OOC: Tags to
@Heretic King The raw cries were swallowed away, only by the daily droll rumble of dragon roars the Thunderblacks were famous for. But inside one of the mountains, down a precarious path where foggy steam and hazes curtained any man's direction to navigate- lay her body, chained tight to the wall where she arched, naked and in pain.
It was the price to pay for misfortunate, and the price to pay for using
his magic to evade death. But certainly her cries warranted the want for it, the
need for death as all ills upon herself from her last visit to this cave were revisited, reanimated and had her writhing in the most intense pain.
Had she not been bound in chains she would have done it- cut herself, split open her head, broke her own neck
Anything. But all she could do was thrust and cry and wallow in her own mortal misery while her Shadow Master recharged in the dark.
All across her body the wounds from her adventure had reopened, coating her in sticky, hot stinging blood. Any magical pains returned, seering her, marring her and leaving her choking on screams and sobs in a pain that would last days, weeks...
And this time...
Over a month.
But once recharged, the pain slowly began to subside, the blood from her nose and wounds, waning, as she lay int he dark, smoldering cavern with labored breath. Had she any strength left, she knew it wouldn't matter, and soon darkness consumed her-
and all was quiet.
All was black.
Yet, it took a dragonrider to distinguish a dragon's cry from anything else's. And Mist was such. He and Ren had temporarily parted. But, his dragon first did tell him there was some scent that didn't belong. So, Mist had nothing better to do than to investigate the odd scent.
And soon, he was on the trail of someone. Someone crying. Shouting out in pain. His great tracking, his elven ears and his years as a hunter, warrior and tactician, aswell as a trail of blood, lead him to a cave.
With a hand on one of the daggers on his belt, Mist slowly descended in the cave. Being a dark elf had lots of perks. Low-lit caves were no issue for his amber eyes.
The only disadvantage was that almost anyone you met, tried to sell you on some slave market.
But, those weren't concerns for now. He heard soft breathing. His mithril armour clunked against the stone ground as he slowly descended, towards the breathing.
And to his surprise, he found a chained woman, kneeling down infront of her. "Who are you?"
How many years had it been since someone dare lay foot in this neck of the woods? The mountains surely whispered their warnings, but it never seemed that the cries of pain would be enough to draw a fool forth. Here, in the cave, as the man would descend, it was as if the walls were whispering secrets, but of what? No one could know.
But the second the drow stepped out into the small alcove where the woman was in chains, the whispers had all but subsided, and at the man's query, her red eyes bloomed.
Blood, sweat, dirt and tears marred her form, slicking her hair in scraggled curls about her body. And at first, she saw just the dark skin and jerked within her chains, crying out a roar and trying to move her limbs, eyes full of venom, promises of death.
Mist was unimpressed by the sudden fire. Not even flinching. Judging by her appearance, she had been her for a long time. A very long time. And whatever had kept her here didn't spare her. "Are you this far past?" He asked, flicking the knife in his hand. The woman didn't seem to possess her own mind no more, hurting obviously. "I'll end your suffering.."
Seeing his knife, she sneered at him.
"End my suffering?" Her entire body was shaking from all the pain, torment she endure. She spat towards him. "End your own."
Vision being blurred and weak, she could only deduce this man, dark of skin, was either her master there to torment her- Or her own mind playing tricks.
Mist looked at the woman as he was spat in the face, slowly chuckling and wiping away the saliva. "I'll take that as no." He said as he, instead of finishing her off, went to work on freeing her from the chains. Carefully so.
But he failed. They were protected by powerful magic. With a slow sigh, the elf sat back. "Who forced yu here? Aren't you starving?"
She looked at him through red, haggard eyes.
"What's it to you?"
"It seems like common courtesy to ask someone who's been chained in a cave for gods know how long." He returned the gaze with his own amber eyes. "Because this magic keeping you here is powerful. Someone doesn't want you to leave this place."
