The Great Ones The Great Ones Beneath

[Jane]

Food. Water. Wasn't sick. Jane could feel the love. The sentiment might have sounded facetious, but it wasn't: those were the bare essentials of giving a damn, and mostly what Jane had known for a great portion of her life. The Eunuch might have been a lot of things, but at least he did that for his slaves, of whom Jane had once been a part. Other Slavemasters didn't even bother with that--especially if they only needed labor for a temporary project.

Simple? Sure. But Jane was as simple and straightforward as they came.

Otherwise, you would be the one diving for it."

"Wouldn't be the first time I went overboard," she said. Swimming was actually great. There were so many Mainlanders who didn't know how to swim, honestly it boggled Jane's mind.

* * * * *​

So they made it to the Portal Stone. It really was only a proverbial "hop, skip, and a jump" away from Elyr-Ideth. Only, when they went to use it, both Jane and Nate saw the same...interesting thing: A new rune. A completely new destination rune. Tonight, of all nights, when the moons were having an orgy in the sky and--as those onlookers in Elyr-Ideth had commented--the heavens had all aligned.

Now that piqued curiosity.

Nate had his reasons, naturally. And Jane too: by Astra and especially by Aionus, shouldn't she ought to investigate this? Wouldn't that be taking some Nykios-inspired initiative and doing some good around Arethil all of her own accord? Something the Redeemer himself would do. And if he wasn't a paragon of Celestialism, no one was.

So she cast a sly glance to Nate and gave him a nod and affirmed his stated intention of Let's do this.

* * * * *​

Traveling via Portal Stone was...awful. Jane could count on a single hand the times she'd done it, and it never got any better--maybe even got worse.

Like now.

Jane sure as hell didn't consider herself well-traveled; certainly not anywhere outside of the Black Bay. Yet even she could tell that this city, this strange place, was unlike any she'd seen before. Sure, there were humans about and they were in what was ostensibly a town square, but...somehow...this place seemed more Mainland than the actual Mainland. Must be the architecture or something--and it was daylight here. And was that building above floating?

Heh, maybe other Mainlanders who came here would feel how Jane felt. Cerak was to Liadain/Epressa what Liadain/Epressa was to this place. Take that, Mainlanders. No offense to Nate. Alright, slight offense to Nate. Like a playful jab to the ribs.

And Jane's initial thoughts on the foreign city were interrupted when a man approached the two of them.

Jane looked him up and down. Took his measure. And (truly overwhelmed by the newness of everything around her) simply replied with a grin and two words:

"Nice mask."

Nathanael McCallister Tytus Amladeris

 

[Aivrid]

Tag: Tytus Amladeris Jane Nathanael McCallister

It comes...

---

​

It paid well to be prepared, and Aivrid’s greed was legendary.

The dragon had known of the planetary alignment for centuries, but he had only been reminded during the last Lessat eclipse. That which he had seen during his scrying, well -- there were things even dragons feared. Fear was a powerful motivator. It was what brought so many strapping young adventurers to his lair. But those adventurers had lacked the preparation and resources Aivrid had access to. Where there was danger, opportunity. The other ‘Great Ones’ knew that as well as he did.

Just as Aivrid drew power from the movement of the cosmos, others could as well. A planetary alignment? Such an event would not happen again for thousands upon thousands of years, and any creature worth their fire would not waste the opportunity. He knew contenders and enemies would rise to empower their magics as he planned to, thus he prepared for that eventuality.

The shamans of Kannorgopad prepared their incantations, the warriors sharpened their weapons, and the parties he had sent abroad prepared to fight beings far greater than them. Many would die, whether at the hands of another or as a result of Aivrid’s magic, but they would die ready. He made sure of it.

The dragon perched at the top of the mountain, looking down at the orcs below. The town was silent with anticipation. Even hours before the potential conflict, Kannorgopad showed no movement. The world held its breath. In truth he believed that the magic, knowledge, and weaponry there was enough to kill him, if the Sereti ogres decided to turn on him. Not that they would.

But the first surprise of the night occurred as he felt a surge of power far below, within his own lair.

---

As curious as it was that the ruined portal stone decided now of all times to activate, Aivrid was more intrigued by something else. His was not the only portal stone to have activated that night. He sensed a new location, far away. The last time a new portal stone had appeared, even for a moment, he had learned much… the Golden City had been magnificent.

As always he was prepared. When the dragon arrived at the mysterious, faraway city, he was accompanied by a cadre of blue orcs equipped with plate armor of various makes, and weapons of equal caliber. The warriors of the Seret were worthy to accompany the god of the mountain himself. Aivrid had chosen to be modest in his own presentation. Despite the potential dangers of their destination he took his human guise. It would not do to destroy any nearby buildings simply by arriving and being too grand for his new surroundings.

Aivrid’s instinct appeared correct at a glance. The town square was filled with curious onlookers, surrounding him and the others who had just exited the portal stone. These new surroundings were filled with clues and information. The sun rose in the east, meaning he was far west of the Seret, likely past even Epressa. A landmass floated above the square, suspended by some sort of magic. And from the buildings hung banners with a sigil, depicting a black dragon.

