Everyone soon felt a searing hot pain on there right hand, like someone had pressed a hot iron into their skin. The roman numeral for seven (VII) was soon visible on each subject's hand. Then something unexpected occurred: the bars of the cage like structure snapped enough for one to walk through. It seems the cage wasn't to trap but to show. To show what was not quite clear yet.
Back in the realm that The Master lived Slash told him everyone had awoken
"Good, send some ferals so we can see how they solve conflict. What about the *others?" he asked Slash
"The siblings escaped the cage before we freed the others sir. How many ferals should we send?"
A small smile spread across his face "Let us send ten."
and with that ten wolf like shadow creatures were sent into the forest through the barrier. One let out a loud howl that carried miles to let the subjects know the game had begun.
Erika screeched, clutching her hand to her chest, almost falling down as she tried to stand. "What the-" An eerie howl interrupted her, and her eyes widened with something she hadn't felt in quite a long time: pure, raw fear.
Run. Get out. This-this isn't a dream. Too lucid, too real. Erika's sporadic thoughts jumping in her head as she looked at Oliver. What about him? I can't do this on my own but… but he has wings, and I barely know him!
Erika took a deep breath. "Can I trust you?" Perhaps not the best question to ask a mythical stranger, but there seemed to be nobody else around.
Dare hissed as a burning pain stabbed through her palm. The scent of burnt skin assuaged her nose as she looked at the injury, eyes squinting with tears. The burn was almost like a brand, like a mark of ownership. This was not good. She heard a ferocious howl as two bars of the cage deeper into the ground, leaving a space large enough to squeeze through. A shiver ran down her spine at the sound, and she shot to her feet. Heart pounding, Dare slipped through the cage and ran away from the howl and the sound of pounding paws. Dimly, she wondered what kind of creature was chasing her as her boots crashed through the undergrowth, trying to distract herself from the fear creeping through her insides. A coyote, maybe? A wolf?
There was a shout of profanity near Dare and the sound of tearing of some sort. This was followed by a yelp and someone saying over and over "Get off! Get off you stupid dog!"
The other creatures had the cages in sight and sniffed the air before getting any closer. The wolves themselves were clearly not normal for they dripped the same matter that the cages did. Any light seemed to dim around them and there were some points in time where their form became unstable like they were literally stitched together.
Oliver his in pain, his eyes a bit blurry and watery and clutching his hand. He stared at the girl for a second, trying to process what she was saying, until he understood.
He nodded, before saying, “yes, in this moment, right now, yes.”
Hearing something, he looked around, now filled with fear and terror, like a memory from before.
Blake fell to her knees, clutching her hand. She clenched her teeth to keep from screaming. With ragged breaths, she struggled back to her feet and stepped through the open bars. "Time to find-" A howl pierced the air, sending chills down Blake's spine. She shuddered and trudged forward, quickening her pace into a run. "Time to find out what's going on."
Dare swallowed her fear and ran over to the sound of the voice, grabbing a stick off the ground. She skidded to a stop in a pile of dead leaves and stuck the branch out in front of her. “Back off! Go away!” she shouted, waving it back and forth. She noticed the wolves- they were wolves! -were made of the same matter as the cages and covered in writhing shadows, and she wondered absently if they had been created by the same person.
What Dare saw was one of the wolves had pinned a young blonde boy to the ground. There was a silver sword stuck in the body of another wolf, this one dead and slowly dissolving into a puddle. The young woman had distracted the wolf on top of the boy long enough for him to grab drop the branch he had been using to protect his face and grab onto the wolf's body, sending what appeared to be a shockwave through it's body. The wolf collapsed on the boy and started to dissolve just like the one stuck with the sword was "Ew this is nasty I just got this damn hoodie from the washer." His electric blue eyes looked up at Dare and said, "Well um thanks for that but could you help me get it off…it's starting to stick to me."
Blake on the other hand heard paws thumping against the snow covered ground, gaining on him rather quickly.
Now panic-stricken, Blake looked around her for an escape plan. She darted into the forest, glancing wildly in every direction. In her path was a low-hanging branch that looked like it could support her weight. "Willow, let's do this." As the branch neared, her prosthetic leg partially detached from her metal foot, revealing a spring. About 2 feet away from the branch, she jumped, the spring propelling her in the air even further. Blake grabbed the branch, and clung tight. She exhaled in relief before pulling the rest of her weight up onto the branch, and started clambering up the tree.
“Of course,” Dare replied, grabbing his hand and pulling him up to his feet. She swiped the sticky stuff off of his sweatshirt and brushed her hands against her legs, starting to shiver a bit in her thin sweater. “Who are you? What was that, by the way? The whole sword, wolf, apparent powers thing? Oh, we should probably get moving, the wolf-things might reform or pull some other wacky BS.” Dare spoke rapidly, trying to hide the fearful tremor in her voice. She had no idea what was going on, and right now she’d really rather be at home with a mug of hot chocolate and a thick blanket.
"I'm Tempest co-founder of Haven and now a participant in this 'game' of Zerack's" He finger quoted the word game. He pulled the sword from the other fallen wolf and the sword turned into a small lightning bolt necklace that he slipped over his head. He noticed the girl was shivering so he pulled off his sweatshirt and offered it to her, having on a long sleeved Stranger Things shirt on under it. "Here I don't want the person who just saved my sorry behind to freeze out here."
Back at the tree Blake had climbed two other wolves circled the trunk, knowing he could not stay up there forever.
“Thank you, Tempest.” Dare tugged the sweatshirt on over her head, her whole body tense. “Is Haven this place? Who’s this Zerack dude and why are we even here?” Now that she knew this guy had knowledge beyond her own, she needed to know every detail, even if he himself might be dangerous. With that sword, he probably was, but hopefully not to her.
