She is dead and remembers nothing before it.
She is a Hunter working in the city of Grimoire to destroy the monsters of the Miasma.
She is an outcast, and she wants to go back to the land of the living.
To do this, she must undergo the Test of Rem...
It was a bird the same way a lion was a cat. A behemoth of a vulture, it shed feathers with every flap of its wings and in its screech was an anger so great that Amber could feel a shiver creep up the nape of her neck as her Trinket trembled and burned against her skin.
Another Demon. Another beast to be put down.
She vaulted over the railing as the Demon swooped from on high. As she watched herself plummet, she heard the sound of metal crunching as the Demon smashed into the balcony.
Her fall was broken by shrubbery. Entangled, she fought her way out by maniacal thrashing, arms flapping like she was the bird.
Then she looked up as the Demon descended and sunk its talons into her shoulders, the hooks digging through the fabric of her jacket and shirt and into her skin.
Uh oh.
It yanked her from the ground, and pulled her up into the air as she gasped in pain as the pierced muscles went cold and tingled while her Trinket kick-started the healing. Up and up it soared, the view from beneath shrinking as they went higher and higher.
Amber conjured a loop of chain into her hand as her teeth chattered from the cold wind nipping at her skin as it blew her hair into a tumble and pulled at her shirt like some overeager date wanting to skip first base.
She didn't like heights. Not one bit. Made her head dizzy. Made her heart beat as fast as a tap-dancer on speed. Made her throat tight and her mouth dry. At least I can't see this getting any worse.
She hurled her chain up, and heard the Demon squawk in surprise as she heard the metal rattle as it looped around its neck several times. Bingo.
Anatomically and according to the many physical laws of science, the throw was impossible with the talons digging into her shoulders. In life, Amber never hit the gym or threw javelins for the school sports team, if her gangly physique was any fair indication.
But in death, there were loopholes. Will could substitute for strength, anger for power.
And if there was one thing Amber hated more than heights, it was being manhandled like she was some baby chick.
The Demon fought her as she at the chain. It let go of her, and Amber hung on for dear undeath as it dove in a vain attempt to shake off the chain, and her on the other end of it. Amber's world spun and spun as the Demon changed direction again and again, city lights and glittering stars fading and blurring together. She lost all sense of direction and place, and her stomach made its complaints known. I haven't even eaten since lunch.
She heard herself scream as the Demon pulled up short with wings flapping for balance in front of a tree and over a park fence, the momentum carrying her forward and breaking her grip on her chain.
Like an acrobat, she tumbled. Like an angel, she soared. Like a boss, she puked, and gravity made sure she got some of it on her face. While she was still screaming. Can't believe I thought it couldn't get any worse.
Then, in what may have been a great miracle or divine sympathy, she crashed into a pond headfirst, the freezing wet shocking her brain as she went from air into water.
Gold medal performance, she mused sourly as she began to sink. She saw bubbles floating about in front of her before she remembered to hold her breath.
Slowly, she turned in the water, getting her feet under herself, before she began to kick her way up as her lungs started to burn.
She broke through the surface with a splutter. She saw the Demon coming about for another round.
Place your bets.
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Max sprinted through the streets as she saw the Demon flying off with Amber in tow, her lungs on fire. Ok, Max, she asked herself. What in the world are you doing?
What does it look like I'm doing? I'm being the cavalry, the backup, the faithful sidekick coming to lend a hand to the useless hero.
Amber said she'd take care of this on her own.
Amber could be wrong. Max jumped onto the hood of the car, hopped up onto the roof, and leapt onto the top of a streetlight. Wouldn't hurt to be there just in case she is.
She broke your nose!
It's healed now. Balancing on one boot as she kept her eye on the Demon, Max conjured half a dozen spears in the air and directed them with her mind to act as platforms for her to jump on and get to a higher altitude. To save her Trinket the workload, she had the lower ones move up so that they could be reused, kind of like how the slaves of ancient Egypt reused logs to roll the heavy limestones blocks they needed to build the pyramids.
Max was giving herself a mental pat on the back for being so creative with her powers when her phone rang in her pocket to the tune of her favourite upbeat Kpop song, causing her to time a jump wrong and fall short, she herself grabbing the next spear by the shaft to prevent herself from dropping all the back down to earth.
She picked up. "Hello?" She squeaked.
"I'm outside the diner. This is the third time you've stood me up." Pause. "No wait, make that the fourth."
"I'm so, so sorry, Kyle." With the one hand and the other holding phone to ear, Max let herself swing back and then forward, kicking upward so that she could get her feet over her spear and pull herself up onto the suspended polearm. "You know I didn't mean to. Honest."
A heavy sigh on the other end. "How close are you right now?"
"Uhhhh." Max glanced around as she checked the nearby landmarks, inwardly cursing as she realized that she had lost sight of the Demon. Awfully far. "Pretty close, actually."
"You're going to be a while."
"Better order for us both." Max clapped a hand to her forehead. "Actually, could you come here instead? I need your help."
