Colin's posts

Ryker just laughed out loud when he heard that.

"Yep!" he exclaimed.

"It was a sure-fire pass for free stuff." he said.

"I do hope it wasn't abused." Aly commented.

"Nah." Ryker responded.

"...well, not too much." he then muttered with a smirk.

"Eke could get whatever he needed. Or wanted. From anyone." he added.

"......." Uriel was silent as he witnessed this.

"I... see." he said.

He then walked towards Lex and Madison, and stopped beside them.

"Maddy, please! Wake up!?" Lex begged.

"She won't." Uriel replied.

"Her body is moving on its own, through sheer grit and will." he told him.

"And she's injured. Not... gravely so, but she needs medical attention for that leg. NOW." he went on.

"What can we do!?" Lex exclaimed.

"I will do what I can." Uriel replied.

"...actually, I'm going to contact someone that can do far more than I." he finished, before closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest, concentrating on sending a mental message to one he knew would receive it.

As Lex tried his best to make Madison 'come to', Uriel suddenly appeared where Aimee was.

"Aimee!?" he exclaimed.

"What's happened!?" he asked her.

"A blood summon means it's urgent, that I know." he continued.

"So what is it?" he asked.

"Is it Madison? Has she been found?"

Lex's jaw just dropped.

"AIMEE!" he yelled.

"IT'S MADDY!" he said further.

He then raced forward, towards her, faster than ever before in his life.

"Madison!" he exclaimed.

"Oh my God, are you all right!?" he asked her.

"What happened to you!? Where have you been!?" he asked further.

"...what the...?" he muttered.

"Aimee, someone's coming this way!" he called to his sister.

"...I... think!?" he then added.

He squinted to try and get a better look at them, but it failed, so he decided to head outside.

"I'm going to meet them. Something seems... wrong." he told her.

He then raced outside, and started to get closer towards them, exercising caution as he did so.

Lex wasn't faring much better either.

He was trying various things to find Madison as well... and nothing was coming up.

"What the hell, what the hell!?" he exclaimed.

"Where IS she!? Where could she be!?" he asked the air.

He went to a window and looked outside, biting his lip.

"Great... weather's clouding over now." he muttered.

"Absolutely perfect." he snarled.

Aly and Ryker sat down and started to eat as well... with Aly's face becoming alive with surprise and joy.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

"Like it?" Ryker asked.

"It's divine!" she responded.

"Heh, yep. It's good fish, all right." Ryker replied.

"Best meal either of us had eaten in a while." he said further.

"...you two are a real rags-to-riches duo, aren't you?" Aly asked him.

"In a sense. More like rags-to-moderate-wealth-but-we-have-each-other-which-is-the-only-riches-we-ever-needed." Ryker responded, before pausing.

"...and I'm aware of how corny and sappy that sounded."

The bodies that surrounded her didn't move. At all. They were all either dead, or unconscious to the point of being dead to the world.

But that didn't concern her.

She just wanted out.

She managed to make her way out the room, and after a series of corridors, she found herself at a staircase. Her broken leg didn't help in ascending it, but she managed, and found herself at a door that led outside.

Upon stepping outside, she saw that she was on the outskirts of the city... practically out of the city altogether.

Which meant there was nobody around, and she had a LONG way to get back home.

The pulse of mana seemed to shake the entire building. And it knocked out all but one of her captors... and even then, the last one standing was barely doing so. He watched at the syphon was rattled free again, and her mana started to flow back into Madison at an alarming rate.

"No..." he said.

"No, we were so close..." he went on, before he looked at the rune that was on the floor.

"So close..." he repeated.

"I need to... reattach..." he went on, as he slowly staggered towards her... however, the sheer amount of mana was too much for him, and it caused him to fall to the ground.

So there they were.

8 unconscious cloaked figures, an unconscious young woman hanging from the ceiling by her wrists, mana flowing back into her like a raging river... and a rune that then started to glow. It was glowing a slightly different colour now... but it was still glowing.

Still active...

Aly just giggled when Eke tripped over his words a little.

"Eke, being with you IS the best." she replied, looking deep into his eyes.

That was when Ryker cleared his throat, loudly.

"Right then!" he said.

"Let us eat!" he declared.

"And you ARE gonna love this fish." he told Aly.

Aly just nodded.

"Let us dive in, then." she said.

The others were silent and still for a moment, before they approached her.

"Tie her ankles together." one said.

"Make her ability to kick and thrash hindered just that little bit." they reasoned.

"Right." another replied.

They then grabbed some rope, while another knelt down by her ankles, and a third started to replace the syphon that had been previously attached to her.

"...this much mana is powerful." one mumbled.

"TOO powerful for such a little girl to contain." they added.

Sure enough, her foot hit something.

And it hit something... oddly shaped.

She wasn't sure WHAT she had hit... until she heard the person let out a rather unnerving noise. It was an undefined noise... but it was definitely one of pain. And they then collapsed to the floor.

"Damn it!" one cursed.

"Get the syphon back in her!" another shouted.

"That mana will be unstable, and we'll have no idea what'll happen!"

"Don't struggle so much." one told her.

"The more you struggle, the more this will hurt." they went on.

One of them was silent for a moment, before going over to a cabinet and taking out a bottle of something, and a syringe.

"I'll give her some of this." they said.

"She'll be in a deep sleep when it hits." they went on.

"...I was hoping we could avoid something like that." another commented.

"But... if this minimizes her pain and discomfort, so be it."

"...she's awake." she then heard a voice say.

That's when she became aware of her surroundings, and saw she was in a very dark and dank place. The walls were made of stone, and it seemed like there was a dampness in the air.

But it wasn't enough to extinguish the lanterns in the area.

She also saw that there were about 8 people there... all of them in strange cloaks with the hoods up.

"So she is." another responded.

"It would have been better if you'd just remained unconscious." they told her.

"Then this entire experience would've been far less... traumatic... for you." they reasoned.