"Perfect Dark" [Talon]

[Brenner Dornkirk]

"Quite right." Brenner replied with surprised enthusiasm. "Spot on." He further emphasised, furrowing his brow as he was taken aback by Talon's apparent comprehension of one of the main rhetorical points on Zaichaer's side of their ideological divide- That New Atheism offered great hope to masses of people who might feel powerless in a world micromanaged by divine forces.

"Our distaste for the arcane arts is an extension of that hope. We uplift the status of the everyman by uniting his interests into one, focused power- magnified by the lens of the State. We do not pray for gods to swoop in from the skies to better our situation, we make grave sacrifices for the good of the majority. It is not something that the true-hearted Zaichaeri enjoys... shedding blood for the greater good, but we do it because no one else will do it for us." He pursed his lips and remembered himself,

"Apologies, Highness. I seem to have transitioned beyond candour into outright prolixity..." He wasn't drunk, but the schnapps and like-minded company he'd just left on the Searing Victory had rendered him more open than he'd yet been in Talon's company. Their discourse had been cautious and carefully managed prior to this and, even as Brenner lowered some of the walls he'd erected, he knew he was doing so. Perhaps part of him was testing waters.

"That may be so, Highness, but by the time the children are grown most of the ants in the hills they terrorise are long dead." He said so with a hint of amusement apparent in the curl of his lips.

"But, in the end, we are agreed on that point." His eyes rose to meet Talon's, "Rumours are dangerous enough. They are embers, and this city is rife with tinder after the Tragic Events of Glade the 8th... As I told you at the Windworks when you visited, we are at a precarious impasse of late, and I fear what might erupt if the embers of this rumour should enkindle the tightly bound fasces of the Zaichaeri populace." He paused,

"Do you believe you've achieved what you sought out to on this visit, thus far?"

[Talon]

Talon did not know whether he agreed with everything that Brenner said. It was a question of perspectives, he supposed. There were challenges that Kalzasi faced every day that Zaichaer had no dealings with. From what he knew of the city, the Zaichaeri did not face the regular incursions from the Warrens that Kalzasi did. At least not with any sense of regularity. It was not known exactly how far the Warrens extended. There were those who estimated that they stretched beneath the entirety of the Karnor northlands. There were those who speculated that the Warrens were a realm unto themselves, separate from the plane of existence that Ransera existed upon. Talon believed the latter. An individual could dig for miles and never encounter them. Another individual could trip and fall down a sinkhole and find themselves in the sands of the Desert of Souls in the Third Deep.

“It is alright, Commander.” Talon ran a hand through his hair. He caught the strands, reaching onto one of his belt loops he retrieved the leather tie that he used to keep it in a ponytail. Sliding his fingers through his hair a few times he untangled any knots before tying his hair back once more.

“No. I do not.” He sighed heavily, turning his attention to the skyship that rest quietly in the distance. “Nor do I think I will at this visit.”

On the edges of his awareness, Talon could feel something. It felt heavy, like the weight of a boulder upon his shoulders that was poised to fall.

“Something is brewing, Commander. It is coiled tightly at the heart of this city and its people. There is a festering bubbling beneath the surface of Zaichaer. I can feel it on the furthest edges of my awareness. When I seek to focus on it, it slips out of my sight as though it is intentionally avoiding my gaze. That, more than anything, disturbs me.” Again, Talon tried to focus on what he was feeling but just as he described it, it slipped out of his focus like sand passing through his fingers. He turned his silver eyes upon Brenner but he did not look deeper than the surface of the man’s being. He considered the events of Glade the 8th and as that thought passed through his mind, Talon felt a shiver travel up his spine. His instincts told him that whatever tragedy occured on that day, it was not over. Not by a long shot. As the uneasiness swept through him, Talon heard a whistle. His bondmate was signaling for him to rejoin the Kalzasern delegation.

“It seems our time is up, Commander.” Talon smiled. He offered a nod of his head to the human man in front of him. “Before I go, a word of caution.”

Talon considered what he was feeling. He did not know whether this was springing from his sense of Justice or if it was something more. Part of him knew and could feel that there were more things waiting for him in the realm of the divine, domains he had yet to lay claim to. Powers that were simply waiting to awaken. Perhaps what he was feeling was from one of those dormant gifts? Whatever the truth, he felt compelled to speak on this to Brenner. For he could see at least one thing about the man clearly, Brenner believed in what he thought was the true and just way of life for him and his people. If nothing else, Talon could respect that.

He looked deeper into the Zaichaeri officer before him. The silver flame that Talon had come to recognize as the soul according to how he perceived it, came into focus. In its light, Talon saw reflected a terrible urgency to bring to justice what Brenner believed to have been a great horror. As he stared, Talon felt a sort of trance wash over him. The markings upon his bare torso shifted. The blue-violet light transitioned to a silver-white. The silver of his eyes shone more clearly and the ghostly illumination of the nimbus that crowned him was softly reflected in the light of the setting sun. When Talon spoke, it was as though his voice were drifting from a far off place, the knowledge he shared flowing forth from a being far more ancient than the young Avialae in front of Brenner. The world in front of Talon blurred until all he could see was the silver flame of Brenner’s soul.

