Seya sprinted at what she considered to be moderate speeds, zooming past the leaders of the pack and even past Cynthia's team.
"Sorry! I'll have to pull ahead." Was all she said as she ran.
John could only stare in disbelief before bursting out laughing. Cynthia angrily scowled and urged her team to move faster.
Seya had time to think to herself, feeling the wind flow through her hair and buffet her face and body as she ran. The only sounds being the wind whipping and whooshing in her ears and her feet pounding on the ground. Eventually, she began to hear a similar rapid tapping, looking ahead, she saw Donovan, his running elegant and natural, almost like a deer striding through a glen. Shaking her head at this, Seya slowly overtook Donovan. He turned his head, nearly flinching as he saw her catching up. Smiling, he asked, "Oh, so you really, really, don't want that date huh…"
Seya ignored him, inching past him as she sprinted along. To her surprise, he began to keep pace.
"I'll have you know women don't enjoy men being this forward," Seya muttered, picking up speed slightly.
"Haha! That's unfortunate, I'm quite persistent. And the last time I took a back seat in romance, I lost my fiance." Donovan laughed as he picked up the pace, remaining close behind Seya.
"Well, wasn't she fortunate then for that breakup."
"I wouldn't say that…" Donovan's voice rose to a playful tone, "After a~ll, she's dead!"
Seya didn't speak for a while, before answering, "And how am I supposed to answer that?"
Donovan simply laughed, "Ah! I knew it, you're a bit like me. You don't really care about other people."
Seya swung her fist at Donovan with enough force to break his nose, knocking him back. After observing him haughtily, she turned and continued to sprint. Towards the finish line, his words left her irritated.
"I'm not like you at all, you reject…" She muttered angrily.
~ How dare he! I didn't want to be this. I was dying and this was a lifeline, but it turned me into a monster! These thoughts echoed in her head as a memory flashed in her head.
Seya looked at her concerned father. At that time, Lord Jaya was only known as Durant. The noble house he came from had lost its standing in the empire 4 decades ago, and he had only been a middling mage in the Empire's academy and forces. He proved himself good at magical research, and too valuable to be put unto the task of discovering the "NAME". But that was also more than a decade ago, the Empire had fallen, and Galbatorix had been slain by the Riders and by the combined efforts of the elves, dwarves, and human rebels. There was a new queen, and she, with the help of the Rider Eragon, had offered a way to free all who surrendered from their oath to Galbatorix. Lord Jaya, who's sickly wife was the most important thing on his mind, had apparently readily surrendered all his knowledge and had his oath recanted readily. He had then devoted himself to this new kingdom as a diligent mage and researcher. At least, that is what he told his daughter when she was younger.
"Are you sure this is going to work Mendel?" Jaya asked with trepidation as he looked at a mage with soft brown hair and large spectacles.
"Of course, I spent years researching it, and I have all the notes from Galbatorix's best mages, we'll be able to save your daughter, in fact, she'll be stronger than ever."
The three of them were in a dark room, the only lights being several enchanted crystal orbs that glowed in different colors and intensity. Seya was inside a large glass tube, submerged in a liquid, for some reason, despite there not being an air pocket, she was able to breathe, it had at first been uncomfortable, all the water in her lungs moving in and out filled her with pain at first, but at the moment, even though it felt uncomfortable, it no longer hurt. She reached out her hand to the edge of the glass, her father, smiling, reached his hand out to hers. Perhaps it was simply an illusion, but she felt like she could feel his warmth from the outside.
"Don't worry my daughter, I will save you."
Seya had been sick, she had been sick since she turned 3, the mages couldn't figure out what happened, all they knew, and all she knew, was that her mom had been really sick too, and just after she was born, her mom died.
While on a hospital bed, she had once looked up at her dad. Jaya used to smile, he smiled sadly sometimes, and happily at others, but he always smiled to let her know she would be alright. He hadn't smiled in a long time.
"Daddy…" she asked, "Am I going to die?"
"Oh… my little night sky, no… you won't daddy will find a way to cure you, and you won't feel sick anymore." Jaya looked down at his daughter, his eyes bloodshot as he did his best to give a facsimile of a smile.
"But… mommy was sick too." Jaya couldn't respond, he was simply silent as he hugged his little girl. Seya felt sad, confused, and scared, sniffling, she asked, "Did… did I take mommy away?" She had overheard mages proficient in healing and medicine talking about how her mother was sick, too sick to survive childbirth.
