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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/SeventhMovement|Seventh Movement]]
| + | #REDIRECT [[ADanceOfAngels]] |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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| − | == The Murder Psalm ==
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| − | A church, somewhere in a razed section of Spire...
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| − | A church with a garden of blood-wreathed flowers.
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| − | A church stained in blood, inhabitated by murderers.
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| − | The feeling, all around.
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| − | The garden had been watered with blood. All flowers sprinkled red.
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| − | It is not just the scent of blood, but of something else...
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| − | Death?
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| − | Into the church, staring at the armored man, something shining ominously in his eyes. His cloak and armor dark, the shine red. He begins speaking again. "... and they looked as the liquid of life poured, and they had it on their fingertips, showing the truth, making all it touched more real. Life flows! Out of these vessels of flesh, as it is meant to! Your purpose fulfilled as life pours out, given to those who posses it by right!"
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| − | | |
| − | The Virdynn moving in the shadows of the church. They seemed to melt in and out of the shadows, closing all the space between the Shades and the priest. Their bodies wreathed in shadow fur, their fangs gleaming in the light of the red candles, their eyes shining gold. And in the middle, she falls, caste mark blazing on her forehead.
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| − | Fiona. Grinning.
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| − | All of their claws out...
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| − | '''Child of Wyld Days: ''' "First and foremost, my blood, should I choose to manifest it, belongs to me! And second..."
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| − | He is air, he is snow, he is an arc of hair and gold and madness, leaping forward and landing just close enough to the closest cat-like Virdynn to have a looksee.
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| − | "Sweetheart, Fiona, I do not like this look, nor your new friends' attitudes. Hold tight for a spell while I correct matters." He thrusts Owl and Serpent... down? Yes, but at an angle, the staff extending, then caroming off of the ground to snap upwards at the beast's jaw. Just one single, powerful shot to test the waters.
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| − |
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| − | '''Virdynn: ''' The creature watches Days carefully.... not missing a moment... waiting for the strike to come straight... but then, it is down, and as the Virdynn looks down, it seems almost too late, too late to move its clawed shadow-hand to try and stop it...
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| − |
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| − | ... and failing, hit on the jaw, sent backwards over the church's seats, crashing down with thunder!
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| − | And yet, hissing, spitting one teeth, he gets up....
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| − | '''????: ''' "Oh lo and behold, the sheep pretend to be wolves. Oh lo and behold, fake flesh fights against its fate!"
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| − | "We shall honor this! Slowly, it shall happen! With art! With reverence!"
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| − | "With you, we shall pray! With your lives!"
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| − | "Praise be to murder. Let us not mince words. Those are not sacrifices! It is murder!"
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| − | "We shall kill you because we wish you dead, for its own art, for its own sake."
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| − | "And in that, is our prayer."
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| − |
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' ''...Fiona... ''
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| − | Kanti looked towards her friend, looked for any trace of the girl she loved. And then the priest started to speak and she saw that there was nothing of Fiona, and just for an instant she started to tremble, the feelings from the library starting to overwhelm her again.
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| − | | |
| − | And then she exhaled and assumed one of the nineteen postures of the postures of the perfected lotus, concentrating for an instant upon calm. <br>
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| − | The flames stopped.<br>
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| − | Behind her, viridian, the seven spoked wheel of the cycle appeared as she sought the calm of the saint.<br>
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| − | She found it, and in that instant she made the first step of her dance.<br>
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| − | Step after step she moved through the motions, face serene, face calm, spear moving with deceptive speed, slow and fast all at once, stabbing out with blows both merciful and powerful, sending the virdynn sprawlling.
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| − | '''Virdynn: ''' As she dances, they are sent sprawling. Her strikes hit.... hard. The perfected lotus strikes them with viridian light, and it caused a flash, a nearly blinding flash as they are hit! Two Virdynn are but normal people... and go through the seats, wood crashing all around them, as they crash into the walls, ''hard'', falling unconscious with but a hiss or whimper!
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| − | One creates a shield of water about her... her fur spiking up, hissing.... but she is hit through the water, the shield breaking and splashing into Kanti, forming smoke about her.... and sending the water one to the walls behind her, to the altar, disrupting the priest. She whimspers are she gets up, water moving in her fur as if it was a window to rain....but she is visibly... dizzy.
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| − | And one stands tall, a shield appearing in front of him, deflecting the wheel.
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| − | He is tall and powerful, and does not move.
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| − | In him, Moon can see the old man he had been, the hero he was becoming again... and the power the Virdynn now wielded.
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| − |
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' ''FINALLY! '' It was time to kill some fucking cats... er, time to save poor Fiona! From fucking cats! It was a win-win situation, when you really thought about it. But Moon wasn't doing terribly much of that in his leash-straining excitement. He did curse up a storm when Kanti managed to move a fraction faster than him and rip two of the feline bastards apart in her usual whirlwind fashion, but there were plenty left.
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| − | At least one of whom is familiar enough to shock him from his excitement momentarily. If only momentarily.
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| − | "''YA GIVE HIM BACK, YA FUCKIN' CAT FUCKS! ''" he snarled as he ran up a pew and dove off towards the old man, trying to remind himself ''not'' to kill this one as their bodies crashed together and his weight carried them back. Mouth opened wide, Essence steamed off his back as muscles bulged below his coat and the hound took form around him again. His face lunged forward and snapped over and over, the shadowy misma of the Virdynn ripped away bit by bit as a silver-white hounds head crushed it's teeth into the spirits form.
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| − | | |
| − | '''Virdynn: ''' The Wolf strikes... and bites, eating the shadowstuff, breaking it, ripping it out of the man and munching on every bit of it...
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| − | Both crash into one of the walls, candles and offerings falling down around them...
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| − | | |
| − | ... and as the wolf disappears, the man is normal once again, pieces of the Virdynn scattered on the air....
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| − |
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| − | ''''Fiona'''': She smiled. She smiled with Fiona's smile. Its deviousness. Her sweetness.
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| − | "Thank you."
