Tag: more under the cut!

On By malicoreLeave a comment

[Reader Warning:]

|| Themes of character mental instability and nightmares are involved || 

[Hence title]

———-

Chittering.
Infestations..
The swarming stings..

The hallowed horrid buzzing, the chomping of maws, the irritable hum of fluttering wings.. the wrapping of tentacles, slinking of flesh and crack of bones as they twisted beyond bend. Sounds of rancor filled her ears as her mind was assaulted with the twisted thoughts and black water. A chiding of voices not belonging to her own in restless slumber caused the woman to toss and turn beneath silken sheets. Slowly her eye pried itself open, her body pulling itself up out of the warmth of the bed to sit on the edge of it.

It was quiet, and yet, her mind in a clamor of disarray, the only other sound in the darkened bed room were the gentle purrs of her partner. Their prosthetic metal tail wrapping around her arm in the gentle silence. A silent calm help for the weary and restless. Bella lay still for but a moment before shifting again, trying to push her thoughts away, to try and fall back asleep.

The cold unpolished wood floor could be felt along the soles of her feet as she pulled away from the safety to linger on into the darkness. Shifting through the shadows, her hand slowly found a door knob. It’s idle kiss of cold metal found itself pressed against her fingertips as she turned it, the lock knocking back as the door were pulled open to an even darker hallway.

Voices echoed through Haven’s halls, unintelligible whispers just out of range. The warmth of their words lingering just behind her ears. Their waves of breath puffing against nervous skin. As the wayward woman seemingly aimlessly crept through the dark hallway, shadows gave way to a bitterly dim silver glow that weaved its way through white drapes behind glass windows.

The further she moved, the longer the hallway seemed to stretch. The windows lining every other space yet still leaving the dim light in their places. Whispers turned to growls, the growls to snarls as puffs of breath at her ears turned to heavy pants that trailed down the back of her neck. Voices every manner of them echoed in different volumes, all a cacophony and ill-boding symphony of one singular word…

“RUN”

“̀R̡un. ͘R͢U̸N.͏ ̸RUN͟ MO̸ŖE͠! Run f͏a͡s͞t̨er͜! I̸t’̡s beh̴in͞d͘ y͜ou.҉ It’s aĺm̀os͝t her̛e͞! It̸’s ́here̴! Įt’̴s ͝h̷er̵e. ͘I’m͏ ̀he͞ré! RUN͡ ̵F͏AST̀ȨR̶.̸ ̀WE’ŖE ͟RIGH͜T ҉BE͘HÌND̶ YOU̕~"͠

"͢Why d͢o͡n’t̀ ̶ýou͘ j́oin u͝s̢?͢!̷ ҉W͘ḩy̢ d͡o͘n͠’̛t y͟ou͘ ̵w̨a҉n̨t us?̧!͠!? We ͡c̕a̛n ͘b҉e w̵h҉ol͜e̛ ̀a̡g͜a͟in!!҉!!!!̡!͢!"͞

The voices were yelling, screeching, cascading behind her as she raced down the hall. Beads of sweat rolling down her face as her heart thundered in her chest. The heat of their breath was ever relentless as it brushed down her back. Claws and fleshy tendrils thumped and chased after her, scratching and thudding just only moments behind. Hurried footsteps clamored down the elongating hallway as the elezen finally let out a panicked cry.

With every blink of her eye, wipe of sweat from her brow, things around her changed. The wood and stone walls turned to metal sheets. The silver ghost lights from the windows turned to hues of red and blue as the bubbling of the ocean floor surrounded her. Haven… safe and warm was now Whisper Ridge… cold and dark… alone. The only thing left were the door at the far end of the hall.

As she reached out with a leap ahead her fingertips just out of reach of the door knob to her home, the black claws and flesh of death wrapped around her sight, holding her there as it started to eat away, to cover her body up and pull her into the open dark that lingered behind her.

Bella could only muster up a choked up scream as her hand frantically reached out for the low iridescent light. The echoing laughter and whispered rushing… assaulting her mind as the colors of this dim existence grew black and dark till suddenly a breath of air hits her lungs. Her eye shoots open as she sits up in a panic, heart racing at breakneck pace.

There was a cold sweat along her body, silken bed sheets covering up her and her partner still some. Trembling and on the brink of weeping, she sat there, a face in hand, trying to force herself quiet again. It wasn’t working. Slowly now, her partner reached over, it were different, a hingan’s hand placing it atop of Bella’s and squeezing firmly.

The elezen turned some to see her, the woman of raven black and snow white locks laying in the bed next to her. An ageless smile coming to the sleepy hyur’s lips as she whispered something in her foreign tongue.

"Another one?”

With a saddened gulp, Bella sniffled before gently lowering herself back down, the warmth of her partner reaching her against the cold mattress and sheets in the late, late evening. This wasn’t the first, nor would it be the last. Nightmares… whispers… horrid thoughts plagued her every night, endlessly, and relentlessly, yet no one knew save for those who shared her bed. From one heart to the next, one lost, another found, they would know she suffered but never knew the cause.

Slowly she drifted back to sleep. Another long set of nights pass, and through it all, the nightmares never ceased. The weeks go by, and then night terrors continue, the whispers getting louder, the thoughts getting worse… fear of loss turned to outrage and possession… The dream whispers get harder to differentiate from reality as the days change…

————————————–

One night, and with a low growl, the elezen huffed in her sleep.

“̨Th͢ey̵ ̨çan͢’̡t͡ h͠av͜e i̧t͝. ̵The͟y͡ w͢o̧n’t̶ ͟h̨a͝ve it. Ǹo ͏on̶e̴ wil̴l h̸av͘e ̕it͠.́ It’s ͝m̀in̵e͝.͘ ̴I͝t̢’̷s mi͡n͢e̡..͟. It̸’s͠ MI̢NE҉,̷ ͟it̴’s ͘ALW̡A͢YS̕ b͜ee̕n͘ ̀miǹe.̵ Not͢hinģ w̢ill ̧b̵e ̵t͡ak̨en͢.͢ T̕hey҉ w̶on’́t ͜t҉a̢ke it.͢ ͞T̀hey ́CAN̸’T take̛ ̧i͡t.҉.͡. ̷"̸ Whispers in the dark turned to yells as they cascaded across the dreamscape.

Their voices raising higher and higher as her heart raced again. The elezen’s eye shooting open once again, just as the nights before now. She were in bed with her partner again, her face buried in raven and snow white locks. It was quiet again, the idle crackle of a hearth filling the air solely. Bella moved to press a soft kiss to the woman’s head beside her before pulling away gently. Slowly she scooted herself to the edge of the bed, sitting up right.

