Zion: Light of the New Moon, Milestone 2b
Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2 Milestone 2b
The Awakening Intro
"The greatest testament to Tah'enar was the grand opening in the earth around which Zion grew. This chasm, known to all as Tah'enar's Berth, was chosen as the memorial place for the brother of the two goddesses. Over centuries, faithful heroes and disciples of the divine quested for any essence of the fallen god-- anything they could find would be returned to Zion via a pilgrimage to the Berth, where it would be cast into the dark depths and returned to the earth.
As with those of my own weyr, I was not present when Zion was founded. My memories of the city when it was new are few, but the stories I learned as I dwelt among its people create the picture for me that I still see. It was said that the site chosen for the Holy City was divinely inspired by the will of the twin goddesses. In the early years, it was said that the worshipers of both the moon and the sun placed it at the behest of the goddesses to mark the final resting place of Tah'enar.
"In those early years it was not at all strange for our kind to visit the fledgling capital of the Empire. We often paid our respects to the De'Aveen family at the open-air palace; we would raise our voices alongside the mortals within the stadium that was devoted to the divine; we could alight on any city street, easily wide enough for even a true dragon to find a welcome place to land. The people of Zion knew of Dragons, and they respected us. Yet things have changed.
"After the passing of Tah'enar the sisters became close for a time, it is true... but, as is the way with family, they eventually grew distant... and so too did the mortal races. Abandoning all but their own wants and needs, Zion was changed by them... altered and ruined by the short-sighted desires of its populous. The palace was enclosed with a ceiling and the temple with a dome; buildings were drawn closer together for ease of foot traffic; dragons were no longer welcome... that much became evident.
"All of these things could be excused... they could all be pardoned... after all, it was a city of mortals, and not a city for dragons. The foresight of mortal races is fallible and dim and any number of missteps in planning could be as water under the bridge... but for them to forget? No... that was unforgivable. In their haste to turn the city toward their own desires, the followers of the Moon Goddess failed us in all ways: they filled Tah'enar's Berth.
"The city of Zion has been protected for millenia by the love of the divine. It has known neither earthquake nor hurricane, drought nor famine. The twin goddesses could have agreed in nothing else and yet still felt the same that Zion should would always remain free from the horrors that plague the rest of this land. Their peace came at no cost... no sacrifice was asked of them save that they would remember Tah'enar... and they forgot.
"I have not forgotten. I will not forget. Soon, the whole of creation will remember... we will make them remember. The followers of the Moon Goddess lived within this hallowed city, taking for granted the meaning of the peace and tranquility they enjoyed. The sealed up Tah'enar's Berth so that they could create mundane buildings for their mundane lives... to ease their minor troubles and focus solely on their own wants and needs. They have forsaken their promise to the Sisters, and so in return they too shall be forsaken.
"The profanity that has taken place here must be cleansed from this holy site. The wrongfully created will be destroyed and in destruction we shall discover a great rebirth. Too long has this land laid dormant; too long has it accepted the will of mortals who had forsaken their promises to the divine; too long have the people of Zion mistaken themselves the masters of this city; too long have they looked to Tah'aveen for guidance... and too long has she been unable to guide them. It is the time of the Awakening... and now, Children of Tah'alia, they will see the power of YOUR Goddess."
-The words of Salieisiev the Red, Self-Proclaimed Voice of Tah'alia
The Darkened Path Iskiy, Keeland, Marion, & Dana
Lady Marion's head pounded and her entire body shivered; it was her first clue that she was still alive. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, only that she had been underwater for far too long. Slowly opening her eyes, the priestess saw only blackness, and it took her a moment to realize that she was still somewhere in the sewer system. Though her throat and chest were raw from what had obviously been a lot of coughing, her breath came slowly and calmly to her.
"Light." she whispered, closing her eyes again as she made her simple request. When she next opened them, Lady Marion was surrounded by a soft, muted, bluish-silver glow. In any normal circumstance, the priestess would have expected her Divine Shield to be the origin of such vision but she had taken a moment to center herself; she realized she had nothing but the torn, ragged clothing on her back.
Clearing her throat, the human rose to her feet. The priestess didn't bother pondering at the cleanliness of the tunnels or the fact that she had been laying on the ground yet wasn't covered in sludge; if the blast of water had been strong enough to send the party surging off down the passage then she had no doubt that it could have scoured the stone tunnel just as well. "Guide me." she pleaded instead, and immediately went off down the tunnel to seek out her fellows. The search, as it turned out, did not take long.
"Dana?" came the plaintive cry to match the glimmering green reflection from two lupine eyes gazing out of the shadows. The voice spoke from a side-passage, the figure within the shadows trying to stare through her light.
"No, Mr Thrush," Marion offered calmly, "I am not Dana."
"Oh... Lady... Marion..." she heard a faint, poorly hidden whine in his tone as he moved into the light, covering his eyes against its muted glow, "I..." he paused, "Have you found anyone?" his ears, half-raised, half-lowered, gave her all the impression she needed to know his mindset.
"I have found you." she offered encouragingly.
Iskiy's tail twitched slightly in response and he offered a half-hearted smile, "Well... if we made it--"
"I'm confident the others did as well." the priestess stated calmly, much less confident in her words than she let show, "Come... we've found one another separately-- we can find even more together."
