Darius Quill I
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:53 pm
1st of Searing, 4622
A sack of his finer goods was slung over his back, clothes and the like that didn't quite suit the abrasive sands as they rolled over him and his companion both, and so each had opted to dress in ragged cloaks that billowed and flickered against the wind as it ran them ragged.
The sun was a nonissue for either of them given the thickness of the sand-laden winds that ran through their forms as they climbed.
Arkash, dressed in the deep green rags of his desert attire, took the gunmetal rim of his industrial goggles in hand with a firm grip on the strap of his brass rifle as he looked over his shoulder at the lithe figure in red, who lagged.
Briefly, the red of her gaze caught the gleam of his goggles in the lowlight of the sandstorm, and he quietly waited as she caught up.
Rag covering her mouth she spoke loud against the wind. "I thought you said we were close?!"
"We're here!" Arkash returned. "This is it!"
A gesture of his burning claws extended his arm to the amber-stoned crag that jutted from the summit the dune of packed earth and sand, as though he gestured to the mountain itself.
The Cardinal stared a moment at where he gestured, then darted her blood-red gaze to the Rathor as he stood. "Is it on top?!" She followed, clearly confused in the delivery of her ask.
Arkash shook his head, then lifted the scuffed rim of his goggles. "Inside," he clarified lowly.
"What?!" Called the senior Cardinal in response.
A stiff smile pulled at the thick dark lips of his deathly reptilian visage, and he lowered the goggles once more as he began to trail his claws along the cracked rock that formed the crag. His hand trailed over the arch in the formation and ran to the deeper gash in the stone, where Arkash pressed and tested the obscuring depths of the rock.
Suddenly, his arm found some give and slipped to the shoulder in the hold of the rocky structure. With his cheek pressed to the dusty surface, he shut his eyes and felt around the inside of the crag before he seized the linear handle, wrapped the tips of his fingers around the manmade device, the pulled hard. Mechanical cranking sounded as the device the handle was attached to whirred to life.
As he twisted and release the handle, the device withdrew into the stone and shook the area they stood upon with the weight of the shift. The red one's arms shot out to stabilize herself as the entire structure they stood upon seemed to work the happenings that proceeded.
Steadily, the arch of stone that Arkash had trailed over began to sink further into the crag, which further accentuated the crack in its formation. After just half a foot or so, it began to sink into the ground and slowly revealed the chamber beyond. Carved into the stone was a broad room of circular design, rough and jagged in the chisel-like bevels of the manmade structure, with a perfect circle of ornate structure and design carved into the centerpiece; a single lever extending from the crescent-moon base at the center of the device.
Over his shoulder, he looked to the fair-skinned dranoch who stared with what Arkash could only read as impressed. The glint of her eye darted to as he offered a hand to gesture she entered first. With little hesitation, she accepted and proceeded into the threshold of the stone, out of the billowing wroth of the storm.
Arkash followed suit, then slung his bag from his shoulder and set it gently on the engraved brass ground. the weight of his rifle was comfortable on his shoulder, despite the awkwardness of its length and the distribution of the barrel that sometimes bumped the quills that extended from the back of his head.
he released the strap of the rifle to seize the handle in the center of the circular floor and widened his stance to engage his bodyweight as he leaned back and pulled. His progenitor stared in her usual fashion, calculating, observant. When the crank of the external handle sounded, and the rocky arch began to ascend, Arkash looked at her with a knowing grin.
As the boulder doorway covered enough of the outside to muffle the hissing tear of the storm, his progenitor began to lower her facial wrappings and revealed her fair, almost porcelain elven skin to the darkness of the chamber. "...And you found this by accident?" She asked with a glance to the Rath who steady unmasked himself in tandem.
He nodded as his goggles came to rest around his collar. "Everything inside was rotten to hell; doors, chairs, tables, plates, and shit..." he continued in a list. "It's like whoever lived here before just up and disappeared for no reason; I don't mind though, we've got a real nice hideout now."
Fayeth rose a single brow at his words before the floor sunk a little. Both brows rose as her arms shot out to catch herself again, and she looked down at the movement of the structure with recognition; it was an elevator.
"...Oh? Well now I'm excited," she said with a smile. "I'm not sure if this place is worth your disappearance, but I can't deny that you've stumbled upon something of a gem, Arkash."
The younger of the two merely rose a brow at the gesture, then shrugged a little in response. "Just wait until you see the tunnels, this place is huge."
