A Tale of the Betrayed

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One hand down, and she ducked as the other tried to scoop her up. "Buy a lady dinner first." She turned around and blasted it with a fireball, her mana getting a little low. She turned back around as the hand cut through the air towards her, running towards the nearest tree. Jumping up, she used it to spring back around and forced her flames down the blade of her silver dagger as she stabbed it. Catching the pinky finger with one hand, she kept stabbing it at until the hand bucked her off. Flying through the air, she pressed her knees together and pointed her toes out before using her hands to grab the nearest tree branch, and climb onto it.

Teliana had ended up quite high from the ground. She stared down at the hand as it zoomed off, decidedly putting some distance between its attacker and itself. Well, now the question was how to get down. Ana slipped over the edge, grabbing the branch and dangling from it as she looked down. No helping it, she was going to have to drop.

She let go, and in that instant the hand slammed into her, wrapping its fingers around her body and squeezing. She cried out in pain as her bones compressed, her body protesting against the force that tried to crush it. The fire started small, in her toes, and began to fan upwards. She yanked her shirt off and unfastened her cloak, letting both drop to the ground before they could be singed to ash.

"Let. Me. Go." She whispered, the flames glowing in her eyes as her body was consumed by the fire, her hair dancing in the warm breeze it created.

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Kala narrowed her eyes and reached out to grab the girl's shoulder, spinning her around so she could look at her. "You're not from here. How did you get to this world?" She asked, her fingers tightening on the girl's shoulder. "And don't lie. I can tell if you're lying." She glanced at Lumen. "He and I have business to attend to, so if you could make this quick, that would be wonderful." She had no desire to remain here, when the truth of what happened to her sister, the real truth, was still out here. And she only needed one of them to come with her.

In fact, she didn't really need any of them to come with her, but besides the company and perhaps amusing conversation they could provide, she might need someone to take the place of her sister, wherever she was. You need to give to take. She reminded herself, eyes flicking back to Destiny.

"So, girl, what is it?"

 

Before Lumen could much on how Kala had grabbed the girl, her face was revealed as well as the various sorts of injuries that it bore. The sight had left him speechless at first for it wasn't at all what he was expecting to see upon seeing her face. He did get the feeling that she was injured because of how she was walking, but nothing to this extent.

Before she could get very far, the next person to stop her was Lumen by grabbing her wrist. "Look, I may not know where you came from and all that, but maybe you shouldn't go back. Least not til you've healed a bit." Lumen really didn't know just what he was getting in thw way with, but he did know that this "punishment" didn't sound like something that should happen. Especially given all of the bruises she has now.

 

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Ana arched, her head flying back as the Heartless defied all reason and squeezed her harder. It was then that Carson came to the rescue, using some sort of keyblade attack to force the thing to drop her. She curled in on herself and extinguished the flames just before she felt his arms around her, catching her in midair.

"Well, Daddy always wanted me to find a man. Can't imagine this is how he'd thought it would go." She glanced down at the ground that was slowly coming closer, and then grabbed Carson's shoulder with her hand, pulling herself up just enough that she could launch another fire ball at the hand as it began to glide towards them. "I swear the other one was easier." She muttered, refusing to look at Carson. She didn't want to be rescued. She wanted to stand up for herself in a way she hadn't been able to before.

"But, well...thanks for helping me out." She murmured, her body aching from the remains of the hand's attack. She would have bruises tomorrow, most likely.

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Kala frowned as she watched Lumen and Destiny interact, stepping back into the shadows to observe. The girl was either a victim, or a scrapper from those injuries. Judging by her manner, victim was more likely. Kala couldn't stand victims. The way Lumen spoke to her, he had a soft spot. So many people's downfalls were their soft spots.

Ana had never been a soft spot, not when she had been tougher then nails and just as likely to kill a man as look at him. Their father had raised them to be tough, unwilling to cater to the weak in the world they lived in. Not when one person could drag a whole patrol to hell with them, not when a single moment of hesitation could be the moment of life or death.

Not for one instant did she think Ana was dead, because for Ana to be dead would mean that Kala was alone, bereft of her last family member. And for that to happen, hell would have had to freeze over. Ana was the toughest person Kala knew, apart from herself.

 

She did have a point, it was courteous to take care of those you sheltered, but there was a limit to how courtesy that you could be. Especially if the one you sheltered is being a nuisance. It was pretty clear that her heart was in the right place with her actions, she just didn't realize that she didn't need to put up with this mistreatment.

"If it's taking advantage of your kindness, it'll be perfectly fair if you don't go back." Lumen started, before placing his had to his chin. Now where was she supposed to go. She could always stay here, but that might go better if he was still here to explain her circumstances which he couldn't do since he was planning on helping Kala find her friend and he had no idea where they last saw each other. It might just be easier if she tagged along with them. "You could tag along with us." Lumen said, having decided on the course of action. Of course this kinda required some input from Kala, which is why he threw a glance her way to see what she had to say.

