But you don't fucking know me homie you don't want war.

[vulgaris]

VulgariS

" i could be ugly in loving you. filthy and soft-mouthed. wolf-tongued and terrible.
i could carry my heart in my mouth like a bird dog to you, so gently i wouldn’t leave a mark. "

He’s been watching from the underbrush, sage green eyes gleaming in the lightning and the fires of his home and his heart. Vulgaris thought he could stand against her and protect all of Loess if he just tried not to focus on her during the fight. But how could he ignore her burning? How could he not watch as the monsters tore her chest? A streak of blood smears across his mouth and his hoof still presses some unknown fighter into the mud but he can’t take his eyes off of her. Despair and delight coil around one another in his chest when Brennen lends her his strength.

His gaze turns as he watches Wolfbane clash with a young boy, hardly old enough to know the price of war and bloodshed. In the distance, a wife cries as she throws herself between a massive white bear and the shadow-cloaked Litotes. He watches the diamond crusted dragon tear into their king as their talons lock and he wonders if their pride is really worth so much. Aziz and Maleficar stand silent as they try to even the odds for each side and he wonders how they remain so passive during times like these.

Vulgaris is dragged from his thoughts as the warrior beneath his hoof wheezes for breath at last, startling him backward. Lightning cracks across the sky and he sees their jaw flapping dumbly in an attempt to gather another breath. For once, he is tired of the hunt and the pain. There is no thrill when the stranger’s eyes go dim and he feels only the cold of the rain across his back. Even if they managed to combat the golden shield pushing their forces back, they would earn a hollow victory at best.

He turns and quietly makes his way up the volcano, past the trees and the fighting and the ash. His own blood is washed from his shoulders in the rain as his healing seals the wound shut with delicate thread. The serpent does not look back as he climbs ever higher, stumbling only once before he regains his footing in the mud and rocks. As he approaches the lip of the formation, he finally turns and watches them from his new viewpoint.

“Only blood can pay for blood. And it is never enough” he mumbles sadly into the wind that whips his forelock from his pale face. If he hadn’t commanded them to take prisoners, none of this would have ever happened. They wouldn’t die in the aftershock of his crimes nor would they suffer from his existence. He forces himself not to look at her now as he takes a step back, closer to the pit of lava behind him. Vulgaris already knows that she is red like life, like a sun born from its own cosmic ashes. Maybe in another life he can be more like her.

The thought brings a smile across his face as he takes another step back. His hoof finds no footing, though, and he gasps softly when he tumbles backward. Still, he smiles as he falls and closes his eyes. The lava devours him whole and chews through him in seconds, keeps every molecule of the serpent for itself. Only his hoofprints in the mud prove he ever existed here moments ago.

oh my fckin god he fckin ded.