First Fight

[Eades]

It had been raining for days. Somewhere between the pelting droplets that obscured her vision and the mud on the streets that tried to suck her boots right off her feet, Evangeline found herself in a city. The muck turned into dirty cobblestones, and trees gave way to huts, houses and eventually stone buildings. It was like stepping into a diorama from an ancient history class, only now it was more difficult to joke that half of everything had been made up to try and force children to appreciate what they had. From the moment she'd arrived on this strange and backwards place, she'd appreciated the hell out of the life she used to live.

When the boat from Raiaera had taken her to Corone, she'd wandered aimlessly. Then, in inns and villages, she'd heard tales of golems - men that walked with bodies of steel. They'd passed through in the night, not stopping nor talking, just moving towards Radasanth. Eades pushed her way up the country, though towns that had been reduced to rubble by some strange and past war, through the great forest of Concordia. On the last day, the rain pulled back into a mere patter and she entered the city under a dark and dreary sky.

The rumors were even more clear now, descriptions that were almost completely correct, or wildly wrong. She followed what she could, picking up on the tell tale signs that at least two of the bots were heading further into the city - to the Citadel. She climbed the great steps, stepped through the great doors.

In torch -lit corridors the halls were filled with tension. Her body reacted, muscles bunching with every step further into the temple that she tread. Finally, she stopped to catch her breath, wondering what the electricity that danced along her spine was, and why she felt as if she'd been running for miles. Her hand reached out, brushing against the iron handle of a wooden door. From just underneath of the oak portal, she could see the glow of light. It was different than the firelight she'd grown used to in Althanian buildings, brighter and more crisp - as if the sun were contained behind this doorway.

She opened it, and stepped inside.

[Apocalyptica]

The sunlight made everything far more grotesque. The room that Evangeline had entered had once been a cell in a dungeon. Ten feet both ways, the floor covered in mossy cobbles was crumbled where it met the back wall. Three of those walls were stone, rising up twenty feet before they ended in an open ceiling. The last wall was made of thick iron bars, covered in rust where rain and mist had come down through the seasons. Green-grey straw was lumped into a corner and curled upon it lay Jivantika.

The monster couldn't remember how she'd gotten here, but she'd woken up with sensations both familiar and not. Through the hunger, strong and beating in her stomach, she felt lonely. Her horse had disappeared somewhere between the last time she was awake and now when she opened her eyes to find herself a prisoner in this place where there was no breeze. The air was heavy and full of the stench of stale water and rotting flesh. It didn't bother Jiva; it was the very smell the zombie gave off. Her eyes fell upon the opening door that appeared in the stone wall across from her. When the blonde walked through it, anger rose within the beast. Was this woman responsible from separating the zombie from her horse? Even if not, she was a meal waiting to happen.

Jiva sprang forward, her broken, browning nails ready to scratch and tear. In midair, however, she stopped short. An iron shackle was wrapped around her ankle, jerking her body to a stop five feet away from Evangeline. A snarl erupted from her lips, as they peeled back to show yellowed teeth. Still, her leg strained against the harness, determined to get at the mechanic even if it took ripping her leg off.

[Eades]

Eades lurched backwards, afraid of this thing that had bolted at her when she entered the room. However, her back only met stone. The door was gone, vanished in the instant when her muddy boots had carried her into this wretched room. Looking around, she was trapped. The room was more of a cage, all unyielding metal bars and monolithic walls of stone. Above, sunshine and the sound of chirping birds poured in. Beyond the bars, she could see the rest of the ruins of the building. Other cells were gaping half open to the forest beyond, vines trailing into the hallway that separated the two rows of holding cells. She could hear no other creature besides the furred denizens of the woods beyond. Who had been here to put this pitiful beast into shackles?

Looking up gave her no answer. Blue sky, the jagged ends of the wall and the hint of leaves and blossoms of honeysuckle that clung to the outside, peeking just over the ridge where one the roof had been; this place felt alive and yet very much alone. Her focus moved back to Jivantika. Evangeline's hand had laid to rest on the pommel of her gun the moment that she'd jumped back, for what good it would do her. Remembering her ancient histories, it had been the thunder and lightning that had raised up Frankenstein's Monster, would a shot from her rifle only make this creature more powerful?

As the zombie shifted, Eades let her eyes move along it's form. It was clothed in a fashion, in a sundress likely stained with it's own rotting flesh and leaking fluids. How, when everything else was falling apart, did this girl manage to keep her eyes from falling out, so clear and full of hatred and wrath? The logical edge of Evangeline's brain was falling into place and looking at the situation. The beast wasn't a threat - it was a specimen that should be studied if she'd had the time or facilities. As Evangeline was taking in the details of the corpse, she noticed the straw. Just behind the zombie, on a nail so very low to the wall, was a glint of silver.

Her boots moved slowly, her steps to the side as she kept the wall to her back and brought her body over a few inches. The zombie, dark and dirty teeth bared, watched her the whole time, but did not move it's body with her. That helped, and soon Evangeline could see exactly what she'd caught a glimpse of just around Jivantika's hip.

