Synthorian

The Reckoning of Lesser Men

He Who Walks Behind said
Hm. As far as her role, she could be an infantry soldier with a focus on close quarters combat, perhaps?

I was thinking that. Fast Response based on short ranged to close ranged combat. Thanks.

The Reckoning of Lesser Men

He Who Walks Behind said
As far as MCMAP goes, she can be trained and excel at close quarters combat but anything resembling the John Wick style is a little much. We're going for something more grounded in realism here. While she can be more comfortable/skilled fighting at close ranges, she'd need to have some proficiency beyond that as well. This also depends on whether she's joining the Dreadnaughts as an infiltrator type or a infantry soldier that's more focused on close quarters fighting. For 5 and 6, all good, just wanted to be sure you were aware of the tradeoffs.I already have a perk that covers addiction, but it's fairly similar to what you proposed. Perhaps she's a telepath as well, eh?Looking forward to it, Beowulf. Neat idea. EDIT: Ah, you ninja'd me. Must have a higher DEX. I'll go read through it soonish and get back to you.

Like I said, the John Wick thing was an example. Because showing anything else would have been boring. I don't expect her to pull that kind of stuff off on experienced soldiers (Plus John Wick was fighting thugs in the movie, not well trained soldiers). Unless I blew a fate point on it.

The debuff, I made it from tabletop playing experience, so if it turned out somewhat similar to what you had in mind, that's probably why. xD

Now on proficiency I'm actually not sure what I want her to be. She's not much of an infiltrator actually. People hired her to "get" the job done, not do it quietly and with precision. Things always got bloody, with more of her blood spilt than anybody else's. So her being an infantry woman would make more sense, a dexterous one anyway.

Any suggestions?

The Reckoning of Lesser Men

A reply to your post in the intcheck:

He Who Walks Behind said
Synthorian, this is a cool idea for a character but it needs some tweaking. Given how many scars she has, I feel like being "quite a looker" may be unattainable at a certain point. I'd commit fully one way or another. While Belroth's willing to take people of criminal background, he may not feel the risk of harboring a well-known hitwoman to be worth her asset-especially if people were currently looking after her. Running a PMC/attempting to establish his own nation-state, Belroth wouldn't want to risk entangling with the mob or national law enforcement agencies. If she dropped off the grid entirely/faked her death and constructed a new identity, then he may be willing to consider it. Or perhaps if she did some job for the government in exchange for amnesty. He might make use of her services through proxy but probably not directly. And to be in the Dreadnaughts, she'd need formal training (they conduct their own, and you're usually not considered for a frontline position/in the field position if you haven't already had a considerable amount), meaning she couldn't really do the gun kata thing. It's too reckless and risky. Her weapons are okay, although I'll warn you even with a suppressor the Vector's going to make noise unless you use subsonic ammunition, which is significantly less powerful and slower. Usable, but only from very close, and with little stopping power/penetration .You'll have to decide if that tradeoff is worth it. The bowie's also a little big for a infiltrator-something smaller might be a little better suited. It's close to a foot long, which might make drawing and using it quickly tough. Overall it's an interesting concept but a few things will need to get ironed out before she could fit in the Dreadnaughts. Anywho, I'll be making the OOC shortly, so we can move our enlightened, scholarly discussions from here to there. I'll also make a character vault, where sheets can be submitted.

Well I did say I wasn't liking her bio. I wrote it all at 4 am in a rush. xD

Anyway. Now that I just got home from work with a fresh head, I'll look over this now.

1. Hey, She's a looker if you're into scars. :P

Just kidding. Looking back at it now I realize that it actually contradicts the fact that she isn't as decent looking as she used to be. I wonder why I even added the "looker" part.

2. Her falling off the grid makes more sense than faking her death. Her intelligence is average at best and won't be able to come up with anything clever enough to fool everyone that she died. It's better to disappear. So that's what I will add.

3. Formal training is fine by me. Remember, she fought thugs her whole life, not Spec Ops soldiers. Some decent training will do her good before she even tries to go out into the field.

4. The "kata" thing is actually a real thing called MCMAP, used by US Marines. But it's only used against one opponent at a time, which is my intention with this character. I just used the John Wick videos because they looked cooler than bulky dudes practicing in boot camp, it was also a very close example, but "hollywoody".

5. Subsonic ammunition blows in a lot of ways, hence why I never mentioned it. The drawbacks outweight the pros. The dull "Pffts" of a silencer are a better con than ammo that can't even penetrate kevlar.

6. As far as the bowie goes, I agree. I took that into account that it would be quite awkward to use. So I decided to add it as a personal memento for her. She claimed that weapon. not purchased it. So she keeps and uses it for personal reasons rather than practical ones. Plus it's menacing as hell. However it would make sense for her to use something smaller, like a regular KA-BAR when she needs to be quick. But that Bowie could definitely be useful.

EDIT: Edited the things I said I would. Though I feel I could change a few more things.

Also, what do you think of the debuff?

The Reckoning Of Lesser Men. (Conspiracies. Soldiers of Fortune. Interest Check. Open.

He Who Walks Behind said
Synthorian, this is a cool idea for a character but it needs some tweaking. Given how many scars she has, I feel like being "quite a looker" may be unattainable at a certain point. I'd commit fully one way or another. While Belroth's willing to take people of criminal background, he may not feel the risk of harboring a well-known hitwoman to be worth her asset-especially if people were currently looking after her. Running a PMC/attempting to establish his own nation-state, Belroth wouldn't want to risk entangling with the mob or national law enforcement agencies. If she dropped off the grid entirely/faked her death and constructed a new identity, then he may be willing to consider it. Or perhaps if she did some job for the government in exchange for amnesty. He might make use of her services through proxy but probably not directly. And to be in the Dreadnaughts, she'd need formal training (they conduct their own, and you're usually not considered for a frontline position/in the field position if you haven't already had a considerable amount), meaning she couldn't really do the gun kata thing. It's too reckless and risky. Her weapons are okay, although I'll warn you even with a suppressor the Vector's going to make noise unless you use subsonic ammunition, which is significantly less powerful and slower. Usable, but only from very close, and with little stopping power/penetration .You'll have to decide if that tradeoff is worth it. The bowie's also a little big for a infiltrator-something smaller might be a little better suited. It's close to a foot long, which might make drawing and using it quickly tough. Overall it's an interesting concept but a few things will need to get ironed out before she could fit in the Dreadnaughts. Anywho, I'll be making the OOC shortly, so we can move our enlightened, scholarly discussions from here to there. I'll also make a character vault, where sheets can be submitted.

Well I did say I wasn't liking her bio. I wrote it all at 4 am in a rush. xD

Anyway. Now that I just got home from work with a fresh head, I'll look over this now.

1. Hey, She's a looker if you're into scars. :P

Just kidding. Looking back at it now I realize that it actually contradicts the fact that she isn't as decent looking as she used to be. I wonder why I even added the "looker" part.

2. Her falling off the grid makes more sense than faking her death. Her intelligence is average at best and won't be able to come up with anything clever enough to fool everyone that she died. It's better to disappear. So that's what I will add.

3. Formal training is fine by me. Remember, she fought thugs her whole life, not Spec Ops soldiers. Some decent training will do her good before she even tries to go out into the field.

4. The "kata" thing is actually a real thing called MCMAP, used by US Marines. But it's only used against one opponent at a time, which is my intention with this character. I just used the John Wick videos because they looked cooler than bulky dudes practicing in boot camp, it was also a very close example, but "hollywoody".

5. Subsonic ammunition blows in a lot of ways, hence why I never mentioned it. The drawbacks outweight the pros. The dull "Pffts" of a silencer are a better con than ammo that can't even penetrate kevlar.

6. As far as the bowie goes, I agree. I took that into account that it would be quite awkward to use. So I decided to add it as a personal memento for her. She claimed that weapon. not purchased it. So she keeps and uses it for personal reasons rather than practical ones. Plus it's menacing as hell. However it would make sense for her to use something smaller, like a regular KA-BAR when she needs to be quick. But that Bowie could definitely be useful.

EDIT: Edited the things I said I would. Though I feel I could change a few more things.

Also, what do you think of the debuff?

The Reckoning Of Lesser Men. (Conspiracies. Soldiers of Fortune. Interest Check. Open.

Alright, here's my CS. Give it a looksie.

I also added a dice based random roll for her Painkiller Addition. So be sure to check that out too. It's quite a big debuff if she fails the roll.

I am kinda hating her bio right now though.

---

NAME: “Catherine” or “Katarina”. (Catherine Voss)
AGE: 28
SEX: “I don’t see a cock between my legs… Do you?”
NICKNAME: “Baba Yaga” or Bogeywoman/Witch in English.
DESCRIPTION:



(Images of her younger days as a hitwoman, when she actually gave a damn about looking good while kicking ass, and before all the scars.)

Catherine is young brunette lady with enough scars on both her face and body to make a Russian Hardman throw some warrior’s respect her way. And there are too many of them to count. Though if you ask her about each one, be prepared for one hell of story. If she’s in the mood to tell it anyway.

The most prominent scar is the one that runs from her left eyebrow and down to her chin, where a certain mobster ran her face through with a bowie knife, which is now hers, taking claim to it after she blew his brains out.

She is about 5 foot 10 with relatively healthy looking hourglass physique. A nice mix between healthy body fat and musculature. Her long black hair (and most of the time stringy and greasy) accentuates her blue eyes, and the heavy bags below them. She constantly looks like she has been on a massive drinking binge due to her painkiller addiction (watered down with a massive dose of Jack Daniels). So for a 28 year old, she looks a bit of a train wreck.

Her experiences have weathered her far beyond her age in such a way that her voice became a sort of raspy growl, and her movements seem more masculine than feminine.

Not really attractive, is it?

PERSONALITY: Catherine isn’t exactly a happy lady, but not an unhappy one either. Just cynical, with a sprinkle of smartass for seasoning, sass as filling, and a mostly bored expression as the cherry on top of the shit tasting cake that is her sarcastic personality that tends to wind people up. It pisses off the socialites the most, as if she was pissing on their shoes.

Though don’t mistake her for being quiet. She will spew some words that will make your face look like you just tasted fresh cow pack, only if you wind her up or give her some sass. She loves changing people’s moods from happy to sudden red hot rage in seconds. Working among mobsters and Godfathers who think they own it all has made pissing such people off a form of entertainment for her.

As far as being on her good side, it’s actually quite easy. Battle her sass with more sass, blindside her with a clever insult or two. That’s all it takes, a simple verbal challenge. Who knows what might happen? You might become sass buddies.

Now when it comes to business, she is a different person. Her personality changes, as if someone flicked a switch. She is focused in a firefight, to the point where her perception, despite her physical state, escalates drastically. And when dealing with people, she double thinks everything before opening her mouth. Sass during business deals and ventures is not necessary. Even less necessary when on the job with other co-workers.

She also follows a single criminal code of honor. Never conduct business on neutral ground.

When it comes to actual combat, upon observing her in action, a trained soldier will notice her unique style. She holds her handguns and rifles sideways, and uses her handguns as close quarters finishers rather than as ranged weapons, executing enemies with point black shots with swift efficiency. Her style is completely tailored towards cramped areas where she is surrounded by multiple individuals where there is barely any room to move. Making her perfect for urban combat, especially in buildings.

Her style is very crude however, and has more of a criminal discipline, than a military one, and it’s very noticeable.

