Twinkle Twinkle Little Star [Vanessa]

[Anton]

R U A T • C A E L U M

Searing 34, 122 Age of Steel

Eleven o' clock in the morning
The Doom of Zaichaer

To those in the sleepy farming estate, it was no more than a lone peel of thunder out of the clear blue sky. An oddity, to be sure, but nothing to be concerned by. It came and went without much notice by those who were still processing the sudden 'vacation' they had been dragged along on, most wondering why they indulged their young lord's whims with such fervor. Some didn't notice it at all, Anton had insisted that the wagons drive through the night, and the heaviest borne with the most luggage had only arrived hours ago - their drivers were fast asleep. Others were simply unable to hear it, for many had bunked within the Every Waking Moment - the country estate was not meant to house nearly as many servants as the main house had held, and so for scores it was the only choice. But Anton had heard it, a frown crossing his face.

Then came the birds. It seemed that every living thing with wings flew south as hard as their wings could carry them, ranging far beyond their habitats as many tried to fly up the mountains. Mice, foxes, and all other manner of animal soon followed, a torrent of animal life all rushing as far south as they may. The sky to the north soon turned an ugly, mottled color, a gasp escaping Anton as he attempted to make sense of it through his rune. Though distant, it looked as if the sky itself had cracked open.

No more than twenty minutes later came the second resounding roar - but preceding it was a glow of impossible light in the direction of Zaichaer. It looked as if a star had fallen in the middle of the day, a streak searing across the heavens, visible in defiance of the blazing sun.

"Vanessa," Anton breathed out, his voice catching in his chest. "We're going back."

[Vanessa Quill]

Vanessa was well tuned to the sky, and recognized the sound as unnatural from the start. That alone meant little, unnatural things happened ever more frequently as of late. She tried not to give too much weight to it, and it worked until she saw the tide of birds flying, no, fleeing from the direction they had just come from. Birds didn't fly like this even when she had witnessed a volcano spitting magma across an entire island. She knew then that she would not be able to return to rest. She left the estate then to stand outside and behold the majesty of nature before her. But there was no majesty here, there was a deep, primal fear among the animals. Predator and prey ran as one, united in singular purpose. To get away.

Anton was right. He had seen a doom foretold in ink on a page.

She remained deathly calm, her breathing steady even as reality set in. If the beasts were fleeing, this was no purge. This was no squabble of men against men. Something foul was happening, and she needn't wait long to glimpse the unthinkable.

The yawning rift finally broke through Vanessa's resigned calm, a knot twisting in her stomach. She had killed, yes, but just from that horrific blot upon the sky she knew that her crimes were nothing before this. For the first time since she had watched her home go up in cinders, Vanessa felt so very, very, small.

Anton's words cut through the fog, and her head snapped towards him. "Back?" She said reflexively, tension in her voice. "Lad, you just got us out of there. Pit, we'd all still be there if you hadn't called your shot." But when she looked at him, she knew there would be no argument. If she denied him now, nothing else would have mattered. He would have never forgiven her for all the stars in the sky.

She couldn't do it. Not to him.

"Get the servants out of their bunks and somewhere safe. I'll get the sails down."

[Anton]

Half past eleven o' clock in the morning
Thirty minutes into the Doom of Zaichaer

This was far from the doom that Anton had thought he'd seen, but it was doom all the same. There was no denying the peril that had befallen Zaichaer, and the muttering servants had turned from questioning why they indulged their lord to wondering how he had known to get them gone from the city. It was credit that he did not deserve, but he would take advantage of it nonetheless.

"Thank you, brave sir knight," the nobleman said with a low bow at the waist as he mantled the responsibility and office that was his birthright. He came from the line of Lords Castellan, and his charge was under siege. No force on earth could've prevented him from trying to come to its aid. But neither was he a fool, and as he turned upon his heel and made for the airship, his orders rang out.

By the time Vanessa had the first of the sails unfurled, the many and varied retainers of House Michaelis had gathered in front of the manor. More than butlers and maids had made the trip, and the armsmen had already prepared the tools of their trade. Anton stood upon a patio made of simple stone, his mother, aunt, and grandmother standing behind him. A dynasty that had survived the Sundering seemed poised to weather another calamity, and with his father in the field it was appropriate for his eldest son to take command. While the Michaelis had long been resistant to change, even backwards according to some, the sudden and reflexive return to feudal due and obligation as crisis unfolded proved useful.

"I will keep my words brief." Anton was well aware that this was his first true attempt at command, and were he younger or the situation less dire, he may have attempted to tell a speech worth recounting. Such seemed trite now. "Dread Mists have come to Zaichaer, worse than any seen in an age. I intend to take the Every Waking Moment and see what aid may be given. I am taking volunteers. I shall take only those experienced aboard ship, either afloat or aloft, with arms, or with succor. There is no shame in remaining here. All who would follow me, do so now. We cannot risk delay."

