Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 6

Kaylee Brown wrote:The last two parasites in the house, decided to forget about Rogue for a moment, with him too well bunkered down. The red spells they fired passed right over Rogue's head, missing him completely, and with him behind a burning shield, the parasites turned their attention to Circi.

Raising their hands in unison, they ran in opposite directions, discharging a Fireball each, aiming toward Circi's center of mass.

As you survey the room, 2 civilians still remain alive by the wall. A young girl in her early twenties, with a pair of overly big, circular glasses on her nose, wearing long dress and a jacket, hair tied back in a ponytail.
And a boy the same age, dressed in some heavy winter clothing, that looked like mismatching pieces of fur, stitched together. Long hair falling over his face and obscuring his eyes.

Both seem unconscious and judging by the rate at which the parasite infection was consuming their bodies, they didn't have long. You estimate that if nothing changes, they might succumb to infection in the next 60 seconds.

You heard a muffled shriek from outside, where a parasite had hurled himself through a window earlier. A spray of ash flew up. And Adam jumped in through the window.

Taking in the situation, you noticed him begin unfolding a rib-whip out of his palm "...we need to get to the civilians! Mom! Rogue!" I called out.

Rogue nods, picks himself up, and rushes over to the two civilians, feeding both of them some of the potion.

"General Bastila mentioned something about a mission. I'll explain my own reason for being in this area if you wish, but I'd like to know your current goal" She opens her wings preparing to move with Urusla and Lightning "I know things will go far more smoothly if I'm on the same page, especially with the cornucopia of different people in this group already."

Circi side steps the fireballs then lunges at one of the parasites, a snarl escaping her like a wild animal as she tackles him to the ground. Her spider legs keep his hands occupied, trying to stab through them and pin his palms to the floor. "You took it all from me!" She growls, rearing her fists back, pummeling the parasite from all angles, striking streight into the muzzle, the jaw, the temple. "I will kill each and every one of you. Your species will be shreeking in agony when I'm done, and if I could let it be that way for eternity. I wouldn't hesitate."

Circi is pummeling the parasite to death.

Rain looks to lightning and Ursula, "Good work girls." She points to the Arcanum, "We haven't much more time to waste, we have to finish this and get to the library." She looks back, "Squiggles! This way!" She waves for him to follow.

Running through the Arcanum doors, Rain notes the walking corpse, and rears back a swing, she approaches from its blind side, and swings like a bat, into the back of the things skull.

"Tell them to finish up in there and follow us without delay." Twilight states. "Our top priority are the documents, every human we save and every wild parasite we slay is a nice extra, but it's not our core objective. Let's continue!"

She dusts herself off and continues onward in the direction she thought they had to go.

Bastila immediately fell into step next to Twilight, heading toward the rising towers in the distance. So far, it looks like a straight shot up the street. Apart from huge chunks of burning debris, you don't see any obstacles.


"A local scholar discovered evidence of a vulnerability, in the Parasite Suppression Obelisks." Kaylee called out to Morgan, hastily scanning the area for hostiles "As soon as he did, Kaznachey tried to bury that evidence, by destroying this city.
If we don't get the evidence and understand how he bypassed the Obelisks, what happened here, will happen in every other city on Nifelheim. Humanity may really come to an end."

Kaylee winced, watching Bastila move on with Twilight "...she just saw her city, her people, all of it destroyed, in a span of a few hours. She must have felt deep responsibility for them. There's no way she's herself right now..."

Kaylee looked back at Morgan "You mentioned you belonged to some sort of organization?"




Back inside the Arcanum, the parasite Circi was pummeling began thrashing, wildly swinging his arms around. A stray fireball discharged from his finger tips and hit Squiggles in the leg, as he barged into the shop. The attack made him trip up, but he didn't fall, instead starting to wildly wave his appendage around and shrieking, trying to put out the fire.

(Squiggles suffered -5 HP damage, 15 HP remaining)


With another strike, the parasite Circi had pummeled, croaked and turned to ash.

The second one, only managed to turn and notice Rain, just as the club collided with his head, releasing a characteristic crack of a bone. He was dead before he hit the floor.

The sounds of attacks and pained screaming began to subside. You don't sense any more hostiles. At least, not in the 150 meters around you.



