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When Angels and Demons Collide {Jiaolong}

Started by Lowen Thorn, April 02, 2018, 09:27:05 PM

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Lowen Thorn

Epirus gave Daniel a quick nod as he watched him fly off. Astonishing.

His eyes converted to their blood-red state again. It was time to finish business. Calling his whip back into action, he sentenced the remaining empty vessels before him, taking their lives one after the other.

Jiaolong

The angel flew over trees and clearings and ponds at a speed faster than any bird, the boy clutching his sleeves silently the whole time. Daniel could see faint lamplight from below and touched down at the edge of the small town. The boy seemed to recognize the place, eyes widening as he stepped down.

"Remeber, you were saved tonight, but not by me. Now go home."

The boy obliged, quickly running into the village without saying a word. Perhaps he would think the whole encounter was just a dream. Daniel watched the child go. His parents would be so happy to see him.

When he returned to the forest clearing, he noticed new bodies lying sprawled on the ground.

"You know, it's quite interesting to actually...do things. Simply observing is just too boring. I want to do more."

Lowen Thorn

The demon shot Daniel a puzzled look. "What would you like to do?"

Before the Angel could respond, Epirus' eyes widened as the sound of footsteps cut through his ears. Someone had approached them from behind, but how? How did he not sense this? No ordinary human could sneak up on him undetected until now.

He whipped around to see another man, tall and silvery-haired like himself, standing there with a judging look of disappointment.

Anger flushed over Epirus' face, an emotion rarely exposed of the piper. "Chorin," he hissed through gritted teeth.

"Epirus," he acknowledged with the same dull tone that the demon typically carried. "You have broken your oath. We were expecting several souls tonight. What on earth possessed you to act in such a way?"

"I deci-"

"Don't answer that," Chorin interrupted quickly. "I do not care. The question was rhetorical. Now, are you ready to face the consequences?"

"I fully intend to replace these souls with those of the ones who ordered the hit," Epirus explained. He was tense. It was obvious that the demon man was mentally preparing for an attack in the event that this Chorin character needed to be dealt with. "You will still receive your souls tonight, Chorin. Just not the ones you initially expected. This is my decision."

"You do not have that authority!" Chorin snapped. His eyes darted over to Daniel, studying the Angel for a few brief moments. "You must be kidding. Have you no shame, Epirus? He is an Angel. An Angel. He does not belong here."

Chorin's lips curled into a sinister smile. "I have decided," he started. "An Angel will more than suffice for the humans you spared. I command you to kill him."

Jiaolong

Daniel stood firmly in place. This newcomer, Chorin, almost bristled with hostility and contempt. Epirus has said he was no longer bound by orders...he wondered what the relationship between the two was. From the look on the soulpiper's face, it certainly wasn't a good one.

The angel narrowed his yellow eyes. "Unfortunately, I cannot be killed so easily."

Lowen Thorn

"I do not take orders from you, brother," Epirus hissed before shooting Daniel a quick glance. "I warn you. I will not hesitate to kill you if you hinder my path any longer."

Chorin let out a soft, sinister chuckel and a few slow, melodramatic claps of applause. "Impressive," he said, amused. "More back bone in you then I thought."

The new demon turned heel to Daniel, approaching him. "I will take care of the boy, then."

[OOC: Also, feel free to play Chorin anyway you like! He's just an NPC I introduced for our thread]

Jiaolong

Chorin reached into his pocket, taking out a twig-like object that suddenly elongated into a deadly looking sword. "I've never killed an angel before, but that'll make it all the more fun." He shot Epirus a smirk and turned back to Daniel, lunging forward.

The angel waited until the last moment to step out of the way, barely moving as he dodged the attack. He grabbed onto the demon's shoulders, using them as a lift to shoot off into the sky. Wings outstretched, he peered down, a frown working itself onto his face.

"You really are trying to kill me."

The demon glared, his sword turning into a spear. He threw it upwards, the tip narrowly missing Daniel's wings.

The angel dove down at the moment Chorin was unarmed, kicking his feet straight into the demon's face. "Had you just come a few hours before, I might've been more willing to give you my soul. But now, you see, I want to do things in this world a little longer."

Chorin rubbed his broken nose, blood gushing down his face.

