Thread:AngryLance/@comment-37028137-20200128044919/@comment-37028137-20200204022201

Okay Lance you asked for me to describe what 'Eldritch' meant for Vellantha in my novel and I am men of my word. (See what I did there?)

Anyways in the excerpt I will put below, there is a bit of lead up to Vellantha's transformation but it is necessary to see why she changes in the long run. I also sprinkled in multiple easter eggs so if you are a Sci-Fi fan those should be fun.

I noticed Vellantha eyeing me and smiling happily before rushing off once more through yet another separate portal. “Come on Nick! We’re almost there! Then you can see what I’ve got planned!” “Ugh, always on the move.” I ran my hand through my hair and blew air through my nostrils. Taking off in a swarm of golden energy I zipped along the event horizon until I found myself standing outside under fresh air atop a large hill. Vellantha was a few paces away and I strolled up next to her, pausing to collect myself before I spoke.“So I take it from what I just saw, your plan is to open Dimensional Portals all around Rathengalia and box in the Order from all sides eh Vels? I assume they come from some sort of personally fashioned Pocket Universe as well considering the displacement sensations I felt as we passed the event horizon. Quite lovely, well done I must say.” This earned a cheeky simper from the strategic Admiral and she slapped me jovially across the back. “Now you’ve got it! Oh you are a clever one! That strategy took my subordinates quite a while to wrap their empty heads around. It’s good right?!” The excitement and pride was clear in Vels’ voice. “Mm hmm very similar to what I might have done in your position I think.” This elated my friend who laughed boisterously “Well you know what they say. Great minds think alike.” I rubbed at my chin thoughtfully and replied. “Hmm and the insane run in packs.” This earned a delighted squeal from Vels and she nearly doubled over in laughter. “Ha-ha-ha-the insane-Ha-ha-run-run in packs! Ha-ha-ha!” I shrugged at her behavior. ''It was a turn of phrase; it was not nearly that funny. Huh.'' “You are a weird one Vels. You know that right?” “Oh yeah, I know.” Vellantha moved onwards to the edge of the hill.

Shoving my hands in the pockets of my overcoat I sauntered closer to the edge, going only so far as where the ground still felt stable. The city sprawled out below us, stone buildings, steeples, pubs, markets, houses, churches, and so much more. Once a jewel of the chief god’s power, now tarnished from wear and lacking for polish. The sparkle had faded as abundance of fortune became derelict clutter. But the shine would once again return to the forgotten city, a jewel remade. The gleam of violet power draped over the old bones of the dead city, from an innumerable amount of portals heralding a new age. Legions upon Legions of the Mamono Army were moving in to gently ‘put down’ any resistance and free the former Theocracy of Rathengalia from the chief god. “Race you down Nick?” Vellantha gave me a teasing gin trying her best undoubtedly to goad my sense of competition. Something I did not possess, at least not in any large measure. I shrugged and gestured toward the city below us. “After you Vels.”  With a smirk Vellantha formed a pulsing tear in the fabric of reality and discorporated, vanishing in a violet flash from the hillside. Standing alone on the hilltop I watched the blistering rays of the setting sun bathe the twilight streets in garish colors. Soon it would be replaced forever with a softer, ruby hued moon to guide the people into a calmer evening, and happier life. At a time like this, what my old Theology professor Dr. Amreil used to paraphrase every now and again comes readily to mind. “Let the evil of the day be sufficient there unto.” Hmm, out with the old and in with the new, and all the better for it.

In a moment I was gone from the hill, the last sparks of gold flitting in the air. I rushed through the immediate surrounding area of the city below the hill until I met up with my friend standing in the cluttered dregs of what I presumed to be an outdoor meeting area. “Too slow Nick! Ha-ha!” Vellantha flashed a brilliant smile showing her pearly fangs which gleamed in the setting sun. “My congratulations to you Vels, good show.” I sat down on a marble stone bench that was a tad dirty. The same scratchy feeling in my throat I picked up while in the catacombs was back, and now my joints were aching mercilessly. “Whew long day eh Vels?” “Yep, I’m going to take the longest, hottest bath of my life. “Hmm, I think that is a lovely prospect.” “You could join me if you wanted?” Vellantha smiled lasciviously at me while holding my gaze with her eyes burning like lighted red embers. I cocked my head to the side as the words filtered through my mind before laughter sprung from both our throats. “Ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah much obliged Vels, I needed that levity after such a trying day.” “You’re welcome…But I think the day’s not over just yet.”

