Divine Inheritance: Chaos

Morning had come and the battle still raged on... Burnt and sunken ships littered the river near Carmilla Sar, the snow upon the land was stained with blood and frozen bitten bodies. The Imperials had done a formidable job of holding off the Barbarians, but they were still making headway foot by foot, body by body. However, as much as it would amuse her to continue to watch the Imperials fall to her superior forces, she grew anxious and it was time she intervened.

"War is in our blood... We seek out the strong... We devour them and become stronger... Wear my clan banner waves, fear envelops all..." Ilda said aloud. Her forces stood behind her and down in a low valley as to be hidden from sight. All looked at her with eagerness in their eyes, lusting to join the battle and their comrades, envious of the blood being spilt in their absence. "I shall join the battle alone, I will find their leader and crush him with fists of iron! Then you shall take the city in the name of the Valkyrie of Death!"

The barbarians shouted intensely, their screams and hollers echoing off into the distance, no doubt all on the battlefield and aboard the ships could here. "Now tell me my sisters and brothers! What better way to crush an enemies spirit, then with some intense music..." Ilda said with a smirk. The barbarians smiled with glee and began to form a beat with their weapons, stomping the ground, several even had small drums at the ready. Once the rhythm was established, they began to chant loudly.



The chanting and beat could be heard for miles around, it was intimidating no doubt for the enemy, but singled victory to the barbarians on the battlefield. With a twirl of her hand, a gust of snow flew up from the ground and shot off quickly into the air, teleporting her near the river. The flaming ship still clung to the tops of the water, blazing away. With one hand held up she froze it over and some of the water around it. This action alone caught the attention of most. Her men on the battle field yelled with new and fierce battle cry, their strength rejuvenated at the sight of their leader joining them.

"Come my snow beasts! Play with these pathetic creatures that call themselves warriors..." Two massive monstrous snow golems grew from the snow on the ground, their massive hands and feet covered in large shards of ice. They both let out two terrifying bellows and rushed at the Imperials, Ilda gracefully followed behind them into the battlefield.

 

"Sir!" Atticus could hear the surprise in the guard's voice even without seeing his face behind the guard of his helmet. "We weren't expecting you so soon. The council-" both guards, stationed just outside the throne room performed the customary salute as the one to Atticus's right rambled. Atticus responded only by resting a single hand on the man's shoulder "-Never mind the council. I know, I'm not due to meet with until later. I come here for another meeting, has our guest yet arrived?"

There was a tense silence before the other guard coughed, to break the silence and spur the other to speak. The interruption was successful, and the first guard answered "Yes... The one you requested is here." the man's voice was low and borderline fearful as he spoke of Atticus's guest. "He brought along a few companions and they are housed in the castle's East Wing."

Atticus raised a curious brow "The East Wing? It's nearly abandoned, not even the servants venture to that part of my home. Whose idea was it to house such an important guest there?" he asked, somewhat baffled by the stupidity of his staff.

"Sir... it was his own request to be placed where he and his companions would not be disturbed. He has made no secret of calling your summon an inconvenience, and has shown quite a bit of hostility to what few guards we have placed in that wing during their stay."

"But there are still guards stationed there?"

"Of course, Sir. Such caliber of people, especially as guests of the Emperor, should be watched closely." The man spat the sentence out with destine. It was Atticus smirked somewhat, though he did try to keep a straight face.

"Tell me. Is that why you've all dawned your face guards since their arrival?"

There was another uncomfortable silence, before the other guard spoke once again "Our apologies, sire, if the formality causes offence. You see, it has become a habit for Imperial Soldiers across the country to keep their faces hidden around these kinds of people."

Atticus was, for once, intrigued. "And why is that?"

"To show your face to an assassin... is to welcome death to your home." A stiff silence followed the guards words. Atticus narrowed his eyes as his eyes shifted between the two guards stationed outside of the throne room. Suddenly, he reached forward, opening the face guards of each of their helmets.

