Character Lounge

[Gareeku]

"Argh!" Gareeku cried out, being thrown to the floor by the attacking creature. Looking up, he could sense something within it...Aisha...

He then cried out again as the claws tore into, blood now staining his white fur. With a roar, Gareeku's body suddenly emitted a bright flash of white light, throwing the creature off of him. Standing back up, Gareeku was panting as he clutched his bloodied shoulder, doing his very best in trying to block out the pain.

"I sense you are using my friend to attack me..." Gareeku said with a growl, before a smirk appeared on his face. "Kind of cowardly, don't you think? If this is your way of trying to mess with my feelings, then you're not doing a very good job. Fight me in your true form. You may consider this move "smart", but it's nothing more thn the actions of a pathetic coward."

Now standing up straight, Gareeku stared into the darkness as flames of light magic swirled around his body in a soft aura; a beautiful light with danced around and licked at his form. "If you are truely an impressive and powerful entity like you claim yourself to be, then left us see who is the most powerful. Fight me in your true form, if you do not consider yourself a pathetic coward."

[Joat]

“That girl is too slow. Must not be able to get out of her body,” Sylver thinks. He then attempts to go through the dark being again; this time not trying to seperate the darkness from it, but trying to seperate Aisha’s soul from the body and put it in his currently empty body.

[Boog]

Boogey's smirk widened. Alright glass boy, a few concepts for you to integrate. First off, you're MINE now. He cut off its links to the force that created it, save for those keeping it alive and those that could be used to harm whatever was at the other end. You're also shaped differently. Mostly humanoid, yes, because sentiant creatures make good monsters, but the blood flowing through you is copper based. Think horseshoe-crab-ish thoughts, buddy boy. You're more useful. And the force that created you initially? He's BAD. Your prime target. Your purpose is to give him hell. You are his nightmare. Lets take away some of these nasty signitures he left in you... Working like a surgeon with a scalpal, he cut out the less savory aspects that had been worked into the creature. Now go be useful to my allies and not quite so much for this thing. Hop to it.

[Stygian]

No! Sebastian thought, and Aisha could feel something practically wrenching her mind and concetration back to the fight. You are going to stay right here, and aid us in trying to get through. Call to your friends! Reach them! This is the only way!

   The creature slowly rose to its feet again, listening to Gareeku's words with that horrible gaze fixed at him, seething of hatred. Whispers grew in the air around them, the rest of the attacking creatures and myriads of little red eyes retreating back into the darkness. Then, a creeping, coarse laughter rose in the creature's throat. Or in your minds. You could not tell. For a second there seemed to be something else there too, a voice calling... but it was snuffed out, as the thing stepped forward. It smashed the incoming Sylver with a hand, just like before, not even taking its eyes off Gareeku.
   We use no one. And we certainly do not need to exploit some weakling girl who cannot even understand her own darkness to defeat you...

   The creature stopped, and then became more clear, more defined. You heard a disgusting, slithering and seething sound as its form was enveloped by more black tendrils, and crimson red flames and gases. Around its head, a halo of blood red and black light appeared, and its jagged-toothed mouth breathed the same blood flames as the rest of its form. It hovered slightly above the ground, black wings spread out and becoming tentacles that whipped around its form. And its eyes were an intense crimson now, swirling and burning like a view into the bloodied pits of Hell itself.
   We will destroy you. And then this wound upon this world will spread. In time, We shall consume it. And we will use it to move on, extinguishing lights the likes of you... the creature suddenly burst into quickly dissipating darkness and red fumes, and for a moment Gareeku thought he could see something dashing through the air, a shape which the light bent around moving at impossible speed, before the thing re-formed behind him, its claws and tentacles sharpened and ready to attack.
   ...until none are left!

[Boog]

"Go forth, my nightmare!" Boogey snarled, thankful that the beast streaking towards Gareeku had missed him, "Make me proud!"
With a snarl, the completed nightmare charged forward. It was still made of glass shards, but on it's back was a smooth dome of glass not unlike the shell of a horseshoe crab. Aside from that it was mostly human, save for the extra set of legs and the big, sharp tail. Rushing forward, it stopped and turned to lash out with its tail, sending the great glass spike past Gareeku's head and into the Not-Stygian with pinpoint accuracy.

[Joat]

Soul Sylver seems completely unharmed by the knock-back. “What does he think he can do to me, kill me?”

Soul Sylver attacks the dark creature, this time prepared to try to latch with his teeth onto whatever limb the dark creature tries to block with.

