The Castle (IC) [M] {04}

[Cogidubnus]

He was almost dead.

Visions danced in his head, half-nightmares of grotesque spirits and darkness, explosions of light like he'd been pressing on his eyes, nameless terrors and fears and dreams that all at once impressed themselves on his mind.

He wasn't aware of himself in the least. Broken, naked, and bloody, he lay like a dead weight. He would not awake for a long, long time - if ever again.

The wolf in him, for the first time, slept, overwhelmed.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

In response to Ryn's question Mel shook her head, "Holy seals? I only have theoretical knowledge. I would do better trying to crash a section of the castle down to slow their escape."

Light of a dim and watery grey showed ahead of them. The contrast of the natural light  to the living red light of the hellscape made it seem beautiful to the dragon and she redoubled her efforts to reach it.

[Boog]

Jeremiah shook his head, trying in vain to clear it. Everything was rushing and yelling and...
Mel flew through the watery lights; a bank of some sort of smoke from the hellfire below, weakly clinging at the ascending adventurers before falling away. Above them the hellmouth pulsed like some profane living thing.

--

More things from hell were streaming from the castle whatever way they could. A few of the half-headed doppelgangers from before scrambled through the hall outside the chapel, one of them tripping and falling in a patch of light from the door. A robust creature with white fur, and a well tailored suit... Bits of it looked like they were burning or dissolving or streaming away. Two of them ran back, amidst cries of "Leave him!" "The original's gone, there's no hope for 'im!" One grabbed at the white doppelganger's shoulder and tried to drag him away before he dissolved... And then they caught sight of Aisha and Gareeku.
"... You." The Mel double snarled, more loathing put into the word than could ever be heard in the original's tones.
"What did you-? Oh fuck!" The Keaton double turned and saw the two adventurers. "HEY!"

[Aisha deCabre]

Well, great...the tigress thought, her wings straining to fly.  I guess all we can do when we get back is to just close the altar.

Rynkura kept a hold of Cogidubnus, though he felt almost like dead weight, as she kept up alongside Mel through the threshold of Hell's almost unending levels.  She held her breath at intervals through the smoke, just keeping her eyes on the area above...escape that was now so close...

*     *     *

Before Aisha could get an answer, her eyes went instantly back up to where the creatures were still flooding out of the entrance.

The rats were one thing.

But these...

At first, Aisha immediately thought that their comrades had finally made it out of the altar, at long last.  Mel, and Keaton, and perhaps...but looking closer, one could surely feel the adventurer's heart sink and her anger rise.  They were grotesque...half-formed.  They let one of their own dissolve away before turning their eyes to them.  And if Aisha couldn't tell that they weren't their friends by appearance, then certainly, it was the way they spoke to them.

The not-Mel's voice was not gentle, and the real Mel certainly didn't always curse like that.  And the not-Keaton...

Aisha growled and tried to stand up, pointing her sword at each of them.  "Don't you dare come any closer to us," she said, showing her fangs.  The warriors were clearly injured, one glowing gently with a healing light courtesy of the bracer, but for certain nobody was going to stand down.  "I've had enough of hell creatures trying to confuse and kill us all.  What the hell are you and what do you want?"

[Angel]

Everything happened so quickly and yet was understood so slowly...

Jeremiah was found safely by Mel, as was Cog. The latter... well, had it not been for everything already overwhelming her, Ketefe might have broken down and cried out of relief. But none of this mattered after about three seconds. The badly injured Stygian spoke up, something uncharacteristically quiet and sorrowful about his voice. Then, slowly, he dissipated, leaving Keaton empty-handed and the others extremely confused and upset - even after spending a night in Hell.

Ketefe was immobilized, her emotions like scattered pieces of nine separate jigsaw puzzles trying to fit together. She heard the chaos around her, and saw, but nothing really registered. Stygian was dead. Cog had never been dead. They were all very close to dying right now, herself included. Her mind kept retreating to more familiar places, hoping to avoid the enormity of what was going on.

She felt a cold arm scoop her up, and snapped back to attention, startled by the sudden change in temperature - and altitude. Mel had scooped her up, along with the normal-again Jeremiah and a distraught-looking Keaton. They were all heading out of Hell as fast as they could. Ketefe looked around, looking like a lost kitten who's wandered into traffic. The exit was up ahead, and she found herself growing more and more tense as they headed ever coser to that normality which seemed so long ago now...

We're going home....

