“PLEASE! DON’T KILL ME!” Yisini screamed as the hideous claws of the Thantophor tightened around her neck, pinning her against the ground. She tried to coil her tail around Arkadin, desperately trying to wriggle out of the Death Lord’s grip, but Arkadin just continued to hold her down.
“”Really, sister?” Arkadin snarled, black, needle-like teeth jutting out from his mouth. “You hurt me, you torture me, you violate my mind and now you beg to not die?”
“Pleaaaaaase, brother!” Yisini nearly managed to break free, but Arkadin regained control, stamping on her lower arms and pressing down on her neck. “P-p-please… I don’t wanna die. Please don’t kill me…”
“I’m not going to kill you, Yisini…” Arkadin hissed, edging closer to Yisini’s throat. “I’m just going to hurt you the way you hurt me. Then I’m going to slowly snuff you out via my normal entropic means, as originally planned.”
Again, Yisini tried to wriggle free, but Arkadin was not letting her budge. She attempted to extend her tail and sweep out Arkadin’s legs, but as he dug his claws into her arms, she quickly realised that was not a good idea. Yisini continued to struggle, running various options through her mind as she desperately tried to free herself from Arkadin’s grip. That was when an idea hit her.
Once again, Yisini extended her tail. She had enough control over her fingers to be able to summon a very specific item. She moved to free her arms, forcing Arkadin to put more pressure on them, briefly causing him to let go of Yisini’s lower body.
“Wait, they’re not here yet!”
“We cannot let him harm her!”
Behind them, some of Arkadin’s… allies had appeared, giving Yisini a distraction, shouting amongst themselves.
In a sudden movement, she threw up her tail, stabbing Arkadin in the side of the head with a dark, sticky blade.
Arkadin didn’t seem to react at first. He stumbled off of Yisini, trying to keep his balance. Yisini rolled over, shrinking herself down and slithering off into the undergrowth. She turned around though, watching to see what Arkadin did next.
The Thantophor continued to wobble, as if he didn’t know where he was. He looked around blindly, the colour having faded from his normally bright, golden eyes.
The mortals who had distracted Arkadin approached slowly. Yisini recognised one of them. The stupid little Rethan she had captured to mess with Arkadin’s head. He led the way, edging closer to Arkadin. They would almost certainly calm him down, right?
Maybe not. Arkadin turned around slowly as the Rethan called to him, before abruptly leaping at them, claws splayed open. Arkadin pinned the Rethan to the ground, tore at its neck then let go, throwing the Rethan to one side. As the clouds flickered with lightning, Arkadin roared and transformed himself into a winged monster, before taking off and soaring into the sky.
Yisini watched as the other mortals began to panic. The largest, a Banikan, scooped the Rethan up in its arms. Behind them, a ship began its descent and opened up its doors to let the mortals in. Their conversations were filled with confusion and fear, none of them understanding why the Thantophor would attack someone he considered to be a friend.
After a few moments, Yisini delve deeper into the undergrowth, cursing under her breath.
“I need to fix this…”