Living Tomb - (Excalibur Umbra x f!Tenno OC)

Living Tomb

Although the estranged world of Demos had slowly grown on Alaris, the place that lay dormant below still induced a sense of dread. The infested tunnels, a living tomb of otherworldly creation. Damp and suffocating as the walls undulate around, leaving the sensation of spindly tendrils beneath the skin as the stagnant heat drapes over the environment. A place she rarely dared step foot herself, but with him she found herself a touch more courageous.

With Umbra she wasn't alone, the connection they shared was dissimilar from the other frames she'd piloted. For his mind lies at the surface of his being and not ensnared within the infested consciousness. Moving without aid, pulling her back from her missteps with a guiding hand. A companion in her regularly programmed solitude, there even when the fear reared its crippling head and accepting of the scars that define them. Like shattered seriglass imbued with restorative veins of gold, perfectly imperfect.

Not unlike the quirky place around them, with its ever-mutating splendor. Viborent in alarm for your impending peril, an ever-expanding labyrinth of dead ends. Where one must always remain vigilant, turn away for even a moment and the world keeps churning around. Beings manifest within the hollow walls and strike without mercy.

Something felt before it's seen.

Like an edge piercing the dulled rumbling of Umbra's restless mind, a silent cry across the rift that tethered them to one another. He turns to catch sight of the vile beast that's struck her, an overgrown tumor of meat and teeth that's emitting a sickly green glow. Alaris staggers backward as the putrid haze envelops her, a visceral cloud of living spores that's coated her lungs. Leaving her momentarily defenseless to the onslaught of infestation if not for her sentry wolf.

In an instant, the hostiles are eviscerated in a wisp of inky smoke, left in pieces scattered in every which direction; His divine blade making quick work of whatever unfortunate being dared to stand in its path. But his attention is trained elsewhere, a crumpled mass on the ground before him, and all he can see is red. Different from the writhing flesh of their surroundings, the red of Alaris's blood, a fading warmth as life slips from the gash in her side. He kneels before her to press a guarded hand against the matted remains of her tunic, desperate to staunch the bleeding.

"I'm okay," she tries to reassure his tilted gaze but the words come out as a distorted rasp. Coughing violently as a pained look consumes her features, composure siphoning away. Instead attempting an optimistic smile but it comes off overtly strained as her brows knit together, creases of sharp anxiety set between them. She reaches a small hand out to him but it lacks the strength to maintain grip, instead slipping down his face before going slack at her side. Looking up at him but with a dewy gaze already half empty and wishing nothing more than to be pulled back by the void's song, but with the viral decay snarling and twisting around them, her mind's eye is clouded.

The link wavers.

Umbra's giving her that hard stare, mutual understanding that she should retreat but she won't. Doesn't want to leave him here alone, for abandoning him in this wretched place is more than she can bear. Her fogged recollection is left pondering why they had come here in the first place. In hindsight, anything seemed minuscule to merit such a fate as this, but the thought fizzles out. Jarred back into focus by the gurgled chorus of snarls echoing down the corridor, an ominous reminder of their current plight.

Alaris turns back to him, looking for some sort of reassurance in his gaze but finds his attention also trained down the far passage, tensely awaiting the next confrontation. Her heart all but drops into the pit of her stomach as Umbra's grip leaves her to redraw his Nikana. More than certain he's about to jolt from her side to eradicate the oncoming enemies, but he doesn't. Instead sinking the blade into the fleshy ground before them. Conjuring up an ark of swords that cast forth and through the frenzied infested, lancing them into the cavernous walls.

Their wretched shrieks of agony echo down the passageway before reciprocating back with sharp refrain, a call for reinforcements. His hand returns to her side as she stiffens back a pained whine at the contact. Venting her growing frustration, Alaris grasps out with a strained hand. But without the conduit of her amp to filter the attack, it erupts from her palm untamed in shards of raw energy. Strong enough to maim but lacking enough malice to stagger the reinforced mutations slowly encroaching on them.

The appendage drops once more as her breath slows to a shallow murmur. Leaning against Umbra to feel the low rumble that's begun rapidly building in his chest. The offendingly loud howl he produces sends out a wave of pressure across the surrounding area, stunning the near-constant onslaught. Keeping the hostile beings at bay, if just for the moment, and blanketing Alaris's nerves in unexpected solace.

His grasp wavers, glancing down at her weakened form with that sharp gaze of his. A wordless plea, a clear opening for her to leave before things take an uglier turn. Her features soften, eyes basked in familiar clarity before the air begins to crackle with charged static. The space before him shifts, warping around before she's lost to sight, here and not in the blink of an eye. And although he knows Alaris now lies in the safety of her transference chair, it never gets any less jarring. Watching powerless as she evaporates in a twinkling array of sparks, the void granting her safe passage. Melting away the pesky wounds as her corporeal timepiece rewinds, a gift and curse all at once. She would be okay, for he could still feel her caress in the back of his mind.

The link is stable.

Thanks so much for reading (つ ͡ꈍ ͜ʖ̫ ͡ꈍ ) <3