On a night of a fiery moon
Your witchborn mother summoned me
Whispering my dreadful names
Raising the southern winds
I rode to her on griffon's wings
Piercing the darkness of her dreams
She begged the dark to be my bride
To bear my son, the demigod
I am the Dragon, supreme king
I am the dark that gave you birth
I am the blood and I am the life
Death riders my chariots of sin
But if a war is what you want
Then in my Name so it will be
When Cerberus will howl at Hades
I'll come my son your soul to take
~Pretender to the Throne (Opus I: The Usurper's Spawn), Necromantia
Luce ed Ombra
Chapter Sixteen
Bad Dog, no Biscuit
[By Ultema and Guo]
"So... do you think we're in the right place yet? ... I mean.. you are taking me somewhere right? Heh, this looks kinda like the definition of nowhere."
... Go to Cerberus, he has what you seek ...
"I'm sure we are," Isabella snorted out as she pushed herself up and off the ground, patting down her clothing. Large clouds of dust puffed from areas here and there, with Moofie peering curiously from side to side, tail twitching in anticipation. The area itself was large, and smelled very much like a pit of charred flesh. Though, while this scent was obvious, it was the scent of what was something like fur and saliva that caught Isabella's attention. " ... This has to be the way..."
The light seemed to pulsate every now and again, or flicker gently without a source. Overhead, glistening trickles of light seemed to flitter along edges of unseen objects; the air high with tension - warm vibrations of air passing over their bodies as they remained there in silence. Isabella clenched one hand tightly around something Dante hadn't seen before; a single silver cross on a leather tether around her neck.
Did he know where they were going? Of course he didn't! He couldn't even tell what direction he was going in. His eyebrows reacted to the sight of her cross, and his hand instinctively rose to his own chest, however, finding nothing. An odd feeling he couldn't describe came over him, he didn't even know what it was over, but his mind was completely distracted. Suddenly, things seemed less important, almost as if his mind was being numbed. He began to lag behind slightly before looking up sharply.
"What was that?" Dante was puzzled, unsure if he had heard something or not. His eyes raced around. It was as though the room was making him go insane. Having a harder time walking with each step, he couldn't help but stop for a moment, kneeling down to breath heavily. His head throbbed, and with each spike of pain the "lights" went out completely, relighting as the pain subsided. He groaned loudly, followed by a sharp shout, hand dropping to the ground as the lights went out again. As he caught himself before falling on a rounded object, the lights returned.
As he regained some sense of self, Dante found his hand resting upon a skull, which was just one of what could have been millions upon millions of others. The entire floor was littered with them – almost made up completely of them, though it hadn't been before. His eyes widened as he looked around for Isabella and their feline companion, neither of which seemed to be with him anymore. He felt a warm liquid drip slowly onto his hand, then slowly gain in speed until it was pouring. A coppery scent filled the air as he looked down to see his own blood pouring onto his hand. Immediately, Dante's hands ran to his body, searching for the source. Reaching upwards towards his forehead, it appeared as though a whole had been carved into his skull.
His heart skipped a beat, and he wanted to shout, yet a flash of light and he was kneeling down again, hand on his temples. A headache, yes, but blood, no. Looking up, his vision, while quite hazy, had revealed that he was still in the presence of Isabella... no skull floor. His eyes were filled with doubt and mistrust... yet, it wasn't Isabella he blamed. Nothing he was thinking could really be placed into the realm of comprehensibility.
With Dante sunk to the floor, Isabella had dropped to her knees nearby, hands outstretched to grasp her partner's shoulders tightly in reassurance, fingertips finding themselves wound about the red texture of his coat, her own eyes scanning over the emptiness. The ebbing warmth seemed to offer a whispering laugh onto the air, caressing her face with a fetid stench of burnt skin and rotting flesh. Mindlessly, she rubbed Dante's arm as he fought to regain lost ground in his own mind.
"Shh, it's all right, close your eyes... try not to think..."
The air curled itself into whispers, voices of familiar faces that emerged from out of the darkness in wraithlike forms. They circled, they wailed, prosecuted and damned her; family, friends, loves and hates. A whirlwind of screaming voices, rising in their treble as they continued to emerge from all sides of the trio. Even the shadowy furs on the back of Moofie stood on end at this apparition from Hell, though Isabella's eyebrows knit tightly down on her forehead.
"That's ENOUGH!"
All at once, the hand supporting Dante flashed out, her fingertips raking through the ghostly forms of familiar faces before her, and with them, like smoke the images curled and died away with a cold breeze, until there was only darkness, and the hollowness of three figures in the void.
There was silence.
Silence.
The air returned again, warm and damp - though this time the source seemed closer. Five eyes appeared in the darkness, in pairs all but one -- and from far above their heads did they lower to ground level. A harsh snort from before the three as they looked on, forced the hot air to beat against their faces again, and the flickering lights returned. Unseen flames danced in the eyes of a hideous beast of adumbrated bone. Muscle exposed between tears in pallid, dead flesh. Jagged, needle-shaped teeth, as long as chair legs and as thick as a man's forearm parted gently to reveal three half decayed tongues. A massive creature, rivaling Griffon in size sat before them, paws twice the size of either Isabella or Dante crossed before them, and much in its own amusement, seemed to be smiling at them.
I find it interesting you would actually show up here, Euryon.
The beast's jaws did not move, instead its canine eyes stared hard at the three before it, unblinking. Almost unseeing.
As Dante sight began to return to him, he slowly began to see the glowing eyes of the beast which stood before them, though not much else was perfectly clear at the time. His immediate thought was to cut whatever was in front of him into about 100 different pieces, and in fact, he got so far as to grabbing his sword and nearly slashing at poor Isabella before realizing she was quite a bit smaller than whatever it was in front of them. His eyes squinted slightly, and he cocked his head backwards, grinning to what he thought was directly at the beast in front of him.
