[open] a light in dark places

[Aurin]

Aurin thumbed his brow at the High Lord's notice, and nodded to Aoren as well. He almost made a joke about how this dragon and former prince were fucking, while he had fucked a dragon prince himself, but he didn't know how that would play. It might even scandalize Hilana or her sister, given how much she feared little Arry now that he had a prince's fillet and a pair of draconic wings. For his part, Aurin treated Arry as he always had, and had left Solunarium without being in the least bit smitten. Smote? He was hale and hearty, whatever the case may be.

He didn't particularly want Rickter's partner-in-murder tailing him, but he figured with the reincarnation of Arcas right there present, he might not be so keen to break laws and necks.

"Thanks, boss," he said of the crystal. If they got to keep them, he would have to show it to Torin, who would geek out about it. It was too bad he hadn't managed to get him an apprenticeship with Talon back when he was still at that level, but then he hadn't trained him as his eyes and ears yet at that point and he had done rather well on his own, too.

As they descended, he kept the banter to a minimum, opening his senses, arcane and mundane, to the subterranean milieu. He may occasionally have bumped his hip against Hilana's and then looked away in mock innocence, but that was about it.

Religion wasn't his strong suit, but he did glance askance at Lord Aoren when he appeared out of shadow from his reconnaissance. Dawnfire and dark shadows; he had heard rumors about the Dawnmartyrs carrying a rune of darkness, but he didn't know any of them personally. He couldn't even find that dwarven Dawnmartyr he had ferried back to Kalzasi from Antiris free of charge. Ah, well, better the dragon than him. He didn't normally travel into danger in groups like this, so he supposed being in the middle with the lovely ladies wasn't so bad.

At the elevator shaft, he listened, he watched, and while the slipspace felt off, it didn't feel so distorted that he couldn't jump at will. At least with Traversion, he had a capable instructor. The rest of his tricks were self-taught. But he just murmured the correct word to engage in some of the enchantments he had going on and then stepped over the edge to walk down the face of the shaft as if vertical were horizontal. It felt like taking stairs, but it wasn't unduly taxing.

He figured he would meet them at the bottom or at the nearest obstruction. He didn't fancy taking on void-warped Warrens monsters by himself if he didn't have to, discretion being the better part of valor, and all that. If, for whatever reason, his boots failed him, he could always jump.

[Hikami]

龍A light in dark places龍

龍31st of Ash, Year 124, A.o.S龍

龍 Hikami regarded the lodestone with dawnfire within it. He wondered what else a lodestone could hold within it, but he would explore those options later. Listening to Talon explain what awaited them caused the Iceborne to tighten his grip on his pact weapon. It fierce opposition awaited them then he would unleash his elemental fury to decimate them. When given their roles in the rescue effort, Hikami and Yumeko took up positions as they ventured forth. They would ensure nothing would catch them by surprise or chase the group once the miners were retrieved.

When Aoren went to scout ahead Hikami felt something...a whisper perhaps but there was a tinge that coursed through him. A sickening laugh echoed in his ears. There was a pain that accompanied it, shooting through his head and causing him to stumble a bit. Yumeko caught him by his arm before helping the man to his feet. "You alright nephew?" she inquired, looking at him like a mother would a sick child. He nodded, and stood, collecting himself, just in time as Aoren had returned with what he had seen. It seemed the situation would be far more dangerous than he first thought, but he was certain with those assembled, they would succeed.

Coming to the mineshaft he took his aunt by the waist, as he would fly her down, as well as calling forth a steady wind for anyone else who didnt have the means to descend the shaft. He would leave the rubble and his disposal to those with the means to do so. Standing at the top of the shaft, he could hear the voice again, a chill running up his spine as the whisper was now a cackle, one he knew he had heard before. For a brief moment, his eyes turned black, before returning to the swirling water blue they had been. As the rearguard, he would wait to see how the others would descend before offering his aid to those who needed help getting down too. 龍


"Common Speech"
"Synskrit Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Chronicle]

They all knew the gravity of the situation at hand and the urgency involved, however, not a single soul could have been prepared for what would await them once they reached the bottom of that somber elevator shaft...

