The Trial of Soul (Talon)

[Aegis]

The Ocean of Soul
Frost 88th, 121 AoS

Through the door, Talon went, entering the Trial of Soul. He would find himself in the air, over a vast, endless ocean, a living ocean, that went on in all directions. Talon would be able to feel everything that Rickter was feeling through their Companion bond. However, it was greatly amplified here in the Land of Nod. The emotions were raging and swirling within this connection, just as violently as the Maelstrom there, a hundred yard away from Talon. Talon would be able to feel the weakness and helplessness within Rickter, for having failed to be strong enough to protect those around him well enough. He would feel Rickter's self-consciousness at having made many poor choices in error when he was given vitally important tasks. There within the bond was the self loathing and cowardice at not being brave enough to move forward and fix so many things. There was the fear of weakness and death, exacerbated and made apparent by the love he had for a man immortal.

But there was one feeling more prominent than all of them. It was the slow, emptying feeling, a decay of sorts. Everything around Talon right now was Rickter, truer than anything else, confirmed through their bond. But that everything, that soul that makes Rickter, Rickter, was fading, disappearing, emptying out. And Talon would be able to feel that the maelstrom, with its winds far stronger than the hurricanes of the southern continents, was what was ripping those pieces of Rickter away.

The waters around the maelstrom were deep, pure blackness only a few meters down, and roiling, waves crashing in nonsensical fashions and directions. The clouds above were deep grey for a few meters, before fading into absolute blackness. Lightning cracked overhead the eye of the maelstrom, silhouetting large, shadowy figures within the winds. Shapes that would be oddly reminiscent of the Rathari form of Talon's beloved, and yet wrong. Twisted, jagged, and fractured they would appear, with just enough detail to reveal them to be that man.

And then it began.

Lightning cracked outside of the maelstrom, striking Talon in the sternum. There was no pain, no electrocution or burning, but a rune was left there, glowing the bright light that had struck him. And with it, Talon's muscles shrank, leaving him a much smaller version of himself. Another crack of lightning struck Talon in the forehead, and another rune appeared. Memories were locked away until he only had memories in which he witnessed or felt failure. A third crack of lightning, a rune over his heart, and every fear that Talon had ever felt were now at the forefront of him. A fourth and final crack of lightning struck the Prince in his left eye.

Through the left eye, Talon would be able to see Rickter from a disembodied view. He was in a tent, laid upon a bedroll, several people sent on the expedition looking down at him. His forehead was slick with sweat, a fever perhaps. He was shirtless, revealing an inky blackness spreading through his veins, outwards from his heart in all directions on his body. Those around him were shown to be wielding several injuries now. They were speaking and their faces only grew more worried, but no sound could be heard by Talon. This vision granted to Talon would remain so long as his left eye was open.

!	Message from: Aegis
	Please reply by February 22.

[Talon]

T A L O N

Of all the things that Talon may have been expecting, a maelstrom above an endless ocean was not one of them. He quickly spread his wings and gave them a strong flap, suspending himself in the air. Through the storm he could see the shadowy shapes of a great wolven form lurking in the darkness. The shape was familiar to him but there seemed to be something off about them though he could not quite place it. In the flashes of lightning, Talon could see only the vaguest hints of the man he loved. Just as he was ready to peer closer however, the lightning strikes came. Talon was struck fully in the sternum, the force of the impact pushing him through the skies and shoving the air from his lungs. He felt power course through his body. There was no pain but he felt as though there was something flowing out of him.

Another crack of lightning and he was struck in the forehead.

Talon’s mind reeled as happiness, joy and warmth were stripped from him. His memories being yanked away.

Another crack of lightning.

He was struck in the heart and Talon felt a frigid terror grip his chest. All around him the howling winds became naught but a bitter screaming. He felt fear. He felt despair. He felt anger. He felt loss.

A final crack of lightning struck him in the eye as he threw his head back and screamed in abject terror only to behold the sight of Rickter upon a bed, struggling to fight off what it was that was consuming him. The maelstrom became a storm of broken cries that bled together to form a symphony of utter and terrible madness for Talon. He brought shaking hands up to his head and gripped his skull, the dreadful emotions swarming him as any ability to balance the thoughts were scattered as his mind was inundated with nothing but negative and horrible memories.

