Blood and Blades II (Solo)
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 10:10 pm
67th of Ash, 120 AS
The package had arrived as Fletcher said it would. Late one night there came a knock on the front door of the shop, but when she opened it there was just a plain wrapped parcel sitting on the step. She did not question it. That man clearly had his own methods for seeing his 'customers' orders fulfilled. Lyra had taken it immediately down to her lab, only hesitating slightly before entering the white room where she performed her necromancy.
The package itself was quite large, big enough that she had struggled to fit it through the door of the lab, and it had been quite cumbersome to carry down the stairway. Once it was placed Lyra unwrapped the paper that covered it, tossing it aside to reveal a box made of dark wood. It was sizeable, wider than her chest and heavy enough that she had struggled somewhat to hold it with two hands. Using her thumbs Lyra undid the two latches that held the box shut, opening it and revealing a set of polished white bones inside. There was a small wooden divide between the two sets of bones, clearly indicating they came from two separate individuals, though that fact was obvious as each group had its own skull. One skull in particular stood out as it had elongated tusks that hooked from its jaw. An Orkhan?
Lyra began to remove the bones in a slow and methodical fashion, counting them as she did. Each set had a skull as well as three rings made of bone, the pieces that Fletcher had worked on himself no doubt. The set that did not belong to the Orkhan though had an odd grouping of bones that were unlike anything she had seen before. It took some careful inspection, but suddenly she realized what she held in her hands were the pieces of a wing. An aviale then? That was surprising, but not unwelcome. She had wished to understand these little birds for some time now, and it seemed Fletcher was all to happy to oblige. In addition to the bones each set came with a folded piece of paper. The text was simple, and held little details. It descried the race of each skeletal set, their occupation, as well as some interesting information about that person's life. The Aviale, for instance, was a negation mage who acted as a field medic. The Orkhan on the other hand was a simple front line warrior, though interestingly enough he had been a rather high ranking member of the Hunters' Guild. There was much she could do with this information, but for now she simply wished to know what she had purchased.
After the bones were all laid out Lyra stepped back, setting her hands on her hips as she looked over the collection. She knew what she wanted to do, but was not quite sure how she wished to go about it. The idea had been in her mind ever since that first meeting with Talon. He had revealed to Lyra that in this age there was a magic unlike anything from her own age. Negation, the power to create wards and barriers without the advanced scripts which seemed to ignore the fundamental laws of the world. It baffled her, and annoyed her as well. That such a thing could come along after a few centuries that undermined a significant portion of her studies... In a way it felt like a slap in the face. Thus she wanted to know more. HAD to know more.
Picking up one of the rings from the Aviale Lyra put on her set of Aura Glasses, turning the ring over in her hand as she inspected it. The glasses themselves were a simple set that only gave a little insight, but for Lyra as she was now that was all that she required. She looked at the ring as she held it between her fingers, inspecting the aura that shifted and flowed from it and through it. It gave off a dull glow, as must corpses did. She thought it had something to do with the echo's of life remaining even after the soul has left the vessel, though she could not recall the truth of that... Lyra felt more than ever that she had... lost something. More than just memories of her past and events, but like entire swaths of knowledge was just gone. Time and time again she felt a sense of deja vu as she worked, like she wasn't discovering something new, but suddenly recalling something she already knew but had forgotten. Disturbing was the only word Lyra could use to describe that sort of sensation, for she reasoned... If this was what she was like without those memories, was she, possibly, someone different with them? It was the sort of existential dread that would have kept her up at night, had she been the type to sleep at all.
With some effort Lyra refocused on the ring, looking closer at that dull aura. There was a faint shimmer there that twisted like knotted cords around the ring. As she looked at the rest of the bones Lyra saw a similar aura, something she had come to recognize as an indication that the person possessed a rune of some kind. In Talon that part of his aura flared brightly, linking to the part of his body where the rune was present. Suddenly Lyra came to a realization. That braided aura was strongest around the three rings, but in the rest of the items the aura was there, but the details were somewhat blurred. Was it possible... Had this man's rune been on his hand? Had it wrapped his fingers? Shaking her head, if that was the case Fletcher had done something very clever. He had created the rings from the part of the body that was most closely tied to the rune Lyra was interested. Surely it was just a coincidence though... but if it wasn't, that implied that she had underestimated the shop keeper far more than she realized.
Turning her eyes to the rest of the Aviale's bones Lyra began to notice a few other details as well. The wing bones gave off a sense of freedom. The aether in the aura was lighter in color, and churned with more energy than the rest of the body. Perhaps he had enjoyed flying as more than just a means of travel? Then there was the vertebrae. These were curious, as each, though separate, showed a very dull link to the other vertebrae through their Aura. Perhaps that was due to the Soul using the spine as a means for controlling the body? It made sense, as Lyra had done something similar when modifying her own vessel. It was shown that, in those who underwent body modifications that if the spine was not included in some way in the schema the pictographs often caused odd things to occur in the limb's and affected a person's balance and coordination.
Finally Lyra looked at the skull, and she raised an eyebrow. The skull shined brighter with residual aether than any of the other bones. This was especially interesting, as she was able to read far more from this bone than any other. Setting the ring down Lyra lifted the skull, turning it so that the empty eye sockets looked back at her. The Aura was calm, almost blue in color. A steady person? Level headed? Lyra frowned as she tried to puzzle out what she was looking at. She had never used Aura glass like this before, and she was finding it... complicated to interpret the visions she saw. Normally she used them simply to monitor the flow of Aether, not to find greater insight. It was a limitation, one that she planned to correct soon enough.
She continued to look over the skull, pulling from it the idea of stalwart, calm and and determined. If it was true and these bones had belonged to an Aviale field medic these traits would make sense. After a short time she set the skull down, picking up the one belonging to the Orkhan instead. She blinked at the stark difference between the Orkhan and the Aviale. The Ork's aura was red, dark like burning coals and jagged where the other had been smooth and event. He was supposedly a warrior, and the aura seemed to reflect this. Strong, unyielding, perhaps a bit too strong headed and bone to brash action? This one's aura was even more difficult to read as it seemed to twist and bend in on itself.
Setting the skull aside Lyra lifted the long humorous. The first thing she noted was how heavy the bone was. Was that a trait of the Orkhan, or was this man just especially dense? The jagged red aura continued here, but now it wrapped thick bands around the heads like thick knots or cords. Perhaps this was... the man's dominant arm? As she looked Lyra saw the aura shifting, giving the impression of strength at arms, a weapon held aloft. He had fought with a one handed weapon perhaps... At these that was what seemed to be suggested.
She tried to pull a bit more information from the bones but, unfortunately, that was all she could glean with these methods. It was enough for her to start with at least. The next step was simple... Try to pull something out of the bones, and use that knowledge to guide her next steps.