- Kat -

Those are so pretty! We had a HUGE ice storm over here a few years ago. It was beautiful to look at, but most of the city lost power

XD Haha, nice!

I should totally do that! O: ...after I write my essay orz

I...don't know what celebrity mashup is ._.

That face is more annoyed than what I was going for. I wanted >_>

No red? And no white to just color red? I think I'd have to get one of those big knit legwarmers to keep it covered with, then.

Aww, I'm sorry, Horatio D: Did you at least get a better color this time? XD

I did dishes and worked on math. My life is one of excitement and adventure.

Happy Birfday, Jesusfreak! I hope you have tons of fun!

Happy Birfday, Leguan! Sounds like you've got a lot of partying to do \o/

o.o What were the firetrucks zooming around for?

I think that a weekday would be better, since weekends tend to be pretty busy for people. And I'd say sometime in the evening, since then most people should be out of classes.

The only song of theirs I can think of is Weird Science...but I adore that song so I must say I agree XD

I get mad when my dad and I both have killer death flus and feel like we're going to die.

XD Haha, I love your epic battle!

XD Nice, Kris

triple post I am a horrible person Kris is doing the meme RIGHT NOW, and if her running commentary is any indication, it's going to be hilarious.

Happy Birfday, Taynio!

AND ALSO UMM HOW DID I NEVER SEE GLO'S MEME D: It was epic XD

PAZ I TAG YOUUUUUU

MERRY BIRTHMAS to the both of you! May they both be filled with happiness and sausages.

Good to see you back, dude! =D

*just saw Horatio's post* 8D I do! I love her voice.