The cold unpolished wood floor could be felt along the soles of her feet as she pulled away from the safety to linger on into the darkness. Shifting through the shadows, her hand slowly found a door knob. It’s idle kiss of cold metal found itself pressed against her fingertips as she turned it, the lock knocking back as the door were pulled open to an even darker hallway.  

Voices echoed through Haven’s halls, unintelligible whispers just out of range. The warmth of their words lingering just behind her ears. Their waves of breath puffing against nervous skin. As the wayward woman seemingly aimlessly crept through the dark hallway, shadows gave way to a bitterly dim silver glow that weaved its way through white drapes behind glass windows.

”Mine.. Run… It’s mine. RUN FASTER..! It’s always been mine. Run away with it… Hide it! They can’t take it. No. NO. They won’t take it… We can become whole with it…“

As she reached the door at the end of the hall, her hand pressed against it’s knob before reaching for a secondary panel on the side. Red numbers and sigils glowing on the combination dial as she turned it quietly to the left, the right, and left again. Those symbols pulsing blue as she moved to the knob and pushed.

Walking through the dark entry way, she found herself no longer in the safety of Haven, but out at sea now. The washing of The Bounty’s waves below echoed out against the large metal foundation of the platform she stood upon. It was dark out, the sky filled with millions upon billions of twinkling lights that reflected on the shimmering ocean.

This was her lab, a place just for herself. Few knew of it, fewer knew how to reach it. Through metal door after metal door, she walked through the empty facility, going lower and lower till she reached a small lift. The elevator lowering itself past the deepest point of the facility to go even further below… The Ocean floor.

Blips of light dotted the sandy sea bed, indicating where small buildings were, connected by hallway tubes. The trip itself was quick, even for such a long distance between the surface and here. The lift stopped at a welcoming station, the facility still ever empty. Empty… save for one voice.

"Greetings User Belladonna! It is I, S-1-E-R-A, Siera. It has been approximately four days, twelve bells and thirty-two ticks since you last visited this outpost. Would you like an status update on containment?”

The elezen stepped forward with a small frown, her head giving a firm nod.

“Very well. Your ‘gift’ is still in containment. All systems nominal. Would you like to see it?”

As the Allagan node poised its question, the door leading onward into the rest of her facility opened up to reveal the singular hallway that connected to containment. Without hesitation, Bella raced through the entryway. The voices still lingering in her mind and in the hallway now too… Her voice coarse and growling.

“They won’t take it. They can’t have it. It’s mine. Run… Running.. It’s MINE. My tek… my home.. mine. ALL OF IT…. Mine.”

Slowly her voice went silent as she reached the next room. It was a medium sized metal room, spotlights gently washing over a center table, and on the table sat a small opened parcel, it’s wrappings of black still housing the box.

There, on satin cushions sat a small glass bottle. Within the box itself, in crisp and perfect detail, sits a little scene. Wide expanses of rolling farmlands nestle a house, and around it the tiny movements of magicked farm animals grazing and running and playing can be seen all frolicking around a picturesque little farm, a home Bella knew ever so intimately that the details within it were impossibly accurate.

Belladonna’s voice was nothing now, her hurried and panicked expressions from before were muted to a smile as she rested against a railing that overlooked the table and bottle.

“…No one will take it..”

“No one.”

On By malicoreLeave a comment

its-morphin-time-xiv:

The Thunder Rolls

——————-

“… t’would.. seem that the past never ceases to catch up to me…”

– “What happened?”

“I.. i-it’s… i- I’ll tell when it ends… I promise.”

——————-

| There can be no Victory… The Darkness always returns… |

Those words echoed in our elezen’s mind as she stood still, her body on the very verge of collapsing. Shaking as waves of fear rushed at her heart before sputtering out to sounds of seething behind clenched teeth. Her one eye glaring daggers at the man who stood only yards away from her. A man clad in black and draped in red. His eyes practically glowing a gilded gold before those shining colors faded to reveal hazel and honey colored hues in the flashes of lightning that streaked across the skies overhead.

Pain, something that she had never grown used to, even as she lied to her comrades about it. It was always something she felt, the emotional strain… the physical reluctance to feel it again as it were always amplified to her. The smugness that lingered along the man’s face pulled hard at her heart’s strings. A look that she remembered all too well.

Thunder cascaded in a veritable symphony of rancor overhead, the storm over the La Noscean isles taking its hold firmly. The boom and roar of the clouds sent violent shudders through her bones, contesting with the quivering fear that rolled down her spines.

León.

Keep reading

On By malicoreLeave a comment

The Thunder Rolls

——————-

“… t’would.. seem that the past never ceases to catch up to me…”

– “What happened?”

“I.. i-it’s… i- I’ll tell when it ends… I promise.”

——————-

| There can be no Victory… The Darkness always returns… |

Those words echoed in our elezen’s mind as she stood still, her body on the very verge of collapsing. Shaking as waves of fear rushed at her heart before sputtering out to sounds of seething behind clenched teeth. Her one eye glaring daggers at the man who stood only yards away from her. A man clad in black and draped in red. His eyes practically glowing a gilded gold before those shining colors faded to reveal hazel and honey colored hues in the flashes of lightning that streaked across the skies overhead.

Pain, something that she had never grown used to, even as she lied to her comrades about it. It was always something she felt, the emotional strain… the physical reluctance to feel it again as it were always amplified to her. The smugness that lingered along the man’s face pulled hard at her heart’s strings. A look that she remembered all too well.

Thunder cascaded in a veritable symphony of rancor overhead, the storm over the La Noscean isles taking its hold firmly. The boom and roar of the clouds sent violent shudders through her bones, contesting with the quivering fear that rolled down her spines.

León.

As the levin lights flashed and danced across grey and otherwise dark clouds in the evening, more and more of his face were revealed. A sharp and squared jaw that were ever scarred on the left side,traces of fangs and claws that had caught him in ages past remained. A deep scar across the bridge of his nose and a light skinned spot on his forehead, right where she had shot him once… many… many moons ago.

Yet even with that mark, he still stands here before her. Alive as ever, a small laugh escaping him as he stared back. His voice rising above the thunder to speak. The voice was gruff, a low existence that drew with a hushed honey tinge that she loved once… many cycles ago.

“Surprised you still remember me.” A scoff. “I was hoping you wouldn’t. It’d make this meeting a whole lot easier, babydoll –”

– “Don’t call me that.” –

“Awwwh… Baby Slater’s all grown up now?” His voice cooed with a bordering chuckle. “I mean… you sure like you’ve grown up now. Taller, a look that could kill. Pointed ears too? Shite, baby you went far beyond what I expected to see all these years later.”

