Raising Hell

[Ash]

Phantoms of fog dance across her path, vanishing into wisps as the demoness stubbornly marches through a nearby forest. The wisps turn into haunting shapes behind her. All of which she ignores as well as she did walking through the ghosts. Shifting shadows under the darkened clouds play tricks on the tired and weary travelers, but Ash had focus.

She found a beaten path and decided it was as good as any. Either she'd wind up in the fabled Darkshire or the infamous Silent Hill. Only until now did it occur to her how fitting Diablo unload his burden on Pale Moors. If anyone else had been in her way upon falling, she might be doing something incredibly different than waltzing with whispers of thick fog.

The dark grey cotton candy above rumbled in frustration as life lit up the folds. A storm threatened to rain down on her and end her determination. Arguably it only bolded her. She was the storm demon and the thunder was just the drums of war at her back. Lightning sparked across the background and landed on something far into the east. She continued forward, north.

The world around her vaguely reminded her of another deadly forest covered in fog. She even thought she saw bodies swinging from the limbs. A memory swaying into her mind made her smile a wicked grin as she remembered Desman stuttering a question in the Underverse about what it was he saw moving about in the wind. His look of horror when she'd drying delivered the message that they were corpses satisfied her to no end. As she originally thought, he was too soft. Merely another pawn on her table and not a very strong one at that.

He had been plenty useful, of course. He had been a saving grace for her in the Gauntlet of Fire but fell short of any expectations she might have normally encouraged. Spineless as well. He cowered and pleaded, cried for mercy at the first sign of disturbance when the ultramarine dropped down. Before that even. He had paid off his debt to her by showing her the power of fusion, she'd have to put some effort into learning that trick later.

She slid The Red Devil's Quill out of her long slender sock, letting the light of another random bolt catch in the metal.

Without Desman she wasn't sure if she would have been able to collect so much data or even resources. Would she have gotten out of there so quickly? Who can say? She would have had ten times more fun if he'd kept his nose out of her business. So what was the trade? Memories, or experience?

No use in playing with the choices now.

Ash twirled The Quill about in her fingers as she considered what to do with all her knowledge? Cause complete chaos in the mind of those who feared the banishing circles? "It was so easy to escape a man-child could do it with the right straws drawn." She said to herself, practicing for her made-up speech. Then she laughed to herself. The likelihood that anyone would ask her any details were laughable. The only people who knew had been the Empire and his men.

...And Desman.

She was now curious how he'd managed that. He had never told her. Now's a bit late for those questions, isn't it?

Not like that information was worth much.



Or was it?

".... it's coming..."

Ash twisted around in the fog, her skirt and coat tails lift and sweep across the air while her tail curled closer. She was already gripping the dagger in her left hand and charging lightning in the palm of her right. She is met only with made-up faces she could faintly see in the remanence of fog.  That and a single bouncing light. Very quickly she heard the hoof prints of a horse and the clattering of an old carriage. She stared a moment longer, the horse-drawn carriage coming ever closer and rather quickly.

Where she'd been barely able to find a path through the tree-littered forest, a full sized cab drawn by a single black horse pulled to a stop. At the reigns, a tall figure with his coat collar popped up high and his elongated tall top hat pulled down over his ears so that it was impossible to see his face. Ash could feel his eyes staring into her though, and absently she put her hand over her heart where the mark of Diablo had been bare before.

Never the shy type, Ash smiled sweetly. "Hey there. Got room for a passenger in there?" Her natural charm appeared as smoothly as ever.

She was met with silence, or at least as much silence as the weather was willing to give them. A crack of thunder sounded, so close it vibrated her diaphragm. A moment later lightning lit up the area behind the driver, casting darker shadows around his form. It was poetic and exhilarating.

The driver, without a sound, motioned with his gloved hand to get in as the first specks of water began to fall from the sky.

Not to be rude, especially after he asked, The Storm Demon moved towards the cab. It was as black as the horse, maybe even darker. It was smooth and shiny, cold to her touch. It was metal like a car, but without rivets in the folds. She went to grab the handle of the door when the fancy silver arm dipped down and unlatched from the frame. Slowly it creaked open. She looked up expecting someone, but there was no one.

Of course, there wasn't.

The inside was detailed in a rich beautiful dark blue. Instantly she thought of her own blood. Ash couldn't remember when it no longer flowed in the usual deep crimson she'd seen all her life, but it was one of the last things that set her apart from her sister. Along with the rest of the world.

