Fantasy Grey & Spectral: The Last Redemption (CLOSED)

[Quakernuts]

Lilean Beauchamp
"Suffering and Madness, what that could we lose ourselves in the clutches of compulsion"
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The illusion of a happy group of carefree adventurers would not repeat itself along the next couple days of the trek it would seem. As they approached ever closer to their target, the thought of combat began to cross the minds of all of them. For some, it was a stoic reaction of impending violence that would require discipline and courage. For others, a fearful affair to be avoided if at all possible, and for yet more it was exciting, a froth at the mouth ordeal that promised adrenaline fuelled pleasure. Lilean's head hung a bit low as the horse trotted forward, his eyes closed as the world around shuddered in his mind's eye. It wasn't impossible to read what was around him while on a horse, but it was a different affair. He had to blot out the Horse's sensations, it's powerful heart beat and muscles reacting to movement. At this point, it was hard to differentiate where he ended and the horse began in some sense of the word, hence why he normally travelled on foot if possible.

Even with this handicap in regards to his abilities, it wasn't hard to feel the impending sense of death and destruction that started filling his senses. Burnt soil and buildings, ashes flirting with the ground, flames licking at the air. The village, in his mind's eye, was clear to him even before they arrived in front of the sign to the small destroyed hamlet. Dunn Bridge, the water splashed across the sand and rocks on the far side of the village, the overwhelming sensation of slaughter forced its way into Lilean's head unbidden, like a mocking laughter as his eyes remained shut. He didn't need to see to understand what was in front of him. As everyone approached the village, he hopped off his horse and tied it to a pole. He would need to be himself, as much as possible, for what came next.

"Looks more than a little fucked, can't help but wonder if they put up a fight at all." Kalista moaned, hopping off her horse with a thud as she donned her helmet. "Still, death and fire, standard demon fuckery. Poet, we got any of them dickless twits to stomp into the ground with their victims?" Lilean lowered his hood, removing one glove from his hand and kneeling to the ground without a word. His shoulder length hair flowed behind him for a moment as his eyes opened, splitting the red tattoos over them in half. His bare hand touched the ground, and like a pulse, he saw so much more.

Blood, death, destruction, sorrow, sadness, anger, guilt, grief, disappointment. They were all there, in some manner. To pull emotions from static and lifeless objects, a gift he didn't want to have, as lingering wishes often left one empty. Corpses littered the path into town, burned and eviscerated, collapsed into shattered homes and shops. People, horses, a distinct lack of demons and, importantly, very few women and children. A horrifying revelation, even if Lily's face did not betray his thoughts. He had seen this before, a commonplace event for one such as him, an equally horrifying revelation.

The path in front of them lay bare with the bones and flesh of those who tried to run, what little remained of their rotted faces twisted in agony and terror as death had overcome them rather slowly it would seem. Collapsed roofs produced protruding limbs, like a fungal infection. The road, once brown and muddy, now lay within grey and red, a mixture relying too heavily on a product produced by the living. Lily stretched himself, the wave of sensations going farther as every tiny vibration that hit the ground filtered back up to him, every windswept rock, every fluttering cloth, every footstep...

Footstep?

Again again again again, a limping gait, a small smear into the ground, a flutter of a heartbeat. A child, floating among the wreckage, light of foot and weight it would seem. They were far, on the edge of Lily's senses, but they were there. Before long, they stepped outside his current sensory range. He removed his hand from the ground, replacing the glove on it and donning his hood once more. The world around him becoming slightly more muted once again. "A village of silence, save the footsteps of one, they echo in the hall of the dead." Lily stated, looking back towards the group.

"Eh? Does that mean survivor or demon? I can't tell with you most days." Kalista stated, absent-mindedly rubbing her forearm, her itch for a fight palpable to everyone.

Nelle even struggled with the clarity on Lily this turn. But judging by the sensor's lack of action, it likely was not a threat to them. The magnifier stepped a decent distance from the group, as a courtesy.

Nelle inhaled deeply, switching on her magnifying ability for her voice and called out,

"Come out, come out... wherever you are!" In a sing song, and somewhat creepy voice that boomed over the smouldering wreckage like cannons. At least, Nelle assumed it did, as she would go deaf while using this ability. Likely for the best. She looked to the rest of the group to gauge if they could hear a response to her call.

There were sounds of clumsy, staggering footsteps through the rubble. Rushed, desperate. A crack of splintering wood beneath someone’s boots. It was certain that whoever was stumbling in their direction was not attempting to sneak up on them, or was doing a very poor job at doing so. A ragged cry wailed over the echo of Nelle’s voice cutting through the ruins of the village, as if the owner hadn’t spoken in awhile, or run itself down to little more than a hoarse moan. Whoever it was... sounded fairly young and human. At least, no Demoni they’d ever encountered sounded so morose, so broken as this one did.

Lip’s hand drifted over the handle of his axe, head tilted towards the direction of the off-putting wail. His eyes were half-shuttered into slits, occasionally glancing towards Lil, and then, Nica. Scour noted her demeanour, and how she stood in the wreckage of an ashen building. The commander’s countenance was unlike anything he’d ever seen since he’d begun travelling with her. Her shoulders were bunched, appearing far more statuesque than she normally did. Her face was pinched, eyes staring further away, as Lil often did when he searched with senses he could not see, but rather, feel. It did little to put him at ease.

It took a moment before the form revealed itself to be a boy no more than thirteen years old. Half of his clothes were scorched. It hung from his body like peeled flesh in ragged ribbons, and it was only upon closer inspection that his back had been scorched by fire, puckered and freshly scabbed along his shoulder blades. The pinch of his cheeks, and hollow of his eyes, bespoke that he hadn’t eaten for days. Ash covered his features, making the blues of his eyes contrast sharply. Two gems, peeping out beneath black and splotches of mottled skin. Another moan hissed out from chapped lips, and he nearly tripped over his own feet, before catching himself on a bit of fallen wood that may have been part of a barn.

No longer.

“Help,” a rasp, before he finally sank down to his hands and knees, exhausted. There was a moment of silence among the group, before Kalista cleared her throat.

"Right...ok, little brat makes it..." Lilean was already moving forward, not waiting for anyone to give him orders or anything of the sort. The back, it burned and ache in such a way that numbness was the only comfort one could give. The eyes, bloodshot and dry as all that was moisture had already left the boy. His shallow breaths, the burnt yet clammy skin, blood and gore, blood and gore, blood and gore...He was scared, but too tired to care.

Lilean closed his eyes again, the boy's condition had overlapped with Lily's own for a moment, an unpleasant sensation as it took a slight roll of the shoulders to shed what amounted to a phantom pain. He knelt down, looking the boy over closer with every sense he could achieve. His glove came off once more as he placed his hand on the back of the child's head. From there, everything was laid bare. Lungs filled with soot and smoke, heart barely beating, nerve endings that had been torched, skin that would never fully heal, eyes that had lost some of their sight from the flame, blistered and ripped hands and feet. The kid, in no uncertain terms, was a mess. Lily pulled his hand back, and reached into his pouch. He was by no means an accomplished healer, but in his line of work and with his particular set of abilities, he had learned certain things in order to numb pain.

With the heartbeat so low though, he couldn't chance painkillers. Not that he had that many left, he never carried more than a handful and had already given some to Nelle a few days prior. Finding the herbs for such things was not uncommon, but required effort. Effort he hadn't yet been able to put in. Instead, he pulled out a small container, and opened it with a pop. Inside was a greenish cream, which he immediately started to apply to the child's back. A salve, nothing more, a soothing mixture meant to ease with some medicinal properties. It wouldn't be enough to save him, and considering his condition, it was unlikely anything would be.

As Lilean applied what first aid he could, digging into his pack to retrieve water and some nuts he had managed to scavenge, Kalista stomped by both of them, paying no heed. Her weapons were sheathed for the moment, but her stride indicated a willingness to fight. "Don't tell me we came all this way just to see some burnt kid collapse in front of us." Kalista stated, wandering from body to body, picking them up to inspect them slightly before tossing them away to move on to the next one.

It appeared as if it’d taken all of the young boys energy to remain on his feet. As soon as Lilean’s hand touched his back and began to spread the cooling herbs over charred flesh, his knees buckled like a clumsy colt, and he sunk against him. Soot-stained hands clutched at Lil’s cloak to prevent himself from falling entirely. Seeing how haggard and thin the boy was, it was unlikely he’d pose as much of a weight for the ranger. His chapped lips worked for words, opening and closing as bright eyes feverishly watched Kalista snatching up crumpled corpses, before turning them over and tossing them carelessly off to the side.

Above the din of numbness was a growing sense of grief. A freckle of dismay. Rage. It lapped at the edges of a vase, threatening to spill over, and drown everything else around it. He stared at her, pupils drawn into large circles. The quiver of his lips steadied off into an angry, chewing bite, grinding into the sides of his hollow cheeks. “Don’tchu touch them, don'tchu touch them!” his voice hitched high and broke. His body was shaking like a leaf. A small pup, snapping at a much larger beast was all it was. A pathetic display to anyone, not that the boy cared. It was likely that he’d lost everything.

