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Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 5:12 pm
by Lyra
46th of Frost, 120 AS
The sense had been in the back of Lyra's mind for days. A tugging, a season of something close that drew her attention. It shifted and moved, but it was like an invisible string always kept a part of Lyra's mind focused on it. The sensation had lead Lyra to crossing the city of Kalzasi several times over, the confusion of her new Companion until she had brought up an interesting little bit of information.
"Welcome to the Midden." Naila said, releasing her hold on the ladder and falling the last few feet to the ground, crouching to absorb the impact. The Midden, as it turned out, was an almost hidden portion of the city, a public secret of sorts that rested beneath the feet of good, law-abiding citizens. Needless to say, Lyra had been surprised to learn about its existence, though it did explain quite a bit about Fletcher and his relationship with Naila.
As she straightened Naila passed a hand over her face, her normal features disappearing to be replaced with a nondescript human face with brown hair and eyes. She glanced about them quickly, scanning alleyways of half-rotted wood and cloth before she started walking at a slow, measured pace. The Midden was like a world hidden underground, different from the Warrens, as it faded into parts of Kalzasi's sewer system. According to Naila parts of the place were rick and well kept like the surface, but most of what one found here was garbage. People included.
Only the desperate come here. Naila thought, the words passing to Lyra through their bond, Everyone here has a past they don't talk about, and they are looking for something usually.
I assume you are no different?
Naila smirked but quickly hid the gesture as a man dressed in rags passed her. I told you before I have a mission. I've spent a good bit of time here, looking for someone. That's how I met Fletcher.
Is that so? Lyra asked, curious.
If you want something, everyone knows to go visit the Dust to Dawn in the Low City. Fletcher has a reputation of getting his hands on rare ingredients, and other things.
It did not come as a surprise to Lyra that Fletcher held such a reputation. He seemed the sort to be tied up in the sort that would be in a place such as this. Through Naila's eyes, Lyra could see the world, observe it with interest as she gave gentle nudges to Naila in the direction. They followed that tugging sensation. Today, Lyra would finally figure out what was causing it.
Re: Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 11:39 am
by Chronicle
Following A Feeling 46th of Frost, 120 AS
The underlying streets and systems of the Midden stretched like a vast network, spanning all throughout the lower levels of the sewers but just shy of connecting to the Warrens. It was a place where those who dwelt had given up a life under the sun, so that they may linger within the shadow of the city itself instead. So many undesirables made their way down here, and not all who did ever found a way to return back to the surface. Yet, for Lyra the sensations tugging at her were something familiar, unusual to be sure, but oh so faintly reminiscent of a thought lingering on the tip of her tongue.
Following it as prompted Naila's feet carried the two onward down an old channel, often swerving left or right as they would frequently pass alternating passages. A larger tunnel awaited them toward the end, with the tug in Lyra shifting as though it were a needle pointed on a compass. Naila looked both left and right before exiting the channel they walked, the sensation guiding them to the right as she walked within the midst of the tunnel. Tattered crates and barrels were scattered everywhere, as well as fallen chunks of the interior as weathered stone seemed piled in certain places. Were it not a populated area the Midden would seem rather desolate, if not for every sketchy silhouette of a pickpocket or even murderer lingering close by.
Yet the questionable ones they might've encountered never bothered her, simply stared in their passing as Naila walked onward. Toward the faint glow at the end of the tunnel, to a place within the Midden that looked just as run down as the tunnel itself. Stepping outside of it they were now within what looked to be an old square, possibly used for community purposes once a long time ago. It was interesting as the architecture within the place started to alter a little, appearing more Orkhan by design as their eyes fell upon that of a well. No. A broken fountain perhaps? Long since dried for sure, and yet standing near the edge of that fountain, loomed a figure dressed in black robes as he peered down into the darkness below.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here..." The mob leader remarked with an amused chuckle, the rest of his gang joining in as the lone man quiety raised an eyebrow. "Looks like we gots ourselves a rich boy, from tha way he's dressed I'd peg him one o' dem Circle folk." The leader and his crew all looked ratcheted with tattered armor, with weapons soon drawn as it became evident what this group was here to do.
