Don knelt down to inspect the dead bodies littering their path, had the plants done this? Or had they been slain long before the plants had taken root?
The large man shifted uncomfortably as his hand rubbed his chin. Was it wise to continue further? Or would it lead them to certain doom? Whatever had been nesting down here, was meant to be kept here, trapped and hidden. Had that messy tangle out in the courtyard been a smaller chunk of this greater mass? Well-- it was hard to imagine it came from anywhere else. Moving forward, Don reached the door; running his fingers across the many fine grooves etched into it's ancient surface. It took less than a moment for Don to notice what lay outside the circle of protective sigils, a rather distinct design of two serpents on either side of the door sharing an orb in their fangs.
Don knew in the pit of his gut that this bore a connection to the pin he'd found. "Oi Augusta--" he called to the elf girl, as he produced the pin from his jacket, "Yer eyes tell ya anything about this?"
Holding the pin out for Augusta to examine, Don focused those energies once more-- attempting to make the pin glow just enough to be clearly visible in the darkness.
The circle of hunters tensed, shooting questioning glances towards Nobunaga, uncertainty clear in their gazes. Who was this stranger?
“If you can assist, outsider,” One of the hunters approached cautiously, spear still pointed towards the creature. Nobunaga would note a few things about the way he carried himself. He was dressed differently than the others. A fur mantle made of a wolf pelt hung across his shoulders, with thick animal furs covering his vitals and extremities. Confident, poised, and a quick look would have told anyone he at least knew what he was doing with the spear in his hand. Perhaps he was the leader of the hunters here. “Your arrival will never have been better. You heard her!” He snapped his neck towards the group. “That thing is’t going to stay idle forever! Get its attention! Look for an opening on its underside!”
One of the men approached, lunging forward with the spear in his hand. The armored beast growled, swiftly turning and ramming the side of its body into the man as the spear clinked against its natural armor. The man stumbled back as the beast turned to face them, barely avoiding being trampled.
“We’ll keep it corralled here.”
Lazhira herself moved closer to Misaki.
“Eh? Really? You travel just the three of you and you can’t even fight? How do you even survive out there?” She asked, more curious seeming than anything else. “...I mean I guess you’d be great at keeping people warm with that tail of yours-” She cut herself off. “Eh, ah, you’ll have to tell me later. Let the hunters and your friend handle that thing...though I wish we didn’t have to kill it. They’re normally really docile and big dumb oafs.”
And so they chose onward. Augusta and Isidore had, anyways. Nick was hesitant, for good reason it seemed. He could easily surmise those creatures on the ground were not as dead as they appeared. Donovan knelt to check, he'd notice they were still very much warm, and not cold and dead as one would think from something long deceased.
Perhaps the plants had indeed killed them, or had only taken root in the ruins of a decaying ruin.
Octavia allowed herself to be leashed as Isidores’ little trick to enhance his eyesight seemed to work, at least somewhat. Focusing the energy he felt earlier upwards towards his eyes, the world became tinged in a shade of light blue, just barely brighter than the world had before. It would help with any sort of ambush he might face here, in the darker recesses of this prison.
As they descended, Donovan showed the pin to Augusta. Normally, her eyes only seemed to work on people and living things, but perhaps with a bit of creativity she could do something with it?
Deeper they went into the depths, Nick lagging only momentarily behind as he steeled his resolve. The staircase spiraling downwards with Octavia electing to take point, taking a quick pace and making sure to keep herself at the front. Eventually, the sound of rushing water would meet their ears as the bottom of the staircase came into view, that sickening cloying smell mixing with the scent of the sea as they finally reached the bottom.
It was certainly an awe-inspiring sight.
A massive underground chasm stood before them, and inside of it could only be described as a large underground garden. A massive flow of water flowed in from above, likely from the sea surrounding the island they seemed to be on, flowing into a large pool below that circled the entirety of the room.
It was difficult for Augusta, Donovan, and Nick to make out, but against the back wall was a massive, blackened tar flower similar to the one Octavia had come out of situated against the back wall. The rest of the garden was full of flowers and plants of similar natures. A few trees were even sprouting, bearing some unknown fruit likely best left alone. Several other unknown plants bloomed with light producing flowers, creating a dimly lit ambience.
Isidore however, would have a slightly better view thanks to his spell.
The path they were on was a raised platform that seemed to circle the entire garden. The massive plant in the back seemed to have some sort of restraints on it, large black stones impaling it, keeping it bound to the wall behind, but it seemed ineffective if their intent was to stop it from growing. Several black vines and roots climbed upon the walls, and if Isidore happened to look one had grown right into a crack on the ceiling. As well, something was moving in the garden. Humanoid figures, slowly seeming to pace around the garden, but it was difficult to make out anything from here.
Their observations would be cut short, the ground beneath them rumbled lightly as vines began rapidly growing over the staircase they had just come out of, completely blocking the exit for them.
Octavia didn’t seem startled, and kept lightly tugging on the chain, trying to direct the group towards the garden. The path however, did continue around, where they could just make out another door leading deeper into the complex, but it seemed like this was the place whatever it was that was leading them wanted them.
Perhaps that’s what a Hero needs, at times. Throwing caution into the wind to even have a chance at fighting an impossibly strong foe. Having failed at finding anything useful within the tower, Leannah decided her only course of action was to confront the guardian directly. She sprinted towards the giant as it turned to face her.
It paused, watching its quarry come to it instead of fleeing.
Her muscles tensed as she pulled her arm back. In one swift motion she launched it into the air. The spear left her hands.
It sailed through the air.
There was the sound of rock cracking, shattering as something hit it at high speed.
It didn’t quite make it to its head. The target was far too small unless one had the sharpest accuracy. Yet, it did hit something. The spear met a different mark, cracking stone in the giants chest, just below its head and embedding itself into it. The wound spewed bright, blue blood that flowed down the creature's rocky surface, evaporating before it even reached the ground similar to what had been in the pods they had been released from.
It wasn’t deep, and one could tell it didn’t have much effect on the giant, but it was enough to distract it for Leannah to get closer.
The massive creature would provide many footholds to climb upon it on, being made of stone as it was - it was almost like freehanding rock climbing, but it still was a moving target. Leannah would be able to climb almost up to its shin before it returned to its senses.
It raised the foot she was climbing upon, and turned it towards the rock wall intending on smashing her between its foot and the rock.
Ancient Sword: This appears to be a simple arming sword. Well crafted, but obviously aged beyond any recognizable features. The grip on its hilt seems to have once been dyed blue, with the pommel having been engraved with a decorative crest of some sort. When you hold it in your hands, you can feel an odd energy running through it, but you can't begin to guess what they might really be.
