Chapter 84 - Enter the Tiger

A grand feast spread out before Skyle’s eyes, full of all his favorite dishes. His mother had truly gone all out today, and it was to his chagrin that he really could not find the appetite to enjoy any of it just at this moment.

Still, Skyle forced himself to smile and nod his gratitude, all the while trying to lower his gaze and hide the profound sorrow that he felt pressing upon him like the shadow of a great, inescapable mountain.

A jovial slap to his back interrupted his thoughts, nearly making him fumble the bowl of mashed potatoes he held in his hands.

“Now, this is what I’m talking about, farm-” Leon’s face twitched momentarily as he realized that he was in fact surrounded by nothing but farmers at the moment, and his nobility made him stick out like a boil on a sow’s arse.

“-Farrow.” He finished lamely, all the while snatching the bowl of potatoes from Skyle's hand. “At long last, the proper reward for all of our hard work. I’m so famished I could eat an entire horse!”

His grin seemed to freeze for just a moment at that last word.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Skyle turned to Leon. “I spoke to a friend of mine. He said they recovered your horse. Tannos has been treated by the healers, and is apparently in better shape than I am.”

Leon didn’t speak a word then, instead simply offering a nod to Skyle. It was then that the youth realized just how much the horse truly meant to his noble friend.

After all, he had seldom seen Leon moved beyond words like he was right now.

The rest of the meal passed as usual, full of cheerful banter and good, hearty food. Kassandra ate her tiny morsels of precisely portioned food with her usual care, while Reikard the made a mess out of himself and his shirt. The only difference was Skyle, who was still trying to familiarize himself with the Maw of the Void.

It was an altogether wondrous feeling as he could follow each mouthful of food travelling down his throat and into his stomach. There, he couldn’t decide if he was fascinated or disgusted by the roiling sea of acids that attacked the amorphous mass of nutrients, until only a melted pool of goo remained.

There were definite drawbacks to this fourth layer of the Infinite Eye, Skyle decided, as his face turned green and he suppressed a shudder.

Thankfully, he had already told his family about his current purpose, so this time they managed not to gape as he inhaled food in an even greater mess than Reik usually did. Leon, competitive and ignorant fool that he was, apparently mistook this as some sort of strange commoner’s custom, or a subtle challenge from Skyle.

In the end, it did not matter. All it meant was that there were now three hogs sitting at the table, each more messy and noisy than the last. They devoured every last scrap of food presented before them, until even the generous feast prepared by Adrienne had vanished inside their bottomless maws.

Kendric joked that they would soon put the farm out of business - or at least Skyle thought it was a joke. Reikard contented himself with a long, satisfied burp, and met Kassandra’s chilly gaze with an impish grin of his own. Leon practically melted against the back of his chair, his body a boneless bag of aching muscles and all his energy sapped by the unhealthy amount of food he had just gulped down.

Only Adrienne seemed strangely out of place as she hovered around Skyle. There was nothing wrong with her expression, as she wore the familiar smile of kindly grace every member of the Farrow family had long grown accustomed to. There was just an air of restless anxiety to her as she constantly danced around the edges of Skyle’s personal space, not quite intruding upon it yet always keeping a mindful eye.

Though he might have once found such attention smothering, at the moment Skyle was deeply grateful for his mother’s insistent love. It pressed upon him forcefully, and its weight drove back the darkness lingering ever so close to his troubled soul.

Skyle could only hope that time would slowly ease some of the pain, but right now it was all he could do not to drown in his grief. He didn’t know how to come to terms with such a grievous wound, and he feared that it might leave a scar that would never truly heal until he had Ria back in his arms - and perhaps not even then.

So, he smiled and tried his best to act like the old Skyle would. It wasn’t that he was living a lie, but rather he was barely clinging on to a semblance of sanity. At least his sense of purpose gave him a direction, and if he could only blindly flounder through this vast stretch of emptiness in his heart, and towards the beckoning light beyond, then he would splash and splutter his way past this all-consuming void by sheer stubbornness alone if he must.

It was this helpless feeling of drowning within a sea of emptiness which unexpectedly unlocked one of the first mysteries of the Maw of the Void. Within his body, Skyle was startled to sense a change in the process through which he was assimilating his food.

Before, he had been paying close attention but failed to identify how he could apply the first level of the Maw of the Void: the concept of Consume. Consumption was what his body naturally did, so he could not understand what more he could do in this natural process.

Only by drawing closer to that feeling of emptiness was he able to realize that within even the smallest bit of matter there seemed to be a latent energy, a power which was contained by thin, restricting bindings. These gave way under the potent acids breaking down the food, but only the surface matter was drawn into his body while the energy itself was lost.