Scour stood off to the side, looking every bit uncomfortable since they’d first set foot in this awful place, claws twining over and over again in front of him. He looked off to the side, tail twitching. Though, he was watching the boy intently. His heart went out to him... this wasn’t something he’d often seen. Razed villages? Sure. It wasn’t often, however, that anyone survived these sorts of attacks, certainly not when Demoni were involved. Children and women alike were usually taken alive, elsewhere. He’d wanted to tell Kalista to stop, because touching the dead, even in his culture, was rude, offensive, a slight to dead themselves, but he couldn’t find his tongue, and doubted she’d listen or care.

Nelle felt frozen. The boy to her was like a mirror. This village, like an echo from her past. Her old burns felt suddenly fresh. Her old heartaches, open and raw. She shoved her abilities back into the mental box she imagined them kept in, her hearing returned, and she wished it hadn’t. The boy's cries brought further ache. She felt nearly gagged by her relation to his grief, wondering briefly if this was how Lily often felt. Nelle moved to Kalista’s side as she rummaged and put a small hand on the large woman's wrist, it wasn't an aggressive touch, just a small, shaken squeeze.

"Kalista... please... can you leave the dead until later? Please?" Nelle said in her soft voice. She looked to the woman with unusual sanity in her eyes, a firm clarity. Nelle did not like the elf, usually. But she liked the sounds of the boy's familiar despair even less, it seemed. If Kalista had heard the child, she made no motion of it. She continued picking up the dead, giving them a once over, then tossing them aside. It wasn't until Nelle touched Kalista's hand that she paused even for a moment and looked down at the girl. She brusquely shook her hand off hers.

"Dead don't give a shit what happens to 'em, it's only the living that seem to have a fucking problem with it." Kalista stated, wandering farther in and still inspecting the corpses. "And no, I can't little firebomb, because I'd rather not stay in the burnt toast tasting area any longer than I have to." Kalista very clearly did not care for the boy's cries or Nelle's request, but upon further inspection, it was clear she was looking at the bodies with purpose. She was scouring them, inspecting every nook and cranny, and pausing on the weapon wounds.

The boy struggled against Lilean for a moment as if he wanted to jettison forward, hands curled into tiny, ineffectual fists, as if it would do anything to the thick armour Kalista wore. Even without it, she was a force to behold. Instead, his breath hitched and suddenly, he inhaled a harsh-bellied breath, nearly tumbling forward, shoulders wracked on a sob he was holding in, “You beast! You filthy monster, you’re just like them—just like them!” it was only then that the brief spurt of energy brought on by the bubbling rage was extinguished, sizzling out for there was little left in his vase to spill over, and as much as he wished to do more, to tear indignantly into the one who befouled his friends, his family, he could not. The despair he felt over that was palpable.

It took Scour aback and he felt even more poorly that he hadn’t been able to stop Kalista... or rather, he hadn’t approached her as Nelle had. Hadn’t even attempted. That the woman balked at the simple request was unsurprising. What little heart the woman had was not reserved for other people, only herself. The revelation was clear since he’d first met her, even if she had stories to tell. Even those, he doubted were told for anyone but herself, for her ears to hear, her voice to ring out. He knuckled at his nose, and lowered his gaze to the ground, inhaling deeply through his nose, trying to cipher any smells from the wreckage.

This, at least, was something he could do.

"Only familiar heart beats remain." Lily stated, gently placing his hand on the boy's chin and directing his gaze away from the elf. Tear-tracks ran down ash-stained cheeks, uncontrolled, for the choking rage had gone, and he knew the truth of it. If he had qualms with how she was acting, it was impossible to tell. His entire focus seemed to be on the boy as he started digging out what little medical supplies he had. A bit more cream, some spare herbs, bandages and clean water. Lily placed a hand on the child's head, giving a soft smile. "Shhhh, don't bark at the wolves, lest we invite demons." Lily applied cream to the boy's burns, bandaged them up, and once they were somewhat covered, went to work on grinding the herbs up into a fine powder. Kalista looked back at Lily with a bit of a huff.

"Right, well while you do what you can for that sad sack, I'm going to go find something worthwhile." Kalista mentioned, once again callously tossing another body to the side, pausing only briefly to lift a collapsed roof and take a peer inside, apparently dissatisfied with what she found, letting it drop with a crash. She spit once, before turning and heading further into the town.

Nelle watched the elf, feeling an ember of anger alight in her belly. Nelle was angry with herself more than the elf, really. She should have known better than to expect consideration or compassion to be within that hulking wench. She was ashamed for hoping otherwise.

Nelle pulled up the mask of instability again, singing bawdily,

"There once was large lady tank
Whose attitude definitely stank
She's an oversized elf
Who thought high of herself
But her mind was completely a blank."

She blew a raspberry in the tank's retreating direction for good measure before turning back to the group. Specifically, she looked to Nica for guidance while trying not to gawp at the child. He was like a ghost of her past, and it hurt to look at him. He was in good hands with Lily, though.

Nica crossed her arms over her chest and sighed softly through her nose. Disappointment marred her stony features, though the nuances there were as subtle as footprints in dry dirt. It was there if one knew where to look—but she certainly was no open book and spoke even fewer words to express her distaste for Kalista’s behaviour. Unfitting of a Redeemer. What redemption was there, in cruelty? She flexed her fingers, and gave their surroundings another cursory look before she took a step towards the boy and bent down on one armoured knee, joins creaking against one another. She settled one of her hands on the boy’s unmarred shoulders and spoke softly, “We are the Redeemer’s, tasked to aid any that need it.”

The boy rubbed at his eyes and seemed to come into focus. Having his wounds tended to, and a shoulder to lean on, seemed to revive him, if only a little. The look on his face twisted, as if he remembered something he’d rather forget. “They... they took them back there, to the caves,” he pointed a shaky finger off into the distance, past the smouldering skeleton remains of his village, “Ma and the others, I was—I was too scared to see,” his shoulders shook and another sob seemed on the rise. He tore his gaze away and grabbed what remained of the front of his shirt, crumpling his fingers into the fabric.

Lip swore from where he was standing and shook his head. It seemed as if he knew where this was going. Scour did not. He couldn’t separate the distinct smells here, but he swore, beneath the sway of trees, and the wind billowing through them that he could hear something unnatural. Screams? Howls? Something awful.

A moment later, and Nica drew herself up once more, looking around. “He cannot come with us,” a statement, though it appeared as if she were looking for something more substantial than that, an answer to her unspoken question, “We should find a place to tie up the horses, and have him stay there, until we’ve finished.” Lilean finished doing what he could for the child, letting him rest for a moment before getting slightly closer to Nica and bringing his voice down low.

"Bleeding and broken, a soul with no home may wish for a vessel soon...he has needs outside our ability to provide." Lily stated, pulling away slightly and looking towards the cave. What he could feel from it was unpleasant at best and nauseating at worst. It was like looking into the gaping mouth of a hungry beast and knowing exactly what its intentions were. He looked away from it for a moment, peering towards where Kalista had taken off, only to find she had wandered some distance from them already. She was performing her own investigation, one that Lily couldn't follow in method.

The others, their feelings towards her were clear, even Nica, but he read something else that had stopped his normal intervention. It was brief, but there was a moment of outright fear from the Elf before she had crushed it like a bug. He didn't believe her attitude or personality to be a front or a shield, at least not like Nelle's was, but it was...something. Some people turned to insanity to avoid reality, some turned to escapism, and for some... some turned to cruelty or indifference. Lilean looked back towards Scour, the pulsing anxiety coming from him bleeding into Lilean like an open wound.

"Scour." Lilean stated. "Tis not a moment in time where regrets are not made, the child requires the assistance of caring hands, bear with him." Lily took a moment to look at Nica, seemingly to request her approval that Scour stay with the child while they look in the cave.

Nica looked at Scour over her shoulder, blinking owlishly at him. Her eyes had always made him feel uncomfortable, strange as they were, and he was never sure if she was truly looking at him or straight through him. Her mouth was set into a line, though she tilted her head to the side, as if she awaited his response, to know that this suggestion was suitable for him.

“A—ah, yes, that’s fine with me,” Scour was glad, actually. He didn’t want to go to the caves for fear of what they might find there. The smells that graced his nostrils were troubling enough and the sounds that so subtly found his ears... were even worse. He took a step forward and held his hands out wide, as if to beckon the boy to his side, and when the boy initially took a step back behind Lilean, he felt his shoulders droop.

Of course.

“It’s fine, you’ll be safe here. We’ll see to the horses, if you’d like,” he kept his voice low and averted his gaze, staring somewhere between the boy’s feet and Lilean’s boots. No matter what he did, he couldn’t make himself appear less unpleasant. The boy’s eyes narrowed for a moment before he stepped around Lilean and made his way closer to Scour, but not too close, he maintained his distance, and held his arms around his own body.

