Fable - Ask In The Rubble[Dreadlords]

[Davi]

Davi could hear the others still talking back in the rubble in which they had landed but he kept walking, fingers twined behind the back of his head. It was much preferable to be alone anyway. It allowed him the chance to use a little of his own magic without the others seeing. Focusing on just the sensory nerves within his own body he shifted them to creatures who could see, hear and smell far greater than a human could. He found his vision sharpening, his hearing tuning and he scrunched his nose up briefly at the wafts of something foul coming from behind the door. It wasn't the smell of rotting corpses or blood, for that was a smell they made you get used to long ago. Davi himself had slept inside the carcass of one of his fellow initiates when he was 10. Things like that dulled a mans senses.

It smelt more like sulphur.

He stopped outside the door and examined the carvings curiously as the others trudged up behind him. Instead of words the heavy oak had a series of pictures depicting a scene of how the tunnels came to be created.

"This must just be a part of it," he said once everyone was gathered though it wasn't for their benefit. More of a case he was musing aloud. His fingers brushed over the gold leaf on a woman's hair who was pointing a group of men towards a forest. Perhaps the others would find another bit of the mural. A firm shove against the doors proved it to be very securely locked.

 

[Noel]

"Thank you," she offered to Henk. The floating orb of magical light would certainly be helpful for navigating their way through this dark and dismal place.

Narrowing eyes cast a glare towards Edric but she refrained from commenting back. Choosing to let him go down his appointed hallway instead. He could justify it however he wished but the division made sense. The split made far less sense though when Kristen Pirian fell from the heavens. In a violent fashion.

At first, Noel gave the noblegirl a dismissive look. Let her find her way out on her own.

But then Sable, always the goody-two-shoes, stepped in to greet the leech. Worse still he invited them into the group just as they were beginning to proceed down the left hall. Unbelievable, not only were they stuck down here but now they were stuck down here having to watch over some spoiled petulant brat who was only here because of her birth. "Stay behind us," she said with disdain in her words, "and if you're going to get yourself killed try not to make a mess."

Ella was growing impatient and Noel was hardly in a mood to test the redhead. "We're coming."

They proceeded forward, Ella leading the way until Cersi spoke up about a shift in their order. Her words made sense and, frankly, if someone was going to be in the front it might as well be the guy who added the deadweight to their little team.

Before she could offer an opinion though the pathway curved before opening up into a vast room with a high walled ceiling. Covering the walls was a myriad of shelves housing large tomes and encyclopedias with the center of the room containing more bookshelves, desks with parchment flung atop them in piles, and odd abacus like objects. It was quite obviously some sort of strange library though without investigating what was actually contained in the books or parchment it was impossible to tell what sort of study this place was dedicated to.

"Where are we," her words died in the air as Noel's lips slammed shut. There was someone, or something, in the library with them.

 

[Dorian]

The tap-tapping of several sets of footfalls echoed off lifeless walls. As the group progressed through the hall, Henk's light cast dancing shadows all around them as it shone over the architecture's several curves and contours.

"How eerie," the Apprentice voiced his thoughts.

When they arrived at the door, Dorian stood behind the group at the very edge of where Henk's light could reach and watched on as Davi, to little avail, attempted to open the doors.

"Go on, Ed." Dorian's voice hissed through the corridor. As was the manner, he didn't miss Edric's back tense as they came to a halt. Now, it was unfair to pin the blame regarding their circumstances onto the larger Apprentice, but Dorian wasn't concerned about fairness at the moment. "Should be easy enough for you."

 

[Edric]

Edric stood in front of the door, watching as Davi gently ran his fingers over the relief.

Never once in his life had the Initiate seemed to be anything but utterly cocksure. Even when he lost on the sparring field, Edric never seemed to think it was anything but a fluke. Outwardly he was loud, boastful, and completely free of self doubt.

Of course, on the inside Edric was just like any other teenager who had grown up abandoned and abused.

His face never changed, his features never shifted the slightest bit. He stared straight ahead, as if processing something. Then Dorian's voice echoed out besides him. His head snapped to the side, a frown touching his features.

"Tsh." The sound came from between his teeth. Head shook. "Grow a pair, Dorian."

Seemingly without hesitation Edric stepped forward, pushing Davi to the side. All three of his companions would feel a gentle tugging, a small drain of energy that would only be felt due to it's familiarity. Then Edric raised his booth and kicked the door directly over the lock.

