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[Armok]

I think it's fine to be detailed occationaly, but keep it in mind so it dosn't get much worse.

[Silleh Boy]

Survival, that was your first priority. Your second one was to take out as many of these things as possible, to burn them to death, to ensure that they wouldn't heal, that they wouldn't simply get back up because you hadn't dealt a fatal injury to them. You knew the nature of the corrupted all too well, you knew how some of them were tougher than others, how some of them were capable of recovering faster than others. They were beneath you and the rest of the enlightened, beneath you, who had been shaped by the hand of another to be so perfect, so well adapated for survival in this day and age.

Survival in this case was merely ensuring that you remained ahead of anything that tried to track you, finding a safe place to rest for a while if possible. Maybe it was the fact that this change was taking a lot out of you, maybe it was this change that made you want to lay down and sleep right now, to rest until everything was over. Maybe it was this change that was sapping your energy so rapidly from your body, your body, that you could feel even now shifting and twisting into a new form beneath your skin. You could feel muscles realigning and your physical weight diminishing, though this loss of weight was more than just body fat being burned by these changes needing what energy they could leech from within.

You felt lighter than could remember ever having done in your life.

Every footfall onward was accompanied by a sensation of excitement and dread, your tired mind telling you over and over that something had happened to you, something terrible, something wonderful. You were disfigured by these wings, yet you had wings, beautiful wings that were still growing, wings, that you somehow knew would soon enough be able to support your weight and allow you to fly. You'd be able to fly, fly like a bird, able to look down on the land below from a new perspective.

Everything would change, everything would be better, or at least that was what you told yourself, when deep down you knew that things would only change for the better where effort was involved. Things would change for the better with Eurochkoles though, he was determined to make the effort and he was going to make things better for you. He was going to change the world, and you were going to be there to see it happen, you were going to be there to reap the benefits of your loyalty to him.

You were going to follow him because that was what you wanted, that was what you needed. You needed somebody to follow, and he was a better leader than Pride had ever been despite all his flaws. All Pride had ever had going for him was his status as the head of the Enlightened, while Eurochkoles was a man with drive and vision. He was a man who respected you more than any other, though it confused you to think about it, knowing that he was not the type to make a pass at you. You would likely have been disgusted if he was that type of man, viewing him as no better than the rest, yet the fact he didn't pay that kind of attention to you, to anyone, confused you.

Enraptured by these thoughts, you continued to stumble onward, only vaguely recognising the decor on a weathered sign indicating that you had found one of the towns stores. The door was unlocked, ajar even, though there was little sign of damage to the interior you noted as you stepped inside. No bones, either, the people here had clearly left before they were eaten by the things that inhabited the city. That, or they had become them, it was hard to tell given how you hadn't been here for it, given how you felt light headed and delirious.

"Hi, I require as much paraffin as you have in store," you started, your voice ringing out in the empty store as you leaned against the counter, looking around as you giggled to yourself. It was a general supply store, with everything from lignite to lanterns. Various tools were on display on one wall, with a patch in the display missing, as if someone had stumbled against it. The floor had a number of them discarded on it, telling you that they hadn't been looted, though between the tools on the wall and the floor was a number of lanterns set on the shelves, along with a number of flasks of paraffin.

"Is that all you have, or do you have more in the back?" you asked, pausing as your face contorted in anger to an imaginary insult. "You leave my wings out of this, they're beautiful and you're jealous!" you snapped, before huffing, pulling the hatch leading behind the counter open as you did so. "I'll check for more myself, thank you, I don't want some bigot's assistance serving me," you continued, frowning deeply as you did so.

As you made your way towards the store room you paused, clutching your rifle to your chest a little tighter as you glanced over your shoulder, making certain that nothing had followed you in before you reached for the handle of the door. You turned the knob slowly as you breathed the scent of dusty air in deeply, expecting the worst, expecting anything other than the sight that greeted you. The sight of boxes stacked haphazardly greeted you, boxes that you poked through carefully, pausing as you found a small one filled with something that you had only heard of before now.

Chocolate.

This must have been smuggled, given how you had seen quite the price tag on this, given how you knew that a backwater village like this couldn't possibly have had a legitimate supplier of such a luxuary. You just had to try it though, you just had to see if the fuss about it was warranted, if the price it demanded was justified. That was what you told yourself at least, and you were sticking to it.

