untitled: The Bell Tolls

 

The immortal nodded cautiously, gesturing to Rei. The angel was quivering excitedly, wanting out and wanting out NOW. Death gave him a touch on the shoulder. "Scout it out, don't fight." He uttered and Rei whined like an animal, though he did not argue. Of all the angels, Death was most confident to put Rei out there. The bastard was tough and he would listen. "Thank you." Death smiled wryly at Stannis.

 

Stannis said nothing, his long black hair brushed over his shoulder as the air was frigidly artic around him. His eyes did not fade from their brilliantly blue color, nor did his form seem to lose that air of power. This was still Stannis, that was to be sure, but he was much improved. "We're not out of the woods yet, My Lord."

 

"God..." Falcon breathed, watching his father walk by him with a reverence clearly written on his face. Only Farryn didn't seem to be surprised, staring at the man he loved and sighing inwardly. There would be an explanation demanded by Kite, who was now staring at her husband in absolute shock and...Well...anger.

 

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" She pushed Farryn down the steps of the castle nearly, rushing to Stannis in her anger. "What ARE you?! Here, I imagined you my husband, but that obviously is not the case!!"

 

"Kite, there will be explanations later...In fact, feel free to beat me as much as you like when there is time, but...for now, please, get a hold of yourself." Stannis' words had a bit of regret flashing in Kite's pale blue eyes. Still, she glared at him.

 

"If I didn't love you, I'd leave you for this, Stannis!" she hissed.

 

"I know...and I would not blame you."

 

Death watched silently, Ceata just as interested, though his gaze was heavily guarded and he kept his eyes down. He chewed his lip, wondering silently just what it was in the bloodlines that tended to bring this sort of thing out.  The immortal smiled sharply, watching Rei head out to scout for them.

 

Rei stepped out onto the black rock face that spread for miles before the walls of Death's castle. Like a sea of jagged waves, there were various basalt formations that rose up out of the ground, whipped by the wind and sometimes turning into fine black sand. This he stepped over quickly, scouting out where his enemy was.......He never knew what hit him. Out of nowhere, an immense surge of energy send him slamming back against a rock formation, hard jagged stone biting into his flesh. He was dazed...blood flowed steadily from a gash in his back...Looking up, he saw his attacker as a deformed monstrosity, smirking at him with familiar eyes. "Ah...so they send their general first...how wonderful."

 

Rei grunted, oh, but the delighted smile on his face was gruesome. Shaking, the general cracked his back and snarled darkly. "Oooohhh.... wanna play eh?" He purred roughly, knuckles cracking as he glowered at the... well, whatever the fuck that thing was! It'd bleed, so did it really even matter?

 

"I don't want to play, Rei...but I wouldn't mind dissecting you, just as I did Aysel," Liam purrs as he licks his deformed lips and sends yet another powerful blast from a gaping hole that forms in his chest. It's terrifying to see the bones snap open to reveal an unending cosmos inside filled with a great deal of power. This power escapes with every opening of the fleshy folds of his chest...quite disgusting, really. Yet, at the same time, quite deadly, for such power is what broke all the windows. 

 

Rei hissed and rolled out of the way, moving faster than a human and certainly more agile than most creatures. He righted himself, smirking darkly. "Oh my, if I set Aysel on you... he'd eat your organs and leave the rest for vultures." He purred silkily, inching back toward the gate, eye glowing in the dark, body tensed and ready to dash away

 

Greed smirked, though it was hard to tell what with his tilted and dilapidated mouth. Still, those eyes - as green as envy - quickly gleamed and he spread open that chest cavity of his again, showing the teaming energy inside him. "I'll gladly let him do so...and watch him explode from all the power I hold within me," Greed chuckled, letting loose yet another volley of attacks. Rei thought he was easily going to evade such attacks, no matter how they destroyed the ground around him, and simply move in for the kill. However, he was quite wrong when he found blades flying at him from a great distance like two slinging boomerangs. He barely got out of the way, his leg catching one and getting sliced as Vanity pulled back her weapons.

 

"Well, well, well....look...someone else as pretty as me...I'll have to kill him," she giggled through her mask of bandages, pulling back the blades that are her hands and letting them readjust on the stumps of her wrists.

