Mattias staggered towards the horrors feeding on giant horror, his body twitching as though it belonged to someone else. His fingernails now black and much longer than they had been scraped against the unseen ground. Every motion felt wrong. It jerked and was raw, like a creature that had forgotten it was human. His chest burned with the thick, black sludge that had replaced his own blood, and his mind was swimming in hunger and rage.
He lunged at the first moving shape. It was a writhing horror, with long centipede legs and a mouth that opened almost sidewise. Mattias's blackened hands tore through it before it even had time to shriek. He sunk his teeth into its throat, the taste was rancid and the blood was sour, but he ate it anyway. Then, there was another. And another. It didn't matter. He clawed, he howled, he bit. The Void shrieked with the violence of something gone rabid.
He was no longer himself. Just raw instinct in a body.
And then a noise sliced through the dark. Not a shriek. Not the wailing of horrors. It was a song. A sound that rang clear, was wrong in its beauty. The melody twisted above him and made the shadows ripple
Mattias stopped moving his head snapping toward it, his body trembled not from fear but instinctive hesitation
The singer moved into view.
It was tall human looking person with feathers feathered black as oil his wings folded against its back.
"Ah" the creature's voice was both male and female each note of its song carried into its words "a little cub gnawing its way into teeth."
Mattias roared and threw himself at it.
The horror moved more quickly than sight. A wing, sharp as a blade, hit him, twisting his jaw sideways. He was thrown backward, lay groaning in the muck, black blood spilling onto the dirt. He stood to growl and charge.
Another hit. His ribs crunched.
Again. Again.
Each time Mattias managed to get back to his feet the horror declared "my name is Manu Nightingale and am the envoy of your end" with that he sent him back to the down with a kick to his gut then as his falling he grabbed his skull and slammed it into the ground cracking on the spot then mushing his face till it was no more that a puddle of blood and flesh But the black liquid inside of him put it back together.
"Persistent." Manu tilted its head, the song never breaking rhythm. "But stupid."
Then it stomped down breaking Mattias's back ,he clawed at the ground, dragging himself forward as far as he could manage with even his torso alone, teeth snapping at nothing. Manu issued a soft trill then laughed
"Your something else nothing like the others you heal and you keep changing."
Mattias let out a snarl half a word coming out raw and desperate. "K... kill you…"
"Mm." Manu crouched low putting his face close to his so near that his mouth almost touching his. "You already tried that, little kid and you failed over and over again. I wonder… can you even think anymore? Or is it just hunger and screaming?"
He didn't wait for an answer. One wing raked down Mattias's chest opening him wide. His organs spilled out but then his flesh reformed a living Puzzle. Manu raked him again and again, humming as if conducting an orchestral
"You're not a Horror," Manu finally whispered almost delighted "But you're also not human.hmm... what are you A half breed may be."
Mattias's eyes flickered just for a moment, a wedge of clarity punctured his own insanity. His voice came out ragged; weak, but it was a voice.
"Stop… please…"
Manu's many eyes widened, then narrowed, in amusement. "Ahh, there you are. Thought you were gone like the rest; clearly not still buried inside. Which means…"
It hit him across the jaw again, and snapped bone.
"…we're not done."
Mattias stepped up to stumble upright as ribs would twist and stitch together in sickly jerking motions as the black hands would furl up protectively around him. He inhaled a ragged breath and finally had his wits back. His thoughts were not a whirlpool, they were back to being his.
And then Manu kicked him.
Not a killing kick. Not even close. Just a lazy backheel to separate him from sanity and smash into a wall, like it was an afterthought.
"If you're back," purred Manu, voice spilling out like silk over thorns. "I have a few questions ."
Mattias spat blood and righted himself. "Then stop an-"
WHACK! Manu slapped him off to the side. And said "I didn't tell you to speak yet"
"Oh look at that face" Manu cooed, circling him. The Nightingale's slender figure walked around him consuming space with predatory grace, like the fabric of a curtain that slowly folds and unfolds anew as it sweeps into the nearby void. "Not used to being treated like prey, are we? Poor little half-horror."
Mattias lunged, the black hands shooting forward crack! Manu caught one hand mid-strike, twisted it until the limb popped like it was a snapped branch and pressed Mattias flat against earth.
Manu sitting on him. Just straddled his chest and hummed a lamenting tune as if it were just a leisure activity pinning him down.
"You... play with me well," Manu stated, pushing two fingers to Mattias' chest. An aura ripple poured out of him, filched, milked like water from a leaky bucket. Mattias squirmed, gagged on the sudden void.
"Y-You are torturing me?"
"Of course." Manu craned their head, eyes sparkling. "Why waste good suffering?" He scooped off one of Mattias' fingers and ate it. "You taste like... a vintage wine."
Mattias wanted to scream, fight, claw but every effort was tamed with a mortifying finesse. A trip a shove a flick to the forehead that cracked bone. Manu didn't need to kill him. This was worse.
"You'll die," Manu finally said as he stood in one smooth motion. "For now. You're much too entertaining to eat right away."