Fate - First Reply A Pile of Corpses

[Edric]

"How many times has it been now, child? A hundred? A thousand? No. Not that many I think. Perhaps just a few falls short."​

The voice rang out. All consuming. Grasping. The only thing he could focus on. The only thing that he could hear.

"You have ventured beyond the veil so many times. Felt the caress of my touch. Heard the song of my voice. So very nearly embraced me."​

A long pause.

Eternal almost.

"But you pull back, each and every time. Is it a choice? Is it you?"​

Edric took a sharp, sudden breath. He felt his lungs fill. He felt his muscles tense. Every fiber of his being suddenly jolt into life once more. The wound in his side burned with pain, the cut across his throat ached with agony. He felt every hurt that had been inflicted upon him. Felt every little jolt and needle of pain that had been dolled upon him within his body.

It was a torture, a press.

Yet it came second to the weight that he felt on top of him.

The crushing, horrid weight of cold flesh that lay atop of him.

Eyes snapped open, gaze, flickering around in panic. A hand, icy and dead lay resting against his side. An arm splayed over his face. A torso crushing upon his legs. Panic set into his heart, his arms thrashing, pushing, pulling. He threw away the weight that lay atop him, digging up and up in the sheer and utter terror that grasped his heart.

He pushed and pushed, until finally a flicker of light shone upon his head. Air pulled into his lungs, fresh but tinged with the scent of rotten corpses. His chest rose and fell, his eyes flickered around him...and finally he realized where he was.

"No...no it's something else."​

The voice rocked within his mind, echoed within his skull as he looked around the grave which surrounded him.

He sat within a pool of dead. Dozens, hundreds of corpses sprawled within pit. Their faces were marked with horror. Terror. No absolution given to those who had fallen. No prayer offered to those who lay here. Edric had been tossed into a wallowing pool of carcasses. Cast-offs that were due to be buried within mire and muck.

And he had no idea how he'd gotten here.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

Perci's first solo-mission. And she'd hate to admit it, but she missed Kalix's dumbass words. Her black-steed stomped it's hoof on top of the hill. A frown tugged on her lips as her head swiveled from side-to-side. Edric had gone missing. She'd never met her fellow initiate before.

Heard stories.

A force to be reckoned with. Been involved with a lot. Gone on a lot of missions. If anything, Perci was a little amazed. Her studentship hadn't ventured too far from the Academy. Until now. Of all initiates, she wasn't sure why they'd chosen her to go. Edric was valuable, why send someone so green?

It was the smell that persuaded her out of her own thoughts.

Nose crinkled.

"C'mon Chimera," she urged her horse forward. Toward where her instincts were warning her against.

 

[Edric]

Edric shoved another one of the bodies from on top of himself, scowling.

Everything hurt. Muscles, bones. A myriad of cuts decorated his form, the deepest one sitting idly and red upon his throat. Hands gently poked, prodded as he looked about his mangled body. Lips thinned. He looked as much a corpse as any of those around him.

Yet he stilled lived.

He could feel no life mingling around him. No crows, no rats, no insects. It was their sacrifice that had gotten him moving once more.

Slowly the Initiate pulled himself from the grave, dragging himself free from the pit. Dirt crunched beneath boot and hand, his head turning slowly left, then right. He was in a vast field that had long seen it's last harvest. In the distance he could see smoke rising, a wall.

A city burning perhaps. What happened?

Edric asked himself with a frown, chewing his lower lip as he stepped in the direction of the smoke.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

As she topped the next hill, her stomach roiled as she looked down at the field below. Something wasn't right here. The smell carried on the wind. But it was so...quiet.

No birds. No insects. Just the sound of her light armor and the horse clattering beneath her.

Then movement.

Large almond-eyes narrowed and she urged her horse forward. Was that... She tried to remember what the Edric's description was. Muscles that rivaled hers' and Kalix's. Pale. Brown hair.

"Oy, Edric?" Her voice filled the silence of the field as it rippled across the quickly closing distance between them.

 

[Edric]

Head turned the moment he heard his name called. His steps slowed.

