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Post by Twilight on Jun 5, 2008 17:34:07 GMT -5
Vincent exhaled. Sure he lived longer than most, but he didn’t want to be stuck in some maze for decades. He had a life to live, and the Fellowship needed him. There must be a way out; there had to be. He licked his lips as he moved to examine the other wall. “I think blindness is the least of my worries right now.” He moved his hand down a corner of the mine, a part that was almost definitely man-made, checking for a breeze or some sort of magical presence.
There was nothing, at least in that corner. He tripped over something like a stone as he tried to find another part of the mines to inspect. “There has to be some sort of back-up spell, lever, something.,” he said, thinking aloud. “The moving mine is probably some sort of defense mechanism so thieves won’t take off with the ore, but what would keep it from closing one of the miners in? Maybe they needed to wear something special like a talisman, but that would mean we’re out of luck.”
He slammed his fist on the wall and swore. After rubbing his eyes in a fruitless attempt to make them adjust faster, he said, “Kaen, do you see anything that looks like a—” He stopped and sniffed the air, remembering the immortal’s sickeningly burnt fingers at first, but there was one other thing that could be in the mine, at least one other thing besides mold and stagnant water. “Kaen, whatever you do, don’t light any more matches.” Vincent looked into what he assumed was the deeper part of the mine. “We, or at least I, are going to need to get out of here. Quick. I don’t know how long it takes to build up to harmful levels, but there is a sort of gas in these mines that kills with enough exposure. Without ventilation… I’ll be dead within two days.”
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Post by Soul Meister on Jun 24, 2008 20:28:25 GMT -5
Kaen quickly put away his match he planned to lit, so it didn't seem he was stupid. His numbness towards reality would have cost someone their life. It only made him feel more cursed then he already was. It had been so long since his last "accident" and he planned that it would stay that way. It was still dark in the cave, the lighting was absolute darkness, but it was still harmful enough. Wait, it wasn't absolute darkness, there must be some area where light entered.
"I won't light anything, but I can still make out your shape, so there must be somewhere light entered." Kaen replied smoothly with no concern in his voice. He wasn't obliged to get the boy out safely and by any means felt he cared that he should even help him. It was just the logical thing to follow someone, then wonder around blind.
"Are you good with directions?" Kaen asked, carefully touching the walls and running his hand through the rough exterior of the cave. His eyes darted from here and there, alert for any signs of trouble. The walls felt moist as he slid his hands back next to his sides. They might not get out of this so easily. Something gave him a foreboding feeling of doom.
"Even if there is somewhere that little light enters, the ventilation is still awful and you can still die within two or so days," making a point.
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Post by Twilight on Jul 1, 2008 21:14:51 GMT -5
Vincent cursed to himself, and for good measure, he did it again. He wasn’t the type of person to panic or to get so frustrated that he started punching walls, but he had never been in this sort of situation before. He needed to remind himself that it was not hopeless, but there was no where to go, to run to. And there was no light but for the dimmest possible that only Kaen could see so far. He needed light to draw. He needed to draw to plan, and he wasn’t getting out of here without a half-way decent plan.
“Light,” he muttered. “Light, light, light. We need light.” He scratched at the wall as if that alone would be able to carve a way through to the outside world. He ignored most of what Kaen said, but he did hear the last part about him dying. He stood up and punched the wall. “Where is it coming from?” he growled.
Something clicked in the wall, or it was at least a sound that resembled clicking. Vincent paused and tried to see if anything had moved. Maybe it was just his imagination, but outlines of the area began to appear. There was the wall, and Kaen, and something else.
Something that moved. Toward them.
Vincent felt his jaw drop. “Kaen! Behind you!” He reached for his sword.
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Post by Soul Meister on Jul 2, 2008 0:02:39 GMT -5
Kaen turned to see a lizard thing charging right into his stomach, its fangs sinking deep into his flesh. Blood spluttered out, he recoiled, not in surprise, but from the force. His face remained neutral just like always, even though he was being attack so viciously. Kaen took a deep breath and sighed as the beast gnawed on his flesh. Just as he reached for his own sword, it jumped off of him.
"It isn't such an idiotic creature," Kaen said as he patted his coat where the dirt had gotten on. The blood dripped from his stomach, it was actually a serious wound, even if he can't die, going unconscious from the lack blood was still possible. The monster snarled at him and Vincent, getting ready for a second attack.
