Things that go Bump in the Night <{Wisp}>

[I)ragon11]

“Oly~oly~Oksanfree!”

Cupping her hands around her mouth and turning another direction, she called again. “Ol~oly~Oksanfree!”

There was a sudden, small rustle in the nearby bushes. With a blue of blue and green, she pounced head first into the underbrush. Leaves and dust flew up as well as yelps and squeals. The young demon girl popped her head out from the bushes and examined what she had caught.

“...You are not what I am looking for.” She chirped, sounding as if she was going to start laughing any second. The squirrel in her hand let out a few squeaks before finally prying itself from her gasp. The cat girl gasped as the critter scampered up her arm and jumped off her shoulder, latching to a nearby tree and continuing its escape.

“Farewell small squirrel!” She explained, waving her hand in the air, but the squirrel was already out of sight. Akira pursed her lips slightly and wondered why the squirrel didn’t wave back. She then turned her head to the side and smiled. “Oly~oly~Okanfree~!”

Jumping into the air, the blue girl spread her leathery wings and took flight for the top of the trees where she could get a better view.

Icy man is very good at hiding... She thought to herself as she glided through the treetops.

Suddenly, something else caught her eye, and she couldn’t help but smile. The half ice demon folded her wings behind her back and glided down towards the ground. Landing gracefully, she took a few steps and squatted down next to the squirrel that she had caught earlier, who was now sound asleep in the middle of a small clearing.

“How did you get all tuckered out already, mister squirrel?” She asked cheerfully, petting it furry little head with her finger. Then Akira noticed something else. It was so close it almost bit her. Suspended in the air a foot or so above the sleeping squirrel was a small, translucent black orb about the size of a golf ball.

“Oooooooo~” With wonder in her eyes, the half demon reached out her hands to grab the orb. However, the instant her skin met the surface of the sphere, the neko’s body fell completely limp.

An inaudible squeal of surprise escaped the demons mind. All was black as a strange pressure pushed on her entire body, like something was pulling her violently forward. Then a sudden feeling of weightlessness took hold as she began to fall downwards. The blue skinned girl let out another yelp as she extended her wings quickly to keep from falling too far, but the ground was apparently closer then she had imagined. With a final yelp, Akira crumbled against the still invisible ground.

Whimpering quietly, the young demon slowly sat up and adjusting her wings so she wasn’t laying on them. She wasn’t injured much by the fall, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience either. She rubbed her eyes for a second and blinked a few times before looking around at her surroundings. It wasn’t completely black after all, and her eyes were finally adjusting.

It was a dreary place indeed. A place you would only think to find in your nightmares. There were no stars, nor moon in the sky, only dark gray thunderheads that seemed to let off just enough light for you to be able to see your hand in front of your face. Due to her feline blood however, Akira could see a bit more then that.

Glancing around woefully, the winged girl searched for any sign of life. Black duns of sand and pale dead trees seemed to be the dominant landscape. She glanced up above her to see if there was any sort of exit where she had seemingly fallen out of, but there was nothing but the dark clouds high above.

Standing to her feet and taking to the air, Akira resolved to make sure there was nothing that she might over look.

After flying in circles for several minuets and finding nothing whatsoever, the blue skinned girl was starting to despair.

“Helloooo~!”

“Is there anyone out there?!”

Her usual high, carefree voice was muddled down with the dark situation. Frowning sadly, Akira flew away from where she had entered. Maybe she would find something, someone that could help her if she traveled far enough.

Deep inside her, she knew this place was not natural. There was something darker still that seemed to be residing in this surreal realm.

A few minuets later, Akira nearly squealed with joy when she finally found what she had been searching for; a sign of life. Some figure in the distance, blurred by the darkness. The half ice demon grinned happily and flapped her wings with renewed energy. In a few short minuets, Akira rammed bodily into the brown haired person.

“Hello~” she exclaimed cheerfully as they both went crashing to the ground.

[Wisp Quill]

(OoC: I'm sorry if I seemed to mess up Akira's response at the end... First rp using Wisp.)

BiC: ----- Before Falling -----
Wisp was frozen stiff on the sand of Arena #4. UZ, the treeworm, is her opponent in this fight. There was just one problem.