– “… Shut up.” –

“And she’s got some spunk! Good… Good, I like that. I like that you’re still the woman I knew. Even if you are a bit taller now.”

– “S-shut up! Why are you here. Answer me.” – The elezen hissed now, her words a bark against the cascades of booming thunder overhead. Bella stood with a jaw tightened and fists clenched at her sides, balling tight enough that they’d break bones and skin if it went any further.

“I’m here, baby, to make sure you don’t go any further. This… plan of yours? These ideas you got going on?” He smirked, gesturing to the device that wrapped around Bella’s right wrist. “These new things? You gotta stop darlin’… Cause if you don’t.”

“I’m gonna have to ki–.”

– “Then do it, coward.” –

León

seemed to pause a moment, the words, how curt, how dangerous they were. Even as he loved these moments, she caught him off guard but he never showed it.

“How do we find ourselves in these little… standoffs, darlin’? It’s gotta stop… Or we’re gonna go back to familiar ground.” He spoke light, his and her mind traveling back years to when they were younger. Of how he always would tread the dangerous line with the darkness that threatened to swallow any Ranger foolish enough to look over the edge…

Of how when he did step over that everything went black, and the skies over their home rained with the blood of their allies, and the cacophony of thunder that turned to the screams of their loved ones.

The skies above the two shattered souls were churning, bolts of lightning scattering across the skies as thunder quaked the grounds below enough to rival that of Titan. The waters of upper la noscea rippled with each boom as boots now slowly waded through, circling each other in a slow fashion.

Both Bella and

León

were locked, their eyes centering on the other as all the jokes, jests and smiles left the man’s face to be taken away by a cold yet subtly solemn gaze onward.

Slowly, beneath the rushing rain that puddled and pooled into the waters that surrounded the lost city of Nym nearby,

León’s voice rose in an eerily calm start, his voice low yet carrying a tune with it as he started to sing out the first few lyrics of a song.

—
| Song Link |
—

“Three thirty in the morning…
Not a soul in sight
The city’s lookin’ like a ghost town
On a moonless summer night…”

As he continued, his voice soon became modulated, masked behind magitek speakers as red colors rushed along his body. The growl of a wolf echoes throughout the air as Red armor covered his person, chasing after the coursing colors. | Embrace the Danger | Betrayer | E v o l v e d | growled out the device on his own wrist as the eyes of his helmet flashed violent colors.

“Raindrops on the windshield
There’s a storm moving in
He’s heading back from somewhere
That he never should have been…

And the thunder rolls..
And the thunder rolls…”

Quickly, between the flashes of levin overhead, his clawed gauntlets rose up, flaring out iron nails as he closed the long distance before him. Splashes against the water came as his metal boots rushed through. The snarls of a hungry and near rabid would followed behind his voice as the words continued.

“Every light is bruning
In a house across town
She’s pacing by the telephone
In her faded flannel gown…”

Bella slowly shifted her footing, as her own fists came to bear. The rain soaking into her clothes. Shoes soaking beneath the surface of the rippling waters, digging slightly into the gravely bank below. Even with one eye she could see him clearly, rain dripping down her bangs slightly skewing her already broken vision.

The device on her wrist did not activate yet, no. She remained in her soaking clothes, letting the wind and rain have their way against her dark and scarred skin. Bella waited longer, his words echoing into the storm filled evening.

“Asking for a miracle..
Hoping she’s not right
Praying it’s the weather
That’s kept him out all night..

And the thunder rolls..”

León’s footsteps hardened as he rushed forward still, his boots coming down into the water one final time to leap skyward, his claws reaching to his sides to pull free blood-red daggers from their sheathes. Fingers spinning the blades between them before catching and gripping them firmly as he flew past the apex of his leap, coming down to bear them first onto Belladonna.

“And the thunder rolls…”

Yet as he descended Bella’s one eye pulsed a icey blue color that washed over the dark green hues she had. Her voice escaping through her parting lips high and mighty, weighted with a defiant rage against the man she once loved so long ago. The crash of metal and colors of blue and gold rushed along the elezen’s left arm as she raced it higher firing her fist toward the oncoming daggers with all the burning strength she could muster from her quivering heart.

“The thunder rolls”

An armored fist rose to crash against the sharpened edges of the daggers, creating a washing wave of sparks that careened and collided with the pouring rain. The colors of gold and blue course over the elezen’s body, armor appearing in the wake of the wave as the device on her wrist explained out between the beats of their song | Heed the call |  Ranger | S A V I O R |

“And the lightning strikes
Another love grows cold..
On a sleepless night…”

Bella’s voice grew modulated in the chorus as she pushed back against the oncoming blades. Try of a hawk coming to bear as her force shoved the daggers to the ground, sending

León

back a few feet away. With a snarl, he rears his head up to see the blue warrior before him. As he did, the memories of ages past, their love, their loss and his betrayal rush to him before he could rise properly to his feet.

Without the mercy of waiting, Bella charged forward. Her right hand palm coming forward to crash like a wave of wind against his helmet, sending him upwards away. The red armor colliding with ancient stonework behind him with a metallic crunch.

“As the Storm blows on
Out of control
Deep in her heart
The Thunder rolls…”

The elezen’s voice carried the chorus onward as the man slowly got his bearings straight.

León

reaching for his daggers on either side of him before pushing himself up with an audible smirk in his lyrics as the daggers rose to level with Bella’s visage. He’d shake his head as a shoulder rolled, stretching his reach just a moment.

Bella remained light on her feet as she shifted to a more ready stance, one hand tucked to her side as the other extended forward with her arm. With a low exhale between words and the rumble of verse on the tip of

León’s tongue, the most subtle of beckons came with the quick curl of four fingers.

“She’s waiting by the window
When he pulls into the drive
She rushes out to hold him
Thankful he’s alive…”

León’s voice carried out again, unshaken, unwavering even after being sent reeling against the stone pillar. His grip freshens itself along the daggers’ handles, his smile still ever audible as the lyrics came forth. The memories of them together, on a stage, or off of it, hand in hand… years ago they were but still remained fresh in his mind as they day they were made.

Why was he here… what brought him to this point… to drive all of this love away, to drive that blackened knife in to the heart of his home that one fate filled night. Their Darkest night..

“But on the wind and rain
A dangerous new perfume blows…
And the lightning flashes in her eyes
And he knows that she knows…”

It didn’t matter anymore. The whispers of the lingering black rushed to his ears and drove themselves further in as he watched Bella beckon him forth. The rain pelted their armor, painting their figures in the dark moonless night easily as the faint lights of the camps of Bronze lake and elsewhere lit the evening skies albeit barely. The only other light that reached them were the frequent flashes of lightning with their rumbling thunder.

