[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220125/3df6e6e554618b73c4d18ce14aa937c2.png[/img][/center]

[indent][indent][indent]
[color=gray][sub][right][color=white][b]Location:[/b][/color] Uhladein, Eastern Marches
[/right][/sub][/color]
[hr]
It would have been nigh-impossible to hear anything over the roaring of torrent and thunder, to say nothing of the screaming [i](agony and terror for garnish)[/i], or the crashing of tumbling stonework. But if one were inclined to try, and had a particularly keen ear, they might have heard commotion within the ruins of a small building near the outskirts of the southern front. At first there’d be nothing of note—cursing, angry yelling, the violent, ungodly sounds of the void at work, followed by the telltale silence of a bloody battle’s end—and very quickly our inquisitive listener might have shrugged and gone on to hear bigger and better things. But, if they had just a bit of patience, they’d be rewarded with something peculiar. 

Humming. 

And then singing. 

The crooked door flew open and off its busted hinges, and amidst a gust of void ash sprung a lone girl trailing steam from steel claws, face smeared with black ichor. She moved with a bounce in her step, arms outstretched, letting the storm wash her clean, and sang in the way one does to themselves in the privacy of a bath or a long walk, when they’re certain no one else, not even a curious, hypothetical listener, can hear them.  

[COLOR=92278f][i]“Rain on my skin, and ice in my mouth~
	The smiles in my tummy when papa’s around~
		The teeth of my en-e-mies scattered on the ground~
			These are my fa-vo-rite things~ Aaaaand…”[/i][/color]

Blessedly, before she could stumble through another verse, she was interrupted by a boom she could feel all the way into her bones, and the blindingly bright blossom of an explosion near the base of Uhladein. For a moment she was utterly captivated, mumbling a quiet, [COLOR=92278f]“Wooah…”[/color] before she noticed something. 

All the fucking void were gone. 

Well, okay they weren’t [i]gone[/i], but they’d all moved on from the outer defenses now, towards the inner walls and the tower proper. [COLOR=92278f]“What the [i]fuck?[/i]”[/color] she spat, and what-the-fuck was right. They hadn’t won yet. Just because she’d gotten dragged into a scrap in some dinghy shack for a few minutes didn’t mean they were allowed to just [i]ignore[/i] her. That wasn’t fair, it was bullshit. It was bullshit and—

Another explosion rocked the earth, and all of her complaints were blown away like dirt and ash. 

Rain on My Skin, Ice in My Mouth grinned, bright-eyed and giddy. Fuck it, no point in wasting any more time. The party might have moved, but it definitely wasn’t over. She began to jog towards the tower, and deep within her, a heat equal parts ethereal and corporeal began to flare. 

Not too far away, she noticed another hunter obscured by the rainfall: a tall woman with a big sword and no gumption. As she passed by, Rain hollered loud in the lull between thunderclaps. 

[COLOR=92278f]“Pick up the pace, granny! We’re missing all the fun!”[/color]

Rain hopped and planted herself on the ground in a four-point stance. Her claws sank and found purchase in the tough soil beneath the mud, her feet pressed into a spring-tight lunge. As the heat within her built, steam began to rise from her form. The rain that soaked her through was evaporating as quickly as it touched her, and as the moments went on, even [i]before[/i] it touched her. With the sudden crackling growl of a fire igniting, a haze of searing air burst around her, and Rain was instantly dry as a bone. Her hair fluffed out around her, the muddy ground beneath her hardened and cracked and melted against her claws. 

It hurt. She grated her teeth into a grin and focused on Uhladein. Her whole body coiled with effort, boiled with heat, and just when the first bit of skin began to peel, she let it go. 

With a thunderous roar, Rain launched across the empty battlefield, a comet’s tail of steam. She flew and flew and when she was low enough for her feet to touch the ground, she pushed off of it and shot upward. Colossal voidlings were closing in, some earthbound, others winged. One she saw engulfed in the flames of the second explosion, another, further, seemed drawn towards the rooftops. 

Rain found one scaling the inner walls, a massive thing with multiple legs. She boosted herself higher, above it, then torqued to be upside down and brought her legs up above her head. Momentum kept her there for a moment, hanging in the air as though she had her feet pressed against the ceiling of the sky. Before gravity could have the pleasure, she blasted herself down, rocketing towards the creature in a whirling fury of white-hot claws and sharp, flashing teeth. Ichor sprayed the air as its umbral legs were severed, and its hulking body fell from the wall in a tide of dust and rainwater. 

Rain landed as it began to dissolve, but in the ash she noticed a great mass remained. Writhing and screeching, she realized then that the voidling had only been half a threat itself—it had been carrying the other half. Dozens of smaller voidlings skittered free, some making for the wall, others fled for easier pickings. 

Most, to her delight, came straight for her.[/indent][/indent][/indent]