Name: Lavinia
Race: Demon
Class: Vampiric
Age: Immortal – 90 days.
Crystal Essence: [Crimson]- Lvl.2— 63.71ESQ
[Available Essence Points— 10]
Faith:35
Agility: 25
Intelligence:19
Perk: {Reais Smite}, {Blood Rush}, {Wave Shot}, {Crimson Blink}, {Inspect}, {Blood Art; Kinesis}
Soul Bond: Curse Marked; Master Henry Vanavil
***
Lavinia gasps awake, immediately choking on the chunk of flesh she left in her mouth but quickly recovering as she chews it down her throat. It tastes old and smells that way too but it isn’t as bad as some of the things she’s eaten. Sitting up straight Lavinia took to her surroundings and pieced together her memories. She sat in blood, flesh and broken bone, all smelling the same as the chunk she just swallowed. Picking herself up without slipping in the pool of dank fluid is difficult at first but hopping up to grab the ridged bone sticking out over the space above her isn’t. She’s pulls herself up and remembers.
The winged serpent…Jaui. She searches and finds the Kimpe’s scavenged corpse some ways away from her and the coiled Jaui feeding several hosts of monsters that have yet to notice her. Dire wolves, bald birds and hard shelled insects the size of dogs all feast on the massive Jaui, its corpse a temporary haven for all as neither can protect nor feast of it alone. That isn’t the part Lavinia is concerned about though, it’s mass has been lost considerably since she killed it and it couldn’t have happened in a single night.
How long have I slept? Lavinia squats atop what’s left of the head she burst through and combs her mind and memories of what happened beyond the Jaui, beyond the Kimpe and quickly found the true question she should ask, “Jonn, Seraph!”
Recalling the existence of her teammates she hops off the Jaui, startling a meek brown wolf out of the way as she sprints out into the forest only to stop after a couple paces out. She stares back at the Jaui, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head to the side.
Did I take it’s crystal? Strolling back, she glances at the Kimpe, its throat the most damaged among the remnants of its scavenged parts and she recalls ripping it out for the Crystal within, breaking and absorbing its power to wield against the Jaui that would’ve eaten her whole had she been a second late. Lavinia hops back up and into the gaping hole in the Jaui’s head, blinking at the shredded, diced bites of flesh unscarred by the monsters gathered to feast she recalls what happened after she blew its skull in.
Blood, I controlled it. Eyes widening at the realization she’s halted in her search for the Jaui’s crystal, much of its flesh still persists even with the communities of monsters feasting on it and the shredding she’d done with those whips of blood only dislodged the pounds of flesh she wades through. Staring up at the mess of a failing skeletal structure and suffering through the dank smell of the rotting Jaui, Lavinia’s vie to retrieve its Crystal wanes. It’s probably gone; some other demon or dumb monster could have eaten it.
She grits her teeth at the thought of having the prize snatched away from her after doing all the work and presses her hand against the wall of rotting flesh. Essence leaks out of her palm, seeping through out the cramped, mushed space of the Jaui’s interior and bringing some sliver of light in the damp darkness. Her Blood refused to answer her command whenever she tried to pull it from wounds but against the Jaui she wielded its own to harrow through its insides and she intended to do so again.
Instinct has her shut her eyes and breathe in only the scent of blood, allowing its heaviness to weigh in her nostrils as a sharp twang of spice and life. Her fangs protrude her lips without her command and her mouth waters a primal sense bodes her to drink the blood. It’s not what she wants in the moment but if that’s what it takes then so be it.
Her brows furrow in concentration as Essence leaked from her pores intertwines with the blood invading her senses, it changes somehow, turning sour and potent rather than sweet. The blood remains but with her Essence swimming through it she recognizes it as something else, as a weapon and not a meal.
To test her control Lavinia keeps her eyes shut and commands the mass of blood forth. A torrent rushes past her to dig through the space between her fingers, the flesh she presses her palm against recedes and when she opens her eyes she finds the Blood burrowing through four points of her fingers, eating and shredding the flesh into minute pieces with her Essence to fuel its consumption.
