Vanguard: Into the Abyss

[Nohiki]

Loki shuddered at the thought of being crushed and drowned if the air dragon's concentration broke, but he had no other choice. This way he at least stayed dry, and his curiosity was just too big. "Hmph, okay." he growled and attempted to dip a finger in the water. Pleased to see the water simply repel off of him, he went further until he disappeared under the surface. He stuck a thumbs up out of the surface, but dudn't believe it himself. Having no idea how to swim normally, let alone with an air bubble floating you, he gripped to the wall of the cave and started climbing down.

[Morty]

"Fine, I didn't want to kiss you either." said Daedalus, flicking his tongue. He took a last look at the open sea, where the waves were now crashing with unbridled ferocity, and sighed. It's a really weird kind of day, isn't it. he thought to himself, as he followed the three strangers into the cavernous depths of the tunnel.

[Zetherus]

Hashin smiled and followed after Loki into the water hole descending quickly passing the earth dragon without the need of the wall as a ladder. When the wind dragon passed the crazed dragon, he connected a rope of twisting wind to his air barrier and pulled him down with him to catch up with Akari. "He mysterious one, use your wings to move around next time!; otherwise maneuverability would be impossible for ya." Called out Hashin as he let go of Loki leaving him adrift in the open water of a huge underwater cavern the two just entered.

[Midnightmoon]

"I thought I had introduced myself as Akari." She said with a bubbly huff. Finally the others had decided to continue; she had been concerned they would have continued their bickering or turned back all together, not that she would say that out loud. She could barely see the walls around her when she came up behind the dark dragon. "It has to be close, the demon looked like it was still a bit surprised to be here." She commented in a murmur. Something flickered like lightning bellow, quickly drawing her attention. Sluggish in the water, it took a second for Akari to see though the bubbles to look down into the black deap, she almost thought she was seeing things when it flickered again. "There, it's down there!" Se floated down cautiously. Her tail touched a cool solid surface and the portal entrance became apartant when the surface cracked like fine glass. Alarmed she tucked her tail up again and the surface reformed seamlesly.

[Morty]

Surfacing briefly to take in the view of the dark lake, whose shores were so distant Daedalus could only feel a whisper of them, he dove down into the dark well-like tunnel, drifting like a sea-snake. "Akari, wait!" he called to the dragoness, threshing the water with his tail to catch up to her disappearing form. The luminescent dots on his sides lit up, casting the tunnel in a faint golden glow. The tunnel widened and opened into a vast cavern, similar to the one above it, but deeper. Somehow it had gotten brighter at the end of the tunnel, and Daedalus became aware, as his luminescence was drowned out, that the cave was lit with hundreds of white, fleshy sea-pods, waving faintly in the weak current. And, barely illuminated by the natural glow of the deep-sea plant, unknown creatures were slithering, their black shapes barely visible in the deepest shadows of the cavern. "We're not alone."

[Nohiki]

"Shiny portal, must touch!" Loki said with quivering eyes. When his hand made contact with the portal's surface, it was jsut like he went through a mirror, standing on the other side of it, in a different realm. "Hehe, where are we?"

[Midnightmoon]

"Ignore them, they are only spectres. They are mostly harmless unless enough of them condense into one creation. We solve this portal and they will disappear on their own." Akari said hastily without looking back, then diving into the portal. It once again cracked where she touched it and opened up to let her though. Taking in her surroundings Akari answered the black dragon, Loki, "My teachings have many interpretations of portals; that they can lead to other realms, other dimensions, or even other worlds entirely. I'm going to say take your pick."

[Nohiki]

"Well, I suppose we can take comfort in the little things, like this place actually having breathable air..." Loki suddenly shuddered at the thought that he went through without knowing what he was getting into. He tried making himself smaller but failed miserably, so he carefully took position closer to the secretive and kinda spooky, yet apparently stronger dragoness. "So, what happens now?"

[Midnightmoon]

"Good question." Akari thought to herself. Her plan had stopped at get to the disturbance, after that her options became very broad. "Information. Demons have a heiarchy. We'll start low and start going up. Someone must know how this occurred."

(Ooc: you going to bring in your frantic and dying explorers morty?)

