Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Dec 31, 2014 18:08:53 GMT -5
The figures darting in and out of his vision was unsettling. Ambrosios knew well enough to not dismiss such sightings in a place like this. But each time the others investigated, nothing could be found. Still he held onto the idea that something was here, though it would be all the better if they didn't encounter it.
The others seemed just as wary as he was, though Aegius and Ceana seemed to be doing a better job than he and Aristide. But even Ambrosios thought Aristide's question about having the dreadnought burn the castle from above was ridiculous.
Finally they arrived at the dungeon door. And hitting them right after Ceana had opened it, was not an unpleasant sight but rather a terrible smell, so foul it forced the griffons to cover their beaks as it hit their nares. Dead bodies, over a hundred years old. Certainly a valid explanation for the smell, as well as a gruesome sight.
One in particular caught Ambrosios' eye. A small skeleton of a unicorn, wrapped up in the corner of her cell. Dead for several hundred years. Awful as it was, he had to remember that.
Ambrosios turned to look at Aegius after he asked to be wiped. At first Ambrosios thought the other griffon had soiled himself, but no, that was ridiculous. Did 'wipe' mean what it sounded like? A memory erase? He was sure he'd find out eventually.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 31, 2014 18:24:49 GMT -5
If any of them thought the dungeons were bad, the next room caused Aristide to run to the side and unleash the contents of his stomach on the wall. At first, it seemed to ambrosios that they were outside again, it almost seemed like entangled roots all over the floor, and forming the walls and ceiling... but it wasn't.
This room was positively frozen compared to the rest of the castle and the coppery stench that got to Ambrosios' beak was enough to make even Ceana turn green and force her beak shut with her talons. What Ambrosios had first identified as roots and trunks was actually unicorn bodies, preserved well in the cold and skinned. There are no words to describe the contents of that room. It was just that. In the center of the room was a dipping pool filled to the brim in deep crimson liquid, so much so that it seeped to the cracks on the stone ledge of it.
All of the bodies were unicorn, all of them had their throats slit and were practically nailed into each other by the limbs to form the walls, floor and ceiling of this unholy hall. The absolute worse part of it however, was that their eyelids were removed. They were all staring at them through dead eyes and that fact alone ran such chills through Ambrosios' body, he was practically shivering.
Ceana had to hold herself for several long minutes, producing dry heaving sounds before she was able to talk again. Aegius just stared at the room blankly. "They waited this long to kill her." He said, almost in disbelief, "They did all this..."
"This is sick," Aristide called from the back, "This is beyond Necrolord levels! This is just some twisted crud! I don't want to go in there, Harmony, please don't make me! I can't step on those bodies, I can't step on those bodies!"
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Dec 31, 2014 19:06:14 GMT -5
The next room left Ambrosios confused at first. More roots? Down here? But then he realized... these weren't roots. Aristide had realized it before him, and was already emptying his stomach. Dead, skinned, unicorns. Not just a few. At least a hundred. More then that. The awful sight was making it difficult to calculate scale.
Every single one of them with a slit throat, nailed together to coat the walls, floor, ceiling with their flesh-less corpses. But the worst part was the eyes. It was awful enough, but why? Why had someone painstakingly removed all off their eyelids? What natural creature wanted such a massive dead audience at full attention as they lowered themselves into the blood of so many dead innocents?
And now they were the spectacle. All of their dead eyes were watching them. Ambrosios was feeling ice cold, shivering in such awful discomfort. It took him several seconds for his brain to relay what Aegius had said.
"Where's the key?" the soldier spoke, trying to focus on why they were her. Aristide wasn't helping. "We came here for the key. Where is it? Do we know it's in here?"
What this bird would give for those eyes to just shut.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 1, 2015 15:49:36 GMT -5
No one answered Ambrosios' call. It took everyone about half an hour to recover from what they were seeing. The worst part of it was not the gut-wrenching sights. But rather the culprits themselves. This was not made by some sinister necrolord who has lived for thousands of years in a Necropolis. This was not some sort of alien, outlandish behavior meant to terrify the living. This was done by live griffons, flesh and blood cat-birds who might as well been anyone. This was done at the behest of the old nobility, that which was supposed to be the amalgamation of all griffon values turned sour.
