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 Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:12 pm
The single room of the shop was dimly lit only by candlelight. The shop was unhindered by electrical devices save for a radio that was playing soft classical music. They seemed to be drawn to such music. The shop was empty, save for a woman sitting at a small round table. A veil concealed the lower half of her face, leaving only her amethyst eyes exposed. She wore a set of purple silk robes that concealed her shape. Her hair hung loose to her waist in long soft curls. Shelves full of books on the supernatural and other knicknacks lined the shelves.
The woman's name was Evelina. While many mistook her for a fortune teller, she was so much more than that. She was a medium. She was about to communicate with the spirits of the dead. Many people often went to her when they wanted answers as to where their loved ones ended up in the afterlife and if they were happy. Evelina never lied. Many mediums only told their customers what they wanted to hear and most of the time, these words were lies. Evelina believed in nothing, but the truth no matter how harsh it was.
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Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:40 pm
Lilika's head snapped around to see the person who had been hiding and she pulled the girl behind her out of habbit. Almost second nature to her Lilika had felt an urge to sheild the defenseless since her brother had died. she knew she could do it, so it was her way of moving forward. He moved out into the open, raising his hands to signal he ment no harm and Lilika relaxed slightly.
"no, i dont know him but i dont think he will be attacking us" she told the girl before glancing back at her gun to make sure it was well within her reach if anything went wrong. "Come get the supplies if you needthem, im not sure you will find much among the diseased though, they arent exactly hoarders, I do live with another group of survivors though if you would be willing to share with some others..." she rubbed the girls back also out of habbit, happy to have found not just one but two more survivors among the remains of disaster.
After loosing her brother and the initial shock Lilika had taken to her training and had rounded up as many survivors as she could find and protect. She wasnt the only one with the same idea though she came to notice a few months after the inital catastrophies that whiped out the city, she and a few other members of the guard and various trained defense members have worked to build up a haven outside of the city in an abandoned bomb shelter base.
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Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:09 pm
The girl squeaked as the woman moved her behind her for protection. She looked around the woman to see what was going on and calmed down a little when she noticed he seemed friendly. Despite the woman's reassuring and his fairly kind demeanor, she still didn't trust the man. Her paranoia was getting the better of her, and it seemed like the only person she could trust was the purple haired woman next to her. She calmed down a little more as her back was rubbed by the woman, but she didn't feel comfortable saying much around the man. The girl's hands fidgeted around and she gripped her dress in one hand to stop her fiddling, while grabbing and squeezing the purple haired woman's free hand. Her breathing slowed as she felt a bit safer, but she couldn't stop her paranoia from keeping her rigid and in state of shock. She was like a tense, scared, cat, if you tapped her on the shoulder she would most likely jump three feet in the air and run away as fast as she could. She needed to find a way to keep her mind off of what was going on, so she whispered the first thing that popped into her head to the woman, quiet enough so the man wouldn't hear her. "W-what is your name? I-I can't remember mine but you d-do have one, r-right?"
======
Zeratahka scoffed at the child's words, clearly Lucifer had been slandering her after she left. She simply ignored the jabs and said, "Last time? Oh it was rough, everyone pulled quadruple shifts, people were at the gate for days at a time. At some point some of the souls decided to start a riot. the sheer number overwhelmed the guards at the gate, wrecked the place. A few demons actually died and we had to do damage control for weeks." Zera smirked at the curious young demon, wondering how easy she would be to manipulate. Humming slightly, Zera looked the girl up and down and said, "You look like you work at the gate. Things are probably boring now, but just you wait, in a few weeks things will go straight to hell. In a manner of speaking." Zera chuckled and eyed the demon in front of her before saying, "Better hope the Lord of Hell doesn't bail on you guys. He did last time. Mysteriously disappeared right around the time things started to get iffy. Then he came back after everything had settled and acted like he never left. And there are a lot more souls incoming now than there were back then, the line must be backed up for years." Zera laughed lightly and stretched her arms above her head, looking around in the sky to see if there was anything interesting flying around.
