Fallen

[KittKat chunky~]

Lirael sighed as she crouched low, watching the three fallen who were around the large dead tree. Two of them seemed to be trying to wake the third who lay on the ground. Her tail swished agitatedly and she frowned before finally deciding to walk down to meet them.

"Wait!" The voice shouted suddenly in her mind. Loud and urgent, it was almost like a physical blow to Lirael, knocking the air from her lungs. She dropped back down below the rocks and drew her sword in one sharp motion. Her bright eyes flicked back and forth between shadows fervently, the curved moonlight steel of the sword humming softly at her side. There appeared to be nothing around beside herself and the three fallen down below.

"What is it?" She hissed in return through gritted teeth.

"There is something else here... Not of our kind but mortal blood." The creature's voice slithered slowly, pausing and rattling. Tantalizingly the creature stretched out from Lirael's body, tendrils of shadow oozing over the rocks and debris. It paused as though sniffing the air and ended with a dark chuckle. "I can smell it's fear, so rank and delicious..."

With growing speed now the shadow creature quested this way and that, slithering over rocks and pebbles. It seemed to be heading around the edge of the slope that encircled the dead tree clearing. "Wait... Stop!" Lirael whispered and crawled after it. The shadow creature was tethered to her but she could feel a hard pulling inside, an overpowering fear that drew her onwards. It stretched and slithered, further and further, long fingers of darkness inky black against the flickering light of the fire from down below. The creature slowly encircled Sin's hiding place. Turning it's shapeless head from one side to the other, questing blindly, mere inches from the child.

"Stop!"  Lirael shouted the single word as she drew her sword up and plunged it down into the creature's torso. The blade pierced the soft ground and the creature writhed, suddenly pinned in place around the white steel. It screamed in her mind as it slowly shrank and slithered back until her shadow finally retained it's normal shape. The last echoes of Lirael's voice rang around the clearing as she knelt on one knee, breathing heavily.

[Shadis]

*Shadis frowned at his failed attempts to rouse Emilikeia, and turned to Aura* "She's out cold. Alive, but out cold. We should take her with us as we search for the others. I-"


 *He stops mid-sentence as he sees an inky, shadowy creature slink among the rocks not far from him, and another figure strike it down with a sword. He draws his blade*


"Who goes there? Be you friend, or foe?" *He shouts towards the unknown female figure wielding the sword*

[ArcaneDragoness]

*Aura turned to whoever Shadis was addressing, and drew her blades in defense. She hovered near the unconscious dragoness in a protective stance. As Shadis was occupied with the current newcomer, she noticed something else, a figure hiding near the female that attacked the shadowy creature.*


"That goes for you as well!" she said as she addressed her. "who are you two, and what are your intentions?"

*she almost regretted her harshness when she saw that one of them seemed scared and was trembling when she came forward, apparently the victim of the shadowy creature. She stayed on her guard anyway, just in case it was a clever ruse.*

[Aldrea945]

Sin turned quickly at the noise, too scared to even scream as she scrambled back, knocking against the rocks.  'No!  NO, not here, please not here!' she thought, adrenaline making her previous trembling so violent she couldn't even begin to move away.  Tears made streaks in her dirty fur, if only for a tiny moment, and her wings pressed close around her.  She couldn't die yet, please she couldn't.

As she heard the other Fallen move closer, she found few words but to beg them not to hurt her, not to rip her apart.  They were desperate and slurred and useless, and saying them only made it so real.  They moved too much for her to see them clearly with her addled mind, blurring.  "Please, p-please, I-I'll do whatever you w-want, please d-don't hurt me," she whimpered.

Emilikei's head hurt horribly, her vision blurred, and her mind felt so slow it might as well be molasses.  And yet she tried to look out at the chaos around her, hear even when it sounded like it was through salt water.  What was happening out there?  Didn't they know she just wanted to sleep?

[Suzumibachii]

Abbygale slowly sat up from the rather impressive crater she had left, by a sheer stroke of luck her trajectory though the air had positioned her perfectly to slam right into the open maw of a cave. Perhaps a bit of luck was on her side as it had left her hidden for a little longer than the others. She would slowly stand up before brushing her hand though her snow white hair the black and red streaks contrasting it heavily "That was less than pleasant..."  Placing her hand against the cold stone of the cave floor she felt how it resonated around her feeling the pain inflected upon the very soil from the mistake they all had made. She would set it right she though to herself as she stepped out of the cave, securing her weapons to her back before glancing around the barren landscape...

[KittKat chunky~]

For a moment the clearing around the dead tree was filled with a bright flash of light as the shadow creature faded. Lirael stumbled and crashed back into the ground with enough force to knock the breath from her lungs. She lay there for a moment, coughing and her chest heaving as her vision slowly returned, listening to the voices of several people calling out to her as well as whoever the Midnight Wolf had attacked.


"I mean no harm!" Lirael finally managed to gasp out, pushing herself slowly to her feet. She winced and clutched her side as she met the gaze of two wolves, both dark furred and covered in crimson and deep purple markings respectively. With slow movement Lirael picked up the sword, which had been thrown several feet away into the dirt, and slid it into its sheath. She held her empty palms up, faun tail swishing nervously as she approached them.

