Utsuro, Elsea, Ezeri,Cade & Corvina
Ezeri yelled at Elsea to get out of the way but realized no sound came from her voice in a quick reaction. With a boost of adrenaline she rode over to Elsea on the unicorn, grabbing her by the back of the dress and just tossed her onto the back of the unicorn behind her and rode a bit away before jumping off. Ezeri then looked at Mel, pointing at the creature and signaling to attack it. Ezeri drew her sword and released the chain. As it let loose, it started to heat up and lava began leaking from the blade onto the forest floor. She whipped the blade at the creatures’ arm trying to restrain it. Melzor moved on her signal and aimed to sting the beast on its back.
Elsea had been so distracted by the rabbit boy, gripping her spear tightly, that she hadn’t even noticed the bat creature coming for her. She let out a scream of shock as Ezeri picked her up and put her on the unicorn, but it seemed like no one had really heard the scream. Either that or they didn’t react. Did she even hear her own scream? Everything was confusing and happening so quickly. After Ezeri departed, Elsea surveyed the scene before her briefly before trying to send a fire attack at the bat creature. Nothing happened. Black mist was slowly enveloping all of them and when her magic failed her again she felt panic rise. She looked to Cora and yelled out to her, but nothing happened. She began waving at the girl until she made eye contact and they seemed to understand each other. Elsea grabbed hold of the unicorn's mane and urged him forward, towards Cora in an attempt to get her on the unicorn too and outstretched her arm to help her pyro sister up.
Sudden growling and a mysterious and eerie voice caused Cora to tense up. She inhaled with fear and realized she hadn’t heard herself. Worse yet, she saw a mysterious creature coming for Elsea. With the weird voice and mysterious figure, it didn’t take long for Cora to realize they had newfound evil company. She jolted forward to help Elsea, but was relieved when Ezeri saved her on the unicorn. She glanced around at the mist and tried conjuring fire to no avail.
As panic rose, she reached around and felt for Cade. Her hand collided with something furry, and she knew it was Cade. Cora pointed outside of the mist and then met Elsea’s eye. She nodded to her fire sister and grabbed her arm when she approached. She heaved herself up onto the unicorn and beckoned Cade to follow. Once outside of the mist, she then turned to Elsea. ”Why don’t we light this bitch up?” Cora grinned at her. Elsea returned the grin, but glanced back at the mist.
”I definitely want to, but I’m afraid of harming the others.” Elsea responded and contemplated for a moment. That’s when a crazy idea hit her and she looked back to Cora. She could still feel a connection to the girl’s magic. ”What if we try to combine our magic? Maybe we can create some fire bird looking thing and make it appear to attack above where the creature last was? Keep it high enough that we won’t harm Cade and Ezeri?” She wasn’t sure how well it would work and probably would take a lot of concentration, but maybe, just maybe, they could create enough of a distraction with it for the others to have an advantage.
Meanwhile in the mist…
Cade’s attempt to growl at the large grotesque bat creature had made no sound, just as the twisted bat creature’s movements were unnervingly quiet. He watched Cora leave with Elsea upon the unicorn, giving the human a reassuring squeeze of the hand before she left. He would not flee from the bat creature, unlike the previous demons they had encountered, this one could be fought. Once the two humans were safely out of reach of the bat creature Cade stalked closer to the beast, flanking the side opposite of Ezeri. He was momentarily distracted by the devil’s lava-coated chain sword but quickly focused his attention back on the bat creature. He had figured out that the black mist was suppressing sounds, the only way to anticipate the creature’s attacks and the plans of his allies was to watch them closely. Ezeri was on one side, attacking one of the creature’s long arms. Cade swung his halberd and moved to attack the other arm, keeping himself out of reach from the beast’s long sharp claws.