"Such superstition!" he laughed, watching the look of fear that was clear in both of their eyes "I will not allow it among my personal guard, understood? It makes us appear weak in the face of those you fear so greatly. Now, one of you go tell the others to relinquish this absurd practice and the other go tell my esteemed guest that I wish to speak with him presently."

"Sir!" both men paused only to once again salute before hurrying off to carry out their orders.

"Oh, and gentlemen!" Atticus called out to both soldiers halted and turned on their heals to hear the Emperor's added word. Atticus flashed yet another amused smile "Send braver men to stand guard at my door, understood?"

"Y-yes sir." they both mumbled, pride clearly having been stung. Atticus merely shrugged off their wounded glances as he turned and entered the throne room to await his guest.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Haldor turned to cheer victoriously to his men as his enemy was sent crashing into the rocky hillside, and was buried in an avalanche of blood soaked earth and massive stones. For a moment, it had seemed like he had come out on top. His victorious hurrah was cut short by a low rumble that could be heard, and felt, from the hillside. All fell silent as Haldor frowned, glancing over his shoulder, turning and taking a few cautious steps toward the source of the noise. 'It can't be...' he thought to himself incredulously. He barely managed to grasp the trunk of one of the nearby fallen trees to defend himself against the bombardment of stones and rubble that exploded from where Lucius had been buried. The barbarian king heard the cries of those who hadn't been as prepared and were slaughtered by blast and the suffering of those who had been injured severely.

Still, he paid them no mind as he tossed aside the massive tree. The impact of it's fall shook loose more of the stones on the hillside and branches from the surrounding trees. Haldor squared off his shoulders, staring Lucius dead in the eye. For the first time, he saw his enemy as an equal. And he was prepared to take the battle seriously. He popped his stiff fingers back into place, grunting loudly through the sickening pop that resulted in the movement. "You're a persistent one, I'll give ya that." he growled. "Come, let's end this."

With the very roar that his own men likened to the bear within their king's' soul, he charged forward, throwing the first punch at Lucius's face. Yet another loud crash was heard as Haldor's punch flew so fast and hard through the air, it sounded like thunder.

-----------------------------------------------------

Paige nodded, somewhat impressed by Lilith's words. "Tell you what... Let's make a deal." she said cheerfully. "Count on us to be your strength where it's needed. And feign the confidence you need to survive until you've found it. Above all, never forget what you've told me on this day. Even in the face of adversity. And on the way to Barisor, I'll teach you everything I know about battle strategy. That is if it won't interfere too much with Voltair's teachings." she stretched her hand out to Lilith in the spirit of comradery. "We'll make a fine ruler of you yet, child of Edward Newgate."

 

"Well confidence is something she will have to develop on her own. After all, it wouldn't be proper if somebody could just reach into her mind and force it to develop. I doubt she'd be quite the same afterwards. That, and it is akin to brainwashing. Anyways, if there's nothing else we might as well head out. I doubt you all want Jaxx to catch up." Voltair replied to Kable.

-----

Whether it was by simple curiosity or a more deliberate attempt to confirm some suspicion, the conversation was starting to veer towards Jaxx finding out exactly who Gerik was. While it wouldn't necessarily be bad for Jaxx to learn his identity, and even her father was aware of it, Gerik wanted to avoid letting people know. After all people change how they act around someone when the value of their life changes. It would be rather rude to lie to Jaxx, but at the same time he could only wonder what her reaction would be to him hiding his lineage from her this entire time.

"How to explain it...? Traditionally speaking, my swordplay is meant for the royal family's use only. Supposedly this tradition has been around since my people stopped being nomads. Of course there are other legends and stories that coincide with that, but I digress. Anyways, it used to be that the leader would teach his successor, and then that successor would in turn teach his successor, and so on. As my people developed, our leader took on the title of pharaoh and his role became something more akin to your father's role. With the increased duties involved, it was realized that the pharaoh could not dedicate the time that was necessary to teach. So the task of teaching fell to either a close aide or a family member who was a few steps removed from the line of succession. This tradition has since developed to the point where the only people who may learn this form of swordplay are the pharaoh, whoever may be next in line for the throne, and those who's role is to teach swordplay to the pharaoh and his successor."