"No!" Jaya said sharply, "no, you didn't take mommy away, she loved you, and really wanted you, we really wanted you, she wanted to show you her home town, her favorite foods, how to sow, how to dance, magic, if you are able to cast it. She wanted to show you everything in the whole wide world, and I wanted to help her show you. Mommy was sick for a long time, it's not your fault, and it will never be your fault." Jaya had hugged his daughter tighter, but for some reason, his kind words seemed to make Seya feel worse.
Mendel had approached them at that time. He had offered a way to cure Seya, and Jaya took his offer, together, they began desperately searching for a cure. For some reason though, her dad had been acting weird lately. She remembered a woman with red hair and red eyes that made dad act weird, and she didn't like the lady, even though she'd always smile at Seya. The lady had big canines, she was scary.
But Seya got sicker, and one day, while Jaya was researching in their home, Seya started vomiting blood and collapsed, she had lost so much blood, so much that she thought she would drown in it. As if a spell was released, Jaya became determined to save Seya on his own and avoided that red-haired woman and Mendel. That was, until Mendel came, claiming he found the cure…
"The liquid is suffused with magic used to heal, it will find the impurity in her body, and heal her." Mendel had said, smiling.
After a few more hours, Seya was released from the tank.
"Daddy, I don't feel hurt anymore!" Jaya smiled, tears in his eyes as he embraced his child. The last thing she saw for a while after that was Jaya's face twisting in terror and hurt, and her world turning red as she puked blood again…
Seya shuddered slightly from the memory, almost tasting the coppery, coin-like liquid filling her mouth again.
"Jeez, honey… that hurt."
Seya turned angrily to see Donovan, eyes smiling even as he had his hand covering his nose, blood oozed below his cupped hand and dripped off his chin. "You're tenacious, and that's not a compliment."
Seya picked up the pace, reaching levels of speed only athletes trained for sprinting could reach, speeds they could only be able to hold for at most 30 seconds to a minute. After a few minutes of silence. The familiar rapid tapping was heard. She turned in disbelief to see Donovan, arms pumping and legs pistoning as he cut through the air, catching up to, gaining on, then surpassing her.
"At this point, I think you aren't going to take me up on that date." Donovan was breathing hard, but his eyes were alert as he smiled, "But I think you'll definitely hate it if I win now, which I think makes me feel a lot better." He winked, "Great form, by the way, you have really great running legs." He licked his lips, wiping away some of the blood.
Seya felt an above-average feeling of loathing for this person, this boy, that would dare to continue to bother her. She had made it clear more than once that she wouldn't tolerate it again. She picked up the pace, surpassing human levels of speed as she quickly caught up, slowing down just a bit, she was right behind Donovan.
Donovan chuckled, "Oh, you're really close behind me baby, am I that magnetic?" Seya's reply was a fast swipe to the back of his neck as if he expected it, Donovan ducked and tumbled, extending his leg out to trip up Seya.
"Slow… painfully slow," Seya muttered, leaping over the leg and releasing a spinning kick into Donovan, who moved from his tumble into a miniature summersault, avoiding the attack with his momentum. He rolled and rose, skidding slightly.
"Yeeesh…." He hissed as he looked at his forearms and elbows, the dirt and stone scraped the skin off in some places and he was bleeding on his broken nose. "You're really feisty." He looked over at Seya, who glared at him. He got into a boxing stance, shifting his body and lowering his center of gravity as he slightly bent his knees and got on his tiptoes.
Seya eyed him wordlessly, changing her evaluation of him slightly.
~He's standing a bit like Faris the first time I fought him.
Charging forward, Seya grabbed Donovan's neck before he could react, slamming him into the ground. She found herself smirking as he cried out in pain. Feeling her heart race, she cooled down, wiping her smile from her face and speaking gruffly. "I don't know what your problem is, I don't know what mental malady afflicts you, but if you say another word, I'll break the smallest bone you have in your finger, then move up in size, till I've broken the bones in your fingers, then toes, then move up your limbs, do I make myself clear?"
"You really don't want that date do you?" Donovan said, smiling.
Seya's response was to break all the individual bones in his left pinky and ring fingers, eight in total. She watched with interest as Donovan grinned at her, using it to bear his teeth and hide his grimace. "You know what, fuck it, you want that date? Fine, I'll let you go, and we'll have this fucking race, if you win, I'll go on that stupid outing, if I win, I'll shatter these arms and legs of yours."
Donovan smiled brightly, "Okay." He winced as she snapped the first bone of his left middle finger.
