[closed] by the light of starstone

[Talon]

48th of Frost, 119th Year of the Age of Steel

Talon landed squarely on the bulbous neck of a shambler that was scrambling through the dirt. It squealed, tendrils that might as well have been intestines flailing around as they tried to grasp at the boot he had to its neck. He growled, bringing down his blade and lopping of its head. Still, even decapitated the creature’s body flailed. Kicking it away from him, Talon shoved it aside and turned to examined the rest of the darkness that lay before them. He narrowed his eyes, stilling his breathing in order to get a clearer sense of their surroundings.

Before him rose the ruined rubble of what might have once been an outpost. The broken watchtower signified some sort of outpost. He could only assume that the remnants of the building nearby was a garrison. For what? Talon could only wonder. It again brought questions to him as to what once existed in the deep place of the earth. Subterranean civilization was not unknown to Ransera. The Dwarves were the prime example of this but the architecture across the First Deep was not like anything of Dwarven make. If they were, it was a clan that none had ever heard of or seen before. That begged the question then, who built the civilization that sprawled across the Warrens that extended beneath many of the cavernous spaces across Karnor?

Talon didn’t have much more time to think on that as he heard the tell-tale chittering of yet more creatures intent on feasting on his innards. He narrowed his eyes. Three shinaegri were dashing across the open cavern toward him. Without hesitation, Talon sprinted forward. He blade was steady in his hand as he met the first of the grotesque monstrosities head on. The abomination to his right, he shoved backward with a focused push of telekinetik force that sent it sprawling backwards. He disemboweled the creature on his blade then smacked the third with his left wing, momentarily catching it off guard. He had just enough time to drive his blade through the first creature’s chest before being forced to catch the second one in mid-air as it leapt at him. Talon held it there with his kinetics.

Talon swung his sword in an arc, slicing the limbs of the third shambler that charged at him. He glanced at the one he had suspended in the air. With little more than a breath, he Compressed the Aether Flux around the creature from all directions applying the maximum force he could. The sickening crunch of bone and the pained shriek of the beast was ear splitting before it plopped to the cave floor with a bloody wet smack. That left the final shambler for him to focus on.

He parried a blow, his chainmail managed to take the brunt of another rake of the creature’s claws across his torso. That allowed Talon to shove his sword through the beast’s skull. It twitched before going limp. Talon yanked his sword out. He took in a steadying breath and then sighed.

“Are you alright, brother?” Talon turned back to where his younger brother Rien was. The both of them had split off briefly to deal with different groups of creatures. His grey eyes settled on his brother and there was no worry or concern in them. Rien was a proven warrior and Talon had confidence in his abilities to deal with the more common creatures in the Warrens.

[Rien Novalys]

48th of Frost

S

tones turned underfoot as the brothers had entered. Of course, their entrance hadn't gone completely unnoticed. He wasn't surprised and nor did he care, as the citizens of warrens started to crawl from their holes. Recent events had left him with an even worse distaste for the creatures. With spear in hand, he walked around the crawling mound of flesh. Side stepping fast enough to keep the creature from striking out as he looked for a weak point. With a quick step and a thrust the beast was nothing more then a pile of death. The tip of the spear piercing through the skull. Deformation leaving it weaker then average. Blood pouring for the open wound as the weapon was pulled from it's resting place.

With no time to celebrate his victory, another came crawling towards him. This one in a more bipedal way. The creature struck out in a vicious lung. Clawed hands scraping against the armor worn by the man. Trying to find purchase as the spear sunk into it's chest. Violent thrashing causing the man to have to dodge to keep out of range. Minor cuts and scrapes as the tips of the claws found purchase. With a grunt, the man pushed the beast back with a kick. The spear coated in blood, as it was spun in his hand. Droplets cast on the ground like paint leaving the brush. Spear raised and brought down with fury, again and again until the beast lay dead.

“Are you alright, brother?”

Rising over a small mound of dirt and rock that separated the two. A large column as the center piece of the opening they were in. Stepping up and over the mound, Rien offered a smile to his brother. "Yes, and I've killed two. Any sign of what we've come searching for?" he asked.

