Ishtar and Nergal: Prelude
The slate-grey Oni had jumped from one solar system to the next, blinking in only long enough to search for his blue-skinned cousin, before blinking out just as quickly as he had arrived; and only twice did he tarry. The first time to slow the incessant prattling of the voices with which he was losing control ... and the second to consume the life that persisted on a moon near where he had arrived, the citizens never even realizing the Oni-turned-God was upon them before [b]The End[/b] rode swiftly to meet them ...
And for the first time in as many days, the voices fell away to distant murmuring.
Which was good, so veryvery[b]VERY[/b] good.
Even better still, the hunger that had plagued him so was somewhat diminished ... it would be at least several hours, before it came trickling back in; and by then he would have found who he hoped to find. In the end however, the search did not take overlong.
After a few hours, Nergal found his cousin -- and quarry -- Ishtar, not soon after his last stop.
In the Milky Way Galaxy, no less. A span of stars that was young compared to the tapestry that it was woven into, and for some reason this seemed ... wrong. What would his cousin be doing here, in such an insignificant portion of space ? For there was, truly, nothing particularly noteworthy about this solar system. The worlds were largely void of light, and life ... and the power he felt here was middling. Almost not good enough to bother consuming, even ... save a few flickering signatures that were in close proximity to hers.
[i]Hm ...[/i]
Surely there was a reason. A thing she saw, she knew ... perhaps even felt. A question among many, he would learn the answers to, this day. But first ... The broken-horn Oni glimmered, shimmered, and vanished.
Ishtar and Nergal, Pt. 1: A Sudden and Uncomfortable Reunion (1/2)
After finishing both her conversation -- and first meeting -- with Cthylla, Ishtar left Capsule Corp, and it was as she made ready to head to the Lookout; when a brief telepathic communique from Sarada came through.
[QUOTE=Sub-Zero MKA] She sighed. "No. She can catch up later. We need to go now." Having said that, it was only fair that she at least tell her she was leaving right then and why she was in such a hurry. 'Ishtar, I have to leave now. Turrip was attacked and I need to sort out what's what before responding.'
With her love now informed of what was going on in their Empire, Sarada gave the nod for the ship to take off. In a flash, the thrusters propelled the royal space cruiser upward, into the sky, and past the atmosphere. A blue portal opened, allowing the cruiser to slip through the light years between Earth and Vocado in an instant of time.[/QUOTE]
Knowing this meant that her love would be gone before she returned to the Lookout, all the golden-eyed Oni could do was offer a nod -- to the air, more than anything -- before responding back quickly with:
[i]'I understand ... I will get there when I can.'[/i]
Sarada after all, had a handy teleportation device ... and while Ishtar could make the jump herself, as strong as she had become; it would take some time. So with that knowledge, the glowing-horn Oni headed off to tidy up a few things, before her own departure. Arriving first on the surface of the Lookout, she made her way quickly to check in on Ereshkigal, and Nunlil.
Both seemed well enough, the former being bounced upon the knee of the latter as 'Nuni' -- as Eresh had taken to calling her -- told her stories about her life as a Bounty Hunter ... and really, compared to how the pink-skinned Oni was, when they first met ... it certainly was something to see. Informing both that something ... troubling had come up, Ishtar offered her assurances that she would return soon; and perhaps they could make a point of moving the two to Dusk City. A thing that went over well enough in Eresh's case, though it seemed as if Nunlil preferred the Lookout.
Finished there, the Oni also looked in on Anula, and while the woman was still perhaps a concern -- though much less of one, now that the taint of Auroc did not cling to her-- given her former life ... she seemed comfortable enough in the care of Kai, and Evangeline. Ensuring that it would be fine for the Threshling to remain at the lookout, under supervision and the care necessary to restore her mind, Ishtar departed then quickly and blinked to Dusk City.
The Oni took even less time here, simply ensuring that affairs were in order -- and confirming the safe storage of the HIFL Fruit -- before gathering what little she needed, as she built the energy to teleport to Vocado ...
Only to find herself, upon stepping out of her house, face to face with someone she had not expected -- or really, hoped -- to see, standing in front of her Dusk City home.
"Nergal ?" Ishtar muttered, eyes wide.
The Oni who forsook his nature -- at the offer of power beyond his station -- who had sundered worlds, and wiped entire systems from the cosmic tapestry; now stood before her ... on Earth. Yet beyond that simple, startled question, she remained silent.
"Cousin." The slate-grey Oni replied, glancing about his surroundings before returning his gaze to the woman he had waited so long to see.
The golden-eyed Oni simply continued to stare. From what she recalled, this was not supposed to be ... possible. Or at the very least, she had hoped it would take longer. Gelia had fragmented his power, and sealed him away after all; and the Witch had been one of some renown. Yet ...
"Here I stand," Nergal stated then, breaking the silence and ripping Ishtar from her thoughts. "As do you ... and I have hoped for so long, to see you."
The glowing-horn Oni, unsure how to respond, simply bobbed her head weakly, before offering a rather simplistic, "how ?"
The broken-horn Oni nodded, as if somehow expecting this question, and wasted little time explaining how his liberation had come to be. "A rather ... disappointing tale, all things considered; as the millennia continued to trickle by during my ... confinement, I managed to prise myself from that damnable tome at the cost of much of what remained of my former glory." Nergal explained, "and from there I quickly plied my efforts toward restoration. A thing I yet remain in the process of." And as true as an Oni, when Ishtar examined her cousins' power level, it was nowhere near where it was once purported to be ... and yet as it was now ... should it end unpleasantly, Earth would fare poorly, as would the Oni herself.
