[METAPLOT] Treasure Trove (Squires' Finale - Part 4)

[Wolfs Heart]

Genesis stumbled, the sudden pain catching her off guard. She had never been stabbed before, she didn't know what the sensation she felt was. Her hand reached for her side, felt the dagger, she sucked in an audible breath of air. Her head turned to try and find the source, her mouth opened to warn the others, but turning her head was enough to cause her to lose her balance. Genesis dropped her sword, trying to regain her balance, but she had already been so weak and her consciousness was slipping. Her sword clanged against the ground of the platform, but Genesis was no longer on the platform, she was falling.

Yes, something did die down there, and it was her.

Splash  

[Teigra]

A quiet gasp of air followed by the thud of something heavy hitting the ground...

Lailah whirled towards the source of the sound and held the light orb aloft, but it was too late. All she saw was the sword where it had fallen to the ground. No sign of the earthen-colored angel. "Genesis?" Far below, a splash answered her unspoken question. Her eyes widened with shock and she rushed towards the edge to look down. It was too far though, even with the orb, she couldn't see anything. "Genesis!" The splash was reassuring in a way; if there was water down there, she may have survived. Lailah's thoughts whirled with some of the other sounds that would haunt her nightmares for years to come associated with the fall of her other comrades.

A line of colorful, not-very-Guardian-friendly language cast those thoughts aside for the moment and Lailah made a snap decision. "Someone grab her sword! Now, everyone shield your eyes!" Giving only a few moments for the others to react and cover their eyes, Lailah turned and hurled the orb of light from the platform and down to the abyss below. She had aimed for an area off to her left, careful to shield her eyes and look away from that direction. The initial impact of the orb would set off like a flash grenade, blinding anyone (or anything) that was looking at the time. However, she knew that following the initial flash, the light would fade, illuminating the area for only mere moments before they would be left in darkness again. It was this brief time she would have to focus and memorize anything she could see before going in.

From far below...a blinding flash! And Lailah turned and leapt from the platform in a dive.  

[Doof]

Katya did consider responding to Lailah's question there and then, but realized that it was a trivial concern for the time being. A couple of the others had summoned their own light source so there wasn't an immediate flame source she could use to light her own, but with the size of the room it quickly became apparent that the group needed yet more light, as much as they could manage in all likelihood. She tucked her unlit torch under her arm and drew the firesteel that had pulled loose from her signal arrow from a small pouch slung from her belt. Katya didn't see Alethea move while she was distracted with her torch, but did feel an odd breeze which once again pushed her long bangs over her eyes. The young demon made a tired sighing sound and looked down as she brushed a sweat-soaked shock of hair away from her eyes just in time to hear Genesis' sword hit the ground. Immediately her head snapped back up and her weariness vanished, golden eyes fixing first on the sword which had briefly bounced back into the air, then at Genesis herself, already disappearing over the edge of the platform, hand clutching her side. The sheer unexpectedness of what she was witnessing caused her mind to blank for a moment.

Splash. "Genesis!"

The voice wasn't her own, although it's what she was about to yell. Lailah was already at the edge of the platform, staring down into the black void below. When she yelled for them all to shield their eyes, Katya knew what that meant and turned away. Even so, the flash that followed was bright enough to turn her vision red behind her closed eyelids, though she couldn't smell the telltale whiff of ozone. That meant Lailah's energy orb had impacted quite far away.

Katya opened her eyes and saw the residual glow already fading, and where Lailah had been standing there was just dust swirling in disturbed air. Now it was Katya's turn to swear. She hopped over to Genesis' fallen sword and picked it up while dropping her torch onto the ground where it had been, and pressing the tip of her firesteel into the oil-soaked head with her other hand.

The heavy weapon was a poor substitute for a handy flint for such a small movement, but it only took two strikes for her torch to catch and she pocketed her firesteel while grabbing the torch and holding it high in the air, Genesis' sword still in her off hand. "Lailah! I think Genesis is hurt!" She yelled as she too dived off the edge, ready to help. Good Guardians... The stink down here... Katya fluttered down slowly, her torch not casting enough light to illuminate any surfaces and Lailah's energy orb having already faded. She just hoped the headstrong angel knew what she was doing down there.  

[Menelie]

Dante had just straightened up from peering over the edge of the platform, disappointed that his kicking dust over hadn't yielded any information when he heard Genesis' cry and splash. He sucked in a soundless gasp and dropped to his knees to look over the edge again, only to turn immediately away at Lailah's warning. He shielded his eyes with his forearm until the flash had passed, then turned back, hoping to catch a glimpse of either Lailah or Genesis. His heart nearly stopped when Katya dove over the platform too.

