Work Text:
Breathe.
But Hakka can't.
The blue mist of The Draken Hallow swirls around him, nipping at his feet, at the edges of his sleeves and shrouds his face, clouding five of his senses. His sixth is forced to pay attention to the creatures that circle him balefully.
Silver Scale Spirits.
Souls of felled dragons, teetering between the border of life and death, refusing to stay on their side. One has lashed out, wrapping its tail around his throat, as if it senses the breath that he’s taken and wants to claim as its own.
These spirits are senseless beings, not knowing that they won’t be able to fully return to this plane, no matter how much they try to draw air towards them.
Not just senseless. They’re kinda stupid, if you think about it . And no doubt, Hakka’s brain is in overdrive. They’re really picking a fight with him ? The coolest and cutest exorcist in all of Xenokuni? And that thought quickly turns into a colourful flurry of curses when he realises that with his neck constricted, he can’t even start speaking an incantation.
Hakka doesn’t regret scouting out ahead of the other boys because jumping through the tree-tops feels freeing and he’s happy to be of use to his guild. But he does regret leaping and bounding too far ahead. Not that they would be able to help him.
They can’t see spirits like he can.
To him, they look like miniature versions of the dragons around this area; they have a snake-like body with clawed front and back legs, except they look more like smoke than anything solid. The creepy thing about them is that they don’t have eyes. Where the hell are their eyes? It’s not surprising, ‘cause they’re spirits and all but it still disturbs him every time.
His brothers are spared these sights, though that also means that even if they get to him on time they wouldn’t be able to do anything.
Time that he doesn’t have because he can feel the lungs start to singe, begging for air.
Oh right, I’m stupid.
His hand reaches for the talisman stashed in his obi .
And while he can’t chant, with the talisman’s aid, he can at least scream.
His scream is measured, at first, then he starts to feel it get more guttural. He feels the other side of him stir, roused by the noise.
The Silver Scale Spirits pick up on the sliver of dark aura that he emits and immediately let go of Hakka. They’re senseless, yet even they know to retreat.
He may be safe from them but now he’s got this damned curse to push down. He falls to his knees, struggling.
“Hakka!”
“Where’d you go, Hakka!?”
“ Hakkaaaaaa! ”
He hears his brothers’ voices calling.
Distant but slowly drawing near him.
He can’t let them see him like this.
Not again.
Hakka steels himself, tries to get tame the beast within him.
He tries to take back control of himself and -
Breathe.