The Ruins of La Cierra (Quest/Closed)

[Walk Among The Abyss 332]

"…even demons can get their feelings hurt."

A sudden emotion of anxiety blasted into his chest. Maybe my isolation has caused a loss of sensitivity.

His sprite nestled on his shoulder, a thin twig of an arm pressed against his neck, “It seems this one has lost communication with the recon sprite I sent out earlier. Doesn’t mean a lot. These are fairly weak and any damage to them would mean being sent back to the spirit realm.” For a brief second he pondered, “No matter. I’ll keep it in the back of my head.” Vigilance would remain a key component of who he was, this changed nothing.

“I’ve been a loner for quite some time. I enjoy the company of the trees and animals more than most people.” No truer words could he speak.

“I doubt we will find any information within common houses. I’m just curious on how life was here. Before, well, before shit went sideways and the apparent apocalypse happened.” His eyes followed as the sprite left them. He stepped forward, waiting on Evie to follow as the house’s visage grew larger. Displacing a branch, Keldorl eased up to the first house and made his way in.

---

Inside the house, there was an eerie feeling of walking through someone’s memories. Pictures, mementos, and everyday items sleeping throughout the lodging. Seeing these belongings as he browsed, he couldn’t help but feel a sting as his heart went out to those who perished. Fingers cleared off years of dust, “15 years I believe,” talking to no one directly, but the words were meant for Evie. “15 years ago, this region became attacked by the walking dead. The High Lords of Genesaris came down and turned this place upside down.” No flowers – setting his mask down on the dust covered entrance table – he rested his back against the wall. “The flowers are most likely the undead, but I have a hunch that those who were unable to leave may also be tangled in there from the magic of The High Lords.” This had been the reason he didn’t want to burn the flowers, he felt sadness for those who lost their lives and in some twisted way, being flowers gave him hope that in the afterlife, they could find some happiness.

“This is what I know. She calls herself The Black Queen. Outside of our group, no one apparently knows of this key. What it does, I’m afraid I don’t know. But she’d like it back. I have a hunch on where to find it but since it’s based on little data, I was hesitant at first about confiding this information because I’m unsure how much teeth it has.” Swiping a frame of a family; a mother and her two kids smiling into whatever object had taken this, “ The locksmith was the last to have it.”

[Noko 1399]

As tangled as knotted barbed wire, flickers of anxiety lashed through the air as they drifted from Keldorl up toward Evie as the pair made their way through the scrub toward the line of houses.  In the distance, the crows screamed again, and Evie cast her light eyes skyward, shading them against the backlight.

"..what are they yelling about.." she wondered, pursing her lips.  Coming back to the conversation with Keldorl, she absorbed the rest of his words with idle attentiveness and stepped in his steps toward the first home.  As they entered, she stripped her mask off as well, grateful for the respite from its uncomfortable, rubbery embrace.

"This is what I know. She calls herself The Black Queen. Outside of our group, no one apparently knows of this key. What it does, I'm afraid I don't know. But she'd like it back. I have a hunch on where to find it, but since it's based on little data, I was hesitant at first about confiding this information because I'm unsure how much teeth it has."

"So, is it a curse then? It's a lot of energy to put into wiping out a village this size-- I mean, you could do it with half a battalion, yet someone went to all the trouble of necromancy, spell components, and a seemingly eternal curse.  That's a lot of effort for a nothing village.  I doubt this was a crack an egg and wave your wand kind of affair."

As if magic worked like that.

With her eyes thinned to a squint, Evie shook her head and tried to shake sense into the nonsensical.  It wasn't all the murder that bothered her, but the fact that it didn't make sense.

"So, why?  What did these people do?" wondered the woman as she wound her way through the small house.  There were many unanswered questions, and it seemed like Evie would find most of them if given the time.  In just a few strides, she stopped in the southwest corner of the home, which was filled with a small bed and nightstand.  The drawer rattled as she dragged it open, then leaned over to peer inside, but there was nothing to see- just the remains of a rotted coin purse and almost two decades of detritus.

"..these were just normal folk.  It had to be vengeance, hatred.." she murmured, shutting the drawer sharply.  "It couldn't even be greed.  Maybe jealousy?"

[Walk Among The Abyss 332]

“I love your inquisitive mind Evie,” speaking into the glass of the frame loudly so Evie could hear him as she wandered.

“Why does one do what one does? Power, money, control, all of the above.” Tossing the frame aside, glass shattered like the lives of the former occupants. We have daylight. Best to continue. Best to leave relics to the forest to consume.

“Evie, shall we continue on?” The mask was tight. A bug wrapped tightly in a rug. “I try not to dive to deep into reasons why people do as they do,” a lie he produced for the time being, for her. Trust was an issue. His own curiosity got him involved. Chaos had occurred. It pulled at Keldorl with such gravity that he felt as though his limbs would spaghettify. No, here questions were already his questions.

 Entering the light, the gloominess of the surrounding environment was a constant reminder of the city steeped in darkness. “I will express that I’m glad we paired together. At the very least, we can pass time by talking about conspiracies.” Gripping the two shafts of wood in his long-sleeved hand, his gaze drifted past the houses to the trails leading to the city. Dotted flowers lined the pathway. There was no doubt that their journey was starting to become treacherous. “I’d say no better place to murder someone would be right here,” his head turned, seeing where Evie was, “All I’d have to do is remove you mask and, well, night-night forever all eternity.” She wouldn’t see his cracked grin. But it was there.

