On thin ice (Gaunt)

[Anadwen]

Now conscious and partly able to move, Anoriel woke up on a stone board. The room was cold and damp, the sharp odor of smoke lingering in the air, and she was almost crying. Instinctively pulling her legs to her chest as much as the chains would let her, she covered herself.

Tears welled from her eyes as she heard the voices. She was sure she knew what they were going to do... And didn't like it at all.

[Brisinger987]

"She will bleed like the rest, she is very much alive. Start with her limbs, like the last one, she'll stay alive longer... You will get your meal..." Halford's voice sounded raspy and snake-like in this undead form.

"No, we cannot go and feed now... We must wait until midnight to regain our full strength... And no, she cannot become one of us... She does not know of our curse..." Halford's voice seemed to move further away, as if down a corridor or passageway.

[Anadwen]

Anoriel clenched her teeth and pulled the chains as hard as she could. She wished to be at least half as strong as her brother to break them...

She kept pulling her hands and feet out of them, until one of her bloodied hands slipped out of the cuffs. It was one of the few moments when she was grateful for being so tiny. The chains themselves were beginning to crack at her continuous effort when she gripped the other one that restrained her hand, and eventually, she freed herself.

Without making a sound, she slipped off the table and crawled to the pile of her clothes in the corner, still crying.

[Brisinger987]

It was nearly midnight, and Halford was preparing the seasonings and candles for the ritual.

One of the zombie creatures had decided to take a leisurely stroll into the ritual room, to feast on Anoriel, when it saw she wasn't above the altar. Confused, it entered the room, unable to see Anoriel above the altar, and wondering where it's meal was.

[Anadwen]

Anoriel's fist hit the zombie right into the back of its skull, knocking him over, and stomped onto his head with her shoes, trying to crack it. She kept her mouth shut, finally regaining enough sense to keep her mind cool.

She prayed for Athran to forsake his wrath and find her again...

Please. I'll forget all hatred I ever had for you, just save me! I don't want to be eaten... Athran, where are you? Please, save me...

[Brisinger987]

The zombie-creature's head turned to mush under the force of the stomping, and for a minute everything remained normal.

Then tendrils began to scoop up the pieces of brain and skull, and reassemble them, the zombie getting up, and snarling, before letting off a horrid screech, alerting Halford the problem.

[Anadwen]

Anoriel almost screamed when the creature stood up and screeched, but as she stepped back, she hit another dark figure.

The spiked armour her shoulders touched, hard surface of steel and leather and grip of fingers, as hard as iron, was familiar to her. He returned...

Athran raised one hand, and the zombie crashed into his opened palm. His hand closed in a matter of a moment, and he broke the skull. Pulling it up, the spine cracked, severing the head. The body was suddenly on fire, and so was the head, burning to nothing  but ash in a few moments.

No matter how Anoriel hated his new self, his improved strength was sure useful.

[Brisinger987]

The zombie let off another horrific screech as it died, which was matched by others, and the sounds of running filled the corridors, the volume increasing.

"So he came to save you, how sweet. But that's ok. That's more food for us to eat. Sorry Athran. Today, you both die! GET THEM!"

[Anadwen]

"Die." Athran said silently, tilting his head aside. "Die. What a funny word." Anoriel pressed herself onto his chest, sensing something bad coming.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know the meaning of the words 'I die'." he chuckled. He stomped onto the ground, and the whole tunnel shook like a strong earthquake. A wall of black flames with blazing purple tips sprang off the ground, forming a shield around them, and he reached after one of the scimitars on his back, while holding Anoriel with his other arm.

"Whatever gets into my way dies. I'm sorry that today the pleasure will be yours... Heck, I'm not even sorry! DIE!" he shouted.

[Brisinger987]

As the pair exited out into the corridor, they would see the whole cult mindlessly charging them, with Halford standing behind them, watching with rage in his eyes.

[Anadwen]

Athran just laughed. Whatever got near to the flames, growing larger and more hungry over time, immediately caught on all-consuming fire. His laughter, too, grew louder, and he simply stood there, waiting for everybody to rush into the flames and burn like a torch.

None of them could put them out...

Anoriel was scared, seeing those maddened eyes, glowing in darkness, and fey grin, stretched through his face. He was scaring her...

[Brisinger987]

Halford took a few steps forward, becoming a larger version of the zombie-creatures, his jaws widening, and his eyes disappearing. Soon he looked like a pure monstrosity of a being.

"DIE ELVISH SCUM!"

[Anadwen]

Athran's eyes narrowed. "After you..." he whispered, and charged forth, the blade glowing with the same black flames as the circle around him, and they were slowly spreading onto his arm. Anoriel, hiding behind his back, followed him with tears in her eyes.

Whatever was happening, it was evil...

[Brisinger987]

Halford's seemingly blind charge ended up with him getting stuck with the first four inches of the sword.

For a minute, he seemed injured. Then he grabbed the crossguard of the sword, and dragged himself onto it.

"Stone shall rot, and flesh will melt in the presence of the god I plan to unleash upon this world. Headstones will be pushed aside as the god of all that is unholy will make his way here, allowing us to feast on the warm shells of your corpses as he crushes every soul there is." He wrapped his hands around Athran's throat, opening his maw wide, ready to take a chunk out of the mad elf's face.

[Anadwen]

Athran kicked him off, completely blazing with fire, and ripped the hands from his throat. "I made a pact, too. That god would welcome me..." he snarled.

"And you will welcome the darkness. Death which is everlasting." He clenched his own hands around Halford, and his teeth suddenly seemed sharp. "I am fire... I am death!" he cried.

[Brisinger987]

"The air that all creatures breathe will be filled with the fumes of the corpses of every being that does not serve, and those that serve will be granted haven in the madness of his glory. The bells will ring dissonance, and the orchestra of your demise will sing glorious decay. It will be beautiful..." The tongue inside Halford's mouth turned into a tendril which wrapped around Athran's throat.

"I do not need air. Do you?" The dry tendril began to constrict, and strangle.

[Anadwen]

Athran's fingers clenched around the tongue and ripped it out of its owner's mouth. "I don't." he laughed, and pressed his hand, still holding the tongue, set on fire, onto his face.

He gripped him with his other hand, and pulled him closer to himself. His whole body was blazing with fire, and he bent his head to Halford's neck.

And he bit him in an attempt to rip a piece of flesh off.

[Brisinger987]

Halford felt no pain, and the toxins and poisons that ran through Halford would now infest Athran, beginning to slowly kill him.

"You are a fool. You have sealed your own grave. And mine will lay a thousand leagues above yours, piled on the corpses of everything you have ever cared for."

[Anadwen]

Athran proceeded to completely set himself on fire that burned in his very veins, not only above his skin. They burned anything that could harm him, and the toxins were soon extinguished.

"I care for naught. Death's the pleasure..." he snarled. "Fire. Death. And the world shall burn and die... Let me begin with you..."

[Brisinger987]

"And I will welcome it with open arms, as I know that the skies will fill with smoke, and that skeletons will earth the land, laying the foundation for the house of decay. The world shall know it's herald, the herald of their doom. And that name, is Sidyrux!" The fire on Halford's body burned brightly, and he began to laugh, his body slowly turning to ash as the fire struggled to consume him.

Eventually however, the fire prevailed, and he was no more.