~In an unspecified location~
The shadows churn before spitting out two figures, they both crash-land but one catches himself midair, twisting and landing on his feet.
"Gotta work on the landing." Rain murmurs under his breath, his smile widening as he sees the pitiful figure before him.
The figure retches, then vomits all over the place, coughing violently.
"Oi, watch it!" Rain shouts, his lips pursed, half sarcastic half serious.
He couldn't help but find amusement at the pitiful state of the figure.
Not that he was that surprised either--- the first time he traversed the shadows, he also looked like a pitiful mess.
And he was 'loved' by the shadows!
So the current state wasn't that weird--- he was even counting on it.
Using the debilitating and disorientating shadows to incapacitate his prey.
"Oi! I said watch it," he yells, "You will stain my clothes!"
The figure looks up, puzzled only to burst into a defensive stance.
Or rather, he attempts to, but his legs buckle and send him face first into the moist floor.
Rain swings his dagger, delivering a blunt blow to the back of his head, sending him into the realm of dreams.
Soon he gets to work.
After a considerable amount of time, he prods the man awake.
No response.
A malicious grin plasters onto his face, almost splitting it into two.
Chi.
Urk.
The man rattles, feeling the pain shooting up his heels.
The 'devious fucker' had stabbed him in the sole of his foot.
"You are finally awake princess." Rain drawls.
The man looks at him, still struggling to re-orient himself but failing.
"How do I look?" Rain asks, twirling around, giving the man a three-sixty-degree view of himself.
Just then, the man feels the cold bite of afternoon breeze on his back.
Imagine his horror when he finds himself stripped to the bone, only his cotton breeches hiding away his decency.
A loincloth!
"What have you done to me?" He snaps
"Nothing much," Rain coos mysteriously.
"Hey! Don't get it twisted. I don't swing that way." He says, feigning hurt.
"You are the kid we were tracking." The man mutters under his breath.
"In the flesh," Rain drawls, "How long did it take you to figure that, Einstein?" He mocks.
The man looks around, making assessment and analyzing the best route to take--- to escape from this deranged psycho.
"You want to run?" Rain, the psycho asks him, "Go ahead, I ain't gon bite."
The man sweeps his gaze around, tries to stand only to end up where he once was, in the dirt.
The little psycho guffaws, laughing at his sorry state, still flaunting and flexing the garments he'd stripped from him.
"It isn't sweet being tortured,is it?" Rain asks, his voice suddenly serious and tinged with wrath.
"Yet you lot chained me. Stripped me.Tortured me!" He growls, his eyes glowing with a dangerous light.
"Enough of this," He claps, his anger and wrath fading as if mist against the morning sun.
"Why don't we get to know each other?" He asks, "I'm Rain. You are?"
The half naked man snickers, suddenly halting his amused snort when he feels a pair of green eyes disecting him, he felt as if his life was laid bare before the crazed lunatic.
"You spit at my courtesy." Rain murmurs, feigning hurt,
"You might reconsider my hospitality then."
Darrin spat blood and laughed, sharp and breathless.
"You think this is new?" he said hoarsely. "You think you're the first to torture me?"
Rain didn't answer.
That silence unsettled him more than the shadows ever had.
"I've seen worse," Darrin pressed on, forcing steadiness into his voice.
"The trials. The chains. Men begging gods that never answered. This—" he jerked weakly at the ground "—this is nothing."
His eyes flicked, just once, to the shadows pooling at Rain's feet.
Rain tilted his head.
Darrin gulped and swallowed.
"You don't understand," he said, faster now. "It's not choice. It's survival."
"Wait-"
As if on cue, the shadows beneath the naked figure twists and churns, swallowing him whole.
Silence reigns, only the unhinged voice of Rain counting down from ten sounding within the expanse of the jungle.
Not even bugs dared to chitter or rustle the leaves.
"Three, two...one." Rain counts down, urging the shadows that spit out the naked man.
Darrin gasped, clawing at the earth, voice breaking into something small and ruined.
"Please- " he whispered, "Please, I tell you everything I know."
Rain crouched in front of him.
The guy was visibly shaking, his fingers twitching in abject misery.
Rain grabs his chin with a vice like grip, looking down on him.
"I ask the questions, you answer!"
"Got it?"
The man nods in agreement.
"Good," Rain mutters, sending the man back into the realm of shadows.
Five seconds later the man is thrown out, now visibly crying out in muffled sobs.
"Come on...man up." Rain kicks his sorry figure.
"Name?" He asks
"D...Da...Darrin."
"Nice to meet you Darrin, that wasn't hard was it?"
The man shakes his head, sobbing.
"Splendid!" Rain coos
"First question, why is the cult so interested in claiming the legacy of primes? Why use us?"
The guy pitifully whimpers, conveying all he knew about the matter.
"Hmm." Rain rubs his chin, contemplating.
The info he just extracted was of epic proportions to say the least.
Yet enlightening, now he had some inkling about the organization he was fighting against--- and he knew a monumental task was up ahead.
Just like he suspected, the forced martyrs were to be vessels of the resurrected pale king.
There would be no life for them after the trial, even if they lived past the horrors of this accursed place.
The intelligence received was priceless, now he knew what he was up against, and how to better foil their plans.
"What of this?" Rain points at the rune on his forehead.
"That's the rune of the bound...it can never be erased! It carries the will of the all seeing, lord Malakath."
"Hmm, you dont say." Rain remarks, unimpressed,
A weary sigh escapes his lips as the interrogation session progresses.
He had to dunk the guy, Darrin, into the realm of shadows a few times, to assert dominance.
Show him who was boss, and get him talking.
By the time he finishes, the sun was already at peak, it was already midday.
"The last question." He intones, "Tell me about the so-called pale king, lord malakath."
"Sacrilege! Blasphemer, you will burn!" The once broken enforcer bursts with new energy, clawing and foaming--- aiming to tear him apart with bare hands.
Rain backs down, watching the crazed fury, amusement apparent from his expression.
He quickly ties the enforcer turned crazy to a tree trunk and progresses to examine his spoils of war, pushing all the deranged growls at the back of his mind.
The new cloak and tunic was a significant upgrade.
His old ones paled in comparison.
"Sweet." He murmurs, examining the leather armour fitted with strips of metal--- light yet strong.
Did I mention that it fit like a glove?
He clasps the leather-metal vambraces around his arms and proceeds to test them out.
Sparks fly as he grazes his daggers against them-- they would really ramp up his defence.
His fingers wrap around the wooden handle of a crossbow, testing it out.
Twack!
The bolt flies, impaling a tree trunk, sending splinters flying.
"Sweet!" He gasps in exhilaration.
Content with his new haul, he turns back to the snarling Darrin.
"Hey, I have a message for your lord." He hisses,
"When you meet him in the afterlife, convey my message."
Shadows churn under the man, he slowly sinks within.
Rain waits until only the head remained, then raises his middle fingers and snaps,
"Tell the pale king, I said; Fuck You."