The elf toppled over, landing on his butt with a loud clunk. "And I don't fancy leaving you here, so, you'll just have to wait for Ren to tear into this mountain and free you that way.
"Powerful magic...." She made a narrowed expression before looking away. "If you aim to tear me out of here, you're wasting your time."
Mist chuckled slowly. "It's the dragon that does the heavy lifting. You'll be free in no time." He shrugged slowly. "I decide what a waste of my time is." Was what he said as he glanced up at her. "How did you get here? And by who?"
Though she had a fire in her eyes that seemed unable to be snuffed out, a sudden tiredness was becoming her- and she looked pale as death.
"Not a who... but what," came her weak reply, eyes heavy, body wilting.
Mist darted forward at the sudden decrease in the woman's health, gently tapping her cheek. "Hey. Stranger. Stay with me. You'll be free in no time." His face signed with genuine worry.
She growled weakly.
"Can't... be free..... now," came her voice, strained as she faded away- as if unto death. And then the entire cave flickered into darkness before she slumped forward, body chilled- but not entirely locked into death.
It was an odd sight to see her own body from another's eyes- though she appeared very much the same as herself, though this time she was cloaked in the shadows she rose up from, and stood there, naked as the shadows vanished. She turned and looked towards her chained form, then over at the drow. She said nothing, moving past him and towards a stone slab where her clothing had been strewn, and began to collect her things.
She was no longer within that pathetic mortal body right now-
and she had a job to do. And as she paused a moment to close her eyes, she felt the familiar pull to the west.
Mist leaned forward and grabbed the woman's face. "Stay with me, stranger!" Yet. It seemed futile. And as she hung dead, Mist slowly got to his feet again with a sigh, before he immediatly turned to the new figure and pulled the enormous, cursed blade from his back, the bandages around it shredded and the eye at between the hilt and blade staring intensly at the new figure. Pupils small, sclera littered with thick, red veins.
"Who are you?"
Glaring over her shoulder, she looked over at her chained body, then back to him.
"It doesn't matter. And you're trespassing." She began to slip on a glove. "Get out of my cave."
"It matters." Mist said as he lowered the tip of the cursed sword against the ground. "Did you seal this woman here?"
She could have rolled her eyes at him, but settled for a sneer.
"I am that woman."
Fool.
"Understand that I don't believe you." Mist replied with a cold and harsh tone. "If you'd be this woman. What are you doing here and why are you here?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"That's a lot of questions for someone trespassing in my cave." Her eyes still flared with irritation. "If I weren't that woman, know this," she went on, taking a step towards him. "You'd already be dead."
Mist didn't flinch. At all. Threats made him angry. And he was menacing when angry. So instead of stepping back, he stepped closer, resting the enormous cursed blade across his shoulders. "You'd be welcome to try. I've fought things scarier and more powerful than you. Yet here I still am."
Red eyes went towards the blade on his shoulder. She could sense the dark powers within it, just begging to be released. Her eyes returned to his.
"And you itch to cleave me with it."
Her gaze was answered by the large eye of the sword. Staring her dead in the eyes. The pupil narrowing and twitching slightly. "I tend to get pissed off when someone threatens me. Why are you here. And what is happening. Why are you here.. And there." He nodded at the woman in chains.
Her eyes showcased the growl her lips did not.
"And I said you ask too many questions," came her threatening reply. "This is my cave." Did he not hear her the first time? "And what you see.... is best forgotten when you leave."
She turned from him, finishing dressing and keeping her chest bond tight. In the leathers she now wore, it was easier to mistake her as a man, as she moved to pin up her hair, and began to wrap dark fabric around her head and neck.
"I wish to help you." Ws what he said as his grip on the hilt loosened slightly. "You are sufferikg. And I just can't walk away and forget this."
"Then you're setting yourself up to fail. Besides," she was ready now, heading towards the cave's mouth. "I don't need your help."
