Chaos is known as the being that never became a star. It is everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time.
Neither good nor evil, the ultimate expression of nothingness. The antithesis of the cosmos, creation itself.
Although Chaos claims to be the very state of existence from which the first entities appeared, it cannot form into the entity it wants most.
So it has been cursed to stay in the form of a dark and shapeless void. Floating between existence and nonexistence.
Longingly watching as stars are constantly born and lives are lived. The seeds of malice had been planted, flourished and transformed Chaos into the purest form of evil.
Celeste approached the ticket office and specified what she would like. In an almost traditional manner the man aimed a sneer at her Canadian French before finally giving her what she was after for the appropriate sum. While the man's expression may have disheartened her normally, it could do little to dampen her current spirits. For the first time in years she had money of her own, money that didn't need to be sacrificed to medical bills or house payments. Given that her books and education had been paid for by her family, it was finally time to spend some on something completely frivolous. Originally she wasn't too sure of where to go and had to rent out a book of 'fun' spots to visit before finally deciding on her current destination. While the exhibits in the hall ways were certainly interesting, a picture on one of the pages had stolen her heart for a moment. A nighttime sky with more stars than the mind could possibly comprehend; a planetarium.
The room itself seemed almost barren, painted entirely black with a strange looking device sitting at the epicenter of nearly a hundred chairs or so. She knew from reading about it that the device would project images of the night sky onto the black walls and roof of the building. These pictures could move, or diagrams could appear on the wall illuminating constellations like dot connecting puzzles. Simply seeing the pictures in the book had been enough to stir up memories in her of times long since lost. She had once enjoyed staying up late watching the stars and having her mother point out the various constellations as they sipped hot tea together. It had been quite easy in the rural town they had lived in, but the city of light made it nearly impossible to see the stars like she did back then. The wave of nostalgic feelings gripped her even now as she approached her seat, tightening her grip on the warm tea she held in her hands.
As best as she could she removed her book bag and set it down in front of her in the space between the rows and took her seat. The jostling of removing the bag moved the necklace that weighed upon her neck sending a chill down her spine. Her right hand absentmindedly moved up and gripped the strange gem that now hung from her neck. This was the only thing that could lower her spirits despite the promise of what was to come. The memory of the strange creature and the wish it had granted her and more importantly the cost of that wish even now weighed upon the necklace she had fabricated to hold it. She had been practicing that magic almost every day since, working hard to master the skills she felt she would need someday. Yet that day still had yet to come. She had not yet discovered any creature that needed to be defeated and while that should have made her feel safer, it only served to build her fear of the eventual encounter.
Her heartbeat seemed to increase, the familiar pounding filling her ears, a reminder of the unusual power she had acquired unintentionally. The creature had offered her a few choices, but she had ended up with a gruesome one instead of something kinder. It had been her intention to ask a question, so she had spoke the name of one of the powers with an inflection, but the creature had thought she had chose that one and nothing she said afterwards could possibly change its mind. Her heartbeat slowed, not by her calming down but by her willing it to slow, this was the power she had been saddled with; the magic of blood. She took a sip of her tea, letting the warm fluid lend her what little calm it represented and strived to bring her anxiety down to manageable levels. It wouldn't do to worry about this and ruin the show about to commence.
A pattering of feet filled her ears and she swiftly let go of the strange necklace being sure to tuck it back into her shirt and hide it with her scarf as usual. It seemed she would not be alone to enjoy the show. Another sip of her tea, and she snuggled further into the comfy chairs watching the people find their seats while she waited patiently for everything to begin.
Erica wouldn't be a proper starry-eyed girl if she didn't have an interest in stars. Indeed the planetarium had been one of the top tourist spots she wanted to go to ever since she arrived in New Paris. If not for the unfortunate mishaps of her first week there she would have long paid the place a visit and gotten to see the technological advances the city had put into the latest in projection technology. She was expecting quite an impressive show to say the least.
Fortunately it seemed she had picked a good day to come and see the planetarium. There were quite a few people but not too many that the ambience of the venue was lost to the sounds of idle chatter. If she was not mistaken then this place was an affiliate of the university. It was a good thing then that she had to delay her trip there. As part of sorting out all of her business in the last week or so, she was able to get her student card and pass. As a special transfer student she enjoyed some privileges within the school and its affiliated organizations. In some cases a discount. In others, a free pass altogether. The university valued its precious prodigies and Erica would make sure to take full advantage of those perks.
