[IC] The Soil of a Man's Heart (Edrik Pedrone Vs. Shashous-Throth)

[ShidenBlades]

It wasn't all love potions and phenomenal cosmic power. Actually, it was rarely love potions and never phenomenal cosmic power. Love is impossible to duplicate correctly and there's always someone stronger. Or, how does the saying go? There's always a bigger fish.

Edrik Pedrone was your ordinary looking man, of a sort. He wasn't too tall, but taller than average and while he looked thin it was due to his lean muscles, or so he'd have you believe. He was a naturally lanky looking man that looked to be in his mid thirties with hair slicked back and greased as if it belonged to an era past. His eyes were the color of money and carried a look that was reserved for CEO's and politicians. He knew he was better than you, but there was no need to say it.

The Wizard, for that was precisely was Edrik was, came from a long line of money and in his centuries of life he had continued to mass it in no small quantity. It showed by the way he dressed, even when skulking about after hours in a grave-yard it was clear that he did not belong.

He wore an expensive suit with the shoes to match, all black. Even the cane he used for walking, carried in his left hand, was black with gold filigree. Of course none of that was visible right now, no, Edrik wouldn't be caught dead walking into a cemetery. The only cause for someone to think someone was prowling around was due to the open gate and foot prints that he left behind.

Skilled in magics as he was Edrik had decided that it was prudent to travel using The Ways to get as close as he could to this place and then wrap himself in a veil of invisibility for the short trek. At the moment he walked across the grass, a fog laying close to the ground to add to the eeriness of the grave-yard.

It wouldn't be until he was well out of sight from the main road that he let his veil drop. Edrik adjusted his suit jacket and peered about the immediate area.

“Yes, this will do nicely.” His voice was somewhat nasally, but cold and distant. Around him were not just simple graves, but crypts from long ago. Ornate pieces at one time he was sure, but now time had stolen away their beauty and they were left, forgotten by the current era.

Edrik paused at one such crypt, a large and beautiful thing that looked like it once depicted angels. But the carving was mostly faded, spray paint marked one side and the sculptures that once stood guard had been blasted away by the elements. All things seemed to fade in time he lamented, taking time to pay his respects, head bowed in silence.

[Doc Doctor]

The silence would not be complete. To the sharp ear, a faint noise could be heard. A barely audible sloshing, and occasionally a dull crack. Some sort of animal native to the nearby forest? The damn raccoons always ventured out into the city from here. It seemed to be coming from behind another crypt to the right of the one Edrik was honoring. Yet...

*Whatever it was shifted. Something larger than a raccoon. Or a dog.*

[ShidenBlades]

The silence had been absolute, the sort of silence one might expect where the dead rest. It was in this silence, with his head bowed in respect that Edrik heard something. It was a foreign sound, displaced from a grave-yard. Edrik’s head snapped up and in the direction of the sound, to a crypt on the right.

Those green eyes narrowed as he focused his attention solely in that area. It could be anything he told himself, and he was hesitant to call forth magic simply because he had been caught unaware by something. Taking his cane in his right hand he pulled back the sleeve jacket on his left hand so that a leather bracer was visible, though barely in this darkness.

“Hello?” He called out in a casual conversational voice. There was no need to let anyone know he had been startled and caught unaware. “Show yourself.” He demanded, eyes scanning the darkness for any signs of movement. It was likely a raccoon or some other animal he thought, scavenging around. Yet…

The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he took a step closer to the crypt, something didn’t feel right.

[Doc Doctor]

Whatever it was shifted again. A brief silence. The soggy crunching and smacking began once more. If animal it was, it sure didn't seem to mind the ranger too much. The whispy clouds above finished passing over the crescent moon. It was a rotten yellow this evening.

