Private Tales Their Eyes Were Watching God

[Kyril]

The moment Solitude ordered him to run Kyril broke out into the fastest sprint he could manage.

Months of training had seen him regain some of his stamina, but years of Lyrum use still had him as little more than skin and bones. He booked it down the corridor, rushing as quickly as he could while Solitude easily overtook his pace.

He huffed and puffed, lungs dragging in deep breaths as he tried his best to keep pace with the shadowmancer. "I...have...no..."

Kyril could barely talk as he ran.

"Fucking...clue." It was hard to say what type of magic was being used at the best of times, especially with people that you couldn't observe for more than a few seconds. Those orbs had definitely not been holy or Radiant, but who was to say what was what?

The odd pair rushed through the streets, cutting across the alleyways and quickly moving around corners as they desperately dashed away. Kyril did his best to keep pace, rushing and drawing in breath after breath, glancing back over his shoulder to see if anyone was following behind them.

As he looked back Kyril snapped his fingers.

A glow erupted from his palm, the walls shifted, and suddenly the pass behind them closed off.

 

[Solitude]

For someone taller than her, why did Kyril feel lighter and heavier than her at the same time? That was the least of her worried however as she was more concerned about getting as far away as possible and worried about the wellbeing of her sister. Because all it took was one celestial bimbo priestess to utter stupid blessing and she’d be dead. Then again, it wasn’t just Celestialism that had bimbos. Any faith across Arethil with their bimbos! Their blessings! Their prayers! Their—

Did this skinny man just make a wall appear out of nowhere? Sol skidded to a stop, partially to let Kyril catch his breath but mostly to look back in awe. Now that was some magic!

Sol took time for herself to rest as well, placing her hands on her hips as she sucked in the cool air, each lungful quickly regenerating her. She looked over at Kyril, and Sol felt bad for him. He looked like he was choking on air instead of breathing.

“Maybe next time I’ll give you a piggyback ride,” she teased, although she made sure her voice didn’t rise above a whisper. She frowned, although her mask covered it, waiting for something. The strange creature from earlier came through the wall, only to meld back down into Sol’s shadows. The assassin shook her head.

“Our attackers are still alive. They escaped by… flying? You sure about that?” Sol said, not particularly to Kyril but shrugged as if she had received her answer. As if they hadn’t almost lost their lives just then, “One of them was wearing a pretty big necklace. Gaudy-like or maybe… religious? You mind if I try sketching your notebook?”

Kyril

 

[Kyril]

Kyril panted heavily, standing besides Solitude as though he were about to collapse into a pile and be out for the day.

His lungs were on fire, his knees hurt, and it seemed as though his body were objecting to his simple existence at this point. A smile flickered over towards Sol as she offered him a piggyback ride, though it was a few seconds more before he could even manage to spit out an answer. "That...would not be a bad idea."

The academic said with a slight chuckle.

Lyrum had done more than a number on his Magic Circuits, but over the years it had forced his reliance on magic more and more. Who needed to run when one could simply fly? Who needed to lift things when a levitation spell worked?

His magic had lessened, but so had his body. "Of course."

Kyril said finally, having collected himself more.

"Here." The Scholar reached into his satchel, offering her the notebook and a coal pencil. "It seems as though our presence here is not entirely welcome."

He remarked dryly.

 

[Solitude]

Sol regarded Kyril with a wary look, waiting for him to collapse or even to puke his guts up. She had to give it to him that he didn’t do any of those things. She took the coal pencil and the notebook, flipping it over to a unused page. She brought the pencil to the paper and then paused, looking over at Kyril and offered him a rather sheepish look.

“I’m no artist like you,” she warned, and then began to draw. A poorly drawn bird in flight on a chain. She added little feet to it even though the necklace hadn’t shown the bird’s feet initially, but it just felt strange to not draw a bird without feet. She even added in feathers because, well, obviously a bird had feathers!

Spoiler: Sol’s Amazing Masterpiece

“The eye was an emerald I think.” She said, handing Kyril back his notebook and pencil. “It was green. So probably an emerald. But maybe another stone.” The assassin looked around. This alleyway was quiet enough. Her ears were still pricked for any sound of movement, and a hand went up to tug down at her mask just enough to her nose was free.