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel saw the exit rapidly approaching and suddenly realized that she was going too fast to brake in time to drop off her passengers and change size. "Guard yourself, Lady Ryn," shouted the dragon as she started a spell. She created a heavy shield in front of herself and those she carried as she shrunk herself down and slimmed herself out as much as possible while still being able to firmly hold her three friends. Aiming carefully for the center of the door she still heard the cracking and grinding sounds of rock being violently removed from their former locations. For a moment she thought that she would expend all her momentum before the rock gave way and end up stuck, but with a final loud crack the door enlarged and Mel found herself hovering in mid-air in the chapel, a few blue blood droplets flicking from scraped up wings as she fluttered, trying to reorient herself.

[Boog]

"We're... You?" The Keaton-thing replied confusedly. "Or bits of you, I think..." It tugged on the Mockery Mel's sleeve. "Hey, what are we?"
And then the portal exploded, erupting with a goodly sized ton of severely stressed dragon. The Mel double's reaction to the original was immediate, a spell sparking in her hands...
"No." A white hand reached out of the shadows and grabbed The Mel-thing's arm, another double bearing a strong resemblance to Gareeku soon following it. "I think, for the time being, there's been enough of that." It's faceless head turned to quickly whisper something to the Keaton-Double, which nodded awkwardly and ran off...
Stones from the roof began landing around them, but the Gareeku-double simply stood there.

[Aisha deCabre]

"Part of us?" Aisha repeated in almost a mutter, then snorted, keeping her sword up and keeping herself between them and Gareeku despite her pain.  "Right, and I'm the queen of the freakin' castle.  Now for the final time, tell me what you want from us, or I swear I'll drop you where you stand."

It was just then that the floor rumbled with even more of a violent crease, and all attention diverted to the altar...

*     *     *

Rynkura's wings couldn't take much more of the hectic flying.  She was slowly starting to fall behind the dragon and everyone else, still carefully but firmly holding Cogidubnus in her grasp like the most fragile thing in the world.  At least for that moment he was.

That's when she heard Mel's warning and saw the shield rushing around her body.  Looking up, nearly dazed, the tigress spotted what she was aiming for...the stairs, and above it, the end of the line.  The exit out of the altar.

Oh, there was no more a heavenly sight than that...

But Rynkura wasn't dazed for long.  With a quick invocation she too summoned a barrier around herself and the silver wolf as Mel slammed through with a few ear-shattering CRACKS, leaving a cascade of rock to tumble in her wake.  The healer's own shield kept her alive as rocks pummeled it...but any demons behind them had little chance as they were hit and thrown back into oblivion.

There was a rush of air as she finally pushed herself out, and the tunnel of rock and fire was no more in front of her.

As the altar exploded outward, Aisha found the incentive to duck next to Gareeku and place her only remaining arm over her head as shards of marble and stone flew outward.  When she could look again, there they were, she knew it...the real Mel, and Mistress Rynkura, carrying all of their comrades with them, finally escaping the pit.

There was no end to the relief and amazement that the panther felt right then...surely what both adventurers felt right then.  They were alive, as they knew.  And thus they must have gotten rid of the demon bat...

In fact, Aisha had almost forgotten about the not-beings around them.  One fled.  Two remained, including a faceless false Gareeku.

Which Rynkura noticed as she was landing and finding a safe place to put Cogidubnus.  She had shaken herself out of her daze and was looking around in the chapel for the ones they left behind...only to find them injured from her vantage point and surrounded by the most hideous of ghouls...

Which of course, the healer had enough of seeing.

"Aisha, behind you!" the bedraggled tiger roared, putting Cogidubnus down on a bench and raising a hand crackling with electrical light energy in warning to the mock Gareeku.

[Gareeku]

He did not entirely know what was going on. Drifting in and out of consciousness, the white wolf saw something really quite large crash through the portal; something dragon-esque. Had the others finally returned?

It was then that Gareeku noticed a couple of features; distorted versions of his allies and himself. Before he could try to say or do anything, however, Rynkura had appeared, putting a very injured Cog on a bench before before raising a hand to the bastardised version of himself, ready to strike.

"...Wait..." the wolf managed to utter, his voice strong enough that Rynkura would hear.