I knew this was a test!

Dante had half a mind to follow them. His fingertips gripped the edge of the platform. The others...they'd died in an instant, caught in traps, or left behind. But this? It didn't seem like there'd been a trap, and Genesis had been with them already. Had they been attacked? He could only make out the faint forms of his fellows. What else lurked in the darkness? But if Genesis had been attacked, that meant they had a chance to save her.

Turning back to the others on the platform, which at this point were just Alethea and Eligor, plus the two they'd rescued, Dante started to sign "When they get back, I will heal them," but the light faded from the platform mid-sentence.

Great.  

[Guardian_Iris]

The moment Genesis' body hit the water below, lights sparked up under the water. It was like a starry sky under the dark water. When enough had lit, the cavern illuminated. While still dim, a sense of the vast area they were in became apparent. The light did not reach high enough to give a sense of any type of ceiling, but the lack of an actual sky gave some indication.

Near where Genesis fell, and Lailah splashed in herself, was a small island offering a respite from the dank, dark water.  

[Antidia]

Satisfied, and a little distraught at what she'd done, Alethea peered over the edge, nearly losing her balance as she tried to take advantage of the limited light created in the aftermath of Lailah's flash bomb. She reached out to take hold of Eligor's arm to steady herself. "What happened?" As each of her fellow squires jumped in after Genesis a sinking feeling set in. She couldn't fly.

Hyper aware now, something caught the corner of her vision. "Eligor, look!" She pointed at the water. Did something awaken in the water? Alethea blinked a few times thinking it was just muddy mind playing tricks, but the little lights under the water were moving. Slow to start. But heading towards the splashdown.  

[Menelie]

At Alethea's announcement, Dante too looked back over the edge. His already worried expression furrowed into a grimace. "They're taking too long," he signed. He wasn't sure that Eligor or Alethea could see him in the scant light provided by....whatever those were...but it was more to himself, anyway.

Impossible to tell whether the lights were friend or foe. Lights, Dante tended to think, represented good. But nothing here had been good so far. Either way, he was needed down there, not up here. "I'm going down," he signed at his remaining companions on the platform, using larger gestures than he typically might so as to be understood better.

He unfurled his wings and lifted off the platform, then fluttered down to where he could see a blobby shape that must have been Genesis, Lailah, and Katya. He landed in the water beside them and squeezed in between them to find Genesis.

Dante cleared his mind and thought of nothing but the Light. He imagined its healing radiance flowing through him and into Genesis. He whistled the 3 notes for the spell, and let himself become a conduit for the Guardians' power.

((Dante uses Healing Radiance to heal Genesis to 100%))  

[Teigra]

Lailah narrowed her eyes, taking in all the details she could of the surroundings before the flash faded. Water below, something that looked like land or rocks...and a series of tiny lights igniting beneath the water's surface, illuminating the still form that sank towards them. It would have given her reason to hesitate, but her dive was too steep, and she'd made up her mind: she wasn't losing another comrade.

Not again.

The angel hit the water with less of a splash, her wings giving her some control over the dive and allowing her to enter more smoothly than Genesis' falling form. She angled herself towards the still form in the water, anxiety rising as the lights rose from the depths towards them. The eerie glow from beneath made her skin crawl almost as much as the thought of what else could be in this murky water with them. She began pushing her way through the water swiftly, kicking her legs to drive her forwards as she reached out for Genesis. She was so still...had the fall knocked her out? What had happened? She wouldn't get answers here; she needed to get Genesis out of the water first. Looping one arm around Genesis in a lifesaving assist, Lailah oriented herself to look upward and began kicking with renewed energy. The lights rising behind her may have assisted in boosting her already pulsing adrenaline.

The pair broke the surface of the water and Lailah immediately began making her way towards the small island...rocky outcropping...?...whatever it was she had seen in her dive that had looked like solid ground. She had followed as swiftly as she could, but Genesis still could have swallowed quite a bit of water after she hit and she still wasn't moving... As soon as she could put her feet down on something, Lailah was hauling Genesis out of the water behind her. She wasn't the biggest or strongest of the Squires by far, and the water was helping at first, but as they neared the land, she was struggling. First thought, get any water out. What was the best way? Her mind was racing.

