“Showtime!” Ares began setting off fireworks. At first, he just set off the standard ones that were shaped like flowers, hearts, etc… They were relatively unimpressive compared to the typical explosive output of a normal Shock Bead, but that was the price to pay for trying to shape annihilation magic. They looked rather pretty all things considered. The gold explosions with a black sky and a starry night as a backdrop was certainly a sight to behold. Many young couples were enjoying special moments and making long lasting memories to the tune of the fireworks’ crackling.
Appa in particular was thrilled to finally see a ‘firework’, and it really brought the whole day together for it. This was a day Appa would never forget, nothing could ruin it.
“Hey, Appa,” Ares called out to Appa who was staring at the sky. “You remember I said that I had a surprise for you?”
“Mhm!”
“Look!” Ares set off around 15 fireworks simultaneously. These fireworks were slightly bigger than the previous ones and rose up in somewhat of a hill shaped formation.
Bang
All the fireworks detonated individually, but the shapes produced came together to form a giant Appa image. It was big enough to be seen almost anywhere in the sect and, despite its simplicity, had an incredible amount of attention to detail. Wrinkles in Appa’s ‘skin’ and even the fibres in Appa’s rope were thoroughly designed to match the real deal. The giant gold Appa lingered for a fair bit longer than the other fireworks too.
“Haha, I told you it wasn’t anything much but, still, I hope you liked it.”
Appa floated over and leaned on Ares shoulder and rubbed its head against his neck as a sign it was gleeful and too happy to express as such with words.
“Unfortunately, I only had time to make one but I’ll definitely make more next time, and they’ll be bigger too!” Ares kept setting off more fireworks for another half an hour before finally running out of his ‘normal’ fireworks. Now it was time to have some fun! Ares had 8 special fireworks in total, each of which had taken at least an hour to create as shaping them had been a real pain in the neck. Still though, it was going to be so worth it!
The first firework whistled into the air.
Bang
Throughout the market, incredibly loud snickering and laughter could be heard regardless of where anyone was standing. A few of the forging department disciples had tears in their eyes and were trying desperately to stifle the welling, raucous laughter so as not to giggle at something they really probably shouldn’t ever be caught laughing at.
In the night sky, the word ‘Forging’, air quotes and all, was plastered clearly above an image of Dabble headbutting a piece of metal.
Ares was in a quiet, almost desolate corner of the market, as almost everyone had gathered toward the centre of the market but, even still, he could hear people laughing from all the way over there. Good start!
Bang
The second firework actually managed to get more laughs out of the Elders than the disciples. The image showed Elders Gao, Teng, and Elaine all holding a sack of stardust, with the word ‘wages’ written on it, while running away from Rud. Zhang, who just so happened to be by Rud’s side, was biting his lip furiously to hold back a chuckle. Rud was also furiously biting his lip.
Bang
“DAMN BRAT.” Rud was losing his mind.
The third firework was a follow-up to the one that preceded it. It showed Rud, sleeping like a log, on top of a pile of stardust filled sacks, all with the word ‘wages’ written on them. Like the first firework, this one also had a ‘title’ above it which read, ‘Lazy Ruddy’.
Bang
Dabble had been a good sport about the first firework and laughed it off. However, he just so happened to be drinking with Julio when it had gone off and received a near non-stop ribbing up until now. Now it was Dabble’s turn to poke fun at Julio.
The fourth firework showed Julio with a magnifying glass looking at a stone tablet. The stone tablet had writing on it, but it was written in wingdings. A speech bubble next to Julio read, “I’ve never seen these runes before!”
Bang
The fifth firework had been set off and somewhere just outside the market, a cracking sound of metallic knuckles echoed throughout the night. “Just you wait, you little prick.”
This firework was pretty simple, it was Slick with a dunce cap.
Bang
The sound of banging had become somewhat of an anxiety inducing moment for all the Elders that had ever interacted with Ares as, clearly, no one was safe.
“My turn now, is it? Could be worse, I guess.” Loopo sighed but smiled a little at this harmless prank.
“Yeah, you definitely got off easy,” Alaine replied.
This firework was also quite simple, it was of Loopo reading the book he always carried around… But it was upside down.
Bang
“Hahahaha.” Zhang could finally no longer hold back and let loose when the seventh firework looped back around and targeted Rud again.
A lot of the disciples also got a massive kick out of seeing the stubborn old mule Rud getting mocked so openly.
This one also had a title; ‘How Many Does it Take?’ Underneath the title were tens of Rud clones, all dumbly staring at a loose light bulb.
Bang
To everyone’s surprise, the eighth firework wasn’t directed at an Elder, but rather a disciple!
“Stupid idiot! Just you wait. JUST YOU WAIT,” a voice roared, but not loudly enough for anyone to actually hear as it had been drowned out by all the nearby disciples howling in laughter at him.
The last firework was a bust of Chen Fen with some clown makeup and a giant ‘red’ nose. Regrettably, Ares could only make the ‘red’ nose gold, but it was done well enough that it was pretty clear what he was going for. All of the fireworks kind of had the same vibe and look to them that the disciples had seen in jokey cartoons that would be drawn in the local newspaper.
Ares was very pleased with the results as, if nothing else, he and Appa had gotten a massive kick out of it and were crying with laughter. His chances of ever being asked for anything by Rud ever again had probably just plummeted out of existence, but that just made it all that much sweeter.
Allie had also really enjoyed the fireworks and found them funny. She had really wished there would’ve been one of Zhang, but then she realised it would probably be something like him wheeling around a pram with a baby-fied version of herself inside. Maybe she could commission Ares to make one of Zhang that didn’t involve her next time!
Aejaz had been trying his hardest not to laugh but caved after the third firework and was unable to stop since. He had tried his best mostly because Enyo had been staring at the back of his head, almost making him feel guilty for enjoying something that she would likely describe as ‘childish’. Thankfully, she either didn’t care as much as he thought she did, or she decided not to give him a hard time about it. Maybe it was because Allie had enjoyed it too? It really was impossible to tell what she was thinking with that helmet blocking all of her facial expressions.
Rud was this close to barging out of his tent and charging down the market to find that damnable brat. As much as he wanted to, he had other obligations to fulfil as he was overseeing the event, and couldn’t really justify leaving his post just to go smack a disciple. At the very least, he was able to shove Zhang out of his tent and no longer had to put up with someone laughing directly at him.
“Hahahaha, ahhhh, ah. Yeah, definitely worth it.” Ares was wiping the last tear from his eye. “Hopefully I won’t run into anyone before I leave tomorrow, especially fuddy-duddy Ruddy.”
“Come back soon, ok?” Appa looked up at Ares.
“I promise I’ll be back before you know it.” Ares stroked Appa’s head gently. “Hm?” Ares felt a disturbance in the air nearby as a destructive, ancient aura surged toward him. It seemed a certain ‘someone’ had finally decided to come after Ares. To be so spineless as to use a Shock Bead against him of all things was rather humorous to Ares. Of course, he could deal with it easily though, he invented the damn things! Did this idiot seriously think he would sell something that other people could use to kill him? Was he not aware that the Master’s tools will never dismantle the Master’s house? Slightly different context, perhaps, but the general sentiment was accurate enough. Then again, the Chen clan did seem like it was filled to the brim with stupid morons. At least Fen wasn’t completely foolish as, out of the corner of Ares'' eye, he could just about see one of the top three outer court disciples that Fen had brought along with him as insurance. He didn’t have time to see which one it was, but it didn’t particularly matter. Ares could take care of them regardless of which one it was as they were picking a fight with him at the worst location possible; his stall. Here, he was invincible. Actually, that was technically incorrect. It wasn’t that he was invincible, but that everyone else just became that much more vulnerable here.
“Not Even Light!”
Ares thrust out his hand and splayed his fingers in a grasping motion while twisting his wrist. A pitch-black blob, roughly the same size as Appa, materialised a short distance in front of his outstretched arm. The air around the blob became stale and dark while swirling around the gravitational pull of the blob. This was Ares’ defensive disintegration art. It essentially created a miniature black hole and was extremely effective against attacks that were numerous in quantity, or slow but affected a large area. The attack would be absorbed into the blob and completely evaporated without leaving a single trace.
The Shock Bead Fen threw detonated, but didn’t form a dome shape at all. Instead, it formed a conical shape and funnelled straight into the blob, disappearing forever.
Ares had been working on turning this art into something similar to a Shock Bead that could be sold to anyone. He figured he could work out the intricacies of it by the time he came back from his mission. Adding something new to the stall when it was at its peak was sure to boost sales. Besides, value aside, who wouldn''t want a pocket black hole?