But he was not alone. He saw another fire. This one swathed in splotches of shadow and limned with scarlet light. The shape of a woman presented itself to Talon. She appeared to be hunched over a table, her eyes scanning something. Her lips moved and Talon thought he heard the distant echo of voices. The woman pointed to something and though he could not see it, he could feel her burning need to enact vengeance as much as he could feel her desperate need for something close to justice. It was warped but he could feel it.

“You are known to Her.” Distantly, Talon knew he was speaking but the words passed through him like whispers from a far shore. “Gel'grandal’s Promised Son. The fires lit in the blood of those who witnessed Glade the 8th will spread. The inferno that washes across this land will be a cleansing. The City of Brass will be reforged and so will begin a new era.”

Talon focused on the fire in Brenner’s soul again. The woman faded from his vision.

“Carry your torch, Son of Geleros. For by your light, there will be Salvation…” Many souls sprung up in Talon’s vision. He could see the burning need for something more inside of them. Hunger for justice. Rage. Fear. A desperation for change so powerful it almost made him sick.

“...or there will be Damnation.”

Talon’s vision went dark. He stumbled slightly as the marks upon his body returned to normal. Placing a hand on his brow, he shook his head as he suddenly felt very weary. Blinking, the world returned to normal around him. He looked up at Brenner with a blank expression for a moment before chuckling.

“Apologies, Commander. I lost myself in my thoughts for a moment. I think the day took more out of me than I first believed. Where were we?” Talon thought back on his last words to Brenner.

“Ah. Yes. A word of caution.” Straightening himself, Talon regained his composure. “The accident at your factory the other day, it did not feel like a coincidence. My hunch tells me that someone wanted that to happen. Why? I can only imagine it was to make things tense between us.”

Talon gave a slight bow with a friendly smile. With that, he turned to go make his way back to his entourage. He rubbed at his temple once more, the feeling that he was forgetting something strong in his mind.

[Brenner Dornkirk]

Brenner arched an eyebrow at Talon's terse reply. That which remained unsaid spoke volumes in itself, the Air Commander thought. But, perhaps noticing the shift in Brenner's expression, the prince spoke on. At first, the young officer thought that Talon was reiterating the same notion he'd presented moments earlier- just paraphrased to make Zaichaer sound sickly, rather than angry. Festering and bubbling, rather than burning with righteous outrage. But as his cryptic comment continued, Brenner began to wonder whether he wasn't speaking of something preternatural... Not the animus of the City of Brass, but something else... something 'other'.

He furrowed his brow, considering this as his gaze remained fixed upon the chiseled visage of the foreign dignitary towering before him. Without hearing anything, Brenner surmised from the twitch of Talon's head that he'd received some sort of communique that would explain his sudden intention to leave. Probably just another casual display of magic, Brenner reckoned with a light sigh of disapproval. He started to step away, when the prince indicated that he wished to offer some unsolicited, parting advice.

"Oh?" The Air Commander tilted his head to one side, raising both eyebrows as he poised himself to listen to whatever the Kalzasern royal had to say to him. Whether condescending or actually helpful, Brenner was intent upon receiving whatever was said stoically. Still a tad tipsy, he didn't want to let his guard down any further and so he consciously put in the effort to still his expression. He thought on his mother, and did his best to imitate her implacable countenance. It was mere moments before he utterly failed in this endeavour.

His mouth fell agape as Talon's image seemed to shift before his very eyes- No more did he seem a creature bound to the corporeal world, but something more. He staggered backward and, in his attempt to counterbalance that momentum, it was forward that he fell onto his hands and knees. But he could not look away throughout all of this. He gazed in awe, as he pushed himself up to a kneel and sat back on the heels of his boots.

The silvery light before him reflected in the pale blue of his eyes as a different voice (or was it many voices?) seemed to speak through the statuesque figure looming over him. If Talon seemed potent, the puissance of the words pouring through him seemed far greater. He didn't know of whom the voice spoke- this "Her" who knew him somehow, but the pursuant prophecy seemed to bespeak a grand destiny. His instant, inevitable response after the initial fear of the witchcraft on open display before him, was pride. Excited, eager, ravenous pride. A crooked, clench-toothed smile spread across his features with a dark ambition in eyes that seemed to glow silver.

"Torch..." He repeated the word, as it struck him and the pride in his heart faltered as doubt set in. This was wickedness. Brenner should not be excited at the prospect of some ensorcelled prognostication from a pidge of Kalzasi, even if it did make him sound like some sort of messianic figure on whose life the fate of nations did depend.

Light the fire. Lead the way. The words had not been spoken outright by the voice that seemed to possess Talon, but if Brenner was to be a torchbearer meant to light the path to absolution or malediction, he could not help but link the notions in his mind. He hadn't heard the words uttered on that horrific day, as he'd been too far away with a band playing behind him, but he'd heard other survivors of Glade the 8th quoting those ominous words.

Talon's light was extinguished, and Brenner's initial reaction was alarm. He leapt to his feet and hissed,

"No... I have so many questions! I-..." But, as Talon blinked away his obvious befuddlement, it was immediately clear that he didn't know what had just transpired.

