The Castle [03] (Remba, but don't let it stop you)

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel felt her magic return to her control and immediately she shifted downwards. She didn't stop at her being size, but shrunk down to her smallest one, the size of a pet cat. She scrambled onto the bookshelf that was bolted to the wall until the ominous creaking of the floor and the crashing of the bookcases subsided. But not all the sounds were coming from the level she was on. There were sounds of running, and shouting, and crashing below. And several different people shouting her name. "I'm here. I'm fine. Hold on." With the path to the stairs blocked by the mess she jumped from the bookcase to the wrought iron railing, assisted by buzzing wings. Balancing on the rail she looked first to the stairs where Keaton, Aisha, and Ketefe were. "I am beginning to hate this library. Don't try to come up, there are bookcases blocking the way." Then the sound of lightning too close to be the storm caught her attention and she looked to the center of the room. Sebastian and Cog were fighting, flinging both blows and magic. She couldn't do anything about the sword, but the lightening was different. She grabbed at control of the growing storm, starting a game of keep-away with the wolf.

[Stygian]

The flash cleft through the blackness like a huge blade, which it effectively was, sending crackling energy into the dark and dispersing it violently for a fraction of a second. The bat looked as if he were about to make another dash, and wouldn't have time to escape, when the slash went through him and ripped only darkness apart.
   Cog caught the movement of something crawling, parts of the darkness that snaked and clawed all around. He didn't have time to catch the clawed hand that closed firmly on his neck from right behind though.
   'I was fooling you. I am fooling you. And all the more fool are you!' Stygian hissed into the wolf's ear. 'I never betray. Never!' Blackness crawled all about him and there was a sort of dark glow, like a bluish purple and black aura to his eyes. His hand constricted Cog's airway. Before he could get the other around the wolf's free arm though, he felt a sharp pain as a stab landed in his gut. The darkness hadn't hindered the blade, and the bat's flesh sizzled as it bit deep. Stygian screamed through clenched teeth before he caught himself and hissed, a horrid sound. Yet, he forced himself to keep his grip and get closer.
   'And you're out of your league, bitch!' he snarled.
   Shapes circled them, hidden in the shadows but audible as they hissed and seethed. The darkness crawled and slithered. Then, with a many-voiced but unison roar, it threw itself over the both of them, the bat joining it. And Cog was left with nothing but pitch black around him.

[Boog]

Jeremiah ducked under the table as soon as he heard the metal pommel of Cog's sword hit meat.
"Oh would you two get a damn room?" he muttered, to nobody in particular or either of those two with good enough hearing, "I mean, come on!" The smell of burning parchment reached his nose; Cog's slinging lightning about had set some expensive looking books on fire. "Mel! Fire!" Hoping the ice dragon could take care of it, the frog's eyes darted this way and that as he sought something he could use to stop them.

[Sunblink]

Halfway up the stairs Keaton froze in place once she heard Mel's voice emanate from above, the jackal's head snapping upright to face the feline-sized dragon perched on the railing. "Mel, you're alright!" Keaton exclaimed, allowing herself a small sigh of relief. Her shoulders slumped as the tension in them released, her wings sinking slightly with them. "Jesus Christ, scared us there."

That was when she heard what sounded like a loud, hoarse cry of "BASTARD!" from a voice that wasn't immediately recognizable, resonating from down the staircase. Craning her head around with deliberate trepidation, Keaton felt every bit of tension that had oozed from her muscles snap right back in, binding her bones like thick, ropey rubber bands.

"Shit!" Keaton shouted, whirling back around and dashing down the staircase. "I'll be right back!"

Drawing her mace from the holster strapped to her back, Keaton jumped off of the final step just as she saw Stygian and Cogidubnus leap forward at each other, as though drawn together by a strange, magnetic force. Around them, corroding, withering blackness rushed and lunged in smoldering clumps toward the struggling, writhing pair; terrible, darkened shapes twisting and thrashing in the sudden explosion of shadows.

He was... shit. He couldn't be. He was going to drag Cogidubnus into the shadows.

"FUCK!" Keaton exclaimed, running toward them. There was no hesitation, no thinking. Just a quick calculation of what needed to be done.