That being said, her special student privileges didn't cover cutting in line. And while there weren't too many people, she still underestimated the time it took quite a bit and just barely made it inside the projection room before it was promptly announced that the show was about to begin. As a result she found her self taking a seat on one of the chairs further away from the center of the room. Well, if the show was really as amazing as they say then it shouldn't matter so much where she sat.
It didn't take too long from there. Just a minute or two after Erica settled down, what few lights that were kept open to allow people to find their seats were finally dimmed and turned off completely, rendering the room pitch black. The sounds of whispers and movements coming from the other people in the room halted and there was complete silence. The presentation was about to start.
People watching has long been the habit of those perpetually on the outer strata of social popularity. With the well practiced nature of a veteran Celeste took note of the people that entered the room. Some of them were no doubt her age, or younger students barely prying their eyes away from their phones long enough to find their seats. There was one that was perhaps interested in the show but the dark lighting made it impossible to make out many details given the lack of phone light. She spotted a few children coming in with their families and couldn't help a small smile from building, their excited and high pitched voices told her of their enjoyment before the show even began. If the show turns out well, I'll have to bring my family here as well. The thought filled her with warmth that even now the tea was unable to provide.
As the last stragglers took their seats the lights dimmed even further to total black. Thankfully the last of the phone lights winked out giving the room's sole lighting control over to the machine. On cue the machine whirled to life with little noise, but given what it was producing the noise was the last thing on everyone's mind. Thousands of little stars of light filled the room, a plethora of different colors that exceeded even the greatest night sky she had ever witnessed. Her smile grew even further at this threatening to escape the protective barrier of her scarf as she looked on in pure wonder.
Given how distracting the images were to her, she didn't notice the professionally dressed woman enter the room and take her place next to the machine. She spoke into her microphone and the noise nearly startled Celeste. "On behalf of Paris, we welcome you to the planetarium. Now, how many constellations can you find? Perhaps I can help you." Her voice was filled with mirth no doubt caused by the barely hushed excitement of the children.
All at once at various points around the room lines began to appear connecting the dots from stars to stars forming the shapes and images of the constellations. Celeste had managed to find a few already like the little dipper and the belt of Orion but to see them all so clearly laid out was incredible. She turned her head about the room recognizing the familiar images of several zodiac signs like Cancer, Scorpius and Sagittarius. In the back of her mind she doubted so many constellations could be in the same sky at once, but her excitement silenced the errant thought.
After giving everyone enough time to look at the images the connecting lines disappeared and the woman spoke once more. "Tell me, do you feel like making a wish?"
Celeste could feel her whole body stiffen at the phrase clearly unnerved by those words. They had been spoken innocently enough as a shooting star crossed from one side of the planetarium to the other but the damage had been done. She worked to master her breathing once more and calm herself as the sky suddenly filled with shooting stars. First one, then three and then more than she could even count, they filled the sky to the tune of excited children. Panels on the side of the machine lit up for a second or two connecting to projectors on the outer walls and creating the images of stars that not only moved across the roof but moved through the crowd and on the floor as well.
Just as quickly as it started the stars stopped moving and the night sky panorama began to slowly wink out each star vanishing off of the surface of the walls and roof. "I hope your wishes are granted. Now, lets check in with our friend hubble and see what they have to show us."
When the last star had finally winked out returning the entire room to darkness, a single white star appeared at the very center of the roof. Slowly it grew in size until it was the size of a small table as if the magnification had slowly been increased. Celeste almost couldn't look at it directly for how bright the white star looked in the dark room, but she had an idea where the narrator was going with this and didn't want to risk looking away.
"This is a neutron star, but wait, something seems to be happening to it."
In real time lines of blue/white radiation emissions spread out from the center of the star reaching the furthest points of the wall, the emissions appeared to pulse on a set frequency and almost random trajectory creating the image of a massive hourglass. Celeste couldn't help but smile her wondrous feels once more restored at the sight. A thought in the back of her mind pointed out that it would be impossible to have acquired a video of this, but she stifled it to the sounds of 'ooo's and ahhh's' coming from everyone.
She loved it. From what Erica had seen of the show so far, this was easily in the top 5 or even top 3 planetarium exhibitions she had seen ever from the quality alone. New Paris' projection technology didn't disappoint. This was a more children-friendly show however and despite that not really being bad thing, perhaps she was looking for something a little more complex. The stunning visuals more than made up for it though. She could appreciate that if anything else.