 

Rei flipped back, skidding. Blood seeped from the wound in his leg and he snarled louder. Well, this was not fair, though he had not expected it to be so! He smiled viciously, panting as he leaned back and glowered. "Hnnnmmmmmm.... would seem I'm a bit out numbered..." He mused aloud, his lips pulled back to reveals his fangs, and his scar ripped body twitching as he slid away from them and made ready to get the hell out of there.

 

"Indeed, you are..." come the cold words of a voice that is vaguely familiar. Rei only has time to turn around and gasp when he sees Hatred standing over him - his face being that of Morpheus' with cruel eyes. He smirks and hits the other hard against the back of the neck, making him fall forward in an unconscious state. Hunger, the thin man with the mouth as wide as his long spindly forearm, is about to lean down and eat him, unhinging his jaw in a most grotesque manner with the popping and unworking of his joint so that he may use his acid-dripping fangs to devour the now unconscious Death Angel Hatred growls at him, smacking him away. "We do not need to kill NOW...These souls belong to Lord Adonis, not you," Hatred snarls, making Hunger whimper and back off, licking his lips.

 

"B-but...can't I just have one or two? I'm ssssstttarrrving...." he groans, his eyes flashing pink as they roll about wildly.

 

"Fine, but not this one. His strength will be useful later...Right now, all that matters is getting through that gate and to Sorrow...Fear, you go the long way around...Vanity, you go the other way. The rest of us will keep our friends preoccupied. If worse comes to worse, we'll use the unconscious General as a hostage. I'm sure that will keep their attention."

 

Rei groaned on the groaned, limp and dazed, but not yet out. Oh god but his head was spinning, vision going in and out of focus, twitching a little with pain. That son of a bitch... bastard, he'd rip his face off!  There was no way he could do that right now, listening to stitches of their conversations as if he weren't even in his body.  Well... so that was what they were after?

 

"Tie him..." Hatred orders, having Rage use his special chains to bind Rei's hands behind his back. He is also patted down for weapons by Greed, he smirking as he finds the other's secret stashes of knives and quickly takes them for himself. He is, after all, Greed.

 

"Well, how do we approach this?" Rage growls from where he stands, his mane all wild like a lion's, his eyes large and deep orange as they glow with anger.

 

"We have to be cautious. Regret is there...he's not completely powerful, but he does have some stopping power....Death is weak right now. But he will kill any one of us. We need to draw them out...Come! Bring the general..." 

 

Rei grumbled weakly at the manhandling, limply forced up and hauled along like so much baggage. His head throbbed, one of his braids undone and the wild pink hair fluttering about and getting in his face. "Hnnn... b-bastards..." He croaked, squirming some as he tried to break free of them violently before going limp again in pain.

 

"Shut up, you! If you weren't such an idiot, you wouldn't be in this situation...it's your own damn fault!" Rage growled at him as Hunger stared at him like a starving man stares at a sandwich. His wide gaping mouth was rather gruesome, it shaped like a diamond turned on its side with teeth lining either end. He had a tiny nose and two big eyes - eyes large and greedy. His body was thin and scraggly...but that dripping saliva of his left holes burned in the stone beneath their feet.

 

The man holding Rei was hulking and covered in hair. He had black skin and wild red locks. His eyes were orange and seemed to smolder...Hatred he knew as Morpheus, the God of Nightmares. He was tall and sleek, gorgeous with his dark skin and his dark, dark green hair...And then of course Greed with his deformed body. The other two - the female wrapped in bandages and the young blond with the wide blue-green eyes - were not present. He could only imagine what sort of powers they had.

 

The general snapped at him, biting at his arm with a low, garbled growl. Rei was not the smartest man alive, but he could be clever. This time? It was not one of those moments. The death angel squirmed and struggled between pain filled sagging, his single eye glowing and flicking about restlessly. 

 

Death stood patiently, already fearing the worst. Rei should have been back by now and his absence did not sit well with the immortal. The man shifted, nervously glancing down at Ceata, the young male's eyes intently focused on where Rei had excited, as if waiting to hear something, or see something, nerves strung tight.