León

rushed forward, his daggers tucked to either side of him as he raced towards Belladonna. Closer and closer he raced as his voice reached the chorus again. In their warring song, Belladonna and

León

had shared this moment of fate once before. And history simply repeated itself again and again.

In a lead to the chorus, the man lets out a snarl as he plunges himself forward, pushing himself as the Bloodied Mongrel opened it’s maw to unleash the voice it held within.

“And the thunder rolls..
And the thunder rolls…”

The red armor thrusts their dagger forward, pressuring the one of blue to strike back as it came. Yet, it didn’t. Bella shifted, her right foot pulling back to make

León

miss his target by only inches.

It was here that Belladonna’s voice took the chorus, her voice strong as her left hand rushed from its tucked position, her mailed fist crashing against the temple of the red helmet. The crash rang loud as thunder rolled overhead. The elezen shifted again as

León

was knocked off-kilter, her right hand knocking his forearm upward while he raced for her.

She had a year to dwell on his last appearance, his last grasp at her from the past that only lingered. It was true, she had been moving forward. It were an attempt to make something that made up for those she left behind, and for those that could still be yet saved.

She was tired of this… this past coming back to hurt her. She needed to hurt it back… there was no other way.

“The thunder rolls
And the lightning strikes
Another love grows cold…
On a sleepless night.”

As Bella pulled the man close, her hand reaches to take a hold of his collar and yank him even more off his feet. As his body reeled back, she stepped forth with her right foot before sending her left knee into his back, the sound of a metal plate crashing against the soft of a man’s spine crunched beneath the thunderous cacophony that roared above.

The flashes of lightning grew ever more violent as she pushed him into the air with the force from the blow. While he were airborne, his voice went silent. A quiet surrender of the song to the woman he had once betrayed, the woman who now hated him for it… for everything and beyond.

Belladonna shifted on her right heel, spinning to land her left leg down and send her right spiraling out to roundhouse kick

León

away and into the waters ahead. As her leg careened through the air, a shriek of wind exploded from the space cut in two. Sigils on her right leg pulsed a golden sheen beneath the flashing lightning before expelling themselves through bolts of electricity that chased after the red armor’s frame.

“As the storm blows on
Out of control
Deep in my heart…”

The elezen remained tall, her breath held while she sang out to see the song to its end. Her right hand open and spread at her side as the left came to rest near the helmet. The crash of lightning and thunder to her seemed something akin to the rancor of an audience before a stage. Slowly now, Bella in her armor proceeded to bend, offering nature’s audience a respective bow while the lightning flashed again and again. The center of the storm hanging overhead now.

León

stirred only slightly between the flashes of levin before outright vanishing. The shadows that lingered behind the light having been creeping over his form before enveloping him and pulling him back into the abyss of nothingness.

As Bella stood from her bow, she turned to see her defeated opponent. Except he wasn’t there, laying still in the flooding waters, no. His red armor was tough to miss, even in the walls of rain. Off in the distance, she could see the figure of blood red standing on a cliff’s edge where the shadows stopped and showed him, watching her.

“Deep in my heart..”

“The Thunder Rolls…”

[RP – Excerpt]

On By malicoreLeave a comment
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<== Di Amore Sanguinoso ==> [RP – Excerpt]

(Yes it’s power rangers)

The two Rangers had no words to speak in return to the man as he made his intentions plain and clear, yet threats to ‘carve’ them made no impression on them. This wouldn’t have been the first time one of their own was threatened by a tertiary force seemingly hellbent on following through with their work. Whether it be political moves of assassination or underground shifts in the shadows for trafficking or worse, it made no budge in the two standing between Lily and the man.

Slowly now, they traded places, Bella stepping forward, her grasp holding onto Lily’s hand as long as she could before The Creator’s own armored hand slid along, replacing Bella’s own flawlessly. With firm steps the armored woman stepped forward, while the midlander guided Lily backwards, still holding onto her with the goal to put as much space as they could between them and the aggressor.

Along Bella’s right arm and belt, the shape of the morpher’s gem began to glow along her armor as the machinery inside activated, pulsing with a seemingly violent red energy. With a burning rage buried deep beneath its voice, the Morpher spoke out, it’s tone lingering on a longing excitement that brought a pounding heart to bear.

|Seal: Di Amore Sanguinoso…. Are you Ready?!|

The Elezen’s helmet flicked upward gently to stare at the man, blackened visor reflecting the moon and lamp light off in the distance.

|Three…. Two…. One!!!!!|

“… Henshin.”

image

Her voice was calm, yet even as it were, the tone was filled with the taint of rage, one that had only been seen so rarely. Any spirit that had been present during the night she lost her eye would remember it well… A blackened rage spattered with crimson fury that could fell legions of men with a single glare, one that belonged to that of a Demon rather than of any man.

|Huaaaaaa….|

As the Morpher spoke it’s vocal incantation, the blue hawk’s armor pulsed a brilliant gold and blue as the accents of once aged glory flashed hues of gold and red. The form of the armor turning heavier, the shoulders bulking with pauldrons, feather-light boots crunching against graveled roads and rocky grass turning to plated greaves and gold colors accenting a darker hued set of  metal sabatons.

Black lined magitek hose began to be covered by ornate and magick engraved cuisse, leather tassets and mail chausses covered such elegant designs. Plumes of blue and gold colored flames and sparks licked at the woman’s metal breastplate while lines of a pulsing blue ran beneath grooves of designed metal.

Slowly, piece by piece the blue hawk vanished, disappearing in the wake of raging fires only to be replaced by that of a Guardian. A wall of protection against any foe, so rare to be seen yet so keenly documented in Ranger history as forms or even Rangers themselves dedicating to the first lines of defense for their ill-fated city. Rangers sworn to life and to death, young and powerful, bold and brave men and women. Silent wardens of life till death do them part from their lifelong duty.

|Wha-wha-watch out… Blue Sentinel!!!!|

In the billowing wake of the blue fire’s smoke approached a gilded bastion, glimmering white blade in hand, the shield of a tower along the other. Gold embers gently licked at  the tattered edges what came to be fine-lined wrappings of a would-be cowl that covered one’s pauldrons and helmet. The tone of the early beginnings of this… this.. threat were met with a cruel response that no man could ever take lightly.

“If you wanted easy…”

image

“You should’ve took up another job…”

On By malicoreLeave a comment
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|| Mentions / Involvement: @damoclesffxiv , @enambris , @lilyverlial||

The late night colors of silver and glimmering violets blanketed the royal streets of the desert jewel, Ul’dah. Gentle sways of warm summer night air brushed along brazen and dusty tanned skin. Gentle simpers and light chuckles filled the air around the city balcony, the beats of the city’s nightlife music came in waves through the evening air. 

