Meredith Grim's Story

Though he wasn't exactly happy about the idea about having to get any closer to Krampus than he had to, he was more worried about Meredith turning her anger on him. Which was worse here? Being crushed or being set on fire? Maybe he could avoid the stomp of giant goats hoof if he was very quick and very lucky, but would he be in the least bit able to avoid a ball flame? And that's even without wondering if his form could simply ignite at the very touch of a bare fire. Not a pleasant prospect.

He began to approach where Krampus laid on the ground, already in enough pain to down any mortal man, but flinched back suddenly as the beast tried once to bring itself back to its feet only to have its efforts rewarded with a cataclysmic punch to the face. If that didn't put him down then nothing would, at least nothing he could conjure up would be able to do a thing at least. It was also a fairly good sign he had chosen the right path by not trying to anger Meredith further by trying to avoid going anywhere near the demon before him.

He could help but shake his ghostly head, dissapointed and dejected in equal measures, as Meredith showed concern and friendliness to the others but hardly spoke a word to him. Should he have expected anything other from any of them? Why would they even bother to try, he wasn't like them any more and they didn't seem to notice the fact he had been a mortal man once. He felt himself grow a mite colder in his essence as he ruminated on it all, on how typical it was for them all to see him as a lesser creature than the rest of them.

Still, if they were going to be all friendly and chummy without him he might as well try to make himself useful. Krampus still laid on the ground and he needed to be lifted into that sleigh and idle talking wouldn't get it down. He grabbed the demons arm and focused himself, the beast would certainly be more than just a little heavy. His grip tightened as he lifted slightly higher, confirming what he already had guessed about the demon.

It was more than a little effort to manifest himself enough to even be able to begin to lift the demon, he hardly noticed the ghostly wind whipping the air around him as he raised high enough that Krampus was half off the ground. He began moving backwards, straining greatly under the effort. If he were a physical being he doubted he would have been able to do anything at all like this, his muscles would have given out long ago. Fortunately the strain was on his spirit and his stores of depleted energy. The process wasn't likely to draw of groan of effort as his form struggled to maintain the pull on the demon, but it was a slow process as he dragged the beast along the ground. Eventually depositing the beast half into the sleigh, shifting back as it groaned up at him.

With the task finished he couldn't even stop himself falling out of the air, crashing down onto the front of the sleigh, his form billowing out like the fog that had been all around them only a while earlier. He raised a hand and saw, to his horror, that the edges of his being seemed drawn and smudged, as though a painter had wiped at his body with turpentine and left him looking even less than human than he had been before. It took him a moment to even gather up enough strength to float off of the sleigh properly, though the tail end of his spectral form still remained half draped over it.
"Addie correct?" Despite the strain that his form had just been through, his voice didn't sound exerted as one should be lifting something many times their own weight and size, though it did sound much more distant than it had been before. It was as though the tunnel his voice he was speaking down, with its gently howling wind, had suddenly grown much longer than before. "I am Borisyuk Igorevich, though the others seem to prefer to remind me of my ill fortune with such delightful names as 'bag of bones' and 'Russian Spectre'. Call me what you wish, just please help get Krampus's legs into the sleigh, I don't have the energy even to do that any more."

Meredith came over to Morrigan and inspected her leg. She was a bit surprised by the open concern the goddess showed her for her, but she smiled weakly and waved it off. "Don't worry... about me boss."she said, her words beginning to slur ever slightly. "Take out the big... baddy first." She was beginning to sway. She was losing too much blood. Where did fallen angels go when they died? Surely they would not go back to heaven. Not that she would ever want to. Not with Xian the god of the place.

Meredith barked orders to Borisyuk as she turned her attention away from Morrighan as the creature was beginning to rise. She knocked him down with one hell of a punch and Mor found herself clapping weakly. "Nice... shot, Mother Grim." Still had a sense of humor. Either she was becoming delusional or she was really, really scared of what might happen to her. With the monster down, Mer turned her attention back to Mor and ordered Broisyuk and the new girl--Addie--to bring the monster to the old abandoned fort. Mer couldn't hide her disappointment in not being able to follow. She had to turn back to get fixed up. But then again, so did the goddess Grim.

Mer wrapped her arm around Mor's shoulder for support and began to lead her back to headquarters. "Hard to angel heal with a knife in the leg, huh, boss?" She said, more coherently than before. "This.. This is really going to hurt... isn't it?" She limped along beside the goddess who was also limping. She looked down at the goddess's legs and frowned. One was injured and the other was missing a boot. "You should be patched up first, Goddess Grim." She whispered worriedly. She meant it, but that didn't change the fact that her vision was beginning to blacken at the edges. "We.. We need to hurry." She cried. Suddenly afraid. If she was dying, if she was going to die, she didn't want it to be in the streets.

OOC: I'm currently on my phone, let's see how this works out?..