Could this have been a ploy by his brother to finally end things between them? His eyes snapped to one of the onlookers. Like many others in the crowd, the woman was startled by the appearance of these foreigners and frightened by the tall, imposing orcs. She was far from educated nor a magic user; her mind was weak, not enough to resist when Aivrid raked her thoughts and memories for dragons. He was just as startled as she had been to find that she was thinking: “Holy Elder Dragon, protect us.”

Danger, yet opportunity.

If this was indeed the realm of his brother, he could not sense it. But it would be easy enough to fool the locals if the opportunity presented itself.

Aivrid’s gaze swept to the armor-clad man who was addressing two others who had arrived there not soon before he had.

“You,” he called, loud enough for the rest of the crowd to hear. “That great sigil -- your Holy Elder Dragon. Do you know where he is? Can you sense when he is near?”

 

[Masaru]

The land before him scarred and torn as if a giant talon had rent the ground, drew closer with every updraft and wing beat. Cold dread blossomed in his massive chest as the terrain resolved itself before his huge sapphire eyes. The young races would be panicked. And a panicked child made foolish decisions, that was simple biology.

The air grew hot and thick the closer he drew. He rode the air currents to rest his wings as he surveyed the lands. The air tasted of magic. Old magic of a kind he had never felt before. A new curiosity would have normally made him overjoyed, but this screamed of horror rather than mystery. With a change of his wings he began his circling descent toward the scar and the forbidden city below. Shards of dust like glass tore at his throat and nose as he drew close. He coughed, his huge lungs burned and his graceful landing became a thunderous crash gouging the land further. The magics were dense also, stifling. Whatever, had happened had only begun.

A quick healing spell and a ward to protect his lungs later he settled on using his wings to blow the volcanic glass in the air away from him. That should buy a moment to discover what was going on.

​

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate tilts his head at the man approach and Jane compliments his mask, “It is a nice mask not going to lie.” He agrees with Jane jumping off the portal stone in the process.

This city seemed foreign and sounded foreign to the hunter. The scents were also weird, where were they?
He wondered as the townsfolk looked at them some in awe and in shock, or just pure wonder. Others were humans and some he might have seen some draconic blood in them.

Odd.

“Where’d you come from?!” Tytus asked, “Foreigners to Thagretis?!”

The man asks the two newcomers to whom Nate gives a slight bos, “We are from The Cortosi Coast good sir. Though where we arrived I have no reckoning of. What kingdom or empire we are in if I may ask? For it was not my intention to end up here, but some magics have many things that may screw with the spell.” He says looking at Jane with a confused look to his face.

Nate jumps a big at the loud booming voice, such rudeness. Not to mention it had orcs and smelt of dragon on the wind from the person who gave the outburst, a mountainous smell.... with certain undertones. With a deadly glare he whispers in Jane’s ear, “Man with orcs is dragon. Scent of sands and desert dwelling, Aivrid is his name.” Dragons were monsters that needed to be irredicated from the world. “He had thousands of people’s blood on his talons.”

Aivrid in particular had plenty of blood on his scales as he was an ancient dragon. One which his ancestors written about and his destruction. Nate did not trust him in anything he says as such. Oh how he wished he could destroy that stain from the world and avenege the souls and deaths of many innocent men, women and children.

 

[Tytus Amladeris]

And Jane’s and Nate’s answers to Tytus were to… compliment his mask…

“… thank you?” Tytus responded.

His eyebrow would be lifted – not that it mattered with his mask.

Tytus shifted his gaze to the portal stone as Nate confirmed that he was a foreigner to Thagretis. Confusion. Curiosity. This was what the man felt first – at least until Aivrid emerged with his orcish followers.

Upon seeing the newest batch of armed, strange foreigners, Tytus gripped the hilt of his short sword tightly and drew it.

Glancing at a soldier near him, Tytus told him, “Inform the watch!”

As Tytus’s comrade turned to do as ordered, Tytus heard Aivrid’s question.

“To ask that,” Tytus began, “And with those surrounding you… you too are foreigners to Thagretis? Why... how are you all here?!”

 

[Szesh]

​

The tremors only grew with time. Buildings continued to rumble and threatened to collapse entirely (some made good on those threats). The panic in the city had reached a fever pitch, as people ran this way and that… but there was nowhere to go when the earth itself was your enemy. Should they run indoors, or flee the trembling structures? Should they leave the city, or were the vibrations stronger beyond its walls?

Szesh had taken to flying above the rooftops. The quakes were making walking more difficult, and it was a welcome relief to be free of them. Of course, the chaotic movements below and sporadic fires caused odd updrafts and uneven air currents, and he found even this to be troublesome.

He was looking for something, anything that could tell him what was going on. First he had flown to the temples, hoping the shamans would be engaged in some ritual or other activity that said they knew what was happening. When he arrived the temples were empty, collapsed, or filled with just as much panic and uncertainty as anywhere else.

