Pulse of the Maggots

[Dawnika Snow]

Dawn’s sense were disgraced by the sore atmosphere of the Ashen Steppes; she looked around. The blackened rock mixed with volcanic rupture and rivers of lava was a sight for sore eyes. The air smelled of soot and horrid ash that staled every breath she took. The taste of the air made her throat dry. There was no doubt about it: She was home.

With a deep breath, she assessed her surroundings; somehow she was able to remember the direction in which her mountain fortress lie. Her wings spread far out and slammed the wind beneath her. Heavy sounding of wings echoed through the small area around the gate where she previously stood. When she was at sufficient altitude, the Vigilante soared toward the horizon eyeing the particular mountain that encased her home. 

She had wondered how long she had been away. How long had it been since she left Rogue alone in her room? Even though she set up the automatic feeder, it probably didn’t hold enough food to keep Rogue filled up. No matter how much she tried not to think about it though, it only made her think of it more.

After a few hours of flying, the Prime had made it to the mountain range that was mostly a speck from before. Finally, all of her memories were starting to return. Her fight with Ghidorah and her death. Having to hunt him down only to end up dying in the end. It really pissed her off.

The stone slab shifted open, letting her into the Ashen Blade’s fortress and solitude. She passed by, idly saying hello to the people inside and heading straight to her room. Rogue greeted her eagerly and happily. The first thing Dawn did was fill her food bowl and the husky wasted no time in jumping in. After that, she sighed heavily and fell back into her soft bed. If she was to count this day to be one of her worst, it would probably hit number 1 on her shit-scale. The best she could do right now was to just lay back and enjoy a break. Like, a few days of a break.

[Dawnika Snow]

A couple day of rest later, Dawn woke up to Rogue’s slimy tongue. She slobbered all over the girl playfully wagging her tail furiously. The vigilante pushed the husky off of her body and rubbed her face unamused.

“Really, you little asshole?” said Dawn jokingly as she sat up on her bed somehow feeling a rush of cold air against her bare legs. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end. “Fuck. we live in a volcano for Omni’s sake and it’s cold in here?” She mumbled getting out of bed and putting on some sweatpants and a tank top to replace the tube top she was wearing. She made her way over to her computer and slid up in her rollie-chair.

She started her day by watching a few silly videos of cats doing dumb shit, then turned her attention to the dataverse boards. She wanted to know what was going on in the world around her; perhaps she could find something to do to train. It was imperative for her to get stronger if she wanted to beat down Ghidorah and exact her revenge. She normally wasn’t a vengeful type, but something about the golden lizard made her want to get even. It was probably because of his ego. It pissed her off to no end.

Nothing on the boards really interested her, although there was mention of horrible forces in the Omniverse that threatened all primes and secondaries alike. While Dawn had a sense of right, she didn't think this was a job for her. No mention of reward and there were a lot of good willed primes in the Omniverse to handle the incursion. She turned to her dog, who was digging her face into the carpet of the room.

“Hey, Rogue, let's go kill something.” She said simply. The dog jumped up quickly and wagged her tail excitedly. Dawn grabbed her guns and strapped them onto her back in their respectful leather holsters. Her gauntlets snapped into place around her wrists where they belong. Satisfied with her equipment in place she opened the door to her room, allowing Rogue to come out with her and made her way to the mountain entrance.

“Run Epsilon, but stay close.” She said to her faithful hound who stuck close to her side, ready to bite the head off of anything foolish enough to approach her master. The two headed down the mountain path that lead to the entrance of the Ashen’s fortress. They were both eager to destroy something: A wyvern? Perhaps a basilisk? Maybe even a drake if it didn't pose much of a terrible threat?

Within an hour, they had found nothing but basilisks. The foes proved too unworthy to Dawn’s rifles, unfortunately, but sport was sport. She wanted a little more challenge; something to really get her adrenaline pumping, or worthy to train her in her quest to gain some more power. If she wanted to exact her vengeance upon the Golden Douchebag she would need to become stronger and few push up ain't gonna cut it.

