Closed Ice creeps through the den of the snake (Aka)

[Evalin]

53rd of Spring, 514 AV
Location: Zinrah

It was too much. It was all too much. The silence, the emptiness, the cold void that sunk within her. Evalin could not bear it. The last few days were a blur. She could not remember what she had done, or why. She was lost, confused, and lonly... lonelier than she had ever felt before.

"Tsenrika... my dear Tsenrika... w-where have you..." the nuit stumbled into a wall, her hands grasping at the stones as she slid down to sit huddled on the cold earth. Her fingers tangled in her hair, her eyes squeezed shut as she rocked, shaking her head, "Where are you... where are you... where..." She grunts, rolling to her knees. She bit her lip and slowly stood, once more stumbling blindly down the tunnel.

*****

Evalin had been wandering for the last 3 days. She would come back to the Scarlet Cavern when Aka was asleep, and leave when she was awake. She could not bear to look at her, that girl, that child that caused this, caused all of this... Evalin shuffled her feet as she wandered back into this place that had not long ago felt like home. Her mind swam with fuzzy visions and half formed thoughts that made no sense at all. She could not focus, could not BE herself. Evalin felt there was something missing within her, a piece of such importance that without it she did not know who she was. She did not know what to do, where to go, why she was here. Why she was even ALIVE.

"It hurts..." Evalin whispered as she clutched at her chest, tripping and falling before the cage that would hold her servant within it, "I... I cannot..." She gritted her teeth, looking up to find the gaze of her servant, but what she saw instead was emptiness.

"V-vino...?" The nuit pushed herself up to her elbows, eyes widening at what she saw. The cage was empty "Where..." Evalin struggled to her feet, her hands grasping the bars for support as she stared with wide eyes. Her mouth opened and closed a couple times before her eyes fell on the lock which should have kept the cage door sealed shut. With trembling fingers Evalin softly brushed the metal. It was cold as ice, and bits of frost still remained around the edges of the cut lock.

"He's taken him... Be damned that creature, be damned him!" She screamed, shaking the bars, her eyes wild. Res leaked from her pores, flames licking her frame and the cage itself as Evalin wailed in frustration, anger and... and...

The flames calmed and Evalin grew very still, her eyes shifting from side to side as she struggled with a darker realization, "N-no... H-he's coming. He's coming for her." She slid down to her knees, hands still grasping the bars as fear marked her features, her lip trembling slightly as she pressed her forehead against the bars, "He's coming... He will kill her, and he will take me..."

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

For the past few days, the Viper noticed that Evalin had been acting odd, very odd, her Nuit lover becoming ever more distant and quite, the sudden change was so jarring, Aka assumed she just needed time for herself. So, Aka kept silent and just let Evalin be when she left when Aka was awake and came back when she was asleep, like the Nuit was deliberately avoiding her. The Azenth Dhani was worried mentally, but she didn't want to disturb Evalin's wishes. Sighing, Aka closed her eyes, the human-formed Viper was resting in her lavish crimson canopy bed in her fancy cavern home.

When Evalin entered, Aka's keen senses heard the girl's whispers, she sounded so hurt, the Viper couldn't bear it any longer, with a sigh, Aka whisked away her sheets then climbed down from her bed, her simple black robe was wrinkled here and there and her long jet-black hair cascading down her back, freed from their usual twintailed form. "Eva...?" The Viper peeked into the corner where Evalin voice echoed, the particular corner where Vino's cage was... only without the servant in it, Vino was gone. "Huh? Where'sss Vino?" She asked innocently, not sounding really all that panicked, Eva might just send him on an errand or something and even if he died in the process, Aka wouldn't care much either.

However, Evalin looked distraught at Vino's lack of presence, the Viper slowly shifted her feet, inching closer to the Nuit. "!?" She abruptly stopped when Eva screamed. cursing at her missing servant. Aka couldn't believe it, Vino escaped? How? The door was clearly locked and Eva told Aka that she held power over the cursed being, it couldn't be, something was wrong here. "What?" She swiftly moved beside Eva, examining the broken lock. "..." Contrasting with the bits of frost, anger was practically seething from the Viper, in the form of hot mists as Aka felt angered, betrayed, and offended. Someone had infiltrated her cavern, Evalin was out of the question, but... these frost, ice? Only Yuki could manipulate them as far as she remembered, it couldn't be? Her other slave escaped together with Vino?