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Meredith looked to her appreciate, noticing how weak she was. "Don't worry yourself... You might pass out until the knife is pulled out and you have a few hours to heal, but you won't die. As long as we hurry we won't have to go through all of that. It's a pain, honestly, and time consuming." What she said was true, it did take a lot more then a knife wound to kill a Vaultarian, and a hell of a lot more to 'kill' a god. It's why Meredith wasn't so worried about her own wounds. It just hurt like a bitch. Meredith continued to limp her and Morrighan through the woods, not 100% sure where they actually were, but she had an educated guess. It took only 10 minutes to get out of the woods, surprisingly, but they were nowhere close to the gate of the down. Meredith sighed in frustration, mumbling cusswords under her breath. Normally she would blast a hole into the thick wall, but she was too drained, and it wouldn't help her leg heal.

Mer looked up the wall, it wasn't very high, and easily climbable, if you didn't have a knife in your leg. Meredith just glared up at the wall for a few seconds before abruptly turning and walking her and Morrighan down the path. Hopefully someone already broke a hole into the wall for them? Death occasionally would stop and test the wall for weak spots, to see if she couldn't easily break through. No such luck. It took what felt like forever to get all the way around the town, and about halfway through Meredith had to practically pick Morrighan up, due to the pain and fatigue. Once in the town Mer had no problem getting someone to help them to Grim Sweepers. Basically dragging Morrighan inside she sat her down on a chair and got the medical kit. She looked at the wound again, this time with a bright light. She frowned, looking up to Morrighan. "We don't have anymore numbing sprays... We can try to ice it, but... This is going to hurt."

Meredith got up, limping over to the cellar she grabbed a small bag full of ice, taking it back up to Morrighan. She tried to numb the wound as much as possible before taking a deep breath, taking a hold of the knife handle. "Deep breath. On three. One... Two-" Mer didn't get to three, she just ripped the knife out, her own thigh aching just looking at how deep the wound is. She waisted no time, pressing her fingers into the wound, quickly cauterizing it. She pulled her bloody fingers out and waited a few minutes, giving Morrighan a break. In those few minutes Meredith cleaned her own leg with alcohol, hissing in pain, but never showing it on her face. She did the same with Morrighans leg, slowly wiping it around the wound with a cloth. "It's going to need stitches, but those won't hurt as much, as long as the wound is numbed really well with ice." Meredith put the ice back on Morrighans leg she waited for a while before starting to prepare the needle and thread. "Pay attention on how I do this, because I'll need your help sewing my shin..."

Grabbing the needle and thread she made sure Morrighans wound was almost completely numb before starting. She explained what she was doing, and how she was doing it. She tried to sew quickly, but at the same time not go to fast so Morrighan could understand. When she was finished she snipped the thread and handed her apprentice the needle and thread. "My turn... I'll talk you through it while I hold the wound closed." Meredith took a deep breath, propping her leg up, cleaning it off one more time.

Morrighan's consciousness faded in and out as they moved towards headquarters. The trees were there and then they were gone. There was a wall or something else tall and daunting and someone helping to drag her to the Grim sweepers. Suddenly she was in a chair and Mer disappeared from view. When she returned she had a medical kit and was frowning at her wound. "We don't have anymore numbing sprays... We can try to ice it, but... This is going to hurt." She said. Morrigan wanted to protest, but she also wanted the knife out of her leg. Nodding, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Mer's hand wrapped around the knife handle and she winced. Tears were gathering in her eyes, but she refused to cry. She took another deep breath as instructed. "On three. One... Two-" She didn't expect her to pull before three. She ripped the knife from her thigh and Morrighan screamed. Screamed til her throat was raw. She had a moment of break before Mer was pouring alcohol on her wound. This time, she didn't scream, but she hissed a great deal. Then there was a bag of ice numbing the pain. She closed her eyes and a couple of deep breaths. "Pay attention on how I do this, because I'll need your help sewing my shin..."

Morrighan took a deep breath and then focused on what Mer was doing. She clenched her teeth each time the needle went in, but didn't actually feel anything. Then she was passed the needle and Mer took to cleaning her wound another time. Morrighan took another deep breath and, once her Goddess was ready, shoved the needle through her skin. She sewed the skin together as well as she could and suddenly wished she had patched up some of her own clothes before. At least her hands weren't shaking. It wasn't the prettiest stitching in the world, but the wound was closed. She snipped the thread and sat back in her chair. Her hands were shaking now. "Thank you," was all she could say.

OOC: That's okay, Leve. I'll go ahead and post then, and we can continue on with stuff c:

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The stitches didn't hurt as bad as she thought they would, thanks to the ice. They still, however, started to hurt like a bitch afterwards. Mer wrapped up Mor's leg with gauze and bandages, making sure it was perfectly clean and cauterized before she allowed herself to finish. She had sewed up her forearm and bisect where she was bitten by the teddy bear, and made sure the back of her shin was properly sewed up as well. By the time Meredith was satisfied with the medical treatment of both her and her apprentice it was almost morning. "Stay off that leg, and we need to make sure to change the bandage every night," Meredith instructed, washing the blood off of her hands. "Go wash up, take a shower, relax if you want. It's been a long night."

Mer was hyper aware of the sweat and blood that covered her, as well as the fact that her once white sock was now blood red. With a tired limp she went upstairs, and into her room where she closed the door firmly. She laid out a Comfortable outfit before taking a bath in her own private bathroom. There was candles and all sorts of smelly things that helped her relax. A little while later she got up, getting changed into what she laid out, putting her damp hair up with a bandanna. Grabbing a book she rested her sore arm and leg, which she tried to avoid getting wet.

