The Ward's Guard

It snarled. Twisting and struggling against the woman's grip on it, the Corpse glared and seethed at the Queen.

OMS, these are hilarious!

It snarled as it hit the ground, scrambling and trying to pull itself towards the skinny Narrator. It was close, so close! And yet . . . It could hardly command its own body, every limb feeling heavy as something else seemed to be pulling them against the Corpse's will. But still, it struggled. It wouldn't be dominated, not again. It would see the end of all of these accursed "gods" and the abuse of their forsaken powers even if it cost the Corpse its life. Every muscle in the Corpse's body tensed up as it trembled from the effort of pushing past this unseen force. Though it still couldn't so much as lift a finger, it would not yield!

"Hey," Vulpy said with a grin. "Don't worry about it. Pretty sure it's-" A yelp escaped his throat at the sight of what came rushing around the corner. A humanoid with the appearance of a Corpse came sprinting for the group, its sagging flesh looking as if the slightest touch could cause the whole thing to fall apart. Vulpine raised his pickaxe to ward off the Corpse, and when it drew close, he struck forward to lodge the pick into the creature's chest, but it shifted. Faster than Vulpine could react, the Corpse altered its trajectory to body slam him. He let out a short yelp before having the wind knocked out of him. With more strength than the rotting appearance clued to, Vulpine went flying into a nearby wall. Ignoring the man who was obviously a character, the Corpse leapt towards the Pheo Nix to correct this mistake, drawing metal from beneath its flesh to strike against the Narrator. It aimed true for his heart, wanting to make this quick. @xinoehp512

Vulpine held perfectly still, breathing evenly as he tried to assess where the sound was coming from. But all of these accursed corridors made it hard to tell. All he knew was that it was getting closer. Metal slamming against stone, matching the pattern of a bipedal creature sprinting. The man lifted his pickaxe, and walked past Dargon. "Wait here, bud. i wanna check it out."

Sprinting through the area, The Corpse retraced the path it had been taken perfectly until it came to the position where it had lost the Pheo Nix. It had seen which direction the Narrator had been carried off in, and that was all it needed. Following the estimated direction perfectly, the Corpse quickly came across an opening in the earth. At every contact with the earth, there was a metallic clink as its alloyed bones pierced its own rotting skin and rang on the stone floor beneath it. As it has suspected, it was a mine, an enclosed space. Ideal. ----- Vulpy raised an eyebrow. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're stalling." The man shrugged. "Well, whatever you're up to, try and keep it do-" Pausing, Vulpine furrowed his brow in a serious manner. "You hear that?"

"Pleasure's all mine. You wanna tell me how you ended up in this charming place in purgatory, or you sticking to the hot and mysterious type?"

"Whoa, man. You're a quick learner." He placed the head of his pickaxe against the ground, and leaned on the shaft. "I'm Vulpine, by the way." Upon finding the first window, The Corpse charged through it shoulder first. It had not anticipated the multi story fall, but with a slight shift in its center of gravity, it began to roll right as it hit the ground. The impact would have shattered any organic bones with ease, but it only shuddered the Mordite alloy that built up its skeletal frame. Within the blink of an eye, the creature rolled to its feet, and sprinted forward. It had seen mines where countless slaves had been sent. If the Pheo Nix was captured and forced into servitude, there is where he would be.

The moment the Corpse was back on its feet, its skin rippled as its bones shifted for a split second. It bolted down the Hallway, sticking to the lighted areas. Screams reverberated off the wall as anyone who caught a sight of the Corpse dropped whatever they were doing and bolted away. Excellent. Now it just needed to find a window. Vulpy sighed. "Almost." He stepped away to pick up his own pickaxe in the same way he had shown the young man. "You take it like this, and then you slide your hand down." As he swung the blade forward in slow motion, he slid his hand down from the axe head to the bottom of the shaft. "That way ya have more power."

