Black. All around Ilayda was blackness. She could feel nothing, see nothing, hear nothing. Black, everything was black. She hated it, but at the same time it was strangely peaceful. Ilayda tried to move but her body was unresponsive, it was as if it didn't exist at all. It was eerie and disconcerting. Still she felt oddly calm, almost as if she couldn't feel panic. Suddenly the blackness around her was ripped apart by something red, fiery, and painful. It started out slow and pulsing, but slowly became more and more unbearable. She could feel her body again, yet she could not move it. Desperately she tried to move. Nothing happened. She was trapped by the blackness that still lingered around her. A she lay there in pain however, she realized something strange. Even though firey pain was wracking her body and red was ripping apart her peace, strength and energy seemed to be flowing into her. Or maybe it was something slippery and dark that felt like death that was flowing out of her. Ilayda wished for it the pain to stop. Anything to make it stop. She grabbed blindy and was shocked to find her fingers respond. They dug into the ground next to her. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and the weight of her surroundings crashed down on her. Yells and screams and the sound of a tidal wave mixed with the ceaseless pounding of rain. Ilayda looked around dizzily and saw the rat man jerking and foaming at the mouth, his hand laid across the still throbbing wound on fher back. Shocked, she rolled out from under his arm. A roar caused her head to whip around. Fear knocked her breathless, for a giant white creature was high above her it's eyes hungry. "Wake up!" desperately she shook the rat, trying to bring him back to reality, but he was unresponsive. "Help! SOMEBODY HELP!" grabbing the rat mans arms she began to drag him through the rain, towards the building behind her that seemed to be the only shelter, hoping desperately that she would be fast enough to keep them both alive.
When his eyes opened, Eenzthk felt himself being drug across the across the ground. He struggled slightly in the half-elf's arms already feeling his health declining. He swallowed hard, with his ears back to avoid vomiting. Speaking softly to the half elf's head. If you want some of the emotional pain back, now would be the time to tell me. His eyes watered feeling a burning deep inside his stomach. Tears welled in the corner of his eyes. The problem with energy is he could never predict exactly what negativity he would be taking from the subject. Familiar as it may be to having taken such emotional burdens from "clients" before, he was not enjoying the somber sense of inferiority and insecurity that came from being a half-elf. He meant to drain the pain and suffering of the physical wound, he must have over-shot.
If you want some of the emotional pain back, now would be the time to tell me. The words whispered in her head, and Ilayda almost dropped the rat in shock.. "Stop doing that!" Right now, with a giant demon and pouring rain, was not the best time to recieve unexpected suprises. "And what emotional pain? What did you do?" There was a touch of anger mingled with fear in her voice. She really had no idea what had happened to her. All she could remember after passing out was the intense pain and the sudden awakening. Her wound was gone, though her body still felt achey. In truth she did feel a little better, maybe a little lighter. Fear shot through her, what did the rat man now know about her?