Talon was a boy. He was laying in his bed at night when he was awoken by the sudden shift of the air in his chamber. His eyes flew open and looming in the darkness was a figure bathed in black wielding a knife. Talon had frozen just long enough for the knife to come slashing down over his face, splitting the skin over his eye. He screamed in pain and rolled out of his bed, wings flapping wildly as he tried to escape his attacked. One wing was grabbed and he was yanked back. Terror filled him. He was going to die.

Talon stood within the darkness of the Warrens. The shadows pressed in around him and he was frozen with horror as he bore witness to the wave of terrifying creatures that dwelled within the Deeps. These were the creatures that wanted to swallow his people. These were the monsters that haunted the nightmares of their staunchest warriors. He was just a boy, barely into adulthood. And he was to face those evils without stopping until he had learned the meaning of the terror they brought.

Talon was in the High Hopes tavern and leaping at him was man who had turned himself into a monster. Black blood spilling out of his mouth and coursing through his veins just like the blackness that was creeping through Rickter. Jagged teeth bit down into his shoulder sending a pulse of blistering agony into his body that ripped consciousness away from him.

All of these memories and more came rushing into his mind.

Talon felt like the scared boy shuddering in the darkness again. But then warmth spread through his body. The cold dread that wrapped around his heart and had plunged his mind into fear and despair, was brushed aside. As Talon plummeted through the black skies there in the ocean of Rickter’s soul, another soul reached out to him just as cold and dark crushed his mind and sent him spiraling into shadows.

---
In the darkness of Talon’s vision, a fire blossomed that sent the cold and fear racing away.

“Talon.” His eyes opened and he was no longer in the dark maelstrom of Rickter’s soul. He was standing on the shores of a coast that he did not know. The waters were a crystal blue with great fish jumping out and up into the sun. Their scales shimmered in the sunlight with a kaleidoscope of colors. They were easily large enough to make the Kalzasi fishing boats seem small by comparison. In the distance there were tropical trees that grew so tall Talon thought their fronds brushed the skies. He thought he might have seen dragons soaring in the blue skies and people fishing along the coasts. There was a warmth in the air that made it impossible to feel the cold.

Aoren stood in front of him and Talon realized he was on his knees in the fetal position with his hands clutching his head. He was shaking but as Aoren helped him to his feet, Talon calmed. On the edges of his mind, he could feel something trying to press upon it and rip away something. Aoren was dressed in fashions that he did not recognize. The attire seemed almost tribal but not from a culture that was readily known by Talon. Golden markings played across his body and the tips of his wings had scarlet feathers that he had not seen before.

“Where are we?” Aoren looked around and he seemed puzzled.

“I do not know. Your soul was crying out in agony. So I pulled you into mine.” Talon stiffened.

“Rickter! He is in danger! We have to--” Aoren silenced him with a press of warm fingers upon his lips.

“I know. When you became angry and sorrowful, it woke me. Or…well…I’m not sure if it did. I don’t remember anything before this moment. Things are a bit fuzzy, love.” Aoren shook his head then turned to look out over the seas. They stood there simply holding hands and watching the fish swim within the crystalline waters. Talon could see people on the far coast and what appeared to be a village. He thought he might have seen the walls of a city beyond that. Before he could focus on the people however, his lover spoke.

“I like it here.” Aoren’s voice was soft and somehow older, heavy with the weight of a soul that knew suffering and how to appreciate peace. There was a pained longing in his gaze as he looked out over the crystal blue waters. It was as though he were trying to remember something but it was just out of his reach.

“Aoren…” His lover sighed and looked back to him. Stepping forward, Aoren pressed their foreheads together and the creeping dread that was pressing on the edges of Talon’s mind were burned away. He felt relief wash through his body.

“You always do this. Try to face the darkness alone. Try to weather the winds of every storm by yourself.” Talon was struck by the weariness in Aoren’s voice. He was left momentarily speechless. “You forget that there are people who are ready to help you, Talon. People who will protect you just as you fight to protect them.”