The tendrils form into one as Lavinia marvels, ploughing, shifting and pushing another gaping hole in the Jaui’s body until a passage forms from her handprint. She walks down the viscous passage, dripping blood and globs of loose flesh like rain as, her eyes lighting the path up in a Crimson as she continues to feed the growing mass of blood and now bits of flesh with her Essence.
“Blood Art; Kinesis.” She mutters under her breath with a smile as she passes by monsters chewing their own holes into the Jaui, startling them with the looming flood of blood. Each and every back away and watch her careful even after she passes— she wondered why none bothered to devour her while she slept for days within the Jaui’s head, it possible they were afraid as they are now. Timid in the face of her growing power.
Crystal Essence Level two, I am even stronger, Lucy. Lavinia smiles and with a gentle wave of her hand the tendrils split into five, joining themselves at a point to form a large star she then uses to slice off the Jaui’s gnawed, gnarly tail. It radiated Essence and with another command the blood she gathered rains unto the sliced piece, skewering it through completely until a gleaming Crimson Crystal rattles off a chunk of it, whipping into the air from impact with Lavinia’s Blood shards. She leaps and snatches it out of the air effortlessly landing on her feet with enough force to lodge some discomfort and in turn remind her of something she’d forgotten.
Stolen novel; please report.
Squeezing the Jaui’s crystal in her palm that barely covers it, she sticks a finger in her boot and with a surge of glee rediscovers the two Crimson Crystals she’d plucked from the Kimpe.
Kimpe…Jonn, Seraph, where are they? Focus returning to matters at hand, she slides the Jaui’s larger Crystal in her boot in place of the other. I’ve been asleep for days, Jonn should have at least returned to look for me, right?
She barely remembers much after activating Blood Rush, but the picture of Seraph’s half of a body and Jonn flying her over here remains— the Kimpe were heading to Corym but her teammates were hurt. Fingering the smaller crystal, she decides right then and there, “Seraph should eat this.” Pressing her foot against the lump of Crystal in her boot she adds, “And Jonn too.”
With a whim of thought the abundance of blood and chunks of flesh she dug out of the Jaui collapses to the forest floor, flooding it and relieving her of a taxing amount of Essence. The monsters rush for it as she leaves the mess of the forest clearing to reunite with her teammates.
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Although resolved to find and help her teammates in whatever endeavours are left, Lavinia quickly finds that alone will be a difficult enough task in itself. In the days she slumbered within the Jaui’s corpse the forest as well as the sweltering corpse wiped away the scent of both Seraph and Jonn. She’s sure she’d recognize it if she had a good sniff, but where to start looking for that first sniff is the problem that has her paralyzed some paces away from the Jaui’s nest. Even the Kimpe would serve the same function, after all, they were among the demons residing in Corym and their scent would lead her in the same direction. But the last Kimpe Lavinia has seen is nothing but a shared pile of bones between a pack of timid dire wolves who’ve slobbered all over it. There’s nothing to focus on.
And so Lavinia stares in all directions as the forest seems to expand and close in on her all at once. She should have paid closer attention with Seraph, listened closely Jonn and helped him chart the course but instead all she could think about was flesh, blood and Essence.
“Urrahhh!” Screeching a frustrated roar, Lavinia startles the community of monsters feasting on the Jaui with her pain. Several scatter away, too frightened to risk a live Demon’s ire but Lavinia doesn’t pay them any mind as her claws dig into her palm.
She is lost.
This isn’t the first time it’s happened either, it’s the third. She lost her birth crevasse as she wandered into the forest in search of more to hunt and then she lost the path when the Stelc she unwittingly came across ricocheted her into the waiting laps of Ken and Lucy and now she’s lost again, because she fell asleep for too long and never bothered paying attention to where the Corym, the place she only begun to call home stood.
A part of her whispers a reminder that it wasn’t home and it never could be. The only thing of true value Corym held to her is Lucy’s staff, which is now lost along with the city of demons. The reminder sends a searing pang of loss even greater than one she felt at losing trace of her teammates. Growling in defiance of the growing hurt she picks herself up as her claws dig deeper into her palm. Losing the last bit of Lucy is unacceptable, she’d find the GroveStaff just as she resolves to find the accursed human responsible for Lucy’s murder and the sick curse scarring her being.
