Nirvana smirked as Abdiel laughed but didn’t stop her words. However her smile soon faded and she looked back down the road, worry for her brother fresh on her mind. She’d gone far enough that she couldn’t see the city any longer, which was probably a good thing ‘cause otherwise she’d just worry more if she could see the destruction. She felt like she needed to be doing something more than just sitting, she knew she was keeping Abdiel alive, but she felt as if she were being rather useless. She sighed and closed her eyes, telling herself to concentrate on what she was doing, even if she could get back in time to do anything she wouldn’t know where to go and would probably just get herself killed. Still, she couldn’t help but wish she hadn’t turned around.
Candle rolled her eyes, “You added in one last argument so I added in one last argument, deal with it. And don’t pat me, I’m not your pet,” she stuck her tongue out at him and floated out of arm’s reach and scowled at him before Du’an ran over.
Du’an listened intently to Chamuel’s instructions and then nodded and dashed towards the gateway with a hurried, "Thanks, I'm probably going to need your help to get out again."
"We can't get in the temple," Candle called after him, "Belail's blocked us off!" She didn't know if he'd heard her or not as he didn't respond before he ran out.
Du'an couldn’t help but close his eyes as he ran through, and the only reason he knew he’d gone from one place to another was that suddenly there was this dark force that felt as if it were weighing him down and he opened his eyes and had to skid to a stop to keep himself from running into the doors. He heard Navi scream inside and he nearly burst in right then, but he knew it would’ve just gotten him killed or enslaved and ruined everything. So, it was with extreme self-control, that he veered away from the door and to the side of the building. But when he rounded the corner he saw the back end of Oraix, and he skidded to a stop with a silent swear. He spun around and tried the other corner, this time the alley was clear and he dashed to the back of the temple, Navi’s screams and pleads driving him faster. As he ran he said with his mind in a tone as calm as he could force,
Elda, he switched back to the formal honorific as a way of distancing himself a bit,
if something goes wrong and he get’s that stinger of his in me you have to kill me. I’ve trained enough I can keep him out of my head with a little luck, but if I become his slave there’s nothing he won’t be able to pry from me. I’m sure you have some spell that will work long distance, if not Nirvana can find me and do it. For him it wasn’t really that horrid of a thought, he’d never really clung to life and had a tendency to get himself into more trouble than most because of it, for him, death would just put him out of his misery. Still running past the ruined crumbling walls he felt the ground shake and saw a cloud of dust as another part of the temple fell and then he heard heard a horrible roar that nearly knocked him off his feet. He hoped that was a good thing, maybe something had set him back, but as then he heard Navi’s cries fade to sobs and then silence altogether and was surprised by the sudden blurring of his vision which made him not see a rock that he tripped over and nearly fell because of. Blinking his eyes rapidly to clear his vision he had to tell himself repeatedly that it wasn’t too late, she wasn’t dead, he could still save her.
It felt like forever before he finally reached the back of the temple and found the secret passage.
§
Maeva chuckled as she watched Belail harden himself just to taint Navi and as he forced himself into the girl she could feel her own loins burning for him, feel her clitoris growing moist as Navi’s screams filled the air and she shuddered happily, her tail flicking between her legs to press against her vagina, rubbing against herself. Kyra screamed in rage under her and pleaded for them to release the girl, but the added screams only added to their pleasure and Maeva let her tongue loll out of her mouth as she watched Belail defile perfection, having no problem holding the woman down. Too excited about Belail’s actions she never saw or felt the presence of the man above her until he shouted at her and he seemed all too obvious.
Maeva snarled and ducked her head as the unstable roof caved in on her but before she could release the power to stop them an invisible force knocked her off her feet and broke her concentration then, with bone crushing force, the ceiling crashed down on her and everything went dark.
She gasped as her crushed body reinflated with Belail’s breath and as her shattered bones melded back together she let out a blood curdling snarl she said, “Oh now I’m
really pissed.” She struggled to her feet but her bones couldn’t yet support her weight and she fell back to the ground with another snarl.
