Sebastian Winters's Story

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.

'I think its time for us to let loose a little huh? Lets shake off some of the dust'

Sonea's eye had become hazy, now lost in the panic and terror of the sight of the hound. Floods of memories left her paralyzed and entrenched in her total terror. Within her mind, she could see long forgotten memories of agony untold, the sight of the ruined down and the dog that pursued her relentlessly as a meal. But while her mind was gone, her body had kicked in to move on command of the Chesire Cat. He had to keep her alive...not out of love but out of the pure instinct of survival. Sonea's time would come very soon...and he had to ensure she would shift and end the fight. But to do this he had to ensure she live first.

Her grip on her dagger in her hand would tighten as her right hand flared with a brilliant light. The dagger soon took on an almost liquid like state, snaking up her arm along the forearm to make what looked like several metal claws, deadly sharp and coated in dried blood. Her left arm would whir and wheeze as it reconfigured itself to match, metal spines bursting from her shirt and the glove itself speared out in an identical set of claws. Her body began to crack slightly as everyone of her teammates would feel a splitting pain come from their backsides, at their tailbones. From her backside sprang a long tail: feline in nature with the coloration of a Bengal Tiger with the tip coated in a sharp metal spine on the end. Her ears changed and shifted with the same sort of pain as they took on more feline like features. Even her eye had changed to a feline configuration and glinted in the light. She cracked her body and soon moved with an unnatural speed and headed for a building. She pushed off the ground hard and landed on a building which she began to scale with her claws.

Upon reaching the top, she would begin to run along the rooftops towards the Hound. She could smell it: the Challenge, the Fear and the Hunger of the Beast. She bared her teeth and let out a deep, bellowing roar of challenge as she ran along the tops of the rooftops, jumping from roof to roof. Her claws extended, becoming more jagged and tough as she lept with a strength which cracked the aged wood underneath her and landed on the beast's muzzle. With a roar of pure fury, she began to use her claws and tail to try and go for it's eyes in a fierce flurry of swipes, hoping to blind it.

Within her mind, she could see what she had forgotten and how she hid. She cried, the agony was unbearable and she very nearly lost herself into the haze of death as a voice popped in front of her. A cat floated above her face, looking down with a grin on it's maw and put a paw to her head. He tsked and began to speak.

"Looks like that is getting infected" He pointed to her missing arm. "Ill bet it hurts doesn't it? Poor Sonea all alone...with not a friend or a hope in sight. You're very close to death's door. Either you bleed out or you end up dog-food...but lucky for you. I have a way out...if your willing to hear the terms"

His grin got wider and Sonea, now almost at the point of death nodded to him. Her breathing had gotten shallow and slow, each breath raspy and forced as if it were taking all of her strength just to breath.

He continued "I can take away your pain and make you stronger then you could have possibly imagined...but for a price. My price is a loss of memory...a loss of self. I will lock away your power and who and what you really truly are. In exchange I will take away your pain and take you out of this place. But you must decide if you are ready for such a thing Tigress"

Sonea saw her claws now, her tail thumping on the ground as the stress brought onto her. She panted harder now as a tear went down her cheek "Will I ever remember my mommy? My daddy?" She asked

"In due time...but I shall ever be present to oversee your progress. What do you say Sonea? Is it a wager?" He asked, holding out a paw to her. She looked down at the ground and reached up and took a hold of his paw and they shook. Pain immediately fled her body and her vision blacked out.

The memory ceased yet the constant torrents of hateful words spewed at her from Chesire were getting louder, the fear even more real as her eyes now could see the totality of the Hound. She felt her heart race...race so fast that her heart could give out at any moment.

'Nearly there Sonea...It is nearly time for the binding I placed on you to be broken. But we need a little more time. I will give you the time to see who and what you are...then the rest is up to you'

Well, this was certainly fun, and by fun the Hellhound was in total bloody pain! First it had seen the reptile boy try to aim something to slice it in half. The Hellhound was a better fighter than this, it felt angry that it was underestimated and went to move, but in the middle of moving, a blast of light erupts out and strikes into one of it's eyes! As the Hellhound stood paralyzed in place now, it's own ear is suddenly cut off from the reptile boy's attack! When it turned to look over at the woman who dared to strike out it's eye, suddenly, a blast to the chest! Pain, horrible pain! It was terrifying, the HellHound could feel it's body starting to lose it's once proud flame!

