Completed [Aka's Cave] Arcane Shackle (Traverse)

[Soshakuakamamushi]

It had gone well, the Dhani would gain victory by the end of this day, the Myrians were many, but they weren't endless... or so Lyss thought, the cacophony of roars was enough to make her pause, one or two tiger roars, she wouldn't be worried, but a horde of them? That clearly represented real threat, Lyss hissed angrily in annoyance, her instincts warned her, "Ssstand your ground!! More enemiesss!" She commanded her warriors, the Dhani changed their tactic as they went on the defensive.

She was right, more Myrians arrived, reinforcing their never-ending ranks, the Dhani were clearly outnumbered as one warrior had to face at least four to five Myrians, not to mention the tigers and their riders. Her ranks was beginning to thin out, more Dhani fell to Myrian blade faster than before. Lyss was enraged, if the Myrians keep bolstering their numbers, she would just have to cut them down faster, her chakrams followed her command, slicing through bronze skin and flesh without mercy, deep in concentration, she didn't realize the arrows specifically targeted at her, thankfully her guards protected her through their shields.

The sounds of battle from behind her did broke her out of the self-induced trance, her chakrams froze in mid-air, as the priestess turned her body, what met her slitted eyes startled her, from within the temple, Siku's sacred temple, were shadows of unknown beings, Myrians? Impossible, how could they enter without her knowing? She had no time to ponder as arrows, quite different than usual, sailed to her, Lyss wasn't ready to intercept them, she raised her hands in instinct but... "NO! Kusani!!" One of her elite guards, completely devoted to her cause named 'Kusani', lunged to shield her, his scales were punctured by the arrows. The Priestess' eyes widened as a slight pang of fear entered her, the arrows were ghastly-looking, covered with barbs, perfectly designed to pierce through hard Dhani scales. No... no! Impossible! This is impossible! Her devotion to Siku caused insurmountable amount of zealous rage quickly rising within her, she commanded one of her elite guards to take command, then bringing about two of them to follow her, she would clear the temple of pests! How dare these monkeys sullied Siku's domain. She called back her chakrams, cutting through Myrian flesh as they returned.

The priestess slithered quickly to the temple, res flowing out from her palms as they covered her two guards' shield, then began gathering earth, reinforcing their shields with tough stone, those should keep the barbed arrows at bay, as for herself, she kept her chakrams floating in front of her in a vertical position, ready to cut through arrows directed at her.

[Traverse]

As soon as attention was turned their way, the fangs ensconced in darkness within the temple's interior beat a hasty retreat. Furious hisses and screams of agony were heard as a few quick eyed guards speared a few of the infiltrating Myrians, but most made their escape back down the hallways.

"I have heard stories of your power, priestess." The voice came in heavily accented common, directly to the left, a fair ways down the main tunnel of the hall. Torchlight cast flickering shadows over bronze face, ebony hair braided much like a serpent that coiled down over her shoulders. The woman was mounted upon the largest Myrian tiger any of the Dhani had ever seen, a host of Myrians with bows and dark paint upon their faces standing beside and behind her, weapons aimed at the Dhani that started down the hall.

"I have also heard stories of your cruelty, what you do to our soldiers before you sacrifice them to your vile Goddess." She spat at the foot of Siku's statue.

"Perhaps it will please you to know that all who fight and die before you today volunteered for the task. Those who have and will die taking you and your zealots down will be guided by Dira back into Myrian bodies, to live again, to kill your kind again, and again for generations. I cannot say the same for your chavi, but you will not die a quick death today."

And then the arrows flew, black as night with wicked hooks up and over the shields of her guards. More Dhani flooded in from outside to back up their priestess, a few cut down immediately by the hail of arrows in the tall wide hallways. Lissandra's chakrams easily cut through any that would threaten her, and the two closest guards raised their large shields over head, the arrows plunking harmlessly off the rock reinforced shielding. Then the massive tiger pounced, and the shadow warriors behind her charged forward screaming in that bloodcurdling language Myrians had.

