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Post by qhostqrowls on Apr 12, 2024 20:52:23 GMT -6
Rika held very still as the humans fussed over her, and bumped her head against Hudsons hand when he drew away.
"Thank you."
She sniffed the bandage curiously, and turned her attention back to the pool. The sudden wave of dizziness was as familiar as it was unwelcome, and she hunkered close to the floor as the cave fell away and a void opened beneath them.
She was woefully out of her depth, but the snarl building in her throat died as Merit spoke. The woman was the expert on these kind of things, and she didn't sound worried.
She knew what she wanted, and it wasn't to live in a dream. It was to carry out this mission. Protect Hudson and Nasr. Kill the magician if she came across him again. There was no doubt in her mind - she wasn't going to lose the life she'd made for an illusion.
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Post by beastly on Apr 12, 2024 21:28:13 GMT -6
His baby.
No.
Vincent felt his hackles raise, and anger came with it. The man's previously solemn expression shifted into something much darker. All the frustration and sorrow he was repressing directed itself at the thing that was the cause of this. Even as the room changed and the small animal part of his brain was frightened by the void, by the vortex. The audacity of this thing. The audacity of it to try and take him from his Malakhi and to make his heart feel like it was in pieces!
God. He just wanted to do what they came here to do, get the agent and expert out alive, and go home to Malakhi and be held.
"I want to finish this," Vincent growled at the thing, "I want to do my job, go home and sleep. You. Can't. Tempt. Me."
He looked at Dr. Nasr, and gestured towards the vortex.
"What now?"
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Post by jarahamee on Apr 13, 2024 1:24:46 GMT -6
Merit breathed a sigh of relief as the other two answered.
As if in response, the pressure and buzzing around their ears, the dizziness that had settled on their bodies seemed to dissipate, as if satisfied by their replies. Once again, they were alone in the void, stretching out into infinity in every direction around them. In the center sat its well, filled with the swirling vortex of light and color, undulating like the inner workings of a great serpent.
She stared down into the pool of light, thinking, and then, tentatively stepped into it. Her boots were awash with color, the distortion from the illumination below casting shadows and highlights over her face and body, like standing on top of active fireworks. She then gestured for the other two to follow, the outline of her body distorted by the light that coursed through her.
As Rika and Vincent followed suit, they felt the strange crackle of energy, like a pulse of electricity against their flesh. The light which was neither hot nor cold, but a different sensation entirely, permeating their bodies, and changing the very fabric of their beings. A thousand lives, a thousand possible futures, some better and some worse than the one they existed within. And power. So much power. They could feel their bodies crackle with the raw energy, the borrowed energy of whatever being they had made contact with.
The three descended down what they had assumed was a vertical drop, though it quickly became apparent that it was no such thing, but rather a non-linear expression of time and space. They walked down a space they should have fallen, feeling the passage of time in both directions. A thousand thoughts and feelings. A million open paths they could take.
But only one way was the right one.
As they reached the end of the light tunnel, they entered another perfectly ordinary-looking chamber. A single ray of light, falling from an unknown source, was cast upon the rippling surface of what could only be the Idol.
It was ugly beyond belief, a squat, vaguely humanoid figure the size of a man’s head, made of clear green stone, with the appearance of something wriggling around within it as the light changed. All of them recognized that whatever this was, it was the source of all the distortion, all the hallucinations they had felt.
ARE YOU BRAVE ENOUGH TO TAKE ME?
It seemed to ask all of them, staring with its many bulbous eyes.
Merit paused, taking off her jacket, and walked over to the idol, almost reverent. Hideous and wicked as it was, it was still an alien artifact, and a unique thing of beauty to her. Her breath caught as it addressed them.
I CAN SHOW YOU WHATEVER YOU WANT
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Post by qhostqrowls on Apr 13, 2024 23:28:12 GMT -6
Rika shook herself when they stepped into the chamber, shaking her paws to rid herself of the strange prickling energy. The millions of thoughts and emotions from a million different lives.