Then, of all things, some girl with animal parts came rushing in for the Hellhound and got up in it's face?! Truly horrible, a pitiful act compared to the Hellhound's initial attack upon what was now it's territory! All of these fools were attacking it, and it could do nary a thing in response?! Truly pitiful! Disgusting, a shameful act upon all other Hellhound's, even if it considered itself above others of it's kind it had seen prior. The Hellhound thought itself broken, about to crumble away into dust when a tight grip came about in it's damaged chest. What... Was this feeling? It had never felt this way before, yet something was rushing throughout the body of the Hellhound, making it shake faster over time. Suddenly, it knew all too well what this feeling was!

FEAR! A terrible grin came across the Hellhound's face, making it look like the devil's own face for just a moment before a strange light came from the Hellhound. Even in death, it will find a way to overcome these terrible prey that think they knew what hunting was! The air suddenly grew incredibly hot for all of them, the flames of the building quickly being snuffed out as the building crumbled away, despite the rock hard material that made it up. The Hellhound's damaged eye glowed with a menacing red color they all could see within it. The flames that now ran along all of the Hellhound's body had turned into a beautiful color, with the ones on the back now moving around like some kind of cape moving in the wind.

"Frakenstein is grooving." The heat now created by the HellHound was terrible, causing the nearby buildings to collapse from it alone. The flames on the Hellhound's body felt incredibly hot to get near, the once terrifying grin had now been replaced with a terrifying look only a true predator could muster. "Midnight Action. Whoa-hoa-hoa! Witches are sleeping!" The Hellhound slowly shifted itself into an attacking pose, the cape of flames continuing to move beautifully on it's back as it watched all of them with it's one good eye, the other one still glowing red with a menacing glare to it. "Midnight Action! Whoa-hoa-hoa!"

The man in shades couldn't help but grin as he watched this new event unfold. "That's unusual. Such good teamwork, only for it to backfire and the HellHound to gain something as they did. This certainly wouldn't have happened with the other group I had talked to... But maybe this is a good thing. Now this old dog can finally die in content, knowing it's last hunt is going to be the best one yet." He held up a glass of wine he suddenly had out of nowhere. "Go all out, you old dog. Run those flames wild to your heart's content. Let it all burn brightly before you pass on." He brought the wine to his mouth and sipped it all down in one go. "Ah... Delicious. Just as the night should be!"

HellHound Awakening: Hell's Flames!

Sebastian would be caught off guard by the sudden beast that lashed out and clambered itself onto the face of the hound, he gritted his teeth, the pain from the snap in his back still numbing, and then the intense heat, he only felt it for the briefest of moments, a field of vectors forming around his body clothes and his sword, this field cutting off and stopping the flames and heat roasting his flesh, though he still felt the pain of fire.

Sebastian gritted his teeth and marched forward towards the fight, picking up a stone and gently throwing it, speeding up its vectors and firing it off as if it was a bullet, towards the hind legs of the creature.

His strides carried him to within arms reach and the vectors grew stronger reflecting the heat and flames, Seb would reach up and grab a tuft of Sonea’s fur, the vector field encompassing her also just as unyielding in its defence, however, the field would shift and Sebastian would throw Sonea, using the vectors a safe distance away and pin her down, with equal force to what she applied to getting up, stopping her movements entirely, he could only do this briefly. For three or five seconds and because he was no longer in contact, his mind straining to keep on top of it all.

He,turns his attention back to the beast and smirks and reaches out to poke the creature, if successful, the hellhound is launched flying in the direction of the sky, straight up, and Seb wasn’t counting, he’d just released full force on it with everything, pulling his power back into launch the creature like a rocket. By the time it fell back to the ground, they’d have some time to think. That’s if it did fall back to the ground.

Felix leaped back in astonishment and his jaw dropped as Sonea began to change her appearance right before him. People kept doing this! First that Kogo person, then these two. What the hell was going on? Before he had time to mull over these questions, however, he found himself doubling over in pain. It took all his effort not to scream as he gritted his teeth.

Once it had subsided, he shook his head clear and looked around. Sonea was nowhere to be seen. What now? he thought. The pain had seemed to be in his tailbone, but he didn’t think much of it. That was when he saw her - now completely different, while before she had seemed calm and friendly, Sonea was now relentlessly tearing at their foe.

