09/07/337

Audra

“Cabana wait!” Audra yelled, it was far too late. Cabana ran down the stone bridge that Faust shadowed, a smokey figure emerged from her back and flew off before Audra could get a good view of it.

“A single ascended truly believes-” Faust stopped speaking as his head cocked to the side as a burst of wind hit him in the face. Cabana jumped from the stones towards his snout. With the speed of lightning his tail emerged from the sea and struck her side, a thunderous crack echoed through the cave. Cabana hit the rocks without so much as a grunt. He roared in pain as the shadow appeared behind him, and seemed to embed itself into the side of his head. Several spikes quickly protruded from Faust’s body, Cabana screamed in agony as the shadow vanished. Faust approached where Cabana had landed and roared at her in anger. Audra began to run towards the scene, weapon withdrawn and shaking within her grasp.

“Foolish! You have no chance against me, descendant of Senelia! Your kind is not adapted to the raging ocean, nor the beasts that dwell within it’s depths!” A bolt of lightning was her response. Rearing his head back, as electricity coursed through him, opening his maw let out a burst of dark energy in Cabana’s direction. Cabana appeared from the veil of the rift onto his snout, quickly digging her daggers into his nose. He shook his head wildly, slamming himself into the cave around them, all the while roaring in protest.

Audra let her soul be taken in by the flame within, Etherea began to course throughout her body, once more, and hopefully for the last time that day. She jumped forward, opening the rift as she did, hoping her intentions were heard properly. When she came from the other side she quickly grabbed onto one of Faust’s back spines with her left hand to keep herself from falling into the water below. She held a quick and silent celebration as it was the first time she had preformed a stunt with the rift successfully. Taking Keen Piercer by it’s handle, she stabbed it deep into the leviathan’s back. Faust let out a frustrated roar before a pulse of power burst from within him.

She felt weightless as she flew off of the beasts back, then let out a wail as her left arm bent in an awkward direction upon hitting the cave wall.

“The dragon has a bite, at long last! Now show me the power of Lusalene within your soul or die!” He reared back and let out one more blast of black energy, Cabana appeared, from the rift, in front of the young dragon. Blood seeped from multiple deep lacerations all over her body. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Cabana pushed wind at the beam, the shadow appeared from behind her floating through the air as it approached Faust. The black magic quickly over took the wind that Cabana was manipulating, even Cabana was far too weak to challenge the leviathan.

Audra found herself standing in front of the demon she knew as Noelem his obsidian armor was cracked in multiple places, hot magma dripped from the blade in his hands. Her arm burned, as if covered in hot coals, she knew there was a deep cut on her bicep.

They stood on a beach, the sun was beginning to set over the horizon. A blistering southern wind whipped around them, the sand shifted under her feet as she slightly repositioned herself. The sound of something emerging from the water caught Noelem’s attention. Just as he turned his head Lusalene ran towards him, he barely caught her weapon with his rocky arm. A blast of black magic surrounded them, Noelem roared in pain as Lusalene’s sword cracked through his nearly impenetrable armor, cutting into bare skin. He jumped away from the black sphere enveloping them before it wrapped around her and vanished, the deep cut on her arm now gone completely.

In a flash, Audra’s sight returned to the cave. The black magic that Cabana was struggling against, the shadow that was almost to Faust’s lower jaw. Audra ran forwards grabbed Cabana’s shoulder and threw the feline variant behind her. The wind quickly stopped and the beam of black magic slammed against her, she stumbled back as painful darkness enveloped her, tearing at her skin. Audra thought of the feeling that Lusalene had when enveloped by the same darkness, the calmness, the trust, the bond between them. Audra breathed in deeply, before letting out a long and deep exhale. She felt her broken arm repair itself, the burning cuts that had formed on her body put themselves back together. She opened her eyes, and the darkness began to fade around her.

Out stretching her hand, Audra began to walk forwards, Faust put his snout close to her. When the palm of her hand touched the demon’s nose she felt a shock course through her body.