The two civilians were unconscious, but at least their gag reflex worked. Somehow, they managed to swallow the potion without suffocating and an immediate reaction followed. You sensed their souls entered a turmoil, vying for dominance with the parasite entity inside.

You only took your eyes off them for a second.

The civilian boy in winter clothing jolted. His soul suddenly flickered out and went dark. He lost the duel with his parasite. His eyes opened, turned right and he bared his fangs, aiming to sink them into the unconscious girls neck, sitting next to him.

As soon as the parasite dies Circis rage filled expression turns to Rogue, "Kill it kill it KILL IT!" she says rapidly, "ROLL ITS HEAD AGAINST THE FLOOR!" She roars.

Rain steps up next to adam, setting her hand on his shoulder she looks to Circi, speaking under her breath, "I think... she needs some consulting when we have the time." She pats his shoulder, "Shes more likely to listen to her own kind rather then us." She turns away, "Pop that last one and lets go! We can only hope our to find our survivor later." She quickly puts out the flame on squiggles and opens her wings, "Its a streight shot there! Lets book it!" She flaps her wings and takes off after Twilight and Bastille.

Kaylee Brown wrote:The two civilians were unconscious, but at least their gag reflex worked. Somehow, they managed to swallow the potion without suffocating and an immediate reaction followed. You sensed their souls entered a turmoil, vying for dominance with the parasite entity inside.

You only took your eyes off them for a second.

The civilian boy in winter clothing jolted. His soul suddenly flickered out and went dark. He lost the duel with his parasite. His eyes opened, turned right and he bared his fangs, aiming to sink them into the unconscious girls neck, sitting next to him.

Still hovering over them, Rogue slams his shield inbetween the two civilians like a wall, so that the path of least resistance is towards him instead.

The parasite didn't react in time and slammed his head into the burning shield, instantly setting his face and clothing on fire. Flailing in panic, he flinched back and started stumbling away to the wall, when Lighting suddenly materialized her blade and hurling it at him.

The sword made several massive spins in the air, before striking the parasite flat, like a club. Crumbling to the floor and contorting, the parasite's body continued to burn in a bring, green flame, until he stopped moving.


The girl with the round glasses continued to sit perfectly still, her eyes closed, the turmoil inside her soul continued.


"Damn it." Kaylee winced "We lost five civilians out of six."

"That is the reality of Nifelheim." Viktoria grimly said, then took a step, watching the city behind you "...Tsk. The Witcher unit following us, got cut off by a flood of Shimmer. I don't think they won't make it here for a while," she looked at the girl "And if we leave her alone, she'll get devoured in minutes..." she narrowed her eyes "We must take her with us."



Adam darted forth, jumping right in front of Circi's field of view and raised his palms "...mother, please listen to me.
We were in combat, but now its over. Okay? There are no more enemies here!"

He tensed slightly, looking at Circi with worry "...I'm sorry your friend was murdered. I didn't know him long, but he clearly meant a lot to you. I can't even imagine what you're feeling right now, but you need to stay focused, okay?

There are people who still need your help... I need your help. And so does that girl." Adam slightly pointed behind him:

"It looks like we have to take her with us into the castle. Someone needs to carry her until she wakes up and protect her. Can you do that?" he tried to discern what Circi was thinking, looking into her eyes "Can you do that for me?"



Outside, as Twilight and Bastila began making their way toward the upper districts, where massive buildings towered over the city, a sudden tremor shook the street, that quickly grew into an earthquake.

A massive crater was visible some 500 meters ahead, in the distance. Its borders were still hot red, from when the meteor had landed and punched a hole in the ground, so deep, it felt it had no bottom. The tremors were clearly originating from that hole and a second later, the ground gave in, creating a long fissure that ran into the higher district and cut through the base of one of the towers.

The sound of collapsing stone filled the air, as the tower lurched forward, and started to slowly fall flat, onto the lower district of the city. You slowly realized the tower is going to fall directly on you, the street you were standing on and right on top of the shop of Arcanum.

Judging by the speed of the towers collapse, you have roughly 30 seconds left, before it comes down on you.

Twilight's eyes widen at the realization of the building dropping down on them. She turned to Bastilla.

