Astronomika - Shooting Down Falling Stars (IC)

[Verg Avesta]

Vivienne Bianchi
Location: Road's End - Streets
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

Making one's way through the town undetected, sticking to empty road's, unpopulated areas and edges of the forest was in itself a slow process.

It was even slower, however, for someone as heavily wounded as Vivienne Bianchi.

Still, she had made good progess so far. The overcast sky and the lack of bright sunlight made it easy to stick into shadowy corners whenever she needed to cut through the town of Road's End proper, and the many abandoned buildings offered cover from any prying eyes of people on the streets - the few that there were. So far nobody had seen the quiet girl, despite the limp in her step and the bloodied look - not to mention the state of her clothes. She looked like the very epitome of someone who had been attacked by wild animals, and, well, in a sense that was also the truth. But to avoid any unnecessary questions or attention, sticking to the shadows was a good idea.

And then there was, of course, the forest itself that provided the most cover, and one that Vivienne had utilized extensively during her journey towards the school. Shadows stretching between the tall pine trees and the hanging sycamore trees were vast and heavy, making for perfect darkness in which to blend in. The forest was as quiet as the town itself, perhaps even quieter. It felt almost as if the nature itself had sensed the tragedies that had occurred today, and was mourning... or perhaps hiding itself out of fear of suffering a similar fate.

Though... as it turned out.

It wasn't only Vivienne that had noticed how good the forest was in hiding oneself.

--- There were others relying on the cover and safety that the woods provided.

Ones that Vivienne happened upon almost by an accident.

"Shit... what the hell are we going to do about this, man?"

The first warning sign that Vivienne got was a rough, young voice that she heard from ahead. That automatically made her press herself deeper into the cover of one particularly tall and thick sycamore tree and peek her head out, peering into the further darkness. The spot was right before the railroad tracks that bisected the town towards the south - a place where she had had to take a deeper trip into the woods to avoid the large, open areas around said tracks. The voice itself, however, came from even deeper into the forest, meaning that whoever had spoken had chosen to hide even further.

Though... now that Vivienne thought about it, she recognized the voice.

It was that of a young male, rough and coarse, and with a definite anger in it.

The voice that belonged to her classmate.

One that she spotted quite easily, as he stood in amidst the trees.

The other thug of the school - Hwan Bin.

A youngster who, judging by his disheveled look, had been through quite the experience himself.

The boy's clothes were torn here and there, making it look like he had been attacked by something. Not only that, but there were splotches of fresh blood on his pale skin, along with rather fresh-looking wounds. He clearly wasn't as badly wounded as Vivienne herself, but the boy had seen better days for sure. Not only that, but he was covered in something that looked quite much like blood - big, vivid stains that marked his clothes and his skin much more than the damage he had suffered.

The only thing strange about this blood-like substance was... that it was vivid green - to the point that it was almost glowing.

"No idea. Not a single fucking idea," another voice answered Hwan. "This is beyond macabre... what the hell even was he? I've never seen anything like that!"

This other voice... it was quite familiar too. And not surprising to find with Hwan.

Slight switching of her position allowed Vivienne to get the other speaker into her field of vision as well... though it revealed that this green 'blood' that stained Hwan wasn't focused in just him. It covered big pools around the boy and his companion, painting both trees and undergrowth in a 15 meter radius. Had it not been so strangely colored, so unlike actual blood, the scene would have looked like an actual bloodbath... or like a human being had just exploded next to Hwan.

"Insane. That's what he was," Hwan answered grimly, wiping some of the green stuff away from himself. "As for what he actually was... well, you wouldn't believe even if I told you. That's from the side of a world you don't wanna know, believe me, man."

But yes, Hwan wasn't alone on this grissly scene.

There was another youth there. One looking much less disheveled and bloodied. If anything, he had only bruises and looked like someone had roughed him up a bit.

A tall young man who, after taking another look at the scene around him, spat to the ground in disgust.

"Jesus Christ, I can believe that..."

"... Think he was our Mr. Murderer?"

Travis Gagnon asked this from his companion.

[Cheetose]

Hisa Momoi
Location: Pinefall High Dormitory
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

“That---”

That has to be from Pyry. Not many other people even knew that I was here, and other than him, no one would send a bird for me, especially not one like this. And the way it wrote the message…

But if it’s him...Really, he deserves it all. This is what he gets for acting on his own again, leaving me behind again, thinking that he can just solve everything on his own because he is the hero of a nation, again…

He can just return from the death too, so what does it even matter anyways?

“That’s from Pyry,” I clarified for the sake of the others, “He went somewhere earlier. And...well, I suppose something must have happened.”

Still...He knows that very well too. Why even call for help? Why would he ask for a first aid kit, when he should probably able to regenerate any injury one can tend with something like that way faster…

“I...I need to go there. Whatever the reason, if he got so desperate to ask for my help like that, then I must go.” My voice unfaltering and expression filled with resolve, I looked at the others, and Mercedes specifically - for she was the one who could get me there the fastest.

Until now, I was against leaving the school grounds. Not just because I wanted to wait for Pyry here, but...There was just this feeling. That it wasn’t any safer outside, and that the forest, the abandoned roads, the coast, maybe even the city itself, they all hide things that could be even more dangerous than here.

[Verg Avesta]

Elaine Winters VS John Dove VS Shadow of the Moon VS Ramia Ramalsaqr (Round 3, Turn 11)
Location: Road to Town
Phase: Midnight
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Darkness

Three attacks.

Three desperate strikes meant to exploit the inherent weaknesses that might exist, to take advantage of the blood that had been drawn from the Tyrant.

But...

Again...

--- It was like trying to strike the wind itself.

"AhahahahaHAHAHAHAHAA!"

The first attack went absolutely wide thanks to the missing hand, never even reaching the shadow of its target. The Tyrant moved out of the way like a dancer, her lithe form performing a deadly ballet underneath the moonlight. She left behind only after images, and even those evaded the claws that would have rend the apart. With the laughter of the moon still ringing in the ears of those present, the enemy swayed back to position, her monstrous teeth gleaming in the darkness.

And then came the second attack.

But it wasn't much closer than the first.

With frightening ease the monster of the moon dodged underneath the strike, the claws of her opponent only catching some stray strands of her hair. Elaine could almost taste the flesh with her fist, but again it was like trying to catch a fresh breeze straight from hell. The Tyrant continued laughing, pulling back and rising back to her proper height, crimson eyes focused straight on Elaine. It prepared to evade to the left, already starting its movement...!

--- But this time it wasn't fast enough.

This time the golden claws struck at the wind, and wounded moonlight.

Blood stained the ground.

Vermillion hue splattered all over the forest floor.

The Queen of Night had been wounded again...

... And this time the fresh blood had been drawn straight from her forehead.

".................................."

Air itself seemed to freeze over.

For a moment everything was absolutely silent - utterly quiet.

The fist that had connected straight to the forehead of the Tyrant stayed there, trying to dig further into the flesh... but could not advance further. As powerful as the strike had been, the opponent pushed back, refusing to buckle underneath the monstrous power in the bestial, remaining arm. Slowly, ever so slowly, a horrific grin spread to the face of the nosferat, it's eyes first taking in the sight of the limb that had wounded her... and then turning to look at the culprit herself.

Vermillion eyes that had seen nothing but a mongrel, but a monster so far.

... Now had a different look in them.

--- They were the eyes of a monster acknowledging a proper human in front of her.

"You're improving. This time, I felt it right and proper. For a last stand... this is not wanting in the least. Hah. To think I'd be impressed in this manner, even as old as I am..." the Tyrant spoke, the coldness in her voice evaporating fo a moment. "... What a fool I've been so far, fighting against you like I would a monster... whereas I should have been battling you as a human instead."

She started to raise her hand.

Those deadly claws gleamed in the moonlight.

Her mouth opened once again to speak those archaic words.

But in that moment---!

"JJOOOHHhhhnNNNNNNNN!"

Something massive crashed into the clearing.

Roaring like a monster incarnate.

It advanced through the forest, ripping apart the last of the trees in its way and thus, sending a great rolling wave of earth and debris forward in its wake as it barreled forward. The humongous form of the creature dwarfed everyone else present, and its coiled, roiling form evoke images of something ancient and foreign - something that should have never appeared in this land.

And the way it shouted, the way it roared...

... It was done with the voice and desperation of Ramia Ramalsaqr.

"TEeeEEELLLllLL MEEEEEeeeEEE WWHEEEeeeEERRRRrrEEEE SHHEEeeee IIIIiiIIISSSssSSS!"

And it made a plead for help.

At the same time, the air cried out in pain.

The reality creaked like old, rusted metal about to break.

As magical power was activated, as mana coalesced and took form of a great, terrible glare.

One made with a blind eye...

