PITCH BLACK〔M〕「Hoef & Hannelorian」

[Dire Hoef]

Hachiro's eyes snapped to Nora when she insisted that they see this through. He did not enjoy being magnetically locked to the floor, but he had zero power to counteract this force. So he relented; metaphorically throwing his hands up. He sighed, his brain having exhausted fumes of frustration. "Fine.. But I really, REALLY dislike this.. But I'll bear."

And then, it happened. Like a flash of lightning, an object no larger than a book appeared. It was suspended in the air for several seconds before it floated down into Nora's grasping range. Once the object was firmly in Nora's hands, the Giantess spoke once more, her voice filled with all manner of joy.

"O' daught'r, then I has't just the thing f'r thee! This object yond I present bef're thee, o' daught'r, is a tool f'r which thee may see mine own Fathers' legacy. Such legacy befits mine own Fathers. Those gents command'd yond such inf'rmation beest available to all sons and daught'rs. To thee i sayeth, thou art a wise daught'r."

Her voice dripped with compassion, it having showered Nora. However, the shower came to a stop when she mentioned her affliction. The Giantess briefly turned her attention to the shadowy beings that cowered before her. She only smiled at them, and then at Nora.

"O' daught'r... Mine own dearest daught'r... Mine own fate wast seal'd the moment I wast imprisoned h're. Mine own day hast longeth since set. Mine own night is upon me, and I might not but vade into oblivion. I wilt join mine own Fathers in et'rnal slumb'r. Lest these demons englut me and maketh me a tool of war."

When war was uttered, another cascading earthquake shook the very foundation of this place. Debris and large chunks of rock fell from the ceiling and landed in the waters below. The light of her orb flickered as the facility around her progressively broke down. Though, thankfully this ruin did not reach Nora as Hachiro's hands grew stronger and more numerous in order to hold up her part of the catwalk.

"Her emotions are going to be death of this place..And us.." He called, his eyes having locked with a piece of rock that landed right near his head. Dirt fell to his back, and was covered in it.

[Hannelorian]

Hachi was effectively trapped, and he made it quite clear that he was not particularly pleased to be in this situation. Nora had precious little time, truly. The gift had been given, floating down Nora reached upward once she was able to pulled it firmly into her grasp, holding on to it as if it were the most precious thing she had ever held. For all she knew it was.

"Thank you for the kind gift, and your beautiful words." Nora called out to the Giantess, and every word that left her mouth was the most genuine thing she had ever spoken. Nora was deemed to be a wise daughter. But then it took a turn for the sinister, and when the word war was mentioned the entire place shook, save for her own platform. Thanks to Hachi that was. Pieces of metal and rock fell from all around, the walls themselves seemed to be cracking each time the Giantess spoke a particular word, one drenched with such feeling.

The time was now, time to make a choice. Hachi knew that they would not last long if something did not happen, they would die here in this cave in. The seconds ticked away just as her heart beat fast within her chest. Nora closed her eyes and nodded to the Giantess in affirmation that she understood. "I cannot allow them to render you so. That is not the fate of a mother." Securing the object as best she could in one arm, Nora raised her free hand, and as she lifted it up, pieces of sharp metal that had shattered, long rods like spears arose beside her.

"I will liberate you, put an end to your suffering." Nora was about to kill, in cold blood, there was nothing there to stop her, and what Nora felt would be only danger and death if she let this giantess fall into the hands of an unknown and barely understood enemy. She had to do this to protect them, to protect Hachi. "I beg for your forgiveness." Within a second, Nora had brought her hand backward, and then suddenly pushed it forward, sending each bit of rod, fragment of debris right at the creature. All at once, two rods struct at the Giantess' head, one rod going right through. In the same moment the others made contact with various points of it's giant body. Bits of stone colliding with the formidable creature who in honesty, Nora did not know if she had killed, or if that was possible.