The shapeshifter could not do anything now, possibly due to the cold feeling that had grabbed her a short while ago. All of her markings on her rabbit form glowed a dark gray. This is possibly due to my new element, I think… I can‘t even talk, but it would not matter though, I‘m in the middle of a fight! Why did this happen?

The rabbit suddenly felt different… almost light-headed. Her vision began to darken, and she could feel her previously quickened pulse slow down. The shapeshifter could not see that her actual shadow had vanished and reappear in a matter of seconds, but when her shadow left, the rabbit had fallen with it. The odd thing was Wisp, who was still in her rabbit form, was still frozen and lying in the arena…
----- The Landing -----
Wh-what’s going on? The rabbit had strangely turned back to normal in a split second. The novice air and shadow user was falling down a black pit, the wind current felt as if it was forcing her to fall faster, drowning out her scream. Wisp looked up as she fell, but did not see anything but black.

The shapeshifter hit the ground with a soft thud, but it was enough to wrench the breath out of her lungs. Sand had rose up around the dark teal-clad female. The rabbit girl held her head as she glanced around at the area the shapeshifter had fallen into. The bad thing was, she could only see about one to two feet in any direction, most likely due to the thunderclouds above being her only light source.

All Wisp could see was dark gray sand, and a blackish-purple bush off to her left. The rabbit girl’s ears popped up and strained to listen for any sound, but the response was nothing. “What is this place,” the shapeshifter muttered in a confused tone. Her left rabbit ear suddenly perked up a little higher. She heard something, but all it was just a rushing sound… BAM! Something had tackled her from behind, the sand sprang up again due to the impact. Wisp’s ears folded back as she attempted to turn around to see her attacker.

“Hello~”

What the…? The rabbit girl had craned her neck around to see the color blue. “Hey, let me go,” she replied startling to the odd thing that had tackled her. It reluctantly let her go, and the shapeshifter managed to get a good look at this thing.

It’s skin was blue, with a darker color forming triangular markings that appeared on its arms and face and it had wings which looked like dragon wings from a storybook, or in a better example, a bat’s wings. It had on a green shirt and wore slightly patched up brown pants and brown boots. That’s when she noticed a gray cloak that had now hidden this creature’s wings.

“Um, what-or who are you,” the novice air and shadow user exclaimed quizzically.

The creature just grinned and stated, “Hello other person!~”

[I)ragon11]

"Hello other person! I am Akira." The demon spouted happily.

“Ah...”

“I am a ice kitty demon.” Akira added, noting the girls confused expresion. “...What are you?"

The brown haired young woman seemed to consider wither she could trust the blue girl or not, or else was still a little stunned to answer immediately. "... I'm Wisp... a wind rabbit girl." she answered, with just a hint of a smile as she raised her brown colored ears.

"Ooooo~" Akira squatted next to the girl and pulled her rabbit ear in front of her striped face to better inspect it. "You have rabbit ears!"

“Ow! Hey...” the confused young woman pulled back her ear gently and irked away from the strange demon.

“Oh... Sooorry.” she replied sheepishly.

The rabbit girl eyed her for a second and then glanced around at their bleak surroundings. “So... where are we...?”

“Oh, I do not know.” Akira answered, pursing her lips and looking around as well. “I did fall into this place from over there...” She said, pointing in the general direction she had come from.

Wisp took a second glance at the place Akira had just pointed too, then looked around curiously, tilting her eyes this way and that.

“What is it?”

“I don’t think we’re alone...”

“Oh!” Akira perked up, looking around as well, all too happy to meet new people. “...But I do not see anyone...”

[Wisp Quill]

(OoC: The shudder is just a part of her energy going back to her physical self, in ordr for her to act normal. The pressure is what one of these creatures gives off to other people nearby. It might be because of Wisp's air element...?)

BiC: An ice kitty demon? The rabbit girl finally noticed her ears, and saw a tail twitch near Akira’s waist. I wonder why she is here? Better yet, why am I here? She realized that Akira was just a little taller than she was.

Wisp heard something strange, but of course, she could not see that far. The sound was like a wolf howl, yet strangely low in tone. The shapeshifter felt as if something was coming from all around her, like a kind of pressure was pressing in on her. The dark teal-clad female jumped back and shuddered for a brief minute. Something is definitely near by…

She noticed how the ice cat demon had perked up with a smile on her face. “Um, Akira, I don’t think whatever is coming is friendly.”

