Synthorian
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Interest is showing in my RP's. Exciting times.
8 yrs ago
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- Synthorian 12 yrs ago
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Interest is showing in my RP's. Exciting times.
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8 yrs ago
Returning to the RP circle after a long hiatus is hard.
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Most Recent Posts
Solus Grim's CS is up on the first page everyone.
yoshua171 said
So, in order to remove my own personal bias from this situation, Szayeis will be speaking instead.
That was awesome, and has given me an idea...
Name: Solus Grim
Alias/Nickname: The Necromaster, though he does have other nicknames that people have so eloquently created for him.
Age: His age is difficult to tell based on his appearance, so he has no truly apparent age. He does not reveal his age publically, though those who know him personally and have heard his tales tend to put the pieces and timestamps together, and estimate that he is somewhere in his mid-forties.
Race: Chimera
Appearance:
Solus Grim is indeed a strange fellow when it comes to looks. He constantly claims that he is human and yet he looks more demonic than most Demons, who prefer to select a more human form so they can blend in among the humans. His body for the most part is humanoid in nature, close enough to be human, yet his face, or his facial disfigurement, is what makes him stand out from the crowd, so to speak.
People like to refer to his facial appearance as that of “The Void Guide” himself, a mystical godly figure usually transcribed in religious texts. Though only as a reference for his difficult to describe facial features in a more simple manner.
His face consists of sunken in hardened flesh that has an almost rock like texture and strength yet the flexibility of human flesh. It’s structure reveals the man’s skeletal frame of the skull around the eyes and nasal cavity. He has no actual lips, but ones that appear to have been crudely cut out with a blade, creating a zigzag-esque line from one side of the face to the other. But even that is not the most interesting part about it. Green flames burn out of his eye sockets, nasal cavity and mouth almost all the time. The flames themselves are harmless to the touch.
His upper torso also has similar mutations, from the chin and down to where his abdominals begin, and down his arms until reaching the elbows. His flesh retains the similar rock like texture in that area, which also seems to act as natural dermal armour, protecting the vital organs while the limbs were ignored during the evolutionary process. The rest of his body retains natural human skin, perhaps the original flesh prior to his physical changes.
The man has a muscular, well-toned frame built for combat and punishment. His skin has a strange colour of ash grey. His right shoulder, is etched with a large glyphic tattoo from the collar bone down to half way down the bicep, that seems to emanate magical energies, only detectable by those with a keener and savvier eye of those with expertise in the Arcane. The man also towers at a tall 6 foot 2 inches.
His attire makes him stand out even more. He is always dressed in black, wherever he goes. And it’s always in a stylish black leather trench coat covered in more buckles and belts than a gimp outfit of a BDSM club patron, to the point where it looks like a very expensive strait-jacket. Whether it’s for weapon concealment or style is unknown, perhaps it’s for both. After all, an infamous hunter like him needs to look both intimidating and badass at the same time or just outright silly and impractical in some people’s eyes. Though little do those people know that that jacket is layered in thin Kevlar.
Underneath that, he wears a light Kevlar vest that can be easily concealed, even under a tailored tuxedo, to protect his vitals even more. The trench coat can’t stop everything, so that additional layer only adds to Solus’ sense of physical security. And below that all is a simple BDU t-shirt. Finally, adding to the outfit, a pair of baggy leather combat pants and steel toed combat boots to match.
Social Status: Solus’ true affiliation to any faction is truly unknown despite his infamy. Among Angels he was seen as a dangerous anarchist and terrorist, while Demons across Hell saw his as powerful mortal who proved not only his mettle, but the true potential of humankind in a duel to the death against the now deceased Demon Lord of the North, Mephistopheles.
Humans on the other hand, have barely heard of him. Those who have only know the story of how he singlehandedly defeated Mephisto, but even that legend is convoluted and blurred in the histories.
Relations: Solus has a massive list of contacts from whom he can pull favors from, call for aid, obtain new equipment, etc. But those individuals and groups are merely acquaintances or tools. There is only one person he is currently close to, and that is his 17 year old apprentice, who goes by the name of Rowdy Ralice. Solus is one of a handful of people who know her true name.
General Activity: People believe that Solus Grim intends banish both the Angels and Demons from the Surface world, though his actual reasons, motivations and goals are unknown. Most people believe him to be a Demon Slayer, since all of the tales told of his adventures usually involved a powerful demon of one kind or another. He actually takes the mantle of a Bounty Hunter, though where his contracts come from is yet another mystery.
Abilities: Solus is both a Necromancer and a Blood Mage by trade.
His Necromantic abilities revolve around manipulating the dead, death, and the essence of the dead. Solus can also communicate with the deceased on some simple level – by taking what is left of their essence and containing it in a storage unit, and partial mixing that essence with his for a temporary amount of time – for the purpose of divination, imparting the means to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge.
Many practitioners find a way to cheat Death one way or other, whether by becoming some form of undead creature or by bypassing their own ability to die.
Solus on the other hand, uses this ability to create monsters, raising the dead and twisting, changing the corpses into horrifying monsters that are bound to his will (The twisting and changing of the body requires a dash of blood magic). The monsters range in shape and strength based on the essence that was collected, the weaker the essence, the weaker the monster, and vice versa. Zombies are the easiest to raise and do not even require blood magic.
Solus’ Blood Magic abilities revolve around his own blood and the blood other living things. Blood is important in magic because it represents life force at its most basic nature. By capturing the evaporating essence of a dying body, Solus can dramatically improve the energy of his spells by linking them to the mana of the body. This augmented energy allows the spell to be more powerful but it is also more demanding on him, since he must control the fabrics of the spell and tie it simultaneously to the mana of the dying Soul.
An important component of Blood Magic is the essence in the results it can produce. The sacrifice can't carry more power that the essence it allows it to carry. In context, the essence makes the magic happen, if the essence is weak, it will barely help in the casting of the spell, with more energy needed to be of some use. If the essence is strong, it will produce a more powerful and volatile spell than anticipated, with less energy required.
Solus usually sacrifices his own blood to enhance his offensive spells, slowly weakening himself with each spell he casts. He does not use blood magic for conjuring or for rituals, but simply as a fuel. A fuel that kindles magic his essence simply cannot cast on its own, such as standard Arcane spells, or temporarily enhancing his own weapons, or drain the life force of others to heal himself in battle.
There are 4 different levels of power of such spells. Minor, Medium, Major, and Sacrificial.
Minor, Medium, and Major are as their name states. They feed on the amount of life force based on their name, taking a certain amount of energy from the caster in order to cast a spell of destructive or defensive equal to the amount of energy consumed. Minor spells need little life force, Medium spells need a decent amount of life force, Mayor spells need a considerable amount of life force.
Sacrificial blood magic requires a death of a living creature to cast. Where an Arcane spell would need 12 mages and a powerful pylon to cast it, Blood Magic could cast that same spell with a single sacrifice.
Solus is mostly against sacrificial spells using innocents as fuel, but he does use them with the life force of his dead foes as a method of gaining a vast advantage in a fight against a large wave of enemies.
Equipment:
Please take note that Solus CANNOT bring all this gear with him. He will have to pick and choose items out of his arsenal based on their weight and how much he can carry without losing his agility and mobility.
Personality: He is a man who lives his life on the edge, and cocky with an ego the size of the Sun. But he has the skill to justify his egotistical nature and his undefeated and unchallenged streak as one of the most infamous and successful Demon Hunters in the world, both in Hell and the Surface alike. Though his ego only truly surfaces on the battlefield, where he will be throwing sarcastic and insulting remarks at any opponents with half a brain to both understand and get offended by them, with the sole purpose to piss them off just enough for them to start making fatal mistakes.
Most of the time however, he tries to maintain a stoic, fearless and professional image when conducting business. Whether it’s obtaining new contracts, getting to know new contacts, or simply purchasing equipment from his black market acquaintances.
In the end, all of this is a poker face to hide his social awkwardness. He struggles to maintain a casual conversation about things that normally aren’t related to his job. But once the conversation does get going and runs smoothly, the awkwardness and Solus’ Umm’s as he searches for words to say seems to fade.
The chimeric man is strong willed and a bit of a workaholic. When he sets his burning eyes on a goal, he will reach it, even if he loses a limb or two. And he almost seemingly lacks any idea of fear, like the emotion was just, carved out of his brain. Of course there are things that he fears, but he has seen so much horror in his life that very few things faze him. It just takes the right touch to get under his skin.
Biography: Solus only became well known 2 years prior, when he traveled beyond the Gates of Hell and into the Northern Realm with the intention of slaying the Demon Lord of Pride and War, Mephistopheles.
It’s a matter of asking any demon who hails from the North, they will tell you the tale word for word. But those who know it better, are Mephisto’s former advisors, who witnessed the battle between the two with their own eyes.
Solus ventured into Hell with a party of three other necromancers like himself, each possessed with an essence of a hellion.
Of course, the smell of human flesh in a place like Hell tends to attract a lot of unsavoury characters. The humans forced to battle the way through to Mephisto, though they have only scratched the surface of his vast armies. By the time Solus reached Mephisto, all of his party members had died. Though Solus only reached Mephisto by getting himself captured, and was granted an audience with the Demon Lord.
Knowing Mephisto's honourable warrior nature, Solus asked for the Right of Challenge, a right given to any warrior to challenge the Demon Lord (whichever one is currently ruling) in a battle to the death, a tradition within Mephisto's realm. While the other Hellions who witnessed Solus spout the Right verbally protested against it, Mephisto stood up, and scanned the human from head to toe with his eyes, then, to his minions' disbelief, requested that they returned the human's weapons, and that he accepted the challenge.
The fight between the two lasted for hours; they tirelessly and relentlessly engaged each other in combat and exchanged powerful blows while Mephisto's minions watched. After several hours of brutal battle, the two were covered in eachother's blood, and both severely wounded, it was when they both briefly stopped fighting just to catch some air when Mephisto said, "Join me, Necromaster. Join me and I could give you the Surface World, Immortality, anything you desire. You have more that proven your power to me. Join me, and we can rule the Three Worlds together!" Solus didn't even answer, but raised his sword for another blow, while Mephisto froze in shock, bewildered that Solus hasn't even bothered to consider his offer. Solus smashed his blade against the top of Mephisto's head, splitting it in two, slaying Mephisto right in front of his advisors and minions. The witnessing Hellions didn't even try to stop Solus as he didn't say a single word, and simply left the ruined Throne Room.
