Thousand Minds - Incarnate Spark
Nalo responds to a distress call from their glowing Peacebringer companion Rihai. With Sedavi as their only backup, they head in with an unknown in the area.
Small warning: Little bit of foul language and violence. (No blood described, though.)
Small warning: Little bit of foul language and violence. (No blood described, though.)
Nalo dropped down to the metal walkway, gaze darting around the buildings ahead. Both minds worked to identify hiding places for countless possible threats. Acutely aware they were in the heart of Arachnos controlled territory, who weren't very welcoming of 'Heroes'.
What concerned them most was the lack of anyone visible nearby. Antares couldn't keep anxiety from its thoughts, We sense her nearby... and another as well.
Alex grimaced, Rihai was obvious to Antares' senses. The other was powerful but... worryingly unclear beyond that. This can't go well...
We can hope otherwise.
Nalo took a moment to merge completely, something that calmed their nerves slightly, before moving forward. Every movement cautious as they stepped into the shadow of the dark metal structures Arachnos loved so much. Their comms sparked to life with Sedavi's ever concerned voice “Keep the south skies visible, I'm almost there. And... please be careful down there.”
Nalo hesitated briefly before responding “We will.”
They focused on the energy of Rihai's kheldian, it wasn't far away. But they couldn't feel that energy moving, and it felt weakened. They tried to focus on the other that had been around, but felt nothing. The area was unnervingly empty of anyone else.
Nalo surrounded themselves in a faint negative energy field for stealth before continuing.
They entered a small courtyard, some crates and machinery of unknown purpose scattered around. There were a few narrow passages between smaller buildings leading away. Rihai was through one of those.
Sedavi's voice lit up the comms again “I'm in position, where are you?”
Nalo glanced toward tall buildings several hundred yards south. A brief glint of light was the biggest sign someone was on top of one. “We're in the courtyard, currently invisible.”
Sedavi let out a slight sigh, several moments passed before she spoke again “I have no eyes on anyone down there. It's creepy.”
“Try being able to sense how empty it is. But we... think there's a third down here somewhere.”
“You think?”
Nalo bit their tongue in hesitation “They were hard to focus on initially, can't feel them now, got really bad feeling they're still here.”
Sedavi's voice filled with more worry “I know I've already said it but: be careful, please, I really don't want to lose my only sister.”
“You say that like we're planning on getting killed.” they let out a nervous sigh “Rihai's through the southwest passage, we're heading that way.”
Without waiting for a response, Nalo dashed the short distance across the courtyard. Slowing down when they were in the relatively narrow space between buildings. The far end opened up a bit and lead to a door, the structures surrounding the space were taller.
Rihai was lying there, bruised and bleeding from a few smaller injuries, but still alive. Nalo rushed over and knelt by the wounded peacebringer, letting themselves be more visible. “Rihai...”
Nalo checked her host's pulse, it was stronger than they were expecting. She's been slowly healing herself since her attacker left...
Rihai stirred and tried to sit up, Nalo stopped her. “Don't move, we'll get you out of here.”
The peacebringer mustered just enough strength to speak “Nalo... Run. I shouldn't have... called...”
Nalo could sense the unknown's life moving nearby again. They stood and turned, ready for an attack. But no one was visible behind them. Of course not, whoever it was wasn't in the passage. No, they were...
Nalo couldn't actually pinpoint the other's location. They found this... deeply concerning for how close it seemed like the other was.
This probably isn't going to go very well.
Nalo very cautiously started heading back down the passage. Once again hiding themselves visually with negative energy, though it was ineffective at very short distances. They paused just outside the courtyard, quickly scanning for movement. Where are you...
They stepped clear of the building's shelter, noticing the air to their right shimmer too late.
Nalo could barely register they'd been hit before a second blow was landed. Their right side burned with pain as they staggered away from the attack. They spun to face their attacker, their blood ran cold when they did.
Visi, one of the incarnates, and she was still coming at them.