Meredith planned on interrogating Krampus in a few hours, knowing there was absolutely no way he would be able to get out of the old fort. She'd used the ruins many times to keep magical creatures imprisoned, so she knew that an old sorcerer had once cast spells the dungeon exits to keep everything from escaping, save for the beings who shouldn't be there. From what she could tell the spell bent to her wishes, but even then she knew that if Addie and Broisyuk didn't come back within the next hour or two then something had gone wrong.

Merediths mind drifted to Adelajda, her old apprentice. She stared at the book pages, chewing on the pad of her thumb as she recalled the time she first met Addie. Her other apprentice at the time was a sarcastic flirt who wanted to know more about Addie, who was rather fearful at first, but eventually had warmed up to both her and Ava Lee, the first apprentice. They worked together for about two years, collecting souls and learning the ways of the dead, but suddenly both Ava and Addie went missing. Ava Lee went first, Mer assumed she found some way to escape Merediths service, or she managed to get herself killed. Addie left shortly after with no word. Meredith didn't bother looking, to her Addie was just some stupid young vaultarian who got too attached and didn't realize the dangers of the mythical world. But inwardly Meredith knew she silently mourned the loss of both Ava and Addie together, thinking both had died. To say Meredith was confused and angry was a big understatement, but neither emotion triumphed over the happiness Mer felt knowing that Addie was safe and sound, as well as skilled with her powers.

Meredith found herself smiling into her book, which drew her out of her thought. She instantly stopped, looking up blankly at the wall. Pulling herself together she ignored her joy and anger, attempting to be blank about the entire situation. This was not how a god should be acting, like a school girl. Meredith frowned and went back to her book.

Morrighan sighed, her head was tilted back as she tried to relax. Her leg was throbbing, but it was closed and clean. She laughed ruefully when Mer told her she had to stay off her leg for a few days. The life of a reaper wouldn't allow that to happen, but she could pretend. As her body began to relax--as much as it could while in pain--she began to feel guilty. She was sitting on a comfortable chair while Borisyuk and Addie were working. Sure she was injured, but that shouldn't stop them.

She moved her gaze to the stairs and sighed. Goddess Grim was not going to be happy when she realized where Mor went, but she had to continue the job. She took a deep breath and pushed herself up from the chair. The pain was intense, but she could hande it. She had to handle it. She shuffled upstairs to change what she could. She left on her shorts and her boots, but removed the torn and bloody cloak and her top, replacing it with a more comfortable sweater

She took a knife from her bedside table and stuck that inside her boot before creeping by Mer's room. The door was slightly ajar and she was reading a book. Guilt stabbed her chest, but she kept moving. She snuck out of the Grim Sweepers and made her way to the fort. She was finishing this. No knife wound was keeping her down. No matter how much it hurt.

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Meredith didn't even hear the door to the house close, she was too lost in thought. She sat there, nibbling on the edge of her thumb while she pretended to read. It took her a long time to even realize that Morrighan had left. She had figured that by now Mor would have made more noise, like singing to her Walkman, or even come to talk to Mer. She closed her book and listened for a while, trying to figure out if she was just reading her own book. Meredith got up, walking out of her room and over to Morrighans. The door was closed, but there was a light on. Knocking on it Meredith listened. "Morrighan? You in there?" Meredith put her ear to the door. She couldn't even hear breathing.

Frowning she opened the door to see the room was empty, the light coming from the rising sun, which Meredith could see through the window. Death hurried out of the room, slight panic and annoyance rising in her chest as she trotted downstairs. There was no one down there, either. Meredith stood in utter disbelief in the middle of the room, looking around like maybe Morrighan would pop up yelling "Surprise!" like it was all just one big joke. When it came abundantly clear that Morrighan was no where in the house Meredith let out a frustrated yell, kicking a couch so hard it flew halfway across the room. Storming out of the house portion of Grim Sweepers she went to the front, and glared at the man at the front desk.

"Where did she go?" Meredith growled through clenched teeth, her iris's starting to become the angry gold hue. The man looked to her, his facial features staying completely blank. "She went in the direction of the forest, from what I could see," He answered in a slow tone. Meredith started to cuss more and more, annoyance and anger now clear across her features. "Stupid, foolish girl." She hurried out of the funeral home, not even bothering to change into something more modern. As she angrily walked down the street she saw a gentleman riding a horse. Not even pausing to think she shot a bolt of fire at the man, aiming to miss him. It flew right next to him, causing him to flinch and fall off the horse with a yell. Meredith was right there to take his place, not bothering to steady the horse when it reared and bolted in fear of the burning flame. She only stopped after she was out of the town, a mile or so away. She looked around the forest, her worry starting to show.

The woods were massive, and if one got lost in them they would never find their way back out. Morrighan was a hurt girl whos mind is probably clouded with adrenaline and pain. Merediths teeth clenched as she kicked the horse into a gallop, going into the woods. She just hoped that Morrighan would be able to at least remember where they found Krampus. She'd check there first.

