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 Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 8:48 am
Takes place directly after this solo. A creature crept out from between two wide trunks of nearby trees — tall and thin, with scaled flesh in some dark color that helped it blend in with the night. A long, slender tongue lolled from its mouth, over sharp teeth that leaked strings of tar-like saliva. It stared unseeing, its eyes milky, swinging from one direction to the other as if seeking something. Then its nostrils flared with heaving breaths, and it stepped toward the only prey within the vicinity.
Ymir may not be familiar with this world, but he trusted his senses enough to know that this creature was not native to it. There was a malevolent air about it, not simply in its demeanor, but in the very essence of its presence.
Chaos. Here, in a place full of life. Ymir had been taken from one Chaos infected world and brought directly to another.
Why? How? What use was he against it? When he couldn’t even save his own people, didn’t even think they deserved to be saved, how could he possibly be suited to this task?
A bloody hand rose. The tips of Ymir’s fingers grew cold — magic nearing the surface. It sputtered out before it did him much use, no more than a showering of half melted flakes at his feet. The creature hissed as if it could sense the attempt, dragging its large, clawed feet closer, scoring deep trenches into the soil.
For a brief moment, Ymir experienced a flare of self-preservation, the desire to run, to put as much distance between himself and this creature as he could.
Instead, he stood his ground.
If this was how he was meant to die, then so be it.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:45 am
It wasn’t often that Valhalla was out, much less alone. With his wife back, and his children and widowed mother to look after, he knew that his place was at home.
But he also knew that the Negaverse could easily strike again. They could attack the innocent, could destroy the city with hoards of youma if they wanted.
He hadn’t powered up until he could see the Senshi. He’d taken a page out of Michael and Peter’s book and tried keeping a low profile as a civilian so he could keep his aura hidden. He didn’t have Michael’s gift, or Peter’s intuition, but he wasn’t useless. And if he was, he was going to make sure that he wasn’t.
A hand went to the pocketwatch at his side the moment he powered up, a ghostly form of an eagle spouting forth from nothingness. It took to the sky, shooting lightning bolts down between the branches of trees that were too close to get a good hit.
“Move!” Valhalla called to the Senshi, and when he wasn’t sure he would move, raced forward to try and push him out of the way of the youma before it could attack.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:24 am
Ymir saw the bird and thought it strange — like something he should know, almost, though the sight of it didn’t jog any particular memory. He heard the voice that followed and knew it to be unfamiliar, had barely a second to glance toward the figure approaching him before a man in gold armor knocked him out of the way.
And only just in time, too. The creature growled low and snapped its jaws, stumbling away from the lightning which cracked through the trees.
From the ungraceful heap he made upon the dirt and grass, Ymir glanced up at the man. The symbol of Jupiter on the medallion that kept his dark cape in place stood out even in the shadows, glowing green like stones Ymir had seen on the planet this man obviously served.
But this was not Jupiter. He knew that by the climate, by the absence of storms, by the solitary moon.
Had this man been brought here like Ymir?
“What is that?” Ymir asked, tearing his eyes away from the Knight to watch the blind reptile swing itself about, clearly uncertain what it should attack first — the two figures of flesh and blood, or the ghostly bird.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:29 am
Valhalla was only partially sorry for knocking the Senshi to the ground. At least he’d gotten him out of the way. He turned to look at the Youma as it seemed torn in its decisions, and Kyrie released another splintering crack of lightning through the trees, talons prepared to attack if necessary.
“A youma,” he said, offering his hand to help the young man up to his feet. By the looks of it, this Senshi must have been new. And poorly taught by the Mauvian that awoke him. “It’ll try to kill you to get your starseed. Best option is to kill it first. But… from what I understand, they don’t really die,” he explained quickly, because they didn’t have the luxury of time on their side. The youma could attack them, or take off to attack someone else.
Staff in hand, he recalled the eagle to her home, and swung his staff at the Chaos creature. He knew Peter would have wanted to try and study it, but he wasn’t there, and there was a Senshi who didn’t know what was going on.
The youma hissed and snapped its jaws at the staff, nearly tearing it from Valhalla’s hands as he tried to keep it at bay. The youma wasn’t going down without a fight.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:38 am
Youma…?
The term meant nothing to Ymir, who stood back as the Knight engaged the creature. By the feel of it, he knew it should not exist. It was an abomination, and yet a part of him almost regretted the Knight’s intervention. If the youma had succeeded in taking his starseed, Ymir would not need to trouble himself with life ever again.
