The tappings of late spring rain on a large floor to ceiling glass window were all that filled the Ranger’s workshop. Not even the thrum of magitek engines and turbines were enough to fill the eerily quiet space. Dull grey moonlight poured through the raindrops as the storm rolled over the farm.
It hadn’t even been four bells since the Incident. An accident, an unexpected result to an otherwise already untrustworthy attempt at catching demons.
“What a mistake…”
The mutant’s words were but a low huff and whisper as her one eye looked up to the dreary sky. Her lone seat creaking as she shifted her weight. Her heart shuddered beneath her heavy thoughts, mind adrift in the maelstrom of lost causes and troubled outcomes.
They won… did they not? They captured the succubus, that was the goal. That was why they lured her out from the darkness of the la noscean jungle, in an attempt to bring some manner of peace to the locals and visitors as well as pursue their own wants and needs as a Ranger.
Thanks to lady Sariel’s assistance, they had captured a succubus. A second addition to the already present collection of colorful demons. Their containment coffers stowed away behind wards of the Original Ranger Corps’ design as well as her own. Locked away behind iron and adamantite vault doors and sealed magitek gates for extra protection.
A Ranger’s work always involved the Darkness™, it was always intending to be dangerous, chaotic work with unpredictable outcomes. Yet… this… This she should have seen coming. How much of a stupid fool, how much more of a bloodied rookie waiting to plunge into death could she have been? The longest standing and remaining Ranger, last of her generation, last of her Corps and yet… she made this mistake?
What an idiot.
Belladonna’s thoughts kept drifting to hours before, during the summoning.. during the capturing. The Black Ranger, while effective was too slow to hinder the succubus containable. Blackened daggers and shadows proving slow and unpracticed against a voidsent from a tier of her magnitude. Ambition clouding proper judgement… rookie mistakes…
Rookie mistakes leading to unpredictable outcomes.
By the time anyone had realized what had happened, the succubus had already sought to posses her, cursing her or fixing her. Claiming the little hyur’s body for her own means and ends. A dreadful existence. And yet… It was not to be.
The demon… the voidsent she’s bound to… had other ideas.
You see, once a Ranger chooses this as their path. One must cast aside fear, and take unto their enemy as their enemy takes unto them. Essences of demons are taken, extracted and used… Binding to the user, to the Ranger through the magitek Morpher and use of special aetheric and arcane seals. Each one binding the essence to it’s user in the goal of co-existence in an limited range of the Ranger’s body.
Were the Ranger to become ill, the demon bound would move to cleanse their body of the pathogen, healing their sickness, keeping their health. For one can not exist without the other. And both ‘souls’ both essences, the Ranger’s and the Demon’s strive to live. Strive to co-exist.
A rare anomaly.
It was a tie that binds Belladonna and her demon that kept the succubus from gaining full control… and yet.. Even with Bella safe, all would not be left untouched. The demoness, as it were had already done her work, altering the hyur to her liking, changing her enough to be a fitting host. A fitting slave.
Slowly now, Belladonna rises out of her chair. Her arms extending as her hand reaches and presses against the cold glass. In the dim light, she could see herself there, like a mirror. Only darkened greys mixing with the reflection of magitek monitors in the background reading inconclusive numbers and unpredictable outcomes.
The hyur’s skin in the light could still be seen as the patchwork for what it was. An uneven body, strands of musculature visible along her biceps and parts of her shoulders through the paper thin and transleucent skin while other parts were thicker, ‘normal’ yet darker… seemingly permanent variations of bruises from the wear and tear through the passage of time and unhealed injuries.
Scars scattered along her body, her skin showing impressions of light and dark over her form where bullets, blades and debris had pierced and punctured. The scars despite everything seemed like accents to the ink that adorned her. The black ink itself in designs of the ancient and arcane, a trained eye could tell they were sigils… seals.
Beyond such knowledge, they simply looked like intensive art, ornate and unique.
Belladonna’s frame in the reflection was noticeably larger… taller. More built than how frail and pitiful she had looked before. Her facial features looked more refined, something akin but not quite how she looked prior to her mutation*.
This outcome was… more close to how she looked, were her smaller form to have aged… if it could’ve at all. But now… she was this… an unexpected outcome… through careless mistakes..
The ground trembled and quake as the beasts of eld coursed through the city’s veins down below. The Rangers in the city streets fought to stay alive while guiding the citizens they could reach to the docks by the dozens. Barely making it to the next street over to reach more people themselves. The duty was theirs as the city itself began to fully awaken, the screams of Rangers falling one by one and the people trapped below as the maws and claws of Darkness ebbed ever closed, claiming more and more victims.
Bella has seen the city a thousand-thousand times before, but never like this. The city’s skyline was nothing but ablaze as the washing darkness came and went through the streets like a wave from the ocean. Taking and never giving as her team above raced along the city’s main wall to reach the gatehouses.
Before long the demons would break through the upper sanctums of the city, reaching the overlook of the walls, their crimson dripping claws and fangs trailing red behind them as they raced for the Rangers on approach. Taking bounding leaps ahead, several of them brought their swords forth, piercing the oncoming dark, clearing the path ahead as much as they could.
