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in one city, out the other
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2022 1:23 am
by Florian
Kalzasi Main Gates -- Searing 52 122
Florian still held Aoren's arm, but they were now very, very far from Gel'Grandal. Though he had only been to Kelzasi briefly, he recognized the main gates. He had been here before, in a time that felt like another life before this. As he desperately tried to sort what set in, he dropped Aoren's arm, only to notice the golden scar that wrapped around it. His gift, his emblem, that even he did not quite know the power of. He looked all the way up at Aoren.
"I didn't— I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing." He did not know why he was apologizing. A few seconds later, he realized they were not alone. Lyra, whom he had not even noticed — Rickter, whom he also did not notice, and Hannah, and another woman he didn't know. That wretched woman from before. The two Kathar he had freed in order to reach Aoren. They had all been transported there by Talon.
He felt disoriented, but his head was quieter so far from the crowds of Wintergarten Circle. The visions and sounds had faded enough for him to try and piece himself back together. His exertion of power had served to exhaust him, though, and he stumbled forward and vomited onto the ground. A few moments bent over and he spit, stood back up, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"How did we get here? It was Talon? This is Kalzasi, yeah?" Florian addressed the group as a whole, with hope that someone else knew what had happened, and then immediately vomited again. He had the feeling of a headache slowly recovering. The rage, the anger, the defiance he had felt had been released, and now he just felt tired, even as he tried to focus on the direct matter at hand. "I've got a bounty here."
Re: in one city, out the other
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2022 1:48 am
by Euripides
Well, now.
Euripides had had a dream like this once. Being somewhere once, and then showing up in a totally different place in the blink of an eye. But the transition to it all had changed. No, no; that dream had carried her on a thunderclap. That had been much more pleasant. Different from the wrap of darkness and the familiar cold embrace of what she thought to be a wraith. The thing had crept back into her soul with a new trick; locked her away from all else. Stuck in the horrific loop of whispers that had been her company during her escape from the Warrens.
Lips pursed, swallowing a scream as if she were back in the Warrens again and someone could find her. Or Matthias — swinging that axe around. Trying to hunt her down once more and taking out every obstacle in his way in the process. A smothered panic that had her looking around at: nothing. Nothing but blackness for what felt like forever — too long. And then it was gone and replaced by a light as blinding as the staring into the sun on one such Searing day.
Her stumble into the brightness outside of her sewer escape route had been — not quite this blinding. The power of divinity, as it were. The metallic tang of blood in her mouth as she bit the inside of her cheek once more to keep from screaming. Stuck, trapped; Jieun, somewhere, screamed. And when everything quiet down, she dove head first to the nearest bush to vomit into it. Euri could still hear the echo of screams in her head, the crack and grind of bones and the squelch of skin ripped from flesh.
And that one — the horned one — speaking of a bounty.
“A bounty?” Echoed almost hysterically, despite how weak it sounded. “You do—” Her hands waved about, gestures frantic. “--whatever it was you did and you worry about a bounty? No rest for the wicked, yes. Never.”
Her stomach gave another flip, bile and chunks of the meat she’d gotten from the vendor coming up once more before she turned back to the bush for the second of retching. Healthy enough, it seemed, to get an upset stomach from a bit of magic. Her mother would be pleased.
Re: in one city, out the other
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2022 6:19 pm
by Rickter
in one city, out the other Searing 52, 122nd Year, A.o.S.
The last thing he remembered before things grew heated was the noises, and the smells that permeated the air at the time he heard them. Everything had happened so fast, that Rickter nearly had no time to process it all. Yet after the faded light revealed the return of a certain location, Rickter felt finally able to move his body once more. "What the shit?!" Hannah blurted out with utter surprise, before noticing Florian and Euri both vomiting their lunches. Surprisingly... Rickter didn't feel the same. Given it was a high-level translocation spell, he too would've been heaving at the point of their arrival.
While he could theorize about that another day though, ultimately, anger is what took over the wolf as blood flow colored his cheeks and forehead. "God fucking dammit!" Telion seemed startled by the exclamation while Hannah turned to watch him, the wolf already kicking at the dirt on the road before he started to turn his back to the others and march onward. Already his breathing deepened to the point where his thoughts hastened, his furious notions needing to be released on something before he literally exploded from rage.
"Where's he off to?" Hannah checked with Telion, who just glanced in return with a shake of her head.
"To fuckin piss!" He warned as he continued marching off the road, leaving everyone of them behind as Hannah and Telion drew close together.
"Should we go after him?"
"Absolutely not," she warned, "just... give him ten minutes. So long as we're not getting a midsummer winter in that time, I think he'll be fine by then."
The rogue sighed with a shrug of her shoulders. "This is fucked up..." She then muttered with a fold of her arms, her shoulders still stiff from before as she seemed patiently watch where the wolf had gone. Telion turned from her companion toward the rest, inspecting Florian and Euri by checking their tummies with a couple of fingers. When she finally assessed that they would be fine, she then looked to Aoren specificially, her gaze more somber as she approached with clear sympathy.
"I'm really sorry..." She took Aoren by the hand with tears already in her eyes, her gaze fallen as she looked to bear shame in front of Aoren. "We wanted to get you both out. Together. We had a plan but..." But the timing was clearly way off. They had lost track of Hannah, who had only arrived at the last minute, and now that they were all here it seemed they had another problem to face. Those who the healer had accompanied were not here, which could only mean, that those who had gone to the Imperium were still there; while clearly everyone else was brought back here.