But everyone gathered there quickly started to have an idea.

The humming vibrance of Shinaegri as their lurking horde echoed upward along every nook and stone across the walls, an ominous sign of what awaited them during their descent to the bottom of the shaft below. Yet it was during that descent that screams so horrifying, so nearly inaudible to the ear, that would send goosebumps across everyone's skin. A miner had been found down below, and while the horde itself cackled and bellowed with sounds of elation, there wasn't the sound of a feast that normally accompanied the Gravebound.

Instead... what awaited the group when they finally reached the base of the shaft, and peeled aside the rocks that barricaded them from swiftly entering, had been a swarm of Shinaegri all twisted and malformed as one expected; but with glimmering Voidstones protruding from every orifice and body part the creatures could possess. Gathered in audience within the large cavern of the level they'd descended to these beasts all moved and acted with innate glee, as their attention all remained fixated on one figure centered at the source of the group.

As for the inaudible screams? They were ever so loud now that even a dragon would pause to shudder at what he heard. Knelt on the ground before the humanoid figure centered among the Gravebound, the miner in question who had been heard bellowed and cried out in pure agony. Anguish couldn't even begin to describe the demented torment the young Synnekar writhing before the figure displayed. Each and every scream remained warbled, reverberated, and even so much twisted as sparks of violet arcs jutted and popped every part of his body.

Voidrillium spiked from the chest with waves of aether roiling throughout the Synnekar's body, causing muscle and sinew to ripple and even contort in positions beyond physically possible for the mortal body. Menacing lights surged throughout his skin as the corrosive aether pulsed throughout every exposed muscle in the dying miner's form. In one short burst of a cry, the screams crescendoed erratically before the form of the miner itself exploded, releasing gristle and body parts to splatter everywhere as the horde surrounding him sniggered with a sense of unison.

Though covered from the face down in viscera, the now lonely figure never let his cold dead stare shift from the smear of the Synnekar that had been killed. Voidrillium had already started to form from the wings and other body parts left intact, just as the corrosive dragonshards also clustered on the walls and ceiling of the mineshaft.

"คຖ໐thēr ໐ຖē. h໐ຟ ๓คຖฯ ๓໐rē ๓นŞt fคil?"

Though his mouth did not move the words he emitted could still be heard, felt even, as though sand paper brushed across one's skin. The rough and garbled sound of the figure's voice was met with a cold deep stare, one that took a very gradual shift to the elevator shaft that everyone had entered from.

"Wԋαƚ'ʂ ƚԋιʂ? Mσɾҽ ԋαʋҽ ƈσɱҽ ƚσ ԋҽαɾ ƚԋҽ ʂσɳɠ?"

The Shinaegri surrounding him quieted down immediately as the horde took note of the rescue group that had arrived, the Void-infested beasts sneering and bellowing as if they were threatening to swarm those that had gathered. Yet with one wave of his hand toward the lot, the entire wave of Gravebound settled in their places, even so much as quieting down to heed the silent command of their observant leader. Immediately, the lone figure with Voidrillium crystals protruding from his face took note of those gathered, his empty eyes slightly squinting at Talon in general when he noticed the silver-winged Synnekar.

[Talon]

T A L O N

Talon waited for Hilana to make sure that the rope was steady. As soon as both her and Athalia were in place, he nodded to the others. He watched as Aurin scaled the wall as though he were taking an easy set of stairs.

“Good to know you are so well equipped, Master Kavafis.” Talon felt a hand clap his shoulder. He looked to his partner. Aoren grinned.