Slowly, the saffron began to drain from her body as the shadows sloping beneath the bookcases stretched up to meet her form, twining and tangling up her body until a thick, sable layer of darkness completely caked her curvaceous outline (once more, with the exception of her clan marking). Wings pressing against her back, she sprung through the air toward the center of the massive collection of fanged faces and atramentous apparitions, feeling her body sink through and a horrible, horrible coldness flood through her veins, suffusing her soul. There was a sudden lurching of the shapes, as though each and every one had dove upon them, devouring them, and leaving behind nothing but a vacant space on the ground.

Cogidubnus, Stygian, and Keaton were gone.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Bambi and Gina reach the library, as the dark cloak of magic has caught up Stygian, Cog and Keaton.    Bambi saw the shadow blade stab the bat.  She cried out and send spheres of light into the blackness as lifelines to the bat, Cog and Keaton, but crys out in pain as her lifelines of light are cut and the darkness fades into the shadows.

PBH

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog spat out something foul, and opened his eyes to a yet darker world.

He couldn't see the bat anywhere, although hints and wisps of shadows seemed to tug at the edge of his vision - in the distance, there was no horizon, but simply darkness. It was impossible to tell where he was, or when the wall of darkness cut off vision - it could be feet, or miles away.
Cog breathed heavily in the darkness, his eyes still smoking with anger, searching for some sign of Sebastian. He stood there for a long while, his breath slowly slowing, and the anger fading from his eyes. He stood still in the darkness, and he suddenly closed his eyes and sighed, putting his face in his hands. He pushed the shades back up over his eyes - his hands no longer sparked with electricity. Quickly, and without flourish he sheathed his blade at his hip, and took a deep breath.
"Shit."
Despite there being only darkness, there was a breeze present, threatening to blow off his hat. Cog held onto it with one hand and started walking, waiting for someone to show up.

[Stygian]

Walking in that emptiness was eerie. The darkness spanned everywhere. Though he could see a shady outline, looking at himself, the ground was nowhere to Cog, and each step that was taken in the blackness was unreal. It led nowhere, it went nowhere. And the breeze shifted, as if it were not air but the actual darkness that moved around him.
   There was something moving around him, he realized. As did Keaton, not far and yet an eternity away from him. The slithering sounds, the rasping breaths... what hadn't brought them to their ears sooner, one couldn't know. Or maybe, they had only just come closer, seeking out what had entered the blackness...
   'You think I would bother with you at all if I wanted to end you?' The voice that came from behind Cog echoed and snaked in the nothingness. 'You think I would so much as speak to you?'
   There was light. A sudden light. Something behind them. Cog could see it, Keaton too, growing closer, bridging the depth of infinity between them, putting them at perhaps twenty paces apart. It was dim, but growing closer.
   From behind them, a specter, a ghost of some sort, approached. The features of the shining, pallid white apparition, seething with some sort of ghastly flames or light that cracked and crumbled around utter blackness, conjoined with the rest of the dark around them, were recognizable as Stygian's. But they were far more beautiful and hideous at the same time; hollow eyes that spread black lines around them; fangs darker than ebony, mocking the sorrowful face they were set in; the hideous, living darkness spilling out the back of his muscled, cracked torso like a pair of twisted wings.
   'I don't know why I do this, or why I stay. But I feel that I must. And I shall,' he lamented, sparing a glance to Keaton, and then floating forward, closer to Cog. 'I hope you can settle with that.'
   He looked at the wolf for a second. And then his light faded, burning away. At once, there was only the darkness and the horrors of it again. And then it rushed at them, clawed them, pulled and tore. And suddenly, they were thrown outside, and back into the library.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog stared at the apparition in silence, glad indeed for the darkened glass between his eyes and the bat. His demeanor had altogether changed, from enraged anger to a seeming melancholy resignation. He listened calmly as the bat spoke, unmoving, and watched calmly as the apparition came closer. The bat finished, and Cog sighed, his gaze no longer meeting the blazing white thing.
As Sebatian faded, however, he stumbled forward, not expecting the sudden influx of darkness, and as before he found himself consumed by it.

* * *

The next moment, he was spat back outside into the library and the world of light, taking a tumble over a few piles of books and overturned tables before coming to rest.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

As Mel concentrated on keeping control of the storm the wolf was raising she watched Keaton jump from the stairs and join the fray, only to have the seething darkness roll over all three of them and swallow them up.  Like waves at the beach the darkness receded, but there was nothing left behind, they were gone without a trace. Actually there were probably lots of traces, Mel acknowledged, but none for her to read as she had no skill with shadows.