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Trees whizzed by as Meredith rode the galloping horse through the woods. She knew the general direction of where to go, but she knew Morrighan had a good hour and a half or so head start on her. The sun rising against her back Meredith was bent over slightly, trying to avoid the biting wind. Due to the horses head her vision was slightly blocked, thus why she never saw what was coming. The wind also made the music hard to hear, the only reason she did hear it was because within seconds she was flying through the air, and her horse was whinnying in pain, falling to the ground. Meredith slammed against the ground, her head smacking into a tree. Her vision went black for a few seconds, and her arm and leg burned with pain. She knew she probably broke some of the stitches. Rolling onto her back, Merediths vision blurred.

She wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion noticing something. There was an insanely thick fog above her, probably 10 feet from the ground. It was high enough to where no one could notice it unless they looked up. Merediths mind snapped back to Krampus. The fog was coming back, but the only reason it wasn't touching the ground was because someone was keeping it up. This brought Meredith to think of Adelajda. She was either keeping it up subconsciously, or she was in trouble and the fog wasn't massively on her mind at the moment. Her thoughts went back to Krampus. If the fog was back, that means Krampus is waking up.

The music was louder now, a creepy child's tune you'd hear from a jack-in-the-box. It confused Meredith for a second, but it didn't take her long to recognize the tune. Suddenly a wave of sound came flooding into her ears. The music, the loud sloshing of leaves, the horse screaming in pain as it writhed around. Meredith looked to her right to see the reason for all the noise. Her horse had its front legs slashed almost completely off at the knees, the useless legs flapping around on only a scrap of flesh and meat. Next to the dying animal was all of Krampus's minions. The nesting doll, the teddy bear, the Jack. They all stood a few feet away from her, the teddy smiling and the Jacks crank spinning, as if about ready to come out.

Still on the ground, Meredith was frozen. She didn't know what to do, if they came at her one at a time she could maybe fend them off, but she was tired and injured, it would only work for so long. She might be close enough she could yell out for someone, but there wasn't much any of them could do. Addie was promising, Morrighan was still most likely tired and injured, and Borisyuk... Merediths eyes went wide thinking of the floating specter. The flying specter. Addie and Morrighan could drive the sleight away while Borisyuk helped Meredith by lifting her up. There was no way they could fight all the creatures, but it would be incredibly easy to run away from them. The only problem was the instant Meredith showed any sign of being coherent she would be mauled. Mer gulped, looking to her left. She couldn't hear far enough to know if she was close to the group or not.

Fear started to creep its way up Merediths throat, her breath picking up and her hands starting to shake. There was no graceful way to do this, she was gonna have to yell like her life depended on it... Because it did. Closing her eyes and taking multiple deep breaths Meredith counted to three before bolting up. "Bori-" Was all Meredith could get out before the nesting doll launched itself at her. It missed, crashing into the ground right next to her, the shockwave of it all sending her flying to the left. She hit the ground, sliding a bit. Within seconds the second doll was flying after her. Meredith managed to shoot it off its path, but it didn't kill it. Within seconds the teddy was after her, launching itself at Mers throat. Meredith rolled onto her back, attempting to get up and run again, but the teddy bear knocked her down, latching onto her shoulder. Death yelled out in frustrated pain, trying to reach back and rip the teddy off.

Successfully doing so she winced as chunks of meat from her shoulder came off with it. Ignoring the blood pouring down her shoulder, Meredith was able to run a few extra feet before something wrapped around her torso. It was like a spring, that ripped her all the way back to the toys. She hit the ground hard, the momentum causing her legs to continue backwards, flipping her onto her stomach. Meredith looked up just in time to see the nesting doll jumping again. The top of the doll was blasted off showing the next doll. Death shot at it again, hitting it dead in the center. This time it burst into hundreds of pieces, about 3 more small dolls rolling out of it. Cussing Meredith attempted to get up, but was knocked down by something in back of her. Growling with annoyance Meredith rolled over, regretfully. The instant she was able to look at what knocked her down a knife was plunged deep into her stomach.

Mer froze, blood unwillingly spraying from her mouth onto the face of the Jack, who was smiling greedily. Meredith could feel the blood pooling around her on the ground. She held her breath, afraid that if she started to breath it would hurt even more then it already did. Blood continued to leak from Merediths mouth as she shot her hand forward, grabbing the Jacks neck. Its eyes went wide in surprise as suddenly it started to writhe. She was draining the life out of it. A terrible screeching came from its chest, as if it was trying to scream. Merediths face was a cold façade as she stared into its eyes. Soon the Jack-in-the-box was dead, the other creatures around her frozen in surprise at what just happened. Kicking the dead toy off of her Meredith looked at the knife, hilt deep in her lower abdomen. Taking multiple quick breaths, which hurt like hell like she predicted, Meredith grabbed the handle of the knife, and started to pull up. It was so deep in her stomach that instead of coming out quickly, it slid out, agonizingly slow. Meredith yelled, her eyes squeezed shut. "Fuuuuuuuck!!" She yelled. With the knife almost out Meredith yelled as loud as she could, "Borisyuk!!!" The knife ripped out, blood spurting more from the wound, Mers throat filling with blood as she lay limp on the ground. Her breath was unheaven and labored, and the earth around her was soaked in maroon liquid.

