Carantathraiel

Wanderers

"Here!"
Ruli turned his head when he heard Kire, his brow furrowed. He rose to his feet, grasping Ysaryn by the upper arm to pull her up as well. "You all saw something?" He asked, feeling Ysaryn yank her arm out of his grasp. He glanced at the elf, only to find her giving Kire a critical glare. Odd. "Ysaryn?"
Her eyes flit to him. "Yes. I saw something."
"Otherwise, fine." Ruli said. He wasn't sweating anymore, but he wiped his brow regardless. "We were all together a moment ago, how did we all wind up in different places?" He wondered.

"This magic is not right." Ysaryn insisted, rubbing at her arms. "Smells like..."
"Smells like what?"
"Smells like you." She said, and Ruli blinked.
'You are the one.' He recalled the winged creature speak. He shook his head, loosing the feeling in his head that he was forgetting something he was supposed to remember.

Wanderers

Ruli felt completely unbothered by the warmth of their surroundings. He thrived in it, really. Even though the air here was different, tangible, almost ... aromatic. Not because of the forest, but something else. Ruli turned his head to glance at Ysaryn, just as she looked his way, the same question written on her countenance. Do you smell that?
They both nodded to one another, then moved forward, following Kire, swords drawn, just in case.

Just as Kire saw, Ruli was enveloped in a shadow that rumbled the sand beneath him. He bent his knees, looking upwards to a desert he knew, dunes he had memorized. Ziad. Above was a glittering view of golden scales, wings of flame and heat, and an aura that shook the air. "What the-" He began straightening again. He turned to see if anyone else had seen it, but found himself alone.
"Kire?" He shouted, turning in place. "Ysaryn? Daryll? My-"
He froze, turning in place to find a figure standing in the sand before him. Gold and fire. Brilliant red eyes, brighter and more alive than Scindere's or even Envy's. Her golden hair moved behind her as if caught under water, pulled slowly by the slightest shift in the air. She was tall, her rounded nose peering down at Ruli, who stood at least two feet shorter.

He swallowed, afraid to look away, to break their eye contact.
Good. A voice said. Don't give her the chance.
Ruli inhaled, fighting the urge to blink.
"So you are the one." The figure said, rather than asked. Ruli didn't move, waiting. "The scion."
"Scion of what?"
Do not engage! The voice hissed again. Ruli finally blinked. It was a woman's voice that spoke in his head, though one he did not know.
The golden figure smiled. It was similar to Akuma's, cold, but there was life there, too. "You knew what you were supposed to become."
Ruli felt the temperature drop around him despite the desert sand that stretched for miles. "I did not wish for it." He could Walk back to Kire. back to the Tower.
No.
Ruli swallowed again. No?
Not yet.

The red-eyed woman smiled once more. "But you had let it begin." One of her long, powerful legs stepped forward, the sand hissing and steaming beneath her fiery feet. Ruli took an involuntary step back. "The blood in your body, the magic flowing, belongs to me. Your mothers soiled it by breeding with your fathers. With your kind."
Wait. Wait.
Another step back, just as she stepped forward again, closing the distance between them with her long legs. "But, in their mistake, you were born. A gift I never foresaw. I have a desire to take you back."
A little longer.
Why?
Wait and see-
As she raised an arm, the red-gold wing behind her stretched like a canvas. Within it, Ruli could see images, clear and vivid, as if he were looking through a window. Himself standing at an altar, a scar-less Envy standing happily beside him as they watched someone walk down the aisle. Kire. Ruli inhaled. The flames shifted, and the vision showed him a pyre lit, like a beacon in the dark sky. The pit in his stomach told him who lay upon it before his eyes could see it. Then, in his arms, a wriggling infant, red hair matted to his sweating head; beyond him, just out of view, a redhaired woman smiling at them. She bore no scars, but there was something so familiar about her face.
"You were to give birth to a new power." The giant woman said, her wing folding again as she lowered her arm. Ruli looked up, meeting her gaze again. "Fire of Amria meeting the Fire of Persis to create an heir so powerful both worlds would covet him."
See him! Hold him! The voice urged, her tone desperate.
The baby. Ruli couldn't see the vision anymore, but tried to keep the image in his head.
He did not like the smile on the fiery woman's face. "You will sire the child. But on a woman of worth. On the Fire of Persis. And the other world will fall to its knees."
Now! The voice said, and Ruli didn't need a second order. He turned and fled, feet digging into the hot sand, his shoes gone, his clothing no longer the mutes tans but the suffocating black of his old life. His old skin. He could hear the thing roar behind him, the heat growing as she gave chase. Run! Run! Run!