Jumping from the rail she used her wings to glide to the floor below. Once landed she changed her size back to the one everyone was accustomed to, her magically enhanced clothing reforming as she did. She looked to Rynkura as the other experienced magic user in the room, "Any ideas what just happened, Mistress Msh'taan? I've not a..." But before the dragon could finish her thought a thin ribbon of the darkness reappeared and unceremoniously tossed the wolf and the jackal back into the library with a crash and thud of yet more fine furniture being treated like that in a cheap tavern. Keaton came to a stop nearby and appeared unharmed. Mel looked to the wolf, the female wolf. "Cog?" she questioned. As she stood stunned a smell of smoke wafted past. Only then did her brain finish processing what Jeremiah had been shouting. "Fire? Where?" Spotting the smoldering books Mel formed a column of magic around the area and evacuated all the air from inside, smothering the flames. With a sigh and a shake of her head she commented, "We've done more damage to this room in two days than 164 years of occupation by bats, spiders, and wraiths managed."

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha tried not to pay attention to the fight continuing on the floor below.  She could hear almost every word, blows to the individuals' pride and mind.  But she was only intent on reaching Mel, who at that point had finally gotten control of the magic placed upon her and returned to a fair size.  Her sigh of relief wasn't even heard however, above shouting and books being strewn all over the place.  Flashes of darkness flew along behind her back, as well as the sound of blade cleaving air.

"Oh holy...!" She snarled upon rounding to see the commotion...but something held her fast to the railing of the stairs.  Among the commotion she could hear others shouting, including Jeremiah, and she swore that Rynkura's strong voice had cut into the maelstrom with a resounding "HALT--" as the bat had his grasp on Cogi, before being cut off quickly, going to no avail as much as anyone's words...and without hesitation, it swallowed both individuals, a charging Keaton alongside, and left the library in a very stunned silence.

Aisha caught her bated breath after that, and stepped down from the stairs, eyes searching around for any trace of the vanished.  There wasn't a one...just a large mess.

Just then, Rynkura was spotted pushing the table that she was sitting upon before upright again, a shimmering barrier of light having been cast around herself.  It was dispelled easily with a hand gesture over the orb of her staff, at which point she released a slight growl, nothing loud, but supressing aggravation.  "By the Spirits...!" she coughed.  "I have never thought the fool that--"

"--Mistress?" Aisha interrupted, her arms crossed and head tilted.  The tigress straightened herself and turned to them, just as she heard Mel's inquiry.

Her expression too was thoughtful, but also carried a hint of haste.  "I've only little to go on..." she started replying, only to join everyone in jumping away from that spot.  In midair, a shadowy tendril materialized with the wolf and jackal in its maw, virtually spitting them back on the floor and disappearing once again.  No sign of Sebastian...but the other two were an easy relief to find safe.

Aisha went to help Keaton to her feet.  "You both alright?" she inquired, while Rynkura proceeded to lend a hand to Cogidubnus as well.

Despite the situtation, she managed a chuckle at Mel's statement.  "It's in my experience to have noticed that animals keep a cleaner domain than any sentient race has been known to."  With a sigh, Rynkura looked around.  "Well.  While we are cleaning up here, would you mind telling us what that was all about, Sir Mithlome?" she inquired politely to the wolf, sparing a quick glance to Keaton as well, while Aisha made a mere agreeing hum in the background and started to gather the strewn books while listening to the conversation.  The tigress would probably find more information in what they had just experienced if she was to even try answering upcoming questions.

As the panther walked, she could feel slight movement by her feet, like little ripples in the air by the floor.  She knew that Rynkura was again sending small waves of light through the room, which would let her detect any peaks of darkness...barely noticeable to many unless they were really paying attention.  Must be looking for the bat's hiding place, she surmised quietly.  Good luck with THAT...

[Angel]

Ketefe sighed in relief that Mel was okay, although she was much smaller than normal, and then went bug-eyed as she looked at the chaos all around her.

Cog was being pulled into a depth of blackness by Stygian, and Ketefe was sure she'd heard the sound of a sword stabbing flesh. Lightning was crackling all around, no doubt caused by Cog finally tapping into his power, and angry shouts could be heard from both him and the bat. It made Ketefe's fur bristle to feel the storm rising in the room, although Mel was keeping it well-controlled. The evil creatures Stygian had made earlier were whipping around Cog, and then Keaton jumped into the writhing darkness. Then Bam and Gina entered, Gina with a pair of wings and Bam panicking and trying to send light into the twisting chaos of the battle. In a split second, Cog, Stygian and Keaton had disappeared.

