[BaalsBaby]

The beast was already pushing itself up and at the dark imp again, claws at the ready. With brute force and merciless determination, it drove it's talons again and again repeatedly into the stone, not caring where it aimed as long as it got it's opponent.

Kree was shrouded in dust, barely avoiding the onslaught. Only his eyes gave away his position beneath the monster and, with a few mutterings of a spell flowing from his lips, he drove his own tiny claws into the dragon's supporting arm. It howled and drew back, the said limb now completely useless and hanging at it's side. Kree grinned and followed after the dragon, making sure to give the beast no time to recover.

Seeing this, the Hollowheart shot it's neck out just as the imp came within reach...

SNAP! And the imp was gone...

[Kodai]

It was difficult to see with all the spurts of dust swirling into the air, and it was also growing difficult to breathe. Kodai tried her best to keep her eyes on the battle, but the pain and the dust made it difficult, forcing her to stay in a curled position. She could tell that Kree had struck the dragon a crippling blow, which was good... but then she heard a sickening snap that reminded her all too much of Lord Asyriel breaking Kai's neck...

"K-Kree!" she coughed, trying to catch any sight of the imp. Please... don't let him be dead... So strange... she actually cared for his well-being? Sure, there was the fact that he was the only thing between herself and a terrible death at the claws of this spectre, but she wasn't focused on that right now. He had done nothing to deserve this attack brought against him... so why should he die?

[BaalsBaby]

The Hollowheart gave a triumphant, guttural roar as a victory and suddenly focused on Kodai, milky eyes staring in nowhere in particular and saliva dripping from it's now empty maw. It took a step closer with the one good arm, edging itself ever closer...

Then suddenly it screams, nearly breaking the rest of the remaining windows, eyes crazed with pain. It shook it's head around, slamming into the wall behind it, falling to the floor and writhing. It's tail smashed another pew easily like a bludgeon. It tried to stand again, flapping it's wings as if to escape, but there was a dark stain on it's chest now... like ink bleeding beneath it's skin and spidering outwards...

[Kodai]

Ahhhh... so that was where Kree had gotten to... He had found his way into the dragon and was now slowly destroying it from the inside out... Kodai breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded to collapse in on herself, the pain in her lower back making it difficult for her to remain upright... or conscious... Slowly the interior of the cathedral became steeped in an even darker blackness, the pale form of the Hollowheart the only thing that really stood out in her vision... She had to try to stay awake, though... but it was so hard... she felt so faint...

[BaalsBaby]

"Ssstayyy... alivvvee... humann...." the beast growled, though in an odd voice, shaking it's head as if trying to clear it's mind. It shrieked again and then fell over in a massive heap, crumpling, it's bad arms oozing black fluid into the stone and staining Lya Pointa soil once again.

After a few moments, the fallen Hollowheart's maw opened, though not of it's own accord. The black imp, oozing from the depths of the monster, shook itself and eyed the human quickly. Quickly remembering the circumstances, the imp dashed over to the wounded human, inspecting the damage.... At least it had not snapped her spine... That would have instantly killed her...

"Stay awakesss human..." he said, concentrating, leaning before her...

[Kodai]

Everything was so hazy... but Kree's voice managed to cut through the fog of darkness and pain with its order... stay alive... stay awake. Such a difficult order... though somehow, Kodai felt that perhaps it wouldn't be so difficult after all... Slowly she opened her half-closed eyes and looked up at the figure leaning over her. ".......ah......thank.......you......." she breathed, her voice barely more audible than a whisper. Tentatively an arm was stretched out and a hand brushed faintly against the imp's cheek...

What? Had she fallen so deeply into delerium that she viewed her captor as her savior? Or was she truly grateful to him for some obscure reason?

[BaalsBaby]

Kree felt the urge to shy away from the touch but thought better of it. This was no act of reprimanding wrath or scorn, she was only... thanking him? He didn't seem to understand... It baffled him and yet, here he was as well, a=thanking her inside for taking the hit... But surely she would have known that if he were to fall, the both of them would be gone for sure...

Though that didn't seem to be the reason she had leapt out...

Gingerly placing a claw on her wound, the imp began to wonder how in the world he would be able to save her... Surely he owed her that. And yet, he'd never performed a healing spell except upon himself, but her body mechanics were different than his...

[Kodai]

Flinching even under such a light touch, Kodai continued to look up at him, sensing that he wished to help somehow... Reason told her this was because she was important to the end of trapping Kai, but she couldn't help but feel that there was another motive. "S-stop the... bleeding..." she told him, feebly attempting to tear her nightshirt into further strips for the purpose of bandages. It seemed she didn't have the strength to do so, however, for she was forced to stop before she could even make a small tear in the fabric. Even that small effort had drained her... "P-please... h-help..." she stammered, her world fading to black again...

