RP:Devil Looks Like A Lady

Summary: Linn rejects the advances of a succubus and seals her away using an artifact of Vakmatharas.

Xalious Tree

Linn was currently in a deep sleep under the canopy of the Xalious tree, looking as if he had just gone out, and did so quickly. He was still wearing all of the plates to his armor, the angled reflective surfaces of the mithril casting images from the surroundings that shifted as one walked around him. One arm was outstretched, a quartz crystal laying in the slightly curled fingers of a gauntleted hand. It was easy to mistake his stillness for death, the gentle rising and falling of his chest concealed under rigid unmoving metal. In the end though, he looked the epitome of peaceful, a soft, serene smile spread over his face in the coziness and healing that set upon him under the tree.

Revan :: The scratching against the plated armor could be missed if one weren't looking for it but the rhythmic cawing would not be so easily dismissed. A small raven colored bird is resting on Linn's chest with it's head cocked to the side observing the sleeping man carefully while a thousand others surround them in the branches of the Xalious tree and littered across the ground - all calling out in a unique pattern that resembles the an off key melody of a old children's tune.

Linn was slow to react to the rhythmic cawing right on top of him, eyes belatedly creaking open to see the bird resting on his chest. “Hey… what are you doing here?” he slurred out pleasantly, if sleepily towards the bird before another look up into the gold and silver canopy caught the many flecks of raven-black birds. Confusion began to etch itself on his features as he wondered what all of these birds were doing here, though it rapidly melted at the old children’s tune. It was… familiar. One that he had sung himself along with his old friends back home so many years ago. How could such a song have carried so far into these lands? He attempted to crane his head a bit to look around to find more of the birds, though right now he just felt far too heavy to fully sit up, and disturbing the one on his chest just made it too much effort right now. “What is going on?” he managed to ask, more questioning himself or the general situation than the birds themselves.

Revan :: The sound of the birds taking flight all at once is deafening and the black mass it causes blocks out the sun for multiple seconds until the area clears once again to reveal a soft skinned, blond haired, blue eyed beauty wearing a floral dress the blows with the wind while her forefoot twists shyly in the soft grass beneath her. Human in race and late teens in age the girl stares at the resting Linn with an enchanting set of viridian eyes and speakes in a calming hushed voice through full lush lips, "You came." Unlacing her hands from one another she plucks the daisy that is tucked behind her left ear and extends it to the armored man, "I've been waiting so long."

Linn had to shut his eyes and attempt to block out the mess of motion and sound that assaulted his senses as the birds flew away. His head still hurt from how hard he had been thrown by the massive kick he got last night. The girl’s soft voice brought him back to his senses though, colorless eyes creaking open once again to find the birds gone. At her statements he cocked a brow slightly, never really having recognized the girl as one he knew. He would at least entertain the conversation for now though, if just to figure out what was going on. His arm nearest to her rolled over to passively open his hand for the gift to show that he accepted her company before asking, “What do you mean?” She looked nice, sure, but external appearances mattered so little to him anymore. After a life of working in the immaterial and having expectations repeatedly shattered he knew that the beauty of the physical world told very little about someone. But that just meant he had to talk a bit to really learn something.

Revan :: A shy smile as her eyes flicker away and then back as Linn take's the daisy, reaching up to brush her fingers across his cheek, "They said that you would be here. I didn't believe them but here you are." Their gaze's meet and she shifts her focus between each of his eyes as tears of happiness fill her own, "It really is you." With a swift drop of her shoulders the straps holding the dress onto the girls body fall to the side sending the garment to the ground leaving her nude before him. "Take me." she whispers with a quiver in her voice, the want for the man aching in her bones, "Show me why I waited." Her breath bated as she leans in with the goal of stealing a kiss from the man.

Linn couldn’t help the growing confusion at the girl’s affection. He had never seen her before, yet it seemed she had seen him so many times. What was going on? Had one of those blows to his head knocked the memory of her from him? What was he going to say now that he has been so far in love with Talyara? As she let her clothes drop away he took in a tight breath as she asked him to take her. He sighed, sorrow beginning to come over him at the truth that he knew he had to break to her. He kept his gaze averted from her body to confirm what he was feeling, and perhaps to avoid the lust that would attempt to eat at his discipline. “I can’t. I’m afraid I don’t remember you at all. And in my times out in the world I’ve found someone else who already… has what you want from me.” He sighed again, shaking his head. “We can still be friends after everything, whatever that might have been, care for each other in need, pull each other from the fires the world throws us into. But… I can’t give you what you seek myself.”

Revan :: Shaking her head in denial at his words the girl places her finger on his lips breaking his explanation with a hissed "shh" before he is allowed to finish. "I've waited so long and you've come", she explains as her hands fall down to take his own, "Show me why I waited" her lips press against his to bestow the man with a deep kiss whether he would return it or not.