The mission in their minds was to reach the gatehouses no matter the cost, no matter the loss and no matter the blood-price. Those that fell behind on the wall turned to face the washing darkness, attempting to at least give the those that remained running a head start to stem the seemingly endless tide.
Metal stomps and skids sounded out against the towering stonewalls as yet another Ranger before Bella squared their shoulder for a charge into the iron door that awaited them. With a clattering crash of metal and bone, the door yielded open, it’s hinges snapping, sending the iron brick sailing across the first gatehouse and into the other door.
A thunderous tumble sent the first Ranger spiraling to the floor with a grunt as the others around reached for the broken door, lifting it quickly to close the way they came from. The gurgles and roar of the bloodthirsty voidsent on the other end were all they heard now. The blockade they created with the broken door and desks in the room would prove to half the demons for just a little bit longer.
Bella had already raced to the gate’s controls, and the open maw of the giant doors below began to grind to a close, the metal chains and gears within the stonewalls clattering against one another before the doors themselves slammed and locked shut. The team, those that remained breathed out a small sigh of relief that was only soon quelled and changed with the screams of fear as the door and desks against their entrance began to give way and break.
Looking through the glass thirty stories high, she could only see the city itself crumbling, burning before her very eyes. The sight itself churning her stomach, twisting and crushing it as her heart was sent spiraling down into the deepest pit. “We need to go. We need to close the rest of the gates.” Bella barked with a broken voice. As she spoke, she caught sight of a group of children being led by one of the Rangers, the glimmer of a smile on her face before it was shot off by the laughter of a beast that stood at their exit.
A Ranger himself yet… she couldn’t recognize the face nor the armor he wore. The door remained open behind him as he took clawed steps into the gatehouse, unyielding red eyes dancing about the room to examine who stood there. The heat of the fires from the city below began to creep through the air behind him as if nothing but a grim reminder of the destruction. The maw of his helmet opened to speak but no words were uttered, the speech no doubt already silenced by the tumble of another Ranger onto the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“GO!” They’d shout, sending the others in the room outward toward the rest of their goal. One by one they’d file out in quick succession, Belladonna herself stopping to stare, fear evident in her stance. “Dammit girl, GO. GO!” He yelled. She’d feel the tug and yank of her arm and hand as another Ranger pulled her along. “Go, come on! We have to go!”
Bella remained silent as she watched Krita be thrown to the other side of the room, the crash of metal following soon after. The beast stood tall in their armor, moving to follow those that fled through the exit, but with the splinter of wood and metal, the demons, the voidsent that were fighting their way inward soon claimed their prizes, both Rangers seemed to be enveloped by the wave of black.
Both their screams filled the air, adding to the bloodied chorus that already sang through the burning skies. Each new voice that came into the air made Bella’s heart sink lower and lower, if there was an end to the pit she felt, it’d be still ever far from what she was feeling. The hyur herself was rushing to keep up with the Rangers before her, and with every gatehouse they’d reach, more of the same sights. The Rangers below were rescuing all they could, their numbers notably dwindling with each passing moment.
Yet as she brought her sight to the entry way to the harbor and its docks, the Rangers stood-fast and tall, defending all they could, their firearms discharging and their shields standing as they guided those they could to the boats that set sail. The demons that hunted seemed to refuse touching the waters, as if it were blessed by the gods, a token of salvation in the darkest night.
With every gate that closed, Bella’s team so too dwindle. As they passed their fourth, the gates below gained no more power to close. The decision was made during the sprints between each house and skirmish that they would destroy whichever gate that couldn’t be closed. Leaving the remaining power in the grid to close what remained.
The wall trembled with each passing explosion as two gatehouses crumbled to the earth below, their gates now nothing but impassable rubble. Only three gates remained, now. Bell took the charge into the central gate, her heart thumping harder and harder as she felt the dread of death creeping up her spine.
The door had already been opened, an observation quickly made as she rushed in, two other Rangers right behind her. The entire room was empty, not a single soul about, the console itself was offline, no levers turn or switch to flick would close the gate below, the biggest of all the others about. Belladonna looked across the window to spy the other two gatehouses before clutching the explosives in her hand. Before she could say a single word, behind one of the other Rangers appeared Red, a color that resonated with the dripping of blood on the ground.
The kiss of steel and flesh echoed in over and over within the building as a bloodied blade ripped through one of the Rangers, crimson splattering across the window and walls beside. Unlike the others, this face was not covered, no. She knew who stood, having cut down one of the last on the wall.
León.
Quicker than the lightning that flashed in the darkened skies against the auburn earth the Rangers shifted, Bella bringing up a blade against the descending arc of her lover’s sword. The hiss of ringing steel sang throughout the facility as the last Ranger ran for the door ahead, nabbing what explosives they could before tossing them deep into the facility to shatter the foundation when the time came.
——————————————————
The crunching of old and fallen leaves beneath leather-bound boots brought Bella back to her senses once more as she looked about, amidst her traveling memories so too did she walk. Her surroundings were foliage, greens and browns against the dense cold evening air.
