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Crimson ice [M] [Marakai!]

Started by Medievarad, January 07, 2017, 05:52:39 PM

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Medievarad

OOC: @Marakai Trin
M for gore/impled rape and perhaps romance in the distant future.
Linked music: Die, RWBY, performed by Jeff Williams and Casey Lee

Take it away, Marakai! Shed some blood

Castles in ruin, legendary warriors of all houses had fallen. Arlgrad was faling to ruins. The keep had been destroyed by the enemy coalition of houses. The war was incited by the death of her father. And soon, her mother persecuted rival houses that had made it known to challenge the throne.

Before and after the death of her father. She took it merely as an excuse to toppleany opposition. Ofcourse, this caused friction. And soon, they had a civil war on their hands.

And the move was made. An enemy coalition had started attacking their holdings and the keep. Plumes of fire incited the machines of war. And those only fueled the anger on both sides. Both sides suffered many losses this very night. And one of those was her mother, poisoned and weakened.

She ushered her only child to the caves below the castle and explained an intricate ritual to her. One that required a sacrifice of blood, yet it would ensure her survival. "Now run!" Those were the parting words her mother gave Evelynn. Bright blue eyes teared up, silver hair stained with blood from the earlier battles swayed softly as the young girl turned around and fled into the caves. The last thing she heard was the battlecry from her mother. Followed by the sound of spells being cast.

But those soon were drowned out as the young mage fled further inside the network. But as sound faded, so did the light. And soon, she was covered in complete darkness. But she still fled, before smacking facefirst into the wall of a sharp turn she couldn't possibly see. She landed rather ungracefully on her butt and held her bleeding nose with a soft sobbing. She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready for any of this.

Footsteps moved in. Multiple. Persecutors that aimed to kill off the Draconia bloodline like that. The faint torchlight slowly illuminated the halls she was in. And she knew her pursuers were close. And they would catch up soon. Which would mean the end for her. Tears stung in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She didn't want to die yet.

But the footsteps, the shouts and the torchlight only drew near. They were following her magical presence. She couldn't hide. Evelynn had to make it to the shrine. The girl picked herself up and rested her hand against the wall, proceeding her trek into the darkness yet again. But now, slower. She just had to make her way to the shrine.

And soon, she entered a room that oddly stuck out from the caves. Decorated by remarkable runic carvings in the wall. A pedestal in the middle of the room. And what this pedestal held was an glass orb, filled with darkness, several chains around the pedestal and anchored in the walls of the cave.

"Here she is!" The blood in her veins turned to ice and her eyes widened, face contorting into pure terror. She pulled out a knife and rushed over to the orb, she just needed to splash blood on it. And she'd be saf- A blood curdling cry came from Evelynn as a searing hot pain pierced the back of her lower leg, she tripped, looking down at her now unusable leg, an arrow sticking through her calf and shin. She grit her teeth, almost breaking them. She looked at the shrine and crawled forward with the knife, making a slice in her hand and reaching up.

She just needed to do this. Just a little bit closer and.

Her head was slammed against the shrine, the knife pulled from her grip and instead used to slam through the back of her hand, pinning her against the shrine. "Let's have some fun with this Draconia bitch first," her assailant snarled towards his fellow soldiers. She felt rough hands on her sides, aiming to tear her clothes off. More tears rolled down her cheeks as she used her other hand to touch the blood-soaked knife that still pinned her hand to the shrine, before managing to make a soft streak of blood against the orb. "Kulthanos-... I summon thee," she croaked painfully, before her head was slammed into the pedestal once more to shut her up and keep her down.

Marakai Trin

That slight touch of the girls hand upon the smooth surface of that perfectly round orb was just enough to set it listing to one side. It did so, rolling perhaps an inch or two before coming to a stop against the chains surrounding it.

Suddenly, it rolled in the opposite direction, defying physics as it did so, moving of its own volition. It struck the segment of chain and immediately bounced in another direction, picking up speed as it bounced again.

