On thin ice (Gaunt)

[Anadwen]

Anoriel ran off, shaking her head. She no longer cared about him... He was exactly what she thought he would be. 

When she returned, she found a running mob, and screaming villagers. They all seemed to be running away from something... She quickly found out what when she finally found the inn. Maigrod, perched at the roof with Athran, partly dressed in his riding armour, most likely scared them to death.

Soon, they were flying away. She cried on his shoulder during the flight, but he didn't even seem to listen. He was just as stupid...

She smacked him into the back of his head. "You're just as much of an ignorant idiot with only bloodshed in your head! I wish I'd never have gone anywhere with you, you fool!" she shouted. Athran only turned his head away. "Shut up. I've honestly had enough of your shit." he growled silently.

If he will have to put up with that during the whole flight, he will snap, too.

[Brisinger987]

The forest was dark, and the grey skin of the figure stumbling through the greenery was an eerie sight. He wore a simple robe, adorned with dark, and his eyes were a pale, ghostly white. His hair had changed from it's pure white, to a greyish colour, and was messy and unkempt.

He stumbled into the village tavern, looking around for any non-local faces, and there he saw Athran and Anoriel. He composed himself, walking over, and sitting down.

"Can you believe it?! Two years, and finally, I see you two again! Oh, how I've sorely missed you both." Halford smiled as he sat down.

"Oh, and Anoriel, look, I got a new one! Made some new friends who gave me it." He smiled, his pale white eyes unnerving and strange.

[Anadwen]

Anoriel wiped the tears from her eyes. "If you weren't my brother, I'd hate you to death!" she whispered. Athran's reply was only a growl. He has changed, appearing far more vicious than years ago, his eyes lined with thick lines of black kohl and his hair in unkept strings, falling into his face, while his sister was still just as innocent and angelic as always, but her face was red from tears.

"It's honestly the last thing I care about. If you weren't my sister, you'd be dead." He snarled at her from the other side of the table. His eyes were glinting with fey rage and hatred, and she pulled herself back at the sight. "You're not my brother. I don't recognise you." she muttered. She was about to continue, when a stranger approached them.

Anoriel didn't recognise Halford, but Athran did. He gave him a lousy salute instead of a greeting, and remained silent, frowning from the shadows. The candlelight glinted on a few chains and spikes on his armour as he moved, but otherwise, his figure was as black as night.

[Brisinger987]

Halford's expression was one of strange glee, with a hint of psychopathy behind it, not noticeable, for he seemed, for all intents and purposes, happy.

"I do hope we aren't arguing. I think a few minutes apart would help you two. Anoriel, care to come for a quick walk, catch up?" Halford stood, gesturing eagerly for her to follow him. His pale skin, grey hair and white eyes were unnerving, his pupils now lizard like slits instead of circles.

[Anadwen]

Anoriel shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't go right now..." She cast a glance at her brother, but was met with an iron curtain of cold rejection. "Go. Get out of my sight." He growled. As he bent over to the table, it could be seen how much he changed - the dark hair and outlined eyes were too striking in his deathly pale skin, and losing even more weight, his features appeared even sharper.

She stared at both in confusion. She was stuck between too scary, hostile elves.

[Brisinger987]

"Come, Anoriel. Your brother does not desire your company, where as I could use it." He smiled sweetly, gesturing for her to come to what seemed like a more welcoming set of arms. If only that were true.

"So, I see that tensions are rather high right now?"

[Anadwen]

Anoriel, not expecting anything bad, abruptly stood up and followed him, still covering her eyes with one hand. "I hate him. I hate him." she repeated, shaking her head wildly. But the presence of another person was calming, and she was glad for Halford to find them, although she was scared of him at once.

He turned wild and dangerous-looking... Resembling her maddened brother more than she'd like.

[Brisinger987]

"I know how it feels to hate. But, you get over it. There are always more positive qualities in a person that you hate, that you fail to see in anger." Halford's words sounded charming and nice when spoken blandly, but spoken with his words, they were sinister, and frightening.

"Come, I'll show you where I've taken up residence."