The obsession to obtain a goal at any cost... How many mothers had broken over an empty grave? How many fathers left to work themselves to death to avoid coming back to an emptier home? How many brothers and sisters left with no one to look after, or to look up to..? All because this one griffon could not accept how things were.
Aegius and Ceana helped Aristide get himself together, it took a while to calm him down. When they did, they finally decided to enter the room.
"The Baroness died here," Ceana whispered, "Which means if she had a key it should be somewhere in this room. Keep an eye out."
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Jan 1, 2015 16:02:59 GMT -5
During that half hour Ambrosios found himself sitting just outside the room, mostly staring at the floor but occasionally trying to peek longer and longer glances at the room. He didn't really know what he was doing. Maybe trying to numb the image? Make it so that eventually he look into the room without getting a cold wave of disgust shivering through him. He wasn't even sure it was working.
The one thing he kept repeating to himself was that this had happened hundreds of years ago. These ponies were long dead, these crimes a thing of the past. None of the four of them were involved or could have done anything about it. He wanted to distance himself from what had happened here. Not out of insensitivity, but just so that he could get that awful feeling out of his stomach and focus on why they were here.
Eventually the group was recomposed enough to stand at the entrance of the room. And if Ceana was right, the key had to be here. He knew the most obvious place to look, but that was also hte last place he wanted to look. "It's in the pool, isn't it?" he spoke, dragging his eyes across the other parts of the room, hoping the key would miraculously just be sitting on the floor somewhere waiting for them to take.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 1, 2015 16:19:16 GMT -5
Once more, no one replied. The group entered the room, stepping on the "floor" was a sensation beyond disgust. None of the others dared look down. They just kept on moving forwards. The group of para-military griffons made it half way to the pool when Ambrosios realized, the key was nowhere in sight.
With no choice left, the griffons began to approach the pool of blood, Ambrosios had never seen such a crimson shade to any blood in his life. It wasn't just preserve, it looked... fresh... almost as though it was still in the veins, of the unicorns. It was perfectly still, reflecting the watchful, eerie gaze of the unicorns on the ceiling above it, almost looking like a creature with a hundred eyes was staring at them from within the dipping pool.
*twang*
*twang*
*sock*
Aegius and Aristide collapsed from arrows buried deep into their chests, the soft squishing noise as their bodies landed flat on the preserved bodies of the unicorns echoed throughout the empty room.
Ceana had fallen unconscious, a bruise on her right temple. It happened before any of them had any time to react. Ambrosios unclenched his talon from around the bridge of his bow. He looked at his handiwork.
"Feel bad for her?" The unearthly voiced filled his ears again, the same voice which had commanded this sudden attack. "She had mislead you from the very beginning. She would have you believe they are not like myself, but do you know what they did? Surely you do." Something flashed before Ambrosios' eyes.
"How is this... helping the kingdom..." Aeolus panted, "Dragging us half dead across the valley... making us suffer."
"The Tempest Talons are more important than an incompetent soldier and a cowardly professor." Tempest reasoned, "They will be a great aid."
And then, another one, of Ceana smiling at him.
"You must have realized by now, that all of the griffons under my command bear names starting with the letter A. The Triad is big and who knows better than you how the clans love to name their offsprings after their ancestors. With each commander having a letter to induct their reborn griffons in, it makes it easy for our superiors to keep track of us and ... keep us individual, unique."
The memory almost rushed past him as it fast forwarded to another thing Ceana said.
"Since the member of my team before you died, if you hadn't joined us... well, this honor would probably be given to any of the other commanders, but as I said before, Tempest is very pleased with your performance. So I guess I should be grateful..."
"They killed him, let him fall into the worst fate possible... They will do the same to you... But I will protect you..." The voice paused, sensing his conflict.
"You desire her do you not?" It asked, though it was well aware of the answer, "Then you shall have her. Bring her to me." The command was given and Ambrosios acted. Lifting up the unconscious commander, he took her to the pool of blood, descending the staircase into it until he was neck deep, before letting the body go, allowing it to sink into the heavy liquid. He was then made to emerge from pool and stand on its ledge, to observe.
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Jan 1, 2015 16:54:07 GMT -5
It was as he had expected. The key had to be in the pool, likely with the Baroness herself. Stepping across the floor of the ritual room, Ambrosios had to force himself to look ahead. He couldn't dare look down at the bodies and faces he was treading across.