The seats were two long benches that stretched from end to end of the interior. They had a matching back, dark wood frames, clawed feet balancing on clear crystal spheres sat on soft, lush grey carpet. The buttons that pierced the seats were silver and looked like different seals from very distant worlds. She looked over at the waving lantern on the side of the cab, back at the driver. Curious about who he was and what this was about, but before she could say anything heavier raindrops smacked against her horns.

Rain didn't bother her if anything it only made things harder to grab. Even now that was such a silly reason to dislike it because she had The Red Devil's Claw also. However, something told her she couldn't ask too many questions while the driver waited in the rain. Ash climbed onto the first step before trying to shake off dirt from the bottom of her shoes, not wanting to dirty up the impeccable interior any more than she needed to. The bruised colored woman climbed in and slid into the back seat. Behind her the door already came to a soft close.

Ash heard the leather beat snap and slowly the horse began to pull its burden onward.

[Ash]

It was dark in the carriage with the door closed. There were small flickering lights behind dirty glass orbs in every corner of the cabin, but what light they produced was dim and didn't provide much to use to see any more details in the cab. As the horse began to pull her forward she let her body fall back into the seat. She folded her legs, one knee over the other, sliding her dagger back into the sock and feeling much better when the cold metal touched bare skin again.

She caught a glimpse of the empty cabin when the lightning struck the distance once more, the thunder growling after it. Nothing much more of note except the black flimsy curtains that were stretched between two bars on either side of the windows. Passengers could pull them open or closed depending on their opinion about the rain. She left them open, she loved storms.

Between the gentle pattering of raindrops pelting the thin metal roof and sides, the window, and the rocking of the whole horse-drawn carriage as it crawled over exposed roots in the forest Ash felt herself being lulled to sleep. It didn't help that she had nothing to do other than listen to the rain and the clicking of metal or lashing of leather. Slowly but surely her body began to relax and her mind drifted into the darkness of slumber.

Hours passed.

"W... a... ...wake up!"
"...w-were not alone..."

Ash jolted up sharply, the voice she heard had been faint but loud enough to alert her to something. She sat up as she looked around the cabin, finding nothing to be alarmed of and yet she breathed a little harder. The demoness sat back up, trying to find the source of the noise. Her ears could hear the rain still pelting the moving room as she continued to float on the endless sea of undetermined destination.

As if the world around her wanted to help, the lightning flashed from the opposite side of the carriage this time - hinting that the heart of the storm has already passed over them  -  and lit up the small space. When it did, a figure was sitting opposite of her, watching her sleep.

It was a brief moment, but Ash had taken in every detail. The body was huge, too large for this cabin to hold and yet it contained the figure comfortably enough. It hunched over and the bone white mask that was its face had been no more than a foot and a half away from her's. The depths of darkness that its eyes were reminded Ash of a quote she'd read about staring into the abyss.

Startled but not shaken, Ash adjusts so that her back pressed into the cushion of the back seat. "Hello." She croaked with a voice that was tired.

The figure, which looked as vague as the faces in the fog, just stared deeper into her soul.

"I didn't know we stopped for another guest, when did you get in?" Ash asked she was very aware that she was a heavy sleeper but surely she'd have felt the carriage's exaggerated movements of someone so large climbing in.

Her words again were met with silence.

"Oh... Kay." Her eyebrow quirked. "Are you the one that spoke to me?"

Nothing still.

Ash felt her face relax into resting bitch face while she became annoyed with him. She just rolled her blind looking eyes and turned away. She leaned to the far left to watch the storm. Maybe if she stared long enough she'd fall back to sleep.

"yoU ArE nOT wROthy oF MaStERs tiiiiiiiiME." It was a choir of different voices that spoke to Ash finally. She heard the high pitches of women and the low tones of men, the innocent lisps of children, and the sore throats of the elderly who strained to be heard. "Nor arE YoU worTHy of MAsteRS affECtIoN. FeMale yOU May BE, buT gENTle yoU aRe noT..." The voices that made of the messenger's combined one moment and seperated completely the next.  Some sang some cried, some moaned, and other's growled. It was unsettling and perhaps would scare a lot of other people.

"I never claimed to be gentle," Ash responded, turning her head to face her accuser.

"ThEn whY 'aVE YoU travELED thiS faR?" The voices continued to swim and rotate. Never did any of them sound the same, just similar in a group fashion.

"I was picked up by the driver." Ash's voice was flat, not entertaining this much longer.

The figure adjusted in its seat. "ThE drIvEr waS MEanT tO piCK up a FaIR laDY for OuR maStER's danCe."

"To be fair to your driver, I'm probably the only 'lady' in the area," Ash responded dryly. "Fair or not."

