[center][img] https://i.imgur.com/P2IyNrh.png [/img] [img] https://i.imgur.com/jhDY9La.png [/img] [h3]Displaced[/h3][/center] [hr] Ida felt as if she was going to be sick. After she had told her fiery twin her own tale after they separated and up until they reunited, Ayre told her own story. Father was trapped in a tree. Arbor was in chaos. Ayre had visions of their mother and her Ayre… She couldn't even believe that she had immolated until she was ash only to be reborn. It wasn't difficult to grasp, it was just wrong. It didn't feel right to know she hadn't been there at that awful moment. And now, she couldn't even touch her sister without feeling like she was going to faint from heatstroke. “It’s not as bad as it seems.” Ayre said, leaning against a wall in that alleyway. She had crossed her arms and had been looking intently at Ida. Those orange eyes, full of so much depth. And Ida knew behind those orbs, her sister’s mind was abuzz. “I know…” Ida sighed. “It’s just… We shouldn’t have separated.” Ayre let a huff of air out her nose, a coy smirk on Ayre’s lips at that. “There’s no telling how much us being together would have changed anything. In fact, it might have even made it worse. I wouldn’t have wanted you up there, to see all that anyways.” Ida glanced at the necklace. “And where did you get that?” She asked. “I’ve never seen it before.” Ayre’s hand wrapped around the prismatic jewel and she shrugged. “I’ll tell you once we’re up top.” Was her answer. “Fair enough.” Ida said before she pushed off from the wall opposite Ayre. The ache in her leg almost made her stumble and Ayre was already in motion to catch her but she was able to right herself. Ayre took a step back. “Tell me you tripped. Tell me you ran into something.” Ayre said, her voice shaking with anger. Ida looked at her sister and knew what she wanted to hear. “I took a fall, yes.” She lied. Well, not entirely. She had fallen a few times but that particular hurt had come from a loose rock that had been thrown at her by one of those things. “Liar.” Ayre snapped and began to walk off into the street. “Hey, you wanted a lie.” Ida chided, joining her at a stiff walk. “Now let’s get out of here and back up top. I managed to get the villagers deeper into the tunnel system. There’s so many goblins down there, Ayre. It’s like they have their own underground kingdom.” “Is that right?” Ayre asked, hands in her apron pockets. Ida had yet to tease her about her garments. Maybe soon. Maybe never. “Yeah and they seemed well equipped to deal with any stragglers. Actually I’m surprised we haven’t seen a vanguard yet…” Ida looked back down the street. Smoke curled against the obsidian sky, the flames like a multitude of burning candle wicks. That or a bonfire. She shuddered, yes, shuddered at the heat. Manageable, but not for long. “Let’s just get out of there.” Ayre mumbled, not looking back. Ida winced. Ayre had, the same as she, done the unthinkable. They were killers. For her own conscience, Ida knew it had been necessary and she was willing to face whatever consequences. For Ayre…For the one who protected her her entire life… That anger had always been there, somewhere deep down but Ida doubted it was anger that had let itself kill the monster. Now Ayre had to come to terms with it herself. “Hey.” She caught up to her sister, almost grabbing her arm but withdrew in a snap, as if she was afraid her sister would bite her. She winced again and Ayre stopped and turned to look at her. She didn’t say anything. “Ayre. I know…” Her words fumbled in her throat. She cleared it in a mock gesture, grasping at her own emotions. “I know I’m not good with feelings. But if you want to talk about what happened, I’m here. I won’t leave you again.” It felt like the right thing to say, she told herself. And it was true. She was terrible at dealing with emotions. Her own and everyone else's. Perhaps she had earned the title of Frost, long before it had ever been uttered aloud. For her part, Ayre gave a small nod and looked at her feet. “I should be the one saying I won’t leave you, Ida. But let’s just… Go home, okay?” “Okay.” Ida said and they both began to walk once more. Ayre looked defeated. As if someone has snatched her fire away and a part of Ida knew that something forever more would be lost and she hated that fact. She hated it. That hatred, she knew. It was a bitter taste when she had to lie. When she had said anything else but the