She instinctively drew her lips back over her teeth at the sight of the idol, narrowing her eyes. Foul little thing. When it spoke into their minds she flattened her ears, growling softly to herself. Show. That was all it could do, and apparently only with their permission.
"I will take it if you are afraid," She told Merit, but she could see the reverence in the woman's eyes. She was the expert, and apparently enamored by the disgusting thing. "We need to leave this place."
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Post by beastly on Apr 14, 2024 22:01:28 GMT -6
Vincent squared his shoulders as he made his way into- through- within? Onward. Onward was the only way to go, the only way out. He brute forced his way through, setting his jaw as things flickered with the energy around them. His brain couldn't fully understand what was happening, but it didn't need to. It was easier if he didn't, frankly.
It felt like a scene out of a movie, entering the chamber, seeing the beam of light that centered on a truly ugly little thing. There, the thing that caused them all the pain. The thing the mage was likely after. This was what they had come for. The scarred man took a breath in, then let it out. It struck him as viscerally wrong. Alien. He tried not to feel that way about supers nowadays, but this thing... Was different.
"Right."
Vincent didn't want what that thing was offering. Dr.Nasr wouldn't accept, would she? It hadn't reached out to her earlier.
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Post by jarahamee on Apr 15, 2024 1:19:03 GMT -6
Dr. Nasr shook her head, eyes transfixed upon the idol. She approached slowly, hands outstretched, her jacket clasped between them. It was both her shield, and the idol’s protection.
She didn’t need Rika to touch it. She was made for this.
As she neared the ominous piece of jade-like stone, she felt its power rippling through her body, like sound through an incredibly powerful speaker. A pulse that beat between her, her God, and this thing. A fragment, a piece of a star that had fallen from the heavens, making its way a million miles and across space and time, to them here.
It stared into her eyes, and somehow, she knew it could do so much more than just offer her empty glimpses into other lives. She could live her ideal existence, and leave this body behind. A world where she had stayed married. A world where she hadn’t been such a fool and was able to take back everything she had ever said. She swallowed her desire, and broke their mutual stare, tossing her jacket over the Idol, before wrapping her arms around the bundle.
Almost immediately, the strange void-space, awash with alien color vanished before their eyes, like a light had been turned off. Suddenly, all of them stood exactly where they had been moments before, staring into the cave pool together.
The Idol was heavy in Merit’s arms, and the other two could feel the air flutter with the power of its pulse.
They’re coming
It warned.
There were four corridors leading out of the chamber. They needed only to choose one of them to move forward. Rika, Vincent and Merit had yet to hear any telltale sounds of boot-steps, but they knew that their pursuers weren’t far behind.
Merit looked at the others. Her compass, and her arms, were fairly useless now that they had found their destination. Now they just needed to get out of here.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Apr 17, 2024 1:17:01 GMT -6
Rika raised her head, nostrils flaring as she scented the air. They couldn’t go back the way they’d come.
She’d always navigated the cave systems of her homeland through scent - stale air would lead them deeper, something with airflow would lead to the surface. Her whiskers twitched as she padded forward, looking between the tunnels.
Of the four, the North tunnel smelt the most like the outside world.
“This way.” She called back to the others, side-eyeing the idol clutched in the woman’s arms. “Dr. Nasr, please stay between us.”
She would bring up the rear of the group, trusting Hudson and his good aim to protect from the front.
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Post by beastly on Apr 18, 2024 15:44:43 GMT -6
Vincent frowned at the bundle in Dr. Nasr's hands, looking around them as he tried to determine the best path out. He was thankful that Agent Ashrun seemed to know where they were going. He quickly took his place in the front, readying his weapon again to lead the way. Vincent made his peace with having to shoot anyone that got in their way and started walking, taking direction from Agent Ashrun.
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Post by jarahamee on Apr 19, 2024 17:08:36 GMT -6
Vincent dashed ahead, moving through the vaulted walls of the cave system within this old lava tube, leading them down and through the darkness. As he moved, his boots shattered the delicate sodastraw formations in this virgin cave, his hands brushing aside thousands of years of growth.
