Little lost dragon and I

[little lost dragon]

Vita nodded "We can continue at any time, however the repair process will take longer as a result." he warned before Fren nodded.

"Bor is one of the only ones that did not try to bind us into this, only made deals, and he did not enforce with then with binding magic either." she said before nodding as Avira explained the plan. "Alright, well, Alina, as we go, send a bolt into the ceiling like you might be sending out a becon of your power, you got the last beings attention before, maybe you can again. If your ok with doing so." she said not wanting to force her daughter into summoning a being that might be as bad as her sister.

Fren then began to lead the way "Lets move, time is short." she said as she went.

 

((short post, burned out from work x.x))

[Ryujin13]

Avira took up rearguard as Guthrie, Alina and Fren took positions at the front of the pack. She didn't mind being in the rear, it was an important role after all, but more importantly she didn't want to get in the way of a family being together. Her mind suddenly flicked to the recycling room, but only lingered for a fraction a second before she went back to her original thought.

Alina meanwhile had begun to charge power like she had practiced at home, her eyes going black as long strands of black magic fell from her sides onto the floor.

Finally she flickered out of existance only to reappear a few feet away. She continued to do this now and them, but nothing seemed to happen. Still she kept at it until she seemed to tire and took a break.

 

(It's all good. Ironically I'm about to fall asleep so same story lol.)

[little lost dragon]

As they went Fren was reminded just how eerie the place was. How stressful it made one. Always on the look out for safe rooms, always watching for traps, enemy's and just plain always tense. She knew Guthrie was trying to be strong and wanted to support her, but it also was not really in his character for this kind of deal, as such she paused so he would catch up to her side where she took his hand before resuming. She knew that when he needed to be, he'd do his part. she remembered the destruction of the facility she was held at years ago that he caused in his wake to find her. She knew he'd use that same ability to help them survive here as well.

 

Though Avira, the fox girl was slightly worrying. the change was tiny, almost unnoticeable, but her chemical signature was in a very slight state of instability. And at times she seemed to zone out for a moment then return. They would need to remove that rune sooner rather then later. How she did not know, but the fact remained. the fox girl, something was off.

 

Vita moved with them his bot following behind still spewing the green stuff at him. Vita seemed to be alright, his armor was intact and he did not deem any of them a threat. which was good. He had 0 stealth, but he had the brute force they could use.

 

She knew Alina was trying to send beacons up, every now and then her daughter would vanish then reappear. But no sign of the final being. She did not blame the dragoness for stopping after a bit, she knew how her daughter felt with such use. She had watched and been told about it many times when she was training her.

 

After a bit they came across a door that did open. Inside At the far end of the room rested what looked to be a midevil shield. However it looked like it was made of steel yet with blood stone lining its edges along with making a few runes on the front. Infront of it though was a pool of strange orange fluid. Almost on cue a small trap door opened releasing a flying creature over the pool, and after a few moments it seemed to reach up and snagged the creature which then screeched like it was in agony as it was pulled into the strange fluids depths.

Fren blinked "Well.... Guthrie, welcome to the nature of those tests I told you about." she said

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie almost froze up at the sight of the orange pool in front of him, his eyes widening in fright at the casual murder that had been commited in front on him.

"M-maybe we should go somewhere else?" He asked, closing his eyes and breathing deep to regain his calm. "Perhaps there's a better way?"

"Doubtful." Avira said, looking at the pool then the ceiling. "Never been that easy before." She squatted and looked at the pool as carefully as she could without getting closer before finally taking a deep breath through her nose, smelling the pools scent in the vague hope it would reveal some secret.

All she got was the smell of death though, which strangely enough didn't smell bad anymore, in fact it actually smelled rather nice. This only lasted for a moment or two before the bad smell returned, causing her to shake her head a little. She wrote the experience as er body getting used to the smell of death in the castle, then turned her attention back to the pool.

"Anyone got any ideas?" She asked, glancing around. "I assume the shield is important or at least a clue."

[little lost dragon]

Fren shook her head "I have yet to see the castle give a alternate method of completing the tasks." she said "And that shield looks similar to Jak's sword. Which might come in handy." she explained before thinking on how to get past it. "Guthrie.... think you could grow a thin vine bridge?" she asked wanting to test something if he could.

 

Vita paused his repairs before walking to the pool of strange fluid. "Careful, acidic perperties." he confirmed before he turned and left. As he left though as he lifted his foot the fluid reach over and seemed to search for the something it though was there. When it found nothing it settled and flowed back into the rest of the pool. This perked Fren's interest and she took a few steps but was a ways away, she spun suddenly quickly before jumping away from it. It reached almost right away reaching into the air where it though Fren's tail had been. But again it found nothing. She narrowed her eye's and approached it again, this time slowly and lightly, she had her tail very slowly go over it again before she backed off. Nothing happened.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie watched all this with his large green eyes, taking in the details before finally gathering in power. Without warning a tiny plant grew out between two stones on the floor, it's tendrils growing fast until the plant had taken up a good area. Then it began to twist on itself, knotting and reshaping so that it would be as strong as possible before slowly, painstakingly, inching its way out over the orange liquid.

Avira watched in wonder as the snake looking thing called Guthrie did all this, the green glow and concentration giving away his role in what was happening. She had thought he was just another liability truth be told, especially when he had stuttered, but he was actually quite powerful.

