Formed With Red

Invariably, the sun would rise after the slaying of the dragon. Inevitably, Iskra would awaken and stretch out to her full length, yawning in the morning of where the village either is or had been. It didn't matter, for invariably she would have slept the night before, and in that slumber, no matter where she was or the state, she would have dreamed of a world far removed from this one.

For Iskra's soul was a nexus of sorts... a place where her spirit-bearing prey could live on in her consciousness. It was a heaven of sorts for her murdered clan. They still got to be themselves when she slept, surrounded by the souls of numberless, tasty creatures that their host had consumed, while during the day they simply went into spectator mode, living out her life with her.

So perhaps because her friend had been so close to death when the Iskra tasted her blood, she found herself trotting the endless forests of her own soul, in beast form, looking for the knight woman. It wasn't anything external that told her that she might be able to find the woman there, but something surreal and a feeling of intrusion.

[ EXP: 225 || +1 TEXP (2nd thread) ]

Iskra, meanwhile, continued to walk about the living realm of her own soul, giving brief nods here and there when she lifted her nose from the ground to greet one of her fellows. One-Ear was there, as was Cookie, the mad prophet beast, Storm, Pai'ik, the others. They were lounging atop the long ribs of a dead devil snake and didn't really move to greet her, respecting her focus.

The way wound on across a frozen river, and in time she found herself in a dark place. Walking through the day into the blackness of a night where the forest had faded away.

For a minute, the large beast stiffened and raised her head. The scent she followed now came from all around. She inhaled as her eyes peered into the blackness. There was a smoke, not unlike the lazy heat of Barathrum Regnum. There was an ominous scent that made her mane stand on end, not unlike the frightening scent of the dragon.

But in it all, she could smell Alicia.

"Human?" she called out tenuously into the abyss. "I mean... Alicia?"

[ EXP: 207 ]

Iskra smiled and chuckled out a brief laugh of greeting, seating herself within a few feet of the newly-clothed knight. "It is. I've never been called a lady, but..." The beast tilted her head to the side, much like a parrot. "What are you doing here?"

At that point, the hyena was mostly talking to herself, but she continued on with her speculations for quite some time. "Only dead things come here... dead things that I have killed and eaten, but I've never really seen this part of this place." She stood and began pacing around Alicia slowly. She didn't mean to appear predatory, but she was using her senses and her sight to determine the "realness" of this person. "It is all darkness where the rest is places that are dear to my heart. There are forests and moonlit nights, but nowhere so black as this."

A silence hung in the air as she thought for a moment, even as she continued to quietly circle the woman. "Perhaps you have brought this place with you into my spirit? Well, you are still alive and I haven't eaten you. Maybe because you were so close to death, you lost a piece of your own soul and we now share it for this moment."

It seemed a sensible enough answer, but the mechanisms behind her own ability to hold multiple spirits was poorly understood.

[ EXP: 264 ]

Iskra blinked as the she-knight's eyes met her own.

This wasn't the first time this thing had happened. Something in her mannerisms reminded her strongly of Lethe. Perhaps it was the warrior ethos that bred itself so strongly in some humans. Perhaps it was simply that they were both her servants now.

They differed in one area, however. Alicia spoke in a somewhat defeated manner, recounting her failure with the dragon.

Yes, it was true, the knight had failed rather spectacularly, but the dead people weren't on Iskra's mind. The fire and the other's inability to persevere through the flames and stab the stupid beast was the disappointment on the demon's mind.

"If you wish for me to come to your village, it will... honor me to accompany you. However." She walked towards the woman a bit and sat, her head tilted to the side and her snout inches from the knight's nose. "How much experience do you actually have fighting? Have you fought demons before? The things you call spirits?"

[ EXP: 207 || +1 TEXP (5th post) ]

Iskra's tongue lolled out (though the blast of breath with its permanent scent of putrefied flesh this would put in Alicia's face was unfortunate), and she grinned.

"A lack of experience is nothing to be ashamed of," she said in a tone that might have come off as comforting if it wasn't so bluntly dismissive. "Even the massive dragon was an egg once. All oak trees come from acorns that are threatened by the most harmless of squirrels."

She stood to her four feet and trotted off a short distance, perhaps a few meters.

In a flash, her fur had taken on an ethereal hue and frost shed from her form as though from a snowstorm. Indeed, the blackness of the abyss around them became presently claimed by the ethereal, grey light of a snowcloud.

But she wasn't finished changing. The animal stood up on two feet like a man, and under the light of its own form it quickly transformed into one, the fur shifting into armor and the muscles and sinews and flesh warping as it did when she turned into a woman, though this time her transformation was obviously male.

"I can give you experience," Iskra said in a low baritone, reflecting his new form. "Will you let me be your teacher? If so, I will allow you the first strike."

Reaching behind his back, the lightly armored warrior withdrew two bladed chains that had ostensibly been hidden on his form prior to the transformation.

"You needn't fear me, but if I cause you pain, it will only make you stronger."

[ EXP: 313 ]

Actions:
> Used Transformation (Healing, Hasten, Whirlwind, Morph + Healing, TransMerger + Atmosphere Change, Pressure, Glow)
> Used "Third Form" (SHP) [Mastered]

Iskra's eyes narrowed and followed the knight. Slowly, he began to twirl his blades, the chain singing at the start and falling silent when the centrifugal force drew them taut. An icy electricity, an extension of the glow about her transformed form frosted the chains and crackled at the four-pointed tips of her weapon, snapping and hissing with the coldness as they cut through the air, their progress marked by a sound not unlike a winter wind blasting among cheerless, frozen trees.

Alicia's thrust was swift enough. Iskra wasn't expecting much more than what he'd seen during the battle with the dragon. The sword came swiftly, but surely towards his torso, and Iskra simply attempted sidestepped the gesture with his superior speed. His heritage as an onikonjou helped her in this instance.

There was no flash of supercooled steel towards the woman's back, however. He wasn't going to injure her immediately, as he didn't want her morale to fade until she'd clarified something.

"First lesson," the man began, his blades still spinning, but his voice serene. "Humans are very smart, but easily outclassed by spirits like myself if you aren't careful. Hell-demons especially are built to kill. That alone. Most of them aren't built to think or defend. If you want to actually hit me, you're going to have to wait for an opening."

The swinging picked up slightly in pace, the wind howling off of the blades becoming more urgent and hungry. "I want you to practice hitting me at the same time I attack you. This will keep me from dodging your counterstrike, and it will work with most other weapon-bearing spirits you encounter, even if you're faster. Ready?"

The devil didn't wait for any confirmation, instead swung the chain forward, the tips slicing through the air with a terrible force.

[ EXP: 380 || +1 TEXP (5th post) ]

Actions: