Eyes aglow with fire, Manic would stand weapon at the ready, magic coursing through the very fiber of his being like a raging rapid. All games were through, there was no playing, nothing but the utmost seriousness played the expression across his visage. Step after step the domineering figure strode forward, a beacon of death and darkness, its presence remaining constant as the swirls of energy licked their way across his flesh. All muscles would tense and expand to strained proportions as he called out to the two figures before him, “WHERE!....IS!....SHE!?” Unlike with that of Cordelia, there was no sense of enjoyment in his voice, but instead only utter detest.

Stepping from alongside that of Gharik, a man known as Valius would emerge out from beneath the archway and into the radiant light of the moon. The man didn’t seem much of a threat, but it would quickly change when he lifted both of his arms upwards, summoning forth from the slumber two massive golems. They stood at a height nearly triple that of his own who himself was at a very impressive 6’ 1”. Grin prominent upon his face, the man would call out in mock challenge to Manic, “Beat us and you will find out!” Without wasting a second time the one known as Valius issued forth both of the golems towards that of Manic, intent to sending him to an early grave.

Eyes narrowing in response to the mocking words of Valius, Manic’s right arm would tense up. In one swift and concise movement the arm would drift in sharply to his midriff, before jerking swiftly off to his flank where he would release the blade to send it tip first into the soft earth. From there, he would sling the skeleton looking bow from his shoulder and take it up in his hands. Moving a hand over his shoulder momentarily, it would bring back a long shafted arrow which would then be place upon the drawstring of the bow, before finally pulling it back. Dialing in the flight path and trajectory of the arrow, he would release the string to let the arrow fly in its path towards the head of Valius only to have it swatted away by one of the approaching golems.

An issued grunt would follow the action of the arrow getting deflected. So much for ending it quickly and painlessly… Tossing the bow off to the side, Manic would move a hand out to the blade at his side, only to unsheathe it and toss it to the ground alongside the other sword. Removing staff and quiver of arrows from his back, he would proceed to toss them upon the ground along with the rest of his weapons. It would be easily accessible should the need for them arise and there would be nothing to hinder his movements all throughout the fight. At least that was the hope, it all would depend on what these golems were capable of…From simple observation, their movements were sluggish, but there was no doubt that their power was no to be questioned. It would be something to take a great heed to, but on top of that there was the ring leader and then Gharik. Four against one were not good odds…But there was no way he was going to sit by idly and allow them to hurt Alaina. Such a thing was inexcusable and wouldn’t happen so long as he still drew breath.

With time running out, Manic proceeded to remove his jacket only to toss it off onto the ground a good distance behind him. The action seemed foreign for Manic, but it was quickly pushed aside another simple thing that would only slow him down when things got too close. The newly exposed flesh of his torso seemed strange and odd to any onlooker, while most seemed quite normal the rest…left questions unanswered. The blackened state of his back and the coursing vibrant red marks that pulsated to the surface with each beat of the heart would more the less draw the most attention. That blackened state didn’t just stop at the back either, it seemed to have spread down the entire length of his right arm, darkening it straight to the tips of his digits. What seemed odd was the fact that wherever the darkness spread, the same red pulsating markings went in jagged and eloquent nature.

Activating a couple of spells within his mind; the first would modify his physical appearance, expanding each muscle to a much more defined state, before shrinking back down to their natural state. The power withheld in each of them would be enough to do some substantial damage to these creatures before him. Next on the list was one that would modify the movements of his body, hastening them to inhuman proportions and in conjunction to that all of his movements would become blurred with the following spell. It was after the activation of that spell when he noticed another presence…A sudden sinking feeling bore into his pit at the thought of another joining in against him. Not only was he already going against impossible odds, but another would join the fray at their side. Out of the very few people, none of them would think about coming to his aid other than the odd girl. That would be highly unlikely…

Shifting eyes from left to right they finally rested on a form….

Finally, she had the time to come back to Norwood to see Alaina again! The woman had wanted to return for so long, just to say hello to the sweet little girl that had helped her through her blindness. It was a nice night, with the moon shining brightly overhead, and with nothing else to do, she had decided to come see the little girl. If it hadn’t been for Alaina, teaching her how to use her other senses and not depend so heavily on sight, Cordelia didn’t know what she would have done. The fact that the girl was so loving and sweet made it so much easier than she had thought it would have been. She had already thanked the girl before, but she had wanted to thank her again. Alaina deserved all the credit and she had no problems letting her know that. Now that her sight had returned, along with all of the burns on her body healed except for some on her face, she could finally come out here and speak to Alaina without any discomfort. She couldn’t wait to see her precious little self and her beautiful smile…

However, upon reaching the area, the girl was no where to be found. Cordelia’s eyebrows shot up and she looked around, wondering if this was the right spot. The moon had shone down brightly on the path to help her navigate, even though she hadn’t needed the assistance, and the ground had felt so familiar beneath her feet. Even though she hadn’t seen the trees the last time she had been here, she could remember their distinct, strong feel and the way they loomed above her. There was also that certain smell, and Cordelia curled in her upper lip, biting it and trying to figure out what was wrong. This had certainly been where she had first met Alaina… so why wasn’t she there?

Perhaps she had simply left for a while. The last time she had been there, she had had a dog with her, so maybe the animal needed to go for a walk or something. Still, it was odd that she wasn’t there; she would have thought the girl was always there. Deciding not to think too hard on the matter, Cordelia looked around for a place to sit, and upon doing so caught a glance of a piece of paper out of the corner of her eye. It wasn’t her place to read what was probably Alaina’s property, but the vampire had always been far too curious for her own good. With one last quick glance around the area to make sure no one was near, Cordelia walked toward the paper and picked it up off the ground, dusting it off before doing her best to smooth out the wrinkles. Upon reading it, her eyebrows furrowed and a frown pulled at her mouth. It had been signed by Manic, but it certainly didn’t look like his handwriting. It made sense for him to do such a thing, though; he always called people to him instead of hunting them down himself, and to call a child to such a dangerous place should have been expected after what he – or rather, Andros, if there was any difference – had done to his family.

The handwriting didn’t sit right with her, however. She narrowed her eyes, examining it and trying to remember where she had seen it. It wasn’t Manic’s, that much she already knew, but she also knew she had seen it before. Suddenly it clicked and she gasped, folding up the paper and stuffing it into her pocket. Gharik had written it, not Manic… trouble was written all over this. Gharik was trouble; he had gotten her hurt, and he would probably do the same to Alaina! No, she wouldn’t stand for it! She wouldn’t allow that armored man to let that child get hurt, not if she had any say in this!

Without a second thought, she dashed off in the direction of the ruins, leaping over logs and not stopping or slowing her pace once. She had no need to worry; breathing wasn’t a necessity for her, so running out of breath was all near impossible. The only reason she ever breathed to begin with was because it made it easier to speak and even though she felt like screaming right now and ripping Gharik to shreds, there was no time to do it. Cordelia hoped with every fiber of her being that her initial idea was wrong, completely and utterly wrong, but didn’t think so. Gharik had hurt her under Manic’s orders and without Manic’s orders… what was to stop him from doing something to that poor child? The only hope she had was that he had said that Manic was a terrible father for killing his child; with any luck, Gharik wouldn’t turn out to be a hypocrite.

Upon reaching the ruins, Cordelia saw the figures of Manic, Gharik, and a few others who she didn’t know, and immediately her anger reached its peak. Alaina’s presence wasn’t there, however, which disturbed her greatly. Her blue eyes were aflame and she stayed back, just watching for the time being. Her eyes focused on Manic, narrowing as they did so, and she was slightly shocked to see him without his jacket. It wasn’t like him at all – every other time she had seen him, he had been wearing that jacket and had never taken it off. His skin was black, just as hers had been, with the same red marks that had been there the night he blinded her. If it had been Andros that blinded her and those red marks had showed up just around then… well, simply put, it almost looked like she had been right.

Her hand grabbed the hilt of her blade, even though she wasn’t sure how much help that was going to be. She didn’t even know what she was doing; all she knew was that she wanted Alaina to be safe and out of harms way, which meant to get her away from this fight. As she did so, Manic’s eyes found their way to her and she snorted, deciding she wasn’t going to hide in the shadows any longer. She stepped closer to them, slowly of course, and stayed a good distance away so that she wouldn’t get caught in anything just yet.

“I go to Norwood to thank that precious child for helping me and what do I find? I find her missing! MISSING! And I find a note telling her to come to the ruins! Now I know Manic isn’t the greatest guy around so it would make sense for him to call a child to a dangerous place – but I also happen to know Gharik’s handwriting and know that isn’t beneath him, either, to hurt others…” Cordelia’s voice was dripping with anger, the pitch rising and falling as she tried to control herself for a few more moments. “Gharik, you sick son of a… you said Manic was horrible for doing that… look at yourself! YOU wrote that note, I know your damned handwriting. What kind of man manipulates a child? What kind of man uses a child for… for whatever it is the hell you’re doing?! Dammit, I don’t even need to know what this is about because I know you’re somehow going to hurt Alaina! No… no, no, no… it’s obvious who’s the man here and who the monster is… and I’ll be damned if I side with the monster.”