Lip bobbed her head in a nod and gave a soft whistle in their tank’s direction and pointed off in the distance, where the boy had indicated the cave was, “Oii, we’ve got something to check out.”

Nelle wandered over toward the boy in her strangely graceful way, kneeling so she was not towering over the already unnerved child. With one hand, she brushed her hair behind her right ear, peering at the boy with a curious expression. She wondered if Stormy would have been about his age now, if he had lived.

"Scour is soft and gentle..." she told the boy in her whispery voice. "Never judge solely on looks... the prettiest snakes... are often the most venomous, and it's true of people too. Don't forget that." Nelle narrowed her eyes at the boy meaningfully, looking hard into his eyes before standing straight again. She looked to Scour with a crooked grin before following Lip towards the caves. "A fight... a fight... this little snake can bite," she sang to herself hauntingly, unsheathing a dagger in each hand as she walked toward the sounds in the distance.

Not surprisingly, Kalista had been relatively quick to wander back upon having something else to look at, and anticipating a fight. "Good, getting tired of looking at corpses anyways." Kalista looked at the cave, and while her helmet hid her features, the sneer was clear. She briefly turned towards Nelle for a moment as she was walking away, lowering her voice as if almost to talk to herself. "Oh joy, yet another collapsable fuckshit with the madness queen." Kalista rolled her shoulders, before drawing her sword and shield, walking forwards towards the cave of the mouth. "Stay behind me and keep out of my way. Watch cave ins, natural or...otherwise." She said, seemingly glaring in Nelle's direction.

Lily watched as the group started to pace forward, their bodies prepping for combat and anticipating a potential bloodbath, not to mention the horrors that lay within. Lily's senses could reach out to the cave but it was a bit too sporadic to outright say what the danger was at the moment. He knew something was in there, but he would need a closer look. He looked to Nica with a smile, before a flash of insight hit him and he looked back at Lip, who had yet to leave Nica's side. "So it would seem..." Lily whispered, giving a nod to the woman. "To the fore." Lily stated softly, retrieving his bow from his back, running to catch up to Kalista and walking beside her. The Tank looked down at him for a moment, but didn't say anything as they continued towards the gaping maw.

 

[Yonni]

Lip
"Light the match."
________

𝅘𝅥𝅮 𝅘𝅥𝅮 𝅘𝅥𝅮​

The cave at the back of the village was no mere indentation in the cliff side of a hill. It ate at the light like an all-engulfing hole, stretching further than the sun could touch. Already, it was growing late, the last kiss of sun peeping over the horizon and casting an orange glow across the trees encroaching on the cave’s gaping maw. While noises could now be heard from where they stood, they were indiscernible. Perhaps, the last raw, echo of a scream crackling against the walls if they strained their ears hard enough.

Lip stood vigilantly at Nica’s side, shadowing her heels. Her axe had long left her hip and hung in her hands, at the ready for anything they may face. She expected the worst. Knew what these things would do to the living. Women and children. Her hands gripped her axe tightly as small muscles jumped along her jawline. White-knuckled. A building fury clawed at her insides, at the hideousness that awaited them. She’d fucking tear them apart. She glanced at Nica and then, into the cave. Nica raised her hand and then looked at Lil, gaze flat.

“Can you tell how many there are? How deep?”

However, Lilean would certainly feel differently than the others. The feel of the cave was oppressive, pushing in like worms beneath skin, stretched taut and crisp in the open sun. There were only vultures within. The kind that frothed at the mouth, sweeping overhead with sunless wings. A dark, overbearing shadow, and something much, much worse. It was difficult to tell with the weight of it but there, amidst the filth, were beating hearts, erratic rabbit drumbeats that made the air reek of fear. It bespoke the saying: better off dead.

Lilean moved past Nica, removing a glove from one of his hands as he reached the mouth of the cave, placing it on the wall of the mouth, becoming akin to a statue for a moment. His head twitched, his hands twitched, and there was the subtle feeling of nerves being tugged before he slowly retracted his hand. "7". He answered rather uncharacteristically. When it came to potential life or death situations, it seemed even Lilean was more inclined to answer directly. "Several meters, they sit at the bottom, frothing like feeding beasts...they beckon."

"That so?" Kalista stated, her helmet pulled on, her shield out and her sword held at the ready as she brushed past Nica. "I assume no survivors then? You would have sung us a song otherwise." Lilean looked up at Kalista, removing his hand from the wall and replacing his glove on it.

"Nothing worth living resides in this Hell." Lilean stated, his hands reaching for his bow before he paused, and instead pulled out twin shortswords from his hips. He wouldn't have the room to maneuver with his weapon of choice in the cramped space. Lip bobbed her head in a nod—she’d expected as much. When had they found any survivors when Demoni were concerned? Once they were done with them... they were just things to feast on. Meat and nothing more. Her hands curled tighter as she joined Kalista at her side, eyebrows drawn together, staring into the depths of darkness.

"Right... anyways, stay behind me and try not to get in my way." Kalista stated, moving forward into the cave.

Nelle was intensely focused, and uncharacteristically silent. Battle to her, it seemed, was a solemn occasion. Both hands expertly wielded Hunter and Rose: the weapons were parents to save the remaining child, to slay the monsters and prevent any more orphans at their claws. Lithely, she followed at Kalista's heels, and the elf could likely sense her there. The air practically crackled with energy as Nelle began to draw out tendrils of her power, preparing to loose it like the storm she was. Nelle didn't even comment on the irony of what the tank said... it was similar to what Nelle had told her as they charged into the fray so long ago. But Nelle was somewhat more controlled now... at least a little. At least for now. In the gloom as they traveled, she soon began to smell the familiar scent of death and blood. A whiff of smoldering hair. The faint wet sounds of something eating flesh. They were drawing closer to the source.

The darkness was damning and all-consuming. Fortunately, should someone peer in close enough, they’d see old, spider-webbed torches fitted into iron sconces. In all likelihood, the village had mined these caves, and used their resources to prevent the village from falling into ruin. The quarry would have many twisting pathways, and they’d need to rely on Kalista’s sight, and Lil’s feel-powers, or whatever, to keep them going in the right direction. She didn’t like that she’d have to fight near-blind in these damn caves. Walls pushing in. An oppressive aura of stone and dead air. Fuck those monsters for preferring such an environment.

Lip squinted as Nica slipped off to the side, and removed one of the torches from its sconce, inspecting the smoldered tip. The advantage those things would have against them was a frustrating reality, and it wasn’t likely they’d come out until nightfall. That was the way of things. Raze, take the women, do god-knows-what, and then, eat the rest. Repeat. It was a godawful cycle. If she wanted anything more in this world, it was to eradicate them. Wipe them clear from every kingdom. Make them suffer, as so many others had. Flames licked up in her peripherals, as Nica held the torch aloft. She gestured towards the cavern with a sweep of her hand.

“If you would. Kalista. Lilean,” her face was impassive once more, frankly unreadable. “I’ll bring up the rear.”

A howl, morose and twisted, ghastly, and yet, somewhat human, echoed off the walls, as if to welcome them in. Or ward them off. Whether they were aware or not of their presence was anyone's guess. Lily froze, speaking softly but with authority. "Hold." A command, so utterly given even Kalista's steps paused for a moment. The howl subsided and silence, all encompassing and damning, surrounded them. Lily's head twitched as he seemed to view everything around them. "Shield up! Front!" Lily demanded. Instantly Kalista's shield came to bear, and the moment she had it in front of her a Demon shot through the dark like it had been blown clear by a cannon, silent until it's impact on the immovable force that was the elf.

The grisly face, ripped open and defying explanation, snarled and growled as it's claws attempted to find purchase somewhere in Kalista's armor. A deep laugh, gutteral and filled to the brim with a barely contained excitement bubbled forth from Kalista's lips as she slammed the creature into the wall of the cave, beating a war drum of stone and blood. "More! They scream!" Lily yelled, pushing forward as his blades swung at what appeared to be empty air behind Kalista, only to spray blood all over her back. The screech, like that of a wounded bat, was heard before the wet sopping of a sliced body found its place on the ground. It screamed as it fell down to all fours, clambering back into the darkness of the cave like a spider, it's face split open to reveal teeth, blood and gore in equal measure.

Soon enough, the cave was filled with screams, the claustrophobic nature of the area making it seem like it was coming from all around them. Lilean retreated to be closer to the center of the group, gently guiding the others towards the most prevalent threat while Kalista finished up with her demoni. The fire from Nica's torch licked at them, providing brief insights around them as the Demoni flittered like moths around them, clinging to the walls and ceiling like bugs. Lily's eyes tracked them, his short swords at the ready as he subtly pushed Lip, Nica and Nelle towards the threats closest to them. "Courage, we face fear. Let it be found wanting."

"What the fuck ever." Kalista roared, dropping the now unrecognizable hunk of meat that was a demoni onto the ground, beating her shield with her sword and screaming unto a beast herself. As if reacting to the challenge, a Demoni shot out of the darkness, speed and ferocity overcoming Kalista's tenacity as her sword came down too late. The Demoni's claws found their way to her chest and scraped with the ear bloodening sound of frustration as her second skin held firm. The Demoni flew past her, crawling up the wall and back into the safety of the darkness while Kalista spun around, using the momentum of her swing to get back into position, planting her shield just as another Demoni flew forward and rammed head first into it, not expecting the firm resistance. It howled in pain, rolling back into the darkness and down into one of the many pathways. "Come then." Kalista stated, her tone suddenly lower as she brought her sword into position behind her shield like a titan. "Break yourselves upon me."

"Stay tight." Lily stated, his eyes darting everywhere in the tunnel as he saw everything that everyone else could not. His tone was cautious but not fearful, ready and willing, but not angered. He was the rock with which they would have to brace themselves against.

Nelle could only sense the unnatural movement of the creatures as they raged, could only smell the coppery and putrid stench of them as they circled.

"Yes." Nelle said, clear and loud over the clanging of Kalista’s shield. "Stay tight... stay alive..."

A latch only Nelle could hear unlocked the box within her mind, power surging forward from Nelle's extended blades like needles. The sound of silence was nearly jarring as she exchanged her hearing for mental strength.

There were four demoni minds around them, and one more ahead. She felt the sludgy filth of their unnatural thoughts, a keen contrast to the thrum of the minds of her comrades. Nelle inhaled, urging herself to have restraint, to have precision, as daggers of her mental magnification, shot into the dark around the cluster of bodies. Nelle swiped a hand down, as if bringing the blade through the foes she could not see, and though the blade met with no resistance, Nelle felt her mental powers tear three demoni minds asunder. Blood, and some gore, likely parts of skulls, brain matter, and other such ichor: spattered itself stickily across Nelle's face. Nelle did not flinch. She'd been practicing. Precision, focus, kill the demoni. Make them suffer.

Nelle braced herself as she drew her powers back into that mental box and slammed the lid closed. The sound returning to her ears with a deafening roar.

Momentarily, the sound overwhelmed her, confused her. Nelle felt her breathing hitch, began to distinctly hear the sound of the crackling torches, as if they were a raging inferno. But it passed as the snarl of a creature, too close for comfort, launched itself towards her chest in the dark. Nelle crossed her daggers to parry its teeth just shy of her face, grunting with the effort. Nelle kicked the creature in the chest, into the cave wall. The creature snarled again, displeased.

"Three down." Nelle shouted, trying to cheer her comrades.

The roar of battle screeched around her, deafeningly raw. However, Lip fought with the confusion of darkness—the lantern licked flames that reflected across Kalista and Nica’s armour in equal measure, casting pin-lights that briefly blinded her as she whipped her body unnaturally to the side, torso undulating like wave, bones weaving from their sockets and realigning as fluidly as the flames that came from the torch Nica help aloft, only very nearly avoiding an incoming claw. The howling creature met with an untimely death, however, presumably by Nelle’s hand. The splatter of something hit her cheek as she drew her axe up in time to meet the underbelly of another charging Demoni.

Another wild swing sliced into something’s face, a humanoid, this time. A bugling cry echoed off the walls, and was promptly cut off a few feet away from her. She had to be careful. She knew. Out of everyone her, she could see the least. It’d do no one any good if she hit the wrong target. One of their own. She swept across the cave, with a caution of one that countered, instead of reacted.

Three down. How many were there? She couldn’t see. Couldn’t tell. The chaos around her was a heavy breath in her ear.

Even though they weren’t that far in the cave, darkness had claimed the environment outside, and unfortunately, even the pale moon that’d crept up over the horizon wasn’t enough to offer much in the way of lighting. She wished they were outside, however. The cave-walls pressed in on her as she wove to the side, huffing out a breath and straining her eyes for the sounds her ears were hearing. She thought she glimpsed the sight of Nica’s blade sing free from its scabbard, accompanied by a twisted howl, and then nothing at all, the lantern light stretching with movement as she danced around them. Another torch lit up along the wall, offering at least a little more light.

Enough so that Lip saw another lumbering form, dog-like and frothing from its impossibly wide jaw, teeth like needles, far too many glinting in the faint light flicking at her sides, just as it hurtled through the air. Another slip of light crossed her eyes, and she squinted hard. Blinded. She drew up her axe, but not in time. Even as she forced her arm into an eel-like state, a wave of movement that only dug into its shoulder, the thing slammed into her chest hard and its maw closed around her forearm, sending her body into the nearest wall. Teeth sunk through her leather bracer, and for once, she wished dearly that she had a full set of armor, despite its restrictions.

A strangled cry ripped from her lungs as she pushed against the malformed creature pinning her against the wall. A warmth drew up her arm—a wetness. She pushed against it. Ripped her arm free from its socket in a wild, desperate attempt to free herself from the scrambling claws at the side, scrabbling against rocks for purchase, to push into her, to reach her exposed neck. A glint, a moment of movement and the momentum of a blade slammed into the skin of the creature, lacking any arm to hold it as the creature cried, the weapon buried into it's neck and coming out the other side. The daemon screamed, as best it could, as blood frothed from the wound, releasing its grasp as it collapsed to the floor clawing at its own throat and the embedded shortsword. It desperately used its legs in a vain attempt to crawl away from the now free Lip.

Lip made short work of it with the sharp end of her axe, ending it's mangled cry with a wet gurgle. How she'd managed to keep hold of the axe in the first place was a surprise in itself, but she could already feel her fingers contorting back into place, slinking back into their sockets like thick worms, wayward snakes. She had many tricks up her sleeves, and none of them were pleasant.

The din of battle seemed to quiet. Not over, not quite, but it was clear that even in the darkness, with the torches flicking at their sides, that they had the advantage. Kalista could see, Lil and Nelle could feel their way, and she, she could react better than any normal person. Nica had abilities far beyond her understanding. It wouldn't have surprised her if she, too, could see in the darkness. She strained her ears for sounds and drifted closer to Kalista.

A soft, undulated, "Oh." Human. Or, at least. Speaking. It's tone was all wrong. Echoing off the walls, at a disconcerting octave. Demoni did not speak. Tainted did, however. She'd never heard of them working together, however. Demoni were rabid beasts who acted like starving wolves, acting as one, but never with any other species. A hive mind, nothing more. "Oh." Again, it came. Closer. The footfalls that accompanied it were languid. Slow, unrushed. As if they were taking them in, rather than leaping forward as the rest of the horde had. Their thoughts were not scattered like the others. No, they were pieced together, formative and succinct in nature, calculating them as a predator might. Intelligence, and a sordid malice, smooth as snow. Unfettered. Beings who regarded them as if they were insects and nothing more.

All of a sudden, the torches cut out and left them in pure, all-encompassing darkness. She swore she could feel the creatures grinning at them in the darkness, but couldn't tell how close, or how far they were. The hair on the back of her neck raised.

 

[Quakernuts]

Lilean Beauchamp
"Among beads of sand, we fall into an ever steady rhythm"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________​

The battle swept by, a raging current that rushed by the individuals in hopes of encompassing them in overwhelming force. Lilean's eyes darted from left to right, up and down, tracking darkness as if he could see it. His body moving in accordance with what he felt, what his instincts demanded. Subtle touches, a quick push, a nudge as Lilean wordlessly moved the people around him either ever so slightly out of danger or into a better attacking position. Everyone seemed too busy to understand what was happening, instead focusing on the attacking demoni as their training demanded. The flickering of the torch in Nica's hand prevented blindness from overtaking a majority of the party, but it was a beacon for any enemy who was not nearly as hampered.

The blood started to mass, bones splintered as heads were shattered from a runaway Nelle. The screeching as bodies shattered themselves against an immovable object in front of them. Nica's breathing remained steady, unfazed and perfectly in control. Nelle's breathing was ragged, but there was a tightness. She was fighting her nature, controlling the rage and directing it. She was in control for the time being. Kalista radiated confidence, an invicibility that shed off of her like a cold frost, she had no fear and no concern.

A sharp intake, whirling red intake. The bones, they shattered, but they were not demon's. Lily's eyes peered through the darkness, the hostile intent and desperation radiating from an intertwined couple. Lily raised his blade, not wanting to move too far from those who needed his guidance to make it through the darkness. A moment later, his blade was whipping through the air, and he felt it impact his neck, buried and left on the body gasping for air. The swift mercy of an axe brought down ended his suffering. Lilean pulled himself back, focusing too hard on a singular enemy was not a good way to go about things.

Two left, and they slinked backwards, dipping into side passages and avoiding the sightlines of the group. They seemed to be preparing, exercising caution. An odd turn of events, for creatures little more than beasts. Lilean's eyes closed as he pushed his senses out just bit more, overcoming the sensations provided by those around him, pulsing out into the many passages to see where they were going.

"Oh."

Lilean's eyes shot open as a stake shoved itself through his heart, they immediately locked onto a singular passage, his hand still gripping one of his shortswords. Why hadn't he felt them before? They were obtrusive, massive flares now that they made their way into his cognition.

"Oh."