More time passed, something around a half an hour and a strange occurrence decided to grace itself upon the Vigilante: A dead body. Unidentifiable to detail. It was charred and scorned to blackened skin. The only discernible detail about this body was that they were male - There were no tits.

“Hmm, poor bastard. Must have been caught by a drake unexpectedly.” She said crouching down beside him. She couldn't make out any features of the man’s charred face. Though, something did catch her eye: A silver ring with a blue signet as the centerpiece, completely unhindered and actually somewhat beautiful. The blue piece was a symbol carved into the ring with what looked like a sapphire jewel. “Shouldn't this ring have been destroyed? If the body is charred, the ring should have probably melted or look a little worse for wear.”

She couldn't tell why, but something compelled her to pick up the ring and keep it for herself. That didn't make much sense considering money wasn't much of a prize for prime. Omnilium maybe but you can harvest that from anything and a piece of silver is no more amazing than a lump of coal. Perhaps this was some kind of Ashen Artifact. Looting dead bodies wasn't exactly Dawn’s style, but this item was too intricate to leave. She attempted to slide the ring off of the man’s charred up ring finger to no avail. After a slight struggle, the man’s finger broke off completely, blood dripped out from his severed digit on both ends. That at least meant the body wasn't old, the only problem was is that a good or a bad thing?

[Dawnika Snow]

The finger flopped lazily out of the rings finger-socket. Blood dripped from the severed index’s open wound that Dawn had cause when she attempted to pull it free of the charred mans body. She didn’t know what was going on here, or why this ring was drawing her attention, but she would surely find out. She turned her head to Rogue, who was idly alert for any threats that might attempt to threaten her master.

“Rogue, can you try tracking the scent of this man’s body for me? I need to know where he has been, or at least where this ring came from.” The white husky gave a confirming bark and slowly edged towards the still fresh corpse it took a moment of sniffing around for her to pick up anything though. Once she had got something however, her attention shifted in the direction of the scent she had picked up. Dawn wasted no time. “Go! Find it!”

The dog bursted forward quickly without warning, her master following right behind her. Normally she wouldn’t have been able to keep up with Rogue, but this being a demigod thing was the tits. It allowed her to be something she wasn’t capable of being before - Useful. She hadn’t realized how much her life had been meaningless until she entered the Omniverse. In her home world, all she had been doing was withering away with no purpose other than to just wait until she died. Here that wasn’t an option. She had to find her purpose and keep going lest she wish to spend an eternity in idle suffering and lament over her father’s death.

It wasn’t until her moment of soul searching passed that she realized she had put the ring on her left ring finger. She must have done it subconsciously but there seemed to be no harm in it. The blue sapphire insignia did give off an uncomforting aura, but nothing happened so she should be okay.

Their journey was short. It took them only ten minutes of running to find the mark Rogue sniffed out. Dawn patted her head in approval.

“Good job girl, you’ll get a treat when this is over with.” She said to Rogue, who replied with a happy bark. The mark that Rogue had hunted down was another cave (lovely). As much as Dawn has had her fair share of cave spelunking, she was now too curious to turn back on this ring. The enterance was dark and misty, it was probably another volcano. The vigilante reach down to her boot and pulled the combat knife from its holster, flipping around with blade cover on it and turning on the flashlight. The light was pretty bright for being so small, but it still wasn’t enough to see very far into the cave. At best, she could see a few meters before the darkness consumed the light.

“This looks risky Rogue, do you wanna wait out her for me, or come with?” She asked her dog looking back down at the proud canine. Not a hint of fear in her eyes, she stepped close to Dawn’s side and looked down the cave. “Alright, stay close and watch my six. You know the drill.”

