Soren shifted slightly as Cal tugged on his arm, unused to anyone outside of his sister doing that. He was surprised she was actually worried about him. Cal even took his words to heart apparently. They had to stick together. Though the blonde probably thought "they" included the adults as well. "I didn't know Mali was the bragging type." Soren muttered. "It's not so hard to do actually. You just..." He wanted to tell Cal how he could do what he had just been doing, there did not seem to be any words for it. Maybe Anna could have explained but she wasn't the one who was able to do it. "Well maybe I can show you tomorrow." As she led him out of the room Soren stared at Cal. True, he was tired, but he didn't want to sleep just this second. Taking a moment to calm down was all he needed to get his thoughts together. It just took him a little while before he could form words out of those thoughts. He pulled away from Cal before tugging on the girl's hand to get her to stop just before they reached their room. "Wait a second." Soren wasn't sure why Cal was smiling so much, maybe she thought it was funny catching him off guard like that, or maybe she was just faking it to seem friendly. Whatever it was, he tried not to think too hard about it before he allowed it to influence what he would say next. "I'll rest. I promise." He assured her just so Cal wouldn't think he was doing this just to put it off. "But..." He sighed. "I'm sorry." He repeated. "I'm not good with words. I'm better at doing not saying." He wasn't stupid, he knew his attempt at a compliment just a few moments earlier did not really do anything for Cal except maybe make her think he was...well, he didn't know the word for that either but it wasn't something good. "Anna thinks I used to pick on you because I like you." Maybe Cal already knew that but he felt like it was something worth saying. His sister already put that on his mind leaving him to think about it while he was alone. "Maybe she's right."
Anna watched the others silently as she waited for her brother to return. As time passed she began to wonder if he would even come back from wherever he left to and she was already too tired to go out and search for him. Sighing, the girl laid back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She thought about trying to talk to the others but with how Soren was acting putting her in not such good of a mood, she knew she would not be very fun to talk to. Anna closed her eyes, hoping to just take a nap, since it wasn't late enough for her to really turn in, until her brother returned. She soon fell asleep anyways before Cal even left the room. Of course, if she had been awake to see Cal leave, she would have joined Mali in teasing her. Soren on the other hand had been spending the last couple of hours in the training room. He visited it before but did not see the point in staying there to practice. It didn't feel any different to him than any other place. Other than a name he saw no purpose for it until he found that he had outgrown any the mirror room. Luckily, no one seemed to have been there to notice the damage he had done to it. At least not yet. He leaned against a wall to take a short break, looking over at the entrance to stare at the strands of mist barring anyone else from entering without the use of force. Soren did not want anyone just walking in after him, he needed this time to himself. He took in a deep breath and leaned his head back, digging a hand into his pocket to pull out a shard of glass from the mirror he had broken. It was sharp but did not cut his skin. As he turned it over he wondered if it, even it its broken state, had the power of a complete mirror. That was the only reason he kept it. Soren closed his eyes and tried to focus on something he wanted to see. When he opened his eyes the same fog as before covered the mirror, obscuring whatever it was supposed to show him. "...that's what you need to focus on. Not what triggered your abilities in the first place. Power comes from understanding, not emotion." This voice was so much less...aggressive than the first voice he had heard. It was distant yet so familiar to him. Whoever this was, whatever this man was speaking of, even out of context, connected with him in such a way he couldn't explain. Soren could only wonder if he should have known who this person was and even if he had heard the voice before he had never met this man. The fog vanished as quickly as it came. "It comes from...understanding, not emotion." If this was true, was using his anger to fuel his power wrong? As the mist began to swirl around his arm Soren stared at his own reflection in the broken shard. The more he thought about it, the stupider he felt. This whole time he had been allowing his hatred, his rage, guide him without any thought to what truly could make him strong. Whether or not this man was right, he gave him something to think about. Soren stood up and clenched his fist, taking in a deep breath as he did his best to let all the anger he felt subside. It was easier said than done. Once his mind was clear, for the most part at least, Soren drew his fist back and thrust it outwards. The mist followed through with his punch and did not stop at his fist as it continued to roll forwards before colliding into the opposing wall with explosive force. It dissipated along with even the mist Soren had been using to keep the entrance sealed. He took another deep breath as he tried to steady himself. "That was...new." He gave himself a few moments to regain his composure and catch his breath before doing it once more. And again...and again... He continued to throw punch after punch, allowing the mist to flow with his arm like an extension to his body. The first few tries were met with varying results. Sometimes the mist went out in a weak puff and sometimes they were violent and uncontrolled but the longer he did this the more consistent it was and the longer he continued the more time he needed to rest in between several bursts of power. "I just thought I'd come check on you. You've kind of got everyone worrying these last few days. You're always in here training and you seem way more agitated than before." Soren immediately froze mid-strike, leaving a trail of mist behind his arm that was meant to be so much more. He stared at Cal with what could only be described as a stupid blank stare. As he tried to gain some composure his cheeks burned from either exhaustion or something else. Maybe it was a good thing she interrupted him. His body was sore and until she barged in he hadn't noticed that it was starting to get hard to just stand. "Um..." Was he really that angry? No, of course he was. He knew it too. "Sorry..." He muttered, keeping his head turned away from Cal. If he didn't look at her, maybe the burning sensation would go away. He glanced her way, hoping that maybe he was really just hallucinating. Going crazy was the better alternative to having Cal walk in on his training. Nope. She was there all right. "I didn't worry you, did I?" No, of course not. If anything, Anna probably set Cal up to this. Why would Cal care about his attitude if just a few days ago they had not been getting along. "Um..." Once more, he was at a loss for words. Was he supposed to say something nice in return for her checking up on him? "You look..." Nice? No, he didn't want to say that. Not that Cal didn't but-Well, no other words came to mind so, "...nice. I'm sorry. I'm don't know what I should be saying. I don't know if it's good that you came to check up on me."
