( You've had your walls stripped bare and defenses torn asunder emotionally. What's the deepest truth you refuse to tell a soul about them or yourself? - Meant to be an IC response of course! It's not something Din would much ask someone, but didn't wanna do it anonymously either. lol )
"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster, for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich W. Nietzche
It had to be a dream. There was no way there was just an end to all the fighting.
Labored breaths and a survey of their surroundings however did not mince the details to the altercation. The battle had ended and in its wake was silence and stillness. This was always what she had strove for. This... semblance of foreign peace. It didn't appear real. And she again looked for movement or a questionable shadow. Her hand reflexively tightening on the glaive she held until the hand of her father settled on her shoulder.
A firm squeeze was given with a muted assurance that what she was seeing was not a mistake. He had the experience to understand it, but she didn't. He had fought in battles and won. But in her case, she never had a victory. This... This didn't feel true.
"It is over." He reaffirmed with a tone of finality. His blade was put to rest at his side as she couldn't believe him. Her father never dropped his guard! THIS WAS WRONG!
She searched for the position of her brother, Allasticus. Even he, one that was driven by bloodlust, had sheathed his blade. Though, his head hung as he stood over the remains of their young brother. This had to be some ploy or red herring.
The rubble beneath her feet crumbled as she moved in the direction where the Sanguine Sorceress had last been seen. Though the red was not something anyone could miss. It was a focal point in the dark and she was still as a statue - pinned into a wall by a blade. Those black lips of hers now had become an open fountain. Blood that had since been taken from others ran down over the curve of her white skin.
She was the monster that did not stop.
"Not convinced are you," quipped the familiar tone of the Nethermancer, Nixalegos. "Neither am I."
Before an answer could be offered, the nethermancer ignited the corpse of Malakortana with a deft motion of his hand. The flames of fel hungrily devoured the corpse of the she-devil. But her presence still lingered in the air, it was heavy to them both. Soulless or not, there was an aura about her. Even the blade that was mounted in her chest melted from the heat, ensuring that nothing would remain in its wake.
The Nethermancer was still moving, busying himself with his things and investigating the area. Yet, she struggled to find purpose now as this was not her field of expertise. All she knew was that this had been an ongoing ordeal for far too long. The flame, even if it had been snuffed, could burn again if a spark fell in the right place.
Kal'ren's voice drew her out from the labyrinth of her thoughts, forcing her to turn to address him. He towered over her but had her well-being on his thoughts always. Though he was wise enough to not speak of it around others, generally.
"Let's take a look over here."
It was an invitation for salvation, one that she should have eagerly accepted. But the machinations of disappointment would fracture her reliance on others and her willingness to cope.
"I'm fine," she stated and sought to move away from him. But a clawed hand reached to take hold of her arm and stop her from moving away.
"You're not." He countered and his grip tightened like a vice. His inflection was seeking to appeal to her at the base of her own needs, and yet... she didn't want to believe the truth.
An ill-timed cough and sight of blackened blood left her lips. She could feel something. It stirred in response to her anger and reveled in it. Again, the coughing would continue as Kal'ren shifted to be closer in an effort to support her. He turned her to look at him, but she couldn't see him. A veil of shadows fell over her eyes, making them black to those who looked at her face.
Spurred by that of a holy mission, Naralinthe Emberdawn was running towards them.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Her voice cried out to Kal'ren, forcing all that had come to do battle to now converge at this place of potential contention.
Like a fire that had been housed in Kelz's chest, black smoke billowed up and out of her mouth as her arm roughly pulled from Kal'ren's grip. Hands sought to cover her own eyes as she strained to breathe against the miasma of her now tainted soul. The shadows would writhe in an effort to overtake her entirely, but her father did not stand idle as his hands pulled on hers so that she could be afforded a chance to see again.
But what he revealed was far more sinister. The color of his light, which manifested hope into strength now was seen as a blight in itself.
"YOU ARE THE MONSTER! YOU LET HER DIE! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU... ARE NO FATHER OF MINE! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING! MY MEMORIES, MY LIFE, AND MY HAPPINESS!"
Her head then turned towards Kal'ren now. "AND YOU! YOU HAD NEVER CARED! I WAS JUST A MEANS TO AN END. AND WHEN IT DIDNT WORK OUT, YOU BARTERED YOUR SOUL WITH A DEMON! LOVE WAS NEVER REAL, IT WAS FICTION! I'M JUST AN OBSESSION FOR YOUR FLAWS!"
Adonis's hands sought purchase on her shoulders, to roughly rattle her as the glow in his hands continued to ward of the influence of evil that encompassed her frame.
"This isn't you, my daughter!" He said, seeking to reason with her. He didn't want to lose her, not after everything else.
But fate had another answer to this disturbance as Naralinthe's blade found a place between Adonis and pierced through the surface of Kelz's armored chest. The decisive blow forced Kelz to fall to the ground as the shadows faded from the ethereal plane in which they had come.
Bereft with grief, Adonis tried to pull Kelz into his arms and placed his hand over the place of her fatal wound. But it did nothing to rouse her. And Kal'ren was forced to stay his claw as the Nethermancer shouted at him to stand down. Even Allasticus was prepared to stop his father, if the grief would turn into aggression towards Naralinthe. It was chaos within this party of allies, and only one knew the truth. Tears raced down her face as she looked to the younger ward, her friend, and potential family.
Like memories, her body would be confined beneath the earth next to her mother.
Years would pass as her eternal slumber had received all the preventative care and love the living could give her. But the evil that had taken hold of her that day would someday bring her back... You can either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
( @dinthoqaf - thanks so very much for this ask. Was fun to explore this.
Tagging: (Family first)
@grumpyoldfker - sorry dad
@allasticus - sorry bruh
@lazraelbandtherion - you asked for this >:(
@kalren-daelish - :( I feel bad for you.
@sanguinesorceress (Youuuu)
@themadamelioness :< BUT WHY MADAMEEEE - THE WHEEL OF TIME IS SO MEAN XD
@nixalegos - I dont think I quite did your character justice, but ... I TRIED. You are so dang methodical, and I suspect he would have done more than this. XD )