Dreadlords How Many Dead Men

[Duncan]

Vel Orath - The Halls of Dead

This was not a city.

It was a graveyard.

Once upon a time Vel Orath had been a city just like any other. It had not been worthy of the title 'Vel', not within it's lifetime, but it had been the devastation wrought here which in solemn memorial had brought the name upon it. It had been two years after the second Elven war when the city had been turned to glass. It's fate wrought not by the Elves in their need for revenge, but they the hand of humanity.

Not because of rebellion or revolution, but by one mans end.

An Archon, whose name had been stricken from every record and history known to Aniria. His power great enough that even the Eldar of the Fal'Addas had feared his magics.

Madness had touched his mind, grief at the loss of so many of his companions, sorrow and misery at the lives he had taken distilled into psychosis. The City of Orath had been his home, and the site of his retribution. It had been an accident, or so many claimed, but the ending was all the same. Within the midst of the night, the city had burned.

Not a fire like anyone had ever seen. Not a flame of red and orange, or even blue, but one of black.

It had torn through the city streets and ripped apart the very souls of those remained. The City, once proud and great, it's buildings crafted of beautiful marble and granite was turned to a pale glass. Each building marked and reflective, scorched and burned until they were naught but empty husks. Thousands of lives were claimed within the snap of a finger, lost in an instant.

On the heels of the event, the King had declared the city lost to Elven retribution. Vel Orath declared a monument to those lost in the war, and left behind as a solemn memory for those who had died.

"Another great lie." Duncan commented quietly as the small group of Rogue Dreadlords stood on the hilltop overlooking the city of glass. The small patters of rain on their cloaks dulling the moment somewhat. Bathed in sunlight Vel Orath would have been beautiful, but with dark grey clouds above there was a sort of solemn detachment to the constructs below. The memory of those who had been left behind standing starkly within the darkened sky.

"Come on." He continued with far more cheer than was needed in a place like this. "I'm, sure he's down there somewhere."

They set off again as he finished, heading towards the gate. "Just have to find him."

 

[Adra Eden]

It was a city she never thought she'd see in her lifetime and yet here she was, standing alongside the brethren of Gilram's exiles, staring at it as if it were just another hamlet in the hillsides. Remarkable to behold, Adra could not help but feel somewhat underwhelmed by it. Not for lack of grandeur, of which it had in spades, but for the story of it all. What so much power had attained: a city of glass. Was she the only Dreadlord of her time that had not sought out this kind of power?

Had she pushed herself, truly pushed herself, could she have developed powers beyond compare?

Adra looked out in passive quiet from within the large hood of her cloak, her eyes glancing to Duncan as he spoke. He'd gained his own power since their graduation which felt a lifetime ago. What if she had been a pupil of Gilram as well rather than of Harkenov? Would it have mattered? Her life would be judged by her inability to produce heirs, but for some reason that simple fact fell as flat as a useless, abandoned city of glass.

She brought to the party knowledge from the Capital that the exiles no longer had access to. Maps of Vel Orath both detailing above and below ground. Information and annals of the late Archon whose name could not be found in any book, tome, or report. She'd plied the records of her Institution, but even that had lacked it. Perhaps she might've asked around further, but calling attention to it would have only hindered progress, so she reported in with everything she'd found.

Gilram didn't complain. Since she began working with him Adra could not remember an instance where he ever had.

Her gaze shifted to Duncan, mind readily recalling memories of him from the Academy. They'd attended together, suffered together, graduated together, and then taken entirely separate paths. Now he answered to a great and powerful man while she answered to her husband's nagging mother, incapable of producing the results she demanded while she was certain Duncan had far surpassed Gilram's expectations.

Being a failure never stopped stinging, she'd begun to learn, but at least she'd found new successes in helping Gilram. It would pay off eventually when he figured out how to help her. As Duncan lead off, she smiled faintly after his cheery tone and followed silently after.