There was a shattering sound of wood, and the doors were flung open.

Beyond came the cascading of a bright white light. It illuminated the room far more than any lantern could, casting a palid demeanor over the whole of what could only have been called a laboratory.

The walls were lined with massive shelves of surgical tools and odd vials. Six tables sat neatly arranged in a circle at the center of the room, a strange sort of device sitting in the middle of them. All but two of the tables were empty, one containing the body of a small boy, no older than six. The other a girl a little older.

Neither of them stirred as the doors went flying open.

Dorian | Henk | Davi

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Oooowwww...Kristen was certain that people weren't meant to survive such falls, but she couldn't tell if Proctor Magomo had done something or not to cushion the fall. Her back said no, but the astonishing fact that she was alive said yes. Her eyes pinched shut, she nonetheless heard some of the other initiates talking. They had fallen, they'd fallen with the the floor, and they were fine. Still, why would Proctor Magomo do such a thing; what good was a 'teachable moment' if Kristen could have died!

She felt a big heavy hand on her shoulder, a forceful tug followed, and with a surprised yelp Kristen was back on her feet.

Oh, it was Sable. Kristen actually quite liked Sable. It seemed to her like everyone else was concerned with themselves, often at the expense of others, but Sable was different. She found his enthusiasm to be infectious, and his forthright character to be a breath of fresh air. House Pirian thought that she could be the face of the new generation of Dreadlords, but honestly, if it were up to Kristen, she'd nominate Sable for such an honor.

Blinking, still disoriented, a touch unsteady on her feet, Kristen said, "Groups? What groups? Is this an assign--?"

The armored, ushering hand of Sable prompted Kristen to walk forward. She hadn't the time to see that there were other tunnels, but it didn't matter much. She was down in one of them along with Sable, Ella, Cersi, and Noel. Ella! Kristen had always wanted to talk with Ella. She was a bit quiet, Ella, but she was also TK, and Kristen adored TKs, what with them being Aionus's favored mages. Cersi was standoffish, from what Kristen had seen, and had a frightening gaze--made all the more frightening when weapons just seemed to bounce off of her. Wasn't the House of Llewelyn sworn to House Luana though? Perhaps she could be misremembering--her life as a noble seemed so incredibly distant now. And then there was Noel. Noel...terrified her. She wasn't outwardly aggressive, but, if a Proctor ever said that she could get high marks by killing one of her peers, even one of her friends (did she have friends), Noel wouldn't hesitate.

Ah! Kristen straightened sharply when Noel spoke curtly to her. She wasn't expecting it, and she didn't have her thoughts in order in time to speak even a general platitude in reply before Noel turned away. Hopefully that wasn't rude?

As Kristen drew her mace and unlatched her book of verses from her belt, Cersi made a suggestion. To which Kristen nodded vigorously, "I agree. Sable is the most capable among us to act as a forward aegis."

The tunnel eventually spilled out into...a library? A rather impressive library, and one made more mysterious by it's place down here beneath much of Vel Acan.

Noel mused, and Kristen--not having the awareness that someone/something was in the library with them--mused aloud as well, "Why would this library be here, so secretive and far beneath the one above?"

Noel Sable Pembroke Eleanor Cersi Llewelyn

 

[Henk]

Henk could smell the stench wafting through the hallway they traversed as well, the stink of death? No, it was something different, something more pungent and penetrating. Henk knew the smell of rotting flesh, tossed by the wayside to be scavenged, and this wasn't it. Besides, if anything were to have been killed down here...

His thoughts were interrupted as the four of them came upon a door. Massive and ornate in the oaken designs carved into the wooden gateway. A look of recollection dawned on Henk's scarred features; indeed this entire structure was distinctly similar in design to the halls they traveled every day in Vel Anir. Each stone was meticulously placed as though the same fear of failure had loomed over whatever souls had been damned to make this place.

Slowly, he moved his hand in a sweeping motion, looking over the door with a furrowed brow. Dorian urged Edric to make the move to open the door, and Henk was inclined to agree. "You're currently the best-equipped to deal with any threats, Edric. I'm focusing on the light, Davi is wounded, and Dorian is... Well, Dorian." Not that he believed Dorian wasn't capable, or that Davi's head wound would seriously damper his ability, but his logic was sound.