News of Mephisto's death spread faster than a forest fire, before Solus could even reach the Hell Gate, still clutching his wounds, the entirety of Hell, and even most of the Surface World has heard of Mephisto's demise.
It was six months later when he re-emerged again, when he slayed a whole brood of vampires, including their leader, Kabal, who died from a silver bullet to the head. The Council took notice. A human with dark powers could not be allowed to exist, and as such, sent out Battle Angels to find him, and destroy him. The Angels never returned however, and the Council's concern only grew larger.
Yet another six months passed, and he appeared yet again, this time, in the small town of Thorpe just outside of Loom, where he and small contingent of human militia, attempted to destroy an enormous flesh construct that referred to itself as Hodge, and its many children, the Podges.
He disappeared without a trace after that, though rumors of seeing him shadowed by a teenager, trailing behind him, have started to surface in this past year.
Alias/Nickname: The Necromaster, though he does have other nicknames that people have so eloquently created for him.
Age: His age is difficult to tell based on his appearance, so he has no truly apparent age. He does not reveal his age publically, though those who know him personally and have heard his tales tend to put the pieces and timestamps together, and estimate that he is somewhere in his mid-forties.
Race: Chimera
Appearance:
Solus Grim is indeed a strange fellow when it comes to looks. He constantly claims that he is human and yet he looks more demonic than most Demons, who prefer to select a more human form so they can blend in among the humans. His body for the most part is humanoid in nature, close enough to be human, yet his face, or his facial disfigurement, is what makes him stand out from the crowd, so to speak.
People like to refer to his facial appearance as that of “The Void Guide” himself, a mystical godly figure usually transcribed in religious texts. Though only as a reference for his difficult to describe facial features in a more simple manner.
His face consists of sunken in hardened flesh that has an almost rock like texture and strength yet the flexibility of human flesh. It’s structure reveals the man’s skeletal frame of the skull around the eyes and nasal cavity. He has no actual lips, but ones that appear to have been crudely cut out with a blade, creating a zigzag-esque line from one side of the face to the other. But even that is not the most interesting part about it. Green flames burn out of his eye sockets, nasal cavity and mouth almost all the time. The flames themselves are harmless to the touch.
His upper torso also has similar mutations, from the chin and down to where his abdominals begin, and down his arms until reaching the elbows. His flesh retains the similar rock like texture in that area, which also seems to act as natural dermal armour, protecting the vital organs while the limbs were ignored during the evolutionary process. The rest of his body retains natural human skin, perhaps the original flesh prior to his physical changes.
The man has a muscular, well-toned frame built for combat and punishment. His skin has a strange colour of ash grey. His right shoulder, is etched with a large glyphic tattoo from the collar bone down to half way down the bicep, that seems to emanate magical energies, only detectable by those with a keener and savvier eye of those with expertise in the Arcane. The man also towers at a tall 6 foot 2 inches.
His attire makes him stand out even more. He is always dressed in black, wherever he goes. And it’s always in a stylish black leather trench coat covered in more buckles and belts than a gimp outfit of a BDSM club patron, to the point where it looks like a very expensive strait-jacket. Whether it’s for weapon concealment or style is unknown, perhaps it’s for both. After all, an infamous hunter like him needs to look both intimidating and badass at the same time or just outright silly and impractical in some people’s eyes. Though little do those people know that that jacket is layered in thin Kevlar.
Underneath that, he wears a light Kevlar vest that can be easily concealed, even under a tailored tuxedo, to protect his vitals even more. The trench coat can’t stop everything, so that additional layer only adds to Solus’ sense of physical security. And below that all is a simple BDU t-shirt. Finally, adding to the outfit, a pair of baggy leather combat pants and steel toed combat boots to match.
Social Status: Solus’ true affiliation to any faction is truly unknown despite his infamy. Among Angels he was seen as a dangerous anarchist and terrorist, while Demons across Hell saw his as powerful mortal who proved not only his mettle, but the true potential of humankind in a duel to the death against the now deceased Demon Lord of the North, Mephistopheles.
Humans on the other hand, have barely heard of him. Those who have only know the story of how he singlehandedly defeated Mephisto, but even that legend is convoluted and blurred in the histories.
Relations: Solus has a massive list of contacts from whom he can pull favors from, call for aid, obtain new equipment, etc. But those individuals and groups are merely acquaintances or tools. There is only one person he is currently close to, and that is his 17 year old apprentice, who goes by the name of Rowdy Ralice. Solus is one of a handful of people who know her true name.
General Activity: People believe that Solus Grim intends banish both the Angels and Demons from the Surface world, though his actual reasons, motivations and goals are unknown. Most people believe him to be a Demon Slayer, since all of the tales told of his adventures usually involved a powerful demon of one kind or another. He actually takes the mantle of a Bounty Hunter, though where his contracts come from is yet another mystery.
Abilities: Solus is both a Necromancer and a Blood Mage by trade.
His Necromantic abilities revolve around manipulating the dead, death, and the essence of the dead. Solus can also communicate with the deceased on some simple level – by taking what is left of their essence and containing it in a storage unit, and partial mixing that essence with his for a temporary amount of time – for the purpose of divination, imparting the means to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge.
Many practitioners find a way to cheat Death one way or other, whether by becoming some form of undead creature or by bypassing their own ability to die.
Solus on the other hand, uses this ability to create monsters, raising the dead and twisting, changing the corpses into horrifying monsters that are bound to his will (The twisting and changing of the body requires a dash of blood magic). The monsters range in shape and strength based on the essence that was collected, the weaker the essence, the weaker the monster, and vice versa. Zombies are the easiest to raise and do not even require blood magic.
Solus’ Blood Magic abilities revolve around his own blood and the blood other living things. Blood is important in magic because it represents life force at its most basic nature. By capturing the evaporating essence of a dying body, Solus can dramatically improve the energy of his spells by linking them to the mana of the body. This augmented energy allows the spell to be more powerful but it is also more demanding on him, since he must control the fabrics of the spell and tie it simultaneously to the mana of the dying Soul.
An important component of Blood Magic is the essence in the results it can produce. The sacrifice can't carry more power that the essence it allows it to carry. In context, the essence makes the magic happen, if the essence is weak, it will barely help in the casting of the spell, with more energy needed to be of some use. If the essence is strong, it will produce a more powerful and volatile spell than anticipated, with less energy required.
Solus usually sacrifices his own blood to enhance his offensive spells, slowly weakening himself with each spell he casts. He does not use blood magic for conjuring or for rituals, but simply as a fuel. A fuel that kindles magic his essence simply cannot cast on its own, such as standard Arcane spells, or temporarily enhancing his own weapons, or drain the life force of others to heal himself in battle.
There are 4 different levels of power of such spells. Minor, Medium, Major, and Sacrificial.
Minor, Medium, and Major are as their name states. They feed on the amount of life force based on their name, taking a certain amount of energy from the caster in order to cast a spell of destructive or defensive equal to the amount of energy consumed. Minor spells need little life force, Medium spells need a decent amount of life force, Mayor spells need a considerable amount of life force.
Sacrificial blood magic requires a death of a living creature to cast. Where an Arcane spell would need 12 mages and a powerful pylon to cast it, Blood Magic could cast that same spell with a single sacrifice.
Solus is mostly against sacrificial spells using innocents as fuel, but he does use them with the life force of his dead foes as a method of gaining a vast advantage in a fight against a large wave of enemies.
Equipment:
Please take note that Solus CANNOT bring all this gear with him. He will have to pick and choose items out of his arsenal based on their weight and how much he can carry without losing his agility and mobility.
Personality: He is a man who lives his life on the edge, and cocky with an ego the size of the Sun. But he has the skill to justify his egotistical nature and his undefeated and unchallenged streak as one of the most infamous and successful Demon Hunters in the world, both in Hell and the Surface alike. Though his ego only truly surfaces on the battlefield, where he will be throwing sarcastic and insulting remarks at any opponents with half a brain to both understand and get offended by them, with the sole purpose to piss them off just enough for them to start making fatal mistakes.
Most of the time however, he tries to maintain a stoic, fearless and professional image when conducting business. Whether it’s obtaining new contracts, getting to know new contacts, or simply purchasing equipment from his black market acquaintances.
In the end, all of this is a poker face to hide his social awkwardness. He struggles to maintain a casual conversation about things that normally aren’t related to his job. But once the conversation does get going and runs smoothly, the awkwardness and Solus’ Umm’s as he searches for words to say seems to fade.
The chimeric man is strong willed and a bit of a workaholic. When he sets his burning eyes on a goal, he will reach it, even if he loses a limb or two. And he almost seemingly lacks any idea of fear, like the emotion was just, carved out of his brain. Of course there are things that he fears, but he has seen so much horror in his life that very few things faze him. It just takes the right touch to get under his skin.
Biography: Solus only became well known 2 years prior, when he traveled beyond the Gates of Hell and into the Northern Realm with the intention of slaying the Demon Lord of Pride and War, Mephistopheles.
It’s a matter of asking any demon who hails from the North, they will tell you the tale word for word. But those who know it better, are Mephisto’s former advisors, who witnessed the battle between the two with their own eyes.
Solus ventured into Hell with a party of three other necromancers like himself, each possessed with an essence of a hellion.
Of course, the smell of human flesh in a place like Hell tends to attract a lot of unsavoury characters. The humans forced to battle the way through to Mephisto, though they have only scratched the surface of his vast armies. By the time Solus reached Mephisto, all of his party members had died. Though Solus only reached Mephisto by getting himself captured, and was granted an audience with the Demon Lord.