[BaalsBaby]

Immediately, the imp began to follow suit, taking the the cloth in claw and tearing it away in thick strips,  quickly moving the human with one hand and encircling the large wound with the other. "Be still, human..." he muttered, but it was more just to say something and kill the deathly silence than anything. Finally pulling the knot tight, the imp fell back on his haunches, pulling an arm up and shaking off the dripping goop that had once been the dragon's innards....

[Kodai]

Giving a final wince as the cloth was knotted tightly over the gash, Kodai let out a sigh and fell forward onto her elbows. This would be less stressful than trying to remain upright without any support... Watching the imp shake himself free of excess dragon goo, she pondered slowly, "I wonder... why it... attacked..." Really, she couldn't think of anything that either of them had done that would have caused such a reaction... unless it was merely their presence. But dark creatures came to this cathedral all the time, and certainly Kree was such a creature... and she was merely here as his captive... so what could possibly have caused the ghostly Hollowheart to have materialized on this plane to attack them?

[BaalsBaby]

He found himself occasionally glancing over at the human curiously, he couldn't help it. It still bugged him that he didn't not know why the human had thrown herself to save him... He was her captor after all, most would have taken that chance to bolt away and leave him for chow, but this girl did not do so. It made his mind hurt.

Feeling a tad bit frustrated and his body loosening now, he heaved a sigh and dropped his claw, tapping them on the moldy stone floor. Her voice made the stillness in the air shift, and his glowing eyes blinked twice.

"Issss disturbed being... " he muttered in his clattery voice. A pause. He just HAD to ask... "Human... Why issss.... human jumping in front of dragon...?" the little black creature squinted, still feeling as if the human wanted to use this to some sort of advantage.

[Kodai]

Kodai tilted her head up at Kree curiously. He... wanted to know why she had leapt to take the dragon's attack? Well, perhaps it was a strange thing to have done... Even she wasn't entirely certain why she had done it. "I... You would have been killed... so... I couldn't let that happen..." That answer didn't feel very satisfactory... Shifting upright in order to lean against some stone rubble, Kodai elaborated on her reply. "The truth is... I'm not quite sure why... I just... I just felt that I couldn't stand there and do nothing to help you... I couldn't bear to see you killed... because then I'd be lonely, I guess... .....That's a pretty selfish reason, huh..." She lowered her head, as if ashamed to admit to this reason.

[BaalsBaby]

"Ah... " the imp pondered, crossing his arms and leaning against the corpse of a splattered pew. The way she said the words, they were full of confusion, sadness, loneliness... "I'd be lonely", she had said... It struck something within him, for he had had that feeling all along, loneliness; he was vaguely wondering if she would ever really come to know such that he did. "Lonelinesss.... " the imp let it slip forth like cold poison, that's what had killed him the first time.

Slumping even more, Kree nodded some. "Iss... seeing reason then...."

[Kodai]

"...Do you?" Kodai's gaze rose again, and she looked curiously at the imp. He did not think it a strange reason...? She could sense an ingrained sorrow in his words, though still she did not know why... An odd creature, this Kree. Obviously there was a deeper history to him than would first be expected... "...You have asked a question of me, so... may I now ask one of you?" She shifted a little, trying to dull the biting pain in her lower back, and took a small breath.

"Please... please tell me what happened here... at that altar... Tell me the tale... that needs to be told..."

[BaalsBaby]

Ever so slightly, the black creature's body flickered, appearing almost human in size and appearance, but only for a brief moment as he gazed back at the human. He seemed not to have noticed this odd occurrence at all, instead only locking his gaze finally with the other's.

Hesitating only slightly, Kree sighed and lowered his head. "Isss suppose iss oweing one question answered...." he blinked once, a flashing on the floors from his eyes. "Iss a dark passst this place hass, lord..." he brought his hands together, almost as if the creature were in prayer, though this was not the case. He seemed... uneasy about the entire subject, not keeping his stare upon a small stain upon the floor beneath him.

"Isss not knowing all the hissstory of this place, but is knowing of one tale, lord... A... boy..." the words fell like sand from his lips, echoing into the chill air. " Is being brought here... every so often... for... torture... Daysss go by, lord, the ssaintly one of this place not as holy as thought of..." had he not been the creature he was and his voice already harsh and strained, one would have heard the little imp's voice crack. "This was the place to be left at many timesss, when the father grew weary to know of such an abomination in hissss dwelling..."