Kogo's Story

Sienna Cartlow

Things were falling apart pretty quickly. For the most part, her comments seemed to have been unheard or ignored, though she couldn’t exactly blame them. Things had been more than a little crazy as of late. Vaguely, she’d heard Miranda speak about having someone ‘handle’ the mess before she’d headed out, the creepy cleaner had eerily mopped up the entire mess and had taken a seat at the table with his burger, and to top it all off, Taja was speaking with a floating, ethereal representation of Rina. Sienna’s worldview had been shaken and changed by recent events, but that was kicking it up to a whole new level of unfathomable change. She’d had enough of it at this point.

“I don’t want to be associated with any of this or these weirdos…” Sienna mumbled to herself, briefly looking to where Rina’s body was before reminding herself why that was a bad idea, grimacing and heading back out to the hall. Yohan had ducked out somewhere, who knew where. Frankly, she didn’t care. Maybe he’d had the common sense to bail before all this shit went down. Then again, it was his house; chances were he was hiding somewhere. Either way, she wasn’t about to go look. She’d had enough of dealing with these people. It was time she got herself out, did whatever she could to clear her name and maybe get back to something resembling a normal life. At first she’d considered consulting with them, negotiating some sort of agreed compromise into how to tackle the situation, but to hell with it! She didn’t owe them jack shit, what had they done for her? If anything, they were to blame for dragging her into all this crap!

“Stop smirking.” Sienna stated with a glare, Sinopia simply looking amused as she watched Sienna pick herself up off the wall, heading for the door. The cat had started being oddly quiet, letting Sienna work through things, but Sienna didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. It was refreshing, if a little strange now. She was almost used to the intrusions at this point. Pushing open the door and stepping outside, Sienna squinted in the natural light. Well, at least the sky was normal… Shutting the door behind her, she took a moment to get her bearings of the local area, not really recognising any nearby landmarks, it didn’t look too hopeful until she could spot a somewhat far off church steeple in the distance. Judging by that, she had a rough idea of where she was relative to her place, as well as the local police station.

“Well, that’s a start at least…” Sienna mumbled, beginning her walk. Though she wasn’t fit, she didn’t own a car since that whole mess with her parents, so she was somewhat used to it despite her laziness. On the way, she wasn’t sure if people were staring at her or if it was her imagination. It was a small town, and it wasn’t exactly known for big news like this. It wouldn’t be entirely unreasonable to think that she’d be recognised. Steadily making her way in towards town, as Yohan seemed to live further out on the outskirts, she slowly began taking in the sights, piecing together a mental map of the area. It never hurt to know your way around, and if by some unfortunate miracle she ended up in this area again, it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared. As she thought about it more and more, she realised that this was pretty much the opposite direction as they’d generally headed from the gym in that other parallel world. The place synced up in general topography too it seemed, with similar hills and valleys.

“If that’s the case, then…” Sienna looked to the side as she came past it. In the other world, it had been a somewhat large and dilapidated building. Here, it seemed to be a bar. Briefly looking to the exterior, she felt something odd in the pits of her stomach. She didn’t have any idea why, but it just… Made her feel uncomfortable. An unease. Dismissing it as simply her hunger catching up with her, she continued to walk on her way, not noticing Sinopia following behind her, intently staring at the woman that stood nearby. Perhaps the cat could have warned her of the danger or said something, but for now, Sinopia felt it was prudent that Sienna learn some lessons on her own.

Sienna Cartlow

“Huh?” Was the first thing out of Sienna’s mouth once she realised that someone was talking to her. She missed the first part of whatever this woman said, something about the dangers of being alone? I mean, maybe in other neighbourhoods, but Timberland? With the exception of those car crashes, this place was quieter than a nun’s bedroom. Pausing a moment at that thought, Sienna wondered if Sinopia was perhaps affecting her in ways she didn’t realise. Regardless of that, the comments that Sienna should be returning to the people she’s ‘connected to’ gave her a little cause for concern, but it was probably just paranoia after all the crazy events that had happened. She was calling her cute after all; maybe she thought Sienna had a partner? That and it wasn’t safe to walk alone. Weird way of saying it, but for some reason, Sienna could tell that this woman wasn’t exactly normal.