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| − | "I've been ''dying'' to flex my muscles in this body." She looked upon them all, licking her claws. "And walking in her mind, opening those little doors to her wet little secrets, I can see how much she loves each and every one of you... and I will be able to hold to her for soo much longer if she has no such... hooks." The smile broadens. And she looked straight to Days.
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| − | Her eyes looked within Days... her patterns.
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| − | "Oh ho... I can see you. Within the olde doors... the ones not her. She made those patterns. The writ."
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| − | "You are hers'... mine. I am your creator, oh ho..."
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| − | Aura exploded about her. Cutting the air. Cutting everything about her...
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| − | "And in this body... I can use the powers I used to have. Been so long."
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| − | "You are a failure, monkey. Mommy says it is time to die."
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| − | She crouches. Golden light bathes her, her claws becoming long, filled with essence.... and she rushes foward, body croushed still, claws making a trail of destruction on the floor.... before they come straight to cut Days' throat, the trails of the claw in the air shining the color of burning gold.... and the killing swing makes her continue, faster than the eye can see, straight to Kanti's!
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| − | "End of attachments, dear."
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| − |
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| − | '''Child of Wyld Days: ''' Monkey can only smile... until he hears more than he ever wished to.
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| − | ''She... that... it's... not fucking '''POSSIBLE! ''' ''
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| − | He is stunned, too stunned to act, too stunned to even really think, guard lowering and eyes fixing on that gleaming sliver of woman that had a say in his existance... and then the Gates of his Essence take over for him, throwing limb and staff in the way of certain beheading. That seems to snap him to attention, and all he can do is snarl... a very deep, very furious, very '''hurt''' snarl.
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| − | "I am '''NO FAILURE! '''"
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| − |
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Just before it disputes into the air, the hound shakes it's head violently and it's mouth draws back into a ''wide, proud'' grin, bits of shadowy feline Essence dripping from between it's teeth.
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| − | Yeah! Moon huffed, throwing back his head to scatter the last of the Vyrdinn away. That'll teach that damn cat for being a cat!
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| − | Hey, and the old man was saved too! Moon let him down as gently as he could and readied to twist back towards the fight, a grin every bit as broad as the hounds plastered across his face. Win-win, this whole fuckin' situation.
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| − |
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Faster than eyes can see, maybe, but not faster than than the five dragons which watch over Kanti as she spins to catch the claws, deflecting them with the solid ironwood haft of the weapon, even as her eyes catch Fio-...the things, pleading silently for mercy, all of Creation watching.
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| − | All of Creation judging.
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| − | ''please Fiona ... please! ''
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| − | '''Child of Wyld Days: ''' Days moves, Days acts, and Days, once the pain sets in, realizes that his lapse in action could well have cost him his life. Even then, a nasty gash is torn along his neck from collarbone to earlobe, and he stumbles back with a pained snarl, bleeding. Sure, it isn't neccessary for raksha to bleed, even when shaped, but this one chooses to. The battle is not complete, the fight nowhere near true glory without blood and gore and the signs of harm.
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| − | | |
| − | "... I am no failure."
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| − | ''''Fiona'''': She cuts... the air and them.
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| − | The marks of claws all the way down the cathedral up to them. In the air, the tapestry of the world still recovering from her cuts, vanishing like ghost-flashes in the mind's eye. And then, dripping out of her claws... blood. How... satisfying!
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| − | The Fire Aspect held her back. Oh-so-slightly....
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| − | Next time, she would be taken down, as well.
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| − | And the feline smiles as she looks within her enemies with her Solar Sorcerer eyes...
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| − | "Oh yes, you are. A creation of a writ, of a old lady within my many mind-doors."
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| − | "Snow Monkey Style... for clowns. Buffoons. Viridian Radiance... for silly bleeding heart saints."
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| − | "My style is that of a '''hunter'''! A '''killer'''!"<br>
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| − | "Something you can never match."
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti's spear catches the claws, a spray of golden shadows met with warming flame and viridian light, catching the blow but only just.
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| − | As she looks into the eyes of the mad kitten, she whispers something, a small prayer, just a little whisper, but it flows through the air, wrapping itself around moon, lifting him up, refilling him from stores he did not know he possessed.
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| − | Then she speaks.
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| − | "You are mistaken, of course."
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| − | "The viridian radiance is not a style of saints, but of the cycle, and that is something you could never understand. It does not fear death, for it encompasses it, and birth and every moment of life in between."
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| − | "The cycle ... I ... forgive you though, for that is a part of the style."
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| − | "It is time for you to move on though."
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| − | '''Virdynn: ''' Three are down in a blink. Two of them knocked out by Kanti, another one... horrifically eaten by Moon.
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| − | One of them, still recovering from Days' blow, unable to do anything... yet.
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| − | Only another left. The rain one. The one hissing and hurt.
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| − | She turns to Moon, eyes full of fear. How powerful where they? How powerful... he... he killed the other Virdynn.... like... like ''that''... how... how could he...
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| − | She was shocked. Filled with fear. And all water in the room rose as she did. All the roses... the roses all around them, filled with blood, covered with blood. The pools of blood in every one of the many chalices littered around the room. All the droplets rising... coming to her, filling the air around her...
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| − | | |
| − | ... and then, she pushed her hands foward, and a wave of blood rushed towards Moon, rolling on the ground...
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' They had all been so adamant she was not to hurt Fiona that she felt it would be plain ''rude'' to intervene now. Plus, it wasn't her problem anymore, was it?
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| − | Instead she focusses on the heathen priest, listening to him speak with a deadpan expression.
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| − | "Oi, blasphemer!"
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| − | Her gun hand snaps up, pointing at him.
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| − | "You talk too much!"
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| − | The resounding click-bang sound of her repeater, except the bullet goes too high. Overhead even. Where it breaks into an array of shimmering projectiles, hanging in the air surrounding him with an odd metallic buzz.
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| − | And then they launch themselves at him, from all sides.
