Knights of Anathaeum the Fantastical and Feral

[Kaarle]

The squire was free, gasping for breath, but there was no relief for it. The beast shrieked as he kicked it in what he assumed was the shin of a hind limb, his heel pushing it just a bit further away from his yet struggling company. It staggered, swiping at him in turn, which he met with his sword. The black claws struck sparks out of steel, once, twice, palmful of knives slicing at empty air as he stepped aside with a held breath.

It released from his chest in a startled huff as something suddenly caught him, physically ordering him make way. At the end of that firm grip was fury, writ clear on the stare that bore into the beast like a hyperconcentrated sunbeam. It sought to scorch, burning hot, and beyond him was it to stand in its way.

In a thrash of metal and limbs, the she-orc made manifest hell upon their adversary. He couldn’t but watch, equal parts stunned silence and hesitant admiration. From within the shack came a call, but he hadn’t the capacity to care what it meant, his own heart much too quickened within his chest. It hammered, despite the squire’s murderous intent at subduing the most immediate threat.

So, the moment she appeared to falter, attention torn from her task that’d been going hideously well, he stepped in on instinct. Whatever angry words he had died within a snarl, merciless blade shoving forth for the monster's chest, a twist of the wrist slipping it past the ribs.

Gruki Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas Hector

 

[Saskia Kerraelas]

What felt like tongues and riddles, the spell she had learned came easily to her, drawing the darkness and rot towards her. To convene with Death felt as if she were wading treacherous waters, but her shadows were a gloom she became accustomed to. She trusted the darkness they provided her all these years, trusted their wisps and umbra as it were a life boat. Steering her to True North, away from the seductive iniquity that was the Pursuit of Death.

She proved to herself time and time again she was capable of wielding it, even now as she lured the surface of the hex towards her. It was as if she were sucking the poison from one's wound; the way the polluted aura thinned to a string and tied itself to Saskia, her spell weaving it to wind around the spindle that was her thumb.

The Shadow Knight borrowed the strength in Hector's spell. The dusker capitalised onto Byanka's use of the Loch, all to work in ridding the creature of the hex it was cruelly given.

Yet the creature turned on her, advancing towards her.

Saskia stepped back, away from the golden line that bolstered her casting.

Shit.

Blindly, her feet moved to seek out another line, another crossroads upon the ground.

Gruki Byanka Valkas Hector Kaarle

 

[Byanka Valkas]

Byanka could hear (and feel) Gruki's rage from outside the shack, but she forced herself to focus on the task at hand. Saskia needed her. This... monster needed her. Despite her efforts, the creature still had the wherewithal to focus on Saskia and approach, albeit slowly. It forced Saskia to step back, away from the line supporting her magic.

For Saskia's step back, Byanka took a step forward. She took another one, drawing ever closer to the hideous creature before them. Finally she managed to catch it's attention, drawing its gaze away from Saskia. She did not know if the distraction would help Saskia but she had to do as much as she could.

The creature's mind was overly simple, but Byanka suspected that was just the surface. And the longer she worked, the more she realized how true that was. She could feel it's pain and confusion and even anger as it's head turned to face Byanka. She was only two steps away from the creature now. Her sword remained sheathed and she extended both her hands towards the creature, in a gesture of peace. Reaching for the human beneath the monster.

Gruki Hector Kaarle Saskia Kerraelas

 

[Gruki]

The creature gasped, jerking as Kaarle's blade found its way betwixt ribs. A bony limb nudged Gruki, made her retreat a step. Whatever power had flooded her before was now gone, replaced by a queasy feeling that bade her gorge to rise and her stomach to rumble.

'Is it-' She gagged, stumbled away. The smell had returned with vengeance, leaking from the cuts and bruises she and Syr Kaarle had inflicted.

Blood stained her knuckles, speckled her brow. Did I do this? Gruki wondered, horrified by the monster's wounds, how many there were. Her boot caught something sharp, something shiny. Bending down, she retrieved her sword from the muck, wiped it clean in the crease of her elbow. Syr Kaarle held the monster transfixed, his own steel gleaming.

'Is it dead?' Gruki asked as she edged closer, her weapon held low. Poised. 'Have the others...'