With that, she ripped off her maroon coat and unsheathed her sword, all in one fluid motion. She knew that Manic had hurt her so much in the past and that he didn’t deserve her help. In fact, he deserved to suffer for what he did to her. But she knew that he cared for Alaina… she knew that he was here to save her. If he tried to hurt her after this, then she would just have to hurt him too and take Alaina somewhere safe. No matter what, though, Gharik was currently the enemy. He had always been the enemy, from the first time she had met him. He had been the one that had tried to hurt her with the scythe, not Manic, even if Manic had ordered him to – and he had been the one to get her into the whole ordeal of losing her sight. Manic might have been a beast… but Gharik was worse.

“So, Manic, let’s split this up so you aren’t overwhelmed. They’re fighting unfairly, after all. Who do you want to get? I’ll take whoever you don’t want.” Her eyes flicked from Gharik to Manic, finally resting on Manic and staying on him, waiting for the response. If he didn’t say anything, then she would end up going after Gharik. She had enough against him to easily fight him.

Gharik stepped forward from alongside that of the summoner alongside of him, only to draw all of his attention to the woman next to Manic. What a nuisance this woman proved to be, always in the way and when it came right down to it she was completely and utterly useless. He had found that out when he offered her what he had in hopes to bring down Manic. But now, here the man stood as violent as ever and stronger than ever before. And from the looks of it he had a very unlikely ally in the whole course of this confrontation. It mattered very little; there were a total of four of them. The two, would be more than enough for Manic or the woman to handle, which meant he could simply slip out of this confrontation without being dragged in it really. All he wanted to do was see Manic fall, but now with the introduction of Cordelia, it was beginning to get risky to keep himself out of the confrontation.

No motion arose within the frame of Manic, other than the simple casting glance to the woman. All of her words meshed and molded together in a sound of inaudibility, since his main focus was centrally on that of the two golems approaching him and the man controlling him. No passing glance strayed towards Gharik, but he was very aware that the man was there and it was only confirmed with Cordelia’s words. Then her question would shortly follow, leaving him to simply gesture off towards that of Gharik, not really caring at the moment what she did. All time was absorbed in their words and starting actions that the first course of violence would begin its march in the form of a careening fist aimed to Manic’s torso. Instantaneously both of his hands drifted in front of him to catch the oncoming fist to hold it at bay, before waiting for the next golem to start his action which almost mirrored that of the others. Pushing forward against the offending hand, Manic would pivot and spin off to the right flank of the arm just as the other golems crashed into the others, sending the massive arm swinging off towards the retreating form of Manic. Ducking under the arm, it would pass effortlessly over him, but just as it had he would leap up and onto the arm where he would begin up its length.

Now at the shoulder of the massive standing figure, Manic would draw an arm back only to bring it forward as another spell left his thoughts, “Stoneskin.” With a loud clack of stone against stone, Manic’s fist would ricochet off to the side, before drawing it back and repeating. The action seemed to do sub-par damage in the forms of chips, but nothing ground breaking which left him rather disappointed. Faltering in the actions, Manic turned to take a glance at the other golem. What revealed caused his eyes to grow wide in shock. Who in their right mind would attack their fellow comrade just to get someone else? It seemed highly illogical, but that was his downfall, because before he could even move a muscle the fist rammed into his stone covered torso, smashing him flat against the other golems head and sending them both to the ground in heaps. After a period of time the lifeless form of Manic stirred to life in a groan and a fit of coughs. Pushing himself back to his feet, chunks of the stone that covered his flesh broke away to reveal cuts and scrapes across his gradually exposed flesh.

Blood trickled from random spots across his torso, but it was nothing to worry about. Shifting his attention to the still grounded golem, a sick sadistic grin crossed his slender lips at the appearance of the cracks that littered the things face. That was not the concern at the time being, the main concern resided in the one that was currently standing. There wasn’t any time to waste so Manic would bring the fight to another level in hopes to end it quicker. Should it fail to do anything against these things, then it would be one massive mana sink for his body to handle and could very well bring the fight into the hands of this summoner. Deciding to give it a shot, both of his arms shot upwards, “Let hell rain down its destruction! Cordelia it would be wise to seek refuge for the time being!” No more than his words finished the sky would pick up a deep red tint in random spots as streams of meteors came down into the earth with a destructive force that left craters in their wake. Those same meteors would hit far and few between, what counted though were the ones that collided and exploded through portions of each golem. Even the summoner controlling them had to suffer movements of avoidance. Gharik on the other hand vacated and tried to seek refuge in one of the surrounding ruined buildings where he would be safe from Manic’s onslaught of destruction.

Once inside, Gharik would spin around to face the door, drawing his axe off from his back and taking it up in both of his hands, knowing full well that Cordelia would follow. Should she enter through the door, the massive frame of his body would rock forward to bring the scythe up and then sharply down towards anything it could get of the woman’s body….

Her blue eyes spotted Gharik and immediately locked on him, taking her attention away from Manic for the most part. The majority of her attention remained on him, though she remembered that he was not the only person there. She stayed still at Manic’s side, albeit rigid and trembling slightly, begging to go into action. As of late, she had been acting more and more with her vampiric, animalistic instinct; then again, such a thing was to be expected after the extreme amount of anger that had been plaguing her. Now, though, unlike the whole time throughout her blindness, she wasn’t blaming Manic. While he did have a part in it, she was shifting the fault. Manic had been the one to commit the deeds… but Gharik had been the instigator, the one who truly deserved her hate. Cordelia wasn’t one to forgive and forget and so she hadn’t quite let go of her grudge for Manic, but right now she was far too concerned with Gharik to remember that.

That simple gesture toward Gharik was all she needed. Once again, without any hesitation, she was off, eyes narrowed and not bothering to breathe. She ran around the golems, staying out of their path; she didn’t want to deal with creatures so large. She knew what she could handle and what she couldn’t, and she especially knew what she wanted to handle and what she didn’t. As of right now, she did not want to handle those golems. She wanted Gharik, and she knew she could handle him. It had taken time, but she wasn’t as weak as she was before. Now, she actually had a fighting chance against him. He would regret doing everything to her. He would regret the first day they met, writing her that letter, pinning her to the wall, being the reason she had gone blind, and above all else, he would regret ever bothering to challenge Manic this one last time using Alaina as a tool. Cordelia wasn’t one for justice; she cared little for it and thought the word had no true meaning. Revenge, on the other hand, meant the world to her… and that was exactly what would be served tonight in all its glorious fury.

She took a brief moment to glance back at Manic, not slowing her pace as she did so. He seemed fine against those golems, so there was no reason to worry. Even if he hadn’t been fine, she wouldn’t have gone back to help him. He had told her to go after Gharik, and she wanted to do that – and besides, she wasn’t stupid enough to think she had a chance against something probably three times her height. She turned back to look in front of her and jumped over a rock protruding from the ground, grunting as she did so. This wasn’t exactly the ideal place to have a fight, but it would have to make due.

“Let hell rain down its destruction! Cordelia it would be wise to seek refuge for the time being!”

Again, the woman took a moment to glance back at Manic, not getting a very good look because she was so far away. Once the sky above them turned red, though, she knew he had something sneaky up his sleeve. She didn’t know exactly what it was, but it had to be something big for him to tell her to get out of the way. That was confusing in itself, though; why did he even care if she got hurt by it or not? She dismissed the thought and her eyes flicked to Gharik once again. Just as she turned to look he went through the door, causing a smirk to curve onto her lips. She picked up the pace a bit, taking longer and longer strides as she ran and licking her gleaming fangs and lips. She was a predator; anything that fled would be chased and anything that gave up would be killed on sight. Gharik had made the wonderful mistake of running, which of course only prompted her further into her instincts. Cordelia wasn’t one to really enjoy the thrill of the hunt, but for just this once, she would enjoy making Gharik run like the cur that he was. He would run until he could run no more, fight until it was futile and she would finish him.

She heard the meteor’s hit the ground, but didn’t take the time to look up at the sky or down at the ground. Her entire focus was on her prey and she wouldn’t become distracted. His scent lingered around the door and she slowed instantly, muttering an incantation. Before the spell took effect, she grabbed the handle and turned it just enough so that the door clicked and opened about an inch or two. Her body and sword then became translucent, and she laughed silently to herself as her body melded together with the air. She passed through the door, eyebrows rising as she felt the scythe go through her. No damage was done however, nor was there any pain or feeling.

She looked at Gharik from inside the scythe, and then stepped out of it, shaking her head as she walked a few paces away from him. Once she was far enough away, her body solidified and she simply looked at him, eyes narrowed and fangs bared. “Now, now, now…” she began in a voice filled with malice. Her voice wasn’t as natural sounding as it always was, but that was just a minor detail that she hadn’t realized. “That wasn’t very welcoming of you… I would have thought you would have been happier to see me.” She shrugged her shoulders, obviously not really caring. “But no matter… I’ll finish this quickly for you, mmkay?”

Cordelia opened the palm of her right hand while her left held onto the sword. After saying again what was necessary, the air began to twist and turn green until it became solid above her palm. The color darkened and once it was done, she aimed and threw the acidic bolt right for the area between his helmet and chest plate, having noticed the opening. Even if it didn’t hit that opening and get to his skin, it would at least stay on the armor. She had no idea if that would even really do anything, but it would be more effective than using a weapon. Magic was always so much more fun.

