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monsterfloofs · 7 days ago

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Found this blog through the cute emoji challenge you do! So here’s mine!

🐺🌹🖤

Hi Anon! This story… oh man this story has been a long time coming. I have kept this note in my inbox for oh gosh… two years apparently??? I wanted to make sure that this story got made for you. Unfortunately, this request sent just as my motivation for the monster emoji maker stories left me! ;O;;; ) I do apologize for the wait. On the bright side, this… ended up being quite the story, I put a lot of love and work into this, and I really hope you enjoy it!

🥀 Briar Wolfe 🥀

Edrick (Wolf Monster) x Anonymous Reader (sfw)

Trigger Warning : Angst and light violence!

Once a thriving palace, now no more

A curse rotting on its forgotten shore.

With vines of roses, a prick of dread,

its valiant hero has lost its head.

One good heart yet remains on this stage,

the last of royalty in a thorny cage.

Between the gnarled thicket of thorns and roses lay the skeleton of a broken castle. Where there had once been music and light, now empty, the joy constricted out of its lungs by brambles that grow thicker everyday. The tall spires are a ghoulish color of oxidized bronze, the rusted greenish blue that slowly creeps into every crevice, every nook. Soon the tall sentry towers will be swallowed by thorns and roses as well. At one time, perhaps this would paint a prettier picture in the mind's eye, of somewhere lonely and enticing. Yet living here, amongst the flowers and thorns, there is no joy. The curse that settled here, has not only spread wings over the land, but also has curled itself tightly into the heart of man. A living breathing, misery.

There are nicks and notches on the columns in the throne room, scrawling across the wood until whoever scrawled them could reach no higher. The tracking of days, months, and years that have gone by. Other things are sprawled across the floor. Pots, pans, flint, firewood, books dull with age and a small bejeweled dagger. It was strange to look around and see home, yet also realize it was a ghost of what had been. I shook out the map in my hands, staring at the places in the castle that had been drawn and the red marks I had made later as I ran out of possible exits, until lastly. . . was the courtyard.

The courtyard could lead to a potential escape, with food dwindling and supplies running out, it was one of the easier exits to take, except for one problem.

I blink, glancing up as a forlorn howl makes me shudder.

Yes. One problem, one very big problem.

I rose to my feet cautiously and tiptoed to one of the broken windows. My heart squeezed in my chest as I took a deep breath. The shambling form appeared by the broken fountain outside, his nose up in the air and snuffling, looking for prey. His eyesight is long gone, with thorns overgrown around his face, the spiders web of vines across him giving him an additional severity to the armor he wore. A tattered cloak dragging behind him as he began to limp his way through the courtyard.

“Edrick.” I whispered in a short breath. Gods, everytime I looked upon him my heart convulsed with pain. Edrick with the amber eyes and fluffy ears I used to play with when we were just children. I, a spoiled child and he, whose father before him was a knight. Edrick, who followed in his fathers footsteps, bathed in golden light on the day he kneeled before the throne to be knighted. Edrick whose tail would wag with joy, even though it caused him to be embarrassed.

Edrick, now this shambled rabid beast who snapped and snarled. Who pounced on those too weak to fight back. A perversion to everything he once stood for.

I mourned the loss of my friend for as long as the curse has been on this land. While I had made many sacrifices to survive now, I could never bring myself to face Edrick. Too many memories. The realization that I had to choose my own survival over a loved one, made my heart feel as though it had begun to rot inside my chest.

I told myself again and again, a tome from the wizards dreamhold might be able to aid me to break this curse, and save Edrick from his fate. Yet the tower was on the other side of the courtyard, and the loop of problems came back full circle. From what I had observed, Edrick was blind from the crowny vines across his face, and used his nose to make up for this lack of sight. While that perhaps might give me the smallest glimmers of hope, his sense of smell was more acute than a human’s could ever be. Back from that onslaught of memories I watch him now, sniffing- lumbering back and forth while he makes a slow but steady zig zag towards the window.

I cautiously stepped back, folding up the map and putting it into my satchel. I stayed quiet as I tip toe back to my belongings, I retrieve the dagger from its place on the floor. I reclaim the flint and not much else. If I took too many things it would only slow me down, but once I arrived at the other side, I would have to scout for new resources.