There it was again, a human expression, a display of non-committal surprise or annoyance. Lilean held his sword at the ready, Kalista at the front already having turned towards the sound. The light disappeared, a wind blinding past them to blind them immensely. There was nothing but silence, each side waiting for the other to move. Tension, coiled and ready to strike, on each side but what was this feeling? They were...happy? Excited? Demons didn't get excited, they bore their animalistic urges on their sleeves, easy to read and track. There was a whisper, a snicker, the muffled laugh. Words, words and words on the air, silent and trickle, to be felt more than heard.

"I got the big one."

Lilean opened his mouth. "Kalista, fr-!" He was too late, as the reverberations of something large slammed into the elf, pushing her back and raking her into the wall with enough concussion to rattle the rocks surrounding them. A wisp, something had moved, impossibly fast. Lilean moved, his words not being enough as he brought up his blade behind Nelle's head, feeling something akin to bone slam into it with enough force to leave his arm numb, but he couldn't stop. A dagger slipped into his free palm and launched itself towards Nica's face, sliding past it close enough to be considered a haircut as a loud hiss sounded. The click clack of something moving along the walls echoed around them, disorienting and enfeebling.

Nica’s presence ebbed and flowed alongside the brighter flares. To Lil, it might’ve seemed like she hadn’t been there at all. Her essence little more than ash on the wind. The flicker of embers, a softer glow easily overlooked and forgotten against the chaos that surrounded them. As soon as the dagger cut through the air, mere inches from her face, close enough to cut the flow of white hair that slipped free from her winged helmet, she was gone. A phantom slinking back into the shadows, shapeless and unassuming but confident in her abilities, for the only sound that proceeded her was the clatter of a blade meeting steel in the darkness.

"He can see us..."

"Gut him, I want his eyes."

Lilean looked up at the ceiling above him, his blade brought up and his daggers sliding into his palm again as a side glance confirmed his other shortsword was still buried in the other Demoni. "Nica, Light. Lip, back to Nelle. Nelle, focus up. Kalista?" There was a loud crash followed by several colorful words, as if titans themselves were reshaping the world around them, nearly every hammer sounding blow was felt through the vibrations in the ground and around them. It was throwing Lilean off, he couldn't pinpoint the enemy, but he knew they were above them. They were fast, cunning, intelligent... and they knew he could see them.

"Free the sky." Lily whispered to no one in particular.

Lip fared far worse than the woman she constantly shadowed. The all-consuming darkness was a miserable vulnerability. She pressed her back against hard stone, shoulder blades bunches, hands white-knuckle tight as she held her axe in front of her, straining her ears for movement and sounds and voices because these creatures spoke, and she hadn’t had time to ponder how that was possible. She felt more like a blinded beast than a Redeemer. Nelle? Nelle. Where was she? Lil’s order was a sensible one, for she was useless here, pressed up against stone, hoping she didn’t accidentally hit her companions.

“Nelle, to me!” She hoped she was stepping off into the right direction. Nelle could find her far quicker than she could. She had no feel for the others, no sense of where they were, or where she was. The chaos of movement only disoriented her further, forcing her to keep one hand on the cave’s wall to keep herself from wandering into the fray. Fingers scrabbled across stone, and she counted herself lucky not to have been gutted already.

The hair on the back of her neck and arms stood on end. A sickly, prickling feeling turned her guts over, and a rasping giggle, coming from her right side, forced her to instinctively raise her axe, and give a half-hearted swing in its direction. She couldn’t blindly strike. Not with them here, at her sides. The sound undulated once more, this time closer. She felt a blade, needle-thin dig into her ribs. Once, twice. The force of it punched the air from her lungs. Quick as it’d come, it was gone. How? The word came as a soundless intake of air, and if she hadn’t pressed her hand to her side, fingers coming away slick and wet and warm, she might’ve not believed she’d been struck at all.

Lip was already knitting herself back together, flesh stretching out like fingers, binding together, knotting. A painfully arduous task that took all her concentration. Necessary, unless she wanted to become a smear in the darkness, a corpse to trip over.

There was a flicker of sparks, briefly lighting Nica’s pale face, before plunging them back into obscurity. Another flicker, and then, a hiss and lick of torchlight weaving violently off to the side, held aloft by their Commander, the clatter of steel in front of her face, and another, as she danced off to the side, it was clear that whatever thing she fought was trying to fell the source of light—to knock the torch from her hands.

As sound returned, commands also came. First Lily with directions. A new enemy above? Then surprisingly, a call from Lip. The last comrade aside from Kalista she'd expect. But now wasn't the time for personal grudges. Nelle clamped down on her powers, her teeth grinding with the effort as if she were chewing a bit. Her eyes became sharp, better than most in the pitch black, but her voice would be gone. No need for it here anyway, she hoped. Without much effort she could see just as Lip was attacked by... what was that thing? No demoni she had ever seen.

Quickly, Nica was to her aid, and Nelle too. She knew Lip was nearly blind, but made her presence known, pressing her back against her comrade's back, assuringly she hoped. If they fought this way, at least the woman would have a sense of space around her in the blackness. Lip gave a thankful sigh, and did not fight against her presence, steeling herself against the darkness. Nelle looked up to see the new enemies climbing the ceiling. Her daggers found their way into her palms, mother and father would protect them. Nelle deftly loosed Hunter from her right hand, pinning the shoulder of one creature, listening as it howled in outrage... a disturbingly human sound, then a chuckle that send her blood running cold.

"That one can see us... too..." It said, its voice like gravel on stone. Instinctively, Nelle felt herself press her back against Lip's back, protective of herself or her comrades, she was not sure. Perhaps both. Her muscles bunched and tensed as she slid Ronins blade into her palm, ready to defend as needed.

The sensations from everyone and everything pressed in on all sides, the cave walls had nothing on this claustrophobic pressure that pushed into Lilean, crushing him mentally as he struggled to maintain a bead on the two quickly moving Demoni that swirled around them. Their movements were liquid, blending into the shadows like waves as they poked and prodded at the group, still testing the damned fools who had walked into their domain. Lilean's hand unconsciously slid it's way to his side, knowing full well that he wasn't injured or stabbed. His back aching and his muscles screaming as the bleed effect from everyone gave him a very real and very physical update as to statuses of those around them. Pain was an every day occurance to Lily, but he needed to find a way to condense it and assign feelings to individual beings. Right now, he was stuck in a maelstrom without a boat.

He needed breathing room, as did they all and right now they needed to force an ultimatum out of the sudden new enemies they found themselves against. They needed a plan, to coordinate, to make their way forward.

Lily twitched, he had nearly missed it. He pivoted, feeling more than seeing a claw ripping through where his head had been. Twisting and contorting, he spun around, his blade coming up and finding purchase under a jaw, exiting out the top of the skull. There was a slight gurgle, a twitch, and then there was nothing. Demoni didn't have regrets or emotions that sucked one into thoughts of post-separatism. This wasn't one of the fast ones, just a leftover who got a bit too brave. That left one 'regular' demoni running around. Lily retrieved his blade, sluffing the body to the floor with a wet thud.

It felt like Lily was deaf, with everything that was flooding into him, and the extrapolated data that fed into his mind like some kind of psychic. He couldn't hear the clash of blades so much as feel the reverberations through the arms of those who swung them. Couldn't hear the yells of those fighting and surviving so much as he felt the air escape their lungs. There was one thing that was loud enough to break him out of his reverie for a split moment though, the hellish scream from the clash of titans ahead of them.

Kalista's voice absolutey tore through the cave as the grisly sound of snapping bones accompanied it. "You fucking thought?!" She screamed as another yell, deeper and clearly in a vast amount of pain followed it. "Weakling! I'll show you what it means to be strong!" The pressure built, the sound of flesh not being cut, but ripped. Bones cracking, eyes popping, gurgled and mangled yells as blood filled mouth and lungs alike. Lilean felt... afraid. He was going to die! He was so strong though! He was the strongest! The world looked upon him with fear and awe, how could this woman be this powerful! She was a mortal, a creature below him, an ant to his boot! Who was she!

She was his death.

With a final spark, there was ripping and tearing, followed by the sopping of what sounded like wet bags hitting the rock floor. "Fucking cock shit! You scraped my fucking armor!" Kalista yelled, before something went flying above Lily, coating him in a light flavor of dead demoni as the smack of it hitting the roof was quickly followed by it dropping into the middle of the group.

"Oh... my..." A curt voice called out from above them.

"Beast... creature..." Mirth, a feeling that made Lily sick considering it's origin. There it was though, a moment, a respite, a slight hesitation. A blade slid into Lily's hand and he threw, flying through the air with a whistle. It hit something solid, like a butcher cutting into a prime cut of meat. There was an ear piercing screech as the Demoni fell to the ground near Nelle and Lip, a blade having been sunk into one of it's eyes.

