[Nexus] Outside XXXII

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

Irena sigh, "So you are saying we should open it then?"

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia nods. "Yeah." She says somewhat apologetically. She hates to make Irena do this when she so clearly doesn't want to, but she has to.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

"Alright, let's open this thing then." Irena replies as she once again lifts her staff. "We'll start with unmaking the runes." She explains as she touches the coffin with the staff.

*BANG!!!*

The carvings go black with an blast, nearly knocking Irena back. "Whoa, this staff is awesome." She says while looking at it with a smile. "Now we just need to pull out the nails and open it up."

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

"I sure hope the staff can do that too, because I never brought a hammer." Nadia furrows her eyebrows as she looks down at the coffin. She's kind of worried what they'll find there. She's not sure what bothers her more. All the runes being placed on it, or the fact she knows a baby's body is in it.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

The witch grins, "I don't need the staff to do that." She says while holding out her other hand, an hammer which appear to be made of pure shadow appearing in it. She hands it over it to the lampade and will summon yet another one for herself. "Okay, now let's get to work."

As they start pulling out the nails Nadia will start to feel uncomfortably cold, even with her abnormal body heat. Like something is sucking out all the heat from the room. But despite this they will manage to get it done, the coffin now just need to be opened.

Irena looks like she's freezing as well and steps away from the little casket once she's done, not liking this one bit. She looks expectingly at Nadia though, waiting for her to open it.

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia kneels at the foot of the coffin. She hesitates before opening it. Something's definitely wrong here. She can't remember the last time she's really felt cold. The lampades braces herself and opens the coffin.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

As she opens a grey-colored ichor pours out of the coffin emitting the horrible stench of rotten flesh. The entire casket seems to be filled with the foul liquid which just oozes of death and decay.

Irena filches at the smell and covers her mouth and nose with her hand while backing away. "Eww!!!"

Nadia who is closer can see that there is something else in the casket though, literary bathing in the vicious pus. It appears to be a little body.

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

"Oh gods." Nadia turns away and covers her mouth. She forces herself to look for a moment. "Okay." She puts the lid back on. "Let's go dig up that grave."

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

As soon as she have closed the lid, it flies open again as something rises from the ichor. The first thing she can see is a bloated hairless overlarge head. It's eyes glassy and vacant with it's little mouth drooling out the ichor which fills the casket. Then it's arms raises which are too slender, it's tiny hands ending in cruelly sharpened nails. The remains of an umbilical cord is still hanging out from it's stomach.

It turns to look at Nadia and then a beam of pure darkness comes from it's eyes aimed at her.

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia recoils backward, but that's not enough to stop her from getting hit by the beam. Oh gods, what's happening? She feels so weak. The lampades scurries backward, as fast as she can to put some distance between her and that... thing.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

Irena's response to this is to blast the creature who just hurt her girlfriend with the staff. Nadia can see the little creature being flung backwards by the beam as the casket explodes into tiny pieces.

"Get behind me!" Irena screams as she advances towards the baby-thing who stares at two coldly.

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia tries to scramble to her feet, but ends up stumbling and whacking her elbows on the ground. She instead fumbles through her bag, and in a moment she will have produced the cup Dio gave her. Should she have an opportunity, Nadia draws some watery wine out of it and tries to slam it into the thing.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

Before Nadia manages to get up though the creature points is hardened nail at Irena and a purple beam of death comes out it's finger tips, aimed at the witch. Irena however, while not actually knowing what the staff can and can not do is not letting anything harm the only person she ever loved. With cold rage she grasps the staff with two hands and attempts to will the most devastating beam of destruction she can imagine to destroy this thing before it destroys them.

But as this is Dio's form of magic, it does exactly the opposite of that. Instead of a beam of destruction a huge beam of light comes from the tip of the staff, counters the purple beam of death and hits the malformed creature straight in the chest. The Atropal along with the entire wall behind it are blasted away by the beam that instead of destroying it actually are trying to heal it back to life.

This is not very healthy for an undead though who is flung backwards and into the great cloud of dust that spreads over the area as the wall collapses around them.

Irena is left gasping for air, her whole body shaking at the experience, Nadia can hear her muster enough energy to speak though. "It's an atropal, a still-born god, we need to destroy it before it starts raising an undead army." She manages to say between breaths as the dust starts to settle once again, the sun now coming in through the great hole the staff just made.

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia picks herself shakily off the ground. "You mean that never killed it?" This is horrible. As if what happened to Adriane wasn't bad enough already. "How do we stop it?" She asks, sounding understandably panicked.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

"I don't know!" Irena replies panicked. "I'm trying to think. Maybe the staff should be able to-" But Irena don't get a chance to say much more as some of the dust is suddenly cleared as by magic. There it reveals the atropal, now floating in the air, staring at the two with it's glanced eyes. It's mouth still spewing fourth the grey-colored ichor. It appears not even the beam of pure light was able to cause it any lasting harm.