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Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:46 am
Reaching down for his pack he grabbed hold of a dark grey slightly tattered back pack, on the side of it was attached a machete that hung via a chain. On the other was a large steel water bottle. Attached to Lloyd's waist was a long katana like sword, but something seemed off, it didn't have a guard where the blade and handle met, the sheath looked worn, there were nicks in the wood that surrounded it, and the cloth wrappings looked frayed, two names were engraved on the sheath, they were the names of his brother and father. He slung the pack over his shoulder, rustling noises could be heard as it moved, it was full of supplies but he knew he had to travel lightly, to many supplies meant that he couldn't cover a lot of ground. Turning around as he heard footsteps he saw the older of the two boys who he was just practicing with come running back up to him. He smiled and waited for him to say something.
"Thank you, for what you did. I know it's not much but we appreciate any help we can get."
Lloyd looked down at the boy, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder he said. "In times like these we need to help one another. Support is something that is hard to come by, but when you've got it you're golden. See this?" He asked as he pulled his sword up showing the boy the names engraved on the sheath. "This is the name of my brother, and this is my father." He said respectively pointing to the two names. "I lost them both, but even now they support me, knowing that I have a little bit of them with me, it helps, it makes walking the roads and looking at all of the sadness easier." He put the sword back at his side and rested the crook of his elbow gently on the handle of the sword in a relaxed position. "So whenever you need support, just remember that you always have it, whether you're with your brother or not. Now stand tall and protect the people around you, show this world that you won't be beaten down." He said before he turned around again.
Waving from over his shoulder he finally began to walk from the small settlement. As he did so something caught his eye, a small glimmer just barely in his field of vision. Turning his head Lloyd, for a brief moment spotted the visage of a girl, one he could not quite put into words, mysterious? No that wasn't it, perplexing was more like it. Such a small glance and then she was gone, perhaps he was just seeing things from a lack of hydration. He reached onto the side of his pack grabbing the water bottle he drank a little before putting it back into it's holder.
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Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:22 am
The woman with the gun skill said the magic words to change Tobias' mind completely on raiding the corpses that littered the ground. Disease. He hadn't noticed the signs of the virus on the men when he was watching. But she was the one to kill him, perhaps she saw something he didn't. Unconsciously, he moved slightly away from the bodies, as if another couple inches of space would save him from infection. "Hmm..I suppose your right. They don't appear to have much on them..." Tobias answered. Agreeing with her was a better option then admitting he was terrified of being near people. Not that her other option seemed much better. How many survivors were there he wondered? Were any of them infected? As much as he would love to just say no and go on his marry way...he needed supplies. He needed fire. And at the dead of night with mutated wolves breathing down his neck he couldn't be caught rubbing twigs together. Nodding, he took a single step towards the women, still keeping his distance for the most part. "Trade huh? I can do that. I bet it's been a while since any of your survivors have eaten meat. Other then stray cats and dogs." Tobias' bag was filled with dried deer and rabbit, along with many herbs that her people could use for medicine. He had a little bit of everything, and it was easy for him to find more. "I'm Tobias by the way."
Nyxrin felt a frown crease at her brow. She heard rumors of such things, but she never thought they were actually real. It was hard to tell if Zeratahka was telling the truth though. She was one of the fallen, the very few of whom escaped hell with their lives. All demons knew she was the spawn of disloyalty and deceit. Hadn't Lucifer been saying such things for years? But at the same time, she also knew how boring guard duty was...and that the line was starting to back up for days. Purgatory had been taking the overflow for a few years now, holding the line while hell continuously filled the souls in. And people thought waiting in line at a government building was bad. "How did you know I worked at the gate?" Nyx asked, growing a little suspicious.
And then suddenly, the flames on the end of Nyxrin's tail flared explosively. "The Lord of Hell would never do that! He would never abandon his duty. The demons would have overthrown him years ago if he did such a thing." Nyxrin argued with firm believe. True such things happened before she was born, but still, she would have heard about it if it did once happen.