He had to admit, it was actually quite exhilarating watching the fight breaking out between the hellhound and the other three. He still had no idea what was going on, and a nagging voice in the back of his mind kept trying to reason with this, explain how was all a dream or a hallucination. But whether this was real or not, he still felt that he ought to do something. Kogo had mentioned something about magic earlier, and whatever was going on now certainly didn’t seem normal. He thought about Kogo’s beams of energy, and whatever Sebastian was doing right now. The idea if being able to do something along those lines himself still hadn’t really sunk in, but he did have a weapon with him at least.

He took a moment to look at the bow he had taken. It looked a bit like something out of an RPG - it definitely looked functional but there were swirls and ornate patterns carved into the dark, polished wood. He shrugged, since it looking nice wasn’t exactly a problem. Unfortunately, it was at this moment that the heatwave struck. Felix was far away enough to not bear the brunt of the damage, but it was still painful, and he felt himself getting singed and burned. He jumped behind a pile of rubble and curled up.

Glancing back, he saw Sebastian doing something weird with the motion of the objects around him. He understood none of this, but what he did understand was that the hellhound had now been launched into the air. Now was his chance to get ready to help.

He took a few deep breaths, heart pounding with adrenaline - then jumped out from behind the rubble, holding out the longbow. It was at this moment, he remembered that he didn’t actually know how to use a bow properly - and it didn’t get much better when an image of a quiver of arrows, which he had left with the shades-wearing stranger, flashed across his mind. There were a few seconds during which he took this in.

“Oh dear.”

There was a slightly annoying squeaky-like laugh behind him. He whipped around to glare at the weasel, which was sitting on its haunches and looking at him with a rather smug expression.

“What do you want?” he demanded, “Can’t you see we’re all a bit busy right now? Go on, shoo, you weird ferret thing.”

The weasel rummaged behind itself, and he noticed it was wearing some sort of pouch on its back, out of which was pulled, coincidentally, a large bundle of arrows. He paused for a second - was this thing trying to help him? Or was it playing some other trick?

“OK, listen, I don’t even know what you are or where you came from, why should I trust that you’re trying to help us?” It seemed Felix was completely ignorant of his link to the creature, which tutted and rolled its eyes, a gesture which was lost on him.

So, making the arrows vanish with a poof, the weasel leaned forward, opened its mouth and - incomprehensible squeaks chirrups came out. Felix stared blankly for a short while, now completely distracted from the highly dangerous magical battle going on only metres away.

“er…what.” He said. More chirrups, sounding irritable this time, were his response. He crouched down to listen better. “Look.” He said pointedly, “I’m not sure if you’ll be able to understand this, but I have…no idea what you’re saying. That is, if you’re saying anything at all…I can’t believe I’m trying to talk with a weasel.” he mused. The creature pressed a paw against its face in exasperation.

It was fortunate that he happened to be having this 'conversation' (for lack of a better word) while the hellhound was still kept occupied.

Sonea, still on the beasts muzzle roared in fury and clawed at it as best she could. Until she suddenly found herself pinned for a few seconds and the dog was flung high into the air. Sonea's mind raced through so many memories she had forgotten as she suddenly dropped down to the ground underneath the dog. As she knelt down to the ground, she snapped back to reality as a large metallic screeching sound was heard. Around her was a shimmering light, spinning rapidly around her form. Filled with power, she placed herself down and felt the ground pulse. As the sudden and overwhelming fatigue gripped her, she could feel something getting free. Something primal...something deadly...but right now, she honed in on the source of the power and shunted an overwhelming amount of power into the ground.

"Come....to......me" She spoke and began to chant in a language she did not know nor could even begin to understand. The words reverberated and echoed throughout the destroyed town. This language was long since dead but to those who knew the ancient tongue, this was a summoning ritual being preformed. The earth began to crack and rumble, sink holes appeared around the town and everything rocked and shuttered at the sudden movement of the earth. From infront of Sonea, the earth began to mound, forming a small mountain and grew even larger as hundreds of tons of raw iron pushed out of the ground. It appeared almost liquid in it's appearance as it shifted and grew. A few moments and it was all too real what it was: A giant spear. Sonea's eyes glowed as she pushed hard upwards so it went straight for the helpless hellhound.

