of questions of worth did not go appreciated. It was not part of the game to give a free pass. Nyx almost laughed at his words for this reason though she did not find it amusing. Her ears lowered themselves back against her cranium as she spoke. “I am finished and you have already done it, brute. Untrue to popular belief I don’t enjoy calling the creatures I share a population with anything other but their names. If you want any ounce of respect then giving me a name is a start, though nothing is really promised. You’re obedient but not too obedient which is a quality worth looking for. Question being, who would you hold your loyalties to?” It was almost the most praise she was capable of giving though it lacked any real warmth of comfort. Then again her mentor gave no praise, simply gave her what could she could manage to fix the next time they were to meet. She was quite proud of her results, having grown into the large female she was, that there was no room for praise nor affection. This male would be held under no different rule, though she gave him but a simple bread crumb of her attention to keep him there. She was curious of where his loyalties were to lay themselves, if they were to lay at all.

A venomous grin and a prick of the ears. Quaint. Perhaps he was questioning the use of the word friend or the sincerity Elias used the word with. In the right circumstances a friend could turn into an enemy and an enemy into a friend. A friend could be many things. It was entirely up to the healer what he chose to interpret the word as. And the detriment it would cause to himself in each interpretation he chose to believe, whether wholeheartedly or not. But the hunter only had one obligation and that was to provide food. As a hunter, that was all he needed to know. As long as his prey was visibly free of any defects he would take it down. If the food happened to generate a little indigestion or stomach upset...or worse, it was not his business. He was only a hunter, not a caretaker who would check for diseases in every inch of the food. But all it would take was a push, a momentary distraction where he would over-look a defect in the food. Or perhaps one piece would be severe while the other would not be and it would be impossible to tell which one was which. In that time, Elias couldn't be blamed for something he couldn't have prevented. So he stared back at the wolf with hollow, emotionless amber eyes and intoned,"Goodbye. I may keep a hare aside for you in case you're hungry." The hunter left those words to the healer to unravel. The consequences would be of his own making.

Turning his gaze back to the Beta, he merely gazed back at her in return. Torture was the only thing on her mind and it seemed, she may be a masochist as well as a sadist. Was she under the impression that he derived any kind of innate pleasure or content from ripping her apart to see how her insides functioned? Or that he would care if she were to feel any pain at all? He was interested in symptoms and effects, not her reactions. If she weren't moving or reacting then he would still be able to gauge or glean what kind of damage had been wracked on her body. It would be better actually. If she were so willing to be his subject then he would not protest to it. Her well-being wasn’t of any concern to him. He said,“Well then doesn’t a Beta deserve a name? Or would you prefer me to call you a nameless Beta every time we cross paths since I don’t know what to call you?  That would be disrespectful but if you don’t give me a name that is what I will have to call you. My own name is Eli.” He paused, taking one step closer towards her gazing down at her. “As for my loyalties, they lie with those who hold enough power to command me. Take that however you wish to.”