And with that he stepped down from the patio, passing through the crowd to board the vessel that would take him home once more.

[Vanessa Quill]

There was silence from the servants, but it lasted only until Anton turned his back. As one, each servant with requisite skills stepped forth in a procession behind him. Some wore haunted looks, fearful but pressing on regardless. Though some were afraid, their hearts thundering like summer rain, they advanced with singular purpose. It was not a unanimous love for Zaichaer that drove them past their fears, such a state could never inspire this level of sacrifice. They were loyal to House Michaelis, and saw its motto alive in Anton. They would follow him unto the ending of the world, and fear's wretched claws grasped impotently to stop them.

Once they crossed the ramp, they set to their tasks with grim purpose. Those without skills of sail made themselves scarce below decks, checking their weapons or making sure their bandages were well stocked. Those on the main deck helped Vanessa with tacking the sail, heaving the rigging into place and securing it with well fashioned knots. Once done, a small group moved to the capstan and worked to raise the anchor.

It was a slow process, and one Vanessa only did infrequently. She much preferred to simply tie the vessel down, but with the estate lacking a proper dock she'd been given little choice in gouging a wound in the grass below. At least some of the servants who stayed behind likely counted some groundskeepers in their ranks and could busy themselves with rectifying the problem Vanessa had made. it was a rare moment where a distraction from her would be most welcome.

Once the vessel was in position and everyone aboard, she turned the ship back towards the wound in the world. Just seeing it set her on edge, every one of her senses rising to a fever pitch. Her pupils were pinpricks, and sunbeams ached at the edges of her vision. Her fingers drummed uneasily on the wheel, unable now to find a comfortable spot to rest among the grooves and knots. Even the slightest sounds raged in her head, her own blood in her ears not least among them. She remembered this feeling. She felt this familiar, hollowing rush before battle. To feel it now made her stomach turn rather than incense her, but she did not falter as the winds caught the sails and the Every Waking Moment prowled forward without complaint.

"Are you ready? If it's bad, I mean." She asked clumsily. She took a steadying breath, but found the next words out of her mouth weren't much help either. "I don't know what a storm like this can do, but if you wanted to stay below decks..." She sighed and shook her head, unable to even make the offer sound convincing. Anton could not hide now, not when he had inspired such loyalty. She saw a refraction of herself in him then, a sliver of the terrified captain she'd once been, scrabbling for anything that might keep morale high in the dire hours.

[Anton]

"It'll be bad," was all Anton said in reply to Vanessa for a good long while. He let silence drift between them as he watched the makeshift crew go about their business, the Augur taking in the entirety of their work from where he stood on the quarterdeck. Determined souls crawled their way up and down the rigging, as nervous men stocked tinctures and shell with equal care. They all sung to him now, dozens of mixed themes all converging into one soaring strain in light of the task at hand. Underneath all of it came the plaintive, sonorous tones of the Every Waking Moment herself, the beast waking from her slumber as her engine was coaxed to life. But none sung so strongly to Anton now as his companion and friend.

"It'll be bad," he repeated, in a stronger voice, as he focused in on Vanessa's aura. "If we can see it from here, it must be big. A sudden one, too. That can't be good. There'll be people needing us, don't you think?" the lord said, anxiety melting from his face as childhood dreams of daring heroics slammed against the grim reality of what being a hero meant. It was absurd, and as he did the last time he met such an absurdity, Anton let out a sharp laugh.

"Is this how Michael felt?" he mused, mostly to himself - but loud enough for Vanessa and the approaching Alodi to hear as well. "Sainted savior of ancient kings," he continued, voice falling to a whisper. "Did you See this?" he asked the Orkhan woman, keeping his useless eyes fixed on the broken sky.

"Something of the sort. You, aboard a ship, taking hold of your destiny with both hands. Perhaps it was always to turn this way, perhaps there were others, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that here you stand, and here you will remain," the Seer said in her typical, soft, voice.

"Unto the ending of the world," Anton breathed out almost reflexively, finishing with the more famous lines of the ancient maxim that the family had taken as its undying words.

"Take us in, Dame Quill. As fast as she'll go."

[Vanessa Quill]

Vanessa's aura was more different now than ever Anton had seen her before, but still she stood out brightly amidst all others. There was fear, but not the sort that sent children into their mother's arms or caused even brave men to retreat. Her fear was her blade, and it gave her purpose. Clad as it was in a shroud of determination, it resembled bravery.

His own name echoed through her aura like the inklings of a chant that had not yet been joined, and her fears came into focus. She feared not death or seeing the wreckage of her home. Death walked in her wake, and Zaichaer had never been kind to her. The sum of her fears was losing Anton.

She remembered her oath; to place her life before theirs, to consider their honor her own, and to be their sword and shield from now until the end of her life. It was that oath that now empowered her, and made her radiant despite it all.