 

Merrick had headed off in the direction Gerik had left in earlier that morning. His search didn’t take long as he saw Jaxx and Gerik chatting to each other. Gerik had built up a small sweat and Merrick safely assumed he had done some training. He thought about leaving the two of them to speak the thought of Tess’s reaction to him returning to camp without them was enough to sway that idea. Giving a little sigh Merrick made his way over to the two seemingly unnoticed. Once he was close enough Merrick put his hand on Jaxx’s shoulder. The young girl jumped at the sudden touch and turned to face him. “Easy” Merrick said the touch of a smile on his lips. “We need to get you a bell or something!” Jaxx said her heart still racing. All trace of joking left Merrick’s face and he looked the two of them one by one in the eye, finally resting on Jaxx’s. “It wouldn’t help you” he said casually, “You still wouldn’t hear me coming” There was a moment of awkward silence which Merrick was completely ignorant to. “Come, it’s time we left” he said turning around leading the two back to camp.

*

Tess had avoided the statement the Claire had asked. She had found it amusing at first but deeper thought on the subject made her realise how wrong the young girl was. It was true they were both quite, but nothing about their quietness was alike. Claire was young and innocent probably still in shock from the attack. Before the tragedy that befell her village she had probably never seen anyone murdered. Tess grew up with death, it was an old friend. One that herself and Merrick were never far from. Her silence was trained into her so she could become the lethal killer she is today. Still, Tess’s lack of an answer didn’t stop Claire from following her around camp asking question after question. The young girl scrutinised most everything she wanting everything to be explained. Tess eventually got the girl to stop by telling her to help her take down her and Gerik’s tent. Claire seemed excited to be asked to help and while she made the job more complicated that it had to be she enjoyed herself. Raven emerged from her own tent and helped break down the rest of camp. “Food is on a plate” Tess said pointing to where the fire which was nothing more than a few smouldering embers was. “Cold now. The others will have to eat as we move. We’ve wasted enough time”

 

(OOC: Oath and I both wrote in on this ending for you gentle creatures to enjoy.)

IC: Lucius was barely keeping up with Haldor. The destruction of his armor certainly surprised him to no end. The battle had been long and arduous, but both generals knew it was reaching its climax. Only one was going to walk away from this in one piece. The remaining men from both armies watched, raptured by the mere sight of these two behemoths dueling it out. Haldor threw the first punch, a vicious right hook that charged furiously towards Lucius' face. Lucius barely managed to cross his arms to block the punch. His entire body shook as if struck by lightning. Lucius quickly snagged Haldor's wrist and flung him straight into the city walls.

Haldor could tell Lucius was beginning to wear out as much as he. It was time to end this. With one final triumphant howl, he jabbed his massive fist to deal out the final blow. Much to his surprise, he felt the iron grip as Lucius used one last burst of reserved energy to latch onto Haldor's fist and stop it dead in the air. Haldor eye's widened as he locked gaze with the last sight he would ever see: The fury in his enemies eyes. After that, everything became a blur as he was hurled through the air as though his boulder of a body weighed nothing more than an autumn leaf. One final deafening crash rumbled the battleground as the mighty barbarian king smacked into the great wall that surrounded the city.

So high, had the Imperial general launched his foe, that Haldor's body hit right against the upper part of the wall. So close to the top that he was nearly thrown clean over the top and back into the city. Had his legs not snagged against the upper part of the wall and stayed behind. Haldor's upper torso disappeared to those below as his lower body fell back down in a pile against the outer part of the wall, where the great leaders of men dealt the first blows of the battle. All was silent, as it appeared the giant king was no more.

