Speech = ``…..´´
Thoughts = … ...
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...A talkative ghost, a grumpy dead man...
ºº
He did not have high expectations about how things should go on, especially in this empty and unfinished wasteland.
In fact, he hadn't had many for a long time..., or so he believed.
The memory...blurred and chipped away from his mind. As if a piece of paper that had yellowed and crumbled bit by bit as the passing of time took its toll.
The energies around him were swirling, attracted and repelled by his presence. As if the ground he stood on had finally noticed his presence and was smelling him.
Smelling him, tasting him as an animal would approach an obstacle in its path and was deciding what to do with it.
As far as he knew, this realm….as broken as it was...it was not corrupted nor tainted by a malevolent entity with one sole purpose to destroy and torture its inhabitants like the abyss.., but rather had the thought processing of a machine.
Crude, but simple….
What he did not expect was that as he stood there he would be besieged by curiosity.
And the one to be the cause of such migraines been a sole, young girl who had been staring at him for minutes on end after the two of them had exchanged such brief and short greetings.
Never breaking contact from him, never looking away in fear… or shifting her feet, she was not even bothered to be forced to angle her swoon like neck up to hold his stare.
She was not afraid…
Something that he had come to realise...with no small amount of bewilderment.
The wind was blowing around them.., stronger now that the two of them were face to face. Toying with the loose purple strands of her long hair that were brushing softly over her exposed shoulders. The velvet sound of her clothes reaching him as her chest heaved with each breath she took barely making themselves heard against the cold, shallow breaths coming from him.
The warmth of her body..a stark contrast with the frigid aura around him.
Her soft, thin lips quivered down…, folds forming around the edges foretelling her intentions long before she started to speak.
Once more he was reminded of how small and frail she looked compared with anything he had seen so far after all this time. Yet again, she would not be the first creature to use false appearances to try to deceive their targets.
He would be ready…
He had to...
``I have never seen someone like you before…..´´
She spoke out, her voice calm and collected as she directed herself at him. Folding her arms over her ample chest and hugged them tightly. She appeared dignified, with a pride of her own...
Her eyes however spoke of childish curiosity, albeit tainted with sour melancholy...
He did not answer, nor he thought he had to. Merely deciding to continue to glare at her in silence...
She did not seem to mind though.., placing one of her gloved fingers over her lips, caressing it slightly. Her amethyst pools of light scrunching down in deep though for a moment before they relaxed the next.
A shadow crossing through the depths of those purple eyes as they stared back at him.
Not once flinching or faltering as their glares met.
He could not help but feel estrange about it, it was not a feeling hew knew he could still experience..nor it was one he desired.
As far as he knew, no mortal had ever looked at him without a hint of suspicion if not down right hostility.
That was..of course, if she was a mortal to begin with.
``You are new.., with so much live within you...you are like a sun in this forsaken place. And yet I can not phantom this strange feeling of my chest every time I look at you…, strange..is it not? ´´
She really had no idea...
His body tensed just barely as she started moving but he maintained his position, her clearly long legs brushing softly against the cloth of her long skirt as she circled around him.
Slowly, without haste or worry of any kind…
She never left his line of sight…nor the reach of his scythe strangely enough.
He really didn't know whether she had done it on purpose, or was merely another coincidence to add to the ever growing pile
He decided he did not like this woman nor this strangeness she was causing in his heart.
``There is nothing here, nothing to see...nothing to feel, nothing to speak to...and yet now is all so different. All because of you...´´
Had his mask been able to express his frown he would have. So he instead growled.
The act almost made him wonder who was the child among them...
``I feel the cold of a sunless day... and yet I too sense the warm touch of ashes coming from a bonfire through you. Heating and cooling my skin as if I were to bath in an underground pond..´´
She continued to say, finally stopping once she had done a complete circle around him and returned to his original spot. She almost seemed tempted to kneel down and sit once more over the grass field like before, but a quick glare at him made her change her plans.
