rp: side story Side Story: A Quest for Kraerhil

[Akira]

"Understood" I replied simply at Deadrin's affirmation, making sure to keep my attention focused on any hostile soul nearby. I noticed when the deer near us moved through the bushes, it's soul was agitated, but not aggressive so I didn't take it as a threat and neither did my companion. When I heard the howl once again however, my instincts began to tell me that a conflict was about to begin and Deadrin clearly felt the same way. With that in mind I took my sheathed sword from my back, keeping it on my right hand and ready for use when necessary. When the last howl was heard I noticed a few weird souls moving through the plants in the area, the problem was that I couldn't tell exactly what kind souls they were, which was something that had never happened to me before, the souls themselfs were a bit blury, making it impossible for me to analyse them. That would be the last of my worries however, Deadrin shouted and before I could do anything I saw a Hound jump from the bushes and attacked Deadrin, the sudden move made Lucky get agitated, forcing me to give her reins a firm pull to keep her from freaking out. Deadrin took care of his enemy easily enough, before I could feel any relief however, more appeared and turned their attention to me and Lucky, both circled around us for a bit, looking at their preys with blood thirst in their eyes before jumping at us with their mouths open and sharp teeth ready to damage us. Unfortunely for them Deadrin already knew my secret, which means that I wouldn't have to hold back anymore "Hell's Chain!" with a quick command a total of six portals appeared above the Hounds and a equal number of bladed chains were fired, impaling the Hounds in mid-air and killing them almost immediatly before vanishing. I took a quick look at Deadrin and confirmed that he was alright, giving him a quick nod as a sign that I was okay as well.

Feeling that our problems were just getting started, I got down from Lucky's back and took a few steps away from her, but still staying close enough to be able to stop any Hound that could try to attack her. I began to scan the area once again, but what I saw was terrible, making my eyes widen upon noticing that we were surrounded by countless blury souls just like the ones from the Hounds "Deadrin... we got a problem... a really fucking big problem" I said in a slightly scared and cautious tone while taking a step back. Soon, all the Hounds around us revealed themselfs from their hidding spots, closing a circle around us, but not attacking for some reason, it was like they were waiting for something to happen. Before I could even begin to think on what could it be I heard a voice that, even though it was unknown to me, it sure as hell wasn't for Odium, who couldn't speak to me at the moment because of how agitated my mind was. "Well well well, just look at what we got here" said the mysterious foe, still hiding behind all the other Hounds "It has been quite some time since the last time I saw another one like me" his tone was cocky and calm, I kept looking for the source of the voice, but with no luck "Who are you and what do you want?" I asked in a sort of irritated tone "Oh my apologies, I believe I should introduce myself properly" the owner of the mysterious voice calmly got out from his hiding spot and entered the circle of Hounds around us "My name is Superbia" he was a Hound as well, but a bit bigger than the others, instead of pitch black his fur was dark grey, his eyes were emerald green and there was a demonic rune on his forehead that emitted a soft glow in the same color of his eyes "Now then, what a curious little duo we got ourselves here eh?" he chuckled a bit, keeping his eyes fixed on me, since he knew the other Hounds would react to any blunt moves that Deadrin could make "Tell me, how did you convince a human to accompany you huh? specially in a journey through a dangerous place such as this forest" I chose to stay silent, a wrong word could cause the attack to begin "Did you persuade him? maybe you forced him somehow? or did you... lie to him?" "I didn't lie to him!" I quickly responded "Really now? if that's the case then... ohhhh now I got it" he said letting out a ominous chuckle "You simply didn't tell him did you?" I clenched my fists a bit in response and Superbia took it as confirmation, laughing loudly at emotional pain in my face "Oh you poor foolish human" he said turning his eyes to Deadrin "You didn't know did you? about what he really is?" Superbia said briefly tilting his head in my direction while still laughing, clearly enjoying himself "Your little friend here is a demon and not just any  demon, oh no no no, he is one of the embodiments of sin, just like me, isn't that right, my dear sibling?" "I am not your sibling" I quickly responded in a angry tone "You might not be, but the other soul within you sure as hell is" once again, all I could do was to stay silent, it was true after all, and I couldn't deny it "Well, it makes no real difference for us, soon you will all die and me and my little friends here will have a feast, although... I wonder if you will taste any better than the humans, you know, being a demon and all..." once again my eyes widen after hearing Superbia's comment "You... ate innocent men?" I could feel my blood beginning to boil under my skin, the simple thought of those monsters eating people was already revolting enough, but it was about to get much worse "Innocent men?" he chuckled "You silly demon, every human is the same from my point of view, it doesn't matter if they are men, women or children, they are nothing but meat, ready to be eaten"  that was the last straw, I was clenching my fists so hard that they were beginning to bleed, before I snapped however, I was able to make one last request to my companion "Deadrin... please protect Lucky" I said simply, my voice was cold and the murder intent behind it was crystal clear.

Time stopped for a second for me, before my eyes I saw Odium in his original form "Tell me something Izanagi, do you hate these Hounds around you?" he was calm and direct, yet clearly knowing that was his chance to be able to fight his brother with his own power "I do" I simply replied "Do you want to make them pay the price of their actions? to make them feel the pain of all their victims? to make them suffer through the wrath of our  soul?" "Yes I do" Odium smirked a bit after hearing my reply and extended his arm, offering me a handshake. I also extended my arm, but instead of immediatly accepting his handshake I grabbed his forearm and shot him a serious look "Do not hurt Deadrin or the horses understood?" I said firmly, causing the smirk on the demon's face to dissapear "Do you hate them?" he asked "No I don't" "Then I have no reason to hurt them" I didn't respond, still not thrusting him completely "Very well, if it makes you feel any better, I won't use my full power, just enough to kill Superbia and the Hounds" I kept my eyes focused on Odium's ones for a few moments, I could see that he was being honest with me and I decided to thrust him to keep his word, finally letting go of his forearm and grabbing his hand causing Odium to smile slightly in response "Now Izanagi, say my mantra". Time began to move once again for me and I found myself back in the terrible situation of being surrounded by dangerous enemies. I could feel the power beginning to surge through my body, a sudden and quick burst of very hot air came out of my body as a signal that the merging and take over process was already getting started, caughing the attention of all the Hounds, Superbia included, obviously, the words from Odium's mantra began to flow though my mind and I immediatly began to say them out loud "The gates of hell shall soon open and it's power be unleashed. My enemies will know that their lives are now finished." a small ring of blood red fire suddenly appeared aound my feet and as I kept saying the mantra the flames were growing more intense and began to cover my body "Death awaits those who ignited the fires of rage. My fury shall only end when there is no more blood to be tasted by my blade!" the fire was already covering all of me and it was possible to see the right half of my body merging with Odium "With my power I shall break all the fools who try to block my path! For I am Odium the demon who embodies wrath!" the flames quickly died down, leaving a burning mark on the ground and revealing my body. My right arm, leg and the right half of my torso and head were covered by the pitch black energy from Odium's body, with dark orange lines following a chaotic pattern and a few demonic runes breaking the dark color over my body. My right eye's iris, pupil and cornea were glowing in the same color as the runes and lines on my body "Superbia... the demon of pride..." the voice coming out of my lips was no longer the same, it was deeper and more ominous, it was Odium's voice "It has been quite some time huh? brother". Even after all of that Superbia's atittude didn't change in the slightest "Odium... so you have really found a vessel after all. Well, while I do wonder why you let him keep you under control, I also don't care enough to actually ask, but at least it will be even more satisfying to kill all of you now" he calmly walked out of the circle and ordered the attack "Kill them" 

The Hounds around us didn't think twice before charging at both Odium and Deadrin, choosing their targets at will. A total of six Hounds decided to attack Odium at the same time. Since only half of my body was merged with his own, he could also use some of my my abilities as well to a certain limit. "Hell's Chain!" he shouted and summoned a total of ten portals, shooting the bladed chains at the attacking foes from above, impaling and killing three of them, but there were still three left. Odium quickly magnetized a small area on the right side of his hip and placed the sword the before unsheathing it with his left hand, standing ready for action. At the last minute the Hounds changed their movement route to attack from different directions. One from the right, one from the left and one from the front. With a quick move he stabbed the skull of the Hound on the left with the sword, killing it immediatly. The one who attacked from the front jumped a little, opening his mouth full of sharp teeth, clearly trying to bite Odium's head, to the monster's surprise the demon head bumped it, hitting it's nose with his head with enough strenght to make him fall to the ground, Odium then proceeded to stomp on the Hound's head, smashing it to pieces and killing it. As for the one who attacked from the right, he grabbed it's nose, making sure to keep his fingers at a safe distance from the creature's teeth and also keeping his grip too tight for the creature to break free, the contact from my merged half was already burning the Hound due to how hot my skin was, but that wouldn't be all, once the other two were dead Odium grabbed it's jaw with his free hand and with a single yet firm pull, ripped it out of the monster's face, causing it to cry laudly in pain before dying of blood loss. Odium simply tossed the dead Hound's body to the side, caring little about it. Right after that, five other Hounds charged in my direction, they decided to go for a direct up front attack, it wouldn't do them any good though, Odium channeled a litle bit of energy on his right hand and quickly manifested The Evil One in it, he then got in combat position and unleashed one of his special techniques "Dual sword style: Flash Slash" in a blink of an eye Odium moved behind all of the attackers and slashem them multiple time, the Hounds fell to the floor, dead and with countless slash marks over their bodies.

Irritated by the fact that Deadrin and Odium were killing all the Hounds, Superbia decided to take action. "Useless fools, it seems if you want something done right you have to do it yourself" he said stepping closer to Odium "Very well, I'll kill you myself then" Superbia charged at his brother, going for a straight attack, which Odium dodged easily enough. Superbia then charged a green-ish  energy ball on his mouth and fired it in his opponent direction, Odium quickly slashed the orb in half before it could get too close, causing it to dissipate and leave a small dust cloud in the air which Superbia used as a distraction, he jumped in Odium's direction and, thanks to his speed, was actually able to bite my left shoulder, since he knew that bitting the merged half would burn him. Odium winced in pain as Superbia's heavy body pinned him to the ground. Even tough his teeth were still embed in my shoulder, the demon-possessed Hound smirked, thinking that his brother was defenselees now, big mistake. Odium dissipated The Evil One and placed his hand under Superbia's torax. Blood red flames covered his arm, quickly accumulating on the palm of his hand and shooting an explosive fire ball "Wrathful blast!" Odium shouted before the blast. The attack was so strong that it burned Superbia's fur and skin and also launched him backwards, making him collide with a tree. The impact broke his spine, paralysing him. Odium calmly got up, not seeming to mind much about the pain of his wound, and walked to his almost dead brother "Now then, how about some payback?" with his sword still in his left hand, Odium sliced one of the Hound's 'arms', the pain was so intense that Superbia couldn't even speak or react. With a mad laugh, the demon began to beat his brothers face with the dismembered body part "Ahahahaha why are you beating yourself huh? why?" he kept going until Superbia's face was nothing but a bloody pulp. Next, he grabbed the creature by the neck and lifted it up "For my next trick, I shall make your upper half dissapear" he said sarcastically, as he impaled the Hound with the sword in his hand, sticking both to the tree behind and then igniting the hand that was still on the monster's neck with the wrathful flames "Wrathful blast!" he fired another attack, but this one was intense enough to completely obliterate the uper half of Superbia's body and knock down the tree behind it. Upon seeing their leader die in such pathectic all the remaining Hounds flead to the depts of the forest, leaving the two adventurers and their horses alone.

Odium slowly but surely turned around to face Deadrin, with calm yet imposing steps he walked towards him until he was about 1 meter away from the man. He lifted the sword in his hand to the air, as if he was preparing a strike, but all he did was to lay the blade on the ground, in a kind of respect sign "So, you are Deadrin eh?" he chuckled "To think that someone would actually be friends with tht numbskull Izanagi, you really are a weirdo you know that?" with that said, Odium released me, the black energy on my merged half immediatly dissipated, causing my body to get back to normal. I feel to my knees, not because I was physically tired, but because my mind was a bit blurry. I looked up for a second to check if Deadrin was really okay and once I was sure that he was fine I looked down again, afraid of his reaction.

[Neptune]

Daedrin felt relieved that Izanagi was able to take care of the two hounds easily, without much effort on his part. However that relief didn’t last long. He watched as his companion dismounted from Lucky’s back, stepping away from the horse. Daedrin was about to open his mouth to ask what was wrong, but he then paused as he felt more Hounds quickly converging on their location. He tightened the grip on his sword, his eyes narrowing. He knew that Hound packs were large, but this was big even for a Hound pack. He looked back over at Izanagi when the man spoke, his tone scared and cautious. It was a tone that Daedrin had not heard from the man before, “Stay calm.” Daedrin cautioned him, not wanting anyone to panic. He kept his own tone calm and collected, as he knew that sometimes when someone was scared, they paid more attention to someone's tone than their words. He turned his eyes back to the area around them when the Hounds suddenly appeared, surrounding them. Daedrin raised his sword, but none of them immediately attacked, a fact that Daedrin found very suspicious. Daegrin let out an aggressive whinny, almost sounding like a growl as he pawed the ground with his huge hooves. His huge head tossed, glaring at the Hounds around them.