Utsuro knew of his opponents’ capabilities. It was not surprised when Elsea’s teammates managed to save her just in time before its razor sharp claws came crashing down on the ground and leaving a crater on the spot where Elsea should have been. It saw the panic in their eyes once they noticed they couldn’t speak and the fear upon realizing they can’t conjure their magic as long as they were inside the mist. Utsuro easily evaded Ezeri and Cade’s attacks, leaping high into the air with the black mist moving and reacting to Utsuro’s movement and location. It landed behind the rabbit boy whose eyes were still blank white while it’s own red eyes glared through the darkness of the mist.
”You only delay the inevitable.” Utsuro spoke through its channel, its hollow voice loud enough so that Cora and Elsea could hear its voice too. ”The humans are vital in defeating the Lich King but they could also be the key to his success. Why torture yourselves in a future full of uncertainty and suffering? Why not succumb to the peace and totality of death?” It said as the rabbit boy’s body suddenly jerked, his mouth open so wide as if he was screaming no sounds could come out. The veins on his neck were bulging and the group could tell he was in terrible pain due to him becoming the Voidcaller’s channel.
”Such poor young souls. I shall grant you a swift and merciful death.” Utsuro said once more through its channel as it turned its head to the direction where Cora and Elsea were discussing on how to defeat it. The Voidcaller could easily hear them thanks to its huge and sensitive ears. ”Starting with them.” Utsuro said, the black mist following him as he quickly snatched the poor rabbit boy unto its mantle and bounded on all fours towards the two women with great speed.
Ezeri gritted her teeth and ran to the side along Utsuro, using the humans to keep a distraction while he was looking straight ahead. She swung her sword like a whip, low to the ground as it latched on to his ankle. Ezeri pulled on it to make the parts that were caught on eachother tighter, lava leaked from the area on his ankle searing the flesh while the blades cut into Utsuro’s leg. She then turned to look at Cade, motioning toward Utsuro while he was caught up. Small patches of fire had begun to ignite from the lava that had been dripping forest floor.
Before Elsea and Cora could finish their discussion of a plan, Elsea caught sight of the mist moving towards them once again. ”Oh for fucks sake!” She nearly yelled out in frustration before beckoning the unicorn to move them once again. As she did so, she leaned down to whisper to him. ”Would ya be a dear and keep us out of that mist, Leith?” No one else had seemed to give the unicorn a name and so Elsea had taken it upon herself to name him after her late twin brother. The others could protest it later, but for now it just felt right to her.
Suddenly the mist stopped and Elsea found it to be curious, but it was now or never. ”Now Cora, we have to do this now.” She said as she began to conjure her magic, trying to form it into a large phoenix.
Cora inhaled when she saw the mist coming toward them. It was like watching her life before her eyes fade. The words from the rabbit caused chills to run up her spine. The rabbit seems to be in terrible pain and she wanted to make it a swift death. Curious enough, the mist stopped, though Cora didn’t know why. She didn’t question it. With her eyebrows raised, she turned to look at Elsea. Nodding in agreement, Cora focused her energy onto her magic and used her willpower to begin forming fire. She furrowed her brows and envisioned the phoenix. To her delight, fire began to form. She watched as it began to take life. All Cora could hear were the flames. She then raised her hand and sent it toward the mist to attack the rabbit. ”Elsea, that rabbit is in terrible pain. What the hell is wrong with it?”
Her attention was the phoenix, but she could feel Ezeri’s fire on the ground and began beckoning the flames to join their phoenix. Had the flames not moved, she began to extinguish them. The last thing they needed, excluding their injuries or deaths from this demented rabbit, was another forest fire. They were too close to the port and there would be too many prying eyes. ”Elsea - there’s also flames from Ezeri’s sword on the forest floor. We need to keep it from burning the forest and our friends.”
Cade ran after the demon, following close behind Ezeri. While the demon wasted time talking through the rabbit boy, Ezeri and Cade had easily caught up to Utsuro. Ezeri had trapped the demon with the chain sword and signaled for Cade to attack. Without hesitation, he sprinted towards Utsuro, avoiding the small patches of fire that had sprung up for the lava that leaked from Ezeri’s sword. Cade lurched forward and swung the halberd at the demon’s back with all the strength and will he possessed. Just as he did, a bird made of fire took shape and swooped towards the demon and his rabbit puppet as well. The heat from both the lava and the firebird was nearly unbearable, but his focus was only on the enemy. He would not let this demon hurt the humans, he would not fail them.
