Memento Mori

Brandon searched his twins expression, and it took a moment before he noticed….turmoil. Something was bothering his brother, and without that telepathic touch, something told him that it was something dangerous, which only caused his heart to sink into his stomach. As strained as it was, Brandon liked to think that they had some kind of twin bond, and that it was trying to tell his dense brain something. He barely paid Ailill, who was perhaps messing with Niall more than he realized, or perhaps he was doing all of it on purpose. It was perhaps this mixture of trouble that caused his heart to beat slightly faster, and perception of the world as a whole to slow down to a near crawl. The elf girl spilled her drink, that chai something or other, Niall offering her his own before standing up and making his way to wherever, the bathroom perhaps.

With that seemingly out of the way, all eyes were upon Aaron, who was simply looking down at the ground and trying to say something….was he? He would open his lips, quivering for a second before closing tight as a vice once again. Something was breaking him, something was eating away at his mind painfully, and that was not good; his brother may have been tougher than most mentally, but he was still human. If only he knew, knew of the mocking voice that rolled about his head, and continually mocked him, laughing while it did so. He knew that soon enough even his disciplined mind would be unable to withstand it, but he had to try, if only to bide time, thought for what exactly. Something touched his shoulder, a light, and perhaps reassuring hand that for a second caught him off guard, and with that mental barrier revealing a tiny crack, hell would break loose.

His own magical energy grew chaotic, and when he turned to see who had touched him, it was….Niall. The blonde would find himself pushed through the air by a powerful force against his chest, flying fast as glass shattered and Niall was propelled through the nearest window. People turned towards the source of the sound, and in an instant everything grew even more chaotic, chairs beginning to twist, contorting as they were pulled into the telekinetic force of his spell, things flying about through the air as he tried once again to take control over his own body, and was failing miserably. All he could hear was that damn laughing, as his brother looked on in shock as he saw something that he could not believe.

Brandon found himself dumb struck as the table that they were sitting at began to wobble, now under the control of his brothers powerful psychic command, and he knew that soon enough everything would be a weapon that could potentially kill the other, Hale not so worried about himself. Shards of a broken ceramic mug flying within the maelstrom were close to puncturing the elven females skull, and Brandon managed to reach out and grab them before they proved dangerous, crushing them to a fine powder. Everything was going downhill from there.

Ailill Hale had been sitting in that diner with his cousin Brandon, the elf princess Mirshann, and the new fellow Niall, when his cousin Aaron walked in. Scratch that, staggered in. It took only one glance at him to notice that he was hurt. What could have happened to him? Ailill got up to check on him. As he drew close, he started to feel it. Oh no. It couldn't be, could it? It sure felt like it was. He could feel traces of that energy on him. Had it attacked him? Was there some being out there with this power that had done this to Aaron? In an attempt to get rid of him? "Aaron. Aaron what happened to you? What's going on?" he asked. His voice rose out of concern. He was practically shouting by this point. Yet he wouldn't answer. Aaron just stood there quietly in a state of shock and pain. Even as he tried to speak, nothing came out. It was like he was afraid. Afraid of what exactly? He needed to know. This information was crucial.

Aaron still said nothing even as Brandon attempted to communicate with him telepathically. He was completely speechless out of fear. Fear of whatever had attacked him. The attempts at telepathic communication between twin brothers was leading to nothing. Nothing until Niall came back and placed his hand on Aaron's shoulder and something crazy happened. A sudden surge of energy was unleashed. Some strange energy suddenly enveloped the cafe. What was this? Both Brandon and Niall were sent flying away from Aaron by some strange force. Right afterwards things went into a state of chaos. The whole place was being ravaged by something. Ailill cast his barrier spell and placed it around Aaron to stop the whatever it was that was causing all of this. Things quickly settled down again, but it was still a terrible situation.

Ailill turned to see where the others all were after that. Brandon was getting back up, Ryzo had jumped in through the window that Niall had been sent flying out of and Miri was outside as well. Ailill then turned back to Aaron in hopes of getting him to his senses. "Aaron. Can you hear me?" he asked hoping for a response. He turned to the others for assistance "Any idea on what's going on?"