The shield around Kyra shuddered but held when Belail smashed a massive fist into it and then Kyra knew what had happened and who was responsible and she yelled out, “Don’t you dare get yourself killed for me!”
§
Dara was running through the streets with Candle, still unconscious, and Kleptein running beside him. They glanced over as they passed behind the temple and could hear a scream. They would’ve kept going but then Kyra’s voice rang out in a plea and they both skidded to a stop.
“Mom!” Kleptein cried out and started towards the ruins.
But Dara grabbed him and pulled him to a stop then thrust Candle’s body into his arms saying, “Go, get out of the city. The hole’s not far.” Without waiting for a reply he took off, scrambling up the wreckage to get to the roof.
“But Dad--” Kleptein started.
Dara glared at him, “Go, now!” Then he vanished over the wall.
Kleptein hesitated a moment then followed his father’s orders and took off towards the exit.
Dara ran across what was left of the roof as fast as he dared, with every step the mason work creaked and shuddered and a couple times he had to jump a hole or stop and retrace his steps, wasting valuable seconds, all the while the sobs of his wife tearing at him. He finally got to the end of what was still holding up and could feel it barely holding his weight as he peered over the edge. The first thing he saw was Belail and Navi and his stomach clenched as he understood the nature of the cries he’d been hearing then he heard his wife scream again, this time it wasn’t a plea, but a scream of pain and he looked down, just under him, just in time to see a giant, blue, tiger demon take a large chuck of meat out of Kyra’s leg and he lost his breath for a moment, knowing with that injury she’d never be able to use that leg. Still, he couldn’t let her die there and as the demon bent to take another bite he yelled out at it to get it’s attention. It worked perfectly as the tiger’s head peered up at him and as soon as it stepped off Kyra he jumped up and slammed his feet down on the weak ceiling, forming an energy shield around Kyra and himself and pushed off the falling rubble to keep himself from getting buried as he fell, as an added precaution he sent a beam of energy flying at Maeva's feet, knocking her to the ground. He managed the fall with no incident, but when he landed and rolled to reduce the impact he rolled right into a large rock that left him dazed for a moment or two and just as his vision was clearing again Belail roared in rage and sent his head spinning again. Soon he heard an angry roar and knew that while his distraction might’ve saved Kyra and interrupted Belail, it hadn’t killed the tiger-demon as he’d hoped, and now he had absolutely no clue of what to do from here.
§
Du’an dashed through the secret passage and as he exited he saw a man cowering behind a pile of rubble and then there was a snarl and a loud pound as if someone had slammed a fist into a thick door. The man winced at the pounding and then a frantic look came over his face as he heard a woman yelling a warning to not get killed. Then man caught sight of Du’an and Du’an made a gesture to be silent and stay put then he looked around and soon found the door to the priest’s bedchambers and ran inside. He saw the staff laying, as promised, on the bed and grabbed it, mentally rehearsing the phrase Chamuel had given him as he ran back out the door. As he came back out he saw Ariel, at least he thought it was Ariel, he couldn’t be entirely sure, she looked different, scrambling over the rubble to get at Dara. Du’an sprinted across over to him, jumping from boulder to rock to floor to boulder with the ease born of years of races through the forest with his siblings. As he neared them he pointed the staff a Ariel and said quietly, “
Alix habitum iet vicis.”
Dara’s eyes grew wide as Ariel froze and opened his mouth to say something but Du’an gave him a look that said, “Make a noise and you’re dead,” and he clamped his mouth shut.
Keeping low, Du’an ran over and grabbed Ariel and pulled her off the rubble then slammed the butt of the staff into her head with a quiet apology before Dara scrambled over asking in a whisper, “Why don’t you just kill her?” he looked pointedly at the sword hanging off Du’an’s hip. He’d only seen Ariel for a moment before and she’d changed enough he didn’t recognize her now through his fear and worry.