Seconds later, one hand was seen peeking over the edge of the wall, behind it the blood stained, barely recognizable face of King Haldor Lothbrok loomed above for all to see. "LOCH! Geblaan fos Zu'u gon, fah moro!" he bellowed, stopping only for a moment to hack up the blood that filled his lungs. "Fah un zeymah!" He could not see his second in command, nor much of anything else, as his vision blurred and darkened by the blood loss and shock. But he knew his words were heard. After those, his last words, Haldor's strength was spent and the great king, finally, fell.

 

Lilith's sudden playful comment amused and startled Paige, even with her ability to read emotions it was unexpected. If it brought any sort of color to Paige's face, it would be impossible to tell because Paige's face dropped to the ground as she shook her head, brushing a hand through her hair. The other one rested on her hip as she chuckled "Oh, so you're making jokes now?" she brought her eyes back to meet Lilith's, getting over her laughter. "Good, perhaps between my good humor and your jokes, this walking funeral you call an entourage can be saved after all, aye?" she winked before following Lilith back to the others. It was good to see Lilith was at least trying to put on a happy face. They would need it in the long day of travelling they had ahead of them.

--------------------- Hours later ----------------------------------

They day had been just as difficult as Paige could expect for a journey through Azureth's central mountain range. They were still far enough away from the conflicts to not run across any Imperial or Barbarian enemies. But the mountain range surrounding the two areas was swarming with bandits and dangerous wildlife. They were lucky to not have encountered more than two fairly simple conflicts. Still, the day was hot and the tree cover was becoming scare the farther East their travels took them.
The party had just been delayed by an ambush by a rather obnoxious and large group of bandits that recognized Lilith and tried to see if they could capture her to try to pry a bounty out of the Emperor. Paige wiped a bit of blood and sweat from her forehead, having just dispatched the last of the bandits with a swift stab through the ear using her hairpin. She cleaned off the accessory using the end of her tunic before placing it back into her hair. "Well, that was exciting wasn't it." she panted, scanning the area to try to locate her allies. "Who knew this area would be so popular for the average roughien and thug!"

 

Merrick watched from a distance as the group finished fighting a large party of bandits. He was impressed how they seemed to easily dispatch them. However he wished they had put up more of a fight as to delay the group. His own was taking far too long for his liking. The child didn’t help matters. Tess and Merrick had moved on ahead of the group to scout the area as well as attempt to find their targets. Merrick has sent Tess back to the group to guide them and make sure they didn’t lose their way.

Looking at the group he knew who most of them were. The giantess was Lilith, the old emperor’s daughter, and their contracted mark. He recognised all except for the loud mountain of a man clad in steel. The guild had dossiers on each other member of the group, and they all had a reputation besides. Kable Zandali, mercenary for hire. Along with at times what seemed his uneasy partner Paige Perea. Merrick thought on how two of the giantesses’ party were supposedly paid mercenaries; it didn’t add much credence to the fact that Lilith was the best thing for the country, especially if she had to pay for support. He smiled to himself the irony of the fact that he and Tess had been paid to accompany Jaxx on her journey not being lost on him. Perhaps the presence that surprised him the most, if not for the fact that last he heard the man had disappeared was the presence of the ‘Titan of the Arena’. Merrick remembered seeing a few of his fights. He could almost respect him as a fighter.

Merrick felt the familiar tugging near the base of his skull that he recognised as Tess using her power to search for him. Taking on last look over the group Merrick fused with the shadow and made his way back to the others.

Reappearing at the group Merrick first met Tess. She looked as irritated and impatient as he felt. “We aren’t far behind now. A hard push and we will be on them” Merrick said to her as she walked past him. “Had we left when I wanted, we would have had them already”

 

Gerik almost audibly let out a sigh of relief as Merrick gave him an excuse to drop the conversation he was having with Jaxx. He followed the pair as they had headed back to the camp.

Once back, Claire excitedly told Gerik about her hanging out with Tess and taking down the tent. Gerik was surprised to hear about Claire interacting with Tess, even more surprised to hear that Claire herself initiated it. There was a certain level of relief Gerik felt upon hearing this. Perhaps Claire was starting to get out and interact with other people again. Of course he did fail to think about later down the road when they would eventually find the people they were chasing after.