The antlered wolf nodded with the encouraging words and moved to step beside her, "My torches are all wet." he commented casually.
Marion smiled at his observation, "Thankfully we have light regardless." and she continued down the tunnels, muted blue glow enveloping them both.
The two continued through the sewers, step after step. Marion kept her focus on the passage before them while Iskiy paid attention to the side passages. After a time, the Wild Lander scowled, rubbing his nose, "Being down here too long kind of blinds my nose."
"Blinds your nose?" the priestess asked.
"Yea... it's like not being able to see, only it's with your nose." he explained cryptically, then paused, "Um... sorry..." his ears blushed faintly in the glow, "I forget... humans don't usually use their nose."
"They use their noses..." offered a calm voice from a side tunnel, "Just not the same way as you or I." and a brown shepherd followed his words out of the darkness.
"Sergeant Riley," Lady Marion let out a relieved breath, then paused as she saw a trickle of blood flowing from his brow, "...you're hurt."
Keeland raised a paw up to his forehead and brushed his fingers across his fur. Glancing down into his paw he looked at the smear on his paw pad, "It's not that bad... I think I hit my head when we were carried away by the water." He shrugged and wiped his paw on his leggings, "We'll worry about it later." and he glanced to Iskiy and then back to the priestess, "I couldn't see in the darkness... Any signs of anyone else?"
Iskiy shook his head and Marion let that be their answer. Instead, she pointed further down the tunnel in the direction she and the Wild Lander had been heading, "Let's continue." No one objected and Keeland stepped into place at the rear of the group. He kept an eye behind them as Lady Marion led the group onward.
With no indication of the passage of time, Lady Marion proceeded through the tunnels, attempting to keep to a specific direction, turning only when necessary. In her mind, it felt as though she were leading the group back toward where the party had been assailed by the water but, in truth, it was little more than a guess. Thankfully, just as she was starting to lose hope, that guess paid off.
"There!" Iskiy shouted, his voice echoing like an explosion around them in the empty tunnel. The Wild Lander pointed eagerly down a side-tunnel to their right. Lady Marion turned to follow his attention, as did Keeland. The group paused, gazing at a small wisp of flame floating in the middle of the tunnel. "That looks like something Dana might have made!" and, without pausing for word, the antlered wolf took off like a loosed arrow, racing down the passage.
"Iskiy!" Keeland called, "It might be a trap!"
"Follow him." Lady Marion suggested, "Be careful." She made her way slowly and purposefully down the tunnel, pausing long enough to hear a few words from the conversation from her party members ahead-- apparently they had seen another floating flame. She watched as they moved down a tunnel to the right and, by the time she had reached the intersection where they had been, they were already at another intersection choosing the next path.
The game of follow-the-leader continued for several minutes until Lady Marion finally caught up with the Wild Lander and the Sergeant; they were standing near a section of collapsed tunnel. The priestess was just about to speak up when a muffled voice announced its presence from the other side of the debris, "Move ye back... I nae gonna try this with ye standin' so close."
"Dana!" Iskiy barked happily, then quickly tucked his tail as his ears reddened in embarrassment; he moved back obediently after Keeland.
The ground rumbled beneath their feet and Lady Marion took several steps back. The stone tunnel gave a powerful jump, followed by a roaring, crumbling groan as sections of the stone tile on the ceilings and floor cascaded down. "Dana!" Iskiy shouted her name again, this time with more fearful urgency, "What are you DOING?!?!"
"It nae be me, Iskiy..." she spoke. Lady Marion had considered the female wolf's voice had always held the same calm, collective tonal qualities as a priestess of Myre, but, even so, the human could detect a hint of concern, and that made her worry.
"What's happening?" the priestess called.
"Th'earth be in pain." Dana responded. The ground jumped again and in the span of a single breath, the tunnel suddenly plunged as the earth simultaneously rose and then fell. A gigantic split rent the sewer asunder and, as everyone sprang back from the rapidly growing rift, Lady Marion covered her face, protecting it from falling debris.
"In the name of the Goddess..." Keeland gasped, standing at the lip of the gigantic hole, his form silhouetted by starlight. Beyond him, teetering on the edge of the colossal fissure were street tiles, light posts, and even pieces of structures. As the rumbling subsided Iskiy helped Lady Marion to her feet. The two went to join the shepherd at the edge of the tunnel, which opened into the nothingness of the new sink hole.
More than five hundred feet across, the fissure appeared to have opened right in the middle of Zion. Gazing down into its depths Lady Marion could not see the bottom; the starlight penetrated perhaps two hundred feet down before it disappeared into blackness. She quickly looked away, however, unable to imagine how many of the faithful had met their end in the collapse. Marion had caught glimpses of entire buildings swallowed up into the hole... they had fallen past her, and she could almost imagine having heard the screams of the occupants.
"I didnae think the sun cultists had this power..." Dana spoke softly. Lady Marion turned to see the female wolf floating effortlessly in the air beside the end of their tunnel. Once Iskiy and Keeland turned to regard her she nodded, "Come." and, with that single comment, a section of stone spread out from the earth, creating a walkway to the right.