"So you're the one fucking with my mind, eh? .. You think your cheap parlor tricks are really all that great, bub?" He was waltzing back and forth, now, taunting as best he could, though he stopped for a moment to actually think. Euryon, what name was this? There wasn't anyone else here was there? He wasn't that slow though, it noticed Isabella react to the name and decided to sit back a moment and study both this beast, and his companion. He wasn't exactly prepared to find out another secret about his lady friend... just how much could she be hiding, he thought.
Though I'm afraid you already know, I won't let you or your accomplice pass here. You've proved yourself more of a nuisance than anything else these last few hundred years.
The sound of bones grating one another, ripping flesh and the hiss of an unknown source resounded all at the same time. Below their feet, the floor gave way to the crunch of bone. The creature rose upwards from its resting position - flames rising from what seemed to be the ground to form an encompassing circular wall of blistering heat that turned the bone to powder within milliseconds.
I don't know how the Master did not realize that the human woman would be a thorn in our side. I knew it from the start.
The creature hissed without a single movement of its jaws. Massive limbs outstretched and braced as above became visible blades, suspended by little more than what appeared to be air.
"Listen..." Dante, butting his way into the conversation of course, rose an accusatory finger towards the huge creature "I don't know why you, an overgrown deformed puppy, is talking to my partner like that, but she'll get a talking to when we get home, isn't that right, babe?" A wink was offered towards Isabella with a sly grin, despite still being quite confused as to who and what she was; there was a time, which wasn't now, and a place, which wasn't here, to find all that out. This beast, on the other hand, had to be dealt with.
"Now, can I give you a milk bone or three and you'll all just look the other way, or am I going to have to add you to my wall?" Ebony was pulled from it's resting place and spun once or twice, while he placed his other hand on his hip, letting himself appear wide open for an attack.
Isabella fell back towards her partner, eyes that refused to reflect light glancing for the briefest of moments to the teal hues of her companion's. He never changed, did he? But that was not the issue at hand here. Not now, not ever. Now was the time to finish what was soon to be started. Her boots rattled against the bones that made up the floor, hands at her sides.
The beast snorted in Dante's general direction, eyes peering down towards the white-haired man with as much disgust as the creature of rotting flesh could muster, though it made no move to fight, or to defend itself from whatever was to come.
You, child, are a puppet. You have blindly walked into this situation, like so many before you. Though I will give you one thing. You did last longer.
"Yeah, and what worth were you to him, sent here to guard something that's rightfully mine only to end up dead. It's a shame, isn't it Cerberus?" Isabella responded, both the woman and the monster ignoring Dante for the time being, with only Moofie to acknowledge his presence.
Dante'd had quite enough after that last statement, his sword was drawn and swung several times around in display before stabbing straight towards the foremost foot of the beast, just for a little kick to the groin type fighting. Though when his blade reached the foot of the beast, it just went straight through. The beast itself appeared to have vanished -- as if it had never really been there to begin with. Nearly losing his balance due to the pure miss of his attack, he stabbed downwards into the skulls below to catch himself. Several broken pieces of the skulls flew upwards, and he had returned to a standing position, staring back at Isabella and Moofie. Raising an eyebrow towards the both of them, he began to peer around the "room".
A maniacal chuckle could be heard resonating off of the non-existent walls, obviously from Cerberus. Dante could feel the laugh vibrate his chest -- it felt as though it were coming from directly around him. Soon, a gust of hot, and putrid smelling air filled his general vicinity, as he hopped backwards, slashing towards the air around him. As he reached Isabella, the air had revealed a slight cut. Steaming blood dripping downwards from nothingness to the ground below, and where there was nothing before. Dante had actually walked into the mouth of one without realizing it, and now, he began to worry.. or at least, re-evaluate the situation.
"Shit ... "
The only real input from Isabella as she and Moofie took a more fleet-footed approach to things. The shadow feline leapt atop Isabella's shoulder, her own back touching that of Dante's as her left foot fell upon the whole of his shadow. A liquid blackness slithered up the slender arc of her leg, wound up and around her waist and torso, crept up to her shoulder and slid down her arm, until it formed a spike at the end of her hand. A black sword appeared, the direct copy of the one that Dante held, within her grasp. Her boot moving away from her partner's shadow, the hollow hum of energy ebbed from the blade. Isabella pivoted with one foot in the bones, clattering noisily as she turned with great force. The blade extended, the whole of her shoulders twisting for a powerful, swift thrust in the general direction of what appeared to have been Cerberus' last position. There was no time for questions right now.
Dante began edging forwards, not sure which way to look or swing. Wherever he stepped off of, lava had taken the form of his boot and remained as a foot print. Just as he noticed them, the footprints seemed to be forming before he was even stepping, no matter which way he turned, or tried to "fool" them. His brain began to think as opposed to react like a dog's would, and he stopped to see what would happen. No burning sensation, that is, until a blast of fire came from directly above -- one of the heads had appeared directly above him. Barely escaping with his flesh, he had dove back towards Isabella.
Blade connecting to nothing, Isabella had resorted to grasping handfuls of powdered bone and tossing them in random directions just to test if the impossible theory of cloaking was out of the question. Which it seemed to have been. She turned to face Dante as he drew near, one hand moving before him, half protecting him at the front with her own body.
"I don't know what to do..." Not that she was worried about her own life, even Cerberus knew that much, but it was Dante's life that mattered in this particular meeting.
Dante realized there wasn't anything wrong with his eyes, it was his mind. And there wasn't exactly much he could do about that. Noticing Moofie standing perfectly still, eyes looking directly at something. Readying his weapons, he looked over to see only Isabella. This was going to be tough to stab in the dark. Rushing over towards Isabella in order to warn her he was nearby, he quickly stopped in his tracks. Moofie wasn't staring near Isabella, he was staring AT her.
Moofie had been staring for quite some time with his ears pinned back, eyes flaring orbs of red, and it wasn't until he had let out a monstrous howl that Isabella bothered to pay attention to.
Dante continued running towards Isabella. Turning around, and peering around the room again, his back fully towards her, another bit of warmth began to rise from above Dante once again. His hands clenched on his sword, swinging it backwards with a hand placed against the back of the hilt, he stabbed directly … backwards -- towards Isabella. Stabbing directly through her.
