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damned_lounge2007-10-30 07:13 pm
kanara.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_lounge2007-10-30 07:13 pm
Entry tags:
Oktoberfest '07: "Ariadne's Curse"
Title: Ariadne's Curse
Author: Sin (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kanara)
Beta: None - I was too lazy
Word Count: 3320
Rating: R for violence, language and brief nudity
Characters: Reno, Rufus, Raine, Reinforce, a Minotaur
Summary: Is escape from the institute really the salvation they all think it is?
A/N: I apologize to Vegas for what I did to Rufus, but how could I have Reno without Rufus?
They were wrong. They always had been, those that schemed and thought themselves clever. Even the most practical of them, the skeptics and the commanders, had it dead wrong. They believed their salvation lay in escaping this place, this port tucked in an harbor of madness, but they were foolish. Those of us that have been here the longest, those of us that had seen the madness close up, we were the only ones that knew why the walls existed and what the darkness outside truly held.
Red eyes snapped open, the creature woken from its stasis as a few patients broke free from the carefully constructed walls. It was cold outside, thin ice covering the vegetation, and the beams of the escapees' flashlights reflected off the forest before them. From its place inside the tree-line, the creature's breath froze in the night air as it breathed slowly and watched the latest victims to find their way out into the untamed wilds that was its domain.
The patients paused as they conversed amongst themselves, deciding a course of action. It was only a matter of time before they would realize they had to plunge headfirst into the surrounding forest, putting themselves at more risk than they'd experienced within the hallways. There were more places they could be ambushed for, new creatures to account for, and no safe haven to run back to. The tall red-headed man came to this realization first as he adjusted the man he was supporting. He was burdened with the dead-weight of his superior, the blonde man having suffered a debilitating injury upon their escape from the pyramid-headed man as they finally gotten over the wall. The blood running down from the long wound on his back would certainly draw the monsters that prowled the forest up ahead.
“Hold on,” the more delicate looking of the two women in the group said as she'd finally caught her breath. She rounded behind the two men and looked the wound over, her face going grim. With a few hand movements and a couple muttered words, sh cast a spell upon the blonde man. The wound on his back stopped bleeding, but did not heal completely, and the woman that cast it sighed in frustration at its inadequacy and moved to recast the spell. She was stopped, though by a hand on her shoulder.
“It is but a temporary fix,” the other woman said, a concerned expression upon her face, her hand on the shorter woman. “You have spent much of your energy, Raine. There is still danger ahead. Conservation of what we have available is key.” The woman palmed two small objects in her hand. “I myself have little left.”
“She is right,” the redhead said as he looked down at his superior with concern. “At least this way I can handle him easier without fear of killing him.” With that, the man hoisted the unconscious man over his shoulder so they could move faster when needed. “I wish we had some water to wash all the blood off, but given how acute the monsters' senses seem to be, it would be a waste of good water.”
The shorter woman sighed but nodded in agreement. “Alright. Should we wait to see if any of the others are going to make it?”
A moment of indecision crosses the face of the woman with the long silver hair. “No,” she finally says, having chosen her resolve. The moments ticked by and the longer they stayed the more danger they would be in. “We must press our advantage while we can. We can always come back.”
The others are better off without you. You don't know it's coming, what is to happen, but I can sense it. There is darkness there and, out here, it can't be contained. They had all done horrible things in the past, though some were on a higher level than the others. Even the half-elf wasn't immune to it. Out here, in the forest, outside the walls, the darkness reigns. They will learn this soon. Closer than they think as they finally decide to move into my forest.
They should have stayed where they were and allowed themselves to make it back inside those walls. Now that they have chosen to continue on, I must act. They will not flee back inside and thus I must kill them. It will be easy enough; some fates are worse than death. One of them is already on the brink. Would they all notice in time? Is this one stronger than the rest? Stronger than me?
Deeper into the forest they travel, shivering as they go and passing right by the creature that had been watching them without a clue it was even there. Such was how the monsters that crawled all over this damned place at night took their prey. A large tree was suddenly sheared in half by a great axe as the creature finally took action. The felled tree toppled over and the sounds of fear and confusion met the beast's ears. The redhead had cursed, the half-elf muffled a scream as they both ran. The other woman, though, was muttering something as a deep purple light glowed from beneath her, reflecting off the beast's metallic skin and illuminating the great axe and deadly horns upon its head. It advanced steadily toward the woman, its pace picking up as it moved.
