One Hell Of A Night (Magyar!)

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

The Wyrdwood vaults were nearly silent at night. The catacomb-like tunnels were a great place to go if you wanted to be alone- apart from the occasional group of adventurous year-ones, it seemed like nobody came here past dark. Unless, of course, you were part of the Broken Seal.

Obedience Barebone looked over her makeshift demoncalling setup, mentally counting off the required steps nessicary for this particular ritual. "Okay, so the stars are aligned properly, the candles are the right shade of black, the pentagram is suitably edgy, all that's left is..." The tiefling looked to the center of her alter, where a small puppy lay struggling, and pulled a knife out of her robe pocket. "The blood sacrifice."

Obedience looked at the puppy with a hungry gleam in her eyes, giggling as the animal whimpered and tried to move it's broken legs. That poor Rainfeather girl had been so overjoyed when she had been the first in her transmogrification class sucessfully transform her tea kettle into a dog that Professor Fen-Breath had allowed her to keep it. She had been parading the animal around all day, telling anybody who would listen about where she'd gotten it. Obedience already knew the story she'd tell the girl when she showed her her pet's corpse- the poor dog had somehow wandered away from the girl's bed and encountered the zombie that roamed the hall.

The puppy gave Obedience one last, simpering look before the tiefling began to messily carve chunks out of the dog's flesh, smiling all the while. Her mind wandered as she listened to the animal's yelps of pain. "I wonder, will Susie break down in front of me? Or will she wait until I've left?" She grinned as the puppy ceased to whine, gently prodding it's bloody corpse. "Yeah. That should be enough."

Obedience could have used her own blood, of course- but where was the fun in that?

Standing up straight, Obedience stretched her arms at her sides. "Minions of below!" she cried out in a deep, otherworldly voice. ""Heed my summons!" Nothing significant happened, and the girl lowered her arms, sighing. "Man, really?" she groaned. "And I put in all that effort to steal the dog, too..."

Suddenly, something appeared on the alter with a loud *BANG*! Obedience flinched, then looked at the newcomer with a look of excitement... which then fell flat as she realized this imp was smaller than the last one she'd summoned. It was hairless with baggy skin- almost like a bipedal molerat. "Oh. Hi." Obedience said flatly. "You know the deal. You serve me now, I make the rules, etcetera."

"Fuck you." said the imp. "You ain't the boss of me!" With this, the tiny demon jumped off of the alter and ran past the girl, dissapearing into the tunnels. "Shit!" Obedience cried as she gave chase. If a teacher were to see the imp, she'd be expelled for sure...

[Magyar]

Of all the sights and sounds Percival Clearwater had been privy to in his life, this was certainly the strangest. And that was saying something - Percy had once had a very long and insightful conversation with a talking well, seen a disembodied spirit berate the corpse it belonged to, and watched his brother vomit live frogs -  so even with that sort of experiential repertoire from which to draw, this was still giving his top spot a run for its money. Of course, his top spot did not actually have money, as it was an artificial position on an imaginary list that wasn't all too organised upon any serious reflection... but then again, neither did the skirmishing creatures in front of him. It worked itself out quite nicely then.

Now, the actual subject of Percy's befuddlement was what seemed to be an anthropomorphic hairless rat duelling to the death with a wooden sphere propped up on three spindly legs. The rat-thing was currently gnawing on one of the sphere's legs, which itself in turn prodded at the wrinkly little beastie like a child at a bee-hive. Percy's confusion was not directed towards the spheroid automaton, as he was well aware of both what it was and why it was in front of him. Why it was prodding the weird pink sagging rodent creature was beyond him, but that wasn't so important now. What was important was that he hadn't the slightest clue as to what the rat-thing was, or why he had been given the unfortunate opportunity of stumbling into it whilst trying to apprehend his newly soul-imbibed tripod. His confusion only deepened upon seeing Obedience Barebone, the tiefling girl whom he thought was rather attractive, if prone to nastiness at times, booking it down the hallway towards him and the scuffling combatants.