ATTIRE: She sticks to a black BDU Shirt as well as black BDU Cargo Pants. Keeping her attire simple and loose to not restrain her movement. Couple that with a light tactical belt for holding ammunition and her Kriss Vector just above her hip, and shoulder holsters for her custom built handguns. Also let’s not forget the other belt holster for her massive bowie knife.

WEAPONS OF CHOICE:

Pain and Agony

Pain and Agony are custom built masterpieces that have buried more bodies in the streets of New York and Chicago than any other weapon that has been confiscated by the respective Law Enforcement Departments.

The Colt M2011A1 (Pain) has an inbuilt laser pointer, and a custom automatic slide, giving the weapon full auto capabilities, married with an extended magazine that gives the weapon an extra 5 shots (12 round box magazine) of .45 ACP ammunition. Creating a devastating CQB weapon. And that sweet chrome finish and custom grip. Oomph.

The Desert Eagle Mark XIX (Agony) is mostly stock in performance apart from the extended magazine (10 round box magazine, .50 AE ammo) scope rail, custom grip and chrome finish. Great choice for those pesky mongrels in body armor.

Kriss Vector CRB/SO

1500 rounds to the face in a minute. This little carbine submachine gun made in the US of fuckin’ A for special forces operatives is a hate letter to tight corridors and small rooms. It has an effective range of 45 meters and a box magazine that holds 25 .45 ACP rounds, making room clearing a breeze. With its detachable silencer, stealth has never been easier.

Becker & KA-BAR Combat Bowie

When Catherine pulls out this 9 and ¼ inch piece of steel, you know you’re in for some shit.

This thing nearly cleaved her head in half with its razor sharp blade when she fought the renowned Butcher (Ivan Regavitch), a famous hitman who made his name with that knife alone, in a bloody hand to hand fight that resulted in his head severed from his body, and the Witch covered in more stab wounds than ever before, and a nice, ghastly facial scar to boot. The weapon isn't really practical though when she needs to be fast with her slashes.

If she had to pick a weapon when off duty, it would be the Colt M2011A1.

MUGGING: Catherine would stare the man down and ask: “Are you sure you want to do this…?” Before pulling out her Colt and knee capping him.

BIOGRAPHY: Before joining the Dreadnaughts, she was a hitwoman. A well-known one that people feared and respected. No! Not the kind that did that pussy ninja shite. One that fought with vicious brutality when close, and fancy foot work and gunplay when she had a pistol in hand. And getting close to her in a fight was always a bad idea. She’s also one hell of cheater. Expect low blows.

How did she get so well-known on the east coast you ask? She killed people, very important people, for other cold-hearted and calculated individuals with money to spend, and boy did they need money. She was expensive, but well worth the price, despite the mess she made in the end.

Her life was simple. A city girl who lived a boring and dull city life among other people, until October the 28th, 2005. Chicago. 18 year old Catherine Voss goes on a walk alone after the news of the death of her parents was passed down to her over the phone 32 minutes earlier, to help her grieve in silence, where a group of men approach her in a dark street. Their intentions are pretty clear here, I’m sure. But you would be surprised to hear the outcome.

They died, all three.

How? She stabbed them. During the attempted act of mugging, as she struggled on the ground she swiped a knife from the one of the guy’s ankle bracelets, and stabed the guy on top in the temple of his skull, killing him instantly. She then stabbed another in the foot, and as he knelt down, slammed the knife in his neck. Then struggled with the last man before stabbing him 47 times in a fit of panic and shock. She got off lucky. The blood stains on the clothes would wash off, but the mental stains of killing a living being would stay there for a good long while.

But someone bore witness to it all. A man named Sergey Basonov, a “Cleaner” in the Russian Syndicate that operated in Chicago. Seeing potential in the young thing, during her desperate time of need, he conveniently arrived to provide her with a way out. That’s when her life speed towards the empty void of assassination. This is where she made her name as the best cleaner around, as well as pushed her down the path of painkiller addiction. You can only get shot and stabbed so many times before painkillers not only make your wounds numb, but also your emotional issues. Eventually, she was capable enough where she was hired to clean out the cleaners.

However, she pissed off someone very influential. She killed someone she wasn’t supposed to. One thing led to another, and it all became incredibly complicated. Involving a lot of assassins from all parts of the world, looking for her head and a hefty paycheck of 5 million greens. Nowhere was safe, and she had to make herself disappear.

By pulling a few strings and speaking with a few old contacts, she vanished off the east coast and the radar of other bounty hunters.

TALENTS: As a younger teen, she played an electric guitar in a band. Now-a-days, she plays to calm down when the painkillers don’t do the job.

ROLE: Fast Surprise Strikes, Assassination.

OTHER: Severe addiction to painkillers. She gets the shakes when she hasn’t popped some pills, throwing off her aim and concentration. Can only happen once during a combat situation at a random time. (Roll constitution + d20 check every turn until the debuff is achieved. Base success value to avoid debuff: 17. Debuff: Character loses -2 to Dexterity, Strength and Intelligence and -2 for Check Rolls until Painkillers or Morphine have been administered. Time to administer drugs: 1 full turn. Next turn character suffers only a -1 loss in associated attributes and Check Rolls. The turn after character recovers fully.)

I LIKE:

I DISLIKE:

ATTRIBUTES:

Strength 3
Dexterity 6
Constitution 3
Wisdom 2
Intelligence 3
Charisma 2

SPECIALIZATION:

CQB Handgun Combat: “Gunplay”. Catherine can turn any handgun into close quarters weapon of point blank execution. Making her very deadly in close quarters with a pistol in hand. Best way to explain it is to show an example.




Without a handgun in hand, her hand-to-hand capabilities are significantly lowered, lacking in finesse and she fights more akin to a brutish and slow boxer.

Essence of the World: The New Age [CLOSED]

Revenant Demigod

Solus' Mansion

7:21 PM

Zi felt a wave of uncertainty wash over her as Mairyell turned to leave but she didn't try to stop him. She was a big girl and she had to be brave. Still, she wanted to get everything over with as soon as possible so as soon as the door was shut she brushed the tears off with her sleeve and got to work.

She walked over to a window and opened it, leaning on the frame. Ideally she would go outside and stand in an open space with nothing in proximity. In this case, however, she didn't dare expose herself like that. Even if she was in the presence of someone as powerful as Solus, what she was attempting was monumental. She shut her eyes and breathed in, concentrating. First she had to extend her influence - to mobilise the essence particles from the air around her and spread them out, subduing more and more until the air itself became her eyes and ears. Slowly, her senses extended to a kilometer, 10, 100, 10 000. Sights, sounds, and mostly feeling filled the darkness behind her eyelids until it felt like she had a thousand eyes. From then, she had to proceed to look around. To focus her gaze on what was important. Not the colossal essence of Heaven and Hell, but the tiny ones of separate individuals. Not the ones of the living, but the stale ones of the dead. Not the bright ones of angels, not the pale ones of humans or the dim ones of demons. What she was looking for was completely different. And she saw one bright beacon, Hazumi, comfortably sitting in her castle.

Truth was, Zi wasn't even entirely sure what she was looking for. She had very few memories left from her immortal days and she couldn't recall her sister Gatekeepers' presence. But she could imagine it. She could see Hazumi's essence and she could use it as a sample.

Slowly, clumsily, with a lot of metaphorical squinting, Zi made out Luciana's essence. It was quietly drifting in the unseen currents - stardust over the entire Earth. Loosening her concentration enough to restore some motor function in her body, Zi raised a hand and made a scooping motion in the night-air outside the window. Thousands of miles in every direction, her invisible hand touched the tiny particles and brought them to herself.

The process was so overwhelming that when the essence finally reached her, it snapped her web of influence and her eyes shot open. Zi stared at her hand and saw her trophy - a droplet of essence no bigger than a roe egg. She groaned.

"I hope you have a garage-full of coffee, because this is going to take days."

"Days, huh?" Solus asked in thought as he stood over her shoulder. "How much power do you need to do it in an hour?"

"Ha! Maybe you should have turned to my stronger counterpart." She sneered before giving the question a more serious thought. "You would need at least a hundred of me to get it done that fast. It's not an easy process - first you have to harvest, then assemble everything - put it in the right place." Talking about it made her despair so she just concluded. "It's impossible to make it in a day."

Solus tilted his head as an idea sprung up in his mind. "I can easily rectify that..."

"Easily?" Zi turned around to look at him. "Is everything in your life easy, Solus Grim?"

"Heh, I wish." Solus croaked. "This way." Solus beckoned her to follow as he left the room.

Still sceptical but now somewhat hopeful despite herself, Zi squeezed her fist over her little victory and followed.

---

He led her through the house towards the basement, in which a large runic door awaited them.

The elevator stopped and pinged, grinding to a halt on level -99 of the Vault for a second time today. The doors slipped open and both Zi and Solus stepped out. They were presented with a large blast door that Solus saw earlier. "Alright..." Solus said. “We’re here.” On the right, was an alphanumerical keypad. He stepped up to it and typed in what seemed to be a phrase.

The doors suddenly clanked, unlocking, and sliding open with a hiss.

He walked through the gap the door made and was presented by what appeared to be a control room, and a massive bulletproof window, showing what appeared to be a Black Sphere, with millions of cables, big and small, plugged into it. The walls surrounding it were strange and impractical in their design, covered in tubes and appeared to be sculptures of human body parts. Not actual body parts, just sculptures. It was like a massive piece of abstract art. "The Essence Sphere. Power Core. Whatever you wanna call it." Solus stated. "There it is." He stepped over the control panel, that seemed alien in design. It had no buttons, just holes for pushing fingers into, hundreds of them. “You can syphon power from here…”

Zi stared, jaw clenched, trying not to betray her surprise at the wonders around. The thought of a chimera and a vampire working together in an underground laboratory to save the world crossed her mind and made her smile. Her and Azel used to be like that once, except they were a human and a demon. Part of her wondered what Azel was up to. Part of her didn't want to know. He was an opportunist and she could never be entirely sure if he's fully on her side. Or on anyone’s but his own, for that matter. They had been a good team once, though, they'd achieved some great things.

Not as great as this though. What even was that black thing? Leaning forward Zi squinted, trying to comprehend what she was seeing.

Looking through its material shape she could make out numerous pieces of angelic and human essence circling the core of the sphere. As they did, they bumped in each other with a flash of released energy and flying backwards. An essence-based nuclear power plant? Ingenious.

"Did you build this?" Zi gasped.

“The Blood Reavers did…” Solus replied, looking at the marvel of demonic ingenuity before him.

"Is it safe?"

“Safe enough.” Nekro replied with a smile.

Zi frowned but nodded anyway. Cautiously, she extended a tendril of her own essence towards the orb. She expected a jolt of electricity, but in actuality what happened was the opposite. Upon touch, instead of pulling away or pushing her away, the particles instead accepted her, swirling around the tendril as if expecting orders. Zi smirked. This was a pleasant surprise. So she poured in more of her essence and extended her will to view the whole world and seethe out what she needed.

The effect was instant and dazzling, a huge halo-like spark signifying the newly created link to the visible world. In a moment it felt like she was everywhere at the same time: under water, in the air, inside living being's bodies... And it was amazing. A grin appeared on Zi's face as she observed the places only she could see, her body slouching slightly as if it had lost a soul that made it rigid. Zi wasn't aware that it could keel over any moment and break her nose - there was too much else to experience.