“Why do you say that?~”

“I fell a sort of pressure for some reason, it does not feel good at all,” the novice air and shadow user slowly turned around, suddenly all of her markings on her body began to glow a light gray, the glowing color was only visible on her arms and the two tear-like stripes on the rabbit girl’s face. Her arm markings were basically a couple of wind symbols with the trailing tails that inter connected together.

Akira apparently noticed this, due to her reaction, “Ooohhh~ Shiny!~” She actually purred before jerking Wisp’s right arm near her face.

“Ow! What’s that for,” the rabbit girl asked suddenly.

“Your arms, their glowing~,” she gasped for a moment, “your face too!~” Akira was grinning now.

The shapeshifter looked at the ice cat demon for a minute, She can see whatever’s there too… It must be because I’m a novice, but why does that glowing, based on what Akira said, happens?

The markings on her arms and face faded just as quickly as they had formed. The winged cat girl let go of her arm now. The pressure the rabbit girl had felt earlier suddenly became cold. “Akira, do you feel anything odd?”

“Odd,” the ice demon tiled her head to the left, “No, it feels nice now though.~”

She is not bothered by the cold? Great, just like Zachary… I guess it‘s because of what she is, an ice cat demon. Wisp mentally sighed. Whatever was coming decided to stop, but the pressure was increasing, but it did not physically hurt.

[I)ragon11]

Lighting flashed high above the clouds, illuminating the thunderheads for a moment and casting light to the barren earth. Not two second later, the earsplitting roll of thunder followed. The two girls couldn’t help but shutter at how close the eruption sounded. Then, something a little stranger happened.

As the lighting flash went away, and her eyes started to readjust to the darkness, Akira noticed that she couldn’t see anything now. She turned her head from side to side, and even turned all the way around. Now, she truly couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.

“Hey.” She attempted to call out, but no sound came from her lips. Akira frowned, her ears dropping against her hair.

“HEY!” Still nothing.

The demon girls bottom lip quivered a little as she stepped backwards. It seamed that her sight and hearing had left her completely. Several seconds past and the young girls panic was escalating. Clutching her hands under her chin, she took a few steps towards where she had seen Wisp last and called out her name in vain.

Finally, her vision caught something. A small red light flashed for but a second before disappearing again. The light came again a few feet away, then more of the object started to reveal itself. As if it were coming out of a mist, the silhouette of a head formed around the eye, a nose, and a crewel smile. The red eyed woman looked about as surprised to see the blue demon as she was to see her.

Akira made an inaudible noise of surprise and stumbled backwards away from the wicked looking creature. Losing her balance, the young demon fell on her backside and unconsciously fired a blast of ice at her assailant. A small spire of ice shot out from where her hand hit the ground, tarring along the ground towards the red eyed woman who was barely able to dodge the attack.

It was then that Akira noticed that it really was a pitch black mist that had obscured her vision, as it was now starting to dissipate and her hearing was coming back. Yet the dark form of a woman remained. The fiend stared at her for a moment before opening parting her lips, revealing a sharp row of teeth, and letting louse a terrible scream and lunging forward. Akira let out a scream of her own and closed her as tight as she released a powerful wave of ice outward from her body.

The red eyed woman was infected by the cold and merely dissipated after passing through the frightened cat demon. At the same instant, a powerful force slammed into Akira’s shoulder, sending her reeling backwards into a winged heap on the ground.

[Wisp Quill]

After the bright lightning, a booming thunderclap followed afterwards. The sound made it feel as if Wisp was deaf, the sound actually was causing her pain, she held her ears and winced. When the rabbit girl opened them, it looked as if she never had. She could only see black. After a while of just standing there, the shapeshifter began to hear her name being called. Where’s Akira? Her rabbit ears were now ringing.

The dark teal-clad female was able to see again, and noticed a black mist around her. Something moved within the mist, and the rabbit girl turned to face it, but she did not see Akira. Then the lightning came back, which helped her to see better.

What Wisp saw made her want to scream. A red-eyed sort of creature was standing in front of her now. It had a cloak over most of it’s form, except for a part of it’s head and arms, which a black ooze had seeped over them. The face seemed to be a skull, possibly a wolf’s skull. It was covered in the black ooze, yet fog seemed to come off of it. This thing did not have any legs either, just a dark gray, translucent, ghost-like tail it hovered on.

