Back to the Beginning

There had been little time, Mentu posed in his head, for him to take true roots in this new place. The alien and the strange still rung endlessly against his psyche, pushing him to moments and thoughts that he both disliked and did not understand. The world around him was solid to the touch, could be scented, heard, tasted even if one were so inclined to reach out and lick the cold limestone walls. It was somehow not enough. He still felt as if he was not present.

A ghost then, shadowing secret passages down the veins of reality.  Why did he feel this deep darkness inside of him?

Mentu had been pacing for some time, a methodic back and forth near the place that his dear sister had chosen as her own domain. Viscountess!! Could you believe that?! In his pacing, Mentu's thoughts grew darker, spottier, mish-mashed with the coiled poison of his disgust. He'd seen her at the meeting... He knew the scent of her....All wrong.. ALL WRONG! The Inferos-Saxe were pure and yet the spores in the air had told him more than he could handle.

Had it been his brothers, in a way he might have been able to understand. His jealousy had always been palpable when they chose his inferiors over him, but at least it would have been of their blood. THEIR BLOOD! A throb of pain suddenly ripped through Mentu's left temple, a fierce thing stripping a part of his vision into bright, confusing lights. Gasping, he stopped his pacing and took a moment. Clenched his eyes until the bright streak went away. But the pain just behind his ear did not.  He suddenly turned his head towards Reign's den and began the deliberate trek to the heart of things.

He poked his head within, seeing nothing to disturb his entrance he crossed the threshold. He was of the blood after all. A light growl lingering in the back of his throat he proceeded into her den.

@Reign
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Reign had been pacing back and forth, back and forth for some time. The reality of her situation was finally sinking in. She was to be a Mother, And a Viscountess. She still had borders to set up and an Empire to finish building. But she now also had a timer, she needed to have it done before she gave birth. Or she’d never have the time.

She was still pacing when she heard someone at the entrance of her den. She paused only a moment to register that she had company before she turn and waited for her brother. She had known it was him from the fact of his scent. But also no one else dared walk in without announcing themselves to her first.

She watched as his dark frame appeared before her, and she knew he wasn’t happy. And that is was time they finally spoke about her children. She’d known he wasn’t thrilled for a while. But she never bothered to ask him why. He hadn’t claimed her ever. Had this been Nemesis stalking into her den to thrown a fit that she was carrying another mans children. She would understand. But Mentu was always the rational one…. she thought.
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Reign has full approval on my part to do a little bit of roughing up of Mentu if she wants to!

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In all of his confidence and pacing, slowing drumming himself up to courage to walk in and assert what he knew to be true, Mentu found that he was not prepared for his sister to be waiting and ready. What he found was not a creature unexpecting, but one deep in thought, almost as if she had been expecting him. Upon seeing Reign's eyes turn to regard him, their intense garnet glow he suddenly found all but some of his confidence falling out from under him. Was it just his reverence to her strength or her likeness to their mother that struck him so? He was not sure. Yet some of the fire of his ire was fading. He found his resolve floundering so easily.

She had been pacing as well, and the scent in this cave was unmistakable. The scent of usurpers, of blood not their own. Mentu's eyes adjusted to the gloom and he saw the roundness of her belly tightening against her fur and knew his worst fears to be true. 

"Reign.... Sister." He growled in acknowedgement as he stepped a little further into the Viscountess' den. But not too far, for a pregnant she-wolf was an enemy not to be crossed.

With all of the emotions bubbling inside of him he did not know where to start. He clenched his teeth and said. "Kill me if you will. But is THIS the future you want of the Inferos-Saxe?"

Finding a small amount of conviction he drew himself up to full height and glared at her, eyes warping crimson with violet edges. "Your whelps will be as nothing. Sore pretenders... Why do you do this? Had it been our brothers..." He then snapped his muzzle shut, feeling ever the more despondant. Had it been their brothers then what? He would have found the situation better? No perhaps not. But the blood was important.

Teeth grinding so hard Reign could likely hear it echoing in the cave, Mentu asked. "What is to be done, sister? You know I cannot abide this but I care for you." 

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Reign said nothing to her brother. She would wait for him to speak first. Because if he had the courage to walk into her den and speak his mind then, she’d let him until he crossed a line. Because yes, he was her slightly older brother, but she was the strongest sibling in Demonia. Pregnant or not. And she was the one who was in charge here. So she just waited. Like a snake ready to strike as he began to speak.

"Reign.... Sister."

“Mentu, Brother” she snipped back and nodded her head at him. Finally acknowledging him as well. She noted that he care not step to deeply with her home. And she smirked softly.

"Kill me if you will. But is THIS the future you want of the Inferos-Saxe?"

She narrowed her eyes as he spoke, she let out a snarl of disapproval. She tensed up and this time her body stood before him as a threat not a friend. 

"Your whelps will be as nothing. Sore pretenders... Why do you do this? Had it been our brothers..."