She could hear the creature sigh a billion sighs.

[Ash]

Through the dying rain and the rising fog, Ash could see a shadow looming in the distance.  It's climbing towers and pointed roofs reminded her a lot of the Underverse's buildings. As if the City of Dis' burning skies had gone dark with rainclouds and the stone of the buildings didn't burn your back if you leaned on them for too long. The dying storm still brightened the sky momentarily, not very well nor very frequently, but she was able to see the rough texture of the castle behind the gothic-style iron gates.

"Another Belle at the ball." She said to herself.

Her riding guest was still there but had gone silent again. The driver was still driving, the horse still pulling. The creature before her had explained that their master was looking for a date for his fancy party and she would have to do since she was probably correct in stating she was the only woman in the surrounding 20 acres of land. It didn't seem all that pleased when she suggested looking for another if it wanted, or even substituting itself in her stead. Something about how a Dijinni wouldn't dare be its 'master's' date for the prom. She gave up making up excuses, apparently, her prince of Coruscant and her Ultramarine boytoy would have to wait. It was as if being fused with him for so long had given her Desman's bad luck in things. She should use more entropy magic on herself.

The gates pried open with a thousand years worth of rust grinding on itself to make the harshest sound she's heard for a while.

-

Her host, the shapeless creature with its bright white mask and soulless black eye holes that gave her no insight into what it was, got out before she did. The enormous bulk that was the mystery being who spoke with all the voices of the wind effortlessly pulled through the small door, looking like a squid that effortlessly pushed itself through a hole in a sunken ship. When it was her turn she climbed to her feet and was ready to exit just as smoothy, when a gloved hand appeared at the corner, palm up in an offering of help. Ash stopped to look up at the high collar and tall hat driver.

There was a weirdness when Ash wasn't met with instant hate or disdain, kindness and common courtesy made the bruised colored demoness pause. Flesh and blood humans who constantly show her kindness dedicated to only the most proper of ladies tended to turn her off. This wasn't the case, probably because as her feet landed on the ground and the driver pulled off his hat to bow respectfully also revealed to her that he had no head. She was rusty on her mythology, but she was sure he was considered a dullhah. She was less inclined to be annoyed.

The creature parted from her and put the hat back on while she was guided around the servant's entrance and to the main side door. As they stepped through hallway after hallway Ash noticed that the only lights came from candles in fixtures mounted on the stone walls in hard iron. All which were trapped behind a cage of spider webs. Webs which cling to everything in thick layers, so thick it's hard to see corners and ceilings, and even the candles at the time. 

As they move further down the halls and into the grand entrance, she started to hear a growing music twinge off the walls of a seemingly empty castle. "Who is your master?" Ash finally asked.

"mY mAsteR Is a Man oF ImPorTANce, bUT i Do nOT BelieVE suCH riFT RAftian lIKe yoURseLF wouLd uNDerstAND." The voices seemed to echo off the walls, she could even see the spider webbings move like the whole house breathed with each pause the creature used to gather its thoughts.

Ash looked back at the way they'd come in, the lights still dancing on the walls barely. "Try me." She mumbled to herself before looking ahead once again.

"WE servE A maN Of GreAT wonDEr. hE 'As venTUreD Far inTO THe LikES oF CamELOT anD REtrievED in IT's manY cAvErns HiDDeN aWAy treASureS." The nameless, faceless, formless creature's voices fluctuated differently with every passing syllable. So many voices but only one thought. It was as if millions of humans came together and have been reciting for decades.

"I can't imagine Camelot being excited about their treasures being pilfered." Ash managed just before she was thrown into a mass of webbing which didn't cushion her slamming into the sharp stones at all.

"SILENCE THOU FOUL TONGUE WINCH!" They all managed one tone, one voice, one phrase. "oUr mAsTER is A POweRFul magicIAN, not SOme CommOn thiEF!!"

Ash was used to rough treatment and only smiled as she had gotten a rile out of the calm creature. "My bad." She taunted.

"We WiLL gO GEt hiM." It said, before turning around and leaving rather quickly for someone that took up half of the admittedly large hallways. Leaving Ash to deal with her boredom alone.

The morality mirrored humanoid brushed off layers of webbing and combed through her hair half a dozen of times before drifting off into the unknown once more. She could still hear the music, it sounded like a piano. She doubted she could come to a creepy castle, hear a haunting piano and opt not to go exploring. She stepped over decaying cotton carpet, deciding to step over the mysterious spots of black on the otherwise brilliantly red floor that lead her past the foyer she would normally be greeted by the mansion's master. There was a large round table in the center, a large brass vase sat in the middle. Dead or dying flora limply lay against the edges. The table itself was centered with the brass candle chandelier that was half lit by fresh wax shafts. The crystals that were supposed to be hanging from the lighting fixture dotted the entire foyer.

