Chapter 7 - Following in the Footsteps

[Jack]

(Haveti)
The river mixed chaotically with the sky in flame and steam, forming a formidable barrier that stretched far above the range of Haveti's vision. "Does it end?" Haveti asked Telamichious, whose neck was also canted to the sky. "Not that I can see."

Haveti turned his attention back down to the canyon that the Styx flowed in. Aside from wandering corpses, which he hoped to have fun slaughtering, he could see no means to pass.

Telamichious Lei Scuralace narrowed his eyes and stepped off the precipice of the ledge and closer into the canyon. "There's something in there.."

Swishing his bayonet in excitement, Haveti followed, sending small rocks and clods of dirt rolling down the canyon at his footsteps. "What is it? A beast? A God? Describe it!"

"It's some sort of structure. A tower, maybe. It could just be a shadow." Telamichious looked down as some of the naked dead began to claw their way up towards them, feral hunger instilled in their rotting eyes. "We have company."

A plume of dirt rose from the canyon's sloping wall as Haveti leapt at the malicious dead, splitting the soul he landed on in two. Telamichious kept his high ground, sending a boulder rolling across the zombies with his earth element. A cadaverous slavering corpse tackled Haveti from behind, his teeth scratching at his black armor, and the unbalanced pair fell, rolling down the incline past dozens of like cannibals.

With a grim set Telamichious waded into their ranks, plowing through with destructive fire and bursts of rock shrapnel sent from below them. Over his shoulder he could see Haveti, who was cursing at the mob below, slashing and sweeping with his bayonet.

From the top of the canyon, Valerius looked down in amusement at the slaughter. His lone sillouhoutte stood, although he no longer really worried of a counterattack. He could see that the two below had things well in hand.

Before long, the corpses had either been hacked into pieces which lacked capacity to attack, or had been forcefully taught the nature of fear, those of which ran screaming, clawing at the other dead and gnashing their teeth.

Haveti was beginning to follow the horde went Telamichious rolled his eyes and bade the ground before Haveti rise to stop him. "Don't waste your time with them. We need to figure out how to get across the river."

The black armored man picked himself up off the ground and returned. "Can'st the Telamichious bend the flame and wind to his will?" As the Elemeleon forced his elemental powers on the stormwall, a violent reaction of intense pressure tore through the canyon and widened the banks of the Styx. "That's a 'no'."

In a split second of clarity, Valerius saw through the flames and fury, spotting the robed wraith playing his ram's horn atop the tower. The masked man walked down the slope towards Haveti and Telamichious, to offer his insight.

[Jack]

(Valerius Tacitus)
Walked was probably not the most appropriate term. Perhaps it should be described "flown", but that's a little too tame.

The man's abilities relied on equal force -- any form of energy release carries a kinetic component to it, be it the fast movement of atomic particles within a chemical reaction from a pyrokinetic blast, or a pebble falling to the ground. He was able to drain this component, a small proportion or the full force, and use it to power pure concussive waves of his own.

The only problem was, the release had to immediately follow the action Valerius had drained.

In this case, he'd instantly thought on siphoning the pressure wave that had ripped through the canyon when the Elemeleon had attempted to cross the river storm. As a side effect, the act weakened the force of the pressure and ensure that his travelling companions, though they might not have been aware of him at the time, would come through at least relatively unscathed (Relatively, of course, for beings such as this, meaning simply knocked down -- the power that still remained in the force wave would have literally obliterated any normal man where they stood, possibly even knocking Valerius himself out). As soon as he'd absorbed what he could, Valerius motioned downward, and a great concentrated blast of consussive energies rippled out below him in the form of runic concentric circles which glowed a bright blue, and this new wave of his own creation blasted him away from the ground in such a manner that, he surmised, would allow him to land right beside the Elemeleon without any ill effect.

So rather than walking, or flying, he hurtled along the foot of the canyon, over patches where the force of the storm surge had carved out tributaries to the river in testament to its power, all the while thinkin that it would be nice if he arrived before the others decided to do something rash and make the situation worse. Of those he'd heard to be involved in this, there were very few he understood to acknowledge anything more than a frontal assault to be a wise tactic, and Valerius knew full well that the more they tried to breach the stormwall, the stronger it would become until the climate was intolerable even to them.