Knowing Mephisto's honourable warrior nature, Solus asked for the Right of Challenge, a right given to any warrior to challenge the Demon Lord (whichever one is currently ruling) in a battle to the death, a tradition within Mephisto's realm. While the other Hellions who witnessed Solus spout the Right verbally protested against it, Mephisto stood up, and scanned the human from head to toe with his eyes, then, to his minions' disbelief, requested that they returned the human's weapons, and that he accepted the challenge.
The fight between the two lasted for hours; they tirelessly and relentlessly engaged each other in combat and exchanged powerful blows while Mephisto's minions watched. After several hours of brutal battle, the two were covered in eachother's blood, and both severely wounded, it was when they both briefly stopped fighting just to catch some air when Mephisto said, "Join me, Necromaster. Join me and I could give you the Surface World, Immortality, anything you desire. You have more that proven your power to me. Join me, and we can rule the Three Worlds together!" Solus didn't even answer, but raised his sword for another blow, while Mephisto froze in shock, bewildered that Solus hasn't even bothered to consider his offer. Solus smashed his blade against the top of Mephisto's head, splitting it in two, slaying Mephisto right in front of his advisors and minions. The witnessing Hellions didn't even try to stop Solus as he didn't say a single word, and simply left the ruined Throne Room.
News of Mephisto's death spread faster than a forest fire, before Solus could even reach the Hell Gate, still clutching his wounds, the entirety of Hell, and even most of the Surface World has heard of Mephisto's demise.
It was six months later when he re-emerged again, when he slayed a whole brood of vampires, including their leader, Kabal, who died from a silver bullet to the head. The Council took notice. A human with dark powers could not be allowed to exist, and as such, sent out Battle Angels to find him, and destroy him. The Angels never returned however, and the Council's concern only grew larger.
Yet another six months passed, and he appeared yet again, this time, in the small town of Thorpe just outside of Loom, where he and small contingent of human militia, attempted to destroy an enormous flesh construct that referred to itself as Hodge, and its many children, the Podges.
He disappeared without a trace after that, though rumors of seeing him shadowed by a teenager, trailing behind him, have started to surface in this past year.
In
Armored Assault (Chromehounds/Armored Core styled RP)
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Advanced Interest Checks
Indeed. It has been a long time.
In
Armored Assault (Chromehounds/Armored Core styled RP)
→
12 yrs ago
Forum: Advanced Interest Checks
Hmm. Been a while since I have been in a Mech RP. And Chromehounds. That's close enough to MechWarrior for me. I'm game. 
Rina woke up with a start, the dusty blankets having fallen to the side of an old bed. She'd spent the last two hours just wondering around, bored the fuck out of her mind, when she'd come upon this old bedroom. It was quite barren except for a oaken bed, chair, and desk. Despite her efforts to clear the place out in a jiffy, it was still fairly dirty and quite an assault on her poor nose.
Sitting up, she swung her feet over the side, unable to touch the ground as her feet dangled. Sighing, she could not believe how hot and stuffy it was in here. In the darkness, she eyed her clothes on the floor board and then fished her white blouse and putting it on. She was dismayed to see a large cut was over its stomach. When did that...happen? Groaning, she rose to her feet and groggily approached a window. No luck. It was boarded.
Her shoulders slumped, but then her stomach growled. Groaning again, she raked her hand over her hair, pushing it aside as she left the bedroom to return to the back entrance foyer. Upon arriving, she adjusted her pink panties and found a nice dry spot next to a supply crate. Cracking it open, she squinted in the darkness, fishing around for something to eat. Wonder where Uncle is... and Solus... he hasn't contacted me again since earlier...'
Leaning against the wall, the young girl crunched the peanut butter crackers slowly, methodically. Not even sure what she was going to do next, but it didn't matter in the moment. She had food and she was eating it.
Solus could barely hold the steering wheel with his bloody left hand as he drove the car up the mountain trail. "God damn." He winced as he grasped a wound on his left side. That Puritan almost tore him to pieces, and worst part of it all is he never did find out what it was that was calling for him, or figured out what is happening. All this, a wasted effort. "Shouldn't have gotten out of that Bath..."
The house was finally in his sights, and Solus had never been so glad to see it, or maybe he has. He couldn't remember. He drove the car around to the back door, it was the closest entrance to the Life Pool and it was open anyway, broken by a certain somebody that has been staying in his house for the past several hours.
He stopped the car, and stepped out, not even closing the door behind him as he walked towards the broken door, hobbling on his shreaded right leg. He tore the ballistic mask off his face and tossed the assault rifle hanging on his shoulder on to the dry mountain dirt. Then walking in and stepping into the old sauna, where the Life Pool was, only to stop and see Rina sitting there, eating. In her underwear. Despite his wounds, his attitude still remained the same. "For the love of god, put some clothes on!"
Rina's eyes went wide as she heard a vehicle pull to a stop, her ears perking as footsteps indicated someone was coming in. Given that the door hadn't been fixed yet, it could have been anyone. And here she was, almost in her birthday suit, defenceless. Her mouth still half full, she couldn't even swallow as a shadow slipped through the door way. Solus!
Before she could even smile, let alone stand up, he had already derided her for being 'comfortable.' Standing up with a crunching growl, then a swallow, her glare earned no reaction, of course. She threw what peanut butter crackers that she had left at him as she stomped out of the room to obey him. The wasted food impacted his face, breaking into little bits that littered the floor at his feet.
"Asshole," she mumbled in the hallway, walking faster.
Solus cleaned off the remaining crumbs off his face. He didn't really deserve that. He let her stay in this the house, the least she can do was wear clothes instead of putting her groin on display. And then he realized, this was probably worse than what was going on in Loom. He sighed and started to strip, where just then the little brat returned fully clothed. She simply stood to the side, watching him quietly. Solus turned to her after just removing his weapons and trench coat. "You gonna give a man a little privacy or are gonna watch me get naked?"
She blanched, her cheeks burning to the bone. "I-I-I, I'm sorry. Just ... you, your wound," she stammered, half-turning and putting her head against the door.
"And sorry for, for throwing things at you. I just miss you and then get yelled at," she explained, sighing, "... but it's okay."
"You didn't answer my question..." Solus reminded her as he took his shirt off and tossed it aside, revealing his scarred torso.
She sighed. Lifting her forehead off the door, she exited the room, closing it behind her. Her footsteps sounded off into the distance, indicating she had headed to the bedroom again. Then another door slammed.
Now with some privacy, Solus removed the rest of his clothing, and with a lot of pain, climbed into the pool. The red water bubbled and steamed up for a few moments before settling down and beginning its healing process. "You can come in now." the Necromaster called out.
The door cracked open, the girl having returned. But she remained outside the room, just sitting there with her face barely visible.
"So what happened in Loom?" she asked quietly.
"I did say you could come in..." Solus said. "Are you always this difficult?" He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know what happened... I never got to find out."
She crawled in on all fours, closing the door before sitting legs crossed with her hands down in her lap. "No," she said simply, sticking her chin out.
"Hmm," she mused, blinking, "Well, who attacked you, I mean?
"People you wouldn't know. So names don't matter." He said quietly as he relaxed and slid deeper into the pool. "Loom's gone to shit..."
Rina rolled her eyes, leaning forward to put her mouth in her palm and hold her up. Sighing lightly through her nose, her mouth opened slightly so her teeth could scrape her skin a little. Then he mentioned Loom. Immediately her mind thought of her uncle and his whereabouts.
"... how?" she asked, her voice muffled as she narrowed her eyebrows.
"The commercial district has been flattened. And Angel HQ is literally floating somewhere in the sewers." Solus closed his eyes. Extinguishing their green flames. "Central has been quarantined, with enough military around to make a demon think twice. And there's a lot of bodies lying around." He opened his eyes again and stared at the ceiling. "Ever heard of The Lord of Chaos?"
Putting her hands down, Rina rolled back her shoulders as she leaned against the wall again and listened. She had no idea what to make of all of that, except that it sounded just awful. And perhaps somewhere in middle of all that was her uncle. She pulled out her smartphone and typed 'Lord of Chaos' in a search engine. Several million results showed up.
"Can't say I have," she replied, "Oh... he has a website. Hum... pimple-faced douche..."
She looked up at Solus, bemused.
Solus chuckled at her vain attempt. But really, it was a dumb question to ask, of course she wouldn't know. "The Lord of Chaos is a Demon Lord of Hell, in a continent to the West. He's a type of demon called a Nightwalker. Powerful enough to flatten this city ten times over, in five minutes." Solus breathed out as the healing liquid numbed the pain. "He decided to come out of hell and take a stroll around town, killing hundreds of people... I didn't see it all. But I sensed his presence, and saw the aftermath later."
Tongue in cheek, Rina cocked an eyebrow as the Lord of Chaos's latest activities were described by Solus. Again, she didn't know what to think. Sure, she'd heard of hell and demon rulers and such. Never thought they'd come to the Surface so whimsically, though. She blinked, looking away for a moment as she checked her inbox. Nothing. Then her gaze returned to Solus.
"I see," she replied dryly, "well, just thinking we need to go and kill him sometime, huh?"
Damn that girl was ignorant, but Solus couldn't really judge her, he didn't know her life. "Oh and I almost forgot... Hi."
She couldn't help but smirk. That was... odd, wasn't it? Butterflies gathered up in her stomach. "Um, hey there," she greeted him, feeling silly.
Getting to her feet, she walked confidently closer and got down on the floor, stomach first, with her elbows propping her up. She stared at the life pool, not that she could see anything of Solus swimming around down there. She pursed her lips, thinking of something she wanted to say, but then lost it and remained quiet, pondering.
Her face was heavily concentrated, her eyes darting left and right, blinking. Thinking.
"By the way..." Solus continued while glaring into empty space. "You remember that demon woman with the collar? Back in Thorpe?"
She looked at him, trying to remember. "Um... same one who gave me this?" she asked, pulling something out of her backpocket.
It was that strange heart amulet, which was still beating. Clearly, Rina had long come to terms with the damn creepy thing...
