~~~ Night of Regretful Sorrow ~~~

One would think that the sanctity of a holy place like the Ra'Ma temple would provide refuge for those fleeing the grasp of evil forces. However, much to the dismay of the frightened and battered group of Gummites, there would be no such luck.

Bodie Twillhollow, Vindruill Valorian, Dren and Sarah Kellei flooded into the dimly lit grand hall of the Sun Lord's temple. They carried two lifeless bodies with them; One adorned in the standard armor issued to Treegum Guards, the familiar Xiger Arndon, and Perry Sten the other.

Pillars of golden light lined the sanctuary, symbolic representations of Ra'Ma's touch driving back the darkness. Yet as they drew near the altar, to where A'nadra would normally stand, it became clear that their pursuer was no ordinary form of dark. A pool of blood, A'nadra's blood, spread across the floor, her body thrown to a distant corner.

Sarah's heart skipped a beat and sank. A slight shiver coursed through her body both at the death of her priestess and friend, and that this creature had entered and desecrated Ra'Ma's glorious temple. She felt faint for a moment, but stood resolute as a newfound anger coursed through her, forcing her tears and sadness back.

It was clear to her that the temple itself posed no opposition to this creature, but there was one place she was sure it could not penetrate. She lead the group through a back door and to a passageway that was guarded by arcs of electricity. Removing a small blue gem from her belt, she raised it to the ward causing it to fade and allow them passage through. Once done, she re-sealed the archway and lead them up to a small room, lined with numerous cots.

"This temple was originally built during the Abarrachian war with the Celestials." she explained as the others flooded into the room, laying the dead on two of the cots. "Vayri'nee and I had this room created and sealed by a powerful ward to protect the Celestial refugees from that war." She was confident that they would be safe behind the seal... but that confidence soon faded.

A ghostly whisper echoed through the stone room, ringing like a child's haunting laughter. Body was enveloped in darkness, sapping the light from the room around them. Sarah closed her eyes with a deep exhale, frustrated now to a new extreme and driven to new heights of anger. As if it were not enough that this being had defiled her temple, it had also bypassed the Celestial ward without a care.

Sarah ordered everyone back downstairs and they were quick to comply, carrying the lifeless bodies of Xiger and Perry with them. Once outside the ward again, Bodie asked if Sarah could do anything for the fallen. Through several moments of concentration and prayer, the two men were returned to the living, confused and defeated. They explained what they felt just before the invisible beast claimed their lives. A cold feeling, biting at the nap of their necks. Sarah had felt the same earlier, but managed to shake it off quick enough.

As was usual for the entire night, they weren't left with much time for peaceful talks. This round was different, however. Vindruill had explained to the revived Xiger that they were all in the Ra'Ma temple now, and that had set the guardsman off. Fueled by a hatred for the Sun Lord and perhaps the Gods as a whole, he began spouting insults to the church and accused Sarah of worshiping a false God. At this point, she couldn't take it anymore...

The frustration and anger caused by the provocations of this invisible creature had pushed her to her limits and Xiger only succeeded in shoving her over the top.

"It was He whom brought you back, you know. If you like, I can return you to the dead." she said to Xiger. The calmness in her voice belied the burning anger growing within her. Xiger's insults would not cease, and it fueled her fire until she levied her bow to fire at Xiger. Unsheathing his massive great sword, he stepped closer to her until the fiery arrows were nearly pressed to his chest.

"Do it." he taunted her. This whole time so many voices were being thrown at her. Her own hatred, Xiger's provoking and the shouting of the others, demanding they stop fighting each other. And yet, somewhere in the middle of all of this, there was another voice. A faint whisper in her ear. It told her how much she wanted to strike him... to reprimand him for the blasphemy slung at she and her God. The voices became so unbearable that she collapsed to her knees, holding her head, trying to concentrate and hold on to her sanity.

It was then that the real nightmare started. Someone else had been hearing the quiet whisper in their mind... someone else was giving in to them...

All the voices seemed to suddenly be dulled to her senses as a shadow slowly spread over the confused girl. She opened her eyes to see familiar feet standing before her, a cloak gently brushing the ground behind them. Time seemed to stand still a moment as she slowly lifted her head, her eyes scanning the figure before her . Vindruill stood over her with his rapier raised in the air. Her eyes met with his, and yet they were not his at all... something... sinister...