Du’an sighed and shook his head, “Later. Okay, there’s two of them, and this thing only works on one person at a time, do you have a power?”
Dara nodded, “I’m an energy manipulator.”
“Good, then I’m going to need you to shield the tiger while I freeze Belail, we won’t have long.”
Dara frowned, “I don’t have much energy left, I won’t be able to hold her long.”
“Hopefully,” Du’an muttered, looking up as if looking directly at Candle and Chamuel, “we won’t have to, but if you’re running too low you can take a little from me.” He looked at Dara, who shrugged and nodded, and then climbed over the rubble until he could see Belail. Without hesitation he raised the staff and, hoping his blow had knocked out, or at least subdued Ariel, he repeated the chant, freezing the demon in time.
By now Maeva had recovered and she jumped to her feet and leapt after them, but before she could get two steps Dara came up behind Du’an and removed his shield from Kyra and wrapped it around Maeva, holding her in place. The demoness roared but the sound was contained within the shield and Dara sneered at her as he ran past her to Kyra, flinching each time she pounded at the barrier.
Du’an was right beside Dara as they ran and as soon as he saw Navi’s naked, torn, blood covered body, he knew exactly what had happened and his heart shattered for her. As Dara helped Kyra up, Du’an cut off Belail’s fingers so he wouldn’t have to take the time to untangle Navi’s hair, or cut her hair, then, even though he knew it wouldn’t do a thing in the long run, he couldn’t help but pulled his sword out and run it across Belail’s stomach so that when the demon unfroze his insides would spill out, and then, for good measure, he flicked his sword down, slicing off Belail’s still erect penis, and then flicked it between his legs, also castrating Belail. Wishing he could do more to hurt the demon as much and more as he’d hurt Navi, but knowing it wasn’t possible with whatever time they had left, he gathered up the unconscious Navi and joined Dara and Kyra yelling into the air, “A little help would be nice now!”
§
As soon as Du’an left, Candle shook her head and pulled her legs up to sit cross legged as if she were a kid sitting on the floor playing a game. Something told her to close her eyes and concentrate on Du’an and when she did she was surprised that she could see through his eyes, maybe what the priest had said about her was right. She saw everything he did as he ran around the temple and inside, she was slightly annoyed she couldn’t hear anything but didn’t realize that that was a good thing, as everything Du’an was hearing was torturing him at the moment. She watched as he found the staff then used it on Ariel, confused, like Dara, as to why he didn’t just kill her, but didn’t even say anything to herself about it. When he looked at the sky she tensed and muttered to the priest, “Get ready, there are more this time and I think both of us may be needed to get them out.” She fell silent again as she watched Du’an freeze Belail and then watched him watch Maeva get caught and then a gasp escaped her as they saw Navi and she knew why he’d gone back. She understood the blurring of Du’an’s vision, not realizing it was at the perfect time as it kept her from seeing Du’an whack off Belail’s genitals. Then his vision cleared again as he blinked the tears back once more and picked up Navi and as he ran over to Dara and Kyra she opened her eyes, severing their link, and said, “It’s time, let’s go,” and then dove back into the realm of the living.