The pull of the blob, at Ares current level, was designed strictly to affect mana so, unless someone or something was directly pushed into it, it served no other purpose than to create a safe zone from magic. Still though, it did this job well, and it’s not like it couldn’t be used offensively at all. Ares had slowly been learning that it was borderline impossible to create a destruction pillar art that didn’t have some kind of offensive capability. Even his nothingness ‘Shift’ art could be used to Shift inside someone who was much weaker than himself, spontaneously blowing them up.
“Good evening, gentlemen! Have you been enjoying the festivities, the lively atmosphere, the… Fireworks?” Ares winked at Fen.
“Hmph, it’s a shame that bastard Aejaz isn’t here. It would have been nice to kill both of you without having to go and search around for him after.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever. You know, I was originally going to just leave you be for now ‘cos killing you inside the sect would just be a headache waiting to happen. It’s not too late for you. If you quickly leave here, abandon the sect, and go live quietly somewhere in the middle of nowhere, I may never find you. Of course, the second you try to attack me again, that’ll be curtains for you. Consider me overlooking that prank of yours just now as doing you a kindness. Also, I’d really rather not have to deal with Rud breathing down my neck for killing you, so scram along clown-boy.”
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“SHUT THE FUCK UP.”
“Your vocabulary is truly as astounding as ever.”
“How about you both shut the fuck up?” The top 3 disciple could finally no longer stand the back and forth and interrupted their fun and games.
“Tsk, do you want to be paid for this or not?” Fen wasn’t pleased the lackey he brought along was so wilful. “And you, Chen Lo already knows about you being here. As soon as he gets back from his trip, he’ll come straight here for you and that pathetic brother of yours. Of course, you’ll already be dead by then but, hey, at least I can get in his good books by doing the deed for him. Wouldn’t want to bloody the hands of the patriarch with a slave and a street rat, now would we?”
“Number of issues here. First, you won’t be killing me, and neither will that little lap dog of yours. Second, knowing Chen Lo, he probably has the blood of far more disgraceful things on his hands already, like babies and prostitutes. Lastly, I won’t even be here when he gets back. What’s he going to do exactly? Wander around the sect like a headless chicken? Is he going to ask someone to pour tea for him while he sits around waiting? God your family is fucking stupid. Seriously, do yourself a favour and go kick rocks, you knucklehead.”
Fen and the disciple just blinked and stared dumbly while their brains were playing catchup and processing the information that Ares had just spat out rapid-fire style. “LO HAS NEVER TOUCHED A PROSTITUTE.”
“You know, insulting your family would actually be harder if you didn’t speak. What about the babies? You aren’t going to deny that? How many of those has he killed? I was just joking when I said it, but dear lord it seems I actually hit the nail on the head. Also, what the hell do you mean he hasn’t touched any prostitutes? Have you never even met your own mother?”
The top 3 disciple raised his brow, took a cold, sharp breath, and simply looked away while pretending not to have heard that last part. This verbal confrontation was clearly a losing battle, and he wanted nothing to do with it especially seeing as how that last remark may have actually had some truth to it if the rumours were to be believed. Never mind the fact that Ares had lived in the Chen household himself and probably knew a fair few dirty secrets…
“KILL HIM, JUST KILL HIM ALREADY DAMN IT. KILL THAT SON OF A BIT…”
“Hm?” Ares let out a quick exclamation that was bone chilling enough to send shivers down everyone’s spines and shut up Fen mid speech. “Appa... What’s that?” Ares pointed at a little, dirty, red mark near the bottom of Appa.
“Hm? Oh, nothing.” Appa turned around and started whistling after it too saw what Ares was pointing at.
“Appa? Turn around, right now,” Ares was speaking gently but there were undertones that he was about to let loose. Not on Appa of course.
“Ok, but first you have to promise me you won’t be mad.”
“No,” Ares replied bluntly and immediately.
Appa tried floating away but Ares just stood where he was and held Appa’s rope, slowly hauling Appa back to him. “Appa, does it hurt?”
“No…” Appa’s voice quietly trailed off.
Ares gently poked the red spot and Appa visibly winced a little. “Appa?” Ares'' hands were starting to shake a little.
“It’s fine, really. I didn’t even notice it before. I was just trying to help. When I saw the Shock Bead, I tried floating in front of you to use a defensive art, but I accidentally scraped myself on the floor. It’s ok, it doesn’t hurt, really. It’s just a bit of dirt… Dad?” Appa was speaking hastily and in a low hushed voice.