 

Ceata did not have to wait long. The gates thundered as Greed opened up his deformed chest cavity and let loose another blast of power that sent the giant doors flying off their hinges. They groaned as they began to fall backward, causing soldiers to rush out of the way to avoid being crushed. Death braced himself and growled, looking up at the castle walls that were intended. Obviously, that thing that had caused his windows to shatter was the cause for this. Yet the blast kicked up so much dust that he could not see at first. It allowed Rage the time he needed to drop Rei and rush forward, his body a blaze of orange as he used his speed to rush forward into the crowd of soldiers that had been stationed at the wall. They died almost instantly from the quick and brutal attack of a six foot machete that was Rage's primary weapon. Death Angel guts rained down from the top of the wall.

 

The immortal cursed loudly and shoved Ceata back. His robes flowing, rippling and snapping in the wind, the immortal focused a blast of energy - not enough to kill, but certainly enough to hurt- and launched it at the beastly god. His brows knotted, lips pulled back from his teeth in a grim snarl.                                                                                                                                              There was shouting, the scent of blood fresh in the air, carried by the breeze. A younger death angel stumbled back from the decapitated limb of one of his own and nearly vomited. Normally it was not their own that were the ones laying dead.

 

Rage roared in anger at being knocked off the wall by the energy. His beastly muzzle contorted in rage as his eyes bulged and burned in fury. He was quickly replaced by one much deadlier, for Hunger leapt over the wall and attacked the first person he found - some poor unsuspecting Angel. The Valen screamed in terror and agony as Hunger's gaping mouth - as wide as a man's body - opened and consumed him, acid spit burning off his skin as it dropped in big clumps while he was still alive...It was not for long, though, as he soon went quiet and was munched down, dropping bits of flesh and bone. Hunger turned towards the terrified soldiers and grinned, pieces of Angel still stuck between his teeth.

 

The shadowshifters were soon tossed into play. They had skills better suited to this than even the death angels, Exodus vaulting up, his blades flashing as he ripped up Hunger's side in a vicious strike, bounding out of the way as quickly as possible to keep himself well away from that impressive maw and the acid that would leave him even more terribly scarred if it should splatter him.  Death was roaring orders, his narrowed and his expression filled with rage that anyone would touch those within the circle of his walls.   Scooting away from his captors, Rei was grinning in delight. Yes, he was gonna get away right out from under their noses! After being dropped by Rage, no one seemed to pay him any mind.

 

Except Greed, of course. He stopped in using his powers to break down the wall - already sending several blasts that had the stones snapping from their mortar and cement and falling inward like a jenga puzzle. He stepped on the other's hair, keeping him down and smirking. "NOT so fast, Rei..." his voice sounded so familiar. Only then did Rei realize...this was Liam. His anger rose, but he could not manage to get free from his bonds to strangle this bastard! Liam seemed far more preoccupied in sending burst after burst of stone-shattering energy until; at last, the wall fell.

 

Death heard the scream of an Angel in terror as he looked up and saw the massive wall beginning to crumble inward...and its shadow was falling over him. He knew that HE could stop it, but to stop it over such a large area? The stone tumbled, causing a deafening boom to be heard as it crumbled and snapped and broke. The dust blew everywhere, debris flying far from the massive gaping hole. Though Death was able to stop the majority of it, those closet to the wall are crushed...Well...perhaps. Suddenly some of the stones begin to move as, one by one, some Jins fling them away. One Jin gets it in his mind to use the stones as weapons, using his immense strength and the flow of adrenaline to heave the stone at Greed, who then must stop in his attempts to break down the second part of the wall on the other side of the gate to save himself from being crushed. Unfortunately, neither Rage or Hunger are effected by the falling of the wall and leap over the stones to once again fight. Their injuries have healed as though they are nothing...

 

Watching with wide eyes, Ceata KNEW what they were here for. The young male was already running to the doors, flinging them open. He was not sure if he could make it to the room in time, but he would try. It was so... so far away from here! Poor Gai was all alone with Urius, he knew she would be unable to defend the both of them and one or both was going to end up dead.                                                                                                                                                       Death snarled, launching his own attacks at the invaders. He had no time to think if there were others rounding about, he had to help defend. Where was Rei? Had they.... killed him? The immortal shuddered.

