The Blood-Stained Lamb

"The Blood-Stained Lamb" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread started on [IRL DATE] and finished on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
[Write a summary of the thread's events here, including spoilers and important plot details. Check the Order of Threads to see if the thread you are placing already has a summary, to make less work for yourself.]
==Full Text==
The Warden/Jin Juro: Juro scooted frantically back from the Warden, who stood hunched in the grass, her entire abdomen heaving with labored breaths as she clutched her face, crimson aether running from the new cracks like smoking blood. Every breath was indistinguishable as either a laugh or a sob.
A crackling chime broke the moment of high tension, and both of them whipped around to look away from the setting sun, immediately locked onto an undulating psychedelic bubble that pulsed outward and inward in fragmented waves. It shifted, as though noticing their presence, and the piercing glass sounds began to approach, as did a pained, starving mental probe. An invasion into what had previously been a secure, safe place for the two of them to retreat to.
Before the Bookkeeper could react, he saw two birdlike legs crouch on either side of him, a humanoid body much bigger than his, and a taloned, feathered arm reached across his chest and gripped his waist in a protective fashion. Nala was not looking at him; she was focused on the incoming threat, the glow of her face thundering like an irregular heartbeat in time with the amplification buzzing under her arm. Her broken mask remained expressionless, but her deafening growl flattened the grass around the pair in a pulse of force.
= M I N E. =
The Construct suddenly jerked to look northward, not quite at the towers, but still somewhat facing the second wall that the rebels were now securing. A good portion of them froze in her gaze, and then fell over each other to get out of the way as she galloped towards the wall and reached up with a leg to dig into the ramparts, starting to pull herself up, stone and metal grinding and screaming against each other. It was completely unclear what she intended to do by scaling the wall with friendlies underneath her.
The Changeling: The changeling cursed as he watched Nala begin climbing up the ramparts. He needed to get up to her. He began to shift his form, runes crawled down his forearms as he brought them up to his chest. There was a flash of energy and he was gone, only for him to reappear about 10 feet above the Construct. His form became like liquid as he landed and he spread out as much as he could to cover her eyes.
"Hey cousin, you mind telling me what's going on?!" He called out to her. "I'm all for causing chaos, but I think you're directing it at the wrong people!"
The Warden: The Construct screamed in alarm and began dragging her face across the stone in front of her, biting without teeth and unable to find purchase. She hovered halfway across the wall, resting on it like an enormous cat, while the Rebels parted to the left and right like a split river. The Changeling got static bursts from the Warden--confusion, relief, panic--and he was briefly blinded by an image of red sunlight shining through thick glass.
The liquid seeping through Nala's innards contracted more thickly around the pilot pod in her chest, like a sentient creature seeking entrance. Part of the shifting glass surged up the Construct's neck and swarmed in knife-like shards to start tearing at the demon sticking to its face.
The Changeling: "Owowowowowow." He groans as the construct scraped him against stone bricks. He reformed and jumped away from the incoming daggers. He changes forms taking on more feminine and monkey like features. She begins jumping and flipping through its ribcage, avoiding the glass as much as possible. Instead of her cousin she reached out to the Glassmaker's mind.
The Arbiter: A thick black miasma rushed across the ground as though a tidal wave of soot had fallen. It reached the wall and shot up. The arbiters body took shape, claws and face breaching the darkness, as he clawed his way up to the construct and eventually onto it. The miasma settled as he latched on, reaching his mind out to anyone who'd respond. The black dust emanated around the construct, and he readied to settle it on the joints.
The Warden/The Glassmaker: The Arbiter's essence ground against the Construct's gyros and it backed down off the wall to avoid falling off, seeming confused as to what it should be attacking. It settled for curling in itself and circling like a dog chasing its tails in slow, gargantuan motion.
Now that the Glassmaker was occupied, its walls were still raised, but transparent, and had slips in space that could be entered like slot canyons. It was a house of mirrors, a fantastical infinity unlike anything the Changeling or the Arbiter had seen before, and not only did it look unusual, it felt unusual. It gave the impression of a six-sided snowflake--not a perfect break into those pieces, but distinct branches artificially joined at a center, glistening like quartz and razor-sharp. Her thoughts flashed like lightning through water, always in single, labored words, as though she were unable to form full coherent thoughts.