Finding a suitable blade among the scattered weapons wasn’t hard for Narkissa. It seemed to be similar to the axe as far as construction went. Likely belonged to the same people that were in the library. Regardless of its origin, a brief glance outside would show the result of Leannah’s recklessness as the cat girl attempted scaling the giant.
Maybe Narkissa could do something to assist here here, but what?
Malphas could enjoy a respite, having accomplished his goal of making his escape. All he could do know was wait, and hope. From the sounds the guardian was making, it wasn’t having an easy time of whatever they were doing to it.
The girl continued to describe the area, mentioning hunters and hunting festivals. Once again, Lazirha mentioned this Kyrinth. Novak had no idea what it was, other than that her description inferred it was a dangerous being of some sort, but not a direct threat to the town. It was definitely something that they should ask about prior to heading back out into the wilderness. Fortunately, if the town was as full of hunters as Lazirha seemed to infer, it shouldn't be difficult getting information on this Kyrinth and any other local beasts worth worrying about.
The village was roughly what Novak expected from the girl's description. However, it seemed a little odd that none of the others had a tattoo on their arm like Lazirha's. Did it mean something special in the village, or was it simply a meaningless adornment upon a bored girl? It shouldn't be hard to find out, although it might be wise to wait until a more appropriate time to pry about it.
Just as the girl was inviting the group back to her home, they were interrupted by a commotion. Several armed men were confronting a massive, somewhat mammalian armored beast. The creature was covered in what looked like metallic scales, and it was holding something in its mouth. The beast seemed to glare at Nobunaga, and it was only at this point that Novak realized that it had human remains in its maw.
Is this the Kyrinth that she was talking about?
Novak readied his sword, but there wasn't much he could do with it. He didn't know anything about using the sword, and he certainly didn't know anything about fighting an armored, man-eating monster. Of the three of them, only Nobunaga stepped forward to fight the beast, already barking suggestions to the village's spearmen. Lazirha seemed to be surprised and perhaps a bit confused at their inability to fight.
"It's a long story, miss Lazirha, but suffice to say, Misaki and I aren't fighters," Novak interjected. "Heck, I just picked up this sword to defend myself from birds. I'd say the only reason we're alive is because we haven't been doing this for very long, and most of that time has been spent simply trying to not die horribly."
Once again Novak was blurting things out that, had he been thinking clearly, would not have revealed to an outsider. Right now, however, the primary thing on his mind was not getting killed and eaten by this strange monster. It was an upsetting realization, that he was so unprepared for this world, and completely unable to fulfill the mission given by the goddess to protect these people. Perhaps now would be a good time to begin making use of his skill-seeking ability.
I could learn something quite useful from watching how the hunters move when fighting that monster, but I'd better first he sure that they know what they're doing.
Nick lagged behind; it was uncertain whether the young man would follow the rest all the way into the depths, especially as the stench of decay grew stronger, as the darkness grew thicker. Not all were made for such escapades, and Isidore could only hope that Nick didn't make any rash decisions.
The darkness shone with blue light as the quartet passed the point of no return.
There was a chasm underneath the prison, home to a garden of tar-stained flowers and trees. That sweetness, once overbearing, was now undercut by the smell of brine, like the world’s shittiest salty caramel. The walls of this cavern were made inaccessible to them all by the ocean water that seeped into the place, while the garden was the territory of shadowy humans, lumbering disconcertingly around the place. The former researchers of the prison above? Or more of those wretched experiments, made puppets by the tar-plants.
Then, there was the clattering of feet against stone off in the distance, muffled by vines. Isidore turned briefly, noting that of the three that had followed, two now remained. Nick was gone, having taken the sealing of the entranceway as reason enough to escape. Isidore's expression remained unchanged. Loyalty or conviction hadn't yet had any chance to grow amongst these strangers. Such action couldn't be faulted, but it would be remembered.
Isidore let out a breath, let out all the tension that had built up in his body.
Time to continue.
Not certain whether the others could see so clearly as he could, he kept a firm grip on Octavia’s leash, as he began to walk upon the raised platform, keeping an eye on the largest plant at the back of the garden. Black stones impaled it, but it was through those same black stones that it could grow its progeny upon the surface, to birth creatures such as Octavia. It was a detour, and he had to drag Octavia with him as he did so, but Isidore wasn’t fool enough to walk boldly into the territory of the tar-plants. All the toughness in the world meant nothing once restrained by a dozen ancient roots.
“Donovan, shield up. Protect the others. Octavia, there are things moving within the garden to our left. We are approaching the largest of the tar-plants, the one whose roots stretch all around this place.” He paused. Levity may be appropriate in these dark times, so deep underground. “If any of you were a fire-breather in your past life, this would be a good chance to show off.”
…
Isidore coughed, then allowed his muscles to relax further.
The door, he hadn’t mentioned. It was left open for a reason, and that reason was still unknown to him.
Augusta looked at the pin Donovan was asking about. She was more than ready to trudge forward into this dungeon-like thing in front of them, but the question posed seemed fair compensation. "A pin?" Of course, her eyes reacted not to it. It only seemed to work on creatures of some sort or another. Some issue in and of itself though it would definitely help more than hurt. She sighed with no reply from looking at it. "Haa..." When her eyes fail, there was little more she could figure to do but touch it. "Hmm. Obviously it's... What's the word? Enchanted? Yes, enchanted. Weakly magical?" She questioned, looking at the thing. "It's possibly I might be able to tell you more after I've figured out magic more." She stated, removing her hand and giving a nod to the man.
The deeper they went, the more there was that... sickeningly sweet smell. She had done her best to push it to the back of her mind but the more they traveled, the worst it got until finally they reached a rather dark place. The sweet smell was mixed with the all too familiar scent of the sea. "How peculiar." Still, it was rather dark and she couldn't see very well. There was salt water for sure. And those black tar-like plants that came with Octavia. Hmmm. How curious. She sighed and started to walk forward when she heard a rustling behind her. The vines had blocked their path back? Somehow, she expected that much, really. "No going back, it seems."
With a slight shrug, she followed Isidore as he took the initiative. He barked out commands that made her wonder if he had prior experience in such a thing. It wouldn't be farfetched after all. Either way, she continued to follow him and tried to look around but... "I can't see a thing in this darkness. Wish I had magic for that." She mentioned, playing around with the idea in her head and at her fingertips. It'd be great to just collect power to her hands and make a ball of light to just, illuminate around them. A certain game called it Mage Light, she seemed to remember.
Despite his protests, the party continued on. Nick really didn't want to head down further but he couldn't just leave these people behind, even if they were heading to certain doom. He lagged behind them as they descended, wary of the black tar-like substance that was abundant in this place. "Shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't be doing this..." He repeated to himself and clutching the harmless blade he had as hard as he could.
His eyes darted all over the place, waiting for anything to happen. That was the worst part of it all, the tense waiting. Nick knew something was going to happen to them here but they didn't know what or when or how. Each step Nick took, the other guys had already taken five. But he didn't notice, too occupied in his paranoia as he descended the staircase. The other three were already way past the staircase bottom when he arrived there.
Nick heard the sounds of rushing water and saw his three other companions standing and probably admiring whatever it was that was there. He moved to join them but suddenly, the ground shook as black vines began growing over the staircase exit. Nick quickly backed away before realizing that he was now separated from the rest of the group. In this place that ticked off his anxiety powers. Surrounded by probably evil goo. And as defenseless as a newborn babe.
"Interesting. Very interesting." Nick muttered, amused.
A figure dashed upwards the staircase, frantically trying to get away from this place as fast as he could. Nick should've figured something like this would happen. He felt bad not noting his companions that he was hauling ass, but they'd understand right? There was little he could do down there, save for trying to hack away the vines with the old blade. Nick hoped they would be alright down there, though.
He would try to make it back to that courtyard they were in earlier, no longer caring if the black tar was growing all around him as he fled. Now that he was alone, it was up to him on what to do next in this alien world. Troubling, Nick thought but enough about that, he needed to get to safety first.
Putting her all into jump, adrenaline still pumping through her system, Leannah pushed herself to jump from the top of this one foot to the top of the other. With this one foot raising up it gave her a little height, just enough to try for this chance! If she could get to the other foot, she'd try to right away begin climbing up the shin. Unless this thing wanted to fall over, it couldn't pick up and kick it's only two feet at the same time...right? Maybe. Hopefully. If she could get up to the head, and wherever her spear had hit as well, then perhaps she could really pull it out and get to more stabbing! Her body was athletic and stronger, her martial arts skills and training were intact, and she could do this!
She had the agility and smaller size, she just needed to capitalize on that and she could do this.
And again she made some attempt in the process at this whole 'magic' business, trying to squeeze out and focus anything, something, just to help her move faster. Speed. Agility. Distance. Height. She could imagine it to such a fine degree in her mind's eye, and imagined the flow of magic through her as if it was her very blood. She was Speed, Power, Precision. She was a moving, breathing weapon gunning for its target. She would produce a miracle of her own this day, or die trying! Either way she was going out on her own terms, whether now or later, and that wasn't for anyone else to decide!
Who was this giant stone monster thing to think it could crush her? Who decided that? She would be the one to decide that, and she had decided it would not happen! On top of that perhaps this daylight gift would assist some more as well for all she knew, but even that was a gamble. Even so, it was the only gamble she knew to take right on on top of her attempts to channel and use magic to some kind of miracle. She knew Malphas could do it, so she believed she could as well! It would work! It had to!!!
"You speak as if I should congratulate you, and as such, Yes, this is quite an amazing feat you've pulled off." The fay would say as she would have been flitting about the room for a good while. Trying to explore their local before she returned to the beasts side, looking up at him for a moment she would try to see if she could see any eyes behind that mask as she would sigh.
"So now that we are here, what are you looking for? And how does it help me?" She would ask wanting to avoid talking about the fact she was still in the middle of trying to work out the creases in her outfit from being stuffed in the pocket of the beast. Her fairy eyes locked on his as shee looked at him carefully to judge the merit of the next words he spoke, her trust was still in the air, though he had been incredibly helpful getting them to... wherever here is, and if he had more of those arrows then making him a trusted ally would grant her a powerful infiltrator would it not?
It was of similar size to a horse, which meant her next move was an easy one.
Nobunaga's entire body tensed, as she leaned forward. Ideally she would find one of the gaps between ribs, but the katana's quality was sufficient to cut bone. At least, provided this creature had relatively normal bones, and if its heart was anywhere near where she expected it to be.
Even if it wasn't, it would still be a deep piercing injury to an area that would likely bleed quite a bit.
Nobunaga placed one foot forward as the creature was distracted and immediately burst forward as swiftly as she could, her cape flapping behind her as she moved. Angling her body, tightening her posture as much as she could, the small black-haired girl aimed to slip beneath the sheet of scales and thrust her sword between the creature's ribs as quickly and as deeply as she possibly could.
Conveniently enough, Narkissa found a nice enough blade among the pile of weapons. Tossing her previous, hastily found weapon aside, she found a more suitably balanced sword. An axe truly was rather cumbersome for a person with a smaller body like her, and one that she was yet to become fully accustomed to, at that. At the very least, she’d seen enough movies and some research on how to use a sword, even if she’d never touched a weapon in her previous life.
One she was done picking over her choice of weapons, she peeked outside to see what the situation was like. What she saw was… Leannah charging the giant.
Hmm. Narkissa didn’t expect that.
It also meant that the giant had become distracted, though. With a suitable diversion, Narkissa finally dashed out, and made for the wall once more. She would attempt to scale it.
Before she did, however, she tossed her book –and her newly acquired sword—over the wall to free her hands. Hopefully either of them wouldn’t hit anything… or anybody important. She then began hastily climbing it. Just like Leannah! Except the stone she was climbing wasn’t trying to actively kill her. Yet.
Lazirha's apparent lack of the concept of 'personal space' was a bit concerning to Misaki, who subtly slid back ever so slightly as the girl moved closer to her. As far as she could tell, Nobunaga had the situation under control—all the better, really, given how she was almost wholly incompetent as a combatant herself. She might have been able to mimic the motions of people in videos she had seen while wandering the internet, yes, but with lives at risk, it was far more logical to stand back and watch.
Of course, the young woman's comments about her only seemed to highlight her own inability to do... Well, much of anything. Putting the matter off for later, at the very least, would give her some more time to think of a proper set of excuses to feed Lazirha for as to why she was traveling with the combat competency of a child.
Not like she needed to with Novak's own quips, though. In a way, that honesty was fine—she didn't exactly have any face to lose—but it was still a little embarrassing to have it said out loud like that.
"I... Well, I can't deny that, but I'd rather you not generalize me as someone only good for having fur," Misaki added, flicking her tail away from Lazirha as she glanced at the beast Nobunaga was taking on again. "But... Usually docile, you say? Is there any reason as to why they've decided to lash out, then...?"
