Losing Myself Piece By Piece

Artorias' nights were usually peaceful, the stillness of the late hours silencing the world save for the gentle washing of the ocean waves on the shore near the castle. The young wolf was sound asleep in his bed, lost in a dreamless slumber while the dying fire crackled the burnt wood with its final embers in the hearth. Corbin sat perched on one of the posters of the canopy, snoozing quietly also. For the most part, the night was the same as any other... until a sudden clamor from another part of the castle shattered the tranquility like a hammer to a mirror. Voices shouting, snarling, the sound of heavy weights slamming into objects—the sounds of fighting. Not arguing—fighting. The calamity disturbed Artorias from his sleep with a start, the boy's head bursting from the blanket nest he had made while peering around the room in a groggy haze, waiting for his mind and eyes to catch up to the rest of him. Corbin awoke with a ruffle of feathers and a confused croak, also looking around to try and gather his bearings.

The sound of something slamming hard into wood caught Art's attention, and all at once the dark-furred boy leapt down from his bed and was rushing for the door while Corbin sailed down to land on his back. Pulling open the door and stepping out into the cold corridor, Artorias glanced right, then left down the dark hall lit only by the faint starlight from outside. The sound was coming from where his parents' chambers were. Brow narrowed and nerves on high alert, Artorias set off down the hall, approaching the noises with a panicked gait. Were his mothers all right? What was going on?

Coming upon his parents' bedchambers, Artorias was greeted with a horrific sight that chilled his blood to ice. Tamsyn lay slumped against the wall, her face soaked in blood from the fresh wounds around her face, and were it not for her body quivering with quiet sobs he would have feared she had been killed. The door to their bedroom was what was being slammed as the evidently crazed Resin tried to break out from within. It didn't take him more than a second to put two and two together. "Mom!" Artorias cried out in dread even as he rushed up to comfort her. He leaned his body into hers, taking some of her weight off the wall to help support her upright. This close it was obvious her wounds had been inflicted by Resin. The skin around the bites was shredded and ragged, a sign of serrated cuts. Resin had bit Tamsyn bad.

"Mom, are you okay? What the hell happened?!" he asked, using a paw to very carefully move her head to better inspect her injuries. She was losing blood at an alarming rate and he didn't have anything to stop it. "Oh gods... Okay, we gotta get you some help." He glanced up at the door that contained his frenzied mother behind it, his heart sinking into his stomach while he kept a wary eye on the old wooden sword that was sealing it shut, fearing a possibility of his stronger mother breaking out. He knew exactly how strong those swords were—which was why he did not feel safe near the door at all. "We gotta go, Mom. C'mon, lean on me, we're going to see Gwyn."

Artorias would move to push his body up into Tamsyn's so she could lean on his shoulder if she needed to. He didn't see any injuries to her legs that would handicap her, but the way she was keeping her right eye held shut was concerning. For a brief moment Art considered howling for Gwyn, but decided he didn't want his little sister anywhere near that door right now, nor did he want the entire castle to know what was happening. He had to get his mother to safety first and have her wounds tended to, then he could worry about making sure his berserk mother stayed contained. He would lead Tamsyn down the corridor away from the snarling of Resin down through the dark to Gwyn's bedroom door, throwing it open without knocking and escorting Tam inside.

"Gwyn! I'm sorry, but you need to wake up!" he called into her room, careful to monitor the volume of his voice so as not to disturb any of his other siblings nearby. "Mom's hurt, we need you now!"


"Artorias" | Thoughts | "Corbin"