Before the witch can react the undead godling gestures towards her and causing the witch to fly backwards into the wall in a violently fashion.

Then it turns to Nadia and directs it's tiny little hand in her direction to end her life. But before it can do anything a eerie voice can be heard nearby.

"Eli."

The undead creature suddenly stops and turns in the direction of the voice. From the cloud of dust a ghostly woman appears, the sunlight shining right through her semi-transparent form. She have long red hair which draped over her narrow shoulders. Her face spotted with freckles and have two large green eyes as it's most prominent feature.

The specter slowly walks up to the stillborn and then pulls it into a loving embrace. At first it seems to be weakly struggling against her but as she holds it the atropal slowly seem to change before the lampade's eyes. It's skin assumes the same ghostly white tone as the woman while it's deformities reverts until it looks like a perfectly healthy baby boy, tugging close to it's mothers chest.

Nadia can now see that tears of joy are running freely down the woman's cheeks as she while holding the baby firmly pressed against her, turns to walk back the way she came. She can see the two disappear within the cloud of dust, not to be seen again.

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia watches the display with silent awe, not daring to move. They did it. She slumps visibly after they're gone. Irena. The lampades whirls around and rushes to her girlfriend's side. "Irena, are you okay?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia can hear Irena groan as she come closer, just trying to move is seemingly causing her a lot of pain. "What happened? Where did it go?" She asks as she manages to lift her head up to look where the stillborn godling once were.

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia drops to her kneesd beside Irena and puts her hands on her girlfriend. Just running across the room was an effort, and it's a relief to be off her feet. "It must have been Adriane's ghost. She just appeared and took him away." It was easier to think of the baby as a baby again after seeing him how he should have been.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

"Huh." Irena replies while slowly attempting to get up on her feet, something she probably need Nadia's help with. "I was so sure we were both going to die right there... and I couldn't do anything."

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Once they help each other to their feet, Nadia pulls Irena into a hug. "If something would have happened to you I never would have been able to forgive myself." She feels stupid for even getting them into this mess.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

"Don't worry about me, I'm the one that is supposed to protect you." Irena really saw herself as the warrior here, the defender. "I would very much like to lay down for a bit now though." She says while glancing longingly at the door to Adriane's room. "But did that ghost ever tell you where that creepy guy went?"

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia shakes her head and starts helping Irena toward the room. "She didn't, but we could probably do another seance after you've rested a bit, right?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

"I dunno, what if she's resting in peace now that she got her child?" Irena suggests before collapsing upon the bed once they reach it. "Ahh... not going to leave this for a while."

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia frowns. She looks at the burned table as they go by it. Nothing. She sits on the edge of the bed next to Irena and thinks. "I think I'm going to go look at her grave." She leans over to give Irena a kiss on the cheek. "You just stay here and rest. I'll be back soon."

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

"Alright, just be careful so there aren't more undead walking around here now." Irena replies, returning to little kiss.

As Nadia leaves the room she might realize she could take a short cut by climbing out of the hole the staff made. Whatever path she takes however it will eventually lead her to the grave.

Right above the grave, laying pressed against the wet earth are the bones of an infant baby in a curled up position. On the gravestone above it a single word have been added, looking like it been carved into it with bare fingers.

RIVERSIDE

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia stands before the grave, her head bowed. At least they both could finally rest in piece. She looks up at the new writing on the headstone. It's not very much information, but it's a start. "Thank you." She says under her breath before turning to return to Irena.

The lampades crawls into bed with Irena and snuggles against her. "There was something carved into the headstone. He went to Riverside."

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

"Riverside? Where in Riverside exactly?" Irena asks as she slowly puts her arms around the lampade.

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Nadia shakes her head. "I don't know, that's all it said." She sighs. "We're not done with this yet I guess. At least we can get home and rest for a while. I could sleep all day. Right after eating an entire horse."

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple]

"Eating goes first, maybe I should order pizza right now so we have plenty to eat when we get home." She suggests with a smile. "Not all that tried though. Not yet. But I'm still not going to move though, back still hurts."

Then all of sudden Nadia can hear footsteps echo through the corridor and as she looks at the door there are a small group of people there, all dressed in green robes looking at them.

[Gullara]

[Ancient Temple]

Oh no. Nadia scrambles to sit up. "Stay away." She warns, though her fear is obvious. She looks at Irena. She's in no condition to be dealing with this right now. Dammit, this place was supposed to be abandoned.