Henrik began to brush the sand off his coat after Cora's little accident. "That wasn't so bad. At least you managed to get something done." Once enough of the sand was dusted off he scratched his head, thinking of what best to tell her. "Did you get a good idea of what that power is supposed to feel like? Because that's what you need to focus on. Not what triggered your abilities in the first place. Power comes from understanding, not emotion." "It's starting to get late." Iris walked over towards the two and flicked several grains of sand off Henrik's shoulder. He looked off to the shore, watching the setting sun. Time moved faster than he thought it would. They had barely gotten anything done. Then again, it wasn't as if this was the first thing they had done in the day. Between coffee and the time he spent explaining other things they had used up their day. "So, shall we go back to your place then?" After having Cora agree to go back to her apartment, the three left and went to sleep in their own rooms(Henrik and Iris in the same of course) with nothing more to be said.
Henrik was already expecting Cora to refuse the kind of help he offered and was mildly surprise when she accepted, vanished for a bit to use the restroom, and returned with a place in mind for them to begin her first lesson. One of many lessons that Cora would have to learn and all of which would almost assuredly be painful and possibly humiliating. The only thing that mattered here was whether or not Cora would learn enough to keep herself alive...and that Lei would not attempt fighting Henrik for control just to satiate his need to kill. The cove Cora led them to was hardly what he expected when she said she had the perfect place to train. Still, it was secluded enough and seemed to be difficult for them to be traced to this location so that was all they really needed. Iris on the other hand was not so concerned about the practicality of the cove but was already more interested in looking around. Being from Norway did not exactly give her many chances to go to a warm beach. At least it would keep her mind off of other things for a while. "First off, I'm going to need you to demonstrate your ability once more." Henrik eyed the ground and motioned upwards with his index finger causing hundreds of grains of sand to rise off the ground before beginning to coalesce into a small sphere before dropping back once he released it. "Think back to when you first used your power. Remember what you felt. Emotion is a good trigger but, from my experience, it's not something that brings an ability into focus." Even as he spoke, Lei was already offering "advice" of his own. According to the angel, they would have been better skipping past what Henrik had just said and starting a little more violently. Totally out of the question. With so many locked rooms, exploring was hardly as fun as Soren thought it would be. Anna wanted to check on the mirror room again but the moment she reached for the door Soren pulled her away. He did not want her to see what he had done to the place. Even though he was not happy with the results of their aimless wandering, Anna seemed more than content to be out of the room with him. He knew she just wanted to keep an eye on him so he wouldn't hurt himself further. With enough time having been spent on what to him was nothing, more than enough of his strength had returned so that he could continue practicing. If he wasn't afraid of hurting Anna, he would have asked his sister to join him but even if she wasn't related to him her sheer nonviolent nature would make her a poor partner. "Your hair's getting too long." Anna commented. Soren raised an eyebrow and ran a hand through his messy black locks of hair, unsure if there was any point to what she had just said. Did it really matter? Aside from her, no one else would probably care anyways. He shrugged at Anna as they entered their room, intent on leaving her to her own devices until he spotted Cal speaking to Caius. The last time he had seen the baby it could barely even crawl. Now he was speaking apparently. Of course, what came to mind first was the question of how much it would hurt if he ripped those stupid horns out of the child's head. Not like the father would care. Anna, seemingly knowing what Soren was thinking, elbowed him lightly. "I wasn't being serious." Though even he was unsure whether or not he had just lied to his sister. "Hi Cal." Soren spoke up while Anna merely waved at the two. He didn't like Caius. So no hi for him. He wanted to say more to the girl but there was nothing he could say in front of other people. Even though Anna spoke less, she was the better one with words. He gave a halfhearted wave to Cal and his sister, unsure of what else to do before starting to head out of the room and back into the hallway. "He's been acting strange..." Anna muttered as she went to sit on her own bed.
Henrik nodded at Cora's question. "They can take over pretty easily. With time you'll be able to fight it but most of them, from what I've seen, seem content with letting their hosts have free reign." He scratched the back of his head. "If they stay in control too long, you'll die." That seemed to be about enough for Cora to know for now. As for Iris being okay with him helping the girl, that was all up to her. "I'm fine with it as long as you both stay in one piece." Of course she would not have any reason to be worried about it other than the fact that one of the two might get hurt. Just because Iris was fine with it did not mean Lei was. Henrik could already feel the angel stirring in the back of his mind. Rather than telling Cora the truth that Lei would kill her if he simply felt like it, Henrik believed it would be better if Cora felt at ease rather than endangered. "He'll play nice." He lied with a straight face. After all, would Cora trust him if she knew otherwise? So long as he could keep the angel part of him out of this things would move smoothly without getting the girl killed. Besides, he was confident he had total control over Lei's influence now. Or at least a good deal of control. Or less than that.