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Moon turns about just in time to catch the unrushing wave baring down at him. He snarls, disdainfully, though wonders to himself - aren't cats supposed to hate watery things? Maybe blood was okay. Maybe not. No way to know but to find out, right?
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| − | His bones liquidized, each one segmenting into a cartilage spine and he twisted around himself as the water rushed over him, spilling up along the channels his body had created in itself. He snapped forward, throwing the bloody torrent back at the creature in an whipping crimson spray.
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| − | '''Virdynn: ''' ... and it comes back to her, the wave... much to her complete and utter amazement.
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| − | ".... meep."
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| − | Is all she can say before she is swooped down in it, crashing into the wall behind her, as the blood wave ends, and another unconscious Virdynn falls on the floor, amidst puddles of crimson....
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| − | '''????: ''' "Silly child. You seek to strike what is not? To strike what is already dead?"
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| − | And then, as the bullet comes, he simply becomes a ghost, his immaterial form far greater, eyes bathing the church in red...
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| − | Immaterial, for the bullet to pass harmlessly through him.
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: '''Blood was thicker than water. It was a whole of a lot messier too. HIs body rightening itself with a sickening crackle of popping joints and reforming bones, Moon shook himself violently and sent bloody droplets spraying through the air.
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| − | "And ya deserved it, fucker!" Moon growled at the fallen Vrydynn. Goddamn cats. He'd just got this coat, too!
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Don't taunt the exorcist, preacher. It's unwise.", she says, still rather deadpan.
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| − | '''????: ''' ... and it hits anyway. Beaking him out of his immaterial state, back to being him, falling back, more candles falling... and his own blood dripping down on the open bible, three broken and steaming spots on his armor, filled with flame and the vapor of his blood.... both knees burning his elbow burning.... falling to his knees. "... creature..."
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| − | "... you ''damned creature! ''"
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' She rolls her eyes.
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| − | "Exorcist."
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| − | '''Alexander: ''' They were doing great.
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| − | Absolutely ''great''!
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| − | But the exorcist was using bullets... and moon....
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| − | "Hey! Do remember, at least the Vyrdinn, we need ''alive''! The people they are possessing.... they are innocent in this!" He cries out, as Ainerach is wreathed in white light... like a cushion around it. A cushion, as he rushes to the one Days had hit so hard, smiting down as he is wreathed in light!
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| − | | |
| − | ... and it is hit by the light, falling unconscious as the others had.
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| − | | |
| − | "... sorry, but I had to..."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' Izabella glares at Alexander, "What the heck do you think I'm doing shooting the priest instead?"
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| − | '''Leonas Du Mistlav: ''' Leonas, on the other hand... was simply concentrating. The emerald blade on hand, the winds about him... and with a buffet of his wings, the winds caressed all those around... bringing the bodies of all Virdyn all that much closer, to the eye of a whirlwind! And the blade... it came crashing down, turning the whirlwind into a circle on the ground....
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| − | "Ready to perform the ceremony! Just get that last one!"
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| − | ''We have a dog... ''<br>
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| − | ''And the Wheel. ''<br>
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| − | ''This Ceremony will be a walk in the park... ''
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| − | '''????: ''' The Priest coughed.
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| − | Slowly, he lifted himself to his feet... finding so hard to move.
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| − | "V... very... well... 'exorcist'..."
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| − | "All the blood... it seems we will have to... hasten the... ceremony."
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| − | "We still needed a few more Bloody Hands, but the blessing is given to them ''already''! '''Come'''! '''Show yourselves'''!" He cries.... and then, the great Irises Kanti had seen in the air... and the great blots of crimson Ise had seen, but not really noticed... hidden, somehow, came into full glory. To both sides of the priest, occupying so much of the Church's space, two great... blobs... in the air. Cones of blood rose up... and came to the blobs, where Bloody Hands seemed to be... amalgamated. So many hands, so many lips, so much blood... a horrifying mismatch.
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| − | ''''Fiona'''': The Emerald Sword came crashing down, forming an eldritch circle on the ground between the banks... emerald inlays formed out of the book page that had been etched in front of Leonas' blade and into the circle.. and he calls for them to just... get that last one. ''Her''
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| − | "'Get' me?"
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| − | "Moi? Walk in there?"
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| − | She just smiles... smiles to all of them, smiles to Days and Kanti especially. "Not likely, you little things. I am a Solar. I am a hunter. See, little saintly... you have already even forgiven me for killing you, haven't you?" She says before her claws flash in the air... and her form explodes in golden sunlight, lighting up as the sun as a great dark feline appears behind her.... and her claws come straight to Kanti's eyes...
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| − | Cutting through the air.<br>
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| − | Cutting through the incense.<br>
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| − | Cutting through her compassion.<br>
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| − | Cutting through her pleas.<br>
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| − | Nothing stops a hunter.
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| − |
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' "Of course I forgive you, I could never hate you."
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| − | She says to the tiger as she draws back her claws, gripping her spear in two hands.<br>
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| − | Creation, though, is not so forgiving as Kanti, and it's disapproval is crushing and powerful as only the earth can be.<br>
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| − | Even as the earth bears witness, the five dragons guide the Fragant Incense Spear up and around in a scent landen arc, knocking the claws aside.
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| − | | |
| − | "But that does not mean I will let you."
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| − | ''''Fiona'''': And it cuts flesh. Not quite the eyes. But the cheek, bringing that sweet Dragon-Blooded nectar on her claws...
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| − | The spear comes her way, but she simply slithers away, moving with the grace of felines... and licking the blood on her claws.
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| − | | |
| − | "So sweet... I will cut you a little bit at a time, 'Kanti'..."
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| − |
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| − | '''Kanti''': Kanti gasps as the cut comes, as the promise comes.
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| − | Just for a moment, her eyes say that would be something like heaven.
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| − | | |
| − | And then the saint returns.
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' ... and slithers right into a looming shadow behind her. The gleam of his caste mark and the fading streaks of silver Essence through the air beside him the only indications when he had moved at all, the Lunar is already waiting as Fiona dodges away from Kanti's swing and her back bumps into his chest, a sudden and solid presence where none should have been.