Fear is a creation purely of the mind. Take a common doorway. It means nothing until you suspect that what lies behind it isn't what you thought it was. That's when everything is transfigured. The dark side of the world often lies just around the corner, but few truly consider plunging into it in earnest. A normal man may, for the briefest of moments, ponder what it would mean to take a life. Then he sees the horrified faces of his family. The shame, the disbelief. Guilty black blood on the hands. A cell with an exposed toilet and a stiff little cot to sleep on. All the anxieties of what is and what is to come. Never again would normality be his.

A woman in her early 60's who has just been diagnosed with cancer.
A father enters the room of his infant son. The body is face down, skin blue.

There had been a change in the air. The slight sounds behind the crypt might have been anything, but it is often said not to mistake a horse for a zebra. Sanity would claim it was nothing. Move along. Stay in the light. Don't go any further. It's only a little bump you felt, no need to see a doctor. Roll him over, give him a pat. He's only sleeping. Madness knew it was already too late. Edrik's scent belonged now to the thing that haunted the line separating the white from the black.

*Venture out into the secret places.*

*Don't look too long, don't think too hard.*

*.....*

The wind picked up. It was chilly.

[ShidenBlades]

Something was off, a wrongness saturated the grave-yard. Edrik was no stranger to things that went bump in the night and had a fair share of run-ins with supernatural creatures. He had faced what his people called Black Court Vampires dozens of times, he knew they favored places like this. Could one be out there right now?

The only answer to his question and demand was the strange crunching and smacking sound, like something wet on gravel. One didn’t make it long as a Wizard without taking certain precautions and so Edrik reached into his coat pocket with his left hand and withdrew out his .38. There was a chance that whatever was out there wasn’t an animal, but it could also be a thrall and he wouldn’t attack with his magic until he knew for sure.

Slowly Edrik walked toward the direction of the sound, though he stepped sideways to his right in an arch. The last thing he needed to do was suddenly round a corner and get shot or worse.

[Doc Doctor]

If Edrik came upon what was behind the crypt, he would see it. There was very little light, but rudimentary shapes and features were visible. It was gorging itself on the body of what might have been a woman, but it was difficult to tell. The only indicator of gender was a wet scalp that had been peeled from the skull, long black hair untouched by blood and still shining with vibrancy splayed upon the ground.

Something huge and glistening had its head half buried in the body. Its pointy, crinkle cut ears were stiffly raised as it jerked something red and soppy out from the body with a hog-like grunt. Red tendrils of dirt flecked saliva swung from its maw. The juicy black globes that were its eyes shone dully in the fading white moonlight. They were stupid and almost empty, yet at the same time gleamed with the faint spark of an old and malignant intelligence. One that seemed to know already the past and future with a lazy disinterest, along with the deepest secrets of the human heart.

It was no paltry entity that had to rely on magicks to induce fright. No humanoid being of blackness that boasted of his might by plunging those nearby into false states of terror with the wave of a hand. The intimate daemon that lurked and glided through the nethers of human anxiety, whom the ancients called Salmu Pulhu, could send waves of cold gooseflesh up and down trembling backs without the assistance of supernatural power. The sight of it had on occasion even turned men's hair white.

It could have been entirely silent, but it had purposefully given its presence away. Easy prey fled when it revealed itself, and it chased them down. They always stunk of piss. Strong prey stood its ground. Such would indicate a different approach was needed. The strong ones always smelled of piss when it took them too.

[ShidenBlades]

Closer and closer Edrik came to where the sound emanated from. He steeled himself, taking the final step around a corner raising his gun, his eyes falling on the indistinct shape of some hunched creature. Edrik didn’t need light to know what was going on, it was feeding, gorging itself on the remains of something. The smell assaulted his nostrils and they flared in distaste, yet, the Wizard did not recoil from the horrendous sight.

Was this some sort of Ghoul or deformed Black Court Vampire? He couldn’t say for sure. What he did know was that it wasn’t natural, and to him it was an evil that needed to be destroyed and if killed perhaps studied. Clenching his teeth together he focused his will, determination evident in the stiffness of his jaw and set of his eyebrows. He would not run from this fight despite the horror the creature represented.