Where did she go, lost in her own mind? As her only eye gazed about the area, she could only figure somewhere between Thanalan and the Black Shroud, an.. off-the-reserve path as it were between both regions. The towering trees before her and the plateaus of the desert behind her. A look to the sky told her it wasn’t past midnight yet, perhaps a little less than a bell till. The coat she wore earlier in the day was wrapped around her waist, the bruises and scars along her arms were showing fairly clear in the silver moonlight. The wind, it’s caressing breeze seemed to dance with her hair, carrying it strand by strand in a gentle waltz.
What was she remembering…? A thought coming across her mind before she thought back to what happened. The taste of crimson filling her senses as the burning wood of buildings below filled her nostrils, the air thick with smoke and cinders, mixing with the wafting scent of blood in the summer city’s breeze. The roaring of creatures filling the burning silence between her and her lover as their swords locked at their hilts. Serrated edges seeming to interlock with one another as her eyes revealed themselves in the ‘ghosting’ helmet.
The metal Ranger helm she wore changed visually, its wolf faceplate dissipating to reveal the hurting girl beneath. León stood across from her, his eye staring down what he saw with the burning rage of a thousand suns. His visage was darkened the sclera of his eyes burned in patters of red and black.
“
León.. Why?! WHY THIS?!” Bella screamed, tears pouring down her face as she pressed her blade further, the scraping of metal crying out as their blades clashed another time… and another… and another, a third, a fourth… Each swing was met with the counter, her voice crying and pleading, begging for an answer.
With a twist of their wrists at the next clash, their blades flung back, sending both wielders to opposite walls with a crashing of metal. A wave of untold force resonating throughout the room. Both Rangers fell to the floor with a grunt and tumble.
Seconds seem to pass as they both began to struggle to their feet, shuddering footsteps as they raced for their swords. Bella, with a leap and scream bounded off the pillar nearest her descending upon
León, her sword reflecting as much outside light as she could to try and blind the boy. The dance of ringing steel sang throughout the gatehouse once more till their blades interlocked once more. Belladonna’s voice pleading out to her love, beckoning him back to her.. whichever way she could.
“León please!”
“I will not fight you.” [”You have no choice”] “I’ll stand beside you!” [”I stand alone.”] “You were their hero.” [”They were fools.”] “This cannot be the only way!”[”You will see.”]
With a violent push away from the other, both Rangers collided back into the walls, falling to the floor once more. Colors of blue and red flashed in the room as fist for first clashed against the other, Belladonna sliding to the floor in an attempt to sweep her sword against his legs to cripple León, all the while his sword swung to where her head would’ve been in the work to cleave her.
“They don’t deserve this.” [”When this is through,”] “Now more than ever,” [”This city will fall.”] “We are their hope!” [”They would not stand.”]
Even as they dove to avoid the others words and swords, it was evident they they were struggling whether it were to speak or to hurt the other. Both hearts wished it didn’t come to the terms that this was but the darkness crept into his heart, deeper and deeper till it blackened out all light. Bella’s words fell onto the deafest of ears as he returned every swing, every punch and kick, no matter the strength.
“They know no better.” [”They would not fight.”] “They were not ready.” [”They never were.”] “Even now there is hope for them!” [”My father’s words!”]
The foundation beneath them trembled and shuttered as larger demons began to force their way into the city gates. The viewing glass below showed nigh near eldritch creatures attempted to pry the iron gates open, their large presence blocking the rest of the voidsent from seeping through the remaining gates. Across the wall, in the final gate house, Bella could see between the clashing of her blades that the final Ranger had made it.
Their prediction of power left in the walls was correct, the gates were closing. All that was left was for the central gate to close, but the power was already being used. During the break for the central gatehouse, both Her and the Rangers remaining decided that those who would leave for the remaining gates would destroy the central, forcing it to close with what explosives that remained.
“Your father loved you.” [“She still believes?”] “Our hearts were broken.” [”Your only weakness.”] “Our greatest strength!” [”How we shall see.”] “León,
You are not evil,” [”If they will stand.”] “You are not broken.” [”beside their heroes.”] “We both know they’ll never fight!”
A blinding and burning flame enveloped the gatehouse, sending both Rangers to the ground once more. The building itself began to crumble as the charges placed around erupted in explosions that thundered throughout the burning city.
[”You finally get it.”]
”You forgot us.”
[”There were no heroes”]
”What about us?”
[”This city is doomed”]
“We are too..”
The spectacle of the explosion was a sight even from the harbor as the remaining Rangers witnessed the final gate fall into the fires below, crumbling into nothing, blocking the threat of the demons that laid waste to their beloved home. From the harbor itself most of the city sat in whatever boats they could, galleons, transports, sailboats and even dinghys were filled beyond capacity.
Not a soul uttered a word as they watched the main gate collapse to the burning earth below. Cinders, ash, and dust filled the air around as the warm sea breeze began to choke the most stalwart of faces.
