Into the Blight! (GM)

[The Guardian]

Melody started to run when she was cut free. More vines came for Drake, grabbing at his wrists and his to suspend him if he couldn't destroy them! All while the monsters began to close in.

[Drake]

Drake was caught! At least Melody got away... for now. But was that even going to last? Drake chuckled humorlessly. Guess this was it. This is the end.

"Well, that was a shitty life."

He said as he hung his head in defeat. Just waiting for death...

That's what you get for speaking out. You need to learn your place. You are weak. I need you to be stronger. Understand?

Drake clenched his teeth in anger as his fathers words rang in his head.

I said, You. NEED. To. Get. STRONGER. Understand?!

That bastard! Who the fuck does he think he is?!

I changed my mind. You don't have to stay if you don't want to. If you want to run away be my guest. That is what your coward of a mother would do if she were you, so I won't be surprised if you would do the same as her. That'll just prove to me that you are just like your mother, and thus not worth my time or my effort.

"FUCK YOU!"

Drake shouted whipping his head back up!

"I WILL survive and I WILL prove you wrong!"

Drake was filled with an intense feeling and his body began to flow with newfound power and strength! He ripped his arm out of the vines resummoning his blade and slashing at the remaining vines! Then he would run as fast as he could, grab Melody, and keep running!

SPOILER: Click to show

True Hope: True Hope lies in the hopelessness of being prepared to die. Thus Drake can find this hope in the heat of the moment, For five posts he can lower his base Def stat to 1, but adding his original Def stat to Atk, Spd, and Eng. (Qi cost is 1 to activate and only 1 UP is gained from using this ability. It is considered a Qi ability and is effected as such.)

[The Guardian]

The vines that caught him would tighten and begin to pull him in all directions. He could feel his muscles tensing as the plants intended to rip him limb from limb. Drake's exclamation was punctuated with the ripping of wood and an explosion of blood, ichor, and sap on him as vines burst from the chests of the monsters. The monster that controlled the vines that held him only had time to be surprised by Drake's sudden surge of power before it too found it's rotten hard impaled by tree roots, causing it to slump into the ground.

A single blighted remained at the edge of the shadows, neither retreating nor pressing the attack. Stationary as if it was waiting for something.

He could hear the heavy labored breathing of Melody just at the other edge of the shadows, she had gone back for him. Blood stained her clothing and she was gripping a tree for support but she was there, she hadn't abandoned him.

"We have to keep moving, we aren't safe here."

[Drake]

Drake nodded.

"Agreed! Let's go!"

[The Guardian]

She leads him deeper into the woods, her pace was slower than it was before as she clutched at her side the entire way. Drake could feel a fever starting to form inside of him and a taste in the back of his throat. Like he swallowed something rotten.

[Drake]

Drake would spit. Hoping to rid his mouth of whatever sickness was filling it up.

"I hope we find something. Or a return trip will be the least of our worries..."

[The Guardian]

The taste remains!

"Yeah, a return trip."

She didn't sound convinced they would get the chance for one. As if to prove her doubts correct her and Drake step on mushrooms that fill the air with spores temporarily blinding them! Drake finds his world turning black as he stumbles through the thick vines and plantlife!

[Drake]

Drake holds his breath for as long as he can and tries to grab Melody and run out of the cloud!

[The Guardian]

He manages to grab Melody and get her out of the cloud, but she is hacking and coughing up a lung. Her skin is cold to the touch and she is starting to turn pale.

[Drake]

Drake sets her down.

"Melody!"

Drake starts to panic there is nothing he can do for this, and all she can do is- plants!

"Melody! Focus! There are probably spores inside you! Use your powers on them! Focus!"

[The Guardian]

Her eyes were having trouble focusing on him.

"Huh?"

She weakly asked. Meanwhile, in the distance Drake could hear more snapping of trees, heading in their direction.

[Drake]

Drake looked behind him to see how far the things might be and back to Melody.

"Focus on your abilities. Dominate the spores. Control them!"

With that he felt a power inside of him that he had felt only once before. That time of the attack on the party... maybe this would help her? Here's hoping, then with his hand full of power he place his hand on her chest and push the power into her!

SPOILER: Click to show

Enlightenment(Super): Once per thread Drake can unlock anyone's Ultimate and allow them to use it including himself. It only lasts for the following post of unlocking before it is locked again. This can be any Qi path's Ultimate, bloodline, artificial, or any hole in the soul Qi.

[The Guardian]

She gasped as the new power was pushed inside of her. She felt everything. The bog and the forest was teeming with life. She felt the spores in her own body, and she felt every leaf on every plant that surrounded them. More than that, she felt the Blighted coming for them. Dozens closing in from every direction. Their path lined with living plants waiting to ensnare their prey.

The air was filled with inhuman shrieks and the sound of snapping wood. Each of the blighted within range of her awakened abilities found themselves impaled and destroyed. Their own vines ripping them asunder. The energy output from the effort was massive, and the bleeding Melody would grow colder and paler by the breath. Weakly she reached up to pat his cheek, her blood smearing against his flesh as she looked sightlessly up at him.

"You need to go, before more come... I... I wish I could have... seen your home..."

The words struggled to come out, the final word escaping on her last breath as she lay there a husk of what she once was.

[Drake]

Drake hit the ground as hard as he could. Breaking his skin. He screamed at the tip of his lungs. This isn't what was supposed to happen! The tears would start streaming down his face.

"No."

He would say as he stood up.

"No!"

He would proclaim as he lifted up Melody's body and put her on his shoulder.

"NO!"

He cried out as he started running. Aimlessly as he had no idea where he was or where he was supposed to go.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?"

He would call out.

"IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF FUN?!"

He yelled in anger dispite the tears.

"YOUR PEOPLE MAY THINK YOU ARE GONE BUT I KNOW! I KNOW YOU ARE ALL JUST SITTING THERE WATCHING AMUSED!"

He shouted at the sky. Try to direct all his rage to whatever god may be listening.

"WELL FUCK YOU! THESE PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH! SHE WAS INNOCENT! YOU KILLED AN INNOCENT GIRL FOR WHAT?!"

He stopped with exhaustion and collapsed with Melody's body. He would take labored shaky breaths as the tears kept coming.

"Just... stop. Whatever game you are playing. Just. Stop. These people don't deserve this..."

[The Guardian]

Drake would collapse at the base of the skyscraper. The path had been littered with the broken corpses of the Blighted that had lain in wait before Melody's sacrifice. His cursing to heaven would not be answered however, instead the structure loomed before him in foreboding silence. Overtaken by vines but standing, as if in defiance of this world.