"no Haven is the organization I run to stop this sort of thing from happening. Zerack is the being that creates those creatures that are after everyone…" The young man told her
“Clearly, your organization isn’t doing its job very well,” Dare commented wryly. “Wait, why’d you call Zerack a being; are they not human? And there are more people here? What the hell is going on?” She poked a finger at Tempest questioningly. “If this is a game, how do we win?”
Blake glared down at the wolves, before scanning the trees around her. She crept along the branch she was on, and jumped. Her hands clawed wildly at the air, before gripping on to the branch of another tree. She pulled herself up to the branch, which supported her weight. She jumped from that branch to another, and soon was leaping from tree to tree, hoping to evade the wolves.
(I am so sorry, I’m extremely sick at the moment, if it’s ok can I just… stay in the sidelines until I am better? If not I’ll just drop this.)
( @Mood-Swings-Xcnx4 that's alright)
"Well we're trying okay? It's not easy most of us are still teens and to be honest I'd love to have a semi-normal life." Tempest seemed a bit peeved at Dare's comment. "But no Zerack is a sub species of demon called shadows…not all them are bad like he is but…he's really messed up inside." He looked at the fresh mark on her hand and pointed to it "looks like there are seven non-Haven members here. Zerack sets them here and hunts them down…to win he must die…simple as that."
Back with the tree hopping Blake one of the shadow wolves start to shift form until it looks like a big cat rather than canine and starts to climb the tree he had just leapt from.
Voices filtered in through the trees, and Kade turned toward them, hesitating. Should he go see who it was? Probably. He had nothing better to do.
Pulling his sweatshirt closer around himself, he trekked through the forest, towards the sound of voices.
Oliver moved his hand around the slimy cage, looking for something, until he grabbed a familiar stick the was sinking through the slime. He pulled it out, and turns out it was his walking stick!
He stepped out of cage, looking around and jumped when he suddenly heard noises near by. He waited for Erika to come out of the cage, trying to see if there was any movement from behind the trees.
There was a quiet sound of footsteps behind Kade "Now now grouping together isn't the best idea." It was Slash. He had a switchblade in hand and still had very little detail to himself even up close. He was like a simple black clay structure, though his mouth curled into a grin as the same toxic smelling substance dripped, staining the snow grey
“Demons… ok then. Those must be a thing that exist now,” Dare mused. She looked down at her hand and tilted her head. “So, there are six more people here, and Zerack has some sort of ability to put these marks on us without touching us, which points to usage of- well, I don’t want to say it, but magic.” She turned to Tempest. “Let me guess, for him to win, we all die? Well, I’m gonna do my darndest for that to, y’know, not happen.”
Tempest's eyes widen "you have a way to defend yourself right cause magic is pretty common here…if you don't you're kinda screwed…" He offered Dare a sliver pocket knife from his back pocket "also if any of those things cut you wash out the wound as soon as you can…or you'll become one of 'em." He tried his very best to mak sure she knew everything she should (you're really lucky @vidari-is-tired-in-advance that I rolled Tempest for you to encounter. @PrettyLittlePyro you were not so lucky as I rolled Slash as your encounter)
“I didn’t know magic existed until about thirty seconds ago, so thank you for the knife. I do not want to be screwed,” Dare replied as she tucked the knife in her front pocket. “And that’s good to know, because I don’t think I’d look very good in slime.”
(im very grateful for the assistance lol)
"What are these things?" Blake tapped her metal foot on the branch she was on. A control panel lifted on a rod from her knee. Blake tapped a command into it, and her metal leg began to shift, until there was something looking like a high-tech suit of armor covering everything but her head. Out of the mech's hands came razor-sharp blades, gleaming white-hot. "Whatever they are, if they're so insistent on following me, I'll teach 'em a lesson."
Oliver moved his hand around the slimy cage, looking for something, until he grabbed a familiar stick the was sinking through the slime. He pulled it out, and turns out it was his walking stick!
He stepped out of cage, looking around and jumped when he suddenly heard noises near by. He waited for Erika to come out of the cage, trying to see if there was any movement from behind the trees.
(Ach, sorry. I couldn't be online over the weekend.)
"Okay." Erika hesitantly steps out of the muck-filled 'cage'. "Are you alright with being together? I don't…like it here enough to want to be alone." Of course, she didn't want to sound scared, so she added, "Only if you want."
Back with the prosthetic wearing individual the panther like shadow got in pretty close and took a swipe at Blake, the claws sparking against the armor, leaving visible slash marks against the surface of the false limb.
The boy with Dare was quite figity, messing with an old rubix cube as he motioned for them to keep moving. The way he spoke and acted it was clear he suffered from a form of either ADHD or ADD at the least. "Gotta find my sister. This is like her element she loves hunting…normal hunting mind you not hunting people but I'm a little worried for her to be out her without anyone else." he huffed a bit, his breath visible at the slight drop in temperature.
Blake slashed at the panther's neck, the hot metal easily slicing its head clean off. "There we go."
(7 feral shadows remaining fyi)
The panther that Blake killed fell, smacking against each branch on the way down. The feral at the ground that had been following sniffed at the dissolving corpse of it's friend and whined, something changing not physically but mentally as it looked up at Blake. It's ears and tail lowered and the feral padded away.
Blake grinned triumphantly. "Good night, Willow." Her mech folded back into her prosthetic leg. Blake jumped to the ground, and started off in the opposite direction of the remaining feral.
Soon enough Blake would come across another feral, but this one wasn't a threat, it's hind leg had been trapped in a silver bear trap. The substance that acted as their blood had pooled around the creature, it's form unstable as if only vaguely resembled a wolf. It was alive and it's pure white eyes follow her but it doesn't growl or even attempt to get up.
