Here There be Witches

Untitled Part 25

The screaming from the new foe (foes, plural?) was so loud that Kid almost didn't realize that Anara had started screaming with them. He rushed over to check on his companion. Surely this strange child hadn't already attacked yet, right? Anara appeared undamaged, but she had fallen to her knees on the deck of them ship, and was screaming with more lung capacity than the young reaper had thought possible. His focus was soon brought away from the girls' and his own worries, however. As the horrendous noise faded the wood beneath them glowed bright neon blue. Hundreds of souls that had been stored in various rooms of the ship rose to the surface and condensed into one huge beam of light, straight into the sword creature's mouth.

As they went, an apparition of a small girl appeared in front of them. Blonde, in a pink dress with a red ribbon. "So she's the scaredy cat now, huh? Well, goodbye, and tell the other one goodbye as well," She said. Were they supposed to know this girl? She got swallowed and Liz cursed the bastard and their sword that did it, sounding like it was more personal than just out of the goodness of her heart.

Kid's mind was already split between the monstrous thing in front of him and the panicking girl behind him. He could feel the agitation of her wavelength. A mix of emotions was causing it to spiral out pf her control. It had even started physically manifesting in little fireworks around her. "That can't be possible!" He wasn't sure if he was talking about Anara's strange soul reaction or what the demon sword had done. "They ate all of the human souls!" His mouth and body were on autopilot while his brain was scrambling to find a way to fight and protect at the same time. It it had just been some form of incapacitation like what happened to him at the pyramid of Anubis, then this would have been relatively easy. In this case though, there was no telling what Anara would do next. You are buying me dinner for this. He wished she was able to respond.

"He must've been-"

"Shut up!" Shit! Kid was about to drop down next to her to help, but at the last second remembered in the back of his mind that they were still in a fight. Right now it seemed like Anara was almost as much of a danger to herself than their actual enemy was though. She had started scratching at her arms and had already drawn some blood. His first instinct was to stop her hands, but wasn't sure if trying to control them would be helping or hurting. Whatever he would have done, it didn't matter, though, because as soon as they touched--barely grazed each other's skin--she whipped her now red stained hands away.

"Oh no," The words made the grim reaper focus a little more of his attention back on the demon sword and it's meister, now preparing himself to attack. "I don't think I can deal with this...ahhh! No! My head hurts so bad! Ragnarok do you remember them? They look so familiar but Lady Medusa said we never had siblings!" Who were they talking too?! Was it the demon sword? Ragnarok would be a fitting name, and he couldn't sense the presence of any other souls in the area. Do they know Anara!? The half witch's soul had gone completely out of wack, and it only seemed to be getting worse by the moment. Not to mention the fact that it now seemed as though none of the air she was trying to take in was reaching her lungs at all. Not knowing how to help her in the midst of a battle was worrying him enough to start throwing his own soul out of resonance with the girls.

No, no! This can't be happening now! Above all I have to keep her safe. Eliminate the threat. He took a deep breath and focused on Liz and Patty's souls. Worried sick about their friend, creeped out by the strange other teen and their monster weapon, and on Liz's side, still pissed about the little girl that was taken. He laid his hand very gently on Anara's shoulder and sent as many calming wavelengths to her as he could in the few moments before he took a fighting stance.

"I'm scared. Of everyone. I need to learn how to deal with people better." The demon sword made a strange noise and raised its wings. "Do you know where the real hell is hiding?" The meister asked. "It's inside your head." They gave the trio a haunted look with the tiniest of demented smiles. That is definitely not good. This guy is crazy, which brings a whole boatload of trouble all on it's own. We need to get rid of it now. But just as he sent those thoughts out to his weapons their opponent screamed and started changing yet again. A grotesque face made of whatever inky darkness the wings were created from emerged from the teen's back. It grew a body with giant spikes at it's shoulders and lolled it's long horrendous tongue at them.