 

Amidst the barren ruins of a once great city, Gexln wandered around attempting to find what he was looking for. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking for, exactly. Some kind of sign? An beacon of hope for his world? When it had become evident that his homeworld was doomed, Gexln had began thinking of where he could find a way to reverse the process, and The Dark Void (the world he was at) was the perfect place to start. The man with the scythe had spouted all kinds of crap about darkness, had destroyed plenty of worlds and it was there that Gexln had fought and killed the madman, so it made perfect sense.

At least, in theory it had. After walking for so long, the Nobody of the Dark was beginning to lose hope. There was nothing there other than destroyed buildings, decaying vegetation, and the mass of dark energy within a huge crater in the centre of the world. No sign, no hope of salvation, and that meant no hope for Kara either. Just as he was about to give up and head to another world, he heard a slightly familiar sound. It sounded similar to a dark corridor, but that wasn't quite what it was. It was a portal, of that he was sure, but the make of it was one he couldn't pinpoint. It didn't bother him so much...he figured that whoever made it could likely tell him what was going on if he asked, and the maker was sure to arrive any second now.​

 

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Ana tested her weight on one foot, then the other, rolling her shoulders before tossing her hair back. "Stay here my asss." She muttered as Carson took off after the Heartless. "No one asked you to save me, you know." She ran forward, swooping down to retrieve her dagger where it had fallen before sticking it back in her belt. Only when she was level with Carson did she halt, shutting her eyes as she pointed one palm towards the hand, the other gripping her wrist to keep it steady.

"Fly, my pretties." She murmured the palm of her hand glowing until fire darted from it in small balls, zooming towards the hand.

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Kala wanted to hurt something. Something that was alive. Of course Lumen invited the victim with them. She resorted to crossing her arms across her chest, to keep from strangling either of them. You need them. She reminded herself.

"If she comes, you're taking care of her. You make sure she gets fed, clothes, medicine, whatever. She gets sick, it's on you, she fall's behind, you can stay with her." She shrugged. "I'm not a caretaker. And I'm leaving."

She turned on her heel and strode across the grass, annoyance flickering across her features. Nothing can ever be simple. She decided, one hand clenched before she gripped the wrist with the other, shaking it out. "Where are you Ana? I just need to find you so we can go home." Kala whispered, staring out at the horizon. Part of her wondered if the other two would bother to follow her. Well, if they didn't, she would just have to take what she needed. Destiny didn't look like she could defend herself well. It would be her, then. And if Lumen put up a fight, well....darkness tickled her mind before vanishing. She wasn't worried.

 

Well Kala had agreed to let the girl tag along with them, provided that he takes care of her since it was his idea to bring her along. It was fair seeing how it was true, but Destiny said that she didn't need anyone to take care of her. While that was good to know, it wasn't exactly going to stop him from doing so should the need arise. "Magic's fine by me." Lumen said, moving to catch up with the two girls.

Lumen overheard his introduce herself to Kala, b though he didn't say anything due to not wanting to intrude on any potential conversation they might have. Though Kala so far didn't seem to be the most social or friendliest person that's fallen out of he sky, which so far was two, that's he's seen. Though she probably had her reason, reasons that possibly involved her friend.

 

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Teliana rolled her eyes, keeping it hidden from Carson as she held her hand, palm out, and momentarily pressed her hands together before moving the second palm out, making a small blade of fire. You might be cute, but you have no sense of humor. She kept that thought to herself as she darted forward, sliding underneath the hand as it tried to grasp for her before stabbing it with her fiery blade. She managed to somehow keep her feet underneath her as she used the force of her slide to jump into the air, defying gravity while she flipped over the hand, contorting her body until she was once more facing the earth.

She pressed both hands to the blade, the fiery blazing hotter as she drove it down onto the wrist of the hand. The Heartless disappeared, the tendrils of darkness curling around her skin, making her shudder. The blade stayed in her hand as she turned, just in time to see the glow of Carson's wounds. She narrowed her eyes against it, biting her lip, suddenly unsure.

She took a step forward, then another as fear tightened around her heart. He had mentioned the runes before, but this.....This frightened her. She darted around him, eyes focused on the body of the heartless as she slid around it, whipping her leg out to move in a semi circle instead of straight ahead as she stabbed at it. She would have to confront Carson later. He was right about one thing; they needed to kill this before someone got hurt.

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Kala glanced sidelong at the girl, already regretting her decision. "Kala. Keep up or get left behind." She replied brusquely as she strode onward. "Lumen, is there anything in this world that would explain where the victims of lost worlds go?" She called behind her, keeping her face looking forward. If there weren't any clues, she didn't care to stay. Each day that kept her from Ana was another that her sister might be lost to the same darkness Kala had embraced. If Ana was dead, if it was all for nothing...she wouldn't think about that.

 

"I don't think so. if there is, then it'd probably be in the record tomb." Lumen replied. The Record Tomb was a a place that he personally rarely stepped foot in voluntarily. That isn't to say that there weren't times where he did go in there of his own free will, in fact the times he did so there was always some sort of book for him to find and like.