“He's not the only one, love.” The red haired man engaged his own boots, enacting Seeming to scale the wall right beside Aurin. He paced himself so that he could walk beside the wiley theatre owner. As Hikami picked up his aunt, Talon watched them descend. Once everyone was safely at the bottom, Talon stepped off the edge of the elevator shaft and let himself glide down. As soon as his boots touched the ground…that was when he began hearing it. The ungodly screaming that pierced him down to his soul. He could feel it. It was staggering and it made Talon stumble. He could feel the agony, the desperation, the horror, the despair.

“Aoren!” Immediately, his husband was at his side. Through the Bond, Talon made his intention clear. Aoren reached out into the stone with his Elementalism. Talon gripped the flow of the stone's internal structure with his Kinetics. The two of them moved as one parting the stone together. The shale and rock shifted and moved as Talon dissolved it using his kinetic sculpting and Aoren reinforced the structure of the earth to prevent another cave-in. He could feel his concentration on the magic slipping and jolting, the aether in the area snapping and popping in an attempt to violently writhe away from his grasp. It was the tell-tale sign of voidrillium interfering with the flow of magic in the area.

The screaming increased in pitch. Again, Talon felt it call to him. The poor soul on the other side was praying.

They were praying to him.

“Hilana!” Talon grabbed the Aether Flux in the area around them, yanking it into alignment with a concentrated force of will. “The voidrillium is interferring with the flow of aether. Help Aoren move the rock and stone. I'm holding the voidstone's influence at bay.”

Talon's brow furrowed as he concentrated.

The screaming rose higher.

Please. Hold on.

“Master Kavafis?” Aoren's voice was somewhat strained as he worked to push back against the corrosive influence of the voidrillium while also pushing at the rock and stone in their way. “I'm told you're capable of putting together wards?”

Aoren grunted and moved aside a boulder that was three times his size. It melded into the stone wall and revealed yet more stone. As he moved on to yet more fallen rock and stone, he glanced at Aurin.

“I get the feeling we're going to need one.” Aoren returned his attention to working to safely and swiftly move aside the rock and stone.

“Hikami.” Talon glanced at the warrior. “Weapons at the ready.”

It was as the last of the stone cleared, the horrifying sight greeted them. The young Synnekar miner exploding in a gorey spray of guts and viscera. Talon felt it the moment the poor miner's desperation ceased. The moment his life was snuffed out so violently. Silver eyes met violet and the voidrillium infested man quirked his head.

“No. You are discordant. You are impure. You cannot hear the Song.” The crystal corrupted man began lumbering into the dark tunnels. “You are unworthy of the Choir.”

Before Talon realized he was moving, his partner was suddenly restraining him. Anger filled Talon. A raw and pure fury at the sheer injustice of the situation, of the utter madness of being able to inflict such twisted cruelty on an innocent life and blithely walk away. Aoren had an arm around his waist and Talon realized his pact sword was in his hand. The light of his nimbus had become a silver fire that formed a corona around his head.

“Talon.” Aoren looked meaningfully to the literal horde of shinaegri and not just one but two bulbous, writhing mounds of flesh that soon stood up to reveal they were huge somaval monstrosities.

And every single one of them was corrupted by voidstone.

Talon grit his teeth, eyes locked on the form that began to disappear into the dark of the Warrens.

“This is not over.” Talon growled out.

“No. It is not.” The crystal corrupted man spoke over his shoulder before being swallowed fully by the dark and his form obscured by the mass of gravebound horde in front of them. The monsters before them began to awaken as if from a trance, teeth gnashing and claws extending. Talon straightened, the silver of Dawnfire sparking in his eyes as he stared down at them all.

They only had two options: to go through the monsters to find any survivors or to go back up the elevator shaft.

Talon’s sword ignited in silver fire.

“Show no mercy.”

Off Topic

The monsters facing down the group are all infected with voidrillium. As a result, the area is suffused with voidstone's influence. Magic will be twice as difficult to use in this area, requiring much greater concentration and effort. Additionally, a monster's cut, bite, etc. has the potential to dissolve flesh or cause the aether inside the victim to fizzle and pop, inducing aether poisoning.