Lowen Thorn

Epirus looked upon Chorin's bloodied face with stunned, but satisfied eyes. Rarely has he seen anyone else get the best of his brother, and it felt great to watch.

This boy. Daniel. Perhaps he would prove a greater asset than Epirus had initially anticipated.

"You are outnumbered, Chorin," Epirus said with confidence. "Do you really want to go against the two of us? You should go back home now. You will get your souls, this is a promise. But, you will get the souls that I choose."

Chorin glared red at the two as he contemplated his next move.

Jiaolong

He simply sneered, wiping the blood from his face and leaving a nasty smear on his sleeve. He wouldn't back down from an angel—and certainly not from his brother.

But he would make their lives miserable later. "You two aren't important enough for me to ruin a good shirt," he muttered, looking with disdain at the blood stain. "Have those souls before sunrise. I'll remember this, Epirus."

The demon moved to walk back into the shadows and stopped to look back at Daniel once more. "Oh, and you've done a good job of annoying me...just know that any demons you may encounter from now on won't act so kindly towards you." With that last threat, he didsapeared as quickly ad he had come.

Lowen Thorn

I'll remember this, Epirus.

Epirus smiled gently at the thought of that, though he did not know why. Had he strayed so far from his path that he was now an enemy of his people? First he was enduring punishment, now was he to endure exile? Maybe it was better this way. He had long been one of the few, if not the only, to ask questions in a tribe of 'no questions asked' demons. He has always been fascinated with humans and their way of life anyway, as flawed as most of them were anyway. Maybe he could-

Well, that was something to think about for a different day. Right now he needed to focus on finishing the job he had set out to do, and to watch his back going forward. For someone void of emotion, and taught from an early age to accept death willingly when it comes, he was not ready to die. Chorin would be after him.

After several moments of silence, he fixed his gaze back on Daniel. "That was... impressive," he said slowly. "You handle yourself well. Where did you learn to fight in such a way?"

Jiaolong

Daniel landed in the soft grass, quietly tucking his wings away until they appeared to vanish.

"I'm not sure, I really just acted on instinct. His nose was certainly an easy target," he added with a slight upturn of the mouth. "It must've been part of my job from before. With the world the way it is, I guess I needed to know how to defend myself."

He sighed, his faint smile disappearing. "I hadn't paid it much mind before, but this loss of memories is a bit of an inconvenience..." he muttered. "Anyways, didn't that...Chorin say you had until sunrise? In a few hours it will be that time."

Lowen Thorn

"Right," he nodded. "That does not give me much time, does it? Although, I have a funny feeling that even if I collect all of the souls before sunrise, he will still come after me."

He cast a look over his victims, the "bad ones", as they lied sprawled in the dirt. Leaning over them, he collected an item from each one of them individually - proof of the kill.

He let out a heavy sigh. Until sunrise. "Best get going then," he said. "The first man we are to visit lives in a little cabin in this forest. That will be easy enough. But I am afraid the others will not be as accessible."

He sighed again. Worry later, act now.

Jiaolong

"A cabin?" He faintly remembered seeing one from above. "I think I saw that one. Luckily, it's not too far."

He started in its direction. "And the others?"

Lowen Thorn

Epirus dashed at an impressive speed in the direction of the cabin. He was not yet done with the bodies, but he would have to come back for them later before someone potentially stumbled across them. That's the last thing he needed.

"La'marri," he said, somehow calmly through their rapid pace, as the two headed toward the cabin. "The rest of them are there, fortunately. A handful of bitter mages looking for someone else to do their dirty work. It's a shame really, it does not fit the reputation of that free village... but I've found out that everyone has a secret."

The two unsuspecting comrades traveled a bit further until they arrived just outside of the little cabin. Epirus' sprint slowed to a walk as they drew closer, his ears picking something up from inside.  Voices. Several of them.

"There are more people here than the man I'm after," he said quietly. "We need to be careful."

Jiaolong

Daniel had followed closely behind, matching Epirus' speed. He, too, heard multiple voices from the small cabin. He concentrated his hearing on an individual voice, the loudest of the group.

"By tonight we'll be free of that goddam troublemaker. Now we'll see who else wants to meddle in our business!" This was followed by laughter.