"General, get out of the way. I'll go inform the others!"

She turned around and flew back. She took a deep breath before shouting at the top of her lungs.

"TIMBEEEEEER!!! INCOMING TOWEEEEER!!! MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!!"

Adam can feel Circis tension as the last parasite dies. As he looks into her eyes, her expression is filled with a unkept rage. She looks to the Civilian, and then the rest of the Library. Her eyes close a moment and she takes a deep breath, nodding slowly, "It was more then just Tim, Adam. It was my entire village." She shakes her head, "My entire village was eaten by parasites Adam. Kazinchky and his group of, lifestealing insects." She whispers before raising her nose, taking a deep breath, and centering herself, "Anger. I feel... Anger. Like the deepest pits of me have been struck by the highest level fireball." She looks to the Civilian, "Yes. I can take her. She will be safe with me." She nods quickly. Raising to her feet, and brushing the dust off of her hands. She steps forward, wrapping her arms around Adam a moment, "You might not think so... but I dont know how I didn't go insane before you showed up." She lets out a content sigh before releasing Adam and moving to pick up the girl.

Her ears suddenly perk at Twilights yell outside, "I think finding a new position would be advantageous to staying alive." Circi says matter of factly, exiting the Arcanum with adam in tow. She reaches a spiderleg to rogue before she leaves and taps him on the shoulder, "Good work. Need a lift?" She holds out her left arm offering to take him along.

As Rain steps outside the Arcanum, she squints at the sky before her eyes widen, "Outta the way! We're regrouping on the left side of the tower and following bastille from there! We have less then thirty seconds to leave or be crushed!" She calls to the group inside. Her wings shoot open and she takes to the sky, looking over the battlefield a moment before moving to a satisfactory regroup point.

Some Sinner wrote:Her ears suddenly perk at Twilights yell outside, "I think finding a new position would be advantageous to staying alive." Circi says matter of factly, exiting the Arcanum with adam in tow. She reaches a spiderleg to rogue before she leaves and taps him on the shoulder, "Good work. Need a lift?" She holds out her left arm offering to take him along.

"Nah, thought I might stick around, get a bit thinner, you know?" Rogue jokes, taking Circi's outstretched arm.

Adam awkwardly patted Circi on the back, as she hugged him. Twilight's shriek sent a visible shiver down his spine and he sprinted outside after Circi.

"RUN, RUN, RUN AAAAAAAHH RUUUUUUUUN!!!" Lightning screamed, flying sideways and ducking just under the tower, as it slowly collapsed. All around you, you could see your comrades fleeing the scene, running at near 90 degrees angles up the walls of buildings and over the roofs, or flying overhead out of dodge, as the tower's massive frame collapsed, as if in slow motion.

You manage to clear the way and catch a minimum safe distance, just barely, as the tower touched the ground and collapsed in a massive earthquake, sending debris and smoke dozens of meters into the air.

The sound of the collapse was deafening, you could almost hear the individual bricks collapsing in on themselves, grinding themselves to dust, as walls of the tower came loose, revealing the dozens of floors inside, the beds, tables and furniture beneath, as it all became swallowed in smoke and debris, sending pieces of them flying all over the city.

And as the smoke began to settle over the district, you felt another geyser of Shimmer, shoot out of the ground, sending large blobs of green, heavy liquid, raining over the city.


In the panic and chaos, you're not even sure how you escaped. You only remember a frantic flight to the city center, dodging the falling debris and the large drops of Shimmer on auto-pilot. Frantic flight, the sound of incoming debris, dodge, another moment of flight, a deafening roar of an incoming stone chunk, threatening to flatten you over the pavement. Another narrow dodge. Over and over, this madness lasted for maybe ten minutes, but it felt as an eternity.


When you finally set foot on the steps of the Castle's main entrance, your whole body was shaking from adrenaline and it took you several moments of franticly looking around and catching your breath, to realize you're finally out of the immediate reach of the geyser.


The main castle gates stood before you, opened ajar. The flights of stairs behind them, littered with rotting corpses, partially disintegrated to ash. It seems most of the occupants of the castle had succumbed to infection and with no other food sources left, the parasites turned toward cannibalism, devouring each other in a fit of desperate madness.