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| − | "Sorry 'bout this darlin', but ya ain't yaself right now." Moon's arms close around the possessed Solar and force her arms upwards, fingers locking behind Fiona's neck. And then they tighten, and tighten, and ''tighten''. A grip as inescapable as jaws of a hound. "And ya fuckin' cat bastard inside her? I'm gonna eat ya ''slow''. Gonna fuckin' make it last years."
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| − | | |
| − | ''''Fiona'''': She looks back, and smiles as he comes... "That is what I'll do with ''you'', you freaky dog. It's us cats who like to play with food... and when you are digested, she will have ''nothing'' to hold on to!" She says as she tries to slither away again, as milky dream on the Lunar's fingers....
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| − | Iselsis watches the things. He gets a good look at them...
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| − | Those are Bloody Hands. Spirits of murder. Iselsis remembers a throwaway line now... from Cael's and Ryshassa's visit to the Spookies. Apparently, the Bloody Hands - spirits of murder, who appear at the sites of murders, praise the skill and talent and style of murderers, and often incite new ones - had been disappearing. Now she knew why. The marks on the church. Ritual murders had ocurred here, quite frequently, to call upon them... to herd them.
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| − | To gather many together.<br>
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| − | And fuse them into one.<br>
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| − | She heard of it, another throaway in a book she had read almost five years ago.<br>
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| − | Something so inconsequential, so rare as to be nonexistant, but yet, it had chiled her then.<br>
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| − | This was a Deathlord trick.
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| − | Use of powerful necromancy - and one does mean powerful - certainly greater than that of the Priest before her - making them spirits of the Underworld. Well, not them. The thing that will be 'born' when all those Bloody Hands finish joining... which is pretty much done. 'Redrum', they are called. 'Lords of Massacre'. She had heard of one created before... but there are two before her now, getting ready to.. and there is no real Necromancer around, but she can feel the cocoons have already been 'blessed' with the necromancy...
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' She scrapes her throat to get the attention.
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| − | "If I might make a suggestion...", she says, staring deadpan at the two things and the priest before her, "Try not to kill the priest but subdue him, and uh... try to focus on the two spirits created through magic only the deathlords possess, please? Something very odd is going on here..."
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| − | And Ise doesn't give them any further explanation than one single word "Redrum."
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| − | She starts chanting softly, though her voice somehow resonates through the area. She'd never thought she'd be calling on her trump card so often, but she was.
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| − | Almost like magic, but not quite, and with every word the whispers grew into a cacophany of sound...
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| − | | |
| − | Apparantly she was too 'busy' to execute her 'orders' herself, at least for the moment.
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| − |
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' "''I'm sorry Fiona. ''" Kanti whispers as the cat slips away from Moon.
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| − | | |
| − | And then suddenly there are seven people standing before Fiona in a line, each holding the fragrant incense spear locked as one of the spokes of the Wheel, a ring of incense and green light completeing the motentary illusion.
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| − | The wheel breaks apart then in a flurry of motion, the youngest three, faces still shining, surging forewards to strike at the shadow-solar before then, leaving behind a trail of burning irises, even as the elder parts of the cycle run right and left towards the giant cocoons, wistened crone and woman in the prime of her life striking as one on to the right, mother and matriarch striking to the left.
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| − | | |
| − | And then there is Kanti again.
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| − | | |
| − | ''''Fiona'''': The hunter smiles as she sees them come...
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| − | | |
| − | The light explodes out of her. The power overwhelming of the Solar.
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| − | | |
| − | She had not expected to have to fight so hard... did not hold up the nessessary prowess to do so. But she was still the hunter. And one does not touch the hunter. Each one who tried, the hunter looked with golden eyes, and from the look, came a stalking tiger, waiting on them to make their moves, leaping on them, fangs on their jogular... and finally, there is Kanti, and she moves to the fire aspect's throat.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The stalking tiger jumps, and she is not there, disappearing into the essence lines in the air... never there, only a ghost launching the stalking tigers, untouchable.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And angry.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "No. More. Games."
| |
| − | | |
| − | ... and she is hit, taking a step back, as the cooons break.... blood pouring out.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And 'Fiona' falls down, getting up slowly from the ground, great bruises forming on her skin.. getting up dizzy... "Aaah... you... you.... I will kill you. Nobody hurts me like this. I will kill kill kill '''KILLL YOUUU'''!" She hisses out, human voice vanishing, only the hissing remaining.....
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Child of Wyld Days: ''' "... you will kill no one, parasite."
| |
| − | | |
| − | The anger is there, the Sword is brandished... but then the Monkey remembers that, as much as he wants to use the anger, take it and alloy his blade-soul, he cannot. Not at the moment. There is only room for the single breath he takes, inhaling Essence and opening his inward eyes to the lines of energy/life/motion around him. In that flash of an instant, he remembers Tarnished Gold's words. They were atop a plateau, simply staring at the sun as it sank.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Why are we here?" she had asked him. "You said that this was important training."
| |
| − | | |
| − | "It is, Monkey. Do you see the sun, out there... how it sets when it is its time to set?" As she nodded, Gold chuckled deeply. "The Sun is not hurried. The Sun does not make haste. It simply moves as it should, when it should... to make haste would be to throw everything out of balance. So... your lesson for today... move when it is time to move, as you should move. Be like the Sun."
| |
| − | | |
| − | And they sat there in silence as day turned into night.
| |
| − | | |
| − | In the present... Snow Monkey opens his eyes. ''Be like the Sun''. The thing riding Fiona rises, curses, wobbles... and in that instant of a misstep, a pinpoint of Essence darts at her sternum. The way is made clear, the path is set, and all that is left to do is to take the moment...
