Journey Of Kalimador [Loveless x Zombiedude101]

[Loveless]

Hearing his answer, she was not certain whether to be relieved or not, as he was not being so detailed with his answer after all. In a way, she had noticed on how he was preoccupied with his thoughts; as if trying to push away or struggling with some memories he would not want to ever surface. Was he experiencing something like she was? That was a possibility, especially when it was supposed to be the 'magic' of this damned place. In a way, despite she was experiencing her own hallucinations, as she would call it, there was a small urge to give a comforting gesture. But perhaps, that would be too forward of her.. Maybe.

Nevertheless, Deidre had followed behind Azieth closely and trying her best to ignore the voices and even avoiding to look at her sides, and just stare ahead. Eventually, she could feel that they were on harder grounds and she thought that would mean it would be the end of ever coming to this place. A sense of relief washed over her, seeing like they had made it through safe after all. But that relief had quickly changed to confusion as she noticed a boulder blocking their pathway. Only that sense of danger fell when a voice suddenly spoke out, and she almost jumped, before hurriedly went closer to Azieth.

The voice's words spoke only truth and a pang of emotions suddenly flooded into her; mostly anger, shame and dread. Before she could voice out, or even address to Azieth on what they should do now, seeing as now they were really in danger; the ground caved in beneath them and instead, she screamed out as they fell. She landed with a thump, and she winced slightly, landing on her back even. Gathering herself, she managed to pull herself up but quickly looked around for Azieth. "Azieth?!" She called out to him, fear rushing through her before finally spotting him and rushing over to him. "Are you alright?"

Helping him up, despite she struggled even, she allowed for Azieth to stand and leaned against her if needed before trying to look around and see where they were. Where were they anyways? A tomb, perhaps? "... Where are we? We.. need to find a way out.."

[Zombiedude101]

Azieth released a pained grunt of discomfort, wearily shifting his head towards Deidre after the young Princess offered him a helping hand. Brushing the accumulated gravel and dirt from his cloak, he offered her something of a quiet nod, before eventually speaking.

"You have my apologies, but it seems I have made a grave error. We need to find a way out of these tombs, before my fears are confirmed."

Reaching back towards his blade, he wrapped his fingers around the hilt before withdrawing the sword from its sheath, his eyes quickly scanning across the darkened catacombs which lay ahead, searching for any sign of an unlit torch from when they were originally built for men to lay their dead to rest. With something of an optimistic half-smile, it was to his fortune that one lay just across the wall to them, and he was grateful for having remembered to restock his equipment before he'd taken rest at the inn that evening. Slipping a hand into one of his pouches, he withdrew a tinder box and with it, was able to light up the formerly unlit torch hanging on the catacomb wall. Lifting it up, the area around them was illuminated to reveal a dark, dank environment, filld with various stones and discarded bones which once belonged to men who'd been laid to rest here.

As much as he disliked it, their only way out would be to navigate their way through the catacombs, which also meant they'd most likely be forced to encounter whatever lay ahead, unworldly or not. Though, the earlier voice had made him think, particularly the reference to the 'Star of Oblivion'. He'd heard it many times before, from his father in tales, of how the greed of men would lead to their downfall at the hands of the ancients. Of paintings on cave walls and guardians of the world, assigned to carry out the duties that their ancient masters had set for them. Even then as a child, he'd known them as just that; tales. But were these so-called 'tales' true, or was this voice merely trying to decieve them? He did not know, though he could not avoid the dread-inducing feeling that he would soon find out. Motioning towards the passage that lay ahead, he spoke once more to Deidre, before continuing on.

"Come, and have your blade at the ready. I do not know what lies ahead."

[Loveless]

Indeed, it was really too dark to see what truly laid ahead of them. But all she could feel right then was her fear growing at this very dangerous situation. They were in an unknown place, even more with a dangerous threat which could be lurking before them in any moment. But Deidre could only place her trust upon Azieth as he began to search for, what she suspected, an unlit torch to grant them light and vision. Fortunately, he did managed to find one at a wall nearby them and she was thankful for the light permeating throughout the environment. What was she not thankful of was the sight of the bones scattered around, which caused the Princess to almost jumped at the sight and huddled her form closer to the ranger.

Her form was visibly shaking, but when Azieth advised for her to wield her blade, the raven-haired woman nodded her head slowly before her hand reached out to the sheathed blade at her waist. Her hand wrapped around the hilt and drew it out, though uncertain on how to properly wield it as she clumsily hold the dagger. Goodness, she felt helpless.

"... Azieth.. That voice earlier.. It spoke of a star.. Do you know what it means?" The Princess asked, though mostly wanting to make a small conversation to calm her nerves down. Her deep blue eyes, however, shifted their gaze around them nervously to a point that she almost scared herself whenever she thought she saw a movement within the darkness ahead of them. ".... Oh goodness, I wish I had taken sword classes when I was younger.." She mumbled to herself silently.