Each golem rose to towering heights, the damage apparently done to each of them in such destruction that it brought a wry and sadistic grin to his lips. If it weren’t for the stakes at play in this game then he may have enjoyed this all, but considering the situation this was far from enjoyable. With narrowed eyes Manic studied the two creatures, waiting for any sudden movement from the shattered looking Golems. Just as the thought that he would need to start the action, one of them bent down to pick up a large rock from one of the ruined buildings and heaved it in his direction. The action struck him as odd, but he simply slipped effortlessly around it never noticing the other golem’s movement. The second he emerged from behind the sight hindering boulder and it crashed in the earth behind him, another fist came into view at the last moment, catching him straight in the torso and sending him skidding off the ground a good distance upon his back.

The only way he was able to even move after such a thing was all thanks to the stone skin that had danced across his flesh only seconds earlier. Some parts of his body were still exposed, but it had covered enough to protect the vital portions of his body. Heaving a strained groan of effort from the depths of his larynx Manic pushed himself back to his feet, chunks of stone skin again falling to the ground just like the last time he took a blow. What lay beneath them chunks were only more cuts and scrapes, giving him a more bloodied appearance but it did nothing to hinder him any further. Without hesitation, Manic’s hand would bring them to a clap just in front of him, before thrusting them palm out to the Golems. In a searing bright light, a creature rose up from the earth bellow. It wasn’t as tall as the others or as strong, but it would do its own series of damage. Rushing forward in a rush Manic began towards the golem at the right, issuing forth command for his creature to follow at an utterance of a word.

Upon approach Manic’s legs flexed and sprung to full extension sending him into the air, only to then blink and appear upon the things shoulder at the moment it tried to swat him away. Once on his shoulder, Manic issued another command for the creature to attack the golem, hoping that its strike would focus at the upper portion of the creatures head if it could gain that much coverage to land that type of blow what with the height difference and all. At that instance Manic would spin violently into a counter clockwise spin, applying all momentum and strength into his right leg that would come swinging out to the neck of the giant, stone skin activating again in the process. With loud clangs the two landed their blows with enough force to tear the head of the golem completely from its shoulders only to send it rolling off to the ground. Following through with the attack, Manic struggled to regain balance and it was at that instance that the other golem made its move, completely ignoring the other behemoth at the command of its master.

Releasing an agonizing cry the hand slammed hard into his back sending him off to the ground again with a tumble of movement. Keeping within consciousness, he would peer up from his place upon his stomach at the behemoth that now seemed caught in the torrent of the two golems. To his surprise the other could still move even without his head and it would need to be fixed so he couldn’t. Uttering a command beneath his ragged breath, the Behemoth threw a fist towards the cracked portion of the torso on the headless golem. With an explosion of stone, a portion of the behemoths fist broke off, but the body of the golem seemed to crumble to the ground. Though as the behemoth landed its hit, the other golem brought both of its arms swinging out to the body of the behemoth, the impact enough to break apart the gradually weakening magic that held it together.

Releasing another strained groan Manic began to rise methodically, swaying here and there once he got to his feet, before doubling over an arm instantly moving to clutch itself across his chest and to his shoulder. This would need to end, there was no guarantee that he could take many more of these hits and keep stone skin up enough to prevent damage from them….

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Gharik blinked in surprise as the scythe passed effortlessly through the ghost like appearance of the woman before laughing to himself. She was becoming so much like Manic, even with his stupid little spells. Truly it was quite tiresome and annoying…With a grunt, a surge of strength rose throughout his body and the scythe would pop out from the woodworking of the doorway where it had made contact. Spinning around shortly after, Gharik brought the scythe up to its point at his shoulder where it would poise itself at the ready, only to then notice the woman conjuring something. It wasn’t something he had seen before, but it wasn’t really something he wanted to chance, so he would bring his scythe blunt edge down to the ground, the blade lingering just in front of his helm and chest plate only to shortly after notice the splash of green splatter off the sides of the blade. Instantly his body jerked back from the substance, not wanting to chance any getting to his face.

Glancing off to the side momentarily, his eyes danced across the ground where the green substance landed only to take notice of the bubbling nature of it. Some type of venom or acid was all he could think of. Spinning the scythe in hand, his eyes would focus upon the blade. Hopefully the stuff couldn’t do anything to metal, but then again he doubted that it could really…If anything it may weaken the integrity of the metal making it break easier, but that would need to be an issue later addressed when and if it came. Bringing the scythe back up to its poised perch, all attention centralized upon the woman before him in a scowl, “You and Manic should be a couple the way you’ve been siding as of late. I’m not sure what your purpose in all of this is, but you can blame this all on Manic. He gave the chess piece of to Alaina, he asked for this. But it really doesn’t matter. As we speak, you can hear his cries of agony and distraught as he’s getting simultaneously destroyed by the golems. Once he finally gives forth to the abyss, you’ll be next and even with your new little tricks there will be nothing you can do, NOTHING!” An insane laughter erupted from the knight at the sheer thought of how doomed the both of them would be.

Cordelia grunted when the venom bolt hit the blade instead of his body. She would have loved to hear him scream out when the acid hit him and he couldn’t do anything about it as it dripped down the insides of his armor, but it seemed that wasn’t going to work. She wasn’t losing hope yet, though; she would see him writhing in pain on the ground because of her if it took her all day. Of course, she doubted it would take that long this time. Manic wasn’t around to cast a sleep spell and she didn’t plan on falling victim to his strength again. Besides, it had at least hit the blade. She wasn’t sure if it would do anything to the metal, but if it did, then he would end up being without a weapon. Such a stupid, stupid move… he was making this all too easy for her.

“You and Manic should be a couple the way you’ve been siding as of late. I’m not sure what your purpose in all of this is, but you can blame this all on Manic. He gave the chess piece of to Alaina, he asked for this. But it really doesn’t matter. As we speak, you can hear his cries of agony and distraught as he’s getting simultaneously destroyed by the golems. Once he finally gives forth to the abyss, you’ll be next and even with your new little tricks there will be nothing you can do, NOTHING!”

Her jaw clenched the moment his voice came forth from under the helmet. She hated that voice; she would rejoice when he was finally finished. She couldn’t help but snort the more he talked. He certainly seemed to love to waste time talking… at least her rambles actually meant something. His, on the other hand, was completely useless and he had only wasted his breath trying to pin the blame on Manic. For but a moment, her eyes drifted over to the door, listening to see if she could hear Manic. She was far too focused on Gharik, though, to care. He could take care of himself, she had no doubts that he would make it out alive, even if he did get badly beaten. Andros had mentioned something about two hundred years – if Manic had lived for that long, there was nothing stopping him from living even longer.

“Your voice gives me a headache,” she said, clearly not amused. “I’d keep your mouth shut if I were you. Every filthy word that spills forth from your wretched mouth only gives me more and more incentive to rip you apart, piece by piece, and trust me I will enjoy it. He might have given her the chess piece, but I was under the impression that you wanted to be free from him. You got what you wanted, but then you keep coming back for more…” Cordelia paused, and once she continued, her voice lost all sense of calm. “Alaina is a child! You think you’re any better than Manic for bringing her into this and trying to hurt her?! You were done with Manic; you didn’t belong to him anymore! So stop whining and complaining about how everything is his fault! Maybe if you had never allowed yourself to be bossed around in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened to you! So now, I’ll show you what my purpose in all this is, and when I’m done with you, you’ll wish you had taken that venom bolt so you wouldn’t have to go through what I’ve got planned for you. You’re a sick, worthless, cur of a man… I can see why Manic would want to get rid of you… what a worthless existence you lead! I guess I’ll have to help you out of your poor little shackles, won’t I?”

While he was busy laughing, Cordelia cast the spells ‘weaken’ and ‘cause fear’ on him. She knew weaken would help her in this. The acid had already hit his scythe, and if he couldn’t use the full amount of his strength, then she already had a better chance at this than he did. How he would react under the second spell however was a mystery to her; people either became reckless, weaker, or angry, or they fought back or fled when under the influence of fear. She wasn’t going to wait around though to find out. Cordelia readied her sword and dashed at him, swinging at the blade of his scythe once she was close enough. If she could get rid of that weapon then he would be done for.

“And I’ll ask you once and only once, since it’s the only information you’re useful for – where is she?!” she yelled. She would beat it out of him if it was necessary.

It would seem they wanted to allow him no time, because the moment he looked up from his slumped state there was a fire ball heading his way. A grunt exited strained lips as feet danced their way to the side to keep him out of the path. The action seemed to cause him physical harm, but it was necessary to keep things rolling. It wasn’t until he stepped to the side that he noticed the golem’s hand coming straight towards him. Issuing a sigh, Manic kicked up stone skin one final time and braced himself for the blow. With a loud bang and rush of dust to the air, it would reveal the golem’s hand pinning Manic against one of the ruin walls. Bit by bit pressure was applied by the Golem at the whim of the controller, only to cause Manic to cry out in torment. With each increasing bit of pressure the stone skin was breaking away and as were the bones inside of his body.

Valius clapped his hands together before laughing to himself, “Come now…I was told you were a destroyer, a beast of a man. All I see is a sham. Guess the girl dies unless you think you can do anything about it.” Of course that wasn’t his part in the whole contract, but hopefully it would get Manic to fight back and if not…Then there would be disappointment at the fact that he could eliminate the so called king of kings and lord of lords with so little effort…

Muscles relaxed, vision blurred, and chest heaved with gasping breathes as the strain grew to unbearable proportions. But when the man opened his mouth, there was a new vitalization growing within his body; everything that was held contained within him opened in a roaring floodgate of energy and strength. Muscles tensed again, eyes narrowed, voice growling in the sudden uproar of strength released against the golem’s hand. After a moment the golem’s hand dislodged itself from the wall behind him and steadily began to get forced backwards, Manic following shortly after it in strides. Gruffly both of his hands shoved the massive hand aside and stood at a dignified position, before lifting each hand in front of his face.

