Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

Empty Spaces [IC] (Desril and steinulfr)

Emilia winces at the forceful cut, but relaxes as there barely seems to be a wound. Turning to the woman, she nods. "The Council is long gone, I came here for information and I can't just leave you here...I wasn't able to get Annabelle's collar off but my blood was enough to negate the curse to let her leave this place...hers should be enough to free you."
 
"I can feel it," the woman says, standing. "My name is Svana, by the way. I...can't thank you enough for this."
 
Shaking her head, "There's no need to thank us...it's just what anyone would've done..." A statement that might seem strange coming from a naked, bloodied aasimar smelling of sex. "How could we leave you here after everything you've gone through?"
 
"Ask the last few dozen people who did," Svana says, perhaps a touch bitterly, as she walks towards the door. She takes a deep breath and then steps outside. Tears form in her eyes as she takes that step, and she sits down, leaning against the opposite wall. Annabelle goes over and gently puts a hand on her shoulder, which isn't rebuffed. "Is there...anything I can do to repay you?"
 
Emilia joins Annabelle, smiling from the other side but shakes her head. "I just want to help, you don't owe me anything. But do the two of you have anywhere to go?"
 
"My family's dead," Svana says bluntly. "And it sounds like hers, if any of them are alive, aren't people she'd want to be around. We've been here so long that any friends we had have mostly died of old age, and the ones that haven't forgot us years ago. No, I don't have anywhere to go." Annabelle nods along, clearly agreeing with the other woman.
 
Emilia cocks her head to the side, "Then...you're welcome to come with me as long as you like...I'm not on the best of terms with my family though. I've just been living inn room to inn room and trying to sort out this Tapestry mess. I've got enough coi-wait, no...I lost that too..." Crossing her arms, having the effect of raising her exposed breasts, Emilia bites her lip. What were three naked or nearly so demi-human women going to do to afford food and a place to stay? "Well, I'll figure something out. But let's get out of this place...I imagine the two of you want to see the sky again," she says with a smile.
 
"So much," Svana says. "And I can't wait to get this damned collar off." She shakes her head briskly and starts toward the stairs up, followed by Annabelle.
 
Smiling, Emilia begins to head back the way she came. "Well, it's beyond my power...but I know a priestess who may be willing to help."
 
Emilia trails behind the other women, who run ahead of her in their haste to get to the entrance.

The next thing she hears is an outburst of loud, hysterical laughter from ahead.
 
Hearing the two burst into laughter, Emilia pushes herself as fast as she can, worried, "Oh gods, I didn't think the trap would reset after I set it off. It's just laughter, as long as the demon isn't---" the aasimar cuts herself off, immediately looking around for the threat.
 
The laughter continues as Emilia continues out into the foyer, where an appalling scene greets her. Svana is cowering against the opposite wall, watching in horror as the babau takes Annabelle by the wrists and pins her up against the wall. Annabelle, meanwhile, is helpless to do anything but laugh, though her eyes when they find Emilia's are full of deep sorrow. She doesn't look particularly surprised, nor is the caustic acid burning her.
 
"Don't you dare! They've been through enough, leave them alone, fiend!" Seeing the babau, Emilia takes a defensive posture and tries to make herself look like more of a threat than she is right now. It didn't matter if she couldn't win, she needed to buy a minute, just one minute, for the two of them to get away.
 
The babau turns towards Emilia and bares his teeth in a broad, sharp grin. "Want some more, slut?" he asks, not releasing Annabelle.

Svana, meanwhile, is still huddled against the wall, but is slowly sliding alongside it towards the babau. The demon doesn't seem to have noticed her movement.
 
Gritting her teeth, Emilia shakes her head, "Let. Her. Go."

Seeing the babau clearly had no intention of listening, however, Emilia opted instead to incant an abjuration. Given her own injured state, the aasimar clearly needed it for herself, but rather than use the spell to defend against the demon, she instead dashed forward, intent on slipping past it to shield Annabelle from him.

Protection from Evil, moving in to touch Annabelle, hopefully not provoking?
 
The babau is too slow to react to Emilia's movement, and rushes forward to Annabelle, applying the protection spell to her. The demon instantly let go with a hiss of rage, turning towards Emilia.

This puts its back to Svana, though, and the other woman takes full advantage of this. She steps forward, one hand outstretched, and places it on the babau's shoulder. "Feel my pain," she says, her tone almost sweet.

The demon collapses to the ground, wailing in agony, as cuts and slashes begin to tear into its body from no apparent source. Ironically, it lands only inches away from Annabelle, who has collapsed to the ground laughing.
 
Breathing heavily, still injured and worn out just by the exertion of her spell, Emilia limps over to the demon, Serathiel at the ready to finish it off when she gets close enough, glancing concerned toward Svana even as she does.
 
Svana watches impassively as Emilia raises the blade and brings it down on the demon, which is writhing in agony on the ground unable to move. The sword slices cleanly through its neck, and it dissipates into a dark, foul-smelling mist.
 
As Serathiel finishes off the babau, or at least dismisses the summoning, Emilia takes a deep breath, "I'm sorry...I set that trap off when I went inside...I didn't realize it might reset...if you hadn't been here...he'd...have had his way with us both..." under her breath she mutters again but it's quiet enough that they might not hear her.
 
"It's all right," Svana says, her tone soothing. She walks over and puts an arm around Emilia's shoulder, pulling her into a gentle hug. "You can't take responsibility for everything," she says softly. "We should have waited. This wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been in such a hurry. And anyway, things turned out all right. So don't worry about it."

Annabelle, meanwhile, has finally finished laughing and is pushing herself to a standing position. "Thank you," she says to Svana. The other prisoner just shrugs and says, "It's nothing you wouldn't have done for me."
 
Smiling at the already forming bond, Emila just nods her head. "Then let's go...oh, and there was another trap at the entrance, I think, but I don't know what it did, I managed to shrug off the effects and wasn't paying enough attention. Still, just in case, let me go in front? I just have to...walk a little slower..."
 
"Okay," Svana says, and Annabelle nods. The pair follow Emilia out to the entrance. Upon opening the door, she's once again struck by a magical urge. This time, though, it takes over, and she can't control herself. Thoughts of her failures and weaknesses overcome her, and she suddenly can't bear it. She has a very clear thought that there's an easy way out, and the blade is already in her hand. Almost before she can think, it comes down in a sudden slash at her own wrist. The blood begins to flow in earnest from where it bit in, and she smiles at the realization that soon her problems will be at an end.

The last thing she hears is Serathiel screaming No in her head.



The next thing she knows, she's waking up, lying on a cot. She feels terribly weak, but she doesn't appear to have died again. Annabelle and Svana are both sitting close by the bedside, watching her with worried expressions.
 
Groaning, Emilia opens her eyes weakly. "Now I remember..." Trying to sit up, Emilia fails and slumps back onto the cot. Smiling weakly, "I...have you two to thank for keeping me alive? That...should take care of any lingering doubt about repaying me, right," she comments with a laugh.
 
Svana's lips quirk in a small, wry smile. "Fair enough. But actually we didn't have much to do with it. There was a crowd of people outside, something about wanting to see the girl that walked across the city naked. I...scared them off, but there was a tiefling there who said she knew you and wanted to help. We didn't exactly have any options, so we let her. She patched your wounds and we carried you to her home. That's where we are now."
 
Blushing, "Oh-oh gods, I walked the whole way...I wasn't..." forced to actually think about what she'd done, Emilia actually became notably embarrassed, but tried to shake her head and chase the thoughts away. Of course, now that she was thinking about it, she looked to see if she was still nude, and if Annabelle and Svana found something more to wear.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom