Crossing blades (Talon)

[Mirage]

Raxen turned his head to follow Talon's movements, but did not move himself. His eyes narrowed, for he was the demigod of truth, and could not deny the truth in Talon's words.

"Mortals can be angry." He said, once more dodging Talon's strike with movements that seemed too slow to be effective, "I am not angry Talon Novalys."

Breathing in Raxen executed a series of swift ducks and weaves, tapping the side of Talon's blade with two fingers before smashing an open palm into the Aviale's chest, "I am enraged. I am furious."

As if to emphasize his words the stones beneath the Ork's feet cracked as Raxen stomped forwarded, crossing the distance between them in seconds. Once more he made a fist, aiming for Talon's head, but the strike was different this time. The sense of sharpness was back, and as his fist sailed forward the air somehow visibly parted, creating a twisting distortion in the world around Talon. In the man's eyes was more than anger. He intended to kill Talon with this blow.

[Talon]

T A L O N

Talon was once again outpaced and out-maneuvered with a startling ease. He felt the wind get knocked out of him and was sent sliding back across the stone surface of the Circle of Wandering. Spreading his wings, Talon used them to slow his slide across the stone until his back slammed into one of the tower statues that stood vigil over the Circle. Talon’s sword dropped from his hand as he fell to a knee, coughing from the force of the blow. He had no time to recover as Raxen declared his rage and fury. Looking up, he beheld a world that was being parted with the Orkhan god’s passing. The air was being cut in twain, sundered completely in the wake of his wrath. Talon acted merely on instinct and rolled swiftly out of the way.

He was not quite fast enough.

As he rolled out of the way, the wake of Raxen’s passing sent a ripple outward, his fist glancing over one of Talon’s wings. The effect was immediate. He felt a snap and a tearing as the bones in the lower half of his right wing were completely shattered. Talon bit back the scream of pain as his wing was broken, sending him sprawling. Fighting back the pain, he quickly pulled himself up and faced Raxen again. Talon was scraped from the roll away from the other demigod. His wing hung limply at his side. A thin sheen of cold sweat had broken out across his brow as he breathed heavily regarding the ebony Ork.

“So you would slaughter me?” Talon’s voice shook. “For what? To prove how enraged you are? Why, Raxen?”

[Mirage]

His fist had become partially embedded into the stone statue, but with a twist of his shoulder Raxen freed his hand and shook the rubble free. He then regarded Talon calmly, the anger now gone from his eyes as the iron bands of control slipped back into place.

"My rage has nothing to do with my responsibility." The god began walking toward Talon once more, like a storm that could not be stopped, "You have his soul, so you should remember the promise we made, the night before the last battle."

In a dark tent, the sound of whispered voices outside as men in armor steadily prepared for what the next day would bring, two men sat back to back. Softly they spoke, and the larger man, Raxen, pressed a hand over his face as he suppressed tears that burned at the corners of his eyes.

"Justice is decided by the powerful, and can become cruel. Light brings with it darkness, and burns hotter than any fire. Hope can lead good men to do foolish things." Raxen spoke the words as if he were reciting them from memory, and indeed he seemed to be remembering something that soured his mood, "These things are all dependent on the owner of those divine domains. If you are to claim them as your own, then show me what those ideals mean to you. I am here to judge you, and if you stray down a path that would cause harm in the name of Arcas then I will do what I must."

He stopped several yards from Talon, flexing the fingers of his right hand before slamming a fist into his chest, "Courage cannot be shown unless all hope is lost. A man's truth cannot be understood until he has felt despair. Most important, there is a limit to what can be accomplished with a sword." He pointed a finger at Talon's chest, "Stop thinking like a mortal."

Raxen's nimbus expanded once more, pressing on the edge of Talon's as he pushed forward physically and spiritually.

"That sword is too heavy for you, Talon Novalys." Raxen said as he walked forward, and as he did Talon's blade suddenly felt unbearably heavy, even with all his divine strength. Raxen readied another fist, his pace picking up as he reared back and aimed another blow at Talon's head.