“I do not mean to forget you, my love. But what am I to do? Is it not my responsibility to be the bulwark against the darkness? Is it not my charge to protect you? Rickter? My family? Our people?” He reached up and cupped Aoren’s handsome face. His Core Bondmate looked warmer here, his skin kissed by the tropic sun making the fire in his eyes seem less menacing and more mirthful. “I cannot lose you.”

Aoren shook his head.

“It’s me who should be saying that, dumb dumb.” Aoren shoved him playfully before the two of them smiled.

“I lost you once, Talon.” The both of them sharply remembered the writhing dark that had successfully ended Talon’s first life. “I will not let your stubbornness lead you away from me again.”

Aoren grasped his wrists and Talon felt the last vestiges of the shivering pain and dread fall away. His bondmate smiled at him.

“Your heart, your mind, your body, your soul. They are mine, Talon Novalys.” Aoren grasped his chin, tipping his head up so that their lips could meet in a kiss. “No power in this world or others can change that.”

Aoren let him go and stepped back. He smiled, the warmth of the fire in his eyes banishing the chill in Talon’s bones.

“Now go get our wolf.”

---

Talon’s eyes opened, one beholding the darkness of the maelstrom in Rickter’s soul. He spread his wings and swerved out of the way of a crashing wave, flapping them steadily in order to ascend back into the skies. He rolled out of the way of another wave, just barely missing being caught under the swell and rose until he could behold the expanse from a better vantage. Upon his body, the markings still burned clearly but they held no power over him. Talon’s soul was not completely his own and through a bond that no magic could sever, save his own conscious choice, his bondmate was willing him to rise above the emotional turmoil they sought to impose upon him.

That did not change his predicament of size, but Talon found himself more annoyed than inconvenienced. He may have looked like a smaller version of himself now but he was not the child he was those years ago.

“Stay strong, Rickter. We are here.” Talon invoked his nimbus, calling upon the power that was his by right. The silver-white light that shone around him almost seemed pale in the face of the dark storm raging around him but Talon would not be deterred. Talon rose his voice, it sounding much more boyish than his usual deep tone.

“You seek the Light!?” He called out to the shadows. “This is one Light that you shall not extinguish!”

He would like to see it try.

[Aegis]

The Ocean of Soul

As Talon issued his challenge, as he fought against the chains that had been applied to his body and soul, the raging maelstrom grew larger and more violent. And then Talon would feel that warmth he'd felt upon that beach within Aoren's soul. And in that moment, Aoren would be found there, at Talon's side, wings aloft and waiting. He was just as much there as Talon, and Talon would be able to see and feel the runes upon Aoren. His beloved had taken on the rune that had been afflicted onto Talon's forehead, as well as that upon his sternum. This gave Talon access back to his own memories, but sealed away Aoren's own, aside from the fears. Additionally, Talon's body returned to its normal musculature while Aoren reverted to a similarly weaker state.

They shared a soul, and therefore shared everything. Though, something was different about Aoren. His wings were not in their feathered glory as Talon was used to seeing. They were bigger, longer, devoid of feathers entirely, seeming almost... reptilian.

However, in that same moment, a barrier of pure, impenetrable darkness wrapped itself around the maelstrom. It did not stop the winds or waters, however, nothing could be seen through the pitch blackness. Talon would be able to quickly discern that the barrier was one made of Negation, however, there would be three signatures on it. The first and most obvious would be Rickter's own, his aetheric touch was all over it, made up the majority of it. There were, however, two other unknown signatures as well making it up.

The waters of the ocean that stretched endlessly grew darker and darker. Soon, they were crimson, on their way to black, and that metallic tang of blood filled the air. Being blood instead of water now, the ocean frothed and bubbled more as the waves crashed and tumbled.

A song began to play over the world, dramatic and powerful. As it did, lightning boomed loudly to match the notes in the song, and great vermillion waves built and crashed to match the melody.

And a voice rang out over the area, impossible to miss, seemingly defying all physics in regards to sound. It was Rickter's voice, with another reverberating within it, "Then shine, Lightbringer."

!	Message from: Aegis
	Please reply by March 1st. Aoren has arrived and is available to you in his capacity as an NPC.