"By the seven hells, today is something different," Percy said under his breath, just the slightest bit exasperated. He jutted a finger towards the little rat-thing, and asked in a tone that was more accusatory than inquisitive, "Is this yours?!"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

The imp wasn't able to get very far before Obedience caught up to it. It seemed to have found a worthy opponent in an odd, spider-like contraption, and the two were engaged in a rather pathetic battle for dominance. The tiefling smiled at the boy who'd brought the automaton- the older Clearwater, the one she didn't want to smother with his own hat- and shifted her weight slightly. "It could be." she replied cooly. "I won't tell if you don't."

She looked at the battling minions, putting her finger to her chin. The fight seemed like it could go in any direction at this point, and there was something morbidly thrilling about the whole thing. "Say..." she said slowly, giving Percival a sly look. "Are you a betting man, Clearwater? Because I think my guy could beat yours."

[Magyar]

Percy glanced towards the pitiful scuffle, then back up to Obedience. For a moment, uncertainty flickered across his features - replaced nearly immediately with a mischief unlike his classroom disposition. Percy certainly had a rambunctious side, but he rarely if ever mixed devilment with his studies.

"What's to stop your guy," Percy began, straightening up and relaxing his stance, "from running off again, when my golem wins? I'm assuming you don't want the little bastard dead, right?"

Percy slid his hands into his billowing pockets as he spoke, one of which had nestled within it a small metal flask filled with water. He uncorked the flask, and brought his right hand out of his pocket, bringing a small sphere of water - about the size of a golf ball -  with it. The ball morphed into a coin shape, and Percy ran it across the back of his fingers like conman in a casino. When the coin passed his pinky finger, it morphed again into a stream of water, circled back to his index, and began the process again.

"And what're the stakes anyway, eh?" Percy asked, regarding the tiefling with a playful grin. He arched an eyebrow, and leaned back against the wall of the hallway.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Obedience shrugged, watching Percy's water trick with mild interest. "Eh. I would've just killed it anyway." A small smile rested on her lips as she focused her attention on the imp once more. "There's kinda, like, a tier system? You need hearts from the smaller ones in order to summon the bigger ones and stuff." The tiefling giggled. "This little guy was doomed from the start."

The imp and the golem continued to fight without rest, neither giving in to the other. It was beginning to look like it'd be a stalemate, but Obedience knew there were ways she could manipulate the outcome if she wanted to. The girl tussled her hair, squinting. "As for stakes..." She grinned. "How about this: If you win, I'll like, do Maergath's end of semester paper for you or something. If I win..." Her grin turned into a nasty smirk.  "...You have to give me your brother"s hat."

[Magyar]

Percy actually scoffed, something he immediately felt was uncharacteristic of him. Seemed a bit pretentious. Percy narrowed his eyes on the horizon, though he wasn't staring at anything - he was just criticising himself.

"Bea, please," Percy began, shifting his narrowed gaze to Obedience. As he did so, his expression softened, but it was still incredulous, "I am the last person that needs help with Maergath. The man never even grades my papers, he just marks everything at the highest possible achievement... how about,-" Percy's repeating coin suddenly paused on his middle finger, mid flip, and little spikes began to extend from a rapidly shrinking coin. Soon, it was a small prickly-looking ball reminiscent of an urchin, "-if my guy wins, I get to keep yours."

Percy looked down to the struggling duo, his face taking on an odd hunger. His eyes locked onto the wrinkly little rat man, his pupils constricting, the gold of his irises glinting against the torchlight. He became tight-lipped and wide-eyed, his jaw clenched. The infernal beating of that creature's heart, its soul... he could almost taste it.

"I could always use a soul like that..." He said in a low tone, eyes never leaving the imp. The Fiend, however, had heard him. It glanced in surprise, startled, toward Percy, for only a moment letting its guard down. Percy's tripod tried to take the advantage, stabbing a spindly leg at the rat, but Obedience's imp sidestepped the thrust, clenched onto the leg with its teeth - and again they were locked in mortal combat.

