Post by Khaos on Sept 6, 2021 17:17:59 GMT -5
*** OOC Note ***
This has been a major part of my story that I've been trying to tell for awhile. It ended up being much longer/bigger than I thought it would be so that's why it finds its way onto our beloved Character Development board. I don't know if she's around these parts anymore, but a big "thank you" to Val (Arcana/Lycana) for assisting me with telling this part of Khaos' story. Some of you who are in XWF may recognize some of the parts within as Val and I did our own interpretation of this scene so as to make it better fit our individual narratives. Anyway, hope you all enjoy!
Damien Carter’s eyes slowly fluttered to life as he keenly took in his surroundings, the breath returning to his lungs in soft and shallow gasps. He lay shirtless on a rough slate surface, the jagged edges of the rock crafted in the vision of hands risings up out of the deep, their fingers intertwined and linked, giving off an eerie distinction that he had been – physically – raised up from the depths of hell. The room was dark, dimly lit by a few torches on either side of him as a cool breeze blew within the cave-like room he found himself in. The selective memories of the past year, the ones he had relived through the reflective waters of the Crucible, hit him first… followed by his short stay in the In-Between. Had he really done it? Had he truly escaped death and found his way back to the land of the living? He heard voices but they seemed to be muffled, none of their words making any type of sense to him. Damien’s body ached all over, as if he had just been in a car accident and the vehicle had tumbled off the road, rolled down a steep hill, before finally plummeting into the deep ravine below. He tried lifting his head to see where the stifled noises emanated from, but there seemed to be a delay between his bodies response to his brain’s commands. Closing his eyes, Damien swallowed hard as he tried to figure out what parts of him he did have control over. He felt the smooth, delicate, feminine fingers trace over his chest, resting on the six-pointed sun star encircled by three symmetrical barriers – the eternal reminder of his initial encounter with the “Light Bringer”. His heart beat faster at her touch as he willed his eyes open. Of all the possible faces he thought he’d see standing at his side, hers was the last one he expected.
Her gaze was full of concern as she peered down at him, her eyes slowly trailing over all the features of his face. Her fingers lightly trace the outline of the scar as she shifts her stare to look at it. She bows her head slightly, cerulean hair falling like a curtain as she does so, a soft sigh emerging. After all this time, seeing him once more brought the old feelings to the surface, remembering all that had happened. What had once been, and what it had become.
Her fingers move now, skimming across his body towards the freshest wound, surrounded by the random little scars that she knew by heart. She stops short of touching it, a slight frown turning the corners of her mouth down. Sloppy work. Or nicely placed, depending on what they had been going for. In any case, it had been quite a blow, and he had had no chance of surviving it.
Her eyes drift back up towards his face. There was never any question about her bringing him back; she just hoped this time went better than... she blinks, and then blinks again, her steel-blue orbs colliding with his.
“Damien?” her voice is the barest of whispers, hardly audible as if she dared not hope.
Damien’s stare locked with hers and for a moment, he was transported back in time to a place he seemed to frequent often in his mind… Hecate’s Sanctuary. She had done her best to break him then, probably would’ve succeeded had it not been for Erebus arriving when he did.
“Lycana?” Damien blinked, trying to make sense of it.
The rush of emotions began to overtake him as he looked back at her piercing gaze. Elation for being alive again; confusion as to where he was; panic as to why he seemed paralyzed and unable to move, fear at seeing her standing before him; pain… the intense pain! Damien’s eyes rolled back into his skull, his head suddenly thrashed about, his body unexpectedly began to convulse, and his voice returned to him in the form of an excruciating scream, one that echoed off the walls and forced those in attendance to recoil at the sound. He felt all of it, all at once; the years of torture, of Lycana perfecting her craft, the vile pleasure she derived from cutting him just so, forcing the exact reaction from him she had hoped for. There was nothing they could do, only watch helplessly as Damien’s body flopped around like a fish out of water. Eventually, his body came to rest on the stone once more as the room filled with silence, Damien’s chest rising and falling with deep breaths, indicating he was still alive.
For long moments, nobody moved; everyone waiting with baited breath to see if anything else would occur. Then all at once, it seems to “whoosh” from them as they return to animation.
“What did you do?!” the petite redhead hissed as she scurried over to stand by the blue-haired witch.
“I warned you that I didn’t know how he would be!” Lycana snarkily replied, seeming unwilling to give up her spot by Damien’s side as the other woman tried to peer over her to see him better.