[Talon]

T A L O N

The crushing fear and drowning misery of his worst memories and experiences faded as Aoren bled the effects of the dark runes onto himself. Talon watched as his beloved bondmate…changed. Not just physically but the ties between him and Aoren shifted as well. There was something altogether more primal and raw about Aoren’s soul that startled Talon. A feral anger and fear bit at his beloved and he watched as even though Aoren’s body diminished in size, his presence somehow became larger. Those raven feathers that he had run his hands through countless times began to recede and become more reptilian.

“Talon…hurry.” Aoren’s voice was strained. He could see the suffering, he could feel the suffering in his bondmate’s mind and body. Reaching out, Talon grabbed Aoren’s hand and laced their fingers together. His partner clung to that hand tightly as he fought to keep himself from plunging into a pit of anger, fear and despair.

Talon’s attention was drawn to the darkness that formed a wall of impenetrable blackness threatening to swallow even the light that shone from him. He narrowed his eyes, anger flaring within him as now both of his bondmates were suffering at the hands of this evil. Fire sparked to life around Talon as he leaned toward the shadows as though they were a bitter enemy. On some level, they were. Within himself, Talon felt a visceral reaction to the presence of the darkness that raged all around him. It felt oppressive. It felt thick and heavy with terror and despair. The bright fire that Talon claimed as his own began to grow brighter. He could feel Rickter in the great barrier that now acted as a wall around them. He could feel others too but he had no name for them.

“You threaten my bondmates.” The fire around Talon grew hotter. It grew brighter. “You inflict suffering and pain upon me and those I love…”

The inferno was coming. Talon was prepared to shatter the dark barrier in front of him. He was ready to obliterate the darkness that was swallowing up not only Rickter but now Aoren as well, twisting them both into something unrecognizable.

“I will not stand for it.” Talon clenched his free fist. He raised a hand, the Dawnfire wrapping around his body as he prepared himself to burn away the shadows at every corner in Rickter’s soul.

A pained groan snapped him out of his wrathful anger as Aoren doubled over beside him, clutching his head. Aoren was shivering. He was pulling further and further into himself as he sought to bury the dark memories drowning him. In his mind, Talon could hear him repeating a mantra that he had to keep his darkness away from Talon so that he could focus. Over and over and over again.

Talon was struck with something then. A realization that made the fire around his body grow less wrathful and more subdued. He immediately reached out to his bondmate and drew some of the pain and suffering he was feeling into himself. Immediately, Talon began to feel the weight of the dark runes pushing into his mind. He could feel it eating away at the happiness and joy in his memories, seeking to diminish him. Talon felt Aoren grab at the power, trying to draw it back into himself. Talon performed the mental equivalent of bringing their hands together.

“No, my love. Not by yourself.” Talon opened himself up fully to Aoren and nudged his bondmate into doing the same. Their souls created a solid pathway for the power of the dark runes to flow through, reducing their influence as the one mark was forced to divide its power between two powerful individuals. Talon felt its influence but it did not take hold…not fully anyways. And that was when he realized that he was approaching this wrong. Talon opened himself up to another soul, he searched for it. It was there, there on the edges of his awareness. It was faded and it was drowning in darkness. Pulling further and further away from him. Talon’s expression softened.

“Sorumeito. Oh Rickter…” Talon shook his head as he helped Aoren back into an upright position. He pressed their brows together and felt the Kathar also begin reaching for the link between them all.

“Forgive me, my loves. I am such a fool.” Talon kissed Aoren upon the brow. He then looked to the dark, impenetrable wall that had called to him.

“That is what you want, is it not?” Talon stared into the dark storm. “Violence and wrath. I could give it to you.”

Talon raised a hand and the burning Dawnfire that was his to command obeyed his call. It was warm and bright. He clenched his fist and it snapped with intensity, ready to be unleashed within the house of Rickter’s soul.

“I could burn away every corner of darkness within this place. For that is my province. To bring Light and Justice to the world.” Talon’s voice remained soft. He felt Aoren sag against him and he welcomed his bondmate’s weariness. They were both tired. But so was Rickter. Talon could feel his beloved wolf fading.

“But that is not all of who I am.” Talon thought carefully on the challenge before him. He was in Rickter’s soul. He was within the most intimate and sacred place that housed the core of all of who and what Rickter was. Violence was not the answer here. It had not been the answer when he had fought Raxen. It was not the answer in the face of this challenge either. He would protect those he loved but that protection did not always mean using his powers to destroy.

