03-08-2009, 06:10 PM
The men of the group had done many things to help the two women survive. Juno practically threw himself in the face of danger in obvious attempts to impress them, and had saved Sophia’s life on several occasions already, and saved Sage even more times. Wizard and Tempo helped in less obvious ways—they held off as many of those abominations as they could to help secure an escape route for the rest of them. Sophia marveled as they fought—Wizard seemed a more polished fighter than the priestess had seen so far, and Tempo casually fought as his head bobbed to the music playing through those gigantic headphones of his.
Regardless, they all seemed to be retreating to the cave now.
It felt as though they had been running towards the cave for forever. While forever certainly is a longer time than could be fit into such a short time frame, the constant running, stopping, fighting, and hiding made it seem as though seconds were minutes--when the cave was only a few more steps within reach, the priestess could hardly believe it. Of course, within that very same time frame, the thought of the cave became so synonymous with salvation that she barely knew what she would do once she got there. Other than the very vague notion that she would hide from the swarms of scorpions, she had nothing.
The first few steps inside the cave were elating. Inspired hope filled every crevice of her being as she looked around to see something than sand and a distant horizon. Such feelings of bliss were cut short by a sudden wheeze by Sage, who was still latched onto her arm. The priestess sighed; the poor girl was having such a hard time, but Sophia was impressed by the hybrid’s resilience and, at times, resourcefulness. Somehow, she had a feeling that they would both come out of this situation alive.
Sophia looked around more carefully. The cave, though still a decent size, looked significantly larger from the outside. She supposed that maybe that was a good thing—a larger place meant for more places to hide, but a smaller place made it easier. While looking for a narrow passage or crevice in which she could hide, for some reason, she allowed herself a look behind. Her eyes were met with the image of her comrades, and past them, four rather large scorpions. They had destroyed many scorpions, and in some cases, larger scorpions, but they knew they couldn’t hold out forever. At that moment, all of her emotions that had been scattered about now rang in her mind with one collective thought: RUN!
Barely even realizing that she was still holding onto Sage, Sophia obliged. She ran along the entrance tunnel and into a larger room inside. To her left, there was a small opening that they could crawl into, and just based on her quick glance, it seemed to lead to a smaller compartment. It was rather odd the way the cave was laid-out—maybe it was a man-made cave. Regardless, Sophia had learned through a lifetime of working with and around clergymen not to question such miracles. After helping Sage up and into the narrow passage, she followed her into the compartment.
“There, we’ll be safe here for a little bit,” Sophia let out a small sigh, patting the young woman on the back softly as she breathed into her inhaler. Although the room was as dimly lit as caved were prone to be, she could still see enough of Sage to note the panic in her eyes. The priestess tried speaking in order to calm her down. “It’s okay to be scared, you know.”
“Um…uhh…” she fished for words, her breathing more calm now that she had a moment to sit. “Th-thank…you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she smiled warmly. “I promise that we’ll get out of this situation alive. I’ll do everything within my ability to make it so.”
“…wh-why?”
“Why? I don’t know. We girls have to stick together,” she laughed, but felt compelled to go on after noticing Sage’s dissatisfied look. “I guess it’s because I want to help. I’ve seen the worst that mankind has to offer during my tenure as a priestess. I’ve seen murderers, thieves, liars, and rapists come through my temple, and none of them would give you the light of day if they didn’t want something. Humanity shouldn’t be like that.”
She broke off her speech momentarily as a small scorpion crawled inside. Gasping slightly, the priestess formed as small a ki orb as possible without losing the energy needed to fry the little bugger. The small creature went up in smoke, and Sophia flicked it away before she continued. “I can’t allow myself to be like that. What would it say about me if I did? I would be on the same level as their hypocrisy. So…I guess it doesn’t matter if you don’t trust me—I guess I’ll do everything in my power to earn that, as well. I’m still going to try to help you, because not everyone is living purely for themselves.”
Sage still looked dubious, which was more or less along the lines of what Sophia had expected. Whatever Sage had been through in the past, it must have been something awful—no amount of words could correct the mindset that she had tempered her mind with for so long a time. The priestess was still glad that she got it out there—maybe it would serve to at least ease her mind a little bit.
Their little moment of silence was broken by Sage’s stifled scream. Tiny scorpions similar to the one the priestess had just killed crawled through the cracks behind them, forcing them to retreat through the tunnel that led them there. Turning around, Sophia formed another ki ball—this one significantly larger than the last—and threw it into the hole, collapsing it.
“Oh, there you guys are,” Juno’s voice sounded from behind them. The pair of women turned around to see a large pair of headphones, with Tempo under them; Juno and Wizard stood beside.