The pool itself was unnatural, but so was everything about this place. The blood within was fresh. Living almost. And reflecting those eyes surrounding the room, keeping their spotlight on Ambrosios and the others no matter where the griffons looked.
But then something he couldn't have expected happened. Two arrows. Two dead griffons. Ceana unconscious. The griffon stared wide-eyed, panicky. How did this happen? Where did those attacks come from? It was only as his grip on his bow loosened that the awful realization arrived, filling Ambrosios with a dread far worse than the eyes of those mutilated ponies.
The voice. The Baroness. Who else? It had to be. But just as he had been hit with one awful realization, her words soon revealed another. "No. No, no, no, no, no. Aeolus was just some random fifth fleet soldier, part of the clean up effort. He had protected Hawthorne from Tempest's assassins. How could-" The griffon's gears began to grind in the wrong direction; conflicting pieces of evidences clashing with a strong desire to avoid this suggested reality.
"It's coincidence. It's coincidence," the griffon thought, not even sure now whether he was being tricked or in denial. The eyes of the unicorns, bodies of his fellows, that voice; all these things were crowding in on his thoughts, making it difficult to think straight. But the voice came again, now directing him towards the unconscious Ceana.
Without will, without question, the griffon saw himself acting upon order. Picking up his commander, carrying her into the crimson pool, then dropping her within as he emerged and turned to watch. The griffon tried saying something, but even if he could he didn't know what he wanted to say. What did he want? For none of this to be real. To be slapped back to sanity. To wake up to see Aegius, Aristide, and Ceana looking at him like he had just been hallucinating.
The griffon tried moving, trying to reenter the pool to rescue Ceana. He tried calling her name. Would he be allowed? Was it futile?
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 1, 2015 17:16:41 GMT -5
Ambrosios was incapable of moving, incapable of talking, all he was capable of was watching the crimson surface of the pool rise upwards, as though a cloak, hiding beneath it a figure. The figure began stepping on the surface of the pool, and Ambrosios stepped away from it. As the figure drew away from the pool, he saw the blood follow her in the form of a billowing cloak, emptying the pool as the figure stepped away towards the entrance of the ante-chamber.
Ambrosios was back in the dungeons when the billowing cloak finally detached from the now empty pool, and the cloak began to shrink, revealing the figure to be Ceana, the red blood cloak seemed to be completely sucked until it regained a shape as her scarf. She was wide awake now, refreshed, uninjured. All of the scrapes, bruises and cuts she got in the forest were gone now. She was staring at Ambrosios with a grin much unlike her.
"The feeling of form... so ... free..." She said.
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Jan 1, 2015 17:25:22 GMT -5
Ambrosios stared down at the pool, completely distraught with his inability to do anything. He couldn't command his muscles to do anything. They acted on their own, stepping back out of the room as the crimson, cloaked figure floated in front of him. "Ceana... The word rang through his head; and he wasn't sure whether he had been going for a whimper or a scream.
Finally the figure uncloaked itself, revealing what probably anyone but Ambrosios would have believed was Ceana. But this wasn't Ceana. That wasn't her smile. Something, the Baroness, was imitating her or had taken her over.
"Let her go," Ambrosios thought, desperately trying to vocalize those three words. "Let her go, let her go!"
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 1, 2015 17:30:55 GMT -5
"Let her go? The traitor? The murderer? Do you know what she did to you, Ambrosios? Do you know what she fed you?" The grifoness asked, dancing around him, brushing her feathers against his. "Do you know how she controlled you with lies and chemicals?" The creature in Ceana's body gave a magnificent ballet for Ambrosios.
"How she manipulated you from the very first moment, weakening your mind to shape it into whatever she wanted? But she was hasty, in her rush to gain favor she had forgotten that your mind was still weakened and that it might be used against her. My little pet, you are mine now, I will take you to the greatest heights. I need not lie, I already have what I desired, I owe it to you."
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Jan 1, 2015 17:46:16 GMT -5
Now he didn't know what to say. Ambrosios felt alone now. And confused. So very confused. He wanted someone to burst in and reassure him that he hadn't been lied to and manipulated. That the baroness was the one lying, and that his mind hadn't been weakened and molded into what Ceana and the Triad wanted.
But that wasn't going to happen. Even Ambrosios couldn't deny that.
The feel of Ceana's feathers sent an internal shiver through his body, different than the horrified kind he had felt earlier. He couldn't help now watching her body dancing around him. Playfully. Teasingly perhaps.