[Talon]

T A L O N

Talon had the soul of Arcas. But what did that mean? In his heart of hearts, Talon knew exactly what it meant. It meant that inside of his body, inside of his mind, and in his heart, he was not completely Talon Novalys. The young Avialae prince who had so foolishly gone down into the Warrens, arrogant and ignorant of the true dangers it posed, had died that fateful Frost day. The young man who had thrown himself into the path of a monster to save the man he loved, had been killed. Torn apart by the tendrils of darkness that had consumed him. But in the darkness, Talon had been offered a choice, one that he accepted. He had been reborn but not completely as himself. He was something more. He was someone more. Raxen was there to stand in judgement of him. But Judgement was His domain. For he was not merely the Dawnmartyr. Talon felt as though there was much that his past life had to answer for. But he both was and was not those things. He was, as Lyra had said herself, The Judge.

And he would not suffer the injustice of being judged for the crime of merely living.

“No. It is not.” Talon rose to his feet, meeting Raxen’s gaze. The sword in his hand rose with him and though he felt its weight, he was not hindered by it. A sword was a heavy thing to bear, as it should be, but he would carry it.

“Justice belongs to those who would fight for it. Only tyrants would seek to wield it with cruelty.” He began slowly walking forward. He could feel Raxen pressing against the borders of his soul but Talon was not a mortal. He was a god and Raxen’s was not the only will that would be contended with. He pushed back.

“Light does not bring Darkness.” Talon shook his head, pushing back even more against what he rejected as words that were being terribly misconstrued. “But if you believe in it without humility, without wisdom, it will blind you from seeing the Truth.”

Talon did something different. He looked beyond the veil and opened himself up to the Aetherium. Not just to peer into it, not just to glimpse what was beyond, he gave himself to it. He embraced the domains that he knew and allowed the righteousness of Justice to flow into his soul. He allowed the light of the sun’s rays to fill him and bathe his soul in its warmth. He beheld in Raxen’s soul a flame that burned brighter than any he had seen before. An unyielding force for Truth, for Courage, and to cut through all that stood in his path in order to get to the heart of things. Talon beheld the King of Blades and saw in him the weight of grief at having suffered a different kind of injustice. A weight that pulled at the edges of his heart and snapped within the boundaries of a tightly controlled cage.

Talon did the unthinkable then. He dropped the sword from his hand. He strode forward to meet Raxen as the man reared back to strike him down. Rather than fight him, rather than cut him, Talon shone a light into the dark place within Raxen’s soul. He shed a light upon the injustice that clung to the Orkhan demigod. Too long had Raxen suffered. Too long had he been forced to live in pain. Without a Light he once held so dear. Without a Hope he once loved with all of his heart.

Talon wrapped his arms around the man in an embrace. He spoke in a soft whisper.

“Forgive me.”

[Mirage]

Raxen's forward momentum was slowed, and finally stopped by the power emanating from Talon. He frowned at the young gods words, but as he opened his mouth to refute that claim he found he could not speak. Surprise filled the Ork, pushing against the anger in his heart as his own domain would not allow him to speak against Talon.

"Those are not the words of Arcas." He finally managed to say, his fist clenching as he prepared himself for Talon's approach, "He himself told me what to look for, it was him that granted me the right of Judgement."

As he said it Raxen felt a tingle up his spine as he touched on that domain, Justice. Indeed long ago Arcas has granted him that right, but this was different. Talon did something that no other incarnation before him had been able to do. With a bitter feeling in his heart Raxen felt that right being revoked as the true master of Justice took his place on the throne. With that came a sudden weariness, a weakening of the demigod's spirit that made him shake his head. When he looked back up he saw Talon coming, and anger once more began to well up.

"You talk as if you understand, but you do not, you cannot." Raxen didn't shout, but his voice carried with it a hint of the deeper feelings he carried. When Talon did not stop he took a step forward, flexing and pressing down harder onto Talon aura with his own as his voice raised, "You are still too young, too untrained. You have his memories but you do not know him, or what he stood for. What do you, a pampered boy of nobility, know of true Justice?" Still Talon did not stop and Raxen took another step forward, "Your light could summon the wrath of countless enemies on this people, and yet you say that Light doesn't bring darkness?"