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''Be like the Sun. ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | Snow Monkey strikes, not to kill... but to bring closure.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ''''Fiona'''': The possessed Solar gets up, slowly, pained, angry... there is no more voice in her. Just hissing, angry, as light pours out of her, more powerfully than it ever did before... but she looks at the Monkey. She has sunlight pouring out of her... but it is the Monkey in front of her that is the sun. All of her light... and now, the Raksha is the sun. The only sun.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Her claws move to stop Owl and Serpent, as the hissing explodes, and a few words are intelligible...<br>
| |
| − | "Sta... awa... cking '''failure, I will kill you'''!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | But she kills ntohing. The true sun strikes her, breaks the caste mark in her pandemonium-covered forehead, and makes her fall, unconscious, all of her great sunlight erased like a candle... as she falls over the Circle, completely unconscious.
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Child of Wyld Days''': "It is done."
| |
| − | | |
| − | His shoulders slump, his eyes lose a bit of gloss... but Snow Monkey smiles.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''It is done. ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Leonas Du Mistlav: ''' "''Perfect'' going, Days!" He smiles, as for once, all pieces hit the board perfectly!
| |
| − | | |
| − | And then, Leonas' blade became one with the circle, now made of emerald light, the ripped page of the book melting into it, its enscriptions becoming real on the ground... as the Dragon-Blooded eldritch wings shine about him, and he begins to chant... and call. "Kanti, you are the wheel! Come to the center of the Circle! Moon... I need you to roar! Shout up your anima, loud as you can!" That was a long ritual, especially for so many, but with the Wheel itself before them, and a greater deity of dogs, it would be just going through the motions... there would be no way for that to go wrong!
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Priest: ''' "... so you realise... harlot, what comes for you. But too late..." The priest says, but even his fanatical voice is riddled with fear. Near crippling fear. They had gone through the Virdynn like hot knife through butter, of course. And even beaten the Solar, what one would consider impossible in all ways.. "Damn you... for making me release them... so fast... but they are here!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | He raises his hand high... and holds to prayer as it flows out of his mask's hollow eyes and mouth... and sends it towards the cocoons. "They ... they know all ways to kill. It is their... art. Their purpose..."
| |
| − | | |
| − | Prayer touches the cocoons... and they break open, spilling almost a river of blood on the ground.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And the creatures rise, hurt by Kanti... but whole. Clad in black, they are skeletons of steel, covered in blood flame. At their hans, blades of the same blood flame shine...
| |
| − | | |
| − | ".. for... they are... '''''Redrum, Lords of Massacre! '''''"
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Child of Wyld Days: ''' "Hmph I'm still biting your dick off."
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Narrator: ''' On the ground, a great circle of power created by a sorcerer-engineer out of an essence sword and scribbles from his notebook begins the ritual to take all the murderous feline spirits out of their hosts. In front of them, the amalgamation of many spirits of murder burn in flames of death. And knelt on the ground, bleeding, a priest prays for their demise...
| |
| − | | |
| − | Seeing the spirits of murder out, the prince charges Ainerach with power, rushing towards them, his golden blade straight to their flames... and slowly, the Redrum lifts his blade... trailing afterimages of pain and death. He sees the screams... he sees the death... but he pushes on... until the skull gives a death's head grin, and he sees it in the air. The scream of the ghost-blooded. His slow death... the man he had killed...
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''Murderer''<br>
| |
| − | ''Unclean''<br>
| |
| − | ''Evil''<br>
| |
| − | ''Murderer''<br>
| |
| − | ''Died slowly''<br>
| |
| − | ''Cut down by you''<br>
| |
| − | ''Alive''<br>
| |
| − | ''Human''<br>
| |
| − | '''''Murderer'''''
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Alexander: ''' "No..."
| |
| − | | |
| − | He stops. His blade stops dead on its tracks, and he keeps looking... losing all momentum.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And slowly, the dead thing continues its arc... breaking the prince's hold on his blade, sending it up... and striking its blade on the prince's defenseless heart!
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ... who falls back, over the seats, his right chest cut, through the Vapor Aegis, a trail of blood from him to the blood-fire of the Redrum's blade... a trail of blood that begun to... recede back to the blade, as it drank the blood... drop by drop....
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Redrum: ''' They had not taken a step as the Prince ran towards them.
| |
| − | | |
| − | His feet did not move as he swung his blade to show the prince the blood on his own hands.<br>
| |
| − | His feet did not move as his blade took the weapon out of the child's grasp.<br>
| |
| − | His feet did not move as it stabbed his heart.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Unmoving, they watch.<br>
| |
| − | Their fire crackling, every crackle the wail of a victim. Bloody Hands had watched so many victims die. The blood of hundreds, of thousands, dripping from their fingers. And now, this blood burns... and it is now a weapon. Now, they do not watch murders. Now, they promote massacres.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Burning Crimson are their blades.<br>
| |
| − | For the Redrums, they sing.<br>
| |
| − | That song is death.
| |
| − | | |
| − | They stood still, listening to the blades... until the beat was right. As it came, they jumped foward, intent on killing each and every one of them! One is wreathed in flames, burning the seats about him, kicking one towards Days... to mask the blade that comes breaking wood, intent on melting her ice-form! And another simply disappears, simple black lines of speed and wisps of cinders, before appearing in front of Kanti.... and striking three of her arteries like a surgeon!
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Child of Wyld Days: ''' "That shall not be!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | Staff rises.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Wind shrieks, pushing, distracting, altering course.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Splinters spread, and the truth on the tip of the blade is revealed.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "That shall not be!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | Owl and Serpent rises. Monkey tenses. Sword ignites.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti spins in place, a whirlwind of fire and smoke and incense, spear tip glowing, garda bird crying for mercy, Alex's fall still not registering on her.
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Redrum: ''' ... But Days stops the blade, and so does Kanti, wisps of flame and pieces of wood falling everywhere...