 

[Henk]

The crunch of glass beneath his boot was a constant reminder that replayed in his ears with every step that he took: He shouldn't be here. Vel Orath was a dead man's rest; the only people who remained within the burned-out remains of the city were those who had perished in the great razing that the overzealous elves had inflicted upon it. At least, that is what the Republic would have him believe. It took not a scholar to see that the damage inflicted upon Orath was far beyond the capabilities of any elves.

This was the work of an Archon.

That was the reason Henk ignored the warnings, why he'd taken this detour on his way back to Vel Anir. Since being reintegrated into the Dreadlords, Henk had been accepted into an initiative by Zana Morid to train select individuals to be specialized Archon hunters. Under Zana's tutelage, he'd finally mastered his control over light in ways he'd never dreamed possible before.

And still, they refused to trust him.

Henk's self-imposed exile had damaged his reputation with his superiors badly. Even through all the effort to graduate, through the grueling training Zana had put him through, There were still many who saw him as a traitor, as a turncoat without courage or honor. He was relegated to simpler, less dangerous tasks, while the work he yearned to be doing was given to other hands. Ultimately, he wouldn't let that stop him. Being a proper Dreadlord now offered him freedoms he'd not held as an Initiate, freedoms he'd been using to investigate and hunt in his own time.

Kneeling on the glass, Henk looked out at the land before him. This had once been a cluttered mess of buildings, but now it was little more than a glass boneyard. Ruined foundation stretched out in front of him, any walls left standing burnt and charred to a shining and fragile sheen. Some hastily made gravestones stuck out of the ground, placed by those wishing to pay respects to their dead, undoubtedly not long before they followed them to the afterlife.

Dragging a gloved finger along the jagged ground beneath him, Henk brought it up to his face and ground some of the residual powder between his fingertips. It was hard to believe anybody would come back here, for any reason, save maybe to mourn a loss. That's why it had baffled him so when Scout had informed him of an increase in activity, an uptick in energy in an already magically charged graveyard.

Something was still here, buried underneath all this mess. Henk had no doubt Gilram's exiles would want it, whatever it was.

He would find it first.

 

[Cosimo Imiliane]

More crunching of obsidian shards sounded in the silent city as three Eastern Army Guardsmen rode atop their chargers, surrounding a lone Dreadlord in their midst.

The Guardsmen were girded in plate and armed with swords and shields. At their lead rode Fain. He held up a hand as they spotted a figure kneeling in the midst of the ruins.

"Lady Urahil," he said at first, though when he saw the scene around his arm drooped slightly and his expression went glassy for a moment as his mind slipped far away. A slight shake of the head, clearing his thoughts.

"Lady Urahil" he said again, "Shall we inspect the stranger?"

His words carried notes of confidence, but seemed infused with an implacable calmness that drifted amongst the four Anirians, soothing urges of violence.

Perrine Urahil | Henk | Adra Eden | Duncan

 

[Perrine Urahil]

Perrine had given up trying to convince the Guardsmen she did not hold the title Lady, but with the way she carried herself and dressed, she could understand a little why they choose Lady instead of Dreadlord.

"No..." She stared at Henk's back, knowing who he was after the many times she had come across him on other missions. "That is Dreadlord Henk. Why not stay here a moment, hm? I shall go make our presence known." She smiled to Fain.

If they were not in Vel Orath, perhaps she would have called out to Henk and made a jest, but the Dreadlord Healer slowly made her way, until she was at a point he would surely hear her boots crunching against the fragile pieces that littered the ground. "And what are you doing out here, Henk? You are disturbing my research mission." He would turn to see Perrine smiling, despite the fact he truly did disturb her studying of the land. Herself and company did not see Henk at first, but after multiple runs at scanning the magical field with her magic, she sensed his anomoly each time that she insisted on investigating.

"Are you here alone?" Brows knitted together, her head tilting slightly that her cascading blonde hair fell forward. "What..." She drifted, unsure she would want to ask the question.

Duncan Adra Eden Henk Fain

 

[Duncan]

Duncan quietly hummed as they made their way down the expanse of the small hill near the western gate. Their path lead directly opposite that of Henk and the other Anirian's. No purposeful obfuscation playing part in that, but simple luck.

