The authorities were on to him, that much he knew for sure. They had found the strangled corpse of whoever's bones he broke, lying there, in the street. He had seen it with his own eyes, from a distance. He watched the wizards, though he could not understand what was said from so far away. But he knew that it was serious when the woman speaking to them had decided to march away. But what he remembered the most, was the deep longing to go back over to the strangled and broken thing. He wanted to rip it to shreds, chew it, taste it upon his tongue. He fantasized about the delicious taste, almost rushing over to indulge his cravings. But he knew that he was too weak to do so. Something reminded him that if he would have gone to the broken body, he would have attracted the attention of even more wizards. It was painful to know that he could not even dare to nibble upon the flesh of that sweet, succulent, juicy, delectable looking flesh. But he knew he was weak. He knew that, even if he were to succeed in the murdering of the crowd around the corpse, that he would be overrun and destroyed. He blinked curiously, his antlers returning to their normal size. Akal turned and disappeared into the alley he had been standing before, finding a victim that could not run. He did not look as satisfying, but he would do for now.
Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake. It didn’t stop. It wouldn’t stop. But Akal did not notice it. It was a normal thing by now. He had grown used to it. But what Akal did notice was the constant scratching of his calloused hands. He looked down at his hands, watching them. He had been resting his right hand atop his left, but the shaking of his hands caused his sharp and unkempt nails to scratch his palms ever so lightly. Despite the hardened nature of his hands, he had heard the curious sound and looked down. They were covered in blood. That tasty, delicious, savory, sweet, delectable, red liquid that he loved to lap up like a dog. A soft drip snapped Akal out of his enchantment and he noticed a thin string of saliva connecting the blood on his hand to his mouth. Breaking the strand, Akal stuck his tongue out to clean his bloodied hands. As the delicious crimson substance touched his tongue, he felt the flavor hit his mind. That delicious, other-worldly, inexplicable, and satisfying substance always tasted so delicious. But it always seemed to make his mouth feel a tad drier. Smacking his lips, he registered the taste of the rotting chunks of flesh between his teeth. It filled his heart with joy as he let his tongue dig out these chunks, so that he may let them rest on his tongue. When that failed, he took a small pointed stick from the ground beneath him and used it to dig them out by force. With his teeth cleaned and his cravings slightly satisfied, Akal was able to snap back to reality.
The corpse in front of him was shoved into the corner as far as it could go, with Akal leaning above it. Visible chunks had been torn from the flesh and in some places; these chunks went deep enough for one to see the bones of the poor soul. Akal realized that the patterns of the chunks matched those that he made while within his Reaver form. Maybe that was why he was tired. In fact, now that he thought about it, he had just woken up a few moments ago. Closing his eyes to focus on his memories, Akal knew that he had definitely been in his Reaver form. It’s not that he forgot, he always remembered being in his Reaver form, but he did just wake up, so his memory was cloudy. Humming idly underneath his breath, Akal remembered the two victims of his. One had been a young woman, whom he had beaten until her bones were broken, and then strangled her for good measure. He didn’t get to taste the sweet succulent flesh that she had, which angered Akal greatly. But he knew that he’d be seen if he stuck around. As much as he wanted to dig his nails into her skin and then rip it out to greedily devour, he could not, for he had heard people who would have seen him. It angered him. It still angered him. He wanted to dig his teeth into the fat, delicious, succulent, juicy, uncooked, raw, red, jaw-dropping flesh. But he had been denied. But he wasn’t all that angry. He was able to secure a meal in this alley, it was not as delicious looking, but it would hold him over for now. It was nice and quiet for now.