His expression was utterly blank as he stared at the figure who had shouted his name. Lips thinning for a moment until something sparked in the back of his mind. She was an Initiate, in his class. Though much more he couldn't have said about her.

"The fuck are you doing here?" He called out, not quite sure what he was doing here.

Things were still a blur. He couldn't remember why he had come here, or how he'd ended up as one of two dozen other corpses. The wounds on his flesh still ached, but how he had gotten them Edric couldn't have said under the worst torture.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

Perci urged her horse forward, head swiveling to keep track of the landscape, though desolate. She saw the curl of smoke over the hill. A frown continued to pull her plump lips downward. The dreadkid shifted her considerable bulk of muscles and curves and looked down at her fellow initiate.

"Proctor Danbury sent me to find you when you went missing over a fortnight ago. Looks like you didn't really need rescuing," a dry remark as her large brown eyes took in his appearance.

 

[Edric]

A fortnight?

Was that how long he'd been in that pit? Lips thinned almost immeidately, trying to count the day, map everything out in his head. "How..."

The word was quiet, silent enough that Perci wouldn't even be able to hear it. Lips thinned, and then slowly he shook his head as he motioned for her to come closer. There was no point in playing guessing games, not between them.

"I don't remember." He told her as she drew closer. "It's all a...a blank."

It wasn't hard to admit, not for him. "I woke up there."

Edric said, pointing to the pile of corpses just a few yards away.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

A flare of her nostrils. Shake of her head. “Could smell that all the way before the rise of the hill.” And he…well, he smelled like it too. Death. Perci had heard stories about him. What he could do.

“Think you might’ve done that?”

A shift in her saddle than a calloused hand down to him.

“C’mon. Colonel should be able to support us both.” As long as Eric didn’t try to suck their lives out.

 

[Edric]

Honestly, it was a fair statement. He probably reeked to high heaven.

He turned his head, glancing at the pit of corpses. A gap still remained his memory, blank spots that seemed...wrong. Lips thinned for a brief moment, and then slowly he shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

Edric said calmly.

"Most of them had their throats cut." He remarked. "Not how I'd do it."

Not at all. "Don't much like horses, and I think..."

A frown touched his lips. "I think we need the time anyway. I have no fucking idea what happened."

Edric admitted.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

A long, suffering frown down at her fellow dreadkid. "You're going to make me walk, aren't you?" A weary sigh and light sniff from the tip of her brown nose.

One powerful leg lifted and she dismounted, landing next to Edric. If he was taller than her, it was only by an inch. Still a rarity. She was among the tallest of this crop of dreadlords. "And you're not going to let me just bring you back in, are you?" A side-eyed look to his stinky-pale self.

 

[Edric]

"You can stay on your horse." Edric remarked.

Just because he did not like riding did not mean he would subject others to the torture of using their feet. Besides, he was well aware that he was a bit more...gifted than other when it came to how long they could walk or run.

His head turned as she asked her question, eyes meeting hers on their nearly matched height.

"No." He told her simply. "I want to know what happened."

Edric remarked. "Both to me."

He gestured to the wounds on his throat. "And those in the pit."

 

[Oraya Urahil]

"I can also walk," Perci harumphed and continued to do so, horse lead line in her hand. "And they said this would be an easy mission," she muttered. Her free hand dragged down her face. "Since I'm in charge of bringing you in, you're stuck with me now."

She turned to him again.

"So, promise not to suck my soul out or whatever it is you do and I'll help you figure this out. Sound good?" She stuck out her free hand toward his own for a shake. In the olden days, she probably would've been sent to find Edric to kill him. Not now though.

 

[Edric]

Edric glanced down at Perseus' hand. His expression was entirely blank, and then he turned. "Just don't get in my way."

As far as reactions went, it was probably one of the better one could receive from Edric.

Even those at the Academy that didn't know him were well aware of Edric's rather gruff exterior. In ages past he'd only ever made friends with one other Initiate, and she was one that all the others stayed away from. Even after the Revolution that hadn't changed much. Though some might have said he'd gotten better.

The very fact that he didn't send her away immediately was a mark of that.

