So I've done a re-read of this, and chapters 6 through 12 are in serious need of editing. That might affect next weeks update, so I've made this one a liiitle longer.
On an unrelated note, Bowsette is now with Priscilla on my list of best girls.
Edit: This chapter has been rewritten because I disliked the ending, and my newest beta has helpfully done some great editing. Enjoy.
And they were off, Priscilla's glare hardening as she yanked herself from the fog wall. Mike saw her back speeding away as he slid through the wall, immediately running after her. The object of their focus, Gwyndolin, gave a start as they neared, 'skipping the cutscene' so to speak.
Mike noticed an immediate discrepancy between his and Priscilla's speeds, unable to catch up as she neared the halfway point between them and Gwyndolin. Thinking for a second, he formed a small sphere of mist in each palm and tapped them against his legs, sending a jolt through his body as his next step catapulted him forward ten feet instantaneously.
Priscilla glanced over in surprise as Mike ran up besides her, sweat beading on his brow. Mike cut her off as she began to speak. "Dodge right!" Her eyes flicked to Gwyndolin, who was waving his golden scepter, and she nodded, a slight twitch of her head.
As predicted, when Gwyndolin flicked the head of his staff in their direction, disgust thick on his face, a bolt of shapeless blue magic burst from it, screaming down the hallway. Priscilla and mike smartly dodged it, skipping around the blue streak with ease. Priscilla's irritation only grew.
"Mike!" Priscilla called to her left. "I'm going to punch him!" A silver object flew at her from the other side of the hallway, glinting as it caught the light. Priscilla sagged slightly when its weight heavily added to hers. It turned out to be a slightly warm steel gauntlet, covered in small scratches and dents. Now mikes hands were both bare.
"Try to aim for the gut or an arm, I don't want to be responsible for killing a god!" Mike called back, a small grin present on his face. Priscilla slid on the oversized piece of armor and nodded. At that point, Gwyndolin was a matter of feet away, a confident smirk betraying his spellcasting. Before the god could complete the spell a pair of calloused hands grabbed the golden metal, roughly jerking it from his delicate hands. Gwyndolin cried out in surprise and outrage, his leg snakes hissing as he slid backwards.
"You stupid human! You will pay dearly for that mistake!" Mike hopped to the left smugly as a line of golden bolts assaulted the patch of air he'd previously occupied. It was then that Gwyndolin adopted his own smug grin, his eyes flicking to the end of his staff in Mikes hands. Mike followed his gaze to where the god was looking, his eyes widening as he saw what was at the tip.
A blue glow swelled around the end of Gwyndolin's staff, giving Mike enough time to look mildly surprised before he burst into a cloud of blue particles, even those flickering briefly before disappearing. Priscilla turned to Gwyndolin in a rage, her eyes expressing her emotions to him perfectly. Fury mixed with intense hatred for his hypocritical bigotry, a dark gleam of malice present in her normally relaxed, warm eyes.
With no means of teleporting Gwyndolin slithered backwards, a dark wooden crossbow gilded with fine gold filigree appearing in his pale hands. As he lined up his aim Priscilla noted a small flicker of fear warp his sneer, the twisted frown reappearing a second later. She passed off the look and continued running, keeping pace with the god easily. Her brows scrunched together in concentration as he pulled the release on his crossbow, letting fly tens of bolts per second.
His smug grin slowly transformed to shock as Priscilla effortlessly spun to the left, her hand outstretched. The bolts shattered off the thick gauntlet on her hand into a cloud of splintered gold and wood, a few catching in her fingers. In her fury, the intact pieces were launched at the god as she pulled up evenly with him, causing him to stagger as the sharp edges dug into his weak flesh.
And then, she jumped.
Suffice to say, the shrill yell that escaped Gwyndolin was one that Mike would later dearly wish he hadn't missed. The god went down under the heavier crossbreeds weight kicking and screaming, a barrage of insults spewing from his mouth like poison from – heh – a snake. Priscilla fought to keep his hands off her face, though they did little to actually annoy her, they were quite irritating dragging across her skin and scales.