Solus sat up so that he could see the amulet. He inspected it for a few moments with his eyes before coming to a conclusion. "Yes, the very same..." He searched for words and trying to form sentences, thinking of how he was going to tell her about the message that was passed down to him. "I saw her during this whole mess. She came and told me that Peskay was one of 'them' now, and that he had a message for you... It's in my trench, left inner pocket. The message is a set of coordinates."
"O-O-One of th-them..?" Rina asked incredulously, blinking rapidly.
Even as she had asked that, she moved over to his trench coat and retrieved the paper that Garnette had given to Solus. Resting on his jacket, she squinted in the darkness at the coordinates as she crossed her bent legs.
"All I know is this is on a different continent..." Rina stated, sighing, "But no idea why Uncle would have coords to ... that. So weird."
Turning her head toward him, "What did she mean, though, Solus? One of them?" she asked, a growing fear in her tone.
"Maybe has one of those collars around his neck, joined their side... I don't know... Wish I had the answer, kid." He replied.
She hummed, stuffing the paper in her blouse front pocket. Rina then lowered her legs, stretching them out along with her arms and twisting her body. A subtle moan escaped her throat as she collapsed lightly, her limbs sprawled out lazily and her hair covering her face. Sighing, she puffed a bit of air, causing her hair to flop up, but it still came down to cover her face.
"How's it feeling?" she asked him.
"Better." Solus replied. His eyes closed as he pondered on the meaning of those coordinates. Another continent, huh? He doubt he would even bother traveling that far. If the girl wanted to follow them, she would be on her own.
"Good," she said, sighing again.
"You want me to do anything?" she asked him.
"You're not my slave. You don't have to do anything..." He commented. "Just give me some room to get dressed."
"Sure..." she replied, sitting up as her back cracked a little.
Rubbing it, Rina shuffled to her feet, but then asked, "But... what if I want to be your slave?"
She adverted her gaze as she asked that, but continued toward the door to give Solus some privacy.
The Chimera raised his eyebrows at her last comment. What's that supposed to mean? He climbed of the bath, and got geared up again in mere moments. He then walked towards the door that lead to the hallway beyond, and opened it, finding Rina standing there.
Her sobs quieted as soon as she heard the door open behind her, but there would be no way to hide the wet mess dripping down her face. Her arms hugging her sides as she leaned against the wall, she let them fall down as she regained her balance and stared down the hallway. She wouldn't dare to glance back at him now. Not if she wanted to keep up her 'tough fascade', though really she was one more negative emotion from breaking down entirely. The chink in her armor had been broken apart now that she knew her uncle was gone, so to speak. She was just getting used to having a normal relationship with him and working out problems in Thorpe... and now this... change. This 'he's one of us now' horseshit.
Feeling she was in Solus's way, she started lifting her foot to move, but felt exasperated by how heavy it was. So impossibly heavy...
The man just stood there, watching her. He never truly felt loss before, having never had anyone close to him. Being born homeless forced him to only ever care about himself at a young age. And when there were people that he cared about on some level, they died. And that only reinforced the solid steel wall that surrounded his emotions and rarely let them out.
Solus took a step towards the girl and asked. "What's wrong?"
She felt that coming. The inevitable question. She clenched her teeth, her eyes low as she turned her head toward Solus. Her hands trembled, so she put them in her pockets.
"Just... well, just when my uncle and I could get back to a normal relationship... and work together for Tho, Thorpe's recovery and shit," she started, her breathing irregular.
"He just goes ... abandons me. Like my father," she finished, shaking her head.
"I'm tempted to go hunt him down... rescue him from those weird fucks," Rina continued, but then sighed.
"I don't know, I'm just tired of being used and dumped, dumped like, like trash when most convenient," she said, bitterness in every syllable.
"Dumped and used..." Solus repeated the words, tasting them. Those were words he hadn't thought about in a long time, two whole decades in fact. "Humph, turns out I have a PhD in 'Dumped and Used'. But that's a story for another time..." He turned his head towards Rina.
"And how are you going to rescue your uncle?"
She nodded, but then looked up as she turned to him, finding his green flamed eyes upon her. She stared into them without a hint of joke or doubt.
"Gather information," she answered coolly.
"Information..." Solus repeated, his doubt was clear, she had no idea what she was really going to do. "You have no clue, do you?"
She blinked. Solus was clearly losing his touch. "Didn't I just admit that, dumbass? Wouldn't be needing to gather information if I knew what needed be done."
She rolled her eyes then, letting out a slight hiss as she crossed her arms and looked away.
"Information is useless if you don't have any skills to be able to apply that knowledge..." Solus said shaking his head. "Ok... Count off your fingers the skills that you are moderate at. And then I'll tell you if you succeed."
She sighed, shaking her head lightly. Turning her gaze to him, her glare clearly indicated her growing ire. "Look, not gunna play your lil' game. I know I'm 'unskilled', mmk?" she stated, quoting the air.
"Big fat elephant in the room, you wanting to train me, which I'd love? So why don't we get down to it?" she asked, before smirking. "Wait.. wait, is that what this is all about? You need a little motivation, master?"
Assuming that was the case, Rina dropped to her knees, her mouth perfectly lined up for the task. She then began tugging at Solus's pants and actually unzipping things.
Solus drew his gun and placed the barrel on the top of her crainium. "Get the fuck up." His voice was calm, calm enough to prove that if she didn't, he'd pull the trigger and throw her body out for his guards to feast on. As she did get back to her feet he holstered his weapon and continued. "I don't train anyone, ever. I was just asking about this grand plan of yours, since you have clearly thought it through all the way up to the point where you get your ass killed." He kept his hand on his gun jist in case she tried that shit again. "Get your head in gear, kid. What you're planning is suicide..."
She sighed again, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall behind her and listened to him. He was putting words in her mouth, but God forbid she even try to correct him about that. Swallowing her pride, she nodded, playing along. Her heart shelled up a little, which was the least she could do without penetrated by a bullet.
"Okay," she droned emotionlessly, feeling she will just go through the motions. Like with anything else that she'd done or put up with.
After a moment of silence, she decided not to. "C'mon Solus... what's it gunna take t'get through your damn skull that I'm here, for you. Dedicating my life, to you..."
She threw up her hands, continuing, "I mean, I'm not perfect. What you expect me to do? Every time I try to please you or something, it's always wrong. Every time I try to understand you, you change gears on me."
She put her hands down, balling into little fists. Her face was even scrunched up, her eyes welling as well.
"We met merely two days ago, and you are willing to dedicated your 'life' to a random stranger? What kind of fucked up life have you been living to become so desperate?" Solus wasn't really sure what to think of this girl. The more she opened her mouth the more delusional she sounded. Maybe she was in shock. Everything was falling apart around her after all. He sighed. Thinking for a moment.
"Solus Grim. Slayer of Demon Lords. Training random kids off the damn street..." He mumbled as he started to pace back and forth. "Alright." He said. "You want to be trained? Fine. But on two conditions..."
She blinked, the wells breaking and tears now flowing down her cheeks. Immediately wiping it, she squinted up at him, her heart in her throat. She was starting to feel hot, dizzy even. This house definitely needed to be aired out and cleaned.
"What," she prompted him.
"Number one." He began. "You will follow my orders during training sessions without hesitation. And two. You will not cry and you will not complain. If you break any of those two conditions, you're done. Out on your own. I want to see 100% dedication. You do that, and we'll be good. Alright?"
"Sounds good to me," she replied, not realizing that there was blood dripping out of her nose a little.
"I have one condition of my own though, if I may," she said, waiting for him to reply.
"You may..."
"I- ... I want your love... whatever I'm allowed of it, whatever's left of it, but I do want it, and all of it," she stated slowly, her voice nearly fudging the words.
It was a crystal clear moment of clarity in Rina's mind about what she wanted from him, and she just felt she needed to explain how she felt, for once, without being demonically perverted, or losing the courage to ever speak of it again.
"Oh shit," she gasped, wiping her nose's blood.
Solus wasn't sure what to say. Unsure of what to think or even how to respond. He just stood there with his mouth open, speechless. "Um... I-... I'll try and- um..." He stuttered out. "There are paper towels in the kitchen. Just go down the hallway and head left at the end..." Did he just really change the subject? Even he knew that that wasn't him at all.
"Ah... o-okay," she stammered, her voice extremely nasally as her fingers held her nose close.
She darted off, suddenly losing her footing and nearly slammed down face first. Fortunately she caught herself with her free hand and recovered fast. And then she took a right at the end, and entered the wrong room. A mild curse could be heard as she zipped back out and stomped out to the right way.
"OH MY GAWD THERE FUCKING RATS IN HERE!" she screamed from the kitchen a moment later.
Sitting up, she swung her feet over the side, unable to touch the ground as her feet dangled. Sighing, she could not believe how hot and stuffy it was in here. In the darkness, she eyed her clothes on the floor board and then fished her white blouse and putting it on. She was dismayed to see a large cut was over its stomach. When did that...happen? Groaning, she rose to her feet and groggily approached a window. No luck. It was boarded.
Her shoulders slumped, but then her stomach growled. Groaning again, she raked her hand over her hair, pushing it aside as she left the bedroom to return to the back entrance foyer. Upon arriving, she adjusted her pink panties and found a nice dry spot next to a supply crate. Cracking it open, she squinted in the darkness, fishing around for something to eat. Wonder where Uncle is... and Solus... he hasn't contacted me again since earlier...'
Leaning against the wall, the young girl crunched the peanut butter crackers slowly, methodically. Not even sure what she was going to do next, but it didn't matter in the moment. She had food and she was eating it.
Solus could barely hold the steering wheel with his bloody left hand as he drove the car up the mountain trail. "God damn." He winced as he grasped a wound on his left side. That Puritan almost tore him to pieces, and worst part of it all is he never did find out what it was that was calling for him, or figured out what is happening. All this, a wasted effort. "Shouldn't have gotten out of that Bath..."
The house was finally in his sights, and Solus had never been so glad to see it, or maybe he has. He couldn't remember. He drove the car around to the back door, it was the closest entrance to the Life Pool and it was open anyway, broken by a certain somebody that has been staying in his house for the past several hours.