... But with a trust thrusted upon someone else, who had been her enemy but a moment ago.

And it came from...

A completely new nightmare that had finally entered the battle.

"BEEEeEeeeEEEEE MYYYyyYYY EEEYYYEEEEESSSS!"

---

[Miss! Hit chance on SotM: -20% + -15% = -35%: Rolled 32!]
[Miss! Hit chance on SotM: -20% + -15% = -35%: Rolled 12!]
[Hit! SotM: 10 + 2 + 2 - 2 - 4 - 3 = 5 Qi (Supernatural) Damage (Supernatural PHYS Defense)!]

[Ramia Ramalsaqr: Prepared Action!]

--> Round 3, Turn 12: John Dove

[Katie]

Lucille Faraday
Location: Pinefall High Dormitory
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

It’s Hisa’s words that stop Lucille’s incessant pacing back and forth. Obviously, they had to decide on a plan of action, but Lucille was firmly in the camp that waiting around was a death sentence, and there was still no sign of Sakura. All she could do was try to find an outlet for her restlessness, nervousness—and thus the pointless walking back and forth, accompanied by the sound of the duffle bag, came to an end. If anything, the sudden appearance of something to do had revitalized her, her nervousness fading into determination.

“Well, if you go, we all have to go, since that’s the safest thing to do,” Lucille says, merely stating the obvious, though she gives Hisa a reassuring smile. “But I don’t think anyone here would object to helping Pyry, anyway.”

She tries to make it sound like a team decision, but Lucille already knows she’d tag along with Hisa anyway. Inaction was essentially the same as being complicit in Pyry’s potential death, in her eyes, and she would not let anyone die on her watch. By nature, she was the type to try and save everyone, if possible.

That, and there was a more practical reason. If there was something or someone that managed to push Pyry to that state…

The others had admitted that combat was their forte, so it was her job to be the muscle for the team. She merely hopes the blade is enough for any troubles ahead—while she certainly didn’t regret blowing all she had to save herself and Mercedes, the difference between being able to channel the Lord’s splendor and not was definitely impactful.

“Though… if there are any objections, would someone like to voice them?”

[Daneel Rush]

Location: Road to Town
Phase: Midnight
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Darkness



In an instant, everything is rebuked. His body, his thoughts, the meager spark of self-determination. He is denied his choice, his will, and his capacity for action. The fact that he is nothing in this world is made manifest, ascertained and vocally expressed. Having the will or the desire to do anything, in the end, means nothing. He belongs to her, and exists at her whim. She will claim the lives of Elaine and Ramia using an absurd casus belli, and he is not allowed retort nor rebuke.

His body is trapped by her supernatural power. His mind is chained by her irresistible authority. His heart is shackled by the memory of that night, the night his life truly began. Ramia’s little soliloquy is of little relevance: it said nothing he does not already know or would not figure out at a glance. The fact remains that the existence that is John Dove is no different from a meat doll, a worthless dreg devoid of any real choice. He wields no supernatural power. His words have no weight and no worth in front of his goddess. In this scene, he is less than an extra. No, he has always been a prop on the stage of the world he can only see as hollow and grey.

What is a human without self-determination? What is a man without choice? What is the worth of such a life? Why even bother to do anything, if none of his actions has any meaning, worth, or capacity to achieve anything?

At this point, it is easier to just stop thinking.










































Wait.

Wait a moment there, John Dove.

He should get what is odd about that. It is that obvious.

Seriously, taking a look at what just happened—

How does this change anything at all?

He belongs to her; this he has known since the day he met her.

She is infinitely greater than him; this he has known since he first witnessed her moonlit beauty amidst the dead.

That she was beautiful and powerful and like nothing else he had ever or would ever see again in his life—he could see this with transcendental clarity even as an ignorant child. Even before his eyes met hers.

John Dove has always known his goddess is inhuman.

So it was her eyes that damaged him—no, to begin with, why is Ramia talking about him like he is damaged or broken in some sort of—okay, okay, looking at it objectively, that is likely the case. Something within him is twisted in a way that keeps him from a proper association with the world around him. Does this awareness change anything? Not really.

Does his goddess’ dismissal, her rebuke and rejection change anything? Have her words changed in any way what he always longed to do upon meeting her? Not in the slightest.

That very desire could also be an element of her power over him, though. Does that make a difference? Not really. In fact, the more scathing her words, the more he believes this and only this is most certainly his wish, conjured by his own mind devoid of influence. If anything, the wish has grown only stronger, right? After all, her words and actions have only given shape and context to the truth, and this is undeniably a good thing. At last, he, John Dove, knows.

He only cared about reaching the truth. Whether it was kind or vile never mattered. After all, John Dove does not judge. She made him so.

Does her dismissal of his desire for Elaine to live render that desire devoid of worth? It would seem so a first glance. On the other hand, his words carried enough weight to be worth the callous, cruel dismissal. If his existence, his choices and his words were truly devoid of meaning, then why even dedicate them an iota of attention?

The last and most important question remains though: even if he has ascertained that he has no reason to stop, what can he still do by this point?

Well, that has not changed either: just reach her. Also, he wants Elaine Winters to live. Can he do anything about that? Probably not. However, after countless deaths he has only reached after the fact, he cannot just stop now that he stands before a killing in process, can he?



He has been looking for “the real world”. What he found is the Turnside. Their obstacle is the goddess who owns him, who also seems to embody the Turnside’s hypocrisy. If he has not the power to fight like Elaine Winters, nor do his words have any power to influence the one who has a hold of his soul, what can he do?

He does not know.

But perhaps the Kathāsaritsāgara knows.

If not that, perhaps the Mesopotamian anti-evil incantations do.

If not those, then maybe The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola has an idea. Or maybe the Descripto Moldaviae, or De Graecorum hodie quorundam opinationibus, or King James’ Daemonologie. Or some other obscure tome of esoteric lore.

Indeed, the same “insight” that told him that Elaine Winters suffers the curse of lycanthropy, and that Ramia Ramalsaqr inherited the blood of the mythical lamia, might also provide a way to stop this transcendent, primordial manifestation from the Turnside. The answer might be somewhere, within the otherwise worthless knowledge “engraved” in his mind…

“BEEEeEeeeEEEEE MYYYyyYYY EEEYYYEEEEESSSS!”

…or he can be a guide dog for a gorgonkin. Sure, why not? For all his usual apathy, he has never been one to stifle others’ enthusiasm. It is not as if he cannot do both things at the same time; thinking and guiding, that is. For all he knows Ramia’s stare might be more effective on the odd full moon above. It is the kind of obtuse idea that feels like it would match the ways of the Turnside. Then again, he is the obtuse man who can compartmentalize his attachment to a person separately from the imperative to act against that person for the sake of a different wish, without recognizing any contradiction.

“Next time I’ll have you say ‘please’, Ramalsaqr! Now listen, and listen well!”

Manners at all times.

Was that, too, carved in his psyche by his goddess’ beautiful moonlit eyes?

…right. End hostilities first, personal desires and likely death later.

[Thalraxal]

Elise Pelltier
Location: Pinefall High Dormitory
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

Elise watched the robin fly about the lobby, fascinated by the obviously supernatural creature that wasn't an immediate threat to their existence. The robin settled on Hisa's head and delivered its dire message to its intended recipient in the form of frost on the glass of the lobby door. Hisa identified its sender as Pyry, and explained that he'd left campus earlier.

“I...I need to go there. Whatever the reason, if he got so desperate to ask for my help like that, then I must go.”

“Well, if you go, we all have to go, since that’s the safest thing to do, but I don’t think anyone here would object to helping Pyry, anyway.”

"If someone needs help, I don't want to leave them hanging. You can count me in," began Elise, "I'm with Lucille though, we really can't afford to split up. It might be dangerous going, but it's also dangerous staying, but whatever we do, we should do it together."

“Though… if there are any objections, would someone like to voice them?”

Elise stared at the robin's message for a moment, before considering the pang of hunger from her stomach, still denied anything resembling a breakfast, and the ever growing desire to get the last of the blood of unknown origins off of her hands.

"No objections here, but... we can't help Pyry if we don't take care of ourselves first. We should get moving as soon as possible, if we're going, but we need food. Maybe someone could grab something from the kitchen and we can eat on the road? I should grab some stuff from my room, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in that regard. Plus I'd love to scrub my hands clean... Do we plan to come back here after, or should we pack with the possibility of never coming back?"