Beneath the mask, his stoned faced hardened as his head snapped back to the trail. The sprite jabbed his neck, touching skin to wood. Quick slides of memories played out from Evie’s sprite. Difficult to tell but there was something the spirits were afraid of. Something unnatural my friend, he concluded.

“Be cautious Evie. Something may have made it’s home in the ghost city.”

[Noko 1399]

"Why does one do what one does? Power, money, control, all of the above."

Ah, but it was power, money, control, vengeance.

Vengeance.

How could one leave off the mother of them all? In the end, when the light grew dim, and we all sat and looked at why we do the terrible things we do, the First found that it was always because of vengeance.

Retribution.

What do we do with money?

Get control.

With Control?

We get power.

With Power?

We get Vengeance.

It was always, always, vengeance.

Vengeance for our lot in life, for the consequences of it; for how we were raised, or weren't; for the insufficient dolings an invisible hand set out before us; for insults, real or insubstantial, immediate or cast far by time or space.

She was musing this- wondering how the mother had been forgotten in the wake of her children, when her thoughts were dashed by the sound of glass shattering. The noise captured her- snatching her attention and forming it into a primal response that bypassed her thoughts entirely: defend. A rush of psionics shot forward, their unseen tendrils snaking and weaving upward into a shield only the gifted could discern. It rose as her thoughts caught up with her reflexes, beginning to crumble in the same thought. It built upward like an avalanche reversing - up, then down in a blink - but in a trick of Orisia, something twisted. As the shield fell in on itself, dissolving like grains of sand, the fragments blasted outward like buckshot, peppering the rotting furniture with tiny, insignificant thuds, instead of simply and quietly reabsorbing into the psion like it typically would.

At the sound of the mini-carnage, Evie tongued her canine and watched tiny strikes with amused annoyance, one dark brow curled like a flexed bow.

"Well," she said simply, "I guess I can confirm the magic interference is a thing- sorry about that." A smile, wrapped as it was in the drab green mask, tried to smooth the awkwardness, but as the pair made their way out into the pollen-filled air she knew the man's suspicious nature wouldn't let it go.

Amidst her thoughts and the weighty, somber atmosphere, when Keldorl spoke again it was a welcome rumble that broke up the rhythmic crunch of gravel and dirt beneath Evie's steps. She came to a stop beside him, idly trailing her fingertips along the edges of the houses they passed, and extending her staff first into the voids at intersections and doorways. 

The feel of this place was smothering-- it clung to her like the pollen, intruding into her breath and skin until she felt wrapped in it, suffocated. It wasn't the death; Phoebe knew death; she knew murder and want like they shared a bed, but not like this. There was worse about this, about the eternal unnaturalness, as if someone had made a museum of their murders and dressed it up, then set it out in the land for everyone to see, forever.

"I'd say no better place to murder someone would be right here. All I'd have to do is remove you mask and, well, night-night forever all eternity."

Keldorl spoke and Evie was glad for it- for a blessed moment, a childish frolic danced in Keldorl's aura and sparked a distant, mask-muffed laugh from Evie, drawing her from melancholy. He may have thought that his humor was hidden, but the crinkle of his eyes and the lightness of their twinkle scrawled amusement there like stars across the sky. As her laughter trailed off, Evie carried the joke forward with a light suggestion. "If we're choosing ways to go, I'd much rather you try to put a knife in my back, or.."

But 'or' would remain a tantalizing curiousity, for the sudden shift in Keldorl's posture and attention stilled Evie's tongue like a viper's sting.

"Be cautious Evie. Something may have made it's home in the ghost city."

Something?

She stretched her hand out, beckoning the sprite which had settled with Keldorl. Its many lashed eyes flashed toward her and it considered, then launched itself from Keldorl's neck and rode the air to Evie's fingertips. It eyed her as it landed, clasping her hand in its strong toes and as its oblong head tilted; hers mirroring. Silence wrapped the pair, at least in this world. Across the winds of thought and will, Evie reached toward the creature with questioning, probing, curious flickers of wondering. She asked with a gentleness reserved for newborns, and it replied with a sensitive consideration, wanting promises of boundaries and safety that the woman easily granted, requested in turn, and was granted back. 

They would be partners here. As a creature from the spirit world, the sprite was easily her equal in this world of thought and will. A passing wish from its tiny mind formed a midway land between she and it, like a child making a sandcastle, where they could communicate without either needing entering the other's space. At its ingenuity, Evie marveled- there was so much she could learn from these creatures.

A minute passed, neither moved. 

In the inbetween castle, the sprite passed along snapshots and seconds of motion to Evie, all centered around snips of a creature that she had no words for. Ebony claws, the steady drip of poison and the sound of flapping wings as it took the air after the fleeing sprite. Keldorl could watch the fading color in her cheeks as she and the sprite kept their attention locked on one another; with that he could guess, his thoughts could run wild across the nightmare plane and find some trait that matched the flipbook of horror the sprite showed.

As time passed, the sharp-tailed, blue sprite Phoebe had sent off earlier returned and perched on the top of her head. It watched the pair, occasionally flicking a glance toward the Hunter, as it threw its scouting mission into Evie's psionic pot. There were men- a caravan, spears and nets, chains and cages large enough for the creature or the groups of people which filled some.

