Heechul's POV

I created them because of my selfishness. I was lonely and no longer wanted to live by myself. But that will come about later.

Around the time I was five years old I could sense how I was different from everyone else. Although I had a beauty that even for a male was unusual, that wasn't what was different. Sure there are not two humans alike, but there was something considerably off about me. I just couldn't understand it for the longest time. I was a five year old who wondered why the stars suddenly seemed to gleam brighter when I was extra joyful at night. I wondered why my mothers fire under her pot of stew would blaze hotter if I was having a tantrum. I wondered why I could make small lady bugs accompany me on my journey through the village fields to collect my families daily portion of wheat. I wondered for a long time why I felt this heavy aura inside me, that was patiently knocking to get out.

It wasn't until I turned ten when I realized what was different about me.

I had a power. A kind of magic if you will.

I had spent all of my younger childhood raising a cat that had wondered in to my family's small shack one night when I was seven. It was a thin and lanky cat, with dark eyes and a midnight coat. She was feisty and mean. Yet she was coy and very seductive in her ways when she wanted to be. She was very beautiful. She was just like me. And I I begged my mother to let me keep her.

A while after I had turned ten, the cat died. With out reason or cause, one day as we were making our way around the village, she fell over and stopped breathing. She had been my closest companion. My only one. My heart was torn in two, my chest was hammering as my tears began to fall for the cat whom I had never given a name to. There had never been a need. She had always seemed to sense when I needed her, when to come so I could feed her, and a night had never gone by when she hadn't found her way to my bed. But at that moment I felt a deep regret, for I had no name to cry out for. No name to mourn for. And it pained me so.

I wanted her back. I remember specifically touching her head and petting it. And all I had been thinking was 'Come back to me please.'

and then she started breathing again. She opened her eyes, and I knew that it was no miracle. I could feel it running in my bones, the buzzing in my head. I had brought her back to life.

I had a power. And after I realized what I had, I began to use it more often.

I was outcasted for having such powers. When I made my fathers crops grow bright and strong, I was beaten. When I created new string out of my mother's wire to make sweaters, I was scolded. When I made animals appear like magic for my young siblings, I was thrown out of my village. They did not care if I possessed beauty. They did not want witch craft. And for that I was abandoned. My family did not come to my rescue as the village threw stones at me, as they tossed me around and hit me. My family let me run away, let me be thrown out of my home.

I fled to the mountains that stood behind my small village, and traveled down in to the thick forest that laid past them. I walked for days through the trees, enjoying the peacefulness of nature. After my first days of pain and anger, I began to find a genuine peace of wandering in the woods alone. There was no worry, no pain, and no one to judge me. I fell accustomed to waking up with a hungry stomach, and with my powers I never starved. I enjoyed the sweet music of the birds as they flew here and there, following me on my journey to nowhere. I even created new birds to follow me around. Ones that could sing beautiful melodies and had brighter feathers. I created myself new clothing and I even discovered that I could change my whole image. That had me entertained for a few days. I kept changing my hair from the natural dark locks to brighter ones and then back again. I made my hair disappear and then had it grow back at rapid speeds. When I came across a small river and I could see my reflection, I had a lot of fun changing my eye color. I looked quite attractive with light blue eyes.

Being thrown out wasn't the worst thing in the world for me. I could wander around as I pleased and I realized since no one was going to stop me, I could travel farther in to the forest. For weeks I walked on and on. Millions of giant trunks making me weave in and out. For all I knew I was walking in circles. But I didn't seem to be, because as the days went by, there seemed to be less light streaming in from above. The tree trunks seemed to be getting thicker, and I began to see less birds and more mist. But it did not worry me so much. I could still make out sounds of creatures about, I could still hear my own footsteps and my labored breath as I traveled on. The sun showed me the way still, and so I carried on.

I remember reaching the part of the forest where the birds stopped singing. The parts where I had to climb trees in order to get around because the trunks were so big and overlapped one another. The air was heavy and warm, and only small strings of sun hung down on the mossy-gray floor. I no longer heard creatures that were curious of my presence, and the moss on the ground was so thick and soft I did not hear my own footsteps. I was in complete silence. Only trees were with me, only the air surrounded me. And I was lost in the silence for a long time. I tried to not let it bother me. And at first it did not. But one day, when I was in the middle of walking, I came to an abrupt thought. A thought that made me very upset, one that made me feel very stupid for not looking for my cat before I had been thrown out of my village.