She couldn't help her curiosity as she walked around it and picked up some picture frames. Surprisingly modern frames. The glass was so cracked in most of them that the family members or whatever loved ones that were depicted in them were unseeable. Not that she cared to wonder what the people in the frames meant to the master... She picked up two of the crystals for something to tinker with as she headed towards the west wing.

The music got louder for her, to help guide her closer and closer.

Through a set of double doors, which were wide open, she found a library. A modest one compared to the size of the house. One side of the room, from ceiling to floor shelves were packed full of books. Inspecting them a bit closer she recognized a few from pop-culture references. Several of them authored but H.P. Lovecraft himself. Several were in different languages, many she could only barely recognize as Arabic or Russian. Then she spotted a peculiar one that she knew. While larger and in older condition, she could recognize the historical telling of Osa Rizuki's life.

Ash is drawn closer to it out of dangerous curiosity more than anything. Why would the Omniverse have a book on him, of all things? And so randomly tucked away in an all but abandoned fortress? She reached out for it, her fingers barely touching it and feeling a mysterious heat warm her fingertips when she felt a hand smack against hers swiftly. She pulled it back out of reaction and glared up at who ever dared!

She looked right into the eyes sockets of the creature with the masked face. She could not see any expression, especially on its porcelain' face. However, she could feel its contempt. "no tOUchiNG thIngs thAT ArE NoT yOuRS." It was in its pause that she realized the music has stopped. "iF You ARE dONe pRoViNg uS RigHT aBOUt yOu beING a WasTE Of TiMe foR OUR MaSTer..." They then motioned to the other doorway in the room. She could just see the edge of a grand piano, black and polished to perfection.

[Ash]

Ash was hesitant to head in that direction, in fact, she much rather head the other way. It would mean leaving and going on with her business. Forgetting all about the odd coachman that picked her up randomly, the constant shifting voiced creature who believed they could control her, and the myster masion in the middle of no where.

Instead, she was prompted to head into what she now dubbed the music room. As soon as she did she hoped to see their master and he see her. See that she was unfit for the likes of a ball - again - and wave her away. The gleaming bright piano's top was lifted for better sound and covered his face and in turn, covered her from his view. Not enough to hide her bruised colored skin or her exposed cleavage, but enough to need to walk around it to see his face.

She made a broad circle to the back of the room, close to a marble statue of some Greek god she could guess the name of and still be wrong as well as some stained glassed windows showing a story she didn't know off the top of her head in phases or chapters down the large wall's length. All covered in dust.

Under her the Persian rug smelt of mold and looked moth-eaten, she saw something moving in the corner of her eyes. She glanced at the master's servant as she made her way to greet the mystery man. Ash moved right up to the side of the piano and turned her attention on the house's master; Her eyes landing on a skeleton whose flesh was starting to rot off and dry out the bone from under. She stopped, uncertain if this creature was undead or just dead.

"Hello?" She asked, half expecting a bad English accent to answer back, but nothing.  "Um.." She rotated around the pew that he sat at, hunched over. Would this be one of those jump scare pranks? Was he about to move and attempt to frighten some scream out of her? "Hello?" She asked, reaching out to poke the figure.

Again the djinni smacked her hand and scolded her with a toneless glare. "maSTer diD nOT giVe YOu pErmISSion to toUCh him!" They stared the woman down, only stopping to look over at the falling apart body. "whAT Is thAT MaSTer? nO. SHE is NOt mUCh to LOoK at InDEed... BuT SHe IS ouR ONly hOpE aT THis PoiNT!"

It clicked in Ash's mind rather quickly that this creature, whatever it was, has already snapped. She could guess the body of his master has been decaying for some time. She could gather that at some point the creature had attempted a normalcy continuation in life by cleaning and caring for the corpse, but seeing the dust, mold, and webs she imagined they'd given up a long time ago. That or the butler had been fired, killed, or left in the night. Whatever servents beyond that must have met the same fate. This was a delicate situation and there were special steps to take to deal with someone who's gone insane with denial. This predicament needed respect and kindness, careful planning and properly rehearsed words. An intimate knowledge of insanity.

None of which Ash had.