[Boog]

The Mel-Thing muttered something cultured and caustic-sounding, starting to grow to a size more befitting a dragon... Until the GareekuMockery swatted her about where her nose would be, if the doppleganger had been more complete.
"I said enough." The double reached for its swordbelt and unbuckled it, letting its weapons fall to the ground, and raised its arms. "Listen to me. This whole place is going straight BACK to hell and it's bringing everything inside it with it. We don't want to go back, and I bet after seeing the place you don't either." It stalled off, seeming to think, "I know you don't have much reason to trust us. If it's any consolation we don't either. But if we stop to fight now chances are we're DEAD." There was a groan from the direction of the hole Mel and the group had burst out of, the stone and morter of the chapel floor crumbling outward. "Listen, anything we can offer you is yours if it'll stop a fight here, we just want to survive."
The Mel-double glowered at the Gareeku-Mockery, the knot of flesh it had in place of a head momentarily shifting into Mel's expression to match.

Jeremiah missed all of this, as he was still waiting for the room to stop spinning.

[Aisha deCabre]

Except for the rumbling threatening to cause the chapel itself to topple over, things then seemed to freeze and go silent between the adventurers in the room, both real and false.

Rynkura, who was on the verge of attacking the pseudo-Gareeku, stopped and managed to spare a glance towards the real white wolf as she heard is voice, strong though only barely awake.  There was a pause before the Healer regained her composure and dispelled her magic.  She had gotten the idea for the reason of his urgency and stepped back.  "My apologies, sir Manoko.  I believe my short time imprisoned has temporarily changed me somewhat."

Aisha however was still on guard, staying nearby and listening to one of the creatures finally give a reasoning.  It's true, there seemed to be a bigger danger looming ahead.  "I don't think there's anything you could offer us, really," she said with a bit of a snarl in her voice.  "Unless you could give me a new arm or find my lost holy sword.  And honestly, I don't see how you could pull off surviving outside this place.  You're bastardized versions of us from Hell, who'd as soon be attacked as take a step out."

"Aisha," Rynkura softly chastised.  "Any creature that would first negotiate before an attack at least deserves a chance to speak; though," she said, turning to the thing.  "My student has a point.  And if you're so intent on all of us surviving, then is there anywhere in the rest of the Castle we could go for a moment at least?  There are many of us who are injured or exhausted and in need of healing and respite."

She gestured towards those in question with her staff.  Aisha with an intensely blood-stained cloth tied around the upper portion of one leg, Gareeku with a slowly-closing gash in his abdomen bandaged and also stained red, Cogidubnus unconscious and near death, and the others with various bruises and cuts...

And the almost-forgotten raven on the rafters, which had decided to fly to avoid any more falling debris and was now staring intently into the void, as if contemplating it.

[Boog]

The not-Gareeku shrugged, a gesture disturbingly akin to that of the original.
"With your reputations you're just as likely to be attacked, but I'm pretty sure that regardless of that, if given the decision that we ourselves face, I believe you too would decide that you would rather not die." The Mel-Thing grumbled something about insane bigoted beings that, thankfully, wasn't too distinct. "As for a place to rest..." Part of the roof above landed next to Mel with a crash, "I wouldn't count on it. But if you want a token of good faith, I believe a sufficiently good healer could be found to help." The mockery-wolf turned in the direction of Rynkura, with what others would call a grin tinging its voice. "However, I believe it's understandable if you require more and anticipated that..."
There were footsteps from further down the hall, the Keaton-Mockery returning with the body of the Aisha-Mockery slain earlier.
"You said an arm, yes?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel, still hovering in the midair in the thankfully large chapel, looked down with a bit of horror at the almost-things, in particular the twisted version of herself. She tightened her grip on Ketefe, Jeremiah, and Keaton, feeling a bit protective. With multiple large broken windows behind her getting at least three friends to safety was still an option until the goal of these hell-creatures became clearer. She wondered if this negotiation was just to delay them until escape was impossible.

[Angel]

When she heard the sound of other voices, not the cacophonous background of hell, Ketefe finally opened her eyes and let her muscles relax just a bit (she was still in Mel's arms with Keaton and Jeremiah, and knew that relaxing totally would feel heavy to the dragon).

What they saw in the chapel was simultaneously relieving and worrisome. Aisha and Gareeku were all right, but there were more Mockeries facing them - a Keaton, a Mel, and a Gareeku. Feeling Mel's grip tighten, Ketefe guessed that the dragoness wasn't about to let her drop down and help. Besides the potential of the feline's injuries becoming worse, there was still the frog and jackal to worry about, and the likelihood of escape decreasing if any of them were let go. For the time being, she simply twitched her hanging tail and narrowed her eyes, listening to the negotiations taking place below. There was a chance that Aisha could get a new arm...for the panthress's sake, Ketefe was willing to hold her peace.