This required a more subtle strategy.

Much to the surprise of his two fellows, Valerius flew past them a good thirty yards at breakneck speed until he managed to plant his feet firmly on the ground and skid to a stop, leaving two long furroughs in the fine, wet sand.

For a moment, there was silence. Valerius said nothing -- he wanted them to think for a moment on whether he was friend or foe, before he offered his plan to them. Finally, satisfied that he wasn't about to get pummeled with energy blasts and the like, he spoke, in a clear yet gravelly voice.

"So the frontal approach didn't work, hmm? Look up toward that tall tower...a man stands atop, and I believe him to be controlling passage through this storm surge. I don't know about you two, but when I stand to cross a bridge in a foreign land, I often find it necessary to have to pay a toll..."

He reached into one of his many side pouches, in which many odds and ends of spellcasting resided, and produced several old, somewhat tarnished coins -- though, through all the age-black that covered them, one could still tell that they were indeed true gold pieces, spots shining through the oxidization with a soft golden-orange color.

"Now," he continued, "If anyone could actually reach the top of that tower...I can't quite do it myself. My 'flight' is a one-way trip, and at that height, I'd end up a stain on the ground when I landed. Can either of you fly?"

[Jack]

(Thanatos)
OOC: Finally! I don't know if you guys took a break from posting because of Christmas or so I could catch up or what, but I'm glad to finally have someone to RP with or something.

IC:
Telamichious turned his head suddenly, his expression shifting to one of concern, and his two companions followed suit.

"What draws the attention of Scuralace?" Haveti demanded, but before the Darklight could even open his mouth, the question was answered. In the distance a whirling vortex of fire and darkness suddenly shot upwards, an angry whirlwind that seemed to be reaching skyward in an effort to smite God himself.

Scuralace squinted, and his expression suddenly furrowed in interest.

"Do you see something?" Valerius spoke up, and the Darklight nodded in reply. Nodding towards the spectacle of fire he replied, "There is a man inside of that pillar."

Haveti narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't make out anything except the brightness of the flames from their distance. "What manner of creature would earn the privilege of having such a glorious thing set upon them?"

Telamichious shook his head. "Nobody's doing it to him. He's doing it himself - and he seems to be using it as a weapon." He squinted again, "The demons flee from him now."

A moment later the flaming pillar suddenly vanished. From his angle in the canyon, Telamichious didn't see the exhausted figure collapsing to the ground. He skewed his face up in an expression of thought.

"Where has he gone? Have the demons overcome him?" Haveti asked, and the Darklight simply shook his head in reply. "I can't see from here, but I think he's on the ground. He's defiantly alive though." He turned away from where the pillar had been a moment ago, looking at his two companions, and then glanced back towards the roiling River Styx. "What should we do? He could be a useful ally - and if he is not it may be in our best interest to wait here where surprise would be in our favor if it came to a fight."

Haveti growled. "Are you suggesting we wait in ambush like cowards? There are three of us, and one of him. The odds are in our favor already, and I shall not be so spineless as to make them any better."

Valerius raised a hand to silence them. Inside his mask his brow was furrowed in thought, and for several moments he let the silence hang heavily in the air before he spoke.

------------------

As the three debated what to do about this new arrival, Thanatos was debating problems of his own. He knew that everybody and their mother probably knew he was in Hell now, and cursed himself for destroying any stealth or surprise he might have had on his side. Already the zombie denizens of this level of hell had begun to seek him out, but in many ways he was thankful for them. Their bodies were weak, and their souls only served to strengthen him.

In a few minutes he had found the strength to form for himself what looked like a cross between a gray cloud and a surfboard. With his sword out in front of him to strike at any souls that wandered into his path he stood on it and slid along the ground at a rather rapid pace. It wasn't near as fast as he could have flown, but he knew he had already drawn too much attention to himself. He wouldn't have the energy to do anything like what he did at the Gates for some time, but he needed to move quickly.