[Kuroyuki]

Vier Wolff
Location: Pinefall High Dormitory
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

I opened my eyes to the usual sight of my door being blocked by a dresser. However that’s where the similarities ended. This wasn’t morning time. My internal clock and wristwatch confirmed those suspicions. I wasn’t resting in my casual clothes. I wasn’t resting with a guitar case next to me. The dorms were quiet… Uncannily quiet for a place supposed to filled with people. Those quick observations led me to believe one thing. “I” thought that there was a high probability for a battle and decided to barricade myself instead of just outright running. There wasn’t any reason for me to…

Right next to my right hand was a note that was addressed to ‘Me.’ Seeing as how it was my handwriting and I was barricaded in a room, I decided it was reasonable to assume that I wasn’t in trap. I read “my” letter to me. Each line explained more and more. My current situation, what “I” hoped to do, and why it felt so disconnected. I couldn’t help but whisper disappointedly to myself.

“You’ve gotten soft…”

But it wasn’t like I didn’t understand why either. ‘You’ started to believe we could actually start anew here. Deep down, we wanted this school to help give us what everyone took for granted. A normal life. Even resetting things couldn’t hide the earnest hope and desperation that ‘you’ wrote in ‘your’ letter. Fine. I’ll listen to your wishes. Only because we haven’t finished the real reason why we’re here.

I rechecked my inventory. Looks like I was prepared to bail in case I was interrupted mid-process because everything was set up to my preferences. Everything where I wanted it. Some weapons hanging on me for immediate usage. Others hidden in my former guitar bag. Some minor rearrangements to fit my current circumstances.

I took one last look into my room. Anything that wasn’t essential, I decided to leave it here. My guitars. A majority of my checked out books save for that mysterious diary. My walkman. Sentimental items that would only slow me down. I moved my dresser out of the way and then started to head to the kitchen. I would need something to eat. I started making my way that way until I heard voices. Female voices. Familiar voices in fact those of my classmates.

My steps going from normal walking to suddenly a lighter gait as I started to brainstorm ideas. I considered my objectives, my two current plans, and then the current situation. Both plans were tentatively dangerous and didn’t actively push for the success of my objectives. Meanwhile… The appearance of this group might fulfill my objective one way or another. As I was deliberating, I saw a little bluebird fly past me. It’s flight lowered the ambient temperature a little abnormally.

Decision made, I quit hiding my presence. My steps slow and loud down the stairwell as if to announce my presence. Posture as unthreatening as I can considering that I didn’t make an attempt to hide a weapon. I stared down towards the bottom of the stairwell where there were some of my classmates.

“Mind if I join you? Everyone seems to have left while I wasn’t paying attention.”

If they do turn out to be enemies, all I need to do is run out of the stairwell and just lock down that hallway. Even with their current numbers, I'm confident that I'll inflict some causalities. My health needs to come first before anyone else's even if 'I' would disagree. But 'she' lost the right to complain once 'she' started that. So she'll have to accept my consequences once it's over whether she likes it or not.

Vier Wolff

Stats

STR	?
WIL	?
END	?
INT	?
AGI	?
EGO	?

Equipment

Gun (?)

• A gun of some kind? Can't really get a good look at it from below. All you can tell is that it's not a pistol.

Guitar Case

• Currently holding something? A weapon? More supplies?

[Cheetose]

Hisa Momoi
Location: Pinefall High Dormitory
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

“Now, hold on for a moment…” I said as my eyes narrowed inadvertently as Vier appeared...Though, it wasn’t really her who made me feel uncomfortable, but rather, the gun she was holding, and the slight but noticeable difference in her expression. Though, I already figured that it would be like this. She was certainly no street musician, and yet she’s been lugging that big guitar case everywhere...Must have been where she stored her gun, and possibly other things.

Which would mean that all this while, she’s been walking among us with a gun within her arm’s reach…

Perhaps Aleen was right to question a few things regarding her.

Still...She was close enough. Even if she ends up being a threat, she is within the reach of my domain, but I’d rather it not come to that, we need people to work together right now, if we want to get anywhere…

“We...shouldn’t all go. We can’t fit 7...or 8 people, Pyry included, into a car, and besides…” I explained, all the while not looking away from Vier for a moment, “Someone should keep this place...well, relatively safe. I’m not sure about you guys, but…”never coming back” is not really an option for me. I have nowhere else to go, and in all honesty...even if I had, I couldn’t go. I must find someone who’s probably been trapped in all this, I must help Pyry, and get to the end of this…”

Why was I here again?

The day when my goal was still so clear already felt so far behind with all the unexpected and weird things that happened, but...The original reason did not even feel that important anymore. I had more, and other things to care about too now.

“So...If you are all fine with that, I would still suggest splitting up so that some can keep track of things here. And, well…” I said as I finally turned my attention from Vier to Mercedes, “If you are fine with driving there in the first place. Though, whatever the case is, I’m going now. Proper food can wait, at least for me, and worst case scenario I still have some snacks…”

“But I can’t just eat breakfast...well, lunch now, and chit chat, and stand around doing nothing, not when Pyry needs me.”

[Verg Avesta]

Elaine Winters VS John Dove VS Shadow of the Moon VS Ramia Ramalsaqr (Round 4, Turn 13)
Location: Road to Town
Phase: Midnight
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Darkness

The Eye of Gorgon.

An Evil Eye in the history of the world unlike any other.

There is not a single Evil Eye more famous or legendary than the petrifying stare of Medusa and her ilk.

Even the enslaving gaze of vampires falls second in its infamy.

Even the blazing murderous glare of Balor Birugderc pales in comparison of the myth.

But... Ramia Ramalsaqr is not a gorgon.

She is a lamia.

A creature comparable to a vampire as an Eater of Men.

But...

The power of myths, symbolism, anecdotes and folklore is fickle, muddled and as chaotic as a mud-filled river.

A myriad interpretations of the same tale can exist simultaneously.

For example... Medusa, the most powerful and mortal of the gorgons... was also associated with Libya.

Libya - which was almost synonymous with the mythical lamia.

Either as its queen, as the colony of monstes living there, or as the daughter of the personification of the country itself.

There is also a legend that identifies lamia of the myth as the terror of Delphi, one defeated by hero Eurybatus.

And strangely enough, the early religious concepts of Delphi depict a scaled beast too terrible to behold - very similar to a gorgon.

And this place in itself, Delphi...

... Is the home of the Great Dragoness Delphyna, which god Apollo had to slay.

God closely tied to the Libyan Lamia.

In other words, around and around the stories go, each one feeding the next, to create a complex and intricate web in the shape of a serpentine monster.

Indeed.

Almost like a snake eating its own tail.

An Ouroboros.

And that was enough for the myth to manifest---!



"THEERRRrrRREEE YYOUuuuuUU AARrrRRREEE, mmMMMaaGGGoooTTT!"

Ironically enough, had hers been the true eyes of a gorgon, this plan would have never worked. For a true gorgon, their natural ability comes to them as, well, naturally as seeing. There is no turning it on or off, there is no focusing it, there is no directing it and there is no avoiding using it. For them to see is the same as to petrify. And if they cannot see, naturally it means that they are unable to petrify either. But for a convincing fake, for someone who is only partially the myth and has to recreate that legend... it is a whole different story. Ramia Ramalsaqr is not a gorgon - she is a lamia. And in her true form, no longer hidden by transmutation, she is a terrible sight to behold, comparable to the dragon of Delphi.

A writhing, mountainous mass of scales and serpentine body. A writhing mass of serpents that coil around each other like some sort of spiral. It is not a hair of venomous serpernts, but teeming horde of massive reptilian beasts that hunger for flesh of the living, roaring in the forest with a force comparable to cannonfire.

And thus --- that nightmarish appearance is given a focus.

Though her eyes may be blinded, she is given a target.

John Dove's words guide Ramia Ramalsaqr...

... And suddenly, the night is ablaze with thousands of eyes.

"IIIiii wwWWWWIiiillLLLlllllLLL EEEEeeEEEnnnNNDDDdd YYYOOooouUUUUU!"

So screams the monstrosity who truly lives up to her name in appearance. Suddenly, the wind in the night changes and starts wailing, howling in pain. The trees creak and buckle underneath the switch in atmospheric pressure as more and more mana is sucked out of the land, coalesced into the serpentine eye that hovers over it all, and rotated upon its axis - thus creating a spiraling vacuum that sucks in even more magical power. The amount of mana gathered and prana - it's physical equivalent - generated is comparable to the spell that called forth the tornado which initially flung Ramia back. No... no, it continues to climb even higher than that. The world itself shudders a bit as its rules are being bent to their utmost, the hated magic becoming alive and momentarily warping fabric of reality to suit the mage's needs. While Elaine Winters is one thing, for even John Dove to feel this maelstrom of magical energy... the spell that is being weaves is truly powerful.

If a more experienced eye were to judge, they'd know it to be at least of Rank A - pinnacle of magic that mages around the world have achieved. Yet, even so... the sheer amount of magical energy generated climbs even further beyond that.

Treading that line between an Rank A spell, and the Manifestation of One's Arche. This was not a spell fuelled by apeiron itself, but... it was close. Eerily close.

