A Poisonous Look

[Hysteria]

A cool breeze twisted and turned between the buildings. Leaves, dust, even smoke were carried along the wind’s haphazard path. A fly rode the current like a raft down a river searching for a safe port. It buzzed as it twisted away from the street and made for a sweet scent coming from a window.

The web was invisible until the last second. Even as it struggled and buzzed wildly, the fly could not escape the sticky situation it found itself in. It may have escaped eventually if left it its own devices. The owner of the web would not allow such an eventuality. The spider moved with practiced speed, its thin black legs latched around the fly and fangs sunk into its soft body. It took only moments for the venom to do its work and the fly moved no more. The spider cut the strands of web around the fly and started to twist the meal in a burial wrap.


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Mountains hide many secrets. Sometimes they are small; tunnelling through rock and dirt. Sometimes they are large; striding stone corridors or traversing the mountain side. Even sometimes more; they are lying dormant, caged or buried within the rocky peaks.

Inside the jagged Mountains of Dawn lay one such secret. It’s location was no mystery; the diseased dragon had been killed by Aleraran forces and left to rot within the mountains. No, the secret was not what it was, by why it was. The dragon and its disease for many were a mystery. Some cared not, happy that the creature had been stopped. Others sought only the treasures that such a creature could make for them. Poison by the litre poured from the dragon and if one could fare the disease and plague to capture the liquid gold, one would make a fortune from death.

Talen knew things about the dragon that many others did not. He knew of the war that disturbed the dragon. He knew of the bird that bled poison and danced in death that created it. He knew that the dragon has been seeking its own death when it crossed into the cursed lands of Raiaera before attempting to enter Alerar. He also knew that it was a matter of time before Dragon’s Folly, the valley in which the creature’s body remained, was captured by a force that would seek use it for their own gain. It was this knowledge that the smallest Captain of Ixian Knights would cite that caused him to act.

Perhaps it is irrelevant, perhaps it was a passing whisper of the darkness that lurked in every subconscious mind that called out to Talen. Like a spider crawling through the leaves, the thought worked its way into his mind. The dragon’s death was an omen of plague; of pestilence. The storm was over with the work of a few mercenaries. Could that truly be called a storm? What spider carried such ill intent? Talen needed to know the truth.

[Hysteria]

Talen arrived at the mountain just after the first few rays of sunlight danced across the snow covered peaks. The valley was nearly impossible to get to, unless one had an airship or in Talen's instance more magical means. Talen’s form melted into the air as a series of dark spots that rapidly expanded and jointed until the youth's small frame was standing on a rocky outcrop on the southern side of the valley. Below him was a sea of green gas that was so thick it looked the world like a scum filled pond. Talen’s boyish features were calm, but his heart raced as he scanned the sea of poison.

So this is the place... he wondered idly. Smoke...?

A thin trail rose out of the poison gas not too far from him. The smoke bubbled through the gas, breaking surface tension and bursting out to rise in the slick of grey one would normally expect. Talen turned his eyes back to the gas near him.

The smoke is likely some part of one of those downed airships, he thought, doing his best to ignore the nagging feeling that everything should be cold by now.

Talen pulled a pair of goggles from the pocket of his cloak and pulled them down over his head. The lenses were polarised, so as well as protecting his eyes they let me get a better look at the white mountains. Even with only the morning rays of light the mountains were starting to pick up the dreaded glare that sent many unprepared mountaineers blind.

Through the polarised lenses Talen couldn’t make out anything different about the gas. The surface was eerily calm; indeed even higher up on the valley sides Talen couldn’t barely feel any wind entering the valley. It seemed both a blessing and a curse. On one hand it stopped the gas from leaking out of the mountains, but it also meant that whatever was happening in there was hidden from view.

Talen lifted his gaze to the mountainsides that towered over the valley. There was still some signs of the recent battle. Bits of airship clung to the mountains, and there was a series of dark dashes that formed an odd line along one mountain. Talen mused that this was where the dragon had struck, twisting like a top as it fell it had struck the mountain with tail and head over and over. Given the angle of the dashes and the the way the mountain sides came together he could surmise a rough trajectory of the dragon. Talen would be coming from behind and crossing over the beast’s half-buried body.