When the dark, ominous voice sounded, Daedrin looked around as he eyed the Hounds, listening to the voice carefully. Some Hounds could indeed speak, however they often sounded like they were having to chew out the words the sounds often snarled. These words came easily from the being, not like how he expected from a Hound. He concentrated, casting out his mind as he tried to pinpoint the origin of the voice. There was another mind, similar yet different from the other Hounds. Its mind was darker than the other Hounds, and Daedrin could read a towering sense of pride, cockiness and cunningness. He paid attention to the words, frowning slightly at what the voice had said. As the new Hound stepped up, revealing himself, Daedrin turned and stared at him. His eyes narrowed as he saw that it was larger than a normal Hound, and its fur was dark grey instead of black and it had a curious rune on its forehead that was the same colour as its eyes. This was not something that he was expecting, and he had no idea what was going on. He was on full alert now, his eyes fixed on Superbia as his telepathy kept a close eye on the Hounds around them, just in case they tried a sneak attack. But the moment, they were on alert, waiting. 

Daedrin watched the conversation between Superbia and Izanagi unfold, paying attention to every word. Clearly this Hound knew Izanagi, and they were speaking about something he had little knowledge about. His eyebrows rose as the creature accused Izanagi of lying. As far as he was aware, not a single lie had passed Izanagi’s lips. It was one of the reasons he had respect for the man. His interest was caught when the creature mentioned that Izanagi had not told him something. He kept his expression impassive as the creature turns its eyes towards him, as if its words had no effect on him. Inside however, he was deeply curious and he would be lying to himself if he said that he didn’t want to know what this secret was. When the Hound announced that Izanagi was a demon, an embodiment of sin, Daedrin almost fell off his horse. Daegrin let out a snort of surprise, understanding the words being spoken as well.

At Superbia’s next words, Daedrin tilted his head slightly, before turning his eyes to Izanagi as he observed the man carefully. Outside, he looked calm and collected, however inside he was deeply shocked and if he was expressing how he currently felt he would have to be scraping his jaw up from the forest floor. He had known, suspected, that Izanagi wasn’t human but he didn’t think it would be something like this. It made a few things about the man make sense, now that the information had been brought to light. But it still didn’t stop Daedrin from being shocked to the core about it. His grip on his sword loosened for just a moment before it tightened. Now wasn’t exactly the time to let this get to him. They were still in trouble, after all. He forced his attention back to the situation at hand as Superbia began talking again, hinting that he was planning on eating Izanagi, like he did humans. Daedrin’s eyes narrowed in anger, and he could practically feel the anger rolling off of his companion. The whites of Daedrin’s eyes turned glossy black and his grip tightened on his sword even more as he gritted his teeth. 

He almost didn’t hear Izanagi’s request as he was trying not to simply lash out with rage, but the words registered in his mind. With a tug, he drew Daegrin closer to Lucky as the Aelda gave an angry snort.

‘Calm yourself. And protect Lucky.’ Daedrin ordered him with silent words into his mind, as he shifted, bringing one leg up to press against his saddle as he prepared to leap off of the Aelda to protect Lucky’s unprotected flank. He then jerked in surprise as he felt a blast of hot air, and he snapped his head around to stare at Izanagi once again as he began to speak words out loud. It sounded like some kind of mantra, or even a spell. His eyes moved down to the ring of blood red fire around the mans feet as the flames became more intense the more he spoke, spreading up across his entire body. Daedrin’s eyes went wide as he watched, his mouth dropping open slightly. Soon, his vision of his friend was completely obstructed by the view of the fire. Daedrin was glad that the Hounds seemed content to watch as well, because he was unable to pull his attention away from Izanagi as he continued to watch the inferno, frozen in place. As shocked as he was, a part of him couldn’t help but to feel concerned for Izanagi. But the words that the man were saying were firm and unyielding, as if speaking with absolute conviction in what he was doing. 

When the fire died down, Daedrin almost dropped his sword when the entire right side of Izanagi’s torso and head were pitch black colour, with orange lines etched across it in a chaotic pattern as well as various runes that Daedrin gathered were demonic in nature. It seemed that Superbia had not been lying. Izanagi was a demon, or at least he hosted one. Daedrin figured that this was perhaps some kind of blending of the two, or perhaps the demon had taken over Izanagi’s body. Daedrin’s head tilted slightly when Izanagi began to speak, but the voice no longer sounded like his own. It was deeper, darker and far more ominous. In comparison, Izanagi sounded like a friendly, sociable person. Superbia’s next words interested him. Keep him under control? Was he implying that Izanagi controlled this demon in some fashion? Or it perceived it as controlling? At least he got the demons name. Odium. It was not a name he had encountered before. Daedrin’s attention was jerked from his thoughts when Superbia gave the kill command. He would have to figure out his thoughts later. 

Daedrin leapt over Lucky’s back, as several of the Hounds were coming her way. One of the Hounds leapt up, snarling viciously at him as its jaw dropped open with the intention of snapping his face off. However it was met by the silvery metal of his blade, and its snarl turned into a howl of pain as Daedrin sliced across its chest. It dropped down to the ground, writhing and scrabbling its paws into the forest floor. Daedrin was forced to pay attention to the other two, telekinetically slapping them around the face and causing them to fly back into the trees with loud, snapping sounds. Daedrin raised his sword, swinging it down as he beheaded the Hound that lay whimpering at his feet. Another Hound came forwards, its upper lip in a snarl as it showed off its blood stained teeth. Daedrin simply turned around and stared down into its eyes, allowing the Killing Intent of his Daedric eyes to be unleashed upon it. The Hound froze in its tracks, its eyes going wide as its limbs began to tremble. It then let out a human-like shriek, laced with terror, as it turned around and ran away from Daedrin as fast as it could go, whimpering and screaming. 

Other hounds sidestepped the prone body of its packmate and darted towards him, aiming to ambush him from all sides. However he lifted his sword, the crystals on its hilt glowing before he swung his sword in an arch in front of him. As it did so, a pulse of purple energy erupted from the tip of the sword which slammed into the Hounds. Pained screams escaped them as they were thrown back and crushed against the trees as their bones snapped as their organs ruptured from the force of the impact. Daedrin turned to see how Daegrin was doing and saw the Aelda had several dead Hounds at its feet. Some of them looked to have been crushed by his large front hooves whereas a couple of others looked as if their necks had been snapped from the force of his kicks. Finally, Daedrin turned to see how Izanagi was- or was it Odium now? Daedrin wasn’t sure at this point.

He had turned around to watch in time for Superbia to lunge towards Izanagi in a forward charge. He watched curiously as the man easily dodged the attack before Superbia attacked with a strange green ball of energy which Izanagi easily took care of. But it seemed to be a distraction as the possessed Hound, for a lack of a better term, leapt onto Izanagi and pinned him to the floor and bit the man's left shoulder. Daedrin moved to try and help, however a snarl from beside him stopped him as he was forced to turn around to face a charging Hound. He raised his sword, the blade glinting in the sun that broke through the treetops, before it came down and sliced as easily through its skull like a knife through hot butter. Its blood splattered across the floor and the body of the hound twitched a few times before lying still. Daedrin turned back around, just in time to hear Izanagi let out a shout before the sound of an explosion rang the clearing. Daedrin watched as Superbia was blown across the clearing into a tree. The impact made Daedrin wince a little, as it sounded painful. 

He wanted to move over to them, but he couldn’t leave Lucky so unprotected. Daegrin, he was confident could look after himself, but Lucky was a normal horse. She was already skittish, her eyes wide with fear and nervously shifting from one hoof to the next. It was a miracle that she was remaining still, but Daedrin had no doubt Daegrin was the one responsible for that. He saw Izanagi approaching the beast, but he couldn’t keep his focus on it as he sensed even more Hounds coming his way. He was forced to turn back around and he narrowed his eyes at them. He caught one of them in his gaze, causing them to freeze in fear before it darted off, screaming in terror at the horrific images Daedrin’s eyes conjured up for them. He then jumped forwards, swinging his blade as if it was weightless, despite its size. He cut off the head of one Hound before plunging the sharp tip into the chest of another, pushing it through the beasts heart. He withdrew his blade, but was forced to duck as a Hound leapt towards him, causing the creature to sail over him. The Hound turned around before jumped again but Daedrin telekinetically snapped its neck. It slumped to the ground, skidding to a stop just before his feet. Daedrin then turned around again when he sensed one trying to sneak up behind him and he smirked at it as his keen senses spoilt its attack. The Hound paused, glaring hatefully at him but avoiding his gaze. It ran forwards, keeping low to the ground as it seemed to take aim at his ankle in an attempt to disable him so that he couldn’t run away. Daedrin took hold of his sword in two hands, lifting the blade above his head before he brought it down and causing the tip to sink into the Hounds skull with a loud snapping sound. He thrust the sword down further, pinning the creature to the forest floor. Its paws scrabbled against the forest leaves for several moments before it lay still and Daedrin yanked the blade from its body. 

Daedrin turned his attention back to Izanagi as the man picked up Superbia by the neck and pinned him to the tree before his next attack fried the demon to the point where the upper half of its body was completely destroyed. He winced at the crashing of the tree, the sound loud in the clearing. Granted, it was not as loud as the screaming Hounds, but it was enough to make Daedrin wince. He turned around as he heard paws against the ground and saw that the Hounds were retreating now that their leader had fallen. He watched them for a few moments, before he stepped around Lucky as he stared at Izanagi who was approaching him calmly.

Daedrin let the glossy black fade from his eyes, but he didn’t break eye contact with Izanagi. He was tense, unsure if this new Izanagi would attack him and really, the last thing he wanted to do right now was to have a fight with the man, especially since his sword was moved in a threatening manner. But his eyebrows shot up a little in surprise when the man put his weapon on the ground to show that he was not a threat. Slowly, Daedrin lowered his own weapon as well but didn’t relinquish it. His eyebrows rose even further at the words that were spoken. So it seemed that it was Odium that was in charge at the moment and must have been since the moment of transformation. Daedrin watched as the black energy dissipated, leaving Izanagi as he once was before the man fell to his knees. Daedrin said nothing as his companion glanced up at him before looking down again, a flash of fear and shame in his eyes, clearly worried about what Daedrin thought of him and what his reaction was. With him being on his knees, his eyes off of Daedrin, it would be easy for Daedrin to simply slice off his head. It was a great show of trust on his part.

But Daedrin did not do that. He lifted his sword, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his rag as he wiped it across the blade to clean it of the blood the Hounds had left away before he slid it into its sheath. He then strode over to Izanagi and grabbed the arm of his uninjured shoulder before pulling the man to his feet so that he was no longer kneeling on the forest floor. Daedrin looked at the wound on his shoulder, it looked as if it needed treatment but he didn’t say anything on it for now.

“You can tell Odium that I’ve heard that before. It doesn’t change anything, though.” He said, with a hint of amusement in his tone. He squeezed the man's arm slightly before letting go and taking a step back from him. He then bent down and picked up Izanagi’s sword, before turning it and offering it to the man, with the hilt facing towards Izanagi, “I had my suspicions that you weren’t human, but I didn’t expect that one. Although I completely understand why you kept that to yourself. Most people won’t react kindly to that news. It’s been a long time since someone has shocked me quite like that, but you’ve managed it. What is the deal? You’re what? A demon? Or you host one?” He then asked, keeping his tone neutral other than a hint of curiosity. He wasn’t angry with Izanagi, not in the slightest. He would be a hypocrite if he was. He could completely understand why the man kept it a secret. After all, Daedrin knew it was a bad idea to go around telling everyone that he was part Daedra. If he had to be honest, now that the shock of it was wearing off, it made him more comfortable around Izanagi. He was the only person in this Kingdom who could even remotely relate to him on the matter. Daedrin knew he posed no threat to anyone, but with how narrow minded people were in this age, if they knew that he was a Daedra they would change their opinion of him in an instant. The people of this time were very much driven by their own fear, especially fear of the unknown and Daedrin would be an unknown entity to them. Thus it was better to keep his mouth quiet, for his own safety. 

[Akira]

Even though my mind was still a bit blurry I was cought in a absolute storm of emotions when I felt Deadrin's touch. The man simply helped my to get up instead of calling me a monster or an abomination or anything of the sort, it was already way different from the average person's way of thinking and it surprised me despite the fact that he has told me earlier that he respects all life forms and stuff. It was the reaction that I was hoping for, but it sure as hell wasn't the one that I was expecting. Once I was on my feet again I dared to look at my companion again, noticing the way he was giving me back the sword that I have been using through our quest. It sure was display of trust from his part, specially after seeing in first hand what I really am and how ugly things can get when I lose control or simply throw said control out of the window. With a slow and hesitant move from my not injured arm I grabbed the blade, precessing what Deadrin had just said *Not the first time he heard that? what did Odium tell him?* Odium couldn't hear me since my mind was still a bit too agitated to speak with him, but it was a relief to hear that things weren't going to change, even thought I was pretty sure that wasn't completely true, after every thing that just happened I was sure that even Deadrin would look at me with different eyes, it was okay, though. At that point I was just happy for not being abandoned by him or worse.