As they began to descend, a set of four large brass gears in each corner of the room ran down a track; the product of artificing. Steadily, they descended into the darkness of the Derelict. Fayeth smiled and crossed her arms. Deep red eyes lingered on the Rath while Arkash stared on in thoughtful silence, then roused from whatever subject his mind had chosen to fixate on in the few seconds of silence that had come over them, and returned her gaze like a deer in headlights.
"What is it?"
Fayeth's smile persisted. "I've missed you, Arkash," she spoke affectionately. "It has been too long; you didn't think to visit at all?"
The younger man scoffed a little, eyes rolled away from her. "Well, of course! I did think to visit, I was just..." he trailed off in thought, mind running through all the events that had taken place in the few seasons prior. His enslavement, the Soiree, the entrapment of his heart, the loss of his magic, and his near-enough Sundering.
Fayeth's laugh interrupted the reel of his visions, and she shook her head. "I know, I know. You have a habit of finding trouble wherever you go. I can only imagine what sorts of adventures led you to that mage, but I'd quite like the run down of what has happened soon," she spoke in a reminder of Arkash's promise. "Oh, and your common has improved so much! I almost don't recognize your voice," she observed as the elevator came to a halt. "How did you learn to speak so eloquently?" She asked as Arkash gestured to the gaping hole in the wall behind them.
Fayeth turned on the spot, then peered wide-eyed into the darkness of the chamber as it extended from where they stood, the twist of dug tunnels and carried deeper into the solid red rock.
"A noble," Arkash answered while she marveled at the intensity of their tunnel system, and Arkash took a step forward, and paused at the flick of his tongue.
Blood.
There was blood in the stale air of the cave, and as Arkash engaged his dranoch vision, he found a puddle of it to illuminate the distant darkness of the hall.
He lifted a hand to motion that Fayeth stopped her advance, and she breathed in through her nose at the gesture; it was blindingly obvious to both the sharks that someone or something was wounded there.
Quietly, Arkash prepared his rifle, cocked the hammer, and aimed down the sight at the source of the blood that shined so vibrantly in the darkness. it spattered the wall, as though whatever had inflicted the wound to the victim was meant to be lethal. Even so, there was no cadaver near it to link the blood to.
Sprinting.
Heavy feet on the ground and labored breathing followed before a figure rushed through the bloodied hall, and Arkash lowered his rifle upon recognizing the figure. Izzy; she was alive and uninjured, so what had made such a mess in their halls?
"Up!" She called. "Up up up!"
"get back on the lift," Arkash said and took a step back. Fayeth was cautious but did as Arkash said. Quickly, Arkash took hold of the handle once he lowered his gun, then pulled.
Through the darkness, the human rushed the structure as it cranked and began to ascend. before the elevator was even three feet off the floor, she threw her upper half onto the plate, and Arkash quickly dove at the knee to drag her over and onto the platform. She quickly rolled aside with a scream as an enormous chitinous blade launched from the darkness and slashed through the cloth of Arkash's chest. before it could withdraw, Fayeth was upon the attacker with both her blades, which barely disturbed the hardened keratin despite her strength.
"Fuck!" Izzy called as she scrambled across the ground. "Fuck fuck fuck!!!"
her breathing was ragged, her heart beat fast for both Cardinals to hear.
Quickly, Arkash stepped up and took his rifle to fire from the hip, an arc of electricity to blast and illuminate the sickening shape of the creature as the bullet struck In that brief flash of light, the beast was made known; an enormous centipede creature of fantastic proportions and bladed limbs to adorn every inch of its thick carapace. The site of the blast seemed to cave slightly as the creature roared an ungodly hiss, and withdrew into the darkness as the last cracks of the hall vanished from view.
More shrieking could be heard in tandem with the organic squeaking of its oily carapace as it slunk further into the twisting halls of the Derelict.
Arkash stayed in silence for a moment, just staring at the area that the creature had become illuminated within, now veiled by cut stone. With rapid blinking, he lowered his gun and brought his stance in as Fayeth stowed her blades.
"Izzy?" Arkash asked calmly as the girl climbed to her feet, still breathing quickly. "What the fuck was that thing?"
She leaned forward, arms pressed to her knees while she breathed heavily, heaving into the dry air of their chamber of external air. "Silk wall..." She said, and Arkash cringed. "It got... Got out."
