Into the Cave

((Fine- idk what to do though, so...))

Ma'at searched through the darkness, looking for a tell-tale sign of the expedition. Finally, he caught a glimpse of green flare-light sparkling in the distance. He jogged the last 50 or so feet to the flare, but found nothing. Ma'at kicked the glowing object with all his might, sending it spinning across the floor. Naru damn all of them! It's not like they need me anyways... I was even useless to Caz. They can all rot in-

And then he saw it. A man writhing in pain on the floor: hands pressed to the sides of his head, mouth wide and gaping as if he was screaming, but no sound came out. "What... What is this?" The soldier did not reply, or even seem to notice him. What's wrong with these people? Is it them or... me?

Ma'at walked forward few more steps, experimentally. Nothing happened, his mind just repeated the same dismal thoughts as before: Caz's face, Caz's rejection, the loss, the sorrow, the hate. They ate away at his mind, but he resisted-pressing onwards, picking through the maze of soldiers.

I'll show you Caz. I'll show you...

((So yeah, Ma'at can resist it because he already went through this horrible, painful experience of losing his Neiede. Idk, I just thought it might work. Tell meh if it won't :3 ))

(I only have something to say if what happened in Eris-Tam's Crenel post really happened and if everyone is beyond function. Here it is, I'll delete it if necessary.)

As Dreston caught up with the group, he quickly realized that something was very, very wrong. The team slowly collapsed, even the big Alteriian and Robless falling to the ground. They seemed unable to control their bodies and their eyes seemed to be watching many things at once that Dreston could not see. There was nothing attacking them, and he checked them for neurotoxin darts even though he guessed it was something else entirely. None. Something was messing with their minds.

This was trouble. Dreston walked to Robless, who was closest, and slid his own arms under Robless'. With difficulty, he started to drag Robless onwards, hopefully out of the zone where this would continue to affect him. When Robless started to show signs of coming out of it, Dreston turned around and did the same for as many of the team members as he could, and he could feel the strain on his joints, and on his fragile body. When he got to Archelaus, he really started to worry. The Alteriian was massive, much larger than Dreston himself and so as the small machine did his best to get Archelaus to an area where he could function, the metal of his framework bent and twisted under the strain. Just before he reached the rest of the group, Archelaus' armor snagged on a stone and Dreston didn't realize it.

He pulled harder, and the metal supports in his axial framework snapped. The thick wire that controlled his movements loosened all around from the break, and he clanged to the ground, unable to move his limbs.

He'd done his best, now he'd just have to hope that Robless or one of the others would come to awareness and help him and Archelaus.

Cassus and Zyria continue walking Caz back toward the group. Slowly, the rest of the group trickles in, following them, and they all make their way to the surface.

Once they have the main group in their sights, it's obvious something is wrong. Everyone has collapsed. Zyria can't figure out what happened. Maybe a surprise attack? Are they all dead? Or just unconscious? Zyria stops, and motions to Cassus to put Caz down. She looks to the group, and turns back to Cassus.

"Stay here. I'll go see if I can figure out what's happened." Cassus looks as though he wants to protest, but Zyria raises a hand. "Now, you're obviously the better fighter, between us both. If this is a surprise attack, wouldn't it be better for everyone if I was the one knocked unconscious, instead of you?" With out waiting for a reply, Zyria darts off, pulling out her sword.

Zyria can see that most everyone's not dead, just unconscious. What could have happened? They're all just....laying there. She glances ahead, and sees Archelaus. What? Even Archelaus? She rushes over, to see if she can find out what's happened, and she stumbles upon Dreston.

"Dreston! Oh! What happened?! You're damaged!" She kneels down and tries to find what has crippled the robot. At least Dreston is functioning. Maybe he can tell me what happened.....to....the others.... Zyria looks around. Was that a noise? But...everyone's unconscious. I hope no one followed me here. It's still too dangerous. Again, a sound. Maybe it's....breathing? But, not the slightly quickened breath of the downed soldiers around Zyria. No, this was different. Zyria tries to focus on fixing Dreston, but the noise is distracting her.

Very soon, Zyria realizes what happened. "Oh! This wire is loose. Judging by its location, I'm supposing it has to do with controlling your body. Here, let me--" The noise had gotten louder. What is with this? Zyria glances away, focusing on the sound.

Then, almost silently, Zyria quickly stands. She's turning around, looking for something, at something. With Dreston still immobile, and the others having stayed behind,

All they can do is listen as Zyria covers her ears, and screams.