"I probably am, like always." He shrugged slowly. "If you don't need my help. You wouldn't have been locled away. You would've been free already." He sated bluntly, following her. "What is your name."
She paused meters from the cave's mouth and turned to him with a dark glare.
"You'd do well to know your place. Forget what you've seen or I'll make you forget." She eyes him over before locking eyes again. "Your sword begs for freedom, too." And she didjtn add if it weren't for that she would have his head on a spike.
"Make me forget then." Mist answered with the same cold and harsh voice. He slipped the sword behind his back again, the bandages starting to wind around it again. "You know nothing of this sword," he snerked slowly. "It gave me a second life."
She paused with her back to him at the mouth of the cave.
"And you have no idea the consequences of this grave."
And she stepped out into the night.
Or rather it was sunset, with long shadows stretching endlessly across the ground. Mists breathed up from the ground as the wind remained stale. But weather was of little consequence. She had only one job to do and it was to hunt.
The only problem was...
She was feeling nothing. How strange. The shadow seeds must be farther away than she thought. It seemed her path would be as directionless as the skies.
"And I don't care either." He stepped out to the mountains, met by the cries of the dragons. "What is your purpose?"
"That is another thing for you not to care." And before he could interject, or even stop her, she vanished from sight.
Moving through the shadows was easy. She was fully recharged and ready to go- except she still had no direction, and found herself circling where the strange dark elf stood. She could sense the dark energies from his blade and had to wonder, as she remained, crouched and blended into the shadows- if it was this man who was stunting her ability to sense any of the shadow seeds.
"It-" Mist slowly sighed as she vanished. The eye opened and followed her movements. Minning down on her as she stood still. Mist seemed to be still completely unaware of her position and waited for something.
Stepping out from the shadows, she asked, "What purpose makes you linger?"
Mist tilted his head hear way, arching an eyebrow. "That is my bussiness." He noted harshly.
"I will ask you once more before taking action- leave this place and do not return," came her reply, equally harsh and her eyes, threatening.
"I go where the fuck I please," he replied as he turned around, his eyes narrowing.
In a flash her weapon was drawn, a sturdy spear with a wicked point. Rotting dark wraps dangled off from beneath it, and were entangled with a series of decaying beads. In a second flash, she was lashing out towards him, and aiming to kill.
Mist took a step backwards, the spear scraping off of his armour. The eye of the blade let out a slow pulse and immediatly Mist's eyes turned crimson, his sclera completely black. "Wrong move," he uttered as he dropped the massive blade from his shoulder and spun with the momentum, aiming to slice her in half from the waist.
She easily evaded, her body tearing through the shadows before she reformed infront, and aimed a high kick at his chest.
With a loud clunk, she did connect, but the elf didn't seem to budge. With a vice grip around her ankle, he turned around and flung her towards the nearest rock.
She hit it hard, his retort taking her off guard. But it took just a second for her to kick away, dipping back into the blackness before reappearing and charging at him with her spear.
"You're slow," Mist said as he sidestepped again, raising his foot to stomp at the back of her knee. "Predictable." In truth, he couldn't see her. Not even with these eyes. But the blade could. His senses and physical capabilities were heightened in this state. Luckily, else their fight would've been over soon.
She stumbled away, growling beneath her breath. Then she looked to his sword.
"Your blade...." she growled. Ah, why hadn't she thought more of it before? Without another word, she took a step back and vanished once again, from sight.
Mist saw how the spectral woman dissappeared. No doubt was she powering up for a stronger and swifter attack. "Kainshou. Link." He muttered to himself as the sclera of the blade turned black. The iris crimson, like his own eyes. A direct neural link. So even the slight delay of communication between Mist and his sword were completely negated. He turned where the shadow being was currently. "I can see you."