That being said she suddenly had a strong urge to stop him. Her arm even lifted a little before the urge subsided and she shook her head. Why were these weird things coming into her head? She wondered before passing it off and deciding it must be stress.

On her arm the rune gave a small throb of pain, almost unnoticed by Avira.

 

(Sorry for short post unsure of what the liquid will do if someone tries to cross it.)

[little lost dragon]

Fren watched him slowly, ever so slowly make the vine bridge. If a even remotely faster movement happened the fluid would move a bit. Seemingly unsure if there was any real movement. Once it was done and reached the area with the shield Fren nodded. "Alright, so it sees by motion. I can do that, treat it like it got caught in a room full of motion sensors, Guthrie, if it makes a grab for me, try to give it something else to grab, have vines or something sprout out to intersept the arms." she explained before looking at the others and Gutthire, "Any questions?" she asked her helmet morphing over her head.

 

((Feel free to have with this, I got no real set path for this event, it could be just confused why its prey is not moving, all they saw was it snagging a small creature, let your imagination have some fun alright? Again, I'm just going as it comes, nothing more nothing less.))

[Ryujin13]

The ooze beneath Fren didn't move at first as her movements were small, but the moment she stepped over the ooze the whole thing seemed to explode. Tendrils whipped into the air, grasping at the air, their movements vicious and quick. One touched the vine bridge and grabbed hold, melting through the plants as quickly as Guthrie could reform them. All while he was keeping the bridge from falling apart he was growing vines out to attack the pools tendrils, hopefully keeping them off of Fren long enough to let her get the shield. The pool below was in constant motion, the orange liquid writhing and attacking anything above it.

Guthrie was summoning every bit of his power to keep Fren alive, and and when she touched the shield everything got worse. The orange liquid shrieked, it's surface vibrating as the tentacles retreated. The reprieve was there for only a fraction of a second before the whole pool gathered itself into the shape of a many tentacled thing, it's head bulbous, a huge beak clashing closed, and great hooked claws at the end of its tentacles. It was still liquid though, and the floor fizzled and sputtered as it screeched again, tentacles firing out at Fren and the others. Guthrie changed tactics immediately, his vines instead trying to form a shield around the group, but the tentacles didn't seem to care. They punched through quicker then he could reform it, and soon the entire room smelled of rotten plant matter.

Guthrie continued to fight, but cried out when one of the tentacles shot out from the beast and punched a half circle out of his arm. It wasn't large, more of a large divot of missing flesh, but the smell of scorched flesh could be smelt as his arm continued to sizzle. Guthrie's attempts at blocking the monster stopped as he continued to moan in pain, vines scooping away the leftover liquid before it could burn further in.

Alina was doing her best to fight the monster, breathing her dark fire on the being with no discernible effect. When Guthrie was hurt she ran over to him and began helping him towards the door.

Avira watched all this with horror, unsure of what to do. She was sure that a gun wouldn't hurt this thing, after all, nothing else in the castle seemed to care about guns.

Her pocket burned suddenly and she pushed her hand in, withdrawing the shield stone. Without thinking she ran to the front of the group and thrust her hand into the air, the stone held high. A bubble of golden light surrounded the group, one which burned and destroyed the orange liquid that attacked them. Slowly but surely the orange east began to retreat, it's tentacles testing the shield, only retreating when they hit the shield and began to evaporate. Slowly the group backed out of the room before Avira finally got past the door and slammed it shut.

The golden shield bubble immediately disappeared and the stone went cold again, it's abilities disappearing as quickly as they had come.

Alina meanwhile was worrying over Guthrie, trying to comfort him as he whimpered with pain. The skin was scorched and the muscles of his arm were exposed where the acid had eaten away his flesh. His fingers were sputtering green as he tried to summon energy to try and heal himself, but he couldn't maintain it through the damage.

Avira went over and rummaged through her bag, withdrawing a medical kit and opening it. Seemingly without thinking she pulled out rubber gloves and put them on, then pulled out a burn salve before turning to Guthrie.

"This will hurt at first, but it's going to help with the pain and healing ok?" She asked, watching as Guthrie nodded as Avira put her paw into the cream and withdrew a small size scoop.

Carefully she leaned forward and smeared it onto the wound, keeping her hand steady even as Guthrie spawned in pain, a feral yowl bursting from his throat.

By the time she finished though the numbing effect of the cream was taking effect, dulling the pain until Guthrie could just sit there, breathing hard against Alina and Fren.

Avira quietly pulled out another bottle and dripped a small amount of liquid on the wound before taking a bandage and carefully applying it to the wound.

"There." She said kindly, smiling at Guthrie. "That should speed up the process."

 

Guthrie smiled back at her, his breathing still harsh. He nodded after a moment, then sat up. "Luckily I'm one of the people." He said, floating back up into his normal position. "It will probably heal in the next day or so."

He was trying to remain brave in front of Fren again, but he was even more nervous then before. Barely in the castle three hours and he was already hurt. This only made his claustrophobia worse, and yet again he almost seized up. He didn't like it here. This place was a nightmare to his people, and now he knew it wasn't an exaggeration. There was no sky, no sun, no wind, no trees or birds or animals, no trickling creeks that were so common back home. This place was more then a nightmare, to him and his people this was hell, and he knew it was only going to get worse.