“What do you think, bookworm? Anything useful?”

Kyril

 

[Kyril]

Kyril was about to say something. A small jest, a joke about Solitude's artistic ability, but any expression of joy drained from his face drained from his face almost as soon as he saw the drawing.

A chill ran up his spine. Fingers tightened on the small journal as she handed it back to him.

For the first time since he had entered this city Kyril could feel the pitfall of dread in his stomach. It was as though someone had thrown a rock onto chains wrapped around his wrist. He could feel the despair clouding him. The shocking fear.

His eyes slowly flickered up towards his companion. "You're...you're sure?"

The Scholar asked quietly.

"This is what you saw?" An urgency tinged his voice, as though he wasn't quite sure whether to believe her or not. As though he wasn't quite sure that he wanted her to be right.

A mistake would be so much easier. So much better. For them. For this city.

Maybe even for the world.

 

[Solitude]

Sol was certain that she would have heard a laugh, or seen a slight flick of a smile, or even a sigh of disbelief. While she possessed very little artistic ability, she didn’t think it was anything as horrifying as what Kyril’s face was suggesting. She almost wanted to clutch the journal back and rip out the page that she had sullied until the man finally spoke to her.

His tone. She knew by his tone that what she had drawn was a rather serious matter. The only issue was she had no idea, none whatsoever, about what some bird necklace with a green jewel for an eye meant.

“Positive. Freesia saw the same thing. It was on the big one, not the small one that came at us with a knife.” She did her best to keep her tone neutral, but there was a slight edge in her voice. She was tense and stiff, and Solitude was doing her best not to bark at Kyril to spill what he knew about whatever that bird thing meant.

“What does it mean?” She asked finally when she was sure that her voice was steady and she could sound as calm as she could be. “Who are we going against?”

Kyril

 

[Kyril]

In a more ordinary moment, Kyril might have asked more questions about 'Freesia', about what Solitude had done to keep him safe. Yet such a thing didn't even cross his mind. "It's a raven."

His mind flickered back to the conversation they'd had just before the attack. Wandering Gods and those who believed in them. The words seemed almost funny now, ironic in a way, and the scholar might have laughed if it were not for the bitter taste on his tongue.

"It's connected to a God...Goddess." He said with a frown. "Mallia, she is the watcher of the Wylds. A patron of Druids, Werebeasts and...Changelings."

Yet that was not what worried him, no. "She is powerful, but...in general cares not for the ways of...well us."

He gestured to himself and Solitude.

"She's not evil she just...sees us, cities, civilization as...pointless." A frown touched his face. "Her followers sometimes have more...extreme views."

Zealots, people who grasped onto the legends and stories of their deities and simply ran amok. "The eyes...aren't a sacrifice as I thought."

No. "They are an offering. Each one will be laid upon the alter, and each one will be...blessed by Mallia herself."

He said cautious, almost...scared.

 

[Solitude]

Raven. Okay, that was a bird. So at least she did have enough artistic ability to show the difference between a regular bird and a raven. Excellent. One point for Solitude! But what was so scary about a bird with a green gem for an eye? Sol’s mind wandered into that perhaps there was a worship for eyes, maybe some sort of cult that thought more eyes were better than just two. Or maybe it was an angry cyclops that was jealous of everyone having two eyes except for them?

She nodded along, listening to Kyril explain things. Okay, some goddess named Mallia. Druids, werebeasts, changelings— wait. It was then that Solitude became still, a perturbed look in her crimson eyes and she felt herself crouch down a bit, widening her stance as if this goddess were about to appear right behind Kyril and she’d need to lunge and protect him.

When Kyril finished speaking, Solitude couldn’t help but burst out with her first initial question, as if he would have a answer.

“Then why do they need so many fucking eyes?” She blurted out, that edge still in her voice, her shadow undulating beneath her like seaweed under strong waves. “They have to have at least a thousand or more! Are they gonna wear them or something?” A necklace of eyes? Could those things grant them powers?

But the more concerning issue, at least for Solitude: blessed.

She cursed, a string of profanities that hardly made any sense if one really thought about it and then turned around to punch the stone wall.