-----

The group had continued their pursuit in silence. Merrick and Tess went ahead, with Tess returning soon afterwards. It was at this point that Gerik began to wonder what to do with Claire, assuming they reached Lilith's group. He could always lock her in a rock pillar again to keep her safe, but he wasn't sure if he should do that in case something happened. He debated if he should be surprised or not about his lack of foresight with this issue.

-----

The party regrouped after defeating the last of the bandits. They quickly began to continue onward to their destination. While they walked Voltair suddenly stopped. He looked a bit surprised as he looked around, almost frantically searching for something on his body. "Huh... Hey guys, it looks like I dropped something during one of those bandit fights. I'm going to head back and look for it. You guys keep going. I'll catch up." Voltair turned and hurried away from the group as they continued east.

Having gotten out of sight from Lilith and the rest of them, Voltair made his way to an open clearing. Figuring this was as good as any spot to be, Voltair stopped there. Voltair held his hand out, a sword appearing in his hand. He stabbed it into the ground and kept his hands on the pommel, ready for Jaxx's group to catch up.

"Wait a sec... I was gonna try to be diplomatic." He muttered to himself. His sword faded away. "Can't be diplomatic if I have a weapon prepared when they arrived. Well so much for that cool look. Damn." Now it felt kinda strange to just be standing there without any kind of cool pose. He did know it was better to appear diplomatic though. His entire point of ensuring he encountered Jaxx's group without Lilith or anybody else was to make sure he was in full control of any sort of conversation that would go on. Odds are Lilith or somebody else would cause the conversation to veer in a direction he would rather avoid if possible.

 

The bandits were a breeze, Oryx had defeated a dozen by himself and he didn't even have to use his sword! He just grabbed the first guy and started swinging him at the others. He sat on a couple, but not on purpose, he accidently lost his balance as he entered a happy and wonderful trance of giddiness. Another three he scooped up in his arms and bear hugged with happiness because it had been soo long since he had fought someone. Unfortunately for Oryx he forgot how fragile their bodies were compared to his, he didn't kill them, but... they would definitely be hurting for a while to come. By the end of the fight, Oryx had obliterated the bandit stupid enough to fight him as well as send them all into a mental breakdown with his peppy attitude and bizarre fighting style. "What a marvelous fight my friends! Craig... You did an excellent job as my sword! You deserve a break!" Oryx said has dropped the guy he had been holding by the legs. The man's name was Craig, but he was barely conscious after having hit his head on so many people and objects and was in no shape to refute Oryx's statement.

Without warning Voltair said he had something to go find something he had dropped from one of the earlier ambushes. Must have been awfully important for him to go running back to go look for it. Looking at the others, "Do we let him go by himself? Four eyes are better than two, I know that for a fact because I saw fighting these giant bugs one time and man they could see everything with all those eyes they had! I could go help him or do we continue pressing on?" Oryx inquired as he looked back at where Voltair had ran off to.

 

The journey to Barisor was quite the rambunctious trip. Between training Lilith and putting that training to the test, Kable took the time to actually get a feel for how the group worked together. Lilith was beginning to show improvement in her fighting technique and leadership. Oryx mainly did his own thing, which was alright with Kable. That gave him enough insentive to trust Oryx. Not enough with his life yet, but definitely trust to travel with.

Voltair and Paige, on the other hand, still gave warrant for concern. Kable always slightly mistrusted Paige, but actually traveling with her made him slowly began to understand her. Kable started to see that they were, in their own way, one and the same. And that scared him. Voltair scared him even more so, as the demon trapped inside him would stir anytime Voltair and he conversed. Any person that could cause the demon to react in such a way concerned Kable.