--- Just what was Ramia Ramalsaqr's power, truly...?

"Ahahahahahaa! So, worm, you too aim to make a fool out of me? Instead of a worm, you are to be a wyrm! Very well!" the Nightmare laughed, her crimson eyes now focused on the new threat. "The mewling whelp I once upon moon saved now bares his fangs against his mistress...! Ka! Kakakakaka! How very, very good! Then show me this power!"

The provocation was unneeded.

The formula of the spell had already been prepared.

The vast amounts of magical energy had already been gathered.

And now... it was released.

With the fanfare of Ramia's bellowed words, the gigantic serpent-heads from her body rose, each opening their mouths and taking a shape of a vast wheel around her - like a wheel of flames or perhaps concentric circles. In each of the open mouths was a tablet of metals and clay, a showcase of vast alchemical knowledge all brought to fruition in a single instant. The letters of orders upon spirits shone upon those tables, and gave a purpose and direct order to the magical energy gathered. It was the recreation of an ancient tale, given a physical manifestation by the young woman who had carved each and every one of those tablets...!

And then... there were her words of order.

Her mantra.

"All that glitters, shall turn into gold.

All that is gold, shall turn into dust.

All that is dust, shall turn into One.

All that is One, shall turn into All.

All is One.

One is All.

I Coil Around the Sun and Protect from the Night.

I am the Serpent, and thus I am One.

One is All and through it is All, and by it is All.

If you have not All, All is Nothing

Thus I degree that All Be Nothing.


--- AEGIS GORGONEION!"

A beam of magical energy too terrible to behold.

Guided by the words of a single boy, the thousand eyes all focused upon a single target they could not see. Then, in a moment of rumbling power, they gathered their released energies into a single point - one straight within the iris of the Ramia's own, glaring stare, and unified it all. Then, with a sound akin to a solar wind crashing upon the sands, that energy was released in a straight line that cut through the forest, swallowing up everything in its way. The winds that were thrown up by the released energy were vast and powerful, and the smell of ozone in the air - synonymous with magical energy - burnt the noses of those present.

But finally, there was more light in the night.

Finally, it was not all up to a single golden hunter.

Elaine Winters felt the beam of light before she felt it, as it shot right past her, above her head, and struck into the vampire that had been her opponent. The Tyrant let out a shriek of pain as she stumbled backwards, almost completely eaten up by the Evil Eye's stare given physical form. The night itself wavered and quaked, and for a moment, the world outside - the real world they had been stolen away from, flashed before their eyes. But her presence held, her authority was still intact, and the nosferat struggled to find her footing back.

But behind her... something truly terrifying was occurring.

In this moonlit world, in a straight line behind the vampire, the forest had been changed. The green trees had lost their luster and were instead now gray and white, forever frozen into their new shapes. Same for the grass, same for the bushes, same for all the dust particles in the air. Bats who had flown too close to the ground were dropping in droves, shattering as they impacted upon the cold, stone-like ground that offered no mercy. This line traveled far and deep into the forest, even passing the road and running past it, disappearing into the night.

--- Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that the Shadow had dragged them into this pocket dimension.

For the petrification of a such grand line of forest could not be hidden from the mundane people.

"---- GGkk...! Hah! Haha! Hahahahaa! Good! Good! You truly are a match for your predecessors, wyrm! The power of your Evil Eye is nothing short of magnificent!" The Tyrant laughed, sneering as she struggled against the continuing onslaught of the magical torrent. "But know this, Serpent of Delphi...! I am not as weak to be turned to stone by the likes of you. To even think that a petrification would affect me is---"

"Fool."

Ramia's voice cut the night off, as cold as the Shadow had been before.

"How long do you think I've lived? How many things do you think I've seen? I know better than to petrify a corpse," Ramia announced, a new type of gravitas to her voice. "I know more about immortality than you might think...! I, the chosen of Mehen himself! I've wrestled the secrets of immortality from the hands of those calling themselves gods and lived to tell the tale, all to complete my Magnum Opus! And as for you, Nosferat of Wallachia... I've prepared a completely new type of fate!"

The next second showed just what the lamia meant.

Ramia Ramalsaqr's words were not simple idle bravado or foolish hope.

Instead, those present saw how the extended hand of the vampire, who had been slowly making her way against the current, turned pale in color, turned rigid in movement, and eventually started to harden... harden to the point that it became useless. It started from the tips of her fingers, her long nails shattering away and crumbling to dust as they could not support themselves in such a brittle form. With wide, shocked eyes, the nosferat glared at the new form that her hand was gaining... and understood. It was not a mistake to say that her hand had gained a new form. In truth, that was exactly what was going on...!

"--- So you'd bypass my immortality by transmutating my cells at a molecular level, one at a time? Hah... Hah! Ingenious! You were never true monster either, were you!? No... you're an alchemist, through and through, one with powers I have not seen in quite a while...! Hah! Such interesting company you gather, Boy! Never would I have thought to find someone here who could accomplish such complex alchemy simply by their vision alone!"

She laughed.

She laughed and laughed.

She laughed and laughed and laughed, until she could laugh no more.

All the while her feet started to turn into marble, just like her right hand was. Her hair was taking that same form, and the precious bats that shielded their Tyrant were thinning in numbers rapidly. It would not take long for someone with even her defenses to be turned completely into a statue of marble, like those of Ancient Greece, turning her immortal body into something that was not.

Indeed... what good was the ability to not die if your body was never alive in the first place?

She knew that.

The Tyrant knew that.

Which was why...

... Her laughter stopped.

Origin Spell

ARCHE ULTIMA

Kazıklı Bey - Inversare


Thus... it died.

Victory.

Success.

Hope.

All of them died when those words were uttered.

There wasn't even time to react to it, much less understand what was going on.




For a moment, Ramia Ramalsaqr had been pushing back the dread vampyr with a spell comparable in power to what she had used before... and suddenly it was gone. The light of the Gorgon's Eye was gone, and instead, all it had left behind was a straight line of forest turned into a marble husk of itself. For a moment, it had felt like that the combined strategy of John and Ramia could have finished the job that Elaine had started, buying them all time and perhaps, perhaps, saving the life of the golden hunter.

But all of it had died.

And it was not the only thing that had died.

Where once had stood a squirming, quivering, writhing mass of monstrous snakes...

... Was now a mountain of mangled flesh, impaled by hundreds of red and black spears that had emerged from within the monster.

And the abomination that was left alive after this guesome scene, after this denial of hope...

--- Was the beating heart of a nightmare, gazing upon this field of massacre with bloodshot eyes full of fury.



"If you are to kill someone... do it as quick as you can. Because if someone like me has even a one second to act... I will end you in that instant."

Those were the only words it offered to the dead Ramia Ramalsaqr.

---

[Shadow of the Moon: Turned to marble in 5 Rounds!]
[Process Interrupted!]
[Ramia Ramalsaqr: 100 - 50 = 50 x (5 - 2 = Minimum of 1) = 50 Sanguine Damage (PHYS Defense) Total!]
[Ramia Ramalsaqr: Dies!]

--> Round 4, Turn 14: Elaine Winters
--> Round 4, Turn 15: John Dove

---

New Ability Witnessed!

Shadow of the Moon

STR: A

END: B

AGI: S

WIL: ?

INT: ?

EGO: S

Perks:

Moonlight Presence
Automatically changes the battlefield to one governed by the [Moon Phase - Full Moon]. In addition, every creature that can see the Shadow of the Moon and who is at least partially human is assaulted by a Fear effect. Those with WIL Defense of 4 or lower suffered Frightened status effect when in the presence of the Shadow of the Moon, though they only have their movement speed halved when moving towards her.

Flourish & Parry
Sometimes it is not enough to be able to dodge. Sometimes you also need to be able to parry attacks, deflect them aside with your own weapon or limbs. Exchanging attacks like that leaves much less room for actually punishing the opponent, but at least you are keeping yourself safer. When you take this Perk, you can sacrifice one or more of your attacks on the Turn after your enemy has attacked you. For each attack you sacrifice, the enemy's attack has +20% greater chance of missing. If the enemy makes multiple attacks, you can divide the parry chance (in segments of 10%) to each of them. However, you cannot parry attacks of an enemy who has STR two Ranks higher than yours.

Abilities:

???
Rank: ???
Element: Air
Mana Cost: ???
Calls down a pillar of extreme winds from the night sky and targets one creature within 40 meters of the caster. Those with EGO Defense of 4 or lower are unable to resist the conjured galeforce that threatens to snatch them up like a localized F5-Class tornado. If the target has their EGO defense overcome, they are flung into the direction of the caster's choosing for up to 50 meters. For each Rank in STR attribute past Rank F, reduce the maximum amount that the target can be flung by 10 meters. As the target is thrown around by winds, they do not suffer full effects of gravity, and any falling damage they take is halved (rounded down down to a minimum of 1). Further information pending...