Majority of the time however there was some other reason behind his going there, sometimes it was with him being watched like a hawk others with the book boring him to sleep. All that aside, the Record Tomb wasn't all that far away from where they were and Lumen did know how to get them there from here should they so desire.

 

Kaidron emerged from his portal wings still splayed in mid flight. He was much closer to the ground than he was in the world he just left and readied himself to land. Disturbing debris, concrete and twigs from the force of his wing beats kaidron touched ground, something just occurred to him a sence of his surroundings. He was visibly glowing only faintly but noticeably in the gloomy landscape he found himself in.
"how very odd, a glow? It must be my own light radiating but that wouldn't happen unless this world was devoid of its own radiance."
That was when kaidron noticed what he was standing on. It wasn't the ground per say but actually the remains of a building long since reduced to rubble and dust.
The sky was no better, above his swirled a cluster of clouds a dark hollow sky with no ounce of light to brighten the land below. There did however look to be a star, a sun of sorts. Except it was black and pulsated as the clouds seemed to orbit it.
"this isn't right. This world has no light let alone light form my world... Why did my portal land me here?"
Kaidron took a few steps the sound of cracking glass breaking the eerie silence blanketing the ruin of a world.
"Do the heartless even roam here?"
Kaidron's inner monologues were interpreted by a noise close by. Gliding to the actual ground kaidron walked cautiously towards the noise interested at what could inhabit such a bleeck land.

 

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Ana glanced at Carson, her eyes widening slightly at the evident pain he was experiencing, but she did what she was told, without comment. Don't get used to it.She thought to herself as she ran forward. Her hands came together in front of her, creating a small fireball that grew larger with each second. She blew on it, forcing it to spin as she approached the body. Pulling her arm back, she hurled the ball at the body, an audible grunt escaping her mouth from the force her body had exerted.

"Take that, you son of a bitch." She said as the fire burned into the side of the body, the spinning flames grating on it and stunning it at the same time. In retrospect, she probably hadn't needed one of her most powerful moves, but she needed release somehow.
Taking a step forward, she pushed her palms out, creating a half shield of fire. Running forward once more, she jumped into the air, using the shield to grate the Heartless into the ground.

She landed with an oof, stumbling back to keep her balance as the Heartless twitched, and then collapsed, its body dissipating.

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Kala glanced back at Destiny, who had started to speak but stopped, then Lumen. "Take us there then. Please." She remembered as an afterthought, pulling up the hood of her cloak. The sun was too bright here, and everything was too.....nice. She didn't want to be in this world a moment more then she had to. Hopefully, this place would have answers for her, of some sort. Hopefully she would be one step closer to finding her sister.

And if she wasn't, then there was always plan B.

 

Well, when Gexln had gone to look for ways to restore the light within his world he certainly hadn't expected to find someone who was literally glowing. It wasn't a powerful glow, it was as though the light was fading gradually within the draconic thing's soul, but well when you had a body that was glowing with light at all it was sort of hard to miss. Holding his blade close, Gexln gradually stepped towards the creature. "The hell are you?" he asked, courteous as ever. As he was walking forwards, his foot hit a scythe on the ground. Glancing down, he immediately recognised the scythe of the madman, Dane Erapper, discarded on the ground when he had completely lost control.

This was all it took to remind the Nobody immediately of what could happen if he didn't act quickly. His homeworld wasn't just at stake, but Kara's very life was, too, and that was the more concerning matter. He hadn't found anything in the Dark Void, though he suspected there was more to the world than he knew at that time. Whether it had more secrets to reveal or not, though, was something he would have to learn at a later date. For the moment, all he had to do was stop the spreading darkness, and what better way to do that than to put a glowing beacon of light before it? He didn't know the creature though, and simply placing him in front of Kara could create all kinds of problems. Baby steps were key.

Now was not the time though. He could try to force the creature to come with him, but getting close to that much light made Gexln feel sick, and so he simply opened a dark corridor to the side of himself. "Doesn't matter who you are. I've got more important things to deal with, like saving my homeworld. You look like the kinda guy who is all about justice, salvation and all that kinda crap, so if you know anything about saving worlds then speak up now" Gexln stated. He normally wouldn't address someone in such a way, hell he'd generally just ignore them altogether, but times were desperate and so too was he.​

 

"Alright." Lumen said. They had reached a forked in the path that they were on. The paths may not have been labeled, but Lumen knew which direction was the one that lead towards the Record Tomb. Thus he turned towards the left and headed that way. As they did, he looked towards Destiny, who had been silent since deciding to tag along with them. "Is there something you'd like to add?"

Further down the path, the very top of a dome shaped building could be seen over the horizon. Other that it being in the shape of a dome, the building was pretty simplistic in design. There were a few unique designs on it, but none of which were able to be seen from this point. "That's it in the distance." Lumen said in case anyone had any doubts as to the building in the distance being their destination.