Koldan, Sin and the Doomed Ship

(This is a continuation of a previous post: Descent)

  Wrath closed the wrist with rage as she heard Moloch's name. She had been thinking about him since she had set hoof on the ship.

  The bastard... so he had survived.

  And likely hurt in his pride, he had sent these disgusting beasts on the Persephone to take care of her. Thankfully, it was probably impossible to predict where his envoys would appear exactly. It likely saved their lives, as reassuring this thought could be. The demoness looked at the Chasm, and suddenly raised an eyebrow; it was almost a smile that appeared on her face.

Talk

  "Chasm. Are you really here to protect something? Do you even know what you are guarding?"

  She was pretty sure the creature had been given mindless orders, and it could not possibly understand what this place was.

  "Do you even know you are blocked here for the eternity without our help? Did Moloch tell you that?"

A small bluff. But not a lie entirely. She, as a matter of fact, didn't even know what she was looking for exactly.

  "You are going to run out of 'supplies' very quickly."

  They only fed on fresh meat. Pretty disgusting, but it was the truth.

  The demonic grin remained, as the towering demon unfurled its clawed hands at its sides, its talons bursting into momentary flame and cascading up its arms.

  "Not here to treat with you, Exile," it spat, re-using the same moniker that she was given by the child-demon earlier. "Here only to obey."

  Krof had remained disciplined enough not to fire into the demon point-blank, most likely through doubt it would actually accomplish anything. He remained stock-still, moving only enough to keep himself between Wrath and the Chasm. He let the exchange run its course, having nothing to contribute to parley between the denizens of Hell.

  Wrath slowly leaned forward and whispered into the Skoll's ear, summarizing what she had heard and spoken in demonic language.

  "He won't let us pass."

It was not exactly true, but anyway she refused to go back; they were so close. Her anger grew again. This misbeliever... That rotted nobody... She should have taken care of him long ago!

  "Be prepared to fire, Zhukov..." She reached for her knife. "NOW!"

  She yelled her order and jumped to the ceiling in an acrobatic move, propelling her body  down again in another powerful inverted jump. She aimed for the head, which she successfully hit critically, inserting the blade 4 inches in it. Not enough to kill it, but it would be disoriented at the least, blind with a little bit of luck, dead if the Skoll's weapon had any efficiency on this creature. The Demoness was not faster than bullets, but her attack probably took less than 2 seconds. One couldn't tell she could have accomplished this move in such a confined space. The Chasm swung its arms forward, trying to rip Wrath's body opened, but the horned creature was too swift and easily avoided the claws.

  The skoll snapped into action, on high alert and perhaps attuned to Wrath's wishes on more than just a material level. His thumb flicked his fire selector to armor-piercing and he waited the split second necessary for Wrath to be out of his line of fire. He could not miss such a massive enemy at this range, and his first shell hit the Chasm directly under its chin and detonated, spraying fragments of the thing's rocky hide. The chasm reacted by hunching in on itself, as if in preparation for exertion, and burst into a pyre of abyssal flame - the second round of the burst was swept up in the wave of intense heat and flash-melted into liquid metal before it struck. Krof disappeared underneath seething flame, half plasma and half spiritual holocaust, as the Chasm defended itself.

The Doors of Hell

  Wrath restored her balance after avoiding the powerful claw attacks right in time to see the Chasm burst into flames. She rushed forward.

  "NOO!"

  She suddenly had a panic attack at the idea of loosing her only way to get her freedom back. In the slight second where she leaped forward, she inexplicably had Zhukov's blue eyes appear in her mind with a confused feeling attached to it: the fear of its lost. Why? She could not explain it. And really, she didn't have time. She opened her wings and wrapped herself into them. As she did so, their consistence changed and they became almost solid, forming a very efficient barrier to the Chasm's attack. She placed herself between the two beligerents, protecting the wolf by doing so, the fire being redirected to its sides. Soon, the heat dropped and the fire disappeared. Wrath slightly opened her wings, just enough to look at the beast. Its face, already ugly, was now horribly deformed by the knife planted into its skull. Its left eye was collapsed, dark blood was pouring from the wound, which made its grin even more disturbing.