§
Amaya had watched everything with more apathy than anything else. Her facial expression had not changed from the fight with Uriel to the mutilated body of the priest to seeing Du’an almost get turned to a slave before a massive rock broke Belail’s concentration, her eyes had only narrowed as she’d tried to get a better look at the spirit that had saved Du’an, but it had vanished before she could make any features out. She raised her eyebrows as Belail turned on Maeva and then rolled her eyes as his anger turned to lust and found she couldn’t turn her eyes away as he penetrated her violently. As she watched what would’ve been torture to anyone but Maeva, who appeared to be enjoying it beyond all reason, and at the same time returning the torture, she hoped vehemently that Belail never decided to stick his member in any part of her. She was only able to tear her eyes away when Navi was chased into the temple and soon after heard Oriax’s screams, but still her expression did not change. She watched impassively as Kyra came in and failed to try and save Navi, and then was thrown to Maeva like a master throws a treat to a pet. It was only when Belail started to torture Navi that she had to look away and cover her ears, not being able to keep herself from imagining that being Moon, or Candle. Even after Belail’s “gift” she still couldn’t handle that, she wouldn’t try to stop him as she knew it would only get herself and the fox children killed, but she couldn’t stand watching or hearing it. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for her mother, the mother she hated, as Navi’s screams passed through her hands and she could still hear it. She’d found her mother one time and learned that she had been rapped as well and that’s why she’d abandoned Amaya as she couldn’t handle raising a half-Sanguis child that had come about in such a way. This had never soothed her hate for her mother, it wasn’t Amaya’s fault what had happened, why did she have to suffer for it? If anything it had only exacerbated the hatred. Still, now she could almost understand the fear that had driven her to abandon her child. She opened her eyes and looked up as the building started to shake and saw the last of the roof collapse onto Maeva and then watched as Ariel dashed off to find the offender. She wasn’t sure what she should do until she watched Du’an and Dara incapacitate her masters and she hissed and, keeping in the shadows moved after them.
§
Dara was looking as if he were about to pass out when Du’an joined the two of them and he said, “I can’t keep this up much longer. We need to get out of here.” Maeva’s enraged roars had started to become audible and Du’an knew the shield was getting weaker.
“Take some of my energy,” Du’an said in a weak voice as he got closer to the older man.
Dara laid his hand on Du’an’s arm and Du’an could feel his energy draining slowly and he said, "Come on, we need to get outside."
§
Amaya’s progress was completely silent as she ran towards the four of them, but the rubble wasn’t so silent and as she ran a couple rocks moved and fell to the floor. Kyra and Du’an turned as they escaped the temple, and Kyra gasped as she instantly recognized Amaya even through the black fur and for an instant she thought Amaya was there to help them, and she started to stop Du’an from raising his sword, but the she saw the angry expression on Amaya’s face and knew that her Sanguis side had taken hold. She turned and buried her face into Dara’s chest as Amaya prepared to leap at them, but just before her feet left the ground Candle appeared between her and them with an expression of such rage that Amaya locked up and lost her footing, stumbling and falling before she got to them.
Dara gasped and fell to his knees and Du’an turned to see Maeva break from her prison and bound after them with an enraged roar. “Now please!” Du’an yelled catching Kyra before she fell without Dara’s support.
Despite wanting to stay and talk to Amaya, Candle turned back to Du’an and the others and pulled them back to the realm between realms.
Du’an dropped to his knees as soon as Candle released them and he pulled Navi close and this time couldn’t stop the tears that blurred his vision and started to pour down his cheeks and drip onto her face. Any courage he might’ve felt, and all the anger he’d had toward Belail was gone now replaced by pure fear, sorrow, and extreme anger at himself for letting it happen.
Dropping to the ground beside her husband Kyra glared and Du’an and said angrily, “How . . . . how could you leave her alone? This is all your fault.” She brushed the hand Dara placed on her arm and went on as if he’d never tried to stop her rant. “He’s taken everything from this poor girl, and all you had to do was not leave her alone. You don’t deserve the trust she’s placed in you. You’re a--”
“I know!” Du’an shouted at Kyra without looking at her. He didn’t try to get defensive at all as he completely agreed with everything she’d said. “I know,” he repeated in a sob barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault and I can’t make up for it. I deserve all the pain I’ve experienced, all that I will experience and more for letting this happen to her and I’m a horrid person that doesn’t deserve life. I know.” He started as a hand touched his shoulder and he looked up to see Uriel as he knelt beside them.