Henrik eyed his empty cup while listening to Cora speak and even though she had a similar experience to share with himself and Iris, Henrik was too uncomfortable with going into specifics on their own hardships. It was difficult to offer sympathy when all he felt was anger. "I see." He said once she finished her story. "I lived in Russia for a short time as well." Henrik stopped there not bothering to elaborate on it. Since Cora's powers seemed to have already awoken he decided to avoid beating around the bush and ask her something more relevant. "Have you heard it yet?" Realizing it was a vague question Henrik added in, "the angel." He lowered his voice and tapped his index finger to his temple. "It can get overwhelming if you let it push you too far." Irish shot him a concerned look. "Mine's about as violent and aggressive as they come yet I still haven't made heads or tails out of his...motives." That was if Henrik could even call what Lei wanted a real motive. Despite everything he had said about wanting other Fallen dead, Araquiel was--no, is one of the leaders of the Rebellion that lead to the Fall. His attitude did not make any sense but no one said it was supposed to. "There's something I can offer you actually." Since Cora was so new to this, even with whatever guidance her angel would provide her it would take far too long for her to become strong enough to defend herself. "I can help you hone your powers. At least enough to keep you from dying." Though he was far from a master nor on par with Lei, he knew he was still powerful on his own right and whatever experience he had would be at least make things easier on Cora.
"We didn't really get all the details. At least, I didn't." Iris glanced at Henrik who was staring down at his drink as if it had something to hide. He had been quieter than usual since that last incident he had and she was afraid that if she pushed him for some answers that he would shut down again. Still, she could tell he was feeling guilty about something but as to what it was... "Someone else has been paying for the rooms." Henrik stated a little too bluntly. "But we'll take up your offer if it's not too much trouble." Iris added with a faint smile. Out of all the other people they had met, Cora seemed to be the most...normal and calm of the bunch. With the exception being when the others tried recruiting her but that was understandable. Iris, knowing she was only a part of this because her husband was, tried her best to just keep from thinking she had gone insane with everything that had happened. "Thank you." "What made you leave Russia?" Iris elbowed Henrik, thinking it was too personal of a question to bring up. "I'm curious, that's all." Anna stirred and awoke to the sound of her name being called, her eyes slowly opening as she turned over to see her brother leaning over her. The siren had kept her up for a long time until it ended and even by then Soren had not returned to the room. She was certain he had not slept all night but from the looks of it, she could not tell if he had gone to bed. He seemed to be perfectly well-rested. Her eyes caught a glimpse of his hands appearing as if they had just barely begun to heal over some kind of injury. Soren noticed her gaze and hid his hands behind his back. "Good morning." Anna rubbed her eyes and sat up. Was that all he had to say? "Good morning." She yawned and stretched her arms out. Before she could ask him how he was feeling after having been alone for about a full day, Soren answered preemptively. "I feel stronger." The boy snapped his fingers causing mist to instantly flare up around his hand before vanishing with a flick of his wrist. Anna frowned at him. If that's what he was up to while he was away then- "Don't worry so much. Everything will be fine." Even though she trusted her brother it did not mean she had to comfortable around that mist. Wasn't training a thing for adults to do? Either way, now that he was back, she wanted to look around the rooms. A mirror room was nice, but she was sure there was more interesting stuff out there.
Spoiler: Aretstikapha Rather than the dark obsidian wasteland Lei was used to fighting Henrik in the angel now stood in the midst of an empty city, one that he was quite familiar with. He summoned Nakah to his hand. He had told Iris that he would bring Henrik back, but he never promised to be gentle about it. "I don't play games, Henrik. Take hold of your senses before I lose what little patience I have left." "I'm tired of your hypocrisy." The voice came from behind. Without any hesitation Lei swung the blade around leaving Nakah to slice right through Henrik's waist. Except nothing happened. The man stood there as if the blade had never made contact. Lei knew he did not miss, he never did, but he tried attacking Henrik once more only to have Nakah swing harmlessly through him. "Is that the best a leader of the Rebellion can do?" "I told you not to compare me to them." Lei turned around to find that that Henrik's voice had come from several directions and it was only obvious to him now why he had been unable to harm him. There were several images of Henrik surrounding him. "Using my powers against me won't do you any good. Especially one like that." Lei's eyes caught sight of the obsidian blade in Henrik's hand. "Kill me and you'll never obtain vengeance." "Fair enough. I'll just have to make due with making you suffer." Henrik snapped his fingers allowing the illusions to vanish but instead of going after Lei he simply stood still. Lei decided to take the fight to Henrik if the man would not have the guts to make the first move. He began to charge at Henrik who continued to stand still and once Lei had swung the blade he only found that he was several feet off target. Henrik had not once moved yet Lei had still missed. "No." Lei growled. "There's no way you could have learned that as well." It was getting difficult to breathe, the pressure of the air began to dip. If he had not been tied to a mortal vessel it would have done nothing to him but given his circumstances... Suddenly the thin air began to thicken and Lei's body quickly became heavy. Now instead of having too little air around it was beginning to crush him in its weight. The surroundings dimmed quickly leaving Lei no time to adjust in the change in light and just as his eyes attempted to adjust everything began to brighten. Lights, sounds, the air, and space itself all rapidly shifted with no discernible pattern. Lei's senses were assaulted mercilessly. Most angels would have been brought to their knees by the power of Aretstikapha, the World of Distortion, and a mere human would be unable to survive the unnatural climate. Lei was annoyed but far from out of the fight. "However you managed to do this does not matter. It