"Alpha Moguls"

Dragging the lifeless head of the wolf behind him through means of a rope he had stuck down it's throat and took out the other end, he occasionally took a sniff so as to keep the trail going. Since backtracking the creatures steps had only done so much for him, he had started following the strong scent of decay in the air. Starting to move further into the forest from the location the creature had frequented most, at least judging by the tracks and decayed remnants. It was a shame that he had come across the job he had taken on at such an advanced point in time, otherwise he might have actually been able to save quite a few of the people that had been taken. The job he was referring to had involved him tracking down a creature that had most likely ventured out of its territory and usual hunting grounds, attacking near the more traveled roads leading through Sakuramori. Already being credited as one of the more clever beasts of the forest, something about it was off.

As the local hunters and merchants had to pass through here from the Beanstalk and Hunting villages if they wanted to do business in Cedar or Hosenka, it was there that many a life had been lost. Though it was hard for him to make out exactly how many had been killed due to the many different kinds of clothing scraps, pieces of flesh, shattered baskets and crates and the large volume of blood, even his heightened senses could not make heads or tails out of the many scents that became intertwined into an amalgam of decay. By the time Solmar had gotten to it, he had come to figure out that this creature had not just grown out of its territory, but had been forced out of it after it had been killed. Though uncertain as to what the means were that had brought it back, he had heard enough tales while he was traveling to know that the creature he had put down was what some would refer to as a "Zombie".

However unfortunate it had been to not find a single one of the bodies of those who were taken, and how the mixed scents made it impossible for him to find them, there was at least one thing working in his favor. What he had been able to make out was that the undead wolf had an odd scent radiating from it, one that was stronger than the putrid stench that had come to linger within its den and the surrounding area. So once he had gone over most of the surrounding terrain in order to see if it had been at the site where the scent originated from, the place he was headed now was quite literally the only one he had not yet been to. To say that what he found had not at all been what he had expected to find would have been somewhat of an understatement, though that did not make it any less true. Stumbling upon a building that seemed like it had been abandoned way before he had even been born, there was not a doubt in his mind that this was where the scent had originated from.

Letting go of the rope that had the undead wolf head attached to it, he kicked the entire thing into the bushes where it would eventually decay completely at some point in time. Looking over the building from a distance, he did not want to go inside before making sure that he would not be walking into a trap. So as he let his senses do the work, there was one thing that stood out, aside from the sheer size of the place that was, and that was the name hanging over the large front door. "Alpha Moguls". Not knowing what the name stood for, the place seemed to be too big to be just a regular house or mansion for one person or a single family to live in. Trying to get a glimpse at the windows, it seemed that they had all been boarded shut, meaning there would probably be very little to no light available once he actually entered the building. Moving in from the treeline to the open space in which the place had been built, something else caught his attention.

Aside from the specific scent of decay that came from the wolf that he had traced back here, he could also sense the same amalgam of different dead bodies almost radiating from the building like a foul miasma. Whether the wolf had for some reason brought all of its victims here after killing them to feed on them or not, there was no doubt in his mind about the fact that the missing bodies were somewhere within the building. Not being the kind of person to state things as certain before being able to actually prove it with some kind of physical evidence, he had also never been this certain of anything in life. Hearing the faint creaking of wood whenever the wind started blowing, his ears picked up on something else, perhaps a window or a door closing. Becoming quite anxious from all of the waiting and sitting around, he did not want to just storm the building without a plan. So for the time being, he would wait it out and do his best to figure out what to do so he could at the very least bring the families of the people that had been killed some news, any news as to what had happened to their loved one.

(948)

Doing his best to find some kind of alternate entrance that seemed like it would be less of a potential trap, he picked up on a more pleasant scent. That said, any scent was preferable to the scent of rot and decay that was lingering all around the place. Turning to see where it came from, he saw a woman with a rather visual appearance approaching him. When he said visual appearance, he meant that no attempts were really being made at keeping oneself concealed, which struck him as odd. Most people he ran into in this part of the woods were either hunters, or lost. Distancing himself from the building in order to meet the woman halfway, he did not want to risk anything sneaking up on him or catching onto his presence because he was talking to someone. Incapable of accurately sensing magic power, he had no idea what kind of person he would be dealing with when he approached her. Before he got the chance to, he was asked what he was doing here instead. Raising an eyebrow as if to make it clear that he was actually just about to ask her the exact same thing, he figured the nice thing would be to just be honest.

"Uhm.. well, I was following up on something after I took out a wolf, a dead one. Or rather, it wasn’t dead before I killed it, not entirely at least. People call these things "zombies" in books, so I imagine that was what this thing was too. Before it got killed again, it killed some travelers and merchants along the main road through the forest, so I did my best to follow the scent here in hopes of finding the bodies.. the people that got killed deserve to have their families aware of their… predicament."

Whether he had said too much or not enough remained up for debate, especially since this person was a stranger who could claim just about anything she wanted without him really being any the wiser. Just because his senses were more advanced than that of the average human being did not mean that he could sniff out truth and falsehoods, which was truly a shame. Among humans, liars were never all that hard to find as they were literally everywhere, that much he had come to experience quite a bit. It was just that much more reason for him to stick to what he knew and only head to villages and cities when he really needed to. Turning his attention back to the woman after zoning out for a bit, he heard her claiming that she had been sent out here by some council due to unsavory business going down here. Having no idea what kind of council she was refering to nor how they were aware of things going down in the forest, he figured that the unsavory business she was refering to was the fact that people were going missing in these parts.