[Hilana Chenzira]

When everyone was down at the bottom of the shaft, Hilana's gloved hands went to her rucksack's straps as she surveyed the earthen blockages that were there. She didn't like what she was feeling, and she was half-waiting for the gravebound to simply burst through that rock and come at them. It not only felt off, but it felt horrifically wrong, and what she had heard on the way down had made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Those screams...

When Aoren moved to shift the rock, the Vastiana wasted no time in assisting him, nodding as Talon directed her. Athalia continued to make her lava bombs, knowing the proximity of voidrillium was going to make things decidedly more difficult as the proximity increased. It was better to have them now, a large pouch of lava-laden lodestones, and then she could focus on the delivery of them when the time came. Hilana grounded herself, steadily moving the rock and stone in tandem with the red dragon.

Rock by rock, boulder by boulder, the stone got moved. Hilana constantly and consistently reinforced the walls of the shaft, making sure that it was nothing that was going to come loose and cave in on them later. Talon's technique with the use of kinetics and alchemy would have been quite helpful here; but the Vastiana lacked kinetics and the tools required to fully complete the effects that he had so effortlessly produced up above the mines. Still, it was something to aspire to. What rock had been loose solidified and hardened as she filled in and practically cemented the loose space with manifested earth and stone. This should not have taken the effort that it did, but the young woman had beads of sweat on her forehead.

Both women looked on, horrified, as the young Synnekar effectively exploded. Lia glanced at Hilana, and nodded at the room. Her sister was on it, reaching out to the shadows. There had been 24 miners unaccounted for and missing. They had just witnessed the death of one, and that brought the total down to 23 missing and unaccounted for. The crystal-laden man had said 'Another one. How many more must fail?' Which indicated this had to be at least the second attempt, logically... 'How many were experimented on?' the Vastiana spoke to the shadows, gathering them around her and the group. They had witnessed, and they could tell her. Once she had answers from them... she would have a tally of who all was left and they could follow through. 'In what direction did the other miners go?'

Unworthy of the Choir... That was something new and different. She filed those comments away for later, watching the way the man had gone. She might be able to track him later, if it came to it; but for the time being, she needed to focus on the mission as it was. Talon's fury was palpable, and while Lia took a step back, Hilana remained where she was, her hands forming fists. If they ever caught the one responsible for this, there wouldn't be enough pieces of him left to fill a body bag. She knew he felt responsible for the people here, and that power wasn't about the privileges, but the responsibilities. Seeing one of his own die in front of him likely cut to the bone, and her hands became tight under her gloves. What a waste. But there were those that didn't consider the value of anyone else's life, or had done so and found them negligible.

"No mercy, no quarter," she agreed grimly, looking at the horde before them. Nulla misericordia, nulla venia, as they would say at home. She had heard it often enough from Sentinel Ævril. Well, sometimes the only way out was through, and they knew where they had to go. Through. Shadows coiled, and the Vastiana sought to work with what was already present in order to begin the process of stabbing and crippling the monstrous creatures before them, solidifying the shadows into sharp points into joints. Athalia, standing beside her sister, began to channel air to carry her walnut-sized lava bombs, one at a time, and released the contents of the lodestones upon the gravebound, releasing blankets of magma upon them. If the method wasn't broke, there was no point in fixing it.

[Hikami]

龍 There was off about this whole situation, more so that Hikami felt uneasy about it all. He knew the dangers of the voidrillium that they would be encountering, and dismissed this feeling to that He couldnt shake however it could be something more than that though. Once at the bottom, he awaited the rocks to be moved from their path. Though he knew it would be fruitless he tried to listen for the earth's voice.......but there was no voice, no feeling he could find.

Once they were able to pass the scene they came upon caused the Iceborn's heart to fall into the pit of his stomach. He went to reach out to the young avialae, but his aunt stopped him, it was already too late. Rage filled his body as the Iceborn's eyes fell upon a lone figure in the center of the horde. When he noticed them he seemed to spout nonsense before retreating further into the mine. "You to think you can run from us?!" he roared, accompanied by Talon's decree of showing no mercy.

For these wretches, there would be no mercy, for the shinaegri or the one that controlled them. To have watched another avialae be torn apart in such a manner, with no care or concern, no remorse, angered Hikami. Just as Talon's silver flames raged in his eyes and upon his sword, wind and water surged and roiled around Hikami. Even though he was supposed to protect the rear, he couldnt help himself and leaped into the horde head first. The moment he came in close with the corrupted shinaegri he could feel the suffocating influence of the voidrillium, causing him to recoil and falter back away.

Floating aloft in the he contemplated a plan, but his thoughts were not alone. That same sickening laughter echoed in his mind once again, clearer as if the source was right next to him. It was accompanied by a severe surge of pain, as if being struck by lightning several times over. Shaking his head he retreated back out of the range of the corrupting dragonshards, focusing on commanding the elements from a distance.

It required his full attention, but he would push through the pain and horrific laughter.....and was that singing he could hear in the distance? No, it could couldnt be. "Focus, decimate these abominations Hikami!" he told himself as he channeled his aether and called forth ice to come into existence, jagged and razor sharp spikes jutting up from the ground caught the shinaegri that came into his view. His aunt would stick by the two foreign women, keeping their flanks covered. 龍


"Common Speech"
"Synskrit Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Aurin]

Aurin hadn't expected Aoren to descend similarly to him, nor to keep pace. His smile was largely unreadable, reactive to the dragonborn lord's sudden presence as anything else. It was companionable enough, though, given the last time they had met, he hadn't felt as though he had made a good impression. Of course, his summoning of the lord's husband had involved calling into question his fitness to be called Justice... Well, if he had done the same thing to Arry's mother in Solunarium, he likely wouldn't be walking at all.

When he reached the bottom of the mine shaft, he was about to look up in case Hilana (or her sister) offered any interesting views. Mists, if Talon Novalys was freeballing, he would still take an eyeful. But any such thought was suddenly thrown out of his mind as it reeled against some kind of attack. Staggered, he reacted instinctively, throwing up wards against whatever his sembling detected. It was quick and dirty, but so was Aurin, though he didn't know if it was his own efforts or something else that brought the cacophony down to manageable levels.

Shit went south immediately, and while it occurred to him to vault to the stricken Avialae's side and then vault him directly to the Tranquil Gardens, he didn't. Perhaps it was the voidrillium pushing on his arcane senses like the auras that predicted a migraine headache, or perhaps it was self-preservation. He didn't play hero, and later he would tell himself that it was too late anyway, as the explosion of the body happened faster than any medicus could prevent.

Aurin was a bad man but even he wouldn't put on a snuff performance like the one they were forced to witness. He grimaced, a nice change from his omnipresent smirk, perhaps, but not given the circumstances. Hilana and her sister were all right. Talon was keeping some of that weird dragonshard aura from making everything awful. The muscle was attacking. Aoren was making quick work of the cave in. He nodded, then remembered Aoren didn't have eyes on the back of his head.

"Wards. Check."

Talon had initiated him and was likely still far more skilled at it, but he was also occupied with divine magic. Aurin had no plans to frontal assault those things that looked vaguely like the hordes that had beset Zaichaer until the rift abruptly disappeared as quickly as it had appeared in the first place. He had avoided that shit, as well as the voidspawn, far too often for comfort already.

No, working on shielding them from the onslaught from the back lines seemed right up his alley.

He took a steady stance and focused on the space between them and their enemies. With one trick, he sembled them, and with the another, he began to weave protections specifically against them. Thankfully, they didn't seem to have testicles made of abjinurium or they would be in real trouble. They were in real trouble already, actually.