Digits would curl and arc in a C like position before his visage, a crackle of black energy sparking from each of the palms and colliding in the center to resonate a deep black light. Just then a darkly outlined figure would emerge up from the ground as each hand moved off to parallel positions at his flanks. The crackles of energy would spark again and two more figures would manifest into existence. “It’s feeding time…And you’re playing with sharks, not the wisest choice you’ve made during this altercation.” There was a sense of pride and arrogance in his voice once again, no longer did the uncertainty linger in his mind, only straight up focus and it would begin to show in the next couple of moves that he made. The first was the motion that sent all three of the creatures skittering off in malicious intent towards the summoner, doing everything they could to avoid the giant golem blocking their path. To ensure their safety, a small ball of fire would begin to manifest within the palm of his right arm. Once it reached the desired diameter, his arm would lift upwards to the golem’s face, before launching the fireball straight into its face, causing it to turn all of its attention to him.

Wry in its nature, a grin would span the expanse of his lips, up-curling a corner, “Awww, what’s wrong big boy, don’t you want to play now…?” Not needing an answer the golem’s fist came smashing down into the ground where Manic once stood, but instead was now just a good distance off to the opposite flank. The creature tried to free the fist that was now trapped in the earth, but instead gave up and turned its attention to the man only to repeat the same thing. This time Manic appeared again just further off to the side and good distance off of its flank. The creature tried to free its hands only to find little avail in the effort, but it really didn’t matter if it could or couldn’t. Manic’s plan had worked to the fullest extent and without delay it would be followed through with as he suddenly dashed off towards the location he had thrown down his weapons. Taking up the bow in his hands, he would proceed to pluck a couple of arrows from the quiver holding them between each of his digits, the total adding up to five. Loading one up on the drawstring, all focus would narrow itself upon the now bound summoner who had been restrained by his minions during his little game with the golem.

All in one smooth swift motion the string bowed and grew taught, before becoming relinquished with a loud twanging noise and a soft whistle of air. The arrow sliced through the air arching in its flight before finding its home with its spearhead logged within the muscle just at the chest near the rotary cuff. Wasting no time Manic loaded another, planting it at the opposite side in roughly the same spot. The others would find themselves just off a couple inches from the groin and into the thick soft muscle structure of the thigh. The next would be loaded up on the string, but there would be no action to release it quite yet. Instead Manic would disappear again in a blink only to then appear roughly behind Valius. A couple steps would bring him within point blank range of the man’s backside. Taking the bow up tightly in his hands, the spearhead would lift and loom ominously just centimeters from the base of the spine at the neck. “You will tell me where she is…You will tell me now and I’ll….Let you live.” The words were like venom dripping from the fangs of a Cobra.

Valius cried out from the pain of the arrows as they logged themselves into his tender flesh, tearing asunder the muscle and tendons that allowed his appendages easy movement and leaving him completely at the mercy of his captors. There wasn’t a thing he could do, especially with the strategically placed arrows, even his magic seemed to diminish bit by bit and soon his bond with the golem slipped away and it toppled like a house of bricks to the ground. The blood loss was the main cause of that, but it wasn’t the primary focus at the moment, not with the man who accomplished such feats standing behind him with death in his hands. “You kill me without knowing where she is and you’re screwed. I tell you where she is with your false claims of sparing my life, I’m screwed. Never hold a demon to his word is a lesson I’ve learned. All I can say is you kill me, the girl will perish…Gharik or the rats will have their feast upon her corpse and you will have failed in your struggle for power against me. Face it, I have the upper hand.”

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Meanwhile Gharik simply waited for the woman to finish her little speech only to notice a couple of spells hitting him, the first was cause fear, which didn’t effect him to a grandeur scale as most other, but it still caused his arms to tremble and an uneasy feeling to rise within him. She wouldn’t get away with it so easily, but the first step was to try and keep himself out of harms way for the time being. Just like Manic she was rushing into confrontation instead of using words, not that he could really blame her to begin with. It still bothered him though why this even concerned her to begin with…It always seemed she popped up at the most inopportune moments to ruin his show and revenge. Maybe there was a reason for that….Whatever the case it was quickly pushed aside when she dashed at him. At first he tried to move, but it was to no avail due to that stupid spell, so instead he simply lifted the scythe upwards a little trying to get the blade out of the path of her own.

To his dismay it seemed counter productive to what he really intended to do and that was to keep the possibly weakened blade out of fray of the blow. Instead the woman’s blade careened into the much more fragile tip of the blade and ricocheted off, but not without snapping off a good chunk of the tip. When the blade came to a rest again, it would be against the shaft of his scythe unless she intended to move it upon the impact. Regardless of what she would do, it would matter little as a series of spells kicked up, first was the Draconic Might to counteract the weaken, which in a sense would be merely reduced to Bulls Strength…Then the unholy aura and lastly the Cause Fear spell, this time intending to reverse it upon her. What she had managed to cast on him was quickly diminishing in its hold upon him, other than the Weaken spell which seemed a constant. With no further waste of time the large man pushed forward, bringing the scythe out in a hockey-styled cross checking manner to push the woman back and off balance hopefully, before swinging the blade down off to the flank and snapping it sharply upwards to bring it across the torso of the woman in a diagonal slant.

Her spells seemed to be working, which made her lips curl upwards in a smirk. She saw him tremble and she noticed that he couldn’t move. There would be no mercy shown, not when she had come this far already. To top it all off, she knew for once what she was actually going to do. Cordelia was usually reckless, but right now wasn’t the time to act like that. To be reckless meant that she wouldn’t think at all before doing anything, and if there was ever a time that she had to be careful and precise, this was it, if only so that she could get out of here to help Alaina.

Her blade went through the tip of his scythe. The sharpest part of his weapon fell to the floor, causing her smirk to widen even more. It was still dangerous, but she had much less respect or fear for it. If it didn’t even have a sharp edge, what could it do? It was nothing more than a worthless toy that, if things went her way tonight, he would never be able to use again. She sensed the unholy aura and then, just like the last time, the cause fear spell took over her. Cordelia cursed, but she knew much better than last time and she actually had a plan now. An uneasy, bubbling feeling rose in her stomach and spread throughout her, causing her arms and legs to tremble slightly. She stood her ground though, not about to just give up. She wouldn’t do that to Alaina. She and Manic were the girl’s only hope…

Of course, at that moment, she heard Manic scream out in pain. Cordelia’s eyebrows furrowed and the uneasy feeling began to rise. That was the first time she had heard him in pain through this whole thing… it should have been something she rejoiced about, but right now, she wanted to slap him. If he couldn’t handle this, then that would leave everything up to her! Could she rely on him for nothing?! Oh, well, that was a stupid question – of course she couldn’t. He wanted to help Alaina too, so why wasn’t he pulling his act together?! For someone who was so arrogant and so high up on his horse, he sounded like he was being reduced to absolutely nothing. She was going to have to do this all by herself… fine then, so be it; she had no problem with doing that. It didn’t matter to her one bit.

Being so wound up in her thoughts and unrealistic fear, she only noticed the scythe come at her just before it caught her legs. She jumped back, though she lost her balance slightly due to the fact that the scythe had got her a bit, how quickly she had done it, and the fact that she had been trembling due to the cause fear spell. The blade came at her and she grunted, catching it with her sword, but not before it had dug into her upper arm. She hissed and backed away, ignoring the dark blood that was currently dripping from the wound and the searing pain from the acid that had lingered on the metal. “Useless…” she muttered. “Worthless…!” She was screaming now, visibly upset. She ducked out of the blade and slinked about a foot away, out of reach of the scythe but still close enough to use magic. “You’re absolutely useless! If you won’t tell me where she is, then you have no reason to be alive! It was the only thing you could do to serve out your pathetic existence and even have a shred of hope for hanging onto your life. I’ll fix your problem of never being satisfied with what you have… you’ll regret crossing Manic and me and taking that poor, sweet girl…”

Cordelia sheathed her sword, knowing that she no longer needed it. She muttered the incantation word, and upon doing so, black energy began to crackle and sizzle around her fingers, jumping eagerly between her palms. Once it was at its strongest, Cordelia aimed at him and it jumped from her hands, ready to attack him in a way that she couldn’t. It didn’t matter if he died or if he was left merely ill and weak; either way, after using that spell, there was no way he would be doing anything for a while. Enervation had been used on her in the past and while she hadn’t died, she had been severely weakened. Even if no skin was showing besides the slit between the helmet and chest plate, it was such a strong spell that she doubted such a thing would save him.

Coiling her arms around the blood stained teddy bear upon her lap; she would move her eyes diligently across her surroundings. Thick steel bars lined and bound her within the makeshift cage held deep within the ruins. Sparkles of light shone through the walls, but surprisingly none seemed to shine through the rooftop. Given the state of the majority of buildings still standing in this ruined city, she almost half expected there to be some sort of light beaming through. Other than the mere fragments of light that entered the room there was no other light source, leaving the place feeling dark, damp, and dungy both to the flesh and the sight. It truly wasn’t a place she held solace in or even felt at any form of ease, especially with the absence of Manic.