Edric seemed none too pleased with the task he'd been given, but nonetheless stepped forward to break open the gateway set before them. When he did, bright light poured from within, causing Henk to double back and hiss in pain as his pores opened to accept the new light. Quickly he dispelled his light, the unearthly glow his skin sported fading to normal as his eyes adjusted to the light...

What awaited him within when he could finally see once more was a horror. A room that masqueraded as a facility of knowledge and research betrayed by the gruesome sight displayed front and center. Beakers and medical tools littered the shelves, the strange machine located at the center was foreign to him, but the hideous visage on the table was not. Bodies, corpses of the young laid out as if abandoned mid-procedure.

It was not the fact they were seemingly dead that disturbed Henk, though. It was the state of their bodies.

"Be on guard..." Henk mumbled quietly. "If they were killed, it was done semi-recently. Whoever did this to them may still be here."

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Thankfully, Kristen seemed to get her wits about her rather quickly, and the others didn't voice any issue with her tagging along. Quite a merry and capable little band they had now! Sable had been more than happy to let the others lead the pack, but his ears pricked up and he felt a confident grin span his face as they offered praise for his prodigious protective aptitude. Sable picked up his pace at this as they all began to file into the much more open room.

"By all means, it would be my great honor to be a shield to you all." He boasted, armor shifting and clunking as he walked.

"Why would this library be here, so secretive and far beneath the one above?"

That was an excellent question. It seemed a bit redundant to have something like this so close to one that was far more accessible, but perhaps that was the point.
"I'm not sure. Maybe they were hiding so--"

Sable's voice fell flat at the same time Noel's did as something caught his ear. Plate armor and boots had a distinct noise about them, and Sable could physically see his companions all in close proximity to him. The distant sound of a page turning, then paper ripping, was starkly different from what his brain had told him was 'normal.'

As quietly as one could while wearing a full suit of heavy armor, Sable unbuckled and drew his shield and mace. The light Henk had provided was nice, but certainly didn't light up the whole room. Even still, he could just barely make out movement at the edge of its glow. He took a cautious few steps forward, when his mind finally understood what he was looking at.

Its head snapped up in his direction, the light that shone behind him reflecting off its eyes and making them appear to glow brightly. A round face gazed back, its color like ash and starkly standing out from its black-feathered body. It perched atop a table, a book in its long, black talons, a wickedly clawed finger appearing to be flipping a page over. It was like someone had merged an owl and a man, though its proportions were too long, too thin. Strangely, it looked like it had been riddled with arrows, though if it bled, Sable could not tell.

Spoiler

Sable held still, eyes locked on the creature for what felt like an eternity but could only have been seconds. The thing's beak opened and moved, and sound ushered forth.

"I̴̳̔͝ ̴̳͊͗̉́s̸̈́̿̈̋͊͜e̸͕͔̦̭͔̱͑ë̷̦͉͍̯̻̖̜́ͅ.̴̡̨̪̟̰͉̥̀͋̇̇͝͠ ̸̡͚̪̝̥͔͗͐̓͒̍̓͘M̵͔̠̗̙͇̰̫̝͋̀͑̋ẙ̵̡̳̘͎̌̌́̆̚ ̶̺̭̮͕͍̻͕͂̎͗̕t̵̬̘̣̜̭̎͆̓͗ͅį̶̰̥̜̜͍̣̳͒̏͘͘m̴̲̭̤̲̟͠ë̷̼͕̹͔͂ ̸̢͕͉̤͙̦͆̑͊͊͌̽̓͝ͅḫ̶̲̈́̀͒̃ẻ̶̫͔̬͔̜̼͔̎́̉̄̕r̶̹̞̺̭̝̜̺̎͋̊̿̈́̓̉ḛ̴̩͇̄͗̓̾͝ ̷̗̗̱̮̯̼̿͊͋̑̿͗h̷͉͙̾̿ā̸͉͚̣̝̣̈́̈́s̶̢̭̲̭̫̝̣͂̾͊̋̋̾ ̶̬͈͔̩̌̓͛ͅd̸̛̹̒̓͒̍͝ŕ̷̨͙͉̞̥͌̍a̵̟̓̉̑́̑͘͠͝ŵ̴̨̼̣̗̓̈͗̋̽̕ṉ̵̪̙̻̈́͗ ̷̢̩͎̬̦͕̹̄̃̀̾̋ẗ̴͚̹̈́̈̂o̷̡͔̖̊́̏̏̿̈́͠ ̴̺̬̲͒͋͂̃̒̈̌͆a̸̜̙̻̝̭̠͉͙̐̃̂ ̸͚̯̫͚̤̪͕̋͜c̴̡̖̤̯̮̃̆̈́̀͠l̷̨͔̲͔̩̲͘̚ơ̶̟̪͇̓͊̄̌́s̵̀̀͝ͅḛ̴̛̣͔͌̂͌̽̃,̷̨̈́̿͌ ̵̻͓̯̭͚̖͈̲̑̋̾͘t̴͍̪̼̤̬͂̈͒̂̕ͅḫ̸͇̿̈́ę̷͉̮̤̥̯̫͋͌̉̽n̷̢͓̯̙̜͖̅̐ͅ.̷̠̀̕͜"
​