As they neared the marred and broken glass-like stone of the entry into Vel Orath Duncan quickly glanced at his companion. "Did you know that supposedly it was here in Orath where they invented the Honey-Tart?"

The fact was a rumor, nothing more, something Duncan had read in his own research, but he thought it amusing.

"I'm pretty sure that alone should have earned it the title of Vel." He joked, glancing over at the sullen Adra. Seeing if he could at least get her to crack a smile again. "Not...this."

He said with a gesture as they walked beneath the great archway.

Some might have taken his words as flippant, but Adra would know better. They had suffered through the worst of the Academy together, and in that torture Duncan had always kept his good cheer. Always he had tried to bring it to those around him, and it was no different now.

He knew her plight, the cause that she fought for and the promise that Gilram had made. Duncan had wanted more than anything to help, but after learning more even his knowledge had been exhausted.

So all that he could do was tell a little joke, offering but a small reprieve from the cruelty of fate. "Maybe there's still some left."

He continued as they made their way. "Probably just a bit...overbaked."

The Rogue said, smiling at her as they entered the city proper and began to head towards the Keep. Where both of them had agreed the Forgotten Archon had likely dwelled. Where all of this had ended, and begun.

 

[Adra Eden]

"I'll not be munching on any glass honey-tarts," Adra replied with a glance from her hood, the stirrings of amusement in her half-lidded gaze, "but do let me know how they taste if you find any..."

It was hard not to notice what he was doing and harder still not to appreciate it. Adra could have counted the number of people she'd thought of as anything close to a friend at the Academy on one hand, but Duncan had been one of them. During those days, the merest rumor of friendship was often taken advantage of by the Proctors and she had never been cruel of heart.

Keeping the young Duncan at arms length had always been for their own sake than anything else. It was nice, now, to not have to worry.

Passing through the western gate, she carefully stepped around scattered remains of glass and looked on in quiet wonder at the remnants of fragile architecture that had once stood as a city. It gleamed, even under the overcast sky of the day. The light rain made it glisten as they passed by, giving it the appearance of wilting or melting.

"His manor was in the eastern district," she noted as they reached the western square, "but he also spent a great deal of time at the university in the southern." Information had been scant about the event that claimed Vel Orath, but there was still enough to glean of the Archon from the years leading up to it. It was a shame, really, that it did not appear anything had been spared from the sundering. She would have liked to find unaltered logs and annals of his time.

 

[Henk]

Henk felt her approaching before she spoke-- The crunching of glass was a giveaway that was difficult to avoid in this cursed place. His eye raises from the dust on his fingers, and his head pivots to look over his shoulder at Perrine Urahil. Of course, it was her; Their paths seemed to be intersecting almost constantly as of late. This was the first time that he'd rather they hadn't, if he was being honest.

"Perrine. We simply must stop meeting like this." The braided dreadlord joked with a small smirk, turning to face her. Almost immediately that smile faded as his eye caught the man behind her. A Guard, if his outfit was anything to go by, and one he didn't know. Many among the Guard still considered Henk to be an irredeemable traitor, and he had no reason to believe this stranger was any different. Stepping closer, Henk lowers his voice as he speaks to Perrine. "It's not my intent to interfere. I'm off duty, and was just conducting some additional reconnaissance."

He'd have given her the full answer if she was alone, perhaps. Regardless, he doubted she'd believe his half-truth as it was. Standing close to the healer now, he looked down at her with a polite smile, the same one he always wore around those he considered to be his allies. "I assure you I'll not get in the way. I must admit, though, that I'm surprised you could glean anything toward research from this skeleton of a city. Color me curious... what is it you're looking for?"

Leaning his face closer, he lowered his voice to a hushed mutter.

"Your friend... who is he?"

Perrine Urahil

 

[Cosimo Imiliane]

Dutifully, Fain and the other two guardsmen remained atop their mounts. Despite his earlier calmness, Fain's hand moved to rest atop his sword and his eyes narrowed. Something seemed off about this Dreadlord Henk... but were they not all? Darkness fluttered across Fain's heart, a raven's wingbeats in his soul. His fingers curled tightly around the hilt.