 

It was then that Death saw him...Stannis had rushed forward and caught yet another invader in a duel. Ice and snow swirled in the air along with the dust and the smell of blood, Stannis keeping in stride with Hatred blow for blow...It was not that Stannis' strength so shocked Death, but rather WHOM his strength was directed towards. He knew that face...that man...He was the God of Dreams, Morpheus. To see that such a person was now involved in this caused Death to shudder in realizing that the enemies had been right under his nose...All of them!!! Such anger surged through him then that he send Rage flying with immense force, possibly truly hurting him that time as he hit one of the remaining pillars to the gate, knocking it over as the rest of the wall crumbled from the impact.

 

Death was vaguely aware, in his absolute anger, of the soldiers now screaming from down the way. You see, Death's castle was set in a circular manner. The outer wall, whose Northern gate had now been decimated, ran along it at a certain distance from the castle walls. Every mile, much like with the Hadrian's wall, there would be a tower and soldiers set there. Death was hearing screams from the next tower down. He turned in time to see those shadowy cats he had encountered in Tenshihana rushing down the way - almost shoulder to shoulder in the space between the outer wall and the castle walls. Many of their muzzles were slick with blood...

 

Death snarled and ordered Lazarus that way. The man was much more powerful than Exodus, he was sure he'd be able to handle it mostly on his own. Durga was busily helping, her shadows whipping through, tearing into whomever enemy was foolish enough to get to close to the powerful female.                                                                                                                                                 Whatever they were doing, they were doing it effectively. The forces were too strained to completely keep them back. Not at this rate and not with many exhausted and still in shock.

 

Death saw the inevitable loss as the thought reared in his mind and ached at his brain. He was vastly outdone in this instance, for the shadowy creatures were pouring behind even Durga to attack the Angels and Death Angels who had scarcely pulled themselves from the rubble of the left wall. And still the God-creatures pressed forward, giving even Death a strain to combat them all at once.

 

Rage rushed at him with his flaming red hair whipping around him and the strength of his sinewy limbs promising pain as that machete swung over his head like the rotating blade of a helicopter. Its blood-rusted metal edge gleamed fiercely as Death dodged with considerable grace. He was next set upon by Hunger, who did not hesitate to rush forth and snap at the other's arm. He was trying to take Death down...

 

The immortal snarled angrily, dancing out of the way of Rage only to bump into Hunger. So they were ganging up on him now? Didn't matter. He'd continue to defend those about him. His arm whipped out, crashing into Hunger's face with a resounding crack as fist met skull. 

 

 Durga was roaring orders to her own men, a good number of them shadowshifters, all of them trained by her, making them some of the best. Death could rest assured that the woman would help keep as many of those beasts distracted to keep those in the castle safe.

 

Hunger could only grin deviously as he opened his gaping mouth and was about to latch onto Death's arm, his acid-dripping fangs ready to sink to that soft pale flesh. This proposed a problem, as Rage was yet again upon Death, grasping at his arm and locking blades so that the Immortal might be turned just so to bear his shoulder thusly to Hungers dripping maw. Death saw this and feared the pain, braced for it, but did not see it come. He just barely registered a black-robed male before him, his eyes a blazing blue as ice held firm to his form and set the air to such a chill that made even fire shudder.

 

However, this was not Stannis, who still was caught fighting Hatred as hard as he could. Instead, Falcon stood before Lord Death with hand outstretched, caught in Hunger's huge mouth, with ice caking it to let the steam of acid meet frigid northern sentiment. Hunger HOWLED with pain as the ice was cast down his throat. He let go at once and jumped back, his tongue lolling and blackened with frostbite. Falcon was twitching with the pain of the act, for it nearly cost him his arm, but he quickly cast off the smoldering ice as Hunger's gaze blazed angrily at him. "You....You little wretch! You've hurt my mouth!" Hunger hissed, his eyeballs rolling every which way.

 

"Yes...by my lover's permission, I'm going to do much more than that," Falcon retorts angrily, shaking off his hand as he settles into a fighting stance. 

