Private Tales Scorched Earth

[Fife]

In his defense, he remained on the bottom half of the bed while she occupied the top half. Yet as he cupped her ankle, the mood shifted from playful to seductive. Her laughter faded under the weight of his dark eyes and she drew a breath of anticipation as she tracked his movement to her shin. His hands and his lips were warm. Her shiver had nothing to do with being chilly, however.

The voice, the kiss, the purity of the emotions running between them -- every finite detail of the moment coalesced to the feeling in the pit of her stomach. Even Fife understood the layers to that question.

Another time, she might have been skittish and shied from his unexpected touch. She might have been frightened by the grasp around her ankles, the feeling of being dragged toward another person. But she wasn't frightened. At all. She hadn't flinched under his touch or pulled away. She hadn't felt that rising panic and the urge to flee.

He had her so at ease that she hadn't felt a single moment of fear or anxiety. That said far more than she would ever be able to say in words.

So she didn't try answering him in words. Fife's eyes didn't leave his. Relaxing, she lowered her arms, slack and situated over her head in the tangled blanket. Parting her knees, she challenged him to hold her gaze as her opposite foot dropped to his hip. Her smirk returned as her foot followed the line of his thigh to hook around his waist.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

It was an entirely pleasant day. The wind came in from the west, bringing warm air gathered from Amol-kalit. The few wispy clouds darted across a clean blue sky. He would have happily walked, but the horses needed a bit of exercise anyway.

It had been an exceptionally pleasant few days. It had been a very lazy few days. There hadn't been much work on offer, just a few pieces of scribing to do. On one hand he didn't have all that much coin for accommodation at Elbion. On the other hand it had left them time for doing nothing at all. Or for one another.

Those little aches and pains from the idemni training regime had started to fade. Fife woke early, but he had enjoyed too particularly late mornings of slumber.

"Look! The highest spite of the college!" he called out. "Strange, I'm sure you can't usually see it from this far. Just be a clear day."

 

[Fife]

They had had their rest and were on the road again. It wasn't so bad, leaving their brief respite behind for the long days in the saddle and islands of civilization. That part never got old -- seeing the land rolling off toward the horizon, not a soul in sight but the two of them.

She enjoyed that part while it lasted. They were going back to Elbion, back to the ringed city that had been both prison and sanctuary. Fife wasn't certain how she would feel coming back to it, if the strange mix of resentment and nostalgia would have settled, or if it would be new all over again.

A question that would be answered sooner than later, unfortunately. Fife looked ahead when Raigryn pointed out the spires. Sure enough, she could see the structures making their valiant attempt to pierce the sky.

Smiling in spite of the anxious knot in her stomach, she looped her reins in her pinky to talk to him.

How tall is it? And idle question, just to get him talking. I don't know much about the… learning house. A stupid way to say "college", and her laugh told him ahe thought as much.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"I don't even know," he replied. Raigryn turned towards the hill to their right and looked upwards. He was obviously trying to imaging the size of the university up close.

"Well it has a lot of floors...I am not actually sure. It's one of those things where its so big that when you're close to it it's quite hard to figure out the size."

Raigryn was mildly miffed that he could not provide his curious apprentice with a straight answer.

"I was so certain you usually couldn't see the highest point until..."

It was like an itch that he couldn't scratch. Something was wrong. When he saw clear space between the base of the College and the next buildings he fell silent.

It had to be a trick of the light. It couldn't be floating. Wearing a stern expression, he sent Dusty into a quick trot.

 

[Fife]

Travelling together had changed a great deal about Fife. There had been a time when she first knew him that she thought he entirely spoke too much. She'd been somewhat resentful of his rambling. Her perception of him had been colored by the red Fury she held close to chest.

Now, however, watching him mull on something he didn't readily have the answer to put a warm smile on her lips. She would have gladly listened to his voice for hours. There was a degree of peace in knowing she could speak back when she wanted and that he would understand her.

But Raigryn wasn't just at a loss. Looking between him and the glint of the spire in the distance, she noticed the concern fall into place. Fife kicked Socks up to a trot to match Dusty and turned her eyes ahead.

What was he seeing that she wasn't?

Trotting wasn't the worst pace for trying to sign while riding, but thankfully most of the Silent Way was done with a single hand.

Tell me about the city circles? she asked, trying to give him something she knew he could ramble about without really thinking at all. She'd never been far beyond the outer rings, generally caught and thrown back through the gates. Fife had never even seen the part of the city where the college resided. They weren't reaching Elbion in the next hour, and she didn't want to ride that distance in tense silence.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"They use the walls, he said, almost on automatic, "To segregate the city into districts. The higher and more central you go the..."