  The Chasm grabbed the knife handle, and slowly pulled it out. The cracks it made were indescribably awful. When it popped out, a bubble of blood formed at its previous location and another wave of dark liquid spilled out of it. It dropped it on the floor, which produced a loud metal sound when the blade hit the grate. The demoness was still looking at the horrid being when it hit again with its large claw, from the side, onto her wings. Surprised, she was lifted in the air and was pushed back several feet backwards and landed behind Zhukov and on the side, sliding for an additional foot. The Chasm had a dark, guttural laugh.

  "You think you're smart."

  It grinned in an even more horrible way.

  "I'm not alone."

  But the creature made a step backwards.

  Even shielded by the wings of Wrath, the Skoll was on fire, fighting to remain conscious as the sheer heat rampaged through the skin of his armor and wreathed him in suffocating air. His suit raised several alarms about the ambient temperature, the displays blurring as the CPU overheated from abyssal fire. Without his boarding armor, he would have been incinerated. Unknown to him, the artifact he wore had also turned aside much of the heat, although it could not fully protect him. He raised his weapon and fired, taking a step backward toward where Wrath had struck the deck. The heavy armor-defeating rounds slammed into the demon, with some effect now that its flame had abated. The chasm raised a clawed hand to protect its eyes and continued slinking back, black ichor erupting out of its hide where the Akula's shells struck it.

  "The Keys are hidden, Exile," it snarled cryptically in parting. "By those who watch and those who guard."

  With that, it disappeared, the angles of the corridor collapsing into jagged visual chaos momentarily as a hole was torn in reality to admit the Chasm back to Hell. Krof sank to his knees as his suit struggled to manage the heat, directing power to thermal shunts.

The Doors of Lust

  Wrath looked at the Chasm disappear with incomprehension; then realized she was the only one that could not phase in Hell anymore. Her earlier threat had probably sounded ridiculous.

  "Zhukov!!"

  She jumped to her feet, her wings back to their normal texture and position.

  "Good. You're alive."

  The fumes raising from his armor didn't look too good though, but Wrath ignored them since she didn't have to care.

  ...

  ...

  Did she?

  As she made two steps forward, she looked at the black protections again and couldn't refrain a feeling of concern, as if the Skoll's current health status did matter more than his ability to walk and fire his weapon.

  She... had an hesitation, opened the mouth, kept it this way for too long to look natural, blushed so slightly that it was invisible in the current lighting, then finally said:

  "Did you ever hear about people that watch the ship's reactor?"

  She leaned forward to retrieve her knife, her garment pulled on the side, highlighting the dark skin of her leg.

  "Yes. Yes, I am."

  The Skoll propped himself up with the butt of his rifle and kept watch down the corridor as he waited for his suit to report his medical condition. Even still smoldering, even after that harrowing encounter, his helmet tilts slightly and his gaze fixates on that one exposed, dusky-skinned leg, the curves inherent in her flesh triggering his mental bond with her and proving very distracting.

  "And...no. Have not heard of this."

  He was silent for a long while, with that tension that bespoke unasked questions, before he continued.

  "It...said something. About keys."

  He was unsure how he knew that, and was looking to her for confirmation. Wrath smiled at first when she noticed the wolf's titled head as she stood back up, not exactly knowing where he was looking but having an idea. If there was one thing that Wrath was appreciated for in Hell, it was her curves. But no one would make the error to mention them to the demoness...

  She was still grinning when Zhukov spoke for the second time, but her expression changed dramatically to a literally shocked face.

  "How do you... have you learned the demonic lang..."

  It was impossible. The way she spoke with her kind was not only involving words. It was partly sound, partly spiritual, partly body language... How could the Skoll know any of it? Then she realized he had overdeveloped senses; and even if it was very unlikely, maybe he had partly understood what the Chasm had told her.

  "Sorry. Yes, it did. It is related to my question. It said that the Keys were hidden by those who watch and those who guard. I think it's pretty easy to guess that the Keys will open the portal, those who guard are probably other Chasms, but those who watch..."

  She plunged into her thoughts, at mid-distance between the two mysteries that were presented to her in the past 2 minutes.

  Krof shook his head, as if to clear it, then ducked as another of the drifting jellies emerged from the wall and sailed over him.

  "Fuck."

  He rose to his feet and advanced a pair of steps down the corridor, as his HUD registered some dehydration and superficial burns where his skin contacted his armor.

  "This is going to get only worse. You know this, yes."