Spell complete, a dark energy rushed toward the creature, striking it with a full impact upon its chest. The force and strength of the attack forced it backwards and it dropped its axe but did not fall. The creature was momentarily stunned and that was all the time the woman needed to pick up its axe. Seemingly not surprised by its weight, the woman's muscles strained as she hefted the weapon. Unimpressed, the creature snorted, a cloud of frost forming before it. The head of the axe sliced through the cloud only to clang off the thick metal plating that was its skin.
The resulting jolt combined with the exhaustion from her spell finally overtook the silver-haired woman and she panted trying to raise the axe to defend herself as the beast recovered from its stun and advanced upon her.
“Reinforce!” The half-elf called out to her companion as she and the other man had finally looked to see what had become of their wayward member.
The reappearance of her group brought new energy to the downed woman. She surged to her feet, swinging the axe as if she'd had eons of practice with it and slashed at the beast's head. Her aim was perfect, she knew this, and expected to see the beast's head soon roll upon the ground. Impact was made and before she had a chance to smile at her victory, the blade of the axe shattered into pieces. Battle instinct saved her as she threw herself backwards as the large metallic horns sharper and stronger than diamonds broke through the axe and swept from one side to the other. The tip of one grazed her cheek as she flung herself, a thin bright red line cut across the flesh.
They believe we are nothing more than mindless beasts that hunt just for the sake of hunting. Blood lust and hunger – these are what they believe fuel us. They think they can outsmart us because we have base intelligence. At least this is their thoughts upon those of us that don't take on the guises of their friends and family. The mimics were a blessing, pointing out their own weaknesses, but of course they don;t believe us. Even this one, laying on the ground, with a spark of fear in her eyes, doesn't realize what I really am and she is much more intelligent than the other three. It is a pity she must die.
What the others may have lacked in power given their exhausted state as well as the burden of an unconscious body, they made up for in teamwork. The creature had wrested the haft of its axe from the downed woman's hands, a small shard of blade protruding from the end, and was just about to finish what it'd started with the cut upon her face when there was a loud cracking sound. A bullet fired from the redheaded man struck its face, barely missing the eye. The hot metal from the bullet striking the ice cold metal of the monster's body created a burning spark that bounced into the monster's slightly glowing red eye. Pain is what it felt a moment before the whole area in the forest lit up as yet another spell was cast at it. Blinded from the bright light and the searing pain, the creature stumbled backwards. When the spell faded and the creature could once again see out of his uninjured eyes, puss congealing at his other one, he saw the silver-haired woman was gone.
Their path would be easy to follow, but the monster stayed where it was. It nodded as a small ball of light circled around it and then flitted off into the forest. There was no need to chase it when they would just be coming back to this same place, a small clearing formed from the severed tree. If the creature was capable of smiling, it would have. They were just weakening themselves further until there was nothing left but to look deep into the darkness.
The four continued through the forest, two being supported by the other two, as they ran. The redhead shifted his grip on his superior and cast a glance behind them. “I don't think it's following us.”
“Let's rest a moment,” the half-elf said between panting breaths. She'd expended just about all of her magical energy with that last spell but it had been worth it to save the woman she was currently holding up.
“I will be alright in a moment,” the silver-haired one said as they stopped. She moved from leaning against the half-elf to a nearby tree. She put a hand to her cheek and then looked at the blood upon it for a moment. That glint of fear was still in her eyes, but she concealed it well enough, only receiving a puzzled look from the half-elf. She shook her head slightly to dismiss any questions her companion might have at the moment. “Thank you,” she said quietly to the other two.
“Don't thank us,” the redhead replied. “We couldn't leave you. Turks don't leave comrades behind.” He paused a moment. “Besides, your magic is better than most of the stuff I could cast if I had materia. We need you.”
The silver-haired woman sighed. “I dropped the one cartridge I had left after that spell. This could be problematic.”
“We'll figure something out,” the half-elf said with a tried smile to her companion. A moment later and her eyes lit up as she caught sight of something in the forest. “Hey! I think that's another group of patients.” It certainly looked like there were a couple more flashlights out in the woods.
The other two peered through the forest, the redhead pausing a moment to quickly check the number of bullets he had left. Seeing how few he had, he grumbled. “I'm almost out of ammo. With Reinforce and you both very low on magic, we should meet up with another group. Safety in numbers.” The three nodded and, unconscious member shifted to the man's other shoulder, they set out to meet up with the other patients.
How easily you are all manipulated. People are stupid; they believe anything because they either want to believe it or are afraid it's true. Did it ever cross your minds that the 'flashlights' you saw were nothing more than a clever ploy to lead you back to the clearing? You wanted so badly for there to be other people for you to hide amongst that none of you considered a trap. And you call us mindless creatures running on instinct alone. Fear does not control us; it controls you. I will enjoy the looks upon your faces when you realize you sealed your own death. Pity you won't realize how lucky you are to find death.
“Fuck.”
That was all the man got out of his mouth when he found his group back at the clearing created by the severed tree before the sound of metal entering flesh met his ears a moment before the pain set in. The monster had been waiting patiently for their return and ambushed them. Burdened by the unconscious man, the redhead was the easiest target. The creature swung its head back, the now lifeless body of the redhead's superior was flung off the horn with a sickening sound as the flesh slid off the horn. The body flew at the women and the silver-haired one tackled the half-elf to the ground to avoid it.
“Kaichou!” the redhead called out as he felt the horn pull out of his own flesh and take the body with it. The man's wound wasn't fatal, but bled profusely as he struggled to his feet. He raised the gun in his hands as the beast bared down upon him, charging like a bull. Two shots were fired rapidly, bouncing off the beast's chest, and then the gun clicked empty, even though the redhead's finger kept pulling the trigger. At the last moment, the man realized he needed to get out of the way of the incoming horns and dove to the side.
The minotaur-like beast plowed through to a tree and stopped when it made impact. The tree shuddered and snapped in half from the strength of the charge. It righted itself and grunted as it felt another magical attack hit him from behind. It turned around, it's good eye focusing on the redheaded man. It was hard to tell what he intended to do, but seeing the lifeless body of his superior seemed to put him into a rage. The man charged the monster, sending curses the creature had never heard before at it as he ran. Another magical attack from the silver-haired woman, much weaker than the others this time, struck it as she tried to distract the monster from the man's crazed attack. Unfortunately, the attack did nothing of the sort and the beast whipped the remains of his axe at the charging man.
The axe caught the man full in the chest and the momentum lifted him up into the air and he landed heavily on his back. To the monster's surprise, as well as that of the two woman, the redhead started to laugh manically, blood bubbling out of his mouth as he forced himself up to his feet through sheer will, the axe still sticking out of his chest. “You... think... this can... stop me?”
It's moments like this that I remember what it was like before the darkness. Before evil took hold. And I can feel nothing but pity for such pathetic displays.
The monster took two large strides to the crazed man and, in one swift motion, ripped the remains of the axe out of his chest and swung it head horizontally. The deadly horns sliced through skin and bone as the man was decapitated. It stood there for a moment, looking down at the body, before it felt a wetness upon its face that hadn't been there before. Wiping the wetness off its snout, the monster looked to find his hand covered by bloody spit.
All that was left this time around were the two women. They had weakened themselves through the usage of their magic it wondered how much longer either could hold out. As it turned to face them both, the minotaur felt it. The darkness was claiming another one. Did she sense it yet?
I was too late. I underestimated how much darkness she held inside her. She should have never left the walls.
The creature's single good eye focused on the silver-haired woman the same moment she realized what was going on. That look of fear that had been hidden in her eyes grew exponentially as she felt her control slip. She roughly pushed the half-elf away, uttering a strangled, “Get away! Please, run!”
As the half-elf stumbled from the push, she noted the monster that had just killed the man was no longer moving. It was simply standing there watching the other woman. The half-elf looked over to see the silver-haired one drop to her knees, a gurgling scream of despair pulled from her throat, as she succumbed to the darkness. The half-elf's eyes went wide as she saw three sets of black feathered wings ripped viciously out her companion's back, blood splattering everywhere.
