A/N: Hello! Prompt time! This month's prompt is making and elsword character an animal. I thought about it and decided I wanted to write a dark one. Yes! A dark story of an animal and a boy. I hope you like it cus I didn't bother to edit it and also it's written in first person so there's going to be some tense inconsistencies!

The moon is rising ever higher. Only a beaten dirt path lay before me, taking me north towards the distant mountains of Bethma. I had to go there. Even if it meant weeks of travel by foot, I just had to.

A quiet night is the worst. It's unbearable. This pain of nothing; the lack of the the one thing I lust for.

War.

War is the air I breathed. The water I drank. The food that nourished my body. Without it, I suffocated, I starved, I died of thirst..

The ruins of Velder laid behind me; a husk of what was once a great empire. They said the victory of the demons would spell the beginning of a new golden age. They were wrong. Yet… who was this 'they' I kept referring to? I had forgotten. I only knew that whoever 'they' were… they had to die.

North. I had to go north. Nothing but water and a desert past the Velder docks. I could sate my thirst there.

I reach the mountains after a full night's travel. Blood drenched my sword from the passing merchants. The food they had on them will sustain me for perhaps a few days more. Yet their inability to defend themselves was like getting a single gasp of air before being pulled under once more. I needed to fight something. I needed to kill something.

As if the cruel goddess had heard my plea, standing before me was a strange, grey wolf. It was much bigger than the average wolf and its bared its teeth, snarling at me. It must have smelled the blood of my recent kill. It must have followed me searching for food. I welcomed it, drawing my blade from my trusty sheath.

"Kill it!" The voice in my head laughs, "Kill it and sate your bloodlust!"

The voice need not convince me further. I crave for this fight just as much as the voice does. I ran at it, blade gripped in one hand and black sheath in the other. El surged through my veins once more and I smiled, body anticipating the thrill of the kill. The sheath forms a pommel and suddenly I have two blades with me. As I swing at the wolf, several more blades, bright red with the power of El, materialize, multiplying each swing of my weapons into hundreds of magical blades.

I miss my target.

Like a kiss missing its lover, my blades slice through the air and nothing else. The wolf leaps backwards, the spiral of magical swords following through with each of my swings. It is only after they fade from me ceasing my attacks do I find myself suddenly pinned on the ground, the wolf's teeth sinking into my neck.

I kick the wolf as hard as I can, forcing it off me but not without it tearing the skin at my neck. I'm bleeding now as I scramble to my feet… and I couldn't be happier. The pain on my neck, the warm blood dripping down my old Velder Knight uniform, this was everything I need. It leaps at me once more, throwing its being onto me and I return its lunge with a swift counter attack, blocking its claws with my sheath and driving my sword into its flank.

It yelps. How beautiful the sound. I withdraw my blade as we separate once more. It keeps its distance. It's more cautious now. Whether it was fear or hatred, I reveled in its regard for me as a fighter. Now all I had to do was finish the beast-

It draws in a deep breath. Expecting a howl to call its allies, I am caught off guard by a sudden blast of heat as fire engulfs me. Relentless with its flame howl, I could only raise the sheath to block for me as the fires scorch my skin. Powering my scabbard I fling it at the beast, catching it through the fire. Immediately the flames cease as the magical scabbard catches it by its throat. The scabbard returns to me, bringing the beast with it.

My blade is raised to meet it, it flies towards me and before I could drive the tip into its guts the damned beast uses the momentum of my pull as its own, raising its claw and dodging my blade as it digs itself into my chest, tearing away at me before flying past, detaching itself from my scabbard.

I turn to it. Even though it bled at its neck, it stood unfazed, teeth bared in that hateful snarl. Now it is I that feels fear. Or perhaps it's hatred. Either way, the voice in my head laughs and I laugh with it. How joyous it was to find an opponent who can survive, let alone fight!

Hours pass. Night turns to day and shifts once more to night. My northern trek over the mountains had been long forgotten. The only thing that mattered was the bloody beast before me. My clothes had been shredded, my arm was broken hours ago. Teeth marks riddled my body yet the wolf was none the better. Blood had coated its once greyish fur to a deep red. Its left eye had been cut and it was missing a leg.

Still, we fight. Each swing of my blade and the hundreds of magical blades that followed it were expertly dodged by the wolf. It knew my moves by now. And I understood my opponent's, blocking and countering each claw and tooth that were thrown at me. Each strike was careful, precise, coordinated, and each of his was the same. We could continue on for hours more had blood loss not been an issue.

My body was fading. Sated with the war I sought, my spirit is fed but my body is not. The ten thousand strikes I willed my body to give only results in one. My legs give and I collapse before my opponent. This was where I'd expire. This was where I will face my glorious end.

"Stop!" I hear a voice cry. It is familiar yet distant in a way. I know this person. Yet hearing her voice only drove my will to kill once more. I have to leave. I have to get out of here. Why…? Why am I so eager to leave? It doesn't matter, though, as my body is too exhausted to move.

"By the El Lady's grace… what have you done?" Someone ran to my side. A gown of white and flowing purple locks could be seen through my blurring vision.

"I said track him, not kill him!"

The wolf, my opponent… my friend… began to change. I can see it through my blurred vision, the snout shortening, the legs growing, the torso shrinking… yet I cannot understand.

"He attacked me first," was the man's reply. He was in pain, like he was struggling to stand, "You didn't pay me enough for this job and I wasn't going to let him kill me while I waited for your slow ass to get here."

"Who…" my lips cough out my words, catching both of their attention, "Who are you?"

"Elsword… don't you recognize us?" the woman asks. My vision is blurry but that voice sounds so familiar. That name she utters… it's familiar as well.

"My…" I whisper, "My…"

"Yes… it's us!" the woman exclaims. I have no idea what she's talking about.

"My opponent. Where is he?!" I shout with all my being, "Where is he?!"

The woman stands. Yet she does not bring me my opponent. I was so close to killing him. If she doesn't present him to me, I'll kill her! My arm twitches as strength returns to me but a surge of pain fills me as a heavy boot slams against my forearm, breaking it.

"I suggest you give up, Aisha. This kid is long gone," the male voice says.

"Bring him to me! I must finish my fight!" I say. I'm drowning again. The fresh air I was able to breath was gone and here these two people are not giving me the fight I craved.

"How's your arm, Raven?" the woman asks.

The male grunts as a series of gears turning and mechanical clicks of a Nasod arm could be heard. "Save your pity for someone else. You paid me to hunt him down, I found him. I'm not wasting my time here anymore."

"Wait!" I shout, stopping the man from leaving. I can see him turning to me by his blurry silhouette.

"Finish me. Kill me or I will hunt you down and kill you myself!"

The male shakes his head, "Sorry, kid, you're not worth my time. I warned you about that scabbard."

"No! You will not leave me like this! Get back here! Get back!"

The female stands, wiping her face. "You're really gone… aren't you?" she asks me. What does she mean? I'm right here! If she wishes to fight, then I'll fulfill that wish.

She glances over her shoulder at the male who had long since disappeared before looking back at me.

"I'm sorry, Els… but if I want to fix this… I'm going to need more power."

She places her hand on me. Her touch was unsatisfyingly soft. I lunge at her with my broken self and she jumps back only to place her hands once more on my back.

"You won't mind… will you? I know you wouldn't…"

I can feel El leaving me. Its energies were drained from my body as I feel every muscle in my being weaken. What was she doing? I turn my eyes up to her and for a brief moment… I remember her.

"Aisha… what… hap-"