<== [!] The Whispering Dark [!] ==>
“Over a Ranger’s lifetime, as long as they are bound to the Morpher they wear, there will always be whispers. They.. linger in our minds, beckoning us to bring harm, rather than stop it. The whispers of the darkness, of the world beyond that lay shrouded in shadows. That world where no light enters, and no light escapes. The Void, itself. Some could call it one of the seven hells, some would want to believe that. But… No. Us?”
“We know better.”
– Unknown Ranger [1549]
Belladonna sat upon one of the many bits of unmoved rubble, her eye trained on the main entry to Rhalgr’s reach from the Fringes, her back against a pillar and a pack of supplies in her lap as she waited for what felt like an eternity. Caravans and adventurers came and went, time after time, all the while the hails on her pearl for any assistance would be met with simple silence.
It was an easy request, ten armed and trained men and women to join her on a hunt for a Bloodbeast… yet her words seemed to fall on deaf ears, or ears who refrained from ever speaking. To say she felt hurt wouldn’t be too far off from the truth. She didn’t want to hunt alone, mostly everything that could go wrong would if she did.
But as the fates would have it… no aid would come to her. No adventurer passing through would be willing to risk it all just for a sporting hunt, just to capture a beast horrendous to strike fear into any mortal man. Bloodbeasts were known to stir terror and frighten hearts no matter how hearty the man who stood before it would be. Beasts of utter necrotic life, born from the dead and raised once more in a twist of disgusting ashkin.
Life breathed anew into a different monster all together. It was something Elizabeth had been known to do, to pluck life from anything, morph it, corrupt it and bring about something utterly new and terrifying. Her presence had been sporadic, Elizabeth’s. Something disheartening and concerning all together in the far reaches of Gyr Abania, tucked off far along the eastern coast, towards The Bounty Sea, and perhaps deeper.
These creatures were born from the darkness, lingering wisps of the ere’long black seemed to feel all too familiar to the beasts she found endlessly, wave after wave in her younger days. Back when the Rangers were still strong, when they were many. But now, so few and far in between are left standing.. The spirit of the Ranger is all but extinguished, left and held up by a memorial. A reminder of those who fell and those who still yet stand, the unsung few who remain.
The distant thunderclaps rumbled through the open air, echoing into the small valley, practically jolting Bella awake. Her one eye blinking to surf the crowd of faces that were spread throughout the reach, some lingering hope that in her mild stupor assistance had come. But alas, none ever did. No flag that bore significance, no face that recalled memory… nothing.
She was left alone.
A hand shifted to a scar, hidden behind her garb. Scratching it and striking away at the old wound in some slight annoyance as her expression dropped behind her metal helm and the woman slipped off the rubble, heading for the back-road to nowhere. Time became irrelevant as she traveled for nigh near countless malms, the sun fading behind darkened clouds, painting the skies and the earth below in grey shades of dismal life.
Belladonna suffered in the times she stood without a soul at her side, the whispers of the past, the echoes of memories and burning cries of the scars all flooding into her mind without even so much as an ounce of stopping. Before she knew it, the world had gone darker, the sun was setting and her time of the hunt drew ever near. The sounds of a stomping beast began to creep closer and closer, her target was towering over some of the many rocks, a ruud suud in origin. Yet this beast… it was no longer one of Gyr Abania..
It was of Elizabeth.
The spine-chilling gurgles and groans from the beast, echoed into the air. Cries of its victims resonated as their flesh, their bones and faces showed themselves, melded to the giant’s flesh. Their eyes of milky white or non-existent all together as the Ruud Suud turned Bloodbeast began to march itself down the lonely road, bound for the next small homestead to add to itself… to feast… to meld.
In the blink of an eye, Bella cast two fingers forward, sliding along her right arm to brush over the red jewel on her morpher with a scowl to the world before her as she brought the hand to her belt.
“Henshin.”
As her token word wad spoken a brilliant yet muted light washed over her person, cascading over her like water, before fading the next instant over. In her stead no longer stood the little hyur, but a Ranger of blue and gold.
|| GO-GO MIGHT MIGHTY BLUE RANGER!! ||
As the armor cascaded over her person, covering her adventurer’s gear. The churning whispers of the black began to echo into her ears. Her one-eye blurring as its countless voices began to overload her senses. The call of the dark grew stronger the closer the beast marched, its abyssal eyes cast onto the Ranger as she began to stagger. Falling to her knees the woman shuddered, a hand gripping at her head, the other crashing into the ground, pounding the earth with a mailed fist.
Sweat began to form along her brow as the voices thundered in her head time and time again, every move she made only seeming to make them scream. The whispers of the dark echoing over and over, slipping into her mind. Every word that came to her felt heavy, crushing, stomach-churning, each and ever whisper brought the woman down, sick to her stomach as the beast approached. The ground trembling beneath each grotesque squelch of flesh and scale.
Get up…!
It’s getting closer…!
Get up…!
It’s almost here…!
The words churned inside her head, each voice louder than the last, their tones lingering, some delightful, some nauseating, others grating, few chilling. Each word garbled as it brought about a different scream, a different pain within the Ranger. Her mind a blaze in the violent maelstrom from the cacophony within her mind.
Get up…!
We can’t wait…!
Get up…!
You will join us just like those before…!
Belladonna let out a roar as she grasped at her helmet, the beast lingering closer and closer, each step shaking the nearby earth as the hyur fought to stand, each motion jerked and unsteady as she snarled. Teeth clenched and seething as she forced her legs to ignore this new found pain in her mind. The spikes along her spine were flared out, twitching and flicking at their own agony as pain from every voice surged through her over and over. The whispers of the dark poisoning her every movement, tainting every thought… screaming and echoing from the black.
Get up…!
Face it…!
It’s here…!
It's Morphin' Time - XIV 