[Sunblink]

Keaton had remained in a state of shock all throughout the escape. She just remained slack and unresisting in Mel's arms, strangely unblinking, before her eyes finally settled when she seemed to grow tired of simply staring into oblivion. After all of the trials and fights that the group had encountered in the underworld, Keaton was mostly caked in blood and detritus. The yellow color of her fur had been almost entirely covered with splatters and smudges of crimson, some of it half-congealed and the rest flaking whenever the jackal stirred. Some of it had started to burn by the time Mel was mostly out, which was probably what awoke Keaton: some sort of evidence to remind her that she wasn't actually dreaming or dead. Keaton's eyes snapped open and she let out a terrified caterwaul just as Mel spiraled out of the tunnel and into the chapel.

"Lemme go! Lemme go!" Keaton exclaimed, not really thinking - she was just blind in her horror. Only after a moment, she realized how stupid that request was when the floor blurred and shifted into focus, and she understood the distance. After that, Keaton clung desperately to Mel's jacket. "...Don't let me go."

Keaton wasn't thinking rationally: she didn't realize, entirely, how her surroundings had transitioned from a hellish atmosphere to the thanatoid cathedral. Keaton recognized it as the place they had used to enter the catacombs from the state of ruin and decay they had left. The nearby window was still broken from where she had been thrown through the glass. All she remembered, beyond her somehow falling into a catatonic state, was that Stygian had died along with his grandfather. She didn't want to recall the rest of her experience, since she presumed it was going to be a very unpleasant memory. As Keaton looked around, her eyes suddenly locked on the Keaton-Mockery's shape and she narrowed her eyes in confused indignation.

"What the hell is THIS?" she asked, as though offended by this impersonator. She was very dizzy and her speech was slurred, so she wasn't thinking very clearly.

[Aisha deCabre]

Rynkura's eyebrows quirked, listening to the mock-Gareeku's answers to her questions.  There seemed to be a short period of quiet, at least after Keaton was heard making an exclamation.  The healer had to admit that he seemed to be answering them as helpfully as possible, however truthful or not they might have been.  And all the while, the entire chapel felt like it was about to tremble at its base.  The tiger growled to herself as the events unfolded, even up to the offering of a new arm from a dead bastardization of Aisha.

"So...you're saying that if we are to be allowed any respite, it would be right now and right quickly, or until after we're all out of here?  You want me to just heal everyone's scrapes and bruises and great gaping stab wounds right now?  It takes more than magic, it takes rest on the part of the others, or else they would be sorely fatigued into fainting!  And what of this arm you offer, how do I even know it's real flesh and wouldn't poison my student's blood?  If I have to--"

"Señora, I'll take it."

More than not, a few surprised eyes must have turned to a frozen Aisha at that moment.  The panthress glanced at the body, and back at her blood-ridden bandage that hid the stump of a right arm, and again to the white tiger.  "I'm suspicious too...but we have just a little time left, and for the moment they sound honest.  Besides, I'd jump at anything to leave this place and give Asal one more reason to turn in his burnt-out grave...it's the least this place could do after all the gods-damned trouble.  If they mean to help, let 'em.  We're more than capable of fighting if they go turncoat on us all anyway."

Rynkura sighed, calming herself and letting the feathers on her wings smooth out again.  She was right.  There was no reason now to keep tarrying any longer.  And by the look in Aisha's eyes as she leaned against Gareeku to help him up if need be, she wanted more than just herself out of the line of trouble.

There was only a short pause before she turned back to the mockery of the white wolf.  "Fine, then.  I despise to ask the advice of a hell-creature...but allow me but a moment to quickly see to the ones most wounded.  And then, please do tell us what to do next.  The rest of you, lady Mel and her charges, can land and grant yourselves respite; it would probably be much easier!"

With that, Rynkura placed her staff near the bench and took to mending the wounds of the panther and the wolf first.  "I am simply glad that the both of you are still alive up here," she said, readying the magic.  "And young Gareeku, once we get out of here, I am quite indebted for your help in keeping Aisha safe."