???
Rank: ???
Element: Air
Mana Cost: ???
Conjures a restraining wind that blows down from the heavens, pushing down on a target within 20 meters. The force is equal to that of getting stuck underneath falling rubble from a collapsing building, making it very hard to move without proper strength. When cast, the target makes a STR saving throw with a modifier of +3. If they roll equal or under their own STR Rank, they are capable of moving through the wind as normal. If not, they are both Prone and Restrained for a duration of 3 Rounds. At the end of their own subsequent Turns, they may attempt an athletics skill check with a modifier of +3 in order to escape the effect. Further information pending...

???
Rank: ???
Element: Sanguine
Mana Cost: ???
A spell that weaves the user's blood into artificial layer of concentrated muscle and sinew around the arm and drives accelerated mana through it, turning it into prana in the process. The physical power of the user skyrockets for an instant, making it possible to strike at tremendous force with a single attack. However, the increase in power makes the arm's dexterity suffer. Upon casting this spell, make a single melee attack while halving your ACC. Upon hit, double the amount of physical damage you would have caused. If the attack would cause an injury in the opponent, automatically roll from the Massive Injury table. Further information pending...

???
Rank: ???
Element: Darkness
Mana Cost: ???
Accelerate pure darkness into a physical form and gather it into a singular spot. This spot is held aloft by the natural familiars of the user, and is then launched towards an opponent within 10 meter range. The target must make an EGO Saving Throw with a modifier of +1. Upon failure, they become blinded for 2 Rounds. Further information pending...

Kazıklı Bey - Inversare
Rank: S
Element: Sanguine
Mana Cost: ???
Arche Ultima - Origin Spell. The greatest nightmare that the land of Romania, Wallachia specifically, has ever produced. It is spoken in same hushed tones as the legend of the vampires themselves, and it is the birthright of those who are born into the original bloodline of vampiric beings of this world - and acts as their royal regalia. When activated, choose one target within 20 meters. The spell takes control of their blood and uses it to create iron spears that burst out of the target, impaling them from the inside. In its unbridled form, the spell creates up to 100 spears from within the opponent. However, each +1 above zero in Natural Physical Defense lowers the amount of spears that can be created by 10, all the way up to resisting them all. Each spear causes 2 Sanguine damage against the Physical defense of the target. If the target is brought down to 0 HP by these spears, they are instantly killed instead of going into Desperation Turns. This instant-kill effect also overrides the Auto-Life function of Perk [Not Over Yet]. Indeed, it almost feels like it was designed specifically to do so...

Further information pending...

New Ability Witnessed!

Ramia Ramalsaqr

STR: ?

END: A

AGI: C

WIL: C

INT: ?

EGO: C

Equipment:

Chastel Bullets
Rank: B
A bullet designed to hunt those that are notoriously vulnerable to silver, even if otherwise powerful and mythical creatures of the Turnside. When shot with these bullets, creatures known in folklore to be vulnerable silver bullets suffer following effects: 1) Their Supernatural-type defense is nullified against the attac. 2) The bullets count as a Holy Elemental damage. 3) Bullets cause +2 damage upon a hit.

Spells:

???
Rank: ???
A landmine filled with supernatural power that activates in an explosion when a humanoid target other than the creator walks over it. Shoots out dark tendrils that attach themselves to the flesh of the target. Those with EGO defense equal or lower than 3 are restrained on the spot and stunned for ? amount of Turns. The initial explosion deals 4 Curse Elemental damage against all creatures within 3 meters against their EGO defense. Further information pending...

Aegis Gorgoneion
Rank: A?
Recreation of the mythical stare of a gorgon, made possible by how the myths of ancient serpent-like monsters blend into each other. It can only be utilized when in true form, as it requires the usage of the appendage-familiars available then. The stare takes a form of a 3 meter wide line that extends up to 50 meters straight ahead, though the elevation of the main body allows some manipulation of where the beam hits the targets. Each and every target upon that line must check their EGO Defense against the ability. As long as the targets reside within the stare, their bodies are slowly transmuted into marble, upon which's completition they are counted as a special form of Petrified - Effectively dead. The amount of Rounds it takes to turn a person into marble is their EGO Defense halved (rounded down). However, once out of the effect area, the petrification starts to revert, the duration being equal to the amount of Rounds targets have been petrified. In other words, to truly petrify stronger targets, one must keep the pressure of the stare upon them, Round after Round. The stare can be kept up by paying the mana cost each Round, and can be repositioned at the start of each Turn of the user. Further information pending...

[Verg Avesta]

Lucille Faraday, Hisa Momoi, Elise Pelltier & Vier Wolff
Location: Pinefall High Dormitory
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

"Vier..."

Aleen's voice was quiet, tiny and oddly distant when she gazed at her friend who had arrived at the top of the stairs. The bluehead's red eyes slowly made their way from the expressionless face she had to the clothes she was wearing and finally... to the gun she was holding. Immediately Aleen's brow furrowed. She didn't like what she was seeing. She didn't like it one bit. There was already the thing with what she had said, or rather, accused Vier earlier today...

... And this hadn't made her mood any better.

Much less increase her trust in her friend.

"... What'cha doing with that gun, Vier?" Aleen asked quietly, taking a step forward. "Didn't you hear? Colt was shot... some unknown girl was shot... that's not something you should be brandishing right now."

Mercedes, who had been watching this situation unfold from the sidelines with an... odd look on her face snorted and rolled her eyes.

"You've got that right. Like, gawd, Wolff... it's like you're trying to egg people on here," Mercedes spoke out, before narrowing her eyes at the girl on top of the stairs. "Your rep as a professional seems a bit overblown if this is how you, like, do things. Seriously."

Then, having said her piece, the actress turned towards Hisa. The plan had been set before them, a plan for checking out just what had happened to Pyry Leijonamieli (even if it had gotten its start with a rather weird way). However, while nobody had disagreed with that plan of action, the way the group should have gone about it... now there was a hurdle. Both groups had a point. It would have been good to protect this place, establish a base of operations where people could return to in case something bad went down... yet at the same time, splitting up was always a dangerous option. Especially when things had already gone so wrong.

"Anyways, I don't mind with a group coming with us. But, like, Hisa here has a point. We won't all fit in, especially with that big lug included," Mercedes spoke addressing her words first to all the girls. "What I do mind is looking like I'm from some gawdawful exploitation film. So, before we leave, I'm gonna, like, put actual clothes on while you-"

Mercedes gently poked Hisa to the shoulder with her finger.

"-Eat something quick and fast. I know you're, like, in a hurry, but you ain't gonna be any help to that man of yours if you keel over from hunger. Just eat in the car if you need."

Having said that, the starlet then turned towards Lucille, and pointed her thumb to the staircase.

"Lucy, can you, like, handle gathering all the food we can use from the fridge? Something quick. And make sure this dummy here eats," she asked, flashing a smirk at her blonde. "Meanwhile, me and Aleen are, like, gonna go dress decent and Elise gets her own stuff. Like, we gotta be fast, but we also gotta be efficient. No sense in tripping over ourselves by being too hasty."

To Mercedes's surprise, she suddenly found someone poking at her shoulder. Turning around, the starlet saw Gradient standing behind her, quizzical look on her face. A sound of "Fooo~?" and a confused tilt of her head, however, made it quite clear what the mysterious girl was asking about. Chuckling slightly under her breath, Mercedes patted to the strange girl on the shoulder, before making a not-so-sneaky nod towards Hisa.

"... You can watch that she won't just, like, run off or something. Make sure she won't get herself, like, in trouble before she gets to rub it in to that blondie that it was her who saved his ass."

Glancing at Hisa too, Gradient beamed a short smile and let out an affirmative:

"Muu~!"

[Mormarth]

“Haaah, haaah.”

Blood dripped from her fist, the mark of her blow evident in the shadow’s brow.

The great wyrm, the alchemist, shrieked its cry and delivered its blow, pierced by a thousand thousand stakes in recompense.

She had died.

Even now, there was only meat and gristle, the nosferat had taken her blow and devoured her, not without scars.

“Haaah…”

She could barely even muster the strength to remain standing, the world was growing silent.

The golden-green glow that had suffused the form of the great beast, the predator that embraced defiance…

Had begun to fade.

Along with it, even in the glow of the full moon high, the monstrous form of the lycanthrope had started to recede, the curse following the numen in its slow departure.

Emerging from the beast’s core, she looked the same, injured, beaten and bruised, pushed to the very brink, exhaustion and pain raked at her limbs, shaking with the slightest effort, as the weapon she had never had the chance to use fell to the grass. Still dull brown-red from the night before.

Her stolen Stake, useless to her now.