"No! I will not allow such a horrid crossbre-"
Crack!
Gwyndolin's head spun to the right, a red handprint on his cheek. There was a loud ping from further down the hall as his spiked headdress fell to the ground, knocked completely from him. Priscilla leaned low to the startled gods face, which had become an image of surprise. In a low voice, she whispered, "insult me again. See what happens." Into his ear, his body shuddering as her hot breath touched his skin.
Priscilla gave a start as a loud noise sounded far above the two, echoing loudly through the hall. A moment later, Mike appeared to simply come into existence far above them, in the exact position he had been in when he'd disappeared.
"Don't move." Hissed Gwyndolin's feminine voice into Priscilla's ear, causing her to tense up. A cold, sharp point pressed into the skin just above her collarbone, drawing a tiny bead of crimson as it pierced her flesh. Still falling, Mike spun end on end through the air, flailing wildly for purchase where there was none. Priscilla clenched her eyes shut, anger and fear for Mike drawn across her face.
"Pbbbth." Priscilla and Gwyndolin both looked up sharply at the human made noise where mike had been. Standing tall, with a thick blue glow surrounding his feet, Mike stood with his arms crossed, glaring daggers at Gwyndolin. The god smirked from where he was on his back on the floor, a single golden bolt held up to Priscilla's neck.
"Wow." Mike began. "Using your own sister as a hostage. That's almost as bad as Velka."
Gwyndolin's face twisted with rage at the sound of his mother's name. "YOU WILL NOT-" The god took a deep breath, calming himself. "You will not speak Ill of her. If she burnt the painting, then so be it. Her judgement is such that she-" he indicated Priscilla "-must die. And so, she shall."
Mikes eyes widened as the golden bolt jerked forward, Gwyndolin's faith in his own mother such that he would see her will to completion despite his own personal safety. What happened next stunned him nearly as much as his first death.
"STOP IT!" Mike was violently slammed into a wall as a concussive wave of force slammed into him, a small crack sounding from his face. Magic hummed through the air alongside the force, causing him to slide along the wall away from where Priscilla was. Under her Gwyndolin writhed, a trickle of blood escaping his bent nose and flying down the hallway to splatter against the floor in the distance. His crown, some feet away, rolled further with a clang, and the bolt he'd held flew at the wall so fast it was reduced to a fine gold smear on the bricks, the wood bursting into a puff of brown dust that fell to the floor some thirty feet away.
When the pressure lifted, Priscilla staggered to her feet, Gwyndolin limp before her. Mike sipped a tiny amount of estus to reset his broken nose before skipping forward to catch her, her arms flopping tiredly against his shoulders as she leaned into him. The anger and rage faded from her face as she leaned into him, breathing heavily.
"I didn't break him too much..." Priscilla mumbled into Mike's shoulder, her steps uneven and weak as he pulled her toward the fallen god.
"I think the glove would've been less damaging then this…" Mike muttered in awe as he crouched to inspect Gwyndolin, his robes slowly turning red as blood trickled from his nostrils. Looking closer, Mike also noted red pooling in his ears, slowly dripping to the floor. With care he pulled down Gwyndolin's chin, letting a slow stream of estus in his mouth. After a few seconds, the bleeding began to taper off, stopping entirely not long after. Still somewhat out of it, Priscilla drunkenly leaned on Mike as he lifted Gwyndolin onto his left shoulder, the god surprisingly light.
Before they left the hall, which began to collapse into itself, Mike entered the back room and nicked the armor and miracle there, dropping both into his bottomless box before moving back the way they'd come.
"So what did you do back there?" Mike finally asked as they began ascending the winding stairs outside. Priscilla looked to be more lucid now, but still leaned into his side as they ascended.