Upon entering the cave, it got a bit cooler. Normal temperature in the Ashen Steppes was unbearable, but a it was amazing how a few degrees less can make you feel like you’re walking through a frozen lake in the Fields. The cold shivers passed quickly, though, as it was still blazing hot in the cave. It was obviously pretty dry in the cave; there was no vegetation, moss, or mushrooms of any kind. The best thing so far was the whole ‘no lava’ deal. It was also dead silent in the cave. No wind blew and the only sound that was audible was her own footsteps.

You’ve come to save us?

Dawn’s blood turned to ice instantly, faster than lightning could strike. Did she just imagine a woman’s voice? It was like a soft whisper and she could have sworn she felt someone looming over her shoulder saying it quietly into her ear. Although her heart was pumping viciously, she perservered. Not many things scared her, but ghosts were one and she was hoping what she just heard was ust mental anxiety.

You have our ring. You can release us.

Again, Dawn stopped and look around frantically with heavy breathing. “Who the hell are you! I don’t want anything to do with ghosts and spirits!” A multi-toned voice let out a hearty chuckle. The woman’s voice she heard early laughed in sync with two other male voices overlapping each other as the spoke simultaniously.

It a bit too late to be leaving now, little Prime. The exit has been sealed to you. So unless you’re willing to help us, you will be trapped in this cave forever as we have. They told her. The voices seemed to be coming from every direction. There should have been a physical form near her, but she couldn’t find one and was having trouble locating anybofy else in this thick darkness.

“What do you want from me?” She asked trying to slow her heartbeat enough to think straight. Rogue’s terrified wimpers rose through the darkness. Dawn put her hand on the dog’s head and rubbed it comfortingly to get her to calm down.

We have already told you what we want. We want what you want, Prime: Freedom.

[Dawnika Snow]

The cave went silent. Dawn was skeptical about this voice and also felt a feeling she never thought she’d feel in the Omniverse: Fear. Being orphaned and abandoned made a person pretty emotionally unstable but, in Dawn’s case, she had been hurt too much to care for emotions other than sadness and rage. Fear was a new experience for her all together. She patted her side and looked down at Rogue.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get out of this Rogue. If I can kill demons, spirits and ghosts are just malleable.” She whispered, petting the dog’s head when she came close enough. “Just stay close to me and we’ll both walk out of this alive.”

The commando flipped the light back forward down the path to light their way. The dim illumination was hampering just about everything. Sight was minimal, as she had to look at her feet to make sure she wouldn’t trip on anything. This made hard to see what was coming up, but Rogue was keeping a watchful eye forward despite being horribly frightened by their situation.

A couple more minutes into the tunnel proved harsher and even less helpful than she had thought. It was an endless cavern of darkness. Dawn sighed and caught something in her throat. A bug flew into her mouth and into her esophagus. After some heavy yacking to free her lungs, she coughed out a huge bug, like a maggot.

“Ew, fuck. If I wasn’t a Prime I’d probably have caught a disease from that..” She whispered to herself, crushing the bug under her boot. “Fucking maggots.”

Before she could take another step, though, another one flew by her face. Then another. Then another dozen. She pointed the light forward to see an entire swarm of maggots charging in her direction and very quickly too.

“By Omni’s gigantic pale titties…” She whispered to herself both in awe and fear, taking off in the exact opposite direction with Rogue licking at her heels and the swarm just behind her.

[Dawnika Snow]

This post got brutal. If you're squeemish, take caution in reading this part. Also, lots of profanity.

I colored the dialogue to differentiate Dawn from Erika based on the color of their eyes.

The swarm engulfed the darkness behind the two hunters. Rogue had gotten ahead of Dawn by a few feet and the swarm had caught up to her. Noticing this, she kicked her speed into high gear.

The cave split to a ‘T’ section where she could turn right or left. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness enough to see a few feet past the flashlight she carried.

“Rogue! Go right! Right!” She yelled out to her animal companion who didn't wait to question her commands. The both of them, along with the horde of insects, turned the corner and bolt even more quickly. They weren't going to give up on their prey any time soon.

