Abysmal Souls: Chapter 2

[Nanami Touko]

"Alright, I can do that much." He sat her down on the snow, hearing Grant's order. That idiot just doesn't get it, does he?!

"Can't do that, Grant! Come on, you're not a moron! Figure out why I can't!" He ran up next to the group, sword out. "Alright, listen. I'm working with her. You want to fight me over it later, fine, but right now we've got to deal with these things, so put down your petty little grudge, and help me protect her. She can deal with these things if we give her some time, but if we don't, we're ALL going to die. Got it?" Adrian wasn't about to let some meat head get everyone killed for the smallest of rewards. "And if you don't like that... Well, you can kill the two of us, and see how well you fair against these things. We both know that if we don't kill them fast enough, they'll call for more. I'd love to see you try and deal with as many as could be living here..." He shot a glance at Grant, wanting to see how he was taking this.

Edited June 6, 2011 by seph1212

[ReformBlade]

Grant wanted nothing more than to punch Adrian in the jaw, his fist clenched to do just that, but he had to calm himself down. "I don't know why you're doing this, Adrian, but I swear to god, I'm killing you both if you can't give me a good enough explanation. I fucking promise. Better come up with a damn good excuse, kid!" He said through clenched teeth. He had had it with this witch. Threatening his family, and now convincing a kid to fight for her? That was the last straw. After she helped them all out of this pickle, Grant would be going after her. He glimpsed the witch on the ledge, looking at how pitiful she was at the moment. "I don't know why you're trying to protect a heartless murderer, but I have more important things to worry about right now. Like making sure you don't die on me and pass your workload onto ME!" He said with fervor as he went after the lizard he had previously wounded, his sword piercing through its skull which made it cry in pain.

[Shin]

Aurelio took a look at the young man and the witch. He laughed, her hair wasn't even pink. It looks like he'd have to continue his search, although he'd got too involved to pull out right now.

"I cross half the continent and I find the wrong girl. It's almost like you're hiding from me, Lunaria." he said aloud, as if she were behind the next snowdrift, ready to jump out.

He stepped up to Adrian. He didn't like his attitude one bit. Nobody talked to him like that without receiving a black eye. Even if it was indirectly.

"So you have the guts to run off with some witch half the continent's after, and then try to blackmail us into helping you? I don't know the whole story, but I don't like being told what to do by some punk." he growled. Grant was perfectly tolerable, he chose his words well. Adrian on the other hand, ticked all the wrong boxes.

He readied his axe, if these monsters hunted in packs, he didn't want to get caught off-guard.

"I don't plan on dying here though. You sit back and try not to get eaten, Romeo. Your chances alone would be much worse than ours." he added, making sure Adrian knew how he felt.

[Nanami Touko]

"D'you honestly think this is me trying to blackmail you?! Alright, hotshot, go and take on all those monsters by yourself, see how well you do!" I'm not gonna argue this with two idiots who don't even know the whole thing! He jumped at the one Grant had stabbed, diving his sword into its back, hopefully ending the monster. Of course, the beast wouldn't go down without a fight, and struck at Adrian with its claw, knocking him back against a wall. "Agh!" Damn that hurt! Ugh... But I can't stop now, there's probably more. Of course, as he thought of more, another jumped down in front of him and lashed at him with its claw, Adrian getting his sword up in time to block it. Damn, this thing is strong! Just gotta... hold on for a bit longer! He managed to shove it back, but it tried the same thing the other had to Grant, shooting its tongue at him. He blocked with his sword, but didn't have the sheer manpower to hold it, losing the blade to the monster's mouth. Crap!

Edited June 6, 2011 by seph1212

[Shin]

As much as he disliked the new guy, Aurelio didn't want to see him get torn apart by monsters. Dashing over to Adrian, he raised his axe. He brought it down on the beast's neck with impressive force, causing a significant wound. Blood gushed out rapidly, the creature howled in pain, retreating from Adrian momentarily. Relinquishig the sword, now drenched in blood. He looked over his shoulder, smirking at Adrian. He was almost impressed by his recklessness.