"I- I don't know…" She said, concern in her voice. "I just… grew tired of listening to his hateful words, and something just… burst from me, pushing everything away."
Mike fell into contemplative silence. "Hm. It sounds, and appeared to be magical in nature. After we've introduced you, and properly restrained Gwyndolin, Would you mind if I inspected your soul?"
A slight blush tinted Priscilla's cheeks pink. "I- Certainly." She stuttered, turning away. Mike was far too deep into his thoughts to notice, or he was simply too dense.
The others perked up at the far end of the hall when they entered, signaled by the lizard group. It appeared the cluster that'd been atop the chandelier had awoken, and a small blue blur shot from the rubble almost instantly, trailing a high pitched squeal behind it.
Mike staggered as Lily slammed into his legs, tiny claws gripping him tightly. With her stubby arms, she pulled herself up his robes, her tail flicking back and forth relentlessly. "Don't worry." He said to the crossbreed, who was staring at Lily in shock. "She's quite safe, her name's Lily, and she appears to have missed me."
A new voice entered the conversation. "He-" Oscar froze, face betraying immense shock and terror as he took in Priscilla's appearance. Or, to be more precise, he noticed the spattering of white scales and horns across her forehead, tracing them down to her neck with wide eyes. His hand went immediately to his sword, a shout choking its way out of him.
"M-Mike! This is a dragon kin!"
Mikes muscles grew taut, his legs shifting to intercept any attack Oscar might make. He forced himself to speak calmly in return. "Oscar." He grit out through clenched teeth. "Stand down, now." The knight, looking about ready to dive forward onto the crossbreed, paused in confusion as Mike took a single, slow step towards him.
"She is not an enemy." Mike put emphasis on the 'she' part, a waved hand indicating Priscilla. In the few seconds when Oscar was turned away he carefully lowered his passenger to the ground, propping Gwyndolin up against a pillar before turning back to the knight. "She has had one hell of a week, so I would consider my next course of action carefully if I were you." Mike let his arms slowly turn to fire for emphasis, a small curl of smoke rising from his sleeves as he did so.
Oscar looked down, his eyes closing. Slowly he sheathed his sword, straightening into a rigid posture. He bowed once, rigidly, to Priscilla. When he spoke, his voice was strained. "I'm- Oscar, of Astora, miss…?"
"Priscilla." The crossbreed spoke softly, almost whispering. Oscar nodded, and turned back the way he'd come.
"I will finish and be prepared to move soon." He walked away quickly. Mike sighed, slinging an arm around Priscilla's shoulders.
"Don't worry about him." He said calmly. His arm, still a little warm, made Priscilla's shoulders tingle where they touched. "He's a little… uptight? Took a sword for me once without a word, but some things he's a little wary about. Good thing I didn't show him the black flame."
Priscilla nodded, leaning slightly to the side. Just as they prepared to head for the far end of the cathedral, another few undead showed up from around a column.
"Hello there!" Siegmeyer jovially called, waving an armored arm goofily. Solaire waved too, albeit a little less like Siegmeyer's wild flail.
Solaire came to a stop before Siegmeyer did, his eyes widening as he saw the top of Priscilla's head. The crossbreed cringed at what he might say. She, and Mike, were both startled when the knight fell to his knees, taking one of her hands as gently as though she was a newborn. When he spoke, he sounded as though he was near tears.
"I-" Solaire stopped, his voice cracking. "Miss, though I know you not, you are of the dragons, and it is with conviction that I lend you my sword and shield, need you they ever." Mike coughed wildly at the declaration, while Priscilla blushed three shades of red. When she pulled her hand away, it was alongside much stuttering.
"I- Thank you, k-kind sir. Please, I am merely a crossbreed, I require no such treatment." Mike crowed a little on the inside at the declaration, for a reason he couldn't properly put to words. Siegmeyer, finally having regained his breath, pulled himself into a puffed chest salute with his hands holding the hilt of his sword with the blade pointed out. With a swift, and surprisingly efficient movement Siegmeyer then returned the massive blade to its sheath.