It was difficult, even under the aegis of Talon's Presence. Sembling was rarely difficult for him anymore, but he felt as though this was going to give him a real migraine. But he couldn't fully protect them against something he didn't know. The better he knew it, the better he could bind against it.

A pinpoint of light tasked against the voidrillium and its effects appeared between his rough hands, and then it began to expand—far too slowly. This was fucking difficult. He was perspiring as though this were some heavy lifting in the Atraxian desert or something. He was relatively sure of his wards, but he wasn't going to be able to shield them entirely—not without overstepping. Mists, he was likely to overstep anyway.

Justice had better be prepared to pay for medical bills.

His wards were growing, though, and perhaps they would funnel things a bit so their front line wouldn't be overwhelmed so easily. Perhaps Talon could weave his magic fire through his ward and weaponize it. There were a lot of magical things beyond his pay grade.

"Fuck," he muttered, gritting his teeth at the effort required.

[Talon]

T A L O N

Whispers of pain and regret, sorrow and loss, echoed through the shadows that answered Hilana and Athalia.

Too many. Too much. Ten gone. Ten restless dead to join those lost to the dark of the caverns.

Rather than answer directly, the shadows drew the attention of the sisters past the horde of monsters. Past the throng of creatures was another tunnel off to the right. It was yet another tunnel that had partially collapsed. Monsters were digging at the rock and dirt but the presence of voidrillium saw some of them get mutated, disintegrated, or fused to the walls or each other. Still, there were enough of them that some were making progress at pulling at the rock and stone.

As the shadows became blades to stab and cripple, and lava bombs were dropped from overhead, shrieking began to echo through the cavern. Half-melted gravebound monsters writhed and screeched as the voidstone embedded into their bodies began to contort and transform them in the face of their injuries. Those monsters partially melted by the magma began to fuse together to become a gibbering blob of sinew, bone and flesh.

Talon watched as the monstrous hordes surged forward. He readied himself but before he could act, Hikami jumped into the fray.

“Hikami!” He shouted. Almost immediately, the voidstone began to react to the presence of the warrior. It glowed ominously, arcs of corrupting power jumping from crystal to crystal and mutating the bodies of the already twisted creatures even further. It was becoming quickly evident that the more they cut into the mass of creatures, the more those creatures melded and became one pulsating mass of fleshy horror. What normally would have been something Talon could have brushed aside on his own with a flick of his thoughts, was complicated with the presence of the voidstone. The sickening presence of the voidrillium was an oppressive weight that pressed against the back of his mind, tugged at his thoughts and made his thinking feel sluggish. Talon glanced at Aurin, seeing the fox-like man strain to ward off the offending presence. He looked at Hilana and Athalia, he looked at Yumiko, the strain was present. He could see the flex of his partner's jaw as even Aoren felt it.

“Dammit, Hikami! Love the enthusiasm, hate the timing. I'll handle the big--” Talon shook his head, interrupting his husband.

“No. Leave this to me. Take the others. Find the miners.” Talon imparted his thoughts to his partner across the Bond. As soon as his thoughts were shared, Aoren's eyes went wide but after a moment, the warrior nodded. Aoren stepped back.

Before his imprisonment, Talon had straddled the line between mortal and divine. He had spent the whole of the first few years following his awakening terrified that in embracing divinity he would lose himself. He had viewed it similarly to how a mage lost themselves to the sweet whispers that came with the first stages of overstepping. The seductive call promised by simply burning away one's mortality and vitality as payment for ever more power. It was while he was chained in that tower, at the mercy of the Imperium, that he first experienced the true meaning of fully giving himself to the god he was. Zaichaer had been rocked with devastation and he had heard a chorus of screams crying out for Justice, for Hope, for a Light in the face of that dark time. He had answered, even if only briefly. In that moment, he had seen what waited for him beyond the Veil and he had felt complete. Not that long ago, he had seen himself as a mortal simply gifted with divine powers. Now, he saw himself as one of the Divines granted the honor of experiencing the journey of a mortal perspective.