"Keep up." Edric called as they made their way along the road. As they continued on that acrid smell in the air became more and more distinct. The smoke on the horizon drawing closer until eventually they created a hill.

There, almost immediately in front of them in a small valley lay a village.

Most of the buildings within were still on fire, some having already burned out while others still smoked with embers. No one moved among the buildings, nothing shifted. As though nothing remained alive.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

Perci didn't say anything at Edric's reaction. She was used to being treated harshly. As an outsider. While her family came from a relatively new minor house, she was still treated as a foreigner. Her family and blood too fresh from Amol-Kalit even a generation or two back.

That and her father always disappointed that he didn't have three boys instead of three girls.

So when he snapped at her to 'keep up.' She didn't point out the uselessness of those words. She was more than capable of keeping up. And she'd done it on less than what other students got, especially from a minor house going bankrupt. Plump lower lip deepend in its frown as she looked at the remains of the village. Smoke curling lazily up as they got closer. Her fingers fiddled with one of the golden bangles in her ear.

"I'm going to look for survivors," she said quietly. Even though she knew it was probably a waste of time. Stopping at the first smoldering house, she released her horse and stepped toward the opening. This one was half burned but the fire was long gone. Soot and ash covered what was left of the walls. They were still well within the borders of ANirian territory. And this didn't bode well.

 

[Edric]

Edric had his doubts that ther was anything still alive in this place. Still, it was good to at least check, and he shot Perseus a quick nod as she began to wander away towards one of the nearby buildings.

His own eyes wandered over the burned out rubble.

A part of him wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for. The place was as desolate and quiet as could be. Wracked and ruined by something rather thorough. A frown touched his face as he wandered over towards one of the smaller fallen houses.

The building was nothing but a ruin now, left as a former shadow of itself. Slowly he squatted down, pushing some of the burned out wood to the side.

A sudden flash of memory spiked through his mind. Flickers of images.

He saw himself standing and holding a sword, opposite him a hulking figure of ashen skin. Tusks burst out from it’s lower lips, and the hair on it’s head seemed oddly spiked. Tattoos marking it’s face.

As soon as the images came they were gone, and Edric frowned as he looked down at what he recognized at his own sword within the rubble.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

Perci walked carefully through the rubble. Mindful of her size more than ever. She didn’t want to accidentally bump something and make the whole thing collapse. But there was no one alive here.

Bending down, her fingers plucked up a half-burned stuffed bear. Fingers brushed over the stuffing, her frown growing. Turning, she made her way out. Head swiveled as she looked for Edric.

About to quietly call if he’s found anything, she stopped and squatted. Fingers brushed at the ground lightly, spotting a set of massive tracks.

 

[Edric]

For a few moments Edric remained still, lips thinning as he peered down at his blade.

After a few strumming seconds he reached down. Fingers pressed through the old dirt and charred wood, wrapping around the hilt of his sword. He pulled the blood stained blade free from the rubble, scowling at it's gleaming steel. "I remembered something."

He called out to Perci.

"Trolls." Teeth clicked together. "I think."

He'd never much understood the difference between Ogres and trolls, but he paid enough attention in class to know that there was one. "Not sure..."

His voice trailed off. "Not sure what they're doing out here."

The words were too quite for his companion to hear.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

Chocolate-almond eyes lifted. “I found some tracks,” she confirmed. Quietly. Gaze flickered over her classmate, noticing again his wounds and cuts. She was no good to him injured. Especially if they ran into these trolls.

“Do we need to find you a healer?” Standing, she left the half-burned teddy bear on the ground next to the tracks.

 

[Edric]

Edric weighed the sword in his palm, testing it's weight for a moment.

He knew it was his, knew that he had carried into the fight. Yet there was something odd about it, off. He couldn't have said what it was, but the weapon felt strange within his eyes. Lips thinned for a moment, and then he looked back at Perseus. "Me?"

The Initiate asked almost incredulously.

"No." He told her simply, drawing up. "I don't."

Briefly he wondered what rock she had been living under. Even most of the neophytes knew what he did. What his magic was infamous for. "We follow the trail. Maybe one of their own kind knows what happened here."

