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Artist: Jiachen Z. ( https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~018cd1d218c86bded4 )
Colors: Ciro(me)
Alone he went up the stairs. She's here, thought Van, I just know it. It was such a big building, however; it would be difficult to find her. He decided to call out.
"Nu!" Vandal shouted as loud as he could, "Nu! Are you here?"
No one responded to his cries. He walked through several halls and peeked into every room he passed, but he did not see anyone else. The umbras, of course, were around. As harmless as they were, Vandal could not help but be repulsed by them. I know Jayden, or Cordis, obtained their cooperation, but …
As cautious as he was, the trust game had made his head sore. Cordis and his words against Talon did have him thinking about who deserved his loyalty. At the moment, however, the only one on his mind now was Nu. After finishing his conquest with one floor, he moved onto the next. He was grateful there were no monsters to hinder him.
"Nu," Van shouted once again, "Where are you? It's me, Van!"
Van felt a presence behind him, but it was far from benign.
"Ah," said the sinister Shadow, "looking for you dear butterfly? "
The fiend had a smokey form; his glowing red eyes like bloody moons shone through hazy clouds.
"Where is she, you bastard?" Van aimed for his gleaming reds, "tell me where she is."
"I doubt you'll do much with—"
Van fired one shot at the specter, this one enchanted with Oblivion. Given his form, Van didn't know if it would affect him, but he had to try.
The round was effective. The black and teal bullet ripped a small hole through Shadow's belly. At the rim of the wound, the teal glowed and ate away at the edges; the crater widened.
"Gah!" Shadow exclaimed, "never have a seen such arcane energies." He swept around and smothered the mystic infection with his darkness, healing himself. "You'll suffer for that, gunner."
"Take your best shot," Van said, smirking, "I will."
Shadow seemed to recoil as if to prepare for a charge. Van, in response, kept his barrels pointed at the target.
But then they heard her.
"Van?" Nu turned a corner. Van twisted his head to see her behind.
"Get back!" Van screamed.
"There you are," muttered Shadow, his tones dripping with venom, "race you." With that said, he flew towards Nu.
"STOP!" As Van shouted, he fired Leonette. But Shadow brushing past him forced him back, his shot punching through a ceiling tile instead.
Nu made a wall of ice to stymie the fiend, but it was thin and riddled with holes; there was a lack of enough water on this floor, Van concluded. Van would have fired at Shadow, but he was too afraid; he might strike Nu by accident. With a small yelp, Nu ran back the way she came. Shadow sieved through the openings in the ice and continued his pursuit.
Van followed, taking his axe out to smash the ice. When he was through, he followed their voices. A door slammed from one hallway. He flew to the one he thought made the noise and yanked at the door. When it wouldn't budge, he shot the lock. The lock broken, he swung the door open.
Blackened wings assaulted him. Crows? They swarmed around him; dozens and dozens of them cawing and swathing him with feathers.
"Get off!" Van saw talons swiping at his face. "Damn birds," he muttered, swinging his long gun around like a club. Then, suddenly, the murder abandoned him. They didn't fly away to find new prey; they simply vanished. The room, which was a kind of office, had someone sitting within, their back to him.
"Nu," Van said, unsure, "is … is that you?"
Whoever it was, they didn't respond; the hospital was strangely quiet. Van reloaded, all three shots enchanted with Oblivion. He spun the desk chair around.
Ladnavia's corpse sat on the torn leather seat. Her dead eyes were open and glazed, her throat open and wounds blackened. The silver of her hair had lost its luster as well. Her red clothes had paled with patches of pink here and there.
"Gods … " muttered to himself Van as he looked upon his dead wife.
Ladnavia's lips twitched; even in death, his disgust entertained her. Then the rest of her moved. "Oh, darling," the corpse croaked with coquetry thick in her voice, "how I've missed you." She had to keep her fingers at her neck to speak; it seemed Cordis couldn't silence her with his scythe. Out from between her dead lips crawled flies.
"You can't be alive," said Van, backing away, "Talon said—"
"Kiss me," she interrupted, the flies now seeping from the wound to shift her words. She climbed up and crawled onto the desk. "I'm more fun than that puerile, stupid, little—"
Van fired one round, at the moment not knowing if it was out of fear or anger.
The upper half of Ladnavia's face was gone. Now, she only laughed at him as she leaped off the desk and slowly walked towards him with her arms stretched out.
Van stepped out of the room and slammed the door, leaving whatever it was to entertain itself. Is that another beast? Some image from Shadow? He ran off, hoping to save Nu before the fiend could catch her. 441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ktmeEfZ0h
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