"..well." Evie's words were dreamlike, muffled and far away. As she shook her head to clear it, the blue, heart-faced, sprite atop her head leapt off and buried itself back beneath her curtain of dark hair. The other dove free from her fingertip and, with a single flap of its leathery wings, returned to Keldorl. Evie lowered herself to a crouch, feeling the weight of the day as she considered their next move. There was only one thing she wanted less than to stretch her will out across this cursed place - and that was to let ignorance blind and deafen her, readying she and Keldorl for its sharpened claws.

"Somethings, would be more accurate," she mused, suddenly contemplative as she slowly lowered one knee until it pressed into the damp packed dirt. "I know you're going to feel this," she said by way of warning, ".. it's not going to hurt you. Whatever else you are- we're friends for now." She paused, watching the emotions as they cracked through Keldorl's rugged expression. "We just need to know if we're already standing in a pile of shit or just hanging around near one." She gave that one last clarification, her light eyes flashing up toward his as she sought his understanding - not his permission - and once she saw in his deep-set eyes that her words had settled, Evie let her will go. 

It poured from her like a dam loosed, crashing at her feet and blowing past Keldorl as it spread across the area in an intangible flood. Invisible and ephermal, the probing wave smashed up and over houses and streamed through the byways for blocks, feeding an imprinted map back to Evie to filter and interpret. Reaching down, she began to draw a grid with her fingertip in the dirt - prepping something, it seemed, only to smear her palm across its lines, erasing the thought before it took root, then redrawing it out of frustration.

"I guess the caravan is somewhere over here.." she explained, making an X over at the far edge of the city, closer to where the roads lead in. "They're too far, but they have scouts here - so, I'm just guessing based on where people usually put scouts."

A few Os were worked into the map, a bit out from the X that represented the caravan.

"But I can't find the monsters at all - and I've never seen anything like them before, so while it's great that they're not near us, we have no idea where they are.

Or, I suppose, they could be able to avoid my looking."

That wasn't great.

Edited October 31, 2020 by Noko

[Walk Among The Abyss 332]

"If we're choosing ways to go, I'd much rather you try to put a knife in my back, or.."

He wanted to debate this, but his discussion was quickly side barred.

His head shifted toward the city, blue eyes like guardians from above watched vigilantly. Then he felt it. The disturbance in the atmosphere electrified his senses once more. Thankfully his framework knew the sensation and categorized it like a thumbprint to be pulled from the file cabinet for recognition. Evie’s prints were displayed for his body to see. His muscles relaxed but the sensation remained.

“Poachers,” his words growled like an angry dog. Keldorl concentrated on her map, his blue orbs now fixated on her. Accepting that they were no longer alone and accepting that the group was searching for creatures made their own endeavor a little more strenuous. After watching her play tic-tac toe in the dirt, he gazed once more toward the city.

“If they are trying to capture creatures, it’ll make it difficult for us to go unnoticed. Either by the people or the beasts they search.” The chance was the first sprite for reconnaissance had been harmed by either the creatures or the caravan. It made sense. These sprites for weak, simple beings. Enough force and haste, they would vanish without a trace. Since Keldorl didn’t have a direct link and required the sprites to touch him, he couldn’t be sure of what happened. The sprites they had left were their eyes for now. If the spirits were to be fodder, he wasn’t compelled to summon more to meet their demise.

The first wood shaft jabbed into the dirt, breaking the surface. Compressing his energy into the wood, he pulled the shaft from the soil with a spear tip of rocky material. He continued with the second as both now were fully formed into spears. “Hmm.” Studying the spears, the first was far to large to be thrown. The second was made correctly, made how he wanted it to be.  No matter. The larger one would suffice as his handheld while the second would be distance.

“What is your suggestion?” His voice growing firm. “I can move through trees and brush effortlessly but a predator in lying is a dangerous risk.” The comment was directed at the creatures that Evie couldn’t detect. Humans, in his opinion, were the easier threat to handle. “Do we move inland, to the streets? Do we creep from building to building until we find our locksmith’s establishment?” Focusing once more on her, “I’ll let you decide. I enjoy a game of chance. No wrong decision in this.” Both spears started to feel the strength of the man’s grip, the left spear more than the right.

“Be warned though. If we scuffle with the humans, I refuse to fight from the shadows. I’ll kill but never without the other knowing whose face took their life.” His knightlihood lingered,  inside of his soul. The title of a knight could be taken away, but the passion could never depart. His old ways had remained, no matter how tattered they had become. 

 

[Noko 1399]

"Be warned though. If we scuffle with the humans, I refuse to fight from the shadows. I'll kill but never without the other knowing whose face took their life."

There was a moment, right there. A specific moment; one of those moments in which lifetimes were lived; where lovers were born, and lived, and loved, and drank poison because fuck-it-why-communicate. 

In Evie's unblinking gaze, galaxies spun and collapsed in on themselves, while she mused at the ruggedly handsome unicorn.

They really do exist.

In the distance, that same group of crows from earlier cackled a raucous din as if to add to the general uneasiness.

"I mean," she began, but it was plain to see that Evie had started midway through her thought. It was just so off-putting- one might as well put mayo on a burger, for all the levels of wrong this was. Abruptly she stopped, then bent her head to scratch her forehead. The moment, that same tragically extended eternity, almost found a new beginning in the pause between her head scratch and her decision to push herself up from her crouch. Gratefully, she began again.

