Amidst the heart of an unforgiving and frozen mountain range known only as 'The World Crown', two intrepid souls ventured into the icy wilderness, their breath forming a frosty mist with every exhale. As the two had trudged through the snow-laden landscape, the serrated peaks of the mountains loomed ominously above, their jagged silhouettes cutting into the hazy, wintry sky. The air was so crisp that it seemed to crackle with every step, and the world around them was painted in shades of pristine white, with the occasional glimmer of sunlight reflecting off the glistening ice.

Only a week had passed since the two had first met and yet they seemed to have constantly found themselves experiencing one ordeal or another. It was almost as though the very world itself had been attempting to warn them of their fates, shall they remain in contact with one another. Oblivious to the possible desires of the world however, the pair had seemed to enjoy one another's company. When faced with a foe, they would battle them without reserve and at least one of the pair had started to feel reliant on the other. If only they had known what was in store for them if they continue this course of action..

"I really appreciate your willingness to come out here with me, Sylvari. Despite having spent my entire life out here, I've never managed to work up the gall to climb these peaks." Bundled up within his Girallon fur parka had been a human of T'saya descent. Bone-chilling winds had raged all around him as he had progressed through the snow. This much alone would have been enough to send a lesser individual back down the mountain and yet it seemed to have no hold over the young man. He had always felt this cold after all. "After our encounter with the ooze, back in Winter's Howl, I came to the conclusion that this is the only way in which I can force myself to grow."

Much like most actions that he had taken, this plan of his had been rather reckless. He was hoping to traverse throughout the snow-laden peaks of The World's Crown in hopes of taking on strong enemies that his magics had been relatively weak against. Faced with trials that were unlike any other that he had faced in the past, he was certain that he could bolster himself in the moment. That was how most heroes had managed to overcome their limits after all. Or so he had heard from the stories of his people. "Things have been difficult for us, since we've managed to get to know one another, but I am certain that I can trust you with my life. All that worry that you had about being a monster.. If I wasn't before, I now fully believe you to be capable of overcoming it."

These might have been the words that he had spoken but it was his actions that would prove his belief. By bringing the vampiress into the frigid mountains with him, he had been risking more than he ever had up to this point. This was the farthest that the pair had been from another human since they had known one another, and that had included their time together in the Cold Wood. If she were going to slake her thirst with his blood than now was the most opportune time. Even knowing that, Videl had trusted that things would be okay. No matter what they had faced, even if it had been something as grand as a vampires hunger, he held a resolute belief that they could overcome it together.

---

Black Harvest Campire Stories - Trapped

Being bereft of the fine fur cloak that had been gifted to her, having given it to a child in need some weeks ago, Sylvari trudged behind her friend with only her icy armor encasing her body. For any normal person, the biting cold would have been incapacitating, but Sylvari and Videl were made of sterner stuff: the latter with his innate icy arcana and the former given her not-quite-dead nature. The wind blew her well-maintained silver locks wildly, but this minor annoyance was the brunt of the hardship that Sylvari faced from the weather.

The topography, however was a different story. Coming from relatively flat valleys and lowlands, the steep inclines, treacherous black ice, and generous snowfall were are obstacles of special consideration for Sylvari. She was, however, equipped with a pair of advantages over these hurdles, courtesy of her friend. Firstly, he was always there to offer words of advice and caution, identifying inconveniences before they became actual problems and no doubt sparing her endless trouble. Secondly, and more evidently, Videl had been kind enough to teach her his signature method of zipping around on icy soles. ^{[Frozen Feet]} Given her growing mastery over the cold that seemed to come naturally due to her nature, Sylvari took to the art swiftly and was soon zipping by obstacles in step with her friend.

Sylvari was aware of the risks posed by travelling alone with a person she cared about, a fact that she had impressed on her friend, who knew of her parasitic nature, but he was insistent that she accompany him. She could have resisted more, but, in truth, she had come to enjoy having a constant companion over this past week, and she was not eager to depart into solitude again. And so, the pair ventured out into the wilderness, his compliments and thanks never failing to draw a smile and blush from Sylvari.

She looked to him as he began to speak of their encounter with the ooze in the inn. "It was certainly a difficult encounter, made exponentially harder with Lloyd's handicap, but at least we are spared from his requests on this outing. And I applaud your intention to grow in strength. Such is the best way to protect others, and in this, our goals are aligned."