"I don't know what council you're talking about, but I take it that by "unsavory", you were implying the murders that happened around here as a result of a wild animal. If so, the animal has been handled, but I feel like the main problem yet remains unseen. That said, if I were a betting man, and I'm really not, I'd say that whoever was behind raising that wolf from the dead and using it to kill people is inside of this building. The stench of decay is nauseating, and I fear it will only grow stronger once those doors open."

With that, he feared that his honesty would make him look stupid as he really had no idea what the woman had been talking about. He understood a great many things; things such as hunting, fishing, making a fire, how to cook a decent meal with limited reagents and tools, how to tell time by looking at the sun or stars or know which direction he was heading into by looking at the moss on trees. But all of these skills were things that he had picked up by living through them and experiencing them. As a wanderer without a home and no intention of living among humans, he only came to the modern world when he needed to buy things he could not just yank off of a tree or rip out of a carcass. That, and he had to do whatever he could to keep his little friend Fellis, an Exceed that had taken a liking to him, safe. As of right now, it was just sleeping in the hood of his oversized fur coat, though it would probably wake up soon now that Solmar had entered into a conversation.

"Oh, where are my manners. My name is Solmar, Solmar Starshade, and I live in these woods, which might explain why people were not aware of my presence here? Truth be told, I just stumbled across this place by following a hunch… and my nose."


Solmar WC: 1787 // Thread WC: 2557

Listening to everything she said, he had also been watching for body language aside from the actual words that came out of her mouth. In the wilds, he was more or less the only thing that spoke aside from his exceed, Fellis. Everything else spoke through means of body language, something he had learned to read so he would know when it was safe to proceed or if he had to take care not to get attacked by something angry or territorial. Though he could not be entirely certain, seeing as this was a human he was dealing with and not another animal, he got a feeling that he was being studied. More than that, he felt like the woman was trying to figure out if what he was telling her fit what was going on, or rather whether she would believe him or not. Truth be told, he couldn't blame her as the story of a zombie wolf killing and taking the bodies away wasn't exactly something someone heard about on your average day. Had he not been there to see it all go down, to be there to actually kill the undead creature in the first place, chances were he wouldn't have believed a word of it either.

But the fact of the matter was that he had indeed been there to fight the creature as he too had been assaulted by it in an attempt to kill him. Thanks in part to his slayer magic, his growing skill with a sword and his ability to survive in the great outdoors had seen him through that specific encounter, and that was exactly what had brought him here to this place at this point in time. When he heard the words "malevolent energy" spoken out loud, he was reaffirmed in his belief that there was indeed something nefarious going on inside of the strange old building, just as the vile decayed scent would have him believe. Knowing that his nose and ears were things he could rely on, just like he believed most of the things he could perceive with his eyes, his ability to actually sense magic had never been developed to the point of usefulness to him. This was relatively expected as he was someone who made a living off of hunting animals, plucking fruits and vegetables and helping out a civilian on occasion. As things were now, it was just one of those things he had no real use for yet, but might become more useful to him in the future.

"I've never heard of a magical council, nor do I know what this Dies Irae thing means, though it's good to know that there's a soldier here to fix things. Seeing as you likely know more than I do about these kinds of things, maybe you could fill me in on some of the specifics as I'd very much like to do my part. I made a promise to the people of Beanstalk that I'd put an end to this situation, and I plan on keeping that promise by seeing things through to the end."

With soldier being among one of the few things he actually remembered and knew from his childhood, he felt a little better about entering the place and figuring out what was going on. Part of him really just wanted to go into the place and get to the bottom of things so those waiting at home for those who would never be coming home ever again would get closure. That, and he really wanted to see to it that whoever or whatever was behind all of this misery would get what was coming to them, the kind of punishment they would never forget. With a soldier who fought for, or with this magic council that supposedly ruled over these lands, he figured that his chances of being able to exact that kind of punishment was a lot more likely than when he'd go in blindly on his own. Continuing to ponder on things, he watched as Amalie made her way over to the entrance and checked whether it was locked or not before waiting to see what he was planning on doing. But as he had already said, he was going to see things through and put an end to whatever dark things were going on on the other side of these doors.

"Whenever you're ready."


(736 // Solmar Total: 2523 // Thread Total: 4094)

Watching the door slowly open, he wondered what they would encounter inside as the strong scent originating from indoors suddenly got even stronger. It had been as if the doors had remained closed for months on end while the decay inside was just allowed to fester and get increasingly worse as time went on. To his nose, the scent was nearly making him vomit, so he took a few steps back as he waited for some of it to escape through the front door and let the large room breathe a bit. Amalie did not seem bothered by it, probably because her sense of smell wasn’t as well developed as his own was, making her way inside ahead of him. Only taking note of her momentary pause because of she did not seem like the type to just stop, Solmar had no idea that she had felt something as she tried entering the building, his magical senses not being nearly as advanced as his hearing, smell and sight were. So once the door opened and she herself headed inside, he had no idea that something had just happened at all, instead just waiting as he had planned on doing for a moment.

The way he saw it, this place was just some old building with very little to it, aside from the fact that there might have been some shady business going on. The missing bodies had to be somewhere inside, meaning someone had them brought in there in the first place, doubting the fact that the wolf had somehow planned all of this out on its own. When he felt like he had acclimated to the gross scent, at least for as much as that was humanly possible for the young man, he walked into the building as well. Leaving a small distance between the two, he started looking around him as well, the goal obviously being that he wanted to spot any danger before it could manifest itself as such. As a hunter, he prided himself in spotting traps, tracks, dens and a hiding predator so he could defend himself against it or hunt it on his own. Though there were dirty paw tracks that could only have belonged to the wolf treading throughout the place, it seemed that they had not originated from the front door, meaning it had another way of going in and out of the building somewhere.