But through this action, she was on the brink of collapse and the demon within knew what was about to be unleashed. He was as giddy as a schoolgirl...the Beast was about to arise.

Well, the beast was certainly being tossed around like a bag of potatoes right now. Literally! The Hellhound had just unleashed it's Awakening, and the heat could be felt throughout the range it could go to. That's when a sudden tap launched it high into the sky, this was something the Hellhound had never experienced before! Before it could launch down a fury of it's new flames upon them, it was suddenly struck through with a huge spear that scattered blood all over their weapons. Each of the gauges on the weapons all filled to the max, each enchanted weapon's gauge having the color of the person's aura that they had bonded with. A mark suddenly appears above the gauges, each of them having the same color as within the gauge, and a little voice rang out from each weapon to them. "Blood requirement for hunt achieved! Power Up activating!"

A white aura flashes around each of them as they could feel themselves being granted power, as if being given a buff in a video game! The Hellhound's body crashed down into the ground, for the first time it could remember, it was the one who now laid upon the ground. It had been defeated. There was no doubt that it could feel the life-force within it's body fading. The last embers from the fire it had gained were quickly going away with it, it had lost the power it once held. The Hellhound's only good eye narrowed slightly, how long had it been since it had felt pain like this?

The man couldn't help but smirk to himself, seeing the Hellhound crash and fatally wounded. He rose up to his feet slowly, raising up his left arm and snapping his fingers, all extra enchanted weapons along with the extras he brought poof into smoke. "At last, you find peace. And at last, I find the missing piece in the puzzle. So, you met him, didn't you?" He talked quietly to himself while observing everyone being granted their Power Up's. "Yes, he is quite the cunning little beast. No doubt he moved around a lot throughout the years, devouring others as he hunted until he allied himself with some powerful people. You had waited for so long, guarding a Gateway, which you had considered a way for those to come to a place you considered might as well be a graveyard." The man's smirk widened. "I finally found him after all these years."

The Hellhound's flames were starting to fade one by one, soon it would be nothing more than a lifeless husk. Time felt like it had slowed to a halt for the Hellhound, memories it couldn't even recall flooded back through it's mind. It recalled it's entire life up to this point in an instant, in particular, something came back that shouldn't of. A voice, neither human nor beast, spoke up from a memory. "I have to leave soon." The voice said to the Hellhound. For some reason, recalling the voice brought joy to the Hellhound's heart. "You and I have spent a great deal of time together. You, who attacked this place and now guard it like an entrance to the realm of the dead. The irony, huh? ... Ah, forgive me. I forgot to teach you the meaning of certain words in the English language."

"My friend, I wish to ask of you something. It may be years before you have another tasty human meal, you love the taste of them huh? So do I. We are both beasts, you and I. We are outcasts among our own kind, so I only hope you can forgive me for the sudden harsh way this may sound, but... I wish to carry a piece of you with me. Don't give me that look, I ain't killing you! It is one of the perks of my kind, our strength comes from the prey we eat. I want to keep a part of you alive through me, my friend. If you will allow me, I know what piece I must eat too... Is that alright with you?"

The memory caused the Hellhound to feel sadness. It... Had been waiting for it's friend to return. The only true friend it ever had in this life. The Hellhound's red eye glowed, and with a tremendous amount of newfound willpower coursing through it's body, beautiful flames of various colors burst forth from it's body. As the Hellhound found the strength to stand back up for the final time, the spear within it's body shatters and is quickly burn, becoming beautiful little cinders that flowed around the Hellhound as if being blown through the wind. The flames around it's body now were too intense for any of them to get close to it, that was fine with the Hellhound. This last attack would be dedicated to the friend it had waited all these years for!

The red glow in the damaged eye burst forth and caused several red hot cracks to form along it's face, breaking throughout even the skull as it focused everything it had into that one spot. The Hellhound couldn't help but grin, a genuine smile that it got to die on it's own terms. It had but only one single regret throughout the entire life it held, but that mattered not now. It would die with pride and with joy, relishing in being able to feel like it belonged somewhere again! With the remainder of it's life about to burn away, it launched it's final attack, and the red glow shot out as a massive red beam!