"OOf-!" Ruli hit someone, bounding off of them as they both clattered to the ground. He heard a hiss, the familiar, viscous tone of Ysaryn, and he flipped around quickly. He wore his muted tones again, his boots, his sword still in his hand. There was no sand. No fire-engulfed giantess threatening him with a smile. Exhaling, he dropped his head on the ground. "Fuck."
Ysaryn said nothing. He'd knocked her off her feet, but she sat up on her knees, looking forward as if she were searching, as if she, too, had seen something, and was still searching.
"Tell me you saw something." Ruli said, still sprawled on his back. Despite his comfort in the heat, he was sweating. When ysaryn didn't answer, he raised his head. "Ysaryn? Did you see something?"
She opened her mouth, then closed it again. "I d-don't know."
Her uncertainty made Ruli sit up, leaning to the side to peer at her face. She looked ... not frightened, but confused. Contemplative.
"Kire?" Ruli shouted, deciding to focus on regrouping. They could debrief later. "Daryll?"

Wanderers

Ruli looked up, confused, until Kire pointed out they couldn't read it. "What?" Ruli glanced back down, finally realizing that it was written in the script of his own world. "Fuck."
Ysaryn chuckled low behind him.
"Yeah, it ... here." Ruli read aloud, glancing up when he was finished. As Daryll asked about the how, he shrugged. "People here speak it, is it so strange?" He wondered.
"If it were to be elvish, yes, it would be." Ysaryn commented, leaning against the far side of the table with her arms crossed, paying attention despite her turned back.
Ruli gestured in agreement. "You all speak the language, surely someone here has some knowledge about how to write it."

As they discussed, Ruli listened, trying to sort out his own theories alongside theres. When Kire approached and offered his hand, he glanced to the other two before taking it, nodding in agreement. Before they left, he and Ysaryn fastened their borrowed coats, and Ruli noted Ysaryn said nothing to Ed before they left.
Into heat.

"I thought you said it was chilly?" Ruli said, looking delighted about the misinformation. Ysaryn, too, pulled off her coat quickly, folding it over her arm.
"Myka." Ruli greeted, and Ysaryn grinned beside him. Then he frowned when she mentioned the camps. "People are willingly residing near it? Without really understanding?"
"Homes are important." Ysaryn commented beside him. "People live in worse."
"Homes an be replaced. People can't." He argued, following Kire and the others to the vantage point to look.

Ysaryn inhaled deeply beside Daryll, her nose pointed toward the forest. "You can see heat." She informed them, raising her arm to sway her hand, gesturing to the waver in the air due to the warm temperature.
"Can you see anything odd?" Ruli asked. "Or smell anything?"
"Not from here."
Ruli squinted, trying to see if there was anything he could see that she couldn't. As Myka went on, he glanced toward Ysaryn again.
"No, I cannot to hear."
He shrugged, then looked back around. "How many in total were affected out of those who were within its grasp?" He wondered. "Anyone within, or is it only a small percentage?"

Wanderers

"Afternoon." Ruli greeted in return. Ysaryn, just behind him, wore an expression that very clearly stated she'd debated on not coming along. The idea of a possible fight, either against Ed or some strange entity, convinced her. When she said nothing, Ruli nudged her, and she snarled silently.
"I am here."

When Kire asked for his opinion, he stepped forward, mindful of his distance. After she'd meekly avoided kissing him in front of Ed, he wasn't sure about how affectionate she'd be in the presence of anyone. He took the letter and skimmed it, finding nothing odd with it. "He wrote this?" Ruli asked, glancing at Kire, yet unaware that it was something they couldn't read. He turned it over, glancing at the other side, then went back to the front rereading. "This was all what happened when they went through the forest? Were the rest naked?"

