[GAME] [RP] Incarnatum Mȳthologiae [SIGNUPS ALWAYS OPEN] page 25

Nick

I turn my head over to a horned beast.

“Figure out where we are… okay.” I turn around and start walking. “I’ll be right back.”

Once I exit the forest I turn into my true form and fly up into the air, out of anyone’s sight.

So… do I just make up what I see or do you want to tell me, B_S?

Rosalyn Lightfell

Lynn

Hmph, at least those two aren’t heartless bastards like that Amintah bitch.

“Figure out where we are? As if I need help with that,” I scoff. Shadowy demonic wings sprout from my back. When I fly up, I see that the random new guy is now apparently some kind of red winged demon thing. Not to stereotype, but he’d better not try anything funny. “I’m assuming you don’t have a map,” I give him a look. I mean, seriously, who the fuck travels without a map? “Do you at least know where north is?”

Um, you know, we can figure out that by ourselves… Rose points out. She sends me mental images of using the sun and shadows to figure out which direction is north.

Yeah, but that takes like fifteen minutes, I reply. Whatever. I fly higher up, until I start to see some villages and towns far away. I turn around in a circle to get a look at everything. Then I reach out with telepathy toward Coal and send these mental images to him. Hey, see your city anywhere?

[Remember that spoken sentences in italics with no quotation marks are telepathy. If you’re not on the receiving end, you can’t hear these without magical aid.]

So… do I just make up what I see or do you want to tell me, B_S?

[That is no longer necessary.]

Christopher Athánatos

“Sadly, your preference is quite irrelevant if I wish it to be. If I wanted a statue from you, I would get a statue from you, one way or another, with or without something as trivial as money.”

I consider for a moment. This creature certainly has, shall I say, a few screws loose, but he is a relatively rare specimen in this world. And a relatively powerful one at that. If I wanted to change the world, he would make a nice minion.

“Let me make you an offer, Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos,” I say, addressing the creature using his name for the first time. “As you may or may not have heard or remembered, I plan to change the world. However, strong as I am, my own power may not be enough. Questionable mental stability aside, you have power that not many in the world can match. Help me change the world, Hephirix-Zatherex, and I guarantee you a position in whatever new world order I come to establish in the future, if any. I would much prefer a willing accomplice than a mindless, brainwashed minion in any case.”

Nick

I turn around and see the human weapon. She flies up higher as I do so, so I proceed and fly up higher too.

“I’m a wanderer. I don’t travel with maps.” I turn around and look at the towns in the distance. “And no, I don’t know where north is. Anyway, I guess you got this handled, I’ll just go back down.” I fly down whilst transforming back into my human form and land down, resting against a tree again.

Coal

Yes I see it. Its the one with the tall building sticking up in the center of it. From the images you’re showing me i can see that the road out of town is pointing southwest. Since the road out of town is supposed to point south of the city we must be southeast of the city. The only forest in that direction from the town is the Bai Ning so we must be in the Bai Ning forest. Its about a days travel from the Bai Ning to town. Shall we leave now?

Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos
‘Help yooooouuuu. Uh.’
But if I help him, then I will have to not help the… pretty lady… and that would might be bad. And then everything would go to suck…
…unleeeeeesss, I help both of them, then betray one of them at a later date! Yes, that makes perfect sense except it’d almost certainly have to be the pretty lady I betray if I do that. Because this guy is TOO STRONG to fight on my own… this is a condarum. Because ideally, I should keep my allegiance to the first person I signed deals with… uuuugh, this is extremely confusing. Curs u, brain.
‘Am I allowed to think about the offer for some time periods, please?’