"I hate your guts, plain and simple. However, I'm not going to sit back and let you get torn to pieces. If your friend over there can actually get those things, I'll be more than happy to give her some cover. Pick up your sword and give me a hand, unless you want to sit this one out."

He extended his hand to Adrian. He may not have liked him, but they needed to hold out for a while. The cold was also starting to get to him too, his hands had been bleached white.

[Caliban of Sycorax]

"Dammit, can we talk about details later?!" Lucretia yelled at the arguing men, both blades poised and at the ready. One of the chameleons found her and began moving in her direction. She rolled out of the way of the beast's tongue, then immediately slashed at it, successfully leaving a gash in the tongue. It screeched in pain, then immediately jumped for her.

"Oh boy, just what I needed." She said to herself as she poised her blades to attempt and block the attack. The beast collided with the blades, leaving gashes on its head all over. She took this opportunity to recover from the force of the impact, then ran up to the beast and thrust both blades into its blood-covered head. It let out another ear-piercing shrill before dying. Lucretia removed the blades and looked around at everyone else, fighting.

She noticed Adrian quickly being overcome by one of the monsters. She knew it wouldn't be enough time to run over there, but she hoped that her idea would work. She threw both blades at the beast in the hopes that they could at least buy him time.

[ReformBlade]

As Carrion concentrated, the world around her seemed to fade out, sounds and sights were blurring out as she lay there. She could sense where people were though, her training over time allowing for such a feat, and she could sense many more of the lizards nearby as well. Channeling her mana was taking all of her focus, she could see the looming creature near her, ready to strike, but if there was any chance of survival, she couldn't stop now. Fortunately for her, Grant was paying attention. Figuring that Aurelio and Lucretia could fend for themselves and the other two kids, he would begrudgingly go and protect the witch. It went against everything he stood for, but he did want to live. The lizard scurried towards Carrion quickly and erratically, giving Grant almost no room for error. He said a silent prayer as he lept off the ledge, sword at the ready, his knee crushing right into the creature, giving it no end of pain. He took his broadsword in both hands and plunged it into the lizard's stomach, ripping through it and slicing its way out. There was blood everywhere, and the smell was horrible, but he could bare it. His face was one of mild disappointment as he looked at the seemingly helpless witch on the ground. "I could end it now, take your life and be on my way... And yet I hesitate..." His mind was buzzing with his morality and his survival instincts, but ultimately, he gave in to survival again.

[Nanami Touko]

Adrian was honestly surprised, taking the man's hand and standing back up, sword in the other now. "Ha ha, you're not as stupid as I made you out to be. I don't really care if you like me or not, let's do this!" Adrenaline started pumping, and he actually started enjoying the fight. He jumped at the monster that had taken his sword, and dove it back into its mouth, blade first. "Try to eat me, will you, you gross mutation of nature?! You should've stayed an iguana, beast!" He then tore the sword upwards out of its head. He laughed a little, blood spraying onto his face. "This... this is fun..." Of course, he hadn't noticed the large gash on his chest that the monster had created only second before he killed it. Of course, his adrenaline was keeping him moving, and he glanced back to see Grant save Carrion. "Grant! Are you alright?!" He yelled down at him, hoping the fall hadn't hurt him as much as the lizard.

[ReformBlade]

"It's just a bruise, focus on your end dammit! I'll stay here and... protect her!" He said with noticeable hesitation. Again, he didn't like this, he hated it, wanted nothing more than to just snap her neck and feed her to the lizards, but he was smarter than that. More chameleons started climbing down the mountain walls, seemingly coming out of nowhere. Grant vs a nest of frost chameleons... Odds are against me, a bit, but they've never met me before. A few of the monsters lashed their tongues at Grant, his arm guard taking the hits. Unfortunately, he was now leashed to them, and they knew it. They began dragging him away from Carrion, quite forcefully. Grant, summoning up every ounce of strength he had, pulled back as hard as he could, actually managing to gain some ground back from the beasts, causing one of them to lose their footing and fall over. Grant raised his arm and then slammed their tongues into the ground as hard as he could, then, taking his broadsword, he slammed the blade right on all three of their tongues. All of them began screaming in pain and annoyance, blood dripping from their mouths.