Though Sienna wasn’t in a particularly good mood, nor did she feel like being cordial, it was easier just to say thanks and be on her way. In fact, she began doing just that, muttering a pleasantry and continuing on her walk. It was only after she got a few steps away and the woman’s voice came in from behind her did she stop cold. "It really won't be safe for you if you stray too far. There's more of those who are like us than you think...and not all of them have good intentions." Sienna whirled to meet the gaze of the woman, staring her down intently. There was no more ‘coincidences or other explanations for what that lady was hinting at. She knew. What she knew, Sienna wasn’t sure, but she was definitely talking about what had happened in that other place.

“Just what are you-?” Sienna started, but the woman had already said her piece, waving and making her way away from her. “Hey, I was talking to-“ For the second time, Sienna found herself getting cut off as she heard her name, a member of the police calling to her and making an approach. They’d been sent here to investigate an altercation at the bar, and instead found themselves encountering a missing person. Relieved but also a little intimidated, Sienna turned to face the young man before her, nodding. “Yeah, that’s me. I was uh, making my way to the station…” She admitted, before getting a barrage of questions. Where had she been? Was she okay? Did she know about any other girls that had gone missing? Those and more were thrown her way with increasing urgency, though she managed to stay calm throughout, nodding. “Yeah, they’re down at Yohan’s place.” Thumbing behind her, Sienna wracked her brain a bit, thankful she’d taken the time to familiarise herself with the area as she gave the street number.

From there, she answered the simpler stuff as best she could, but asked if maybe they could continue the discussion at the station. Maybe get a formal statement made, as well as some privacy. As a small aside, she also indicated that she was really in need of some sustenance. The cop seemed nice enough; he obliged with helping Sienna to the vehicle while his partner checked the inside of the bar and fixed that up. Relaxing in the back seat, Sienna vaguely listened to the man speak over the radio to his superiors and colleagues about finding her, as well as the lead towards the rest of the missing people. There were lots of questions and discussion, Sienna occasionally asked for comment, but it was clear neither he nor the operator on the other end of the line were too experienced with a situation like this.

“Sit tight kid. We’re uh, on the case. We’ll talk about what happened back at the station, but uh…” Eying Sienna over, the man seemed to be trying to work something out. “You look alright to me, no uh…” He stumbled over his words a little, Sienna nodding. “I’m not on drugs or anything no. Other than cigarettes. Do you mind if I-?” Sienna asked hopefully, the man shaking his head. “Oh, sorry. No smoking in the back. Don’t worry; we’ll get to the station as soon as Officer Milroy gets back.” Nodding again, Sienna sighed and slouched, leaning her chin in her hand. It was going to be a long day.

Sebastian sat on the couch in the lounge, sat back he was no longer in his travel gear, the leathers elsewhere in the building out the way. With Sonea brewing up tea or coffee for the guests, he glanced around to everyone, likely awkward silence, for the first few minutes, what with four strangers brought to the same place, by the same dream, vision.

Sebastian glanced to the one chair empty in the room, he stood up and stretched.
“i need to check my dead eye, please excuse me” he walked from the lounge and towards the bathroom, after getting directions from the host in the kitchen; fetching, his medicine and heading there. He’d close the door and look at himself in the mirror, Removing the eyepatch he’d, push his hair aside to expose the scarred tissue and the fleshy fused ball that was once an eye. The remains fused with his eyelids.

He began his common procedure of medicine and applying the cream, to keep it from drying out and otherwise becoming worse, as he finished up he glanced to the toilet seat where something. Someone was sat watching him.

“I don’t like being ignored, though you’d know that aswell” Sebastian, stumbled back nearly tripping over, this stranger was identical to himself everything down to the scars.

“who the fuck are you!?” the other Sebastian just laughed standing up and crossing its arms a smirk on its lips.“poor little Seb, not a clue what’s going on; I’m you, dumbass. But I don’t let the petty things such as morality and being good...stop me getting what i want.” the inner demon swung its leg in catching Sebastian’s knee and buckling it, before slamming its hand against Sebastian’s throat.

In reality, to any other, watching Sebastian if they could, he might have been fighting his own limbs or fighting something not visible. “and that thing i want: is control” the grip tightened but Sebastian forced out “Fuck you, shithead” the demon grinned and threw Sebastian to the wall. When Sebastian, regained composure he glanced about the room and saw nothing.

He pulled himself up from the floor and looked into the mirror before putting the eyepatch back on, his neck bruising a little from the grip he had on himself. He came back into the lounge with a stranger there, going on about ‘being new to it as well’

“New to what?” his eye fell upon where he was seated before, sat cross legged as if nothing happened, was the other him, that sadist’s smirk on its lips.

“the fun is only just beginning...friend”

Felix was a bit startled to be met by the woman he’d seen at the store earlier. What’s more, the way she greeted him suggested she had been expecting him to arrive.

Rather shaken by whatever crazy stuff was happening right now, he stood blankly in the doorway for several seconds. It wasn’t until the young black haired man currently talking to the shop owner introduced himself that he came back to his senses.

“Oh, hi. I’m Felix, good to meet you both.” he replied, brightening up and offering to shake hands with Sebastian and Sonea. “But…seriously, what the hell is going on?”

“Yeah, actually, I think I’ve seen you around too.” He told Sebastian, still shaking slightly. As he looked around at the array of weapons, he made a sort of silent ‘whoa’. He didn’t have a clue what any of them were called, but he still thought it was pretty cool. “I know the card said this was a smithy but I thought it would just be, I dunno, horseshoes or something.” he remarked, placing the cake he'd brought on one of the tables our counters absent-mindedly.

Felix turned to the doorway at the arrival of a young blonde haired woman, around highschool age if he had to guess. He was about to greet her when yet another new arrival appeared. This one seemed…different somehow. What shook him was that she seemed to be suggesting she, in fact, knew exactly what was happening. And apparently, the shop's owner Sonea didn't. This was just getting more confusing by the second

“Er…yeah,” he began, after Sebastian had come back into the room and asked about what exactly was new. “I think we’d all kind of like to know what’s happening here.”

As the people began to make their way to the Shop, Sonea ushered the collective people inside. One by one they would enter and Sonea would smile a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck as she had no idea what was going on herself. She smiled warmly at Felix and rubbed the back of her head again.

"Honestly I haven't the faintest clue. I kinda hope to try and figure it out myself"

There was clearly a look of confusion on her face as she laughed a bit nervously at Sebastian's statement about what she did to him and simply replied to him.

"I really don't know. It just kinda happened...I am honestly just as confused as you are about the whole thing. Also yeah it is! I made it myself. I made everything you see here"

As more guests came, the door opened loudly to show the eleven year old boy with a jar of pickles, Cayson. Sonea couldnt help but laugh at the adorable child and ushered him past all of the weapons and armor into her apartment area, next answering the door for Amber, whom had already called inside.

"Hello there! Welcome to the Sunny Shield, I am Sonea. Please come in and join us for tea. Everyone is in the living room past the open doorway"

Sonea remarked and then she shut the door once more and started to head towards the apartment section before the door opened again to reveal Kogo. This took Sonea back a bit, surely she had never seen this woman before in her life and she knew for certain that the cat had not touched her at all. The confusion was evident on her face as she ahemmed a bit and put on her best smile for Kogo while looking down at her a bit.

"Hi I am Sonea...and I really have no idea what is going on at this point. I am a bit fuzzy on this whole situation"

Above Kogo's head, now appeared the Cat whom lazily floated above her with a small purr on his lips

"Now this is interesting...I would instruct your crew to keep this woman's opinions in mind. She might have a few more keys to that thing you call a noggin"

"Though if you do have any sort of information Miss Kogo, I am sure I would love to hear it. As the rest of the people here would love to know" She gave her a grin and then disappeared for a few minutes, now having everyone in the main living area of the apartment and a tray of tea with crackers and cheese spread for everyone.

Now all attention focused on Kogo...