This creature lifted its left skeletal claw up and took a swipe at the ground, which threw an ice spike and snaked towards the rabbit girl. She managed to jump away from it, but barely. Why is this thing here? Where did Akira go? Is she fighting against another of these things? The shapeshifter’s mind was riddled with questions.

A ring of ice spikes jutted out from around the creature, one had managed to clip her in the arm. “Fine, if you want to fight…” The novice air and shadow user forced her right arm towards the creature, which caused Sky Pillar to slam a pole into its shoulder.

Suddenly, Wisp heard something fall to the ground, as well as a small whimper. Huh? What was that? The creature did not give the shapeshifter time to think any more, it had lunged towards her, teeth bared and claws extended. It suddenly hit a fog-like, light gray plank that came out of nowhere. The fog that the creature exuded, continued to follow the creature’s movement forwards, but the creature had vanished.

The plank came down, and Wisp began to look around for Akira, but she prepared herself in case the thing decided to come back. The shapeshifter began to call out, "Akira? Where are you?"

[I)ragon11]

Akira covered her ears as another ear-piercing scream was let loose from the ghostly assailant. The half demon wanted to just run away, but she couldn’t just leave her new friend behind. Biting her lip and standing up to her full height, the cat girl stared at the fiend. “Where is W-” Akira was cut short as another scream interrupted her.

The ice demon squinted her eyes and shuttered, but held her ground. Raising her hand in the air, a large frosty blue mist spread outward from her fingers. She then thrust both hands forward, firing a large blast of sleet at her opponent. The wolf-like creature immediately sprang into the air but wasn’t quite fast enough as her tail was caught in the ice, pulling her body down into the blast. The beast spiraled through the icy snow, sliding backwards in a crouched down position before coming to a stop.

The creature grinned menacingly at the winged girl before starting its attack. Akira quickly moved to the left as the fiend threw out her arm, sending an almost invisible blast at her. She dashed forward and sent another blast at the cat demon, this time managing to hit her leg. The blue haired girl recoiled slightly, almost losing balance before righting her self again, but now her opponent was dangerously close.

Akira let out a noise of panic and rose her arms in front of her face. Almost unintentionally, half a dozen ice shards shot out from her forearms, headed strait for her attacker.

OoC: Its a bit short, but enough happens. =P

[Wisp Quill]

(OoC: Short, but it works. You think we could stop this fight and continue, since Wisp's realized that she's fighting Akira?)

The creature had reappeared in front of her began a barrage of ice attacks, all aimed at the shapeshifter. What the…? A small snow storm was able to throw her back, but she landed in a crouch. As Wisp started to walk back to where she last saw Akira, ice shards darted towards her.

She summoned up a couple of poles, but only destroyed two. The rabbit girl managed to duck underneath the rest, then she noticed the creature in front looked like it was defending itself for some reason.

Ok, why the heck am I fighting this thing? This is where I met Akira, but she’s not here, then where is she? Wisp suddenly looked at the figure in shock, she had realized something! Wait a- The black-cloaked figure stopped her thoughts by attempting to lunge at the novice air and shadow user. Sky Pillar came up between the two as a large plank, six feet tall by four feet wide.

The dark teal-clad female heard the creature’s impact, and then it swiped at her as the board disappeared. Wisp stepped back, but it was a little slow, one of it’s claws raked across her left arm as she accidentally raised it up.

The claw went straight through her arm. It’s… not… real? That means… I’ve been fighting Akira, the ice attacks are because she is part ice demon! The rabbit girl stood still, even though the creature in front of her looked like it wanted to kill her.

It darted towards her and screamed, but Wisp was not moving. It’s not really there, Akira is!

[I)ragon11]

Akira’s ears twitched as she noticed a faint sound in the area near her. But whatever it was, it had already vanished. The cat demon then looked back at the goul-like creature in front of her. It was just standing there. It didn’t look like it had been hit by any of her attacks, and it had not attacked her in a fairly long time.

As if on cue, the fiend glared back at Akira and let loose another scream. Akira covered her ears and then noticed something strange. The shadowy creature was letting off a faint glow. As she focused more, the glowing became more vibrant, or rather, the creatures own body was becoming more transparent.

Suddenly the beast lunged forward, claws drawn back to strike at Akira. But this time, Akira was more interested in the glowing form that was still standing where the creature had leapt.