Saris Kataras
To be frank, first of all: I spend the majority of the song in a state of mild enrapturement. This song is damn good – probably as good as those of Howling Menace, although one or the other would likely need to undergo a sudden genre shift in order to get a proper scale of who’d come out on top. As I listen, though, a few more things start becoming noticed by my person… first of all, Rina’s voice. It’s the same strange language that Daryl was speaking earlier, the apparently Eastern Kingdom-based one. To be fair, all but three languages from that region are obscure, anyway, but even so, this one takes the cake. And yet, despite the apparent language barrier that should be present, I can understand every word of the song. Somehow. Like, I shouldn’t be able to recognise the language at all, and yet my mind is hearing both the words and the translation- or hell, possibly even the actual meaning of the words, or something to that effect. I suppose it’s some kind of magic, possibly; and yet it’s not like anything I’ve witnessed before in my life. And I would surely be someone who’d have encountered something so potentially valuable, given that she and I are both in roughly the same position with regards to band roles… although in my case, those listening to my songs have to be able to understand them, or it’s just gibberish overlaid on to metal or screamo or whatever we’re singing in a given song.
Note to self: Find Rina at some point in the near future; get her to spill on how she did that. And whilst I’m at it, get her to sing a bit more. Her voice is… very nice to listen to. Somewhat like Daryl’s, I suppose, but much softer – like water, I suppose – but crystal clear at the same time. So like pure water, then. That’d be a good comparison. And, if I listen closely…
Yes, thought so. Her voice is utterly clear of any imperfection that might plague a less skilled singer’s voice, things like shakiness, strain, whispering at times – and yet she makes it sound so easy. A casual thing for her, even, and moreso on the high notes, where most singers would almost certainly have trouble if they’d never tried to sing at that level before. Clearly, she’s been singing for a very long time indeed. Which, given her status as what appears to be a fallen angel, is entirely possible.
Actually, an extreme actual age might also explain how she’s able to dance so well at the same time as engaging such a perfected singing voice. She’d likely have to practise for a very long time to manage something like that in the song style she’s got going – in my case, I don’t exactly have to dance as much as headbang and stamp and such. My dancing isn’t as refined as hers, so to speak; and even if it were, the metal genre as a whole would likely be sullied if I were to attempt something like that.
…the song and dance are quite cute, actually. Not in a “oh, look, a little kitten is doing something cute” sense, though; moreso a “this chick is really cute” sense. “Looks-wise cute”, except applied to song and dance. Kind of like Daryl, actually… it’s strange, though. If you don’t factor in the likelihood of her having spent an excessive amount of time perfecting her routine – which would be so easy to do, given the livelihood shining in her eyes that betrays what could be either be her true age, or an act to emulate youthful spirit – one might almost say her voice is too perfect; and yet if you do factor it in, and recognise how much effort she’s probably put in in that time, it’s difficult to see it as anything other than practical perfection. Curious, and more curious still with every second…
Then I realise that none of the band members have plugged their instruments into anything, and in fact, don’t have any cables whatsoever. What’s more, those guitars look very much like they’ve been summoned by their players, rather than being actual physical guitars, a theory further supported by the fact that one of those guitars looks oddly similar, and possibly identical to the one Daryl created earlier, then promptly smashed. Although none of this really irks me – Daryl herself has done much crazier things than what they’re doing now since I met her, and the magic needed to enact all of those things is somewhat widespread, if one searches somewhat deeply into the realms of musical entertainment.
That being said, it’s become obvious by this point that none of these people are human, and what with Rina having fallen angel wings, and the strange apparances and outfits most of them have (nice silvery jacket, by the way, sunglasses), they’re probably all some form of shifter or human-esque beast. Except possibly the girl with the red and white bass guitar. The one who looks utterly normal and, more importantly, human by any standard, particularly that set by the band she’s in. But of course, that same fact implicates her as a shifter of some form, since it’s relatively unlikely that a band would compose itself of entirely non-humans, except for one single member who’d likely die far sooner than any others in the band. Regardless, the whole band is doing a pretty damn good job of making the song sound great… I’m wondering how many years they all have on them, is the thing, since they make their playing seem as effortless as Rina’s singing. Again, though… there might well be youth and excessive, even supernatural talent on their side, given how very non-weary the eyes of the members that are visible are. Again, though, another curiosity to be solved alongside the initial enigma.
After about four minutes, the song ends. Immediately, there is a practically unanimous round of applause for the members of… wow, I don’t even know the band’s name. Gotta get that at some point… but yes, just about everyone is clapping, myself included. Eventually, this dies down, and the image fades.
‘So…’ Faeyr states from somewhere in the crowd, ‘that whole song was… pretty damn good.’
General murmurs of agreement, with a particularly loud ‘Hell yes!’ from Dex nearby. Tact, as per usual. But as for my own opinion…
‘…woah.’

