Omnis Rifaien

The pain lanced through him like a streak of lightning. It took his breath away, causing the Djinn to pause in his walking. A hand rose up and pressed against his chest, resting over his heart. He could feel it beating rapidly and pounding hard against his ribcage. Each beat was painful. It was almost like needles were piercing it with each firm beat. And each prick of pain sent an electric shock through his delicate frame.

Something within his chest was breaking. He could feel it, that foreign object that had been housed within his body for hundreds of years was shifting about as though it were irritated and angry -- almost like he had disturbed a Lunar Wasps nest. And rather than his own heartbeat reverberating in his ears, the Djinn could hear a soft voice. It belonged to a woman…

“Naraka?”

A long and measured exhale was given, golden eyes looking up through stray strands of hair to the speaker...Bairei. He could barely hear him over the whispering voice that kept echoing through his head. “Go…” Naraka managed after a moment. There was something wrong, oh so very wrong. It filled him with complete and utter dread. “Get Rhothogren!” He snarled when the other faltered, “Now!” Finally the other moved with his snarl, watching the human retreat at quite a clip to go find the dark-skinned mage. With Bairei away and now ‘safe’, Naraka could feel some of his worry ease. He would wait here for Rhothogren to return and set things right.

CRACK.

The sound came as a surprise, leaving Naraka to stand there and wonder what that had been; though, he didn’t need to wait long. More pain bloomed in his chest and spread outwards like a searing fire that even he couldn’t stand. Those fingers dug at his chest, clawing at the skin as he tore through the soft and expensive silks with ease. As those sharp nails broke the skin, hot blood began to flow out. Naturally his blood was quite warmer than other demon’s given his background and species but it was far hotter than before. As it began to soak into the silk, the silk began to discolor and be slowly eaten away as each new trail of blood was hotter than the last. It wasn’t long before something worked its way out of his chest, dropping to the ground with lava-like blood: A piece of the witch’s shard.

Waiting here was not going to be an option. The dread that filled him as his eyes began to sting spoke of horrors to come if he waited for Rhothogren. So without any more hesitation, Naraka fled. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him to the portal that would take him home and away from the mundane realm.

The closer he got to the portal the more his vision began to swim, but he pressed onward until his legs suddenly gave out; collapsing onto the ground. A frustrated but fearful growl left his lips as he clawed at the ground, trying to will his body back up but it refused to move as directed. Instead he could feel it moving in ways he didn’t think it could. The sensation of movement under his skin was unsettling but he didn’t have long to dwell on it as he gave a cry of pain as another deafening crack filled his ears and his vision went white from the pain. That first burst of pain dulled his senses a bit but he could still feel how every bone, every muscle, every fiber of his being twisted and broke. His fair skin began to blacken and crack, lava-like blood flowing down to the ground.

“D...Damn it…” His stinging eyes glared ahead. The sound of the waterfall echoing around him as though taunting. He was so damned close! So damn close!

Naraka grit his teeth, tasting blood upon his tongue as he gripped at the earth, forcing his body up to his knees at least by some miracle. The ground beneath him had blackened as it burned from the heat rolling off his body. He wouldn’t lose here. He wouldn’t!

Get up. Get up! You damned fool, move!

Naraka screamed at his body, forcing a leg up under himself. The small sense of victory at managing to stand was short lived as he collapsed back to his knees. Golden eyes stared up at the blue sky like a puppet cut from its strings. His consciousness was fading, he could feel it as darkness began to creep in on his vision and turn his world black.

Soon the air rang with a furious roar.