Shadow Slayers

"Watch out!" Manasa called out. She abandoned her position and rushed to the aid of the weaponsmith. As she got into range she drew her fan, whipping it opening and spreading a spray of venom at the two hounds surrounding her ally. The fearen howled and staggered back as the poison burned at their eyes, the other symptoms slowly taking effect as well.

Manasa took this opportunity to preform an enchantment dance on her fan. Ice crystals appeared on the surface of the fan and it began to give of an aura of sheer coldness, almost as if it was producing its own aurora. Manasa lunged at the Fearen with the frost imbued fan, making quick work of them as the concealed, quill like blades sliced her enemies open, digging the poison and ice further into their hide.

As she was preoccupied with the hound fearen, Manasa let a small, insect like fearen crawl right under her feat and toward Nicolas. It was a tick, concerned with one thing; getting to the corpse.

     Gaynor nodded, pleased with the fact the mother gained her courage back quickly enough to take action, before she wandered out of sight, she told her she would stay put and continue fighting the beasts at hand- but to call if she needed assistance. After the exchange, she closed her eyes for a moment as if to pray for the safety of the mother and child, then returned her gaze to the enemy. 

     By this time, unfortunately, more of said enemies gathered in her area-- all of which were winged fearen. After taking down as many bulks as she could prior to this moment, she felt her exhaustion catching up to her, both in physical strength and in ability. She couldn't take on all of the fearen that approached at once, it was both unreasonable and stupid at this point.....but with this many coming close at all angles, there wasn't much she could do aside from building the rest of her energy into one final attack. She thought briefly of how to approach the situation, but she was taking too much time and a handful of the winged monsters summoned ice spikes and shot them at her. She managed to dodge most of them, but one managed to lodge itself into her arm.

     Instinctively, Gaynor let out a grunted scream in pain. Through her pain, her brows forward in determination. "Very well, you damned beasts." She managed to speak, "Time to die!"

     Through the pain, Gaynor now had enough adrenaline to create the lethal attack she intended to use. She fired up her hands and began radiating enough heat to melt the ice in her arm. She knelt down to her knee, holding both of her arms out to the side, She took a deep breath, "Here we go!"

A huge shield of fire formed around her, incinerating the winged fearen that gathered around her. The fire blazed on, engulfing the mage with sphere of fire. The sphere burned for a few seconds, lighting up the battle ground with an intense light.

By the time the fire died, Gaynor appeared again, but now fallen to her side, unable to move.   

Fallen hadn't listened to Celty's orders to regroup at the inn without her. She had run off to find her child, and with the small gap between the fearen attacks, Fallen had transmuted his standard bow into a short one. With this, he would be able to fire off faster rounds, though the range would be shorter and the attack not quite as powerful. He had to regroup with the others soon. He could only use transmutation so many times before he'd be unable to. The man that took him in after the carnage of his village seemed to be able to use transmutation magic for days, and cast it in an instant on on any thing, but Fallen was not at that level of strength yet. He thought it would be best to save his biggest attack for a better time, but for now, he had other tricks up his sleeve. Fortunately for him, he had yet to sustain any serious injuries.

Celty had returned with her child by the time he finished. W-what a relief, Fallen had thought, but that relief was short lived when



Fallen witnesses this and ran to Gaynor's side. Looking over her, he had diagnosed that she had spent too much energy using magic and running around. Fallen didn't know what to do. The inn was still a ways away, and the fearen aren't going to stop attacking any time soon. He put away his bow and helped Gaynor up, putting her arm over his shoulder and his arm around her waist. She had taken care of the immediate threat of the fearen, so the path was sort of clear. Fallen marched towards the inn


The Spore fearen was ignited, releasing tiny particles that slowly drifted to the ground. Fallen squinted his eyes. He hadn't seen that type of fearen, but the process was... familiar...

Suddenly, the particles hit the ground and started growing extremely fast. Mimisko was going to be surrounded by Spore fearen. If nothing was done, she would be torn to shreds!

Kama quickly made it to the inn where Alroth, Ooro, and Gremlon were but he turned over and noticed a lot of the guild wasn't able to make it. Kama clenched his fist in frustration seeing how much his guild was struggling and said "Damn it! I'm not leaving my guild behind!"
Strategically it would've been smarter for Kama to wait in front of the inn, but he let his emotions get to him as he rushed over to Mimisko. A large group of spore fearen began rising up from the ground to attack her as Kama was still far from where she was. Kama didn't have enough time to block the attack with his swords. As a result he got himself badly injured as he stood in the way of Mimisko, taking hits from tons of spore fearens as he was bleeding from head to toe

"Fallen get her to the inn quickly! I'll take care of these guys! I'm not letting another one of my guild members die! I was too weak to save Urzul and I was too weak to protect Rylan, BUT I WON'T LET THIS GUILD DOWN ANY MORE! I WILL SHED AS MUCH BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS AS IT TAKES TO SAVE THIS GUILD! I SWEAR ON MY GRAVE THAT I WON'T LET ANYONE ELSE DIE!" Kama cried as he struggled to push away the spore fearens as they bit his head, his left leg and his right arm. ((Kama's not dead btw))

"Enoch! Hey! Enoch, wake up man!" Daryn took hold of his shoulders and shook him a bit. "Don't pass out on me now!" Slapping his face lightly, she attempted to wake him as she knew more fearen were on the way. He hadn't quite snapped out if it yet. Weak apologies fell from his mouth in a distressing frenzy. She somehow knew they weren't directed at her. They sounded far too desperate and heartbreaking.

Anxiety began to creep up on Daryn. Her flight instincts were blaring in her mind, as they had been throughout the entire battle. Somehow the assurance of Enoch's help had muffled them, but there was nothing stopping them now. Her own voice became weak.