While much of the path was open enough for the three of them to move freely, other areas were narrow and required the three of them to climb, wriggle and press their way through narrow spaces to make it to their goal. The walls were slick with moisture, giving the growths a translucent quality that made it seem even more ethereal.
Finally, they reached a tight junction, narrow enough that while Dr. Nasr and Agent Ashrun would fit, Vincent would not.
“…Hey…would you…let me… put something on you to make it easier to get you through?” Asked Dr. Nasr, holding her bundle protectively. While she was not injured like Ashrun, she seemed the least fit of the three of them, and was panting as if out of breath after squeezing through the narrow canal of the cave’s passage.
"Mmhm," Vincent nodded.
She paused, putting down the bundle briefly, after giving it a quick glance. Then she touched the amulet on her neck, muttering, her hands passing over his body, and soon, his clothes were coated with a fine layer of slick, slimy material. Probably not what he wanted to experience, but it would help them.
Dr. Nasr then seized his shoulders, and gave him a hard pull forward, and this time, he moved, but it was clear the archeologist would need some help getting him all the way through.
Behind them, on the far side of their current problem, Rika could smell the familiar scent of the entrance chamber, and another sound. The sound of boots crunching over rubble. Distant at least, but still there.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Apr 19, 2024 20:52:00 GMT -6
Rika squeezed through the narrow passageways with her ears laying flat against her skull and whiskers slicked back. The rough rock scraped against her bandaged side, and she panted heavily, watching as Nasr struggled to pull Hudson through.
"Let me try."
The creature switched places with Merit, staring up at the broad shouldered man.
"Hm. Turn sideways and take a deep breath in."
Regardless of if he was able to move, she grabbed his belt with her teeth and braced her broad paws against the floor, muscles bunching, and pulled as hard as she could, again and again until he finally slid free.
"Sorry, Hudson." She said, and bumped her head against his hand in apology.
She took the lead this time, and paused as the distant sound of footfall echoed down the passageway.
"Men ahead." She murmured over her shoulder, and padded onwards.
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Post by beastly on Apr 19, 2024 21:43:10 GMT -6
"I'm sorry."
Vincent was unhappily wedged in the old lava tube, covered in slime. Dr. Nasr's efforts moved him forward, but his own attempts to wiggle fell flat. Distantly, his mind brought up cases of men that had gone spelunking and gotten stuck. Never to return, swallowed by the earth. The very idea of it roused his mild claustrophobia, and he cursed the pizza he and the children had made earlier in the week.
Vincent grunted an acknowledgment at Rika, and followed her advice, trying to suck in a breath and turn. It shifted him, and he squirmed and struggled, but made no progress. He felt something grab his belt and pull. She pulled and pulled, and Vincent grew worried, anxiety piercing the layer of deadly serious determination he'd blanketed himself in. With a violent lunge, he managed to pull himself free with Rika's aid, his hip making an audible popping sound as something moved in a way it shouldn't. It hurt like hell, but the big man was finally free. If not for the threat of being joined, he would've thanked the agent and expert more than once.
Refusing to acknowledge he was hurt in any way other than a pained grimace, Vincent drew himself up and retrieved his gun, following Rika.
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Post by jarahamee on Apr 21, 2024 0:46:13 GMT -6
Merit help Vincent to his feet, noting the obvious grimace that crossed his face, and the more exaggerated limp that followed when he followed her. Obviously not severely injured, but definitely hurt.
“Are you ok?” Dr. Nasr asked, her voice a whisper.
She reached back and grasped Vincent’s hand, leading him forward in the darkness, following the sleek shape of Rika moving down the lava tube. Under her right arm, she cradled the idol. Each step, no matter how gentle, loudly crunched the little soda straw formations on the floor around them. Merit winced internally, but did not comment. It couldn’t be helped.
As Rika led the way down the tube, the sounds of footsteps came louder and louder, until finally, Rika peered out of an opening into a larger chamber, nearing stepping off into the darkness in the process. They were in the entry chamber, at least fifteen feet up. It would take some very careful effort to descend without injury.