Skyle quickly realized that without recognizing the void within himself, he would have never been able to feel the contrasting force pulsating from even the tiniest scrap of matter. It was a shocking realization to sense such vibrant energy stir just outside of his reach. All his life, Skyle came to realize, he had been eating without truly digesting the true essence hidden within each precious morsel. They seemed like a treasure to him now, and a breathless excitement lit up his heart as he reached out to this newfound resource.

This glowing essence pulsed with a life of its own as the last layers trapping it to its material shell dissolved within his body. Skyle saw how quickly it was dissipating once freed, flaring brightly but vanishing like a shooting star. He did not understand where this energy was going, but it certainly was not nourishing his own body, and he meant to put a stop to such waste.

Sadly, his power proved too feeble for his ambition. The strands of energy vanished into nothingness even as he watched, helpless as he pressed his body into action but it only continued the same useless actions as before. The walls of his stomach rippled with a decidedly uncomfortable feeling, but everything else remained the same except for an unpleasant queasiness.

Undaunted, Skyle redoubled his efforts, and his very guts seemed to groan in protest as if they could not understand just what his tyrannical brain was asking of them.

“ More, I need to press just a little harder. The energy, the essence is right there, just beyond reach..” Skyle snarled within his head.

The booming fart that tore its way out of Skyle’s tortured insides instantly stopped all other noises in the house as every pair of shocked eyes turned to regard the sweating, shaking boy squatting on his seat with clenched fists and veins bulging from his forehead.

“Uh, big bro, you alright?” Reik mumbled helplessly.

“Big brother!” Kassandra cried out shrilly, both in horror and concern.

“Honey? Oh, I knew I should not have let you eat so much so quickly,” Adrienne lamented.

Ash scooted away from Skyle while scratching at his nose as though he would tear it off if only he could.

Only two people had no hint of concern in their eyes at all. Instead, bits of half-chewed pork and vegetable medley sprayed into the air as Kendric and Leon both burst out in raucous laughter.

“Serves you right, boy. Damnation, that ungodly smell could make a goat faint,” Kendric cackled, slapping Skyle’s back.

“Make that a whole herd of goats drop dead on the spot, sir, and their balls would shrivel up and fall off, too!” Leon crowed, pounding his fist against the table while he used his other hand to cover his nose.

Skyle felt his face heating up even as another great, booming fart ripped its way out of his entrails.

“ Oh god, there was no mention of this kind of side-effect at all,” He moaned inwardly.

Kassandra immediately jumped back from the table, but at that moment she hesitated as if unsure what to do next. Part of her seemed to want to draw closer to tend to her brother, but the green tinge of her skin told Skyle that her squeamish side might not quite be up to the challenge.

Reikard, helpful as always, firmly placed his hand upon his sister’s shoulder and drew her back with a gentle shake of his head.

Only Adrienne wore an earnest look upon her face as she held Skyle’s face between her hands. Her smothering care only made the moment even more mortifying, particularly when he saw that even his mother’s lips were twitching upward as Kendric and Leon’s laughter only rumbled louder still.

Skyle managed to throw a dark look in Leon’s direction, no longer feeling even the slightest bit guilty about the morning’s ordeals. If anything, his withering gaze promised swift and terrible retribution.

If only his body would cooperate, that is.

“ Oh no,” Skyle moaned in his head.

His stomach rumbled yet again, and not for the first time, Skyle felt just how terrifying the Desolate Star Technique could be.

It was a gut-wrenching, nose-busting, mind-numbing terror that hung around the room like a thick miasma that mercifully cut off all sense of smell and appetite, drawing the family lunch to a close.

“You sure you don’t want to take a brief hike into the bushes, farmboy?” Leon called out from behind Skyle’s shoulder.

Rolling his eyes, Skyle shook his head. “For the last time, no, I don’t need to relieve myself.”

“Hell, I’m not worried about you. I just don’t think my nose could take another of those blasts - like the breath of Ashen’s bride, I’d say, all rotten flesh and festering boil-”

Skyle shut the rest of it out as he decided he must be more careful on where and how he practiced the Maw of the Void in the future.

“Just take one of these and follow me,” Skyle muttered grumpily, picking up a wheelbarrow with a shovel in it.

It was Leon’s turn to groan then. “Another ditch? Gods below, is this a mole farm, that you need to dig so many damn ditches?”

“They’re not for digging, but for scooping,” Skyle said, and Leon couldn’t help but shudder at the ominous tone.

“I thought you were joking when you mentioned carting manure,” Leon whimpered.

“I’ll bet you were,” Skyle smirked, chuckling darkly.

Leon did notice the other boy was wearing a quiver of arrows, and frowned in puzzled confusion at the sight. Why would he need arrows for shoveling manure? And where was the bow? Surely, not even his friend's twisted mind would think of forcing him to load the manure using arrowheads?

Shaking his head, Leon tried to ignore the little voice inside his head that told him anything was possible with these crazy farmers.