Sebastian glanced to Kogo and then when she mentioned ‘seeing someone or something’, Seb looked at the smaller woman and sighed. “So the identical looking bastard over on the couch, only i can see him?” he pointed to the empty spot where he had been sitting, the inner demon shakes his head chuckling at Sebastian’s animosity towards it.


“It’s not all that bad, you’re never alone” it smiled a big shit eating grin at Sebastian and let out a laugh. It stood up and stretched wandering from the room and out of view.

Sebastian shook his head mumbling “that’s fantastic” he fell back into his seat and looking rather annoyed and generally irked he kept his only eye out for whatever his demon was up to, for all he knew the damn thing was plotting to get him hit by a bus.

“that’s a good one, i’ll take notes” the voice suddenly back Seb glanced around curling his dominant hand into a fist. “easy hot blood, i’m in your head, though i think you’d need to ask the important questions.”

Seb looked to Kogo and raised an eyebrow, “you never introduced yourself, how can we trust anything you say and secondly how the hell do you know so much” he crossed his arms and leaned back, he wasn’t in the best of moods, no thanks to the asshole in his head.

Felix was still staring around at the weapons on the walls, mouth agape, as he was ushered into another room. This one seemed more like a living space, he noticed as he drew his attention away from the armoury and toward the apartment they were now standing in.

It was at this point that the mysterious woman known as Kogo began explaining the current situation. Saying he didn’t take it so well…would be an understatement. He let out an abrupt, nervous laugh.

“This…this is some kind of practical joke, right? What did you put on those cards?” He asked, rather shakily. There was no way in hell he believed what he was being told right now. Somehow, he’d been manipulated into going to this shop - a smithy, with actual weapons, of all places. Then, once a group of likewise clueless individuals had been gathered, someone who looked like she was lost in her way to a re-enactment was telling them they had magic powers now and were all in danger. Safe to say he was feeling quite sceptical.

“Is this some kind of publicity stunt for LARPing? Or…” He appeared to think for a few moments, before his eyes widened and he seemed to shrink a little.

“You…you didn’t give us all Black Plague did you?” he asked in a very quiet voice. It was a ridiculous idea but he sounded serious nonetheless.

---

Cayson looked at the short girl who came in. Apparently she was the one leading everything. He didn't know nor cared. He just wanted this to all hurry so he could get back to finding Taja. She opened a jar of pickles and started to eat one. He listened, apparently he had magic. Maybe he could use his magic and find Taja. He was getting excited already, but then she mentioned that if the robot girl died, so would they. "So we also have to protect her?" He asked, mostly to himself. "I guess I could do that with my awesome moves."

She also mentioned that they would see things. He looked around and saw himself in a pickle suit. "Holy... that pickle suit is sick!" He walked over and looked the suit around. "I can dig this."

"So lady person, can I use my magic to find my love? She was one of the people who went miss." He asked her.

Sonea listened on to what Kogo was saying, her eye widening as she felt her mouth drop a few inches so it was agape. All of this seemed to go over her head in it's entirely. She shook her head a few times as she moved back and forth in a sort of pacing motion as she tried to take this all into account. When Kogo finished, she was still pacing with her hands behind her back.

"But this doesn't make sense. Magic doesn't make sense I mean...no one has magic. It's just some superstitious mumbo jumbo that ancient people made up to explain the unexplained. How can magic be the source of all of this?"

But her question was soon answered, the cat floated above her head and leaned forward so his eyes were looking into her own. There was a grin on his face so wide, it threatened to split his entire face in two before he floated away and landed gracefully on Kogo's head.

"She is right you know Sonea. There is a part of you that you cannot see, smell, feel or touch. A primal something that you dont even know you had. If I were you, I'd speak the following words: There is a cat floating about your head. He is fluffy, puffy and grinning with a toothy grin. He tells me of a place that no one has seen but a place I know. Yet I dont know what this place is...and I havent seen it since. A dog with fangs and claws and teeth of red with gleaming red eyes stalking a dead village. See what she says...You will love this Sonea I am sure"

While Sonea listened, she stared at a space above Kogo's head, dead eyed as if her eye showed her looking out a thousand miles away. She then blinked several times and rubbed her eye with one hand then let out a long groan of a sigh before she went to sit down in her favorite arm chair.