As the red beam shot out throughout the entire town and even beyond that, the ground shook as the beam devastated all parts of the town within it's left, leaving only badly scorched earth around where it had shot it's most deadly attack. However, all of them had been unharmed by this... Well, they certainly felt the great force shake throughout all of their bodies and they certainly would feel like they just got put through a storm, but no damage was visible anywhere on their bodies. The Hellhound knew, even if they didn't. Those little weapons, those Power Ups they had received... It had protected all of them before fading away. So they were only temporary, huh? It didn't matter now, the beautiful flames were gone, the red glow within it's eye was gone... It was over.

The Hellhound's corpse moved slowly until it fully collapsed down onto it's side, ashes rising up where it crashed as the Hellhound's once mighty body now looked ravaged and weak. They could all hear clapping as the man in shades walked out over to them, grinning as he did so. "Well done, all of you. Well done." He chuckled as he pulled out a strange little device and placed it gently upon the ground. Pressing a single button on the top of it's sphere like structure, a barrier begins to construct itself over the entire town. "Did you forget already? I promised a gift, should you hold up your end of the bargains. Those weapons are all yours now, do with the body as you see fit. I have what I needed."

Pulling out what looked like a normal pen, he presses down on it as a black Gateway opens behind him. "Ah, yes, you all probably noticed before. That knife gave off the same feeling this pen of mine did. Do with that knowledge as you see fit." He began to walk back into the Gateway he had opened, bowing from the waist as he did so. "Well then... Until we meet again." Once his form was fully within the Gateway, it closed and vanished without leaving a trace of it behind. Once he was back within the town of Timberland, he sighs with content as he grabs hold of his suit with both hands and adjusts it ever so slightly. "Oh-ho, yes. We will meet again." He pulls out the device he had kept hidden within his clothing, smirking once more with glee as he saw the device successfully pick up the powerful magical energy being given off near the Police Station right now. "That is for certain."

The blinding light, the intensity of the heat...the whiteness of the world. All Sonea could see was white. She knew that her body was burned...and that she couldnt see. But that wasnt the only thing she was feeling. Something deep...something primal...something clawing to get out. It pounded the walls of her mind, barely held in containment as she had no strength left to hold this back.

Ba dum.....Ba dum....Ba dum

All of the members of Team Black would suddenly feel excrutiating pain, an agony overwhelming their senses as they could feel each bone in their body crack and snap. Structures shifted yet their physical bodies were not being harmed. Sonea, unleashed a scream. Not one of pain but of shock and horror. She could feel every bone and muscle slide into new places. Everything was hazy, her ears were ringing and everything was still white

Ba dum.....Ba dum......Ba dum

Everything felt wrong, sounded wrong yet she had no idea what was happening to her. More and more she could hear the screaming of her compatriots and she knew they were in pain but more of her mind began to slip away as she could barely make out some words "Its time...a long time coming" These words she could hear quite clearly as she let out another howling roar, this one sounding so much more bestial. It reverberated across the town's halls and walls. It resonated throughout the dead landscape as she could hear fabric tearing, metal wrenching and squeeling under duress. Something was going on and she could feel cold surrounding her.

Ba dum......Ba......Dum........Ba dum ba dum ba dum

One final roar was heard, a fiercesome roar of dominance as the pain would slowly begin to receed from her companions and from out in the ruined down, they could head the sounds of paws hitting the earth as a new creature stood in the fray infront of them. It looked like a feline, easily 11ft in length and brimming with muscle. It's body was coated in a thick, heavy iron plating with rivulets of red where the metal was still nearly molten from the Hell Hound's final blitz. Its lone, solitary eye glaring right for the group. It opened it's maw and unleashed a terrible sound. A roar of a tiger combined with loud, harsh grinding of metal on metal. It's body lowered itself to charge and began to do so. The group was not out of the woods yet.

But above Kogo's head a small, blue cat appeared with a very large and wide toothy grin "You look like your in a spot of trouble my dear...perhaps you might need my help before she kills you all. If you willing to hear a proposition" The cat sneered with it's wide smirk as the Tiger ran faster and faster towards them "For if you wish to survive this beast, you must do so without killing her. Lest you all wish to day. Say hello to the true Sonea, the inner Beast has awoken. Now you must tame her...Let me know if you wish to hear my proposal"