“It is the bunny!” The demon exclaimed as she flapped her wings, slipping right over the top of the shade and tackling the rabbit girl. Wisp tensed at first, closing her eyes tight before noting that Akira didn’t exactly feel like a gooy skeletal wraith.

“I found you!”

“Ah, Akira. I knew it was you” Wisp said with relief. “... Could... you get off me?”

“Ok.” Flapping her wings, the demon girl pulled both of them up to their feet before letting go and turning back around to face the shadowy creature.

“Akira, I think it was just an illusion.”

“Oh.” She replied, still looking around for their assailant.

“A pity it didn’t work.” An eerie, ethereal voice sounded from nowhere. “It’s much less troublesome if you just kill each other off. How did you enter this realm anyway?”

The two girls frantic searching was ceased as a black mist materialized and solidified in the shape of the black fiend that had previously been an illusion.

Red flames flickered up the corners of its skeletal eyes. Pulsing black goo stood in some places where its skin should have been, constantly secreting a black fog that drifted around the creature.

“It doesn’t matter. You will both become our slaves before long.”

[Wisp Quill]

Wisp’s whole body tensed up for a minute, the creatures voice echoed in her ears. Slaves? I don’t think so! The rabbit girl glared at the creature, before sending a pole to strike it in the head.

At least it should have, the creature turned into a black mist. Its voice echoed from the air, Air magic, too bad I saw it before, or it might have hurt me. Now, won’t you two not resist me?

“No!” The shapeshifter half growled her response, and pulled out a spike from the ground, it was Shadow Spire. Her wind symbol and the tail markings on her entire right arm glowed a dark gray.

The same gray colored, fog-like spike shot into the creature’s shoulder, and it just laughed. Shadow magic as well? My, you are interesting. Master might actually want to meet you, rabbit girl.

Before Wisp could respond, a dense black fog covered the two girls. She saw Akira’s startled expression and she flapped her wings before the rabbit girl’s sight went black.

---- Afterwards----

The shapeshifter came to in a black room. She was lying on something stiff, like a type of board, her head was pounding as she sat up. “Uh, where…am I?,” Wisp’s voice came out weakly. Two rabbit ears popped up on the sides of her head and began to swivel around, trying to catch any sound.

Failing that, the novice air and shadow-user stood up on the gray sand that covered the floor. She looked around the room, only to see three black walls and a black board hanging from two angled chains. There was a circle of metal attached to the wall close to the floor, and a chain has hooked onto that. Following the chain, the shapeshifter realized it was attached to her foot by a shackle. The fourth wall in the room was barred, but it looked like ooze had formed them.

The chain rattled as Wisp approached the bars, uncertain of touching them. She noticed that there were other barred rooms, about six on the opposite side of the shapeshifter’s own. In the three that she could easily see into, Akira wasn’t there. Where is she? We have to get out of here!

[I)ragon11]

The demon girl rubbed her sapphire eyes gently as she came back to consciousness. Sitting up slowly on a hard surface, Akira blearily took in her dim surroundings. She was in a dark, dusky, plain cell with stone walls and a long, hard ‘bed’ in one corner of the room, where she sat upon at the moment.

The ice demon frowned and sunk against the wall. She then lifted her knee under her chin to examine the weight on her ankle. A clamp with a chin attached to it was fastened to her boot. The cat girl pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. Placing her hands on the cold metal, she let her magic flow out from her fingertips, encasing the clamp in ice. She then concentrated on super freezing the metal. Blue frost drifted outward from the ice and the slight sound of cracking emanated from underneath her hands.

Finally, she forced the ice to move outward, letting out a small cry as the ice shattered like a small explosion. The black metal clamp staid almost completely intact. Only a small crack could be seen for her efforts.

The sound of hollow laughter seeped through the cell bars. Glancing up, Akira watched as a black fog drifted before her cell, materializing into a ghostly creature like before, but it wasn’t the same one. This one was smaller and hunched farther over. A lesser being of the same wolf like phantom.

“So you’re finally awake.”

“Where am I...? I don’t like it here...”

“Akira? Are you ok?” Wisps voice came from the cell beside hers. Akira felt her spirits lift slightly at the sound of her voice.

Black fog drifted out from the its skeletal maw as the hollow laughter came from the creature once more. “All that you need to know is that there is no point in trying to escape.”

“No, please let me out. I don’t like it here...” Akira’s voice came only as a small whisper. The creature of shadow continued without paying her any heed.

