Tufer Origins Chapter 6: The Beginning of All Things to End

Ony will never understand why I have to do this. Hell, I don't fully understand why I must....but....there's this dark calling in my soul that drives me to this point. That drives me here. I have to have my vengeance. I can't explain it.

I sit in a tree just above my targets as the rain continues to beat down around me. I spent a long time in secret tracking them, the werewolves, and now I have them in my sights. Six of them...including him, Garou. I will make him above all the rest pay for the damage and destruction they caused. I am clearly outmatched here, but this is the best shot I have. Hearing their drunken laughter around a fire enrages me. DO THEY NOT CARE ABOUT WHAT THEY HAVE DONE?! Of course they don't, as I have said before, werewolves are the most evil creatures on this planet. I grip my hatchet I brought with me in my hand, it's do are die time.

I leap from my vantage point and land still in the cover of darkness. Something made me stop. Garou is talking to someone, not one of his lackeys, something else entirely. He's near the fire.

"You must find him and send him to me," I hear an otherworldly voice speak. "Of course, my master," Garou replies. Garou has a master? It doesn't matter, none of this does. I need to focus on getting to him and ending him. I edge closer to the fire, the wolve's backs to me. One is passed out near to my position. Garou turns to face the rest of his soldiers, "We have to double our efforts you lazy fucks! The Master is displeased with our current progress hunting that stupid rabbit and I blame it on you all not doing anything but pillaging. Don't forget I want him too, that asshole took my eye! I want to take his life!" Hate to disappoint you Garou, but I am taking more than your eye tonight.

I raise my hatchet up and bring it crashing down on the sleeping wolves throat. The warm life fluid spills onto my weapon. "What the hell was that?!" I hear Garou yell. "BOSS! IT'S HIM! HE'S HERE!!!" a wolf yells. Shit! I should have been a little bit sneakier! Before I can react I am surrounded. I stand my ground wielding my ax. "Fine, I'll take all you bastards on!" I furiously scream. A claw swipes at me from the right, I counter with my ax into his hand, wounding him. Another comes and I swipe the weapon at his knees. I dodge a flurry of attacks, once again acting on pure instinct. I leap backwards and put some distance in between my attackers and myself. I watch them slowly come towards me. One, two, three, four. Wait? Four? SLAM!

From behind. I wasn't paying attention. I lost sight of my main target. Garou had slipped behind me and knocked me out from behind. "Now you little shit, I am going to make you pay for what you took from me!" I was being held up by my ears. I tried to move but I couldn't. My neck had been broken by his attack. I can't feel anything besides my face. This is it. This is the end. I started to cry with what little life I had left in me. Ony, I am so sorry, I should have listened to you. I can't hear anything over the cackling of the demons. Ony, forgive me. I should have protected you. Garou drug me towards the fire. "First I kill you. Then I am going to hunt your little bitch just for fun. You failed you little shit," Garou said as he thrust my face into the fire. "BURN! HAHAHAHAHAAA!" My face started to melt off the bone. The pain was intense, but it didn't compare to the pain I felt inside know I had failed Ony.

Ony...I'm sorry.

That was the day I died. But things don't always go as planned.