Aisha simply lowered her head, suddenly in thought.  Meanwhile, the raven, surely unnoticed, turned and flew through the castle hallway out of the chapel without another squawk sounded.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

As it now looked as if Mistress Ryn was negotiating for the help of the hellbeasts Mel cautiously landed, setting her charges firmly on their feet. She was near the bench where Cog was resting. He looked bad, he was going to need more than field healing. Hopefully the hellbeasts wouldn't distract them from escape for so long that he became beyond care. She didn't trust that the duplicates motive wasn't to keep them there until whatever was down below caught up. The dragon settled in to carefully watch.

[Boog]

"Absolutely," the not-Gareeku nodded. "Just see to that, for now. And, Ms. DeCabre..." the creature gestured to Aisha, it's tone of voice sounding very much like the original Gareeku's indeed. "Could you step over here so we can begin, please?" The Mel-thing had already removed the deceased Aisha mockery's arm, with a sucking noise that gave the impression that it was held on more by stubbornness than sinew.
The Keaton-Mockery glared up at the original's outburst. "Geez, aren't you quick on the uptake? Tell you what, give you three guesses."

Jeremiah opened his eyes halfway, dazed and confused. "Gnn..." He blinked a few times and looked up at Mel. "Oh... I'm alive. Huh." He blearily looked over at Ketefe in the dragon's arms. "We safe yet, or should I start panicking?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel regarded Jeremiah for a long moment. Safe? She wasn't sure that any of them knew the meaning of the word was anymore. The hellgate had obviously made them all deranged and susceptible to unsafe behaviors, like extended conversations with hellspawn while the building collapsed around them. The only answer she could frame was, "We are still in the castle and unwillingly allied with... things. Make your plans accordingly."

[Angel]

Ketefe was a little twitchy. Though she was happy to be on solid ground again, it was hard to be facing creatures that were related somehow to those that had attacked them earlier (and messed with her head quite a bit) and keep herself from attacking. She wriggled and tightened her fingers a lot, almost embarrassed at how antsy she was. She knew they were allies right now and there was no reason to attack them, but the events of the night had set her on edge, and she kept feeling like she needed to be doing something right now. Sure, later she'd be tired, but right now, withs rocks falling around them and monsters in front of them, her survival instinct was in mild overdrive.

She looked over at Jeremiah when he woke up. "We're not safe yet, but please don't panic or you might make me start doing the same. We're getting help from ... those," the cat tilted her head at the Mockeries, "as long as we don't fight them. So, all of us will still be alive as long as nothing happens." The affirmation of this to herself and the frog calmed her nerves a little, but it didn't stop her from keeping a steady eye on the Mockeries while glancing around to dodge rocks every now and then.

[Gareeku]

Looking on as Rynkura and the hellish mockery of himself talked, Gareeku looked to the side to see that the Keaton Mockery had returned. With an arm, no less. One of the arms that had belonged to the Aisha mockery.

Though the wolf said nothing, the look on his face easily showed the wariness he felt towards these creatures, remaining silent as Aisha voiced her decision to agree to take the arm. But if it meant that they could escape this unholy place, then so be it.

It was then that Rynkura had turned to Aisha and himself. Listening to what the tigress said to him, Gareeku smiled weakly.
"That will not be necessary..." the wolf replied, his voice sounding exhausted and lacking the strength it once had. "I would do it again a thousand times."

[Aisha deCabre]

Rynkura's only response to the Mock-Gareeku's answer was to just sigh quietly.  It was apparent that the angel was still uneasy with the dark creatures around them.  But she had decided that if they wanted to hurt them, they would do so simply by leaving them there to fend for themselves.  Instead she took the cathedral's still falling apart around them as a good incentive to move quickly--but still with as good a job as she could manage--to heal the ones most injured.

She pressed her glowing hands to the stab wound in the real Gareeku's midsection, letting the soothing healing energy be felt over the sting in his nerves.  As he spoke, the tigress simply smiled, the glow in her green eyes having not once wavered.

When Aisha heard his words though, she blushed and looked on him with a smile.  The panther was hesitant to leave her companion's side, but she knew that he would be back in shape soon with Rynkura's capable magic...to be able to escape the hellish place with him--and everyone as well--was all she could ask for.

Hissing as the adventurer stood to face the Mockeries with the arm, the wound in her leg having since closed from being close to the energy of the bracer, she started to unwind the bandages that held the right stump closed and free of infection.

"Not that I'm not grateful," she said to them with a quirked eyebrow.  "But if that thing turns out to be poisonous or hurt me like hell for life, I'll vow to spend my days hunting you down."