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It had come to pass. Sarah had found not the source of all the energy floating about, but somebody who was spreading it farther and farther still. Things here were not going to be resolved peacefully. Whatever they were up to with this strange energy needed to be stopped before it got out of hand. This one guy had done something involving the people in the bank they were outside of. Whatever it was, whatever they were going to do, it was going to fail. The end of this all was here and now. Sarah unleashed an attack of her own energy upon him. Her target was expecting it and defended himself with some strange energy blast. It managed to overpower hers just barely and the remaining wisps of energy came towards her. Sarah enveloped energy in her hand and whisked it away. She saw the strange one charging at her with his staff. Sarah sidestepped out of the way and reached to grab his staff and simultaneously struck at him with both her left foot to the back of his head and another energy blast to his lower back.

"Nice *cough* to see you too." Niall said with a groan, laying there trying to process what just happened. He knew Aaron didn't like him much, but that was rather extreme. Actually, that was something he was expecting his cousin Ali-baba or whatever to do if things had gone on much more. Niall found himself starting to sit up, before Miri started at him about taking off the gauntlet on her hand. Niall wasn't very sure at the moment. He was NEVER one to hold anything against anyone in the long term, but he wasn't sure if he could trust her because of everything. That guy seemed to be...suspicious of him. Niall tried to see things form his point of view a little...and he could see why. Not to say that helped Niall any, just because people have a valid reason to dislike and distrust him doesn't exactly take away the feeling of isolation.

   "M-Miri hold on. The gauntlet, is there any reason why I shouldn't take it off? What does it do, is there gonna be a surge of energy, is everyone else safe?" He asked. He struggled to sit up, his cheek was cut, but there was no blood oozing, only Ethereal energy in it's stead. He noticed a very large portion missing of his left shoulder as well. He touched the cut before sighing. There was a lot to take in for the poor dumb blonde. He intended to remove it regardless of the answer, but regardless he wanted to make sure that he was prepared for the wrath of the Hales if it came down to that. He also wanted to learn a little about this strange thing....not like he'd really be able to understand it.
   
    "O-okay hang on. Listen to me...DO NOT MOVE." Niall groanedm wincing in pain as he brought up his right arm and placed his hand on the gauntlet. The skin on his arm pealed and flaked away. The peels of flesh disappated into the air while a pale green and hevenly gold energy peeked through, as if the rays of sun through the perfect thunderstorm. Niall's eyes slowly illuminated, electrical colors coming alive as they turned the oddest shade between green and blue.  The gauntlet proved a rather unique creation, a perplexing construct (not that it meant much coming from Niall) and the Ethereal energy slowly began to feast upon the essence of the artefact. Any form of Magic was slowly sucked away.  The artefact began to glow with a strange radiant color as Niall's hand flattened. The energy form the gauntlet began to whisp into the center of the hand, as if a vacuum had been turned on. As the energy was consumed, the cuts and knicks on Niall's face sealed over, flesh returning where energy had shown.

     The gauntlet lost it's glow, the artifact seeming to whimper as it's power faded and was soaked into Niall himself. While the battle against the Gauntlet was one, he still allowed his arm to linger, perhaps to use it if she turned into a super-powered pretty bomb that blew up as a rainbow and made energy unicorns. With a quick motion, Niall grabbed the gauntlet with his normal hand, and with a swift yank, his empowered arm tore off the now-mundane gauntlet as if it were a thing veil of dust upon the beautiful elf maiden's hand. After Niall finished that little ordeal he stood up, completely restored and  he looked to Aaron, then to Brandon.

   "Brandon, can you reach his mind or is it blocked?" He asked, his voice slightly alteres, a faint chorus of angelic voices seeming to reverb his speech, an unfortunate bi-product of his particular "gift". The expression on his face made it rather clear that they were not really "connecting" at the moment and Niall clasped his head between his hands, a little freaking out. He didn't know for a fact...but he was afraid of what he thought.

Niall's Spells used:

* * * * * * * * * * * *

    The woman proved more skilled than the average maggot. The Collector took note of this as he transformed himself, encompassing himself and his staff both into a will 'o whisp. The sphere didn't even move far, perhaps just a slight step to the side, and no sooner had he become the whisp, had he returned driving the staff towards her leg. Being within this close to the collector made him rather skittish. Not to say he was uncertain of himself, however he knew that his foe had the advantage. There was no shame in admitting that his skills were inferior to her own, though within this revelation he felt the oddest desire to train himself to improve. Granted, he would need to get himself past the current engagement. All the while the sun was setting slowly but surely, the moment darkness smothered light the entire plan would come together.

    All week the Lych had been wandering amongst the poor humans who screamed for a savior, slowly but surly "enlightening" them, and tonight the enlightened would join together and claim Chicago. If they had to crush the Lych's old "friend" and the rest of her family...then so be it.