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Post by Twilight on Jul 2, 2008 14:49:30 GMT -5
Vincent’s eyes darted back and forth, seeing, not seeing, whatever that creature was that had almost torn Kaen in half. He could just make out the silhouette of his ally, who seemed to have gore dripping out of his torso. Vincent didn’t care if that guy was immortal; if he was that badly injured, he was going to be weakened.
The creature snarled then leapt at Vincent. He tried to block with his sword, but felt a stinging pain in his left hand. Using the thing’s own momentum, he swung down and managed to toss it off. It sniffed, and snorted and eyed the two men. Even though he could still hold his rapier, Vincent couldn’t help but feel that he might as well be using a matchstick to defend himself with. Or maybe he should…
“Kaen!” he cried, backing toward the shape who was still dripping with blood. “I have a plan. It’s a bit insane, and it could end up killing us, er, me, but I don’t think we can take this thing with strength alone. Can you still move?”
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Post by Soul Meister on Jul 2, 2008 15:06:39 GMT -5
"Yeah, I can move," Kaen replied, but just after, the creature leaped at him again. He was prepared this time, as he lashed out his sword(still inside its sheath) onto the side of the thing. The monster fell over, but quickly got back up, it continued to snarl, snap, growl at them. He hated determined obstacles, like these things. As he tried to take a step, it became apparent that the blood loss was getting to him. That might be dangerous for the plan, but Vincent didn't have to know.
"So what do you want me to do?" he asked facing the thing.
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Post by Twilight on Jul 2, 2008 16:27:25 GMT -5
Vincent wiped some of the sweat off his brow. Though his eyes were mostly useless in this situation, it still stung to get salt in them. He glanced over at Kaen. He seemed almost dizzy, like he couldn’t stand for much longer, but he hoped it was just his imagination.
“I apologize in advance for making you do this, but see that tunnel?” Not far behind the creature and to the side was an extra dark spot, which Vincent hoped was the tunnel they had passed through not long ago. “I’m going to run down that, as far as possible. Give me a few minutes, seconds, I don’t know. As long as you can keep that… that thing with you. Once I’m gone, once you think I’m far enough away, light the match. There’s going to be an explosion, a big one, and it’ll probably blow a hole in the wall and kill whatever that thing is. I just hope you’re telling the truth about that whole immortal thing.” The whole time he was speaking, he slowly moved closer to the entrance of the tunnel. The creature’s eyes watched him with a steady gaze. “I’m sorry, Kaen.” He leapt forward, past the thing and into the blind tunnel.
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Post by Soul Meister on Jul 2, 2008 16:42:52 GMT -5
Kaen had to admit, it wasn't a bad plan. At least Vincent trusted his words, that many usually disbelieve. Taking a deep breath, Kaen took hold of the creature to make sure, it does not go after Vincent. The monster bit into his arm, trying to get free. After a few minutes wrestling with the thing, Kaen took out his match. The creature's struggle became more fierce, as if it knew what he was up to. Taking a deep breath, Kaen lighted his match.
For about 1/10 of a second, nothing happened. Then fire engulfed the mine, Kaen felt his body burning, the explosion was so strong that he was thrown out into the clearing. As the fire died down, he could see the sun in the sky. All his body was tingling with pain and he was seriously burned. His face was charred and so was all his clothes. The eye patch had extinguished in the explosion. Covering his right eye, with his hand, he struggled to get up. All he managed was to sit up.
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Post by Twilight on Jul 2, 2008 17:00:57 GMT -5
Vincent’s breathing echoed through the cave. He could distantly hear Kaen struggle with the lizard creature behind, so at least the thing wasn’t getting any closer. He felt along the wall, looking for slopes which meant turns. He knew that he needed to get away from the worst of the blast and only a few turns would do that. He took in another breath, wondering how much time had passed.
He didn’t get much time to ponder.
The first thing he noticed, for less than a fraction of a second, was a horribly bright light, tinged with red and white, that filled, engulfed the cavern. Then there was the sound, something so loud, he knew that blood should be coming out of his ears, that death was just a step away. Then the concussion. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, especially if he had been standing right next to it, but it threw him, face first, into the tunnel wall. He felt wetness of his face and tasted blood.
After a few breathless seconds, he looked up from the cover of his hands. The tunnel, miraculously, did not cave in, and a bright lighted stemmed from one end. The plan had actually worked. Vincent stood up, every part of him ached, but at least he was better off than Kaen. He stumbled down the tunnel and to the newly created entrance, past the charred body of the creature. Light, glorious sunlight, shone on his skin, on his wounds. They still hurt, but just being out in the open air felt fantastic. He found Kaen sitting up, his back to him. At least he had survived. “Heh,” he said. “Guess it worked.”
