[6:50 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Amaterasu - Tesamaaru Castle Basement
Sula brought Shimi into a loop over the top of the pink-haired manakete, shielding her from the incoming Faceless's fist with his own body.
"nanyo..."
The girl transformed, and their combined barrage downed the brutish beast. Then a stream of arcane fire struck him from the side.
"...Nanyo..."
They blasted that one, too. From out of the roiling miasma left in its wake, a vulpine demon tore into Shimi with its claws. He knocked it away with his Ox and sent Shimi darting through the attackers toward the princess.
"Nanyo..!"
The familiar scent of death overtook him once more. As he watched Ariana take a grevious injury from a mage, while Luna tried to hold off even more foes, Sula was overcome with a slithering darkness, and something snapped within him.
"Nanyo!!!"
Directing the poison itself with his shout, Sula pointed his scroll at the demons' apparent commander, molding the purple mist into the shape of a great Ox. It charged madly the swordsman, rotting away the leader's very form with the same dark power that saturated the cavern.
Sula coughed up a bit of blood, and felt his senses start to leave him. Vivi-e, Leo-e, Drew-i....they'd all probably killed by now, and it seemed he was soon to follow. But if Sula was truly destined to die here...
he would die doing his duty.
So when the tailed demon lept off the ledge, changing its shape to that of a monstrous fox, and tackled Sula off of his mount...the Dwabi did not even flinch when its claws tore into him.(edited)
[7:15 PM] Kwakadoooooo: He shoved the beast off of him, and it drifted out of sight as they fell. So did the battle above, as he fell further and further from the lights of the floor above...from the flashes and fires and fighting. All he could see now, was the dusky violet mist that smothered him, growing thicker and thicker the deeper he fell, starting to resemble a fell fire...
[7:23 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Then Sula's sight itself seemed to twist into impossible patterns. Darkness swallowed every sound, every thought.
The only thing that got through to him was the shrill cry of Shimi, as she descended desperately from the fight to reach her partner. Even the sounds of her falcon wings flapping were drowned out by the pitch-black passion of her screaming whinny, ringing through the endless cavern like a war whistle. It was a shriek of love and rage, of stubborn terror, of a grief spanning generations.
It was the last thing Sula could recall, before he blacked out completely.
[7:24 PM] Kwakadoooooo: ==============================
[7:24 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Angrim - Morning of Day 2
[7:36 PM] Kwakadoooooo: The frenzied whinny of a furious falicorn rings through the chilly halls of the mountaintop pagoda.
Within one of its many chambers, a young girl in a white hood is dancing with closed eyes. She stands at around four and a half feet tall, twirling a humble wooden rod as she takes her flowing, concentrated steps. It's a ritual - one she has practiced for months upon months - that draws a soft, sparkling green mist from her festal. It floats down to the bed beneath her, and onto the man who is tied down onto it.
[7:39 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Apart from the woven ropes holding him in place, an intricate layer of bandages, wrappings, and calligraphed paper charms cover the man's dark skin completely. In particular, the man's head is completely shrouded by the coverings, showing none of his face at all. As the mist makes contact with the talismans, some of the runes painted on them give off a faint glow, as the girl's spell flows into the man's body.
[7:42 PM] Kwakadoooooo: But then the fell neigh from outside cuts into the room, startling the girl. Her feet fall to the floor and her eyes fly open...but nothing is there when she looks back to the doorway. The festal's glow fades along with its user's focus. After a few tense moments, the girl sighs in embarrassment, shaking her head to herself.
[7:55 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Then she sees him stirring. Faint movements - barely visible, even this close up - but it was more than she'd seen from him all night. With a surprised smile, she calls out at once.
"Oh, good morning!"
The stirring stops. Then picks up once more, just a little faster. A little smaller.
"Can you hear me? ...oh, you probably can't speak right now, can you, um..." The little healer nibbles hesitantly on the tip of her thumb. "...I mean! Welcome back to the Shugendo Mountain Monastery." She gives a small, disciplined smile, even though no one can actually see her greeting. "My name is Min...I'm still new here, but Naomi said you've visited once before."
