Closed Late Night Slither

[Erosynielissave]

13th of Fall 513 AV

The night seemed to call to Save`, who decided to go for stroll even though many of the citizens feared the nights in Nyka. The moon was full and the sky was strangely clear for fall. She had been unable to sleep for some unknown reason. With every precaution, Save took to the shadows, avoiding the sight of the monks. They could be so bothersome when all she wanted was to be left alone.

As she looked up, the moon seemed to glow extraordinarily brightly this night. It was so...perfect. She did not realize she was heading towards the darkest place of all in Nyka. The Aperture was overflowing with creatures and other things that could cause insanity or worse. Save` sent a silent prayer to Akajia.

Please watch over me this night, as I walk in your shadows that bring me peace.

A gentle breeze lifted her hair carelessly. There was something a bit off about tonight. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

[Xeona]

Xeona was taking a little turn through the nightly Nykan streets. He did enjoy daytime, but it was so peaceful at night, if you counted away the noises you kind of always heard from the Aperture. Xeona didn't really worry about the night creatures as much, what could they do to him? He was already dead. It would be a whole another story if he was alive. In that case, he would probably follow all the others examples and stay inside.

Usually, at this time of day, you could never see a living person wander around. However, there was someone walking... towards the Aperture. Xeona could make a joke about this, but decided to throw it aside. Instead, Xeona went over to the person, materialised, and said: "Excuse me, but I think you chould watch where, and when you are going. It's dangerous at night, and even more dangerous near the Aperture."

Now when he was thinking about it, what did she do outside at this time of day? She probably had some reason, no one would walk out here at night with their mind still intact. And that, obviously, excluded Xeona. But, who was he to dig in others privacy?

Boxcode by Savio

[Erosynielissave]

Save` screamed cursing in mangled snake. Who the petch was this.....g...ghost? It was almost like she woke from a hazy dream. What was she doing here?

"Don't sssneak up on me like sssat!" Her heart was pounding in her chest so fast it almost made her a warm blooded snake. She glanced around to get an idea of where she was. It was too quiet aside from her still panicked breathing and the ghost who materialized next to her. Something about the scent in the air seemed off. It was like tangible evil. She was too close to this Aperture.

"Who are you? And what is sssisss Aperture?" She glanced around. There seemed to be no forms of life besides her.

Translation :

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" "Who are you and what is this Aperture?"

[Xeona]

Xeona was pretty starled by the woman's scream, not that he wasn't prepared for one, but it wasn't any of the screams he was used to. Instead, it seemed like some other language. It caught him off guard, which was pretty unusual, as he normally heard screams from people seeing him for the first time.

"The name's Xeona. And as for the Aperture..." He made a hand gesture towards the great fissure dangerously close to the two. "I would advise you to stay inside. It's definitely not safe out here... Unless you got a specific reason, which I actually doubt."

Boxcode by Savio

[Erosynielissave]

Save` slowly backed away from the Aperture. Something felt off...

"Well Xeona, my name isss Sssave` and I wasss jussst going for a walk. I don't remember heading sssiss way. I wassss jussst walking up the ssstreet to get sssome air." She pulled her cloak around herself tighter as the fall night air was too cold for her. Save` started to feel a little sluggish, but all of her senses told her to run as far away from this Aperture as her legs could take her.

"I ssshould head back now..." Save` turned to return to the Safe Haven Inn when she thought she heard a low growl...

Translation :

"Well Xeona, my name is Save`, and I was just going for a walk. I don't remember heading this way. I was just walking up the street to get some air."

[Xeona]

"That's probably for the safest..." Xeona said when the woman turned the other way. He was also going to head back towards his home when a growl caught his attention. "Please don't be what I think it is... A feeling of something going through his body confirmed his fears. An Aperture creature had lunged through his eternal body.

Then, the pain.

Oh gods, the pain.

He felt like someone just threw their whole arsenal of knives his way. He tried to make himself not scream in pain, much easier said than done. "Gah... Is that all you got? I've seen better fighters on the streets daytime!" The pain still haunted him, but he couldn't go away without answering the call for a fight. He saw the creature charging for another attack. "Let's dance."