It took her a few seconds to get back to earth (literally) and remember what she'd come to do. Trouble was, when she actually started looking she suddenly couldn't spot Luciana's essence anymore. Perplexed, she looked again and again, in every corner of the three realms and still couldn't find anything. Deciding she must have mistaken something with the sample, Zi narrowed her vision again to take another look at the sample she held in her physical hand. It was then that she stumbled upon the obvious.

There it was, all of it. Over 250 meters above ground stood the almost completed Luciana.. And she wasn't alone.

Zi came back to her physical body with a loud gasp and a stagger backwards. She pulled away the remaining of her essence from the sphere and watched it continue its usual activity. Then she turned to Solus, voice both annoyed and unsettled.

"She's upstairs. Both of them. And I pray she has good intentions."

“Who?” Solus asked, slightly concerned.

"Luciana and Hazumi both." Zi groaned.

"Well, I guess we will need to see what that silly bitch wants.." Solus grumbled as he turned back, with Zi in tow, heading to the surface.

---

Hazumi was expecting them at the entrance of the Vault, much to Solus' disdain. In her arms lay the unconscious shape of Luciana, her outlines limp, transparent and slightly deformed - like it was a suit made of water ready to spill.

"Hello, Solus, sister." Hazumi greeted, a sweet smile playing on her lips. "I saw you were struggling so I thought I'd lend you a hand."

Bitch Zi thought, and let it show on her sour expression.

"Good to see you still interfering in God's affairs..." Solus said off handedly, staring at Luciana's incomplete body.

"Is that what they call you now? I thought that was me." Hazumi laughed. "Furthermore, I thought it was you who asked me to."

Zi shot Solus a look as if he was two-timing her. Which he sort of was.

"That was two fucking months ago... You were taking your sweet time." Solus replied to the so called Essence of the World.

"I had other matters to attend to. Epidemics and all that, I don't know if you've heard." Her smile only became sweeter which told Zi it was insincere. She didn't say anything, though, stung by the fact that her huge effort from before was so easily overshadowed. . . And ignored. Hazumi didn't even bother to address what had once been a part of herself and still shared so much. It was even the very first time they met, for crying out loud! And the fact that Solus had only turned to Zi after Hazumi had declined didn't help. Then she remembered how suddenly both Emmet and Mairyell had left as soon as they were finished with her and she felt pissed at the whole world.

Hazumi felt her anger - and pretended not to. Carefully, she placed Luciana's incomplete body on a nearby sofa and turned to Zi.

"Alas, I need to leave you two to it. Zi, you can do the honours of adding the last piece to the puzzle. Solus," she turned to him, "I'm still mad at you. Not that you give a damn. I'm speculating but I believe your blood will be needed to give our sister a physical substance. Unless you have a decent body conveniently tucked away that she could occupy." She smirked, not really dismissing the possibility, and waved her hand. A gust of wind lifted all fabric and paper up in the air and made the windows rattle. Within it, the shape of a translucent lion formed. Without another word, Hazumi got on it's back and left, the creature sprouting wings as soon as it stepped out the door.

"She just loves to show off, doesn't she..." Zi ground out, not realising she'd said it out loud. She looked like she'd sucked on a lemon.

"You should see her when she's pissed. It's hilarious." Solus chuckled to himself, picking up the ghostly soul of the Gatekeeper of Surface, and carrying her out into the lounge, where a table had been prepared for her.

He laid the spirit down and awaited for Zi to add the final piece of her consciousness, before Solus would provide her with the body she need to awaken.

Zi tried to keep up with the man's stoicism and be professional. She'd have time to indulge in her own insecurities later.

Following the man through, she leaned over Luciana's remains and looked. In her hand, the little droplet if essence was breaking down to its components and one by one, Zi added them in the missing spots where they belonged with surgical precision. She didn't have the habit of boasting about her skills like Hazumi did and didn’t make the essence visible, so the entire operation must have looked rather odd to Solus, but it didn't matter. In the end, no matter how it was achieved, a Gatekeeper's soul lay restored on the table of Solus' Mansion. Just where he wanted her.

Grabbing a large, menacing knife that was stabbed into the table, Solus cut open his left palm, and squeezed it over where Luciana's heart should be. "Here goes..." He said quietly as the ground below their feet began to vibrate, and the air around fluxed and bent the light. Solus whispered alien phrases as his blood dripped from his hand. The first drop stopped at the center of Luciana's ghostly torso. Solus moved his hand further down, with the second drop floating in her abdomen.

That was all he needed. Grabbing a roll of cloth to cover his bleeding hand with, Solus began to speak. His voice twisted the room. The dimensions of the house distorted in Zi's vision as the power that Solus employed was more than visible, even if it was just words. Words unknown to her.

Needless to say, the girl didn't appreciate any of it. How many times today was the control taken from her just when she thought she had it? All today was supposed to be was a nice date with Emmet. None of that supernatural stuff. As the world around her twisted and her pulse surged, all that kept her in place was the stubbornness to prove that she was beyond being surprised by now. Even though she wasn't.

Zi's attempts to stand in place had forced her to lose focus on what was actually happening. The two drops of blood had begun to violently fluctuate and increase in size, until moments later, wet cracks and slurps echoed in the room. Right before Zi's eyes, organs, muscles, nerves and bones twisted out of the droplets. Grotesquely joining eachother, forming a skinless female body.

Solus was bleeding out of his nostrils. Whatever he was doing to form a body from scratch was straining his body in more ways than one. But despite that his casting continued, even with the pain that it induced in him.

Luciana's flesh began to form, covering the naked, raw musculature that had formed moments earlier. If Solus' memory served him right, he sculpted her in the image of the person she was before, when she sacrificed herself in order to shatter the Essence of the World 180 years ago.

The last of the skin formed, and before them, lay an unconscious Demigod.

The Reckoning Of Lesser Men. (Conspiracies. Soldiers of Fortune. Interest Check. Open.

I am quite interested in this one. Gonna think it over and see what kind of character I can create here.

Essence of the World: The New Age [CLOSED]

A Request Too Great

6:48 PM

Zi's face twisted with each flap of the giant angel wings that had suddenly sprouted on her back. Which was now itchy and felt slightly wet. She really hoped she hadn't ripped her favourite denim jacket but knew the chances of that to be pretty slim. The motions she had to execute to keep herself in the air were quite tricky at first and you had to calculate wind speed and look out for thermals and... she slipped, her body twisting to the left and threatening to throw her off-balance. She had fallen once, not from very high, luckily, and it wasn't very fun. Reluctant to demonstrate her incompetence when it came to flying, Zi glanced at Sanguine. She was trying to dissect his essence but that proved hard while they flew, so she gave it up for the time being.

"So what is this about, are you and Solus Grim like the Justice League or something?"

Watching Zi from his periphery, his eyes never actually turning to her, Mairyell watched with amusement as she focused on her flight. It was not something that came naturally. He'd been, in some ways, rather lucky as he'd been born with instincts that made flight considerably easier. By now he was a master in that field and it took no effort at all. When she asked him a question, his eyes turned to her for a moment before his head turned as well and he smirked slightly before snickering and then laughing. "Hahahaha, Justice League. That's rich," he wiped his eyes a bit after laughing for a solid moment and then turned to her again, still chuckling. "No, we're not. As you know, I'm a hunter. Also, if you're looking for a name, it's Mairyell. Sanguine is a title of mine, not my actual name hehe. As to what this is about, well...an ancient force rising from hell to destroy us all," there was a smirk on his face, making it difficult to tell whether or not he was serious.

The laughing fit definitely surprised her and a shy smile appeared on her lips as she was almost tempted to join in. Then she remembered she had to keep a face and extinguished it. She noted his name and gave hers in turn. As he explained his reasons of coming Zi rolled her eyes with a sigh, not appearing to believe the story. In fact she did. She just wished she didn't have to get involved in it. In her book, she'd done her fair shair of world-saving when she helped invent the masks and made the Nephilim possible. Still, she knew she could trust herself to jump straight in the cross-fire if things really went bad. And that wasn't a reassuring thought, not for a mortal.

"Well, next time you can use the phone. I'll give you my number. Mind you, Solus should have it. If he still has the same SIM as 180 years ago, mind you."

Mairyell chuckled, "I doubt it survived Hell, let alone the other places he apparently went," the vampire replied, taking no mind to her apparent disbelief. She could've turned around right now and departed, but she didn't. So she either believed him and wasn't letting it on, or she figured there was something more important that he wasn't telling her. Regardless he nodded, "Anywho, what's your number?" he asked, extracting a phone from a pocket and holding it in his hands. He had no worry of dropping it apparently.

Hell? He's been to Hell? she thought, wincing at the memory of that place. Happy about the subject change she quickly gave Mairyell her number and impatiently asking her next question.

"And how did you find me then?"

Mairyell smirked, "Well, a very small amount of your essence was on Solus, though I'm not sure how it survived all that time. Plus...your essence is similar to someone I met roughly 200 years ago, give or take a year." He was willing to expand on how that meant he could track her, but wouldn't do so unless tracked. He didn't seem to mind explaining things much, he'd grown used to people not understanding concepts. He had become patient in some ways over his 200 years...he'd had to.

"Right. Anything I can do about it? I mean, I'm not awfully keen on having such meetings often. Not that kind." She smiled with a scoff, glancing at the vampire.

Mairyell looked thoughtful for a moment then looked at her with an almost sympathetic smile, "Nope. However, I doubt you'll have to worry about others being able to easily find you. My sense of smell is legendary. I can track someone down from a tiny shred of essence even if they're a continent away. Lucky for you, we seem to be on the same side, so no worries." He shrugged a bit, which looked odd in flight, but he hardly cared.

Zi nodded and smiled. She hoped that remained the case.

---

Having flown for a good while, Mairyell and Zi eventually found themselves over the mansion. Mairyell knew how to find it, plus he could just track Solus' essence there. Made it a lot easier to find. Landing, Mairyell glanced at Zi and then motioned for her to follow him. They would have to walk around the house and enter the still broken back door. "Hmm...I think he's in the library by the smell of it," the place was the image of abandoned. It was overgrown, dusty, and had it not been for the guard creatures, it would've been overrun with animals. Mairyell began making his way to the library, Zi in tow.

In mere moments, they passed through the doorway that lead to the once great library that filled this portion of the building. Old, moldy books littered the bookshelves in the hundreds. Once upon a time they were readable. But now, the words had long faded. The main attraction of the room however, was what appeared to be a large cocoon of black feathers, that was slowly bulging in and out, like it was breathing.

It was a sight Mairyell had not expected, at all. In fact, because of it he'd stopped just a step after entering the door, making it slightly more difficult for Zi to enter. She'd have to squeeze past him. He wasn't typically caught off guard, but this he didn't quite understand. This was certainly the elder hunter's essence in that body, but the feathers were unfamiliar.

As they were walking Zi's eyes darted about the rooms, still ready for an ambush that she hoped would never happen. Seeing the state of the mansion annoyed her. Solus may indeed be old but that was no excuse. The dust and the mold and the ripped linen... it was a disgrace. He'd probably ask her to be his personal maid. Or to infuse the place with some weird essence so it never aged and he'd never have to clean again. Speaking of which, he had a girl last time they met. At least she should have kept it in order. Unless she'd long died. Zi's stomach twisted. Sometimes she forgot how much time had passed between her reincarnations.

Zi almost bumped into the vampire's back as he stopped and then stood on her toes to see what had startled him. It was a bunch of feathers, unmistakably Solus'. The Ones he'd been missing last time.

"Well," she thought, "some people grow beards. Others grow feathers."