He could see the traces of the creatures ahead of him clearly now - they weren't far at all. He was sure there were only three of them now, and he was also sure there were about twenty or so demon knights behind him. He somehow knew he was going to run into the three sooner or later, and he only hoped they'd be friendlier than the horde behind him.

He shot of the edge of the canyon before he realized exactly how deep it was. He reacted quickly, slipping his sword into his sheath and transforming his cloudlike transportation into a pair of wings. He landed as softly as he could, going down on one knee to cushion himself a bit.

He stood slowly, and an expression of surprise came on his face and passed so quickly one would have had to have been paying extremely close attention to see it. Directly in front of him, not two yards away, stood "the masked one", "white eyes", and "the Darklight". He put on his most winning smile, his blue eyes sparkling in a manner reminiscent of Santa Claus or some other trustworthy old chap. He bowed slightly and extended his hand to the nearest of the three, the one with the mask, and said in a clear baritone, "Hello, gentlemen, I am Thanatos Hemithanes".

[Jack]

(Haveti)
Haveti burst into a frenzy of boistorous laughter, his face to the sky, as Valerius tactfully shook Thanatos' hand. The alien grinned bemusedly and regarded Hemithanes, who was smiling politely.

"Gentle-men? What such a word is this?" Haveti's eyes flashed and he chuckled again, not fully understanding. A moment later a troupe of hulking armored demon-knights vaulted over the top of the ridge, blazing fiery eyes surprised to find four opponents instead of one. None to discouraged, however, the knights lowered their armored helms below their enormous shields and marched forward, boxing the group in, with the impassable river blocking any retreat.

Valerius turned his mask back to Thanatos. "Associates of yours?", he asked dryly. "You know," Telamichious muttered, "The spaz here was annoying, but I swear, if ONE more weirdo shows up..." The demon knights stared back blankly with sputtering eyes of flame, slowly shuffling forward.

Haveti smiled brightly and jumped forward to greet the largest one. "Meetings! I am Haveti, of the --" He was cut off as the Demon knight grunted and leaned into a heavy sword swipe, which would have bisected Haveti had Valerius not pulled the alien back a step with a tug of kinetic motion. Telamichious rolled his eyes. "Idiot!" The last of the Scuralace points to the approaching Demon knights. "Hostile. Not friends." Haveti's expression grew brighter. Thanatos edged behind Valerius and Telamichious, with a bemused smile.

The hulking armored knights broke formation and swept in, leaving the four nowhere to run. Two Demon knights were immediately pinned by ethereal black spikes, which shot past Scuralace and Tacitus from Thanatos. Valerius simply stood, absorbing kinetic energy from the Knight's advance, while Haveti struck with his bayonet, dancing around the large opponent's slow strikes. Telamichious eyed the black tendrils which had come from Thanatos warily, turning just in time to freeze an advancing Demon Knight with his breath. Haveti was thrown back by the force of a sword blow on his bayonet, nearly tumbling into Thanatos, who withdrew his black tendrils and turned transparent for a split second. Haveti fell through Thanatos' ghostly form and landed on his back beside Valerius. Thanatos grinned, and the bearded man spun to face the knight who had been pursuing Haveti, catching it inches away from his face with his black tendrils.

Another Knight leapt at Thanatos from the side, but was torn off the ground and thrown at an intense speed into the maelstrom of the river. The Knight's scream faded as his armor shattered and melted, lost into the Styx. Valerius chuckled.

Haveti jumps back to his feet, gathering his bayonet and rushing towards the remaining Demon Knights..

NRP: Were letting you catch up... Yeah, that was it. (cough, cough) Anyways, I don't want to monopolize this fight, so I'll pass off the posting torch to someone else for the moment.

[Jack]

(Telamichious)
Green. That was the color of the plants, of earth. The basic life that makes the world to around, that produces the oxygen that everyone needs, the bottom of the food chain that keeps a consistent control of life. When Telamichious’ eyes turned green it was anything but life that he would be giving, as his Earth abilities were completely evoked.

Telamichious watched as his compatriots fought the legions of hell in knight form, wielding huge dark sword and looking generally ugly. Telamichious wanted to save his more tolling abilities for more worthy opponents, not some shells of pathetic evil. He watched as Thanatos continued to work with his tendrils on the much slower death knights that surrounded the four combatants, impaling and ripping limbs, the knights had bitten off much more than they could chew.