When Videl began to speak about his trust for her, Sylvari looked away in embarrassment and shame. Of course, she would do her utmost to protect her friend, but he placed more faith in her than she did herself. Unconsciously, Sylvari slipped her hand into her pack, verifying the precious vial of blood that Taki had gifted her remained carefully bundled as always. She wasn't eager to use such a treasure, but such might be her only salvation should disaster occur. She had planned carefully, of course, slaking her thirst for three straight days in preparation for this journey, more than she ever had before. She could barely even feel the dark desire within her breast, the beast sleeping peacefully, sated.

"Well, that makes one of us, V, but I appreciate your faith in me. I can only hope I rise to meet your expectations should we be pressed. With you expert guidance, however, gods willing, there won't be any difficulty to speak of." Sylvari smiled softly at her friend.

The two had always seemed to have differing opinions when it had pertained to one another. Videl had believed Sylvari to be a capable knight that could overcome her vampiric nature whilst she herself had believed otherwise. And apparently Sylvari had believed him capable as a guide but the mere mention of it had been enough to make him laugh. What she had considered to be expert guidance had been nothing more than childhood training out in these parts. The things that he knew were known primarily by the inhabitants of Frost Gale, and as such, Videl saw no real merit in them outside of here.

With his heart filled with a sense of determination, Videl would take the lead and find himself walking backwards. As he had done so, he would offer Sylvari a bright and reassuring smile. One that indicated just how focused on her he had been. "As long as we rely on one another, I am sure that we can overcome anything that is thrown at us. I have no fear with you around, my dear." This was his attempt at playing with her in the same way that she had with others. Not something that he was likely to do with any other, unless he had developed a similar rapport.

His actions up to this point had been teasing fate in the worst of ways. The over-confidence that the T'saya had exuded, in addition to the way that he had aptly suck out danger, would finally come back to bite him in the ass. Rather than allow for his insolence to pass on by, the world would gift him with a test. The heavy winds that had been roaring around the duo would find their pace quickened and the flurrying snow would overtake them. It was almost as though they had found themselves trapped within a sea of snow; an inescapable winter.

Entirely taken by surprise, Videl would begin to panic. With the rate in which his vision had been getting overtaken, he was certain that he would lose track of Sylvari in a matter of seconds. That wasn't something that he could afford right now. Rather than take the risk, Videl would immediately leap out towards Sylvari, hoping to pull her into his grasp. Just his feet were about to leap off the ground though, the ground beneath the pair would give way, sending them plummeting into the darkness below. "Sylvari!"

The world seemed to close in around him as he tumbled through the frigid abyss, the roar of the wind and the distant echoes of his voice fading into nothingness. His foremost concern had been on his companion, who was likely consumed by the storm of the abyss below, much like he had been. Panic would overtake the man as he had questioned where she might end up. Would she be okay, even with all of that armor? Or would the armor itself be what does her in? Depending on how long they had fallen, and what lie below, it could go either way.

"Please be okay.." As the raging winds had whipped past him, his words difficult to even be heard by himself. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to tell what fate would befall either of them. In a feat that was almost more difficult than anything else that he had faced, Videl would be forced to return his focus back to himself. 'I've first got to worry about myself. Than I can try and save her.' Knowing that he would find himself crushed by the weight of gravity if he were to hold himself back, Videl would call forth a large storm of fluffy and fast-moving snow ^{[Snow Flurry]}. He had hoped to make use of the snow to lessen the force of his fall, and hopefully Sylvari's if she were capable of being caught in it. It was a long shot but all that he could think of in the moment.

Sylvari's smile brightened at Videl's positive smirk and light banter. It's good that he has loosened up a bit. He deserves a bit of levity, and I'm certainly not a person that should demand reverence. He's a good person, and others should see that too, if he permits himself.

Sylvari's personal thoughts were cut short as the wind gusted again. Every so often on the journey there had been these small flare-ups, and Sylvari had come to believe they all would quell within a few moments. Her expectations were shattered, however, when the squall continued, whipping up a frigid icy curtain, obscuring her vision from her friend.

Sylvari's first instinct was to dig in to avoid being blown about by the ferocious winds, and she hoped Videl would do the same. As she began to kneel however, the ground itself betrayed her, giving way to a hungry emptiness, eager to swallow her up. Sylvari fell for an indeterminate amount of time before bouncing painfully off a rock or some other such obstacles, landing fully on her right arm.

