Setting
"Could you try not to look so damn cheerful?"
"Oh shove it, Rin. Get the stick out of your ass and loosen up a bit."
Ellie was busy fumbling with something. She'd brought a satchel with her, a small draw-string pouch made with a black satin material. Stepping away from the bike, and walking ahead without looking to see where she was going, she slipped her hand inside the bag, withdrawing a handful of some strange, silver-tinged powder.
"Nightingale tears." she explained to Max, should he be close enough to hear. "Helps us pick out the wraiths. They can't hide in the shadows when they're lit up like candle-flame."
With a slight grin, she let the powder slip back into the pouch, before reaching back to touch Max's elbow.
"Relax. We'll be fine." she reassured him.
"You know, me and the guys had a little pow-wow about this whole Rabbit business." Jaida called back, pausing in her steps to look at the pair. Ellie's lips pursed.
Jaida shrugged. "Turns out none of us really know what to do, or wear to start, like we did before."
"Let's deal with one thing at a time. I doubt we're going to be capturing much this time round." Max's eyes slid into a state of slight misfocus as he dropped into a precog trance. He indicated the others to move ahead of him, trying to refine his trance so they could at least have a warning before an ambush.
And Max was almost positive they would be ambushed. Wraiths, especially hungry wraiths, would hide in objects or under the ground until prey showed itself, then simply come out of the woodworks in a frenzy.
"This is going to suck."
Ellie was quiet, her eyes on the ground as she reached her palm out to dust the remains of the particles from her fingers. When they hit the ground, they began to glow a very bright white. She paused, going to one knee to observe the particles themselves.
She picked out a smaller handful of the dust, cupping it in her palm before blowing it away from her fingers.
It spread quickly, settling on all ground surfaces before lighting up. Ellie's brow furrowed.
"Must not be working." she mumbled under her breath.
But then, one of Jaida's electric-green spells went sailing past her head, slamming into an ethereal figure who shrieked before dissolving back into the shadows.
Max stood his ground, hurling bolt after bolt of fire into the throng. Occassionally he slung a fireball into the mass just to mix it up.
Jaida was firing bolts from her palms, muttering under her breath as she walked away from Rin. She took down wraiths one at a time, like a sick game of whack-a-mole, and even took a second to crack a joke about calling the exterminator before one wraith came a little too close for comfort, nearly knocking her over as it rushed her.
Ellie was busy avoiding the fire. She realized that the dust had worked, that the area was simply so infested with this stuff that it had caused the entire area to light up.
Rather than fighting the wraiths, she was muttering spells for wards, surrounding her friends, protecting them with a barrier of magic that would make it hard for the wraiths to get past.
"Jaida!" she called. "Think we could get a portal open?!"
"For us?!"
"No!" Ellie stumbled back, crossing her arms in front of her face as a wraith slammed against the ward with enough force to knock her balance. "For the wraiths!"
Maybe they could suck them into that god-forsaken underworld.
Glancing at Elliot, he settled one hand in a mock gun and started "shooting" precise bursts of fire into a few of the wraiths around her. "Whatever we're gonna do please do so fast!"
The man uttered another oath as the ring around him surged in again, forcing him to go into a manic dance of twisting and slashing out with his hands, bursts of golden light flashing off the trees to mark unleashed heat. A slow stream of curses punctuated his breaths.
"Shit shit shit." Jaida muttered, working as fast as she possibly could.
Coming close to the point where he saw Elliot go down, the man whipped his arms around him, launching a pair of flaring whips. Scything them through the etheriel beings with fury on his face, he began to carve his way towards Ellie, careful to never let a whip drop low.
The girl in question felt like something icy had slipped into her veins. She struggled violently, but she could feel the weakness settling in as the monster sunk its fingers into her belly.
Sleep.
"No,"
She pushed, fought it as best she could, grimacing as a second pair of hands grasped her by the shoulders. But, just when she felt like she wasn't going to win this...she saw the fire, and felt the heat against her skin.
The wraith that had her pinned recoiled, its fingers withdrawing from her as it shied away, finally being sucked from the atmosphere and into that portal. The wraith at her shoulders didn't linger much longer, and the very moment that they disappeared, Jaida slammed the door closed with an audible crash.
Ellie lay quietly, breathing hard, her hands lifting to press to her stomach. Closing her eyes, she let the ghost of a smile come to her lips.
"Wasn't so bad," she murmured.
He hadn't escaped wraith attacks himself, given the half dozen holes in his clothes. There weren't wounds beneath, but losing life to the wretches while burning had drained him. A fresh grimace touched his face as he settled hands against the tree behind him, since Jaida and Rin were definitely going to realize he'd done something.
"Too bad," Dirge muttered as he drained the tree. Strength surged in his veins as the tree withered. Yanking himself away, he started back towards Elliot. "You okay Ellie? Jaida? Rin?"
"Thanks for speaking for me." the woman replied sarcastically. Ellie just lifted a hand, folding her legs and planting her feet flat on the ground.
"I'm good." she said. "Just...drowsy."
She didn't realize that she was bleeding. Whatever the wraith had done had evidently numbed the wound. Lifting her head, she looked down at her stomach, eyes widening a tad.
"Ok, well...hm." She got up to her elbows, wincing a little, and looked to Max. "You okay?"
Jaida and Rin trudged over, and Jaida went to kneel at Ellie's side. "You're a hot mess, kid." she muttered with a sigh.
Shaking his head, the man couldn't help but think about why they were here. "Is it bothering anyone else that for all intents and purposes, this could have very well been a suicide mission? Cause I'm getting the feeling that without that portal, at least one of us wasn't making it back out of here."
So riled was he that he was failing to notice the steam rising off him. The damn ground itself had been practically soaked in wraiths. Any other four and the mission would have likely failed.
As Max opened his mouth to let loose more of a tirade, he cut off with a strangled gasp. One hand shot to his chest, over his heart.
"No one shoot. I can pay you Maleficia."
"Max," she said under her breath, but didn't do more than that. She didn't know what to do, or what could be done. This was one of the more bizarre moments she'd ever experienced in life. This must have been the one he was worried about. Maleficia.
"Who's the chick? An ex?" Jaida quipped, though her face yielded no signs of humor.
"Then what do you want?"
"I'm sorry, alright! I took my lashes and left. And then got his ashes to you. You owe me, freewraith."
The talons vanished and Max took a deep breath, rubbing his chest. A pair of glowing eyes ignited before him.
Leaning in, Max lowered his voice, flashing a wait gesture. Murmuring to the wraith for a few moments, the eyes bobbed and promptly vanished. Several moments later though, her voice called back.
Still rubbing his chest, he made his way for his companions, glancing back frequently. "Sorry about that."