“The contract has been made.” Faust said in her mind she felt like something was constantly attached to her. As if a cyst had quickly grown within the crook of her neck.

“Okay, this is weird.” Audra claimed, putting the flame that surrounded her out. Cabana turned her around, beginning to examine the dragon variant for any injuries.

“What happened? Are you injured anywhere?” She asked, although she seemed to ask more out of politeness rather than concern.

“Our contract has been forged.” Faust claimed.

“What contract, are you trying to steal her soul?” Cabana asked, the midnight in her hair faded like smoke, revealing the normal red.

“No, he’s not, he made the same contract with Lusalene. I can, somehow, understand it, it feels so odd. It’s like there’s something in my personal space.” Audra pointed out. “Why did you attack us? Why cause us so much pain?"

“To bring her out. I needed to know that you would know how to survive this encounter. Only then could I be sure you shared the same vessel.” Faust looked at Cabana. “Forgive me. You were not meant to be caught in this encounter.” He said, almost as if it were an after-thought. Cabana gave him a glare.

“I’ll forgive you when I damn well please. Now get us out of here. How deep in the ocean are we anyways?” Cabana asked.

After riding Faust to the surface they emerged from the water to find that most of the mess had been cleaned up from their attackers.

“It seems the Vrela have retreated back to their den.” Cabana pointed out, rapid winds quickly drying her off.

“That’s the name of the beasts that attacked us?” Audra asked using magic to drain the water out of her clothes. Cabana nodded her head.

“Also known as water walkers, they can sound and look just like the last person they consumed, but can only say the last phrase they heard from them.” Cabana claimed, Audra’s heart went out to the man that had actually been one of those things. Faust barely surfaced from the ocean, only the top of his head was visible.

“Nasty creatures those. They always try to steal my prey, they’re simply a nuisance but nothing too dangerous.” He claimed.

“Not alone, but in groups they’re terrible creatures. A lot of blood was spilled today.” Cabana claimed, waking away from the two of them, “I’m going to get some sleep, hopefully black out drunk. Goodnight you two.” She said, walking towards the inn.

Turning around, Audra eyed the large leviathan’s head sticking from the water.

“Why...did you actually attack us? Was it just to prove that I was Lusalene’s ascendee?” Audra asked.

“I needed to see what you and her were capable of, I did mean to drag her with us...she’s more than ready for the Storm...but you...I’m not sure.” Faust claimed.

“You don’t think I’m ready?” Audra asked.

“Not many are ready for countless demons to rise from pools of water the color of my scales.” He paused then sniffed the air. Audra could feel his thoughts had quickly changed from calm to one of fear.

“What’s going on?” Audra asked. Faust began to speak directly into her mind, not wanting anyone nearby to hear.

“Awls has returned, Zaurah’s plans have officially taken another step forward.” Faust said, gravely.

“Awls? The Ancient Dragon?”

“Yes, the destruction she will cause will no doubt cause enough chaos to grant him a large burst of power.”

“How much do you know of his plans?” Audra questioned.

“Not much, I know that the ancients that stole his power either directly absorbed it, making them lose most of their sanity, while others put it into stones of their own creations. I’m sure one of his goals is to regain his lost power, either through absorbing an Ancients powers or from the stones they created.”

Audra let the uncountable amount of questions bounce within her mind for a moment.

“Where are the stones now?” She asked.

“One with Nuul, another with Surrir, I know not where any other is. Ssirm unfortunately lost his mind upon the absorption, I fear of him. Nashatal is the only that made a direct absorption that didn’t cause her to lose her mind.” Faust explained.

“Why are you scared of Ssirm? Isn’t he inactive within the dead zone, like the others?” Audra questioned, tilting her head. Faust put his head directly in front of her, their eyes meeting.

