OA Arc 0 ~ An Aurora in the Night Sky

RE: Arc 0 ~ An Aurora in the Night Sky

Persistence was often a fine quality. It helped one to accomplish the impossible, achieve the unthinkable, simply continuing until something of merit came. However, when it came to this strange silence that had befallen the land of snow and ice, persistence was the last quality he would have liked. Perhaps laziness or boredom. Fyuren chuckled slightly in his throat at his own joke.

He continued his advance. The shelter was not far. Had it not been for the fact that it was marginally underground, and the trees before them, they might have been able to see it. Fyuren's eyes seemed to be dancing within his skull as they moved from every aspect of the surrounding white-and-green landscape, not sure what he was to find, but searching nonetheless.

Fyuren jumped slightly when he heard a gargled whine. Whipping his head around, but not stopping his movement, he gazed upon a creature shaped as a wolf, but golden and seeming to glow, and with a chain attached to his collar. The sight was... familiar. Recollection came to him slowly, as if the memory were trying to escape, yet he caught it and identified the cause of the familiarity. Then the creature spoke, displaying great unease. Flying? When it finished, the wolf surprised Fyuren further by unfolding a pair of equally magnificent, feathery wings.

"I..." He fumbled with his tongue, "If you believe... um... that is to say..." why was this so difficult? Something within him was shouting, demanding he avoid the wolf altogether, that it was to be feared. And forgotten. With all the force of his will, Fyuren shoved the thoughts aside and spoke one clear word: "Ok." He'd never used the word before. It wasn't even a word. Ignoring his mind's continued assault, he moved to stand by the golden creature's furry side. "If you're sure." Fyuren wasn't sure what he had intended by the statement. Taking one last nervous look around, he swung his leg over the wolf's back and, ever so slowly, lowered himself down into a sit. "I'm ready."

 

RE: Arc 0 ~ An Aurora in the Night Sky

There was a loud banging at the door followed by a loud voice, but Isabelle kept her calm, focused look. Suddenly the sound coming from everywhere slowly began to fade, the breathing of Bryce and Isabelle, the crunch of the feet of the outsiders in the snow, the very sound of air in the atmosphere... All now albeit the overpowering ringing within one's ears to the sudden lack of sound emanated.

Isabelle opened her eyes and smiled. She walked over to Bryce, placing a gun on his body.

Bryce's eyes sprung open. The feel of cold metal on his shoulder and the dramatic silence made him turn pale. He turned his head achingly and looked up to see a young girl, younger than him, holding another handgun in her hand.

"Hello Bryce." She said clearly, her voice like a razor to butter in the silence. "I"m just here to ruin your life. But I"ll be back soon to end it." And with that, silent flashes appeared as Isabelle repeatedly pulled the trigger. The hit of the bullet shells on the ground were noiseless as was the impact of the bullets into Bryce's flesh as she kept her onslaught.

Bryce let out all the painful screams he could, even though despairingly none of it could be heard. Isabelle, when satisfied with the blood squirting from Bryce, then turned her gun toward the nearest body of aura she could see; two, both outside the walls of the room. She then pointed her second gun in the direction outside the room where she could feel the mana presence, smiling and firing a darkness-infused shot, which with powerful velocity plowed its way through the frozen dirt and rocks and ice that separated each room, whizzing past Sharra's and Kaneli's eyes and leaving a thin trail of dark mist after it as it hit the other wall. She had not meant to miss; she merely started the "game". The wolves who had accompanied the girl dispersed outward, flying through the walls like nothing as they began their assault upon the unsuspecting innocents within the complex.

The shadowy figures of wolves began to enclose around the outsiders unbeknowest to what was to happen, their figures dissipated in the air and curving their way behind trees and other forms to shelter themselves from the outsider's. One solid dark figure repeatedly blurred around swiftly, any investigator only able to catch glimpses of its existence as it repeatedly dashed from tree to tree. The paranoia was high as the black death enroached closer....

Bryce felt his body go cold as he slunk off the bed, hitting the ground with a noiseless thud, trickles of blood following his descent.