When they reached the segment about the shooting stars, Erica felt the general excitement in the room rise up a bit, especially for the kids when the narrator mentioned making a wish. Here the projection flexed its capabilities, with the shooting stars moving not only overhead but even on the sides and the floor. This wasn't the first time she had seen something like this, but this was definitely one of the better executions. Usually at these parts, the younger members of the audience would get a bit unruly and spoil the experience a bit, so she was glad that those in the crowd were quite behaved for the most part.
The neutron star bit was again quite captivating if not oddly familiar. She had definitely seen something like it before but it escaped her memory where. Apparently for most of those present, this was the most impressive part so far. The reactions of awe and amazement were much more noticeable. The momentary brightness also allowed Erica to briefly glimpse a few other faces in the room. All attention was at the shape being formed in the projection. Despite the feelings of deja vu, she too was eagerly awaiting what would come next.
[break][break] Walking the Parisian streets, there would be seen as a large group of skeletal creatures. On first glance, most of the citizens assumed them to have been part of a Halloween parade or something to that effect. Robotics created to give the children something during the vents that were set up around the city. With this thought process, children did indeed begin running up to the group of skeletons. Eying the blades and shields they carried in tow. However, it was only until one of them swung back with an opened maw, that the children began cowering. Loudly they screamed and began darting every which way. [break][break] Parents would soon run to their children and take hold of them. Adding to the loudness by screaming and darting towards safety. One mother, in particular, took refuge within the Planetarium. "Save yourselves! Stray robots are attacking!!" [break][break]
YOUR ENEMY: SKELETAL GRUNTS (x20)[break] RANK: ☆☆☆☆☆☆
Celeste could feel the shouting more than she could hear it. It was everywhere, all around her. Coming from the outside and those running from their lives, to those around her loudly expressing their concerns and looking for direction. The guide in the center had triggered the lights to come back on and seemed to be trying to keep people calm, though Celeste had a vague feeling there was no such robots in this place, only monsters. She knew she had to do something, had to act to protect the people around her, this is why she had magic after all. A glance down revealed what she already knew to be true, her hands had begun to shake so badly she could barely hold on to the tea she had purchased before. She set it down in the cup holder finally and got up to stand on shaky feet slinging her book bag onto her shoulder and planning her way out of the room and through the panicking crowd.
She ducked, dipped and nearly dove through the massed and panicking people making a mad scramble for the exit. Her knees buckled once or twice, but she pushed through gritting her teeth and wishing madly that she would stop shaking so much. It was all too easy to find the monsters she just had to follow the screams; out of the planetarium, past the ticket booth, out into the streets and the blinding Parisian daylight.
The site that greeted her was pandemonium at it's height. People running in every direction away from the monsters, gleaming white skeletons armed with steel weaponry. Even as her heart pounded in her ears, even as her body shook from mounting adrenaline and fear she couldn't help but feel a bit calmer. Her overactive imagination had whipped up monsters with legions of eyes and rows of sharp and bloody teeth so terrifying that to see skeletons granted her some limited relief. With a calmer mind she surveyed the scene and came to a decision. The people needed more time to escape, but magic was out given how many of them were in the area still, if she could distract the skeletons then maybe she could buy them the time they needed. But what to use...
She absentmindedly adjusted her book bag on her back, it's familiar weight returning to her notice as she calmed down. She froze as the eureka moment struck her. Oh! That'll work. Now swinging the bag off of her shoulder she took it firmly in both hands and picked her target. One of the skeletons nearest to her wasn't looking directly at her and had unknowingly nominated itself as her first target.
She took a deep breath and charged, closing the distance rapidly with her university grade book bag. Just before impact she spun her body increasing the momentum of the book bag until she swung it at the creatures head, separating it cleanly from the body causing the creature to fall into a heap of inanimate bones and weaponry.
It took her a moment to realize that her plan had in fact worked and the creature before her was now dead. "Yes!"
She proclaimed loudly in her brief moment of triumph holding her tiny tightly clenched fists before her in celebration. A nearby scream seemed to bring her back to reality from this moment of temporary elation. "Right. I have a job to do." She crouched over the bones letting her book bag fall to the floor and began to root through the pile to withdraw the shiny shield the skeleton had been carrying and a large bone. She held the shield up, struggling with it's very real weight and slammed the bone against it several times making a noise large enough for all the skeletons to turn and look at her. What little confidence she had managed to rally was withering rapidly before the 'eyes' of so many monsters at once, but she gripped the shield tightly, prepared to hold for as long as necessary.