Christopher Athánatos

“Heh, think about it for as long as you want. Until my patience runs out, that is. Really, it matters little to me. You say yes, I get a minion. You say no, I brainwash you, and I still get a minion. Yes, a willing one may be better, but it wouldn’t make much of a difference in the end. Don’t think you can deny me of your service by killing yourself either. Should you die, I can trap your soul and turn you into an undead creature. Even if no corpse remains, you can still become a ghost. And your mind would be so much easier to break then, don’t you agree?”

Daryl McDowell

The whole time the song was playing, Daryl was staring at the band, mostly at Rina, with pure adoration in her eyes. Her expression changes into one of regret and reluctance when the hologram fades.

“Seeeeeeee?” She stares at Saris intently. “Rina-chan is the best singer ever, desu!”

Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos
I just stare at the stupid face wanna be the guy.
‘You are the suck, and have not given me a choice. So then I must accept, or I get doomified and brain killed. Bah, fine, then, I’ll become a minion of yooouuurrr. Bluuuurb.’
With the last word, I fold my arms and hunch myself over and begin to sulk.

Saris Kataras
I think for a moment before responding.
‘Well, yes, she’s very, very good, and certainly a contender for such a spot… buuuuut I feel like there may well be other bands out there that are just as good, if not better than… whatever name this band has. Although none that I know of with a singer as deliciously beautiful as Rina, I must say.’

Daryl McDowell

“Nooooooo!” Daryl now has the mixture of a horrified and indignant look on her face. “Rina-chan is already taken! You’re not allowed to have ecchi thoughts about her, desu!” She begins waving her arms around in a comically exaggerated fashion.

Saris Kataras
‘Ooookay. So, uh, why didn’t you say Rina already had a boyfriend somewhere in the first place, Daryl? I wouldn’t have burned her image into my brain if I’d known, I’m not one to steal people from other people…’
I grin suddenly. Time for an out-of-taste joke, I think. Hopefully, people get that I am joking.
‘More importantly, though, I was, uh, under the impression that people in miniskirts were universally fair game, ahaha… ha.’

Christopher Athánatos

Without warning I suddenly reach out with an arm to grasp Hephirix-Zatherex on his right shoulder, fingernails sharpening into adamantine points and painfully digging into his flesh. For a moment I consider ripping the arm off as punishment for disobedience, but decide against it.

“There is never a choice, Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos,” I snarl at his face. “Did you choose to be born in this wretched world, hmm?!” My grip tightens even more, sharpened scales beginning to emerge from the skin of my palm. I begin to twist the joint until it’s almost dislocated. “Did I choose to be born in the wretched world?! Ha. Don’t delude yourself. Humans, monsters, we’re all the same. We’re all slaves to our own natures. There is never a choice.”

I abruptly let go of his shoulder without breaking anything, but turn it into a rough shove instead. Then I turn around and walk off without a word, expecting the dragon to follow. If he doesn’t, there will be… consequences.

[Fear not, Phirix-Therex and Christopher will have rejoined the main group by tomorrow.]

Daryl McDowell

There’s about a second of awkward silence. People look at Saris, then at Daryl, who is herself wearing a pleated miniskirt.

“Wait, uh… whoops.”

“Kyaaaaaaa! Hentai!” Daryl squeaks out with the same tone as though she’s being sexually assaulted in a bad porn movie. Then she abruptly turns around and runs off without a warning.

Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos
…ooowww. That hurts. My shoulder location briefly turns to fire-ing, and then I trot after the wanna be the guy to keep up with him, and wow trotting is actually a difficult thing to do. How do horsies even DO something like this. Aaa. But I was going to say something else to him I think… uh… oh, yes.
‘Duge, you have got a crazybrain. It’s nearly worse than mine, nearly, but possibly the worse because you seem to think of fallacicies. Because, like-’
My voice suddenly lowers to a very serious tone.
‘Of course we didn’t choose to be born in this world. That doesn’t mean we can’t make choices to try and improve it, as you would have everyone else believe. More to the point, it is mindsets like that that are likely one of the main reasons the world is not improving to any greater degree than it has in the several hundred years of my lifespan… amongst other things.’
I pause for a moment to gauge his reaction.
‘You have a lot more years on you than I have on me. Tell me, to the best of your memory, was the world always as bad as it is now? Or has it gotten worse, or, perhaps, better than in its earlier years?’

Saris Kataras
…whoops. Forgot she had a miniskirt on… uh, maybe I should try to fix the situation.
‘So, like… now might be a bad time for me to point out that that was a joke- ow!’
Jaxxy has just hit me around the back of the head. Or the side-back area, sort of.
‘Maybe you should have SAID it was a joke, then. Or better yet, not made the goddamn joke.’
‘Dude, I’m sorry, I didn’t-’
Smack.
‘OW, come on!’
Then another, lighter smack on the other side of my head, this time from Jezzika, of all people. I’m about to berate her too, but a fourth hit – this one no more than a tap – interrupts me. I turn to the groupie who did it, giving her a disapproving stare…
‘Uh…’
…which is halted when Jaxx threatens to swipe at me again.
‘…sorry. I wanted to be part of the crowd. And also touch your hair a bit. Your hair is gorgeous.’
‘…well, yes, my hair is wonderful and soft-’
A duck to avoid that fifth swipe.
‘-but right now, the important thing is for me to run off after Daryl and apologise, immediately. Now, soon. Follow on, everyone!’
I promptly run to the Party Van and turn it on, taking aboard at least fifteen other people before it starts moving off in the direction of Daryl’s still-audible cries. Here’s hoping she doesn’t meet up with anything bad before I catch up with her.

Christopher Athánatos

“Heh. Listen to yourself, creature,” I say without looking back at the dragon. “You speak of ‘improvement’. But by whose standard? Magus Mechanicle believes that it will be an improvement if the world is permanently ride of all Shifters and Beasts. The average vampire lord believes that it will be an improvement if every living being on the planet becomes its slave and cattle. And do you think your definition of ‘improvement’ is the right one, hmm? Who gave you the right to decide?”

For an instant, a flash of memories overwhelm my senses.

…

“Heh heh…” The mage laughed hoarsely, then immediately winced in pain as the numerous wounds on his body were strained further. Multiple large spikes made of some solid glowing purple energy had been driven through his wrists, ankles, and various other points on his body, fixing him rather crudely to a wall. “D-Do you think that m-makes you right, O Great Archmagus…? Is it not merely… merely human nature? We hunt animals for sport… We c-consume their f-flesh out of not necessity but d-desire and enjoyment… Simply because we’re stronger than them, aren’t we…? What makes m-myself any different…?”

“I think you may be misunderstanding something here,” the boy, now a young man in his early twenties, said quietly, just as he drove another spike through his prisoner’s body. “I have my people’s best interests in mind. You kidnap and torture my people for fun, you go against my people’s best interests. And that disgusts me. It doesn’t make me right, of course, but why should I care?” Another spike. This one struck an artery, and droplets of blood splashed over the young man’s elaborate purple robes. “Justice is for hypocrites,” he whispered, and spat, the saliva magically changing into biting acid as it made contact with the writhing mage’s face. “I can do this because I am stronger than you, aren’t I?”

