Storm the Castle

[Ebonywood Hellscythe]

Starts just after Summer's last post.

Ebony had nodded affirmatively to Summer's question after finding herself in his arms, not trusting herself to speak through her confusion. His grip had lessened, gently lowering her to her feet where she stood, aided by the scythe she resummoned after. With shaky legs, she followed behind him as Summer took on the brunt of the attacks, slowly inching a bit closer to try and aid him against the countless mob. There was no way she could number them all quickly enough - a soldier or anyone with practice could probably give a quick estimate, but all Ebony knew was that there were a lot more skeletons than she or Summer could handle.

She swung her scythe aimlessly towards nearest skeleton she could reach, smashing its ribs off with the staff and continuing the sweeping motion into another, taking out both of their spines. Spells were too slow; for something weaker like this, it was much simpler to flail her scythe with unnatural strength. And, it (hopefully) meant that she could react quick enough to help Summer.

The skeletons came in waves. Just as they'd managed to thin out one, another reinforced, pushing them back. They didn't trickle in one at a time, so their proficient use of their increased numbers only made things harder.

Curiously, just like before, the skeletons never seemed to be focused on hurting her. Some reached out and tried to grab her, but Summer always managed to tear them apart if she didn't first. Thus, she was much more focused on trying the help her friend. Swords swung towards him, and there was little she could do to block them. Compared to his offensive progress, she was a liability. But, so far, he'd managed to avoid or retaliate. There were a lot of skeletons overwhelming them both, enough for them to get in each other's way. Yet, their army was still building and building and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Another wave was forming, ready to fill the gaps being made. After a moment considering if there was anything she could do to slow its approach, besides trying to run through the skeletal ranks, Ebony channelled her magic into her scythe and began pulling it back like a baseball bat. Icy frost covered the silver metal of the blade, and she felt the chill spread to herself. It was almost calming - like Summer. "C-cover me for a second." She was trying something new here. She wasn't as familiar with ice and wordless casting, but it had felt more natural to use her scythe as a spell focus.

"On it," Summer grunted. Protecting her wasn't hard. The skeletons weren't trying to hurt her, to not much changed, although he did shift in front of her a bit more, blocking the path of the staggering group of bones. Fists crashed and lashed out, knocking many to the ground, only for some to pry themselves up. With a strong punch, Summer shunted one back into two others, temporarily clearing the area in front of Ebony so he could fend for himself. Luckily, that gave her just the room she needed to execute her spell - if a rough wave of mana could even be called that.

Without missing the moment, Ebony swung her scythe, the blade trailing behind the staff and leaving a frigid trail of frozen moisture in the air. Before her swing even completed, a brilliant white-blue light shone, rippling through the ground between the skeletons like an arctic tidal wave. The next group of skeletons had formed, with many in reserve behind them, and had just begun to start moving to close the gaps when the frost crescent hit their feet. A large rift of ice sprung out from the floor, solid and stalwart, uncaring about the mass of bones wailing into it. Some skeletons tried to stab their blades into it, or swing, but the ice was far too solid and strong, simply resulting in small chips off the top of the curved wall, or weapons finding themselves stuck. The others began the slow treck around, obstructed by both the wall and their brethren. 

But, crucially, it disconnected the few skeletons in front of Summer and Ebony from their allies. "Good job, Eb." Ebony could only smile at the praise, temporarily too out of breath to offer a reply.

Adrenaline rushed through the storm mage, after felling so many it wasn't hard for him to dispatch them quickly and close the gap Ebony made. Yet, as fast as he smashed, there always seemed to be more, as if they were coming out faster and faster. 

"Hurry up Sonny," Summer grunted, before receiving a similar reply as before.

With a wall and bookcases causing the gap on the left of the ice wall to be narrower, Summer headed to the right, faced with a densely packed crowd all trying to push through at the same time. The first that came at him was without a sword, having left it wedged inside the ice. Skillfully, he dodged the skeleton's bony claw, snapped off its arm, spun it around, and used its flailing torso like a shield after smashing his elbow into its head, knocking it clean off.

Skeletal arms flung themselves over the ice, trying to claw their way over the top. They succeeded, partially, and the ice began to crack over the sheer force of so many bodies pushing against it. However, the moment they pulled their way over the top, they fell forward down the sharp decline, crashing straight into the ground whereby they soon found the butt of Ebony's scythe shattering their spines.

A disembodied hand grabbed Summer's leg, but he quickly shook it off, only for another to take its place. Lifting his foot, he stomped down, crushing it.