Endless Loops: Black Tendrils

I stare at the light flickering above me and all I can do is laugh. I don't know how long I've been stuck in here, but this bottle of rot gut seems to never be empty so I don't mind it so much any more. I can't feel the pain in my arms or feet anymore, much less feel anything. Except my head...that laughter continues, but I've almost gotten used to the sound. I sit up to look at the evil twitching fungus, its black tendrils still not coming into the area that is faintly lit up by the terrible lighting. That's one of the few things I've learned being in this place: The mushroom cannot be near any light source, also everything in the room changes every time the light flickers except the black mass. The bed I originally woke up in is no longer there and the door constantly shifts places. I learned that one the hard way.
Drunkenly I decided for a 2nd attempt at freedom. I had noticed that since I had been sitting completely still and silent, the fungus stopped pulsating and making any noise. Maybe my fear and frantic movements had been triggering it. Slowly rolling over on top of my stomach, I started to slowly inch my way towards the door. One arm in front of the other, pulling with my arms, and using my hips. I had watched enough movies and seen many heroes do it like this so I figured this was the correct way. I was actually getting closer to the door this time. I stopped about 3/4s of the way to look back at my 'sentry.' Still not doing anything. I held my breath and continued forward towards my escape. All I want it to leave here.
I lay motionless in front of the door, my anxiety starting to rise, because I know my next move is to stand up so I can actually get the damn thing open. I look back and can't even see anything but the light and the bottle underneath it. I decide that now us the time. I slowly get to my knees. Ok good. Now I can reach the handle. As soon as I reach out, the light flickers and I hear the laughter. Shit! I have to leave now! That's when I notice the door is gone.
I feel the burning in my legs as I turn around in horror to see black tentacles grabbing them and start to drag me through endless amounts of ooze back towards the fungus in the corner. Pain shoots completely through my body like a thousand jellyfish stinging me all at once. The warbling laughter starts to almost make words that sound like, "Endless pain. No escape." I look for anything to grab on to so that I can break free of its grasp when I notice that I am passing by the light. I reach for anything and hit the bottle, the fungus shrieks and recoils back in pain, temporarily losing its grasp just enough to get a grip on the neck of the bottle. I turn towards the tendrils on my legs and begin to smash them repeatedly with the bottle and it lets go. I frantically crawled back into the light.
And now, here I am. That had to have been a few hours ago. I can't find the strength to even begin to figure out what I am supposed to do next. But that's ok. Like I said before, this bottle never empties.

Endless Loops

"For the first time in my life, I absolutely don't mind crawling out of bed and going to work. Funny right?" I joked to my wife as we both got ready for our day. "No joke," she said, "getting you out of bed to do anything was a chore, much less trying to get you motivated to go to that shit job...I sometimes wonder why I even stuck around." "Because you couldn't resist how awesome I am!" I said flexing in the mirror, both of us chuckling. Then we both caught a glimpse of something. Something I tend to hide. Scars. Our moods shifted quickly and we were both quiet for a moment. She ran her finger down my arm tracing the lines. After a solemn moment, I spoke up, "Thank you...for sticking around." "My only regret is that I wish I knew this was going on at the time..." she said quietly. "Hey babe, that was a long time ago, I've...we've changed. Things are much better now," I said smiling. She latched on to me, I held her also. "Ok, enough of this romantic comedy shit," she laughed through her emotion, "we have to go to work."
It was no lie that things sucked back then. Our shithole apartment, our shitty jobs, barely affording to live...Hell sometimes we couldn't afford to eat. It was too much for me, but I bottled it up and powered through it. Then it all came down one night when she was working a night shift and I was alone. That day, something inside me broke. Nothing new had happened, I can't even begin to rationalize what I was thinking, just that this was the end. Needless to say it wasn't. Here I am now, a new place, new job, actually can afford good food, and I'm even driving a 'new to me' car. We aren't rich, but life is good.
Taking slow sips of my coffee, carefully because I don't want to end up a burn victim while I drive, I see traffic start to slow down in front of me. "Shit, this lane has been closed for months, do people still not know how to properly merge?" I turn on the radio to see if there is any traffic reports. "Bbbbzzzzzrrhrhtthhh Pain gggzrth nothing ghhhrth." "What the Hell? I honestly haven't tried the radio in a long time so it probably went out a while back. Whatever." I reached for my phone and something in my rear view caught my eye. "Oh shit. Oh fuck. That truck isn't slowing down. This is going to hurt," was all that was going through my head at that moment and not two seconds later all I could hear was metal crunching.
"AH! SHIT!" I screamed, breathing heavily. Its dark, I'm in a bed, gripping a pillow. It was a nightmare. I turn over to wake my wife to, honestly, just get some assurance when I roll into a wall. "The fuck? When did this wall get here?" I face the other way, nothing there either. Still groggy from being jolted awake, I slide all the way over and off the bed. When my feet hit the floor, I get an odd sensation. The floor is cold and wet. Then it finally hits my thick skull, "Where the fuck am I?" A light bulb without a cover flickers on in the center of the room. This room is completely foreign to me. Trying to figure out what is going on, I finally look down at my feet, some sort of black ooze is all around this area of the room. The I look around to see the same ooze covers the wall, but only on this side of the room. It seems to even be clumped together in a mass in the corner. I want to believe its a trick of the light, but it seems to be pulsating. The longer I stand there trying to decide what the hell I am looking at, I an ever growing pain in my feet. It stings. "Fuck! Why have I been standing in this shit for so long?!" At the moment run to get out of the gunk, the pain increases ten fold, and I hear a very high pitched, warbling...almost like laughing sound.
The light goes out and I trip on something. I hit the ground hard. Solid concrete.
BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP. Fucking alarm clock, I thought I got rid of this thing. I slam my fist on it to stop its infernal racket. Then I open my eyes. "No." I turn over to see a note laying on the cardboard box I used for a night stand, "Hey babe, I didn't want to wake you, but I was just reminding you I have to work the night shift tonight." the note read. I shot out of bed. "NO!" This room is familiar. This was our old place. My arms ached. I looked down to see them bandaged. Tears welled up in my eyes. "No God dammit! Take me back! Take me back to where I was!" I scream as I ball up a fist. Roaring, I punch the wall as hard as I could. My fist sticks to the wall and pain shoots through my body. Barely able to see through my rage and tears I see what's holding my fist. The wall around my fist is black, the tar like ooze spreading outwardly from the point of impact. Almost instantly the room shifts back into the dark prison I was previously in.
The light flickers and I see what I had tripped over. A bottle of whisky. I have to find a way out of this place, I'm already starting to lose it. I see a door on the other side of the room and I bolt towards it.
My feet still hurt, my arms ache, and I have a dull headache from tripping, but nothing is stopping me from getting out. I sprint hard and fast. Still running, I hear the warbling sound again. That noise is the most unnerving thing I have ever heard. If mushrooms could laugh, that would be the sound it made. Fear sets in hearing that "laugh" and all I can do is focus on running for escape. I'm starting to get winded, how big is this room? In a giant pulsating blast, the noise gets louder and an unseen force knocks me down. I roll over and get up, facing towards where I started.
"Son of a bitch..." I mutter. I literally have not moved. I am no close to the door and no further away from the growing black cancerous mass in the corner. I look to my right and see the bottle. I'm nauseated at the thought, but I grab it anyway. Anything to numb the pain. It doesn't seem like I can leave here any time soon, and this ooze also seems to not get this close to the light so I might as well enjoy myself until I figure a way out. Or wake up.