Raigryn fell silent as they crested the rise. There was no smoke rising from the city. A sign that would usually indicate trouble. If the dragon had come this way then it surely would have burned it down.

The dragon had come this way, but the magic to stop its flight had come with a terrible cost. From here Raigryn could see the river flowing into the city itself, the islands suspended above it.

For once, he had nothing to say at all.

Open Chronicles - The Great Ones Aftermath: Elbion

[OOC Thread: Continued from the Great Ones Main Thread. You don’t need to read the thread or have been in it or care where your character was in it. Feel free to throw your character in where-ever you want.] It all happened so fast. A giant dragon appeared in the deserts of Amol-Kalit...

chroniclesrp.net

 

[Fife]

His reply was immediate, answering without thinking. It was her intention, but it didn't make her feel any better. He was really concerned about something that Fife just wasn't seeing or understanding. What was so wrong about being able to see the spires from here?

They crested a hill and his voice fell away. Fife followed his gaze to the city ahead… and finally saw something. Frowning, she squinted at the odd shapes rising out of the horizon. Had they built the city upward? It was a great deal of change for only a year. How had they…

There was a gap beneath one clump of buildings and another below. Sky. Beneath part of the city. It was floating. Parts of the city were floating.

It was her turn for the cold chill of worry and fear.

Raigryn? she whistled, uncertainty pulling her brows together, and looked to him. Something about this was very wrong. What could have happened? She didn't need to ask if they were going there. Of course they were. Fife knew better than to think she could persuade him otherwise. But she couldn't shake a very bad feeling about it.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Someone has done something very wrong with magic," he said in a hushed voice. The gates were open, no guards attending.

"Magic always has a cost. Someone did something very stupid. And very costly."

He had to draw his eyes away from the scene. It was not easy. Fife was no longer just here to follow his lead. She had a say in matters.

"We can ride down there and work out what has happened or we can turn around and carry right on to the portal stone," he said plainly. He didn't furnish this choice with any flourishes of wording or sage advice. It was as simple as that.

 

[Fife]

A consequence of magic? Fife looked back down at the distant gates of the city, that same wrongness hanging about her shoulders and making the hairs on her body stand on end. She tried to imagine what someone could have done to cause such a cataclysmic effect, but thoroughly failed to conjur anything. This surpassed even her imagination.

And he left the decision of whether or not they investigated up to her. For a moment, the exasperated look she gave him was their life as normal. She hated making choices, especially when she knew she wanted something opposite of him.

We will go and see, she told him. Not because she wanted to, but because it would be an itch he couldn't scratch until they came back. Fife was entirely capable of turning Socks around and avoiding the whole city without much guilt. Raigryn likely wasn't.

Damn him for being such a good person and making her one, too.

We be quick. You told me books and strange friend, Fife teased, making an effort to smile for him. A quick investigation to find out what had happened and then they would be on their way to see this odd librarian figure.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"We wouldn't want to keep the librarian waiting," he agreed. In the face of what had happened to the city, he didn't really know what he was expecting to do to help.

The city had been built against the mountains, but some vast well of power had been tapped to rip it from the base rock. If he drew the joy from everyone he met for a whole yer he could hope to summon such power, even if he could contain it.

The gate was abandoned. Pieces of the walk had tumbled away. Raigryn assumed they must have been swallowed by the river. Nothing could have prepared him for the abyss beneath the city.

"Draw your sword," he hissed. He could already feel that particular mix of emotions that came with people fighting for their lives.

 

[Fife]

The closer they got, the less real this felt. Fife had the same distant, abstract feeling as being in the underground caverns or seeing the mechanical golems. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Whole cities weren't broken apart like crackers. Chunks of earth didn't float. Trying to make sense of what had happened was impossible, too far out of the realm of her understanding of the world.

The gate was unattended. It was familiar, the same gate she had seen more times than she could count, but parts of it were broken away. Her head swiveled to look at everything. The pit was… unnerving. Another part of this she couldn't process.

So Fife focused on what she could process. The weight of her sword drawn from the scabbard on her back was an odd thing to find comfort in, but it helped steady the fear that slithered up her spine. It made her calm. She heard Aretta's voice like a whisper over her shoulder. Sure and steady.

With her senses alert -- mental and corporeal alike -- she kept Socks close behind Dusty, her eyes constantly turning to look behind them for any trouble.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Fuck," he grunted.

Raigryn had led several cavalry charges in his life. Not the kind where noble children ran down fleeing peasants for glory. The kind where two forces thundered together into a maelstrom of chaos.