"Look out!"

Ebony's voice cut through the air, and for a fleeting moment after, everything seemed to be silent.

Crack.

The ice shattered, cracking into smaller chunks before getting stomped on by the freed skeletal mob, disintegrating into a frosty mess under the stampede. Summer responded quickly, pushing his 'shield' into the mob as many fell forward on top of each other and swiftly joining the fray - but that wasn't the main issue. That hadn't been what Ebony was warning about. 

Behind them both, many of the previously broken skeletons had reformed - at least those without a shattered spine. Some were missing arms, legs, heads or ribs, but all of them were closing in, this time ignoring Ebony completely as they moved to surround Summer - apparently deciding that whatever they wanted with her would be easier without her friend around.

Using her magic, she tried to shove some away, making them ragdoll and clearing a slight path to try and pull back. Even Summer couldn't fight those behind him at the same time as the ones in front. She partially succeeded, before perking up at a familiar sound.

Morene's boosters.

Ebony almost let out a sigh of relief. Morene would know what to do, and Sonny's plan still hadn't come to fruition yet. The armoured woman had arrived just in time to move through the provisional exit Ebony had made, eliminating the need for it with her sword.

Stammering an apology for the mess she'd accidentally created, she hid deeper under her cloak, as if that would protect her from the skeletons better. She tried to keep helping, swinging her scythe and damaging any that came near to her, but as the fight progressed they all started to give her a wider and wider circle of space to herself. She heard Summer and Morene speak to each other, but she was too focused on trying to avoid the skeletons to listen - not trusting the distance they gave her one bit.

The battle continued, neither Summer nor Morene were able to reach the book through the horde, let alone get to it. Ebony tried as well, at first attempting to lift it with her magic, but her mana simply washed over it without picking it up. Using the space the skeletons gave her, she tried to simply force her way through, swinging her scythe wildly and hoping they mob would part for her. They didn't and instead sensed an opportunity to try and abduct her again, five of them waiting until she was close, then all lashing out at once.

Ebony retreated, only just escaping from their grabby hands as the bones pawed at the air, wrists twisting and turning in unnatural ways. She'd yelped in surprise, before being unable to hear her own voice over what sounded like the shattering of glass - except it was bone, with Morene being the one to smash it. Morene's attacks confused her. She was sure that wasn't how you were supposed to use a sword, but it seemed to be working so she didn't comment. 

Trying to contribute again, she kept an eye out for Summer and Morene's flanks, shoving skeletons away one by one with her magic. Another always took its place, but it still brought them something important. Time.

And, in that moment when Ebony was halfway through another push, breaths laboured and shallow, that a bright white light emanated from Sonny, arcing through the air towards the book.

Whatever he did, it worked, locking down the magicks flowing through the old tome. No more skeletons climbed out, leaving a finite number on the battlefield. This, they could deal with.

Or would be able to if everything didn't flip right upsidedown in that moment.

Seeming to sense that their time was limited, the skeletons acted increasingly frantically. With no reason to protect the book, they all turned on the offensive, throwing themselves at Summer and Morene whilst simultaneously cutting them both off from Ebony. It was mindless, with no sense of self-preservation. A pure distraction as the douses of skeletons flung themselves at the duo.

Ebony was left unprepared, having grown accustomed to being left alone, she hadn't been expecting bony fingers to grab one of her arms from behind. Due to the force of the pull, and her not being braced, her scythe fell from her fingertips. Before it even hit the floor, more hands clasped around the same arm, with some grabbing her other. She hadn't even noticed when they'd managed to get so many behind her, having been so focused on trying to help her friends.

She thrashed, and the heard the crack of an arm or two breaking, but there were too many. With four - one per limb - she might have been able to escape. But with multiple ones grabbing each of her arms, and then more clawing at her kicking legs, she didn't have a chance.

"Summer, Morene, h-help!" Calling out over the clunking of bones, she screamed and flailed, making a surprising amount of noise with her emptying lungs before it cut out, leaving her gasping vainly. The bones were hard and rough, so while her boots protected her lower legs from them, her wrists hurt. The first time was gentler, and confusing enough for her not to even considering struggling until it was too late. Here, they were harshly dragging and forcibly tearing her away from her friends. She didn't know what they wanted but had heard plenty of rumours about necromantic rituals.

Not receiving an immediate reply she could hear, she found herself being pulled further and further away, similar to the first time but with a larger portion of the army carrying or guarding her. Two led the way, and the rest either carried her at shoulder height or protecting the mob's flank, ready to fight Summer and Morene if they escaped their current battle.