Relaxing a little more, the girl's festal comes down to her side.
"You're actually the first guest I've healed here, so, I hope you're feeling better, sir." She winces empathetically to him. He had looked dreadful when that winged horse had brought him to the monastery. His face was covered in horrible burns, and he kept twitching, and making strange sounds.
[8:05 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "Naomi says..you got hit with some bad magic, sir. Like a really big curse, um...I don't really know about that stuff." Min kneels down beside the raised bed, having faith that the man was hearing at least some of this. She recalls, as best she can, the names he'd muttered through the night, early on in her ritual.
"But I'm sure that..Veeviei and Sheemiei are going to be fine, wherever they are. And in just a few more weeks, you'll be fine too, sir!"
Her brow furrows, as she gazes at the mask of wrappings around his face, and doubt creeps in.
"Um..."
Was she really helping? Would the strange Dwabi man really make it?
"H-hold still, please."
Min sets down the Festal, and starts to timidly undo the wrappings around his face. Naomi would be mad if she found out, but she'd probably be even angrier if it turned out Min hadn't been doing it right at all. She had to see for herself.
[8:41 PM] Kwakadoooooo: The maiden brings her hand to the last of the prayer strips over the top of his face, with ancient Khlinese numerology painted horizontally across it. She peels it back, leaving a gap in his coverings not unlike the eye-hole in a ninja's hood.....and gasps at what she sees.
[8:50 PM] Kwakadoooooo: His eyes are wide open. The dark Dwabi skin of his face is a single, solid shade, and the burns that had scarred it yesterday seem to have completely vanished. This is only hours into a healing process meant to take over a month....
But the most startling sight is that of his eyes - each one is a pure, jet-black void, as if the entire eyeball was one giant pupil. They stare blankly into her dark-brown irises, and the air in the room seems to get a little colder.
Min coughs, suddenly, finding herself short of breath. She averts her gaze, taking a few steps back. It's an undeniable relief that the man appears to be recovering...but this sort of thing hadn't ever been mentioned in her lessons. Had she done something wrong?
[8:54 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Forgetting her festal at the side of the bed, Min hurries out of the room, slipping her feet into her wooden sandals and tossing her warm white wood over her head. She passes by several other rooms - meant for training, sealing, healing and fellowship - and departs from the Earth Pagoda.
[9:05 PM] Kwakadoooooo: She nearly slips on the pathway, coated with a thin layer of snow that hadn't been shoveled in a long time, as she goes across the mountaintop. Then a similar shriek to the one before directs her attention to the gardens, where the Dwabi's pitch-black pegasus is causing a fuss.
Her wings are tied down onto her body, and she kicks at the garden wall with her ebon hooves. A boyish-looking young woman with a hood of her own struggles to hold her back.
[9:11 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "Nee-chaan!" Min calls out abruptly towards her. "You forgot to shovel the snow today!!!"
"Imma little busy, Min!" She shouts back, digging in his heels. "This one's been going crazy all day!"
"Oh..." The younger sister frowns, still a little sore over her near-accident. "Can't you get some help?"
"Well, Kitsuke said he'd help as soon as he came back with Nin..."
"When's that gonna be?"
The older sister throws up her hands. "I don't know! Auugh!" She grabs ahold of the falicorn's ropes once more, dragging her back from the wall. "Help me out!"
She brings her thumb to her mouth once more. "S-sorry Shin...I have to find Naomi, right away."
"Huh? Is the Dwabby man okay?"
She wrenches her thumb away, throwing her own hands up towards her older sister. "I don't know! Never mind!"(edited)
[9:14 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Even more agitated by the situation, and the unsettling beast, Min makes her way into the Sky Pagoda. Much taller and thinner than the Earth Pagoda, it stretches up into the sky, with a prominent telescope at its top that reads into the messages of the stars. She ducks over to the side of a pair of burly warrior monks, poking her head into each of the rooms as she passes.
