Lightning flashed, almost immedietely there was an almighty thunderclap. Avon Cindersnap jerked awake, his whole body felt sore, he looked down, he realised that he was hanging chained from some sort of rack, he strained against his bonds but the chains were thick and securely implanted into the wall.
There was another flash and Avon was temporarily blinded, he blinked to clear his sight. His vision returned and he saw that he was not alone, in front of him stood a tall, black-clad figure, "where is the shield?" the figure asked in a voice without pity, "I don't know what you're talking about," Avon protested, the man seemed to blur and Avon received a powerful blow to the gut, he would have buckled if he had not been chained. Avon gasped for breath as the figure blurred back into the space he had occupied before, "now Cindersnap," the man said threateningly, "I won't ask you again."
Avon looked him in the eyes, behind his back he began to open his chain cuffs with a concealed lockpick, "I don't have the shield, I never did," Avon said, smiling, "What are you so happy about," the man snarled. Avon continued to smile, all the while unpicking his manacles, "I said..." the man spoke through gritted teeth, as Avon spat in his face, the adept fell over backwards but blurred as he fell and landed back on his feet, as he did so an almighty wave of gold enveloped him and he was flung against the wall with bone-shattering force. Avon Cindersnap wrenched his right arm free and tore off the cuff binding his left arm, the man he had thrown had twisted in middair, pushing off from the wall and flying towards Cindersnap, Avon curled his hands around the chain and a stream of golden energy surrounded it, he whipped it towards his captor and caught the unsurspecting adept straight in the jaw. He smashed straight through the wall and out the other side, crashing through another wall and then skidding to a halt, a steady trickle of blood leaked from his forehead, Avon lurched, the floor beneath him seemed to have turned to quicksand, he groped for the end of the chain still attached to the wall, he missed and he scrabbled at the floor, sending bursts of golden plasma shooting in all directions. He felt solid matter give way to empty space beneath his feet and he fell through, passing out as his head thudded into a heavy beam.
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Deep below the surface of the earth a band of warriors faced off against a deadly and seemingly unlimited horde of the undead. Zombies, vampires, homunculi and other creatures fell at the hands of the six, but they began to tire, "I don't know how much longer I can hold them off," gasped Venus LeFaye, ducking under a zombie's arm and stabbing a vampire through the eye. "Where's your stamina?" jested Caelus Exomnius, finding the whole situation hilarious despite the danger they faced, as he decapitated a zombie and knocked a homunculi off its feet. "shut up and concentrate!" said the leader of the group, Solus Olibanum, fighting to keep his broadsword between him and a tall vampire. His eyes blazed and a pulse of burning ultraviolet light sped along his sword and the vampire was cooked alive, smoking and collapsing into cinders and ash, and Solus fought on. Raven Starstrike pulled the pin out of the grenade with her teeth and flung it towards a wave of vampires and teleported across the cavern, she waited with baited breath until she saw the orange burst of the explosion, she teleported back and stood side by side with Jasmine Lovelace as she pushed at the air, sending a bunch of undead flying. "How's it going?" asked Raven jokingly, Jasmine was used to Raven's sudden appearances and so was not startled, "fine, fighting loads of dead stuff, just a usual day at the office," she said in a voice filled with sarcasm, she quietly disliked Raven because she always seemed to get on easily with everyone else but appeared dead-set on annoying Jasmine in every small way she could.
Raven smiled a tight-lipped smile which promptly gave way to a frown as a homunculi lumbered towards her, Raven drew her daggers and went to work, leaping and stabbing, teleporting all around the homunculi, disorientating and confusing it. Jasmine looked on and then turned to see the final member of the group, Artix Imperion, finishing off a vampire with a thrust through the heart with his ninjato, he turned and their eyes met but he said nothing, his vow of silence binding him to his oath. Solus Olibanum looked up at the sudden rush of darkness flying over the heads of the undead army, the shadows streamed downwards and settled into the form of Vesper Orientus, crouching as he solidified. "You certainly pick fine moments to show your face," Solus commented dryly, "Quit complaining for once. You need all the help you can get, look!" said Vesper Orientus, pointing to a great hulking shape swathed in bandages advancing through the ranks of undead, "its heading towards us!"
