Taking the Black

"Thank the gods we made it." The van driver is the first out, sitting on the dirt floor and trying to regain his composure. She cradled out from the back, her hands hold the sword remains as Raven finds footing to the steep floor surface. He notices the others of the company getting out, battle ready to protect each other. She sees things that many can't, and sighed in being here before. She stares deeply of the hidden that are unscrambling out of the disaster. Most injured as any would from being buried. She completely calm about it all and just unfazed.

"Nah! Not huh. No!" Their driver slowly backed himself from something, his back at the van. She tilts and Raven turns for both of them. She snorts into a small laugh and Raven grappled her afraid. She play pats Ravens shoulder. She gave a wink at him and then began a deep feeling noise. Definitely not a human made sound and it was pulsing that spreads with other hidden creatures making a collaborative stare up towards her. In being sure she has all the attention, she goes into a clicking. This scrambling all that isn't human or god from any trace. She nods proud of herself when they are all gone.

"Can you teach me that?" Huginn asked with the two ravens on the roof.

"Loki!" She hissed of the reptile bird about to jaw adjust to eat one the two ravens, "Loki." This mock bird lowered itself submissive and pretends to move away, "Here now." Offering her arm. This mock bird slaps over her, licking her face as always. She puts up with it with holds it to finally chill, "I am so sorry about that. He can't actually eat you folks but he does try. He licks everything divine and heavenly." She explains matter of fact, "It is not Loki that you know. I just nicknamed him that way. His real name is... ugh." She takes a moment to think, "Well half of his soul language doesn't exist here." She unfreeze while wafting left hand and petting the reptile bird with her right. The mood pattern scales shuffle and shift in being so happy to be loved. Loki purring loudly in her hands, "Soon I will have them all jealous in wanting my attention." She tossed Loki and it went into flight over the whole field of humans. Circling about as some mock vulture and diving to antagonize the other hidden ones still here. Particularly the mass of black snakes acting as one being, slipping itself to her for safety away from Loki. And then she petting air again, no one can see it but she is actually petting another one.

"Where's food?" The air speaks at her in human.

"In a while when I can move." She tuts and poked something, "Loki! Leave Ragnar alone!" She shouted in a not human voice. The moo reptile and the snakes separated themselves. Plenty of hissing but nothing else, "Narly! Get off the curtains!" The air ripped and the tension of energy was back to a natural state. Mages suddenly have use of magic again. Huginn and Muninn stare bewildered.

"Your pets are normal." Raven seems that was a new realization for him. Maybe it is for this lifetime, "But are those all cats?" So he has met them in mimic or blending in forms. He just didn't take into account that nothing about me and mine is 'normal'. 

"And I am a human." She softly sarcastic and he got the picture with a pout, "If you must know, they eat things in other realms and worlds. Ragnar eats demons curses. Loki eats holy off things. Morpheus eats dream things. It goes on as the more creatures I look after. None eat souls but aspects of them. I am no different in that way." She nods to herself with that lingering to everyone, "Anyways this zoo is my method of repairing broken worlds, realms and other soul objects. Everyone was rescued from the abyss and only exist within my wishes. I have plenty of these things, its become my full time job being a pet mom. Or owned by them. Depending which you ask. Morpheus here would claim his my owner while Luna will bark in claiming I own her."

She is softly being let to stand on her own. She finds it hard in the slope steepness to stay straight. Finding an sort of awkward half lean into the floor to stay up right. Raven taking a breather to get his sanity together. She tuts in a playing tone with recalling the many times she warned him. In the mimic pet forms, she warned him of the difference and dangers of each pet.

"Play time?" She heard behind and a head is rolled at her feet. She palms her forehead in slowly looking over a seemingly normal brown and white boarder collie. Ears pitch at the ready, eyes focused on the head being used as a ball. She looked how the head was unrecognizable from teeth, peeling flesh and part decay. She didn't want to touch that. Gladly she doesn't need to, Luna in her pure white cloud form shimmers like a speeding blur, runs from darkness with snatching it between jaws. Luna speeds off the distance. Making Isolde chase for the head back. She crossed her arms and shook her head with not sure what was next.

"Excuse me Mistress!" Another peeling from the curtains of exist, a dream creature peeling the laws to pass over her mail, "Hades sent a complaint of a head missing."

"Yes, I suspect Isolde stole it or someone kicked it and she took it." Taking the mail and tossed a strange wrap item for the exchange. It steps back and the peel was nonexistent. She smell reads her mail, "Nothing I haven't seen before." She concluded. Mail tucked under the flesh of her arm. She unfazed in the slightest of peeling her layers in such terrified fashion.