[9:20 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Finally, a few floors up, Min finds her. A gray-haired woman with a long, pointed hat and flowing, voluminous robes, meditating at the center of a tatami mat. Incense fills the dim chamber, which is silent - until Min speaks up.
"Master Naomi! S...Something's really weird with that Dwabi!"
[9:36 PM] Kwakadoooooo: After a moment of reflection, the old woman's head pivots slowly to the side.
"Did you look at his injuries, Min?"
The girl's thumb scratches at her lower lip.
"......a little, um....B-but there were none! He already healed it all!"
Naomi turns her whole body, with aged eyes looking intensely at Min.
"Tell me, is this true?"
"Mhmm....and his eyes were nothing but darkness, like they weren't even eyes, a-and, they looked at me, but he wasn't saying anything. But he couldn't move, because of..."
"...The sealing charms, yes." Naomi gives a slow, encouraging nod, bringing a thin hand to Min's shoulder. "They guard against forces of evil, keep them bound to one place. So they cannot escape into the world and wreak havoc."
Min steps closer, visibly frightened by the implications. "So he...he has an evil spirit in him?"
[9:45 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "It may be so." Naomi brings her hands together as she continues. "When Dwabi masters go beyond the teachings of their people, it puts great strain on their hearts. They can become consumed with resentment, anxiety....negative feelings like these make them a target for all kinds of trouble. Spirits use those thoughts to take control of a person, and use their body for themselves.
Min blinks, frightened by these thoughts. "Oh, gods...But we can still help, right? Once he's done healing, we could just take the spirit out..."
"I'm afraid it might already be too late." Naomi finally stands, at a pace that would be considered lax by a younger person's standards. For her, it is a sign of urgency.
"If what you say is true, Sula is not healing...He's transforming."
[9:56 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "What?!"
Min looks up to her master, who now towers over her.
"If there is a spirit within him, it may have started to merge with his soul. After that, the possessor and the victim become one and the same."
"I...don't understand..."
"Min." Naomi's gaze turns down. "Have you ever heard of the Demon King of Zaldos?"(edited)
[10:04 PM] Kwakadoooooo: The girl nods repeatedly, with wide eyes. "Just a little...He was an evil man who filled his land with monsters, and turned into a monster...so he could take over the world, I think?"
Naomi nods. "That is what happens, when humans become consumed by such beings."
"Then...that Dwabi...he's turning into a demon?!" Shocked, her knees start to buckle.
[10:11 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Naomi raises a hand as if to correct her student, but stops - deciding to simply calm her.
"I will do everything I can to save him, Min. But I will not bring disaster to the Shugenja here, either......I'm glad you told me all this. Can you do just one more thing?"
"...mhmm."
Naomi gives her a grateful pat.
"Fetch my Yumi. And meet me in the sealing room."
The girl starts to wory, opening her mouth to protest. Why would Naomi need her bow? What was she going to do?
But the master's warm eyes telegraph every word of the woman's responses, her comforting...Min wouldn't stop to argue over this. Rather, she nods, and hurries to the stairs to where the monk's weapons were stored.
[10:37 PM] Kwakadoooooo: She takes it. An arch of perfectly-curved bamboo, lined with rings of iron, and with miniscule engravings of a sacred text all along the shaft - the result of years of crafting a single weapon. At each end is an enchanted gem - the bottom contains a dull brown cloud within, while the top contains a starry sky.
Though it fills her with a calming glow as she holds it, Min can't help but worry. This meant that she might hurt their guest...or that he might be the kind of person that they needed to hurt..or that he wasn't a person at all. Before she even reached the stairs to head back down, Min had put her hood back up. It didn't help with the shivering.
[7:21 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Passing by the garden once more, Min can see that the Falicorn had calmed down, thanks to the incense one of the other monks had set up. One look in the beast's eyes reminds her of its savagery, though, and she heads even faster toward the Earth Pagoda.(edited)
[7:40 PM] Kwakadoooooo: The girl forgets to watch her step on the way back, and falls face-first into the fresh snow. She looks to the yumi first, breathes a sigh of relief, then finally picks herself up off the ground and continues inside towards the Dwabi's room.