She knew he was right; she knew she shouldn’t have even read that stupid note and led herself blindly into such an obvious trap. No one or anything could be trusted, that was what she was told. Never treat anyone like a friend and never show them any consideration and kindness because that’s when things take a turn for the worst. Inside she hated herself for not listening, but it soon turned to the thought of whether or not she would actually escape this encased tomb. Taking a moment she glanced upwards only to take notice of the large stone slab that held supported atop the steel bars. Sighing in an annoyed manner the girl buried her chin into the top of the bears head and squeezed it tightly, “I hope he comes…He’s going to be sooooo angry with me, but I don’t care. By the God’s I pray he comes…I’d give anything to make this all go away to be safe again. Please….Please come and save me.” Again the girl would burry her chin into the top of the bears head, this time kissing it lightly before simply resting it there.

Moments passed by and soon hours would follow until she finally lost all perception of time and it fell all away into the darkness that seemed to consume everything around her. There was nothing she could do, everything she tried failed and it only wasted what little energy she had. If she wanted to be saved she would need to save it and pray she could hold out until he came. A shiver ran down her back at the thought that he wouldn’t show or that something bad happened to him, but all thoughts were quickly redirected. If she thought badly, then bad things would happen right…? At least that was what she thought, whether it was right or wrong she didn’t know or care. Then…Then it happened, a loud crash rumbled the ground beneath her, startling her momentarily. Eyes danced feverishly across her surroundings trying to make out the dark objects lining the room, before sighing. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t something that concerned her…Besides if she tried to call out and scream there wouldn’t be any way anyone would hear her. For a good while she had tried that to no avail, other than hurting her throat and burning out her voice to make it sound like a squeaking rasp type sound when she tried anymore.

All hope seemed lost and it was quickly depressing her, knowing that she would be doomed to this fate all for her own mistake…

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Gharik smirked when the blade dug within her arm and she began to spat her useless babble. Even if she could challenge his life, there would be nothing that would possess him to telling her where the girl was. Because for starters he had no clue and there was nothing that would possess him to tell a woman whom Manic seemingly hated where she was. On top of that, if he had told her there was no way she would get past Valius, especially if Manic took the fall to the man. So it all was for naught…At least in his view.

All attention shifted though the moment she sheathed her blade and stepped back to create some distance. As she placed her hands together and energy began crackling he knew instantly what she was up to, but there wasn’t much he could do other than brace himself for the hit. The last thing he expected was for her to be able to use magic, especially to be so gutsy as to use it in such confined areas such as this. Even if he moved it wouldn’t take much effort to redirect it and there was no knowing what kind of range span the spell had on it, because from the looks it wasn’t something that Manic had in his repertoire. Left with only two options, the large man would bring the scythe back off to his flank, before bringing it forward in a sideways swing in the direction of the woman, each of his hands releasing the hilt to send it sailing towards the woman as the spell hit him. Black energy crackled across the armor and soaked in through the gaps instantly zapping of what little energy that the chess piece allowed to his possession.

Instantly he would cripple to his knees, arms moving across his mid-drift in pain. It felt like his soul was being ripped straight out of his body, plaguing him deep to the inner working of his core being. Within moments each portion of his body began to evaporate into a thick black mist that would linger, but just before the last of him disappeared he would mutter a curse. The mist would soon formulate and spiral downwards where it would thicken into a black chess piece of a horse, stationary in its placement upon the ground.

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(( OOC: Figured I would throw a chunk of Manic in this post to jive with the time line. ))

“Then you’re dead…” were the only cold venomous words that flowed forth from Manic’s lips. Relinquishing all hold on the string of the bow, the arrow would lurch forth freely only to abruptly come to a sudden halt once it penetrated through the flesh of the neck just off to the side of the spinal column on Valius. A couple gurgles of blood would be the only noise issued from the man, signaling that the wind pipe was penetrated in the attack, but didn’t quite mean the man was dead at least not yet. Taking that opportunity into his own hands, Manic would start by snapping his fingers multiple times to ignite each individual wooden arrow shaft, causing the flames to burn their way into the gaping wounds created by the arrows. Shortly after the action the muffled cries of the man would issue forth in gurgles of blood, before falling still when the flames died out.

Manic narrowed his eyes at the man’s limp form, before turning his attention up around his surroundings, before motioning off to a run down cart not but a couple feet off from where they were. The undead complied by dragging the limp but still living body of Valius towards the cart where they would proceed to drape him atop of it. Manic would allow the undead a short amount of time to get out of the way, where he would then snap his fingers and ignite the cart in an uproar of flames. If the man wasn’t dead then he would be tormented by the soft and subtle licks of uprising flames around his body until passing out from the pain and dying shortly after. Turning from the sight before him, Manic proceeded towards the direction Gharik and Cordelia retreated, only to pause in the process.

Issuing a brief glance over his shoulder, the glowing crimson hues would set their focus upon the undead that seemed to be awaiting a command, “Feast upon the flesh of what remains. Your reward for the night.” With that said all attention would slide back to the building where he would proceed again, only to soon feel the effects of a throbbing pain resonate throughout the very fabric of his being, causing him to double over and clutch his chest. It seemed the adrenaline had worn off and all reality was restored to once again dwell all focus upon the actual state of his body, no less the state of his mana. At the current point he figured that with the broken state of his body, he’d be lucky to make it another ten minutes, even less if he still had to confront Gharik. All he had left in him was maybe a spell…If that before running his resources dry and becoming completely useless and at the mercy to anything or anyone that attacked him. Deciding not to risk his chances, he would simply linger where he was and hope the best for Cordelia and pray that she was on his side and not against. While he remained in the doubled over state, his head would rise slightly to allow himself a high enough vantage point to gaze at waist level so he would be able to decipher who and what would emerge from the ruined building in front of him.

Cordelia rolled her eyes when he threw the scythe at her. Even when he was about to be defeated, he wouldn’t stop, would he?! Was clinging onto that last shred of dignity really worth it? Considering the spell had already hit him, she ceased the magic around her hands and got out of the way, the blade scraping her hip a bit as she did so. The weapon clattered off to her side and she watched as Gharik got overtaken by the spell, a twisted grin creasing her face. She folded her arms over her chest, beginning to giggle madly when he fell to his knees and when he clutched himself. She had to admit, she was disappointed that he had simply returned to the chess piece form instead of dying. That wasn’t very fun, not very fun at all!

She took a deep breath and allowed herself to relax for a moment as the spell’s effect began to wear off. The forced uneasiness began to rise out of her and she closed her eyes, waiting until it was all gone before opening them and looking around. She was exhausted, but she hadn’t taken too much of a beating, so she would fine. There was no other choice than to be fine; she might have finished Gharik, but there was still the fact that if Manic hadn’t been able to defeat that other guy then she would have to, and even if he had they still needed to find Alaina. Even if she wanted to take a five minute break, it was completely out of the question until Alaina was out of harm’s way.

Finally she stepped over to the chess piece, swooping down and grabbing it roughly before staring at it with narrowed eyes. “Told you so,” she said in a nasal, sing-song tone. She would let Manic have the chess piece and decide what to do with it. He was the only person fit to decide his fate, and she would just stand there laughing at whatever violent antics the man would end up planning. She stood up, glancing to where he had thrown the scythe. She would have liked to take that along as a little trophy, but she supposed reducing Gharik to nothing more than his chess piece form would have to be good enough. For now, at least, anyway.

She walked to the exit of the building and walked out, surprised to see Manic there and not in the greatest condition. She glanced around outside, taking her eyes off of him to see the extent of the damage. There were craters from where the meteors had hit and there was a flaming cart, too. Whatever had happened out here had been far more intense and much crazier than what had happened back in that single building. She was glad that she hadn’t stayed out here to witness it, and she was actually relieved to see that Manic was all right. Well, good. She could actually rely on him for something and she wouldn’t have to find Alaina all by herself. For once he had done something she approved of.

Cordelia stepped out of the doorway, not bothering to close it behind her. She walked straight over to Manic’s doubled over form and looked at him before smirking, holding the chess piece out for him to take. “I believe this belongs to you,” she said quietly. “I was disappointed that enervation reduced him to this and didn’t kill him, but ah well, at least we don’t have to worry about him.” She shrugged her shoulders and looked around again before her eyes settled once again on Manic. He was beaten up pretty badly. She didn’t feel any pity or sympathy, though. When it all came down to it, he deserved to be beaten like that, just to take his arrogance down a few notches. He had finally got what was coming to him, even if it had happened when he was trying to save that poor girl. It seemed to her like everyone, except for Alaina of course, had gotten what they deserved.

“I assume you took care of that other one,” she said after a while, not seeing his body anywhere. “I didn’t think you were going to make it, what with all your screaming. I have to say, I was angry with you for it. I could have saved her by myself, but it’s good to see that you aren’t making me do that.” A tiny smile came to her face. “Now come on, get up, break time is over, we still have work to do. He didn’t tell me where she was, hence why I took care of him so quickly, and unless the other one told you, we’ll have to find her by ourselves.” She kept her hand out to help him up. Once this was all over with, she would stop being so nice to him. For now, though, they were temporary allies and she knew how to act appropriately.

(( OOC: Just so it's stated, I was given prior consent to role play a bit into her part. ))

Silently he waited, body trembling in reverberation to the waves of pain that shot throughout his body. Each time a shockwave ran through him, all breath would falter and then come to a released state in a rush of air. What it seemed like was that he had been struggling to breath, like each breath drawn was an effort and a task all in its own. Given the current appearance of his flesh it was a wonder he was still standing. The golems shattered each and every layer of stone skin he threw up and when they did so the shards would slice and cut through his flesh like knives to butter. Blood streamed freely from open wounds, especially across his features drenching select portions in its crimson fluid.