"YeS SirE, yeS!" They said, nodding the mask about as if it was their head. "OF CourSE, SiRe. as yOU WISh." The eyes turned to Ash. Her face was a stone of indifference and calm. Her nerves, as icy as ever. "mastER WOuld lIkE yOU tO weAR a dREss we ALReadY HAve purCHASed. ThIS is NOt A probLEm,  I hoPE."

"How long have you and your master been waiting on for a date to this ball?" Ash asked, cooly.

"arouND A feW yeARs." They said it like it was the most natural thing to wait for a princess for that long.

"Right. And where is this ball to be had?"

"CamELoT."

"And how long has he been dead?" Ash asked quickly, and boldly.

...

There was a sudden and an uncomfortable silence from the creature in response.

Silence from the dead body.

Finally, there was a disturbing silence from the house that lingered for a long time.

"...run."

Ash dodged a glowing bright green ball of energy that streaked across the air in front of her by pushing herself against a small wet bar on the wall. The energy shot landed against the painting behind her, green fire catching the cloth and oil and roaring to life against the wood. She pressed her hands against the counter of the wet-bar and narrowed her eyes at the creature.

"YOu WinCH! you MOck ME as WeLL!?!" The unearthly screams of human, demon, and banshee alike slam against her body like an attack. She bit her lower lip in pleasure and then pushed off as an armless sofa chair was thrown in her direction. "yoU anD thIS BAstArd DAre MoCK thE GreAT EmoRy!" The female voices were much more prominent as it screamed at her. The chair crashed into the wet bar, what priceless crystal tumbler or ancient booze the master of the house had been keeping for a rainy day was shattered along with the wood. "i WILL maKE YoU SufFEr in MY StEAd, yoU whORE!" They then folded upon themselves and began to change.

The smokey appearance became more solid, the elastic-like flesh turns to rippling muscle. Two more arms ripped through the soft exterior of his own body. The mask is replaced with a gold pharaoh-likelihood and four eyes cut out of it. All four glowing red.

Not one to stand about stupidly while her opponent powered up, Ash rushed for the other side of the room. Her blade appeared back in her hand, ready to fight if her speed could not win her the fight. She pushed past the raging barbarian, sliding against the wall and then running along the windows which shattered quickly behind her from the thorn-covered vines smashing through the steel to aid in capturing her. The first three missed, the third only barely, so much that Ash stopped short of the fourth one just before a vine punched through. She sliced through it effortless, green ooze flying up into the air as what was left of the snipping receded back to freedom. She heard a thousand screams inside her head, all which she ignored to escape.

Before she reached the open doors the grand piano was picked up over Emory's head and aimed at her. Ash glanced back just long enough to see this before diving into the library. Behind her, the piano cried out in misery as the wood snapped like twigs against the stone. Pieces of it chased after her even as she rolled up on her shoulder to her feet and fled towards the books. She ripped out the book that had called her, four or five neighboring tombs falling onto the floor at her feet, all of them also ignored as she tucked that one in particular under her arm and headed for the exit.

The Storm Demon was a foot form freedom when the doors snapped shut in front of her. Instead of stopping she jumped up it, her feet stepping on the wood of the doors twice before she flipped over and landed in a fighting stance. Ash looked straight in the direction she expected her attacker to be but was met with nothing. A brief moment later she could hear the doors opening again, her smile cracked her face as she twisted, activating her invisibility as she did.

Before she stood a large ape-like creature that stared down at her in the hottest of fury but did not see her at all. She could smell the death on their breath, what did the shapeshifter Emory eat this whole time?

Not wasting time, she backed away from the creature and away into the corner. From there she watched Emory pull through the doorway with some difficulty, and rotate towards her first. She wondered if they could actually see her and was just playing games, or did so just Emory twisted around to face the bookcase where she'd pulled the literature from.

As they began to sniff at it Ash slipped through the doorway and ventured back through the hall, past the dying flowers and littered crystals on the floors. Past the candles, the fire hazard web covered walls. After she'd run as far as she thought she needed to she turned back around to see if they were chasing her. Nothing was behind her but the sound of a library being destroyed. She heard the marble statue breaking and the djinni screaming her name out in frustration, all male voices uniting into one turn on.

Ash slipped out of the side door. Instead of slipping back to the driver and hoping he will take her anywhere else, she cut to the right and headed for the garden in the front yard.

[Ash]

Ducking low and still holding onto the book, knife in other hand, Ash darted across the small space of yard between house and garden, the first bush wall of the maze was devoid of any flowers and still held its rich green color despite the lack of care of the interior. However, as soft as it looked it slightly scratched at her exposed back reminding her that it was in fact was not.