Ares’ wasn’t saying anything, he was just looking at the little scuff. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was trying to be reasonable. It was just a small little injury, it wouldn’t even be that big of a deal to a non-cultivator, so it was basically non-existent to Appa. Telling himself that repeatedly was unable to calm his gradually-growing frenzied rage though. The thought of Appa trying to save him by blocking the explosion sent his mentality spiralling. He didn’t blame himself for this, he wasn’t unreasonable like that, and he certainly didn’t blame Appa. There were only two other people here to blame.
“Dad?” Fen was confused as he was pretty sure that shade wasn’t Ares’ actual daughter.
“Be silent,” Ares'' voice was soft and yet still paralysed Fen with fear as it echoed in his mind. Ares looked at Fen and the disciple emotionlessly as one word just kept ringing through his head.
Unforgivable.
There was no longer any room for negotiation.
Unforgivable
“Appa?” Ares spoke in a horrifyingly undisturbed, plain voice.
Unforgivable
“Hm?”
Unforgivable
“Can you be a good shade, turn around, and stop listening to what’s about to happen.”
Unforgivable
“Ok…” Appa was still being quiet as it could tell Ares was furious.
Unforgivable
When Ares saw Appa turn around, he looked back over his shoulder. His face was still as calm as ever but his hands were still trembling with fury.
Unforgivable
Ares unfurled his Zephyr and ran annihilation magic through his blood. The air became heavy and he unintentionally started leaking out pressure which shouldn’t have even been possible at his cultivation. Ares’ bloodline had enabled it and was screeching in his ear. Over and over. Over and over again like a maddening chant.
Unforgivable
Ares teetered and swayed rhythmically as he walked. His gait bore resemblance to a reaper that had just clawed its way out of the underworld. He kept his pace slow and his face as eerily inexpressive as before. There was no need to rush, they weren’t going anywhere. Not now. Not ever.
Unforgivable.
---------------------------------
“Huh, well I’ll be damned. Cotton candy really is incredible!” Meanwhile, Aejaz was still, ironically, cottoning up to Allie. He did really like the cotton candy though, maybe he would learn to make it. That, or hassle Ares to learn it in his stead. Either way, it would also make Allie happy. Win win!
“Told ya! It’s Mini-Pilly Scout''s favourite, and he has a great taste in food.” Scout was sitting on Allie’s shoulder, nibbling away at the same cotton candy Allie was eating.
Aejaz felt weirdly jealous of the pill that had bitten him earlier. “It’s a shame there aren’t more fireworks to go along with the food,” Aejaz said while taking a bite of his candy.
“Yeah. Heh, I really didn’t have Ares pegged as the kinda guy to joke around like that. He usually seems like the more serious type. Kinda like you, actually, Enyo.”
“We are not alike. You saw him goofing around earlier, and don’t even get me started on the ‘stick’ comments.” Enyo was still wearing the helmet as though it were glued to her head.
“Ha, you’re more alike than you know.” Aejaz genuinely thought the two were nearly identical sometimes.
“Really? I can’t see him ever being as serious as sis’.” Allie tilted her head slightly.
Aejaz was practically swooning at this cute display. “Uh, um, yeah…” Aejaz composed himself and kept talking, “For the most part, no, but actually, at times, he can be worse than Enyo.”
“Worse?” Both Allie and Enyo spoke at the same time. One was annoyed that being serious was supposedly a negative trait. The other was bewildered that someone could possibly outdo Enyo in the seriousness department.
“Mhm. Ares is really casual around people he knows and people he thinks are alright. He gets a little more serious around strangers he doesn’t trust, people he needs to fight, assholes, etc…” Aejaz waved in a circular motion but stopped and cleared his throat when he realised Enyo was staring at him for his use of profane language. “... But that’s not the worst of it. I’ve only ever seen him really mad once before, and I hope to God neither of you ever has to experience it. It was about a year ago. We’d gotten into a street brawl and he mistook someone else''s blood for mine. He thought I was seriously injured. What I thought would be a fun little beatdown turned into an absolute massacre. I still wake up sweating sometimes after having nightmares about it. It’s grotesque how far he goes. I think it has something to do with that bloodline of his.” Aejaz conveniently left out the part about him pretending to be dead during the brawl so he wouldn''t have to fight anymore. How could he possibly say something so pathetically uncool in front of Allie?
“Bloodline?” It seemed Enyo finally cared enough about a conversation today to actively take part. “What kind?”
