The Runaway (Remake with Kana)

Akio is an elf in a royal line; he didn’t much enjoy it however. Some people enjoy being rich; pampered. Not him. Akio preferred to be free, to live his life the way he deemed fit…not be told every blessed thing by other individuals. He liked to explore the woods, chase the animals, and spar with his closest friends--not sit complacently inside his padded room and admire his god-sent majesty. Enter Akio’s father. Instead of the respectable, head-of-the-house-hold-great-person-to-admire type of guy, Akio had to put up with a war monger who insisted upon pointing out everyone else’s faults, spare his beautiful self of course. Instead of this, he detested his nobility. Given the choice, Akio would cast off his status like a forgotten cloak, and be done with the whole madness altogether. Most of his house is ashamed of him. There aren’t many who are happy to call him ‘lord’. Neither was Akio for that matter. The fact that his ‘subjects’ were forced to refer to him as such took away any of the respect they might given him in the first place.

Adding to the mess that was his family, Akio had to deal with the loss of his mother, the one person who seemed to care for him. Make no mistake; Akio didn’t waste his time wallowing in the cruelness of Maia; however that didn’t mean he wasn’t about find some way to live out his life the way his mother would have wanted him. He was reasonably certain that his mother would not want him in his father’s care. Akio had known his mother up until he was about the tender physical age of eight. She was the one person who treated him with respect, as an equal. She could hold out for him and be fun, yet at the same time she would instill discipline faster than Akio could commit the next crime. They often had long talks together—many of them highly sophisticated—concerning his father’s tyranny and the slowly corroding state of their lands. His love for the woods was birthed from his mother. She loved to take him deep into the forest, always near his side, and keep watch over him as they both played. She saw no reason why he shouldn’t be allowed to explore a more adventurous path, or an unknown part of their woods that they had simply not gotten too. The woods came to make Akio feel safe.

Yet because of all this, the title of traitor was forced upon him as well. No one had ever dissented against the family and went off on his own before. It was simply unheard of in all its time. As a result of Akio’s ‘callous lack of care’ granted to all that he’s been given, he was considered a disgrace in the eyes of many. Naturally he wasn’t about to not help that cause. There was one thing his father’s guards had bestowed upon him in way of a title that he enjoyed: The Runaway. He actually never saw it coming. One seemingly calm day, Akio had again chosen to disappear from the sight of his father. When he was kindly escorted back, the guards now by the sixth or seventh time were grumbling complaints about “Our lord’s son, The Runaway.” Akio took to the name with glee only because it displeased his father so. Thus he continued to do it; runaway that is. Now he’d been spent for nearly seventeen hours, with each granule of time falling as sand, pushing him, farther and farther from his father’s grasp…

 

 

Outcast, Murderer, Demon; These were the many titles Kanataru was accustomed to hearing, and all of them were true statements. 
At a young age Kana had been exiled from her wolf pack. Her pack mates had been more than eager to rid themselves of the alphas illegitimate runt. In their minds her mere existence had threatened the safety of the pack since the day she was born. Her illegitimacy detoured their respect for her as the Alpha's daughter, especially since her mother was a demon feared by many wolves.
Of course, she was never allowed to know of her inheritance. It had been her fathers greatest mistake, but even then he still loved her and raised her. 
It had taken an extraordinary amount of convincing from his daughter for him to let her go as the pack so desired. They wanted her to leave? Then she would go. 
During her years as an outcast she spent the first few months in starvation. As a yearling she'd had no idea how to hunt for herself, that was  a skill she had been to young to acquire. 
It was only when she discovered human society that she had the means to feed herself. 
She had discovered she had the ability to transform into a human, This drastically changed the course of her life, and who she was as a wolf. She would no longer starve to death as the pack had intended for her to do, instead she began living life as a human.
When she discovered the necessity of money, and its many uses, she began to pickpocket people, or earn money from the lives she saved from thugs or rapists she'd discover in dark alley ways.
She'd also discovered that her body would absorb the tainted souls of every evil being she killed. All of these new discoveries lead to a single question that plagued Kana's thoughts relentlessly; 'What am I?' 
Her biggest concern, however, was the disturbingly intense desire to feed on human flesh. A dark rooted desire that continued to grow, pushing her mind to the point of insanity.

Akio wandered idily through the woods. How would he spend today? Could he simly meander just outside of his father's grasp? No. To simply, and yet to costly in the end. Because he knew that if he lingered long, he would surely be found, and brought back into his father's unwelcoming arms. The only option was to push forward. Thus far, Akio had remained in very familiar woods--literally. Akio strolled down a well beaten path he had made many times when he was just out for adventure's sake. To the passerby his well trodden path would appear nothing more than a bit of forest; untravled and teeming with vivacious plants and mossy overgrowth. To Akio it was home.

At the present, Akio was considering what the nearest town would be he could go to. It had to be close enough that he could get there by nightfall, yet not so close as to remain within his father's search radius. Akio sermised that his father would be looking anywhere within a 20 kilometer radius of his grounds, which meant that the town of Irmingshire--approximately 14 kilometers due east--should suffice for the night.