Her eyes, bright like grass on a warm summer’s day, still burned, just as angry and defiant as the great beast’s glower.

The hill was quiet now, the struggle had reached the climax, now the action was falling.

Nude but for the coating of blood and some bare scraps of cloth that some serendipity had blessed her with, the hunter stepped forward.

Pain.

A message from the world itself, but it was not an angry voice.

It was a quiet one, sad but tinged with pride, saying that it was okay, that she had done her best, no one could ask for more.

She could stop hurting.

Another step.

Countless other voices flickered at the edge of hearing, Johnny Sunset, the devil-sworn singer, Eva Swein, the broken doll, Danny, Flora, Sam, Kent and the kids from the ruined orphanage.

Roddy Francisco, the fake charlatan, who’d baited his sidhe kindred into the open at the cost of his life. One last trick for the road.

Victories.

Tragedies.

Failures.

Another step.

She could see every pore in the fake-thing’s face, blood and earth crawling out.

A hand creaked with strain, every twitch a nightmare, every shudder endless agony, pain on top of pain.

Her breath was a rattling thing, a dying engine on its last legs, fit for a sick bed.

Now, at the end, the scars on her body stood out to the world.

Cuts from claws, blades and conjured winds, burns from fire both natural and not.

Lines from lightning, stretch marks from the life sucked from her veins.

Burn marks from silver chains, without a struggle.

“Hrrrraaaahhh…”

Every mark born from duty, betrayal and sacrifice, all to end with this.

A struggle for nothing but pride.

What a pain.

I’m sorry, Daniel.

I couldn’t find you.

“Haaaaaaahhhnnnnn…!!”

It was more like a push than a proper punch, weakened, sluggish, nothing behind it but the last thoughts, the last moments of a girl.

A girl who wanted to be a hero.

It landed.

Squarely upon the shoulder, a dull smck echoing through the silence, a last percussion to the opera of violence, madness, betrayal and death. A last flare of light in the false night, embers in a flame gone out.

And then…

“...”

There was silence.

[Elaine Winters has died]

[Ayakashi]

--- Vivienne Bianchi Date: 11.09.1994 (SAT) Location: Road's End - Streets Phase: Evening Phase Weather: Overcast ---

Something sinister had happened here, no doubt... but the same could be said about the events that had transpired at Owl's Nest. Was madness descending onto every part of Road's End? There was this dreary atmosphere, as if a certain day of reckoning had come. A day of misfortune.

That girl that had spoken through Pyry's past, Angelica, she had given a warning about all of this, hadn't she? Even muse had hinted about this oncoming calamity.

Which is why it was better that she was careful in approaching these two here, and logically anyways, it wasn't certain that they would take well to her emerging out of nowhere. She was wounded as well and Hwan might get somewhat suspicious. While Vivienne knew Travis a bit, Hwan was not someone she had interacted with even once, and it was easy to tell from the conversation he was having with Travis that... he was part of the Turnside. What exactly had lead to the circumstances here, Vivienne had no idea, but from the looks of it, it appeared that someone had just been killed... so who knew what Hwan could do to her if her presence was a nuisance to him?

The best course of action for now was to stay in the shadows and see what was going on.

[Kuroyuki]

Vier Wolff
Location: Pinefall High Dormitory
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

"Vier… What'cha doing with that gun, Vier? Didn't you hear? Colt was shot... some unknown girl was shot... that's not something you should be brandishing right now."

I didn’t respond to Aleen King’s words instead I started musing about what she said. Colt Davin and an unknown girl was killed by a gun… So there’s another assailant? If they’re using a gun that must mean that they’re either trained like me or it was a weapon of opportunity.

"You've got that right. Like, gawd, Wolff... it's like you're trying to egg people on here. Your rep as a professional seems a bit overblown if this is how you, like, do things. Seriously."

“Reputation is nothing if I approach an unknown group during this time and end up dead. Especially since one of you is covered in blood.” I nudged my chin towards Elise Pelltier. “Also whatever your issue is, it's not definitely something as normal as a split personality.”

I considered whether I should join the rescue team or the home defense team. I certainly knew more about assaulting and elimination than being a static defense force. However, having the group separate would make my objective hard considering that anyone who went could be it.

“If we’re going to split up the group, I wouldn’t mind watching the dorms. That was going to be my original plan from the start if people were still planning on staying here.” I looked at the two probably normal humans, “And if people think I’m going to kill them. Just barricade yourself in a random room and stay away from windows. The dressers should be heavy enough to buy time to escape or tire them out enough.”

I pause for a little bit on how to increase overall survival chance.

“I guess they can arm themselves with kitchen cleavers to ambush anyone who attempts to break down the door,” I point towards the kitchen area where there was enough to arm all of us if we were desperate enough. “Also after you leave, I was thinking about barricading as much as I could on the second floor.”

"-Eat something quick and fast. I know you're, like, in a hurry, but you ain't gonna be any help to that man of yours if you keel over from hunger. Just eat in the car if you need."

The talk of food reminded me that I failed to eat today as well. I was aware of making food earlier but it wasn’t for me. A little girl who Elaine Winters wanted me to watch for some reason… I’ve definitely failed Elaine Winters when it came to that. I felt some guilt at that but I’m not stupid enough to go look for someone at this time without a more valid reason other than “a favor.”

“If all you need is some fast and filling food, I’m sure I can make some Hard Tack using some of Sakura’s baking ingredients in a few minutes. It won’t be tasty but it should do the job.”

It’s not like Sakura was going to be able to use it any more. Waste not, want not. It would be asking for trouble if they go into any upcoming Turnside battles at anything less than their best. That includes myself. With that said, I decided to excuse myself from them to the kitchen. Even if they say no, I could always use more food in case I do ever decide to temporarily withdraw to Seattle.

[Verg Avesta]

Anna Vandemeel
Location: Road's End - End's Mercy Hospital
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast
[BGM]

The journey hadn't been long, but it had been exhausting... in a number of ways.

First there was the issue of the nameless little girl. Her cough had continued to get worse, but from the looks of it, both her illness and having to head out like this had gotten to her eventually. About halfway through their trip to the hospital, the girl had fallen asleep on Travis's back. Now the tough-looking thug was hushing anyone who spoke with a loud voice, looking like he would bite the head off from anyone who'd wake her up. In a way, it was somewhat surprising, but it had gotten quite clear that as big of a bastard he played himself up to be, Travis had a soft spot for kids in need of help.

Gabi, on the other hand, was suffering from different kinds of problems. The androgynous boy, just like last time, proved himself to be quite weak in body as not ten minutes of walking in the forest had already left him exhausted and sweating. Now he practically leaned all his weight to Caleb as they walked, the latter supporting the former with his one arm that wasn't carrying his drawing utensils. Of course, supporting Gabi wasn't that hard of a thing to do - the boy weighed as much as a small house cat - but at the same time, it made their pace slower.

Which was why everybody was glad when the End's Mercy Hospital finally came into view.

"... Finally. I was starting to doubt your orienteering skills," Caleb quipped to Anna as they emerged from the forest... though his face grew immediately more serious. "Still... that doesn't look good. Or inviting. Hell. If anything, it looks foreboding. Almost like a bloody horror flick."

The artist wasn't wrong. First there was the fog. As the hospital was situated at a lower elevation than the rest of the town, there was always some fog around it... but now it seemed thicker than ever. The large white building was darkened, without any lights on except for the fluorescent emergency exit lights on the first floor - their green glow giving the place a rather eerie look. The way the wind howled around the grey block-like building, becoming whispers as it descended from overcast skies high above was unnerving... as was the fact that even from here, at the edge of the forest and some 100 meters from the main doors, the group could see that the doors... were slightly ajar. Both the outer gates and the entrance to the building itself.

Like they had been inviting people to come in.

"Yeah... that's not suspicious at all," Travis grunted quietly, clicking his tongue. "Us aside, I thought that place was supposed to a real hospital. Which means it should have some fucking patients in there, even if it's a small town. Having the whole place look abandoned is just... well, it's ridiculously suspicious. I can smell a trap of some sort all the way from here."

Gabi, heaving heavy breaths to try to catch his bearings, nodded quietly as he clung to the arm of Caleb. His maroon eyes were locked to the entrance of the hospital, after which they scanned the windows for a moment... only for the boy to whimper in momentary pain and mutter something that sounded like: "... Nicht jetzt, Mutter... nicht jetzt...". Just as quickly as that odd moment had come, it passed, and Gabi turned his eyes towards Anna in an expectant way.

"....... What will we do......?" he asked as silence fell over the group again.

An oppressive silence.

Silence of the grave.

Silence that was... eerie, in many ways.