"No talking, nod, or shake your head." Seya let him go and stood up, sprinting back into the track, she ran at full tilt now, running for real at this moment with speeds comparable to that of elves.
Grinning to herself, she ran, for one minute, two minutes, half an hour, yet every time she looked back, she did not see Donovan. She was almost disappointed as she didn't see him.
"Hmph."
She slowed down to normal jogging speeds. At this point, if she kept going at that speed, people would begin to find her rate suspicious. Jogging, she allowed herself to fall into the silent rhythm of her jogging pace. Her silence was cut short by two sounds.
"What the…"
The rapid pattering of feet.
"You must be joking…"
She turned behind her as the second sound seemed to buzz by her ear. The sound of electricity arcing through the air, a humming, crackling noise that reminded her of some of the experiments in Mendel's research lab, and of the experiments with lightning and electricity she'd seen Morgan gushing over ad nauseam, turning around, she saw Donovan, sprinting at superhuman speed, rapidly gaining on her. Seya returned to her full sprinting speed. But even then, Donovan was gaining on her.
"What the hell are you?!" She demanded.
Donovan smirked, electricity arcing off of him whenever his feet hit the ground. As he got closer, Seya's hair began to stand on end and the smell of ozone filled the air near Donovan.
"I'm a tough bastard…" He murmured, sprinting past Seya, who stared in disbelief, determining whether or not to activate her enhancement.
"Oh, also!" Donovan called out, "I like black or red, also, make sure you wear a dress that shows a ton of cleavage, show off your body, give me a fun time!"
Seya smiled widely, her hair turning white and eyes glowing gold. She rushed past Donovan, throwing a quick jab to his side as she sprinted past him. After another few minutes, she began to slow down again, but just as she did, she saw Donovan, engulfed in blue lightning rushing towards her. Seya, activating her enhancement again, grit her teeth and began to sprint at full speed. "You're a pig…"
"Oh?" Donovan grinned, "That's the third nicest thing a girl other than my late fiance has ever told me." He attempted to pull ahead but was immediately tripped by an invisible barrier of magic. He slammed into the ground.
Seya sprinted ahead, rushing forward, eventually slowing down as she deactivated her enhancement. She saw the gates to the kingdom and the flinching guards who cleared a wide berth to allow her through. The crowd cheered as she passed through the victory circle. As the large frames projected her face, the announcer called out.
"W-winner! Seya Malor Jaya! Daughter of Durant Kuwait Jaya! Beating the record set by L-Liefen Fleetfoot… an elf!"
Seya felt a deep pit in her stomach as she saw the confusion and fear in the citizens' eyes...
…
Vulcan handled the pommel of his war hammer grimly as he looked at the werecat with a spotted white coat of fur.
"And you are certain it was a Ra'zac?"
It is what the human kit… err, Faris, said. Minnie replied.
Vulcan shook his head, if a Ra'zac was involved, the guards and Faris would likely be collecting corpses instead of rescuing children, but would also be in great danger. "Thank you for the information." He said, turning to the mages and full-fledged knights that made up his entourage.
"Let us hope we are not too late…"
Faris was engulfed by darkness as he sat in a nondescript room.
"You're painfully floundering like a moron."
Faris turned around he saw what appeared to be himself, but with scarlet hair and eyes, and antlers that stretched out into the darkness of the room.
"You…" He widened his eyes in surprise. His voice seemed to be reverberating around his head, like a man speaking into a large empty room.
"Yes, me," Tartarus said. He smirked as Faris took a guarded stance, and laughed as Faris flinched.
"You look like me. Why?" Faris's voice echoed through the emptiness of his mindscape, a black void empty of the energy that used to exist before.
"Because," Tartarus began, materializing a blade. "Unfortunately for me, we've commingled, we're inseparable, mixed in too deeply." He pointed a pale finger at Faris, And unfortunately for you, a shard of the blade designed to cut through, absorb, and damage magic is in your chest.
Faris recalled the curved blade that stabbed into his heart.
"Of course, it is also my fault, had I quietly returned ownership to you instead of attempting suicide, the malady would not be as catastrophic as it is now."
"What malady..."
"The disease of your blood Faris, you can't cast magic, because your heart circulates and pumps the same enchanted objects used to kill dragons and seal magic, you won't be able to cast a spell unless a miracle occurs."
Faris bristled, "How am I even alive then!?"
"They did their best to save you, and you aren't exactly completely human anymore, brat."