 

Avira meanwhile had paused in packing up, her eyes unfocused again as a thought overtook her. It was just a flash, but now that she considered it, maybe she shouldn't have healed Guthrie. After all, the castle was everything, and it always needed more help. She could have even killed him and given him to the castle...

The thought flickered in and out of her mind within a quarter of a second, causing her heart to speed up as she realized what had thought.

'Just being stupid' she thought to herself. 'Probably just nerves combined with the experience in that recycling room. She had never smelt or seen so much death in one place, and now she was reliving it, like a bad thought that kept popping up. It was like a childhood fear. Scary for awhile until it lost its potency and finally died.

Deciding that was the problem she packed up her things and put the medkit away before turning and facing the group.

"Ok, so we've got a shield that matches Jak's sword. Problem is it doesn't fit the big door that I saw, so what's it's purpose?"

[little lost dragon]

As soon as the fluid seemed to spaz Fren Jumped back as discussed. However it did not stop, most likely because it was now feeling the bridge, seeing the tendrils though going for the vines Guthrie was making distracting it. While that was a mistake, might as well make it count. She bounded forward at her top speed reaching the shield in a second. She grabbed it and knew that this 'guardian' was about to make them pay to keep the new item. When it showed its self to be some liquid beast with many tendrils she became trapped on the small area the shield was sitting. the bridge gone, the beast blocking her from attempting to leap over. Her armor morphed to cover all her scales and leave nothing exposed. She had a feeling she might be dead already.

the beast surrounded her and she did her beast to block its tendrils, the shield not caring for its attacks, and while large, it was only one shield. However when it gave up at first there was nothing as they treated Guthrie. As Avira applied her help to Fren's mate the Shatong bursted out of the orange fluid her amour sizzling badly. she landed and quickly discarded it as she panted a little. While she was submerged it had desolved her suits breathing ports closed in seconds.

She came over to Guthrie and knelt down beside him and smiled to see her was alright for the most part. She gave him a hug "You did well." she said to him "You just survived your first castle test." she told him before inspecting his wound. She knew it would be fine. He'd just need to be careful for a day or so. "Would not of been able to get this with out your help. You might of just saved the entire team from a future test" she said showing him the shield "It seems to be impervius to at least that creatures attacks, just like Jaks sword seems to slice through any defence." she said before standing up and looking at Avira "For every weapon there must be a defence, when we face Jak off, we now have the item to stop him from just slicing through everything we have. the castle maybe cruel, but it does supply everything to let us live.... even it to see if we just fail its next challenge." she explained lifting the base of her tail so it was level and looking at Guthrie and patting the base of her tail like she was inviting him to take a seat to rest. "since the shields also castle made, it will protect the user from even Castle attacks. so the challenges are going to be possibly easier."

 

Vita moved towards the door his armor showing signs of burns and such in many places "Threat remains in room. Advice vacating before it becomes agitated."

[Ryujin13]

Avira looked with interest at the shield that Fren had retrieved, her eyes tracing the runes on it. It seemed to be invulnerable to harm, and it did resemble Jak's sword, there was no denying that. Still... Visions suddenly flashed through her mind, of death and pain, of killing Fren and taking back the shield, giving it to the guardian. It was a friend after all, they were both the castles friend, and they took care of their home and the things.

Avira slumped against the wall, taking deep breaths as she shook her head, trying to clear the evil thoughts from her mind. She was scared, and her shoulder throbbed where the rune was seared into her. Still she convinced herself it was just nerves or stress making her see things like she was, after all the rune was obviously a good thing...

She finally stood upright and smiled at Guthrie and the others.

"I'm ok." She said, turning and looking around. "Just a bit lightheaded there for a second. Vita's right though we should get moving, we've got to find the crypt soon."

Guthrie frowned and turned his back to her and hugged Fren.

"Something's wrong with her." He breathed into Fren's ear, giving his love a kiss on the mouth to complete his coverup. He didn't know if Avira was dangerous or not, but she seemed to be getting worse and he was betting it was because of that rune.

[little lost dragon]

Fren looked over at Avira and frowned a little as the fox lady seemed to struggle with something. Deep breaths, and slumping against a wall. Then she told them she was just light headed. Yet Avira's chemical signature showed no such imbalances. Might be something to do with her implant or something.

She gave Guthrie a hug as well as he kissed her "Keep an eye on her." she whispered barely loud enough for Guthrie to hear never mind anyone else. However when they left the room Vita was standing there just past the door way enough for them to go by but close enough he could get a very close reading on them all. He said nothing for the most part till Avira went by "Strange energy detected, matches that of castle." he stated flatly making Fren blink and look at Avira. Then to Vita "Source?" she asked and he pointed to Avira's shoulder with the rune "Janitor creature threw rune on her in exchange for Varren's body. Seemed to demand at least a trade. Perhaps trade far more costly then hoped."

[Ryujin13]

Avira looked around, startled by the attention. How did Vita know?

"I'm fine." She said, smiling to reassure everyone. "There wasn't any trade, we rescued Varren is all, and that thing hit me with a spell. It was probably hoping that it could kill me while I was in pain." She shrugged, still smiling, then sighed and rolled up her sleeve, revealing the rune.