Percy's expression faded as he turned back to Obedience, saying in a much more conversational tone, "And my brother's hat is off limits. I won't take it from him, and I sure as hell won't let anyone else do it. He may be a bit of a shit sometimes, but he's my little shit. Speaking of,-" Percy pushed off the wall - looked again to the combatants - and the watery urchin began to spin, acting as if centrifugal force were pulling it apart, "-I need to pay that Chatterjee child a visit..." His spinning liquid torus halted abruptly, revealing that the rotating shape had barbs and spikes along the external surface. It then lost form, and floated back down into his flask.

"So," Percy resumed, glancing back to Obedience, "Pick another prize."

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Obedience was silent for a moment, watching as the imp began to target the golem's joints. "Pick another prize, bullshit..." she thought. "I'll show you..."

"Whaaaaat?" Obedience laughed, grinning stupidly. "You don't like Aahva? But he's the only year-one worth a damn!" She leaned against the wall, slowly tracing her index finger across the stone bricks. Bright yellow flowers began to sprout from where she'd touched, until a visible pattern emerged- the crest of the broken seal. "I would be careful around him." she purred. "If you go after Aahva, Maergath will grade your papers."

The tiefling suddenly snapped her fingers. "Oh! I got it!" She beamed. "If mine wins, you need to do Aahva's homework for a month. And make sure he passes."

[Magyar]

"It's not that I don't like Aahva. I don't care about Aahva," Percy said, staring at the battle as he spoke, "My issue is that he's picking on my brother. That-" he shifted his stare to Obedience, his eyes cold and his features neutral, "-is unacceptable. I'll do what needs to be done, and if my actions result in negative consequences, so be it... anything for family, right? Besides, even if Maergath stopped passing me on principle, I'd be getting top marks. It's almost no risk, all reward."

Percy turned his attention back to the scuffling minions, "The only negative side affect is that I earn an enemy or two, and Chatterjee bullies Arthur worse than he already does... and in that case I'll have a brand new soul with which to craft any number of golems." Percy said the last statement without a hint of sarcasm, and his expression equally betrayed no such humour. He punctuated his sentence by mumbling a word - one that sounded far too deep for his own voice, and whose syllables didn't match the shapes his mouth made as he said them. The flowery logo Obedience had drawn into the wall wilted immediately, some of the smaller leaves and petals crumbling into dust. Percy pointed a hand towards the dusty floors, and said another alien word. The candles on the walls as far down in each direction as was visible flickered momentarily, and the dust coalesced into a small leporine figure. The shape sat still, unmoving, until Percy said quietly, "Wander."

The little dust bunny began to hop off down the hallway, leaving a trail of its own composition where it landed. Percy paid it no mind, turning back to Obedience and saying, "Deal."

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

"Ah, so he has a vengeful side. That's fun!"

Obedience grinned, watching intently as Percy created a rabbit out of the dust left by her wilted flowers. "Ohhh..." she giggled, putting a hand to her cheek. "You should show the Rainfeather girl that trick, make her see just how weak she is. You could really push her over the edge with it!" The tiefling closed her eyes, imagining the redheaded student hanging limply from a noose. "It'd be funny!"

Obedience ran her fingers through her tangled hair, sighing contently. "Honestly though, you shouldn't go too hard on poor Aahva. He's just seperating the weak from the strong, really." Her eyes shifted to the battling minions, and she frowned slightly- her imp seemed to be tiring out. It's movements had grown sluggish, and it looked as if it was on the verge of collapse. "He'll make a great pawn someday..." she said, sounding a bit worried. "Just gotta get the Evans girl out of the picture before she rubs off on him..."

"Shit! I gotta find a way to rig this in my favor!"