[7:43 PM] Kwakadoooooo: The closer she gets, the colder and thinner the air seems to be...as if some kind of void was leaking the life out of the building. Min held back the chattering of her teeth as she continued, coughing a little, and came to the door.
[7:57 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Though it had only been a few minutes since she left, the sealing room had taken on an entirely new atmosphere- as if it was split between two worlds. On one side was Master Naomi, wreathed in a warm golden glow and chanting under her breath in Hoshidan. In her hand was one of the bandages that had held the man in place, and many more were scattered on the floor. The other side held the patient, sitting up in the bed and straining against his bonds. A dark mist boils from between his bandages, spilling out into the room, and his face - now exposed - wears a sickening grin as he addresses the monk:
[8:07 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "Ehehehahahahaha...What's the matter, baby? Was that supposed to make mE fEeL sOmEtHiNg???!
Naomi keeps a stony stare, flinging another pinch of salt from her hand into his eyes. The grains glitter like gems as they go..but the man does not even blink.
[8:12 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "YoU cAn'T fOoL mE..."
His strange, unearthly tone oscillates back into something vaguely human.
"You want me to listen to you? Better pay up...six thousand."
His flattened palms fly down towards his waist in a sudden chopping motion.
"Right here..lay them out and I'll be good. Come oN..."
[8:18 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Taking a slow step back, Naomi resumes the chant with a nasal tone, rising and falling seemingly at random. She notices Min out of the corner of her eye, and lets go of the cloth strip in her hand. It starts to burn the moment it touches the floor.
"Min, the yumi! Now!" The woman's fingers splay open, ready to receive it. Her young disciple, meanwhile, hesitates. Should she throw it? Would that work? Shaking her head skittishly, Min rushes in...only to double over in a coughing fit. It was as if the man was inside her lungs, scraping at them, yanking on every breath.
[8:24 PM] Kwakadoooooo: With aching, tearful eyes, Min looks desperately up at her master, who stops her chant to help. Naomi puts her hand over the girl's, and they hold the bamboo yumi together.
"Focus, Min..!" Naomi closes her mouth, and gives her cheeks a quick puff. Nodding, Min holds her breath, fighting the discomfort building within her until it starts to settle.
[8:26 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "Hohoho?! WhAt'S tHiS?" The demonic Dwabi leans out a little further, flashing a ravenous snarl towards her. "More dollies to break..."
[8:39 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Naomi pulls Min's head away from his taunts, and looks her square in the eye.
"I need you to wait outside for me. I'll be out soon-"
Keeping her mouth sealed shut, Min shakes her head side to side. Naomi could imagine the girl's hearfelt objections, but lacks the time to try to convince her right now.
"..just stay back, then." She points to the far corner where the Dwabi's belongings were being kept, and Min complies, trying to think of some kind of charm that could help. A wreath of misty fire jets out of his hand towards the girl, but with a whirl of her enchanted bow Naomi bats it away.
"Sula-a!" The master's voice takes on a bold, regal air, delivering a divine decree. "Turn and face the light of truth...let the dust descend from the mirror of your heart!"
[8:53 PM] Kwakadoooooo: With a clack of her sandal, Naomi tilts her yumi to point southwest, and her free hand dances through a dizzying series of hand signs. "Hear My Cry...「Musogi Harai」"
A sunny glow pours out from the lantern on the ceiling, forming itself into a shimmering chain of light. Naomi's fingers snap downward, and the chain flies into the stranger's chest. He lets out a pained, gurgling roar, and his limbs convulse furiously.(edited)
[8:58 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "Release yourself, Sula-a! Come to my voice!" Naomi's voice shifts to more of a request than an incantation, pleading with the man who had once found respite in these halls. "Face yourself, and bare your soul to the gods! Hear me, Sula-a!" But the only response is more inhuman screams, more flailing flesh.