He cast his eyes out to the surrounding country, peering at it from on high, but nothing was there. There was no army shaking the ground with hooves or war machines, no behemoth crawling towards them. Even the Spine itself seemed remarkably calm, the peaks were not smoldering or bursting.

His gliding took him over a merchant district. As expected, some had taken advantage of the chaos. Evidence of looting and destruction not borne from nature was everywhere, and the close-built structures were a cave-in waiting to happen. Just before he flew on, however, he saw a small green figure stopped in front of an old tannery.

”Zeri?!” he exclaimed, more to himself than anyone. He tipped his wings downwards and landed hastily in front of the orc just as she seemed ready to leap into the shop. His weighty landing added to the tremors in the cobblestone. ”Why are you here?” he asked hastily.

Szesh was not one to go out of his way for people. He had many acquaintances in his life, but precious few that he would consider “friends.” Zeri was one of these few, and she had achieved this feat through a profound misunderstanding of all of Szesh’s verbal and physical cues. Bhathairk was a diverse city, and being so close to the Spine it may have even had draconian visitors in the past, but Szesh was nevertheless a very unusual and noticeable figure. Giant, reptilian, and brilliantly silver, blending in was not a luxury he had been provided with.

Zeri, a small and infuriatingly bubbly creature, had taken to him at once. As much as he begrudged her involvement initially, it was through her insistent help that he learned the layout of the city, and it was she that had guided him to the security work that had kept him occupied for the past month. It was this same persistence that, shockingly quickly, penetrated his cold indifference and lead him to care about the girl… at least enough to not want her crushed by debris.

A beam splintered above them, and he shot out a wing to block it from splitting Zeri's head. "It is not safe."

| Zeri Rekani |​

 

[Jane]

It really was a nice mask. Man was acting surprised, like he didn't know. No need for that, right? If it's true and it's what you feel, say it.

From the Cortosi Coast. Good enough for Jane. And, now that the initial shock of arriving so suddenly in a new place had waned some, Jane rattled her mind trying to remember if there were--in fact--any Mainlander cities named Thagretis. So far as she knew (which didn't amount to much), there wasn't. But the place seemed big and grandiose enough to be like Alliria or Elbion or Vel Anir. Like it ought to be on a map. Known. Like those others.

Jane shifted her eyes when Nate said it wasn't their intention to end up here. Though it was true enough, she came to suppose. They intended on finding out where the new destination rune led, not specifically to come to this city of Thagretis. It just so happened that they ended up here. Accident of circumstance really.

And they weren't the only ones who had come. A man who had slicked-back hair (might be surprised how many pirate captains had that hairstyle) appeared with a small band of orcs. No wait, not orcs. Orcs, right? Then why were they blue, what the fuck. She knew what orcs looked like. Was this another one of those Mainlander surprises or another quirk of Thagretis?

Nate...knew him. Huh. Wouldn't have guessed. Aivrid, was it. Nate didn't like him, but Jane absolutely loved the sound of him. Thousands of people's blood on his talons? Did he say thousands? Ahhhhh...she wanted to take a bath in all of that blood--just like the good times with the Sisters. Lick his talons clean. Delicious.

The Masked Man was wary. Ought to be, if somebody like Aivrid was here--it's just what you did. One of the Man's fellows went to go dutifully inform the watch and the Masked Man seemed about as puzzled about this whole affair as the rest of them.

Jane shrugged. Answered him with, "We went to the Portal Stone in Falwood. It had a new destination rune. We picked that one. It led us here."

After a moment, she added with a quizzical furrowing of her brow, "Do...you know where Falwood is? I didn't either for a long time."

Nathanael McCallister Aivrid Tytus Amladeris

 

[Nathanael McCallister]

Nate watched as the man’s men ran to warn the watch and he was not about to get involved unless he had to and as such he sat back ontop of the portal stone.

“I think I got a map in my pack if we have the time to go over it later.” He grumbles some as he watched the spectacle. Keeping his hands away from his sword which was under his wolf fur coat while looking around some more at the city.

“Sir, if you need assistance please let us know. I myself do not want to get in your way unless called upon.” He smiles reaching into his bag and taking out some finger snacks and offers it to Jane. He was hungry after all which was pretty often given the amount of time he hasnt actually eaten monsters. His stomach grumbling some he nibbles on some cut up jerky.

“Can’t say the same for my partner here.” He nudges Jane chuckling.

Jane Aivrid Tytus Amladeris

 

[Zeri Rekani]

A familiar sight dropped down from the sky, as if summoned by the count of three. As nervous and on edge as she was already, Szesh's sudden appearance startled the eternal spirit out of Zeri, and her eyes snapped wide open and her shoulders hitched and she almost leaped straight out of her moccasins. But after a second and when her eyes truely fell on him, she recognized the Draconian for who he was.

"Szesh!" she said, and a wave of relief washed over, coaxing out a bright smile despite the circumstances.