Outside...the tigers had arrived.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

She was right, these pests actually managed to invade Siku's holy domain, utter sacrilege and punishable by death. Some Myrians dared to attack them from the shadows, but her guards made short work of them, they retreated like they cowards they were. The Priestess kept silent as the trio slithered, her anger evolved into tranquil fury, these insects didn't deserve to hear her glorious voice, but apparently, one of them had the gall to speak in Common, a tongue almost universal in all of Mizahar. This voice praised her, quite unusual for an insect, Lyss gave an arrogant smirk as she changed directions to the main tunnel.

Before her and her guards, was a female Myrian riding upon a gigantic Myrian tiger, the priestess let her eyes widened for barely a tick, before the arrogance returned, no matter who large they were, cut a tiger's neck and they would be reduced to a pretty orange-striped rug. This particular Myrian must be the leader of the invasion group, the Priestess' eyes flashed with hatred as the Myrian called Siku 'vile', the spit was enough to make Lyss explode in rage, "Insssect ssscum! I'll kill you and ALL of your pathetic kind, ssslowly, painfully, to pleassse Siku!"

Her chakrams buzzed in anger and her guards readied themselves for battle, "Good! I'm pleasssed indeed, insssect! That meansss I can keep killing your kind over, and over, and OVER again! Providing endless suppliesss of sssweet sssacrifice to our gloriousss Goddess!" This Myrian tried to intimidate a Dhani prietess, how foolish. Her soldiers seemed to share her hatred, pouring into the hallway to assist her, then the battle raged on as the first arrow was launched.

"Die ssscum!" The Priestess gestured for her elite guards to assist her warriors in battling the shadow warriors, while Lyss readied herself to personally kill the female Myrian. Her chakrams circled in front of her, they would cut down the tiger if it dared to enter melee range. Lyss then poured more of her gaseous res, her body screaming in pain, but her mind urged her to keep going, she would be dead if she lost anyway so the choices were clear, her res traveled to cover the walls near the Myrian forces, including the tiger. With an angry hiss, Lyss commanded the very stone walls to quake in rage, the res reshaped them into a weapon as numerous earthen spears launched from the left and right walls, aiming to stab all Myrians unfortunate enough to be in their embrace.

Meanwhile, the battle outside took a turn for the worst as the tigers arrived, without their priestess, the Dhani forces lost a key figure and gradually, they were being pushed back, they would fight to the death in the name of Siku, but sometimes, spirit alone wouldn't be enough.

[Traverse]

The Priestesses rage made the Myrian woman smile, lips curling into a cruel shape, and it almost appeared as if her mount shared the same expression. The warriors around her seemed cloaked in shadow, though in truth this was only dark dyed leather, strange patterns shifting upon it as they moved. Two lines moved on either side of their leader circling around Liss's guards, flanking them so that their shields could not protect them fully. Both sides circled each other warily, knowing one wrong move meant death.

Meanwhile the tiger's leap put it just outside of chakram range, her massive head ciling back to avoid one of the spiraling bruning weapons. The Myrian watched as Liss began pouring otu res and barked a command both to her tiger and troops in Myrian. As the walls became living weapons, the warriors began moving. A few were too slow, earthen spikes easily slicing through leather armor and skewering them whole. Liss's soldiers used their shields, sliding back to back to avoid the spears, but while they lived, the earthen barriers she had given them were shattered making sure they were not hurt as well in the crossfire.

The tiger's ears pricked, and though large, its body moved like fluid, leaping highin the air and curling its body so that the spikes avoided it, one slicing through the flesh of its leg, but barely grazing the flesh. Landing comfortably on its feet the Myrian woman hefted a spear from her back, wrapping her arm around it and filling her free hand with a longsword, ridged and wicked looking. The tiger and rider seemed to move as one, paws circling the priestess, then suddenly the spear jutted out, catching a chakram and the tiger lunged forward, the Myrian woman's sword raised to slam down upon Lissandra, aiming for a diagonal cut across her chest as another fiery weapon cut into the warrior's shoulder, making her cry out in pain for the sacrifice of her attack.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

The sweet screams of Myrians being skewered by her spears were a pure orchestra dedicated to Siku herself, Liss relished in the pleasure of both pleasing her Goddess and casting at the same time, it was enough to dull the pain her body was going through. Her warriors were smart enough to avoid friendly fire, as expected from glorious Dhani, the earth-reinforced shields were gone though, no matter, the battle had progressed into melee anyway, unless the Myrians were stupid enough to throw arrows into their own ranks.