Casting his gaze elsewhere, he eyed the desolate remains of the city. A caustic reminder of the violence Anirian battlemages wielded at the height of their power and a warning to any who opposed them.

Fain looked upon charred and melted stone, glistening obsidian glass, and the remnants of civilization. Nothing stirred but carrion.

Behold, Peace.

 

[Perrine Urahil]

Perrine turned to look back the the small company of Anirian Guardsmen that were tasked with escorting her. "We are not expecting any conflict out here, so they sent Guardsmen along with me. They are better company than most Dreadlords I know." She winked at him, knowing he was not on that list.

"As for my research," Her tone was returned to the normal volume, crouching down to pick up some glass, "We always need to stretch and expand on our magic. I am simply warming myself up with the impossible here, but I have an Initiate back at the Academy who is afraid her magic has atrophied while wearing nullifiers. I aim to... study magic, and what happened here seems to be a good direction to start."

Perrine was used to the eye rolls when it came to her theories, but her understanding in healing was outmatched against any other Healer Dreadlord. She was no longer perturbed by the opinions of others, not when her theories always came out with a strong result.

"You must know by now, Henk, that I like to fix broken things." Magic still stained all that fell here, and several pieces of glass shook and shuddered under her palm, pressed against the ground and magic coursing through her. She removed her hand, studying the pieces that came together but left with many holes. "Even if the magic worries me... I still want to know it can be done. Ser Fain!"

She turned to the closest guardsman. "Have the others prepare the horses. I think our business out here has concluded."

 

[Duncan]

”Well, if the story was to be believed I would say his Manor.” Duncan began as they came up on what looked to be an ancient crossroad.

Though the ravages of magic had clearly had their effects upon Vek Orath, the fact that so much of the city survived was a small boom. Most roads still ran where they should, most buildings still stood, and even some of the signs still clung to their posts.

Yet despite that, there was something hollow to the city.

No insects crawled in blades of grass, no vines or moss stuck to the sides of buildings. There was something empty about Vel Orath, something that spoke of more of what was missing than of what still remained. ”But we know the truth of it.”

Duncan concluded, shaking his head as he motioned for Adra to follow him to the university. A trip that did not take all that much longer, given the sensible layout of the city itself. Just another fifteen minutes of walking took the two rogues down a large thoroughfare, across what had once been the open markets, and then finally to the ancient gates of Orath’s University.

A massive domed building that has spiraled out into six separate wings in a star like pattern, only two of which had not collapsed and fallen into disrepair. As they stepped forward, the air seeming to shift and shimmer. A crackle of arcane magics long passed still permeating the ancient sight.

”He'll have died here.” Duncan said with a frown. ”There are no ghosts here.”

He mused quietly. ”But something still lingers.”

One could practically feel it.

 

[Adra Eden]

She had never developed senses for magic or the presence thereof, her skills had never been so attuned, so Adra could only cast a curious glance around when Duncan proclaimed the absence of ghosts but the sensation of something... other. She simply felt the breeze through the crystalline city and that weird sense of abandonment that any empty location evoked.

It was difficult not to notice the lack of anything living here, however. No birdsong filled the air, not even the sound of insects that so often chorused a countryside this time of year. There were not even signs of greenery or fauna having moved in. It was somewhat troubling as she thought more on what this something other could be. Unnerved by her lack of use aside from providing a mental map of the city, Adra frowned as she looked up at the University structure before them.

They reached an entryway door, still closed but no longer hiding the contents of the building. Peering through, she could see the internal structure of glass - curiously well intact when compared to all the other buildings.

"Strange," Adra said as she placed a hand upon the glass door and gently pushed, "if this is where he died, that it seems to be the least damaged building here."

Hinges still worked when glass, but with the equilibrium disturbed as the door swung in, it's weight was too much to bear and the hinges cracked. The door loosed from its slow swing, dropping to the floor with a crack where it seemed to waver on the spot before slowly easing back. Adra watched with a held breath, the whites of her eyes showing, as the thing yawed backward from them and shattered gloriously across the glossy floor.