"See? Nothing to worry about." She said, looking down at the rune. She blanched at the sight of the rune, but managed to maintain her calm as she looked down at the mark.

It was getting worse, it was obvious to everyone, even if Avira was trying to convince the others that it was fine. Black veins were slowly creeping out and away from the rune, disappearing into her fur, the red barely covering the black. Even while they looked at the mark it throbbed in pain, causing the veins to visibly move like a heartbeat.

Avira quickly rolled down her sleeve again, shaking her head and giving a grin.

"See? Nothing to worry about." She said, her voice strange, like she was truly convinced that this was the truth.

Guthrie looked at the mark with horror visible on his face, his eyes wide again. He was still holding his arm, and he was still scared, but now he had a new fear to add to his already bad day.

Avira was not well, she wasn't acting like any same being would, in fact she was amazingly calm. Anyone else would have freaked out, but she seemed to accept it quickly, and was even trying to convince the others that she was in fact alright.

"Avira that's not good." He said carefully. "It's... Well it's not healthy looking."

"Oh don't worry it's fine. It doesn't even hurt. I bet it's gone within aday or so." Avira said, giving an unpleasant look at the shield that Fren carried. It was a tiny movement, hardly noticeable in fact, but for a tiny second there was malice in her eyes as she stared at the shield.

It didn't even last a quarter of a second before she brightened and shrugged.

"Come on, you guys should stop worrying. I'm fine and we still need to find the next journal." She said, heading off down the hall.

Guthrie looked at Fren incredulously, unsure of what to do.

"Removing it won't work." He said quietly, watching Avira's back. "We could try Bor, but. He's busy with the war. Maybe just keeping an eye on her is the best course of action."

[little lost dragon]

Fren looked at Avira and narrowed her eye's. That was not even the same story Avira told her when they first returned. When the rune was shown she noticed the new detail of veins creeping out from the rune. It seemed to pules like a heart before Avira almost in a heist covered it up before giving a grin. Though as she said nothing was wrong, it was hard to miss the saying the words did not believe them either.

This was a problem. Guthrie, the magic expert out of them all was clearly disturbed by this, and she trusted her husbands judgement. Fren sighed and looked at Guthrie as he spoke and nodded "I'd have to agree. But sooner or later we need to find a way to show it its bad. She's acting strange, I know its been a while but for her less then a day.... I don't remember her acting like this before. Never mind smiling and grinning so much in such situations for that matter." she said before she gently had her tail tip start to wrap around his waist but stop half way "You need to rest for now, you won't mind being carried would you?" she asked.

 

Vita being unable to show expression just remained silent as the whole thing happened. Once Avira started to leave he came along side her "I maybe metal and energy, but I've been to many worlds, that includes energy's others can manipulate, or often termed, magic." he said "Since that rune was placed on you, I've been detecting the same energy of this place and the janitors, slowly growing in you." he stated showing his rather blunt way of saying things at times.

[Ryujin13]

Avira frowned for a fraction of a second, Vita's words seeming to take hold for that moment, but just like that Avira was shaking her head.

"It's fine I swear." She said, her tail swishing happily. "I've been shot over ten times during my duties and this isn't any worse then that. Plus we were in that... Place with that janitor, I bet you're just sensing the residue from that room." She smiled again and turned to walk down the hall, her tail bouncing happily.

Needless to say but this in of itself was alarming. Avira had never been this happy or carefree before, certainly not when she had first arrived, and now she seemed to be content with everything. It was almost like she was drugged, and everything had turned into a wonderland for her. She still gae weird looks at the shield now and then, and was almost always touching the key stone in her pocket, like she was protecting it.

Avira was still having flashes where she imagined taking the shield from Fren and taking it back to where it belonged, but these were quickly overshadowed by her good mood. Given enough time though...

She continued to wag her tail, slowly swishing it from side to side. She hadn't done things like that since she was a little girl, when she still played with her friends on the playground, and her eyes hadn't been opened to the world as it really was. Avira hadn't thought about those times in years, but now that she did it made her even happier. After all, what could be so bad about a world where children could be happy? She smiled again and kept walking, even humming a little as she checked a room now and then, her stride easygoing.

 

Guthrie allowed himself to sit on Fren's tail, his own wrapping around hers like a snake so it wouldn't drag on the ground, then putting his resting his back on hers. He was extremely light for a being of his size, and as such wasn't even close to a challenge for Fren to give him a ride. Guthrie also knew that Fren could hear him, so he kept speaking with her quietly.

"Something's not right with her." He said. "That mark is bad magic, and the fact that she's in such a good mood tells me that it's effects are narcotic as well. She truly doesn't believe that anythings wrong. To her we're the ones acting weird, and that is also worrying. The magics altering her mind, probably her body as well. If it doesn't begin to clear up within a day or so we'll have to do something. I can try a few counter spells to try and unravel the magic that's in the rune, but failing that we call Bor. If he can't do anything..." He shook his head quietly. "If nothing works at all we can try a desperate measure and attempt to remove her arm, deal with it like an infection. Remove the affected area, keep the problem from spreading. Like I said that's worst case scenario. We don't try that until everything else has been tried, mostly because I don't even know if removing it will work."