"My death was on my birthday, September 1st, 1939... I lived in Danzig, Poland." Ah, so she was close to his own time, though not as close as he would have liked. Near a full century separated their and yet here they were, forced to work side by side after death. The girl though had been spared from the horrific effects that such an event had caused him, though then again not many had their entire world stripped away so harshly with such mockery by an uncaring liar. But what the girl had said made him slightly confused, Danzig was in Prussia, not Poland. Had a war broken out between the two nations that he hadn't read about and Prussia been consumed? He really needed to read more about the world after his own time rather than the events that came before it.

Still he listen to the girl speak of events which he knew little about, it felt like he was in a confessional booth once more listening to the poor and the guilty spill out their sins to a willing ear. He had to admit to himself that talk of a second world war chilled him deeply, the images and pictures of the carnage of the Eastern Front still fresh from the book he had been reading. If Russia had broken itself apart during the first great and terrible conflict what on earth could have happened in the second? Or even to the rest of the world, if the Eastern Front was only one facet of such terrible terrible wars.

His attention was suddenly drawn to the figure approaching them. It was Morrighan! What in Gods name was she doing out here? She was in no fit condition to be out in this weather, let alone to be chasing them down and attempting to threaten such a dangerous creature as Krampus. But who was he to argue? His fellow Vaultarian already thought little enough of him as it was and he highly doubted she would come down from her high horse to view him as anything more than the shifting mass of shadows that made up his physical form.

Still he drifted off of the sleigh as the girl approached, wanting to be as far away from Krampus as he could whilst nobody else was there to keep an eye on it. He understood too little about this beast to be able to trust that it wouldn't lash out at him given the chance. It wasn't until he heard a high pitched shouting coming from further back the way that Morrighan had came that he halted in midair, his form shifting on the winds. He heard his name being called out, and it sounded like Meredith. She saounded very much in need of aid. He twisted back to look at the others, waving an arm towards the sleigh with frantic energy.
"Get the demon out of here. I shall see what it happening."

He flew off before anyone could disagree with him, if Meredith was truly in need on his aid simply standing around and arguing about it would do nobody any good. He also hoped that nobody got it into their heads to suddenly be a hero and chase after him, Krampus was dangerous and needed more than one pair of eyes on him. Besides, if anyone had called out for him specifically then he doubted it was for anything that could be easily achieved with someone with more than just arms and near weightlessness.

He almost flew straight into the small clearing where Meredith lay, cast down in a pool of her own blood. It was a chilling thought that one who claimed to be death incarnate could so easily die like those she sought to claim. It occurred to him that he could just do nothing, allow this to take its course and perhaps be free from the curse of unlife. Yet it felt wrong to take such an easy relief from someone else's suffering, perhaps he would indeed be freed but not this way. Not yet. It took him a moment to notice what it was that had caused Meredith to be in such a state as it was. Those damned demonic toys had caught up with her again, he had hoped they had vanished when the fog had been lifted, but it seemed that such fortunes were not with them. The first thing he noticed was the doll that had chased him through the mists had returned much to his annoyance, as well as what appeared to be a small teddy bear.

He dropped to the ground, drifting across like a shadow on a winters morning. Making no sign of his passing but the chill and the wind, but that still was enough for the bear to hear him as he approached. Unfortunately it noticed far too late to save itself. The toy spun at the last moment as Borisyuk reached out, lifting from the ground. His left hand hand clasped around the toys left arm whilst his fingers wrapped around its face, lifting it squirming off of the ground in his vice like grip. And as he held it aloft he felt...

It.

The monsters life force was laid bare before his eyes, now that he was actually touching a creature he could feel the energy that kept it moving, could see the brightness of the light that gave the monster life. It was as though he were a mighty blizzard that swirled and choked the life from all that dared to even begin to enter into his wrath, to even try to test his strength whilst the bear held in his grasp was like a candle. Weak, spluttering and utterly helpless to defy the storm just beyond its borders. He felt the need, the craving to consume, to devour and absorb such a minuscule offering of light and warmth.

And he did not resist the urges in his soul.

He watched with sickening glee as the light drained from the creature, being swallowed into his cold, lifeless hands like water down a drain. It felt good. It felt pure. He wanted this, to consume such rawness with the ferocity of an angered bear just woken from its sleep by the ignorant children who thought that such a beast wouldn't dare to lash out and consume them. He needed this warmth to fill him with some semblance of what he once was... No, this was greater than anything he had once been. He felt so much more than human now, feeling warmth and fear and joy and anger and raw desperation again even for such a brief moment he was more than Borisyuk the Spectre. But still it left him feeling less, like he was turning on what he had once been, would the Borisyuk of old done this? Would he have been willing to so quickly leap to such horrific methods? Though he felt greater than he was now, part of him felt like he had stepped towards a line from which there could be no return once crossed... And yet a whisper told him that he had already started down that path even without consuming the life force of another, he was only now starting to realise it.

He dropped the toy, feeling it drained utterly of its life force. He was dissapointed, it was such a small and weak thing that had done little to satiate his new found appetite. Yet it had done enough to at least revitalise him in part, nowhere near as much as strong as he had been before exerting himself attempting to lift Krampus, but still well enough to fight if need be. He flew to Merediths side, seeming every part the ghastly image of horror he must appeared, his red orbs glowing with a hungry light as he looked down at the wounded goddess. "If you wish to fight or run, now would be the time whilst this doll collects itself."