Talen reached back and scratched an itch on his shoulder. He didn’t like wearing heavy clothing, but not even he was immune to the cold of snow capped mountains. His hand dropped to his side and he was ready. Rough direction to travel in, his goggles and coat tied firmly, and grin on his face, Talen jumped down from the rock into the snow. His feet sunk several inches in, and he had to lift his legs high as he began labouriously trudging down the valley and into the gas.

[Hysteria]

The gas had an odd sweet taste to it. Talen had no face mask or protection other than the goggles. They were there incase the gas had a corrosive edge, but it seemed at least for the moment that it didn’t. Talen had no need to combat the poison directly, his body was not susceptible to such material realm issues as poison. Just as how you couldn’t poison a stone, so too could you not poison Talen.

Inside the swirling green mist currents pushed and dragged the gas. The top layer hid the ebb and flow, the closing and opening folds. Talen moved slowly through the opening and closing sheets of gas. The snow crunched underfoot as he walked. No longer the soft white fluff he had sunk into, now it was more compressed as ice and poison melded together. Talen assumed that just a small amount of the ice he was standing on would kill a normal person.

A few minutes passed by and Talen was still surrounded by nothing but ice and green. His carefulness was starting to dull and his foot falls heavier. Speed was taking over caution as he continued to sense nothing around him.

*crack*

“AAaaaaaaahhhh!” Talen screamed out in pain and shock.

The ice under him had cracked and his right leg had fallen through. Without realising it he had walked over a thin ice sheet covering a pool of corrosive poison. Talen kicked the ice with his free leg and his hand scraped against the ice as he pushed himself backwards. The pain was incredible, like his leg was on fire. The truth was somewhat worse. Talen stopped his retreat a metre from the hole in the ice. He could feel his body get cold, much colder than that which the ice could do. Talen lifted his head, struggling against his own dread to turn his eyes towards the damage. He could feel himself going into shock, and the moment he saw his leg his face turned a whiter shade of pale.

There was only bone. The acid had stripped the flesh and muscle in moments and left a blackened bone, still bubbling away as the calcium oxidized before his eyes. Beneath him a pool of blood spread as the artery that reach down the inside of the leg pumped blood into a vacant circulatory system. Talen just watched the blood spread out into the ice beneath him and reality took on a technicolour tint. It took seconds for him to regain the ability to think. His brain felt light headed, his body like it would float away at an second.

Focus you fool Talen cursed himself and tore his eyes away from his leg.

Talen tried to focus on the swirling fog above and not on the searing pain through what was left of his leg. The shady kid summoned as much energy as he could and channeled it through to his leg. Darkness crept out of the flesh where his leg had been eaten away as black sinew. It crawled over bone until it engulfed the remains of Talen’s leg. He fought against the darkness that rolled across his eyes as he felt his body shut down. For a moment he held strong, then it washed him into oblivion.

For a few minutes Talen just lay there. At first his eyes were closed and the vision of his leg, bereft of flesh, hung in his mind’s eye. He sighed into the poison gas as he opened his eyes. Talen was no stranger to death, but he had never gotten used to the pain. That seemed to be what separated him from Jensen. Talen couldn’t throw away a life like the enigmatic immortal. The irony now, as Talen lay surrounded by the gas that sprung from that immortal’s handiwork was lost. Jensen had brought down the dragon, and died in the process. The next day he was up, trying to save the life of one of the people who had contributed to the dragon in the first place.

Talen pushed himself up to a sitting position and peered into the green darkness. His cry sudden cry when he had lost his leg had been loud, but nothing seemed to answer it. This time rather than push himself up to his feet, Talen floated into the air. the youth’s bare white leg was quickly covered a dark pant leg and boot as his clothing materialised. Alive, and somewhat more cautious now, Talen hovered forwards over the cracked ice. He wanted to find a pool of the liquid to inspect, but not one that had just eaten his leg.

[Hysteria]

Talen floated through the air deeper into the valley. The light was starting to fade as the sheer weight of the gas above blocked out the sunlight. Talen’s face was passive as he tried to shut out the recent sight of his leg and focus on the task at hand. Minutes had rolled on and time seemed to liquefy and roll around Talen in time with the noxious gas. If he didn’t know better he could have sworn he wasn’t moving at all.