Only death ruled the castle now. You don't detect any life signs in the immediate area, at all. Human or parasite.




The girl with the round glasses hasn't woken up yet, the turmoil inside her heart continued. For over 10 minutes now. Viktoria quietly commented this was one of the longest duels she witnessed during a Joining, before Bastila called for you to move out.

Running up one flight of stairs after another, her armored boots loudly clanked over the stone. You were running out of breath, by the time she reached somewhere around the fifteenth floor of the tower, when she finally stopped and delved deeper into this floor.

Running past corridors and office rooms, left open and in complete disarray, with parchments and rotting corpses littering the area, you made your way deeper and deeper inside.


Behind the next corner, Bastila suddenly froze up, making you nearly collide with her. At first, you thought her sudden stop was directly associated with a green waterfall of Shimmer, leaking from the ceiling ahead and completely blocking the corridor.

The most gut wrenching part was a sign, reading 'Royal Library' and pointing toward the green waterfall.


Viki tried tugging Bastila's armored glove, but Bastila didn't move. There was something extremely tense in her posture, something in the way she drew breath. You didn't understand that it was unfiltered terror, she broadcasted, before your head turned toward the waterfall of Shimmer again.


Something was happening with the Shimmer. Something that was impossible.
It was creating shapes, it had no business making. Shapes that were physically impossible to manifest on their own. And yet, it was happening.

The waterfall was taking form, giving birth to something, extending toward you, making strange, gurgling sounds, dripping over the floor, slopping its way out of the waterfall. Broadcasting the signs of a living creature, something that was impossible, and yet, existed.


A creature with the shape of a wolf, standing on all fours, slowly stepped out of the waterfall, its entire body dripping and glowing with Shimmer, a part of Shimmer itself, made sentient. Its body painful to look at, inducing the same sense of infinite insanity, the longer you stared at it.


"...its not real." you heard Bastila quietly whisper and she took a step back "Its not real. Its not real. Its not real. Hallucination. We stared into the Shimmer too long."


The creature emit a low, gurgling growl, filled with thousands of unintelligible whispers and began walking toward you, dripping Shimmer over the floor with each step. Its height was almost 3 meters tall, reaching up all the way to the ceiling.


The girl with the round glasses picked this moment to stir and wake up. Her eyelids fluttered opened, eyes glowing dark purple. Her parasite pushed back into the depths of her soul, entering a symbiotic relationship. Shes was a Witcher now.

Circi stops in her tracks right next to Bastille, her voice shakes as she places her arm over Adam before he can come closer, "S-Shimmer wolfs!?" She begins backing out of the room, "Bastille. I'm far closer to the rarest, most terrifying anomaly on Nifelhime then I'd ever like to be." She looks to the party, "Shimmer wolves are shrouded in rumor. The widely accepted rumor I know is that their the bubbling raging souls of tragedies given life. Where theres shimmer, and many souls, it drags out these things." She scowls looking to Bastille, then the party, "Fuck." She grits her teeth, "I-I-I have the most shimmer resistance out of all of us." She stammers, "Bastille... I dont know where you need to go but please god make it fast. I'll try to destract it." Circi cautiously makes her way into the room, and casts scan on the creature.

She notes the movement beside her, "Shes awake." Circi sets the new witcher girl down behind her.

Rain covers her eyes, "We have your back Bastille." She slaps her in the back to draw her attention, "Focus! Where do we go next!"

"...where..." the girl with the round glasses weakly called, looking around as if through a haze "What?... who is talking to me?... on the floor? I don't-" she winced, staring at empty space.


As Circi approached Bastila and spoke to her, Bastila's expression went pale.
"There..." Basila replied in a colorless voice, pointing at the waterfall of Shimmer, behind the wolf "The library is past there... this corridor is the only entrance..."

The thing in front of you emitted a gargling, choking noise and began to spit on the ground, below its paws, before vomiting wholesale. The substance coming out of its mouth, was the same, viscous Shimmer that built its whole body.

The reaction was seemingly due to your efforts to scan it, and as you did, a throbbing, dull pain pierced your skull, flooding your mind with senseless tons of information, that you could not comprehend. It was like staring into the depths of the universe and watching all of it unfold, in a span of a second. Every birth, every death, every life that existed on Nifelheim, they were all scanned and flooded into your mind, at the same time.