Without another word, Lady Marion followed after the Wild Lander. There had been a time, not so long ago, that the priestess would not have trusted one of the pagans from the lands beyond the city walls. With the darkness of the sewer tunnels behind her, and the yawning destruction ahead of her, at that point, a stone walkway summoned with spirit magic hardly seemed profane. The path led to what had once been a storage cellar of some sort and, from there, Iskiy and Keeland were able to force the cellar door. For better or for worse, the four emerged onto what was left of the streets of Zion.
Sweeping Tides Liam, Elias, & Leijh
Leijh awoke with a groan, her hand going to her face then starting when her clammy flesh touched clammy flesh. She coughed, tasting sour water and bile in her mouth then rolled to her side and spat. "Ugh..." she grunted, then paused when she heard a shifting to the side.
The woman squinted against the crackling flames of a small fire situated right on the masonry of the sewer floor. it only took her a moment to remember where she was and what had happened, but it was long enough for Liam to sit down beside her, dropping a pawful of what looked like spare wood discarded from a carpentry shop. "You're awake." Liam said softly, almost reverently.
"I'm alive." she offered a tired smile and added as much good humor to it as she could muster; it wasn't much-- everything hurt.
"Thank the Goddess." Liam acknowledged, and reached to take her hands from her lap, "You're freezing." he stated immediately, "Closer to the fire."
"We don't have time to sit by the fire." Leijh spoke, but she didn't resist as he helped her move. She let out a sigh as her body began to shiver, finally awake enough to realize just how cold she was, "Not for long." she clarified.
"I was worried you might not wake up." the fox admitted, sitting on the stone floor next to her; he hefted her up off of the ground and pulled her into his lap. She was about to object, but his warmth was just as nice as the fire... better.
"But I did." she pointed out.
"I gathered up anything I could that would burn." he explained, throwing a few more wood shavings onto the fire, "It was all wet, but eventually I got a fire going."
"How long was I out?" Leijh asked, blinking the grime from her eyes; she shivered when she realized that she had been carried along by sewer water-- the crustiness was far more than usual for having just awoken.
"About an hour longer than me." Liam shrugged, resting his muzzle on her shoulder, "I still don't know how long I was unconscious either."
"I had a dream that I was running through the blackness looking for someone..." Leijh shuddered anew at the sound of her putting a voice to her dream, "...anyone.... but I found no one."
"Sounds better than mine." the fox said from behind her, and she didn't miss his discomfort at whatever ran through his mind.
She realized that it would be best to change the subject, "Have you found anyone else?" When Liam only shook his head against hers Leijh realized that the topic change hadn't helped her spirit much, "What next?" she pressed for a different, more optimistic direction.
"We'll need to look for the others." he acknowledged, "I'm just glad that you're here, Leijh." the words warmed her more than the fire did, but she felt him tense immediately, "FUCK!"
"What's wrong?" she turned to look back at him; his attention was on his belt pouch, which contained his rapidly scrambling paw, "Something missing?"
"Yes... oh Goddess, yes, something is missing." he growled, tearing his belt pouch off and throwing it against the wall, "And it HAS to be some Goddess forsaken ass' idea of a joke. It should NOT be this hard!!!"
Leijh paused, rotating in the fox's lap before sliding her arms around his neck, resting her forearms on either of his shoulders, "We're both alive, and relatively safe... whatever it is it can't be THAT important, can it?"
She watched the expression on Liam's muzzle turn from furious to frustrated to perturbed. She was certain it would have improved from there but she didn't give it a chance; she wiped it clean with a kiss. It was a loving gesture, but they both recoiled from one another immediately, "Your muzzle tastes like shit." she admitted.
"Revenge for the taste of your lips." the fox shot back, and they both laughed. "To the Eternal Flame with it." Liam swore, and kissed her anew; Leijh found that she was able to get past the taste once she was in his arms again. When they finally pulled back, the fox was calmer, and more collected, "We need to get moving, you're right." he said at length.
The two rose, hand-in-paw, and Leijh had to admit that she felt warmer inside and out. They each managed to fashion a rudimentary torch to help them light the sewer tunnels. Leijh knew the going would be slow since they could not risk calling out for their friends. It would be purely visual, and, if the Goddess was on their side, they would run into friends and not foes. She took a deep breath and brushed her head against Liam's shoulder; they began what she was certain to be a long search. She was wrong.
"If it hadn't been masoned stone bricks I could have." came Elias' unmistakably gruff rebuttal to a comment neither Leijh nor Liam had heard.
"Mr Hewen?" Leijh spoke out in a muted tone.
"We both know that solid stone would have worked better." the armadillo grumbled, then paused.
"Geomancer?" Liam called, a little louder than Leijh.
"Who's there?" he challenged. The two rounded a corner and their torchlight washed over a seemingly impossible scene: Elias was half-submerged into a broken section of sewer wall. The masoned blocks had been knocked free and the armadillo was sticking out of the barren stone; neither of his legs were anywhere to be seen and only a hint of one hip showed. The left side of his body was almost completely buried by the stone up to his sternum; part of his left shoulder was visible and out of all of his limbs, only his right arm was free-- it clutched a perfectly spherical black stone. "What?" he demanded when they stared.
"You're..." Leijh began, unable to finish her sentence.