The words Raxen spoke became harder and harder to say aloud, for he felt his own power beginning to bind him. Raxen had no right to question the domains of other gods, and he knew it. Somehow that only made his anger grow hotter.

"You cannot come closer." Said Raxen, a wave of force hitting Talon as Raxen attempted to change his Truth, but still the man came on.

"Your burden is too great to bear, you can't move forward." Again Raxen half shouted, but Talon moved ever onward. As he came within arms reach Raxen brought both hands together as if to crush Talon's skull in one, mightily blow.

"You can't..." Raxen began, but fell silent as Talon wrapped his arms around him. His muscles twitched with suppressed power, anger now mixing with other, far more painful emotions. With a howl of a beast the demigod slammed his hands into Talon's back, but there was no force behind the blow. He dug sharp claws into the skin of Talon's back, blood trickling from the wounds.

"You can't ask for forgiveness." the King of Blades croaked, emotion feeling his voice as his claws dug in harder, "You can't ask me for forgiveness. I was the one... who failed."

There was a tremble in his voice, "I've done this for every incarnation... I promised you that I would be there. How many times do I have to watch you die?"

[Talon]

T A L O N

Something…shifted. As though Talon had not been seeing the full breadth of Justice before. In that moment, as he embraced Raxen, he felt the full power of his domain settle upon his shoulders. He felt stronger. He felt greater even than he had moments ago. And he realized then that now, he truly had claimed the fullness of the divinity available to him. He did not break away from the hug as Raxen dug his claws into his back. Talon clung to the man all the tighter. He let the other god breathe. When those trembling words were uttered, Talon pulled back only slightly to look upon into Raxen’s eyes. He searched the demigod, peering not just at the form before him but into what parts of Raxen’s soul he could see.

“You said that hope can lead good men to do foolish things.” Talon quirked a half-smile. “We are all fools, Raxen. Hoping for a chance to do something good in the world.”

That wasn’t Arcas. That was all him. It was what he believed. If he had the chance to make Hope his own, that was what he would bring with him into shaping it.

“I have Arcas soul. It is true. I am young and untrained. These things are also true. But that does not mean I do not know what I stand for.” He brought his hands up to rest upon Raxen’s shoulders.

“Do not do this to yourself.” Gently, tentatively, Talon raised a hand to touch to the Ork’s chest. “The greatest warrior in all the world can only ever be defeated by one person.”

Talon tapped Raxen’s chest. A sense of deja vu settled on him as he spoke those words. He had a feeling this was not the first time they had been said to the Ork. Though perhaps, it had been eons since he had heard them spoken.

“No more.” Talon shook his head. “No more waiting to watch me die. Teach me what I need to know so that I can live.”

The world felt different. Talon did not know if it was because of the battle that had unfolded between them. He did not know if it was because the true power of Justice was now in his hands. But there was a stirring that made a warmth pass through him that flowed into him from the Aetherium. Perhaps it was a fool’s hope, but something told him that things would be different this time. They already were.

[Mirage]

Slowly the aura of power faded, pulling back into the Orkhan god as his grip on Talon's flesh relaxed.

"You are calling me a fool then, Talon Novalys?" Raxen rumbled, but the bite of his words had lessoned as he stared into the other man's eyes. He looked at the hand on his shoulder, raised an eyebrow at the familiar words, and despite himself a smile cracked his stoic visage. He held Talon for a few moments longer, but eventually, and almost reluctantly, he withdrew, pushing against Talon's chest gently as he turned and walked toward the stone where his clothing lay.

Each step felt heavier for the god, and his heart pounded in his chest. Anger still ran in his blood, but that was always the case. Now though that anger was tempered by a new feeling. A small sense of relief at having some burden removed, and a tint of guilt for his actions.

"You failed to leave a mark on my flesh." Raxen said without looking back. Sitting on the rock he began to undo the ties of his shoes, slipping them on before tying the laces once more, "Because of that you fail my judgement."

