Plot Thread 1.4: Blood Inheritance (THE TRUTH)

[Dios Sarvo]

Plummeting down silently and violently stomping down on the creatures back, Dios pinned the beast before driving his daggers into the creatures hide in a flurry of stabs. Crying out in pain, the feral beast twisted and shook in an effort to toss it's aggressor off, but with severed tendons and punctured arteries, the creature had not even strength enough to toss the slender man from it's back. Instead, it could only slump almost lifelessly on the ground, wheezing with stilted and forced breaths.

Stepping of the creature with a foot placed firmly against it's spine, he turned to to face the felled beast and deliver a swift kick to it's abdominal region.

"Come on, is that all you've got!?" Mocked Dios as he ground his foot in the creatures ribs, letting out an hearty and almost cackling laugh. "Well if this is all you and your little gang have to offer, then this game is going to be rather dull...regardless, it appears as if The Nightmare has condemned yet another soul to the shadows." Holding his hand out over the creature, Dios' shadow slid out underneath his wheezing prey before a salvo of hands burst from the darkness and pulled the creature inwards.

Clapping his hands briskly as his shadow snapped back to it proper position, Dios suddenly felt the connection with his spectres break, causing the man to scoff as he removed his hat to ruffle his emerald locks.

"Bah, stupid shades. Well it would appear that perhaps a more competent ally is required..." Dios mumbled aloud as he shifted back into the shadows. Calling out the fiendish denizens that skulked within the darkness, Dios held a hand skywards, a dramatic gesture that Dios had grown all to used to when calling out to one of his closer "friends." "Ouroboros! I call you forth to fulfill your contract!"

Shifting from the shadows, the snake-like creature wrapped itself around it's master, shifting it's form into the man, briefly imbuing Dios with a crackling green energy before settling in kind.

"Well, let the hunt resume..." Dios remarked before shifting through the shadows to resume his hunt.

[Monthu]

Thud, Thud, Thud

Three arrows lodged into the creatures back, Monthu was stood a fair distance away, bow held at the ready and an arrow nocked and ready to launch. His gloved hands and covered wrists were caked in blood from one of the earlier monsters which he'd gone at with his knife, and know those hands were held tense, the string of his bow taut as he sighted another arrow, this time for the back of the creatures head, but swiftly, an idea hit him.

Allowing the string to loosen, he quickly drew another arrow, and readjusted both, nocking them together and then twisting his bow onto the horizontal. With it now in a different position, he closed his weaker right eye and sighted with the dominant left. Exhaling a breath, he allowed his aim to steady, and then released, the arrows flying off with a heavy twang as they flew through the air towards the beast, the two arrows aimed for the back of it's knees.

[Kato Shin]

"I'll keep them off you," I told the archer simply, having fought my way through the horde to where he was. Fighting against monsters like these ones wasn't easy, but with careful management of my power and flames added to my fists, I could take them down without too much difficulty, even though I was primarily an unarmed fighter.

But the giant monster... that was out of my reach. Better for me to protect the archer than to lose my life fighting a foe too large for me to effectively handle without greater use of my flames.

The cold would make it less effective, I told myself, spinning a fiery kick at a shadow-creature that sprang for Monthu's back.

But I knew that it was because I was still scared to use too much. I didn't want to hurt anyone. And a flashback here, in the middle of battle, would be disastrous.

[Navarre]

"Great. Can't ever be like in the video games." Navarre said as he ran towards the giant. He tried to slide under it again, but the giant slammed it's arm in front of Navarre. He then ran around the downed arm to it's back, however the giant swung it's arm around quickly knocking Navarre towards a large rock. There was a loud thud when he hit the rock.

[Andy Jammer]

"Navarre!" Andy yelled, bringing his sword down and driving it straight upwards on its weak spot to cleave it in two. As Monthu and Shin defeated the last of the enemies Andy went to Navarre's side.

"Damnit..." he growled as he checked Navarre over, "Jasmine!"


...

As the Other was finishing off the last of the creature, some of its blood drops flew from its body and landed on his skin...and suddenly the Other was assaulted with images and voices.

A cloaked man stands in front of his eyes.

"Have you narrowed down your search?"

A voice that is not the Other's speaks.

"We have nothing to go on, something over five hundred years old is not enough information to go on. We do not know if it's a structure or if it's a landmark-"

"Find it! Now!"

The vision ended.

[The Other]

The Other stood deathly still as the vision played out, and then past that for a good couple minutes more as he pondered it. Wondering for a moment if his host, the former King Scarth Vandeel, had managed to infect him with his stupidity he finally concluded that what he saw must have been something meaningful. Breaking from his stillness he laughed with a deep and hearty chuckle that pierced the howling winds.

"So that is the game they invented for us? How fun, and just when I'd begun to lose my motivation." He turned to look at the city's vacant-eyed denizens with a satisfied smile. "Nothing personal mortals, just business." Expelling a barrage of black and twisting shapes The Other let chaos flow through the city as buildings crumbled and bodies burst from his ferocious might.

[glitters]

"I'm coming!" Jasmine called, leaping around in the snow towards Andy and the fallen Navarre. She fell to her knees by his side and began her usual "check to see if he's dead" ritual.

"He's breathing," she mumbled. Good. Now that that was taken care of...

Jasmine set to work opening Navarre's eyes and looking them over, checking for broken bones--maybe not broken but something might be fractured, he had some intense swelling in areas and the skin was discoloured--and in the process she flipped open the cover flap of her bag and began digging around for her general potions and remedies. Something to reduce swelling, and something to check for brain damage...she began stuffing potions into his mouth in a series and then lightly tapping his cheeks.

"Can you hear me? Answer me if you aren't braindead, now!"

