Perhaps Jack implying Victoria was complicit in the murders was an overstep, Jack could admit that much. Perhaps Sloane asking why Drake couldn't save Jade was out of line. Hopefully Sloane could understand that. Jack had never known Drake to be a particularly violent individual. Sure, they all waged a war against a demigod as kids, but that was to save the world. He liked to believe that Drake was a reasonable person.
But he was clearly wrong.
Jack watched Drake shove Luca off to the side, causing the poor fellow to fall and break his wrist, and bleed. And then he watched Drake punch the living shit out of Sloane, who devolved to tears. At this point, Jack was fed up with Drake's shit. Once his fist disconnected from Sloane's face, Drake would feel his arms and legs being gripped by something. Any normal person would see absolutely nothing, it would simply be like Drake tensed up. But the people at this table would see that the darkness around them folded inwards into the shape of hands, latching onto his limbs like strands from a web. The shadows grabbed Drake and refused to let go. He was trapped, and Jack was on his feet before anyone could protest. On any other day, even a day when their lives were actively at risk, Jack's face betrayed absolutely nothing. He was typically cool as ice, not affected by whatever was happening around him; Always levelheaded, and ready to weather the storm. But right now, anger was etched on his expression. Now, he was pissed, and disappointed. Had time changed them all this much, that they would rather see one another brought low and bloody, than make amends like adults? Did Jade's passing weigh this heavily on him, that it clouded his judgement? If that was the case, then Drake was only a detriment to them all.
The shadowy hands kept their grips on Drake tight enough that they threatened to break his wrists if he didn't calm himself the fuck down, or put away that Abstraction of his. Jack took one step forward, entirely unaware of another familiar face rolling up as he stared Drake dead in the face.
"Who do you think you are, lashing out at her? We owe each other our lives, and this is how you treat your childhood friends? Getting angry with Sloane when she asks you about Jade is one thing, but you have no excuse for behaving like a child! This is why we all fell apart, because we couldn't settle things without fighting! Is that the same fate you want to doom us all to again, now that some of us have been murdered?!" He'd grill Drake like this all night if it weren't for him realizing Evelyn was present. He... Was surprised she even came, honestly. But it took his mind off of Drake right now, who he really wanted to punch with a fist that was magically hard as stone.
Instead, he turned and walked over to where Sloane had fell, and held out a hand for her to stand up. That punch must have been awful. "Try not to move quickly, that looked painful. I'll take both of you to a hospital. It'll be faster than driving there," He offered, to both Sloane and Luca. He noted that Sloane was a teary mess right now, but chose not to comment on it. Of course she would be.
Interactions: All the fuckers
Veni Whatever the Fuck
The first thing that grabbed Stormy’s attention amidst everything was, unsurprisingly, the giant fucking ball of fire in the shape of a bird. Stormy watched as it crashed down near him and Bianca, and became… A person. A person dressed like a cop. Yeah… That totally checked out. This stranger immediately started talking through some sort of earpiece and talking to Bianca as if they knew each other. Stormy put two and two together quickly.
”Nah. I’m mostly sure we haven’t met. Mostly. So tell me something, stranger. What took the PRA so long to get here?” Stormy might’ve had a reputation as a member of Drake and Sully’s “jock squad” but he was far from an idiot. There was no way in hell someone like this guy- Who Stormy assumed was an aberration of some kind- Was just a regular cop. ”Not that I’m complaining, but-“
Bang
Stormy’s attention was grabbed by the sudden gunshots. Alizee fell over, dead before she hit the ground.
For a brief moment, Stormy was a kid again. He was there on the battlefield, raising mile-long barricades and holding up the sky with his magic. All of the original members of the coven were there beside him, fighting for their lives. Even still, he could never save everyone. Bodies hit the grass, and no amount of defense could make them stand up again. Magic reflected the soul like a mirror, and Stormy was a protector at heart. He liked to tell himself that he was unbreakable, and skill, others around him died.