A sack of his finer goods was slung over his back, clothes and the like that didn't quite suit the abrasive sands as they rolled over him and his companion both, and so each had opted to dress in ragged cloaks that billowed and flickered against the wind as it ran them ragged.
The sun was a nonissue for either of them given the thickness of the sand-laden winds that ran through their forms as they climbed.
Arkash, dressed in the deep green rags of his desert attire, took the gunmetal rim of his industrial goggles in hand with a firm grip on the strap of his brass rifle as he looked over his shoulder at the lithe figure in red, who lagged.
Briefly, the red of her gaze caught the gleam of his goggles in the lowlight of the sandstorm, and he quietly waited as she caught up.
Rag covering her mouth she spoke loud against the wind. "I thought you said we were close?!"
"We're here!" Arkash returned. "This is it!"
A gesture of his burning claws extended his arm to the amber-stoned crag that jutted from the summit the dune of packed earth and sand, as though he gestured to the mountain itself.
The Cardinal stared a moment at where he gestured, then darted her blood-red gaze to the Rathor as he stood. "Is it on top?!" She followed, clearly confused in the delivery of her ask.
Arkash shook his head, then lifted the scuffed rim of his goggles. "Inside," he clarified lowly.
"What?!" Called the senior Cardinal in response.
A stiff smile pulled at the thick dark lips of his deathly reptilian visage, and he lowered the goggles once more as he began to trail his claws along the cracked rock that formed the crag. His hand trailed over the arch in the formation and ran to the deeper gash in the stone, where Arkash pressed and tested the obscuring depths of the rock.
Suddenly, his arm found some give and slipped to the shoulder in the hold of the rocky structure. With his cheek pressed to the dusty surface, he shut his eyes and felt around the inside of the crag before he seized the linear handle, wrapped the tips of his fingers around the manmade device, the pulled hard. Mechanical cranking sounded as the device the handle was attached to whirred to life.
As he twisted and release the handle, the device withdrew into the stone and shook the area they stood upon with the weight of the shift. The red one's arms shot out to stabilize herself as the entire structure they stood upon seemed to work the happenings that proceeded.
Steadily, the arch of stone that Arkash had trailed over began to sink further into the crag, which further accentuated the crack in its formation. After just half a foot or so, it began to sink into the ground and slowly revealed the chamber beyond. Carved into the stone was a broad room of circular design, rough and jagged in the chisel-like bevels of the manmade structure, with a perfect circle of ornate structure and design carved into the centerpiece; a single lever extending from the crescent-moon base at the center of the device.
Over his shoulder, he looked to the fair-skinned dranoch who stared with what Arkash could only read as impressed. The glint of her eye darted to as he offered a hand to gesture she entered first. With little hesitation, she accepted and proceeded into the threshold of the stone, out of the billowing wroth of the storm.
Arkash followed suit, then slung his bag from his shoulder and set it gently on the engraved brass ground. the weight of his rifle was comfortable on his shoulder, despite the awkwardness of its length and the distribution of the barrel that sometimes bumped the quills that extended from the back of his head.
he released the strap of the rifle to seize the handle in the center of the circular floor and widened his stance to engage his bodyweight as he leaned back and pulled. His progenitor stared in her usual fashion, calculating, observant. When the crank of the external handle sounded, and the rocky arch began to ascend, Arkash looked at her with a knowing grin.
As the boulder doorway covered enough of the outside to muffle the hissing tear of the storm, his progenitor began to lower her facial wrappings and revealed her fair, almost porcelain elven skin to the darkness of the chamber. "...And you found this by accident?" She asked with a glance to the Rath who steady unmasked himself in tandem.
He nodded as his goggles came to rest around his collar. "Everything inside was rotten to hell; doors, chairs, tables, plates, and shit..." he continued in a list. "It's like whoever lived here before just up and disappeared for no reason; I don't mind though, we've got a real nice hideout now."
Fayeth rose a single brow at his words before the floor sunk a little. Both brows rose as her arms shot out to catch herself again, and she looked down at the movement of the structure with recognition; it was an elevator.
"...Oh? Well now I'm excited," she said with a smile. "I'm not sure if this place is worth your disappearance, but I can't deny that you've stumbled upon something of a gem, Arkash."
The younger of the two merely rose a brow at the gesture, then shrugged a little in response. "Just wait until you see the tunnels, this place is huge."