You need a cast with like, strobe lights and buzzers attached do it o_<

I actually do have a few pictures planned. I don't know if they are "illustrations", exactly, but they're character portraits at least XD NEW CHAPTER OMG Chapter 2 “So...how do you find a darkling nest?” Ophelia had made it through the day clinging to one single, fragile shred of hope that the events of the night before had been some sort of hallucination. She’d found the necklace buried in her room somewhere, then had some insane dream about it that carried over into her half-asleep stupor as she’d gotten ready for school. That hope was pretty much shattered as soon as she got home and opened her closet door to watch Brogan float out idly. She’d holed up in her room for the rest of the evening, not bothering to come downstairs even for dinner. When the jewel in her choker flashed to light and Valkin instructed her to run downtown again, she had transformed and slipped out the window into the overcast night with resigned compliance. They were now in front of the Aldale Building yet again. Ophelia figured that since this was where they’d lost the darklings last night, it was as good a place as any to start hunting them down again. She looked up to the roof with apprehension. “Do I have to go on the roof again?” “I doubt it,” Valkin replied. “They’ll have gathered somewhere with a lot of shadow, in an alley or something similar.” Ophelia walked towards the dark gap between the Aldale Building and its neighbor, reaching for her chain whip. Brogan twisted through the air after her. “They crawled over here last night, maybe they stayed put.” “Give it a look.” She pulled the whip from around her and stepped carefully into the alley. It didn’t much surprise her that she could see better in the darkness now than she ever could before. Taking a deep breath, she began to search, kicking aside garbage cans and old boxes. Quite a few angry cats scattered out of her way, but no darklings surfaced. Ophelia stepped back with a frown. She was about to ask Valkin what to do next, but stopped when she noticed something she hadn’t before. A faint sort of buzzing sensation against her temples. A step to the right made it grow stronger. Another step to the right, and it dulled again. After some experimentation, she determined that whatever was causing the feeling was forming a sort of path leading back out into the street. “I...I think I found a trail.” “Good, follow it.” Ophelia followed where the buzz told her to go, starting to run with it once she felt she wouldn’t lose it by accident while Brogan curled himself around her neck. “Are you sure I should just be going along with this? I don’t even know for sure what it is.” “It’s the only lead we have,” Valkin said. “Following it is better than searching fruitlessly in the same place all night.” “I guess...” Valkin was silent for a moment. “I did not choose you as my host at random, Ophelia. You have powers of your own. Powers that could become just as strong as mine, if not even stronger, if you let them. But you have to trust in them.” “Yeah, well, this whole magical crime-fighting thing is kind of new to me, so excuse me if it takes a while to adjust,” Ophelia muttered. “...But I have powers?” “You mostly just have potential, at the moment,” Valkin said thoughtfully. “But yes. I chose you because I could feel your magical energy resonates strongly with my own. That’s why you can channel my own powers so well. This sensation you’re feeling from the darklings’ trail is probably your own ability to pick up on their magical residue.” His voice became harder. “And as I said, you will grow into your own power one day. You won’t need me anymore.” “Does that mean you’re going to leave me?” Ophelia asked, suddenly panicked. “I can’t do this on my own, Valkin, I have no idea what-” “No one is leaving anyone right now,” Valkin sighed. “Keep going.” Ophelia hadn’t realized she’d stopped. She took a moment to refocus on the trail, then took off again. “You do need to start learning more self-reliance, though,” Valkin warned. “Even if you are using my power, you’ve got to know what to do with it without asking me. You won’t always have time to double check.” “I’ll work on it, okay?” Ophelia said, hoping her annoyance covered her worry. Why was he telling her this now? So she could try to fight monsters while the threat of her only guide deserting her hung over her head? That’s all she needed. “Why did you have to come to Dirge City, anyways? Well, to follow darklings, I guess, but why are they here? And how? Where do you all even come from?” “I knew this was coming,” Valkin grumbled. “I don’t know how much time we have tonight, but I’ll explain what I can. The darklings and I are from another dimension, a world called Goriga.” “Oh yeah, I remember you saying something about that.” “Right. Goriga is much smaller, in comparison to Earth, and it is the only planet in its dimension, but it has much magic. Our royal family has been in power for thousands of years, and they’ve used their magic try and keep peace amongst the whole planet. Not everyone uses magic for such altruistic purposes, though, so those in the service of the king and queen are often sent out to help fight those who would wish Goriga ill. My team and I were sent out when the darklings first started attacking.” “So you work for the king and queen?” “...Sort of.” “Alright, we’ll get back to that. Just to clarify, it is the darklings that have been causing mysterious disappearances here on Earth, right?” “Right.” “So how did the darklings end up here? They found that tear over the Aldale Building?” “Found, or created,” Valkin said. “We aren’t entirely sure yet. But they’d already caused so much disaster in Goriga, the last thing we needed was for them to come to this dimension and gain even more power. So several teams of the royal guard and hired parties like mine were told to follow them here.” “Why couldn’t you just fight them, then? Why do it through me?” “Because my own magic doesn’t work here on it’s own. I needed somebody with magic connected to Earth to channel my own power through.” “But wait, if you can’t use your magic here without channeling it, why can the darklings?” “An excellent question.” “So do you think the darklings aren’t from- HERK” Ophelia’s thought was interrupted by a dark blur leaping at her out of the shadows. She hit the ground with a darkling on top of her, reaching back to take a swipe at her face. Instinct told her to kick up as high as she could, and her foot collided with the back of it’s head. The attack dazed it enough for her to shove it off from on top of her and leap backwards, unwrapping the whip from around her corset. The darkling got up and leered at her, crouching back for another tackle. Ophelia ran forward, swinging her whip and grabbing the darkling with the bladed chain. It screamed out in pain as she sent a charge of energy along the chain’s length, and the creature was rent apart. “I think I found the nest,” Ophelia said shakily, looking towards where the darkling had come from. It was an abandoned grocery store, of some sort. Her running had taken her to one of the more seedy parts of the city, one she didn’t recognize. Ordinarily, she tried to stay out of these places. “This is bad.” “The nest will be small, it shouldn’t be a problem.” “No, I mean the fact that they chose a nest here. Over in the business district, the streets are pretty empty at night, but this is the kind of place where the gangs and muggers are pretty active after dark. If I get spotted, we’ll have more than just darklings to worry about.” Brogan twisted around her head, reappearing after the fight. “And a small flying dragon probably won’t be too well-accepted, either.” “So you don’t want your Warrior presence to be known of at all?” “Well...no. Wouldn’t that be bad?” “You’ll have to decide that for yourself. You’re the one who lives on this planet.” “Thanks for the help.” Ophelia frowned and tried to look into one of the boarded windows without getting too close. “How many darklings generally constitute a nest?” “It depends on how many are in the area, and how long they’ve been there. Since they just started using the tears recently, I wouldn’t say that this gathering is too large.” Ophelia gulped. “And there’s no way we could wait until that back-up gets here?” “The nest will only get bigger.” For the first time, Ophelia realized what had happened to her. She was using magic. She had to fight monsters. These things were responsible for the death of at least one person, and she had to stop them. She was fourteen. “I’m just...” There was silence for a few moments. “...You’re just?” Brogan brushed against her head gently, reminding her of where she was. “Nothing. Here I go, I guess.” Feeling oddly calm, Ophelia walked across the street and up to the building, kicking down the sealed door and striding into the small store. It was almost totally dark, except for the dim moonlight that shone through the planks covering the windows, but she could still see black shapes seething around the weak rays. She swung her whip up and around one of the rafters, yanking herself to the ceiling just as one of the creatures leaped at her. She landed and looked down to see several of them circling around her. She gripped tighter onto the rafter. The ceiling wasn’t too high, but...it seemed farther from the ground now than it had when she was down there. She didn’t have much time to lament her decision as two of the darklings seeped into the shadows and climbed up one of the empty shelves, re-materializing in front of her. She leapt across to the next rafter, swinging the chain around her and lashing at one of the monsters. She cut through it’s misty forearm, but didn’t get a good hold on it. It growled and lunged for her, the other darkling following behind. Ophelia just managed to dodge the two of them, but was caught by behind as another of the creatures swooped up behind her and slashed her across the back. With a gasp of pain, Ophelia fell forward, just managing to catch onto one of the metal supports and swing herself back onto the main beam. She winced, crouching down and trying to reach back to feel the wound. “Don’t get distracted!” Valkin barked as the darkling ran towards her on all fours. Ophelia pulled herself back up and whipped her chain forward, wrapping it around the creature’s neck and sending her energy crackling through the metal links. A last screech, and the darkling exploded into scraps of shadow. Something started to make the rafter jerk violently. Ophelia turned around behind her and saw two of the darklings hanging from the metal, bouncing from it and pulling it out of the ceiling. Before she could jump to the next beam, the rafter broke apart