What?? It physically hurt to listen to. It was nonsense, and yet the meaning was clear in Sable's mind. The initiate lofted his mace. This fiend could only have been hostile.
"Foul creature!" He shouted back at it, anger building.

The thing didn't wait for anyone to move again. It thrust a claw forward and what looked like ink spewed from its hand onto the floor in front of it en masse. It promptly leapt over a bookshelf behind it and tore out of sight. Before Sable could move to pursue, the inky substance began to bubble to life. Numerous creatures rent themselves from the ichor, each resembling some sort of animal but...wrong, and made entirely of the substance from which they were birthed and otherwise lacking features.

As the creatures began to lurch forward, Sable took a readied stance and shouted to his group.
"Prepare yourselves! We've got a fight!"

 

[Davi]

Davi's heightened hearing caught the very faint echoes of battle coming from behind them but he stepped casually into the room as though he couldn't; he was fairly sure the others would be fine on their own. And if they weren't? Well then perhaps they weren't strong enough to be Dreadlords and it was best their road ended here.

With feigned casualness he meandered his way into the room, sparing a brief glance to the two prone bodies on the slabs. He could hear the slow and irregular heartbeat coming from the girl but from the boy nothing. He didn't waste time feeling their pulse. Instead he turned his attention to the equipment on the desk and the bits of paper left behind. Someone had left quickly, whoever had once used this place, and they had tried to take as much of their research with them as possible. He bent and picked up a piece before he trod on it.

"Experiments..." he murmured with a frown.

 

[Dorian]

"Hah! Slip on piss and die, Henk." He jovially voiced from the back.

The Apprentice shaded his eyes from the sudden light, and as they trodded into the lab, he felt wrath begin to bubble.

Dorian stepped to the front of the group, shouldering his way past Edric and Henk, and went straight for the two tables. The room possessed an antiseptic stench, and as he stood over the bodies, he smelled nothing from them.

"What the fuck," he said under an exasperated breath, then looked to Edric as if the taller boy had an answer or explanation. Dorian's gaze held an uncharacteristic sincerity and concern. Then he looked back at the pair of tiny corpses.

"This is sick."

 

[Edric]

"They're dead." Edric commented dryly as he stepped into the room, his gaze flickering over everything.

He had never been the...smartest out of their class. Most of the time it was one of the others who did the deeper thinking, but he knew enough to see the trouble in all of this. A pit formed in his stomach as he stepped towards the children, his senses flickering slightly.

A hand reached out to the little girl, fingers pushing aside the high collar on her neck. A cut lay there, thin, but deep enough to nick her artery. "Probably killed a few hours ago."

Edric said softly, his hand pulling away from the girls skin.

Then something else caught his eye.

It was a ball, or something close to it. An orb made of glass that sat within the strange contraption in the midst of the table. He plucked it from it's place within the machine, drawing it into his fist. The thing was nearly the size of his palm, and held a deep black color, as though staring into it were finding nothing less than a total abyss.

Despite that though it weighed less than it should have, and still somehow carried a burden beyond what Edric could put into words.

"What..." Edric frowned. "There's something off about this...I don't understand."

He looked at the machine, find another globe just like the one he held in his hand where the boy lay on the table. Just beyond the table, in the corner of the room lay another door. "We have to keep going."

Something just...told him.

 

[Noel]

Cersi Llewelyn Eleanor Kristen Pirian Sable Pembroke

---

Noel grimaced as the terrifying sound of the owl-like creature resonated throughout the library.

Before them several creatures made of black ink materialized. Noel could hear the shouts coming from Sable but she found herself unable to respond. Her eyes darted between the various malformed creatures that prepared to attack them. One of the smallest of the hoard resembled a parrot or some other plumed bird and without any other motion from her compatriots Noel primed a shard of metal.

