[Nexus] Inside 31

[Gullara]

[Graveyard -> Dark Forest]

The shade walks before him, never looking back. It leads Isaac into a dark forest. Creatures flit though the trees and watch the pair from the shadows. These creatures will be more terrifying and monstrous than any Isaac has ever seen before.

[VampireRot]

[Dark Forest]

Isaac shudders and averts his gaze at the sight of the... dark things. The magician has seen scary things before, but always trapped in a well-warded circle. Walking among the creatures in the shadows, catching only glimpses of the hideous things that await him in this forest... The summoner's step naturally speeds up as he follows the shade, and so does his heart rate. For the most part, he controls the fear and the urge to flee. Which would almost certainly result in a Fate Worse Than Death, even if the blasted notebook hadn't mentioned it.

[Darkcomet]

[City Edge]

What...is that thing approaching? Why...it's enormous. Gigantic. Colossal. Far too large to be flying.

Oh who am I kidding that's nothing around here. It's the Imperial aerial battlecruiser Supremacy, as described in the sig link.

It's still out of beam cannon range. What are they thinking even trying to use that on a swarm anyway? They're more likely to wreck the city more...there must be some trick to it.

The rest continues as-is, again.

[Blue Zone Streets]

"Don't know how much I can do about that...sit tight."

That guy will probably be talking on the comm for a while trying to explain things.

[happyturtle]

Riftline

Sunny gets off at the Magmart station, along with her puppy and her blue hoverdrone.

"Bye, number 8! Thanks for the ride!" she tells the train carriage.

Magmart

Sunny heads inside to visit with the Magbots.

[Gullara]

[Dark Forest]

Eventually they reach the center of the forest. Towering above them is The Tree. The fell plant's roots reach up toward the sky, as if reaching for the few scraps of sunlight that pierce through the canopy. Inscribed over every branch and every root is The Language.

Before the tree lies a cutting tool unlike any Isaac has ever seen.

[UncleWolf]

Sewers

They aren't dwarves, just small of frame. However, a woman is stabbed and screams in pain. Carl pulls a couple frag grenades off his belt, thumbs the timer to 1 second then impact, and rolls them into the hole. By the time they fall, they're set to explode on any impact.

Yellow

The small arms fire from the small lava golems doesn't seem to be doing much still, and the Walkers will concentrate on the larger ones until they're destroyed.

As for Viper Squad, the one with the trio of pulse lasers, will open fire on the four rockets, destroying three, but the fourth hits it squarely, obliterating the vehicle completely.

The other two activate their jammers, and leap onto the roof of the building where they begin to jump up and down. The creatures inside will hear the roof begin to crack under their weight...

Gate

The walls and gate have withstood entire armies, so powerful Meltas aren't so impressive.

The Gate Commander looks over the view screens. "This is Commander Alhm at the Main Gate! I have need for a long range artillery strike at the followering co-ordinates..." He yells through the radio to IA...

The soldiers on the walls hunker down, but continue to load their missiles even though one of them is destroyed and chunks of the wall are melted away.

Riftline

Milos sighs. "Tia...you aren't wanting to go back with me, are you?" he asks, needing to know the truth.

[VampireRot]

[Dark Forest]

Isaac quickly averts his gaze once upon the Tree. He has learned some things from being a summoner, and that's how to not look when you're not supposed to look. Magicians learned well the tale of Orpheus, and the notebook cautioned him about the Language.

He reaches for the... cutting tool. What a strange thing. Almost alien. Isaac then takes it and quickly attempts to cut off a piece of the Tree's root. Again, never looking at the Language written across them.

[happyturtle]

Riftline

"I can't go back to Maelstrus. Not after..." she swallows hard. Looking back on it now makes her feel so violated. She remembered loving him, being willing to do anything for him - to die, or even to kill. And the demon had seen it all, and accepted it, manipulating her with cold amusement. As much as she loved Milos and Atticus, she couldn't go back to Kundalin, ever.