"You don't fuck with me, ever." Was all Grant had to say as the creatures went off to join the coming horde.

Edited June 6, 2011 by SlaveBlade

[Shin]

"Ha ha, you're not as stupid as I made you out to be. I don't really care if you like me or not, let's do this!"

"Hahaha, you're not quite as wimpy as you look!" Aurelio replied, fending off a Frost Chameleon with his axe. His expression changed as soon as he saw the gash on Adrian's chest. Sure, Aurelio had taken a couple of minor wounds but nothing that substantial.

"Hey, kid! Watch out, you can't afford to keep taking hits like that!" he shouted, kicking the beast off of him. He followed up with a blow to it's neck, actually severing the head - although it was his third attempt in all honesty. At this rate, they'd each be overwhelmed. He moved closer to Adrian, it'd be easier to take them on that way. He could also keep an eye on him.

"Hey, Grant! Our little friend's taking her sweet time!" he shouted whilst taking on another Chameleon. He was starting to feel the combined efforts of the weather and fatigue. He'd probably cut through around half a dozen by now, and his swing had become noticeably slower. He would have swapped to his sword, but he had seen the tricks the things had pulled on the others. He really did have to trust the kid on this one.

[roymbrog]

Susan and Katrina had become somewhat acquainted during their short flight, they at least knew each other’s names. Therefore, Katrina was not too surprised when Susan began saying something from right behind her. “What?” she shouted back, “I can’t hear you up here with the wind, you’ll have to yell!”

Susan sighed, and leaned over pointing. “What’s that down there?!” Ahead of them she could see things crawling down the mountain. They looked kind of like lizards, but there was no way ones that big could live up here in the mountains. Reptiles were cold-blooded, weren’t they?

Katrina blanched. Susan looked confused. “Those are Frost Chameleons. They only gather like that when they’re expecting a large kill…”

Large kill? What could be that large that far up a mountain in the middle of winter? Then realization dawned on her. “It’s probably people down there, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

They looked down at the cliff face, then back at each other. There was an unspoken agreement that since neither of them was a heartless bastard, they should probably do something here. Katrina gave the command, and Sarina twisted and dove towards the cliffs.

----

Occupied as they were on the ground, it was easy to miss the Pegasus diving several dozen feet above them. However, it would not be hard to miss the five or so screeching lizards falling to their death every few seconds.

Their tactic was simple, but effective. Targeting only those near the top of the cliff, Katrina would direct her Pegasus diagonally across the stone wall, ramming into as many hapless chameleons as possible before they attacked, sending them hurtling down the cliff face. Once they began attacking Susan would pull up a shield of water over the prone side of the swooping Pegasus. The water would freeze around their frigid tongues, forcing them to either retract them or be pulled off the stone by the dangling weight. As more of their brethren met a grisly end Frost Chameleons near the top were starting to figure out going down this way was a bad idea. Instead of climbing down, the newcomers begame gathering at the cliff edge, waiting for the pegasus riding duo to either tire out or screw up.

[Nanami Touko]

"Alright! Don't die on us!" He turned and fell onto his back, one of the chameleons having jumping onto him. Aurelio kicked it off of him, sputtering something about a gash on Adrian's chest. A gash? I'm... hurt? But I can't feel... Oh, oh yeah, there's a gash there. He hadn't even noticed he was bleeding, and even now, the blood was starting to stop. Of course, this didn't mean he wasn't feeling it, as his adrenaline start to slow down, and he clutched the wound. "Yeah, you're right... Agh!" He stood, his chest burning in pain and still bleeding. Just a little while longer, right? Just... a little bit longer. I'm not going to die twice! He jumped at another one which had gotten past the slowing Aurelio, and dove his sword straight into its face, not even giving it a chance to use its tongue. "Riya, hurry up! We're going to die if you don't! All of us!"