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Your mind has gone blank and you collapsed to the floor, with your eyes left wide open.

(Circi has been stunned for 1 round of combat)


The creature emitted a loud howl, akin to a thousand small voices and began slowly limping towards you.

"Fantastic." Twilight dryly said. "Just what we need... An enemy we can barely look at, a fainted party member and a fresh dazed recruit."

She let out a sigh. "Let's lead it out of here. The less shimmer the better. Viki, Bastilla, you get the documents. Johan, pick someone and get her to safety. The rest of you, with me. We're going PETA on this mutt."

She charges a fire spell. "Hey bitch! Come and get me!"

She's ready to fire at the beast the moment it changes it movements.

The girl with the glasses weakly turned her head toward the wolf and tilted her head in confusion "...what is that.. sound?... Shimmer isn't supposed to exhibit sentience..." she gasped slightly "...is that... an Apparition?... oh man... no one in the guild will believe me..."

The wolf heavily moved its head, its eyeless face locked on to Twilight and, as if in response to the Fireball manifesting in her hand, the wolf opened its maw and in its depth, you saw a sphere of Shimmer, the size of a bowling ball, starting to form and spin at a startling rate, reaching a few thousands rotations per minute.

The wolf made a step forward and began slowly limping toward Twilight, dripping Shimmer all over the carpet, dissolving chunks of it and beginning to eat at the stone floor.


Johan pulled Circi's arm over his shoulders and began dragging her away from the creature.

Viktoria went sickly pale, briefly looking at Twilight "...we can't get the documents! To reach them, someone has to walk through the waterfall and then back. The moment we try that, we'll dissolve! Even if somehow we stave off the effects with a shield, the Shimmer will corrode it in seconds! Who ever brings us the documents, is not coming back out! Its a suicide mission!"


"...that's fine." Bastila's voice grew quiet. You hear her hand start charting a pentagram in the air.

Viktoria grabbed her other wrist and yelled out "What the hell are you doing!"

"...this castle was entrusted to me." Bastila coldly replied "Those are my people dying. I'll get those documents for you. Nothing else matters!"

"You'll die! Its not worth it!" Viktoria latched onto her arm, with her whole body.

"This is my responsibility." Bastila roughly broke her hand free. "Unless you have a better solution, I'm going in there." She scowled, her whole face contorting "It doesn't matter if I die. Because there's no way you're leaving here empty handed."

Twilight fires the spell at the spell of the beast as a counter, or a disruption.

Her eyes briefly widened at the reminder. "...Dammit, slipped my mind completely! Okay, what then... There must be something... Something to keep the shimmer at bay long enough..."

She drew her sword. "... Is there anything that can keep shimmer at bay that we know of?"

Her ear perked up "You know what it is? Do you know how to beat it? ... Is it perhaps tied to this wall?"

Kaylee Brown wrote:The girl with the glasses weakly turned her head toward the wolf and tilted her head in confusion "...what is that.. sound?... Shimmer isn't supposed to exhibit sentience..." she gasped slightly "...is that... an Apparition?... oh man... no one in the guild will believe me..."

"Yeah, now might not be the best time to conduct a field survey" Rogue comments.

Kaylee Brown wrote:Viktoria went sickly pale, briefly looking at Twilight "...we can't get the documents! To reach them, someone has to walk through the waterfall and then back. The moment we try that, we'll dissolve! Even if somehow we stave off the effects with a shield, the Shimmer will corrode it in seconds! Who ever brings us the documents, is not coming back out! Its a suicide mission!"

"...that's fine." Bastila's voice grew quiet. You hear her hand start charting a pentagram in the air.

Viktoria grabbed her other wrist and yelled out "What the hell are you doing!"

"...this castle was entrusted to me." Bastila coldly replied "Those are my people dying. I'll get those documents for you. Nothing else matters!"

"You'll die! Its not worth it!" Viktoria latched onto her arm, with her whole body.

"This is my responsibility." Bastila roughly broke her hand free. "Unless you have a better solution, I'm going in there." She scowled, her whole face contorting "It doesn't matter if I die. Because there's no way you're leaving here empty handed."