"Eva..." Aka clenched her fists, the hot mist enveloping her body as the Dhani reached out to tackle Evalin, not giving a care whether the Nuit's flames would brush her skin or not, the God of Flames' gnosis would keep her safe. Aka felt her gnosis prickled at Evalin's emotional upheaval, anger and frustration to be specific, and it affected Aka as well. Aka straggled over Evalin in a dominating gesture, her slitted crimson eyes showed immense amount of barely-held back anger, "Who isss coming for me now?! Do you know what I think?" Aka leaned down, long black strands falling onto the sides of Evalin's head, "Did you sssee that ice? I think Yuki essscaped with Vino!" She snarled, the hurt on her features visible, "Ssshe betrayed me! Vino betrayed you!" The Viper them climbed off Eva, "We are going to find them... we are going to recapture them and make them regret ever trying thisss!"

Aka was practically ready to head out, but quirked an eyebrow at Evalin's trembling lips, "What the petch are you talking about? Vino going to kill me? Ssssahahaha! Don't make me laugh, now come on, we don't have time to wassste..." Of course, Aka misunderstood on what truly transpired.

[Evalin]

"Yuki..." Evalin whispered the words softly as she pressed her forehead against the bars of the cage. She bit her lip, eyes wide as she trembled, then her whole body shook, and then suddenly she laughed long and loud. Tossing her head back, her lips spread to reveal teeth as mirth and fits of giggling overcame her and she shook her head, standing unsteadily to her feet, "That pathetic wretched would not do this. Weak and spineless she is, a foolish mortal child who is of no consequence were she to die this day."

Still suppressing some rising giggles Evalin pressed her palm to her forehead, a grin fixed on her face but now it was forced and strained expression. Her mind was turning over a thousand and one thoughts, searching for answers in a sea of questions that only seemed to grow deeper the longer she stood within it. Without meaning to Evalin slipped into the ancient tongue, somehow the flowing words of magic gave her comfort and aided her in focusing her thoughts, "Vino, Vino, my dear Vino... Is this how you wish to take it? That revenge for what happened so long ago? Truly? What a foolish child, for despite what you have seen or experienced you have learned nothing." She mumbled unintelligibly under her breath for a tick, eyes coming up to look at Aka, but while she stared at her she did not seem to 'see' the dhani.

"That which swells in the shadows brings with it ice and death. Blood will spill and paint the caverns red as the icy winds of the north bring to bare the savage wrath of a monster who shall end all with no thought or emotion. Such I saw coming, such I knew would happen yet I let myself be confused, to become unfocused..." Once more speaking in common, Evalin continued to talk to herself. She had nearly forgotten aka was there, her mind swimming in a confusion of ranging emotions and staggering realizations as her eyes swam with growing dread and fear, "So foolish was I, so foolish indeed to think, to suspect that I might have more. Never was it to be so, never could it be so, and now for my arrogance to take for myself what I felt I deserved I have doomed the one I might truly care for. Oh ironic twist, be damned you Fate and this accursed path you have knitted before me! Be damned you..." These last words she whispered softly, her hands pulling at her hair beginning to relax and fall to her sides as she walked past Aka. If the girl made to touch her, or hold her Evalin would shrug it off, utterly ignoring Aka now as she faced the entrance to the cavern

Pulling at the strings of her djed Evailn sucked in a deep breath. AS she did the vibration of magic whirled within her, the strings of djed alighting and humming as she summoned them to shift and change. She pressed upon her lungs, pulling and tugging to expand them along with her rib cage, taking in more and more air as she did. To her vocal cords teh silvery hands of mental energy lept, tying strands here and there with practiced ease as she had done countless times before. This time she strengthens them, enlarged them, tugged at the strands as she widened her throat now and worked on her jaw to elongate it, not terribling large but perhaps noticeable. Then, leaning back slightly with the amount of air she had taken in, Evalin leaned forward and shouted into the darkness of the cavern in the ancient tongue.

"Gresshal! Come to your master!" Her voice was amplified to nearly deafening proportions by the alterations done by magic, and the cavernous echos only increased it further so that the command swept through the tunnels, bursting forth in a wailing, otherworldly tone that was at once deep and shrieking at the same time. It was an unnatural sound, one that would not go unnoticed. For now, however, Evalin did not care. Her thoughts were already moving beyond this moment as she released the magic, her bodily proportions slowly coming back to normal as she shuffled back to pick up her staff.

Her fingers traced along the edges of the ancient runes, her eyes intent as she whispered softly in her own voice once more, "Prepare... I must prepare..."

OOCSOrry for the wait I hope this turned out OK

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

OOCIt is awesome!

