Legal Poo: I don't own digimon. Hell, I wish I did 'cuz I'd get rich but I don't. I'm writing this fic without their permission and neither wind nor rain nor bloodsucking lawyer will get in my way. On the other hand, the new stuff I write into this fic is mine and it'll always be. You can write about it if you ask me first though. I also don't own Shastina or Tao. If any of you wonder, I developed Faelie off that rather daring girl on the coaster on the second Daemon Corps episode. Maybe a bit humor heavy (or worse yet, not funny at all) but I couldn't resist. =) This chapt is a bit short, just to keep you all sated while I think of ideas. =)
Blade of Destiny
Chapter VII: Fearless
With all the patience and delicacy in the world, Rina touched another dab of paint on the branches that had materialized on her paper in the past several hours. The petals, fresh and pink, appeared on the paper upon the branches, each one placed precisely, each one textured as far as the water color could manage. The bubbling brook, the path and the bridge were already in place. A pavilion would soon rise up in the background with two figures in it. As she rendered the scene stuck in her mind since her computer had acted on its own to give her the strange artifact now sitting on her cluttered desk, she wondered what exactly it was. Somehow, she didn't think it was dangerous to her, even if it was shocking to have something appear in your hand after having a vision in front of your computer.
Its presence had burned the image to which it was associated, the dreamy scene with the falling shower of pink and gold petals and the pavilion with the man and the woman beneath it. The bubbling stream, the music, the bridge of white stone and the buildings – a palace, she had decided – that hung faintly in the background, overwhelmed by the bright light.
Bright light… The device she had placed on her desk was glowing with it, coming out of the runic symbol on the golden surface that was usually pitch black. She put down her brush and reached over and picked it up, spending some time looking at it and the increasing radiance it was emitting. The design seemed to change colors every day but it never glowed, certainly not nearly this brightly. It had her undivided attention now as her room shone brighter than ever. A breath of unknown draft built up and turned into a breeze within her room, picking up in force.
"What the hell?" She demanded as wind began to cause her T-shirt and jeans to start blowing around dramatically. Her computer was glowing very brightly as well. Within moments, she felt herself being sucked in by some unseen force. Shortly thereafter, she left the realm of consciousness.
---
"Faelie, I don't think this is such a good idea…"
"Oh don't worry about it." The girl replied, striding forward through the woodland eagerly. The night was a dark one and the moon appeared only as a sliver between thick clouds over this place way out beyond the outskirts of London, England.
"I shan't care to go in I don't think. Who knows what could be in here?" Another friend piped in.
"Well, if you're too afraid, you can stay out here, Sally."
Sally looked about at the rather creepy woods, the total absence of substantial light and their proximity to a rather infamous mansion and elected to stick with her friends.
"Why didn't we at least bring a flashlight?" The third, a boy asked.
"I did."
"Why isn't it on?"
"I'd rather make sure I don't run out of batteries right when I need to take a picture or something."
"Oh…" The boy replied a trifle uncomfortable and looking cautiously at the woods around him.
As the group walked on, the world aroud them was silent save for crickets, blowing wind and their own feet crunching on leaf and forest debris matter.
Hooh!
Faelie didn't flinch and kept on walking. Her companions however, were not nearly so sanguine. Phillip jumped quite high into the air. As he landed, he nearly jumped again as Sally caught him in a deathgrip. As for Nara…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-"
"Shut up, Nara. It's called a bloody owl." Phillip remonstrated though he too was visibly shaken and looking around quite rapidly in all directions. "Uh, can you let go of me too, Sally? Not that I mind terribly or anything…"
Both Sally and Nara complied to a giggle from Faelie. "Now that, was classic."
They continued their trek, trudging along in the darkness until the form of an ancient, rickety mansion rose up before them. The manor was said to be one of a haunted nature. Witnesses had reported sightings of anywhere from seeing movement from the corner of the eye to outright seeing the classic 'floating sheet' ghost.
Faelie either never believed in such things. Or she did and wasn't one bit afraid of them. Then again, this was a girl who must have visited all the most insane rollercoasters in the world and handled the rather large spider in the biology room daily. In fact, none of her friends knew her to be really afraid of anything. Her nerves were unmatchable.
The door was certainly creepy enough to at least come close though. If not for terror, then the demonic head with a nose ring that passed for a knocking handle certainly had some freak factor about it. The longer any of them looked, the more it seemed it was leering specifically at them. Faelie dismissed that of course. The gargoyles that overhung the doorstep had their try at Faelie's mind as well but they, likewise failed to do more than their compatriots placed throughout the mansion grounds.