The sound of split flesh broke the momentary silence of the air as Isabella's own image seemed to twist and wink out of existance - the tearing and wet flop of a massive eye falling from its socket. The creature had been stabbed through the eye of it's rightmost head, and through the brain cavity, severing its spinal cord and rendering the head useless. The bones below their feet rattled under the tremendous force of Cerberus' howl, vicious snarling and hot bubbling saliva poured forth from the now visible middle head, looming directly above Dante. Single eye blazing with fury, the massive body of the three-headed canine was fully visible. Mad with rage, a huge, serpentine tail lashed out from behind the massive figure, jaws wide and teeth bared, oozing with its venom sped blindly in his general vicinity.
I've had ENOUGH toying with you, human...
The head which had been hit was now hanging limp as the others drew nearer to Dante. Dante placed a foot to the mouth of the head which he had stabbed, and removed his blade from the skull. With this, another howl from the beast as it's blood began to poor from wound.
No longer able to concentrate with the pain which filled it's body each time another pump of blood spilled over to the ground, deceiving his enemies was out of the question. A quick snap of the middle head's jaw towards the Hunter, and Dante had dove into a roll, his coat slapping against Cerberus' teeth. Reaching his hand around to feel his coat, which was now dripping with a bit of saliva, a slightly disgusted look came to Dante's face.
"Oh, now you're in trouble, dog."
Upper lip of the middle head pulled back to bare his fangs, Cerberus leapt forward towards Dante. Had it not been for the fallen head slowing it down, Dante could have easily ended up as another doggy bone. Dante slipped beneath Cerberus as the beast snapped one head towards him.
While the other went to the nearby Isabella, biting wasn't his main form of attack towards her -- his tail had crept up to the other side of her. His bark and bite hopefully knocking her backwards into the jaws of his serpent like tail, it's jaws unhinging in an attempt to swallow Isabella whole.
The whole of confusion, action going on so fast, her head spinning from numerous unworldly colors spinning around her head, Isabella stood still as though a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming eighteen wheeler. All at once, though, the visions ceased and gave way to the snout and jaws of Cerberus just barely snatching a hold of her clothing with its huge teeth. First impulse to move backwards, something was obviously wrong. The blade she had been fending off illusory creatures with shifted in her hand, slithering down between her fingers and forming a spike of blackness from her palm, shoulders heaving behind her as she pivoted on one foot with the full force of her swing. It was only as she turned, that she saw the red blur that was Dante, as well as the sharply advancing open mouth of the serpentine tale. Her reflexes slowed from recovering from her stupor only moments before hand, a desperate attempt to nail the offending appendage with the shadowy spike was made.
"I'm not going to let you win, Cerberus," she spoke softly as she moved, quick and articulate. "Not when things more important than your Master's plans are at stake."
Cerberus' tail had made a quick shift in it's position, it seemed to be the fastest part of his entire body, still, it's scales were still pierced by a glancing hit of the shadow being wielded. Immediately snapping towards Isabella's flank it managed to grasp onto her upper arm, enormous teeth sinking into her flesh, and beginning to pump it's venom despite it's own bleeding taking place. While Isabella wouldn't die from this, it's venom was to paralyze it's victims, still it didn't work immediately, if she would be affected at all.
Much to the tail's surprise, with a loud shout, Isabella pulled her arm as hard as she could, tearing muscle and flesh as the serpent's teeth dragged along the bone. As the tail's mouth was no longer clasped completely down upon her arm, Moofie had drawn himself back up her arm into the mouth of the serpent. As though unsheathed, like metal the sound of several spikes the shadow cat formed, shooting outwards in various directions, each of which pieced directly through the head and neck of the tail.
Letting out a guttural growl, mixed with a saliva-drowned bark as the woman and shadow team proceeded to decimate his tail. Jaws opening up wide in fury, Cerberus lurched forward in a desperate attempt to disable, if not fell the woman who had brought that hunter here and caused him considerable pain. Hot, bubbling saliva poured forth from between the jagged points of his teeth, though this time, as it fell in contact with the floor, the bones below were reduced to little more than simmering puddles of liquefied calcium.
Ungrateful wench! Mundus put too much trust into you and that worthless Euryon within you!
This made known, the beast reared back the head closest to Isabella, chest broadening and then constricting as a bolt of flame poured forth from between his jaws.
Dante's Eyes widened as he heard Cerberus speak,
"What?!"
Extremely irate, he swung his blade violently at the underbody of Cerberus as he dove beside the creature's snapping jaws, sliding between it's huge paws. Although Cerberus had managed to move slightly, his preoccupation with Isabella had cost him just a bit of valuable reaction time. Dante's sword had made decent contact with Cerberus' chest, severing bits of muscle, which were already showing.
It had sounded as if Isabella was somehow working with Mundus. It just didn't make sense to him, if Isabella had been with Mundus, they wouldn't be fighting with Cerberus, or any of the other creatures -- that is, unless of course it was all an elaborate trap. Mundus had a thing for sacrificing his own creatures after all. However, Dante's limited knowledge of Isabella along with her reluctance to tell much about herself seemed all the more convincing that perhaps he had been a little too trusting of her. Either way, he wanted to know the full story.
Euryon, this was the second time he had heard her referred to as that name, but what significance did it play? Too much thought perhaps stuttered his movements for a moment, before he realized that fighting was fighting, talking and thinking just got in the way, a fact proven by Cerberus, himself. The three-headed canine had now switched targets to Dante. He was obviously slowing down, and Dante had enough time to shove his sword vertically towards Cerberus' jaws as they bit towards him. At first bracing the beast's mouth open, it soon clenched down on the sword, which subsequently pierced the outer part of it's muzzle. Dante's little reaction had cost him the use of his sword as he pulled his hands away before being severed by the teeth approximately the size of his femur.