Six shots. That’s what the revolver in his right hand had. It was hard to tell in the dark but Edrik guessed he was somewhere between twenty and twenty five feet away from the creature. It wasn’t the best lighting for shooting, but Edrik figured it was close enough to risk. With his hand already raised he squeezed the trigger twice in rapid succession, both bullets’ were aimed for center mass, dead center of the form. The second shoot would be slightly higher and to the left of the first, though that wasn’t intentional, Edrik simply wasn’t an expert marksmen.

The flash of the gun briefly lit the area as the weapon barked, the sound deafening and surprising Edrik slightly. It had been a little while since he had fired the weapon and he forget how powerful its kick was.

[Doc Doctor]

It had rarely encountered guns, as those that had met it infrequently bore the time nor disposition to shoot. But, it had encountered many similar long ranged attacks. Crossbows, bows, and the mystical energies of magicians it had all dealt with. Those ones always pointed at it before the pain came.

In response to seeing the strong one pointing at it now, the Magna Pater thrust up its left wing into the way. Three bleeding indentations were punched into the incredibly tough membrane, but only one round made it completely through with enough momentum to cause further damage. The slug buried itself in the monster's upper back, digging through a wad of thick, doughy muscle and nearly reaching the lung. Powerful bullets. Even with the wing being stronger than most forms of body armor, it was a bad idea to approach head on. A direct hit would be dangerous.

It took another great bite out of the body from behind the shelter of its wing before retreating backwards around the side of the crypt, slipping into the darkness like a foul breath. As it left, the bullet seemed to pop out of the wound, which was quickly being stitched together by threads of skin and blood. It had stayed by the corpse for a reason, in case the strong one had been able to inflict harm.
Once out of sight, it stopped on the other side. Its smell was like that of necrotic meat and cold sweat, but what good was a predator that gave away its position so easily? Scent muffling toxic mucous began slowly glazing its body.

It began making strange, otherworldly groans, like if a pig or wolf were moaning into some sort of distorted tunnel, at the same time clawing at the ground as if it were in the throes of death. Often in the realm of fantasy were smarts trampled beneath power. This creature, however, knew that no greater power existed than that of wisdom. None of the bullets had been left on the ground. It had collected them all, to make it seem as if they had gone right through the seemingly fragile wing. It was not at all uncommon for a mortally wounded animal to flee to some place out of sight before dying. It would wait to see if Edrik drew near, going silent if he got to within several meters.

The possibility existed that he could just walk around in a wide circle to get a safe view. If it detected such a thing with its sonar, it would cease the act and circle around the crypt itself, to stay out of sight in an attempt to fool the human into thinking it had fled somewhere else. If that occured, however, it would also leave a little trap where it had been. The bullets would be left there, along with a trail of slime wiped off on the wall of the crypt to try and fool the strong one into thinking it had crawled onto the roof. So many little clues and tricks. Falling for even one was death.

[ShidenBlades]

In the darkness of the night Edrik was at a severe disadvantage, he simply couldn’t see with enough detail to make out how effective the gun had been. Had he even hit or had the rounds gone flying off into the night? Such rounds wouldn’t stop most undead, which is what Edrik pegged this thing as until he had sufficient information to determine otherwise.

When the thing moved away, darting around the corner to get away, Edrik was tempted to run after it but knew such a thing would be foolish. He needed to be smart about this, attack on his terms. A well prepared Wizard was a hard thing to beat. So, bringing his left hand out in front of him he made his way forward, slowly and carefully.

As he stepped forward the creature began making some bizarre sounds. Was it wounded? Edrik hoped so? Or was it calling for aid? Edrik had never met a creature like this before and if it proved to be the later of the two he was confident that he could run away if he had too. Still, he moved forward slowly, towards the corpse the creature had been eating before Edrik interrupted it.

On the third step Edrik made a small effort of will and caused the pommel of his cane sword to glow blue. The light came to light with the soft hum of magic, not something that could be heard, but rather felt by those sensitive to such energies. The light stretched out against the darkness, casting back the shadows a good twenty feet out from Edrik.

