Eleanor awoke in some kind of holding cell. She couldn't call it a dungeon because she could feel a draft coming from somewhere and dungeons were typically underground. Her wrists were shackled above her head and she was sitting with her legs spread open, and sitting on her rather sore bottom. It wasn't the best sitting position to be in, especially when you included restraints on her ankles to prevent her from standing. Fortunately she was still in her original clothes and she could feel that the pockets hidden within random places by the oddly proficient at sewing, Third Captain, had sewn into her clothes at the behest of her godmother...had not been found, meaning that she was more than capable of removing her restraints, but the Third Captain had stressed that when in an unknown location, information was paramount to escape and survive.
There wasnt much in the way of lighting, so she closed her eyes and allowed her other senses to take over. The sense of touch provided her some information; the floor was stone but lacked any sort of pattern or intricate texture meaning that it was not artificially made, the shackles and restraints were scratched and dented meaning that they had mean excessively used...she wasn't the first which did not bode well for her. Her sense of smell gave her some rather odd information; the dominant scents were blood, ash, and something she couldn't identify but she was pretty sure that it was not good for her health. Hearing provided the most important information; she was not alone in the holding cell because they kept shifting ever so slightly but with a bit of clinking...another prisoner.
She kept listening, focusing her mind to discern the more distant sounds; screams and female in origin, grunting from exertion, the snaps and slaps on exposed skin, a bit of chanting like some kind of ritual was being conducted, thuds of things being tossed aside, and she could have sworn that she heard someone having sex. It didn't take a genius to work out what was transpiring here...ritualistic sex, torture, and ultimately killed then tossed aside like trash. They were searching for something, something specific, specific and rare, something that was not easily detectable which explained the other information provided by her senses. The brunette opened her eyes and was pleased to see that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness while she had them closed. The first thing she took note of was the other occupant in the holding cell.
Eleanor was taken off guard by how beautiful the young woman looked. Her hair was similar in shade to the water found near tropical islands, aquamarine. The woman's eyes were red but were soft and kind. The kimono she wore was patternless and was ice blue with the fabric tying around the mid section being a deep blue that reminded her of her godmother's eyes. She had honestly never seen someone with such exotic coloring, her God mother not withstanding...huh, bluish hair and red eyes, she was the opposite of the Star Child. The girl's skin was somewhat pale and she wasn't sure if it was naturally that way or not. Further inspection made the brunette realize that the exotic colored woman was producing a small shell of deceased temperatures...an ice maiden?
Ellie didn't know much about the ice maidens due to their radical isolationism, but her godmother did tell her about the tear gems that their kind could create simply by crying. These stones were highly valuable and many would pay a hefty sum indeed to acquire an ice maiden that could essentially provide them with limitless wealth. She also knew that the ice maidens produced asexually meaning that they didn't need men to impregnate them. Any ice maiden that allowed a male to get her pregnant was executed after the children were born. Female infants were kept to raise while the male infants were thrown off the floating island they called home. How did she know this? Her godmother...she and the Third Mage had been traversing one of the realms on Sol side that were parallel to the main universe...the Makai...and she witnessed a child wrapped in bandages and sutras being thrown from a cliff.
The Third Mage easily caught the child and startled the ice maidens on the cliff by landing in front of them. He noticed one woman being held back, bound and gagged...the mother of tye child that he had just saved. His power over the wind had them scurrying away from him, but all it did was free the bound mother that walked calmly over to him. She apologized for the trouble and asked him to find him a home where he could be cared for properly. She would do so herself but her son's power was opposite of her own and she couldn't even hold him. The Star Child appeared next to Van in a flash of light, saying that she could fix that problem and before the ice maiden could ask for clarification, both she and her child glowed with light, ice blue and fire red initially clashing but then merged into a gentle lilac. The redhead had balanced the boy's elements and that balance granted his mother and unknown at the time, his sister, immunity to his flames.
The ice maidens prepared to attack, believing the Star Child to be some kind of vengeful spirit that wanted to destroy them. She told Van to take the boy and his mother to The Realm, entrusting them to Selene's care, who claimed the snow region as her domain. The trio left and the Star Child proceeded to scold the living daylights out of these idiots because she had been the one to grant their ancestor the ability to wield ice and become one with winter itself, the tear gem thing was an ability that naturally evolved through the generations though. Having said her piece, she left in a flash of light...not realizing that the boy she had just saved was none other than the fire demon known as Hiei, wielder of the Jagan and master of the Darkness Flame...if she had, she would have taken his twin sister, Yukina with her.
Eleanor audibly gasped, the pieces falling into place. The ice maiden looked up, her soft carmine eyes shimmering with unused tears. She whispered Yukina's name and the girl's eyes widened, surprise flickering briefly across her face. The brunette's face became resolved and determined. She wasn't going to wait around to find out what they had planned for them. She needed to get Yukina to her long lost brother and safely to The Realm, at the very least to her godmother. Which brought up the hiccup, she had the tracking mark and the moment she goes beyond her godmother's sensing range, she would have called the Third Mage to find her. The fact that he hadn't retrieved her yet meant that they were beyond his sensory capability...conclusion: They were in one of the realms that existed within sol but not directly accessible, meaning that he wouldn't be able to find her.