[Zetherus]

Hashin thought first before entering the strange portal thinking about how unprepared he was until Loki and the dragoness invaded past him into the dark mirror abyss. He crept up lifting his paw and touching the odd supernatural door watching as his appendage crackle then seep flawlessly through to a different existence, "Well here goes nothing!" and jumped through seeing Loki and Akari waiting on the other side. "So what I miss? Any special calamities when you two already entered?" He asked while looking around alerted and cautious wondering how long they have before something dark and demented comes their way.

[Morty]

Daedalus glanced warily at the slithering shapes in the abyss, then proceeded through the portal. He landed on the cold stone floor with a splash, water dripping from his sagging frills. "This doesn't seem to bad." he said, his voice echoing around the dark, cavernous chamber. The walls seemed to have a faint green glow about them, which was lucky, because his photophores only lit up a space about 15m in diameter. He gathered up two spheres of water from the wet floor and placed them over his gills, advancing cautiously into the dimly-lit space. "Do you hear that?" he remarked, cocking his head. "I hear.. breathing." He strained his ears towards the sound. Sure enough, the sound of harsh, ragged breathing could be heard, a little farther up the tunnel, amplified by the echoing stone. "We should be careful down here... Demons are tricksters by nature, it could be a trap," he said, hesitating before the mouth of the passage.

[Midnightmoon]

Akari nodded in agreement with Daedalus. Head down she trotted past him resolutely and into the new tunel.

(ooc: filler post is not so filling T-T)

[Nohiki]

Loki touched the well, feeling the stone that made up the tunnel. It was old, but well done job: "Tunnel seems stable enough. Hihi, could bring it down if need be though." he said, already thinking of how to escape the place, or at least block whatever it was breathing in the tunnel from reaching them. Or at least him.

[Midnightmoon]

(ooc: *pokes morty*)

Akari slipped forward. What she saw were a trio of dragons, all badly bloodied and bruised, two already appeared dead. Akari took a shallow breath to try and sense demon magic which would give away a trickery. What she felt was a taste of demon magic, but not in the concentrated dose that would indicate a demon so she relaxed. "Do any of you know these... beings?" She asked her companions. She was going to say creatures but had quickly corrected herself. Straitening she went quickly forward. "Heheh-cough- we found it, heh, found it, proof of other dimensions-coughcough." One wheezed. "Quiet, if we're quiet the whispers won't find us." One of the other dragons, apparently still with the living, gasped, "You speak and the whispers will come again, with sweet teeth and creeping tendrils. Mind the mind that doesn't let sleepers sleep." "They're mad." Akari realized after a moment. "I'm mad, you're mad, the thoughts twirl in a storm of confusion." "Unless the mad thoughts made the storm." The first on replied. "In either case we're doomed." The second countered then quieted again in stunned fear, like a rabbit in a thunder storm. The second continued in soft high voice, "The whispers, the whispers... Round 'bout the sickly swirls. sweet, sickle round the fancy girls, dancing, darling twirls..." Now the first ignored the second. "Listen-listen! Dimensions are many, the dimensions are blending. The creatures are gathering, and when each pass through, it all weakens, portals are crumbling. We, us with the minds, but not the sense, gathered at the toll. So our theory is this; listen for the bell, for it's then, all turns to hell."

(ooc: i'm gonna feal like a fool later, and it's probably not going to make a lick of sense |)

[Kauria]

The wet rasp of breath grew in volume, the curved tunnel walls making it uncertain whether the noise came from one of the surviving dragons or an unseen source. The bloodied corpse on the floor suddenly gave a loud and strangled sucking sound, an intake of breath that lasted far too long, its tattered sides rising. The other two mad dragons flinched at the noise, withdrawing from their companion in animalistic alarm. The third dragon convulsed, a gasp and a struggle, its wings glued to the ground by a crust of its own blood. A strained noise came from within the mess of scales and limbs, stretching and solidifying into muddled words. They started as little more than whispers and grew into a feverish sing-song. "The toll . . . the . . . toll, the toll, p-pay the price for the bell's toll . . . a mind's worth more than any scroll, and we'll all . . . die here in a . . . devils' hole, but beware the price of th—"
The second of the mad dragons was upon the third before it could draw another labored breath. It tore at the body with tooth and claw until the corpse was again a corpse and lay silent. The second dragon, its limbs trembling, released the dead dragon's throat and let the head hit the floor with a crack. "Shhhhhhhh," it whispered tenderly. "The whispers will hear."
A rumble shuddered through the tunnel floor, a deep bass note almost too low to hear trembling through the air. "Too late!" the first of the three dragons hissed, scrambling over its own feet and past the newcomers.