Prompt #4: Baleful
Character: Shousan Xu ♦ Region: Redacted ♦ Time: Present Hosted by: @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast
Blade met metal. The sound of swords clashing with each other—razor-sharp steel slicing through air—resounded in this large room they made their dance hall. Their sparring had only just begun, however he had never been more sorely tested than when he practiced with her. She could read the energy; his moves entirely predicted as she came at him with the intent to fell her foe. The best he could manage was dodging and blocking her precisely, and swiftly, calculated moves. Which spoke malms about his own skill. That he was capable of matching her was impressive enough.
And yet, their dance was over soon after it started. He saw her waver, her footing beginning to slip which prompted him to immediately withdraw. In a fluid motion, he sheathed his blade and reached out to grab her as she fell. Her face pale and turned downcast; her limbs struggling to regain energy. This was becoming more constant as the days went on. Each time they sparred, he noticed she would begin to fall sooner than the time previous. Hearing her pant in his arms, he lamented their fate. This was his fault for not breaking her host sooner.
That was because he was under the impression Nobushige’s mentality would not hold for long in the beginning—the Raen’s mind lacking traits which individuals oft expressed. He was wholly malleable and frailly motivated. If he could’ve been convinced that Hers was best suited as the dominant personality, he would’ve been no more. Then, this wouldn’t be happening. But encountering that person changed everything. The person who challenged Nobushige to want for himself and not others.
He had to be careful about where he held her. When she was given a moment of consciousness, she was made to endure a terrible pain. The Raen’s body scarred with injuries new and old. Though he could not feel a thing, she could. She felt it all. This body didn’t belong to that man anymore and he should learn to treat it better for her sake. Damn his skewered morality. He shouldn’t have to worry about the wants or final wishes of his prey. All should be done in her interests even if it means viewing the rest of the world’s inhabitants as worthless cattle.
Eat, kill, and give her your service eternal. She was too beautiful to be left wanting and ever suffering from this hurt. She was his god. An entire life time of devotion to her…only for this to be their outcome? It wasn’t acceptable. One day, he too would waste away like ash, his skin already littered with dark marks of age. Had he truly the time to save her before she was subjected to the same end?
Everything he had done couldn’t have been in vain. He would not allow it.