Much like her morning runs around her neighborhood, Zeri frequently (though not quite daily) spent time at the harbor or at the Gates and just greeted new people coming off of the boats or coming in by land. She actually had quite a lot of leisure time as of late, since her brothers were becoming incredibly industrious craftsorcs. And it was during some of this leisure time that she had noticed a rare sight indeed--a real Draconian! She'd only heard a scarce tale about them here or there by some old (and she meant old) travelers, so naturally she couldn't resist when she saw Szesh. He didn't talk much, but that was okay: Zeri often talked enough for two when she was meeting newcomers. Maybe it was the sight of mighty Bhathairk that left newcomers speechless, maybe not, but in either case she wanted anybody who came to her home city to feel welcome. And--despite her longing to go adventuring and visit far-flung cities elsewhere in the world--she quite liked showing newcomers around her own. Took pride in it.

And so she had with Szesh. She showed him to wherever he needed to go and answered all of his questions and she even knew the daughter of the tribesorc who eventually came to employ him. He had been reserved, yes, but she knew this much about him without a doubt: he was a warrior. And warriors, many strong warriors, were what Bhathairk--her home, her family--needed right now.

Zeri flinched again when the beam splintered, and she shied away from it even though Szesh deflected it with his wing.

It is not safe.

She glanced about, and said in a tone that was low and almost conspiratorial: "I-I know that. But listen to me, Szesh, just listen to me." She puffed up her chest and raised her chin and continued in a more loud and confident voice, "This is my home. I can't sit by while this is happening. Everything I love is here. Everything. There has to be something I can do about this, I just know it! Even if it's not much, I have to try. I owe it to my family, my friends, my people, myself--there's no sitting idle for me. Not when the Amalgamation came to Bhathairk, and not now."

Zeri let out a breath. Then pointed the tip of her spear toward the tannery. "There's a secret passage into the Undercity inside that shop. You remember when I told you about the Undercity, don't you? You remember, r-right? Yeah, you remember. That's where this rumbling is coming from. All the other warriors in the city are guarding the other entrances; Szesh, they're afraid something is going to come out, but I don't think they're going to go in!"

She lowered her eyes. Canted her head down at a slight angle. "I'm not...I'm not asking you to do something you don't want to do. But I'm going in there. M-Maybe you think that's foolish, and...and well maybe you're right. But I have to! No one else is!"

And, sheepishly, she added at the end in a mousy voice, "P-Please don't tell my Ma and Pa."

Szesh

 

[Kthell]

Hell erupted around her and Kthell screeched. Beneath her, the ground swelled and pushed higher while she sprinted across the sands in an impressive flurry, bounding over the sudden change of landscape. Her golden eyes began to glow as a cloak of glittering shadows surrounded her, shielding her from the falling volcanic glass and poisonous ash.​

​

The quakes began to settle, and the earth was forever changed. Her attention shifted to her sides and behind her, and she felt a pang of admiration at the sheer destruction. If this had been a populated area.. a terrible, awe-inspiring thought.​

​

Her eyes returned towards the direction of the Forbidden City and a new sense of urgency overwhelmed her. A day’s leisurely pace would not do. She would not miss whatever was coming.​

​

Kthell’s eyes flared as she pushed the boundaries of her collar, and another set of orbs sprouted at her forehead. The sides of her mouth split nearly to her ears as she hissed words of speed and flight, while runes of binding sparked to life across her fur. Monstrous, the cat sped towards the Forbidden City trailing droplets of astral shadow behind her.​

 

[Velathina T'sarran]

​

Velathina was reaching for her scaled haubrek and tattered half-cloak the moment the shaking stopped, pausing only a moment to dress and grab her equipment before darting out the door, falling in with the cadre of Drow being led by Commander Vyx’aria through the halls and down down to the deep roads through the caverns leading to Bhathairk. Running her fingers over the hilt of the twin ritual daggers sheathed across her lower back and then the basket hilt of the broadsword at her hip, the Drow sorceress pulled her back up higher on her shoulders and stepped into place on the otherside of Vyx'aria, listening with rapt attention to Zathria's report.

"These tremors are no aftershock; somethings stirring in the deeps, and Id bet my best slave that the surfacers are at fault."

 

[Aivrid]

Tytus Amladeris Nathanael McCallister Jane

---

​

The man, apathetic. The woman, idiotic. The mask, a creature that radiated discomfort at the given situation.

Aivrid was excited. And when he was excited, it soon turned to a gambling mood. And when Aivrid gambled... well, for a creature of his size, it wouldn't do to gamble small.

This was a place far from his home, filled with people that he did not know. If he made gains or losses here there would be little consequence to him elsewhere, unless...

His eyes wandered to the portal stone. Aivrid stared for a good few moments before looking back at the small, masked man who dared draw a sword on him. A fire burned in the man's eyes. Dragon fire, of course.

"Do you forget your rulers so easily?" If dragons were indeed revered here, it was about time he made a statement. Aivrid's timer was up, and he'd held the form long enough. It took only a few seconds, but Aivrid soon reverted to his true form of a magnificent black dragon, standing tall and regal in the square. Obviously he looked down at those petty subjects. His purple, reptilian eyes continued to burn with that same fire. He dared any among them to stand against him. The air became thick as Aivrid allowed his aura to descend upon the town.