She rolled into the first layers of the maze. The walls were made of tall and dense bushes, planted uncomfortably close to increase the thickness of the bushes so it was difficult to see one way or the other. Visibility was not important to her, as she could just go through a bush if she thought it would get her out of here quicker.

She stood up to her full height after that and began to quickly use the rule of mazes where you put one hand on the wall and you keep going that way until you’ve reached the end. Because her book was in her right hand she chose that side and began to follow the rule of ‘right’.

Occasionally she heard the loud noises of the mansion behind her being destroyed from the inside out. Glass breaking erupted from the various rooms, and each time it happened she looked back to make sure she’d not been spotted. It was much too dark to see her just casually, but she still would like to avoid and unwanted circumstances before it became a problem.

The background that was her new adventure would have been more boring had there not been the random pops of color that were flowers in the bushes. She was careful not to touch, bright colors tended to mean poisonous in the world of the wild, or at least that’s what her science teachers tried to nail into her head before she just dropped out of high school.

The strangest part of the flowers, however, were how they seemed to follow her. Not just because they got more common the closer to the center of the maze she got, but because when she stared at a set before the center where the seeds were imbedded would follow her like an eyeball in a creepy painting. She thought this idea was ludicrous, that it just had to be the wind. Except it kept happening, and she never felt any wind.

The ground itself was just a shocking white colored gravel that she’d seen in some public places. It looked packed down - settled, but there was no footprints that she could follow, no clue to which way was the correct turn. In reality, she only assumed that the flowers collecting like that meant she was getting closer to the center as it was logical to five someone a visual cue, but there was nothing to suggest that was even a little bit true. She decided to ignore the flowers and just continue following the right side of her hand.

A few times she has had to turn around after hitting dead ends and such, she estimated that she has lost at least 20 minutes on this. It wasn’t the dead ends or the maze that alarmed her to how long she’d been working on it, but the lack of noises outside of herself. Either the creature that had brought her here to dance with it’s dead master had ran out of windows to break, or ran out of steam. The latter meant that it would be calming down and thinking.

Emory was clearly broken mentally, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t think logically just that something was different in their mind. She should work harder in getting out of this quickly, not smartly. Summoning her chainsword would be optimal, but maybe she should have summoned that instead of her dagger..

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rocks shifting, which were notable because they hadn’t made a single sound since she was stepping on them. Where exactly it was coming from she couldn’t pin, but if her cover has already been revealed she should do everything in her power to avoid whatever this was coming for her.

Ash focused on her legs, pooling her energy there as she bends her knees to jump. Releasing it she cleared the bush and the next ‘hallway’ after that. In mid-air, she twisted to be able to look behind her. She observed that the house was still very dark, still, and quiet. She could not see Emory in either form she’d seen him before in the maze either.

The morality mirrored humanoid landed on the gravel with a bit more force than she was expecting. Having to land as if she’d taken a tall fall and rolling afterwards. She bit her lip as she felt something scratch around her ankle, sure that it had gone into the bush. Up until she was dragged across the rocks and lifted up in the air by the ankle.

There was no sound of surprise or pain, but she felt something dig into her leg and then slide up her legs, swirling across her calf and tightening around her thigh, destroying her sock and skin on the way. Blue blood fell against the brilliant white rocks below and she moaned while arching her back.

When it stopped she jerked forward and swung back around to look down. She found a thick vine tentacle wrapped around her leg, her vibrant blue blood oozing over it. Following the single vine down she found it coming from the rock path she’d dropped down on. From that point another one began to sprout. Ash shouldn’t have enjoyed the idea, but a flash of tentacle hentai crossed her mind and she hoped it would be as good as that looked. Her face flushed with anticipation as she dropped her book and readied her blade.

[Ash]

Ash was suspended in the air, her outfit torn to shreds is special places. Still, only one tendril of plant clung to her leg, - disappointingly - but two other's grabbed both of her arms and twisted them in ways that might not be humanly possible for anyone as unflexible as herself. One twisted her arm around and high up in the air so that her blade could be no help to her, the other one was wrapped against her back and the thorns dug deeply into both patches of exposed flesh. Her back was arched so that her chest was close to the ground, she felt gravity pulling on her breast and felt cock-teased because this didn't end the way she'd been expecting.

There was a lot of pleasure in the uncomfortable pressure that the vines applied to her body, they restrained her perfectly, leaving only one leg without support. It hung limply where it was but no tentacle came to explore the between them. A damn shame to waste a beautiful moment where she was so drenched she could feel her panties clinging to her. The vines had come from other directions as well, one wrapped around her throat, curling up around the back of her skull - entangling itself in her hair - and curling about her forehead like a crown behind her horns. It had to coil around the base of the opposite side, and she felt shivers of bliss run through her body.