Collector's Spells used:

The blonde Hale soon found himself tossed from the place as well, skidding along the ground as concrete seemed to crack under him. It was strange, usually his brother would not go all psychic crazy in public but now here he was…..going all psychic crazy. Whipping away the small amount of dust on his shoulder, Brandon popped his neck lightly looking to the chaos that was still ensuing within the café. Aaron was unable to control his magic and that was not something that was the usual. Niall said something that caused his head to snap towards the blonde Irishman in question.

”Can I reach his mind?” So he was asking if he could reach into his twin link and see what was wrong? He considered this for a moment, and then closed his eyes tightly, feeling that for strange sensation that could only be described as something deeper, a connection that transcended It had to be there somewhere, but a darkness was blotting it out, he could not tap into that primal connection that bound them since birth. It took a few seconds but he found it, a glimmer within that darkness and then Brandon felt something strange sweep over him.

The blonde slumped for a moment, falling to his knees as something strange happened. ”What the hell?” Brandon found himself cursing, yet he wasn’t sure where he was. It was a wide open area with a liquid floor, and ahead of him stood…Aaron. ”Woah, this is waaay too much like some kind of anime.” He found himself saying as ripples played across the liquid floor beneath. Dark whispers reverberated across the place, ones that caused his heart to grow cold. ”Aaron, you there?”

”Dammit Brandon, what are you doing in here?”

’I dunno, tried to tap into that twin link bullshit and here I am.” he answered with a shrug.

”Well you have to leave, if you stay he might take control of you as well.” He said his voice sounding rather manic. Yet he could feel a certain amount of concern behind it. A shadow loomed within the distance of this world, something that held both malevolence and a certain evil intent, and it was the thing that darkened the pure water beneath them.

”I don’t know what to do Aaron, I just kinda ended up here. Was hoping for a little telepathic communication but this happened.” Brown eyes scanned the black horizon, frowning lightly.

”You idiot.” He roared, but that did not cause Brandon to flinch. ”Do you even know what you’re doing?”

”Nope.”

His hand was placed on his lower back due to some stiffness from having been blasted into the wall from that massive release of energy that started the recent chaos. Right now he was really wishing he had Brandon's crazy toughness. It would really help with avoiding such painful things. Then again, he probably wouldn't have his magic in return. Take what you can get, he supposed.

Ailill was trying to contain all the energy being released by his cousin Aaron while he was in this trance like state of mind, so that Aaron's twin, Brandon could attempt to get him out of it. He really needed to be freed from it. Ailill felt it was obvious what was causing it, and as a result knew it was bad. He held the barrier as steady as he could and waited for something to happen that would work. Eventually, it did. The chaos stopped, and seconds afterwards, Aaron finally snapped out of it. Ailill breathed a sigh of relief and let the barrier slowly dissipate.

As the twin brothers started talking, Ailill instead decided to focus on finding the source of all of these recent crazy troubles and go do something about it. He quietly walked past the two of them and out of the cafe. Walking past Niall even though he still remained suspicious of him and just completely allowed him to go talk to Aaron and Brandon. Ailill stood at the entrance to the cafe for a moment and looked out into the horizon. He searched for the source once again. This time determined to find it once and for all. It was out there. He could sense two larger sources among the various amount of smaller ones scattered about, and finally the largest pool of the energy of them all. That had to be it. Though what was the deal with the two other large sources? What could they even be? Emissaries of it perhaps? This thing seemed to be sentient. It felt that way to him. Perhaps there was good reason why it was spreading about like a plague. Based on his knowledge of things like this, destroying the source would most likely get rid of all of the energy. It certainly seemed like what they should do.

He walked over to Mirshann and Ryzo to discuss things with them. He felt perhaps she would very helpful. He did know what she was capable of after all. Despite his confidence in his own abilities, Ailill could tell that this threat was pretty significant and should not be taken too lightly. His plan involved taking the elf and her dog and letting the others undergo whatever task they feel is best. He knew they would be doing something about all of this too. Just did not know what as of yet. They would probably meet up again later. Unless they somehow wound up all going together. He would not be surprised if that were to be what happened.

