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 Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:51 pm
Elana watched helplessly as the newly arrived Tales looked around, their disbelieving eyes coming to rest upon their peers and the shadowy crows that were swooping and diving around them. She wanted to call out to them; to cry out that they should watch out, that they needed to be careful, but she had no voice left. Her throat was raw and half-closed from repressing much of her tears.
It was the magic. She had broken free from the Wizard's thrall momentarily to call forth what she'd hoped were reinforcements...but the young Tale could hold the binding spell at bay no longer. Her crystal-blue eyes slowly lost all depth and became glassy, empty.
Swirling magic had left three. A disoriented boy with a dimly flickering lantern, a frightened unicorn child clutching tightly to a book and another child with bones of pitch guarding his head and a nearly-decapitated teddy bear held in his frail arms. What reasons could Elana's magic have had for pulling these children from the other side to aid her peers? Only time would tell.
Unfortunately, time was a commodity that seemed to be swiftly running short: sugar-fine grains of sand slipping through a broken hour-glass...a song played in half-time, if you will.
Friend or Foe...Good question. Tybalt and Adonis might have wondered longer about the status of the six-eyed monster had one very important thing not happened: Gallu's powerful nose scented the trio of newly arrived children and it's attention rapidly diverted from the less "interesting" crows to the far more interestingly scented children in it's way.
The beast moved sinuously, with a grace that belied it size. Oh yes, getting these would get it closer to the Prey. To the Wizard.
Andi's green eyes blinked slowly and he looked down at his lantern's flickering light. There was something shadowy reflected in the glass, something very large behind them. A chill slid down the lanky child's spine and left a heaviness deep in his gut: something wasn't right here...something that went far belong his being pulled into some strange place suddenly.
The boy turned his head, the long ponytail whispering against the fabric of his stained silken shirt. "Aah!" Andi's eyes went impossibly wide as they caught sight of the hulking demonic form that was moving towards them. The lantern's light dimmed further and gilded metal made loose, jangling sounds as the boy's hands began shaking uncontrollably.
Nothing in his wildest, depression induced imaginings - not even the horrors that Nalira had spoken of when she'd spun her tale of woe to him - came remotely close to the nightmarish form sliding through feather and claw towards him. Towards all of them...
Nen wasn't paying much attention to anything until Andi grabbed him and tried shoving him away, out of the beast's line of sight. Then he saw and wished he hadn't. The child buried his face into his stuffed teddy and curled his black-bone tail around his body - Andi was saying something, but his brain was shutting down, closing off. Nen's child-mind couldn't quite handle the horrors before him and he was doing what was quite possibly the worst thing he could ever have done: he was retreating into himself.
Miako was no better, though she had dropped her spell book into the cradle of her skirts and was back-pedaling away from the Gallu beast; it felt like nothing but bad magic, the blackest of black...things that made her insides twist and writhe and made her feel sick and disoriented.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:34 pm
Sylvester grunted softly as Donny's feet and legs hit his body. It turned out crouches were little defense against the strange crows. Sure, Sylvester was in better shape than the winged Tale, but he still bled freely from a jagged cut near the end of his nose, and his back was a mess. He stood, batting at a couple of dying birds making one last dive for his eyes, and brushed at his pants.
In any other situation, he might have commented on the fact that Donny had grown or that he seemed to be an excellent fighter or that his trident was pretty kickass, but none of those things seemed particularly important. Instead he said, "Thanks for fighting," to the side of Donny's head. "I... don't." If they ever got out of this place maybe he would look into doing something about that. He turned to where Donny had fixed his gaze and almost literally stopped breathing. There was a... thing over there, and it was moving toward three people who were probably other Tales. They were all going to die.
"Do you still want a sock?" he asked Tiwaz, without looking at her. He didn't see how it was going to make much of a difference now.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 5:40 pm
Blue stumbled, confused and lost. Where - ? How - ? He had been in the basilica, and now he was not. Crows whirled in the air; there were familiar faces here, too, and a growling, stalking monster that seemed too familiar. The wolfchild shrank from the thought and skittered backwards, ducking away from the wheeling crows.