Lycana stared at Damien, emotions flickering across her face as she finally caves and slides backwards a little bit, allowing the crimson-haired one to take her place at his shoulder. Her hands float in the air like butterflies, wanting to touch but also unsure if it would be welcomed or not.
“Damien, are you... are you okay?” she inquired, her eyes searching his face.
Damien squeezed his eyes closed as he tried to settle his heart, taking in deep breaths. Hearing that soft, soothing, familiar voice again forced him to blink away the pain, his focus drifting from the cool desolate eyes of Lycana to the fire infused pupils of her rival, Arcana.
“Kaiya,” Damien smiled slightly, the words leaving his lips like an exasperated gasp for breath. “You’re okay…”
He hadn’t seen her in years, thought her lost to him forever; just another one of Hecate’s loyal acolytes, sworn into eternal servitude of the” Goddess of Light”. There had been times that he thought she might be dead; even took solace in that. At least, then, she would’ve been at peace. But seeing her now, he felt almost guilty for ever thinking such things. She was alive! The years had changed her, but she still was as beautiful as ever… her hair a shade of dark red that when the light of the torch caught it just right, it reminded him of the fire that had forged them together. He couldn’t believe it… she was okay; Erebus had actually told him the truth! He thought he might’ve experienced anger with her in this moment, feel the resentment for how things had ended between them, believing that these raw emotions would boil up and over the surface. Instead, in the darkest of places, she had found him again, and he was ecstatic.
With trembling fingers, he reached for her hand. But as they grazed across her skin, Damien’s smile faded, visions of flames roaring all around him, consuming everyone and everything in its path. He watched it circle all around him, taunting him, before it rolled over the entire surface of the room. Lycana turned to ash in an instant, Arcana faded to dust, and he was – once again – left all alone, the fire only ever looking to scar him, never to kill.
“It’s not real,” Damien tried to convince himself as he crushed his eyes together, the tears welling up behind them. “They’re not here, it’s just a dream… it has to be.”
“No Damien... it’s not,” Arcana’s voice croons.
Her hand finds its way into his, fingers intertwining as she laughs softly, the sound catching on a sob as she looks down at her friend. Her other hand comes up to cup his cheek, gently applying pressure to try and make him turn his face to her.
“I’m here, it's real,” Kaiya’s words are shaky, filled with a maelstrom of feelings.
Her thumb rubs slowly across his warm flesh, over and over, as if assuring herself it was, indeed real and he was back among the living. She knew she should thank Lycana, but for right now, she was too entranced by the response from Damien to even look away from him.
This time, her delicate touch did not bring back any painful memories or foretell visions of impending death. Damien swallowed hard, letting himself open his eyes so as to look upon her face once more. His fingers clenched tightly into hers, almost as if afraid that were he to let go, she’d be lost to him forever.
“How is this possible?” Damien asked, his mind racing a mile-a-minute, the questions flooding out of him. “How are you here, Kaiya? And why is SHE here!? Where is ‘here’ even? Is this Cate’s doing!? I’m not going back…”
The thought of being at the mercy of the “Light Bringer” once more was enough to force Damien to strain against his invisible bonds; his mind trying to will his body to rise up off the stone slab, but his strength still failed him. The best he could manage was to get himself propped up onto his side, his eyes nervously darting around the room as if he was waiting for the proverbial axe to fall at any moment.
“Shhh,” Kaiya shushes him.
Her hand moves to run gently over his head, moving to try and keep his gaze on her, to calm him. She is quiet for a moment, picking just what to answer first.
“Lycana brought you back from the dead Damien, we are somewhere on her packlands,” Arcana slowly began, smiling faintly.
The sapphire-haired vixen slowly inched her way backwards, away from Damien as Kaiya answered him. She came to halt beside a large, muscular man who had remained partially-hidden in the shadows. He was tall and broad, with lightly spiked brown hair, a scruffy beard, and piercing blue eyes that were locked onto Damien as he, instinctively, slid an arm around Lycana’s slender waist.
None of this made sense; why would Lycana bring him back!? She had no love lost for him, or Arcana. And the packlands… the werewolves tended to keep to themselves, rarely interfering in affairs like this. Then again, he had thought the same of the vampires, and he vividly remembered how bold they had gotten. Still, if what Arcana said was true… the blue portal he had seen in the In-Between had been because of Lycana.
“I suppose you expect some sort of ‘thank you’ from me,” Damien finally answered, taking his eyes off his friend and glancing over at Lycana, noticing the bodyguard-type figure next to her. “And who the hell are you?”