"There is a cat floating about your head. He is fluffy, puffy and grinning with a toothy grin. He tells me of a place that no one has seen but a place I know. Yet I don't know what this place is...and I haven't seen it since. A dog with fangs and claws and teeth of red with gleaming red eyes stalking a dead village. Does that ring any sort of bells with you?"

She asked, looking clearly skeptical as she reclined in her chair and gazed out towards the others, choosing not to say anything but clearly struggling to try and quantify this. While she did, she saw the cat now nestling itself in her lap and stared at Kogo with a wry chuckle

"Now lets see what might happen if this were the case Sonea. I think something in that noggin of yours might finally open up to you. Lets see if she takes the bait"

Kogo’s attitude was unnerving to Felix, that was for sure. But when she approached him and two orbs of some kind of energy appeared in her hands, he let out a short yelp and leaped back, falling roughly onto a chair.

This didn’t stop her, though, and she continued to demonstrate this ‘magic’, changing her own appearance right in front of him. By now his face was simply blank, and he seemed to be staring miles ahead at nothing in particular. He didn’t appear to be paying attention when Sonea spoke up, apparently he was so shocked he had disconnected himself.

It wasn’t until he heard Kogo say something about danger, pulling out the small book, that he jolted upright. Something didn’t seem right here, it was if some kind of energy or signal was being emitted by it.

"Hey, now, what are you-" he piped up, but before he could finish, he saw a burst of light. This was followed by a sudden feeling of weightlessness cut short by landing painfully on his behind.

"Ah-ow." He muttered, struggling up. Upon opening his eyes, he guessed he must have hit himself pretty bad, since even though it hadn't been his head he could have sworn he saw two Sebastians. Looking around he saw that they were still in the same room, apparently. But…something was different. He looked behind him, and saw that the chair he’d been on was missing. Had she played some kind of practical joke? If so, he thought it was in poor taste. But looking around again, he saw that this place was definitely somewhere else entirely. They’d been transported somewhere? Somewhere dangerous, from the sound of it.

"Are you insane?! There are kids here!" He yelled, finding his voice again.

He watched his eye wide but his expression mute, as Kogo began tormenting Felix with her magic, though he kinda found it amusing, and terrifying, Sebastian’s Inner Demon reformed itself to watch Kogo’s antics.

Seb sat back, comfy, until she spoke the words ‘fieldtrip’ and ‘danger’ Sebastian almost got the words out but was too late he fell back into the couch having stood to confront Kogo, he shook off the disorientation and stood back up.

“What the hell did you do?” he glared at Kogo but beside him, now visible to everyone, the complete identical being, giggling like a murderer, clone/twin of Sebastian. “oh this is going to be fun, hope you’re up for a little life or death Sebby.” the demon grinned only for Sebastian to turn and clock it in the nose. To Sebastian’s dismay he’d feel the punch hit him, a pained yelp escaping Sebastian’s mouth followed by a string of curse words.
“Hunting dogs?, no i think we should get the fuck out of here”” Sebastian glared, moving his hand from his nose, his demon however removed its eyepatch, underneath were no scarred remains of an eye but it’s right eye was that of a beast, slit pupil, though beyond that normal colours.

“Now you’ll be able to tell us apart, if you must call me something, Wraith will do” the Inner demon pushed Sebastian a little and they both began to follow after Kogo.

Sonea listened with some slight amount of confusion. Field Trip? Danger?! She was about to protest when suddenly, her vision was overcome by a bright light and the vision before her eyes was shocking. They were still in her apartment but...it looked all wrong. There were holes in the walls, windows were missing or shattered on the ground. The chairs which she and the others were sitting in were gone or so shredded they were unusable. She gasped and stared at the destruction around her and covered her mouth with her hand. Stumbling, she followed after Kogo and went out into the shop.

Even here, the walls were adorned with her weapons and armors, but they seemed to have degraded so poorly that nothing was even remotely usable. The blades were rusted, brittle and full of holes from years of age and no maintenance. Even the armors which once gleamed with oils and countless hours of work were nothing but useless hunks of metal and scrap. Maybe something in them could be salvaged but not for now...