Tufer Origins Chapter 5: Live By The Sword....

Rage. Hate. Unfulfillment. Those were the only things I could focus on. I failed. I failed to protect them. I couldn't even make things right. Its been six months since we started living in this abandoned burrow and I only feel the shadow grow stronger.

"Tufer..."
SLAM!
"Tufer."
SLAM!
"TUFER!"

My eyes burned, "Dammit! WHAT!?" I realized at that moment what I had been doing. "Tufer! You can't cut that log any smaller !" I heard Ony reply, somewhat agitated now. I looked at the ax in my hand, then at the log-turned-twig in front of me. "Ony, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean---" She cut me off, "Its fine, Tufer. I completely understand. Its fine." As she had started to walk away, I decided I should start gathering the wood that was salvageable for a fire tonight. Just as she thought she was out of earshot, I could hear her say, "Tufer...I worry about you just as much as you worry about me. I'm afraid you are losing yourself....and I'm losing you too..."

Those words stabbed into my soul. Dammit Tufer, you are supposed to be protecting her. Helping her. Not freaking her out and getting her upset. "Don't worry, Ony, soon I'll fix everything, and you can be happy."

Sleep wasn't happening that night. I couldn't tell if it was from the storm raging outside, or if it was from the one inside my head. Neither storm seemed to bother Ony at all she was completely out on the bed. I was glad that at least one of us was at peace tonight.

I paced back and forth wrapped up in my own thoughts. Looking over at her asleep, I felt guilty for hiding so much from her. I had ulterior motives for training every day alone. I used that time to hunt for the location of that demon, Garou. Earlier that day, before the "log splitting" incident, I had found him at last. I was tired of hiding, tired of feeling beaten and hopeless. Tonight I would avenge Pop and Ony's family. Tonight I end this. Most importantly, after tonight, Ony would be safe.

A flash of lightning, crackle of thunder, and I headed for the door.

"Tufer? What are you doing?" Ony said, half asleep, "Go to bed, Tufer."
"I'm just going out for a night time walk...err...in the rain, I'll be right back. Everything is fine, just go back to sleep."
"Stop, Tufer." I froze and turned around, the tone in her voice had shifted. "I know what you are doing. I'm begging you, Tufer, do not go through with this. Think clearly for a moment...There is no point to doing any of this!"