There were others. Maybe there would be safety in numbers. Blue abandoned the thought of trying to understand, and ran stumbling to join the group.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 7:02 pm
There were just too many things going on. Too many of the Tales either too frightened or trying to fight back. The crows were buzzing everywhere and getting on his last nerves.. but something was sliding up his spine. Something darker and more dangerous than the crows all put together. Not like it was hard to find it.. he had never seen something that huge before... last he recalled. But something seemed to strike familiar with him.
But what it was was not important to him. There were smaller ones trying to keep away from the crows and his eyes focused on little ones being stalked by it. His mind was racing. He didn't know these Tales nor was he overly familiar with the ones who he somewhat knew by a look or two. And he normally didn't care.. could he really leave those little ones to die? Without bothering to make the effort to at least help?
....
And get tortured by Disney movie re-runs later?! Hell no! This would probably be a bad move on his part but he hurried over towards the Tales getting stalked. He wasn't about to fight that big shadow that was full of nothing but hatress and unending darkness, he wasn't that crazy. There was a larger group of Tales as it was.. if he could help them get there... to safety. Safety in numbers supposedly... Ignoring his own plight, for if he died only his family and Khia would really miss him, he went towards the child who seemed to be carrying a teddy bear with him. He wasn't going to be moving fast enough and he'd get eaten. "Come on, little one. We need to go!" he saw a girl with a book trying to backpedal and he sighed. He couldn't get to them all.. If the lanterned one could handle the child then he'd get the girl... Too many things and not time.. that beast was coming towards them now. A choice had to be made quickly and fast..
Looking at Andi, he growled low. "Listen.. not to sound like a harass, but you need to focus" it was hard for him to be gentle but he was trying. "Can you get the girl to stand and move? I don't know what that thing can do. and honestly, I don't wanna find out. We need to reach the others..."
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:41 pm
" Yes and yes" Tiwaz nodded vigorously answering both questions. The largest threat might be moving away but it would still be good to have a defense just in case. She slid to the left a bit as as to stay out of the way of the older fighting tale.
Her eyes were a bright crimson red as she watched the Trio become a quartet and face off against the something. Even if she had her sock weapon she doubted she'd be of any use trying to help them. She was just too small and Chaos did not seem inclined to give her a hand, even now of all times.
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 5:33 am
The ice beneath Diae's feet had long since gone, throwing him into a world that was far too uncomfortable for the young tale. He had been rooted in the halfway point from Tybalt and the 'AnimaTale' group that had congregated around him but now everything had fought its way into entropy. The crows were screeching in the most ghastly of ways, more frightening than the sound of wolves howling. Diae fumbled as he covered his eyes and cowered into the earth, trembling and wishing for this all to go away. Goggles that had hung loosely about his neck were now propped atop his head acting as a poor shield from the crows' razor like claws.
"Aido..." He whimpered dismally as the chaos happened around him. Eain, the poorly stitched ragdoll, lay at his feet until a haphazard body of a crow, most likely mutilated by one of the older tales, knocked it from him. It fell down a tiny slope towards the group of tales congregating, and with it his ability to stay longer. Quickly he shot from his squatting place and barreled through the mass of attacking things and to the only person he had previously found comfort in, Sylvester. He did not care that he was underneath another's feet and thought that so long as he clutched and clung to the older tale, he would be safe...er.
His back was littered with tiny scratches and his scalp was bleeding a little, but all in all he had made it off pretty well, at least in the eyes of older people. In his mind the scratches coupled with the blood meant pure agony and fear. He sobbed to himself as any child would after seeing to much, halting hiccups and big tears over something he really could just forget and move on with. But he hadn't seen this much blood before, not even when Sie fell down the stairs...He missed home and comfort and Aido. His head sprung up as he looked at the small group for the black and white haired tale, a halo, a scarf, anything Aido for him to cling to. "Where's Aiai?" He burrowed again into the Sylvester's lower half and continued to cling until someone kicked him off.
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:12 pm
Chailyn had been standing still, watching as Donny left to go protect Elena. As much as she liked Elena, she was much to confused to listen to her. In any other circumstance, she might've even said how it wasn't nice to boss people around- then again now was not the time. And it was probably good to be bossy, maybe.
