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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jun 10, 2008 17:53:59 GMT -5
Karia’s face was frozen, a mingling of shock and fury, as if chiseled out of stone. Her knuckles were white, gripping the hilt as if she was trying to break it with her bare hands. Muscles in her forearms twitched, trying to complete the motion, end the life in front of her. And somehow, miraculously, Karia managed to keep herself still, though it was taking all of her energy and concentration.
A new sensation reached the edge of her mind; Arlene was trying to fight her way in, as they had agreed earlier. Though there was no Trevelyan to come after her now, it was still a race against time. But Karia could offer no help; if she were to try, Arlene’s neck would very soon know the taste of steel. The darkness fought back, and hard, but it had met its match inside her mind. The impregnable evil was terrifying, overwhelming, bending, and twisting, hidden like smoke on a cloudy day, devious and clever. She could do nothing but remain frozen, hold her motor functions to a standstill, as if roped to the ground.
The familiar presence of Arlene’s mind became marginally stronger; somehow, someway, Karia didn’t care how, it was working. It was like pushing huge stone blocks uphill, inching your way along, and if you stopped, you’d be crushed.
Her head was a maelstrom of voices, none of it making sense. Whispers and songs, fragments of sentences, a glimmer of color. Tones and time, ticking, a watch, sound, a color, a touch, a sensation, and cold again. Her heart was hammering, as if trying to leap out of her chest and escape the horrifying experience. Blood, screaming, the battle around her, frozen among warriors, sickness, a wave of pain. The darkness was trying harder; trying to send her into oblivion, overwhelm her with emotions and feelings. And then somewhere, a phrase worked its way through, a calming tone, melodious and soft, encouragement from nowhere.
This is just a moment in time. Stand aside and let it pass.
Her head felt like it might explode and her stomach dropped out into nothingness. Pain and violent electricity hit her, as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to her body. She was close now, so close to breaking the hold, she knew it by the steadily increasing pain. Her feet may have left the earth, she didn’t know, but she felt like she was falling into a deep chasm, without end, lost to all. A sudden emptiness filled Karia, and with a final surge, she pushed every ounce of effort she had left into her arms.
The katana swung backwards, flipped in a pair of trembling hands. Held high above the heads of those two students, it descended in a flash of razor steel. Falling as if in slow motion, the point impacted Karia’s abdomen and sliced completely through her, stained with red amongst the black.
Her black eyes widened, and she blinked. When they opened again, the piercing green had returned to them. Karia had regained control of her own body, but at great cost. Staring dumbly at the leather-bound hilt protruding from her stomach, the darkness completely receded. She could hear again, the sounds of the battle pouring into her ears. She could feel with her own hands, feel the blood that was leaking out of her body, soaking her shirt. But there was no more hatred, no more malice. She gave a weak smile to Arlene, and then closed her eyes.
With a sickening squelching noise, Karia pulled the katana from her midsection, gritting her teeth and trying not to scream. And so she stood, the katana in one hand, dripping with her own blood, swaying in the stifling air. The battle wasn’t over yet. She couldn’t stop now.
“That may not have been the best idea,” she whispered, and tried to walk. Her efforts failed her. She wavered on her feet for a moment before dropping sideways to the ground. Karia had spent too much effort fighting mentally, and all of her energy had drained from, eaten away like rust. Lying on her side, quivering, the battle continued to rage around her, just one more casualty in a war, one more statistic for the boards.
Sounds seemed muffled; she couldn’t speak; she could barely breathe. The world was a blurred mass of colors, red, black, and gray, swirling out across the battlefield. She shivered in pain, muscles twitching uncontrollably as a small trickle of blood began to drip down the side of her mouth. She just had to stay alive.
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Post by Aleksei Trevelyan on Jun 10, 2008 18:30:44 GMT -5
If Stephen had commented on the events of the next six minutes, he would have described Kitty's course of action as "going River". She didn't know how she was doing what she was doing, or how she knew where to strike and when, but the hilt and the bat and the blade flashed and blurred in the haze of the battle, hitting vital spots with deadly accuracy. It was almost like she had taken a backseat to her own body, putting her muscles on cruise control and devil take the hindmost.