"So."

Nope.

A heavy breath dropped from her lips like snow from an over-laden bough. Dark locks tumbled forward as she shook her head, then bent to retrieve her leather-wrapped walking stick, shaking her shoulders to resettle the pack on her back as she straightened.

"... okay, so don't get me wrong - I'm thrilled to know I'll be stabbed in the front and not the back, but we're drastically outnumbered..." Her words came in a rush, one tripping over the other as if they'd been cooped up too long and just now managed to escape. "What about stabbing people from the shadows and then just whispering your name as they die..."

 Glancing at Keldorl from the corner of her eye, she quirked a brow.

"Technically, they'll know in time."

Maybe a compromise?

"They have cages, Keldorl. There's no guarantee the only thing they're hunting is animals.  In an empire run by vampires, do you think they blink at slavery?"

Edited November 5, 2020 by Noko

[Walk Among The Abyss 332]

Her pauses, her consciousness drifting into the heavens, her inability to speak for those moments that bent time and space – went completely unnoticed by the man. He stood motionless, contemplating on a plan of action. Action. Action was needed. “They have cages…” Words of hers broke his silence. “You’re correct, aren’t you. You know the customs better than I, so I place trust in your skills of deduction.”

His eyes processed her rudimentary map – still better than no map – and his mind was made up. Bending down, he laid his pack on the dirt. Fingers dug into the ground drawing a wide circle, one large enough to place his pack inside. His theory was direct contact with his element might give him more control, a decent time to test that theory. As the circle completed, he expelled energy into it until the circle shifted into a mouth, swallowing up the pack. “I can move fast with a pack, but the noise is still an issue.” Ascending to his feet, he registered her circles for where she thought the scouts could be. The ground had cooperated easier than normal, but that tug-of-war was still there.

"What about stabbing people from the shadows and then just whispering your name as they die..."

“I’ll do what I must with as much honor as possible. I’ll handle the scouts. They will be the most vigilant and the forest is my home so I can maneuver like a fox in this terrain. I expect you can head towards the caravan and incapacitate them? I anticipate you are not a princess who finds themselves in distress to be saved?”

Internally admitting that they had the element of surprise was challenging. A deep dislike for assassinations; they were dishonorable in his eyes, but he knew that it proved advantageous. The only honor lost was his personal belief but…how often had that cost others? There were ways around his ethical standings. Doing it alone was his only option.    

Her assumption from what she saw was the caravan being on the edge of the city and tree line. “Depending on how many and if they want to remain undetected, most scouts patrol solo. Easier to hide, easier to flee. Off your data, I’m guessing the group cannot be large. Possibly one scouting party made up of 2 people but each a good 50 yards apart to cover ground while remaining in yelling distance.”

“If we have challenges with our magic then so do they, if they have any at all. Once the scouts are taken out, there should be no alarms to alert the main force. I’ll communicate through our sprites when I complete my task. If they are a hodgepodge group, then they won’t be disciplined enough to remain focused. Here’s to hoping they are not a tight knit group.”

[Noko 1399]

"I'll do what I must with as much honor as possible. I'll handle the scouts. They will be the most vigilant and the forest is my home so I can maneuver like a fox in this terrain. I expect you can head towards the caravan and incapacitate them? I anticipate you are not a princess who finds themselves in distress to be saved?

...

If we have challenges with our magic then so do they, if they have any at all. Once the scouts are taken out, there should be no alarms to alert the main force. I’ll communicate through our sprites when I complete my task. If they are a hodgepodge group, then they won’t be disciplined enough to remain focused. Here’s to hoping they are not a tight knit group.”

"I honestly don't know who you think I am.."

Certainly not herself, she hoped.

"..but, while I'm not a cringing nursemaid, I am someone who thinks taking on at least a half-dozen men in hand-to-hand combat sounds like a great way to see my insides on the outside. This job is not paying for that kind of risk," she said flatly, falling quiet for a moment as her teeth glinted as the caught the swell of her lower lip.

"What if instead we split the scouts.."

Sinking back to her crouch, Evie spoke anew as she set the pad of her forefinger in the dirt and slashed a line through each of the circles representing the poachers' forward line.

"..Then drag them a bit into the town and leave them. The crows have been going nuts," she said as she glanced up, searching the sky through the shade of an upraised hand, and lowering it as she began to speak again. "There's got to be something to that. If we leave the bodies, maybe they catch whatever demon monster thing is in the city. The monster comes to eat, we make a screaming racket and draw the rest of the poachers in, then see who survives.. handle that, then go about the rest of our business.

If it doesn't work, we're still ahead of the game with two dead scouts.

What do you think?"

[Walk Among The Abyss 332]

The wind swept in from the west, tickling the leaves on the branches.

One foot touched the dead log resting on the ground, as peaceful as a panther’s paw, pushing off to the next area. His small sprite was sent ahead to gather intel. He made the same suggestion to Evie but concluded between her talents and intelligence, she would pick what suited her the best.

The return of the sprite pointed him the direction he sprinted off to. The first scout, the closest, was left to Evie. He chuckled with a grin on his face thinking back to her comments before the set off.

“I am someone who thinks taking on at least a half-dozen men in hand-to-hand combat sounds like a great way to see my insides on the outside.”

