Surprise! More than one!

Deep breath in... Slow exhale out... Artorias listened to the rhythmic beat of his heart in his head, feeling his pulse in every part of his body. Fiery eyes hid behind dark lids, sight drowned out to heighten his sense of awareness and presence. He breathed in again, filled his lungs with cool autumn morning air, then released it in a slow, controlled breath out. His meditation routine prepared him for the challenges of the day and helped keep his head level. After what he'd nearly done to Sirius, Artorias vowed to maintain better control of his anger. It was a deadly fire inside of him: when focused, it could allow him to destroy his enemies. If left untamed and unchecked, he could burn those he loved. Artorias would never allow himself to turn on a loved one again. And so he focused on nothingness, letting the stress and the turmoil melt away from him. When he felt fully at ease, Artorias opened his eyes once more.

The ocean lay before him, just beyond the castle wall, its lapping waves dancing in the early morning sunlight. He watched the glimmer of sunlight shimmer and ripple across the surface of the sea. The sight was almost hypnotic in its own sort of way. Artorias watched the waves for a minute longer, then got to his paws and made for the stairs to climb down from atop the walls. He had things to do today and he wanted to get to them as soon as possible. Making his way down the stairs, it would have been easy for Artorias to miss the monochromatic form of Rudyard hiding in the shadows near the base of the stairs. His mind was preoccupied, but unfortunately for his littler brother, Artorias glanced up just in time to see a flash of golden yellow eyes peering out at him from his hiding spot.

Artorias reacted on reflex, not even really comprehending that his paws were moving until he was already airborne. Rudy lunged to try and tackle him as he reached the bottom of the stairs, but Artorias had already flung himself sideways off the stairs, hitting the ground with a roll and coming to land on his paws and facing off with his brother. Art's reflexive snarl relaxed as he came down from the adrenaline rush, snickering and smirking at Rudy. "Almost, little brother. Better luck next time," he teased his sibling with a good-natured laugh and approached Rudy, patting his brother's shoulder. "You're up early. Got some big plans for the day or something?"

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Argent"