She pulled back her lips showing him her fangs and this time let out a warning snarl before she spoke. Her head held high. “MY CHILDREN, you dare accuse my children of being nothing. Of being pretenders?! You have some nerve brother or not to speak to me like that. I do what I NEED to strengthen this family and lineage. Just as our mother did when she picked our father to father us. Less you forget, we too could be considered nothing more that pretenders Mentu.” She moved closer to him this time. An angry pace and warning whip of her tail. 

"What is to be done, sister? You know I cannot abide this but I care for you."

She scoffed at him. Her rage bubbling over now. How dare he speak to her like this. About her children non the less. It was like a switch being turned on. And just like that. The calm and collected Viscountess was asleep. And her cruel and dangerous counterpart had awoken. 

“What is to be done?! My children are to be born. To grow strong and healthy, and be taught just the way mom taught us. They are to be protected and watched. And never harmed by anyone besides myself and their father unless you’d love to spar with me again dear brother” her eyes twinkled with blood lust. 

She stalked towards him, fully closing the gap between them. 
“If I think you that you’ll harm my children dear brother, you’ll lose your life. So you’d better start thinking about how to be the best uncle ever. Do you understand me?” She practically spat in his ear as she placed her paw atop of his and put her weight onto his paws, meeting his eyes. “Have we come to an understanding?”
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Clear, so clear that he had gone too far, even having set paw into her inner sanctum he had spelled some sort of doom for himself. Not just a pregnant she-wolf but his sister and the most fearsome fighter he'd seen in all of their days of youth. Reign Saxe, who had taken and held the throat of each and every one of her siblings in mock combat, but had made evidently clear every time that she could have stolen the very life from them. Mentu could do little to not tremble at the memories all too clear now, of feeling his windpipe crushed like a flimsy reed all those years ago, holding until the world dimmed to darkness and stars exploded in his head.

Reign gave a deliberate step towards him for each and every one of his offenses, and with each of them he felt fear rising in him, but he kept his eyes forward and on her, but edged a single step back. A righteous rage had greeted him and now and he was quite expectedly buffeted in the storm of his his Viscountess' fury. Her words swept over him like waves, each one almost a physical blow to his psyche, reminding him in no uncertain terms of his place, it was as if both their parents had lent their voice to Reign, their chosen daughter. She challenged him a spar. Though his lips curled up in near challenging snarl he turned his head away, submitting. 

"We will not fight this day," he conceded. It took a lot to hide the quiver from his voice as she closed the distance and suddenly they were nearly chest to chest and Reign's paws crushed down upon his own, claws digging down painfully. Mentu's heart was beating so hard he feared it would smash loose from his ribcage and yet he stared into those wild, crazed eyes and all of their promise of destruction. Reign added even more pressure and his knuckles were singing. 

"Gargh! U-understood, Viscountess," hissed Mentu.

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"We will not fight this day,"

She smirked at her brother, he didn’t want to fight her. Despite the upper hand that being pregnant would grant him. He has still chosen not to challenge her. But she had not mistaken the exact words he had spoke. Or the underlying meaning that another day he might just challenge her. 

"Gargh! U-understood, Viscountess," 

She let out a twisted laugh of pleasure before she stepped off her brothers paws. She leaned in close and offered him a small kiss upon his cheek before she pulled away. 

“I figured you would see it my way dear brother. After all, you we’re always the smart one” she cooed tauntingly at him. 

She stepped back a pace and looked him over. He was still not fully recovered it seemed. But she would change that. 

“You are correct that we shall not Fight today, however my dear brother, once my CHILDREN, have safely been delivered and I have recovered. I expect to see you outside the Hireath. It’s time you start building up your muscles again”  

she would love the chance to spar again once she wasn’t pregnant. Especially with someone she wouldn’t have to hold back on.
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Released finally from her grasp, Mentu's paws were throbbing and he was left reeling.

How could he have been so stupid as to come in with his strength unchecked. Perhaps a part of him knew that Reign would pity the weakest of the Saxe clan, if only to toy with him later on. She drew away after a forceful and promising lick to his cheek, leaving him boiling within and disgusted at his own arousal.

Mentu now knew that his short-lived rebellion was coming to an end and so he kept his eyes properly averted from his sister's gaze. But she looked him over, appraising something before giving a demonic chuckle that Mentu knew all too well. It was the same chuckle that she had used long ago before the flashing of fangs, but no fangs came this time. No this was different. Weapons of the mind were wielded now with just as much ferocity as tooth and nail. Oh how the Saxe childred had grown.

Her clear threat turned into a promise that made Mentu's ears turn before he flattened them against his head. Rising and tilting his head slowly towards the entrance of the den he nodded and then growled. "So be it, sister. We will work on that." He promised and turned and studied her with eyes so bloodshot the violet in them seemed non-existant, his next words were quick and sharp, teeth gritted he added. "Never ever again accuse me of the desire to harm yours or any pups. I am not our parents. Take that as you will."

He stood for a few moments before pushing. "Am I dismissed, Viscountess?"

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