I was alone.

But being alone and being lonely are far different feelings. So for three days I tried to come to the conclusion that I was in fact alone, but not at all lonely. But it did not prevail. I did not like being by myself. There was no one to talk to anymore, no living thing to smile at or make eye contact with. There was no one to witness that I was living.

I was lonely.

And I no longer wanted to be.

The moment I had this thought, the very want and need to have a companion, a creature appeared before me.

I believe it use to be a human, but it had no face. Or no eyes or nose to be exact. It had a mouth, because it smiled at me. And when it smiled my heart gave a loud thump. It startled me because I had not heard any kind of sound in a number of days, but there it was. And as the creature walked closer to me, the thumping turned in to pounding. And soon enough that was all I could hear.

Was the creature smiling because it was going to eat me? Because it was going to attack me and eat my stomach out and no matter how loud I screamed no one would hear me? The pounding turned in to banging, and I wasn't sure if I should run, or where I could run to.

“Hello Heechul.”

I was dumbstruck. Appalled. How did this thing know my name? A horrible terror settled over me as I realized the creature had never moved its mouth to speak. It tilted its head when I did not respond. As it did I small cast of flight shimmered off of its rubbery looking gray skin. But when the golden energy hit it, the gray skin gleamed a soft purple, like a small flower on a warm day.

“Are you afraid?” again I heard its voice, but still the mouth it possessed did not move. I shuddered at the realization that it was speaking to me, in my mind.

Yes, I was afraid. Not only had its sudden appearance stunned me, but its physical form did not look so friendly. It was meant to be a tall beast, but it was hunched over in an awkward manner. It had long thin arms and legs that bent in half. On the end of each hand stood out three claw like fingers. They looked like they were pure bone, and they were hollow looking and old. Its neck was arched out, making its head hang over its body, and as it inched closer to me I could see that the face actually use to possess eyes. In their place was string tightly wound in and out of the skin. Like someone had cut its eyes out. Not to mention the rubber looking skin that was gray and filthy looking. Its whole body image screamed terror and predator.

“I'm sorry my appearance is not to your taste.” I was starting to recognize the voice in my head as a small hiss, pesky and high pitched.

How had it known I had not liked the way it looked? Had it...

“Read your mind? Yes.” I made an audible sound then. A kind of gasp that was covered in a choke. The thing was getting closer, and I wasn't quite so sure I wanted it to any closer to me than it already was.

“There is no need to fear me Heechul.” the voice echoed louder and I watched in horror as the creature began to get in to a position that as a human I knew too well. It was getting ready to run right at me.

Was this the end? The end to my short and dark life? A life of pain and anger? Of abandonment and coldness? What a sad life I had lived. And now it was all to end by this creature that knew my name and could read my mind.

My breath stopped midway up my throat, and my eyes bulged while the thing ran at me head on, and then in a split second it pushed off the mossy ground and leaped in to thin air.

And then my cat landed in my arms.

My cat. The dark midnight cat I had brought back to life, and had forgotten to take with me was digging its claws in to my chest, holding on as my limp arms barely held it up. How had she gotten here? Had she followed me? It took me a few seconds to recover from shock to feel the stinging pain her claws were creating in my chest and my arms quickly reacted to put her full weight on them. She purred at me and if I didn't know better she seemed to snicker and turn her head to nuzzle it in to my chest for warmth.

And then I looked around in panic. Where had that disgusting beast gone? Hadn't it been charging at me just now? I assumed it was watching me now and waiting for a moment to strike. It would be able to kill me and my cat. My heartbeat began to quicken.

“You really don't learn that fast do you?” the voice chuckled in my head. Oh god it could see me! My head snapped back in forth with the hope my eyes would catch sight of some sort of movement or an object that was out of place. Anything so that I would be able to see my fate coming.

“Stop searching! I'm right here!” the voice boomed, followed by the hiss of my cat in my arms. I looked straight ahead, but I only saw the then endless maze of trees before me.

“OW!” I yelled as my cat clawed in to my chest, leaving thing red lines of pain.

“Stop it!” I told my cat and petted her head. I needed to concentrate and figure out where our enemy was.

“I will not stop!” the voice fought back, and another scratch to my chest that sent a shriek from my lips.

“Do you get it now?” the voice seemed to have a hint of annoyance in it...

“What?” I was a little confused. Why was it that every time the creature's voice spoke to me, my cat seemed to match it with actions? Was it because...