The latest batch of bandits proved just as easy for them as the rest had. Kable gave himself into the battle and it was over before he knew it. He wiped his sword clean on the nearest dead body and sheathed it. Oryx proved to have done the most damage, as he had a literal trail of downed bandits behind him. They began traveling again, and then Voltair backtracked, claiming to have dropped something. Kable gave no reason to concern, and turned when Oryx inquired about joining him. "Leave him to it, Oryx. Voltair is more than capable to hold his own."

-------------

Lucius stood tall, his body bruised and bloody. Holdor was no more, thrown far and fast by Lucius into the city walls. Silence followed Holdor's final words to this Finn, dread soon following suit. Lucius raised his sword and bellowed, "Take the city!" To the remainder of his army.

 

Jaxx’s comment on sending Raven ahead didn’t gleam a reaction out of either of the assassins. They simply took off in the same direction. Merrick had thought her smart for doing so. It showed she was sensible enough not to trust them. The two set a fast pace almost running while keeping silent. Even Tess had to admit she was impressed with how well Jaxx kept up with them. She didn’t have the nimbleness that herself or Merrick possessed, but she wasn’t the loudest person she’d heard running. Tess noticed Merrick cock his head slightly and with that he disappeared into shadow and was gone. Tess and Jaxx ran together in silence until Tess noticed Merrick a short way ahead holding up a hand. Tess immediately came to a stop and put an arm out to prevent Jaxx from going further. Merrick made a signal with his hand and Tess crouched down low signalled to Jaxx to stay put and began almost crawling towards her brother on her hands and feet. When the two were side by side they communicated with hand signals and slight movements that were only known to them. The two seemed to come to a silent agreement in time for Jaxx to appear beside them. “Impressive” Merrick thought again, she was a fast learner. He signalled her again to remain silent and motioned her to move forward. There in a clearing ahead of them stood Raven and Voltair. Merrick placed a hand on Jaxx’s shoulder for a moment to get her attention. He made a motion with his head and Jaxx silently agreed.

Once the three were out of earshot the stood and slowly made their way around the clearing until both Tess and Merrick were confident they could make it to Lilith and her remaining companions without interference. As they made their way Merrick briefly told Jaxx of their plan of attack. “Remember” Jaxx said as the three came to a stop. “No needless bloodshed” Both Tess and Merrick looked between them a slight smirk on Tess’s lips. “We aren’t bound by the promise you made to your master” Merrick said before disappearing into shadow. Jaxx stood looking at Tess for a short moment. “Let’s go” Tess said and the two of them went out to confront their enemy

*****

Haldor was dead. His armies could hardly believe it. His final words hanging in the air the men looked to Finnan. The sight before them sent chills to the spine of even the most war hardened of his men.

The general shouted. Finnan began laughing. It was a low chuckle at first. Barely audible to those even surrounding him; slowly it grew, to a loud frenzied laugh. Finnan’s men moved as far from him as possible, some even resorted to banging on the shut gate asking to be let in. Slowly Finnan began moving forward, laughing all the while. Someone moved to intercept him or avoid him, he couldn’t tell. He didn’t care. The man was met with an axe through his skull. Blood spattered on Loch’s already bloody face and the laugh continued. A sword came down on him but Loch was too fast. The blade bit into his shield lodging itself in the wooden rim, yanking the shield to his side the man was exposed. Finnan’s axe caught him in the neck and he allowed the axe and the shield to fall with him. Reaching behind him he drew his two handed sword his laugh intensifying. Two men made for him this time, a big mistake. Finnan swung his massive blade as if it was a child’s toy and the men came apart at the waist, blood and gore flying through the air. Finnan stopped where he stood and let out a thunderous laugh which turned into a roar. When the roar ended Loch’s eyes met his target. He stared down the Imperial general and began making his way to the man.

 

"Why indeed?" Voltair smiled as Raven made herself known. "I suppose it summarized as such: Killing is easy, but diplomacy is hard. If we're going to be honest here, I could've easily killed your assassin companion the second I knew he was observing us. Instead I figured it would be a chance to attempt being diplomatic. That is, of course, assuming your princess is willing to listen. Which I hope would be more likely to happen if we conversed away from Lilith."