Your fingers deftly unwrapped the bar as you held it up, breathing in the scent of it carefully as you held it up to your face. You could feel it melting beneath your fingers, the thin bar growing slick as you returned it to its wrapper, figuring that it would enable you to hold it without getting more of it over your hands. With the bar safely tucked in the wrapper again you started licking the chocolate that had melted onto your fingers off them, a delighted shiver running through you as you tasted it. This was something you liked, this was something you had to take with you. First however, you were going to eat this bar, then you were going to set the box outside the door so you could run away with it when you were done here.

Well, no, you were going to be efficient about this. You were going to start taking the boxes of paraffin and chocolate outside while eating this bar, ready for when you finished it. With a chunk of chocolate in your mouth, you started to carry one of the boxes of paraffin outside, huffing briefly as it almost slipped from your grasp as your wings caught the door frame. The shock of such a thing was new to you, the fact that you had an extension of your body like this that was close in a sense to some of your dreams as a child.

Dreams of having wings.

Dreams of being an angel.

Several boxes of paraffin were set outside and one box of chocolate in the time it took you to finish the small bar you had taken to try. While you felt no clearer headed, your mood was vastly improved at least, having you almost humming to yourself as you picked up a few of the boxes and started carrying them in the direction of what you assumed was the town hall. You couldn't have brought yourself to care if you wanted to over the thought that you could still be attacked by the things here, good as your mood was. It took you little time to find the town hall, setting down the two boxes you had grabbed before you headed back for the other two, repeating this journey quickly, before you pryed the door to the town hall open.

The scene inside was as expected from this town, a few bones littering it, furniture partially erected as barricades, though it appeared like the people here hadn't even managed to do that in time before being set upon. You could see tables and chairs, benches and bookcases, all toppled and half pulled towards the center of the room. Plain white walls with claw marks and bloodied handprints added to the story of how the people here had fallen, though you had no idea how to add this to the picture. Not that you cared, as you were quick to hurry across the room, taking note of how there was only one other exit from this building. A door, that lead into a walled in garden, a door, that had another lantern hanging outside it, a lantern that was pitted with age and had soot on the glass. A lantern that you could still hear fuel sloshing about in the bottom of, as you gave it an experimental shake.

That lantern was just what you needed, you could lead them into the building, slam the second door shut as you ran through, use the lantern... No, no, you needed to toss the lantern in first, then slam the door shut, so it could ignite the paraffin that you'd splash about inside. The door you'd come in through would need a few flasks put by it, the rest of them could be splashed and planted about the room.

You ran through this plan several times as you followed the motions you'd need to take, planting several of the flasks about the room as you poured the contents of others over the floor, over the furniture. The stink of the stuff filled the room, though you knew that these things were likely too stupid to know what the smell was. After ensuring that the lamp outside the door was lit, this only left you one more issue to tackle.

You needed to lure them here.

You knew that the majority of them would be at the train station, that you would have to run back here, unsteady as you were. You were unsteady, but they were mishapen and ugly, so things were in your favour at least. Still, it wasn't their fault that they were ugly.

Well... Yes.

Yes it was their fault.

You staggered in the direction of the railway station, taking a few moments to find your feet again as you adjusted your balance to account for the weight on your back. No sooner had you done such did you find yourself striding down the streets towards the station with purpose, your determination to prevail driving you onward. You were going to prove your worth, you were going to show Eurochkoles that he could rely on you, that you were capable of carrying out things in such a manner that he would be proud of you. You wanted to hear it, you wanted to hear those words from him, you wanted to hear him tell you how well you had handled the task. You wanted to hear him beg for that chocolate you had aquired, so you could see the look on his face when you said no.

As you neared the station you could feel yourself growing apprehensive, glancing about as you looked into the windows of the houses you passed by. While there was nothing in them, you couldn't shake the feeling that something might just burst out, that something might just attack you before you got there. You couldn't dismiss such a possibility with the manner in what things seemed to be going so horribly wrong for you as of late. It was as if there was a vast, cosmic conspiracy against you, against those associated with you, ensuring that there would be nothing but strife ahead for you.

