09/07/337

Audra

Audra tore her way down the hill, she couldn’t stop her legs as she ran at a break-neck pace. The smell of rot and decay was becoming clearer and clearer. Rain the color of ink began to fall from the sky. She focused on the road ahead of her, she knew it would begin to slither around, and she didn’t want to run into the fence.

Just as Audra came to the bottom of the hill, she saw people running away from the port, by now it was just the people that were trying to abandon their ships. The port was swarming with monsters, they were a grayish-blue fish-like being, but instead of a fish face they had circular heads and two large black dots for eyes. The creature’s face cracked open to reveal a much too large mouth, filled with blades for teeth. While some seemed to stand on two feet, others crawled like spiders, with anywhere between four to six legs, they didn’t seem to have a smell, but it was probably covered up.

“Help, my baby!” A man cried, running to Audra, he smelled heavily of fish.

“Wh-where’s your baby?” She asked, slightly panic-stricken.

“Help, my baby!” The man screamed, tears beginning to stream down his face. She began to ask again when his face began to rip apart, he lunged forward and tried to bite into her neck. Audra held him back by pressing her hands against his neck but began to struggle when two extra arms came from his sides and grabbed onto her. He stopped struggling when a shortsword entered the side of his skull.

Zadkiel grabbed the handle and tugged it out of the creature.

“I thought you weren’t into the touchy shit?” He asked, sarcastically, a sly smile on his face. She rolled her eyes and pulled out her rapier from it’s scabbard, Keen Piercer seemed to shake in excitement in her hands.

It was absolute hell. The creatures were swarming around like ants. Biting and ripping into people with jaws that dislodged themselves, like snakes. Guards and travelers alike were facing against the aquatic army. Cabana appeared behind a fallen guard and leaped over him onto the creature that was trying to eat through his armor. With a quick movement, her twisted daggers impaled the creatures neck and it quickly stopped moving. Audra stopped focusing on others safety, hoping they could handle themselves, and began to focus on taking down as many of these creatures as she could.

Gathering water from the ocean, Audra readied two orbs near her for quick use. She impaled one of the creatures heads, but felt two hands of a different creature wrap around her legs. She quickly slung a blade of water dismembering both of it’s wrists and stabbed it’s head before it’s jaws could meet her calf.

Backing up the port as three more of the beasts climbed from the water and onto the port. She backed up until she tripped over the deceased body of one of the guards. She rolled over as one planted it’s face into the wooden floor of the port where she had been. She quickly began to run back until three more jumped onto the port in the direction she was running to. She turned on her heel and cut the first two in half with bodies of water, she side stepped the third and kicked it in the direction of the newer three. She ran to the end of the port and turned to see that six more of the creatures were climbing from the water to go along with the remaining four. She felt the strings of her magic being strummed at lightning speed, the water around her became her puppet and her the puppeteer.

Blades of water danced around the large group of beasts, dismembering them, beheading them, tearing them apart. Her magic moved, as if by memory, a ring of water, two feet wide, appeared around her.

More and more appeared on the port in front of her, Audra was about to cut into a seventh one until she felt the ring of water begin to shift. She looked back to see one of the creatures right behind her. The ring had moved to cut into it’s arm but it’s skin was too thick, the oceanic blade getting stuck only a few inches deep. It grabbed her arms and pulled her into the cold ocean. She tried to scream as teeth penetrated her shoulder, but only succeeded in pulling water into her lungs.

Audra felt the fire wrap around her soul, she felt the world warp around her as her surroundings darkened and she reappeared on the other side of the port. She grabbed the creature still on her shoulder, it’s body, now lifeless. She felt the teeth marks close as she threw it on the ground. Etherea was coursing through her body and the pain it brought was terrifying but the power was exciting.

The remaining creatures turned and began to run towards her. One leapt towards her, she impaled it on Keen Piercer, then slung it off at the others. She felt Keen Piercer begin to vibrate in her hand, it felt like it was talking to her. She followed it’s silent instructions and swung wide in front of her, a loud shockwave cracked from the weapon, knocking one of the creatures backwards, a horizontal dent appearing in it’s skull. She ran forward, Etherea coursing through her calves, pain ached through her, but she did what she could to ignore it.

Audra was reacting based off of, what felt like, experience, but had a feeling most of it was from Lusalene. She side stepped one of the three remaining creatures and kicked it’s neck in response, she spun on her heel and brought her knee to it’s jaw. She jumped from it’s back and landed on another one of the creatures plunging the weapon through it’s chest. It screeched at her, and something horrifying came over her.

Grabbing it’s forehead, the black serpents that surrounded her arms came off of her wrist and seemed to bite into the creature with invisible jaws. She watched as the life of the creature began to leave it’s body, it’s body convulsing and shriveling, she felt energy begin to flow from her arm and through the rest of her body. Feeling, slightly, rejuvenated, she tore away from it and was surprised to find a hand print burned into it’s skin, as if it were branded by her touch.

Audra looked back and rolled to the side, almost falling off of the port, as one of the creatures lunged at her. She called some of the water from the ocean and slung it at one of the two remaining beasts.

