Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Holy Soldier
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Holy Soldier Divine Justice

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There was a white light blinding your eyes. You felt cramped, hot, and uncomfortable. Why was everything so hot? You couldn’t speak, and despite the unbearable temperature, you could not sweat. Where am I!?

There was the shrill groan of what sounded like a rusted and iron gate opening. You were tossed; you tumbled; until your small form was crushed within a giant black fist. It was dark but for the numerous glowing bodies that surrounded you. You realize then that there were more confused Souls just like you, frightened and lost. They did not speak. You could only hear their timid whimpers as you and them were carried into the sky. The fingers unfurled beneath you, revealing the gaping maw of a monster. Its teeth were yellow, jagged, and misaligned. Its gums were so dark red you might have thought they were just clumps of coagulated blood. A pink and lengthy tongue unfurled from the creature’s mouth to dribble saliva down the fat swells of its chest. You saw that it had no eyes and from its pale-head protruded horns or antennae—you couldn’t tell and they might have been a combination of both. You fell.

You and a few others were fortunate enough to miss the monster’s gaping mouth and instead tumbled and bounced down its white globular belly. One Soul who had also missed the creature’s mouth had fallen across its tongue and as it rolled near the tip, the monster’s tongue curled, rolling it up like a rug. You and the surviving others struck the basaltic floor, and above you, you could hear the grunts and crunch of the giant gobbling the Souls up. Their bodies popped and tore between its grinding teeth, spilling blood like a sanguine curtain down its quivering belly that squirted blood from its stapled seams. The monster uttered its finishing gluttonous grunts before it gulped audibly and leaned over to belch a black gas upon a few of the survivors. You watch as their bodies turn black and shrivel in the heat of the gas.

There were even fewer of you now and the monster sadistically laughed. You’re frozen—afraid to move as you wondered if you were next. The monster instead scratched at the staples across its belly before it hauled what appeared to be a massive iron mace onto its armored shoulder.

“All right,” the tongue the creature spoke was nothing you had ever heard before, and somehow you understood it. “You lucky ones are my new Spirit slaves. I got hungry and ate my old ones.”

The monster, now to be called The Horned Guard tensed a little in surprise as it uttered a, “Whoops!”

He shrugged his colossal mace from his shoulder and swung it over his head to bring it slamming down like a hammer on top of what appeared to be a large iron cage behind you. The door he had opened to draw out the handful of Spirits was slammed closed, snapping several Spirits who had tried to crawl free in two, and leaving some to writhe on the ground without arm, leg, or head. You realize that you had been in that cage once. The cage was pure white from the thousands of Souls tightly packed together in what looked like a glowing and wiggling snowball.

“Almost had some escape…that wouldn’t have been good,” the creature muttered to itself. It retracted its mace and gazed upon the Spirits that were still sitting and lying about. With an annoyed growl, the Horned Guard swung its large mace, crushing a few Spirits beneath it who had been too slow to flee. It slid the mace across the ground, leaving a red smear and crushing a few other slow Spirits in its path. With another wicked chuckle, it retracted its mace and growled, “You lazy shits! I let you out of the cage and all you want to do is lie around! Move those stones! They’re in my way!”

The Horned Guard indicated to the large black blocks with sharp red and glowing thorns curving out of it. There wasn’t a single area of the block a Spirit could grasp that wouldn’t make them bleed. Afraid to be killed, a few Spirits raced over to the stones to attempt to move them. The first Spirit to the block abruptly stopped when it nearly ran into one of the thorns, but the Spirit behind it had pushed it into it, impaling its body on the stone. Other Spirits followed like lemmings accidentally bumping into each other and causing more to be impaled. The Spirits eventually figured out that the bodies impaled upon the thorns made the stone safer to move and proceeded to do so while the Horned Guard hysterically laughed.

“You stupid little shits! Ha, ha, ha!” The Horned Guard’s laughter suddenly ceased as its teeth came together in an ominous frown. One of the Spirits was sitting on the floor with its arms wrapped about its legs. Why wasn’t it obeying it!? Why wasn’t it working!? “Rah! Disobedience!”

The Horned Guard swung its mace at the Spirit, and the Spirit rolled out from beneath the weapon before it struck. The Horned Guard’s horns went stiff and upright in shock. With a frustrated growl, it began bashing its hammer on the floor, cracking the basalt and sending fragments flying into the air. Unfortunately, the Spirit didn’t make it.

“Don’t ever defy me! NONE OF YOU!” the Horned Guard screamed before he marched back over to the Spirit pin and opened the lid. It set his mace next to the iron cage and dunked both of its hands into the white batch, swirling them around and gathering fistfuls. The Spirits were like weeds gripped in its hands and the Horned Guard in its greed and gluttony began cramming them into its face, rumbling away with its grunting and munching. It had barely finished the first fistful when it crammed the second fist in, its cheeks expanding like balloons. A few Spirits were even crawling out through the holes in them. The Horned Guard swallowed and the writhing Spirits that survived the fat creature’s chewing expanded in its throat as they tried to escape. Some fell passed the ball of carnage lodged in its gullet, while others clawed desperately at its slick esophagus. The Horned Guard’s horns drooped across its head as its hands reached up to grasp its throat.

You notice the Horned Guard wasn’t making its usual sound of grunting and munching. It was choking and wheezing. Turning away from the cage, the guard dropped to its knees with a loud boom! and hunched over until its stapled belly swayed upon the floor.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Tominas
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Tominas

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While the Horned Guard choked and wallowed, a single soul which had been trying to move a thorned brick by itself turned to look, hands and chest oozing blood. Its formless face wasn't capable of demonstrating much emotion, but the erratic movements, its hunched posture, and the way its back pressed against thorns despite the pain it felt all screamed a horrible terror.

Looking to its left, the spirit saw its fellows in the cage, some cut in half and rolling on the ground. It was a rusty, bladed prison. To the glowing soul's right, the monster coughed and choked, guttural wheezing coming from lopsided jaws as blood and spittle oozed onto the ground. Raising its small, bleeding hands, the form realized it couldn't run. The cage was against a large, stone cliff face, and the tiny soul was trapped between the beast, the cliff, and the razor-bladed stones blocking the way.

Heat, pain, fear.

The spirit felt nothing else since it had been... here. Wherever here was. There was no time to think, no time to understand what was happening. A demon kneeled against the hot stone floor, steaming blood from the spirit's fellows coating its gnarled jaws and bulging stomach. Someone who could think would call this place hell, but for the spirit there weren't thoughts, not like that. The spirit only knew that it was afraid. It was the same fear as a dog that had been beaten and neglected, abused and forced to fight. And the owner was lying on the ground, choking on his own gluttony.

Somewhere deep inside the soft, glowing form of the spirit, something snapped. It would have yelled if it was able, not a battle cry but the pained scream of a wounded animal, fighting for its life. Hunched, 'face' twisted as much as it could, the soul raced across the floor, blood streaming from its chest, back, hands before reaching the stomach of the horned guard, bouncing off of the ground. With the fury of a cornered wolf, the spirit clawed and bit and tore at the two staples within its reach on the stomach of the beast. They were the easiest handholds on the creature, and the form of dead spirits seemed to glow within the fissure the metal held shut. There was no anger, no rage, no bloodlust. Only the cold, hard grip of terror in the spirit's heart of hearts drove it to seize one of the staples, jerking and twisting and pulling with all its might, both feet braced against the rolls of fat bubbling over the Guard's lower garments.

Distantly, the intelligent part of the spirit recognized the other souls were watching, but there was no hope that they would join it. It had no time for hope right now. There was only fear, twisting its heart and forcing it to act, blood and sweat from the beast pouring over the spirit, tears trailing from the small form's wild eyes.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Zamokra41
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Zamokra41 Procrastinating Knight

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Terror. That is all that it felt, the only thing it knew certain. It saw only blackness, all around, no light, no forms, nothing, the only company it had were the inane mumbling and whimpering that echoed. After a while it wasn't sure which of these sounds of desperation were its own and which belonged to other, probably just as unfortunate beings as itself. The vile darkness that caged it became maddening, it wanted to reach out, in a desperate attempt to move and crawl out of this void, yet it couldn't. The space, wherever it was, it was cramped and limiting, something always pushing against it, unable to move but only squirm in place like a worm in the dirt. It wanted to scream, it wanted to wail, 'HELP! HELP ME!' it wanted to shout to whomever and whatever was willing to listen, yet to it's horror it discovered that these cries were only real in the confines of its own broken mind, clutching and scratching at its own face revealing nothing but a smooth yet crude surface, no mouth with which to scream and no eyes to reveal anything. That instant alone was enough to drive it mad, it's squirming intensified, desperate to reach for someplace, any place, as far away from its blackened confines as possible. Yet the more it struggled the more resistance it felt, the whimpers that echoed all around being accompanied by similar squirming, pushing and grasping in a similar bout of desperation. How did it end up here? One sane enough would have asked themselves this question and pondered to rationally resolve it if only to keep the maddening terror at bay. Yet it had no such luxury, no, for as far as it was concerned, this vile blackness, these desperate wails, these nauseating cramped confines... This is all it knew for as far back as it could remember...

Movement... It felt a distinctive movement. Its limited squirming space became even smaller, the things around it pushing against its every side as if forced. It barely was able to motion one of its limbs yet it also felt the distinct movement of being elevated. And then... a miracle. The darkness was pierced by a sudden flash of light, replacing it entirely with nothing but whiteness. The sensation of elevation continued only to be abruptly stopped and replaced by decline, pushed down in equal measure by gravity and the weight of the things on top of it. It fell, tumbling on what vaguely felt like a semi-soft, fleshy surface before simply falling through the air, meeting the hard, rocky ground underneath as it made impact and rolled on the side like a weighed rag-doll. It's vision was starting to clear, the piercing whiteness being replaced by a blur of mixed, dark-earthly colors. It would have questioned its ability to see without eyes if it were not for the glorious sensation of having the freedom to move, no longer confined by whatever things cramped it in the darkness. Somehow it found the strength to stand, lifting itself from the hard surface and wobbling to keep balance as its muscles were tight and rigid, atrophied from its lack of proper motion in the dark. How odd. It expected to feel pain, distress, discomfort as it struggled to regain its balance, yet it felt no such thing. Indeed, it felt absolutely nothing, it just realized. Could all the sensations it felt earlier have only been as real as the sounds it wanted to produce, real only inside its head?