[Shin]

"I refuse to die here!" Aurelio yelled as he took another swing with his axe, decapitating another one of the horde.

CRACK!

Looking down the pole of his axe, he could see that the head had come clean off. The axe he was using had served him for almost two years now, it had to give way at some point. Ironically, he was going to replace it when he re-entered Astarte. Abandoning his axe and drawing his sword, he re-entered the skirmish.

"Not good, my axe has had it. This thing will have to do for now, it's a bit small for my liking." he announced. Swords were alright, the weight reduction was appreciated but he was definitely one for axes. Heck, even a claymore would have been good. "Lucretia? How are you holding out?" he called, not entirely sure where she was. "Where's that punk from earlier?"

He lunged his sword into the eye of a chameleon, it quickly withdrew. This seemed to be a good target, with the howling wind, they could only rely on their eyesight. A trickle of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, he couldn't keep this up for too long. He'd experienced worse on his travels, but not by much.

"How's everyone coping? I'm starting to feel it now" he shouted, he was guessing that the others were in a similar situation.

[CT075]

Ormis had almost run smack into Grant, but managed to skid to a stop in time. He'd waved down the glares that they had all directed at him, and instead rolled to avoid a scything claw.

"God- Agh!"

One swipe, and his guard was down. These things were strong, they'd managed to knock down his block like it was nothing. As he looked around for help, he realized that there were way too many of them, and everyone was being pressed hard to survive. Ironically, he'd been pushed further back than everyone else, and was now almost at the cliff's edge. At that moment, Ormis decided to do something reckless and stupid. He rushed the first one head on, striking it in-between the eyes, causing it to rear back. Right at that moment, he leaped on top of it. Pulling a length of rope out from his belt, and tried to use it to control the raging monster. Instead, it threw him off almost immediately. Ormis landed, hard, and had the wind knocked out of him for a few seconds. Blinking and looking up, he found long claw-marks on his arm, and leg, and felt blood trickling down his back.

Not yet... I'm not a legend yet!

The boy rolled backwards, almost colliding with Aurelio's legs. He slid around the man's stance instead, leaping up to strike the one menacing him with the hilt of his sword, knocking it back a few steps.

"Hey there! Remember me?"

Edited June 7, 2011 by Camtech075

[ReformBlade]

With everyone crying to hurry up not reaching her ears, she got up when she was ready, not a moment sooner or later. Her body was tired and yet flowing with energy as she stood up, her eyes darted about, tracking each chameleon, concentrating on them alone, and she let her energy out. The others would notice the immediate area's temperature was rising rapidly, but the main show was just beginning. Her arms outstretched, she let it all go. The chameleons began to feel pain out of nowhere, the air around them warping, until... they began exploding, one by one, starting with the ones nearest to Carrion. She was trembling with the amount of energy flowing out of her, but she maintained it. none of the chameleons knew what was going on, and the explosions were occurring faster and faster until there were none left.

She could no longer sense any of the lizards nearby, either via combustion or running away in fear. She didn't open her eyes, she didn't have to in order to guess at what the mountain pass looked like at this point. Blood, guts and bone were strewn everywhere to the point that you wouldn't be able to take two steps without stepping on any of it. If her magic hadn't drained her to the point of unconsciousness, the smell might've done the job just as well.

Grant had to shield himself from the lizard shrapnel being so close to it all, but he came out unscathed, but the sight of the aftermath of her magic left him in a sorry state. "This... this is what I'm protecting?" Was all he could think. Any explanation he would hear from Adrian could not possibly be enough to justify working with someone who is able to work such monstrous miracles...

[Caliban of Sycorax]

Lucretia was about to finish another lizard when it exploded right in front of her. The force of the blow sent her flying backwards some ways, and she landed on a patch of snow. As she slowly got up, bruised but alive, she looked to Carrion.

"That's the Witch? I don't know if I can take her on like that..." She said to herself. "And I don't know if the others could either."