I akwardly moved my arm trying to place the sword back inside the sheath, only to find out that it was no longer on my back, after a quick look around my body I found it on my hip, I sighed a bit and finally placed the sword back where it should be, deciding to let the now sheathed blade where it was. I then turned my attention back a my companion once he began to make questions, it wasn't really surprising, though. Hell, after all of that, being curious was very least I could expect from him "Well, its a bit complicated but..." I began to rub the back of my head with my right hand"I guess you can say I am both a demon and a host" It was good thing that Deadrin undertood why I kept the secret, he seemed to know pretty damn well what the consequeces of letting other people know about my demonic nature would be. I also took the opportunity to have a quick look around the area, the amount of corpses and destruction not really different from what I expected to happen once I had allowed Odium to break loose, even if was usng just a bit of his full potential. "Huh, Odium sure did a number on these fuckers... oh well, serves them right" I turned my eyes back to the man in front of me "I know this is a bit... uncommon to say the least but-" My train of tought was interrupted when I saw Lucky near Deagrin, she was clearly scared and a bit agitated, but she didn't seem to be injured, which was a big relief for me "Lucky..." I simply said as I began to approach her, my moves were calm and slow since I didn't want to scare her. I then gave her a few pats the neck and caressed her back "Hey, its fine now ok? you can calm down" my voice was soft as I spoke with the horse, calming her a bit. As Lucky recovered from the recent action I looked back at Deadrin "Thank you for protecting her and..." I sighed a bit "Look, you already found out about my secret and every thing. If you want I can tell you the story of how I became what you saw a few moments back, but I should warn you that the story is a bit long and its not pretty"

[Neptune]

Daedrin watched Izanagi’s movements, seeing how awkward they were and wondered how much that wound was hurting him. He vaguely wondered if being demonic in the way he was, would let him heal faster. It was bad enough being completely healthy while in this forest. With how awkwardly Izanagi was moving, it would pose a problem if they were attacked. He then tilted his head slightly when Izanagi spoke, saying that he was both a demon and a host. He was right, it sounded complicated. His lip twitched a little in amusement as Izanagi looked around and made a comment about the carnage that Odium had done on the Hounds. It was clear that Izanagi had no idea what had happened from the moment Odium had taken control. It made him even more curious as to the nature of their relationship with one another. He certainly doubted it was like other host relationships he had encountered, but he didn’t allow his thoughts to travel down that rabbit hole. He then watched as his companion moved over to his horse, calming her down with a few gentle words and strokes of her neck and back. 

Daedrin turned around fully when Izanagi thanked him for taking care of Lucky, and Daedrin shrugged a little but before he could respond Izanagi offered to tell him the story of how he came to be how he was. Daedrin was extremely curious to hear that, but he glanced around before looking back at Izanagi, “You can tell that tale when we’re riding again. It’s best not to linger for too long around here, otherwise we’ll end up having to fight ghouls who are attracted by all the dead. But before we can do that… I want to at least clean that wound of yours up. I learnt some basic first aid from my Father, who’s a Doctor. Even if this demonic aspect of yourself gives you accelerated healing, I doubt it’s a good idea to let it go untreated.” He said, moving over to Daegrin and pulling down a carton of water, a bottle of primitive antiseptic, and some bandages. He patted Daegrin’s neck as he passed, the Aelda eyeing Izanagi warily. Daedrin silently told the Aelda to be nice, before he approached Izanagi, his eyes fixed on the bleeding wound, “Take off your shirt.” He then asked, wanting full access to the wound so that he could treat it. 

[Akira]

I simply nodded at Deadrin comment, staying at the same place for so long, especially after all the noise generated by recent battle agains Superbia and the Hounds, was not a good idea. Lucky already seemed to be a bit calmer, her breathing was back at a normal thythm, so I was pretty sure she was good to go once again. I looked at my companion with slightly confused expression on my face, since I hadn't noticed the wound on my left shoulder, probably because of all the adrenaline that was still running through my body, but I could feel a slight tingle on the affected area. "Hm? Wound?" I said before turning my attention to the part of my jacket that was a bit bloody and torn, it wasn't bleeding much and the wound was not really deep, thanks to my super-human resistence, but it would still be a bad idea to leave it as it was considering that there was work to be done "Oh, I didn't even notice that" I laughed in a somewhat akward way "I guess that's why I was feeling a weird tingle over there" It was interesting to know that Deadrin's father was a doctor, after all, the man had never really mentioned anything about his family, even though that wasn't really important at the moment.

"Yeah, I do have an accelerated healing factor, but it would still take about a day to completely heal this wound. I guess it is worth having a look at it" I said as Deadrin walked to his horse to get a few bandages and minor healing items. I nodded once again at the man's command and took off my jacket and shirt, placing over Lucky's back, she didn't seem to mind much and I would prefer to not place my clothes on the forest floor, since bugs and parasites could climb on them. Now having a better look at it, the wound didn't seem to be so bad, especially considering the how enormous Superbia was. Then again, being a demon does have a few perks, which were quite useful in situations like these. "So, what do you think? is not so bad is it? I mean... considering that I... well, Odium was facing a demon-possessed Hound and all..."

Edited December 1, 2018 by Akira

[Neptune]

Daedrin couldn’t help but to let out a soft snort of amusement at Izanagi’s last comment. He looked up at his friend, the corner of his lip twitching as his red eyes glinted in his amusement, “No, I suppose not. It would have been far worse had he tried to, I don’t know, rip your face off.” He said before opening the bottle of antiseptic and pouring some on a small scrap of bandage, “Now this may sting a little.” He warned before he used the piece of bandage cloth to wipe away the blood and to press against the wound to clean it of any potential infection, something that he knew was a problem in these days. But then the medical technology of this time was very limited, not like he had seen before. Still, he was relieved that Izanagi had good healing that would allow him heal quickly. Once he was done, he rolled up some of the bandages, placing them against the open wound before he began to use the rest to wrap up his shoulder securely. As he was doing this, he couldn’t help but to privately note that Izanagi had a very well built torso, but he put that thought out of his mind as he concentrated on treating the man. Once he was done, he pulled back and inspected his handiwork before nodding,

“It’s done. Now get dressed and let’s get out of here.” He said, before turning and walking over to Daegrin without another word. He put his medical supplies away before using a water bottle to clean his hands of any blood before he mounted up on Daegrin. He settled himself down before picking up the reigns and nudging Daegrin forwards in a canter. The huge horse jumped forwards, snorting as he cantered forwards, weaving through the trees as they escaped the area of carnage. Daedrin wanted to get a while away from it before slowing down so that they could talk. The closer they were, the more chances that they would encounter something nasty. So he allowed Daegrin to canter for a while before slowing the huge Aelda down into a walk to allow both him and Lucky to rest from the exercise. He turned in his saddle slightly to look at Izanagi, “Now that we’re far enough away to be… somewhat safe, how about that story of yours? I’m genuinely curious about it.” He said. Since Izanagi had been the one to offer to tell it, Daedrin had no compunctions about asking him to elaborate on it. He kept half of his attention on the forest surroundings, and the other half solely on Izanagi.

[Akira]

"Heh yeah, I guess that really would be worse" I responded to my companions comment, watching as he poured the antiseptic on a little piece of fabic and warned me about a possible unpleasnt feeling before he began to clean up the wound. Just like he said, I did fell a little stinging sensation once the antiseptic made contact with my flesh causing me wince a little bit at first, but soon enough the sensation faded away. A few quick moments later Deadrin was done, he rolled a few bandages over the now clean wound and told me to put my clothes back on so we could get out of there as fast as possible. I didn't question him since I also didn't want to stay there any longer. I quickly put my shirt and jacket back on and climbed on Lucky's back once again and grabbed her reins before moving them a bit giving my horse the comand to begin moving again. Deadrin and I began by going a bit faster at first so we could get some distance of from the pile of dead bodies behind us.

Once we had reached a considerable distance we slowed down so we could talk to each other again. Deadrin asked me about my story, admitting to be curous about it, I didn't blame him, though. "Alright, uhm... where do I begin?" I said calmly, placing a hand on my chin and closing my eyes for a bit, recollecting my memories before placing my hand back at Lucky's reins and opening my eyes and focusing them on my companion "Well, this might sound a bit surprising, but I was actually born human like any other normal person in country very far from here" my face expression went from its usual calm and collected to a more serious one "When I just a child a civil war broke there and my father was forced to became a soldier, not only because he was a healthy adult man, but also because he was a very well-known swordmaster and teacher. He tought me how to fight before he dissapeared during the war." It was possible to notice a slight bitter and painful tone in my voice as I kept going "I was about 11 years old when that happened and for two years it was only my mother and I. During that period of time I was forced to mature a lot quicker that most people and... well, when I was 13..." I stopped talking for a bit and sighed before continuing, the pain in my voice was a bit more noticeble now "When I was 13 years old I was kidnapped by a bunch of cultists that were working with the government to stop the rebels. I was kept in captivity inside a underground hideout with a few other kids, about 8 if I remember correctly. After a few days of preparation, they tied all of us to a wall and began to perform a ritual. I remember hearing one of the cultists telling us how happy we should be since we would became the weapon that would end the war once and for all or die trying. The cultists kneeled in front of us and began to speak in a weird language before the wall behind us began to glow red and got covered in demonic runes. I felt like my body was burning us from the inside. Not only me, but all the other kids began to scream due to the excruciating pain as the ritual kept going." I clenched my fists a bit and took a deep breath to calm myself before continuing "One by one, all the other victims ignited and burned to death until I was the only one left. I was sure my fate would be the same, but what I felt was anger, a hate unlike anything I had felt so far began to build up inside me, reaching the point where I didn't ever feel that much pain anymore, all I wanted was to make the cultists pay. My vision became blurry and red in a few instants, I felt like I was going to pass out and... well, when I came back to my senses I was surrounded by the corpses of the cultists, blood was everywhere including my hands and body." Reviving these memories wasn't exactly something fun to do, but actually telling the story to someone else felt surprisingly good, as if burden was being loft from my shoulders "Fortunately the hideout was in the same city I lived, but as I was making my way home Odium began to talk to me, it freaked me out a first, but he explained that I had survived the demonification ritual and now, not only I was a demon, but I had also become his vessal, the embodiment of the sin of wrath. I couldn't go back home now that I was a demon, I didn't want to risk hurting my mother, so I sneaked into a fishing ship and flead the country. I walked through the world, fighting all sorts of monsters and looking for a place to call home..." I took another deep breath and relaxed a bit "That's... basically it..."

[Neptune]

Daedrin kept completely silent throughout the retale, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in thought as he concentrated on the man's story. His eyes flickered away from Izanagi every once and a while to scan to forest around them on the lookout for any surprise attacks. Izanagi’s story was quite sad, and he felt some measure of sympathy for the man. He hadn’t been asked to deal with the burden he had and he had been the victim of the pride and greed of others. He doubted that even Odium had much choice in the matter. He shook his head slightly when Izanagi had finished speaking before he said, “I am sorry to hear that, that happened to you. Using children like that… honestly, it boils my blood. I think I would have killed the cultists if I had seen them doing that. But then I can become very unpredictable when in a full blown rage. Still… war is a terrible thing. It can ruin your life in a million ways.” He said, breathing through his nose. He would know, since he had seen numerous wars in his time. Sometimes even participated in them, but for most of the Earth’s history, he had merely watched, unable to do anything. But then it was not his place to become involved. 

He tilted his head back towards Izanagi and asked, “What of Odium? Did he go along with the cultists, or was he as much forced in the matter as you were?” He was genuinely curious, since he knew humans well enough by this point that just because Odium had the label of ‘demon’ that they had every right to use him to further their own goals and to use his power, in an attempt to control him. Daedrin was well aware that the world was not as black and white as everyone assumed it was. The angels of your hopes more often than not had a hidden dagger behind their back and intended on dragging you to the depths of the worst hell imaginable, while demons with their twisted faces and fiery natures would hold a delicate flower in their hand as if it was the more precious thing in the universe. He just wanted to pin down just where Odium fell in on that. It was clear that he didn’t seem to get on with his ‘brother’ who held some kind of contempt for Odium. Claiming that Izanagi ‘controlled’ him, and it made Daedrin wonder to the nature of the relationship between Izanagi and the demon. 

[Akira]

"Yeah, sad but true..." I said nodding a bit at Deadrin's statement. My story clearly had an impact on him, I noticed how he was keeping his inner anger in check as he spoke. It got my attention when he said that he could became quite unpredictable should he go on a complete rage burst, that was certainly something I could relate to "I know that feeling pretty damn well... remember when I told you that anger is a negative feeling that is particularly hard for me to keep under control? Well, now you know why" I said simply before my companion shot me his next question.

