Death and Tide

[Mirach]

Death closed his eyes and staggered a little, but kept his balance. He opened them and only said: "Let's do it. It's the better way."

[VisAnastasis]

Tide reached for him when he staggered, but when he kept balance, he retreated his stretched hand. He nodded to his words.
" I'll believe in you... And whatever future you've seen, I'll make sure we get a better one. Please, don't be alarmed by my form... No matter how I look, I still mean well just the same. " he whispered, and then, he dressed in his cloak and fixed his mask and took steps back, removing the bandages on his hand so they would not hinder him - before he changed his form at last, and with a shriek of pain from transforming so quickly into a form unsustainable to him for long, he turned to Death, slowly, as if fearful he could step on him.
There was indeed something primordial about it, and its mask and appearance were more primitive. It had a light faint glow, and it would have been many times bigger than the size of fort if it was standing -it was slimy and prolonged instead, though, its body clearly made for primordial oceans, so it appeared awkward on land, but there was still something gentle of Tide's kind nature shining through in the gentle mannerisms and the soft glow.

https://i-h1.pinimg.com/564x/3f/bd/48/3fbd48357ea53b9f19c4c68bd8102a74.jpg

[Mirach]

Death tensed when he saw him, the raw strength and size of the form bringing painful memories. He quickly gathered his withs though, and smiled faintly, reassuringly. "It will just hurt for a moment," he said. "I'll just make the cuts and then start healing..." As he was talking, he studied the demon's huge body, to determine where the main veins and arteries were and how to make a best cut. "Can you lift the arms, please?" he asked. "Those arteries near the armpits are closest to the surface, we should only need a shallow cut..."

[VisAnastasis]

" If I lift the arms... " a timid unsure echo lingered to Death's mind, a deep, but tender and timid voice that was almost a whistle, close to it but not quite so. " I shall fall. On the ground, I use arms to support myself and drag myself forward. But maybe I could do this? Move, so I do not squash you... "the creature said as it slowly, so it wouldn't knock off nearby trees, lowered its body on the ground and lied on its back, so that it could spread its arms upwards, revealing its armpits. It knew there was no time to waste so it did it immediately, giving Death best access to it, but it could not hide the trembling, for even lightest tremble of such big creature was making the soil around him rumble a little - it tried its best to conceal it, but it could not hide that it was afraid, lowering itself in such submissive position before Spirit King.

[Mirach]

"Yes, that's good," Death nodded. "Easy now..." he said gently, laying his hand on the creature. He first started healing its heart and strengthening it, so it would collapse with the sudden blood loss. "Now it will hurt a bit," he said, when he was content with its state. He took his sword and made one quick cut across the artery leading to the arm - the sword was submerged almost to the hilt due to the size of the demon, but just managed to cut it properly. Blood started streaming from tge wound, drenching Death's hands and robe. To get to the other arm, he had to walk around Tide's head, and while doing so, he kept one hand on him, healing the heart and suppressing the pain.

[VisAnastasis]

The creature yelped in pain when the sensitive body part was cut into with the sharp sword, screaming out even though it had no mouth to make a phisical sound. Thanks to Death's healing and strengthening, though, it's heart did not fail it, and it tried it's best to collect every single drop of blood it could, gathering it in the air a little above the wounds. It wimpered and trembled as quietly as it could, not wanting to yet draw attention of their merciless pursuers.

[Mirach]

Death's hands shook as well, showing how he hated to cause pain. He steadied them fully though, as he circled Tide to make the second cut, fast and professional. Then he dropped the sword and put all his power into healing, strengthening the heart and blood production so that it was able to compensate for the loss, and dulling the pain almost completely - even in the burned hand, all the while also whispering soothing words in demon language to the wounded creature.

[VisAnastasis]

Tide could feel Death pull a lot of his power into him, it was a vulnerable experience, but also very unusual, and despite the discomfort of strange procedure they had to do, it was clear that this was a firm time in a very long time that his heart wasn't hurting excruciatingly in this giant form - form he was, with comparatively tiny part of his original heart left, barely able to maintain. Through its dulled pain, there was also a sense of wonder at that very distant memory, and with it, came a little bit of unexpected thankfulness, at feeling his leap of fate wasn't for nothing, and that Death knows what he's doing. Maybe as much for that, as for the soothing words, creature continued collecting blood diligently, but it relaxed a little with a little deepened trust. It didn't move its body not to squish little Death, but with one of the long tentacle-like growth on its neck, it lightly touched the Spirit from a side. It struggled to think clearly through demanding process of collecting blood, but replied then, quietly in thoughts.
" You are doing great. Don't stop, please... I think... I am producing blood faster than I lose it right now. If we can pull in even more than my body weight in blood... we can do this. "

[Mirach]

Death nodded, but he was following the sun carefully as it was nearing the horizon. He still continued until it touched that line, and even hid a little behind it. "That must be enough, there's no more time," he said then. "Change the form as soon as I heal you, alright?" he asked and started to heal the wounds quickly.

[VisAnastasis]

It was indeed a huge amount of blood, looming above them, gathered up. It seemed to intimidate Emil, who just at that moment came out with Xia and the pup in its tiny form held in his hands.
He couldn't see Death well, but he connected facts one of them is the big beast and the other is probably close by, so he yelled to them.
" Father hid as well as he could! He is trying to suppress them as much as he can, but the night is falling and the ground is turning cold! " he spoke as loudly as he could in their direction. " I can not stay a moment longer, they'll recognize his blood in me and try to kill me. Can I take Xia and Eight to safety with me? They are scared... " he said, and indeed, they appeared so, whining quietly, as the shadows of the night were growing darker and the familiar, unpleasant chill began to grow.