Uriel didn’t look at Du’an but kept his eyes trained on Navi as he removed his hand from Du’an’s shoulder and placed it on Navi’s cheek. He closed his eyes and started to speak slowly and Navi’s wounds started to heal. The muscles in her arm that Belial had bit through regrew and reattached before fresh skin flowed over the wound. A few tears slipped down his own cheeks as he had to concentrate on Navi’s shredded vagina and cervix to heal her there and he knew the physical pain she must’ve been in, but couldn’t imagine the emotional pain. As he healed her wounds all of her blood still on her skin flowed back into the wounds while any of Belail’s blood that might’ve dripped on her before his wounds had healed evaporated and turned to nothingness. When he was finished healing her he changed spells and then her naked body was covered by a perfectly fitting white shirt and a pair of white pants. “Thank you,” Du’an whispered and pulled her slightly closer. Uriel nodded and then went to Kyra. He placed his hand on her leg just above her knee and healed her wound there, she groaned and gritted her teeth as the pain of the healing spell coursed through her leg, when that was healed he moved on to the ones in her waist, back, and chest, plus any others she might’ve procured. She thanked him and tested her leg to make sure it worked and was relived when it bent properly. Then Uriel placed his hand on Dara’s shoulder and let some of his energy flow into the man.
Brogan sighed with relief as he watched Kleptein squeeze himself and Candle through the hole in the wall and he stepped out of the trees to make himself visible and waved the kid over. Kleptein caught sight of Brogan and took off towards him. "Where are your parents?" Brogan asked as he took Candle's body from him then handed her to an older woman.
Kleptein shook his head and looked over his shoulder, taking a minute to catch his breath before he said, "We were passing the temple when we heard Mom scream. Dad went in to get her and I kept going 'cause of Candle." His over worked legs failed him then and he started to fall before Brogan caught him and then lowered him to the ground. As Kleptein recovered from his burdened run across the city he looked around at the group of thieves that had gotten out by the same exit and assembled in the treeline. Less than half of the entire group had made it, Kleptein scanned each face looking for Aluin, his best friend, but didn't see him among the group and he shuddered and hung his head. He was surprised that he'd made it out, but with his parents still in there he didn't think they'd be able to withstand Belail's power much longer, and that was if they even survived whatever had attacked his mother. As he dropped his head on his knees he started to shake a little, not sure if it was from exhaustion, fear, or sorrow, and not really caring either. He looked up as he could hear a commotion in the distance and noticed the entirety of the group all looking in the same direction. He followed their gaze and saw a large group of Sanguis running towards the main gate of the city. The thieves were well enough hidden and far enough away that the Sanguis didn't notice them.
As they ran out of sight Kleptein dropped his head back to his knees and heard one of the men say, "We should go help."
"And what?" Brogan challenged, "Get ourselves killed for people that would rather see us hanged for our crimes? No thanks."
"Some of our own could be over there Brogan!"
"Then let them use the skills they've been developing all their lives to sneak away to safety."
"No honor among thieves, 'eh Brogan?" another added.
"Honor doesn't keep my neck intact."
"Then don't help," a woman said and Kleptein could hear people rustling about and the sounds of weapons being checked, "someone needs to stay with the elders and children anyway."
Kleptein picked his head up and watched some of the others prepare to attack the Sanguis. Too tired to stand up, much less fight, he decided to stay and help protect the others. He unbuckled his sword, it was nice, he'd stolen it from a young soldier who'd fallen asleep on duty, and tossed it to one of the women preparing to leave. Then he watched nearly all of the men of their group and most of the women as well run off to attack the Sanguis from behind, hoping to at least cause some confusion.
Caden, the soldier that had been Caflice's right hand man and was acting in his place in his absence, walked just ahead of Af and the others. He had wanted badly to go look for his Sargent and friend but his duty to the king came first and he'd convinced the king to flee Belail's assault through the secret passages. He stopped walking as the soft thuds of Af's feet stopped and he turned and saw Af about to open the door and frowned, "Sir, I understand your curiosity, but we're in a hurry and whatever's behind any of these doors is probably better left hidden and trapped."
(http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m97/Cade_Laidon/Animesoldier.jpg)
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