middleofsomewhere | Onward: Red

They are in the vortex for what seems like forever but is perhaps not that much time at all. They do not hunger, they are tired enough that it feels like they have been struggling against the chaos of the sea for a few hours yet how much time they have been flying in truth, is unknowable.

They emerge, pushing up out of the vortex. There were four rockpools and now, as they land on a vast plain they will find they have all arrived at the same destination.

The sky is black, pin pricked with stars and in the distance, on the horizon there is a glowing white light. The light is bright, bouncing off the ripples of water and giving them light to see.

For it is water they stand on, a vast ocean, inky black in the darkness. They stand on it with ease and yet, if they wish, they can dive down into it. The water is clear and yet they will find no plants or fish.

Monsters though, they will find a plenty. As the voidtreckers arrive, their footsteps rippling on the sea, they are joined by creatures. Giant crabs, shark head beasts, water snakes. They stand between the voidtreckers and the light on the horizon.

Somewhere in this sea it seems there is a giant squid, as tentacles reach out of the water to grab the ankles of the void warriors and pull them down to the inky depths.

The voidtreckers feel a pull towards the light, yet the horizon seems endlessly far away, getting no closer as they fight their way towards it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sven yelled out as Tobias disappeared beneath the watery floor. He ran to the spot where the man had been standing only seconds ago, falling to his knees and hands with a splash. Below the black surface of the water, the shadowed mass of the kraken writhed in the darkness, Tobias caught in its grip. A feeling of horror rose in Sven's body and his hands broke the surface, and he gasped with surprise as the water suddenly shifting to behave as itself again.

Reeling back, he sprang to his feet, bare soles splashing against the inky surface. Reflected starlight quivered under his steps. Sven dove, bracing himself against the primal terror in the back of his head that he was going to snap his fingers against the floor. Instead it was the floor itself that broke, and Sven plunged in. He swam downward with as much haste as his tired body could muster, pulling out the Petals of Nil and struggling to force his power into it. The weapon resisted as it had before, but eventually it sprung to life. The unassuming looking branch stretched to the shape of a sword, flames burning brilliantly all along the blade and filling the water with orange glow. Once again, Sven felt himself stumble at the sudden break in resistance, like a door he'd been pressing against with all his might suddenly swinging open.

He swung the weapon. The creature below roared as Sven's flaming blade bit into its tentacle, the thick, straining muscle fighting the course of the swing before finally being cut through. Sven scrabbled one handedly at the disembodied tentacle still wrapped about Tobias's ankles, finally tearing the cursed thing free and grabbing the larger man's arm to guide him towards the surface.

47 was by no means still while all of this happened around him. The tug underwater had been unexpected but the hitman was trained how to deal with adaptation to a chaotic situation. As the beast drug him further downward 47 remained calm as he reached for one of his knives. The creature's erratic tugging made this motion harder than it seemed and took longer than expected. Sven's reaction time was superb and 47 found himself free before he could complete the deed himself.

The hitman countered Sven's attempt to head back up however, wagging a hand in a negative fashion to indicate he didn't want to go yet. Instead, he slipped out of Sven's hold with ease born of practice at the maneuver and indicated he was going back down to finish the job. If Sven was worried about oxygen, he needn't be. 47 grabbed his scuba mask and put it on, using a diver's technique to clear the mask of water before he slipped it fully into place.

Then 47 dove further down into the water without looking back. His swimming technique was smooth and powerful, and he clearly looked like he knew what he was doing.

Damnation, Tobias was going to try and fight the thing? Underwater? Alone? Sven hung in the water, watching as the hulking hunk of a guy took off down into the dark with the grace of a creature of the depths. He couldn't leave Tobias to face off against the kraken by himself...but the Petals of Nil... Sven had managed to cut through the tentacle trapping Tobias, but a sword just wasn't going to cut it if they got into an extended underwater battle.

Sven grabbed at a decision and prayed it would pan out. The Petals of Nil fought him as he pushed his magic into the hilt of the sword. Eventually something gave and the weapon stretched and twisted in both directions. Sven snatched the oversized harpoon in both hands, unbothered by the flames that licked all across the weapon's body and over his fingers, staining the water around him orange.

He pushed off in the direction that Tobias had gone, catching up with considerably less ease than the other man had shown. The flicker of Sven's fire reflected off a giant glassy eye staring at them from the depths. Sven gestured with his bubble-encased head and started off away from Tobias--I'll keep it distracted with fire, you take it down!

The gesture combined with Sven's departure for what passed as the front of the creature--or at least in close proximity to its eye currently facing them--gave 47 enough of Sven's idea. Which was good as far as the hitman was concerned.

Now 47 might not have much experience killing non-human targets but he was well trained in death and there wasn't much difference between killing a human than any other living creature. The biggest concern was simply knowing where to strike. Seeing as how this wasn't a heavily armored creature there were plenty of options--and even if they couldn't get a one-strike kill, they could always bleed it to death.

47 swan towards the top of the creature, a little out of sight while it focused on Sven before it. His biggest obstacle was simply getting around the moving tentacles without hitting them as he passed, not wanting to garner the creature's attention by accident.

Great, the giant calamari's spherical-eyed attention was on him...now he had to keep it there. And get the attention of all those tentacles and keep them off of Tobias, too! Luckily Sven had always been handy with a good distraction. He tried to keep moving; he was probably far enough away from Tobias to not have to worry about accidentally boiling the guy. Time to light it up! Sven's skin started to glow a bright orange. 47 could swim like a creature of the sea, but Sven could shine like one. He looked like an big, iridescent sea slug, or so he hoped.

He knew he'd succeeded in looking like a tasty snack when the writhing mass of muscle fell upon him. The squid grabbed at the harpoon, twisting its tendrils around the length of Sven's weapon and tugging. Sven was lurched through the water toward the beast. He grit his teeth and held on, and felt the tentacle slacken and unwind as the creature's recoiled from the Petals of Nil as though it had touched hot iron. He seized the opening to ram his harpoon at the beast's eye, scoring only a small cut that no-less made the creature twist in anger and grab him. Sven felt all the bones in his body clicking against each other, his face purpling. He burned hotter, pushing the ancient fire within him through his veins like magma.

The tentacle's grip slackened and he slipped free. He was just too hot to handle...he just hoped the beast was dumb enough not to learn better before Tobias could ram that knife through one of the thing's several hearts.

47 saw the heated glow out of the corner of his perception and forced himself not to look. While interested in Sven's abilities now was not the time to admire and assess. He had bigger fish, err squid to fry.

The assassin had half a mind to pull the sword from its scabbard at his hip but he thought better of it because the drag on it in the water would probably make it impossible to wield for him. He held his knife firmly in a downwards grip and swam ever close to the bulk of the creature. When he finally reached it he grabbed onto the propulsion slit and used it to help swing him into position. The eye was an obvious target and 47 went for it.

The blow took out the eye but 47 was fairly certain he needed to aim higher to hit an organ for a fatal dealing blow. At least the lack of an eye would slow it down. 47 held on carefully as he anticipated the creature's flailing reaction to the attack on it. He didn't want to be shaken off or left behind so soon after getting to his target.

Onward: Red

no subject

no subject

I'm so late on this lmao sorry bud!!!!

lol. we're even tbh

no subject

ARGH I'm sorry. this thread was supposed to be so epic and I utterly failed at tagging it ;a;