Ketefe suddenly felt very cold, surveying the damage done to the library and the actions of the others in the room. She noticed that in her panic, she'd taken out her sword, and every muscle in her body was rigid. Thankfully, she didn't need to fight, because then Cog and Keaton were hurled back into the library. Sheathing her sword quickly, Ketefe ran over to Cog, stooping and offering her hand to help him up.

"What the hell was THAT?" she said, trying not to sound too shrill and afraid.

[Stygian]

Not many moments later, the almost liquid shadow, set against the broad back of a shelf, which had spat out the wolf and jackal, began writhing and receding into itself. The outline of Stygian staggered and emerged from it as it sank away, taking familiar form again as the darkness began lifting around them all. Unsteadily, he stepped out and looked at them.
   'I hope you have a good time now,' he finally said, after a few seconds' pause, his eyes all glares. Then, his face, more pallid than normal, tensed and his jaw clenched, as he shook and made a pained sound. He clutched a clawed hand at his chest, and then immediately turned, unsteadily hurrying off, nearly pushing Ketefe out of the way and stomping past Bambi and Gina.
   'Out of the way you pixie!' he snarled, moving his hand to his bleeding side.

[Boog]

Jeremiah clambered out from under the table and dusted himself off, the tension abated for now.
"Yeah, how about that?" he said, overhearing Mel's comment, "Time, nature, supernatural wossnames, and this place gets taken apart by an argument. We could probably sell some of these stories to the Twilight Zone, make a fortune," He grinned, Lets keep thing upbeat, keep it light...
My winnings in our next game say those were the books that would have helped you oust Spooky.
Pretty words gone!
Keep things upbeat, people would question you yelling at yourself, "Man, I hope none of those were about getting rid of remaining wraiths. Anyway, we all intact? Keaton?" he turned toward the cubi, eyebrow raised, "You got pulled into whatever the hell that was too, are you alright?"

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog was still for a moment among the tumbled books, before pushing himself off the floor and again spitting out to his side something foul. He grimacing and slid his legs under him, sitting down.
It wasn't long before the others came running, some staring at the mess and others running up and others offering him a hand to get up, asking questions. Cog waved away Ketefe and Rynkura's hands, his face just a little sour, and pushed himself off the floor. He wasn't hurt, per se, but his movements were slow nonetheless. Hes eyes locked on Mistress Rynkura.
"Yes. I would mind." Cog's voice was stiffly polite. "Ask...I don't care. Later. Just..." Cog barely suppressed a growl, instead sighing, and he bowed to the others. "My apologies. If you will excuse me."
With that, Cog walked out of the library, towards the opposite door. He brushed by Jeremiah as he passed, giving the frog somewhat a glare behind his glasses before leaving the library and heading...he wasn't quite sure. Away.

[Sunblink]

The first thing Keaton was aware of once she entered the shadow realm was that everything was, understandably, gone; engulfed entirely by limitless black. Not even the floor was there, giving Keaton the sensation of levitation, as though she were hovering instead of walking along the invisible floor carpeting the abyss. Clutching her arms in something akin to a slight hug, Keaton glanced around, inspecting her surroundings and remaining on alert for any volatile shifts in the eerily quiescent environment. Who knew what would happen? Just in case, she kept the darkness blanketing her active. Stygian was able to manipulate it to his advantage during their last violent encounter, but in this piceous plane, she had ample material to draw her power from.

She finally located Stygian and Cogidubnus a good distance away, or at least what she assumed was them. They, too, were coated by darkness, leaving them as mere silhouettes. Sudden, resplendent luminescence ignited, and in the darkness an apparition materialized, approaching them, speaking. Bearing a strange similarity to Stygian, mostly in his atramentous optics than his sleek, moonwashed visage.

Keaton listened carefully, her eyes half-lidded and her expression curious, although most of her facial features had been partially erased due to the shadows encrusting her form. She listened, she listened, and she listened, absorbing every word like a sponge, and monitored Cogidubnus's expression; a difficult task, seeing as his eyes were obscured by darkened glass.

