The Piped Piper... [Open//Read]

Benighted claimed that she saw souls in the mist going somewhere... vaguely important? That didn't sound very professional. She then asked to borrow his soul to follow it to wherever the thing is being gathered, Kane thought about it for a second and sighed Sure. Just do it. he let her do whatever it was she needed to do until she was ready.

Kiara brightened, "You sound as if you have already made peace with your lot in life." The hero. His was not to question the danger involved but how many lives it would save. Tzul approved of the quick decision. Still holding his hand, she used her abilities to connect their two souls, having been given permission to do so.

Briefly checking the perimeter for zombies she told Kane to lie down, "You'd laugh at how many times I forget that part." But nobody was going to brain themselves on a rock today. She'd sit cross legged next to Kane, facing his midsection. Closing her eyes, Benighted would initiate a chant in an ancient Mayan language. The language of her ancestors and known to her through absorption as a youngster, not via study as an adult. She began to speak a death knell. It was a funeral rite mean to help grant souls safe passage to the world beyond.

Allegedly. Kiara had no idea if it actually did anything.

As she chanted she began to levitate off the ground, maintaining her sitting position. She then reached out with her staff and placed it against Kane. She zapped him with her astral energy, draining his vitality, inducing a coma-like state, one where the soul can wander freely. In normal circumstances she couldn't be guaranteed to shift his soul free of the body, but with the queerness going on tonight the soul dislodged easily enough. It careered off in a set direction.

Kiara nodded to herself. She stopped levitating and stood. She bent down to pick up the body so she could bring it with her. The soul tether suddenly extended, disrupting her balance. Kiara turned to see Kane's soul shooting off far faster than anticipated. She coated her hands in astral energy and grabbed a hold of the tether. Her feet dug into the soil but then flew free into the air. She was dragged across the field.

The luring force was far more powerful than she had imagined. She was water-skiing with no water. Her levitation kicked in, allowing her to skirt along the air, but her momentum had not slowed. Kiara saw her chance to regain traction and hooked her leg across a tree branch, she succeeded in denying the wayward soul any more progress. The branch made a cracking sound. Sweating, Kiara summoned the reserves of her astral energy and put it into her levitation. When the branch broke, she was able to slowly pull the soul back they way they had come.

Five minutes of struggle and she found Kane's body in the dissipating fog. But even as she did so did others. Straggler zombies. Two lurching for him, one coming to stand in her path. She didn't think she had to strength to levitate over it. Kiara looked down, the frayed edges of her own soul was showing through her chest. Whatever necromancy was at work was unrelentingly powerful. It might be wiser at this point just to cut the tether and give up the hero.

N-No... H-He deserves... better...

Benighted lifted her head and saw that she had left her staff by the body. She called it to her. The stick flew end over end and lodged in the back of the zombie that was in her way. It barely noticed the irritation. She then used her astral link with the object to zap the zombie directly. Her astral energy did no damage to its body. It did, however, take a blender to the soul inside. The zombie dropped down, once more an inanimate corpse.

Kiara struggled over to Kane before the other two zombies got there. She pulled his soul towards her like a rope and forced it back into his body. She needed some way to revive him, thinking quick she removed a packaged powder from her pocket. A natural smelling salt. She passed it under his nose. Hopefully he found the reserves of strength to deal with the zombies, as she was temporarily bushed.

Kane did as he was told, lying down on the ground as she sat next to him and started doing some weird chant, Kane didn't question what any of it meant, he just waited. The girl levitated into the air, then touched him with her staff, then suddenly he was drained of energy before he could feel himself leave his body. Seeing himself in person was really weird, he'd seen himself in pictures, and he'd seen his reflection, but it was still really weird. He was good-looking and all, but it was still extremely unsettling.

Then, he felt a tug on his astral body and he was sent flying in the direction that all the other souls were being sent. For a moment, Kane had wondered if maybe something had gone horribly wrong and that now his soul was going to get sucked up, but then he felt himself stop, the girl must have done something. Thankfully, Kane could feel his soul being dragged back towards his body until eventually he went back in.

Kane's eyes shot open, not that Kiara would have been able to tell because of his mask, then he got to his feet and kicked one zombie under the chin, sending the head flying like a football. The other went for Kiara, but Kane went between them and swept its legs out from under it, he then stomped on its brain to kill it while it was on the ground. Kane was exhausted, but he was always one to focus on his public image so he didn't let himself collapse You alright?

The proceeding silence was filled with wheezing. Whether out of exhaustion or fear it was not clear. Kiara watched the souls from the defeated zombies go floating overhead and stifled a sarcastic laugh. That was close there for a moment. She'd had closer, but the sensation of imminent defeat was not one you could ever get used to.

"I messed up." She admitted, downcast, "I misjudged the strength of the ominous presence, and wound up expending the sum total of both of our energies. Even if we found the cause now, we wouldn't be much help." The shaman looked for her staff to help her stand. Then she remembered that it was buried in the back of a zombie. She gave up on her plan to stand.

"What's in that direction?" She pointed off into the distance, "Souls aren't blocked by physical obstruction. They would thus travel a straight line course to whatever is calling to them. Stands to reason. Which means whatever this is, is in exactly in that direction."

((So you guys realize, I dropped this when I dropped Horrace. Thx for being active in it though))

((OOC: Yes. That was made known to us on one or two occasions. You were even there for some, if you realised. We're searching for a satisfying conclusion to the thread despite your unavailability.))

Kane stood there for a second, not knowing what he should do next naturally, then he heard Kiara say that she messed up, underestimating how strong the source of all the nastiness was. She stated that they wouldn't be any help if they went over there, Kane shook his head No, I gotta help. We don't know if there'll be any other heroes investigating

He wanted to collapse, but Kane forced himself to turn in the direction that Kiara said was where the souls were going Nothing's over there... halfway through his sentence, it hit him ...except the graveyard! He turned back to Kiara I'm gonna go over there, are you gonna help? No pressure though, it's not your fight

Bunching up her knees, Kiara drew into herself as Kane continued to speak. He was tenacious, she'd give him that. Running on empty and yet with the will to keep going. She was tired, but he must have been at peak fatigue. It was a marvel he could keep going.

Her toes curled, dragging through soil. If he could continue on it seemed she would be disgraced not to. Despite what he had said, this was her fight. Benighted sighed, "I've walked from Belize to California. What's the next horizon to me?" Kiara struggled to her feet, swayed a bit, then leaned into a walk. On her way passed she recovered her staff. And then the two figures carried on into the fog. Two silhouettes rendered as behemoths to the glowing moon overhead.

[END?!?!]