Unhesitantly, Faelie reached out for the door with the intention of either knocking or pushing at it. At that moment however, a chilled gust of wind blew the thing open of its own accord.
"Ooookay…that was creepy." Phil said.
"Oh yeah!" The two other girls agreed.
"Well, wind blows open doors all the time." Faelie replied reasonably, pushing them open. He glanced at the doorway as she felt the weight of the door. She was about to make a comment about the door being a bit thick and heavy for that particular gust of wind but decided that would probably be a bad idea for what was left of everyone else's peace of mind.
As they entered the first room, Faelie switched on a flashlight and revealed a reception chamber of some sort. Another gust of wind suddenly blew through the door. Fortunately, the door didn't close on its own like they half expected. The interior of the mansion was dusty and hadn't been cleaned for an eternity. The smell of old wood permeated the place. The only visible decorations in the place were cobwebs and one in a while, a bug or two.
"Well, no one's lived here for a while." Sally commented.
"Nope." Faelie concluded, looking around, camera ready in case the reputed phantom of the manor should appear.
"Euww…" Was Nara's only comment as she spied the various insectoid inhabitants of the area.
"They're only bugs." Phil dismissed. I'm more afraid of finding what I'm looking for. In response, Nara immediately looked about in alarm.
"Ugh, Phil, you set her off again." Faelie complained.
"Hey, it's not a crime to be afraid!" Nara shot back.
"Nope." Phil said, hoping that would end that line of conversation. It did.
"Well, now what?" Saly asked.
"We look around I guess. Okay, Phil and I will take the first floor, Sally and-"
"Um, one moment." Nara spoke up. "Whenever you watch a horror film, doesn't half the group usually like, die or something when they split up?"
Faelie considered a moment. "Sounds reasonable, so is it up, down or stick to the same floor?" The thought to stay in floor one was unanimous.
"Alright, let's go then." She said, turning her light down the west hall. As they were about to get underway, a brief flash of light that shone out from the other hallway.
"Uh…"
"Other hallway!" Faelie yelled running and leaving her companions only her bobbing flashlight signature to follow.
"What is it?"
"Saw something." Phil said, following quickly.
"Hey! Wait up!"
The hallway was in a darkness that seemed to smother the flashlight. None of them could tell what was in the halls other than more dust and more cobwebs. Faelie continued down the twisting passage and soon, came to a bend. He opened a door and ran smack into a figure draped in white.
"WHAT THE!" Yelled Faelie despite her repute of utter courage. Given the circumstances though, one might have forgiven her for the slip. The flashlight dropped and the lighting rolled as it swept around back to her companions.
"Huh?" Said the white thing in a surprised tone. It was a classic ghost, like something round draped in a ripped white sheet. It had a gaping mouth with eight sharp teeth, large black spheres each with a white dot where eyes usually were and two stubs in the white cloth that suggested the usual phantom's primordial limbs.
"Oh my…" Phillip started before trailing off with mouth hanging open.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Nara and Sally shrieked.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" The thing echoed. At that point, all parties excepting Faelie ran for it, down the way they had come. Faelie was left in the near darkness and quickly gave chase.
"Dammit!" She'd forgotten to bring out her camera. Whatever this thing was… The chase down the hall was quick as the first bobbing flashlight signature led the pursuer on. It wasn't long before Faelie was out in the vast back yard inside the fence. Dimly, he spotted a small house or cottage with lights glowing inside. "A ghost lair??" She wondered. Her thoughts were interrupted as a beam of light shot from the upstairs window nearest her. Quickly, the light shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow before congealing into a strange device in her hands. She ignored the stopwatch-like, silver colored thing for now, though this was one night full of surprises, she still had the wits to think clearer. She ran in, barged through the door with the ghost clearly in sight before her and, lacking anything else to do, tackled it to the carpet.
"Dark Claw!" A black hand came form the white thing and knocked Faelie back against a wall. There was a loud crash as part of a stereo set tipped over in response and fell for its efforts. Muttering a couple curses, Faelie got back up, tackeld the thing again, completely oblivious to the fact it was a ghost now and gave it a good right to the jaw. The two, locked in combat were only stopped as footsteps rushed down the stairs. A man in pyjamas reached the bottom.
"Bakemon? Bake-Oh man this ain't good…"