Into the Heart of Darkness

[Stalik]

 
 This place......This place is never a vacation spot. It is far from a paradise, a place of tranquility. This place, sometimes even death is afraid to show his face. But this place...still someone finds a certain comfort here, being as he himself was a part of this world, a part of the darkness. And when he felt something that even drove fear into the darkness itself, he knew something horrific was breathing or being created in the very pits of darkness. Which has led our party to this realm, to see truly what could be brewing within the darkness.



Jen turned to look at Stalik as the group slowly moved through an abandoned looking city. " This place, really gives me the creeps, and i'm creepy, so that is saying a lot." She sorta joked, yet was not joking. Even though the place was nearly black, you could still see creepy shadows move in the background, as if they were following the group. Stalik calmly continued to walk. " Relax, you're actually safer here than we would be back in our own reality right now." Cleo also followed the group, as well as did Illyana. " So what exactly are we looking for, or what she would expect?" Yana said.



" Knowing how things work here, I would say it will find us." Just then Stalik finally stopped, he could hear growling from within the darkness, even though most would never hear it. " Be alert." He said as he stood still now. Yana pulled out her soulsword, as a small glow of red built around Jen's fingertips as fire danced along calmly. Cleo moved up alongside Stalik. " Something is there isn't it, I can feel it." Stalik nodded calmly, as he then knelt to the ground, placing his hand upon it.



 It was then Stalik's eye slit up as he yelled.  " Everyone separate and get back."  Just then the ground rumbled as it split open and giant energy tentacles came out of the ground, attacking  the group.  Jen rolled out of the way and sent a torrent of fire at one of the tentacles. " What the hell, did we just walk into some Japanese hentai movie?!?" Another tentacle wrapped around Jen from behind before Yana jumped in with her soulsword and sliced it in half.   Cleo through up a light globe, trying to radiate some light energy enough to give the group the upper hand. But the darkness seemed to try and swallow it instantly.  " I'm not sure how long I can hold this up guys." She yelled as Yana went to work to try and fend off tentacles attacking Cleo.  

[Radweriel]

"Oh lovely!" Aoife Sun grumbled as the tentacles shot out of everywhere. "I hate these things more than I hate almost anything! They remind me of those beasts in the seas off Greece way back in the day!" Radweriel, named after the archivist angel, used her sword to hack away at the damnable tentacles as the rest of her teammates kept pushing them back through sheer force of will or their own amazing powers. She started to chant softly under her breath and runes started to fill the air around her. She was afraid the almost living darkness around the group would swallow up her runes, but she had to try in any case.

If truth be told, Aoife really had no idea what this mission was about, but her mother had asked her to pitch in because Stalik could use the extra hands to achieve his task. After the mess with Stalik's brother Kalik being replaced by a Skrull or demon or whatever it was, Aoife knew that this was not going to be some easy field trip.

As she turned to see how the others were doing, a panther leapt through the air and dug into one of the tentacles. "Saeldur! Watch yer kitty there!" Radweriel said to Saledur Armediel, the drow elf who had been her Uncle Caedmon's best friend for ages. Why he wanted to join this quest we beyond her, but in her heart she suspected the elf likely wanted to earn his place among the X-Men, particularly among anyone considered a friend of her clan.

"I am not afraid of this shade creature!" Saeldur yelled as he swung his own elven blade and cut away at the tentacles trying to wrap around his legs. "I have seen worse!"

"Ye may have seen worse, but I still don't want to end up hanging from a tree or being hauled under ground," Aoife said as she turned back to Stalik and the others. "Will light magic make a dent in this thing, or am I wasting energy if I try?"

[Stalik]

 " The light holds no power here, it would be suffocated within seconds."  Stalik dodged a few attacks as he made his way forward to almost a face to face with the huge beast of darkness.  Then stood there facing it, palms outstretched and his eyes began to go pitch black. Jen called out. " Uhm this isn't a time for peaceful resolution or to communicate with it like some pet." She sent off another torrent of fire to keep a few energy tentacles at bay.

 But Stalik remained still, just as a large energy tentacle began to come down upon the entire group. As they braced for impact, suddenly the tentacle stopped in mid air, as Stalik's facial expression began to show strain as sweat rolled down his cheeks.  " I've tapped...into it's...source....but can only...hold it so long..."      Stalik dropped to one knee as he still held the beast into a temporarystasis by controlling the actual dark energy it was manifested from.  " Yana, a little help."  

 " On it."    Yana quickly dissipated her soulsword as she began to chant. " Nsumh dierkh nsumh hekate."  Pillars of red light began to form around the creature, forming a prism like prison around the creature. Then there was bright flash and the creature and red lights were both gone.  Jen looked around a bit before turnip to Yana.  " Where in the heck did it go?!?"  Yana calmly moved forward.  " You don't want to know."   