[Yeah, I have no idea what I just typed out. ]

((FUCK! I had this amazing post typed out and I lost it all! Retyping time.... Damn refresh button. ))

Step. Step. Step. One foot in front of the other, the only sound the swishing sand beneath his boots. Ma'at gritted his teeth at the images swirling in his mind. Caz... He would not let Caz win. One foot... in front of... the oth-

WHAM! Ma'at fell flat on his face, sand invading his nose and mouth. He had tripped over the body of a soldier, a short Martian man whose face was contorted into a mask of pain and fear.

Ma'at turned his head away in disgust, standing. These people were loathsome. Why couldn't thy just give up? That's what he had done, and he was doing fine. Ma'at scanned the ground for more soldier, but there were no forms littering the ground. In their place were long dents in the sand as if someone- or something- had dragged them away. "What the-" Ma'at whispered.

And then came the scream. It was high and keening; barely recognizable. But Ma'at recognized it- Zyria.

((Fufufufufufufu. And still, we go nowhere. I think Dreston's point in dragging them onwards was to get them to a place where they would wake up. ))

Something throbbed in the back of Cassus' head. He barely had time to think about it before Zyria's scream resonated in his ears, and he pushed the feeling aside. "Wait here, buddy." Cassus gently set Caz down on the ground and took off running.

A soldier's body armor bumped against his leg as he stepped by. He appeared unconscious on the sandy floor, perhaps knocked out. Whoever or whatever their opponent was, they knew what they were doing. Cassus felt bad leaving him there, but at least the soldier was relatively safe there. Zyria, on the other hand, was in danger, and seeing this man lying on the ground only made him move his legs faster.

Several moments later, he found the Plutonian huddled on the ground, switching between sobbing or staring into space with a dead expression.

"Zyria?" Cassus approached cautiously at first. "Are you alright?" No response.

He stepped closer. "Zyria!" Waving his hand in front of her face, Cassus could not induce a response. "Zyria, wake up Zyria! It's me, Cassus. Zyria!"

The muffled soft steps echoed lightly in the cave. The body of the assassin Dragijh A'Lecto fell to the ground, the mental assault completely devastating him. But not this newcomer. Pat. Pat. Pat. The sound of the rotted grey bandaged feet slowly walking across the cold stone. Movement. He saw.... movement. Sounds... he heard sounds. He remembered that these beings used articulate sounds called 'words' to convey meaning and ideas. To converse, these beings had to use.... sound. Speech. They were frantic. They were calling a name.... he recognized this name. It belonged to the leader of the race his closest inferior had to invade. Zyria. That was the name. He knew where to go now.

The screech of metal on metal tore through the air as his metal wing unfolded. He flew quickly and quietly, coming to the source of the noise. There were people on the ground.... he recognized some of them. But the only true living functioning being he did not recognize, but he wore armor which he did. Flying behind this Stalker armor wearing man, Lord Vabin the Iron-Winged landed. And waited. He would do nothing but stand and watch until someone reacted to his presence. For that was the way of shadow, only moving when the light changes.

"Fels" walked with purpose, set on his direction and his course, knowing exactly where to go to find the group. The Light knew everything that happened in the cave, it had eyes and ears everywhere- or rather, the cave was its eyes and ears. Or maybe the cave was alive, and the Light was just what was at the middle. In any case, Fels watched his body walk like it was following a line from which it could not deviate. When it "stumbled" across the group, Fels was not surprised to see the soldiers who scattered the ground. He knew some of them would soon wake up based on their locations. In fact, the Light seemed to have pushed most of the croach away from the area, and now they would certainly come to their senses. "Fels" seemed confused, an act of course, and ran to his commander (Cassus) where he crouched next to Zyria.

"Sir--"

But "Fels" was interrupted by what real Fels saw before any of them. Someone unfamiliar, someone grotesque and... well, creepy, with huge metal wings. "Fels" turned and looked at it, and felt the Light's hatred of it just like the hatred it felt for the other intruders. It was much easier to detect and feel the tiny little changes in the psychological environment when you were an amorphous spirit. It was like without a body, you were unprotected, unshielded from sensing everything around you. It was... interesting. But Fels could feel the Light's emotions, its desires, its small changes in decision, just as he could feel Cassus', and Zyria's, and Archelaus', and all of the other soldiers who writhed on the ground. The only two he could sense nothing at all from were Caz, from which he felt prescence but distance and emptiness, and this newcomer, who--according to everything Fels had learned from being in this state--should not exist. Everyone and everything that was living so far had posessed something that Fels could pick up on, even the emotionally dead Caz, even the Dal'Maroth, even the croach, even the hundred other beings that resided in the cavern. But this entity... there was simply nothing. No emotional indication that he was there at all.