Breathe.

That was the usual advice, and she tried to, she'd been trying to the whole fight but each one caught in her throat. Faint wisps of purple flame flickered about her body, but besides that her magic was unresponsive. Small specs of bone turned to black upon contact with her fire, but the skeletons held true. Her mana refused to muster at her commands. It was there, she could feel it bubbling under her skin. But ever since she'd torn off the suppressing choker, it'd been much more unfocused than usual. 

Gritting her teeth, she tried to cast a normal spell, hoping to have it explode in her fingertips. Her magic wouldn't hurt her. But, the moment she started chanting she received a painful elbow to the gut, causing her to cough, splutter, and lose concentration entirely. Whatever their plan was, they'd apparently lost interest in trying to do so without hurting her - although if she wasn't so distracted by the pain, she'd have noticed one skeleton shove her aggressor.

She grimaced, unable to say anything and trying her best to take in steady breaths. Lightheaded and panicking, she attempted again to direct the swirling mana towards something. Chanting was her usual method, but that wasn't viable. Other times, she'd used her scythe as a focus. And the remainder usually happened accidentally and she didn't know why or how. Unless it was immediately life-threatening (or seemed like it), her magic rarely lashed out like that. Apparently being carried towards what she thought was her doom didn't count for that.

If she wasn't so scared, she'd almost be frustrated at it. But the flood of thoughts and fears and feelings of despair flowing through her mind saw to that. She just wanted to go home. Why did this have to be so hard?

Faintly, her pointless struggling lessened, and the beginnings of a few tears began to trickle from her eyes before the dam broke completely. Small salty droplets left trails down her face, like little snails, as she sobbed under her breath. Whimpering, she scrunched her eyelids shut, the clunking footsteps harassing her ears.

Too long. That was the duration of her 'transportation', although it was most likely just minutes. The skeletons may have loosened their grips in that time - she'd stopped struggling - but that didn't make it more tolerable or abate her fears. Almost paralysed inside her own body. Had they let go, she wouldn't have been able to run.

Being surprisingly gentle, the skeletons lowered her to the ground, leaving her in a sitting position on the cold, hard, ground. She opened her eyes, hearing a faint commotion in the distance and not recognising her surroundings. She assumed she was still in the castle, but this looked to be one of the deeper, lower levels if the lack of windows was any indication.

Shattered bones littered the corners of the room, and charred skeletons littered the edges. The light was dim, with only a few candles illuminating the room, but she could make out the stairs, a large oak wood table, some chairs, and what looked like parchment poking over the edge of the table. Shadows lurked and shifted around the room, forming all sorts of strange shapes as the faint flickering light shone through the gaps in the skeletons.

Had Ebony tried to stand up, she would have felt a bony hand press down on each of her shoulders. But she didn't, and instead sat there in the middle of the skeletal cult, rubbing her eyes and trying not to cry.

"W-w-why me?"

She managed to force out a couple of words, voice quiet and shaky. She didn't get any words in response, only the chattering of cracked, decaying teeth. The black book was forced into her hands shortly after, already open to the page with the skeletons. She tried to let go, instinctively wanting to toss it away, but her own mana refused. The moment her hand let go, fiery strands of dark purple connected her to the book, pulling it back into her palms and glueing it there. It felt hot, but not painfully so.

The disturbance outside got louder, and some skeletons rushed to join or investigate, all while the patterns in the book began to glow. Dark purple overrode the dim candles, radiating light throughout the room from a large and ornate hexagram spread over two pages. It got brighter and brighter until it hurt to look at, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. Both of them locked to the image, shifting from her natural green to red.

Small rumbles spread through the floor, some coming from up the stairs and others from beneath the ground, and a similar dark purple hexagram appeared on the floor, with Ebony sitting in the middle of it. As with its counterpart in the book, it shone too, seemingly applying the colour filter to the room.

Pages of the book began to turn, and more skeletons frantically threw themselves in the way of the staircase. Ebony didn't notice, and each turning page seemed to leave a wisp of shadow behind. Piece by piece, bone by bone, it formed quickly before her eyes, connected to the hard leathery back of the book. It turned, flexing and curling into a fist, then opened again with the palm facing Ebony.

It sized her up like a snake, rippling back and forth, grabbing at the air between them.

Lunging, the shadow plunged straight into her heart.

She screamed.

I did a post, guys. Are you proud of me? (PM me or whatever of the deets. I'd assume Summer+Sonny/Morene will burst in right where my post ended.)