She was, yet again, correct. The mission was for an item. Not to conduct gorilla warfare. “Something nags that hand-to-hand fighting isn’t what you would be doing.” He was certain she was downplaying what she could do. “I’m still against needless killing but I will gargle it around in my head and decide when I arrive at my scout.”

 She could have done it, he thought slipping through trees and shrubbery. One does not call forth invisible tentacles without having the ability to fight crowds. Maybe I’ll test out my theory when we’re out of here.

---

The second scout was nowhere in sight, but he trusted his sprite. Rushing toward the direction of the indicated spot, Keldorl’s body blended in once more with the trees and timber. The color-shifting light rapidly keeping up with the colors of the forest. As he raced around a large set of trees, the scout stood motionless and Keldorl saw why.

The creature eyed the scout. Keldorl stood anchored, watching, waiting. Examining the beast, he could describe characteristics of other animals; the mane of a lion but the body was longer, not as stocky but lengthy as if stretched by machinery. Its large vampiric wings folded back giving its long body a sleeker look. Then the tail with dark, flat blades protruding outward with razor sharp edges whipping around like a cat before pouncing.

Then it launched. The scout had visibly no chance at survival as the winged beast clamped down on his head. This was good though. The scout couldn’t scream.

This was what he waited on.

Stretching back, far back, his grip facing the sky, Keldorl drove his sternum forward allowing the wood shaft to seamlessly slide through his grip. The smaller tipped spear shot out with such intensity that the spear passed through the back of the winged beast and continued through to the scout, skewering them together. Howling with anger, the beast twisted its body, breaking the spears shaft, and glared in direction of the spear. It saw nothing suspicious. Beneath the cloak, Keldorl lounged, his body flat kissing the dirt and remaining silent.

The beast howled, salvia and blood dripped like thick wax from a candle. Seeing no target, the creature cradled the deceased scout’s body in its mouth and flew off. “Little one, pass this on to your kin,” the sprite touched his neck, words turning into images for Evie to see. “One scout down, but dangerous creatures Evie, be cautious.”  

With one scout sent off for feed, Keldorl stood up and quickly made his way to Evie’s rendezvous point with hopes that she could manage to salvage the plan.

[Noko 1399]

Evie's sprite clung to her neck as she feigned the mundane, choosing to ascend to the rooftops through the incredibly inefficient manual method of climbing. With care, she picked her path - gripped the sill and stepped up, then balanced on her toes and monkey walked up its side to the edge of the roof, which she leapt to and snatched with her fingertips. For a minute, she hung there, stretching her shoulders out before she pulled to its edge and clambered up. A similar path took her up the second-floor roof, where she finally stood to look out over La Cierra's ruins.

The village's desolation was total- without its residents' caring hands, it had succumbed to despair and neglect, reduced to its elemental constituents by time and weather. Stone had survived in walls, and wells, and property lines. Most of the houses still had roofs, though looking out across them, Evie found a few that were questionably sound. Empty animal pens held skeletons of once cared for livestock, pets, and distant rowed fields sat fallow and dry, and the wind blew, scattering its once fertile dirt toward the coast.

In the shadows and motion on the ground, in the feel of the village and its bone death, Evie placed Keldorl in a roundabout way- imprecise, but near enough to the truth. Tilting her ear to the sky, she listened- but to the sprite, not the clouds above.

<Can you find me the scout?>

A warm affirmative answered her and the sprite launched off her shoulder, fast disappearing into the winds as Evie bent her legs and sat on the roof's slanted edge to wait. It was nice up here, quiet. She could pretend up here like she did as a child and wind the afternoon away, feeling the cool breeze and the warm sun, and leaving the mess of life to those who were stuck on the ground. It was a distant reminiscence she enjoyed until the sprite returned with her target and she stood, resigned to the task at hand. 

Quick feet carried her as swiftly across the rooftops now as they had when she'd first become Phoebe, so many years earlier. Flexed toes gripped her boots, which grabbed the roof, and she ran like the wind toward the point the sprite directed. As she came to the house, Evie slowed to a walk; her telekinetics cushioned her steps to silence as she spied the scout's shadow cast between the houses.

A single man, alone and unaware, was no match for the First - in this, she didn't disappoint. 

She was everything they said she was.

It took only thought- a manifestation of will which twisted and hardened the air in the man's throat and lungs, another to compress his chest as he exhaled his last breath, constricting his ribs, and preventing his mortal body from breathing. He suffocated where he stood; his eyes horrifically wide, all whites with shocks of red as his capillaries burst, made all the more grotesque as they dulled and lunged for the passing thoughts of his family. She gripped him as he fell, then and cast him like a ragdoll into the wall for a more believable end- a defilement, just so she had an easier story to sell to the Hunter.

His end was silent, but not quick.  Still, it took more effort and more time for the First to haul his limp body up and over her shoulders and for her to make her way through the narrow village streets back to the rendezvous.  A block away, she threw some emphasis into her work- bending beneath his weight, leaning heavily on her stick as if the corpse's mass could barely be managed.  In fairness, it wasn't far from the truth - the man outweighed her easily, but her legs were strong.  The small plaza she'd suggested as a meeting place spread out before her as the second sprite landed, again on top of her head.  It was broadcasting even before its toes tangled in her mane, prompting her to wonder aloud as she stepped into the sunlight, "...is that a manticore?"

A quick glance cast over the plaza, searching for Keldorl as her questions followed to the sprite.

"Is it dead?"