"Can you send them off for us to leave?" The driver panting afraid.

"I needed to collect them anyways." She shurgs and does an ear blooding pitched noise. She posed hands above her, all these monsters become pages. All the pages flustered and flew, drifting into a tome. The whole book comes to form and locked itself closed, thuds to her hands with a threading chain sealing it. The force of it made her unsteady but she manages. She hangs it like a praise on her. She then adjusted her faces back on, the family sealing mask too.

"Wow, a real Trickster." Approached by all the other members of the team from the other cars, "What was with all them monsters?"

"I guess this place use to have a lot of things for my pets. Not anymore, so they need moving." She sighed like it's no big deal, pats the book softly. She has to sit down, feeling very tired and habit holding her stomach. She scooped back up by Raven, knowing she wasn't recovered enough for what's happening.

"So what's a Fallown so cursed that they own a freakier book of monsters?" Among the mob.

"I am cursed by both parents. Simple." She sighed to hopefully calm them, "I don't think we should be playing this question game while just barely surviving the land slide. And going with the revealing soil layers, we really need to get onwards away from here or wherever we were heading." She uses her left hand to point, "Layers of sand, silt and wet. There still more water wash to come. This place is sand stone and dunes. Not solid ground for miles. The road was only possible due to the sandstone embankment bars. Bridged from one platform stone to the next."

"Well damn, you are actually smart." She gives a small frown in finding that rude but will not snap back since she doesn't remember much about things. Her human body isn't adjusted with her soul back yet. She keeps loosing functions if she forgets to be alive. Raven will shake her to keep her from sleeping and making her remember to breath. The folks are back to doubting smarts and turn with each together.

People explaining how their cars are. Plan to abort this mission or of there was enough to scavange it. She finds herself distracted, her eyes meeting to her other half form. It seated in waiting at the top of the current cliff. Eyes all over the crowds and the landscape around them. It tilts with looking back and the lake above this that about to slosh back this way. She eyes how this will be flooding very soon.

"The water of the lake up there is coming." She tells Raven. He shot stare up and her other shape posturing that indeed the water is coming. He seems afraid at frist and then tilts with looking at her features. She pouts being shy, "This isn't the time to be checking my feathers out, dude." In how she knocked his chest as then mirrors with the wing of her bird shape, "get them into the van." He glares, "We aren't going to have time." He sighs and sets her down.

She turns facing her bird shape. The two halves as one, she solidified into her bird shape. Her chain book links over her body change. Her feet as Talons longer wild claws, instinctive animal flare. Everyone files into the van and she lowered waiting for the last person. Gladly the whole team cramps in, plus a corpse - no forget the final moments of the previous ender host.

"Get to them to the top like they intended." Huginn got her attention, and through the raven swift dive. She follows mirroring. Huginn takes claw through the roof and so she does it too. She hissed in feeling the vans weight against the up lift of her large wings. She felt the vast amount of sins, guilt and pain all these souls carry and really felt bound to be their fate. And in order to free all these souls from death's take and the few survivors having worse threads to come. She breaks the chains and ties their fate threads to her own. Weaving a new path that breaks the pattern the gods set, being exactly as humans willpower is. Huginn can only show her so much, unable to present her a safe landing space upon reaching above the slide and the ex-lake bed.

She was pretty spent enough just making it up with so much potential. It only takes a spark, a glimmer of something that beams into her eye from across the distance. In being so above, she was able to glide down softly and slow crash down on the lake beach of the other side of this basin. She barely gets her talons freed from the roof as she reverting to a human shape. She lays on the roof, holding her stomach and feeling very sick from the turbulence. Let alone the unhealthy body change from giant bird to human. The folks in the front seat peeled out and spilled those of the back. The entire team shaken and sick. The healer was right on it with helping everyone ease. 

"Trixie!" Raven pulling up on the roof and holding her tightly like a prized doll. Checking her vitals and grumbling in how stupid that was of her. She flexed a shadow material skin to pat his face weakly and she gives a hurt smile. She curls close to him and enjoys this triumph and freedom. Plenty were business brains around here with taking instant photos of everything they find about the changes above. She twisted about trying to seek what sparkled about this spot that made her land here. She is helped as Raven is trying to find what she's looking for. In her eyes, this spot of what was embarkment of a lake in a mountain bowl has a gate that hasn't been opened in a very long time. Her eyes snapped in deep attachment to how it glittered and acts abnormal in this once serine landscape. 