 

The immortal felt a moment of relief, his arm undamaged and his attention now fully able to focus on Rage. Those dark eyes narrowed and the immortal slammed his head HARD into the others, forcing him back with a violence and vigor rarely seen from the elegant immortal. His hand lashed out, the blade in his hand coming into play as claws ripped into Rage's side while he was stumbling back.    Falcon could take care of it from here and he knew Eos would be in the tangle between Falcon and Hunger the moment anything turned for the worst.

 

And how things were turning! It was not long before those shadowy beasts formed from rippling waves of heat broken into the castle itself in their mad search for something. The screams of terrified servants could be heard as they ran in the halls to escape their death. Kite quickly ordered what few of her men that were still able to be spared to rush back into the castle and assist the victims inside. Rughal followed them, leaving Ranmaru to control the Demons.

 

It seemed that the attack of these creatures was quite wide-spread, for the entire compound with all its Angelic soldiers, Demons, Merians, Dragons, and even Human fighters were spread out along the wall to stop the attack from spreading wholly into the keep. It was not working. They were being overrun! 

 

Fighting, Lazarus' blood ran cold and stilled his hand a moment as he caught the things getting into the castle out of the corner of his eye. Oh gods, Sahenna and Cadeyrn were alone in there!  He had no time to think about it though, his attention brought back to the fight even as his belly flopped from terror that he would return to a blood bath in his room.  What in all hell were they after?                                                                                                                                                       

Ceata knew.  The young male was pelting through the halls, yelling at people to get to safety; though that was hard considering those beasts. It was a good thing Death had created safe rooms, hopefully everyone would make use of the few scattered about. If not... gods, he did not desire to think on it.

 

His boots hit hard against the tiles of the castle halls, legs straining in all their sinew to drive him forward faster towards his goal. He at once regretted having a room on the fourth floor, rushing up steps as his chest heaved for need of oxygen. He found at the top of the stairs one of those beasts, their form only outlined by the ripples of heat that made up their body and the red eyes which glowed ravenously in Ceata's direction. He froze, his hand at once gripping his sword all the tighter in the inevitability of a fight. Yet, just as the animal was about to make his best bet on turning Ceata into his next meal, something shuddered through the castle unlike anything Ceata had ever felt before.

 

The clock tower rang in unison with it - one sharp burst of the bell left echoing over the entire expanse of Death's castle. The only problem with this was the fact that the clock itself, set in a tower with an ornate stained glass face, had not rung for many millions of years...A gift from Father Time, it had worked once beautifully and chimed the hours of deaths for all to hear - a symphony of sound. Yet now the flat notes sang after gears long rusted and left useless no longer chimed the death tolls...Lord Death heard these chimes, for they had been shut away for a reason long since forgotten by mortal man. To hear them now made his blood run cold as a chill unlike any chill swept through the castle.

 

The gardens withered from the frost, the windows - or what was left of them - began to fog and ice slipped smoothly over any surface deemed usable by its element. What's more, the beasts themselves did vanish, for even their heat could not withstand such frigid arctic hollowness that now gripped the entire world as Death knew it.

 

Ceata tensed, peering about in confusion. Moving slowly, the young male continued to slip along, confused by the strange ringing. He did not know what it meant or the fear that it inspired in Death as the man paused a moment in fighting and gave a shudder, eyes flicking towards the castle.  However, being distracted was no good and the male was once again brought back to the current situation.  One cannot handle several things going on at once without ending up fucked.

 

Yet even Rage was not attacking him, but staring with those wide orange eyes at the high tower. Even Stannis seemed to stop as Hatred paused and gave an equal shudder of fear and anger at the sound. The cold poured out of the castle so quickly, following that sound and hitting each at the same time with the same unmistakable terror. Ceata, standing at the stairs, now looked up at an empty space where those creatures had been.

 

There was a hollowness in his chest - that familiar heaviness that came with the darkest shadows of his lustful nightmares. Oh, he remembered it well...the pain and the pleasure mingling with his feeling of feeling nothing. Now fear struck through that sensation as it dragged at his heart. He rushed all the quicker, hoping, praying even to a God that was not his to save his lover from that horrid abyss that was Sorrow.

The sound of his feet on the cold floor was eerie. The young man's face contorted in a mask of fear and horror. No, no it could not be! He was panting now, could just barely register the fact as he raced up the stairs toward the source of that feeling. If he lost Urius, he did not know what he would do.