Hector Kaarle Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas

 

[Hector]

Fingers sprawled and flexed into a cage of bone and flesh that held there in the will of fire, transcribed into the earth and fed with the will of life, Hector pointed his blade-wand down toward the sigil of the north, the edge of his heirloom blade traced with the the golden light of his heart's flame, and he flicked the blade forward with a turn of his wrist, and thrust it true toward Saskia.

The golden lines that spread from the locus he had drawn, traced out further. Like the wyld branches of verdant growth, the magick sprout and bloomed and reached to touch the heel of his fellow knight's stance.

Before Byanka, the creature seemed almost to writhe. Twist. A thing born from foul and wretched hate. Long past. Long left to fester, rot, and stew into the soil. A hex as old and known to the lands as They of the Chrysanthemums. Mayhap, older still.

It began to weep. Blubber. Its agony, sounding like the man it once was.

Hector's heart pounded, fierce in his chest. His breath let out, nearly caught afire as the lines of the locus burned bright with the web of maigcks.

Byanka's burden, well as Saskia's, bared down on his shoulders as he held the weave of their spells entwined.

Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas Gruki Kaarle

 

[Kaarle]

The blade barely met resistance as it sunk in, a softness of rot in every inch of flesh that became apart. Like the inside of an insect, held together and given shape by a tough exterior. Bone crunched as he twisted the blade, half just for the experimental pleasure of it, forcing a greater gap betwixt the ribs. Cartilage tore and the creature grumbled, a sound from low in the throat accompanied by a dejected clacking of the jaw as teeth struck nothing.

He withdrew his sword as a clawed limb came at him, slow enough to hurt neither himself nor the squire. Swatting it away with the flat of the blade, he retaliated by a firm heel kick in what he assumed was a knee, forcing the being to return to the ground wherein Gruki’s onslaught had previously left it. From there, it’d not rise again if he could help it.

Planting both hands on the blade, he stabbed again for good measure, driving steel first through the torso and then to the pit of the neck, yanking sideways to cut tendon. The head fell lopsided, willing him finally to just stand, listen and watch what seemed to grow still, the lone sound of a wet growl emanating ever fainter.

Like a call across a pond at night, wherein two are drifting further apart from one another, oarless. His face remained twisted with disgust, at both the stench and squelch of a settling corpse. Is it dead?

“ I don’t know. “ He responded honestly to Gruki’s question, fist yet coiled about the hilt and stare daring to but glance at the hut, spotting a shimmer through a loose hanging shutter. A golden light. And a lack of screaming or other commotion.

“ The others— Suppose they are casting a spell of some sort. “ He shrugged, taking a little step away from the heap at his feet.
What was that about a hex and— something. Suppose they could’ve gone and seen to the situation, but nothing about him suggested he had the intention to.

“ They’re knights, all three. Sounds to me like they’re managing it within, so why don't we watch their backs out here, in the meanwhile. Round the perimeter. “

Gruki Saskia Kerraelas Hector Byanka Valkas

 

[Saskia Kerraelas]

Saskia became a spider perched in a web of magic, weaving that silken thread still, even as the man turned creature turned their attentions to Byanka. She was grateful for the reprieve, and more so once Hector casted a greater web to reach her.

The Shadow Knight's magic grew, a power that seemed to fill the small interior. Saskia was washed in gold, flickering off from her frame like fiery rays of sun before it darkened like the night. The hand that reached for the hex's string curled and wrapped it taut around her wrist, giving it a good tug. Such a demand called for the creature's attention once more, but Kerraelas met it's ugly and pained stare with a might she learned and nurtured growing up at the Astenvale Monastery. What some may call stubborn, Saskia knew it to be her true determination.

Her spell was now wrapping around her hand and wrist, the string that was once silver now turned dark, thickened like a coagulation of rotted flesh. Her boots pressed firmly onto the floor, strength and might bolstered by the ley lines provided by Hector, Saskia could feel the last stubborn tugs of a deep rooted hex resist her spell. The Pursuit of Death was one many did not think Saskia would excel in, but her shadows gave her great insight. They enveloped her, cloaking her from view as they came to stand beside her, wisps reaching out to assist her in tugging the spell free and catching the hex inside her web of magicks.

It seared hot in her bare hards, and Saskia hissed at the burns and the pain shooting down her back. Quickly, she conjured shadows to swallow the hex, in the shape of a smooth and polished onyx stone the size of a pebble, something for study later.