The wounded mage shook. Unable to destroy the man’s confidence in his ideology, the mage instead turned to the young woman standing beside the man. “Listen to your partner’s words…” He laughed weakly, but mockingly. “So selfish, wicked and cruel… Can a pure-hearted young lady like you stand them…?”

“Shut your mouth, monster,” the woman said, both of her eyes, one red and one blue, cold as ice. “You deserve all the suffering you put your victims through, and ten times more.”

“Silvia?” The man turned toward the woman.

“Do it,” the woman said. A small sphere of purple energy materialized, hovering above the stretched index and middle fingers of her right hand.

Nodding, the man made a gesture with his hands. Bits of purple energy from the spikes impaling the man bled off, and crawled into their victim’s mouth, then solidified into a hollow shell to force his mouth open. The woman walks toward the tortured mage and, without another word, shoved the sphere of energy down his throat. His mouth was then unceremoniously shut by a quick but brutally forceful uppercut from the young man. The bound mage made a series of gagging sounds as the ball of energy travelled down his esophagus into his stomach.

Then he let out a horrific scream of pure, unadulterated agony.

“Your innards have been disintegrated,” the woman said simply. “Have a nice death. It’s too merciful for something like you.” She turned toward the man. “We done here?”

“Yes,” he replied. “Remind me to have someone clean up the mess afterwards. I don’t want to have the rotting corpse of a wanted criminal stinking up the place. Let’s go.” Casually he drove one last spike through the mage’s groin, the place no man would ever want to be impaled by a vicious spike.

Then they both began to walk away, leaving their prisoner literally broken, dying a slow, painful death.

…

I recover an instant later. The memory is morbid, but it makes me smile with morbid satisfaction. Justice is for hypocrites; how very true indeed.

“I’m not giving you a choice, Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos,” I say coldly, “because I am stronger than you.”

And immediately after, we have arrived. My gaze falls on Rosalyn, then everyone else in the group.

“So I see that you have all survived,” I say to no one in particular. “And new additions to your little group?” I say to the two newcomers. “What are your purposes amid a group of Caelum Fortis survivors, strangers?”

Nick

I look over at a random who just arrived.

“Hey, buddy.” I stand up straight and walk up to him, bringing my hand forward, hoping he would shake it. “I’m just a wanderer here to help these guys.” I gestured towards the group.

Christopher Athánatos

I look at the hand. A voice in my head tells me to crush it into a bloody mess of tendons and flesh. I consider it for a moment, and decide against it, but I do not take his offer of a handshake; I’m not here to make friends. It is not possible for me to make friends.

“A wanderer? Here to help them?” I laugh in a not entirely friendly way. “Really now. If only I can believe that more easily.” I narrow my eyes. “And I am not your ‘buddy’, creature.”

Rosalyn Lightfell

Lynn

Before I can answer Coal, I suddenly see Chris, followed by the sexually indeterminate dude(tte). For some strange reason I feel relieved.

Wait, where did that come from? I mean, he’s an asshole, and it’s his fault that we’re as depressed as-

He’s hurt, Lynn, Rose says very quietly. We… I… I want to help…

Fine, I sigh. If only he stops being an asshole. And cheers up a little.

As if we’re the ones to talk…

Point. I grimace. I retract my wings and drop onto the ground, landing smoothly on my feet. Yay for martial arts I apparently learned from hell knows where. “You lived,” I say, giving Chris a look.

“Evidently,” he snarks back.

Against fucking Justinian XXI. Holy shit. The world is just unfair, you know, with some people obscenely more powerful than others, and-

But look… Rose says. Can’t you feel it? He’s weakened, greatly…

…right. “So what happened?”

“He exploded.”

I stare at him.

“It was a robot clone.”

I stare at him some more. “A ro-”

“Look, must we really talk about this right now?” He sighs, looking tired. “Don’t you have more important things to worry about, Rosalyn Lightfell?”