Trying to spot the place from where it did so, he was suddenly put into high alert when he heard a giggle coming from right in front of him. Turning his head to see what made the eerie noise, the fact that there was nothing between him and Amalie did not aid his anxiousness. He knew what he had heard, for it had been clear enough that Amalie had noticed it too, judging by her sudden movement. Looking at her as if saying "what the hell" without uttering a word, there was a second sound he heard, though this was entirely different from the giggle they had heard. What started out as a soft clicking of some kind of mechanical clockwork continued into a loud rumble as a portion of the ceiling came down above the woman walking ahead of him. What triggered his own ears however was the sound of clockwork and a sudden discharge, followed by what sounded like something flying out of a shaft. When spears started flying in from various directions, Solmar put his hands together in front of his chest before pushing them towards both of his sides, sending small spheres of white flame to meet them halfway.

Melting the steel and splintering the wood, smoldering pieces of wood fell to the floor around himself and throughout other portions of the room where his fireballs had collided with their targets. Looking ahead to see if Amalie was fine, it turned out she had erected some sort of field around herself that had taken on the brunt of the spears and the ceiling coming down. Once the field came down, it did not seem like she had been all that shocked by this turn of events, which could not be said about Solmar. Determined to find out what had happened here, he wandered over to the walls from where he had heard the clicking sound, finding small circular holes in parts of them that were leaking a small amount of oil. Likely used as some kind of lubricating method to allow the spears to fly out smoothly, it would seem that someone had in fact set up traps here. Whether they remained from the time when the building was still in use or if they had been made around the time when this new someone settled in wasn’t something he could figure out, though he could tell that the defense mechanism had been triggered remotely due to a lack of tripwires or other means of activation.

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on around here, though it seems we may have more on our hands than just a haunted house. These traps were activated from somewhere within the building, and I believe something corporeal pulled the trigger. Whatever the noise from earlier was, I doubt it was the cause of the trap springing, though they may have been related."


(886 // Solmar Total: 3406 // Thread Total: 5633)

Amalie was right, someone really did not want them snooping around in the old building, which had been clear enough due to the traps that had been used to either kill them or force them out. As it had clearly failed at doing both of these things, Solmar too heard the childlike noises again. Looking around to see where they originated from, it turned out that something had been here after all. Just as he had noticed, so had the other mage also noticed the small girl that stood with them in the room. Wondering where she had come from, he kept his attention on her as the other mage started talking to her in regards to the weapon she was holding. Though small, a knife like that could still inflict a lot of pain on a child, which made the things she eventually told them in return that much more disturbing. Claiming that she and her sister liked to play tag with the sharp object, another appeared seemingly out of nowhere. While he wasn't much of a mage to begin with, even he could tell that these kids were not human at all and spelled trouble.

Although believing that children were to never be hurt, he felt like an exception could be made for homicidal ghost girls that were set on playing tag with Amalie's organs. Preparing to handle them, it dawned upon him that neither of the two paid any attention to him at all, meaning they either did not consider him to be much of a threat to them or did not feel like they needed to handle him themselves. Forming a small white flame in the palm of his hand, he prepared to send out his purging fire in an attempt at ending the threat they posed to both him and Amalie. When he heard something far more clearly than the two girls, which was quite odd considering how close they were to him, the nauseating scent of rot and decay started penetrating his nostrils again. Aside from the sickening smell carried along with it, it would seem that it wasn't the only thing that it was carrying as there was a rather clear dragging noise following up on the loud footsteps and heavy breathing. Whatever it was, it had something to do with the people that had gone missing in the forest, the scent was just too similar for it not to be.

Once the girls started stabbing away at whatever it was that protected Amalie from harm, a large figure entered into the room from one of the yet unexplored side doors. As it entered into his visual range, it became clear that this abomination was more than likely linked to the missing bodies, considering how it was probably made out of several of them. From what he could see, the large, hulking being possessed at least three different tones of skin, had two differently colored eyes and had limbs made up from different portions. The large arm on the right side of its body was dragging a large piece of wood behind it, likely being part of the building's internal structure. Looking to its left, he noticed that it had one normal arm, as well as a smaller arm attached to the shoulder area that was more than likely a child's arm. Holding a dagger similar in appearance to one of the girls that was viciously stabbing at the field surrounding the other mage, Solmar was already hard at work in his mind as he put all of the pieces together as quickly as he could. While he might not have known much about the civilized world, he was far from stupid.

With the white flame still held in the palm of his hand, his other hand reached for his gladius before he brought the two together. Using the simple blade as a medium for his fire spell, he made sure that every hit he'd land would have the potential of dealing a lot of damage to this thing. As he had learned when he fought the risen dire wolf, his magical flames were meant for more than just slaying demons as it aided him in killing the wolf almost instantly with a sword strike that wouldn't even have struck a normal human dead. With a loud moan, the abomination brought both of his big arms towards the wooden beam it intended to use as a club, swinging it over his shoulder and bringing it down with tremendous force. Powerful as it was, the attack was linear and easy to perceive by the eyes of someone who had fought wild animals, both alone or in a small pack. Animals were unpredictable, though somehow he had learned to figure out what would happen when they attacked, meaning such sluggish and simplistic movements were easy for him to pick up and at the very least evade.