A few dozen more meters of darkness and rocky, moss covered walls and they found themselves at dead end. An open room in the cave with a deep floor. It was a lethal drop and while Dawn could fly, Rogue was not so fortunate in that aspect.

“Hold on baby!” The vigilante grasped her dog by the chest and locked her hands together to hold her tightly. With a sound of cracking bones, the black wings Dawn possessed exploded from her back. The swarm caught up with them but just as the assassin had taken flight, the power of the wind her wings caught sent the maggots flying back. This gave them precious time to get the fuck out and she didn't waste a second of that time. Flying in what she assumed would be the way out with Rogue clasped to her chest, Dawn struggled to keep them both up. Luckily, they seemed to have lost the swarm of insects. The raven-haired commando sighed heavily in relief, only to be greeted by yet another obstacle: Giant fucking spiders. Everywhere. Fucking just, everywhere.

“You're fucking kidding me...You're fucking kidding me!!” Quickly, she searched for an exit. Any direction that seemed safe. Spiders terrified her but this wasn't her life she was protecting, it was Rogue’s. She flew threw a web, a disgusting web, and propelled herself forward as fast as possible. The spiders lurked on the walls, ceiling and floor. She had gotten close enough to the bottom of the cavern to see the spider infested ground. Lovely.

All hope was fading from Dawn until she saw it: A light in the darkness, a torch maybe? Who lit it-? You know what fuck it, not going to question it. She dived for the torches light with Rogue still in her arms. Just a few more meters, perhaps scarcely shy of a dozen, and she would have made it but the spiders didn't want to lose their fresh lunch. They shot webs at her, entangling her entire torso with her arms and wings locked inside. Rogue rolled to the ground along with her. She barked viciously as the spiders drew near.

“Rogue! Run! Get out of here! They’ll kill you!” Of all the commands this dog would normally follow, leaving her master behind was the single one she could not respect. Despite her odds, the siberian husky charged valiantly into battle with four spiders twentyfold her size. Tearing at their skimpy legs, or at least skimpy compared to the rest of their bodies, and chew at their flesh viciously.

While all this was happening, Dawn reached for knife strapped to her leather boot, having trouble grasping it. A few moments of struggling and the knife slid from it's small leather sheath. As she had just gotten it, a spider loomed over her, ready to swallow her whole. It’s head burrowed down towards the girl and met Rogue’s claws. The dog shredded the demon-spider’s eyes to scrap. The spider made the most demonic insect noise she had ever heard. She didn't waste the time Rogue gave her, though. The knife met the thick web that bound her and cut her free. She tore off the webbing and yelled to Rogue.

“Rogue! Retreat! Fall back! Zeta-!” Just as she began her Latin command, the spider smashed the frail dog into a wall with its head. She flopped to the ground with limp muscles, unmoving. “ROGUE! NO!”

Seeing their lunch finally holding still, the spiders swarmed Rogue’s still body. The master watched as her best friend - her only friend - was devoured by enormous arachnids. She subconsciously began to hyperventilate, rage boiling over her sanity. Anger swallowed her whole. Her hair turned blonde and eyes glowed red like fire on a lake of oil.

“I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOU.” Erika bellowed so loudly the cavern seemed to shake. That caught the attention of her enemies. They all swarmed her but the first spider to get within her personal range felt the power behind her fist. It’s head exploded into blood, shattered bone and ligament. The ichor washed onto Erika like a tidal wave. Her ability to care at this point was extremely low.

The idiot creatures still came after her, even after watching one of their own have it’s head shattered like a glass window.