An expression of hurt crossed Lycana’s face before it was gone, nearly instantaneously wiped away to be replaced by her normal cool, calm and collected state. She lays a hand on the pectoral muscle of the big man next to her as his body tenses, his lip curling slightly at the tone that Damien had used towards her.
“Marf,” was his snarled reply, nothing more forthcoming.
“No ‘thank you’ needed Damien,” Lycana filled the silence, her voice quiet and nearly toneless.
“I’m sorry, did he just regurgitate inside his mouth or was that his actual name?” Damien satirically asked, looking back to Arcana. “You didn’t answer me before Kaiya… how did you find me?”
Damien grunted against his physical limitations and muscle atrophy as he, with help from Arcana, managed to pull himself up to a seated position, getting a better vantage point of the room. It was small, circular by nature. It appeared to have only one entrance, and that was guarded by the witch and her troll. Above him, dangling preciously overhead was a rather large bell that could easily squash him and his friend in an instant. For some reason, looking upon it, Damien didn’t feel quite “safe” anymore.
A low growl followed his waspish comment as Marf moved to step forward, but the pressure from Lycana’s hand, as small as it was, held him in place. He turned his face to her, and she responded in kind, their gazes locked as they seem to communicate without speaking a word. He finally subsides, settling for leveling a glower in Damien’s direction as Lycana rested her head onto him; her own eyes locked on an invisible something towards the ceiling.
“You found me Damien, some time ago.” Arcana kept her palm on Damien, much the same way Lycana was doing with Marf, except hers was to make sure that he kept his balance. “You’ve been... dead... awhile.”
She followed his gaze up to the bell, before glancing over her shoulder at Lycana and Marf. More shadows appear in the doorway, coming to stand by the other two. A tall, lithe blond-haired man who was nearly a perfect specimen, with a pleasant symmetrical face... soiled slightly with a haughty sneer to it. He was holding the hand of a blonde woman, young and innocent appearing with wide guileless eyes that darted everywhere, seeming to not want to miss anything, as her mouth made a small ‘O’ of wonder.
Damien let her words sink in as he tried to wrap his mind around it. He had found Kaiya once before? Was this recently? Why didn’t he remember that? Was his mind still in shock from returning from the “dead”? He contemplated correcting Arcana, explaining to her of his time spent in the In-Between, but would they even believe him? Did he even believe it, himself? As all of these thoughts raced through his head, he looked to see who the new arrivals were.
“Do I know them as well?” Damien asked Arcana, his eyes going from the pompous man to the child-like woman that gazed around the enclosed room in wonder.
Arcana glanced back studying the two newcomers as she shook her head negatively. She was about to speak when, bold as can be, the handsome blonde strode forward, with the woman skipping along on his heels. But it wasn’t to say “Hello” to Damien; he barely spares him a glance before nearly striking a pose before Arcana.
“I’m Finneas, my friends call me Finn. But you can call me whatever you want,” Finneas flashed a wink in her direction, ignoring her baffled look.
Arcana glanced at Damien helplessly before turning to Finn, opening and closing her mouth.
“Finn... please… not now!” Lycana groaned from the background.
“You have a boo-boo,” the blonde girl acknowledged, staring wide-eyed at Damien’s scarred chest. “You might need a band aid. Maybe Lycana can kiss it better?”
“No Reika, he doesn’t... ahh want that,” Lycana’s emotionless countenance is slipping at this point as Finn continues to lean towards a mystified Arcana and Reika pouts. “He’ll be okay.”
Damien exchanged looks with Arcana at the actions of Finneas, before the young girl speaks up and completely renders him utterly speechless. He feels himself looking at her, blinking a few times, before his gaze falls back onto Lycana.
“I’m sorry,” Damien swallowed, clearing his throat, almost afraid to ask the question. “Exactly how long was I dead, again?”
Lycana reached up and pinches the bridge of her nose.
“About two weeks,” She states, elaborating no further as she goes to retrieve Reika from Finn, casting him a hard glare that he completely ignores.
She whacks him in the back of the head, forcing him to finally turn his eyes from Arcana.
“Not NOW Finn.” Lycana reiterates, as he grumbles, but finally moves away, following them to all huddle back together by the doorway once more.
Arcana stared at the odd little foursome, before looking back at Damien.
“It’s a bit of a story...” Arcana began, intending to tell it.