Before Keaton knew it she was ejected from the shadowy chamber, regurgitated right back into the library in a crumpled, black-soaked heap. Around her she felt her concentration snap, making the layers of darkness caking her body literally sprawling about her outline the moment Keaton's side hit the ground. Webs of ichorous sable pockmarked her body, writhing and bubbling along the surface of her fur like toxic waste, splayed in thick strands as the remnants of Keaton's shadowy shield wavered and flickered spasmodically. The white light that once illuminated her eyes had drained, leaving them unusually glassy and unfocused; one eye completely devoid of iris or pupil, while the other's brown iris still glistened with dying vestiges of alabaster energy.

"Uuugh..." Keaton groaned, rolling onto her side and clutching her head. Reacting instinctually to her pain, the goo collected on her body boiled and withdrew, retreating in a viscous puddle around her ankles. Behaving somewhat similarly to normal shadows, but far too tangible to be considered "normal."

Keaton probably couldn't have gotten up on her own, being too dazed and confused from what had just occurred to think intelligibly. Thankfully, she found herself hoisted to her feet by Aisha's helping hand, where she arched her back and rubbed at her aching hips. "Agh. I am NEVER, EVER doing that again," Keaton said, running a hand through her disheveled hair and attempting to return it to relative order, rather than the aerodynamic mess it had become. She offered a weak smile to Aisha. "Thanks."

Her head snapped toward Stygian's direction as he stormed out of the library, right past Gina and Professor Hunnydew. Keaton felt her lips twitch in her characteristic scowl as she kicked the remains of black ichor off of her feet. Like a startled spider the strands of goo crawled off of her toes, siphoning back into the pool.

"You're WELCOME, by the way!" Keaton shouted after Cogidubnus, then scowled, dusting herself off. The shadows pooled around her feet convulsed and immediately flowed back to their original, average positions about the room, as though magnetically drawn. "Yeesh. Next time someone gets dragged into the shadows, I'm not going after them. Now where the heck are my glasses?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

Staggering forward as quickly as he could, Stygian ascended some stairs, heading for his room as fast as he could. The wound in his side was burning, as he struggled to feed darkness into it to heal it. Unfortunately, the weakness that had come over him and the piercing pain in his chest made that a very hard task. In fact, one which he couldn't pull off.
   He made the last step of the second flight of stairs, and then stumbled and sagged down on the floor. He grunted as he fell to his knees on the cold stone, panting. Chilly wetness was running down his side, staining his shirt black and making the fur stick to the inside of his pants. It seemed the wolf had hit his liver.
   His senses somewhat blurry, the bat grunted and turned over as well as he could, and pushed himself back, slumping against the wall. He loosened his belt and then tied it high up around his stomach, over the wound, tightening as far as he could before the pain and shaking of his hands became too much. Then, he allowed himself to pass out.
   Outside, the storm kept slowly rolling by.

   The crack of thunder woke him. He immediately wondered how much of that he'd slept through. Wearily, Stygian turned his gaze toward the window at the end of the hall. The rain was still pouring down. With that dark sky, one couldn't be too sure.

[Sunblink]

Fully repaired after her impromptu encounter with the floor, Keaton stretched her arms over her head and sighed, shaking her head. Slowly, her head-wings emerged from her scalp, flexing themselves experimentally so the creamy membrane was fully exercised and free of any cramping irritation. Since her new clothing lacked any back to it, Keaton wagered that freeing her wings would likely end with her apparel tattered, so she kept them hidden.

For once Keaton found herself inexplicably fatigued by her ordeal. Perhaps it was the difficulty that accompanied attempting to merge oneself with the shadow realm. Distantly, in the back of her mind, Keaton wondered if Stygian was facing the same, exhausting repercussions. She was a Succubus, so she would recover rather easily from any languor, but she was uncertain of his race...

Idly, her eyes, the prosthetic one still vacant and barren of pupil, traced the subtle splashes of tainted blood besprinkling the floor in gory gouts. Stygian's blood, no doubt. He had been stabbed by Cogidubnus, after all. Sighing, Keaton walked limply over to one of the chairs parked near the tables, seating herself on it. She'd pursue him later. Right now she needed to relax, and alleviate herself of the sluggishness that afflicted her.