"Welcome to our group miss!" The knight said a little over excitedly, one of his gauntleted arms shaking her hand vigorously. Priscilla looked like she didn't know what to make of him, the look turning to one of surprise as the gargoyles trotted over, following his voice.
"Oh, fathers creations!" Priscilla crouched to pet the gargoyles, Siegmeyer beaming at the two scaled humanoids. Standing somewhere around five feet tall in a crouch, which they preferred, the gargoyles were just a few inches short of Mike, roughly a head shorter than Priscilla and the knights. Along with them, Mike noticed the snake humanoid crouched behind them almost before it was too late, a shout and a kick alerting the others to its presence.
Wound up in its arms was a crackling bolt of lightning, which neared its fingers rapidly as Mike ran behind the gargoyles. In a split second he was close enough to grab its four arms in his own, two in each hand, and force them upwards, sending the lighting straight upward. The snake hissed angrily, going for a bite in his shoulder. Priscilla and the undead gasped as Mike let the snake chomp into him, piercing his robes with ease.
Mike snorted once and clamped a hand down on his shoulder, effectively sticking the snake there until he let go. "Its venom is no danger to me." He reassured the others when he saw their looks of shock. With Priscilla's help he was able to retie the lizard's hands, this time double knotting the rope.
"What is it?" Priscilla asked quietly, bending down to inspect the short humanoid. It regarded her with cold disdain, a menacing gleam in its eyes.
"Presumable something Seath made. It can shoot magic lightning from its arms, so I was going to study it when I had the chance."
Priscilla nodded, causing a sudden shift in the lizard. A wide, terror filled look caused it to step back in shock as the crossbreed was staring at it, its arms shaking wildly in an attempt at taking its ropes off. When it couldn't do that, it began to push itself backwards with its legs, its eyes wide with terror.
"I- what happened to it?!" Priscilla exclaimed in shock as Mike lunged, grabbing it with a strong grip. Roughly he pried it from the floor, pulling it forward. The snake shook wildly when it neared Priscilla, its neck frills curling to cover some of its face. Siegmeyer looked in on the whole situation and calmly observed the snake.
"I think its scared of you miss." Siegmeyer said slowly. He squinted at the snake for a minute before nodding. "Perhaps it is due to your similar heritage? Mayhaps it sees you as a more superior reptile, and therefore believes it has angered you."
Understanding entered the crossbreed and Mike's eyes. He held it steady as she crouched, looking the snake in the eye. "Hey." She said softly. It had curled its neck flaps around its face, and was looking down as best as it could. A gentle hand caused it to jerk in Mike's grip, resisting her little as she pulled its head up to look at her.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Priscilla said softly, letting her hand gently run down the back of its neck. A small tremor shook the snake, despite the terror in its eyes. That having failed, Priscilla calmly reached over to Mike, rummaging through his bottomless box for a moment before coming up with a small knife. As slowly as she could she edged the blade forward, pressing it to the tight knots in the rope around the snakes hand. It jerked when the blade made contact with its skin, the smooth cold causing it to tremble with renewed ferocity.
Priscilla calmly cut the bindings on the snake's hands, lightning never once crackling down its wrists. When she finally cut the last section a small jerk pulled the hands loose, all four immediately going to where Mike had it by the shoulders.
In a final move of kindness to the terrified snake, Priscilla gently touched its shoulder, looking sternly at Mike as she did so. He released the snake without hesitation, letting Priscilla pull it forward. It looked conflicted, nervously hunched and fidgeting with its hands, though it never tried to break from her light grip.
With quick, smooth movements Priscilla leaned forward and embraced the snake, causing a startles hiss to escape it. Its eyes jerked around wildly, filled with confusion. Mike and Siegmeyer looked on, Mike watching the snake for danger while Siegmeyer smiled widely at Priscilla. When she pulled away the snake looked at her with confusion and awe, acknowledging her as the stronger, 'better' creation of Seath's.