It was a long shot to see if Lazirha had any information about why they were agitated, but maybe if they found out the source of the problem, they could try to resolve it.
Don nodded in slight disappointment at Augusta's inability to gain more insight about the pin, other than the fact it was enchanted. "Well, thanks for tryin anyhow lass. If the lot've ya are movin' forward here, I might as well come with ya... Ain't no tellin what might be down there, n' tha last thing aye want is fer ya tah get yerselves killed." Carefully placing the pin back in his breast pocket, Don lagged behind the group for a moment, taking care to run his fingers across the runes carved into the door; memorizing as much of it as he could before hurrying after the others. Descending further into the darkness with the others, the small group passed into a large, dimly lit chamber. Between the sickening smell, the hallway of dead bodies leading up to here, and the fact that they were in the underbelly of an ancient PRISON-- a powerful sensation of dread seated itself in the pit of Don's stomach. Whatever was here; needed to be locked back up, or outright destroyed. Immediately acting upon his gut instinct, the large man readied his armaments and moved up alongside Isidore just as the other man happened to speak, "Way ahead uh yah lad, this place gives meh th' creeps."
Gritting his teeth, he moved forward cautiously beside Isidore and the strange dog. Don caught movement out of the corner of his eye, causing his head to pivot immediately to face whatever threat was coming; only to realize it was only Nick, just panicked as hell... and on the other side of a vine wall!!! "Steel yerself boy!" Don boomed in a stern, commanding tone as he turned forward once more. "Tha moment ya give in tah fear, is tha moment yer most vulnerable! There's others up topside! Find em' and get outta here! We'll find our own way out!"
Nobunaga surged forwards, katana poised to strike at the creature's soft underbelly by slipping under its scale armor. The blade cut the underside of the creatures flesh, the large creature hissing in pain as it whipped around, slamming one of its forearms into Nobunaga and sending her reeling backwards from the impact.
Blood seeped from the wound and onto the ground, but the beast didn’t seem to care or notice as it charged right for Nobbu.
Novak watched with rapt attention the way Nobunaga moved. The way she tensed her muscles. The way her wrist moved when striking with her blade. The way her body reacted to getting hit. Almost as if his mind was overanalyzing and hyper aware of every little minute muscle detail she was making. For a moment, he might think he could easily replicate her moves himself.
“But its so floofy...” Lazhira visibly pouted a bit as Misaki moved away, but at least did seem to not attempt to do so again. “Ehe, sorry, I just really wanna know how soft it is. It looks even softer than Kyrnith’s fur-er, not that...I know that aha.”
That was an obvious lie.
“Aha, really? Only a little while? You guys couldn’t have come from very far, then! You couldn’t have made it here from the north unless you fought your way up the canyon! And a pretty mean Elder Beast lives there, at least, that’s what I’ve heard from Lady Mie’s stories when she visits. And south is this reeeeallly big mountain, with a bunch of mean giants that live on it. You should have saw it from that cliff earlier.”
It was obvious she was holding back trying to ask about everything where they come from.
“Er, right, sorry.” She glanced to the side, face reddening in slight embarrassment from talking too much again. “I mentioned the Kyrnith, right? Its one of the four Elder Beasts that protect this land...well, they’re supposed too, anyways.” Lazhira said with a sigh. “Kyrnith specifically is the guardian of that forest. Normally it doesn’t go anywhere near us and leaves us alone, while making sure the forest thrives even in this cold...but...something really made it mad recently, and that something has turned the forest into a dangerous place. Most just want to kill it, and it'd solve it but...” She glanced towards the fight currently taking place. She lowered her voice, getting a bit closer though this time to not be heard. “I...I think its a curse, but I can’t really talk about it here.”
Isiodre took lead, having only stopped momentarily to take a glance at what had happened behind. Nick had been separated from them, by a wall of thick vines. Hesitation had led to missing opportunity, but perhaps another would open for Nick, yet they would likely never know for quite some time.
Octavia tugged lightly on the leash, attempting to get the group to move faster towards the flower. Augusta contented herself to attempt making a small light for them, focusing the energy in her fingertips, causing it to coalesce into a visible energy of small, blue bright light. Similar to that missile spell she used earlier, except static as it hovered over her hand. The closer they got to the plant, however, the more those things moving in the garden took note of them.
Several of the humanoid figures seemed to immediately take note of their presence, Isidore would be the first to see them. The three closest immediately began moving towards them, and the closer they got the clearer they became.
One seemed to be a similar experiment like they had seen above - the only difference was its head. No longer was it sporting that thin mouth, eyes sunken into its head. It had been replaced with a large, blackened flower. Its arms were covered in thorns, roots extending down its neck and into its flesh, with blacked tar leaking from various holes on its body Its hands had been morphed to mimic some sort of rough, firm plant foliage taking the shape of sharp blades.
Curiously, a few amongst seemed almost too human. Rather than being grotesque experiments, they seemed to have once been normal and some were still even dressed in ragged remains of clothing under the mutations the plants seemed to have given them.
Classification: Garden Thrall Physical Attributes: Similar to you Magic Attributes: Weaker than you Weakness: Burns easily Abilities: Black Blooded A demon related to the --------- clan. Its blood is toxic and extremely caustic, causes severe burns and can even cause humans to mutate. Flesh shaper A skill related to the --------- demon clan. Limited shape-shifting ability, often taking various forms of flora. Special attributes: Thrall of The Lost Garden - Has the ability to call upon the ancient garden to aid it, no matter how weakly the connection. A being of questionable intelligence that was caught by the garden through some means. Smarter and stronger than one may expect, and capable of limited learning capabilities, but still easily outwitted as long as you do not prolong the battle with it. The plants on its body are its main weapons, as they are sharp enough to cut flesh and deliver small doses of their own blood into their victim, thus propagating the garden. It is also able to spew a glob of toxic venom at will. Can communicate with others in the garden in a limited capacity.
With uncanny swiftness, one ran towards Isidore, one of those plant-like protrusions growing from its hands aimed to slice into his flesh. Another hung back, its body twitching repulsively as the flower on its head closed, beginning to expand and bloat whilst the last made a swift beeline towards Augusta.
They sought to circumvent the garden itself, but the garden already knew they were there.
“Congratulate me?” The cloaked figure laughed, voice rumbling. “How far can you miss the mark, Pixie? I do not desire such things from any but my liege, which you are not.” He began walking, turning his back to Alice as he continued on. “Your eyes see, but you do not care. Perhaps you seek to ingratiate me to yourself? How humorous. My loyalty belongs to another...but perhaps I ask too much, from one such as yourself.”
