Land of Confusion

[Lye]

A deep, throaty chuckle rasped from beneath the platinum curtain of Lye’s hair. It sputtered into a cough and globs of thickened ichor spilled on his leather vest.

“Interesting,” Lye groaned. His head raised. “For someone who didn’t want to champion her…” He sputtered again, accompanied by the myriad of bones cracking and crunching into place. “You act just like it.”

“If you recall, I said that discussion was between me and her. Not for you,” Taka growled. Black tendrils stretched from beneath the samurai’s armor and up his neck. Lye used the dented bars to help raise him up and casually tossed the lace choker in front of Amari.

“There she is.” The assassin eyed Taka’s odd markings, drawing similarities to Amari’s. “So, speak.”

The Ronin carefully picked up the lace choker and moved to put it on Scarlet. If he was put off by the pain the woman’s hand was inflicting he refused to let it show as he put the choker back on her. His voice held a softer tone than he had given Lye, “Be still. Please, for our sake Amari-Chan…”

Lye shook his head with a grin as the ronins actions did little to alleviate her pain. Even as the choker was placed back around her neck her body continued to spasm in pain. Her eyes were half lidded. She let go of his ankle and instead pushed him aside, only to rip the collar off herself again. “Y-YoU’re NOt….my MaStER…wOn’T WoRK.” She hissed between clenched teeth. “M...mORe PaIn...MoRe AnGeR….” She heaved in ragged breaths as the black markings continued to spread across her body.

Taka gripped her shoulders to steady her before he spoke, showing none of his prior etiquette and decency, “It's killing you! Stop it now Amari!”

“It’s not,” Lye commented behind the Ixian who only glowered at him as he returned his attention to Scarlet. As Lye wiped the blood from his lips with a sleeve, he continued. “It causes pain, nothing more. So, will you champion her or not?” The assassin drew his blades against an unarmed samurai, expecting a stubborn response.

“Amari, we need to talk, stop this now…” His voice gave out and was almost unable to be heard under her trashing and cries of pain, “Please.”

She didn’t listen to him, she pushed Taka aside and slowly rose to her feet. It wasn’t the first time she had managed to stand under such duress, so it did not surprise Lye when she did. “NeEd MoRe…” She heaved as she staggered forward to clasp the iron bars that remained.

“Tick tock, tick tock.” Lye walked to where Amari stood and held out one of his blades to her. His gaze never drifted from the corruption on the Ronin’s own body. “What to do, what to do.”

A smile stretched across his lips when Amari reached out and clasped the handle of the blade. She staggered as she turned the blade onto herself, pushing her shoulder against the tip. Amari then crumpled to the floor in a pool of her own blood.

The Ronin’s act was swift as he grabbed the blade and tossed it aside. He knelt beside her before he growled out, “You have the power to put an end to this. End it now!” He looked up at Lye as the dark tendrils seemed to slowly spread higher up his neck.

“Yes or no, Taka,” Lye asked. The humor fell from his expression to a flat slate.

Taka looked upon Lye, it was almost as if two sets of eyes were staring at him, before a low voice otherworldly growled, “We accept.”

“Excellent.” Lye snapped his fingers. From the ground, her lace choker leapt into his hands. Lye approached the two of them, watching Taka as he clasped the collar around Amari’s neck. For the wound, he let it bleed instead fetching the second of his blades from the ground before he rose.

“Scarlet, he is yours,” Lye stated.

[Mari]

It was a sensual and beautiful thing, the sensations rolling through her body. The pain coupled by the seething corruption that sunk into her very soul. Amari threw her head back, giving her Master a guttural groan. She was right, sentimental feelings she had began to blur and warp. She realized she was a fool for ever having fallen for, and allowing Shinsou Vaan Osiris to become so close to her.

She should have never allowed Jake to re-enter her life, or for Fenn to live...If she had done those things, perhaps she would have been strong enough to defeat Vincent on her own.