Crumbling ruins lay around them as the cries of demons began to fade. The glimmer of auburn shades in the evening sky began to turn the black night into vibrant hues. The cloudy skies broke to reveal the gentle morning stars that twinkled above the smoke. Belladonna’s mind was in a haze as she released her blade, tumbling down the rubble till she lay still. Every part of her ached as cuts that slew through the Ranger’s metal burned with the cinders and singes that came with them.
No one saw the final strike. The light from the explosions was blinding. The crash of their blades was deafening. As the smoke cleared and billowed away to show the scene in gentle warm morning light against the darkest night, only Belladonna remained standing. The two lovers remained, hand in hand before she tumbled off the mount. Her body thudding against some of the larger rocks before she was held still, hand still clinging to León’s fingers.
Belladonna’s head rest against the warm stone as the morning sun greeted her tired gaze. The muted ringing of her ears blocked out all sound as the warm caress of the summer city’s sun was she could have this morning. Slowly but surely she began to fade, her eyes becoming heavy, feather turned lead weight as she greeted whatever awaited her beyond this.
——————————————————
Ever gentle the Shroud’s breeze, despite the cold winter would greet her numbed skin. The spikes along her spine rattling as if calling her to attention. Her armor was on, the same design she wore that night, that… darkest of nights. She sat poised against a tree, the gentle city of Gridania in sight from the cliff she sat near. Far, far beyond the horizon, the shimmering warm colors of morning would soon come. A gentle reminder that the memory of the Darkest Night.. was just that, now.. Surely.
The dining hall itself sat with a wave of uncertainty washing through. Unease settling down onto the shoulders of both hyur. What seemed like bells passed before either spoke, the taller of the two was quietly working on the tea he had promised to the Network that evening all the while Bella, herself stood, lightly seated on the edge of one of the tables. Her coat was draped along the armrest of one of the nearby chairs, the small shirt she wore gave way to reveal the plethora of bruises and wounds her arms carried upon them.
The inability to heal properly was extremely evident, it looked that her body suffered long before she arrived, but she couldn’t do anything about it… whether or not she knew of her own injuries though.. was something else.
In prior meetings they’ve spoken of what her project was… the Ranger project. But nothing extensive, nothing quite enough to explain just what the poor man’s experience when working on the project while she was away. At times, the magic symbols written along the schematics board would discharge, shocking or even sending the man flying across the room into the walls. Another instance was that he could hear the echoes of the past clamor into his ears, the screams of demons and devils and the innocents caught in between.
“Those screams you could hear.. you.. you never figured what they were.. did you?”
“Nay, Ah di’n.”
“Did you want to?”
Time seemed to draw to standstill as she looked to Cormag, her one eye focusing on everything around him before she spoke. The bandage over her left eye feeling a touch bit tighter before she decided to speak again. The hyur’s spike’s along her spine flared out as her mind began to travel again, the words leaving her mouth were automated as she began to recall every memory in vivid detail down to the last leaf to fall and the scent of burning oak that would fill her lungs that last night home.
———————————————————-
The thundering yawn of the city’s gates to the golden fields beyond the outer city echoed out into the early night’s sky as they slowly were parted open, the sun’s auburn colors burned the evening’s light as the scent of flowing copper and the screams of a city caught unawares of the demons soon followed.
Within what could’ve only been described as a matter of seconds, voidsent of all sizes began to pour through the winding streets of the summer city. Their maws open and their claws pointed forward as they hounded and overtook the first few blocks of the city with ease. No door was left untouched as citizens young and old scrambled to hide with what little time they could afford, all to no avail as the demons, yearning, hungering and merciless flooded every place they could fill.
Belladonna stood atop the highest cliff in the city, watching in absolute shock and terror as the city’s gates opened up one by one. The same echoing yawn crying out into the burning sky as the doors that kept out the dangers for so long while they fought were opened. Bloodied and beaten from a mission prior, her and the other Rangers couldn’t help but watch as their homes once peaceful turned to bloodbath with no end in sight. The demons of eld claimed life after life without any signs of stopping, the glow of their eyes within the din of the city streets looked like simple burning cinder swirling in the darkness but these were no fires.. No.
High atop the gatehouses that oversaw every metal door stood Rangers… much like them, but these were no Rangers anymore. They were once comrades, friends and family alike… but no more.
The screams they heard were of friends, family and neighbor alike.. The only other thing to rouse them from their fear instilled silence was the call to the truth.
“Belladonna, Grisana is burning!”
“León opened the gates! He is the Betrayer!”
Bella’s body lurched to a stand as the name resonated deep within her heart, nearly enough to shatter it right then and there. The love for him… struggling to keep her still, the memories of years gone by hurting her more than any blade could ever do.
León why…
Why…
León, why this…?
A question she might never get answered only seemed to echo in her mind.
There was a tear of a helmet, Bella ripping the armor off her to look to her comrades, tears and blood along her face as she addressed each and every one of them. A leader among the masses, never was she one to take the lead.. but no one else would dare to speak up. Her eyes welling up to show the glimmers of tears that gently trailed down her face as she spoke with a shuddering heart. There was no other way tonight… They had to fight.
They had to save their city, no matter the cost. That was their promise they owed, as a Ranger.