It had started to rain, thunder sounding from the skies, scaring most of the smaller demons away, but the King demon was as active as ever. He had grown tired of Dalia's illusions and opened his mouth wide to draw the remaining two to their demise. He then faced the group. Most had moved away by now. Kilth shot another arrow, which did little other than bounce off the demon's mask. It lunged forward. Clairc fiddled with his remote desperately, shaking nervously in the rain. His golden droid sprinted forward only to be taken up and crushed by the demon's horrible claws, plates, springs and screws flying in all directions. "Get back, now!" Clairc wasn't one for shouting, but the present situation called for it - the demon was upon them. Dalia and Bella turned to run as Kilth and Shara let loose another volley of shots. The arrows again did little to stop the demon. It threw its shadowy arm out, grabbing Bella around her torso. She flailed in its hold as the monstrosity brought her closer to its mouth. "Bleah!" An arrow flew from the bowstring of a moving Shara and hit the demon right in the throat, igniting violently in red flames. It howled like an injured dog, only at ten times the volume, crushing the helpless Bella in its hand. Dalia stopped as the others ran past her, horrified at the scene before her. Another person she didn't know to die for her sake. She noticed Clairc was staring at her, a look of utmost seriousness on his face, like he was telling her to leave. She didn't know what he was about to do, but whatever it was, it better work. The wind and rain whipped carelessly around his face and the creature roared viciously at the pain in its throat in the background. Clairc turned to face its ugly mask. The demon reared and was now right before him, but he didn't move. They eyed each other. It's preposterous. The very idea of such a thing goes against everything we know about Runeology! He heard the voices of the dwarfish runesmiths over and over in his head, like haunting poltergeists. But he knew he could do it, and now he had the perfect test subject. Clairc threw away the remote in his right hand and quickly drew the sword at his hip. The demon looked like it was smiling. “Navitas... energy.” he whispered in dwarven, activating the rune he tattooed on the palm of his right hand, the symbol erupting into fiery light. Clairc could not see the energy around him, but he felt it, surrounding him, its currents flowing through his body and into his sword. “You see, every living thing emits a certain amount of spirit energy.” Clairc said matter-of-factly. He eyed his opponent, “Some more than others. This energy doesn't like to be removed for its source. It will do everything in its power to go back to where it came! “Teneo... hold.” he activated the rune on his sword. This was the unpleasant part. The rune triggered the flow of his own spirit to enter his blade, forming a field around the collected energy, holding it in place, exhausting him to his very core. His blade began to glow bright blue as the external spirit energy continued to accumulate, until the blade appeared to be nothing more than flaming light. He fought desperately to keep his hold of the power, sweat rolling into his eyes, his vision blurring. Clairc aligned himself sideways with his target, pointing his sword directly behind him, posing to attack. Clairc smiled. “From the fires of hell you came, and to the fires you shall return!” That's when it happened. “ENERGY WAVE!” Sparks flew as he raked the tip of his sanguine blade across the ground, swinging his sword in a upward swipe, releasing his hold on the energy. What could only be described as a burning wave of blue light lashed out from his sword, expanding in every direction as I barreled towards the demon. Engulfing the devil, and from what he could tell, half a city block, the fiery light overcame Clairc's senses, blinding him momentary. The deafening sound of rock and stone being torn from the ground, being reduced to nothingness, filled his ears. He fought to stay on his feet as the winds created by the attack threatened to send him flying. After what seemed like hours, but was only a few seconds, the blast dissipated, the energy returned to its original sources. He slowly started to regain his sight as everything quieted down. It was complete desolation. All that remained of where the demon once stood was a scorched trench, five buildings wide, thirty feet deep, nearly a quarter mile long. What was left of the demon dropped out of the rift in the sky, and began to disintegrate to ash. Most of everything that wasn't directly caught in the blast was now covered in seared rubble and ash. Despite his pride, his blade rolled out of his hand and fell to his knees, black ash falling from gray sky like snow, landing on his shoulders. His next words came between gasping breaths, nearly as a hushed whisper. “And that's why I was kicked out of the academy. I have done what every rune expert said was impossible – and that makes me a monster....” Clairc fell silent and collapsed to the ground.
Broggen rose to his feet with a groan. All he remembered was a brilliant flash of light an incredible blast, larger than an airship full of hydrogen exploding. “What in the,” Broggen turned and looked out of the gate. The most unsettling thing was that there was nothing to be seen. The demon was gone, and in its place was a massive crater. The scar in the ground was shaped like teardrop. The dwarf followed the lines of broken earth to their peak where the crumpled body of the machinist lay. “Hammers and Ash,” he whispered under his breath. Without a thought for dangers that still might lurk the dwarf crossed back across the courtyard. As he ran he caught sight of Ilayda and the rat, the girl appeared to have been moving the weakened creature when the blast hit. It was good to see her on her feet again. “What in the runes happened?” he shouted over to them as he ran. In another moment he was beside Clairc, his body was limp and pallid. Broggen presumed him dead when a nudge to the shoulder elicited no response. Suddenly aware of the grim half elf girl beside him, the dwarf glanced up at her with the wonder of the awful scene still fresh on his face. “Did he do this? Did he banish that thing at his own his own cost?” Broggen didn’t expect an answer from the girl, he knew nothing of her other than that she had gone with Dalia and the others and that she smelled strongly of quality Steelweed. Looking around again he saw the body of the lovely Bella cast in the corner. Who was left? Ilyada and the rat perhaps, the Halvsie with the bow and the scars of her face was across the way, and then of course there was the Steelweed girl. “A moment like this calls for a drought of the smoke,” he said solemnly, “I’ve got a match if you’ve got any spares.”