Ysaryn's eyebrows rose, suddenly looking less cross and more intrigued.

Wanderers

Ruli rolled his eyes softly at the title again, deciding it was at least better than many other titles he could hold. Or had held, once, in the past.
When Ed knocked sometime later, Ruli rose to his feet to tidy the kitchen, listening as he came in and greeted his cousin. WHen Ed commented on Ysaryn's involvement in the forest work, Ruli glanced his way. The fact that Ed lost sparring didn't surprise Ruli, having little knowledge on the captains skill, but Kire's question made him arch an eyebrow.

Then, again, with her quick kiss while Ed wasn't looking. Having been quite sure her family knew what they were up to, Ruli kissed her back with a furrowed brow, nodding. "After lunch. At the Tower." He confirmed, watching her leave. "Nice to see you, Ed."

After earning his coin for both breakfast and lunch, with a break in the middle to work with Gavin and Envy, as well as hunt down Ysaryn and fill her in on the growing situation in Amria, Ruli crossed over into the Tower room. A second later, Ysaryn appeared, her lips pressed thin and her combat leathers visible beneath folds of dark blue fabric. Her Amrian blades were at her sides, her hair pulled back into a neat braid that forbid a single strand to fall astray.

Ruli rolled his shoulders, wiggled one of his feet to adjust the boot he wore, then started for the door and wandered down the stairs.

Wanderers

"Kire." Ruli started softly. "A dog bite and a poison we not have an antidote to. I have been bitten by worse. And I have survived the poison." He reached over and took her scarred hand in his, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. "Look what happens when you face anything on your own. I'm not the only one facing consequences."
He looked down at his plate and went on eating, though without releasing her hand. "Besides, I shouldn't have to remind you that it's my choice. I don't exactly answer to anyone."

~

"Remind me not to be in town for that apology." Zeke cringed, offering Ed a hand to help him onto his feet. "I might take on Gavin later, help my ego a bit."

Sighing, Zeke gestured. "You heading back down to Kire? How are things going on your side of the world. Uh. Gate?" He wondered. "And, uh, how is Elva doing?"

Wanderers

"No offense, but I don't really consider you to be empress." Ruli voiced. "I mean, you are, but, I see you more as that stubborn woman who shows up demanding cake and research." He smirked at her, taking the meat off the pan and setting it on a plate for her. After rifling about for a moment, he sliced some bread from last night and warmed it, spreading a herbed butter over its soft middle.

"Don't," Ruli sighed, lowering his hands to pause his work when she teased about a title. Gael's voice echoed for a moment in his head, his cold voice confirming that Ruli was her sorcerer. Gazing at her for a moment, he twitched her shoulder. "Actually, no, that's fine. I wouldn't mind High Sorcerer. Taking Gavin on as middle sorcerer, to annoy Daryll." He chuckled, sitting down with the plates across from her.
"Accept the offer. You don't have to do this all alone anymore, you know."

~

Zeke didn't last long at all. Ysaryn was hard to beat when she was in a good mood, and with her viciousness against his bodily aches and pains, he fell quickly, feeling several welts on his limbs already. He limped to the side, grumbling as Ed took his place.
He put up a good fight, but fell, the elf standing over him with her sparring sword pointed at his throat. Her nostrils flared, her eyes narrowed, and if Zeke knew her any better, he would have marked the disappointment on her face.
"Do better." Ysaryn ordered before she turned and strolled off, disappearing down the steps again.
"She is terrifying." Zeke muttered, rubbing his neck to try to ease some of the pain.

Wanderers

Ruli groaned at the sound. "Its worrisome that you'd think she'd knock." Ruli commented ebfore rolling onto his belly. The sheets were damp thanks to their quick workout, glad she was the one going to answer. Not that Ysaryn wouldn't figure out precisely what she was interrupting once Kire was within range of her nose.
But, when he heard a male voice, Ruli straightened, propping himself up on his elbows.