[Gareeku]

Hearing the creature's words, Gareeku laughed.
"Hahaha...then why do you continue to use her body to attack us? Pathetic." Gareeku said, a smirk on his face as he spoke.
As the creature transformed, Gareeku merely calmed observed the transformation, staring into the creatures's eyes with a cold stare, the creature's frightening appearence not phasing the wolf.
"Big words indeed..." Gareeku commented, before suddenly whirling around, his arm creating a sweeping motion which in turn created a wall of magic flam, comprised of a holy light, which would almost certainly burn into the creature before him. It was then a hand suddenly shot through the wall of light magic flame, grasping the creature around the throat, squeezing hard as both the burning of the light magic enveloping his hand and the choking would create an incredible pain.
"You dare to make threats...you dare to harm those I care for...you are nothing." Gareeku growled, staring into the creature's eyes with a look that would make even the bravest of creatures shudder.

((OOC: Sorry if it seems like i'm going a little overboard, but the creature seems almost godly, so its a tad unfair.)

[Joat]

With that, chances are that Soul Sylver is not blocked, which catches him off-guard. As a result, Soul Sylver hits the dark creature with a THUD rather than a CHOMP.

[Stygian]

The spike zoomed through the air against the creature of darkness' head, but at the last moment its eyes turned against it and... It stopped mid-air, then shattered, the shards of it slicing into Gareeku instead. The creature threw the wolf back, then did that trick with the light again and reappeared behind the glass golem.
   This is mine! it roared furiously, and impaled the golem upon its spikes, tossing it back against the Boogeyman.

   Gareeku had only been in contact with the creature for a moment, but he was certain; that had been Aisha's voice! And he had heard where it was coming from too...

[Aisha deCabre]

((S'okay, I think now we're all at liberty to be dramatic ^^ BTW Joat, thanks for the how-to on the tilde "n"... ))

Back in "her" mind, Aisha was on the verge of begging and pleading with her tears to at least stop watching this fight...she couldn't just sit there and watch while being able to do nothing.  Her hands balled into fists and she landed a hard blow on the invisible wall, to no avail of course, just to contain her rage and sorrow.  She feel to her knees.

Then she seemed to feel another presence that was trying to cut through the darkness.  It seemed they knew who the being was after all, and surmised (though she had no idea how) that her soul was still alive.  For a moment she strongly considered leaving the body into this new vessel...at least until she could be released into the afterlife.  After this fight it looked highly possible that there'd be nothing left of her body.

Then she heard Stygian, and saw the presence that was Sylver literally falling away, her small chance at liberation lost.  The panther blinked and her breathing was ragged, though she couldn't be physically exhausted.  When she heard the other occupant of her body wrench into the presence, she shook her head rapidly.  "No puedo, no puedo!  How can I help you get through?  How can I reach them?  I don't know how!"

She took some deep breaths.  Pull yourself together, chica.  You've been brave up to this point, why act like you're giving up now?

With a loud growl, she called after Sylver.  She didn't know who else might hear her, but her voice was cracking from the effort.  "Stay away from us, you'll only get hurt!  Don't try that again!"

Well...NOW what do I do? Aisha thought frantically as she got back to her feet, in a way feeling every blow that came upon the dark body...and the pain actually felt good for once.  "What do I do...?"

[Boog]

"Not anymore," Boogey giggled manically as he clambered out from under the creature, running a finger along the hole Stygian had put in the nightmare. Where his finger went over it the wound closed, and quickly the beast was back on its feet. "I made it better, see?" Alright, plan B. Crabby, you hang back and aid Gareeku as needed. When it looks like he's loosing charge in, and in the meantime go aid the others. As it lumbered off Boogey fixed Stygian with his best smirk, "Your beastie has been repossessed."

[Gareeku]

Crying out in pain, Gareeku was thrown back, laiding on his back as he grunted upon landing. Getting back to his feet, the wolf winced as he pulled the shards of glass from his body. It was then he remembered...Aisha's voice...coming from...

Turning around, he found himself looking at the vortex.
"Her voice...it was coming from the vortex..." Gareeku muttered to himself, his body still glowing with the light magic. Looking around, the wolf found the creature to be busy dealing with the glass being. Looking back at the vortex, the wolf's brow furrowed; he resolve burning brighter than ever.
"Here's goes nothing..." he muttered to himself, before leaning into the vortex, his upper body entering it...

[Joat]

Soul Sylver seems to disappear for a moment, then reappears behind the dark creature. “I refuse to be defeated!”