They quickly arrived before a massive gate made of solid metal bars as thick around as Skyle’s wrists. It was part of an impressive fence of the same metal bars, so thick and tall it resembled a wall. Huge signs were hung all over, warning with thick, bold print that trespassers would forfeit their lives. The top of the fence was equipped with sharpened barbs which oddly enough pointed outward instead of the other way around.

Skyle followed Leon’s gaze and nodded, explaining. “It’s not built for our cats. A flimsy fence like this wouldn’t be able to block even the oldest, sickest snowblade tiger. It’s to keep idiots out, either curious ones with a deathwish or them filthy snowblade hunters.”

Leon’s face abruptly lost all color as he stared at Skyle.

“We- we’re going in there? Wi- with them?” He stammered.

Leon finally seemed to understand why even Ash was accompanying them.

Skyle allowed himself a small grin. “Relax, you big baby. They’re gonna love you..”

Leon seemed to take at least a little reassurance from this, and Ash drew closer to the big noble with a decidedly friendly look on his face.

“.. They prefer more meat on the bone, you see, and all the better if its rich in elemental essence,” Skyle finished darkly.

Leon jumped back as though Ash himself were eyeing him like a meal, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

The young snowblade tiger cub showed him a wide grin that was all teeth, and Leon couldn’t decide if he should let the cat know that the gesture didn’t make him feel even a tiny bit more reassured.

Then again, Leon thought while measuring the harrowing length of those wickedly sharp fangs, maybe it wasn’t supposed to.

“Ah, how about I go dig some more of those lovely little ditches while you take care of your beas- ah, I mean, cats,” Leon said with a greasy, ingratiating smile. “Could use the workout, you know? Very good for your upper back, biceps and triceps.”

Ash’s grin seemed to grow wider at the mention of muscles growing bigger, or was that just Leon’s imagination?

Skyle ignored him as he unlocked the chains with a key that dangled from a string hanging from his neck.

“Don’t worry, Leon. I’ll be right there with you. Ash will be coming along as well. He’ll keep an eye on you, won’t you boy?”

Ash let out a slow, throaty purr that might be interpreted as a pleasant nod - or an evil smirk.

The subtleties of snowblade tiger body language escaped Leon just now.

All the noble wanted to do at the moment was to beat a hasty retreat, but he reminded himself that he was Leon Draxas di Adrausier, fire summoner Adept and heir of the Free Duchy of Draxas and Adrausier. He had scorched his way through the bloody fields of battle when he was barely ten. He had faced down an alien army of cultists and blown away a horde of monstrous spiders. He could handle a few fat, pampered, and overgrown kitties.

“Lead the way,” Leon nodded with smoldering eyes filled with fighting intent.

If he could not avoid danger, it was his policy to smash through it as ruthlessly and efficiently as possible.

He was Leon Draxas, and he pitied the snow kitty that so much as looked at him the wrong way.

It was just a handful of pussy cats, while he was the Lion of Draxas.

Hah. He would show them what for.

“Holy fuck,” Leon gasped, his legs shaking so badly his knees began knocking against each other. “What in Ashen’s dark abyss..”

Blades. Wickedly sharp, shimmering blades as far as the eye could see. They hung from the trees, shone amidst the greenery, and a veritable sea of them swirled around him, some not even five inches from his supple, tender skin.

“Hmm?” Skyle called out over his shoulder, as he continued to push his cart ahead of Leon. “What was that, Leon? Mauler, I’ve told you countless times not to chew at the wheels!”

“The fuck is this,” Leon breathed, not daring to move so much as a muscle.

“What? Say that again, Leon. Oh, hold on. Darn it, Cutter. I told you to trim your claws if you want to play tag with me. And you, Thrasher! Stop it right there! Don’t think I’m not watching you, mister. Don’t you dare pounce on Leon, you hear me? He’s a friend, not a new chew toy. And no, I don’t care how yummy he looks. Down, you bad kitty. Down!”

This last was reinforced by an ungentle kick straight to the rump of one of the biggest cats pressing up against Leon’s side. Leon could feel its rumbling growl on his own skin as it lightly jumped away, all the while watching him with wide, gleaming eyes of glittering silver.

As Thrasher was kicked away by Skyle, Leon felt tension tugging at his clothes for just a moment. The motion drew his eyes down. He almost wished he hadn’t. Running along his ribs was a neat tear in his shirt, the edges looking as though they had been cut by a razor sharp blade - which of course, was exactly what had happened.

Such deadly blades, damn cats were full of them.

Even now, Leon did not dare to move a single muscle as he beheld dozens, hundreds of sparkling blades dancing around him in a bewitching sea of silvery light. They constantly rose and sank in sinuous waves all along the length of each tiger’s silhouette. One moment, there would be nothing but silky white-and-black fur, the next a gleaming blade of snow-white bone so dense it resembled metal instead, would ripple from underneath its skin and rise several feet in the air with a deadly flourish.