Sonea's mind was whipped up with a flurry of unfelt emotions: Overwhelming terror, dread and the overbearing desire to run away and hide. She reached behind her back under her shirt and pulled out the sacrificial dagger and held it in her right hand. She was breathing heavily, panic clearly evident on her face as she could swear this place knew what she was thinking and going through in her mind. She could hear herself screaming in pain? No...she couldnt feel pain. She couldnt ever feel...pain? She was terrified...as memories started to make themselves known in her mind.

At once as she was outside the apartment, the animal within caused her to bolt. Running...running as fast as she could from the group as terror washed over her senses. Animalistic fear and overwhelming dread gave such speed to her step that she didnt even know where she was running to. She just had to get away, she had to hide. She had to go somewhere where she could not be found. Somewhere safe...in this nightmarish land. She passed by several buildings, all burnt out and shattered. Books torn to shreds littered the streets and long gone scorch marks depicted people burned alive or eaten. The terror made her see things that werent there, her arm now gone and replaced by a bloody stump. The smell of fresh copper on her nose and her head and hair matted with blood. But something up ahead looked familiar, safe: The ruins of Town Hall. She bolted for it and slammed the door shut and brought up several ruined chairs to brace the door and hid underneath a desk.

She began to sob, hiding herself in a small ball underneath where she thought she was safest.

"Where am I? Why is this happening to me? I just want to go home...why can't I remember anything anymore?"

"Ahh Sonea...your finally starting to get the picture aren't you? No surprise really...only a very few manage to find the way but most don't recognize it when they do" came a voice as the Chesire Cat lay down before her. Big blue eyes stared up at her with a savage grin on his furry maw.

"You are where you once were so long ago. Back when you and I first met little Sonea. It was such a long time ago...and where it happened the first time round. Something dangerous lurks in these ruined halls. But you are going to need to get a grip on yourself and put a stiff upper lip if you want to survive"

"Survive? Survive what? This is just a dream...I am not losing my mind. I cant be going crazy. I just cant"

"Focus Sonea...if you do not then all will happen as it did again. Find the dog...before he finds you" He said and floated up and out of her sight. Sonea came out hesitantly under the desk and watched him float upon the wind then reappear infront of her.

"There you are Sonea...perhaps you might have the spine to fight not unlike the last time you were here. Mayhaps you might even realize what you are. I just hope that it wont be too late for you...or stay here and be eaten. Its no skin off of my whiskers if you do. All I can do is simply...give you a little...push" He said with an even more savage and bloodthirsty grin and a deep chuckle.

"The time has come to unleash what lurks inside that tamed heart. Time to unleash your inner beast and best do it soon. I am sure he has your scent"

As he said this, he would turn into a thin vapor and snaked his way up into Sonea's nose and disappeared from sight. But as she looked around, all she could really hear was Chesire's words echoing in her mind. Taunts and jeers and stabs of insults. Pushing her, mocking her, antagonizing her and putting even more mental strain on her mind. She puts her hands around her ears and tried her hardest to block out the constant beratement and pushed her way back outside. Images flashed in her mind as she held her dagger up and started to snarl and growl at every direction, feeling her sanity slip away bit by bit. She felt cornered...trapped and caged. If something was coming, she would rather die on her feet then hiding like a foolish child.

The night was certainly young and full of surprises. While beasts had been let loose in the real world, another beast had just awakened. It was time to hunt once again, and the Hellhound began to rise from it's current resting place. The random building it had taken residence in collapsed around it, causing the others to notice as the pieces of said building collapsed around it. The Hellhound shook it's body off briefly, a dark expression looming over as it looked around, letting out a low growl. It could smell something, intruders again!? But one of the scents was... Familiar to it. The Hellhound's eyes widened slightly, the growl slowly coming to a halt as it tried to recall where it knew this scent from.