A resounding salute from each and every Ranger there before they took a hold of their weapons once more, turning to race off the cliff and plunge themselves blades first into the churning darkness that awaited them. The carnage was all but one-sided. The Rangers, team by team pushed through the city streets to save those they could.
They knew that once the streets were touched by their boots.. this city would be their grave, and that the night could only break for the dawn one way. The only way it could happen, the only way they could see this ending would be the sacrifice of themselves till the light broke the horizon. Tinges of fear settled on every brow as their blades found solace in the blackened scales and tainted leather hides of the demons for the night.. had only just begun.
Belladonna turned to her own team, her face riddled with heartbroken tears. A small uttering of an apology left her lips as she faced them properly. Her head hung low as she looked to each and every helmet that stood there, knowing their faces individually without having to a thing.
“Till the end of the line.”
They all uttered quietly those words in their own right and respects before arming themselves one last time. Their lances, swords, rifles and axes all primed and ready for what they knew needed to happen. Their mission was clear; while the other teams of Rangers took care of the city themselves, they would take to each of the gatehouses and close the gates to stop the nigh near endless flood that the Darkness brought in the night.
———————————————————-
The little mutant blinked as she found herself back in the gentle light of the dining hall. Her tea cup was drained to the very last drop, and she was atop the counter, facing the farthest wall, her back turned to the highlander as she slipped back into reality. The words that left her lips were shuddering, faint trails of tears running down her cheeks quiet as could be. “T..t-thank you for the Tea Cormag..” she muttered aloud, finally breaking the quiet.
“I’ve.. I’ve got to go speak to Anyah.. but.. I-if you still have questions next time.. I’ll.. I’ll answer them better than i did today.”
Bella tugged the coat over onto herself, tighter as if it were the gentlest of hugs, nodding to the man as he said his goodbyes, doing all he could to reassure her in her near.. broken state. Her footsteps were barely audible as she exited the dining hall and it’s kitchen, stepping into the hallway, then the lobby, she passed all the faces there like nothing but a ghost in mourning till she made her way outside.
Outside of headquarters there was no person to greet her, no on waited to help her home like they used to. Then again… this wasn’t home. Alone with nothing but her thoughts now she’d look to the Goblet, fog overtaking the mind and sky in the warm desert oasis. House by house she’d pass, their windows warm and and the light inside welcoming. Despite this being Thanalan, the air was chilled with the winter of Heavensturn hanging overhead.
The hyur never did go home, instead of heading toward the aetheryte she found herself stepping through lonely tunnels, her heels thumping in the echoing dark before emerging by the warm pools and heated springs of the Goblet. People were minding their own, spending time with their closest, whether it be in the water or at the bar across the way. Bella herself simply walked to the water’s edge, kneeling by, water-side as she dipped a hand into to the deep.
The warmth of heated water made her smile before she leaned back, tucking her knees in as she looked up to the Sultana’s breath apartments, her eye dancing from one warm window light to the other. Shadows of the nearly turned cycle still evident, people celebrating together, the decor of the festival hanging and billowing in the desert breeze above.
Intense and near invasive memories of that night continued to resonate through her. A shuddering weak laugh came from her as a hand went to cover her eye, tears spilling over as she did so. A passing Flames Officer on patrol furrowed their brow at the lonely hyur, a call was made to them before they’d step to her side. The face of a frown on them as she gave a nod, dismissing them, yet.. as she did.. a thankful whisper from her before retreating to herself. The officer gave a gentle nod before stepping away, giving an all-clear in their district before resuming their patrol in the night.
Left alone again, the hyur’s mind swirled with the memories that stuck, the thunderous echo and cacophony of that night… Not even the warmth of the pools could bring her back from remembrance as she fell deeper into herself, the senses around her muting all till she felt the fires of the burning city once again.. and the screams of her Rangers filling her ears once more..
<== Rock the world, (Don’t) Rock the world baby [!]
Garlemald, 1552.
Garlemald Performance Center.
Attendance: Sold Out
————————————————————————————
The open air of the steel stadium was rich, thick and oh so heavy with an electrified and amplified air. Not an ounce of breath was quiet in any seat, every voice clamoring over one another in excitement, in anticipation for what would be a show unlike any other.
Traditionally, the stadium was used for theater troupes rather than an actual band, let alone one that this was. A young Belladonna, freshly primed and no doubt shook at the thunderous rancor that was the crowd beyond the stage stood with her band-mates as they bounced on their toes. A murmur from one of the stagehands as they rushed to and fro behind the eight musicians; “It’s almost time, you all! The Emperor asked you to perform, don’t you dare let his radiance down!”
Yes, it was true. The Emperor himself did ask, of course.. only after Belladonna’s own mother,
Tribunus Laticlavius Desticia Slater brought it up during a personal meeting and gathering of the higher ups. The singular ruler of Garlemald, excited and rather enamored with the thought of a new performance in these iron halls caused him to pull strings aplenty to take Bella and her crew to the capital for one night only. With various praises from Thavnair and Grisana proper, there was little doubt that this show would disappoint, As an exotic show, that they were..