However, Gabi's words made Anna realize something. During the day after she had arrived to the dorms, and on their journey from the campus, through the woods and now to the hospital... the three boys had started to default to her whenever it came about deciding what to do. Almost like they had come to view her as some sort of leader of their ragtag group... and perhaps they had. Travis aside, both Caleb and Gabi clearly viewed the girl in favorable terms and trusted her decisions... and she had even earned the respect of the school's resident delinquent by healing the girl (at least for the moment) so easily.

But whether it was a goo thing or a bad thing to be thrusted upon a leadership position like this, at a time like this... well, that was a whole other thing.

[Verg Avesta]

Vivienne Bianchi
Location: Road's End - Streets
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast
[BGM]

"Hmm... who knows, honestly? After the stunt he pulled, he might just be," Hwan answered, letting out a sigh. "But honestly... I don't know, man. I doubt, as mad as he was, he could've done... that. Makes my stomach turn just thinking 'bout it. Even if she was as annoying as shot to the head, that Italian girl deserved better."

Having said that, the white-haired youth heaved another sigh and sat down on one of the rocks that had been spared from being splattered with the green goop. Just one look at him told how tired the youth was. His whole body seemed to shiver in the after-effects of some pain, almost like his nerve-endings were sending out agonizing spasm through his body. Muttering something inaudible under his breath, Hwan rubbed his temples to mitigate his exhaustion.

Travis, on the other hand, wandered around the "blast zone" that they were in, kicking over few smaller rocks and trying out the goop a few times with his foot. Occasionally Vivienne could also hear the sound of his foot hitting something metallic, or perhaps ceramic, but from her current vantage point she couldn't make out what it was. There seemed to be lot of them, however, and judging by the sound, they weren't that large.

"So... what the hell are we supposed to do now?" Travis asked, gesturing around him. "No offense man, and thanks for saving my ass back there, but you look like you're about to bite the bullet soon. I doubt you'll be able to take on another supernatural whackjob."

Hwan, hearing that, chuckled bitterly.

"Yeah, you got that right. Not if they're on the top of their game and fresh from the showers... though I've got this gut feeling that this ain't the only place where shit's gone down today," the white-haired boy replied. "But... hmm... what to do..."

Hwan paused for a moment to rub his chin. His eyes wandered in the treetops and he seemed to be looking at the sky... or no, not at the sky itself. It was more as if he was looking at something on the sky, searching for something invisible that was out of everyone's reach. A disappointed groan echoed from his lips, and the boy shook his head.

"Payphones ain't working, so fat lot good is that gonna do to us. I'm useless when it comes to machines, and I bet you're too. I think I remember my briefing stating something 'bout a person who could naturally access radio frequencies... but that's neither here or there. For everything we know, they might be one of the dead," Hwan continued, sounding more and more morose. "Honestly... at this point I'm ready to cut my losses and just flee the town. But I doubt that'll be so easy."

Travis, who had been silently listening, leaned against a tree and folded his arms across his chest. From where he was, he gazed at the younger boy, before opening his mouth.

"... What if we look for allies?"

That made Hwan snort.

"Like who? The only one I know I can trust is that girl, Lucille, and that's because I doubt a girl with an extreme case of PTSD could do something so fucking monstrous," the boy said, his voice sounding a bit hollow. "As for others... no idea. The more capable they'd be of stabbing us in the back, the more I'd distrust them. Nothing good comes out of trusting people. After all, it's impossible to know what the other person is thinking. So if we're going to trust someone, we'll trust someone we can kill if they betray us."

Travis, hearing that, laughed his own, humorless laugh.

"Like me?" the thug asked.

Hwan answered with nothing but a tired, sharp grin... which made the taller youth laugh even harde.

"Speaking of which... we better hide the evidence," Travis continued finally. "The last thing I want is for certain others to find out about this."

Hwan gazed at the green goop for a moment and nodded.

"Yeah... Elaine Wintes would kill us if she saw this."

... What an odd thing to say.

[Daneel Rush]

Location: Road to Town
Phase: Midnight
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Darkness



In an instant, it is over. As if he would expect her to be any less than brutally efficient. Ramia Ramalsaqr lies dead, a monstrous mass made all the more grotesque in death. Elaine Winters too lies dead, the flame of her life finally extinguished after incessant struggle. John idly wonders what Elaine Winters believed; what her faith told her about her fate after death. Perhaps her soul is rising to the heavens. Perhaps, if he steps out of this dense woodland and looks up at the sky, he will find a cloud that reminds him of her. Also, he never got her to tell him what happened to Ubon. Really, after all, he did not even have the chance to think of a way to end the violence without the loss of life.

It is the fact that he remembers their names, that he has such idle thoughts, that most clearly shows something has changed within John Dove. After all, the worth of the dead is zero. There should be no reason for their names to remain in his thoughts now that they no longer live. He laments their deaths, in the sense that all deaths are a loss to the world. The circumstances are not to lament; even if they were set against an unsurpassable barrier, the choice to fight was theirs and theirs alone.

“I may speak from ignorance, but…” He starts, glancing down at Elaine’s corpse. “I still think she did not deserve death.”

Furthermore, from a purely self-centered point, this whole ordeal has been a plus for him, has it not? He has grasped the truth, and for good or ill, he has found her.

Nevertheless, he now stands alone with the mighty killer. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing…well, that does not really matter.

He already tried to free himself from the magical air currents, to no avail. What is left to do, then? It does not feel right to say what he really wants to tell her while trapped in wind; while unable to see her face still cloaked in darkness except for those clearly inhuman yet beautiful eyes. What he does know is that he is no longer the feeble child of that night, the one who could only stare in awe. On the other hand, it is perhaps because he does not yet witness her beauty transcendent that he is still in full use of his faculties.

Might as well make the best of that. By the way, he hopes his sketchbook and “Mercy’s notebook” are still in one piece.

“Was it like this on that night as well?” He says, struggling to shake his head right afterwards. “No, I guess not. There was nobody like Elaine and Ramalsaqr back then, I think.”

Of course, there was a time he had a desire to ask those questions. “Why did my parents have to die?” or “Why was I the only one left alive?” Eventually, as his psyche ground even the memory of his progenitors lain dead at her feet into discarded sediment, those questions too lost all their meaning. Now that he knows what he knows, what point is there to ask reasons and justifications from one who slays and saves at a whim?

In the end, the only thing that remains is a simple, unhinged wish. Before that, however, he wants to face her properly again.

“So? Did you enjoy yourself?”

[Verg Avesta]

John Dove
Location: Road to Town
Phase: Midnight
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Darkness
[BGM]

Winds died down.

The night became still.

The dripping of blood faded somewhere far away.

--- The monstrous form of a nightmare disappeared, leaving behind only a woman clad in darkness, bathed in the black moonlight.

"... I do not enjoy myself, Boy. To be immortal is to be removed from life altogether. Its joys, its sorrows, its little gifts that we take for granted when we are alive," the Shadow of the Moon replied quietly, though even now, John could hear her breathing had gotten heavy. "It is only in the impossibly long night that we call death when we truly understand what it means to live. We understand how important it is. To die is a precious experience that every single living thing must go through."

There was a "but" there, somewhere.

It was old wisdom, spoken from a vantage point that few, if any, had reached other than the being before John. Words spoken with a voice that now, more than ever, sounded tired... but not in a physical way. It was mental exhaustion of someone who had existed for too many years. Tone that carried with it so much history that it had started to turn into physical power. Perhaps, at some point, even this being had been like the two opponents it had defeated... moral, emotional, capable of things such as mercy and pity... perhaps once upon a time it had been young and naive too.

But that time was long past.

Indeed, time itself had died to her.

And that was why she was as she was.

"I am as the wind is. I have nothing more but my whims anymore. Random acts of kindness and cruelty as determined by my capricious nature. Do not ask the moon why it shines, or the wind why it blows - do not ask the night why it falls upon the earth and do not ask blood why it spills. They do so because it is in their nature, and that is all there is to it," the Shadow continued. "Something upon this world causes me to appear, and thus I do. I act as I am to act, I unleash myself upon the moment I arrive, and then I disappear. This time... you were the reason, Boy. It was not your fault, but you were the ultimate reason. Remember that."

As the winds that had been holding John down disappeared completely, like they had never existed, the shadow upon moonlight pointed her finger towards the boy's hand... where a familiar "artifact" now rested, having wrapped itself around his hand like it had always been meant to be there.

"Indeed, that was what made you shackled to me, too."

Truly, this artifact...

.. What was it, if not a shackle?

---

Elaine Winters
Location: The End
Phase: Morning Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

In the end... you never found him.

Only bits and pieces, a rumour there or a sighting here.

But, at the same time... you had found something else.

A town.

A school.

Bunch of people.

A week spent more like a teenager than you had spent in a long, long time.

It was almost ironic.

Your main objective was to look for him, and yet... you found everything else but him.

