ENDLESS JOURNEYS (O/A)

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Silhouette felt something disturb the shadows nearby. She thought it was Trinity attempting to thwart her scheme. She silently scoffed at the notion of her own shadows being used against her. In just a few seconds she would fill the void where Kerana's fear was with malice and hatred, until the girl became a mindless extension of the ancient's will.

She was then perplexed with the sprinkle of dirt that she felt on the right side of her face. She turned to see what the source was, only to see the blur of a hammer coming at her chest. She had no time to react or defend herself. She could only widen her eyes.

The impact was literally bone shattering. She had but a moment to reflect on how that could be, since no standard weapon could harm her. She thought she could see runes etched into the bell of the hammer, then her eyes forced themselves shut.

Her hand was forcefully removed from Kerana's chest, leaving the act of corrupting the girl unfinished. There existed only a seed of what she hoped to accomplish. Her pitch black form tumbled and rolled for a dozen or so yards until she came to a bone crunching stop against a tall boulder.

Her grin was replaced with a scowling grimace. She glared murderous intent at the dragon-kin that had harmed her so, and then she fell unconscious from the trauma done to her head.

The bonds holding Alec disintegrated. She lunged up from his prone position and reached out to Kerana. He cradled her in his arms and stroked her hair with his furry hand.

"Kerana? Kerana, are you alright? Please be okay." he plead.

While holding her he looked up at Nova with hopeless eyes. "What did it do to her? What was that thing?"  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity tried to pull Alec but found that the restraints were growing tighter around him. She tried to see if she could take control of those restraints to no avail. Not knowing what to do next she turned to Keleth and without another word she had taken action. Once the creature was out of the picture she emerged from the shadows near Alec, looking toward Nova for what possible answers he could give.

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Rikki Tikki Travi

BeaMichelle

Nova Blancke

 

[Nova Blancke]

Nova was unsure on what to do. Something that he absolutely hated. There were gaps in his memories. Damaged, broken because of abrupt reincarnations. Sudden deaths.

Keleth, true to the blood flowing through her leaped out of the shadow and struck the shadowy creature with her hammer. Nova did not waste any time when it happened. There was a glow from his bracelets and as if he had thrown them 5 big rings of light flew towards Silhouette. One around the neck, chest, waist, legs and ankles. He made sure that her arms where caught in it as well. Nova glanced at his hands that seemed to be singed.

"I.....am not sure. Not completely. From what I can piece together, Kerana was in contract with that...thing. Taking aspects of her that she didn't want. Fear for example. After that, she wanted to have her love for you removed Alec. I believe that is what she was doing as well as changing other aspects of her. She might not be the same person when she wakes up."  

[BeaMichelle]

Keleth slung her hammer over her shoulders and held onto the handle with both of her hands. She never really understood all that magic stuff. She payed the money to have earth runes inscribed into her hammer to make working her family's land easier. It required little knowledge of how it actually worked to make it effective. All this mess about entering into a contract with a shadow creature didn't mean anything to Keleth. All she needed to understand was that one of her new friends was in trouble.

"Would it help if I finished what I started? She's helpless and bound...I could just crush her head." she offered.  

[Nova Blancke]

Nova looked over at Keleth.

"No, that is just as tempting as it is unwise. We don't know what kind of contract she has gotten herself into. There are plenty out there that would kill the person who signed the contract should the holder of the contract die." Nova responded. "I'll need to look at your hammer later and talk to the one who inscribed those runes however."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Alec looked down at Kerana sadly. He found it hard to believe that she would go to such lengths. He convinced himself that the creature had been playing the fox-kin girl from some time and preyed on her naivete.

He carried stood up and carried the fox girl over to Keleth. "Please watch over her for a moment." he requested solemnly while gently placing his beloved at the feet of his much appreciated dragon-kin comrade. He turned and stepped with conviction toward the shadow creature.

"I need to ask you some questions." he growled at the unconscious thing.

The ancient had no sense of what was happening around her. The points where the light bindings held her smoked ever so slightly. Just as Alec stepped within a spear's length of Silhouette, her body's defensive reflex kicked in. The shadows that covered her body lashed at him with a shadow tendril.

Alec's animal instinct literally saved his neck. He slid back just in time to keep his throat from being licked by the creature's strike. He snarled and glared daggers at the creature. It was then that he noticed the smoke coming from her bindings.