"Come now, do you really take me for one of those fools?" The lonely man retorted casually, almost with a light grin on his face, when he looked to the mob leader as though he weren't even worried at the sight of their weapons. "Surely you and your men are a reasonable bunch. Why don't you just put down your weapons and we can talk?"
"Eh? Not a lot t' say really, soon as we're done bleedin' ye, we'll make a nice bit o' coin off what's left." To that the young man's grin darkened into a frown, his expression perplexed now that the mob started to circle around him, leaving no room for escape while he simply stood there.
"I warn you..." He remarked grimly with a glare to the leader. "Turn around and leave this place, before we both end up regretting why we ever came to this forelorn place." Not a single one of the mob members seemed inclined to move, and though he paused in his tracks, the leader himself seemed to laugh at the underlying threat posed at him.
Re: Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 7:09 pm
by Lyra
She didn't know him, yet somehow Lyra felt she should.
That one. Lyra said, pulling Naila's attention toward one man in particular in the group. The mercenary narrowed her eyes, slipping backward slightly to press her body against the wall and looking around the corner at the group.
You sure that's the guy? Naila asked, crouching slightly to lean farther out.
She didn't answer with words but instead sent a pulse of acknowledgment which Naila accepted. Looks like he's in a bit of trouble. What do you want to do?
Do? Lyra asked, confusion in her tone, Nothing of course.
Naila blinked in surprise but simply shrugged. They did not know this person after all, and the thing that had lead them to him was some magical tether of some sort that Lyra herself could not explain. One did not survive long in the Midden by sticking one's neck out for every lost cause. Quiet as a shadow Naila crept back farther into the dark carve, using rubble and boxes to mask her movements as she steadily climbed up to the top of a small pile of stones a ways away. There she crouched, daggers unsheathed on her knees as she looked on curiously.
Can you make yourself more hidden?
Best I can do is blend into the wall here. Naila said with a shake of her head, Typical mage, throwing magic at the problem. If I use much more aether I'll blaze like a beacon to the semblencers in the area.
Though she started to argue, Lyra held herself back. Naila was, after all, the expert in such matters. So with a sigh she simply settled in, letting a bit of her essence flow out and drift around Naila like a cloak of black, letting them fade ever so slightly into the shadows.
Re: Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 7:53 pm
by Chronicle
"Ya hear that mates!?" The mob leader cheered with a raise of his arms, looking among his men as they all still laughed at the black robed individual. "This lad here thinks we're gonna regret ever makin' him bleed."
The features on the black robed man's face tensed then, his eyes widened briefly before they strained in turn. For a moment Lyra felt as though a pattered heartbeat filled her being, as the foreboding chill in the air grew palpably thick within the square. "I got news fer you mate, I ain't never regretted bleedin' fucks like you."
"No!" The black-robed man raised a hand up to his head, clutching his temple hard as though a migraine manifested in his skull. "Stay back!" Yet the leader and his men ignored the warning, seeing him as terrified when clearly something else disturbed him. With all six of the men closing in their weapons were ready, knives and daggers pointed at his very chest while the black-robed individual groaned aloud.
They drew incredibly close when he'd started to scream, the apparent pain in his noggin enough to deter them in their place. "Ey, boss something's not-" As soon as he neared the end of his observation, black smoke surged from the very skin of the tormented man, flowing outward in a spiraling dome that enamored the men around him. Screams of pure terror then filled the very air, short-lived but full of wretched terror as the receding sound of death loomed around the smoke's vicinity.
Finally, the smoke receded to return back into the body of the lone survivor, the black-robed man still silhouetted by the darkness that emanated from his body. His eyes glowered before that too faded out, leaving him alone among the number of dead lying on the floor. Six bodies. He looked to each one individually, before letting out a dismal sigh in turn and focusing on the leader.
