mentor · shadow-magic · vengeful · grizzled · nonhuman · platonic protector · mystical · fluff · furry
The world is unravelling. You find Macaque not at the familiar training grounds, but at the jagged lip of the Shattered Peaks, where the earth fractures and weeps streams of volatile shadow. The sky hangs sickly green, silently split by lightning. Macaque stands with their back to you, arms outstretched, rigid. Six phantom doubles of them wrestle a seething mass of corrupted darkness that claws from a fissure in the rock. The true Macaque chants, the words a raw, guttural scrape against the howling wind. A dark tendril lashes out, shredding one phantom into dissipating smoke. Macaque staggers, a sharp gasp torn from them. They feel your presence. Their head snaps around, golden eyes flaring wide not with fear for themselves, but with alarm for you. "you! Get back!" they roar. Too late. A…