There was Taka, the Akashiman ronin, the Ixian Knight, and the man who had managed to work his way under her skin and into the core of her being in such a short time, warming it with his gentle embrace and his soft, unsure touches. Her memories of him bubbled up to her consciousness. The way he looked upon her with concern, reaching out with unsure hands to clasp hers, as his warmth enveloped her. The way he wrapped his arms around her being, the silken touch of his lips against her bare skin...

She closed her eyes, allowing the continuing corruption to warp her feelings of sentimentality for him. Her desires to see him happy and free began to fade, and was replaced by a cold, uncaring emptiness. “This is what I wanted…” She breathed, almost in relief. She still had those memories...the laughter they shared as they lay naked side by side in the cabin of a rocking ship, the way his eyes lit up in the moonlight, and how his hair looked like the milky way as the winds carried it….the memories, they were all there, but there was no longer any emotion attached to them.

Amari was drowning in the corruption, an all too willing victim of its malicious poison. Her body burned, her skin became hot to the touch and the miasma of suffocating death began to float about the room, thick, heavy, and undiluted.

It had almost completely enveloped her, and may very well would have...

As though in a burst of defiance, Amari felt a rush of warmth deep within her core, and suddenly, she understood why Taka drove her mad, she understood why the mere thought of him made her question herself and her master. She loved him.

Amari blinked, and two tears fell from her red eyes, the last testaments to her lost emotions. Just as quickly as she had realised her folly, it had disappeared. The heart wrenching revelation torn from her before she could cement them in her, no chance to cherish such delightful emotions.

Her voice, cracked and broken was barely above a whisper. “Taka…. Forget me. Live… I’m so sorry….”

Those were the last thoughts, the last words fuelled by an unbreakable connection she had to the ronin before everything that was really, and truly Amari broke.

Lye had won.

A blinding flash of red and black light engulfed the room, eliciting moans from those who still lived in the cells. It faded, and Amari was still lying, injured on the floor. The leather jacket that belonged to Lye was burnt and tattered. Her skin, instead of being completely blackened by the corruption now held a pale, sickly grey tinge, as though the marks that marred her skin had seeped into her very being. Her pale form was covered in thick cracks that erupted on her face, and chest and her hands were painted like a blackend glove.

Amari’s eyes fluttered closed, then opened, the whites of her eyes had been enveloped by an inky black, and her irises, once a glorious green now burned a violent red.

***

The burning sensation had yet to quell, but she felt better, oh so much better. Everything was so clear, so pristine and so utterly peaceful. “Master….” Her voice rolled with velveteen delight.

“I feel wonderful.”


“Beautiful,” she heard her master comment. He looked on her with awe and pride on his face.

Scarlet sat up, glancing down at her arms, she ran her fingers gently upon her oddly coloured skin. ”You have an odd sense of beauty, Master.” She turned to him with lips quirked in a lop-sided smile. “I must say...I’ve never felt better.”


The Ronin seemed to be lost in his own world as his words and actions were unraveled. He seemed at a loss for what to do as he looked at his hands. A hand reached up and gently brushed back the sleeve, showing the mark of his corruption returning even to his arms. He had fallen.

Scarlet turned to the ronin, her eyes glancing up and down his form. “What is this?” She asked, disappointment in her voice. She stood and approached Taka, kneeling down by his side. She took his face in her hands, her fingers running along the blackened lines. “This is how you repay me?” She asked quietly. “I risk my life to recede that demons hold on you, I throw myself into the thralls of corruption in exchange for your safety, and this?” She gripped his face tighter and pushed him back. “THIS is how you repay me!?”

“He is a liar, afterall,” Lye added.

“Yes.” Scarlet agreed. “But he did swear himself to me, didn’t you...Ixian Knight? I suppose if you’re mine, I will have to fix that disgusting marr on your body, perhaps I should offer the Oni a name after all.”

[Tainted Bushido]

He stumbled still lost inside himself as he struggled to make sense of everything. He hadn't said the words, and he knew who did, but that shouldn't have been possible. The Oni didn't have that kind of power.

Oh little Falcon, how little you understand. Before, I had to fight for every bit of room in your soul. When you chose me, you let me in. Now, nothing will tear us apart, not even your precious Amari.