Soon, the sound of glass on metal was constant, louder and louder as each blow became more forceful than the last. Then, a straining sound as the glass cracked. Still it bounced, almost impossible to see.

And then it shattered, and the only sounds to be heard were the tinkling of glass shards upon the stone floor, followed shortly after by the sound of liquid splashing upon the floor. The girls would be rapists stopped at the sound.

Above, previously unseen by the girl below, as well as her aggressors, a skeleton leered. Suspended as it was by the chains encircling it, it hung loosley, barely held together by ancient withered ligaments and rotting cartilage. Suddenly, though, the empty eye sockets of this long-dead Guardian filled with a blue light.

The black, oily liquid upon the floor suddenly pooled in a single spot, an inky tendril rising up into the air, seemly solid now. As it rose, it twisted about, as if searching for something, perhaps scenting the air. This way and that it jerked, before pointing straight up to the silent, dead spectator anchored by its prison of chains.

The tendril of blackness, now fully off of the floor, gathered in the dead skulls slackened, loosely hanging jaw, sliding down the ancient bone and covering it in an oily film. Gradually, as the men below gaped up at the spectacle, each and every bone was awashed with this sinister substance, turning darker with each passing second until each dusty frame was colored a pitch black.

All was still silent through these events, until the chains began to rattle as the weight upon them lifted - the blackened frame of the ancient corpse liquified, the same black substance that had started all of this falling to the floor at first in drops, then on short gushes, until the entire thing was gone, lying there upon the floor in a large puddle.

Gradually, the puddle began to rise again, forming a vaguely humanoid shape. This shape appeared almost to be comprised of a multitude of small, black tendrils like the first, one great writhing mass. Upon what passed for the things face were two pinpricks of bright blue light, placed as though they were eyes. The lower half of the head split wide, as though a mouth. A loud, gutteral roar, unintelligible and primal, issued forth from this orifice, echoing throughout the shrine.

The men turned and fled, and the thing seemed to feed on their fear. From its chest, a single long tendril, black as the night, shot forward. The closest man was pierced through the middle, a great gout of blood signalling it's exitting from his chest. Still the tendril continued forward, speeding up now as if strengthened by the blood it had spilled. A second man was pierced through the back of the neck - a second later, with a grinding, bone crunching sound, the side of his skull exploded outwards, gray matter splattering the wall and the man running next to him.

This man experienced a fate that was quite painless - the tendril shot forward, passing him to double back and plunge into his eye, the extreme speed it now had instantly liquifying his brain and exiting the skull.

The fourth man was spared, running screaming with boots slapping upon the stone.

The three men whom shared three gristly deaths were pulled together, slamming into each other with a splash of gore, held aloft by that sinister black tendril. Slowly, the three corpses were drawn in to the tendrils source.

The humanoid monster with the blue eyes seemed to explode, as if a large stone were thrown into a pond. The parts of its mass that were blown outward suddenly closed over the three entangled corpses, pulling them in like a giant maw.

And the ensuing change was immediate. Writhing tendrils ceased their movements, drawing within to form a smoother surface. The blackness lightened to a flesh color, slightly pale and waxy as if light had not touched it in quite some time. A thin, handsome face emerged from the monstrous head, intense blue eyes showing forth. Arms and legs, bare to the open air, touched upon the ground as it fell to hands and knees. Shaggy brown hair fell to cover its face and eyes, and a thin but fairly well muscled chest heaved in its first breaths.

With blue eyes unblinking, the male creature came to stand, and with balanced, sure-footed steps moved down the few steps to move around the central pedestal. It stood over the girl, her clothing torn and bloodied, intense eyes looking her over with a hard glare.

Idly, the creature remembered this girl as one of its targets. The very first target. It wondered why it was unable to kill and consume her - even now, it wanted to, but it couldn't. Even now, it was trying, but it's body wouldn't respond to its commands.