Morrighan was able to quickly catch her breath once she stopped running. That didn't mean that her leg was entirely happy. She sucked air through her teeth making a hiss sound and rubbed the skin around her stitched up wound. "So what did I mess?" She asked through a smile. The new girl--Addie, she reminded herself--stepped forward slowly as if confronting a wild animal likely to bolt into the woods. "Right...Shall I heal you first? So you're more prepared, of course." Mor felt her eyes widen at the girl.

"Woah, what!?" She exclaimed. "You can heal? Why didn't you say so in the first place? Then Mer and I wouldn't have rushed home and I wouldn't have felt like I was stabbed. Well, I mean, I was, but I'm talking about the pain. I wouldn't have had to deal with the pain. I mean Geeze, have you ever been stabbed? Blood loss isn't fun either." She was babbling now, she knew. She was a little reluctant to believe the girl could actually heal. That and... "This... won't hurt any more than it already does... will it?"

Then she heard a yelling coming from the forest behind them. Her heart sunk like a rock. She knew that voice. Mer. She turned quickly, trying to hear what the woman was yelling. It was quickly followed by screams and very faintly... the jack's music. Oh shit She thought. Out loud she said, "Hang on, Mer! I'm coming!" But as she took a step forward, her leg gave out on her. Great.. Just... Just Great." Borisyuk hovered forward and said, "Get the demon out of here. I shall see what is happening." So Morrighan was forced to watch as the Russian Specter took off after their Master.

She turned to Addie and said, "Heal me. Now. We need to get him as far away from here as possible." She looked over at the demon, her hair standing on end. "I don't know what's happening, but I'm positive it has something to do with him. The farther away we get him, the better it should be for whatever Mer is experiencing."

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Meredith looked up as she watched Borisyuk drain the life from the teddy bear. Her eyebrows furrowed watching him just stare into the toys soul as its life was drained. He was a fast learner, Meredith hadn't even gotten around to teaching them how to even do that. Proud and glad that the specter was able to protect her, she started to focus on the nesting dolls, which were starting to shift and pay attention to what was going on now. "If you wish to fight or run, now would be the time whilst this doll collects itself," Borisyuk said. Meredith had her hand covering the wound in her stomach, working on cauterizing the wound slowly so that her mortal body wouldn't go into shock and pass out. Mer knew she wasn't going to die, it would take a lot more then just a knife wound and a mauled shoulder to bring her down, but the pain was starting to make her vulnerable.

Aware that if she didn't work on stopping the bleeding soon then she would pass out, and be unable to wake up for at least a month, or until her 'fatal' wounds healed. That's how it worked, one doesn't have super healing, and they will go into a coma until their wounds heal. If they still have a object keeping them from healing inside them, they won't wake up. At least that's how it is for Vaultarians. For Meredith she can only die by having her limbs chopped off, burned, and then scattered. Either that or another god/goddess has to kill her. Although purified water burns, although with enough of it, it might actually 'kill' her for a bit longer then normal. And last Meredith checked her wounds were neither a ton of purified water, a god, nor something impaling her any longer. She was safe.

Mer started to push herself up, wincing and stopping. "I can't get up without worsening the bleeding, plus it hurts like a mother fucker... I need you to carry me, I know you're strong enough and by the looks of it you can defend yourself rather well... Might I say you killed that teddy rather nicely, I can tell you'll be very promising-" Meredith shook her head, her mind fuzzy from lack of blood. "I'll be okay, we just need to get to the fort, the toys will be unable to follow us. And trust me, there's more then just one set of toys, they'll come back sooner or later." Meredith held her hand out to Borisyuk, signaling for him to pick her up. She managed to stop the bleeding in her stomach, but her shoulder and other deep scratches would have to wait. "Oh, and remind me to yell at Morrighan Thatch when I get the chance, Borisyuk," Meredith growled angrily, eyes ablaze like yellow fireballs.

Borisyuk listened silently as Meredith commanded him to lift her, it made good enough sense then if he were the one to be summoned here. His ability to fly above the ground made him a natural option for rapid escape, it made him wonder if this was the start of a running system of him being called out to get them out of situation from which they couldn't escape from themselves. He dearly hoped not because he wasn't about to become a ferryman whilst he still had the ability to argue against it..

Even when she commended him on his dispatching on the demonic entity he remained silent. Part of him was not at all pleased that he had done so, let alone with such ease and eagerness. Was this what he was to become? A ravenous monster consuming life just to bolster his own strength? The part of him that remembered who he used to be with clarity felt sick at the notion. The thought of just so carelessly quenching out the spark of life for his own gain seemed purely evil in idea and practice that he wanted to reject it as much as he could. And yet there was a tiny whisper in the back of his mind telling him the strength of his new found ability, that he could have as much as he wanted if he was only willing reach out and take it. But at what cost?

He reached out to take Merediths hand, slightly curious what it must feel like to feel his ghostly form against bare skin. When as he made contact he was forced to flinch away. The life force in the bear had been as a candle in a dark cave, the life force of a god so blatantly born before him, revealed to his eyes by his touch, was as bright as the summers sun. It hurt to even try to look at and he twisted to hide as much of himself as possible from its baleful glare. Even as he recoiled in pain and shock and the brightness and purity of the energy before him he had to push back that hungry, vicious whisper that was telling him to reach out, take some of this for himself. What would she notice? It wasn't as though he was trying to kill her, besides, it would surely help their flight away move along all the quicker.

