The Cave

"It was as simple as taking a form and playing on their superstition and pre-existing beliefs. Human minds aren't difficult to manipulate." Apophis chuckled. "Just look at these two prime examples," she gestured to Auryon and Kratzer. Neither defies her but the hate and fury directed at Apophis that exudes from both of them is obvious.

She stroked a scale carefully, trying not to make a screeching sound. It was surprisingly smooth- she had expected it to be rough.

"You know," she said thoughtfully, "according to legend, I used to be human."

"Oh?" said Thytes. "You can create and destroy the same weapon at your convenience? Marvelous!" He pulled back a part of his toga to reveal a broadsword attached to a scabbard on a belt, the scabbard dangling down to his knee. "I merely have the usual weapons, I'm afraid. You must tell me your secret! I would love to have another partner."

"Nope," said Kendrik, grabbing Thytes and trying to pull him away. "We've got bigger things ta worry about than yer weird flirtin' thing." He gestured to the wreckage of the town.

Thytes rolled his eyes, in part because Kendrik strained to move him even a couple inches. "Yes yes, this place. Can anyone tell me where we are?"

At the comment, Lucifer's excited demeanor noticeably dampened. He had been so thrilled by the discovery of other gods and magic unlike anything he had ever heard of that he had completely ignored the injustice at hand. Apophis had willingly entered a deal for revenge with a kid. He might have had a childish appearance when using the name Luke Blythe, but he knew that children weren't always the best at making decisions.

And any time someone praised how inferior humans were to them, Lucifer immediately became alarmed. "So you used them?" he asked, watching Apophis with a different sort of look to his eye - not one that was particularly terrifying, but one that clearly showed his discomfort with what was going on.


"We're underneath a cave," Reyes said, pointing up at the ceiling. He ignored the flirt. "It looks like people from a variety of different places ended up there for a variety of reasons. I came because my GPS wasn't working and I needed a place to call for help. Then I found the cave."


"Really?" he questioned, looking up from where her hand was so he could get a better look at her face. She did look like she was human, only made of fragile glass instead of flesh and blood. He was living proof that reincarnation was a thing. Being human and then becoming something else wasn't exactly an absurd suggestion.


Maahes and James slipped back inside of the cave. He eagerly shook the water off of his jacket, glad to be somewhere relatively dry again. He went to go find the group that James had been with when he arrived, only to find two instead of four other people in the cave. One was the woman oddly made out of glass, though her colors had changed slightly in the time he was gone. Then there was the second being - he didn't recognize him in the slightest. His clothing did look familiar, but Maahes couldn't place where.

"If the stories are to be believed," her voice dipped lower, like she was telling a ghost story, "we- I am powered by a human soul with unfinished business. It's will to live again is so strong that it can create a body for itself." She pulled her fingers back to wiggle them faux-meanacingly.

Really, her playfulness disguised the pain and emptyness that always surfaced when she thought of that particular story. There was no real way to prove or disprove it- at least, none that she had thought of. She had grown up hearing the long version of this folktale, and her and her companions would laugh it off, but ever since they had been slaughtered, she had dwelled on it in a new context.

Who was to say if it was true? And if it was, who was to say that she shouldn't just shatter herself into a million pieces in order to set the tormented soul free?

She blinked and stepped back, withdrawn. It was then that she saw the two men from outside at the entrance of the cave. She silently nodded to awknowledge them, taken aback by the direction of her thoughts and how dizzy they left her.

"Ah," Thytes said. "Fascinating! And the others, I imagine, are on the other side of the lake?" He waved a hand in the direction of the clear waters.

"Yep," said Kendrik. "Nice if they came over ta here, 'cause the company'd be good."

Thytes nodded. "The more, the merrier!" He then focused on the town. "And I imagine you've already searched the buildings?"

The hound shook his head. "It ain't safe," he said.

Before he knew what was happening, Kendrik found himself being held aloft by his shirt. "What kind of attitude is that?" said Thytes, carrying Kendrik over the nearest building, which appeared to be some kind of abandoned shop, if the boxes of shirts spilled on the ground were any indicator. "Particularly from adventurers such as yourselves." When Jaron came up and tried to pull Kendrik down, Thytes picked him up as well.

"Fine," said Kendrik, right before the lion set them down in front of the building's battered entrance. It looked like it had been moved from its foundations, shattering all the glass in the process. All the shards would be fun to walk through. "Ain't any reasonin' with ya. But I don't want ya puttin' any moves on Reyes back there. He likes guys, but I'm guessin' he ain't interested in lions." There was also the fact that Thytes carried a sword, and was easily much stronger than Kendrik and Jaron combined, but the hound didn't want to make him any more proud.