[Stygian]

The creature that had been Stygian howled in fury. It was just about to use another trick on the Boogeyman that it knew would take him by surprise, one which it thought might finish him for good...
   Then, it spasmed, its form crawling and one clawed hand clenching its chest. It turned around, its eyes darting at the wolf going into the swirling darkness behind it.
   NO!

   Gareeku was practically pulled into the vortex. Absolute darkness swirled around him, dotted only intermittingly by evil red eyes that peered at his shape, their evil stares wishing only ill, yet he could feel things moving around him, hear them... And there was more to it than that. Much more. Sensations he didn't even know one could feel, horrible feelings and images crawling over one's mind, things that couldn't exist. That should not be allowed to exist. He was plunging through the blackness, a single point of light and sanity in this neverending, impossible tartaros...
   Then, up ahead, he saw something. Two shapes, standing close. One was clad in red, standing ramrod straight, the other was black and doubled over on what appeared to be solid ground somehow...

[Gareeku]

"Aisha!!" Gareeku called out, not knowing where he was or whether the forms he could see were who he thought they were...

[Joat]

Soul Sylver looks around for me. Where I once was standing, there is now only a hole.

[Aisha deCabre]

Still wrapped in turmoil, Aisha watched the battle unfurl as she hoped with desparation that her words had reached the outside.  All that she could do now was wait and see which path that this whole thing would take.  The fates can't have it this way, they just can't.

Suddenly, the whole place seemed to shudder, as if the base of this reality had been disturbed or...entered?  Just like Sylver had tried to do before, only this one had become more permanent.  And whatever it was had for a change a sense of familiarity with it.

It was then, looking outside, that Gareeku had disappeared from view.  She looked around, but saw nobody except those who had still chosen to stay near the fight.  But through the creature's eyes, she could see a vortex closing.

And then a voice.  She perked up, and whatever passed for a heart in this form was pounding with a different range of things from disbelief to relief.  The voice went with the presence as so familiar, as always bringing the familiar hope.  Aisha turned around, crimson eyes wide-open and disbelieving, the tears flowing freely with little effort to hold them back after all she had been through.  "Gareeku...?  Gareeku!"

She stood up, discerning whether or not what she saw was real.  So much deception, it was too good to be true...

[Joat]

Sylver jumps down the hole and it is actually a tunnel. I had dug a tunnel to a location directly under the dark creature. Sylver walks over to me. “Nice underground route, Joat.”

“Underground surprise attack. Neat, huh?” I say.

[Stygian]

Sebastian watched the wolf swathed in light descending to them, drops of sweat trickling down his forehead. He was bent over with pain, but his eyes were locked steadily on Gareeku.
   "We must get out... I can't..." he said, then fell to his knees again, clenching his midsection with a hand while supporting himself on the other. When he looked up again, his eyes were burning crimson. And his voice...
   "I can... make a way for her to return... But you have to kill me, else - hngh! - else everything is lost!"

[Joat]

“One problem, Joat. How do you plan to make the distance between you and the creature thin enough for you to strike without making the floor collapse?” Sylver asks.

“Curses! Foiled again by logic!” I say.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel watched the new monsters spring from the ice. Horrible, nasty things of darkness but at least they weren't currently spitting fire. Which was good because her ice breath was almost depleted. She wrenched her claws out of the floor and swung at the foremost attacker. A second one slipped around and grabbed her by the wing. She twisted her head around, meaning to bite it, but at the last second deciding that she wasn't having any of that in her mouth. She tried to twist her head to butt the monster with her horns but missed.

(OOC:  Argh, nine post while I typed. Too far behind!)

[Gareeku]

Looking around, the wolf descended still, looking at the evil eyes which glared at him in return. Hearing Aisha's voice, Gareeku could not help but smile. She was ok!
Stopping his descent at the same level as Aisha and Stephen, the wolf could feel his friend's slight mistrust. He understood how she must have felt; being trapped in darkness such as this for prolonged periods of time must surely affect people. However, the warmth of the light readiating from the wolf's body was a telling sign that he was not merely a hallucination, but the real thing.
"What do you mean? I'm getting you all out of this shit." Gareeku said with a determined look on his face, before turning to Aisha with a warm smile. "Hey there..."

[Boog]

Seeing little threat from Not-Stygian, Boogey joined the Nightmare smashing the new little monsters springing from the ice. It was getting hard for him to keep track.
...
Look, the enemy just had a heart attack while he was mid-taunt. They can't all be big paragraphs of drama and messing with the laws of physics.