The wings flared out as red marks ran down the woman's arms, lines going across her body to crawl partially up her face. Her eyes glowed a bright red as a feeling of power swept across the forest, knocking her companion back to the ground, though it left the monster unphased. Here was darkness washing across the forest; darkness resided in the monster and long ago it had become one with it. Just as the silver-haired woman was doing now.
The darkness was not done with the silver-haired one yet. It always took its victims past their own darkness and into deeper realms. Her fingers curled and turned into sharp, gnarled claws as her whole body started to illuminate the area with a dark purple glow. The woman-beast got to her feet, head tilted toward the heavens. The bloody torn uniform the patients faded away from her skin to reveal the extent of the red marks across her body a brief moment before a form-fitting bodysuit of blackened armor plates covered her body.
The woman-beast's scream of despair changed to a dark growl of hunger, fangs suddenly growing at an alarming rate. She drew in the scent of the frigid night air, her hair whipping around her though there was no breeze. Her eyes suddenly snapped to the half-elf where she lay frozen in fear at what she'd just witnessed. The demon ran her tongue across her fangs a moment before all emotion shut off from her face.
The sudden silence finally broke the half-elf out of the stupor she was in and she scrambled across the clearing, getting to her feet as fast as she could and running. The demon watched for a moment before spreading her wings. She took off into the air and then swooped down in blinding speed to snatch the half-elf off the ground in her unbreakable grip. Up toward the moon the demon flew with her prey.
Down on the ground, the horned monster watched the newest of the darkness' brood soar into the night sky. Shortly thereafter, a great amount of blood fell from the sky upon him as the demon savaged her prey, devouring the magic within as she ripped her way through to the half-elf's very center. Once finished and sated for the time being, the demon landed next to the beast. It greeted her as it would a sister.
We cannot go back. Once we've given in to the darkness and madness out here, we are forever lost. They don't understand that the walls they are confined in are for their own protection. If they come out here, they will all end up like us, twisted into the image of the evil within us, the darkness we could not fully overcome. Death is better than this. Do you have a name, little sister?
I was once called Reinforce.
Welcome to Hell. I was once called Theseus.
Author: Sin (
kanara)Beta: None - I was too lazy
Word Count: 3320
Rating: R for violence, language and brief nudity
Characters: Reno, Rufus, Raine, Reinforce, a Minotaur
Summary: Is escape from the institute really the salvation they all think it is?
A/N: I apologize to Vegas for what I did to Rufus, but how could I have Reno without Rufus?
They were wrong. They always had been, those that schemed and thought themselves clever. Even the most practical of them, the skeptics and the commanders, had it dead wrong. They believed their salvation lay in escaping this place, this port tucked in an harbor of madness, but they were foolish. Those of us that have been here the longest, those of us that had seen the madness close up, we were the only ones that knew why the walls existed and what the darkness outside truly held.
Red eyes snapped open, the creature woken from its stasis as a few patients broke free from the carefully constructed walls. It was cold outside, thin ice covering the vegetation, and the beams of the escapees' flashlights reflected off the forest before them. From its place inside the tree-line, the creature's breath froze in the night air as it breathed slowly and watched the latest victims to find their way out into the untamed wilds that was its domain.
The patients paused as they conversed amongst themselves, deciding a course of action. It was only a matter of time before they would realize they had to plunge headfirst into the surrounding forest, putting themselves at more risk than they'd experienced within the hallways. There were more places they could be ambushed for, new creatures to account for, and no safe haven to run back to. The tall red-headed man came to this realization first as he adjusted the man he was supporting. He was burdened with the dead-weight of his superior, the blonde man having suffered a debilitating injury upon their escape from the pyramid-headed man as they finally gotten over the wall. The blood running down from the long wound on his back would certainly draw the monsters that prowled the forest up ahead.
“Hold on,” the more delicate looking of the two women in the group said as she'd finally caught her breath. She rounded behind the two men and looked the wound over, her face going grim. With a few hand movements and a couple muttered words, sh cast a spell upon the blonde man. The wound on his back stopped bleeding, but did not heal completely, and the woman that cast it sighed in frustration at its inadequacy and moved to recast the spell. She was stopped, though by a hand on her shoulder.
“It is but a temporary fix,” the other woman said, a concerned expression upon her face, her hand on the shorter woman. “You have spent much of your energy, Raine. There is still danger ahead. Conservation of what we have available is key.” The woman palmed two small objects in her hand. “I myself have little left.”