[Magyar]

"I don't care what the little wretch does to other people," Percy said defensively, gesticulating half-heartedly as if to emphasize being misunderstood, "It's a family matter, and I'll be damned if anyone touches a hair on the head of my brother. He may deserve it, but that's why I'm here." Percy's voice took a passion it hadn't had before, colouring his speech with what was almost anger, "It's not for a degenerate wannabe magician with a talent he can't harness to think himself higher than the equivalent of a mage factory - you want to talk about squandered potential, my brother reeks of it! And then I hear that some street rat from Thanatos is walking tall, pushing around a kid - who is admittedly easy to push around - whose station in life alone should have the kid stay at a respectful distance... and then you factor in Arthur's actual powers, and this anti-mordecai delinquent should be actively moving out of the way, not beating him up!"

Percy got more heated the longer he ranted, his weak hand motions becoming larger and more intense. As his temper got the better of him, Percy's tripod began to attack the weakening imp with renewed vigour, stabbing and now even slashing with a wildness not before seen. It was becoming vicious, targeting joints and soft tissues, very nearly running the imp through with a particularly powerful thrust that the little demon just barely sidestepped.

"But no, Arthur just lets it happen, too busy being a professional pushover to do anything for himself, and Aahva gets to feel like he's more than the dredge that he is! And he doesn't know that he shouldn't choose Arthur to shit on every day, because Arthur gives him no reason to believe otherwise! We're basically nobility, and the little dumbass carries himself like some sort of exhausted beggar - for no reason!"

Percy was shouting now, pacing away from Bea a few steps, before turning back and repeating the process. He was staring more at the ground in front of him than he was looking at anything in particular, mind lost in his rant. His arms flailed wildly with every other word, his latent and undealt-with anger at the subject having taken full hold. The Tripod was savage, throwing itself at the imp with flagrant disregard for its own wellbeing, even scoring a few good gashes on the creature.

Percy, mid-pace away from Obedience, turned abruptly on his heel and levelled a finger at her, fire in his eyes, "So I'll be damned if I don't beat that little piece of shit within an inch of his life if he ever lays so much as his eyes on my brother again! When I'm done doing whatever they think is education here, and get back out into our withering disappointment of a country, I'll take my fucking respect! No malfeasant shits will disrespect me and mine, not once I've got my proper place in this crumbling bullshit of a monarchy! NO ONE!"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Obedience watched the boy rant, a dumbfounded smile on her face. She exhaled in amusement, which then grew into a giggle, and then became a guffaw. She was soon laughing hysterically, leaning on the wall as if she would fall over other wise. "Holy shit dude, calm down!" she said, wiping a tear from her eyes. "He's just a bully! Aahva wants you to react this way!" 

Laughter winding down, the tiefling crossed her arms. "Besides, there's no use in getting upset about 'whose status beats whose" and stuff. Once I take over, you'll all be my slaves regard-"

A horrible squeal came from below them, causing Obedience to look down. Normally the girl quite liked the sound of animal's dying, but this time was different- her imp had finally lost, and lay in a bloody heap on the floor. Percy's golem continued to attack is, as if unaware it had won the fight. "Ugh, damnit!" Obedience cursed. Sighing, she extended a hand to Percy as if to shake. "Well, I guess that's it. A deal's a deal."

"Fuck you, I sacrificed the stupid mutt for nothing! I'll trample you under my boot one day, you and your little golem! Just you wait..."

[Magyar]

Percy - unsuccessfully - stifled a scowl when he saw Obedience laughing, as if his rant was the greatest comedic act since the invention of the punchline. He straightened his posture and smoothed out his robes, saying in a defensive tone, "Then he'll get what he damn wants..."

He stared at Bea's outstretched hand for a few seconds, before glancing at the dead imp and then taking her hand in a firm grip. A devilish smile crept by the corners of his mouth, and his eyes narrowed. The moment he had a good grip on her hand, Percy said, "A deal's a deal..."