Still, he refused to let go, refused to give in to the infernal whispering. Pushing it down as deep as it would go and blocking out the lies it was trying to tell him he lifted Meredith up into the air, still trying to avert as much of himself away from her as possible. When they were some feet off of the ground he spoke again, his voice showing none of the strain and pain he was feeling.
"Direct me and I shall take us there."

---

---

Meredith watched as Borisyuk flinched away from her touch. She frowned slightly, knowing that his new found power as flaring out of control, like a drug addiction. She'd just have to let him figure out how to contain the thoughts of killing everything that touched him. Meredith felt herself floating up, her shoulder and stomach burning in pain that she ignored. Death gripped onto what would be the specters bicep, hoping that the less she dangled the less it would hurt. "Just go do the south, and try to stay away from the fog," Meredith instructed. It was noticeably going down, making Meredith think that Addie was doing something that was draining her energy. "We have to hurry, the others won't have very much energy..."

Meredith frowned. With little energy Addie would have a hard defending everyone. Morrighan, from what Meredith knew, didn't have much knowledge of her powers, and lacks experience in taking the life of something other then a corrupted demon, and although Borisyuk was very strong by the looks of it, absorbing a soul can only go so far. The group wasn't hopeless, of course, there was hand-to-hand combat and of course the situation was a rather good learning experience for both Morrighan and Borisyuk.

Meredith snapped out of her through process when she noticed something under both her and Borisyuk. She didn't even know they had been moving. The figures under them were Addie, pulling the sleigh, and Morrighan, who was pushing. Krampus was noticeably starting to move, waking up from his forced nap. Meredith fidgeted, a wave of anxiety crossing over her as both her and Borisyuk flew through the trees as best as possible. They were close to the fort, closer than Meredith had thought. The fort, now visible in the rising sun, was more of a castle than a military out post. Its tall towers were crumbled, and there was no complete wall in the entire palace. It rested on a small 'mountain', a massive drop surrounding the entire thing. The only way you could get into the old ruins was by walking on a surprisingly sturdy bridge.

"Borisyuk, just drop me onto the bridge. I need you to help the girls. You're strong enough you can help push the sleigh," Meredith called up to Borisyuk. Once she was let go she stumbled onto the bridge, running a few steps before fully regaining her balance and composure. Glancing back she looked into the thick woods. She could hear the faint shifting of leaves and someone yelling something, but could not yet see the girls and Krampus. Turning forward again she hurried across the bridge, walking into a crumbling archway which opened to a small court yard, a pile of rocks in the center of it, which use to be a statue. Meredith trotted to the dungeons, where weren't hard to find, going through all the cells and trying to find every chain and binding she could. Once again, she knew the entire fort was enchanted. If she didn't want someone stepping foot into or out of the fort they would be unable to do so. Meredith set up a well enough interrogation room in one of the bigger cells, Untangling all of the chains. Once finished she went back upstairs, going to the bridge and waiting.

It wasn't precisely effortless to lift and carry a person through the air, but it certainly wasn't a strain on his body to do so. It was more as though he were a tree branch floating on a river with Meredith clinging onto him rather than he was physically having to put effort into holding in place in the air. Likewise it was no more difficult to simply propel himself forwards, the only thing that was limiting was how much of his new found strength he could pour into his efforts. It was almost like he were a burning fire he realised, if he wanted a stronger and hotter flame he could simply put more wood on the fire but if he wanted a longer steady burn he could add the wood slowly, each had their merits to be sure. But what would happen when the wood ran out?

Thankfully it was only a short flight to the fort itself and to be honest he likely would have missed it had he not been told where to go. When he heard Meredith say a fort he expected some bastion or citadel, even in this far flung time he would have expected at least a standing wall. But what greeted him was instead an empty shell, a ruin that seemed far too damaged for its time. He had to wonder if someone had managed to develop black powder so early and had tested it out on the bare stone before them.
"Borisyuk, just drop me onto the bridge. I need you to help the girls. You're strong enough you can help push the sleigh." Ever the pack mule it seemed. Would it have been kinder to just have allowed him oblivion when he died instead of making him do all of the heavy lifting for eternity?

He dropped Meredith and turned about, drifting back through the trees until he came across the sleigh in question and was rather confused at the sight of it. One of the girls was pulling at it whilst the other was pushing it along, he was rather bewildered in all honesty, it would have been comic to watch their struggling if it wasn't so tragic. Was he the only one around here to have actually been near a sleigh in life? Once again Mother Russia provides it seems. He drifted down just a short ways in front of the path of the sleigh.
"I would have continued watching if it weren't so painful to see you both struggle. You do realise that you could just aim it down hill a ways and let it do most of the hard work? Fortunately all the parts where you could actually do that are behind you now and its all just uphill now, so please step aside so I can actually pull it up." He waved for Adelajda to move out of the way, shifting himself around so he could pull at the sleigh, facing back the way it had come. At least Krampus didn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

He could feel the weight of the sleigh in his grasp as he started to move backwards, though heavy it might be it still wasn't heavy enough to actually hold him down. The sleigh started moving forwards at a strong and steady pace, as though a young draft horse was tugging it along rather than a tired girl, even the increasing slope didn't prove too great of an issue when he could just lift himself slightly higher and pull the blades of the sleigh off of the ground. As the fort once more returned to sight he called across the back of the sleigh. "Morrighan, Meredith would like to speak to you I believe, so it might be a good idea for you to go on ahead. I can easily deal with this for the rest of the way up." He didn't however mention how much of a strain it was starting to become. Yes he could easily haul it the rest of the way up but unless he was lucky enough to consume another delicious dosage of life force he doubted he would have the strength to do anything of worth for the next day at the very least.