Mairyell glanced at Zi a moment, noting her lack of surprise, and then turned back, walking fully into the library. "Hey... featherhead. I brought Zi, you know the one you asked me to contact." There was an odd mixture of annoyance and amusement in his tone. One could say that his feathers had been ruffled...or maybe that was Solus. Mairyell's wings didn't exactly have feathers. Regardless he kind of wanted to leave, despite the apparent importance and urgency behind all this. Perhaps it was the wanderer in him. He tended not to stay in the same place for a very long time. It didn't help that he'd recently found Aeris so he would have rather been spending his time with her, not off retrieving some stranger.

Nonetheless, the fate of the world was kind of his business, so despite himself, he had not left yet, but instead would stay to see why this Zi had been so damned important. Oh, and it might not hurt to ask who that cocky bastard from before had been.

As that didn't seem to achieve anything, Zi reached into her pocket and shamelessly threw a cork at the feathered heap. Still, she stood at the door in case it exploded.

Suddenly the room exploded in a massive shockwave of air. One that was powerful enough to destroy the rotting bookshelves and obliterate what remained of the windows, smashing the interior of the room to pieces. Instincts shooting into activity, Mairyell's leg moved back, his foot sliding, to brace himself even as he realized that Zi was about to get hit by the same wall of air. Shit he thought, even as he tried to extend a wing, or tendril of glowing blue blood, to snare her before she was violently flung into a wall. He wasn't sure if he would make it.... Meanwhile, even though she had thought it, Zi hadn't really assumed an actual explosion would happen. Forgetting about her own temporary wings which threatened to turn her Into a human kite, all she could do was squat... And squeal. The two of them were blown away. Zi's wings siphoned the blast of air and pulled her into the wall behind her, slamming her spine into concrete, while Mairyell lost balance and fell backwards, the force of the shockwave sending him sliding back, his body landing between Zi's legs, head resting on her stomach.

Once the two finally regained their senses, they would see Solus, shirtless, sitting on his knees, his huge black wings sprouted in their full glory. From the end of one wing to the other, 44 full feet of feathers, flesh and bone. Each wing had 5 joints, which was highly unusual for a pair of Angel wings, as they normally had 3, like everyday birds. Solus' eyes were still closed, as if he was totally unaware of what just happened.

"Asshole!!!" Zi's voice brought Solus back to his senses whereas the vampire only gritted his teeth and rose, mildly annoyed. Wincing at her words, Mairyell offered a hand to help her up, "You okay...?" He asked, the purple hue of his eyes slightly more red than it had been before.

"Yeah." Zi took his hand and rose to her feet, flexing her wings. Just two appendages more to hurt. Mind you, if she was in a human body she might have well bruised or broken something. "Now let's go chop those off." She nodded in Solus' direction.

Mairyell smiled slightly before glancing back to Solus, who hardly seemed conscious of his actions at all. "I don't think he knows we're here, and by extension I doubt he did that on purpose."

Solus remained unconscious and on his knees. His right hand was closed tightly, as if clutching something. While his left, rested on a knee. His face changed every few seconds into a different human expression, though the most prominent one, was of annoyance.

Tilting his head slightly, Mairyell watched the hunter quietly. He would have liked to just kick him in the face to wake him up. That'd have issued an amusing reaction, he figured, but a bit of...delicacy was probably more intelligent considering the sheer amount of damage the man had just caused merely by opening his wings. He wasn't sure that Zi could handle what might happen if he kicked the chimera instead. Perhaps he could flick him though. "Odd, never seen him with wings...or like this. He looks unconscious, smells it too. Not sure what's up with his face though. I mean, it was always rather...bizarre, but the expressions he's cycling through are strange." Then an idea hit him, "Perhaps he's going through recollections..." he said it with a thoughtful tone for even though Solus' essence very clearly showed all three racial aspects, he had never asked much about the angelic portion. Exmortis had come up here and there, but even his knowledge of that aspect was small at best.

Honestly, he wasn't quite sure what to do, but if he had to wait much longer he was more likely to just walk up to the winged idiot and flick him in one of those flaming eyes of his. Granted he'd probably tell Zi to hide before he did that, he wasn't an idiot, just rather rash sometimes. Two hundred years of nearly uncontested survival did that to a guy. "Any ideas?" He glanced at Zi.

Zi narrowed her eyes at the man looking to confirm or deny that suggestion. She assumed that if it were true and Solus had only recently reattached his wings, then the angelic essence held inside them would slowly seep into his body and alter the existing one. That's probably what Mairyell meant anyway. But looking into Solus' essence didn't support that guess.

"Unless he's just reminiscing, I don't think that's whats going on. Beats me what it is, though."

"Well in that case, brace yourself," the vampire stated as he walked towards Solus. He intended to flick the man in the forehead, nothing more...nothing less.

Zi grinned and wrapped her wings around her, stepping back until her back was against the wall.

Hearing her movements he smiled slightly, she'd made a good choice. He then took the last few steps to close the distance between Solus and himself, after which he moved to flick the chimera in the forehead. However, as his finger made contact with the hunter's body, something strange happened. He blacked out frozen in place, his consiousness lost, just like Solus'.

---

The world around Mairyell turned to darkness, an impenetrable pitch black darkness that was so thick you could cut it with a sword. He felt like he was moving through it, despite not moving his limbs. It was moments later when he felt something touch his feet. Upon looking down, he saw a black stone, rectangular in shape, well chiseled out, like it was made by craftsman, putting pressure on Mairyell's left foot. Or was he standing on it? A second later another similar stone shot out of the darkness and placed itself beneath his right foot, the first and the second stones touched each other, and became seemingly inseparable, like they were glued by concrete.

Unsure as to how to react to the strange change in circumstances, Mairyell tried to extricate himself from the stones. His senses reeled somewhat. He had to admit he was getting rather tired of the things that seemed to happen whenever he was involved with Solus.

He saw that more stones started to appear around him seemingly out of nowhere. They attached themselves to the first two black stones, and continued to multiply. He realized that they were forming, or building, a floor for Mairyell to stand on.

Frowning slightly, the vampire tentatively formed his wings, keeping them close to him, not even halfway extended. He did not trust this, but nonetheless he took light steps out towards the blackness, hoping that his wings could still carry him if he decided to use them in a time of need. He was not at all comfortable with the situation, something that he was beginning to think was normal when around Solus. He didn't like the association, but it was being made anyways. Hopefully there was some purpose to this, one that he could figure out quickly so that he could be done with whatever this was.

As he walked, walls made of a black concrete formed around him, building themselves slab by slab. Columns smashed their way up through the floor, and at their peak, an ornate, masterfully crafted ceiling began to form. Archways erected themselves above his head. Stone pews fell from above and landed on either side of him. Some of the stones of the walls, floor, and even a few pews, remained floating in the air, seemingly unable to adjust themselves properly, and were now stuck, eternally floating for all of time.

The darkness finally began to subside in this strange building as torches lit themselves, illuminating his path forward. The path ahead seemed infinite, with black arches, columns, pews and walls endlessly going forwards.

Unnerved by the silent and sudden movements of what he was beginning to see as a building, slamming into place around him, Mairyell continued forwards. He was suspicious, and off-put, but nonetheless he trudged forth. It didn't seem like any of the structures would form in such a way as to harm him, but it was still...bizarre to witness. It was like he was dreaming.

Dreaming.

Mairyell's eyes narrowed slightly, but at the same time his shoulders relaxed and his claws retracted, claws he hadn't even noticed had formed. If this were a dream, and it almost certainly was, then he had little to fear of his surroundings. So he continued forwards, less worried, his movements carrying purpose. If this was a dream, and it had been triggered by Solus somehow, then the Chimera ought to be in here somewhere. He just had to find him.

Still, it was strange. It didn't seem like all his senses worked as they should have here. The physics seemed off too. Only the rush of air could be heard when things moved into place. Never the crash of their formation. Perhaps...perhaps the whole building was already there and he only thought it was being built as he explored it. A representation of his perceived surrounds, in a more...literal sense. If this were the case, it confused him, for it meant that this might not be a dream. "No..." his eye twitched slightly at the way the sound echoed in the space. It was eerie. This whole place was eerie. His senses were on edge, but why.

He was confused...again. Sighing, the vampire kept walking, having stopped for a moment to think. I'll find Solus first, then think about what is going on.

It was several more minutes of walking before he finally reached a titanic arch, leading into a room that was even bigger. This room, was just like the enormous corridor that Mairyell had traveled through for the past ten minutes. Columns, arches and pews littered the place in a strange, yet perfect mess. It was almost mythical, outworldly...

In the room stood two silhouettes, talking to each other. One of the voices was filled with anger and frustration, while the other was calm, with an essence of sheer, immortal power. Godly in nature. The angered voice echoed into Mairyell's ears. "The fuck do you mean she's an unnecessary, mortal distraction?" It was obvious to Mairyell that it was Solus. The dull green glow that burned out of his face identified him as such.

As Mairyell finally entered auditory range and heard Solus, he stopped in his tracks. He was angry. Angry, something he had never once seen Solus, not on any of the jobs he'd done with him. However, what bothered him was the other presence. The second silhouette. He started moving again, slower now, almost as if awed. It was the second time today that he'd felt like there was little to nothing to do to change the situation he was in.

He didn't like it.

"She is slowing you down. We cannot afford to lose any more time..." The creature's voice boomed throughout the Grand Hall. "You know who's really slowing me down, asshole? Slyre." Solus shouted back.

Slyre? Mairyell thought as he quietly approached. He had an odd urge to sit down, but wasn't really certain as to why. There was a very bizarre sensation in the room. He didn't like being powerless, but as he got closer to the two, it seemed to bother him less and less. He wasn't really sure what to do.

So he found his way to the very end of the pews, and stopped. Peering at the two with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. What the hell was this?

"Then I suggest you deal with the Terminus promptly, before I lose my patience..." The being was now starting to sound impatient, merely of Solus' presence. "You have waited for 3200 years! I'm damn sure you can wait a while longer." Solus' irritation was escalating.

"I cannot."

"Why?" Solus interrogated as he violently threw his arms outwards.

The being remained silent, observing the mortal's actions, his essence.

"Oh for fuck's sake, Aaurus! Why won't you answer a single question?"

Mairyell, too curious and fed up with being dragged into difficult situations by Solus, spoke up. "I don't think he's the only one who should be answering questions at this point," the look on his face was very clearly annoyed. However, his eyes betrayed him as every few moments he would glance at the one that Solus had just referred to as Aaurus. Aaurus, the god. The shock didn't hit, and neither did the awe. Perhaps it would come later.

His voice fell on deaf ears, as neither Solus nor the so called Aaurus acknowledged Mairyell's presence. It was like he wasn't there at all. Just a ghostly presence that haunted this Ancient Cathedral and bore witness to an argument between a god and his sword.

"You will find all the answers soon enough..." It answered Solus.

"Oh, like I haven't heard that one from you before." Solus' sillouette shook its head. "Why do I even bother..."

"You bother, because I command you... You know the consequences of your failure... Its head turned to Mairyell this time, its single eye, staring straight through Mairyell's chimeric soul. "Your long awaited guest has arrived... Make the most of the time you have... Or it will be the end of us all..."

---

Suddenly, the strange dark world was gone, and Mairyell's eyes snapped open. He was back in the House of Grim. Solus' frustrated tone jolting him back to reality. "Damn it!"