As he made his way briskly towards the general direction of the still rising sun, Akio wondered whether or not his mother would approve. He knew that he had long gone past the window of time that his father tied him to, and so he would soon be even more unfit in his eyes. But his mother...would she see him the same? Akio did not doubt that if given the chance, his father would put him under a spell that would bind him, and indded all who he pretended to love, to his own bidding. But enough of this. Akio could not afford to waste time doting on the multi-faceted relationships that comprised his family and the few ties he could call friends.

Sometime later Akio was beginning to enter into a clearer path, this time, a one road beaten down into the earth. He could see plainly where many carts and horse riders had traversed the area, and, quite accurately guessed that it was a trade route. Akio drew his shawl tighter to his face, it would not do to be discovered so easily by his father's guards in disguise. As he made his way swiftly into the crowd of the still bustling streets, Akio slowed to a walking pace. He was blended with the locals now; no more a novelty than the drunken ork on the corner. Akio took a deep steadying breath. He loved nuetral towns. It was in these places that he knew few prejudice existed. Whatever you race or descent, you could at least be met with the level-headedness of those who had taught themselves not to care.

Spotting an inn, Akio quickly turned aside down a different road. He could remember the spot and come back to it once it had grown darker. The time was high noon, and Akio was feeling a bit peckish. He could do with a spot of food and a nice cool drink. He scanned the streets rather conspicuously for a bar he might enjoy. When he found none evident, he decided it would be best to move on to another location within the pleasant town.

Turning a sharp corner, Akio walked lithely into a bustling market corner. The local merchants were buzzing around the area, conversing in a variety of languages to all sorts of people. There was a carpeteer, attempting to sell a rather old bit of carpet to a horntailed lizard; a graying cook who was trying to force some roasted animals on a local elf. Still another was approaching him, pushing a cart filled with a wide assortment of multicoloured liquids in many differnet volumed containers.

"'Ow about it sir, vould ze mas'er lik' to peruse my assort'd tonics?"

Akio gave the scaley demona a quick once over. Perhaps should could fill him with empty promises and lies about how effective her concoctions were, but he wouldn't give her the chance.

"No, thank you." he responded curtly, turning on the spot to head away from the market district. The creature was fast however, turning the cart on one wheel and making her way deftly around him so that they were facing each other again.

"Oh...but I 'av for you ze mos' tasteful of products 'at vould make vones head spin lik' a top! You could share with a lady..."

Akio was poised to move again, this time to simply ignore the blustering comments of the merchant.

"Best price for you sir, best price!" she called shrilly as he began to walk away.

"What am I going to do in this place?" he wondered aloud. Surely there must be some excitment to be had before he left. Unfortunatly a persistant apothecary just wasn't going to cut it. Just as he was beginning to strole down yet another cobbled street, a screem issued from across the busy market district. Someone was obviously not happy with their newly purchased love potion.

Kana wandered aimlessly around the much-to-crowded town as she often did. As far as she knew, this was the only pack of two-leggers (As she often referred to those not graced with the impeccable efficiency of having four legs)  in existence, and she had an inscrutably small desire to verify that rather dense assumption. She simply could care less about the excitements that lay beyond the towns reaches or the explicit range of species that could greet her. She'd had enough greeting in her life; it only lead to filling the greeters unrequited desires and that was a task Kana would not take part in.
A light breeze picked up that tickled kanas ears as it whisked through the air. Her hand drew up and scratched at her ear madly, flailing like the paw of a canine, mercilessly annihilating the itch. Her temporary stop in the road irritated a handful of what seemed like a plethora of people around her. The small roads were always compact with the abundance of people, karts, and mule drawn carriages. This town, though comparatively small, was always radiant with the flourish of life.
A muscular man who appeared to be a guard of some sorts shoved Kana off her feet and out of his way. She thudded to the ground, face-planting into the dirt. 
She glanced up in time to see the royal emblem the guard was wearing on his armor. 'That's new' she thought as she swiveled back up to her feet in an agile manner continuing on her way again, her new target in her line of sight.  'Such a tainted soul....' her teeth sharpened at the though and her fangs protruded through her gums. The thought of killing him, of feeding off of him driving her over edge. 
She avoided specific vendors as she followed, knowing of their fatal attacks, this thought made her shudder; not only would she lose sight of her target, but she would also somehow be haggled into buying some faulty potion that she had no use for to begin with. Those darn vendors sure knew how to strike a deal. Kana had spent endless money on useless merchandise. But not today, no sir, she was going to hunt with no distractions.
"why Ello love! If it i'nt my favowit customah!" a tall man called out as Kana warily made her way through the overly diligent crowd. She turned her head in sheer terror. 'I've been seen!' she quickly reminisced on possible escape tactics she'd attempted before, but her train of thought was interrupted by the shrill sound of screaming. Her eyes narrowed at the sound 'It's time to get to work.' With that distraction, she was off, dashing through the crowd with acute precision.