The motion was so fast and natural, it was incomparably more elegant than the sword draw of a master swordsman. More deadly, as well. Now that he beheld these formidable beasts with his own eyes for the first time, Leon could finally understand the dread they commanded in every tale he had heard.

They resembled a regular tiger, though their fur was mostly white with black stripes. However, they were at least twice as big as any tiger Leon had ever heard of, each of their massive paws as big as his own chest. Their eyes glittered with a silver hue, possessed of an uncanny intelligence as they watched his every movement with an almost human-like curiosity.

The blades that they were aptly named after did not look stiff at all. Instead, they weaved and bobbed with the same languid, easy grace that flowed naturally from their every move. It was easy to tell that these were born predators, power and speed rippling along the corded muscles plainly noticeable even under their thick, shining coats of fur.

This fur was well known for its warmth and resiliency. It was highly prized as a component for armor, especially amongst the northern barbarian tribes. Only their leaders could afford such princely and luxurious protection, but its natural resistance against elemental essence and blades made it worth its sky-high price.

Even this fur, however, paled in comparison to the true prize that lay in a snowblade tiger’s body - their namesake blades. The snowblades, as they had come to be known, were nearly indestructible so long as there was even a strand of elemental essence being channeled through them. Even without it, they were sharper than most steel blades. However, when infused with essence, its edge could cut past metal like butter, making it as highly sought after as the most exotic magical ores.

Their only true disadvantages came from the fact that only rarely could a snowblade be actually harvested from a tiger’s remains. No one knew why, but most snowblades would shatter the instant the tiger was slain. Even the few that were salvaged were nearly impossible to reforge or adapt into any size or shape other than its original one.

For all these reasons, true snowblades were hideously expensive relics that commanded ridiculous prices and became deadly weapons in the hands of a master.

Right now, Leon was surrounded by dozens of such innate masters, each wielding countless snowblades. They circled around the profusely sweating fire summoner while eyeing him as they would a scrumptious meal.

Skyle himself was hard-pressed dealing with his own crowd of tigers. These, however, only acted like over-enthusiastic cats who had sorely missed their owner. They skipped and tumbled all over themselves as they approached the little farmboy, their silvery eyes glittering with unconcealed glee. The object of such affection was busy haranguing tigers left and right as he tried to make his way toward Leon.

“Ripper! Bad cat, no crossing blades with strangers, I’ve told you so many times. Especially not humans. They don’t have blades, you dummy. You'll slice clean through skin, tendon and bone!” Skyle scolded, and Leon couldn’t quite supress the shudder he felt running down his spine. Was it just him being oversensitive, or had that been just a tiny hint of fear he had detected in the farmboy’s voice? Surely not, right?

“Leon, ah, don’t even think about gathering your elemental essence. They’re very sensitive to essence energy. Seeing as how they’re so skittish and shy, like any other kitty, you might scare them into doing something, ah, unpleasant and eh, very regrettable, if summon your powers,” Skyle said with what was a decidedly uneasy chuckle, accompanied by an even more sickly smile.

“Trust me, you don’t want to spook these kitties,” Skyle finished feelingly.

Leon didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry as he considered the very real prospect that he had survived a whole realm filled with nightmarish beasts only to be cut to ribbons by the careless swipes of a playful teenage tiger cub and his enthusiastic friends.

It certainly didn’t help that Skyle and his parents apparently had the most bizarre, disturbing naming sense imaginable. Mauler? Thresher? Cutter? Ripper?

“ What the feck, that sounds like the starring cast of the latest gladiatorial arena deathmatch. All that’s left is-” Leon moaned in his head.

“Eviscerator, stop! No eviscerating today, you hear me? No eviscerating or no fresh entrails for you for a whole month!”

Leon heard a distinctly predatorial growl come from right behind his ear, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as thick beads of sweat trickled down his skin.

Slowly, oh so slowly, Leon swiveled his head around and risked a glance backwards. He almost wished he hadn't.

Crouching just behind his back and in such close proximity that he could feel its hot breath on his face, was one of the biggest, most ferocious looking snowblade tigers out of the entire bunch. Its large, foot long fangs glistened wetly under the afternoon sun. Fittingly, its front paws were pitch black, as though it were wearing deadly gauntlets from which a full set of five razor sharp claws extended hungrily like wickedly curved daggers thirsting for his blood.

At this moment, he nearly said to hell with all of this and summoned Draco, his fire elemental spirit, if only so he could take as many of the man-eating beasts into the afterlife with him as he could.

He probably would have, but at the moment only a single thought dominated the entirety of his mind.

“Why, oh why didn’t I go back to those beautiful, lovely little ditches?”

What he wouldn’t give to be buried neck-deep in blissful dirt right about now.