Pandemonium Those Beyond

[Vand]

It occurred in a flash. A shared tug against the ground itself, like dragging an anchor. The blinding, deafening scream. Both Vand and Doggrave lost themselves for a moment in a haze of red and black and pain at the joints in the fingers.

…but then, that familiar chill; that frigid hug of Mother Eretejva. Wrapped in her arms, She of Three Voices sang Vand a lullaby by way of witch-chorus – human, beast…

…and inbetween.

A crone had arrived, howling madly, naked as a jaybird (save for some skins, not so much tanned as torn from the animal and draped, bloody, on her form). Her saggy old tits swung from her chest without shame, and she had appeared to have torn out clumps of her own hair. Her posture barely resembled anything anymore.

Still, Great Grandmother was revered by her sisters…and after beholding her power, it was obvious why.

The portal stone no longer found purchase on Eretejva – the keepers of the natural order has eroded the runic etchings from the rockface already, and the whole device began to sink as though it was being eaten by the earth. Like a birth in reverse.

The portal to the ascended realm beyond had closed to all, both to and fro, as the magic was ground out and dispersed into the planet itself.

And by the time the song has rang out its final verse-that-wasn’t-a-verse, all that remained in the circle was a patch of freshly grown grass and a small collection of bodies– the unconscious Luna Slateforge, the exhausted Doggrave, the bewildered and laughing Vand…

…and the skeletal remains of Azget of the Seventh, bungled in chains.

The portal stone to Eretejva Tundra had been prevented; the most easy mode of transport to the arctic continent, destroyed.​

Vand pushed to his feet, dusting himself off.

In has hand remained the glowing purple gem. He stared at it blankly, as if waiting for it to tell him what it actually was...

...and wondered idly about the consequences of this adventure.

 

[Luna Slateforge]

Luna's eye's snapped open. She didnt feel much better but her master called her awake. It was as if she knew she shouldn't be awake as her body felt more sluggish and pained than before she had fallen. And the footprint on her back meant someone had stepped on her. It was undoubtedly Sigirth but Luna simply mentally shrugged this off. It wouldnt have been the first time she'd been stepped on. Her book glowed with void essence as the whispers of the souls trapped within whispered in her ears until the sound of her master rose above and silenced them.
"Listen well to what transpires here." He said with a curious tone rife in his warm voice.
"These are a powerful group. And what they choose now will decide much for the future of Eretejva." Luna nodded.
Her usual apathetic expression clear on her face. Black tendrils formed like spider legs from her being, and aided her as she drug herself to her feet. The shrank back inside her as she quietly moved to the slight back of the group to observe.
The obnoxious attitude and banter ,a product of her masters possession and projection of his personality, had been wiped away as she returned to her normal, quiet, emotionless self. She said nothing as these people who all seemed to know each other quite well embraced and sang the final notes of their spells her eyes fell on Vand clutching a purple stone. Her mind wandering to the consequences of their quest as well. Death always begat more death, and while they had destroyed the portal stone...That world...That dimension was still very much alive, and it's inhabitants very much still living. They had come once. They would come again. Having no portal stone here didnt solve the problem. Only delayed the inevitable. If they did come back, and common sense told her they would. It would only be a matter of time before they overwhelmed any around the next portal stone and made their move from there. She slowly approached Vand her footfalls barely making any noise as she seemed to glide over the snow.

"Thank you for making sure that portal was open. I owe many of you much. Even the one who decided me a stepping stool."
She paused for a moment waiting for a chuckle.
It was meant to be a joke but her soft flat tone did nothing to convey this and simply seemed to be a statement. She sighed as she continued.
"I must also thank you for the portal stone's destruction. I have no doubts it was not meant for my benefit, but I would be remiss if I did not thank you all the same. The shrine of my sisters and I has been shielded by this lands harsh solitude. Easier access leads to the chances of more prying eyes, and that would not be welcome."
She then bowed slightly clasping her hands. "If you should ever need the aid of my master... my sister's and I will offer it gladly." She said handing him a small piece of paper with a symbol written in what was clearly blood.
"Should you ever need anything...A drop of your blood on the paper will activate and lead you."
She didnt expect much in the form of a response from him, but she still asked regardless. "What now."

 

[Vand]

Luna’s spider-leg special effect drew attention like a fart in a crowded elevator. At the completion of the act, there should have been no doubt in her mind that she had just fucked up.

The witches conversations would diminish, transitioning instead to the unspoken language of an ad-hoc ambush. They leered, younger witches tittered, others scoffed at the robed “prostitute” who offered her body to powers of patriarchy some realm higher, lower, a little to the left. More importantly, however, where the ones who said nothing at all – their eyes, instead, shifting to the feral crone who sniffed at the air, the ground.

It was unusual that Luna Slateforge thought she could bring this sorcery around the Nordenfiir. Catastrophically ignorant to bring it about the witches.

Luna entered the periphery of Vand’s attention when she began speaking, but only really drew notice following his trademark cough, the inevitable sharp inhale, and the catching of her scent; his eyes widened first, then narrowed cruelly.