"I'm sorry. Though I've been awake for a while now, my power is still hard to control. Such was the reason why I'd wanted you to stay away, though, now it seems pointless since the lot of you are dead." He spoke gentler now that he wasn't terrorized by whatever force welled within him, the very power that emanated from him still heavily clung to the bodies and stone floor near him. Each and every dead man appeared black as though they were charred, without a single burn on their body, as the clothes and even their weapons had taken on this blackened state. "Oh well," the young man then sighed once more with a modest shrug of his shoulders, "I suppose the only thing left to do is offer your bodies for the denizens of the Deep."
Stepping forward he started for the first corpse, the mob leader, before stopping to linger over him as though he were appraising. Strange. He picked up on something unusual, as though a familiar face or friend lurked nearby. "It's not polite to eavesdrop you know." He then remarked with a light smile on his face, peering into the very shadows that Nalia sought cover in.
Re: Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:00 pm
by Lyra
As the smoke erupted Naila slipped backwards, pressing her back against the stone as the screams washed over the cavern.
"What the fuck is that?" She hissed, crouching and looking around the rubble to watch as the smoke spun and swirled.
Lyra remained silent, curiosity mingling with the sensation that had come just before the man had succumbed to whatever that power was. Silently she flowed from within Naila, black tendrils forming flowing silver hair and black nailed fingers that trailed along the stones as she floated up to look over the scene with her own eyes.
"Some friend you got there." her vessel whispered, body and posture ready.
"I wonder at the truth of that statement...." She smiled to herself as the smoke flowed back into the man and the charred corpses were revealed. Did she know this person? It seemed that she should, and that power...
"Let us be cautious." Lyra said as she flowed back into the Mercenary, settling into their shared space and looking through Naila's eye's once more, He is a curiosity.
At Lyra's urging Naila returned to her earlier position, crouched and watching the man as he seemed to come back to himself. He seemed to have a habit of talking to himself, which to Naila said that he was not someone she wanted to associate with. When he spoke directly to her Naila frowned.
It seems we were discovered. Lyra said, amused. The response was a sensation of annoyance, which Lyra smiled at.
She thought about running, but Naila doubted Lyra would let her. So instead she stood, stepping off the rocks and landing lightly without a sound. In her hands she kept her daggers ready.
"Says the guy who just slaughtered 6 men." Making no move to get closer Naila calmly glanced around them, making points of escape, "That's some weird power you got. Who are you anyway?"
Inside Lyra stirred, staring out through Naila's gaze to observe the man closely. She felt a slight thrill of excitement at the mystery of it all.
Re: Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:36 pm
by Chronicle
Following A Feeling 46th of Frost, 120 AS
"These men were pure trash, feeding off the scum of the world. I doubt anybody will even miss them..." He regarded them so lowly and yet, his tone suggested that he felt something near the end. Sympathy perhaps? It was difficult to determine off-hand, only that he was mindful that the gap between him and Naila remained so, as if he regarded her safety as well now that she'd approached at a distance. "Odison. Though beyond that name I cannot say, for my memory resides somewhere in the dark, lost to all oblivion for all I can tell."
He then looked to the bodies once more, his eyes somber as though he beheld a sense of regret. "Truthfully... My power is the worst of it's kind, a curse that threatens all manner of life should it draw near. At least, that's what I think it is." He then looked to Naila rather inquisitive, as though he were searching, or perhaps questioning that innate tug shared between the two of them. Standing in the ambient glow of the braziers that highlighted his form, it was clear that this Odison was a rather young individual. Quite young in fact, barely within his twenties or so. Much like the black attire he wore and the pair of eyes he used, his dark hair glimmered with that reflection of light from the faint glow in the area, while the complexion of his skin looked akin to porcelain where he stood.