He stopped the car, and stepped out, not even closing the door behind him as he walked towards the broken door, hobbling on his shreaded right leg. He tore the ballistic mask off his face and tossed the assault rifle hanging on his shoulder on to the dry mountain dirt. Then walking in and stepping into the old sauna, where the Life Pool was, only to stop and see Rina sitting there, eating. In her underwear. Despite his wounds, his attitude still remained the same. "For the love of god, put some clothes on!"
Rina's eyes went wide as she heard a vehicle pull to a stop, her ears perking as footsteps indicated someone was coming in. Given that the door hadn't been fixed yet, it could have been anyone. And here she was, almost in her birthday suit, defenceless. Her mouth still half full, she couldn't even swallow as a shadow slipped through the door way. Solus!
Before she could even smile, let alone stand up, he had already derided her for being 'comfortable.' Standing up with a crunching growl, then a swallow, her glare earned no reaction, of course. She threw what peanut butter crackers that she had left at him as she stomped out of the room to obey him. The wasted food impacted his face, breaking into little bits that littered the floor at his feet.
"Asshole," she mumbled in the hallway, walking faster.
Solus cleaned off the remaining crumbs off his face. He didn't really deserve that. He let her stay in this the house, the least she can do was wear clothes instead of putting her groin on display. And then he realized, this was probably worse than what was going on in Loom. He sighed and started to strip, where just then the little brat returned fully clothed. She simply stood to the side, watching him quietly. Solus turned to her after just removing his weapons and trench coat. "You gonna give a man a little privacy or are gonna watch me get naked?"
She blanched, her cheeks burning to the bone. "I-I-I, I'm sorry. Just ... you, your wound," she stammered, half-turning and putting her head against the door.
"And sorry for, for throwing things at you. I just miss you and then get yelled at," she explained, sighing, "... but it's okay."
"You didn't answer my question..." Solus reminded her as he took his shirt off and tossed it aside, revealing his scarred torso.
She sighed. Lifting her forehead off the door, she exited the room, closing it behind her. Her footsteps sounded off into the distance, indicating she had headed to the bedroom again. Then another door slammed.
Now with some privacy, Solus removed the rest of his clothing, and with a lot of pain, climbed into the pool. The red water bubbled and steamed up for a few moments before settling down and beginning its healing process. "You can come in now." the Necromaster called out.
The door cracked open, the girl having returned. But she remained outside the room, just sitting there with her face barely visible.
"So what happened in Loom?" she asked quietly.
"I did say you could come in..." Solus said. "Are you always this difficult?" He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know what happened... I never got to find out."
She crawled in on all fours, closing the door before sitting legs crossed with her hands down in her lap. "No," she said simply, sticking her chin out.
"Hmm," she mused, blinking, "Well, who attacked you, I mean?
"People you wouldn't know. So names don't matter." He said quietly as he relaxed and slid deeper into the pool. "Loom's gone to shit..."
Rina rolled her eyes, leaning forward to put her mouth in her palm and hold her up. Sighing lightly through her nose, her mouth opened slightly so her teeth could scrape her skin a little. Then he mentioned Loom. Immediately her mind thought of her uncle and his whereabouts.
"... how?" she asked, her voice muffled as she narrowed her eyebrows.
"The commercial district has been flattened. And Angel HQ is literally floating somewhere in the sewers." Solus closed his eyes. Extinguishing their green flames. "Central has been quarantined, with enough military around to make a demon think twice. And there's a lot of bodies lying around." He opened his eyes again and stared at the ceiling. "Ever heard of The Lord of Chaos?"
Putting her hands down, Rina rolled back her shoulders as she leaned against the wall again and listened. She had no idea what to make of all of that, except that it sounded just awful. And perhaps somewhere in middle of all that was her uncle. She pulled out her smartphone and typed 'Lord of Chaos' in a search engine. Several million results showed up.
"Can't say I have," she replied, "Oh... he has a website. Hum... pimple-faced douche..."
She looked up at Solus, bemused.
Solus chuckled at her vain attempt. But really, it was a dumb question to ask, of course she wouldn't know. "The Lord of Chaos is a Demon Lord of Hell, in a continent to the West. He's a type of demon called a Nightwalker. Powerful enough to flatten this city ten times over, in five minutes." Solus breathed out as the healing liquid numbed the pain. "He decided to come out of hell and take a stroll around town, killing hundreds of people... I didn't see it all. But I sensed his presence, and saw the aftermath later."
Tongue in cheek, Rina cocked an eyebrow as the Lord of Chaos's latest activities were described by Solus. Again, she didn't know what to think. Sure, she'd heard of hell and demon rulers and such. Never thought they'd come to the Surface so whimsically, though. She blinked, looking away for a moment as she checked her inbox. Nothing. Then her gaze returned to Solus.
"I see," she replied dryly, "well, just thinking we need to go and kill him sometime, huh?"
Damn that girl was ignorant, but Solus couldn't really judge her, he didn't know her life. "Oh and I almost forgot... Hi."
She couldn't help but smirk. That was... odd, wasn't it? Butterflies gathered up in her stomach. "Um, hey there," she greeted him, feeling silly.
Getting to her feet, she walked confidently closer and got down on the floor, stomach first, with her elbows propping her up. She stared at the life pool, not that she could see anything of Solus swimming around down there. She pursed her lips, thinking of something she wanted to say, but then lost it and remained quiet, pondering.
Her face was heavily concentrated, her eyes darting left and right, blinking. Thinking.
"By the way..." Solus continued while glaring into empty space. "You remember that demon woman with the collar? Back in Thorpe?"
She looked at him, trying to remember. "Um... same one who gave me this?" she asked, pulling something out of her backpocket.
It was that strange heart amulet, which was still beating. Clearly, Rina had long come to terms with the damn creepy thing...
Solus sat up so that he could see the amulet. He inspected it for a few moments with his eyes before coming to a conclusion. "Yes, the very same..." He searched for words and trying to form sentences, thinking of how he was going to tell her about the message that was passed down to him. "I saw her during this whole mess. She came and told me that Peskay was one of 'them' now, and that he had a message for you... It's in my trench, left inner pocket. The message is a set of coordinates."
"O-O-One of th-them..?" Rina asked incredulously, blinking rapidly.
Even as she had asked that, she moved over to his trench coat and retrieved the paper that Garnette had given to Solus. Resting on his jacket, she squinted in the darkness at the coordinates as she crossed her bent legs.
"All I know is this is on a different continent..." Rina stated, sighing, "But no idea why Uncle would have coords to ... that. So weird."
Turning her head toward him, "What did she mean, though, Solus? One of them?" she asked, a growing fear in her tone.
"Maybe has one of those collars around his neck, joined their side... I don't know... Wish I had the answer, kid." He replied.
She hummed, stuffing the paper in her blouse front pocket. Rina then lowered her legs, stretching them out along with her arms and twisting her body. A subtle moan escaped her throat as she collapsed lightly, her limbs sprawled out lazily and her hair covering her face. Sighing, she puffed a bit of air, causing her hair to flop up, but it still came down to cover her face.
"How's it feeling?" she asked him.
"Better." Solus replied. His eyes closed as he pondered on the meaning of those coordinates. Another continent, huh? He doubt he would even bother traveling that far. If the girl wanted to follow them, she would be on her own.
"Good," she said, sighing again.
"You want me to do anything?" she asked him.
"You're not my slave. You don't have to do anything..." He commented. "Just give me some room to get dressed."
"Sure..." she replied, sitting up as her back cracked a little.
Rubbing it, Rina shuffled to her feet, but then asked, "But... what if I want to be your slave?"
She adverted her gaze as she asked that, but continued toward the door to give Solus some privacy.
The Chimera raised his eyebrows at her last comment. What's that supposed to mean? He climbed of the bath, and got geared up again in mere moments. He then walked towards the door that lead to the hallway beyond, and opened it, finding Rina standing there.
Her sobs quieted as soon as she heard the door open behind her, but there would be no way to hide the wet mess dripping down her face. Her arms hugging her sides as she leaned against the wall, she let them fall down as she regained her balance and stared down the hallway. She wouldn't dare to glance back at him now. Not if she wanted to keep up her 'tough fascade', though really she was one more negative emotion from breaking down entirely. The chink in her armor had been broken apart now that she knew her uncle was gone, so to speak. She was just getting used to having a normal relationship with him and working out problems in Thorpe... and now this... change. This 'he's one of us now' horseshit.
Feeling she was in Solus's way, she started lifting her foot to move, but felt exasperated by how heavy it was. So impossibly heavy...
The man just stood there, watching her. He never truly felt loss before, having never had anyone close to him. Being born homeless forced him to only ever care about himself at a young age. And when there were people that he cared about on some level, they died. And that only reinforced the solid steel wall that surrounded his emotions and rarely let them out.
Solus took a step towards the girl and asked. "What's wrong?"
She felt that coming. The inevitable question. She clenched her teeth, her eyes low as she turned her head toward Solus. Her hands trembled, so she put them in her pockets.
"Just... well, just when my uncle and I could get back to a normal relationship... and work together for Tho, Thorpe's recovery and shit," she started, her breathing irregular.
"He just goes ... abandons me. Like my father," she finished, shaking her head.
"I'm tempted to go hunt him down... rescue him from those weird fucks," Rina continued, but then sighed.
"I don't know, I'm just tired of being used and dumped, dumped like, like trash when most convenient," she said, bitterness in every syllable.
"Dumped and used..." Solus repeated the words, tasting them. Those were words he hadn't thought about in a long time, two whole decades in fact. "Humph, turns out I have a PhD in 'Dumped and Used'. But that's a story for another time..." He turned his head towards Rina.
"And how are you going to rescue your uncle?"
She nodded, but then looked up as she turned to him, finding his green flamed eyes upon her. She stared into them without a hint of joke or doubt.
"Gather information," she answered coolly.
"Information..." Solus repeated, his doubt was clear, she had no idea what she was really going to do. "You have no clue, do you?"
She blinked. Solus was clearly losing his touch. "Didn't I just admit that, dumbass? Wouldn't be needing to gather information if I knew what needed be done."
She rolled her eyes then, letting out a slight hiss as she crossed her arms and looked away.