Whatever questions and sense of rationale it attempted to have were rudely interrupted however, as the blur it was seeing became clearer and painted a picture of absolute horror. The place it found itself standing in, it could only be described as HELL. All around it saw.. figures of shimmering, dim, white light with humanoid forms, scrambling and flailing about in agitation. Many were horribly disfigured and torn apart, some by means of odd black stones covered in spikes while many others were left in such a poor state by means unknown to it. This mystery was soon revealed as it's gaze fell upon a sight that nearly sent it back into its broken, whimpering state from which it had just escaped. The creature was of a colossal size, capable of grasping whole clusters of beings such as itself in it's immense, clawed hands. It's appearance was a grotesque, hideous malformation of sickly colored flesh, encased in small parts by metal as black as it's protruding, many-jointed horn-like appendages that sprouted from its head. It's leathery skin was stretched over what would be it's face, near-perfectly smooth save for the large gash in the middle which revealed a grotesque maw of yellowed, miss-aligned teeth which crushed and ground a plethora of these small, dimly-lit beings. The tainted flesh was bulging all around its form, seemingly struggling to contain the fat and whatever grim and grizzly contents within. This... hideous apparition, this monstrous creature of unreasonable size and unprecedented grotesqueness would have surely been the end if it were not for a stroke of luck. This monster appeared to be struggling on the floor, a large, oddly-placed, fleshy bulge was visible where it's throat would be, the creature starting to claw at it in an attempt to escape the choking on its own greedy feast.

Most of the furtive beings scampered and tossed about in equal measures of fear and confusion, yet some had taken advantage of the monster's misfortune and attacked it in whatever pathetic and ill-advised fashion they could. One such thing was climbed atop the fleshy mountain of its belly, struggling with all its fleeting strength to pull and loosen one of the odd, metallic staples that kept the slit in the middle of the creature's grossly body together. In what some would describe an act of inspired bravery or desperate madness, it too quickly scampered closer to the horrid thing and imitated the fellow furtive being, clutching at a separate staple with its thin hands and struggling with whatever ounce of strength and might it had left to pull it apart. Why it had this initiative it did not knew. Self-preservation was still a present instinct within the crumbling halls of its mind and for whatever reason it, a twisted logic made it clear to it that if attempting to run and scramble like the rest, all would be in vain. Better to meet one's end fighting rather than panicking in futility, that was a truth oddly present in it's mind and it did not question it as it tried and struggled to bring its grim task to an end and attempt to cause more suffering to this monster, however little it could.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by RyuShura
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RyuShura The Muted Dream

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...

It felt cold for this particular soul. Not hot or blistering, like it was supposed to be. It was just cold.

It once had a memory, a past, it could feel it. Somewhere deep inside. But there was nothing now, not even feelings. All that could pose as memories for the little soul was the emptiness it experience while trapped in the cage. But it wasn't of discomfort or pain. It was almost peaceful, if not for the occasional hand or foot being crammed into places they shouldn't ever be. It might've wanted to remain that way forever. Maybe...

But its comfortable dark world came crashing down around it, and was replaced with a new bloodier one. It plopped onto the floor and was made to bear witness to the brutality of its new 'master'. This Horned beast of sort. But still, nothing changed for the pale little soul. It still felt numb and cold. However, something slowly began to dawn upon the little soul as it stood there and watched the carnage unfold. The giant monster treated their own brethren like worthless cattle, gobbling and tossing away lives as if they meant nothing, and then they were made to suffer in a cruel game, purely for its sick and twisted enjoyment. Seeing all this made the soul realize, not how hopeless and futile their situation was, though indeed this fact was undeniable, but rather, how interesting everyone else was compared to it. Some of the white and faint souls crumbled and wept, completely broken to the torment, and others were compelled to move the thorny rocks out of fear, desperate to the point of even killing one another just to please their tormentor. No matter what, they all did something. It didn't understand this. Why? Despite them all looking the exact same, why was it unable to react like the others?

It tilted its head slightly, as if it would help it reach an answer for its question.

The question hung on its mind as they stood there in a state of perplexity, completely unresponsive to the gnashing voice above. Even when it understood the threat of the jagged yellow teeth and the bloody black mace, it was not compelled like the others were. What was death anyway? It surely wouldn't have been any worse than what life they had now. No, there was something more important and pressing to the soul. And so it continued to watch the others, trying and understand this strange dilemma it was having.

'What was the point?', it thought, gazing at all of the frantic souls scuffling all around them. Why do anything? Did they feel fear? Again, there was no point. They were powerless to these greater beings, so there was no point in feeling fear, nor was there a reason to listen to their commands. Feeling fear or doing what this beast said wouldn't change the impossible. Only death would set them free. So why fear it? Plus, such a feeling would suggest they held themselves some sort of value, or that they possessed something worth fearing. But from what it has seen, they were mere nothings.

As it searched for the answer to this puzzle of puzzles, an even more interesting developed happened.

The wispy white form watched with wide eyes as the gluttonous horned giant faltered, choking and sputtering on its unsightly snack, its claws grasping its thick and flayed neck. Perhaps it should've learned to swallow? In the chaos, the lone soul then contemplated an action.

Its eyes went first to the cliff across the bed of thorny rocks. Should they dare try to escape? The bodies impaled from earlier should be able to act as a buffer to the spikes. But that would mean risking the wrath of the horned monstrosity. It would surely end up dead if it were to get caught, eaten or smashed like the other pitiful souls. But the beast was weak now, wasn't it? This was the best chance to do so. Then again... Even if they were to succeed, what lied beyond such a dark and hopeless place? Probably nothing much better. It was all hopeless anyway. Maybe it should just lie down and just wait to die? The Horned Guard would surely answer its wish once it got back up. Truly, it wouldn't be happy after such an embarrassing display. But what exactly did death in this new world mean? Maybe death would feel like how it did within the cage; a place of peace. The corpses around them suggested as much. They no longer struggled, no longer felt the pain and suffering that once ailed them.

As the little white soul pondered these last bits for a moment, it noticed yet another new and interesting development. The released souls were now beginning to swarm the twisted mound of flesh, taking advantage of its vulnerability and laying siege upon its body. It stared with wide eyes. This was something they didn't expect to happen, not in the slightest. And as the soul watched, it could not even believe what it was seeing. These supposed 'nothings' were wounding the 'great' one, yanking out the metal staples that bound its massive gullet. They were doing the impossible.

The coldness it felt up until this point was gone now, overcome with a strange and faint glimmering.

Suddenly, the pale little soul found itself disliking the idea of death.

This new world was so, very interesting. It liked watching all the things happening, even if sometimes it did not understand. Maybe there was more to it? There had to be. Not to mention, it didn't even find an answer to its question yet.

I want to do what they do... to do interesting things too...

As these thoughts bounced around in its head, very slowly, the little white soul began to move. One foot at a time, as it followed the others towards the slowly exposed gullet. It wanted to experience more. And it was by the hands of its fellows that it was allowed such a pleasure. Maybe it was time they also did something.

The pale little soul climbed in a place between the bulbous mounds of pale flesh, maneuvering around the others and found a spot in between the white masses. It grabbed one of the large staples already being pulled with both hands, wrapping its fingers around the blood-rusted piece. With a great heave, it began yanking with all the might it could possibly muster. It wondered if it was too weak, feeling like its arms would break before the metal would come loose, shivering as it fought to tear the staple from the flesh. But soon enough, with a wet pop the metal sprung loose like a clogged nozzle, spraying it with blood as it clattered onto the stone floor.

Sheesh, doing stuff was hard work.

...
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Duoya
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Duoya

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The spirit pushed with all it's might, ignoring the writhing of it's brothers against the thorny boulder. This soul was one of the last to make it to the stone, managing to avoid the fate of it's siblings. Instead, it was able to push the overly large rock along with it's fellows, the only drive it experienced was to follow the monstrosity's orders. It had no power, that was obvious fact. The giant, the monstrous figure that commanded and ate them - it had power. The spirit didn't remember the concept of right and wrong - all it knew was that if it didn't push the rock, if it didn't obey, it would die. Even the spirit knew that dying was not enjoyable, but the work of pushing the stone made it feel something - not malice or anger, but a strange nostalgic feeling, even as blood coated his hands and thorns broke off of the stone and stabbed his feet. The other spirits lacked the mouth on their faces, but the spirit could sense their emotions. It was their eyes, the haze that coated it and the tears that streamed from their faces. They all felt overwhelming fear and sadness. Even with it's lack of a nose, the spirit could feel the disgusting scent of it's surroundings, the smell of brimstone, smoke, and feces filling every inch of the place. This only seemed to add to the misery of the place, not that the spirit minded. It's job was to push the stone, that was all.

Just push the stone, and everything will be alright.

The spirit continued to push the stone, which was easier for him now that the bodies on the thorns stopped moving, until the rock slowly came to a stop. Even when pushing harder, the spirit was unable to move the rock, and it took it several seconds to realized the cause - the others had stopped pushing, and were looking back. Turning around to see what had caught the other's attention, the spirit was truly shocked. A large swarm was descending on the toppled guard, who was aggressively clawing at it's throat. The guards staples, the pieces of metal that held the flesh of it's gut together, was slowly being pulled off, met with screams from the guard. By this point, all spirits had stopped pushing the rock, watching the carnage that was occurring. It was insane to one spirit, the spirit that had pushed the rock to survive. What did they think they were doing? They were challenging the one with power, they were challenging their superior. This was wrong. Or, it was, until the spirit saw the face of the horned guard. Of course, there was anger and pain, depicted from it's misshapen mouth. But along with that, their was something else there, something you needed to feel. Underneath that blind fury, there was an overwhelming emotion.

Fear. The monster was afraid. He didn't have power, and the spirits were the ones who were stronger now. The spirit kneeled down, picking up one of the smaller thorns that snapped off the rock as they pushed. It cut into the spirit's hand, blood seeping out and turning it's pure white hands a crimson red. The spirit made it's way over to the toppled guard, the monstrosity, until it stood close to the guards stomach. The spirit, still clutching the thorn, jammed it into the guards side.

