The Mayor looked like a man who just entered heaven instead of a person who was surrounded by those that wanted to kill him. "It is a shame that I do not need all of you though, well at least not alive." His face split unnaturally in a smile that quite literally reached his eyes. Black started to leak from every opening on his body: his split-mouth, eyes, ears, and nose. It looked as if he was melting. "You think you will be able to take me, but you wont so go ahead and be a good group of beasties and let me devour you!"
As he screamed the black ooze started to pour faster from him. Morgianna who had been hidden behind Fafnir's large frame could not believe her eyes. Even if they could get close there would be no way to hold him down. She looked around and noticed Zephyr heading right for the Mayor's bulbous body. He swooped from above, diving down quickly his claws outstretched toward Fernheim. Just as he was about to grab him some of the black sludge-like substance splashed out and hit him in the face causing an audible hissing sound.
The Mayor was cackling maniacally. "A griffin too! However, he is damaged now so he is no good to me. I will devour you all until all that is left is dust. You cannot even come close to touching me, if you give up now I will only make it hurt for a couple of hours!"
Morgianna was already formulating a new plan, clearly, her plan to have them hold him down will not work.
She had a slight idea of what she may be able to do but she had never used so many powers at once. She knew she needed to work fast if she wanted to save everyone though.
Using her darkness she masked her presence and began her walk towards the Mayor who was looking at Myra, Alnwick, and Zephyr with the clear intention of draining them dry. When his eyes passed over Fafnir they held greed and all his dirty little plans. She thought of the rope that had been used on her earlier and looked around until she saw it, she was not even sure if it would work at holding him. She used her torn dress and scooped its length up, careful not to let it touch her skin. She was getting closer to her destination, only a few feet away when she felt as if something was wrong. The man in front of her who had previously been laughing as he slung the ooze around stopped, and ever so slowly turned until he was looking right at her.
"Little girl, how nice of you to join us. I was so worried for you, worried I would miss out on such a delectable meal. Were you upset that I ignored you, so you had to come to me? That is very sweet of you." He gave her a smile his cheek cracking in the process allowing more black ooze to leak out. "You are so special to not have died. Come closer and tell me how you did it." He used a sickeningly sweet voice as if he was a caring gentleman and not a deranged psycho.
All the noise around them stopped as if they were the only two there and Morgianna felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She turned her head to see a vacant look in everyone's eyes. Zephyr had landed and he along with everyone else was staring into space.
"What did you do to them?" Morgianna's voice was a whisper as she stared wide-eyed at their vacant stares.
"You see, they would be in the way of mine and your fun, so I just froze them a little. Don't worry, once we are done, I will help them be free of this mortal plane. You thought playing dead would work? This whole time all you succeeded in doing was bringing me a bigger meal." His eyes were still leaking the black ooze but what shocked her the most was that they were now pitch black themselves.
He grinned his teeth looking sharper than they were just a moment earlier. "You are the real prize here; too bad you will never live to your full potential. I bet you do not even know just how powerful you are. I was quite surprised to learn how young you are."
Morgianna took a deep breath before she leveled him with a glare. "I did not want to result to using my full power, because this body is weak, but I hate to break it to you..."She gave him a smirk. "But I know exactly how powerful I am."
"Mayor Fernheim, if that is who I am really speaking to. I have a riddle for you. What is bloated, blue, and ready to pop?" This time when she smiled at him it caused the mayors smile to slip slightly.
She twirled her long black hair as if she had no care in the world. "I mean if you won't answer, I guess I can tell you. You and a blueberry." She giggled and brought one hand up as if she was trying to hide her mouth behind it. In her other hand, behind her back she held the rope.
His hand that had been twitching at his side as if wanting to reach for something turned into a clenched fist. "I do not have times to play games with you girl." He sneered the smile finally falling completely.
She looked at him with exaggerated wide eyes and placed her hand over her heart as if she was shocked. "My dear sir, I assure you, this is no game. You see, I am very serious about saving my friends, and even more so about saving myself. I have died once, and I do not plan to do it again so soon."
Her words caught him off guard, and at that moment, she rushed forward the rope that was in her hand was thrown out. As the Mayor had not seen what she had thrown he tried to catch it. The moment the material hit his hands he bellowed out a screech that sounded inhuman. She took the end that was still in her hands being carefully held by strips of fabric and wound it around him.
As quickly as she could she moved away from him, so that she could look at her work. A smile broke across her face seeing the man bend into himself and shake. She turned to look at everyone else and found them still just as frozen as they were before. Turning back to the mayor she saw only torn ropes.
The hair on her neck stood on end a moment before she heard his distorted chuckle right behind her. "Silly girl, those ropes cannot hold me. That was pretty clever though. What did you mean by dying again?" He gripped her arms still standing behind her, and the moment his skin touched her it felt like her flesh was melting.
She bit back a scream but the pain was dizzying. "You can cry, I know it hurts." His breath was rancid as it fell over her cheek. She kept her eyes shut tight, using all her will power to keep her knees from buckling.
'Animam tuam praedo'
The voice of the beings who sent her to this world resonated through her mind. She did not know what the words meant, but she repeated them nonetheless. "Animam tuam praedo" at first nothing happened, then all at once a force shot from her body. It slammed into Fernheim and sent his body rolling across the ground like he was nothing more than a rag doll.
He stood on shaky legs and started to laugh before his laughs turned to gurgles as the black ooze poured at an alarming rate. "It seems I have misjudged you." He tried to take a step forward but his leg buckled as if his bones were made of jello. His body collapsed in on itself and right as he was about to hit the ground he disintegrated into a messy pile of clothes and black goop.
Morgianna felt her knees tremble and finally she let herself fall to the ground. Around her she could hear shouts as finally, the beasts were able to move once more, but all she could focus on was the voice inside her head.
'The magic you performed is called soul destroyer. Yes, we are aware that It was a little extreme, but you would have died otherwise. You have a long way to go before you will be at full power In the body you currently reside in. This was one of the few times we could help you and it put a huge strain on us. The magic would have ripped your body apart but due to your goddess lineage I was able to push my existence into the same cell for a short second as you released it to save your life... I am unsure of when I will be able to contact you again but, grandma is glad you are alive.'
With those words the voice once again left her mind reeling. Apparently the being that had transported her to this world is related to her. She had many questions and no answers.