The moment passed, and he was on his feet. Alizee had a problem, but her problem was their problem. Adrenaline surged through him, wrath lit his bones ablaze. Stormy felt Bianca’s boost multiple in him, and it emboldened him to summon two more shields, which tethered to his arms.
”I’ll kill them all…” He flung both of the shields towards Alizee’s killer- The fool who brought a gun out. He put every ounce of muscle he had into the throw, fully intent on shattering the bastard, even killing then outright if he was lucky.
She/her | 20 | Caucasian | 63 in. | 50 lbs. _______________________________________________ Haunted _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "Strange what you’ll do to survive." ___________________________________
Hyper-vigilant ⫻ Due to always having to be on guard from void entities, Layla is hyper-aware of her surroundings. She will notice subtle footsteps or a glint in the darkness. Fast reflexes ⫻ Dealing with the hungry mouths of the void entities, Layla is used to dodging attacks, finding an escape, and running out of harm’s way fast. Survivor instincts ⫻ Layla can identify, more often than not, the solution necessary to survive in a given situation. This causes her to be unreliable in team fights, as she will turn and run to save herself if the fight goes south. Tormented Soul ⫻ With her history, her world is very black and white. It’s either ‘you suffer’, or ‘others suffer’. She knows how to exact her will to appease the void.
Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I like to look clean. It’s about all I got."
Layla has soft features, like a porcelain doll. Ivory skin that nearly matches her white hair. She’s very thin, leaning on malnutritioned. You can count her rib bones. She eats, of course. However, the stress causes her to be unable to gain any weight for her small height.
Her body is marred with strange bite marks of varying sizes along her arms and legs.
Her hair is wispy, a bit curly, with the color of the full moon. She often likes to braid parts of it with flower accessories. Often, a blue fabric rose will be woven in her hair.
She likes to wear summer dresses.
Psychology ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I’ve cried so many tears. I fear one day I’ll run out."
MAIN GOAL ⫻ Since meeting the Void Heart, her goal has become to absorb as much energy as possible so Void has the strength to open the gates of heaven, so she can see her loved ones.
PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Loneliness will kill me before the entities do. Is it so bad to still want a friend, even if they might die? I’ll burn the entire world to feel a little comfort, a little warmth.
SECRETS ⫻ She continues to give ‘sacrifices’ to the void to save her own skin.
SEXUALITY ⫻ Too innocent.
FEARS ⫻ She fears the events of her childhood happening again, living every day on a fine wire, fearing the entities that play on her with puppet strings. She fears attracting the wrong attention due to her ‘sweet blood’ and causing a friend, if she had a friend, to perish.
REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Mainly unnoticed. She was known to be sweet, kind, and not speaking much. When there was violence or a disagreement, she usually kept quiet, fearing anyone’s anger on her. She was one of the last members to leave.
ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ She tried throwing white crystal roses at the snake in an attempt to get entities from the void to attack it. However, not many dared to attack such a fearsome foe, and she hid behind Stormy most of the time.
FLAWS ⫻ The belief that she’s right to be vindictive and heartless to her ‘sacrifices’ since the world was heartless to her. The stubbornness and refusal to drop her guard and let someone in, which would resolve a lot of her internal conflicts.
Backstory ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Can we maybe change the subject?"
She figured a long while back, at least a few generations, she had some Greek in her lineage. Hence the poignant name. Always got teased for it. However, she’d take the teasing over what… happened. What… she did, any day.
The Hyacinthus family was known to be a family of brooders. Dark colors, dark home, dark expressions. This was many due to one thing, and one thing only. A secret the family kept hidden.
Other families would talk about ‘boogeymen’ and ‘monsters under the bed’. In the Hyacinthus home, these fantasies came to life. Every night, when the lights went out, in the wee hours, the quietus would be disturbed by bloodcurdling screams. Often, the lights would flicker on to expose Layla or her sister half dragged out of bed, a dark creature chewing on their arm.
‘Sweet blood’, it was called. That’s what her father said, anyway. It was a curse of the family, to have blood so sweet so as to attract the denizens of the night.