[9:02 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Min can't bear to watch anymore, and she's too scared to go for her staff. Would healing even help now? With nothing coming to mind, she begins rifling through his robe. Healing potions, healing concoctions...some tools for tending to the mount outside...every thing she pulls out only makes her feel more helpless and lost.(edited)
[9:21 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "If you are still remain in this world, Sula-a, answer my call! You shall not give up before me!" The Yumi points west. Naomi's fingers curl in, and the chain pulls the man's body skyward. His veins rise to the edge of his dark skin, straining his whole body as she struggled to summon Sula's spirit.
Until his hand grasps the chain as if it were an enemy's throat, squeezing into it. The lantern above is snuffed out, and the chain shatters into glassy fragments of fading light.
"I'm RiGhT hErE....nO NeEd To ShOUT!"
A web of incisions covers the master's hand, like cracks on a window, and blood seeps from them. She grimaces in pain, but responds only with a minor healing incantation to patch it up.
"I am Sula...So release me...."
[9:26 PM] Kwakadoooooo: ".....I see. We were too late, then."
Naomi's wounded hand reaches behind her head, pulling a pointed, ornamental pin from her hair. She recites one last rite for the man she once knew.
"Let my hand guide you to the gods' embrace...May your spirit be cleansed, in the world beyond...."
A look of shock and resentment splashes over the monstrous man's face, frozen in fear and fury. Shaking her head softly, Naomi brings the sharp pin to the string of her Yumi.
[9:26 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "...forgive me, Sula."
[9:28 PM] Kwakadoooooo: She pulls back.
[9:28 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Braces herself for Min's shrieks of anguish, for the hideous sounds of this demon-host's death.
[9:30 PM] Kwakadoooooo: But these are not the sounds that come to her ear.
[9:30 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Instead, from the corner of the room:
[9:31 PM] Kwakadoooooo: A soft melody plays, as a dark pegasus twirls in Min's hands.
[9:32 PM] Kwakadoooooo: The twinkling chimes from the jewelry box aren't quite happy, not quite soothing...but still strangely sweet.
[9:34 PM] Kwakadoooooo: Turning away from the wall to face them, the young maiden looks with anxious terror at the monk and the monster, praying with her tears that this little tune could do what decades of discipline could not.
[9:35 PM] Kwakadoooooo: And, if nothing else, it causes them to take a moment and stop. Naomi gives Min a puzzled look, just moments away from taking this life.
[9:36 PM] Kwakadoooooo: And the mad monk on the bed, with an eerie concentration, listens in too. He takes in each note, each moment of silence, without moving a muscle.
[9:37 PM] Kwakadoooooo: And deep within his muddled, murky heart...Sula can hear her voice.
I sit here, counting the stars in the sky. Waiting for you to come to me. These feeling that seem to have no place inside me...I don't dare tell anyone about them. It would be too much to bear. Oh, how I wish I could find the door...to my heart and gently open it. Even when I sound selfish...I'm really lonely and want to be sweet.
In the moonlight dancing, dancing alone. My shadow seems to be reaching out to you. All alone, dancing, not able to sleep. Because of you, the one who thrills me. My strange lover.(edited)
[9:42 PM] Kwakadoooooo: His face softens, releasing its tension as he listens to the song. He squints, and black, tarry tears drip from his eyes. For the first time, Min sees Sula's true eyes - pale, silver irises whose hue made them seem almost lighter than the white surrounding them. They turn expectantly toward her, and the twinkling sounds she holds.
[9:42 PM] Kwakadoooooo: "...Vivi..e?"
[9:43 PM] Kwakadoooooo: The glassy grey eyes roll back, their lids slip down, and his body falls limp onto the bed.
[9:44 PM] Kwakadoooooo: And in a long, sweeping sigh, Min finally stops holding her breath. She had no idea what she'd just done - only that it had worked.
[9:45 PM] Kwakadoooooo: ====END RP====
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