Unless otherwise attacked or interrupted he would make his way to the corpse, he wanted to inspect its wounds and see if he could discern any more before deciding if he wanted to tangle with the unknown creature.

[Doc Doctor]

Whatever end the partially eaten human had met with, it had not been a quick or pleasant one. The face was no longer a face, though one could tell that the final moments had been painful. The jawbone was stretched wide in a screaming rictus, the eyes gouged out and a black hole left where the nose had been. The viscera had been pulled out and mostly eaten. The feet and hands were gone. Old news stories exist, detailing what chimpanzee victims look like. Those maulings are of the sort that even if the victim survived, they would have been better off dead. A chimpanzee had nothing on this. Edrik would have moved quite close to where the monster was hiding, as it had just gone around the corner. Was it still there? No, it had moved again. It was up above, on top of the crypt. It had at first only feigned going up there, but after sensing such an opportunity...

It leaned out almost directly above the wizard, an eldritch gargoyle illuminated from beneath by the blue glow of the sword. It had picked up one of the bullets before going there. Just in case the wizard had planned something or happened to look up, the Magna Pater would toss the bullet overhead so that it would land several yards away on the right. It knew that the distraction would probably make the strong one look away for only the briefest of moments, and so it was quick to follow up. The nightmare's freakishly long tail would dart down to coil about the man's left arm from behind. If the horror succeeded then it would proceed to haul its catch up off the ground with a sharp jerk, taking away his footing and bringing him in close. Its wet, glassy eyes rolled down into its skull. An eerie luminescence shone from what took their place. A new set of eyes, almost human and radiating a phantasmal hue of cerulean not contained fully within the mortal spectrum of sanity and comprehension. Even if the wizard didn't look directly into them, he'd be able to literally feel the creature's gaze crawling over his body. Staring directly in would be as if one's very essence, personal and private, were being fondled by ghoulish, fumbling claws.

[ShidenBlades]

The corpse was a mess, no longer discernible. It made Edrik sick to his stomach. He had used corpses on occasion, certain body parts were excellent for rituals. But he had never done or seen anything like this. It was like a train wreck and Edrik couldn’t look away, he knelt down to inspect it further.

That’s when a sound to the right drew his attention away. Had the creature circled around to catch him from behind? Then, without warning, Edrik was yanked off of his feet as a the creatures tail wrapped around the bicep of his left arm. Edrik was not a heavy man, nor was he particularly strong and he knew instantly that he couldn’t simply muscle his way out.

The initial surprise was replaced by fear and anger, two powerful emotions. Such emotions were fuel for the sort of magic that a Wizard used, they helped to shape and give power to whatever spell construct the wizard wished to bring to life. There wasn’t so much a need to gather power as there was to simply open the flood gates and give the magic form, a form that was aided and strengthened by the bracer he wore on his left wrist.

The bracer had been specially prepared and was in all actuality an item limited in what it could do. But what it did do it did very very well. The bracer helped only with water magic, specifically defensive minded spells. Edrik was also far more skilled with Water magic than he was the other elements, save earth, and the spell that he brought to mind was reflexive in nature, one that he had used hundreds of times in his life.

Looking up wasn’t something that could easily be done, as Edrik was being drawn up with his body at an angle. So he didn’t make eye contact with the beast, not that he would of anyways, looking into the eyes was a dangerous thing, especially for Wizards and it was a practice that Edrik avoided. That being said, his body visibly shivered when the creatures eyes ran across his body and he closed his own in defiance, and out of practicality of what was to come.

Everything happened so fast, being pulled into the air, raised up above where he had been standing. The glue blowing light of the creatures eyes dancing across his flesh and the ‘snap’ rushing sound that followed mere moments after.

Water, the magic of entropy and change, it was perhaps the most versatile of the elements. It could eroding, dissolve, disrupt, decay and various other things. Heck, a powerful enough jet of water could cut clean through steel with ease. Such was the power of the shield that sprang to life a couple inches from the leather band and parallel with Edriks arm. The shield itself was circular in nature and had a two foot radius, centered at Edriks wrist.