Blood slowly seeped out of the wound. The skin felt leathery to the touch, and it was clear that the wound was merely a pinprick to the giant. Slowly, the spirit pulled out the thorn, before stabbing again, before retracting the blade once more. The intensity and speed at which this occurred only increased, until the spirit was relentlessly jamming the blade into the guard, the holes caused by the blade being somehow familiar in appearance. The guards screams continued to reverberate throughout the area, and the spirit eventually managed it - their was now an fairly large hole in the guards side, blood pooling below the creature. The thrusting continued, until the inevitable occurred - the thorn had broken, digging itself in a hard object inside of the guard, most likely bone. Not wishing to stop it's assault, the spirit climbed up the guards bloated stomach, seeking to join in the staple removal, which had made extreme progress. Countless staples fell from the beast, landing all around it's body and leaving the stomach partially exposed. The spirit merely helped it's siblings, pulling the remaining giant pieces of metal along with its brethren. Even with all of them, there were at least several more staples to remove. But the knowledge that it was in control, that it had authority, the spirit knew that it -

... No. The spirit knew that he was superior to the tormentor that he stood upon. The fat creature was cocky, it allowed the spirits to assault it. The spirit could see clearly now - the guard must have choked while devouring on the bodies of the spirits. Even with all it's strength, it ignored the strongest factor in a battle - numbers beat everything and, with enough numbers, it didn't matter how strong an opponent was. The spirit decided to return to the hole he had created at the guards side and, after sliding from it's massive form carefully, began to tear the creatures side apart. The skin was far to tough to rip with his bear hands - even the thorn had difficulty doing so. Instead, the spirit tore the flesh from the inside, digging into the guard. The work was slow, and his hands were already bloody messes from wielding the thorn, but the spirit continued. The guard wasn't going to let them kill it so easily, and being inside of it would make it much harder for the guard to reach him.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Scarescrow
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Scarescrow Sociopath

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Somewhere near the small cage, a small spirit is watching the agony of the Overseer. The thing was just eating its kin like normal "candy". Although unable to understand the meaning of such word, the little spirit thinks it is suitable to call the Overseer action of choking himself by eating too much spirit as "choking on candy".

Turning around, the spirit now feels afraid when standing next to the tremendous cage compare to its size. A few moment ago, there were many of them, maybe million or more. But now, almost of those spirits are all inside the Horned Guard's jaw or belly. Leaving behind the little spirit and the remaining parts of tiny hands, legs, and heads lying everywhere. Some are even nailed into the layer of the cage when the creature was trying to capture them in his bare hand.

The spirit's primitive instinct told it to run, to seek somewhere safe, to hide from this danger. But where is safety in this place? Before it, the Horned Guard lies on the path. Behind it, the icy cage where blood is still flowing out like a small stream.

Realizing there are nowhere safe, the little spirit decided to take a final look around. It can see all. The noise from the spirit inside the Horned Guard's mouth. Other spirits that have been impaling by the thorn rock. Blood flowing out from every direction. But nothing matter now. There are nowhere safe.

The spirit's light started to fade out. But before fading out completely, little spirit take a look upon the monstrous being. It saw a small dim of light on the Horned Guard's belly, that is continuously becoming brighter and brighter.

Picking up a small fragment of rock, little spirit rushed toward the Horned Guard's body. But this time instead of fear, the little spirit was filled with hope, hoping for a chance to stay alive. So the little spirit helps other to pull out the large staple. But with each staple being pulled out, the more force is required to pull the next out. And the Horned Guard started to fight back, sending a dozen of them with each of his swings.

But there is no sign of any spirits stopping or fleeing. For they all knew by their primitive intelligence, if not hurry, then being impaled or eaten is their only option. After all, one side will have to pay the price with blood. The question is which one?
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tenma Tendo
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Tenma Tendo Thunder Pillar in Training

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The spirit, unlike most, watched in forced silence as those around it scrambled to and fro for freedom. In the midst of all the panic, the spirit remained loyal to its master and hurried over to the thorny boulders it knew all too well. Hands enveloped in a whitish blue, almost iridescent light, gripped the rough surface with little hesitation. Despite the chaos surrounding it, the spirit continued to work, much like a cog in a machine. It was such the fate for people like them. Even if they tried to escape, it would be fruitless as there was no way out. The boulders, the almost empty cage, and the gluttonous man that was their master, writhing in agony with those around him pulling on the pieces of metal that sewed the man's abundant stomach shut...they were surrounded on all sides, each side leading to death in the end. The spirit watched its brethren squirm around the choking man like ants preparing to feast. It made it understand even more how much lower they were in comparison; strength in numbers couldn't be more right in this situation.

So what was it going to do? Just act like nothing was happening, as it is currently, watch in hopes that something does happen, or assist in what seemed like a vain attempt of overthrowing their master? Thoughts of various degrees ran through the spirit's head, empty sockets being the only thing that could show emotion remaining still, almost unfocused.

Did it even deserve freedom? What would it do once it's free? Where would it go? This place is hell, that couldn't be argued, but it definitely seemed a lot better than venturing out to the unknown. Here it had shelter and a reason to live; was that not enough?

Far too conflicted, the spirit became unaware of its own body moving, unaware of the grotesque limbs and body parts of its brethren it ran through, and unaware of the risky move it decided to take on instinct; maybe strength in numbers was the key to success after all. It was only when the spirit latched onto the rusted staple that it realized where it was. It could see other spirits pulling on similar staples above and below it. This, of course sparked the spirit to do the same; if one couldn't beat them, then join them.

The spirit pulled at the rusty staple, putting everything into freeing the piece from its fatty prison. It yanked and struggled, until finally the metal popped out. It expected more blood to come out, but it was only a small drizzle as most of the other staples had already extinguished the blood from inside of their master. The spirit kept a tight hold on the man's flapping flesh in hopes of possibly tearing the skin.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Holy Soldier
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Holy Soldier Divine Justice

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The Horned Guard had white froth building at the corners of its mouth as it continued to choke. It watched as the defiant little weeds raced toward him, the bold worms had the lack-there-of balls to actually attack it. Unable to curse with the lob lodged in its throat, the Horned Guard angrily screamed as they started to climb all over him and rip out his staples.

“AAAAAH!” his cry was shrill with rage. A surviving Spirit managed to crawl from the hole in its cheek and grasping hand and toefuls of the creature’s tire-like neck fat, crawled down to its quivering breasts. It watched the Spirits who were assaulting it. Its eyes wide in shock. They were crazy, but as it glanced up at the Horned Guard it saw that their tactic was working. With hope suddenly flooding its small body, the Spirit climbed down to one of the staples below the Horned Guard’s last rib and pulled with all of its might—whatever that was. It arms felt numb and weak, and he pulled back, stretching them until they felt ready to snap like bands.

In a fit, the Horned Guard began slapping at the Spirits on its stomach, swatting them like bugs. The strength of his hand clapping against its gut caused it to quiver, and when it started to swing its gut left and right to dislodge the creatures, the wild actions caused the seam of its gut to instantly rip. The Horned Guard’s belly burst open, snapping open as red tubes and organs spilled like a river across the basaltic floor. Some Spirits were caught up in the bloody river that flowed like a current of red syrup, carrying them across the ground in a torrent of intestines. The blood was darker than what any living thing’s would be and it started to spurt and bubble from its throat as the Horned Guard now not only choked on its food, but its own blood. Gurgling and burping, the Horned Guard’s head flopped forward, its horn-like antennae drooping as its non-existent chin connected with its chest to drool crimson down its breasts. The weight of the creature caused it to fold over, slamming face first into its entrails.

There was a momentary silence as the Spirits would have the chance to realize their enemy had been vanquished. A small Spirit climbed from beneath its throat tire to crawl onto the back of the Horned Guard’s head. It stared down at the beast, stopping its foot on the back of its head to see if it were still alive.



The horrid sound had come from the Horned Guard’s ass, startling the Spirit to dive from its head into the bed of entrails. If the Spirits had thought The Maw couldn’t smell any worse. The flatulence of a dead Horned Guard was no Febreeze. The blood, entrails, and body of the creature turned a stark-white before its form collapsed into a white, powdery pile. An ethereal breeze blew the powder away, leaving behind 35 glowing pearls (5 pearls per Spirit). The Spirits who would touch them would feel that they weren’t solid. They quivered like jelly and had the consistency of a gelatin. Through the translucent orb, they could see a milky power swirling within with stars like the Milky Way twinkling around it. The pearls silently spoke to their instincts. A seam would appear on their faces as their mouths would open for the first time for the purpose of taking in these mysteriously delicious spheres. You had never seen them before but for some reason, your belly ached for them. Your tongue desired to taste them.

The Spirits who ate them would feel a change in their bodies. They would transform and they would find that they were larger perhaps the same height as the Horned Guard had been and their kin still trapped in the Spirit pin reached only their ankles. The death of the Horned Guard and the emergence of the strange pearls causing the lava pool of The Maw to stir. A brown, scaly fin rose out of the pool like that of a shark. It was three-feet tall and the lava rose in a massive hill over the back of a beast whose leathery wings unfurled from magma. The creature was coming, drawn by the essence it sensed had been spilled on the ground. It was coming to eat.



Souls Awarded




GM Note: You all have each acquired 5 Souls. With these 5 Souls you can fill out 5 sections of your CS. 5 sections of your CS. Not 4. Not 6. Five sections of your CS. It can be any section. Automatically, you are allowed either one weapon OR one ability. Not both. The first soul devoured grants you the Rank Ascendant 1. The remaining 4 souls will go toward your gains. So keep track of the amount of Souls in your Soul Count. Once you get 10 Souls, you'll be at Ascendant 2. And when you get to Ascendant 2, you'll have the choice to once again pick 1 weapon or 1 ability not both, and with how many other extra souls, you can continue filling out sections of your profile, revealing more mysterious background information about your creation. I find this way to be fun because you're not outright revealing to other writers "This is my character." Instead they get to watch your character gradually remember, evolve, however you want to do it. You must either drop your CSes in the OOC or PM them to me to be approved. Do not post your CS in the Character Thread if it hasn't been approved. I will be very disappointed in you.

