Meeting with a Monster (Raal)

[Moon]

Moon shuffled along the outside walkway of the Spiral, it was a long way down and the way she felt right now she wasn't sure that she would be able to get her wings fast enough to fly to safety. She leaned against the wall, coughing, her thin shoulders shaking with each laboured expulsion of air from her lungs.

The air around her burned, a sure sign that the sun had come up, or that there was a poison that affected only her in the clouds that swelled around the tower. Moon wasn't completely sure that the sun did come up here, the clouds seemed to block out all light bar the one coming from the base, sending an eerie glow up the side of the tower.

Black had marked her skin and dress, her fingers transferring it to her face by accident, smearing it over her smooth skin, making her look even more like a street urchin. She glanced at her dress, sighing as she realised she would have to wash it once the sun disappeared, the material was almost completely black. It was a good thing that she had cased her wings, it was too hard to wash them all the time and she couldn't fly straight for days afterwards.

Moon looked up the side of the tower and frowned. She could try to fly up there, if she didn't think she could make it, or her wings wouldn't hold her weight then she could always stop on a ledge and walk the rest of the way. Shifting off the wall, Moon uncased her wings, still holding them tight against her back. She measured the distance with her eyes and then let herself fall away, her wings spreading to catch the air currents. It caught her and she floated up, her wings barely moving as she glided on the air.

[Raal]

"Everything is mine for the taking!"

Black bolts thundered from the sky, negative energy crackling on the ground surface. The behemoth materalized, the massive Dead Zone that he generated washing over a good chunk of the area without rhyme or reason. It bled the colors away, turning natural solid forms into a wispy state, as if they were borderline existing. Rocks looked like smouldering piles of smoke, and a part of the tower looked like it was also smoking.

The monster detected an existing presence higher up, and started scaling the side of the Downward Spiral to investigate. The Dead Zone moved when he did, and when it moved, so did the bizarre effects that it made. His sheer size could not be missed. He could be seen a mile away, and he didn't give two shits.

Oouxxi found the source of his current interest. The female was so tiny in comparison to his gargantuan form. She didn't even stand as tall as one of his claw-tips. Oouxxi was searching for Raal, and ended up finding a tiny woman. He did go face to face with Moon, a grin plastered onto his rock-like mug. His booming baritone voice rattled the tower walls.

"Tiny one, you have caught my interest."

[Moon]

Moon felt the air tremble and her breath caught in her throat, she couldn't feel the moon, she couldn't feel the moon's power! Her heat leapt into her throat and she perched herself on the walkway, looking down over her shoulder at the huge monster scaling the building and tears of fear gathered in her eyes to be blinked away quickly. What was that thing?

Her hands shook as she tried to hold herself steady, turning to press her back against the wall as the monster came to her level. The colour of her eyes, the only colour in her, was leeched away, leaving them a dark grey. They stared at the thing that clung to the tower around her, a tear rolling down her cheek, cutting through the grime.

His voice boomed in her head and Moon dropped to her knees, clapping her hands over her ears to try and lessen the noise, it merely echoed inside her skull, almost making her teeth chatter. "Leave me alone." she whispered, over and over, her soft voice like rain hitting ice, a soft hiss as the ice melted. "Leave me alone. Leave me alone."

Her tears continued to roll down her cheeks and she whimpered softly. She couldn't feel the moon, she didn't know which way to go anymore. She wanted to flee but the shock and fear wouldn't allow her to move, her wings folded against her back, the feathers dark also. "Please, I haven't done anything. Just leave me alone."

[Raal]

"Nothing is everything, and everything is nothing."

That grin just got wider, showing all of his teeth. His huge size blocked out the sun, casting an even bigger shadow on the woman. He got himself comfortable, gripping the sides of the tower in a way that didn't put pressure on his fingers and toes. This woman would prove to be fun. His demented mind loved it when people cowered in front of him. What made it even better was if stronger people cowered in front of him, begging for mercy.

The woman wasn't strong in the least, but she was still amusing. He spoke again, ignoring her pleas, "Again, you have caught my interest. Why so frail?"

[Moon]

Moon half-relaxed in the shadow, feeling the weak rays of the sun lose their sting on her skin. She made herself drop her hands, eyes slowly rising to study the monster in front of her. The tower grated as he shifted and Moon gave a soft cry, hoping he wasn't about to bring the tower down with her sitting on it!

His voice boomed through her again and she gritted her teeth, wiping away the tears that still clung to her cheeks. Her fingers were shaking and she was a little disappointed in herself at her reaction.

Moon shivered and she took a deep breath. "Why have I caught your interest?" she asked after a pause. "Why can't you torment someone else?" Her voice was rising shrilly. "Go find someone else to hover over you big bully!" She was screaming now, her tiny frame trembling as much from rage as fear. "Get away from me! You are nothing but a leech! Give me back my magic!"

[Raal]

"Power. Real power."

Her yelling was so cute. She was trying to intimidate him. Oouxxi started laughing, the force of it shaking the walls of the tower even more than his speech. He had been called a bully, but never a leech. That was a new one. If she wanted him to go away, she would have to answer his questions.

"You want me to leave? Only if you tell me where Raal is. No tricks."

The last two words had a dark undertone to it. She was in no position to deal or even attempt to intimidate. He had the power, and the awesome might to back it. It was Oouxxi who held the cards, not the tiny female!