"God have mercy." Nora's hand was trembling and fell to her side. She turned and looked at Hachi, the look on her face was one of absolute horror, terror, she was filled with devastation, hardly believing what she had chosen to do, knowing full well that this choice would have significant consequences, assuming they got out of this place anyway.

[Dire Hoef]

The Giantess released her position, disconnecting the ball of creation. Her eyes held a somber look, her expression was that of a consoling mother. The Giantess, in that moment, understood the anguish that was welling up within Nora. She gave a small curtsie, as if she were before an audience. A fluid, a incandescent green light, dripped from her eyes. She understood, yes. She understood very well what must happen. And thus she spoke, one last time.

"O' child, twast mine own pleasure. Thath brought me comf'rt to knoweth yond I shall join mine own Fathers in et'rnal slumb'r. Thanketh thee, O' daught'r."

In that next second, two ceiling rods descend upon the Giantess. One pierced her skull and punched out the right eye. This one killed her, while the other rod only reassured her demise. Then, several bits of stone collided with her figure, breaking everything that came into contact with them. Each stone broke her like twigs, and each snap was explosive; thundering throughout the facility. She leaned back, but the rods kept her upright.

There was a stillness. A quiet among this abandoned, decrepit, tomb of a facility.

While Nora stood there in awe of the horror she had committed, the shadows waited. They watched. None of them spoke a word.

But when Nora fell to her side, trembling at the sins that now crawl upon her back, they had begun to move. They surged like tidal waves onto the corpse of the Giantess, her body getting thrashed by hungry mouths. They spared no expense.

Hachi, feeling the sudden force dissipate the moment the Giantess died, clambered to his feet and shook the debris off his back. His eyes, though, did not leave Nora's as she stared into his very soul. Her emotions, as he felt them, were like a oblivion missile had gone off in an city center. It was emotional devastation that could not be expressed with words. However, their eye contact was broken when Hachi caught sight of what the shadows were doing to the Giantess.

It disgusted him. "Her body wasn't even cold those bastards."

But Nora's look of pure, unadulterated, horror told him everything he needed to know. She had made her choice, she had to do it. Hachiro saw no real flaw in this choice. Something about what she was capable of doing frightened him. However, he was more concerned for Nora. Thus, he came over to her and hugged her tight. "Now is the time for us to make our exit.. We can discuss all this later..!"

His attention slowly transitioned to some of the shadows that had begun to stalk them from afar. They didn't really get too close, only staying just outside of their periphery and vision in these lowlight conditions. They took feminine forms, mimicking the behavior of the Giantess. Some of them even had begun to dance to a tune that was inaudible, but had a tempo similar to the one she sung.

Everything about what he was seeing told him to leave, and so he lifted Nora up to place her on her feet. Once she was grounded, he pointed the way they came. He took off in that direction. If Nora was slow to react, the magick hands would've gently pushed her along like a soft-padded springboard. Although this does release the catwalk, which rapidly descended into the depths below with a loud splashy bang. Thankfully, Nora was now standing in the hallway just before it.

[Hannelorian]

Nora had taken a life, even if she did not understand that life. A sentient creature was dead at her own hand. Unlike the monsters and the ooze, the things that attacked him, the things that came for them perhaps had some sentience. But they were out for blood. This creature, this giantess was not. She even had given her a word of thanks before she had died and that somehow compounded the pain and crushed Nora even harder. Tears were welling in her eyes, she could feel the sting as they began to drip down her cheeks.

The shadows had descended upon the body and began to consume at a feverish rate, something unfathomable and truly horrifying. Hachi had rushed to her side and thrown his arms around her, warmly. There was no time to even respond, he had helped her to her feet.

"Now is the time for us to make our exit.. We can discuss all this later..!

The words in her mind rang, and her head felt a painful ache, almost like it were exploding. Closing her eyes tightly, Nora took a deep breath and nodded, having composed herself, at least outwardly. Nora made her way back across the catwalk just before it fell into the murky depths below and began to return through the assorted tunnels the way they had come. It was unnerving, the shadows that were coming in now, crossing behind them, coming in front of them.