“Dunno. Ares has a pretty complicated background, so I won’t get into it without his permission. All I know for sure is that it makes him really arrogant and unbearable sometimes. It makes him act like he’s king of the world and that everyone else is just inferior to him. Not in the egotistical, annoying, loud sense though. It''s more like a kind of regal, domineering presence. It almost makes you want to bow down and worship. Actually, it makes you feel like you have to. It’s really strange, but it wouldn’t be such a big deal if it didn’t make him so cold and detached when he doesn’t get the respect he thinks he deserves. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it, but it’s not the Ares that I’m used to so it kinda weirds me out a little. He keeps it in check pretty well, but it slips out every now and then and it''s far worse than you. For reference, he once used a pile of dismembered corpses as a throne.”
“Tsk.” Enyo was disgusted at that last comment.
Err, oops! Sorry Ares! Aejaz apologised immediately in his head. Then again, this was good payback for him having petted Allie!
BAAAAAAAAAANNNGGGG
“Hm?” Enyo craned her neck and looked towards the source of the sound.
“Eeek.” Allie was spooked and wriggled closer to Enyo like a dog afraid of lightning. Allie loved fireworks but whatever that was, was far bigger, louder, and completely unexpected.
Aejaz was completely unbothered as he’d seen this song and dance many times before.
A gold explosion rippled through the outskirts of the market and Aejaz immediately recognised it as a Grand Annihilation from Ares. It was far bigger and louder than a Shock Bead, so there was no uncertainty. The only reason it wasn’t deafening was because they were decently far away. Aejaz was curious as to who and why Ares was fighting, but it didn’t really matter. He knew Ares could run if he couldn’t fight so, if he was fighting, the other party was simply screwed. As much as he wanted to resume standard conversation with Allie, she seemed a bit too perturbed by the explosion.
“What was that? Was there an accident with the fireworks?” Allie asked timidly.
“No, no. That should be…” Aejaz was about to explain...
BANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
A magnificent gold dome blanketed the outskirts of the market in its entirety. The air undulated, blasting a few drunk disciples to the ground. The explosion echoed throughout the market and drowned out every other noise by burrowing into everyone’s ears. Even the ground shook and trembled as though an earthquake was causing the earth to shudder. The size of this explosion was something even Aejaz had never seen before. Aejaz knew it was technically possible as he heard Ares mention that he could stack Shock Beads, if he made a bunch of them ahead of time, and just detonate them haphazardly. Even though Aejaz was familiar with Ares'' methods, he hadn’t expected this. He could guess that Ares had used every single Shock Bead in his stall’s storage to make an explosion of that magnitude. Seriously, what the hell was he thinking? Aejaz then promptly realised Ares probably wasn’t thinking and that that was the real issue. Ares would probably only ever go that far if something happened involving Appa or himself and his bloodline kicked in.
“Explain,” Enyo had a cold tone to her voice as Aejaz seemingly knew what was happening.
Aejaz had a solemn face and that surprised the two sisters as, throughout the entire day, he had been non-stop cheerful and jovial. “You remember when I said Ares can be worse than you? This is him being worse than you.”
Enyo wanted to know more but didn’t have time to sit around and do nothing like this so she immediately got up and dragged Allie along. She had a duty to protect Allie so she wasn’t going to just leave her here, even though Allie clearly didn’t want to go toward the source of the explosion.
Aejaz followed along and simply sighed. “Allie, you might not want to get too close.”
“She’s coming with me, and that’s final,” Enyo replied without even turning around.
“I’m not saying you can’t take her; I’m just saying dead bodies aren’t exactly pleasant at the best of times, especially not when an angry Ares is responsible. I mean, as a cultivator, everyone should get used to dead bodies at some point, I just don’t think it has to be now for Allie.”
“And why not now?”
“Like I said, Ares is the one responsible. If he hadn’t made such a commotion, then yeah, go for it. As things stand, whatever’s waiting over there is seriously not going to be pretty to look at.” Aejaz was still wearing a completely serious expression which seemingly convinced Enyo to stop being stubborn.
“Fine.”
Aejaz was admittedly a little shocked, I guess she can be reasoned with, He thought. Maybe it has something to do with Allie? Or maybe she’s just more reasonable than I thought.
Enyo still brought Allie along, but she kept her a little further back so she wouldn’t be the first to see the corpses, allowing Enyo to judge the situation first. The three travelled a short distance before reaching a ludicrously large crater. Surrounding it was charred and scorched earth with no sign of any stalls left. It was just barren, ravaged land. As Enyo was about to go peer over the edge and check for bodies, or whatever was left of them, a disciple came out from the crater and threw up. The disciple was wearing a dark green kimono and had her hair tied up, which happened to be rather convenient for the purpose of being sick.