It was really a very untimely interruption. Just when the show was starting to get even better, the sound of screams would suddenly be heard from outside, causing those within the planetarium to stand up in alarm. The one managing the projections was just as clueless and tried her best to get everyone to settle down, even turning the light back on. Seeing all this unfold, Erica resigned to the fact that the show was over. She had one guess about what the commotion was all about, and knowing her luck, one guess was all she would need. Yet again these "interruptions" were getting in the way of her daily life.
As Erica sighed and stood up from her seat, people suddenly rushed in from outside to take refuge in the planetarium, all while screaming something about stray robots attacking. But were they really robots? Since she was seated close to the doors, it wasn't too difficult for her to slip outside, past the people fleeing in the opposite direction. If this was really the type of situation she was thinking it was, then she literally couldn't just stay out of it. And frankly that suited her just fine. She wasn't too pleased at getting her day off interrupted and she had an urge to take out her annoyance on someone or something. If she could help people along the way as part of her contract, then that was killing two birds with one stone.
The scene outside was chaos as expected. The source of robot attack claims were a group of skeletons, armed with swords and attacking everyone around them. It was one of those unfair scenarios where the enemy could flaunt themselves as they wished with no regard for witnesses or keeping things secret. Meanwhile, Erica was bound by a code to not let magic be known.
Just as she was pondering her course of action, another girl would spring at the scene, seemingly coming from the direction of the planetarium as well. She stood out to Erica because she was the only one not running away and instead even trying to approach one of the skeletons. She whacked one in the head with her bag and when the monster lost its skull, the rest of its body just collapsed into a pile of bones.
So weak. If that was all it took to beat them, then the local police force should have no problem suppressing these things at all. Those were the thoughts that lingered in Erica's mind. The girl wasn't through playing hero though and tried to draw the attention of the other skeletons to her. Was she planning something else? She was either very brave, very foolish, or maybe she was in a similar situation to Erica in which she couldn't just leave the situation alone. If it was the third, then this would be the first time Erica would run into someone else like that. It didn't look like she picked up the grief seed from that first skeleton though so she wasn't sure.
Looking around for something to use, Erica spotted a ball fountain close by outside the planetarium and had a spark of an idea. Standing behind the big sphere away from any prying eyes, she activated her puppet strings and took control of the ball. Now there wasn't much a huge marble ball could do other than roll, but that was the only thing she was after anyway. Detaching itself from its base, the large ball began to roll in the direction of the skeletons until it got out of range of Erica's strings. That was fine because all she needed to do was setup the direction and give it a rolling start. Momentum would take care of the rest. It would take a while for the skeletons to notice the ball as the other girl's clanging would do a decent job of attracting their attention. And so before any of them could react, five of them were taken out like bowling pins as the ball crashed into their formation. By this time Erica had already retreated behind a pillar, watching the scene out of sight and looking for her next opportunity.
Celeste could feel her brain stalling at the sight of a large marble boulder crushing through the rows of skeletons. It was like something out of a movie had been unceremoniously dropped into reality and yet managed to be even stranger than the skeletons. She swiftly looked about for the cause of the marble ball's momentum but couldn't see anything that would have caused it. The moment she had dedicated to looking for the cause quickly punished her as a skeleton's steel hammer impacted on the shield she had been holding sending both her and the shield flying in different directions. Her body lifted off the ground a short distance and depositing her with a dull thump. She couldn't escape the quiet utterance of pain from newly acquired bruising. "Owwwww..."
Her hands moved underneath her into an unenthusiastic push up and with some trepidation she lifted herself back to her feet. The war hammer toting skeleton continued to close in on her, and she now had the unfortunate realization that the skeleton was between her and the shield she had used. There's no way I can take a hit from that thing again and I'm not strong enough to defend against it.. But maybe she didn't need to. There were people still running away of course, but they weren't exactly looking at her after all... She crouched a bit, getting into a ready stance to run, and watched the skeleton get even closer. Just as it lifted the great steel hammer back for a swing she lunged forward and around the skeleton. "Incito" A slight red flash glowed beneath her shirt and scarf for just a moment before she shot around the skeleton far quicker than before and made for her original position.