"Neither Mundus nor Euryon have anything to do with what I am doing, and neither do you!" Arm torn and useless for the time being at her side, Moofie perched on top of her shoulder - it was apparent that she had evaded Cerberus' bolt of flame. Now airborne, lit seams appeared to form from her collar bone, down the center of her stomach, and across her hips. The sole of one boot clattered down atop the head that had been seeking to disable her, lifting her even higher into the blackness of the air. Weight shifted, and the shadow cat formed a spike in her left hand. Isabella twisted, now facing head towards the ground with the lance of shadow in her hand aimed directly towards the forehead of the beast. She took it for granted that her partner was all right, and knew that sooner or later, full explanations were in order, but until then survival was the most important aspect of the moment.
Dante stared at Isabella for the moment, as she continued to fight Cerberus. Cerberus' head had noticed his preoccupation, and reared back before breathing a burst of fire towards Dante. Just as he felt the heat come towards him, Dante had jumped into the air, the fire catching onto his pants and coat. Removing Ebony and Ivory from his hips by instinct, he began firing rapidly towards the head which was now rushing straight at him. His reckless behavior did not go unpunished, as his own sword was used as a weapon against him. Cerberus' neck lowered, ears pinned back as he thrust his head towards Dante, the man's sword sticking through the muzzle cut directly into his collarbone, snapping through it, and throwing him to the ground. His vest and shirt split open, revealing a gash along his chest. Cerberus had again began shaking his head in pain, as the swipe had caused Dante's blade to slice even farther back into his head. Dante rolled to his side, attempting to keep himself away from the violent motions of Cerberus, though not able to return to his feet.
Her descent was fast as the beast was preoccupied with Dante. Isabella grasped the shadow blade tightly, as the sound of ripping flesh was apparent. The head that had been assaulting her was allowed no more than a blink before realizing that the sizeable black needle had pierced from the top of its muzzle, through the bottom of its jaw and pinned the head to the floor. At the same time, as Isabella's descent was stopped abruptly as her body came in contact with the bony surface and rotten flesh of the beast's snout. Though something was decidedly much stranger than anything at first glance; as though spider's legs had appeared from below her stomach, one hand still grasping the bolt of black shadow pinning the thrashing beast's left most head to the ground.
Reddish brown oozed from Cerberus' snout and mouth, as she fought to keep her hold onto the beast. It would have then become apparent, that those disturbing ribs of hers had made another appearance -- the crunch of bone muffled below the growls and thrashes of the beast, as the grip by the spider-like appendages threatened to cause its snout to cave in on itself.
As Cerberus pulled backwards, parts of it's muzzle were severed, remaining with Isabella. Stumbling back, what sounded like a slight cry emerged from it's broken face, blood streamed down it's face along with bits and pieces of bone which continued to crumble. With his last bit of strength, Cerberus turned it's last head towards Dante, and as it fell, opened it's mouth, teeth bore. A mixture of hot saliva and blood dripped below towards the huddled up blanket of redness. Cerberus would at least get the one; the top of his muzzle fell onto the ground, with his jaw below Dante's feet.
Rolling onto his back just in time to smell the foulness coming from with in Cerberus' mouth, which was now concealing him from all light, Cerberus' eyes squinted, jaw muscles flexed as they began to bite down upon his prey. Dante's arms rose, hands still clenching his guns, and began to fire each in succession. His fingers hurried, firing off as many shots as possible, bullets flying first into the upper muzzle forcing it upwards as he braced himself against the lower jaw. Quickly shifting his firing location to the throat, Cerberus began to choke, coughing up a hot sanguine liquid upon Dante. Nevertheless, it forced his head back off of him, with little more than teeth marks in the bottoms of his boots. Rolling to the side, Dante continued to fire towards the beast, now directly into it's eyes.
The melancholic soul may be yours, woman ...
The beast uttered over the sound of Ebony and Ivory firing away, blinding him with a redness that became black within an instant.
... but your efforts will be in vain!
As though with one last, bated breath of effort, Cerberus' entire frame heaved in agony, pouring forth the foul stench of its breath and a rush of steaming red liquid. Eyes having long since lost their use, barely restrained in their sockets by threads of nerve that spasmed to hang on, the great beast's head clattered to the ground once again, shaking the foundation of the enormous room.
And then there was silence.
Below her, the twitches of the Hellhound ceased, and the black spike Isabella held melted from her fingertips, and appeared beside her as the faithful feline once again. The spider-like appendages that formed her ribs relaxed, allowing her to slip from the broken muzzle of Cerberus, and fall into the puddle of blood beside its head, hands planted on the soaked bones below.
"We'll... see about that..." She muttered, nursing the one arm that had been torn by the creature's mouth as she hadn't the time to repair it.
Dante climbed to his feet, his blood and cut were no where to be seen, though his clothes still housed the stench of the beast. He slowly walked towards the head of the beast, the one that still housed his sword, prying it from it's muzzle. A quick shake of the blade and it was clean enough for him. Resting it upon his back, he turned towards Isabella. His head leaned to the side slightly as his mouth showed an expression of discontent.. with her. He had information to find out, but first,
"You didn't do too bad..." A slap to her back, and he walked ahead to the beast, nudging it slightly, "Bone breath here seemed to know more about you than I did... you never said anything about having a dog before..." It was obvious what he meant.
Looking around the room once again, it was actually a room.... not some endless abyss of space. Cerberus' mind games just made it appear so, who knows how long they had been under his control. There was only one exit to the room, and Dante had already started on his way. Stopping a few feet from the door, he glanced over his shoulder with a slight grin on his face, "C'mon, babe... I just know it ain't over yet."
Rising to her feet slowly with the aid of Moofie (who had promptly then moved towards Dante and circled his legs), and tended to her arm as she walked, somewhat haphazardly in the same direction Dante was going. Upon coming to his side, she sent him a sidelong glance, and only then decided to speak up.
"Well it wasn't like they were going to just let me walk in and take it, was it?" Her tone had shifted somewhat between irritation and exhaustion, though now wasn't the time to think of it. Instead, now was the time to get what they had come so far for -- and by now, after what all had happened, she was by far ready and sure of her decision.
"You won't need to worry about it much longer, though..." With that, her good hand connected with the rusted bar across the door, and gave it a tug. At the corners, dust fell before the heavy iron portal finally opened with a groan - from within, an ethereal glow, and a frigid mist.