--

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed outside of the castle as Keaton walked down the hallways, following the speckled trail of blood Stygian had left. She was wearing her glasses, having discovered them somewhere near the table she was resting at, and the pupil in her right eye had finally been restored after a moment of relaxation. Admittedly, she hadn't expected to see him crumpled against the wall, but some part of her reasoned that considering the depth of the injury it was understandable. Made finding him easier, at least.

Crouching slightly, Keaton looked to Stygian. "Sebastian. Yo. Look at me," she said, "You alright?"

Stupid question, but hey, it was instinctual.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

It took a few seconds before the bat reacted. He just sat staring out the window. Then, without turning to look at her, hand still on his side, he spoke.
   'No. I never am,' he said solemnly. Then he looked at her. His eyes were as black as ever, but they seemed to have lost all their heat. He held his gaze for a bit, then looked down at himself and sighed, before trying to get up. It went slow and shakily.
   'Usually that doesn't take much out of me, but...' he began, steadying himself against the wall. He stopped and changed subjects. 'I hate being just hated, but it seems to be my lot. Can you help me to my room?' he then said, looking at Keaton as if he was expecting her to laugh and walk away.

[Sunblink]

Keaton watched Stygian's reactions attentively, her face one of solemn seriousness. Occasionally her gaze shifted to clinically examine the wound in his side from afar, judging the severity and location. She was no doctor, but she could tell that it was serious. When Stygian finally spoke Keaton sighed, ears drooping slightly. Brown, mismatched eyes, one false, the other organic, met black, smoldering, atramentous oculars.

Much to Keaton's surprise, he actually requested her help. Stygian would probably be the one to be surprised next. Instead of laughing at him, Keaton merely walked over to him, concentrating enough to conjure up a set of tentacles, which emerged in rippling pairs from her midsection. Using them, she gently helped Stygian to his feet, keeping the claws of her tentacles away from his injury.

"Alright," she said, looking up at the significantly taller bat. "I'll help you there. Just, uh, try not to lean on me too much."

Keaton remained silent during their trip to Stygian's room, either out of respect or how she was casually trying to avoid the awkwardness of the situation. Despite the slowness of their movements Keaton kept them urgent, so that way they would approach the room without Stygian losing too much blood. Once they made it, Keaton led Stygian over to the nearest comfortable resting spot (a sofa) and draped him over it, the tentacles retreating back into her body once the task was completed.

"There you go," Keaton said, leaning down again. "Is there... y'know, anything else I can do? I'm not a doctor, but your injury looks pretty... well, pretty bad..."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Angel]

Ketefe withdrew her hand when Cog waved it away, and stumbled a little when Stygian stormed past her, almost pushing her over. She pivoted and gave the leaving bat a slightly-angry, mostly-bewildered look. She turned away from the door after a minute, deciding that chasing after him would be a really bad idea. He smelled bloody. He's probably badly hurt and doesn't deserved to be yelled at by someone who isn't, she mentally reasoned. Apparently, Keaton had noticed the same thing, because she left the library shortly after Stygian did.

The feline's eyes took in the sight of the partially ruined library, people getting up and checking themselves for injuries, smoldering books on the floor, and bookcases toppled over.

Sighing, she gave herself a once-over to make sure she was unharmed. Then she went to work picking up the books that weren't damaged and trying to find out where they went.

"Y'know," she said, passing Jeremiah as she picked up more books, "I don't care how useless I am without it. I am NEVER learning magic."

[Boog]

"Trust me, it doesn't help you much afterwards either. Aw Damn!" The frog glared down at a scorched and ruined tome, the cover of which still intact enough to bear the title 'Torments of the Arcane: Afflictions Magical,' "Gotta be kidding me..."
Pay up!
DAMN!
He flipped through it a little bit, before eventually setting it down with the books he'd been using before. It was pretty wrecked, but there were a few bits still intact that he figured may be useful. Waste not. "Never a dull moment around here."

[Stygian]

Sitting down on the bed and slowly undoing the belt, Stygian gently checked the wound with fingers and claws. It had partially sealed up, but the sensation of cold and the slowness of it were unmistakable. As was the sticky wetness of his shirt.
   'I heal everything in time. This might make a scar, but it won't be too...' he started, a plain lie. It had been some intense magic. He'd have to remake the tissue later, even if he did heal it up, to get it back in pristine order. Heavy organ wounds weren't ones that could be left. Parting the shirt, he looked at the wound, and then in the mirror across the room. Hair in a ruffled shag, pale, messy. He couldn't help but feel he looked like shit.
   'It's alright. I'm used to it.' The bitter smirk that accompanied the tone as he looked to Keaton again was rather explanatory. Before it was interrupted, by another choked sound, and his hand going to his chest again. He grimaced.
   'I... think it would be... helpful though...' he said. A slight trickle of new wetness started running down his side. The tension had opened the wound. 'I need blood or darkness to heal this. Something to leech...'