It was like taking off a mask. As he stepped forward, Talon felt the veil of his mortal guise fall away to reveal the truth.

Silver fire ignited in a symbol that floated at the crown of His head. In His eyes there now burned an inferno that carried with it the fury of the Aetherium. Every call, across every realm, rising up from every soul, begging for a reason for the many trials of life's infinite obstacles, He heard them all. For they were His to hear and His to answer. He was the Avenger. He was the Judge. He was Justice.

Light shone from the silver of Talon's wings and in one breath, His shadow vanished. Shadows bowed before Him, paying reverence to His glory. Into the world manifested not merely a representation of the Light, but the Lord of Light Himself. Joining the symbol already present above His head, another appeared and with it came a pristine radiance that made everything stand out in a stark contrast. He was the promise of a new day. He was the glory of the morning. He was the King of Light and Dawn.

Talon flapped His wings, sending a fierce wind through the cavern that sent many of the monstrosities sprawling. All at once, the oppressive weight of the voidrillium was lifted from those allied with Him. At the same time, the writhing horde of monsters shrieked in both exultation and horror, scrambling to both get to Him and get away from Him. Their bodies fused and melded as the entire horde became one awful creature. For His was the dominion of Hope and to Hope was to reach for something greater, something wonderful and something terrible. A final symbol ignited above Talon's head, completing His divine crown.

Arcas stood within the mortal realm in all His glory.

“Go. Save the miners. I shall deal with this wretched beast.”

Arcas reached out with his kinetics and pulled Hikami back from the creature to rejoin the group. He set the warrior down gently before turning to face the fused horde. His pact blade shone brightly in his hand. In his other hand, he conjured a shield woven together with Negation and Kinetics, infused with the power of his dawnfire.

The undulating abomination writhed and screeched, a hundred mouths screaming, laughing, moaning, and sobbing in equal parts terror and joy.

Arcas narrowed his eyes.

He charged the horrifying creature, brandishing his sword, drawing its attention to give the others the freedom to rescue the remaining miners.

Off Topic

Talon has assumed his Divine Form, becoming Arcas fully realized. As a result of his presence and how things react to it, the gravebound horde has fused into one giant eldritch monstrosity. The voidrillium has concentrated in its form and as a result, the oppressive weight of it has been lifted from Hilana, Athalia, Hikami, Yumiko, Aurin and Aoren.

Everyone make one last post in this thread and I will break us off to a new one focused on the group's efforts to rescue the miners!

[Hilana Chenzira]

What was soon made abundantly clear to the sisters of the southern desert Kingdom was that the methods that had worked so well for them last time, surgical-precision cuts with underneath with the shadows while lava bombs melted and burned away at them from the top, were not working now. The voidrillium that was embedded in the shinaegri did seem to be sustaining them; enough that they were fusing together. That was a problem, and that meant they were going to need to change tactics. Every cut was making them grow. Perhaps total incineration, as difficult as that was with the voidrillium causing the problems that it was. The wards that Aurin put up did help, but the effects were undeniably there. This, quite possibly, may have been a good spot for her bladed voidrillium chain whip... she would have to master that weapon, and test it. What had been in the Void might not necessarily work the same way here, but perhaps it would have given them more opportunities... But that was for another time.

'I thank you,' Hilana murmured to the shadows. 'You have been most helpful, and we are grateful to you.' They were so often ignored and unacknowledged, but those who did seek the shadows out could learn so much. They were not as appreciated as the light, and yet, they were always there. They witnessed far more; and spoken to kindly and with the respect that they were due, they might well share their insights. Some may have been more cryptic than others, but for the most part... intelligent conclusions could be drawn. Ten gone, that meant there were still 24. Beyond these horrors, the collapsed tunnel to the right... very good. That was the next way to go.