Trying to get close enough for a well placed strike, a fourth arm broke through what little clothing it had covering up the large torso. Nearly grabbing hold of the black haired male, he used his gladius to sever some of the fingers on its hand while at the same time setting it on fire. Moaning louder to the point where it seemed like it was actually hurting, the arm that tore through the clothing showed another face which had been completely assimilated into the back of the torso that was actually screaming in pain. As the fire started moving on further towards the body, it tore it off and tossed the burning arm at Solmar, sending both it and him flying across the room and into a nearby dining table. Crashing through the table, a large piece of wood stuck itself into his shoulder, something he nearly instantly tore out as it hindered him in his fight. Using his flames on himself in order to close up the wound and keep him from losing any more blood, he narrowed his eyes on the abomination as it yet again became the center of his focus. Having all of the time in the world to get back up, he looked around to see if there would be anything around that he might use against the monstrosity.

When his eyes landed on some of the spears that had flown in from the walls to kill him and the woman, he figured that it was time for him to return the favor. Picking up the nearest one, he imbued it with his fire magic and tossed it at the abomination as a glowing javelin of light and fire. Plunging it deep into the creature's chest, the fire started rapidly spreading as the abomination started wildly swiping the wooden beam around, greatly damaging the interior of the structure as it mowed portions out of the floor and ceiling alike. Letting in the natural light from outside, Solmar could tell that it did not enjoy seeing such a thing much either, but that the devouring flames were obviously what the monster had focused itself on. Picking up another spear, he performed the same task, though this time he aimed lower so as to pin a different spot. The javelins themselves hardly did much, though it was the spreading of the fire that he was after, as this seemed to be the way to stop the creature from advancing. With his wound still searing shot as the spell healed him, he threw a third and hopefully final javelin into the beast, this time pinning it in the leg and keeping it from moving any further.

"Call it a hunch, but I think this thing knows exactly what happened to the missing people."

Sending a remark towards Amalie, he looked on as the flames were starting to envelop the creature from three sides, eating away at the necrotic flesh and dark magics that had brought this beast to life in the first place. It made him wonder if, given how the children's arm attached to the abomination seemed similar to one of the ghost girls', if burning it would do anything to aid the other mage. For now though, he would have to focus on dealing with his own problem first as the hulking mass of burning flesh rose back to its feet for what Solmar could only deem to be its literal last stand. Believing himself to be ready for anything the thing might throw at him, the only thing he could do now was bide his time and see what would happen next and respond accordingly.


(1432 // Solmar Total: 4838 // Thread Total: 7808)

With the javelins lodged inside of the abomination's flesh, the white flames scorched and burned away at it. There wasn't a doubt in Solmar's mind that this would end up claiming the entire thing soon enough, though that might not have been soon enough. Though the main head remained fixated on Solmar, the other face that had been grafted into the body of the flesh golem was screaming in response to the burning, causing some of the arms to go flailing while the rest of the body wanted to get to the black haired mage. As the club was being flailed around, large portions of the floor and ceiling were being destroyed as tables and chair caught in the wake of the heavy tool got swung across the room. Though he could just wait it out, he imagined getting it done sooner was preferable over doing it later, considering how one of them just might get smacked in the head by a flying table or chair at this rate.

Watching for an opening that would allow him to do what needed to be done, he held his blade tightly and prepared to dash forward and lunge at the hulking monstrosity. That was when his ears picked up on something, words coming from Amalie, followed by a shining bright light that nearly blinded him. Figuring that it originated from the woman as a result of some kind of spell she had used, he could feel that the light was almost warm to the touch. Possessing a feel that was somewhat similar to his own magical fire, at least to a certain degree, he believed that this might have been the break that he was looking for. Moving to the side and using the light as a ways by which he might approach mostly unseen, he had made sure to maneuver himself to a position that put the light directly behind him. Sprinting towards the large beast that tried his best to cover his eyes with his now fingerless hand, Solmar dug his blade into the side of the beast.

Slicing straight through it, white flames erupted from the wound, starting to burn into the body of the abomination instead of just eating away at it from the outside. Releasing a deeply troubled howl, the abomination got toppled, following forward on hands and knees now that the weight of the beast could no longer be sustained by its own body. At this point, the battle was already over, though something about all of this felt off to the young mage. Even though he knew that the people had been killed by the wolf that brought them here, for some reason, it seemed like the abomination was alive enough to actually feel things. It made him wonder as to whether it was being controlled and that the one doing so was trying to trick him into messing up, or if it was being controlled but could actually feel the pain Solmar inflicted upon it. Regardless, he felt like he was going to need to put an end to it right away, just to be safe.

Listening on as Amalie finished up her dealings and started responding to his earlier statement, Solmar made his way up the back of the abomination. Driving his burning blade down the neck of the beast and driving it through his spine, he activated his magic, forcing white flames to come shooting out of its ears, nose, mouth and eyes, effectively burning the entire being up from the inside out. As the fires were raging around him up until the point where the abomination was reduced to nothing more than smoldering remains and ash, Solmar placed his gladius back into the scabbard and taking a few steps back. Watching some strange dark smoke emerge from the ashes, it got evaporated by the lingering white flames. Not thinking too much of it, he turned his attention back to Amalie as she had begun what seemed like an attempt at drawing out whoever or whatever had been behind all of these demented deeds.

"I don't know a whole lot about magic, but I've been thinking the same thing. Earlier with the traps that got sprung remotely, those girls and this monster following up directly after the traps failed to do the deed. It is simply too convenient, meaning that whoever is pulling the strings isn't much of a predator at all but merely a scavenger hiding behind others."