Liss couldn't help but letting an annoyed hiss mixed with anxiety escaped her jaw, the tiger was surprisingly fast for its size. The previous one she killed outside was fast, but it had smaller build and even it could not escape her barrage of firebolts and earthen spear trap, but this... this monster was something altogether. It was huge, strong, and fast, a lightning bruiser. One of her spears had only managed to barely graze its flesh, it didn't affect the giant tiger in the slightest, the fact that it also managed to leap over her whirling weapon of death didn't help Liss' case. The Myrian leader prepared for combat, lifting up a spear then dual-wielding it with a longsword, a ghastly looking longsword, like its blade was the sword version of those barbed arrows.

Liss' slitted eyes narrowed in full concentration as she focused on the circling tiger, Liss had enough of this shenanigan, she commanded one of her chakram to decapitate the rider, but with great reflex, the Myrian captured the chakram while the orange beast lunged at her, "Aaaaah!" Due to the location, tiger's size, and Liss' own fatigue, she couldn't react in time and struck by the tiger's massive body, even her Constrictor strength couldn't handle it easily, she fell to the ground. Enraged, Lyss called one of her chakrams back, it sailed through the air to cut the woman's head apart, but a slash on Liss' chest broke her concentration, the chakram missed its intended target and cut the Myrian's shoulder instead.

"Kuh... aaaah!" Liss howled in pain, the cut on her chest flowing fresh blood, with her being facing an abomination of a tiger and magical reserves running low, there was not much she could do. Her warriors were busy fighting off the Myrians, outnumbered. Her eyes narrowed in hatred, if she was going down, then this woman was going with her! She didn't care if she would be reborn in another womb, she would kill her, right here, right now! The chakram lodged on the Myrian's shoulder spun hard, aiming to cut all the way through her heart. With her increasingly blurring vision, Liss commanded her other chakram to come back and slice the tiger's neck. If this went well, not matter how unlikely, perhaps the Myrian leader's death would deter the insects back into their pitiful city.

[Traverse]

The tiger gave a growl of success as the priestess fell beneath her massive paws, a long slash of crimson opening across her chest where her rider had cut at the foul magic using beast.

Outside the inevitable tide had come. The tigers were in larger number than the Dhani had ever seen, and more mounted ranks upon horses and some other strange deer-like creature were galloping through the ranks fo foot soliders. They found themselves being pushed back into the temple which held no repreive because of the shadow warriors within its depths.

GAAAAAAH!

The pain scream tore across the hallways as one of Lissandra's chakrams cut deeper into the Myrian warrior's felsh, suddenly her arm was severed, the loose limb and the weapon it was clutching clattering to the ground, as her other hand moved to staunch the blood. Her mount writhed furiously beneath her, sensing her rider's distress, and snarled loudly in Lissandra's race, spittle flying everywhere.

Aka stared up at the vicious beast, her rider falling off in pain, and knew that this was the end, the end of it all.

But then..the dream, or whatever it was, the memory stuttered, suddenly Aka found herself in the same hallway but it was all but empty. The statue of Siku was tipped upon its side, a half formed giant slab of marble in its spot, painstakingly being formed into a new likeness.

She was no longer the pirestess, yet when she looked upon the floor, there were still the blood stains of hers and the great Myrian warrioress.

Gipta, come, it has begun." She looked down at her hands for a moment before brown eyes flicked over to the sund of the voice, a tanned and well formed Myrian woman with plaited ebony hair and numerous black tattoos covering her body. And that was when Aka realized she was observing the world through...a Myrian. Her legs began following her comrade down the hall, and in one hand was clutched the collar that was now curled aorund her neck.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

The Dhani Priestess smirked despite the excruciating pain plaguing her body. She had mutilated the damned Myrian leader, in this location and with that amount of blood pouring from her puny flesh, it was only a matter of time until the Myrian died of shock and blood loss. This little victory came with a price though, the tiger was furious no doubt, the Priestess lay her head back on the ground, muttering in snake-tongue, "For the Serpent-Queen...", then her slitted eyes fluttered to a close.