"Aye, they'll need help, and I'll probably need your help findin' em." She agreed, adjusting the wheel and catching the wind once again. She thought of adding in a jolt of realism and reminding Anton that some of these people wouldn't be 'people' anymore after an encounter with the mists, but one look at him let her know he well understood what he had stepped into.

When the topic of stories came up, Vanessa couldn't help but laugh along with Anton, only managing to sound slightly less deranged. "It's never like the stories." She brushed a lock of her wild hair away from her eyes as the wind whipped it. "Makes him seem stronger though, doesn't it? If he felt like us but did what he did anyway, maybe it makes the whole thing seem like it ain't so far away." She looked over at him again, and shrugged her shoulders. "Or maybe we're just idiots."

When given the order for the Every Waking Moment to go as fast as she may, Vanessa agreed and relayed the order to those in the engine room. Slowly the engine was allowed to draw in more and more aether, and the effects were immediate. While the crew still paid attention to tack the sails whenever the wind changed, they no longer relied on it for much of their forward momentum and even during dead winds they sliced through the sky. Vanessa kept them high aloft both to avoid having to navigate through terrain but also to see the blot of Zaichaer begin to grow larger, still too large to make out any major details.

[Anton]

Twenty-two minutes past noon
One hour and twenty-two minutes into the Doom of Zaichaer

At last, Zaichaer itself had began to come into view. The mighty city still stood proud even with the mists seeping through its streets and the ominous rift hanging above it, but the worst of the damage seemed contained to the east side of the river. Even as they approached, the storm seemed to weaken in strength and severity, the dread powers ebbing away. But something seemed... wrong. Focusing his arcane sight, Anton frowned deeply at what he saw, sigils of power erupting throughout the city.

The rumble of the earthquake was so loud it could be heard even from their still great distance, the ground itself seeming to weep at had befallen the city. And then the first spears of light began to punch through. "Brace for impact," Anton tried to say, his breath catching in his chest at what he saw unfolding before him. "Trust me. Now."

Seconds ticked by agonizingly slowly as Anton watched a struggle few others could witness, the wards of the Presidium straining against... whatever was happening. The capital of Karnor, the very palace from which the kings of old had reigned, was facing its greatest battle, and he felt a twinge of shame that he was not manning its walls. But it was all for nought. The barriers fell, and yet another doom came to Zaichaer.

A circle of light erupted through the surface of the earth as the Presidium fell, piercing rays lancing towards the heavens. The mighty Talacara River turned to mist in a flash, and its northern and southern edges refused to follow their flow and simply hung in mid-air, as if the water itself refused to flow where such destruction had tread. Reality itself buckled and wavered underneath this newest assault, scraps of masonry and steel and flesh remained suspended where they had been thrown by the outburst of energy.

And there, in the skies, a new rift was born - a second scar in the world that before the eyes of the crew merged with the first and became something far worse.

"Steady as she goes, Dame Quill," was all Anton said, even as the tears began to freely run down his face.

[Vanessa Quill]

Vanessa was glad to be at the rear of the ship, her vision blocked both by the vessel itself and her sails. It was a buffer to the reality before her. Some of the crew gasped, others pointed as though it was possible to miss the destruction. Vanessa kept her head forward, eyes fixed on the bowsprit and the figurehead. This was bad, but at least there seemed to be a natural break in the terror. if she could pick people up and just deliver them over the river or even to the edge of town maybe they'd be safe.

Hearing the order, Vanessa tied herself directly to the ship's wheel while others hooked themselves to the railings and clung for dear life. In the intervening seconds before impact, Vanessa opened her eyes. The instant she did, she saw the end of the world when those swords of light cleaved earth, metal and stone like sand before a hurricane. She opened her mouth, but had not a moment to scream before the shockwave struck them and all else was lost beneath that horrific howl of hatred.

The Every Waking Moment took the brunt of the impact on her front, the prow of the vessel swinging upward swiftly before she thrown to starboard where she heaved perilously to the side. Men screamed as they were swept overboard, owing their lives to the rescue lines they'd prepared. Others were slammed against the railings, left momentarily unable to breathe and also unsure of when the winds would change.

Vanessa managed to roll the ship back upright, and immediately those still aboard the vessel were reeling in those that had been cast over the side. None had been lost, both the railings and the lines had held true. Vanessa hoped against hope it would not be the only miracle they witnessed today.

With the prow of the ship facing the rift of this new terror, Vanessa stared at it, bewildered. "S...alt and storms." She said, the curse seeming inadequate before such ruin. What could invoking either do here?

She was pulled from her trance only by Anton's voice. His heartbreak cracked her own, and it was all she could do to reply in an equally broken voice. "Aye... Steady as she goes, my lord."

And so they flew deeper unto the ending of the world.

[Anton]

Review

Anton

Lore: 8
Points: 10, may be used for Semblance
Injuries/Ailments: None
Loot: None

Vanessa

Lore: 8
Points: 10, may not be used for Magic
Injuries/Ailments: None
Loot: None

Notes: How I Wonder What You Are