“Although regrettably, it is a slow process, in a matter of days you will become our lords willing and faithful servants. Such is the power of his mere presence.” The cloaked figure stood higher and spread its arms slightly, as if to emphasize his masters grand power. The creepy laughter echoed through the halls again.

The phantom extended its hands towards the two woman in their respective cells and murmured something under his breath. A black mist materialized on the ground before Akira and slowly blew away, revealing a small rusted tray with a bit of food on it.

“However, do not think of us as completely heartless. Join us willingly now and you will be freed from your cell immediately.” The shadowy being stated, holding out its arms openly.

Akira only sniffled and wrapped her wings tightly around her shoulders. The creature lowered its head and displayed its sharp teeth and skeletal grin. “In that case... please enjoy your stay.”

Hollow laughter echoed through the dungeon as the creature dissipated into mist and disappeared from view.

[Wisp Quill]

(OoC: This is getting good now. ^.^)

Upon hearing the creature’s offer of joining, Wisp’s eyes held an invisible flame of anger. She saw the tray form and heard it land with a thump in the sandy floor. After the creature vanished, the rabbit girl spoke up, a tinge of hatred in her voice, “I wouldn’t eat what they summon, Akira, who knows what’s in it.”

Akira’s voice echoed her fear, “I don’t want to be here… I only cracked the clamp… I want out!”

The shapeshifter’s ears fell back to their normal position, except her right rose up, catching Akira’s whimpering.

“I know how you feel, Akira, we’re going to get out of here. I want to try something on my restraint…” Her voice faded into the novice air and shadow user’s thoughts. Maybe I should try to break the chain… If what Akira said,… it might be hard.

Wisp looked down at the ring that connected her shackle to the chain, it was thinner than the links that held her to the wall. If this fails, I might hurt myself… The shapeshifter grinned, Lets give it a shot… She tightened the chain by using her right foot and letting it drag the links, while keeping her bound left foot still. The rabbit girl was positioned in a wide stance, yet she stood off center, her precaution against being struck by this attempt.

Focusing on the ring, the shapeshifter pulled the spike version of Shadow Spire through it, causing it to creak in protest. The result was a small bend in the two connecting sides, it was now an oval, but slightly. “Akira, get away from the wall that connects our cells, I’m worried about hitting you with this.”

“Ok, what are you trying to do?” Wisp heard Akira’s footsteps shuffle away from her, she was away from the wall.

“I’m trying to get out of the shackle, even though it might hurt me as well.”

With that, she pulled Shadow Spire back up. A small cry erupted from her mouth, and the spike went through the ring and impaled into the wall. The rabbit girl nearly hit the wall as well, stopping herself with outstretched hands, and her ears caught a small clink sound followed by a rattle. Wisp glanced down and saw a glint of metal, and the shackle. It was free of the chain!

The rabbit girl would have told Akira, but as she turned around, she saw a larger wolf skeleton floating before her. It was holding a scythe with what looked like claws sticking out of the outside curve. The blade alone was four feet in length, the metal pole it was attached to was six feet long.

Well, got out of it, huh? It’s voice was gruff and low in tone, a scratching howl seeped through its jaw. Try getting past me! Having said that, it held its weapon back, enough for her to see how thick the blade was, about nine inches thick, to be exact. The scythe blurred, and impacted the stone wall. The rabbit girl managed to only duck her head down, and heard a crack. The wall between Akira and Wisp was broken!

“Akira, help me out here! I’ll get you loose after this thing falls!” The shapeshifter lashed her right arm out, forming a gray pole, which threw the creature back. It let out a guttural roar.

You will not escape!

[I)ragon11]

The blue skinned demon jumped in surprise as a large section of her cell wall exploded inwards toward her. Timidly, she separated her wings from in front of her to view the small battle between the wolf wraith and the rabbit girl.

“Akira, help me out here! I’ll get you loose after this thing falls!”

The shadowy creature took another powerful swing at the novice air user, who barely had time to jump out of the way. Akira gathered up her feeble determination and focused on helping her new friend. If she didn’t do something soon, Wisp might get seriously injured.

