Night 59: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[train_tracer]

[from here]Just like last night, Vino turned the bend to find that he was first in the main hallway again. He couldn't decide if he preferred it or not. Patience wasn't his favorite virtue, but he supposed he'd have to wait. The two meeting places he would have to be at were right next to each other, right? So that was fine. If he had to wait a

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[ultimagi]

[from here]

She could see the shapes of other humans in the hallway, stretching out long beyond sight, but nobody she recognized off-hand. It wasn't much of a surprise; she hadn't even been here a week, and wasn't entirely comfortable reaching out to strangers. Everyone was a stranger to her, even those who claimed to be from her same home. It was possible they were telling the truth, but... she had no way of knowing for sure

[girlsandgadgets]

Edgar followed behind Terra, still a bit surprised at her initiative. In contrast to the reserved demeanor he'd seen thus far, she'd been the one to insist they move, leading the way without so much as a word from him. Though fighting sickness himself, he kept a close watch on her, wary of what might happen if what he suspected was true

[ultimagi]

His face was hard to read, for the terrible light and her unfamiliarity with him. Focusing too much would in the end prove useless, but the girl couldn't defeat her own curiosity. He spoke; she nodded once, acknowledging she'd heard. Carnage and violence would follow wherever the creatures went -- or wherever the patients did.

"Does this..." she started to say, her voice barely loud enough to carry, "...happen often?" Edgar claimed to have been here 'a while,' though how long that was she didn't know, and wouldn't be able to scale even if she did. What did weeks, months or seasons mean to someone still adjusting to the passing of hours and days? It was the active analysis of such things that was difficult for her, as she was then; action alone, and that which could be done without thought, were what came easy. A sword possessed no memory, but it could not forget how to slice through flesh.

Letting what answer he may have follow her, she moved cautiously to the nearest of the closed doors. She couldn't see a lock...

[girlsandgadgets]

"This is the first I've seen something like this happen here," Edgar admitted, leaning on his shovel as he moved his light along the walls and up to the ceiling. "Strange occurrences at night are the norm, but this chaos, the magic on the walls

[ultimagi]

She spun at the change in his voice, hand falling away from the door and her attention darting towards the ceiling. Unless whatever potential threat approached dropped down, or was knocked from the ceiling, she didn't have any physical weapon with reach enough. Knives were handy, but she wasn't trained for throwing them, even if they were weighted properly for it, and she didn't want to lose one to a foolish attack, either. Little could serve as a shield, save perhaps ducking behind Edgar himself.

There was really only course the girl could take, and she wasted little time in deciding -- stepping back, drawing from the deep pool of magic within her.

[girlsandgadgets]

His light scanned the ceiling around them, then trailed downward to the walls. Though he only caught sight of the spindly legs one more time, Edgar could hear their owner skittering about in the darkness, staying clear of the beam. It was hard to tell their number- possibly two, or maybe one large spider... or at least that was what he hoped it was. Still, the odds were in their favor- this was an abomination of the Landel's variety (which meant it was likely to be as monstrous and deformed as the cats and rats, and that was a safe enough bet with the legs he'd seen), and they were trained fighters. Any injuries would hinder their progress, though- it was best to dispatch of their enemy as quickly as possible

[ultimagi]

Light gave her direction enough, but the girl could have cast her aim blind and hit her target. Power surged through her, racing from her torso down her arms, tingling in her fingers. Throwing her arms out before her, her shout of fire erupted as flames far ahead of her, several bursting out from the creature in quick succession, hitting its target.

Flame gave light to the hall better than either sirens or flashlights could, but the illumination lasted only as long as the flames. It was enough to show its full size; her breath caught in her throat.

How did something that large move through the hallways so quietly? The girl shook her head, exhaling sharply; it wasn't dead yet, and she still had more than power enough to try again.

[girlsandgadgets]

The blaze that surged before them lit the hallway brightly, if only for a moment- it was long enough to get an eyeful of the creature they were facing. Indeed, it was a spider, though simply calling it large would have been a grave understatement. For something so massive to have appeared from seemingly nowhere and readied a web over a portion of the hallway was unnerving at best

[ultimagi]

It was a little strange; using this same amount of magic only the night before had left her feeling disoriented and drained. Now it seemed to boil over without end, each blast leaving her no weaker than before. However, now wasn't the time to contemplate this heavily; the monster was still alive, and she still needed to focus to actually use that magic. Her eyes had difficulty adjusting back to darkness after that bright flare; in her ears, she heard Edgar's motion and attacks, the spider's pace like the rapid strike of a war drum, and nearly drowning out all that was the relentless beating of her heart.