[Mirach]

"Yes, take them please," Death said, just finishing the healing. "Alright, turn back to smaller form now..." he told Tide, still keeping his heart under check.

[VisAnastasis]

Emil didn't wait a moment, terrified of the night closing in as well as his animal companions. He left the fort door wide open for them with key skill in the lock, and then Xia flew them right away to safety of the other fort, closing the lock three times over.

Tide on his side obeyed. The blood weavered for the moment he disappeared and appeared again, as he usually was, a tiny dot in the giant dent that flattened out that patch of land under the giant form's massive weight. He was uninjured, but he looked deathly pale and unusually weak for himself - he would have certainly died couple times over without Death's healing, but the process of being constantly hurt and healed on such extreme level was big strain on the essence. He was fighting with conciousness, knowing he must not falter now, when it mattered the most - but he also struggled to stand up, in his weak state fighting to balance out the huge pool of blood above them that was darkening the sky all the more.

[Mirach]

Death was thinking quickly, and he immediately turned into his form of a black griffin and knelt at Tide's side. "Get on," he prompted him.

[VisAnastasis]

Tide trembled at the sight of unfamiliar creature, as it was hard to think clearly. But he recognized the voice, and he knew there was no time to delay, so he obeyed it - he stagged to lean on him, and grabbed onto its furr as strong as he could.

[Mirach]

As soon as Death felt that Tide's weight is balanced, he took off, heading straight for the open gate of the other fortress, just like Xia with Emil. 

[VisAnastasis]

They managed to reach it just as the darkness around them was growing stronger, foreboding. The very moment they passed through the entrance Tide breathed in more deeply, with a relief of feeling protective barriers of the fort, strong and firm, around them. However, it was not quite so for Death, who was not imune to miasma - as soon as he flew in, he felt the weight of centuries of its stench falling down on him, unwavering and painful, miasma Tide wanted to clean before Death entered it, but hadn't collected himself in time to do yet by then.

[Mirach]

Death passed the gate flying and wanted to.land inside. But under the miasma, he staggered and fell instead of landing. 

[VisAnastasis]

It was a rough landing, and some of the blood they collected spilled a bit as he lost some focus, before collecting it. Demon couldn't stand up, but he raised his eyes and gasped at the sight of the fallen aching Spirit. He realized what happened, and he screached more than screamed at the sight of it, streching his hands weakly to him and gritting his teeth - and at last, with the deep emotions of loss and compassion, the blood moved, and it poured into the fortress like a river, washing into them fiercely, into walls, furniture, everything - taking stench of miasma with it,, and leaving fault copper stench of blood.

[Mirach]

With the heavy miasma of the place, Death trembled in pain and then terror when a river of blood washed over him. He tried to resist the stream and reached for Tide to steady himself before it abated.

[VisAnastasis]

They had to close their eyes and mouth and not breathe while it washed into them not to swallow it, the presence and some strange attractive power in blood pulling miasma strongly like a powerful magnet, tearing it away from their essence and body forcefully, as fiercely as a big magnet can attract tiny nails, as powerfully as mountain river carries the dirt. Tide controlled the stream of blood as well as he could, his eyes tightly shut - he barely had strength or wit for anything else but to focus on passing along every stone, every table, every surface it touched. His body reacted to Death reaching for him on pure instinct - and he pushed himself with all strength he could, and threw his arms across gryphon's back, pinning him down so that the river of blood wouldn't carry him away.

[Mirach]

Only when the blood washed over them into another part of the fort, Death's trembling ceased a little and he lay exhaustedly. But then he opened his eyes and dragged himself up. He changed form again to his human one, getting rid of the blood that drenched his fur and feather with the process. He didn't do it because of that though. His feet were shaking under him and he walked slowly, steadying himself by leaning on the wall, but he positioned himself by the door and grasped the handle firmly, ready to hold on to it when Tide drives the blood outside, so he could lock the door afterwards immediately.

[VisAnastasis]

The terrifying unyealding sense of danger was looming on the other side of the door, and Death felt cold to the bone besides it, the feeling only increasing their urgency  Tide was howling on the ground under great mental pressure of having to pass through everything so fast and with such detail. He could barely think of anything else but the blood. Only when the cleansing was done, he seemed a little more aware of the space around them, and he brought the river of blood through door as strongly as he could, in thinner stream, so it would not touch them now when it was contaminated with a dangerous terrifying aura of sickness and suffering. He could not do much more than that, as as soon as all blood was out he lost conciousness temporarily, as if his body under strain of stress just shut off - and most of it fell down the waterfall beside fort, while some fell on the bridge between forts too, being so potent and toxic in this form that it eroded a bit of stone.

[Mirach]

Death still felt it as it passed so close to him, and he started trembling again and sank to his knees. Still he hold the handle firmly, and as soon as the blood was out, he shut the door and turned the key. Just a second after that something heavy hit the door. It held, but bent inwards a bit and the impact sent Death backwards into the hall, where he hit the floor hard. It took him a moment to ovetcome the dizziness and leaned on his elbow to look around.

[VisAnastasis]

He could breathe much easier at last, as instead of tons of miasma weighting him down and hurting him, there was just a lingering echo of it in the trace blood left as it moved, something that could already be cleared of by pure water. Right now, though, it didn't at least look clean at all, and Tide, curled on the floor and bloody still, wasn't helping the look - he appeared unconscious but struggling to awaken, with a frown, pale and trembling lightly. Even in unconsciousness, his burned hand was twitching lightly in pain, as it seemed the injury got worst with streching himself thin to form such big creature before.

[Mirach]

Death didn't manage to get up, feeling his wounds accutely after the exposion to the miasma. He just crawled to Tide slowly, and after he reached him, he just did what came to his mind first - the same he was doing before: strengthening his heart and easing the pain.