[Shadis]

*The grey and purple wolf lowered his saber upon seeing the faun-ish female, then sheathed it* "L-Lirael? Goddess of the Moon? Is that you?"

[ArcaneDragoness]

Aura's Heart sank as she immediately put her blades back in their sheaths, letting Shadis address Lirael She might have pushed a bit far that time, this girl is obviously mortal and way too scared to pose any kind of threat.


She crouched down to the shivering creature. "Hey.....shhhhh.....It's alright" She took her hands and held them to try her best to comfort her "Don't worry we are not here to hurt you, you can trust us. What happened? Is there anything we can do to help?"

[Aldrea945]

Sin's wings trembled like paper in crisp wind, wrapped around her body as far as they'd go.  She had no more tears left, though her sobs still racked her tiny frame.  The deities in front of her were so big, and those teeth...  New tremors wracked her body as she imagined those canines ripping into her body when they got hungry.  She tried to speak, to beg again, but could do little more than whimper.  He mouth was too dry, her stomach too empty to throw up, her head too light to run.  'Not here, please, Stars, please!'

[KittKat chunky~]

Lirael stopped, staring in bewilderment. Whoever they were recognised her, clearly other deities, indeed who else would look as they did. She nodded her head but didn't step any closer. "Yes..." It was all she could think to say in reply to the first wolf's question. Lirael frowned and continued, both hands still held up openly. "Who should ask this of me?"

"Shadis, a lesser god... Of shadows and darkness I believe." The voice had returned, slithering through Lirael's mind and ending in a drawn out chuckle like wet bones clattering. "Only a fool would believe he can hold power over the darkness of twilight...

Still frowning Lirael shook her head, hissing between her teeth under her breath. Shut it foul creature... I banished you! She glanced back up at Shadis, trying not to betray the fear that ran through her eyes. The twilight creature laughed again in the back of her mind.

"Oh, you did?" The voice hissed into silence, leaving Lirael standing before the group of fallen gods, a sharp pain in her side and inky darkness outside the small circle of firelight.

[Suzumibachii]

Abbygale would glance around the landscape clearly trying to find anybody to ask for directions or even give her a proper indication of where she was. It all looked so different now, sure she had visited the planet many times in the past mostly to make sure the soil and ground would stay fertile, but now even her power couldn't bring life back to it anymore. She could curse under her breath at her own weakness before seeing a flash of light in the distance. Without a word she burst into a full sprint towards it, maybe it was an explosion and somebody was hurt, maybe it was the darkness hurting somebody...or maybe it was a fellow god, it didnt matter to Abby she only wanted redemption and for life to return to the world...feeling the ground underneath her was painful.

[Kaya]

Emilikeia growled low and forced her eyes open. everything was blurred and she knew the others were talking but couldn't make out what they were saying. She stirred, as she did her left wing screamed in protest. 'oh that's just great... I finally get out of that darned place, shoved down here and end up feeling like crap and end up with a broken wing.'. she thought to herself agitated. Emilikeia knew full well it could have been a lot worse.. they all could have been killed and she was happy that she wasn't.

she blinked and rubbed her eyes as her mind started clearing along wither vision. she saw Aura, Luriel, and Shadis all near a scared ball of what looked like a small bat. She felt a small pang of pity for the poor creature, no doubt it was scared out of its poor mind..

"leave the poor thing alone" she managed to rasp out quietly, she had to repeat herself a few times before her voice was loud enough for  the others to hear her. "leave the poor thing alone i'm all the way back here and can see the poor thing is scared out of her wits..."

[Aldrea945]

Even as the deities spoke, Sin shivered against the rocks.  And yet, even as the wind whipped faster, harsher around them, all of the group could hear a quiet, rasping moan not far enough away to make anyone comfortable.  Sin's eyes, previously closed, flew open and she went as still as stone.  'No, NO, not them!' she thought.  Then, as the scent of rot whiffed by them, she started screaming.  "NO, NO!!  Not again, please not them!"


Another whiff cemented knowledge they'd had even before falling.  Corvicas.  Horrible, near soulless things the Dark ones created like flies that rotted and decayed, even as they still walked the world.  They searched for other souls, to fill the void of what had been taken.  They ripped them out of every man, woman, and child after paralyzing the victims with their screams.  And when they wasn't enough, they often ate what was on the bodies before they left.  Awful, horrid monsters rose from what remained, bent on the same goal. Every one of them had the same thought as figures drifted on the horizon.  They had to move.

[Shadis]

*Shadis frowned and drew his sword once more* "We will protect you, Mortal. But first, we must get to a safe place. Seeing as you know the area best, which way is the safest out of here?"

[Suzumibachii]

Continued her sprint towards the light her small frame allowing her to move quite rapidly as she dodged past any obstacles in her way. As she got closer she could make out that there were a few people already gathered only for her to shudder at the rasping moans coming from close by, it was not natural and she didn't know what could produce a sound like that. She noticed Shadis draw his blade only to call out while still in a full sprint "Shadis? You got any idea whats making that sound?" She called out before slowing down and reaching towards her own weapons her hands gripping the metal rods tightly as she herself prepared for a fight instinctively.