"..." Aka couldn't give a meaningful comment as Evalin berated and dismissed Yuki as an insignificant wretch because it was kind of true, compared to Evalin's and her powers, Yuki was... very much left behind, besides, the human looked too complacent and timid to be doing this, unless Yuki was a very good actress, it wasn't possible for her to fake the timid act until now. Yes, it wouldn't make sense for Yuki to be the crook, it must be someone else... someone who hated Evalin and used Vino's hatred against the Nuit. The Viper's heart sank as Evalin giggled like a madwoman, it didn't look like her at all... this must be such a heavy blow to her, a mockery of her long age and powers, she couldn't keep one weak slave in check. In a way, Aka was offended as well, someone dared to infiltrate her home and stole her slaves.

Aka clenched her fists in silent anger as she couldn't make a logical assumption, the pure insane despair oozing from Evalin prickled her gnosis and it wasn't helping the case, Aka was starting to be affected by the Nuit's raging emotion. The grin was very much forced, even a simpleton could see that, Evalin's mind was a cacophony of sadness, anger, despair, and confusion at the moment, it all accumulated into this pressure that was more than enough to send Aka's mark flaring like she was doused in lava. Unusual for her impulsive and talkative nature, Aka simply slunk to the background as she let her Nuit lover took center stage.

She let Evalin made her monologue, deliberately waving off the fact that Eva ignored her as if her mistress wasn't there. By now, Aka couldn't decipher anything meaningful from the Nuit's complicated words, sad, but Evalin's words were just too flowery for her knowledge, if Evalin knew this would happen then why she looked so taken by surprise? Perhaps she couldn't take the Nuit's words literally, Aka simply walked then sat at one of her fancy chair, giving up at trying to understand through logic, not with her gnosis at her shoulder blade throbbing like a beating heart.

"..." She still kept her silence, Aka deducted that even if she spoke something, Evalin would not listen, or even recognize Aka's existence. She watched as the Nuit used her magic... transforming as her chest expanded, Aka instinctively put both of her hands to her ears, by Ivak, the Nuit looked ready to announce her voice to all of Zinrah, the Jungle Wilds, and beyond. The booming voice in strange language went over Aka's head as the Viper closed her eyes, gritting her teeth. No doubt a couple of guards would hear it, she bet all of Zinrah could hear it, Aka sighed, she had to explain about this, the excuse of a magical experiment gone wrong should be good, those magically inept brutish guards were rather simpletons in terms of the arcane, really.

For now, Aka would simply put one of her legs on her knee as she crossed her arms over her chest, her head slightly hunching down as her slitted eyes upturned to look at Evalin, "Are you done yet?" An annoyed low-voice spoke at the Nuit, Aka was getting offended as the Nuit kept ignoring her, "Anything I can help with?" Her eyes twitched, it was clear that Aka was trying her best not to explode right then and there.

[Evalin]

"Help...?" She paused for a moment and looked at Aka, a thought running across her features until she finally nodded as if deciding, "Yes... yes you can aid me. Quickly," she rummaged in one of the pockets of her robes, taking out a medium sized piece of chalk and extending it to Aka, "Draw the circle. We need the circle to be large. Yes... We will need a big one. A strong one..." Whether she took it or not Evalin would rummage in her pocket for another piece of chalk, falling on her hands and knees as she began drawing a large circle on an exposed part of the floor. The circle would be wide, nearly six feet in diameter, and if Aka chose to help Evalin would begin giving her instructions. They were creating a circle like Evalin had the other day, though this time she was not using the staff. First they would drawn the largest outer circle, and then a slightly smaller circle within that. And then, between the two circles, 16 smaller circles were drawn to fill up the space. Evalin would pace another, much much smaller circle, about the size of her thumb, at a point just off center of both the circles. Then she began drawing lines to connect some of the 16 smaller circles in the parameter. First she would form a square out of the connecting lines, and then, starting at one corner of the square, she would drawn a triangle. Evalin knew the off center proportions might affect the portal slightly, but she did not worry over it much as the overall structure was sound. Just as she was filling in the coordinate circles with numbers there was the sound of someone slithering closer.

Gresshal pushed back the curtain, sticking his head in, one hand grasping the frame of the entrance as he hissed in distaste, "Your damned wailing ssset the guardsss on edge. You're lucky I sssothed them sssomewhat before coming here." He slithered fully into the room, and when his eyes caught sight of Aka they widened. He opened his mouth slightly, closed it, and then dipped his head slightly, "Miss Aka, I did not realize you were--" but he was cut off by Evalin quickly standing and sailing across the floor with all of her supernatural speed. Her hand grabbed the Dhani by the throat and she slammed his back against the wall, standing on the snakes coils as she forced his head back, squeezing tight with her hand to cut off the air, "WHERE IS HE!?"

Evalin's fury roared through her veins. Hatred overflowed in her breast, though it was not directed at Gresshal specifically. It was aimed at Tsenrika, but for now the Familiar was saved from her wrath. This Gresshal, however, was not...

