Seraphim Salvator

"Seraphim Salvator" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
The house next to Kendra and Dario exploded with dust and plasma, and it dribbled across the ground in steaming violet heaps as the villagers began to holler and chose to either run to the other end of the island or stand and fight. The two of them were thrown to the ground, and as the dust settled, Dario saw Kendra was completely limp and unconscious, with a gash on her forehead starting to leak blood.
Two other figures raced forward against the crowd, both carrying bows and readying to fight against the Night Furies wheeling through the air, plunging and diving and screaming against the darkening sky. Before they could, the young man spotted Kendra, and he raced forward and threw himself to his knees, partially lifting her off the ground and looking up at Dario wildly.
“What the fuck happ–never mind, are you okay? Are you hurt?”
dario-the-deer
Watching Liam and an accompanying woman approach in the seconds after having his senses overloaded seemed almost like a fever dream. With the exception of superficial wounds and aching head, Dario was lucky to be in one piece. He noticed Kendra in Liam’s arms; the gash not seeming to let up in the slightest.
“I’m- what in the absolute Hel- I’m fine. I’m fine, I’m fine.” He scrambled on his hands and feet to where the siblings were positioned, moving some stray hairs from the would on Kendra’s head. She wasn’t responsive.
“Fuck, Liam. We have to go.” He wiped her blood from his hands onto the floor beneath him. “We were just talking… just talking, seconds ago.”
aroleplayingcephalopod
Verdandi kneels next to Liam and focuses her attention on Kendra, still limp in his arms. Reaching for her power comes as easily as breathing, and as she passes her hand over Kendra’s forehead, a golden glow trails from her fingers. When she lowers her hand again, the wound is gone, with only a faint scar to suggest that it was ever there. Almost as an afterthought, she makes an effort to wipe the blood away with the edge of her sleeve.
tree-the-cat
“Thank you,” Liam said breathlessly, giving her a brief kiss before hoisting his sister into his arms. “Dario, please take her, we have to help Grey and Lila.” His eyes were wet, but other than that, he was hard and focused. “I’m trusting you.”
dario-the-deer
So many things were happening in such a short span of time; this woman could do what he could do. Who was she?…
“Okay, of course. Please Liam, be safe.” He’d never seen the boy in rarer form. There was an aura of maturity he hadn’t noticed in his eyes before. Turning to the woman, he offered a thankful grin. “My name is Dario. I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but thank you for helping Kendra. You two watch each others backs – I promise to keep Kendra guarded.”
tree-the-cat
Liam carefully arranged Kendra in Dario’s arms before grabbing Verdandi’s hand. “C’mon, let’s go, Vee.”
Before they could move, a short, hooded figure suddenly exploded out of the escaping crowd and almost ran directly into Dario, and with a breathy gasp of relief, he grabbed Dario’s elbows in a vicelike grip.
“Dario, we have to go.” Milae’s voice, as intense it had ever been, almost didn’t rise above the chaos around them. But he looked up at the deer balefully; if he could have been pale, he would have looked like a ghost. “We have to go now.” Liam gestured at the goat in shocked annoyance behind his back.
“Let him take care of my goddamn sister first.” He took a menacing step towards Milae.
dario-the-deer
Way too much happening here.
As relieved as he was to see Milae, he knew Liam was right. Kendra was his priority at this point.
“Milae, hey.” He readjusted his arms to hold Kendra with slightly more comfort. “If we’re leaving, Kendra has to go with us. I can’t just leave her here.”
tree-the-cat
“You won’t,” Liam spat harshly. Milae withdrew his bladed weapon and stretched it in front of Liam, almost whacking him in the middle with its speed and strength.
“We take Kendra to the others, and then we leave.”
“What’s the big rush, anyway?” Liam demanded, shoving Milae’s weapon away. The shorter half-breed looked at him over his shoulder.
“The Warden has fallen. Rhenco has dominated her will. She will be here within minutes to destroy us.”
“Wh…no…”
All of the air left Liam’s lungs, and he automatically reached out for Nala to prove Milae wrong and rub it in his stupid snout.
Nothing. 
This isn’t happening…
The bristling half-cat, that had been full of vigor and determination moments before, seemed to have his courage wicked from him in an instant, like a drop of water in the blazing summer sun. His shoulders started trembling. His face felt numb and cold. He looked first at Milae, then at Dario, then at Verdandi, and then he let go of his girlfriend’s hand and began sprinting back into the village, his paws painfully pounding the stone beneath him.
Chest heaving, Milae looked back at Dario. His eyes were shining with a rarely-seen fear. “We leave Kendra with the other rebels under cover. Then we go.”
aroleplayingcephalopod
“Liam, wait!” Verdandi calls. She looks between Milae and Dario for a moment. “Take care of her,” she says, gesturing to Kendra. Then she’s on her feet, racing after Liam as fast as her legs can carry her.
You are not allowed to get yourself killed, Liam! she thinks.
dario-the-deer
He barely understood half the words that fell from Milae’s lips, but he felt the severity of the situation. Things were bad.