  It was not a plea to turn back - he was far too enthralled with her to refuse her request to visit the reactor. That much was obvious as he turned his head again to lock his gaze on her displayed leg. It was only a statement of fact. He turned his head to the side in his helmet to take a pull from the water tube built into it, found it warm and unrefreshing.

  "What was that? Have never seen anything like it...step through before."

(This is a continuation of a previous post: Feast)

  Wrath and Krof stayed in the refectory for a couple of days, waiting for the Demoness to recover from her wounds. She healed quickly. Meanwhile, the Skoll tried to convince her to stay still as much as she could, but she could not resist the temptation to look at him when he cobbled together some more ammunition. Maybe he was also reluctant to go to their next destination: the reactor. Maybe it was a way for him to push back this moment.

  But they finally went. They stocked some food, Krof took his weapon, and before they knew it, they were going down in the elevator to their destination.

Elevated

  Krof had grown steadily more anxious as the secure elevator descended to the reactor deck, his taloned finger tapping against the trigger guard of his weapon. He had not been idle during his time sleeplessly watching over the demon as she recuperated - the shells he'd assembled for the portable cannon were crude, but serviceable. She'd seen first-hand that he did not seem to know the specifics of the munitions he built - some program in his helmet transmitted the instructions to him visually.

  When the elevator finally ground to a halt and began to open, he dealt with the egress in the way that had proven the most survivable during his time on the ship - he charged out as soon as the doors opened, training the muzzle of his weapon on every corner in quick succession. It was best to exit a lethal choke point like the elevator as soon as possible. Satisfied that the room was clear, he stepped aside to make room for Sin, motioning for her to follow.


  Wrath walked out of the elevator, now aware of the dangers that the ship could host. She was probably a little more confident than the Skoll as she had the knowledge of how most demons operated, but since her last certainty led her to be wounded by a lesser demon, she kept her awareness level high. She kept a small knife she had found on a corpse on their way here close to her hand, ready to use it if necessary. It wasn't a very efficient weapon but that'll do.

  She took the time to appreciate the situation. She was close to her goal: finding this portal and getting the hell out of here. But strangely, the idea was making her a little sad, but she didn't know why. Was this place making her mad?

  "Let's move on."

  Her tone was firm; she was determined. The remains of the bite she took two days ago (were they days on this ship?) could be seen on her hip. It still hurt, but it was manageable.

  "This is active zone," Krof said, dialing at the security panel with one claw, resting his rifle on his shoulder. "Echelon 2-1-1 and kill on contact." He paused as the door whirred and began ratcheting open. "Sorry. Disregard."

  He led the way through the door with the muzzle of his Akula, advancing cautiously down the corridor, snout pointed down the sights of his weapon. After advancing past the lit elevator the surroundings became very dark. Unsure of whether Wrath could see in the blackness or not, he detached a flare from his harness and knocked the striker against his armored leg, not taking his eyes from his sight picture as he tossed the sputtering light source into their path. He fell silent as he simply observed, watching for movement.


  Wrath was blinded by the shadows at first, her eyes capable to see in very low lighting but not in complete darkness. She looked at the Skoll with curiosity as he threw the flare forward in the darkness. She had discovered two things in less than 20 seconds. First, that the creatures here could talk to security panels to open them. Second, that they could generate light with little tubes. She listened as the tube bounced on the floor, the sound resonating loudly in the corridor. No sign of a living creature. She was starting to mistrust her ability to sense other demons in this ship. What happened to her? At least, the presence of the Skoll made her more comfortable. He knew what could happen here. And she would be back home soon enough. What could happen to the wolf-looking creature was... unimportant.

Jellyfish

  Krof pulled his weapon up to a closer lock with his sights as something translucent emerged from the armored wall of the corridor as if it was made of smoke. An amorphous blob of matter, shot through with pinpoints of luminescence, pulsing and throbbing as if to the tune of a heart. It drifted slowly from right to left, as if borne on a current, trailing a tangled mass of tentacles behind it. A pair of the tendrils detached from the main mass to gingerly meet the opposite wall, before it drifted into that too, disappearing.

  And then an entire swarm of them...varying sizes...emerging from one wall and disappearing into the next as if neither existed. If Krof had ever seen a jellyfish, the similarities might have struck him. He backed up a step to shield Wrath with his body, withdrawing out of the path.

  "Do not touch them," he said grimly, probably needlessly.