Vellantha pointed to a platoon of Order soldiers who were marching down the street with sour expressions and sneers of contempt. They were dragging a number of younger men and children while brandishing swords. Whatever they were up to was not going to be good. “Ugh always a few bad apples off the tree…” I stood from the bench straightening my dark tie before turning and offering my hand to Vellantha. “…What do you say one last round before the shops close?” “I’d be delighted.” Cracking the joints in my fingers I drew Galadhrim forth from her scabbard for what felt like far too many times in one day. “We’ll take em together. You hit em at the left; I’ll attack on the right. I sent word to the Legion they should be here soon.” Vellantha whispered as she conjured her rapier which shone wickedly with dark energy; my own blade free from the scabbard was her weapon’s antithesis blazing in deep light. Both were peculiar armaments yet both perfectly harmonious in their stance side by side. I rushed at the sniveling Order bastards, golden lightning wreaking havoc on their forces as it emanated from my trail. My blade spun in a flaming cyclone arcing through the air, faster than the knights could perceive knocking them out with but a touch. Likewise Vellantha had smashed through their armored shields from above rending metal and leather armor.

“Don’t they realize they’ve lost? Our victory is undisputed we’ve won!” Vellantha hollered across the courtyard “If it is ‘undisputed’ as you say then what is all the fighting about?!” I yelled back as I sliced through a soldier and fired off a blast of lightning throwing several others away. I had to reach the children before the soldiers used them as leverage or harmed them in any way. Coalescing an abundance of temporal flame to the edge of my blade I rammed it into the ground eliciting a wrathful shockwave which targeted only the soldiers leaving the others unharmed. ''I love temporal causality! ''

Leaving my blade where she struck the ground I caught the blade of an advancing brute with my hand and shattered it with temporal energy much to his shock. I moved on the man and hit him in his neck using a number of pressure points to render him unconscious. Three of his comrades rushed me as a group and I quickly immobilized the first with a joint lock to her arm as she slashed at me with a dagger. “You know you could hurt someone with. How about you put it down?” I twisted her arm in the lock just enough to persuade her to see things my way before turning and tossing into her fellow knights. I followed up with a flying spinning kick to the chest plate of another unlucky assailant. Using my forward momentum to twist through the air I land in front of the children, and take up a defensive position. “Nice one Nick! You’ll have to teach me that!” I was weakening I could feel my body rebelling, trying to revert back to the broken, deformed pattern I had so far held at bay. I had been unable to take more of the serum to fortify my failing form now the strain had whittled away at my body.'' I cannot stop now! Not yet, so tired…I just want to sleep.''

I pulled myself together figuratively and literally by force of will and fought on. Vellantha was swooping down on a number of axe wielding brutes and tossing them around while the shadowed knights of her mind offered ground support. I watched the way Vels moved through the air out of the corner of my eye as I engaged another attacker. Her movements bespoke of strength as she zipped across the sky, constantly pressing down on all fronts against the enemy. She used her wings to generate strong gusts of wind which bombarded the Order zealots’ defenses while her prehensile tail attacked like a barbed whip, exploiting gaps in the Order formation. “Very kind, thank you! I must say I rather like your areal style, quite unusual. Speaking of style...” I slipped between realities once more in a swath of light and back handed a cocky knight who had tried to take advantage of my chat with Vellantha to attack. The man found himself pirouetting through the air and I called out consolingly to him. “Close but no cigar!”

I scratched at the back of my neck as I mused over my train of thought before I had been interrupted. “…Hmm now where…Ah yes speaking of style I particularly like your armor Vels, the purple really meshes with the black and gives a really striking portrait.” Vellantha finished off a soldier with a knee strike to his unmentionables which laid him out of the fight for good before turning and beaming with a large smile. “Aw that’s sweet of you to say thanks Nick! You know I built this myself!” I just nodded in response, considering that was the only thing I could do convincingly. Most of my other thought processes had been overwhelmed with sympathy for the poor man who was now cradling himself on the ground whilst in the fetal position. ''Ugh! That is assuredly going to bruise! ''I noticed one of the Mages conjure and hurl a fistful of blue flame haphazardly. It was surely meant for me, but it was aimed poorly and skewed towards the children much to our collective shock. I was slowing down, my legs hurt with a sort of burning malignancy, likewise my chest had gown heavy and breath wheezed past my lips, but I had to stop the blaze from reaching its target. ''No strength left to weave a temporal shield, going to have to do this the old fashioned way! ''Pushing the last of my energy into a jump I surged forward to meet the globe of sapphire conflagration. Pain and heat assailed my fresh, peeling away at my skin and I fell to the hard cobblestone street in a heap of charred flesh and scorched clothing.