With the imperceptible shift of Nelle’s back, Lip was able to sidestep the flopping corpse that she assumed had come from the ceiling. A sickening squelch as its limbs twitched and then, lie silent. She couldn’t tell just how many were left, but with the trembles of Kalista’s battle finally subdued in her violent fashion, she hoped their numbers were more even now. She grit her teeth and whipped her head to the side, straining her ears for anything other than the eerie voices echoing off the walls, sometimes too close for comfort.

That they spoke at all...

“Lilean!” It was Nica’s voice, cutting off with a throaty rasp and the screech of metal as the torchlight finally illuminated the dank cave, showering their forms with dancing shadows and revealing the remaining creatures they’d been fighting. She’d been drawn close to a thin form with a wide, sickening smile, clawed fingers dipping beneath her chest plate, before she pulled them both abruptly against the nearest wall, drew her leg up and bodily kicked it square in the chest, sending it hurtling towards Lilean.

Lilean's eyes closed, his hand finding purchase on his shortsword as he drew it with practiced ease.

His eyes are closed? Will he not even look at me! You are beneath me, I can survive this! This is not the end of me! Twist! Pivot! Shift! I will take you with me! I will have your eyes!

Claws reached out, jagged rageful intent surging forward as it's body contorted to make the attack possible. Lilean's blade came up once, then twice, stepping forward as he took a subconscious breath. Two clawed hands fell to the ground, followed quickly by the sopping sound of a head. Not long after, the thud of a body rolling on the rocks was abrubtly stopped by Kalista brutally kicking it aside as she moved back more towards the group, eager to get back into the fight. There hadn't been time for a final reverie, it was over too quick, but the remaining demoni had more than enough of a spell to look over everything. Fear... It was afraid for the first time in this fight, mixed with anger and confusion. There were no words this time, but Lilean never needed them to communicate with others.

"Nelle." Lilean calmly stated. "Directly above you."

Nelle needn't be told. She in her self imposed silence had been watching the demoni above her like a hawk, waiting, waiting... such a difficult thing for her. No sooner had the words left Lilean's lips than the blade loosed, flashing silver in the torchlight. But that thing had been watching back. It expected her blade... at least the first one. The one it could see.

Nelle's world went silent once more, body straining as she used two at once. A risk to herself and others. Nelle could feel something warm and sticky trickling from both ears, and the taste of metal on her teeth and she loosed a mental arrow into the center of the creature's forehead. She watched as it swiped her initial dagger, swatting it like a cat would a mouse, before it's skull split in twain. Its eyes seemed to hold surprise, then, fear... she had never seen them afraid before. Nelle only had a moment for this thought before she was wracked with violent nausea. Sound returned, sight darkened, and her voice rasped out.

"Shit..." before she hunched over, and was physically ill. Around her, small bits of debris began to tremble and skitter, like magnets forced away by an opposite polarity. Nelle gagged, and grunted, sweat dripping down her chin as she struggled to close the mental box on her abilities. She had cracked the lid. She could feel herself shaking with the effort to regain control. Panic began to gnaw at her, rising and swelling like water filling a cup. Nelle found herself pressing her forehead against the rough, cool stone wall, teeth grit as the sounds of loose stones, debris, bone and anything loose on the floor tapping, shuttering, and skittering began to echo around her. She raked her fingers against the wall, hoping pain would help to reign in her ability. Should she tell them to run? Should she knock herself unconscious? Would that even help? The tapping and skittering as if the debris were alive, became faster.

Hands reached out, slowly and carefully, taking Nelles in theirs. There was tension as Lily physically froze for a moment, his emotions and features masked by the dark, but it was easy to tell why. He started his own battle, as he stepped in closer, turning Nelle towards himself. He placed his forehead again hers, his breathing coming in rapid intakes as his sweat started to mix with hers.

"The way has been marked as free, we should enjoy the liberty... in but a turn of Father Time" Lilean said, his voice quieter than usual as he did his best to stop himself from convulsing.

"Nah Poet". Kalista stated, stabbing her sword into one of the dead demoni. "I'm tougher than anything in this cave and can see just as well. If you two wanna pork in you're own fluids, do it on you're own time or stay here." Kalista stated, pulling her sword and giving it a shake, throwing the stained blood onto the wall and floor. With that being said, she moved to continue down the hallway.

Lilean didn't respond, instead throwing a glance over at Nica and Lip, silently asking their opinion.

The torchlight had once more guttered out. Perhaps, knocked from Nica’s hand by the intensifying quakes.

In concert with the rumblings of the cave, as Nelle’s fragile control began to sift through her fingers like grains of sand, a squelching noise could be heard. The unmistakable sound of a blade sinking into flesh—pulling itself out in a spray of blood. Again. Again. To those who’s eyes did not work in the darkness, it might’ve felt like a fine spray of water. Rain. If it hadn’t been for the familiar tang of metal tinging the air around them and the sweet-smelling rot of unwashed creatures, squealing in their death throes, the gore that’d been spattered over those at their sides throughout the exchange... could have very well been mistaken for it.

Another gurgle sounded and echoed, cut off abruptly. A sickening crunch. As if something had been bodily plucked from the ceiling and thrown onto its side, only to meet its end. The cave was utter chaos. Only a subtle sheen of moonlight managed to seep in through the cave’s mouth, offering little in the means of light and only casting an ominous glow, crooked trees swaying like the legs of giants.

At least one of the creature's had run, the scramble of clicking nails could be heard deeper into the cave, from where'd they'd come from. The fear was tangible, an echo of wild, desperation.

“I think that’s all of ‘em.”

When Liliean looked around him, only Lip lurched out from the darkness, hand still pressed into her side. She gave a strained smile, though it faded quickly when she glanced over to his side, Nelle’s face twisted in what she could only guess was pain. She’d never witnessed her powers before, only heard about it. Tall tales, she’d once thought, told over bonfires, with the lick of grease on their lips, and laughter that hardly bellied the truth. When everything began to shake, when she damn well thought the entire cave was going to collapse in on them—she didn’t know what to think then, but knew the source, knew it even in her blindness.

She wasn’t sure what to do here, and only gave a helpless shrug of her shoulders. She did, however, take a step toward them, wiping sweat from her brow that’d already begun dribbling down into her eyes. Stung like shit. Part of her wondered if it was blood. Hers, theirs. A mixture of gore. A problem for later. Her jawline worked for words. Anything to say here, because they both looked like shit. Like they needed help. “We should get outta’ here. Find fuzzy. Is she...?” A moment’s hesitation, brought on by a wariness she couldn't help but feel, before she offered her arm and inclined her head towards Nelle, then Lilean.

She wasn’t sure who needed help more.

Nica’s form materialized from the darkness. A silhouette, if nothing more. She hunched over, holding something in her hands. A click, a hiss, and light erupted from the torch she had clutched between her knees. She rounded her shoulders, and stared at them. From head to toe, her silver armour was covered in gore, blood dripped from her breastplate, and fresh bits clung to her white hair, matted in some places. She looked from Lilean to Nelle, asking a question that she hadn’t formed aloud.

Are you under control?

Nelle's eyes seemed nearly black, pupils dialated and far away, like an animal. Blood leaked from those eyes, from her nose and even her ears. It was difficult to tell if she could hear them, or even if she knew they were there. Though something was still there of hers, something small and frightened. Nelle's hands were limp in Lilean's grasp but in a rasping voice she managed to gasp, "d..dangerous.."

There was a strange, crackling pressure to the air around her now,and the once moving debris began to hover, as if held aloft by invisible hands.

"R..run..r..run..."

Lip could feel all the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, as if she were standing in a wide open field about to be struck by lighting... and there was nothing she could do about it. Her teeth ground together to keep from chattering. She couldn’t even describe the feeling that’d fallen over her, sudden as being pushed underwater. Her hand hung limp in the air when Nelle turned towards them. The flickering light of Nica’s torch danced in those black pupils of hers, swallowing up every bit of white her eyes had.

There was movement at her side, so quick she hadn’t even had time to move before Nica pushed her aside, resilient as ever. It seemed as if her answer was clear. She manoeuvred Nelle from Lil’s arms as if she were plucking a child from him, gauntleted fingers grasping her shoulder to keep her steady. She shook her other hand free of its gauntlet and kicked it off to the side, it remained motionless, and then shivered into the air alongside the debris. She drew her fingertips to the back of Nelle’s neck and slid it along the artery bird-fluttering at its side, and came to rest against the loudest pulse.

“Sleep,” a whisper, a command, as she leaned in closer.

She pressed her fingers into the side of her neck, and then, retracted them sharply. She would not feel pain. Only sink deeper, into a well of darkness. Sleep would claim her, now. She would empty, like a sieve, and awaken later. Perhaps, a few moments would pass. Or hours, days. It depended on the individual, usually. Nica exhaled sharply through her nose, still holding Nelle, a hand now underneath her armpit to keep her from crumbling to the floor. She pressed her back against the cave wall for support. Exhaustion pinched her sharp features. It seemed as if she were trying her damnedest just to keep her breathing steady.

She nodded her head in Lilean and Lip’s direction and said, “If you will. Please.”