His eyes narrowed even more, burning two holes into her skull as he did. She was being annoying...but it felt like she was talking about his aura of proximity.
Which no one had ever spoken of it like that, like she was reciting a poem…
His fist clenched, getting a better grip over the long handle of his weapon.
Or perhaps she was merely playing her role…, he had to be vigilant.
A wonder in the outside could be a dangerous trap within, just like those carnivores flowers..their bright colours and soft texture inciting others to approach before they snapped into action in one second and chewed a man entirely in the next.
He could already hear the bones snapping against the sharp razor teeth or the sheer pressure of being digested around him even though there none.
``It feels like we had crossed paths before...´´
She said, halting for a moment as she seemed to be looking for the right words. She then looked back at him, with that look.
With that damn look…
...Darkness be praised, I know where this is going...
``Have we-..?´´
``We have not…´´
She blinked, the solemn expression in her face wiped away for a brief moment at the sudden of his response before she regained her bearings once more. Flashing a saddened smile in turn...
``Really? That was fast...´´
He scoffed, shaking his head.
His eyes though not darting away from the woman did not meant the was merely focused on her. His mind had started to wander through the field long before she had asked that question, looking for any sign of trouble.
He then realized that there was a magic damp field…syphoning the mana of those inside.
He had not noticed until then, because it couldn't even affect him in the first place…
He was….too big for not looking for a better word.
...Strange...
He thought before he regarded the frail looking woman one more time.
She had not stopped talking...much to his chagrin.
``Perhaps you are right…, my deepest apologies for this trouble I have thrown at you with my query's. Still is been so long since I last saw someone else here..my mind as fracture as it is must be playing tricks with me..´´
He took a step forward…
She took a step back in response though not out of fear…, cocking her head to the side before something seemed to dawn on her.
``Ah, my apologies..I did not realise that even after all this time we have not greeted each other properly´´
``Is that so..?´´
He said, though it was clear to see that he was not really that interested.
Perhaps even hoping that this...thing would get the message before another word were spoken.
He was not thrilled to speak to a stranger...nor that he would speak to a friend either.
It had been too long….
This level of conversation was too long for his mind to process without making him grow weary or restless.
Something that was not being aided with the words of caution that reached him through one ear, and the others who asked him to slice her in half in the other.
The chains however….were silent.
``Indeed, my name is Auro-...´´
``I don't care…´´
She blinked once more, but this time… it lasted far less than before. Clearly growing used to the sharp, growling sound of his voice through the mask. Her countenance appeared not disturbed by the interruption, in fact...where should have been outrage, or pain from such callous and sudden dejection...
Amusement shone...
That could not be, he would not be the object of amusement of a creature in this plane of existence.
``Are you sure..? Names are important, it separate us from the animals...´´
Too bad, that only one of them was such thing..
The other...well, there was no need to clarify as he watched his reflection through her eyes.
He took another step forward. Darkness seeping from his body and tainting with thick, blacken clouds this wasteland. The sharp edge of his scythe poking the soft, porcelain like neck of the woman.
Not enough to pierced it or draw blood…
But with enough strength to make the skin bulge inwards and show the muscle that laid beneath the skin.
``Indeed…´´
He replied with mockery of what should have been an honest answer, spatting words with no care or worry of their sharp poking edge as he slammed it at her side.
He wanted this farce to be over…
He wanted to be done with this games and get to business, no matter if a part of him told him time and time again not to.
That she...was not worthy of the taste of iron.
….
Madness wasn't it?
While these thoughts crossed his mind like the turbulent whirling of a hurricane soft, delicate fingers rose from arms that had remained still, pressed against her chest and graved the sharp length of the blade.
He had expected her to push it away...
But instead she drew it closer, making sure that if he were to pull..if just a little bit her head would fly off right of the bat. A look of peaceful resignation drawled over her soft features.
This didn't make any sense..
``Is it because its me…?´´
``...´´
`` Because of who I am..?´´
``...´´
``What I did…?´´
The last sentence.. he felt it.