Strategy: Since this is your first time in my game, and this game can be Dark Souls-y. If you see a monster out of your rank, and we can say that your characters will be able to "feel" when a monster is out of their rank like a very strong/powerful power signature, then you can either run or you can attempt to fight it. I will not tell you what will be the best method, nor will I give it away with my character. Just use your brain. Not all bosses have to be fought and not all bosses die in the same manner. Each boss has a weakness and you just might not have it at the moment or it may happen by random circumstances.
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by RyuShura
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RyuShura The Muted Dream

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...

A thunderous rumble suddenly shook off the little soul, fortunately, along with the staple it was have difficulty in procuring from the giant's belly. Crunching noises then filled its ears. What happened? It had focused so much on trying to contribute that it wasn't paying attention to the surroundings. Before it can figure out what was going on, the little soul was washed up in a sea of red, completely caught off guard by the dying uproar. It could barely keep itself from sinking, swirling in a jumbled mixture of vicious fluid and blood and organ. Its arms spun and grasped as the soul struggled to find any place within the swirling waves. This was an entirely new experience, though it can't admit any pleasantry about it. Eventually, with enough flapping its arms, the pale soul plopped out from the sewage of blood and organs, floating like noodle in the disgusting crimson broth. The tinge of blood sent an uncomfortable shiver up its spine. Not to mention the smell. It was ungodly, to say the least. It would make a face if it could, vomit even. Wanted to get out of the repugnant organ slush, it thrashed its legs in the liquid as it pushed itself out, using a fatty loop of entrails as a stepping stone.

It watched wide-eyed at the carnage, observing with a grim look as the monstrosity spluttered and soon went still. It looked down at its own hands in awe and terror, blood stained and shaking.

Did they do it? Was this the victory they had been fought for? It didn't seem like it...

Upon that thought, a darkness touched its very core, dragging it down with a breathlessness. What was this feeling? It didn't last long though. The heavy feeling was quickly replaced with a sharp pull, a sudden yank of its heart.

Turning, it saw within the discharged organs of the felled behemoth, a sort of incandescent mush. Was this what was left of their brethren, the dissolved tissue of the countless white corpses? Or the essence of the beast itself? Whatever it was, it felt a swell of power within the blooming bright gel. It seemed irresistible. Crawling over, it peered about the bloody ruin, seeing who else would claim this portion. There was others too, scattered among the bloody remains, so there was no need to fight over it. However, it seemed such a concern was needless. There were only a few who remained after the great battle, the dead and crushed piling around them like gruesome flowers.

In its heart it felt a bit of sorrow for the brethren. It was not themself, who instigated the battle. It merely followed. So did it really deserve the rewards?

Despite the dilemma, its own hands reached out without any hesitation. An urge pushed from within. It fought with the flaring sensation that threatened to consume its body, causing the limb to shake and unfurl. But it was too late. Before it could even realize, the little soul was already swallowing the substance, greedily slurping the glowing juice and letting out a sigh of pleasure with its new mouth. It felt warm and content, as if all its troubles melded away, a wide smile cracked across the pale head. Was this what the gigantic Horned glutton felt? No wonder it loved this taste, and grew fat of it. Suddenly, a flash of images struck its mind, too fast and dark to interpret. As it was overwhelmed by these odd pictures, of this gnarled black forest and a group of eerie spirits hidden in shrouds. Its face then started to contort and burn, letting out a steam of smoke, causing the little soul to let out a pained gasp as it buried itself within its hands to bear the unguarded metamorphosis of its mind and body.

Its body didn't change much, other than growing a little over twice its original size, but a drastic change was happening to its now bulging head. As if growing from the white form, a black bone started to be produced from the flesh, stretching out and forming a mask of sort. One resembled some type of canine creature. Then, out from the animistic shape produced another shard of bone, quickly forming something of a horn. What resulted in the end, was an incomplete identity, the rest of its body left untouched. Maybe this was just the first stage? It didn't know itself.

The soul looked down at its shivering hands, knowing only one word. "Luxek"

Before it could get a ground of its situation, the black world stirred once more, the lava pools across from it bloating like a massive skin boil before popping into a new monster. This one seemed drawn to the remains of the dead slaver, the whiteness that even it could not resist, letting out a grumbling sound as it wadded through the lava towards the glimmering mound. The wings began to flap hungrily, a cavernous snarl chiseling onto the creature's face.

Another one...?

Judging by the distance, there was still some time before it would arrive. The masked spirit looked around for any others to ask for their opinion, maneuvering around the bloody cliffside with a learned dexterity that it hadn't possessed before. It had been cast rather far away, but not far enough to reach before the new beast would. Noticing a strange lantern now hung at its side, a familiarity struck its nerves when it made contact, aiming it forth. But it was not a time to wonder, moving about as it shone the pale green light into nearby dark crevices, hoping to find any sort of friendly face. Something told it that it did not matter where it shone, that its light would only reach those they sought. It didn't know how to make of the changes, but one thing was clear. This was definitely interesting.

"Friends, allies, are you there...?" it called in a voice neither male or female.

...

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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tominas
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Tominas

Member Seen 5 yrs ago

Pulling lose the staple, a small, glowing form fell to the ground. Still bleeding from its chest, its hands, its back, it didn’t bother to glance around as it fell, seeing only the threat before it. Hyperventilating, the spirit would have roared, had it the ability, instead leaping back up into the monster’s stomach with a manic frenzy. It ripped and tore at the creature’s insides, crawling deeper and deeper as it clawed its way in, then the world went sideways.

Panicking, the spirit seized the nearest tube of intestine, as wide around as the soul’s own body, and clung on for dear life. There was a large, low rumble, fluid and viscera leaving the front of the Horned Guard’s husk in a rapid discharge before everything stopped.

Then all was dust, and the spirit was in the open. Looking down, it saw dozens, maybe a hundred of its kind were dead. More importantly, something was glowing a few feet from the spirit. Something tantalizing, delicious, something the spirit needed…

Stumbling down on all fours, the blood-drowned spirit took a tentatively crawled forward before diving face-first into the souls, devouring orb after orb, a fierce hunger taking the place of the ever present terror that it had been living in since it awoke here. Something resembling a tongue licked the creature’s chops as it’s body changed more with each soul consumed, the hunger only growing. Hands grew hard and scaly, the form’s legs became hooves, knees bending backwards as fur grew around its neck. An additional skull stretched through the creature’s back, seemingly incomplete in its transformation. A long tail stretched out behind it, seizing another orb and swallowing it whole. Soon enough, the spirit was gone, and in its place a beast larger than it had any memory of being appeared.

The creature panted heavily, using its new height to take stock of its surroundings. There was another large one, much like itself, though it stood on two legs. A green light seemed to show on the animal’s skeletal features, coaxing a low growl of confusion before it noticed that the biped was facing away from the beast. The biped had a skeletal face. It was familiar. Somehow, the creature knew that they were kin. It stumbled for a moment, not used to this many legs before adjusting. It seemed natural, just… different. Sniffing at the air, the beast coughed and snarled, staggering backwards for a moment at the repulsive last gift of the horned devil.

Then it looked up. Beyond the green light, a great maw stirred, a gigantic beast rising from the lava and soaring on umber wings towards the cluster of freshly forming ascendants. Before the beast could think, it felt the same primal horror screaming through its veins… but there was another one like it. Its face was the same, it… it would know the beast. It was kin, it was pack. It only had two legs, it wouldn’t be fast enough! More than that, others were growing, shaping, moulding from the carcass that was left by the demon. More kits.

A moment flashed before the beast’s eyes, the smell of sulfur and blood, flashes of smoke and the screams of men, blood on the someone’s hands, someone dying in it’s arms...

The animal’s skeletal face twisted as best it could into a ferocious snarl, jagged teeth parted as a gargling, panting growl dripped from its mouth. The tail hissed from above the partially formed skull as the beast leapt over the skull-faced biped, turning to protect it with the bulk of the animal’s mass. There was no time for memories. This was just like with the horned devil, except now there was an escape. They would have to escape, but the kits would have to shape up swiftly. There were no staples this time.

They would escape.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Zamokra41
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Zamokra41 Procrastinating Knight

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One after the other the tiny spirits scrambled and overwhelmed the great monster, akin to a myriad of glowing ants attempting to topple a giant. It too was doing its part, however little and insignificant, pulling on the rough edges of the metalic staple with as much strength as its thin, frail and muscle-lacking arms would allow, determined to bring its grim task to an end. It threw an eyeless glance around for just a fugitive moment and witnessed the masses of its translucent, furtive kin crawling all over the grotesque and repulsive fleshy mound of the horned creature's body, each trying to damage and wound it in however manner they could muster. This sight brought forth a ...new feeling inside. A feeling different from the accustomed dread, terror and worry to which it was intimately familiar with since the first perceived moments of conciousness within the dark cage. No, this feeling was far more pleasant and uplifting, a feeling of combating the most impossible, insurmountable odds, a feeling of overcoming the threats and obstacles with nothing but the limited, pathetic resources at hand, a feeling.... of hope. Yes, this feeling was making its warm and comforting presence known as it swelled within the thin, lackluster, glowing frame of its body, a feeling quite new yet oddly enough, evocative of an unsettling familiarity. Its pulling and effort grew, motivated by the hope that washed over it, mustering forces it itself would question the source of, until certainly enough, with a sudden gnashing sound of flesh tearing and blood spouting, the staple was successfully and violently plucked, the velocity of the sudden motion sending it backwards in an arc, pulling the still clinging fragile hands which in turn pulled the rest of its being after it, sending the frail being tumbling backwards until it landed on its back on the bulging, pulsating fleshy surface.