Boxcode by Savio

[Erosynielissave]

Save` turned to see an unusual beast attack the ghost. Although she didn't think it was possible for them to feel pain, the expression on his face proved that they did and that it was the most excruciating pain he had most like ever experienced. She had to act fast. She concentrated on the shift as her body contorted and fused together allowing her to take the dhani form. Those few ticks were crucial as she was most vulnerable during that time but thankfully the beast took no notice of her...yet. The marrow dog growled at Xeona preparing to attack again

As her fingers became claws and her fangs fully extended a feral instinct arose to attack, slash, bite, and kill. Save` lunged at the beast before it had the chance to attack again. She managed to leave a deep gash in its side but not much else from her first attack.

"Are you ok Xeona?" Save` didn't look away from the marrow dog lest it use the opportunity to strike. She had no clue what this thing was capable of and she did not want to spend too much time trying to find out. The thrill of a good fight though was simply alluring and something she had longed for since she arrived in the city of Nyka. From what she had heard about these creatures, marrow dogs rarely attack alone, which meant that a few more would likely be showing up soon.

The marrow dog lunged at Save`, who barely dodged its attack. The beast lunged at her from behind and its sharp claws ripped and tore through her scaled flesh like razor blades. Save screamed more in rage than in pain, turning to attempt to rip apart the pathetic beast. Save` didn't notice three more marrow dogs climb out of the aperture.

[Xeona]

Xeona was pretty surprised to see the marrow dog attacked by a snake. He calmed down a bit when the snake asked him about his well-being. "Save`? Is that you? I'm alright, but those dogs can mess you up pretty bad..." He was interrupted by three more of those marrow dogs drawing close. "Oh gods, not more!"

He went over to the edge of the Aperture, and tried to get the marrow dog's attention. "Hey you! How about a fair battle? That snake's wounded, and that's no fun!" The dogs turned to him, probably not because of what he said, but of his attitude. One of them lunged at him, but missed as Xeona quickly dodged to the side. He didn't fall down again, though. He jumped a bit too short for that.

Xeona knew that he couldn't take on these dogs by himself. But he needed to keep them away from Save`, even if that meant taking a couple of hits here and there. Eventually, one of the dogs would start to target Save`, but Xeona would just taunt him to make it target him once again.

After a while, it seemed like the dogs had enough. They attacked at the same time from different angles, allowing no escape for Xeona. "Want to do this the hard way? Fine." was his last words, before they jumped over him.

Boxcode by Savio

[Erosynielissave]

The lone marrow dog that attacked her was deeply wounded. Save watched it limp around her. She had to act fast as she heard more dogs approaching. She barely heard Xeona call out to her as she struck the beast once again. Biting his neck and injecting her venom, whilst also crushing its throat. As it collapsed, Save caught sight of the dogs attacking Xeona. She moved as quickly as her body could allow in what seemed like a futile attempt to save him.

"Xeona! No!" The other dogs had just jumped over him. She feared she was too late and swung her tail as hard as she could knocking two of the dogs out of the way sending them crashing into the first dog she had poisoned. The other dog turned to her and growled.

Shyke...

[Xeona]

Xeona falled to the ground. Even after just a short time fighting those marrow dogs, they quickly overpowered him, ripping his Soulmist in pieces while he was watching. Shortly after he fell, however, he felt that the dogs stopped causing him pain. He couldn't hear Save`'s scream, because of him still being reminded of the intense pain the dogs had been causing him. He made an attempt to look up, which was much easier said than done.

When he did manage to, he was met with three of the marrow dogs laying down, like they had passed out or something. One of them also had a bite mark in his throat, presumably Save`'s doing. "Hey, weren't there four of them? And where's Save`?" When he looked the other way, he got both his questions answered.

"Save`!"He used the last of his energy to get over to the dog, still materialised, and simply placed his hand on it. Hopefully, the marrow dogs were vulnerable to his cold touch. He got so exhausted, he just wanted to let everything go and just sit down, but he couldn't let Save` get in danger because of him screwing up.

Eventually, the marrow dog stopped moving. Xeona didn't know if he was dead or not, and even if he did, he didn't have the energy to keep on holding. He barley had enough energy to keep being visible. He turned to Save` and said: "You should probably finish him off... For safety..." He couldn't find the energy to say something like "Thanks for saving me", or anything of the like. He could just stand there as Save` finished the marrow dog.

Boxcode by Savio