Morrighan pushed until she heard the Russian tone of Borisyuk as he took over Addie's place at the front of the sleigh. Before he did anything remotely like helping, he moved to the back of the structure and said, "Morrighan, Meredith would like to speak to you I believe, so it might be a good idea for you to go on ahead." She practically ran off without another word. She felt doing so was rude so she yelled back over her shoulder, "Good to know! Good luck with the Krampus! Watch out it bites!" The last part was a joke because there was no way the Krampus was doing anything remotely threatening for a while.

She ran down to the fort, forgetting to be in awe of the castle like place when she saw Meredith on the bridge covered in blood. She gasped and stopped. "Mer..." she whispered to herself. Then she shouted, "Mer!" She ran down the last hill before the fort and stopped just beside her mentor. She dropped down onto her knees painfully, but she ignored it. "Mer oh my underworld, I'm so sorry! Is there anything I can do! This is all my fault.." She tried to examine the wound, but her guilt kept her from touching her mentor. She was worried she would make it worse. She had no idea if her mentor had cauterized it already or if it had been stitched.. She didn't know anything. She was useless. What good is an apprentice if they just run off. "I'm sorry Mer..."

---

---

When Meredith saw Morrighan the first thing she felt was relief. Relief that the apprentice was still and one piece, although she looked like a tired mess. The next emotion was anger. She looked down at the young girl, her eyes ablaze. From her body language, and the fact that she refused to look at the wounds on Merediths body, Mer knew she felt bad and regretted her actions. "Yes this is your fault, and no there's nothing you can do to help," Meredith snapped, her jaw tense, "But what you can do is explain to me why in bloody hell you thought it would be okay to go and run off?! And don't give me that 'I couldn't leave my team mates alone' bullshit because I'm not having it!" Merediths voice rose steadily until she was almost screaming, but she suddenly cut herself off. She stared at Morrighan for a few seconds before looking away. "To hell with it, there's no point in yelling you know what you did was stupid... But if you pull some heroic bullshit like that again you'll get a one way ticket to hell- No you'll be sent back to Xian so he can deal with you."

Another few seconds passed before Merediths face softened. "You're tough and it's hard to kill a Vaultarian, but you can still die... I don't mean to belittle you, but you're not strong enough to go sprinting through demonic toy infested fogs and fight story book creatures all on your own..." Meredith didn't look down at Morrighan, keeping her eyes straight ahead, knowing she was showing weakness explaining her worries to Morrighan. Thankfully the sound of leaves shaking violently and something being dragged could be heard, and soon Borisyuk, Adelajda, and Krampus could be seen coming towards the fort. Meredith took a deep breath, her stomach aching with pain. The only thing really stopping her insides from falling out was her shirt, which acted like a bandage, her blood causing it to stick to her body uncomfortably.

Walking forward Meredith met the group halfway, looking into the sleigh to see Krampus, still knocked out cold. Something that was rather noticeable is that the side of his head was scabbed and bloodied, as if he was struck. Merediths eyebrows knitted together as she looked at the other three, confused as to who struck the beast on the side of the head. Not bothering to ask Meredith simply went to business. "Take him into the fort, we'll all drag him down to the dungeons, and when we all have our strength back up we'll have a little talk with him," Meredith instructed, walking down the bridge without another word.

Morrighan sat there, her hands knotted together in her lap. She allowed every word to be the smack that it was. The punishment. She opened her mouth, whether to argue or defend herself she didn't know, but closed it. Her words changed nothing about her actions and they would fix the wound in her mentor's stomach. When Meredith rose, Mor wanted to reach for her, to help her, but she knew the goddess would refuse such help from her and instead, rose to walk beside her. Without saying another word, she followed the others to the fort, doing whatever they asked of her. Pushing the sleigh, not pushing the sleigh, etc.

No one seemed to mention the strange thing that had happened earlier. Not even Mer when she took in the scabbed and bloodied hole she left in the side of the Krampus's head. She gazed down at her hands as they walked, her own brows knitted in confusion. She knew Addie could control water and Mer could control fire. She had no idea what Borisyuk could do, but what was her power? She hadn't seen it. Her eyes were closed in fear of his hand reaching towards her. Like a child. Like a stupid child who ran away, hoping to help, but ended up hurting her mentor terribly as a result. She wiped at her eyes, wet with tears that would never fall. She would never cry. Not in front of the goddess and not in front of her fellow apprentices. And definitely not in front of the Krampus. Unconscious or not, it was a weakness she would not show. Ever.