[Navarre]

Navarre's head was throbbing and his senses were distorted when Andy and Jasmine were talking to him. Then he felt something go into his mouth, and the tapping it made him swallow the potion... then his throat got really dry and hot, making his eyes open
"WA-WATER!" He said barely audible. He moved, but his head was pounding making him grab his head.

[glitters]

Jasmine was unfazed as Navarre leaped about croaking about water and groaning in pain. To her, it meant a job well done.

"Ah, good," she said simply and dug around for a flask of water to give him, "you're just fine. Just relax a moment or two, take a couple sips of water and try to not breathe so rapidly."

She grinned up at Andy. She was ready for anything.

[Andy Jammer]

All the Other got was the same vision...looped and played at least fifty times, it was as the entire force bore witness to the same event...at the same time. Nothing useful beyond a clue that these forces were looking for a location that has been in Ghiaccio for at least five hundred years.

...

"Glad you're all right..." Andy stood up and looked around. "...They attacked us now...but if they knew we were here why aren't there more of them?"

Andy studied the frenzied footprints in the snow and found something odd, away from the frenzied prints of battle was a set of prints leading a straight line down a pathway they haven't seen before.

"Monthu! You may wanna look at this!"

[The Other]

"Ugh, I feel like I have a headache from that all." The Other grumbled, his form slowly recoiling back to his humanoid self. "Wait, can I even get one of those?" His hand went from stroking his forehead to digging inside and rummaging around as if looking for the source of the annoyance. Pulling his blood-caked hand back from his head he mumbled something about lacking a brain before turning to appreciate his handiwork.

"Well, suppose that's all I'm going to get out of this. If all of this didn't get anymore attention, that must have been all that was left for us. I suuuuuuppoooose I should get back and make sure the rest of the humans didn't freeze to death." His tone was almost whiny as he plodded back towards the encampment, leaving bloody footprints in the snow as he left the city remains behind him.

[Dios Sarvo]

"Bravo, now that was a rather impressive display," Dios called from behind The Other, his hands delivering what sounded like a genuine applause, as he broke free from the shadows. "But it does beg the question as to just what exactly you are, and why you're here...I already have some inklings but, if you'd be willing, I'd be most interested in hearing the account of an extra planar being, such as yourself."

It seemed like a fools gambit, even to Dios, but this would be the best chance for him to engage his quarry, and being ever the opportunist, it was now or never. Sure, The Other might get suspicious and just see fit to eviscerate him right then and there, or he might just ignore him, but there was always the chance that the hubris Dios took note of would give The Other reason to brag and reveal something, anything really, that might feed Dios' curiosity.

[The Other]

"Ahh, so they did save me one last treat." The Other spun around, expecting to see a delicious finale to his rampage, only to be disappointed with a familiar face. Hmm, just the shadow man. What does he want? Wait, I wonder if he was the one stealing all of my fun from me?

"Oh, it's just you little shadeling. I don't suppose you got as bored as I did with all of those children and decided to crash my party did you?" His eyes narrowed disapprovingly for a bit before softening to something more aloof. "Well I suppose I can't blame you, if I was stupid enough to piss around with those little black critters I'd be wanting to keep them happy and fed too. They are so very very fickle, aren't they?" His tone had an eerie familiarity to it, hinting that he knew much more about Dios' power than he was letting on.

"As for my being here, I don't know why you bother to ask, when a so-called detective should have figured it out. Even the dullest of your mortal cohorts know enough to mistrust and fear me, as they should. Of course, they are what make conquest so fun. It just wouldn't be worth it without them..."

[Dios Sarvo]

"Hubris, definitely a driving factor. Hungers for domination, but considers it a game. Driven intrinsically by factors of sadism and instant gratification. Devalues life, but needs opposition; not fun otherwise. Highly arrogant; leads him to be careless, but knows well that few things are a threat, or at least leads him to perceive them as such. Yes, yes, I think I have a proper handle on this character."

Dios felt himself almost immortal in front of the threatening figure that was The Other, if only because he realized that his life was inherently meaningless to the being. The thought caused him to grin wide, if almost laugh, but letting it show for only a second before Dios quickly pulled his reaction back, letting his almost apathetic guise take the front once again.

"Yes, yes, whiney little bastards the lot of them, but useful. I'd think you could understand that better then most. That's all beside the point, though. We both know what we are at this point, but now you're secrets are out in plain sight, while mine lie hidden in the shadows. Rather apt, don't you think?" Dios' chuckled, letting his arrogance show, but knowing well enough at this point that such things were beneath The Other's care. "But then again, I suspect the secrets of a man are of little interest. I mean, what could I possibly do to you? Anyway, perhaps best to reconvene with our "allies" now, as we wouldn't want to be left out of the fun, no?"

With a lazy wave, Dios sunk back into the shadows, aiming to reconvene with Andy and his rag tag band of children; his willingness only renewed by a realization about the connection he shared with The Other, and what it could mean.

[The Other]

The words of the suavely dressed man caught The Other off guard, leading him away from his daydream of his fun to come at the hands of the so-called Heroes back to reality. What had the shadow man said to him? He stepped in front to watch his expression, to see his body and heart respond only to be left with a half hearted gesture as the man vanished from view.

It was only a moment, a passing gaze into the man's eyes that left The Other unsure of what it was that had caused Dios to act as he had. It reeked of a bizarre blend of arrogance and complacency, such a blend that left him only perplexed upon trying to understand it. With a slow stroke of his chin The Other laughed, a slow thoughtful chortle that grew into something louder as if overcome by a hilarious epiphany.

"Wonderful! The man is indeed a curio! I knew I picked a world worth conquering." The Other made his way back to the encampment, arriving a few minutes behind Dios, chuckling his mad chuckle to himself as his perfect black form was so thoroughly tainted in frozen blood.

"Hello little boys and girls, I'm baaaaack."