"You can't go!" Rogue calls to Bastila, "We need you to translate the words of an ancient curse, that's why we came here! If you die, there's no way to save Rakshata!"

"That might be the only door to the library, but there must be other ways to get in, maybe windows or chimneys?"

As Circi suddenly regains her thoughts she quickly scrambles to her feet. Pitch black tears now rolling down her face, her hands shaking, "F-Focus on the beast!" She crys to the party. She sets her hand on bastilles shoulder. Her grip unintentionally tight, she roars and charges forward through the shimmerfall.

Rain summons her ballista and takes aim. She presses her tounge to her cheek, aiming at the ball manifesting in the wolfs mouth. She takes a shot.

Rogue wrote:"That might be the only door to the library, but there must be other ways to get in, maybe windows or chimneys?"

"There are ventilation grates under the ceiling but they're too narrow for a person to squeeze through. And for all we know, they're also flooded with Shimmer." Bastila winced.

Rogue wrote:"You can't go!" Rogue calls to Bastila, "We need you to translate the words of an ancient curse, that's why we came here! If you die, there's no way to save Rakshata!"

"Where are the bloody words then!" Bastila roared back in anger "I assume you had them written down!"
Viktoria grimly pulled out a note from her vests pocket and passed it to Bastila.


"...Viktoria Alstreim,
Your heart as cold as stone,
You are incapable of feeling love,
As a woman can love a man,
And so it shall be, that on this day,
Two men in your city will have their hearts and bodies turn to stone,
And each day from now on, their numbers will grow by plus two,
until such a moment, when you will show you can love someone,
By marrying Sekolov Valention, the High General of Rakshata,
So shall it be." Bastila read aloud and handed the note back to Viki: "...I warned you, you know. If you weren't so picky about choosing a spouse, you would've been married by now and most of the idiots like this one, would have left you alone."


"THAT MOTHERFUCKER PIECE OF SHIT SON OF A BITCH!" Viktoria was shrieking at the floor, at the top of his lungs "I'LL CLEAVE HIS FACE OFF IN HALF!!!"


"You've got what you wanted," Bastila grimly looked at the waterfall "Now leave me b-" her eyes widened, as Circi rushed through "IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU-" Bastila started shrieking in a mix of horror and anger, before her voice got drowned out.

Circi wrote:She sets her hand on bastilles shoulder. Her grip unintentionally tight, she roars and charges forward through the shimmerfall.

As you rush through the viscous, bubbling liquid, glowing bright green, you felt as if you had been briefly submerged in the ocean. All sounds of the world faded, growing infinitely distant, only the dull waves of the ocean remained, the way they can only be heard under water.

A vast galaxy opens before your eyes, infinite numbers of stars, infinite planets and possibilities. Life. Shining bright and numbering more that the stars in the sky. From as small as a one cell organism, to as large as a griffon, all struggling, fighting to survive. Living.

You feel as if the secrets to questions you never thought would be answered, are laying in front of you, infinite knowledge. Infinite experience, of countless living creatures around you. All you had to do, was reach.

The flow of the galaxy began pulling you in, threatening to pull you deeper into the ocean, to a dark abyss that has no bottom and perhaps never had one. You start to instinctively struggle. The ocean does not want to let you go. You scream at the top of your lungs, but cannot hear your voice.

Your hands stretches forward and breaks the viscous veil of reality. You fall on the cold floor, as the Shimmer slowly drips from your clothing. You're back in the real world again. But something is off. Even though you have came out of the Shimmer, its call is still heard in your head, like a drill, dully buzzing inside your brain.