“Oh.” I looked at my cat in understanding. And then with full realization, I immediately dropped her and scampered away. How could that ugly and fearful creature be my cat? I had just seen the beast! It was lanky and ugly and it was going to try and eat me!

“You wouldn't even taste that good.” the voice laughed in my head. It found that to be funny?

“Stop calling me the voice! I have a name!” the voic-my cat said in my head again. My cat arrogantly walked away from me to created some distance. I expected it to turn around at any moment and turn in to the ugly beast again. I was convinced it was going to try and eat me alive. I just knew it.

But my mouth fell open as the cat stood next to a tree trunk and happily rubbed her side against it. Curing an itch I supposed, and then her body began to expand. Her tail became thicker and ten times longer. Her head was pushed forward at the same time that it grew in size.

When the change was complete, a very large and wild cat lay in place of my cat. What was this thing?

“I'm a demon. Or a fallen angel if you will.” she spoke to me again in my mind. And I wondered if-

“No I can not speak aloud. You wouldn't be able to hear my voice even if I did so. There is no point.” she sighed and I watched the large cat roll its eyes and stand. I had seen the type of cat only once before. But it was dead on a wooden made pole. The awards of the top hunter in our village. The cat had been called a panther, its coat was black and dark but very shiny. Its eyes had been green though. This panther's eyes were a misty gray. Trouble lurking behind that mist, desire creeping in the dark corners. I was hypnotized by the very thought of her unknown desires.

“What do you want with me?” I asked.

“I will help you seek out revenge, if you help me.” her voice was smooth and sweet, like a warm wine running through my mind.

“What revenge? I have none.” but already the want to have blood spilled on my behalf made my mouth water. I did not know then that it was just her influence, just her hypnosis that made me that way. But then, standing before this unimaginable creature, I had the sudden urge to do whatever she pleased. If she wanted me to seek vengeance, I wanted to find a reason to kill.

“Yes you do. Didn't your village throw you out, beat you and kick you to the side? Didn't your family stand by and let you be banished? They abandoned you, disowned you and threw you out like a dead animal. Regular beings do not want to understand the greater powers of this universe, so they kill it or banish it. Don't you want to watch your village burn down to ashes so that they can pay for what they did to you?” her words slithered in to all of my thoughts. And I wanted so bad to go back and kill them all right then and there. Watch my father's judging face scream as flames entangled him, drown my mother in her lying tears. I wanted revenge.

“Yes...what...what is your name?” I asked carefully.

“My full name is Tenebris Custos. But you can call me Tenie. And I know you are wondering what it is I want and how I came to you and all of that conundrum. Sit down Heechul. It will be a long story, but I will tell it. And when I am done. You will help me. And then I promise you all the power in the world will be yours.” her voice dripped with enticement, and I happily drank the drops that fell.

“I understand.” I said, and leaned down to sit on a tree behind me, making myself comfortable. The panther got up from its trunk and patted over to my side, laying its large body against mine. The fear of the hideous creature that had possessed me before was now gone. In this form so similar to my cats, I felt the natural instinct to cuddle my once house cat, and draped my arm to be a pillow for her head, my body moving to spoon hers. I rested my head on her thick neck, her soft coat caressing my cheek. The heavy thud of her heart lulled me in to a deep relaxation.

“As I told you before, I am a fallen angel. Most would say demon. But I have no care in the name. Just know that once, before this world existed, I lived among pure beings. Ones with out hate or anger, no lust or grotesque desires. I lived in the glory of the God that created everything there is today...”

My eyes felt a small stinging at the back, and my head swam with a rush of heat. And then, it was like I had become one with her. Like her memories were mine. And I lived her story as she told it through my own eyes. It is still to this second, the most terrifying and beautiful sight I have ever seen.

She lived in a different realm. A paradise realm. Where no one was sick or hurt. With creatures that looked like delicate warriors, and others that looked like creatures from hell.

I saw her for a moment before I entered her body and became a part of her. Tenie. She was beautiful. Perfect. No flaw could be found as I looked at her face and body. She was a illuminated by some inner light and her body was covered in golden scratches. They looked like an old language, something I would never understand or speak. They were all over her body. Tangling down her legs and reaching up her neck. They even reached underneath her eyes.

Her eyes were breath taking. I thought they were a very light blue, but then they were a clear gray, and then she blinked and they were a soft green. When she smiled with the other creatures they were a gold that match her body markings.