She didn't bother retrieving the shield this time but instead took up the steel sword the first skeleton had left behind. It was heavier than she was used to, but she turned and sprinted towards the skeleton once more hardly bothered by it's weight. The war hammer swung directly downward missing where she had just been by a moment and her blade lashed out vengeance divesting the skeleton of its arm. She swung in the same way she had been practicing so often and was rewarded as the steel sword cut through the brittle bones; three quick cuts more and the creature collapsed into a pile of bones again. A small smile broke out on her face for this small victory before she turned towards the marching mass of bones with renewed confidence.
Three more skeletons had closed in on her present position and she charged forward to meet them. The closest one swung its sword and she found herself forced to parry. The move was sloppy and showed off her inexperience as she barely managed to deflect the swing and give herself the absolute minimum of time required to lash out with a quick slash before the skeleton could swing again. She dodged this swing for the most part receiving a slightly bleeding cut on her left arm, however with the greater opening created by the dodge she stabbed her sword into the skeleton's skull apparently defeating it. This left her ill equipped to block the club careening towards her temple as it connected sending her to the ground again in pain. She couldn't really see much more than stars out of her left eye and had fallen backwards from the hit. A spear impacted close by and she scrambled back to her feet pushing herself even further back from the skeletons. I can kill one, but the others will close in and counter harder. I need to bring them into a smaller area. Her back struck the door to the planetarium and she was forced to push into the building again dazedly retreating and waiting for her vision to clear.
Erica was actually somewhat rooting for the girl, all things considered. Someone willing to act out in the open was exactly what she needed to keep attention off herself while she made her own contributions. Erica couldn't quite call her moves polished however. And despite having the courage to draw a huge group to herself, it didn't seem like she actually had a solid method or plan for dealing with large numbers surrounding her. A moment of carelessness would send her flying from a stray blow, though she would recover quickly from it.
As Erica continued to watch and wait for an opportunity to make her next move, the girl suddenly demonstrated heightened agility, beyond what would normally be possible for an ordinary human. That settled it. She was definitely one of those special people. It was rather bold of her though to make that move now despite taking great care to look like an ordinary person until just a while ago. Perhaps she thought there was no one else around staying to see what was going on.
The girl put up a valiant fight, but in the end the numbers were just overwhelming and she was forced to retreat back into the building. Erica watched as the skeletons followed after her, entering in pairs as the door wasn't big enough for all of them to go in at once. The final remaining pair lingered outside for bit, looking around before making their way inside too.
It was at this point that Erica stepped out of her hiding place and made a dash for the two skeletons while their backs were turned. She passed by one of the defeated pile of bones and activated her puppet strings to take control of a sword that she launched right at the back of one of the skeletons, impaling and defeating it. The other one turned around and started heading towards Erica to attack her but she was already expecting that. She used her puppet strings again, this time on the sword of the other skeleton that she just defeated. As it was collapsing to the ground its arm swung the blade in its hand in an arc to lop off the head of the remaining skeleton. That was two down.
As she had a little time to breathe, she bent down for a bit to examine the remains of the skeletons more closely and spotted what were unmistakably grief seeds. It would probably be dangerous to to just leave them like that and so she made sure to collect what was scattered outside before venturing into the planetarium herself. Of course should the other girl be interested in them, Erica was willing to hand over her proper share. But that would also depend on how she would handle the rest of them.
Cautiously, she slipped back inside into the building, keeping a close eye on her surroundings. It would be bad if some skeletons actually stayed behind there to try and ambush people like her who entered.
An unusually shrill scream from nearby pulled at her attention forcing her to look at it's source rather than take advantage of the skeleton's temporary hindrance of pushing through the door. The source of the scream seemed to be the very same man who had given her the ticket for the planetarium and while his high voice was amusing it was hardly the most interesting thing in the room. It was more that no matter which way she looked she could not hear or see anyone else in the building. It was like everyone had evacuated somewhere. The man made a bolt for the planetarium room and what she was starting to believe might be a second exit from the building. She continued to back pedal away from the skeletons, adjusting her direction so that she would retreat to the planetarium room. If there is another exit and everyone made it out, then that would be the perfect place to fight.