"As you wish," Thytes said, rolling his eyes as if to say how prudish he thought the request was. Still, the lion held true to his promises, so Kendrik breathed a sigh of relief. Turning back, Thytes called out, "Will you be joining us, Reyes?"

"I used her," she pointed at Auryon. "My sister got pretty vampire boy there. But he's not her vessel, he's just...I honestly don't know what she's doing at this point but he could be more useful if he cooperated. I guess that's what we have Sieben for." It's unclear how much of this commentary is to answer Lucifer and how much is to provoke Kratzer, but the moment the word 'Sieben' comes out of her mouth his eyes flash with a metallic hue and he tenses, though he doesn't actually move towards her. It's plain that he'd really prefer to be shooting her through the skull at that moment but knows better than to attempt to take on a demon. Vampire or otherwise, he's not very powerful compared to her.

James was glad to be out of the rain, but found himself averse to the idea of talking to the occupants of the cave again. And it seemed that the population of the cave thereof had dropped down to two. One of which, was wearing Kartiel's clothes but looked very different, almost draconian in nature. At this point, after everything he'd seen, he wasn't going to question it. Maybe Kartiel had another true form too, or whatever. He forced a small wave of recognition to the glass woman as he stepped up, but then his leg beneath him quivered, and he stumbled.

He caught himself, on his knees, but he didn't get up. He needed to take a moment to... recover.

Reyes nodded, then went over to them to do exactly what he had agreed to do. He was used to odd things. Though they never fully prepared him for whatever challenge presented itself next, he wasn't completely thrown off by the strange turn of events.


Lucifer gets the suspicion that "Sieben" is some sort of person or thing that was used to motivate Kratzer to do whatever they had him do; the fact that they were forcing him to act in the first place made him almost completely certain that those things he did weren't good. Lucifer's hands clenched into fists. He wanted to do something, but he didn't even know where to begin. How could he possibly take care of Apophis when it seemed like she was linked to her contractee?


Maahes immediately rushed to his side, worry clearly written across his face as he looked James over. "I'm an idiot," he said after a moment of doing so. It quickly became clear that James was far from in a good state. He looked really weak, and Maahes immediately berated himself for not noticing it sooner. He had been so caught up with seeing him again that he hadn't even thought to see how James looked.

"Is there a place he could lie down?" Maahes asked, turning to the two other people in the cave.

The man - or boy, maybe - froze up at the question. He awkwardly coughed. Brushed the little bits of dust and dirt off of himself. And, as a final touch, he seemed to be deepening his voice when he spoke. "No."

That was far from optimal, but what else could he do? "What about water? Food? He really could use some."

"There isn't any," he said. Now that he had spoken more than a word, he was sure that his guess was right. "Not here, anyways. There might be some down on the beach."

"The...beach?"

He nodded. "I could show you."

"Well, it's been great talking with you guys, I'm going to go and see what I can see and leave you all to whatever it is you do. Do me a favor and don't kill anyone without me, sweetheart," Apophis says to Auryon and pats her on the shoulder before sauntering off down the beach and leaving Lucifer, Kratzer, and Auryon to their own devices.

"U- uhm!" Adeline jumped when one of the men collapsed. Oh boy- he might have gotten sick because she took his shoes "you can have these back!"

She took off the shoes and gently set them in front of him, "sorry about that.."

"Keep them," James muttered, pushing them forward with one hand.

He sat down on the cave floor with his hands on his knees, and took in a few deep breaths. He was seeing stars.

"I think I'm just dehydrated. Sea water's not going to help with that."

She made a noise in the back of her throat like she was going to argue, but decided against it. She was never one to refuse an offer. She took the shoes back and slipped them on again.

"Well, there might be something outside that's collected rain water- if you don't mind drinking it."

The moment Apophis walked out of earshot, Lucifer's fists unclenched. He looked over Auryon and Kratzer. He felt horrible about what they had been through. If Apophis was anything like the other Lucifer, he could understand why they had both been so quick to hate him. "I'm sorry about what you've been through," he said.


Maahes looked from the boy to the glass woman. Both brought up valid points, and he could see the merit in their suggestions. So he mulled over it for a second, then quickly decided that the best plan was to combine the two suggestions.

"The rain water sounds like a good idea," he said to the woman.

Then he turned to the boy. "Maybe you could take us there after that? I'm sure we can find some sort of structure - or at least some food - at a beach."

James did not want to go to the beach, but he only nodded in weak agreement. He would protest later. Someone had to stay back to watch the cave and the opening, or some other excuse he could muster to convince them to leave him be.