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Author's NotesWhew ... right off the presses for you! X_x
Your witchborn mother summoned me
Whispering my dreadful names
Raising the southern winds
I rode to her on griffon's wings
Piercing the darkness of her dreams
She begged the dark to be my bride
To bear my son, the demigod
I am the Dragon, supreme king
I am the dark that gave you birth
I am the blood and I am the life
Death riders my chariots of sin
But if a war is what you want
Then in my Name so it will be
When Cerberus will howl at Hades
I'll come my son your soul to take
~Pretender to the Throne (Opus I: The Usurper's Spawn), Necromantia
Chapter Sixteen
Bad Dog, no Biscuit
[By Ultema and Guo]
... Go to Cerberus, he has what you seek ...
"I'm sure we are," Isabella snorted out as she pushed herself up and off the ground, patting down her clothing. Large clouds of dust puffed from areas here and there, with Moofie peering curiously from side to side, tail twitching in anticipation. The area itself was large, and smelled very much like a pit of charred flesh. Though, while this scent was obvious, it was the scent of what was something like fur and saliva that caught Isabella's attention. " ... This has to be the way..."
The light seemed to pulsate every now and again, or flicker gently without a source. Overhead, glistening trickles of light seemed to flitter along edges of unseen objects; the air high with tension - warm vibrations of air passing over their bodies as they remained there in silence. Isabella clenched one hand tightly around something Dante hadn't seen before; a single silver cross on a leather tether around her neck.
Did he know where they were going? Of course he didn't! He couldn't even tell what direction he was going in. His eyebrows reacted to the sight of her cross, and his hand instinctively rose to his own chest, however, finding nothing. An odd feeling he couldn't describe came over him, he didn't even know what it was over, but his mind was completely distracted. Suddenly, things seemed less important, almost as if his mind was being numbed. He began to lag behind slightly before looking up sharply.
"What was that?" Dante was puzzled, unsure if he had heard something or not. His eyes raced around. It was as though the room was making him go insane. Having a harder time walking with each step, he couldn't help but stop for a moment, kneeling down to breath heavily. His head throbbed, and with each spike of pain the "lights" went out completely, relighting as the pain subsided. He groaned loudly, followed by a sharp shout, hand dropping to the ground as the lights went out again. As he caught himself before falling on a rounded object, the lights returned.
As he regained some sense of self, Dante found his hand resting upon a skull, which was just one of what could have been millions upon millions of others. The entire floor was littered with them – almost made up completely of them, though it hadn't been before. His eyes widened as he looked around for Isabella and their feline companion, neither of which seemed to be with him anymore. He felt a warm liquid drip slowly onto his hand, then slowly gain in speed until it was pouring. A coppery scent filled the air as he looked down to see his own blood pouring onto his hand. Immediately, Dante's hands ran to his body, searching for the source. Reaching upwards towards his forehead, it appeared as though a whole had been carved into his skull.
His heart skipped a beat, and he wanted to shout, yet a flash of light and he was kneeling down again, hand on his temples. A headache, yes, but blood, no. Looking up, his vision, while quite hazy, had revealed that he was still in the presence of Isabella... no skull floor. His eyes were filled with doubt and mistrust... yet, it wasn't Isabella he blamed. Nothing he was thinking could really be placed into the realm of comprehensibility.
With Dante sunk to the floor, Isabella had dropped to her knees nearby, hands outstretched to grasp her partner's shoulders tightly in reassurance, fingertips finding themselves wound about the red texture of his coat, her own eyes scanning over the emptiness. The ebbing warmth seemed to offer a whispering laugh onto the air, caressing her face with a fetid stench of burnt skin and rotting flesh. Mindlessly, she rubbed Dante's arm as he fought to regain lost ground in his own mind.
"Shh, it's all right, close your eyes... try not to think..."
The air curled itself into whispers, voices of familiar faces that emerged from out of the darkness in wraithlike forms. They circled, they wailed, prosecuted and damned her; family, friends, loves and hates. A whirlwind of screaming voices, rising in their treble as they continued to emerge from all sides of the trio. Even the shadowy furs on the back of Moofie stood on end at this apparition from Hell, though Isabella's eyebrows knit tightly down on her forehead.
"That's ENOUGH!"
All at once, the hand supporting Dante flashed out, her fingertips raking through the ghostly forms of familiar faces before her, and with them, like smoke the images curled and died away with a cold breeze, until there was only darkness, and the hollowness of three figures in the void.
There was silence.
Silence.
The air returned again, warm and damp - though this time the source seemed closer. Five eyes appeared in the darkness, in pairs all but one -- and from far above their heads did they lower to ground level. A harsh snort from before the three as they looked on, forced the hot air to beat against their faces again, and the flickering lights returned. Unseen flames danced in the eyes of a hideous beast of adumbrated bone. Muscle exposed between tears in pallid, dead flesh. Jagged, needle-shaped teeth, as long as chair legs and as thick as a man's forearm parted gently to reveal three half decayed tongues. A massive creature, rivaling Griffon in size sat before them, paws twice the size of either Isabella or Dante crossed before them, and much in its own amusement, seemed to be smiling at them.
I find it interesting you would actually show up here, Euryon.
The beast's jaws did not move, instead its canine eyes stared hard at the three before it, unblinking. Almost unseeing.
As Dante sight began to return to him, he slowly began to see the glowing eyes of the beast which stood before them, though not much else was perfectly clear at the time. His immediate thought was to cut whatever was in front of him into about 100 different pieces, and in fact, he got so far as to grabbing his sword and nearly slashing at poor Isabella before realizing she was quite a bit smaller than whatever it was in front of them. His eyes squinted slightly, and he cocked his head backwards, grinning to what he thought was directly at the beast in front of him.
"So you're the one fucking with my mind, eh? .. You think your cheap parlor tricks are really all that great, bub?" He was waltzing back and forth, now, taunting as best he could, though he stopped for a moment to actually think. Euryon, what name was this? There wasn't anyone else here was there? He wasn't that slow though, it noticed Isabella react to the name and decided to sit back a moment and study both this beast, and his companion. He wasn't exactly prepared to find out another secret about his lady friend... just how much could she be hiding, he thought.