Lip had never seen her do that before. It was one of many things that reminded her that she knew nothing about their Commander. She obliged.

As unconsciousness swallowed Nelle, the debris began to fall to the floor, like rain. The air became lighter, like a sigh of relief.

 

[Yonni]

Lip
Distant in these hollow eyes.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
​

There was a rattling cry in the distance that reached the cave, difficult to hear but quickly becoming louder and clearer, whoever it belonged to was fast approaching. The slapping of feet against dirt and the clicking of nails accompanied it. The voice sounded strangled—garbled almost, as if the person wasn’t forming proper words at all, but a mad rush of names instead, trying to make sense of something that they had seen. Another cry, clearer, this time: Nica! Lilean! A great paw slapped against the rocks as Scour came to a screeching halt at the mouth of the cave, his face twisted, pupils blown wide. The fear on his face was palpable, an all-encompassing thing that threatened to spill him onto the ground. Sweat dripped from his chin, mussing his fur.

“T-t-the boy,” his breath hitched as he inhaled sharply, trying to gather enough breath to spit it out, “there’s something wrong with him.” There was an audible grunt as the towering form of Kalista barreled past the crew in front, peering down at Scour with an almost palpable look of disgust.

"Couldn't even handle a kid huh?" Kalista stated, walking past him only to stop just a couple steps from his back. "The fuck?" Kalista whispered as she finally got a good view of the child. He was retching black bile onto the ground, his veins pulsing through his skin and sweat soaked him as thoroughly as a downpour. Kalista stared at him, her hand reaching for her sword as the kid stumbled closer.

Scour’s eyes were drawn saucer-wide, lips pulled back into a trembling grimace, though no words tumbled from them. He couldn’t find any. He stumbled back as Kalista pushed past him, away from the cave’s entrance, and back out into the open. His gaze flicked back towards the retching boy, whose back heaved up with another round of hoarse, black-spittle flecked rounds of coughs, hand clutched to his mouth, as if he could withhold whatever bile threatened to spill out. Far too much to be contained in such a small frame. The wounds on the boy’s back had begun weeping once more, stained like reflective, dark ink in the moonlight.

"End the suffering." Lilean stated, pushing past Kalista with his bow already drawn. His hood had been pulled down over his eyes and cloth wrapped around his mouth. From casual observation, there was no skin visible by Lilean as his other hand reached for an arrow with a fluid motion brought about by years of practice. It was nocked and pulled back before anyone could bother to intercept, the arrow flying through the air like a knife, slicing through the slight silence that had overtaken everyone.

Nica stood still at his side, for it seemed that she, too, understood the futility of trying to save this boy. A breath hissed from her lips, an exhale of sorts, an admonition for the inevitable. Her expression stony, as always. Far too late for that now, this was a mercy. Scour's eyes, however, were screwed up, closed to what was happening before him.

“Shit...” Lip swore under her breath. This was disgusting. She felt a shiver of discomfort watching the boy shrivel into himself, mouth twisted, stained with whatever was coming from his stomach. If it wasn’t for Scour’s heavy breaths, the sounds coming from the boy would’ve been overwhelming. The dangling weight of her axe was the only comfort she could count on, fingers slick.

Her grip tightened, however, white-knuckles popping as the boy stumbled towards them. She’d never had any warm and fuzzies for kids—didn’t really care about them at all. Where she’d come from, they were all more or less bottom-feeders, worming their way through the gutters: herself, included. Whatever was happening here, she didn’t want him coming any closer, and when she more felt, than heard, Lilian shift at her side, fingers pulling back to retrieve an arrow, she only had one resounding thought.

Good.

Kalista seemed to be conflicted. Her hand never left her weapon but it wasn't drawn. It appeared there was a line even for this brute of a woman as she watched helplessly as the arrow flew true. There was the squelching of guts and blood being rearranged as the child screamed in pure agony. The arrow mere inches from his face when an arm reached out from his mouth, covered in gore and viscera, catching the arrow midflight. A portion of the kid's chest heaved and exploded outwards as his eyes rolled into the back of his head, clearly dead but his body kept aloft by whatever transformation was taking place.

In the place where his heart would be appeared sharpened teeth in the shape of an extremely disconcerting smile. "Now now, that's just rude." A voice appeared as the rest of the child seemed to melt away, revealing a figure much too large to have ever fit inside the child's frame. Bees, wasps and flies all burst from the remnants of the corpse, surrounding the figure in his own cloak of insects as he held the arrow in his hands, twirling it slightly. His mouth was curved into an overly large smile, the teeth ever present and predatory as his naked form revealed itself for all to see.

Kalista looked over to see Lilean visibly shake before seemingly managing to control himself and taking several large steps backwards behind the Tank. She couldn't see his eyes, but she recognized barely controlled fear when she saw it. It was disgusting to witness, she didn't want to imagine what the sensor must have gone through.

“No—”

A voice, a breath, a prayer. Nica took a fumbling step backwards, oddly-coloured eyes fluttering wide, as if she were trying to furiously banish a nightmare, or ward away what she was witnessing. She recognized this, whatever this was.

“No.” Her voice had taken a begging tone, as she reeled inwards, hand pressed up against the cave wall as she fully emerged from it. She blinked at the creature, emerging from the rumpled, rippled corpse of the boy, pushed down like a pair of trousers, as if he weren’t human at all. The moonlight cast a sickly pale sheen across her face, alighting the horrified expression that peeled across her face, an unnatural sight to see on someone who appeared so stony, so placid—the staple of neutrality, trembling. This fear had a tangible taste, the tang of metal in one’s mouth on the verge of a death. Glassy eyes, feverish with desperation. Save them.

All-encompassing. Drowning.

“Yes.” He answered, so unnatural in its articulation, hissing through needle-pricked teeth. His tone rose, and fell as if he were tasting each syllable, testing to see how they sounded aloud. An unsettling melody, low and breathy, accompanied by the near constant buzzing of insects, droning around him. His head twisted towards her, revealing that he had no eyes—only empty sockets, smoothed over slightly sunken spots in his head where they ought to have been. Still, it felt as if he could see. See through. See into. See everywhere, and everything.

Lip legs felt hollow, her mind empty. She couldn’t have run, even if she’d wanted to. The dead weight of Nelle perched over her shoulder only allowed for so much movement and it kept one of her arms constantly occupied. She wasn’t even sure what she was looking at—this was abnormal, even for all the twisted shit she’d seen as a Redeemer. The hand that held her axe shook, no matter how much she willed her fingers still. Her gaze pulled to the side, searching desperately for guidance. Seeing the fear on Nica’s face, in her body, in her presence, felt surreal. If she was scared...

Despite the screams of agony, the buzzing of insects and the squelch of splitting flesh, Nelle continued to sleep. Her closed lids fluttered, as if she dreampt, but otherwise she could nearly be mistaken for a corpse propped unceremoniously on Lip’s shoulder. Like her comrades, Nelle was covered in gore, and lines of drying blood streaked from her eyes, nose, and ears. Nica’s spell held fast, it seemed.

The creature’s head tilted to the side, lips pulling ever-wider. A feat that should’ve been an impossible, if his face wasn’t so strange. No ears, no eyes, blotchy skin pulled over bulbous veins—unlike other Demoni, he wasn’t malformed and bore no extra limbs. Standing nearly as tall as Kalista, though bearing no semblance of structure, his gangly frame looked as if he were emaciated. Composed of ribs and hip bones, sharp against a cadaver-frame. “Now, I see.”

His form wavered where he stood, as if they were looking at the horizon in the distance, on a hot summer day. Liquid, languid. A dancing shape, oily ink work and always, always hazy. Then, gone. A black mar in the deadened grass where gore only remained, spattered on nearby flowers, dripping.

Lip’s eyes snapped to the side, ears strained. Animal. That’s what she felt like. A rabbit caught in a snare, thrashing. Helpless. Scared. She found herself holding her breath. Unsure why. Quiet. Hide.

“Stop!” Nica’s strangled cry broke Lip out from her strained thoughts. It felt like a punch to the guts, felt as if the wind had been pushed from her lungs. She’d felt this before, the power of suggestion that her mentor had, except this time, it felt directionless and struck everywhere, as if she were flailing her sword-arm out. Desperate.

Buzzing.

He was there. She saw him now, only inches in front of Kalista—one gnarled hand, crooked and clawed fingers poised on her chest plate, hovering there. More disgusting now, then he was at a distance. His mouth twisted into an o-shape, as if he were pleasantly surprised. How had he moved so quickly? Lip hadn’t heard anything. Didn’t see anyone. It made no sense. Fucking impossible.

A round of wracking coughs overcame her mentor, as she pitched forward, embedding the tip of her blade into the earth to keep herself from falling entirely. Blood bubbled and sputtered from Nica’s lips, spilling over the front of her armour. One of her eyes was bloodshot, her pupil swimming in darkness. Teeth bared, lips slick rouge.

There was a twirl of motion across the man... the creature’s face, as if invisible hands were moulding the features, pushing and pulling clay. A nose, green eyes, a mouth that still pulled all-too wide. Dark hair. Scars. Pale skin. Freckles. That’s where the transformations ended. Not human. Not creature. Something in-between.