She decided to return to the group, all covered in blood and chameleon innards. Her swords were drenched as was she. All she could see was red.

[CT075]

Ormis was about to swing around for another go at the ones he'd just narrowly evaded when they all started exploding.

"What the- HOLY SHIT!"

He managed to avoid getting drenched with lizard guts, somehow. When he could see again, he found himself next to Grant, who was standing looking utterly horrified at the results of Scarlet's magic. Ormis was pretty shocked himself, but Grant looked almost petrified with fear. Ormis was about to say something when his vision flickered, and he found himself leaning on Grant's shoulder for support.

He glanced over his shoulder, at his back.

"F-fuck..."

What he had originally believed to be a small, minor cut was in actuality a huge, gaping wound, stretching from his shoulder to the opposite hip. It was still bleeding.

"G-god... dammit... Ugh..."

The last thing he remembered was falling on Grant, still trying to regain his balance.

[Nanami Touko]

These explosions barely phased Adrian, having been one of them before. Of course, getting splattered with the guts of the chameleons did, a little, but not enough to stop him from what he was going to do. He spotted Ormis, though, the kid didn't look like he was going to be getting anywhere soon. Cursing under his breath, he jumped down the ledge to where Carrion was, pulled the unconscious girl onto his shoulder, and shot back up the ledge as quickly as he could. The heat having melted all of the snow in the area was making it easier for him to move, but the snow was still coming down. He took one look back at Ormis, still pissed that he couldn't have brought the boy with him. "I'll come back for ya, I swear." Of course, this was the point where Adrian's body finally caught up to him, and he felt it. His adrenaline was still pumping, so he kept running, but the gash in his chest opened up again as he ran, causing no end of agony for him. He was sure that Aurelio or the girl would chase him, and he could hear wing beats of some sort. I've still got to try and get away! By this point he'd made it to the wall the chameleons had come from, and was climbing it furiously.

Edited June 7, 2011 by seph1212

[ReformBlade]

Grant came to from his shock, looking up to the sky to avoid looking at the total destruction below, noticing a pegasus flying about. "What...?" he muttered as an Ormis fell on him, making the man look back down to earth again, wanting to bring the witch to justice again. However, Ormis didn't look too well, his wound gaping and bleeding. Grabbing the kid he made some room with his cloak to lay him down and took out one of his only potions in the high hopes that it'd speed up the regenerative powers in the kid. "Come on... work, dammit!" His worrying lead to more worrying, and more notably, to Carrion, who wasn't lying where she should have been. The knight came to one conclusion, his face contorting in his rage. Grant was absolutely furious at this point, shouting at the top of his lungs, "ADRIAAAAN... GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!"

[Nanami Touko]

Adrian hit the top of the cliff, shoving Carrion onto it, and laying down. "Finally, I can catch a brea--"

"ADRIAAAAN... GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!"

He literally jumped to his feet from his laying position, almost slipping back down the ledge but catching his foot and placing it back down. He could feel his legs starting to shake, and he knew he had to move, but he couldn't. He was frozen, a look of terror on his face more powerful than when the lizards had shown themselves. "I've got to k-keep moving, now!" He blinked back into reality, picking Carrion back up and running, the rest of the mountain on a mostly downhill slope. Of course, he was still bleeding, and if his adrenaline ran out, he'd probably collapse. His mind kept running, though, as Grant's scream echoed through it over and over again. If I stop now, I die. I can't stop, I can't stop. I don't want to die again! Eyes wide, he kept running, not stopping for anything.

Edited June 7, 2011 by seph1212

[Caliban of Sycorax]

"Dammit." Lucretia cursed the air silently as she remembered her flight from home.

"LUCRETIA! GET BACK HERE, YOU UNGRATEFUL...!!"

She knew what had to be done. She immediately took off in Adrian's direction, in the hopes of catching him, her mother's words echoing in her mind.