[Zombiedude101]

Azieth looked back to her as they continued on, torch still held high so as to illuminate the catacombs which lay ahead. Initially, he was hesitant to answer her question, mainly because he didn't want to distract nor worry her.

"The Star of Oblivion, it's something of a.... myth. Half-truths passed down from generation to generation, from parents to children. As a boy, my... father once told me of a star which would bring about the end of men should their greed and lust for power become too great. He told me of how the ancients had made preparations for the day when such force would need be, and that only when the true greed in men's hearts began to destroy others would they need to be extinguished. Odd as it may sound, across the lands, ancient cave paintings heralding the star's arrival, of it crashing into the world and sparing nothing, a new age of darkness from which life would begin anew. But such tales are just that; tales."

Continuing on, the two would eventually reach a more open, yet still darkened space. A cold chill crept through the air, which was enough to prompt Azieth the tighten his grip on the hilt of his sword, as he heard a gentle click-clack of what sounded like bones.

"We're in a wraith's dwelling. Keep your sword close and do not panic, they feed from such fears."

[Loveless]

Moving her attention to the Ranger, she listened to what he had to answer to her question and she almost dreaded asking that same question. She heard the tales but not too into details. Deidre even remembered on how she actually rummaged and searched through the castle's library filled with books as she wanted to delve more into the story. But she never could find anything, except one or two books about it but only explained very briefly about the tale.

And here she was — the place where the cursed Star could be, and even more, with possible danger amidst around them. Nevertheless, she had moved closely behind Azieth with her blue eyes searching around until she even heard the odd sounds ahead of them. Just like Azieth would had felt, she felt a chill down her spine. Even his words could not help to calm her down as she thought to herself, worried about the impeding danger. The dagger in her hand was just for show really, as she knew she did not even know how to use or wield it.

Moving along, she only tightened her grip on the dagger's hilt and prayed to whatever deity out there she rarely believed in, to mostly protect her and her guide. It was now or never as they venture forward, because there really was not any other way to go. If they wanted to leave, Deidre knew they had to face this kind of danger and this kind of events would occur more often, she knew.

[Zombiedude101]

The open cavern stretched on for what seemed like an eternity, with the only form of illumination being Azieth's torch, which barely lit the path ahead. By now, it was evident that the two were in-deep, and by the looks of things the only way out would be if they somehow found a shaft which led up to the surface and climbed their way out, though such a task seemed highly daunting and unlikely to near completion. Of course, Azieth had already begun formulating a plan as to how they would find their way out, and the faint sound of trickling water improved his morale. From the sounds of it, the water wasn't too far from where they were and reaching it would be a simple matter of walking in the direction of the sound until they eventually found it. Clearing his throat, Azieth spoke yet again.

"Assuming chance is on our side, we might be near an underground steam which should hopefully lead out to the surface."

[Loveless]

How long had they been down here, Deidre was not even certain. There were any fleeting thoughts that went through her head and none of them were comforting whatsoever. The Princess was silent all this while; afraid to even speak to lure any impending danger towards them. At times, she had her focus placed upon Azieth as he walked ahead of her all this while, and curiosity had held her for some time — mostly on whether he had himself in sure situations like this before. He seemed so calm and collected despite having no idea on where to go or whether they could escape this tomb-like cavern.

As they moved further and deeper, she could hear faint sounds; recognizing them to be like a stream of water. It was a glimmer of hope, and which one Azieth seemed to hold onto as he mentioned to her about the possibility of an escape route. With this in mind, she nodded her head in agreement and understanding towards the Ranger before following closely behind him once again.

Tripping over a stone, she fell forward and her form collided against the back of Azieth with a gentle thump. All this while, Deidre had only realized on how her legs were sore from walking and moving around for too long. Ignoring the soreness and pain she had felt, she was quick to pull herself away and stumbled slightly before catching her footing. "I-I'm sorry! I'm fine!" She said hurriedly and minding to keep her voice down all this while.

[Zombiedude101]

Azieth staggered forwards, a little caught off-guard by Deidre's accidental movement on his rear, and it was something which triggered the instinctual response of him making a one hundred and eighty degree turn and quickly unsheathing his blade, as if he were expecting an attack on his person by someone else. Of course, this wouldn't exactly be obvious to Deidre, but it did, for once, show a different side of the normally quiet, collected ranger that Azieth was, who now held an agitated, evidently disturbed demeanour. Eventually he realised his folly and, embarrassed by what he'd done, quickly sheathed his blade and ran a hand down his shoulder.

"My... apologies. I didn't mean that, you just startled me, miss. Forgive me for that."