“One you can tell me on the way,” Damien interrupted, growing more and more uncomfortable of his surroundings by the second. “Right now, I need your help tracking down someone.”
He managed to swing his legs around and test them a bit, before slouching off the crudely shaped altar, leaning into Arcana more then he would’ve liked. I guess a few weeks being dead tended to leave your body rather drained and void of strength. He looked into her eyes, awkwardly smiling at her as if silently thanking her, before directing his attention to the group. Damien’s gaze went first to the wide-eyed blonde girl, then to the elegant leach standing at her side, next to the imposing muscle mass of a man, and finally to Lycana. Looking upon her, it was hard for him to block out the mental images of the torture that she had inflicted upon him all those years ago. And yet, there was something else behind her icy visage, almost tepid in nature.
“I’d offer for you to tag along,” Damien began, his eyes flicking over the peculiar assortment of characters before falling on Lycana once more. “But it looks like you’ve got your hands full as it is.”
“Well, actually,” Lycana snickers. "About that..."
She took a step forward slightly, almost seeming to hesitate for the briefest of moments. The cool demeanor slipping before she yanks it back into place, her face carved in granite as her chin tilts up. She fairly sails towards him with an air of determination. Power swirls about her as she comes to a halt, inches away.
“You will be with me, for the foreseeable future,” she declared.
Damien felt the fire begin to rise off Arcana’s skin as he tried to hide his bewilderment behind a blank mask. Marf seemed to eye Lycana suspiciously at the announcement, while Reika clapped happily at the news, forcing a satisfied grin on Finni’s lips.
“So we finally get to the truth of it,” Damien pressed forward, challenging Lycana. “That’s why you brought me back, isn’t it? To be your ‘pet’ once more!?”
Damien did his best to stand on his own, hobbling his way to her, standing toe-to-toe with his savior.
“I will never be ‘yours’ ever again, Lycana,” Damien seethed, the light fading from his eyes as the darkness of the Reaper began to take over. “You should’ve let me stay dead.”
Dark energy swirled around his wrists as he pulled forth the obsidian blade from the void. He had been correct in his assumption; his link with the Underworld had been restored! A sly grin appeared on his lips as he wrapped his fingers around the dagger and sliced upward, intent on cutting Lycana ear-to-ear. But as the cold edge of obsidian grazed her skin, his momentum suddenly ceased, a trickle of blood rolling down her neck as Damien struggled against his own strength to finish the job. His face twisted to one of panic as he looked to his hand, his arm shaking viciously against his overwhelming desire to end her here and now. It was like watching Damien arm-wrestle himself and yet, somehow, he was losing. He gritted his teeth as he tried to push further against this invisible force but still, he was unable to cut her any further. His eyes met hers again, the anger fading into sheer confused.
As the blade kissed Lycana’s skin, Marf snarled and moved to step in, but a gentle hand motion from her stilled him, albeit unwillingly. He nearly pierced Damian with his bold lapis eyes as he begins to pace like a caged panther, his body tense, wanting nothing more than to rain down violence on the one who dared touch the blue-haired vixen. She remained still, not shrinking back from Damien’s rage, a cool smile playing about her lips as the perplexed look crossed over his features. She pulled all emotion from her eyes, the steely grey blue orbs become nearly lifeless themselves as she looked him in the face.
“No, not my 'pet', not anymore; but you WILL serve me, as long as I will it,” Lycana's voice is deceptively soft, a thread of steel running through it under the quiet layer. “Or you will never find who it is you’re looking for… or anything else for that matter.”
Arcana hissed in a breath, stunned speechless by this turn of events.
“What sorcery is this!?” Damien seethed, recoiling from her like she had dealt him a physical blow, the blade fading away back into nothingness. “How are you doing this!?”
“The bell,” Lycana simply stated, her eyes drifting upward to look upon the ancient relic. “With it I hold your existence, Damien. I returned you to life and I can send you right back to where you were, if I so chose to do so. In turn, I am protected from your violence thanks to... measures I put into play while doing so.”
A faint semblance of a smile twists her lips, a nearly haunting mockery of humor.
“This wasn’t part of the agreement!” Arcana’s words burst forth, her amber eyes glowing with anger and tears, her own magic beginning to bubble to the surface.
“There was no agreement!” Lycana says evenly, skimming her eyes over the crimson-haired woman. “You asked, and I delivered. I took my own form of payment but you got what you wanted, did you not? He is alive and well, after all… for now, at least.”
Arcana radiates uncontrollable rage as her fists clench and unclench.