Inside, the swarm of glass was gaining ground, chewing up the grass in front of it like a thousand scythes, aiming straight for Nala and Juro. The blades around them suddenly caught on fire in a protective circle, and as the flames roared, the Warden gripped the Bookkeeper tighter and a curtain of leathery skin and hot feathers hovered around them. Huge wings, curling off of the demon's back, pulsing with dark veins in front of the fiery sun. Her eyes flared brighter, and a wordless guttural hiss surrounded them. The glass appeared to stumble to a stop, and then explode outwards, flying up into the sky like a shattered window. The pieces slowed their spinning and held in space, in a glittering web across the gradient sky, and the pure-note scraping sound of the Glassmaker started up once again as the glass began to multiply and spread, forming its own dome around the confrontation.
On the plains, a tall but reduced-in-size form of the newborn demon formed, six arms melting back into place, hot glass eyes fixing on Juro straight through her own abdomen.
WANT! Every demon engaged with the Warden heard the piercing, almost childish scream.
The Changeling: The changeling would begin to send duplicates down the various corridors to explore and find where the true center of this maze was to get at the Glassmaker's consciousness. Illusions and shifting mental spaces was her forte, often using them to cause chaos in the minds of mortals.
The Warden: It didn't take long for one of the Changeling's forms to come across a figure that wasn't one of their multiple reflections--it was a form shorter than them sitting on the cold glass floor of a small room, with two bushy tails and unkempt hair that hung in shaggy waves around her long furry ears and in front of her eyes. She had two tiny nubs of horn growing out of her jaw, and the Changeling saw glints of pure black eyes as the child turned in fright to face them. Upon recognizing them, she ran forward and hugged the Changeling around the waist. Despite the Warden's young appearance, she had many mottled scars across her face and clawed hands and around her throat, and her wrists had heavy iron manacles on them.
The Bookkeeper! she wailed up at her cousin. Is the Bookkeeper okay? She's trying to take control of him...of me. She destroyed part of me...I had to hide inside her...is the Rebellion hurt!?
The Changeling: She bends down to get on her level and hugs her. "So far so good. Right now the Construct is just kinda shuffling around, but I don't know how long that's gonna last. Lets get you reunited with the rest of you." She stands and offers her a hand.
The ARbiter: The arbiter clambered to the constructs back, finding a decent foothold to stay attached. He started again searching, anything, anyone, he could find. Frustrated, he started pushing more, harder.
He kept pressing down as his monstrous form shifted, dust moving and writhing, as his human body was revealed. Yet, it was different, a glowing black claw instead of his old hook. His irisis shone purple in a sea of blackness, and two large, curved horns extended from above his eyes to the crown of his head, purple energy seemed to flow to the glowing tips. Faint pulses of that same energy seeped from lines across his body. His legs were looked thicker, knees at the opposite angle, he was covered from the waist down in darkness, matching his claw and horns.
He stared down at the concentration of energy in the centre of the construct. He knew they were in there. Why weren't they responding?
His mental energy explored for anything one last time, before sending a message to the construct, and anyone who can hear.
If I do not get a response soon. I will not hesitate a second time to enter this construct, even if that means tearing my way in
The Warden: The mechanical being whipped its head around completely as an owl does, flickering eyes locking onto the demonic form on its back. It stood high on two legs, and its jaws flowered open and vibrated in a draconic screech, right before they attempted to close down on the Arbiter and crush his body.
The young Warden grabbed the Changeling's hand, but instead of merely walking alongside her, she tugged hard and used the leverage to leap up and hug the Changeling around the neck, holding on like a child, chains jingling from her wrists. We are fighting at the center, she said shakily. I must expel her, I need to take control and return to the Rebellion...
In contrast with her soft words, both the Changeling and the Arbiter heard a roar of fire and a bellowing scream from the very heart of the Construct, far within the maze of glass and steel and ivory. The crystalline shards had given up on chasing the nebulous forms on the Construct and began slithering down towards the pilot's seat in the chest of the beast, trying to worm their way to the source of the amplification they sensed.