Voltair walked towards Raven, two goblets in his left hand. He held his right hand palm up at his chest, a black circle forming above it. An urn fell from the circle, as if the circle were a portal to somewhere else. Voltair poured a liquid into the two goblets and handed one of them to Raven. "My apologies if this seems too forward, but there are times I find myself either tinkering around with random materials or crafting various brews. One day I found myself creating this wine, somehow knowing how to make it without ever being told a recipe. As I look upon your stunning countenance, I can't help but feel that you would be delighted by this wine and I would be honored if you would drink it. At the very least it could be the start of any sort of diplomatic talks."

Expecting Jaxx and the others to show up sooner or later, Voltair had been searching for the thoughts of Jaxx or anybody else, signifying that they had arrived. Nothing yet. "I do acknowledge that the two of us having the misfortune of siding with people who are at odds with each other does make me appear to be untrustworthy to you. As such it isn't too far of a stretch to assume I am simply lying to you about the wine and am instead offering you poison. Furthermore after seeing my arm when we first met, the only logical conclusion is that I myself am immune to poison and would have no trouble drinking it. This all puts me at a disadvantage, especially since it would be quite depressing to see you toss my wine aside because of our allegiances and all that come from them. Frustratingly I cannot think of a way to alleviate you of these concerns."

"I am a man of my word, and I give you my word that this wine is not poison. If that is not enough, I shall opt for the truth." As Voltair spoke, he heard the thoughts of Tess, Merrick, and Jaxx. Instead of them coming to Raven, they instead decided to go around her and Voltair to get at Lilith. Voltair was tempted to stop them right then and there, either by pointing them out to Raven or doing something to stop them; such as barraging their location with weapons. Instead, he stayed where he was, using their going on ahead as an excuse for him to continue talking to Raven. That being said though, he would not let the three go on to Lilith without some form of resistance.

"Truthfully, ever since the day you disarmed me, I have been quite curious about you. Not out of any sort of pride for formerly being an untouched warrior, but more for my own reaction when I saw you. What I did that day, suddenly dropping my guard as though you were an old friend, was something I would never do. So why is it that you elicit such reactions from me? I... Desire to know more about you, as awful as that may sound." The tone of Voltair's voice slightly changed with that sentence, as though he was concerned with Raven viewing him worse than he actually was. "As such I would never attempt to harm you while these questions run through my mind. Wait, crap, that statement sounds pretty bad too. Umm..." Voltair almost seemed to trip over his words as he tried to correct himself. "Really? You're gonna act like this?" He berated himself as he thought of what to say. Trying to break this awkward moment, Voltair quickly downed his goblet of wine and refilled it. "While I am more than willing to cross blades with you, I have no intention of ever striking you down."

-----

In front of the two assassins and Jaxx stood a pack of wolves. All of them had jet black fur and were each standing as tall as Merrick. Voltair summoned them to serve as a delay to the group. As the trio would quickly find out, these wolves would not go down as easily as any normal creature.

-----

Gerik watched as the entire group hurried on ahead without him or Claire. "Are you going to hurry too Gerik?" She asked him.

"No, I don't think so. They've got something to do, and I would rather keep you with me while they do it."

"Did you want to stay in Karsesh? You almost seemed hesitant when it was time to go."

"I'm sorry Claire. I've just had a lot on my mind lately. We can always return to Karsesh later though." Truthfully though, Gerik was unsure of what he should be doing. On the one hand, it was highly unlikely that Claire's family had survived the assault on her village. Gerik was pretty certain Claire was the only survivor. Her occasional night terrors helped solidify that thought. On the other hand though, Karsesh was probably where Gerik had the best chance of finding somebody who would take care of Claire. But what then? Given how Titan Worshipers were treated in Aezureth, how long would it be until she was put in danger again. Certainly, Karsesh was large enough that it was unlikely a large group of people would attack the Titan Worshipers there. But perhaps someone might find out about Claire and target her specifically.