“You want some too?!” She enraged voice echoed off the walls. The spider ignored her words, granted it couldn't understand her anyways, and lunged down to bite her. It fangs loomed down on her menacingly but she wasn't scared anymore. All she knew right now was rage. Her hands clasped the bony teeth as they descended upon her. With a forceful yank, she splintered the bones from the spider’s mouth holding on to one of them and throwing the other to the ground. She flew up to the head of the arachnid and spiked the fang into it’s face, following up with a punch, sending the fang completely through it's body. Blood poured from its wounds and it fell over squealing in pain. The other two spider’s had seen this wasn't going well for them, deciding to retreat upon the second’s death.

“Where do you think you're going?! You wanted to eat me didn't you pussies?!?! You scared?!” She yelled out chasing them down, the adrenaline pumping through her blood made her move more quickly. It allowed her to get close to one more. She grabbed it by the leg, swinging its entire body around her flattening it into the wall. The last one attempted to climb away up the wall. Erika’s wing carried her from the ground to the arachnid, her fist meeting its flesh and sending it back to the floor. It somehow lived through the hit but dead or alive, Erika didn't care, she dropped onto its back forcing it down on its belly. She began to pound it's ugly ass everything into a pancake of ichor and spider webbing.

THWAM. SQUISH. SPLAT.

“It was a bad idea to eat my dog, wasn't it?!” She said to the carcass she brutalized angrily. “You regret taking the one thing I loved in my life away from me, don't you?! DON’T YOU?! DIE! DIEDIEDIE!!!”

It took nearly an entire minute of blows to a beaten bloody spider carcass before Erika was satisfied enough with her revenge. She finally stepped out of the remain of the arachnid, completely unidentifiable at the point, and spat on its corpse.

Once she had regained her sense, she walked over to Rogue’s body, or what was left of it.

“You...You were so young…” She whispered to herself, crying on her knees next to her best friend’s carcass. “I'll get you out of here and bury you properly...rest in peace, Rogue Snow…” The blonde picked up the mangled body of her dog and headed down the cave where the torch hung, tears welling in her eyes.

[Dawnika Snow]

The tunnels that were once claimed by darkness vanished behind Erika, along with the corpses of the arachnids that took Rogue’s life. As steel-hearted as the blonde barbarian is, she could not help but shed tears of sorrow as she carried her half eaten ally and best friend through the dim lit, torch fed cave. Her sniffled cries echoed against the walls and back at her. Memories of the times the had together back home constantly flashed through her mind. She remembered when she first got Rogue.

Fresh out of counseling, the eighteen-year-old girl was mandated by her therapist to get some kind of animal companion she could keep at home. He said would not only help her mental state, but give her a sense of kinship and responsibility. A load of bullshit it was. He had given her the money to adopt a cat or a dog or something. She swore she wouldn’t need this, but she was told that if she refused, they would stick her in a mental health hospital to keep her from trying to commit suicide. So the only thing to do was to get this pet and see how it went.

The raven ha- or, was she blonde? Wait, now that she thought about it. Many details about herself in her memories seemed fuzzy. She never remembered dying her hair black, or having blue eyes. Her eyes have always been red, haven’t they? Erika began to get a heavy migraine. The pain that pushed up against her skull was excruciating and nearly unbearable. It was as if something that had crawled into her head was using a battering ram to mount a prison break. Then she was interrupted by those damnable voices again. Loathe the sound of their abysmal multi-octave tones.

You are almost here. Come creature of flesh and set me free from my binds.

“FUCK YOU!” Erika screamed out to the voices, which seemed directly in front of her by the loudness of their whispering bellows. “As soon as I find you, you’re fucking dead! You hear me?! DEAD! DEAD!!!”

You dare-

“Shut up! I’m done listening to your annoying voice! Fear me Demon, Spirit, God whatever the hell you are, because you awoke the deepest entrenched feelings that are my mortal wrath! My vengeance will be swift, painful and deadly.” She angrily shouted, picking up the corpse of her dog and running towards the sound of the voices.

You worthless piece of trash, you wish to throw your life away? Fine! I will take your body by force, dead or alive!

“Worthless you say?” Erika muttered under her heavy breathing. “I am not worthless! I am a living being! I have a soul and I deserve respect!”