The creature looked down at its body for the first time to see the black mass of writhing substance where it's heart would be, if it had one, and wondered what happened to it. Then, it's eyes flicked back to the girl.

"....why..." it said, in a soft voice that was vastly different from the gutteral roar it had made before it had a body.

"...why can I not....kill you....?"

Medievarad

Yet, the transformation took a tad too long, the bouncing of the orb wasn't enough to pull attention. And by the time it shattered, Evelynn's body was being forced back and forth violently due to her assailant. She grit her teeth and sobbed silently against the pedestal.

Yet, he suddenly pulled away as she heard the tearing of flesh and the squirting of blood. The scent of death clouded the air in the small caves.

The words of Kulthanos only made her whimper and curl up slightly, letting out soft, pained sobs. "I.. You're-.. You're mine," she stammered. "Free.. me," she croaked the command. "And heal me.."

Marakai Trin

The creature stared down at the girl for a moment after she spoke, body vibrating as if fighting against something inside. The monster on human flesh recoiled backwards, and then took an unwilling step forwards. It bent downward to grasp the dagger sticking through the girls hand, holding her pinned down.

It ripped the dagger free, a small splash of blood splattering on its arm. The red droplets upon its flesh rapidly sunk into its skin and disappeared. Suddenly, the monster froze in place, and it's intense blue gaze shifted to red for a split second.

"You...are Evelynn. Draconian. You...resurrected me."

Those eyes shifted back to blue, but it's stance remained frozen for several seconds. Inside what passed for its mind, the girls blood memories implanted within, flashing quickly.

Suddenly it stood.

"Kulthanos. I am...Kulthanos. And your mother...."

Those eyes narrowed, and within it was screaming as the rage tried to take over, willing it's body to maim and destroy this girl before him, tear her asunder and consume her flesh, feast on her blood.

But it couldn't. It - he, since there was a name now - couldn't harm the girl there. Some force held him back.

"....your mother killed me. Your father, too. Ripped my essence from my form and imprisoned it for their own use."

Kulthanos glared hatefully, and focused on the girl before him. He knelt down and ripped the arrow from her calf and tossed it aside with a clatter. When he stood, he regarded her with narrowed eyes full of spite.

"You are free. Heal yourself - it is not within my power. I am a weapon, and I have no anodyne for your pains."

Medievarad

"They," she swallowed heavily, sitting up against the pedestal, her face bruised and bleeding. One of her eyes was so swollen she couldn't look through it anymore, it was completely shut. Tears slowly trickled from her undamaged eye, however. "They imprisoned you.. Because you were dangerous," she breathed, whincing in pain. Not to mention the mental trauma she just suffered. But she had to get through it.

"You.. You are bound to me.. I die, you die," she croaked softly. "No.. Second chances.." She glanced at her leg through her one good eye. "Take me.. To a healer.. Protect me.."

Marakai Trin

Kulthanos glared. "I cannot....cannot die. No. Not..."

But inside, he knew it was true. The spell of compulsion that held back his actions seemed to pull something of him towards her...

This worried him. He could feel his insides crawling as she continued bleeding. He glared at bed again, hatefully, yet still bent to pick her up with one arm under her knees and the other under her shoulders.

"A weapon....to protect? They made a poor choice. But... I will."

He pulled her to his bare chest, feeling her warmth seeping into his cold not-flesh. Usually, physical contact with another would instigate instant consumption....but his body made no reaction.

He truly was tied to her, completely. He hated it.

Bug nonetheless, he was compelled to obey. "I know not where we are. I will take you where you direct me."

He then carried her down the long hallway, leaving bloody footprints behind as he walked through the gorey corridor.

Medievarad

"Peacekeepers.. Also possess weaponry," she retorted in return. As he picked her uphead, however, she hissed in pain, eyes sliding closed. "There'll be an exit.. Soon," she explained, more than obviously at the end of her reserves.

"Find the nearest village, name no names," she instructed with a soft, hitched breath. "And.. Let me be healed.. Hurt-," she let out a whimper. "-No one.. Just.. Run.."