"Stop doing that! And what emotional pain? What did you do?" Eenzthk's good eye went wide, watching the massive blue light erupt behind them as the half-elf pulled him along. The ebbing blue seemed to engulf everything in his line of sight and just like that the chaos of the moment was gone. The demon gone, a black crater left in its place. He was still too weak to move and whoever cast such a spell was likely dead...too much power.He finally cursed with his mind to the elf again. Seeing as we're at a linguistic fault here...I don't speak your tongue, I'm sorry Chit, but I have to give some of it back. Just like that he screeched a little and let out a slight amount of negative energy into the elf. It's just the sad stuff, I promise. I can handle the physical...but your mental demons are your own, I can't wear them
Dalia: Dalia opened her eyes. A moment ago everything was chaos, and now it was silent. Ash fell from the sky, quickly covering the cobblestoned ground in a layer of light grey. The king demon had been slain, but at what cost? She cast a glance over to Clairc, who lay at the tip of the tear-shaped crater his attack had created. That was the most destructive rune Dalia had ever seen. “What in the runes happened?” Broggen pushed past her, making his way over to the fallen half elf. He knelt and nudged Clairc's shoulder. “Did he do this? Did he banish that thing at his own cost?” He didn't banish it. He destroyed it. Never before had she heard of a king demon falling to the hands of a mortal. Broggen was saying something again, but Dalia could no longer hear him - she was assessing the situation. The city was in complete ruins. The once notorious, bustling capital of the human empire an eradicated mess on a cliffside. Bella was dead, so was Clairc, and the half giant mortally wounded. That brought the number of fatalities to four, not to mention the innocent citizens and nobles who fell to demonic wrath along the way - all because she had failed. And it was only going to get worse. Kilth: The most incredible thing he had ever experienced. That was the only way to describe the incident. Even though Kilth couldn't see, the light blinded him. It felt like being reborn. All had gone quiet, and he eased his bow arm as soft bits of ash caressed his skin. It was just like the first day of winter, with all of the harshness to look forward to as well. Whatever happened here wasn't a one-off, Kilth had read enough history to understand that. He had left his village to explore the world, and this was his chance. "So what now, Klara?" he asked Dalia in a hushed tone, who he knew stood only a couple of strides from him.
Before the rat man could answer her, a brialliant blue light erupted across Ilayda's vision. Her eyes blinked furiously as it dissipated, trying to regain her sight. At the same moment the world suddenly went eerily quiet. Where moments ago Claric and the demon had been, there was simply nothing except a huge, blackened crater. Seeing as we're at a linguistic fault here...I don't speak your tongue, I'm sorry Chit, but I have to give some of it back. It's just the sad stuff, I promise. I can handle the physical...but your mental demons are your own, I can't wear them Sadness seemed to trickle inside of her. The lightness she had felt upon waking disappeared under the heavy burden of her insecurity. She gasped as though winded, not realizing how much her mental demons weighed her down until they were returned to her. Closing her eyes briefly, she turned away from the rat man as the dwarf yelled. [“What in the runes happened? Did he do this? Did he banish that thing at his own cost?” Leaving the rat behind, Ilayda raced over to the dwarf and Claric. Part of her wanted to know if he had somehow survived the flash of light, but another part of her purely wanted to know what was going on. Maybe if she could figue out what the situation was she could figue out a way to leave it all behind. A way to escape. After all running away and escaping was what she did best. As she neared the group standing by the crater she noticed Bella's body thrown carelessly to the side, broken and dead. The sight made bile rise up in her throat. This was all too much. Escape, she had to escape. "What is going on?" She said aloud, not sure who or what she was asking, only hoping for something that would help.