"Who are you people?" A native of that gate hissed, a human soul of stone origin... the exact sort of people that the sycthe of judgement had been seeking all his past lifetimes hoping. The native could not be seen, heard or felt by the mages. Only that one guy with a electromagnetic metre found spiking energy readings around the invisible. She was almost excited about this discovery but held back with her condition, "A metamorphic transformation. You're a human like us." She thinks about that as they attempt some approach, but they turn away unsafe by the void souls (the human mages in their soul system seems), "Tell me, do you need help?" 

"I am going to be ok. They will not harm me. They cant sense or see you yet. It be for the better to keep it that way." It takes a bit of a crackle in her tone but she managed this much. The invisible human runs back, waving a sort of goodbye and back through the gate. They clearly closed it behind them, hiding the existance of the gate. She sighed in reilef. "We need to contact a very hard to reach soul. A new development of the poor guy." She turns seeing Huginn and Muni, "There has to be some trace of a metal morphic being." She softly shaken to remember to be alive and breath. She found it annoying this time but accepting that she needs this. Raven picking her off the roof and swiftly to be out to the healer again. Stess wounds from aburpt transformation seeps blood. The healer minds not, but is getting very tired themselves. Both patient and healer drifted to restful sleep at Ravens hug. Raven holding Trixie at his front more protecting while letting the healer rest his shoulder. His feather cloak nests her and himself both warm while the healer bundled taking from the outside. Raven arms locked with deep thought.

"Tracing of a fight between royals here. The killing magic matches the wounds of the corpse. There is dark magic of the victim too but defensive uses only. No return fire. No blood or trace of who did it. The massive crater that broke the basin to flood down is the attempt to erase the key evidence and slow us down." Plenty discussions of this nature are overheard. As they are filling more things that are found.

"A broken looking creepy costume is pinned to the tree here." That shot her awake, she panicked and woke Raven and the healer. Raven feels her squirm and fear. He holds her tightly possessive per always.

"It a empty body." Muninn declared.

"No no no. Not a good thing to just lay around. It could be a puppet." She snaps back, "Clothus are one the few things that make good meat to pretend in." Raven let's her free at such a dark knowledge and gladly she spoke it in Norse. She barely puts herself to her feet and steps with cautious approach to where that mage reports from. The mages agents pointing the way. She withdraw a long sword from her storage, approach with not even touching the shadows and darkness. She does a candle test to see if this stirs the potential issues to notice her. She takes her own faces off to stare with her abyss sense. Glaring at the reach of a execution site. The souls are moved one. Clothus. It's slaves. Tag ID. A bunch of inventory still here. She pokes with the sword and soon active brought the tome to check the local system. She finds this soul active to the gate open here. It's soul stayed in that world but it's materials crossed here. She makes triple check and with relief. Puts away the candle and tomes. She uses her sword to browse the left overs and shadow takes it all. She brought the mask face of the dead to her left hand. Studies it deeply.

"You called it by its race." One the mages approaches with caution. She wipes on her faces to appear human.

"I did. I know the language, maybe their cultures and some the dangers about them. This place is just become very dangerous for having this guy be here. If a clothus is here, a whole deal of other dangerous things can too. Not many beings have the means to save themselves from such danger." She hung the corpse mask to her pocket causally, "You are just at the edge of ranking..." she stares of the agents personal information and makes some small pondering to say anymore, "Clothus are a race. It term of realm they belong to, they are not among the dead or living. Half and half but neither. They are floating organs, skin and clay face. They have terrible sense of rules and assumptions. They often enslaving other beings who are not themselves. Use this to become gods of places they don't belong." She stares of the distance from that gate around here this is. She makes a few mental notes of potential. She hugs her front with habit of stressing and phantom pain. The sword held tightly in case.

"Thats actually slightly more the what I can search." The agent notes up her words, "Are you one them?"

"I am cursed with a very slow and painful change into becoming one or something like it." She sheathed her sword away, "My classification is a separate development for how the clothus are typically. Clothus are creature souls. They develop into human like tendency and mimic human sounding surface rules. But deeply they are just survivalist of thier strange adapting and scary homeland." She stares listless and then remembered to breath. She staggered a few steps back to the safety of those that are aware of her. She always looking over shoulder or for threats that they didn't notice. She particularly would staggered avoiding the trees here most. Habit of being afraid of them being man eating. She particularly is more so afraid of fluttering. Gladly no butterflies.

"Wait. So your implying that clothus have another world." She softly turns to study the agent confused, "That there are other human conditional worlds then this one."