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha had given a friendly smile back to Keaton as reply to her thanks, and had gathered a bunch of books in her arms, when another surge of darkness caused her tail ring to flash behind her...as it had been doing for pretty much the whole time.  Revealed from the portal was the bat as he walked around and faced everyone, his appearance one that betrayed a weakness and injury.  She could hear a slight pause, a silence that cut through the air as it happened...even Rynkura turned to look, after letting Cogi out of the room without another word said but a respectful glance and the hope that he would be fine too after a time.

But as he stormed out with naught but a glare and a few harsh words passed, the panthress had almost started after him out of some concern for his health, but stopped when she was next to the tigress, who looked after him with a slight grimace in her features.  "You can't help?" she heard Aisha ask.

Rynkura held her pause, then met her eyes again solemnity behind it.  "Sadly, I fear the kind of help he needs cannot come from my craft.  Leave him be for now, chica...let us just take the time to clean this place."

The panthress continued her work without saying or thinking much more on the subject, placing her bundle of books on different shelves again and setting said shelves upright.  But her mentor thought better to continue speaking to the girl more carefully about the nature of the castle or the inhabitants.  As time passed and a few sought to leave, at least as was true for Keaton, quick farewells were said and the storm outside continued to rage...nature as always heedless of its people's doings.

[Cogidubnus]

 The stained glass effigies of angels and saints, normally golden-bright and glorious in the daytime were rendered ominous by the raging storm outside. A few of the great glass mosaics lay broken and shattered, and the wind howled through the gaps, the storm raging through the only entrance to the castle it could find. The rain pattered and splashed on the soaked carpet, slicking the broken glass beneath it and staining the carpet darkly, splotches of dark crimson amid a sea of brighter red.
Across from the broken, shattered remains of a stylized cross sat Cog, sitting on one of the raised steps near the front of the chapel, the wind whipping his jacket and hair about him. His hat lay beside him on one of the pews, with his sword laying neatly down next to it. Rain beaded on his glasses, obscuring his vision, and yet Cog remained still, simply watching and feeling the wind and the storm outside. Behind him was a large, golden glass effigy of Micheal, the Archangel, and to his side, the large round window above the pulpit depicting Azrael, the Angel of Death, with his silver scythe poised over the congregation, as if preparing to swing, and this claim all those in attendance.
"About a stone cast from the wall, a sluice with blackened water's slept - and o'er it many round and small..." Cog intoned, his face twitching just slightly in a half-grin. He brushed some hair the wind had blown over his eyes, and continued staring at the storm. His eyes slid to the Angel's above and beside him - and, shaking his head ever so slightly, scooted backwards just a little bit, resting his back against the stone wall. He sighed, and muttered something under his breath, a thundercrack muffling whatever he might have said. Cursing something, he looked up at the storm, and continued to watch.

[Stygian]

Stygian looked up at the jackal, with something in between bitterness, sorrow and pained guilt, and then got up off the black sheets.
   'I'm sorry... I won't ask anything of you... Don't mind, okay?' he said, as gently as he could, and hung his head. He wanted to talk to her, to accept her help. But what to do and what one would like to do were entirely different things.
   'It's what I deserve anyway. Can't do anything without paying a price,' he said, managing a little bitter smile.

- -

The library was a mess. Again. Books were strewn about, there were burns over the floor and a shelf, the table was much more disorderly than Stygian had left it, and the group were mostly just standing around. The last of the darkness' influence on the place was receding, but it didn't do so much at this point, seeing as how the black clouds were still rolling past and thundering outside. In short, it wasn't so fun. The complex symbol that Stygian had drawn on the floor still glowed a bit, fading dark light spreading around black lines.
   'This place really isn't fun...' muttered a voice. It was Gina, the white ferret back to normal and standing, leaning a bit on the feline.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel heard Rynkura's comments to Aisha, that the bat didn't need conventional healing and that cleaning the library was the best use of time. Taking another look at the library Mel sighed. The majority of the damage was her fault, although with help from the bat. She was starting back up the stairs to clear that mess when she realized Gina was speaking. She had been so quiet since the big battle that Mel had practically forgotten about her. In the hurry over the crisis with the wraiths and spiders Mel had never finished healing her leg, although it appeared fine now. "I wonder if this place ever had any good times?" pondered Mel aloud as she continued up the stairs where she began using her magic to set the entire tier back to rights.