The winged demon flicked her right hand before her, firing five ice shards at the back of the scythe wielding shadow. The instant the projectiles struck, the wraith blurred and dissipated slightly, its skeletal face turning to grin at her wickedly as it disappeared completely. Akira’s eyes widened as she realized that the ice shards were now headed strait for Wisp. The demon yelped and clenched her fist tightly, barely in time to shatter the ice shards and instead spray her new friend with mist and snow.

The air elemental was caught off guard slightly by the unexpected attack from Akira, and that was all the shadowy creature (who Akira could now see at the far corner of Wisps cell) needed to take the initiative. The giant scythe struck the ground where the teal clad girl had been standing a second before, the shear force of the attack sending her strait into the far wall with a painful sounding thump.

The cat demon flinched and looked sadly at the ground knowing full well that she had been the cause for her friend’s pain. How could she do anything to help now, when it could just backfire again and make things even worse? Wisp winced in pain as she looked up suddenly, making a small sound of surprise as the shadowy creature moved in for another attack.

So it hindered your vision a bit. You can one up that, cant you?

Akira’s sapphire eyes snapped up and she extended her hands before her, instantly filling the entire area in a thick, silvery blue, cold mist. A massive gust of floating ice particles pushed the assailant away from the rabbit girl. The wolf wraith growled and swung its powerful weapon, obliterating the stone floor before itself. Its piercing eyes scanned the area around it, but it obviously couldn’t make heads or tails of its location. Akira, however, could see the creature perfectly, or rather, could feel him through the thick shroud of ice that hung in the air.

The demon girl stood to her full height and walked towards the blinded foe. The black creature took another random swing with its massive scythe, coming within inches of hitting the winged demon, but Akira barely flinched.

The skeletal wolf craned its head around, finally able to see a dim form in the surrounding mist. An ear-piercing howl escaped its black throat as it lifted its wicked scythe in the air. At the same instant, the blue skinned girl stretched out her hand, commanding all the mist around them to condensed and solidified under her hand and blanketed over the wolf wraith, creating a two-foot layer of shimmering ice over its entire body.

The novice air user blinked at the seen before her, surprised at what the ice demon had done. Cracking and popping sounded as the ice started to give way under the black creature’s strength. Webs of cracks formed over the icy shell and the monsters red eyes glowed clearly through its surface.

“Wisp, brake it!” Akira called as she placed her other hand on the icy surface, instantly causing the ice prison to shimmer as all the cracks disappeared.

“Right!” Wisp looked around for a split second before leaping to a specific section of her cell wall and slapped her hand against the stone surface, creating a massive black spire that struck strait through the wolfs skull, grazed Akira’s boot, and impaled the second link in her shackle. The winged girl jumped back as the ice prison shattered completely, along with the black creature inside. Ice and shards of bone skidded everywhere across the ground as a shrieking howl emanated from the entire room and an ethereal black spirit lifted up from the scattered bones and flew strait up through the ceiling.

Akira stared wide eyed at what was left of her cell, surprised at herself for what she had done. Her shock was interrupted as someone tugged on her arm.

“Akira, com’on. We have to get out of here.”

[Wisp Quill]

(OoC: Short, but it moves it along.)

The blast from the creature and ice exploding tore a jagged opening in the bars. “Akira, com’on. We have to get out of here,” Wisp stated before grabbing the ice demon by her right shoulder and pulling her backwards. After pulling her past the bars, the shapeshifter let her go.

“What was that for? Oooohhhh~!” the cat demon leaned her head close to the rabbit girl’s face. “Your eyes have a black swirl-thing in them, why is that?”

The dark teal-clad female jumped back when Akira brought her head close to hers. “Uh, I don’t know,” she looked around and saw a hallway, “Let’s go this way.” Wisp looked behind her, and saw an endless number of jail cells.

As they entered the hall, she could the end, which glowed a fog gray for some reason. The walls seem to suddenly shifted to the left, creating a narrow passage way. It then began to shudder, creating the image that spikes lined the wall. The shapeshifter stated, “What the…?”

The two began to run through the now shifting hallway, constantly changing directions along with the hall.

[I)ragon11]

Any onlooker viewing Akira and Wisp running through the halls at that moment would have been hard pressed not to laugh. The black stone walls were a fair distance apart, but to the two women running in a zigzagged motion through them, the walls seemed to ripple with protruding angles and spikes. Not only where they wasting their energy going nowhere, they also managed a full three-sixty rotation, causing them to back track a bit.