"Oh, dear." The man in shades spoke out, suddenly poofing near the others as he cleared his throat. "Greetings to you all. I wasn't expecting visitors such as yourselves, but I can adapt. Welcome to the sporting event tonight, since you are here, you may as well help me with a little problem." The man in shades pointed to the Hellhound that stood unmoving now. "That Hellhound has been causing me problems lately, I can't exactly get around when a guardian of the dead keeps pushing people away from here. Do not worry, however, I have come prepared." The man in shades sat down in a chair that had appeared with him, grabbing hold of the sheet he made appear next to him as well, pulling it off to reveal... Weapons?

The Hellhound's body began to shake, it's stomach growling loudly as the thought of feeding upon a tasty meal made it take that wide sadistic grin it had before when last seen. Smoke began to rise up from the Hellhound's body, the Hellhound quietly moving through the ruined town and coming closer towards that tasty smell. Smoke began to rise from it's mouth as well, it's tongue carefully licking it's own lips as pieces of itself began to fall off of it's body. It knew people had come here before, but they had gotten away while it was distracted. This time, however, one of them seems to have cornered themselves away from the other tasty smells... It wasn't going to let this chance go away!

"Behold, a fine selection of enchanted weapons, made for a specific purpose to help you all out in the inevitable battles to come." The man in shades couldn't help but grin. "I offer these weapons to you all, free of charge. Well I say that, but really, the price is more to kill that naughty little hound. Should you manage to prevail against the beast, I shall give you a magnificent gift. Let us hope you all live long enough for me to explain by then." A loud roar coming from the distance caused the man in shades to look over casually in the hound's direction. "Looks like we're running short on time. Your friend is in clear danger, I suggest choosing your enchanted weapon now before the beast kills her. Oh, don't forget to bring one to her as well. Trust me when I say, she won't break it."

Indeed, the Hellhound couldn't hold itself back any longer, letting out a vicious roar as flames began to erupt all over it's body, burning itself as pieces of itself burned away in order to reveal... Something more. Something that had long been buried away when the thought of no longer catching it's favorite prey crossed it's mind. But now, a familiar scent had returned and it had caused a long forgotten joy to return to the beast's heart! The Hellhound took a new form, a form more fitting for combat rather than just merely hunting. This form that had long been suppressed began to radiate with heat around itself, the beast's body brightly glowing as the blue moon hung overhead on the dark green sky. The Hellhound couldn't wait any longer, another terrifying roar escaping it's menacing jaws as it prepared to attack!

Sebastian had followed Kogo, and soon enough Sonea ran past, he gritted his teeth and yelled after her “ARE YOU INSANE!? THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, WOMAN!?” to Sebastian’s disdain Wraith found this hilarious, falling over and laughing.

“She’d make great bait, if she weren’t the leader” through his hysteric laughter he spoke before getting up, opening both his eyes, now the both of them reptilian and slitted, he grinned and stretched. “now get moving, else you all end up dead. And that’s just problematic”

Sebastian had turned to run after Sonea when the odd gentleman appeared, when he revealed the weapons, Sebastian didn’t think, he’d snatch up a sheathed longsword; Turn and sprint for it, on his way he heard the roar of their foe, and it made his skin crawl.

Sebastian’s rage seethed under his thoughts; in the back of his mind. Wraith knew it and felt it, and the demon grinned at the others. “what are you lot waiting for? If he dies who’s going to help scaredy cat? And then if she kicks the bucket, well i’m sure you know the outcome of that” with another laugh Wraith fades, drawn back to his victim watching from the comfort of Sebastian’s mind.

And soon enough he saw it, from the looks of it, the beast had slowed itself down for its final charge at Sonea, he kept up his sprint moving until he was between it and Sonea, staring down a flaming mutt, not what he expected, but it was pretty cool, right?. Sebastian just glanced back, he stepped forward, holding the enchanted longsword up.

“Well aren’t you an ugly bastard” Sebastian chuckled, heaving in air and smirked, he had to keep himself stable, and not give an inch, else it was going to take a mile. “you can’t win alone, let me help you out, all you have to do is give me something and i’ll give a fair trade.” the voice of the demon whispered in his head.“Shut it, I don’t need your backstabbing now.”

“No, this is genuine concern, you won’t win this fight, either you run for the others, or take this chance to prove you’re stronger, better than them” Sebastian grinded his teeth. “Fine take what you want, take what you will” Wraith’s smile couldn’t be bigger and he laughed.