Jolted back into his body, or at least that's what it felt like, Mairyell took several steps back and then sat down. The shock of whatever had just happened hit him. The hunter's voice reached him, but he did not react except to quietly speak to no one. "What the hell." His voice was easily audible to anyone paying even the smallest fraction of attention.

Put simply, Mairyell was rather dumbfounded.

Next to them, Zi stood by silently staring at them from the floor where she had sat down with her legs crossed. It was obvious that something was going on and it must be shocking if they were both so out of it. Despite her curiosity she didn't speak up and just gave them time to come back to their senses, absent-mindedly playing with her feathers. She had spent the past half hour doing that while she was waiting for leads on what she should do next, if anything.

Solus, still on his knees, was staring at the ground in anger. "Damn him to the depths of The Beyond!" After several seconds he sighed. He didn't even notice Mairyell speak. The fabric of the Void was still slowly receding from his mind, leaving vivid afterimages behind. It was then when his senses returned fully, and he noticed the Vampire, and a human presence inside of the library. He looked up at Mairyell with slight confusion, and then looked around the ruined Library. "What the hell happened here?"

"You happened." Zi spoke up, slightly more grumpy than she actually felt. "Your wings, to be precise. They're formidable but really inconvenient, I see why you got rid of them." She smiled, attempting to brighten up the situation slightly.

Mairyell was rubbing his temples for he felt a headache coming on. His senses had fully come back to him, though his sense of balance had not. "The hell was that Solus," he said, somewhat breathless as he half glared half stared at Solus in wonder, or shock. He did not like the impression he was giving Zi either, but this was ridiculous. This was almost worse than the Beyond had been.

He felt a bit nauseous, disoriented, and dizzy. His body felt achy, but the aching was--at the same time--not physical in nature.

Solus' puzzled expression remained as he looked at the two guests. Mairyell drew his attention with his question. "Wait... What are you...?" His face twisted into realization as his left hand palm opened to reveal a black sphere in his hand as he glanced at it. His eyes slowly rose towards Mairyell. "You touched me, didn't you?"

He only nodded, still trying to regain his composure so he could stand up and punch Solus in the jaw, but only after he'd gotten a solid explanation. The hunter'd earned it.

Not entirely content to be ignored any more, Zi stood and walked over to Solus, throwing Mairyeil a long glance to confirm if he's ok. As she came to stand at Solus' side she leaned down, staring at the black orb he was holding with childlIke curiosity. That hadn't been there before. Was it some sort of demon or essence or something completely different? Staring at it didn't provide any answers but she knew it wasnt a part of either of the two men. The hunters had their ways, she knew, and even when they first met, Solus had proven his competence... but something seemed off this time. Both behaved like something had happened that they didn't have complete control over. She couldn't blame them, it wasn't often that you saw someone lose consciousness and -not- fall to the ground.

"So what is this all about?" She asked, raising her gaze at Solus.

Before Solus could explain anything, Zi of course cut him off with questions of her own. He stood up off the ground and looked at her, scanning her face to see who she was. His memories of Zi flicked by like flipping pages of a book. Finding his memories of her and matching them to her face. Now convicted that the woman before him was Zi, he began to speak.

"I'll keep this short. The world ends in 2 years. And I need you to help me resurrect a dead gatekeeper to help me stop it."

"Ha!" The girl sneered. "That's a bit too short, dont you think?"

"I did say I was gonna keep it short." He turned to Mairyell. "And what you saw was Aaurus himself..."

Mairyell had barely managed to get himself back on his feet. The Chimera's words did not help him at all and as such Solus only received a glare. Mairyell rubbed his temples and finally felt himself stabilize enough. As his composure was regained, his emotions stopped running quite as wild and he rethought punching Solus. Things were serious, and that had been jarring, but it had also been his own fault for interrupting the man. "Ugh," he rubbed his head and looked to Zi, "You ever heard of the Chimeric Lord?"

Zi, whose jaw had fallen open at the mention of Aaurus hurried to snap It shut and stared at the vampire. Despite the name sounding vaguely familiar, she shook her head. It was far easier than explaining that you remembered some things of a few lives and they weren't all yours.

Mairyell nodded gruffly, unable to hold back a slight smile. She was really in for a surprise, especially if she thought Aaurus was a jaw dropper....

"And if you thought that was a surprise... Here's the real deal..." Solus said.

---

"...and currently, he is the Chimeric Lord, or inhabits his body anyway..." Solus, done with his explanation, shrugged. "That's the gist of it all, anyway."

Mairyell, throughout had watched the woman with a certain vigilance. It had taken Solus and him awhile to properly explain the details and while Solus had done most of the work, Mairyell found himself somewhat...daunted by the reality of things. Hearing it again did not help. Nonetheless, he'd survived plenty already, so there was no reason why he couldn't survive this. Perhaps he could even gain from it. He wondered about Zi though...and any others who might happen upon this information.

For the state of things was indeed grave.

Zi's naturally tanned skin seemed to have blanched out to a colour much more similar to her alabaster hair. At one point she was actually hyperventilating and had to sit down as her knees gave way. She had a brush with this creature. It was ages ago but the memory of it was still fresh, the wound opened every time the night kissed the day farewell. She knew one day they'd meet again. And what the guys said didn't make the situation any less difficult. In fact, it made it worse. She felt like she was between a rock and a hard place. And, in actuality, she was.

"And you want me to help you resurrect a Gatekeeper and get all sorts of unwanted attention, without any promises for success and with only you two as my potential protection? Is it that important, really? One Gatekeeper more or less?" She asked, trying to quell her fear. "It's not going to undo anything, not unless you destroy Hazumi as well and restore both gates and all three Gatekeepers. Perhaps not even then!" She was rambling, panic speeding her speech and shredding it, but she couldn't stop herself. Images of her life flashed in front of her eyes as if she was on death row: Emmet, Olivia, Azel, her job, everything she couldn't give up on. "What's to tell you that we can win this, those creatures are way out of our league! We're just flies under their boot, the worst we can do is give them a shout and tell them exactly where to step! Maybe if - if we stay put and wait for all this to be over, maybe we can survive, somehow! Maybe they'll be too busy with each other and won't even care about us!"

A sympathetic expression crossed the vampire's features as he listened to, and sensed, the intense fear and panic that Zi was displaying. He could not blame her. He was just glad he'd been somewhat prepared for what Solus had told him when he'd heard it, otherwise he'd likely be just as much a mess as her...or he'd have just detached himself from the situation and gone on living. Still, with his hands having relaxed, as well as the rest of him, Mairyell looked at her with eyes that understood how helpless and terrified she probably felt.

He waited for her to finish her rant, the emotion in her words making it impossible for him to find himself annoyed with her panic and irrational behavior. What could you expect? People simply were not made to deal with the forces that they had just informed her were mounting against them and every living, or otherwise, being in all three realms.

This was dire, he could feel it in the air. It was thick with the feeling of tension, everywhere he went. It didn't matter, you couldn't escape it. Not in heaven, hell, or on Surface. Letting a moment or two of silence go by, Mairyell finally sighed and moved over towards her, eventually sitting down. Before he'd done so he had given Solus a look, a look filled with what the man would know was a message. It told him to wait and to be understanding. He knew that sometimes Solus just had no capacity to really understand how normal people functioned. Mairyell was only somewhat better because he had been around them for his entire life. He had not been absent for the last 200 years...unlike Solus who had been gone for the majority of such.

Putting a hand on Zi's shoulder to draw her attention and focus, to ground her, Mairyell attempted to lock eyes before he spoke. "Zi, you've seen him before...haven't you?" His tone was grave and serious, but held a tone of empathy as well. It was calm, but there was a pain in his eyes, an old pain. "You're not the only one. He plagued me and my sister, Aeris, for the majority of our lives. You're right, we might not have a chance, but I'll say this. If we stand idle, we forsake any chance we might've had to begin with. There is always the possibility that we could succeed...even if our enemy is something beyond our comprehension."

Closing his eyes for a moment, his brow screwed up a bit, a sad look on his face, the vampire eventually opened his eyes again. Now they shone with a bright blue glow and the chimera's essence shifted slightly in the direction of a more human feeling. His predatory aura was gone, before her sat what she might recognize as a very resolute and determined human. His shoulders were squared, but comfortable, his back was straight, and his eyes were strong, unyielding. "I know we can win, the possibility is there. I don't care how slim it is. I've seen miracles happen. This demon, no this man," he had to take a breath to make the distinction. It was hard to recognize that the Lord of Chaos was a person too, rather than an embodiment of evil.

He exhaled slowly, evenly, before continuing, "...he does not want it to win, for it winning means that he is also destroyed, and that everything he has done over his...considerable lifetime, was for nothing. So really, it is just a matter of deciding between two things." His face hardened, becoming gravely serious once more, "Will you act, or will you let yourself and everyone you love, all the innocents of the three worlds be swept away and destroyed, their lives rendered null." It was plainly a question, but he said it with such conviction and seriousness that it was obvious what the answer should be. He would give her a moment to reply before he gently squeezed her shoulder, a comforting gesture, after which he would rise to his feet and give her some space, his eyes drifting briefly to Solus.

He knew things were bad, but over the last 200 years he had learned to recognize that there was hope in the world. It didn't matter how bad shit got, there was always a chance for something better. Always.

Despite the initial flinch that Mairyell's touch had caused Zi couldn't find the strength to resist his comforting words. Her cynical nature was struggling to unite with the panic, feed it into a monster that would forsake the whole world, along with anyone in it. But it was an inner battle, one only obvious in her quivering eyes and once Mairyell locked his with hers, he held and calmed them. He was overcoming all her defences with words that gave her not only compassion but hope as well. Maybe if it wasn't Mairyell it wouldn't work. Maybe if she didn't see the same fear buried in his own, now human eyes, she wouldn't let him calm her down.

Defeated, with tears streaming down her face that had started unbeknownst to her, she nodded, biting her lips hard. She thought she was done with this. Done with saving the world, fighting the odds, feeling so, so very mortal.

Like a firefly, once you burn bright, then you've burnt yourself out.

Zi gulped and steadied herself with another nod. She had to try, it was never an option not to. No matter how hard she wished it was.

"Ok then..." Solus nodded. "Mairyell. You're free to go. I'm sure you have other business to attend to..."

Mairyell nodded in reply and glanced at Solus and then Zi, "See ya 'round..." he then walked towards the library's exit before turning, "...oh yeah...good luck." He smiled slightly before his eyes met with Solus' flaming orbs, his expression becoming serious. They needed to talk later, but there were other things to take care of.

Departing the dilapidated mansion, Mairyell took off and headed for Loom, tracking his sister's scent. Seemed like she was near the Academy. How interesting.

Essence of the World: The New Age [CLOSED]

Posted.

Essence of the World: The New Age [CLOSED]

"Righteous Reunion."

---

Solus fell to his knees after his body rematerialized. Breathing heavily, he clutched his throat, the feeling of Slyre's cold hand wrapped around his neck lingered for a while longer. He swallowed hard, pushing his free hand onto the sand to help himself up. Getting on his feet, he took a look around. He was standing on a beach, looking directly at the ocean, and the horizon where the extent of his sight ended.

He turned around, to see a tower... No, a lighthouse made of bricks that seemed to pierce the clouds. How has no one noticed this? He wondered. But that thought was broken by a voice, echoing from the top of the lighthouse. Solus listened to it for a few moments, before recognizing it. "Rina..." He said out loud, as if he was trying to convince himself what he was hearing was true.