"H-huh?" The watching Viper felt her vision, Liss' vision, ebbed and flowed as the very reality around her shifted like flickering images. Aka mentally held her head with both of her hands, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth in fear, but to her horror, the visions were still visible despite her closed eyelids. She didn't know what happened next, only she found her vision focusing back. W-what? She wanted to speak as she looked around her new reality, but her lips wouldn't move. Like before, her body moved on her own, looking down to her own hands, the bronze skin made her mind jolted in revulsion. She was in the body of a Myrian! Absolute disgrace and a fate worse than death, her mind was trapped in the body of her most hated enemy. Aka screamed and hissed, but she couldn't do anything but watch.

What are you doing?! Why am I here?! She started to accuse at no one in particular. This dream had gone from being interesting to downright horrifying, she was willing to watch the through the eyes of a cruel Siku Priestess, it was better than this. She heard her vessel being called, apparently this insect's name was 'Gipta' and these two monkeys were preparing for something. The other Myrian looked experienced and high-ranking due to her appearance, the Viper noted that this Gipta was holding something... something eerily similar. By Ivak, it was the very same collar that latched itself around her neck back in that temple. Aka went silent, she wanted to get to the bottom of this, even if it meant observing through an insect's eyes.

[Traverse]

The Myrian paced down the winding halls of the temple, following her superior. Unlike Liss, who Aka seemed to get a lot of information from, this being she received no knowledge of, and the world around her seemed hazier, a weaker pull and memory than the vivid ones before.

Torchlight guided her down the halls, bringing her down, down, down into the dungeons of the great temple, painstakingly built by the Dhani that ruled over it...or perhaps whatever slaves they had once had build it. The light became less frequent then, dwindling to only the torch her superior held, and they entered a large stone room. A couple tables with various shining implements lay upon them, and then the torchlight shifted to reveal a pale tall woman.

Her hair once long, lustrous, and hazelnut colored, now showed streaks of grey, was tattered, frizzy, and made a strange nest around her head. You could count her ribs, and probably every bone in her body the way her flesh, somewhat translucent hung off of her bones. She hissed angrily at the light, two yellow eyes, the only thing that seemed alive about her flashing open. Aka could recognize her from the malformed and badly healed scar upon her chest, a slash she remembered receiving when in Liss's body.

"Do it." The woman with the torch commanded, and Aka's form stepped forward, holding the strange collar in both hands and fastening it around the sorceress's neck. She hissed, spat, and struggled, but every movement was pathetic, and the Myrian whose eyes Aka was watching through had no trouble fastening the leather band around her throat.

At first nothing happened, Liss kept feebly struggling, but the room was silent save for the scraping of her manacles and the crackling fire the Myrian woman held.

"How will we-"

She was cut off by a massive brilliant flash of white light. It faded just as soon as it had come, but then Lissandra began screaming, a noise that sounded like Dira herself rising into life. Aka couldn't tell her own forms reaction, but the superior's face was stony flint, not even flinching at the noises. There would be no pity for this creature today.

Instead of speaking she gestured to Aka, and they returned from whence they came down the dark halls, the screams following them.

Slowly, instead of getting light as they wound their way up, the single torch light dimmed, until it was like an ember, until Aka was shrouded in utter darkness. She could feel her own body, turning this way and that, but there was no light, no heat signatures, no anything to be found, even the noise disappeared into nothingness.

RELEASE ME!!!!

The voice screamed at her.

And then she woke. When she did she would find that there was a clasp upon her neck that...could not have been there before, and if she tried to remove the collar...she could.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

The Viper calmed her mind as she went silent, focusing her full concentration to observe this strange dream. She was seeing Gipta's memories, no doubts about it, the Viper idly wondered if there was some kind of hallucinogenic substance in her prey she ate earlier in the day. Aka shrugged it off, there was nothing she could ado about it, she would have to see this through the end. As they traversed through the dark halls, Aka realized something, this vision seemed... hazier than before, the one with Liss was crisp and clear, almost life-like, but this one, this was similar to the stereotypical representation of a dream world.