Surprisingly, her hair hadn't gone bright orange, like what usually happened when she was furious. It was hanging dull and lank and limp, that same dark brown it usually was, changed only by instances of blood and unnameable effluvia coating it in streaks.
She wasn't furious, anyway. She was cold, acting almost mechanically. This had happened to her before, when they were fighting the Inferi, albeit to a lesser extent. Nobody had died then. The Inferi didn't count.
Neither did these demons she was slicing up. She didn't care what she was killing or what it looked like, she just didn't want any demons to leave the beach alive. The fire in her blood was helping with that; occasionally it snaked out and roasted a demon, or she whispered words she didn't know and the words themselves took form and bound the demons tightly, glowing acid-green and smoking as they screeched in pain. The pitiful remnant of the sword and her entire right arm were absolutely soaked in the corrosive blood of the demons, and although it burned her skin and scorched holes in her clothes, she didn't care. The liquid was slick and painful at the same time, and she knew it would kill her if it got in her mouth, or blind her if it splashed in her eyes. She was barely aware of others on her side (what was her side? Did she have a side?) fighting and being grievously injured - she saw someone plunge a sword through their own body, a move that confused her for the half-second she dwelt on it. She'd probably just seen it wrong.
On the one hand, her battle felt like it had taken hours; on the other, mere seconds. However long it had been in real-time, there were no more demons within five hundred yards of her; at least, none alive. Most of the corpses that were of her making were horribly dismembered; the ones that weren't had been magically bound and burned. Her fellow warriors had decided, quite wisely, to stay away from her battle zone. Just as well, as she'd have cut any of them down without a second thought if they'd gotten in the way of her fast-paced swath of destruction. She found herself back in the center where it had all began, right by Trevelyan's body. She leaned over and reached for his wrist to check his pulse. The spell had taken; he was alive. Hovering near death, but alive. With strength she didn't know she had, she bent down and hoisted him over her shoulders. It was an odd and nearly comical sight, really, seeing as he was nearly a whole foot taller than she was, and certainly a lot bigger.
"Stop saving my life," she heard him mutter weakly as she hauled him around and tried to walk.
"Oh, shut up, you idiot," she said without thinking, staggering up towards the field medic zone. "If I did I'd be out of a job, and so would you, 'cause you'd be dead. Idiot."
No response. Apparently the answer had astonished him. Either that or he'd lapsed back into unconsciousness; she really couldn't tell which. After about an eternity of stumbling over enemy corpses, she arrived at the makeshift medical area. One of the healers - she couldn't tell which, was it Carson? - came up to her and started asking questions rapid-fire, far too quickly for her to keep up with. She tried her best anyway. "Got impaled by a demon, one of the big ones, I did what I could, no idea how long it's been..."
God, how tired she was. Her legs were turning to overcooked spaghetti, and she wobbled unsteadily on her feet. Once her professor was off her back and on a stretcher, she was free to collapse as she would.
"Keep him alive," she murmured from her puddle on the ground. "He's got something to tell me. He said so."
Probably-Carson kept talking to her, and she felt hands lifting her up onto another stretcher, but at the same time felt curiously detached from it all, like it was some TV show she was only half-paying attention to. The blackness was calling her, sucking her down into its warm dark embrace.
Sleep. Her energy-deprived body was only too happy to comply, and the world shrank to a small bright point, and even that was gone. Just her and the blackness.
Sleep.
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Arlene Sainz
Hedwig
6th year
Cierra Remirez Elsa
6th year[M:0:
Posts: 798
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Post by Arlene Sainz on Jun 11, 2008 11:31:37 GMT -5
A kind tone forced its way through the suffocating darkness, worming its way over and under like a friendly night light in pitch black. Arlene couldn't make out what it was saying. She hoped that Karia could hear it and understand it.