  Wrath looked at the floating... things... with curiosity. They were almost hypnotizing, but she had seen similar forms in her home world, just not exactly these. The... jellies seemed to be a little more evolved, but still very empty of any consciousness... besides the will to kill. She could have done a fine job of getting rid of them with her sword if she hadn't lost it, but the knife she had was probably going to melt down in their acidic body.

  Better not to capture their attention.

  She unconsciously hold her right hip, as if she suddenly remembered the attack that happened two days before. She muttured.

  "Is it far from here?"

  If they had to go through multiple corridors with these floating things around, it would take forever. Wrath tried to distinguish something in the far but wasn't successful, even now that her eyes had adapted to the darkness. She put her hand on the Skoll's arm, as if it would improve her safety.

  Krof kept his weapon pointed down the corridor, able to keep it steady with one paw. His other turned to come up under Wrath's hand as she touched his arm, swallowing her hand with his larger paw. His arm trailed behind him as he led her onward by the hand, but still kept her behind him. It was probably not the most tactically sound way to proceed, but he found himself not caring. It gave him something to occupy himself with as his mind raced. He was about to literally wade into the mouth of Hell with this demon-woman, and some distant muffled portion of his mind was demanding to know why. And he had no answer.

  "Is far, yes. Most armored part of entire ship. Cooling stations and power nodes. Security stations - When this was running ship, did not want stray crew wandering by."

  He was not entirely sure how the deck was laid out - The persephone was an experimental vessel and not one of the Nastrand ships-of-the-line that he had committed to memory. And the technical schemata stored on board were of a security clearance beyond his.

  "And you are still not sensing these, I am taking it?"

  It was slow going, pausing to stop for another flock of the drifting creatures about fifty meters down.

  Wrath slightly resisted when Krof took her hand, not understanding why the Skoll would reduce both of their protection abilities to move forward. Maybe it was the way to behave when facing those jelly-looking creatures? A smile however appeared on her face, and she quickly erased it after noticing she had it. What was this false sensation of security she was feeling? She had to be careful. She had been surprised once, and it wouldn't happen again. Zhukov's question worried her, though.

  "No. I can't feel them."

  She wondered if they had evolved so much that they could bypass a high-ranked demon ability to detect them. She couldn't see how it was possible. No one in Hell would ever allow that. Especially since it would have compromised the security of all the high authorities.

  "We need to be careful."

  As if the Skoll didn't already know that.

Chasm

  Krof let go of her hand, focusing ahead as he advanced ponderously forward.

  "This is best advice I have heard al-"

  He stopped dead in his tracks, dropping into a crouch, raised his weapon. He was oblivious to whether she managed to stop in time, or collided with his back. As they rounded a bend in the corridor, approaching the thrum of a power capacitor, a figure stood in the corridor to meet them - hooded, face downcast, unnaturally long and taloned hands steepled as if in contemplation. The worst part was that he hadn't *smelled* it. His finger found the trigger and poised against its tension.

  Wrath didn't see the Skoll stop in time, so she stumbled upon him but thankfully not hard enough to fall over.

  "Wha-"

  She paused, immobile, looking at the creature that she immediately recognized. A Chasm. But why the hell would it be hooded? Who would have summoned such a creature here, a creature mostly uncontrollable even by the most powerful demons? They were mostly used for defense, where they would be unleashed on enemies to wreak havoc as the only thing these demons were looking for was blood. There was two possible outcomes from this situation: either the Chasm had not seen them and was not looking for food, and they could be fine; if it was not coming in their direction. Either it was on the lookout... and they needed to be prepared. Hopefully it would not be the second option, but who knows.

  Wrath slowly moved her hand towards her weapon.

  "Do... not... move..."

  She hardly knew if the Skoll's weapon would even hurt the Chasm.


  Krof seemed to share her doubts about being able to harm the being. He only continued to point his weapon at the Chasm because dropping his aim would require moving. He followed the demoness' command literally, standing rock-still. The Chasm, for its part, allowed the awkward silence to continue for many nerve-wracking seconds before opening its fanged skull-grin to, amazingly, speak. It was not a talent many of them displayed.

  "No further," it proclaimed, abyssal fire billowing from its maw as it slowly formed the words, as if it took it great effort. "In the name of Moloch."

  It cocked its misshapen head and peered at Wrath around the Skoll, big enough to tower over Krof. It seemed to be grinning at her, but it seemed to grin at everything.