He was a dragon. A king. And he would not be denied.

 

[Tenrof]

The youngling, Kouri, was once a spirit feather born of a great tree. A tree that had once given life and prosperity to a long forgotten land. Long before the names of Liadain and Arethil, when the world was nameless and vast. When there was naught but the sun, the moon, and the light of the Spirit Tree. The Shadow had been granted the one feather in the hopes it would be nurtured... differently.

Here, with the advent of those whom had slumbered beneath the earth, he would cultivate this young spirit guardian at long last. To be colored by shades of all races, not the pure colors of nature and the spirit.

Here he knelt, a hand extended to the young one barely reaching up to his shins. It was a curious one, looking about the ground with an inquisitive nature. A child, for its conception was literal minutes ago. A small white creature with a similar stance to a human, or a rabbit. A cat-like tail and large black eyes with white pupils. Two short horn-like tufts sprouted from the top of its head, and underneath them there were larger ears, straight and alert.

"Come." He beckoned, and it complied, running up his arm and settling on his shoulder. One hand gripped tightly round his neck, as the Shadow flexed his strength in what seemed to be an eternity. He rose to his feet, and the air seemed to move with him. With this young one's emergence, he would no longer be the spectator, the visitor.

Though the act could very well condemn him and his own plan in the end, the chosen he had sent already had been changed themselves, intentionally or no. He too would bring a wind of change, and the spirit on his shoulder would be the leaf he would guide, until it settled and grew into a true guardian that could protect.

The skies were already blackening, the smoke from the fissures that erupted beneath the sandy grounds choking the air with its nebulous spread. A poison, a blanket of ash and death that rose like a tower of ebony.

Chuckling, a sound that was human yet not, he lifted a finger.

And the black skies split.

A buffeting shockwave forced the black clouds away momentarily, allowing a breath of the sun to settle on the deserts sands once more. Perhaps for the last time, as Kouri would need to brave this event by its own efforts to taste the Sun once more. And it drank of the Light deeply, Kouri sighed as it found the strength to look up and around.

A squeak, a high-pitched trill, and Noerft glanced at the spirit on his shoulder. It blinked once, twice, and pointed to his other side. He saw a black blur rushing across the sands, like a black viper hunting for prey. He looked closer, and saw it was a cat. The wrongness of his gaze often drew attention to himself, whenever focused, and perhaps for this newcomer, it would be no different.

Kthell? If I may?

 

[Zuulkan Tir'Xhal]

"Or'shanse gultah vlos d'u'ilk
Or'shanse gultah vlos d'u'ilk
Usstan gultah l'vlos d'nindol or'shanse whol zhaunil"​

Zuulkan Tir'Xhal whispered in a low voice, a ceremonial dagger held before him, its point aimed down at the bare chest of the young human strapped to the offering table. The room was completely dark to the human's eyes, barring a quintet of red candles that surrounded him on the table.

"Or'shanse gultah vlos d'u'ilk
Or'shanse gultah vlos d'u'ilk
Usstan gultah l'vlos d'nindol or'shanse whol zhaunil"​

Zuulkan repeated, the volume of the low and guttural chant rising. The human's eyes flickered in fear as he struggled against his bonds, and Zuulkan couldn't help it as his lips turned up in a cruel sneer as he continued his chant. Oh how he loved it when they struggled, the knowledge that their end was near almost always sent pathetic humans into a frenzy of fear.

Zuulkan could feel the power building as he continued chanting. Magic surged through him and into the diagrams carved on the offering table. He raised the blade high, above his head as his low chanting turned to a shout, the words of the ritual rolling loudly from his tongue as he proclaimed his intent to the universe.

"Or'shanse gultah vlos d'u'ilk!
Or'shanse gultah vlos d'u'ilk!
Usstan gultah l'vlos d'nindol or'shanse whol zhaunil!"​

The world shuddered and shook as his chant reached its crescendo, nearly knocking the dark elf sorcerer from his feet. The panic that Zuulkan had been sneering at in his sacrifice suddenly blossomed in his own chest. Hurriedly, but with the skill and accuracy only centuries of practice could grant, Zuulkan brought the blade down, stabbing it into the unwilling sacrifice's chest before the spell could backfire.

Magic flowed through Zuulkan as the blood flowed from his offering. The cavern around him shook violently, Zuulkan's only support being the knife which he held onto for dear life as the ritual, now complete, followed its course.

After what seemed like an eternity, Zuulkan was finally able to stand without the help of the dagger. Regarding the cavern around him, the sorcerer shook his head before continuing his grisly work. Spellbought omens must be read, regardless of cavernquakes.

Stumbling from the room several moments later, Zuulkan could hardly believe what the entrails had read. The omens had been... unclear, but possibly momentious. The quake had been no small thing, if it had even been a quake, and even now aftershocks seemed to shudder through the underrealm. All of it left Zuulkan more concerned than ever.