The smile slipped on and his expression relaxed, becoming almost friendly. His mouth began to move, but like before, the words he spoke didn't match the shapes his lips made. Unlike before, the discordant syllables reverberated off of the stone walls with in a bass rumble that was far beyond Percy's natural voice. The torchlights dimmed, their flames flickering worse than before, almost going out - sometimes casting the whole hallway into shadow. Percy's eyes rolled into the back of his head, but he didn't stop speaking or gripping Bea's hand.

Percy probed through the soulstuff around him, feeling the familiar magpie's soul in his tripod, then moving to the freshly drifting soul of the imp. He quickly pulled it from its wandering, and deposited it in the kyanite necklace he had on under his robes. For later. Then, he decided to have some fun. On his way back into his own body, he tugged a few times at Obedience's rather unique soul - nothing enough to harm her, but for sure enough to make her feel it.

Back on the more physical plane, Percy's grin widened into a malicious thing more akin to baring his teeth than to smiling. He left her soul's touch, retreating back within his own. The fires stabilised, some permanently snuffed, and his voice normalised for the last few words of his soul-stealing chant. With the last syllable, he dropped Bea's hand and snapped at the tripod. It turned on the spindly legs, one of which was notably shorter than the others, and scuttled over to him.

"Good doing business with you Bea," Percy said, tone amiable, "If you ever want to do some more business, of any kind, you know where to find me."

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Obedience's exterior was smiling pleasantly, though one the inside she was livid. "But of course!" she said with faux-happiness as the boy recited his chant. "It's always a pleasure."

Her eyes widened as she felt a tug on her heart. "Oh, you didn't..." she thought, anger slowly replaced by murderous intent. "Nobody touches my soul and gets away with it!" Obedience's grip on Percy's hand tightened, and she allowed her mind to relax. In an instant she felt a light trickle of magic in her palm, and her eyes flashed. "There, those should sprout in two hours. Have fun pulling those out, bucko."

As the boy's chant ended, he released his grip. Obedience smiled, putting he hands in her robe pockets. " Of course. Deals are my specialty." she said curtly. The tiefling turned on her heel, walking down the hall from whence she came. She offered a backhanded wave goodbye. "Aight, I gotta go. I made a mess summoning that little guy."

"Yeah, yeah, stay positive. I still killed the dog, so at least I did something worthwhile..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Obedience disappeared, the shadows cast by the flickering candles seemed to ripple and dangerously. They soon expanded, until finally they connected with Percy's own. The young soulshaper would feel his shadow begin to feel almost heavy- as if something had weighed it down.

"I saw everything." said a snide female voice that seemed to be coming from multiple directions at once. "If you even think about hurting Aahva, I'm telling!"

[Magyar]

Percy grimaced, closing his eyes. Today was getting better and better.

When he opened his eyes again, his lips wore a tight scowl. If he could, he would've vanished then and there. To where, that was beyond him, but anywhere would have been better than here. But he couldn't of that, not yet anyways, and so he turned to face the cloaking darkness behind him. He didn't have a focal point to talk to exactly, so his eyes darted back and forth across the length of the hall as he spoke, looking a the whole mess of shadows rather than at one in particular.

"Tell who?" He asked, throwing his hands up at the hall of shadows, "And saw what, exactly? I haven't done anything down here, Evans, in fact I don't think I've even been in the dungeons since last week! And if I haven't been in the dungeons, how could you have seen me? And again, who would you tell what you thought you saw? What would you say?"

Percy snapped his fingers at the tripod by his feet, and the creature scuttled under his robes. Percy could feel the spindly limbs close around his calf, latch on to his leg.

"That Percival Clearwater, the rich kid with the depressed brother from Altas Verde is going to assault a petty bully a few years down?" Percy's exasperation turned into ridicule, his scowl becoming a mirthless smile. His eyes and his body language clashed with the smile, but he kept it anyway, "Because no one will believe you. Especially coming from you, Evans. No one except for the people who wouldn't stop me either way... and if you get in my way, remember that you are much more expendable than Aahva. The Broken Seal needs him alive..."