"Forgive me," He then remarked lightly almost with a soft chuckle, "I look at you and it feels... unusual. As though you and I share a connection with one another." Odison then lifted a hand to look down at it in turn, contemplative of his thoughts as he seemed to share them aloud. "For the longest time I've wandered seeking answers, now it seems they're popping up here within this city. I can't help but feel that I'm so close now, so near the answers that I've been looking for, and yet..." He clenched that hand into a fist then, the frustration evident in his tone as his eyebrows furrowed. "Not a single clue as to who I was has manifested here.." Just as he expressed this Lyra felt that same feeling, almost as though that lingering thought she couldn't touch nagged at her, as if it were right under her nose as of this very moment.
Re: Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:57 pm
by Lyra
Lyra frowned at the man's words, though Naila's face remained neutral as she continued to scan exits. Lyra could feel something as the man spoke, a ringing, or an echo that resonated with her. His story too seemed far too similar to her own.
"Thats a sad story." Naila said, scanning the man up and down, "Odison, was it? Sorry, never heard of you, so there is no connection."
Opening herself to the symphonies Lyra reached out and plucked at the man, Odison's. It rang with dark tones of fury, fluttering trills of melancholy mixed with uncertainty, and beneath it all a thrumming bass that shook the rest with each menacing beat. It was odd, conflicting, and twisted in ways she was unused to.
Ask him of his past. Lyra whispered, feeling an urge to press more, to uncover something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Naila though was already steadily working her way around the cavern, growing closer and closer to the exit.
I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid. Naila sent back, sheeting one dagger to free one of her hands, This guy reeks of death, and he just said he doesn't remember anything.
Then ask him what he meant when he said he had been 'awake for a while now'. There was no suggestive tone, but instead it was an order that shook their bond and made Naila stiffen. For a moment she seemed like she would resist, but finally, she sighed and looked at Odison.
"You said something about being awake for a while. What exactly did you mean by that?"
Re: Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:31 pm
by Chronicle
Following A Feeling 46th of Frost, 120 AS
It was when the body fell into the pitch dark that he froze, suddenly shivering as if he were afflicted with another sensation. "Magic?" The shivers diminished just as Lyra finished listening, indicating that Odison had very much felt her influence even at his distance. "Incredible..." Rising to his feet once more he twisted, the curious black orbs honed solely on Naila as his brows furrowed somewhat. It was then he noticed the woman's exit strategy, his eyes at the tunnel she'd run into first, before he lightly smirked to her as innocently as before. "Leaving so soon? It's quite alright, I understand the sentiment after what you just saw. Death is a terrifying aspect of life, after all, it's why we cling to life so dearly after we meet Him." There was a sense of yearning in his tone then, almost as though he did in fact wish to meet with death on his own.
It was then Naila had asked him a question, specifically a question that led his eyes to widen briefly, while his lips contorted into a puzzled frown at the thought. "Exactly what I said, I've been awake for a while now. Decades perhaps. Enough to see dominion's rise and squabble between one another." He hinted in regards to the war that took place between the Gelerian Empire and the other nations, lightly grinning once more as he reflected on those memories. "It was so long ago, and yet, I somehow recall it as it were yesterday. Isn't that strange? I can't recall my life before my awakening, and yet I can recollect the events of the wars between empires." Now he mocked himself almost, biting the corner of his lower lip as he kicked a rock down the well, a few taps faintly echoing down as it bounced from wall to wall on the way down.
"Though, I suppose you wouldn't understand. Unlike me your life is fleeting, lived in only the short few moments you experience, before time ticks forward to sweep it all away..." His dark eyes glimmered before he slowly turned back toward the other bodies, moving over to reach for the second so that he would resume his previous task. They were all just bodies now, essentially, fodder for the monsters that loomed further beneath the Midden.
Re: Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:54 pm
by Lyra
Had he noticed? Lyra wasn't sure, though she suspected...
"Yeah... Can't even imagine." Naila said, now in line with the tunnel. She sheathed her other dagger, straightening slightly as she began to back away, "It sounds like you got a lot on your plate, Odison right? I'll just leave you and--"
Enough of this. Naila's whole body stiffened as Lyra swept control from the woman's grasp, a breath escaping as eye color shifted from brown to gold.
Hey, what are you doing? We need to go. the mercenary protested, irritation laced with worry filtering through their bond.
