Page 69 of A Soul to Touch

Yet, a peaceful stroll wasn’t on the horizon for Faunus. He knew that by the quadruple footsteps he could hear and the scents on the wind brushing his way.

Fuck.He quickened his pace when he’d intended to skulk his way out of the Veil. It didn’t matter. Those footsteps were obviously chasing his scent.Shit. Shit. FUCK!

Faunus steadied himself and turned to the two creatures coming upon him at a dangerously fast speed. It didn’t save him from being barrelled into, one on top of the other, before he was flung between the trees into an area that opened enough to accommodate all three of their massive sizes.

The entire time, Faunus wrapped his arm around his skull to protect it.

With a deep, rumbling snarl, he turned to them with his orbs red. He also fixed the hood of his cloak to hide his face from anyone who may be looking through magic from seeing him.

“Leave me be!”Faunus bit, wanting to roar but instead kept his voice quiet.

For a moment, the two creatures struggled with each other as though Faunus being the centre point of their interest faded as they playfully fought and attacked each other.

Faunus knew they’d come for him the moment he tried to walk away.

“I knew it was the ram horn,”one chuckled, his laughter like a snigger while pinning the other down.

“The one with the cat skull,”the other said with a huff, snapping his jaws upwards to get free.

Once they were both on their feet, they turned to him, revealing two Duskwalkers in their monstrous forms. Faunus doubted they owned a single bit of clothing between them, even underneath their forms.

They were overly social Duskwalkers, but that also made them entirely off-putting to all. They were also exceptionally dangerous.

One had bright pink orbs. His skull was that of a bat, with goat horns that curled up and then back over his head. His body, however, was mixed between having long fur and large feathered wings on his back. Those feathers also went down his spine before they turned into a tail of them.

The other had purple orbs with a skull that had once belonged to a raven and the beak to match. He also had goat horns, although small and pointed upwards from his head. He had a mixture of short fur and lizard scales. Lizard-like spikes, twice as many but smaller than Faunus’ own, travelled over his arms, legs, back, and down his long lizard tail.

It was obvious they’d shared everything they’d ever eaten, and Faunus imagined they’d fought over most of it. He could picture the two playing tug-o-war with their food.

From what Faunus had gathered over themultipletimes he’d met them, they were always together. They were likely twins.

These two had no home, from what he knew. They were always in the Veil, safe as they had each other to fight off Demons. A single unit that shared the exact same needs and wants.

Faunus took a wary step back when they both, at the same time, took a step closer. The raven skull stepped his left hand forward, while the bat skull one pushed his right forward. Their pinkies overlapped in the middle of them.

“I don’t wish to play,”Faunus snapped, especially when they mirrored each other by going in opposite directions to circle him.

“Why will he not play with us?”the purple-orbed, raven-skulled one asked as he tilted his head at the other.

“He used to play with us,”the pink-orbed, bat-skulled one responded.“Perhaps it is a new game?”

“Kitty always shows us new games,”the raven-skulled one stated, drawing Faunus’ attention.

Faunus lost sight of the other one when he went behind him.“My name is no longer Kitty,”he stated.

“Like hide and tap!”the bat-skulled one chuckled before he shoved Faunus’ backend.

With a snarl, Faunus turned and shoved him back to put space between them. Not expecting the push, the bat-skulled one was shoved to his side, but Faunus found himself being tackled to the ground by the other.

A yelp sounded from Faunus when his head smacked against the ground, causing both of them to jump back in surprise. He was sure his behaviour was strange to them.

Faunus had spent many hours playing with these two and inventing new games for them to play with each other. These two Duskwalkers lacked much humanity. They were rather under-developed, but he’d found enjoyment in being with his own kind when he could.

They were the two he knew the most, and he trusted them. It was a rarity for him to have such pleasant memories with others – but it had always been brief as these two easily lost interest, and their small attention spans would turn back to wandering the Veil and its border.

It’s probably why they’d hunted him down when they caught wind of his scent. They wanted to spend time with him as it was not uncommon for them to do so, for Faunus to steal their attention for the moment.

Faunus let out a small whine when he was trying to find his feet, fighting a small amount of dizziness.

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