As for texture, they were mostly soft and pliable, like new grape vines. Except for the jagged thorns that cut into her body as the tendrils slid over her skin. How it didn't slice through her jugular and kill her was beyond her. Unless it was being controlled and was told to keep her alive, in that case, she should be doing something other than silently begging for penetration...

She looked down at the ground, beside the one she'd cut short earlier was the book she'd stolen from the mansion. Her eyes glance over its pages. When it had fallen it fell open, sadly a good bit of her blood's been spilled across the pages. After all, she probably looked like a sacrificial lamb to whatever god she was attempting to summon. Even now with her limited breath and the loss of so much midnight blue blood she was able to focus on the words displayed on the pages of the tomb she'd taken.

So when her host appeared in their previous form of large smoky mass and bone-white mask appeared she was reading the book almost casually. In their hands was a blue and silver gown with a sweetheart neckline on a surplice bodice and a high-low skirt of wispy silver texture - one that admittedly would fit Ash's style perfectly. "Could you... Turn... The page?" She asked, her vision turning towards them, her voice hoarse as the plant life squeezed it enough to control her conversation but not kill her very quickly at all.

This did not seem to please Emory. "LooK At yOu, You'RE a MEss..." The choir of voices all sounded disappointed in her.  Like the world she'd left behind, all billions and billions of the people who knew nothing of her or even her name yet still could feel sorry for her. They then waved their hand and the vine around her throat loosened up. "whAt dO yOU hAvE tO sAy fOr yOUrsElf?"

Ash couldn't decide if she was sad that the constriction around her esophagus was gone, or if she was happy to be able to talk normally again. "Well if your Hentai pet here had done its job I would have been a bit more satisfied with my position."

The blank hollows of the mask just stared at her. Apparently unable to comprehend what she was saying.

"Can you turn the page or not?" Ash asked, nodding towards the book.

"You DoN'T HaVe TiMe To ReaD a FaNTaSY NoVeL, We HaVe tO gEt yOU rEAdY fOr thE bAll!" Emory, or rather all the voices that made up Emory's speech, sounded upset.

"I understand, but please. Let me at least finish this one scene. I'll never remember my spot if I stop in the middle of a paragraph..." Ash pleaded.

There was stubborn silence between them before Emory motioned at the book and with their power was able to flip a single page. All while managing a sense of anger and bored.

"Thank you," Ash said, then turned back to continue where the last page had left off. "It says here that the Djinni Emory had been a reluctant companion of Osa through his sea-faring adventures as he had been freed from a magical item that had sunk into the abyss that was the ocean and reattached to the Quill. And again re-attached to the book he'd written with the creature's blood. Now the magical being is cursed to follow the book where ever it goes."

There is some silence between them once more. Her's was smug, their's was of shock. They now dropped the dress and lifted the book up with its own arms, reading what they could between splotches of ink blue blood. They snapped it closed, lifted it up above their head and tried to smash the book with the anger that radiated from them. Only to be forced to stop.

"It also said that only the true owner of the book could release Emory or any other creatures that may be trapped within the pages." Ash said, lifting her head up to look at Emory's mask. "Too bad that guy is long dead, huh?"

"do YoU mEaN MAstEr in tHe MusIC rOOM?" They turned back towards the house, looking at the destroyed windows.

"Nah. That chump was just a collector of shit he didn't need. Including you." Ash said, pointing at the book with The Quill. "The original author. Or whoever he gave his power, too. If anyone."

Emory looked up at the suspended Morality Mirrored Humanoid and then spotted the fabled dagger. "YOU!" All the voices exclaimed.

"Hm?" Ash asked, but smiled.

"YoU HavE thE ReD DeVIL's QuILL! HaVE yoU ThE REd deViL'S ClAW?"

"Oh, this little trinket? Yes, and it's partner." Ash said casually.

"YOu wiLL Let mE Go thIS iNStanT!" Emory demanded, rage reaching the point of exploding. The scent of desperation strong in the air.

"I should keep you bound to my will, with the shit you've put me through. But if you get Rose here to let go, and take me to the gate out of this place, I guess I can release you." As soon as it escaped her lips the tentacles released her, she meant to twist in the air to land properly but the thorns had caused several limbs to fall asleep. Thankfully Emory had every reason to catch her now. She landed gently in his arms, and admittedly it was a comfortable set of arms...