If it had a mouth it would smile, if it had the strength it would raise its fist in a glorious, defiant moment, if it had a voice it would shout and scream a roar that would call the attention of all to its small and perhaps insignificant, yet nonetheless strangely uplifting, moment of victory. Alas, fate it would seem is a fickle and tormenting mistress, as the brief moment of glory was rudely cut even shorter by the spasms and sudden bouts of movement from the assaulted monster as it began to flail its grim, black metal covered clawed hands, striking at its belly and smearing the grisly remains of the many tiny, glowing beings that were unfortunate enough to be subjected to the direct blows. Some were thrown off-balance by the shock-wave and trepidation of the leathery, bulging fleshy mass of its belly, resulting from the aftermath of the monster's struggle. It, too was fortunate enough to escape a sudden demise, tumbling and tossing until it inevitably fell on the hard, rocky surface of the ground beneath in a similar manner to when it first emerged from the cage. Was this to be the end? Was all his struggle and the struggle of its kin in vain after all? It would seem not, as sure enough the great, shambling, horned monstrosity had fallen, the fleshy flaps of its once protruding, bulging and sagging belly had been violently ripped, a stream of dark crimson fluids of oil-like consistency flew from its beastly body, pulling along with it a mass of organs, sinew and other viscera along with whatever furtive, tiny spirits were left fortunate enough to escape their earlier demise yet unfortunate enough to be caught in the ghastly torrent of the monster's demise.

Drowning in the hellish fluids of the great monster's grim insides would have been most tragic, luckily it had been spared such a cruel twist of fate as it found itself, along with a small number of others of its kin, dragging its broken, weaken form across the now heavily stained ground. It saw, how the grotesque, gargantuan husk of the creature, along with the mass of organic matter and dark fluids had turned to a sudden, pure white coloration, becoming powder-like in consistency only for the presence of an unknown breeze to blow it away in all directions, turning the very existence of the colossal monstrosity into nothing but a recent, horrid, nightmare-like memory.

And then it saw it...

Left behind the massacre were a number of glowing, white orbs scattered all around the hellish ground, some of its kin already reaching for them as if that was their purpose all along. It too felt this... animal-like, instinctive urge to crawl across the once grimy surface to the nearest sphere, holding it in its twig-like arms and gazing upon it glowing surface. A number of new feelings and sensations washed over it, feelings of curiosity, intense need, will of survival, fear and worried joy, all mixed into a twisted noise that overwhelmed the now trembling, furtive frame of the spirit. Before its crumbling mind had even the slightest chance of comprehending the events that unfolded, it found itself with a now gaping, hungering maw of a mouth forming on the featureless surface of its face, gorging greedily and insatiably on the orb until there was nothing but a few strands and wisps of dust left in its wake. Satisfaction would have been predictable, but what followed was the feeling of its frame being pulled and torn into all directions, sprawling on its back with spasms and unconformable twitching as a vast array of images began playing out in front of its mind's eye. It saw a myriad of scenes. Scenes of nebulous, dark skies dotted with an impossible amount of starts; scenes of men and women clad in metal-like frames, marching through cold, iron hallways with a vast array of weapons in hand; scenes of disturbingly familiar faces dancing and dissipating before it had a chance to identify them; scenes of horrid, abominable, cyclopean horrors with saurian-like eyes, taloned appendices, sharp-toothed maws and slimy, grotesque tendrils all flailing, reaching and grasping for unfortunate humanoids to devour in a most grisly manner. All these scenes and more played out through its head, bringing along broken pieces of a puzzling, long-forgotten memory of a past life; all while its physical body experienced a metamorphosis. Its once furtive and frail form had grown in size and muscles started to make their presence, defining an athletic form which soon found itself encased in a suit of black and grey metal, with a translucent blue glow emanating from the visor of its helm and a few other parts of its reborn body.

It... No... HE felt the familiar touch of his armor, the known sensation of his weapon tightly clutched in his hand. He felt how right and fitting it was.. "Sigma..." he muttered to himself over and over, a single word which he remembered defined him, a title that refereed to himself specifically. From this sudden metamorphosis he rose, his gaze landing on the sound of a non-distinct creature calling out for... allies? It witnessed the humanoid like-creature, partially bathed in an eerie green light which only brought attention to its horned, canine-like skull, the appearance of which made him tense up and assume a guarded stance. Next to this being it saw a more horrid creature, the makings of which appeared to be formed from a number of different animals mashed together in an abhorrent abomination of sorts, with hooves, claws, a skull-like animalistic head and a second at the end of a long, scaly tail. The appearance of the second creature caused him to feel animosity and hostility "E..engaging target.." he muttered, his muffled, reverberating, artificial-like voice speaking those words from pure instinct, as natural as breathing. He became mobile, advancing towards his perceived target, the sharp metal blade in his hand was at the ready to spill the blood and split the monstrous creature's body into pieces. Yet he stopped, suddenly as a new... far more terrifying presence made itself felt in the area, emerging, ebony leathery wings first from the glowing river of molten lava. He glanced back at the pair of creatures from before, only now realizing that... were they once kin? Were they also once furtive, wispy spirits that had undergone a transformation metamorphosis and regained vestiges of their probable past lives?

A loud, blood-curling roar interrupted his thoughts, his attention once again focusing on the great bestial monster that emerged from the lake of fire. Questions would have to come later, a decision had to be made.

Fight or flight?
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tenma Tendo
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Tenma Tendo Thunder Pillar in Training

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The spirit held onto the fatty flesh of its master for dear life as said man let out a scream filled with rage and hatred. If they weren't able to get out of this, they would probably be dead for sure; how the Horned Guard planned to do it, the spirit was unsure. Well, it was unsure until it started to feel the intense pulsation coming from it's right. With no time to actually react, the spirit felt itself being whisked away by a sea of dark red. It couldn't see anything, not even the ground, that is, until contact was made with a squishy sponge-like surface that managed to cushion its fall. It originally thought it to be one of the Horned Guard's organs, but in actually it was it's fallen brethren, who had happened to be there at the time of their demise.

Horror covered most of the spirit's lacking face, as it quickly scampered off the dead spirits and clapped its hand together, almost resembling a prayer. That could have been it, but now, this spirit was one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately a price came with surviving, as the spirit watched in cold silence as the Horned Guard began to gurgle and choke on his own blood, its head and body folding into and toppling over himself. It was a sight that the spirit never expected it would see. Just a few minutes ago, the same guard had been torturing them, putting them though mindless labor for the sake of his own enjoyment. But now, he was receiving all of the karma that had built up towards him. The spirit couldn't help but feel bad, not for the agonizing pain the horned guard was being put through, but rather, what the surviving spirits would do after this; it was all it could think about.

Before it had the chance to even react to the death of its master, a disgusting noise followed by a pungent odor assaulted the spirit's senses, to the point that a wave of dizziness washed over the spirit of a few seconds. The blood and inner organs were already pretty bad, but this put it to a whole other level; one the spirit didn't even think was possible.

Too disgusted to get any closer to the putrid stench of its master, the spirit watched from afar as the Horned Guard turned a powdery white before disintegrated from its prior form. As the powder began to scatter about, the spirit caught sight of a few glittery orbs of light where the evil man had use to be. Unaware of what they actually were, the spirit could see its brethren scarfing down on the quickly dwindling orbs. And unbeknownst to itself, the spirit's body moved on its own, unable to stop its desire to receive it's fill too. It was almost as if the orbs of light were calling out to it with it's sheen and surprisingly delectable shape.

Now directly in front of the milky orbs, the spirit wasted no time and gave in to its desires, dropping down to its knees and choking down one orb at a time, savoring the flavor that came with each one. One by one, it..wait no...she continued, but by the time she reached five, her body was not what it last remembers.

Alas, her glowing white skin was replaced with similar milky white skin, although not glowing. Empty sockets for eyes became larger silver, or where they light melon, colored eyes. There came a nose and a mouth, and even clothing that made her more than easy to spot in what was now more of a puddle than a sea of blood. And while all of those things had been striking, what surprised the girl the most had to be her hair. It was wild, white, and fairly long. Did consuming those orbs really add all of this to her?

Still attempting to understand what just happened to her body, the girl looked up to the sound of an androgynous voice followed by a more animistic growl and a robotic hum. Her eyes first landed on the one holding up what appeared to be a lantern emitting a green glow. Other than their skeletal face and more defined body, the one with the lantern didn't look any different from their previous forms. They were calling for allies...and by allies, did that include her?

Next was yet another skeletal being, except this one was much more akin to a beast than what the spirits originally use to look like. It was scaly and on all fours, almost looked as if it was wearing armor. It's sunken green eyes were more than enough to tell the girl to keep her distance.

Lastly came a mechanic man, covered entire out of armor. She couldn't see a face, not any parts of his body...only a voice than barely sounded human. They way it vibrated just seemed different in comparison; maybe due that mask he was wearing?

Unsure of it herself, the girl that has previously been on her knees stood, only to fall back down a few seconds afterwards; thankfully her landing was dry. Unable to comprehend what was happening, the girl's gloved hand slowly moved across the side of her body. By the time she reached her lower back, she let out a wince before pulling back her black cloak and revealing a pure white, bushy tail. Was this why she was having a hard time standing? Well, she's never had a tail before, so that could be the reason; it's very much possible that it could be affecting her balance.

Lowering her head in slight frustration, the fox girl reached up only to rub again a pair of ears; most definitely hers. So she wasn't as humanoid as she expected, and it was proving a disadvantage to her from the get go...great.

Looking back up at the others there to see if they could possibly help her out, she was met with the sight of the mechanical man rushing toward the four-legged beast, blade in hand. So, where they not allies? Hadn't they just defeated the Horned Guard mere minutes ago together? Too confused by the circumstances, when yet another creature emerged from the rippling lava, the girl let out an icy breath she hadn't known she'd been holding in. What emerged already started coming for them...they had to get moving quick!

And with that, the fox attempted to get up again, this time with much more success. Her frame involuntary shook as her tail and ears shot straight up, as if struggling to keep her balanced. Alas, as she took a few steps back, the girl stumbled backwards, landing right on her bottom...
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Duoya
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Duoya

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The soul dug into the guard's side, clawing at the fatty tissue and doing it's best to damage the monster before him. It's brethren were clawing at it from above, metal staples falling all around the gigantic form and slightly revealing exposed tissue. The spirit was completely oblivious to this, however, as it was already headfirst into the sizable wound he was digging out, almost as if he was trying to plunge himself into the guard itself. Of course, his efforts were obviously minor - you cold even say they were negligible. Compared to the swarm of light pulling apart the monstrous guard, the spirit doing his best to dig into the creature was practically unnoticeable. Maybe that was why, with an insane amount of force, the guard began to swat the various spirits away with great force, slamming down on it's weakened gut. It succeeded in doing so, but suffered a dire consequence. Slamming it's hand down with force the spirit could hardly even imagine, the creature failed in crushing one of it's attackers - instead, the stomach of the guard burst like an overripe fruit from the pressure, spewing it's disgusting contents and a horrid smell over the whole area. Along with this, it also shot out the spirit, who was nearly chest-deep with a small pile of flesh by his side. While the stench persisted, the contents slowly became less foul - they condensed, seemed to collapse in on itself, all the while taking on the same incandescent shade as the spirits themselves. A breeze of unknown origin blew by, taking the majority of the stench and causing the dust to float away into the air, becoming nonexistent.