A hand brushes along a sandy stone railing followed by a sister’s chuckle. Blonde hair and burning crimson eyes gaze about the vast open expanse of Thanalan from one of the high balcony ways in the mid-section of the city. The pureblood shifts a bit, their other hand passing through a wavy length of her hair.

“Are you sure about this?” Her voice was reasonable, a curious tone taking through as her eyes turn to her now elezen of a sister. 

Bella blinked a bit, resting her back to the railing, shifting along it slightly as if she were like a bear, taking care of an itch. Her spines were antsy underneath her shirt, unable to stretch and breathe properly. A moment passes as she takes a deep breath, exhaling it sharply between pursed lips.

The thousand upon thousand different possibilities of her answer bounced around her mind, sparking like wildfire before shattering into embers of the million, billion stars above in the night sky. Bittersweet thoughts drifted to and fro as she dwelled on her words as carefully as she could. Her heart beat weakly, pumping and beating in her chest as much as it could in its condition. 

Slowly now, so slowly. Bella gave herself a solemn nod, the graces of a smile slipping onto the distant yet so welcoming corners of her lips. Her teeth chattered gently behind a partially open lip before parting fully as she spoke.

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“… To be honest, Sis…” The elezen slowly brings her scarred gaze over to meet the pureblood with a gentle smile. “I… I’ve been thinking about it… a lot. Whether or not I am to go this way… Ever since and before Our chat… But… I do know that… She makes me happy. The happiest I could ever be, in a long… long time.”

There was a slight and albeit nervous chuckle as Bella brought a hand to rub at her neck, pausing her words only briefly. “She’s had my heart in knots, ever since she walked into Headquarters that one day. Like… something straight out of a storybook, Dawn. Ever since she first asked to join us, to be an engineer, and then to be My apprentice… and… then My partner.” Her voice lowers somewhat, a tinge of red could be seen brushing along her cheeks briefly before turning up to her pointed ears.

With that, she cracked a toothy smile, shaking her head. “I know I’ve said some of that before… but… I mean it. There’s… A certain part of me that longs to be at her side, to see her safe, to support her beyond anything and through everything like… I’m just… drawn to her. It’s Inescapable and undeniable. D-… Does that make sense?”

Dawn did all but try to hide that smirk she wore, resting on an elbow atop the railing, there was a nod. “I’d think so.” The woman’s other hand moved to find a place along Bella’s shoulder, giving a firm and reassuring squeeze to calm her sister down. "Just do what you feel is right, go with your heart, and not your mind.“

"Some words of guidance. The Creator said that to us one time, remember?”

The elezen bit back a small grin, nodding at that. “Aye, I do… Somehow, anyways.” Blinking a moment, she looks around again. A passing glance through the night sky to the nightlife’s filled streets and then to the inner city behind them, beyond the balcony. Her lips pursed just slightly as she watched the people pass by with mild interest. Slowly she moved to cross her arms, folding them beneath her chest, resting her back against the railing again.

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“What’d you think of that one jeweler’s shop?  You know the one on the second floor, with all the steel?” Dawn’s voice came, her head tilting as she crossed her arms to do the same, index and thumb stretching to cup her own chin.

“That one? I… don’t think those were rings, Sis.” Bell smirked, looking over a bit, elbowing the woman with a small laugh. “There were bracelets maybe. Bangles and I’m pretty sure that was a weapon and sex-shop.”

A snort came from the pureblood, shaking her head. “Guess that explained why we had to take a side-alley to get there.” 

“Oh shut-up.” Belladonna sneered, her elbow jabbed at Dawn’s side once more, a light laugh following after.

“Hey, you know where it is now though. If it was that, I mean. They really didn’t give us a sign or shop name; just we saw they sold… That stuff. I know that I’m keeping it noted for later.”

“Eugh, Really?”

“What? Bell, we’re like thirty-six year old, sort-of adopted sisters. Talk like this is going to happen… probably. It’s better than having this chat with our brothers’ right?”

The elezen deadpanned just a moment, fighting back a smirk.

“Well we are. I’m in my late thirties and then you’re fifty who’s sort of in their late thirties too because ‘things happened’.” The pureblood brought up her hands to air quote all the while sneering from ear to ear. A moment passed before she let out a light ‘pop’ from her lips with a chuckle, her hand moved to sweep up a small twine bound booklet, passing it over after flipping it open. 

Sliding over, she bumped into Bella, thumping her head against the taller elezen’s shoulder. “Here, let’s take a look at a few of these from that shop on the fourth floor. Evidently this catalogue applies to all shops on the norther section of the city. Handy.”

“So we just find one here that I think would be nice and we just… what, ask?”
Dawn’s expression flipped in an instant from curiosity killing the cat to utter perplexity as she shrugged her shoulders heavily. “That’s what they said, I guess.”

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With a tilt of her own head, the elezen brought her thumb to her lips, giving it a single stick of her tongue to flip through the worn pages of the booklet. Each page was some variation of tattered or stained, filled from header to footer with actual pictures, scrawls and scribbles of specifically just rings.

The nearly hundreds upon hundreds of designed all varied from the most simplest of etchings with flowers buried beneath golden linings to the most complex designs of dragons and monsters carrying the jewels their homes were burdened with carrying. The sheer amount of it all made Bella’s head spin just enough to make her cast her gaze elsewhere for a time. 

“Gods… Just one ring, that’s all I need! Something that will look good on her, that’s it.” She grit her teeth tightly, grinding them in some tinge of frustration while her other hand moved to wipe her forehead clean of the midnight dust from the passing stray winds along the city balcony. 

“Easy, sis, easy… There’s bound to be at least one you’ll find here. And honestly, I don’t think we’re gonna go anywhere else tonight, which I’m perfectly fine with, by the way. We’re in the mid-city, just low enough to still catch business from the lower streets and just high enough to see the more… rich people get it on.”

“Still gotta see if Nam likes any of these too, y’know.”

With a snort, Dawn moved to sit down on the corner of the bench beside them, pulling the binder onto her lap, flipping through the pages one by one. “There’s a few here already I think you’d like. But… If you’re really serious about this, Bella, then we’ve got about say… four hundred or so more pages in this old book.”
The moonlight cast its silver graces over the gentle and still warm dunes and mesas that surrounded the Desert Jewel. A warm breeze danced through the night, flowing through the hallowed halls of the sunstone city as it brushed past the Slater Sisters. 

“Guess that means it’s going to be a long night, huh?”

The minutes turned long and the hours seemed forever, but even so, the laughter of both women could be heard as they pored over the aged pages of jewels and gold, knowing full well by the end of the night they’d have one.
“Yeah, but we’ve got drinks.”

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“… Oh yeah we do.”