Edited November 6, 2020 by Noko

[Walk Among The Abyss 332]

 

His body propelled forward, branches scratching his cloak, limbs attempted to take swipes at his frame, but the man weaved like yarn through the woodland. Where there’s one, there could be more. “I injured it, but I doubt it’ll die from such a small hole,” his words transmitted through his sprite to the mind of Evie’s counterpart.

Rushing toward the city edge, he found the head of the high rise piercing through the treetops. The building that could once have been a guild’s headquarters or belonged to local administration but for now it was the meet up stop. The building gave a clear vantage point. If Evie managed to complete her task, this would allow them to watch with little fear of being noticed.

Energy vomited from his feet into the earth, a 4x4 pillar erupted from the ground driving Keldorl’s legs upward. Using the momentum, he jumped exiting the trees and landing on the rooftop. The way the energy left his body was alarming – Once more the land does not do as I say.

The roof’s concrete structure provided space to sit and watch. Tall walls, he guessed were a meter and half, would grant them coverage from down below. Examining the structure, he noticed a hatch, he assumed led to the interior. “Use the sprite to locate me. I’m at the spot,” he recited to his sprite.

Situating his legs, he set crossed legged, spear resting on both knees. Closing his eye lids, he removed his mask and laid it beside him. Calmly he began to inhale. 1…2…3…4…5…Then exhaled with the same count. Between beasts out of nightmares and traffickers, how could our day become any more exiting. His concern arrived on a different topic entirely. His pony-tailed, white hair rustled with the wind. The twig of a sprite stretched out its brown body across the nape of his. Soon, everything became quiet. He felt the rays of light, he heard the woods whisper using the winds, he tasted the salt in the air from the water in the west. He searched. Those seconds that were years, he searched. The land groaned.

Buried magic, ancient and rooted within the land wafted from the surface to caress the stoic figure’s body. This was what caused them dissent with their magic. He could feel the magical aura, much like water spray, in the air as it casted a wide net. All it takes is for that net to touch my magic to warp it differently. Highly doubtful if it could be cleansed. It would take powerful magic from an assortment of users to attempt the feat.

He sat. A body void of motion. Waiting patiently for his companion to arrive.

[Noko 1399]

Gods.

There was no more need to feign the heaviness of the man's body- time and distance had made that all too real. It was not Phoebe's modus operandi to go carrying around her victims. Why would she, when it only took a few drops of this-or-that, a blast of telekinesis, and the ashes or remains simply went away as surely as if they'd been willed out of existence. Which, in a way, they had.

This guy, though.

"..did I get you just after lunch?"

She came to a halt muttering to the dead man hung over her shoulder, caught in that midway land between wanting to put her heavy load down and not wanting the effort of picking it back up again. The plaza, through the narrow lens of exertion, looked devoid of either Keldorl or another body. It was sprawling and open, with ruined cobblestones that looked as if they once formed a tiled centerpiece, and a pile of rubble that could have been a fountain. For the most part, the open space was dominated by a towering square of a building which had the architectural mass of immoving sameness that men built when they wanted to seem imposing, but didn't have the resources or skill to build something beautifully imposing, so they painted some gold leaf on a rectangle, carved some vertical reliefs, and called it magnificent.

"I injured it, but I doubt it'll die from such a small hole." The Ranger's words came floating back on a sprite-network delay.

Wonderful.

There was an injured manticore on the loose, and she was carrying dinner. It made her decision for a bloodless kill all the better- at least this way, she wasn't bathed in a bloody marinade and hauling around dinner.

"Use the sprite to locate me. I'm at the spot."

"Are you?" Evie's words were for herself, just a mutter to distract her from the tension that carved through her lithe frame and knotted her back. By now, the weight was stressing all the connecting bits- compressing her joints and muscles, straining sinew and tendon that were meticulously maintained for movement, not the static effort of lugging around a body like a common thug. The annoyance cast her expression dark; the sprite read it in its bones, wrinkling tiny furry brows as it gently scratched her neck.

"I know, I know. Do you see him?"

It wasn't as if she could look up, what with the full-grown man thrown across her back. Another warm affirmative pushed its way into her thoughts, prompting an acknowledging sigh as the sprite unfurled its long limb and pointed along the side of her face up toward the rooftops.

"Of course, he's on the roof. No, my legs feel great.." added the woman to her magical companion. While the spark of sarcasm in her eyes was lost to the little creature, the wash of it in her aura provoked a twitter as Evie side-stepped and simultaneously released her lazy hold on the back of her burden's neck. Without that counter balance, the body slipped from her shoulders, crashing against the broken cobblestone walkway and filling the air with the slaughterhouse sound of ripping tendon and morbidly lax flesh slapping against itself. It was given barely a thought as Evie brought her scraped and bloody hand up to shield her eyes, eventually finding Keldorl's silhouette against the roof, then finding the earthen pillar that helped him there.

At least it was only half a climb?

Evie's scramble up the pillar, then up to the better hand-holds the building offered, was only half as difficult as she made it look - but she made it look pretty awkward, thanks to the tremble in her quads and the meat-tenderizer that she swore someone was banging against her lower back. At the top, she hauled herself over and just tumbled flat on her back, landing in an upturned sprawl where she could stare at the sky and slow moving clouds that drifted across it.

"You know," she said after a moment, "I can't help but notice that my side of the work is consistently terrible. I really hope the effort is reflected in my pay..."