There wasn't time to question. Visi lunged forward, powered exosuit letting her move faster than any normal human. Nalo heard metal scrape and strike metal as Visi reached out to strike at them again. They jumped back in panic, they could see a small blade come a few inches from their chest.
The blade retracted back to its sheath under Visi's wrist as she stepped forward with an eerie calm. Nalo desperately continued backward, starting to gather their energy for an attack.
However their focus was quickly broken when a superheated projectile hit the wall near them. Heat from the resulting blast forced them to step away or be burned. Visi on the other hand didn't care, and closed the short gap between them. Nalo had no time to react to both.
Pain stabbed into their chest.
Visi's wrist blade had pierced their heart.
Nalo's minds split again from shock of what happened. Antares mentally shrieking in panic at her injury: ALEX!
Her mind moved slower as she grabbed Visi's arm for support, still registering that she'd been stabbed. Alex barely heard her killer speak, voice filled with regret: “I'm sorry, friend.”
Why...?
Alex felt Visi step away, leaving her to collapse to the ground. Antares tried desperately to close the wound. No nono this isn't... Hang in there, Alex. W-we can fix...
Antares felt Alex's mind slip into silence, followed by the energy of her life.
The Nictus froze, terror and uncertainty dominating its mind in that painfully long instant. The next burning rage and determination. The window it had was small, but workable. It could do this.
Antares rose into the air, lashing at Visi's life with leeching tendrils of dark energy. Its mental projections bordered on incoherent screeches -YOU! Your life WILL fuel hers!-
Antares blindly tore away some of Visi's life. It gathered then channeled the stolen energy and itself back into Alex's body. Energy surging to repair the damage done.
Alex gasped and sat up sharply as her senses suddenly returned. She reached to feel where she'd been stabbed as everything caught up. Antares' emotions faded to relief. We've... never done that before.
Well let's not do it again! The HELL was that?! Wait- Where's Visi?
Antares could feel Visi fleeing, as well as the approach of both Sedavi and Rihai. Alex slumped back to the ground as dizziness and weakness overcame her. The Nictus began to panic again. Shit, shit shit shit! Stay with us! Not again!
Alex could feel Antares' energy surge through her body, and then everything faded out again.
Well. You didn't die again, that's a plus.
Alex had barely begun to regain consciousness when that echoed through her mind. It took her a moment to remember that it was Antares. She had to wait for her mind to wake up more before she responded. I repeat: Lets not do that again. Agreed?
Agreed.
Alex finally acknowledged that things happened beyond her mind. She opened her eye, recognizing a longbow medical room. That would explain the light pain in her right arm and annoying beeping in the background.
She felt someone sitting on the other side of her, gently squeezing her hand. Alex managed to roll her head over to see Naeva watching worriedly. “Naeva what... what are you doing here?”
Alex could just make out a smile under the incarnate mage's mask “I was in the area and heard something had happened to you. The other two managed to get you here but left without giving much detail on what happened. Just that you'd lost a lot of blood.”
She wasn't all that surprised “Of course they left me to explain...”
“Don't worry about it for now, explanation can wait.” Naeva paused, looking unfocused and uncertain for a moment before her smile returned “Though you two did get something helpful out of the beating you took. Try to focus on your power if you can.”
Alex huffed slightly at how cryptic Naeva was. But closed her eye and tried to focus on her, or rather Antares', powers. They were there, yes, and... wait. Something was different. There was something... more to them?
You've got that too! And we can sense it in Naeva!
They were both confused, but they could feel something else. Like there was a connection to something else embedded in their powers. Though Alex had no known powers of her own. That... can't be...?
Naeva stood, careful to keep her voice low as she started to leave “Yes, that is probably what you think it is. Rest for now, I'll explain later if you contact me, I don't trust Longbow enough to speak of it here.”
So... dying and coming back to life is now a method of becoming an incarnate?
I think that's only if you steal some of it, but yes Antares, it would seem that is the case.
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