Your paranoia fortunately, turned out to be misplaced as you reached the station unharmed, as you turned the corner to find yourself presented with a scene much like one you had expected. There was a fair few of the corrupted lingering here, settled atop the partially rusted train and the carriages around it, keeping an absent eye out for any sign of the survivors approach. Your presence of course got their attention quickly, prompting a bellow from one of them as it started to jump up and down atop the train, pointing in your direction.

"Catch me if you can, you slovenly wankers!" you yelled, turning to run from the things as you did so, with the sound of many feet followed behind you. You made sure to keep a good distance from them, glancing back to ensure that they behind you, yelling obscenities at them as you continued onwards, goading them into continuing this chase. A chance that you directed towards the town hall, making a show of attempting to flap your wings uselessly, as if you had forgotten how to fly or couldn't due to injuring your wings. They thought you were grounded, unable to escape, they thought they had you and merely needed to keep up with you.

They had no idea about what you had in store for them.

You ducked inside the town hall as you reached it, hissing briefly as your wings clipped the frame of the door, having grown large enough now that even folded, they were starting to get in your way. They were still growing, too, becoming larger with every passing minute, closer to a size that you knew would be fitting for you to fly with. At least you hoped you'd be able to fly, as having the promise of flight so close, yet cruely denied to you would be too much for you to cope with.

You acted as if you were cornered as the things poured into the building after you, as they paced towards you, as you backed away with an expression of fear feigned. "Stay away from me!" you cried out, watching as more of them flooded in, as they started to spread out about you. They were closing in as more bodies crowded the room, yet it was all under control. Yes, all under control.

It was all under control and you felt like you were losing your mind.

The fumes of the paraffin made you feel dizzy and the prospect of what you were about to do made you feel giddy. They were going to burn, they were going to die screaming, much like the people of this town had when they had torn them apart. Your back pressed to the door as you continued to back away, before you tore it open, grabbing the lamp that hung outside it, casting it to the floor of the room with a gleeful giggle, and then, you slammed the door shut behind you as you ran for the garden wall.

Your wings fluttered more powerfully than before as you attempted to use them to give you the boost you needed to clear the wall, your feet kicking at it briefly as you found footing and pulled yourself up and over. Screaming filled your ears as flames visibly danced through the window behind you, as the things attempted to stay away from the flames that tore through the building.

You paid no more mind to the things you had left to burn, as a plume of thick smoke rose from the burning building, as flames engulfed it behind you, as you made your way towards the shop you had left the box of chocolate outside, along with your rifle. As you made your way down the path however, you caught sight of a familiar sight running towards you, running no doubt to investigate the smoke in the sky. It was the two headed thing, it was the thing that you had been unable to finish off earlier. You could see an expression that even on faces as twisted as the pair it bore was clearly one of anxiety, one that told you that the sight of you again, bearing wings as you did now, was enough to unsettle it.

"What have you done?" it screeched as it pointed one long, twisted finger at you.

"If you hurry, maybe you can still save some of them," you simply responded, while the thing turned pale, wailing as it started running towards the source of the smoke, no doubt horrified by what your words implied.

As you finished traversing the street to the shop front you were greeted by the sight of the rifle you had left behind and the box of chocolate bars, though you found yourself wondering, did you head back now, or did you continue looting the town, like you so deserved?

[Nirur Torir]

Head back, and don't forget the chocolate. Rest and eat lots of chocolate upon returning to the others.

[ragnarok97071]

I agree with the person above me. also, we need to learn how to use a spear so we can do Dragoon jumps with our new wings.

[breadbocks]

I agree with the person above me. also, we need to learn how to use a spear so we can do Dragoon jumps with our new wings.

This

[Jabberwock]

We should also bring some medical supplies back.

[RAM]

We can't carry all that much, and we already have a fine haul, lets head back to the others, remember to take an indirect path...

[ragnarok97071]

can we actually fly? if so, fly far enough up so that you look like a normal bird, then go back to the others. if not, be sneaky.

[Armok]

Eat some more, test your wings  and practice flying a bit, then go back.