Meanwhile, Rynkura swiftly closed Gareeku's wound and had left her staff with him to let its light magic do its work to restore his energy, whilst she checked around to the others to lift their ailments...wherever she heard the worst of it.

[Boog]

"How could we expect otherwise?" The Melthing said sarcastically, placing the arm against Aisha's stump and sending tentrils of magic into it. The black substance filling the arm stung at first, but quickly began to fade and become normal muscle and sinew.
With that in mind, it still felt damn strange.
The Not-Gareeku simply stood and watch, it's expression unreadable and its stance equally so. It seemed to be keeping itself from looking at the Aisha-Mockery's corpse.

"Hell," Jeremiah sighed, although whether he meant it as an exclaimation or a simple statement was debatable. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, making sure everyone was accounted for.
We all are.
Oh, JOY.

Partway through the Melthing's work the stream of demonic "refugees" dried up, leaving the party alone with the crumbling castle and the hellmouth. It was around when the floor started crumbling into the portal that people began to feel the need to rush...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Suddenly realizing that the sound of stone against stone came from below rather than above Mel glanced at the spot where she had just exited and noticed it was growing alarmingly.

"Looks like our respite is over." She looked down at the unconscious wolf on the bench. "Someone help me with Cog."

[Gareeku]

As Rynkura quite literally worked her magic, Gareeku could feel a soothing sensation wash over him, gradually overriding the pain that had plagued him since he first suffered the injury. Looking down, the wolf could see the wound closing, the tissue repairing itself as a remarkable rate as the healing magic provided with all the help it would need.

Before Gareeku knew it, the healing process had been completed, and he no longer had the injury, like it never existed. Save, however, for the exhaustion that was still hanging over him like an illness. Almost as if she had read his mind, Rynkura gave him her staff, the orb sitting on the top of it glowing softly as the aura of magic it emitted began restoring his energy. Closing his eyes as he held the staff, Gareeku could feel the much-missed energy returning to every aching muscle in his body, until the exhaustion was no more.

Rising to his feet, the newly healing and revitalised lupine warrior looked around the others to check their condition. Everyone seemed relatively alright, considering what they had just been through, though no doubt they could probably do with the healing and energy to get them back into shape. Cogidubnus in particular was a bad way, Gareeku frowning as he looked over at the wolf's unconscious form resting in Mel's arms. There wasn't much good he could do though, and knowing that Rynkura would no doubt do her very best, the wolf was quietly confident that thy would be ok.

Gareeku would not have anymore time to think about this, however, as he noticed that the flow of demonic creatures who had been fleeing the portal while they were there had dried up. Quirking an eyebrow at this, the wolf then noticed with slightly widened eyes that the very chapel itself was beginning to be sucked into the portal itself. It was most definitely time to make exit.

"Hate to point out the obvious, but I think we should scram." The lupine said to the other, swiftly picking up his belongings, including his sword.

[Aisha deCabre]

It was in the small moments before chaos had once again erupted.  Aisha stood as still as possible, ignoring the now-dulled pain in her leg and trying not to look at the barely-bleeding stump of a right arm as the pseudo-Mel came to her with the replacement.  The panthress was still in some doubt as to whether it would work...but by then it seemed that the now-ragged group of adventurers had little to lose.

When skin touched skin, and magic flew across to her like a shot, Aisha flinched and gritted her teeth as the forces did their fast work.  A part of her brain felt itself regain feeling in that region, as if the sacrifice she suffered had never come to pass.  And then it was done...and then, they were gone.  All around them, demons hellbent on escaping were gone, ground to dust.  The chapel was cleansed of darkness and seemed to return to a decayed and destroyed state.

Aisha cautiously rubbed the wrist of her new arm.  It felt real, even if it was sacrificed by a dead mock-up.  It even had begun to feel in her mind like...hers, again.  She moved it, flexed her fingers, and aimed a punch through the air.  "Dios mio..." she simply breathed, for once devoid of words.  But when her arm returned, so too did most of her own energy.  Mentally, physically, spiritually, and finally.

She didn't have long to even think of celebrating, however, before she heard everyone else exclaiming in surprise.  Swiveling to look behind her, the jaguaress's eyes widened at the hole that had formed where once there was an altar...which was quickly being sucked in.