Marakai Trin

Kulthanos found this exit, and stepped outside into harsh midday light, a very cold wind whipping against his naked flesh. Luckily, he wasn't technically alive, and didn't feel it.

But he felt that she did, and felt the need to hurry. He glanced from side to side, until he spotted curling smoke in the distance, white line that of a fireplace or cookstove.

Pressed for time, he broke into a dead sprint, propelling them forward at great speeds, heedless of the burning city behind him. He leapt up and over whatever obstacles presented themselves, jumping at heights mortal men would be incapable of and landing with an impact so soft it was as if he never left the ground.

He raced into the small village, stopping in front of a man, who stared in shock at the naked man carrying the beaten, silver haired girl.

"Healer. Now."

The man simply lifted an arm, pointing at a nearby cabin.

"....thank you." Kul tilted an eyebrow even as he said this. He'd never thanked anyone for anything. Ever.

What was wrong with him?

He stepped to the cabin, and kicked the door, breaking the lock and stepping inside. He kicked it shut again, and walked to an open bed and laid Evelynn down upon it.

"Healer!" he yelled. "Heal her!"

Medievarad

One of the attends present screamed in terror as a naked man violently kicked ini  the door. He did make quite an entrance there, immediately having the attention of everyone present. Some silent and, nervous whispers surfaced, whispering the name of the girl Kulthanos wass holding. The same girl that was now unconcious.

"And what in the seven blighters o' hell is goin' on here?!" An elderly woman called out as she came to see what thethe commotion in her hospital was about. She was way too busy with treating the commoners caught up in the conflict. Yet her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she finally grasped the identity of the girl he was holding. Thank all gods above this was a loyalist village.

Yet the elder healer also knew that the young princess was hunted. "Follow me," she stated, turning to push open a door and entering a long hallway. A series of doors visible. She walked to the end of the hall and opened another doorsoft, stepping in. "Put her down on the table," she commanded, scowling softly. "And.. What are you? You reek of malice."

Marakai Trin

He laid Evelynn upon the table, and stumbled backward immediately upon doing so. When he was able to straighten himself, one could see that the intense blue of his eyes was lightening to a paler blue, the color gradually fading. She was weakening - so was he.

After a moment, his gaze flicked to the old healer woman. "....I am Kulthanos. I am a weapon...bound to her life force."

He pointed at Evelynn, lying there unconscious. "If she dies....I die. I do not want to die. So, stop paying attention to me."

He raised his hand, and it began to narrow and lengthen, fingers fusing together and forming an odd, silvery blade. Tendrils of an odd black substance crawled and writhed up and down its surface. "Heal her. Or I will consume you. I want some clothing, also. Heal her, and bring me clothing. Or I will consume you."

His speech was odd, disjointed as within him two separate instincts warred against one another. One wanted to kill and consume everything within the village....the other was compelled to save Evelynn's life.

Medievarad

"Kulthanos," she spat the name, more than aware of what he was now. She had heard the, tales from when she was a child. The menace, the abomination. But, regardless, she had her princess toto save. And she did what was told, paying no heed to the creature. One wasn't afraid of a mongrel in chains, despite how loud it may bark.

She extended her hands, a dim, golden glow appearing as she began to heal Evelynn, hands shaking visibly. Nut slowly, the wounds closed, the scratches and bruises on her face started to disappear and the swelling on her eye seemed to lessen. And soon, the healer was done, letting out an exhausted breath.

"Leave," she stated. "Before you endanger the village even further."

Marakai Trin

"I cannot leave until she awakens...I am...compelled to stay."

He looked at the old woman, and narrowed his eyes. "And I am compelled to defend her life.....but as it is..."

Suddenly his face became manic, his eyes wild and wide, and his mouth twisted into a broad, insane smile.

"...I have no such things stopping me from killing you! YOU HAVE A CHOICE BRING ME CLOTHESCLOTHESCLOTHES!!!"