"Having trouble breathing, thank you." the armadillo scowled, speaking with a wheeze.
"Do you need aid?" Liam questioned.
"Is it that obvious?" the Geomancer questioned sourly.
Leijh brushed a hand across the hard surface of the wall, "Can't you part the stone?"
"Not without risking a cave-in." Elias answered, "This tunnel was already weakened by the quake."
"Quake?" the human and fox asked at the same time. To answer their question, the armadillo pointed behind them down a side-tunnel. The two turned as one and Leijh felt Liam react with the same amount of surprise as she; not twenty feet from them the sewer tunnel disappeared, replaced by an enormous, gaping chasm.
"Tah'aveen's holy shit in a sling." Liam murmured. He responded with an "OW!" when Leijh struck him in the shoulder.
"No profaning." she stated.
"What a goddess damned big hole." the fox stated flatly.
"Very big, yes." Leijh remarked casually, a faint quirk of her lip the only sign of a smirk.
"If you two are done with your love taps," Elias interrupted them gruffly, "I need an extra paw."
"For?" Leijh turned around, and paused when Elias shook the black stone.
"Hold this." he directed. Without comment, Leijh held out her hand and the Geomancer dropped it into her palm. The woman gasped, surprised at the warmth of the rock.
"It's... so strange." she murmured.
"Yes it is." Elias' voice came from behind her, "I'll take it back now, thank you." and he snatched it almost avariciously from her grasp.
"You're... welcome." she frowned, glancing at the empty wall then to the armadillo, "I thought you said molding the wall could have brought down the tunnel?"
"It could have." Elias acknowledged, stowing his sphere, "So I did not."
Liam flicked an ear, "Then how did you--"
"Come on..." Elias interrupted, and headed toward the huge break in the sewers, "we don't have time for magic lessons." and he murmured quietly, "I'm coming, Kayte..."
Castigation Jasper, Zeke, Dillan, & Narissa
Narissa Hearthsinger had been exposed to violence more often than she cared for. During her journeys through the Wild Lands it was not uncommon for her caravan to come under assault by creatures, beasts, and monsters... on one or two occasions they had even been attacked by bandits. In every last one of those encounters, however, it did not feel the same as fighting there on the streets of Zion.
Commanding shouts from Lordling Rakken were lost to the drowning roar of combat. Dillan's screams of dismay and Zachary's roars of pure rage were drowned by the sound of steel on steel. Narissa had sung so often of the art of war... the romantic impression of two groups locked in mortal struggle... the divine gift of the chance to prove oneself. More than ever, she realized that such songs were fabrication, and the only voices lifted skyward in battle were the dead and dying.
The cultists had struck quickly with absolutely no reservations or restraint. The eight Doenians were split down the middle fast enough with Zeke, Jasper, Haldyn, and herself on one side of the cultist forces and the rest of the party on the other. She had often heard of military tactics that involved catching an opposing army between two sets of forces, but Narissa realized that thirty-something cultists didn't have to worry about fighting on two fronts against eight foes.
Rust, on the other side of the cultists from her, shouted her name. It was the third time she'd heard him, which meant it was likely his constant war cry. She had tried hollering back, but it only brought more attention in her direction from the cultists, who were otherwise occupied with Haldyn and Jasper. She had no idea how the two of them managed to keep the cultists at bay, but it didn't take her long to figure out that they didn't have the stamina to hold off the enemies indefinitely. The situation, however, changed before that happened.
"NAAAAAA-" Rust came plowing through the cultists, "RIIIIII-" three were sent flying by the strength of his hammer as it arced through his path, "SSAAAAAAAAA!!!" he finished his shout, spinning to face away from two cultists charging him; he threw himself backwards and pinned them against a stone wall, his quills putting an end to their struggles.
"Rust!" she shouted, gasping when a pike man thrust the blade of his weapon into Rust's ribs. The tigress didn't hesitate; whipping a flute out of its holster she quickly swung the weapon in an overhanded chop, ending the swing with the end of the weapon pointing at the cultist-- he fell with the slung stiletto sticking out of his throat. Paying him no more mind, Narissa ran to where Rust knelt, his paw over the wound in his side.
"We need to pull back." he mumbled, head held down as each breath he took burbled up from his lungs.
"You're hurt..." she pointed out, "Goddess... you're bleeding." her comment was an understatement. She pressed her paw against the one he already held at his side, blood streaming through both their fingers as she moved to heft him up to his feet. He stood, unsteadily, and almost fell once until Zeke slipped out of the shadows and moved to take hold of Rust's other side.
"There's a ladder leading up onto the rooftops." Zeke noted simply, and tugged Narissa and Rust toward an alley.
"Fall back!" Haldyn shouted from somewhere off down the street; it sounded far too distant for Narissa's liking-- he had been separated from them.
"We're getting split up." Zeke whimpered.
"We already were." Narissa noted, "Right now we have to live long enough to find one another later." She stopped when Zeke did, leaning Rust against the stone wall of the squat building that housed the ladder. Zeke started up immediately as the sound of sword fighting drew closer once again. The tigress kept one paw over Rust's wound as she held her other arm aloft, speaking the arcane phrases of a spell.