It did not take the sorcerer long to find the advance party that sought out the disturbance. Approaching the group, Zuulkan's hands and bare chest still smeared with blood, he bowed to his superiors.

"Hail commander, I bring omens, freshly read from the entrails of the human slave you so graciously gifted me from your surface raid."

 

[Méchanteau]

The skeleton, in all of his fifty-odd pounds of bone and finery, was rattled off his feet. The noise, the shakes wouldn't end. He crawled and stumbled to get a better view on just what the devil was going on, nearly throwing himself off a balcony to at last cast his glare east to be met with... ash. Enough to kill a man, or in this case, blind a lich and make him all the more confused for it. He took in the spectacle regardless, annoying as it was to scoop the ash accumulating inside his orbits. The black flurry eased not by much at all, yet allowing some finer details to reveal themselves. The Serpent Teeth were shining, that was new, and so were the volcanoes littering just about everywhere where they shouldn't — a geomancer's dream! Much like astrology, this was a disciple the captain did not care for much at all. And yet this just had this whole unnatural feel about it, more than enough for Méchanteau to dare stepping off the balcony and slide down the ash mound, setting course to the Moondial.

From afar he spotted a flying cat, that was neat.

He waved at it before plodding again through the ash and weaving past rocks and bits of ruins. It was a small miracle that there were still ruins at all.

 

[Deleted member 2578]

Nosdyn was no stranger to mysterious things in his life.

He recalled mining in the mines of his youth the day before, and then woke up near an old ruins. He didn't know how or why he'd gotten there...only that he had. He stood up with a splitting headache and growled at the situation, having felt great discomfort from whatever act of chaos magics regurgitated him there. There were several other adventurers nearby, which that was an interesting sight to behold.

The blue orc seldom left the mines of the city he grew up in. However, that time the gods were playing their endless game of chess with their lives. Nosdyn looked around confused at first, but then decided to just play along with it. There seemed to have been a ground shake hours or days earlier, so buildings and structures were really in bad shape. It pained Nosdyn to see a thing of the past desecrated in such a way.

As he stood there, he attempted to orient himself. Having done slave labor in a mine most of his life, Nosdyn actually had a really good sense of direction. He began to point out landmarks and other things to get his bearings in the strange land. As he stood there, he breathed heavily, the effects of whatever chaos magic that had been used on him were still in play and only then just wearing off. He had many questions, but those could wait. He had no idea of the political/world events of the surface dwellers.

He was kept out of the loop most of his life on his purpose. So there was no way he would have knowledge of any celestial events that day. However, being near the ancient ruins did something to his head. His mind cleared for a moment or two and he actually felt better than he'd felt in a really long time. The only life he knew was the slave drivers harsh brutality up until that point. He knew the gods needed him for something far greater than the life he knew, so he would play his role.

As he stood there he made up his mind and began to walk towards the ruins, at the very least to get his general sense of direction more precise...far more precise. He didn't like being lost. He looked up at the sky judging by his reckoning it was roughly midday that day. He steadied his gaze back on the ruins and decided to venture towards them, alone and without fear. It was the nature of his people to brave the unknown and face what would come...

And so it began.

 

[Zachariah]

​

Creak.

One finger moved on the pommel of his sword.

Crack.

A whole hand flexed. Then the other. Life was breathed into him as the ground beneath his feet bucked and groaned like a wild stallion being broken. He withstood it like he had withstood the years in Sleep. Like he would withstand the Ages yet to come. He had woken before Her as was right, for he was her right hand. He was the shield and the sword sworn to protect her in her most vulnerable of moments. He would not falter. The heat beneath the depths of whatever pitiful city had mistakenly built their world on top of them would have burned the flesh off of a normal man but in the armour forged of the Old One's breath he merely felt the tiniest of trickles of sweat within his helm.

Slowly his icy blue eyes opened to take in the cavern in which they had Slept. It looked no different to when She had taken him with her into those deepest of sleeps. The safe haven she had created for herself, her child. Him. Pride simmered in his chest. The ground was lined with molten gold. Veins of rich gems crept up the walls and above them. His lip curled in a sneer: it was not good enough for Her.

Life was rapidly coming back to the rest of his limbs now and soon he was able to move, to turn and behold Her. His Goddess. An overwhelming love washed through him as he strode forth to where she lay.

My Queen...

He could feel her at the back of his mind. Slumber clung deeper to her but she had taken the brunt of the force in the throws of birth. He touched her mind with his with a caress as gentle as a lovers lips.

My Queen, it is time.

The rumbling around them grew worse but he barely noticed. The ceiling began to cave and those so foolish to have gone into the tunnels to investigate would soon find them caving in, collapsing.

Awake.

The large eye slowly opened.

* * *
​

A loud noise would echo through the city above them, the very ground began to rip apart. Houses which had withstood the first tremor cracked under the now moving earth. A gaping fissure ran the length of the city splitting it almost in half and from it came the Ash.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

And like Fools we sent them home to their families.

We might as well have slit their throats ourselves...