“She is right,” the redhead said as he looked down at his superior with concern. “At least this way I can handle him easier without fear of killing him.” With that, the man hoisted the unconscious man over his shoulder so they could move faster when needed. “I wish we had some water to wash all the blood off, but given how acute the monsters' senses seem to be, it would be a waste of good water.”
The shorter woman sighed but nodded in agreement. “Alright. Should we wait to see if any of the others are going to make it?”
A moment of indecision crosses the face of the woman with the long silver hair. “No,” she finally says, having chosen her resolve. The moments ticked by and the longer they stayed the more danger they would be in. “We must press our advantage while we can. We can always come back.”
The others are better off without you. You don't know it's coming, what is to happen, but I can sense it. There is darkness there and, out here, it can't be contained. They had all done horrible things in the past, though some were on a higher level than the others. Even the half-elf wasn't immune to it. Out here, in the forest, outside the walls, the darkness reigns. They will learn this soon. Closer than they think as they finally decide to move into my forest.
They should have stayed where they were and allowed themselves to make it back inside those walls. Now that they have chosen to continue on, I must act. They will not flee back inside and thus I must kill them. It will be easy enough; some fates are worse than death. One of them is already on the brink. Would they all notice in time? Is this one stronger than the rest? Stronger than me?
Deeper into the forest they travel, shivering as they go and passing right by the creature that had been watching them without a clue it was even there. Such was how the monsters that crawled all over this damned place at night took their prey. A large tree was suddenly sheared in half by a great axe as the creature finally took action. The felled tree toppled over and the sounds of fear and confusion met the beast's ears. The redhead had cursed, the half-elf muffled a scream as they both ran. The other woman, though, was muttering something as a deep purple light glowed from beneath her, reflecting off the beast's metallic skin and illuminating the great axe and deadly horns upon its head. It advanced steadily toward the woman, its pace picking up as it moved.
Spell complete, a dark energy rushed toward the creature, striking it with a full impact upon its chest. The force and strength of the attack forced it backwards and it dropped its axe but did not fall. The creature was momentarily stunned and that was all the time the woman needed to pick up its axe. Seemingly not surprised by its weight, the woman's muscles strained as she hefted the weapon. Unimpressed, the creature snorted, a cloud of frost forming before it. The head of the axe sliced through the cloud only to clang off the thick metal plating that was its skin.
The resulting jolt combined with the exhaustion from her spell finally overtook the silver-haired woman and she panted trying to raise the axe to defend herself as the beast recovered from its stun and advanced upon her.
“Reinforce!” The half-elf called out to her companion as she and the other man had finally looked to see what had become of their wayward member.
The reappearance of her group brought new energy to the downed woman. She surged to her feet, swinging the axe as if she'd had eons of practice with it and slashed at the beast's head. Her aim was perfect, she knew this, and expected to see the beast's head soon roll upon the ground. Impact was made and before she had a chance to smile at her victory, the blade of the axe shattered into pieces. Battle instinct saved her as she threw herself backwards as the large metallic horns sharper and stronger than diamonds broke through the axe and swept from one side to the other. The tip of one grazed her cheek as she flung herself, a thin bright red line cut across the flesh.
They believe we are nothing more than mindless beasts that hunt just for the sake of hunting. Blood lust and hunger – these are what they believe fuel us. They think they can outsmart us because we have base intelligence. At least this is their thoughts upon those of us that don't take on the guises of their friends and family. The mimics were a blessing, pointing out their own weaknesses, but of course they don;t believe us. Even this one, laying on the ground, with a spark of fear in her eyes, doesn't realize what I really am and she is much more intelligent than the other three. It is a pity she must die.
What the others may have lacked in power given their exhausted state as well as the burden of an unconscious body, they made up for in teamwork. The creature had wrested the haft of its axe from the downed woman's hands, a small shard of blade protruding from the end, and was just about to finish what it'd started with the cut upon her face when there was a loud cracking sound. A bullet fired from the redheaded man struck its face, barely missing the eye. The hot metal from the bullet striking the ice cold metal of the monster's body created a burning spark that bounced into the monster's slightly glowing red eye. Pain is what it felt a moment before the whole area in the forest lit up as yet another spell was cast at it. Blinded from the bright light and the searing pain, the creature stumbled backwards. When the spell faded and the creature could once again see out of his uninjured eyes, puss congealing at his other one, he saw the silver-haired woman was gone.