She looked out from behind the arm lifted to cover her face with her cloak, pale and wary.

"Well..." there would be no looking at Duncan after such a spectacular fumble, "I rescind my statement."

 

[Henk]

Henk too could think of a few particular members of the Guard he'd like to see again. Some of his dearest friends had affiliated themselves with their ranks, and he'd not seen much of them since. Only a brief moment was spent reminiscing, though. If Perrine and her escorts were here, it meant that anybody else wandering these ruins would likely be wise to them sooner or later.

Guards were reliable, but they weren't high on subtlety.

"Perrine." He spoke as she directed the guards to ready their mounts. Best he share this with her now, rather than once her posse of armored soldiers was around to hear his words as well. He trusted Perrine, but he did not trust them. Not with this. "I've reason to believe there's something here. Something valuable."

From behind the healer, Henk leaned in and lowered his voice to a hushed murmur.

"I've been keeping tabs here. Nodes of light, similar to the one I left with Sepia. People have been here, and they weren't with us."

Henk didn't need to spell out the rest for Urahil. She knew he'd been training to hunt Archons. His presence here would now make a bit more sense, in terms of what it was he was seeking. Did he believe there to be an exiled Archon here, right now? Perhaps, perhaps not, but there was certainly something that one of them wanted.

"I was hoping to keep them out of this, but we have men, so we might as well use them. If you don't mind me borrowing your little protection squad to sweep the city, that is?"

The lot of them could cover far more ground than he alone. If anything suspicious was afoot within this ruin, they'd spot it.

Perrine Urahil Adra Eden Duncan

 

[Cosimo Imiliane]

“As you will, Lady Urahil.” Fain inclined his head in deference and didn’t bother to correct the noble.

He watched, concern evident on his features as he wondered if she would try to use her battlemage magics to heal the entire city of ruins.

It is too much, thought.

Fain’s horse began stamping nervously under him. He leaned forward and whispered to it, calming the beast, then squinted around. Something was not right here, even beyond the desolation.

His jaw set, a muscle in his cheek twinging. The sooner they left this place, the better.

 

[Perrine Urahil]

Perrine furrowed her brows at her friend, turning to the guards accompanying her little expedition.

She knew of the taskforce put in place, given only enough detail to operate as one of the Healers on call should they need her services. Perrine's study of Henk's face must of made her come to a decision when she nodded. "I picked up anomalies also... but I thought they were you. Guess we both picked up on something..."

And such a thought did not sit right with her.

Pursing her lips, she watched the guardsmen. "We should make this quick. Agreed?" She turned her eyes to Henk's singular gaze. "I am to check back in with the other guards back at the inn I am staying at." In two days time.

 

[Duncan]

Duncan, despite himself, burst out laughing.

He wasn't sure if it had been Adra's comment, or the comical slowness of the door falling, but he couldn't help the mirth that burst out from his lips. Head shaking as he struggled to take a breath for a moment, a hand coming to his face, as if to wipe away some of the joy.

When he finally recovered, a good ten seconds later, he glanced over to his companion. "There are some archeologist back in Vel Anir who are going to be very upset with you."

Duncan said with a chuckle, gently leaning over and nudging his companion's shoulder with his own.

"Come on." The Rogue Dreadlord said as he began to move through the now open doorway, his boots crunching as he stepped on the shards of broken glass. "Let's go find his office."

He told Adra. "It's a good a place to start as any."

 

[Adra Eden]

Adra didn't blush easily, but Duncan's laughter at her folly had her face pinking like a bride from her first kiss.

"Not if they don't find out who did it..." she added with a wayward side-eye at the man that explicitly stated without saying anything he should, under no certain circumstances, be giving up that particular bit of information.

To anyone.

Ever.

She rubbed at her shoulder, waited for him to walk ahead of her, and retained a derisive snort from loosing, "Sure... but you can open the rest of the doors. Take that left hall, I believe that leads through to the offices on the second floor."

Weh, Adra thought to herself, glass stairs. She wasn't sure she liked the thought of that. Duncan could go first on those, too.