He stepped forward, his entire body shaking, that insane grin ever present.

"NAAAAOOOOOW!!!"

Medievarad

The commotion and shouting woke Evelynn from what was a feverish coma into a rather fitful sleepsleep due, toshe the healing. She sat up, eyes widening as Kulthanos loomed over the elder. Who seemed to be in a state of shock and pure terror.

"Silence! B-back off!" Evelynn called out, pushing herself up and rushing over towards the healer. Who had sunk to the ground. Eyes wide in fear. "Sorry," was all she could murmur. The healer glanced at her. "My lady.. please.. Leave," she croaked, before looking back to the floor, shivering all over.

Evelynn could only nod. Defeated by the fact one of her loyalists now had a panical fear. She glanced up at the weapon. "Kulthanos. We leave now."

Marakai Trin

Suddenly the blade that his hand had become warped and twisted, before forcefully snapping backwards, it's form writhing until it melted back into a hand.

His aggressive stance disappeared, and be stood straifhg, hands at his side. He glanced at Evelynn, his face passive but with barely restrained rage in his eyes.

"...Yes. Let's leave...where do you want to go?"

His voice was soft once again, no hint of the maniacal screams left behind. But still, the rage in his eyes danced like fire, just beyond the bounds of his compulsion.

Medievarad

"I-.. I don't know," Evelynn answered with a soft sigh. "We need to find my uncle," she pushed herself up from the table and moved towards the door. "He'll know what to do, when we reach him, you'll be sealed again, your service will end."

She pushed the door open, feeling still weak and nauseous. "Assassins will have come for us, we need to move," Evelynn murmured, walking through the hall, before weakly slumping against the wall. "Carry me." Her voice was a pained croak, her eyes closed slowly. Yet she was still conscious.

Marakai Trin

Kulthanos blinked, eyes narrowed. "I do not want to be sealed again. I don't want to be stuck inside another blasted little artifact only to be used again."

Apparently his sense of self preservation was stronger than his compulsion to obey - he stepped toward her, visibly angry, his arms writhing with dark tendrils for a moment.

"I will take you where you ask and I will slay everything that moves to stop us, but I will not be sealed again."

Medievarad

"You have no choice," she answered, weary, tired eyes glancing up to him. The normally brilliant blue eyes, normally filled with joy and life were now faint and lifeless.

"You're a danger to all."

Marakai Trin

If a being such as him had blood, he'd have paled.

"Then....I'll stay with you! You tell me what to do, and I have to obey. Don't seal me again. Just....keep me around?"

He moved to lift her into his arms again, and began walking. "....I suppose I can fulfill other uses than a weapon. I feel almost normal while you're close. The rage is....still there, but it's suppressed...and manageable. I can think clearly..."

He looked down at her as he walked, the color of his eyes slowly returning to normal as he looked into hers.

"...don't put me back in there again. P...pl....please."

He stammered out that last word. He'd never used it before.

Medievarad

"Maybe..-" she let out a tired breath. "We'll see," she closed her eyes as he picked her up. "Kulthanos.. You killed friends and family of mine.. Why? Because you felt like it," Evelynn murmured as they walked out of the hospital.

"I loathe you from the bottom of my heart."

Marakai Trin

Kulthanos was silent for several moments. He had no idea why he did the things he did. There was no reason to it, no reason to him.

His eyes turned go the path before them, but seemed faraway. When he spoke, his voice was soft and expressionless.

"...if a sword, forged and meant only for battle, could walk and talk and act, I imagine it would do the same. The difference between me and such a thing is...a sword has a wielder. Up till now, I did not. When unchained, I exist only go destroy, but... Fettered by this binding between us, I act on your will."

He glanced down at her again. "....I cannot say I like it. But if it can keep me alive, so be it. I cannot apologize for the things I've done, as I have no memory of doing them other than the screams and the fire and the blood."

He looked up again. "If I am bound to you, I am your sword.And, perhaps, also your shield."

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