… Eventually.

A (tentative) Resignation.

On By malicoreLeave a comment
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[ Mood ]

Mentions: @lilyverlial @enambris 

[Dear reader, I hope you enjoy it]

An elezen sat on the edge of her bed, one hand through her hair, the other clutching a pen as it dripped ink into a blackened inkwell. The table at the foot of her bed pulled over to stand before her as she shoved sheets of messied and unfinished writings off into the darkness of the midnight bedroom below. 

On the far side of the room along the furthest wall were a dimly lit hearth, the crackling of the burning fire stuck behind stone barely reached her to stir her senses beyond the rustling of paper and shifting of sheets. Aside from the low incomprehensible grumblings of the writer, there was but another sound between the shifting bed sheets.

A purring miqo’te lay at the elezen’s side, their head resting in her head on on her left thigh, favoring it as an actual pillow while she remained curled up partly in the sheets. The dim light of candle glow and cold-silver moonlight as it sifted through silken white curtains painted the small table in a somber light.

With a chewed lip, the elezen let out one final exhale as she dipped the pen back into the well gently before bringing it to a newly drawn parchment…

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The soft scrawling of the pen as it pressed against the surface seemed to cause the miqote’s ears to flick in the rhythm of each turn of the point. Line after starting line were ink scritched in certain permanence to an uncertain writer… 

———————————————–

“Dear Lady My Sister,  Enambris Rosen’Ash,

I am writing to announce my resignation from the Glass Network, effective immediately.

As your shield-sister, this was not an easy decision to make, nor should it ever be. Through the cycles that we’ve known each other, we’ve gone from idled strangers to the best of sisters. Two souls seemingly forever entwined to cross paths so closely again and again till they ran as one.

You, as my friend gave me a reason to live, hells. Not even gave, but provided it to me with a caring smile and loving embrace. You sought to keep me at your side, even as I struggled to remain. Time and time again you’ve done this, even after everything that has happened.

For this…

For that, I thank you, Sister.

Thank you, Enambris for my second…. my third and my fourth chance at life. I’ve enjoyed it every time you’ve given it. And I wished to make the best of it, every time. 

This I promise you.

But I see as time turns the page, that the choices of the recent moons and coming weeks have driven me to think and dwell on the repercussions and actions that have and will have taken place by the time you read this letter. Perhaps it was my old age that changed my views, perhaps it was my jaded memory, fracturing and taking hold of my mind, or even the overload of living past lives once again. 

But as fate tells us to take a side, and make decisions, my thoughts and mind have given me another perspective on what has come, and as the star turns so too do my feelings on the matters at hand. And it.. I do not agree with much of what has taken place. 

Our actions, our words, our choices… I do not agree with the routes we have gone regar——”

There was an abrupt stop, the elezen letting out a frustrated groan as she willing let the ink pen drip and smear onto her writing again. She tightened her jaw, her teeth grinding as she re-read over what she could make out in the blackened scrawling of her letter.

She shakes her head with a mild grumble, the hand in her hair sweeping down onto the table to crumple up the written parchment before tossing it into the pile that remained hidden in the darkness of the late night room. 

A frustrated hand grabs at the edges of the small table, her nails scraping and raking against the polished woodwork as she grit her teeth. The other lets the ink pen go, letting it spin on it’s head before clattering to the table top as fingers rush to run through tangled red and dark hair before resting the palm along the front of her face. 

The weight of a held scream came to her chest as she wanted to let go, she wanted to let it out, but the purring of the miqote resting beside her seemed to draw her anger and frustration away. 

The elezen shook her head again as both hands moved to rub at her face, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose as she exhales sharply with as much of a shushed tone that she could muster. Despite the attempt at calm, she was shaking, shuddering ever so slightly as the tremors ran down her spine. The spikes poking through her night shirt twitched some few moments before tucking away. 

Slowly her hands drifted back towards the paper and pen, tired and cold fingers twirling the pen between them before bringing the head of ink onto a new set of parchment. The scrawling of the same letter, revised came to mind as she let out a small exhale between her lips. 

“– in regards to those you believe can still be saved. 

I don’t believe it so easily. For I have seen this all before, and through my tired and aged eyes, I see nothing but pain down this road. But you have jumped head first into this new calamity that threatens us, how I wish I could share your enthusiasm. But I do not. My age has taught me not to. 

My memories have told me not to.

And to that, my dear sister, I regret to inform you that this will be my resignation from the Glass Network proper. Those that serve under have outgrown me, and they see no need nor want to keep my presence. Even as a smile crosses my face as we embrace more and more new members of the Network, I see that my position and time have come to an end. 

Far better, brighter and smarter souls now walk these hallowed halls and I am a woman of the aged past. 

This… ‘war’ does not need me. This Network does not either. 

No one wants an old Ranger. 

I thought on my decisions and their reactions, and this… truly seemed to be the best course. I have the Farm to take care of, Haven to run as it fields research, my new Rangers to train so that they may surpass and perhaps join yours in the field. The newest personal projects of mine were prototypes for individuals still in the Network’s ranks but… T’would seem that they too have outgrown me. I find it heart-wrenching to think that my work may never see light.

I am a woman who has seen it all, and done it all. Save for one thing, heal. 

In my absence, I request that the remaining Engineers, Raulin, Kal (once her baby has come), Lily, Faolan and Belldonna share the seat as an engineering coalition within the ranks of the Network. 

They are to be my successors. All of bright minds and able bodies.

Lastly,


I wish to personally thank you, my dear sister for showing me that even in the darkest of times… there was always Hope. 

If only we could have taught that to my younger self..


This is my Resignation.


Best of luck, 

Your best friend,

Your sister,

Belladonna C. Slater.”

———————————————–

With a shuddering breath, the elezen rubbed at her face again with her spare hand as the other set down the pen, the point dripping ink as it rested near the drying signature. Finger tips brushed along the dried ink, an expression of a broken heart remained as a ghost as she read her work. 

The miqo’te resting near her had turned onto their side, their magitek tail flicking lightly into the air as the covers were pulled over their body. Bell’s hand ran along the wrinkled sheets, smoothing it out over the woman’s body before pulling away. 

Belladonna’s attention turned back to the table, retrieving a small envelope out from one of the side drawers. Slow fingers reluctantly folded the parchment into quarters before flicking the lip of the envelope open to slide the letter out of sight. With a shift and rustle of sheets, the elezen slowly came to a stand. The letter sealed away with a mournful darkness in her eyes. 

Step after slow and quiet step onto an unpolished wood floor sifted through the darkness of the midnight bedroom before the woman reached the small animal bed by one of the windows. 