from its mounting and began to fall to the floor. Clinging to one of the remaining support bars, Ophelia hung over the ground until she saw a shelf to swing onto. The fallen metal had managed to pin one of the darklings to the ground, but it quickly melted out from around the wreckage and reformed at the base of the shelf, watching her every move. There were four darklings left in total, and they were all surrounding the shelf Ophelia had landed on. She spun around several times, trying to figure out which one to attack first. They were all starting to climb the shelf now, hissing and growling in anticipation as they smirked at her with their wide mouths. An ear-splitting bang outside broke their concentration. Ophelia and all the darklings froze as several more followed it. “Gunshots?!” Ophelia said aloud, wildly confused for a moment until the sound of screeching tires and a roaring engine followed. Police sirens began blaring, and the tumult rapidly approached the street outside the store. Two figures ran in through the broken doors, the area around them briefly illuminated by their guns firing, and the store was suddenly filled with a blinding light. The darklings screamed, and seemed to disappear instantly as the police cars skidded to a halt outside. Faster than she knew even her new powers were capable of, Ophelia swung herself back up into the rafters, running towards the center of the store towards a skylight in the ceiling and breaking through onto the roof. She sped towards the back of the store, leaping from rooftop to rooftop in the opposite direction from the firing guns and police sirens. ** She didn’t stop until she was back into the heart of the business district, and all was quiet except for the rain that was beginning to fall. She stopped and collapsed in front of one of the black skyscrapers, gasping for air. The whole run to this place was a blur of jumps that felt more like short glides and terror; she couldn’t even remember when she made it to the ground. Or when Brogan had wrapped himself tightly around her upper arm. He uncurled now, floating around the area, looking around to make sure the coast was clear. All Ophelia’s muscles ached, and her back still burned from the gash the darkling had given her. “That...was faster than I was aware you could go,” Valkin said, sounding genuinely surprised. “Shut...up...” Ophelia hissed murderously in between gasps. “The POLICE! The POLICE almost saw me! I almost got SHOT!” “But you didn’t,” Valkin said. “You actually handled the situation fairly well.” “I can’t do this! I’m a teenage girl! I should be asleep, not getting shot at! I have school tomorrow!” “Nobody was shooting at you,” Valkin said. “And you can do this. You have to. After a while, you’ll become more accustomed to being in battle.” “I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO BATTLE!” Ophelia roared. She took a few deep breaths. “You’ve got the wrong girl, Valkin. Find another host. I quit. This is crazy!” “You can’t quit,” Valkin said, his voice severe. “You are the only one who can channel my power well enough to stand a chance against the darklings and anything that might be controlling them. There are lives at stake, Ophelia, and the safety of an entire planet. Are you going to turn your back on that?” “I’m not supposed to be responsible for it!” Ophelia sobbed. She couldn’t actually tell if she was crying or not, with the rain and the fact that she already couldn’t breath, but now her chest was tight and her stomach was twisting into a knot. Crying was the only thing that seemed like it could make that better. “I’m just a girl, I’m just fourteen. I’m not supposed to be responsible for other peoples’ lives. I can’t do it.” She curled up and cried and ached and panted, and Valkin stayed quiet. With what energy she could muster up, she tried to clear her mind totally and just lay there without thinking for a few minutes. Rain fell on her bloodied back, which actually helped the pain, and it washed the tears off her face. The rhythm of the drops against her and against the sidewalk around her made it easier to finally catch her breath. Above Ophelia, Brogan froze for a moment, than began to flit around excitedly. He twirled in the air a few times, then began to nudge at Ophelia’s cheek. “Brogan, if you haven’t noticed, I’m in the middle of a break-down,” Ophelia croaked. “So if you don’t mind, could you please beat it?” “Something is coming through the tear,” Valkin said. “More darklings.” It wasn’t a question. She just knew. “Possibly.” With a groan, Ophelia picked herself back up. Her arms, legs and back were uncomfortably stiff, and her wound still throbbed with a dull pain, but she seemed to have recovered from the worst of it. “So your powers include fast healing,” she said with a stretch. “That’s useful.” “Have you...are you, erm, better?” “Not really,” Ophelia shrugged. “Let’s go.” It was a short jog to the Aldale Building, by her new standards, and Ophelia didn’t waste any time in closing her eyes, ignoring the her stomach’s nauseous apprehension, and swinging her whip around the same gargoyle as last time, flying up to the roof. She stopped in front of where she remembered the tear to be, looking up into the air and waiting for it to open. “Well come on, then, let’s get this over with.” Brogan danced around in the air, and as if on command, the tear ripped open before