In seconds a sheet of platinum ran through the air, carving the flying foe into two separate pieces, its remnants falling onto the stoned floor of the library and dissolving into the air.

Immediately afterwards the other machinations all seemed to eye Noel with their empty eye sockets. A growl emanating from what looked like a solid black lioness. Within seconds they rushed the raven-haired girl and Noel managed to throw up some of her metallic armor to deflect the initial lunge from the attacking beasts.

The circlet on the back of her armor straightened itself and formed into a trident. Noel thrust it forwards and pierced through the body of what looked to be an elk made from ichor. She pulled the trident back and then craft a shield trying to stall the other threat of monsters that had frenzied after her.

For all of her strength she wasn't certain how long she could keep up her defenses against these... whatever they were.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Oh my God!" Kristen exclaimed, her body stiffening sharply with terror once the Owl-like monster appeared from the murk of the library. Her mace slipped from her grasp and clattered noisily on the floor. Hands trembling, she bent down unsteadily, failing once, twice, three times to grab her weapon again.

Aionus. Aionus the Sentinel who watches over us. Please. Give me the strength. Don't let it happen again. Don't let it happen again oh god oh Aionus oh please.

Her fingers weren't working. Her body felt intensely as though it were petrifying. It was like she was nine years old again, looking at him, the half-orc, staring down at her--

Please, please--

A tiny spark of desperate willpower, and at last her fingers finally curled as she bid them and she took hold of her mace and stood up straight once more. By this time the Owl-like monster had gone and in its place were the numerous oily spawn birthed by its foul magic. Kristen's breath caught in her chest. Her wide eyes flicked over toward Noel when she heard her veteran classmate launch her platinum projectiles.

She can do it. Sable can do it. Ella can do it. Cersi can do it. You've been training for a year. For this. For this! For what you've al--

Kristen saw Noel's platinum trident pierce the faux-elk and immediately her stomach twisted tight. Her throat seemed to slam shut for a moment. Then it ignited. Kristen stumbled backward, spinning round, her back to their foes, her mace slipping from her grasp once again, and she collapsed down to her knees, catching herself with her free hand, and she coughed harshly, saliva and green bile bursting forth from her mouth.

She drew in a ragged breath.

Said pitifully to herself, "Come on...come on!"

Noel Sable Pembroke Eleanor Cersi Llewelyn

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor was glad to have been passed by Sable when the owl thing spoke. She could not have handled being any closer to that terrible voice that made her hurt. It was foul and unnatural. Ella watched in silent horror was the inky substance turned into different creatures and started to attack. She vaguely heard Sable yell, but her focus was entirely on the monsters that were now material and very real.

Her right hand went down to the pouch on her belt that held her thin throwing knives. Ella reached in and extracted three of her knives. She sent all three through the air in a matter of seconds using her magic to make sure they hit the inky owl center mass and it poofed from existence.

That was about the time she heard someone throwing up behind her. She did not look back but she had a sneaky suspicion that it was Kristen. Poor little princess, Eleanor thought before quickly taking three more knives out and launching them at the next creature.

Noel Sable Pembroke Cersi Llewelyn Kristen Pirian

 

[Henk]

The grisly scene before them was one that should have shocked Henk, but somehow it did not. One wouldn't bury a place like this so far under the ground unless they had despicable intentions that had to be hidden out of necessity. Still, the depravity of it all... killing children for some demented experiment... Even Edric, the most stalwart and ruthless of them all, looked uncomfortable and uneased by the sight.

Well, he supposed the Dreadlords of all people should be used to the exploitation of the young.

"That settles it then." Henk murmured as he walks along the walls, fingers trailing over the beakers and instruments that lined the shelving wrapped around the dreadful chamber. "Be ready for a fight. If their deaths were that recent, you can be all but certain the perpetrators aren't far." Henk wasn't entirely worried about what somebody who preyed on defenseless children could do to the likes of him and his fellow Initiates, but one must be sure not to treat any battle too lightly.

Hearing Edric's mumble, Henk turns his head to see him inspecting the strange black glass orb in his palm. There was a pressure emanating from the sphere that Henk felt as well, a nauseous feeling washing over him as his face twisted into a grimace. Moving to join Edric, Henk also observed the killing method used on the children, and another dark realization settled in.