Dear sweet Edrick, I hope you forgive me.

I crept along the throne room, watching Edrick shamble alongside me, his mouth open and panting, his chest heaving greedily. I pulled old clothes from the satchel, gave one last glance to the figure outside before slamming the back of the dagger into the window. Edricks ears shot up, and he gave a scream of triumph as I threw my old clothes out the broken window. Hearing the cloth being shredded apart, I ran for the door. Pushed my back into the sturdy wood, arms strained, it opened stubbornly and I sprinted out onto the cobbled path. I heard another scream soon enough, this one enraged and bloodthirsty. I jumped the fountain and stumbled as I heard the loud snap of teeth from behind. Just a breath of air away from me, I felt that great head lunge and miss, tears spilled from my eyes as I continued to run.

With a strength I didn’t know I possessed had overtaken me, and the snapping jaws were gone as the door to the tower closed with a deep shudder.

I slid onto the floor, in a heap, shoulders jerked as the throb of my heartbreak squeezed, pulsated from my throat. I gasped, and clutched my throat with two hands, an attempt to stifle the sounds that threatened to break free. I rocked slowly back and forth, teeth clenched, another hum of pain and heartbreak skittered from me.

I want Edrick back, my sweet Edrick, the man I had wanted to marry.

It took me a while to calm myself down, I breathed deep garbled breaths that made my lungs ache with the effort.

I will find a way to fix this. I have to.

My legs shook but I rose to my feet, I replaced my dagger into my satchel, numb fingers fumbling in striking the flint. My hands shook as I made attempt after attempt, then finally, a spark of fire ignited one of torches on the wall. With a dim orange light the darkness around me receded ever so slightly, I could make out the foggy steps that spiraled around the core of the stone tower.

“May the Goddess light my path.” I whisper softly, letting my flint drop into my satchel as I take the torch with both hands, and carefully ease it from its place upon the wall.

If I could make it to the top. I may be able to find something that could help. But what if there is no cure? As far as I could remember, this new life had foggily overtaken the other, hazy halcyon days now a phantom of my old life. The curse began and Chivall, the royal advisor to the king, had immediately set about trying to procure a solution. He had been locked away for days within the tower. As the thorns slowly choked life from the palace. As fights began to break out, as the palace grounds became an awful chess board, the tower remained a silent sentinel. He can't still be alive can he? Perhaps if Chivall is no longer here, at the very least, his studies still may be. I can't believe whatever entity is plaguing the Kingdom wouldn't destroy his work. I can't give up hope now. I am one step closer to a solution. One step closer.

The slow ascend with my whirling thoughts left my legs shaky, and my breathing shallow. I stood facing the door, pausing to reclaim by breath before my fingers and palm slid flat against the dark wood. I braced my arms and slowly pushed it open. A slow high wheeze as it swung on unused hinges.

The room was deserted, there were signs of a struggle with overturned papers and chairs. Many of the wizards' curiosities were left unscathed gathering dust. Except for the beautiful glass bird who had been one of his favorite curios. It sat broken in a corner, one wing still somewhat intact. The feathers fanned open as if it had been knocked out of the air from mid flight. The room held a heaviness swathed in the air, with a sour smell that pressed uncomfortably against the back of the throat. There were dark brown stains on the floor, someone had been forcibly dragged from the tower. Though where they had gone was not known. I step over the dried blood, with my gaze swiveling around the room. It was not ransacked, many things were left as it was when it had been while occupied. So perhaps, there was still a small glimmer of hope to be had.

I light a few of the other torches within the room, before settling the one in my hand into a metal wall sconce and replacing the unlit torch onto a table stacked with books. I turned over the scattered pages to reveal they are blank, then I began to pull open drawers, reaching an arms deep into the cabinets with fingers splayed searching for hidden panels.

Perhaps they had been taken before they could find a solution. Perhaps there is no solution to be had.

I shook the stray thought away and continued the search. Bending over to take a look at the undersides of drawers, precariously perched on a chair as I pull books from a high shelf. I kept my ears tuned into my surroundings, listening for any sounds that would give me cause to beat a hurried retreat.