By now the hallway had ended, leading to a large, stone room with a ceiling that seemed to be almost too high. Upon the back wall was large, steel beams leading from the floor to the ceiling with various arms at three intervals creating some sort of framework. Large wires fell across several of the ‘arms’, and a ruined scaffolding had fallen in several places leaving access to the top nearly impossible. Most notably, however, hung tangled upon the chords were the remnants of a stone structure that seemed suspiciously similar to the forearm of the stone giant above.
Upon the floor lay various, old scrap of papers, desks and chairs littered the floor alongside them. Tubes and what could possibly only be described as wires hung from the ceiling. What exactly was this place? Some sort of workshop?
“I do not recall saying we were working together. Merely that you could follow me so long as you do not get in my way. You are an unknown. Unknowns are best dealt with by death or curiosity in missions like mine. Whatever it is with that book of yours...you need to find yourself-”
He paused, pulling up his bow. A low gurgle from the left of the room.
“And that I will not be babysitting you if you get attacked by those pitiable cursed ones.”
He quickly knocked an arrow, barely even looking in that direction before pivoting, the projectile was loosed, planting itself firmly in the skull of a nearby creature. It stumbled backwards, falling onto its back with a growl. Several more seemed to have heard their entrance and had seemed to have woken from whatever stupor or slumber they were in.
Swiftly, Leannah made to climb the colossus. She leaped from one of its feet to the other as the one she was on slammed into the earthen wall it had made. The impact shattered the stone wall, breaking it and causing most of it to crumble to pieces, sending a pretty large chunk flying north and wedging itself between the cliff and the wall of the building.
This, also in turn, made Narkissa’s climb much easier. The stone wall was destroyed to a fraction of the size it had been. In fact, if Leannah wanted to she could likely disengage and flee alongside the rest of them. The book she was carrying and the sword in her hand dropped over the edge, the book conveniently boinking Malphas right in the face as it fell.
Leannah however, would find climbing to be doable, but extremely difficult. As she grabbed onto the other foot, she’d find one of her hands missing its mark and causing her to slip, wasting precious seconds while the giant was recoiling from the kick and recollecting itself.
Leannah would leap upwards, body feeling incredibly light despite the mild exhaustion. However, the giant reached down with an empty hand mid as she made a climb, intent on grabbing the feline.
@PaulHaynek The Traveler Nick dashed back up the stairs, intent on leaving that foul place behind, the only encouragement he had was Don’s last words. Was it a good idea? Only time would tell, in the end. For now he had other problems to worry about, it seemed. He’d only have a fraction of a second to react as something seemed to spike in his danger sense. His gut was telling him something was at the top of the stairs that would pose an immediate threat to his life.
Once he would arrive at the top of the staircase, he’d note all the creatures that had been slumbering before had woken, but he’d have mere seconds to come to terms with the creatures between him and his exit destination as one swung a sharp, plant like blade right at his neck.
She could feel the sense of mild exhaustion, and yet the odd feeling of her body being so light made her attempts to climb that much easier for her in turn. However, she could see the shadow of something reaching down towards her. Or at least noticed those body movement from where she was watching. Her body would react in turn, pushing herself as hard as possible off and away to the side as she tried to make use of this lighter feeling in regards to her body to really disengage and move to freedom. Her mind was clear and focused, exerting all she had left physically to just get away and flee this thing and focusing her attempts to use magic into one last almighty effort.
She dug in deep, as deep as she could into what 'potential' for magic she could tell she had at the very same time as she tried to push herself off and away with her own body, trying to exert something like a very powerful 'shove' or almighty jet of air to propel her away from the Guardian and even more quickly moving/flying away from it's grip in the direction of freedom. It was her first attempt to directly do something with this magic that wasn't pushing her body even further beyond, and she was putting all she could scrape up into it with all her force of will and being. Wouldn't be a good thing if she got grabbed by this thing, and whilst her angle of escape was out of its direction of trying to grasp her she was taking zero chances of being caught...or at least as close to zero as she could manage. This thing had at least made he a nice exit area in the process of smashing that stone wall. So her work was done at this point.
All she had to do was disengage and make a break for it! Just a bit more!
Nick climbed the staircase back up as fast as he could, his danger senses spiking. No reason to stop now, each step he took got him closer to the courtyard and to safety and far, far away from this black, gooey tar whose appearance should've clued in that it was something that shouldn't be messed with.
Once he reached the top, the dread was overwhelming him now. The hallway they were in earlier that was filled with those tar-covered corpses were beginning to stir. They rose up as thralls of the black tar, not that they weren't harmless to begin with. Nick only had that sword from earlier during the fight where Donovan appeared. He did not even know how to use that sword, only that the pointy end goes to the bad guys.
The tar-covered wretched experiment approached, on his arm was a sharp, plant-like blade that it swung at Nick. It was aimed at his neck but Nick quickly crouched down to evade, more on frightened reflex than any sort of fighting skill. Adrenaline rushed through his body as he tried to fight back, swinging his sword wildly at the creature. At the very least, the attack would throw it off him.
There was a lot of them between him and the exit, but he cannot fight all of them nor let himself get pinned down. The options were few and time was running out, it was now or never. If he managed to kill or beat back the first attacker, Nick would attempt to dash straight through the creatures and push them away if he needed to. He hoped these things would be slow like the others, which would make them easier to dodge and weave through.
Novak could feel his goddess-given ability working. His eyes caught every detail of Nobunaga's movement as she attacked the beast, and a feeling of comprehension and muscle memory from her movements began filling the vacated spaces of his mind. To have such understanding wash over him was a strange but enlightening sensation, and almost immediately Novak found himself almost unconsciously swinging his own sword in perfect imitation of Nobunaga's strike. His attention was so focused that he didn't hear anything that Lazhira was saying; hopefully it wasn't anything too important.
So this is how it feels. This is how it works. There was the small complication that Nobbu's strike had been done with a different type of sword. Fortunately his sword, with its straight, double-edged blade, seemed to be more suitable for the sort of thrusting attack that he had observed.
There was no time to revel in his first successful use of his power, however, because the Kyrnith was still rampaging. It had struck Nobunaga with one of its front legs, knocking her away and turning its ill intentions towards her. Without thinking, and most likely quite overconfident, Novak dashed past the hunters to his companion's side, standing just out of the path of its charge (he may not have seen it happen yet, but he knew that getting trampled would ruin his day very quickly). Replicating Nobunaga's strike, he thrust his arming sword at the charging beast's throat beneath its snout. An injury to its underside might not have stopped it, but perhaps a blow to its throat would change its mind.