The Viper made a mental gulp when Gipta started to walk down into the dungeons, what manner of horros lay in a dungeon claimed by Myrians? Aka half-expected numerous bones and skeletons to be piled up as resources for their weapons. Myrians loved bone weapons for some reasons. The winding dungeon corridors felt eerily similar to a Dhani's nest, then Aka hitched a breath, this place might be the very same temple she got lost earlier in Spring. W-what? No... no, it can't be, it's just a coincidence... She still refused to accept it. They came upon a large room made of stone, with various tables and objects. W-what?! Who?! There was a tall malnourished woman, her appearance truly looked pitiful.

Aka was bewildered at first on the identity of this woman, she might be these Myrians' prisoner, then... once her vision spotted the ugly scar on her chest, the memory of Liss being slashed by the massive tiger's claws flashed before her eyes. Liss?! The Priestess? Aka had never seen the Priestess in human form, but as a fellow Dhani, This woman being Liss was certainly not far-fetched, the claw-shaped scar made the assumption stronger. No! Release her, insects! What are you goint to do?! Aaah! Aka tried to help, she desperately tried to move Gipta's hands to strangle the other Myrian and free her kin, but alas, her actions proved futile. She could only watch in silent horror as Gipta forcefully put the collar around human-formed Liss' neck.

... She felt like a betrayer, even though it was Gipta's actions, Aka felt as if her own hands were the one who fastened the collar on Liss, the Viper's moutih opened in agape in disbelief. The once proud priestess looked so pitiful, now restrained by the very insects she hunted. !? The Viper opened her mouth to scream when a sudden flash of light filled her vision, but no sound escaped her lips. Stop it... Stop it! Stooooooop!! She tried to block off Liss' screams of torment. She wanted to help, all of her powers became useless in this vision, this whole experience might be just a fabrication of her own mind, but still... it felt so real.

Ha... wait, no! Reality shifted once more, all light left her eyes then the Viper suddenly felt she was floating in the endless abyss of darkness, she couldn't see anything, hear any sounds, smell any scent, or even touch anything except her own body. Aka started to panic, primal fear of the unknown gripping hard into her being, which made her very susceptible to sudden loud sounds, in this case, it was the loud scream begging for release. Aaaa-

"-aaaaaaaah!!" The Viper jolted awake, gasping for breath as her heart beat fast, sweat trickling on her body, drenching her clothes. "T-that wasss..." Her mind was not fully awake yet, it was only fifteen ticks later before her hands reached up to rub at her neck, brushing over the irremovable leather collar and... the strange clasp that was suddenly there. "Huh?" Her hands rubbed over the clasp, absently tinkering with it, then for some unknown reason, the collar was removed. "..." The Viper held the collar before her eyes with both hands, indeed, it was the same collar that Gipta put on Liss. That meant, all of those visions, were true... Liss was most likely dead, along with her kin who fought bravely against the Myrian horde.

"I'm sssorry..." She wasn't there, she was powerless to help them, The Viper's right hand went back to cover her eyes, a tear made its way down to her cheek.

[Traverse]

It seemed eerily quiet in Aka's chambers, glowstones emitting a bit of light, reflecting strange shadows that the viper had always thought of as comforting until this moment...

For a brief instant Aka was able to glimpse a bit of the complexity behind the artifact she had discovered. A pulsating blue light lit up her features, though not painfully, as the complicated series of glyphs revealed themselves, the novice Glypher only knew that whatever they were was akin to a masterpiece. Knowing one or two things about Arumenic, she could see some symbols that seemed familiar, and the voice called out again, though whether it was in the room or her head she couldn't be sure.

"Release me...." It was much fainter this time, and it faded into silence as the blue glyphs disappeared, the collar appearing rather bland compared to it's little light show from before.

Yuki stirred in her sleep, Evalin's eyes were closed though she certainly wasn't sleeping, and there their mistress sat clutching that strange clasped collar, wondering what to do with it.