Either way, the tale wasn't listening. She saw mouths move but heard no words, unable to pay attention to anything in the chaos. She could see old friends she hadn't seen in awhile but she couldn't think to say anything or move. It made it quite an excellent target for crows, though if she noticed them she made no motion to move.
Crows nipped and ripped at Chailyn, finding her easy prey though a boring one. Then again that was always the best kind for crows and scavengers, ones that didn't fight. Though that was about to change, as her ears finally seemed to hear things again. She could hear crying, a very familiar voice- Diae.
Her purple eyes turned, focusing now on the tales around her more closely. Where was he? Then again, where was she? She didn't have time to draw a map, making a quick glance and rushing for the only tale she seemed able to hear. She could see him clinging to Sylvester.
Her eyes briefly saw other tales, even Elena kiss Donny but none of it registered in her mind. Whether she was running away from crows or the monster, she knew not- she didn't even know there was a monster yet. "Diae!" she called out as she ran closer, waving her hands in hopes that the crows would leave her alone.
She crumbled next to Diae, her mind catching up to the pain in her body. Scratches from talons, rips from beaks, red streaks blending into her red clothing- it hurt, moreso than she'd ever felt. "We'll find Aido, Diae-" she mumbled, climbing to her feet. She could help protect Sylvester and Diae, right?
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:29 pm
Blue's sudden movement towards the group of Tales caught the beast's attention and it began moving towards them instead - a few heavy-but-not steps of it's clawed feet and the trio that had just appeared had a few seconds of respite. At least, until Jiro's attempted rescue brought Gallu's focus right back where it had been.
Movement. Things in it's way. Things in the way died.
The dark haired Tale shook his head and blinked stupidly at the monster bearing down upon them; he wasn't even looking at Jiro - he wouldn't take his eyes away from Gallu - but he was sort of listening. Could he handle the child with the bone-tail and the teddy? Probably. Maybe. But not without dropping his lantern (which...even after all this time, he was loathe to do). "W-wha--" Andi's voice cracked from disuse and fear. It was bearing down on them, long, muscled limbs moving effortlessly and with intent to maim or kill.
Nen just rocked a little, one of his pudgy hands reaching out to hold onto the taller Tale's pant leg. Andi felt safer than the thing his ufocused eyes had in their sights, that was for sure! When Andi was spurred into moving by the brilliant flash of the golden embroidery on Jiro's kimono catching the lantern light, he whimpered and then leaned down to pick up the bone-tailed child, turning heel on the monster and struggling to run towards the group of Tales. Nen let this happen, almost wholly unaware of the drama unfolding, his precarious position, or the fact that by not holding onto the older child, he was making it that much harder for Andi to run with him.
Miako shrieked when Jiro came near her, her horn glowing faintly as though having some sort of reaction; very likely, as she was a unicorn, it was reacting to the dark energy pouring off the monster that had once been Khiarhu. She pushed her way farther back, feet and hands getting tangled in her skirts and twisting her lore-book so the covers dug painfully into her thighs. "No no no! Keep it away!!" Big blue eyes filled with tears as the dark magic came closer and closer - Gallu was drawn towards her almost as much as it was drawn to wards the Wizard and his spell.
The problem was that Andrael and Nen were in the way and the Gallu all but on top of them. A second shriek came from the unicorn - this time a warning to the pair struggling towards the clustered Tales and the lesser worry that the attacking shadow-crows presented.
Andi heard Miako's cry and twisted around just in time to see one of those huge, razor-tipped claws coming down on him like the wrath of some thunder-inspired heathen god. There was a sickening tearing sound and a feeling like all the air was leaving the space he and the semi-catonic child were inhibiting...and then he was falling and his face and arm were numb and it all went black.
Gallu had prey. It had caught up with the slower moving lantern-bearer with the boney child it his arms and reared up to slash at them viciously. Unfortunately, the child had twisted and so the blow - while severe - was glancing and not nearly as fatal as the monster would have liked. Blood poured forth from slashes in Andi's scalp above his right eye, his collar bone and left arm. No kill there- he'd have to try again! But Nen? Nen took the brunt of the attack full on - Gallu's claws had ripped through his bone-halo like paper and then torn open his cheek and throat. The child lay on the ground, gasping and burbling his last in the fallen brunette's arms.