The blonde rushed through the cave, leaving the fire from the torches swinging behind her in the wind. Her head hurt, her heart was heavy and her spirit was low, but she would persevere. She had to for Rogue.

The tunnel ended into a wide open space like before in the room with the spiders. Erika shuddered and put her friend down by the entrance. She would scope the place out before rushing into battle. Just as she got a few steps away from Rogue’s corpse, a barrier erected between her and her animal companion. Her first reaction was to destroy the barrier with her fist. Ineffective.

“Bastard..” She whispered. “Show yourself asshat! We’re going to dance.”

Insolent creature. You think you can match-

“Your power? Yes. In fact, I believe I’m stronger than you be leagues.” She interrupted. “I’m not here to chit-chat. Show yourself so we can get this over with.”

You really are a fool aren’t you? The creature said as it appeared from the shadows. It was a creature of eight legs, but more than just a spider. It had three oddly human-like heads and was covered in some disgusting ooze that looked like radioactive waste. Worst of all, it had two pairs of unclothed breasts. The simple sight made Erika want to vomit. If you wish your death so hastily, then allow me to deliver you to your maker.

Erika wasted no time getting into the heat of battle as always, but the normal berserker rage she normal came was amplified by hatred. The creature lunged at her, it’s fleshy appendages reaching for her heart to stab and kill her on the spot. She saw through it, rolling out of the way of danger and grabbing the spider-like leg(or arm, whatever). She took her free fist up as the being attempted to move away and drove it into the creature’s leg. The beast squealed in pain as it’s leg was fractured completely into two pieces. That did not stop its assault, however. It began to spit some odd kind of venom at her. She jumped out of the way, but it caught her skirt. The venom melted through the fabric of her clothing and burned her leg as if it was acid. It hurt, but not enough to stop her. She charged the spider-human hybrid with fist raised high.

“This is for Rogue! You die now weakling!” She screamed using her wings to get close to the heads of the beast. Landing in front of its faces, on what seemed to be the back of the spider, Erika attempted to grab one of them. It lashed back at her with a maw full of inhuman fangs, but that didn’t scare her. Kage was more terrifying this sorry excuse for a spirit. She reached in and grabbed on of the heads on the body, the one to the left in the arrangement, and tugged on it with great strength. The immense strength in Erika’s rage infused body was enough to sever the neck from the rest of the body. The creature reeled back in anguish as one of it’s heads were severed from it’s ugly body, knocking Erika into the air. She quickly caught herself at the wing and balanced herself out just below the ceiling of the cavern.

“Did that feel good, you ugly ass son of a bitch!” Erika screamed at the beastly spirit as it attempted to cope with the pain by writhing around viciously. “I’ll make sure you suffer a little more before I kill you just yet. So enjoy the pain, cause you’re going to die in pieces.”

This means nothing you puny whelp! Your body will be mine! One of the voices had disappeared in the arrangement. The annoying high pitched one that sounded like shattering glass and nails on a chalkboard. Good, that’s the one she was aiming for.

The spider being returned the favor Erika had performed by shooting webbing at her through it’s asshole. Spiders were disgusting creatures and she despised them with a passion. Too many legs and eyes for one creature, too many bodily fluids being ejected from them. In this case, too many heads and boobs. The webbing fell short of its target when the blonde swooped down out of the way. More acid spit hit her, this time in the face. It burned like hell when it found its way on her cheek. As she attempted to wipe away the pain, she noticed more things crawling on the walls and ceiling; more fucking spiders no doubt, possibly even the children of this horrid bitch. Too many spiders now.