[Nanami Touko]

Adrian looked back, not seeing anyone right behind him. Alright, that gives me a minute. He dashed behind a rock, setting Riya against it. He knew he should've bought some potions, but it was too late now. He tore off the rest of his shirt, looking down at the gash in his chest for a moment. The bleeding was stopping, but his running wasn't helping it. It was actually healing at an alarming rate, and he could only blame that on this new body. It still hurt, and was still bleeding, so he took his shirt and tied it around himself, tying it tight enough to sting. "Ugh... That's gonna hurt for a bit, but I'm not bleeding anymore..." He picked up Riya once more, ready to run, as he started to hear the faint echo of footprints behind him. He glanced back, but the snow was too heavy to see who it was following him. "If it's Grant, I'm dead. Just gotta keep going." He was less worried about the wound, now, as the bleeding was being stopped. He started running again, almost halfway down the other side of the mountain.

[Shin]

"Feh, I'm surprised you didn't get eaten. You must have found a pretty good hiding place." he teased. He knew he'd get Ormis' goat.

Aurelio was very much surprised to see the Chameleons explode before his own eyes. He braced himself, not taking too much damage but still being splattered with guts.

"Heh, looks like she saved us after all." he thought. He had seen magic before but not quite at that level. Seeing Adrian run off into the distance, he decided that chasing him would be futile. For some bizarre reason, the boy was far less injured or tired than he should be. There was no chance Aurelio could catch up, he was tired, pretty beaten up and very cold. Very, very cold.

Before Adrian disappeared he called out;

"Kid! I'll see you around! I'm sure our paths will cross again! Look after your girlfriend!"

He laughed to himself. He was saying goodbye to the very ones he'd set out to catch. Something was up thought, this entire witch hunt seemed fishy. He then noticed Grant tending to Ormis. The boy was easily the worst injured out of the three remaining. Having no potions, he did the only thing he could. He began tearing strips out of his own jacket, creating makeshift bandages. They weren't the best, but they'd provide pressure and stop some of the bleeding. Wrapping them tightly around the boy's body, he faced Grant.

"I know you want to continue the chase, but this kid's pretty badly hurt. We're near the top any way, so we can head down the way they went. Probably not quite as quickly but we can catch up with them once we find this kid a doctor. I'm not sure a healing potion will cut it."

He wondered how Lucretia was fairing, she had been pretty quiet during the battle. She was pretty competent, he reassured himself, she'd probably be fine.

"So, who's carrying?"

[ReformBlade]

Grant's rage was making his blood boil, and quite honestly giving him a headache at this point. "That woman is chasing a murderer, a murderer who threatened to kill my family I might add, and you expect me not to go after her?" He said, knowing what the answer was already. The kid's wound could easily get infected out here, and the cold might staunch it for now but it won't help it heal. And the potion was just a minor painkiller at this point. "Whatever, it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth if this kid died when I could've prevented it. I'll carry him..." As carefully as he could, he picked Ormis up and put him on his back, Grant's cloak on top of him. "It's gonna be a long trip back since the southern gate is trashed due to that bitch, or I guess we could stop off at Estarna instead." the knight said, emphasizing what he thought of Carrion at the moment.

[Caliban of Sycorax]

She kept running, with memories and ghosts of her past plaguing her the whole way. As she ran she felt herself go back in time almost, to that day six years ago when she fled from her mother.

It was summer in Miyako and thus the snow was little, and most of it instead was rain. She was exhausted and her mother constantly prodded her for more.

"You're not done yet, Lucretia!"

"KEEP GOING!"

"YOU'RE NOT FINISHED UNTIL I SAY SO!"

She suddenly just started running. She didn't know where or why, but she just knew that running was what had to happen.

"YOU BITCH!"

She ignored her mother and just kept going.

"FUCK YOU!"

She could hear her mother's footsteps. She knew her mother was fast, but she just had to hope that she was faster.

She shook off the memory, but it kept coming. All the pain and torture she encountered, all the trauma just came back. Lucretia dropped to the ground, body shaking and convulsing with pain, and screamed. She gripped her swords so hard her hands started to bleed. Despite the cold she was drenched in sweat.

"I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!" She cried to the air.