Her voice breaking down as something terrible seemed to resurface through the echo of her words, something big that...that almost choke her in the process
He saw the way her lips grew stiff and shaky, how her eyes started to redden as optic nerves started to send messages for tears to form around the corners of her eyes.
….
He knew that he should be ignoring her, that there was no need or fact that could force him to indulge this reflection any more leeway in whatever game she was trying to weave around him.
That this may as-well not be real...
He should know…
He should know..!
….
But with a tired sigh he found himself relenting against an invisible force, the fires of his eyes dimming out until they almost became almost normal flames.
And then he spoke once more….
Annoyed, bothered and with a pang of shame coursing through him as he could not help himself to stop her from trying to cry before him.
``No, I do this to everyone...now cease with this wasteful attempt and be done with it before I change my mind..´´
He rasped out, yanking the scythe back to him, yet making sure that she would not be harmed in the process in any way or form…
She seemed to be surprised by it, then thoughtful before with a simple shrug she smiled at him…
She clearly was awestruck by this turn of events.
He did not share her enthusiasm in the slightest though.
Something was wrong and she was the cause of it. What it was he did not know, not yet...
Her arms fell limp to the sides, but they did not remain idle for long as they graved a fistful of her skirt. Leaning down as she lifted her skirt a little bit.
It took him more than second to realize that she was….courteously bowing to him before she returned to her original position.
``This is the first time someone has said something like that to me..and with such honesty. You really treat everyone equally.., don't you? Even if is with disdain...that is-..´´
``Abominable..? Detestable..?´´
He cut in...a childish pan of frustration coming out by surprise through his lips before he could rein himself in.
There was something familiar with talking with her…
But why..?
`` Refreshing...´´
She replied, not an ounce of malice in her voice. In fact, she was been completely honest..
Now it was his turn to blink in bewilderment.
``I was always picked on in my past…., be it for my appearance, my origin.. or my powers. They always treated me differently, like a plague….or a demon´´
``...´´
``So thank you…, even though..I do believe those words are wasted on me..the bad witch of this world´´
He was right…
Nothing of this made sense, he knew he was not the most sound of mind of individuals..but even he knew that this was not how things were meant to work.
So he did the most sensible thing he could do.
He began to stroll casually away from her…, idly swinging his scythe left and right as if he was warming up to throw a ball before placing it over his back.
Perhaps hoping to leave this senseless mess he had walked into on his arrival and alongside it, this unwanted conversation.
Sadly, that would not go unnoticed as just as he took his fourth step he heard the woman speak up again. Calling him back, and not happy at all...
``Hey! Don't leave me there without a word..!´´
He ignored her…, of course.., but did not deter her in the slightest as he could hear her ran after him.
It took her a little to reach him though, given the difference between their strides with him being slightly larger.
``Leaving a lady in the middle of a conversation like she was a crude bag of potatos? Rude, that wasn't very nice of you..´´
To his credit, even if he did not thought much of her…he had not come to the conclusion to consider her such a container. Now that he thought about, wasn't it curious that she was more bothered by that than anything else he had done before.
Women were strange…, even those were a reflection of one.
``Aren't you going to say something for yourself, sir...?
``Leave…, I have matters to attend..´´
``What matters...?´´
``An important one...´´
``And what could that possibly be..?´´
``You don't understand...´´
He seethed, frost coming out through the filters...but she would not have it, be it by pure spite, callous naivety or happen-stance.
He would curse either of them….
``Then enlighten me…!´´
She exclaimed even louder, she would have leapt from the ground if she could.
For someone who he had met and considered as shy and solemn she was really energetic. Was this her true self or was merely the sprung of the moment..?
He huffed loudly, why could she not leave him be..? If so bothered she was then she was welcome to leave him be and be in her merry way. He had wasted enough time with idle chatter with her as it was when he should be moving towards his original target.