Intense pain shot out throughout Utsuro's entire body as Ezeri's sword whip wrapped around its leg, causing him to stop. Its fur and the grass beneath it became singed with fire as it grunted through its channel. "How dare-". Before it could even continue, it stared wide-eyed at the bird made of pure fire as it swooped down on it and attacked both it and its channel. The forest was filled with screams of agony with Utsuro's hollow voice mixing along with the rabbit boy's own true voice as they were both set aflame. Utsuro lost concentration because of the pain, causing the black mist to thin out and letting Cora and Elsea get a glimpse of what's happening within it.
"Help! Help me!" The rabbit boy shouted and pleaded as his voice still mixed along with Utsuro's. The Voidcaller also screamed in pain when Cade brought its halberd down on its back with all his might. Utsuro reached back with its long arms and grabbed Cade, its razor sharp claws digging into his arm and drawing blood. It then brought him in front of its body and sank its huge fanged teeth on Cade's shoulder, piercing through his clothing and sucking on the demi-human's blood. They could see its burn wounds healing up and its body becoming bigger and stronger as it continued to suck on Cade's life force.
The rabbit boy still strapped on Utsuro's back was deeply hurting due to the burns all over his body but he had regained enough consciousness to snap out of becoming Utsuro's channel. He was battling through so much fatigue but his willpower was stronger than ever. He saw the halberd stuck on the creature's back and, determined to live, grabbed the handle and sawed it on Utsuro's back, cutting and shoving the blade more against its flesh. The intense pain caused Utsuro to stop feeding off of Cade and let him go while it reached back to try and stop the rabbit boy. It managed to grab the halberd and swung it away, throwing off the boy in the process as he still held on to its handle. He landed on a patch of grass near the girls and he was groaning in so much pain, but the black mist surrounding Utsuro was now gone, allowing anyone to get a cleaner shot in killing the Voidcaller.
Ezeri took this chance to rip Utsuro’s leg from under him, dropping him on one knee. She then drew the chain in, tearing the creature’s foot off in the process. Then she quickly jumped on to his back, stabbing down into his shoulder through his heart once again, releasing the chains. This caused lava to leak inside the creature's body to finish it before ripping the chain sword out of his body. She looked towards the girls, “The fight should be over. Check on the boy. I will make sure Cade is alright.” She said before jumping off and bringing Cade to lean against a tree. When she checked his wounds, they seemed to be bleeding quite a bit, so she ripped her cape to wrap the wound tightly. “Does anyone have a potion or anything? We can use it to heal these two until we get into town to some healers.”
The mist cleared up in time for the girls to watch the fight end. The rabbit boy had been flung towards them and it was at this point that Elsea realized he was still alive. ”Oh my.” She said as she quickly jumped off the unicorn and ran to the boy. He needed healing badly. She helped him up and moved back to Cora and the unicorn. ”Help me get him up there with you.” She said to Cora.
Cora watched as the mist cleared up and revealed the terror within. Her eyes widened and she jumped off the unicorn. Her eyes teared up as she saw the rabbit’s condition. Her stomach churned inside, knowing she was partially responsible. Blaming herself though right now wasn’t logical. She’d have to dwell on it later. ”You poor thing! Oh my goodness!” She began helping him onto the unicorn and then jumped up as well. He looked like he would topple over if he wasn't supported. She hopped up again behind him and wrapped her arms around it and her hands around the unicorn’s mane. ”I’ll keep him supported.” She looked over at Ezeri and Cade, tears filling her eyes. ”Are you okay, Cade? I saw the thing grab you. I’m so sorry you were injured. Ezeri and Mel, are you okay?” Her gaze flickered back to Cade. The hollowness inside of her would soon devour her. ”Cade do you know where the healing center is located?” While awaiting an answer, she held her hands up and began extinguishing the fire.