"Scheiße..." He whispered through still-clenched teeth. "Talon," Brenner was jostled enough to have forgotten to use the proper forms of address, desperate as he was to stay the prince from departing.

"You didn't merely lose yourself in your thoughts, you... You were luminous and you spoke, you said-..." Brenner paused, wondering whether it might be ill-advised to enlighten Talon on that count, "You said a great deal. You don't recall any of it?"

[Talon]

Talon met Brenner’s stare. He seemed filled with a focus that had been absent mere moments before. Distantly, he felt as though something more had transpired between them. He could vaguely recall the feeling opening himself up to the flow of his aethereal awareness. He remembered peering into the depths of the city’s populace in an attempt to glean their sense of Justice as he could understand it. Beyond that however, there was only the dull feeling of having forgotten something in the back of his mind. He opened his mouth to speak.

“My Prince.” The shadow of dark wings descended upon them as Aoren dropped out of the sky. He landed beside Talon, his bondmate and bodyguard immediately striding up to his side. Seeing Aoren so close, so suddenly further confused Talon. Normally he was acutely aware of his bondmate’s presence. His silver eyes met Aoren’s softly blazing ones. The sound of more wingbeats met his ears as other members of his guard landed. He felt more weary than perhaps he should have. As two of the other Avialae in his entourage stepped up to him, Talon looked to Brenner, studying him closely. He could see a yearning in the man. A desire to know something. What? Talon could not place.

“Apologies, Commander. My Prince is weary. It is best that he adjourn to his evening rest.” Before Talon could interject that he was fine, he found himself being firmly ushered away from the Zaichaeri officer by his guards. They were gentle but it was clear that there was something that had set them off that had made them rush to his side. He looked at one of the nearest knights quizzically. Talon received only a soft shake of the head and an apologetic smile before being led away.

---

Aoren regarded Brenner carefully. His heart had lurched in his chest when he realized that Talon had slipped into an aethereal state. He had felt as much as he had seen his beloved bondmate reveal his divinity and he had heard just as much as he had felt the prophecy that Talon had spoken.

“Go home, Commander. It has been a long day. I am sure you have pressing matters to attend to.”

[Brenner Dornkirk]

Brenner was transfixed. There was only Talon in all the world to him- an oracular figure who'd shared some cryptic, aggrandising prophecy of which the Air Commander was desperate to hear more. Was it all a Kalzasern trick? A manipulation by she whom all of Zaichaer despised? Or was it, as he hoped, an augury of the time to come. Focused as he was upon Talon, Brenner didn't even hear the approach of others until Aoren's voice drew his attention to the shadows appearing in his peripheral vision.

He let out a sharp sigh through teeth clenched to the point of grinding.

"Highness..." He hissed, "You cannot usher me to the very gates of il-..." There was a firmness in Aoren's interruption that even this demi-divine being seemed compelled to obey. Brenner huffed, but Talon seemed earnestly confused- unwitting to the signs and portents he'd just purveyed. Was it all an act? A trick to make Brenner question his loyalty to the almighty State? If it was, Talon was as apt an actor as he was a mage.

As Talon was drawn away, Brenner turned to the supercilious, condescending pidge who urged him off.

"Ah yes." The Air Commander sneered, "Got to make sure you lot get to bed nice and early, I suppose." He cracked a crooked grin and tilted his head, "Early bird gets the worm and all that." He winked and swung around on his heel, retrieving his flask from his pocket, but pausing it right before it met his lips- as he remembered it had met Talon's mouth last. He held the vessel aloft and regarded the mouthpiece, pensively.

Imperious though he was, Brenner would not oblige Aoren's demand that he go home. If ever there was an evening to end at the bar it was this- Though whether he drink to soothe or celebrate was as yet undecided.

[Finn]

Review

Experience: 8 XP, but nothing magical as THIS. IS. ZAICHAER.

Lore:

Talon

Divinity: Assessing the mindset of a collective community
Divinity: Invoking a prophecy of Justice, Hope, and Light
Divinity: Observing a burning hunger for justice in the soul
Leadership: Allowing candidness to invite more open dialogue
Leadership: Finding a balance between obligations and relaxation
Politics: Giving ground in order to gain greater insight into motives
Politics: Utilizing the power of rumors to guide a conversation
Politics: Poking holes in a foreign power’s philosophy to undermine perceptions
Politics: Using brevity to avoid giving away full motives

Brenner

Etiquette
Familiarity with foreign forms of address
Maintaining decorum whilst inebriated
Concealing revulsion
Sharing his spirits

Leadership
Balancing recreation with work
Decompressing as needed

Navigation
Familiarity with Onneifer Airbase and surrounding areas of Zaichaer

Politics
Couching his opinions as facts
Carefully crafting compliments
Knowing when candour is appropriate
Deploying extended metaphors to make a point

Spycraft
Furtively collecting biological samples

Injuries: N/A

Loot: N/A

Note: Talon got the vapours like a fine, well-bred young lady! It's fun to see Ransera's most eligible demigod match wits with a dyed in the wool New Atheist. More, please!