Though I'm afraid you already know, I won't let you or your accomplice pass here. You've proved yourself more of a nuisance than anything else these last few hundred years.
The sound of bones grating one another, ripping flesh and the hiss of an unknown source resounded all at the same time. Below their feet, the floor gave way to the crunch of bone. The creature rose upwards from its resting position - flames rising from what seemed to be the ground to form an encompassing circular wall of blistering heat that turned the bone to powder within milliseconds.
I don't know how the Master did not realize that the human woman would be a thorn in our side. I knew it from the start.
The creature hissed without a single movement of its jaws. Massive limbs outstretched and braced as above became visible blades, suspended by little more than what appeared to be air.
"Listen..." Dante, butting his way into the conversation of course, rose an accusatory finger towards the huge creature "I don't know why you, an overgrown deformed puppy, is talking to my partner like that, but she'll get a talking to when we get home, isn't that right, babe?" A wink was offered towards Isabella with a sly grin, despite still being quite confused as to who and what she was; there was a time, which wasn't now, and a place, which wasn't here, to find all that out. This beast, on the other hand, had to be dealt with.
"Now, can I give you a milk bone or three and you'll all just look the other way, or am I going to have to add you to my wall?" Ebony was pulled from it's resting place and spun once or twice, while he placed his other hand on his hip, letting himself appear wide open for an attack.
Isabella fell back towards her partner, eyes that refused to reflect light glancing for the briefest of moments to the teal hues of her companion's. He never changed, did he? But that was not the issue at hand here. Not now, not ever. Now was the time to finish what was soon to be started. Her boots rattled against the bones that made up the floor, hands at her sides.
The beast snorted in Dante's general direction, eyes peering down towards the white-haired man with as much disgust as the creature of rotting flesh could muster, though it made no move to fight, or to defend itself from whatever was to come.
You, child, are a puppet. You have blindly walked into this situation, like so many before you. Though I will give you one thing. You did last longer.
"Yeah, and what worth were you to him, sent here to guard something that's rightfully mine only to end up dead. It's a shame, isn't it Cerberus?" Isabella responded, both the woman and the monster ignoring Dante for the time being, with only Moofie to acknowledge his presence.
Dante'd had quite enough after that last statement, his sword was drawn and swung several times around in display before stabbing straight towards the foremost foot of the beast, just for a little kick to the groin type fighting. Though when his blade reached the foot of the beast, it just went straight through. The beast itself appeared to have vanished -- as if it had never really been there to begin with. Nearly losing his balance due to the pure miss of his attack, he stabbed downwards into the skulls below to catch himself. Several broken pieces of the skulls flew upwards, and he had returned to a standing position, staring back at Isabella and Moofie. Raising an eyebrow towards the both of them, he began to peer around the "room".
A maniacal chuckle could be heard resonating off of the non-existent walls, obviously from Cerberus. Dante could feel the laugh vibrate his chest -- it felt as though it were coming from directly around him. Soon, a gust of hot, and putrid smelling air filled his general vicinity, as he hopped backwards, slashing towards the air around him. As he reached Isabella, the air had revealed a slight cut. Steaming blood dripping downwards from nothingness to the ground below, and where there was nothing before. Dante had actually walked into the mouth of one without realizing it, and now, he began to worry.. or at least, re-evaluate the situation.
"Shit ... "
The only real input from Isabella as she and Moofie took a more fleet-footed approach to things. The shadow feline leapt atop Isabella's shoulder, her own back touching that of Dante's as her left foot fell upon the whole of his shadow. A liquid blackness slithered up the slender arc of her leg, wound up and around her waist and torso, crept up to her shoulder and slid down her arm, until it formed a spike at the end of her hand. A black sword appeared, the direct copy of the one that Dante held, within her grasp. Her boot moving away from her partner's shadow, the hollow hum of energy ebbed from the blade. Isabella pivoted with one foot in the bones, clattering noisily as she turned with great force. The blade extended, the whole of her shoulders twisting for a powerful, swift thrust in the general direction of what appeared to have been Cerberus' last position. There was no time for questions right now.
Dante began edging forwards, not sure which way to look or swing. Wherever he stepped off of, lava had taken the form of his boot and remained as a foot print. Just as he noticed them, the footprints seemed to be forming before he was even stepping, no matter which way he turned, or tried to "fool" them. His brain began to think as opposed to react like a dog's would, and he stopped to see what would happen. No burning sensation, that is, until a blast of fire came from directly above -- one of the heads had appeared directly above him. Barely escaping with his flesh, he had dove back towards Isabella.
Blade connecting to nothing, Isabella had resorted to grasping handfuls of powdered bone and tossing them in random directions just to test if the impossible theory of cloaking was out of the question. Which it seemed to have been. She turned to face Dante as he drew near, one hand moving before him, half protecting him at the front with her own body.
"I don't know what to do..." Not that she was worried about her own life, even Cerberus knew that much, but it was Dante's life that mattered in this particular meeting.
Dante realized there wasn't anything wrong with his eyes, it was his mind. And there wasn't exactly much he could do about that. Noticing Moofie standing perfectly still, eyes looking directly at something. Readying his weapons, he looked over to see only Isabella. This was going to be tough to stab in the dark. Rushing over towards Isabella in order to warn her he was nearby, he quickly stopped in his tracks. Moofie wasn't staring near Isabella, he was staring AT her.
Moofie had been staring for quite some time with his ears pinned back, eyes flaring orbs of red, and it wasn't until he had let out a monstrous howl that Isabella bothered to pay attention to.
Dante continued running towards Isabella. Turning around, and peering around the room again, his back fully towards her, another bit of warmth began to rise from above Dante once again. His hands clenched on his sword, swinging it backwards with a hand placed against the back of the hilt, he stabbed directly … backwards -- towards Isabella. Stabbing directly through her.