 Stalik stood back up, turning to the party. " And that was just the local wildlife of sorts here, not even remotely what we are looking for."   Stalik then nodded to Aoife and Saeldur. " Glad you two are along for the ride, because frankly something bigger is going on here, and it involves the occult."  As the rest of the party made it's way to stand alongside Stalik, they could see what he was seeing. Down inside a huge valley, there was a series of large obsidian pyramids protruding from the dark sands, while blue energy swirled inside ruinistic designs that circled the pyramids in specific patterns. In front of the pyramids, thousands of bodies knelt on two knees, worshiping towards the pyramids.   Cleo looked at Aoife.  " My Goddess, this can not be good, I fear what may be awakened."  

 

[Saeldur Armediel]

"I am glad you mother isn't here," Saeldur said as he looked at Aoife. "The look of what is before us would..."

"Send her over the edge? I know," Aoife replied to Saeldur before turning back to Cleo. "Whatever might be awakened, if we are here and there are pyramids before us, smacks of only one choice, and I will not say that name," she said as she looked off toward the energy moving around the pyramids and dark sands. "If it is what I fear, my family has faced this danger before, but never in the place, as far as I know, that calls it home."

Saeldur motioned for his panther Ryvern'l, which meant "black crown" in his people's language, to stay close to him. He did not want the creature running off and getting into battle on her own. She was strong, but she would not survive in this realm without the protection of the group. "If a scout is required, Ryvern'l and I will dance among the shadows, Stalik. Give the word, and we will go."

The drow elf was, indeed, trying to find his place and prove his worth among the X-Men, but he had not dreamed that this mission would have gone in this direction so quickly. "And if it is indeed occultic in nature..."

"If it is, then we will all need to take a smack at it as a group," Aoife added as she looked at Stalik and readied a vial in her pouch. "Not light magic. Trust me, Stalik. I can dance on the dark edges if needed. Mum...taught us well, despite reservations many have had about us dabbling in the dark arts." 

[DreamFire]

 "Uhhh..."  Jen raised her hand. " I vote no, i'm all for ass kicking and mayhem but I think in the last week we've stirred up enough hornets nests that i'm not feeling that we should awake whatever is down there right now."  Jen's intuition was going off like crazy. it was a skill she had honed after a lot of training, mainly by her mom, jean, before her untimely passing. She could feel it, down to her core, that disturbing the current situation was only going to lead to someone not making it out of here.  

 Stalik placed his hand on the ground, as if he was holding himself up. " She's right."  Stalik then grunted, before coughing slightly, as blood droplets splattered from his mouth and onto the dark colored sand. " Something is even preventing me from using the darkness to scout the area." Stalik coughed again, more blood.  His muscles clenched and tightened. " Even my blood feels like it's on fire right now."  

 " Okay, I think that is our cue to blow this Popsicle stand pronto."  Jen said as she started to get even more nervous.  The longer they stayed here, the more it felt like death was trying to grasp the very soul of every individual there. The air itself almost felt toxic, as if it were trying to constrict the breathing of its inhabitants. " Yana, can't you like portal us out or something, anything?"  

[Radweriel]

Aoife looked at Stalik and felt a knot tighten in her stomach as the darkness seemed to drop all sense of pliability. If it would not work for him, what chance did the rest of them stand to make this situation change? "If yeh are unable to get us an exit, Illyana, let me know. I didn't pack lightly, and I might have a way out if yeh are blocked."

"Oh, Amergin lent you his toy?" Saledur asked as they waited for Stalik and Yana to formulate an exit strategy. "He can be such a grouch at times, but he does tend to come through when he is needed."

"Amergin, for better or worse, is our clan's mage. Most of the time i avoid him like the plague, but on some days, his council is most welcome. As is his portal box. It works equally well in light or dark, and it will get us to friendly ground. But I'd rather Yana or Stalik make the call. This ground is not exactly a place we have traveled before, Saeldur."

Radweriel waited to see what the order was on leaving this hellhole. She watched Jennifer and Cleo and waited, as they did, to see what would happen next.

 

[Stalik]

Stalik was about to speak, when he suddenly dropped to his knees again, body jerking in a violent motion as his eyes went solid black. His muscles tensed up to the point they locked up. " Some....one.....is toying with.....us...." It was soon after, that Yana dropped to her feet, then Jennifer, soon followed by the others. The air became thick, almost as if something was being formed around them, locking them inside some vortex.

Sparks began to combust within the air, as none of them could even move an inch. Then there was a flash, and none of the party remained in the Dark Dimension, not even a sign remained that they were there.

TBA- Main Base in 616 reality