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Town
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Lethe laughed as she and Phlegethon watched the building collapse.
Her brother was silent, lost in the dance of the flames and swaying
to the rhythem of the rain. Swaying to the rhythem of the rain.
The young girl savored the anticipation of praise for a job well
done. Nothing stirred within the rubble of the building. The eldest
could rest easily for the Overlord of Corruption was dead! She
laughed mirthlessly as she pulled her brother away.
************
Not far away
************
Thunderstorm and Kayura had managed to pull themselves from the
press of humanity that threatened to claim them as two more victims.
So many had been trampled, so many had died. And so few had been
able to escape.
Storm shook her wet hair back from her face. The umbrella had
been lost, but that wasn't anything compared to the instant fear
she felt when she couldn't find either of the men. Kayura wasn't
hard to spot, after the mob had run away, her slight form slipping
up the street, pausing here and there to check on people. No one
breathed. Kayura's face was etched with sadness and pain.
Storm met her halfway down the street. The Cherokee could feel
something on the air, something dark.. evil.
"Kayura?"
"We have to get back to Dais and Cale." the woman said,
her eyes shining mysteriously. "I fear the worst."
Thunderstorm followed her silently, unwilling to ask the question
that posed itself to her. 'What's the worst?'
***************
Down the street
***************
"CALE!!" Dais' voice echoed down the empty street for
some distance.
He waded into the rubble, pushing slabs of brick, blocks of concrete,
sm ouldering wood and insulation from his path, searching franticly
for his comrade. His armor was beginning to lose its lustre, caked
with mud and ichor and soot. His mind numbed with ideas that he
didn't want to play with.
He saw the two Children of Hell depart, but he didn't care. Nothing
was as important as finding Cale. He called his name again. He
opened his mind to the others, testing the link between the eight,
attempting to do what he had never done before.
'HELP!' His mental voice cried. Keeping his mind open, he could
feel pain and fear, but the strength was quickly ebbing. Cale
was alive, but not for long!
With a cry of semi-truimph, Dais fell back to digging through
the rubble.
As Kayura and Storm appeared on the scene, Storm froze upon sighting
the armored-man flinging aside rubble. She knew on sight that
it was Dais beneath the maroon steel, but she refused to believe
that she was not dreaming. Kayura ran forward, looking for Cale.
Tears gathered in her eyes as she drew nearer to Dais, as she
began to understand what he was searching for. Her tears flowed
and mixed with the rain as she fell among the choatic mess.
Dais grunted as he lifted a large slab of concrete off the pile.
He nearly passed out when he saw Cale's Sword of Darkness, held
loosely in a curled fist. Working with more urgency now, he cleared
the mess from Cale's prone form. Lifting his body gently out,
Dais was met with no resistance. Kayura looked up, and leapt to
her feet, tearing away from the tenative comfort that Thunderstorm
had offered.
"Cale!" she cried, sobbing.
Dais laid his friend upon the ground, then removed his helmet,
exposing Cale's easeful face to the elements. In Cale's mind,
there was no pain, no fear, now, only a depressing clarity. Kayura
fell to her knees, putting Cale's head in her lap, her tears splashed
on his face, running over his closed eyelids and cheeks with the
steady flow of rain.
His eyes flickered open weakly.
K...kayura.." was his only word.
She put her fingers to his lips, hushing him. Dais rose solemnly,
fixing his eyes on Thunderstorm.
The Cherokee stood not far off, with her face raised to the clouds.
Her mouth was moving, like she was speaking, but Dais could hear
no words. The rain swirled around a shadowy figure in the street,
a shadowy figure that solidified and became Storm's friend, Moonshadow.
Shadow was silent, walking with refined grace to Storm's side.
The young blonde rested a hand on Storm's shoulder, comforting
the Cherokee.
Since her birth in America, Thunderstorm had taken great pride
in all her abilities, all except for one. At the age of fourteen,
she had been chosen to praticipate in her tribe's annual Sun Dance,
where the tribe would dance and chant for a prosperous year. Her
uncle had been the tribe shaman, and he had chosen her to follow
in his footsteps.
Now she tapped the powers hidden since the Sun Dance, the powers
of the supernatural world. Her eyes rolled back in her head, as
she fed the rai nclouds; thunder rolled.
Moonshadow kept one eye on Storm, and one eye on Cale. Even from
the distance between them, with her eyesight enhanced by the flow
of energies around the Cherokee shaman, she could see the shallow
rise and fall of his chest. Then, she felt a tug within her soul,
just like she had less than a decade ago, on the same day that
Thunderstorm had danced the Sun Dance. Shadow was a Conduit, one
of the rare humans who could withstand the tremdous strain of
channeling raw energy. The tug on her soul meaned that Storm needed
more power to complete her task, and that power had to come from
Shadow.
Lightning flashed, rippling the sky with a crack of subsequent
thunder. The two women were surrounded in an aura of St. Elmo's
Fire; Thunderstorm's arms raised in silent plea to whatever higher
powers there were.
Elsewhere, in hidden spot, Styx doubled over with agony, a pure,
brilliant blue beam of light erupting within the Jewel of Transcendance.
The burning pain was a reaction to the energy of life that Thunderstorm
was calling down.
And in Mia's home, lying atop her dresser, the Jewel of Life erupted
with a flame-like light, reacting to the proximity of the Jewel
of Transcendance.
Thunderstorm's chant could not be heard over the crashing of thunder.
Dais' eyes strained to see her through the downpour and flashes
of lightning. Kayura attempted to shield Cale's eyes from the
light, to protect him from the unfathomable fury of the storm.
As his breath became weaker and weaker in his throat, his body
began to glow, to burn with a heat, growing stronger with each
lightning strike and each thunder clap.
Then, as suddenly as the storm had heightened, it died away, leaving
not a drop of rain falling. The clouds boiled overhead, soon calming
to a placid sea of greyness. Thunderstorm dropped her hands and
staggered, face lined with fear and exhaustion. Shadow supported
her best friend, silent, as she had been the entire time. Together,
they walked towards the Overlords.
Kayura's tears had stopped, and now she tore her eyes away from
the Cherokee, and looked down to the face of the man she loved.
His eyes were closed; the features, easeful. But... his skin was
bright with the flush of life; he breathed a steady rhythem. As
she watched, his eyes opened, and he looked directly into her
face.. and he smiled.