When she got close enough to look down the hallway a quick glance confirmed her hypothesis that there was another door out of the room. The way it was hanging open letting daylight stream in was fairly undeniable and she felt a grin grow at the sight. She turned and started to briskly run through the walkway banging her sword on the metal barriers that prevented people from getting to close to exhibits and sprinted towards the open door. With a swift swing the she slammed the door shut and listened to the all too welcome noise of if auto locking. At last she turned to the advancing skeletons watching them stream into aisles in single file lines. At last..
She threw her steel sword at the advancing skeletons and placed her hands together, only to slowly pull them apart. "Pluvia Sanguinis." The sword seemed to materialize out of her hand, back lit by the brightly glowing red gem necklace, as she pulled them farther apart bringing the cruel looking red blade into reality. She held it at the ready with both hands feeling the all too familiar weight and balance of the weapon, her weapon. Celeste selected her first target in the farthest left row of skeletons and began to push into the row. Rushing closer she dispatched the first with a preemptive strike to its skull feeling the blade cleave through with little to no effort and took care not to step on the newly formed pile of bones as she continued to push into the aisle. The next skeleton was quicker on the draw and it's steel blade sang through the air towards her receiving the hard block of eerie red blade. The blade was held fast horizontally and supported at two ends like she had practiced and having its momentum stopped so suddenly seemed to stall the skeleton opening up it's stance.
Swiftly she took advantage of the opening slashing upwards with the blade once more held in both hands. The weapon seemed to sing as it bifurcated each rib bone and promptly opened up the skull. Celeste pushed through the bones as they fell keeping her weapon high from the last hit she turned the sword down and chopped away at the next skeleton in the line felling it as well. With all three in the line destroyed she turned her attention to the other aisles noting how some skeletons were reaching the end of the aisle and turning to enter hers. Another had started to try and crawl over the seats to get near her and received a prompt finishing stab for it's troubles.
It seemed Erica had stayed outside a tad too long. By the time she entered the building to try and catch up with the girl and the other skeletons, she just barely spotted the last of them going through the doorway to the projection room where they were earlier. The lack of screams would tell her that the people who had taken refuge inside before were probably no longer there. Still she had to wonder what the girl was thinking, leading those things to where civilians might have been hiding. At least luck favored her that the people were already somewhere else. Unless she somehow knew that herself. Well it was no use overthinking things. What's done was done. On her way after them, she picked up a paperweight that was on the receptionist counter, now devoid of people. She would only be borrowing it for a while.
As she reached for the door handle to enter the room herself, she paused for a moment to think. She could hear the sounds of a fierce battle going on inside, particularly the clashing of blades. At this point, should she choose to proceed, there was no longer any watching from the shadows. Opening the door was essentially the same as announcing her presence. Of course there wasn't anything wrong with that. But she did wonder what would be the best kind of entrance. Perhaps appearing to enter the room by mistake?
Smiling, she pushed open the door, pretending to nearly stumble forward as she did. The main lights were off and so the room was fairly dim. Her entrance would cause the light from outside to illuminate the part of the room near the entrance just a bit, drawing the attention of a few of the skeletons and of course the girl fighting. Erica took particular note of the peculiar sword she was wielding, almost certain that none of the skeletons were holding anything as flashy as that. Was it her own weapon then? She smiled a little, though with the light outside behind her, you wouldn't really be able to make out the expression she had on her face.
"Oh dear..."
Two of the skeletons would turn around and start walking towards her. Meanwhile hidden behind her back, held by her left hand, was the paperweight she had picked up earlier, glowing ever so slightly.
Celeste had just been deciding which way to cut through the skeletons when the door opening provided her an answer and a bigger problem. Someone had entered the room; backlit by the brighter lights of the corridor she could make out no more than a rough sense of their build and a large amount of shining blond. All of that work to try and get a safe place in which to fight and someone had to stumble into the battle anyway. Who would be crazy enough to run towards the sounds of danger. That thought had a sobering effect, as she pushed towards the door and hence closer to the two skeletons directly in front of her. Perhaps they're intending to be here, just like me.
The skeleton swung one of its swords out towards her and received a prompt block for its actions but before she could capitalize another swing from its second sword forced her to step backward. She tried another swing to have it blocked by both blades this time and blocked another one of its swings. In the back of her mind time ticked away until the skeletons got to the new girl for better or worse thus forcing her to be reckless in her next attack. She waited until just before the skeleton swung its swords and jumped up using one of the chairs as a platform to kick off. In the air she sailed just over both swings and brought her blade down in a crushing blow to its skull. Satisfied with that one and realizing how much time she took with bringing it down she turned a quick eye backwards to see the skeleton behind her beginning a swing at eye level to her. She dropped herself to her knees barely in time and rewarded the skeleton with a slash to its waist crushing the brittle bones and turned to deal with the final obstacle between her and the girl.
