46 & 2 [The Tenth Egg]

Aside from himself, the cavern was dead silent. Shadows darkened the far corners of the cave, but in the center, defenseless, sat his prize, geaming in a ray of light that shone in through the ceiling. An egg, painted a jet black.

Then one of the shadows flickered from the other side of the cavern. Blank white eyes stared out from the dark, and a mouth parted in a white toothless smile. The shadow didn't 'walk' so much as it glided over the floor, dragging its claws along the ground, grinning.

Formless but humanoid, solid but intangible, almost ghostly. In its chest shined a bright red gem that flashed like fire in the sunlight.

The Shadow approached.

As petrified as Désseroi must have been, his aim was right on target. The knife sailed through the air, spinning end over end, and lodged itself in one of those blank white eyes.

The Shadow stopped in its tracks, but it never stopped smiling. Black specks, like dustmotes, began to dance around the injury, and without touching it, the knife pushed itself out of the Shadow's head and clattered to the cavern floor.

Its gaze followed the boy as he rolled away, and without a flicker in expression, it launched itself forward at a surprising speed, claws outstretched, ready to skewer him.

Brailynn's hazel eyes narrowed from the entrance of the cavern, staring down into the darkness. It was so pitched black down there, it was a surprised anyone could see shit at all, but maybe it was just bad from where she was standing? Otherwise, whoever was fighting there probably still wouldn't be alive. She frowned. Not that anyone would seriously die today, but being skewered half-way to hell probably wouldn't be too much fun either. She tightened the gloves on her wrists, sharp metal studs and slates jagged out from the cool leather.

In and out, that was the plan. Jumping into the cavern, not skipping a beat, the blonde slid down the sharpest steep of the cavern, breaking into a sprint the moment she found steadier ground. Her eyes searched immediately for the stupid, small jeweled egg that was giving the school a hard time, but all her gaze was drawn towards was to a horrid shadow creature, or more specifically, the sharp, black blur it made, a small fire seemingly burning it's chest. Not a moment sooner, she saw what it was running for with outstretched claws.

'Shit, Shit, Shit...' She gritted her teeth. There was no time to think about it. She had to help this guy. Brailynn leaped off the cavern's edge, swinging her body and kicking the creature away. Disgustingly, the first thing she wondered was if her attack would go straight through. She could only feel her limb sink deeper and deeper until it met the thing's skeleton - or whatever the fuck it was.

The Spring pushed herself back away and found her feet on the ground, staring up at the Shadow clenching her fists. She shot a sharp glance at the other guy. This was going to be fun.

The shadow, or monster, or whatever you wanted to call it, didn't seem to react to the arrival of a newcomer. It gave Brailynn a cursory glance as she rolled back into a crouch, an almost contemplative look, before swinging out its claws faster than you could blink.

As for the knife, it just clattered to the ground like the last, harmless.