Vanavil…
Shaking her head Lavinia scolds herself inwardly. What is she doing lamenting Seraph and Jonn? They’ve always been distractions and losing them is no true loss because— Lavinia steels her maelstrom of thoughts with a deep breath and decides the best course of action is action. Picking a path and sticking to it she marches onwards, leaving behind the Jaui’s corpse and nest to the monsters to feast without fear of her intervention. All that matters now is getting back to Corym and retrieving the GroveStaff from that Demon, Ulx, everything else is extra.
Steeled in the new found resolve, Lavinia unclenches her fists, allowing her claws to ease out of her bloodied palm as she searches the horizon for a sign and scent of Corym. As she does something painfully obvious becomes apparent on her hands and she stares down at it; the stained metal and shimmering crimson of her ring. She gapes at it and her stupidity before allowing a grin to sit on her lips. Seraph knew her well enough and ensured the commring Lavinia so often forgot existed clamped her finger. Bringing it closer, Lavinia stares and combs her memories on how to use the thing, as she recalls it would allow her to speak to whoever was on the other end, either Seraph herself or Jonn but certainly someone within the Trirax.
Feeding the ring with Essence Lavinia watches the red gem in its crown light up with anticipation. For a moment nothing happens, she stops her aimless stroll to listen closely, perking her ears and raising the ring to one yet not a sound beyond the billowing wind comes from it. Lavinia figures she ought to speak, “Seraph, Jonn, Ulx!”
Calling out the most recognizable names to any Trirax but still she gets nothing. Her budding glee and hope at rediscovering the ring begins to wane but she doesn’t give up. She reminds herself of the conversation she had with Seraph, the one that revealed just how she summoned reinforcements to tackle her when she still meant to devour the stubborn Trirax and the rest of her kind for any modicum of power. Proximity was key. The reinforcing Trirax did not ambush Lavinia before she came upon Corym but did so moments after she stepped into the swamp warped around it.
“Ulx! Jonn! It’s Lavinia, where are you?” With those thoughts in mind she deigns to try once more and at interval as she picks up her pace through the thickened forest, wandering for a sign of the familiar. Again, not a word or whisper comes through the ring and so Lavinia cuts the feed of Essence to it— with any luck it will speak to her once she reaches someone or something from Corym, a bit of wishful thinking but that’s all she has at the moment.
Wolves, serpents and broad backed insects of all kinds keen their sight on her as she strolls through the forest without a care, shouting out names and making a ruckus all together. Something a predator wouldn’t usually do in these forests, but Lavinia couldn’t care about them or what wild demons lurk nearby unless they were of Corym’s three set; Trirax, Kimpe and Caldri. As the sky dims Lavinia found herself still marching down a straight line, eyes searching the horizon for a glimpse of familiarity yet none reveal themselves in the thick of the forest even as her languid pace allows her the full scope of her surroundings.
None of the monsters stalking dare pounce, not even the rather large Dire Wolves, Werebears or even the strange being carved from the trees themselves. All simply observe as she observes them. She appreciates the boundaries as for the first time since she woke her appetite is soured and her zeal for a hunt is nowhere to be found. At least until she happens upon a cutting stream of water as the sky lightens once again, marking a full day of tireless march.
Catching her warbling reflection in the stream Lavinia falls to her knees and dunks her head in, wetting her mane of hair as she washes and drinks of the stream simultaneously, quenching a thirst she didn’t realize she suffered. Gasping out of it she draws her fingers through her mane in a comb and shakes the water off. She stares at the warbling reflection of herself once more; face scarred with freckles of Vanvil’s curse, fangs drooping out the sides of her lip, solemn red eyes gazing back at her shroud.
Something about her made Lavinia angry. She thought she knew why but still the anger does not dissipate. Baring her teeth she turns away from the reflection and glances left and right of the stream, recalling the last she’d seen herself in one. Back track. From Lucy to Corym.
Judging how the stream flowed from right to left, Lavinia decides to follow it; if it’s the same stream as the one the Demon she was died at, the one where Lavinia was born then perhaps she may find the GroveStaff yet.