Their path would be easy to follow, but the monster stayed where it was. It nodded as a small ball of light circled around it and then flitted off into the forest. There was no need to chase it when they would just be coming back to this same place, a small clearing formed from the severed tree. If the creature was capable of smiling, it would have. They were just weakening themselves further until there was nothing left but to look deep into the darkness.
The four continued through the forest, two being supported by the other two, as they ran. The redhead shifted his grip on his superior and cast a glance behind them. “I don't think it's following us.”
“Let's rest a moment,” the half-elf said between panting breaths. She'd expended just about all of her magical energy with that last spell but it had been worth it to save the woman she was currently holding up.
“I will be alright in a moment,” the silver-haired one said as they stopped. She moved from leaning against the half-elf to a nearby tree. She put a hand to her cheek and then looked at the blood upon it for a moment. That glint of fear was still in her eyes, but she concealed it well enough, only receiving a puzzled look from the half-elf. She shook her head slightly to dismiss any questions her companion might have at the moment. “Thank you,” she said quietly to the other two.
“Don't thank us,” the redhead replied. “We couldn't leave you. Turks don't leave comrades behind.” He paused a moment. “Besides, your magic is better than most of the stuff I could cast if I had materia. We need you.”
The silver-haired woman sighed. “I dropped the one cartridge I had left after that spell. This could be problematic.”
“We'll figure something out,” the half-elf said with a tried smile to her companion. A moment later and her eyes lit up as she caught sight of something in the forest. “Hey! I think that's another group of patients.” It certainly looked like there were a couple more flashlights out in the woods.
The other two peered through the forest, the redhead pausing a moment to quickly check the number of bullets he had left. Seeing how few he had, he grumbled. “I'm almost out of ammo. With Reinforce and you both very low on magic, we should meet up with another group. Safety in numbers.” The three nodded and, unconscious member shifted to the man's other shoulder, they set out to meet up with the other patients.
How easily you are all manipulated. People are stupid; they believe anything because they either want to believe it or are afraid it's true. Did it ever cross your minds that the 'flashlights' you saw were nothing more than a clever ploy to lead you back to the clearing? You wanted so badly for there to be other people for you to hide amongst that none of you considered a trap. And you call us mindless creatures running on instinct alone. Fear does not control us; it controls you. I will enjoy the looks upon your faces when you realize you sealed your own death. Pity you won't realize how lucky you are to find death.
“Fuck.”
That was all the man got out of his mouth when he found his group back at the clearing created by the severed tree before the sound of metal entering flesh met his ears a moment before the pain set in. The monster had been waiting patiently for their return and ambushed them. Burdened by the unconscious man, the redhead was the easiest target. The creature swung its head back, the now lifeless body of the redhead's superior was flung off the horn with a sickening sound as the flesh slid off the horn. The body flew at the women and the silver-haired one tackled the half-elf to the ground to avoid it.
“Kaichou!” the redhead called out as he felt the horn pull out of his own flesh and take the body with it. The man's wound wasn't fatal, but bled profusely as he struggled to his feet. He raised the gun in his hands as the beast bared down upon him, charging like a bull. Two shots were fired rapidly, bouncing off the beast's chest, and then the gun clicked empty, even though the redhead's finger kept pulling the trigger. At the last moment, the man realized he needed to get out of the way of the incoming horns and dove to the side.
The minotaur-like beast plowed through to a tree and stopped when it made impact. The tree shuddered and snapped in half from the strength of the charge. It righted itself and grunted as it felt another magical attack hit him from behind. It turned around, it's good eye focusing on the redheaded man. It was hard to tell what he intended to do, but seeing the lifeless body of his superior seemed to put him into a rage. The man charged the monster, sending curses the creature had never heard before at it as he ran. Another magical attack from the silver-haired woman, much weaker than the others this time, struck it as she tried to distract the monster from the man's crazed attack. Unfortunately, the attack did nothing of the sort and the beast whipped the remains of his axe at the charging man.
