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[Edda]

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Enoch and Edda stood side by side, very still, very quiet, in the grass across the path from the tea house in Zento. They both tipped their heads back slightly, studying the strange architecture. It would seem as though neither one had been here before. Edda tore her eyes from it and looked at Enoch's feet, while leaning in towards him and murmuring close to his ear, "You know, it never rains in Tokuno". She pulled herself back to an upright position and returned her gaze to the building. They both grinned.

The two strode into the building at the exact same pace. As they got inside, they saw the entire Elder council of the Lotus sitting enjoying a steaming beverage in a small cup. They all looked over, looking quite alarmed to have such outsiders in their pleasant tea house. They all scowled at Enoch and Edda. Except the Empress, who had calmly gotten to her feet and tucked a hand in each sleeve, looking down upon them as if she had something to say. Enoch and Edda both grinned mischievously and snapped, binding all, but the Empress', wrists together by something that looked like very large, fat rat tails. Edda shrugged and smirked, quite proud of herself. She glanced to each of their wrists, Bishimi's bare and turning purple due to the tightness of the illusioned rat rope. Her eyes flitted over Wang Chung and Night Crawler's hands, which were in the same state as Bishimi's. Then she got to Garrett's hands and her smile faded. She should have known he would not be taking his gloves off and drinking tea. Had she forgotten this much already? His hands were already slipping from his gloves, leaving them in the rat tail binding.

Edda grabbed Enoch's arm and pulled him down, just in time to avoid a huge swipe through the air, in their direction, from Garrett's staff. They made eye contact for a split second, as if making a silent agreement. Enoch scrambled up, bound the Empress with rat tails, and began illusioning rats to distract Garrett, but Garrett's focus couldn't be torn from Edda. He glared at her with rage and hunger, rats starting to chew at his ankles. She crawled under a table and quickly withdrew her dagger, which was glistening with a tinted green substance. Garrett, looking quite irritated by her games, walked over to the table, and tipped it over effortlessly. Edda threw herself forward, plunging the dagger into his ankle. Unaffected by this, he swung his staff in her direction again, but it hit nothing. He looked down to the spot she had been in and growled. He turned to where Enoch had been, only to see an empty space there as well, and growled again.

He stalked over and began trying to fuss with the rat tail bindings on his friends, while keeping an eye out for their two troublemaking visitors. Rat tail bindings, at least 10 inches thick, sprang to his body, bringing him to the ground. All the council bound now, all of them looked up at the top of the staircase to see Edda and Enoch looking down on them, both grinning mischievously again.

They leapt back down to the floor in front of their bound buddies, and looked them all over. Edda reached in her pocket and withdrew a small vial. She looked them each over, individually, rubbing her chin. She looked Night Crawler over, looked to Enoch, and shook her head. Approximately fifty rats appeared on Night Crawler, chewing him viciously. She looked Wang Chung over, looked to Enoch, and shook her head again. Fifty more rats appeared on Wang Chung, chewing him just as viciously. She looked Bishimi and Garrett over, frowned sadly, then shook her head, as if expelling her thoughts from her mind. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and concentrating hard on the two men. Enoch stood beside her, concentrating just as hard. Five hundred rats appeared on each man. All four men, crumpled to the floor, being eaten alive by rats. Organs being punctured and squishing juices across the soft wooden floor.

The Empress sat alone, looking angrier than ever, but not struggling with the binding. She sat quite calmly and looked at Edda. Edda smirked and walked toward her slowly, Enoch close by her side. She leaned forward and ripped open the Empress' kimono, so that her neck and the top of her chest was exposed. Enoch snapped and a large mohawked rat appeared on her chest, chewing open a hole in her neck. Enoch snapped again and the rat disappeared. Edda leaned forward, opening the vial from her hand and pouring the contents into the open wound. She smirked with attitude, and backed away a few steps, tucking the empty vial safely into her pocket. At first the Empress looked furious, then she looked confused. A tingling sensation spread throughout her body, from the open wound all the way down to her fingers and toes. The tingling turned to a burning, which turned to a melting. Her skin darkening, and beginning to loosen, almost sliding freely, her eyes were finally filled with fear.

Edda looked to the melting Empress as a mother would look while disciplining her small child. Then looked to Enoch and nodded in unison once more. They both returned their gaze to the Empress, and concentrated once more. The overpowering stench of filthy sewer rats filled the teahouse. They fell from the ceiling, in hundreds, exactly like rain. Their teeth glistened yellowish green as they landed on her, gnawing at her melting skin. She fell to the floor, being eaten alive as the others had, rats still raining from the ceiling and immediately eating her up. The last two rats that fell were a large red-furred one and the same mohawked one from before. As they fell, the rest of the rats disappeared. The woman had nothing left to her at all, except her eyes. Each of the rats smirked at each other and bit open an eyeball, squirting the floors with her eye guts. Edda smirked and Enoch grinned, both satisfied with the job they had done. They turned to leave, each rat following its owner.

Edda slowly opened her eyes, laying in her bed in Umbra. After a few moments, she realized it was a dream and chuckled. Then she laughed. Harder and harder she laughed until tears came. After regaining composure, she got dressed and set out to find Enoch. They had to get good enough to do that.