 

[Henk]

Henk gave a nod to Perrine's condition. He should count himself thankful for entertaining his off-record investigation at all; He certainly couldn't gripe about a time limit. "With these additional men, a quick combover of the city shouldn't take long." Whether he knew these Guardsmen or not, they were known for their reliability, especially those trusted to be deployed with a Dreadlord.

He waited for Fain and the others to fan out and begin their sweep, before letting go of the sigh he'd been holding and turning back towards the ruins he'd been knelt in front of when she'd found him.

"We should look for intact buildings. Anything that's already collapsed isn't likely to have much usefulness to anybody, and those structures that withstood this magic would be built sturdy enough to preserve their contents, to an extent." Truthfully, Henk hoped they found nothing. He hadn't come here looking for a fight, and now Perrine was here too. If something did happen, he'd be reluctant to use his full strength, lest it put her in any danger.

He was rather fond of the Urahil, after all.

"Come, I see a couple of standing buildings to the east." Henk stepped over the jagged glass rubble carefully, heading towards a few remaining structures in the distance. "You mentioned an anomaly on your end as well. What did you 'pick up'?"

Perrine Urahil Fain Adra Eden Duncan

 

[Cosimo Imiliane]

Fain and the other two soldiers spread out in a search pattern, despite a shared concern over how vulnerable it made them. Isolated, they could be picked off and engaged alone. Together, they stood a chance, even against a Dreadlord like Henk.

Though, likely one or more of them would die in such an event. Fain took little pleasure in such thoughts, or in this place. The sooner they departed the better.

To linger in such a wound stirred spirits best left alone to their sleep.

 

[Perrine Urahil]

Perrine relayed to the Guards to start working towards the buildings still standing, and all five of them began to redirect their search.

"An anomaly to me felt as if... things were still living out here. You were the closest reading I could get to, but I think the others are east." She turned to frown at him, staring for a good while as she thought. "And just what are you looking for that you came here on your own? I thought you had a whole taskforce team that could accompany you."

She spoke quietly, so that only Henk would hear her words.

Originally, she only wanted to explore the first anomaly to determine what she was picking up with the widespread use of her magic and see if it would lead her anywhere close to healing magic with magic, but she had found Henk instead. Perhaps if she did get to see the other anomalies, she may be closer to an actual hypothetical thought in restoring atrophied magic.

 

[Duncan]

True to Adra’s word, Duncan did open the rest of the doors as they made their way through the hallowed halls.

Albeit, using magic and not his hands.

Within just a few moments of stepping into the building, it became readily apparent that whatever had happened in Vel Orath had been concentrated here. Everything had been turned to glass. The floors, ceilings, even the chandeliers. It was as though the whole place were some macabre art installation. Devoid of life, but beautiful in a way that reflected the absence of those who once lived here.

The notion caused goosebumps to roll over Duncan’s skin, and as they encountered doorways and obstructions he would softly utter a spell each time. Their path cleared, and the strange monument preserved in peace. Eventually, just as Adra had said, their steps took them up a glass set of stairs. An age ago, he suspected they might have been marble. Now they stood as a single piece of fused and frozen colors, spiraling up to the second floor as the skylight cast down upon them.

It was not long after they reached the top of the stairs that Adra offered another direction, and within a few steps the two Dreadlords walked through the door of the long forgotten Archon’s office.

The room being the only one not made of glass within the entire building.

”This is it.” Duncan said as he looked around where they now stood. ‘Office’ as it turned out was a bit of a misnomer. The space was large enough to form a whole apartment, yes there was a desk, but sprawling out from there were a combination library and living quarters. ”This is where he did it.”

The Older Dreadlord said, walking to the center of the room and kicking away some of the dust from the floor to reveal a small piece of a ritual circle. Duncan frowned, then unshouldered his pack and began to take out the dozen candles placed within. ”We'll try here first.”

He declared, not quite ready to say where else they could possibly try if they failed here.