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Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:04 am
Zeratahka chuckled at the young demon's flaring temper. Smiling a little she replied, "And you're just a gate guard, you've never met Lucifer in person. I was around him for a few hundred years. I know how he acts, what he does when he's bored, and what he does when things get sketchy. You've never heard of that incident huh? Indoctrination is a tough thing to beat. You just believe the things he tells you, following him as though he's not just another untrustworthy demon." Zera may have been a deceiving demon, but she spoke the truth this time, Lucifer was not to be trusted, he deceived everyone, even his followers. "As for knowing you worked at the gate... let's just say banishment hasn't stopped me from popping back home every now and again. It's difficult to do without being seen, but not impossible. If you think the gate is the only way in, you have a lot to learn." Zera tilted her head, watching the demon in front of hr with mild interest. She was a loyal one, that was for sure, as soon as she insulted Lucifer the young demon snapped. She could be useful, perhaps she could trick her, or somehow deceive her into working for her. It was difficult to say, the indoctrinated were always the most difficult to control, but sometimes the easiest to cast doubt on. "You think the average demon population knows about his disappearance? Oh no, see, only his generals knew about it, and they kept it very very quiet. You have any idea what a demon riot would do if everyone found out that Lucifer was missing? Chaos, death, destruction. It wouldn't be pretty. But still the Lord of Hell risked that to take a little sabbatical." Despite her loathing for Lucifer, she couldn't help but admire his ability and power of deceit, he could do pretty much whatever he wanted and no one would question it. He had been leader so long, people didn't know what to do without him there; they NEEDED him. Perfect indoctrination.
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Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 4:34 pm
Lilika stroked the young girls head as she looked up to her and asked her for her name, watching the man as he diverted from the dead looking as if he changed his mind about searching the bodies. "My name is Lilika" she said nodding her head to the side to signal Tobias to come their way as she moved back to grab her riffle.
"Meat sounds great," she chuckled as her mouth watered at the thought of something fresher than the salty can goods that they had. Food was food, there was no doubt about that, but person could only live off of canned green beans and dried mini shrimp for so long. An eagles scream over head made her look up and she shuffled slightly,"lets head back, i don't want to be here when the mutant beasts come" she settled the gun on her shoulder and turned to lead them away. The eagle was a predator that hunted from the sky, nothing that couldn't be handled with a bullet or a knife if attacking, but the recently breed mutants that filled the forests and cities where animals used to roam were smart enough to know when an eagle had found a meal, it usually meant they could find food too.
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Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:04 pm
Tobias nodded slightly as he caught the name of the gun bearing woman. Not that she was saying it to him, but he took note of if nonetheless. Despite the health risk, it might be worth Tobias' effort to make friends with this woman, and her troop of survivors. If they had good supplies, Tobias was willing to consider the idea of regular trading. He had meat and herbs, and they had...well he would see what they had.
Tobias's eyes also raised at the sound of the eagle. With birds of prey circling overhead, he suddenly felt more exposed then usual. His yearning for the cover of the forest was starting already, and it had hardly been an hour yet. "Yes we'd better go. I left my bow at my camp and I'd rather not use up all my ammo. So lead the way Miss Lilika." Holding his shot gun ready, Tobias began to hurry behind Lilika and the nameless girl. Moving towards the survivor camp before the beasts descended upon them.
"If Lucifer is really as horrible and deceitful as you say, then why haven't the greater demons taken care of him by now?" Nyxrin pointed out. Demons had no problem picking a fight with weak leaders. Clans have been known to change their leader everyday because one demon overthrew another for thinking he wasn't a good enough leader. "The first demon or now, he would be only one among many if those who knew what he was up to saw him as unfit." Though Nyx had no idea how right Zera really was. How all demons had been taught since birth that Lucifer was the only thing standing between them, and all of heaven's soldiers descending upon them. Her unwavering faith in the Lord of Hell was so ingrained it would take more then just the rantings of a fallen demon to make little Nyx start to doubt. It would take some solid proof for that to happen.
At the comment about the gate, Nyx merely rolled her eyes. "I know that. I never come through the gate to leave hell. Do you seriously think I flew all the way here?" Nyxrin pointed out, gesturing towards her wingless back. She was quite proud of her ability to make a portal. Not all demons could do it, and needed to rely solely on their wings for travel. Not her. She could be in hell one second, and the surface the next, so long as there was a fire to walk out of.
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Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 12:21 am
Zeratahka chuckled at the young demon’s argument. It was true that the demons had contemplated taking Lucifer down, he was only one man. But he was what they needed. No one demon could match Lucifer in all his might. His tactics, his intelligence, his strength, his speed, he was levels above everyone below him. Demons couldn’t rule in a republic or a democracy, they’d just kill each other, it was their way. Lucifer was the Lord of Hell, but he was no demon. The demons of hell needed their king, they simply wouldn’t be able to handle it otherwise. ”So the greater demons would just take him out and everything would go well while they cooperate would it? No, demons vie for power, they crave it. It’s the only reason we do what we do. If we removed Lucifer, we’d just kill each other off until it was one left, then someone would kill them off and so on. It would be never ending chaos. And Lucifer knows that. It’s why he made us the way he did. So we can’t make a functional society without him.” Zera smiled and shifter her posture to a more relaxed one; clearly this was only going to be a discussion and not a fight.