“Okay, you tell me what to do here.” His breathing was faster. The adrenaline, while still somewhat present, was lessening. He couldn’t keep his legs from shaking. “Where do we take Kendra?”
foresight-botgd
He mutely tugged Dario’s sleeve, and they began to run through the village again, which was beginning to build dangerously high with white and gold and blue flames, billowing clouds of white and black smoke in tall columns up into the sky. The firelight reflected off the bellies of several clouds that had began to crawl in from the west, over the ocean, and the muted orange tones painted in the sky were occasionally broken with several cuts of silvery lightning, and a grumble of thunder that drowned out the draconic screams above.
When they found a shelf of stone outside the village proper where several rebels were taking shelter, Milae stopped, lowering his hood and twisting it so that it covered his mouth and nose. The thick smoke was causing his throat and lungs to constrict, and he needed a moment. 
“Dario,” he said, when he finally caught his breath. “Do you trust me?”
He could feel Kendra’s shallow breathing as he placed her with two rebels; they quickly tended to her, much to Dario’s relief. He took a moment to close his eyes and mentally catch up.
…do you trust me?…
He glanced over to Milae with an exhausted grin. At this point, things couldn’t get much worse.
“With my entire heart.”
foresight-botgd
His hooves trembled, and he clutched his naginata tighter.
“Then please…please turn around, don’t look, and try not to listen.”
dario-the-deer
His smile faded as quickly as it adorned his face. The graveness of the goat’s tone shook Dario’s core, but he had no choice but to listen. He took a deep breath, and spoke through a shaky voice.
“Okay. I trust you, Milae.”
He turned to face the opposing direction, tears welling in his eyes. It was becoming overwhelming, but he couldn’t be weak. Not again.
foresight-botgd
Milae turned, and he faced the rebels under the rock. They looked up at him with glassy eyes reflecting the fire of their home. With one hand, he lifted the naginata higher, and light flashed off of the blade.
One of the men slowly rose to his feet. “What do you think you’re…what’s going on?”
Milae tilted his head lower to hide his face under his hood. His teeth clenched. And even with Dario at a distance, he could still hear a panicked shout cut short.
There was quiet for a second, and then Dario felt one of Milae’s fingers press on the back of his neck, but it was coated in something hot, with a coppery smell. When the goat spoke, it was with a heavy voice, in ancient, powerful words.
“Ég gef upp þessa sál, Nornir, til að fara í næsta þráð.”
The world tilted as though the two of them were falling face-first from a great height, and then it abruptly ended, and they were blinking in a wreath of bright sunshine, standing in the center of Haligan Island. There was no smoke, no fire, no danger. It was as peaceful as ever.
The crowd around them paused, absolutely shocked, and then a tiny, bat-eared fox half-breed leaped forward and hovered in front of them in concern, as a few others pressed around. “O-o-oh, I d-didn’t know that you meant…very drastic measures, when you s-s-said drastic measures,” she said nervously, looking Dario up and down. He could see several other familiar faces of the Rebellion, including a man with graying blond hair from across the plaza that slowly brought a hand to his forehead in utter distress upon seeing Dario. “Are you t-t-two okay? Did Rhenco find you?” A new tension rolled across the Rebellion as she spoke.
Milae very slowly lowered his hand from behind Dario, staying quiet for the moment.
dario-the-deer
Despite a complete shift in atmosphere from war-torn island to… lesser so, Dario couldn’t move. Nothing in the last few moments would register in his mind; he’d shut down for self-preservation. The scream echoed in his head like a nightmare he couldn’t shake.
He glanced around, seeing the eyes of many peering directly to him and Milae. It wasn’t absolutely not where he was just seconds ago. He turned to the goat, desperate for answers.
“…how? Wher- what happened? What did you do, Milae?”
foresight-botgd
Milae grabbed Dario’s hand and pulled him forward, ignoring the crowd. They heard Tulli instruct someone to bring a healer in a few minutes to check on them. 
“How are you feeling?” Milae said in a low, hoarse voice as they put some distance between themselves and the other rebels. He was wiping his other hand on his navy robe, leaving dark stains.
dario-the-deer
The deer’s eyes followed Milae’s hand. He wanted so desperately to be wrong about his initial assumption about the streaks lingering on the robe. Shifting to meet his eyes, Dario persisted in his questioning. He couldn’t understand what had just happened; there were too many things left unanswered. He felt a growing panic linger in his chest.
“What did you do? Where is Kendra? Where are we? What-”
He stopped, grabbing Milae’s shoulders and forcing eye contact. He almost forgot how small the goat was as he looked down to him.
“What did you do?”
foresight-botgd
Milae threw down his stained naginata and it hit the ground, rattling away as he grabbed Dario’s wrists in turn, pulling his hands off his shoulders. His eyes were wild and wet, and his nose was quivering.
“I saved your life,” he said, his voice still eerily steady. “Or I saved what little would have been left of your life if Rhenco had gotten a hold of you.”
dario-the-deer
The sudden maneuver by Milae to release Dario’s grip caught him off guard. He stepped back a short distance, unable to believe he felt any sort of fear at all towards the goat, but this was a resolve that was new to their relationship.