[Stygian]

The man's face twisted in pain, and something more. As he spoke, his skin slowly began crawling from the inside, as if there were tendrils or maggots moving underneath it. And his hands started blackening as if frostbitten, turning large and clawlike.
   "Please! I have to s-sever this existence! I am - ack! - tied to it, and as long as I am, I cannot regain control. You h-have to kill me!" he said. He then turned to Aisha. Her form, similarily, was changing, and pain flared up in her gut. She felt as if things were starting to push forth under her skin too, a painful tingling feeling like a sleeping limb coming back to life, but worse and all over her body.
   "S-she is also of this darkness, but she isn't t-tied to it like I. She will make it if you go now!"

[Joat]

We climb out of the hole and see the ice attacking. “Wonderful,” I say. I swing my candy sword at the ice monsters.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha watched as he walked closer, still enveloped in that light, and the very sight of it had put comfort back into her spirit.  It was unbelievable that he had found a way inside this dimension...but then, a part of her wasn't all that surprised.  It was like the wolf had a skill for accomplishing the impossible.

She smiled back, and for the first time in a long while the emotion crossed her face with ease.  What used to be a sarcastic and ironic grin became genuine on her bedraggled and exhausted features.  Yes...he was real.

There was a slight pause before the elation got to her.  Aisha sprang to Gareeku and wrapped her arms around him.  "Loco...You crazy wolf..." she had said with a sob in her voice, something that was hardly present otherwise.

It was then that she heard Stygian, locked in pain and begging them to kill him.  "Stygian, you can't be serious...gr..."  Her teeth clenched as she felt the same pain and dropped away from Gareeku, her hands clenching her gut.  Her gaze jumped between the two and she fell back to her knees.  "Well, think of something and quick..."

[Gareeku]

Gareeku smiled as Aisha did, before blushing as Aisha wrapped her arms around him. The smile then returned to his face once more however at her comment, returning the embrace in full as his arms wrapped around her. Turning to Stygian, a sad expression appeared on his face.

"Very well..." he said softly, before reaching to side and unsheathing his katana, the light magic emitting from his body now mixing with the blade's own glow. Walking up to Stygian, he held his blade up, ready to deliver the finishing strike. "Farewell...my friend..."

The wolf then swung the blade of the katana down, aiming for the neck to sever the head...

[Joat]

Sylver, while he had been inneffective in defeating the dark creature, seems to be making his marks on the ice monsters.

[Stygian]

Stygian seemed more settled in his pain now. The frostbite was slowly ascending his neck, and he was still twitching slightly, but he stood almost straight and was smiling a jagged-toothed smile with his glowing eyes fixed at the both of them.
   "Don't worry, schätzche. You hate me, right? Besides, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing," he said, and laughed. "Do you want the honors yourself, or should wolfie here be the one to pull the blade?" He still had that same smile upon his face.

   When Gareeku stepped up, Stygian simply shrugged, and bent his neck slighly to easen the cut. The wolf raised the blade... and the next second, Stygian's head flew just a bit through the air, his face still smiling, before it hit the ground along with his limp body. Blackish red blood spilled from his neck.
   The next moment, the whole place seemed to shudder, and suddenly there was something like a gale through the place. Gareeku, acting quickly as he knew to some part what was going on, grabbed Aisha, as the whole of the darkness around them began rushing downwards, collapsing...

   In the lounge, the Stygian-like creature emitted a horrible wail, which was soon accompanied by thousands of others. It fell on its knees, and started dissolving into darkness, as did the icebeasts that were fighting Mel and the things in the walls and the roof... The whole darkness of the place was rushing back into the vortex, strands of black cutting through the air and making trails as the dark drew in and in...
   From within the vortex though, a light sprang up, and came rushing out. Gareeku, still bright like a shining white star against the shadows, and now holding Aisha, was practically shot out of it like from a cannon. They both hit the wall opposite to the vortex hard, but safely.

   The darkness was congregating to a single point now. Demons and devils, creatures of shadow and crimson flames, tentacles and just plain liquid blackness drew in and in. As things became more clear, they could see someone at the heart of it; a blonde, tall man, naked but for a few scraps of black cloth and the shadows that stormed around him. He was suspended over the floor, shaking violently and screaming, his head thrashing back and forth, and his eyes shining blood red. Behind him, the whole of the darkness was drawing into him, violently shooting into his back. It seemed impossible that even a small portion of all that darkness should fit into a single, human-sized body, but it just kept flowing in and in, until the last few tentacles and tendrils formed a pair of black wings on his back, and then even those drew in.

   The man closed his eyes, and then fell forward, hitting the floor heavily.

[Joat]

“I’d say that’s weird, but for adventurers like us, weird is the norm,” I say.