The shock of the impact brought clarity to her panicking mind, and she drew on the innate power of her bloodline to turn to mist ^{[Demon of the Mist]}, phasing through more deadly obstacles as she was drawn by gravity's inexorable pull. When the world finally stopped hurtling passed her, Sylvari retook physical form and looked around. She was in an impossibly dark icy cavern, the speck of light from where they fell far above the only tiny blip of visibility within. Sylvari could barely see 5 feet ahead of herself. She quickly reached into her pack where it was slung over her shield on her back and retrieved a torch to ignite.

She then set about looking for her companion. "V! Videl, where are you? Are you hurt?" Sylvari's voice echoed out into the cold, lifeless hole, reverberating back to her. A stroke of luck, fortunate fate, or a blessing from the gods, found her looking up to where her companion floated down on a fluffy cloud of snow. Well, 'float' is a generous term given the speed of his descent, but it looks certainly more survivable than my fall. 

Videl's cloud abruptly dissipated, dropping him unceremoniously on the cavern floor. Sylvari approached her friend quickly. "Are you hurt, V? That was some quick thinking on that cloud spell. You'll have to show me that." His racing mind took a second to process her words, and his gaze fell upon her right arm in lieu of a response.

Sylvari looked down at her dominant arm for the first time since landing, seeing it jutting out at an unnatural angle at the joint. She merely grunted and grabbed with her other hand to quickly right the dislocation, snapping the arm back to some semblance of functionality with an unpleasant popping sound.

After what felt like an eternity, the fall came to an abrupt end as Videl landed in a subterranean cavern, its walls glistening with icicles like the teeth of some ancient, frozen beast. Disoriented and shivering from the shock of his sudden descent, the T'saya assessed his situation. Or he had attempted to do so at least but after having plummeted that quickly, Videl couldn't help but hurl behind him. "Erg.. W-what happened?" It hadn't taken that long for his senses to adjust to what had just happened, pulling him out of the disoriented state and back to the cavern that lie before him.

"..Syl?" Once he had realized that the vampiress had been standing before him, a soft smile would begin to find purchase upon his features. "You're oka-" His gaze would fall solidly upon her dislocated arm and worry would immediately begin to overtake him. With all of this anxiety and panic that had risen through him over the course of the last several minutes, his heart had been pounding like crazy. "Your arm.." Within an instant, Sylvari would pop her shoulder back into place.

If he had known any better, Videl would have blamed himself for everything that was going on. It was thanks to his grandstanding and overall desire that they had found themselves in the mountains in the first place. His psyche was in too much of a mess at this moment, however, so it wasn't something that would dawn on him. "I'm so glad to see that you are okay, Syl.. I was so worried." Wishing for nothing more than to give her a hug, Videl would attempt to rise from the ground. Attempting it was as far as he had got though, as his right leg had been rather bruised from the fall. A sharp inhale would escape from his lips as he had attempted to rise from the ground, indicating the fact that he had been hurt.

More than anything else, the pain would bring him back to his senses. As things had stood right now, the two were in a very precarious situation. One that he wasn't sure how they would get out of. "..we need to get out of here." Videl's heart had begun to beat so quickly that the sound of it was palpable within his ears. From what he could tell, there was no way in which they could climb out of this hole. Not with his arm and Sylvari's arm the way that they were. They were going to need to brave the cavern in hopes of another entrance.

Pushing through the pain and the anxiety, Videl would call upon his mana to summon a suitable implement that would allow for him to rise from the ground with some assistance. The snow on the ground, that he had previously summoned, would rise from the ground and solidify into a spear of ice within his hand ^{[Ice Spike]}. With the spear point jutting upwards, Videl would use the base of the spear to push himself off of the ground. From there, he would make use of it as a cane or a crutch.

Once he had fully risen to his feet, Videl would turn his gaze back towards Sylvari. The tiredness and fear that he had been attempting to contain had been rather evident in their display. "We have to search for another exit.. I don't think that either of us can make that climb." Almost as though to taunt him, the distance sound of giggling would escape from one of the nearby tunnels of the cavern. The very sound was enough to send chills down the T'saya's spine. "..fuck."

Sylvari comfortingly rubbed Videl's back as his undigested lunch was released on the cavern floor from the tumult and helped her friend to his feet afterwards, noting with displeasure the injury on Videl's leg that caused him to hobble.