"..."
"Werecat got your tongue?"
"It explains why I feel nothing when it comes to magic, but then, why do I give off the same… feeling as that tool utilized to hide those assassin's presence against the magic detection?"
"Also because of me. Imagine yourself as a broken vase, leaking your essence outside until it is completely empty. I cannot fix it, I can only attempt to repair it, but even then, there's not much I can do other than to place your broken vessel inside another broken vessel of almost the same size, again, and again, and again, hoping the overlaps block all of your essences inside. Interestingly, you transformed from a leaking vessel to a slightly leaking sponge, and now absorb minute bits of the residue left off when a spell is cast."
"Residue?"
"All spells leave off a trace of their energy, I'm sure you've realized, that signature that informs you of the mage who cast it somewhat? The energy in this signature, no matter how minute, is still energy that can be absorbed, in a normal condition, it wouldn't matter to one such as ourself, but…" He smirked, "This city has a high concentration of mages, and your betrothed has had the presence of mind to surreptitiously attempt to give you large gouts of energy, most of it escapes, but I'm able to capture a precious few percentages, which I used to reinforce your failing vessel. You should thank us, we saved your life, no creature on this planet can survive for long with such a vessel as yours."
Faris's eyes widened, "A way to… absorb the energy of released spells… that could mean reducing the cost of spells cast by increasing their efficiency, and absorbing the power of spells cast on or against oneself."
"Bask in my genius child, for I utilized the information you gained from your pitiful existence, and now I reap my benefits."
"Give me back my body."
"After all the work I put in? No, I will enjoy my time under the sun, at least until the energy I amassed dissipates, besides, I'm saving your life, don't you remember?"
Faris's mind began to flood with memories. "NO!" He screamed, charging the shade. Immediately, a great pressure-filled the room, and he was knocked down. He attempted to fight against it, physically, mentally but could do nothing.
"This is the mindscape boy… you know how this goes, a mental field where we wrestle for control of the ego and id. Last two times we clashed, you were aided, by ghosts, by a split self, you are alone, and those… things, have no ability to act in a mind and body as broken as yours, you must have realized how murderous you've been acting as of recently? Is this rage fully yours?"
"Shut… up!" Faris shouted, struggling, he began to slowly rise. He reached halfway before the shade sighed dismissively, the pressure doubled, forcing him to the ground.
"Just sleep for a while, it's too late to save those guards, but at least you might live, if you don't get in my way, in fact, I'm feeling so charitable I might just not murder those children…" The shade smirked and began to turn transparent. As he did, Faris began to see the outside world as if through a screen, he could control nothing, but could touch, smell, see, hear, and taste the outside world in a muted sense, he attempted to move his arms and legs, but nothing changed on the screen. He felt his head turn, and watched as his eyes turned to face Alpha and Gamma, watched as he charged forward, no longer in control of his own body…
Alpha and Gamma watched in interest as the shade charged towards them. The green-tinted blood that surrounded the room gave off no feeling of magic, and their wards gave no alarm of spells being cast that attacked them.
"He's…" Gamma began.
"Slow, almost as slow as normal humans." Alpha finished, frowning. "How boring." She extended her hand. "Jierda." Tartarus's face was grim as he stumbled, falling forward and tumbling into their direction.
"Oh? Hahaha!" Gamma laughed, pointing at the collapsed shade. "That was-"
"Something's wrong!" Alpha interrupted, Gamma turned too late to see Tartarus swing his blade, lopping off her index finger. Gamma's screams and curses of pain were cut short as Tartarus prepared to swing down on her head.
Alpha rushed in, punching Tartarus hard enough to send him flying. He landed, standing and observing his broken arm, after a few seconds it twisted and bent back into shape, leaving only a small bruise.
"Gaagh…. ahh!" Gamma screamed, "It's not healing!" Alpha turned in shock, Gamma was still bleeding profusely from the stump of her finger the healing was coming along, but it was slow, painfully slow. Alpha turned back towards Tartarus. Tartarus stared at her with a stern blank face, then the corners of his lips began to fidget as he formed a smile.
"Something funny, bastard?"
Tartarus replied slowly, "a little, just had a heart to heart." He looked around the room, whistling. "Wow, you guys were busy. How did you prepare this room?"
"Shut up!" Gamma screamed, extending her hands to her vines. Despite her best attempts, they did not move, she did not feel her energy being used either to move them. "What did you do?!" She turned to face Tartarus, flinching as she saw how close he was.