The moment she appeared from the building and made her way towards him, a coy grin crossed his slender lips. It appeared she was the victor in that little confrontation and it was only confirmed when she handed him the chest piece. Reluctantly his hand lifted to take the piece only to pocket it while still in his hunched over stance. “Glad you made it…” the voice was strained and weak, something that was most uncharacteristic of Manic but it couldn’t be helped.

Shifting his gaze down to her hand momentarily, it would quickly move up and to her face where they would study her momentarily. Lifting a trembling hand, Manic clasped each of his digits tightly around her hand, before pulling on it tightly to right his stance to an erect position. Upon that action his hand would part from hers where it would then immediately lift to her face, the other joining in mimicked conjunction of the action. It only took a matter of seconds before both of his hands came to a rest gently against the flesh of her face, thumbs placed just beneath her eyes, while the other digits spanned out across her cheek and the side of her head to hold it so she couldn’t move it away from him.

Without wasting what time she would allow him this act, Manic would bring his head forward to soon settle with his forehead against that of her own. Staring intensely into her own eyes, the glowing pools of red would narrow momentarily before softening, “Don’t fight…I won’t hurt you.” Would be all that would pass his lips, whispered in its nature. Truly there was no intent within him that signaled that he would hurt her, other than the fact that he was smearing his own blood across her face, but that would be an issue to worry about at the moment. Concentrating his mind upon fleshing out the last resources of his energy, it would soon become summoned to each of his extremities before resonating forth from his hands and across that of her body. Dark regeneration, a spell that would slowly and gradually mend all and every wound of her body. All markings on her face parted away, each wound would close and disappear into a near sightless slit of disruption upon the skin.

Once the spell faded away as quickly as it had came, each of his hands remained stationary in their position. His head however would roll to the side, before bringing his lips forward to place themselves against hers gently in a brief but passionate kiss. Rearing back, a smile crossed his slender lips, before another rush of pain shot through his body sending him convulsing forward. To keep from smashing heads with her, his head would veer off and over her shoulder where he would begin to heave involuntarily. After a second, a rush of blood flowed up from between his lips and oozed forth from the corner of his lips. Shortly after everything would begin to blur and all sound would deafen to inaudibility, before his eyes would slowly and steadily close. It was at that point he would begin to mutter something that he thought was audible before passing out into Cordelia, “I trust you, help her…I…C-c-can’t…”

“Glad you made it…”

At the sound of his weakened voice, Cordelia’s eyebrows shut up. That was a first. Not once had she ever heard him sound so pained and weak, not to mention he looked the part. He was covered in blood, scraped and scratched and banged up pretty badly. “What the hell happened to you?” she asked, her eyebrows lowering and furrowing. She had known from the moment she walked out that he was in bad condition, but really, had it been that bad? This was Manic; the self proclaimed king of kings, lord of lords, and whatever else went with that introduction! Since when was there anything he couldn’t handle?

She grimaced inwardly at the physical contact that came along with him taking her hand. She helped pull him up, trying to ignore how he was trembling. It didn’t worry her, just confused and shocked her beyond belief. She almost felt guilty about making him stay out here alone to fight them, but if she had helped him, then Gharik would have escaped and he never would have learned that he wasn’t the strongest person out there. She had learned that lesson from him – it was time that he learned it as well. He was a grown man, according to Andros a man who was over two hundred years old; he was well overdue for learning it. She was still young enough to be excused for her attitude.

As his hands reached to her face, her eyes became wide and she yelped quietly, about ready to back off or push him away. Manic was clearly delirious from the pain. He knew that she didn’t like to be touched, so it would be best if she just got out of this and pretended like it never happened. Once he was all better they could laugh about it, if she ever let go of her grudge. An uneasy feeling began to grow in the pit of her stomach at the realization that he was holding her face in such a way that she couldn’t move her head away from him, and a stubborn look then crossed her features. If he wouldn’t let her move away from him, then she could at least show that she didn’t like it. His forehead then rested against hers and she wriggled her body slightly, trying to get away to no avail, feeling claustrophobic from the extreme closeness.

“Don’t fight…I won’t hurt you.”

Her features softened, only to have a look of panic now come into her eyes. She wriggled again before going absolutely still, arms stiff at her sides and eyes looking hopelessly into his. Lies… such lies… she had helped him, for goodness sakes, and now he was going to hurt her! Even if he wasn’t acting like it, there was no other reason for him to be so close to her face. He was going to blind her again, wasn’t he? Finish the job to make it permanent, make her unable to ever see again and then laugh at her for thinking she could have ever trusted him. She wouldn’t put it past him for doing that; it was something that she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to do. Her eyes shut tightly as she waited, her eyebrows actually furrowing a little bit because of how strongly she had closed them. She could feel that energy going through her and her breathing began to become just as panicked, feeling so weak and helpless that it sickened her. Why was it that whenever she tried to do something good it wound up shooting back at her and slapping her across the face?!

Her eyes slowly slid open after a moment though, confused once again to add to the panic. He hadn’t hurt her… in fact, he’d healed her. Her gaze drifted to her shoulder, only to find it no longer bleeding and completely sealed up. He had done that before, a long, long time ago to the burns on her arms, but since then he had really only ever served to harm her in any way he had found possible. What the hell was wrong with him? Where was the strong, terrible man that she had come to know? She knew he was delusional right now, but really this was beginning to actually scare her. It was so unlike him…

Once the spell had ended, she was relieved and thought that he would release her, then probably thank her for her help and they would be on their way to find Alaina. However, that was absolutely not what happened. His lips pressed against hers, causing her insides to twist violently and her eyes to shut. That was the most violated she had felt in years… she knew Manic was a wicked, evil person, but that was just absolutely low. She had helped him! If it wasn’t for her, he would have to face Gharik and finish him off, too! He should have been grateful, not taking advantage of her! “What… what the hell… what are you smiling for?!” she muttered when he stopped, her voice cracking, gasping for breath. Right when she was being nice, and trying to do something good and just trying in general, he went and completely ruined it. The pain began to mix with a feeling of rage and her arms flew up into the air, with no real destination. Of course at that moment his body came forward and she moved one foot back, simply to keep her balance. Her arms snaked around his waist of their own accord to support him and Cordelia’s looked away, smelling the blood and biting the inside of her lip. She was angry, hurt, used, and violated, and she couldn’t even bring herself to slap him or kick him in the groin because of the fact that the kiss had all been a mistake. The normal Manic wouldn’t have done that. He was just messed up in the head for right now, and even though it was unforgivable, she would have to forget about it right now and have a talk with him about it later.

“I trust you, help her…I…C-c-can’t…”

The words came out weak, quiet and strained, much more than last time. “Dammit, Manic, you idiot…” she grumbled. Making sure that she handled him gently so as to not hurt him further, she moved with him to the ground and set him there. She couldn’t carry him all the way to find Alaina; she wasn’t strong enough for that, he needed to rest, and the poor kid would be scarred for life if she saw him like that. “I can’t count on you for anything, can I? Right when I thought… ugh, it doesn’t matter.” She was sure he was unconscious and he probably couldn’t hear her, so what was the point? “I’ll be back soon, we’ll finish this discussion later, don’t think you’ll get away with it! So you better not die or anything because if you do I’ll just have to come after you… or kill you again… or something! UGH! I’m going now! I’ll bring her back! I might have found her sooner if you helped, you know, but whatever! I can do it alone!”

With that said, Cordelia wiped a little bit of the blood off of his face, stood up, kicked at the ground angrily and jogged of in a random direction, glancing back over her shoulder once. Her hands raked through her hair and she pulled at the locks, those multiple emotions still coursing through her and forcing her to end up in pure and utter frustration. Once she was far enough away that she could no longer see Manic, she glanced around, once again feeling helpless. What the hell was she supposed to do? It wasn’t like she knew where to find the kid! Gharik hadn’t told her, Manic hadn’t said anything, and she most certainly didn’t have a sixth sense specifically for finding children. The kid could have been anywhere – who said she had to be here in the ruins?! Sucking in a deep breath, she decided yelling was probably the best that she could do. “Alaina?!” she called out desperately. Dammit, if Manic hadn’t kissed her then she still would have been calm and patient and not so scrambled up! Everything was his fault, it was always his fault! “Alaina, it’s Cordie! Can you, uh… yell if you’re nearby?! Do something?! Manic’s coming too but he’s a little bit behind so he asked me to find you!”

She knew the girl liked Manic more than she liked her, and even if it was a lie, it might motivate the child to respond to her.

Silence…It was all she heard and it was getting old. She needed noise, she needed company, she needed Manic…He was her guardian and her savior. But now she was stuck here all because of her stupid stupid fault. Why did she have to be so stupid to trust that? Tightly balling her hand into a fist, she would simply bite her lip to subside her upwelling rage instead of venting it outwards with physicality like she had thought of doing seconds earlier. Taking the moment to compose herself, she would suddenly perk up to a sound. It was faint, but it was definitely a voice; however, quite unclear in its sound. Placing the bear upon the ground and to the side, the girl would push herself back up to her feet where she would then move over to the bars of the cage, gripping them in her hands tightly, pressing her face to them to peer out into the dark surroundings.