I wasn't exactly expecting him to became curious about Odium as well, but then again I couldn't really blame him. My case wasn't exactly something common after all. "Well, Odium never really gave me a clear response when I asked him about that but..." I said rubbing the back of head again for a little bit "Through all these years traveling around the world I was able to visit many libraries and read about demonic rituals and such." At that point my voice tone was back at it's normal calm self, mainly because I wasn't talking about my painful past anymore "There are many ways to summon a demon, even against it's will, but doing so has a cost. The stronger the demon, the bigger the cost. Odium however, is one of the incarnations of the seven deadly sins, so summoning him by force should be damn near impossible. Which is why the cultists had to sacrifice something like children. Even if the summoners thenselfs didn't care much about them, their families sure as hell did, which gives them high value on that matter. Plus, children are not really affected by the world around them, their hearts, minds and souls are almost completely pure. Paying such a high price made possible to bring Odium to our world agains his will." I now turned my attention back to the way we were heading before continuing "The same should be true for the other six sins. I am not sure if Superbia possessed that Hound by being summoned by someone else. He is the incarnation of pride after all and from what I noticed in our previous encouter with them,Hounds are pretty pround creatures by nature so it would make sense for him to be able to take over one with his own power, they are compatible after all." I thought for a second if I should tell Deadrin about why I am compatible with Odium, even though I was pretty sure he could deduce that by himself at this point. In the end I decided to do it since I felt like that was something he should hear from my own lips "...that is the reason why I alone survived the demonification ritual." I said keeping my eyes on the road "Odium himself said that we are compatible because I can... let's say... 'take' all that rage if you know what I mean. As the incarnation of wrath is pretty hard for him to find a suitable vessel, capable not only of generating wrath, but also to keep it under control so it doesn't destroy you from the inside."

Edited January 11, 2019 by Akira

[Neptune]

Daedrin once again fell silent as Izanagi explained about how they had summoned Odium, which had confirmed his suspicion that the demon had been as willing as Izanagi in this situation. Despite what people thought of Daedrin, whether it be that he was rude or shockingly blunt, he wasn’t a heartless bastard. He sympathised with their situation, and a part of him was glad that they had killed the cultists responsible. The cultists had violated their rights of freedom, and had needlessly slaughtered the lives of several children in their quest for greed and power. In the end they had paid the price for their folly and their intended weapon had simply fled instead of being willingly used to fight in wars. That made him feel quite smug for some reason. His eyes then moved back to Izanagi as the man theorised on the Hound and Daedrin wondered if the man knew the origin of the Hounds. He was about to speak but Izanagi beat him to it as he stated why he was a compatible vessel for Odium. He gave a slight nod, “I believe I understand. Not many people are capable of controlling such emotions within themselves. Wrath is a very destructive one. I’ve seen it destroy a number of people. I suppose Odium was lucky that you were one of the unfortunate souls to be used by the cultists… despite how much I disapprove of what they did.”

He looked out into the forest once again, watching a rabbit dart out of the bushes in front of them, hopping across their path and into another bush to disappear from view. He then said, “It does make sense that Superbia would find one of the Hounds compatible.” He looked back at Izanagi, “We should count ourselves lucky that they are lost in this world, without their Master. Because he would have been an even better host for Superbia. The Hounds have another title that they’re known as. Torak’s Hounds. Torak’s Servants. You see, at least a thousand or so years ago there was a human by the name of Torak. He was greedy, and had a towering pride unmatched by anyone… even today. He was arrogant and thought of himself as a God, his pride was that great. It didn’t help that he was quite talented in Sorcery so he was able to masquerade himself as a God. He amassed quite the cult following, each of them as proud and cruel as he was. They were often blessed with some talent of Sorcery, but none more than Torak. He was shunned by other humans, and so he sought a home within this forest. In fact we will be going past his mansion to our intended location. No other humans could stomach him and he had a death on sight order… not that it did much good. But he ordered his followers to provide him with sacrifices. Human sacrifices. Men, women… children. It made no difference to him. His worshippers would take their intended victim and bend them backwards over an altar while the priest used a knife to slice into their chest while they were still alive, before cutting out their still beating heart. He would then throw the heart into the fires in offering to Torak. The rest of the body was usually disposed of, although there are reports of them being used as food. But the body wasn’t important… just the heart. That was all Torak wanted. He converted a number of his followers into Hounds, killed about half of them in the process. But their lives meant nothing to him. He used the Hounds to patrol the forest, defending his home and finding more sacrifices for him.”

Daedrin took a breath, before shaking his head and saying, “Luckily Torak is no longer with us. Due to his talent with Sorcery, he could live for a very long time, one reason why he thought of himself as a God. But he was defeated… by a Daedra of all things. This Daedra stormed his mansion, killing any followers of Hounds that tried to attack him and then… he sealed Torak before he disappeared. No one knows why he did it, or even what became of Torak. Some theorised that he wanted the power of Torak to take over the world but… it’s been a thousand or so years since then. Why hasn’t he done it? I believe the Daedra’s name was Diomedes, and he has been seen around Earth every once and again. He is no fairy tale, he is a real person. But what he has done with Torak is beyond me. There are no scriptures that explain his motives. Only his actions.” 

[Akira]

Hearing my companion telling me about Torak pissed me off. A man with so much pride that he tought himself as a God?! It wasn't the first I had heard something like that, but it still made me mad. Even worse, Torak's followers were making cruel and brutal sacrifices on his name which was just straight up horrible to say the very least. "People like him shouldn't exist..." I simply said once Deadrin was done speaking, I was clearly making some level of effort to keep my anger under control, I took a deep breath and calmed down shortly after.

 However, while I was focused on that part of the story, Odium was paying attention to a different set of details *So we will eventually reach this guy's mansion huh?* he said, probably thinking out loud *Oh, seems like someone is feeling talkative again* I simply replied *I heard the story that your companion just told you because now you are finally calm enough to talk to me again* surprisingly we didn't sound like he was lecturing me or anything, it was like he literally just... talking to me. I took the opportunity to say something I really should *So uhm... thank you ok? for not hurting Deadrin or the horses during the fight against the Hounds and Superbia* there was a brief silence before the demon responded *Its like I said, if you don't hate them, I have no reason to hurt them. Simple as that... Look, if you want to thank me, there are a few thing I want you to tell to your little friend here* I mentally sighed, Odium knew that was one my ways to agree with him *Good, now first of all: tell him he is a weirdo; second of all: tell him I didn't use even 15% of my full potential during that fight.* *What? why the hell do you want me to tell him that?* I asked in confusion, interrupting Odium *Because we got woulded during the battle and he didn't. I don't want him thinking that I am weak or something like that*  That didn't make any sense from my point of view, but then again, even if Odium wasn't the incarnation of pride he is one of the most powerful demons in existence, which means he also has some level of pride *Geez, and here was I thinking that Superbia was the incarnation of pride* I responded in a joking tone *Just shut up and let me finish! Finally, I want you tell him that we will be making a quick stop at Torak's mansion* *And why is that?* I asked curious *I am pretty sure there is a sin relic to be found around that area* I took a deep breath once again before passing the word from Odium to Deadrin.

"So... what I am about to say might be a bit weird but..." I began to say, rubbing the back of my head a little "Odium asked me to tell you a few things. Number one: he said that you are a weirdo; number two: he insistis for me to tell you that he didn't even use 15% of his power during the fight agains the Hounds. He doesn't want you to think that he is weak or something; and number three: once we reach Torak's mansion, can we make a quick stop?" Obviously I changed the last part because I didn't want to give Deadrin an order and sound like an ass in doing so.

[Neptune]

Daedrin turned his gaze towards Izanagi when the man said that what he was about to say might be a bit weird only to see the man rubbing the back of his head in what seemed like an embarrassed manner. One of his eyebrows rose when he passed on a message from Odium, calling him weird before the eyebrow rose even further at the demons insistence that he had only used a fraction of his power against the Hounds before Izanagi gave his request. Daedrin sat there for several long moments, just staring at Izanagi before he gave a light snort and turned his eyes back towards the path again,

“I’m weird? Your friend seems just as weird, Izanagi. Not that I will ever deny that I’m weird. I most certainly am weird. Also, I have no doubt that Odium isn’t weak. That thought never even crossed my mind so there’s no need for him to be worried about it. That was quite obvious when Superbia came out very much second best in their fight.” He said, wondering if Odium was somehow insecure, since he seemed to worried about what Daedrin thought of him. Or perhaps it was a subtle warning, not to mess with either Odium or Izanagi, something that Daedrin wasn’t planning either. As for the third thing, Daedrin looked back at Izanagi again, “We can. It’s not out of our way, either. But it has the greatest concentration of Hounds of the forest, so it’s very dangerous. There might even be some of Torak’s priests still there… convinced that their God will make a come back.” He said, knowing just how unlikely that was. 

Daedrin picked up the reigns again before nuding Daegrin forwards to pick up the pace. Even at a quicker pace, it would still take several days to reach the mansion. They continued to follow the path of the Ildran river, past lake Jezero before curving up North towards the Enupen’s Glory Mountains. It was only closer towards the mountains that they were able to ford across the river to get to the other side, before they turned slightly and headed straight towards Ashaba, Torak’s Mansion. They spent their nights much like the first, taking turns in keeping an eye out. Usually, once he was sure that Izanagi was asleep, Daedrin would climb the nearest tree and keep a lookout from there. He wasn’t sure if Odium was able to observe the environment around him without using Izanagi’s senses, so he made sure to keep out of line of sight of the other man, especially when he shifted into his Eldyr form and curled up on the branch in a very quiet watch. That in, on itself stopped a couple of attacks from nearby monsters, who would take one look at Daedrin before running off, clearly knowing that it would be against their best interests to pursue  an attack on the travellers. 

As they were drawing closer to Ashaba, Daedrin looked up and saw a dark cloud that was hovering in the sky, isolated from the other clouds which were white and fluffy on this usual fine day. He pointed it out and said, “Ashaba is just ahead. Torak put that cloud up, to shroud his mansion in darkness. The sun hasn’t shined on it in over a thousand years. A result of a spell that Torak did.” He nudged Daegrin forwards again, taking them ever closer. The dark cloud in the sky seemed to grow larger, encroaching over them. As they neared the point where they would be underneath the cloud, the wind stirred, bringing with it the stench of decay and stagnant water. Daedrin, with his sensitive smell, wrinkled his nose, “I had almost forgotten about the stench.” He muttered, looking up towards the mansion. Unlike the rest of the forest, the trees here were dead and lacked any kind of leaves. Instead, the trees were twisted black objects that seemed to try to claw up towards the sky. Clinging to the bark were strange fungi that glowed slightly in the dark, adding an eerie green glow to the forest around them. There was no grass and the dirt was blackened and dead looking. On rocks, they could see lichen on every inch of its surface, making it look scabbed and diseased. Overall, it all like an unpleasant place to be. Ahead of them, the mansion stood arrogantly from the dead forest, with tall towers and spires that reached up towards the dark sky. It was a huge building, looking more like a palace than an actual mansion. Daedrin pointed it out, “And that… that is Ashaba. We should be as careful as we can. If we’re noticed, they’ll raise the alarm and we’ll no doubt have to fight every Hound in this area.” He said, nudging Daegrin forwards at a slower walk as he kept every sense alert for any kind of danger. 

[Akira]

Deadrin's reaction to Odium's messages couldn't have been any better since he didn't take any of them as a negative thing. His comment on how Odium is also a weirdo actually caused to laugh a bit "You can say that again, we are all a bit weird, I guess that is why we get along right?" I chuckled a bit again. Odium chose to not say anything. I recon that was his way of agreeing to something. I was glad when my companion informed me that we could make a quick stop at Torak's mansion, which was even better considering that we woudn't have to detour much from our main objective. Plus, Odium seemed to be sure that we would find another sin relic there, so it was worth checking out. Not only it would make me stronger, but we would also be taking a dangerous and powerful item from the cult's hands.

The next few days went by surprisingly fast. There were a few inconvenient events along the way such as monster attacks, but it wasn't a big deal for us, especially now that I didn't have to hold back. We would spend the nights like always. Taking turns between sleeping and keeping the camp secure. During said events, while Deadrin was sleeping, Odium would train me and teach me how to use the Wrathful Flames without merging with him. It was a good way to keep myself awake during the time I had to watch for hostiles in the area. Even though I wasn't able to use the same techniques as Odium, I did create one of my own, which I named Ignition. The technique involved me snaping my fingers while extending my arm at the direction of the target. As the name sugests, it causes the victim to suddenly combust and burn for as long as I want. I had to use rocks and dead tree trunks as target practice, and even though I wasn't able to completely master the technique, I do have enough control about it to be able to use it safely most of the time.

As we neared our destination it became impossible to not notice the change on the area around us. It became dark due to the cloud that kept the sun from shining above the ground, there was pretty much zero signs of life the smell was also awful. My attention was cought by Deadrin's explanation of the area *He placed that could there on purpose keep the sun away?! Geez, what is this guy? And edge lord?* I tought to myself before we stopped at a safe distance from the place. I nodded on Deadrin's suggestion to be careful, being sneaky was our best option at that situation "I agree, we would get too much unwanted attention if we simply charged there." I calmly said while looking around a bit more before turning my attention back to my companion "Well, since we are here, I suppose it would be fair to tell you why I asked to come here. There is a powerful artefact hidden somewhere inside that mansion, that artefact is a sin relic and it was designed to be used by an embodiment of sin, like me. However, its possible that the cultists are using a limited amount of it's powers somehow, which can't be good for anyone. Which is yet another good reason to take it from here don't you think?" I asked in a serious yet calm tone.

 

[Neptune]

Daedrin pulled his attention from the wasteland to look at Izanagi as he explained why they were there. A subtle frown formed between his eyebrows, “Yes…” He said in agreement to removing this sin relic from the hands of the cultists. He knew that there were still some humans around in the mansion, who were still fanatically loyal to their own Master. They were dangerous on their own, especially if they were so revenge driven. Daedrin just hoped that didn’t figure out who he was, otherwise he was going to be hunted relentlessly by them, seeking to tear his hearts out in an attempt to bring their dark God back. It wouldn’t work, but they wouldn’t understand that. And while he could easily fend them off, he would prefer to keep himself as low key as possible, especially if Izanagi was there.