Their, in what once was their tormentor and killer, laid nearly 3 dozen small, beautiful white pearls. They were pure, a far-cry from the disgusting beast it was once a part of. Perhaps they were something it stole? But to be honest, the spirit couldn't care less. He only knew one thing - he wanted them. The spirit saw the others make movements towards the orbs, and the spirit decided to take a portion of five souls - a fair share. After all, he didn't want to fight these creatures - they were a part of the same group, the same pack.

The same hive.

As he stared at the orbs, an incredibly painful sensation rocked the spirits body. His head felt as if it was splitting open, tearing apart at the very seams. Just as his mouth opened for the first time, he greedily shoved the first pearl in his gullet. After that, another followed, and again, and again, until all five disappeared. The spirit was content, but quickly, he curled on the ground in a fetal position, as a sense of pain rocked it's body. It wasn't unbearable, but was very uncomfortable - like being heavily medicated and getting hurt. You could feel it, but didn't really care. The pain permeated his entire body, as if each individual organ in his body was being consumed all at once. All the while, his shine progressively dulled, until it was completely gone and he was just a pale humanoid. As suddenly as it came, the pain subsided, and his mind was gifted two pearls of information. His name was Troy Crane, and he was dead. Everything beyond that was just as much of a blur as it was before he consumed the souls, and Troy couldn't focus on it no matter how much he tried. Slowly, he rose to his feet, slightly weaker than he was before consuming the souls. His transformation completed itself in the span of about 10 seconds. He was now more than he was a minute ago. A slight afterglow followed, an ecstasy that Troy had never experienced. It was the feeling of having just eaten a soul.

It was beautiful, in every sense of the word. Troy relished every facet of it.

The others had undergone a similar transformation. One of them called out to the others.

"Friends, allies, are you there...?"

The voice was androgynous, belonging to neither a male or female. Turning, the origin was revealed - one of the spirits, although which one it was originally was impossible to tell, was calling out to the others. It was far larger than they had been previously, but was nearly identical besides two features. It's face was covered by some strange mask, and the spirit also held a stick with a lantern on the end. Behind the masked spirit stood a more bestial one, with skeletal features and on four limbs. It must have been another ally, and was showing aggression towards what was behind Troy. Turning towards the pool of lava, a great distance away, a massive column of lava was falling back to the pool, as if something had come out suddenly and displaced the liquid. While Troy thought that a creature capable of such a feat was impossible to even exist, there was a gigantic monster flying in the air, just above the surface. It was even larger than the horned guard, and seemed even more dangerous. Considering the only reason they defeated the guard was because of a lucky accident, Troy was not willing to take the chances with something so dangerous. Troy turned back, facing away from the creature. There was no chance in hell they could take it. Along with the two other spirits, there also was a man in some mechanical suit of armor, deliberating on the course of action they would take. Another was a man seemingly made of metal, who Troy and not been paying attention to up to this point.

A sound reached Troy's newly formed ears, the sound of someone falling to the ground. Another humanoid, obviously female, with several animal features. She was currently looking at her tail, and finally noticed the giant monster headed right towards them. She tried to rise to her feet again, and managed several steps, before falling to the ground. While the beast was far away, it would catch up at this rate...

Troy quickly made his way towards the girl, whom he was relatively close to. He helped her to her feet, and kept her arm around his shoulder in order to provide balance. He would have preferred to carry her since it would be faster, but his transformation seemed to weaken his strength, so he was forced to help support her until she could carry herself. Or course, h wanted to leave her behind, ensure his escape would be quicker... but this woman was part of the hive, and the flying creature was fairly far away. Troy had a high chance of escape no matter what, so helping the survival of the hive was currently the highest priority. Having helped the woman to her feet, Troy seemingly hissed from his mouth a voice that seemed to consist of thousands of individual, small speakers, and was somewhat high-pitched when compared to the armored and masked spirit.

"We should escape before that... thing catches us..."

Troy had difficulty speaking, having lacked a mouth before and the strange nature of his biology making his speech slurred and guttural. Troy turned began to move forwards, away from the lava lake and their distant pursuer. The weight of the woman was impossible to discern, but she was not too difficult to support, even with Troy's weakness. She could almost certainly feel the writhing creatures just below Troy's skin, doing their best to push the pair forwards. Troy moved at a slow pace, mainly to allow the woman to get used to her new body and relieve him of helping her.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Scarescrow
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Scarescrow Sociopath

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Standing on the lava ground, where once lies the body of the Horned Guard, the spirit was filled with nothing except for delight for its life. But instead of the massive body of the Guard, the little spirit found five small orbs. Suddenly a strange feeling urges it to eat it, to devour it before other of it kind. "Don't share it, just eat it" was the little spirit instincts final order before evolving into a great hunger. And for the little spirit, this hunger was even scarier compared to the Horned Guard

Being a primitive being with almost no sense of control over its instinct, the little spirit sprint as fast as he could toward those orbs, even faster than before. The wind blows in the opposite direction of the little spirit, but it didn't care. The only goal for it was to reach those orbs. But when it reaches there, the number of the orbs had been reduced from more than a dozen to only the last five scattered on the ground. And so the little spirit rush to those orbs without caring about those new giants that exist out of nowhere

Holding those orbs in its arms, the little spirit can feel its body rushing it to swallow. Slowly, the little spirit stretching its face, to reveal a small thin line across its mouth. But little spirit to small was too small compared to the orb that the spirit holds. So the spirit thinks of a way, it put both of its hand in its jaw and stretch it wide open. It was a painful process, fill with the sound of an animal being tortured to death. Although primitive, the little spirit was successful to put all those orbs in its mouth. With blood still flowing from the end of its jaw, the little spirit could felt there is something different happening in its body.

It skin started to fade out, became something similar to the ground around it. It height increase, taller to compared to those new being that came out of nowhere. And with it, the rocky figure realize there is a bond between it and the earth, to the ground beneath it. And with it, a name came to its mind, Bal. Look around, Bal can see a metallic figure but smaller compared to Bal holding a stick, a female with a huge pair of ears compared to her body holding a ball, a faceless skinny figure, a monster of some sort, and a human with a skull on his head. But Bal notices another being that is far fiercer than him. It has big wings, skin covered by dark scales, lava coming from its mouth, and a huge tale. The being emerged its colossal body out of the lava to move to the ground, creating a huge impact on the earth with each time it walks. Lava that still remains on its back flow downward, creating many small streams flowing down on both sides of the creature. The creature started flapping its wing to fly while running forward to fill its mouth with a dozen spirits. For being like it, it is simply the strongest do what it wants. But for Bal, even though his intelligent has not increased significantly, he was angered by this flying lizard's action for killing the weaker. Although lacking vocal chord, Bal still creates a loud noise in his throat, sending a challenge against the new monster.

Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Holy Soldier
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Holy Soldier Divine Justice

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The Spirit’s hands were against its face after slurping down five of the mysterious spheres. It felt a power pulsing within its gut, filling its body and forcing it to expand. The Spirit grew tall. The surviving white Spirits at its feet were the size of a bunny standing on its haunches by the time it grew to its six-foot-three height. Its skin turned black, body thickened, becoming shapely with hardened muscle. Passing through its skin were black fibers that wove and tightened about its body into a suit, so far foreign to this world. Lowering its hands from its face, its face was still white—perhaps lingering pigmentation from its spirit form. No longer was it and it, it was a he.

Black eyes roved down his body and hands pressed and touched all over the suit that covered it. Lifting one foot and then the other, he felt the weight of the boots on his feet. His head rose, eyes following to pass over the six other Spirits who had greedily devoured the strange spheres. They too had turned into something. What? He did not know. Standing before him and gazing up at him like a child was a white spirit, silently and curiously watching him. The ascendant bent the knee, slowly lowering to one knee as he felt his weight. He knelt before the spirit and held out his hand to the creature as it raised its own hand to touch his palm. He smiled, and then he felt sad. Why couldn’t the frail creature had been like them? It was weak. Nameless. It was nothing. It was what he used to be.

Friends, allies, are you there…?

The man peered over his shoulder to see a strange creature holding a lantern. Although the creature did not look like him, he knew they were kin. They were all souls before the Horned Guard died.

“I am,” he heard himself say though the voice had not left his lips. It hummed from his very being. It was low and masculine. It sounded smooth yet electronic.

E..engaging target..

The voice hadn’t been familiar, but the statement had. He looked over to see a man also wearing a suit of some sort, readying a blade against one of their comrades. His eyes widened and he stood in shock.

“What are you doing? Stop!” he ordered sternly. He gave an order…had he been a commander of some sort before? Captain…

The disturbance in the lava pit stopped the assailant. Captain gazed along with the others at the horn that surfaced and cut through the vibrant yellow and orange pool. The lava rose in a wave that threatened to crash against the land. Wings unfurled from the lake, revealing just how colossal the creature who had been stirred had been. The power…he felt the creature’s power bombard him in waves. It made his heart rapidly hammer in his chest and his breath thin. It was suffocating.

We should escape before that…thing catches us…

Captain had been thinking the same thing. He made a motion to run, but then remembered the spirit who obliviously continued to stand there. It looked so helpless. He gazed over at the pin of hundreds of thousands more. He couldn’t save them all, but he could save this one. Captain knelt and delicately picked up the Spirit within his hands and laid it across his shoulder.

“Hold onto me,” he told it before he started to quickly follow after the bug-face and the strange tailed-woman he carried along.