Without hesitation Nora, having sacrificed her weapons raised her hands, and with a distinct anger, she would grasp the enemies before her without having to a lay a finger on them directly, and like flies Nora would swat them away and continued to press forward. The behavior of the creatures had changed, and it was disturbing to say the least. Painful would perhaps have been a more poignant word. Nora had no answers for what had happened here, she only left a device or something that now rested beneath her arm, clutched to her body for dear life.

"What the fuck is this Hachi? What have we found? What have we done?" Nora wondered if the imperials who at present were their hosts would be particularly angry about this. Perhaps they would be, but why did it matter? Nora was angry about it, confused, and ever more curious to know what it was that she had been carrying with her.

[Dire Hoef]

The mad dash to their entry point was a quick one. Nora, in her fit of rage and confusion, had cleared their path as the shadows drew down upon them. The air grew thick, filled with the scent of blood and viscera. The tunnels, themselves, took a breath. The very walls expanded and retracted as if they were alive. Everything about their brief sprint spoke of urgency and desparation.

Thankfully, Hachi did not even waste a moment. He flurred his arms about in a somatic fashion and conjured up a platform from the surrounding material. Once both he and Nora were aboard, he raised the platform back up into the storehouse proper. Although here the pair was met with an obstacle. A crowded one.

Between them and their escape were several dogmen who had congested the entrance of the storehouse. They snarled and growled, cursing him and Nora in their abominable language. However Hachiro did not have time to play shadow-talker, and decided to take his own anger out on these abominations.

He first primed his handgun and let several bolts fly. Three of the several bolts fired were confirmed to have landed their targets. A couple dogmen dropped to the ground like puppets, while the others scattered. Secondly, he conjured up more bright projectiles and launched down them down range in that same moment. Such beams of light arced down upon those unfortunate enough to still be in the storehouse.

Once those stragglers were dealt with, he switched to his scattergun and paced towards the entrance. He waited for anything to come toward the entrance, and when something did he blasted it with a spray of energy bolts. This blast absolutely eviscerated the foolish creature, rending everything but its internal "skeleton."

He looked back at Nora and gestured along, looking around outside as more of those things start emerging from various places around the storehouse grounds. He then ejected the energy cell within the scattergun and replaced it with another, recharging the weapon. His breath was already heavy, and he was feeling the effects of fatigue. However, he wasn't going to let his own physicality betray him at a crucial moment like this. Thus, he narrowed his eyes and prepared to do yet another dead sprint, leaning forward before kicking off.

[Hannelorian]

There was a decided and remarkable shift in the duo following the death, or murder, of the giantess. Though Nora perhaps was simply fueled by her own rage, confusion, and sadness. Not that the prior situation had not been grave, or somehow serious. But suddenly it felt heavier. The wall were literally alive, or so it seemed, the way they undulated as Nora and Hachi made their way down the corridors and back into the network of tunnels to just beneath the storehouse proper.

Hachi, as expected, was at the top of his game, in his eyes Nora could see how alert he was, how prepared for the dangers that were to come. The pair had kicked the hornet's nest, and for such an action there could only be consequences, dire consequences. Trouble was waiting for them but Nora remained steady, doing her best to assist as they were greeted with unsavory company. The threat had to be eliminated.

Between the sounds of gunfire, Nora worked her own abilities, her hands moving about like a conductor would when leading the greatest orchestra one had ever heard. To and fro she brought them, up and down, and with each movement another creature would be met with the end of their life, and one by one the sounds of their language which she could not comprehend were silenced. Hachi had taken out a fair number of them, and admittedly this all brought something of a smile to her face. It was an opportunity for Nora, not to take revenge, but finally let out her frustrations and fears, the things she had been keeping inside of her. It felt productive, even if it was in a horrifying fashion.