“The religious assholes,” the assassin finally finished, her shoulders slumping, and deciding there was one more group of people she needed to curse. Because she was certain they knew what she would be going up against, and at the same time, she couldn’t refuse their order. She just couldn’t help but feel like it was going to be a suicide mission for her. “Fuck the bishops sideways with a splintered broom.” She added vehemently, before turning around and facing Kyril once more.

“So how far are you willing to go?” Sol asked, eerily stoic.

Kyril

 

[Kyril]

"The eyes are the offering." Kyril explained slowly, dreading the words that were coming from his mouth. "Mallia will bless them."

For the Goddess of Ixchel did not care. Cities were nothing to her, people were no more sacred than a flower. That was her way. Not evil, but a patron of the Wylds. "Each one will grow, become a beast of the Wylds."

Lips thinned.

"Every one of those thousand eyes touched by Mallia will be more than it was in life." Kyril explained. "A werewolf, a Torren, a Dryad...whatever she wishes on her whims."

Such life was a constant in their world. Beings of such nature existed, they roamed the world and did as they would. Yet the thought of a thousand of them suddenly appearing, the idea of werewolves in their score running through the night...

It was terrifying. "I will go as far as I have to."

Kyril said firmly.

"Mallia is not intervening on this...cults behalf." He added. "We can stop them."

 

[Solitude]

Solitude clicked her tongue along the roof of her mouth, casting her crimson gaze away. This was sounding worse by the second. But there was good news at the end. Kyril would join her, and while he lacked… a lot, in Sol’s modest opinion, he did have some good features. His knowledge was incredibly useful, and it would continue to be useful she was sure.

Then there was his magic.

While she was quite inept at runes and magic, this seemed to be Kyril’s strong suit. Even if he could hardly run, he could make a wall appear out of nowhere or create a shield to protect her from flames. And she needed something like that, especially if she were going against zealots who believed in a goddess.

She just might be able to survive this bad turn of luck. She couldn’t help but picture her going back to one of the citadels, meeting with a bishop and smugly telling them how their worst assassin survived a mission that someone of much higher rank should have gone on.

“Whether or not Mallia reveals herself,” Solitude said finally, nodding slightly at her words, growing more and more sure of her resolution in this turn of events. “Infiltrating their base or wherever they plan to do the blessing? It’s a suicide mission for someone like me.” She wouldn’t clarify what specifically harmed her, that faith-based magic whether it was radiant or divine, or even magic that centered on light, seared through her flesh as if she had been thrown into a blazing star. Even a single prayer was enough to get Solitude a tingle of heat.

She was worried that even by saying what little she had Kyril would figure it out. She only hoped that for now he wouldn’t turn against her. Or if he did she would be fast enough to slit his throat.

“We need to get moving.” Solitude added. “I’m getting antsy.”

Kyril

 

[Kyril]

Kyril might have figured it out, might have noticed all the little tactical queues that Solitude was dropping…but his mind didn’t work like that.

He wasn’t a Dreadlord. He wasn’t a soldier or a warriors trained to notice things of strategic importance. All that he focused on in her words was talk of a ‘base’, finding out where these zealots were holed up.

It instantly made his mind jump. ”That’s why this makes no sense.”

The Mage said with a frown, gesturing towards the street ahead so that they could continue upon their path.

”Mallia is the Goddess of the Wylds.” He reiterated. ”A domain that sits literally thousands of miles away, across the Spine even. So why come here?”

Kyril asked with a frown. ”Why do all of this here?”

There was even a city named after her on the far east coast of Epressa. Why not target people there? There must have been a reason for it. A-

He frowned for a moment, a theory forming.

”We may not need to attend the library at all.” Kyril said, glancing at Solitude. ”But, this journey will take a sudden sharp…detour.”

 

[Solitude]

While Kyril spoke, Solitude linked her arm into the crook of his, already beginning to drag him from this small alley that they had been in. She took a sharp right, briskly walking away although her crimson eyes were darting all around them.

“Maybe here because it’s far away?” She whispered. That was all she had, and while it was such a simple reason, she figured it could be quite possible. “To reduce suspicion and such.” She added, just in case Kyril thought her idea fell a bit flat. Which it did. Sol wasn’t the best planner but she liked to think she was good at reacting to things. Most of the time.