Telamichious wasn’t about to get shown up by the newcomer and evoked the Earth that was housed in his body, he could feel the sheets of muscle grow disproportional to the rest of his body, and looked at the first dark one that challenged him. His eyes appeared green, a faint glow coming from them, as he punched a hole threw the torso of the first knight he saw. His opponent quickly dropped to the ground and disappeared in a black cloud, creating a horrible sound that passed quickly through Telamichious’ ears. Telamichious admired his handy work when he heard a voice in his direction, “Scuraluce, watch behind you!”
Haveti tried to warn his fellow warrior as a second knight brought his sword into Telamichious’ back, making a loud clang that reverberated through the air, leaving the knights sword broken, pieces laying around. Haveti blinked in disbelieve, his bayonet lowered as he admired the lack of death that came from the sword going into Telamichious’ back.

The Elemeleon turned around, an upset look in his eye, “I can’t believe you just did that, you are dangerous with that sword, you might hurt someone, let me help you from hurting anyone else.” His eyes began to spout flames, and quickly the Scuraluce’s arms burst into flames, and launched them at the knight, the searing heat melting through the armor much like the knight that found himself floating in the river Styx. Telamichious felt good about himself, turning down the heat, and spun to engage with the next victim.

nRP: YAY! Share the fight love (passes to next poster)

[Jack]

(Thanatos)
Thanatos was trying to keep track of the number of demons that continued to besiege himself and his newfound companions, but there were too many, and everything was happening too fast. Eight were down so far, either dead or unable to fight. The only ones that mattered to Thanatos were the six whose souls were restoring his strength. He was still too tired to do anything as spectacular as at the Gate, but at least he could fight. All he had managed at first was to manipulate the shadows, and he now looked for different ways to aid his companions.

He hadn't even bothered to draw his sword for this fight. Both hands stretched outwards to the demons, stabbing at them with tendrils of darkness. As the new souls invigorated him, he began to use more than the two he had been able to manage at first, and now he had a full ten outstretched as if they were strange extensions of his fingertips.

As Haveti was locked in combat with one of the knights, two others leapt over him and his opponent. They were headed straight for the white-haired Hemithanes. With Scuraluce distracted by the four demons surrounding him, and Valerius with his attention on the knights he was busy casting into the River, Thanatos got the impression that the knights thought him the easiest prey of the group. Normally, he tried not to get angry, but that was quite insulting.

The multitude of thin shadowy fingers relented their attacks on their previous victims. They wrapped themselves into two large ropelike shapes as Thanatos suddenly sprouted wings and flew upwards, barely dodging the demons' swords as he shot past them. The two ropes he now held in either hand wrapped themselves quickly about the demons' necks, and formed two identical copies of the hangman's favorite knot. As Thanatos reached the end of the ropes, two satisfying snaps stopped his progress.

Haveti suddenly shouted what was either a battle cry or an angry curse in what Thanatos presumed was his mother tongue, and Hemithanes looked downwards to see the alien creature surrounded by a handful of demons. One of the demons had lost his shield and sword, and his bloody hands gripped the black carapace on white eye's arms, pinning the limbs to his side. Haveti was unarmed, and one could only presume the shattered bits of metal at his feet were the remnants of a bayonet never designed to stand up to the strikes of demons' swords.

Before Thanatos could come to his aid, the two demons he had hung suddenly stopped their fall inches above the ground. The momentum of the heavy armed corpses falling from such a height instantly transferred and was distributed to the skulls of the demons surrounding the alien, causing them to explode like rotten grapefruit. Without so much as a nod, the silent masked figure turned back towards the demons in his more immediate vicinity.

Haveti began to look about himself for a weapon that would be useful to him, as the massive swords of the demon knights would be somewhat cumbersome and unwieldy, not to mention dull and somewhat poorly made. His plight did not go unnoticed however. The Darklight seemed deeply engrossed upon something at Haveti's feet, completely ignoring the blows of the demons that rained down upon his earth-hardened skin.