It was a high pressure circulating disc of water that could disintegrate bullets before they passed through, Edrik was hoping the high pressure shield would be enough to slice through whatever appendage was holding him and drop him back down to the earth where he could formulate a better plan and get into the open. If all else failed perhaps the shield would block the creatures sight enough to stop whatever it was doing and prevent arms or maw from attempting to eviscerate him.

[Doc Doctor]

The wizard's sharp thinking and creative use of water magic certainly came in handy. Before he had reached the ragged jaws of the monster, its tail would be severed clean in half. It had never seen magic used like this before.

One couldn't make a living killing humans for well over a thousand years without wiles to spare, however. There's an immense disadvantage to not looking at one's opponent. Edrik would be unable to see the horror's long right arm reaching down for the saving catch. He would be able to feel it though. A set of greasy, cold claws taking him by the back of the neck before he could tumble out of reach. Needless to say, to be grabbed at the neck by a creature whose strength and claws put the assets of a Siberian tiger to shame is no mere trifle.

By the time a secure grip was found, it would probably be upon the skinny, flesh stripped length of ridged bone that constituted Edrik's cervical vertebrae.

[ShidenBlades]

Edrik simply didn’t let his rote water spell fizzle away, he kept most of his focus on maintaining it. Some Wizards were capable enough to cast two and even three spells at a time, Edrik was not one of those wizards. He was the focused type, do one thing and do it right.

Having been lifted up by his bicep brought him up at an angle and extended his arm upwards and away from his body. He wasn’t strong enough to do a one handed pull-up. Luckily his rote had been at least somewhat successful because he felt the resistance of the creature’s tail, and then nothing as it gave way to the slicing power of Edriks magic.

Even as he began his fall he brought his left arm in close, so that his knuckles were up against his ear. Like a Spartan taking cover behind their shield, it was Edriks only defense. He knew that he needed to get away, get on even footing where he could unleash the full torrent of his magic, or if that failed, level a death curse that would surely take the both of them out.

The creature would find that the shield of water was in its way again, making it difficult if not impossible to reach around and still find purchase in the split second it would take for Edrik to fall out of reach. And fall he would, hitting down on his right foot first before stumbling to the side to regain his balance.

The shield of water would vanish only a few moments after he struck the ground, when his focus shifted from it to not face planting on the corpse that he stumbled over.

[Doc Doctor]

The ground around Edrik lit up with an otherworldy blush. It was being shone on from up above. The horror had leapt after him. Its tail had been its primary weapon and form of locomotion, and as such it was handicapped now, seeking to regenerate as quickly as possible. Was it aiming to pounce on Edrik's back? Did it expect him to try and roll out of the way? There would be little way of knowing...

[ShidenBlades]

Edrik certainly assumed that the creature was a predator, and was very conscious of the fact that it could be right behind him, ready to attack his exposed back. So, while he stumbled over the corpse that he had been lifted away from he stumbled towards an open patch of ground. As his left foot struck the ground he held onto that fear and channeled it into the tip of his cane sword, runes along its length began to glow with a deep blue and bright white.

He turned himself around as he fell, landing on his ass with his cane pointed in the direction he just came. He was prepared to launch another magic attack, nothing as brutal as the water shield. Rather, if the monster pursued it would likely find that gravity would be turned against it and like a telekinetic push and if stuck would find itself thrown back into the stone crypt it had just dropped from with enough force and strength to crack the crypt wall, though certainly not break it unless it was far more brittle than it appeared.

If not followed than no attack would be forthcoming, rather, Edrik would instead try and scramble to his feet and build his magical power, which would be evident by the brightness and strength of the magic focused on his cane implement, a focus too designed specifically for use with earth magic.

[Doc Doctor]

A damp thud sounded behind Edrik, and were he to turn he would find...