Considering how everything was seemingly pointing towards there being someone in the building that was watching them, most of Solmar was actively trying to figure things out, though a smaller portion of him had something else going on. Today had been the first day for him in which he had been able to actively use his magic, as well as it being the first time he used it with his sword as a medium. This meant that he was growing into his magic, or maybe it was his magic that had become more adapted to him. Regardless of the reason, he was getting stronger, and his magic seemed to be about more than just hurting demons; it hurt the undead too. As out of character as it was for him, a grin appeared on his face as he thought about this fact that would undoubtedly aid him in what was to come. With that, he prepared himself as the one responsible might not be planning on coming to them, which meant they would need to come to him first.


(926 // Solmar Total: 5764)

Once the large abomination had been reduced to nothing but ashes, Solmar remained in that particular spot, waiting for something to happen. Though he did not know why, he was more or less expecting something similar to happen here as had been the case with the ghosts. Part of him wanted to believe that in killing the amalgam of flesh, the spirits of those the bodies had belonged to would have been freed as well. After a little while of waiting and pondering however, he felt like he knew enough as nothing was happening at all. Sighing a bit as a breath of air escaped him, he rose back to his feet and turned away from it, trying his best to figure out what to do next. Being very well aware of the fact that someone was still maneuvering behind the scenes as the kind of creepy puppeteer that controlled the undead minions, he heard Amalie was still calling him out.

As things were, she did not seem to be overly successful, being that she did not really get any response. However, something seemed to have changed when she called him out by saying there would be no mercy for him unless he came out now. Whether it merely amused him or angered him enough to break the silence, all that came out were the words "Nice try". To think that someone who could do such terrible things to living beings such as the wolf and the people from the surrounding villages was this petty and childish was enough to visibly anger the black haired mage. Setting his gladius on fire again, part of him wanted to just chop up and set the entire building ablaze with his brilliant white flames. Deciding against it as there was no way of knowing whether they'd be doing more good than harm or the other way around, Solmar was quite shook when he saw how Amalie set the bar on fire before proceeding to take down the roof.

Wondering what kind of magic it was that she used, the only indicator he had was that she spoke a word before making something happen. With the only real magic he partially understood being his own, it made no sense that someone was capable of creating flames and barriers, not to mention the shining light that he had seen earlier. When the next word he heard was eviscerate, large spikes appeared around her, multiplying rapidly before shooting throughout the room. Holding his blade at the ready just in case, it seemed that all of the spikes were being fired with a good deal of accuracy, meaning none of them were on a direct collision course with him. Instead, they seemed to have been aimed in a way meant to take down the surrounding structure by targeting support beams that were carrying most of the weight of the roof. Once the barrage stopped, it took a moment before a loud creaking could be heard throughout the room, and probably the rest of the building too.

Now that the roof was quite literally coming down around them, Solmar used his sword to direct the flames that would otherwise just be going around in wide arcs, aiming only for that which was coming for him. Having no intention of getting buried under rubble, at his current level, his flames were at the very least hot enough to incinerate wood. Releasing his magic as efficiently as he could as he did not want to accidentally set fire to the woods outside, most of the building was coming down rather rapidly as Amalie did not seem to hold back a whole lot. Releasing the fire around his blade once everything had fallen to the ground, he wandered over to Amalie as there was something he needed to ask her. Unfortunately, shattering the building had seemingly been enough to force their adversary out of hiding and out into the open. As black smoke started flooding into the area, it wouldn't take long before it coalesced at the center of the room and took on a human form, proving that it was yet another human mage behaving poorly.

Looking him over quickly, there were a few features that obviously stuck out, these being his incredibly pale skin, dark hair and mad eyes. That said, there was more about him that stuck out, though not everyone would be able to pick up on it as well as Solmar could. Breathing in through his nose but once, he could tell that the guy reeked of death as it seemed to radiate from his very body. For a moment, he wondered if the guy was going to have something to say for himself, or if he should say something to the man himself, but that seemingly pointless pondering got cut short when the man attacked. Sending forth a mass of darkness, it barely hit him, though it was made abundantly clear that the man did not consider him to be much of a threat as the full brunt of the attack was sent towards Amalie. Clashing against the barrier, it seemed that the attack could not breach it, but could still move her out of her position, which was saying something as well.

Once the attack ceased, he just looked on as he wasn't really sure as to what it was that he should do, feeling that it wasn't so much his place to intervene. Judging by her actions and the way she talked to the man, she seemed to be quite in control of the situation, though looks could be deceiving. Since he really did not know her all that well and had no idea what either she or the man were truly capable of, he would bide his time for the moment. Continuing to read the room and assess the situation as best as he could, he would wait for an opening through which he could launch an attack of his own, or a moment he could utilize to create an opening for Amalie, who seemed quite a bit more skilled and well versed in the use of magic. The way he saw it, men like these did not deserve to make it to a jail cell or anything of the sort, because that wasn't justice. For the great deal of people that had been killed by it, as well as for the dire wolf he had killed and perverted, there was really but one thing left to do.


(1086 // Solmar Total: 6850)

Continuing to watch as things would unfold, the battle between the mage and the dark mage continued the way he had imagined. Compared to the other mage, Solmar's magical power probably did not mean all that much, making it that much easier for the dark mage to just scuff at his very presence. Remaining mindful of the black magic that flew around, as well as making sure not to get himself caught up in one of them, he did the only thing he could do at this point, which was to assess the situation to the best of his abilities and look for an opening in the man's defenses. Obviously, doing so meant that he would need to first figure out more about this guy, what made him tick. But more importantly, he needed to know what his magic did, and if there was perhaps something his own magic could do to stop that of the dark mage. Knowing that his own magic was considered holy by some, all it really was to Solmar was a means of putting down demons and other creatures that should not be in this world anymore.