“Do you remember when we bonded, Rickter?” Talon brought a hand up to his chest. He closed his eyes and opened up that piece of himself that made him Avialae. It gathered within his palm, the pale silver-white light of his soul.

“You were afraid.” Aoren’s voice was steadier though still strained with emotion as the two of them shared the weight of the dark rune that fought to suppress their joy. He spread his wings, wings that were broader and bigger than Talon had ever seen. They wrapped around them both and brought a warmth with them that felt like the comforting heat of a campfire. Vaguely, Talon thought he could smell woodsmoke.

“You are still afraid, Rickter. I see it every day. Questioning whether you are worthy.” Aoren flinched as a dark memory asserted itself. Screams and agonized cries followed by the sound of crunching bones. Talon could only get glimpses of it as Aoren fought to push it away. Talon pushed himself into that memory and brushed it aside, allowing Aoren to focus on the moment in front of him. He felt his own dark memories begin writhing up forcing him to close his eyes and furrow his brow in concentration. Aoren continued speaking.

“You have always seen yourself as a guardian. A protector. Forever needing to be the shield against the evils we all face. That is why you and our prince are so well matched, always wanting to carry the weight of the world by yourselves.” Aoren reached into Talon’s mind and burned away the dark influence pressing upon it, pushing back the dark memories that were threatening to drown Talon’s focus. Talon shook his head and looked back to the wall of darkness.

“You asked me then, what was needed of you. I asked of you only one thing.” Talon cupped the light of the Bond shining just over his heart. It was soft and warm. He looked up into the skies over the raging ocean.

“Trust me.” Talon reached for the Bond that he shared with Rickter. He reached for it with every ounce of strength that he had. He went beyond that, he opened himself up fully to the flow of the Aetherium. He called upon the full expanse of his divinity. He took hold of his divine domains, he stopped holding himself back for fear of losing who he was. He could not risk such hesitation. Not when Rickter’s soul was at stake. He reached out and grasped the third realm of his divinity and pleaded for it to answer his call.

Talon let the Fire of Justice burn completely through him. He let it wash through his soul and bathe the entirety of his being in its divine call. He let it suffuse every fiber of his essence until he did not just command it, he was Justice.

Talon let the Light of Dawn shine within him and through him. He stood upon the edge of the Aetherium and then stepped fully into it. He let the waters of the Aethereal Sea fall upon him and suffuse the entirety of his soul with the shining brilliance of the Dawn. He was not just a bringer of the Light, he was the Dawnking.

Opening his eyes, Talon’s whole being shone with the radiance of his divinity. It was not wrathful or seeking to avenge. It was not blinding or terrifying in its quest to extinguish the power of darkness. It was warm. It was bright. It was holy. He desperately reached for the Bond with Rickter’s soul, ready to give his beloved wolf the path he needed to overcome the pain and suffering he was being faced with. For Talon was not simply the Judge. He was not only the Dawnking. He looked to the impenetrable wall of darkness and was afraid. But he would not be ruled by his fears.

“I am Arcas.” Talon let the fullness of what and who that meant fill him. He said goodbye to who and what he was before. He embraced what he was to become.

For Rickter...

“I am Hope.”

[Rickter]

All around him the frigid dark stirred with turbulence, the wolf lost adrift within what felt like an endless abyss. Yet there came warmth deep within him, even as he felt that seeping cold drain it away steadily. He felt that warmth fluctuate and it's weaking gave him cause for strength, urging himself to hold on to his will tighter against the currents he felt battering him deeper within. When that warmth's quickened rising inside his core, however, Rickter felt an intense rush of memories that came back to his mind.

He reflected on the night of his birthday, when Telion and Hannah managed to surprise him. That same night was when Talon had offered to be an ear first, but then a foundation of support afterward when he'd only heard part of the wolf's story. Rickter felt his heartache as the intensity of the warmth radiated throughout his form, keeping at bay some but not all the shadows that swirled all over him. He felt the struggle and the heartache his Bondmate suffered in just coming here, as well as the compassion that existed between both Talon and Aoren both; once the knight commander arrived.