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Post by Soul Meister on Jul 2, 2008 17:08:39 GMT -5
"Yeah, nice place here," Kaen said, couldn't help suppressing a smile. This place was beautiful, he couldn't deny that. After a few more seconds, he realized his jaw was broken and most of his face were burned away. The burn was serious enough that he could feel himself healing. Taking his free hand, he felt that his hair was almost completely singed off. At best this will take fifteen hours to completely recover.
"Can you help me out, I can't really get up, could you inspect how seriously injured I am?"
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Post by Twilight on Jul 2, 2008 20:52:53 GMT -5
Vincent paled. As he got closer to Kaen, he couldn’t smell burned, charred flesh, like before but far worse. He had to concentrate to not vomit. He could see the backs of his arms, both badly burned, actually blackened in some parts. At last he saw his face, burned, horrible burned. Vincent had to close his eyes and flinch away. He couldn’t even imagine, and this was his fault. Maybe, after all these years, he could be numb to pain, or maybe it just didn’t bother him anymore. That’s what he hoped. Still, he had to remember that it had been necessary to get out alive, and to keep Kaen from wandering around for centuries.
Vincent nodded and tried to look at the body. He had seen burn victims before, people who had been burned alive at a steak. His own family had been the ones sponsoring it before. But even just fire wasn’t taking into account for the explosion. The concussive force of that seemed to have broken all his few ribs and probably shattered the arm he had used to hold the match. A broken leg or two wouldn’t be out of the question either. He supposed the back could be ruled out since he was still able to sit up, but he didn’t know anything about an immortal cursed man’s physiology, so for all he knew, it could be broken as well. All this wasn’t even mentioning the amount of exposed bone and flesh torn off during the explosion and by the monster.
He scratched his head and remembered the pain he felt when he hit the wall. His nose still dripped some blood. It was bruised but didn’t seem broken. In any case, he had other problems to worry about. “Um, well, it’s bad,” he finally said. “Really bad. I’m not really sure what to say other than you should be dead right now. So, you have any idea what I should do to help?”
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Post by Soul Meister on Jul 2, 2008 22:48:06 GMT -5
"Hold on," Kaen replied as he struggled to get up to his feet. Just when he thought he was able to stand there was a noise. Crack! Apparently his right leg was extremely brittle after the explosion and broke from the weight. He fell over, back to his sitting position. The healing was slow, but he could feel his flesh growing back. Each muscle tendons attaching to the bone and the cracked parts of the bones being forced out of the flesh was just a second less of pain.
"Can you help me get to a town after my face heals?" "Its probably only going to take an hour."
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Post by Twilight on Jul 3, 2008 16:31:17 GMT -5
Vincent nodded out of habit. His thoughts were still on the man’s wounds. How could he stand it without going insane? Could he even feel it? His legs were beginning to feel weak, probably from the blood lost from his nose, so he sat down cross-legged in the grass. It felt cool against his hands. He figured that they were lucky the whole area didn’t catch fire.
He swallowed and rubbed his eyes, not sure what he should say or if he should even say anything. An hour of silence did not exactly seem all that appealing. “So, can you… can you even feel it anymore? I mean, burns are supposed to be the most painful injury, and, well, I’m just curious.”
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Post by Soul Meister on Jul 3, 2008 18:21:46 GMT -5
"I feel every bit of pain just like the next one, but after awhile you get used to it." Kaen replied dully, it even hurt to talk at the moment. Kaen tried to let out a sigh, but only ended up coughing up a heap lot of blood. His lungs burned from the smoke that the explosion caused and he would think one of the creature's fang was stuck somewhere in his heart. As the flesh began to grow back, it forced out pieced of broken bones. Kaen subconsciously began to reach over to pluck it away.
"Vincent, if you get bored, want to spar?" "My left arm seemed to have almost healed."
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Post by Twilight on Jul 4, 2008 2:22:10 GMT -5
“Sparring.” Vincent smiled to himself. That was about the last thing he would consider doing in this circumstance. The immortal man was piecing himself back together after literally being blown to bits; they had just destroyed a Rodylian landmark that had been there for probably 1000 years; and Kaen wanted to spar.
The half-vampire shrugged. “You know what? I’d be up for just about anything at this point. I’d be glad to.” He unsheathed his rapier to examine it. Somehow, it had come out of the whole experience completely unscathed. That was lucky. But what about… He pulled out his sketchbook. It was a bit wrinkled and maybe sooty around the edges, but it too had survived. Vincent breathed a sigh of relief. If he didn’t have that, he didn’t know what he would do.
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