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Child of Wyld Days: ''' "I am sick and tired---'''SICK AND TIRED'''---of this nonsense, and you will not bar me from seeing to my oath's completion!" He fixes on the... the *thing* that dared attack him, and all the digust and fright in the world does not freeze his heart or body. Instead, he's already rolling with the force of his opponent's attack, bodily tumbling over the attacking limb before bouncing off with a sharp snap of his body. One... two... three strkes are aimed at the thing's shoulders, head and back, the last directed not by mere muscle but by the eternal flow of Essence.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Even as he seems to float, upside down, Snow Monkey cackles with pained certainly, knowing that the battle is his to lose.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Iselsis: ''' And Ise finishes her mumbling, the wards springing up around her as the glowing golden prayer strips afix themselves to everything around to form the perimeter.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Her dragon roars overhead at the Redrums, but that's all she can do for now.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Days, they'll be weakened now under the effects of the wards!"
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Redrum: ''' The Redrum does not try to show the truths of death to the Raksha - it would be a waste of time. After all, Raksha do not care. They do not believe. Without fear as its weapon, it turns to skill. Taking slivers of the fighting skill of every assassin his predecessors have sponsored... how to cut. How to read the body language. Knowing exactly how to act... how to stop each and every one of the faerie's blows!
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ... but even their skills pale before the skills of dreams.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Owl and Serpent crashes past the flames, striking at hs shoulders and back, the last sending him past the circle, at the wall behind the Child... where it crashes? No, it simply sticks, landing there as a cat would land on the ground... dripping cinders, badly, badly hurt... but still whole enough to bring retribution!
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Every bone in Moon's body wanted him to leap back into the fight. Battle is what he ''was''! What he ''lived'' for! It was at ''least'' his third or fourth greatest pleasure in life!
| |
| − | | |
| − | But being part of a gang meant sometimes you had to do shit you didn't really want to. Play look out while everyone else picked a fight or broke into somewhere. Sleep with that one creepy chick with the bad breath and the green hair to trim the cost of scoring hash off her. You got use to the little sacrifices. With dealing with the boring shit while everyone else had their fun.
| |
| − | | |
| − | This wasn't ''technically'' fun, it was really pretty deadly serious shit, but the rules still worked here as much as they did in the creepy chicks bed. Sometimes, you just had to deal with the dirty work.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And the cats were all dead anyway, so there wasn't really anything that ''deeply, '''truly''' ''deserved hurting left. It was time to save Fiona.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Don't worry darlin'," he said to Fiona, giving her, and not the thing inside her, a broad grin. "We'll have ya back ta normal and dressed up like a cute lil' healer again in no time."
| |
| − | | |
| − | Wing boy wanted a roar? He was gonna ''get'' roar!
| |
| − | | |
| − | The battle raged around him, but Moon stood still like a pillar of salt. He shifted away from the possessed Solar, his feet easing apart and the tendons in his calves tightening as braced him to the ground. Head low and arms loose, Moon clenched his hands into fists and narrowed his eyes into focused silts. Cold silver smoke roiled out from his hands and eyes and nose, puffed from his open lips, rising into a cloud above him. Just a prelude to flame; thick tongued and gleaming white as it poured off him and writhed in the air around him. Within the cloud above his head, the hounds eyes opened and Moon began to breath in.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The Redrums launched their assault upon Days and Kanti...<br>
| |
| − | And Moon kept breathing in.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The Snow Monkey screeched his defiance as he battered the attacks aside as if it were little more than a nuisance.<br>
| |
| − | And Moon kept breathing in.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Kanti's bird-like anima let out a cry to break a mortal's heart and push tears into the corner of Moon's eyes, as she drove the second Redrum back.<br>
| |
| − | And Moon kept breathing in.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Iselsis cast her glowing wards across church plaza, their sacred light cutting through the Redrum's vile Essence, and the Terrestrials dragon's let forth a harrowing cry.<br>
| |
| − | And Moon stopped breathing.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''A'ite pal... ''
| |
| − | Within himself, Moon stroked a hand over the hound with fingers of Essence it's tail wagging eagerly.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''Lets show Red how it's done! ''<br>
| |
| − | And outwardly, his head snapped up to attention. Face breaking wide into a grin of feral delight, his eyes stretched open wide as twin moons as the cold fire blasted out with edges sharp as blades and rose to detail the lupine face etching in the sky above him, a titan visible for miles. He thrust his arms triumphant into the air, crossed before his face as he stretched himself up to tip-toe, the motion somehow plucking stones from the ground and dragging them up through the air around him.<br>
| |
| − | ''Lets make some '''noise! ''' ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | Moon's throat budged outward as all the air he had breathed in came up at once, holding in check behind his tongue until it had all gathered into a tempest inside him. His arms came down, snapping out to his side, as he finally let it out. A silent ripple passed through the air, tugging a cloud of dust and stone behind it, rolling over the spirit of massacre who stood in Kanti's path and for a moment all but snuffing out it's unnatural flame.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And then the hounds call ''really'' came.<br>
| |
| − | And when it came, it was a howl to shake the foundations of the Spire itself.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Redrum: ''' The roar came.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Breaking the wood on the ground, sending it up.<br>
| |
| − | Breaking the seats on its path.<br>
| |
| − | Ripping the Redrum's clothes.<br>
| |
| − | Putting out its flames.<br>
| |
| − | Chipping its bones.
| |
| − | | |
| − | It was pushed backwards to the altar, the altar crashing, over the priest....
| |
| − | | |
| − | Slowly, it got up, unable to hear a thing.<br>
| |
| − | Slowly, its flames begun to return.<br>
| |
| − | Slowly....