As if in a weird lapse of panic, he scrambled forward towards the lighthouse, almost tripping over himself several times on the way to it. He passed what appeared to be a hole in the ground with a ladder leading deeper into it. Beside it, sat mining equipment, the usual, ranging from a pickaxes to a few buckets to move dirt out of the hole. There was also a cage with a canary in it, though it didn't seem to notice Solus' presence, or perhaps simply didn't care. He noted his strange find, and moved on. Eventually, by following the well lit path, he got to the foot of the lighthouse, and its entrance that awaited for him to open it.

Solus placed his hand on the handle with care, in case the door suddenly decided to blow up in his face. Nothing happened of course, but what surprised him was that the door was unlocked. It saved him some trouble at least, but that fact irked him.

He stepped inside.

Solus was greeted by a flight of spiral stairs, going all the way to the top. But as he looked up the gap of the stairs where he could see the light, he noticed that there were rooms on every floor.

He began his climb.

He ascended two steps at a time, and he stopped at every floor where a new opening into a room appeared, he peered inside of each despite hearing Rina's singing from all the way at the top. As he ascended he saw living rooms, kitchens, a multitude of bedrooms. How many beds does this girl need? He asked himself as he continued. But what was the most curious thing was that every room was filled with pictures of her, portraits, smaller ones on desks, and others of her with other people, mostly humans, some demons, and a couple angels. She was smiling in all of them, as were they. The question of who took those pictures lingered in Solus' head. Perhaps there were others here that Slyre took away from the world, left them here until it was their hour.

The more he ascended the stranger the place felt. Every stone and hardwood floor was scrubbed clean to a T. You could cook off the ground here. The candles in the rooms he passed were arranged accordingly, well away from anything flammable. He knew that Rina liked to keep things clean, but this was a step up. Perhaps boredom finally got to her.

He could smell food too. Though he had no need for food anymore, it smelled something divine. He passed the kitchen where it originated from, and noticed freshly plucked vegetables, with the soil still clinging to them. From the looks of the amount of ingredients used, it was a meal for two.

The flood of thoughts and the overwhelming feelings that flowed through him helped pass the time as he climbed, until finally he reached the final floor, just underneath the constantly turning light. The singing was strongest here. He sighed, he only had two hours...

He placed his hand on the wooden door, and pushed gently, slowly opening it as to not disturb her.

And there she was, with her back to him and hands on the rail. Also behind her was a ladder that led to the lighthouse device, which powerfully swept through the night like a cleaver. With every rotation, she was briefly seen in darkness, then in the light; as if she was pulsing between the two realms of those elements. Her attire seemed simple enough: muddy black jeans with rips and tears here and there, along with a white, heavily stained blouse tucked in. Her feet were bare, but dirty. It seemed as though Rina had been working for a long time.

From the angle of his approach, the side of her left face hinted at maturity. Even her height had increased, nearly matching Solus. She was certainly no old bag of bones that Slyre hinted at, but indeed, she had grown, perhaps looking to be in her late 20s. But 200 years had gone by. Odd.

Her eyes remained closed, her mouth continued gesturing the lyrics of the strange, unknown song. Her voice trailed around the man, pulling at his heartstrings like a skilled musician. But other than that, she did not seem to notice that she had a visitor.

"That's beautiful..." Solus said, somewhat sadly as he looked upon the figure of Rina.

Her song immediately ended at the praise, but her eyes still remained shut. Her head lowering slightly, her brow rubbed up in frustration, as if she was unnerved by what he'd just said. Or perhaps she could hardly believe it---that he was here. Her hands clenched the railing harder, bringing out the whiteness of her knuckles under starlight.

Suddenly, the rotating device above them hummed loudly, and then seemed to die down. Complete darkness engulfed them for a moment, until their vision adjusted for the ample amount of the stars and moon peeking behind the clouds.

"Ugh, that damn thing," Rina muttered with annoyance, shaking her head as she turned to climb the ladder and fix it for the 3rd time that day.

Solus watched her intently, even was unsure if she was real. Her expression at his remark, told him volumes, enough for him to speak up again. "Rina..."

She froze, her hands and right foot on the rungs of the ladder. His voice again. She caved, having long learned to ignore fabrications of her memories and longing for him. Or so she thought. Sighing, she glanced over at his direction, his oh-so-familiar bodily outline illuminated by stellar light. She squinted at him, as though trying to discern if he was really there or not. Could it be...?

She swallowed, her entire body starting to react to the actual presence of someone there. His breathing tickled her ears, and her hairs stood up on ends. She looked down at the mud and sand he'd tracked up here. Even his scent caught her nostrils up into a flare. Hoping against hope, her lips parted in the darkness...

"Solus?" Rina asked, her voice trembling and nearly breaking.

"Yeah..." Solus replied. "Long time no see..." He suddenly felt something shake in his trench coat pocket, which he was sure was empty. He put his hand in there, his fingers feeling glass, and a wooden frame surrounding it. It had the shape of an hourglass. He pulled it out and looked at it, inspecting it in his hand, turning it from left and right, and up and down, but the sand, continued to moved into the empty portion of the hourglass. Well, at least he gave me a timer... He put it back in his pocket, and looked back towards Rina, watching her.

She'd stepped forward away from the ladder, his words drawing her in, almost into a fascinated state of being. The green flames of his eyes, nostrils, and mouth bathed her face in an eerie illumination, but it only served to harden her hope that he was literally there. Her eyes made out a small object in his hand. Another hourglass? Between dealing with the absolute fact that Solus was actually standing before her and seeing that hourglass, Rina decided to touch first, ask questions later.

"12 years," Rina replied, nodding in agreement as she placed her hand tentatively on his chest.

She flinched, half expecting to pass right through it. A sob snared her throat, and she pulled away from him, covering her face with both hands. Her shoulders trembled as her body swayed dangerously in place, as though she might fall over the railing.

"Please... be real," she cried lowly.

That sob broke him. He flash stepped towards her, in a blink of an eye, his arms were wrapped around her, holding her tightly, as if she would disappear again. "I'm real, Rina... I'm real." His right hand reached for the back of her head, his fingers gently running through her hair. He wished he had the power to cry, but it was something he lacked. But has it really been only 12 years for her?

Suddenly engulfed into his strength and firmness of body, Rina nearly fainted. Her knees bent like wax as she clung to his torso feebly. I'm real. The promise etched into her heart at the moment, giving her courage to look up at him. Her teeth bit her lips as her tear-streaked face once again met the green-flamed light. She lowered her head again, wiping her tears on his chest. Then, looking up again, she smiled that lopsided grin that she'd given him many times during the months of her training over 200 years ago.

"I promised myself I wouldn't cry since you can't, Solus," she explained breathlessly, and trying to stand on her own two feet.

That was a feat in and of itself since she had absolutely no idea where the ground was. Or the sky. Or the lighthouse for that matter. Solus, and only Solus, captivated her attention and enraptured her soul with sheer, almost painful bliss.

His fingers ran from her hair and caressed her tear soaked cheek. "I... I don't know what to say..." His brain froze, unable to process anything intelligible to say to her. "I lost hope..."

An involuntary purr escaped her at his touch, shaking her down to her core and below. "I..." she mumbled through his words, quieting for a moment. He lost hope. It was a thought that had crossed her mind some years back---that he'd have given up on her. Logic surfaced briefly, trying to concoct some excuse for him like all girlfriends do at times.

"Well, the Surface is big; Can't imagine being able to search it all in such a short time," she offered, smiling up at him and caressing the right side of his doll-stitched mouth.

"The Surface...?" Solus asked rhetorically as his eyes began to roll back into his skull. "God damn it. What a fool I was. For 200 years I searched everywhere but the Surface..."

Rina swallowed hard again, struggling to understand his words. 200 years...? Her head tilted as her eyes darted left and right, trying to figure out if he misspoke or something. But his anger quelled any courage of speaking up, and she looked away at the floor of the outside platform. Confusion and embarrassment stretched her face.

"Slyre you son of a whore... Hid her right under my nose..." He closed his eyes and sighed. After a few moments they opened again, observing Rina's confused expression. "...You said that it has been 12 years for you... While it has been two centuries for me... Are you sure it has been 12 years?" He asked Rina slowly.

She nodded slowly at first, but then sank her shoulders, shaking her head. "I- ... well, I tried to keep track of time, but... after a while, things started to not make sense. Like, the sun and moon, and the stars, too. Plus people I spoke to mentioned certain years and dates," she rambled, caught up in her bewildered state.

"But in the end, I decided that I just didn't look that much older. You know? I mean, look," she added, stepping back to let him examine her body at the height of its blossom .

"Do I look 200 years older to you, Solus?" she asked him, smirking with her hands on hips.

Solus broke into his usual, deep chuckle, amused by her sudden change of attitude to the Rina he remembered. "No, I'd say you look about... 28."

She beamed. "I've thought so, too," she nodded, but then a wayward thought struck her attention.

Slight panic skipped across her face and her teeth clenched. "Crap, the light," she mumbled, turning away to climb the ladder.

"Need to crank it to get it go--waah!!" she explained before suddenly slipping in front of him and failing to grasp the ladder for support.

Solus quickly reacted, catching her by her hips and lifting her up. His hold was gentle, loving almost. He guided her body towards the ladder, giving her a more comfortable reach for the rickety thing that she needed to climb. "Are you ok?" His voice echoed right beside her left ear.

"Y-Yes!" Rina warbled, curling her toes. With her new-found balance, she grabbed the rungs again. Climbing up, she looked back at him, "Thanks. Just give me a moment," she smiled, letting her ascent's swagger draw his mind if he cared for it.

Sounds of furious cranking could be heard above, but indeed only a moment passed before the lighthouse resumed its guiding function. Rina then reappeared and zipped down the ladder, her grin testifying of delight to be back with Solus. Letting her hair down with a flourish, she led him back into the interior without so much as a beckon or word. Down the stairs and into the main kitchen, she donned an apron and took a couple pots off of the burners.

Another man then strolled carefully into the room from a hallway beyond (and under the stairs). He seemed a little older than Rina and wore a freshly ironed suit, with polished shoes and combed hair. His movement suggested something was off, for he did not even look at Solus at first. Rina glanced at Solus wistfully, biting her lower lip to stymie her rising nervousness. Bringing a finger to her lips to beg his silence, to which Solus quietly nodded. She then trained her gaze on the other man with an air of honed professionalism: kind but detached.

"Finding your way, James?" she asked politely.

Solus remained silent, like asked.

"Oh, in more ways than one, thanks to you, dear. You've been nothing but a blessing to this lonely old man," he replied with a rasp, and gripped the chair before which a plate (his, presumably) had been set.

"You're welcome," she replied sweetly, and just to make sure that Solus understood, she mouthed to him: He's blind. Solus' face lit up with acknowledgement in reply.

He sat down, easing into the chair comfortably. "The smell here is delicious, Miss Grim," James noted, his clean-shaven smile growing and his hands patting the table with hungry eagerness.

Miss Grim... Solus thought to himself, quite amused by it all.

Rina winced at the praise, but only because the real Grim was here now. She tried very hard to not meet Solus's eyes, but her flushing face revealed the truth: she had been telling people that her last name was Grim. Whatever for, was a question Solus would have to ask her later.

"It is your last meal," Rina replied, hoping to steer the conversation to a close, "so I've made this one extra special."