[Silleh Boy]

There was a distinct lack of a strap on the rifle you had aquired, and this displeased you. It made it a lot more awkward than it needed to be to carry it, along with the box you had aquired. Ditching the rifle was something you considered doing briefly, though you knew that if you were attacked, unskilled as you were in the use of such weaponry, it was better than nothing. It was a weapon that a single well aimed shot from could kill one of these things outright, no struggling to find a point of their body to stab that would have the same effect. There in lay the problem of course, the fact that you were required to get a well aimed shot on one of them to kill them. Still, you knew that if you brought it back, that you'd get additional thanks for bringing such a weapon back.

You just needed to get it back first, you just needed to get yourself back, to ensure that you were able to return in one piece. You had to wonder how everyone'd react to the clear fact that you had changed, to the fact that you were all the more clearly showing your tainted nature. Would you be accepted by them, or would they be afraid of you, knowing that you were so different?

You knew that it was possible that they would see the wings and liken you to an angel, though black as they were, you would likely be likened to one of a much less pure nature in such a case. You didn't like angels though, not since you had met that person that had the appearance of one, that one that wanted you to kill Eurochkoles, that person who was likely no more an angel than you. He had likely used that appearance, along with whatever powers he happened to be gifted with to garner favour with a select few, to influence things in a manner that favoured him.

In a way, you were jealous, knowing that he had the entire thing set up for him, that he was in a position to manipulate without suspicion from certain people. You gave your wings a few experimental flutters, huffing as you quickly realised that they were still deadweight on your back, that in addition to ruining your dress they were useless. It was going to take you time to learn to use them, it seemed, and time was something you didn't want to spend on them. You wanted to be able to use them now, you wanted to be able to fly back and avoid walking, you wanted to be back there already, given time to eat your chocolate and recover.

Another flutter followed as you tried once more, this time flapping them more forcefully, though all you managed to do was pull a muscle in your shoulder as your lack of control over them became apparent. This meant that it was going to take time leaning to use them, time to get them strong enough to use, even if you did feel you knew how to use them somehow already. Maybe it was a matter of simply learning how to control them, learning how to use muscles you had never had to use before and not a matter of strengthening them to support you.

Maybe they already worked fine, and they were just useless?

That was a thought that you didn't wish to entertain however, instead opting to make your way towards the edge of town, glancing behind yourself on occasion for any sign of movement that would suggest that you were being followed. You didn't want to be followed back and you didn't want to take a direct route back, as this could end with you leading the things here back to the others.

Instead, you took a side road away from the town, knowing that you could skirt around some of the hills about the town, remaining out of sight while you made your way back to the group. It would also give you time to eat more of the chocolate you had found, a chance to think things through, time to allow all you had been through to sink in. The rifle and the box were quickly moved under one arm, partially propped against the belt that you wore for additional support as you started down the road that lead away from the town.

It was going to be a fair walk back you noted as you took another bar of chocolate from the box, struggling to unwrap it as you used your thumb to nudge the wrapping that contained it open. An extra set of arms would have been more useful than wings, it seemed, as more arms would have allowed you to hold the box and rifle seperately, in less awkward positions, as well as giving you two hands free for this chocolate bar. Of course, extra arms would have been horrible to look at, while wings at least had some asthetic value to go with their functionality.

It slowly dawned on you as you made your way onward that this change didn't actually bother you in the slightest, that you had been prepared to let go of your humanity a long time ago when you became one of the Enlightened. It should have bothered you, you knew that it should have, especially given how Eurochkoles had been trying to get you to embrace that aspect of yourself once more. You had tried to take to it, you had tried to be what he wanted, you had tried to be what you were not, all because it pleased him to see the so called progress you made.

You were no longer able to think of yourself as human, you were and always would be one of the Enlightened, one of the corrupted, one who preyed upon that what went bump in the night. Just because you wore smiles and spoke with the words that civilised people used didn't mean you were like them. You wore a mask, and you wore it well. The fact that he was the leader figure you followed, the one that you required to feel you had purpose only added to the manner in what your mask had strengthened.

It was liberating to know you were different, to know that you could sit there in the midst of those humans, that you were greater than them. You were immortal. Your thoughts continued in this manner as you basked in the concepts that you had found new means of comprehending, as you made your way onward skirting the hills as you made your way to the end of the gorge.