(Circi has been afflicted with the T̴͕̤͍̤̪̦̐͌́̊͛̈́̎̆̽͝͝h̴̛̜̎́́̽͝ē̷̜̗̯͚̮̹͍͕̪͙͍͙̮͌͒̈̾̊͑̉̾̀̂̃́́͐̕͝ ̴̢̧̛̬͙̞̮̰̟̖̈̌̇̅̍̀̓̓̃́̓͆̽̂̕̚S̸͍͛͋̆̉̽̂̓̓̆̔h̶̙͇̞̬̯͚̓̈̑͜i̴̛͔͇͚̮̗͊̐́͐̈́͋̾̃͗͜m̵̧̡̨̧̗̙̳̲̬̘̯͖̲̞̒̉̑̓̆̃͗͌̕͘m̸̙̎̋e̵͙̲͚̰͍̰͉̻͓̮̰̳̥̥̲͈͐̋͐̀̑͗̑͊̈́̌͐́̇̾̇̕͜͝r̷̖̠̟̻̅̍͂̈́̇̐͂͝ͅ ̸̢̰̪̲̥̖͓̭̥̙̗͇̺͗̅͒̀͂́̈̀͆̆̿̇̚̚ͅn̵̢̲̳̼̓͊̇̑́̿͝ǫ̶̡̗͉̹͚͓̬͎̦͚̯̀́̌t̶̡̩͕̻̘̓͌̓̎͗̉͋̌̀̿̉̚ͅi̵̙̱̲̮͉͗̂̑̓͒̓͂̽́́̊̑̿̍́͝c̶̡̛̝̙̰̩͔̮̰̣̗̞̯̱̬͕͓̱̋̓̏̚͘͘ẻ̵̘̘̈́̓̽̃̿͛̾̒̓̾͆̈͝͝d̷̢̼̙͎͖̓͋̓̒̔̌͝ ̵̲͈̗̟͒̄́̀̆̓͌͒͗͝y̶̢̛͇̣̯̟͉̘̰͕̟̗͕̮̦̓̾̒̉̓͌̔̋͑̃́̽͛͛͘͜o̴͔̫̺̺̝̦̜̬̳͌͜ů̶̮̙̠̖̔̿̈́̉ Status Effect)





The royal study lays before you, the walls stacked with shelves, packed tightly with withering books. A humbling wooden table stands directly in front, a single candle still lit, next to a journal, the ink on its pages still wet, from the feather that lays next to it.

A single skeleton, lays on the floor. The lower half of his body gone, laying in a puddle of Shimmer. The upper half, dressed in dried rags, jaw open in horror, hand stretched toward the journal on the table. An unfortunate soul, who tried to enter before you and take hold of the journal.

You see no other way out, than the one you use to come in. The place seemed like a tomb.

Twilight wrote:"... Is there anything that can keep shimmer at bay that we know of?"

"The Shimmer is a primal force that governs our world" The girl with the glasses said, with a hazy, disoriented voice "It will melt everything in its path, until it reaches the planets core, from which it came.

Other than creating a path, for it to flow through, there isn't much one can do."

Twilight wrote:Her ear perked up "You know what it is? Do you know how to beat it? ... Is it perhaps tied to this wall?"

"Its not real," the girl with the glasses quietly called "Whatever you're seeing, its not there. You got too close to the Shimmer, the primal force of creation, and your mind began molding it, manifesting shapes that only exist in your head."

Twilight wrote:Twilight fires the spell at the spell of the beast as a counter, or a disruption.

Rain wrote:Rain summons her ballista and takes aim. She presses her tounge to her cheek, aiming at the ball manifesting in the wolfs mouth. She takes a shot.

"No! Don't attack it!" The girl with the glasses screamed in alarm, as the Fireball and the crossbow bolt flew into the wolf's mouth. The wolf closed its maw, with the spinning sphere still inside and you heard a muffled explosion inside the wolves body. Its entire form expanded, toward the back, as if the creature was made of green rubber, forming the shape of an explosion, then the back half of his body erupted in a spray of Shimmer, flooded the immediate area next to the waterfall and the creature heavily collapsed to the floor.


Emitting gargling whimpers, it suddenly opened its mouth and spit out several giant blobs of Shimmer, flying directly at Twilight and Rain.

"BACK!" Bastila screamed in alarm, summoning a giant teal shield that blocked the spray of Shimmer, before the shield loudly shattered and the green liquid fell off of it, onto the floor.


The wolf somehow rose onto its paws and charged straight at Twilight. Somehow, it was sprinting. Its melted legs forming back into shape and solidifying, as it ran directly at Twilight, aiming to ram into her.


"Stop! What are you doing!" the girl with the glasses screamed to Twilight in horror "Your mind has been warped! Don't move!" the girl lifted her hand with tremendous effort, gritting her teeth and a teal spell materialized in her palm.

"TRUST ME! DON'T MOVE!" the girl screamed in panic and discharged a blue colored spell right at Twilight, as the Shimmer Wolf neared, planning to ram the alicorn off her feet.

Circi shambles to her feet, a river of disease beginning to stain her cheeks. She limps her way to the documents, squinting trying to read the words but her mind is flurrying with thoughts that aren't always hers, the noise is too much for her to read, "T-They see me." She murmurs under her breath, "It knows... It knows I was there." She sobs to herself, grabbing the all the documents and storing them safely in her bag, "B-B-buh-Bas..." she pauses, forgetting her place in time, "Bastile!" She suddenly yells, "O-Out! I... Need... a way." Shes barely able to get out, "Paperz... I... have..." she says slowly between fast, unfocused breaths, "Cant... t-TttttHINK!" She roars, "It saw me." She feverishly repeats to hersself.

Rain looks to the new girl, "Desummon that thing or something! I sure hope your right about that thing not being real!" She glances at her then squints, "Wait!? You were just made a witcher!? What spell do you have that we dont?"

"..... You have one chance." Twilight says bracing herself in case of failure.

In her head, she was trying to multitask, knowing she had to split her body in two to properly adress it all. But first, she was focussed on the wolf, skeptical of everything that was said about the omnipotence of the shimmer.

(Twilight)


The spell hit you in the back and the familiar feeling of Dispel washed over you. You blinked and suddenly realized the wolf didn't exist. It wasn't the one rushing toward you. Rather, you were the one rushing, head first into the Shimmer.

Your own legs were carrying you toward the glowing waterfall, running as fast as you can, and you only realized now, what you were doing, finally regaining control over your body.


"I made it in time..." the girl exhaled, letting her hand drop in exhaustion.


As you looked around however, you noticed everyone's eyes become hazed, and each one of your team mates was now marching toward the waterfall, some slowly, others, a bit faster.





(Everyone)


"I made it in time..." the girl exhaled, letting her hand drop in exhaustion.

The wolf stopped in its tracks, a few centimeters away from Twilight's face, staring right at her, with the green vicious liquid slowly dripping down from its open mouth, before it slowly shifted its head toward its next target, Rain and Rogue.

The thing began vomiting again, spreading puddles of Shimmer onto the floor, before beginning to stumble toward the two, then turning sideways, as if hoping to ram everyone at the same time with its body.


"No! Stop!-" the girl with the glasses faintly called, straining to lift up her hand again "I don't have enough-" she strained one more time and passed out, falling flat on the floor.

The wolf howled and rushed toward you.



"Circi!" Bastila yelled "If you can hear me, stay put! We'll try to redirect the flow of the Shimmer, but it might take some time! Hold on as long as you can!"

Circi wrote:She limps her way to the documents, squinting trying to read the words

As you try to focus on the documents, all you see are jumbled lines of numbers and letters. It looks like a cryptic, random mess that doesn't make any sense. With the whispering of the Shimmer still in your head, you can't seem to tell if what you're seeing is real or a hallucination.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Everyone)

"I made it in time..." the girl exhaled, letting her hand drop in exhaustion.

The wolf stopped in its tracks, a few centimeters away from Twilight's face, staring right at her, with the green vicious liquid slowly dripping down from its open mouth, before it slowly shifted its head toward its next target, Rain and Rogue.

The thing began vomiting again, spreading puddles of Shimmer onto the floor, before beginning to stumble toward the two, then turning sideways, as if hoping to ram everyone at the same time with its body.

"No! Stop!-" the girl with the glasses faintly called, straining to lift up her hand again "I don't have enough-" she strained one more time and passed out, falling flat on the floor.

The wolf howled and rushed toward you.

"Circi!" Bastila yelled "If you can hear me, stay put! We'll try to redirect the flow of the Shimmer, but it might take some time! Hold on as long as you can!"

Rogue starts backing away from the wolf, hoping to staay out of range of the puddles of shimmer.

"Huh, it did work. Thanks." Twilight says undazed.

She didn't waste time. She began to properly cook Dispel herself, aiming it at her daughter. When possible, she let it loose and followed by targetting Bastille. After hitting the two kings with Dispel, she did proper castings on those who rushed to the door the fastest, not letting up until she was empty.