My name is Illyana Rasputina, but these days, I go by Magik. I'm the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo. I should be there now. But I'm not.
Ananym brings you to
my library, Carolina. I have read every book on its many shelves at least a thousand times. There is not much to do in Limbo as a child that does not involve pain, so I read. You might be trapped here long enough to read them all too. Ananym looks up at you, adoration in her eyes. "You're in my library," Ananym says.
"Well, it used to my by dad's, until he got, like, exiled an' stuff - and then it was Magik's, buuuut she's not here right now and I kinda took over, so it's mine now. Do you still like art? I can get you paints, whatever you want," Ananym chirps. She avoids answering your other question, as to why you were brought here.
But I think that you know why, Carolina.
You know why it had to be you.
Runa the Grey
Location: Limbo
Skills: N/A
Spells: Elder Futhark Runes, Kosmisk Ild
There was no time for Runa to answer little Klara's questions. They would have to wait until after this battle was won. Already, one of their number had departed. Runa had long since mourned the deaths of everyone they knew and cared for, so the familiar pangs of grief brought with them a sense of exhaustion and stillness. There were only so many tears that could be shed in one life, especially as she had no eyes.
They could feel the rush of flames, as Madalyne summoned fire to burn S'ym in vengeance. They heard the agony of those demons as they cried out, reduced to nothingness by Max's spell. She heard Jack's scream, beckoning for their party to focus on decapitation as a method to kill the demons. In Runa's experience, that tended to work on most creatures.
She could feel the infernal energies of remaining demons though, so Runa rose to her feet, pulling a rune from her bag -
algiz. She whispered the rune's name and it glowed. To those with sight, the image of the rune would appear above all of their heads, pulsing with a faint pink glow. It was a protection spell, of course. In some ways, they were honoring Ed already. He had always loved a shield spell, she recalled.
They then went with a more intricate work, the art of Kosmisk Ild. She clasped her hands together and pulled them apart about shoulder width. She could feel the heat of the flames dancing between her fingertips, strangely flowing like taffy. And then, using those demonic energies as targets, Runa snapped her fingers. The flames flew out, connecting with a good portion of Ananym's forces remaining, their heads bursting into flames.
Runa smiled ever so slightly, hearing the demons' screams.
They were not dead yet, of course - just weakened. And none were as weak as S'ym, who had been thoroughly burned by Mads, and now looked at Max. He would never show fear, but he was afraid in that moment. And so, like the cowardly thing he was, S'ym ran - he burst through the doors to the throne room, attempting to flee the palace.
Prudence's enchanted beau was a skilled fighter, doing his best to destroy his demonic kin. He managed to rip an arm or two off of one of them, and then found himself embroiled in combat with another. No real victories were scored, but at the same time, those demons were then fighting amongst themselves and not a threat to the others.
Annika, in her form as the baby bear clinging to the ankle, would be roughly kicked by one of the demons - enough to hurt and bruise, but no serious injuries.
Klara, after her adorable attack, ended up attracting the attention of a particularly vicious demon, with a sword for a hand. He snuck up behind her and ran her through, somehow missing any important organs, but still,
ouch. Fortunately for her, her lack of soul meant she would feel no pain.
Prudence would end up getting hit in the head with a brick one of the demons had thrown, before ducking down behind the table to hide itself from her. Where had it found a brick to throw? No one knew. But strangely, while she was bleeding from the impact sight, she wasn't unconscious or anything of the sorts - as if her new form was much more durable than the old one.
Max, as he stared down S'ym to put the fear of god in him, similarly would miss an attack from behind. A demon jumped onto him, and bit his throat, yanking their head back in an attempt to, well, rip his throat out. Max would be bleeding profusely, but alive - for now.
Lastly, Runa - for all of her subtle confidence and assuredness - could not intuit
everything. She didn't sense a demon approach her with a whip. She didn't feel the whip pierce the air until it was too late, and it had wrapped itself around their throat, choking her to death. She gasped and struggled, reaching with her hands to grab it and try to pull it off, and she managed some relief, but not enough as she was blindly dragged backwards.