* * *
​

Two Ash clouds spread from the spreading scars on Liadain and the collapsing city in Epressa. The wise ran for cover fearing what came after and unknowingly saving themselves from what lay within the cloud itself. Those foolish enough to stand and stare, to let the ash land upon their bare skin, wound find bruises wherever it touched appear across their skin. A wracking cough would grip them.

Many would brush it aside as a natural side effect of inhaling the fumes that billowed forth. They would go home to comfort their loved ones and hold them tight. They would embrace their wives, kiss their children goodnight. They would think, foolishly, nothing of it.

It had been centuries after all since the last epidemic of The Draconic Plague.

 

[Maho 'Jerik' Sparhawk]

​

The explosion was a pained cry from the world, and all could feel it; the weight underneath everyone's feet, the burden of its tremors. The quake was undeniable, and the fear spread like wildfire. The stars murdered in blood, bathing the sky in black and red. There was an air of violence on the horizon, the moon lighting the sky like an angry comet. The night seemed to be cremated by its own stars. An unnatural occurrence.

A sign.

"Guess i'll go."

__________________________________
​

He travelled on the Emperor's barge. Though, he did not stand tall like the Immortals that Gerra used as his personal guard, he sat on the edge, blankly staring at the water as the barge cut through it.

Alina liked the sea.

The mask was nice, really, it meant no one bothered him. It didn't scare the Immortals - nothing did - but they certainly recognised it. That was enough.

They stood in solemn silence, looking forward toward the Forbidden City, along the horizon from where they'd soon find their fate. And, whether they knew it or not, he had a feeling this would be the last time some of these soldiers would be looking upon it. Maybe he was one of those soldiers?

Who knows when the sky turns red, and the fabric of the world begins to unravel before your very eyes?

As they neared the city, the sky became greyer and darker and drearier, as the ruins came closer and closer towards them. It smelt like death and decay. Like the end of all things. Something you couldn't taste or smell or touch was about, and every soul on every barge could sense it. As if the world were telling all to turn back. But that certainly wasn't going to stop them.

Perhaps the Gods of old were preparing to cleanse the land. 'The End of All Things'. Or maybe it'd just be another ancient being they'd be told to attack without mercy.

He saw drops of hot ash land on his arms, singing against the stone.

Let's get on with it.

 

[Kthell]

As Kthell drew closer, her sight shifted to a series of shapes across the sands and her gallop slowed to a trot. Her magics, in turn, drew inward and her appearance returned to normalcy, save for the glittering aura of shadow keeping the ash and falling debris at bay.​

​

From afar, she watched as a thin figure rose what she assumed was a hand. She squinted. Was it waving at her? Odd. It turned and continued on its way.​

​

She stopped then, blinking, as the black skies split above the landscape. Kthell’s body tingled, fur fluffing out in surprise, and her tail snapped wildly behind her. She hissed quietly to herself and threw a paw against the sand angrily. There had been many displays of power this night, but she was..​

​

Weak.​

​

The thought itself was humiliating. If she truly had kin here, hidden beneath the earth, would they even raise her back up to the stars? Or would they dash her across the ruins?​

​

Then she felt a gaze upon her. A different sort of gaze. When she looked up, bristling with frustration, her eyes turned to meet another shadowy figure just ahead. Something climbed its shoulders and pointed to her while the figure stared. Both were unlike anything she’d seen before.​

​

Anger gave way to curiosity. Intrigued, she cautiously approached.​

Tenrof

 

[Tytus Amladeris]

“The First Man shook before the sight. Massive white scales surround a gargantuan eye that dwarf the human it gazes upon.”​

The Praxa Codex, 5:04​

Words from Jane of a place unknown to Tytus filled his head. A portal stone. Offers of a map from Nate. Those facts alone were huge to Thagretis – or at least, the general public. Travel anywhere outside the river valley remained difficult. The cities to the south were not civilized at least in Thagretis’s eyes, making such a difficult journey undesirable to most.

Aivrid did not afford Tytus much time to process this. As he shapeshifted into his dragon form, Tytus and onlookers watched. Some confusion and fear was mixed within the crowd. As Aivrid’s draconic form became more apparent, many bystanders fled. Some of those from squalor with little education prostrated.

Tytus took several steps back. He knew dragons. He worshiped One. He also knew of some that existed in the southern mountains.

He knew regardless of the dragon’s size, there was always a chance to reason with it.​

Glancing to the palace, Tytus knew the Archprophet could not ignore a greater dragon suddenly appearing in the middle of the city.

He saw it as his duty to buy enough time for His Holiness. The clock starts now…

Lowering his sword, Tytus asked Aivrid, “May I know why you’ve come to Thagretis?”

 

[Masaru]

Icy breath slowly rose from his lips as he growl deep in his chest. The scar was a deep wound on the face of the world. A glow from the city drew his sapphire gaze as they surveyed the land. Masaru fanned his wings as he strode forward dispersing the murky air away from him. The moons looked down in anticipation as the dragon drew ever closer to the Moondial and the Serpent's Teeth. That fear that gripped his huge heart refused to abate as if some deep instinct was screaming fight or flight to his mind.