"Information is useless if you don't have any skills to be able to apply that knowledge..." Solus said shaking his head. "Ok... Count off your fingers the skills that you are moderate at. And then I'll tell you if you succeed."
She sighed, shaking her head lightly. Turning her gaze to him, her glare clearly indicated her growing ire. "Look, not gunna play your lil' game. I know I'm 'unskilled', mmk?" she stated, quoting the air.
"Big fat elephant in the room, you wanting to train me, which I'd love? So why don't we get down to it?" she asked, before smirking. "Wait.. wait, is that what this is all about? You need a little motivation, master?"
Assuming that was the case, Rina dropped to her knees, her mouth perfectly lined up for the task. She then began tugging at Solus's pants and actually unzipping things.
Solus drew his gun and placed the barrel on the top of her crainium. "Get the fuck up." His voice was calm, calm enough to prove that if she didn't, he'd pull the trigger and throw her body out for his guards to feast on. As she did get back to her feet he holstered his weapon and continued. "I don't train anyone, ever. I was just asking about this grand plan of yours, since you have clearly thought it through all the way up to the point where you get your ass killed." He kept his hand on his gun jist in case she tried that shit again. "Get your head in gear, kid. What you're planning is suicide..."
She sighed again, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall behind her and listened to him. He was putting words in her mouth, but God forbid she even try to correct him about that. Swallowing her pride, she nodded, playing along. Her heart shelled up a little, which was the least she could do without penetrated by a bullet.
"Okay," she droned emotionlessly, feeling she will just go through the motions. Like with anything else that she'd done or put up with.
After a moment of silence, she decided not to. "C'mon Solus... what's it gunna take t'get through your damn skull that I'm here, for you. Dedicating my life, to you..."
She threw up her hands, continuing, "I mean, I'm not perfect. What you expect me to do? Every time I try to please you or something, it's always wrong. Every time I try to understand you, you change gears on me."
She put her hands down, balling into little fists. Her face was even scrunched up, her eyes welling as well.
"We met merely two days ago, and you are willing to dedicated your 'life' to a random stranger? What kind of fucked up life have you been living to become so desperate?" Solus wasn't really sure what to think of this girl. The more she opened her mouth the more delusional she sounded. Maybe she was in shock. Everything was falling apart around her after all. He sighed. Thinking for a moment.
"Solus Grim. Slayer of Demon Lords. Training random kids off the damn street..." He mumbled as he started to pace back and forth. "Alright." He said. "You want to be trained? Fine. But on two conditions..."
She blinked, the wells breaking and tears now flowing down her cheeks. Immediately wiping it, she squinted up at him, her heart in her throat. She was starting to feel hot, dizzy even. This house definitely needed to be aired out and cleaned.
"What," she prompted him.
"Number one." He began. "You will follow my orders during training sessions without hesitation. And two. You will not cry and you will not complain. If you break any of those two conditions, you're done. Out on your own. I want to see 100% dedication. You do that, and we'll be good. Alright?"
"Sounds good to me," she replied, not realizing that there was blood dripping out of her nose a little.
"I have one condition of my own though, if I may," she said, waiting for him to reply.
"You may..."
"I- ... I want your love... whatever I'm allowed of it, whatever's left of it, but I do want it, and all of it," she stated slowly, her voice nearly fudging the words.
It was a crystal clear moment of clarity in Rina's mind about what she wanted from him, and she just felt she needed to explain how she felt, for once, without being demonically perverted, or losing the courage to ever speak of it again.
"Oh shit," she gasped, wiping her nose's blood.
Solus wasn't sure what to say. Unsure of what to think or even how to respond. He just stood there with his mouth open, speechless. "Um... I-... I'll try and- um..." He stuttered out. "There are paper towels in the kitchen. Just go down the hallway and head left at the end..." Did he just really change the subject? Even he knew that that wasn't him at all.
"Ah... o-okay," she stammered, her voice extremely nasally as her fingers held her nose close.
She darted off, suddenly losing her footing and nearly slammed down face first. Fortunately she caught herself with her free hand and recovered fast. And then she took a right at the end, and entered the wrong room. A mild curse could be heard as she zipped back out and stomped out to the right way.
"OH MY GAWD THERE FUCKING RATS IN HERE!" she screamed from the kitchen a moment later.
An Old Enemy: Part 2
The black armored men stoically stared at the Chimera though the ACOG scopes of their rifles, waiting for their target to make a sudden move. Solus stared back at them, a little pissed off at this unfortunate turn of events, gradually placing his right hand by the handles of his swords. This stare down lasted for a few moments until one of the men put a hand to his covered up ear. “Two Q Actual. This is 13X13, over.” He said, still pointing his rifle at the Necromaster with one hand. Solus heard some muffled static through the silence, they were responding. “Code 02 in Sector 5Q7.” The soldier spoke again. And then more muffled static. “Understood.” With his final response to HQ, he pulled back the bolt on his rifle and repositioned his feet into a firing stance. This wasn’t good.
“Engage!” Ordered the commanding officer and all of his men opened fire at once. They emptied their entire magazines of strange blue glowing ammunition in Solus’ direction. The gunfire was deafening, and the falling shell casings sounded like a thousand brass oil drums slamming on the ground. The firing stopped in mere moments, the soldiers’ guns dry.
But what they looked upon was not a bullet ridden corpse, but a semi-circular wall of floating bullets. The commander immediately identified the phenomenon and what was to come afterwards. “BLAST WAVE!” Instinctively, all of his men either divided into cover, or put up wards of their own just as the very bullets they fired had been turned against them, and blasted in their direction. Everything around them was immediately shredded. Desks and office chairs where turned to atoms, windows shattered, and the walls expunged masses of concrete and plaster dust as molten metal slammed into them all.
The soldiers quickly emerged from their cover, weapons ready and loaded, but the smoke and dust obscured their vision. “Infrared.” Ordered the leader as he pushed a button on the side of his mask, and the glowing blue energy of its visor turned red. Now able to see the thick fog that was gradually settling, the officer and his men scanned the room with both their guns, and their eyes. Although they saw nothing. Not even a trace of Essence. The Chimera had simply vanished.
The squad leader put his hand to his ear again, and spoke. “Two Q Actual. This is 13X13. Code 02 has escaped. Requesting permission to pursue.” More static flowed into his ear. “Acknowledged.” He confirmed, having now received his new orders. The squad leader then turned to address his men “Cataphracts, we have new orders.”
Solus let out a sigh of relief. He had lost them, for now. He had weaved his way through the offices and took temporary shelter in lowly cubical. It wouldn’t be long before they’d find him, but if this forced them to split up just to cover more ground, then there would be less of them for him to deal with at a time. This isn’t really how he fought though. Normally, he would attack hordes of enemies at once, and succeed. But this was a much more organized horde. A horde toting state-of-the-art weaponry, and wielding magic to boot. He couldn’t recall any Tirmainian military units of ever even using any form of magic. Humanity needs angelic or demonic influence for something like that. Unless…
His thoughts were interrupted by the thumping of several pairs of combat boots hitting the ground in unison. They were nearby. Solus took a quick peek around the corner of the cubical, seeing two of them in a back-to-back formation. But where were the other 10 that he counted? That was a question that would be answered later. But right now, he had those two individuals to deal with.
He waited as the two soldiers got closer, patiently listening to their footsteps. It was when Solus got a glimpse of a boot around the corner of the cubicle, he burst around and grabbed the first soldier’s assault rifle, forcing the barrel to point at the ceiling as the soldier pulled the trigger, letting off a burst of bullets into the plaster above. Solus kept his right hand on the rifle while quickly placing the other hand on the trooper’s torso and saying, “ZCH PIR”. The second soldier who only just managed to turn around was slammed into by his brother in arms. Both of them smashing through a set of flimsy cubicles and flying out of an open window frame, falling to their deaths from the 12th floor.
Satisfied with the results of his little surprise attack, he inspected the rifle that was still in his hand, then pulled out the magazine, and saw blue glowing bullets within it. “The hell are these?” The Chimera asked himself as he looked upon the strange ammunition. He placed his fingers on them, risking his hand’s wellbeing just to see if there were any odd effects. Nothing. “Hmm…”
“We lost fireteam Gamma!” Shouted one of the soldiers somewhere from further down the office floor. Solus quickly loaded the rifle again, he only had one mag. Well, now he had some targets to borrow some of this new ammo from. He placed the stock on his shoulder, and in a crouched position, he quickly shuffled along towards the sounds, his ACOG Scope from his newly acquired assault rifle following his eyesight.
He turned the corner, and spotted another two of those mysterious soldiers. The Chimera raised his rifle and let rip, completely taking them by surprise and filling them with those fancy bullets. The two thumped to the ground, dead. Instinctively he began to hurriedly search their bodies. He grabbed 6 assault rifle magazines, and then laid a hand on one of the gas masks, but as he did so, he noticed a symbol on one of soldiers, the right shoulder.
“Oh… Fuck…” Mumbled Solus as the realization hit him. The Illuminati. They were here…
If they were here, that meant that Loom was really in the shit.
It was then when Solus’ face became puzzled as a red gas began emerging from the cracks in the floor and the walls. Not willing to risk it, he instantly grabbed the gas mask he had his hands on, and strapped it on over his face. It was time to leave.
The black armored men stoically stared at the Chimera though the ACOG scopes of their rifles, waiting for their target to make a sudden move. Solus stared back at them, a little pissed off at this unfortunate turn of events, gradually placing his right hand by the handles of his swords. This stare down lasted for a few moments until one of the men put a hand to his covered up ear. “Two Q Actual. This is 13X13, over.” He said, still pointing his rifle at the Necromaster with one hand. Solus heard some muffled static through the silence, they were responding. “Code 02 in Sector 5Q7.” The soldier spoke again. And then more muffled static. “Understood.” With his final response to HQ, he pulled back the bolt on his rifle and repositioned his feet into a firing stance. This wasn’t good.
