Born For You

(This song... because, obvious reasons.)

The rattling of something against iron brought Daiya out of his uncomfortable sleep. He was cold. Extremely cold. He could feel the frigid stone beneath him hungrily stealing what little warmth his body hadn't already lost during the earlier rainstorm. The tips of his fingers were numb, and as he opened his eyes, squinting the damaged one, he realized that his recently-acquired glasses were now gone.

"She favors such a human? There is no other way that he is alive without her aid if he was not on the list."

Who is that?

It didn't sound like the man who had attacked him, and it definitely wasn't Fin. The words were drawn out slightly, as if whoever was talking had to think hard about each one before they could speak it.

"Will she take him from the necromancer?" Another asked as Daiya tried to sit up, but got no response from his body besides a pulsing ache from his shoulder and chest.

Nice to know that my injuries are finally back to being normal. He thought sarcastically.

The sound of faint scurrying had Daiya's eyes glancing around again, but he could see next to nothing in the dark area.

"Who... are you?" He slurred out, his words barely audible in the near-silence.

"Me?" One of the voices answered, right before the other replied. "Or me?"

Daiya squeezed his eyes shut and shivered.

"Both." He whispered through chattering teeth.

The sound of little feet against stone met his ears once more, making Daiya slowly force his body to move. Thankfully, when he managed to back up slightly, a damp wall let itself be known, causing patches of cold water to spread through his dirty shirt.

Get up. Come on. He spurred himself on as he pushed as hard as he could against the stone beneath him with his good arm. Daiya felt like he weighed double what he should as he gradually got his tired body into a sitting position against the hard wall.

With his new vantage point, he scanned the room again, realizing that there were metal bars everywhere but behind him running from floor to ceiling, which was so high above his head that he could see none of it.

I'm in a dungeon cell.

He wanted to be upset about that bit of information, but after what he'd seen earlier, Daiya wasn't sure if it was such a bad thing to have metal bars between him and what things were surely lurking within the rest of the keep.

"They are hungry." The voices replied, making Daiya's heart stutter in his aching chest.

"I apologize, but I have nothing on my person to give... them?" He rasped, then coughed several times before getting control of himself.

When he lifted his head from his coughing fit, Daiya noticed two faint shadows near the bars in front of him. The figures couldn't have been more than ten feet away, yet he still couldn't make out any details besides their dark color and short stature.

He kept his attention focused on them as they got closer, not able to deduce what the creatures were until they were nearly standing at his feet.

Rats? They're giant, though.

And indeed, they were. Each animal was close to a foot tall and the scent of their decaying flesh also told Daiya that they were no normal beings.

"That's okay." One of the voices said as a rat tapped Daiya's soggy shoe with one of its paws.

Daiya quickly withdrew his foot, but he was unable to actually get away from the creatures with his injuries.

"I am sorry, but I have nothing to feed you." He said, worry clear in his voice, though he tried to hide it.

The rat creature looked to its friend, then back up at him.

"You have exactly what they want." The voices said together as the rat came closer, settling a paw on his shoe again.

Daiya had nowhere to go, and no way to fight as the wretched smelling creatures began climbing on him. One nudged at his leg as the other began scratching at his bad arm.

"Would you be so kind as to help me?" He asked whoever he had been speaking with.

He wasn't sure where the owners of the voices were, or if they were even in a cell close enough to be of use, but he could do little else as he tried to shove away the giant rats with his good arm.

"Unfortunately, we can do nothing about them. We are in a different cell, and they only obey the master of the keep as far as not eating someone. He uses them to torture people until they perish, and I'm sorry to say, but it looks like you are his new target." One of the voice replied as Daiya noticed several more dark shadows creep into his cell.

His attention abruptly shifted when he felt something puncturing his bad arm. Without thinking, he clenched his fist and swung at the rat, sending it rolling, only to stop a few feet away next to a metal bar with a frustrated snarl.

"I am not food!" Daiya shouted as he struck the other one that had been pulling at his pant leg.

It dodged his clumsy swing and growled back as two more stopped beside it, one lifting itself up onto its back legs. Dizzy with worry, Daiya tried to push himself up to his feet, but his legs refused to hold his weight.