Once his blow connected, Novak would need to withdraw out of range of the beast's front legs and jaws, lest he end up like Nobunaga, or worse, whatever poor soul that the Kyrnith had just finished devouring.
"To the north, a canyon... To the south, a mountain... Okay, then I suppose that there are some natural barriers in place that might help us out if we set up base here..." the foxgirl mumbled to herself quietly as she listened to Lazirha's half-explanation before shrugging and returning the comments with a weak smile. Talking her way out of this by means of half-truths seemed to be getting less possible as things continued on, which only served to feed the small seed of worry that had nestled itself in the back of Misaki's mind. But given how the rest of the people she was traveling with were, it did honestly seem like concealing information would be the only viable way of sidestepping any of the big issues at hand.
More interesting than the possibility of getting outed, though, was the idea that the 'Kyrnith' was simply rampaging about. Lazirha's own comment about the creature with respect to her tail (however poorly concealed that was) also made it clear that the two shared some sort of connection. Prying into it and stopping the sporadic attacks upon the village obviously seemed like enough of a basic plan of action to be debated upon later, but that could likely be handled after they weren't being stared at by the residents of the village.
Or, well, handling the attack of a rampaging beast, but that was something else entirely.
As much as she wanted to help in the battle in front of her, Misaki herself was less than incapable of actually accomplishing anything—or maybe it was the fear of messing something up and making the situation worse than it already seemed that caused her to simply remain a bystander. In the end, being protected in a situation like this gave her a bit more time to think, at least, but the way that the beast seemed to be fighting back made it seem like that much would take a bit of work.
Seeing Novak jump into the fray only seemed to rub salt in the wound, though; if she was going to help out at all here, there had to be something she could do that didn't necessarily involve throwing herself into the fray... Or, at the very least, being able to afford help without necessarily being relegated to the role of 'useless baggage (carrier)'.
"Hm... Well, in that case," she began, lowering her voice so that only Lazirha could hear, "once this has all blown over, I'd like to hear a bit more about the situation. Killing a rampaging beast without knowing the cause might only delay the arrival of a new problem, so if we could look into things, maybe..."
Trailing off as she spoke, Misaki made sure to let the young woman's mind fill in the blanks for what they might accomplish. Of course, she'd have to get the other two on board for an investigation, but as far as she knew, that didn't seem wholly impossible...
Despite it being the worst possible place to doze off at, Malphas decided to do just that. As he slowly lifted himself from reality and into the dreamscape, he saw images of the kingdom he has been promised, the followers he has been guaranteed, and the heavenly visage he has already been bestowed. There were many paths Malphas had began to think of to reach this fully realized dream, however. Perhaps the time he spent waiting for the others was a waste, and he could start it out on his own? Or perhaps the company is welcome in the strange lands?
Who cares? Time to nap!
It was a shame that such a nice rest had to end. Getting struck in the head by a book would have been quite the rude awakening had Malphas dozed off. Instead, he was awake enough to react with an audible "ow!" before examining what has befallen on him. Taking a glance at the book's title as well as a skin of some of its context had answered Malphas's questions, realizing that what he has in his hand is more than what he needs to start his kingdom!
"Thank you, O Goddess! Statues of your feet will grace the halls of my kingdom forevermore!" Malphas proclaimed, kissing the book as he hopped right back up. He was oblivious to the true bearer of this book, much less the sword that might have fallen right next to him. Instead, Malphas cradled the book like a child as he marches forth towards the direction of the mountains.
There was no time to fully avoid the blow, but there was time to use her arms and blade as a barrier, using the hilt of her sword rather then the edge to help further dull the blow. Certainly, the impact of the beast's forelimb hurt, the feeling reverberating through her entire small body, but it was the difference between bruised and sore arms and potentially cracked ribs.
She landed some meters away, as the creature turned directly to face her. Novak had suddenly jumped into the fray as well, making a rather spirited attack on the creature's neck that looked quite familiar, if inappropriate for the type of sword he was using...
The Kyrinth had not slowed even from a deep wound to a vulnerable spot. Perhaps she had missed its heart, but most animals would become quite a bit more concerned about self-preservation after becoming so injured. And yet it had already begun to charge her.
This was no ordinary aggression. This was not an animal intending to feed or to defend itself. Was it infected with some kind of rage-causing disease?
Or was there something else at work?
Whatever the case may be, Nobunaga considered it quite possible that an analysis of the creature's corpse had a chance of revealing the truth.
As Novak attacked its neck, Nobunaga broke to the opposite side of the monster, shifting her grip on her katana as she did. Her aim now was a simple one: If she could lodge her weapon beneath the scales once more, she would drag her sword through the creature in a bid to open its flank and spill as much blood as possible. The bloodloss, and possible disembowelment, would do the rest.
He was right, and he took no pleasure in being right either.
These creatures, no longer merely wretched organisms twisted by inhuman experiments alone, lumbered towards them, Augusta’s light affording the group a clear look at their dismal appearance. Consumed by aspects of vegetation, from thorns to roots, they were armed from head to toe, most likely possessed by the same sort of suicidal madness that the creatures aboveground were. Against methheads, Isidore had always preferred the comfort of a well-maintained handgun, but dancing in the dark, he’d have to make do with just a sword.
One charged at him with swiftness surpassing any other, and he released his hold on Octavia’s chain, allowing the pup to do as she saw fit. He coiled his legs, timed its speed, cleared his mind, and sprung into action. The ancient sword flashed out as Isidore surged forwards, striking the creature’s thorn-studded arm. If it cut through cleanly, he would reverse his grip and ram the sword into the creature’s face next, hopefully killing it instantly.
Isidore released Octavia, allowing the pup to do as she wished. He focused entirely on the creature in front of him. The creature hissed, black blood spilling from the cut as the blade only made it halfway into its target, its skin almost acting as a sort of natural armor almost. The creature followed up with its own blade, slicing into Isidore's shoulder.
Yet, Isidore felt no pain. Only a mild discomfort as the color of his skin around the wound turned black, stopping the blade from cutting more than a few centimeters into its target.
One hour left, starting from now.
With the momentum of his sword stopped, there was no longer any way for Isidore to cleave through it, so he sliced it out instead, black blood flicking off the freed sword. His left arm, covered in links of chain, swung out to bludgeon the monster’s own uninjured arm away, rusted metal cracking against wood and thorn to clear up a path. If his body had adapted to the attacks of this creature, then fine.