"They cut them there to drain the blood. Most likely to make whatever these orbs are. That's powerful stuff, we may be in for more trouble than I thought..."

He turns his head back to Davi and Dorian. "Stay close. We can't afford to be ambushed. Edric, take point. I have your back."

 

[Davi]

Being deemed one of the "weaker" dreadlords could grow tiring. As far as the others were concerned he should change his appearance into that of other humans - nothing to write home about for sure - and he wasn't comfortable with revealing the full expanse of what his powers meant just yet. Not this soon into the new Republic. But being deemed weaker had its advantages. For one, you didn't have to be the lead. You could hang around in the safe middle part and have time to assess the situation whilst the 'strong' died.

The second was that you could at least be smarter and make it known.

"They're not dead," Davi said blandly and cast Edric a look that was so void of emotion that every one could be read in the vast pools of inky blue. Edric's own insecurities would pick out the right ones. Shaking his head as though it were the most obvious thing in the world he walked over to the girl with the faint, birdlike pulse, but wisely didn't step within reach. Even if she was tied down with leather straps he wouldn't count on her experimentations to not have given her some superhuman strengths. "She's alive."

Almost on cue the girl let out a pitiful mewling moan.

"Perhaps she can tell us something before we go blindly on."

 

[Dorian]

"Perhaps she can tell us something before we go blindly on."

"Yeah, like what? 'Oh, goodness me, they cut my neck open and took my blood.'"

Dorian drew one of the two long daggers from the small of his back and brought himself into formation between Henk and Edric. His brows were furrowed.

"You shouldn't carry around what you don't understand, Ed. This is bad shit. We should go ahead. Davi, see what you can learn. Make it quick, and catch up."

Shouldn't be hard to tell where they would go. If Henk's itch was right, they'd fight. Just follow the bodies.

"Let's go."

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Anger started to bubble in Sable's chest. The cowardly thing that had made these...things had scrambled off into the dark, to who knew where. Now he and his allies were being assailed by inky fiends, mindless creatures that seemed to only know aggression and instinct. The bulk of them seemed to be drawn to Noel, while a very few seemed content to go after the rest of them.

One resembling a boar barreled headlong at Sable, a gurgling series of grunts emanating from it that failed to even remotely resemble the natural squealing of a pig. He knew that he'd have no chance of defending his comrades if he didn't deal with it. That was frustrating. Just as it reached him, he swatted it aside with his shield, then crushed it flat with his mace and a great bellow.

Then he wheeled to face the ones that had run past him to attack the women at his rear. First things first, he had to get the pressure off of Noel; a spear was no good if it didn't have a proper shield to support it. Sable roared and charged, heavy footfalls and armor shaking the area with his every fevered step. A shining, amber bubble formed in front of him as he slammed into the largest of the creatures, an eyeless, oily bear. The creature stumbled aside but did not break apart, but he'd wedged himself between Noel and her aggressors. Now it seemed that all eyes were on Sable. Good.

"I'll hold them, you finish them off!" He shouted back to her over his shoulder, focusing his magic into a barrier to keep the ravenous monsters at bay. That was when he caught something in his peripheral.

Kristen was struggling. She didn't have the same experience as others in their class; she'd been a noble, after all, not a warrior trained from childhood. In her nauseous release, she didn't see the blackened wolf the was about to rip her throat out.

"Shit! Kristen!"

Instinctively, Sable dropped his mace to the ground and thrust a hand out. The wolf crashed into another shining shield, a thin layer of safety for the noble girl at the last second. However, there was a problem. Holding one barrier was easy. Two was still simple. Holding them both while roughly ten creatures were all trying to break through, and were smart enough to move around them given time? Less so.

If they didn't thin them out quickly, Sable knew that someone was going to get hurt, and he wouldn't be able to stop it.

 

[Noel]

Each of the creatures didn't seem terribly powerful individually, which was obvious as the group seemed able to fell them simply enough. But in a pack like this they were a real threat. Ella was making short work of the flying things with her knives, Cersi was handling herself fine, and Sable had jumped to their aid with his barriers.

Yes, they were outnumbered, but Noel was no longer concerned about their chances of success as formed the end of her trident into a halberd and sliced clean through the bear-like creature that was pounding at Sable's front. A thrust of her implement saw the end of the inky bull that was raring to charge as well.

A brow lurched as she noticed Sable's concentration beginning to falter, his shields seeming to struggle to keep up. It was also at this time that she realized why.