Still, he fought down the urge to strangle her...
He had sensed that energy within her, but he did not sense the foulness nor its malice that he had in every soul he had slain that day…
That was perhaps, the biggest reason of his restraint, or at least that was what he was trying to tell himself…
One that unknown to the girl was running out by now.
Centuries of isolation and unchecked violence did wonders for social skills….
``You are not going to get to the end of this prison walking in a straight line…´´
``Is that so..? Watch me…´´
``No, I am serious..I tried, I tried...and I failed.´´
He sighed, halting his march just as he was about to make it the other side of a monochromatic slope of grass and dirt.
The same he had just walked through a few seconds ago much to his chagrin...
He looked down onto his bloodstained talons, never before they appeared to be so useless than now before he turned around.
How much he wanted to tell her to shut up and that whatever she did was not the same he was about to.
He did not…
``What do you want…?´´
``To sleep...´´
His eye twitched behind his mask as he glared at the woman who had no decency to look embarrass or guilty for what she had just uttered.
``You jest...´´
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Her pace was slow, almost staggering as her heart throbbed painfully inside her chest. Clearly, not yet recuperated from the exertion that it had been pushed to not long ago...
Her crimson hair, completely dishevelled and cut short in some places, now fluttered feebly in the breeze of wind that swept through the dark passageway she was walking through.
Down below the darkness ruled, the tunnel bereft of any light but the flickering flames of candles that had yet to be blown away, the storm above having become dimmer and weaker than before, but she could not guess why..
Blood dripping from her arm onto the cold cobblestones that littered the floor…
But she did not care, she did not even notice for her mind was somewhere else.
Those things…
Those blasted things…
The memory of their crimson, glowing eyes made Iris stomach churn, her throat burn with biles...
They had been stronger than she had given credit to them and they had exploited it with an animalistic intent.
They were faster, they were sturdier, they didn't even feel pain as steel tore through their bloated bodies.
For they were already dead to begin with….
And the worst part? Was that they used her own men against her...after they had killed them of course.
Her jaw clenched, uncaring of the pain that the action did as bruises from the fight started to flare up again.
...A few minutes ago...
Everything was in chaos.
Utter, uncontrollable chaos...
Screams and roars competed fervently against the sound of steel clashing against each other and the sound of flesh being pierced.
Bodies hit the ground in loud splashes of water, be alive or undead..
The creatures had struck as one, those in the ground running or stumbling towards them as fast as their bodies could allow them to while those in the rooftops descended from them, leaping into the air before diving towards them.
Uncaring of the unsound sense of such action as they crashed onto the ground below in ear tearing shrieks.
The sound of bones cracking or down right shattering as they made contact with the ground startling as any show of brutality could be. Sadly, their self immolation prove not fatal…, it in fact prove incapable of stopping them in the slightest with one or two exceptions as they approached them dragging themselves over the ground.
Their mouths open wide, whether they were bloated or skinless...skulls exposed to the elements, water sliding down their empty sockets yet unable to snuff off the flames of crimson they had for eyes.
They growled, sounds that were coming through rotten vocal cords..
She had never been very religious...
But if there was a word that came to mind when looking at them was...if not unnatural then truly demonic as she witnessed the way those that had fallen to those devils raise up again, their expressions blank while their eyes glowed in hateful scarlet.
It was like a sickness that could only be spread through dead bodies.
And they were mounting.
She duck herself to the right, a massive cleaver sliding through the air where she had just been, a blur of light and motion that pushed her hair away from her face and freed her eyes to see better for a couple of seconds.
Biting her lip as she was forced to slam down her free hand as a tight fist into the open, skinless face of her towering opponent when she knew she would not be able to use her blade to swing just in time.
Bones cracked, shards flying away by the sheer impact that shook the ground and with it part of the air and rain that had been falling around them, but just for one second or two before they returned with even greater force.
The beast was not down, it was pissed. Yanking the blade that had gotten stuck into the ground and swinging wildly at her.