Right foot stomping onto the monster’s own foot to prevent escape, the dark-haired youth with the shining eyes thrust his sword towards the monster’s chest, right below where the solar plexus of a human was, and drew in a sharp breath of the cloying, salty stench as he forced his energies into the length of the blade.
When he had first stabbed someone, their blood ran hot on his hands. As hot as fire.
“Burn.”
And in that instant, he colored the blue of his soul with the red of anger, fear, and hunger, wishing to immolate this ugly beast from inside out.
The creature seemed utterly helpless against Isidore's brutal assault. It attempted to entangle his arm with its, but it proved useless as Isidore's foot slammed onto its. The creature hissed, growling in pain as its foot was crushed beneath Isidore's weight, but before it could react ancient steel pierced the rotten flesh.
A moment of perhaps, poetic silence followed.
A horrible shriek ended it, as Isidore's fury turned his blade red hot, flames burning along the blade for only a moment. The monstrosity's body jerked, the sickeningly salty sweet air was tinged with that of burning flesh and foliage as its body lit up form the inside, burning alive, inside out as it weekly lashed out at Isidore, until all at once it ceased, slowly burning to ash.
Don gritted his teeth as adrenaline surged through his veins, and fury burned in his heart. Whatever these monstrosities were, they used to be human-- or something close to human. If this mass of tar and vines made it past the guardian and escaped… There was no telling what might happen. "Augusta! Take care o' tha one in th' back-- aye got this un!"
Don brought his shield to bear as he moved to intercept the creature charging at the elven woman. How hardy these creatures were had yet to be seen, and if these things propagated like he suspected; through some sort of parasitic invasion, now was the wrong time to risk not killing them in a single strike. Even if he'd had his doubts initially, it was clear to Donovan that the strange star-serpent symbol was more than just a logo. It didn't just exist as a representation of whatever organization had once controlled this ruin, it was a symbol that invoked power. What kind of power; Don had no idea, but it was clearly something that directly opposed the hellish garden that sought escape from its prison.
The symbol of his star-serpent emblem at the forefront of his mind's eye, Donovan poured magical energies into his shield as he rushed the oncoming creature. The moment his shield would slam into the mutant, is the moment Don would drive the gathered power out, intent on blasting this abomination off the side of the walkway and into the abyss below.
Deciding to put his faith in this emblem he found. Curious, how was he so certain that the emblem held any divine power? Augusta had said it was enchanted, but divine? Or was it because of the similar markings on the door leading to this place? Either way, he would soon find the fruits of such an action.
He gathered the power in his shield, using the image of the emblem as a catalyst for channeling it. The creature didn't seem to react as it was intercepted, likely not caring so long as it had a target. Its swiftness however, would be its downfall. It slammed into Donovan's shield, hard enough to cause his muscles to strain from the impact.
The power released.
For a moment Donovan swore he heard the ticking of a clock as time seemed to slow for just a fraction of a second for him. Was it adrenaline? Or something else? He could see it clearly – a wave of almost invisible energy slamming into the creature before knocking it cleanly towards the edge of the walkway, and careening towards the edge...only to have a large root grow from under the walkway, curving upwards and stopping the creature before it could fall over the edge.
It jerked back to its feet, not seeming too injured...but it didn’t move towards Donovan. It seemed...cautious?
Don paused for half a moment, his eyes wide as he marveled at what he'd just witnessed. Had focusing on the symbol altered time itself? If such a thing was true-- that had to mean he'd just tapped into something of likely divine power. As much as he wanted to explore the possibilities this discovery opened up, there was still an impending threat that needed to be taken care of.
The man's eyes narrowed at the thrall, taking note of its ability to somehow call upon the already existing vines to aid it. From its tattered remains of clothing, and less sickly appearance; this had to have been a normal human when it was enthralled, unlike the malformed creatures the group had encountered higher up in the prison. Its seemingly cautious attitude didnt escape Don's notice either. If it could act cautiously, that meant it could still think. If it could think, it could plan. "Sly little bastard, ain't ya?"
If the size of the vine was anything to go off of, there were likely far more at the edge of the walkway, and the thrall was probably trying to bait him into their reach. He needed to finish this thing off from range, and Don knew just the thing to do it with.
"At th' beginnin' uh time-" Don began as the power within him began to stir once more, "-there was only tha void." Reaching up, he yanked his emerald broach free from his neck, before pulling the star-serpent emblem from his pocket. "And from within tha void-" Donavan calmly bound the emblem to the handle of his weapon with the thin cordage of his broach, "-all uh realiteh burst forth." Don readied a swing of his warhammer, the strange magical power within him ramping intensity with every syllable that left his lips. "Heat, gas, and dust gathered in its wake- " power surged forth; focused through the emblem and hammer as Donovan swang in a wide arc, "AN THA' STARS WERE BORN!"
Perhaps he was messing with something he would be better off not knowing. After all, who was to say this divinity, if it was that, was even benevolent or sympathetic. Perhaps though, he hadn't much of a choice were he to leave here unscathed. The same power he felt before began gathering in the hammer, pulling as much as he could from the Emblem and began chanting.
The creature however, much as Donovan surmised seemed to know he was doing something. Before even the second verse left his lips it began charging towards him, intent to try and silence him before he could finish his incantation. Donovan would barely have a moment to register the head of his hammer lighting up, bright as the stars he had just invoked. The creature leaped...and had its body slammed right into Donovan's hammer.
There was a flash of light, the sound of what seemed to be the sound of perhaps a loud gong. The creature was knocked backwards, a sickening crack heard as whatever bones in its body were broken from the impact. As it hit the ground, it did not move. Noticeably, the foliage on the creature's body began to shrivel and wither, the flower that had replaced its head rapidly seeming to die.
Augusta’s heart was racing some as the creature launched itself at her. Being able to fully see the creature’s features was something else to be sure. They seemed rather normal. Or, some did at least. She was glad when Donovan intercepted it and told her to take care of another one. “Fine. If you insist~ These things are called ‘Garden Thralls’. Similar Physical Strength, burns easily.” The Elven woman mentioned before stepping back to take aim at the one Donovan had asked her to handle.
Well. She had inflicted a Magic Missile. Created a Mage Light. Maybe that means she could do a bit more. These things were easily burnable right? Perhaps she could make a firebolt. She nodded to herself and took aim. She focused the magic in her hand like she did for the magic missile. But to make it fire… Make it hot? High heat. Basically feeds on oxygen… Something of the sort? Heat is just energy right? That’s what she learned in her schooling at least. So… Put a high amount of magical energy into a small area and maybe that would work? She fired what she thought was the proper calculation (a huge guess) and fired it at the monstrosity in her sights.