[Stygian]

Gina swallowed, shooting Mel an unseen glare and opening her mouth. She closed it before she could speak though, a sudden sorrow passing over her features, and then just looked to the floor, her hand gently clutching Bambi's fur. Then, she snorted and walked off.
   Jeremiah, Mel, Aisha and Rynkura were left with the shelves, the books, the tables and chairs, the glyphs and the things strewn about on the table. And, the rolling clouds outside the windows.

- -

More peels of thunder accompanied the slow, hardly noticeable change of lighting, the sun wandering away behind the cover of clouds. The horizon began turning somewhat orange, the tinged light rippling through watery windows. In a way, the tainted beauty of it made it seem as if time passed faster. Or maybe it was just the circumstances.

- -

The chapel really was a place of solace now, in spite of the havoc it had hosted. The faces of the saints and angels seemed almost alive in the dim light. And there were interesting points to the decorations as well. Unfamiliar scenes, ones that occurred in no text that Cog had read, were depicted in places. And there was a prevalent theme of the struggle against demons and devils, the bringing of justice and of what could only be the interpretation of divine balance, rather than piety and humility, that stood out against many churches. The Caerules expressed the intensity and way of their faith even there, it seemed. Even more, it became clear that they had considered fighting evil, rather than suffering it, had been the right course of life.

[Sunblink]

Keaton listened to Stygian with a surprisingly sympathetic look on her face, one which she quite obviously wasn't used to distributing. She glanced between the disarming look of pain and guilt engraved on Stygian's angular facial features and the ichorous, gruesome gash cleaved into his side, an increasing look of conflict encroaching into her expression. As the bat climbed to his feet Keaton let her shoulder slump, then walked over to him so she was standing right in front of him.

"Hey..." Keaton started with surprising gentleness, her head-wings drooping. "Hey. Don't... don't say that."

Weak, she knew. But she wasn't exactly experienced when it came to comforting people. When you grew up among perceived murderers and seasoned warriors, coming across people who needed emotional consolation was rather few and far in-between. Especially when one's mother encouraged bottling up your emotions and letting them smolder and blister in private, all in the interest of hardening her children into powerful soldiers.

"Come on, you're hurt. You can't reject medical help because you feel like you deserve it," Keaton said, stumbling over her words, "It's just ridiculous. I don't care if you can heal yourself or not, I know what it's like to go through injuries without getting any help and it... it fucking sucks. Just let me help out."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Angel]

Ketefe looked up from her work as Gina left, then continued. Most of the books were pretty badly damaged, but some of them were still in good reading condition. She found the Braille book from before under a pile of mostly intact magic books and a toppled shelf. As she started to lift the shelf, she looked at the symbol on the floor.

"Should we leave that there for now?" she asked. She didn't want any more chaos happening, but she didn't know if interfering with the symbol would make everything even worse.

[Stygian]

Placing a palm on his forehead, Stygian sighed and tensed.
   'I'm sorry. It's a bit hard. But basically, I need to leech off something or someone to feed myself. And unless I'm mistaken, you're tired as well.' His tone was plain and clear. 'And I do deserve it. I think you've seen some things. I can feel it. But I think I've done worse...' he muttered. Removing his shirt entirely, he pressed his hand against the wound hard enough that the firm muscles rolled under his fur.
   'Not that I won't try to make up for it. I guess that's why I'm doing all of this shit. Really...' he continued, looking at the floor. 'I shouldn't be surprised about all of this. Things don't change that easily.' He sighed. 'But, I guess that's my lot. I'll just have to make the best of it...'

- -

Almost immediately after Ketefe's words, the glyph stopped glowing, and with a little ripple across the black surface of the lines that had been chalk, went still. The unusual, composite symbol flaked a bit, no power to sustain its activity. A silvery vial fell off the table with a clatter and rolled over to it.