Alpha struck him again, but this time, Tartarus retaliated with a sword swing, leaving a gash in Alpha's forearm. He narrowed his eyes, "You have tough skin." He looked at the short sword, it was chipped in the areas he used to cut Gamma and Alpha.
Alpha didn't reply, instead, she recited every killing and damaging spell she knew in the ancient language, and frowned as nothing happened. "What did you do?"
Tartarus's face twisted into disbelief. "Are you stupid? Or just ignorant? Why the hell would I give you that answer?" Taking out his own short sword, Tartarus twirled it. Pointing the tip of the chipped one at Gamma, he held the other one at his shoulder. "We are enemies in battle, there's no point in any real pleasantries." He charged forward once more.
Gamma leapt back as far as she could, whilst Alpha grabbed a spear and charged forward. She started with a wide sweep with the butt of the spear, aiming for his feet. Tartarus vaulted over her, swinging his blade mid flip. Ducking out of the way, Alpha attempted to backstab. Tartarus used the chipped short sword to deflect the spear point but was surprised as she overpowered his one-handed deflection. He pulled back his other arm, launching the short sword towards Alpha. As the spear pierced his shoulder and pinned him to the wall, his short sword pierced Alpha's side.
She screamed out in pain, coughing up blood for the first time in a long time. Tartarus grinned, pulling out the spear, green-tinted blood oozed from his wound but had already begun to heal. He twirled the spear, pointing its bloody end towards Alpha, who grabbed the short sword and launched it back at him. Tartarus leapt to the side instinctively, and Alpha charged at him while he was midair. Tartarus thrust the spear mid-air into the ground, the spear bent and snapped, but shifted his momentum, allowing him to dodge Alpha's charge. He held onto both halves of the broken spear, charging Alpha and attacking with a twirling motion.
Alpha blocked and dodged his swings, moving with speed. As she attempted her own retaliatory blows he was always just barely out of reach. Growing irritated she charged forward. Tartarus readied himself cocking back his arm holding the spear end, he charged forward, aiming for her chest. Alpha extended her right palm, catching the blade in it, she winced as the blade easily pierced her skin, but smirked as it caught itself in her hand. Tartarus widened his eyes.
"I learned this move from you," Alpha said, swinging her other hand forward. Tartarus went flying, crashing into the furthest wall and falling, his arm hung limply. "I noticed, you always slow down when you begin to heal. So, even if I can't heal at the moment, I'll just trade you blow for blow." She charged forward, not even pulling out the spear blade piercing her right hand. Tartarus dodged with a short hop, tossing the other end of the spear at her. She batted away the useless thing and swung at him. Grabbing the fist with his working arm, Tartarus flipped her over. Running forward, he kneed Alpha in the face. Blood spilled out from her nose, but he saw her smirking as she kicked him, knocking him to the ground. She charged forward straddling him to choke him out. Tartarus attempted to overpower her grip, but failing in that, reached into his pack, taking out a needle he jammed it into her right ear.
Alpha screamed in agony, grip loosening. This gave Tartarus enough time to push her off then kick with all his might, launching her a few feet back. As he attempted to recover he felt an explosion of pain all over his back as Gamma, coming out from behind him, smashed a mace into his back. As he hit the ground he saw her raise the mace from the corner of his eye. Despite his protesting body, he rolled out of the way. Extending his legs, he kicked with all his might, dislocating Gamma's jaw. As Gamma fell, she dropped the mace. Tartarus grabbed it, swinging to smash unto her head. Gamma blocked with both her arms. The mace shattered, but Gamma screamed, her hands mangled and forelimbs broken. Using the wooden shaft as a baton, Tartarus began smacking the now defenseless Gamma in the head repeatedly before bringing down the blunt end against her throat. He heard a scream, turning just in time to see Alpha wielding his short sword. Tartarus fell to the side in an attempt to dodge, stabbing out with the stick, he caught Alpha in the throat, but she kicked him viciously in the gut, launching him into the wall. The three monsters groaned in agony as they each struggled to their feet. But only one was laughing as well.
"What… is so funny…" Alpha groaned as she slowly rose from the ground. She was bleeding in multiple places and had a massive bruise on her neck, it hurt when she dry swallowed, and it felt like not enough air reached her lungs. She had trouble standing straight, the destruction of her eardrum led to a balance issue, and she felt like if she moved too quickly, she'd stumble over and fall. Her eyes were full of fury. In opposition, Gamma's eyes were dull and full of pain, her stump finger had just stopped bleeding, yet now both hands were nearly crushed beyond repair. She struggled to get to her feet, but without the use of her arms, she fell over quickly. Tartarus however was laughing louder as he observed their injured forms. His echoing, haunting laugh sending chills down their spines.