He turned his attention back to the wasteland around them as he continued to lead Izanagi through the dead forest. He kept a constant eye out for Hounds, but he didn’t use his telepathy to try and pinpoint any hostiles. While the Hounds couldn’t sense it, the priests certainly could, and they would track him all the way back and thus bring every hostile being within a few mile radius. While it would make for an entertaining fight, it increased the chance of them being hurt and it would also be a long drawn-out fight. Not exactly what they had asked for. As they walked, they passed dead trees and glowing fungus as well as pools of stinking stagnant water. While Daedrin’s night vision wasn’t the best, he could still see relatively well as they entered the pitch blackness of the cloud cover. It was so dark it was indeed light night had descended upon them, despite Daedrin’s instinctual knowledge that it was daytime. It felt so very wrong. 

The two of them managed to get quite close to the mansion without being spotted, maneuvering around the patrols to keep out of sight and scent. Daedrin was just glad for the overwhelming smells that would cover their scent tracks. They came to the wall that surrounded the mansion, before he pulled Daegrin to a stop. He looked up and down before he saw a grate that hid an alcove from view. He pulled Daegrin towards it before coming to a stop and dismounting. He looked into the grate and saw that it was a tunnel that lead onto the mansion grounds. He turned and looked at Izanagi before whispering, “It would be a good idea to leave the horses in this alcove. They should be protected enough in here.” Daegrin gave an indignant snort, as if protesting being left outside, causing Daedrin to tell him, “We’re not going to fit your big arse into the mansion corridors, Daegrin. You’re going to need to protect Lucky.” Daegrin snorted again, sounding less irritated this time. 

Daedrin turned back to the grate and gripped into it. He used telekinesis to grip into the hinges and to shift them slightly so that they wouldn’t create a racket. He pulled the grate open before waving the others inside. Once they were in, he followed behind them, carefully closing the grate behind him. He took one more look outside before he moved around the others to the grate in front of them before repeating the action with the second grate, “Come on Izanagi.” He said softly. Once his companion was through, he closed the gate behind them. He then turned around and looked up towards the actual building. He could see that a few of the windows had glows within, causing him to whisper, “There are definitely people inside.” The building was made from a dark coloured brick and was covered in dead vines that clung to the structure making it look diseased. Despite how old the building was, it was in a very good condition and looked safe to be moving around. Daedrin indicated for Izanagi to follow him as he moved along the wall, his steps silent in the darkness. The front door would no doubt be guarded, so he was looking for an alternative entrance to the building so that they could sneak inside. He came to a pause when he saw an open window that was low enough for them to climb into. Daedrin glanced around before he moved over to it and peered inside. It looked to be some kind of small lounge, with rather worn looking furniture. There was a layer of dust on everything, and some debris in the corner of the room, suggesting that this wasn’t used very often. He waved Izanagi over and pointed at the window, silently telling him that they would gain entrance through here. Daedrin went in first, gripping the window frame and hauling himself up, only to quietly slide into the building. Once inside, he stood up and moved away from the window on silent feet. Every sense was alert, but right now he couldn’t hear anything.

[Akira]

As Deadrin and I kept going throught the dead area I kept my Soul Eye activated the whole time, wanting to make sure no one would try and ambush us. We were both very quiet as usual and the situation seemed to be under control and pretty calm all things considered. That place however, was giving me a weird vibe. It wasn't exactly fear, since I wasn't really a stranger to areas devastated by magic, but it still made me feel somewhat unconfortable. *Oi Odium, you are feeling this too aren't you? this weird vibe around the area?* I asked the demon, hoping that he would know something about it *Yes, I am not completely sure myself, but I believe that this feeling is comming from the sin relic in this area* *What? but when we found that other sin relic a few days ago I didn't feel anything like this* I responded in confusion *I know, but remember, that relic was very broken, which greatly reduces the power emanating from it. Plus, it is entirely possible that this new relic is more powerful that the other one* That honestly made me a bit nervous about it. If I was able to feel the vibrations from this relic from this distance then it would likely be something really powerful, and worst of all, it was at the hands of cult of lunatics *Then we have to take it from the cultists as soon as possible* 

My thoughts were soon cut by me noticing that my companion had stoped. We had reached a wall that surrounded the mansion. Deadrin then proceeded to tell me it would be a good idea to leave both horses in the alcove. I was quick to nod in agreement with him and dismount from Lucky. The alcove was located at a considerable distance from the main building. Plus, Deagin would be there to protect Lucky. At that point even I knew that Deagrin had a few tricks up it's sleeve. Deadrin was quick yet silent to open the grate so we could all go through. Once we were there my companion repeated the same process again so we could approach the mansion itself. I deactivated my Soul Eye since I didn't want to risk having it's soft glow draw attention. Both Deadrin and I moved throught the area in steps as silent as the night. I also noticed the lights on windowns after my companion had it pointed out "Let's try to aviod those people inside as much as possible" I said in a calm and low voice tone. We both kept going as quietly as possible before my companion found a open window. We got inside making sure to not make any noise. Once we were sure that the area as clear, for now at least, I took the opportunity to tell Deadrin about what we were looking for. "Well, I think I should let you know. We are looking for a pitch black stone with demonic runes on it's surface. It acts like a pod to contain the sin relic. Once we found it I can take the relic from the inside of it." I said keeping my low and calm voice tone, trying to keep ourselfs hidden from the enemies "Oh and I woudn't recommend touching it directly either. Since you are not a demon like me there might be some side effects caused by touching it."

[Neptune]

The moment Izanagi started speaking, Daedrin turned his entire focus on the man. He nodded his head at the description of the relic, filing that information away so that when he encountered the relic, he would know it was what his companion was after. One of his eyebrows rose when Izanagi cautioned against him touching the relic, as he wasn’t a demon like Izanagi. That much was true, at the very least, as Daedrin was half Daedra which wasn’t the same kind of demon as Izanagi, or Odium. Even if he was able to touch it due to his Daedra heritage, his Eldyrannth heritage might have some trouble as Eldyrannth and demons didn’t mix very well. Which was why a hybrid like himself was very hard to come across. He was one of only a handful in recorded history. Especially in this time period. But he kept his mouth shut on that and simply nodded, “I won’t touch it. Besides, it sounds like it belongs to you, not me. I will just help you try and find it.” He said in a low tone. 

He moved towards the door, pausing when he got to it as he pressed his ear against the wood. He was silent for a few moments, trying to hear movement outside, but he couldn’t hear any. Daedrin pulled away from the door and gripped the handle which he slowly turned before cautiously pulling the door open. To his relief, the hinges didn’t squeak, which would have no doubt raised a couple of eyebrows. When the door was open enough, he poked his head around it to look into the corridor. It was pitch black, with no lights which suggested that this area of the mansion wasn’t often used. It was also quite cold, the chill in the air clinging to him like claws, causing a shiver to run up his spine. He opened his mouth slightly, taking a sharp intake of air before closing his mouth and pressing his tongue up against the roof of his mouth. Other than the taste of dust, and slightly stale air, there was nothing of concern in the immediate area. The scent of humans and Hounds was quite old, possible years old, suggesting that this area was abandoned. 

“It’s clear.” He whispered back over his shoulder at Izanagi before opening the door a little further and slipping into the corridor. He looked up and down, trying to pinpoint where they were, judging it from what he saw of the outside of the mansion. If he was correct, then the way to the front door was to their right, while the left lead further into the mansion. So he turned left and began to lead the way down the quiet corridor, “Watch your step.” He warned in a low voice due to how dark it was. He could barely see. He reached out, his gloved fingers running along what felt like wooden panels. He drew back his fingers, wondering just how this mansion managed to survive with such neglect. His only theory was that Torak had used a spell on the mansion, causing it to withstand the elements with little trouble, even if his worshippers were less than vigilant on keeping the place neat and tidy. 

He paused for a moment as he looked up to see a painting on the wall but, due to how dark it was, he couldn’t see the contents of the painting. Not particularly caring about the artistic tastes of a cult, he continued on, passing other paintings hung on the wall. He paused when he saw a shadowy distortion on the wall, and reached out to find that it was a door. He found the door knob and twisted it before peering inside. It was some kind of study, the furniture worn and tattered looking. He sniffed slightly before pulling his head back, “I doubt it’s in there. It’s an old study.” He said in a soft whisper before he closed the door and continued on down the dark corridor.

[Akira]

Just as I expected, Deadrin quickly understood the brief yet accurate description I gave him about the object we were looking for and responded accordingly. He then proceeded to check on the only door in the room were we curently in. After a few moments he opened the door and said it was safe to proceed. We found ourselfs in an old study. The place wasn't really in good shape, but I wasn't really expecting anything different. My companion warned me to be careful and I simply nodded in response. It was pretty dark inside the new room we found ourselfs in, however, after a few moments my eyes adjusted themselfs to the lack of light allowing me to see considerably better.

One thing cough my attention, more than anything else around. It was some sort of painting on the wall. I don't know why, but I could feel some sort of weird energy coming from it. It was very weak and I could barely feel it, but it was and it was unlike the things I had seen and felt so far. With careful steps I approced it so I could see it better while still keeping a safe distance from it just in case. Or so I thought. I was still about 1 meter away from the item while trying to understand what was drawn in it. It looked like some sort of black hole formed in the middle of a hallway of a castle with black tentacles coming out of it *Tentacles? what are these guys, some sort of hentai fanatics?* Upon further investigation I noticed what seemed to be a small rune in the middle of the black hole in the painting, it had a faint grey color and didn't seem to be demonic, but I could still remember seeing it somewhere. Probably one of the many books I've read over the years while studying demonic rituals *Oh yeah, I remember this one. It means... other side...?* As on cue a few tentacles suddenly emerged from the painting and grabbed me incredibly fast "WHA-" those were the only things I was able to say before one of them covered my mouth while also grabbing my arms, legs and torso and pulled me inside the painting in a blink of an eye. The image of "piece of art" on the wall changed as well after I was gone. Now displaying only the hallway of a castle.

After a few brief moments of absolute darkness I found myself being spat out of a painting in a different area of the mansion. I landed on my feet, preventing m from making too much noise, and quickly began to look around trying to understand what just happened and where I was now. *Nice one Izanagi.* I said to myself while mentaly facepalming *You took the words out of my mouth* said Odium in a surprisingly sarcastic tone. I couldn't even complain about it this time, though. *I know, I know, my bad* I simply responded *Well, where do think we are?* I simply kept looking around noticing that there were a lot of stone pillars around. A few of them had lamps that were barely working, providing just a little bit of light *Seems to be some sort of hall...* I turned my attention back to the painting that I had came out of. It was completely blank now. I didn't have to think about it however, as I heard a few steps coming from a bit ahead of the hall. I quickly hid myself behind one of the pillars and saw two cultists passing by in noticeably fast paste "Came on! we have to hurry if we don't want to be late for the ritual." one of them said "What os the point of extracting energy from that weird stone anyway?" the one asked as they kept going. Eventually dissapearing in the darkness on the other side of the door on the end of the hall. Thinking that the "weird stone in question might be the one that I was looking for, I decided to quietly follow the from behind.

[Neptune]

Daedrin heard Izanagi’s cry of surprise and he swiftly turned around only to see his companion being pulled through a painting, “Izanagi!” He called out, running to try and help him. But he made it to the painting just a moment too late as his companion disappeared through it, and the painting turned completely blank as if it had nothing inside of it. He put his gloved hands on the now blank canvas and pushed lightly on it, but it was as if it was a solid painting, “Fucking damn it.” Daedrin cursed before he pulled away with a light frown. It stood to reason that it was a local anomaly, so that meant that Izanagi was in the mansion somewhere. Daedrin just hoped he had not landed in the laps of the priests here, otherwise they were going to try and offer him as a sacrifice to Torak. Which meant that Daedrin was going to need to find him, and soon, before he got into any trouble.

Daedrin turned and headed down the corridor, heading deeper into the mansion complex. The building was absolutely massive, and he knew that it was pretty much a maze inside. As he walked deeper, he began to notice something. His telepathy was being dampened, almost like a blanket that was shrouding itself around his mind to prevent him from being able to reach out. He had previously been keeping his mind closed as he didn’t want any of the cultists being able to sense him. But now it was completely blocked out, and it felt a little disorientating as if he had one of his senses blocked out. He tried to shift into his Eldyr form, but found that he wasn’t able to which suggested that his abilities were being dampened. However his Daedrin abilities seemed completely unaffected. This confused him for a few moments before he realised what it must be. Daedrin Prison Stone, a stone that was often used in Daedric prisons to suppress the powers of non-Daedric prisoners. It had no effect on Daedric abilities, though, allowing the Daedric Guards to move around and continue their guarding duties at will. It also meant that Izanagi’s abilities were more than likely suppressed as well, preventing him from being able to defend himself to the best of his abilities. 