Laughing at the young demon’s comment, Zera nodded enthusiastically with a pleasant smile, ”Then you know how easy it is to get in and out of hell if you don’t use the gate. Even the banished demons pop back from time to time, though it’s more difficult if they don’t have their powers. So kid, what’s your name? Not many demons converse with a banished, and even fewer think they’re high and mighty while talking to a former Greater Demon. I’d like to know who it is I’m talking to.” Zera smiled at the demon, trying to throw her off her guard a little. Zera had decided, this demon would be a good asset to manipulate, even if she didn’t have a very high position, it was always good to have a source on the inside.
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Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 5:17 pm
Nyxrin frowned, struggling with the idea that Zera brought up. "But surely one of us..." Nyxrin soon shook her head without finishing the sentence. Zera was right about one thing, that the demons would fight and fight until no one was left if Lucifer was gone. Such a high position...no demon would think any other demon would be good enough to rule. They would collectively destroy a civilization that has existed for millenniums, and then the souls would have nothing keeping them in. Heaven would be flocked, rampaged by tormented souls who were tired of suffering, wanting a slice of heaven. Heaven would crumble as quickly as hell, and where would that leave the earth? The entire world would fall...if one man disappeared. Taking this thought in it's entirety, Nyxrin sat back down on the edge of the rafters of the house where she had teleported herself. "Wow...the fragile system he made for himself there. A wonder it's still functioning at all." Nyxrin murmured. Obviously this was the first time she really really thought about such things.
Dragging her mind back to the present, the young demoness looked up at the fallen demon. "All demons think themselves high and mighty over the fallen. It's the few that would express it. Fear and all. Your kind, with your powers, are thought to be ruthless. That out from under the hand of Lucifer, you would do things others would only dream." Nyxrin said, grinning slightly. Well that made Nyx either brave or stupid. Considering she was still alive and nothing attacked her as of yet, she was assuming the former. "My name is Nyxrin. Pyrodemon and Gate Guardian extraordinaire. And you are?" Despite Nyx knowing this was the fallen demon Zeratahka, she figured she would extend the curtsy of letting her introduce herself.
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Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 8:13 pm
Zeratahka shook her head and said, "Well Nyxrin, You obviously know who I am, but just to refresh your memory. I am Zeratahka, Former Greater Demon of Deceit. Liar, deceiver, and various other trickster traits." Zera bowed and smirked, the demon before her was arrogant, and walked the line between stupid and brave like an older demon, but she was still young and gullible. She would be easy to twist around her finger, all Zera had to do was shake the foundation of her beliefs a little more. If she figured out that Lucifer was missing, she might gain another ally. "As far as ruthlessness goes, I'm not so impolite that I'll attack someone I've got no quarrel with. But someone whom I do... I'll take whatever advantage I can get, fair or not. And as far as doing things other would only dream of, being free has its advantages. As in not having to work for that tyrant, b*****d, control freak, who liked nothing more than to use others like playthings." Zera's words held a lot of bitterness and hate, she despised the Lord of Hell with all her being. And anyone who was so devoted to him they couldn't see him for what he was, they were just sheep, blindly following their leader.
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Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:09 pm
Alex swung on the swing in the abandoned playground. Once a time there would have been children running around and it would have looked crazy for an adult to be sitting there on a swing, kicking the ground as he rocked slightly back and forth. Dust flew up and settled again. It was a never ending cycle. People would have called him strange, if they were around to see it. Even his own family would have said he was acting strange. But people could only call you strange if they were still alive or they had the time to stop and stare at you when they weren’t running for their lives.
The blue jewelled cross was hidden underneath his shirt. It would have been less obvious to store it in his bag but he had more chance of losing it then and it was the last reminder of his family, apart from a picture he kept store in the bag. Inside was food and some clothing to last until he found the next nearest point to do a wash. A long wash, it had been a while. He didn’t trust the water around the cities; it was much more dirty than the water that he found whilst out and about beyond. That trail of thought led him to his current situation. Why was he in the city to begin with?