Saskia fell to her knees the moment all her magicks ceased, her hands held palm up to show the nasty burns that were inflicted upon her flesh.

Byanka Valkas Hector Gruki Kaarle

 

[Byanka Valkas]

The three knights worked together, magic aiding magic aiding magic, and after much effort on all of their parts, it was done.

Saskia dropped to her knees, as did the man-turned monster-turned man once more. Byanka stumbled at the sudden release of the magic, moving towards Saskia. She too fell to her knees besides her fellow dusker, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"Do you need my help?" Byanka knew it was pointless to ask if she was ok, because she very cleary wasn't and Byanka knew that Saskia would know what she was referring to- Byanka could ease her pain if Saskia wanted her to. Even as the beginnings of a headache crept forth.

The monster who was no longer a monster lay twitching on the ground before the two young women. Byanka glanced over her shoulder at Hector, wondering what they should do with it now. There was still another creature outside of the shack that the others were fighting to subdue, and she didn't know how well or bad it was going.

Saskia Kerraelas Gruki Kaarle Hector

 

[Gruki]

'Some sort of spell, aye!' Gruki could feel the magicks being channelled within- could understand them, to a degree. But without being in the room, she wouldn't know for sure just what was happening until it happened, and by then it would be far too late for her to intervene. Not that she needed to.

They're knights, all three, Kaarle had reminded her, sounds to me like they're managing... Then, a suggestion. Or was it an order?

'Round the perimeter, aye!'

Squelching about in the mud, the she-orc fell into step alongside Syr Kaarle. Her weapon, broad and bloodied from the previous scrap, came to rest on her pauldron as they walked, eyes peeled for signs of further trouble.

The sounds coming from the hut dogged their steps, sending tendrils of fear crawling down her spine.

What in the seven hells is going on in there? she thought, her skull thumping with every loping stride. 'Excuse me, Syr Kaarle?' Wincing, Gruki shot a concerned glance at her knight, her eyes glazing over as she blinked, fighting back the pain. 'Um, do you know where my helmet went to? Only I seem to have misplaced it... somewhere.'

Hector Kaarle Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas

 

[Hector]

Voices came muffled to his ears. So full of the crackle of flame. So full of the rush of the wind, and the bluster of storms. A sea of shadows, against a sky of light.

Then not.

Empty.

Gone.

Only his breath sounded in his ears. His heart. Eyes blind with the golden white of Flame. A landscape of ash before him where a cabin once stood. Spirits, technicolor as they burned, bound to him by chord. Molten and raw.

A pulse of his heart.

That too was gone.

Sword shook in his hand, and fell from his grasp with a clatter. He fell to his knee and braced against the earth as he drew in hungry breaths.

A cough came from his parched throat. Sweat rained down his brow, dripped to the floor and pubbled beneath him. Whilst it hissed and steamed against the cold earth.

"Drained, in rebound," he let out.

Quick phrase, meant to communicate his status whilst in action.

Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas Gruki Kaarle

 

[Kaarle]

He kept the pace unhurried as they went, eye trained on every shadow and dark corner, the spindly thickets and shrubs that waved in the wind. Branches would snap and crackle, grass crunching underfoot, every fiber upon him laced with lingering tension. The red flare had faded out a mere moment before, giving way anew to the pale, cold darkness of the night.

Gruki was making chatter, in her signature way that left not a thought unsaid, but at least it was reliably honest. He glanced at her sidelong at the mention of her helm, expressionless.

“ You used it to bludgeon the beast, wherein you must’ve promptly lost it in the tall grass or shrubs of the yard. I couldn’t really see— “ He muttered, trailing off as his ear perked to the sound of hastened steps coming down the path. From the village, a flash of armour visible past the lilacs.

“ Could be you dented it, using so much force. Whatever came over you, just then, one needs wonder? “ He continued, slowing down his stride as a figure came to view, accelerating at the sight of them.

“ Syr Leinas, Squire Gruki. We saw the flare, what’s— “ Spoke the fellow knight, Syr Hoffren, inquisitive as their stare took in the both of them.

“ Happened upon a bit of a situation. But it is under control now. “ Kaarle affirmed, tracing the stare that went for the hut.

“ I see. But this is not whom you left with — Where are Syrs Kerraelas, Rookheart and Valkas? “

Gruki Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas Hector