Rynkura had already finished healing the others, bar for a very unconscious Cogidubnus.  As the angel noticed the anomaly, and the abrupt disappearance of every other demon around them, she now knew that was the cue to finally rid themselves of the place.  Her wings flapped in urgency, lifting her from the air as she snatched her staff from nearby.  "Alright, you heard them, get out of here...window or door, either way leads right outside!  Mel, I will help you with sir Mithlome."

Aisha, thus, wasted no time.  She too gathered her trusted boomerang and sword, placing them on her belt.  "No need to tell me twice, I'm with you!" she replied to Gareeku and made to swiftly follow beside him, hoping that the others were also just as ready to make tracks...

[Boog]

As the group made a break for it there was this overwhelming sense of deja vu, as if they had been in this circumstance before and would be again. There was where they'd killed the flaming, coiling creature when they'd first arrived. There was the remains of an arachspearian that had never been cleaned up. There was a skittering from overhead; the spider woman from before, or some other denizen of the castle that had realized it was time to leave?
The mockeries ran amidst the rest of the group, the Mel-Thing supporting a Keatonesque who'd injured by the falling rocks as they ran. The Gareeku-Mockery stuck close to Aisha.

--

Gina leapt from one crumbling structure to another, cursing at the floor giving out under her. She just had to make it to where Fenrir had fallen and everything would be fine...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel stole an extra moment, risking the collapsing floor, to create a sort of magic sled to make moving Cog smoother and faster. Blue-white light braided itself around the unconscious wolf, gradually lifting him from the bench. As soon as it lifted Mel gave it a gentle push towards the door. It was like steering a ping pong ball in a storm wracked sea, but was gentler on the injured were than dragging him along. Hopefully they'd make the exit and the care would make a difference.

[Aisha deCabre]

As they fled, Rynkura had kept her word and stayed near Mel just in case she needed help handling Cogidubnus...but of course, fear often made for quick thinking.  To the angel's fascination once again for how resourceful dragonic magic is, Mel had created transportation to hopefully keep the comatose wolf from harm.  With that, the tigress kept to the air and dodged falling debris left and right whenever possible, keeping an eye on the adventurers as they ran--quite literally--from Hell.

And ran they did.  Aisha in particular was keeping pace very well, as far ahead as anyone was if not a little further...as if she was being nipped in the heels by vicious dogs.  She wanted to get this place far behind her as fast as possible...it didn't matter what the town would do them if they had to pass through it--considering she was banned along with a few of the others.  In a roundabout way she wondered if they'd be hailed as heroes for enduring and fighting for all that they did, instead.

She paid no mind to the skittering noises above, or the half-formed versions of themselves that came with them.  But one thing she did instantly recognize was an area of charred and dusty rock that had once been a room.  And the thing that shimmered nearby.  Aisha slowed in her running just slightly to notice the gleaming blade of a sword sticking just out of the sheath--the one she'd lost after defeating Asal, only to find again as if by divine intervention.  On impulse, she picked it up by the hilt and caught up again with Gareeku and the rest.

Probably not a good time to be grabbing a souvenir, chica, she thought, re-strapping the Holy Blade onto her back.  But I first came here for treasure and discovery and nearly didn't leave with my life.  If I'm going to be keeping anything in my collection from this, it's going to be the sword that reclaimed it all.

"Lo siento, nearly forgot something," she said in a harried breath to any incredulous looks cast her way.  "How far are we to the exit, anyone know?"

[Angel]

As Aisha received a new arm, Ketefe watched, half-impressed and half-mistrustful. But it went well, and apparently, the panthress was pleased with the results. But after that, everyone seemed concerned with something else. The cat turned - and realized they were nowhere near safe yet, even if they had all caught their breath now. The floor around the portal was breaking...and it was getting quicker with every second.

Ketefe didn't need to be told twice. The moment everyone took off, she sprinted after them, only looking up to dodge falling rocks and periodically do a head-count to make sure no-one had fallen behind. The other creatures around them were following too, but at this point, the feline really couldn't care less. The only time she looked confused was when Aisha stopped to pick up her sword, but she paid it no other heed, knowing she would have done the same thing for her father's sword (still strapped safely to her back).

But at that moment she realized something. She may very well be taking more of a "souvenir" back than she wanted. So as she ran, she thought a message to whatever may have still been lurking in her head:

All right. You helped me and the others get through this place, and though I can't believe I'm saying this, I thank you for that. But if I'm going to take back any reminder of what went on here, it's not going to be creatures living in my damn mind. So with all due respect, get out. NOW. Because if you're still in my head when and if we make it out of here, you're gonna regret it.