Mary

The moment Mary heard that command, power surged through her entire body. She could see the deep glow of the sigils on her body glowing even underneath her leather armor. She could feel it as the magic moved through them, the sensation strange and unfamiliar. She started to panic, her muscles tensing as her breathing hastened. Her vision dilated, everything becoming sharper but darker. She started to lose sight of what was to her sides, focused entirely on what was in front of her.

She could feel her heart pounding behind her ribs as her body was electrified. Her teeth were gritted, her fists clenched, and hot steam poured from her mouth as she snarled. Should she be surprised that she snarled? She could hardly think, and those thoughts weren’t translating into the movements of her body. She dropped forward, getting on all fours as she stared directly at the cultists- only to find they hadn’t moved. None of them had.

Mary launched forward, feeling the ground give under her feet as she propelled herself directly forward, towards the action. No, no, she shouldn’t be going there- but, Rosetta told her to. She had to. No, she wanted to. As she got closer, she wanted to help. She saw Hunter and Lena in danger, but they were barely moving. Everybody was barely moving except for her. She managed to get enough control to look back and saw the dust trailing behind her slowly.

Everybody else hadn’t slowed down, had they? But what did that mean?

Mary was struggling to think. She knew what that meant, but it wasn’t registering. Her mind moved to the side as she looked forward again. She saw the people who were protecting her in danger. She wanted to help them, and she wanted to fight.

Mary was on the cultist in front of Lena before Rosetta had processed that she had moved. In less than a second, she was tearing at a throat and soaking her hands in blood. Mary snarled and cried out as she leapt between each warm body, their bodies giving way so slowly compared to how fast she was moving.

Mary wasn’t thinking about her speed anymore, she was trying to attack. She felt the crunching, the snapping, the straining of skin as she pressed into it. Delight flooded into her brain despite the disgust trying to rise to fill her mental space. However, nothing could prepare her for the sudden sensation of a spear jabbing into her side.

It didn’t pierce her skin, the blow was merely a glancing strike. It left a deep gash in her leather armor, but her body was protected. The sensation that filled her wasn’t pain, it was a discomfort of unexpected pressure followed by a deep, intense rage. Her face turned to the thing that dared pose a challenge, her eyes bloodshot and glowing red. The cultist didn’t even get a clear view of her eyes after she turned, her purple hair not falling out of the way fast enough before he couldn’t see anything.

Mary planted both hands in the ground to deliver a donkey kick that sent the man with a pike into the air, landing with a loud thud several meters away from where he was standing when he got struck. But Mary didn’t stop, she pounced forward, landing on the already-dead cultist and ripping open his chest.

Nobody could react as Mary tore through the rest of the enemies facing her, the remaining cultists disappearing in a tornado of gore and screams that barely found their way out of mouths before being choked out. When the warm bodies here were gone Mary began to turn her head.

The answer didn’t pop out to her immediately, but it wasn’t long. Another figure crouched behind a shield, hiding themselves from her. Mary started to make her way towards them, slower this time. This enemy was trapped in a shell, they couldn’t make it out. Her vision narrowed, focusing entirely on the cowering creature.

Mary saw an enemy. She knew that this person wasn’t a target. She shouldn’t. But suddenly, she wanted to, so badly. The craving was unbearable, like an itch that she couldn’t scratch as it grew rapidly. She couldn’t help herself. She didn’t have the restraint.

Please. Somebody stop me.

That was all she could think as she lunged at Lena.

Mary slammed into Lena’s shield with the force of a raging bull. Lena let out a cry as she slid backwards on the ground. Mary growled as she felt the shield rising, using her momentum against her and causing her to soar into the air.

She landed on her back, the air knocked out of her. She wanted to stop, but her body scrambled back up onto all fours. She started to launch forward, starving for the sensation of Lena’s armor crunching between her jaws, when-

“You will stand down now, Mary!”

Rosetta’s voice pierced everything. The fog in her mind, the darkness she saw, everything gave way to that command. Mary looked at Rosetta, recognizing the command. She felt herself calming down.

But she couldn’t. She HAD to scratch the itch. It had consumed her entire body, from her scalp to her heels.

She turned back towards Lena, ignoring the cry from Rosetta that followed. She tried to launch forward, but her left leg didn’t push with the force she wanted. She looked back, her vision reddening as she saw bruises all over her thigh.

The sight infuriated her.

She started to claw at the ground, managing to get herself forward anyways. She jumped at Lena again, but when her head tilted to look at her target, she was met with blinding light. Her shield started to glow, and Mary winced at just the wrong time.

Mary couldn’t feel the impact of the shield against her torso, but she did feel when she landed. It was a full-body impact, her chest landing first and her limbs colliding with the ground second. It sent a shockwave through her entire body, but her bones refused to break. She wanted to stay down. She wanted it to be over. She wanted to be finished.

But she couldn’t. The itch was beginning to burn.

“Stand down NOW, Mary!”

Rosetta’s words did nothing. Even as magic rushed into her body, nothing changed. Please, somebody, help….

Mary was barely able to stand on four limbs. She could just barely lift her head. In front of her, though, was a deep, pulsing, red glow. Created from a pile of meat she had not contributed to was a terrible red glow. It called to her.

The portal.

The portal pissed her off.

Her teeth grinded against each other as she crawled forward, her legs no longer moving, her knees no longer on the ground. Her fingers dug into the ground, Rosetta’s commands falling on deaf ears. Mary didn’t even notice that Hunter was the reason she couldn’t move her legs, she didn’t care why she couldn’t move them. They were not necessary to move forward.

“Help me stop her, Lena!”

But they couldn’t stop her. She reached forward, snarling weakly as she managed to get her hand inches away from that damned portal.

“MARY! YOU WILL SLEEP NOW!”

She could feel her consciousness rapidly slipping. She reached into the portal, grabbing. The last thing she could remember is something crushing in the palm of her hand, and the infuriating glow finally fading.

Then, her head fell, unable to hold itself up anymore, and her eyes shut.