She could feel their link, the strange connection and bounding with a darker power. The shadows around her even seemed to mock it, however, when he turned to her and claimed what he could see- a vision of her incased in a flickering darkness, she felt her own rage well up inside her before she let the shadows work through her as she seemed to lash out at him from everywhere at once.
And dark green chains shot from the ground in defense. Surrounding him in a defensive circle of dark green and black metal. Mist arched an.eyebrow at the chains. Was his control over the corruption increasing?
Even still, she slipped out of the shadows and began to lash out at his shield, spear fiercely in hand. She was relentless.
The chains opened up and her spear slid.inside. Mist grabbed it and started to pull the shadow inside with a low huff, forcing.her to the ground if he managed to pull her in.
She hadn't expected it, and fell to her knees suddenly before him. Now within his powerfield, she felt the intense pull from the darkness of his blade, and wildly reached out to grab it, and claw at the eye that seemed to be looking right into her soul.
Mist pulled the sword.back, before smacking it against her face with a bored sigh, "stand down." Surprising. She knew just where to hurt the sword. Luckily his reactions were fast enough. Else he would also be in a world of pain. A trickle of.blood ran down from his eyes. There was still a limit to this.
The smack only forced her back like a pup struck by it's master, but it was not a downing blow, and so she curled her lips back to hiss, "I will never stand down to you."
Her eyes flashed a wild, glowing color- the color of blood- while she attempted again, to get at his seemingly only weakness with much fever.
Mist.sighed as he spun around, the tip of the blade scraping over the floor. He put his free hand against the back of her head. Smacking her down against the floor, face first. "I don't wish to hrmurt you. But you're forcing me."
Mist arched an eyebrow. He had to end this. Soon the eye would close and he'd be forced out of this state.
"There is no force when a man has free will!" she hissed, eyes full of venom, before she ducked into the shadows and disappeared again.
Shit.
Time's up.
Mist grit his teeth as the eye of the blade slowly closed again, his eyes regaining their usual shade and hue. With a loud, metallic slam, the sword smacked against the floor again and he let out a soft pant.
The tides had turned now. He couldn't see her. He couldn't hear her. He couldn't predict her moves. He was fighting blindly. Against a swift and dangerous foe.
And soon all he'd be seeing was black.
She didn't kill him. She wanted to, but something kept her from it. Perhaps it was the draw to the dark feeling emanating from his blade, and a darkness within his own self.
Or maybe it was because he had actually wanted to save her.
The fool.
Either way, she made quick work to bind him up, hanging him upside down from a tree while contemplating just what to do with his blade as she held it in her hand and studied it.
"Well fuck," the words Mist opened his eyes with as he dangled upside down the tree, arching anbeyebrow as he swung slowly, looking around. "You can tie knots better than you fight," Mist said with an annoyed, yet almost careless tone. Way too casual for his current position.
"By the way, it doesn't like being messed with," he answered as he gave a jerky nod to the sword in her hands.
She looked at him, then pressed the blade to his throat.
"Who said I was playing."
"Heh," Mist let out a soft, unimpressed huff. "That thing won't kill me. I'm its lifeline." He would shrug if he wasn't hogtied to a tree. "Besides. I never said you were playing. But I'm no idiot. Why am I still breathing?" He inquired as his eyes squinched softly.
Her eyes narrowed on him.
"Because you're an idiot." She was thankful she had lead him away from where they had last fought. She hoped they were far enough away he wouldn't be able to remember the way back to her cave. "Stupid men can live because their lives will end as foolishly as they live."
And she moved to cut his bindings down with his own blade and watched him simply drop painfully to the ground.
Mist let out a dry chuckle. "It doesn't matter for shit if it looks foolish to others." Mist smirked, before he collapsed with a loud clunking, before sitting up and rubbing to the back of his head. "If you find protecting the ones in need foolish, then I am a fucking fool alright." He pushed himself up on his feet, his hand resting on the sword. "Now. It wants its original owner again."
"Oh? And if I refuse to give it back?"