The elezen stopped short a moment before turning back to see the sleeping miqo’te in their bed. The sheet’s pulled over their shoulder just enough to hide away her face. One eye was peaking open, a soft smile on her face as she watched her partner move to the window, stepping into the pale moonlight that shined down. Bella returned the smile in turn before looking back to the occupied animal bed.

There, awaited a green and blue eyed mechanical ‘dinobot’. A chrome plated mammet fashioned in the shape of the dinosaurs that can still be seen roaming the high and uncharted lands of the star. 

A low greeting growl emitted from the artificial beast as Bella slipped envelope into an awaiting maw. The iron jaw ever so carefully clamping down to catch and carry the letter. A metal nub behind the bot wagged back in forth, nearly shaking its entire rear in the process as it shifted and scaled down the small animal bed to reach the wood flooring with a gentle ‘clunk’. 

“Now… You know what to do with it.”

“…Go.”

The dinobot blinked it’s blue and green eyes as it looked directly up at the woman, the mechanized beast seemingly smiling as it acknowledged its orders. Slowly the chromed machine turned its body towards the door, its four legs carrying itself quietly with some pride in it’s step. 

A small smile happened across her face as she watched the mammet triumphantly make its way towards a smaller door that led to the hallway. At the last second, the dinobot had turned and shifted it’s path towards the gently burning fireplace. With each step, Bella watched quietly, a hand gently running along her shoulder to her face, a small sniffle escaping her. 

With gentle steps, the elezen back peddled to sit on the edge of the bed and watch her creation maneuver to sit just in front of the burning fire. The colors of burning flame licked at its chrome plates, causing it to reflect and shimmer beyond the shadows behind it. 

The faint blur of vision came to Bella’s eye, the palm of her hand coming to wipe away the glistening sadness that lingered on the brim of her eye as the Dinobot itself leaned forward, the envelope still in its mouth. Embers and sparks catching the far corner of the paper, turning it into kindling for the fireplace. With a low chirp, the mammet flicked it’s head, tossing the burning envelope onto the top of the pile to let the rest of the flames consume the written words simply. 

Satisfied with its job completed, the dinbot waddled back to its bed, it’s eyes closing as it pressed its face into one of the small pillows. Bella fought back a weak laugh, hiding away the fact that tears had soaked into her shirt and pant legs. 

A soft hand comes to run its fingertips along the elezen’s knuckles, the fingers wrapping themselves around her own to gently pull the woman back onto the bed. The candlelight blown out and the table moved, pen stowed as the sheets were brought over the elezen with a small and tired laugh as she were dragged back to lay down. 

“You’re right… I can’t leave.”

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“I still have you.”

Destiny’s Reflection

On By malicoreLeave a comment

|| Mentions: @lilyverlial

Peace and quiet. 

Something that everyone wants but never got. Something most souls strive for in the end. Well… one could hope that they do. Simple thoughts for not so simple people. Noble thoughts for a not so noble people. But one could always be respected for dreaming of that. No? Especially in this world of living gods and monsters.

Those were things always fought for by the average man, by the average adventurer. Some would fight and be remembered, others would only fight and fall into obscurity, forgotten by time, lost without meaning. And then there were some that would fight just to survive. Those of the absolute former were always against the world, or rather, the world was against them.

For the Rangers of Gisana. they saw their lives like this. The world’s gnarled and fanged maw agape, simple waiting for them to fall into that bloodied darkness. Belladonna saw it better than anyone. She knew that darkness waiting for them, saw it first hand, greeted it with a cry as a young girl. Some would see her as the one woman who has done it all, seen it all and still fights.

Were one to ask exactly why she still fights against those impossible odds, she, once upon a time might have said that her reason was lost long ago to the annals of time and that this life was all that she knew.

But so many could simply say the same in that regard. That this life of war was all that they had left. And Bella, even as she sits still on an open windowsill looking out to the Thavnairian island city of Gisana, reflecting on it all, she herself would know a different answer to that question.

As the midnight stars twinkled high above the rolling and seemingly endless horizon beyond the island’s beaches, Bella, as she sat there would feel her answer. For there, in her arms was a gentle shift. Her loving partner rested ever so quietly, nestled into her arms. Her magitech tail flicking idly in the air from side to side every so often as she she slept.

The elezen’s one eye drifted from the star side horizon to look at her partner with a soft smile. Her arms gently pulling the sleeping miqote closer into her fold. A gentle pair of lips press themselves atop Lily’s head. The woman’s ears twitching in their sleep as the shade of a smile shifted onto her face ever so slightly.

Now, were someone to ask why she fights ever onward, even after everything she has done, after everything you could have learned that she has been through. The Last blue Ranger would simply smile and gesture to the woman that slept so calmly in her arms.

The Ranger had found someone again. Someone she truly felt for. Perhaps it wasn’t so clear to her before, perhaps it was. That this woman, Lily, was someone that destiny had saw fit to bring forth and entwine their fates. the thoughts of her flicked through her mind, racing at lightning pace as the memories of why they were here, in Thavnair and not in Eorzea came rushing back.

The Fear. The Worry. The Ache. Lily’s curse, once thought buried for good had come again. It had surfaced and struck a fear into the miqote’s heart that was once thought quelled. Belladonna’s arms tightened around Lily like a blanket as the thoughts and memories of simply hours ago came flooding back.

Her reason to fight, then and there came very clear. To fight for Her happiness, Her Smile, Her laugh, and Her love. To see that fear creep onto her partner’s face brought pain, it brought a sweeping devastation that struck harder than any hammer could.

That reason. Something so simple in contrast for the woman who has seen it all and done it all. But it was something so clear to her, something that she could see right then and there, here and now as she thought back on it all. It was something from the watery reflection of the stars forever in the sky. 

For her, this was Destiny’s reflection.

On By malicoreLeave a comment

[!] When The Bill Comes Due ==>

I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..
And I fear no evil ‘cause I’m blind to it all..
And my mind, my gun they comfort me..
Because I know I’ll kill my enemies when them come….

“Hushhh, rest now.”

“Rest now… and Sleeeep…”

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That was all a voice echoed to her through a warble and chorus of running water through one’s vocal chords. The raking sound of chain links rattling as they were pulled away clanked into the air as a thunderous rancor of a rolling storm overhead began to pour onto singed soil.

The thick scent of scorched earth and muggy swamp filled the air as wisps of ethereal blue smoke floated past rotten smiling lips. Blue and blackened eyes stared down at the wake of chaos they had wrought upon the earth nearby. With every flash of passing lightning, the scene itself turned eve more grizzly.