Taken off guard the Dhani gasped, hissing as he clawed the wall, surprised both by Evalin's speed and the sudden strength she possessed. As he regained his wits, however, he grasped Evalin's shoulder's and pushed her off of him, rubbing his throat as he did. He looked between Aka and Evalin, but of course the order given to him ages before prevented him from speaking directly to Evalin in front of Aka. This little fact, however, completely slipped by the nuit at the moment as she regained her balanced. Pointing a finger at the Dhani she whispered, "Stop your movements." and Gresshal instantly froze.

Evalin gritted her teeth, stepping back up on Gresshal's coils and grabbing him underneath the jaw to twist his face to look into her eyes, "Answer me. Answer me with the truth, or I shall begin ripping your scales out one at a time. Then I shall rip out your fangs and gouge out your eyes with them. Then we will move on to your nails, then your fingers. And... should you still resist, I will begin removing limbs next."

Gresshal could only move his eyes, and while he was ordered to answer he STILL could not speak directly to Evalin. Instead he looked at Aka, hissing out slowly, "Your ssservant... Resstrain h-her and tell her I don't... Don't know anything."

"Liar!" Evalin produced a dagger from the folds of her robes, slapping it into Gresshal's upper arm as he hissed in pain and groaned, but his eyes remained on Aka.

"Tell me or we will start skinning a snake!"

OOCAll of this happened rather fast, but if you think I need to edit it and break it up to allow you more interaction at the start please feel free to let me know

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

"Okay..." Aka didn't really understand why Evalin wanted them to draw a circle, on her floor to boot, Aka didn't really appreciate her home being scrawled without her permission, but for Evalin, she supposed she could make an exception, receiving the offered chalk, Aka then would stand on opposite ends of Evalin as she began drawing the other half of the circle. The Viper took it slower since she was a mere novice glypher, but a simple large circle should be doable.

Next, Aka followed Eva's instructions as she drew the smaller circles as best as the could. There so many of them and to be frank, she was getting annoyed, the activity seemed foolish and time-consuming, but whatever... she let the Nuit handle the even smaller circles, lines, and triangles though, those intricate details might be messed up with her ineptitude. After Evalin was done, Aka would slump back into her chair, crossing her legs again in a similar position as before.

The Mistress simply watched with an impassive look as Gresshal, Evalin's crony, entered her home, Oh, Good... looks like I won't have to deal with Senka. If what Gress said was true then those guards would hopefully wave it off and leave them alone, Aka wasn't sure she could handle more stress brought upon by those guards, she really didn't need anymore disturbance. As if realizing something, Gresshal looked at her then became submissive all of the sudden, Aka put her right arm on her chair's hand rest then used her hand to plop up her head by leaning her right cheek on it, giving the Constrictor an blank annoyed look.

There was a reason Aka didn't give a verbal reaction for she predicted Eva would do it anyway, it turned out to be true when the Nuit manhandled the much larger Constrictor like he was a snakeling, the sight of a large half-snake, half-man creature being pinned to the wall by a much smaller humanoid girl brought a small smirk on Aka's lips, how she would love to have Evalin's strength, then she would defeat these Constrictors in both magical prowess, agility, and strength, no one, not even the Queen would dare to mess with her. At least, that was what she thought, signalling how much Aka wanted strength.

"..." Now a single emotion from Evalin overpowered the rest, pure raging hatred, the Mistress kept herself still, though looking blank on the outside, inside was another matter, her gnosis throbbed at heart, it affected her, it clouded her mind with hatred, and when Aka went angry, things tend to burn. "Huh..." Aka's eyebrow quirked a bit when Evalin threatened Gresshal with horrendous torture, well... from one side, Gress did belong to Evalin so it was her choice really, however on the other side, Gress was still a constrictor and guards finding the mutilated corpse of a Constrictor inside her home would spell trouble, capital punishment trouble to be exact.

Having enough, Aka stood up then moved herself between Eva and Gress, both of her hands raised to grab at Evalin's shoulders, firmly, and the heat coursing through Aka's veins would be transferred to Evalin's cold dead boy, "Lisssten... what do you think would happen if the guardsss found a dead constrictor in my cavern?" Aka didn't bother to wait for Eva's answer, "Yesss, we would be dead, both of usss..." She released the Nuit then walked to her entrance, looking left and right to make sure no one was listening, fortunately, no one did. She turned back to the quarreling duo then put her right hand to her waist, slightly tilting her body to the side, "Well? Inssstead of ssskinning him, we better find that wretched bassstard, no? I want to have a 'talk' with him... ssse... sssehehehehe..." those sadistic giggles from the small girl spoke of immense torture and pain indeed.