He looked at her as she spoke of naming the Oni before he spoke, “That would be unwise. Oni always try to murder the one who names them, because they hold power for being the bearer of that name…”

“Oh?” Amari gave Taka a dark grin, “I’d like to see it try.” She reached out and brushed back Taka’s white hair. “Answer my question, Knight.” Her voice was cold, and it rattled his core.

“I swore to protect you, yes,” His words were measured and even, as if he was trying to reign in his feelings on the matter. His eyes met her gaze as he steeled himself, seeing nothing like his Amari in that gaze. He thought he detected something, a faint stirring in those eyes. Something that tried to warn him off the path he was on.

He looked at her before he looked at Lye and returned gaze to her as he spoke, “I feel it would be best to discuss this away from what I feel to be your biggest risk.”

She didn’t seem satisfied with his answer. “I will show you something, Knight. I will show you what will happen, if you go back on your word.” She reached out to him expectantly, Taka gave her his hand and she grasped it, and turned it over. “This sigil, is one my dearest brother used on me. He wanted nothing more from me than to be his doll. If you do not abide by our wishes, you will be permanently resigned to the same fate.” Without looking behind her, she addressed the bastard assassin.

“Before I begin, Master. I need to know if we have any of that healing salve, I do not want a broken Knight.”

“We don’t,” Lye replied with a disproved snarl. “You blighted my supplies, but I fail to see why that would be an issue. You can heal him yourself, can’t you? If not, he’ll remember everything until you find a way to remove it.”

Taka remained still as the Oni whispered to him, Stop this. Kill that bastard and protect her. She’ll be angry now, but she'll agree it is for the best later. Don't let them seal you away!

He watched resolutely before he asked, “What is going to happen?”

“Bliss, as you fall into utter nothingness.” Was her reply as her finger glowed red, she drew the faintest of lines in his skin, just enough to draw blood. “The wound is not deep. It should heal itself overnight.” She drew a circle within a circle, and placed a cross within it. Each section had a single dot. For hex magic, it was the simplest thing… so why did Taka feel so...heavy?

He tried to flex his hand, and panicked when he couldn't move at all. This wasn't some magic that he could fight, it was something that locked him out of his body. He could hear the oni mock him, You can ignore me all you want. Now that I'm in your soul I don't need such manipulation. Your downfall is a matter of when, no longer if. She will be our death little falcon if you do not restore her and I doubt the witch has any more tricks up her sleeve for such redemption.

Amari stood and turned to her Master. “Oh shut up. Surely you have a store room of supplies. Get over it.” She turned back to Taka , “ And you, kneel before Lichensith Ulroke.”

General Taka, The Dark Blade of the Ixian Knights, Leader of the Mercenary Company, The Soul of Water, moved before Licensith Ulroke, he took knee before the Assassin then his gauntlet clad hand was pressed knuckles to the ground and his head bowed.

“Good,” Lye murmured.

“Stop, stand, do you have healing capabilities?” Amari asked.

“I cannot heal, only Sen no Oni can heal my body,” was the resolute reply. It held no warmth, only the cold clinical tone of a man saying things with the least amount of words. He stood awaiting his next order.

Amari approached him, and slid off his Jacket revealing a simple wrap about his chest, designed to keep him warmer, along with the marks of corruption that raced along his spine and ran up his neck. Blackened tendrils ran along his arms and down, following a pattern of veins as the Oni’s blood returned to its previous areas. She folded the jacket and hung it over her arm, she traced his markings with a delicate finger. “Get the oni to remove the sigil. You have learnt your lesson, I have no need for a broken, mindless doll.”

The oni laughed before it remained resolutely quiet. Finally Taka spoke, “It insists on defying you. I believe it is refusing as it thinks you would only destroy it given a chance.”

Amari furrowed her brows, her cold, calculating voice growing annoyed. “It has more use to me alive, I order you to let it speak to me freely.” Amari briefly glanced over her shoulder at Lye. “Master, it would be best if you played the part of the silent observer.”