Each flash revealed just how much had been done more and more. A woman in Blue armor lay limp, partially embedded onto the rock hard ground, partially smoldering. Her chest gentle moved up and down, the tell tale sign that she were still alive, that she were still breathing…

The air itself seemed uneasy, feeling as if the currents of wind and water fluctuated, churning like a hurricane’s waters above the scene. Only what seemed like fleeting seconds before was the air ever still, the calm before the brewing storm that had wrought itself onto the land so quickly from the eastern ridges.

With the thunder booming, causing the earth to tremble and shudder, Bella’s daze centered and wavered just enough to hear the echoes of her memory however foggy from just seemingly seconds before chaos tossed the land asunder.

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The voice of the Creator echoed in her mind as flashes of lightning bring her back to still sands and cold ground just moments before. Thumps of footsteps through darkened caves and crystalline floors as the pair of them traveled through the darkness to emerge from the earth’s depths. As they reached open air, one could easily taste the sea salt and spray that unnaturally lingered within darkened midday shadows.

“The air wreaks of contempt and of the Dead Sea. Investigate, Belladonna. I will take the Crystal to the lab. I fear for the storm that is brewing on the horizon.”

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
And I will dwell on this earth for ever more.
Said I walk beside the still waters and they restore my soul.
But I can’t walk on the path of the right because I’m wrong.

Green bolts of static shoot across the floor and course along his body to extend from his fingertips as they jolt forward, his hand outstretched. Collectively, they gather to form a tall green shimmering doorway that only he could step through. Warping electricity sounds through the air as the man disappears behind the dissolving door, leaving Belladonna alone with the shadows along eastern mesas and aged mires.

With a held breath, Bella kept her one eye searching for anything as she followed unholy sounds and scents through the bog and mire nearby only to be lead to nowhere. Along waterlogged ground, bubbles began to form and pop, seemingly to follow every step she made. A stinging tinge of fear crept up along her spine as the spikes stuck out, rattling in distaste to the situation.

“Welcome to the Depths…” A voice spoke from below as the bubbles began to collect and grow.

Before she knew it, the screech of boiling air being carved in-twain made itself known as a pulse of blue and purple shoot through the foggy mire, soaring just shy of the woman’s head. The bolt itself collides with the ground behind her, igniting the waters and earth as the smoke billowed all too quickly into the air to shroud the already dark earth with a seemingly pitch black sea-scented smog.

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|Ranger… Ready!| “…. Henshin!” |Go-Go Mighty-Mighty Blue!|

The hyur’s voice called out to darkened skies with panic and fear lingering lightly along her tone as the sounds of armor forming and locking along her body clank and clash to create her suit. She hadn’t even thought to Morph, her heart weak as ever still pounded with the force of a million drums as her head turned to face the source of the first attack. But she were too late, the screech of another purple hued bolt careened through the air to collide with her helmet-half formed.

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The weight of the impact sent her flying to the ground as two… three… four… five more bolts of both purple and blue hues collide with her armored body. Each strike splashed and washed against the earth, soaking the dirt with scent of the sea. The force of each hit darkened her vision as it blurred and faded. The concussive waves far too strong for even her. All she could hear in the fading light was the warbled laughter of The Dead Man.

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“Drink it in… Ranger.”

“Drink it all in… Every last drop. For every last soul you abandoned…”

“Every last soul you damned with your so called… "heroics”…“

As Bella laid there in her half-coherent mangle of a body, her mind faded again and again. Each word spoken to her, an echoing darkness that haunted her as the young Ranger she used to be was brought back to her now… a dark reminder that she wasn’t one to belong onto the title of a "Hero”.

“Shhh shhh shhhh….”

“Sleeeep…. Sink into the darkness.”

“Let that Hex you’ve had strain your body… take hold..”

“And when you wake…?”

“Ahahahaha….A new woman to be brought into the depths…”

Her mind was swimming in the sea of a million memories as she raced to find which ones fit with the voice she heard. Trickles and traces of fading existence passed through her mind before her mind went black again. Succumbing to the strain and concussive strikes that had struck her again and again. The strength of each strike against separate parts of her strained her senses. The Pearls she had in her ear going dark from the shear weight of it all as her body grew still from the numbing strength.

She was stuck, immobile in a trap that she had no way out of…

Perfect.

She were His prey now… And yet… The man who spoke, despite his voice of darkened drownings and strength of the churning sea… He only had words… so it seemed.

“Well You know who I am… Ranger.”

“And soon… your new Rangers will know…”

“They will know… When you wake, that the Butcher’s Bill….”

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“Always.”
“Comes.”
“Due.”

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No I can’t walk…

On the path of the right.


‘Cause I’m wrong….


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[!] Unexpected ==>

On By malicoreLeave a comment

[!] Unexpected ==> 

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

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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. 

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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.

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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*. 

[* See the Whisper Ridge Chapters for mutation context ]

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..

How… Unexpected…


-H.M.

Powerless.

On By malicoreLeave a comment

[!] Powerless [!] Audio Diary Entry: AD – 45 [!]

|| Mentions & Involvement || @lilyverlial @the-faceless-ffxiv

“It hurts.”


“It hurts you know?”


“Being powerless.”

“I don’t mean.. without power.. I don’t mean being without a Morpher, or some.. special affinity to Aether…”


“I mean… being there… watching someone you care about suffer, someone you love be hurt, suffering from something that you can’t stop.”


“And so… you just sit there, powerless. Helpless as your loved one clings to your fingers for dear life. As their tears from the hurting pain trickle down their cheeks.”


“It hurts me too.”


“For bells I’ve sat here, at her bedside, locked away in my armor. Locked away so I wouldn’t be susceptible to… to this Plague.”

“Wear masks! Wear masks!” They say, and so I do… this contagion hurts, and so I remain in this suit… in this suit of armor as my loved one suffers not even fulms away from me. I sit here.. her hand in mine as she churns… as she remains ill.”

“And I am powerless to help her.”

“Yet even as she hurts… even as she suffers… even as we’re powerless, those that have looked her over.. see something. Something odd that others do not have… something about her that is different.”

“Her Aether.”

“They say it swirls like a hurricane, churning… changing.. centering around one point on her body.. The Morpher I had given her. They say in hushed whispers that her Aether churns there, going through the device like a filter over and over… cleansing itself.”

“Yet that isn’t enough for her to be well, she still hurts… She still suffers.. She’s still sick.”

“And I am powerless to help her, powerless to save her.”

“But I promised to remain here in the clinic and the regions nearby, so I could arrive in a moment’s notice..”

“Still though, as I work with the others on this… contagion.. I can’t help but just think of the Morpher and what it’s doing… ‘Course I then sometimes forget that us Rangers are operating a little differently.. Maybe its the essence she’s bound to… maybe not..”

“Suppose I could ask my own…”

“Maybe then I won’t feel just so powerless…”