This meant that Daedrin had to be more cautious as well as he had considerably less resources available to him as well and if he used his Daedric abilities, the cultists would likely target him. He grimaced at the thought as he continued to silently move through the halls of the mansion. He was beginning to approach the more populated areas, as his sensitive smell and hearing was able to pick up the movements of the priests and Hounds. Daedrin sincerely hoped that his scent wasn’t caught by one of the Hounds. They would no doubt track him with ease that the humans could not. Them, he could escape from. The Hounds not so much. 

Daedrin found himself by a set of stairs that lead upwards, and he unthinkingly moved towards them and ascended onto the second floor. He could hear voices in the distance, as well as prayer-like muttering. He hid in a shadowy alcove of the wall as he heard several footsteps approaching his position. He stilled his breathing, reducing his noise signature to an absolute minimum as two figures passed him. They were both dressed in long black robes with a black sash around their waist. Their hood was lined in a green material, marking them as relatively low level priests. Most likely initiates. Daedrin allowed them to pass him by, and when he was sure that they were out of range, he slipped out of his hiding place and continued down the corridor.

He then halted when a stench assaulted his nose, almost making him gag and throw up. The stench of burning flesh hung heavily on the air, clawing down into his throat and making his stomach twist in disgust. He almost stumbled back and returned the way he came, but he pushed that impulse aside and continued forwards. He came to a heavy iron door that was blackened from age. Carefully, he opened it up and peered through it as the stench became even stronger. His eyes widened slightly when he found himself staring into the main ritual chamber. He was on the upper level, able to view down without being disturbed and he had a good view of the entire room. There were rows of mats where worshippers were grovelling, uttering prayers in an ugly language that involved a lot of snarling and spitting.

At the very front of the room was a stone altar. It was hard to tell what kind of stone it was, or what its original colour was as it had become blackened from the amount of blood that had sunk into every pore of the rock. It was so stained with the blood of innocents, that Daedrin doubted that all the water from the Earth’s oceans could cleanse it. Behind the altar was a pit of fire, which was always maintained to perpetually burn. He knew that it was a sacrilege to allow them to wither and die out. His gaze then shifted to a stone pillar just behind the fire that had Torak’s mark, a black dragon. Just underneath that was a pitch black stone that had runes on it that looked demonic. That must be the relic that Izanagi was after, which would present a problem as the main ritual chamber was the most populated area of the mansion.

His attention was then diverted when he heard a loud, panicked scream. He then watched as a couple of tall priests carried in a sacrifice through the main chamber door, walking down between the gap created by the other priests. The victim was screaming, squirming in their grip in a vain attempt to break free. They had been stripped completely naked, but Daedrin doubted that at this moment in time, the man cared for that little detail. A figure stepped out of the shadows, wearing a similar black robe to the other priests, but his hood was pushed back. The man looked old, his skin taking on the shade of slightly spoilt milk as the shadowed lines dug deep into his face. He had long hair, and a long beard, both of which a bone white in colour. He was thin, almost emaciated, giving Daedrin the impression of a walking corpse. The mans dark eyes were glittering with cruelty and madness. Daedrin’s eyes focused on the rim of the hood to see what colour it was, as that signified a priests rank. Green was low level, with purple being that of a high rank priest that has become skilled with sorcery. Red meant a Hierarch which was the next step up, a step that very few priests managed. Daedrin could see that for this man, it was pure black in colour, meaning that this man was the only surviving Disciple of Torak. 

The man stepped forwards, a jewelled dagger being held in his hands. He stepped up the altar as the two priests brought the sacrifice over, bending him over the altar as he continued to scream and beg for his life. He was ignored by the priests as the man holding the dagger held it aloft almost reverently before he brought it down and callously dug it into the victim's chest. The victim began to scream even louder as blood poured from the fresh wound. The Disciple continued to slowly slice down the man's chest before pulling his rib cage open, uncaring for the intense pain the sacrifice was experiencing. He then cut out the man's cut, causing his screams to become quiet as he died. 

The Disciple then straightened and turned towards the fire, holding the bloody heart aloft, as red rivers began to run down the flesh of his arm, “Behold, My Lord and God Torak! Our humble offering to you! In the hopes that you will one day return and grace us with your divine presence!” He intoned, his voice throbbing with longing. He then dropped the heart on the fire, watching as it quickly turned black as it was burnt. A loud gong echoed through the chamber, causing Daedrin’s teeth to chatter slightly as the other priests bowed towards the altar. The two that had carried in the sacrifice, picked up the dead body and dragged it away to burn it in one of their waste pit fires. The only part of the body that Torak was interested in, was the heart. The rest of it could be discarded.

Daedrin pulled away from the door, closing it behind him as he clenched his teeth as he was trying to stop himself from waltzing in there and killing each and every one of them. He could certainly understand why his father felt the need to bring Torak down. His religion was disgusting and caused great suffering to those unlucky enough to encounter it. As much as he wanted to give this place a proper cleansing, he had to find Izanagi. Judging from the fact that no one seemed to be rushing around, his friend must not have been discovered. Or if he had, he had taken care of the problem with ease and without drawing attention to himself. Daedrin turned and walked off down the corridor, feeling his skin crawling in anger and disgust. 

So deep into his anger and disgust, that he wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings. Thus when he turned a corner, he found himself facing a couple of priests and a large Hound. Daedrin cursed to himself as he reached towards his sword and pulling it out as he glared at the three of them. They didn’t seem too bothered, as one of the priests smirked darkly, “It appears we have our next sacrifice to our beloved God.” He said before his fellow cultist chuckled darkly. The Hound stirred, sniffing at the air before its upper lips curled and it let out a soft growl,

“Not so fast… this scent of this one is… familiar… it smells like the one that took Our Lord away.” The Hound said, sniffing at the air again, “Yes… smells so much like him…” The Hounds dark eyes gleamed with delight, “A son… yes… He must be the son of the one that took Lord Torak away!”

The two priests eyes widened before they seemed to gleam with glee, “Oh really? Then his life will be sacrificed to bring back Our Lord! Go, go and tell the Holy Disciple!” The second priest ordered, causing the Hound to turn and run off. Daedrin cursed, as what he didn’t want happening, had happened. His cover was blown, and they would no doubt swarm onto him in an attempt to overpower him. 

Trying to seem nonchalant about it, he rotated one of his shoulders in a slight shrug, “I wouldn’t bother… You’ll never be able to sacrifice me. That will never bring Torak back. I was just passing through… but if you insist on trying to go after me, well… I might just end up finishing the job my father started.” He said, raising his sword. The two cultists looked enraged before charging at him with daggers raised. Daedrin gripped his sword in both hands, raising it so that the tip was pointed towards the ceiling. When they were close enough, Daedrin stepped forwards while swinging his sword down, easily slicing through the two cult members. The two bodies slumped to the floor, the blood spilling onto the worn looking carpet. Daedrin then turned and ran off, keeping his sword out as he knew that he was going to be chased through the maze-like halls of Torak’s Mansion.

[Akira]

As I kept following the two priests I began to ask myself how damn big could that place be. I was doing my best at trying to remember as many details of the areas we went through as possible, my intent was to create a mental map to help me get out of the mansion after I found the relic and Deadrin. Eventually the horrible smell of death by fire began to fill the air. In all honsty, I almost puked at first. It doesn't matter how many times I felt that smell, it was always horrifying. It took a lot of will power to keep me from vomiting my guts out, but I simply refused to let something like that to get the best of me.

The smell wasn't the only problem either. At some point I also felt weird, as if my body had became a bit weaker and I also began to fell like I was forgetting something important, but I couldn't bring myself to think too much about it at the moment. I had reached a weird room and based on how intense the smell of burning flesh was I assumed that it was coming from there. After the cultists that I was following entered the chamber I hid myself behind the door and looked through the small gap between the door joint and the wall. I could see a bunch of cultists, two hounds, a pit with fire inside of it, an bloody altar and a symbol of a black dragon. I also noticed the pitch black stone near the latter. *The sin relic!* I though to myself. *Good, just get rid of these bastards so we can get our prise*. Said Odium. I quickly made a mental command, to fire my Hell Chains on my enemies inside the room, but nothing happened. *What the hell?!* I though to myself confused. *What happened?* *Nothing, and that is problem. I can't use my chains for some reason.* I immediatly related this to the weird  feeling I began to felt not long ago. Since I couldn't find anything capable of explaining what was happening to me. I though for a few brief moments before speaking with Odium again *Do you think the Wrathful Flame will work?* *Only one way to find out* I mentally nodded and took a step back from my current position. I extended my arm while still keeping one of the cultists in my eye sight *Wrathful Flame: Ignition!* I commanded mentally and snapped my fingers, expecting my target to combust in flames, but it didn't have the desired effect. Not only did the cultist escape without a scratch, but the noise from my fingers snapping also cought the attention of both Hounds inside the room. 

"I heard strange noise, we should check it out" one of them stated, getting the attention of everyone in the room. The other Hound nodded and, with the others watching, both set off to go after the noise *Shit!* I though to myself as I took the sword from my back in preparation for the inevtable fight. Once the Hounds were in front of me I didn't even gave them time to say anything. "Quick Slash!" I shouted and quickly chopped off the heads of both my enemies. All the cultists heard were the short lived cries of pain coming from behind the door where I was hiding before a pool of blood formed under the now dead Hounds. "Show your self intruder! We know you are there!" Said the Hierarch, judging by his voice the surely was an old man and he seemed pretty full of himself too, considering his voice tone. *Well, since they now know about me I might as well have a little bit of fun...* I smirked a bit and picked up the head of one of the decapitated Hounds by it's jaw *Uhm... what are you going to do?* Odium asked in a confused tone *Oh you'll see.* I calmly walked out of my hiding spot, revealing myself to the cultists inside the room. "You know..." I started speaking in a sarcastic tone "You guys should really consider taking better care of your Hounds, I mean... just look at this" I pointed at the Hounds head with my free hand "This guy's fur is an absolute mess to say the very least." everyone was looking at me with mixture of surprise and confusion in their faces "And don't even get me started on the smell of these things! Well... this time around the bad smell might be coming out of the pit of burning bodies over there but still-" "SILENCE YOU INSOLENT FOOL!" the Hieranch shouted, interrupting my speach "Look old man, you should probably avoid getting this angry over some simple constructive criticism, is not good for your health and it will give you wrinkles" the old one simply pulled down his hood revealing his face. His skin was pale and he had scars and wrinkles all over it. "Oh... well, carry on then." 

The hierarch pulled his hood back before giving the fellow cultists an order "Brothers! Bring him to me! He shall make a fine sacrifice for Lord Torak." Two of the low tier cultists approached me with daggers in their hands and killing intent in their eyes. I simply waited for the right moment and... "Catch!" I said and trew the hound head at one of them, hitting his head and making him loose his balance. With a swift draw from my weapon I sliced the other one in half. I then rushed towards the one who was on the ground and grabbed his neck, quickly breaking it with one hand and kill him. The other low tier merbers of the cult seemed shocked at how easy it was for me to kill two Hounds and two of their brothers. "What are waiting for?! KILL HIM!!!" The Hierach ordered the remaining ones. I slowly turned my head in their direction while still holding my  sword in one hand and the dead corpse in the other, upon noticing the lookon my eyes -the sheer, dark and pure killing intent- they simply couldn't move. They were paralysed due to the fear and the knowledge that getting near me would mean certain death for them. So instead they took a few steps back. "Useless idiots! Fine, I'll take care of you myself..." I quickly turned my attention back to the Hierarch, my gut was telling me that something was coming and it would be something bad. I could notice the way he was breathing, it was like he was calming himself and focusing on me "BURN!" At the very moment I heard that my insticts kicked in and I lifted the corpse in from of me so it would take the damage instead. My eyes went wide when the dead body combusted and began to burn. I quickly trew it on the ground since it was no use for me anymore. I knew my enemie would soon attack again so I immediatly rushed towards him in a attempt to kill him before he could do it. Even with my speed however... "REPEL!" he was able to use his power. An extremely strong burst of invisible energy shot me backwards, the push itself didn't hurt me much, but the collision sure as hell did. I clashed against one of the huge pillars in the room with enough strenght to break it completely. The impact made the grund shake a little while the debris from pillar was still falling over me. The Hierarch began to laugh maniacly, thinking that he had won, and to be fair if I was a normal person he would probably have won. I slowly got back up from under the pile of rocks, coughing a bit of blood in the process and causing the Hierarch to stop his laugh. Everyone in the room watched in amusement as the men who was supposed to be dead rise again. My body, mainly my back, was hurting like hell. I kept my head down for a quick moment, just to make sure that what I was seeing on the ground was in fact my blood. Once I was sure, I began laugh a bit, making everyone else even more surprised and confused.  *My blood... hahahahaha ...this really is my own blood." I then turned my attention back to my enemy "Yare yare daze, looks like it will take me some actual effort to kill you." Even with the intense pain on my body I was ready to resume the fight and now I also had a plan.