Mist let out a soft chuckle, "you'd be doing me a favour," he replied with a bitter grin. "That is, if you can contain it and keep it from killing you and returning to me." He extended his hand for the sword. Tendrils of flesh errupted from the hilt and slowly crawled over the blade to reach for the elf's hand.
"Don't be reckless. That thing will get agressive." He said once more, a sincere glint in his eyes as he looked to the spectral woman.
She watched with interest, eyes on the tendrils and when they nearly touched, she yanked the blade back, eyes still on the weapon, curious to see what this man might be warning her about. But she could feel the deep seed of evil rooted within, and she knew she was playing with fire.
The blade's eye suddenly opened and gave her a frantic stare. A mental attack ensued, the sword sending maddening pictures and horrifying images, thousands of whispers, stings of pain towards her. At the same time, the tendrils surged outwards, before turning around to stab her in the forearm, shredding through flesh and bone if she didn't let go.
She hadn't expected- but then again, what had she? The man had warned her and she could feel the darkness. And the scream that tore out from ehr throat as she tried to grab onto the damn thing to wrench it from her forearm seemed to be in vein- but in her panicked state, she wasn't about to let the thing eat up her arm!
Mist stepped forward, putting a hand on the blade, his other hand gripping the hilt. Almost immediatly to the touch, the blade calmed down and glanced at Mist. It closed it's eye and the tendrils dislodged from her arm. Mist pulled the blade back if he could.
She released another cry as black blood gushed from her wound. She stumbled forward, but even in the pain induced shock of the moment, it didn't stop her from grabbing him by the throat and growling in his face.
The instant her hand reached Mist's throat, the blade reached hers. The sharp edge scraping against it. Mist gave her a dull glance. "Let.. Go.." He sputtered under her solid grip, pressing the sword further against her throat to enforce his command.
She simply stared at him, eyes still wild before she turned that surprise into a glare and tightened her grip.
"You think your sword can kill me? Go ahead and try it."
A breath escaped Mist, the careless façade turned to a rather dangerous smirk. A glint was seen.in his eyes. "I know.. You feel.. Pain.." He sputtered, before he turned the blade to cleanly cut the arm off that was holding hil by the throat, at the shoulder. So she had to let go and dodge or lose her arm due to the large, nightmarish sword.
Although immortal, he was right. SHe could feel pain as any other, but her reflexes were near unmatched and she retracted her arm and was taking a step back long before the drow finished swinging his blade. She furrowed her brows at him, glaring simply and took another step back.
A gasp resounded as she let go, ollowed by a steady coughing as the blade slammed into the ground as Mist tried o recuperate. Which he did after a short while.
He circled the blade before resting it on his shoulder. His gaze fixated on the spectral woman.
Why was she just staring at him? Why did she linger. And just like that, she turned from his form- and ran, taking to the shadows and letting them pull her, desiring to be far, far away from the darkness that emanated from the man, from his blade-
And clouded her from being able to focus on the real task at hand.
The shadow seeds.
But she hadn't gotten that far, sure far enough to impress the non-shadow walkers, but she needed to stop. Her heart was hammering as she stumbled beside the river bank, the roar of the falls behind her near deafening. And she closed her eyes and just let it's mist drift around her, cooling her dual colored flesh.
And like that, she was gone. A soft sigh left Mist as he rolled his shoulders, hanging the blade at his back again, he backtraced his steps in order to find the cave again.
She felt itchy in her clothes, itchy to be in this world of men. Perhaps it was the madness of the shadows talking, but she was rabid as she moved to tear off her clothing, tossing the leather garb aside and revealing just how much of her once pale flesh was now turning as black as volcano ash. And she stood there, the mists curling around her as she examined herself, eyes red, and her insides feeling....
empty.
Mist managed to find the cave where her original body was in. Chained and cuffed. He sat down infront of her and sighed slowly. Waiting.