“Glad to see that you’re still safe…more or less.” Tempo scratched his head.
“There's another wave coming, so if either of you have an enraged killing spree in you, now would be a good time to use it,” Wizard joked grimly. “No? Didn’t think so. Let’s go, then.”
Regardless, they all seemed to be retreating to the cave now.
It felt as though they had been running towards the cave for forever. While forever certainly is a longer time than could be fit into such a short time frame, the constant running, stopping, fighting, and hiding made it seem as though seconds were minutes--when the cave was only a few more steps within reach, the priestess could hardly believe it. Of course, within that very same time frame, the thought of the cave became so synonymous with salvation that she barely knew what she would do once she got there. Other than the very vague notion that she would hide from the swarms of scorpions, she had nothing.
The first few steps inside the cave were elating. Inspired hope filled every crevice of her being as she looked around to see something than sand and a distant horizon. Such feelings of bliss were cut short by a sudden wheeze by Sage, who was still latched onto her arm. The priestess sighed; the poor girl was having such a hard time, but Sophia was impressed by the hybrid’s resilience and, at times, resourcefulness. Somehow, she had a feeling that they would both come out of this situation alive.
Sophia looked around more carefully. The cave, though still a decent size, looked significantly larger from the outside. She supposed that maybe that was a good thing—a larger place meant for more places to hide, but a smaller place made it easier. While looking for a narrow passage or crevice in which she could hide, for some reason, she allowed herself a look behind. Her eyes were met with the image of her comrades, and past them, four rather large scorpions. They had destroyed many scorpions, and in some cases, larger scorpions, but they knew they couldn’t hold out forever. At that moment, all of her emotions that had been scattered about now rang in her mind with one collective thought: RUN!
Barely even realizing that she was still holding onto Sage, Sophia obliged. She ran along the entrance tunnel and into a larger room inside. To her left, there was a small opening that they could crawl into, and just based on her quick glance, it seemed to lead to a smaller compartment. It was rather odd the way the cave was laid-out—maybe it was a man-made cave. Regardless, Sophia had learned through a lifetime of working with and around clergymen not to question such miracles. After helping Sage up and into the narrow passage, she followed her into the compartment.
“There, we’ll be safe here for a little bit,” Sophia let out a small sigh, patting the young woman on the back softly as she breathed into her inhaler. Although the room was as dimly lit as caved were prone to be, she could still see enough of Sage to note the panic in her eyes. The priestess tried speaking in order to calm her down. “It’s okay to be scared, you know.”
“Um…uhh…” she fished for words, her breathing more calm now that she had a moment to sit. “Th-thank…you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she smiled warmly. “I promise that we’ll get out of this situation alive. I’ll do everything within my ability to make it so.”
“…wh-why?”
“Why? I don’t know. We girls have to stick together,” she laughed, but felt compelled to go on after noticing Sage’s dissatisfied look. “I guess it’s because I want to help. I’ve seen the worst that mankind has to offer during my tenure as a priestess. I’ve seen murderers, thieves, liars, and rapists come through my temple, and none of them would give you the light of day if they didn’t want something. Humanity shouldn’t be like that.”
She broke off her speech momentarily as a small scorpion crawled inside. Gasping slightly, the priestess formed as small a ki orb as possible without losing the energy needed to fry the little bugger. The small creature went up in smoke, and Sophia flicked it away before she continued. “I can’t allow myself to be like that. What would it say about me if I did? I would be on the same level as their hypocrisy. So…I guess it doesn’t matter if you don’t trust me—I guess I’ll do everything in my power to earn that, as well. I’m still going to try to help you, because not everyone is living purely for themselves.”
Sage still looked dubious, which was more or less along the lines of what Sophia had expected. Whatever Sage had been through in the past, it must have been something awful—no amount of words could correct the mindset that she had tempered her mind with for so long a time. The priestess was still glad that she got it out there—maybe it would serve to at least ease her mind a little bit.
Their little moment of silence was broken by Sage’s stifled scream. Tiny scorpions similar to the one the priestess had just killed crawled through the cracks behind them, forcing them to retreat through the tunnel that led them there. Turning around, Sophia formed another ki ball—this one significantly larger than the last—and threw it into the hole, collapsing it.
“Oh, there you guys are,” Juno’s voice sounded from behind them. The pair of women turned around to see a large pair of headphones, with Tempo under them; Juno and Wizard stood beside.
“Glad to see that you’re still safe…more or less.” Tempo scratched his head.
“There's another wave coming, so if either of you have an enraged killing spree in you, now would be a good time to use it,” Wizard joked grimly. “No? Didn’t think so. Let’s go, then.”