Linn was left unsure of how much he should allow this girl, knowing he’d have to break it all apart in the end. There was little he could do though, laying on the ground half-paralyzed in his healing state. When she leaned in to kiss him he allowed her to. He didn’t return the kiss, but he didn’t refuse it, allowing her that feeling of closeness that she seemed to seek right now. When she withdrew, if she withdrew he’d speak up again. “No more, please. If you want to be close to me like that, it won’t be sustainable. And the farther we go, the more it will hurt when it has to end. Find someone else, someone you can be with forever.” He implored the girl above him, sorrow marking the words that he knew could break her heart.

Revan :: The kiss is long and drawn out as the girl cherishes the moment with every fiber of her being her heart pounding harder and harder against her chest while her hand moves to wrap around the back of Linn's neck pulling him closer until he breaks the kiss. As he speaks a smile is stained on her expression while closed eyes allow her to relish the time as it passes. Once he's concluded his piece her eyelids flutter open to reveal the viridian hue eliminated and replaced by a dark void of pitch black liquid the leaks from her sockets. "But I waited so long for you... and you came", she repeats as the black substance drips onto his armor and neck, sizzling the flesh as it collides bringing the smell of burned hair and skin into the air, "You can't leave me now."

Linn heard her words and began to frown, knowing he’d have to show some spine at this point to make clear what happened, or at least what he thought happened. That train of thought was broken when the first drop of pitch struck his neck, causing his eyes to jolt open and snap onto her face in horror. What was this? The pain jolted him from his paralysis, allowing him to curl up to a sitting position and hold a gauntleted hand to her chin to fix her blackened gaze on him. What was he to believe? The results of this seemed to draw all to the same place regardless of her true nature, leaving his only course of action to let out the truth for her. If she truly was someone he had lost, she had to know. If she was some sort of demon trying to tempt him, he could only hope it would break her. When he spoke his voice was solemn and stern “I don’t know what we had before. Whatever it was, I remember nothing of it. For that, I am sorry. But while I was here I’ve fallen in love with someone else, and I can’t leave her now because it would break her as well. I tell you all this because it’s what happened and you have the right to know. And I allowed you that kiss to let you feel that there is more to love than just heartbreak. If we were friends before, we still can be. But not much more. I’m sorry for what happened, for everything. But there’s nothing we can do but move forward. You can still find someone I’m sure of it. Don’t let what happened to me ruin you.” What was he doing, saying this to someone who had just unnaturally began to burn him? Maybe it was that off-chance that she was real, that he had lost his memories and now they were stuck here in an unfortunate situation of breaking their hearts either here and now, or much worse later on.

Revan :: The smile on the girl's face slowly faded as Linn spoke and by the end of his explanation a low growl started to emit from her vocal cords while her skin physically crawled, growths bulging out from beneath the surface. "I waited so long for you, you... YOU -CANNOT- LEAVE ME!" her shriek like a banshee's as her skin erupts revealing a pair of dark bat like wings protruding from her shoulder blades, tears all across them, a set of vile goat like horns from her forehead and a dark hide like armor from her pelvis that soon engulfs her entire body. Screeching again, black acid spews from her gaping mouth that is now filled with sharped teeth aimed for the man's eyes in an effort to blind him while her hands with claw like nails lunge for his throat.

Linn’s stern gaze hardened as the girl’s form changed and turned demonic. So. This is what it was all along? The transformation led him to throw his hand from her face in disgust at what was truly happening. “Destroyer…” was all he could mutter before the spew of black acid came hurtling at his face as he arched his head forward and held up his working arm in an attempt to deflect the assault. There was nothing he could do to dodge it though, and his present physical weakness would easily betray him here and now. Here in the aura of the Xalious tree though he had a great amount of radiant energy swirling around them to work with. When she made for his throat, whether or not his defense was successful he would reach his other arm up to try and grasp at her own throat, drawing in the ambient energy and pouring it into her body until she was thoroughly saturated before using what he knew of fire to ignite it all at once and incinerate her through and through, the only thought in his mind removing this temptress demon from the world to end her activities.

Revan :: The acid splashes onto Linn's arm and sizzles on the armor though it isn't potent enough to break through to the skin and as her hands lashed out she manages to cut three of straight lines across his neck but not deep enough to be lethal. She's readying another attack when he's got a hold of her and suddenly the girl becomes a victim of spontaneous combustion igniting her whole body into flames, her screams deafening as she leaps from the man's body and starts running around in circles crying for help, her voice slowly becoming more human as the wings on her back start to disintegrate from the flames.