What point was there in saving him? The Knight should save himself. He was healthy, and powerful. Surely his service to Jupiter was valued by all those who benefited from his protection.
It was shame that had Ymir lifting his hand again. The youma snarled at the Knight and spat some of the tar-like saliva at him. Ymir thought what a terrible thing it would be if this Knight fell in his attempts to save him. Ymir wasn’t worth the effort; he certainly wasn’t worth another man’s life.
Magic burst to the surface — a volley of sleet Ymir sent into the youma’s eyes.
The creature howled and stumbled back, clawing at its face to rid itself of the irritation, gouging deep lacerations into its own skin.
“Not so intelligent, is it?” Ymir said.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:48 am
He wasn’t sure what was spat at him, but Valhalla hissed and quickly worked on using his cape to wipe everything he could from his arm, where the black substance burned like acid.
“Maybe not this one, but some of them are,” he corrected the Senshi, not wanting him to underestimate them so readily. There was a lot more he could say on the subject, but he was trying to get out of the way of the youma spitting at him again, and the attack of… ice? No, it wasn’t quite ice, it was something else. Not quite snow, either.
It was good that the Senshi knew how to use their magic, at least. One less thing to worry about.
With the tar gone, and angry red boils across Valhalla’s skin instead, he swung his staff at the creature once more. There seemed to be a lot that the Mauvian didn’t tell this Senshi, and he was trying not to let his frustration slip out too much.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:55 am
So there were more. The Knight seemed to imply that before, but this more recent answer served as further confirmation. With creatures like this lurking about, the amount of Chaos on this world must be extensive, or perhaps it was simply different than that which plagued Ymir.
“Have you faced many of these creatures?” he asked the Knight.
Youma did not haunt Ymir, only greed and sickness and hatred.
How was it that this world still lived, when Ymir clung to the last vestiges of life? Had this Knight been sent here to assist the locals? Or was he called here, the way Ymir had been?
Questions for another time, perhaps, if they managed to survive.
Ymir spared a brief glance toward the Knight’s injured arm. His own wounds throbbed, but Ymir ignored them. The part of him that still held a shred of concern for his own safety made a note to avoid the beast’s saliva. Red boils on top of torn skin did not seem likely to be pleasant.
The creature thrashed and screeched as the Knight struck it with his staff, responding with a swipe of its tail, which Ymir jumped aside to avoid. The motion sent the youma off balance. It stumbled and fell, so Ymir took the opportunity to send more magic its way — a powerful spray of sleet that kept the youma from regaining its feet, and knocked Ymir back a few steps.
Ymir paused to look at his hands, one blood covered and the other frosted over at the fingertips.
Not only had he lost power, but his magic seemed unstable. Why? Was it a result of his dying world, or an effect of stasis?
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:01 am
Valhalla wasn’t sure what was going on with the Senshi, but he knew they had to take care of the youma, first. The Senshi seemed to be out of it, not so much in some kind of daze, but he seemed like he wasn’t entirely sure of things. It would make sense if the Mauvian that awoke him didn’t give him much direction.
“Yeah, quite a few,” Valhalla confirmed, and as the youma was kept down by the spray of ice and snow, Valhalla swung his staff at it once more, watching as it burst into a cloud of dust.
That was at least one relief, but he hadn’t missed the injuries on the Senshi.
“Are those from the youma?” he asked with a nod at the blood. “Come with me, we can sit down and I can take a look if you’d like.” Maybe he could give the Senshi some direction since the Mauvian didn’t.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 5:14 pm
Ymir, too, watched as the youma burst into flakes of dust, which drifted toward the ground and settled into the grass, where it could not be seen among the shadows. The Knight seemed content with this, but Ymir watched and waited, wondering if the creature might reform.
It did no such thing. The youma had gone, vanished as if it had never been.
In its absence, silence reigned. For a few moments, no frogs croaked, and no insects hummed — scared quiet, perhaps, by the youma’s presence. They began again slowly. One croak, then two, then the chirp of a cricket, until the night was once again full of noise.
Ymir caught laughter again from far away, as if the youma had gone unnoticed by all in the vicinity, except for Ymir himself, the Knight of Jupiter, and various wildlife.
Ymir looked toward the Knight, then down at his own arm.
“Very well,” he said, and followed.
Life seemed unwilling to part with him for the time being.
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