Falling and falling.
Falling in the darkness toward the light.
Though the light is not a wholesome place.
Strange things crawl about and up towards the darkness. They reach with grasping, obscene hands toward Tabitha and Esmeralda, though they are yet out of reach.
They fall through a great chasm in the world, a chasm that closes in the seconds after they pass through it. A darkness encroaching upon them as they fall toward the sickly orange light that seems like the burning of foul things in the twisted heart of the world.
Esmeralda von Krauss lands on her feet on an outcropping of rock that forms a cliff. Tabitha lands just across the chasm in a higher cliff than her.
Esmeralda von Krauss: What have you done?
Tabitha Osborne: I have sent you to where you belong! Ferrum spectris!
Tabitha sends an arc of slashing energy, not at Esmeralda, but at the cliff that she’s standing on. Esmeralda leaps through the air as the cliff crumbles to dust. She does a high flip through the air to where she could land a drop kick on Tabitha, who ducks to the side. Esmeralda plants both feet into the side of the chasm and does a quick, backflip to across the chasm. She lands and springboards herself right at Tabitha, catching her in the midsection with a shoulder, slamming her into the chasm wall. Blood splatters out of Tabitha’s mouth from the impact.
Esmeralda clutches onto Tabitha, jumps up to plant her feet onto the wall, and leaps backwards with Tabitha to hit a dragging German suplex down the side of the chasm wall until both land on another cliff outcropping. Tabitha lays on the ground on her side. Blood seeping through tears in the back of her shirt and pants where rock had damaged both clothing and the flesh beneath it.
Esmeralda von Krauss: I’ll silence that spell flinging jaw of yours forever!
She drops down, grasping for the lower jawbone of Tabitha when she gets a foot up against her chest. Tabitha kicks with the leg, sending Esmeralda across the chasm where Esmeralda slams against the wall. She bounces, but manages to get her feet to the wall and squatted down for a hot second so she can launch herself back up at Tabitha to slam her shoulder up under Tabitha’s jaw in a move that sends blood flying from her mouth.
Tabitha has enough sense to catch Esmeralda and execute a belly to belly suplexes Esmeralda’s face into the chasm wall! She drops the German to the cliff floor. She glances up to see the ceiling is coming down fast. She looks down to see that the demons from the abyss are rapidly making their way up.
Esmeralda stands up, half of her face torn apart by the impact against the wall of stone. It quickly heals up as she stands across from Tabitha, looking unamused.
Tabitha stands and pants for a second before drawing herself up.
Tabitha Osborne: SPECULUM MURI MO-
Esmeralda grabs Tabitha by the front of the dress and pulls her into a vicious headbutt that stops the spell from being invoked.
Esmeralda von Krauss: I said no more spells, Fräulein!
Tabitha leans away from Esmeralda, making the German woman hold her up by the front of her shirt. She spits a mouthful of blood (and maybe a tooth) at Esmeralda’s face.
Tabitha Osborne: No spells? What about bad breath?
Tabitha utters a word of power as she breathes out, sending like a jet of steam in the direction of Esmeralda. This causes her to cough and double over. Tabitha grabs her up into a gutwrench suplex, but as she picks Esmeralda up, she just sorta throws her backwards without falling with.
Esmeralda flips over through the air as to land on her feet on a lower cliff outcropping. She looks up at Tabitha with a grim smile.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Better damnation than certain doom.
Tabitha Osborne: What are you doing?
Esmeralda doesn’t say another word as she puts her arms out like a t-pose and falls into the chasm. Tabitha doesn’t hesitate, falling forward into a dive. She lands on the next cliff and manages to grab Esmeralda by the arm. She swings the German up to where she hits the conquering ceiling and remains stuck in place. Tabitha screams out as her shoulder was dislocated by the move. She lays and looks up at Esmeralda as the ground swallows her whole.
Tabitha Osborne: Better certain doom for you. Goodbye, Esmeralda. Goodbye…Randy.
Tabitha rolls off of the cliff and into the chasm where hands grasp at her and pull her down. The chasm seals itself up.
Up above, Minerva has gathered the Valkyries, the Einherjar, and the clowns into an organized mass as they try to figure out what they could find Esmeralda.
The ground between them suddenly buckles and Esmeralda pops up out of the ground like a swimmer going for air. Her upper half breaks the surface of the ground, her gown gone from going through the world. Minerva and one of the Einherjar grab her arms and pull her out of the Earth. She’s covered in small oozing cuts that are slowly sealing themselves up.
Minerva and the Einherjar lay Esmeralda down. The storm brought about by Habob stopped the moment that Tabitha and Esmeralda went into the chasm. Esmeralda lays on the ground, exhausted in ways she never knew that she could be exhausted.