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Not as satisfying as ripping an ancient unknowable feline spirit to pieces with his bare teeth, but the Redrum ''did'' make a pretty satisfying thump as it hit the wall.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Now he just had to figure out how long he was supposed to keep howling.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Leonas Du Mistlav: ''' The savant picked up his spetacles and placed them upon his eyes... and then threw up his notebook. Where he had inscribed his makeshift notes on Virdynn, wrote as they walked to the church. One page of it helped him create his Circle. And now, he threw up the notebook and the emerald blade, joining both, making the words inscribed within join the fabric of Creation with the fading Sorcery...
| |
| − | | |
| − | As a sword of essence fades, it dissipates on the ambient Dragon Lines.<br>
| |
| − | This one dissipated with a thunder... and the words.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Words that are wind.<br>
| |
| − | Wind that is Essence.
| |
| − | | |
| − | All above a woman that is the Wheel.<br>
| |
| − | And a dog that is a god.
| |
| − | | |
| − | He chanted the words, and they echoed in the thousand voices ever whispered in that cathedral, held by essence, released by the sword. "'''By the power of the Lantern of Saresh. By the Authority of the Wheel. By those you fear. By all the might we posses. By the authority of my Exalted station. By all laws of Creation. '''" The Wheel, Kanti, with Infinite Viridian Radiance bursting from her, filling the church in her light...
| |
| − | | |
| − | "'''We command you. We command you to leave them. We command you to do our bidding, and leave those innocents alone! '''" his voice is thunderous. Not his voice. All the makeshift, improvised chant he had inscribed in the pages of the canniballized notebook, repeating his words... as the essence pouring out of Moon forms the dog, the roar, pushing the Virdynn... lifting their fur, breaking their souls...
| |
| − | | |
| − | The Virdynn, lifted up in the air, unconscious...
| |
| − | | |
| − | Except for the Fiona one, waking up, struggling... shining in Solar light....
| |
| − | | |
| − | "'''Begone! '''"
| |
| − | | |
| − | "'''NO'''" 'Fiona' hissed...
| |
| − | | |
| − | But it was too late, the power washed through them... and the Virdynn got thrown into the walls, expelled from the bodies in the most violent fashion... except for Fiona's, that held to it, hissing, fighting against the Dragon-Blooded...
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Alexander: ''' The Prince got up from the ground, shaken... blood still dripping from his wound.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''It won't stop... ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''The bleeding... ''
| |
| − | ''It won't stop!! ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | Terrified, the Prince calls back his blade, holding it protectively in front of him... as his lifeblood pours from his broken breastplate...
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' ''Crunch. Crunch. Crunch... ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | Foot steps and roaring echoes filled the seconds of silence that followed the Viridyn's exorcism. A blinding white radiance moved through the shattered church, gliding like a silver mist across the ground, rising upwards onto the altar top and gleaming down over the priest and spirit of massacre. Heavy black boots materialized from the depths of the glaring light and stomped down onto the pages of the open book laid out there.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Yo." Moon greeted the spirit and the mad man, his body framed from behind by the endless face of the grinning silver hound. And then his foot lashed out. The steel toe of his boot smashed into the bridge of the Redrum's skeletal face, snapping the head back.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Fucker here is all yours, monkey!" Moon called back, grinning over his shoulder a moment at Days. "Have fun!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | Moon leapt off the altar, bring an elbow down over the top of the Redrums head. Heedless of the fire that engulfed it, Moon slammed a fist through it's open rib cage, fingers closing around the spine and holding on tight. Once and then again, Moon's other fist pistoned in and cracked into the skull, each blow forcing the Redrum back another step as Moon drove in after it. And with a final grunt of effort, he twisted back around. Streaming like a comet out of the sky, the Redrum arched into the air above Moon's head and clapped into the church flow with a whumph of air and flame.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Yeah, shit, it wasn't ghost-fighting or epic, but fuck-all if it wasn't satisfying!
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Redrum: ''' The Redrum looked up at Moon as he attacked.... punching. Kicking.
| |
| − | | |
| − | But every time Moon struck, the empty eyes were there. There was no way for Moon not to stare at those eyes.<BR>
| |
| − | No way for him not to... not to stare at the abyss.<BR>
| |
| − | Not to see how the abyss stares back.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Not to see himself, on the snow of the boil, breaking a rock over a boy's head for a piece of bread.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Not to see the Redrum as that little boy.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''Murderer. ''<BR>
| |
| − | ''Murderer. ''<BR>
| |
| − | ''Worse than Angels''<BR>
| |
| − | ''Unworthy of light''
| |
| − | | |
| − | Each and every strike held in this, so Moon could not see where he truly hit...
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Leonas Du Mistlav: ''' The Virdynn pushes.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The Sorcerer pushes back.
| |
| − | | |
| − | They are locked in this struggle, as the Virdynn digs deeper into Fiona's soul, trying to hold to her.... digging deeper, making the shadow more real... more real every time. Making the shadow disappear under her skin... making them one.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "'''Get out! '''" Leonas calls... too late?
| |
| − | | |
| − | Not with Moon Kanti there. The radiance of her wheel... showing the Virdynn where she should be.<br>
| |
| − | Where she should not be.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The hiss is deafening. But through Fiona, Leonas pushes....
| |
| − | | |
| − | And the Virdynn is ripped out of the Solar, still wreathed in Golden Light, striking a wall so hard chunks of it fall everywhere....
| |
| − | | |
| − | | |
| − | '''Child of Wyld Days: '''Not even bothering to look behind him, Snow Monkey launches himself through the air, backwards and with feline grace and agility. His goal is simple---the fellow attached to the wall. His greeting---the end of Owl and Serpent. Not unlike some kind of twister pogo stick, Days coils the staff and braces his feet on the coils, driving down with both legs, arms and sheer body mass... as well as boiling, red-raw indignation.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''How '''DARE''' this mockery of an opponent trouble me?! It doesn't deserve to lick dogshit from my boots, let alone attack me! I'll show the thing it's place! ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Redrum: ''' She strikes him... and down they come, exploding the ground under them, sending the wood floor high into the air!
| |
| − | | |
| − | And it slowly crawls out.... hurt... but still alive.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Iselsis: ''' She'd used all her tricks so far. And had little else but her guns at this point. Undeterred by the nightmarish visages of the redrums she lifts both guns, still standing near the back of the run down church.
| |
| − | | |
| − | She closes her eyes and focusses...
| |
| − | | |
| − | She thinks back to when she still trained with the master, did everything in little exact steps so nothing would go wrong...
| |
| − | | |
| − | And now she does again, hoping it'll give her that little bit extra to help her allies defeat these monsters.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''Breathe in... ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | She sees her master as he used to be, telling her to visualize her mark in her head, visualize the trajectory of the projectile as it hurtles towards it, visualize it hitting the target, killing it, destroying it...
| |
| − | | |
| − | And she does. The Redrums in her mind's eye, not even needing to look to see their wretched essence patterns. She visualizes each of them, how the updraft of the shots of her repeaters will affect trajectory, visualizes the course of the bullets and anticipates defenses, visualizes her defeating them both, one gun in hand for each.
| |
| − | | |
| − | In her mind she sees how once, when she was still the worst shot to ever grace Creation, she tried this, and hits a bull's eye.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''Knowledge is power... and I know I can do this. ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | She fires, faster than her repeaters should be able to. Three times, without stirring, unmoving, eyes closed. Three bullets for each redrum.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And she prays it helps.
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Redrum: ''' She turns to the side, firing on both, front and back....
| |
| − | | |
| − | ... both hurt like they simply ''should not be''!
| |
| − | | |
| − | As the bullets come, both, on both sides, try to show her her own darkness... but her eyes are closed.<br>
| |
| − | As the bullets come, both let their bodies explode in whips of skull and fire... whirling madly...<br>
| |
| − | ... and praying they will catch them all!
| |
| − | | |
| − | The bullets come. He creates a dozen whips as he tries to come out of the ground... but it is no use. The monkey had thrown him far, too far off balance. Unable to stop the bullets... unable to stop it as they break the whips, they break the spine, they break the skull.
| |
| − | | |
| − | They break it all in a conflagration of blood and fire!
| |
| − | | |
| − | And the one left, getting up from Moon's feet, notices how hard is its predicament.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The bullets had barely glazed him. But he knew. It was time to strike for real.
| |
| − | | |
| − | All the whips.<br>
| |
| − | All the flame.<br>
| |
| − | All sides.
| |
| − | | |
| − | From everywhere, came the whips to Moon, to rend his flesh, to crush his bones, to throw the damn Lunar '''away! '''
| |
| − | | |
| − | For it knew.<br>
| |
| − | Crushed by a Dog's roar.<br>
| |
| − | Broken by a monkey's tail.<br>
| |
| − | Burnt by a Dragon's suspire.<br>
| |
| − | The spirits of massacre discovered fear.
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| − | | |
| − | ... and he misses, most strikes. The dog is fast. The dog is skilled. Each strike... missed.
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| − | | |
| − | But for the last.
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| − | | |
| − | The last goes through the dog, cutting him across the chest, pushing him back accross the church, falling on the fading circle... as his vanishing blood comes to nourish the Redrum... who looks more... healthy, than he was a moment before....
| |
| − | | |
| − | ... but still scared. He would have disemboweled common men...<br>
| |
| − | ... but he simply hurt the dog.
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| − | | |
| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' Moon stroked a finger along the new won scrape in his chest, his blood nearly pink in the glow of the raging anima around him. It hurt. Hurt like a son of a bitch. But Seventh Moon had taken worse. ''Much'' worse. He ran the bloody finger against his nose, smearing crimson like war pant across his face, and gave the spirit an evil grin. "Gonna have ta try harder than that, ugly."
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Priest: ''' A Redrum had been destroyed.
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| − | | |
| − | '''Destroyed! '''
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| − | | |
| − | Mere '''moments''' after his ascension!
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| − | | |
| − | A thing of ultimate power... of impossible beauty... destroyed... like that.
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| − | | |
| − | The Priest watched, incredulous.
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| − | | |
| − | He watched as the Virdynn fell.<br>
| |
| − | As the '''Solar''' Virdynn fell!<br>
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| − | A ceremony that would take hours...<br>
| |
| − | ... finished in moments.
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| − | | |
| − | His Church... destroyed.
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| − | | |
| − | All... falling apart. Only one Redrum... hurt... another one... going to be destroyed.
| |
| − | | |
| − | It was too much to endure.<br>
| |
| − | And so... he simply gave in.
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| − | | |
| − | Slowly, the Priest got to his feet. With a movement and a sickening ''crack'', his arm got in place. His knees kept bleeding.. but he did not care. He roared. '''Roared! ''' Days had seen that before... the lack of pain... the way he got up. Same as Shadow Rose had when she had let her Lower Soul take control.
| |
| − | | |
| − | He was just an animal now.<br>
| |
| − | A very intelligent animal, but an animal nonetheless.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "'''Hahahahahahahaha! You think that is it? YOU THINK THAT IS IT? That we are done? Screw you! SCREW YOU! '''" He shouts, angry, all the religious composure lost. The armor opened... and something like an Onyx Eggshell came out. "'''Calobis will kill me... but I DON'T CARE! YOU KNOW WHAT? I DON'T CARE! He may kill me any way he wishes... but I am KILLING YOU! DEAD! DEAD! '''"
| |
| − | | |
| − | He looked at the egg, and begun to caress it, tenderly, laughing maniacally... "This... this is beautiful. Those are the flames... the flames of the Cinder That Walks. Encased in her own eyes... after her death... her own eyes! Hah! Only three eyes.... and they are here! This flame... all her cinders... they BURN ANYTHING MATERIAL! THEY BURN EXALTED! THEY BURN EXALTED BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA!!!!"
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| − | | |
| − | And then, as they moved towards him, he let it go. He didn't need to '''do''' anything... just let it go. It crashed into the ground.
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| − | | |
| − | Both him and Redrum fading into insubstantiality... and his laughing disappeared.
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| − | | |
| − | In place of it, came the fire. It burned so powerfully, it seemed to only be light. It was so much, it was like a dome... expanding... expanding... taking all the Virdynn... vapourizing the cats. Vaporizing the blood. Vaporizing the wood. Vaporizing the walls.
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| − | | |
| − | And beyond.
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| − | | |
| − | And beyond....
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| − | | |
| − | | |
| − | ----
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| − | | |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/SeventhMovement|Seventh Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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