"Mirshann." he addressed her. He could see that she was about to leave along with her canine companion. "You know something is going on too. Come on. Let's go do deal with all of this." he says to her as he gestures in the direction. As he started to turn away he suddenly noticed something off. Ailill stopped and looked over her for a second to try and tell what was suddenly different. He couldn't tell at first. He saw her wrist and the missing gauntlet, but this fact didn't register at first. "You ready?" he asked of her. "Wait. What happened to your gauntlet? Didn't you have it on earlier?" He couldn't even remember actually. Wasn't that thing important for some reason? Right, yeah, it was supposed to help restrain her powers because she had the tendency to be reckless with them. She really didn't know any better so the precaution was kind of necessary. Its sudden disappearance mean't she had her powers available. That would be of assistance for what they were about to do. "Come on. Let's go." he said and began walking towards where he felt the source was right after glancing back at the others for a second.

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Sarah was able to keep up her offensive assault even with the strange actions that were being taken by her enemy here. She grabbed hold of his staff with both hands and held it steady to make it useless to him in his own attack. This course of action left him defenseless as she struck at him. Well, not completely defenseless as she then found it. As both of her attacks came down they instead wound up passing right through him. "What? How did he do that?" he thought as her swinging leg nearly caused her to fall over. Sarah had to let go of the staff with her left hand and instead grasped the railing behind her in order to maintain her balance.

She could see his physical form was not quite there. He was practically transparent for a moment before things reverted back to normal. Well as normal as this thing gets. She immediately struck again thinking that he would not expect her to attack so soon after he avoided the last set. Her energy blast was met by some form of his own and the resulting collision knocked her back. As she was going over the railing she adjusted her leg to kick him right in the face. Sarah flipped over and landed on her feet. Then came another blast. This one more powerful than the previous ones aimed right at him, hopefully while he was still either staggered or just unable to properly defend himself.

The Gauntlet was off and Miri did a total one eighty. There was such a pring of life within her that it was as if her hair even illuminated and sprung about. It made Niall slightly happy to see, so maybe Niall's judgment wasn't as flawed as he had thought. He really needed to stop doubting himself. But she placed a hand on his shoulder and when she spoke... he no longer was happy he removed the thing. A very regal and almost gracious voice said "Thank you." In truth, it was her speaking that made Niall's voice scream....

     DAMNIT Now I am the dumbest blonde! He thought to himself. Of course by default he was also the dumbest person there. Even brandon had some knowledge on him. It was his fault to assume that she was unintelligent however. His assumption shamed him and he would have to own it, but for now there were much more pressing matters to deal with. He couldn't help but notice that the black-sheep of the family wasn't overly angry about it either, which made Niall slightly happy. He almost wanted to claim that he was being useful by removing it, but in the end he figured it'd just be a waste of breath. He cracked his neck as he placed a hand on Brandon's shoulder. He really was useless at this point, and honestly it was his inability to do anything about it that truly killed him inside. But after everything that happened there was only one thing that Niall could think of, Mind Control. Why else would Aaron flat out attack them like that? The first thing that Niall thought of after Mind Control however was a thought that sent a shuddder through him.
   
   "It's Lych. It's gotta be. He's the only person I've ever known who could do this kinda thing. But what his game is is beyond me. Not that that's a new concept." Niall said simply as his voice began to lose it's angelic reverb, slowly fading back tot he Irishman everyone knew and tolerated. He was eerily suspicious of Aaron though, keeping himself at a distance. Niall wasn't a "traumatized" victim who was suddenly scared of the Hale family's head... but he knew the Lych...
 
  No one ever escaped the Darkness... ever.
   

  "Does anyone know how to like... how to follow energy? I used to be able to when I was a computer but I'm all squishy and alive." Niall asked, suddenly forgetting about how odd that probably sounded, but knowing the Hales it was likely not the oddest thing they've ever heard. "I mean If we got close enough I could sense him but I'm kinda.... useless at the moment." He admitted. Sirens sounded out as police cars flew past headed down towards another street. That was rather alarming, but was it something for them to investigate? Probably not, though Niall wasn't used to this investigative work. He was just there to punch things with his glowy arm. Oh God... Brandon was contageous.

Niall's Cooldowns:

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  The woman was skilled, moreso than he. He could win this, but not without exhausting his one talents. His Master would soon need him, and at this rate he would not be of any use other than a primordial meat-shield. While he would gladly die once more ofr his master, he would be the first to confess that it was not on his "to-do" list. The woman's fot came up and smashed him in the face, staggering him back. The woman fired out with a blast, one that was more powerful than the others, and unfortunately for The Collector he had little he could do about it. But should he take the wrath of this woman, than this woman would too take his wrath. He slammed his staff on the ground as he moved his arms, trying to catch his balance. The moment his staff his the ground it unleased a radial barrage of dark magical energy, one that was pecifically designed to not only deal damage, but scramble the senses and leave one addled for moments afterwards.
 
