Relief washed over her face as she saw Moonsong gasp for a breath, before the mending of a cracked rib had the blonde visibly wincing as her free hand pressed onto the left side. Other wounds sustained all over her arms slowly began to close as well, her eyes shifting towards Fiora and then to Yugam as the elf recognized the magic of each one. They could do this, all they needed was to get Moonsong back and properly regroup, and then this godforsaken tree would never known what hit it—
"No…! Don’t you dare do that now—!"
She was the first to sense it, the familiar underground tremors as the
everwhite shifted its many roots and hidden limbs just underneath their feet, and realization of what was to come quickly evaporated whatever fleeting hope had begun emerging on the archer’s heart.
"Dee!?!" The first one to disappear was the brunette, the woman that had been struggling to free herself from the clutches of the eldritch horror suddenly sucked right into it before anyone could do anything to stop it.
A faint bulge seemed to extend the trunk of the tree then close to the base, a golden glow beginning to radiate through the bloody pool hidden among its roots, before the rippling shockwaves of an internal explosion were felt by those present. It shook the ground, momentarily causing Lúthien to forget about the movement she’d felt moments before as her eyes caught sight of the visible wounds Moonsong’s sacrifice had left on the abomination’s core.
"She’s gone…?"
The pitch on her words rose at the very end, the blonde’s mind struggling to process what they had just witnessed after the long and arduous day it had already been enduring. It was then that massive vine erupted once more, wildly lashing through the ground in their direction, and catching the ranger on her side just as she’d barely managed to avoid the roots that threatened to grasp her hands and feet from below. The impact caused her to topple over the rapidly sweeping limb before she landed back first onto the ground, causing the air in her lungs to rapidly escape along with a pained groan. Lúthien rolled to her side then, the elf struggling to regain her breath even as she scrambled back onto her feet quickly—aware that staying on the ground even a second longer could mean becoming immobilized by the
everwhite they were desperately trying to destroy—
Ḑ̶̛̱͕̤̠̹̗̩̙͈̦̈́̕Ẹ̶̝͕̯͎̬͙̗̗̲̓͋̈́̐̑̓͐͑͊͗͜S̸̻͎̲̠̘̋̃̀͊̅̽͋͊́͝ͅP̵͚̜̺̱͓̌̔̈́ͅA̸͓̬̤̟͎̘̣̳̱̯̩̎̌͒́͐̔̐̌͘I̷̼̤̫̽̍̓͛̆̈̊̀̋̿̚̕R̴̜͖̼͠
A sickening
crunch caught her attention just as the words echoed within her mind, before crimson eyes finally caught sight of a familiar of a black leather jacket and its wearer as the body of Yugam finally came to a stop not too far from where she stood. His limbs were all bent to unnatural angles, with the man’s neck cranked in a way no human could ever pull off willingly, but what truly made her breath catch in her throat had been the blank and now sightless eyes that stared in her direction. Her vision blurred as the tears pooled atop her lower eyelids, finally spilling over and trailing down elven cheeks, even as Lúthien could physically feel the way her heart shattered as reality finally sunk in.
"A-A…ARIII!!!"
Caution was instantly thrown out to the wind as the blonde rushed over to the crumpled body, feeling the pressure of the various roots that squirmed underneath her covered knees as the elf hastily knelt down beside the hunter. Gloved hands quickly reached out for him, desperately grabbing onto his jacket and shirt as Lúthien dragged the upper torso of Yugam onto her lap.
"N-No, hold o-on…! I c-can fix t-this, I can f-fix this!!!" Desperate words tumbled out of her lips amidst heavy sobs, hands now cradling the man’s face between them as the elf bent down to touch her forehead to his. Faint hums could be heard as Lúthien attempted to sing something,
anything, but the tunes continued to be constantly interrupted by the sobs that refused to lessen—struggling to breathe life back into the still and rapidly cooling body of the one person that meant the whole word to the girl.
"P-Please wak-ke up… you hav-ve to w-wake u-up, Ari!!!"
It was then she felt a pair of hands press firmly onto her shoulders, causing the blonde to look up at Fiora with a tear-stained face only to see the same fear and despair that Lúthien felt reflected back in the knightess’ gray hued gaze.
"F-Fio, it’s n-not w-working—!" Vines emerged around them, wrapping around the white-haired elf’s limbs and torso before she could utter a word back as the archer cried out in anguish. Arcane chains quickly attached themselves to Fiora and to the ground underneath them, holding the knightess in place as the tree struggled to pull her away from Lúthien and towards itself.
"FIO!!!"
A hand reached out to the elven woman, the other desperately clinging onto the fabric of Yugam’s shirt atop his chest, before the knightess pressed a bloody gauntlet against Lúthien’s eyes just as another vine wrapped around the woman’s neck.