“A shame,” he repeated, “a shame, a shame.” Glee, or something close. “Should I?”

Another arrow loosed and the creature dodged as if it was second nature, his head almost floating backwards as only one eye moved towards the man who had done so, knelt down and already nocking another arrow. "Composure? From one who would follow such as her?" The thing stated, looking at the now increasingly disabled Nica. Lilean didn't bother following the eye to its destination, he already knew what was happening was not something he could readily fix. Instead his arrow found its place in his bow again, and yet another was sent flying at the creature.

A sickly, bubbly laugh erupted from him as he twirled out of it's way. His unnatural speed on display to be able to avoid such a strike from this close a range. Speed would not help him though, as Kalista seemed to finally regain her senses. Upon finishing his twirl, he found himself on the receiving end of her gladius, the blade ripping through muscle and flesh, sending two pieces of the creature flying backwards several feet. "Disgusting..." Kalista muttered, even her usual cavalier attitude towards death and carnage seemingly overcome by the desire to see this thing dead.

Yet again, that same laugh came from what should have been a corpse. The creature hoisted itself up on its elbows to look at the group, its intestines spilling out onto the ground and its legs a couple of feet away. "Oh dear, rude indeed, just a meeting of insolent little children. Tell me..." The creature looked to Lilean, who's bow was already moving once again. "Do you feel...everything?" It's hand went straight into the gaping wound left by Kalista, laughing as he did so. Even in his bundled state, Lilean dropped the bow, rapidly pulling the cloth down from his face as he vomited what was left over in his stomach. He fell to his hands and knees as he convulsed, the creature seemingly toying with him as Lilean continued to wretch even though there was nothing left to give.

"Shut the fuck up and die!" Kalista had closed the distance to the creature, intent on ending him, but he paid her no mind, continuing to watch the sensor suffer from his own abilities. As Kalista came closer, the pair of legs that had been disjointed from their master sprung up with an unnatural quickness, spreading yet more blood and gore over the ground. Sprinting, they reached Kalista in but a moment, her eyes moving to them and taking that extra second too long to understand what was happening. The legs jumped up, delivering a kick to her chest. Like an immovable object being hit by an unstoppable force. There was a concussive force great enough to ruffle the hair of anyone near before Kalista was sent from her feet, her body flying backwards several feet before coming to a sliding stop just beside Nica. Kalista could only stare at the sky from her prone position.

"What...?"

Lip dug her heels into the ground to keep herself from being flung to the side, watching as Kalista whipped past like a bag of stones. Nothing that was happening made any sense to her. None of it. She ground her teeth together, and hobbled a step backwards, gripping Nell tightly to her. If they needed to turn and run, she wasn’t sure how far she’d get like this. This thing wasn’t hurt and what it’d done to Kalista... how fast it moved...

Impossible.

The creature’s body was already knitting itself together, bees pouring from the holes where his legs ought to have been. It didn’t even seem like he minded. A minor inconvenience. His fingers finally extracted from his innards, worming intestines reeling back into the gaping cavity. He was whole. A simmering smile peeped the barest hint of his teeth as he regarded them. Bemusement played across his face, until he tucked his chin in and inhaled sharply. A nose formed. Eyes, once green and full of life, flicked once, and the pupils took over entirely, like two pools of ink, reflectionless. Empty, void. Everywhere. ]“Morbus, that’s who I am.” A pause, and he tipped his head to the side, “I think I’m improving on these little introductions of ours.”

He pushed himself back to his feet and threw his hands out wide, “Do you remember?” The question hung in the air, unanswered. Lip could hear Nica’s laboured breaths at her side, shakily dragging her sword free from the earth. “Do you remember?” Another blink of the eyes, and he was gone. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end—and she found herself trying to shrink backwards, further way, though she didn’t know what direction she should even flee. But it was singular thought that screamed in her skull. A monstrous plea, begging for mercy, begging to live.

“Oh, so you do like games,” the words came from the side, only a few feet off where Scour stood, shaking like a leaf. Too far from them—a lost cause. The thought came and left so quickly she didn’t have time to feel guilty about it. A strangled cry sounded. Scour’s arm had morphed into harder stuff, crystallized into a claw, and had bitten into the creature’s hand. Or, that’s what it looked like. She couldn’t tell from where she was standing. She could hear Lil retching at her side, and the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. The creature’s spliced fingers were warping and twisting around Scour’s wrist like branches, made of flesh. His black eyes widened, ever so slightly, and then he crooned, jubilantly, “Now, fetch.”

Morbus jerked backwards like a tree being pulled down, shooting back up and releasing Scour with such force that he tumbled through the air, limbs tangling. A mess of long limbs, a rag-doll being discarded. He bounced off the ground and tumbled over, and over, and over, until he skidded to a stop in front of a stump. It was clear that he’d broken something at the awkward angle his arm was twisted at—and he stayed there, face-down in the muck, a wet, heaving sound bubbling from his lips. A drawn out, breathless moan.

Nica’s scream ripped through the air, as she lunged towards Morbus.

 

[Heartfeltwords]

Channeller Warren
​

“Now there’s a ghost in the back of this room / And I don’t like it / I fall asleep with my covers pulled up / And try to fight it / I gotta say, it’s hard to be brave / When you’re alone in the dark / I told myself that I wouldn’t be scared / But I’m still having nightmares.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




Sleep.

There was usually crackling in Nelle's ears, like the sound of fire as it devoured her village, her family..her body, that was usually all she heard when her abilities overwhelmed her. But that fearful, hungry sound was suddenly penetrated by a voice, and that single word.

Then there was silence and a warm darkness, like a soft blanket. Usually, Nelle hated the dark. But this felt somehow..peaceful.

She wasn't sure how long she was wrapped in the silent dark, before she felt a hand in her hand.

"Channeller, your mother wants you. Come on."

Nelle looked down to see a young boy pulling her by the hand. The boy who was Stormy's age now. The boy from the village. As he smiled at her, his face became an aged version of her baby brother, then the boy from the village and back and forth as her subconscious struggled to decide.

But before she could ask the boy who he was, her parent's tavern was before her, whole and new.

Her mother waved and called for her to come inside for dinner. Nelle's heart ached at the sight.

"Mama?" She whispered, clutching at the space where her pendant usually swung around her neck, full of what remained of her family. But her reach found only air. Where were their ashes?

The ground beneath her feet felt so solid. So real. Nelle started forward, but found herself suddenly glued to the spot. The boy to her side turned his head in a way that no living person could have. The joints in his tiny neck crackled in protest.

"Well Channeller? Aren't you going to go to your family?" The boy asked in a voice that was both his and both not his, too deep, distorted.

Nelle swallowed dryly, looking between the slowly morphing boy and her family's tavern. All of them were now in view. Her father called while touching her mother's shoulder. Her two sisters sat in the yard, watching young Stormy crawl through the grass, as her brother Ronin practiced sword swings at a safe distance.

The smell of blood, decay and human waste suddenly blanketed her nose. She gagged, nearly suffocating from the stench. Beside her, the boy became a decaying thing, someone larger, stretching in impossible horrific angles as he laughed.

"I'll race you there..." the boy taunted, taking a massive step towards her family. Bees, wasps, and flies, oozed from its stretched lips as it spoke.

Nelle struggled, straining her legs against what felt like unseen bonds. She tried to call out, but no sound came.

The creature that was once a boy bounded ahead with ease, raising a now monstrous and large hand above her smiling family before putting all its weight into bringing it down. It cackled in sickening glee as screams and cries of agony echoed in her ears. Blood and viscera, along with bits of splintered wood, gushed up from between its disgusting fingers. Flames seemed to crackle to life around him, hungry for her family's mangled flesh.

A white hot rage burned in her belly. Familiar yet more potent than she could recall in years. Nelle opened her mouth wide, inhaling until her lungs ached, and pulling until her knees cracked and trembled. There was a growling, snarling, that uneasy sensation of being pulled and turned..like when they gave her these abilities. Nelle grit her teeth, and screamed as a surge of her abilities rippled around her like raindrops in a pond. There was a sound like shattering glass, and the sensation of a blanket being pulled away.

Nelle's eyes shot open, awake now. Her body tightened like a spring as the scream finally ripped from her lungs. It was clear to her comrades she wasn't quite all there: her eyes were black, pupils like blots of ink. Nelle's movements were stiff but swift as she rolled from Lip's shoulder and launched herself at the grotesque figure ahead.

Stones, rubble, and debris were lifted around her, as if the tiny Magnifier had her own gravitational pull.

The world around her went silent as she wedged herself between Nica and the monster before them.

There was a sensation of being too close to a lightning strike, as the air rippled around her, before forcefully exploding outwards. Nelle curled herself like a cat around her captain, protectively. It were as if Nelle had become a living bomb. A wall of debris flew towards the creature ahead, while Nelle and Nica tumbled gracelessly in the opposite direction.