truth. Never to be a bother for Ayre, for their father. Ayre saw through it, the lies but not the mask of calm. Not to what was underneath. But she also knew another emotion, far better than the likes of blackened hate. Tentatively, she reached out, and squeezed one of Ayre’s fingers. Her sister froze. Ida hissed a breath as the pain jolted up her arm. It was like a phantom burn that beat in her fingertips but it was worth it for what she said next, “I love you, Ayre.” Ayre abruptly turned her face away, her shoulders sagged inwards and bobbed up and down silently. Droplets fell to the ground, each a small hiss on the cold stone and it would have melted Ida’s heart if it had been completely frozen. “I-” Ayre gasped a breath, “I love you too, Ida.” And then began to walk forward at a brisk pace. They reached the outskirts of the dying town, careful to avoid staring at the blood and viscera of the attack that lay in stains across every surface. Drying and cracking. Ida knew if she dwelt on those she hadn't been able to save, she would break down. Right there, in that street of twilight. Ayre drew in as close as she could get to her and they were silent, comforted by the others' presence alone. Ida could see the tunnel fast approaching. The memory of that thing emerging from the dark amidst screams would forever haunt her. It was almost as if the darkness was unnatural and her senses screamed to run away. Then she noticed and stopped. “Where are the bodies?” Something cracked from that long dark tunnel, as if in answer. Ayre moved in front of Ida and she could only stop herself from rolling her eyes at her twin, as she stood beside her. The crack sounded again and then followed by a long drawn out breath. Something dripped down and a large puddle of blood, almost unnatural in size, surged forth and coated everything in that sickly smell of rust. She felt sick to her stomach. Ayre looked deathly pale as well, tinged with green on her warm cheeks. “The bodies of the slain,” A deep voice of whispered shadow fell around them and Ida saw Ayre tense. “Now reflect in pools of crimson stain.” Ida felt as if that voice had penetrated into the very core of her mind, wriggling about like some worm of terror. And it kept speaking in its whispered whimsy, “You are no pesky gadfly, nor even a Magnolia’s dying lullaby. Not a corse, of course. Such blood unspilled, ready to be distilled. So tell Bael-Davaur what you are?” It's voice pleaded with them and Ida almost felt compelled to answer but she put a hand over her mouth and glanced at Ayre. Her sister glanced back, steel in her eyes and mouthed one word- run. So they did. A howling laughter broke from behind them, echoing forth from that black tunnel. “Not a sapling and yet somehow still so lacking!” Shadows began to unfurl at the edge of Ida’s vision. “Not a beast, at least.” It’s said in her ear. Their legs took them swiftly from once they came and the thing was right behind them. Tendrils of soft shadow touched her, coaxing Ida to run faster. Its voice was a sweet lull beside her and all around them, like a slow insidious poison. “Knife-ears with such lovely fears. One of roiling flame, bent from so much self blame. The other cold, with a soul so old. Why do they run, in this place without sun? Where will they flee, under this enemy tree?” Ida looked back once, just once and saw what followed them. A mass of burgundy smoke, almost colored as dark as night in that gloom. It gobbled up the air and snuffed out all light. There was something inside that smoke, something that she knew would make her skin crawl. Not because it would be hideous or misshapen. But because she feared that it would be the opposite. And Ida knew in her bones, in her very soul, to stop would be certain death. They reached the outskirts of the town once more, Ayre’s hair whipping bright behind her as she ran, with Ida close behind. She couldn't help but wonder where the goblins were? Where was anyone, for that matter? Something was wrong and that was clearly evident as they were being chased by a demon. The thing that chased them… It was not like what she had sullied her hands for, before. When people needed saving. Not one of those lesser beasts but greater. Far greater and if it was capable of speech… it reaffirmed her anxiety about not wishing to see it without the smoke veiling it. It's oily voice and rasping shadows sent chills down her spine and she was one who could