It was a curious thing.

"Fels? What are you doing--" Cassus saw the warped, bloodied, metal figure behind Fels. This person, more like a machine, did not give him a positive vibe. In the blink of an eye Cassus had pulled out his sidearm and was about to fire when he realized that, in that infinitely short moment, the winged creature was gone.

"Must be hallucinating..." The painful throbbing in the back of his head returned, and the soldier found himself surprised that he could barely suppress it, pushing it out of his mind's sight one more time to return to reality.

"Sir, what's going on? Why..."

"Fels" rubbed his temple, again an act, making it seem like he was affected slightly by the croach in order not to arouse suspicion. "What's happened to the team, sir?"

"Don't really know. Must be the 'croach' that Archelaus mentioned. Strange how they're all unconscious though. I just came here with Zyria and..." Cassus realized that he'd left Caz behind. "Fels. Wait here. See if Zyria comes to, I've got to find Drel-Caz!" Adrenaline kicked in and his heart thumped in his chest cavity from fear that Caz would be gone. He began sprinting, already a distance away from where he had left Fels dazed and confused. "Come on..."

Armor caught his foot and he fell face flat into the sand. The headache in the back of his mind came back stronger than ever, his senses unable to act upon being disoriented. Despite his best effort, Cassus could no longer hold on and he slipped into unconsciousness...

Vabin turned toward "Fels". He felt a certain pity for the life conduit, for he too understood the sensations of one's body being used. But... how did he know it was being used? He himself did not understand... but he reasoned that because hiding and using were essences of shadow, and "he" himself was nothing more than a shell, a conduit for the darkness of life with sentience and reason. Merely a medium for the passing, from life to anger to sadness, he was only that which darkness had to pass through once it was over. He "felt" or at least what he understood the emotion that the passing souls indicated he should feel, annoyance? Hatred? More like rivalry with "Fels". For using him was the light. The light they were trying to find. It was his opposite, but light could not destroy him. For there is no shadow where there is no light, and wherever there is light, there too, is shadow.

He registered doubt from the man dead souls of the Stalkers knew as Cassus, annoyance, maybe disbelief at his vanishing and presence. He considered momentarily making a move, now that he was hid, but he realized he had simply wasted energy. As he cannot hide from the light that was using Fels, Vabin also considered that the light may have realized that it could not mask itself from him. Then the man Cassus slipped into this.... unnatural rest as well, and he decided he had nothing left to lose.

Letting the shadow leave him, Vabin became visible, and slowly, and annoyingly, his shell turned to face "Fels". Using his throat and rotted lips for the first time in over one million years, Lord Vabin the Iron-Winged spoke, in a voice that was comparable to a block of cold rusty steel speaking, in the language only those that understood the balance or were part of it could decipher.

"Dost thou.... seeketh to harm me.... thou being of the realm of light?"

Fels' body's face became cold and uncaring. "I seek not to disturb thou, but I know that thou shalt be trouble. Besides... there is no way we could truly fight and hope for anyone to win. What is thine business here? Why hast thou come? If thou intends any malice..." But the Light could not help realizing that technically, it meant a certain form of malice itself. The Light being's accent was not quite as heavy as Vabin's, but that was mostly due to the influence and interactions with the people of more recent times.

Vabin realized that the light, through Fels, was more in-tune to the recent pattern of speech he was exposed to, and thus slowly began altering his form of talking. "Thou seeketh my intentions here? I see very little trouble in telling thyou. I should be elsewhere, but.... I know why they are here. To disrupt the balance, that is why they have come. While their intentions are just, true, and correct.... its execution will give birth to only newer evil. Why I am here, is because once they leave with your essence, I must create the dark to return life to equilibrium. I have no intention in harming any life, save for that which is intent on harming mine." He turned down to look at the assortment of collapsed beings.

"I will remove myself from their path if you will pass on this message. Should you not, I will still remove myself, but it will only harm them down thier choosen path. Tell them that even if they succeed here, the next trial shall bring one of them to a dreadful end. This is all I request." Then Vabin turned back to the Light. "Also, I request permission to only watch these completers of fate." His voice dying away, he began to use a mix of words and thought to convey the last of this. "As a being of shadow, though, should you wish me to act in the intruder's journey, I shall." At this his voice died, as he waited for a reply.