“Little Ar’tuel, you use ancient sigils as if I don't know their meaning. You use my host as a tool, you will break him, and I will lose all chances in this world. Leave my host alone, he is mine, you lost…” The words held an angry tone, spoken free of the Akashiman accent.

Amari did not look as though the words shook her. “I have access to another Ar’Tuel soul. It is yours if you like.” She pointed toward Taka. “His body, as it is, is useless to you. You cannot further your influence over an empty shell. It would be in your best interests to heal him. If not. We are done here, he will remain in this cell, and his body will remain your prison.”

“Little wisp, you forget something. Just because I do not do something doesn't mean I cannot. Further, the game has changed, the rules have changed, and you are woefully unprepared, considering how you barely defeated me in Dheathain. How does it feel? To come so close, and then lose it because you decided to revel in chaos?” the mouth moved as a feral grin slashed the face.

“I suppose we are done here then. Taka- move into the next cell.”

As he moved to enter the cell the sigil.began to bleed blackened blood as the blood under his hand burst forth tearing and stretching the skin, until in a putrid burst his hand exploded in a bloody mess. The Ronin groaned as he crumpled to a knee and gripped the bloody appendage. The lips moved against the Ronin’s wishes as he spoke, “More than one way to remove the sigil. Are you prepared? Killing the Ronin means nothing to me, I can repair him each time, can you afford a delay of hours to use my host?”

Amari watched, her eyes on the blackened blood, she knelt down and ran a finger through the puddle on the floor, she ignored the Oni’s taunts. “Master, have Calleus wrap his wound. Right now, a demon is in control of Taka’s body, due to his foolish behavior. Until one of them listens to me, they need to be under close watch.” Amari picked up the injured wrist and ran her hands along it. “Just as I suspected, I cannot heal him, I feel a prickle of pain, at most I can alleviate his pain, but I feel it best for him to enjoy that pain.”

Taka clenched his teeth as he gently tried moving his fingers. They worked surprisingly as he looked up at her and took a breath before he spoke, his words soft, “Do not worry about me. It is an Oni, he lies about his capabilities.”

He took another steadying breath as he closed his eyes trying to force himself to focus, sitting in the center of the cell. Not allowing the Oni a chance to attack Amari while he still had control. Tears ran down his face, but he ignored them while he took another deep breathe. He had a promise to fulfill, and he would be damned if he didn't carry through.

“I am aware.” Amari said. As Taka watched her, he again, swore he saw something in the red pools of her eyes, a glimmer of gold, a spark trying to cry out and reach out to him. This woman was not the stubborn but kind soul he fell in love with. He wasn’t sure what she was. He had to save her, he had to bring her back.

“Taka.” Amari opened the cage and approached him, she wiped his tears from his face, instead smearing blood across it. “Your tears are a weakness. Use this time to reflect upon your actions. You have strength. Use it, as you promised.” With that, she turned to leave him in the cell.

He nodded silently as he closed his eyes and took another deep breath, finally reaching a calm center. He remained there with a steady breath as he pulled himself back together. The Oni and Amari were waging war for his soul as he fought to regain his center.

And sitting there behind those eyes was the Amari he swore to protect, the one who would have never allowed this. He flexed his hand gently before he opened his eyes, “I will do as you suggest.”

[Lye]

“Caellus!” shouted the assassin. His voice bounded and echoed off the walls, stirring motion from some of the cells’ occupants. Silence worked its way back into the dungeons until the signature percussion of boots on stairs grew to the foreground. Caellus emerged around the corner. Sure enough, his left eye was shadowed by bruises and bandages. The little succubus did not lie about their exchange.

“Sir?” Caellus asked with a strain. His hand gripped at the linens wrapped around his torso. Past his fingers and through the white, blood from a re-opened wound began to spread.

“Our new guest, please see to his injuries,” Lye ordered with no concern toward his associates’ own condition.

Caellus nodded with a snarl. The servant closed the cell behind him and began tending to the samurai before Lye turned for the stairs. His boot landed on the first step before he paused and turned a smile toward the Ixian. Then, he continued on to join Amari in their quarters.