This was just like those last few seconds. It was quite similar to the feeling of panic right before a fall.

Finally some guards emerged ahead of them.

"No, no!" one of them called out.

"Head back out of the city! We've mostly dealt with them but it's still dangerous down here."

"Them?" Raigryn called out, he cast a glance towards Fife.

"Things. From below."

 

[Fife]

Fife turned her head quickly toward the sound of the guards, but lowered her sword when she saw them. Her eyes met Raigryn's. More things emerging from beneath the world? Strange, ancient ruins, dark clouds of monsters, and now whatever this was… What was happening to Arethil? She doubted she would feel better knowing the answer to her question.

Don't look at me, she told him. Any of her usual satisfaction at being able to sass him was currently absent. Let's go.

She would follow him into trouble as always, if that was what he was looking at her for.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"We go up," he told Fife, using the reins to turn Dusty about. "We're not here to stem whatever this is."

He turned to look at the guards. They seemed distinctly uninterested in his presence.

"What did happen here?"

"Fuck if I know. Bastard dragon was flying one second and then..."

"Try asking a wizard."

That was, as it happened, exactly what Raigryn had in mind. He just wasn't sure how far towards the college they could get whilst mounted.

 

[Fife]

Backing Socks around so they could return the way they'd come, she clicked at the pony to get him going. He was reluctant and needed every bit of encouragement. They didn't travel far, however. Certainly not far enough to see what was roiling beneath Elbion or to escape the feelings that buzzed along the periphery of her mind.

When dragons were mentioned, Fife was glad she wasn't looking at them. When wizards were mentioned, her eyes traveled to the expected place: the college. It was floating independently. How were they going to get up there? Was Raigryn interested enough to venture over floating islands for information? Fife didn't doubt it.

And where were they supposed to leave Dusty and Socks in the meantime? There wasn't exactly a liberty stable to board them with.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

There had always been a gradual climb up from the docks towards the college. Now it was a very steep one.

Raigryn held his sword under his arm and dismounted. He held the reins tight in a gloved hand. They didn't know how Dusty and Socks were handle being in a fight in such circumstances. Probably not well. He walked close enough that he could throw the reins to Fife if they found trouble.

"There are lots of emotions here. Mostly fear. Draw a little where you can," he said. "People are too busy to notice us taking a little power."

 

[Fife]

Guiding Socks to follow Dusty and Raigryn was easy. Making sense of where they were was not. The parts that were supposed to be familiar were so broken that they weren't really very recognizable.

While she tried paying attention to the path they took to retrace it later, it was impossible not to let her eyes linger on the places she once knew. Fife had never seen a place she called home destroyed. It only made the feeling more surreal.

She dismounted to follow as the way got more complicated. Socks kept his head high, ears swiveling and alert, and crowded close to her. Obstinate as ever, half of her attention was spent making sure the pony didn't step on her in his nervousness. The same way Fife knew he would stomp a snake without hesitation, she also knew he would be doing his best to bolt at the first nightmarish creature they saw.

The silence between them was palpable, and Fife was so tense that she started when Raigryn spoke to her. She nodded, even if he didn't see it. Fife didn't know how to use Misery yet, but there was plenty of Fury and traces of Avarice and Disgust. Part of them she could use, and she took of them carefully. A little less anger and greed in this place would be a benefit anyways.

The Tranquility and Joy surprised her. She supposed exhaustion and adrenaline counted for those, but it was still an unexpected manifestation. Another disorienting element added to the pile she would make sense of after they had left.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn was uncharacteristically silent. The sheer power that had been unleashed to create this devastation was hard to comprehend. Elbion was such a great city, the scale of its building was hard to appreciate. That had been built up over generations.

Whatever had happened here had been done within days. It was unthinkable.

Raigryn turned to look at Fife. There was no need to reach out to feel the horror she felt. This had been her home. Not much of one, but these broken streets were all she had known for most of her life. She probably knew every little detail better than those who walked them without considering their dangers.

"Run! Run!"

Two guardsmen clattered along a narrow corridor of rock. They were waving frantically at Fife and Raigryn. A moment later three monsters scrabbled after them. One was half off the walkway, claws digging into the rock to drag itself along.

"Don't let the horses panic and bolt," he said to Fife, stepping forwards.

He channelled. What he took of Fury and Misery barely touched his reserves and flowed directly into his will. A technique he would not be showing Fife for a long time. A tired old man with a sword clearly too big for him.

He held his ground.

 

[Fife]

She didn't like seeing the city in shambles. She didn't like half of the feelings she drew and added to her stores. She didn't like the way the earth split in deep cracks that faded to darkness. And she definitely didn't like how he threw the reins to her when two more guards came with warnings to run.