"As am I, V. I hear your sentiments of wanting to get out, but that leg demands attention first and foremost. I have some bandages and a splint in my pack. Let me just..." Sylvari stopped dead in her preparation of the medical supplies as sinister giggling could be heard echoing throughout the dark cavern. With the torchlight extending out only to about 20 feet, battling the pressing darkness, the source of the sound could not be identified.

Sylvari noted with acute displeasure that her dominant arm was not in any state to wield her warhammer as she was wont to do with encroaching danger. With a tongue click of irritation, Sylvari slowly set her supplies on the floor a few feet away from where the torch burned. She turned out to peer into the darkness, fingers flexing to grow shadowy claws of eldritch energy ^{[Eldritch Claws]}.

A soft growl emanated from her throat as she squinted to discern the threat, a guttural, inhuman instinct, but not something she could afford to pay attention to right now. From deep within the gloom, a single greenish globe of light could be seen, bouncing this way and that. Sylvari felt inexplicably drawn towards the light, feeling a sense of safety would accompany their union. It was only the precarious state of herself and her friend that kept Sylvari rooted where she was, frowning in indecision. More nimbuses of light joined the first, and the feeling of false security only grew as Sylvari fought a battle within.

From off in the distance, a faint green light would approach the cavern in which the two had been trapped. This light would grow in intensity as smaller variants of the light would continue to join it, until the tunnel that had been at the edge of the cavern had been lit awash in green. All the while, the giggling from before would grow intensify as well. Whatever had been coming towards them had been coming in full force and in the states that the two were in, it had only spelled further trouble.

"Is.. is the way out creeping closer? That doesn't even make any sense.." Whether it be explorers of the cavern, a genuine way out, or simply a monster that lurked within that had approached, Videl's anxiety had been at an all time high. He was exceedingly wary of whatever had been coming towards them, to the point in which the hairs of the back of his neck had stood up. "Something doesn't feel right."

Even with that thought in mind, Videl had found himself growing evermore attracted to the prospect of escape. If he could get the two of them out of there, than he would be able to get them both the medical attention that they had needed. "Who am I kidding, that's clearly just a way out." Still unaware of the dangers that had lurked within, Videl would begin to make his way towards the gloaming light that had slowly spilled into the cavern. He had to hobble over in that direction, due to his injured leg, but eventually he would make his way down there. Unless he was physically stopped, Videl would continue off in that direction, his anxiety being the only thing to keep him going.

If he had managed to make it past Sylvari without her stopping him, he would make it about halfway towards the tunnel in which the light had emanated. It was at about this halfway point that he would slip and collapse onto the ground, thus preventing him from continuing down the path. On the other hand, if Sylvari had prevented him from continuing, the pain in his leg would overtake him and he would ultimately find himself stopped in place.

Sylvari was in a dream-like fugue, and Videl was her only tether to the waking world. In a flash of lucidity, she grabbed the torch when Videl began walking, but could do nothing more than follow close by him as he went, leaving the pack and medical supplies behind in the darkness.

Videl's collapse jarred Sylvari's senses enough to regain some semblance of control over her actions, blinking and shaking her head to clear away the mental fog. She looked with lucid eyes toward the amalgamation of lights that could no longer be mistaken for a distant tunnel entrance, for they swirled about one another, as the chorus of infernal giggling grew and grew. The pair's sudden stop of their approach seemed to irritate the lights, having lost their patience.

The light turned out to be monsters, lurking in the dark. They were insectoid, judging by knobby jointed legs that skittered about the edges of the light, but the insidious laughter that seemed to subsume all other sounds betrayed an altogether more bone-chilling revelation. Sylvari was pulled into a memory with the information she was presented, back to a small soup kitchen she had served in back in Frost Gale.

Children laughed and played games, the same children that were only days before the very images of despondency, as the city's kind-hearted had donated to throw a small festival for them. Sylvari couldn't resist being a part of giving the least of society some form of hope of a better tomorrow and had volunteered right away. She played with the children, read to them, and served home-made meals that she helped to prepare. As the evening came, the governess from the orphanage came to collect her wards, some of whom were less than keen on returning to the mundanity of day-to-day life after the fun of the small festival. Sylvari heard the governess warning children of a monster that lurked in the dark, ready to snatch up naughty children, never to be seen again. She told of the creature's hypnotic light, that could lure even the strongest willed to their demise, of the gnashing, split jaws, filled with rows of razor sharp teeth. Most of all, she warned of the tell-tale sound that would accompany their advance, something mundane and even cheerful in any others circumstance. She told of the giggling.