“Perfect” a deep thin aura began to seep from Sebastian’s form, his skin hardening and scales formed across his body, with the shade of a deep dark purple, and his only eye shifting to that of a reptile, his hands becoming clawed and his knuckles spiked with boney protrusions. Painless was the shift, into a more draconic form; fitting of the blood.

Seb grinned and thought now i just look like a fucking comic book hero Wraith laughed and left the message in his mind the price is paid, your familiar has come,for now, and your dominion is yours. Just swing your blade and watch the destruction

Sebastian would do so channeling his dominion, the kinetic movements of swinging the blade would create vectors and Sebastian’s mind quickly realised this and honed onto it, with the vectors, created by the sword swing he’d smirk and then swing the sword again in a large vertical cutting motion, though this time the vector created would be launched at the hound, if it were to strike, the vector would sever a limb clean away or an ear from the rest of the beast.

The small familiar a large dog sized dragon, coloured in a mix of purples with a yellow eye, in some way it was like Sebastian, though the familiar hung back watching from a distance. Sebastian didn’t hear or feel the presence of wraith, and he had pretty cool new magic, hopefully the scales will disappear when he returns home.

Felix began to shake in fear, following the others into what had been the shop just minutes ago. This couldn’t be happening, he thought to himself, it was just too…it just couldn’t be real. It was like something out of a story. The sight of the building as well as all its merchandise now ruined didn’t help to put his mind at ease. Instinctively, he slapped himself across the face. Then after nothing changed, he did the same again, several times.

“This crap is really happening, isn’t it?” he whimpered, finally coming to the horrific realisation, just as Sonea made a sudden run for it. That couldn’t mean anything good was about to happen, now the group would be split up. Also, hadn’t Kogo said something about them all being linked in some way? If she got hurt, it would affect the rest of the group, if he recalled. “Oh no…” he groaned.

It was at this moment that the stranger in shades materialised before them, greeting them. Poor Felix was starting to feel light-headed at this point, and boy, did his fearful expression show it. Once the man had finished explaining his ‘little’ problem, he stepped gingerly over the threshold, now seeing the Hellhound. He froze. Several more seconds and he swung himself round, slamming himself against the inside of the wall. He was breathing very rapidly now.

It was a sharp pain that made him snap out of it - He looked down and saw some kind of creature biting his ankle. “gah!” he yelled, shaking the thing off frantically, although the sandy coloured pest simply ran up his leg, running circles around his face and clawing at him. Growling, he grabbed the thing and threw it off, rubbing his face only to see that there were no wounds or scratches to speak of. Still hurt like hell, though.

He glowered down at the weasel like creature, which seemed to be snickering at him. “What the bleeding hell is that thing?” he asked the stranger, pointing. “Another one of your pests?” But he didn’t have time to wait for an answer, as he watched Sebastian grab a longsword and run off.

Felix waited for a few seconds, trying to calm down. “OK,” he said, taking deep breaths. It would probably be wise to help make sure no-one dies, he thought. He took another breath, before grabbing a weapon, which appeared to be a bow, and sprinting for it.

He skidded to a halt after a few metres, dashed back, grabbed another weapon at random, nodded at the shades-wearing person. “Thanks,” he said, before hurrying off again. The creature scoffed mischievously before following suit.

Felix stopped in his tracks, staring wide eyed at the wolfish monstrosity before him. But now he saw there were more monsters fighting it! Great, he thought, just-wait, is that lizard thing wearing and eyepatch and wielding a-

“Sebastian?!” he yelled, “What the hell - Gah, nevermind, I'll ask later!” he ran toward the nearest sturdy looking building, the town hall. "This just gets weirder and weirder..." he muttered to himself. Sure enough, there Sonea was, now with an unexpectedly savage demeanor.

"Er...Sonea?" he asked, tentatively, holding out whatever other weapon he had taken, "Listen, er...I don't think any of us are really in the mood for dying right now, and I'm sure you're not either, so, maybe this will help. If we stay together, maybe we can get away from that...er, thing." he finished, nodding toward the hellhound.