His mind was beginning to go blank. All he could think of now was that what he thought ultimately didn't matter. The baroness had Ceana, if the real Ceana was even there anymore. And she had Ambrosios; under her will. And as even that began to subside, so did his resistance. The only thing now was the sight of Ceana's body, her movements, dancing in front of him.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 2, 2015 0:33:04 GMT -5
Ceana, or at least whatever was in her body hugged Ambrosios from behind, her body gave off such warmth in contrast to the freezing cold of the cellar. "Worry not." She said, "You are in my care and I will not see you come to harm. I will aid in the struggle against the Necrolord, I have no fondness for him or his minions. We will return to the Triad as though nothing has ever changed, I have eternity, I don't mind spending several years in that Fleetbolt's little game." She let go of him and immediately started marching away to ascend to ground level, Ambrosios was compelled to follow.
She led him out of the castle, they were staring up at the early morning skies above, rather than a tangled mass of branches and brambles. Indeed it seems the forest was under her control.
It seemed however, that this peculiarity did not elude the eyes of the Dreadnaught, which had flown over the valley, shining their bright searchlight down at the suddenly easier to spot griffons.
Ceana flexed her arms, stretching them, before taking off, Ambrosios in tow. However despite his expectations, she did not fly away from the Dreadnought, but towards it. He body began to shimmer in the glow of concentrated ether. Usually, this would make Ambrosios cringe, however it seemed that whatever weakness he had to magic was abolished by the Baroness' mere presence.
Continuing her course up towards the Dreadnought, and ignoring the loudspeakers calling for the stop, the Baroness tried, for the first time in hundreds of years, her new magical powers. There was a blinding flash of light as the Dreadnought exploded into two flaming pieces, crashing down into the valley below, igniting the brambled wood. Ambrosios knew that the Baroness had meant to do so, that she had meant to destroy her own castle. Only one griffon knew she was reincarnated, a single magical griffon in a sea of others who were weak against magic, yet he sensed that power was not what interested her. Truly, if she had obtained immortality, very little must hold her interest now.
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Jan 2, 2015 1:11:19 GMT -5
The baroness' words seemed to sit in Ambrosios' mind, leaving him puzzled. To return to the Triad. As if none of this had happened. Would it... work? Did it matter? Did he care? His mind was in no state to sort things out or think things through. He was stressed. Tired. And the embrace of Ceana's arms, the baroness' words of protection; at least that was something he could onto. For now. Before the thinking.
He followed the baroness out of her castle, not sure if by force or habit, and looked upwards to see the sky above him. No tree branches. Almost a relief. But what wasn't was the dreadnought's spotlight shining down on them. The baroness seemed inclined to head straight for it, however, with Ambrosios inclined to follow.
He couldn't grasp why the glow of her gathering magic had no effect on him. But he was soon left staring dumbfounded at the burning halves of the dreadnought falling into the forest below. This was something most unicorns couldn't even accomplish. They had awoken something quite powerful. Something the griffon soldier now found himself a slave to.
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 2, 2015 1:56:26 GMT -5
Ceana led Ambrosios out of the hidden valley and into the Wild Blue as they made their way to their rendezvous with the airship that was to take them back to the Triad's hideouts. With the rendezvous some distance away from where Ceana downed the airship, they could rest assured that they would not be pursued by the 6th Fleet. Ignatius' griffons would be busy scanning for whatever airship downed their dreadnought. They would not believe it was done by two singular griffons. Then they would probably stumble across the ruins for the castle, which would undoubtedly crumble under the heat of the fire.
Though at first it was obvious to Ambrosios that Ceana was "replaced" it no longer seemed like Ceana was any different than before. Except that she was a lot more powerful.
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Jan 2, 2015 2:16:28 GMT -5
Ambrosios followed the grifonness away from the castle and wreckage of the dreadnought and into the skies, through the wild blue to their rendezvous point. Ambrosios could at least say he felt safer now about the journey back. They didn't need to worry about the fifth fleet, and the Baroness was clearly more than capable of handling whatever skyward monsters they might encounter.
The griffon had his eyes on the flying Ceana as they traveled through the sky. There were so many thoughts, so many things that had just happened, floating in his mind. He didn't want to think about them. To analyze them, piece things together. Not now. He needed his mind to be blank. He needed to not think about what had just happened.
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