Seras was getting sick and tired of this mad place, already. She had concluded that enough was enough after glancing through one of the 'eyes' of the skull motif. The blasted, smoke filled wasteland she saw through that eye was all she needed to know of how Nupraptor saw this world. Seeing no traps or enemies, she strode to the next door, and opened it.
The next room held a surprise... at the far end stood a suit of armor. That in and of itself wasn't particularly unusual... the fact that several pieces of the armor were floating to remain in place was a bit more disquieting. There was also a feeling of absolute hatred in the room, so powerful that even a normal human could have detected it. To the two vampires, it was almost like drowning in the feeling. Seras began searching for the source, when it made it's location known.
The armor began to move on its own.
Seras and Kain both readied their respective weapons, but the armor had taken no more than a couple steps when another presence filled the room.
"So, Malek... have you come to fail the circle once more?"
The armor stopped, and turned around. Behind it, was suddenly a large throne, upon which was... well, at some point Seras thought he had been a man. His head was twice as large as was normal, though, and tended to glow with a sick green light. His body was pale and frail, with unhealthy gray skin, and the robes he wore were faded and filthy. But, perhaps most striking and disturbing... his eyes and mouth were all held shut by stitched strips of leather.
Seras and Kain needed no further information to know that this was Nupraptor the Mentalist.
Nupraptor didn't shift his physical position any, but it was clear he was addressing the enchanted armor. "Leave, Paladin! I do not need your 'protection.'" The voice spoke directly into the minds of all those around, as it was physically impossible for the Mentalist to speak.
The armor seemed to glare at the vampires once more, before it vanished, and the massive feeling of hatred left with it.
Then Nupraptor addressed Kain and Seras. "Come, Vampires! Come share my pain..." with that, he too vanished, and the door behind him opened up, inviting them in.
"So that is the Mentalist Nupraptor." Kain said out loud. "That broken, pathetic little man." He turned to Seras. "Be wary. Even crippled as he is, he shall not yield without battle."
Seras scowled. "The old man's asking for death... that's what this whole thing is. He wants someone to kill him." She looked Kain in the eyes. "I say we oblige him. Shall we?"
Kain smirked, and waved at the doorway. "Ladies first, my dear."
Seras rolled her eyes as she entered the next chamber.
The room was long, it obviously had been a ceremonial hallway at some point. The floor was covered in checkered tiles, save for along the very walls - there, the floor was missing, giving way to a short pit full of spikes.
And at the other side of the hall, sat Nupraptor. "Share my pain, and know my eternal suffering!!"
Suddenly a huge... distortion waved out from Nupraptor, slamming both Kain and Seras into the wall behind them. "What the...?" Sears yelled.
Kain snarled as he stood. "Nupraptor controls all powers of the mind... his telekinesis is unmatched."
As a second wave raced toward them, Seras noticed a discrepancy. "The edges of the wave! They aren't as strong there!" Putting action to her words, Seras raced to the very edge of the room, and passed through the wave, barely feeling anything. Kain shortly followed.
Nupraptor changed the pattern of his waves as they grew closer, but, now knowing what to look for, the pair had little difficulty navigating their way to him. But just as they were about to strike, he vanished!
"Not yet, not yet!" Nupraptor's voice echoed in their minds. Kain and Seras turned around, to find Nupraptor at the other side of the hallway, once again. He sent out another wave of telekinesis... but it wasn't aimed at the vampires, but at the ground. Tiles crumbled, revealing more spiked pits.
Navigating back toward him was more challenging with less floor space, yet slowly but surely they continued to approach the decrepit Mentalist. But once again, he vanished as soon as they got within striking distance.
"I tire of this game, vampires!" Almost with a sigh, the pair turned once again. Nupraptor now sat in the middle of the room. Instead of waves of pure telekinetic force, dozens of skulls now surrounded him, skulls which he started directing at Kain and Seras.
After dodging the swarm of skulls for a while, Seras' patience with the man wore thin. "Bloody lunatic! Enough of this shit!" She screamed, and threw her pike at him. The moment she did she regretted it - the pike was her only weapon, and the Mentalist had proven quite capable of dodging attacks and controlling many objects with his mind.
Thus, it was as big a shock to her when the pike struck right through Nupraptor's body. Even with his eyes and mouth sewn shut, Nupraptor himself seemed surprised by this turn of events.
Kain took advantage of the distraction and ran in close to their foe, swinging his sword. With a cry of, "Vae Victus!" Kain's blade relieved Nupraptor's body of the burden of his head.
"Ariel..." Nupraptor's voice echoed in their minds one final time, and was silent, his glowing skull growing dim.
Kain picked up Nupraptor's head from where it had rolled, as Seras tried to retrieve her pike from Nupraptor's body. "Perhaps the head of her beloved will convince Ariel that I have accomplished this task."
Seeing Seras looking at him strangely, a sudden whimsy overtook him. Striking a jaunty pose, he held Nupraptor's head in his outstretched hand. "Alas, poor Nupraptor," he intoned gravely, "I knew him well." The he shrugged and grinned. "Well, not really..."
Seras couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the sight.
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(Posted Thu, 17 Mar 2005 22:31)
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