is my power you are using. A mere human cannot best me." "You threatened my children, my wife, and you've done nothing but fill my head with your thoughts, your ideals. You want to kill the other angels yet you are the one who chose to rebel in the first place. I'm through with you." Even if Lei was still standing, Henrik knew he was not unfazed by the distortion, whatever handicap he gave Lei would have to suffice. He charged at Lei. Their blades crossed and rung out in the mock city, windows around cracked from the shockwave and the angel was forced to step back to hold his ground. "I see now." Lei grinned. Henrik growled and pushed down on his blade, slowly overpowering Lei. "What are you talking about!?" "Your thoughts." Lei stepped forward forcing Henrik back. "Those that you kept hidden from me." Henrik's eyes widened at his words. "Iris was not the first, was she? That woman in Russia, Kalia, she carried your first." Lei broke away from Henrik and tested this mortal to see if his technique had improved any. Surprisingly, Henrik was able to hold his own, every clash they made, every cut Lei made with the intent to kill, Henrik kept one step ahead if only just barely. Lei leapt backwards to get some breathing room and egg Henrik on. "It's a pity that child was never born. You abandoned her, that's why she's still angry, and you forced the memory out of your head. Was it too painful, Henrik? You coward." "That's enough!" Henrik charged at him once more. Lei's eyes narrowed, searching for any mistake Henrik might make from losing his temper. As their swords locked once more Lei's grin only widened. "She gets mugged and you weren't there to be the knight in shining armor. If you weren't human you could have actually done something about it." He shook his head. "I wonder how Iris would feel about being second place. You married the rebound girl!" Lei's laughter only served to fuel Henrik's rage but the more the fight dragged on the faster Lei's power began to return. "So that little mental shutdown you had earlier was a result of the old days coming back to you. Not your first time failing as a father, am I right?" The ground cracked open, catching Lei's leg to pin him. "Shut up!" Henrik's blade cut at Lei's neck. The sword stopped midswing, making contact with Lei's free hand. His power had returned to him just in time. Lei's smile vanished. "Good. Only with that kind of intent to kill will you be able to be of any use to me." The city began to fade away. "Now, wake up. We're done here." "Ugh..." "Henrik?" He opened his eyes to find Iris waiting on him. Henrik nodded slowly and she embraced him though he could not bare to look her in the eye and tell her what had just happened. He was not sure if anything Lei had said held any weight or if it was just meant to provoke him, but the experience drained him of a great deal of strength. At least this meant he had the means to draw Lei out through force of will, even if it meant he had to endure something far worse than any physical pain their training had brought on. "I'm sorry I did that to you." Henrik pulled away from Iris and looked at the time. "We should get some rest..." "What happened?" "I had to see if I could control it. Control him." Henrik lied for it was far simpler to say that than tell her of the ordeal. Iris seemed to not believe him entirely but she did not press for any details. With all said and done the two soon went to sleep.
"What have you done to Henrik?" Iris snapped at Lei once they were in their room. The angel could only smirk and shrug in response. At least this human was not stupid enough to fall for his act. "I don't know. Humans aren't supposed to be able to force an angel to take control." Iris swung her fist at him. Lei made no attempt to stop her and simply let the woman's hand collide with his jaw. It didn't even sting. "Look, I can't bring him back. He must have snapped." "You're lying." "I wish I was." Lei crossed his arms. It was humiliating to be put on the spot like that just because Henrik had to lose it. His vessel was hiding something which Lei had been sure was impossible. He should have known everything Henrik ever thought or did. Apparently there were limits to this that he had never come across until now. Henrik's wife drew her hand back, readying to hit him once more. Lei sighed at the woman and rolled his eyes. He did not want to be in control right now, especially not with the limits Henrik had just placed on their body so his only choice was to try and draw the man out. "Fine. I'll get your husband back but I need you to stop hitting me. I can't just drop control of this body and hope he takes over. If he doesn't, then we'll go comatose." Iris lowered her hand and nodded at him. Lei went to take a seat and closed his eyes. This next part would be tricky. Finding Henrik might not be too difficult but dragging him out would be troublesome. Especially considering all the surprises Henrik had just given him. All the more reason for Lei to hate humans. Anna swung her legs back and forth on her bed, her eyes staring straight at the ground. She wasn't sure what had gotten into Soren. Her own brother had even told her to go away to leave him alone in that mirror room. Anna sighed and crossed her arms hoping Soren wouldn't hurt himself. He was the only person she had...unless she could count Cal as her friend. Could she? What was a friend anyways? Was it something you had to declare? Anna sighed once more and hunched over as she thought it over. Whatever happened to Soren in that room scared her. She knew he was normally angry but something in him had changed. Or maybe nothing had changed and she never knew who Soren really was to begin with. Soren pressed a palm against the cracked wall, panting as he stared down at the drops of blood faintly shining on the floor. He lifted his head to glare at his bloody knuckles while trails of mist fading away from his hand. He growled lowly and shut his eyes tight. 'No. I'm not tired. It doesn't hurt.' He opened his eyes to see that the mist had returned. He regretted telling his sister to leave him alone but she was not as angry nor as violent as he was. Her worrying would only distract him. She was soft so he had to be strong. She refused to fight so he had to be push himself beyond a breaking point. The deep hatred he felt for his situation, Lu, Alistair, the mirrors refusing to show him what he wanted...It was as if he had been born to be angry at the world. Maybe something was wrong with him but he didn't care. As long as he could take become strong and take it out on everyone he hated, as long as he could protect his sister, nothing else mattered. So Soren continued to take his frustration out on the walls of the room of mirrors, that was the only use he had left for it.