There was so much more. Aoren's constant safeguarding of him, even when he took on the Argent Hand trials... even beyond that. Talon... Rickter drew his hand out into the open abyss, his palm opened even though he was nowhere near Talon's vicinity. He'd fallen so deep within it had felt, and the more he pushed back against the dark the more tired he felt. Still, that did not stop the sheer heat that blazed in his core, the silver emblem on his left forearm glimmering brightly like a star within the void. This heat... it bathed Rickter's soul ever so gently, and yet as he felt the fire steadily cleanse what will he had left; something else started to slip away from him entirely.

The gentleness of that radiance grew to lack a scent within it, the wolf noticed, as he found the energy to open his eyes and gaze out into the unknown before him. There. It looked to be another star swathed in a fog of shadow, but Rickter felt his presence even at this distance. He yearned for Talon and Aoren, he craved to be reconnected with the both of them once more. But that radiance burned too brightly within the depths of his core. The emblem's radiance intensified from the amount of power that the wolf felt flowing through him, a burst of luminance resulting in a surge against the tides of darkness all around him. The depths trembled before all motion came to a halt, and the radiant light shone brilliantly even from deep within the ocean's depths.

Shadows in all their form fidgeted before dispersing away into particles of black, the emitted light only getting brighter and brighter, until the ocean below the two warriors quivered from the well of light that burst out from the depths. The maelstrom's protective dome immediately cracked from the immensity of it, the shrapnel of aetheric particles withering into dust before the dark particles were dissolved away. A tower of light shone from within the depths into the darkened skies, chasing away all clouds as the clearing blue skies brought back color within the rest of the world. Particles of the luminance filtered down into the sky, raining around Talon and Aoren as the dark runes on their forms withered away.

Within the remaining echoes of his thoughts, as he slipped further within the depths of his soul, Rickter felt the last bit of familiar warmth embrace him. He opened his eyes to find that he wasn't alone in the dark anymore, instead, he stood within an endless array of light with Talon and Aoren. Both of them were staring down at him, the Divine Light of Arcas radiating through as the wolf beheld both God and Dragon. At least that's what he felt coming from them. Aoren smelt of a warm campfire that the wolf could've longed for, while Talon had nearly lost the entirety of his original scent. But what little ozone remained brought Rickter to reach out once more, his eyes upon them somberly when he felt that this would be the last time he'd ever see them.

His heart ached and yet, he couldn't help but push a smile to the pair of them. As he felt both Aoren and Talon beginning to slip through his fingers, like sand within the undertow of a wave. "I love you." And just as they vanished he felt his spirit fall, back into the depths where he originally lingered within. He felt as though he were robbed, or perhaps, broken in that something had pulled away. Clearly, when the warmth had receded within his soul, the burning memories he held onto dearly had left with it. Thus the wolf sunk deeper into the depths, the light above becoming a faint glimmer once more.

"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter" "Telion" "Hannah"

[Aegis]

The Ocean of Soul

As Arcas came forth in the maelstrom that was Rickter's soul, his very presence cleansed it. The shadowy barrier was not crushed violently, but rather simply faded from existence. The clouds overhead with their lightning and crashing music faded, giving way to sunshine. The blood in the seas dispersed, replaced by a familiar crystalline blue. The winds of the maelstrom began to slow, revealing a small island therein. Upon this small island, covered in the trees of their Kalzasi home, a small clearing. Within it, Rickter, naked, curled up, his blackened veins retreating from Talon's very presence. The fever evaporated from his brow, and Arcas and Aoren would see the man in a perfectly calm, peaceful, restful state, more serene than either had ever seen of him before.

This was Rickter, uncorrupted, untouched, unfettered with worry and doubt. This was the man they had both fallen in love with, this was the man that they knew was always in there, that shone through in his best of times, and that tried to claw his way out in his worst. But the connection was fading quickly for all of them, and Arcas began to grow brighter now. He would be able to feel the shattering of the bond that Rickter and Talon had once had, not strong enough to withstand this transformation as the bond with Aoren had. And as that bond broke, Rickter's soul was evicting them both from this sacred place that none should ever tread.

As they heard him utter those words without even awaking from his slumber, they too disappeared.