The ground at the feet of the battle-scarred son of Heveti broke apart, and a small pillar of stone rose up. It in turn burst asunder, and in it's place left a gleaming sword. It was a wicked looking blade, sharp hooks designed to rend and tear flesh artfully sculpted into the back to make its scimitar like shape look like a flame that was frozen in time and coated in shining black metal. It was as long as the arm Haveti stretched out to pluck it from the ground, gripping the pommel that was made to look like twin ruby-eyed snakes entwining about each other. It came free from the ground easily and Haveti hefted it even less effortlessly. Haveti slid a finger quickly along the edge to test the blade's sharpness, and the joy that swept across his features seemed almost orgasmic.

Quick as lightning, several thin gray strands wrapped themselves around the blade and Haveti followed their path upwards until they ended in Thanatos' hand, which itself held aloft what appeared to Haveti's eyes to be some small round device connected to the bearded man's pocket by a small chain. The lid on the device was open, and it was from within it's depths that the grey cords originated. Thanatos grinned at the puzzled expression on Haveti's face, and then grunted slightly as if he had flexed muscles not attached to his body.

Haveti almost didn't see the tiny objects moving down the strands, but when he did his eyes opened slightly in surprise. What seemed to be half a dozen tiny men, several of whom he recognized from the delightful river of boiling blood, seemed to be moving down the strands and entering the blade. As his white eyes focused on them, they seemed to grow larger in his vision. The greatest surprise came at the last soul that Thanatos thrust into the blade, a man Hemithanes knew now to be of the same species as Haveti, who had called himself "Heveti" when Thanatos had talked him into joining him. Whether he was related to Haveti, or even from the same dimension, Thanatos didn't know nor care, but he hoped that if he were at least of the same species it might be easier for Haveti to keep him under control.

Haveti tightened his grip on the blade as the gray strands retracted themselves from it. The sword seemed to sing in response, and as Haveti leapt at a nearby demon to test the blade, it was to his great joy that the blade spontaneously burst into flames. Haveti seemed to be in some kind of heaven with the sword as he set about removing demon limbs and heads from demon bodies in a most painful yet effortless fashion. Thanatos turned from him and his eyes met the green eyes of the Darklight. The two newfound companions nodded to each other, and then turned back to the remaining knights of Hell. Thanatos returned to the ground behind the masked manipulator of kinetic energy and began covering his companions backs as best he could with his shadows, continuing to grab as many of the demonic souls as he could. Scuraluce's arms again erupted into flames, and the demons he had ignored moments before had only seconds to regret pissing him off before their souls were added to Thanatos' collection.

NRP: Sorry if I took too great of liberties with Scuraluce - not entirely sure what the extent of what his "earth" powers can do, but I didn't think that forging weapons would be too great of a chore. If I need to go back and re-write this post, just tell me. Haveti, if you were really attached to that bayonet, I am very, very sorry.

[Jack]

(Valerius)
If Valerius was having fun, it certainly didn't appear so on a base level, what was exposed of his face being set in an expression of pure apathy. A good soldier never let his emotions betray him in the midst of a fight, lest they become contagious and spread to others, changing their tactics accordingly.

At least, that's what he'd grown up understanding, and aged practicing. This seemed to work out, of course...he'd never lost a battle.

The new one, Hemithanes, seemed to be gathering strength, which he'd seemed to be lacking in upon his arrival on this plane. Whatever remained of the souls of these demonly crusaders, men who had been tempted away from the cloth centuries upon centuries ago, were sucked away and used as fuel for this dark man's power.

And oh, what power. Raw power wasn't everything, but when it showed no sign of limitation regarding its charge, it certainly counted for something. Whatever lay ahead, as more and more souls were added to the collection, snowballing his power out of control, definitely had its work cut out for it when this team managed to reach its doorstep.

Perhaps, even the legendary "Yahweh" would tremble, should he have existed.

One of the remaining condemned pugilists charged on foot through the damp, yellow-pink sand toward the Elemeleon. A moment passed as the demon charged, and a sudden mouthlessless scream of frustration issued forth from the tattered remains of its ribcage as it looked down toward its feet and realized that they were completely imobilized.