The pale angel managed to get Genesis at least most of the way out of the water before dropping to her knees. "Come on, Genesis, don't you dare," she growled, turning the other onto her side so she would be able to cough out any water. She looped her arms around the other's torso, preparing to aid the process when the something caused her to glance down. She looked at her hand, a darkness on her skin that appeared black in the dim glow of the cavern. Streaks, clearly not her own markings, that she followed up her forearm...to Genesis' side. Just then, she belatedly processed what Katya had yelled after her. Something about Genesis being hurt...

Now that she had found the source, it was impossible to tear her attention from the open gash in Genesis' side, blood streaming down to mix and dilute in the water. Her initial impression would have been to assume she'd fallen onto a sharp rock in the water, but if Katya had made the observation up on the platform above...

'Which do I treat first? She's gonna' bleed out...but it doesn't matter if she isn't breathing...but if I try to force the water out, I might make the bleeding worse...'

Lailah's chest had been heaving from the exertion, but her breaths were getting quicker, shallower, touched by panic. She was a fighter. Not a healer. Not a medic. This was far beyond Lailah's comfort zone. But she was the only one here. Katya was the next closest, but she was still on the way. And Lailah had already sworn that she wasn't going to let anyone else die, not if she could do anything about it.

'Do something, you idiot! Every second you waste deciding what to do first, she's slipping closer to death--!'

Placing both hands over the wound, Lailah pressed down hard, enough that her comrade would have reacted if she'd been awake. Pressure to stop bleeding. She knew that much from basic first aid. She was probably one of the worst healers on the team when it came to magic...well, maybe next to Katya...but every bit counted right now. Healing energy flowed through her hands into the wound as she closed her eyes in focus. Once the spell was cast, she kept feeding energy into it as she glanced upward to see where her airborne comrade was.

"Katya! Genesis...she's out cold, but also bleeding. Wound in her side. I'm applying pressure and healing, but..." Was it even working? Was it too late? Without elaborating further, her voice strained, she pleaded, "Help!" She wasn't even sure what she wanted or expected Katya to do, honestly. Just...something.

She wasn't expecting a secondary movement from above and she jerked in surprise as Dante landed nearby and began casting. Lailah hurriedly composed herself again, though she kept her hands in place over the wound, keeping pressure on to restrict the blood flow in the meantime.  

[Guardian_Iris]

Genesis had not been breathing, and she was bleeding out. The water was foul with taint. While Dante tried hard, he could only heal her partially. He saved her vital organs, and with Lailah's quick thinking, they stopped the bleeding. The earth-toned angel was still not breathing.

((Dante has used his big heal, costing his max MP (10 MP). He no longer has MP until the recharge in the next chapter.))

~.~

The spots of light in the dark water began to float to the surface, and towards the little island where our heroes attempt to save Genesis.

The tainted mist behind the remaining squires on the platform has breached the door way, they only have minutes to decide their next course of action.  

[Doof]

As soon as the light in the cavern picked up Katya saw the small patch of ground that seemed to be their only possible refuge in this rank place, and she swiftly angled her broad wings down to sweep toward the island at considerable speed. Before she landed though, she noticed the lights in the water, eerily beautiful in their own way, starting to move.

Toward Lailah and Genesis.

"s**t." Katya planted her feet firmly on the ground but still slid a little, finding the island covered in rocks. Large, slick, flat rocks, separated by scatterings of small, angular, shattered rocks, separated by mounds of tiny round pebbles. Only on a few patches of land was there something like dirt or earth, and it was soggy and yielding. She ran to one of these patches that led to a gentle slope into the water and began waving her torch over her head, beckoning her comrades to that spot. “Out of the water! Out!” She called, her voice clear, but it was doubtful Lailah could have heard her given the splashing she was doing.

To Katya’s relief, Lailah moved through the water surprisingly fast for a feather-winged angel and brought Genesis onto the island just a few short hops from where Katya had been trying to signal them to. The little demon cautiously moved over the broken rocks and sodden dirt to where Lailah was, calling out to the sky for Katya’s help in a scene that might have been somewhat comical in other circumstances that weren’t as life-threateningly dire as this one. That’s when she smelled the blood, faint against the rotting stench that smothered the whole cavern, but unmistakable now that they’d seen so much of it. “Oh no.” Her voice was soft, but carried an undercurrent of dread. Lailah placed her hands on the wound in what was instantly recognizable as a channeling method for a healing spell, but the little demon knew that neither of them were particularly gifted at healing. They needed-

As if by cue, light reflected off something above them. It was Dante, swooping down also to assist. She watched, relieved as he knelt down and put his powerful healing magics to work.