A key, almost perversely clean and bright, hung upon the wall. It was bulky, the kind of skeleton key that might be needed to open every lock in a place with thick, large links - a prison key. Drawing her rifle, and cocking it to focus the charge, Evangeline's expression turned to stone. She could smell the tension in the air, the crackling of charge as the gun gathered. A high pitched whining sounded in the small of her ear and she waited for just a moment as a small green LED light flickered to life. Leveling the gun before her, she aimed at the head of the beast.

"Say goodnight, kiddo." she breathed, and her finger pulled back the trigger.

[Apocalyptica]

The smell of fear permeated the air. The sweet, low scent of honeysuckle was trying to ride what breeze managed to flow through the ruined corridor, but it could not overpower her gripping hunger. Such a soft, supple meal had come to her as well. It was like being released from a year of starvation to a picnic set out under a lovely Raiaeran sunset. She would enjoy this woman's calves as if they were a succulent roast, her innards a sweet bread pudding, and her blood like wine. Her brains, however, would be the most relished. Once the skull had been cracked open, tangles of blond hair moved away, the brains were like the finest of baked cheesecake. Rich and decadent, Jiva began to salivate as she thought about it. She expected a lot of things, such as her prey to slip on the algae-sprinkled stone. She expected the mechanic to come tumbling into her waiting embrace. What she got, however, was quite different.

She heard the whine of the gun as it raised and pointed to her. It sounded familiar, like the scream of a dying rabbit in the field. Dreaming about fur and gristle, the zombie grinned and sat up straight. The anticipation of the meal stirred her appetite, her mouth filling with saliva. The scream seemed to stop for just a moment and a light burst from the strange wand that the food had pointed towards her. Suddenly, her muscles constricted, her back arching as her fists balled so tightly that she thought they would shatter like glass. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she could see no more. Barely feeling herself shoot backwards, falling against the straw with her head cracking against the stone wall. She was a puppet with all the strings cut, stiff and unmoving. It was an interesting sensation. For a moment the pain of starvation in the pit of her stomach shut down, leaving her feeling heavy, tired, but free. For but a moment, she was dancing beneath the leaves of the Red Forest, her feet in soft grass her dress billowing around her as she spun in a crisp spring breeze.

And then, her body relaxed. She swallowed, choking out a moan as she blinked. Her sight was back, the terrible redness of her eyes burning with anger as she looked up at the woman who now stood over her, reaching over her head. The wand that held such terrible magic was held in the other hand still, pointing towards Jivantika. The consequences a mile from her mind, she roared and hissed. Her hand shot towards the woman, shaking strangely. Bread pudding and cheesecake were far from the zombie's mind now, for confusion and rage had taken over. How dare this woman trick her with magic? Even the elven mages of Raiaera sang as their spells were cast. Jiva had no warning, only the haunting sound of a dying beast, a temptation she couldn't deny, and then a taste of something far sweeter than any fur and flesh. Even the zombie, her sense of right and wrong lay buried in Raiaera, could feel the crushing unfairness of it all.

She wanted vengeance.

[Eades]

The face of the thing before had been peaceful. She wondered for a moment if she'd killed it as she crept over, her eyes darting fretfully between the rotting corpse and the key. The moment her shot exploded against the putrid flesh, the smell of burning gore filled the room. A plume of acrid smoke had rushed upward and smoke still lazily danced upwards from where the charge had hit its mark. Evangeline's pulse was beating in her neck, making her a little dizzy. She longed to cover her nose with a hand as her boots carefully crept towards the prone beast. As she crouched down, one hand reaching for the silver glint against the wall, she kept her gun pointed towards the monster. She'd been trained to be vigilant, and so she held her breath instead of giving into instincts to protect her lungs.

As she hovered over Jiva, she couldn't help but stare incredulously at the gaping hole in the face of what had once been a woman. The exposed jaw and teeth coupled with the smell nearly caused a wave of nausea to claim her, but she clenched her teeth, swallowing back bile. Her hand brushed against stone, and she tore her eyes away from the zombie just long enough to grab the key that dangled inches below her hand. As her fingertips fumbled and pulled at cold metal, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Evangeline barely had a moment to glance downward at deep brown eyes gazing mercilessly at her when the thrust of the zombie's hand knocked away her rifle. It had been held awkwardly, a threat without anything to back it up. Then the hand enclosed around her arm, cold as steel, the fingertips rough and grainy. Her balance was ruined and she fell forward as Jiva jerked her arm towards her gaping maw. Those ruined teeth were a promise of festering infection at best, and Evangeline panicked. Rolling to the side, forcing the beast to come with her, they struggled. Eades reached up, her hand wrapping around Jivantika's face, pushing it away. She had to keep the creature from biting her at all costs, even as hot saliva poured from it's mouth while it screamed at her.

As they rolled, the crowbar strapped to her back dug in between her shoulder blades. She'd forgotten it, relying on the superior technology of her home to carry her triumphantly through the encounter with the beasts of this backwards land. If she could but reach the iron rod, Evangeline intended to get very primitive.