A moment later Jasper came into view, two short swords dancing through the air in his grasp as he fought to hold four cultist at bay; the numerous wounds across his body were not making it easy. Narissa loosed a streaking, arrow-like blast of flame from her paw, felling one of the cultists. The distraction was enough to allow Jasper to drive his left arm forward, impaling a second. He was back on the defensive in the blink of an eye, but his forward thrust made it harder to backpedal, and he slipped, sprawling to the ground.
Narissa watched with wide eyes as both cultists held their blades high, ready for the coup-de-grace, but Jasper wasn't quite ready to be finished off. Gripping tightly onto a crack in the pavement, Jasper lashed his tail out and wrapped it around the ankle of the left warrior, Contracting every muscle in his body, the rat used his tail and pulled the man's foot out from under him, sending him sprawling to the alley's floor.
The second cultist's sword was ready to start its arc, but he paused, eyes wide as an arrow protruded from his chest. He fell forward on top of Jasper. Narissa traced the arrow's trajectory to where Dillan knelt atop a two story building; he was already fitting another arrow to his bow, "Hurry it up!" the ferret shouted, putting a shot into the tripped cultist, who had just tried to stand, "More coming!" he warned.
"Come on!" Zeke called, holding a paw down to help Rust up the ladder.
The echidna grunted, shaking his head to the fox, "Her first." he noted, then glanced to Narissa, "Go."
"You'll need help climbing." she argued.
"If I fall then you end up a pin cushion." he pulled her closer then pushed her to the ladder, "I'm right behind you."
Narissa scowled, and was about to object before the twang of Dillan's bowstring cut the argument short; if it hadn't his warning would have, "Move it, Goddess damn it!" and a cultist fell at the entrance to the alley, an arrow sticking out of his abdomen.
Shouting every profanity she knew, the tigress practically levitated up the ladder, climbing faster than she had ever recalled climbing in her life. Once she was at the top she turned around and reached a paw down, "Come on! Up!" she ordered, and gripped Rust's wrist tightly and pulled. Every strand of fur on Narissa's body stood on end when she heard the sound of flesh tearing.
The echidna rasped out a choked cry and wriggled free from her grasp, paw going immediately to his side. "Rust!" Narissa cried, watching as he crumpled down to his knees, entire body quivering as blood flowed constantly through his fingers, "RUST!" she wailed.
Jasper was beside the echidna in a split second, working to help him to his feet but still keeping an eye on the advancing cultists. The soldiers paused at the entrance to the alley, getting closer as they darted from cover to cover. Though Dillan's presence slowed their advance, he was unable to line up any effective shots. "Come on, big guy..." the rat grunted, hefting Rust up.
Rust stifled a pained moan, blood pouring from his the deep puncture in his side. He wheezed, red, frothy bubbles appearing at his muzzle, "I..." he rasped, "can't climb..." the echidna admitted, "only opens it worse."
"Then heal." Jasper noted, about-facing to address the soldiers as they drew even closer.
"No time." murmured the echidna, and he grit his teeth as he let go of his wound. Rust took hold of the rat by the nape of his neck and, with all his strength, hefted him into the air, launching him vertically into the grasp of the waiting party members. The echidna sank back down to his knees, blood leaking almost like a faucet out of his side and dripping from his lips.
"Rust! Get UP!" Narissa screamed, reaching out past Jasper frantically for her lover. The echidna moved to the ladder, grasping it with his paw as he wheezed. "Good!" she acknowledged, "Good! Now climb, Rust!" she lay down on her chest, extending her paw down the side of the building toward him. "Come on..."
The echidna met her eyes and, for a moment, they only stared at one another... and he looked away. Gritting his teeth, Rust strained with all the strength he had left... but it wasn't to climb. "Rust? RUST?!?!" Narissa screamed, stretching her arm toward him, "SAMMY!" she cried, but she was forced to turn away as the ladder's anchors were pulled free, tearing it out of the building's wall, "SAMUEL!"
"Don't... want em...." he fell back to one knee, "following you..."
"SAMMYYYYYY!!!!!!" Narissa struggled, screaming her lover's name as Zeke and Jasper both pulled her away from the edge. One building away Dillan gave up firing his bow, ducking behind cover more cultists arrived on the scene, likewise armed for ranged warfare.
"They have archers now, woman!" Jasper shouted, slapping the side of her muzzle with his tail. He yanked her back as a small volley of a half-dozen arrows narrowly missed her. She cried freely, dragged away from the alley but no longer struggling as the sound of combat began anew down below on the street. It didn't last long.
"Sammy..." Narissa spoke once more, softly, and lowered her head. The tigress felt the loss deep inside. Though the stories of the glory of battle were far over exaggerated, the songs of loss did not do justice to the pain she suddenly felt. Her cries would have continued, if not for the sudden, overwhelming rumble from the ground beneath her feet. Mourning was cut short for the group as the street opened up all around them and, in the next moment, the building gave way, tumbling down over the edge of a deep, deep chasm.
Eye to Eye Beo, Nori, Jerard, & Wyse
Jerard's furred, Moon Blessed form took up a good portion of the catacomb tunnel and he used his size to his advantage. Beating back the corpses with fists and claws, the magus accentuated his physical attack with blasts of magical energy. The chaos of combat and the press of rotting bodies did not help make progress any easier, but he continued to push forward. Behind him, several shouts indicated that the party was being split up, but he paid it little mind; his first priority was safety. Behind him, Beo pressed closer.