There was Irony here, the opening song that they had would be about bringing back the light to an hurting city, a bleeding city.. it was about their own city. Fighting the demons, lighting the dark night that was their finest hour. But again, the Emperor approved of the show’s song list.. So all that was left now was to simply… perform it all.
————————————————————————————
As a group they were given the green light, brave step after brave step they would take their places on the stage. The roar of an excited crowd began to fill their eardrums, the thunder of heartbeats taking over their senses as the scent of cold steel and warm sweat filled their lungs. It was intoxicating, the warmth was drawn out of them and pushed into the air as the pressure of standing on stage began to hit all of them, one by one.
With every member in place, they all shared a look to one another, nervous smiles, and shaking laughs from them before their drummer threw their sticks together.
The snare drum began to strike, beat by beat as if it were a heart’s rhythm, all the while two bass guitars were strumming in a pace to fill the quiet between the strikes. One could’ve mistaken the thoom and hum as an engine revving up.
Belladonna stepped up to the microphone, gripping the cold and polished stand. Her heeled boot planting itself on the base, to keep it held as she leaned forward pressing her body against it as she opened her lips, despite their nervous quiver her voice came out as a low rumble, matching the tone of the music current.
“♪This city’s sleeping like a soldier trapped inside of an iron lung. Machines can keep you breathing, but what happens when you find a new war’s begun? Flip a switch and turn it off, you won’t be able to breathe. So either way you’re a casualty.♪”
The hyur starting to bounce her shoulders as her heel bound up and down matching the bass guitars, she was nervous, by the gods she was but her mind was starting to shift from the small cowering fawn to a courageous wolf. The glint in her amethyst eyes seemed to lower and darken as she spawned a cunning smile that split from corner to corner.
The drums behind her began to beat more and more, raising and lowering in their crescendo of the amplified air around
“♪I’ve got this burning like my veins are filled with nothing but ceruleum. And with a spark, it’s gonna be the biggest fire they’ve ever seen. Cut me down or let me run, either way it’s all gonna burn… The only way that they’ll ever learn♪” “♪We’ve got to turn it off, flip a switch.♪”
Bella kept her body pressed against the stand before throwing her head back as she raised her voice some few decibels higher above the music, calling for the a bounce of what would be her solo chorus. She opened both eyes, purple hues seemingly burning with determination and glory as she cast an arm forward, fingers out-stretched to grasp at the stadium air before her.
“Light up the night! There is a city that this darkness can’t hide. There are the embers of a fire that’s gone out, But I can still feel the heat on my skin This mess we’re in, well you and I, Maybe you and I, We can still make it right. Maybe we can bring back the light.”
As she poised her lyrical doubts, the hyur tucked her head to the side. Her boot lifting off the stand so she could yank the steel to the opposite side. Her breathing was shallow as her heart pounded with the boiling adrenaline that was no doubt starting to surge through her beat after beat, note after note.
By now, the back-up vocals picked up the first few words of the second verse, their voices acting like a bounce to what the smaller hyur would sing half-seconds later. Her body was swaying to the beat, her eyes caught the crowd doing the same.. A glimmering hope that they enjoyed it.. When in fact they truly did, their hands in the air clapping to the beat, bringing smiles to the band’s face as the hyur in front brought the microphone back up, her heel stomping down onto the base as if on time with the ramping beat.
“♪At the heart of the city there is a building that looks down over all there is. And the man in the tower controls it all without raising a single fist. It’s like they gathered up the city, they sold it to the devils, and now It’s gone to the hells and they wonder how.♪”
All the while Bella sang through the lyrics, her voice was rumbling as she leaned forward, anchoring herself on the base of the stand and on part the stage as she pulled the polished metal with her, carrying it as if she leading a loving dance partner into a dip over the edge of the stage. Her eyes forward as she loomed over the crowd slightly before pulling back, her other hand stretched outward surfing the air of the bouncing crowd from left to right.
“♪Well, a friend once told me: men, they would follow any man who would turn the wheels. Now the wheels are spinning out of control; what would they do if we held them still? If you destroy the working parts, what you’ll get is a broken machine. A beacon of light from a burning screen.♪
“Light it up”
The bounding hyur left the stand as she freed the microphone from its ‘cage’, carrying it with her as she stepped to the center of the stage. Taking advantage of this brief quiet, she shot her free hand into the air as her boots planted themselves to either stand, herself becoming the center piece as the lights shined across the stage in an array of color. The band around her did all the same, the crowd roaring aloud in a cheer as they too raised their hands to the air, to the lights that illuminated the night’s warm and thunderous atmosphere.
“♪Light up the night. There is a city that this darkness can’t hide. There are the embers of a fire that’s gone out, But I can still feel the heat on my skin. This mess we’re in, well you and I, Maybe you and I, We can light up the night.♪”
Bella raised her voice as they reached the chorus again, her heart thumping along with the bass drum and the blood rushing through her veins as the guitars wailed, both strums daring to out do each other as their solos came into play, higher and higher and higher did the notes soar. The back-up singers sang simple tunes as they raised the hands of everyone in attendance.