Those who decided to run would come to a stone bridge stretching several yards across an ocean of sulfur. There was a figure on the bridge, draped in black and holding a staff with a red burning crystal. His voice projected loudly, resonating throughout the bubbling cavern for them to hear:

“This way! I will show you the way out!”

Could they trust him? Could they afford not to? The man vanished into a black wisp and bursting from the wisp was a red crow.



The bird cried so they could follow its voice through the inevitable chaos. The entire cavern was waking up. Crawling across the ceiling and down the walls were fleshy creatures, awakened by the spilling of souls and the awakening of their lord. Blood poured from their bodies, latching onto the ceiling like a thread as thirty of the eight-armed creatures descended from the ceiling to ambush the ascendants on the bridge. There were ten behind them, ten in front of them, and ten skittering beneath the bridge where the ascendants couldn’t see them. They had the body of a man and a woman. Their hips were sensually rounded and swayed as they crept toward the ascendants with pointed toes like a dancer. Hunger dripped from their mouths that parted, revealing yellow and jagged teeth. One started to scream, and the rest chorused in, filling the air with shrill and unbearable screeches.

Those who remained behind to confront the Lava Lord…




GM Note: I need to know whose characters are remaining behind to confront the lava lord, so please "mention me" if you plan to do so. Just a warning to those naively following along. I am a GM. Similar to a DM. I am not your friend in this game. I am guiding the story, but certain decisions players make will always have consequences whether they be good or bad. If your character dies, then they will start all over as a Spirit, and will have to wait until the next scenario or until the group comes across Spirits again. Yes; you also lose ALL of your souls. It's usually faster to wait until the next scenario, but you never know. Take this warning into consideration as you make logical decisions throughout the game. You also cannot rely on my PC to always help you make logical decisions. He is expendable.

Strategy: There are a total of 30 Fleshnids on the bridge. They are Ascendant 1 much like yourselves. How you go about defeating them is up to you all. HOWEVER, the longer you remain on the bridge, the more Fleshnids will arrive. For each turn the group remains on the bridge and doesn't advance, I will add 30 more Fleshnids. Yes, they're like a serious pest problem.
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by RyuShura
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RyuShura The Muted Dream

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@Tominas@Holy Soldier@Scarescrow@Duoya@Tenma Tendo
...

Luxek stood still from shock when a large figure crossed over them in from the darkness, hissing and snarling as its mighty tail whipped through the air and pointed savagely at the incoming lava titan. The masked spirit then made a happy tune, both from not being eaten right then and at the fact that it seemed this creature, no this friend, did not wish to hurt them, but protect them. For some reason they felt a bond, a familiarity. The similarity in their masks helped connect them, but no, Luxek felt something much deeper between the two.

The masked spirit reached out with a meek hand, caressing the bumpy hide, "Thank you, dear friend..."

In that same moment, another unknown spirit rushed out towards the massive thing, the thin spirit letting out a short gasp. It thought how hopeless such an ideal that was, to wage battle against the titanic foe, but at the same, how brave and heroic such a victory must be. They felt a compulsion to follow, to claim such accolades, to continue towards these interesting developments. But the rage of battle tempered has since in their heart after slaying the Horned one, the wicked slaver. All that was left was a sadness and emptiness like none other. The little spirit felt a slight repulsion of the world around as the lava beast rose, towering over as it crept closer to them and the pen of countless helpless spirits. There was definitely a level of power between them and the creature that felt tangible, crushing even. They wanted to rush out and help defend the victims, those once just like them, from becoming prey to yet another savage monstrosity. But going out would mean death and so Luxek stilled her hands with a heavy heart. They would choose turn and run today, become what they hated the most, and in return, Luxek vowed to avenge this sacrifice over and over.

A voice interrupted their sullen thoughts.

"I am."

Luxek immediately turned towards the voice as another approached from the darkness, lifting and shining the green-flamed lantern to see a hollow, solemn-faced man.

The masked spirit chimed again, their vigor renewed. With an excited jump, they urging the great bone-headed beast with them as they moved after the fleeting figure. From the way he moved, it seemed he had some semblance of plan. If not, being together would prove more effective if fighting the lava beast would become unavoidable.

"There, other friends! Others who do not wish to fight. Come, let us escape all this violence..."

The masked one followed along with a hop and skip across the chasm, watching in awe as this 'leader' of theirs moved without hesitation, without deliberation the consequences of his choices, carrying their weight even though it would slow him down. Selflessly, he helped the others worse off than himself. This was a trait Luxek greatly appreciated and respected. They did not care who it was they helped, what they looked like or otherwise, so long as they would avoid anymore bloodshed.

"Hello, nice to meet you, dear friends." Luxek would say to the new faces, speaking in their soft voice, "There is much yet we don't know, but for now, let us agree to get along. I will do my best."

And so they all ran, crossing to a nearby a narrow bridge of stone over a smoking cavern that resembled a ceaseless smoking lake. It didn't seem very safe, but they didn't have much of a choice. Soon enough, there was a black figure at the other end, one who claimed to know the way to safety, shaping into a crimsoned-colored crow and began screeching very, very loudly. Why? Luxek would think, a little annoyed by the shrill screeching. But the answer was quickly given once Luxek caught figures in the light of the lantern, bloody beings scuttling down the walls, and up from below, like a swarm of insects. Their blackened eyes were mad, and their expressions were twisted in grisly hunger. That was enough for the masked spirit to move to action.

It needed to be brave too, like the Captain, if they wanted to be of any use to their friends.

"I will attempt to block one side!" The masked spirit yelled as they stepped out to the eastern side of the bridge, leaning over and blowing into their lantern with an instinctual knowledge.

They bellowed and great phantasmic flames were cast out of the lantern in a long arc, burning a green trail along the stone walls. While they appeared real as any other fire, these were merely an illusion to trick them. With any luck, it would deter the maddened ones even just a short moment. Afterwards, they pointed again before bellowing another arc. "Go, dear friends, follow the sound of the bird! I don't think it will stay long! I will follow after I finish this blockage...!"

...
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Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Scarescrow
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Scarescrow Sociopath

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Bal stood still, seeing the human holding a lantern ran, along with the flying metallic being. His instinct told him to do the same, to fled with those being, to save his life. To survive was every being's first choice, but not Bal. His urge to protect weaker being has overridden his primitive instinct. And after him was a sea of small spirits. Most of them fled when they first see the monster coming out from the lake. But they weren't fast enough compared to the monster speed. And some stood there, doing nothing. It seems that they are gazing in something inevitable. To be eaten by larger being. And so will Bal be, if he doesn't run before it is too late.

That thought keeps circling in Bal's mind, rewinding like such thing is going to happen. His instinct urges him to run, or the result will similar to those remaining in the Horned Guard's mouth. Bal's hand started to be shaken without control. The outcome of him staying is too large for any being to bear.

Looking at both of his hand, Bal can see how it changes, how he had changed. Image of how he used to start to rewind in his head. Before he changed, he was weak and vulnerable. Fear was his only emotions. He used to be similar to those little spirits that are fleeing, looking for cover. But that incident changed him. But it came with a price. How many of his kin had died instead of him? How many bloods had spilled in order to make that sacrifice?

Bal didn't know what is the answer to those question, but he knew what he had to do. Fear of being eaten was gone, replaced by something else, something abstract. It is maybe futile to hope to defeat such monster, but maybe Bal could buy enough time for those small spirits to run. So Bal ran toward the monster, leaving behind a word in his position. The word was unrecognizable, but Bal knew what it meant. It meant "duty."

@Holy Soldier




Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tenma Tendo
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Tenma Tendo Thunder Pillar in Training

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The girl let out a hiss of pain as her body collided with the ground once again. What was going on? Why couldn't she move properly? Was it because of the sudden transformation? Or maybe the fear of the approaching beast was getting to her? Regardless, the fox's face remained still, as she couldn't let herself show fear at a time like this. All that mattered what getting out of this alive!

As she was struggling to get herself back up, another hand reached out and helped her out, swinging her arm over his shoulder to provide support. Getting a better look at her supporter, the girl couldn't help but stare in surprise for a moment. This...man kept most of his qualities as a spirit, save for the head up, which had an opening swarming in a never ending sea of bugs of all sorts. It didn't disgust her as much as it should have, seeing as this man was actually helping her out instead of running away to fend for himself. It was actually pretty heroic in her eyes.

Before she had the chance to thank the man for helping her, he stated the obvious in order to build urgency. It was a little hard to discern where his voice was actually coming from, but the girl nodded nonetheless.

"...Y-Yes...Thank you..." She whispered, only to freeze at the sound of her own voice. Was...was that really her talking just now? The voice had a childlike tone to it, filled with innocence, but also having a wise air about it. It was definitely something she would have to get use to.

And with that, the two began their slow but steady trek to escape. She couldn't help but feel guilt for basically forcing this man to help her out, but what was done is done. Only one thing matters, and that's escape.

She didn't want to mention it, but she could practically feel the bugs underneath the man's skin, pushing on her arm; even they were struggling to ensure their safety as well. The fox wasn't planning on letting them down either, seeing as she was carefully taking her steps. There were times when her concentration was broken, as the androgynous figure began to speak to the whole group that decided to escape. A simple nod was all she received from the fox as she went back to her walking.

Eventually the small group made it to what looked like a bridge, crossing over a large sea of smoke. By that time, the girl had grown much more confident in her steps. In fact she retracted away from the man assisting her, her gloved hand now being on his shoulder.

"Thank you...I think I should be fine now, with the generous help of you and your little friends..." She spoke again, giving a small nod of appreciation before looking ahead to see a figure cloaked in black calling out to them? What was that all about? Could this person be trusted to help them out? What they were in cahoots with the Horned Guard and wanted to get them killed? All these thoughts rushed through the girl's head, but before she had a chance to decide, the figure shifted into a blood colored bird and flew off, screeching loudly to give off its location; unfortunately the girl couldn't help but feel that it was giving away their location to everyone instead... Ears perking up at the sound, the girl knew for sure that she would be able to help lead the others in the right direction if they lost sight of the bird...well, if they even were planning on going with the bird.