But was that really such a bad thing?

While it might have been time spent in a manner not the most optimal...

... Wasn't it surprisingly fun, in the end?

Not to mention that while you did not find him, you found signs of him.

Signs that he had been alive.

At least for a while he had lived here, in this town near the mountains and the ocean.

And who knows?

Perhaps, even now, he was still alive here... somewhere...

Stranger things had happened, right?

[Mellon]

Anna Vandemeel
Location: Pinefall High - Second Floor
Phase: Morning Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

"... Finally. I was starting to doubt your orienteering skills,"

The girl in red let out a half-amused, half-dismissive snort, as they emerged from the wooden thicket and onto the grounds of End’s Mercy Hospital. The woods around these parts were far less dense than the sprawling Ghostwoods on the other side of town, or even when compared to the woodlands back home. Orienteering in these parts was hardly a challenge, even for complete and utter novices.

Not that she would have issues with getting lost in the Ghostwood either. Though that had less to do with orienteering skills and more with…

“Hmh. Feel free to get out your claymore and set out towards the great unknown, Highlander.” A dry grin flickered on Anna’s face for a moment. “Don’t let my inadequate orienteering skills keep you down, eh?”

"Still... that doesn't look good. Or inviting. Hell. If anything, it looks foreboding. Almost like a bloody horror flick."

"Us aside, I thought that place was supposed to a real hospital. Which means it should have some fucking patients in there, even if it's a small town. Having the whole place look abandoned is just... well, it's ridiculously suspicious. I can smell a trap of some sort all the way from here."

“Mhm...”

The two boys were correct, no doubt. A dense wall of fog seemed to surround the hospital, almost as if wrapping it in an all-enshrouding blanket. The only lights that flickered about the area were the emerald fluorescent lights illuminating the ground floor. Both the gate and the door itself lay ajar but by a couple of centimeters. Enough to invite in unwary travelers, almost like a venus fly trap eager to lure new prey onto its premises.

Anna could not sense any motion whatsoever inside the gray block building that lay in front of her. That in itself was enough to set off a dozen alarm bells all by itself.

"... Nicht jetzt, Mutter... nicht jetzt..."

"....... What will we do......?"

“First, we will catch our breath for a while. You especially, Gabi.” The Estonian girl gave an encouraging smile to the young blonde. “You’re in no shape to rush in there, so just sit down while we try to figure out what we should do here.”

Despite saying that, Anna’s eyes never left the small gate that lay in front of them and the sharpness in her posture seemed to go nowhere. It was clear that whatever period of rest she had in mind for the others, the raven-haired girl herself, had no intention to relax. Nor did she need to, from the looks of it. Unlike Gabi, the small girl, or even Caleb, Anna herself had more than her share of experience in trekking through uninhabited woodlands. Most of her life had been spent sitting under one tree or another, after all.

“Leaving aside this creepy mist… I can’t make out any movement inside.” Ruby eyes scanned the mist-filled gray facade in the distance. “With only the emergency lighting on, I doubt we’ll have much light inside either. Or be able to find a working phone, for that matter.”

“Hmh.” Anna’s eyes turned from the hospital for a moment, towards the rest of the group. “Does anyone have any experience with modern pharmaceuticals? I must admit, while I have some experience in folk herbs and whatnot, I’m pretty clueless when it comes to actually prescribing modern drugs.”

“I was hoping we’d find a doctor or someone at least who’d be able to give us a hand with the brat, but if the entire place looks like this…” A small sigh escaped her lips, as her eyes fell downwards. “Even if we find the medical storage of this place, would it be of any use to us?”

The jacketed girl’s eyes were still aimed at the ground, though any illusion of disheartenment was shattered a moment later, as Anna seemed to spot something in the underbrush and crouched down to pick it up. A moment later, a rock, thin and flat, bounced up and down on Anna’s palm. It looked almost perfect for skipping across a lake, but there was clearly nothing of the sort around.

Anna’s eyes returned to the ajar hospital gate in the distance and she addressed the small blonde who was now sitting down a couple of steps further, her voice completely nonchalant.

“Gabi, what does your "mutter" say about this place?”

Almost at the same time, the raven-haired girl sent the disc-like stone in her hand flying with a casual flick of her wrist, letting it sail above the wall in front of them in a lazy arc and allowing it to vanish a moment later in the white fog in front of them.

[Ayakashi]

--- Vivienne Bianchi Date: 11.09.1994 (SAT) Location: Road's End - Streets Phase: Evening Phase Weather: Overcast ---

There were two options that presented themselves to Vivienne Bianchi. One was to either walk away from here and continue on her way towards Pinefall High, while the other was to go ahead and try to start a dialogue with the two young men here. She had delayed her decision, opting to learn more, to observe more. This was a decision that she had to do while well informed... and in the end, her choice was...

... to step out of the shadows and make herself visible. Approaching Hwan and Travis, slowly, walking with a bit of a limp.

"... help?"

Wherever she was asking for help or offering it, no one really knew, perhaps not even Vivienne herself. But showing a sign that can either be interpreted as distress or the will to cooperate is a good beginning after all.

"Travis... Hwan... hello..."

To say their name would suggest a certain degree of familiarity. Another detail that would help her ease into having a pleasant as possible conversation wiht these two. Well, Vivienne's cautiousness here wasn't because of both of the boys; her previous meeting with Travis lead her to believe that he would welcome her presence. Hwan on the other hand was a big box of unknowns, and seemed like he could turn onto her if things went the wrong way.

"Are you... returning to Pinefall High?"

She inquired, slowly approaching them, but making sure to keep some distance from Hwan as to not intrude on what he would consider his personal space. There was also the fact that Vivienne showing up now also counted as the two being 'found out'.

"It's... dangereous... going alone... can I come?"

Her torn, bloodied clothes and wounded body were testament enough of the danger she herself had gone through. A fellow survivor like them, in a sense. The issue was wherever they would consider her the survivor of a murder attempt, or if she was the one that perpetuated the murder. Only time would tell.

"Alone... dangerous..."

But perhaps they would realize that if she wanted to commit murder, stepping out and revealing herself was not the most logical thing to do. From the shadows, she could have placed daggers between the eyes of each of these -- that was not her wish though. She wanted to find people that could help, people that were still sane... and alive.

"Owl's Nest... Prushie... gone... I couldn't... had to run..."

She never finished her sentence, as if she didn't want to finish it. Her face was as barren as always, but her sideways glance to the ground could tell them enough of what she wanted to feel like, even if she couldn't show anything.

[Thalraxal]

Elise Pelltier
Location: Pinefall High Dormitory
Phase: Evening Phase
Date: 11.09.1994 (SUN)
Weather: Overcast

Loud footsteps announced her presence, and then Vier, with a gun at her side, was standing near the top of the stairs. An apparent lone straggler left behind in the dormitory building. Armed as she was, she did not endear herself to Aleen or Mercedes at this moment.

“Reputation is nothing if I approach an unknown group during this time and end up dead. Especially since one of you is covered in blood. Also whatever your issue is, it's not definitely something as normal as a split personality.”

Elise took a moment to consider just how much blood was on her, and felt a deep pang of regret that she didn't take a shower back in the pool building when she had the chance.

"Uh, yes. Quite. Nothing normal about it at all, but everyone here is already well aware of my, uh, issue," replied Elise, "As for the extra blood since you last saw me... well, that's a long story. I can tell you later."

Would it be more or less comforting if that thing was just some twisted part of my own psyche instead? Ehhh... No.

Elise listened to Hisa and Mercedes discussed the logistics of going to Pyry's aid, and the necessity of splitting up the group to do so.

"I really don't like the idea of splitting up, but it seems like it'll be necessary if we want to help Pyry... Well, unless there's an extra car or two in the parking lot and someone knows how to hot wire a car or something..." Elise paused briefly as she considered an idea, and then added, "Well, actually, I might be able to do something about that, I'd just rather not do that to technically steal a car."

Or. You know. Do that at all right now.

"If we are splitting up though, well, it's a medical emergency, I've got the first aid kit and then some. Between Hisa and I, we can probably get almost anyone back up on their feet right away, which might be critical right now, all things considered. I'd just need to grab my coat, and a snack to go, and I'd be ready."

I also really need to talk to Lucille about a certain subject...

“If all you need is some fast and filling food, I’m sure I can make some Hard Tack using some of Sakura’s baking ingredients in a few minutes. It won’t be tasty but it should do the job.”

With that, Vier turned to leave towards the kitchen. Elise jogged up the stairs to wave down Vier before she left.

"Hey, wait, Vier! Thanks for the offer, but you're the only one with a weapon right now. Why don't you stay in the lobby and keep watch instead?" asked Elise, "I know I'd feel more comfortable with someone on guard duty down here while I was busy."