Solo [Sunberth] Dinner at Dawn

[Avii]

Timestamp: 11th day of Spring, 513 AV The moon’s rays were hazy, shrouded by the dull and pallid curtains of cloud in the night’s sky. Cold droplets of sweat, slowly transforming their appearance by the thick sheet of oncoming rime, covered Avii’s forehead. Travelling had been tough, almost impossible even and she had recently vowed to never travel such a long distance again, or at least not for a long time set in the near future, determining the difficult work she put her body through. The canopy overhead in the small forested area Avii was currently wading through blocked out all signs of lunar emitted light. This wasn’t a great loss for Avii however, since her hereditary night vision gave her the power to see in even the blackest of night. No, it was a problem for a different reason entirely. Avii had lately been flying through the time in which she had been travelling, but began feeling as though her wings were turning into the heavy mass known commonly as lead, it slipping involuntarily into Avii’s bat-like wings. She had propelled herself down towards the ground, tripping and bruising her knee in the process, and now found herself walking like an incompetent human as she trudged through the weeds of an unknown land. A sudden crackling of disturbed shrubbery invaded all of Avii’s personal space of thought, having her body tense up in response, claws ready and wings out-spread in the correct position for a hasty retreat. But nothing made their presence know. This realisation put Avii on edge, sending shivers of ice splintering down her spine. She decided to press on, her eyes and ears heightened to the maximum of her ability. Anyone who ambushed her would get a denticulate claw laceration to the jugular. Avii smirked at this idea but then shook her head, tossing the thought aside and into the rubbish bin within her twisted mind. But what if it wasn’t an assassin a sprung from the bushes behind? Either way, Avii’s reaction would be one out of common defence. Ending someone’s life without pure reason and if not for a meal was immoral, even to a Zith like herself. But who knows? Perhaps the stranger could be a wandering travelled much like her. Perhaps they could be trying to fin their ways to Sunberth as well. But was she a wandering traveller? Was she completely lost in the compelling woods that at every turn looked the same as the last? Wings still spread apart, Avii jumped into the air, feeling the cold spring air hit her face from the strong force of her wings as they beat against the air currents in the sky towards her upper direction. She climbed the air, much as though they were conveniently placed stairs, invisible to the eye of any other creature. She climbed those stairs, departing branches and leaves from their original home until her head emerged from the greenery to see nothing by cotton-like shapes in the sky. "What?"Avii spoke aloud to herself, trying to locate the moon and stars that had been previously visible to Avii not more than a few hours ago, for they were Avii’s only sense of direction after she had lost sight of the pathway to her destination of Sunberth. It was here. I know it was, but where did it go? Avii’s knowledge on weather and the atmospheric change in the sky’s appearance were very limited. They were often forgotten as well. Oh yeah, the clouds. But the knowledge of observation was never forgotten, as though its essence was burned within her blood. A burning light- or mutliple flares of lighting- were seen glowing off in the distance. The instant spark of hope to be reassured that Avii was indeed not lost ignited within her. She knew were she was now as soon as she saw those lights. She knew that the city she had so dearly come to see and live in in the meantime was finally among her. She had reached her destination of Sunberth. But now the hard part was getting in.

[Avii]

Now from what Avii remembered hearing, is that it isn’t that difficult to arrive in Sunberth. The townspeople didn’t care who were and weren’t in Sunberth. Avii was more concerned for the idea of disguising her identity of being a Zith. The rumours she had heard weren’t so kind about her people, but it wasn’t like she would object to their judges. Her people were a harsh race and she could agree on some things. However, survival is survival and half of the rumours that had been floating in the air and had been picked up by ears were still in a sceptic’s mind however, much like the mind of our dear heroine, Avii. She would soon find out the truth about the ruthfulness this town holds. She pressed on, keeping her gaze low and her cloak’s hood shielding her vibrant yellow eyes, as they glinted feline spectrums from the now darkening moon. Her heart raced a million miles a minute, but Avii gradually pushed the continuous thought of it aside. By the time Avii would reach the borderline from prairie lands and forest to the ran shack buildings of Sunberth, the sky would be lighting up, which was a good reason Avii's first idea came into play now instead of later. Pushing aside more than just thoughts, Avii had to manoeuvre herself around many plants and brush in order to escape out into the prairie that separated the city from the ocean. She arched her back slightly and began to run at amazing speed in the direction of the town. She felt the wind hit against her face as she found an entrance near an old, rotted building. Night had fallen quickly in the meanwhile and the first drops of rain peppered the ground below the clouds. She tentatively slipped into a slot in between the old rotted building and another tall sky scraping living quarter. The wood had eaten away at itself and had lost its smooth housing nature. Avii happened to place her hand on the side of the rotted building to propel herself forward and received a fairly large splinter in the process. “Ow!” Avii yelped, instantly covering her mouth as to not cause attention. She continued forward, thrusting her left leg through the rest of the opening. She practically threw herself out of the small space, cussing in the process. Rain started to pour from the sky as though the gods were mad and had a reason to drench their people in tears. Avii was lucky to have her cloak’s hood on during this time, for she hated getting her hair wet, but mostly she hated when her fur was even the slightest bit soaked. Avii started to tear off in her left direction, heading to she know not where. She didn’t stop until a blazing sign appeared from behind the corner of a brick stone building. Her stomach instantly growled, having her realise the fact that she had not eaten in a few days. When she rounded the corner, her eyes lit up in amazement, followed by her face as they both glowed in unison with so much intensity that it could have blinded any bystander. The sign read “The Drunken Fish” and below that sign was a man of mid ages, staggering as though off balance, with a glass bottle in hid hand. This man was clearly drunk and Avii knew from the looks of him that he was drunk most of the time. She hated drunkards and didn’t understand why they would go and waste their life drinking away their night and waking up with a pounding headache with no recollection of their previous nights fantasy. Avii hid behind the brick stone corner, and started to observe the heavily intoxicated man. His stature was of medium quality, not too tall and not at all that muscular. This news was both good and bad for Avii, since she liked muscular men. His face was concealed by a tattered hat, and he was hunched over, maw open with fluids tumbling out. Avii squinted her eyes and held back her gag. She hated it when human’s vomited. It was most revolting and she hated the smell. But this man was the only one too intoxicated to misunderstand. He was the only one who was in the area that Avii could snatch away and not be caught. But then the man started to walk in the opposite direction. “No, come back,” Avii whispered as the stranger hobbled down the stony walkway. Avii followed, masking herself by her dark cloak. She did her best to find places to hide, diving into alley ways or crouching behind toppled over crates or trash bins. If no concealment was available, Avii would straighten herself up against the walls of nearby buildings, hoping that the shadows of the night would not make her visible. The intoxicated man made a sharp left turn, staggering slightly as he did so. By this time, Avii had been following the drunk man for so long, her stomach feeling as though being severed by a serrated knife. She couldn’t bare it any longer and knew that her eyes had turned cold, transformed into large, red slits. Her aggravation boiled past explosion as she made up her mind on her next moves.