It collapsed.
"Goddammit." Mike swore, catching the snake before it hit the floor. Priscilla gasped softly.
"What happened?!" She asked, her eyes wide.
"It must've been under a lot of stress, to it you must've seemed a god." Siegmeyer explained. Priscilla nodded along slowly, a look of distaste crossing her features at being called a god. It was then that a loud, boisterous voice echoed down the hall to them.
"…WHERE IS SHE?!" Priscilla seemed to perk up at the sound, Mike, Solaire, and Siegmeyer doing the opposite. The grating voiced caused the three to tense up, their hands drawing their individual weapons. Priscilla, however, recognized the voice.
"Jeremiah!" She exclaimed, turning to the far end of the hall. Mike understood instantly, turning with her.
"That's the body that was with me." He explained to Siegmeyer and Solaire as they broke into a brisk walk. Mike grabbed Gwyndolin as they passed. When they turned the nearest column, they were greeted with the sight of Oscar and Laurentius restraining a fiery tempered Jeremiah, literally. Every so often the man's skin would flicker briefly before releasing wild blasts of flame that scorched Oscar's armor and caused Laurentius to skitter away from the orange flames until they died down.
Jeremiah continued to thrash like a trapped animal until Priscilla ran over, running straight for the yellow clad man. Oscar stepped back a step involuntarily, wary of the fast moving crossbreed.
"Jeremiah!" Priscilla yelled out as she jumped onto him, embracing him tightly. Jeremiah looked at her new side for a few seconds, before embracing her back with a slightly stunned look.
"Priscilla, you're…" Priscilla nodded.
"It was-" She paused, a shiver going through her. "Velka." She said coldly, her look hardening. A moment later she was wracked with another shiver, her hands going to the twin handprint scars on her collarbone.
"So it was her." Jeremiah said slowly, a thoughtful look coming to his face. Mike coughed, breaking the following silence.
Jeremiahs reaction was instant. Apparently still wary of the dark witch, he grabbed Priscilla by the shoulder, pushing her back as he stepped forward. "You! Who are you, undead?!"
"Jeremiah!" Priscilla exclaimed, much like a daughter would to her embarrassing dad. "He's the one that saved me and you! Stop pointing your pyromancy at him!"
Mike watched he'd the quick to anger pyromacer with a bemused look as Priscilla forced his outstretched right palm down. "I sure did." He said as he walked forward, calmly throwing an arm around Priscilla. "Even pulled you from between worlds after Velka burned the painting to ash."
This seemed to wake Jeremiah from his anger induced stupor, opening his eyes to his surroundings. Both seemed to bug out of his skull as he slowly turned a full circle, taking in the cathedral and its inhabitants. When he turned back to Mike, he seemed to be an entirely different person, a look of calm settled over his features.
"I- sorry about that…" He mumbled. "The uh, the chaos, it messes with me sometimes."
Mike nodded. "I can fix that." (Holes reference woo.) Jeremiah seemed confused as Mike casually walked over to Laurentius and Logan, who were tensely watching the conversation. "Jeremiah, Logan of Vinheim and Laurentius of The Great Swamp. These two woke you from your comatose state, which you were in for a few days, and they have my notes on chaos reversal." The mages handed over the papers carefully, additional notes added in dark blue ink.
One by one he introduced the others as he approached the bipolar pyromacer. "Oscar and Solaire of Astora, Siegmeyer-"
"-of Catarina!" Siegmeyer chuckled.
"-and the unusual number of lizard like creatures we have amassed are mostly unnamed, excepting Lily." Lily acknowledged Jeremiah with a lazy stare, before returning to her position curled up on Mike's shoulder. "Anyway, I managed to purify a really tiny piece of chaos tainted soul, so hopefully we can get you fixed. It might not be quick though, fixing such a small piece took three or four hours, not counting the magic it took to power it."