Glimmertongues.

Sylvari snapped back to the present as one of the monsters had enough of waiting, venturing fully into the light. It was clear by its teetering gait that the creature could not see well, if at all, but it moved fast, unnervingly fast toward the torch on the floor. It looked like an overgrown locust, the size of a small dog, but where the head should be, there was only the split jaws around a bobbing bioluminescent light on the end of a tongue-like antenna. As the jaws moved around, too fluidly to have normal physiology, a sound like laughter was emitted.

Sylvari looked around in horror to find the lights had almost surrounded her and Videl. She forcibly hauled him to his feet, eldritch claws unconsciously sinking into his tender flesh, and threw him in the direction of the rapidly-closing gap in the ring of luminescence. "Get out of here, V!"

Having gotten her friend into as much safety as she could reasonably provide, Sylvari iced the bottoms of her soles for added mobility ^{[Frozen Feet]} and surged forward, towards the foe. She leaned low and grabbed the neck of the creature, crushing it in an iron fisted grip, the writhing shadow claws sinking deep into the creature's malleable carapace. Rather than let out a scream or other such death-knell, the creature's jaws merely undulated wildly, producing high pitched, manic laughter, before falling limp in her hands. The skittering of several dozen sets of insectoid legs toward her made Sylvari realize in horror that she had made herself a target.

Lying prone and in pain, Videl couldn't help but find himself wishing for all of this to end. He had wanted nothing more than to enjoy his time with Sylvari and it was as though he was being denied this chance at every corner. Not only had they found themselves trapped within this underground cavern but now they were being swarmed by these insectoid creatures.. Ones that would instill an instinctive fear within the T'saya as his gaze had risen from the icy terrain and towards one of the creatures that had been booking it towards the direction in which the pair had been standing.

"T-there's no way..." Despite how much he had wished for these moments to be a false reality, this fear that had left his chest clenching had been enough for Videl to know that this was all too real. What had been booking it towards the duo had been a creature only known as a Glimmertongue. A creature that despite being regularly cleared out of the tunnels, still managed to take the lives of dozens of Frost-Galians a year. Having grown up not too far from here, it was a creature that he had known all too well. Even with knowing what it was though.. Well this was his first time having encountered one in person.

Having been paralyzed with fear, Videl wouldn't notice that his companion had been rushing towards him. It was only when the woman's arcane claws had dug into his flesh that he had been snapped out of the stupor. It was too late for him to react, other than to shout out in pain, as he was flung off into another direction. With a heavy thud, his body would hit the ground and his cries of anguish would cease. The air would effectively knocked out of his lungs the moment that he had come into contact with the ground and his senses would all but come back to him.

A few seconds would come to pass before Videl would fully come back to the present. His attention had been frayed but he had been doing his best to hold on. It was thanks to Sylvari's words that he had managed to find an anchor to the present. She had wished for him to escape. To leave her behind to face these wretched things on her own, so that he himself could survive. It was something that every part of him had been screaming at him to follow through with. Deep down however, he had held this attachment to the vampiress that he simply refused to let go of. Rather than allow for himself to flee and leave her to her fate, a metaphorical fire would rise up within the man and provoke him into acting.

"No way!" With pain rippling throughout his injured leg and now sore body, Videl would push himself off of the ground, up to the point that he was standing once more. "I refuse to leave you behind, Syl!" Almost as though it was reacting to the raw emotion behind his words, the spear point of his ice spike would find itself becoming serrated ^{[Cold Touch]}. It wasn't something that he had willed to happen but it came to pass nonetheless. "There's no point in leaving here if it's not with you!"

Determination burning within the mans core, Videl would hurl this serrated ice spike towards the ever growing source of the green glow. Just as he had done so, several glimmertongues would break through the cavern entrance and start to make their way out towards the torch. Videl's ice spike would pierce through the carapace of one of the glimmertongues, causing it to stumble back into several others of its kind. Seeing that it wasn't deceased at this point, the T'saya would grasp his hand and focus his mana on the chunks of the ice spear that had remained. In that moment, the remaining hunk of ice would shatter in every direction, piercing into the glimmertongues that had surrounded the now deceased one ^{[Brittle Shatter]}. A true testament to his devotion.