Caverns branched off in every direction, pillar-like stalactites stretched from floor to ceiling against the walls. Rubble and debris were scattered around. Water dropped onto Rika’s forehead from above.
In the center of the room was the source of the footsteps. The kneeling soldier was no longer kneeling. Instead, he paced back and forth aimlessly across the middle of the cave’s floor, head tilted downward, as if unseeing.
Merit frowned, and looked down at the idol, as if it could answer her, before looking at the other two, and then staring back at the entrance (their exit).
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Post by qhostqrowls on Apr 23, 2024 6:19:11 GMT -6
Rika cast a concerned look back at Vincent, eyeing his limp. Their nurse was injured. She hadn't done very well at all on this mission.
"We can rest if you need." She murmured, eyes gleaming in the dark. The dim lighting made her alien form seem all the more monstrous, but the concern in her voice was genuine.
She settled into a hunters crouch as the passage opened up, watching the solider pace back and forth. Her tail twitched as water dripped down her muzzle, pupils dilating as she followed his movements. They'd taken his rifle but all he needed to do was shout, and the magician and his soldiers would know where they were.
She was half-tempted to just shift back and shoot him. Easy, but loud. And he didn't need to die. It wasn't his fault he'd stumbled across this cursed place.
She cast another worried look over her shoulder. The stupid heavy bulky idol and Vincent's injury made an already treacherous descent even more difficult. If only humans had scruffs, it would make everything so much easier and she could just carry them down.
"Do you think you can climb down? I'll deal with the soldier." She whispered. "You can leave the Idol - I can climb back up to get it."
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Post by beastly on Apr 23, 2024 22:41:53 GMT -6
"Fine. No rest."
Vincent grunted with a shake of his head, but he didn't fight Dr. Nasr when she took his hand. He'd get himself looked at once they were out. For now, he was too stubborn to slow their progress. He was supposed to be keeping them healthy, not be getting hurt himself. He'd had worse, though. He'd been hurt far worse. He just needed to keep going, and he could do that.
Was that idol using the man as a puppet? That was likely it.
When they found the source of the footsteps, Vincent's mind jumped to shooting the poor man too. The man looked to still be in some kind of trance, his head down...But he didn't deserve that. He'd been with the mage, but he didn't deserve to die if they didn't have to kill him. They shouldn't shed any blood here that they didn't need to.
The former hunter frowned at the floor of the cave, and grit his teeth. It would be difficult with his bad hip to climb down, but he would do it. He had to, it was simple as that.
"Right."
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Post by jarahamee on Apr 24, 2024 1:33:18 GMT -6
Rika dropped to the ground, making her way across the entry chamber. The dark cave was illuminated only by its singular shaft of light falling from a hole to the ceiling, directly onto the small pile of rubble where the soldier had been praying. The vaulted, cathedral-like room was silent besides the soft crunch of the soldier’s footsteps as he wandered blindly back and forth, like a worm seeking soil.
He made no attempt to acknowledge Rika as she approached him, though up close, his skin was pale, covered in a thin layer of dust, like ash, and his dry eyes were red and sunken, staring but unseeing. As Rika leapt towards him, he moved unnaturally, twisting upon himself with a soft popping and cracking. While not aggressive, it was certainly an intentional movement away from her.
The possessed soldier paused, staring back at her mutely with his blind gaze. His ashen face was emotionless as he stood unnaturally, like a puppet pulled up by its strings.
Then, as if he heard a distant sound, his head snapped to one side, towards the way Rika, Merit and Vincent had entered the heart of the cave, what felt like an eternity ago.
More bootsteps, these more purposeful, distant.
Vincent dropped to the cave’s floor, slowly and painfully, but successfully. Merit followed after gathering courage before making her way over the side. As she eased herself down, her hand slipped, sending her falling down the side of the cave’s wall. Her body and a loud cascade of rubble waterfall-ed over as her boots and hands broke the small formations.
Merit reached out and grasped Vincent’s arm, which was all that prevented her from making direct contact between her face and the ground.
She winced as her foot twisted sideways in its boot, landing heavily on the sharp, uneven cave floor.
“… The idol is still up there…”
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