    The Collector's spell was fired off, but he paid a price, being launched back, crashing into the ground after what was only described as "a flying-flipping freak-show". He looked like an acrobatics atritst, but instead landed on his back on the pavement. Several of the thralls all flooded from the bank, leaving only with more numbers to their masses as sirens were able to be heard. The collector simply kept the thought in the back of his mind that his objective had already been completed. Now it was a matter of buying time. Despite being considered "undead" he could certainly feel the energy the woman threw at him, he almost felt alive for a moment, but the sensation quickly faded. He stood himself up, suddenly realizing that his arm did not coem up with the rest of him like one would have expected. Instead it was hanging there limp and lamely as a long bloodied thread of sinew was streatched out like bubble gum. This woman was most annoying. He needed to deal with her.... now.

Collector's Spells/Cooldowns:

’Wonderful.” Aaron muttered running the palm of his hand down his face, sighing loudly not truly surprised by his brother doing something so impulsive, but annoyed nonetheless. Brandon cocked his head to the side, foot tapping against the translucent ground as another ripple flowed out across it and went on across the endless landscape, eventually being swallowed up by the blackness on the horizon.

”So what’s that anyway?” Brandon pondered out loud directing his brothers attention towards the large shadow rising from the distance, blotting out everything even the light that rose from an artificial sun. Aaron turned towards said shadow rising from the distance and grumbled lightly.

”And theres this…what is this?”

”Looks like something…really really evil.” Brandon noted plainly.

”Well obviously.” The twin scoffed rolling his eyes.

’Well you’re the smart one, so you should know what that is.” Brandon said flailing his arms about before letting them slap against his side. ’Maybe I can punch it?” Brandon suggested with a shrug as he considered any other possibilities that were out there and nothing coming up.

’I don’t know actually…you should so try that.” Aaron shrugged off handedly motioning for Brandon to try it and he…did. ”Good luck with that.” With a leap Brandon was sailing through the air of the strange sub space, careening towards the large mass of darkness as a break neck speed, fist slamming through it with full force. A loud shriek emenated from the mass is it shied away from the strike, recoiling much like a living creature. Slamming foot first against the watery surface Brandon rose to his feet, looking to his hand and noticing that he ring was…gone.

”Yeah…uh don’t ever come back?” Brandon growled uncertainly at the mass as it seemed to reform, growing within strength once more and then seeming to move forward undaunted.

”I think you’re doing it wrong.” A stream of fire erupted from behind him and slammed into the being, causing it to withdraw further as the fire did not cease, only forcing it back further.  Aaron stepped next to Brandon holding the amulet, well the one that he had enchanted to shoot fire or something like that. ”You know, this is easier than I thought it would be.” He paused for a second. ”And if you say twin power, I swear I will puke” He amended, much to Brandon’s disappointment, frown punctuating that disappointment.

Drawing something from the satchel that was so conveniently clinging from his side, Aaron drew what appeared to be a scimitar and from it was released a burst of light, which seemed to dispel the darkness entirely. ”Yupp, twin power.”

”Goddammit Brandon.” Within an instant they were gone, a flash of light and Brandon found himself kneeling on the street, rubbing his eyes lightly as he rose to his feet the storm within the café seeming to calm almost instantly. Jumping to his feet, Brandon dashed to his sibling he was seemingly now getting over whatever it was that happened.

”Now wh..” He started but Aaron pressed his hand against the males mouth to shut him up.

”Just stop talking.” He hissed lightly, massaging his temples as if trying to rid himself of a headache, and it just would not go away. ”Now we find out what the hell that was, though I have an idea what.” He answered straitening his hair before stepping through the door of what was now a ruined café, eyes darting about as if looking for everyone else that was with his sibling. So it seemed that their twin link they shared had more perks than initially thought, but that didn’t mean anything really, all it did mean was that Brandon helped him with his problem more than he was aware of. Granted it was as Brandon said, very reminiscent of an anime, but that was beside the point really. It was the mention of The Lych that put him on edge and that was more than reason enough to assume the worst, that bastards had tried to control him and it seemed that alone made Brandon’s….mate shy away from him. Aaron grimaced as he thought over the implications of the whole thing and then about how he would make The Lych suffer.