[Anadwen]

Anoriel nodded, too distracted to see anything more behind it, any wrong intentions, and followed, holding onto him. "He changed and I'm afraid of him. I don't recognise him anymore... He's mad, completely mad..." She poured her heart out, talking of Athran, their father, how she tries to help bring them back together, and all turned out wrong when Athran found out about all.

"I just wanted to help him, but when he learned of the truth... He went mad. I'm scared... I feel like one day he'll come and kill me. I don't see my brother in him anymore..." she cried.

[Brisinger987]

"I can help. Come, let me show you salvation." Halford led her away from the village, taking a small path, marked by black stones, which stood about a meter high.

"You can meet my friends. We can even have dinner..." Halford grinned at the thought the forest growing dark and gloomy as they entered into a clearing, with a stone table, and lots of people dressed in the same sort of robes as Halford.

[Anadwen]

Anoriel shook her head. "No, thank you. I appreciate it... And you're very nice to me... But this is my trouble. I..." she sobbed, and hid her face in Halford's sleeve. She didn't know what to say. For the past weeks, she was just confused, pushed around by everybody...

She grabbed Halford's shoulder, and pulled him aside. "Please, follow me... I want to show you something..." she whispered, clutching her fingers around his arm.

[Brisinger987]

"Very well then. But I must insist that you stay. It wouldn't be dinner without you." Halford beckoned for her to lead the way, before turning and giving a smile to the other men, who also smiled at him.

Halford turned back to Anoriel, smiling.

[Anadwen]

Anoriel raised herself to her tiptoes and pressed her lips onto him, gripping his shoulders with her small hands.

She was sorry when she just left him there like that... She already thought he died there, and she didn't even get the chance to apologize for being so rude...

[Brisinger987]

Halford smiled when she kissed him, kissing her cheek, and slowly advancing to her neck.

Unbeknownst to her, he had let a paralyzing toxin into her blood stream, absorbing it straight inside her mouth. Within seconds she would be unable to move, only capable of breathing and moving her eyes.

[Anadwen]

Anoriel softly grabbed his face, and turned it back to her own, kissing him passionately, and without knowing about it, released a part of the toxin back into him.

"I'm sorry I let you there back then... But I was a fool..." she whispered to his ear.

[Brisinger987]

"And you still are..." Halford's skin itself began to react to the toxin, neutralising it. It wasn't a powder under his tongue, it was a natural toxin in his body.

He pushed her back, smiling as his skin began to peel and rot away rapidly, revealing a horrible, skeleton like creature with razor teeth, a tentacle like tongue, and pure black eyes.

The toxin would paralyze her before the transformation completed, and she would find herself unable to speak, scream, or move, just a limp pile of flesh.

[Anadwen]

Anoriel felt her body slowly going numb, and only watched in horror how Halford turned into something unnatural...

She wanted to scream, but couldn't even move to do that. Her eyes turned upside down, and paralyzed with terror, she fainted, falling onto the ground.

[Brisinger987]

"I did say that dinner wouldn't be dinner without you... HahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAH! YOU'RE THE MAIN COURSE AFTER ALL!" Halford picked her leg up, dragging her back to the stone table, where the rest of them had become the same monsters.

"Hang her up on the chains, and remove her clothes. Cloth and leather will ruin the taste of her sweet, bleeding flesh."

[Anadwen]

Anoriel, still completely unconscious, couldn't make a move, and the men didn't meet with any protests from her.

[Brisinger987]

Anoriel would wake up suspended over the table by spiked chains, in a dark, stone room lit only by torch light. None of the monstrous beings were around, instead, the room was decorated with skulls, and the walls bloodstained. The grey stone table below he looked more like an altar, which was splattered with blood.

Her clothes had been removed, and she had been marked with symbols drawn in her blood, taken from the palms of her hands.

The only indication that she wasn't going to die of age or hunger was that there was noise nearby, down a corridor, where inane babble could be heard, as well as Halford's voice.

"She will be as sweet and fresh as I promised you my brothers... Nyhahahaha!"