7.3 KiB
| title | created | updated | public | syndicated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00070 | Sat, 04 Mar 2023 12:23:14 -0700 | Wed, 08 Mar 2023 21:18:05 -0700 | yes | yes |
00070
Alex scrambles up from the pile of blankets and pilows kicking things away from him in haste as he grabs at his shoulder holster, pulling out a sleek looking m1911 pistol.
"Marvelo! Hang on mate I've got you!" Alex yells as he empties a clip into the side of the creature. click click "Fuck out." Alex pulls the clip from the pistol and chucks it at the creature "Hey you ugly fuck! Right here, I'm right the fuck here!" Alex shouts as he slams another clip into the reciever and starts to fire away at the creature.
Despite the yelling and flurry of lead Alex delivered to it the creature continued it's macabre dental work. Marvelo's whimpers and groans of pain becoming gradually fainter as life leaves his body.
"Goddamit!" Alex yells in desperation. Another death on his hands, another agent lost on his watch. Another member of HIS team gone. This job never gets easier.
Alex continues to fire away at the creature as he attempts to formulate a plan.
"Inky, look, I don't know what the hell that is. But it's intent on tearing us to pieces insofar as I can tell. Marvelo and I rigged the entire goddamn building to blow though, just in case shit went to hell. Unless you've got a better idea I'll tackle the goddamn thing and try and keep it distracted long enough for you to bug the hell out, preferably through the window if you can stomach it. And then I'll level the place on top of it" Alex grimaces as he pulls a detonator from his pocket and shows it to Inky.
"If you have any better ideas I am ALL ears. Not sure if I can really pull this one off and get out unscathed.."
~
Inky stares at the creature in their midst in all its exquisitely monstrous glory for a brief moment that seems much longer amid the creature's ear-splitting screeches. Eventually coming to, Inky turns to check the birdhouse. More specifically, the pattern of circles next to the doors. Through the dim red glow, they could make out three circles alternating between dark and light. The door had been bolted from the inside, the interior was empty and the secure drop back to the lab had been triggered. Fuko had already left then.
Suddenly recalling the witch's warning, Inky yells, "Bread! Run! We'll catch up later!" They grab the bouquet of dried herbs from the floor and spring to their feet, walking stick in hand, and dash towards the Nyxmaer candle. On the way they drop the bouquet into an unlit brazier that stood off to one side, only pausing briefly to strike a match and toss it through the opening.
Between the loud bangs of gunfire and muffled screams, they bring the steel-reinforced stick down hard on the mummified hand and eye several times quickly. Pushing the remains off the tin plate with the walking stick then tucking the stick under one arm at the handle, they run a kitchen knife through the eye and hand with both gloved hands into the wooden surface beneath.
The flowery scents of sage, thyme and rosemary permeate the room.[1]
Looking over to the sysorcerer when he spoke but still keeping the creature within their line of sight, Inky replies, "No, Master Alex. You have a team to lead and an uncle to rescue. Allow me to do the demolition honours. Go grab Marvelo and run. Here," they toss a small packet of pain relievers in powdered form wrapped in wax paper from their first-aid kit, along with a small cheesecloth pouch filled with nilgiri tea leaves — still sopping wet from the flask of iced tea in which it had been steeped — to Master Alex. "This should help with the bleeding, just watch out for shock."
They smile at the sysorcerer. "All dreams end eventually, as do nightmares. And what is darkness without light?" While speaking, they drop a bundle of twigs and sweet grass[2] on top of the candle remains that still sat on the thick wooden slab of a rusty metal office desk. They pour a flask of a clear liquid over it. The pile suddenly erupts like a bonfire over a pyre, throwing shadows on the walls that dance and lick away with the crackling flames.
[1] It is said the ancients began the practice of burning sage to ward off evil or cleanse negative energies, thyme to induce courage and guard against nightmares, and rosemary to clear and focus the mind.
[2] The elder aunties commonly use sweet grass for purification, such as when helping their young relatives move into a new home for the first time with a housewarming ritual.
~
Alex glances at Inky as he takes the offered medicines, "only use that as a last resort, got it? We've got a couple of innocents in here too, hard to keep track of with that big ass monster in here."
Alex continues laying down covering fire as he advances on the monster. He casts a glance over his shoulder to see Inky begin smashing the eye and hand that were embedded in the candle. "Strange, but I guess it makes about as much sense as the rest of this situation."
Alex lunges forward, teeth gritted, as he tackles the monster pushing it off of Marvelo. He struggles with it, attempting to blast the eye of the beast with his pistol.
Alex rains bullets down on the nightmare until he finally gets its attention. It turns from its bloody work and glares at him with its single emerald eye, teeth dribbling from the tiny face in the middle of its oversized, bulbous head. There is a grinding noise like rocks in a tumbler as it tries to roar at you around a mouthful of loose molars.
From its crouch over Marvelo, it leaps high into the air and spreads its limbs, pulling its wings taut and gliding through the air.
It lands on the ceiling, digging in with its hind claws, reaching down and swinging at Alex from behind.
Bread staggers out of the sleeping circle looking exactly as hungover as somebody who has had several interlopers gallivanting around inside their head. They swing a bardiche and bury the blade between its shoulders, striking bone so hard that it rips the weapon from the toque's hands.
The Nyxmaer squeals and falls to the floor, spilling a few more teeth when it hits. It knocks Bread aside and frantically scrabbles after the loose teeth, scooping them up and cramming them back in its mouth.
Just then Inky stabs the artifacts and the creature clutches its head and falls in a heap at Alex's feet.
It howls and writhes, and looks at Alex with a dazed look. He raises his gun and fires directly into the nightmare's eye.
The eye shatters like glass and a howling, screaming, putrid wind screams from the wound, rising and filling the room. The nightmare seems to deflate and pool at Alex's feet.
Its flesh sloughs off, revealing Rind and the marketing manager in the center of its torso, and leaving them in an unconscious pile.
Marvelo babbles incoherently where he lies, wide-eyed and in shock, his jaw hideously broken.
The hemogoblin hops over and gently pats Rind and the duck on their faces.
Gliftwrip is the only one still asleep, face down in the pillows in the center of the circle.
A malevolent force rides the still howling wind and hovers screaming up near the ceiling of the fish market.
WHAT DO YOU DO?