I rushed towards the Hierarch again while holding a small rock that I had yaken from the debris in one my hands. When I was sure that my enemy was about to use his power again I trew the rock at him. The sudden projectile suprised him and instead of trying to burn me or something like that again he used the same word from before "REPEL!" the rock was struck by his magic this time, not me. That gave me time to actually wound him, making cut in his chest, but wasn't deep enough to be considered lethal. After a quick scream of pain he maneged to attack me again "REPEL!" Once again I was pushed with immense towards one of the pillars, this time however, I maneged to position my body in a way that made my legs touch the hard surface first and bend while doing so, absorbing most of the impact and allowing me to almost immediatly jump back at my target afterwards. Every time I reached very close to him, but he would always repel me back *It doesn'y matter how many times he repels me, as long as I can make my legs absorb the shock of the impact I can attack again. I can't make any mistakes, tough... if I take another hit like the one from before...* I thought to myself during the fight *That wound on his chest plus the constant use of his magic is clearly taking a tool on him. I could simply wait for him to get too tired to keep going, but this is the first real fight I had in a long time. What I really want is the satisfaction of breakin that incredible defense of his* I smirked a little as I reached another pilar jumped right back at him again *Old soldier, I beg of you... don't lose your life before I succeed!* 

And just like that, the fight went on for minutes that felt like hours fot those who were involved in it. Until finally, my ever increasing speed allowed me to reach close enough to land my most powerful sword technique "Secret Art..." I shouted as I approched the front of the Hierarch and in a blink of an eye I dissapeared and re-appeared behind him with my sword half way inside it's sheath before I calmly bagan to insiert the blade back inside of it "...Act Zero." When my weapon was completely inside the sheath countless deep cuts appeared all over my victim's body, gushing blood everywhere. The Hierarch couldn't even scream in pain, he simply fell to the ground, cold dead already. Even though my body was numb, heavy and still hurting a little, I shot a manecing look at the ones remaining in the room. "So... who is next?" They we all trembling, not believing that the Hierarch had been killed. They all decided to do the right thing... run for their lives like cockroaches. One of them decided to seek the help of the Disciple. 

I coughed a bit of my own blood again after the physical stress of using my Secret Art began to catch up with me, leaving a little bit of my blood running through the corner of my mouth. I simply decided to take a seat on the ground and rest a bit. As much as I wanted to take the relic, I was really tired and the relic wasn't really going anywhere now. "Fucking cultists..." I said with a slight sigh.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Akira

[Neptune]

A colourful curse escaped Daedrin as he skidded to a stop, finding himself at a dead end. He looked up at the wooden wall, to a painting that hung on the wall before him. It was an image of Torak, who was smiling almost mockingly down at him, as if aware of his current predicament. He was almost tempted to slice it in half. But that thought was banished into smoke when he heard the rapid pace of footsteps behind him. Slowly, he turned and watched as four cultists came running into the corridor to surround him, their daggers glinting menacingly in the light. He noticed that the rims of their hoods were purple, marking them as sorcerers of some talent. With them, four Hounds moved at their feet, their upper lips curled up to reveal their long gleaming fangs. Their glowing eyes were filled with such hate and malice that Daedrin could almost feel their teeth sinking into his flesh. Daedrin raised his sword in a defensive posture, ready to react if they moved towards him but they remained where they were. That didn’t give him a good feeling at all. 

Another set of footsteps approached, these much slower than the first. He turned around to face towards him and almost sighed in annoyance when he found himself looking at the Disciple that had been in the main temple. He lowered his sword slightly, a furious scowl twisting the features of his usually impassive face. The Disciple paused at this, and Daedrin saw a flash of something in his dark gaze. Fear, perhaps? Well, the man had every right to fear him. And Daedrin would make sure to remind him of the reasons why, too. 

The Disciple took a step towards, his eyes glittering in fury, “So… they were telling the truth. You are his son, aren’t you?” He asked, the corner of his lip lifting in a sneer. Daedrin remained quiet, neither confirming or denying it. This seemed to amuse the Disciple who chuckled darkly, “Come on. Let there be no secrets between us. Why are you here? To try and finish the work your father started?” 

Daedrin snorted, tilting his head to the side slightly before he shook his head slightly, “You think entirely too much of yourselves, don’t you? Really, I was just passing through. I say was because I think I’ve changed my mind. I think I will do just that. Finish my father’s job.” He looked the man dead in the eyes, a malicious smirk on his lips, “Wipe every one of you pieces of scum from the face of this planet. I would be doing the world a favour by getting rid of you and your disgusting religion.”

“Don’t dare speak such blasphemy!” One of the cultists snarled, causing Daedrin to throw back his head and laugh. After a moment he lowered his head and glanced at the cultist from the corner of his eye before looking back at the Disciple, “This… this is more than just a simple extermination right now. This… is a religious war. And you are the ones that will lose.” He raised his free hand and pointed it at the Disciple and said in a thunderous tone, one that they could not ignore, “My Father has passed judgement upon you! He has judged you file desecrators of Life. He has a special place in hell, just for you, where you will meet your false God! May the Divines have mercy upon your Souls.” 

The Disciple looked taken back by this, and a flicker of uncertainty ran through his eyes, much to Daedrin’s satisfaction. He didn’t care that he had revealed one or two things. It didn’t matter. They were all going to die by his hands. They had threatened his life, and he was going to make sure that his father’s judgement was passed down upon them. Since Izanagi was not here, he had a lot more freedom in what he could do. He was sure that his parents would not mind him doing this. They would not survive to spread rumours after all, and they were a threat that needed taking care of. A growl ripped from deep within his chest as he straightened even taller, the sound causing the cultists to flinch back in surprise. It sounded like a feral beast that hungered for their flesh, to hear their screams as he tore them apart with his bare hands. His pale skin started becoming paler, becoming almost as white as a sheet with a slight ethereal glow to it. His eyes closed for a moment before they opened again, the whites of his eyes disappearing only to be replaced by a glossy blackness that seemed to draw your eyes towards them. His iris remained their blood red colour, but now they glowed from a kind of inner fire. Two horns emerged from the side of his head before twisting upwards. His lips parted in a sinister smile, revealing long canine teeth before he hissed softly. 

This was a part of him that he kept locked quite firmly and good reason. He could feel the bloodlust rising, urging him to maim. To kill. To make them suffer. He knew that they were weak against him. He was a son of his fathers, after all. He couldn’t be taken down by mere Torak worshippers. It took a lot more than that. He let out a chuckle, his voice even deeper than before. He tilted his head, his lips curving in coy smile, “So… you want to try and sacrifice me for your false God? Well… come on then. I’ll even let you get in the first hit.” He said, opening his arms in invitation. The Disciple suddenly looked a little less sure of himself, but he drew himself up and hissed, “Attack him!”

The first to strike were the Hounds. The four of them bound towards him with one great leap. Their jaws were open, wanting to rend him limb from limb with a snarp of their teeth. Daedrin wanted to laugh at their pathetic attempts. He swung in a circle, his blade gleaming in the dim light of the corridor. His movements were even faster than before, and he easily sliced his way through the creatures necks, splattering blood across the floor. He then raised his sword and admired the light coating of blood that was now on the sword. He looked back up at the Disciple and asked in a playful tone, “Who’s next?”

One of the cultists behind him, lifted his hand and yelled out, “BURN!” Before firing a fireball at Daedrin, who did nothing to stop the attack. The fire splattered across his hair and his face. Calmly, he reached up and patted the flames out before turning his head to stare at the cultist, “You really thought that would work?” He asked in a mockingly pitiful voice, “Aw. You clearly don’t know anything. Daedra walk through fire on their way to school. Do you really think that it would hurt me?” He let out a tut.

The cultist opened his mouth to shout out another attack, but all that emerged from his mouth was a spittle of blood. He blinked uncomprehending eyes before he shakily twitched his head down to stare at the sword that had become embedded in his chest. It didn’t run through his heart, preventing a quick end. The man tried to draw in breath, but it only gurgled in his lungs before he made the mistake of looking up into Daedrin’s eyes. A scream of terror tore from his throat, the sound so loud and raw that it ripped the flesh of his throat. His face had become a pasty white in colour and his eyes had become so wide that they threatened to bulge out of his skull. Daedrin’s smile turned even more sinister before rotating the blade within the mans chest. He let out a grunt, coughing up blood before he let out a sigh as he slumped. Daedrin stepped back, drawing the sword from the man causing him to collapse to the floor, dead. 

The cultist closest to him jumped at him, their dagger held high so that they could strike down. But he let out a howl of pain as Daedrin casually swung his sword in an arch, slicing the arm off. The cultist dropped to the floor, cradling the stump of his arm. He raised his head, but before he could even allow his eyes to grace Daedrin’s face, his head bounced off of the floor, rolling away as the Daedra casually beheaded the man, feeling no remorse or guilt at the lives he was taking. Daedrin then turned in a flash, jumping on the next cultist who was too slow to react to the attack. This time, he didn’t bother using his sword. With his Daedric strength, be punched the man in the face, pushing his head back until it collided with the wall. His skull was easily crushed, sending a splatter of blood and brains up the wall. Daedrin pulled his hand back and turned towards the last cultist, making a ‘come hither’ sign.

The cultist was trembling in fear before he lifted his hand and pointed it towards Daedrin, “Shock!” He called in a quivering tone, causing a bolt of lightning to jump out of his fingers towards Daedrin. Quicker than their eyes could see, Daedrin raised his sword to act as an antenna. Despite the fact that he couldn’t use the abilities of the sword, he could still allow the crystals to absorb the energy of the attack. The handle grew warm under his grip, and he was glad that he was his Daedric self right now, otherwise it would have left him with horrific burns. 

The moment the attack stopped, Daedrin lunged forwards, plunging the hot blade deep into the chest of the man. He pulled it back, allowing the man to drop lifeless to the floor. He then turned around to face the Disciple with a twisted grin on his lips, “Your turn. I sure hope you don’t die as easily.” He said, the hallway filling with his menacing chuckle. 

The Disciple growled, his eyes narrowing before he hissed, “Pulse!” A dark pulse suddenly emitted from him, darkening the area around him. It reached Daedrin and it made the corners of his vision flicker as a darkness began to consume it. He wasn’t scared, however. The man lifted a hand, pointing it towards him as a spark of lightning danced out. This time, Daedrin was too slow to stop the attack as it struck his heart, sending a shock of electricity through it. He snarled at the pain that laced down his left arm. His fingers became lax, causing his sword to drop to the floor with a great clatter. He stumbled backwards, his back pressing against the wall as he felt his heart quivering and giving out on him. His raised his head and looked at the Disciple who looked smug, “Well. I guess you weren’t that hard to beat after all.” He said.

His smug smile dropped when Daedrin chuckled, “Oh, you foolish little cultist… You can’t beat me like that. If you take out my heart… I have another spare!” He then laughed as he felt his left heart still. His right heart however, continued to beat strongly, keeping his blood moving throughout his body. He couldn’t function for too long with only one heart, but it was enough time. Before he could do anything, another cultist suddenly came running up behind the Disciple, “Your most holy! We have a situation in the Temple! The Hierarch has been killed!” He shouted in a panicked tone. 

The Disciple, forgetting Daedrin for a moment, turned around to face the cultist, “WHAT?! WHAT HAP-” He didn’t even get to finish his sentence before a sword ran through his stomach. He looked down, gaping in shock. His hair was gripped tightly before his head was thrown back and he was forced to look up at Daedrin’s face as the Daedra grinned down at him with sharp teeth, “Oh that was a mistake… turning your back against me. And now… the very last Disciple of Torak… is going to die.” He chuckled, before fixing his eyes upon the Disciple and unleashing the full terror of his eyes. The Disciple screamed like a woman, making the cultist in front of him flinch with wide eyes. Daedrin’s nose twitched as the smell of ammonia assaulted his senses and he realised that the Disciple had become so frightened that he had pissed himself. He chuckled before tossing the man aside, allowing him to fall off of the sword. For good measure, he stamped on the man's head repeatedly until it snapped open like a watermelon. He then turned around the the cultist and smirked before whispering, “Run.”

The man whimpered in fright, before turning and running like a rabbit with a wolf snapping at its tail. As soon as he was out of sight, Daedrin slumped against the wall as he could feel his strength beginning to flee him. With shaking hands, he pushed his sword into its scabbard so that he would not lose it. He closed his eyes, pulling his Daedric self deep within it, causing his appearance to return to normal, despite the blood that was splattered on his clothes. He then lurched forwards, using the wall as a means of support. He needed to find Izanagi, before he collapsed. He didn’t know how long it would take for his heart to heal, so he hoped that if he could find the other man, he could help him jumpstart it. He stumbled, falling to the floor. He let out a snarl before using the wall to push himself up before he continued to stumble forwards. The edges of his vision flickered as it threatened to give out on him but he stubbornly clung on. A thin film of sweat covered his body from the effort of keeping himself awake and moving, glistening in the dim light. He couldn’t fall unconscious in this place, not when it could leave him so vulnerable. 