It smouldered and bled, but the creature still had its eyes, its limbs, and its hunger. Though it moved more quickly than a human could run, the tight quarters of the hall made this a pale advantage. What it did have was its keen eyesight, and its sticky traps: when it charged, it was instinct that had the girl twisting out of its path-- and predictably into its web

[girlsandgadgets]

Edgar dodged the other way as the spider came charging at them, taking an overarching swing as it passed- the blade of the shovel hit the ground hard, the impact rattling down the shaft and through his hands. His flashlight fell to the ground, illuminating the eastern end of the corridor, the entrance to the side hallway coming into view in the distance. Terra's cry broke his concentration momentarily, drawing his attention to her. In the dim illumination, he could see she was trapped in the webbing, much like his shovel had been only seconds before. He bit back his instinct to run to her, knowing that would only give the creature the opportunity to hit them both at once

[ultimagi]

"Fire!"

Once more flame burst to life in the dim hallway, erupting below the creature like landmines, burning its legs, its abdomen, its cephalothorax; the chain raced up the creature until the bright orange fire caught the spider's mandible and eyes, burning through its sensitive hairs and muscles. Already wounded from Edgars's numerous blows, it had little chance to scurry free of this new attack. It fell; though not yet dead, the damage to its legs and muscles proved too much for it to carry its own massive weight. The spider tested the strength of its numerous limbs, trying to pull itself back up, but it was no use.

Still stuck in the web, the girl exhaled a shaky breath, pulling once more at her trapped arms. With incredible speed, this was going from frightening and gross to simply irritating.

[girlsandgadgets]

The spider writhed and fell before them, its legs buckling under the weight of its immense body, its strength no longer enough to lift it from the ground. It continued to twist and move with an inhuman hissing. but it was apparent it could no longer stand. It may not have been able to attack, but that didn't mean it was completely harmless; however, it quickly became the less pressing threat as the sound from the other end of the hallway resumed

[ultimagi]

Finally: the answer. It lit up inside her with the same sort of intensity as the bright flare against her eyes. He'd struck her as different from the other few patients she'd met in this institute, and on some level he had struck some resonance with her -- she who could recall no past, no friends, no family. This, she thought, must have been what she had known all along but could not name.

As Edgar cleaved through what remained of the burned, disintegrating webbing, the girl had stilled in her struggling against the binding, her mind racing. He and Locke both knew about her magic, and told similar stories as to how her power had been used in their world. Her body sagged momentarily when Edgar finally cut her free, but aside from a staggered moment of lost balance, the girl paid it no mind. Her arms sank to her sides, but her eyes were wide, searching Edgar's face in the returning dark.

If he was the same as her, why hadn't he said anything? Why did he keep insisting she needed to discover in time what reverberated so strongly

[girlsandgadgets]

Ready to move as Terra fell from her webbed bindings, Edgar turned once more, looking down both ends of the corridor for the wounded creatures. The one that had disappeared into the darkness near the eastern end of the passage remained there, the sounds of its skittering away having ceased; the other was still writhing, its feeble attempts to stand met with no success. He headed for that one first, taking the blade of his shovel and stabbing it through the spider's eyes again and again. After a few more hisses, the monster stopped moving, its many legs falling limply by its sides

[ultimagi]

And not a word about his power, either. She frowned, looking away from Edgar, down the hall where the supposed second creature might be lurking. Occupied with the first, the girl hadn't noticed sight or sound of a second creature, but it seemed likely to exist. There'd been two birds the night before, when she and another traveled together. She couldn't help but wonder if these things, like the others, were targeting her specifically.

Though, if Edgar were the same as her, wouldn't he be equal in their sights as well? She didn't know, and couldn't. Everything was still so confusing and uncertain...

She pulled at the webbing stuck to her clothing, peeling at her neck and tugging out weak strands of hair. "... Then let's go," said the girl, the tilt of her head and the roll of her slight shoulders indicating the beast's retreated path.

[girlsandgadgets]

Edgar caught the frown that appeared on Terra's face as she turned away from him. Though she hid it well enough, he knew there was something unsaid between them, a lingering question that needed answering. He paused, gripping the shovel with both hands; the breath he pulled through him stifled the fire in his chest for only a moment. That energy he recognized as magic still channeled through him, ready to react should he call upon it again