A strong nip at his right shoe had Daiya swinging at the rat there, only to have it lunge and bite his arm before he could retract it.

"Get off of me!" He yelled, trying to swing his arm, but having trouble with the rodents' weight. They felt heavier than bricks.

He twisted his upper body to the left, then jerked it to the right enough to give his arm a little momentum to send the two creatures fumbling away, but he knew they wouldn't stay away for long. The ones he'd previously thrown off were already nudging at him and the room beyond them was beginning to turn black with bodies of squeaking, growling, zombified rats.

I'm not sure what you are, or where you are, but if you can here me, I could really use your help again. He thought to the crocodile he'd met earlier, perhaps even the bird, if it could somehow make it rain in the dungeon. It was a very long shot, since he doubted that either creature had been able to follow him, but he was out of options... except for the one which ended in his death.

When he felt three more bites, two to his legs and one on his left elbow, Daiya tilted his head toward the ceiling, inhaling a breath to scream. He knew that it wouldn't help him, but he had nothing else he could do. Right as he began taking in a breath, he saw two flickers of red. They were very faint, as if they were far above his head.

"Oh? You woke it up, lad. Tis' not something anyone would wish to have in their belfry." One of the voices from before said as Daiya returned his attention to the rats climbing his body.

He managed to shove two off, but received three more bites for his efforts.

"He's coming, lad. Your suffering will be over soon. It leaves nothing alive and kills far quicker than those vermin." The other voice added.

Daiya was too preoccupied with the rats to heed their words. They held his attention completely... until a huge gust of wind shoved him against the wall as something incredibly heavy slammed down from somewhere above his head. He could hear the sound of multiple rats being crushed beneath the creature's feet and felt debris from the broken stone rain against his body, making him tuck his head against his shoulder for a moment before looking back up.

What in the world is that?

He couldn't make out any detail, but for once, he didn't want to. Whatever was standing before him was easily over six feet tall and had to be nearly double that in length.

Daiya could hear the terrified squeals of the rats being crushed beneath its massive claws and was silently praying that it preferred them to humans.

When the beast finally began to move, the sound of snapping bones echoed along with some type of bellowing echo that was coming from the throat.

"He'll eat the rats, zombies or not, but don't get your hopes up, lad. Living food is always better than dead." One of the voices warned him.

Daiya bit the insides of his lips to try and keep his teeth from clicking together both from fear and his body temperature.

"Don't bother, lad. He knows you are there. He might be some giant mutated undead bat, but he's one of the best made ones I've seen to date. He could pass for real if he wasn't missin' a few piece of flesh here and there." The other voice added, making Daiya's shaking only worsen.

If whatever was standing in front of him, leisurely tearing apart one of the cat-sized rats to eat, was a bat of some sort, he never wanted to see it with glasses on.

"Ah, you've got his interest now." The first voice said as Daiya watched the creature in front of him swipe away the remains of the rat carcass he'd been eating, then slowly swing its head toward him.

It was making quiet growling sounds, but the vibration from the action rumbled far louder than the actual volume of it. When the creature actually lifted its left front wing-attacked-leg to turn, Daiya pushed himself back against the wall as much as he could.

Please tell me that you are one of the blessing creatures that man was talking about earlier. He thought as his heart hammered in his chest, bringing a cold sweat to his chilled body.

When the creature's face stopped inches from his own, Daiya could actually see its general outline and the faint glow of its dark red eyes. It's head was a little bigger than his own, with a thick neck that seemed to have a layer of fur in most places. It had the appearance of a fruit bat, from the blurry image he could decipher, but the way it walked was closer to that of an insect eating one.

To Daiya's surprise, the creature didn't do anything else besides watch him. It continued its odd bellowing sounds here and there, and lifted its upper lip a few times to reveal a very nice set of thin, dagger-like teeth, but besides that, nothing.

"What is it doing? He never plays with his food..." One of the voices noted as Daiya felt something tug at his lower leg.

He glanced down, being careful to not move his head. There were two rats pulling at his left pant leg and another two coming closer from just behind them.

"Ah, he does sometimes share. Perhaps he's not hungry for a human right now." One of the voices said, making Daiya send a sideways glare in the direction it was coming from. He did not need a play by play of how he was going to die.