"Nova!" he called back. "I don't think we can get close to it, but those bindings you put on it are smoking. Maybe you can persuade it to tell us what we need?"  

[BeaMichelle]

Keleth made a stressed face, feeling as though she were in some sort of trouble for enhancing her weapon with magic. She hoped that wasn't the case.

She nodded to Alec and knelt down to keep Kerana's head out of the dirt. She was disappointed to see that her idea of smashing the creature's head in with her hammer probably wasn't going to pan out.

She did, however, grin at the notion of Nova burning it with light.  

[Nova Blancke]

"Let's not do that Alec." Nova said before the ancient lashed out.

He walked over towards the creature as he called out to Ruby.

"Ruby, go home now! Play time is over." It was obvious she didn't like it but the look her daddy gave her did not leave any room to tantrums. She ran home. Nova was glad she did that. He didn't want her here for this.

From each ring, two glowing lines opposite from one another ran down towards the next ring, connecting them.

Nova stepped in the same range that Alec was in when he got attacked. But he cared little for that.

"What did you do to her? Speak, you shade."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Silhouette cried out in pain as her shadow forged flesh seared and flashed an ocassional flame. Her own shadow fed her skin so that it was kept on a constant cycle of burning and healing.

Her tendrils laahed out but constantly fell short due to her bindings. She tried to escape into the shadows, but the bindings kept her from doing thay as well.

She huffed and spat, "Release me you accursed doppelganger! You have no right to demand anything from me!  

[Nova Blancke]

"Doppelganger, now that is a oddly specific thing to say." Nova replied."And you wish to talk about rights? You a creature that preys on the weak minded? You, who plays with emotions?"

"I would like you to tell me how to undo what you did to the fox. And of course, what you means by Reincarnation of Soul. You should hurry, because I have not forgotten your threats and I do not take kindly to those."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Silhouette's eyes glowed their disgusting shade of yellow as she shreeked, "I will tell you nothing, hicce!!!"

She fought through the pain knowing that so long as she was connected to a shadow she could still fight without exposing her insides. Her back sprouted a blade like tendril that sliced the boulder in half vertically like a hot knife through butter. Two more pierced each half and slung them at Nova with as much as much effort as a child throws a stone.

"Die, and stay dead!"  

[Nova Blancke]

Hicce.....another familiar word. But not one known to any language he knew.

The sliced boulder froze in midair. Frozen by his telekinesis. He smiled at the creature. But there was no emotion in it. Nothing. Two more lines appeared on his 'cage' and began to connect to the others.

"I wish you had just complied." Nova said as a intense fire engulfed her. It wouldn't last long. But it would come again and again.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

The screaming and thrashing that resulted from Silhouette's immolation would be harsh to those without a hardened heart. In between the flashes of all consuming fire she spat and cursed in a long dead language. And though the shadows healed her burns almost as quickly as they came, her stamina was hindered due to the blow from the hammer wielding dragon-kin. After almost five minutes of being repeatedly lit aflame by her shackles her healing was begining to slow, which resulted in her sensative true body being exposed to the light of day. The pain that came from that was more than she could bare.

"Cease!!! I yield! I yield!!!" she hollered over the crackling flames. But the next shout was less animalistic and defiant. It was laced with the sort of emotion that came from an old friend or family member asking for help. The ancient felt her anger slip away for just long enough to plead, "Soul, stop! Please!!! I can't take anymore!!!

Alec was slightly taken aback by Nova's full bodied method of torture. But he kept watching the creature burn none the less. But around the third minute, the constant screaming mixed with the smell of burned flesh was becoming more than he could handle. He had to cover his mouth to keep from throwing up.

"She called you Soul again. Does she know you from one of your past lives?"  

[Nova Blancke]

The man lived many life times. Not all of them were kind to him and in not all of them he was kind. He had been a torturer, a murderer, a psychopath. This was all just....nostalgic for him. There was no emotion in the man's face what so ever.

But he was not without reason. He was not a monster in this lifetime. The flames stopped. Both boulders dropped on the ground. One providing shade for the creature. Carrot and stick. Reward and punishment. He looked at Alec before focusing on the creature again.

"Then give me something. Tell me what I want to know. What did you do to the foxgirl. Who are you? Why....why do your words feel...familiar?"