Jiro had failed to save those two, but perhaps he could keep Miako safe? There was very little time yet - the Wizard's spell was swirling around him in viscous threads of black and green and sickly yellow; it was complete - forming. Something had to be done!
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:41 pm
Blue saw-felt-heard the beast's course alter. No! He was leading it into them - he stumbled to a halt, looking back. Freeze? Or run in the other direction? Maybe he could - but then -
- and the beast struck down to children Blue didn't know. The wolf boy watched ghosts swirl up and away from both still bodies, nauseated and horrified. Had they just died? Really died, right there, in front of everyone?
There had to be something he could do, but he didn't know what and he couldn't move. He didn't think he could move even if the shadowy beast went for him next.
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 12:49 am
Edict had tried to arrive earlier, tried to force her way into the chaos that was unfolding. She wasn't strong enough, wasn't fast enough to save the two in time. Not completely at least.
Soft, gentle, unseen hands clutched at the essence filtering out of the two Tales. Focusing her own essence, she pulled them back into their bodies. But try as she might, only one of the essences was able to remain within the mortal shell. The other had nothing to anchor itself to, the bone-tailed child's body had been lost. The older boy, though in need of serious patching, would live.
She did her best to heal him, but this action only drew the beast's attention to her. Perhaps her presence would confuse him long enough to allow Miako and Jiro to flee?
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:23 am
Donny felt as though the next few moments in time had spun past him in a blur. He had taken to protecting the Tales in his corner, swatting and stabbing the crows away to keep them from further harm. He had paused momentarily when he noticed Chai coming towards them, heading for a Tale behind him that he didn't know. He turned around as she passed, watching her; his brow furrowing in momentary despair at her scratched up state. How could this be happening? He slammed his trident into the ground with an angry grunt, and the weapon let out a vibration that frightened the crows away. It wouldn't last, but he only needed a moment. Bending to one knee, he reached out to cup Chai's elbow, pulling gently to get her attention.
His mouth opened to say something, but his throat had closed up at some point. Speechless, for once, he just brushed the top of her hair. It was agonizing to see her, and all of his friends, in such pain and peril. A tight ball of anger built from his core, pulsing within him.
And then, when it seemed things couldn't get worse, it of course did. Donny was distracted from his reverie by a young cry, and turned just in time to see the dark black something mow down one, two children. His eyes widened as the horrifying image etched itself into his memory. It just.. they just..
"No." His voice had come back, but it cracked in anger. Those were Tales. Tales like him. Tales like his friends. And now..
His eyes squeezed closed and he stood back up, plucking his trident out of the ground and gripping it so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He slammed it into the ground one last time, so hard that the vibration would keep the crows away from his friends for just enough time, then ripped it out again and stalked towards his prey. His body, though it naturally shone golden, was now lightly surrounded with an angry vibrating pale light.
If the Gallu wanted a fight, it had found one.
"HEY, UGLY!" He screamed, "PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!"
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:24 am
Sylvester nodded and started to crouch and remove his shoe and sock - as ridiculous as it was with the swarms of crows picking at his hair and clothes and that thing coming to kill them all, at least it gave him something useful to do - when a tiny person suddenly ran into his legs. Startled, he put a hand on the Diae's head, feeling goggles and sticky blood. It was the boy from earlier, and he was looking for... Aiai? Sylvester was about to apologize, about to tell the boy he didn't know where or who Aiai was, when Chailyn appeared, stumbling and falling nearby.
"Chai, are you..." He heard crunching and cries of fear and turned to see even more confusion and blood. Tale blood. His skin itched, but it was no worse than his experience with Nalira's. What upset him more was the monster and what it was about to do to the kid with the lantern and the smaller bony child. He had never actually seen anyone die, he especially had never seen a murder, and he wasn't going to now. Sylvester looked away and dropped to his knees, hopefully shielding Diae from the sight as well. "Don't look," he whispered, sure that no one could hear him but unable to speak any louder.