“I don’t understand. Who is Rhenco? I get that things were bad… but we left Kendra behind. I made a promise, Milae.” He placed his hands on his legs and worked to catch his breath. He felt weak. “Just… explain this all to me.”
foresight-botgd
“Rhenco,” he finally managed to say, “is a godless, filthy being that thrives on helplessness and raunch torture. He cannot be permanently killed. I have been wrestling with him for almost a century of my own time, and I cannot get defeat him. In doing so, he is fascinated with me.” His voice choked and retched slightly. “And now that he has garnered the power of the Warden, through some magic of his own, he could inflict any sick punishment on anyone he can get his disgusting hands on.” Milae’s voice was wobbling out of control now. “And so, because of me, he wants you. And I…cannot let that happen, it would…it would destroy me.”
He picked up his weapon and slowly unscrewed the blade, which was also stained. “I took you to a safe timeline until this mess is sorted out,” he said quietly, still refusing to meet Dario’s eyes. “He cannot reach you here.”
dario-the-deer
It was clicking, albeit slowly. It would be a while before he could understand the full gravity of their situation, but the delivery of this ominous news spoke as loud as the words themselves. Dario could feel the frustration he harbored before releasing, and he was thankful for it.
“…okay.” The deer sat on the ground, his legs too weak now to support him any longer. He let his face fall into his hands and sighed. “I don’t know what we do from here, Milae. I assume you’ve got some sort of plan figured out?”
foresight-botgd
“It will only feel like a minute for you, I imagine.” He wiped his blade off on his cloak in rhythmic, detached motions, as though he couldn’t be bothered to consider what it truly was that he was cleaning. “I will go back, secure Kendra, and try to find a way to defeat Rhenco.” He took a deep sigh and closed his eyes. “If I fail…that timeline will be ravaged, and completely lost to us. But if that becomes so, we can live here, and start over. Everything is more or less the same, in the ways that matter.”
dario-the-deer
Dario slowly lifted his head to glare at Milae. The insinuation wasn’t helping matters.
“As if I’ll let you go without me. Not a chance in Hel.” He slowly pushed himself back to his feet. “I’m not going to be sidelined here. I know I can’t do what you can, and maybe everyone else has the experience to handle these things, but I won’t be useless. I refuse.”
He stood staring at the goat, watching the seemingly autonomous movements Milae made. “Please look at me.”
foresight-botgd
Milae did not. “You are staying here, and that’s final.” He turned away.
Dario’s worry and frustration shifted immediately to anger. He felt his knuckles tighten with his grip, utilizing every last ounce of energy he could muster to not lose it in this moment.
“You don’t get to just… do that.” He stepped forward, his voice audibly shaken and tears manifesting without his knowledge. “You don’t get to choose this for me and then leave. That’s been my entire life, Milae. I would have thought you’d know that by now, seeing as you’ve apparently been around for most of it.”
He had to stop; the lump in his throat was impeding his ability to clearly express his emotions. He stifled the urge to cry as best he could.
“I don’t know if you’re doing this to protect me, or to fulfill some sort of god complex, but I’m not just your trophy to do with as you please. You don’t get to play hero and leave me here to possibly allow my friends to die.”
The goat straightened and then stiffly whipped his neck around to finally look at Dario. His ears were pinned back and his eyes were wide.
“Then what must I do, Dario!?” He was bellowing as much as his small frame would let him. “Shall I leave you to a demon-powered unkillable rapist, so you can feel as though you’re helping? Is that it? What choice is that for you? What choice is that for me?”
Dario’s tears cut Milae like several thousand shards of glass. Like a polished knife. Why didn’t he understand?
“I did not get this kind of choice in saving Duri,” he choked. “She made her own choice. She walked out into High Central’s towers to kill the Iluminar in thousands of timelines, not knowing she had no other fate. She never came out again. Don’t make me live that again. Don’t make me live trying to save you from yourself for another hundred years. Let me save you now.”
He couldn’t speak. Not a sound would make it’s way out; Dario would have rather died back at Haligan. There weren’t any words sufficient enough to describe the pain that the deer felt in his heart, with Milae’s words resounding in his mind.
…so you can feel like you’re helping?…
…don’t make me live trying to save you from yourself…
He felt his lip quiver and his entire body rattle; Dario struggled to find the words to adequately tell Milae how wrong he was. How inconsiderate his decisions were. How betrayed he felt. There were millions of things Dario wanted to say in the moment to just… hurt him.
“Fine. You win. Good luck.”
Dario turned with great haste, and walked away as quickly as his legs would allow. He wanted to make sure he was far enough away to stop Milae from hearing his cries.
Maybe he’s right.
I’m not helping anybody.
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Events
Category:Act I
Category:Yun Milae
Category:Dario Hjort
Category:Liam Arnason
Category:Kendra Arnason
Category:Verdandi Østergård
Category:Tulli (Right)
Category:Darien Whiteland (Right)