It had only been due to this encounter with the undead wolf, the ghosts haunting the supposedly abandoned guild hall and the abomination of twisted flesh, bone and sinew that the young mage had come to figure out how his magic was effective against those kinds of beings as well as demons. Truth be told, he was quite glad to know about such a thing, as both undead and ghosts were beings that no longer had a place within the natural order of things and only acted as a force to upset nature. Whenever nature was upset, things happened like the earth going sour, plants dying and animals not being born right. While he was only a young one, he had seen a lot more of what nature had to offer than most people twice his age. This was because of his upbringing, or rather the lack thereof after his seventh year when the calamity that robbed him of his place in the world happened. When the demon called Vetis killed his parents, mauled the neighbors and killed various people on the streets that had the misfortune of running into it, the younger Solmar would never be able to return.

Though through the years he forgot where he had been born in the first place, it had forced him to find a new place, as well as figure out how to survive on his own without having any parents to act as role models or tell him what was okay and what was not. The ability to discern between right and wrong had always been a lot more grey for him than it had been for other people, but that much was to be expected when one grew up by following the laws of the jungle. Out in the harsh world outside of modern society, it was all about killing or being killed, as well as asserting dominance so an animal would not abuse what it might misconstrue as weakness and attack. So as he watched the Necromancer as he sent waves of blackness towards the barrier that surrounded Amalie, it was clear that he intended to just keep pouring it on in an attempt at eventually overwhelming it and breaking it entirely before overwhelming and consuming the woman who was hiding behind it. While hiding might not have been the right word, the fact that she refrained from attacking would most certainly give rise to such thoughts within the back of his mind.

What he could see when he looked upon the surroundings that were touched by the black waves, he could tell that it was not looking good. It was as if a concentrated death was radiating from his spells as the wood along the ceiling, the floor and the walls that were touched sporadically by it started rotting so fast that it became visible to the naked eye. Judging from that, he could only imagine what it would do if it were to come into contact with a human body, meaning the barrier was likely a good idea. If it were to go down, there was a likeliness  that it would not leave much to be recognized by. That said, the man was a Necromancer, so it was likely that he would try to keep as much of their bodies intact as he possibly could. What with the bodies he had already lost due to the earlier fight, as well as his undead dire wolf no longer being in the business of delivering new dead bodies for him to tinker with, it seemed probable to think that he would start with using their bodies first. Whether there were more bodies, which seemed entirely likely given how many people had gotten lost over the past months, he would likely start with their entirely out of spite.

Not really looking forward to having his body become another part of some fleshy machination, or worse, to have his soul bound to something while being forced to do whatever the Necromancer told him to, there seemed to be but one way to deal with the situation, and that was through his sword. Feeling like he had seen enough of this man's magic to know that it was likely safe for him to approach from behind and lob off his head, it was at that point that he noticed something out of the ordinary. The man's shadow seemed to move around differently, not following the same moves made by his body. Noticing that his shadow also possessed horns and what seemed like a tail, the black haired swordsman was starting to get second thoughts with regards to how they should be dealing with this man. What he had felt earlier, which he had figured was likely due to all of the death around him seemed to be centered around this man, which actually made a whole lot of sense due to the fact that he was the one causing it, but there was yet more to it.

The more he focused his attention on this shadow, the more it seemed like this feeling he had was coming from it rather than the man it was attached to. At that point, he came to realize that maybe, just maybe, this shadowy thing was the reason behind this man's actions. Maybe by attaching itself to the man it could control his movement and his actions through a means of possession. Given how a similar thing had happened to him in the past, the idea of a man being possessed by a demon and forced to do evil things was not even that big of a leap, more so when considering the incredibly harmful and life ending magical power that radiated from his spells and kept the other mage from attacking. Making an executive decision at that point to turn his blade on the shadow, there was a good chance that he was wrong and that it would draw the man's attention towards attacking and killing him. But given the off chance that he just might be right here, he focused his demon slaying fire into his sword and leaped forth from his guarded position and towards the Necromancer.

At the end of his leap, he would thrust his sword into the shadow, causing his sword to go down straight through the floor boards. Once he did, the white flames from his sword started slipping from the blade and began burning the wooden floor, which seemed to draw quite the response. As the man started twitching, his magical assault beginning to fluctuate, the white flames were forced back as a dark power began to rise up from the shadow in the shape of a black almost liquid substance. Wrapping around his wrists, sword and ankles, drawing him into it in the blink of an eye. Feeling as though he got submerged in water, he saw how the guild hall disappeared and made way for darkness in all directions for as far as the eye could see. Floating around in it as the tendrils kept pulling him down, Solmar felt extremely cold as he got lowered further and further into it. Feeling as the cold made it harder for him to do simple things like maintain his grip, he was forced to let go of his sword as it sank deep down below into the abyss. Watching as it eventually disappeared entirely, it was around that time that the tendrils let go and he was left to just hover.