"... but what of you, Ishtar ?" Nergal asked, again pulling the golden-eyed Oni's attention from her own thoughts, to the imposing figure before her. "How has your last ten-thousand years been spent ?"
"Not as well as I might have planned for, though perhaps better than it could be." Ishtar stated simply, at first.
"It was spent largely, drifting from one place to the next ... Earth was merely the next in a series of many. Though ... I have learned much of myself, in the years spent here." And this was not untrue ... the glowing-horn Oni had learned a great deal in her time here, and had slowly grown into the person she felt she needed to be. "You know though ... I must ask." The Oni stated then, slowly as she sought to find words that would not lead to an ... escalation.
"Why are you here ?"
Nergal blinked, before chuckling -- an ominous thing that set Ishtar on edge -- with eyes twinkling slightly.
"To see if you have transcended, dear cousin ... a thing I have yet to ... and to ask a simple question." The slate-grey Oni responded then, taking an unconscious step toward Ishtar -- who instinctively took a step back -- before continuing. "I have been ... traveling. Searching for shards of a relic that bound my glory and sealed it away ... and I learned that you, dear cousin ... Ishtar; know where a fragment lay hidden." He stated, straightforward and simple in the traditional Oni matter.
And Ishtar knew well what he spoke of.
After all, had not she, and Sarada spent time on Langal -- vacationing and seeing the best of what the Saiyan Empire had on offer -- for the purpose of hiding away that fragment offered by the young Draconian and her mother ? And while Ishtar was not sure how Nergal knew what he knew of this, she was almost positive what his question would be. Which was ... a problem, she could not lie; and given the disparity that lay between them now, refusal to answer would end ... poorly.
Both for herself, and for the Earth and all upon it.
"So I must ask you now, dear cousin mine ..." Nergal offered then, "Where is the Saiyan-girl you traveled with. The one who held the shard ?"
Ishtar's eyes widened -- slightly more than they were already -- and for the moment, she simply stared. This was not the question she had expected ... nor was knowing that he somehow knew of Sarada's part to play. So as Nergal waited, surprisingly patient, the golden-eyed Oni did her best to speak true, without the truth being offered at all.
"I ... know where she is not."
The slate-grey Oni's smile faltered, and took another step forward.
"Come now, cousin. By now you must know how this will end, should you deny me. Tell me what you know, and I will leave you ... and this mudball, be."
Ishtar stepped backward, now in time with Nergal's forward progress, before shaking her head stiffly.
"As I said. I know where she is not ... and this world means little, threatening it serves no purpose." And again, the blue-skinned Oni spoke true. The Earth itself was of little concern, it was the people she had found upon it that mattered ... a thing her Cousin did not need to know. Yet at hearing the repetition of a comment that skirted the boundary of truthfulness and lie, Nergal's smile fell away entirely.
He had come so far, and suffered a slow erosion of himself in the process ... Kin or no, he would not be denied.
"Do not mistake me, cousin mine." The broken-horn Oni offered, his words sickly sweet. "I will prise what you know from your corpse." The sky over Dusk City seemed to darken -- despite being midday -- when he spoke next.
"Now tell me."
Ishtar shook her head.
Even had Sarada's life not been at direct risk, she would refuse much the same. What Nergal was ... what Nergal continued to be, was one of many who stood in opposition to the balance she had long held, would be hers to correct. And now she had accepted such -- and learned it would be hears, almost assuredly -- she would not cow to the will of another. So as Nergal stood, with imposing posture and a building up of fell energy, the golden-eyed Oni stood firm.
"I will not."
(continued below)
Ishtar and Nergal, Pt. 1: A Sudden and Uncomfortable Reunion (2/2)
Nergal scowled, the twinkle in his eye now replaced with contempt.
"I had hoped for more, dear cousin. No matter ... "
The slate-Grey Oni stepped forward, and before Ishtar had the sense to retreat, his hand shot forward and clamped down upon her throat, blood welling up around the claws as they pierced the skin and hoisted her up to his eye-level.
"I will have what I came for, one way or another."
Unable to respond, Ishtar simply grasped at the arm holding her as she struggled to find a way out ... and with a faint crackling of energy that traced the curve of her spine, she remembered what she had been about to do minutes before ...
Nergal, too focused on the conquest that would soon be his, did not seem to notice it as the blue-skinned Oni's arms fell away. Instead he merely clamped down tighter.
[B]"The En-"[/B]
There was a flash of blue, and with it the Oni that had been grasped so tightly vanished in an instant, leaving behind only empty space and a reminder of what had happened only an hour before, with Aeliana.
To Nergal's credit however, he did not cry out in defeat. She could no longer be sensed on the Earth, surely, but that did not mean that he had lost her, or the information she hoarded so selfishly. After all ... his cousin, like Aeliana, could not have traveled far.
She was weaker yet than the Myrmadaris -- perhaps another disappointment -- and he had her scent now. Even if she managed to perform the same trickery again ... he would simply hunt her down and take what he wished of her by force.
So as Nergal stood there, he began to chuckle, before blinking from the surface of the Earth and back into the inky-black of space.
At least Ishtar would make this ... fun.