He said nothing to her as she made her pitch, originally musing to slash her wrists with his mounted claws when she reached to hand him the paper. Something clearly occurred elsewhere, however, as the disturbance could have been read on his face. With a sleight-of-hand, he retrieved her parchment, but with no less ire for her presence. “What now?,” asked Luna Slateforge.

“I have nothing for you,” spoken harshly by the Vand, the context clearly indicated that what he meant by it was more in line with “I will not protect you, and may even assist, when these women start killing you” rather than “I have no idea.”

Perhaps it was a poor choice to reveal that there existed a whole enclave of her cult.

“If you don’t leave now, we’re going to make you dead.”

The hag froze in place, apparently having caught the scent of something.

A raucous laugh was heard midst the crowd.

 

[Luna Slateforge]

She seemed to notice the mood shift and cursed her foolishness.
Even after her help against the red misted terror it was stupid to think of Vand's help as a gesture of good will. She had simply been at the right place with the right people. If she had been alone she had no doubt she would still be waist deep in demons, and more trapped than ever considering the portal stone was closed.
"Foolish girl." the whispers hissed in her ear.
She shrugged with a sigh looking into Vand's unfeeling expression offering nothing to her.
"You would be doing me a service. It is not me who wants my life to continue Vand. "
She said with a soft chuckle. Her Apathetic expression unchanged in the face of his implied threat.
"But were it so easy to end..I would have died long ago."
She continued in the same soft voice devoid of well...anything. It was as if a corpse could talk, but she was very much alive.
A thin black tendril as thin as a spider silk stayed attached to the note and was yanked from his person as she tugged at it returning to her hand. Her book flashed a sickening black as she slowly turned to the group of witches. Her eyes glowed the same purple as before.
" When you bitches decide to dig the dirt and snow from your cunts and come knocking.....I'll be waiting."
She spat with a snarl. Her eyes glowing purple for a moment longer as they shifted back to yellow.
"My apologies for my master. I will take my leave. Thank you for your mercy."
She said softly as she turned to leave. Though soft spoken she did not seem frightened by the wordless stares of the others as they muttered and shifted their gaze to the hag.
Now that they were out of the red misted realm her book glowed with a dark purple energy that seemed to eat at the very air around it with an endless hunger. She didnt even turn to look back as the laughter was heard in the crowd when she was only a few yards away. She simply kept walking.

 

[Vand]

She knew his name. Odd, for he never gave it.

Though it had been months, Vand was still becoming accustomed to his newfound celebrity.

His countenance, perhaps, had become a legend. Once, he would have grinned smugly to the fleeting thought. These days, he found it just made him ponder this curious world a bit harder.

The reality of the situation bade Luna not long to make her grandstanding goodbye. No spotlights, no audience. She was less a person than a thing -- a sick animal to be put down; just one more of the day's many. Vand cast her parchment to the air like so much garbage and let her steal it back or whatever.

She cursed, or her puppeteer did, but the heavy presence of straight-up misandrists could not find the foulness in a word for vagina. The patriarchal slant to her skyfather's insult only confirmed what everyone already knew:

The Nordenfiir, the witches of Eretejva, had little use for the petty sorceries of the slaves to Elbion gods.

And so, unbeknownst to one another, it was quietly decided by Vand and others that Luna and her blight were to be erased from the tundra.

But for now, there were more important matters.

Once more he looked to the Heart of Rath. It glowed ominously, but offered nothing.

Vand turned to the skeleton in the snow; the bones malformed, but, ultimately...disappointingly ordinary.

The rabble-rouser scratched his head, completely at a loss.

[Exit Eretejva]

 

[Luna Slateforge]

" They will come for you. For me." Her master whispered as she moved through the woods.
"Others have come. Others have fallen. I am still here. Let them come." Luna replied with a shrug.
"I dont think you grasp the gravity of what you have just placed us in the path of stupid girl." Her master spat scathingly.
" I do. In fact I will most likely die very soon. And you with me." She said with another shrug and the ghost of a smile.

"Ah you smile at the thought of finally meeting the grave I see eh my child?" Her master whispered back "You seem to be laboring under a delusion that I really feel I must clear up. Do you really think they're going stop at you? That they'll kill you, Destroy my shrine, of which I have more, and move on. That that girl you care for, That Syn, Eleanor, Elise...That all my children will not be tortured and torn to pieces as well?" He said chuckling as Luna stopped dead.
"I must say thinking you would be the only target is quite egotistical, or selfish....Maybe both?" His chuckle deepened as she felt his hand grace her face.

"Return to Maywynn with your plight. My Void Keeper should be summoned to aid you while the witches are occupied. She will help...If she doesnt kill you. You know for someone who is as short on emotions as you are you left her in quite the rage child." He finished and she felt his presence leave.
She looked over her shoulder as she saw the group. She could feel their malice even past the tree line. She sighed and pulled up her hood before she walked back to her shrine, Being sure to loop and take long ways. Even if they could follow her by scent.

[EXIT]