Except they didn’t. Well, not fully. It seemed to help the wound but Genesis remained completely still, and didn’t appear to be breathing. And her gaze drifted out to the water; the lights. They were coming. The area immediately around the island was now bright enough for her to no longer need to hold her light up and Katya stood at the water’s edge, torch in one hand and Genesis’ sword in the other, sizing up the situation. Whatever was in the water was ominously moving towards them and was likely as dangerous as everything else they’d encountered. Genesis was unconscious (or worse) and Lailah’s wings were drenched, and Katya, strong as her wings were could only carry one other squire at a time. The painful thought crossed her mind that she could carry Lailah up and away from the island if they left Genesis behind, but where would they go? That insidious-looking mist was likely encroaching onto the platform by now and Eligor, Alethea and the others were still up there-

Alethea. Their earthbound speedster.

She could likely jump off the platform into the water but it was a long way down. And whatever was in the water was awake and aware. Katya shook her head. If they stood any chance, they only stood one together. “Lailah, Dante, I’m going to grab the others. Alethea will need help getting down here. Beware the water.” With a mighty wingbeat and a swirl of turbulent air Katya was flying again, rocketing back up to the platform at speed, and reaching its lip in a matter of seconds. She immediately saw the advancing mist and the remaining light pae, of whom Eligor and Alethea were peering over the edge at the scene below. Katya once again waved her torch and gestured them over. “Hey, can’t hang out here any longer. We need your help down there. I don’t see any other options.” She looked at Alethea and was about to offer a lift when she noticed and remembered Kurt and… Cria? Whatever their names were. Those two weren’t all right, and Katya wondered if they could make it down on their own. She had hit another quandary.

No time. Alethea was more important. “Come, Alethea. I’ll give you a soft landing.” She slid Genesis’ sword between a couple of random straps on her backpack and extended a small red hand to the one-winged angel. If she had time, she would come back for the evacuees. It was a cold perspective to take, but the only way she maintained her grip on herself in the face of yet another possible death. None of it seemed real anymore. It was almost as though she could still smell Genesis’ blood around her.
 

[Antidia]

The mist encroached upon the four that had not descended yet. Below them, the lights in the water had moved to surround the little island and cast enough of a glow she could see her comrades. Jumping was simply not an option now that whatever was in the water was directly below them.

Alethea glanced at Eligor's wings knowing he could save himself. She then glanced towards the despondent Kurt and squinted her eyes. Would he really just let himself end here. He had no drive to carry on. Would he let the other man die? None of the other squires wouldn't be able to carry a full-grown pae. Drag maybe... But if he lets himself just succumb, all the lives they've sacrificed to rescue them would have been for naught.

"Kurt! You have to get down to that island. I don't think you'll survive another does of heavy Taint. Can you help, please!"

The one-winged angel turned back to the matter at hand. Would she be able to boost herself enough to land on the land? But would she survive the landing? She didn't want to die here with Genesis. She couldn't leave Eligor. She closed her eyes and tilted her head skyward taking in a deep breath. What good would praying do at this point? The Guardians have probably shut their door to me.

"Eligor, are you...." She trailed off as she saw Katya approach.

"Katya!... Yes!" My savior! "A soft landing is exactly what I need, thank you!" Alethea took Katya's hand and glanced back to Eligor and smiled. "Wait..."

The pink angel approached Kurt and slapped him across the face. "Save yourself and save Cria. You don't want to die here." She pleaded with him, hoping the slap would wake him up to the situation.

Alethea returned to Katya and moved to hug her. "Thank you," she whispered.
 

[EvilSilverDragon]

Nothing really got through. Not even Genesis' peril. Even with a woman in danger, he just stood there in his own little nightmare world. Honestly, it was nice. There was a numbness, a loud quite. Noise without words to pay attention to became an abstractly soothing white noise.

Being struct really didn't do much, that was a love tap at this point. Something, fragments of memories or what little shred of his self preservation seemed to kick in. Dulled eyes grew a few shades brighter with each blink. Looking more 'through' or past Alethea, he started talking again, "Vicious fish pae below, they can come out of the water. Came in through the water." Drowning, swirling, pain and confusion clashed like the bottom of a waterfall. "Came in, go back out?" That became a question, its been a long time since he even thought of any sort of question.

Shifting Cria, he moved the younger male over his shoulder to free his hands. His wings are weak, unused and frazzled but there may be enough. Maybe.

First, he grabbed a few blocks of rubble and began lobbing them into the water below both near the island and off to the side as a distraction as his out of tune mind started to try to work out how he was going to get them down.  

[Doof]

Katya wrapped her arms around Alethea in return, pressing her forehead against Alethea's cheek reassuringly, such was the height difference between them. She then pulled back, the serious expression returning to her face. "Ready?" Katya walked behind the angel and placed her torch between her teeth, biting down on it before hooking her arms under Alethea’s. It was a well-practiced manoeuvre for the both of them. Both pae pushed off the ground with their legs before Katya’s vast wings took over, hauling their combined weight aloft with three powerful wingbeats. “Bit heavier with all our equipment, I suppose.” A random musing punctuated mid-sentence with a grunt that betrayed she was straining a little harder than she usually was. It had been a long, long day.

Once airborne, Katya scooted her short but somewhat stocky legs up to just above Alethea’s hips and wrapped them firmly about her midsection, easing the strain on her arms. The two squires then circled downwards, away from the mist, the flaming torch whuffling in the airflow as they descended toward the island and the lights gathering ominously in the subterranean lake below.

“Vat dssn’t luk gud.” Speaking through the torch in her mouth, her words were awkward but adequately understandable. She swooped low (but not too low) in an effort to get a better look at the source of the lights in the otherwise onyx waters. Katya flapped up just high enough to pick out an earthy spot on the spit of land that wasn’t too slick and carefully swung her body upright while flaring her wings out, letting Alethea get her legs under her before gently depositing the flightless angel onto the ground. She then flapped back up to a slow speed for one more circle to gain enough control to land nearby herself.

Katya exhaled heavily, spitting her torch back into her hand and using her other forearm to wipe drool from the corner of her mouth, resumed a ready stance facing the water, pointing the flames out towards whatever that was under the surface. “You think there’s any chance these lights aren’t the murder-y sort?” The quip was lighthearted enough but her tone was grim. She looked down at Genesis, still unmoving, then at Dante, who had put in his best effort at healing her. “Dante, please tell me there’s something else that can be done for her?” Katya’s voice was suddenly plaintive. It occurred to her that she was far more ready to fight or flee than to heal and save, and that deficiency of skill could cost her another friend.
 

[Menelie]

Dante collapsed onto his backside, exhausted. His heels dug into the sandy surface of the little isle they'd taken refuge on. He ran a hand through his hair to get it out of his face and stared at Genesis' still-lifeless body. He wanted to cry. To hell with it, he was crying. He felt silly, after all the death they'd already witnessed, to be weeping now. But...the others had all died in an instant. This? Genesis? He'd had a chance to save her. But he hadn't been strong enough.

He looked up at the mention of his name and wiped tears away with his forearm. "I gave it all I had," he signed. "Got no energy left." He could probably give it another go if he were magically able to stop time and rest for a night.

He looked back at Genesis and grief turned to...an odd sense of determination. He might not be able to use more magic to heal her, but he wasn't limited to magic. He'd be a poor excuse for a healer if he didn't know nonmagical ways of saving a life.

Cursing himself for not thinking of this WAY earlier, Dante got up on his knees again.He put an ear to Genesis' chest. He heard a faint heartbeat and he might have yelped, if he could. "She's alive!" he signed. Then, after a beat of watching her. "But not breathing."

He rolled her onto her back and got her as flat as possible. He pinched her nose with one hand and steadied her chin with the other, then inhaled deeply, covered her mouth with his, and breathed in. He did this a few times, hoping her lungs would receive those breaths and start doing it on their own again. Each time he did he prayed into those breaths.

Guardians, give her breath again. Her work is not yet finished.  

[Wolfs Heart]

Dark water gurgled out of Genesis' mouth followed by a huge life-giving gasp for air. They had done it. As the blurry world gained it's focus, Genesis' hand instinctively reached for her side to find the wound at her side had been healed over with fresh skin. "Was... anyone else attacked?" She asked her voice weak from the water that had tried to finish her off. She slowly glanced around her, blinking at those who surrounded her, and her mind coming back to the mission. They must not be under attack anymore if they had taken the opportunity to save her. Genesis was all too aware of how close she had been to the brink. She had taken inventory of those who surrounded her and had noticed the missing pae, but tried not to jump to conclusions.

In the eerily lit landscape, Genesis realized the mist was no longer pursuing them (at least not from where she could see down below). Wait a moment, where were they? Water, water had come from her mouth. Genesis had a brief flash of a memory of hitting the water. Cautiously, she sat herself up and looked around, finding the water and noticing the lights below that were now being disturbed in big splashes by debris falling from the sky.