Soren stared at the mirror, wondering if there was some sort of command he had to give it to show him what he wanted. Of course, thinking about it like that seemed silly considering Cal did not need to do anything special to show them Mali. Soren glanced at his sister who shrugged at him. "Just concentrate?" Even Cal had said that but it seemed so strange to him that just thinking of something would be enough for the mirror to show him what he wanted. He just needed to know what he wanted. He closed his eyes sorting through a mess of jumbled thoughts to pick out what he really wanted to see. 'Where did we come from?' "Soren look." He opened his eyes expecting the room to light up with images across all the mirrors but that was hardly the case. If anything, the room had gotten darker than before. Each mirror looked like it had fogged up with some kind of black mist. Soren walked towards one of the mirrors and rubbed his sleeve against it unsure if he had just broken them with just his thoughts. "Come on...work..." "Now that that's over, all we have to do is wait for her to make the right decision." A man's voice was all they could get from the mirrors. No image, no hint as to the voice belonged to, nothing more than a faint voice. Just a bunch of distorted mist. Soren clenched his hands tight into fists. Who was this man? Having been denied even the smallest amount of details for some unknown reason Soren lost his temper and rammed his fist into one of the mirrors, shattering it. The images faded away leaving himself and Anna alone to wonder what had just happened. He took in several deep breaths as he visibly shook in anger. "Soren...? Are you okay?" The boy looked at his hand, thinking that he would have to start picking out shards of glass from a bloodied hand but instead something else poured out from his hand. Mist. Soren blinked as he turned his hand around, watching as streams of it trailed up from his wrist to the tips of his fingers. Even when his anger subsided the mist did not. He smiled for what felt like the first time in his life. "Never been better."
'Semyaza may be the leading type, a strong one at that, but if I hadn't fallen too it would have been my job to-' 'Enough. My vendetta isn't with some boy who can't keep his mouth shut. Stop acting as if you're still on some kind of fucking sacred duty. You're one of them too. Get over it.' Henrik broke eye contact with Cora when she brought up losing a child of her own along with her own husband. Even with all his built up rage he needed to keep hold of his senses, he had spent so much time listening to Lei go on about how he could go about systematically killing everyone in their little gang that he was beginning to see them as nothing more than objects that occasionally got in his way. The boy was right about one thing, he was not the only one who had lost someone. 'But it hardly compares, does it? One side takes your wife, rips out your kids, and dumps her in the middle of nowhere. The other side works for higher powers that would kill your children if given the chance. Assuming the little brats are still alive of course.' 'Fuck off already.' Henrik clenched his hands tight into fists until he could draw his own blood. It didn't even hurt but he had to do something, anything, to keep his mind off of Lei's words. Against his will, older memories resurfaced. Those of his life before meeting Iris, back when- 'You should be used to loss by now.' "Henrik?" Iris whispered to him. When he gave no response she pressed her arm on his shoulder and tried to turn him towards her. "Are you okay?" "What?" Lei blinked, unsure of what just happened. He nodded slowly in response to Iris, coming to the realization that Henrik had just gone AWOL on him and forced himself to take control. Lei searched the corners of his mind for any signs of Henrik's consciousness but as hard as he concentrated, Henrik had just gone off the radar leaving Lei stranded. He decided to make the most of the situation by killing Semyaza immediately with the help of a trusty obsidian dagger. Without having Henrik holding him back, it would be all too easy to send the blade right through Semyaza's heart before anyone could even blink. He would not even have to lift a finger. Soon he would rid everyone of that- Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened. The dagger barely moved in his coat pocket but that's all it did. Whatever Henrik did to them, he managed to keep Lei's powers out of his own grasp. Acting natural as if he hadn't just tried to murder the Fallen right on the spot, Lei spoke up. "We won't stay long. So you better make your decision quickly." 'Stupid human.' Lei growled in his thoughts.