A dark shape loomed in front of him, and his mind came back to the present. Talen slowed and dropped down gingerly on the ice and hesitant steps brought him closer to the shape. The gas parted to reveal part of the dragon’s head. A single sunken white eye stared at Talen, half the jaw and part of right side of its head was missing, but even cracked in half it was an impressive size and rose above the youth. Talen ran his eyes over the creature’s features, pausing at the rotten flesh that mired its otherwise noble face. He moved towards the gaping hole where the rest of the head should have been. The creature’s brain had nearly completely liquefied, and the rest was melting slowly to form puddles of goo on the ice.

If this is here, the body shouldn’t be too far away… I’m mildly impressed at what that cackling fool managed to do.

Talen twisted away from the dragon’s head as the sound of hurried feet echoed through the smog. His arms shot forwards and darkness sprang from his palms to connect and harden into his rifle. The item, similar to most of Talen’s abilities was a manifestation of his own energy. The rifle remained poised towards the oncoming sounds as the sound grew larger until Talen thought better of it. The barrel shifted to the ground, and fired a shot into the ice. The dark shell puffed out of existence and the energy contained within spread around Talen, further out and engulfed the area around him. The energy was subtle, sitting in the air and reacting to anything that entered the fifteen metres. The information was relayed back to Talen and effectively gave him complete knowledge of what was within its sphere of influence.

The noise grew louder, and Talen felt someone enter the dark radar surrounding him. The boy darted forwards, his feet kicking off the ice as he did. He allowed only two steps before his body broke, split and finally dematerialised into darkness. The shadow slid across the ground as the shape moved above. The moment he was passed it, Talen burst up from behind, his free arm latching onto the form and pushing it to the ground. The barrel of his gun was pressed firmly against its head.

[Remedy]

“AAaaaahhhh!” A muffled screamed came through my the gas mask. I felt the hands and weight pressing me down loosen slightly, but I was still pinned to the ice with what felt like a gun pressed to the back of my head. At least I realised a zombie wouldn’t be so accommodating and I hoped couldn’t use weapons.

Let me backtrack a bit. There I was, one moment running across the ice surrounded by the thayne awful toxic smog, the next I felt myself thrown to the ground. I hadn’t seen or heard anyone come up behind me, so I knew the bastard was quick. At least the person had knocked off my mask. I felt the straps strain, but no snapping. It was far more frightening the prospect of losing my mask than of being caught by one of those zombie bastards. Better to die myself than live as one of those things.

“Hello..?” I ventured to the person above me.

“Hello.” He replied, his voice uncomfortably young.

“Mind letting me up?”

The child didn’t speak. I could guess he was thinking of his options, but this was not the time for it. I twisted my head to try and look him in the eyes. As I stared into his face, with only goggles on I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.

“Look kid. There are three ex-crew of the ship I was on chasing me, and given you ain’t got no mask on, you’ll probably be next. So please let me up so I can at least get a head start.”

The boy let go, and I pushed myself up to my feet. I was about to run again when I felt something wrap around my stomach and lift me off the ground. I thought it was the kid, but as I turned I could see him standing a good two metres away. Instead there was a black tentacle of some kind sticking out of the ice. To make matters worse I could hear more footsteps.

“Fantastic, I’m going to be killed in a scene like one of those smut drawings from Akashima…”

“Wait here.” Said the kid.

[Hysteria]

Talen twisted towards the oncoming stampede. His lithe form darted forwards, skipping across the ice with inhuman grace and speed. He gripped the rifle with both hands, and it broke apart and formed into two pistols. The creature’s had entered the youth’s shadow magic, and he could feel them just as he could feel the ice beneath his feet. They appeared through the smog moments later; Talen already upon them. The first zombie lunged, Talen caught his outstretched arm with his forearm brought the other up and jammed a pistol barrel against the back of his elbow. A blast of energy burst forth, and the joint snapped like a twig. As the creature stumbled to the side, Talen stepped forwards and smashed his leg into the creature and sent it flying backwards.