"Stay low." he directed of the husky, pausing only long enough to let the black-furred magus send a scorching spray of fire out ahead of them and into the wall of undead flesh that kept them from a side tunnel.
A fresh batch of Corpses exploded out of the side wall and Jerard was forced to use his arm as a shield. He howled in pain and rage as the creatures collided into him, biting and clawing at his hide. Beo quickly set upon them, swinging a stick and alternating between physical blow and blasts of magical energy. Together, the two magi pushed the undead back. Between the two of them, they cleared the hallway.
"Where's everyone else?" Beo asked, pausing long enough to glance back at the hall.
"We'll meet up with em later." Jerard growled, grabbing onto the rotten clothing of a fallen Corpse with a hind-paw. His toes curled against the cloth and he yanked it up into a waiting paw and turned down the hallway he had chosen for their escape. The Moon Blessed wolf hurled the limp body down the passage where it collided with another Corpse, "We have a fight of our own to worry about."
Before either of them had a chance to move, a feral rottweiler sprang between them and raced down their tunnel. A second later, Gaerid, the huntsman from Shrad drew up even with them, "That path leads further into the burial halls." he stated calmly, "That way is better." he pointed to an intersection a short distance up.
Jerard shrugged and proceeded forward. The bounty hunter moved more fully into the passage, Shrad's Wild Lander hanging off his shoulder for support. "You gonna be able to keep up with us, Limpy?" Beo questioned the ferret.
Nori snorted in response, "Just guard the front-- I don't want to worry about any Corpses jumping on me."
"Alright..." the black-furred magus responded, "and you just scream real loud if any jump us from behind."
Jerard paid the ferret no more attention as he proceeded down the tunnel, but he heard the struggle between the ferret and the rottweiler as Gaerid made sure Nori's hammer was not drawn, "Just a little tap... a concussion, max." the Wild Lander promised.
"Save it." Gaerid stated calmly, then raised his voice, "Wyse, come."
Jerard almost started at the black shape emerging from the shadows of the tunnel ahead. He turned down the side-passage as indicated by Gaerid just as the bounty hunter's feral rottweiler trotted past him, face covered in ichor. "He's quite a scrapper." Beo commented from right behind the Moon Blessed magus.
"He covers our passage." Gaerid explained, helping Nori along, "We should be clear of the worst of it up ahead." the hunter held onto Nori with one paw, the other brushing across each wall he passed.
"How do you know?" Beo questioned, "Are you one of those maze navigating people?"
"I didn't know there was a specific type of people that did that." Gaerid responded flatly.
"Well how can you be sure you know where we're going?" the black furred magus pressed.
"Just shut up and trust us." the ferret objected.
"Trust 'us'?" Beo questioned, "I haven't heard YOU make any suggestions, just him."
"Everyone shut up." Jerard growled, "Everything just got quiet." Once the group ceased talking Jerard was able to perk his ears and confirm his earlier assessment; the sounds of combat had halted.
"So everyone got away?" Beo proposed.
"Or died." Nori offered.
"We need to continue." Gaerid stated suddenly, and pushed Nori up against a wall to balance, "Wyse. Help him." The feral dog obediently moved beside the ferret. Nori rested a paw on the four legged rottweiler's back, improving his balance.
"That's one well-trained dog." Jerard remarked as the bounty hunter passed him; Gaerid didn't bother responding. With little more to be said, the Moon Blessed magus stepped in behind Gaerid and followed.
"So... where ARE we heading in such a hurry?" Beo asked.
"Where we're supposed to." Gaerid answered.
"That's a little vague." the black-furred magus hrumphed.
"You'll get used to it." Nori chimed in.
The group followed the bounty hunter quietly for several minutes. Now and again everyone paused at the sound of movement or shuffling, but they saw no more corpses. After several turns and side passages Jerard spoke up, "How do you know where we should be going?" he asked of Gaerid.
"Because I know." the rottweiler responded, pausing. He reached out and brushed a paw across the wall, "We're close."
"Really?" Beo asked blandly, one ear up, "How much farther do we have to travel then?"
Gaerid chuckled a deep, emotionless laugh; Jerard found the sound disconcerting. The bounty hunter about-faced, "We don't have to travel any farther."
"So..." Beo paused, his other ear raising, "when you said we're close, you meant that we're here."
"Physically, yes." the rottweiler acknowledged, "Just physically."
"What other way is there?" Beo demanded, obviously not happy at all with the half-answers.
"Mentally?" Nori offered with a quirky smirk; he obviously liked the husky's displeasure, "Emotionally?"
Beo opened his muzzle to offer a comeback, but Gaerid spoke up first, "Time."
"Time?" Jerard heard his voice echoed by Nori and Beo both.
"Yes..." the rottweiler nodded, rubbing a paw across the stone wall, "and we don't have long to wait."
"What are we waiting for?" Jerard asked.
The bounty hunter didn't bother answering him, instead, he looked straight at Nori, "You've done well." he stated, "But you will have to do better from here."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nori challenged.