'And that's why I should not have let the others talk to her first.' Henrik walked after the girl, not waiting for Iris to offer a suggestion or tell him to slow down. He blamed the others for this. He had dealt with Lauren just fine and maybe it was his own fault for not speaking up the last two times the group tried to convince Cora to join them but he was hardly ready to give up. And then Adam showed up. Instinctively, Henrik reached for the dagger in his pocket but he refrained from stabbing Adam in the back...for now. Henrik picked up his pace and shoved Adam to the side after he spoke to Cora, narrowing his eyes at the boy. He did not need to say anything to him. It would be a waste of his time. Adam was in his way and he would force him quiet if he continued to meddle in this. "Your life isn't normal." Henrik called out towards Cora as he finally caught up with the girl. "Everyone you care about will die unless the lot of us can stick together and prevent an apocalypse." He lowered his tone, figuring that his choice of words may not have been the best for the situation. "Look," He grabbed the girl by her shoulder to get her to stop, "my wife and I," Henrik glanced over at Iris, "lost our children. We had as much of a normal life as you and we had to put that aside. I had to put it aside just for the chance to get revenge." He took a deep breath, realizing this was the same argument he made towards Lauren and he hated it. Every reminder that his children were not with him only brought him closer to the breaking point. "Listen..." His voice softened a little. "If we leave you to live your life others, far worse than us, will come searching for you. The same ones who plan to bring Hell to Earth. I never believed it was true until I saw proof. You need to listen now before you're stuck staring into the abyss wishing you had made a different choice."
"Don't you think we should wait for the others?" "No. They've only managed to botch things up." Henrik adjusted his coat and opened the door, waiting for Iris to head out of their room. They immediately left the hotel and drove back to Cora's apartment where the girl would likely still be at this time of day. Without the compass on them, he just had to hope they would catch her before she went out. Unfortunately, when they arrived to her apartment, no response was given when Henrik knocked on the door. He tried again, thinking that perhaps Cora had been scared off by the others but after a few minutes of waiting around and taking a not-to-subtle look around, they figured that Cora had already left. The second time they approached her, Cora had been by the beach. Henrik was not too fond of beaches. He was used to beaches having cold water all the time and even though that was just due to where he lived, it did not make him too eager to head to the beach. After another trip in the car the couple finally arrived at the beach. Almost immediately Henrik spotted the girl taking pictures. It would have been embarrassing if he had not found her after all the trouble he had just went making sure they got to her first. "Are you sure-" "I am." Henrik approached Cora, carefully thinking on what he would say to avoid a repeat of their last meeting. The girl's accent was Russian, he could place that anywhere, so he figured speaking in that language would help smooth things out. "Good morning, Cora. We'd like to speak with you again. It seems my...colleagues did not make a very good impression with you." Anna rubbed her eyes as she sat up, once more finding that her brother was not in the room with her and Cal. She started to lay down again, thinking that Soren probably was just running around like yesterday. 'The basement!' She jumped out of bed, hoping to catch her brother before he got himself hurt. Not two steps after having ran outside their room she was knocked down on her back suddenly. "Ow!" Anna rubbed her hand against her forehead and frowned as she looked up at the one who just bumped into her. It was her brother. "Soren?" "Watch where you're going, Anna." The boy helped his sister up to her feet and looked her over to make sure he hadn't hurt her. The worried look on her face said it all. "I wasn't going there, not now." He scratched the back of his head and thought for a moment as Anna gave him a hard stare. "I'm fine...but running doesn't get me tired anymore." Soren thought that by waking up even earlier and pushing his body harder than he did yesterday, he would have been out of strength by now but it seemed that their growth meant more than just getting bigger each day. Soren peeked into their room to find that Cal was still asleep. He did not want to wake her up this time so instead he decided on doing something else. "Let's go to that mirror room."
Soren sighed out, upset that Cal refused to go with him to the basement. He could have taken care of himself. Maybe she was the one who was scared. Then again, he couldn't have protected both Cal and his sister. Even if he wasn't old enough to kill demons he did not have any plans on actually getting caught down there nor did a little gore scare him. Though the same could not be said for his sister. In the end, they went to some mirror room where Cal showed the two Mali and the man he was with. Mali was definitely older-looking than the last time they saw him. 'But still not as big as me.' Soren confidently thought to himself. His mood was finally beginning to improve when Alistair had to step in again, uninvited. Why wouldn't he just leave them alone? He was getting tired and figured that the girls in the room were too. Soren pulled on Cal's hand and lead her back to their room. Anna wasn't happy with being the last of the three. "Thanks for showing us the room..." Soren spoke lowly, remembering some amount of manners. "When I'm older, we can go to the basement. Then the monsters won't hurt us." Something important had to be down there. Danger was hardly a reason to keep them out of there, not with the kind of people living here. Everyone was dangerous. He just had to become stronger than them. Soren's eyes followed Anna as she went straight to bed before turning over towards Cal. "Good night." He wanted to say more, but he was still terrible with coming up with words to describe things that didn't involve him being angry. Soren went to bed unsure if he would be able to sleep. He wondered what he would have seen if he looked through one of those mirrors. Part of him hoped to see his parents, his real ones, and the other part of him doubted that they were still alive. 'If they were, they were probably already asleep...' And Soren was right.