The Etherea enhanced water was much more powerful than she could have imagined. The water that came from the ocean was bright, as if light flowed within it. It hit the creature and immediately boiled it into vapor, the beast she had hit with the water was nowhere in sight. She felt her arms go limp from the Etherea use, dropping her weapon, she fell to her knees in exhaustion. Letting go of the fire that surrounded her soul she could feel Etherea vanishing from her body. She looked to her right at the last creature, it still had a large dent in it’s head from the shockwave of her sword, but it was still, slowly, making it’s way towards her. She tried to move but found herself too exhausted to do anything, she couldn’t even call forth any of her magic.

The creature was three feet from her before it began to tremble, it started to look around. Audra heard something emerge from the water behind her, a massive shadow fell over her. Water began to cascade over her, it was the color of darkness yet somehow felt refreshing. She saw the creature that was about to kill her begin to back away before a beam of water emerged from whatever was behind her and through it’s chest, tearing apart some of the wood of the port. Audra’s eyes scanned the town and found that all fighting had ceased and all eyes, human, variant, and monster, were focused in her direction.

“Run!” Cabana screamed, a terror she had never heard from the woman cut through the eerie silence, this caused panic among the town, enemy and ally all began to run. Audra felt comfort, however, she didn’t fear for her life, she felt safe. She felt cool air hitting her back as the creature breathed down on her. She suddenly felt much more rejuvenated, like the being behind her had healed her exhaustion.

“Stand to your feet, Ascendee of Lusalene.” The beast ordered. Audra grabbed Keen Piercer, stood up and turned to face the creature. It was a large black serpent that stood 10 meters, or more, out of the water, it’s pale purple eyes staring deep into her soul. A large scar danced crudely over it’s right eye, fins protruded from the side of it’s head.

Everyone, had already begun their escape from the area due to this being, yet she felt calmness coming from the creature. The exception to the rest of the town was Cabana, who had vanished deep into the rift and appeared next to her, but she wasn’t quick enough for what happened next.

“Faust?” Audra asked as Cabana’s hand grabbed her arm. The Demon opened it’s maw wide, snarling as it did so. And within the blink of an eye it lunged forward, grabbing some of her loose clothing within it’s powerful jaws, and simultaneously destroying the dock under their feet.

The cold water came up to greet her and welcomed her into it’s cold embrace. The ocean sped by her at a break-neck pace. She tried to turn in the demon’s grasp but she was like a cub in it’s mother’s mouth, being carried away back to it’s den. After some time of pointless struggling, from her and Cabana holding on to her arm as if her life depended on it, she noticed the sunlight beginning to fade, as the demon swam deeper and deeper into the depths. Her lungs felt as though they’d burst.

Audra watched on, helplessly as the serpent entered, what looked like a cavern, before finally they emerged from the depths. She coughed and began to breathe frantically while dangling from the creatures jaws.

“You are much weaker than your counterpart.” The demon claimed, before she felt her body sway as the demon reeled it’s head back, before tossing them onto the hard rock below.

Cabana landed on her feet, with one hand on the ground to hold her stable. Audra landed hard on her back, knocking what little air she had out of her lungs. She writhed on the ground, squirming in an attempt to halt the pain from ringing throughout her body, Cabana spent her time trying to calm her.

After a few moments she could finally come to a stand, quickly looking around her new environment. They were in a limestone cavern, dark, with water dripping from stalactites hitting the cavern floor sounding all around them. A giant pool of ocean water lay in the center of the large cavern, with large lime stone bridges crossing over the pool of water. As well as a walkway that surrounded the pool. This place somehow felt familiar, it was similar to the feeling she had in the Lake within her soul.

“Faust...you must be...that’s how you know about Lusalene. Why did you attack me, you two were allies in the past weren’t you?” Audra asked, still catching her breath. A loud rumble sounded from his throat.

“You are in no position to ask me questions!” He snarled. A large beam of water expelled from his maw in her direction. Audra and Cabana leaped to the side and watched as the beam of water cut through the limestone like a sword through paper.

“Has to be a Zenith...” Cabana mumbled, “Shit.”

“Face me! If you truly are the one that is to carry on the history of Lusalene you should have little issues holding your own against me!” Faust roared.

Audra gulped down the terrified knot in her throat and held tight to her weapon. But before she could move wind began to cut the wind around Cabana.

“You choose to Ascend so early in our battle, Descendant of Senelia? How foolish.”

Lightning began to dance in the wind around her and when it all shot away from her it revealed her horrifying past in all of it’s glory.

The danger of Nevenal wasn’t Cabana, it never was, it was the woman that stood in front of her. Cabana’s hair was as black as the Rift, as was the tattoo that adorned her arms. It was a crystal with a streak coming from each point with more streaks branching from them. It wasn’t like the tattoo the Children of the Rift put on themselves was. This was different, less organized, more chaotic.

“Cabana?” Her eyes glanced over to her, the light that everyone had was gone, it was as if she were staring into the eyes of the deceased.

“Questions later, we need to take care of our target.” And with a spark of electricity and cutting wind she was already making her way to attempt to kill Faust.