"Hmmm." He rumbled as he looked for a clue, a sign, anything to give an idea of what had occurred.

After moments of scanning he finally found something that could help, humanoids. Witnesses that he could question, hopefully. He pushed hard with heavy muscled legs and flapped his huge wings to close the distance to the Astronomers.

"What has happened here!" He bellowed as rage and fear drove his usual calm temperament to the wayside. "SPEAK!"

 

[Gerra]

The Annuakat river boats reached the opposite shore of the Baal-Duru and swiftly offloaded hundreds of horses and men upon the bank.

A large, heavy hand came to rest on Maho's shoulder.

"Sparhawk," said a voice deep and rich. A voice he would know all too well. "Long did I wait on the docks, staring out at the ocean, wondering if you would ever return."

Eyes like a warm hearthfire stared down at the masked sorcerer.

"Yet here we are."

Gerra looked up and stared at the looming, leagues-long plume of ash that darkened the land.

Overhead, a shadow passed in the sky far, far above them. Larger than any bird. Scales glinted in the sun.

A dragon.

And it was not Aivrid.

The emperor's grip on Maho's shoulder tightened and he looked back down at the man he had once called brother. They had been through so much together. They committed terrible deeds and also acts of great kindness.

"Will you come with me once more?" Emotion welled in Gerra's eyes. "Even if it's to the end of the world?"

 

[Tenrof]

Kouri's eyes were sharp indeed. Alert and sensitive to its surroundings. Traits to serve well in the trials ahead. For now he turned his gaze to the feline approaching. Clearly his gaze attracted attention, as it had for many of his past visitors. This one would be no different. But how was he to approach such an entity? His show of force was bound to be noticed, and this visitor was to be one of many. So how would he show his own interest to the newcomer?

Kouri solved the issue, child as it was. All young were inquisitive, curious about the world they were introduced to. Kouri was no different, leaping off his shoulder in a graceful leap, landing before the approaching feline less than a foot away. Cautious? Not likely, as Tenrof observed the youngling spirit 'examine' the newcomer.

Running in circles around it, hopping to and fro, and tilting its head at odd angles, with those black orbs of midnight dark. So much like a young pup or kit with its toy. But within those eyes were purity of a kind seldom seen, a star in a blank expanse of potential. Curious and inquisitive yes. A child, and nothing more.

"Hmph..."

Yet.

He called for Kouri, yet it did not respond. Tenrof closed the distance, and found himself struck with familiarity. A rare, almost non-existent sensation, because there were none like him, to come before or after. Whatever this feline was, it was like him. For there was no other reason he felt kinship, than to come down from the cosmic high, intentional or nay. Like he had. But why? More questions for himself, forced to be inquisitive when it was but instinct for the young Kouri.

He knelt, still towering above the two, and tilted his own head in curiosity. He felt the veil of the feline's form, the features of what he presumed was her essence, ripple, keeping the falling of ash at bay from its body. Curiouser and curiouser. This ash was of harmful origin, no harm to himself or Kouri, but a pestilence for flesh and soul.

"Stars have indeed aligned, for kin to gather upon this place."

Each word was measured, to test the reactions. Hostile, and he would defend, never attack. Responsive, and he would try for companionship. He assumed its own entry into the world was not as kind as he. Or perhaps it was.

"Forgive Kouri his curiosity. Seldom can children be bound when such a trait rears its head."

Still the child it was, Kouri yipped and pranced back up to Tenrof's knee, resting on it like how felines would rest.

"I am Tenrof, Shadowalker. I would like to learn yours, if only to learn why I feel aforementioned kinship, when in your presence."

Kthell

 

[Szesh]

​

Szesh listened to Zeri’s pleas. He watched her face with black glass eyes as she implored him to understand. He did understand. Zeri did not know what his scar meant. Zeri did not know how he had found his former home crushed beneath rubble. She did not know how, even then, the remaining people had chased him away.

Zeri still had her home, and she did not want to lose it. She would fight and die for it, and this struck deep into the soldier’s core that lay buried within him. He wished he had been able to do the same when the Shattered City sent its avalanches.

”Not foolish,” he rumbled quietly, just audible above the quakes. He would not stop her now. He knew she would likely die, but such was her choice. He was just about to step aside.

Then the quakes doubled, and a plume of dust a debris came billowing from the trembling tannery. Surely, Szesh though, whatever passage within had collapsed. The close-knit buildings, once holding each other up, were now tearing each other down. Beams and stones began to rain, and in the distance the city seemed to be swallowed into the ground itself.

The situation had changed on a dime. Szesh spread his wings wide and stood tall, his tail anchored firmly to the ground against the shaking earth. He thrust an arm out to Zeri and offered a hand roughly the size of her head. In the mounting panic he didn’t have time to translate full phrases.

”Tunnel gone. Go sky.” Live to fight another day.

He did not know about the Ash.

| Zeri Rekani |​