The sound of split flesh broke the momentary silence of the air as Isabella's own image seemed to twist and wink out of existance - the tearing and wet flop of a massive eye falling from its socket. The creature had been stabbed through the eye of it's rightmost head, and through the brain cavity, severing its spinal cord and rendering the head useless. The bones below their feet rattled under the tremendous force of Cerberus' howl, vicious snarling and hot bubbling saliva poured forth from the now visible middle head, looming directly above Dante. Single eye blazing with fury, the massive body of the three-headed canine was fully visible. Mad with rage, a huge, serpentine tail lashed out from behind the massive figure, jaws wide and teeth bared, oozing with its venom sped blindly in his general vicinity.
I've had ENOUGH toying with you, human...
The head which had been hit was now hanging limp as the others drew nearer to Dante. Dante placed a foot to the mouth of the head which he had stabbed, and removed his blade from the skull. With this, another howl from the beast as it's blood began to poor from wound.
No longer able to concentrate with the pain which filled it's body each time another pump of blood spilled over to the ground, deceiving his enemies was out of the question. A quick snap of the middle head's jaw towards the Hunter, and Dante had dove into a roll, his coat slapping against Cerberus' teeth. Reaching his hand around to feel his coat, which was now dripping with a bit of saliva, a slightly disgusted look came to Dante's face.
"Oh, now you're in trouble, dog."
Upper lip of the middle head pulled back to bare his fangs, Cerberus leapt forward towards Dante. Had it not been for the fallen head slowing it down, Dante could have easily ended up as another doggy bone. Dante slipped beneath Cerberus as the beast snapped one head towards him.
While the other went to the nearby Isabella, biting wasn't his main form of attack towards her -- his tail had crept up to the other side of her. His bark and bite hopefully knocking her backwards into the jaws of his serpent like tail, it's jaws unhinging in an attempt to swallow Isabella whole.
The whole of confusion, action going on so fast, her head spinning from numerous unworldly colors spinning around her head, Isabella stood still as though a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming eighteen wheeler. All at once, though, the visions ceased and gave way to the snout and jaws of Cerberus just barely snatching a hold of her clothing with its huge teeth. First impulse to move backwards, something was obviously wrong. The blade she had been fending off illusory creatures with shifted in her hand, slithering down between her fingers and forming a spike of blackness from her palm, shoulders heaving behind her as she pivoted on one foot with the full force of her swing. It was only as she turned, that she saw the red blur that was Dante, as well as the sharply advancing open mouth of the serpentine tale. Her reflexes slowed from recovering from her stupor only moments before hand, a desperate attempt to nail the offending appendage with the shadowy spike was made.
"I'm not going to let you win, Cerberus," she spoke softly as she moved, quick and articulate. "Not when things more important than your Master's plans are at stake."
Cerberus' tail had made a quick shift in it's position, it seemed to be the fastest part of his entire body, still, it's scales were still pierced by a glancing hit of the shadow being wielded. Immediately snapping towards Isabella's flank it managed to grasp onto her upper arm, enormous teeth sinking into her flesh, and beginning to pump it's venom despite it's own bleeding taking place. While Isabella wouldn't die from this, it's venom was to paralyze it's victims, still it didn't work immediately, if she would be affected at all.
Much to the tail's surprise, with a loud shout, Isabella pulled her arm as hard as she could, tearing muscle and flesh as the serpent's teeth dragged along the bone. As the tail's mouth was no longer clasped completely down upon her arm, Moofie had drawn himself back up her arm into the mouth of the serpent. As though unsheathed, like metal the sound of several spikes the shadow cat formed, shooting outwards in various directions, each of which pieced directly through the head and neck of the tail.
Letting out a guttural growl, mixed with a saliva-drowned bark as the woman and shadow team proceeded to decimate his tail. Jaws opening up wide in fury, Cerberus lurched forward in a desperate attempt to disable, if not fell the woman who had brought that hunter here and caused him considerable pain. Hot, bubbling saliva poured forth from between the jagged points of his teeth, though this time, as it fell in contact with the floor, the bones below were reduced to little more than simmering puddles of liquefied calcium.
Ungrateful wench! Mundus put too much trust into you and that worthless Euryon within you!
This made known, the beast reared back the head closest to Isabella, chest broadening and then constricting as a bolt of flame poured forth from between his jaws.
Dante's Eyes widened as he heard Cerberus speak,
"What?!"
Extremely irate, he swung his blade violently at the underbody of Cerberus as he dove beside the creature's snapping jaws, sliding between it's huge paws. Although Cerberus had managed to move slightly, his preoccupation with Isabella had cost him just a bit of valuable reaction time. Dante's sword had made decent contact with Cerberus' chest, severing bits of muscle, which were already showing.
It had sounded as if Isabella was somehow working with Mundus. It just didn't make sense to him, if Isabella had been with Mundus, they wouldn't be fighting with Cerberus, or any of the other creatures -- that is, unless of course it was all an elaborate trap. Mundus had a thing for sacrificing his own creatures after all. However, Dante's limited knowledge of Isabella along with her reluctance to tell much about herself seemed all the more convincing that perhaps he had been a little too trusting of her. Either way, he wanted to know the full story.
Euryon, this was the second time he had heard her referred to as that name, but what significance did it play? Too much thought perhaps stuttered his movements for a moment, before he realized that fighting was fighting, talking and thinking just got in the way, a fact proven by Cerberus, himself. The three-headed canine had now switched targets to Dante. He was obviously slowing down, and Dante had enough time to shove his sword vertically towards Cerberus' jaws as they bit towards him. At first bracing the beast's mouth open, it soon clenched down on the sword, which subsequently pierced the outer part of it's muzzle. Dante's little reaction had cost him the use of his sword as he pulled his hands away before being severed by the teeth approximately the size of his femur.
"Neither Mundus nor Euryon have anything to do with what I am doing, and neither do you!" Arm torn and useless for the time being at her side, Moofie perched on top of her shoulder - it was apparent that she had evaded Cerberus' bolt of flame. Now airborne, lit seams appeared to form from her collar bone, down the center of her stomach, and across her hips. The sole of one boot clattered down atop the head that had been seeking to disable her, lifting her even higher into the blackness of the air. Weight shifted, and the shadow cat formed a spike in her left hand. Isabella twisted, now facing head towards the ground with the lance of shadow in her hand aimed directly towards the forehead of the beast. She took it for granted that her partner was all right, and knew that sooner or later, full explanations were in order, but until then survival was the most important aspect of the moment.