Even though everything was cold and it felt like being deep, deep under water, he could breathe normally, which made the whole experience rather outlandish as he had never been in such a situation before. Trying to orient himself as he was down there, he suddenly got the feeling that he was not alone, feeling his entire body shiver as a black being darted around within the darkness. As it was incredibly hard for him to move around on his own, the dark figure eventually came to him, hanging in front of him while sniffing deeply. Telling Solmar in a deep and raspy voice that he could smell that he was a  demon slayer, it apparently thought it was quite funny that a slayer like himself had gotten trapped within the demon's personal space after foolishly lunging at and trying to kill a shadow. Chuckling at the thought, Solmar himself just pouted a bit at the idea of being laughed at, especially since his intentions were good. But all of this just went to prove and show that good intentions really did not mean much if one couldn't see it through up until the end. Continuing to look him over, the demonic entity did not seem finished yet.

Asking him why he had not just used his chance at stabbing the man from behind or lobbing off his head with his sword, the swordsman remained silent for a bit. When he thought about it, it reminded him of how he really did not owe the man in question a thing, and how he had only noticed the demon by accident once he was at the point of going in for the kill. In reality, he did not really know why he had done so, given how he had little to no connections with humans ever since the death of his parents and his relatives and acquaintances. Even more so, he had nothing to do with this man at all and really only had reasons for wanting to kill him, at least up until him noticing the demonic entity. Incapable of providing the entity with a clear question, it just huffed a bit as it ran a finger along Solmar's arm, cutting into it with a sharp nail and drawing a good amount of blood. Returning the finger to its mouth and having a taste of it, it narrowed its eyes as it apparently tasted something entirely unexpected.

Instead of addressing it, the entity turned its back towards Solmar as he posed another interesting question. Claiming that since Solmar had intended on killing the man, but had stopped in an attempt at saving him by killing the demon that possessed it, he asked whether or not being unable to take down the demon would mean that he would instead aim to kill the host body instead. Thinking of all the dozens of people that had gone missing, that had been killed and tinkered with, the young swordsman felt that maybe it would be best if he made an attempt at killing him so that all of this could end. But that was only going to happen if he was not going to be able to kill the demon itself. Chuckling at the answer, both Solmar and the entity knew that him killing the other was unlikely to happen, though he still had a trump card up his sleeve. Right now, he still hoped that Amalie would be able to overcome the waves of death magic and might make an attempt at aiding him in this battle, instead of just sitting behind a protective dome the whole time and not contributing a whole lot to the problem they were facing.

Unsure whether she wouldn't or couldn't, there was no denying that the two of them had only met moments before entering the abandoned guild hall. He couldn't know for sure if the person still up there would actually make an attempt at saving him if it came to the point where he would need it, which was very much the case right now. But as time went on, he was starting to realize that the help he had been hoping for would most likely not come at all. At that thought, it seemed that the entity could sense the feeling of power and hopelessness and decided to just keep pouring it on. Placing a hand on top of Solmar's head, the being allowed Solmar to see some of the memories of the Necromancer, things that seemed entirely pointless. In one, it showed the man in a large manor along with his wife, his two daughters and their staff, as well as a cat. In the next, it showed that the man was an employee of the magic council and did some paperwork that was beyond Solmar's own understanding. In the next, he saw how the family cat had gotten sick and eventually died, to which the man applied his magic in order to restore it back to life.

Judging by the way his magics looked, the magic of this necromancer had not always been dark and cold but used to be more like a warm and soothing light. When the memory that followed it had apparently happened after quite some time since the death and rebirth of the cat, it showed his two daughters lying on a bed with veils over their eyes, as well as the man's magic not being strong enough to restore a human being to life. What happened next were various memories showing moments of anger and sadness between the man and his wife, up to the point where he eventually lifted his wife down after she had hung herself from a tree in the garden. Beginning to understand a bit of why things were happening the way they had, images popped up of how he had unearthed the bodies of his daughter and had them laying on a table. There, he tried to clean them, clean being a relative term when talking about a decomposing corpse that had been in the ground for a while already. As the eyes went across the room, it showed him that his wife was laying on another table not far from that of the two daughters.

Though he had never seen such things before, the tools he saw laying around seemed like the same tools his mother had used when skinning and gutting deer for her work as a hunter. But these seemed to be sharper, more advanced tools meant for far more precise work, but that much was something even a blind idiot could see. And while he might have spent all of his time in the wilderness after being forced to run from society as a seven year old kid, it was clear that he was going to use those tools on these bodies, though for reasons he could not figure out. As the memories progressed to future points in time, Solmar saw how the man was pleading with whatever was willing and able to help him out, to which he was answered by the raspy voice he knew for sure was that of the demon. In exchange for assistance and amplifying his magic to the point where he could raise people from the dead, the man was to help him by doing whatever it was that he wanted. And what he wanted was for someone to act as his willing vessel so he could "learn more about what made human beings tick".

Likely misunderstanding at the time, the demon inhabited the man's body, turning the bright glow of his magic into a dark and cold version. While he did in fact restore the souls to their bodies of his family, that seemed to merely be the start of things, for the entity did wish to figure out what made humans tick. At that point, the disfigurement, torture and stitch jobs started with the entity using the body of the man to work on other people from his city that sought aid. Treated them all like willing subjects, he killed some in order to harvest their organs or limbs while stitching them to other people and seeing how they would adjust to it. Once the citizens learned what was happening, they banded together and drove the man out of his manor, burning it down during their raid and forcing him to make an escape. All of that was the reason why he had ended up in the abandoned guild hall, and why he had resorted to using a wild animal as his means of delivering fresh corpses for him to tinker and play with. Through the years, as the man who used to own the body kept slipping further and further away, the entity became stronger and just started playing with people's bodies and souls for the fun of it.