[little lost dragon]

Vita looked at Avira not computing how she can liken the rune to being shot. "Negative." he stated "However probability shows you listening at 20% based on behaver changes since you entered this place and when the rune was placed." he stated flatly as he continued to move. The bot behind him still spraying the green stuff on him as it repaired his construction matrix in his arm.

 

Fren let Guthrie get in position before she resumed moving along side Alina. She kept a little bit of distance between her and Avira as they went though and carried the shield in her left hand. Though the texture of metal in her hand forin. "Your the one here that knows the most Guthrie, I'll defer to your judgement on this." she said quietly in reply but that was all for now. Sometimes she wished she could speak with him in her kinds silent manner. Chemical telepathic talk. But oh well.

Watching Avira's behaver though put her into Fren's warning list. The fox lady was not stable. From a serious, to the point female she's gone to some.... happy go lucky girl.

[Ryujin13]

Avira didn't even seem to hear Vita as she continued to walk down the hall, her boots clumping along and her humming the only sound she made except for an odd noise now and then, almost like a grunt of pain, but so tiny it was almost beyond hearing.

Suddenly Avira's hand slapped to her shoulder and she fell against the wall again, her teeth gritted in pain as she pressed her hand to the rune. Within a couple seconds though, the pain went away again and Avira blinked, looking around in an almost confused manner. She had stopped humming and her tail was still again as she looked around, taking in her surroundings.

"Must be tired." She said absently. "Don't remember even walking down here." She shrugged and turned, heading off down the hall again, her old personality seemingly back now.

"As I said, she's going to get worse so we need to keep an eye on her. Preferably at all times. I don't know what's happening to her, but it's nothing good." Guthrie said quietly.

[little lost dragon]

Fren watched Avira show signs of slight pain spikes here and there. The fox lady kept grunting and at one point even fell down against the wall clearly in pain. But all the same got back up brushed it off not even remembering coming down this way. Fren nodded as Guthrie spoke. "I hate knowing she's got something wrong but can do nothing to stop it. even if we decide to sommon Bor, she carry's the horn." she said quietly

 

Not much else happened though, The group continued to move down the halls finding little to nothing. Soon after vita reported his arm would be ready soon though the red lights came on. "Janitor is loose." Fren announced and began to check every door possible. Vita picked up the smaller bot. But as they did this the janitors roar sounded down there hallway. Vita paused "Sounds like the one you lite on fire Avira." he commented as Fren tried to more doors at the same time. with help of her long tail.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie knew that something was wrong just by the way the group was frantically checking doors, but he didn't know what this 'janitor' actually was or what threat it posed. That being said he didn't doubt it was bad news, so he floated off Fren's tail and began to check doors as well.

Avira meanwhile was checking doors as well, but a part of her was wondering why. After all the janitor wouldn't hurt her, it just wanted to help the castle like her.

She shook her head, clearing the thoughts and raced to another door which actually opened.

"Here!" She called, waiting until everyone had piled in. She was closing the door when she spotted the janitor, a huge thing covered in blisters and sores where the fire had engulfed it. It's features had melted in places from the intense heat, but it didn't seem to be in pain. It also didn't seem to care that Avira was there.

Avira suddenly had the urge to go join it, to help the castle find new servants. That's what the castle wanted after all, just new people to help it.

She shook off these feelings and slammed the door shut, locking it and looking around. They were in another safe zone for sleeping again, this one much larger then the others with actual rooms for different occupants the bedrooms led off of a main room where a table was set with food. Alina had already laid down in the main room, off to one side where she wouldn't take up to much space.

Avira was suddenly very tired and immediately went to a small bedroom where she fell into a soft mattress and curled up, her tail touching her nose as she fell asleep.

Guthrie went to her door and gently closed it so as not to wake her up.

"Ok, she's asleep." He said, turning to the others. "But we need to talk about her. Something is terribly wrong with her. That mark is affecting her, that much is obvious, but how it's changing her is up for debate. My guess is that it's working on changing her mind, then it will begin to change her body into a form the castle can use. Both options are terrible, but for right now we have to focus on survival. If need be we can overpower her and call Bor, which I think is the best option, but if we choose to wait then somebody has to watch her at all times. She's a danger to herself and others. Supervision is the best thing we can do for her until we call Bor. Watch her day and night, make sure she doesn't go anywhere or do anything on her own. She seems to have switched back to her normal personality, which means she's not entirely gone, but it's only a matter of time." Guthrie explained.

[little lost dragon]

Fren checked door after door and looked up as Avira showed them a door that was open. while having some doubts about the being, at least base line it looked like they could depend on her still. She shot towards the door and past Avira. She sighed and turned around as the others shortly followed. But had a moment of panic as Avira paused and held the door open for a moment before the door was slammed shut and locked and Fren relaxed a bit.

She looked around the room as the others did so and sat down as the fox lady went to a small room before Guthrie followed and closed the door to her room. She looked at Guthrie and nodded "The sooner we try to cure her the better, otherwise like an infection, it will just get worse as it takes hold." she said before looking at Avira's room door "Over powering her won't be a challenge, she's more nimble then strong however humans where her creators which means there's some flaws. Would not be hard to tie up her legs with my tail and pin her arms down with my feet so she can't bite me either." she said standing up "then you can try option one Guthrie, try to remove the mark with your own ability, then we can get Bor, then if that fails..." she paused

 

"Then I replace her entire shoulder and arm." Vita spoke up as a click sounded in his arm and the green spray stopped "When her implant tried to get info from me I used her signal to download everything there is in her implant. Which since it was the source of life and growth for her, I have her information to make a prosthetic easily, however the the only issue is it would get its power from my power supply, if she got too far away her arm would go limp and become a dead weight." he explained as Fren blinked.

