The Night Is Rising // O/O // Closed

"Good." Laurel nodded and rolled up the map. The addition of the compass– magic compass– didn't really help her understanding of the map, but at least it helped Ana. "You can keep it, since you know how to read it." Laurel handed the map to Ana.
"Alright, then, off you go! You have an evil sorcerer to stop!" Endor exclaimed, starting towards a door set in the wall. Laurel was pretty sure it was the one they'd come in through, though how it was a door on one side and a stone wall on the other didn't make any sense. Especially when Endor opened the door and revealed the main hall. Then again, it was magic. That seemed to defy all the laws of, well, everything.

"Aren't we supposed to go that way?" Ana motioned to the other side of the room. "That's where we came through. Or are we not going back the way we came in?" She tucked the map into her jacket sleeve, careful not to tear it. She'd study it later.

"Um. Well, you could go that way, but there's no door," Endor said, looking at Ana like she was crazy. "Here is a door, however. It will lead you right back to where you came in, don't worry." She shot a smile at both of them and disappeared through the door. Laurel stared after her, then glanced at Ana.
"I suppose we should get out of here, right?" She asked, taking a few small steps towards the door Endor had gone through.

"Probably." Ana stared at the wall, then the door, then the wall, then back at the door. "Magic is confusing," she said, rubbing her forehead. She started to follow Laurel. "She said something about a sword, right? That wasn't just my imagination?" She couldn't be sure. Things were so confusing now that she didn't know what was going on anymore.

"Yeah, but it's pretty cool, too." Laurel shrugged. "Um… I don't think so? But she might have, and I could have just forgotten. There's a lot of information and I'm having trouble keeping it all straight in my mind." Laurel laughed a little and shrugged, walking through the door. Endor was standing in front of the open doorway, arms crossed over her chest.
"So… you guys might get to try out those knives sooner than you thought," She said slowly, turning to look at them. Laurel frowned and looked at Ana in confusion, then walked a little farther until she could see out the door. Standing a little way away from the castle was a group of about five of those terrible monsters, all grinning eerily.

"Of course," Ana groaned. "How did they find us? Are they after us?" She shook her head, handing Laurel a few knives. "You know how to use these, right?" She flexed her hands. She only had two daggers, but she knew how to use them. "I'll see if I can find any of their weak spots."

"Well, they probably weren't looking for you." Endor shrugged. "You're not wanted by the king just yet, but don't worry. Your time will come, and then they'll be following you everywhere!" She grinned, not jumping into action despite the fact that she was probably the one best equipped to handle them.
"I think I can figure it out," Laurel said in answer to Ana's question, accepting the knives. "Alright, but be careful."
"Yeah, be careful! Don't let them scratch you, because then it's all over." Endor warned. "You'll turn into one of them and then we'll have to kill you. And Laurel, you can just throw those at them," She continued, looking at Laurel. Laurel glanced at the knives, then at Endor. She had no idea how to throw a knife, but apparently, she was learning right then.

"Thanks for the words of encouragement." Ana scowled. She glanced at Endor. "Aren't you going to help us? After all, you're the best suited for this."

She turned to Laurel. "You hold them like this." She held up her hand, with the knife. She held it between her fingers, not unlike a claw. She threw it at one of the creatures, as hard as she could, and it made a clean arc in the air and lodged in the foremost creature's eye. "Like that."

"Hey, weird Endor lady, how do I get them back? Just concentrate on them?"

"Well, I will help you. But I don't want to do everything." Endor shrugged, still not moving. "No need to hog all the fun." Laurel wrinkled her nose and looked to Ana. She copied what Ana was doing, then watched as she threw the knife. The creature stepped back, an unearthly wailing sound emanating from its mouth. As Laurel watched, the creature dropped to the ground and slowly disappeared. "That was kinda cool," She said, grinning at Ana.
"I'd really appreciate it if you didn't call me 'weird Endor lady'. 'Endor' is just fine," Endor grumbled, crossing her arms. "And yeah, just concentrate on it going back into your hand."

"Lady Endor? Weird Endor? Endor Lady? Lady Weird?" Ana suggested. She held out her hand and the knife slid back neatly into her palm. "This is cool," she said.

She threw both knives at the same time, and the first slit a throat of a beast. The second was slightly off its mark, and it stabbed a beast in the shoulder. "Damn it," she cursed, calling the knives back.

"I told you already, it's just Endor," Endor exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "You know what, this is annoying. I'm leaving." She stalked towards the monsters, a strange glow starting to emanate from her hands. Laurel stared at her in shock, then remembered they were fighting something and turned towards the monsters, which were starting to edge their way towards them. Ana was doing a pretty good job at fending them off and Laurel felt a bit bad that she hadn't done anything. She took a deep breath and threw the knife like she'd seen Ana do. To her surprise, the knife actually hit a monster! It wasn't a particularly good spot, but it hit.

"Thank god." Ana sent Laurel a grin. "That works on my brother and his girlfriend, so I was hoping it would work on her. And it did, luckily for me." She studied the girl as she threw the knives.

"You're close. Just give your arm a little bit more of a looseness. You're throwing lightly, aiming, not chucking."

Laurel laughed, glancing from Endor to Ana. "Good job." She listened to Ana's advice, then called the knife back to try again. She threw the knife, using the advice Ana had given her, and managed to hit a monster in a better place. "Hah! Thanks for the advice!" Laurel exclaimed, grinning at Ana.
Meanwhile, Endor was muttering angrily to herself and walking closer to a monster. It grinned widely, probably thinking that this would be easy. Endor threw her hand towards the monster and a flash of golden light issued from her hands. The monster wailed and dissolved into nothingness. The other monsters took a few steps away from her, then focused their attention on Laurel and Ana, probably thinking that they didn't have magic and therefore were much worse at life.