Layla was given an antique pendant containing a family portrait for her 12th birthday, had a frightening nightmare of being consumed by flowers, and ever since, she discovered she could manifest crystal flowers at will.
They had a unique quality to them, white in color, softly glowing, fragile, and easy to break. What was more interesting was how they changed the behavior of the denizens that would come to visit them - the entities she would one day discover came from the void.
Her sister had been balling from the pain of the bite a monster had given her the night before. Thinking it might help, Layla laid a crystal flower at her sister’s bedside that night. In the morning, her sister… was gone. In her place, a bloody mess, ripped flesh, a near-unrecognisable body.
The mourning in the home continued for days.
Layla blamed herself, and a few nights later, she thought she would join her sister. She created a crystal flower, and laid it at her own beside that night. After a few hours of blissful sleep, she awoke to smoke, fire, and the sound of ripping flesh.
She escaped her burning house. The report from the fire department and police later that night explained how two bodies were discovered, marred beyond being identified, before being set on fire, the fire spreading to the rest of the house.
The entities didn’t touch Layla for an entire month. That’s when she discovered, in a horrifying way, how the roses worked. Every time the denizens started to get antsy, she only had to give someone a rose, and she would be left alone. Little ‘sacrifices’ to appease the entities that haunted her.
When she was a few years older, she was walking the streets alone at night, before she heard screaming and fighting. She came across two girls fighting in the streets, whom she would later learn to be Alizée and Ashley. This was her introduction into the coven, after she tried to offer Alizée a rose, judging her to be the source of the conflict. The voidly being with Alizée immediately bit down on the rose and shattered it, spitting it out and telling Layla to ‘get lost’. Ashley was intrigued, however, and offered to meet with Layla again.
In the battle against the snake, Layla mainly hid behind Stomy and his shields, throwing white crystal roses at the snake to get as many entities to attack it as possible. Only a few showed up who were brave enough to risk it all against such a foe, and unfortunately didn’t do as much damage as Layla would have hoped.
After the fight, there were more and more arguments. Layla was never the source of any. She kept herself very private, you see. She was one of the last members to leave, and did so with a heavy heart.
After the dissolution of the coven, she began experimenting with the white roses. She started kidnapping people no one would miss, and watched the entities tear them apart. If she did this, the length of time the entities would leave her alone lengthened.
Preferring to be awake at night instead of the day, she took a nighttime job at a local gas station to pay for her studio apartment. With the Hyacinthus assets all liquified and life insurance wired to her bank, she essentially took a dead-end job to cover rent and her expenses as she continued her experiments with the white roses and what the entities wanted.
When she heard Auri wanted to bring the coven back together, she told herself she had a night shift to get ready for, and couldn’t possible attend. She didn’t want to get discovered, after all these years. Prolonged contact with people who once knew her could very well put the puzzle pieces together.
However, in her nap before her shift, a certain someone or something came to her in a dream. A flowering white field stained with darkness. A crooked grin, albeit sad, on an orb she recognized from long ago. And a dark hand, outstretched, waiting.
Of course, she took it.
What happened afterward was interesting, to say the least. She lost the ability to make crystal roses. In its place, she gained the powers of the Void Heart.
Abstraction ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I don’t know… I don’t really like talking about it."
TYPE ⫻ Aberration (Adjoined)
ABSTRACTION ⫻ Void Light: The seams of the Void that yearn for entropy, sapping strength away.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ A purple and dark, smoky light that appears around her being whenever she uses her abilities. Also the main color of the Void Hands. If phantom hands are summoned, there is enough strength in the Void Light to bend steel rebar, which she uses to suppress the struggles of her victims. Both she and the apparition can use Void Light.
Subcategories: - Void Eyes: Appears as purple irises with a red ring around the pupil, black sclera. Cosmetic when she uses her Void Hands.