“Oh, uh.” I narrow my eyes. “You still here to help us?”

“For now, yes,” he shrugs.

“Okay.” I turn to everyone else. “Apparently we’re in some forest called Bai Ning, which means… Uh, let’s see…” Rose and I always liked Eastern Kingdoms culture, but their languages are so complex, and we never had enough exposure to them to fully learn their languages. “…‘White Freezing’, I think.” Okay, that doesn’t sound too good, but whatever. It’s probably just a name. “And there’s a city about a day’s walk away. Any of you guys ready to leave?”

Frostix
A random person comes into our group and starts talking to the girl that threatened the traveller and myself. This time, however she does’t point a weapon at him so I assume that he’s a friend or something like that. He asks who I am and the traveller as well. “I came from down south when the city crashed hoping to find survivors” I reply to him. He tells us that the name of the forest is ‘White Freezing’ to wich I think to myself “How appropiate”.

Adrian

Its Christopher. Now there is something you don’t see every day, someone living after attacking Justinian. It actually makes me wonder if he did survive. I file that thought away in case it becomes necessary. The last thing I need is one of the two mind-reading-capable people to see that thought.

I do notice one thing though. Christopher didn’t take Nicks hand. I quickly address Lynn “I’m ready. If you point the direction I’ll scout ahead.” I then shift my head towards Christopher. “You should really shake his hand. As to why”, I say before he can respond, "That is because you don’t want us dead, or we would be by now, and you clearly don’t want to leave us, or you would have. You might not want to be anyone’s friend, fine, but you shouldn’t go around making enemies.

Christopher Athánatos

Without warning I suddenly reach out to grasp the were-leopard roughly on his throat, lifting him off the ground easily. My grip tightens until he can just barely breathe, and sharp dermal denticles akin to a shark’s scales sprout from my palm to painfully dig into his skin.

“You shouldn’t go around telling others what to do,” I say quietly. “Nor should you presume to know how others think. Don’t overestimate your significance, creature.” My grip begins to tighten more and more.

“Hey!” I hear Rosalyn call out sharply, looking at me with an equally sharp glare. “Play nice!”

Suddenly, another flash of memories.

…

“Don’t overestimate your significance,” the boy said with a snarl on his face as his single-handed choke hold was lifting the other, older and more muscular, boy easily off the ground. “You do not own the place. Don’t pretend to know how I think, or tell me what to do.” His grip tightened, and coils of purple energy snaked around his captive’s limbs to bind him even more tightly and painfully. “Master Lightfell may be too busy to deal with someone like you. But surely he wouldn’t mind if you were forced to withdraw from the Academy due to special circumstances, don’t you think?”

“Hey! Come on, Chris!” The girl called out, fixing the boy with a sharp glare. “Play nice!”

“Hmph,” the boy huffed, releasing his grip and binds, throwing the older boy roughly onto the ground. “Be glad I spend much of my time around Silvia. If I catch you again without her present…” He decided to not finish the sentence, and threw one last venomous look before turning around to join the girl.

…

The briefest instant later, so brief that no one should have noticed anything, I return to reality. “You may want to watch your mouth around those stronger than you,” I say coldly, before throwing the were-leopard roughly onto the ground. “In my thousand years of life I’ve forgotten more enemies than you will ever make. And most of them are dead, crushed like the insignificant little insects they are. I cannot care less if you’re foolish enough to become one more of them.”

Adrian

Christopher lifts me into the air by my throat and squeezes. I gasp in surprise, except that I can’t gasp because he is holding my throat. Painfully. And even that would have been bearable, had he not made it more-so by doing some pain inducing thing to his hand. That is really when it became one of the nightmare-types of pain. It seems to last hours before he tosses me to the ground. I hit the ground rolling and bounce to my feet.

I am done with Christopher. I don’t even look at him when getting up.

I turn to Rosalynn. “Which way was it to the city? Point, please.”