"Come on, Enoch... wake up...!" She could see the hoard of fearen behind her more clearly than ever. They were so close to the inn, but so far from safety. Despite her usual attitude, her eyes began to tear up. She desperately tried to blink the salty beads away.

From the beginning, she had a nagging feeling of helplessness. Her cowardice had always been there, sitting on its throne, ruling over all else. She couldn't fight without his help. She was so weak. Such a child. She was just like her father.

A bloodthirsty roar snapped her out of her own stupor. The fear that had been consuming her transformed into an adrenaline rush. Her previous exhaustion could no longer be felt as she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"I AM NOT LEAVING YOU HERE, YOU JERK!"



As quickly as she could, not noting whether her shouts had woken him up or not, she slung Enoch's limp left arm over her shoulder and ran towards the inn with all the strength she could muster. It was about 10 yards away, but she was determined to overcome the distance, albeit with the hindrance of an extra body. She didn't know when he'd be snapping out of it, whether during the run or later, but she needed to get him to a place where she was not the only one protecting him.

((Buckle up, this is a long one...))

As Ooro ran towards the inn, the fearen threw its black magic towards Rylan. Rylan immediately moved to dodge the first, but was not quick
enough to dodge the second. It burned his left arm and caused him to slide back. As much as it burned, there were
no significant wounds.

It's a decoy...

Rylan realized this one moment too late, as the fearen was already upon him, and slashed into his back, causing
him to double over in pain. Rylan's eyes were wide as he began to breathe more sporadically. His vision of the
ground quickly changed to complete and utter darkness.

"What is this!? Where am I!?"

His voice echoed through the void, but there was no answer. Rylan looked around, when he noticed a figure, standing
alone in the darkness. A naked man, covered in strange, cryptic symbols.

"No....No, this can't be right.."



Rylan was staring at himself, as if from someone else's eyes. This Rylan appeared the same, except for his face.
His face was warped into a horrifying exaggeration of himself. His eyes were wide, nearly bulging out of his
head, completely and utterly black. And his smile.... His smile was from ear to ear, quite literally, with his
teeth replaced with jagged, dagger-like teeth.

Rylan began to hyperventilate. He shouted at the top of his lungs "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING HERE!?!?"

The demonic Rylan cocked it's head to the side, and began to open its mouth. A light so bright, it would blind any
man who came withing miles of it. It completely engulfed Rylan and everything was black once again, as Rylan shut
his eyes to shield them from this blistering light.

When he opened them again, he was staring at a stone ceiling. He tried to get up, but found himself strapped to a
table, his body stripped of any clothing, with several masked figures standing around him.

"Oh, how we've been waiting for this day, Father Rylan." One of the cloaked figures uttered in a scratchy voice.
"Grab the chalices! It is time for 'The Enlightenment' to begin"

No.....NO....THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!! NOT AGAIN!!

Rylan tried to scream, but it was no use. His voice would not leave his throat, and instead he remained silent.

"First, we begin with the blood of Yakoshi, the holy god of will. May He guide your path."

They poured the chalice of what felt like boiling oil onto Rylan's left arm. Rylan let out a deafening scream.
It felt as though his arm had been dipped in magma, the skin blistering and bubbling. Symbols began forming on
Rylan's forearm. Rylan continued to scream, the pain completely consuming his being. But it was far from over.

"Next, the blood of Archex, the neutral god of space and time. May His blood be a constant reminder of your
role in the universe, and that time for you to resolve this crisis is limited."

Another chalice was poured onto Rylan's right arm. As it came in contact, he could feel the skin rippling, twisting
and warping, as though someone were pulling the skin completely off of his arm and pouring vinegar and salt
directly into the muscle. And thus, more symbols formed onto Rylan's forearm

"And finally, the blood of Sandor, the evil god of prophecy. May His blood remind you of the sins and evil within
your heart, that shackle you, keeping your mortal soul from ascending into enlightenment, until His prophecy is
realized."

And with that, they took the final chalice and poured it directly onto Rylan's chest, covering him completely in
a liquid as black as tar. Rylan's scream erupted from him so loudly, it echoed throughout the chambers, causing
the cloaked figures to cover their ears. The 'blood' made it feel like something was inside him, scratching,
clawing, biting, and tearing away at his insides, as if a thousand fearen were locked within his rib cage, trying
everything they could to break free. Symbols formed completely around Rylan's torso. The end was near, but the
final part of this ritual would surely be the worst.

A long, metal rod was brought to the assumed leader. This man dipped the sharpened rod into each chalice,
covering it in the 'blood of each god.' He got on top of the table and was now standing directly above Rylan,
rod aimed towards Rylan's heart.

"And now, to bind you to the fate of the Gods. May their plans live through you."

Rylan was incomprehensible. The shouts and pleas and curses that escaped from his mouth all blended together to
form gibberish. In this moment, Rylan was reliving pure terror, the likes he hadn't felt in two years, on the
very day the fearen appeared. The figure standing over Rylan raised the spear above his head and jammed it straight
into Rylan's heart, and began twisting and turning it to ensure it was without-a-doubt inside Rylan's heart.

Rylan could no longer scream. The pain was so great, he was sure he'd have fainted by now, but he could not shut
his eyes, nor could he look away from the blade buried deep in his chest. He could only watch in absolute horror
as the rod began to glow different arrays of color, as his heart was bombarded with pain no mortal man should ever
have to endure. All the while the figures around him chanting in a language inconceivable to any others, as it had
been lost and forgotten centuries before,

"For the good of the world, your pain serves as a beacon. For the good of the world, your pain serves as a beacon."