Adrenaline was probably the thing keeping her going, that and her desire to remain close to Hachi, to protect him as he done for her. The pain and fatigue had not been allowed to set in, no, not yet. That would be a problem for future Nora. Once the infestation had been cleared in this location, they would need to make a run for it back to the central grounds of the estate. Nora watched as Hachi leaned forward, prepared. She glanced at him and did the same, a smile across her face she nodded, giving the signal and off she went.

Running as fast as she could, hands flying about to clear obstacles that were just ahead of them, whether that be inanimate objects, or flinging any creature to the side. It felt like their escape was easy, too easy almost.

[Dire Hoef]

And it was too easy...

The melody of the area was of a discordant hum. A straining note, held between "A" and "E." It was inaudible at first, only really appearing as a thin wire of sound meshed into the cacophony of violence. But over time, a quietness befell the area and brought that whirring sound to the forefront. It pierced the mind's eye, diving straight into the couple's psychic connection with a rupturous slam.

This jolt of psychic force caused Hachi to wince in pain as he gripped the temples of his head. He looked frantically at what caused the psychic lash and spotted something large and bulbous emerging from the infested storehouse.

The front portion of its body was stiff. Several appendages sprung from its "head" as though it had assimilated anything it could get its hands on. The rear portion was a worm-like torso with spindely hands that endlessly grasp at the ground around it. It sported two long overarching arms that drag its oversized body forward. Its face, if one would give it such a description, had holes for eyes and a gaping maw filled with bone-like teeth.

It came into full view of the couple, only really huffing and puffing. It did not shout. It did not roar. It merely breathed, and existed.

But f distortion fills the area, and perception begins to waiver.
And without so much as an utterance, the creature and the remaining dogmen vanish.

Hachiro blinked once. And then again. And then several more times. Was he seeing this right..?

They disappeared? "W-Where did they go..!? They didn't just up and leave like that.. Right??"

He looked around even more frantically, anticipating a flanking manuever from their new enemy. But, no such response came. The two were left to their lonesome, nothing else directly within sight. The only constant being the fire that still raged. It was disconcertingly quiet here.

He kept his hand on his firearm, and slowly backed away toward the mansion. There was a look of terror gradually forming on his face.

[Hannelorian]

Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 5 in F, Movement 3 "Molto Allegro"

The most terrifying, horrifying, unsettling thing was not what was physically before them, not the threats they could see and perceive as real, but the ones that were less certain. Threats that appeared and disappeared, that accompanied intense feelings of insecurity, the feeling of a gamer being played when one player does not yet know the rules. The biggest threats were the ones that no one could be certain was real or not.

There was a chord before a sudden silence, and the feeling of psychic or psionic energy in the air, kind of like static electricity dancing across the surface of her mind. It was a sensation she was familiar with, living in the world of psychic energy she knew well enough what it was supposed to feel like. But this seemed off, but rather than causing her additional pain, it was like there was something knocking on the door to her mind. Just outside, rapping gently, and then with a little more force. But the door did not shake, it remained closed, there was a disquieting calmness. Something was looking for a way.

But when Nora had finally looked up, there it was, this massive and twisted creature. The product of rapid evolution, of gluttonous consumption, truly a behemoth. Everything about it was wrong. The gross combination of limbs, the way it would have to trudge forward, dragged by its own arms. It had no eyes, just holes, like little black voids, but still, Nora could feel the gaze upon her, like she was being swallowed whole, or perhaps lured closer to it and into it's gaping maw that reminded one only of death.

Nora stood her ground and just watched, it's only threat was in it's existence as it made no attempt to communicate or draw itself too close. And then... it was gone. Like the snap of one's fingers or the blink of an eye the creature and the dogmen had vanished entirely. In Nora's mind, the representation she could see of herself now moved toward the door and opened it. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing.

Two possibilities sprang forth. One, the creature had truly been there, and had indeed vanished through some means that neither her nor Hachi had an understanding of. Two, the creature was never there in the first place, it was all an elaborate but shared illusion.