The group gradually came into view as you climbed over the last hill, over the hill that they had remained behind when you set off, you could how they still huddled together near Joy, how Eurochkoles was sat beside her. You could see that he was asleep, that the humans huddled near Joy avoided getting too close to him, that no sooner had you arrived than they started to point at you, to talk amongst themselves. Whispered words, no doubt in awe of your wings, those beautiful wings that you now bore, though you could see something else, you could see that they were afraid of something new.

They were afraid of you.

Fearful cries came from them as they backed away, as Joy started towards you, her vacant expression telling you nothing of what her purpose was, the few words that she stated drowned out by the crowd around her. As she advanced, she spoke once more, her words clear this time as she spoke in a manner that you could attribute to the nature of the guardian she believed herself to be. "Drop your weapons and surrender, or be terminated," came Joy's words, prompting you to look down at the rifle under your arm, then back at Joy, huffing as you did so. Did she not recognise you due to the wings, or was the presence of them enough to trigger a reaction like this?

You huffed, wondering how you should deal with Joy, what you should tell Eurochkoles, what course of action you could suggest with the town to him, to awe him, to show him how he could rely on you, to get him to praise you like he should.

[Armok]

Next time we have points we totally have to get extra arms.

Tell Eurochles everything.

[cerapa]

Drop the gun and ask her to wake Euro up.

And tell Euro that you randomly sprouted wings. And all the other stuff too of course.

[RAM]

Joy isn't our enemy, and she listens to Euro, lets just drop the gun and get him to stop her...

[Silleh Boy]

"I don't get you, Joy," you muttered to yourself, carefully slipping the rifle from under your arm as you did so, taking care to prevent yourself having to put down your prize, the box with the chocolate you had aquired. "I want to hear it, in your own words. I want to hear you tell me why you're asking me to do this," you huffed, holding the rifle out to Joy as you did so. As she took it, her attention immediately fell on the box under your arm, implying that she wanted you to pass that over too, incase it contained some form of weapon that she hadn't seen yet. "This is full of chocolate, for gods sake Joy, now tell me, why you're asking me to do this."

Joy's attention remained on the box as she spoke, as if she didn't believe you, as if she actually believed that you were concealing a weapon in it. "Your appearance is compromised, you are corrupted. The civilians reacted fearfully to your presence, thus you are deemed a threat. You are armed. You are corrupted. Those bearing tainted forms are to be neutralised. Your affiliation with the creator requires confirmation from him before neutralisation. Please relinquish the box."

You huffed, your appearance wasn't compromised, it was improved. You had beautiful wings and frigid as she was, she was clearly jealous about this fact, she was clearly envious that you had wings and she had nothing bar an excuse for being socially inept. The contents of the box were anything but a weapon though and you were going to prove that to her, you were going to sacrifice one of the bars of chocolate that it contained to prove this. "Joy, have you ever heard of chocolate?" you asked, reaching slowly into the box as you did so, retreiving a bar from it carefully, holding it out for her to see.

There was no response from her, though you couldn't just see, you could feel her intense gaze as it followed your every motion, as if she was waiting for an excuse to spring on you and attack you. After a few long moments of simply staring at the bar, with you waving it tantalisingly at her she finally took the hint, taking it from your possession, looking at you blankly as she held it close to her chest. She clearly had no idea what to do with it, no idea what it was.

"You remember the cake we had in the train?" you asked, a brief sensation of guilt reminding you that Eurochkoles had wanted some and you had denied him it, you had denied the person that you looked up to, that you served. Joy nodded slightly, shifting awkwardly as she did so. She remembered it, she knew that she liked it, she knew that it conflicted with how she was supposed to feel and behave. "This is better than the cake, just try a little," you stated, smiling as you rocked back and forth slightly, rolling your shoulders as you did your best to alleviate the growing discomfort the weight behind you was causing. You knew that would get better with time at least, that you would soon enough adjust to the new center of mass you bore.

Joy's expression was as blank as ever as she slowly started to unwrap the bar, breaking away one of the corners as it was exposed. You were expecting something more of a reaction as she put the chocolate into her mouth, yet her expression remained blank, devoid of emotion. At least that was until after an awkward moment of silence you reached over to the bar, attempting to remove it from her possession. "Mine," she huffed, clutching it that little closer to her chest, sinking down to her knees as she paid you no more attention, instead licking melted chocolate from her fingers.