That wasn't his only concern. Gerik still wanted to help Jaxx. He didn't want to simply abandon her the first chance he got. He looked down to Claire. "Would you like us to turn back to Karsesh? We will go if you want us to."

"It would be fun to stay there longer. But it has also been fun being with everybody."

"Oh? You enjoy being with everybody? You don't show it that well."

"Shush." She spoke while punching Gerik's leg.

"Okay, okay. I get it. We'll return to Karsesh with everybody with us."

"How are we going to catch up to them?"

"We'll be fine. If we're lucky they will have finished their task by the time we catch up. So let's go." The pair continued following where Jaxx and everybody else ran off to.

 

Jaxx's attack hit one of the wolves. It stood there, a black miasma flowing out of the wound similar to when Voltair was injured by Raven prior. The wound disappeared when the miasma stopped flowing. Looking directly at Jaxx, the wolf almost seemed to grin at her. There was a quiet growling as the wolves began to walk towards the trio. The pack began circling them, keeping a calculated distance.

-----

Raven certainly knew how to keep the conversation on topic and away form herself. That was a bit irritating. "Well throughout my training of Lilith to prepare her for becoming emperor, I have been trying to get her to be able to put aside her own desires to do what must be done. Essentially I've been trying to get her to be willing to kill Jaxx if it ever comes to that. Whether Lilith knows it or not, I know she's never going to try to kill Jaxx. She may not realize it and think she can go through with it, but deep down she will never commit to killing Jaxx in order to become emperor." Voltair paused for a moment to consider his next statement. "Jaxx can chase me all she wants. She will never be able to capture me, which I had hoped her father had understood with how long he's been after me. Come to think about it, one of these days I might find myself in Sax. Depending on his reasons for wanting to capture me, I may end up killing the emperor myself."

After casually threatening Emperor Atticus like that, Voltair returned to speaking of Lilith. "Anyways, in an attempt to stop wasting my time with getting that through Lilith's skull, I came here to extend an offer of armistice. Assuming Jaxx's father isn't a complete savage, I would hope she had been taught some of the more ancient traditions. My intentions for such an armistice would be to extend one of those ancient traditions to her. Break bread, share salt, whatever metaphors you all are familiar with. While doing that, we would then be able to discuss an end to her pursuit. Or at the very least placing a temporary halt on it. Maybe convince Jaxx to actually go out and help the people she is supposedly dedicated to."

Before Raven could respond to what he said, Voltair worked to change the topic of conversation. "I thank you for your compliments towards me earlier. I can only hope that your comments, despite their vagueness, also meant that you like my wine. I do have to say that I don't believe you when you say there is nothing important to know about you. People are incredibly easy for me to read. To the point where they cannot keep a secret from me. Yet when I look at you, I automatically decide not to read you like I would another. I can only ever guess at what you're thinking; never truly knowing like I would towards another. I feel that alone is something that sets you apart, though others may call it simple infatuation. But even without reading you like I would another, I can tell that you're downplaying yourself. I am curious why, though I understand the desire to keep secrets. There is much I keep secret about myself after all."

Voltair drank from his goblet a bit more before setting it next to Raven's. "For example, I have no recollection of anything beyond... Oh I don't know... Eight years. I woke up on the shores of Le Melr, knowing only my name. That's something that nobody knows about me. It may seem odd to tell you, and honestly I probably wouldn't have told you under different circumstances. But then I saw you give your necklace to Kable back when we first met. Seeing it certainly took me by surprise. Not the gemstone that was attached, but the wooden charm that was with it." Similar to the urn earlier, another black circle opened up above Voltair's free hand and an object dropped into his hand. "I know you said that you made that charm; whether that is a lie or not doesn't really matter. When I first woke I had this necklace around my neck. I don't know why I have it, only that it is valuable to me." Voltair held out the object in his hand, a necklace. Hanging from this necklace was a piece that looked similar to the charm on the necklace Raven had given Kable.