She quickly poured the guest (perhaps?) a bowl of gumbo and then a glass of wine of some kind. She guided his hand to his spoon, patting it as she walked away from the table and gave Solus another (embarrassed) smile. She seemed eager to leave, but then she glanced back at James, and her brow furrowed. James seemed to be glaring at Solus, albeit his eyes' vacancy merely suggested a concern in the man's general direction. Solus, in turn glared back at him, completely ignoring Rina's nervous face. It is your last meal... Solus had a hunch as to why this man was here. But he would ask Rina later.

"James?" Rina prompted.

"Quite. Oh yes, I'm sorry. But er... is someone else here, dear?" he asked curiously, tilting his head.

"No," she replied sharply, then sighing. "Well, just don't worry about it. Today is your day, James, and your hour will come at the knell. Please excuse me."

James nodded and dug into his food. Rina then took Solus by the hand into the hallway that James had exited. With haste, they passed by an opened bedroom, where the bed was messy and unmade. That bedroom only confirmed his hunch. It was a shame that Slyre put her in this position. Keeping old men company in more ways than one during final moments in life. Perhaps Slyre pitied them, pitied their lifelong loneliness. She was back in the pit it seemed, and now Solus knew what all those bedrooms were for. A job's a job, he guessed. Further on, and in private now, she perched on the edge of a black sofa in some kind of lounge. A stark white door, slightly ajar with a golden handle, could be seen across the way; nothing but darkness could be seen in the crack. Rina glanced up at Solus expectantly, slight worry in her searching eyes, perhaps at what he might be thinking about all this. I hope I don't have another one today, not while Solus is here...

"I'm due a break now actually, so there shouldn't be any other interruptions," she finally stated, her voice quivering with excitement; or was it fear?

"Miss Grim, huh...?" Solus asked her with a childish grin on his face as he took a seat beside her. Despite the many other questions he had, this one was the most important to him, she used his name after all.

She met his grin with relief, sighing gently through her nose. Nodding, she curled a stray lock behind her ear and gathered her thoughts. She scooted closer, too.

"Well, yes," she replied meekly with a nervous chuckle. "It was kind of awkward actually, I got called things and just, well, I mean--I needed an anchor, you know?"

She looked down shyly. "And your name is what kept me grounded the most."

Great. I had a whole speech prepared for him, and now I just... I... really should have written this down, actually. She opted to lean against the sofa, instead of him, as she waited for his response. Her fingers played with each other across her belly.

"Grounded..." Solus thought on the word, but couldn't really think of a reason why she used it. "So that old fellow... Is he some kind of..." Solus searched for a word that she would understand the meaning of, and yet it would not piss her off. "...client?"

She glanced up, sensing his confusion. Her mind was already forming a way to explain as he spoke, but then a hard lump formed in her throat. Client. After all this time... two hundred years for him (and twelve years for her?), he thought that she'd just buckle and go back to what she once knew as a mentally-warped child prostitute? She sat a little straighter, staring hard into his right knee before lightly shaking her head.

"No," she whispered, and then swallowed. "Not at all."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, gently squeezing it, causing her tender shoulder to rise into his palm. "Ok." He nodded taking her word for it. But her reply said otherwise to him. He felt like an asshole just for asking it. "Sorry, I just... I shouldn't have said anything..." He let go of her shoulder and placed his now free hand on his knee, which her eyes followed as she nodded. An awkward moment loomed over them both as he thought about the next thing he was going to ask, hopefully one that wasn't so stupid. "You can tell me anything... you know that?"

Placing her hand on his hand, she leaned close and nodded. "I do, and it's okay. I mean, thinkin' about it, I'd probably wonder the same thing, too," she smiled, returning the same gentle squeeze.

She eased into a hug, wrapping her arms around his torso and rested her head on his chest. Her unbound hair splayed over him like a silken baby blanket. She closed her eyes for a moment, just merely resting as her breathing calmed down. "Was it hard? Without me..." she asked him.

"It was..." Solus replied, causing Rina to hug him tighter. "But that doesn't really matter now." He continued. "Knowing you're ok is enough for me to keep going..." He paused for a moment as he decided to change the subject. "So what exactly is the point of this lighthouse anyway? Apart from it being a lighthouse... One doesn't normally have so many rooms."

She blinked, sitting up a bit and leaning more into Solus. "Umm..." she mumbled, thinking of a way to put it simply. "From what I can understand, it... guides the dead here."

She glanced up at Solus, her eyes filling with awed confusion. "And... they have problems," she continued, glancing away embarrassingly, "and I've basically just been comforting them. Helping them come to terms with their... brokenness, I guess you can call it. But they don't remind me of ghosts or zombies, or anything like that, Solus. I wasn't told what to do, I just sort of knew..."

She sighed, really not liking her own explanation. "All I was told that if I leave the island or if the light goes out, I will surely die," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "Oh, and as to the rooms, I dunno. They were all here already. I've only kept them cleaned."

Rina glanced up at Solus, wondering if he wanted more information. "He seemed very much alive to me..." The man said, remembering his senses kicking in as the old man entered the kitchen back there. "So what do you mean by brokenness exactly?"

She sighed lightly through her nose, but the challenge of this was refreshing compared to her day-to-day routine. "Right. Well, let's see. It's like their body is alive... because I feed them, right? But inside, they... are dead. Broken willed. Their spirits were just out of there. And I... I guess I felt a sense of duty to just take care of them, talk to them. You know? Comfort them. And..."

She glanced at the white door before them. "When the knell strikes, that door opens and they leave. That's all I know. An' don't even ask me where the knell is, I've tried to find it. No luck at all, really," she chuckled.

Retreating back into his protective arms, she fingered his stomach through his coat, making little figure eights and trailing creases to flatten them out. I hope that satisfies him for now, because I really have no clue about this place. Long as I've been here, it's still a mystery.

"I see..." Solus said thoughtfully as he realized what she was talking about. "You mean Shattered Souls..." Remembering his broken self, and how he used such souls, as they seemed to be the only ones he had a chance to grasp when he practiced his necromancy. People who had suffered throughout their life, were left broken.

"I... guess?" she replied, somewhat confused, but then her body tensed up as some memories surfaced. "Though not ... not all of them made it..."

"What do you mean?" Solus asked curiously, his hand reaching for the back of her head.

She gave him a long look, the irises in her pupils swirling. Glancing away, almost closing her eyes. "Nothing dramatic. They just... stopped moving. Truly dead, I thought," she explained, her shoulders sinking. His caress gave her strength, so she continued. "I dug a grave. Well, catacombs, I think they're called? And... I buried them in there... that's all..."

"Hmm... A place where the dead go to die..." He said to himself in thought. Slyre's title crossed his mind. The Terminus. He brought her here to comfort the dying in their final moments. Well it was his theory, a shit one at best. One worth considering, though. "How do they leave?"

Rina opened her mouth, but then a long, deep knell struck. The sound echoed throughout the room and actually seemed to be coming from behind the white door, which then opened completely. She clutched Solus, almost digging her nails into his coat. She didn't normally hang around when this happened, and in fact, this was the first time she really saw the door open. The space beyond the door was sheer, foreboding darkness, and suddenly a huge black chain (which seemed eerily familiar) zipped out of the door. It dashed through the air soundlessly and out of the room, and Rina's jaw dropped. A moment later, James came stumbling down, a smile on his face like he knew all along what was going on. His hands clasped with manacles, the dark chain gently guided him to the door, pulling him within.

The door slammed shut with finality behind him... but then opened again, leaving itself slightly ajar. Rina's forehead was ebbed with sweat beads as she stared ahead of them.

Chains, green and flaming, just as large as the black one that appeared from the door, quietly crept out of his sleeves, causing Rina to flinch back but then watch with interest. The familiarity of the black chain drawing them towards the door. They inquisitively poked and prodded the air, as if they were smelling it. Eventually they arrived at the door, creeping towards the crack that showed the darkness beyond.

Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening. "Solus!" Rina gasped, seizing his arm. "Please don't..."

"It's ok..." He said as the molten links got closer to the darkness, green fire licking its way along, spewing heat into the room. Soon the 4 chains passed into the darkness, only to suddenly create a monstrous metal scream, quickly shooting back where they came from, into his arms. Fast enough to miss them if Rina blinked; however, the sound alone made her jump off of the sofa, with her back to the wall and arms spread out for balance.

"Why you gotta scare the crap out of me?" she hissed at him, though not truly upset.

Solus looked down at his hands, unsure of what the hell just happened. "They never done that before..." He took a mental note to look into it later.

She smirked, shaking her head. "Well let's get out of here, please. This is actually my least favorite room, I... c'mon," she fussed, taking him by the hand and jokingly dragging him out of the room.

Back in the kitchen, she pulled out a rocking chair and guided Solus into it. He could probably tell that she was used to bossing people around in the lighthouse. She then began putting dishes away and cleaning the dirty ones in a soapy basin. "So what have YOU been up to, Mister 200 years," she joked, still not sure of what to make of the discrepancy between their different perceptions of the time that had passed.

"Anything you wanna know about the outside world before I begin?" Solus asked.

For some reason, the question unsettled her. Perhaps because she had never been able to observe the outside world. Though she ran a lighthouse, she'd never even seen a ship pass by. She wasn't even sure where the mainland was that this lighthouse was supposed to guide ships to. Her hands in the hot water, she pondered a moment.

"Well, I guess I've gotta ask... has 200 years really passed by out there?" she asked, before turning her head over her shoulder and gazing at him with almost sullen eyes.

"Yeah... It has. The old mansion you remember is an overgrown ruin now..." He answered. "The maps have changed... Angels and Demons live together in an uneasy peace, to my surprise... Madagascar is under the sea... The list goes on really. I only returned to the Surface a few days ago myself."

She nodded as she continued washing a plate. "Hmm. Then my uncle had long since passed away," Rina remarked curtly, as if she'd just added the minor crime of jaywalking to a list containing genocide, rape, and murder.

"I was hunting Iotans for 120 years... And I never found him." Solus added. "Who knows, maybe he's still out there." Solus' flaming chains finally came back out again, though a little more timidly this time. "Iotan chains have a slight side effect of agelessness..."

"Do they?" she replied coldly, clearly bothered by something. Putting the plate in the dish drain, she went to work on a coffee cup. "What else have you been up to, Solus? I wish I could say my time here was exciting, but it was mostly just work and..."

She paused, glancing out the window, which almost nearly reflected a complete image of her. "Self-reflection," she added with a wry smirk.

"I was hunting the Iotans in an attempt to find you. I hoped that they had some answers, but they all turned out to be duds..." He added, the feeling of guilt slammed into him again. How was he so damn stupid to not even think of searching for her on the surface? "Before that I fought in the War. Don't know if you remember it. It was when He took you... It started just before then. Killed a five thousand year old ghost who had a sword made out of a demigod inside him. Then I worked with a Vampire for a while, trying to help him find his sister. That didn't really work out..." He paused, remembering that merely less than an hour and half ago, they were finally reunited.

"Then I began hunting the Iotans like I mentioned earlier, trying to find you. That led me to a place called The Subatomic Plane. But that also ended up being a dead end... Then I went to hell... Searching for a way to die..." He stopped there.

Rina listened to his fascinating tales quietly as she resumed her work. Some of the details were fleeting, but that was alright. She knew that she couldn't pretend to understand it all, though she sorely wished she could have been there with him. Then again, she wondered how things might have turned out if she had? Would it really had been for the better? She came to terms with her isolation a long time ago and she really enjoyed who she had become. But she never forgot Solus. Not once did she give up hope, though he clearly had given up on her. But she was not about to rub that in his face, because what if their positions had been switched?