At the same time, Augusta channeled her magic, drawing on some earth principles to help speed the process along. Fire was hot, right? And in physics, the more energy something had, the hotter it became. In theory, perhaps that would apply here as well. She drew upon more energy, focusing it briefly in her hand and – a small fireball flickered into existence, sailing towards the same creature in the back.
The fireball slammed into it before it could get whatever was building up in its head out. It shrieked, a loud, painful wail as the flower on its head burned to ash. The creature in question started burning, small embers falling onto the grass below it, setting its sight on Augusta. In a pained frenzy, waving its arms and blades erratically it began charging towards the elf, only to be intercepted by Octavia. She once again latched onto the creatures ankle, pulling its feet completely out from under it.
“Good girl, Octavia.” Augusta mentioned as she smirked and aimed her hand at the Garden Thrall’s head. This time, she blasted a Magic Missile at the thing’s head, hoping that would end it. She wondered to herself, though. The goddess note mentioned something about “questionable intelligence” so perhaps… There was some. Or perhaps it was the garden. “You guys, know what? Perhaps we should burn this whole garden down if they’re as easily flammable as this flower on this Thrall’s head.” She mentioned aloud to her comrades as she started to ignite a fire in her hand and tossing it on the same thrall.
The bolt slammed into the thrall, the creature thrashed only a few more moments before falling lifeless.
By now though, the commotion seemed to have attracted other thralls that had been inside the garden. Isidore could see them easily, shambling their way over to their location. It was quite likely once they had spotted the group, they would swarm like these three had.
The pup, however, did not seem bothered and merely continued trotting towards the flower. The massive flower in the back seemed to sway in an unfelt breeze.
Isidore stepped away from the fuming corpse, black blood sizzling still on the flat of his sword. As the rush of adrenaline faded, he began to feel that dull ache on his shoulder. Less pain than he’d have expected from such a cut, but perhaps that too was a sign of a different body than what he once had. The others too, had finished their tasks, though their work was about as loud as can be expected. His gaze briefly fell upon Donovan’s hammer, the celestial light just about faded from its head, before turning upon the garden. This attack would not go unanswered; it was time to continue.
“They’ve heard us, but not seen us,” Isidore said, his tone as measured as always. “Let’s continue. Quickly and quietly. Donovan, cover the back. Augusta, stay center.”
He continued down the pathway again at a clipped pace. The great flower beckoned, and now that fire was something that could be made manifest from one’s soul, Isidore was feeling...diplomatic.
Augusta wanted to protest them leaving, but the small horde of thralls kept her lips sealed. If they were “black-blooded” like her eyes told her… Then they and Octavia were related. The hellhound would likely be safe enough though Augusta was loath to leave in this manner. Perhaps she should just try burning all these thralls, but the time was past with Isidore making his way out. She followed behind Isidore, not wanting to have to fight more of those by herself.
The path forwards led around the garden and towards the beautiful yet baleful flower. As they neared it, its giant roots retreated, lifting from the ground and coiling into an archway. An open door. An invitation into the garden's heart. The flower loomed above, the remnants of a stone walkway beneath overgrown with the gardens grass. The sweet smell was strongest, and the purest here. Intoxicating, almost, as was the beauty of the flower itself.
A pool of black tar collected in the center of the small courtyard area, the source of this garden in all likelihood. Tar slowly dripped down the plants stalk from its unbloomed flower. A large slab of stone had impaled it through its stalk, from the ceiling to the ground below, ensuring it was unable to move easily. Another flower bulb closed tight was situated at the base of the slab, leaking more of that blackened tar into the pool in large quantity. Octavia moved towards it, pawing and attempting biting it.
A quick look into the garden, would show the thralls slowly converging on the spot they had previously been, but having apparently taken note of their fallen allies, perhaps, they had started to spread out, some heading towards their position.
Classification: ---------- Nursery Physical Attributes: Stronger than you Magic Attributes: N/A Weakness: Fire Divine purification Abilities: Incubator Able to birth countless demons to defend itself. Special attributes: Grave garden An ancient being was executed and their body interred here. A garden foul garden sprang from their corpse. Shackled. Ancient seals keep the garden from spreading too far above. Yet its roots seem to extend down nearly infinitely even into the depths of the ocean. What would first appear to be a flower to the untrained or uneducated, is in fact a sentient, living plant like demon. Within its body and roots flows thick tar which it spreads in an area to take root, thus making a 'garden' where it proliferates and births demons like itself. An incubator that grows, breeds, and revives demons of its family. Limited intelligence. Usually docile and inactive except in cases of self-defense where it will call thralls to aid it.
“This garden is a bit of an inconvenience.” Augusta mentioned, looking at the information her eye gave about it. “Bright side is, even if we left it be, it shouldn’t prove a threat outside this chamber.” The elven woman mentioned aloud. “A demon of limited intelligence, it says. Shackled and it’s roots dig deep. It’s probably not leaving here. For now, at least.” Augusta mentioned, looking over the plant-like demon. If it were sealed here, either it was to keep it from harming things or it was for an experiment. Considering the rest of this place so far it was hard to tell. It seemed like it’d be easy to off, though if the roots were as deep as the text implied it might be rather difficult.
“Hrm.” Not a plant then, but a parasite, one that drew in the wretched creatures to take control of them. Isidore’s eyes slide towards Octavia, who had so early rushed into the courtyard of the demon-plant to gnaw at the flower bud. One similar to the tar-plant that had birthed her.
Interesting.
Furrowing his brow against the sticky-sweetness of the flower, Isidore strode through the archway and into the courtyard. Whether Octavia had been bait to lead them into such a trap as this was irrelevant; if the flower was just here to kill them, there was much more that it could have done before they got this close. And if it thought to change them...well, he wasn’t human to begin with, and he wasn’t supposed to be alive either. In a world such as this, with a sunless sky and abominations dwelling beneath the Earth, with a body many times improved from his past life, he would live as he wished, claiming what he required.
“Donovan, I won’t die before the hour ends. Protect Augusta.” Isidore turned his gaze upwards, to that beautiful, yet baleful flower dripping black tar from above. The stench reminded him of those Amazonian plants, sating carnivorous appetites by drawing in flies with the smell of rotting fruit.“Now, let’s talk.”
Alice Sicilly : Skull-faced Friend!