I resolve my search to stand in the middle of the room, empty handed. "There's nothing here." I let myself whisper those words, the words that leaden my chest and make my breath struggle to escape. I close my eyes, squeezing them tightly as I feel the world fragment and go dark around me.

And even if there was something to be found. Would I even be able to identify it?

There is a soft coo of a dove that causes me to start at the sound, eyes flying open. I look up to the rafters and see nothing. It is silent for a beat before I hear new sounds, a scraping across the floor, that has my hand flying to my satchel. My eyes land on the glass bird as it attempts to move, its large opalescent eyes staring up at me.

The bird is enchanted, I never knew.

I grab a cloth to pad my hands and carefully attempt to right the creature, it's one wing brokenly trying to tuck itself against the bird's body. Warbling weakly as it nestles into my hands. Poor creature. It's master is gone and without them it will surely lose what magick it has left.

"I am sorry I cannot help you," I whisper softly to the bird. "I have no magick to aid you."

The glassy feathers lift up in a comfortable way and their eyes slowly close, settling down into a comfortable nap. Then, before my eyes, the area within the glass turns a rainbow of prismatic colors before the bird's form starts to melt in my hands. Changing and contorting, reshaping itself to become a broken wizard's staff, with the opalescent eyes becoming a round orb of shifting color that resides at the very top.

My heart starts beating faster, hands trembling as I hold this new found object. An object that may very well change the tides of the castle's predicament. If only I knew how to utilize it. I feel more and more perplexed watching the staff with anticipation to see if any new revelations come with its new form. Yet the staff remains silent, its unearthly presence making my hand tingle with strange energy.

I have never held any kind of magickal implement before. I had been curious about magick truly, but was not allowed to study such things. Magick was for those who could wield it, and those who did not have the gift would never dare to try. My plan was short sighted at best, but now I could truly feel the scope of its foolishness. I was far out of my depth yet, it was the only option I could think of to be a potential balm.

"I. . . do not know how to utilize your gift." I chose to speak earnestly, talking to the staff as if it were a close companion. "I know not of these things, but I know your old master was a wise and loving creature. One who had been trying to break this curse, please. . ." I pause hesitating, "Dear staff, lend me your wisdom so that I may finish what he started."

There is a whoosh of wind that scatters papers into a vortex. The wall sconces fire turning blue and flaring up towards the ceiling. Standing in the eye of the storm I grip the staff with both hands, eyes as round as saucers as the room rights itself. Papers settle back into neat piles, chairs right itself with invisible hands, the table flipping back onto its feet. I gawk at the room, the room I remember, with its perfectly precarious stack of books and curios shining and dusted. A trick? A jump in time? Or simply magick doing what it does best. I had no answers. Yet I ran to the wizards desk as I saw papers in a neat stack, one hand spreading them across the table.

Diagrams I could not read, but clever letters that talked about the possibility to enchant an item to be used to severe the rampant magick from its host. It's a dark and powerful kind of spell. Chivall had written in their looping writing. Not only can said curse breaker be used to cut curses and sever spells, it can be used in various other terrible ways. It can steal the magick from others by cutting off the hand of a fellow magickian. It is a last resort, and I am hesitant to bring such an object into being. Only if I know that I can destroy it once its grisly task is over do I even dare to consider this. If it fell into the hands of someone who has naught a thought for anyone but themselves, I shudder to think what kind of monster would be created then.

My eyebrows furrow. Letting those words sink in. Dangerous and a solution not to be taken lightly, but I did not see any other way. "Can this be made still?" I asked the staff. I looked back to read and reread the passage. It cuts curses and severs spells. Such wording sounds like a blade. I hesitantly reach for my satchel and free the dagger from it's confines. Placing it upon the table. "Will this do?"

There is a spark of light from the staff once more, a brightness that makes me twist my head away and close my eyes. The lines of ink upon the paper turning gold and shimmering. As the light fades my eyes flicker to the dagger. The golden blade is now a brilliant molten red, heat radiating off of it in waves. As it dulls back to its original coloration the staff seems to crumble within my hand. Ribbons of white prismatic color flaking off as it coils in upon itself. The magick object shifts yet again, until it is a small white opalescent pendant that softly falls into my palm. I take a deep uneasy breath.