The all surrounded her, at least a dozen, maybe more. Erika reached for the pistol strapped to her thigh and began shooting them down. She was never a good shot, and never quite understood why she carried a sniper rifle, but pistols were simple enough to use and aim without much effort anyways. She got four down before they even came close. When the first one in melee range was near, she beat it head into the dirt with her free and, then quickly turned and shot down another one. The Queen Bitch, as would be her new name, didn’t take kindly to Erika shooting down her children relentlessly. She spit more acid at the blonde, hitting home too. Most of the acid washed against her chest, burning her skin horribly. Isn’t one major burn scar enough?

While she attempted to cope with the burn, Erika took flight to get away from the mob of left over spiders. She sheathed her pistol and pulled the shotgun off her waist, giving it a good pump. Dive bombing upon her enemies, the shells of her her shotgun plowed into their fleshy bodies. Blood splattered everywhere in the area around the targets she hit, at least four of them. That only left two babies and Queen Bitch.

Erika landed and kneeled to her pain. Her chest would not stop burning, and the front of her skirt and shirt were nothing now. Fucking annoying, everything in this world tore off her clothing one way or another. After coughing up some blood and sensing the enemies drawing near, she put her shotgun away and adjusted her gauntlets. Her heavy metal fist dropped upon the two children that charged her. Then all that was Queen Bitch. She took off for the heads again, dodging acid to get back to them. Not taking any chances of being flung off again, she drove her fist into the right side skull of the beast, which fractured and swallowed her hand inside the bone and brains. She pulled her fist out and swung the blood off of it.

“That one was for me! Candied and sugar coated! What happens next? This is for Rogue, and you’re gonna wish you didn’t kill my dog or else I’d have ended it much more quickly!” She said as she jumped off next to the beast’s fractured leg. Right where the leg met the body, she grabbed hold and pulled with all her force, tearing the appendage off completely, becoming even more drenched in bloody ichor. The next leg, on the same side adjacent to the one she tore off, she punched the bone and broke it completely, then tore it off the same as the last.

The spider was in too much pain to effectively retaliate. Two of its heads laid bloody and battered and the legs that held it up were being tortured to the maximum degree. Erika finished destroying four of the legs on one side. Unable to hold it’s weight now, the creature fell on it’s side and writhed in pain even more. Erika maneuvered around the body and fractured every single bone in the other legs. Once this was done, she wrangled the four legs together and began to smash the beast against the wall, as she had done to the other spider in the cavern down the tunnel. Only, she did this much more to Queen Bitch than the lackey spider. She actually didn’t stop until all the legs tore forcefully off it’s body. With nothing to swing her enemy by the sociopathic blonde circled the beast, seeing it still lived, barely.

“Damn you’re tough for a spider. Good, I want you to feel the pain.” Erika reached to her boot and grabbed the knife that was ready to spill some blood eagerly. She approached the last remaining head of the Queen Bitch and took her knife underhanded. “This,” She said, “Is for Rogue.”

With that last line, she drove her blade into the eyes of the beast, twisting the steel into its skull with satisfaction. Slowly, the blood dripped from the open wounds in it head, causing it untimely death along with all those severed appendages and lack of brains and such.

The barrier between Erika and Rogue dissipated instantly and the walls began to shake. At first, she believed the cave was falling down, trying to take her with it, but upon a closer inspection, she could see the walls parting, opening up to the light of the Ashen Steppes. She never thought she’d be so glad to see that blackened sky and so much lava. The blonde picked up her fallen comrade and carried her out into the open verse. It was time to bury her friend respectfully.

[Dawnika Snow]

Getting home was a trivial task for Erika now. To many an outsider, the Ashen Steppes were extremely hard to navigate. As many times as she had crossed it, she had found landmarks to guide her way to the hideout.

On her back was the chewed up carcass of Rogue. Her heart was heavy with this loss, but she would need to get over it soon or it would just weigh her down. The only thing she could do now was bury her friend, which is what she did just at the base of the mountain where home was. She spent time carving up the rocks and digging up the soil that was there and placed her canine friend into the grave. Once she was done, she covered the whole back up and headed up the mountain, where she would most likely cry in frustration for a few days. The only question left was, what comes next?