"We aren't they only forms of life out here." She voiced deeply, "I need more time to properly understand if that is literal of planet or if this is a space fold sort of situation. A sort of accidental sew of space time creating this distortion. I can't imagine you be able to cross to their world or have the organs to sense the dangers. That realm rules are more about the density of soul material." She turns seeking where Raven went, "The souls of this world aren't anything close to see or be a match to that level of existence."

"Then you mean that your able to understand and have some abilities around how souls are." The agent sounding not human. She crunched a little wary and studied this agent deeply with looking for flaws. Seeking anything to suggestion of this being a mimic human or a monster wearing human skin. However Raven does arrive, smoothly directed her away from this. Back to the main group, looking back to how she cleaned up the Clothus traces. Hugginn and Muninn sigh at ease to her getting back safe. Everyone was getting back together to the van.

"The back up transport has arrived. We got what we can from this changed location, the normal people we'll take over any resuce and cleaning from here. We have the samples and readings we could. It has been just barely a passing mission." The coordinator makes that last waft and everyone starts boarding the coach. She was carried up and seated protected, a dark seat and towards the back. Raven seats at her side, fell asleep himself using her to rest. She felt it in herself and matched leaning to him, sleeping too. She uses her shadow to cloak them hidden. She used her dream to watch over them, her mask actively watching the journey.

"Do you never relax?" A familiar person, made a clay undertaker and was only here visiting. Watching over what they going to do with his corpse. A basic undertaker that hasn't all the carved features or lasting runic marks.

"I couldn't on a journey alongside water and creatures from the other worlds." She stares at the poeple of this coach, "Something is off about the whole mission."

"Coming back alive will put entire groups at bad stances. Not just Raven but you. You who used to be the fall of everything they did. You didn't know what you were doing and did things that put everyone at bad stances." She tilts with thinking deeply. It takes a while but she reached a thought, "I know what your doing when they couldn't. I used your abilities for the tasks as the Ender." She shurgs of that.

"Somethings never change but I do actually have changed authority and a much scarier vast experience. Gutting god eaters is just a normal for me. Exchanges with the hidden things are worthwhile. Screwing humans away from total annihilation. Keeping secrets that need to stay in the darkness." Her dream self frowns, "Your unconscious too. That's not a good thing for an undertaker. Undertakers don't dream." She makes a claw jolt at his face, he disappeared. She relaxed back to eyeing the coach and sees a bad pattern. She the one that forced herself awake. She checked over Raven, his just sleeping. The smell of the coach, it's a drug. She immune to it because of how she is. Making her dream self awake her when needed. She crossed a barrier. The normal driver is tied up on the front seat, looking to the current. She smiles.

"Wilko! Hey old pal." She got the demons attention very instant and she jolts with taking over the driving. She knocked his human host to sleep and she kicked them off the seat while swerving. She makes adjustments by her shadow and is the one driving now.

"Who are you!" Her clothus skins peels and restrained him and the host. He squirms but with time he settled.

"Take this exit and get us back to the west bound." She heard from the driver on the front seat and but she sees something off. She instead sees Huginn and Muninn. They show her. She ignores the road rules and drives using the shadows to jump stretches. Soon she has a feel for where they need to go by the fate threads still tied about her, knowing exactly the route to take.

"She is going to murder us all!" The humans concluded while Wilko stares with trying to know who she is.

"You are a trickster, but your a living human. There aren't many human ones left." He playing guess game.

"Zip it, mock demon lord. I will skin you for all your worth and use your skull to please them." He frowns in that and pondered what group of humans have it against him. He makes several tilts and frowns. Tongue clicks.

"Creep woman! There isn't a road here." The human hissed, so the blind one. It tells her plenty that guy without wilko in him can no longer see the supernatural. The orginal driver jolts freaked out that this slips him.

"No sense of adventure." She laughed at them and takes into the natural gate. A cliff shadow turned into a cavern which she uses to take them across. A little bump and then the sounds of being in a man made tunnel system. Electric light come to veiw and the smooth occasional cat eye under tire. The underground comes to end and they on a bypass towards the city of Manchester. She acts in the rules, slowing it down and soon pulling to a coach stop. The one they intended meeting. She got up, opening the door and with her hands directed shattering and disbursement of the fumes that slept them. The coach window clatter as a collective, startled all of them.

"Mission to fail the kidnapping of this entire search team, success." She reported through a black crystal sigil pane, "My prestigious will be legendary." She posed hands to hips proud.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Wilko hissed about the pane, "No human should be accessible to the darknet."