Killing some of its own kin in the process…, their bodies flying through the air as they were pushed aside like broken toys, but if either their unwilling victims or their butchers cared they did not seem to care.
They were strong, unnaturally strong…
There were at least a dozen of them here while the rest were more of the cultist, the latter being rather frail and weak as whatever foul energy fuelled them had made them painfully slow.
But not these things..
She rolled to the left, avoiding in time the massive hammer coming down at her head from another of those things, clearly having been considered one of the most dangerous opponent from the rest of her men as more and more of them tried to attack her or cut her off.
Limbs flew, bodies were hacked with either precision or just raw violence as she freed herself each and every time they tried to trap her in the sheer weight of their bodies.
As if that would ever work..
And if they thought it would…., then they were greatly underestimating her.
By now she had made a small mountain of corpses, some sliced in so many pieces that it was hard to believed a human could cause that many cuts in such little time, others were merely cleaved in half, the angle of the cuts always aimed to either enter or exit the body through the head.
Without them or damaging slightly seemed to put them down for good...
No, what had her attention were those hulking things that were mostly after her. Her blade had destroyed one already, tearing through its neck when it had overextended itself in a thrust, cleaving it down and then upwards until she had tore out its head from its spine.
She would have finished them all if only she had her families artefact and some of her men would not be caught in the cross fire that would take place soon after.
She could not just make a gamble and hope they did not die in the process of the explosions if it meant to destroy these monsters right here and there..
But, did it matter if they were about to die anyway…? They had been barely holding the tide of slow moving..
They did not stood a chance against this armoured, walking tanks...
She clenched her jaw, grinding her teeth to the point that she drew blood.
Magic was crackling through her…, not only through the length of her blade, or her clenched fists who were clutching the handle with every ounce of will power she could muster. Knuckles hurting as they turned white under her gloves.
No, the energy was coming out from within...wrapping around her.
Sparks flaring everywhere, wildly, violently...
Making her faster, sturdier...stronger as she allowed it to flow freely within herself.
Then she struck..
A wave of energy searing through the air in an open arc, scarlet lighting trailing down through the space between her and them. Illuminating the dim lighted street as if she had brought a crimson star to life.
The results are immediate..
It was a clean hit, the wave slicing through scores of them in an instant while the whiplash of energy left behind in their bodies cooking them, their eyes melting as the flesh within their upper half turned to mush of cooked flesh.
The smell was disgusting…
But it had not been enough, the two big ones had not fallen. Having shielded themselves with their weapons. Scorch marks and dents in their armour and weapons.
She dashed forward, blade raise over her head before she leapt into the air and struck. Holding and pushing the strength of both arms into her attack.
CLASH….!
Burning sparks flew through the air as castle steel clashed with the rusted, toxic cleaver from before. The cracks she heard told her of her triumph before it happened.
As the cleaver shattered moments later, allowing her great sword to dig into the exposed flesh and carve, deep...
Dark blood splattered over her, but she did not care. She yanked the blade, blocking and slicing the arm of the other creature that tried to aid its fellow kin before she turned around and aimed the blade this time into the first creatures head.
Hoping to lance through its hateful skull..
But against all odds, it bit down the blade. Bones clenching tightly and holding the sharp, electrified edges of her weapon. Halting her, slowing her down, giving it time to its kin to try to strike her from behind as it refused to DIE.
She knew she should leave the blade and leapt away from the creature, that it was not worth it the risk…, that she could try to pick a blade from the fallen.
But she had seen how this things were fast learners, if they saw something to work, they would put it to use once more.
Nor she was in the mood to start scavenging through the bodies of her men like a vulture.
And so…, she was left with only one choice...
She bit her lip, frustration building inside her. A silent roar of anger eating her whole as she PUSHED even harder down its throat.
His teeth grinding and doing their best to stop it, but cracking as they did...