Fingers slowly curl around the gem, pressing my forehead against my fingers. “Thank you for your gift.” I murmur softly, for a moment the world is at a stand still. I stare from the necklace to the golden dagger on the table. I bow my head and respectfully let the silver chain drop around my shoulders, the white opalescent gem glinting a fiery blue as it rests against my collar bone. It still feels strange, a thrum that makes my skin prickle as my thumb worries against the stone. Then, with a hesitant touch, I hesitantly tap the blade of the dagger. It is cool to the touch, despite being molten red only moments ago. Fingers sliding cautiously around its handle before their grip tightens and my knuckles bulge.

The tower room is left behind, pristine and silent. Looking down to the stairs below, from where I stand, it is like a gaping maw with crooked teeth leading me back down, down, down.

What if I fail? Or worse yet, what if I have to kill him? I can see my hands, my hands, my hands. My hands and the hilt of the dagger gleaming. The blade plunged into his chest. The strangled gasping of breath. Gods what if I have to kill him. Could I live with myself? Could I bare to live with myself if I did? I don't know, I don't know. He wants to kill me. He attacked me, chased me. He doesn't know me anymore. Is that true? Or course it is. If he loved me, like before he would have stopped. Why does he not remember me? Why does he not remember? I don’t understand. I just don’t. Could I live with myself if [ I open the door. ] I had to kill him? Perhaps I could then take the blade and end my own existence as well. Then at the very least perhaps we could find each other once more. Gods, I can't bear to think about that. I can't think about that. Stop it! Stop it! You can't do this to yourself! But the blade gleams wickedly and blood pools onto the ground. My knees are soaked, my face is splattered. His hand reaches for me. Stop it. His hand reaches for me before it falls. Stop it. It falls to the ground and stills. Stop it. There is nothing I can do. There is nothing I can do. All I can do is watch. I won't let that happen. How can you stop it? I won't let that happen, I won't, I won't, I won't let that happen. How can you stop it?

I move as if within a dream, stepping back into the light of the outside world. The courtyard is grey. An abysmal, haunting grey, where phantoms of the past hour chasing each other in my mind. Yet, there are no signs of life here. There is no bird song, no sounds other than my footsteps clicking on stone. I do not hear Edrick, and my senses are strung so tightly they are at risk of fraying. I hold the dagger to my breast with both hands. Both hands clench so tightly that they prickle and ache. The only thing grounding myself to this moment, this space of time, the ache. I look left and then right, pivoting on my heel in a slow circle. No sign. There is no sign of him, and no sign of where he would have gone. I start moving slowly, my heart beating in my throat. My eyes locked on the stone edge of what I could see. I turned the corner and I see his looming shape lumbering like a bear towards me. Chest panting, mouth open, excited.

"Edrick," I rasp past the lump in my throat, watching his lip peel back and show those rows of teeth. I swallow hard, as my whole body shakes with nerves. "Plea-Please Edrick. Come to your senses, I don't want to fight you, I-I love you."

It was absolute mockery, the sneer of that wide split mouth. Then he lunged, without reply. My chest rising and falling quaking all over. I unsheath the dagger and plead to whatever Goddess is watching that my hand strikes true. I turn tail and run, hoping that the fountain will be enough of an obstacle that it will buy me more time. Then the world goes sideways. The ground rushing up to meet me. I have just enough time to turn, to twist onto my back as Edrick's maw sunk savagely into my leg. Vision blurring at the edges there is a high dull scream, a sound in my throat that I barely recognize as it sounds so far away. Seeing pops of color behind my eyes. I slip the dagger between the vines that crown his eyes and pull. The vines snapping in the blades wake.

Edrick reels backwards, jaw slack as he immediately lets go of me. His big furry hands fly to his face, which in my hazy vision I catch a glimpse of red where his eyes should be. All along his form, the vines begin to shrivel and grey, the deep saturated blood colored roses crumple and wither into blacked husks. Edrick stumbles, teetering on the brink before he collapses to the ground. My hand shakes so much that my fingers cannot keep a hold of my blade. I begin to crawl towards him on hands and knees, blade dropped and forgotten. "Edrick?" My throat is so tight that I can barely manage to make the words escape me.