"Oh?" She voiced sarcastic, "And you little meat hook dances above a small pond. You forgot to check it's depth."

"What?" He asked and she adjusted her face. She tremble walks to return back to Raven, "Oi Freak! Don't leave me here." She rolled her eyes and knocked the three of them to sleep. Bound in seals. She sank Wilko in her pocket. She faced Raven and check him over. Forced his hand at her, checking his pulse. She sighed in relief and the climbs up, she reached and handed over the drug bomb remains. He looked at this and them at everyone. He scoops her and curries her about as he get talking to everyone. Bagged the bomb and the two culprit cuffed by human means and kneeled at the floor outside the coach.

"Who the hell was immune to it?"

"Your welcome." She felt no appreciation from the crowd and in some way that is how it should be but her humanity still huffs in some displeasure of this lacking recognition, "He was driving you lot to Denvor or France." The turn of all at her, "I suspect that they were going to lock us to silence at the royal site but that would failed too." Raven holds her close in showing trust of her through him. The team make their own voiced welcomes of some changes after near death. Someone high was reported about the deaths and heals.

"Duke in lord of house Darkwood last spoken to her. We been transporting his corpse."

"Miss Fallown." The leader her huffed, "What was your intention interfering here?" Raven hugs tightly in hoping she doesn't reply.

"You're unqualified ranking to comprehend it." She simply tuts, "In coming back from dying, my soul left and came back. I am not totally the same as before. I advise you..." she tilts looking at some dreamers attachments and snorts of someone dead wanting to pass a message, "If I told her, she would not believe me. You really sure you want me to tell her?" The dead person kneels pleading, "Well then?" She heard them out and she takes a while to digest that. This long pause of several changed expressions had the leader agent invested. Especially in why the kings personal advisor looked ready to murder for this girl. Eliza looks at the boss lady with a sad look with being ready to put a response together. 

"You shouldn't let the dead influence the living." Raven sighed in hugging Eliza tightly. Eliza frowns with actually having a good picture of things. Stringing together what this universe meant for her back then, the shuffle of her memories making some sense. She came here as a merchant stall very often and is plenty aware of the fragile natural way this world is. Raven is right, she shouldn't tell the living the things only the dead should know. Even still, she frowns sad for the agent lady. 

"Fine... but I am sorry for your loss." Eliza looking to the woman putting a strong front and skilled with manning half a country spilled in foriegn enemy lands. Surrounded by mobs of those that fear magic. Cultist making it harder for the good souls. So looking at this middle aged woman whom has motive against Mage royals. A woman with revenge in her future, a danger to the Enders hosts, "When you're done with all that grief, revenge and empty gratification. Drown with responsibility of a broken nation. When you have put the heads on platters. I hope you remember the people that didn't want this." Eliza staring deep into the lady's soul, "I hope that the image of you son, husband and that step daughter make you remember what they actually wanted." Eliza turns back to looking at the kneeling dead man, "It be breaking the rules to tell her where your buried. It would also ruin fate's great plans. You and me are just mortals, so take that complaint to the folks that will care that it matters for. Just not the living humans. They all blind but me and Raven." She see they are sad and lower head in understanding and thus she sighed. She twists with checking some laws up, skimming the several guide books openly through three screens of crystal. She ubruptly closes them and she got to stand her own for now. She rolled up a little on her shoulder and then way to fast. She punched the lady in the gut. Putting the lass on her but on the floor. Raven pulled Eliza to hold her back. 

"There isn't a rule about punching some sense into the crazy lady." Eliza huffed, "Her granddaughter if she was here would have done a lot more." And with that slip of tongue, the weeping dead kneeler smiles. Standing up and thanking her. Eliza maybe in big trouble for it, but the boss lady in heard this breaking news felt a knotted in pure shock. 

"We do not let the dead infuelnce the living." Raven repeated. 

"Yeah but she's alive. I punched the crazy woman for someone that is a living person. I just happened to overheard the rumours from the damned. So what?" Eliza justified her actions and Raven sighed hurt, "We cant have a witch hunt slaughter a entire generation of innocent and unrelated kids. I have my reasons for acting out. I dont want to clean up after a sloppy death god becuase kids souls are tricky to pry out." He huffed annoyed in just how creepy that sounds. Not liking her new antics being of some dark nature.

"Who are you and what are you?" folks help the boss lady up. 

"A living nightmare." She replies in being proud of it, "I am one several beings of this title, that actually carry some depth to be feared. You can't access my full Identification without breaking something. If you try, it will be the gods after you. Not me. I don't care." She crossed her arms in being proud of this.