The second and third zombie closed the gap on Talen and threw wild limbs towards the youth. Talen ducked under the clumsy blows and twist on the spot, his pistols roared into life as black blasts erupted from the ends. With arms extended out each side Talen stood as the blasts smashed the zombies back out of reach and sending chunks of their white flesh through the air. Talen stopped firing, his smoking pistols lowered to the ground as the mangled corpses collapsed. The only one left was the first zombie only just dragging itself to its feet.

The creature stumbled forwards as it struggled with the broken arm and several broken ribs. Talen let go of his pistols and they dissolved into the air. His hand slipped into his pocket and drew out a small black mark. Before the zombie could make a swing at Talen he ducked forwards and pushed the mark against the creature’s chest. Black lines spread across its body and enveloped the creature. A moment later it flashed out of existence.

Done… Thought Talen.

[Remedy]

The black tentacle lowered me to the ground and shimmered out of existence. I shifted my eyes from the now empty space it had occupied to the kid walking back towards me. It seemed that I had found someone more than a little interesting, and I assumed not about to turn into a zombie like the others exposed to the gas.

“Tell me your story.” He said simply, and I began to suspect that he had all the eloquence of a decomposing camel. That didn’t worry me, in fact I was more than a little glad. People who are eloquent tend to hide things, case in point; me.

“Little master, let me tell you a story!” I struggled to maintain a clear voice through the gas mask, but persisted valiantly, “My name is Remedy Blue, and I am a seller of dreams! This current venture involved myself and a now unfortunately departed crew of an airship and a few other merchants. We were exploring the - possibility of harvesting -”

I had to pause as I felt myself struggle to suck in enough air through the gas filters to keep up my oration.

“- the poison that the-”

This time I was silenced as the kid placed his finger to his lips. I’d have given him a piece of my mind, but was somewhat grateful of the pause to catch my breath. He approached me and before I realised what he was doing he darted around me, lifted his arms under mine and heaved me off the ground. I’ve been in some odd situations, but floating limply under a child as we floated through a valley filled with poison gas was a new high.

What the hell have I gotten myself into? I wondered, but dared not speak.

“My name is Talen.” The kid said above me, I glanced at him, but couldn’t read his face under the large dark glasses.

“Nice to meet you T-” It struck me then that there was a story of a kid that hung around with the do gooders the Ixian Knights. This kid matched the descriptions I had heard of him; short, a kid, dark cloths, seemed a little psychotic. Yep, this was probably him.

“Well Mr Talen, where are you taking me?” I glanced around at the swirling gas around us, there was little to really pick up on, so I hopped the kid’s answer would help.

“To the dragon’s neck. It should have the purest poison to take samples of.”

This led me to the next question. What had he done to the crewman that had caused him to disappear. I decided to probe, but held my words tightly.

“I see… so that crewman of the airship, was he…?”

“A sample, yes,” said Talen matter of factly.

“What then…?”

“Well… Given the fact that you find yourself bereft of business partners, I would think you would be in a position to market any…” Talen paused as it was apparently his time pick his next word carefully, “potential goods.”

This kid sounds like an old man… must be the effect of that wet blanket Sei Orlouge. I thought bitterly. But I couldn’t help remembering stories of him going crazy in different tournaments. I had a strong feeling he could drop me onto the ice at any moment. Fml.

[Hysteria]

“I guess I can’t really say no.” Remedy replied, with a slightly forced laugh sounding even more laboured through the mask.

“Good.” Talen replied, unaware that he had seemingly threatened Remedy into agreeing to the business proposition.

The ice below Remedy’s feet dropped away suddenly and the pair found themselves floating through a sea of swirling gas with no sight of snow.

“We must be off the dragon. I’m going to go lower. Watch for pools of acid. That stuff is deadly.” Talen’s words drifted off on the end as he quickly fought away the image of his leg again.

“See?! See!? How can I do that?” Remedy’s voice raised up to a new pitch as she became less and less in control of the situation. Running from zombies had at least been straight forward.