"My Alice is gone..." Henrik was hardly fond of the group as it was, though it may have been in part of Lei's constant urging to kill every single one of them, Henrik had no reason to spare sympathy for the others when his own children had been taken from him. He could have just waited in the car to let the others finish with their never-ending process of recruitment but he just had to step out and listen to what was going on. He just had to follow them here. Even with his pent up anger, he could not help but feel a semblance of empathy for this girl. He did not know who "Alice" was nor her relationship to Lauren, only that someone had been taken from her. Judging by trembling Lauren was doing, it had to be recent. It had to be during the earthquake. "And you're going to do nothing about it?" Henrik spoke up for once. Why did he even bother following the others when absolutely no progress had been made finding his own children? The answer was simple. "That wasn't a natural earthquake." Henrik narrowed his eyes at the girl. "Your Alice was a victim, wasn't she? Maybe we can't help bring her back to you. But if you join us, you can get a shot at vengeance for the ones responsible." He lowered his head. "My wife was abducted, our children were taken from us, and she was brought back without any clue of what happened to them. There's no one here who wants them dead more than I do. The very same ones behind this mess. So you can stand there and mourn knowing there was something you could have done or you can join us." Soren clenched his fists when Alistair spoke, wishing he could strike the man down right there. He took in a deep breath and let his anger sink back inside. Of course, that proved to be even more difficult when Lu came in and had the nerve to touch him. It made him angry that Cal treated the adults like they really cared about them. Like as if they were really a family. Soren's eyes followed Danel and Lu as they finally left and vanished out of sight. He stepped out of the room to get away from the only remaining adult, hoping Cal would follow as Anna did. His sister stared at him, seeing his pent up anger but she said nothing for fear of provoking a violent outburst from the boy. He took another deep breath and unclenched his fists, having nearly torn through his own skin with his nails. "I want to go to the basement." Soren spoke low enough so only Anna and Cal would be able to hear.
My Top Five games of last gen are: 1. The Walking Dead - Telltale's version of course. There hasn't been a game in a long time to make me feel the way this game did. There's plenty of reasons as to why some call it "The Walking Feels". It's so much more emotional than the TV series and it's already really good. Lee and Clem forever. It's hard for me to put more detail in this. It's just something you need to experience. 2. Prince of Persia (2008) - "But wait Arch! There was no dying in that game! IT'S TOO EASY!" I'm glad there wasn't any dying. There are times where dying is just a meaningless mechanic. I don't want to be stuck waiting on load screens every time I make a mistake and kill my character off. That makes messing up frustrating. No dying just means you can keep playing the game without having to stare at a load screen. People would be complaining about this game's difficulty if they included "dying" into the game because you will fall a lot. With that being said, the game is one of the most beautiful things out on the PS3/360. Animations are so fluid, music is great, the story is nice and fantastical, but what really grabs my attention are the interactions between the two main characters. The Prince(never mentioned by name or even by title so we don't know if he's really a prince) and Elika. Together they easily have more personality and wit than just about every single character I've seen in this last generation. Oh and Elika, despite being controlled by AI, is never stupid! That's because she can't really do anything to screw you over. Only help you. So that's a huge plus. Stupid Ubisoft and their not making a sequel to this. 3. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron - Another beautiful game. It saw an "Encore Edition" released in Japan only and a mobile spinoff(that may or may not be released). It's creator is currently trying to get rights to the game to continue with the universe of El Shaddai. That aside, this is another very beautiful game. Gorgeous music too. The gameplay is...creative. At first it seems to be a button masher but that's not the case. Combos are based off of rhythmic button presses. There's no prompts to help you with this. You just have to learn how to time your input. I could go on about this game forever...even if there's a lot that it lacks from a replayability perspective(and it doesn't do a great job of giving detail in the story)...but I just really loved this game. It was a solid platformer, had fun combat, and had a unique artistic style. 4. The Last of Us - One of the best looking games to come from the PS3. Great characters, satisfying kills, and a difficulty that makes you think about how you approach each situation. I have a thing for this kind of combat system even though it's not seen all too often. Don't have much else to say about it though. 5. Dragon's Dogma - An action RPG that does it all and is still solid all-around. Ever played Skyrim? Ever killed a dragon in Skyrim? It's pretty boring, right? No attacks feel like they have any weight and you might as well be playing a pretty looking whack-a-mole. Combat in Dragon's Dogma wipes the floor with just about any RPG in last gen. Having large monsters actually means something. You can climb them. Individual body parts of a Cyclops for instance will catch fire(and if you're persistent you can get the whole thing covered in flames). Same applies to the other large monsters. You can climb them too! Shadow of the Colossus meets fast-paced combat! Unlike a lot of open-world games there doesn't seem to be very many glitches in this. The only major one I know of is in the expansion, Dark Arisen, where your save data can become corrupted... The game has minimal story and while the premise isn't exactly original, it's really cool anyways, and the ending and message of the game is much deeper than many give it credit for. Stylistically it's a little bland but that's okay, it does so much right that a sequel would likely be near perfect. And this is from Capcom. Honorable mentions: Sleeping Dogs for a great combat system, stylistic car/motorcycle chases, and driving is actually fun. Plus the game looks gorgeous on any platform. The recent Batman games. Very influential combat system. Like a refined and faster version Prince of Persia/Assassin's Creed's combat(where countering is everything).
There's plenty of other reasons to hate Bethesda but that's a pretty good one.