“Engage!” Ordered the commanding officer and all of his men opened fire at once. They emptied their entire magazines of strange blue glowing ammunition in Solus’ direction. The gunfire was deafening, and the falling shell casings sounded like a thousand brass oil drums slamming on the ground. The firing stopped in mere moments, the soldiers’ guns dry.
But what they looked upon was not a bullet ridden corpse, but a semi-circular wall of floating bullets. The commander immediately identified the phenomenon and what was to come afterwards. “BLAST WAVE!” Instinctively, all of his men either divided into cover, or put up wards of their own just as the very bullets they fired had been turned against them, and blasted in their direction. Everything around them was immediately shredded. Desks and office chairs where turned to atoms, windows shattered, and the walls expunged masses of concrete and plaster dust as molten metal slammed into them all.
The soldiers quickly emerged from their cover, weapons ready and loaded, but the smoke and dust obscured their vision. “Infrared.” Ordered the leader as he pushed a button on the side of his mask, and the glowing blue energy of its visor turned red. Now able to see the thick fog that was gradually settling, the officer and his men scanned the room with both their guns, and their eyes. Although they saw nothing. Not even a trace of Essence. The Chimera had simply vanished.
The squad leader put his hand to his ear again, and spoke. “Two Q Actual. This is 13X13. Code 02 has escaped. Requesting permission to pursue.” More static flowed into his ear. “Acknowledged.” He confirmed, having now received his new orders. The squad leader then turned to address his men “Cataphracts, we have new orders.”
Solus let out a sigh of relief. He had lost them, for now. He had weaved his way through the offices and took temporary shelter in lowly cubical. It wouldn’t be long before they’d find him, but if this forced them to split up just to cover more ground, then there would be less of them for him to deal with at a time. This isn’t really how he fought though. Normally, he would attack hordes of enemies at once, and succeed. But this was a much more organized horde. A horde toting state-of-the-art weaponry, and wielding magic to boot. He couldn’t recall any Tirmainian military units of ever even using any form of magic. Humanity needs angelic or demonic influence for something like that. Unless…
His thoughts were interrupted by the thumping of several pairs of combat boots hitting the ground in unison. They were nearby. Solus took a quick peek around the corner of the cubical, seeing two of them in a back-to-back formation. But where were the other 10 that he counted? That was a question that would be answered later. But right now, he had those two individuals to deal with.
He waited as the two soldiers got closer, patiently listening to their footsteps. It was when Solus got a glimpse of a boot around the corner of the cubicle, he burst around and grabbed the first soldier’s assault rifle, forcing the barrel to point at the ceiling as the soldier pulled the trigger, letting off a burst of bullets into the plaster above. Solus kept his right hand on the rifle while quickly placing the other hand on the trooper’s torso and saying, “ZCH PIR”. The second soldier who only just managed to turn around was slammed into by his brother in arms. Both of them smashing through a set of flimsy cubicles and flying out of an open window frame, falling to their deaths from the 12th floor.
Satisfied with the results of his little surprise attack, he inspected the rifle that was still in his hand, then pulled out the magazine, and saw blue glowing bullets within it. “The hell are these?” The Chimera asked himself as he looked upon the strange ammunition. He placed his fingers on them, risking his hand’s wellbeing just to see if there were any odd effects. Nothing. “Hmm…”
“We lost fireteam Gamma!” Shouted one of the soldiers somewhere from further down the office floor. Solus quickly loaded the rifle again, he only had one mag. Well, now he had some targets to borrow some of this new ammo from. He placed the stock on his shoulder, and in a crouched position, he quickly shuffled along towards the sounds, his ACOG Scope from his newly acquired assault rifle following his eyesight.
He turned the corner, and spotted another two of those mysterious soldiers. The Chimera raised his rifle and let rip, completely taking them by surprise and filling them with those fancy bullets. The two thumped to the ground, dead. Instinctively he began to hurriedly search their bodies. He grabbed 6 assault rifle magazines, and then laid a hand on one of the gas masks, but as he did so, he noticed a symbol on one of soldiers, the right shoulder.
“Oh… Fuck…” Mumbled Solus as the realization hit him. The Illuminati. They were here…
If they were here, that meant that Loom was really in the shit.
It was then when Solus’ face became puzzled as a red gas began emerging from the cracks in the floor and the walls. Not willing to risk it, he instantly grabbed the gas mask he had his hands on, and strapped it on over his face. It was time to leave.
Posted.
An Old Enemy: Part 1
“What the fuck is going on…?” Solus breathed out heavily. He was tired, and beaten. And there was a lot on his mind. So many things were happening at once in his head that it seemed like his brain would soon burn out from the strain of the past day and a half. So… Solus thought to himself. Peskay is now one of them. Those weird gimp collar wearing nuts. The only other people he knew of that wore something similar, was that Succubus who was just in his car, an Angel who Rina met while Solus was out cold, a being which knew where he lived. And an old nemesis of his, who the Necromaster hasn’t seen in a decade, Clalrian. Solus sighed out loud, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “This is one hell of day…”
He had no idea what he would tell Rina. And he didn’t know how she would react. And what were those coordinates about? All he could really do was think about something else.
He blazed down the city streets, until eventually he was forced to drive slower, as the roads were filled with bodies of the dead and the dying, totaled vehicles and damaged buildings. Occasionally there would be a civilian or two who run in the opposite direction, heading towards the edge of the city. A wise move. It made Solus consider his current decision, to blindly go into the fray. Maybe he should have just turned and headed home, and gave up, or perhaps bailed on the city entirely. He shook the thought away. That wasn’t him. A mere skirmish between the Angels and the Demons wouldn’t deter him from at least saving a few lives, or at least just one. Even with one single life saved, he would be happy, even if he was tired of this abominable job.
With a new found determination and purpose, he continued on. The conditions of the city got worse as he went deeper into the city, collapsed buildings all around, with no life what so ever in sight. This is something he hoped he wouldn’t have to see, but now he knew, that his future, his prophecy, was gradually coming true.
In the distance, he saw a large black object blocking the path ahead, Solus knew that beyond whatever that thing was, the thing that faintly called for him, and perhaps everyone else in the city, had to be there. He slowed down even more, forcing the car against its will into a crawl. Gently passing the rubble and bodies that were laid out ahead of him. Slowly inching closer to the black wall. Finally he could see a little clearer. Way ahead in the distance, standing along the perimeter of the wall where several faint figures, they walked along the bottom and along the top of the 20 foot wall like on patrol. And from the silhouettes, Solus could just barely pick out that they were armed. “The military…?” The Necromaster asked himself quizzically. If it was, perhaps there was a glimmer of hope for this dammed city. Despite all the destruction that surrounded the man’s perspective, it was eerily quiet, and safe. Maybe these men ahead have dealt with most of the conflict on this side of the city. Hence the erected barricade to contain the rest of the fighting from the more secured sectors like this one.
Just in case those men where trigger happy, the Necromaster decided the avoid a hostile confrontation with them, and opted to bypass that gate by other means. He turned the car into an alley, nicely hidden away in the darkness. Then he locked it up, took a mental note of its location and set off on foot.
He tucked his back against the wall of the building where he parked his ride, bobbing in and out of the rubble that he was using as cover, in case one or two of the guards on the barricade were snipers. He then ran quickly across the street, and reached a tall corporate building, while still constantly watching the men on the barricade, who were about 300 yards away. He rested his back against the edge of entrance of the building, a glass turnable door that got eviscerated by gunfire, and slowly leaned his head in to look around. The reception area that the entrance lead to was a mess. Papers we strewn about and walls and furniture were filled with bullet holes and scorch marks, with a sprinkle of blood here and there. The lights on the ceiling flickered wildly as the power of the establishment fluctuated continuously. But other than that, the place seemed empty.
Regardless, Solus drew his large Beretta 93r Auto 9 Machine Pistol, or the ‘Bulletstorm’ as he liked to call it. He didn’t want to get caught off guard. He stepped in slowly, carefully watching his footing so as to not step on the loose glass and cause any noise. Stealth wasn’t Solus’ forte, so sneaking around like this was always the most tense part of any job, though this wasn’t really a job. More like an attempt to sate his curiosity, which made this that much more tense. His gun’s iron sights followed his sight as he surveyed the area. He tapped into his being as tried to sense for anything supernatural, or natural for that matter, as he slowly walked towards the elevator that lead to the top floor. 42 stories up.
He reached the two chrome doors, that weren’t so pristine like they used to be only 25 minutes ago. Solus took note of that, the time this all started and how long it took him to get here. Whatever happened in this place, happened fast. He pushed on the ‘call’ button, but there was no response. He then pushed it a few more times, same result. “Dead…” The Necromaster mumbled out, disappointed. He didn’t really know what he expected, but it was worth a try anyway. “The stairs then…”
He turned towards the staircase, only to reach it and almost lose all hope. The whole thing had collapsed, not even a few steps remained. So he turned back to the elevator again. If he could pry the doors open, perhaps he would find a maintenance ladder within the shaft.
He drew one of his swords, and jammed it into the gap between the two doors. He then used all his weight to pull the blade to one side, forcing the doors open just enough to slide both his hands in. He sheathed his sword and placed his hands into the gap, getting a good hold on both doors, and then forcing them apart, making the gap large enough for him to shimmy in. He instinctively look up as he pushed his head in, there were a few lights in the shaft that still functioned. They dimly illuminated the shaft all the way to the top. “That’s a long climb.” Solus remarked as he looked around for the ladder he initially set out to find.
Something else caught his attention though, and that was the smashed elevator down below. It must have crumpled up like a paper cup when it landed at the bottom, 3 stories below Solus’ feet, where the underground parking area took its residence in this building’s floor plan. The Chimera hoped no one was in that thing when it decided to add ‘Hell’ as one of its many options on the floor selection panel.
He pushed the doors even further apart, almost opening them completely. “There you are…” He stated, with the service ladder now in his sights. It was all the way across from him. He took a few steps back, and then ran towards the open elevator shaft, leaping all the way across towards the ladder. His body slammed against it with a clang as he grabbed a hold of it. He secured his grip and footing on the holds, and began to climb.