Unsure if she got her voice back or not the girl would suck in a deep breath before calling out as loud as she could, “I’m in here! Come, please…” The first portion of her words came out with a bellowing tone, but the rest died off into a meager squeak of a noise. Hopefully she was loud enough even for that brief moment so she could at least get the persons attention, but even if she did how could this person help her. There wasn’t really a way any normal being could push the large slab of stone off the bars above her, no less bend metal at a mere whim of thought. Then again…It would be a lot better to have someone to talk to rather than being stuck all by herself.

Lifting a hand up to her face, she would push a couple rebellious strands of her silver hair out of her face and tuck it behind her ear. While she thought on it, the voice had called her name and mentioned Manic’s…Was he okay? The thought worried her, but it was soon dismissed to the belief that thinking bad would mean bad things would happen. Instead she focused her attention upon the fact that the person knew the both of them, so it could only really be one person and that was Cordelia. While it wasn’t Manic it was better than some random passing stranger, but why she knew she was here was a whole new story entirely and one she wasn’t all too eager to figure out or dwell into…All she wanted was to be freed of this cage. While she waited, Alaina would move back to her bear to pick it up in a hug, before plopping back down upon her rear and burying her chin once again into the bears head.

“I’m in here! Come, please…”

The first few words came out clearly, but Cordelia couldn’t even hear the last few. It was enough, though, for her to be able to tell what direction it was. She turned a bit and started running in that direction without any hesitation. Alaina needed her and needed to get out of harm’s way as soon as possible, plus, she hadn’t finished with Manic yet. If she waited then it wouldn’t end up being good for any of them. Through the darkness she could see something, though she had no idea that it was the cage that was holding the girl. As she neared it, however, she could see the bars and the lone figure inside, sitting down and clutching something in her arms.

She ran faster, hoping that against all odds it wasn’t Alaina and yet at the same time hoping that it was. For that innocent child to be locked up in a cage like a wild animal was absolutely horrific. She soon stopped running and looked into it, her heart shattering into pieces and her hands flying up to her mouth. She had found Alaina, but this was not what she had been hoping for. Being tied to a tree would have been better than being forced into some sort of cage. Oh, who was she kidding? There was no way to measure cruelty… anything done to Alaina would have been an injustice. Cordelia was so glad that she and Manic had defeated those men! No, no, they weren’t even men. What sort of person… thing, rather, could put a child through this and think it was fair? Think it was adequate revenge? A scowl came to her face and she growled lowly, her anger becoming stronger and stronger with each passing moment until she had to bite back a scream. She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to get Alaina out because of the bars and the rooftop, but she would do it if it wound up being the last thing she ever did. She was a resourceful woman, even if she was frustrated and couldn’t think clearly right now.

“Hey, sweetie,” she said, hiding any unpleasant feelings and trying to sound as kind as she possibly could. She was relieved to see that she was alive and seemingly well. “Those basta… I mean, jerks didn’t hurt you, did they?” she asked softly, walking close enough to the cage so that she could touch the bars. Her hands brushed the bars, a pained expression coming to her face. How was she supposed to break them, bend them so that the girl could be free? What could she possibly do to make it so that she could be free again? If Manic hadn’t wasted all of his strength he could have done this with ease… but no, he left it for her to do! The thought of that man caused her to bang her forehead against the bars, which she instantly regretted as a shooting pain went through her forehead and down to her shoulders. She groaned and removed her head and a single hand from the bar, rubbing her forehead and temples to try and ease her stupidity. There was no point in trying to depend on Manic. She didn’t need him to help save her, even if the help would have been nice. Once the pain had dwindled to nothing more than a dull ache, she smiled down at Alaina, wishing that she could have officially seen her for the first time under much better circumstances. She hadn’t realized that there was blood smeared on her face and on her clothes from Manic, considering blood was something she was so used to, but it wouldn’t have mattered even if she did know. She didn’t want to scare her, but she couldn’t risk wasting time just to make herself look better.

“I’m so glad you’re okay. I was so worried, dear… Manic will be too. Now let’s see what I can do to get you out, all right hun?” She glanced around, having already figured it out. Cordelia stepped away from the makeshift cage for a moment, looking around the ground. There was bound to be something scattered about, and with that thought a wide grin came to her face and she leaned down, picking up a long, metal pole. She didn’t know how old it was, but it didn’t break when she held it and seemed sturdy enough. It would have to do, and if it didn’t work then she would just go to find something else. Walking back over to the cage, Cordelia stuck the pole through two of the bars and pushed against one of them, using the pole as a crowbar. It took a few consecutive tries, but soon the bar came out from where it had been set. At her success, Cordelia dropped the pole and stepped back, waiting to see if Alaina could fit through the new space that had been provided.

Perking up at the sound of a voice, her head would lift up to allow herself to gaze upon the woman she knew as Cordelia just beyond the bars. The excitement would; however, fade as the thought of Manic came to mind. Burying her chin into top of the bears head again, each of her arms would contract tighter around it in a hug, before quietly muttering a simple half hearted, “No…” Shifting her eyes up from the ground again, they would dance across the woman’s features, noticing the dark smears of blood across her face and clothing, but noticing nothing that would cause such markings upon her skin. Heaving a depressed sigh, the girl simply lowering her eyes down to the ground while the woman worked to break her out; it wasn’t like she could help out in any way shape or form anyway.

The odd noises that came from the woman and her efforts to break her out had caught her attention briefly, before it drifted to the ground again. After a period of silence the girl slowly rose to her feet still clutching the bear in her arms as she turned to face the woman, “I’m sorry…This is my fault, if I listened to Manic none of this would have happened…” Her voice was weak and her eyes were beginning to well up with water, but she fought to keep her composure as she slipped through the gap of the bars and out into the open again. Placing her chin to the bears head again, she would proceed in a random direction, methodical in manner in hopes to get the woman to catch on that she wanted to leave and hopefully lead her off in the correct direction that would lead her out. She wouldn’t go far without the woman’s guidance, but she simply wanted to leave her confinement behind her, not wanting to lay eyes on it again.

Her thoughts however were elsewhere, wondering why it wasn’t Manic that saved her and instead the woman within her current company. Sighing, the girl slowed to a stop, “You mentioned Manic…Do you know where he is and why didn’t he come!? Does he not care!? Is he angry with me….What…?” Unable to bear the thought that he could be mad at her, she simply collapsed to her knees and hugged the bear tighter, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks, “Why…Why was I so stupid…?” Sucking in a breath of air, the girl buried her face into the bears head and clung tighter to it still, hoping that she was wrong.

“No…”

Good. If they had, Cordelia would have gotten appropriate revenge, despite the fact that Valius was dead and Gharik would be dealt with soon enough. She was glad, though, that she didn’t have another person to worry about. Manic was hurt enough; if Alaina had been injured then Cordelia might have gone crazy. She was capable of a lot of things, but trying to take care of two people at the same time was not one of them. “Glad to know that,” she said quietly, though of course she was being incredibly sincere.

“I’m sorry…This is my fault, if I listened to Manic none of this would have happened…”

Her features softened at those words. How could she even think that this was her fault? “No…” Cordelia said softly, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe that Alaina would think that. It wasn’t good for children to think like that; she was a helpless, little girl who had been tricked because of the sadism of other people. Maybe that was the point, though… but it didn’t matter, because really, it wasn’t her fault at all. She reached out a hand to ruffle her hair, but upon seeing that it was a tad bloody, decided against it. She didn’t want Manic to see the blood and think that she was hurt; it would cause unnecessary worry that he didn’t need. “Honey, it’s not your fault that they were bad men that wanted to hurt you and Manic. You can’t be blamed for this. Don’t think like that.” She offered a reassuring smile. She knew Alaina would probably choose not to believe her, but she hoped that she would. “They were mean men who would have done anything…” She sighed, trying to keep her anger at an appropriate level for being around a child. Once she was alone she would kick and scream all she wanted, even if it probably wouldn’t help.

She watched as Alaina walked off, not too far of course. She knew the girl wanted to get away; this had to be such a scarring experience that she didn’t even want to think about it. Cordelia would make sure that Manic she her would make up for it. Alaina would end up feeling so loved that she wouldn’t even remember this whole ordeal. Never again would she have to worry about getting hurt, kidnapped, or about Manic’s safety – not if Cordelia could help it. Cordelia stepped after her, wiping her bloodied hand on her clothes and resting her hand on the back of her shoulder, guiding her a little bit. Cordelia didn’t want her to see Manic as he was, but there was no other choice. She couldn’t just leave him there, as much as she might have liked to.

“You mentioned Manic…Do you know where he is and why didn’t he come!? Does he not care!? Is he angry with me….What…?”

Cordelia got down on her knees when Alaina fell. There wasn’t time for this! Alaina was allowed to cry and be upset, but she could do that later! They had to go back and get Manic and then go somewhere safer. Biting her lip, she reassured herself that Manic was strong and that he would make it, and that comforting Alaina was the top priority right now. She got down on her knees and wrapped an arm around her, giving her a sort of half-hug. “He isn’t angry,” she assured her, wiping away the tears rolling down her cheeks with her index and thumb fingers. “He isn’t mad at you at all. He’s just…” She sucked in a deep breath, debating about whether she should lie or not. “He’s hurt, is all, and told me to come and get you because he couldn’t. He was very sad though that he couldn’t come and I’m sure when he sees you he’ll be really happy. I know for a fact that Manic cares very much for you and I don’t think he could ever be mad at you. There’s no reason to be sad, no reason for tears. You’re not stupid at all, hun, don’t degrade yourself like that. And he’ll be fine and good as new as soon as you know it.” She winked, although she wasn’t too sure that she believed that. Cordelia had to stay positive for her sake, though.