- Void Heart: Her apparition from the Void, usually floating a couple of inches above her shoulder. A ball of void light with Void Eyes. Has a thirst for entropy. Is able to use the Void Hands on a whim. Being chained to her soul, the Void Heart can immediately take in and absorb any energy she siphons off using Void Entropy. This is how it eats, and it’s always hungry. Being connected to the Void, it has a special affinity for being in the in-between places of things, like dreams. The last time it dream-walked was when it was haunting her before their souls became adjoined.
- Void Hands: Claw-like phantom hands, made entirely of Void Light. Can change in size from regular human-sized hands, to as large as a refrigerator, allowing her to grip humans and smaller apparitions with ease. To be touched by physical Void causes an immediate weakness in the body. Prolonged exposure saps all the energy of the target. Eventually, this is enough to slow and stop the heart, however, due to Emotional-Fields, it does not allow her to stop the heart outright, only bring it near.
- Void Entropy: Any strength that is sapped away by being in contact with her void light causes her to instantly absorb said energy, which can be used to sate the desires of the Void Heart. She must be in physical contact with her victim to sap its strength and energy. White light in the form of energy is siphoned from their being, drawn past the hands, and coalesces through her before being sucked into the cragged jaws of the Void Heart. Due to the nature of their entwined souls, the apparition’s sated thirst translates to her own phantom thirst’s satisfaction.
- Void Thirst: A burn in her throat, gnawing emptiness in her stomach. She is continuously hungry and thirsty for the energy, the life essence, of another person. The only way this pain is sated is by draining a person of their energy until they are near death.
LIMITS ⫻ Void Light: Being able to sap a person or thing of its energy does not mean she can outright kill them. The Emotional-Fields prevent her from doing so.
WEAKNESSES ⫻ Accessing the Void Light opens her eyes to the Void itself... and over time, by utilizing the Void Light, she will begin to see hallucinations of the horrors of the Void. Eldritch abominations and people lost to the Void will appear alongside the mundane universe that she is used to, attacking her mental state and making her doubt what is real and what is fake. The more she (or the Apparition she's adjoined to) uses her abstraction, the worse this effect gets so that she will be functionally blind if she goes all out (as she'll see into the Void). This effect wears off over time, but its effects on her mentally will not. However, sapping away someone else strength and energy also begins to drain away at her - it won't be as dramatic as on the victim, but if she does this a lot, she can stop her own heart. An Abstraction like this will unnerve others and make it difficult for people to trust her.
Other ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I’ve always liked music boxes."
"You a meal, or a toy?"
_______________________________________________ Vul Bahlok Grah-Zeymahzin (aka: ‘The Void Heart,’ or ‘Void’)
He/him | ??? | Apparition | 7 inches | 3 lbs. _______________________________________________ Haunter _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "I can see right through you." ___________________________________
Predator Gaze ⫻ He’s always watching, sizing up the next potential victim, trying to guess how tasty a person is based on their look and manners. Battle Strategy ⫻ He is the reliable number two to his haunted in a fight. He can identify and seize opportunities, or fill the gap. Voidly Knowledge⫻ He has knowledge of the Void, its legends, and its denizens.
Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "Don’t stare too much - you might get nightmares."
He’s a dark, purple-tinged orb surrounded in a voidly purple aura. His mouth is massive, able to crack open to the sides of his eyes to reveal sharp, jagged teeth. He’s often seen smiling in a predatorial manner. His eyes are cold, always displaying the power of the void in them - black sclera, purple irises with a ring of deep red around the pupil. Touching him is similar to touching his void hands - cold, with an immediate weakening in the body.
Psychology ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I'd do anything to see her again."
MAIN GOAL ⫻ There’s a legend that says, “Enough souls will unlock the gates of paradise.” Void has interpreted this to mean that there’s a path from the void to wherever souls go, and aims to devour as much energy as possible to become strong enough to open the gates.
PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Cut and dry. You are either food, or a passing whim - a toy.
SECRETS ⫻ He covers the pain of losing his wife with his predatorial nature and bloodlust.
SEXUALITY ⫻ N/A, tends to fall in love with his playthings. They remind him of his wife.