The entire stadium seemed to shudder as the band raised their volume over and over and over as the song raced towards the end, the chorus seemingly placed on repeat as the entire band danced in their places. Belladonna leaped forward, rushing back to the mic stand, ever so elegantly did she slip the microphone back into its holder as she raised her voice, the low rumble slipping high as she held tight onto the polished steel.
As the hyur moved across the stage, so too did the lights. Their hues changing to different compositions, shades of red and blues, oranges and purples mixing into one another as a singular light followed her across the stage. The Stadium’s lights seemed to darken around the stage, letting all focus be lead to the stage as Bella stomped her heeled boot onto the base of the stand. Her arms were at open wide as she sang from deep within, her voice bubbling with the beat as it flowed out of her, silvery with such an alluring purr that came with the confidence of a million hearts.
“♪We can light up the night. There is a city that this darkness can’t hide. There are the embers of a fire that’s gone out, But I can still feel the heat on my skin. This mess we’re in, well you and I, Maybe you and I, We can light up the night.♪”
The lights were flashing along with the beat, striding across the stage as band reached their last chorus. Side to side they swayed, the guitarists losing themselves in their rhythms as they replaced center stage, letting Bell take the front. All the while she put on a show of her own as she danced with the shinning metal stand she had, striding bounding around as if it were a practiced partner in their tango for two.
Her eyes were shut tight as she let the beat take her heart for the ride to light up the night. To light up the stadium, and prove that there was something for them here. Bella led the crowd through the final chorus as it repeated twice more, the voices of the darkened yet packed stadium reaching her ears, keeping a smile on her face that made even the moon above’s heart shudder and blush in the shimmering lights.
“♪There is a city that this darkness can’t hide There is a fire that will burn through the streets of the city And we will stand in the light. We will stand in the light, you and I. Maybe you and I. We can bring back the light.♪”
“♪There is a city that this darkness can’t hide There is a fire that will burn through the streets of the city And we will stand in the light. We will stand in the light, you and I. You and I. We can bring back the light.♪”
As the they proclaimed that they could bring back the light to the city in their song, she slid to her knees, a hand keeping herself latched the the metal stand at her side as she tucked her head back, letting it hang and soak in the stage lights over head. The beat of the drum fading and the guitars carrying the entire stadium to the outro as the vocals from the others lowered and faded, signalling the end of their song.
The entire stadium seemed to skip several beats of the heart as silence swept the darkness, no one could say a word. Not for the dislike but for the performance that took their breath away, the effort put into the show, the rhythm and the music entirely. Silence seemed to remain as the band kept still, their bodies shuddering as sweat dripped down every brow.
Seconds more pass before the crowd together erupted in a cacophony of cheering and hollars for what else was to come. The roar of a stadium at capacity filled Bella’s ears, causing the woman to let out a laugh and sigh of relief as she shakily rose to her feet, the band beside her rejoicing in their first successful song of the night.
Amethyst hues stared into the darkened crowds that rose higher and higher into the back, daring to possibly spot the glimmer of a smile on their host… Good thing too.. The night may have been lit, but the fires had yet to fully burn. And so…
Smoke clung to the thick cabaret air, it’s warm waves brushing past the fans, and over the rather rowdy crowd that sat, packed like sardines all in a line. The stage had been empty for quite some time. No one had been penciled in quite just yet as the masses stepped through the doors more and more.
Behind the curtains stood a rather fidgety group people, a rather odd looking hyur and four of own companions, each with an instrument of their own. Belladonna had a hand covering her bandages as she visibly shuddered. The rest of her friends gave one another a rather cheery looking sneer before patting the small woman on her shoulder.
“You five, you’re up. One of the first of the night, don’t let us down.” A voice from the back called. The four others gave a nod before shifting onto the stage, a round of applause filled the air as an announcer’s voice quelled the masses.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, If you thought that last performance was spectacular… You haven’t seen anything yet! We’ve got another special start for you all tonight! From the Isles of Thavnair, give it up for Silver Oracle!”
The thunder from a bass drum rumbled out from the stage as the thrum and wail of bass and guitars followed through. The small hyur’s heart was going to burst from nervousness as one of the stagehands gave her a pat on the shoulder. “C’mon, girlie. Get up on there.Impress us! Eha!”
With a small stumble and yelp, Belladonna forced pep into her step as she hopped up the stairs to take center, grabbing the mic and it’s stand, holding it firm. The feel of cold polished metal along her fingertips.
A hush fell over the packed showroom, nothing more than whispers and chuckles amidst the darkened faces. There was a sinking in her chest as she glanced to her friends. They wore the face of glee and pride, aged like fine wine before the drummer rose their sticks into the air.
The wail of guitars and tambourine filled the air in unison as the wind-up to their favorite song began to play. Bell seemed to startle, her fingers gripping tight the metal stand as her boots stomped the stage in rhythm, as if on pure instinct. Beads of sweat trickled down her brow as her one eye cast itself out to the face crowd before meekly shutting tight.
There was a shaking breath as the strumming of guitars followed up, easily giving way to what was to come. Her voice despite the nervousness came out through her shudders smooth as silk. Her tone nothing but a rowdy hound waiting to rile itself up.