“I have watched as a beast, whose strength knows no bounds, lose his mind. With the little bit of his sanity that remained he flew to the most northern point he could before giving in to the power that now plagued his mind. With an explosion of power what was once home to a taiga turned into a desert of ice and death. The temperature plummeted and everything died. For years there was even tundra where we stand. Thankfully, Surrir and Nuul did what they could to control the temperature.” Faust explained. Audra was almost leaning as far back as she could once the leviathan was finished, Faust realized then quickly retracted his head.

“So without them...Ssirm’s power would be running rampant...what about Boreal was he affected by his father’s outburst?”

“Boreal...a wonderful ally...his father killed him during one of his crazed rampages. This was after Lusalene’s fall. If he became an ascender, then finding him would be a very wise decision.” Faust eyed her.

Audra’s thoughts were laid bare, a story told through memory alone. He retracted his head in slight shock.

“Oh dear, it seems Boreal’s influence has affected his power. We need to find him quickly. Rest, now, you need to find him as soon as possible. I do not feel your friends presence nearby, he is perhaps still near Daemerall. Tell Cabana you need to leave as soon as dawn arrives. I doubt your reunion will be warm and pleasant.”

Audra nodded her head, sad, yet filled with rage. She turned and began to head to the inn where a bed and blanket awaited her. She was rather shocked Lusalene didn’t force her into her soul for a visit. She could hear Lusalene speaking, however, as if talking to an old friend.

10/07/337

“That damn pet snake of yours better not be pulling our fucking legs.” Cabana claimed, as she pulled the rope tightly into the knot she was making. Audra ignored the tired thoughts that ran through her head.

“I wish I was.” Faust claimed.

“He’s not.” Audra said, “Where’s Zadkiel?”

“Probably saying bye to the prostitute he hired after we got back last night. I hope his damn dick falls off. His moans sound like he’s taking a shit.” Cabana claimed. Audra chuckled at that, it was true, and she couldn’t count the times she almost broke down his door and cut the mans dick off, she was sure Keen Piercer wouldn’t mind the unexpected meal of blood. She heard Faust chuckle at the memory.

A time past with the two ladies waiting on him to return from the inn, and just before Audra was about to go to him, blade first, the man walked from the entrance. His hair was made perfectly and his face was extremely clean, still a bit of water dripped from his face.

“Did you have a fucking bath?” Cabana asked, smoke began to billow from her hellhound scars, “What part of ‘we’re in a rush, so hurry’ did you fail to fucking understand?!” The feline shouted. Audra immediately put a hand on her shoulder.

“Calm down, please, Cabana, we may need you in a good mindset if something comes up that we can’t handle out there.” Ever since their battle with Faust, Cabana had been unable to keep herself in check, being extremely easy to set off. Cabana shakily took a deep breath.

“Let’s just go before I tear his throat out.” Cabana claimed before jumping in the back of the carriage.

“The fuck is her deal?” Zadkiel asked.

“If you knew what she could do, you’d be a lot more scared than you are.” Audra claimed, pulling herself into the back of the carriage.

Audra was quickly followed by Zadkiel who seemed like he was carrying a great weight on his shoulders, but his hiking bag was no bigger than theirs. She wondered what he could have stuffed in there, before Cabana spoke up about it.

“Holy Maker, did you pack the whore in your bag with you?” Cabana asked.

“No, just some food, and whore is rather insulting. They prefer to be called adult entertainers.” Zadkiel corrected.

“They do the same thing I do when my emotions start going wild, for money, they’re whores.” Cabana finished, crossing her arms.

“She’s fun, I like her. I will stretch my magic out to see what I can find. I’ll let you know where to go, if I feel anything. Forgive me for any disturbances you may feel. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a proper contract.” Faust claimed.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll let you know if I feel anything.” Audra claimed, looking back at Trudid, it was odd, it wasn’t like when she left Daemerall. This time, she had a fire burning within. Next time she wouldn’t ask questions, no talking, no hesitation, this time Vasuki was going to get what he deserved.