Dante stared at Isabella for the moment, as she continued to fight Cerberus. Cerberus' head had noticed his preoccupation, and reared back before breathing a burst of fire towards Dante. Just as he felt the heat come towards him, Dante had jumped into the air, the fire catching onto his pants and coat. Removing Ebony and Ivory from his hips by instinct, he began firing rapidly towards the head which was now rushing straight at him. His reckless behavior did not go unpunished, as his own sword was used as a weapon against him. Cerberus' neck lowered, ears pinned back as he thrust his head towards Dante, the man's sword sticking through the muzzle cut directly into his collarbone, snapping through it, and throwing him to the ground. His vest and shirt split open, revealing a gash along his chest. Cerberus had again began shaking his head in pain, as the swipe had caused Dante's blade to slice even farther back into his head. Dante rolled to his side, attempting to keep himself away from the violent motions of Cerberus, though not able to return to his feet.
Her descent was fast as the beast was preoccupied with Dante. Isabella grasped the shadow blade tightly, as the sound of ripping flesh was apparent. The head that had been assaulting her was allowed no more than a blink before realizing that the sizeable black needle had pierced from the top of its muzzle, through the bottom of its jaw and pinned the head to the floor. At the same time, as Isabella's descent was stopped abruptly as her body came in contact with the bony surface and rotten flesh of the beast's snout. Though something was decidedly much stranger than anything at first glance; as though spider's legs had appeared from below her stomach, one hand still grasping the bolt of black shadow pinning the thrashing beast's left most head to the ground.
Reddish brown oozed from Cerberus' snout and mouth, as she fought to keep her hold onto the beast. It would have then become apparent, that those disturbing ribs of hers had made another appearance -- the crunch of bone muffled below the growls and thrashes of the beast, as the grip by the spider-like appendages threatened to cause its snout to cave in on itself.
As Cerberus pulled backwards, parts of it's muzzle were severed, remaining with Isabella. Stumbling back, what sounded like a slight cry emerged from it's broken face, blood streamed down it's face along with bits and pieces of bone which continued to crumble. With his last bit of strength, Cerberus turned it's last head towards Dante, and as it fell, opened it's mouth, teeth bore. A mixture of hot saliva and blood dripped below towards the huddled up blanket of redness. Cerberus would at least get the one; the top of his muzzle fell onto the ground, with his jaw below Dante's feet.
Rolling onto his back just in time to smell the foulness coming from with in Cerberus' mouth, which was now concealing him from all light, Cerberus' eyes squinted, jaw muscles flexed as they began to bite down upon his prey. Dante's arms rose, hands still clenching his guns, and began to fire each in succession. His fingers hurried, firing off as many shots as possible, bullets flying first into the upper muzzle forcing it upwards as he braced himself against the lower jaw. Quickly shifting his firing location to the throat, Cerberus began to choke, coughing up a hot sanguine liquid upon Dante. Nevertheless, it forced his head back off of him, with little more than teeth marks in the bottoms of his boots. Rolling to the side, Dante continued to fire towards the beast, now directly into it's eyes.
The melancholic soul may be yours, woman ...
The beast uttered over the sound of Ebony and Ivory firing away, blinding him with a redness that became black within an instant.
... but your efforts will be in vain!
As though with one last, bated breath of effort, Cerberus' entire frame heaved in agony, pouring forth the foul stench of its breath and a rush of steaming red liquid. Eyes having long since lost their use, barely restrained in their sockets by threads of nerve that spasmed to hang on, the great beast's head clattered to the ground once again, shaking the foundation of the enormous room.
And then there was silence.
Below her, the twitches of the Hellhound ceased, and the black spike Isabella held melted from her fingertips, and appeared beside her as the faithful feline once again. The spider-like appendages that formed her ribs relaxed, allowing her to slip from the broken muzzle of Cerberus, and fall into the puddle of blood beside its head, hands planted on the soaked bones below.
"We'll... see about that..." She muttered, nursing the one arm that had been torn by the creature's mouth as she hadn't the time to repair it.
Dante climbed to his feet, his blood and cut were no where to be seen, though his clothes still housed the stench of the beast. He slowly walked towards the head of the beast, the one that still housed his sword, prying it from it's muzzle. A quick shake of the blade and it was clean enough for him. Resting it upon his back, he turned towards Isabella. His head leaned to the side slightly as his mouth showed an expression of discontent.. with her. He had information to find out, but first,
"You didn't do too bad..." A slap to her back, and he walked ahead to the beast, nudging it slightly, "Bone breath here seemed to know more about you than I did... you never said anything about having a dog before..." It was obvious what he meant.
Looking around the room once again, it was actually a room.... not some endless abyss of space. Cerberus' mind games just made it appear so, who knows how long they had been under his control. There was only one exit to the room, and Dante had already started on his way. Stopping a few feet from the door, he glanced over his shoulder with a slight grin on his face, "C'mon, babe... I just know it ain't over yet."
Rising to her feet slowly with the aid of Moofie (who had promptly then moved towards Dante and circled his legs), and tended to her arm as she walked, somewhat haphazardly in the same direction Dante was going. Upon coming to his side, she sent him a sidelong glance, and only then decided to speak up.
"Well it wasn't like they were going to just let me walk in and take it, was it?" Her tone had shifted somewhat between irritation and exhaustion, though now wasn't the time to think of it. Instead, now was the time to get what they had come so far for -- and by now, after what all had happened, she was by far ready and sure of her decision.
"You won't need to worry about it much longer, though..." With that, her good hand connected with the rusted bar across the door, and gave it a tug. At the corners, dust fell before the heavy iron portal finally opened with a groan - from within, an ethereal glow, and a frigid mist.
Author's NotesWhew ... right off the presses for you! X_x
