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 Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:43 pm
Liliel wasn't sure what had just happened. At first she had the mare more or less exactly where she wanted her... and now the mare was spouting some psycho babble about death.
"Shut up!" Liliel countered very intelligently. She didn't care what the mare had to say but it was completely unnerving to hear it. If that hadn't been enough the mare wouldn't stand still. She kept shifting around. It was like she'd lost interest in attacking. No sooner had the though occurred to her did Liliel see the horn coming for she. She moved as quickly as she could but she still felt the flesh tear apart on her side.
She shrieked and slashed at the mare with her talons. She had no real intent in the attack other than to strike back and hopefully get the mare away from her. Liliel was to kill this mare, not the other way around.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:47 pm
"Do you know how you're going to die?!" shouted Flash Black, louder and even more off-balanced this time. She didn't even bother evading the claws. Now was her time. She knew this. She accepted it. But if she could... she wanted to take the mare with her. As the claws raked her, she stabbed wildly, aiming for any bit of flesh that she could reach.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:49 pm
Tythoss stood back, watching. All right, Zenoskelis was doing a decent job after all.
Zenoskelis had Caspian on the ground. It was easy from this position for Zenos to attack him, though not as easy as he would have thought. He got slapped with that powerful tail several times and almost got knocked off his feet himself. One hit sent him teetering dangerously close to the cliff edge, but he regained his footing. For each slap that the kelpi gave him, he gave three lashes of his tail and hooves back. He was bruised and battered, but the kelpi was bleeding.He was doing it! He was winning the fight!
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:53 pm
Liliel felt the mare's horn scrape against the side of her throat. It wouldn't do anything lethal but it would be a deadly mistake for the mare. Liliel reared up onto her hind legs and began a vicious barrage of strikes with her claws. Anywhere she could rip at the mare she did. This would be her end and the end of her obnoxious question, Liliel would make certain of it.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:57 pm
Liliel's strikes hit true and Flash Black felt her body become more and more damaged. Each blow just increased her frenzy and madness, but there was only so much her body could take. She jabbed a final time, and then fell to kneeling. "Do you know how you'll die?" she wheezed past labored breaths. "My spirit will know. My spirit will stay. I'll follow you and... whisper in your ear."
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:02 pm
Liliel snorted angrily. "Just. Stop. Talking!" She cried punctuating each word with a particularly strong swipe of her claws, the mare being nearer to the ground just made it easier to hit her. They were dripping with blood now and so was the unicorn mare. "Just die." She snarled before huffing angrily. That mare wouldn't be whispering anything to her. She'd be dead. Nothing dead spoke, that was one of the great advantages of killing annoying creatures. "Die..."
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:09 pm
The final swipe knocked Flash Black onto her side. Though her voice no longer gave sound, her mouth still moved. "I will follow you," she seemed to say. Her life quickly left her, but her strange eyes did not shut. Till the very end and beyond they stared at Liliel.
At long last, her end had come.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:16 pm
The life and death battle continued between Caspian and Zenoskelis. Caspian knew that if he didn't stand up he would die where he lay. Every time he started to roll over he was slashed back down again by the kalona. Every time he tried to slap him away with his own tail, the kalona would just come back. He was in pain and increasingly desperate. He raised his tail, but saw Zenos already anticipating the move. That was when he decided it was time for another tactic. He kicked out with his back legs instead.
The move caught the kalona by surprise. Caspian let out an astonished "Ha!" as Zenos toppled over. He surged upright, heaving himself up on shaking but strong legs. He was bleeding from a dozen small cuts, but he could still stand. He could still run, he could-
A shadow fell from above.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:21 pm
Xellra had been waiting all this time for his chance and wasn't going to let it go to waste. As soon as the kelpi stood over the fallen Zenoskelis, he knew it was time. He swooped down from above, lowered front hooves hitting the kelpi's side like a battering ram. To Xellra's delight, the kelpi was toppling over. Off over the edge he went... but not without one final surprise...
Caspian didn't know what possessed him to do it. Maybe it was desperation and hoping to find something to cling onto. Maybe it was just pure vengeance. Whatever the reason, as he began to lurch over the side of the cliff, he snapped at the fallen kalona. He grabbed a chunk of mane in his teeth and pulled Zenoskelis over with him, or so he attempted. The kalona scrabbled for the edge and as he did, kicked Caspian loose of him.