Enyo was surprised to find this particular disciple hurling as she was the top outer court disciple, if only considering cultivation base, surely she should’ve been more resilient than this? Was it really that bad down there? “Esme? Are you ok?” Enyo’s first priority in these situations was to tend to the living, so she started with the first person she found on the scene which was the top disciple, Esme.
“Uh, um, yeah, yeah. I just… I just need a minute.” Esme was struggling to catch her breath and stabilise her mind. Her breathing was ragged and quick, but eventually she managed to close her eyes and calm down. She was still a cultivator who had seen dead bodies before, so she wasn’t going to faint from shock or anything, but she was definitely not accustomed to the level of savagery she had just witnessed.
“Are you ok now?” Enyo was waiting to make sure she was ok before heading down.
“Yeah. Yeah, thanks Enyo.”
“What happened? You weren’t caught in that explosion earlier I’m guessing.”
“No. God no. If I had, I’d probably be battered senseless and lying somewhere dead or about to be at the very least. No. I just happened to be nearby as I’d forgotten something at my house and was on my way back. There shouldn’t have been any other disciples close enough to the explosion other than the people who were directly involved. Whoever set it off had their priorities in order and was at least using some part of their brain.” Esme''s eye twitched as, now that she had calmed down, she was a little annoyed at whoever was responsible for this as it had ruined her night!
“What, or I suppose who, is down there, Esme?”
“Chen Fen and Duke.”
“Duke is dead?”
“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t exactly like the guy, but I didn’t hate him either. It was really creepy to see someone who was basically as strong as me in… That state. I think that’s why it hit me so hard, the realisation that, even within these walls, there are people that just aren’t worth messing with.”
“Are the bodies salvageable? For a burial, I mean.” Enyo’s mind was still in regulation and proper etiquette mode.
“Depends on your definition of salvageable. No-one should ever have to see those corpses, it’s just wrong. Hell, they weren’t even dead yet when I arrived. It was disgusting. Allie, dear, you really shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m not going to look, but I feel like I should know what’s down there. A cultivator can’t ignore these things forever. Aejaz is right. I don’t have to start now, but I can at least listen to what the cultivation world is like. It’s good to prepare myself for the things I might see rather than just going into the wide world blind,” Allie spoke determinedly with a resolve that Aejaz really didn’t expect her to possess.
Aejaz was subconsciously rooting for her.
Go Allie!
He was also really wishing she wouldn’t start here.
Damn you Ares!
“Fine, if you want to know, I’ll tell you. I guess the best way to approach this is like ripping off a bandage, so I’ll start from the worst of it and end ‘lightly’. Their legs had been blown off from the shin down and blood was gushing out from their knees. Their eyeballs had been gouged out and the nerves were stretched and carved out from within. Their tongues and ears had also been removed. They had countless incisions on their flesh with one large one on their stomachs. The cut was big enough for some of their entrails to have been pulled out. Their intestines were prised from their bodies and brought up and around their necks in a loop. There was a hole in their throats big enough for the intestine to pass through. The intestines had been used as a noose to choke and hang their bodies from a street lamp that had been brought over. They were hung back-to-back and gagging on the intestines wrapped around and piercing their lungs. They were desperately clawing at their intestines to try and remove them, but their fingers had been cut off so their struggle was in vain. When they finally died, their heads lifelessly lolled and their dangling bodies began oscillating in the wind. On the floor, the words ‘No-one hurts my shade’, had been painted using their blood.”
“Allie!?” Enyo held up a faint and pale-faced Allie who looked as though she were about to pass out any second now.
“I feel sick,” Allie muttered. Her eyes were unfocused and glazing over. To her credit, she didn’t hurl but, then again, this was still just a description. If she had seen the actual thing, she would inevitably have passed out. She felt dizzy, unstable, and was consistently cringing whenever her mind haphazardly wandered into visualisation mode. Despite everything, she was also incredibly proud of herself as this would be a good first step to developing mental fortitude and resilience to these types of things.
Aejaz had instinctively moved over to try and help Allie but Enyo shot a glance in his direction that quickly quelled that particular notion.
“The corpses still need to be cleaned up. I’ll wait until Allie is ok, then I’ll go and collect what’s left of the bodies,” Enyo spoke as she patted Allie on the head.
“No need, we’ll deal with this,” Rud’s voice came from behind them.