Jeremiah looked over the notes with a keen eye when Mike handed them to him, before handing them back with a nod. "I can't read a run on them."
"Oh." Mike put the notes into his bottomless box for the moment. "Well anyway, YOU GUYS CAN STOP STARING, and nice to meet you. I'm Mike, of Earth."
Jeremiah shook Mike's hand with a firm, warm grip. A small smile coming to his face. "Sorry, if I seem a bit awkward." He said sheepishly. "I haven't seen people in oh, five or six hundred years, give or take a century." Mike nodded.
"Priscilla was exactly the same." He pointed to the crossbreed, who nervously fidgeted. "But now she's kicked Gwyndolin's ass almost alone, so that seems to have made up for it." Jeremiah made a gagging, choking sound as Mike casually mentioned the god. It was then that he noticed the lump slung over the undead's shoulder, shrouded in white cloth.
"You mean…?!" He pointed at the lump with surprise.
"Yep. Also, Gwyndolin is a boy, but was raised female because of some birthdate thing. Dunno. He also has these." Jeremiah yelled out as Mike lifted the white dress, revealing a set of light green snakes dangling from the gods lower half.
"You- you haVE A GOD!"
Priscilla slapped a hand over his mouth, but it was too late. The others jerked up at the exclamation, all looking to Mike. Gasps filled the air as they made their way over, Jeremiah suddenly ignored.
"Truly?!" Siegmeyer, surprisingly, was the first to stop in front of Mike. Said undead sighed heavily.
"I had been hoping to announce this in a little better of a setting, but YES." Holding both hands above his head, Mike turned in a slow circle, giving the others a glimpse of the god, who flopped forward in his hands. "THIS IS GWYNDOLIN, THE DARK SUN. PRISCILLA BEAT HIM UP. I REITERATE, STOP STARING"
Priscilla let out a startled yelp. "N-no I didn't!" She exclaimed.
"Did too."
"I-I…" Mike slung Gwyndolin back onto his left shoulder and made his way to Priscilla, poking her in the shoulder.
"Totally messing with you." He said jokingly. To the others, "She did, but it wasn't for no reason. He kind of tried to kill us for being alive, in Priscilla's case at least. It was only a matter of time, and at least now we don't have to backtrack through a bunch of enemies to get him."
"What do you plan to do with… him?" Oscar asked slowly. Even though they had already defied one god, this one was legitimate blooded royalty, giving the usually stoic knight pause.
"Inaugurate him into my cult." Oscars look burned a hole into his forehead. "Fine. Mostly we're just going to convince him to play nice and not kill Priscilla. And I kind of feel bad for him."
Oscar heaved a sigh.
"Fine. Am I correct in assuming he is merely passed out?"
"That Priscilla did. Some sort of telekinesis bullshit that I most definitely want to copy." Priscilla shrunk under the sudden glances from the others.
"Tele-what?" Logan asked.
"Some sort of manipulation of darkness used to directly move objects without touching them. The idea was present where I come from, it just didn't exist though. My assumption is that perhaps the stress caused her to tap into residual darkness from where Velka's soul was. Also, Velka ripped a chunk of soul from her that she originally planted when Priscilla was a baby. I think that covers most of it."
Priscilla subconsciously placed a hand over the scars on her neck. "I- So that was what it was…" She mumbled.
"Oh! So also, I tapped into the dark in my soul in the painted world, so this." Mike held up an orb of reddish black flame, which instantly hooked Jeremiah and Laurentius.
"Admittedly, I didn't think you'd actually do it." Oscar said as he stared in fear and slight attraction to the dark orb. Mike snuffed it out and again held up Gwyndolin.
"Anyway, I'm going to wake this guy up now, so everyone be quiet." He laid Gwyndolin against a column, making sure the bindings on his hands were secure around the pillar before a large, filth stained club from his satchel. After waving it under the god's nose for a second, coughing erupted from his chest.
"Where…. Where am I?"