Percy began to rub his left palm in irritation. It was itching oddly. He paid it no mind, and continued, "Nobody needs you for anything. Now go play in the shadows somewhere else, or I'll make sure you can't get in my way later..."

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

The hallway seemed to grow darker and darker, until it was almost impossible to see. Two orbs of pure black appeared im front of Percy, seeming to suck in all light. They quivered slightly, as if they were alive. Beatrix's obnoxious laugh was focused in one spot now- if the dark spots were eyes, then it came from a mouth attached to it. "Ohohoho! Don't be stupid, Clearwater!" the shadow mocked. "I don't need to tell on you- not when Barebone will throw you under the bus if I tell on her instead!"

The orbs darted to the left, now facing Percy's side."You know Magistrix Fen-Breath and Professor Summers don't trust her at all? They'll believe me, no sweat." The orbs were now behind the boy. "Oh, and by the way, my magic is like, waaaaay stronger than yours. I'm the strongest shadowmancer in the country! You shouldn't make threats you can't back up,
soulshaper."

[Magyar]

Percy's scowl slipped back into place. Bea wasn't exactly the trustworthy type, Evans' claims held that much truth. He was preparing a retort to her comment about Fen-Breath and Summers, something about how she was kidding herself about them believing a word... but then another opportunity presented itself.

Percy turned slowly, keeping the shadowy orbs at least in his peripheral vision. The scowl that had just settled on his expression morphed into a tight lipped smile -  if smile was the right word. It was the same face Percy wore when one of the snares he'd set up for his experiments in the attics caught some more involuntary soulstuff.

"The strongest in the country?" Percy said with mock reverence, "I apologise, Evans, truly, I do. I wasn't aware that I had audience with a magician of such quality. Surely, you could count yourself amongst the ranks of the many legendary shadowmancers of Serendipity..." Percy then looked confused, finishing his turn to look at the orbs fully, "But I don't remember ever hearing about any. In fact, I've never heard of shadowmancy in my life, with exception to whatever tricks you've tried to pull of in this school. Now I know you know about soul shaping, what it is, the practical purposes of the whole practice. My entire province is famous for it, of course. But surely, as you've said, whatever mystical arts you can perform highly outrank any of my abilities. So why don't you show me?"

Percy whipped his hand, without warning, toward the spheres. It passed right through them, leaving wispy darkness trailing for a few moments.

"What can you do that is more threatening to me than what I could do to you, Evans?" Percy taunted, his voice low and quiet as he leaned in closely towards the reforming shadowy orbs.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

In her room, Beatrix's body shuddered- deep down, she knew Percy was right. However, she did not let this deter her. "Gotta come up with something fast!" she thought, mind racing. "Come on brain, work harder!"

While most thought their friendship was odd to begin with, the sheer lengths Beatrix would go to in order to keep Aahva out of trouble cemented how close they'd become. The two children shared a kinship, something that Beatrix had never experienced before in her thirteen years of living. The feeling of having somebody she could talk to honestly was exhilarating- she had to protect him, for he was the only meaningful thing in her life. It had gotten to the point where she'd secretly watch over the boy in his sleep- though most would agree this behavior was unhealthy. Had it not been for what she'd discovered, Beatrix likely would have agreed she was going too far.

The reason Aahva lashed out. The reason he always looked tired even after going to bed at a normal time. The reason people like Maergath and Obedience seemed to scare him beyond belief. The reason most of his teachers gave him a free pass. The reason Percy would need to take matters into his own hands if he wanted revenge. There was nobody Beatrix could turn to for help- everybody seemed to be in on it.

I'm the only one who can do this." Beatrix thought, fists unconsciously clenching. "Aahva's safety depends on me!" 

Back in the dungeon, the two orbs darted inside of Percy's nostrals. "There is no light source inside your body." Beatrix's voice had changed- she no longer sounded snide and taunting, instead sounding incredibly grim. "Stay away from my friend. Do not make me repeat myself."

"Ahhh! He'd better not ask for a demonstration, I have no idea if I can actually do that kind of thing!"