She sat comfortably on the throw in front of the fireplace, his leather jacket crumpled on the floor beside her. The flames of the fire were small. Just lit. She glanced over her bare shoulder at him as he came in, her black and red eyes stared at him for a moment before she turned back toward the fire. “Come morning, I will deal with the ronin. I’ll break him, and give him the tools to become something more, something entirely beneficial to the hand- and if I break him beyond repair-” Scarlet shrugged. “Then I suppose Advencia will have a full meal, as will the boars.”She said evenly, standing she lifted her arms high above her head and stretched.

So many accomplishments in a day, but as he looked at the cracked demoness in front of him, the air of success grew stale. What stood before him didn’t feel like a colleague, or even a person for that matter. She felt like a force of nature embodied.

“Fine,” the word left his lips flat and devoid of his devilish interest. “If any of the Ixian remains in him, I would like to know more about his fellow survivors.” The assassin walked behind Amari. His hand cupped at the back of her head, turning her gaze toward his. Black cracks etched across fair skin, her deep green and gold eyes now demonic sclera with piercing red. He saw no fear, no happiness, no sorrow, regret, determination. He saw nothing.

She turned to Lye, black and red eyes glancing up and down his form as though assessing his worth. “I can’t believe I actually loved you, what stupid notions I had…” She glanced away, her eyes turning to the fire. “To think I wanted nothing more than to see you smile in earnest. I suppose that is what drove most of my actions.” A cold laugh erupted from Scarlet as she shook her head. “How pathetic, honestly. I have to admire your patience. I’d have done away with someone like that long ago. Talk about stockholm syndrome. Hah.” She shook her head, and looked up at him. “You have your doubts, even now, don’t you?” She asked.

“I do,” he replied hesitantly. Despite their progress, Amari always returned with some moral plight to pull her back to the world Lye so desperately fought to expose. He searched his mind for more words to say, but kept his lips sealed. He lost the way to express the creeping dread and uncertainty inside.

Scarlet padded across the floor toward him, “Here.” Before he could resist, or fight, she had her fingers pressed against his temples, urging him to rest back against the bed. The world around him blurred and warped, and with one last gasp, he was trapped in her memories.

Memories of their time together, of her alone. Fighting, always fighting. With herself, with others, her own emotions. The emotions, they weighed heavily on Lye’s chest. He saw himself through her eyes, and felt pangs of pain, concern, and worry. All things Amari had once felt for him. He watched as she carefully pat away beads of sweat from his head as he slept, and stole kisses from his unconscious form. He felt something he had thought he forgot, something that was lost to him in another life.

Love.

It was earnest, and cautious, but it was there - and he watched through her eyes, as he literally beat the sentimental feelings out of her. Hissing words of warnings. He felt the ache she felt.

Too labored with her influence, the back of his mind struggled against a chained nostalgia. These feelings, both hers and her own, cried out from the recesses of his mind. They clawed at the forefront and skewed her visions into his own memories.

As they came in waves and snippets, small glimpses into the life she lived, and how she lived it for him. Finally, the memories died down, spiralled into the moment she stopped fighting her corruption. His chest burned and ached, then there was an overwhelming feeling of emptiness as she pulled away. Breathing heavily. Her own eyes clouded by the shared effect of her ability.

Scarlet stumbled back a few feet, hitting the fire poker with her back. It clambered to the floor, she pressed her back against the stone of the hearth and slid down. It took a few minutes for her to regain her composure.

“That’s all gone now.” She muttered darkly. “So really… I should thank you.”

His eyes burned. To what effect, he blamed her influence. The pit of rage inside him welled for a moment and snuffed out pathetically to something stronger. Of what, he felt unsure, but he felt confused. Where was his fire, his anger? She couldn’t do that to him, she should pay. But… had she already paid?

He looked up at her through the recoil of whatever she did. His emerald eyes glistened in the firelight and brimmed at the lids. Even with his brows furrowed in anger, the expression lacked the honed edge of a knife.

“You…” he began, truly unclear how he wanted to continue that sentence. “Don’t do that to me again.”