Be still. All will be fine. Lyra sent as she settled into her vessel, flexing her hands several times and stretching her arms experimentally. She then turned her eyes on Odison before looking down at the hole where he was dumping the bodies.
"What you speak of is indeed distressing to consider." Lyra said softly, eyes moving up to search the man up and down intently. Once more she opened herself to the melodies, listening to the man's tones as she began to take slow, measured steps forward, "Tell me, little one, of the things you do remember."
Her magic sang in the air, pressing down on that darkness, pushing against the melancholy, the desire for the end. She found that part that made him curious, flamed that desire to answer, to be compliant. She wove in a measure of her own melody, noting curiously an odd tugging that seemed to come from him the same as it did for her. She claimed that sensation, heightened it. With each step she made that feeling grow, pushing down other thoughts but her voice.
"Tell me who you are." Lyra stopped just an arms length away, resting a hand on her hip, "Tell me everything."
Re: Following a feeling (Chronicle)
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 4:28 pm
by Chronicle
Following A Feeling 46th of Frost, 120 AS
And yet her melodies laced into his own, tampering down that innate fear and to make him more cordial. His eyes still widened by her approach he grinned to her nervously, aware of the gap she was closing between them. Yet he felt no fear, only the curiosity that connected him to her. Her to him. Somehow without even realizing it, he knew what this was, who this person he connected too actually had to be underneath that skin. "Lyrielle?" The melancholy faded away and yet his eyes, rather somberly, gazed upon her as though he had found a lost friend long thought dead. Perhaps she might've been? Who could say when he had no memory of his previous life, only the bits and pieces he struggled to grasp... only to watch them dissipate like smoke between his fingers.
"It... really is you under there? Isn't it?" Odison's gaze turned to one of wonder then, the prompt to explain himself met with a light chuckle before pressing a finger into his temple. "Yet why? Why can't I remember you?" The frustration was evident in the glum tone he beheld, detesting this condition he found himself in before lowering that hand back down. "It's been such a long time, not everything plays out in my head as clearly anymore." But answers were what he intended to give Lyra, therefore, he looked heavily to the side as though there were severe contemplation. "I first awoke in Sol'Valen... Times were different back then, the despair still clung heavily to the air, even after some great war between two Orders." At this his eyes suddenly widened, as though a revelation surfaced at the mention of them.
"The Cult..." Odison bit his lip then with a low hiss of annoyance, his eyes wincing as though a sudden headache plagued his mind. "It's too much! I can't remember..." Within the black orbs there was a spark of yellow, quickly turning to a darker violet hue if he and Lyra made eye contact with one another. "I'd awoken to... chanting. The sound of words before they turned to screams, and then... darkness at first. Until one day I gazed upon the sun, sitting upon a hill somewhere within the countryside. I never quite figured out how I got there, only that it was the first time I had felt life fill my being once more." Odison then frowned somberly with a hand held over his chest, the palpations within felt by Lyra as well when he did.
"Strangers had taken me in, given me a place to call home when I was lost and desolate. That's when it settled in... my curse." He gazed back down into the palm of his hand then, the anxiety palpable when he gazed upon the lines of his palm. "I killed them with this dark power, without even meaning to! Thus I had to wander, isolating myself as I searched for answers, seeking the truth as the years passed by; like a leaf thrown in the wind." He lowered his hand once more then with his gaze plagued by demons of his past, however, Odison smiled once more knowing now that he'd found what might've been his first clue. "I never quite turned my eye to the north, not until I'd picked up on something powerful a season ago. A voice called out to me then... Your voice, Lyrielle."
Within those dark eyes there was fondness then, fondness for perhaps the only thing that kept him moving forward, that finally brought hope in a life of relentless despair. "I've searched for so long, and now finally I..." Weariness settled into his mind then as he slightly faltered, catching his forehead with a hand as though the exhaustion nearly overtook him. "Forgive me, I wish I knew more. As it stands, however, you were my only lead."