“Where do you want to go then?” She asked, not realizing that she had just started leading them down a direction. She slowed down then, also figuring that perhaps she could go a bit more at Kyril’s pace. Or perhaps she should actually carry him, how a husband carried their new bride. Would make maneuvering around much faster.

Kyril

 

[Kyril]

The distance made logical sense, but there had to be something more, something that made it worthwhile to come all the way here.

A dozen ideas floated through his mind, but that was all they were at the end of the day; ideas.

Without more proof, without at least talking to one of these cult members it would be impossible to tell what the truth was. Which of course, was why he was about to propose was he was. With a slight smile he looked at Solitude. "Well."

He said hesitantly.

"I was thinking we go to where this surely must have began..." The Mage trailed off. "Mallian."

A city that lay half the world away.

 

[Solitude]

Sol stopped walking completely. She turned around to face Kyril, both hands moving so that they could rest on his shoulders as she gave him a deadpan look. Then, quite suddenly, she shook him as if she were trying to discern whether or not he was real or some rag doll. Or maybe she was trying to knock his brain around in his skull so he could make better sense.

“Mallian?! How far is that?” She asked in a frantic whisper. But the thing was, she already knew the answer, Kyril had given it to her when he explained Malia. “The Wilds are a bitch to go through.” She said, her crimson gaze darkening. Sol seemed to resign herself to this fate and sighed dramatically before releasing her hold on Kyril and turning her back to him, giving a large shrug and raising up her hands in a “what can you do?” Manner.

“We’re gonna need supplies. Even heading over to the portal stone will take some time.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. Working with Kyril wasn’t bad, but she knew the archbishop would frown on it completely. However, if she actually completed this mission… perhaps she’d be praised, or even promoted.

“And maybe we can find you a dagger or something sharp.” She looked about the street that was hardly bustling. They needed to head to a market district, collect everything there. “I could probably stock on a few sharp things myself.” She murmured before stopping someone and asking for directions. The moment she got them, she would head off in that direction as swift as ever.

Kyril

 

[Kyril]

Kyril nodded his head. The Wylds were indeed an utter bitch.

It was,probably, one of the most dangerous places in all of Arethil. Traversing through the vast jungle would be all but impossible without a guide, and even with one the chance of death was…more than Kyril would have liked. ”We can also charter a ship.”

The mage suggested.

”It will incur more expense, but the College will pay for it.” This was, after all, an expedition in their name. ”A journey by sea will save us time, and might mean I won’t need…something sharp.”

Though of course that would present it’s own troubles. They would have to head south to the coast first, and then once they were upon the sea they would have to travel close to Naga lands. There was no less danger in that.

”I would prefer the sea.” He admitted. ”But as you are the more...able combatant, I’ll leave the choice to you.”

If Solitude wanted to walk, or hire a few horses, then he would gladly document the Wylds. Perhaps it would even give him time to regain more of his magic.

 

[Solitude]

Ooh. A ship. Now that may prove to be a better plan. Solitude was silent as she mulled this prospect over, something she would have never suggested to begin with because… well, she was broke. And as one of the worst assassins working for the diocese there was no way the archbishop would ever accept such a request. A ship was a hefty purchase, not just for the pile of wood and sails but because it often required a crew.

And that’s where one got ripped off.

But hey… if the College was gonna pay for it then….

“Look,” Sol said, glancing at Kyril, “you’re gonna need something for just in case. I’ll give you lessons.” Solitude said, her eyes crinkling up in a amiable grin, with her mask back on all smiles, and frowns, were hidden once more. “See, rule number one is, you’re either all in or you’re all out. Oof— HEY WATCH IT!” She snarled at a group of children that had ran past her, with one knocking into her hip. She huffed, quickly having her hands coast over to make sure nothing was stolen. Nothing was. Good. Not like she had much cash to replace something of quality.

“But perhaps you’re right with the sea.” She looked around as they came to a area filled with vendors and merchants. Unfortunately, nothing that quite caught her eye just yet. “Honestly, less chance of us getting ambushed again. I think.”

Kyril