[Akira]

After I took a few brief moments to calm down and catch my breath Odium decided to 'contact' me again *Well, that was... interesting to say the very least... its been quite a while since the last time I saw you enjoy yourself so much during a fight* I couldn't really deny it even if I wanted to, Odium surely knew me well enough to know that much. I simply chuckled a bit in response *Yeah, I was a good fight... I feel like shit, though* Odium simply chuckled back at me *You sure look like it right now. There is still blood dripping from your mouth and chin. Not to mention that you back will be bruised at the very fucking least.* There was another brief moment of silence between us before Odium contiued *Came on now, let's get that sin relic and get out of here* *You know I am not leaving this place without Deadrin right?* Odium simply sighed in a sort of annoyed way *Yeah yeah whatever* With that said I slowly got up from the ground, grunting a little bit due to the pain in my body. I calmly made my way to the relic and channeled my energy in my right arm, merging it with Odium and causing it to get covered in the pitch black energy that was all too familiar to me. Slowly but surely, I inserted my arm on the stone and began to look for anything solid inside, but to my surprise the stone itself began to melt and gather around my merged arm. It was like I was absorbing the entire stone. Soon, the stone was gone. - completely merged with me. Once the precess was done I felt a small amount of the energy I had spent on the fight return to me and I also noticed a small demonic rune with a light orange glow in the back of my right hand, right in the middle of the small part of my glove that had a rectangular hole. It shined gently, giving me a light burning sensation in the area, for a second before dissapearing. *Did that mark just... dissapear? Do you think you can bring it back so we can find out what it does?* Asked Odium *I am pretty sure I can, but that will have to wait. Now, to find Deadrin*

It was at that point that I noticed that I had absolutely no idea of where my companion was. Best chance to find him was to use logic since, as far as I knew, I couldn't use any of my magic powers. Deducing that it would increase my chances of finding him since he wasn't at any of the rooms I had gone through before, I went through the door on the opposite side of the one I came in. I was also constantly trying to activate my Soul Eye, which would allow me to see any living souls through the walls - Deadrin's included. Plus, being stealthy wasn't an option anymore anyway. I was running through the corridors as fast as I could trying to find my friend, hoping that I was taking the right directions. Thankfully for me, I soon found a single cultist running - unkown to him - in my direction through the same corridor I was. He seemed to be really scared of something, but he was also my best chance of getting any information at the moment. I hid myself behind a bookshelf nearby and when my target passed by I quickly grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up. He didn't have time to scream, but I could notice the pure fear in his eyes "Ack... y-you..." These words cough my attention, did hw know me? maybe he was in the ritual room when I killed the Hierarch "Do you know who I am?" I questioned him in a manecing tone "Y-yes, y-you are... 'gasp' one of the intruders" *Other intruder? Does he know where Deadrin is?* "Where is the other one?" I questioned again, now with a more aggressive tone "J-just follow the corridors  until you 'cough' reach a dead end" "Good" I simply replied before continuing to follow the corridors, but now I was also dragging the cultist with me by his legs "Why are you taking me with you?" he asked almost crying "Because if you lied to me you are dead meat!" 

After a short time running through the area and dragging that unfortunate soul with me I finally reached the dead end. I could see a lot of blood on the ground and walls, a dead men who was smelling like piss for some reason and finally my friend, who didn't look well at all. He was visibly weak and there was blood all over his clothes. Knowing him, he was likely fighting someone, probably the dead cultist on the ground not far from him. Feeling enraged, I quickly grabbed my cultist 'friend' and began to question him again "What. did you do. to him?" my voice was as manecing as it could get, sending chills down the spine of the already scared cultist "I-it wasn't me, it was-"  "ANSEWER ME!" I interrupted him and shouted in anger while slamming his body on the nearby wall "AAAAARGH!! I-I-I don't know! I think the Disciple 'cough' shocked his heart or something" "His heart?" I said now in a worried tone and I quickly tossed the cultist asside and ran towards my friend, knealing right beside him. His breaths were weak and his chest was barely moving through the repeated respiration precesses "Came on, you'll be fine ok? Just hold on" I placed both my hands on the left side of his chest and began to apply a cardio massage, making sure to not apply too much pressure since my super strengh could harm him instead of helping. I was worried the whole time, but eventually I noticed the cardic massage beginning to take effect, his breathing was returning to normal standards, but it was still not totally normal so I removed my left hand from over his chest and began to focus a little bit of my energy on the hand that was still there "Alright, this might fell a bit... unpleasnt" I then proceeded to infuse his heart juuuuust enough energy to make his body begin to work normally again. I took a step back and waited for Deadrin to get a hold of himself.

[Neptune]

By the time Izanagi arrived on the scene, Daedrin had collapsed back down on the floor, fighting with every ounce of will to not fall unconscious. All he could hear drumming in his ear was the beating of his singular heart. It was too irregular, too slow to be reassuring. It wasn’t the right number of beats. He could feel his fingers beginning to become numb, and he was having trouble drawing breath into his lungs, as if they had simply given up their function. He thought he could vaguely hear Izanagi’s voice, but it sounded distant as if he was hearing it from the end of a tunnel. It made him wonder if he was hallucinating. He then felt hands on the left side of his chest before they pushed, forcing air from his lungs. As the pressure let up, air wooshed back into his lungs. He wanted to bat at the hands, finding the compressions uncomfortable but he didn’t have the strength to lift his hands. It was a good thing that his bones were Eldyrannth-like in their physiology, as the bone structure was far stronger than a normal human and much harder to break. His eyes fluttered open a little and, despite how blurry his vision was, he could see Izanagi hovering over him. He opened his mouth, trying to say something but no words escaped him. His eyes closed again, before they snapped open again when he felt foreign energy push into his body. It burned the cells that were exposed to it, and made his chest ache in protest at the unusual energy signature. 

A startled gasp escaped him when his heart suddenly constricted before beginning to beat. At first, it was slightly out of rhythm but it quickly fell back into place with his secondary heart. Warmth began to spread throughout his body as his blood flow returned to normal, and he could feel the fogginess of his brain clearing up and his vision was beginning to return to him. His chest still ached from where Izanagi pumped in the strange energy, but otherwise he was fine. He lay there for a few long moments before he let out a groan, “Fucking bastard… electric shock straight to the chest…” He muttered. He hoped that Izanagi wouldn’t ping on how strange that he had been alive despite the fact that his heart had failed. A heart failure meant instant death for a human, but then Izanagi might not have enough medical knowledge to realise it.

Letting out another groan, Daedrin sat up, feeling his weariness slowly fade away. He shook his head to dispel the last of the fogginess before he put his hand on the wall and pushed himself up. He leaned against it, reaching up to wipe the sweat off of his brow. He then turned his head back to Izanagi, “Thanks man, you’re a lifesaver.” He said. Although Daedrin knew that had Izanagi failed in starting his heart, he wasn’t entirely vulnerable to the claws of death. He knew that the Divines would never abandon him to such a fate, not when he had so much work for them to do. Still, he was grateful that Izanagi put in the effort to save him, and it surprised him that the man would even do so. But then again, they were out here because Daedrin had hired Izanagi to mine some Kraerhil. If Izanagi wanted to be paid, then he needed to keep his employer alive.

Daedrin then turned his head to see the cultist from earlier that he had told to run. He frowned at him, causing the cultist to let out a squeak of fear and hide his face within his hands, “Pl-please spare me!” He begged. Daedrin found the begging to be quite irritating and said, “Fuck off. If I ever hear of your kind operating ever again, I will come back and destroy this mansion and kill every single one of you Life Desecrating bastards. This is your last warning. You don’t want me coming back here.” The man nodded, letting out a pathetic whimper before he turned and fled down the corridor. When he was gone, Daedrin turned to Izanagi with a politer tone, “Did you find your relic?” He asked.

[Akira]

Upon seeing my friend getting up I couldn't help but let out a soft sigh in relief, even though he clearly wasn't completely recovered yet since he had to use one of the walls as support to get up. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't at least a little woried about him. At this point I was pretty sure that there was something else to him, he obviously wasn't a normal person and he often demontrated that whenever we had to deal with monsters, but still, I don't want to stick my nose where I shouldn't. "Hey, a guy like me doesn't have many friends, so I might as well take care of the few ones I have right?" I said chuckling a bit in response to Deadrin's first comment and giving him a few moments to get a hold of himself.

When I saw that cultist that I had dragged with me was still there I honestly thought on simply killing him with my sword, but Deadrin acted first. He told the scared men to leave with a warning: don't even let me catch you making those damn sacrifices or tortures again or I'll come for your neck. I immediatly understood his idea. Sending a message was a better way to keep those bastards in check, so I decided to play along. "Yes, let you brothers and sisters know that my wrath awaits anyone who tries to keep this fucking cult active, understood?" Soon, the terrified men ran as fast a he could and my attention shifted back to Deadrin when he asked about the relic. "Yeah, I got the relic, but I had to fight for it. The cult was using it for something, though... they even had a special ritual room for it. I had to kill some sort of elite cultist there and I couldn't use my magic powers for some reason. He maneged to throw me against one of the stone pillars with enough strenght to make it crumble over me. My body is still hurting a bit, but I will admit it was one of the most exciting fights I had in a while." I chuckled a bit "As for the relic itself... well, I was expecting to find a weapon of some sort but-" I was inrerrupted by the feeling of the very ground bellow your feet beginning to shake a little bit and by the noises of the walls and roof around us slowly craking "What the hell? what is going on?" I asked while looking around a bit.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Akira

[Neptune]

At Izanagi’s comment about taking care of the few friends he had, Daedrin couldn’t help but to let out a small chuckle in amusement. It seemed that the man cared more for Daedrin than a simple means to get money. But then, Daedrin wasn’t entirely surprised he had few friends and thus wanted to hold onto the ones he had. There weren’t many people that could accept a demon as a friend as most people thought of demons as evil, and didn’t bother to think much past that. More often than not, there was usually a reason behind such evil, including the perception of others. What was evil to one culture, wasn’t evil to another. Some were perceived as evil because they were angry at the world and lashed out. Still, that didn’t make their actions right, but it explained why they were so destructive and ‘evil’. Daedrin was perhaps one of the few that accepted Izanagi for who he was, without batting an eyelid. But then, the two were similar in a way. He hosted a demon while Daedrin was half Daedra, a species most would consider to be demons.

He returned from his thoughts when Izanagi began to answer his question about the relic. He nodded his head slightly, frowning in thought when his companion mentioned about a special ritual room for the relic. It made him wonder if they were trying to utilise its powers for their own gain. It wouldn’t surprise me. The cult were well known for messing with things that they shouldn’t. It was one of the reasons they attracted his father’s ire, as they were messing around with Eldyrannth affairs. He absently nodded as Izanagi continued his explanation but before he could describe what it looked like, the ground began to shake a little underneath their feet as the walls and roof creaked ominously. Daedrin paused, tilting his head as he listened carefully for a few moments before he realised what was going on,

“We need to get out of here. This place is starting to fall apart.” Daedrin said before moving forwards, “Come on.” He said, taking a deep breath and pulling himself together as he started to run back where he had originally come from. He hoped that his heart could withstand such stress after its failure. But it seemed that whatever Izanagi had done to him was keeping it beating steadily and in pace with his secondary heart. He came to a stop when they met a T-junction and he glanced around, quickly analysing the layout that he had in his head of what he had explored thus far. He nodded down the right path, “This way.” He said before running down it and ignoring other passages that branched off of it. He then turned a corner which lead to a landing with stairs. There were some cultists there that were trying to flee the building. The mansion began to shake more, and pieces of the ceiling began to drop down. 

Daedrin skidded to a stop when he heard the ceiling began to screech in protest before a large chunk began to break away and fall. There was a scream as the piece of ceiling crushed one of the cultists. Daedrin winced in sympathy before saying, “Watch your step.” He then continued running, skipping down the steps as quickly as he could without tripping on any the debris. Once they reached the ground floor, he started off running again, running through a few corridors before opening the door to one of the empty rooms where there was a window to the outside of the mansion. He ran forwards, stumbling a little as a piece of the ceiling fell next to him and causing him to flinch away. Daedrin moved over to the window, opening it up and jumping out onto the dead earth. He then bolted away from the mansion until he got close to the outside wall. It was there that he turned around and saw one of the spires crumble away and begin falling. He was panting hard, wondering just what caused that. Could it have been the death of the Disciple? Was he the one keeping this place in good condition? More screams echoed in the air as cultists were crushed beneath the place of their worship.

[Akira]

As Deadrin and I rushed through the corridors of the mansion we could hear the carking noises getting louder and louder by the second as the whole building around us trembled with bigger intensity by the second. Soon enough the walls began to fall to pieces along with the roof. Under normal circunstances evading debris wouldn't be a problem since my speed and agility allowed me to simply dodge them without much effort, however, due to tired and hurt I was at the moment I was actually having some difficulty with that task. Thankfully the adranaline curently flowing through my body was providing me the boost necessary to keep going. It was also a good thing that Deadrin seemed to have some idea of where we needed to go, because I was honestly lost like a blind man in a shootout. 

After what felt like forever we reached a window. I never tought I would ever feel so happy to see something so common, but those circunstances were anything but normal. Deadrin went though first and followed him shortly. We didn't stop however, after we had reached the outside of the mansion we still rushed a bit to get to the wall surrounding the buiding that now was nothing but a big pile of rubble and dead corpses. We were both panting really hard after we finally stopped near the wall to catch out breath. In the mean time I couldn't help but to think that maybe taking the relic away was the cause of the sudden collapse. They were taking energy from it after all. "You alright?" I asked my friend as we were both recovering from the recent mansion escape. Thankfully neither of us got really hurt during the rush. "Came on, let's get back to the horses" I said in a calm tone after we maneged to catch out breaths again. "Do you think that taking the relic away caused this?" I asked as we made our way to Deagrin and Lucky "The cultists were taking energy from it after all... I just don't know what for..."