The Changeling: "Then we best get moving." She said as she holds her up to support her and starts rushing quickly through the maze.
The Arbiter: Dust exploded from the constructs bite zone. Anyone who saw the construct chomp down a human most likely would have panicked. Hel, even the arbiter did a little bit when he saw the gargantuan maw rush him. His dust quickly set to make his clawed wings appear from his back. In an instant, he held the constructs mouth, his wings pushing the upper jaw and his arms holding the lower. He held it open just enough to not be eaten, struggling with all his might. He used the last of that strength to push the mouth away. He stood tall, huffing and staring at the face of the construct.
So you're your own mind, I see, but you're not complex. Then I won't waste more of our time.
Saying that, he slowly lifted a hand up, staring into the constructs' eyes, watching it.
He sends all his energy into striking downward, mentally and physically. Although the mental strike drives in notes of panic, fear, and anger, sending out growing sentences as each attack was sent.
Answer me!
ANSWER ME DAMN YOU!
I WILL TEAR THIS THING TO PIECES IF I HAVE TO
He wished in that moment that anyone else could help him. But this felt like his fight.
And his alone.
The Warden/The Glassmaker: With each strike, fragments of glass exploded outwards, shredding at the Aribter's mind, but he held strong, pressing forward until he felt a break in the shining wall, like a growing spiderweb. He heard a faint scream of displeasure from the Glassmaker, intertwined with Nala's feral roars. The air around the Construct began to rise with heat again, the nearest flammable items beginning to smolder and smoke. The Guardian was trying to keep pace with the enormous mech with his own, making loping strides down the street, feet throwing sparks against stone.
The beginnings of the same crack appeared in the false sky above Juro, Nala and the Glassmaker, and the startling sound broke the tense standoff with a shower of glass. The newborn demon committed, spurred into action, sprinting forward into the fire, and the heat began to cause her limbs to smolder and warp again. The Warden shrieked in final warning, and her wings caused a whirlwind of sparks, grass and smoke, throwing her forward into the other demon and ploughing her into the ground for several meters, away from the Bookkeeper. Puddles of hot glass were left in their wake, and as the Warden pushed herself upright, wings steadying herself, she saw the Glassmaker had been completely smeared across the dirt and grass in a wide line behind her. The glass rose up out of the foliage into the air, shattered triangles and polygons spinning and vibrating in a loose tunnel, and they all rushed forward in a dangerous current. Juro felt a huge wave of energy sucked out of his core as Nalaagura threw her arms wide, wings flaring, and a ghost of the ethereal, fiery dragon from their first time amplifying appeared, body writhing and tail thrashing, and the projection of energy surrounded her in blistering hot air, dissolving the attack of shards into glittering sand.
The small Warden in the Changeling's arms covered her ears at the sound of demon violence echoing around them. I do not know what is wrong with me. I seem to care too much and too little at the same time...like I am unbalanced. I am not in my right mind.
The Changeling: "Perhaps things will become clear when we find the center." She replies and continues, constantly checking with her duplicates to help her find what she's looking for.
The Arbiter: The arbiter took a moment to readjust and refocus. He continued his strikes on the crack, striking it with every ounce of power he could muster.
The Warden/The Glassmaker: The Changeling sensed heat and began to close in on the center of the labyrinth, almost immediately running up on the thick, glass wall of a massive orb, everything humming and releasing warmth like a running factory. There, they pressed their faces up against the surface and could make out two nebulous forms, one scarlet, one platinum, locked in a struggle so desperate and vicious that they seemed to be hopelessly entangled in one another, a gaudy show that threw rippling beams of light out in arcs and waves. Far opposite them, barely visible through the glass and the demons struggling inside, they saw a billowing miasma of deep violets and blacks, pounding on the orb's glass casing with all its might, and the starburst crack was growing larger and larger. The young Nala looked on in worry, black eyes huge and round.
The Changeling: "We need to get in there." She says as she presses herself against the barrier, stretching out as she pressed in, looking for any sort of opening or crack she can take advantage of.