"We caN TAke ThE CarRIAge." They stated, already walking through the maze, expertly so. So well that in a matter of minutes they were approaching the headless horseman and the nightmare beast that pulled the gorgeously designed moving room. Without a word, they strolled up to the door which opened on its own and carried her inside. They placed her gently on the seat she had ridden in on and took their own.

While they traveled Ash heavily debated on actually releasing the creature. They could do nothing to the book and nothing to her that she wouldn't like. They were creepy and interesting. But at the same time, insane and unreliable. They could shift between forms and that was fun, but if they were useful at all outside of outbursts the demoness couldn't gather.

The real problem was she would have to destroy the book. She might get away with just ripping out the pages that were written in Emory's blood, but how many would that be? How could she be sure? Logically it wouldn't be the pages she'd been able to read, but some before that. Osa would have had to discover he'd trapped the demon in the book before he could write about it. And the book was too big to read on just a few short hours of a drive.

Her only solution was to scan every page with her tools at hand, specifically her cyberdeck. She would have to devote time later to read this, perhaps even publish it somewhere on the dataverse to immortalize Osa in some way. Not that she thought he deserved it, she would just like a quick reference to shit about him. In case it ever comes up. Maybe Omni will read it and think he is interesting enough to bring here as well. Then they could really raise hell.

They reached a gate in a few hours. She was able to finish scanning each page by that time and even had time for another long nap to heal up. Her outfit was damaged beyond repair, but nothing a quick summon couldn't fix. She summoned a fire first, stripped down to nothing and then tossed the clothing into the fire. The cool breeze caressed her body and made her think about how she missed being a stripper sometimes. Maybe Harlan would have a special room she could use as her domain and invite the seedier of company back to watch her undress.

She held her book out and concentrated, thinking about what she'd like to wear versus what she should be wearing in the next few verses. She summoned a form-fitting shirt with tails that slipped between her legs and did nothing to cover up the deep scarring that remained from her simple healing, then some tight fitting black pants. Sturdy boots that reached up to her knees. Gloves of leather that covered her hands and wrists but not her fingers. She summoned a cloak of thin material, learning from her last experience, and changing the piercings in her body form silver to gold.

When that was finished, taking inspiration from the cover of the book and what was inside the book, she tossed the tomb into the flames. It was abrupt and sudden, but casual and very nonchalant. Emory was left gapping at the flames, "T-ThAt easILy?"

"Yep," Ash said, boredly, taking a seat next to the fire. It slowly began to change from the usual red to green.

"...we WouLD Like To apologize."

"It also said it was painful for you to be trapped to a book for so long, that it might be why you were looking your mind. Explained that you were saying strange things at the end there." Ash looked up, her blank eyes had no pupils but Emory could see them just fine. "Like saying you were sorry and shit."

Emory smiled, just before their form began to fade away in green flames as well, the ashes of the Red Devil's book turning to rainbow lights and vanishing in the night sky.

When Ash looked back up, the horsedrawn carriage and the driver were gone, too. She didn't go looking for it, she just sat there and stared at the flames as they went from green, to blue, to purple, to red, and then back to orange again...

[Ash]

Ash spent hours staring at the flames. She hadn't thought too hard on what happened that long night when she and her sister, when a group of strangers had come together. They'd been forced there, chasing demons or being chased by demons. All of them had lives of their own that were words apart from one or the other. Friendships between most of them were laughable or disgusting. She remembered that her sister had been the most surprising addition to the pack in her mind. Yet, twin sisters had been pulled to the same point.

She was drawn to that section of the city because her friend had made a home on an abandoned ship. Or had she? It never occured to her that maybe she remembered that friend's place because she knew the area well enough and her mind was making up excuses as to why she was going in that direction.

Now with Osa Rizuka fresh in mind she was left thinking about what the whole point of it was. Did he pick her to burden something like fixing his mistakes? Or did he just like the look of her ass? The words he spoke back then pointed to him liking the fire that burned in her that most didn't possess. Was he aware of who she was? Did he already know she would end up like this, demonic and fabulously frank?

The girl who had better things to do than dwell on the past suddenly had reason to consider what happened to Osa and a variety of other thoughts. She attempted to read the scanned pages, but found no interest in them. It was listless literature, but also she didn't care. Not enough. Not yet.

Instead she rolled over and got as comfortable as one could while sleeping alone. She tucked her body between log and fire, back to the flames as if she were turning her back to her past once more. The fog came closer as if to cover the woman like a quilt, a masculine figure appearing with his boot on her log and leaning over her, a smile played against the wisps of clouds.

"That a girl. Sleep well, lass. We 'ave work to finish.."