Sylvari clicked her tongue in hypocritical irritation upon hearing her friend's protestations. His refusal to leave was brave, noble, and something that Sylvari would have done exactly the same. Still, here and now, it presented a problem, an obstacle to her releasing the beast within to deal with this nightmare so she wouldn't have to, for fear of hurting Videl in the process.

A warrior plays the hand she's dealt. Wasting energy lamenting missed situations will get you killed, Sylvi. Kill them. Kill them all: before they kill you and V.

Sylvari called upon the powers of darkness within to give her sight within the pitch black of the cavern, an inky blackness creeping like a film over her crimson eyes, granting her sight of the pair's tormentors ^{[Ebon Eyes]}. She looked around in disbelief. There must have been dozens of the overgrown nightmare locusts, all slavering for her tender flesh. Sylvari took a breath, settling into her state of mindlessness for combat, tenuous as her grasp on the discipline was at this point.

Sylvari then clapped her hands together, an audible popping sound emerging from her hands as she called forth the icy arcana within to create a miniature snowstorm in the cavern, causing the ambient temperature to plummet ^{[Sheer Cold]}. Noticing some of the creatures beginning to ice over she surged forward like a tidal wave of death, each blow of her frosty hammer a death knell for a Glimmertongue.

The chorus of manic giggling only increased.

It would seem as though the both of them were being overwhelmed by their emotions in this moment. Not just the fear of being overrun by the glimmertongues but the fear of losing one another. Of course Videlvi could only assume that this was how Sylvari had felt. After all, it wasn't as though he could read minds. Regardless of how she had actually felt in this moment, her actions were enough to prove to Videl just how serious she was about the situation at hand.

With glimmertongue after glimmertongue pushing into the cavern, Sylvari had decided to call upon heavy winds and the fluttering of snow. Within an instant, a miniature snowstorm would overtake the cavern, snow pelting down upon everyone within the area. For one such as Videl, whom had a natural chill stored within him, the cold would prove even more fatal. His body would start to tense up as the cold would overtake him.. and yet he would attempt to ignore it and to still push on.

Rather than allow for himself to be buried in the oncoming snow, Videl would take the snow that had been pelting him and turn it to his own advantage. The layer of snow that had begun to coat over him would find itself transformed into a thin layer of ice ^{[Frost Web]} that was soon pulled off of his being. A sticky substance would be found in its place as Videl had removed it from his person. That substance would quickly be applied to the back of his leg, so that he could force himself to a standing point, enduring the pain all the while.

From there he would rush towards opening into the cavern, attempting to maneuver himself around any of the incoming glimmertongues as he had done so. The pain had strummed along his tendons with each step and yet he had attempted to overcome it. "Fuck off!" With a final step, Videl would channel his mana into the ground and force a massive hunk of ice ^{[Glacial Wall]} to overtake the entryway. With enough force, the glimmertongues could easily break through it. This was simply Videl's way of stalling for time.

Sylvari briefly heard an exclamation from her friend, in the midst of her slaughter, turning to see he had walled himself of from the main body with a rising wall of ice. Oh, V, I hope there aren't more of these things on that side.



Sylvari's momentary distraction proved to be a very costly one, as she was swiftly buried in the creatures, jumping as one upon her when her guard was down. The glimmertongues didn't seem to have any appreciable intelligence but like a pack of hunting predators, their collective instinct for the kill had kicked in at the worst possible time for the justiciar.



They were everywhere, tearing at her arms ^{[Gauntlet Hit Preventions 2/2]}, legs ^{[Greaves Hit Preventions 2/2]}, and torso ^{[Cuirass Hit Preventions 2/2]}. Her shield was torn off her arm in the scramble, as razor-sharp teeth tore into her from all sides. Sylvari bit her tongue so hard she drew blood, to avoid screaming from the pain. If she had to die hear, she wouldn't let Videl know how agonizing her end was.



As consciousness began to slip for Sylvari, something else awoke, taking control of her frame ^{[Last Resort]}. BLOOD. SLAUGHTER. CONSUME. BECOME. 

The vampire shed the armor, so rent by the gnashing creatures that its doffing was a simple matter. Claws of black swirling energy once again manifested around her fingers ^{[Eldritch Claws]}, and bared fangs were displayed as the vampire began her bloody work: diving into the throng of creatures like a rabid animal. She clawed and bit at flesh ^{[Fang Graft]}, stopping here and there to hold a corpse above her head to allow the sickly greenish blood of the glimmertongues to pour into her mouth.