The Arbiter: Every time the arbiters hand brought down another crack on the prismatic orb, the glassmaker struck back. It was getting ever more difficult to break his way in, but this was his best option.
He was either feeling his strength growing or the barrier weakening, every hit seemed to make deeper contact until he could feel the crack widen. Not much was making it in, but a small amount could be seen streaming, gently falling and crashing on the ground, looking like a localized avalanche.
This was his chance. He reached out again.
You had your warnings! You had your chances! Now, I'm upset, and someone's going to pay.
The Warden/The Glassmaker: Even with clusters of sharp needles threaded through his essence, the Arbiter felt an even larger part of the thick barrier fracture. The dark, sandy substance began trickling across the field like dark snow, and the Warden and the Glassmaker, wrestling with each other in cascades of flame and spark, both noticed this. The Glassmaker's body was sagging and misshapen, and in turn, the Warden was caked with sheets of glass. Nala used the distraction to whip around and sprint back towards Juro, leaving trails of fire across the ground in her wake. She crashed into the Bookkeeper with the force of a diving dragon, and her essence splashed into glittering sheets of scarlet, surrounding both of them in another protective shield. She was frothing rage at the same time she was raw heartbreak and blinding terror, sinking her hooks deep into him. Juro's mind was saturated with red, as though sheets of blood were rushing into his eyes, as the demon cinched tightly around him, buried halfway into his sternum, waves of energy struggling to find release outside of the final encasing. Nala, as a demon, was not built for defense of this magnitude--she was used to burning, scorching, attacking, killing, and the barrier was obviously volatile in nature. The pressure started to rise. The grass surrounding the pair began to crystallize, brilliant coatings creeping outward like a frost. The Glassmaker looked skyward at the new intrusion and gave it an otherworldly scream.
The Construct's eyes flickered and went dark, and the head dropped forward to the illuminated chest with a deafening bang. It stopped its wandering and stood in place, standing on two hind legs, forelegs drooped down below its belly. All of its light and energy was being pulled around the pod of the chest, and it was growing brighter, with translucent crystals growing across its body in an outward fashion.
The young Nala squirmed out of the Changeling's shifting arms, then suddenly bent over, putting a hand to her throat and making a strained noise of pain. Glass began to form on the tips of her tusks and on her claws, like morning dew collecting on leaves. Something's happening--we're fusing... She put both of her palms up against the orb, feeling it out. But what that means is that I think I can open this for you. If I do, can you make it inside to stop us, and kill that thing?
The Changeling: The Changeling watched as she desperately tried to find a crack in the barrier, with no avail. She could only watch helplessly as Nala fought to protect the Book Keeper. She turned to the young Nala confused by her words but nodded.
"I swear on... On my life that I will destroy it. Whatever it takes." She spoke with earnest desperation. She was ready to do whatever it took to be rid of this thing.
The Warden: She nodded, and then gripped her shining claws into the orb, and a huge crack split vertically upwards from her grip. The Warden pulled, strength mighty for such a small being, and with several piercing squeals and scrapes, the orb slowly broke open, wide enough for the Changeling to form whatever shape needed to squeeze through. At the same time, the Arbiter's side cracked open to the same width.
I trust you. Both of you. I just may not realize that when you approach me.
The Changeling: She nods and pats her on the head before shifting her form as flat as she can to worm through the crack quickly, reforming on the other side and rushing the glass maker.
The Arbiter: The arbiter noticed the crack grow and pulled himself through, landing neatly inside the orb and raising to his full height. He observed the battlefield, seeing the glassmaker and warden staring at eachother, the warden behind a shield with... someone. But he recognised the sharp power and mind of the glassmaker easily, after all, she had been assaulting him just seconds earlier.
He didn't think he could reach the warden behind the shield. So he spoke to the glassmaker.
You're a bold one, young, yet you've pushed my nibling into a corner. You must be strong, or at least, feel strong. And made of glass?
He readied himself to face the glassmaker, crouching slightly and holding his claws ready.
For all that strength you must be feeling, you will be nothing more than a decoration when we're finished.