As Donny's vibrations scattered the crows, Sylvester pulled at his shoe and sock, handing the latter to Tiwaz and jamming the sneaker back on his foot. "Can you come with me?" he asked Diae, including Chailyn if she wasn't otherwise occupied. They should at least try to not be so close.
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 1:01 pm
Chailyn hadn't felt the brush from Donny, otherwise she probably wouldn't have made it to Diae. She turned briefly to see what was going on, but something told her she shouldn't- so she turned back to Diae and looked up at Sylvester giving the best smile she could manage to her friend. Everyone was so much taller and bigger than her it seemed.
All thoughts of protecting people fluttered from her head, she'd forgotten she was small and unlike Donny had no idea how to fight. She knew how to run and she felt she was good at that for some reason. "Let's go with Sylvester Diae," she murmured snapping from her thoughts. They couldn't just sit here, they had to find somewhere safer to be.
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:46 pm
Diae squeezed himself further into Sylvester trying to block out the screams and cries he had heard. The pretty man with wings behind him yelled something very loudly, with anger, and it wasn't hard to tell that the anger the Tale behind him felt was not only directed at the monsters that lurked behind Sylvester's protective shield. He mumbled to himself with teeth digging into his poor ragdoll's hand. It wasn't until after Sylvester loosened his hold did Diae register that Chailyn was here now.
"Chai!" Diae cried out and threw himself to Chailyn? The Tale he had met not too long ago was comforting him now...but why was she here? Was here here like Aido and we got here? How come he didn't see her before, and that's when he noticed the mass amounts of wounds littering Chailyn. "You hurt!" Diae cried; shocked and dismayed. But he was pulled out of his thoughts with the memories of ghastly cries. He attempted to snap his head over to the source of the sound but was unable to see.
"What happen?" Diae asked, curiosity lacing his young voice, even in circumstances such as this. "Did someone get another owo?"
He vaguely registered Sylvester's question and turned to him, still clinging to Chailyn as if she were a lifeline. "I can go with 'Vester, we'll go together and find Aido and stop the bad things. And thank'yo for saving me 'Vester. I was scarded."
The boy made to look back behind him, rag doll hanging limply in his hand, but all he could see was a bright glowing light and the angry Tale's wings and cape. He turned back to Sylvester and Chailyn and looked at them expectantly. They were older and knew what to do, right? He unraveled himself from Chai, gripping her hand still to stay connected. He then reached his hand towards Sylvester, rag doll and digits offered for comfort.
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 11:34 pm
It was hard to figure out what was going through his head. When it came to death, he had seen plenty, caused plenty. it didn't upset him as it did the younger ones.. but it filled him with a rage he had to control. He failed those two.. he should have done something more. But no one was perfect and he could only do so much.. and they had been so scared... So to see it happen to innocents irritated him.. but he had to help Miako. "Calm down. I don't know what you're doing, but you're getting his attention." She was little.. smaller than him.. his mind whirled as he plotted quickly. Finally he ended up picking up the girl and hefting her over a shoulder. "If you want me to save you, don't struggle."
She was a bit heavier than he had thought but he just didn't let that stop him for too long. Minor issue. Donny's shout made him turn to look at him. His eyes narrowed and red flickered from the gold that his usual left eye was. "Don't pick a fight you can't win alone!" his voice was sharp as he shouted in Donny's direction. "Protect the others! Keep it away from them! " If he wanted to die too, that was his choice. It wasn't like he was friends with Donny or knew his training level.. but he did know that Donny could not handle that thing by himself. And though Jiro wasn't always into saving people.. he wouldn't let anyone else die. Not if he could do something useful.
But he had to move now.. the Gallu was heading their way and he spun as fast as he could and took off. It hurt him though.. something nagged at him. That beast seemed familiar to him. Was he afraid? Yeah but not for himself. it was for the scared, crying child he had over his shoulder. But where could he go that would keep here away from that damn thing?! He couldn't go towards the larger group because that would target them and that was stupid. But something made him wonder.. he felt something different but he couldn't hazard a glance back. There had to be somewhere to move the child and get into safety. If there was some way to stop whatever was happening.. it had to be done..
Right now, his hermit nature could be damned. He had to help out his own.. in whatever way he could
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