He let the words hang in the air while he stood and slipped his shirt on once more. Throughout the bout Raxen had not so much as broken a sweat. His large hands moved with more dexterity than seemed possible as he did up each and every button before tucking the shirt back into his waste band and tightening his belt.

"That said, it appears my judgement is no longer needed. I will not kill you." His eyes looked over to Aoren, and with a wave motioned for the man to go to Talon to tend him, "You passed the more important test in claiming Justice for yourself."

The neck tie came next, and this Raxen tied slowly as he fell into thought. He examine Talon in his current state, and when the tie was finished he came to a decision.

"In your current state you are a poor imitation of your past self. You are weak, not in body, but in mind. You lack a true understanding of what makes you different from mortals, and that weakness will get you killed." Raxen was always a blunt man, and his words cut to the heart of the matter. He pulled on his jacket and once more adopted a relaxed stance with hands folded behind his back, "For some reason it is always me who has to come save your ass, so this time I will make sure you are strong enough to keep yourself alive. Talon Novalys," he paused, "Talon, I will instruct you on the ways of the divine for 3 days. You have until the final hour of the 3rd day to understand all that I can teach you. Then you will be on your own."

The words seemed to pain the man even as he said them, but his resolve didn't waver. Raxen was a man cursed to be one second too late. He would make sure that Talon could hold out for one second longer than ever before.

[Talon]

T A L O N

As Raxen stepped away, Talon let him go. Whatever history was between the two of them, he knew that it would come to light in time. There was still so much that he had to learn. If nothing else, this bout had taught Talon that he was almost hesitant to embrace the fullness of godhood. It was a vast and terrifying thing and something he did not know how to fully navigate. He supposed that would change now that he was to learn. He did not know what to expect from Raxen, he felt the Ork was both relieved that he was there and angered by his presence at the same time.

“You are right. Justice is mine.” Talon brought up a hand and clenched his fist. More than ever before he felt the truth of that statement. So close to the Aetherium was he, that he felt it ripple outward resonating across the realms both mortal and divine. Justice had returned to the world. Talon was not certain all of what that meant but he knew what he would like to do with it. Looking up at Raxen he merely sighed and nodded his head. Despite the bluntness of his delivery and the words that bit into his ego, Talon knew that the man was speaking the truth. Everything about the man said to Talon that Raxen was an individual who despised falsehood.

“As you say, Shujin.” He used the Synskrit word to Teacher as it was clear that, at least for a short time, Raxen would be the teacher that he needed. Talon both felt and heard Aoren come to his side. Without even asking or speaking, his bondmate wrapped an arm around his waist, draped one of Talon’s arms across his shoulders and urged him to lean into him. Talon did. He was tired. That short bout had taken more out of him than he realized and his injuries, between the broken wing and the throbbing in his jaw, he was going to need the attention of a healer.

He could only imagine the lessons that Raxen had to teach him. With only three days to learn them, Talon would be focused. Aoren helped him to the edge of the Circle of Wandering where he helped him into a sitting position. Reaching to his hip, Aoren opened the featherlight bag in order to take out a few bandages. Carefully, very carefully, Talon extended his broken wing. Almost as soon as Aoren touched it, he wanted to yelp in pain but he clenched his jaw. With patient diligence, his bondmate began maneuvering Talon’s wing so that he could form a temporary binding until they could get to a more seasoned healer. When the binding was applied, Aoren helped him back to his feet. Talon looked to Raxen.

“I look forward to what you have to teach.” Talon looked to Aoren and between them, he opened up the bond more freely so that they could follow each other’s movements more easily.

“Shall we begin tomorrow?” Talon posed the question but immediately Aoren spoke.

“No. Your wing must heal first.” Before Talon could protest, Aoren gave him a stern look. Sensing his partner’s thoughts, Talon nodded. Aoren was not going to budge on this and he was already angry at the state of things.

“When my wing heals.” He looked to Raxen, studying the Ork for a moment. “Until then, Raxen.”

Opening himself up to the Slipspace, he aligned the spatial pathways to set himself at the bottom of the Circle of Wandering. He was going to be pushing himself with his Traversion but it was perhaps best that he do this now. Talon reached over and cupped Aoren’s cheek, touching their brows for a moment before he stepped back and Vaulted to the bottom of the spire.