[Gullara]

[Dark Forest]

The piece of root cuts away with ease. Thousands of sorrowful voices cry out when a piece is cut from the tree, reminding Isaac of his eventual fate.

The cutting tool is left stained along the blade.

[UncleWolf]

Riftline

"You know we can't leave there Tia. Not after everyone else. We're the last ones there now." He says sadly. "But...we understand."

[VampireRot]

[Dark Forest]

Isaac shudders again, promising himself that he would not share the Tree's fate. But he had read the entire notebook. There's no lying to yourself.

And so he takes the stained blade and thrusts it at his right wrist. With quick, practiced motions he carves a five-sided star into his own flesh, making sure to use the stained part of the blade. The magician grits his teeth at the pain, but knows it is nothing compared to... He closes his eyes and puts the cut root onto the pentagram.

Then screams in absolute agony.

[happyturtle]

Riftline

"You could stay with me tonight." Tia says, not daring to look at him.

[Gullara]

[Dark Forest]

Pain like no other greets Isaac. It feels like every cell feels as if it's on fire, like the very fiber of his being is being torn to pieces.

When he finally awakes, Isaac will find himself lying at the side of the street where the asylum once stood. The pentacles in his wrists are lined with the wood from The Tree's root.

You are now part of Object 535 of 538. Don't abuse your power.

[UncleWolf]

Riftline

"You won't try to stay with me or keep me with you?" He asks.

[VampireRot]

[Eighth Street, Sans Asylum]

Isaac jumps into consciousness with a start, drenched in sweat. The magician groans at the mere memory of the pain he endured, and stares with wide eyes at the pentagram engraved into his wrist. The wood-lined star gives him a sense of foreboding; it is definitely difference from the binding, circle-enclosed pentacles simply tattooed onto the backs of his hands.

"Well that's that, then. 535..."

The summoner slowly takes a notebook out of one of his robes deep pockets, wincing at the pain-memory while doing so. He flips through the blood-stained pages, then mutters a few words. A minor fire elemental comes into the Nexus to hungrily devour the paper, then is dismissed. Naturally, of course, as Isaac isn't going to be so quick to use Banishment.

Isaac collects himself, and then starts slowly walking off. Away from where the asylum once was.

[happyturtle]

Riftline

"Milos, when we were together before, it was wonderful, but it wasn't really me. I had no choice but to love you and want you and... hurt you." She turns to look at him, no longer the ethereally beautiful succubus, but simply a pretty twenty year old girl. She's not surrounded by a haze of lust, and there's nothing in particular that would draw a man's eye any more than any other pretty girl. In other words - human.

"I don't know what's going to happen, but whatever it is, I want it to be freely chosen."

[UncleWolf]

Riftline

"You...." he looks down, sad. "I...I should go before I assume something again. I thought you loved me."

[happyturtle]

Riftline

"Milos, no!" She clutches at his hands. "I do love you. I love you so much it hurts every day I'm away from you. I was so scared after I put on the amulet that everything I felt before would be gone, and I would learn that none of it was real, that it was all demon magic that made me feel that way. There were... She swallows hard. "There were so many men, and I remember how it felt being in love with them all. And that went away. For almost everyone. But you, and Atticus, and.." she decides not to mention Gabriel's name. "... it's different. For you, it's real. It may have started as something that was forced on us, but we made it real after that. I love you. Please believe me," she pleads.

[UncleWolf]

Riftline

Milos reaches over to hug her tight. He knows she could be lying for his benefit, but at the moment, doesn't care. Ever since their first night he's loved her deeply, succubus aura or not, it didn't matter. To him, she was still the most beautiful woman in the world. Even his love for Atticus didn't compare.

He begins crying, realizing that he's giving her up so she can try to be happy with someone who's partly normal.

[happyturtle]

Riftline

Tia clings to him tightly, sobbing along with him. It just wasn't fair. He was so good, and she didn't deserve him, and he didn't deserve this pain she was causing him, and...

... and the situation was still hopeless.