A beat passed as Evie summoned a slow fading smirk to her full lips.

"I don't know if manticores are pack animals.. do you? Tell me about that one you ran into- we really need more information. Maybe in those books..."

Except Evie'd left her pack back with Keldorl's and, based on the pile of lax limbs and exhaustion she'd dissolved into, no amount of need short of a mortal one looked as if it would get her moving now.  Seeming to come to the same conclusion, she continued, "..then again, stabbing seems to work - why over-complicate."

Edited November 9, 2020 by Noko

[Walk Among The Abyss 332]

A cool breeze blew across the roof. The salty fragments in the air lingered, barely there, but enough to taste the ocean. The stagnant form  was roused, his eyes opened to peer at his companion. “Yes, you do seem to be giving yourself the harder tasks,” grinning he continued, “but if I’m correct, you did seem intent on meeting your untimely doom this day.” A hard man but not one without jokes.

As if telling the future, Keldorl extended his hand, pointing at their two bags leaning against the wall of the roof that faced the city. “I tracked your bag and had it swallowed up like mine.” To this he smiled, a smile of pride. “A useless trick taught but even useless tricks have their moments. As long as it stays in its shell in the ground, I can produce it almost anywhere that is connected to the original ground. I did have to shoot it from the pillar, so I hope nothing of fragile nature was in there?”

In a single motion he stood. At full height, their outlines would be near improbable to be seen from below. A nice place for a break. The pillar from which they used as transport began sinking back into the soil to hide their trail. “You’re fascinating. You don’t seem shocked at such a creature existing, “his mind wandered back to their conversation about the demons, “and you dealt with murdering a human without pause.” She had an allure about her, a suspicious one but an allure, nonetheless. “I suspect you have secrets that would fill a novel, but I digress. The manticore.” Gripping his spear, he made his way to the edge of the wall facing the forest. “I’ve dealt with some creatures such as it but not that exact species.” Did they have species? That was a question for a monster hunter. “It was larger than ones I’ve seen. Darker too. I’m used to brighter ones. The colors were dark and murky, like it evolved to live in swamps.” As descriptive as possible, he described the creature as well as the demise of the scout.

The avenues they could trek down were plentiful. Human’s had a knack for over complicating simple assignments. It was in their nature. “My thoughts are thus,” turning to face Evie, wherever she was currently, “Our aim is to find our box. Not manticores or human traffickers. While I’d like to crush multiple birds with enormous boulders, I’m not sure I see it wise to get involved.” His right hand went to his chin, scratching the stubble that grew like moss over the last few days. “The poachers may chalk their deceased as killed or in my case, missing.” Blue orbs gazed at the greatness of the sky, the sun radiating love from its core. “I find this building a great spot to be our base temporarily. We have plenty of daylight left to continue onward or we can set up here and explore this building.” Walking over, back to the edge of the wall, “I’m confident after seeing the manticore that I should be able to track down some small game like rabbit or a weasel for food.” What other creatures lurked in the forest? Something new to try! Excitement leapt up. He relished in new cuisine from regions unexplored.

“As you should be able to surmise, I prefer collaboration over dictatorship. I’m interested in what your thoughts are.” Placing his hand on the stone wall, “I did not bring my sword with me and it is too far to recall through the ground. The interference in magic causes me some concern. If we were to fight, I feel as if I’ll be at a disadvantage. Worse than that, I could cause a quake without meaning too and dismantle an area.”

[Noko 1399]

"..but if I'm correct, you did seem intent on meeting your untimely doom this day."

Pshh.

Evie threw a smirk aside at Keldorl, its quick edge like the greedy sting of a grasping vine. Her eyes drifted lazily back to the meandering clouds, and she shifted, crab walking her shoulders before she settled against the roof with her hands interlaced beneath her head. The sprite perked out, its blue face a spark amidst her hair's dark pillow, and curled up in the hollow of her flexed arm as Keldorl continued to speak.

"You're fascinating. You don't seem shocked at such a creature existing, and you dealt with murdering a human without pause."

"A slaver," she corrected, tracing Keldorl's path as he strode toward the edge of the roof. "Not a person." Evie let the correction settle- it was an important distinction for her mask, so she gave it its due before going on to point out, "You know, it's weird that you keep calling us all humans. Sort of carries an implication.."

Her light eyes drifted closed as Keldorl continued to speak. She listened; one could read her emotion by the twitch of her brow or the press of her lips-- as, for instance, when the Hunter issued the formality of 'thus'-- but for the most part, Evie seemed to find it pleasant to simply lie and enjoy the feel of the fading sun on her face. It was a novelty for her and reminded her of afternoons spent with her now-husband, sprawled on the warm sands of their private island, and doing their energetic best to bring the island's population to three. A faint smile pulled at the corner of her lips, and she drew breath inward, then exhaled in contentment as Keldorl's rumbling baritone draped the roof in repose. She picked words out here and there-- a skill honed in board meetings and mission briefings-- and occasionally her lashes fluttered open as she watched the clouds, or a passing bird, or Keldorl's distant sentinel silhouette, but didn't speak again until his voice fell silent - none of which meant she wasn't thinking.

"Our aim is to find our box. Not manticores or human traffickers. While I'd like to crush multiple birds with enormous boulders, I'm not sure I see it wise to get involved. The poachers may chalk their deceased as killed or in my case, missing. 