The random Einherjar that helped her out of the ground is still nearby. She grabs him by the arm and peers into his eyes.
Despite the fact that they just look like they are having a staring contest, the Einherjar’s hair changes to white and fear overcomes him. He releases Esmeralda and runs away. Esmeralda sits up, feeling a little bit stronger, though a little guilty as now all of those who follow her have grounds to question if she is even human.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Minerva, I can’t go galavanting around naked. Help me get into the hotel to my room so I can find something appropriate to wear.
Minerva: What about Zolothach?
Esmeralda von Krauss: Condemned to Hell. I don’t expect that we will see her again.
She tries to stand up, but finds herself too weakened to do so. Minerva helps her up and they walk into the hotel front entrance.
An hour or so later, Esmeralda is dressed in a backless red gown and drinking in the hotel bar. Her followers are all around her, hanging on her every word about how she survived against the Cthulhu witch.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Now that Tabitha is gone, though I wished that I would have been able to question her on why she picked that time to attack me, I can get on with business.
Esmeralda cracks a wide grin.
Esmeralda von Krauss: D. Do you think that you can just be the silent hero and defeat me? You think that foul witches who serve gods that should not even exist would finish me off for good? No. I am beyond all of that. You think your fighting arts are so great that you will be able to defeat me in the ring and go free with your harlot, Alyssa Lucchi.
Let me let you in on a little secret, dahling. No one ever really gets away from the von Krausses. The exception is death.
You will have a mission waiting for you after I defeat you. I want the remnants of the Tabitha Osborne family eradicated. If she somehow escapes Hell, that includes her too. I’ll write you a list of people.
In the meantime, you better be ready for the reconstruction to come. Modern medicine has come so far since we were rebuilding and keeping Blake Luthor alive. Once I have destroyed you and rebuilt you from the ground up, you will become an even better Judge. Maybe I’ll track down the Trons or Jeremiah Vastrix and force them to rebuild you. Dylan Black is almost a perfect fighting machine because of their works.
D, you beat around the bush about what I did to you and Alyssa. That I “took your choice away”. Were you going to say yes to giving me a baby? Doubtful since you couldn’t even be bothered to take care of your first child. Were you going to brave Armand’s jealous little rampage and help me take care of my baby?
I think we’ve already answered that. It’s no. Your choice never mattered in the long run. It’s just that you failed like my husband…
Esmeralda’s hand dips down to her womb with a sigh as she feels the scar that really causes her to not have a baby. She’s infertile, but denies it totally. A blade from a Roman Senator saw to that.
She shakes her head, denying this once again as it could not be her fault, but that of Armand and D. Steve Awesome will grant her a baby. He’s granted at least two other women babies. Why not her? The fact that Steve Awesome has repeatedly and almost violently rejected her is immaterial. He will see his way to what is right or else she will milk him without remorse.
Esmeralda just smiles, lighting up an Egyptian cigarette in a gleaming red foot long holder. She breathes in the smoke with a deep sense of satisfaction before blowing it out into the air.
Esmeralda von Krauss: D. You know the missions I send you on are just. Do you know what Tabitha has done over the years? Serial killer with no remorse that started with her own family when she was twelve. How many lives has she ended? Dozens? Hundreds? Her cousin, Johnathan Mills, is even worse. He has a flip flopping hero complex that devolves into a villain complex. Why he created something called the Ghost Laser and destroyed thousands of lives with it. He was last building a scheme for mind control devices into cell phones to incite worship so that he could become a god. Apotheosis. His plans were defeated time and time again, but how many deaths did he cause? Are either of these people in prison now? No, they aren’t even in the asylum. You will take care of them for me. Show the world that we will not stand by while evil men live.
Or you could leave the life behind if you defeat me, you and Alyssa retiring to some little cottage out in the country and hope that one day you ca get your child back into your life. You can hope that the evil that men do don’t reach you in your little bubble.
I can almost guarantee that they will. What mad plas will Johnathan Mills come back with when his insanity turns to a villain complex again and he thinks that he is once again Dr. Claw? Will he kill someone that you do care about in order to get you to act? Will Tabitha Osborne slaughter someone close to you in order to express her freedom?
Once you are defeated, I will have you kill those two and this will begin your new agreement with me. Alyssa Lucchi will be your handler.
Esmeralda flicks ashes onto the ground with a laugh.
Esmeralda von Krauss: Make the match at least one interesting for the crowd. We both know that you will want to be defeated so that not only can you make a name for yourself, but you can do the most good.
Oh Violent Night in the Tartarus Cage. I will triumph over you, D. I will make you mine…forever.