When Hikami launched himself over everyone, despite Talon's express instructions to defend the rear of the group, Hilana and Athalia shared a look. "Utique fecit," Athalia sighed. They would have to deal with the back as well now that the watery Avialae was unable to contain himself enough to follow orders from a Prince, of all people, who was without question the one in charge down here. While Yumiko, wingless, did not have the opportunity to leap over everyone with wings, was managing the rear, Hilana kept an eye and an ear on it as well.

And then He revealed Himself.

Hilana had never seen a Divine being in all Their glory. She had met some in their mortal seeming, sure - Avaerys, Varvara, Talon, and Rickter. She had seen the glowing nimbus present on both of the Kalzasern divines. She had seen paintings and sculptures of His Divine Radiance and Her Argent Luminescence. But none of that prepared the Vastiana for Arcas. There was no denying that this rescue mission could be completed, as Hope sprang eternal. That Justice would be wrought, as the Justicar stood before them. There was no fear of the unknown and the darkness, as the Light shone upon all of them. She was usually an optimistic young woman, who believed she could and so she did, but the Affirmation that came from being in the presence of Arcas was an entirely new experience. It was exhilarating, especially with the affects of the voidrillium pushed back and away from them.

"Oh, glories," she managed. "The murals are wrong--"

"Hilana, noli blasphemare," Athalia reminded her in a hushed, but more urgent tone. Her younger sister shook herself from the awe that came from being in the presence of the Draegir. There was no time for this. She could admire the memory later; though doing so was, as Lia had reminded her, dangerously close to blasphemy. Even if He had made His peace with Avaerys Imperator and Varvara Imperatrix. One religion for those in the know, one for those without.

"We need to go that way," she grabbed Lia's arm, stepping back and away from the amalgamation of undead, and going towards Aoren, and letting shadows gently grip Aurin's arm to make sure he was with them. Once they caught up to the tall redhead, Hilana let go of Lia, only for her sister to take her hand anyway. "There is a collapsed tunnel up ahead and on the right, where the shinaegri were digging," she offered to the Elder dragon. "The miners are that way." She knew he wouldn't much want to leave his beloved, but if anyone could manage this in fine style, especially without puny mortals in the way, it was going to be Arcas.

[Aurin]

Aurin had to dim his Sight abruptly, shutting his eyes unhelpfully against the light that was not light as much as the light that was light. He had been prepared for things that would overwhelm his sensing trick when he had gone to the desert god's heaven for Arry's wedding to his minstrel. He hadn't been prepared for the giant daizoku from doing the same.

But it was more than letting go of one runic connection that made the other easier. Draegir power shielded him from the voidrillium corruption. Well and good, even if there was still something off about Arcas. Or, more likely, there was something off about Aurin himself.

Retreat? he thought. Gladly.

It seemed from his brief sense of an unfolding divine nimbus that he hadn't needed them at all. In any case, he didn't feel bad retreating, covering the Vastian sisters, leaving the strange, suicidal creature under Aoren's protection. A dragon could probably handle that.

He felt the pull of Hilana's shadows, but felt safe enough to vault directly to where he needed to be, beginning to weave wards against stone. He couldn't do much compared to gods and dragons, but he could protect miners and his fellow mortal spelunkers from death by cave in.

Whatever was left of the wards he left behind, he thought Arcas might make use of, or just let it slow down the onslaught before he battled the creepy-crawlies. For himself, Aurin focused on the task at hand.

"Start digging," he said to the stronger creatures, including the Vastian sisters in case they had some magical tricks up their skirts. "I'll keep the rest of it from collapsing until we get the miners out."

Normally, he took a leadership position in situations like this, but they had a once-royal god, a noble dragon, and whatever it was that mutinous Hikami was. At least he could offer what he had that was most suitable for the situation and hope the others found effective ways to do their part.