He had actually just wandered in, without looking where he was going, he had felt a desire to sit on a swing and just stare at the world around him, emerge within the memories. Loose him self there. It had all gone to plan apart from the fact he was swinging in the swing instead of sitting in it and he wasn’t loosing himself in the memories, more drowning in the sadness that occupied this place. He hadn’t seen a soul since he had entered and that was somewhat worrying but he didn’t know if he expected to see one. They probably had a gun and out to kill at that moment. Or a sharp piece of metal or glass etc. Anything could make a weapon.
Alex shook his head as he realised how dismal his thoughts were and returned to focusing on the swing. It reminded him so much of the trapeze and the freedom which came with it. There was no limit to the sky above. Maybe things would change in the future. Maybe.
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Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:26 pm
"What an odd outlook for a demon." Called a voice from above the pair of demons. The sound of six flapping wings could be heard from above the pair, small feathers fell gently from the tips of his angelic wings as he landed on the roof forming a triangle out of the three of them. "But what an odd concept, a 'fallen' demon, can one fall farther than the pit of Hell?" He asked rhetorically. He was not making fun of him, it was a legitimate question. Eli was monotone throughout most of the time that he spent on this planet, though angels are indeed beings of the highest virtues who strive for the best in this body Eli had a difficult time showing specific emotions.
It didn't bother him that not one but two demons stood before him, demons were simply the opposite to angels, while normal humans can not perceive God angels were created as the messengers, the bridge between the two so were demons created to be the bridge between humans and the Devil. He looked back from one of the demons to the other. "Do you both seek refuge in this place now forsaken from human kindness?" It was in places such as this that angels had a hard time to thrive, they were beings of light, and virtue, virtue is hard to maintain and keep alive in a world full of vice. "I find it odd though, your morals, to not fight unless there is a quarrel, it's interesting you don't sound like a demon, you sound like a human who was damned to Hell and then became one, your outlook still holds compassion something that should not exist in a demon's mind."
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Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:04 pm
Lilika nodded to the two and waved Tobias to follow as she quickly took one of several rather confusing paths to take them out of the city to the shelter. it was a necessary precaution they all made sure to use the event they might be followed.
"we go out and collect what we can for resources as often as they are needed, your welcome to stock up" Lilika explained to Tobias figuring he might not like the idea of being stuck with a group of people at first. Some times people decided they could stay, others still tended to leave. it frustrated the others when people came just to take resources and supplies, but Lilika was just usually happy to help. their group had the capabilities to find the resources needed for people to travel and find their own way. they didn't have to hog everything specially since they were still taking a risk being so close to an infected city.
This was a main problem to Lilika, the safety of those that were surviving. Cheesy yes, but it kept her going in times like this so she held on to the hope that there were other people surviving out there as well.
A well hidden shelter was placed under a large growing oak that had to be at least a decade old, probably planted when the bomb shelter was built, still healthy and alive with a passage underneath that lead to a large cavern where most of the others were taking refuge. She knocked on the panel a few rhythmic times before it opened to show a dirty scared face."found two, no trace of infection" she said and without a word the window shut as the door opened to let them all in.
A hallway entrance and a flight of steps lead down to a large hanger where several people had set up places to sleep and work. Some worked on clothes, sewing and stitching new or tattered fabrics, others were rationing and counting the supplies they had been collecting all day. "well, this is it, no real name at the moment, but we call it a safe place for now, better than the mall basement we were at before"
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Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:24 pm
the stench of smoke fire and burning flesh brought about Vira's portal as a building started to collapse in on itself as the demon of malice emerged from the bottom of it. molten metals dripped around her scantily clad frame as she arose from the portal and let it fade, leaving a cooling pool of melted metal in her wake as the crumbling building fell above her. Without a second thought she stepped through as the flames of hell burned through any debris that fell to block her path.
The red haired demon walked with purpose as she found herself among the abandoned streets. She had come for something in fact, something very vital to the survival of the world not only the underworld. A pain to her yes, but some one was not doing their job and it was assigned to her to fix it.
A group of humans charged the standing demon and she glared mildly at the bunch, recognizing the new violent virus that had poisoned these beings and turning it to her advantage as their minds became over turned to make them start attacking each other rather than the horned woman standing before them. she licked her lips as the blood shed reined before getting bored and unfurling her wings and rushing the remaining few, thorns pierced their bodies where she touched them and suddenly what life they had left vanished and their souls sank through the floor to be added to the already swamped gates of sin.
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