``Why don't you go down...!?´´
She screamed at the top of her lungs, her throat growing sore as the sound of her voice rapture through the storm like thunder. Neither side noticing the way the pressure and the struggle took its toll over the blade was too much for it too handle as cracks started to plague its cold length
Energy amassing behind the cracks as if they were hiding a small star within...
And then..
They blew up in a shower of red light..
...Back to the present...
She had to kill them…
All of them, every single one of them…
Her lack of composure back then had almost gotten her more than a few scraps and dishevelled hair.
But she was alive and they were not. She had won….
Victory had been hers and hers only to claim….
Victory…
Her wine red eyes narrowed in contemplation as the word echoed within her.
Why did it felt so bitter when before that word had felt joyful..?
She grimaced, a still blood wet hand holding her head as a sudden pain coursed through her head. Searing nerves as if someone had poked her with steaming hot needles. Razor sharp fingers scrambling her brain the same way a child would play with a toy.
And then it was gone...
Whatever it was, it did not matter. She had more pressing matters..
In the end she spared none…for none would be granted, and yet she felt that she had barely made it.
Slicing them open, turning their bodies into mush...or burning them altogether with her magic so that they would not rise again.
She had been foolish and had led those men who were weaker than her to a slaughter.., and then she had killed again when their bodies puppetered rose up. She would have wanted them to look as monstrous and vile as those that took their lives.
But their bodies were just the same as they had been in life, making the act weight more….
She sighed…, tired, graving her arm and holding it tightly as she started to channel energy to heal the gash that had tore through her uniform and the skin below.
Her body was battered as it was it did not compared with the way her pride ached.
Now she was here, wherever this place was meant to be…
Having jumped down the hole she had saw before. A voice at the back of her head telling her to.
Whispering her to follow down…
To search for him...
….
What was that again?
Ah right...that thing...
Her experience had told her to be wary and ignore it until a later date, her guts said to follow, to see the end of this...
In the end she did not know when she took the choice to go down, she only realized after a while when she missed the rain falling over her drenched shoulders and the howling of the wind became a distant memory.
That blind spot in her memory was strange, but it did not matter…
It was probably nothing serious, hectic combat zones sometimes made people forget about things as the adrenaline still pumped inside them. Channelling their external receptors to keeping the body alive, not looking at the scenery.
Besides, this...was bigger than anything she had thought possible, surely it could not compare...
A quarter of the capital had burn in the fires of madness..
The dead were rising from their graves and hunting the living…
What else? What new nightmare would she confront here in these dark corridors? Her remained silent in her grip, resolute and stained in black ooze that slid down as if alive…
Her answer came in the form of a room filled with corpses. Their bodies broken and butchered, their remains here and there of their shattered forms...some where to gone and destroyed that she would have second guessed on where the man ended and where the next ended.
It was a mess….
Of blood and cartilage, of bone and skin tissue…
She fought down a gag at the smell rather than the sigh, but she continued on. She understood they were the enemy….
And so they deserved not even the smallest of attentions.
She walked over them, uncaring if their blood still wet clung to her heels…
The echo of her breaths and the dirty sound of heels taping over pools of blood and cold flesh been the only source of noise in this cold, underground facilities...
Becoming her own personal orchestra as she was left confused on where to go next, she had followed the path of destruction in the direction that it had take, but this room was filled with a myriad of passageways that may led anywhere..
It was only a miracle that she managed to spot the bloodstained footsteps of something rather large, moving out through a certain pathway...
It seemed that her search was not yet over…
Good or bad…
Noble or vile…
Whatever this thing was...she would confront it and put an end to it.
Her eyes closed to a half lid, yet they flared with determination. Nothing that should threaten her kingdom should remain.
She could not lose….
Little did she knew that she was gonna bite more than she could chew…
Unseen eyes watched from afar as the red head princess disappeared through the chosen corridor…
Unblinking.., but not without mirth or genuine curiosity for what was about to happen…
And what would he do before they retreated into the confines of a certain red eyed girl who hung her head bored in her home...