"Kristen," she said in a flat, annoyed, tone. Noel wanted to tell Pembroke to drop the shield saving her from the wolf but she'd grown up around the young man and knew he'd never abandon one of their classmates. Even if she was hardly one of them, even if it threatened the rest of their lives. She knew that Cersi, Sable, and Eleanor could easily dispatch with the remaining foes (especially if Sable had his full concentration focused) so the raven-haired youth pulled off from the rest of the group.

In a flurry she charged at the brackish wolf and pulled her weapon backwards, flinging it forward and severing the creature's head. It dissolved into a black puddle on the ground before the substance it was made of evaporated into the air.

With the immediate threat gone Noel stepped closer to the puking Pirian, carefully avoiding her bile, before reaching down and grasping the initiate by her chest piece. In a surge she lifted the girl up to her eye level and glared at Kristen. "Pull yourself together," lowering her voice slightly she added, "and if you ever threaten our lives again I won't save you."

 

[Edric]

Edric stared at the girl, his eyes wide as she suddenly lifted herself from the table and let out a loan groan of pain. "I...how...she was dead..."

He was sure of it. So sure.

It was all but impossible that he had been wrong. His magic was connected almost directly to life itself. He could feel, sense when something had passed on. The girl had been nothing but a void, an empty abyss. There had been nothing to draw from, nothing to take.

He had been so sure that she was gone. Slowly he glanced at the boy on the slab, staring at him coldly as if expecting for him to raise as well. For a moment he forgot utterly about Henk's words, about all of them. He simply stared, watched, waited.

Then nothing came and Dorian spoke.

Edric's head seemed to snap up, his lips thinning. Mouth opening to rebuke Dorian or perhaps say some other cruel thing to Henk.

Yet before he could do either the door that they had been heading towards suddenly fell open. There was no loud creak, no echoing groan. The hinges slipped open without so much as a sound, and a figure stepped into the light of the laboratory.

"Oh. Oh dear."​

It was a man's voice that echoed out, the silhouette coming into the shape of an old man. He was easily over seventy years old. His hair was white, his skin wrinkled, and he wore a white lab coat. On his chest sat the symbol of the Dreadlord's, an unknown mark resting just beneath it.

His gaze swept over the Four Dreadlord Initiates in the room.

"Is something wrong? You're not supposed to be here. Where is Archon Davis? Or Gilram? They should be escorting you. You're not allowed to be here."​

The man kept speaking, gibbering on as he moved out the doorway and towards Davi and the girl. Completely ignoring Henk and Dorian.

"Oh dear, oh my. You weren't supposed to wake yet. No No. It's supposed to take longer. No. Perhaps all the excitement. Yes. That could be it."​

He shuffled forward, moving directly towards Edric, Davi, and the Girl.

Dorian | Davi | Henk

 

[Kristen Pirian]

How could, how could everything be happening so fast?

By the time Kristen had summoned enough wherewithal to once again take hold of her mace, she'd not even yet taken notice of the individual barrier manifested by Sable nor the Black Wolf that it had repulsed. A look to her left. The creature, by her perception having suddenly appeared there, barrier or not. So startled was she that a sharp yelp escaped from deep in her throat and she stumbled backward, landing squarely on her rear end. She was petrified, face contorted into an ugly fear. This wasn't like sparring or dueling at all, it was worse, it was so much worse!

Then Noel, seemingly from nowhere, effortlessly slaying the Black Wolf. Beheading it. Kristen retched heavily again at the sight of it, but this time the reflex was dry, and nothing spewed out. Sable, Cersi, and Ella were handling the rest.

Noel grabbed her. Pulled her up roughly. Kristen, barely able to keep herself up on her feet, legs full of tremors.

Pull yourself together.

All a nerve-racked stammer, eyes peeled wide looking up to the other girl. "We were supposed to be cleaning. We weren't supposed to be here. We--"

Interrupting herself, she switched to frantic apologies.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Noel Sable Pembroke Eleanor Cersi Llewelyn

 

[Dorian]

Before Davi could respond, or anyone else voice their opinion for that fact, the Dreadlord appeared. Dorian froze, staring on with moderate concern as the old man rambled.

Blue eyes darted around to the others. A quick sign with his hand, code taught to all the students, urged the others to remain calm. And also himself.

Panic struck for one second. Two.