The command fell weak from his lips as if it were not earnest. He rose from the bed, her hands sloughing off him as opposed to his aggressive deflection or iron grip. From there, he walked to the corner of their room and braced himself against the wall. Head hung low, he glanced to the mannequin where Isabelle’s dress used to sit.

[Mari]

Scarlet’s eyes shifted back to Ulroke who was braced against the corner wall. Silence fell between them. Now that she stared at him, she felt nothing. She no longer felt a desire to please him. She no longer cared if he was happy, sad, or even pissed. His current plight, whatever it was, didn't bother her. Everything she was now...it was a product of his doing
It was a cold and empty feeling, but it was so damn freeing. Scarlet sighed as she herself up off the warm stone of the hearth and approached Lye.

“A common goal.” She mused as a single finger danced under his chin. “That’s what will keep me from slitting your throat in the night. That is what will keep you from tearing me apart with your sin magic.” Her lips twisted into a heartless grin. “That’s all it has ever been with you, and that’s all it ever will be. There was nothing to us and I must thank you, again, for showing me how disillusioned I was in thinking there was ever going to be more. Shinsou, Taka… just playthings to fill that void you tore into my heart. Now I don't have such sentimental attachments. You finally have what you wanted.”

He straightened up at her words, and met her gaze with narrowed slivers of emerald. Whatever he seemed to be searching for, he did not find. After a brief pause, he finally spoke and turned to face her.

“You’re a monster befitting of your new name.” The way he spoke it, she couldn’t tell if it was intended as a compliment or an insult. Either way, it stirred nothing from her expression. He also portrayed none of his own.

“So long as the goal is realized, neither of us can afford any of that.” He brushed her hand from his chin. “But you turn a blade on me before then and I’ll show you no mercy.”

She leaned in, pressing her hands against his chest. “Don’t get me wrong, Master, I’ll defend you with all that I am. If anyone were to take your life, it’d be me, and I refuse to let anyone take you before that. I will vehemently defend you.”


He seemed oddly peaceful at the statement. She expected some half witted nonsense or vague threat, but he remained silent. Instead, the faint resemblance of a smile stretched across his thin lips.

“If that’s all,” he finally spoke. “I have some matters to attend to.”

The smile faded to his usual porcelain scowl before he broke past her and made for the door.

Scarlet paused, pressing a hand against her stomach, the other against her mouth, a sudden wave of nausea hit her, and hit her hard. “Ugh…”

“Scarlet?” The assassin turned, hand on the door. He sounded concerned.

She shook her head, pulling her hand away. “Just nausea.” She muttered. “Probably from everything that has happened tonight. My body’s always been weak that way.”

“Hmm... “ There was a pause from him. “Have Advencia clean up the mess. Get some rest in the meanwhile.”

Then he was gone.

Scarlet noticed his hesitation, his trepidation. She picked herself up and struggled to make her way to the door. He was still there, she could feel his weight against the wooden door and see the shadows of his form beneath it, between the crack of the wood and floor. Scarlet pressed her palms to the door.

“You wanted this.” She hissed. Scarlet opened her mouth to say more, but bile spluttered forth and she fell to her knees, gasping between heaving up the contents of her stomach.

HIs footsteps echoed, away from the door and from her. Scarlets whole body convulsed as she crawled away from the door. Not long after Advencia came in, light blue eyes wide and fearful.

“What happened here? What happened to you!?”

“I’m all better….” Scarlet muttered as she wiped the bile from her lips. “This is a new time for us all.”

Advencia wasn’t sure she liked the sound of those words, nor of how Amari looked or smelt. Still, she knealt down beside the convulsing assassin and gently rubbed her back. “If you say so, Mistress.”

[Breaker]

Thread Title: Land of Confusion
Participants: Mari, Lye, Tainted Bushido
Judgment Type: No Judgment

Mari gains: 1188 EXP and 115 GP (inclusive of noble commerce ability bonus)
Lye gains: 1320 EXP and 100 GP
Tainted Bushido gains: 820 EXP and 77 GP

Congratulations!

[Rayleigh]

All rewards have been added!