[Ryujin13]

Guthrie seemed to consider this before finally taking a breath and nodding. "There's nothing for it, we have to try." He said, going to the door and opening it quietly. He waited until the others were ready, then nodded.

 

Avira was having dreams, extremely vivid dreams. Unlike usual however these weren't dreams of her imprisonment in the brothel, instead the dreams were of the janitors and the recycling room. She could smell, hear, even see the rooms in perfect detail. The only difference however was that she didn't feel disgust, there was only a longing, like she wanted to be there.

Her body was starting to move as the dreams compelled her to go back to the janitors, when suddenly she couldn't move, and just like that her dreams reverted to the brothel again.

 

She woke up crying out in panic, begging not to be taken to the show floor, kicking, clawing and biting anything she could. Just like her time in Red's though she couldn't move, she was held down, and she could hear people talking about her.

Tears streamed from her eyes as animal instincts took over and she struggled harder, still crying out, begging for them not to rape her.

 

Guthrie looked on with horror at this, wondering what had happened in the past that would cause a person to act like this, but he didn't have time to ask. Without missing another beat he raised his hands which had begun to glow the bright green they did when he was using magic. A circle of green surrounded Avira and Fren, incoporeal vines branching from it to begin gentle probing Avira. They were seeking signs of magic, but if anything their touch made Avira go even wilder, tears constantly falling now, her tail stiff and her legs and arms straining against Fren.

Avira might have been fast, but she was also strong, much stronger then a human would be. Her muscles were bands of steel as she strained, but she wasn't any match for Fren.

 

The magic eventually reached her shoulder, and energy began to pool there, forming a sort of bubble around the rune that had been revealed. Black began to seep out of it, flowing into the green energy, but it was a tiny trickle. Without warning though it seemed to surge and exploded out, destroying Guthrie's magic and knocking him across the room. He hit the wall with a grunt and stayed still.

Alina ran to check on him, then reported he was only knocked out. After that it was time for plan B, and that meant sounding the horn.

Bor appeared almost instantly, looking over at Guthrie, who was slowly regaining consciousness, then at Avira's struggling form. His eyes traced the rune as quickly as anyone could explain, and he shook his head.

"I cannot directly help you with this." He said, walking over to Avira and touching her brow. Instantly she slumped, her body going limp as if she were asleep. "This is old magic, and it is turnig her into a pawn of the castle. It has to be removed within 24 hours of receiving it or she will be lost forever. It's like an infection, and for now it's confined to her arm. If those black tendrils meet her blood veins the sickness will go to her heart and she will be gone."

When the plan was explained he looked down before quietly nodding. "Normally I would say give her a choice, but she cannot think logically right now. The rune is affecting her mind. I've put her into a sleep that will last for eight hours. She will only wake then. Do what you have to, but I cannot help you." Bor shook his head sadly and turned, disappearing again.

Guthrie was on his feet again, or at least floating like usual, and looked down at Avira, twisting his hands like he hadn't done in years.

"We um, we need to..." He closed his eyes and took a breath, attempting to calm himself. "We will need to put certain precautions in place." He said, already weaving spells around Avira's shoulder.

"These will keep her from bleeding out." Guthrie explained. "The other will keep infection, a normal infection, from setting in." He took a breath, then nodded.

"Ok, do it." He said, closing his eyes and turning his head as he heard the arm being removed. When the sounds stopped he turned back and went white, but managed to keep his lunch down.

Guthrie's spells took affect immediately and began to work as artificial veins, pumping blood back into the correct veins. More spells began to heal the wound, allowing the whole thing to heal in seconds what would have taken months.

Soon where an arm had been there was a smooth, pink stump, a terrible scar to body where before there had been an arm covered in beautiful red fur.

Guthrie finally sighed and let the magic fall, looking over at the arm on the ground which was quickly being eaten away by the rune.

"I'm sorry Avira." He said, his eyes full of guilt as he forced himself to look at the terrible thing they had done.

[little lost dragon]

Fren nodded and put the shield down for now before following him into the room, in a swift motion she leaped onto Avira her tail lightning fast and each foot pinning her wrists and making sure they where far enough away from the rest of her body to grab any hidden daggers or knifes. She felt the struggling but just tightened her hold before motioning for Guthrie to start.

