Colin's posts

Azari was shocked and scared for a moment, but looked angry and defiantly at her... just as the blade seemed to react on its own. Her dark elf mana was coming off the blade, but it then seemed to pool right at the spot where it was touching Azari's throat, and seeped into him.

She watched as his pupils started to shake and quiver, the elf trying to fight it off.... before they turned a crimson red.

"..." he was then silent, before looking at her.

"...yes." he said.

"I will do so." he told her in a blank tone, moving to do so, and scratching his neck a little on the sword.

Chris just nodded.

"Do so." he told her.

"...and fast." he went on.

"I don't know how much longer the other two will survive down here before they're both completely broken." he warned, referring to Evan and Sammy.

They then heard footsteps in the distance, and Chris looked a bit alarmed.

"Hurry!" he whispered.

"It'll be too suspicious if you're just hanging around me!" he finished, before slumping back down to his previous position, to make it seem like nothing had just happened.

Chris was silent for another moment, before a few tears trickled down his cheeks.

"...thank you." he said.

"She's been moved. Holding cell 16." he informed her.

"..." he didn't say anything more, before just biting his lip.

"I don't know what you're planning, but if it's escaping or stopping Mistr-..." he continued, before stopping suddenly. "...Vanessa..." he corrected himself. "... then try and save Ayla as well." he told her.

"She doesn't deserve to be here..."

As she turned a corner, she saw a ghastly sight. One that she actually hadn't seen before, mostly because this was a recent thing.

She saw Chris. He was sitting against a corner, barely clinging to life. He was covered with wounds so grievous that it looked like he'd been the victim of several attacks. Which wasn't far from the truth.

She'd heard that he was being punished for his recent failure, but... she had no idea that it was THIS bad. She also saw that he had scars all over his body, too. This wasn't the first time he'd been brought to this point.

That's when she realised that Vanessa had been doing this to him on purpose. Bringing him to a state where death would be preferable, and release him from his suffering, but she wouldn't grant him that.

He slowly looked up at her, before flinching slightly, afraid she was going to hurt him... and then wincing from the pain that shot through his body from the flinch.

"..." he was then silent, before slumping back down and awaiting more pain.

The statement hit Ash like a brick in the face.

"...." he was silent, and she could see him seething with rage.

"Unforgiveable..." he snarled, before snapping to a brief moment of lucidity.

"Explains why the contract was broken." he said.

"Well, then." he said further, standing up.

"Don't know whose life she ruined with that stunt of hers, but I'm pissed enough that I'm going to start punching my brother's heavy bags downstairs until my knuckles bleed." he told them bluntly.

"...what?" Ash muttered.

"Ashleigh, you understood that?" he asked.

"...damn it." he then mumbled. "I hate not getting things." he sighed.

"Anyway, I guess the archangels know?" he asked Emelie, changing the subject.

"And will be be just them doing this, or will this be a joint effort between up and down?" he asked further.

"...because either way, that's going to be quite something."

Ash looked extremely confused at that statement.

"Uhhhh..." he stammered.

"Right, whatever." he said.

"That answered the question but didn't at all." he muttered.

"Sooooo whatever." he mumbled further.

"Look, as long as this gets the kids home safe." he then said to her. "...yes, they're adults, but they're still our babies!" he exclaimed, but then froze for a moment.

"...and I just proved beyond a shadow of a doubt I shouldn't be going..."

Ash just sighed. Heavily.

"...and I can't promise my emotions won't get in the way and cloud my judgement." he admitted. "I can say they won't, but... well... I don't know. I don't trust myself to not give in." he admitted.

"You're right. It's... it's probably too dangerous for me to go, at least." he lamented. "As loathe as I am to admit it." he added quietly.

"All I care about is that Kelly and Evan and Sammy get home safe." he told her.

"...and, to a lesser extent, what she did to break the contract." he then admitted.

"Because I can't believe she did something to void it."

"...I'm not surprised you're already in the know." Ash responded.

"And yes. I do." he said.

"Kelly is my daughter. Evan and Sammy are my nephew and niece." he continued.

"The guardian parent inside me is screaming at me to go and rescue them." he told her further, before just pausing and sighing.

"But I understand that this needs to be handled delicately. We can't screw this up." he admitted.

"So if you don't think I, or Ashleigh, should go. Then I shall abide by that decision."

Ash nodded in response.

"Right." he said.

"I'll contact her." he told her, before pausing.

"...right now, actually." he added.

He then leaned back in the chair he had been sitting in closed his eyes, and crossed his arms over his chest. While it looked like he wasn't doing anything, Ashleigh knew what he was doing. She knew who and what he was, so he had nothing to hide from her.

'Please... please come to my home. Living room. I have information that you NEED to know, if you don't already know it.' he sent to Emelie, using the special mental channel that only he and his fellow Harmony members had access to.

"Clearly." Ash responded.

"...but we can ponder the 'how' and 'why' later." he said.

"We need to let the right people know about this." he told her. "Which is to say, we need people that can effectively storm her location with minimal fear of her fighting back." he clarified.

"...odds are the celestial realm, and maybe the infernal realm, will have people willing to do do." he suggested.

"But what are your thoughts on this?" he asked.

"You have any sort of ideas for how to go about this?"

"...damn it." Ash cursed.

"You're right." he admitted.

"We need to act sooner, rather than later." he insisted.

"...wait." he then mumbled.

"Wait, wait wait..." he said on repeat.

"Her... the contract... does that mean it's voided?" he asked.

"And does that mean the celestial realm is no longer blocked out?"

"..." Ash was silent for a long moment after hearing that.

"We need to go there." he said.

"Kelly's there. That means Evan and Sammy are there, too." he reasoned.

"We have to mount an invasion, and rescue them!" he declared.

'And we need to do it NOW!"

Ash looked at it again, narrowing his eyes.

"...yeah. Stonehenge." he said.

"..." he was then silent for a moment, as things started to piece themselves together in his mind.

"Wait..." he mumbled.

"Ashleigh, we..." he started to say, but paused, thinking about it once more.

"Let's make this easy." he said. "You look like you've had a lifetime's worth of epiphanies, and then some." he commented.

"Care to share them?"