"You said I slow down when I need to heal…" He smirked, "that was a lie." He winced as his limbs began to snap back into place. "See…" he muttered, "you fight monsters like a monster."
"You!" Alpha was inflamed, she stumbled forward, breaking into a sprint. Tartarus leaned back, dodging her clumsy swipe and kicked forward, catching her in the neck. Gamma, watching this, slammed her fist down in anger cracking and crushing part of the floor, age screamed out in agony before turning silent.
Ignoring Gamma, Tartarus focused on Alpha's writhing form. "Yes? Do you have a question? I charge by the hour for my consultations." Tartarus kicked her in the gut, flipping her over. He casually walked over to one of the guard's corpses, picking up the sword in the best condition. "If you can't pay, I'll have to collect my fees in a different way. I think your life can serve as decent collateral." He smiled brightly. His hand was shaking slightly, frowning he raised his sword to cut down Alpha, he didn't have much time left.
He was interrupted by a vine wrapping around his forearm. He chopped it, turning to Gamma, who grinned viciously, her hair was glowing white and her eyes were a shining leaf green as vines extended from the cracks in the ground she made. She launched the vines forward. Tartarus dodged them and noticed how she was only
Able to change their direction from the base. "I see you've figured things out a bit."
His blood, Faris's blood, absorbed and nullified magic. He had bled himself originally to both allow him to cast a few simple spells, and to spread this dampening effect. The enhanced children, and shades for that manner, had great physical strength naturally as a result of their transformation, a physical might that was somewhat independent of their bodies suffused with magic. Tartarus's body was weak, and even as a Shade, the ravages of his condition left him weaker than even the strongest of humans, only being somewhat stronger than the current human Faris. But he still had the Shade's regeneration. That had been his advantage. But now Gamma had discovered the barrier's weakness. If a part of the formation was destroyed, in that immediate area, she could access magic. He watched as she extended a vine to Alpha, cursing as he cut through the vines.
Alpha quickly recovered and immediately launched flames from her position. Within the field, the flames began to rapidly lose size and dissipate, but the room was small enough that they'd still hit the walls. Glancing behind him, Tartarus saw the evaporated section, more and more of his barrier was destroyed. As Tartarus dodged, he felt something brush up against his leg, looking down, he saw one of the children. Groaning in irritation, he turned to see Alpha conjuring an extremely large fireball.
"Alpha!" Gamma shouted fearfully, "The doctor said-"
But Alpha launched the blast of fire, ignoring Gamma.
Tartarus reached into Faris's pack, finding a packet of pellets. Grimacing, he shoved several into his mouth, chewing and swallowing. As a disciple of Angela, Faris was privy to a few potions, brews, and concoctions. Feeling the short term burst of energy, Tartarus tightened his grip on the blade and began to swing with reckless abandon. He immediately felt his muscles tearing as he ignored his body's limits, and felt the air in front of him swirl and woosh violently. The pockets and vacuum of air he created helped disperse the flames, but he was still hit immediately by the intense heat, luckily for him, it did not extend past him to hurt the child. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Ra'zac, staring at him intensely.
"Eyes here…" Alpha slammed him to the ground. Unable to lift his sword and with barely enough energy to maintain control, Tartarus simply stared at Alpha, who looked at him as a psychopathic child looked at a fly. "How to kill you…" Alpha smirked, "do you have any tricks left you'd like to show?"
Tartarus sighed, "I wish." Alpha's reply was to snap his left arm. Tartarus groaned.
"He… protected the children." The Ra'zac said. "And you… tried to kill them."
"Who cares?" Alpha rolled her eyes, she then stood up. "Who the hell cares if a bunch of raggedy orphans die? They're just going to die in Mendel's experiments anyway."
"W-what?!" The Ra'zac struggled against the vines.
"Yup, those kids you 'saved'? They're destined to die anyway." Alpha chuckled at the Ra'zac's subdued reaction. "So, who actually cares if those brats die?"
A war hammer slammed into Alpha, knocking her over. As the hammer twirled in the air it returned to a stout, tanned hand. Staring grimly into the room, the Dwarven Rider, Vulcan, spoke, "I care, aye, I care if those kids die…"