The axe caught the man full in the chest and the momentum lifted him up into the air and he landed heavily on his back. To the monster's surprise, as well as that of the two woman, the redhead started to laugh manically, blood bubbling out of his mouth as he forced himself up to his feet through sheer will, the axe still sticking out of his chest. “You... think... this can... stop me?”
It's moments like this that I remember what it was like before the darkness. Before evil took hold. And I can feel nothing but pity for such pathetic displays.
The monster took two large strides to the crazed man and, in one swift motion, ripped the remains of the axe out of his chest and swung it head horizontally. The deadly horns sliced through skin and bone as the man was decapitated. It stood there for a moment, looking down at the body, before it felt a wetness upon its face that hadn't been there before. Wiping the wetness off its snout, the monster looked to find his hand covered by bloody spit.
All that was left this time around were the two women. They had weakened themselves through the usage of their magic it wondered how much longer either could hold out. As it turned to face them both, the minotaur felt it. The darkness was claiming another one. Did she sense it yet?
I was too late. I underestimated how much darkness she held inside her. She should have never left the walls.
The creature's single good eye focused on the silver-haired woman the same moment she realized what was going on. That look of fear that had been hidden in her eyes grew exponentially as she felt her control slip. She roughly pushed the half-elf away, uttering a strangled, “Get away! Please, run!”
As the half-elf stumbled from the push, she noted the monster that had just killed the man was no longer moving. It was simply standing there watching the other woman. The half-elf looked over to see the silver-haired one drop to her knees, a gurgling scream of despair pulled from her throat, as she succumbed to the darkness. The half-elf's eyes went wide as she saw three sets of black feathered wings ripped viciously out her companion's back, blood splattering everywhere.
The wings flared out as red marks ran down the woman's arms, lines going across her body to crawl partially up her face. Her eyes glowed a bright red as a feeling of power swept across the forest, knocking her companion back to the ground, though it left the monster unphased. Here was darkness washing across the forest; darkness resided in the monster and long ago it had become one with it. Just as the silver-haired woman was doing now.
The darkness was not done with the silver-haired one yet. It always took its victims past their own darkness and into deeper realms. Her fingers curled and turned into sharp, gnarled claws as her whole body started to illuminate the area with a dark purple glow. The woman-beast got to her feet, head tilted toward the heavens. The bloody torn uniform the patients faded away from her skin to reveal the extent of the red marks across her body a brief moment before a form-fitting bodysuit of blackened armor plates covered her body.
The woman-beast's scream of despair changed to a dark growl of hunger, fangs suddenly growing at an alarming rate. She drew in the scent of the frigid night air, her hair whipping around her though there was no breeze. Her eyes suddenly snapped to the half-elf where she lay frozen in fear at what she'd just witnessed. The demon ran her tongue across her fangs a moment before all emotion shut off from her face.
The sudden silence finally broke the half-elf out of the stupor she was in and she scrambled across the clearing, getting to her feet as fast as she could and running. The demon watched for a moment before spreading her wings. She took off into the air and then swooped down in blinding speed to snatch the half-elf off the ground in her unbreakable grip. Up toward the moon the demon flew with her prey.
Down on the ground, the horned monster watched the newest of the darkness' brood soar into the night sky. Shortly thereafter, a great amount of blood fell from the sky upon him as the demon savaged her prey, devouring the magic within as she ripped her way through to the half-elf's very center. Once finished and sated for the time being, the demon landed next to the beast. It greeted her as it would a sister.
We cannot go back. Once we've given in to the darkness and madness out here, we are forever lost. They don't understand that the walls they are confined in are for their own protection. If they come out here, they will all end up like us, twisted into the image of the evil within us, the darkness we could not fully overcome. Death is better than this. Do you have a name, little sister?
I was once called Reinforce.
Welcome to Hell. I was once called Theseus.
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Nicely written! Talk about dark, though--are we handing out prizes of recognition to things like "highest percentage of patient fatalities" in these fics? ^^
I know writing dialogue for characters you're unfamiliar with is hard--I practically cheated on my fic, I was used to writing just about everyone! Anyway, really good descriptions; I could picture everything very clearly.
no subject
... and I couldn't kill Hokuto off. The little Momo in my head would be angry at me if I did.^^
no subject
Anyway, nice and dark. Good job XD.