Linn rolled himself over as much as he could to wipe his face and neck in the grass to remove the burning acid before righting himself to get a view of what he had just done to the demonic girl. Despite his soreness he managed to stand, the aura of the tree now empowering his action rather than sending him into restful sleep. Chances are the demon might survive the fire, merely sent back to whatever hell birthed it, though he had a tool to send it somewhere else: straight to the dominion of Vakmatharas. True death. He drew a bright violet crystal from the pouch at his side that glowed in the magical aura of the Xalious Tree, though within it swirled an inky, sinister black from which no light returned. He approached close to the would-be girl before attempting to draw away what remained of the energy that sustained the magical fire, though he couldn’t do anything about the physical one that ignited as a result right now. Remaining silent he glared at her, daring another attack or attempt at escape, coiled and ready for whatever might happen.

Revan :: The succubus doesn't attempt to inflict any more damage upon Linn as he hovers near her instead she falls to the ground rolling about in agony desperately trying to eliminate the flames that engulf her while crying out in pain as her light skin turns black. She eventually manages to put out the fire and is left laying before Linn, staring at him with her eyes a hybrid of the original viridian and the souless black, her voice coarse and rough, "They... said you'd be here" she sputters with acid and blood staining her teeth, "Show me why you came."

Linn scowled as the demon repeated her words, confirming that whatever she was she wasn’t the result of some possession. He had everything he needed to know now, finding her to be a demon seeking to tempt and tear apart the care and ties that he had formed with others. Of others with others. She had to be eliminated from this world for everyone’s sake. With a curt “no.” he dropped to his knees and plunged the violet crystal into her chest before loosening the binds on the void within it, allowing it to seep out and rapidly consume her being, sending it straight to oblivion, a prison that she would never escape back into this world from on her own.

Revan :: The girl twitched and shouted as the crystal began to consume her, her body seeming to distort itself to and from reality on a whim until her entire form is captured into the crystal leaving the artifact resting in the grass before Linn. "You aren't like the others." a voice calls out from behind him, the source a man covered in dark robes with a heavy hood pulled securely over his head offering no features but a set of soft glowing blue eyes and a pale white chin, one of the raven colored birds from earlier resting on his shoulder. "While most people of good intent cower and flee at conflict, you waste no time working towards a resolution... Hmm..." The man approaches as a slowed pace, his calm and unarmed demeanor offering no threat to the demon slayer. Those glowing eyes fall to the mana crystal and a smile spreads across the strangers face, "And with good intention you still utilize the power of the death god, something most consider a... dark art. A common misconception that you seem wise enough to see through." The man stands just a few feet in front of Linn now and he seems to be examining the man closely and with great interest. "What is it you do in this world, hmm? A protector? One who raises his arms to eliminate those who seek to cause harm? Or are you merely a warrior, one who hungers for violence and self worth."

Linn took the crystal back in his hand after the succubus was destroyed, her entire existence ripped from both this realm and that of her creation. When the voice called from behind his head snapped around to catch the figure, eyeing it suspiciously before calming himself. Whoever he was he was taking this slowly and without arms, seemingly forthright on whatever he was saying. It was enough to put him at rest and let him put away the crystal. He waited patiently until the questions finally came, bringing a pursing of the lips. “There’s a lot in this world that tries to break us. There’s a lot that has broken me.” He spoke surely from tempered experience. Whatever had happened to him he was at peace with it. “And I wouldn’t be here if it were for others that helped me pick up the pieces and make something good of them. The most I can do is do the same for everyone else with a similar will. There are others that seek to do little more than destroy everything we try to do, make more and more pieces without the intent of ever making something of them. They simply have to be eliminated. And the death-god’s work is simply the surest way to know they’ll never return.”

Revan stares to Linn for what seems like an eternity, his mind hard at work in the pursuit to pass judgment on the man, those glowing blue eyes narrowing as the words of the demon slayer register. Seconds seem like hours until a smile spreads across the illusionist's face and he slips his hand out from beneath his robe sleeve revealing a single red rose that is extended to Linn in offering, "There is much more to you than meets the eye, young one. Vakmatharas' will comes in a plethora of forms and you are one of them and for that, we thank you." Once Linn would take the rose, the robed figure vanishes before his eyes without a trace - Revan standing far into the distance with a crooked and deceitful smile as he makes note of Linn, his thoughts very clear, "I will break you."

Revan gave 1 red rose to Linn.

Linn eyed the figure curiously has he spoke again, slowly extending his hand to take the offered rose. And just like that, he was gone. The enchanter sighed slightly before shaking his head, fatigue beginning to overtake him again and leading him to head back under the boughs of the Xalious Tree, putting the rose in his pack and laying back down to get some sleep. This was too much.