She then stood up and offered Alaina her hand to help her to her feet, smiling down at her. “We have to go to him now though, okay? I’m worried and he needs to see you.” With that she took a single step in Manic’s direction, really, genuinely hoping that he was all right.

The moment she wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into a hug, she would lean and rest her head against the woman. Trying to calm herself down while she spoke; Alaina smiled faintly, but it would quietly be erased the second the woman brought up Manic being hurt. That was all it took to make her heart sink to the pit of her stomach like the titanic. It was a feeling she felt only but one time before and that was enough. Yet here she was experiencing everything all over again, feeling the same feelings, and dreading the same thoughts she knew might be true…

Still dumbstruck, all she could do was stare at the woman when she pulled her head up from her. Countless questions ran throughout the caverns of her mind, sending it into a frenzy of thought. What happened…? Was it because of her? Was the woman at fault? But the only thing that came out when she opened her mouth was nothing more than an inaudible noise that couldn’t be deciphered as anything of significance or value.

Before she could say anything more; however, the woman pulled and helped her up to her feet only to drag her along behind. All the while she was being led along by hand, her mind continued with the insistent thoughts of what could have happened, thinking both the worst and the best. Once they nearly arrived to where their destination was, the girl’s voice croaked out hoarsely, “Manic…Is hurt…?” It was after those couple of words that her voice picked up a more robust and booming voice as she continued, “What happened to him!? We’re going to see him right…?” She wasn’t really able to pay much attention to what the woman was quite saying since her mind was other places, which made it that much more difficult to listen to what she had said.

But all thought and conversation seemed to fall upon deaf ears when Manic came into sight. Jaw dropping, her eyes bore witness to the shattered form that was considered Manic. Unable to peel her icy stare from him, she continued her blank gaze before ushering a faint, “Oh my god…” She wanted to move, she wanted to run, she wanted to help but the sight froze her in spot. This…This was because of her…Tears began to form at her eyes and flowed freely from their ducts to stream in arcing fashion down her cheeks. This was her fault...

“Manic…Is hurt…? … What happened to him!? We’re going to see him right…?”

Cordelia’s heart broke when she heard Alaina speak like that. That girl really adored him, didn’t she? That was such a stupid question… of course she did. Cordelia had never seen how they acted together but with how highly Alaina thought of him and how hard Manic had fought to save her, she really didn’t need to. She frowned slightly, continuing to guide her along, unsure what to say. The child didn’t deserve to be lied to, but if Cordelia didn’t lie, then this whole thing might only get worse. If she wanted to see Manic, then Cordelia would allow her to see him – but she was going to have to lie to try and keep her from being scarred. “Of course we’ll see him,” she said. “We can go see him now. He might be asleep, though – if I were him I would want to just take a little nap after that, too, since he’s a little banged up. So don’t be worried, but we’ll have to talk in quiet voices, okay?” Cordelia almost cringed at how simply she was putting these statements. Alaina was smart… the woman had a feeling she might figure it out, but hopefully she wouldn’t. She had to take care of both of them now, hard as it might be, but it was her responsibility now and she had to do it whether she wanted to or not.

“Oh my god…”

All right, so maybe it had been a bad idea to let Alaina come with her to see him. What was she supposed to do, though? She couldn’t leave Alaina and she couldn’t leave Manic! Even if she wanted to leave him, which she didn’t, she couldn’t because she would never hear the end of it from the little girl in her company. Cordelia would feel too guilty to let someone the kid cared so much for to simply lay there on the ground and perhaps wind up dying. She couldn’t allow him to die, anyway, because they still needed to have a little chat about his delusional action, and for her to find a way to go after him and kill him again for leaving her would just be too difficult. She would find a way, of course, because she always found a way, but why even try when she could make this so much easier?

“Sweetie, there’s no need to worry,” she said softly, leaning down a little and wiping her tears away once more. “He’s not that hurt. He’ll be absolutely fine, he’s taken worse.” Had he taken worse? Cordelia didn’t know, she really, honestly had no clue. She had to say something though to make sure Alaina stayed calm. She wasn’t going to be able to handle such an injured Manic and a sobbing, scarred Alaina. “Really, he’ll be fine… it’s not as bad as it looks. Would I lie to you?”

She patted the girl’s shoulder lightly and offered a smile, then glanced over at Manic, hating herself a little bit for lying like that. She had done it so easily, even if it had hurt and she didn’t necessarily think she would believe it. The guilt was slowly being drowned out by the thought that bending the truth had been required – as long as it kept Alaina calm, then it would be fine. She could force Manic to go along with it when he woke up, too, whenever that would be. “Don’t fret, darling. He’s a strong guy, he’ll make it through. What could you possibly be worried about?” She smiled again, tilting her head to the side a little bit.

Each word the woman spoke seemed to blur into noiseless sound, tears still streaming down her face as she continued to stare. After a time she finally was able to pull her body into movement and began her way to the fallen form of manic, only to drop to her knees just off to his side and fall hunched over him. Arms stretched and moved to try and hug him as if to let him know that she was there physically before opening her mouth to speak, “With the way he spoke, all I could envision him as was nothing shy of a God…Especially with the way he treated me, but now…” She would sniffle in her intake of breath, before hunching forward again to rest her head against his chest, sniffling a couple times.

At least he was still alive, that much relieved her, but the way his body looked it was a wonder. Blood ebbed from each cut and scratch that littered his body in jagged nature, which transferred to that of Alaina due to the contact between them. It would be a thought and feeling that was quickly pushed aside as she nuzzled her head against Manic’s chest, “Don’t leave again….Father…” Her voice was meek and faint in its sound as if trying to speak only to him and so the woman in the company couldn’t hear it. But it seemed it may be for naught due to the closeness between the three of them.

At this point she really didn’t care; all she wanted was for Manic to be alright, but in order for that to happen she would need Cordelia’s help. It wasn’t a thought she particularly liked, but so far she was able to trust the woman so there was no reason to begin questioning her motives now. Moving up from the fallen form, she would rise to an erect stance, blood littering her face and torso from her contact with Manic. Standing up straight, she bowed her head to the woman, “Please…Can you help him…? I can’t do anything by myself, I helped you. You have to help him!” The girl’s voice was beginning to sound desperate, but it couldn’t be helped. She needed the woman’s help and that’s all there was to it…But where could they go and what could they do? It would be a choice the woman would need to make for the both of them…

((OoC: grrr not sure if I like it. x[ sorry if it's craptastic.))

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Cordelia watched Alaina go to Manic’s side, not going to stop her from doing so. She had a right to be there; it wasn’t Cordelia’s place to tell her to get away. The girl needed to know that he was fine, and if that was how she was going to know, well then Cordelia couldn’t do anything about it. She simply listened when Alaina began to talk, a slight frown pulling at her mouth. “Nothing short of a god…” she repeated with a sigh. “Well, sweetie, even the gods have their weak points…” She wasn’t quite sure how she was supposed to comfort Alaina when she said that, but that was the best she could do. Cordelia hardly thought of him as a god, and she wasn’t about to look at him with that perspective.

“Don’t leave again….Father…”

A single eyebrow shot up at that. What was that supposed to mean? She knew that Manic never brought her along with him when he left Norwood, but she didn’t think the girl would be so dramatic as to compare the two situations. The whole thing with calling him Father was confusing as well. He very easily could have adopted her, as she had adopted Kaiden, but for some reason she wasn’t quite sure that was it. She decided it would be best to ask, since she could never keep her mouth shut anyway and it would eat away at her until she found out. “What do you mean, Alaina?” she asked. For a moment there was silence, before she chose to add something more. “I promise he won’t be leaving you, whatever it is you mean by that… I’ll make sure of it.”

Alaina stood then, and Cordelia looked at the blood that covered all three of them. It served as a minor distraction until she started speaking, for when she did her attention immediately returned to the girl. She was desperate; there was no way of hiding that. “Of course I’ll help him,” she said softly. “I don’t want him to die or anything either, hun. Do me a favor and get his jacket? It’s over there. He never takes it off… I’m thinking he’ll want it when he wakes up.” She gestured in its direction before kneeling down at Manic’s side. She simply looked at him for a moment, gathering her strength. She wasn’t sure how far she was going to be able to carry him, but she would do it. They all needed to get out of here and go somewhere safer and where Manic could get some help.

“Looks like our roles have been reversed, eh?” So what if he was unconscious? Surely he could still appreciate a bit of humor, even if he probably couldn’t hear it. Cordelia sucked in a deep breath and slipped one arm underneath his back, then slipped the other under his knees. She proceeded to lift him, struggling slightly as she did so but managing to stand mostly straight. She wasn’t as strong as he was, but she was going to try not to concentrate on that. She grunted, wishing she could have somehow made this easier.

She looked to Alaina before beginning to walk off. “Come along, dear… we’re going to Kellen. There’s an inn there where we can stay. It’s better than staying out here…” She nearly shuddered at the thought, but refrained from doing so, afraid that any unnecessary movement would force her to inadvertently drop Manic. He was hurt enough; the last thing he needed was to be dropped, however amusing that might be. She looked down at him, smirking and laughing lightly to herself at the thought. Well, she at least knew how she could threaten him if he woke up and started complaining.