Jade Empire: Into the Realms Ch. 2 IC

[Lillian Thorne]

For a long second Callistan stood where she was, rooted to the spot by shock. One second Albajo was there, holding her hand, her anchor, her reason be strong in this terrifying world and the next he was gone. She watched the crystal swallow him up with eyes wide in shock and horror. For a long moment she couldn’t comprehend what she’d seen. He’d left her, dashed into the blue leaving her in the dark with no anchor, nothing to keep the terror at bay. Why? It had been a conscious choice, she’d seen that in his eyes as he’d pulled his fingers from hers and slipped into the blue. She couldn’t even fathom what would have made him choose that.

He left her.

She’d had to leave her brother and her calling for this Mad quest that had landed her in hell. He hadn’t asked her to come back, hadn’t needed her and so she’d gone. Now she’d spent weeks in a walking nightmare surrounded by that which unsettled her and her patience and sanity were nearly at an end. She had been able to be strong for Albajo and now that he was gone who would she be strong for? She couldn’t fall apart, not now not in the middle of the hell they were in and not in front of the butterfly. She found her hand, the one with the cursed ring curled around the hilt of her sword. She found strength in that, in her hard won skill, in her Magic.

“Albajo!!!” she screamed and found herself charging forward, raising her sword and swinging it towards the crystals, unaware that the length of the blade glowed a vivid blue in the dark of the void.

[Pockets]

Keyola

He watched carefully as the majority of the group ran for the safety of the still clear path beyond the crystals. ok, he thought. That's almost everyone.

He began to follow when he saw Albajo suddenly reach out and purposely grasp hold of one of the crystals. Keyola shuddered to a stop, shock tearing its way through his body as the ancient walker vanished before his eyes.

“Albajo!!!”

Callistans scream was lost on the blackness around her but as she surged forward and her sword began to move the Mage's eyes clearly noted the blazing aura of power that sprang into being around the blade and his decades of experience with magic told him cleary that this was a very bad thing.

He cursed under his breath and sprang forward, moving with the speed and reflexes that only a rabbit on a panic could match he barreled into her back, bowling them both over so the two of them tumbled over the crystals and rolled along the length of the path for a dozen paces. When they came to a stop Keyola saw dots of light in front of his eyes as the back of his skull cracked sharply against the ground and he groaned, arms coming up to cover his head from further damage. His vision swam as a bout of nausea hit him so strongly he felt he would retch.

This little adventure is off to a stellar beginning, he thought deliriously.

[Affili]

He could have stayed like that for longer even though he half expected to get a slap across the face, but now was not the time for such moments and out of respect for Marissa, he slid his hands to her waist and apologized quietly as she stepped out of his hold and thanked him, despite how shaky her voice may have sounded.

“Yeah, A seat would be nice right about now” he replied quietly then she took hold of his hand and the two of them were running again.
The blue glow of an elongated sword demanded his attention and he turned to face it, as he was sure everything else in the vicinity would as well. Such a light, well any source of light for that matter would surely stand out like a beacon against the infinite darkness of this realm.

He heard the commotion and the ringing of metal against a hard surface as something charged the glowing sword and he quickly turned from Marissa and dashed towards the noise this time, he was dragging her and they slid to a stop as the silhouette of a rabbit moved in front of the glowing sword he strafed to the side and took hold of Marissa’s waist so she would move with him to the side as Keyole and what appeared to be Callisan tumbled past them with the sword following suite.

“What the hell are you two doing, are you OK?” Perhaps it was a dumb question, but despite the glowing sword, the area was still too dark to make anything out in detail. Where was Albajo? Hadn't he been near Callistan.
“Albajo… Albajo?” He called in the darkness.

[Orion86]

Shea had been in a complete daze but Sven grabbing his bow had snapped him out of it. He had been having trouble concentrating lately; but he wasn't sure if it was an affect of the shadow realm or if it was a sign of some more permanent damage done by the dreaming. Picking himself up he chased after the others and ran until his lungs burned. Unsure of how long that they had been running he only stopped when all of the others had stopped and he stood gasping for air. It was at this point when he realized that they were down a man, his head swiveled from side to side until he identified the missing man. Albajo had gone disappeared, he wasn't sure how it had happened but it seemed that the old shadow walker had answered some other kind of call and had given himself over to it. However there wasn't a large amount of time to consider the whys and wherefores because it seemed that the lose of Albajo had pushed Callistan over the edge.

Shea felt the magic before he saw the glowing blade. In the darkness the waves of the dreaming echoed like a shout in a cavern, it seemed to vibrate off of everything and Shea's mind was brought back to the warning they had all been given when they had first entered the Shadow realm. He wasn't as quick as Keyola and he made it over to them just in time to see Keyola knock his head against the ground. Shea had his bow drawn and he was peering out into the gloom, his head was once again shooting from side to side. He wasn't sure what sort of creatures would be attracted by the sudden use of the magic but he wasn't overly keen on finding out.

"Red you need to get your head in order! Come on Soldier get it together!"

Shea snapped out the order as confidently as he could and he only hoped that Callistan's training would kick in, bring her back to her senses.

[Lillian Thorne]

Callistan felt something hit her hard just before her blade hit the crystals that had stolen her companion and friend from her. She’d been screaming, her fury adding to her might, her training and well toned muscles bringing quite a bit of force to bear in her blow. She was certain that she would have been able to shatter those crystals and been able to rescue Albajo from whatever mad quest he’d gotten himself on. But before this well aimed blow could land she’d been thwarted. Her scream of rage turned into a scream of frustration as she lay on the ground, her head ringing from the blow, her hand empty of the blade that had been the answer to so many of her problems thus far.

But she wasn’t allowed to ache and grieve, no a commanding voice called to her, shamed her into pulling herself together. She was a soldier after all, as the voice named her and instinctively she stood and assessed the situation. Keyola had hit her, she knew the mage well enough to know if he’d hit her he had a good reason. She buried the hurt of Albajo’s loss deep inside. It might fester deep in there but by the powers that be she wasn’t going to be outwardly bleeding any more than she already had. She’d been weak, she’d shown that weakness just now and she couldn’t let herself do that again, not in front of people.

She sheathed her sword and moved woodenly to Shea’s side where he stood over Keyola with his bow drawn and a tense, watchful expression on his face. Her own face was strangely stiff, as if she wore a mask of herself, fixed and not of flesh as she bent down and lifted up the surprisingly light Mage.

“I’ve got it together.” She said woodenly as she began to move towards the others with the limp mage in her arms, certain she’d left a piece of herself back at the crystal.

[Pockets]

Rhyven

He let out a low growl as he took in the situation. the Crystals had completely blocked the path behind them and were slowly spreading backwards and forward along it. He wasnt an expert in the Dreaming but he was fairly certain that Dream Magic manifesting itself within the Shadow Realm was probably not a good thing.*

"We need to move," he bit out. "Once we get to the Gurrel Village we'll be able to revive the fur-ball and see if theres anything we can do about this." he gave them all a sweeping look, his matt eyes taking in everything within the Realm. "We will find Albajo too, I promise you that." After a few minutes for everyone to gather their wits he led them again along the path, his steps quick and sure, putting distance between them and the growing threat of the crystals behind them.*

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Falgin

He was the oldest of his race. At least the oldest within the Mountains of Tears. There may very well be older scattered elsewhere throughout the realm but Falgin had no way of knowing.*

The building he resided within could only charitably be called a hut. Made of what looked like the skeletal remains of a tree that might have once made a good choice for building materials it had long since becomes useless as the basis for a structure. Much like the rest of their buildings in fact.*

There wasn't a home or structure anywhere in the Gurrel village that wasn't on the verge of falling down if anyone inside the building sneezed too loudly.*

Construction was not a skill any of the Gurrel had ever mastered. Their talents lay in other pursuits. Falgin left the hut to find one of the village artisans putting the final touches on a larger than life statue of The Shadow Master. The cloaked figure was at least ten feet tall, regal and mysterious and made all of one solid piece of black stone. *The eyes somehow seemed to glitter within the stone folds of the hood.*

"Master Falgin." The old Gurrel turned as one of their few children called his name and came running up to stand beside him. "The Master is coming, with several friends along with."

Falgin let a low rumbling hum escape him and smiled a tooth filled grin. "Send a welcoming party and tell the kitchens to begin preparations for a feast to be held this evening." Without waiting to see if his orders were followed Falgin turned and strode quickly through the village. His clawed toes gave exceptional purchase against the ground and his balance was superb.

Somehow he still felt as if the ground was tilting at a crazy angle beneath him and he should be sliding off and into the black. Twice in so short a time. They only ever saw the Shadow Master when dire situations abounded. To have him arrive again so soon after negotiating the madness a month previously could only mean terrible things were happening in the world.*

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When the welcoming party arrived Rhyven made sure to keep his face as impassive as he could. The Gurrel were not as vicious or violent as their Urell Cousins, but they were no less unpleasant to look at and he didn't want to insult anybody. Long limbs stretched awkwardly from a stunted torso and the knees were bent opposite how a humans knees bent giving them a birdlike gait when they walked.*

Their skin was a fairly uniform pasty grey in color and of a texture that made them appear to be covered in a thick layer of some viscous slime at all times, even when they were completely dry. *Long razor sharp claws curled from each finger and toe and their teeth were at least an inch long and needle sharp bits of mirror bright bone protruding from their blackened gums.*

Their heads were large with bulbous, luminescent eyes that gleamed in the dim light of the Realm. The massive ocular organs allowed them to see even better than Rhyven with his shadows enhanced night vision. Never would a Gurrel be able to leave the Shadow Realm, the Suns would destroy their eyes and bodies within minutes.

The five that came running out to greet the group moved on all fours with a leonine grace and speed that seemed entirely unnatural with their oversized heads. They slid to a stop, claws scrabbling across the ground to slow them until they came to rest directly before Rhyven at the head of the group.*

"Master of Shadows," the leader of the group spoke and bowed low to the ground. "You honor us once again with your presence. Master Falgin has sent us to escort you and your friends to the village. A feast is being prepared *to welcome you all to the Mountains of Tears."

Rhyven fought back a grimace at the thought of Gurrel 'food' but managed to keep his revulsion from his face. "Lead the way," he said shortly. "The sooner we get to the village, the better."

[Orion86]

Shea's lungs were burning by the time that they came to a shuddering halt, it was all he could do to keep his breakfast down. So much had happened in such a short space of time and he wasn't sure if he had been able to process it all. Albajo was now gone, they had been attacked by some sort of crystal wall and Callistan had nearly lost her mind over Al disappearing. However, it seemed for the moment at least, they were going to be able to drop the pace a little, Shea still wasn't completely sure what the Gurrels were but Rhyvern seemed to know them and that was something at least.

Marching on in silence Shea tried to think about their situation once again and whether it had been smart to start this little venture. He was just about to have an epiphany when the Gurrels finally came into sight. Once Shea was able to see them he understood why they lived in such a place as the shadow realm, nothing that ugly would ever be allowed to live in the daylight, they were by far the most hideous thing that Shea had ever seen and he had been in the company of dozens of naked mercenaries.

Not sure if they were out of ear shot or not he sidled over to Callistan,

"Is it just me or do they look like they are going to kill us, skin us and eat us? And I only hope that if they are it is in that order..."

He whispered as quietly as he could but he didn't really know how well they could hear.