[UncleWolf]

Riftline

The line will stop near a decent hotel, and Milos will get off with Tia, knowing that the night was likely going to hurt a lot, but he needed one last time with her.

[Zefir]

[Emergency Clinic]

Zefir comes in with only one bag on his side and a note in hand. He goes to the clerks desk.

"Hello. I want to visit someone called "The Holder of Chaos" "

[billtodamax]

[Scrapyard]

Harnel follows, likely carrying everything they just bought

He better be carrying everything he just bought, Iggy paid a lot for that!

They come to a yard piled high with vehicles of all kinds, as well as miscellaneous scraps of metal and a small building which is probably an office in the middle of the yard.

Iggy runs over to a pile and starts sorting through it.

See if you can find a welder! He yells at Harnel.

[TechnoScrabble]

[City Edge]

What...is that thing approaching? Why...it's enormous. Gigantic. Colossal. Far too large to be flying.

Oh who am I kidding that's nothing around here. It's the Imperial aerial battlecruiser Supremacy, as described in the sig link.

It's still out of beam cannon range. What are they thinking even trying to use that on a swarm anyway? They're more likely to wreck the city more...there must be some trick to it.

The rest continues as-is, again.

[Blue Zone Streets]

"Don't know how much I can do about that...sit tight."

That guy will probably be talking on the comm for a while trying to explain things.

City Edge
A large section of the swarm will fly up to greet the newcomer. They won't attack it yet, but they will attempt to attach themselves to the bottom.'

Blue Zone
"Please, be swift. The greens don't have the technology for shielding systems yet."

Sewers

They aren't dwarves, just small of frame. However, a woman is stabbed and screams in pain. Carl pulls a couple frag grenades off his belt, thumbs the timer to 1 second then impact, and rolls them into the hole. By the time they fall, they're set to explode on any impact.

Yellow

The small arms fire from the small lava golems doesn't seem to be doing much still, and the Walkers will concentrate on the larger ones until they're destroyed.

As for Viper Squad, the one with the trio of pulse lasers, will open fire on the four rockets, destroying three, but the fourth hits it squarely, obliterating the vehicle completely.

The other two activate their jammers, and leap onto the roof of the building where they begin to jump up and down. The creatures inside will hear the roof begin to crack under their weight...

Gate

The walls and gate have withstood entire armies, so powerful Meltas aren't so impressive.

The Gate Commander looks over the view screens. "This is Commander Alhm at the Main Gate! I have need for a long range artillery strike at the followering co-ordinates..." He yells through the radio to IA...

The soldiers on the walls hunker down, but continue to load their missiles even though one of them is destroyed and chunks of the wall are melted away.

Riftline

Milos sighs. "Tia...you aren't wanting to go back with me, are you?" he asks, needing to know the truth.

Sewers

There is a chattering scream and the injured consumer crawls out, missing two limbs and a large portion of its torso and abdomen, and manages to fire its acid borer once before collapsing. The acid is stronger than most naturally occurring acids on earth, but still not as strong as say, oxygen/argon plasma as far as corrosive strength goes. A second creature crawls out, this one like a dog sized scorpion with one of the bio-weapons on its tail, and collapses. Two more of the scorpions crawl out, relatively uninjured, and fire their tail spikes. These spike-guns aren't any stronger than your average military rifle, but the danger still stands. The scorpions know they will die, they just need to buy time for the surviving diggers and the bugs in other tunnels.

Yellow

The larger golems suffer four more casualties, then figure it best to find some cover until they can charge their ranged weapons. The smaller golems don't seem fazed by the fact they do little damage, but some try to concentrate their fire as a group.

The rocket-launching alien wasn't quite expecting that, and almost drops his weapon in surprise. The commander looks up in dismay.
"They will destroy their own homes to kill those who come to their aid? Savages," the alien spits the word out with derision, and points his gun at a wall, taking a few shots and opening a hole into the next alley. He fires through that hole to make a hole in the next building, and runs on through, though one of his men salutes him with his tail, and stays behind, arming a set of what appears to be larger than life land mines.