FEARS ⫻ Fears the deeper, darker parts of the void. Fears anything happening to his playthings.
REPUTATION IN OLD COVEN ⫻ Was disliked, along with the late Alizée.
ROLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE STYGIAN SNAKE ⫻ Aided the late Alizée in grabbing ahold of the snake and absorbing some of its energy.
FLAWS ⫻ Can become so focused on his own goals that he puts others at risk. The late Alizée is an example of this.
Backstory ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I see her all the time, in my mind. The day it happened."
Void lived peacefully in the darkness of the void dimension with his wife. Or at least, as peacefully as one can in the land of nightmares. One day, a war broke out, and his wife got caught by the enemy. He had to watch as the void denizens larger and more fearsome in power as compared to him tore, ripped, and shredded apart his wife.
He was never the same after that.
He sought power, and he sought solace. He knew of a legend passed down by past generations within the void realm revolving around the gates of paradise. Anyone with enough power, and enough energy from souls could open the gates and see those who had passed on. Moved by bitter grief, he began seeking a conduit, a hauntee to tether him to the Shimmer so he could enact his will.
That’s when he found her… the late Alizée. He chose her almost immediately simply because she reminded him of his late wife.
He was the whispering voice in her mind, pushing her to fulfill his agenda. Sometimes strangling her when she was fussy. He tolerated the coven when they showed up and, out of necessity, helped with the battle against the snake. He refuses to admit it to himself, but the camaraderie was… nice. However, that quickly vanished when they interfered with the late Alizée’s night-stalking. It made him furious, and he was happy when Alizée blew up at Ashley and was banished. Less interference with his plans.
The reunion was… surprising, to say the least. He kept an eye on the late Alizée, but it clearly wasn’t enough. His heart was broken a second time when Alizée fell at the battle against the Wolfpack. Losing his tether to the Shimmer, he was left alone in the void to weep, and to wander.
He remembered, a distant memory, of the girl who stumbled across the late Alizée while she was fighting the late Ashley. He peered into the Shimmer, and found her… Layla.
She would do… Yes, she would do splendidly.
Abstraction ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "These hands have thrown down a lot."
TYPE ⫻ Apparition
ABSTRACTION ⫻ Void Light: The thirst for entropy.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ Void’s abstraction covers his entire person, but he affects the world with the hands he summons. Similar to the late Alizée’s, his hands can change in size, can bend rebar, and absorb energy, or life force.
LIMITS ⫻ He is unable to kill a person outright by siphoning off their energy due to the emotional-fields.
WEAKNESSES ⫻ Accessing the Void Light opens his eyes to the Void itself... and over time, by utilizing the Void Light, he will begin to see hallucinations of the horrors of the Void. Eldritch abominations and people lost to the Void will appear alongside the mundane universe that he is used to, attacking his mental state and making him doubt what is real and what is fake. The more he uses his abstraction, the worse this effect gets so that he will be functionally blind if she goes all out (as he'll see into the Void). This effect wears off over time, but its effects on him mentally will not. An Abstraction like this will unnerve others and make it difficult for people to trust him.
Other ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "When does the reason become the blame?"
Void’s song to Layla as he struggles to come to terms with Alizée’s death. Alizée is the ‘son’, and Layla is the one Void is referring to when he says ‘I look into your eyes’.
Location: Training Room B Gear: A hot ass dress Skills: The insurmountable will to not lose her cool under any circumstances Oh god oh fuck
This wasn't the reaction she expected from them. So this "Swift Wind" individual was a flying horse that Sabine's character flew around on? If Leah understood the multiple explanations, and whatever indescribable non-Sabine French that came out of Danni's mouth, that was basic knowledge. And, unsurprisingly, everyone wanted to watch it together, in a big marathon. It sounded nice, but Leah didn't really understand what was so special about it. Still, she'd be happy to spend time with the girls, no matter what.
"That sounds fun, but I-" She forgot what she was saying saw the look on April's face. Good god, she's fucking cute.