 

RE: Arc 0 ~ An Aurora in the Night Sky

Ramiro saw the wisps of shadow in the trees dart throughout the trunks coated in the ghostly white. The world had grown ever darker, and it was certainly not an omen of goodness. There is… something amiss. Solera was right. Though Ramiro could no longer see the girl, he knew she could not have gone far… could she? Regardless of the guardian’s own predicament, Ramiro’s thoughts remained focused on pinpointing the location of the shades that seemed to flicker in and out of existence. His eyes narrowed, as he snarled out, “No. I definitely saw it this time. Get up, Micayla, and get behind me.” She immediately rose to her feet, approaching Ramiro with fear in her every movement.

Xenophobia held Micayla in its tight-fisted grasp, as she reached out for Ramiro, clasping his left arm. She knew he was a sturdy defense… for even though she feared him, the man had granted her protection, and for that, she was eternally grateful. Be careful… be careful. Mentally, she repeated herself over and over again, constantly darting her eyes back and forth in the woods. She looked over her shoulder, for the apparitions had been in motion, circling them like some sort of predators. The silence between the duo was broken as Ramiro shook Micayla off his arm, removing his scythe once more and brandishing it through the air. The blade of the scythe ignited in a burst of some sort of pyre, appearing to be caused by the momentum of the swing. A parlour trick, to be certain, for the man had simply lit the blade ablaze with his control over Fire Mana.

“Show yourselves, demons of winter! Spirits of the endless night! Haunt us no longer, for I shall purge you… from this WORLD!!” The sheer force of the final word split the trees, leaving a deathly silence in its place, save for the crackling of the Fire Mana and the flitting of the shadowy apparitions in the trees…

Will they come for us…?

 

RE: Arc 0 ~ An Aurora in the Night Sky

Fyuren had lied. He was not ready in any sense of the word. He shut his eyes and held his breath before the wolf had even spoken. And then they took off. His hands instantly went to the collar, gripping it with such strength that his knuckles her turning white. He could feel the air beating on him, the cold biting into his flesh. He could also feel the creature's movement as it ascended. A drop, a wing beat, a rise. Drop, beat, rise. When the beating finally slowed, he was left with dread quickly being drowned out by his new-found sickness. It was with great will he did not vomit on the beast.

Finally, the bearded man dared opening his eyes into a squint. What he saw was of such beauty he could not help but open them completely. The white spread along the green of the pines and the floor of the world. He sailed over what he would affectionately call a winter wonderland. He could see the lake in the distance, frozen in parts, reflecting the sunlight in sparkling patches. He glanced downward and saw a mixture of green and white shooting by, like some kind of mobile painting. With renewed courage, he rose his hands into the air. And he shouted his joy to the world.

 

RE: Arc 0 ~ An Aurora in the Night Sky

The atmosphere about the snow-covered forest seemed to darken dramatically still, the unseen apparitions appearing to get closer, vanishing in the split second upon which the group's gaze finds them, only leaving an after-image of their abyssal red glares. The air seemed to clog with the essence of evil, choking out any feeling of comfort or safety. Any breeze at all had long stopped, the only sounds being what the group made as the dark figures slowly made their way forward....

As if by finality, one figure finally revealed itself, standing several yards from the scythe-bearing man and completely covered in a misty black cloak. The figure stood motionless, impossibly rigid and balanced upon the white ice powder beneath the group's feet. It hadn't even made a sound while approaching, and not only that, no footprints in the snow either. Whispers could be heard around its form, though every one was inaudible, just barely out of reach of hearing. Thin wisps of dark energy seemed to gently dance off its form every so often, the only sign of its being moving as it stays in its position. The whispers seemed to dance with the black mist, or even possibly the mist was giving out the whispers, but nevertheless the figure itself was causing the eerie occurence. If one could focus enough on the figure, the hood seemed to have a slight tinge of red emanating within it, a vicious and vivid crimson that could clearly be made out from the canvas of black.

It awaited in its motionless stance oddly, waiting for something.... meanwhile, the elusive shadows around the group steadily made their way closer, closing the distance to entrap them....