The Warden/The Glassmaker: The three demons faced off with one another, the bubble containing Nala and Juro at the center. Under their feet, grass crackled and tinkled like slender icicles. The hills in the distance shone with fractal rainbows as they, too, were encased, and the sky itself seemed to be textured with crystal facets. The serene-faced Glassmaker was radiating waves of primal, untethered emotion--simple but powerful feelings. Rage, confusion, fear, and most noticeably, a raw hunger that bordered on starvation.
N-EED TO--EAT, she wailed. NEE-D TO--LIVE...NE-ED T-O K-ILL...NALAAGURA...!!
With that, the young demon shattered herself into six disembodied arms, palms faced outwards with clawed fingers, and began to viciously attack the Arbiter and the Changeling in bursts and clouds of glassy shards the size of daggers. The young Warden, unable to hold the glass open and also follow her relatives inside, let the barrier re-form, and then, with a determined look under her grungy bangs, turned on her heel, two tails fanning out behind her, and began sprinting back out of the maze of mirrors. A formless streak of starry indigos and violets poured out of the Construct's throat and hit the ground, snaking its way out of the battlefield towards the first gate the Rebellion had breached.
Within her whirling shield, Nala cradled the upper half of Juro's semiconscious body, his legs tangled with her long tail, wings encircling both of them. The Warden had her forehead pressed heavily to his, and through half-open eyes, magic spilled in cascades from his blue iris, and the energy was bending under a strong gravity and pulled into the cracks of the Warden's mask. With the interior of the mental barrier mimicking the shape and darkness of the pilot's pod, it was difficult for the Bookkeeper to discern reality and illusion any longer. Demonic energy continued pouring in uncontrollable pulses from just under his ribcage, a torrent that would never cease unless it was drained absolutely. Nala herself was riddled with turbulent sorrow, terror, guilt, and hopelessness, ramped to frenzied heights with the amplification powering her. Pressure continued to build to ear-ringing heights, keening for escape.
I could just let this end, she spoke to Juro's unresponsive form, caressing the side of his face. Her voice echoed through her entire mindscape, ringing like the speech of a senator across fields glazed with glass. I am not strong enough to take on even one demon, when it matters most...I could backfire what she is doing to me, refuse to let her take you...stop the world in its tracks. Force them to grieve me. Her voice grew even more manic. Here, in the belly of the beast, is it not the opportune time to unleash the most devastating blow...?
The Changeling: Changeling quickly responded by creating double the amount of razor sharp limbs. "So what? You're just gonna give up?" She called out as she fended off the Glassmaker. "We're right at the finish line and you're gonna trip. What would the twins think? What would Lila think?... What would Greg think?" The Changeling of course knew the story. She had quietly stolen the images from the minds of those who were there that day, after Jari had told her about her father's demise.
Of course it wasn't enough to just make the warden sad and inspire her to action. She needed to piss her off. "I know he died because you weren't there. How many of us will die if you decide to just shut down? Are you gonna fail us like you failed him?"
The Arbiter: Exactly, if anyone cannot be lost, it is you, warden. He said, nimbly dodging and striking back at the arms
I've seen how you act, how you care. I've been told stories. How you were these people jailer and became their saviour. He struck out and threw one of the arms away from himself
You trained me, made me better after I became stuck as. This. I've felt your power, how strong you are. So what's making you say this? Whats making you give up? Now?
He threw the arms far enough to give himself time to look at the warden, or the shield holding her. A mix of anger, confusion, and pain was already across his face.
Are you giving up on us? On me? On the changeling? A small stream of black started falling down his cheeks. ARE YOU GIVING UP ON EVERYONE DOWN THERE, WHEN THEY NEVER GAVE UP ON YOU?
The Warden jerked her head up at the sound of the voices with her, inside her own mind, chest heaving as streaks continued to leak down from her fractured mask. As the landscape was overtaken with glass, so too was her barrier, which slowly grew more transparent with each passing second. In slow motion, she could see the Arbiter and the Changeling, trading blows with the Glassmaker’s last, desperate attempts to drive them out, and from behind the Glassmaker, a huge, masculine humanoid figure leaped into the air, baring two huge, golden blades attached to the armor on his muscular forearms, and sank them into one of the elbows of the glittering arms, shattering the joint to tiny fragments. Around him, a swimming aura of gold and bronze flashed, radiant as the sun itself, and his eyes flickered with bright flames underneath an elaborate helmet.