[Avii]

[OCC= Just a very large warning that there are some grotesque and morbid scenes of both blood and other disturbing images. It is Avii’s meal time during this thread. Thank you.] She lunged toward the man, wings spread and teeth revealed, her claws no longer shrouded by the inside of her pitch-dark cloak. The man did not have much time to speak, as Avii shoved her fist down his throat and lifted him off of the ground, her bat-like wings beating incessantly against the harsh cold of the spring’s mid-night. Avii flew only a few hundred metres away, out of the cities building borderline and into the trees of which she had just left earlier. The man was squirming against Avii’s grip on his shoulders, obviously not as drunk as she had just concluded, but she held onto him tight before reaching the canopy of green. Here, she let him go, watching his helpless body fall to the earth’s crusted floor. A large thud infiltrated Avii’s ears, followed by a long, mournful moan. She quickly flew down, landing on mere inches from her prey’s head. "You monster,” the man growled, clearly sobering up in a very abnormal pace. “I'm not,” Avii murmured back, bowing her head to her next meal’s level. She locked eyes with the man and then licked her lips. The man shuddered back, terrified of either her dark red eyes or the licking she did with her lips… or possibly both. “Spare me, please?” He pleaded, unable to move from the amount of pain that had been thrust upon him from his most recent fall. Avii shook her head from side to side, finding that she could understand this pathetic, weak drunkard through all his newly formed tears. They looked like they stung as they came tumbling down his bloated face, as red as a cherry from the many glasses he had recently guzzled. But it’s not like I’m sorry, Violentia, Avii’s darker side poked her maniacal head through the weeds of Avii’s conscience. She began to take over Avii’s thoughts and started to add her poison through more action than word. Avii bent down closer to the man, kneeling down on one knee. Her sharp teeth were mere centimetres away from the man’s face. Her scarlet eyes piercing themselves into his soul like a scalpel digging into the inner corners of the heart. Avii watched helplessly from the sidelines as her partner started to devour the poor human. First the teeth hit the nose. The gore of the blood seeping into her mouth as she continued eating her kill. She ignored the human’s screams, so lame and quiet. She then moved onward to the neck and started to get a taste of more than she’s ever tried. Avii has had bad feelings about her habits of living off of humans before no doubt. She’s wondered if there was ever an alternative. She has tried eating animals before but had always found their specific taste a bit deterring. The scent and the taste of a human’s flesh and blood seemed to allure her in, or more or less Violentia in. Avii has tried to make the death of her prey not as painful by snapping their necks or taking a claw through the lung or heart before, but today was different. She was starving, and when she’s starving, that is when Violentia comes to play, her morbid side. The screams of the prey had ceased as Avii had finished off the upper part of the body. Her face was masked in layers of blood both fresh and dried. She didn’t take the time to wipe away the excess before delving into another helping. After time and time again, Avii had finally settled on only finishing half of the human. She quickly grabbed the man’s leg and started to haul him off away into the night once she had finished her meal, blood dripping down her neck and onto her cloak, which still hung from her shoulders. Violentia had resided and guilt had taken her place. “I’m sorry,” Avii said aloud to the corpse she carried. She didn’t know where she was going with the dead body, but she needed to make it look like an accident or a mauling by another predator. She instinctively grabbed a large length of rope from her pack that she still carried on her back, using her claws to cut off the measure she needed. She then tied a part of the rope to the half-a-man’s leg and jumped up into the tree she stood by to tie the other end to a branch directly above. Avii’s face still reeked of metallic smelling blood, so after hoisting her murdered human into the tree she squat on, she set off to find somewhere to wash off, and hopefully rest.