them. Ophelia readied her chain whip, crouching into an offensive stance, but all that came out was a small, white ball, and the tear sealed again. On the ground was a tiny white rabbit, sniffing at the air. “...A rabbit?” Ophelia asked. “Now I’m fighting rabbits?” “No!” Valkin said, sounding relieved. “That one of our allies!” Ophelia walked up to the rabbit looking skeptical, and it looked up at her, sniffing her curiously. “So I’m fighting on the same side as a rabbit. My confidence in our team is waning.” “You’re fighting on the same side a Alidier, one of the strongest warriors in all of Goriga. This is Mio, his familiar. She is here to deliver his jewel to his host, like Brogan.” “I guess that’s better...” Ophelia said, reaching down and holding her hand out to the bunny. It hopped to her readily and let her pick it up. “Mio, right? She’s cute.” “She’s a monster...” Valkin mumbled. “What was that?” “Nothing.” “Well Brogan seems to like her,” Ophelia said with a slight smile, as the dragon twisted over and nuzzled with Mio. “Awww.” “I suppose someone has to. Let’s just go back to your house, we’re done for tonight.” “But what about the darklings? Did that light kill them?” “It weakened them, but they’re still around somewhere. They won’t be using that nest anymore, though, and a bright light like that will take them a day or so to recover from.” “Weakened them? So the next fight should be easier, right?” “Don’t underestimate them,” Valkin warned. “They...wait, next fight? Does that mean you aren’t quitting?” “Like you said, I can’t really quit, can I?” Ophelia said plainly, heading to the edge of the roof. “Let’s just go home.” ** By the next morning, Ophelia felt basically back to normal. Her muscles had stopped burning, and her back seemed mostly healed, excepted when she stretched too much. She carefully got out of bed and lifted her pajama shirt to check it in the mirror. There were three large scratches that started at her right shoulder blade and went down to about her hip, but she could hide those pretty easily. Hiding. That would become a big part of her life now. She would have to start working on her lying and excuses, because she would need to start making a lot of them to cover up her new job. She’d never been much of a liar before. She’d never needed to be. She got dressed and put her choker on, then opened her closet to check on Brogan and Mio. They’d both curled up on the pillow she’d set up for Brogan last night before she passed out. Brogan was still there, sleeping soundly, but she was surprised to see that Mio had disappeared. “Valkin!” She touched the ruby in her choker, and it flashed briefly. “What is it?” Valkin replied. “Mio is gone!” “Of course she is, she went to find a host,” Valkin said simply. “Oh...right.” “Was that all?” “Don’t take that condescending tone with me.” “I wasn’t condesce-” Valkin stopped himself. “Fine,” he said, sounding restrained. “I’ll just be going, then.” The jewel flashed again, signaling his leave. Ophelia closed the closet door again and headed down stairs, muttering about snotty Gorigan know-it-alls. Her dad was already at the table, eating some toast and reading the paper. He looked up at her as she entered the kitchen. “You’re already up?” he asked. “Nope, still asleep,” Ophelia replied as she poured herself some orange juice. “You’ll forgive my surprise. You’ve never been one to wake up early on your own.” Ophelia shrugged. “I’m just not really tired.” Even though her nightly escapades were cutting into her sleeping hours, she had yet to feel like she’d lost much rest. She looked at the paper her dad was reading, and suddenly became morbidly curious. “Uhh...are you almost done with that?” Her dad looked at her, then at the paper quizzically. “The paper?” “Yeah.” “Sure, here,” he said, handing it over curiously. “I didn’t know you were interested.” “Well, you know, with those disappearances recently, I wanted to check up on what was happening,” Ophelia said, scanning the headlines. It was partially the truth. “You seemed pretty blasé about it a few days ago.” “Well now I’m not,” Ophelia said, trying to concentrate. Nothing jumped out at her, until a few pages in, she found what she had been dreading. A short article about a shoot-out at 1:17 AM between the police and two armed robbers. She skimmed the story quickly, looking for any mention of darklings or herself, but the only unusual note was that a portion of the building’s roofing seemed to have been destroyed shortly before the stand-off. “You look a little pale, honey,” her dad said, causing her to look up. “Yeah...well...look at this,” she said, putting the paper down. “A shoot-out at Broadview and Parker? That’s not too far from us.” “It’s across the city,” Jonathan replied. “And there’s always police activity in that area.” “You don’t go around there, do you?” Ophelia asked. “I try to keep my 1:00 AM jogs through the slums to a minimum, yeah.” “Dad, I’m being serious!” “Fi, are you alright?” her dad asked, getting up and feeling her forehead. “You’re acting so strange.” “I’m fine,” she said, leaning back out of his reach. “I just had a bad night. I’m alright.” “If you say so,” Jonathan said, still watching her with concern. “We need to get going. Grab something to eat. If you start feeling sick today, call me and I’ll come pick you up.” “I’ll be fine.” No she wouldn’t. And so the lying began.