She could feel the evil reluctantly relinquishing its hold, fighting hard for every second, and Arlene pushed further in, forcing it down. There was no way she had any strength left to even try and take over Karia's motor functions – all she could do was hope that she could force the penetrating darkness down far enough to let Karia gain control, even for just a moment. She knew instinctively, somehow, what Karia was going to do as soon as she had that little bit of control.
Just don't die.
She probably didn't hear that, but Arlene felt better just thinking it. It helped her accept that whatever decisions Karia made from here on out were her own, and Arlene would stand by her for every single one of them.
She forced herself not to react as she felt Karia lift the sword up into the air above both of their heads. She focused on the evil leaving Karia's mind to keep herself from reacting to the incredible pain surging through her friend's mind as she pierced herself with the blade. Only when she was sure the danger had completely passed did she gently withdraw from Karia's mind.
“That may not have been the best idea,” Karia whispered.
“It doesn't matter. You did what you had to. No one can ask for more than that.” Arlene's face was carefully held expressionless as she felt her friend try to walk and keel over onto the ground instead. “Now that probably wasn't the best idea,” Arlene pointed out, kneeling carefully down next to her.
They had done it. They had beaten the evil back, saved everyone on the beach. But instead of feeling triumph or a sense of achievement, or even a sliver of happiness, Arlene just felt empty. Devoid of feeling. She had managed to do what she had been so scared she would fail in, and she couldn't even take pride in the successful completion. She felt as if cinder blocks were tied to her feet, weighing her down.
Arlene put a hand on Karia's shoulder and rolled her over onto her back, thankful for once that she was blind and couldn't see the amount of blood she knew had to be all over her friend. Her blank gaze managed to lock onto Karia's, one of the few instances when she was able to make eye contact with someone. "Karia?..."
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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jun 11, 2008 11:47:02 GMT -5
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Karia was rolled onto her back and Arlene was kneeling above her; her vision came into clearer focus. Her hand found her friends and gripped it hard, as if Arlene was her lifeline. Despite the heat generated by the battle, she was starting to feel cold, an empty, endless cold, black and consuming. Death, this time, rather than evil. The clouded green gaze met the blind one, a rare occasion where Arlene made eye contact.
Karia tried to speak tell her what needed to be said, but only a grating gasp and incomprehensible moans came back. She found herself thanking those on high that Arlene was a psychic. All mental barriers gone, she tried to think straight, her fingers digging into Arlene’s gentle hand with each fresh wave of pain.
Arlene…thank you... I need you so do something for me...you know what I want to say to everyone...in case I don't make it...Let them know they're loved... There was a short pause as Karia hesitated. You have to leave me here...can't risk losing both of us if you try to carry me...you have to...keep fighting for me...
The edges of her vision were going dark, spasms shooting through her prostrate form. Tears leaked out of her eyes, and terror filled her up like someone pouring water into a glass. Her breathing was sharp and ragged, one hand still firmly holding the katana. A small pool of blood had stained the dirt red under her.
Win this…keep going…don’t…ever stop…hold on to each other… it… never… ends… here….
Karia blinked, and her green eyes became more cloudy, the twitching in her muscles slowing. She squeezed Arlene’s hand, feeling the sense of losing control again. The coldness enveloped her, the world disappearing, and all sense of reality whisked away.
Blinking again, her eyes turned black, and her grip slackened. It was back; the evil had sprung loose again from it's unlocked cage, trying to preserve itself. Her body wouldn't let it get away with that, though, damaged as it was. Her head lolled to one side, eyes closing, barely breathing, hardly alive, and once more fighting two separate battles: one for her survival, and one for control.
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Arlene Sainz
Hedwig
6th year
Cierra Remirez Elsa
6th year[M:0:
Posts: 798
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Post by Arlene Sainz on Jun 11, 2008 12:18:18 GMT -5
Arlene's immediate instinct was to argue with Karia, to make her see sense and try to carry her back to the healing trench. She quickly realized how futile that would be if Karia had her mind made up, and swallowed down the words. Karia needed to conserve her energy, not waste it arguing. She clutched her friend's hand just as hard, willing her to be okay. “You're going to make it, Karia. You're going to make it, okay?"