Talen grabbed her her hand and pulled the other arm out from her arm pit. Remedy dropped for half a metre till her arm sprang taught from Talen’s grip. The girl screamed, and continued to scream as she dangled. Talen glanced down at her, unsure as to why what had caused her reaction. She was fine, he had a solid grip on her hand. Talen sighed, and two black tendrils of darkness twisted out from his back and wrapped around Remedy’s stomach. She was silent, but seemed to be shaking slightly. Talen let go of the hand he had been holding and entrusted her weight to the black arms and pulled a small white wand from his coat.

“Here, use this to see.”

As soon as he had handed over the wand Talen’s lowered them into the dark muir of gas.

[Remedy]

I thought that little prick was going to drop me, and despite myself I had screamed. Then he used those strange tentacles again. They wrapped around under my breasts, pushed my stomach in and generally made me feel sick. It was worse than that time I had visited a tavern in Salvar during a bumper potato crop. Vodka and hands… too much of both. Unlike that time, I resisted the urge to wash fire across the kids body and instead focused on stopping myself shaking with anger.

I took the wand he handed me without a word in silent rage. I think it was lost on him. I pointed the wand towards the darkness below and a beam of light burst from the tip. It didn’t make things too much easier to see, but it helped somewhat. The air grew darker as we went down, and somehow colder as well. The silence between us was palpable, but Talen didn’t seem to notice.

“I didn’t appreciate nearly being dropped.” I said, not turning to look at him.

“I wouldn’t drop you.” He replied.

I was silent again, although this time he took notice of the silence.

“Sorry.” he added.

“Ugh…” I grunted. Maybe I was being too hard on the kid. He had saved me, and stopped me from running off into the snow alone. “Its ok. Just give me some warning next time ok? We can’t all fly.”

“It took me a while to learn too.” He said, swinging his head side to side as we descended.

“Most humans can’t fly…”

“You’re not human.”

I found myself dumbstruck. I had a mask on, my face was covered and I hadn’t used any magic. How did he know that about me? I went to speak but he cut me off.

“Shine the light forwards.”

I did as he asked. The light bounced of the black slimy scales of the dragon. Large broke folds of skin hung limply over a crevice in the dragon’s body. Where its head should have been was a gaping hole. Green slime seemed to coat everything, it ran down the torn flesh, over rotten exposed bones and down into dark green pools below. I ran the light over as much as I could. The dragon was bigger than I had expected. I could have crawled into the hole where its head should have been and made a nice home with extra rooms for guests.

“Sh-”

Talen lurched to the side suddenly, but his words were cut off he, and as a consequence, I, shot backwards away from the dragon’s corpse. I twisted my head back and saw Talen struggling beneath a web of some kind that was wrapped around most of his body and his arms. I grabbed a dagger from my belt and slashed at the web awkwardly. Again, and again I cut at the web as we fell further towards the ground. After the third strike Talen’s hand burst through and his gun fired towards the ground below us.

[Hysteria]

The web had stuck Talen’s arms to his body. Without his guns there were was way to retaliate, and unless he let Remedy fall he couldn’t dematerialise out of the web. The moment Remedy had weakened the web enough, Talen’s arm burst free and fired a shot towards the ground. It struck, using a similar energy as the previous shot and mapped the area below. There was mostly liquid, which Talen could guess was the same acid he had fallen victim to. A small bit of ice thick enough to support them was some distance away.

Talen twisted as they fell, positioning Remedy above him. He couldn’t throw her yet, she’d just fall in the acid. The kid prepared himself for what was about to happen.

Talen’s back struck icy acid bath, and the black tentacles holding Remedy flung her away. The pain was almost instantaneous as it burned through Talen’s cloths and into his back. The moment Remedy was released Talen’s body dematerialised and streaked through the air after Remedy. Talen appear above her, grabbing a flailing arm still holding his wand and throwing her further back from the pool of acid. Talen dematerialised again, moving through the air as a shadow and reappearing near Remedy as she hit the ice. Talen grabbed her before she skidded off the safe island and into the acidic lake.

“Sorry…” Talen dropped to his knees as Remedy pushed herself up on hers, “I forgot to warn you.”

[Remedy]

I barely knew what happened. Talen threw me, then caught me, threw me again and then stopped me from sliding across the ice. I pushed myself back up on my knees as he mumbled something about being sorry. The stupid kid, he had just saved us.

At least, he saved me. He collapsed on the ice and I jerked the wand’s light towards him. From under him a pool of blood spread out quickly, horrifyingly quickly. I went to turn him over, but his hand gripped me.

“No.” He said, a small smile stuck on his idiotic face.

It must have been bad. I shudder to think of it now, but his spine was probably revealed through the burnt flesh.

“I need a second.” He said, “Don’t die on me.”

Me don’t die?!

“You’re the one that shouldn’t die!” I screamed, but his body had gone limp. The brat had died on me.

“Shit shit shit!” I screamed.

I stopped swearing only as I heared a growing series of splashes in the acidic water. I turned and pointed the wand through the thick green smog in the direction of the sound and waited. Something loomed in the darkness, an ominous shape lumbering in time to the splashing acid.

Oh shit…

I couldn’t even think the words in that moment. I was about to fight something that was strolling through acid that had killed Talen. The creature stopped, his form lifted and dropped and a spitting sound cut the air moments before the web came. I pressed my hand against the base of my wrist and my blue flames poured out into the air. The web was encased, and incinerated in moments. I didn’t look at the cinders falling to the ice. My eyes were glued on the shiny eyes that were peering back at me from the creature. Eight legs, mostly submerged in the acidic waters shifted side to side. The spider was huge. My heart was pounding in my chest as I pushed myself to my feet. I didn’t know what to do, where to go. Should I run? How big was the ice sheet I was on? I couldn’t turn the wand to the ice to check or I’d risk getting hit by that spider’s web.

Shit shit shit shit shit.

[Hysteria]

Remedy’s body was tense as she edged left and right, unsure which way she should run to escape the spider’s grasp. The creature itself had paused for a moment after Remedy’s fiery defense. The moment didn’t last for long, and the creature pressed forwards. Long black limbs pressed up onto the ice and lifted the segmented body out of the acid. Still cloaked in the green gas, it loomed forwards, drips of acid falling from its body onto the ice.

The spider’s form had been mutated by the noxious gas. Most of it was black, but from between the black carapace white fungal blooms had sprouted. The spider lifted its body up and angled its abdomen towards Remedy.

*shpuch*

“Light it up”

The ball of web exploded in a swath of red fire. One moment Remedy had been standing staring into the face of madness, the next Talen appeared in front of her with one of his pistols still smoking. Remedy tried to speak, but her voice failed and she managed only a gasp of surprise. Talen turned and looked over his shoulder, his tattered shirt was dangling from his arms and his back was bare white skin. From the corner of Talen’s eye, and directly in front of Remedy, the tattoo on the boy’s back glowed.

“Oh…” Said Talen, turning back towards the giant spider as the tail unraveled.

Remedy wanted to speak. She wanted to question how he was alive, why he had a tattoo of the fallen god N’Jal on his back, and why for the love of god was there a spider in front of them. But, she couldn’t. A black tentacle burst from Talen’s back and wrapped around Remedy. She didn’t resist this time, there was no point.

[Remedy]

I was relieved at the sudden reappearance of Talen, but also slightly disturbed by his casual immortality. I felt myself once again lifted by the kid’s power and just let it happen. I’d probably die without him, why bother resisting anymore?

“I’ll stun it, you burn it.” Talen said nonchalantly.

I didn’t have time to answer as I was jolted to the side by Talen’s sudden charge. He bounced left and right as he darted towards the spider, finally he leapt into the air took flight, with me barely managing to follow what was happening.

Talen’s pistols roared like they had before. Cartridges didn’t seem to be expended, but bullets struck the spider from above. They bounced over the creature’s hard armour like stones off a tree. It was then I realised just how cautious the spider had been by attacking from afar. It reared up and brought its front four legs to bear. The sharp appendages cut the air like spears and Talen weaved left and right and I dangled impotently behind him.

A lesser person would have been cut to shreds, but Talen kept moving and releasing quick bursts of shots into the creature when he could. Suddenly I felt the tentacle tense around my waist. I guessed that was the signal, but i did not expect what was coming next.

The tentacle extended backwards, dropping me dangerously low to the acid pool below. The next moment it retract and I shot into the air doing my best not to scream. I arched up, and then down, heading directly down towards the spider.