The space around Tacitus' hand warped, the telltale circles of script that no one had yet been able to decipher appeared centered around his hand, and the wave-pulse of stored force from the continuing, constant melee rushed to claim the monster, unsettling dust that appeared to wrap around its form before shattering it into countless pieces. Fragments which were then hurled sidelong at gale force into another, more intact creature, which remained solid for but a heartbeat before collapsing into a puddle of greenish-black gangrenous goo.

His immediate area clear, he looked over his shoulder to Hemithanes, willing the energy he continuously sucked up into a constant, spherical wave that would deflect, for the moment, the force thrown against it, centered around he and his travelling companions.

Always slipping back into command, he was. Worried about the troops, and hungry for information about the opposition. After all this time, Tacitus simply couldn't help it.

"Call me a bit imperceptive," he said, looking around, "but these old eyes aren't what they used to be. This shield should hold for nearly forty-five seconds, or until they figure out how it's generated...How fare we?"

[Jack]

(Haveti)
"I fare excellently!" Haveti brightly chimed in, ignoring the several serious gashes that were seeping blood across his his glossy black armor.

He took the slight reprieve of battle to turn the beautiful weapon he had been granted in his hands, admiring it's sleek and effecient design.What a wonderful place this is, He thought dreamily. When my task here has been completed I must surely return to this paradise..

The demon knights renewed their assault, their enormous swords clattering uselessly on the shimmering shield. Valerius turned to the other two, looking for their response.

NRP: So, how the rest of you guys doin'?

[Jack]

(Thanatos)
Thanatos landed softly in the middle of the circle the shield enclosed. He was breathing hard, but managed a slight nod. "I've had worse," he drew his sword, and held it in front of him, the tip wavering only slightly, "I could use a break though - I'm a bit old for this."

He reached into his pocket and again produced his pocket watch. As he snapped it open, the grey strands slid out of it smoothly, slithering like serpents as they moved slowly towards the knights who still struck uselessly at the masked one's shield. They struck at them suddenly, slipping into their skulls before the demons could do as much as shout.

The demons screamed horribly, dropping their weapons and shields and falling to their knees. Thanatos three companions looked on in amazement as the demons shouted and cried incoherently, ripping at their faces with their claws and rendering their already hideous features even more repulsive with gash upon bone-deep gash. One thrust his hand through a hole he had torn in his cheek, gripped himself by the jaw, and threw himself to the ground. As he pulled his face up from the ground, he screamed in agony, his tongue wiggling like a leech attached to his neck, his jaw still clutched tightly in a hand that was down at his side. With horrible gurgling noises coming out of his throat, he gripped his jaw in both hands and broke it in half, holding one half in each hand and thrusting them through his eyes.

The other demon grasped blindly for the sword that was only inches from his feet, his eyes rendered useless by his own slashing. He found it, and lifting it skyward swung the tip downward in an arc that ended in his own gut. He screamed as his hands twisted the blade around several times, not stopping until the sharp end was parallel to his spine. He pulled upwards suddenly, and blood spewed out of his mouth as he fell to the ground.

It only took a few moments, and afterwards the other three in the small party looked almost simultaneously over to Thanatos. They could swear there was a hint of a grin before his expression shifted to that of a weary old man. The other three all thought they might have imagined it, and none said anything to each other, but there seemed to still be a pleased glint in his eye. "How many more are there?" he asked in between pants.

NRP: Good, good, good.

[Jack]

(Telamichious)
Aquamarine, the said color of the seas. Everyone easily knows that the water that makes up the ocean has no color, but if you ask someone the color of the ocean, they will gladly tell you aquamarine. Color is not present, but we pretend it is, it makes the world easier, more corporeal. Telamichious thought very oppositely in respect to his human form, he pretended that it had nothing to do with life, it was just an appearance that had no bearing, but deep down, he was starting to feel changes. The body was adapting itself around the true being it incased; his abilities were starting to flow out rather then Telamichious having to force them out.