"No Point?! Dammit, Ony, I'm tired of running away from this! I have to find them and finish what they started! I swore an oath to you and Pop that I would protect you! I failed! Now the only way to fix that is to kill them for what they have done!"

"And what will that do, Tufer? Bring Pop back? Bring my family back? No! It won't! Screw your oath, Tufer! Do you only care about me because it is your made up duty? What good does your oath do if you go out there and die tonight?"

"No, Ony, you don't understand. I have to do this....I have to protect you."

"And killing those werewolves is protecting me, right? Shit, Tufer, listen to yourself! I don't and never have needed you to protect me! You know that is true. Cut the bullshit with me, you and I both know that you feel doing this resolves you of your guilt. And I get that, I really do. The fact is, though, you aren't guilty of anything. Is resolving your imaginary guilt more important than staying here and moving on with our lives?"

We stared at each other for what seemed like forever. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. "I'm sorry, Ony. One day I hope you can forgive me. I have to do this," I calmly spoke as I walked out of the burrow. The rain drenched my fur, my ears flopped to the sides. Lightning streaked all across the sky. I couldn't understand what Ony was yelling at me because the thunder covered her screams. I walked and never looked back. The shadow had gripped my soul enough that I only cared about one thing, fulfilling my goal. Killing Garou. Ending this. Ending my suffering.

That was the biggest mistake of my short life.

Tufer Origins Chapter 4: Round One. Fight!

At that time, I still didn't know how I had the knowledge to survive or where my fighting capabilities had come from. It all seemed to come just from the most basic of instincts within me. Any downtime I had from making sure Ony and I survived another night in our abandoned burrow was spent on honing my combat abilities. After a long while of this, Ony joined me in training. It was a good thing we trained as much as we did. She would need the skill more than ever now. In all honesty, she really didn't need much, she was naturally fierce and scrappy all on her own. I walked away several times after our 'bouts' with more cuts and bruises than she. Hell, I still remember the first time we fought for real.

"Charge me!"
"I won't hold back on you!"
"Good! Now shut up and charge me!"
She growled and started to sprint as fast as she could at me. I calmly stared at her, with a slight smirk on my face. This, I learned, was a bad idea. Never antagonize a girl bunny...especially if she is your best friend, she will make you regret it. I thought I had picked apart every flaw in her form, turns out, I hadn't. She had no form. She was completely unpredictable, she also played my hubris against me. She was in complete control the whole time.

When she got within a few feet of me, I noticed her right paw was up. I prepared to block that high punch and counter with a throw. That is when I felt intense pain in my lower jaw. I had totally forgotten she was left handed. She took advantage of that as she uppercutted me. I saw stars, couldn't focus at all. Ok, I am going to have to be serious about this. "Shit! That hurt!" I whined as I tried to regain my composure.

"Aww, wanna stop? Want me to go fix you an ice pack and some tea?" she smirked," Oooh! I have a better idea! How about you stop being a little bitch and fight me!" God I love her attitude. I chuckled as I started my relentless counter attack. Right hook, left jab, left hook, right uppercut, leg sweep. I didn't hold anything back, problem was, she blocked and dodged everything I threw at her. Then I saw my opening. She tried to feint a right hook again and catch me with her left. "Not this time," I muttered as I grabbed her left paw and flipped her over. Still holding on, I put my foot on her chest, as well as pressure on her wrist, fully expecting her to tap out. It was tough, but I beat her. It was a good fight.

The huge grin on my face quickly faded when I felt something sharp tap my inner thigh. I looked down in horror to see Ony wielding a small knife, resting it right below every guy's weak spot. "You crafty...You sneaky bit---"

"Hey now, choose your next words carefully. Don't want me to ruin your, ahem, ego any more do ya?" "Fine," I grunted as I let her go, "Where the hell did that even come from?" "I have to keep some secrets don't I, best bud?" She said as she hopped up, I just looked at her, arms crossed. "Aww don't be a grumpy bunny," she said playfully as she shook me, "I tell you what, for being such the perfect badass you are and best trainer ever, one so amazing that I could never surpass, I will make you something to eat tonight. I will even let you decide what it is, k?" "Okay....fair enough," I replied, managing the best smile my hurt pride would allow. I knew she was joking around with me, but no matter what, it always made me feel better.

Until the shadow took over again.