Of course, he didn't take heed. Of course, he took his stance and prepared to fight his way through to the college.

Fife curled her mind tight around her thoughts and emotions. Her worrying wasn't going to do him any favors. She had to trust that her stubborn old man would tell her when he needed help.

At the moment her hands were going to be full. She was expecting monstrosities, numbed to the idea of them before ever laying eyes on them. The horses were not. Dusty nickered nervously and took a step back as Fife stepped forward to take his reins. Socks, however, had decided he most certainly did not like that this brought him closer to the creatures. He yanked his head up, bit and bridle rattling as he jerked her back.

Casting a glance ahead at the creatures, Fife had a few moments to decide what she was doing. She couldn't exactly use an Aspect to calm Socks down, so she resorted to the next best thing. Ripping the sleeve off of her shirt, she tied it around his eyes to blindfold him. Mending or a new shirt would be cheaper than a new horse.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn unleashed a curse that sent the first monster sprawling to the ground as its claw caught in a crack. Simple, but effective magic. He channeled Fury as the second creature was left to charge on ahead. A single, decisive swipe. His blade fell upon its neck, sinking almost all the way to the sternum.

The thing was almost human, but it reeked of magic. Its skink was a deep shade of purple covered by an odd mix of scales and spines as if they had been placed at random.

"Go back down!" he shouted to Fife. "I'll be right behind you!"

At first he has thought to press on. They had said the upper levels were safer. If that wasn't true then the whole idea was probably worth abandoning.

Raigryn didn't think of the parellels between this moment and that path that wound high above Belgrath.

 

[Fife]

Her pony resisted but, once blinded, was at her mercy. He whinnied and the sharp plaintive cry echoed around them. Fife hoped that wouldn't attract any more trouble than they were already in. She quickly tied his reins to Dusty's saddle.

Raigryn had felled the first of the creatures by the time she turned back. His call for her to go and wait for him tugged at something in her chest she didn't have any real way of describing. Dread? Anger?

Not again. She looked up the gentle slope of the street to where Raigryn stood. Recent memory alone made the mere idea of leaving him like this nauseating.

Her answer was as stubborn and reckless as his ever were. She looped the horse's reins around the nearest piece of debris and withdrew her sword. Paying no mind to the fact that he was going to be upset with her, Fife padded up to his left side. The look she threw him was determined, decided.

She wasn't leaving him to fight his stupid battles alone -- not now and not ever again. Fife had run away from enough. It was finally time to put Aretta's lessons to good use. There was now just the two of these monstrosities left. It was going to take a lot more than that to deter her from seeing this to the end.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Take another step left," he said softly.

He didn't wave her away. He hadn't taken her to the idemni lands so she could own and look after a well balanced sword. She was going to be a battle mage. If she didn't need to lose those skills then all the better, but she had to be ready to use them.

Raigryn didn't send her away, he just calmly told her to put a bit more space between them. He would have taken plate armor and a shield against these things, but as they were they needed space to move.

"I'm going to use Desire to make them lighter as they charge. They won't be able to change direction."

 

[Fife]

He didn't argue, thankfully. Not that there would have been time for it. Fife stepped to the side as she was told and only nodded. They couldn't change direction and she was quick before magic. She was fine. It would be fine.

So maybe she was scared out of her mind by these things. But perhaps that was what kept her humble and alert. Thinking of all the flack she would catch if she got hurt helped, too.

Taking a deep breath, she cycled through her Aspects in preparation and made ready.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn drew his Desire from his reserves. He took the forces of gravity away from the creatures. Suddenly they lost almost all traction on the ground.

Raigryn stepped aside. His blade caught the light as it swung in a wide arc overhead. It struck hard across the back of the thing's shoulder.

The magic dissipated. The blow wasn't fatal to whatever the creature was. Raigryn turned sharply, bringing his blade up.

It was always best to hold the central space with the sword when in doubt.

 

[Fife]

She felt the application of Empathy, but could have seen it if she hadn't. The second monster barrelled forward, right to where Raigryn awaited it. He made it look like an art. She supposed it was. The sword was a morbid brush and Empathy a strange palette, but the materials he knew well.

A touch of Tranquility steadied her hand, the familiar Aspect slowing the frightened pace of her heart. No Joy was necessary to be fleet-footed as she dipped beneath the creature's wide swing, but the Fury she felt so naturally gave her sword the oomph it needed to carve through the back of its legs. It toppled and Fife half turned to keep both the creatures in sight and the way they had come in her periphery.