"It sounds a bit festive in there," the angel commented. "They must be celebrating the death of the one they wanted killed...I almost hate to end their party so soon," he added with a smile. He felt almost giddy with excitement. After simply observing things for so long, he was finally allowed to act. Or had he allowed himself? Oh, well, it didn't matter. Whatever he had been doing in his past life was just that—in the past. He didn't need to follow old orders anymore.

"What now? Should we create a distraction?"

Lowen Thorn

"A distraction?" he mumbled. That might not be a bad idea, he thought. He originally had intended on announcing his presence, walking inside, and killing the man - after he snipped out any potential threat from the others of course. But perhaps a distraction was indeed the best solution. It would be easiest to separate the guests from the hire.

"That should be fine," he said with a soft smile. "I like the way you think, Daniel, if I do say so myself."

Without another word, he approached the side of the little cabin and climbed to the top in almost absolute silence. He gave Daniel the signal to create the distraction, though they never discussed what exactly he would do. Epirus was still learning how to communicate clearly with others, after all.

Jiaolong

Daniel nodded, noticing a window that lay slightly ajar. He wasn't quite sure what he would do, but perhaps he would do what angels did best.

He slipped through the window, landing softly on the floor. The mages were occupied with wine and festivities on the other side of the room, no one noticing his arrival.

He'd seen humans act in things called plays. Surely pretending wouldn't be too hard.

"Mages!"

The mages in question abruptly stopped their chatter. A glass dropped to the ground, shattering and spilling wine all across the floor. Daniel allowed his wings to show and revealed the natural yellow glow that usually surrounded him—he'd found that usually made people stop and stare.

"Hand over the one that is guilty, and the rest shall be forgiven of their sins."

"An...angel." The mages looked on in astonishment until one dropped to his knees, screaming something about his innocence.

"I'm too young to die!"

"Please forgive me!"

"You fools, this has to be a trick!"

"It's him, that's the one! Don't punish me!"

There he was. Daniel allowed his halo to show, the ring of light immediately blinding all the mages who looked on in horror and awe. They writhed on the ground, reaching blindly. Their blindness would be temporary, though. Daniel dragged the man who'd been singled out to the window. "Epirus!" He called, quickly hiding his halo.

Lowen Thorn

Without a moment's hesitation, Epirus dropped from the house next to the window, and snatched the man by his neck. Pulling him through the window and out of the little cabin, he took a few steps back and tossed the man onto the ground.

As the man regained his composure, he focused in on Epirus' cold face. "Y-You!" he spat, his eyes wide with fear and sudden realization of what was happening. "W-What the hell is the meaning of this? Did you get the job done?"

"I am afraid there has been a change of plans," he said as his whip ascended from its flute form. "For the ordered assassination of an innocent life, I sentence you to death."

He lashed his arm forward, and the whip wrapped around the man's neck.

It would be so easy to kill him. So effortless to tug at his weapon and snap the man's neck. But as Epirus towered over him with eyes seeing red, he hesitated. He wanted to watch him suffer, but he didn't know why.

The man kicked his legs in the dirt, blood dripping from his neck, choking as he unsuccessfully tried to pry the whip off of him.

Jiaolong

Daniel watched from the window, ignoring the sounds of confusion and pain from the mages behind him. They had been so quick to turn over their comrade. Were humans really so fickle?

He had completely made up everything about forgiveness, and yet most of them believed him easily. The angel wondered how far he could really go with this "acting."

The smell of blood filled the air, drawing his attention back to the scene before him. This wasn't the quick and painless death Epirus usually gave.

Lowen Thorn

Epirus held the handle of his whip firm as he continued to punish the man. The victim's face was growing red, steadily losing the oxygen he needed to fight through the assault, and his prying struggles to free himself were growing weaker.

Abruptly, he released the man from his clutches. Instead of using his weapon to choke the man, he lashed his arm several times, slinging the whip across his body and cutting through the skin over and over again.

The man who hired him was now out cold, but Epirus continued the punishment for several moments more before coming to a sudden stop.

W-What the hell am I doing?

Jiaolong

Daniel crept down from the window sill, watching the scene unfold with confusion. He approached Epirus, who seemed quite unlike himself. The demon seemed almost in a daze...

The boy stood between him and the bloody mage, placing his hands on the man's cheeks to bring him back to reality. "Epirus?"


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