The next skeleton held a large shield at the ready, able to cover the entirety of its body and a small spear held above it. She balked at the very notion of going through this wall of steel. Her blade sang out striking the shield multiple times as she tried to make an attack around it or above it at the skull of the creature but every time it simply positioned the shield to block the attack and countered with the spear landing several grazing hits on her arms. She glared at the skeleton frustrated that it was so effectively blocking her. An idea came to her as she dodged a spear thrust, noting how the spear had a wooden handle that started just after the metal point. Celeste swung her blade and then faked out of the swing at the last moment, dodging the predicted spear thrust and brought her blade to bare on the spear itself. The eerie sword slashed through the spear cleanly reducing it to a nub held by the skeletal hands. With the threat removed she grabbed a hold of the top of the shield and held it reducing its ability to block and half climbed the shield swinging her sword over the top until it connected with something causing the shield to go limp as bones collapsed. She let go, and landed safely on the ground preparing to run forward to the girl's potential aid when a hand grabbed her leg and pulled causing her to fall to the ground hard.
She looked up, tasting a bit of blood in her mouth where she had bit her tongue, at a skeleton torso crawling towards her with a sword it now held. Half frustrated and half desperate she instinctively kicked at the skeleton's skull before bringing her blade into the best stab she could manage given her new position on the floor. Thankfully it was enough as the thing collapsed into a less organized pile of bones. She stood up as fast as she could and looked to the girl once again, in her heart feeling that she'd taken far too long.
At least she was trying. That was Erica's thought as the other girl hacked away at the skeletons between the two of them in an effort to get to her. She was rather handy with the sword but watching her like that, Erica came to the conclusion that she likely didn't possesses any abilities that allowed her to attack from a range. It was also a bit strange that the girl was forcing her way through instead trying to draw attention to herself like she had been doing all this time. Did she forget that she was able to attract the skeletons to her earlier by making loud noises? It probably wasn't on purpose, but banging on the shield of the spear-wielding skeleton would at least draw the attention of one the two approaching Erica back to her.
Still the girl was taking too much time with fighting and Erica decided she had to take care of that one skeleton that was still heading her way. She quickly stepped back out of the room, closing the door as she did, but that wasn't going to stop the skeleton who forcefully pushed the door open a few seconds later. This would be the first time today that she was facing one of these things head on. Every other instance before now she had gotten the jump on them, thanks in part to the other girl being very good at getting their attention, though not this time.
She figured she ought to try engaging the monster properly. She jumped back while simultaneously tossing in front of her the paperweight she was holding. Suddenly bits and pieces of the floor began to crack and break with the debris being drawn to the paperweight like a magnet. It only took a couple of seconds at best, but before Erica now stood a tall humanoid figure made of marble and stone. Meanwhile thin strings of light extended from her fingertips in the direction of the humanoid figure, though they turned invisible before actually showing any connection to the figure. The skeleton halted its advance, staring blankly at the new "opponent" that appeared before it.
"Honestly, this is a bit excessive. A skilled enough human proved that you lot can be taken down by human-level strength. This one has enough strength to lift a ca..."
Of course the skeleton didn't care about anything she said. Before she could finish talking it charged forward with its shield while raising its sword arm to strike. Well, it wasn't as though she was expecting to have any sort of proper conversation with a monster anyway. She moved her fingers slightly and her golem assumed a fighting stance, winding up its arm for a haymaker. There was no need for any sort of technique or deception here. They possessed the superior strength and so she would use it to its fullest. The powerful punch connected with skeleton's shield and sent the monster flying backwards. It crashed through the planetarium door and broke into many pieces when it made impact on the floor. Erica didn't actually see that part, but somehow she was certain that punch defeated it.
"Hmm. That was really a little too much. But thanks for the good work."
With just a thought, the marble stone golem fell apart returning to its composite materials and the paperweight that had been its core flew back to Erica's hand. She imagined that one skeleton being sent flying through the door probably startled the other girl. It would be best if she didn't leave a tall golem materialized there to stress the girl out her any further when she was done cleaning up the rest of the skeletons in the planetarium and came out. She's had a rough day.