"Wyse knows what to do." Gaerid noted; for some reason Jerard couldn't bring himself to consider it a non-sequitur. Nori looked down to the dog at his side, who only responded with a muted 'woof'.
"We're in the middle of nowhere." Beo suddenly spoke up, "How can we be 'here'?"
"Here is where I must be." Gaerid explained, "She wills it."
"Where YOU must be?" the black furred magus scowled, "What about where we--" he didn't have a chance to complete his sentence as the ground suddenly heaved beneath their feet. "EARTHQUAKE!" the husky shouted instead.
"I am here, My Lady." Gaerid spoke, raising his paws toward the ceiling of the tunnel, "I am yours."
"Whuff." Wyse sounded from off to the side.
"Gaerid?" Nori suddenly spoke up, concern in his voice. The ferret reached forward, then suddenly shouted, "GET BACK!" the warning was directed at the two magi.
Jerard grabbed hold of Beo and pulled him away from the bounty hunter. The ground heaved again, and a loud cracking sound heralded an incredible boom. The tunnel, not five feet ahead of them, sundered clean through and, as if watching in slow motion, they all stared as the entire passage disappeared, sinking down into oblivion with Gaerid in attendance.
The three stood at the edge of an enormous chasm, an impossibly large, impossibly deep hole in the middle of the earth. Far overhead an eerie bluish light filled the sky, stars granting the only other light in the moonless night. Behind the magi, Nori leaned down to rest a hand on Wyse's head, "Yes... yes he did." the ferret said to the dog, as if acknowledging a comment. Jerard looked to Beo and Beo returned the glance. Without waiting for a response from anyone, Wyse trotted ahead, and picked out a small, uneven pathway down into the abyss.
The Guardian Shadow & Kayte
Kayte had no idea how long the water had carried her through the darkened tunnels of the sewers. She lost track of how many passages she surged through along with the current. Somewhere along the line she realized that the group was split as the force of the stream shot them down different paths. Despite the hopelessness of the situation the priestess refused to surrender to the water. She constantly fought for the surface and, on one or two occasions, managed to get her head above the roaring swirl just long enough to catch breath but, more often than not, she found her scrambling fingers hitting the floor of the sewers-- it was nigh impossible to figure out which way was up.
Eventually, just as she started to wonder how much more of it she could take, the flow finally slackened and ceased, leaving her to tumble and roll across the empty floor of a dark tunnel. Coughing and sputtering, Kayte remained on her back, wheezing as she gasped for breath. She fought hard to keep herself from tears, rolling to her side to cough the last of the water out of her lungs. Once she was steadied, the priestess slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position, and from there to her feet.
The wolf stood unsteadily at first, every muscle in her body aching from her fight against the surging water. From there, she held out a paw, and whispered a prayer for guidance to Tah'aveen; a bright, white glow bathed the tunnel. Using her staff to help her balance, the priestess gasped, seeing immediately that the censure normally attached to it had somehow come loose... and it was nowhere to be seen. "Goddess forgive me." she whispered softly, and lowered her head in failure. She realized she couldn't dwell on the loss, but promised to make amends at a later point. Only then did she raise her head once more and continue onward.
Kayte didn't have the slightest idea on which way to go, but she elected to return from the direction the water had originated. Though numerous twists and turns confused her sense of direction, the priestess attempted to keep her heading roughly straight. She was forced to pause after what she assumed was about an hour, shivering in her still-soaked robes. "Where IS everyone?" she whispered quietly to herself. She certainly hadn't expected an answer, but what she expected even less was the sudden vibration that rose up from the stone beneath her feet.
"What in--?" was all the time she had to exclaim as the ground gave a sudden, violent jump, and the priestess released a scream as the sewers suddenly changed angle, the path in front of her sloping down at a dangerous decline. "No!" she cried out, losing her balance immediately. Kayte tried and failed several times to grab at the stone blocks that comprised the floor but she could find no purchase, and the slick, muck-covered stone did nothing to slow her descent.
Despite the urgency with which she sought to slow her slide, the priestess could not escape the sudden notice of the sound of metal-on-metal. The clash of swords caught her attention immediately. With concern for her own safety and her rapid descent, Kayte could not devote more than a precursory glance at several broken cracks in the walls; somewhere to her right and beneath her there was a tunnel of some sort, and there were people fighting... "Is everything bathed in chaos?" she wondered, but her concern over her own situation suddenly magnified greatly; a huge abyss awaited her scarcely 100 feet ahead and she could still do nothing to stop.
"Goddess help me!" she cried, scrambling at the stone blocks of the floor. She screamed in pain and helplessness as her fingertips bled, but she was still no closer to safety. Kayte gasped, screaming as her feet slid right over the edge and, in that single moment, she wondered what it would feel like to fall to her death... and she finally stopped; one of her paws had found a loose chunk of rubble and clenched it tightly.
"Oh Goddess..." she breathed, "oh Goddess..." she struggled, holding onto the rock as she looked back up the sewer tunnel. Kayte grunted and strained, reaching with all her might as her exhausted muscles fought every last movement she tried but, just as she was convinced it was useless, her body proved her wrong and she got her second set of fingers clasped around her paw-hold. Kayte's breath was coming uneven and shakily; her arms burned and her legs from the knees-down still hung over the edge... but she was safe. The victory was sweet for all of several seconds until Kayte's dropped staff caught up to her, falling down the slope right into her face.