The sound of scuttling bugs caught her attention, as she was now looking around, eyes wide as she was now looking at disgusting, eight limb, monsters crawl around them in all directions. Once one screamed, the rest followed, as they appeared to be calling more to feast on them. The sound was rather painful, but the fox had to bare through it to get out of this situation.

She could only watch in awe as the androgynous figure vowed to take care of one of the sides, using their lantern to stop them. She was unsure if a tactic like that would work well in their favor, but the fox knew well enough that she couldn't just leave them to take care of this on their own.

Looking back at the man that helped her earlier, the girl leaned forward.
"...I'm going to go help her...if you know you can't do anything, then please run away." She wanted to repay the man for helping her...but this seemed like the only thing she could do at the moment.

"...Allow me to assist." She spoke out to the open as she pressed her fingertips together and moved to face off the group of monsters behind them. Slowly pulling her fingers apart, a shimmery orb began to form in between her hands, growing up to the size of her head before she grabbed it. The orb was cold to the touch, despite the fire that surrounded them. She knew that she wasn't cut out for this, especially since her ice could very well melt in seconds, but she had to contribute in some way. All they've been doing is helping her and the others, now it's her turn to help out.

The girl raised the orb up with one hand, and held two fingers out with the other. She pointed to the ground and squeezed the orb, watching as ice shot out from her fingertips, creating a line of sorts that the beast shouldn't past. She then began to freeze the rest of the ground with the utmost speed, hoping that she would be able to trap a few of them with her ice. She didn't hold back, sending ice to the ground up, as if wanting to freeze any part of the swarming beasts to slow them down. She could only hope that she could keep this up so that the others could escape...

@Duoya@RyuShura
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Duoya
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Duoya

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The others seemed to listen to Troy's suggestion, as they began to march away from the monstrosity approaching. Since his back was turned and he had no intention of looking behind him, Troy never saw the form of Bal, or his decision to confront the beast and buy time for the others. Instead, he focused on holding the girl up - she obviously wasn't heavy compared to some of the others, but the 20 milligram insects under his skin struggled to support her weight along with his own. They were slower than the others, but luckily, the group was considerate enough to slow down for the pair once they were out of sight of the beast. This was the time that Troy looked over his companions.

The masked spirit held a large, burning lantern, and was similar to Troy in that he kept many features of a spirit. The next was the girl he was carrying, obviously the least monstrous of them all... but also the most shocked. She must have had trouble getting used to her body... The thought caused Troy to briefly wonder how he managed to be so good at walking and moving, despite his entire physiology being changed and lacking muscles... Well, at the very least, the girl was polite enough to thank him for the help. When she expressed her thanks, Troy simply nodded and continued the march, doing his best to keep up with the others. The beast was long and skeletal, the legs clearly being made to cut and tear through flesh and sinew. Troy did his best to keep away from it. The man in armor, the fool that nearly engaged in combat with the flying monster - he was of average height, and seemed to move almost robotically... Speaking of which, the last individual was the robot man, whom Troy honestly didn't pay much attention to - he was near the lead of the party, and Troy was concentrating on supporting the girl.

The group traveled for a short period of time, eventually finding the stone bridge. They had entered the cavern, and Troy could feel the insects in his body tense slightly at the sight of the man in the center. He was robed in black cloth, which covered his face - all that could be seen was the glowing red staff he held, and the skin on his hands. Troy brief reached his free hand, which he regained after the girl started to just use his shoulder for support. Her words stopped him just as his hand reached the hole in his face.

"Thank you...I think I should be fine now, with the generous help of you and your little friends..."

The voice was briefly cut off when she also noticed the man, and she stepped away from Troy, finally regaining her balance and ability to walk. The insects under Troy's skin wiggled gratefully, thankful to be free of the extra weight. Troy kept the hand near his face tensed, ready to throw at a moments notice, when he called out.

“This way! I will show you the way out!”

Troy was still tense, not believing this man for a second - nothing in this hell was nice, the only thing he could rely on was the group. Unfortunately, the man decided to leave them, having turned into the form of a crimson bird, before taking flight and unleashing a piercing shriek. It continued to do so as it flew, seemingly alerting the cavern to it's presence... Dammit... Troy watched as the spindly legs of the creatures climbed down slowly from the ceiling, unaware of the ones already below the bridge. The would easily tear them apart, and looking down, Troy saw the alternative - a pool of burning liquid, releasing a horrid stench. It radiated heat of ridiculous proportions, and Troy knew that he would die if he even attempted to go down there. The creatures continued their advance, slowly approaching the bridge... It wasn't until an arc of green fire shot from behind him that hope revealed itself. The same flame that the masked spirit used flew from it's lantern, and landed accurately on the wall in front of them, causing the creatures to recoil in fear of the flames.

"Go, dear friends, follow the sound of the bird! I don't think it will stay long! I will follow after I finish this blockage...!"

The advice to follow the bird was foolish in Troy's eyes - the thing called a hoard of monster on the group! But the masked spirit made an excellent opportunity, and he turned to look at the group to prepare running. The girl was looking at him, and began to speak.

"...I'm going to go help her...if you know you can't do anything, then please run away."

She then began to walk forwards and, after summoning a perfectly white sphere from seemingly nowhere, firing a beam of what looked like ice at the ground to stop the creatures on the other side. Troy began to run towards the other end of the bridge, the obvious choice. As he did so, he dug into his skull and pulled out roughly 1000 of the disgusting worm-like insects. They wriggled, forming a tight ball by biting into one another, and Troy launched the projectile at one of the creatures in front of them, hitting it squarely in the throat. Hundreds fell into the pool below, and a ball not even weighing a pound thrown by a weakling didn't hurt much. But the maggots that did latch on began to dig into the flesh, drilling through the mouth and attempting to go to the brain. This distracted the creature enough to flail wildly, losing it's grip and even slamming one of the monsters below it off the wall, both falling violently into the pool. Troy finished running the distance, and made it to the other side, relative safety. He then turned to see his companions, still valiantly holding off the monsters...

The smart decision would be to run, leave them behind, and avoid the crow man. He left them, alerted the creatures to their presence, and was still screeching his head off...

Instead, Troy reached into his head, pulling out a similarly sized ball, and entering into a throwing position, almost unconsciously. His fingers gripped the ball, while his eyes locked directly with the torso of the creature approaching the ice. Winding back his arm, he tossed the ball with strong force, allowing it to cross the distance of the bridge and slam into the monsters back, eliciting a violent hiss as the maggots immediately began to devour it alive. This one managed to hang on for awhile, but the sensation was too painful to ignore, and it reached back to dig out the maggots, resulting in it falling into the pool. Troy should have ran after that. But he simply reached into his skull again, preparing to toss another ball.

"I'll cover you guys, so hurry!"

The second his companions made it across, he would run as fast as he could. Until then... Well, he should try and protect the others.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Zombehs
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Zombehs One clown circus

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Having hidden behind one of the thorned rocks, the spirit looked on as others swarmed over the overseer like a swarm of vermin. It shuddered as one flew off, bouncing against the blackened ground before rolling to a stop. That could have been it if it had joined the others in this mad attempt at… rebellion? Yet despite being madness in its mind, it seemed that they were successful against the odds.

Recoiling in disgust as the slaver’s disgorged belly burst open, it hid behind the rock as the rush of blood and organs slopped and squelched with their exit. A mighty splash rumbled the ground beneath its feet and the spirit finally peeked back around to witness the overseer face first in a pile of its own steaming offal. Clutching at two of the numerous spikes that jutted from the rock it hid behind, the spirit looked around nervously as the Horned Guard seemed truly well and dead. What did they do now? Surely they’d all be punished when the replacement arrived?

Its panicked thoughts were interrupted by the horrific stench that blew forth from the corpse, and the spirit stumbled around, dazed and nauseated. Falling backwards after poking itself on one of the thorns by accident, the spirit landed on the ground and shook its head furiously to try and clear away the foul smell. Thankfully the stench faded in a few short moments, leaving the spirit sitting on the ground as it looked back towards the others and the corpse.

Jumping to its feet in surprise when it could no longer see the Horned Guard, the spirit felt part of its face slowly split open as it noticed the glowing pearls where the overseer had died. Its grip tightened around the thorns as it held itself back though. A quick count revealed there were not enough for it to take a share, even if it had done anything to warrant any. Shuddering as they seemed to call out towards it though, the spirit looked away as the others began to feast on the delectable looking morsels. Very well aware of its hunger, the spirit looked at the body of its impaled kind and wondered if their corpses might curb some of the pains its stomach felt.

Smearing its hand in the blood that dripped from the various corpses, the spirit took a cautious lick of the warm liquid. It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant, but the overseer had seemed to enjoy the taste of them quite a bit. Revulsion at the thought of becoming even a bit similar to the Horned Guard stayed the spirit for a while as the others began to change, but the hunger demanded to be fed. Grimacing as it raised a limp arm to its face, the spirit bit down and shook its head to tear a piece of flesh from the corpse. Gnawing and chewing on the piece was rather unpleasant, and it eventually spit the mashed up meat onto the floor with a gag.

It only felt hungrier after that failed attempt, but something more pressing demanded the spirit’s attention. A fin breaking the surface of the magma, quite large in size, and hinting at the size of what laid beneath. Panic welled up in the spirit once again, and it looked towards the changed others. So much larger and more than it currently was. They had fought back against the Horned Guard, so surely it would be safer to go along with them? Dashing from behind the thorned rock into the midst of their group, it looked around at their strange forms in a fit of confusion. Which one was the safest to go with?

Stopping as the one closest bent down, the spirit felt a bit calmer with one closer to eye level. Reaching up to grasp the offered hand, it couldn’t understand why the creature was so calm though. Did it not see the new monstrosity approaching?!? Trying its best to climb up the Captain’s arm proved to be a rather fruitless endeavor, and it gave up as a massive splash heralded the monster’s arrival.

Staring at the gargantuan lave beast, the spirit felt its knees buckle and give out underneath it as it collapsed against the ground and shivered helplessly. This was to the Horned Guard what they had been to their overseer. The difference was staggering, and the spirit could barely stay conscious in the face of such overwhelming power. It barely even registered as someone scooped it up off the ground and laid it upon a cooler and smooth surface, but it retained enough presence of mind to obey the order and gripped on tightly. Maybe they would escape from this after all…
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