“Ah ah ah...,” Lycana teases. “You wouldn’t want me to send him back this fast, would you?”
Damien let her words thrust through his skin into his heart. He felt weak in the knees, practically fell to the ground were it not for Arcana quickly rushing to his side. It had happened again; his fate was no longer his. He cast a wayward glance up at the bell, had half-a-mind to cut it down and shatter it into a million pieces. But who knows if that would free him from her clutches or simply kill him all over again.
“You belong to me…”
Her words, but now in another’s voice. He fought back the tears as he glared a hole through his deceitful rival.
“You’re just as bad as Cate,” Damien forced the words out. “Always working an angle, manipulating others to get what you want. How proud she must be of her precious Tavora…”
As the words rolled from his tongue, her factual name felt foreign to her, especially now. There had been a time he thought he had seen her true self. But like all things he had come to discover in Hecate’s Sanctuary, nothing was ever as it seemed. Damien lifted his head to face her, a slight smile forming across his lips as the memory of the undying Lich’s final words played in his head.
“Tell Tavora, I’ll see her soon…”
“It matters not,” Damien straightened, defiant, even now. “You’ve meddled in powers beyond even your comprehension Lycana and your actions have not gone unnoticed; HE is coming for you. And nothing you or your little ‘Brat Pack’ can do will be enough to stop him. So I guess I do owe you a ‘thank you’ after all Tavora; because in saving me, you’ve doomed yourself.”
A flicker of something comes and goes behind her eyes before she speaks.
“One should always aim to get what they please Damien,” Lycana sighed “No matter how they need to take it. A lesson I had hoped you would have learned by now.”
She bows her head, as if she were upset, silence stretching for a long moment in the chamber. Suddenly she whirls, coming in close to him.
“I control my own destiny, no matter who... or WHAT... comes,” she growls in response. “I have not fallen to any. But, pray tell, who is this ‘he’ who has supposedly doomed me, Damien?”
“Do you think you command my tongue as well?” Damien scoffed, contemplating if he should leave her to squirm on her proverbial hook, waiting for this undead creature to return to this world and devour her whole.
“I command it all now Damien!” Lycana paused, a smirk appearing on her lips. “Your body… your tongue… your loyalty.”
Ultimately, as fun as that would be, to turn the tables on her for once – let her linger in torment, he decided to give her the information she desired. He hoped, at least, this act of “good will” would part the sea of bodies before them and allow him and Arcana to pass without incident.
“He calls himself ‘Eadon’,” Damien exhaled, giving in to her, like always. “He’s a Lich of the Underworld, a tough adversary, and not easily dispatched. And he’s very interested in meeting you.”
She prowled around him slowly, her mind rolling over what he had told her. None of it rang a bell for her, so... she stopped and gave a shrug of one delicate shoulder.
“I know not of an ‘Eadon’... so I worry not; besides, if he is where you were, how would he come for me?” Lycana tried to rationalize, disappearing into herself as she recalled her near-death encounter with the Harbinger. “No… I have met with creature’s far worse.”
He watched her pace around him, like a predator stalking its prey. He internally pleaded she wouldn’t reach out, that her touch wouldn’t bring the echoes of the past back to haunt him once more. He noticed Marf watching intently their interactions, and briefly wondered if the rest of her “entourage” had made the same deal with the devil. The years had changed them, all of them. And Damien knew not of what creatures she spoke of, but to take someone like Eadon so lightly, he almost felt pity for her. She had no idea what was coming for her.
“I’ve delivered my message,” Damien stated, eyeing Lycana up. “Do with it what you will. But know that if or when he comes for you, I will be there at your end… whether you’ve summoned me or not.”
Lycana slowly backed away, not taking her eyes off Damien. He could have sworn he saw her features soften when he said he would be there, but the mask slid back on so quickly he wasn’t sure if he had or not. She walked backwards until a muscular arm went around her; Marf, protectively, standing over her. She inclined her head and, without saying a word, Finneas moved aside, bringing Reika with him, creating a small exit between the group.
“Farewell Damien,” Lycana hesitates, debating if she should say more but deciding now was not the time or the place. “And good luck.”
With nothing else left to say, Damien and Arcana proceeded through the cluster of bodies and out of the hollow chamber as Lycana’s gaze was reluctantly pulled back to the Bell of St. Lazarus, her eyes analyzing the Latin incantation scribbled on the side. Et dat vitam accipit. To “giveth and taketh life”.