[Moon]

Moon shivered under his laughter, wrapping her arms around herself tightly. She heard his question but the words merely made her frown in confusion. She didn't know where Raal was, or if is was even a place or a person and she said as much.

"I don't know what you are talking about. What is Raal?"

She didn't care that he was trying to intimidate her anymore, she was just concentrating on keeping her mind knitted together long enough to fly out of there when the monster was distracted enough.

"And don't go shouting at me! I don't know."

[Raal]

"Mine! All mine! Mine mine mine, muhahahah!"

He shifted a little, looking at her, really looking at her, with one big eye, "Red hair, half naked, wears a brown tarp, has a pretty face. Not ringing any bells?"

Oouxxi just snorted. He didn't expect this pretty little thing to know who he sought after. It would have surprised him if it did. Well, he had to ask. He had no idea who saw Raal and who didn't. Well, at least she was honest about it. The last one who wasn't honest had become a bloody smear in a huge fist-shaped print.

The same fate would be hers if she were lying to him.

[Moon]

Moon scowled a little and shook her head. "I have no interest in pretty boys." she muttered, hoping the giant creature wouldn't hear, before she raised her voice to give a proper answer. "If I had seen him I wouldn't have paid attention because I wasn't looking for him."

She cringed back as a rather warm breeze blew past and wrapped her arms around herself to try to keep her cool around her. Her eyes, once beautiful purple, now dark grey looked at the eye hanging over her. "What colour were your eyes. Before?"

[Raal]

"More! MORE! MOOOOOORE!"

He was about to leave, however her question dismissed that thought of leaving by catching him off guard. Really? She wanted to know what his eye color was? Oouxxi couldn't really remember. It had been over two-thousand years since he had last seen his previous form. His pact with the Null and the Void had erased his former self. He then remembered... gold. Yes, his eyes were a voracious, cruel, frozen, neon gold.

He answered, just to amuse her, "Gold. Cruel, vicious, frozen, bright gold. Struck more fear into my foes than the average red eyes. Now they are the deadliest of whites. More white than the eyes of a corpse."

That giant eye was indeed like a white pit of nothing, completely solid and glowing. Any brighter and it would have been like searchlights.

"Why do you ask?"

[Moon]

Moon reached out, her hand trembling as she inched her way to the edge of the walkway she was on. Her fingertips brushed against the rough skin just under his eyes, her skin as cold as ice. She had a sad expression on her face and she seemed to be searching for something to say.

"I... I would have loved to see them. They would have been beautiful. Even if they were cold and cruel."

The young woman seemed to come out of a trance and she pressed herself back quickly, her fingertips dropping from his skin. Tears were rolling down her cheeks but she wasn't weeping for herself, she was weeping for tge lonely creature before her.

[Raal]

"Hopeless."

The creature did feel that touch. It did not move him, however. This woman was only digging a deeper hole for herself. Oouxxi knew what he had gotten himself into, and didn't give a shit about losing his former self. He did it for more power, and had gotten more power, if only to kill. His family were killers, and Raal was the only black sheep of said family. It was time to cull the flock of any weaknesses. He was trained to kill, and kill he shall.

"I knew what I was getting into. Everything will perish eventually... even you. I'll just be here to help it along."

The white cracks in the rock-like hide rippled with glowing power beneath.

[Moon]

Moon brushed away her tears and bowed her head, silently praying for Oouxxi. Even though he was a horrible creature, the worst she had seen, she still couldn't help but feel sorry for him and what he had done to himself.

"My body may perish but when I die I will be able to rejoin the moonlight and water of this world. I will be back where I belong. And you... You will still be all alone. I pity you."

She lifted her head from her prayer and her wings shifted behind her, brushing against the black stone, gathering dust and dirt in them. "Why do you want this Raal? If he will perish eventually then why hunt him? Why not let nature take its course?"

Her head turned to look at his grip on the tower, then the length between her and his shoulder. She braced herself for but a second and launched herself off the tower, gliding across to land on Oouxxi's shoulder, her tiny frame barely making a ripple in his power.

[Raal]

"Do not resist. Embrace the inevitable."

The giant demon's deadpan expression turned into a psychotic grin, "I am a demon. I cannot die naturally. Neither can Raal. Demons die violently. They never die peacefully. I merely desire to speed things up with Raal."

He cackled with a twisted glee. Even when she landed on one of the many crystals on his shoulder, he still cackled. What could she possibly do to him? Seriously, his skin was the toughest hide around. It would require much strife and combat to even make him bleed from a tiny cut. Pfft, if they didn't get punched to death first!

[Moon]

Moon felt his rumble under her feet and she closed her eyes, it was almost lulling her to sleep. She gripped the crystal growing on his shoulder and leaned against it, resting her forehead on the smooth surface. It wasn't hot or cold, it was... perfect. She didn't think her cold would be leeched into the crystals and she found a little hollow, tucking herself inside.

"So what happens once your brother is dead?" she asked, her eyes sliding closed as she relaxed on the creature. "What will you do with all this power once he's dead?"

She frowned as she heard something, then realised it was Oouxxi's heartbeat, burried deep in his hide. "Hey, what's your name? You never told me." She waited for a second, wondering if she should tell hers. "My name is Moon."