At first it looked like it might work, but then he was rejected and thankfully, only knocked out. then the horn was sounded and Bor showed up. Fren gaving him a nod of thanks as he put Avira to rest for a bit and lossened her tails grasp as a result. But the following news made her sigh and look down. "That.... only leaves cutting it off right away then. She's had the rune since before we got back." she said before explaining there last course of action. Bor seemed to not be in favor, but was not against them either. When he poofed she looked at Guthrie and Alina, "Alina...... Whats about to happen.... I'd rather you not see." she said gently "This is not going to be a battle inflicted wound." she warned. When she finaly convinced Alina to leave the room until further notice. She looked and waited for Guthrie to say go before she grabbed Avira's wrist with her hand "Sorry about this." she whispered before lifting the foot pinning that arm attached to that shoulder, and plunged her 3 large talons through the shoulder close to the chest breaking the color bone in half before she yanked hard and just like that she ripped the limb off. She quickly as Guthrie sealed the wound made a fast dash to the door that led out of the set of rooms and tossed the bleeding arm out before slamming the door shut again and sighing. some blood on her foot now and hand. "If you want..... you may join us again." she said to Alina before she came back to see Vita aiming his arm that never fired a shot. "Starting connection to subjects implant............ uploading needed data......" he started "Configuration....... starting." he said before a sparkly green mist came out of his arm and onto Avira's new stump. As he sprayed it the sparkly bits seemed to collect out of the mist and and rush together. The base of the shoulder was slowly constructed attaching its self to her collar bone and more the nano's making a passage way to attached to the severed nerves and restoring the dead parts before extending to the under construction arm.

It too a bit but by the time Vita was finished Avira had a new shiny silver arm that seemed to match the rest of her just lacked fur and skin and instead was a dull shiny silver. "For now I must be close by for her arm to be powered. But I have my constructor working on making a power supply that be applied directly to remove that limitation." he explained before leaving the room.

 

Fren mean while felt almost sick, scared almost of what Guthrie might think of her knowing she knew how to tear limbs like that off in such short time. Yes she was a killer, she could kill and efficiently. But she never really displayed that side of her to Guthrie or his people. Sure she helped train his people and him and Alina, but she never taught them the moves to dis member a target fast or anything of the sort. "I'm.... sorry you had to hear that..." she said looking away quietly.

[Ryujin13]

Alina had left the rooms without to much a fuss, knowing herself that she didn't want to have anything to do with what was happening. The moment the sounds started she clapped her paws to her ears and bummed quietly, tears leaking from her eyes as she tried to avoid thinking about what was happening. She didn't know Avira well, in fact one of the last memories she had of Avira was her yelling at Fren and Gentle, but nobody deserved what had just happened.

When Fren went by holding the arm Alina shook her head at the invitation to rejoin the part and instead tried to calm down before she lost her cool. She didn't know how the arm had been removed, she didn't want to, nor did she want anything else having to do with what had just happened.

 

Guthrie meanwhile had given up and managed to get to the bathroom before throwing up. He had experienced violence in the past, he had inflicted it, but this wasn't the same as fighting, this was mutilation, and it was a terrible thing to hear, let alone see. Bones snapping, tendons and muscles pulling apart with sick sounds.

When Fren faced him though he immediately hugged her, holding her close as he rubbed her back lightly. "It's alright." He said quietly. "I'm alright, and this doesn't change anything."

Guthrie could read Fren as well as anyone ever in her life, and he knew that she was worried about what he thought. He continued to hold her for a few more moments before moving back and looking at Avira.

"What are we going to tell her?" Guthrie asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "I don't even know if she'll remember anything, the rune had infected her mind so much. How do you even try and explain this?" He asked, looking down at Avira, who's tear-stained face and wet fur testiment to her struggles before the procedure. Even as they watched she curled into a ball again, her tail touching her nose as she slept. It took her awhile to find a comfortable position with the new arm, but finally she did and seemed to settle in for a long slumber.

 

Guthrie didn't even wait for an answer to his questions, he just left the room and went to the larger one next door where he and Fren had a bed. He wasn't angry with Fren or with anyone really, he was more upset with himself. He felt that he had failed the girl, that he hadn't been good enough to dispel the rune, and because of that Avira had suffered. She would be marked forever, and now she had another scar to add to her already damaged psyche.

Guthrie remained unusually quiet after explaining this to whoever asked, and didn't get more then an hour or two of sleep.

Mostly he laid awake, thinking about what he had helped do, and feeling shame every time he even thought Avira's name.

 

[little lost dragon]

Fren hugged Guthrie back and sighed and nodded as he spoke. Only time will tell if that was the truth. When he asked what would they tell Avira when she woke next before leaving Fren paused and stood there looking at Avira's curled up form. "It was either that, or she becomes a slave to this place." she whispered to her self "Even Bor could not stop it..... it corrupted the mind, we could not talk to you about it as since it was reaching into your mind you saw nothing wrong.... but the rest of us could. Even my daughter, the least experienced out of us all." she whispered as she stood in the room. The scent of blood strong still. "Your fate would have been far worse then death." she said in a quiet voice before turning around and leaving, her tail hanging low to the brick flooring.

She exited Avira's room and went to the bathroom and cleaned her self up. She cleaned her foot and looked into the mirror before her head exploded, details aside the mirror could not be seen any more it was covered in stuff...... or so she thought at first. She gasped with a quick step back right into the wall eye's wide. She was indeed alright, fully intact...... but.... why.... why did the mirror and the wall around it look like fren's head was all over it?