no longer feel the cold. A rush of air sounded behind them, Ida glanced to see the world behind them shattering. What came next was an explosion that rippled through the air, sending stone chips and wooden splinters all around them. Ayre shouted something in the roar but Ida couldn't hear it. In the maelstrom, something hard smacked into the back of her injured knee and she tumbled forward. Her arms absorbed the blow as much as they could, but she still hit the stone hard. As a result, her vision went fuzzy and she was too stunned to move. Not even as Ayre gave a leap over her and screamed at their pursuer. And in that scream the world erupted into flame and with it, heat. It was a marvel, both that her eyes began to focus and watching those torrents of fire emerge from her twin’s hands. The flame hit the smoke and the world alighted with a nebulous of sparks that made the demon stop in its pursuit. The roar of the fire filled her ears and it was that heat that washed over that got her to move at last. She pushed up and got upon wobbly feet. “Ayre!” She called but her sister did not answer. She could not see her face, did not know if her own voice could be heard in the din. Thinking quickly and wincing at her pain with each step, Ida stayed a healthy distance away from her twin and raised a hand but not at the torrent of fire. Instead she sent an ice spike at her sister’s feet and Ayre blinked. She looked at Ida in a moment of pure rage but her roaring flames began to die, until all that remained was the melting spike of ice and an inferno. “Sweet, sweet flame, the likes of which none will tame.” That voice, that too perfect whisper cooed. “Tempered by a twin, of ice within. Ripped from a womb, never to bloom. Now Bael-Davaur, knows what you are. But blood and flesh, time has come to make for the creche. Come along now, for this is my vow; alive or dead, you will be shred, bled and… Wed. She will never thwart this new court.” The air resounded with a laugh so vile Ida and Ayre covered their ears. The blood smoke coalesced around before them and then unleashed itself. A wave of acrid smoke hit them before either could react, grabbing and clawing at Ida’s skin and clothes. She screamed. Ayre screamed. And Ida knew there would be no one to rescue them. No one but herself. Thinking fast, Ida slammed a fist of ice into the ground. Once. Twice. Thrice! There came the sound of a crack as she and her sister were violated and she poured her power within it. Her ice ran glacier deep, splitting apart the very stone, building up pressure and pressure. She kept expanding it, coaxing it to grow and grow and grow as they were dragged ever closer to the demon of whimsy. And then, when she thought hope itself would fail, there came a sound like none other. A tremendous crack ripped the stone and earth apart like an avalanche. All at once, they were falling and she could only feel relief as the smoke did not join them. She looked to Ayre amidst the falling, crushing debris all around them in their descent. Her sister, terrified with eyes wide, held out her hand. Ida extended her own, so close she could feel the heat of her sister’s fingertips. So close. Then the world went utterly dark. [hider=Summary] After Ida learns of Ayre’s story since their separation, the two begin their journey back through the burned out town. Ida, realizing that Ayre is traumatized over what she did to that outer beast spawn, tells her sister she is there for her when she wants to talk. Ida herself feels fine about everything and doesn’t want to dwell on it. As a final gesture of love, she tells Ayre she loves her and briefly touches fingers with her, despite the pain. This seems to affect Ayre greatly but the two continue on. They reach the tunnel that would lead them back to the surface but find it utterly dark and the bodies of the dwarf guards, gone. Moments later, a great pool of blood emerges from the tunnel and a lovely voice whispers forth. They have run into an outer beast princeling, Bael-Davaur, who speaks in rhythm. Scared out of their wits, the girls run and he gives chase eventually resulting in a display of power from Ayre. This doesn’t do anything and the princeling declares that he will wed the both of them, alive or dead and attacks. Ida, thinking fast, pushes her frost deep into the earth and causes a huge crack that saves them from his clutches, but also sends them down into the dark abyss. [/hider]