The Light considered for a moment, comparing the Shadow's desires to its own. There was much that they shared, in fact. "I believe my actions may satisfy you. My purpose in posessing this body is to stop these well meaning people as well, though my reasons may be only slightly different from your own. If they take one of the Light's embodiments, then harm will only come to them and those they love in the end. Yes, new evil will arise. Not a thing of Shadow or of Light, and that is why I wish to prevent their mission. I wish only to save them that sorrow, and like you, to keep matters in equilibrium. If they manage to succeed in their task anyways, then I may request that you take steps, yes. I will deliver your message, Harbinger of Shadow, if they fail to hear mine. I grant your request to stay and observe, but I would ask that you not interfere until my strategy fails, if it does fail. That is all." Fels' body waved a dismissive hand.

Unfortunately, Fels had no idea what they were saying. He could tell the were speaking in some ancient tongue, perhaps one never known by any man.

Vabin nodded. "As thus has spoken, thus it shall be." And with a disgusting metal screech as his wings folded back together, he back faded into nothingness.

((SORRY I HAVEN'T Replied in FOREVERRRR!!! Not much to type though put my POV))

Klyde's head was on pure fire, the flames licking into the inner reaches of his mind. He attempted to cover his ears, but it didn't help. His species, having keen hearing were of the most susceptible to sound attacks. He wasn't quite thinking but instead acting. Attempting to stand Klyde shakily got onto all four's and started crawling. Everyone around him was on the floor, whether moving, screaming, or still as stone ((ALLITERATION!! :3)).

He dropped back to the floor. I can't do this, not on my own but. I'm not sure anyone else can even move. Damn....damn...damn why couldn't I sense this earlier? If I had a mentor...not the time for this speech. I just need to, just need to go a...morr..... Klyde passed out once more the screaming still dancing it's way through his eardrums.

[Well, I was leading up to Zyria's scream signalling the danger, since everyone would always be caught off guard. But now, well....who's even still conscious? -_- I mean, Zyria isn't passed out, not even immobile. But it's sorta hard when's there's screaming in your head, and your mind is haunted by the lifelessness of the one you love. Someone needs to start the rescuing, or I can have Zyria just barely manage to fix Dreston just enough to drag more people out.]

[What about Robless? Wasn't he pulled out?]

(We can't simply drag people out, we need to get through this area somehow, because the next place is through here. No, my character is somewhat conscious and barely able to stand.)

[Okay, so if we can't drag people out of the place, how is anyone going to escape? Everyone's either conscious, but can't do anything, or unconscious. We need ideas. ]

((the only solution I have is that FELS IS UNAFFECTED, WHICH I THOUGHT I MADE OBVIOUS EARLIER. BUT NOBODY DOES ANYTHING AND JUST MAKES IT SO WE HAVE NO OPTIONS INSTEAD. So. Please? Someone say what he can do. He can't "just drag them off", he can't fight them, he can't do anything. I don't know what I'm supposed to do.))

((Calm down, this is just an RP. No need to write a rant over this. We aren't simply 'ignoring' you, and nobody has presented an obvious solution. Sure, Dreston tried to help and failed, and Fels is still conscious. Technically both characters can do what they want, I'm not to stop them.

First, let me explain the situation, then we'll talk about how we go through with this. They are not permanently "unconscious", their minds are simply weary. Sometimes they'll be in a trance or dream for a period of time, but if their willpower is strong enough they will pull through. The regular soldiers are likely as good as dead, but basically all player-controlled characters are strong enough to get through.

Our goal is to pass through this zone to get into the next chamber. For the sake of moving the plot along, we'll skip over the character development stuff and the chamber will simply be the last chamber, the Light's/Lyikos' den.

Second, these are a few of our options to fix this. 1. Sheer willpower and epic writing. 2. The Shadow ends up betraying the Light and helps us through. 3. One of Verax's character does something crazy. 4. Archelaus or Ma'at will save us (unlikely).

The list is infinitely long and is good as the ideas you have. Carry on, and please refrain from excessive aggression.))

((If we need to, I am perfectly alright with options 2. and 3.. Option 3 will be retitled option 0. for punny effect. But yes, this scene is taking longer than acceptable, so we either need to get going, or get someone to ACTIVATE PLOT NITRIOUS!))

((And we always have me, as well. But I don't really know what Raulch could do to help in this situation.))