Ellie was on her own this time and a simple human she may be, but she had something precious that needs protecting. Nothing and no one would get in her way. The brunette began her escape attempt, quickly freeing herself from the restraints and quietly made her way over to the frightened ice maiden. She freed her as well and pulled her to her feet, but was a bad idea because the girl let out a cry of pain, her ankle having been injured prior to being captured. Ellie waited with baited breath, closing her eyes to listen. There had been some interruption and judging by the squabbling, their captors had decided against checking things out so that they wouldn't be tempted.
Ellie wasted no time and deftly unlocked their cell, but noticed a rudimentary alert system as well as some kind of runic array etched into the ceiling. Clever...fool the prisoners into thinking they could escape by disabling the trap but have them ensnared by the array. Admittedly, the more advanced and complex arrays were a bit of a problem for her. Mystic had tried to teach her but her brain functioned better with engineering and invention. She could disable to the alert system easily but the runic array was extremely complex and way beyond her skills. For some unknown reason, the array unraveled itself...the only clue was a faint giggle that faded away. The brunette did not waste the opportunity and disconnected the alert system, cracking open the cell door, and smirked when the array did not appear or activate.
She signaled to the ice maiden to get on her back so that she wouldn't injure herself further and the girl complied, silently slipping onto the girl's back. Eleanor did push the cell closed so that it was less likely for their absence to be noticed before quite literally following her nose. The slight draft made it easy to navigate the maze of corridors, probably because she had spent way too much time with wolves the last few months. Unfortunately, their luck was running out because they kept having to hide every few yards to avoid being seen. At this rate they were going to get caught. No, she couldn't think like that. Yukina was depending on her to protect her, to get her to safety, away from this hellish place.
The woman was surprised when people started rushing about all over the place. She thought that their disappearance had finally been noticed, but after observing their behavior, what little speech she could actually understand, and quite a few resounding thuds in the distance...they were under attack. Perfect, just the distraction they needed because the assault had emptied the corridors which allowed Ellie and Yukina to slip out completely unnoticed. The brunette didn't bother to stop once they were outside, the risk of recapture was too high so she had to observe as she ran.
The sky held what appeared to be two suns...maybe three...and was red tinged with a touch of purple...miasma, that's what she couldn't identify before. Red sky, multiple suns, miasma in the air and beyond the Third Mage's sensory range...The Makai, more commonly known as Demon World which did not bodr well for her. Yukina was born and raised in this world so she has a natural immunity to it, but Eleanor was human, born and raised on Earth in the Human World and therefore lacked any resistance to the airborne miasma, yet she wasn't feeling any of the effects. A mystery to be solved at a later date. She was so grateful for all those running lessons from her godmother and what did she call it...parkouring...otherwise this would not be so easy nor would she have covered so much ground in so little time.
To her credit, the brunette woman contained her squawk of surprise when a man with bat like wings on his back and wielding a deathscythe landed in front of her. At least she managed to stop before she was within arms reach of him. She would admit that he was kind of handsome and definitely had some muscle on him, but she couldn't let her guard down for a single moment. This was a world of demons...to hesitate is to die, to trust is to be betrayed, nowhere was safe in the Makai and kindness was something that did not exist in this land and she damn well knew it too. Her instincts screamed and she jumped forward, crashing into the startled demon, just as several bamboo rods shot out in countless directions. If Eleanor had not forced the bat demon backwards, he and them would have been skewered.
The brunette didn't have time to think before another man dressed in white and had silver white hair ripped her from Yukina's hold and carried her in his arms, the bat right behind him while carrying the ice maiden. The trees blurring past was making her very dizzy and her head felt so heavy...crap, the miasma was finally taking effect and her body temperature was rising, making her pant for breath. There was some shouting but at this point, everything was incomprehensible and she lost the battle to stay conscious.
Anna: Well this one is shorter than normal. What gives?
Artz: Changing pov, so I figured I cut it off here. Especially since I found such a lovely and ambiguous image that just had to be used.
Anna: You don't know what's gonna happen, do you?
Artz: *beams* Nope!
Others: *facepalming*
Artz: I do know the who, where and why, but I need a refresher course for a certain character so that I can show him the proper respect he deserves. *faint male chuckle is heard from somewhere above then but it's too dark to see*
Poseidon: When do you ever show respect? You completely rewrote the character I was based on then created a new one and...
Anna/Artz/Hook: Whole different birthday.
Mystery Guy: *outright laughs*
Preacher: *glances up* Will wonders never cease...he's actually laughing...we're all gonna die.
Everyone: *nods in affirmation*
Artz: Nah, it would be far too tedious and quite frankly, we're not worth the effort. *earning a snort of amusement from the hidden figure* And that's a wrap! Seeya next time for Part III!
Awesome post! Sorry I'm so late responding! :)
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