Gate

One of the tanks has a different idea.
The yellows don't care about the humans, really. They don't care about living. There are more of them. But these ones? These ones fighting here?
They have a job to do. Kill the aliens inside the city.
And that's all they really care about.

The infantry scooch to the the sides of the gates, and one of the more damaged tanks rushes it, detonating the fusion core providing main power and the dozen tiny matter/antimatter annihilation plants powering its weapons. Some of the alien infantry are vaped in the blast, but the others are unflinching.

[happyturtle]

Riftline

The line will stop near a decent hotel, and Milos will get off with Tia, knowing that the night was likely going to hurt a lot, but he needed one last time with her.

Hartwater Inn

Servants appear to take the young couple's luggage and get them settled into a comfortable suite, where bottle of wine is already chilling by the fireside. It's ever so convenient that in the hotel manager's office is a divination tool that predicts the number of rooms that will be occupied each night.

Tia had been with Milos so many times, but never like this. Never as a human. And that made everything different. Tonight was not about lust or hunger - or at least not a physical hunger. She ached for him, needing to try and heal him somehow, and knowing that she probably never could. But perhaps she could make him know that she loved him, and always would.

Spoiler

Show

San Aggelos S’Agapisa
(Like An Angel I Loved You)

I walk alone in my lonely sanctums,
The road is long and wherever you guide me, I will go
You crucified me, you made me bleed even when I was dying for you
My tears were flowing like blood, forgotten words.

I thought that angels live in our dreams,
But I believed in lies, they live among us
A desolate heart since you left me
Come back again, I’m waiting for you, my star and my happiness

To the garden of our love, I went to look for you,
But you got lost in the crowd, I could not cry
The crossroads of soul and our secret supper
Lost in your path, the cycle is now closed.

Like an angel I loved you, come back into my arms,
Tell me one more time that you love me, redeem my heart
Like an angel I loved you, come into my arms,
Come again and guide my wilderness to the light.

Like an angel I loved you
Like an angel I loved you

[Mina Kobold]

[Arkham Street, Kirkbride sanatorium]

Odd. The place seemed clean except for that one spot. Why clean everything else and no-
Eep! Something was here.
"Hello?!" Reinholdt shouts down the corridor.

Before moving down into the hallway to try and find whatever it was that he just saw. Probably just someone squatting in an abandoned building. Yeah.

The hallway seems empty, nothing replies to the shout, not even the echo that the cat's soft paws make when he enters it.

The hallway continues into the darkness past an office door, opened only enough that it is hard to tell whether it hides only shadows or murderous demons waiting for the cat to turn his back on them.

If he nears it he may catch the faint sound of laughter behind it, a sound that bring up memories of someone he once knew but hasn't seen for a long time.

((Feel free to have this someone be anyone from Reinholdt's past, you obviously know it much better than I. It would be preferred if it is someone whom he lost, though. ))

[UncleWolf]

Hartwater Inn

When they get to the room, and the servants leave, Milos will pull her into a tight embrace, not wanting to let her go. "I'm sorry." he mumbles through a choked voice.

[happyturtle]

Hartwater Inn

"No, I am. I'm the one who is always hurting you." Tia says. If he allows it, she'll lead him to the thick rug in front of the fireplace, piled with cushions and obviously meant as a lovers nest. "Just let me hold you, please."

[UncleWolf]

Hartwater Inn

Milos doesn't fight back int he slightest, and will lay on the cushions with her, just wanting to hold her close for a moment. This hurt him a lot, being with her, but he had to. It was worse when she wasn't there. Sure, he loved Atticus, but he just wasn't the same.

He kisses her neck even as he cries quietly. After a couple moments, he finally gives her a smile. "Even human, you're the most beautiful person I've seen."

(Moved to the Home Thread)

[Gullara]

[Emergency Clinic]

The clerk clerk in an older man with greying hair and a well groomed mustache. When Zefir asks his question the man shakes his head violently and pound his fist on his desk.