♪“Last night a little dancer came dancin’ to my door.
Last night a little angel Came pumpin ‘cross my floor.
She said ‘Come on Baby I got a license for love
And if it expires pray help from above.”♪
♪
“In the midnight hour she cried more, more, more
With a rebel yell she cried, more, more, more
In the midnight hour babe more, more, more
With a rebel yell more, more, more
More, More, More.”
♪
Tightly did she grip the mic stand as she pulled it close to her body, choosing to lean on it as one of her boots planted themselves at the base. Her eye was shut as her head rocked with the waves of the rock that blasted behind her. Her ponytail seemed frazzled as her spine’s spikes themselves stuck out fully, showing off her rather.. unique feature.
The hyur’s heart thumped along with the bass beating down her throat as she was losing all sense of where she was aside from in a spot where she could sing loud and proud, unleashed one could say. The hyur bobbed her head over and over as her hips rocked and rolled as she parted her lips, flashing a rather devilish grin.
♪
“She don’t like slavery, she won’t sit and beg
But when I’m tired and lonely she sees me to bed
What set you free and brought you to me babe
What set you free? i need you here by me
Because –”
♪
♪ “In the midnight hour she cried more, more, more
With a rebel yell she cried, more, more, more
In the midnight hour babe more, more, more
With a rebel yell more, more, more
More, More, More!” ♪
By now Belladonna was bouncing on one leg as she slid the other along the stand, her eye flashing over to show off her amethyst hues. A glint of the devil’s smile in her eyes as she sang out. Her voice coming in waves as the music tuned everything in her senses up past an eleven. Every word was laced with a daunting touch of musical lust as she had herself lost in the music, lost in the old days.. but she didn’t mind.
The crowd itself was amping itself higher and higher as hands were thrown into the air, waving and bouncing on-pace with the Bella’s own hand that stretched out toward the faceless crowd. The room itself was visibly shuddering from the thunderous rancor that the band played to their fullest. Could it have been the drinking? Could it have just been the smoke.. who could say?
♪
“He lives among his own heaven
Collects it all to go her seventh heaven
Well he’s out all night to collect a fare
Just so long, just so long it don’t mess up his hair”
♪
The hyur bounded herself backward, practically kicking down the stand as she held the mic in her hand, dragging it along the wooden stage with a sneer. As she stepped back the lights dimmed ever so slightly to focus on the drummer and four-string bass as they played through their solos.
Belladonna and the others had their hands into the air, clapping every other beat to match the bass drum that thumped and rattled their hearts deep down. The small mutant of a hyur slid on one knee back to the front of the stage, leading most of the room in the groove. Every hint of fear and nervousness that she ever seemed to hold felt like nothing to her as she kept herself in the zone.
Swiping the mic stand down, she liberated the microphone from its place, taking hold of several ilms of the wire into her hand as she lowered her voice, purring out her next verse.
♪”I walked the world with you, Babe
A thousand malms with you
I dried your tears of pain, babe
A million times for you”
♪
♪
“I’d sell my soul for you babe
For all the gil to burn with you”♪
Her eye fixated on some random damsel in the audience, giving them a wink. Belladonna brought the mic-stand back in-front of her. Sliding the metal near her thighs as she gripped the metal tight, choosing to slide herself up the polished stand, after every purred word. The smile never seeming to lose itself on her face, the same devilish glint never leaving as she stood back at full height.
♪“I’d give you all, and have none, babe –”
♪
Bella threw her head back at every word as she would thrust the microphone forward, clasping it back into place on the stand while pulling it close over and over as the musical high kept ebbing at her.
♪
“Just t’, Just-a, Just t’, to have you here by me!!!
BECAUSE –”
♪
The hyur lurched herself forward, slamming the base of her stand onto the stage. The entire band leaned back as they hit their highest of notes, the room thunderous in their hollars and cheers. Belladonna slid on her heel backwards to kick the air before her before stomping the wood beneath her as her voice, hoarse and rowdy sang out her last chorus.
The guitars and drums could practically be burning in order to match the ferocity that the band had in every note as they backed their little leader in vocals, howling up to the lights and audience as if they were the moon for the wolves on a moonlit Gridanian night.
♪ “In the midnight hour she cried more, more, more
With a rebel yell she cried, more, more, more
In the midnight hour babe more, more, more
With a rebel yell more, more, more
More, More, More!” ♪
♪“More, More, More!” ♪
The last of the guitar notes strummed out as the the drum’s cymbals clashed one last time. The song finding it’s highnot ending seemingly all too quickly. The hyur hung a hand on the stand before pulling it back to her face, covering her one good eye as it closed. A trace of velvet tongue slipped on her lips to lick away the trickling sweat with a giggle.
The crowed as absolutely ecstatic as the hoots and hollars filled the air, simply demanding more, more, more. Bella herself was huffing, unable to wipe the glow of glee off her face. Glancing to each of her band-mates they would give her a thumbs up, themselves still coming down from their own musical highs.
It's Morphin' Time - XIV 