Four.
Catori shivered in Ezhno's arms. Ey'd been unable to stop the screaming, and was glad to be restrained. Otherwise, it was quite likely that Tori would be ripping mercilessly at eir ears. Even if the clawing wouldn't shut up the voice, it might stop Catori's ability to hear it. But the minute eir fingers had gone to eir body, ripping and tearing, Ez had swooped in and held em tight. Too tight to breathe.
Or maybe that was the lost soul. It was stronger with this creature than with the goblin from last night. Which had to mean that it was stronger, Catori was weaker, or that it had some sort of magical essence surrounding it. Eir body ached too badly for em to choose, so ey just decided that it wasn't something good, and left it at that.
As it was, three things were certain. The first was that the bones had been put into a medium-sized, cherry wood box. The strange wood, something that usually was only found in the forests of Sarcatia, signaled that this probably hadn't been the remains of someone from the gateway slaughter. The second notion that entered Catori's riddled mind was that ey would have to try to shut up the spirit. That one was quickly relegated to the back of eir mind, since the very thought made em nauseous.
It was the final idea that pounded through eir veins with every scream of the soul: ey'd managed to stumble upon another set of hybrid human remains, just as ey'd been questing for. Sure, they weren't in the right location, but everything about the pain, the anguish, the feelings, the burnings pulsating through Catori's veins – all of it was like before.
Of course, ey wouldn't know for sure until ey plunged in. “I have to stop it,” Catori whimpered, in eir very best impersonation of someone with enough control over eirself to make a logical decision.
Ezhno wasn't having any of it. “Or we could ditch that thing.”His rough hands stroked Tori's forehead, pulling damp, curly hair out of Tori's eyes. But it didn't help – Tori's sight was already blurring, the migraine too strong to completely see reality.
Words wisped out of eir lips without another thought, and Tori shuddered into the other realm.
The ether had a different taste to it, here in this bloody deluge that was once a stronghold. And there was a strange strength, though Catori couldn't say what it was, about having transcended the realms at last, to face eir screaming captor.
But it was hard to see through the close quarters and heavy fog; Catori could barely see eir fingers in front of eir face. Crawling to eir knees, ey stumbled over uneven ground – and nearly ran face-first into the keening creature in front of em.
Even the spirit's face was gnarled, as it lay, flapping its arms mindlessly over the box of its remains. Its skin was a mixture of scales, feathers, and what looked like normal, olive skin. But its eyes and lack of horns – they were what drew Catori to reel backwards as its flippers stretched towards em, claws extended. There were no horns, and the eyes weren't double-lidded: this wasn't a dragon.
Another human, or, at least, another experiment that should never have been performed. Even as the creature lunged forward, Catori was skidding backwards. Scuttling like a crab, ey fled backwards over the ether-stained pavement. Ey didn't pause to breathe until the creature stopped hobbling in pursuit.
Inhaling the scent of toxicity, Catori murmured a prayer to Bali for strength. Ey begged the Great Father, who was present at the beginning and end of all life, to put this poor creature out of its misery. Slowly, ey managed to convince eirself to ease closer, listening to the wet, hacking noises the human was making as it folded in on itself.
Tori took the opportunity to try to search for some strings coming off of the bones – but there weren't any, just like before. “Be free,” Catori whispered. “Bali, take your child.”
It heard em, through the mists, despite being at least two yards away. Its head jerked with a sequence of snapping pops as it suddenly let out a roar. Catori inhaled, and stumbled backwards as it dragged its immobile lower half forward. Its flippers pounded the pavement, chasing with renewed strength.
'Castacea.'
The word was as clear as day, though it seemed far too normal to have been coming from the creature's broken jaw and contorted fangs. It lunged with its mouth for Catori, and sunk its fangs into eir toe.
Gasping, Catori jerked back, thankful that there were only a few indents in eir soul's shell, and called the essence that would take em out of the ether. Ey was hyperventilating as ey stumbled back into the just-as-deadly middle realms.