"They're gone. As quickly as they came. Were they ever here at all? This is our cue to leave... quickly. Before it comes back..." Nora took several steps backward, watching as Hachi was looking around, so unsure of what had happened, but looking to be on the defensive, to be prepared. There was no time to contemplate it further. Nora was growing tired of running out of time.

Nora turned now to face the mansion, and moving swiftly she took Hachi's hand into her own, and gently pulled at him, they would make their return to presumed safety.

[Dire Hoef]

There was a pit in Hachi's stomach. This wasn't right. Nothing about this felt right. The gripping anxiety was something he wasn't privy to until now. Everything they faced up until now had been direct and violent. Then, this thing decided to flip such a status quo onto its face; making him question whether what he was seeing was real or not.

However most of that didn't really matter as Nora gently pulled him and his attention away from those improbabilities. He, instead, focused on what was in front of him. Thus he moved swiftly, and opened the door for Nora so she entered before he did. And once the two were inside, he slammed the door shut and locked it. He looked down the hall and found it to be eeriely quiet, but that gaunt quiet became a signature feature of this estate. So it did not bother him as much as it should've.

He powerwalked down the hall and made a few turns along the way, coming to the main foyer where the lights flickered slightly. Hachi stopped and glanced around for a moment before continuing on his way, having caught the small power surge.

He arrived at Yoriko's managerial quarters, but found it to be cracked open. His eyes widened a little as he slowly pushed the door open to reveal a room that was mostly abandoned. He looked around and then back at Nora, "Where could they've gone? The armory perhaps??" That explosion was enough to the shake the ground. Perhaps they fled to cover because they feared their battle would spill over onto other parts of the estate.

"They couldn't have gotten far, right?" He thought about where they might've fled to, and paced around the office a little before stepping back out into the hall. He eyed the hallway up and down, and felt his vision bend slightly. The air felt stuffy, and heavy. Although Hachi remained steady. Something was definitely watching him, and it wanted its presence to be known. Hachiro wanted to pinpoint these eyes in the dark, but he couldn't exactly see where the feeling was being directed from.

[Hannelorian]

The moment Hachi and Nora had made their way back to the stately home, she could feel something was wrong. Something was different. It wasn't so much a physical sensation as it was a feeling. A distinct change in the atmosphere of this place that teased and tugged at the corners of her mind. Nora understood that there were not many people still left surviving in this location. A handful of staff, Yoriko, and of course and then the group they come in with Lady Kei chief among them.

Nora followed behind Hachi who moved at a faster pace. Nora took her time and looked around at every last detail, every portrait, every out of place fiber on the carpet that sat atop the marble flooring. Nora raised her free hand, the other still occupied with the item, and held it in front of her. If she looked at hard enough, she could see it, a slight twitch, a shake. Of course she was still bothered, plagued by the events before, but something now was getting to her. Nora let her hand drop and resumed her path behind Hachi until they reached Yoriko's managerial quarters.

The door had been ajar, and when the pair entered it was devoid of human life. "Hachi, let's forget about them for a moment." Nora found herself looking around the impressive space, and much as she had pulled with Kei, Nora moved to sit at Yoriko's desk, and began thumbing through some of the papers and assorted documents on top. "What even is this... thing? Is there something we can find out?" Nora still held onto the object, but by this point had noticed that Hachi had stepped back out into the hallway. Diligently Nora stepped out to stand beside him.

"No. Not far." Nora had noticed a slight change in his demeanor, as well as another change in the atmosphere. But she could not exactly comprehend what was happening. That didn't surprise her, but the feeling had shifted rather dramatically. "What are you sensing Hachi?" The two of them could have by now, shifted to actual words, spoken outloud. But Hachi seemed to prefer to communicate with her via their shared mental link. Perhaps he simply hadn't realized, and she didn't need to think much of it. But it was an oddly meaningful choice to her.