Telamichious extinguished the flames roaring on his arms and eyes as he saw the shield arise around him. His red eyes faded back to pale green as he watched his compatriot’s grey death kill several of the demons with little effort put on any of his party members. Quite stunned at the show, and slightly jealous of the display of great power, Telamichious itched to get released from the casing around him and give some of his own brand of death showing. After witnessing their brethren rip themselves to bits and shreds, the remaining demons were standoffish, leaving a wide gap in front of them where the shield stood, holding the four companions. Telamichious wasn’t afraid to show a bit of happiness as his eyes started fading to black and the area around his hands started to conjure the shadows around him. Tacitus glanced over at him seeing a dark steam emit from his eyes and a awkward mist of black forming around his hands and forearms.

“Ombra,” Telamichious screamed as the mist traveled through the shell and permeated in the outside air. His newfound allies were a bit confused at the purpose of the strange spell, but didn’t go as far as to write it off as a botch or failure, so they simply kept their eyes peeled for any sign of the reaction to the conjuration. Five of the remaining demons found unhappy ends, as their shadows sprung up around them, smothering them in darkness. The shadows slowly compacted their victims to the ground, the screams somewhat loud at first, but like the shadows, faded away into obscurity. Telamichious’ dark eyes faded and he turned to Thanatos and smirked, it was something like a shot across the bow.

NRP: Hurray

[Jack]

(Haveti)
With a muffled sigh the shield which had surrounded them faded away, revealing to Haveti's dismay that his compatriots had dispatched the last of the Demon Knights. Pieces of armor lay scattered about the bank of the Styx, with liberal splotches of blood and small scraps of meaty flesh.

Valerius Tacitus nodded towards the ruins of a broken castle that had been built not to far down the river. "Perhaps we should rest for the night before continuing on." Thanatos agreed with a weary grin and Telamichious shrugged.

The castle was a nest of shadows, the floorstones buried beneath a crusted muck and the ceilings mostly open to the dusky light of the evening. It looked to have been flooded at one point or another by the Styx. Telamichious sat atop a broken stone block and leaned back against an unfinished wall, joined by Thanatos, who crossed his arms and leaned back into the corner of the stone passage. Valerius for the moment stood against a wall, whereas Haveti ignored the filthy cobblestone floor and sprawled across it to sleep.

After several hours Telamichious couldn't sleep, and found himself staring into the puddle of blood spreading from Haveti's wounds. "Should he have those looked at?" he looked over at Thanatos, but found the bearded man had already fallen into a light doze. It was impossible to tell whether Valerius was asleep or awake, as nothing flickered in the eyes of his mask.

[Jack]

(Thanatos)
Perhaps doze wasn't the best term for what Thanatos did, but it was certainly light. It seemed that the more time passed for him, and the longer he continued to rely on the souls of others, the more his own physical form faded away. Thus while his physical self rested his soul was as awake and active as ever, and it didn't need his eyes to be open to see or hear.

His thoughts came to him slower than when he was awake, but he still sat and mused to himself while normal mortals would have been dreaming. His new companions' behavior towards him puzzled him in a way. Because of him a horde of demons had attacked them, and they seemed to have enjoyed it. Haveti seemed especially joyous during the combat, but none of the three seemed displeased in the slightest by the attack.

Thanatos would have answered Telamichious when he spoke, but that would have required waking himself up and he was not the least bit in the mood to. The best Thanatos could figure, if Haveti had been fine after the injuries he received clambering into the sixth level of Hell, the wounds the demons had left on him would be no trouble. If they were Thanatos hoped the creature would have the sense to tell his companions and if he didn't, well, that was one more powerful soul in his collection.

As for Telamichious, he genuinely liked the Elemelon. He hoped his attempts to aid the three in the fight were taken in the spirit they were given, and not thought of as attempts to show anyone up. If they were it could be detrimental as time went on - he didn't want a rivalry developing, even a friendly one. There would probably come a time when he would fight the Darklight, but he hoped to put it off as far as possible.

His companions began to stir with the first light of dawn, or what passed for it in this place. Valerius, who didn't seem to have moved any more muscles than those required for breathing all night, spoke up first as Haveti rolled over and mumbled something and Telamichious yawned. "Shall we be moving on?"

