With tightly coiled springs that snap for anything

[knew_anyway]

Characters: Nathaniel (knew_anyway), Rei (marsfireignite), The Animus (adstring_npc), and later on, Bartimaeus (imakefootnotes)
When: Saturday, Jan 7th, morning
Where: An abandoned warehouse
Rating: R for character death, gore, lots of fire, and some general 'oh shit'
Summary: Nathaniel finally discovers the name of the Fire and summons it with Rei, in an attempt to make Adstringendum a better

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[marsfireignite]

She had gone to her circle, quiet, and transformed -- Mars was not going to take any precautions during the summoning process and though she kept her arms crossed across her chest, she was tense, and ready to fire at any given moment that something went wrong.

Not that it would. This was foolproof, as had been assured to her countless times, but her eyes remained hardened and cold on the circle itself, her breathing even, perfectly calm and collected.

Inside, she was terrified. But she didn't let an ounce of that show, save for a slight catch of breath when Nathaniel spoke the name of the Animus.

[adstring_npc]

There was no wait this time. No pause, no reluctant gathering of energies on the other side of the world

[knew_anyway]

Nathaniel wasn't expecting the sudden motion, and it took him by surprise, but he held firm, in awe at the full extent of what he had summoned. It was some sort of being, yes- fire, earth, metal, and all of it seemed to move on its own, pressing outward, fighting the barriers of the circle almost before Nathaniel finished the summoning. The sudden drain from calling over such an immense creature hit him, and Nathaniel found himself gasping for breath, fighting to both to keep the monster in the pentacle, and to combat his own fatigue.

He didn't think that the attack would be so fast- almost didn't see the movement of the fire until it hit him, lancing through, tearing the scream from his throat and cutting it off with the sick sound of boiling blood. An awful stench of charred flesh rose from his body, consciousness bleeding out of him as the pain built up faster, faster, until his body could withstand it no longer

[marsfireignite]

"Stop the -- !"

But before Mars could finish her command to cease the ritual (because this was wrong, and it was massive, and the energy and self-destructive force that had burst from nothingness was overpowering -- it had already been done. And for a split second, she didn't do anything. She couldn't do anything. She stood there, frozen, eyes wide and heart lodged in her throat, unable to speak, because he was almost certainly dead.

It had happened so quickly that she hadn't been able to do a single thing to stop it.

The moment of frozen terror only lasted for half a second -- perhaps less -- before something inside her head snapped into place, and Mars swung an arm to her side, casting the fire that had fallen near her away, eyes focused on the being in front them before her eyes shifted to Aelia. Though Nathaniel was dead -- was he? was there even a chance for him to be saved? he'll come back, death in Adstringendum is impermanent at best, he'll just come back, there's no point in letting yourself be crippled, save your tears

[adstring_npc]

The fire kept burning through Nathaniel's body- only moving past when it seemed to get bored of charring meat, joining the rivers of heat that were exploring the building. There was emotion to the fire- to whatever it was that was named Ekpyrosis- but it wasn't anger, or vengeance, or anything very negative at all. It was confused, testing what passed as barriers in the material world, quietly and methodically removing them.

Aelia sat in the middle of it, unharmed by the flames, still looking as polite as ever as the fire licked past her 'summoner's' body. And at Mars' words, she tilted her head a little, frowning, as if struggling to make sense of it. Her hand raised- and a gilded lance was suddenly at Nathaniel's throat, piercing it uselessly, pinning the body to the ground.

"Sorry- bad aim."

[marsfireignite]

The emotion startled her -- and Mars, for the barest moment, let her eyes flicker toward the fire, staring intently at it, feeling it -- the confusion, the controlled chaos, the testing of boundaries.

Like a child taking its first steps, uncertain of the world around it, but determined to keep going, simply because it could.

Ekpyrosis was not the one who had killed Nathaniel. It was not the one who had skewered him by the throat and pinned him against the ground and as Mars watched, something inside her head snapped into place, and the arrow flew, directly toward Aelia's skull. But, more than that, Mars immediately spun her arms into an arc, creating her own fire, to surround herself as a shield -- careful to try and not disturb Ekpyrosis, a tiny shred of respect admist her terror and fury and sadness -- before another arrow launched directly from the flames, toward Aelia's midsection.