Removing his hand from Solmar's head, the entity showed a grin as it pulled up what he could only imagine was the soul of the man who had his body possessed by it. Being nothing more than this shriveled little thing that could barely be called a soul anymore, it was made that much more clear to Solmar that there was no chance at saving this man. The only thing they could do that was relatively humane was to put him out of his misery by killing him, though that proved to be an issue on its own as his sword had sank into a black abyss and he had no way of getting topside. Being entirely on his own in this, the entity then turned to Solmar again, speaking of how his soul would be suffering the same fate as his younger body would serve as a far better one. After all, the body of the Necromancer had gotten old, corrupted and weakened by the constant exposure to the demon's black magic, which had caused it to age a whole lot faster than the normal body would. Believing Solmar would not be bothered by such things as his body seemed far more magic rich and sturdy after years spent in the wilderness, there was also the added bonus of literally no one knowing him.

As such, the entity would be able to parade around wherever and whenever he wanted to as there was no one out looking for Solmar and no one who could possibly tell that he wasn't acting like himself. Turning itself into a black liquid form, it forced itself into Solmar's face, entering his body through his nose and mouth, making him feel like choking over and over as the darkness invaded him, forcing itself down until there was nothing left. Once it was over with, the first thing the young swordsman did was cough up a good amount of blood. Seeing how that blood had hints of corruption in it as it was slowly blackening, he figured that he would only have so much time before the entity would make an attempt at taking over. With that thought in mind, he started swimming as fast as he could through the black void, making his way through the man shaped hole in the air above him. Being the very same shadow through which he had entered this strange world, it seemed to make sense to him that this would also be how he would be getting back out of it. Taking quite a bit of time as it was not easy for him to pull off, his body starting to resist him at times, he eventually made it.

Sticking his arm out first, he put it onto the wooden floor boards, elbow first before using it to lift the rest of his body out up to his waist. Feeling as though his sight was gradually fading out, he could swear that as his vision of the real world faded away, he saw into another place entirely. Seeing the black entity inside of him as it was starting to spread itself through his subconscious, the black tendrils eventually hit a snag as they were stopped from advanced due to ivory white walls. When next a white figure stepped out of the wall and wandered over to the black entity, it looked it over for a bit before asking whether it was considered okay these days for one such entity to intrude upon the turf of the other. Seemingly being no wiser as to what was going on, the black entity confusedly replied to Vetis that it had not sensed any demonic beings inside of this body, and that he would make his way back out towards the Necromancer until he found a more suitable body. But as he tried to leave, it seemed that it could not, being stopped by the other being as Vetis kept it around. Instead of saying another word, the white entity disappeared.

Next, the white walls shifted and warped, taking on the appearance of a massive white maw that bit into and slowly worked down the entire black entity as a midday snack. By the time the black one had disappeared entirely and his body seemed to go back normal as the black veins retreated, all he saw was one last smirk from the massive maw before his vision was restored. As soon as it was, he fully lifted himself out of the shadow as the gateway closed, retracting towards the body of the Necromancer. When it finally reached him, the black waves of magic suddenly stopped as the light in his otherwise darkened eyes was snuffed out, causing the lifeless body to lumber for a bit before falling to the ground. Slowly making his way over to it and gripping the man by the wrist, the young swordsman could no longer feel a heartbeat, meaning the man's soul had most likely abandoned his body the moment the magic was released and the demon got eaten by a more powerful one. Choosing not to think about it too much just yet, Solmar took towards the place the Necromancer had stepped out of as he still had a job to do here.

Doing his best to locate them all, it did not take much time before Solmar found all of the missing bodies. Finding them all in varying stages of being carved into, having organs or limbs taken and sewn onto another, he did not think that he could leave them here like this for their relatives to find. No, instead, he went around in an attempt at collecting as many of their valuables as he could. Rings, necklaces, hairpins, anything that might be used by their relatives to recognize them by before using his white flames to set fire to the place. And in this, he was thorough, he would not just burn the corpses, he would burn down the entire building so no one would ever be any the wiser of what had happened here. Caring very little for the magic council and what they wanted, he figured it would be in their best interest as well as the guild hall would vanish along with the bodies. Once he made sure all of the bodies in the basement had caught on fire, he made his way out into the main room of the building where Amalie and the body of the Necromancer were.

Using his magic to set fire of the body of the Necromancer, it would most likely not be long before it would catch on and start burning the wooden floor before the flames from the basement would reach it. Knowing for certain that the place would be gone before long, he turned his attention towards Amalie for a moment. Not because of all the aid he had received from her throughout this encounter, but so that she could relay the message to her council. "Thirty bodies intact, ten taken apart and two more in the process of being sewn into another abomination. All set fire to. Before long, they and this building will be no more. I'm heading back to let their relatives know of what happened, you do whatever it is you need to do, though I wouldn't stay here for much longer. It's bound to get hot.". With that short report of sorts given, he ventured out through the front door and headed back into the woodlands that surrounded the place. Before he would truly leave though, he would make sure the resulting fire would not end up burning down the surrounding forests, putting it out if it came to it.

Once that was all taken care of, he would head towards the villages from which these people had gone missing from. Fully intending on returning their trinkets to them as he had nothing to gain from keeping them, the young swordsman without a sword hoped it would bring them some solace.


(Exit Thread)
(4265 // 11118)
Downsizing by 4000 as it had already been turned in 4 months ago, which I forgot about entirely, my bad.
7118 words left.
Turning 7000 in for an A ranked free form.