What is your name?

Daiya winced at the volume of the sudden rumble in his head, but had little time to adjust as he felt one of the rat's teeth sink into his ankle. He lifted his good arm to try and swipe at it, but to his surprise, a massive clawed hand with what appeared to be a giant wing attached swatted the large rat like it was a fly.

The others that had been pulling at his clothing, trying to get a bite, paused to look up at the creature.

Name, boy.

He wasn't really sure who was talking, though he had a hunch that the creature before him was the owner of the new voice in his head.

"Daiya." He stuttered, doing his best to make his name understandable through his chattering teeth.

There was another round of deep bellowing sounds before the creature suddenly reared up on a pair of thin, but apparently-strong, back legs. It's wings unfurled, its connected bony hands moving them outward, as they were directly connected to the top middle portion like a normal bat's singular claw would be.

The display was incredible and showed the true size of the enormous creature. Daiya couldn't help but stare as it tilted its head back and took in a deep breath, then dropped back down abruptly and swung its head forward, roaring with a screeching effect at the encroaching wave of zombified rats.

The large rodents scattered like ants, disappearing off into the darkness beyond Daiya's minimal range of vision. He'd had to tuck his left ear against his shoulder and lift his good arm to press his hand over his other one because the roar had been so unbelievably loud.

The sound was still ringing in his head when the creature turned back to him. You, little human, are my master? It said into his mind, its tone disbelieving.

"I'm your what?" Daiya mumbled, not comprehending what the beast had just said.

Master? I'm nobodies master.

The creature moved its face closer, taking in a deep breath, then snorting it out on a loud sneeze that shook its head abruptly.

I had hoped never to meet you.

Daiya couldn't help but agree with it. He would have probably preferred never to meet such a creature, either.

"I apologize, I did not intend to find my way here." Daiya replied, unsure of what else he could say to appease the strange zombie.

Apologize... The creature mused as it turned its head away, seemingly in thought, because it said nothing more for the next few minutes as it slowly paced around the cell.

When it finally stopped before him again, it sat its back end down and then lowered its front, sitting almost like a dog would, if it had giant wings attached to its paws.

My name is Kovash. It stated with a deep rumble.

Daiya licked his lips and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Is he actually having a conversation with that monster?" One of the voices asked the other in disbelief.

The other replied with a hint of sadness to their tone. "I believe he's lost it."

"It is quite strange that the beast hasn't eaten him yet, though. He usually doesn't bother coming down from his roost unless he's hungry." The first voice said.

You two are really annoying. Daiya thought as he started yawning, but got stuck in another coughing fit instead. His chest hurt by the time he was finally able to calm himself and lift his head again. That was the moment he realized that the creature had reached forward and settled one of its clawed hands on the arm he hand unintentionally wrapped around his aching middle.

Why are you so injured? Fin could not have done this damage. It asked as it gently removed Daiya's arm from his belly, then carefully ran its claws down along his clothing over where the damage to his ribs occurred.

"He didn't... directly cause it." Daiya whispered, the upset clear in his voice.

He cannot. The creature replied in his mind, but then added. He may only harm you through another's actions.

"He wants me dead so badly, but he can't do it himself? Why?" He asked.

It would have hurt worse than all of the hits he'd taken so far if Fin had been the one to deliver just one of them.

Some questions are best left unanswered, Daiya. I can tell you this, though. The creature replied as it finally quieted its bellowing sound and seemed to get a little more comfortable where it lay before him.

I have heard many whispers concerning what has happened to you on your journey here. If even one is to be true, then we shall have a visitor before long. Hopefully, they will be able to assist us in returning your freedom to you and heal your body before lord Fin returns.

"Wait a moment. You really do want to help me? I don't understand." Daiya said, confused.

Close your eyes and rest as best you can. I can never be your enemy. It stated, making Daiya even more doubtful of its intentions. He did close his eyes, however, because he knew that worrying about the beast would do him no good. If it wanted to harm him, it easily could.

I will earn your trust through my actions, but for now, just know that I was created with the sole purpose of protecting lord Fin's Daiya, and that I answer only to you.