Edric said with a motion towards the footprints.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

Perci shifted her eyes away, expression remaining neutral. With a sharp whistle, her horse trotted over and she pulled herself up. If Edric wanted to walk that was fine. She was riding.

Urging her horse forward, she kept her gaze on the tracks. Her fingers offered a soft pat along the horse’s neck. It looked like the tracks were leading toward a wide river crossing. And the water looked fast and deep.

 

[Edric]

Edric followed along the horse without much word at all.

He was trying to remember things. Piece together fragments that did not want to be touched. He was only half paying attention to where they walked, trusting that Perseus knew enough to follow along the tracks herself

Edric might not have known her, but she was an Initiate like him.

They had been trained to track, to follow and survive in the wilderness. Besides, the trolls hadn't been all that careful in trying to hide the path they'd left behind. Eventually they met the river, and Edric looked up. Lips thinning. "They probably forded the damn thing."

Most trolls were Edric's height and half that again. They could probably just walk through.

The crossing would be far more dangerous for the two Initiates. Not to mention the horse Perseus was riding on. It would have been smarter to find a bridge.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

From the way the tracks disappeared into the water, Edric was right. Sitting straighter on her saddle, eyes narrowed as she peered across the river. It was too far to see if the tracks came up on the other side. And if they did, where.

Were trolls smart enough to use bodies of water to cover their tracks?

She frowned trying to remember Proctor Gamble's history and species lessons. They'd always been so...boring. Boring after students who didn't pay attention no longer got their fingers broken. Kalix strutting like a peacock during classes only made them somewhat interesting.

Head swiveled looking to their right and left. There was no crossing nearby. No bridge. No road. And it looked like the river didn't narrow or slow down for awhile.

"Well," she breathed. "I could ride down the bank to find a better crossing. It depends on how much time you think we have. Or," eyes traveled to his face. "I could get us across without the horse."

 

[Edric]

Edric glanced at Perseus thoughtfully.

Finding a bridge would take time, so would another crossing. Trolls could move fast when they wanted to, though he knew there was likely no reason for this particular bunch to be moving all too quickly. He frowned for a moment, considering.

"Best we follow faster." He said finally.

A part of him didn't like relying on anyone else, but...this was a new age. Besides, even if Perseus tried to drown him in the river she would quickly find out she had made a grave mistake. "Get us across."

Edric said with a nod.

"We can catch them without the horse." Even if it did mean they would be a little more tired when they got there.

 

[Oraya Urahil]

If Perci and Edric knew each other at all, they'd perhaps have different thoughts about each other. But they didn't. While Edric suspected the worst from her, she tried not to think about him at all. Her entire focus was on the mission. And that was to bring Edric back to the Academy.

And if he wasn't coming back until this mission was done, she was along for the ride. But after she saw what happened to the village, she was very much invested, too. This is what they'd been trained for. To protect Vel Anir. And this was her first real mission.

She couldn't help the small sprinkle of excitement at finally being able to put into practice what she'd been trained to do.

With a swing of her leg over the saddle, she dropped the short distance to the rocky banks of the shore. She was tall, after all. One more affectionate pat to her horse as she murmured instructions only the beast could hear. Then she turned to Edric, eye-to-eye.

"Hold on tight to me as we get deeper in," She'd wait until he was close and then with a breath, her warm dark skin began to change along with her clothes to solid, heavy stone. She'd move a lot more slowly than before but she'd still be able to move.

Once she was certain Edric had a good grip, she'd begin to wade deeper-in and further out. So far her head was above water but she knew that wouldn't last for the entire trip.

 

[Edric]

It was an...interesting solution, but Edric couldn't really deny that it would work. The trolls didn't wash away because they were bulky, large. They could wade through the water without ever having to worry they would be washed away.

He supposed it was the same for Perci.

Edric took in a long breath, still not entirely sure about trusting another Initiate. Then he slowly shook his head. From around them he drew in life. A few small wish, insects, worms, even the moss that grew upon the riverside stone.

All of it he pulled within himself.

Then he stepped forward and grasped her.

Before long they found themselves wading into the river. The current pulling, dragging, threatening to wash them away as they made their way across the river.