The Marrow of the Spirit Book One: Ashes Against the Grain

"The god of man is a failure.

Our fortress is burning

against the grain of the shattered sky.

Charred birds escape from the ruins

and return as cascading blood.

Dying bloodbirds pooling,

feeding the flood.

The god of man is a failure.

And all of our shadows are ashes against the grain....."

"What is "the god of man", my lord?"

"Something you would't understand, Fen, and something I'd rather not explain, either."

He grinned a crooked grin, while his guest pouted with humph.

"Alright, keep your secrets, than."

"You know you fucking love me."

He was answered with a small giggle.

Johnathan Gale laid back into the blankets of the bed, while his lover snuggled deeper into his side, running her paw against his chest, the morning sun passed through the window of his private quarters, covering it in a golden light. She was a Bossk, and one of the fairest of her kind, or so word was. She had a long, pointed muzzle, with golden brown fur, and long golden locks that cascaded from her head, with a voice that could soothe the most savage of hearts, yet demand attention in a heartbeat. She was a kind, yet stern soul, whose being seemed to resonate with an unearthly nirvana, a perfect balance between kind hearted and strong willed. Well, Gale thought so at least, and was usually right in his assumptions of others.

This was no ordinary Bossk, though. She was Fen Ja'Tul, the High General's second in command, and Vice General of the Empire of the Horn's Grand Army. She was a warrior through and through, daughter to one of the wealthiest of the Noble Hounds of the Bossk Kingdom, where she held the title of Baroness in the Gem Vale, and commanded respect and reverence throughout her birth lands.

Yet, here she lay in the bed of what many would call a monster, and she wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

Going against what he would normally do, Gale pulled the Bossk closer to him, and began stroking her lovely fur, while she closed her eyes and cooed with delight. Gale was by no current means a soft man; his passionate love for all things violent have thus far proved this point. But deep down inside of him, he knew that he there was more to him than blood lust (there had to be, right?), and that deep down in his subconscious, he knew that he wasn't always, in his own words, bat shit insane.

He had frequent flash backs to old memories, which always showed happier times in his life; Which was a strange thought, indeed.

The procedure was suppose to wipe memories completely clean, save for the few he would have awhile before and after the procedure was done. Maybe it was a side effect of all the shit they pumped into him for the experiment, maybe his subconscious was trying to fight off the madness that had took control of his mind. It didn't matter. He knew they were memories, his memories, and every so often they came to haunt him.

Back before this all happened, before he was put in the tube, before the Rampage and Rampancy, he had friends and family, that he presumably cared for deeply.

The memories would always be far and few between, but he would always see places that he thought he could recognize and recall, and feelings of affection that he had hardly felt, without causing pain or the presence of Fen with him. He remembers feeling content and.......strangely happy.

One thing he couldn't recall was the Rampage. The only reason why he even knew of that name, that event,  was due to the memories of him reading about it when he joined the special program that had caused to him to be in his current state. He knew what happened to mankind, what happened to all those people he cared about. A lot of death, that's for sure. He even knew what flows through his veins, addling his mind. Rampancy. Fucking Christ.

"Gale, you're doing it again."

He snapped to attention and looked down to his lover.

"Doing what?"

"You're spacing out again, love," she shuffled closer, laying her head down upon his chest.

"I wasn't spacing out, I was a at peace, until SOMEONE, I'm not pointing fingers or anything, decided to interrupt my reverie."

He was once again answered with a small giggle, while he returned to stroking her, smiling himself.

It wasn't often that he smiled when he was not causing pain or misery on others, but Fen seemed to always know how to bring that one small shard of humanity he had left into fruition. She was one of the first that pulled him from his living death in the tube, and had stayed by his side when he was brought into the society he now resides in. Gale was usually cold and cruel, but Fen always seemed to melt the ice around his heart, and somehow seemed to keep the Rampancy at bay. She knew little of his.....secret pleasures....and he had gone to great lengths to conceal his love of carnage and pain from her, from bribing to murdering, and so far, she hadn't even heard a whisper. None defy the High Generals word, especially Skyorg's. He cared for only two things above all else, blood and Fen, and he would not lose her. Once again, fucking Rampancy.

"We have to get up soon, babe," He said, shattering their blissful silence.

Fen groaned audibly.

"Can't we just stay in bed just a little longer? Pleeeeeeeeeeaaassssseee?"

Gale chuckled a bit at her immature antics. For a creature who had held such a high position in the Empire, and commanded the respect of thousands, sometimes, she could very much act like a child, or a pup, in her case. It was cute, really, and one of the many things Gale loved about her.

He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"I wish we could, and I'm in no hurry to run off to hear the fucking Council prattle, but today's a big day, and we have to be there early, Fen."

Gale received a muffled grumble in reply. He laughed softly, another thing that was out of his character, and began to rise from the mountains of covers on the bed, while Fen rolled to the other side bed, burying her muzzle into one of the pillows.

"Pfft, lazy."

"I'm not lazy! I'm just tired from last night's.....activities.."

"I wore you out that much?"

"Oh, shut up."

Gale laughed again, as he began to place his armor on, piece by jagged piece.

The Emperor had it personally made for him when he was first found, and had the smiths that made it killed directly after. Only a select few have seen Gale without his armor on: The Council (who were sworn to secrecy under pain of death by Gale himself), The Emperor, and Fen. He had gone through great lengths to keep Gale's specie a secret. Gale couldn't complain much, though. The armor DID look pretty fucking sweet.

He sighed loudly when he had reached for the helmet, though. He hated wearing it all the time. Not for self conscious reasons, but more so for the fact that, though menacing as it made him look, it was quite stuffy, and since he wasn't allowed to take it off, it made itchy noses more than unbearable. He began to lift the helmet to his head.

"Wait."

He stopped at the command of the heavenly voice, and turned to look at Fen, who had risen from the bed, a blanket wrapped around her body, teasing her form as she shuffled closer him.

"Don't put it on just yet. Just one more......." She closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his, Gale nearly melting under the emotion that he was feeling. The need for blood seemed almost completely extinguished within him, and was instead replaced with the need for her, to feel her against his skin, to hold her and never let go. He wrapped his arms around her, and led her back to the bed.

Gale placed her on her back, their noses touching slightly, while he hovered over the goddess that lay beneath him. Her eyes, deep pools of green, stared into his dark brown irises, glowing with love, and lust. He moved his mouth to her ear, whispering silently.

"Better make it 10 more minutes."