Well, that was a bit too soon. The noise of dozens, or maybe even hundreds, of different personalities came crashing down upon him. He was exhausted and could not resist them right now. He fell down, overcome by the sudden noise, and blacked out. Well, not exactly. He was back within the blackened, sensory-deprived prison that he absolutely loathed. He was there for a time, too exhausted to escape the hell. But he was able to hear the other personalities. They were fighting amongst each other, none gaining control. Akal imagined what was going on “outside”. He could almost see the body that he had taken control of, slumped over a corpse. Neither of them would respond to outside stimuli, mostly because one was dead. Speaking of which, that poor soul was probably locked up with Akal in this hell now. As if on cue, Akal could
”hear” the man’s personality panic. Hear was a loose term. Akal had no sensory functions in the traditional sense here. Instead, he had his will, a flurry of memories that weren’t his, and the strange but instinctual ability to understand pure thoughts… as well as the ever present hunger that gnawed at him. It was a strange concept. If Akal wanted to, he could think about that for an eternity. Time passed strangely here. Perhaps it didn’t pass at all. No, that was a ridiculous thought, Akal knew time passed here, the evidence lied in the fact that he was able to wrest control of the body that wasn’t really his.
Done writhing in the disgusting prison that he knew all-too-well, Akal used his will to push through the other minds. But it wasn’t just his will, but also his hunger, that allowed him to do so. They could not force him from control, at least, not permanently. Akal was thankful for that. As his senses came back to him, Akal felt that rush that came to him when he was able to see, smell, feel, taste, and hear. He blinked, looking at the mangled corpse in front of him. Leaning down, he took a bite of the man’s flesh. It wasn’t fresh flesh, but it still hit the spot. Akal figured that he’d be here for a while, so he dug his teeth deep into whatever flesh remained for him to eat. He ate with such ferocity that each bite he took produced a loud clacking noise, due to his teeth hitting each other. It would have hurt if this was not a normal occurrence. Akal loved food.
When Akal finished his meal, he stood up and stretched. Not too long had passed, so he was unable to use any magic still. But the voices in his head screamed at one another, at him, at anything they could. Pulling his cloak close, Akal left the alley and started walking along the street. The cloak did a good job of hiding his features, even though it was technically one of his features. But still, he stuck to the darker parts of the street, taking paths that few walked along. Despite the risk in staying, Akal still needed something to bring back Ishak. He had a soul, that might prove enough, but Akal wanted to give Ishak more. He wanted to give him flesh and bone as well. But he also wanted to get something in return for the beautiful meal he was forced to ignore earlier.
Akal would most likely wait until night to strike again, but he wanted to get a view of the city he was in. Haven, he believed it was called. Akal chuckled. Some haven this place was, if it was this easy to find victims. Smacking his lips together, Akal took another step forth. Click clack, click clack. There was no shaking right now. That was what Akal was focusing primarily on; not shaking. It was a rather monumental task for him. But it needed to be done in a public environment. Akal frowned at that thought. He was always so hungry in towns. The flesh around him teased him and danced around his mind. It became hard to keep himself in check, but it was even harder to do so when nobody else was there to help him with that task. But luckily, Venn was somewhere in Haven, or near Haven. They had come here together, but Venn was doing something on a rooftop or something. Akal didn't really pay attention to him, instead opting to sniff out a suitable meal.
As Akal stepped forward, the smell of grilling meat hit his nose, causing him to take a deep breath. It smelled like beef of some sort. Akal’s face contorted in disgust. The only meat worth eating was that of a human. Not an embalmed human though. They tasted like lutefisk. Akal gagged at the thought of eating an embalmed corpse and then at the thought of eating lutefisk. He had done that once. But he stopped thinking about it as he continued to focus on not shaking. Akal could not do it. He could not wander around the town. He would be caught for sure. He slunk back into the darkened alleyway that he had been in not even a few minutes ago. He gathered the bones of his victim and pondered what to with them. They had been stripped clean by him earlier, but now he had to get rid of them somehow. Deciding that the best course of action would be to simply conceal them underneath something, he moved them underneath some junk. He'd lay here for awhile, gathering enough strength to use his magic again. He sat against the wall and closed his eyes again. To any passerby, he'd just look like a homeless man, or a wanderer, just trying to get some rest. Hopefully that'd keep them from bothering him before he went out to gather some nice juicy corpses to bring back to his master. Akal licked his lips at the thought. Tasty, tasty, tasty. His stomach grumbled, but he didn't seem to notice, it was all too common nowadays.