"Please, don't wait on us if you must." Telion then requested as she squeezed Aoren's hand, before releasing it so that she could gradually step away. "Rickter... will take a minute to be convinced, since he is technically an exile from here. But we'll see that he catches up." Telion expressed with a forced smile, though clearly, that smile was starting to waiver as she looked to everyone. Hannah still kept a watch on the overgrown thicket the wolf marched to earlier.
"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter" "Telion" "Hannah"
"Every side attacks you when you don't pick sides."
Re: in one city, out the other
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2022 10:03 pm
by Talon
He was gone.
He’d had him for a sparse few days, a precious few days where he had actually been himself and now he was gone. He had known exactly what Talon was going to do the minute he had formed the idea to do it. Before he had been able to grab hold of his bondmate and shake him from such an idea, it had been over before he could move. He could feel Talon across the Bond and immediately he clamped down on it. Rage, anger, hurt, and heartache coursed through him. He did not even register the Lysanrin who had broken his collar and who had reached out to his soul in a way that only Talon had before. Aoren’s knees buckled and he fell to the ground as months of grief, anger, pain and suffering suddenly welled out of him.
He opened his mouth and he screamed. He let it tear out of him with as broken a wail as he could muster. He let the tears flow down his face and he curled down upon the ground and shook with sobs as he folded his wings around himself in an attempt to scrape some measure of comfort from this disaster. He wasn’t sure how long he lay there. It could not have been long before he felt Telion’s hands upon his wings. He drew in a haggard breath and choked back his emotions in an attempt to pull himself together.
The sound of flapping wings joined them as no less than a dozen Sky Guard dropped from the skies and walls of the main gate of Kalzasi. They did not draw their weapons but as one of them rushed forward, it was clear that they were on edge. The guardsman who walked forward was a leaner Avialae with the wings of a sparrow. He removed his helm and regarded each of them.
“You should not be out here, strangers. The roads are dangerous. You should--” His eyes settled upon Aoren, who remained on his knees, staring listlessly at the ground. The guardsman’s eyes went wide. He immediately waved over others.
“Prince Aoren!” Instantly a figure dressed in a combination of leather armor with cloth sleeves and a white sash around his waist rushed forward along with two others. They were both at Aoren’s side and helping the man to his feet. The other guards remained at the ready, vigilant. The leader looked over them.
“Where--where is the Shinsei? Is he…did he…?” The guardsman looked to Aoren who drew in a deep breath. The soldier then looked closer at the group. His eyes falling upon Florian. They then followed to the frame of Rickter who was walking into the trees. He stiffened.
“You! Arrest these men! By order of the Queen Regent!” Swords were drawn and the guards began advancing. It was then that Aoren’s voice carried over them.
“Stop.” The soldiers paused. The leader looked to Aoren with a frown.
“My Prince, these men were responsible for--” Aoren held up a hand.
“I know who they are. You have all been deceived. None here are an enemy of Kalzasi today. Nor were they an enemy on that day.” The soldier looked strained for a moment.
“Be that as it may, my prince, the Queen Regent has commanded--” Aoren interrupted him.
“By my right as Prince-Consort to the now reigning Daizoku of House Novalys, I invoke the Right of Absolution. These people are not our enemies.” The soldier opened and closed his mouth for a moment. He bowed and the weapons were all sheathed. Aoren gestured to them all.
“Send word to the palace. I will be there shortly.” Two of the Avialae stepped back and took flight. The other guards remained. Aoren looked at Florian and the two Kathar who were staring at the Synnekar stoically but with recognition. He looked back to Florian.
“You freed them. They are now your responsibility. Those men have likely never tasted real freedom in their lives. You will have to show them what it means. It is…it’s a harrowing experience to suddenly have the blanket lifted from your mind.” He shook his head then looked to where Rickter had gone. “I’ll be back.”
With that, Aoren shook himself and began following after the wolf.
Re: in one city, out the other
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2022 5:56 am
by Lyra
The world spun as darkness opened to daylight in a new place. Lyrielle sighed and floated upward, dark smoke trailing from her skin as she closed her eyes briefly against the spinning lights and the momentary sickness in the pit of her stomach. From the sounds around her, it seemed she was not the only one thusly stricken, but she refused to release her lunch so quickly. Eventually, her eyes opened. She was staring upward at a familiar sky far away from the empire.
Looking to the side she saw the rest of the group. Florian, Euri the odd child, 3 men with wings, and the retreating back of Rickter.
"We were sent away." Lyrielle said, looking at Florian who was closest. She righted herself and crossed her legs in the air, resting an elbow on one knee and idly tapping her cheek in thought, "Troublesome child. Now what to do..."
It was a rhetorical question. Lyrielle's eyes scanned the faces that remained, but her attention was drawn to the Skyguard that suddenly appeared. Absently she wondered if she should return to her home, the manor in Kalzasi, or travel back to the wreckage that was Zaichaer and collect the rest of her soul. Looking down at the other people her eyes lingered on the blond woman for a beat longer than the rest, unable to resist the smile that crept on her lips before focusing on Euri.
"Little one, can you return to the Manor and deliver a message to Salem?"
Re: in one city, out the other
Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2024 6:22 pm
by Chronicle
All Participants
Points: 4 XP
Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Comments: So this thread was a bit of an odd one to review since it ran off a previous thread, therefore, I went ahead and gave it 4 xp for everyone involved so that all participants got something substantial for their involvement. A fun turnout from the event it was based off of though!