Everything was fading, I was fading, amber light gathered about my form in preparation for my death, but my attention was drawn away by a scream of unbridled rage. “No, NO! Nick!” My vision was failing but I saw Vellantha change with crystal clear recognition. Her rage almost stung to witness as her incredible powers were made known. In an instant the light of the sky was blotted away by impenetrable darkness. The dark shapes of her knights that she had called the ‘shadows’ of her mind distorted and altered into terrible beasts. They were no longer humanoid, but resembling the monstrosities of eras gone by with horrible maws, and dripping fangs. Vellantha’s own normally sweet and cheerful expression had drained away, replaced by a twisted snarl of malice. Her once white wings shifted to a dark shadowed tinted with a sickly green membrane. Similarly Vels’ tail, previously light, was now subsumed in darkness and its heart shaped, gentle end gained wicked edges fit to lacerate flesh and bone. The sweep of her curled horns jutted from her head at harsh angles. Each one of her horns twisted like a spired crown into the air above her head. Foul claws replaced slender fingers with hard edges, glinting cruelly even under the veil of darkness. Worst of all by far though was Vellantha’s face. It had become marred in hatred and her eyes shone no longer with ruby tones of gentle warmth. Now the irises seethed as blood red embers, and the pupils were sliced along the middle, while the scleras were grey like thick fog. Amethyst energy poured off of Vellantha’s body destructively, shattering the cobblestones and smashing the windows of buildings along the street. A sneer revealed the sharp ridges of Vels’ fangs and long black tongue drenched in drool. My mind was slipping I could not…

'' Vellantha’s Perspective. ''

“You’ve just made a very big mistake!” I screamed in fury, my friend lay wounded and burnt while his aggressors began to flee. “No, you won’t get off that easy!” I beat my wings against the confines of gravity and soared into the sky. My rage was endless and tore at my soul, urging me to have my revenge. I brought it all to bear against the stupid fools who would hurt my friend. My attacks which had originally been tempered by the desire not to harm anyone were replaced with fierce hatred. I lashed out at the fleeing Order fools, ripping away their armor and breaking their weapons. I let my energy run rampant across the streets and buildings mauve cracks formed in the brickwork of the houses and street, but they went deeper scarring reality with my anger.

The oozing black monstrosities born from my mind, shadows of my twisted psyche they’d tried to chain down, were now unfettered and on the prowl. They stalked and overran the pitiful humans bringing them low and helping them to know their insignificance. I flew at the stragglers striking and weakening their defenses until I had my prize; the Mage who had cast the flame incantation in my grip. Rocketing into the air with my prey I held him by the throat as I growled, my fangs dripping and bared inches from his throat. “You should be dead right now except for two things!” “Wh-what things?” “'''As much as I hate you for what you did I’m a Mamono, and we don’t kill unlike you Humans who claim to be better than us! And the man you hurt would never forgive me if I did!” '''I tucked in my wings and dropped to the ground, only breaking the fall at the last moment. Depositing the shaking man, who now smelled distinctly of urine, on the ground; I marched forward toward one of the generals of the Legion I’d called for before the battle broke out. “Where have you been?!”  “Admiral Vellantha we…”

The Hellhound didn’t get a chance to finish as I nearly shoved her out of the way rushing to Nick’s side. His body had been ravaged by burns concentrated around his chest but spreading like a viral plague to cover his left arm and part of his neck and chin. I cradled his scarred form with his head in my lap. My sharp fingers trailed lightly through Nick’s messy dusky hair in an attempt to provide peace to his blistered figure. Nick began to stir and a pained whimper breached his lips. His body had begun to luminesce a bright amber shade as energy gathered around him. Nick tried to speak but his burned throat garbled his speech to incomprehensible noise. “It’s okay, you’re gonna be okay. Shh. Look at my eyes.” I cupped the right side of his face my eyes capturing his own glassy cobalt ones and I pushed through his pain linking my mind to his own. I uttered one simple word to the depths of his mind ‘sleep’ as my eyes radiated encircling warmth imparting safety and rest.

Let me know what you think, abouth Vel's transformation as well as the hints I laid of for the reader and what is to come for Nicholas. (This excerpt takes place before the one I posted on the Mamono page. I rearranged them to give more impact to the scene in the bathroom.)

Cheers,

The Weary TimeLord.