She watched as Vindruill's rapier descended upon her in slow motion until a sharp pain shot through her neck and coursed throughout her body. Time suddenly resumed its normal pace as she cried out in pain and crumbled to the ground. A crimson river poured from the deep gash across her shoulder... the world faded to black...

~|~

It was cold. Cold and dark. She sat there in the middle of nothing, curled up in her bleeding wings, crying. Confused, alone and afraid, she did not move as the whispers started buzzing around her. They were growing louder and louder, closing in on her. She cried louder until she could no longer take it and screamed out in trembling fear, "Lord, save me!!"

Immediately all grew silent... she opened her eyes to face a small orb of golden light. It grew slowly and her tears dried. Her wings no longer bled as it expanded to envelop her. She found a moment of peace in the brilliant light that flooded her vision.

~|~

Slowly the light faded and her true surroundings came into view. She was still in the temple, but had been moved. She now lay near the gates to leave the temple, but they were bent and skewed somehow, forbidding entry or exit. As her senses returned, a sharp pain in her shoulder caused her to wince and grasp it tightly. In an instant it was gone and she felt that the wound was as well.

Her thoughts were still a bit clouded, but she recognized an all-too-familiar figure standing over her once again. It was Vindruill and the fire of his eyes now burned much brighter than she had seen before. The others lay scattered around her, Dren and Perry knocked unconscious, bleeding from their skulls with Xiger nowhere in sight. Bodie stood nearby, pale with fright as she watched Vindruill.

Immediately Sarah had the instinct to run, but her reflexes were slow to respond. Vindruill was suddenly upon her, grasping her neck within his hands and squeezing the life out of her. She cried out to Bodie for help, but it was lost amidst her choking gasps for breath.

She soon felt an incredible surge of energy, but not within herself. Vindruill's body suddenly bulged out with rippling muscles as he grew incredibly in mass and size. This change rapidly flowed up into his arms and empowered his hands with new strength that was immediately applied to Sarah's thin neck. Her last breath was a yelp of pain as it was crushed instantly within his horrendous grip.

Once again... the world faded away...

~|~

It was an eternity spent there, and yet lasted no longer than the blink of an eye. With no sense of time, does it really pass? With no feeling, no thought, how can one measure their own existance? Did she even exist at all? There was nothing in this place. A nothing that is impossible to describe, for one could consider blackness to at least be something.

~|~

There would be no time to answer these questions as the world of the living suddenly snapped back into focus combined with an incredible pain in her neck, serving as reminder to the way she had fallen. Much as before, she grasped the wounded area only for the pain to immediately subside.

She was now in the temple of Vadriphose, laying beneath a weakly smiling Stephie and a tall figure she identified as Nore. Xiger and Perry were here as well, Xiger receiving the same treatment she had. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask what had happened, but in the place of words, only pain took form in her throat.

As she rubbed her neck sorely, she replayed the short glimpse of reality she could remember and winced in reminiscence of the pain. She had been killed, her neck completely crushed within the grasp of Vindruill's demonic hand.

She could only assume the rest. Nore and Perry had taken she and Xiger to Stephie to be revived. She was grateful but could not express it through more than a bow of her head. She realized her neck had suffered traumatic damage and that it may take some time for it to return to normal... at least she hoped it would.

Again expressing her thanks through motion, she then left the temple to return to her own. Another memory had stuck in her mind, that of A'nadra's lifeless body laying in a dark corner of the temple. As she walked slowly down the illuminated hall of the temple, she saw Artemis and Xiger looming over Vindruill's corpse. She could only assume Artemis had managed to overcome him in the stead of those who fell to the demon.

She could not confront any of them at present. The recent events were still too fresh and clear in her mind. She knew it was not truly Vindruill who had done these things to her and the others, but it was hard to shake his demonized eyes from her mind. She collapsed to her knees beside A'nadra's lifeless form and wept over her until she could find the concentration needed to right the wrong.

As her hands pressed to A'nadra's cold body, her eyes closed in silent prayer. Soon a golden, glowing glyph of a sunburst rose from A'nadra's chest and floated gently above her. In a dazzling, yet gentle display, it burst into a million particles of light which floated gently back to A'nadra's body.

Sarah smiled weakly as breath filled A'nadra's lungs. Mustering what strength she could, she lifted the priestess and made way to the warded room of the temple. There she lay beside her, finding rest of her own as she waited for her priestess, and friend, to awaken...

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