"My. . . love?" His voice is ragged, and hasn't been used in a very long time. "My eyes, what has happened to my eyes?" A shudder runs through him, and his face lifts out of his hands, nose scenting the air. I freeze in place, blinking back tears.

"Why do I smell blood?"

I make a strangled sound, and Edrick unsteadily gets to his feet, nose twitching, fluffy eyebrows drawn together. "Is. . . are you hurt? Who has done this to you?"

That being the turning point in which I cry. I finally, finally can let myself cry. The fear, the pain, the relief, a torrent of emotions I can no longer push back for the sake of survival. Edricks hands outstretched as he slowly makes his way back towards me. One steady foot patting its way across the tile before he takes a step. He moves wearily, and unsure, one searching step after another, he finds the rim of the fountain, using it to feel his way to me. I look at his face, his eyes, and cry even harder. Desperately grabbing his hand and holding it tightly.

"What has happened?" Edrick whispers, his own voice tight and unsure. He crouches and I painfully push myself up to sit on the stone ledge. My leg burning from the bite.

"Do you not remember?" I force the words out, behind a heaving breath. "No. . ." He replies softly before giving a growl. I freeze, before gently taking his other paw to stop him from swiping at his eyes.

"D-don't, you'll make it worse," I hesitate, before saying, "Something. . . has gored your eyes. . ." He is quiet, processing the information, a hand straying to his cheek before his fingers clench. I reach up, cupping his furry cheeks in my hands, my forehead resting against his.

"What was it?" He rasps, and my heart breaks, at the emotion that colors his voice.

"I don't truly know. . . A spell of some kind. A similar spell that has woven its way across the castle ground." Ed growls and I jolt without meaning to.

"I can't remember, why can't I remember?" He shakes his head from side to side, as if willing the fog in his mind to clear. "Why do you smell. . . so afraid?"

I swallow and feel ashamed. What should I say? What can I say? I purse my lips together, squeeze my eyes shut. "A lot of things have changed, since you've been away."

Edrick tilts his head, "I don't understand."

"Edrick. . ." I say, my voice a hoarse whisper. "I think we are the only two left alive in the castle."

Edrick tenses, and I release a shaky breath. "How can that be?" He asks, instead of responding right away, I wrap my arms around him, and hold him closer. "I am not sure myself," suddenly I feel as if I am lead. "The palace. . . is no longer safe. It has fallen to ruin while you have been gone. The castle is overgrown with. . . these briar vines and roses. There have been dangers lurking in the castle, at one point the vines had a will of their own, the guards were dragged away, people began to disappear until there weren't many of us left."

His arms wrap around me as well, and we stay huddled together for what feels like hours. I wished Edrick and I could stay together like this for eons more. Mourn our past lives, our losses, lick our wounds. It isn't safe to do so, not yet. Not while this labyrinth of danger was the cage we reside. I relent and gently pull away.

"Wait, wait right here," I squeeze their hand before going to search the grounds. The bite causes me to limp, but I can still walk, a blessing in its own right. I find a broken spear, one without its blade. Making my way back I give it to Edrick, pressing it to his palm and folding his large fingers around it. He takes it in his hands.

"What is this. . .?"

"To help you feel your way. Tapping the cobbles with the staff to make sure the space is safe to tread."

I take his free paw, to kiss his knuckles, "And I shall be your eyes." Edricks tufted ears are up and alert. I struggle to bend down and reach for the dagger at my feet, resting at the fountain to cut my sleeve into ribbons.

"You have changed," Edrick said softly. "You have always been clever, ever since we were children, but where is the coquette I once knew?" I took a deep breath, and hesitated on what to say.

"For a long time I was convinced I had lost you." The dots of white that marked his brows knit together. I nervously put my arms past his great head, softly tying the makeshift bandage around his poor eyes.

"The past fears I had," I run my hand up and down his arm as I spoke. "Pales in comparison to these last months, and if we make it out alive. . . I will carry you myself to the chapel." Edrick grins at that, ferocious teeth pulled back. It makes me tense, but I refuse to let go of him. "Then let us see to that quickly my love, I can already hear those bells… Tell me what I must do."

We may be battered, but we are not yet beaten.

#monster x human #monster x reader #exophilia #wolf monster x human #wolf monster x reader #werewolf x reader #werewolf x human

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