The Corpse swung about, it struck at where Corundum had been. However, when its blades only hit open air, it started swinging wildly throughout the room. The blades hissed through the air, but as the creature felt the presence of Withergeists growing in its mind, it came to a quick realization. The Corpse flung itself towards the door, using the withergeist's aspect flowing through the blades as the creature struck at the door. Within second it had started to wither away to reveal a whole, allowing light into the room as the Corpse leapt through it. "Gah, for the Star's sake!" He stepped up to the young man, taking hold of his hands. "Here, let me blazing show you." He put on of the fire headed man's hands at the bottom of the shaft, and the other next to the pickaxe's head. "You hold you like this, okay?"

The Corpse recoiled, but it flexed its fingers, realizing that nothing had changed except . . . It growled deeply, shutting away the third voice as it stepped away from the figure, this Corundum. It eyed Selil, and shifted its stance into a more aggressive position. It needed to end this, quickly. It lunged forward, every bone sliding under its skin in unnatural ways before puncturing the flesh. End this, then end Pheo Nix. "No offense, pal. But were you born yesterday?" He shook his head, picking up one, himself. "The concept is simple. Although I'm sure there are a lotta techniques or whatever to make it easier. But you bash this end," he said as he pointed to the top of the pick. "Against the part of the wall that you wanna mine through. Got it?"

The Corpse fell into a defensive posture, drawing Mordite blades through its hands to ward off the creature. Vulpine gave the flame headed man a flat look. "You don't know how to use a pickaxe."

The Corpse snarled, it's back going rigid. "You . . . Do not . . . Serve . . . The duty . . ." It narrowed its eyes, and forced itself to take a step towards the Narrator and his assistant. "We . . . Do not . . . Recognize . . . Your authority." I have no idea what happened, or how to fix it on mobile, so . . . "Now that's the milliom Gilar question, ain't it?" He grinned, and brushed his hand across the surface of the wall. "An' more importantly, why does the lovely and rosey Dark Lord who put us here want with it?"

The recitation meant nothing to the creature's ears, and it fought against this stranger's control. "Will not . . . Serve . . ." It performed its loose approximation to a growl, twitching and snarling.

The creature gasped, holding perfectly still as the terrible sensation rolled over it. "What . . ." It stopped speaking, and glared at the newcomer.

The momentum carried the Corpse forward, but it rolled as it hit the ground to stop in a standing position. In an instant, it locked eyes on Selil, but paused at the newcomer. Settling into a crouch, it prepared to either fight or flee. But first, a demand. "Let me . . . Kill . . . Pheo . . . Nix."

The moment that the door creaked open, the Corpse leaped forward, hoping it would have distracted the Narrator. Snarling through its decaying throat, it forced every rib to puncture it's skin and point forward so that when it full body tackled the Dark Lord, every one of its Mordite bones would pierce his heart. This would be over quickly.

Vulpine raised a critical eyebrow. "Physical effort ain't your thing, is it?"

The Corpse rolled its shoulders. It was a meaningless display as its bones bent the blade before letting it fall to the ground, rust evident on its surface as the sword started to wither away. Disregarding the piece of inferior metal, the Corpse turned to face Selill as if it didn't have a care in the world except for dealing death to this Narrator. It lunged forward, pushing for the offensive as it flicked its wrists, forcing shards of Mordite through its flesh until its hands and arms were covered with the black spines. It swung wildly for the narrator, uncaring for what it struck.

The blade cut through the Corpse's flesh with ease, like a hot knife through butter. However, it stopped at the creature's bones, unable to harm them. Just as the blade made contact, the bones shifted around it to lock the blade in place as the creature shifted to strike back. Every movement it made, down to the stance its feet took was unnatural for the body the creature had. Looking as if its arms should dislocate themselves, the creature struck towards the Narrator without fully turning around without so much as a pause.

With a loud crack, the Corpse launched forward like an arrow shot from a bow. Faster than the eye could blink, it covered the distance between itself and the dark lord. shoving its arm forward, the Corpse produced a Mordite blade aimed directly for where Selill's Narrational Core should be.

The Corpse tensed up, eyeing the guards who surrounded it for a moment. It seemed to be waiting for them to make the first move.

"Don't . . . Want to do . . . This . . ." It stared directly into Selill's eyes, a resolve harder than stone evident in whatever was left of its face.

"Find him . . ." The creature snarled. "Kill him . . ."