Yes. They were in lesbian together.
Wait a damn minute, that was their names that were being called. "Oh, shit. We won something? Our teams are all in, but what did we save everyone from?" She was, indeed, led up the stage to where the royals got their shit. Leah wasn't accustomed to the whole homecoming royalty thing, but she figured it out once she realized they were getting crowned for this. Although... Unless one of those crowns were made of something stronger than vibranium, Leah definitely wasn't putting any of them on. April won first place, and she and Sabine won second... Were they supposed to kneel like servants before an emperor or something?
It was almost funny how Ryder knew what Vibranium was and the so-called smart guy around here didn’t. Umbra had a whole section of their database dedicated to its uses, namely the ones that involved blocking out telepaths. And like anyone or anything else at Umbra, Ryder read those secrets like a book. She wasn’t in the mood to lecture them about it, though. And frankly, Ryder didn’t give a damn if they learned anything about it or not.
As they went up a floor, Ryder pushed her mind out passively, taking in a relative point of “where” in her abstract map of this place. This was where the bulk of the cameras the swept her power across seemed to be. ”You ever been hacked by someone before? This place is about as secure a cardboard box,” She jabbed. From the moment they brought Ryder in, she had a grasp on all of the electronic security measure the mansion was using.
They stopped, and Ryder concluded that she might as well eat something. Back at Umbra, food was nothing to hope for. She was fed three times a day, in calculated portions. The bare minimum to account for her power testing, and her sustainment as a person that required food and water. And she was… Hungry. Though she didn’t want to feel like she was placating to him. ”Sure.” She walked further down the hall at the same pace, ahead of Xavier. Ryder already knew where it all was.
As well as everything inside, as well. By the time Xavier caught up with her, pieces of bread and sliced meat floated out from behind doors on the far side. Paranoid tendencies aside, she simply felt like not walking further. It was the blandest sandwich on the planet, but it was better than the slop Umbra gave her. ”Whats the deal with this place being empty? It’s bigger than just three or four people.”
Location: The Twilight Pass Skills: Spells: Outfit
Six of them had come through. A multiple of three, but the majority of their numbers. Now, those on the other side only had two to work with. Jack didn't see Annika come through the portal, so it was just her and Carolina, should they reunite. Unless, of course, Annika came through at the last minute. But even with only six, they had more than enough to sort this out.
"Yes, they're like hydras. You cannot simply decapitate them like a lesser demon. Moreover, death itself has a way of emboldening them. When I banished them here, they were only three, and I thought this business with Limbo would be over in time. I miscalculated, obviously. The land we're in is unreceptive to outsiders. It poisons anything with a soul, except for an astronomically small sliver of individuals that it takes a liking to." Jack was one of them, and he had never met another like himself in all his years.
Runa's idea was the most sound. The Green Eyed Ones were tricky to fight here, Jack could rip the void-like sky apart, and let it rain down on them like meteors. But the sky of the Everdark was not like the sky of Earth. It was nothingness made manifest, pure energy. That energy was the very thing that plagued them now, if Jack's theory was correct. Ordinarily, the first signs of that affliction could take anywhere from an hour to a few days to appear. For that reason, none of you are in any immediate danger. Those creatures down there, however, are vessels for countless souls, and have no doubt fallen victim to exposure over and over again. I believe that to be the reason they'd multiplied this much, in so little time."
Runa, Prudence and Max were the most destructive magicians. Jack turned to them. "Given the way they've multiplied due to the energy here, it would be risky if I use my more destructive magic. But I can isolate them, drop them through portals and turn the darkness into barricades while the three of you destroy them more easily. I'll prevent them from overwhelming us. Or, I get us all inside from here. There is a beast that lives with me. A formless animal named Nochalla, who would join us if we asked. Knowing her, she's likely fast asleep during all of this right now."
Those were the options he laid before them both: Have Jack run riot control, or get them indoors. The longer they stood around doing nothing, the more likely they were to be spotted.
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