As he climbed he noticed that at the 5th Floor another elevator shaft perpendicular to the one Solus was in appeared. His hope of reaching that damn roof quickly rose, but only for a short moment until his negativity completely shattered it. He doubted the elevator in that shaft worked, but who knew…
It was when he reached the 11th Floor, when he noticed that the ladder was starting to warp and the metal holds became more twisted and damaged. He stopped and looked. The ladder was split in half and the cleave ended about 2 more stories above. During its fall, the elevator must have grinded against that side of the shaft, and tore the ladder apart, from floor 29 to floor 13. Damn it.It seemed like fate was trying to impede him from finding out what was happening.
Solus sighed heavily. This was taking forever. Maybe he should have just charged at that barricade head on instead of looking for a way around.
He began to look for other options, and saw that the doors on the 12th Floor have been completely blown off. If he was careful, he could climb up and continue heading up to the roof, if there was any way up to the roof from there to begin with.
Solus climbed up that one extra floor, and then stepped onto a small ledge that wrapped around all four walls. It protruded out only by 6 inches, which left a lot to be desired of this foothold. He shuffled along it slowly, being cautious of where he placed his feet. Unfortunately the ledge ended short before the doorway, and the Necromaster had no other option but to jump, and at an awkward angle. Fate added that in for shits.
“Here goes.”
Solus jumped alongside the wall towards his open escape. Trying to catch a ledge that was 90º to the right of you tended to be a suicidal notion, but luckily he managed to get his arms over the ledge all the way up to the elbows. Unfortunately the marble floor slid him along until he slammed head first into the doorframe. His legs dangled out in the shaft as he scrambled up into the 12th Floor entrance, crawling out on all fours. Finally, some solid ground. He let out a sigh of relief as he stood up and began to dust himself off, only to be greeted by the sound of a dozen assault rifles being loaded, and seeing about 7 different laser dots on his chest. The other 5 were probably on his head.
He looked up towards the assailants. They were all in dressed in black ballistic armor. They wore no emblems and were unmarked. The eye holes of their gas masks glowed with a bright blue light. Each of them held G36C Assault Rifles with under-slung grenade launchers. They said nothing as they watched the Necromaster stare them down with surprise.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!”
“What the fuck is going on…?” Solus breathed out heavily. He was tired, and beaten. And there was a lot on his mind. So many things were happening at once in his head that it seemed like his brain would soon burn out from the strain of the past day and a half. So… Solus thought to himself. Peskay is now one of them. Those weird gimp collar wearing nuts. The only other people he knew of that wore something similar, was that Succubus who was just in his car, an Angel who Rina met while Solus was out cold, a being which knew where he lived. And an old nemesis of his, who the Necromaster hasn’t seen in a decade, Clalrian. Solus sighed out loud, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “This is one hell of day…”
He had no idea what he would tell Rina. And he didn’t know how she would react. And what were those coordinates about? All he could really do was think about something else.
He blazed down the city streets, until eventually he was forced to drive slower, as the roads were filled with bodies of the dead and the dying, totaled vehicles and damaged buildings. Occasionally there would be a civilian or two who run in the opposite direction, heading towards the edge of the city. A wise move. It made Solus consider his current decision, to blindly go into the fray. Maybe he should have just turned and headed home, and gave up, or perhaps bailed on the city entirely. He shook the thought away. That wasn’t him. A mere skirmish between the Angels and the Demons wouldn’t deter him from at least saving a few lives, or at least just one. Even with one single life saved, he would be happy, even if he was tired of this abominable job.
With a new found determination and purpose, he continued on. The conditions of the city got worse as he went deeper into the city, collapsed buildings all around, with no life what so ever in sight. This is something he hoped he wouldn’t have to see, but now he knew, that his future, his prophecy, was gradually coming true.
In the distance, he saw a large black object blocking the path ahead, Solus knew that beyond whatever that thing was, the thing that faintly called for him, and perhaps everyone else in the city, had to be there. He slowed down even more, forcing the car against its will into a crawl. Gently passing the rubble and bodies that were laid out ahead of him. Slowly inching closer to the black wall. Finally he could see a little clearer. Way ahead in the distance, standing along the perimeter of the wall where several faint figures, they walked along the bottom and along the top of the 20 foot wall like on patrol. And from the silhouettes, Solus could just barely pick out that they were armed. “The military…?” The Necromaster asked himself quizzically. If it was, perhaps there was a glimmer of hope for this dammed city. Despite all the destruction that surrounded the man’s perspective, it was eerily quiet, and safe. Maybe these men ahead have dealt with most of the conflict on this side of the city. Hence the erected barricade to contain the rest of the fighting from the more secured sectors like this one.
Just in case those men where trigger happy, the Necromaster decided the avoid a hostile confrontation with them, and opted to bypass that gate by other means. He turned the car into an alley, nicely hidden away in the darkness. Then he locked it up, took a mental note of its location and set off on foot.
He tucked his back against the wall of the building where he parked his ride, bobbing in and out of the rubble that he was using as cover, in case one or two of the guards on the barricade were snipers. He then ran quickly across the street, and reached a tall corporate building, while still constantly watching the men on the barricade, who were about 300 yards away. He rested his back against the edge of entrance of the building, a glass turnable door that got eviscerated by gunfire, and slowly leaned his head in to look around. The reception area that the entrance lead to was a mess. Papers we strewn about and walls and furniture were filled with bullet holes and scorch marks, with a sprinkle of blood here and there. The lights on the ceiling flickered wildly as the power of the establishment fluctuated continuously. But other than that, the place seemed empty.
Regardless, Solus drew his large Beretta 93r Auto 9 Machine Pistol, or the ‘Bulletstorm’ as he liked to call it. He didn’t want to get caught off guard. He stepped in slowly, carefully watching his footing so as to not step on the loose glass and cause any noise. Stealth wasn’t Solus’ forte, so sneaking around like this was always the most tense part of any job, though this wasn’t really a job. More like an attempt to sate his curiosity, which made this that much more tense. His gun’s iron sights followed his sight as he surveyed the area. He tapped into his being as tried to sense for anything supernatural, or natural for that matter, as he slowly walked towards the elevator that lead to the top floor. 42 stories up.
He reached the two chrome doors, that weren’t so pristine like they used to be only 25 minutes ago. Solus took note of that, the time this all started and how long it took him to get here. Whatever happened in this place, happened fast. He pushed on the ‘call’ button, but there was no response. He then pushed it a few more times, same result. “Dead…” The Necromaster mumbled out, disappointed. He didn’t really know what he expected, but it was worth a try anyway. “The stairs then…”
He turned towards the staircase, only to reach it and almost lose all hope. The whole thing had collapsed, not even a few steps remained. So he turned back to the elevator again. If he could pry the doors open, perhaps he would find a maintenance ladder within the shaft.
He drew one of his swords, and jammed it into the gap between the two doors. He then used all his weight to pull the blade to one side, forcing the doors open just enough to slide both his hands in. He sheathed his sword and placed his hands into the gap, getting a good hold on both doors, and then forcing them apart, making the gap large enough for him to shimmy in. He instinctively look up as he pushed his head in, there were a few lights in the shaft that still functioned. They dimly illuminated the shaft all the way to the top. “That’s a long climb.” Solus remarked as he looked around for the ladder he initially set out to find.
Something else caught his attention though, and that was the smashed elevator down below. It must have crumpled up like a paper cup when it landed at the bottom, 3 stories below Solus’ feet, where the underground parking area took its residence in this building’s floor plan. The Chimera hoped no one was in that thing when it decided to add ‘Hell’ as one of its many options on the floor selection panel.
He pushed the doors even further apart, almost opening them completely. “There you are…” He stated, with the service ladder now in his sights. It was all the way across from him. He took a few steps back, and then ran towards the open elevator shaft, leaping all the way across towards the ladder. His body slammed against it with a clang as he grabbed a hold of it. He secured his grip and footing on the holds, and began to climb.
As he climbed he noticed that at the 5th Floor another elevator shaft perpendicular to the one Solus was in appeared. His hope of reaching that damn roof quickly rose, but only for a short moment until his negativity completely shattered it. He doubted the elevator in that shaft worked, but who knew…
It was when he reached the 11th Floor, when he noticed that the ladder was starting to warp and the metal holds became more twisted and damaged. He stopped and looked. The ladder was split in half and the cleave ended about 2 more stories above. During its fall, the elevator must have grinded against that side of the shaft, and tore the ladder apart, from floor 29 to floor 13. Damn it.It seemed like fate was trying to impede him from finding out what was happening.
Solus sighed heavily. This was taking forever. Maybe he should have just charged at that barricade head on instead of looking for a way around.
He began to look for other options, and saw that the doors on the 12th Floor have been completely blown off. If he was careful, he could climb up and continue heading up to the roof, if there was any way up to the roof from there to begin with.
Solus climbed up that one extra floor, and then stepped onto a small ledge that wrapped around all four walls. It protruded out only by 6 inches, which left a lot to be desired of this foothold. He shuffled along it slowly, being cautious of where he placed his feet. Unfortunately the ledge ended short before the doorway, and the Necromaster had no other option but to jump, and at an awkward angle. Fate added that in for shits.
“Here goes.”
Solus jumped alongside the wall towards his open escape. Trying to catch a ledge that was 90º to the right of you tended to be a suicidal notion, but luckily he managed to get his arms over the ledge all the way up to the elbows. Unfortunately the marble floor slid him along until he slammed head first into the doorframe. His legs dangled out in the shaft as he scrambled up into the 12th Floor entrance, crawling out on all fours. Finally, some solid ground. He let out a sigh of relief as he stood up and began to dust himself off, only to be greeted by the sound of a dozen assault rifles being loaded, and seeing about 7 different laser dots on his chest. The other 5 were probably on his head.
He looked up towards the assailants. They were all in dressed in black ballistic armor. They wore no emblems and were unmarked. The eye holes of their gas masks glowed with a bright blue light. Each of them held G36C Assault Rifles with under-slung grenade launchers. They said nothing as they watched the Necromaster stare them down with surprise.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!”
Had to post the collab guys. Wind is going to post her last part in 2-3 hours
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