Kayte's paws released the rock, and she screamed as she slid off of the ledge.
* * * * * *
Shadow's blade glimmered with a light of its own, echoing the same glowing blue hue from his fur. His weapon danced from opponent to opponent, shifting as needed between his paws as he attempted to fight back four Corpses as they pressed toward him. He was succeeding at a fighting retreat, but it was taking him further from the rest of his fellow travelers. The wolf had avoided any serious injuries, but the catacombs around him concealed any number of dangers, especially since his blade and his fur made a poor light source.
One of the Corpses lurched at him suddenly and it was all he could do to backpedal to avoid its slashing claws. Shadow bounced off of a wall, stunned for a moment as the wind was knocked from him. He sprang to the side at the last moment; all four Corpses had tried to capitalize on his collision but he managed to evade them. Even so, they were after him again and, in a split second, he was once more fighting for his life.
The wolf weaved his sword in front of himself in a slow, horizontal figure eight. Here and there he found a chance to lash out and strike a finger, ear, or strip of flesh from his attackers but the Corpses were long past any sense of caring about the condition of their bodies. Shadow realized he would tire at some point and that eventuality would spell death if he didn't dispatch his attackers. Summoning up his sense of reckless daring, the wolf suddenly changed his stance and surged forward at the Corpses, driving his blade straight through one's head.
He jumped back immediately as his target collapsed to the floor, but he stumbled, his blade caught in the Corpse's skull. Shadow growled, having no choice but to release it in order to fall away from the claws of the remaining undead, but he realized that he was on borrowed time; with no real weapon for defending himself he managed another three dodges before he was buried under undead flesh. Shadow knew that the end was near... but he was wrong.
At first he thought the vibration was the feeling of a Corpse worrying one of his bones with its teeth but it didn't take more than a second for him to realize that the grating was coming from the ground. What surprised Shadow even more, however, was the fact that the Corpses were no longer attacking. As one, his assailants all stood up off of him and spontaneously moved off down the hall; if Shadow hadn't known better, he almost would have thought they were fleeing. Not five seconds later, he realized that was precisely what they must have been doing.
The ground jumped hard beneath the wolf, enough that he was sent several inches into the air before crashing back down onto it with a thud. Grunting, Shadow was quick to rise up to his knees and scramble back as he observed a gigantic ripple flow through the stone, followed shortly thereafter by a massive tear. The geological rip pulled the catacombs apart, splitting it in two as a scribe might sunder a piece of paper. The wolf watched in mixed fear and awe as thousands of tons of dirt simply fell away, ceasing to be as a colossal hole opened in the earth.
Shadow didn't realize he had been holding his breath until the rumbling came to a halt. Suddenly breathing again, the wolf's heart beat against his ribcage like a wild animal attempting to win its freedom; his paws were shaking as he clamored up to his feet. "Oh Goddess..." he whispered, the two words exhausting him by using already spent breath, "What in the name of Tah'aveen?" he questioned, but there was nobody around him to answer.
As the aftershocks finally subsided, the wolf began to backtrack away from the chasm, pausing within the soft glow from his sword. He knelt down to collect it and no sooner had his fingers wrapped around the pommel than he heard a woman's scream. He stood immediately, his ears up as he realized that the sound came from the chasm. He was back to the ledge in a heartbeat and he attempted to scan everything within his vision. The stars glimmered above, no longer obscured by dozens of feet of earth but their light did not help his vision as he scoured the shadowy cliff faces.
The woman screamed again, and, much closer to it now, Shadow realized that the cry came from above him. He stepped back as loose bits of scree showered down past the lip of the chasm and then, a split second later, down she came. Without even thinking, Shadow Darkfang lashed out and grabbed her by the wrist as she fell past. He steadied his feet and managed to absorb the shock of her weight, but her velocity caused her to swing down into rock below him. She impacted with an audible thud, but he managed to keep his hold, "I've got you." he gritted his teeth from the strain; his already exhausted arms hurt all the more. "Hold on." he wheezed.
"Oh Goddess..." she murmured from beneath him, and he felt her scramble for purchase.
"Hold still..." he advised, "I don't have a good grip." a moment later he was dumbfounded when her weight practically disappeared from his arms, "...Miss?"
"Thank Tah'aveen you were here..." he heard her speak between sobs, "I... found footholds... thank you... oh Goddess, thank you."
Shadow slowly slumped to the ground, still holding her paw by the wrist. He felt suddenly exhausted and thanked the Goddess too that she was safe, "Can you..." he gasped for breath, "climb up?"
"I... I think so." she acknowledged, "There aren't many holds..." a tone of concern for him colored her voice, something that seemed almost alien to him after so long in Shrad, "Are you alright?"
Something about the question warmed him; he saved someone worthwhile, "I'm fine... I'll help you up." his fatigue didn't seem quite so bad as renewed vigor and purpose filled him. He stood, and then knelt down to offer his other paw to the woman, but he paused when their eyes met.
"Thank you." the priestess smiled up at him, her white fur gleaming in the moonlight, "My name is--"
Shadow's heart sank immediately, "Priestess Kayte Delier."