Her original body was as naked as her 'other' one was. But it was cool and unmoving, though not quite dead, but evidently not all there. There was some semblance of a breath, but no sensation or note of a heart beat. But the body, her skin and the way she hung....
Though evidently tortured, she still radiated the undying spirit of the living.
Mist pulled the blade out and rested it on his chest, taking a deep breath.
As she cooled off, she sensed him finding his way back to her. Swearing through her teeth, she didn't bother to slip back into her clothing as she moved, fast as the night and appeared behind him, unheard, in the cave. A sharp blade was pressed to his throat as her dripping wet body pressed up against him from behind.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance," she growled into his ear, knife pinching at his skin.
Mist arched an eyebrow as he felt the knife at his throat. His arm immediatly shooting up to grab her hand and throw her over his shoulder, pulling the knife up to try and force it against her throat. "I'd tell you that isn't as easy as you make it sound." He said, eyes big and oddly coloured again.
"I can assure you itd be easier to kill you than me," she growled and tried to fight his hold, surprised there was no give.
"Oh, I don't argue that," Mist replied in anbalmost careless manner. "Why are you chained there?" He inquired.
"What does it matter to you?" she hissed. "We are both vessels of darkness. You of all people should understand those complications."
"It matters," Mist replied with a snort. "So I am. What next? It doesn't mean I can't try to help you.bi understand most of all people, that's why I know the pain."
"Help? There is no help for those owned by darkness."
"Wrong, there is no gelp for those blinded by the darkness," Mist replied with a soft hiss. "You have to accept help."
"You act as if I haven't tried. And you're pissing me off."
"Though fucking shit I'm pissing you off," Mist replied with a soft snal, before remeasing her and standing up again. "Then try again. Untill you succeed. Don't go spouting nonsense that it's impossible because here I fucking am, a life proof it is possible."
Iyla still stood her ground, even as her skin burned where he once had his hold. Her eyes narrowed, and she dared approach him, and got right in his face.
"Proof?" Her look hardened. "What proof am I looking at? You're owned by a cursed blade."
"If you looked any closer, none owns the other," Mist answered with a soft snort. "I carry the blade around, and it views the world through my eyes. I do not own it. And it certainly does not own me."
"Then be rid of it. Throw it in a pit. Burn it to ash."
Mist shook his head. "I am indebted to it. I do not break my word."
"Then you chose your own slavery. Mine reached out and took me, drained me of what I had left, destroyed my family and left my body here as a reminder that I am a mere bag of meat, and what soul possessed it is forced to pay off the debts of it's own greed. Fight it, and it swallows me whole, returns me to those chains until it spits me back out against into this version of my body being possessed by the dark."
She moved to remove a gantlet, rolled back her sleeves to reveal her dual colored skin.
"In this form I have cravings, cravings I can not fight. Even if I do..." she went back to roll down her sleeves. "It eventually turns me rabid, and all I can do is claw out like an animal and seek what my master wants." Her eyes remained hard as she looked at him.
"You should consider yourself lucky you only owe a vow to a sword."
Mist's eyes narrowed dangerously. A red spark seen in them. "I know loss. I know pain," he hissed softly. "Your life is not any worse than mine. You go around and cry for attention to your scars. That is the difference here," Mist snorted. "You sit down and cry. While I rise and fight."
He grit his teeth and clenched his fist. "But I am anything but lucky."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Do I look like I'm fucking crying to you?" she asked, getting right up into his face.
Mist pressed forward, his forehead smacking against hers. "Exactly what you're doing. Weeping about the past and being too pathetic to try and solve it."
Her eyes flared in their red depths, her hands tensing and threatening to spike into tendrils of black. But she staved off the anger and continued to glare at him.
"My eyes shed no tears," she told him, keeping her chin high and her eyes still angry.
"Probably not," Mist glared back at her, unimpressed. "But your words betray you."