Her breath caught in her upper back, eye's wide she felt her head, yep fully intact. Was this something like a vision? Guthrie and a few others mentioned such things, but she never understood it.

then it all seemed to collect and formed a deformed, rune covered face of Avira, grinning at her. the face was about to speak before Fren with lightning speed smashed the face into the mirror then it was all gone with the sound of broken glass. She removed her foot and stood there not breathing for a few moments before she shook her head. "the hell was that?" she demanded quietly. It clearly was not real, now it just looked like she smashed the mirror, nothing more nothing less.

then she felt another presents creeping into the small room. The lighting took on a dark purple look. At this Fren busted out of the bathroom and closed the door panting from loss of breath alarming Vita as he powered back on and raised his weapon and tried to locate a threat. Fren pointed to the bathroom door and almost skittishly went to her's and Guthrie's room. she laid down beside Guthrie and tried to calm down. But it hard to miss she was spooked.

She wondered if they really had dealt with a corrupt Avira... or the castle was just very angry at her for removing its only hold in the group?

 

((Little plot ammo for ya, feel free to run with it if ya want. Again I'm just going as it comes so no real plan.))

[Ryujin13]

(Hmm... I have an idea but it won't happen immediately. Let me flesh it out first and I'll introduce it in a couple of posts.)

 

Guthrie looked up and around in alarm when he heard the glass break, immediately going to Fren's side. He could tell she was frightened of something in the bathroom.

Raising a hand he glanced at Vita making sure the robot was ready before flicking his wrist. A green pulse opened the door to reveal... Nothing, just an empty bathroom with a broken mirror.

Guthrie was getting more and more nervous as time went on, and this just added to his already large amount of worries. Still, Fren, Alina and the kids were most important, he couldn't lose sight of that.

Guthrie quietly comforted Fren, holding her close until she went to sleep. Even if he didn't manage to sleep much he still held his bond close, taking comfort in her being close to him.

 

Avira woke up the next morning groggily, looking around in confusion. Why was she in a bedroom? She had been in that recycling room and now she was in a room... She could smell Vita, Fren and Alina, plus a new smell that was a new person. Wait, why were Fren and Alina back? They had just decided to stay with the plant people.

She rolled her shoulders then her neck, trying to get rid of the soreness that had taken hold on her left side for whatever reason. She stood and went towards the door, and rolled her shoulder again. Why was her arm so weird feeling? Matter of fact why did she smell blood?

It was at this point that Avira tried to adjust her shoulder again and found the reason her arm felt so strange.

An ear splitting shriek, more akin to what an animal would make when it was in pain, split the silence like a bolt of lightning. Avira was panicking, trying to find her real arm, tears staining her face.

Guthrie had just managed to fall asleep when Avira shrieked, the sound causing him to go to her room as quickly as possible to try and calm her down.

Avira was panicking when he entered, trying to remove the new arm and find her old one. She was crying hard now, unable to understand what had happened, but the moment she saw Guthrie her whole attitude changed to one of anger. In millisecond Varren's gun was aimed at Guthrie's head, her one real arm holding the gun, her mechanical arm still unused.

"I don't know who you are but I'm going to kill you!" Avira snarled, her finger beginning to squeeze the trigger.

"Wait!" Guthrie said, holding up his hands. "My names Guthrie." He explained. "I'm Fren's bond partner. You were hit with magic in the recycling plant. The spell that hit you was turning you into a thrall for the castle. We tried very thing to remove it including asking Bor for help, but nothing worked. Removing your arm was the only way to save your life." He explained, watching as Avira's finger hovered over the trigger. It was obvious she didn't believe Guthrie and was deciding whether killing him or keeping him alive would e most benifical.

When Fren entered Avira swung the gun at the Shatong. It didn't take two seconds before Avira seemed to loose all hope that the whole thing wasn't real. She let the weapon fall from her fingers, then fell to the ground on her knees, tears flowing again as her shoulders shook and sobs escaped her.

"Avira, we had to..." Guthrie said quietly.

She didn't respond, instead just ignoring everyone and crying, looking down at the new metal limb a look of pure anguish the only thing in her eyes.

"Should have killed me." Avira whispered. "Now I know I'm not real. If someone can replace a part so easily then I don't have a soul, I'm just programmed to think like a human." She reached out towards the gun, fully intending to end it all, but Guthrie quickly grabbed it and handed it to Fren.

"Please kill me." Avira whispered, her eyes full of more sadness then anyone Guthrie had ever seen.

"No, life is precious and you're getting a second chance at yours." Guthrie said, looking at Fren for help.

[little lost dragon]

Fren woke up to the scream as well and got up as Guthrie was already out of the room. She got up and did a quick scan of the room before heading over. She found Avira holding Varren's weapon aimed at her bond mates head. She expllained what had happened and the fox lady seemed to lose all hope. She took the weapon when Guthrie handed it to her and shook her head as Avira asked her to kill her. then Vita came into the scene.

 

"Avira we spoke about this before. You having a prosthetic now changes nothing. I could give everyone here such but it does not make them living. I would have had to access there minds as well which I would have done with the nano's. All that was different was your implant." he stated "Even if we had killed you, or tried to, the castles energy was in you which met killing you might of only sped up the process of you becoming a thrall." he said.

Fren nodded "We did not have much choice though Avira, your still alive, sure you got a bit more metal on you now. But all it is is a prosthetic. Vita did not alter anything about you otherwise." she said backing him up. she came over to the fox lady and knelt down to be closer to her level "I, like the others behind me, don't abandon our allies." she said firmly.

 

"Life does not need to be organic." Vita stated seemingly randomly

 

((Righto))

Edited August 27, 2014 by little lost dragon