[Don't look... Don't—]
The familiar voice inside her mind suddenly disappeared just as the blonde’s ears could pick up the sound of twisting flesh tearing and separating, the gentle
thud as the woman’s lower body slumped to the ground beside the ranger impossible to ignore. The scent of fresh blood quickly assaulted her nose just as the girl could feel a warm and thick pool form underneath her legs and knees, as the taste of iron—already present from the second Lúthien had pressed her face so close to Yugam’s—magnified even further. Her free palm moved towards her eyes then just as the pressure of Fiora’s hand disappeared, wiping the blood and tears that clung to her skin with the back of her hand and forearm, before crimson eyes finally opened enough to watch as the vines dragged the severed body and limbs of the knightess back to the very pool through which Moonsong had disappeared into not that long ago.
"N-No, give them b-back… p-please, give t-them back!"
The pressure she felt on her chest only seemed to worsen with each passing second, tears freely flowing from her eyes once more as the elf found herself
pleading for a moment. Hands were now balled into tight fists, both of which grasped Yugam’s shirt tightly inside of them, even as Lúthien’s eyes gazed right into the twisted face-like shape on the knot of the
everwhite.
M̸̫͙͎̞͉̅̀͐͋͝i̴̻̫̥̯͖͌̒͂͊͝n̸̡̧͈̫̳̊̐́͐͝ɘ̶̢̼̼̟̍̏͗̓̿ͅ.̷̢̘͚̻̳̊́̓̀͂ ̴̢͇̹̖̽̍̓̕͝ͅÄ̵̠̤͍̯̞́͊̐̍̏l̵͔̪̜͋́̀͌̚ͅͅl̸̢̼̦͍͇̿̈́̒͘͝ ̷͚̻̙̮͇͛̑̑͝͝ḯ̸̝̻͈̗̪̉̊́͐ƨ̵̦̮̭̖̳̑̐͊̑͘ ̵̗̪̜̖̫͛̽́̈́̾m̴̧̜̱̟̲̓͗̋̈́̀i̶̡͈͕͎͓̊̓̋̆͘n̴̢̢͔̤̈́̄̌̅̂͜ɘ̶̳͕̙̻͇̅͐̒̋͆.̵̧̹̮̳͑̿̓̿̓͜
She felt the rumbling of vines underneath as they moved through the earth, causing the elf to stiffen in preparation—it wasn’t hard to guess who they were coming for next. She pulled the now cold body of the hunter closer to her, before her hands finally released his clothing before grasping tightly to the roots and writhed and shifted around them just as the vines erupted from the soil. They tightened along her waist and arms, but their pulling was unsuccessful as it was met with a fresh wave of defiance from the girl—lightning suddenly coursing through her arms and zapping the holds against her. It caused the faintest of pauses from the eldritch horror, the grip on her limbs lessening,, before it was quickly renewed just as a new vine shot forth to wrap around Lúthien’s neck
Ƨ̶̡̛͓̜͈͔̇̀́͋ΰ̵̢̧̪͙̦̓̇̅͠d̸̩̬̣̻͓̊̒͂̅̚ṃ̵̧̬̫̀̆͛̊̚͜ï̸̧̮̫̹̘̑͆͊͋Ɉ̷̩̬͙̥͓̌͂̆̾̍.̴̛͍͔̙̬̝̎̒͆̄.̶̨̯̞̜̲͋͑̾̋͝.̷̲̹̺͕̖͌̃̒̃̈́!̴̻̥̩͇̎͑̀̑̚͜
The static had continued to build around the elf as she struggled against the
everwhite’s grip, her mouth gasping for breath as the vine around her neck tightened. It continued to pull, the frustration emanating from the abomination clearly felt in her mind, before the ranger released the hold one of her hands had on the roots just so it could grasp and pull at the vine around her neck.
"N-NO!!!" She managed to loosen it just enough for a single word to filter out of her lips, the stubborn cry of defiance coming from the elf accompanied by a full discharge of all the energy she had remaining within her small body. Sparks flew and arced all around the archer then, the lightning burst conducted right into the vines that tightly held onto the elf until the electricity had fried them to a crisp.
They crumbled before finally peeling away from her in layer after layer of burnt flakes, drifting slowly onto the ground before disappearing between the many roots. Her breaths were short and labored then, a piercing headache assaulting her mind before Lúthien felt her arms go weak. For a moment the world around her seemed to spin, and before the elf knew it she’d finally slumped onto her side as the last of her strength ebbed away. Crimson eyes stared at Yugam’s face one last time, the lifeless look on his eyes causing her eyes to blur with tears, before the world around the archer finally faded as the last of her consciousness drifted away.
❰ Lúthien's PlaySheet 3.0 ❱
REFLEX SAVE
Success!
Reflex | Luthien | 1398C8
FORTITUDE SAVE
Failure! Knocked prone.
Fortitude | Luthien | 1398C8
Health Points [ 543 / 3600 ]