She made no effort to stop you as you walked around her, as you approached Eurochkoles where he slept, taking note of how he was sleeping where he sat, his arms resting on his legs with one of the revolvers he had brought with you in hand. You'd seen how sharp his aim was and you didn't want to risk startling him as that could eaisly translate to a gunshot wound, something that while you could recover from it easily wasn't something you'd like to have to recover from. Pain wasn't exactly something you enjoyed experiencing, especially with how frequently you seemed to do so.

Even as you approached, the jingling of the jewlery on your belt seemed to be all that it took to rouse him, his eyes opening drifting over to you before he seemed to snap to a state of alertness, focused on you as he shook his head briefly. You could see how the hand bearing the gun had jerked upward, now sat atop his knee, while his gaze was fixed firmly on you, on the wings that were visible behind your shoulders. His mouth opened as he searched and failed to find words, while you smiled brightly, knowing that this was your chance to take the initiative.

"I think I broke Joy," you stated, gesturing behind yourself to where she still sat, rocking back and forth slowly as she picked away at the chocolate bar you had given her. "Though to be fair, it was better I broke her, than she broke me. She wanted to hurt me, because I brought back a rifle and these-" you paused, spreading your wings, holding them open for a long moment before you allowed them to settle against your back again. You could see the shock on his face, the disbelief and worry, you huffed however as you had expected him to react a little more favourably than this. Maybe it was because he was just waking up, that he couldn't quite comprehend the beauty of this new form. Maybe it was because he was a stupid man, who thought that he was smart simply because he was intelligent.

"I hope you have a good story behind this all," he started, pausing as he glanced behind you, as he glanced towards the hill that sat behind you. "Is that smoke?" he asked, gesturing to the thin plume of smoke that was visible, smoke that was no doubt from the building you had set ablaze. "I asked the bursar to wake me if anything happened. Where has that useless man got to?" he continued, rubbing his eyes as he turned his attention back towards you fully, tilting his head as he did so. "Well, start talking."

"I looked around the town, I found more of the corrupted things that attacked the train there. They were quite unfriendly, so diplomacy was not an option, especially given that they had used the prior inhabitants of the town as food and viewed you as the same. They were about as intelligent as any man, they recognised that the train still in the station there was likely something you'd want to go to, so they started were planning to ambush you when you went for it," you paused, glancing over your shoulder briefly as you did so. "The smoke is from where I trapped a number of them inside a building before burning it, it should have vastly thinned their numbers."

"And the wings?"

"Are they not beautiful?" you asked, setting the box down at his feet, moving closer to him, settling atop his lap as you positioned yourself face to face with him. "I'm not sure what happened to have them grow, I can't use them for flight either, but I am certain that in time I'll learn how," you stated, leaning closer to him as he leaned back uncomfortably, prompting you to grin as you placed your hands on his shoulders. "Say it," you whispered.

"Say what?"

"Tell me that I did good, let me know you're proud of me."

He was silent for a moment as he seemed to relax, a crooked smile forming on his lips as he shook his head slightly. "You have confirmed that there's a train there, given me good idea about what we'll be up against there and managed to get back without leading them here by the look of it," he paused as he glanced over at Joy, then back at you. "I doubt anybody could have done better than you."

"Do you really mean that?"

He nodded, pressing his hands to your shoulders as he pushed you back, while you allowed yourself to be moved from atop his lap. "We just need to see where that useless man has gone, then we can see about securing the train," he muttered to himself, holding his chest as he rose to his feet. You had almost forgotten that he was injured, that he was hardly at his best right now, though you knew that despite this he was still fully capable of leading. "Joy, where's the bursar?" he called out, as he stepped past you.

"He went back towards the crash site," one of the civilians volunteered, while Joy remained silent, seemingly still fixated on the chocolate you had given her. Eurochkoles sighed, shaking his head slightly as he turned back towards you, his very gaze making the prior boldness you had felt while away from him seem to fade away. It was as if his very presence made you feel submissive, your rebellious nature kept in check somehow by him.

"Do you need to rest, or do you think you would be able to see to bringing him back?" he asked, his gaze briefly lingering on your wings, as concern was visibly written over his face.

[Armok]

Get him to take the chocolate before joy eats all of it!