I find this building a great spot to be our base temporarily. We have plenty of daylight left to continue onward or we can set up here and explore this building. I'm confident after seeing the manticore that I should be able to track down some small game like rabbit or a weasel for food.

As you should be able to surmise, I prefer collaboration over dictatorship. I'm interested in what your thoughts are. I did not bring my sword with me and it is too far to recall through the ground. The interference in magic causes me some concern. If we were to fight, I feel as if I'll be at a disadvantage. Worse than that, I could cause a quake without meaning too and dismantle an area."

"I think..." she began idly, her eyes still closed as she lay half-sprawled on the roof, "..that I just dragged a dead guy over here to act as bait. If we don't want to use him as that, you should probably move him before we end up with a fight we don't want."

Her reticence was nearly palpable as she opened her eyes and sighed at the glaring sun. A moment later, she dragged herself up to her elbows, and looked across the roof at Keldorl. "Honestly, I don't know how long we can avoid the fight- they're going to notice their people are gone. When they do, our best-case scenario is they think the manticores got them and just send out more scouts. Our worst-case scenario is a bloodbath.

Let's be honest, though- they have cages. If we're unlucky, they also have collars. Have you heard of Antigone Isle?  If they have cages and collars, they're not here to enjoy the scenery and go quietly on their way."

Falling silent, Evie let her head loll backward- eyes skybound once again. The sprite scrambled free, scampering from behind tumbles of her dark hair, across her collarbone, to perch on her left shoulder as the gears in the woman's head set about their machinations. This was planning- tactics and strategy, the bones on which her skeletal throne sat, and she wore the expertise like a crown.

"I would prepare," she stated simply, a moment later. "I would send you to take the body and ditch it away from us so we don't draw the manticores here. Get your sword in the same trip, food if you find some, but I'm not sure how to cook it without giving away our position. Maybe you know a way?

A warning perimeter should be set up around our base- this building, if we stay here, so we have some way to track how far into the village their excursions go. I can take care of that.  Then, inside we go - maybe we get lucky, the key is here, and we're gone before anyone knew we were here.

Sound like a plan?" she asked as she rose to sit, brushing her palms clean as the sprite struggled to maintain its balance with her movement.  "We definitely don't want a straight fight- our disadvantage there is significant.. unlike geomancy, wind arcana isn't that useful to begin with, and chaotic wind is just dangerous. I'm not any more inclined to start casting than you are, which means we're left with blades, and that's just a numbers game that we lose all day long."

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Noko

[Walk Among The Abyss 332]

The sound of the trees rustling in the wind brought back memories of a life from his history. A life he would do anything to have once more. A single breath of that life was worth his soul. It was worth the souls of others.

---

"A slaver," “Have you heard of Antigone Isle?”

“A slaver, yes.” Removing his gaze from the forest. “Part of me still sees everyone as a human I suppose. Elves, goblins, or any sentient being, I tossed them into the same category. The living is still the living to me. What would you consider yourself Evie? Nevermind, I’m sure we will have time to chat once inside.”

“No. My knowledge of locations is still minimal at best. I tend to only know places based on my jobs.” His eyes fixated on the streets below.

Gliding over to the edge, he frowned at the body below them. A sadness surged within. Why did anyone wish to enslave others? Why did those corrupted harm those uncorrupt? “Meaningless lives lost for nothing,” his words mumbled to himself.

Signing he spoke to Evie, his monotone words sank in the air, “I suppose fighting is unavoidable. My sword though, it is not close enough to call. I’ll make do with what I’ve got. I’m not a cub whose only means of fighting are teeth.”

“I’ll let you take care of the alarm system. Myself, I need to call upon some aid in case of the creatures.” Leaving the roof, he made his way down once more with a pillar of earth, a smaller one this time, but enough to stand on. Striding over to the edge of the forest, he located the tree he wanted.

Pulling a knife from his waistband, he smiled at the largest tree. The knife cut trickled out blood. “I evoke you brethren,” words spoken as the soiled hand pressed into the bark. A crusted face from bark and moss yawned. “Summoning me so soon Keldorl?”

“I apologize Banyan. I’m in need of assistance from the others. You know how I dislike calling upon you and waking you,” patting the ancient one with his left hand.

“I see… you managed to curse yourself since last we spoke?” Banyan’s words aimed at Keldorl’s fully sleeved arm.

“A story for another time friend. Right now, I would like the trees to be our sword and shield. Another and I, she sits atop there,” pointing to the building, assuming Evie would be intrigued by seeing a tree come to life and could be watching, “may have an altercation with sizable beasts. They are winged, as large as a boulder to fit you atop, and saliva that may cause melting. Can your warriors help us?”

“You have our support young one.”

A branch twisted, contorting itself into a cylindrical shape. At some point the branch severed itself and landed into the grass. “Take this spear. I sense you have given up using what you once cherished above all others,” as his last words faded out as the face of the tree warped to bark and moss. One task done. On to the body.

Sticking to the face of the building, Keldorl quietly peered around the edge. The body was in sight. Perfect. Palms touched the ground. Imperceptible tremors made their way to the body, causing a face to swallow up the lifeless. Quickly and quietly. The body would be crushed beneath the ground. A painful way to go alive.

Picking up the spear, the pillar of dirt and soil shuttled the man to the roof and sank into the earth once more. He decided that hunting would risk their advantage of concealment. They would feast on whatever dried food they carried.