She was baptized in blood and carnage as she was born anew again and again, reveling in her savagery.

What he had done in hopes of preventing any further damage would only serve to bring more harm. In throwing up that block of ice, sealing off the pathway between the two of them, Videl had inadvertently trapped the two of them with their own demons to battle. Sylvari had found herself tearing through glimmertongue after glimmertongue and eventually her own armor would be penetrated, forcing her to show a side of herself that Videl had yet to see. A sight that would truly be burned into his memories, if the two were to survive the night.

Fear had continued to take the T'saya, even as the pain had been put off, and said fear was slowly starting to consume the man. Not only did he fear for the life of his companion but he must now face what she had claimed to be all along. With her armor having been doffed, Videl would see her for what she truly was. A wolf in sheep's clothing. A veritable monster. A vampire. 

Anxiety had gripped his chest as his gaze had remained upon Sylvari. With the way that she was ripping and tearing these creatures apart, there had been an instinctive part of the man that had caused him to step back. At the moment, she wasn't the person that he had grown fond of. She was something far more than that.. Something that would force him to overcome this trepidation that now linger within him.

Before he could really get into how he had felt about what he was seeing in this moment, another pair of glimmertongues would descend upon him. Their pervasive laughter would pierce through his mind and pull his attention solely towards them. That incessant giggling.. It was enough to snap him back. "Why?! Why?! Why can't I just have this?!" Losing himself to the fear, Videl would call upon another block of ice ^{[Glacial Wall]}, ultimately trapping him between two walls. Cracks would begin to form upon them as the glimmertongues had attempted to pierce through, leaving Videl to lose himself entirely.

His mind would fade and all that would remain was instinct. Pure and unfiltered instinct to sustain himself. The only issue was how he was going to do it. Frosty tears would descend upon the mans cheeks as his heart had found a calm. As for his mana? Well it would wildly leap out of him, almost to the point in which a physical manifestation could be display. This mana would tear outwards as his arms were raised, each hand landing upon a wall. Without a single moment of concern for himself, his mastery over the magic would be called upon, and each wall would shatter into a million pieces, sending various ice shards flying throughout the cavern and into the carapaces and bulbs of the glimmertongues. Naturally, the same shards would find themselves imbedded into the exposed body of Videl as well! Blood would seep from the various wounds that he would sustain from this moment but he was ultimately still alive. Just very injured.

Were there any higher forms of reason within the vampire, other than the all-encompassing drive to feed to survive, the wanton slaughter of so many of the wretched little creatures may have even become boring, but there were no signs of her slowing down for such things. She was bathed, head to toe, in their thick green blood, savoring each one's manic death laughter as she carved into ever more.

The bodies of the creatures stacked up around her. Though the vampire was assuredly being ravaged by the glimmertongues as much as she was cutting a swath of death through their ranks. Bereft of the more tactical thinking of her conscious mind, the blood she took from each healed the wounds of the former, a horrific process of rending, drinking, and mending, over and over. KILL. CONSUME. BECOME.

Having proven that her endurance was greater than the pack numbers, after agonizing minutes, the vampire had felled every creature that stood before her, their bodies scattered in a bloody circle around her, like a flower of death with her at the center. Still the vampire wanted more blood. BLOOD. CONSUME.

One creature in the cave had escaped her savagery, a little fleshling that shuddered in pain with weakened body and spirit, bodies of the little creatures lying around him as well. The vampire stalked towards her last prey. CONSUME. With the heightened arcane within this one's blood ^{[Chaos Touched]}, she would finally sate her endless thirst and use this power towards her own evolution. BECOME.

With just about every drop of mana that he could muster having been expended, Videl would find himself slumping to the ground and lying prone. His mind had given in already and at this rate, his body wasn't that far behind. The darkness of the cave had begun to overtake his vision, as the bulbs of the glimmertongues would dissipate, and all that remained had been a single individual making their way towards him.

While he may not be able to take notice of the fact that his very life may be in danger, an innate relief of the fact that Sylvari had been safe could certainly be felt. It was as though all of his suffering recently had proven its worth. The one person that he had aimed to keep safe had managed to pull through and those approaching footsteps were enough for him to be satisfied. No longer having the energy to continue on, the body of the T'saya would give out as well. Unconsciousness would overtake the young man, even as an imminent threat approach. For all intents and purposes, there was no other ways for him to react. With Videl being alive but comatose, his fate would rest solely in the hands of the vampiress.