The other three travelers were fully awake in a manner of moments. Scuralace simply nodded as he pulled himself to his feet, but Haveti sprang up as if he anticipated, and probably hoped for, an attack at any moment. The wounds that Telamichious had worried over earlier were all but completely healed. Thanatos was the last one up, his physical form being deep in a comfortable slumber. In a few minutes they were back in the canyon by the river where Thanatos had made their acquaintance.

The Styx was calm when they stepped out of the castle, but the minute they stepped towards it they heard the sound of a horn being blown, and the river seemed to respond to the blast by rising up as it had the previous day. Valerius' mask shook with his head, and he looked towards the other three. He pointed to the robed figure with the horn atop the nearby tower. "Now, I know at least one of you can fly..."

Telamichius nodded, spreading his wings and seeming to become one with the sudden wind that whipped at his hair and clothing. He took off without waiting for another word. Thanatos shrugged as he did so, summoning wings of his own and muttering, "He might need backup..." as he took to the sky behind him.

The two reached the horn blower almost simultaneously. Telamichius struck first, wrapping his arm with fire and slicing through the demons gut. To their surprise, the demon went down. He did not stop blowing his horn, however. One of his hands still held it to his lip whilst his other reached out vainly for his two attackers. Nearby, his detached lower half kicked wildly at the air.

In spite of themselves, Thanatos and Scuraluce found themselves both rolling with laughter as they hung in the air. Thanatos drew his sword, looking to Scuraluce and motioning towards the demon in a manner which asked, "Do you mind?" The Darklight got the message and simply nodded.

Thanatos plunged his sword into the demon's chest, knowing full well that it probably wouldn't kill him. As he pulled the creature's soul into the sword however, the pieces of its body suddenly seized up, and the horn's note faded into silence. Down below the two heard a shout from Haveti as the waters of the Styx crashed back down, and Scuraluce turned and started to fly back down. Thanatos looked one last time at the corpse as he sheathed his sword and then, with a mental shrug, picked up the horn and tucked it into his belt.

When he returned to the ground, Valerius was already retarding the motion of the river, parting it like Moses did the Red Sea and creating a dry path across to the next level of Hell. The four companions walked through it slowly, only taking idle notice of the faces that screamed at them from within the unusually still waters.

[Jack]

(Telamichious)
Grey. Ash stood in front of the adventurers as they finally made their way to the barrier of the fifth and fourth levels of hell. Telamichious examined the disturbing wasteland that infested their path and found himself disgusted his location, “Can’t there be something remotely happy in this hell hole?”
Thanatos, who seemed friendlier to him than the others, assuming that they were “friends”, answered the question with biting sarcasm, “It is feared and renowned as Hell for a reason, I wouldn’t be expecting any fuzzy bunnies or barely clothed girls around the next corner.”
Telamichious looked over at him with a grin, knowing that it was a stupid question, but someone had to ask it. What was left of their new trial was a destroyed forest, a graveyard of trees, without the beautiful autumn leaves carpeting the ground, only ash kicked into the air and remorse of a field of death, for not only dead foliage littered the surroundings. Telamichious spotted it first, the corpse of what he could only assume, for the pieces of it that were intact, as a hellhound. Around the corpse was what was left of his lifeblood. Thanatos and Haveti stepped up next to it to investigate it, as Telamichious and Tacitus looked on from a distance, Telamichious wasn’t much of a dog person. Haveti turned around to the other two after his in depth examination, “It seems that others have passed through here, not only because of the dead puppy we have here, but there are some prints in the ground, I can’t make out what kind of animal left the prints, but I would guess about two or three of them. Telamichious walked up over the blood-soaked ground, the smell of dead canine permeated his nose and he coughed a bit as he studied the prints.

He closed his eyes after discovering their source, “They are no animals, they are human, or at least humanoid, wearing a pair of shoes similar to mine.” Haveti blinked at him and nodded, he hadn’t the knowledge of human footwear. Tacitus stood back from the humorous situation that played out before him and spoke up, “Perhaps we should keep moving, there doesn’t look like a quick end to these trees, and if someone has been here before us, we should try and catch up to them.” Telamichious looked back and nodded, and looked back forward at their future course, seeing not but trees littering the horizon, having the effect on the eyes that they continued infinitely, “It’s gonna be a long walk,” he sighed taking the first step forward.