[Chapter 1.03] Quoth the Heroes "Forevermore"

[Aethyrium]

Character Name: Azir Venris Kil-Mitter
Date | Time: November 6th | Late Evening (~9:20)
Location: Johtan Wilderness - Rishi Valley - Needlepass
Wearing: As pictured
Tagging | Mentioning: Lyra |
Azir took a deep breath. Staying here was, ultimately, probably the right call but it wasn’t the one he wanted made deep down. He nodded. “I’ll hold it together until you’re back.” Licking his lips, he glanced down at the crystal. Part of him was anxious because of the failure just minutes before, but he couldn’t afford to dwell on that uncertainty. Now it was his time to not let anyone down. “I’ve got this.” He assured her.

The elf paused as he stepped to take her place, eyes falling on her as she spoke. He went to speak, but was surprised by her sudden step toward him. It reminded him of the moment on the bridge, headed to the patio, where she had let him know of her fear of heights - this circumstance, he realized, must be particularly awful for her. Yet it was obviously quite a bit different. He mouthed her name, but there was no sound behind it, because the next words out of her mouth robbed him of his sense. She might have said anything else and it would have surprised him less. There were a thousand thoughts, but none of them had time enough to form and stick before he felt her lips on his own. Azir had always respected her - everyone’s - space, because it seemed so precious to her. But there was no mistaking this as anything but an invitation into it. And as surprised as he was that this was happening, Azir was not a dishonest man, so he could not deny that he had desired this.

Metal clad hands slipped around her with quiet clinks as he took hold of her and pulled her into him, leaning down to meet in the kiss. It wasn’t the first time he had kissed, but somehow it felt like it. That made him want to savor it, and explore it with her. But his mind raced with the urgency of the situation that they found themselves in. His fingers spread wide, gripping at her shoulder blade above, and the small of her back below. There was only a moment of it, but it was passionate, emotional in a way that he had not been prepared for. As they parted, his cheeks were red. His mind was sluggish with fog. Should he say it back? She was pulling away. Would he mean it? Did he want to say such a thing, merely because it had been said to him? He saw her smile, watched her slip away. His hand brushed along her arm, and glided down it as long as it could. Their hands passed over one another. He didn’t want her to go - he didn’t want to stay. Their fingers passed until only the middle’s hitched at the final joint. She was gone, and he was left staring after her. “I’ll see you again…” He murmured as she scrambled over the top of the wagon and vanished.

This had to succeed, because that simply couldn’t be left like that. Azir turned and snatched the crystal, squeezing it hard in his leather clad palm, “This isn’t how this ends.” Closing his eyes, Azir gripped Irona’s blade with his other hand and began to channel into the Arcanite to maintain the ease that his teammate had surely come to count on.

[Aethyrium]

S T O R Y T E L L E R
November 6th | Johtan Wilderness - Rishi Valley - Needlepass | Mountain & Desert - Lightning & Sonic Resonance
Next Post: - | Farrah, Marlowe, Lyreilynn, Haimehen, Meena, Vesper, Chee, Irona, Velvet, Doya, Azir, Artanis, Cub
Ocareena watched Meena work. It was impressive, her skill, and to be admired. Her skills were far inferior in comparison, but enough that perhaps she had been the reason Haim lasted long enough for the skilled medic to arrive. As much as she appreciated Meena’s dedication and abilities, she didn’t agree with her judgment in this matter. Meena couldn’t have understood the cost that would come if Haim was lost. Even if his long life would have been better, there was so much more risk taking him back to Onyx. She stared down at his face and frowned. If he were awake, she knew that he would have requested to go with her - she could feel it. Meena seemed not to care for their plight, or his wishes, or perhaps she just placed her own over them. It seemed that much more confusing, given Marlowe’s little outburst. But despite her disagreement, Haimehen had indicated to her that Meena was his leader, and in lieu of him being able to actually present his wishes, she had no grounds to challenge that decision. So, she nodded respectfully. “Then,” She looked toward the bridge, “If it can be salvaged, you will take our wagon, if it will aid his chances.”

Out on the center of the bridge, the current of lightning running under Lyra’s feet held the bridge together. The worst of the cracking was bound with vines like a makeshift splint, and the hardened zapfoam acting like a glue. Temporary solutions at best. If Azir and Irona stopped what they were doing, almost certainly with time the weight of the Needlepass would cause it to collapse on itself. The green stone in her hand resisted her as she tried to interface with it. For Lyra, green arcanite was as stubborn as the earth it lorded over to bend to her will. But interface with it she did. The power within the crystal sparked in response to her Soul and flared. When it couldn’t resist her, it tried to overpower her. As she fed it, it burned like a fire given too much air. It wanted to twist out of her control and jump free, but she managed to grab the power and contain it. It gave her the sight into the earth to see the damage. The elemental magic seeped into the earth, obeying her command to reshape the stone. It drew from the edges nearby to fill the cracks, and compressed to seal itself as if the damage had never been done. It took perhaps five minutes for her to seal the Needlepass and make it whole - but when she was done, it was as if their battle had never even occurred, save for a few new slightly eroded edges.

* * * * *

Dangling from his wrist, Artanis coughed and thumped his head against the rock. “How did you get in this situation, you fucking idiot.” Even as he berated himself, pained tears dripped off his chin. A sob wracked his body, which did nothing but agitate the pain he felt. Every bump, bruise, and scrap seethed angrily at him as the adrenaline from the fall wore off. After what felt like an hour, but was probably only about five minutes, Artanis lazily lulled his head back and stared up into the darkness above him. How hard had fallen? “Stupid cow… Stupid elf…” He dropped his head to the side and peered down into more of the same, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” More near silently muttering. Even if he could resocket his arm, and he regrettably thought that he could, what was he going to do? Climb blindly in the dark with one arm? Shifting his gaze the other way, he had to squint as the wind assailed him head on. He didn’t have enough Arcanite - let alone Soul - to do this again, either. If he fucked up, that was going to be the end of it.

Trapped on all sides by bad and worse choices, Artanis closed his eyes. He gently kicked his feet around, looking for anything to give himself some support. He found a tiny foothold, unfortunately off to the side. But it was better than nothing so he took position on it to ease the strain on the seam of his arm. Was anyone going to come for him? They better not, he thought, that’d be a stupid decision. He trusted that Azir wouldn’t let Velvet do something so pointless. Doya was too practical. Cub wouldn’t care. Irona wouldn’t fight against Azir. That was a relief. What about gravity? He audibly scoffed. He wasn’t their problem. Farrah, maybe, but even she wasn’t so reckless he thought. “You better not,” he growled under his breath.

Artanis didn’t know how long he was there against the wall. It could have been a few more minutes, it could have been an hour - though he didn’t think it had been that long. A strange noise shocked him out of his meditative like rest. Looking down, he squinted, then gasped. Something was moving - something was climbing. “Well fuck.” Whatever it was, it was going to pass right by him. It was too big to be something harmless. A Hollow, probably, drawn by the cry of the Nevermore. Was this how it all ended? “Fuck that.” He didn’t know what it was, but he knew he wasn’t going to just sit there and let some Hollow walk by him and casually snuff him out. If he was going out, it was going to be fighting.

Sucking in a deep breath, Artanis grit his teeth and braced himself. Growling, Artanis pushed off the foothold and scrambled across the chasm wall. He got his footing and lunged up. He felt the bone grind and shift. He shouted, throwing himself up over where his wrist was held. There was a brief moment of weightlessness and then he fell. His arm yanked at the wrist again, his weight pulling down and creating the space for the joint to snap back into place. “RAAAAWWWHHH!” His fingers inside the wall clawed at the earth, taking grip despite the numb tingling in them. Again his feet pressed into the wall so he was crouching against it. A few steps and he pushed himself up to loose his wrist, ripped it out of the wall and pushed off of it, back flipping and straightening out so he was pencil-falling straight down.

He only fell about fifteen feet before he saw the form of the creature crawling up the wall - and just as he suspect, it was a Hollow. Reaching with his one good arm, Artanis hooked onto the chitinous armor of the Hollow and oofed as he slammed against its back - much to its displeasure. The car-sized scorpion Hollow hissed angrily and began to shake in place, trying to fling him. An effort that was going to be successful at giving his state of discombobulation. He grunted, doing his best to hold on. Stomping his feet, he ineffectively tried to clobber it. If he was going to fall down, he wanted to take it with him. That would be something, at least. But he soon realized that as he was, without weapons, and Soul, that was going to all be in vain. The Hollow turned so it was facing the long way, and he nearly dropped off entirely, only managing to catch himself on one of its legs. He clung to it, dangling, legs flailing, as the Hollow brought its tail around and jabbed. Narrowly, he pulled himself up and watched the powerful stinger embed into the rock. That’s when he had the world’s worst idea. Worst case, he’d fall and accomplish nothing just like he was about to do. Best case…

As the stinger came thrusting forward again, Artanis dropped off the Hollow’s leg, and threw himself at it. His eyes went wide as the large, very pointy object penetrated his abdominal region. He gassed and choked. “Idiot…” Throwing his one good hand forward, his fingers grabbed at the knot on the nearest tail segment and he yanked himself forward, screaming as the stinger ripped through his backside, effectively skewering himself on it. His eyes fluttered, and then he blacked out.

* * * * *

Once the bridge had been secured, Azir met Lyra in the middle, and they met Irona and Vesper at the front end. Azir offered congratulations to the whole team. Irona, in an unusual burst of excitement jumped and hugged Vesper, exclaiming that they did it! She also took Lyra’s hands and thanked her profusely for the assistance. Soon enough it was time to get to the front, they weren’t done yet… And he still had to talk to Velvet. That immediately put a lid on Irona’s uncharacteristic excitement. They joined the others at the throat of the Needlepass and reported their success. Jayce, with Chee and Farrah’s help, tallied that overall about eighty percent of the convoy made it across. A fair few losses, but had they not been there it would have been much worse. With the all clear on the bridge, Jayce went about sending individuals to go out to the bridge and start collecting vehicles and making them across - he went with, enlisting Farrah and Lolo’s aid to overturn any vehicles that couldn’t be set right into the chasm to get them out of the way of the rest.

And eventually, the Haimehen situation became general knowledge, and Ocareena’s wagon, once it was brought across, was given to Gravity to store him in and give Meena a place to watch over him. But not before Azir had to tell Velvet about Artanis. Which went about as well as anyone could have expected. He left out the details about Meena - no one needed that right now, and he didn’t hold her accountable, Artanis was a man who had made his own decision. But unsurprisingly, Velvet wanted to mount a rescue mission. She protested and fought and for the first time, she got loud - yelling, even. Even Chee had only heard her do that once or twice, it wasn’t her style. There were offers, ideas thrown around, on how they might try to find him, but they were all impractical. Not only did they lack the supplies, there was no way to know where he might be. And they still had a duty to get the convoy across the valley. Wrecked, Velvet popped into the back of the wagon with Meena and Haimehen, and chose to find comfort resting against Meena’s arm when she could, and doing whatever she could to keep herself busy.

Once the Needlepass was cleared of vehicles and the convoys were lined up again, the final trek across the valley began. It was, thankfully, an uneventful trip. But it did take another three or four hours to make. Once all of the convoy was out, Jayce confirmed that they’d be good on the rest of the way. It was only a day or so from here to Underhill, and this area was typically pretty calm. Beyond that, the convoy still had Jayce and Ocareena’s band of protectors to handle the journey. Which was well enough, because it was a long journey back and every minute delayed was worse for Haim. Parting with the convoy, Gravity and Mockery made their way back through the valley and apprehensively once more across the Needlepass. They passed the Nevermore’s corpse which still hadn’t fully faded by the time they reached it - alphas were stubborn bastards, but no doubt before morning, with the bridge fully repaired, all trace of their encounter would be gone. Except for Haimehen.

And Artanis.

After crossing the long landbridge again, it was Farrah who spotted the lump of a body laying on the ground. They had nearly missed it, already past it. Only her position in the rear and a chance glance saw him rescued. Racing over to him, they found him badly beaten up. His body was scraped to hell, with large patches of skin just flayed off the surface from rubbing against the chasm wall. One of his arms looked as bad as Haim did. And of course, there was no ignoring the new addition to his body - a sizable hole running through the right side of his body. At first contact there were no signs of life. He didn’t seem to be breathing, and he felt cold. There was no telling how long he had been laying there. Velvet wouldn’t have been willing to just leave him there regardless, but her insistence led to the discovery that he actually was alive - at least, for the time being. Hoisted into the wagon by Farrah, Artanis was given an inspection by Meena which determined he too was in critical condition, but there was some kind of poison in him that had slowed everything down. It was still working, and even though his Soul had regenerated some and stopped him from bleeding to death, the poison clutching his organs would have killed him had he lay there for much longer. Fortunately, she would be able to help with that until they could get proper treatment.

The trip home was, sadly, not as uneventful as the second crossing of the valley. And much like the coming, the teams had to fight their way through Hollow more than once. But it was less, a silver lining, since three members were tied up at all times. And in the late evening of the eighth, they passed into the walls of Onyx. Their first stop was the hospital in the Western Quarter, where Haimehen and Artanis were taken off their hands for care. Everyone waited around, long enough for Auguste to arrive and demand answers about what had happened. Within an hour the teams were given the news. Artanis would make a full recovery, given some time. Meena’s efforts to utilize the poison to keep him semi-paralyzed had done an amazing job at ensuring his recovery. Haimehen, on the other hand, was less of a certain thing. Though Meena had managed to keep him alive, it was only just. His chances of survival were close to a coinflip, and the recovery following that? Only time would tell…

And from there, the teams returned to Hammer for the first time in a very long week.