“Wisp!” Akira stumbled a little as she held her head, trying to bear through the dizziness.

“Akira! We have to keep moving.” The rabbit girl called back, quickly grabbing the demons hand and pulling her along though the twisting walls.

“But I do not feel good...” She mumbled, nearly falling over and causing Wisp to almost fall over with her.

“Akira, come on!” The novice air user pulled her forward anxiously. She then stopped abruptly as she caught herself on a jagged wall. The brown haired girl made a noise of surprise and bounced away from the wall for fear of cutting herself. She then turned to run down the curving path behind her, pulling Akira along with her, but she didn’t make it very far.

“Akira!” Wisp looked back to see the demon girl peering through a small barred window in a charcoal colored metal door that surely hadn’t been there before.

The teal clad young woman stepped to the door as well and quickly elected that anywhere was better then the horrid hallway they were in right now. Reaching for the door handle, she noticed a rusted chain and lock holding the door closed. She grasped the handle firmly and pulled to test the strength or the lock. Luck must have been on their side, for the second the chain was disturbed, it shattered in several places and fell to the floor. The metal hinges groaned loudly as the two girls pulled with all their might to open the door enough to slip through. Eventually they made it in and slammed the door shut behind them.

This room was almost as eerie as the last, and looked to be darker still, though that almost didn’t seem possible. The room was filled with metal crates, chests, and cabinets, and a think layer of dust sitting atop every surface. Old weapon racks lined the walls and piles of rusted trash were gathered everywhere.

“...Where do we go now?” Akira asked in a hushed voice as she slowly advancing into the room.

“I’m not sure...” Wisp answered, looking around the room for any sign of an exit. When she looked back at the blue demon, Akira was already almost to the other side of the room. “Akira.” she exclaimed quietly, making her way to the demon girl as fast and carefully as she could. When she found her, the winged girl had already dug halfway through a large pile of ancient looking artifacts and other such junk.

A commanding, yet small voice echoed through the room suddenly, causing Akira’s ears to perk up and swivel to find the source of the noise. It was so low that even with her keen hearing, the ice demon couldn’t make out any of the words. Then suddenly her sapphire eyes settled on something that surprised her almost as much as the strange voice had. A small glimmer seemed to cut strait through the darkness, dazzling the blue haired girl.

“Oooo~” Akira mused as she slowly pulled the small object out from the assorted artifacts. “Looket!” She exclaimed, holding out the brilliant sapphire dagger for Wisp to see. The blade was about eight inches long with a small, finely crafted silver hand guard and a metallic blue and silver handle that looked so crystalline that it could have been transparent in the light. The short blade flickered like the smallest blue flame in the demons hands before suddenly blowing out, the dagger’s brilliance dulling a bit.

Akira pulled her eyes away from the weapon and looked up at Wisp. “Can I keep it?”

[Wisp Quill]

Wisp was a little surprised by what Akira had said, but she answered anyway, “You found it, so why not?” She turned her attention to one of the cabinets in the room, or armory, based on the weapons lining the wall and headed towards them. The novice air and shadow user stopped in her tracks as Akira squealed with glee. “You could get us killed by doing that, you know?”

“Oh… Sorry…” Her rabbit ears picked up her squealing again, but it was fainter this time.

The shapeshifter stood if front of a large cabinet, that was gray with age, and dust. It looked severely warped, and was made out of some type of wood. It stood about three feet high and was four feet wide, while hovering over a small wooden desk about four feet up the wall. The doors were a rectangle in shape, the carvings on them were worn beyond identification, if they even had any. They opened in a slight creak, and old dust and the sent of wood rushed out of it, hitting the rabbit girl in the face. She coughed twice, then glanced within it.

A single torch was the only one lit out of the six that ringed the armory’s interior, but it‘s light was fading. A dusty box caught her eye somehow, since it was practically invisible, even with waning torch light. The dark teal-clad female set the box down on the desk below and cautiously opened the lid.

Inside of the seven inch long by five inch wide box was two leather bands, or to be exact, leather bracers. The bracers had some kind of silver metal woven into the leather in a basket weave style. They are four and a half inches long by three inches wide, but tapered to two inches at one end. The metal seemed to glow a light gray, then shifted to a dark gray as her fingers ran along it. Why is that happening? Curiosity got the better of Wisp, and she slipped the orange-brown bracers onto her forearms.

Before she could see what the