Talen was weaving between the strikes with more ease than when he was carrying me. His pistol muzzle flashed, but red this time as fiery explosions erupted at the creature’s legs. It stumbled to the side and I saw the opening. I pressed both my hands together and pointed towards the creature’s head. Flames exploded outwards and licked across the spider as I landed with a jolt across its back.

The feeling of spider skin is something not to be forgotten. It was wet and leathery, but the large coarse hairs that poked out from the flesh were the worst part. The creature bucked and squealed in pain as the flames washed over its face and popped its exposed eyes. I felt the creature slip out from under me and I realised I had been thrown backwards. I was so focused on releasing as much fire as I could that I didn’t even attempt to hold on.

The flames dripped to an end from my suit and I turned to see the approaching acid below. An odd peace filled me then as I stared towards my immediate death. I had given it a good go, the last to survive the crash of the airship and against a giant spider no less. I closed my eyes and awaited my fate.

[Hysteria]

Talen darted through the air as his form became more shadow than flesh. The spider thrashed through the acid and legs cut the air. A moment before Remedy plunged into the acid Talen wrapped an arm around her and hoisted her over his shoulder. He changed direction and shot up into the air and away from the splashing spider. With Remedy’s bum beside his head and one arm wrapped around her legs, Talen pointed his rifle down. A single red bullet burst from the barrel and struck the creature in the head. The shot smashed through the apart weakened by Remedy’s attack and exploded. The creature’s head was ripped apart and it sunk into the acid.

“Ugh…” said Remedy, and Talen became aware that his shoulder was pressing into her stomach.

Talen lifted up through the air and away from the spider below. The gas quickly obscured the ground and for a minute the pair were alone in the sea of green. Neither spoke, and Remedy did her best to ignore she was strung over someone’s shoulder.

the pair emerged from sea of gas and into the daylight for the first time in hours. Talen rotated on the spot and looked at the mountains around them that might be used to pinpoint the position of the main acid lake. There was little that would identify the spot and so Talen lifted his gun and fired into the mountain. The shot hit the rock and exploded with a small crack of fire. The boy turned and repeated his action until he had fired three into each mountainside. The centre point of the burn marks showed the spot of the lake.

“Ahem…” Said Remedy as Talen had finished.

[Remedy]

“Ahem…” I said, politely reminding Talen that I was still on his shoulder.

Talen’s gun disappeared from his hand in a puff of shadows and he placed his free hand on my back and pulled me around into his arms. I felt somewhat silly being cradled by the child hovering over the clouds of poison below, but I didn’t feel like I was in much of a position to comment.

“Its safe to take your mask off.” He said.

I nearly ripped it off my head that very moment and for the first time in hours felt the cool breeze against my face. I just sat there for a moment, letting the crisp air wash away the suffocating experience I had just gone through.

“Now... ” I said, gazing over the white peaked mountains.

“Now?” Talen looked around the deserted mountain range.

“That dip in the side of the mountain would make a great forward base for our operation.” I said, turning to look at the child, “Lets talk set up costs.”

[Hysteria]

The light streamed in through the window, casting a warm hand across Talen’s cold features. The youth’s eyes were pointed out the window, though his mind was a million miles away. Talen’s eyes were brought back to the present with a buzzing sound. A fly was caught in a web and a spider silenced it with a pounce. Talen watched the spider tear the fly out of the web and start to turn it around slowly and coat it. The scene was broken, a red robin landed on the windowsill and plucked the spider out of the web and disappeared back into the streets. The dead fly was left dangling in the web, and the spider was gone.

Just a small finishing post.

Requested rewards:
Hysteria:
Mostly the zombie to experiment on later. This doesn't really have a monetary worth... but thought I might as well request it.

Remedy: None!

[Philomel]

Name of Judgement: A Poisonous Look (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?29330-A-Poisonous-Look)
Type of Judgement: Workshop Submission
Participants: Hysteria and Remedy

Rewards:
Hysteria (http://www.althanas.com/world/member.php?2481-Hysteria) receives:
1910 EXP
130 GP

Remedy (http://www.althanas.com/world/member.php?17521-Remedy):
480 EXP
65 GP

xp and gp added. - Hyst