She didn't respond out loud to the next part, but instead returned Karia's squeeze to show she had heard. I'll fight for you, she thought, her voice too choked up to try and speak. But you have to hold on. Hold on for me. A tear slid down Arlene's cheek, welcome after the long period of non-emotion. She felt Karia's grip slacken, and then her hand dropped to her side. Hold on for all of us.
Arlene froze almost the next moment. She wasn't sure, but she thought she could feel that horrible darkness return just before Karia's mind closed down. She waited for a few moments, terror threatening to flood through her. They'd beaten it back, how could it rear up again so soon?...
But Arlene had to do what Karia asked. She had to fight for Karia. There was nothing she could do right now anyway, with Karia as close to d... as comatose as she was. All she could do was hope Karia was still strong enough to fend it off herself.
With that last thought, Arlene slowly stood up and turned to once again join the ferocious battle of life and death between the demons and the Valcentican students. It couldn't end until every last demon was dead. She vaguely wondered if anyone she knew was still alive before plunging into the fray, the floating sword once again by her side and faithfully slicing through any and all enemies.
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Sam O'Neill
Head of House
Head of Hedwig Astronomy Professor[M:0:0:0:]
Posts: 176
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Post by Sam O'Neill on Jun 14, 2008 12:49:11 GMT -5
While Jack had expected a certain amount of casualties resulting from this fray, he did not expect them to be self-inflicted. He saw a student get stabbed out of the corder of his eye, and for a moment thought she had been attacked, but then realized she had done it to herself. That made absolutely no sense to him; however, it didn't change the fact that if she didn't get help soon, she would die.
Jack wasn't about to let any of the people on his team (for that was what he always saw them as) get left behind. Old military instinct. Picking his way carefully through the masses of corpses and battling demons, he reached the girl. vaguely, he recognized her, but couldn't put a name to the face. It didn't matter anyway; Jack picked her up as ran as quickly as he could towards the healing tents.
Sam, meanwhile, had been running into some more advanced demons. She had three jagged scratches on her cheek from a goblin that had gotten too close, and her leg was burned from a spell she had just barely missed. Dirty and tired, she just wanted this over, but like so many times before, they had no choice but to keep fighting.
Her thoughts were cut short when a spell hit her full force in the back, knocking her P90 out of reach and slamming her face-first to the ground. Groaning, she rolled over; her spine was intact, at least. A human figure stood about fifteen yards away; their eyes were blank. Dark human.
Shit.
Sam stood up as the figure approached; pulling out a knife, she prepared to fight. The demon grinned at her, deciding to play it her way, and they went fist to fist. The demon, unfortunately, was better than she was.
She sliced out at it, and the demon dodged away so fast Sam could hardly see it. It kicked her hard in the side, and again just above her knee, forcing her back to the solid earth. The next strike she managed to block, and simultaneously buried the knife up to it's hilt in the demon's thigh. That only served to anger it more, and it struck her across the face.
They kept at it for a while, and Sam was losing, she knew that. There! An opening! She tried to stab the dark human just below the ribcage, but it grabbed her arm, twisted it so the knife dropped to the ground, and snapped her elbow so now it bent in the wrong direction.
She cried out as little lights came to life before her eyes, but she managed to maintain consciousness. The pain hadn't hit full-force just yet, and she had time to utilize the adrenaline pumping through her veins. As she was on her knees, Sam felt around behind her until her hand wrapped around an abandoned sword.
The demon grinned as it was about to strike the fatal blow. Sam glared up at it, and hissed in such a malicious way, even its controlled brain could understand:
"Go back to hell!"
She swung the sword as hard as she could, and the demon just sort of ended at the ribcage. Sam dropped the sword and sat still for a fem minutes, trying to recover her strength. She knew she had to get out of here. If she could get to the tents, they could fix her broken arm and she could get fighting again.
Dragging her feet, Sam stood, retrieved her weapons, and began marching through the field of decimated corpses, holding her arm to her body. This wasn't over yet.
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