The sound of dripping water echos through the darkness... A faint scent of decay trails through the air as the elfess regains consciousness. How long has it been? Minutes...? Days...? Impossible to tell. Something quiet, almost imperceptible is just ahead...
Delachiel opens her eyes just a crack, turning her head slightly, listening, to get an idea of her surroundings. She tries to check if any of her weapons are left.
Slowly, the room seems to become more perceptible. Rock? Rock everywhere, above and below, ah, a cave of some sort... Her weapons seem to be right where she left them. Before her stands a huge door, worn and cracked with age. New rock has begun to form on parts due to the water that drips from the stalagmites above... A gash goes straight across the door, opening to the darkness beyond, a darkness even her eyes cannot pierce.
Delachiel looks around the cave once more, then proceeds slowly towards the door, trying to open it.
Sparks of cold dance across her fingers as they touch the door. It doesn't budge. Slowly, twinges of emotion seem to echo from it's surface. Anger, hatred, violence, disorder... Then faint feelings of peace and sadness. Two distinct and separate presences occupy here. The door, old as it is, still seems quite strong, however. It doesn't give...
Delachiel draws back a tad, examining the gash, trying to see what's on the other side.
Darkness... On occasion whisps of someone..something...move on the other side.
Delachiel moves around the cave, searching for any other exits before returning to the door, somewhat fearfully examining the mineral growth for any signs of recent opening. She gives the door another, strong push with her boot, then tries to pull it open.
The door doesn't move an inch. A sound reverberates through the cavern... laughter...? Something sparkles to the left of the elfess, something catching the light that occasionally pours from the crack in the door...
Delachiel steps closer to examine the source of the glitter, trying to place the sound, or recognize it's maker.
Metal. Something metal buried in a thin coating of limestone...
Delachiel takes her staff and attempts to break the item loose.
The stone breaks away with little resistance. Within a few moments a large section of a breastplate is clearly visible. Battered, rusted in many spots...still...amazingly well preserved. It takes ages for stone to form like that...
Delachiel sighs a bit, and keep prying it loose, seemingly concentrated on what she does, while in fact paying more attention to her surroundings than her task.
Before the elfess lays the remains of what once was a suit of armor. The leather bindings and chain that once held the joints together are long gone. The larger plates are still intact, however. Odd thing, there are no bones to go with the armor. Perhaps they rotted away...perhaps not...
Delachiel examines the armor, a bit too cursorily for her own good, then returns to the door to see if she can user her dagger or sword to clean out the gash enough for her to squeeze trough without cutting herself too badly.
The laugher grows louder and deeper, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once.
Delachiel stops and speaks quietly. ~~Who are you?~~
"You don't remember me, Delachiel?" asks an oddly familiar voice. Slowly, an elven form seems to come together in the darkness... "Have you forgotten me so easily...?"
Delachiel's eyes narrow as she turns to face what she assumes to be her captor.
"You left me to die. Don't you remember?" asks the figure as he slowly approaches. Slowly, a male Xardeth takes shape as he approaches, "I expected better of you, but then, you haven't really changed have you?"
Delachiel's expression freezes and the step she takes backwards betrays that, despite her denial, she isn't invulnerable. ~~You're not real.~~
A soft chuckle, "Not real? What is real anyway?" He keeps moving closer, "Welcome to my hell, Delachiel. Welcome to the world of darkness that you left me in." He smiles, almost sadistically, "So, did you enjoy watching me die? Did you feel anything at all, or was it the usual pleasure felt by Xardeth when someone suffers?" The stench of decay becomes more and more overwhelming as he draws nearer...
Delachiel raises her staff. ~~Don't come closer. You're just trying to play some mind game with me. I should know. And in any case, there was nothing I could do, but to hope that your god managed to save you from ours.~~
Delachiel attempts, awfully late, to raise her mental defenses.
The laughter again. "Do you think you can affect the dead? I'm here to welcome you to my hell. You're going to be here a long time. You've earned every bit of torment you will experience... My.." He spits, "dear Xardeth." He lunges toward her, the scent of rotten flesh overpowering. Just inches away from her, his decaying hands showing bone and sinew...
Delachiel doesn't hesitate as she swings her staff to ward off the creature, first aiming for the hands, then for the head.
The staff meets nothing but air. Whatever it was, it is gone. Silence reigns supreme...
Delachiel pants for a moment, then grinds her teeth and attempts to squeeze trough the crack in the door.
The elfess makes it most of the way through before the laughter begins again and something clutches and grabs at her legs...
Delachiel tries to shake herself loose and push herself trough, ~~Get away, you foul monster!~~
The laugher trails off. "Monster? My, my, a monster calling another a monster" says a feminine voice. "Amusing isn't she? Who would have thought, a Xardeth with a conscience." says another, decidedly male voice.
Delachiel tries to ignore the voices, fighting a moment of panic, concentrating on getting herself to the other side of the door.
"Oooooo!" says a childlike voice, "Lookat how she struggles! Can we keep her??? Huhuhuh?" The elfess is making her way through the crack rather rapidly. Whatever it is, it's not fighting that hard...
Delachiel keeps squirming, the anguish at the memories awakened driving her on.
A voice seems to come from a few feet from Delachiel's head, "Come now, Xardeth? Why do you struggle so? I thought your kind reveled in darkness and decay...?" A sickly chuckle follows... Regardless of the taunting and struggling, she is almost though the crack...
Delachiel pushes hard as she answers, ~~Darkness isn't decay.~~
A laugh, and the female voice returns, "Then you haven't reveled in true darkness and entropy, child. Come now... let us how you the heart of evil. The center of death... After all...it is your nature..." Ahead, the elfess can see light. A pinpoint of light indicating a passage way heading upwards and away from this living nightmare...
~~Death has nothing to do with it, only suffering.~~ The Xardeth waits until she has emptied her lungs and goes for a final jerk to pull herself loose from the door and the torment behind it.
She comes free from the crack and hits the floor with a resounding *thud*. The laugher is deafening now and coupled with a chat, "Join us....become part of us...it is pointless to struggle..."
Delachiel takes a moment to take in her new surroundings. ~~Struggle is never pointless, especially against a revolting being like you.~~
The light is straight ahead and upwards. The air here is clearer, and a gentle breeze flows, bring the scent of pine and a soft rain... Behind her, the door seems to pulsate, "He thought it wasn't pointless...and now he is weakening. Time is a great ally of ours... Soon, he will fail and we will be free once again... Come now. Join us..." echo's the voices, all in sync.
Delachiel begins her journey towards the light, only answering with a muttered, ~~Never.~~
"It's all a matter of time...." repeats over and over behind the elf as she heads toward the light... After a time she can make out the dim sky and stars twinkling between the clouds and her ears hear the sound of rain. Relief from the laughter that seems to echo in them...
Delachiel pulls her hands close and fights the shivers that try to overcome her, walking steadily towards the outdoors.
The elfess steps out into the night air, crisp and cool. A gentle rain is falling here. She is standing near a crumbled door to an ancient building of some sort. It is probably late evening.
Delachiel looks around, trying to get her bearings, trying to recognize anything at all about her surroundings.
Nothing seems familiar... No paths come to this place, only forest and brush as far as she can see. It seems perhaps this place is avoided for good reason. Something happened here once, something horrible.
Delachiel touches her neck in absentminded curiosity as she examines the ruins of the building before heading into a random direction.
Her hands brush across what feels to be a necklace of some sort, before she heads off into the darkness and comfort of the surrounding forest...
Delachiel walks into the welcoming darkness of the trees, ignoring the rain, her mind on locking away the past that the mysterious monster had let loose again.