3 'I find that hard to believe.' Even after having been rudely awakened by Lei, the angel still would not cease speaking. After having killed whatever consciousness remained of Lei's last vessel, named Henry, the angel had been spent his time speaking to Henrik rather than trying to kill him. A history lesson hardly seemed like the kind of "understanding" Lei was trying to promote but he spoke of little else. Apparently, as the angel of vengeance, Lei had spent a great deal of time killing nephilim. The most famous example being... 'Goliath was not twenty feet tall. He was only about seven feet tall. Or two hundred and thirteen centimeters if you prefer that. What? Did you think a human could have killed him? And no, I did not use a slingshot. I love blunt trauma as much as the next-' 'Would you shut up?' '...His daddy wasn't so happy afterwards. In retrospect, mounting the brute's head on a pike might have been the breaking point.' 'And I wonder why you're Fallen...' Henrik and Iris arrived at the lobby and spotted the others. Just then, everyone seemed to lose their balance. Henrik caught Iris before she could fall over and raised an eyebrow, having not even broken his stride until he had to stop to keep his wife from falling. There was an earthquake, he felt it, but nothing felt out of the ordinary for him. A little ground shaking was hardly something that surprised him. Almost as if he expected it. Henrik refrained from speaking to Lei about it. Araquiel's name was proof enough why it didn't bother him. Plus, he wasn't in the mood to continue their argument. "Are you okay?" "Yeah..." Now that people were running out towards the exit, Henrik lost track of the others but it was obvious that they too needed to get out in case the building collapsed. So Henrik pushed his way through the crowd with Iris in tow as they left. Soren said nothing to Alice, doing his best to ignore the man as Anna continued to drag him towards Cal who was now giving attention to the baby. Looking at the child he imagined that he had begun to walk around the same time Caius started to. Now that he thought about it, Soren had grown since last night. At least another inch. At this rate he felt like he would end up hitting his head against the ceilings in a matter of days. He was drawn away from his thoughts as Anna yanked on his arm once more. He was too tired to resist and knew his sister's persistence would win out anyways. "Tell her." "Hi Cal. Sorry again." Soren muttered, looking away from the blonde in embarrassment. "I don't have anything to say." Rather than bicker with Soren, Anna pinched him on the arm to get him to talk. The boy narrowed his eyes at his sister and pried himself free from her grasp before rubbing his arm though it didn't really hurt. Since he figured his sister would not let it go until he said something or would continue to embarrass him in front of Cal, Soren spoke once more. "Do you want to go out?"Anna giggled at this. "I-I mean...explore...we didn't really get a chance yesterday..."
Anna sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes before stretching out and yawning. The brunette girl blinked several time as she pushed the covers off herself and looked towards the bed of her brother to find he was no longer in it. Anna tilted her head narrowed her eyes to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. Where was he? Anna hopped out of bed and looked around to the room, the only other person with her being Cal. She left the room in order to look for her brother but did not have to go very far to find him. Soren darted past the girl without any warning startling Anna. She was about to run after him but her brother immediately turned and sprinted back towards her. Drops of sweat covered his brow as if he had been doing this for some time. "What are you doing?" "Running." Anna glared at her brother for giving such a stupid answer. She could see that. He must have noticed it too as Soren added in, "I want to be strong." She blinked at him. He had been saying for some time now that they should leave but he never did anything about it other than give attitude to the adults. Once more Soren took off, running to the ends of the hall and back, Anna's eyes following her brother as he did this. "What got into you?" She asked as Soren once again ran by her. On the return trip Soren quickly answered, "I'm tired." Anna waited for him to come her way again before responding. "Then rest." "Tired of being here." Soren came to a stop and stared at his sister. "I know running around won't do much but I can't just sit around and do nothing. I know I'll have to do more. I have to." Anna frowned at her brother's ambition. She had to worry for him as no one else would. He didn't care if he got hurt but she did. Maybe Cal did too. Anna grabbed her brother by the wrist and dragged him back into the room before he could argue with her. She didn't like this place any more than he did but the way he was going about things would only make things worse. Maybe it was a boy thing or maybe..."Are you trying to impress her?" "What? N-" "Calllll." Anna called out. "Soren has something to say to you." If Anna couldn't get him to settle down then maybe Cal could. It was for his own good anyways.
Soren and Anna headed back to the room after not so much exploring. Though Soren was disappointed, the time he spent trying to talk to Cal rather than picking on her was spent better than he thought it would be. Soren said good night to the blonde girl first before going over towards the pair of beds he and his sister slept in. Anna was already asleep. He frowned since she did not even say good night to him and went to his own bed and sat on it, staying up for awhile to think things over. Cal seemed to open up quickly when he started being nice. He liked not fighting with her. The boy laid down wondering why he had never tried it sooner. He turned over on his side and yawned, too tired to come up with a reason other than "she was a girl". It didn't make much sense, but it didn't need to for him. Eventually he fell asleep. Henrik walked into the room expecting Iris to already be fast asleep but instead she was sitting on the bed, waiting for him. "Where were you all day?" "Moving a car." He responded bluntly. The first few attempts to move the stolen car was met with little success but once he grew used to the weight, the thing finally budged. Considering that the brakes were still on, that wasn't all too bad for just telekinesis. Of course, the longer he continued to use his powers, the more tired he grew and the harder it became...leading him to only put more effort into each attempt which only spiraled down into a vicious cycle that left him out of strength. If it hadn't been for Lei's insults, Henrik would have stopped to take a breather but he had something to prove to the angel. Humans weren't weak. "Sorry." Henrik muttered lowly as he sat beside his wife and closed his eyes. "Did anything happen while I was gone?" "Something about them finding a girl." Henrik nodded slowly. He hated that they were still recruiting after all this time. Was this really a numbers game? Quantity over quality? He sighed out, too tired to discuss it. Soon he and Iris fell asleep.