Don’t you dare give up, klf'rn gh'lk! Zsil bellowed, stamping his feet to smash the hardened glass beneath his boots. Not only do we have to show Central who’s boss, we have to come out the other side kicking and screaming! We don’t get to lie down and die! Not now!
The light around them shifted from angry scarlet to soft sea-green and blue, as a fourth presence seemed to hug the protective bubble, permeating it with serenity, tempering Nala’s wild urge to self-destruct. So few of us left, Sol murmured, that can do what we can do, sister. Few of us that can stand up to those who would see this world in ruin. If you stand with us, we will not let you fall.
Nala looked down at Juro, who weakly reached up to hold the wrist of the hand that held his face, not entirely clear on what was happening, but still feeling her wretchedness and trying to offer some form of comfort. “Stay with me,” she heard, the trace of a whisper echoing from his subconscious.
I’m scared, she cried, consciousness and emotions still battered to and fro with the loss of her restraint. I am afraid to fail…I cannot watch as I lose everyone around me…
This is not the end. This is only the beginning.
Get up! No more self pity! We destroy this monster today! 
The Changeling: “The only way you lose is if you do not fight! So get up and fight!” The Changeling called as she continued to fight off the Glassmaker.
The Arbiter: he arbiter caught an arm and locked his hand with it. It dug its own claws into his. He threw it away, creating space. 
You’re not here alone. We’ll all fight with you. We just need you to fight too. So don’t give up. Not now. 
Just remember. Distract her, show her your strength. Hit her with everything you’ve got. Don’t fear what you can do.
He smiled warmly, tears still streaming down his face. Hoping, paying, she would get his message.
The Warden/The Glassmaker: The glass bubble in the midst of the fight seemed to dim for a moment, and the crystalline sounds around everyone paused, giving a strange ambience to the moment.
Then the front of it shattered outwards like a bull straight into a wall, rainbow fragments gleaming through the air, and Nala, both birdlike and draconic, exploded out into the plains, radiating heat strong enough to begin melting their surroundings once more. Behind her, the Matriarch radiated protection around the Bookkeeper, who was still not conscious enough to keep himself upright.
The Construct lurched, nearly shaking off the tall body climbing it, cradling a goat half-breed in one arm, and he felt her alarm at the movement as her entire hand clutched his abdomen. Milae locked his hooves against her hip and fixed his gaze upwards, to the pulsing pilot’s capsule above them.
The clouds above the demons were no longer refracted in glass. They all now stood beneath an astral sky, brilliant with all the colors of every demon’s essence, drowning out the paleness of the Glassmaker with saturated emotion and ferocity. The Warden stood to her full height, wings aflame, and she bared her smoking claws on either hand. To each demon, she crashed into with a tidal wave of love, desperation, and grim finality and commitment. Tears still poured down her mask, but she acted despite them.
You’re right. I need help…from all of you. One more time.
And she charged forwards, as the Glassmaker formed six hovering eyes in a vertical line between her wavering arms, fixed on the demon before her, determined to kill. The hands threw fists at the ground in sprays of more molten glass and earth, at each demon in turn, being blocked by strikes of their own, waves of force, trying to grab them up and tear them apart, each eye glowing with every pulse of magic she tried to summon to defeat them.
The Changeling: “Hel yeah!” The Changeling called. As the blades she created clashed with those of the Glassmaker she morphed her tendrils to wrap around them tightly, securing her. She grew larger and hefted the demon off the ground began to spin, banging her against the floor before tossing her towards the Arbiter. “Heads up!” She cried as she released her.
The Arbiter: The arbiter caught her, adjusting to her weight he threw her upwards, jumping and slamming his tail into her, slamming her into the ground. He spread his wings and swooped down, dragging her along before throwing her away with one last kick.