"It was worth a shot," thought Caspian dully as he tumbled downwards to the river and rocks below.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:27 pm
Desperately, Zenoskelis wedged his hooves against the rocky cliff edge. He could feel the rocks turning beneath him, ready to give way. He flapped with his wings but in his terror he was ineffective. He had always been a weak flier at best and that wasn't good enough to save him now. Rocks fell away underneath him and he stabbed at the wall with his hooves, seeking further purchase.
"Help me!" he screamed, knowing Tythoss stood not far away.
Tythoss sneered. It was Zenos' own fault this had happened. Zenos made two mistakes, getting knocked down by the kelpi and then getting dragged down by the kelpi. He had earned his death as far as Tythoss was concerned. He didn't move, staring disdainfully. If Zenos wanted to be worthy of life, he'd have to save himself.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:36 pm
Trouble was brewing. Liliel had killed the mare, the stallion had been knocked over the edge, and unfortunately he had had the presence of mind to try to take one of his killers with him. Zelcion finally found the speed everyone probably wished he'd been displaying all day. That was his son dangling over a cliff. What sort of attachment he had could be the subject of a long debate given that mazoku were meant to be incapable of feeling. He suspected this had to do with not being fully mazoku, or perhaps he just didn't want to lose something that would likely pick to follow him over others. It was anyone's guess.
"Haul him up!" Zelcion shouted to his brother as he ran over. It didn't take long to realize Tythoss had no intentions of helping at all.
Liliel had spent the last few minutes glaring at a corpse. It wasn't until she heard her brother's cries that she even knew something had happened. She followed quickly after her father and seeing where everyone was looking, at the cliff, she put together what had happened. "Tythoss! You get my brother or I will claw your eyes out!" she snarled viciously. Zenoskelis sucked somewhat less than the rest of her family. It was important to keep him around.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:39 pm
"Stay away!" Tythoss barreled over to block his brother, planting himself squarely between Zelcion and the edge. "Don't you dare help him," he snarled. "He's weak! He deserves to die!" He could still hear Zenoskelis' pitiful cries for help but his heart was as cold as a stone. He was ready to fight his brother, but as it turned out, he didn't have to. Another shadow flew overhead, this one larger than Xellra.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:46 pm
Xelloss himself landed in the midst of the confrontation, positioning himself right next to the edge where his grandson clung desperately. Aside from that one aspect and the mare that had gotten away, they had done pretty nicely for themselves this round. But still, he had just as little softness in his heart as Tythoss did, and there was a reckoning that needed to happen.
"You two, stay there! I'll deal with this." His violet eyes flashed at his quarreling sons and he turned to look over the edge, meeting Zenos' frightened eyes.
"I'll pull you over on one condition," he said, using none of his usual mirth or amusement this time.
"Anything!" gasped Zenos, last holds crumbling beneath his hooves. "Please!"
"Swear loyalty to me, and me above all others," murmured Xelloss, voice too low to be heard by anyone other than the one it was intended for.
Zenos was stunned by the request. Was Xelloss asking him to replace Lord Ruby Eyes as his leader and master? "Done!" he whimpered. "I swear it. Now please!" Zenos would betray a thousand lords if it meant his survival.
"Gladly," replied Xelloss with his usual cryptic smile back on his face. He wrapped his tail around a leg and sank his teeth into the base of Zenos' mane. It was not a gentle rescue, but Zenos was alive when he reached solid ground once more.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:53 pm
Zelcion stopped where he was at the arrival of his father. He wanted to tear out Tythoss's throat for getting in the way but he abstained. Instead he watched Xelloss closely listening to his every word as though it were a matter of life or death. For his son it was, for him it could simply mean another peace of the puzzle to what Xelloss was up to. And, as should have been expected, Xelloss managed to keep whatever secret he had to himself and Zenos.
Whatever Xelloss had asked of him Zenos had agreed eagerly, which also wasn't surprising. People would agree to quite a lot of things in exchange for their lives. "What did you want?" Zelcion asked carefully. Whatever was going on it involved them and he didn't particularly like the idea of being a pawn yet again.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:03 pm
"I want..." Xelloss decided it was time. Sometimes truths had to be told, at least in half measures. Sometimes even he had to be open. "I want you all to listen carefully." He addressed the lot of them, from the panting and dazed Zenoskelis to his probing father Zelcion.
"You need to be able to fight in a group, because it may be necessary very soon." He knew he walked out on a limb with this bunch. They could turn on him and support his enemies, but he wouldn't have arranged this if he thought that would truly happen.
"For now, clean up the rest of the survivors. Soon I will call you back to the starting point, and you need to be prepared to listen to me and cooperate with each other." He paused for a moment, then added with a waggle of his tail and a playful tease, "All other answers are secrets, I'm afraid."
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