This place was his living nightmare. He hated it with every fiber of his life. He wanted to collapse it. To bring down the caverns in whatever way we could. Crushing life of the creatures and preventing the beasts from crawling from the depths again. But of course, it wasn't that ease. The city was built around the harvest of the Shards that lay within these caverns. Years of tradition and life had been built on these caverns and the ruins that remained underneath still held secrets that could be useful.

With a sigh, he looked over the ruins of the outpost. Returning his glance towards his brother. "So what do you think of all this? You know there are rumors... Stories, I guess, that whoever, whatever lived here before used to create the Shards. Some say their the souls of those who perished down here. To live in suffering and serve the living. Kind of grim but who knows." Bending over to grasp a loose stone. Tossing it over the wall to see if anything stirred on the other side.

[Talon]

Talon smirked. He felt an immense swelling of pride in his brother having seen the warrior that he’d grown into. Though he felt a slight pang in his chest, Talon knew that when he left Kalzasi, his brother and the rest of his family would certainly make sure their people were safe. It was a topic of discussion that he had yet to bring up with Rien. While the two of them had drifted slightly as they’d gravitated toward their adult lives, Talon felt no lessening of compassion toward his younger sibling. Family meant everything to the Synnekar. It was what made the all too recent betrayal of their great uncle Jacien, their father’s predecessor, so jarring and so galling. That a man, an Avialae, would be so driven by greed and power to kill so many members of his family was appalling.

Talon sheathed his sword turning to walk through the cavern with his brother as they approached the crumbling structure.

“‘They call it “The Buried Empire”. The scholars of House Zatrian say that there is something to suggest it was once on the surface in ancient times.” He watched as Rien tossed a stone into the distance. He listened to it as it skipped across the rocky surface of the ground. When nothing jumped out at them, he relaxed some of the tension in his shoulders.

“I’m not sure what to think of it. Our world is old, brother. Kingdoms have risen and fallen for thousands of years. Who knows what the people of this lost place once devoted themselves to?” Talon shrugged his shoulders. “But if I had to guess, they worshipped a Mistlord in a time when perhaps they walked this world more freely.”

It was the only thing that made logical sense to Talon. Only the Mistlords would do something as depraved as what could be seen around the First Deep of the Warrens. Which one was anyone’s guess.

As for what they had come into the Warren’s searching for? Talon had not picked up any hint of it just yet. He opened up his senses to a different kind of perception. He was immediately hit by the overwhelming cloud of gloom that clung to nearly every stone in the First Deep of the Warrens. He furrowed his brow, pushing aside the heavy feelings of hostility, dread and dreary hopelessness that permeated practically everything. He focused on more fine tuning his perception using the magic of Semblance, searching for that light in the darkness. A spot that instead of hopelessness, gave hope and protection. As far as his senses could extend, he felt nothing. Talon blinked and shook his head, shaking off the negative emotions that tried to cling to him.

“I don’t sense any starstone yet. We will have to go deeper. We both know it tends to grow in more perilous places.” They would have to find a rift of some sort. An opening in the veil. A small one was preferable but it was the most common place that starstone grew. Directly within the purview of a rift and typically near a particularly nasty beast.

“Can I ask you something, Rien?” He paused, glancing at his brother. “Have you given any thought to what you might do if father should name you Shinsei?”

Talon was well aware that by law, any hopeful for the throne could be put forth by any of the families of the Greater Houses. Indeed, if there were multiple hopefuls, tradition held that a challenge of some sort be formed in order for each aspirant to the throne to prove their worth as a leader. House Novalys had maintained its dynasty unbroken since the founding of Kalzasi but times were changing. There were murmurings that some believed it was time for the throne to pass to another family. The pall that Jacien had cast upon their family with his acts of treachery and the tension that had arisen with the western Free Cities as a result, gave some of those voices more weight. Their father had spent nearly the entirety of his reign thus far, repairing the relationships that House Novalys had with the other Synnekar families. Much had gone into investing in the common folk and even more had gone into repairing their city’s relations abroad with the rest of the region. Relations with the High City, Zaichaer, still remained tense but things had cooled considerably from when his father had first taken the throne.