Mars might be dead, but like hell was she going down without a fight.

Nor was she going to leave this Hell without Nathaniel's body.

[adstring_npc]

The orchid demon didn't move, didn't flinch, didn't even seem to notice the fire searing towards her- a different kind of fire than the one Ekpyrosis was made from, created. It spilled over Aelia without a blink, though once it was past, she moved, body uncoiling, three legs twisting in a slow tandem. She was slow; her face was inches from Mars' in an instant, a long body leaned over her. Time held still- gray eyes met the senshi's, her free braid swinging down, brushing against Mars' shoulder. A scent of flowers, cloying, in the middle of the smoke and heat.

Swords encircled Mars; a ring of jewel-encrusted, useless-but-beautiful implements, framed around her own midsection. They moved through her fire shields, leaving them un-disturbed, ignoring them. Lowering her gaze, Aelia slipped back again, and in the same motion, the suspended weapons moved through Mars' body, skittering against each other with metal whines, nearly bisecting the girl in the process.

[marsfireignite]

In one moment, Mars had a flicker of hope that perhaps she would survive.

In the next, it was screaming pain.

The slicing of the blades was maddening, but the senshi fought to stay to her feet, discs of fire appearing as she fought to keep going, but the moment the blades cut deeper and wider and suddenly they were touching one another, her legs abruptly stopped working, and she collapsed on the floor, a mess of blood and gore and metal clashing together as a hoarse scream of pain ripped out of her throat before she clutched uselessly at the floor to try and drag herself upright, but it was useless, because her legs refused to work, and her blood was quickly pooling around her as the life began to flicker out of her eyes

[adstring_npc]

Aelia watched without a word, as if the sight- some of the swords still moving of their own accord, sliding from Mars' body only to stab into it again, looking for more open places to cut, ones that hadn't been claimed by other bits of metal- as if the sight was unremarkable and barely worth noticing.

For a few minutes, the only sound amid the fire's hiss and the crack of concrete, was the repetitive thunk of weaponry sliding into flesh. The squabble of metal on metal eventually subsided as everything found a place it could be satisfied with. The fire whipped past it all, and only when it had begun to spread beyond the initial site did Aelia turn from it.

Addressing the city, putting the rest of her concept into motion- it only took a few minutes more. Recalling Ekpyrosis' name was enough to wake it, set it to task; sealing into three girl-witches all the gods who had corrupted it kept the event stable, undistracted.

Satisfied, Aelia crawled out of the ruined warehouse, legs pulling her into a leisurely walk through the burning

[a little later]

[knew_anyway]

Nathaniel didn't move- save for a slight jerk as the lance was pulled out, something purely based on muscles and tendons and not really a sign of life at all. He was dead- or as dead as he could be in this place, and for all his plans went awry, the simplicity of death may have been a blessing in disguise. No guilt, no vengeance, no self hatred, just a blackness, a not being.

But it couldn't last forever. They were only a few blocks away from the building before his body twitched again- a sign of life this time, as his eyes snapped open and he screamed, hands clasping at his throat. The blackened, charred skin reverted back to his natural pale, his neck closing up, though not before copious amounts of blood seeped out over them both.

[knew_anyway]

It hit him all at once- life, forcing itself back into his lungs, making his heart beat once, painfully, firing electrical signals off though his brain. The shock of it was enough to overload his senses, and he spasmed on the ground, coughing and sputtering on his own blood. His muscles each jerked in turn as his brain went through its checklist of making sure everything was working- a single long shudder that roiled through his entire body.

He managed to roll himself over and prop himself up on his elbows as his stomach heaved. There was nothing to throw up, he hadn't eaten in days, but the panic, the sudden sights and sounds and colors and sensations from nothing, it was enough to send him into shock.

[knew_anyway]

He swallowed hard and tasted blood- blood was filling his senses, he was practically covered in it, leaving traces of its taste and scent everywhere.

But there was a voice- something that permeated the blood, and Nathaniel blearily looked up, his vision hazy and unclear.

"...Bartimaeus?". He rasped, his voice hoarse.