When the heavy clunk sounded, Kenza's eyes flicked to the source, and the hunter immediately froze. [i]A gargoyle![/i] she thought, recognizing the monster's trademark skin that was mottled with impurities where stone had worn away. Her eyes were drawn to the statue's glowing yellow eyes, unwavering in their brightness, and then to the radiant circle carved into its chest. What was the circle — its one source of energy, or an additional source possibly?

The gargoyle remained motionless on its perch, but Kenza wasn't about to take any chances. That it was currently in the room watching the hunters was enough to say that it was another one of those "wardens" of the garrison, intent on keeping their prisoners inside, and Kenza flicked her eyes around her view to try to pick out her teammates. The library had gone silent, save for the skittering of arachnid legs over where the rugs had decayed over stone.

Mistletoe had frozen at the clunk, turning her head slowly to look at what had caused the sound. The sight of the gargoyle sitting there, silent and still encouraged her to maintain her status as a statue as well, but her brain had possibilities that thought otherwise. If the gargoyle had been intent on killing the hunters, the best way to dispatch them would have been picking them off one by one when they were split apart, yet the carved piece of stone hadn't done that. Rather, it'd sat down — an action that so obviously announced its presence that the only conclusion was that it had [i]wanted[/i] to announce its presence. Meaning that, ignoring the other parts of her screaming and arguably more sensible mind, the gargoyle wasn't here to kill the hunters.

[i]This is borderline suicidal,[/i] Mistletoe thought, tensing her muscles and taking a step to her right, in the direction of Derrick and the door. [i]But the line between life and death here is thin enough that this barely matters.[/i]

[hr][@hekazu][@lord of evil]