A memory struck. I once saved him from those Iotans before, didn't I? She pursed her lips thoughtfully as she put the last dish away. His last comment then drew her gaze to him. He wanted to die... she sighed, nodding. She had wanted to die, too. But her experience with the broken ones here completely wiped out any sense of self, for she realized that there were people with bigger problems than her own.

"Come, let me show you around," she smiled sweetly, her eyes piercing his soul with love and affection. Or so she hoped.

"Yeah, let's go." He replied with a weary smile.

For the next 10 or so minutes, Rina escorted him, their arms in lock, everywhere, starting at the top. She explained that guests had different tastes in bedroom styles, and that they mostly just slept when they weren't eating or ruminating over their lives. Sometimes she had several at once, and had to keep some of them separated lest they fight and bicker. She showed Solus a library, filled with dusty tomes and scrolls. She told him that she had looked at each one, and only a few of them were in a language that she could understand. A few of them, however, were autobiographies, and seemed to talk about the previous caretaker of the lighthouse. It was how she came to have a better understanding of her purpose here.

Down on the ground outside she showed him a mining shaft that she had dug, having read a book on geology and mining that piqued her interest greatly. Several kinds of ores and rocks were under this island, and she had experimented with them all. Which then led them to her makeshift forge, though its smoke and flames were long gone. Several attempts to make guns were plastered on the wall, which she embarrassingly admitted was just for fun. Next, she showed him a garden, full of exotic vegetables and fruit that seemed to thrive on this island. She told Solus that someone had already made the garden, and she had merely needed to weed it before it would grow.

Lastly, she showed him her bedroom, which was located at the base of the lighthouse. It was simple, but personal, with several drawings and paintings tacked to the walls. There was one of Thorpe, with a man standing before it, whom she said was supposed to be her uncle. Some of them were even of Solus and the Mustang, and the House of Grim. She shyly told him that she thought of him every single day and spent a few hours practicing her memories, she called it. In other words, reflecting what he had taught her and committing them to memory lest she forget.

She led him to her personal study in the corner, where she had practiced her magic over the years and honed her skills. The conversation shifted, then, to that of Slyre, and how not once did she see him here or hear from him. He'd merely dropped her off and reminded her that she would surely die if she left the island or let the light go out.

"But don't think I didn't make a boat or two," she added, exhausted somewhat as she sat on her bed and beckoned Solus to a chair next to the night stand. The candles in her room burned slowly, and in the windows, one could see the powerful beam of light slicing through the darkness over the tireless ocean waves.

"They were certainly seaworthy, but I never found the courage to actually leave," she continued, crossing her legs. "Of course, once I realized that the... guests were going to be a thing, I just focused on them... and their problems."

She nodded, complete with her story and feeling fairly satisfied. Her eyes glanced up at him under slightly battering eyelashes.

"Well..." Solus said as he pulled out the hourglass from his pocket, checking the time. He had one hour left. "Just because Slyre gave me an hourglass, doesn't mean I didn't come without a plan. Or several."

"That's my Solus," she replied coquettishly, tilting her head as though she wanted to hear more.

But then a thought came to mind, and worry stretched her face a bit thin. "Do you think you can beat him?" she asked carefully, clearly having a point to bring up once he'd answered.

"I don't intend to beat him, not fairly anyway. But if my first plan works out, that won't really matter anyway." He replied. "You see... He offered me two hours, for one hour of my own time, and a specific job. I don't know what the job entails just yet. But hopefully I can convince him for either more time, or your permanent return..."

Rina's eyes glassed over as he mentioned the words 'hours', though she merely blinked, nodded, and continued listening. She pulled her legs closer to her, laying on her side as she rested her head on her large, velvet red pillow.

"I see..." she whispered, then looked away. "Perhaps he wants you to kill someone. I've thought of why he took me... and I thought he was going to rip me to pieces..."

Her lips trembled, but she persisted strongly. "He certainly had the look to do so, but it seemed as though he realized something, and then took me to the lighthouse."

She glanced up at him. "The lighthouse wasn't our first stop. I think he took me to the Western... Realm? It was particularly hellish, but that was all he said," she added, nodding lightly, " 'Welcome to the Babysitter's home, the Western Realm.' but I've no idea what that all meant."

"Yeah..." He didn't really know what to say to that. "Do you have a vial?" He asked quite suddenly.

Smirking at the odd request, Rina rolled off of her bed and swaggered over to a closet. Opening it, one could see a few plants inside that were being allowed partial sunlight. The earthly smell of hanging, dried roots and herbs filtered into the rest of the room. In a tiny wooden box, she withdrew a clean vial. She handed it to him, her brow rising with curiosity.

Solus took it his hand and inspected it in the light. It seemed to be good enough. "Now I will need a clean syringe, and a wine cork."

"You're awfully specific, you know that?" she teased, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her nose into his face.

"This is important, Rina." His tone was firm. There was always a time for intimacy, but it was not now.

Little did she know the truth of that fact. "So is this," she countered, kissing him squarely on the spot below his eyes and above his mouth. But then she obeyed and retrieved the requested items from the same closet.

"Now alcohol and cotton. And before I forget, a tourniquet." He quickly stated as he inspected the syringe and tested the wine cork, seeing if it fit into the opening of the vile, and it did so perfectly.

"Um, 'kay," she replied, leaving the bedroom. Her footsteps could be heard zipping up the stone stairs, but before long, she returned with a flourish. "I've got this place memorized!" she giggled.

"Perfect..." Solus added, taking the items and placing them neatly beside him. "Now I need your arm." He said to her, his eyes piercing into hers.

She blanched. He could have just told me he wanted to draw blood... Sighing lightly, she cocked her eyebrows and rolled her sleeve, offering her arm like it was a piece of meat. On her skin, very faint traces of glowing runes could be seen, along with her veins. She stared right back into those eyes of his, completely undaunted by his seriousness. If this had been 200 years ago at home with him, it would have been like a determined bunny trying to give a hardened wolf its meanest death-stare. But now she was something else, not even a wolf.

Perhaps a lioness.

Solus noticed her return stare. She really had grown up, and not just physically. He gently took her hand, which she smirked at, and his rough palm slowly ran up her forearm, his thumb prodding the skin for veins. The runes on her skin were a curious sight, they only existed within before. He wrapped the tourniquet around her bicep, to push the blood down her arm.

Solus scooted a little closer to her as he placed the needle of the syringe on the vein he chose, not breaking the skin just yet. He looked up at her, straight at her lips, thought it was always difficult to tell what he was looking at. Suddenly his jagged lips collided with hers, drawing her into a deep kiss as the needle broke the skin, and pushed into the vein. His thumb pulled back on the plastic piston, her blood, which glowed slightly from the sigils on every cell, flowed into the syringe. Rina was certainly distracted by the man's considerable trickery, but she welcomed it greedily. After they parted, she hazily looked down at what he'd drawn and only felt a bit woozy for multiple reasons. She perched on the bed just in time.

"What happened?" she asked him, squinting at the syringe.

Solus placed the syringe into the vial and pushed down on the piston, ejecting the blood into the glass, and sealing the vial with the cork. "That should do the trick." He said as he pocketed the filled vial.

He looked at her woozy face, removing the tourniquet. A small dab of blood emerged from the prick, but it quickly ended there. "I drew some blood so I can track you with it. Hopefully I'll find you that way." What he didn't tell her was the purpose of the kiss. A small portion of the Black Tar that pumped through his body, entered hers, and it would be there for as long as she lived. He hoped, that it would eventually reach her spine, in doing so it establish some kind of connection between them. And as he would search for her, he would be following a 'hot and cold' trail. The 'hotter' it got, the closer he was to the parasite.

She stared at him, glancing at something over his shoulder before looking back and nodding. "Clever. I was hoping for something like that," she remarked with a smile.

The calendar on the back of her door had also drawn her sight, reminding her of her futility of trying to keep time here. Time. She pressed forward, glancing at his pocket. "Wait, how much time is left?" she asked him.

Solus pulled out the hourglass, and stared at it intently. "I think we've got a good 45 minutes left," he said, relaxing more into his chair.

"Mm." Rina nodded, tilting her head in thought. Something to do, he's already seen everything...

"What do you suggest, Rina?" he asked her.

She pursed her lips. "Let's..." she began before the light-beam device lost power again, fading everything in the room to black.

"Fuck!" she cried.

---

Light cracked into the window pane, which had been opened half-way to let fresher air inside. The candles had gone out. Breaths in sync relayed back and forth peacefully, dreamily. They held each other, lightly cuddling on their side under a thin bed sheet. Rina hadn't really slept, as she mostly just basked in the feeling of their coupling heat.

Solus wasn't sure where to start, especially after that. So he started with a gentle, "Hey..."

"Mmm, another go?" she asked lazily like a content little kitty.

Solus took a glance at the hourglass on the bedside table. There was very little time left. "We have 5 minutes left..." He said with a sigh.

"Time is a bittersweet thing, isn't it?" she asked, her strength growing to keep him closer.

"Yeah..." He replied, running a hand along her back, his fingers tracing her spine.

"I'm scared, ... Solus," she replied, lightly squirming against the tickling sensation.

"You're not the only one."

"I know..." she whispered and hugged him once before she let him go to dress himself.

Regrettably he knew he had to get up. It was an unfortunate necessity. Parting with Rina's warmth was like parting with his skin, and deep down it was painful. As he rose, she watched him admirably as he picked up his belongings and donned them. This wasn't Solus' fastest attempt at dressing though. The sadness of leaving her behind for a second time was killing him inside. Rina could actually feel the full weight of his heavy heart resting inside her own, dragging her inward to consider her own sadness. But for what it was all worth, the essence he'd left behind and their entire 2 hour visit would sustain her for many months to come.

She hoped that it would sustain him as well.

"Until the Next, my love," she whispered wantonly and held out her hand to take his, which, he, of course, took without hesitation. But that 'fare well' phrase sounded familiar, he just couldn't pinpoint where he'd heard it. He thought nothing of it. "I'm not giving up this time. Now that I know where to look... This isn't goodbye."

She nodded and let him take his leave of the scene of their most righteous reunion. I am so happy.

Solus didn't dally, for if he stayed longer, the less he wanted to leave. So he quickly dashed out of her room, and out to the beach of the island. He looked straight up at the quickly fading stars. Not much time. He thought as he pulled out his phone. Turning in the camera and quickly snapping a panoramic image from the horizon to 90 degrees above his head. And as he pocketed the phone, the hourglass in his clutched hand shattered, and the sand particles crawled up his arm. It enveloped him entirely in less than a moment and then shrunk him down rapidly.

The sand of the hourglass remained on the beach as Solus was returned to the House of Grim, only to find Layna's body gone, the blood cleaned up, and the "fake" bomb disposed of. At his feet, he would find a little white card, carefully placed on a piece of junk so that he would see it.

It read:

'To Whom This Should Concern,

24 hours from now, we shall meet.

The location is your choice.

The promise of certitude is mine.

Sincerely,
D'

As Rina observed Solus's exodus off the island through her bedroom window, she pulled her bathrobe fully over her, fastening its belt. It was another day, but it would be unlike any other.

A large, white-gloved hand carefully placed itself on her shoulder. But she didn't even flinch, as though she'd sensed the stranger's presence beforehand.

"Well done," a rich, dutiful voice remarked.

She didn't reply, but her eyes fell to the floor with anticipation of their future.

---

COLLAB POST: Synthorian, Mikael