Aoren met Raxen’s gaze. His burning eyes considered the demigod carefully. His jaw flexed briefly as he thought on the bout that had unfolded before him. Even he had not fully grasped the full extent of Talon’s potential. Seeing his bondmate pushing himself during the fight had showed him something he had only glimpsed thus far. He didn’t know what to say to Raxen. Truth be told, he didn’t want to say anything at all. Talon had a kind heart and possessed a readiness to forgive all but the most abhorrent of people. More than his body, Aoren saw his role as needing to protect his beloved from the more emotional wounds he was prone to suffering. Talon took things to heart very deeply, despite his attempts at coming off as reserved. It was simply his nature.

He knew one thing though, if Raxen had killed Talon, he would not have cared if he himself died in the process. He would have unleashed absolute hell upon the demigod, becoming a nightmare for him that sought vengeance even after death. With that thought, Aoren stepped back without taking his eyes off of Raxen, spread his wings and took flight. He followed where he felt his bondmate.

[Mirage]

Raxen met Aoren's steadily until the other man broke it. He remained in his relaxed stance, watching as the man with black wings flew off into the night. When he was alone the demigod clenched his fist, a scowl crossing his features before he relaxed and turned away from Kalzasi and looked out over the world beyond the mountains.

"Don't you think that was a bit much?" a voice said from behind the god, but Raxen did not turn. He knew who it was without having to look.

"Thelius, you were watching?"

The old man walked up to stand beside Raxen, stroking his beard thoughtfully as he stared in the same direction as the god.

"Of course. You waited a long time for this, and I wouldn't miss a fated reunion." Thelius replied. Raxen though snorted and shook his head.

"Fated reunion?" A note of bitterness in the tone made Thelius look sideways at his companion, who continued, "We are strangers. This was simply our first time meeting. He already has someone to care for him."

Thelius nodded slowly, "That man, Aoren, is quite something. I could smell the good in him, but he's still got a collar on that he can't escape."

"A collar?" Raxen asked, turning to look at his friend, "Is he bound to the Emperor?"

Thelius didn't reply, but looked at Raxen with a raised eyebrow, "You've got a collar on yourself. In that you two are the same. Maybe that is why you hate him so much."

Raxen stared at the smaller mortal, his expression hardening in anger before he relaxed and sighed, "You may be right." They lapsed into silence, neither moving as they watched the sun's motion across the sky. After some time it was Raxen who broke the stillness.

"How long does he have?"

"Two seasons, maybe three."

Rolling his shoulders Raxen turned back toward the city, his eyes contemplative before he look at the largest mountain in the range. He could give Talon only 3 days. He had already spent far too long in his search, and the powers were tipping out of balance once more. As much as he wanted to, he simply couldn't stay.

"Where will you go now? You came all this way as a favor to me, but I know there are others who need you."

The old man shrugged and pulled out his pipe which he lit with a flick of a finger, "There has been movement in Atinaw. The Etin are stirring from their sleep, and the Heart seems to be as well."

"So south? When will you return to Karnor?"

"Maybe in a year or two." Thelius said as he puffed on his pipe. He also eyed the mountain, "It will depend on what he does from here."

► Show Spoiler

XP: 10
Lore:
Divinity: Exerting absolute authority over one’s portfolio
Divinity: Pushing back against the influence of another god
Divinity: Letting go of mortality to embrace the Aetherium
Divinity: Embracing the full power of Demigodhood (Arisen)
Divinity: Revoking permission to tap into the power of Justice
Leadership: Ending a fight by resolving emotional conflict
Leadership: Questioning another’s right to pass judgement
Reaving: Asserting control over a pact weapon against outside influence
Traversion: Aligning the spatial pathways within the Slipspace
Traversion: Stepping into the Slipspace
Traversion: Vault

Comments: Exciting, and not the ending I expected! Talon gets 3 days of training with the King of Blades. You can take these as modded threads, or you have permission to self mod. Feel free to reach out to me if you would like prompts or further guidance!