 

[Adra Eden]

How deeply eerie this entire setting was. If ghosts had skeletons, surely they looked like this. Adra had never once understood the meaning of walking on eggshells so clearly and tangibly as she did now. Despite knowing that the structure of this specific building remained otherwise sound, she moved with a care that belied her own inherent gentleness as a person - a facet she so rarely ever put on display in the presence of other Dreadlords.

With Duncan's broad skill of magicks, they made it to the Archon's office without any further mishap.

"Candles?" Adra asked after him curiously as he unpacked, trying to tamp down the unsettling feeling crawling up her spine in this strange place that seemed frozen in time. Walking through the doorway into the office chambers felt like entering a different world entirely. Like they'd slipped through a fairy portal... not that she believed in such things.

"Have you been dabbling in necromancy as well?" she raised a brow and carefully took the candles as he offered them to her and began setting them out where he indicated, "Witchcraft, perhaps?"

Whatever it was he had planned, Adra felt completely out of her depth. This was so far beyond her own skills. Just what, exactly, had Gilram taught him in their years apart?

 

[Henk]

"I thought you had a whole taskforce team that could accompany you."

Henk's scarred features tightened at the rather pointed question. Whether it was Perrine's place or not to make such an inquiry, she was quite correct in that Henk should not have travelled to a place he suspected of harboring exiles alone. The Dreadlord's eye focused ahead of him as he responded, a stoic and quiet determination fortifying his words.

"There's no need to endanger my teammates when I alone will suffice."

Once upon a time, Henk would have no such faith in his ability, in his strength. Zana had changed that, what she'd drawn out of him had swapped the young Dreadlord's entire perspective on himself, on what he was capable of achieving. Facing Gilram alone was still far from a reasonable goal, but...

He was an Archon hunter, now. Whatever lurked within these glassy remains of civilization, it was no longer the predator to his prey. The roles had been reversed, and he held no fear.

"If you feel other signs to the east, then the east is where we're headed."

Henk did find it odd that a Dreadlord specialized in healing magic would come to a place that was known to be quite devoid of life, but perhaps the anomaly she sought had convinced her that maybe there was some way to salvage this graveyard of glass. The thought was nice, but... somehow, Henk doubted such a thing could be.

Even if it were, this constant fighting would kill it again in time.

The desolation did not look to leave much behind for much of their journey, but the massive structure that began to loom overhead was impossible to miss. Being unfamiliar with Vel Orath before its unfortunate fate, Henk hadn't known about the large University that took up entire city blocks with its size. What was more, he hadn't realized how much better it had fared compared to the rest of the city.

"That building is massive. Do you have any idea what it was?" He looked over to his friend, continuing to move towards it. "Considering it's due east from where we were, I'd fathom a guess it's where we're headed nonetheless."

Perrine Urahil Fain Duncan Adra Eden

 

[Cosimo Imiliane]

A strange sensation trembled up Fain’s spine as he craned his neck to look up at a massive domed structure in the midst of the city ruins. Hair on his arms and the back of his neck stood on end. A chill seeped through him.

“We should not walk where demons tread,” he whispered to himself.

The other two Guards hung back on either side of him, similarly taking in the size of the place. The two Dreadlords came along behind them.

Fain tightened a strap on his shield, lips firming into a thin line.

Nothing for it now. He nodded to the other two guards and they moved inside the already ajar door to the massive place. Fain frowned as they stepped inside and peered on an odd interior. The deeper they moved, the more all became glass. Glass the walls, the ceiling, even the furniture.

He caught his reflection in the mirrored surface of a wall and scowled at the man’s face peering back.

Then he paused. Were those voices he could hear?

 

[Perrine Urahil]

Perrine took a moment to study the architecture, not quite what it had been back in the day of the city's life. She turned her gaze to the other surrounding areas, and began to form an answer in mind.

"Those are the gates of Orath University." She nodded to them, turning to see the guardsmen now joining them. "The first readings of my tests came up with the anomalies here. It is still quite impressively intact." Perrine lifted a brow.

"You two," she looked to the guards flanking Fain, "are to search the first floor. The rest of us will take the second. Meet us there if you find something that does not seem to belong to this preserved city."