"Nice job!" Ana grinned. "A few more tries, and you might get it!"

She certainly looked innocent and incapable. She was wearing her jacket around her waist like a skirt, and her hair floated around her. She had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, and she didn't look anything like a warrior. But when her knives came back, she gave so fierce a grin, it was impossible to think of her as weak. She spun in a circle, throwing her knives neatly into the oncoming crowd. One of them stabbed a monster in the eye, the other went through anothers neck with so much force that it went straight through and stabbed another.

"Thanks." Laurel gave Ana a thankful smile and called the knife back. The monsters were all staring at her and Ana, which was very unnerving. But Ana was taking care of them so efficiently that it took Laurel's breath away.
"Ha, fools!" Endor yelled, waving her hand over her head. "I see you remember me!" She launched herself at the huge crowd of monsters, both of her hands glowing. A few monsters turned to attack her, but the rest stayed focused on Ana and Laurel. They seemed a little more hesitant, however. Laurel guessed it was because Ana had shown them that she was more than capable of killing all of them. Laurel threw her knife at one of the closest monsters, not wanting to make Ana do all the work.

"Of course." Ana called her knives back, and they slid into her hands, smearing them with blood. She scowled at Endor. "There she is, acting all righteous, and then she forces us to do all the work. Asshole." She tossed the knives again and again, killing or wounding the monsters with brutal efficiency.

"You're being really rude," Endor grumbled, somehow appearing next to Ana. Laurel had been sure that Endor was still taking care of some monsters, but when she looked, the monsters were all dead. "I was trying to get you used to stuff without being in any real danger, but I think you'd better be going now before I murder you." She threw her hand out towards the monsters, that golden glow spreading out from her hands. It got so bright that Laurel had to shield her eyes. When the light died down, every single one of the monsters was dead and disappearing. "Now, get out of here," Endor said, glaring at Ana. "Laurel… good luck!" She gave Laurel a smile and disappeared.
"Um… what the hell." Laurel blinked, looking from the dead monsters to Ana. "Why didn't she do that at the beginning?"

"Because she probably wanted to 'test' us, or something." Ana rolled her eyes. "Come on. What should we try to find now? Some weapons?" She called the knives back and wiped the blood on them off on one of the tapestries in the place.
"And she said something about a sword, right?"

"Great. I love tests," Laurel sighed heavily. "We should probably find those weapons Endor was talking about. The ones that can defeat those monsters." She was curious to see what the weapons looked like and what they could do. "A sword? I dunno." Laurel shrugged. Maybe Endor had mentioned a sword, but she couldn't remember it happening. Then again, the magic had kind of fried her brain.

"Or… no, it was the weird ghost woman." Ana shook her head. "Alina? I think? Whatever." She pulled her jacket back on and left the castle, heading to where they had hid the car. "Do we want to try and find the weapons first, or get to my brother's safehouse?"

Laurel shrugged and followed Ana towards the car. "Uh… I don't know. It would be really nice to relax for a little, but…" She trailed off. Going to Ana's brother's safehouse was so tempting, but there was something that told her that going there would be a mistake. "We should probably get those weapons first. Just in case."

"Probably," Ana agreed with a sigh. "In that case, we should get some more food. Do you have anything you specifically want?" She started pulling branches from the car. "Or just something boring?"

"Not really. Stuff that would travel well would probably be the best. Although I wouldn't turn down something sweet." Laurel shrugged, helping Ana uncover the car. She didn't care that much, as long as there was food and it wasn't terrible.

"Yeah. There should be a sweets shop near here. Do we want to check it out and see if it's still open?" Ana tucked the map safely away, so it wouldn't be blown out of the jeep by the wind, and climbed in. The two knives were rested on the dash, to use at a moment's notice.

"Sure. As long as there aren't too many monsters or anything near it." Laurel hopped into the Jeep and fastened her seat belt. She wondered if anything was still open, or if everyone had panicked and left everything open. If so, she might get some sweets for free… though, that wasn't really behavior fitting of a supposed hero. Still…

"You know, if it turns out that no one is around, we could just… borrow some sweets," Ana suggested, as if reading her thoughts. "Unless you think that'd be too extreme?"

"Oh, no." Laurel shook her head quickly, glad that Ana had suggested it. "We should save any money or whatever for if we really need it. It's not like candy is an apocalypse go-to. So, if the store is abandoned… it wouldn't be a bad idea to sneak in there and grab some stuff." Laurel shrugged, grinning at Ana.

Analaya grinned right back. "I like the way you think. Besides, even if someone else has already had the idea, well… it's the apocalypse. We don't need any more of an excuse than that." She started the car and pulled it back onto the road. "Do you think we should mask ourselves, just to be sure, in case the cameras are still on? Or does it not really matter that much?"

"Why, thank you!" Laurel exclaimed. "Yes, you're totally right." She frowned, considering Ana's question. "Well… who's going to check the security cameras these days? The police have bigger things to worry about than a couple of people stealing some candy. Like the monsters that are literally everywhere," Laurel reasoned, shrugging. "I don't care, but if you want to, I'm cool with that."

"Nah," Ana said, shaking her head. "I hate masks. They're too suffocating." She pressed the gas a little bit more, sending the car shooting forward. Gravel shot up behind the wheels in their wake. "Do you have any experience with siphoning gas, or should we just try the old trick of breaking into the gas stations and getting gas that way?"