As they began to descend, a set of four large brass gears in each corner of the room ran down a track; the product of artificing. Steadily, they descended into the darkness of the Derelict. Fayeth smiled and crossed her arms. Deep red eyes lingered on the Rath while Arkash stared on in thoughtful silence, then roused from whatever subject his mind had chosen to fixate on in the few seconds of silence that had come over them, and returned her gaze like a deer in headlights.
"What is it?"
Fayeth's smile persisted. "I've missed you, Arkash," she spoke affectionately. "It has been too long; you didn't think to visit at all?"
The younger man scoffed a little, eyes rolled away from her. "Well, of course! I did think to visit, I was just..." he trailed off in thought, mind running through all the events that had taken place in the few seasons prior. His enslavement, the Soiree, the entrapment of his heart, the loss of his magic, and his near-enough Sundering.
Fayeth's laugh interrupted the reel of his visions, and she shook her head. "I know, I know. You have a habit of finding trouble wherever you go. I can only imagine what sorts of adventures led you to that mage, but I'd quite like the run down of what has happened soon," she spoke in a reminder of Arkash's promise. "Oh, and your common has improved so much! I almost don't recognize your voice," she observed as the elevator came to a halt. "How did you learn to speak so eloquently?" She asked as Arkash gestured to the gaping hole in the wall behind them.
Fayeth turned on the spot, then peered wide-eyed into the darkness of the chamber as it extended from where they stood, the twist of dug tunnels and carried deeper into the solid red rock.
"A noble," Arkash answered while she marveled at the intensity of their tunnel system, and Arkash took a step forward, and paused at the flick of his tongue.
Blood.
There was blood in the stale air of the cave, and as Arkash engaged his dranoch vision, he found a puddle of it to illuminate the distant darkness of the hall.
He lifted a hand to motion that Fayeth stopped her advance, and she breathed in through her nose at the gesture; it was blindingly obvious to both the sharks that someone or something was wounded there.
Quietly, Arkash prepared his rifle, cocked the hammer, and aimed down the sight at the source of the blood that shined so vibrantly in the darkness. it spattered the wall, as though whatever had inflicted the wound to the victim was meant to be lethal. Even so, there was no cadaver near it to link the blood to.
Sprinting.
Heavy feet on the ground and labored breathing followed before a figure rushed through the bloodied hall, and Arkash lowered his rifle upon recognizing the figure. Izzy; she was alive and uninjured, so what had made such a mess in their halls?
"Up!" She called. "Up up up!"
"get back on the lift," Arkash said and took a step back. Fayeth was cautious but did as Arkash said. Quickly, Arkash took hold of the handle once he lowered his gun, then pulled.
Through the darkness, the human rushed the structure as it cranked and began to ascend. before the elevator was even three feet off the floor, she threw her upper half onto the plate, and Arkash quickly dove at the knee to drag her over and onto the platform. She quickly rolled aside with a scream as an enormous chitinous blade launched from the darkness and slashed through the cloth of Arkash's chest. before it could withdraw, Fayeth was upon the attacker with both her blades, which barely disturbed the hardened keratin despite her strength.
"Fuck!" Izzy called as she scrambled across the ground. "Fuck fuck fuck!!!"
her breathing was ragged, her heart beat fast for both Cardinals to hear.
Quickly, Arkash stepped up and took his rifle to fire from the hip, an arc of electricity to blast and illuminate the sickening shape of the creature as the bullet struck In that brief flash of light, the beast was made known; an enormous centipede creature of fantastic proportions and bladed limbs to adorn every inch of its thick carapace. The site of the blast seemed to cave slightly as the creature roared an ungodly hiss, and withdrew into the darkness as the last cracks of the hall vanished from view.
More shrieking could be heard in tandem with the organic squeaking of its oily carapace as it slunk further into the twisting halls of the Derelict.
Arkash stayed in silence for a moment, just staring at the area that the creature had become illuminated within, now veiled by cut stone. With rapid blinking, he lowered his gun and brought his stance in as Fayeth stowed her blades.
"Izzy?" Arkash asked calmly as the girl climbed to her feet, still breathing quickly. "What the fuck was that thing?"
She leaned forward, arms pressed to her knees while she breathed heavily, heaving into the dry air of their chamber of external air. "Silk wall..." She said, and Arkash cringed. "It got... Got out."
Image source.