Fear, anxiety, and worry were things that not many could dismiss on a whim. But, Dorian had always been able to. It was all about doing a mental reset. To him, it was as simple as snuffing a candle.

Just like that, the panic was gone.

"Separated, Sir," Dorian said with careful subservience and composure. "We're terribly - terribly sorry to be here. If you could just direct us back the right way, we'll regroup with the Archon. Sir."

 

[Davi]

Davi didn't have very many morals; he was a Dreadlord after all. Or at least, he would be after graduation. But there were a few grey lines that made him uncomfortable when he strayed close to stepping over them. One was definitely leaving a helpless girl who looked barely older than 10 with a man who was muttering and talking to himself and staring at her like an insect he was torn between loving and eating. His feelings of unease were only made worse when the girl gave a startled, petrified cry when she spotted the man shuffling towards her and in her panic blindly flung herself from the table.

He automatically reached out a hand to catch her then gently manoeuvred her behind his back. She clutched at the back of his jacket trembling and sobbing, begging to be taken home. Davi kept his face impassive as he watched the old man approach.

"What did you do to her?" as usual his tone had a way of sounding bored with just the right amount of interest a teenage boy might have in something odd like this but his free hand was fingering the hilt of his curved blade.

 

[Henk]

Henk heard hardly a word since the stranger had revealed himself. The revelation that the girl was alive was equally as befuddling to him as it was to Edric; Henk knew the sight of death, and that girl had been the picture of it only seconds ago. It wasn't hard to believe the boy too might spring to life. Henk hoped that he would not, because he feared what would be witnessed.

That Dreadlord mark wasn't lost on Henk, but neither was that strange mark beneath it. There was some semblance of familiarity to it, but the initiate couldn't quite place it. Nevertheless, his mere presence put Henk at an uneasy edge. The tips of his fingers would begin to pulse with light as he drew them to chest level, aimed at the coat-wearing madman.

Yes, madman was the perfect description. Even the Proctors had limits, some semblance, a hint of humanity. What was happening here was depraved and unforgivable. If not for Davi's words, Henk may have attacked then and there. What had enraged him so? Why did he feel so strongly about this. His gaze only briefly flicks towards the girl as he steps forward to stand beside Davi.

"I suggest you give us a real answer, as well."

 

[Edric]

Edric slid himself between Davi and the old man. Fingers clutched at the dagger which sat at his hip, lips thinning into a frown as Henk slowly sidled towards the three of them.

It was an odd feeling, suddenly measuring up besides the other two Initiates. Neither of them had been particularly spectacular at the Academy, yet as the old man moved towards the three of them Edric couldn't help but feel a sense of...familiarity.

"The Archon? No. I don't know. I do-"​

The old man cut himself off as Davi made his demand.

A frown immediately pulled across his aged lips, his head cocking to the side. A confused look crossed the old man's face, and he looked at the three Initiates with total and utter confusion. It was as though he truly did not understand.

"Did Gilram not explain? I do what I always do..."​

The old man's head shook.

"I made her..."​

He looked at the four Initates in the room.

"As I have done for near fifty years. As the Houses have bade me..."​

Edric felt a pit form in his stomach.

"I made her. Crafted her into what Vel Anir needs."​

The words seemed to ring in Edric's skull, resounding, thundering. He knew exactly what they meant. Knew exactly what the old man was saying.

"I gave her the magic to become a Dreadord."​

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Henk's light held up, its glow showering their little group in its pale light before faltering into the pitch black of the room around them. Noel had cut the last of the creatures down, but the thing that had spawned them was assuredly long gone by now. What was that thing? And what had it been doing down here? What the hell was this place?

All questions for another time. Sable panted, not winded but certainly quite awake after their little encounter.
"It's fine," Sable said to no one, rolling his shoulders forward, usual bluster apparently sapped from him. He eyed Kristen, then Noel. "We are fine. Let's keep moving."

There were no injuries, of that he was certain. He'd have known. The only thing that had really been hurt was likely Kristen's pride. Unfortunate that Henk had gone with the other group; it would've been nice to properly investigate the room, but as it stood they had a finite amount of time before their current light source ran out.

Sable stepped towards the table the owl-thing had been perched on. It had departed with book in hand, but a number of pages had been ripped out and left atop the desk. He collected what he could into a pouch, folding them and storing them neatly.

"Hopefully the path will lead us back to the others." He thought aloud before moving deeper in, floating mote of light in tow.