"No, not in here." Ruli answered about coffee. "I can heat up a bit of what we had last night. No, Kire, you're not eating cake for breakfast." He said, scrambling out of bed. He gathered his clothes, half hurrying to the kitchen to ward her off the cake before he gathered a bit of the meat from last night to heat again.
"A forest?" Ruli asked, cutting the pork into strips to toss into a pan. "Assuming people have seen a forest ebfore, what sort of strange? Any details?" He wondered. "Do you want an extra pair of eyes? You know Ysaryn makes a good scout. And I'm a fairly decent back up to have." He grinned, moving the pan over the flames and listening to the meat sizzle.

As she asked about the wards, Ruli nodded, licking his finger. "Yeah. We can make wards that glow, so even those who can't sense them will be aware if anything magic crosses them. Ours glow for Aeron and Zeke." He added. "But, Envy and or Risa will scold me if I don't ask for some sort of compensation. Which, to me, access to random wares is enough. Having rare fabrics will make even Risa shut up."

~

Up in the hilltop, Zeke was standing idly, staring down the southern side to watch the people wander up and down the steps. And Ed, as he climbed up.
"Find her?" He asked, rolling his shoulders in a stretch.

"You!" Ysaryn's voice called across the grass as she approached. She leered angrily at the two of them, rounding on Ed first. "You had to pick now to randomly show up? And you had to bring him to my home? Where Father live?"
Zeke blanked, lips parting. "Uh, well, I uh..."
"Close it!" She snapped, raising the sparring sword she held to point it at him. "You are to eat dirt. You are next." She threatened Ed, before launching without warning into an attack on Zeke, who scrambled to block.

Wanderers

"I'm not seeing anything, you're the one with all the hallucinations." Ruli reminded her. "But, I hate to admit, but it does sound far fetched. How can you see into the futu-oh." Ruli grinned, forgetting his train of thought as she pushed him onto his back. His smile widened, and he brushed his hands up along her back as he pulled her against him. "More research, or no?" He asked teasingly.

~

Zeke pursed his lips, then beckoned Ed to move away from the house, wandering up the steps a bit. "Truthfully, I'm not sure you should be worried. Scindere is ... he's not friendly. Not even to Envy. So, congrats, I suppose you're no different than the rest of us." He sighed, looking up toward the tops of the cliffs. "I'm meeting Ysaryn up there, if you want to meet us after finding Kire. Ruli's house is the one on the end there." Zeke turned and pointed with his sparring sword hilt. "The one with the shutters closed."

Wanderers

"Mmmmhm." Ruli hummed, sleepily relentless in his attentions to her lips, even as she rolled and toyed with his hair. When she began to speak, he lowered his head to her jaw, her throat, enjoying himself until her comment made him laugh. "I would have to agree." Ruli muttered against her warm skin. When she continued and mentioned she'd had more visions, Ruli wasn't surprised, but felt himself raising his head anyway, looking curiously at her. "A strong feeling?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Like ... one of the many feelings I gave you last night, or ... not dread or anything, right?"

~

"Kire?" Zeke asked, continued on his route as Ed fell into step beside him. "I didn't even know she was h-oh, that -actually explains quite a few things." He voiced, shaking his head.
"Anyway, you're in for pain, she's cruel, but she states that she drew with Kire, so depends on how you are again her, I guess."

They wandered along the pathway to the large house Ysaryn had claimed for herself and her family, only to be greeted by the horrible smell of Ysaryn's tea. Zeke fanned his hand before his face, then called. "Ysaryn? You're late!"
A hiss answered them, followed by the dark and angled face not of Ysaryn, but her father. His deep red eyes leered at Zeke, aggressively snarling at him, before he looked to Ed.
And blinked.

Ysaryn appeared a moment later, mid sentence on telling Zeke to shut it when she froze, spotting Ed beside Zeke. Then her eyes darted to her father, who was glaring at her. "This is the man!?" Scindere demanded.
"Out. Now." Ysaryn snarled at Zeke and Ed before rounding on her father. "So what if it is?"
"I won't allow my daughter to bed some pale skinned man! After all the things his kind have put us thr-"
And Zeke shoved Ed back outside, eyes wide in alarm. "Fuck." He muttered, clapping his hand over his mouth a moment later, forgetting they would have heard him swear. "Oh, fuck she's going to slay me now."