"I am pissed off, not saddened," she growled. "It has been many years since I have cried."
"You are stuck in this life and lament it," Mist corrected. "Pissed off is a part of that."
"No, pissed off mean I'm angered over it and am going to take it out by punching in your throat!" she threatened, swinging a heated fist towards his face.
Mist tilted his head away from the punch, slamming his hand against her forearm to deflect it completely. "Anger makes you weak," he stated, stepping back. "Weak and uncoordinated."
"Anger is not a weakness!" she growled. It was anger.. anger and pride that helped remind her she was human, or at least had been, at one time or another.
"Then why do you flail aimlessly?" Mist inquired as he stepped back.
She grit her teeth, releasing a long, growling breath.
"Because I'm wasting my time talking to a fool," she retorted, eyes cutting into him with a sharp look.
"You're the fool here," Mist snarled in response. "The fool for giving up. The fool who stops fighting and just complies."
She stopped fighting-
But she didn't comply. Instead, she took just one step back.
"Nothing I can do or say can change the past," she snarled darkly. "I know this. And it's a pathetic veil of pride that even keeps me going."
Or perhaps he was right. She swallowed an angered knot in her throat. "We're done here." The shadows were calling.
"So be it," Mist wiped away some blood and dirt from his face from the fight earlier. Without as much of a word, he turned around, aiming to head back to the cave where her physical body was.
By no means would he give up now.
Her eyes narrowed as she stepped infront of him.
"What are doing?"
"Going where I damn well please," he answered with a soft snort. Even though he was exhausted. Even though he had no means to fight against her on an equal level no more, he didn't even look remotely intimidated.
She was infront of him and shoving him back.
"I thought I told you to stay out of this place."
Mist raised his arm to catch her shove, only stumbling slightly. "Then I'll tell you now you can't," he answered, taking a step sidewards to try and slip past her.
She stood in his way again.
"What good would it even do?"
Her body, her real one, was useless and immobile in there. For all she knew he was going to try to slay what was left of her mortality...
And she couldn't afford that, couldn't let that happen-
It was the last thing she had to hold onto of hope. Everyone else was dead. At least she was not.
"You're wasting your time staying here," came a soft, deep throated growl.
"I don't know," he answered, taking a step in the opposite direction, once more, trying to brush past her. "I'm capable of deciding what I spend my time with," he replied with the same snarl.
A hand slammed into his shoulder, aiming to stop.
"Don't make me attack you again," she warned. She was growing tired of this back and forth; and hated that he knew of her vulnerable state. Was he trying to take advantage of it? And if so... why?
The hand smacked against the corruption that seethed on his shoulder, causing it to hiss and shift slightly. "You don't scare me. Let me help you, gods be damned."
Her eyes narrowed.
"And I've told you your attempt to help is futile."
What did he even plan to do? Sit around and just watch her near lifeless body do nothing but remain a limp sack of flesh in chains? She bared her teeth.
"Just leave this place."
"Do I look by any means normal to you? This stinking corruption thing has to be good for something," he retorted, motioning at the shoulder she touched.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Good for what? Making you mad with your own delusions?"
"Tearing the throat out of whatever's holding you," he corrected with a snarl. By no means did he actually know how or why she was in the state she was in. Who did it, even if someone did. It just didn't seem right.
At that, she simply stepped back. He had no idea what he was dealing with. Tear out it's throat? The fool. If it were that simple, she would have done that herself. So she simply watched. It wasn't like her master was here, or would even come. Rare was it when she'd see him. If anything, one could say she who stood now, opposed to her mortal form, naked and chained, was the real monster- with darkness flowing through her veins that was not a power natural of herself. Even still... what good would it do to rip out her own throat?
But would it matter either way? Perhaps she clung on too desperately to the idea of there ever being freedom after any of those damn seeds of darkness were even collected. The very idea made her right arm shake tensely as she closed it into a tight fist at her side.