She looked down at the earth, in to the oceans and I saw her reflection. Her thoughtful gaze on the waves. I loved her then.

But something happened. There was a light that overwhelmed my senses. The heat from the light burned my nostrils and made my throat tighten in defense. My eyelids could not protect my sight from blacking out and my body immediately dropped in agony and submission. It was God.

I felt the air around me rushing swiftly, and there was a great boom that pierced my eardrums causing me to scream out loud. The air running violently and pushing me around and down till my face was pushed and hit something cold and hard. The pain was unbearable. I wanted to escape. I was blind, deaf, and mute. I was being pushed down in to this submission that I wanted nothing to do with. My muscles ached to be released and my lungs flared to have breath. I felt my mouth widen in a scream, felt my throat grow soar from overuse, but I could not hear it.

And then I was falling, the air rushing around my body and my eyes teared up. My sight slowly came back and I was able to watch the amazing light fade away in to storming clouds. I watched my home grow smaller and blink in to nothingness. I was left looking up at gray clouds of chilling dust. The skies cold and harsh as the particles bit my skin on the descent down to earth. I felt the anxiety set in, the fear of being disconnected from my creator. He was gone, I was alone and I was not with him.

I was heartbroken.

When my body hit the soil, the impact pounded my body and I out.

The heat left my head and the tingling in my back ceased.

I was back in the forest lying next to the tree. My eyes burned from tears and I took quick shallow breaths to calm my frantic heart. I heard my small sobs of pain and I clung tighter to the woman laying next to me. I was too far gone in the images still running in my mind to care that Tenie had transformed in to the beautiful woman I had seen and been moments ago. She was and the golden scratches were a dulled silver now, her perfections was still intact nonetheless. But her eyes were a deep and rich black. Like the bottom of a well, dark and never ending. She had turned to me and was holding me close to her, my head pressed to her and I listened to a dull heart beat in her chest.

“He sent me away from him. Like your family sent you away.” her voice in my mind was silky and persuasive. She was intoxicating and everything she was I wanted. I felt her fingernails tracing patterns in my back, I looked up to her and took in her beautiful face. My hands reach around to rest on the small of her back.

“I know you love me Heechul. I love you.” the whisper caressed the inside of my ears and traveled to my neck in comfort and seduction. Her leg wrapped around my waist and I felt her heat against mine.

“We are the same you and I,” the ghost of smile behind the full red lips,”I was abandoned by my father too Heechul. You know my pain, and I know yours. We are one.” the words were etched in to my brain, ink staining my thoughts and making me believe.

“You were pushed in to darkness,” she was right. I was pushed in to this dark forest and this dark world, “I am the protector of the darkness” her red lips gently caressed mine.

“I know you are lonely. Let me comfort you.” she purred, her hands reaching low to make me groan in to submission. Submission like in the vision I had. But different. The submission was just as powerful as she and bit my skin. But this submission did not hurt, it did not suffocate me like the one in the vision did. This submission was full of pleasure and lust. It felt so good.

So I let the feeling capture me and I let her take hold of my body, mind, and spirit completely with her sinful touches and her promising whispers of power and revenge.

~ ~ ~

 I was laying on my back in the soft dirt, catching my breath from my ual high. I looked down at the feeling of fur paw nudging my hand. Tenie was back in her panther form and purring as I reached up to her head. Her cat eyes closed shut in satisfaction at my fingernails scratching between her ears. I couldn't exactly wrap my mind around the thought that I had just had with this...animal.

“But I was a woman not moments ago. Either way it doesn't matter, I can satisfy you in any of my forms my dear.” Tenie chuckled and the panther blinked at me with a steady gaze. I nodded and sat up to cover myself.

“Are you ready Heechul? To help me so that I can help you?” she my palm earnestly. Her warm tongue made my body tingle with sensitivity.

I felt it in my soul then. In the very depth through all the haze of her tricks I felt a cold prick that made my heart jump in panic for a mere second. A warning to stop, that this was wrong, to run away as fast as I could. But the panther was my fingers in the perfect way and the haze was intensified, the warning ignored completely.

“Yes Tenie. Whatever you want, I will give.” I said.

“You can belong to me and only me from now on, you know that Heechul?” a playful nip to my middle finger caused shivers to rustle up my arm.

“Yes Tenie, I only belong to you.” I should have known then. I should have known it was all wrong as my heart stopped beating and I felt my skin run cold.