That it was eating its own severed tail, which was wriggling like that of a lizard's. It sucked the large appendage right down its wide mouth like a giant noodle, throat bulging grotesquely. A shiver ran through its body, like a jolt of electricity, and then it got better. Just like that. It had regrown what had been lost in a few seconds. A brand new tail slipped from the stump and slid across the ground, coiling like the body of a great serpent, tip lashing at the damp grass. Of course for the wizard to see this, he'd need to look towards the lurid, melancholic fog lamps that were the beast's eyes. Doing so wouldn't seem very harmful at first, aside from evoking a deep sense of violation. The Magna Pater knew already what would happen though. If he looked, it would flee into the woods, and there would be no chance in hell of him catching or finding it again. It was so quick, it was so quiet. Such victims would not likely meet with it again until the next time they laid themselves to bed. Then they always awakened somewhere else. Out on the sidewalk below a flickering lamppost, perhaps lost in the woods during the early, misty hours, or on some lonely country highway in the middle of the night. Sometimes even in an unplumbed place below the ground, composed of sheer darkness, far and away from the comforts of home and the familiarity of civilization, where the floor was crunchy and the walls felt like skin. They would as vulnerable and confused as a baby bird out of its nest, whose only company was the one that watched and waited with ever so much patience.

But a brief reprieve would be in order. The Magna Pater did not like keeping its sight for long. It couldn't hear, it couldn't smell, it couldn't feel. Worst of all, it saw everything as if it were brighter than day. It despised daylight. It would turn off the peepers shortly after regenerating, in order to better detect what its prey was up to.

[ShidenBlades]

Edrik stared on in open disgust as he scrambled to his feet, cane leveled at the creature, it's rune glowing with arcane power that became brighter and brighter every moment as he continued to gather and focus his will into the spell-casting implement. He watched as the creature, clearly not what he thought it was, devoured the tail that Edrik has just severed. Then, to his surprise its tail near instantly came back.

"What in the hell?" He whispered as he watched, morbid curiosity staying a magical onslaught. It was beautiful, in a sick and twisted sort of way. Part of him screamed to use the precious moments it took for the creature to eat its tail to rain down destruction, to summon the very powers of the earth and crush the creature where it laid. Yet, he didn't. Couldn't.

He needed to learn more, know more.

To his surprise the creature darted off, away into the woods, the moment its tail came back. To set up another ambush perhaps? Edrik wasn't sure, but he walked the other way, to the other side of the crypts where he originally was and where it was much more open and easier for him to detect the thing if it came upon him again.

[Doc Doctor]

The moon was obscured by the clouds, and the cemetery was near pitch black again save for the distant glimmering of stars in the sky. The foliage of the forest swayed and shimmered in the fluid breeze.
This was how fighting an enemy that could always find you was like. There was no hurry for the hunter. Unless Edrik had some way of tracking the thing, then the next time he'd encounter it would be two days later. The Magna Pater had other victims lined up before him. Luckily that would be two days for Edrik to figure out why each time he awoke, he'd be somewhere else.

The first time he'd jolt awake in a playground behind the local elementary school at 4:00 A.M, wearing whatever he slept in. Fortunately, no human would be around to see this. Children sometimes went missing around this neighborhood. An eleven year old was to be reported as such in the evening news, the day after. The night before it had been a woman in her thirties, whom the police had recieved several paranoid false calls from over the past month.

When next he woke up, if he went to sleep the next night, he'd find himself blinking out of a strange dream that couldn't quite be remembered, save for the distinctive feeling it left behind. Bad dreams often left a residue. Total blackness, filled only with the faint sound of wind. That was something like it.

No, the wind was real right now. He'd be standing at his open window at 2:00 A.M, leaning upon the sill after having been apparently staring into the night for a good while with those blank, twitching eyes that only those committed to the deep stages of REM experience. There would be nothing out there to be seen.

If wise to the ways of the paranormal Edrik was, then when next he lied down he would be wearing all the articles required to kill a monster, for when he came to he would find himself again in the cemetery, not entirely alone.