Sure enough, she couldn't see the girl and by the rough count of skeletons one had followed her out there. Internally she cursed her foolishness; she should have done something different. She should have been better. The thought was bitter in her mind but this was no place for self reflection as a spear narrowly missed her left ear from behind. She turned moving out of the way of the next stab silently thanking whatever deity was watching for the skeletons bad aim. One swing removed the tip of the spear again and the next tore apart the creature's skull as her blade delivered punishment for that failure.
Being more proactive this time she turned towards the one skeleton that had opted to change targets to her and pushed closer to it. Once more being out of the aisles she found it significantly easier to dodge and had no problems side steeping the skeleton's sword swing to relieve the skeleton of it's skull. She had made sure to go for the heads this time, there was to be no more torso tripping.
Celeste turned back to the door at last and was about to go through when a collection of bones came flying out of the door and scattered themselves before the door's opening. She jumped back a tad and tightened her grip on her blade thinking it some sort of attack. However, the bones seemed to be broken up, like a few of the piles she had left behind her in the aisles. This got her mind moving again as she slowly walked forward to find out who had yet again helped her. Her red blade retracted itself swiftly into her other hand with the words barely whispered, though she took care to do it behind her back, hiding the method from sight. "Pluvia Sanguinis" It was not out of a sense of duplicity that she hid it, but rather a very acute understanding of how unpleasant it appeared to be to herself much less anyone else who witnessed it.
She walked out of the door, looking more or less like she had just done all that she had. Small narrowly dodged cuts decorated her clothes, dried blood adorned her left shoulder and her gait was akin to a person who had only just finished a marathon. And yet she was still herself and the moment she was in speaking range to the girl her confidence plummeted and her voice seized up hard. One hand instinctively went up the scarf she had around her neck and tightened it's grip on it, a physical match for the imagined tightening on her throat. "H-hello." She started lamely, at an utter loss as to what to possibly say, she felt a thank you was in order and struggled around getting it out. Unlike the greeting she had more practice with this one and threw in the bow she had learned at work. "Th-thank you for your assistance." Righting herself she looked at the girl a bit more critically taking note of the way she looked now that she could actually see her. Not a scratch on her anywhere that she could see, and those eyes. Interesting contact lenses she thought to herself.
Erica stood still for a bit, looking at the paperweight on her hand against the light and admiring it. It was a fine crystalline piece that reminded her of precious stones. It wasn't as though she intended to wait for the battle in the planetarium to finish, but perhaps in a way she wanted to know what became of the "heroine" that stepped up to the occasion. It didn't take too long. Soon enough, the other girl finally emerged from the projection room looking worse for wear. She approached Erica, appearing a bit uncertain with herself. With some difficulty she stammered a greeting followed by a bow and thanks. To which Erica reacted with some mild surprise.
"Thanks for assistance? I'm not quite sure what you mean."
Erica returned the paperweight she was holding to the receptionist counter which was just a couple of steps away from where they stood. She did promise to return it after borrowing it. Though seeing the current state of the planetarium, a lost paperweight was probably going to be the least of their concerns.
"If anything you deserve the thanks for taking care of all of that. So allow me to say thank you on behalf of everyone else who cannot because they were unaware of your brave actions."
She gave the girl a short one-person applause for a few seconds before continuing to speak.
"You look terrible though. But I think it's a good sign you're still able to walk and talk. Let me book you a ride to the hospital to get those scratches patched up. It's the least I can do."
Erica took out her phone from her purse and quickly requested for a car to pick them up and drive them to the nearest hospital. Well, it was mostly for the girl. Erica wasn't hurt in the slightest. But if a beat up girl stuck around here when the authorities and everyone else arrived, it would raise some annoying questions so it was best that she left as fast as she could.
"I suppose it's weird getting taken cared of by a stranger. Believe me, I wouldn't consider myself a saint or anything. But certain obligations must be fulfilled. Ah, I guess we can consider this to be the assistance that I owe you. Your thanks earlier was a little premature after all."
"I'm Erica by the way. Erica Cypher."
"Oh, how lucky. It seems we've got a car on the way already. They're just under a block away."
The skin LIGHTS OFF was made by JAWN of WICKED WONDERLAND.
HALATION was created by KOJIHIME. Images belong to their respective artists. All codes and scripts belong to their respective coders. Please DO NOT take anything without the owners' permission.
