IndiShark

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

"Are you sure this place is safe?" Aza piped up from behind Marlowe and Viera as they stood at the entrance to the manor, her gaze moving over the foliage and dilapidated buildings that surrounded them. He wasn't wrong though, it was beautiful, in its own eerie way.

When Marlowe opened the doors she was hesitant to step inside at first. "Someone actually lives here?" she asked, craning her neck to look into the dark building, pulling the length of her silvery blue hair over her shoulder to run her fingers through it, for added security. She chewed the inside of her cheek, sky blue eyes falling to look between Marlowe and Viera, unconvinced.

It could have been worse though. She could be dragged along behind the other three she'd had the pleasure of running into, with a nice warm bag over her head, and her hands tied snugly behind her back. Aza pursed her lips as she finally took a step inside. If nothing else, no one would come looking for her here, it seemed well enough hidden by any means.

"Are you sure he's okay with company?" she asked, raising a brow. Right now she was imagining some sort of trollish creature, coming to greet them by way of dim lantern light, with sharp teeth and a claw beckoning them deeper into the home. It made her shiver.

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

His words didn't make her feel any better. The guilt was all over her face when he requested she try not to do it again. After she'd given her name, she stood there a moment, shuffling a foot against some grass, barely perking up when he asked where she came from.

"Yeah," she mumbled, turning her head to look back toward the forest, as if to look through the trees straight home.

"I did. I um-" she paused with a huff, scrunching her nose up and raising a hand to rub at the tangled mess of blue on her head, matted from sweat and wind. "I don't think I can go back there. Things have been kind of.. awkward, and today.." she trailed off and her face went flat as her eyes moved all the way across the forest edge until they ended up on those that had been felled by her own doing.

She looked lost, the way her eyes glazed over and her mouth hung just a little open.

"I- Do you maybe know a place I can go? A town, something?" The question was simple but pleading as she tore herself out of the haze of her very real nightmare to look back up, between Marlowe and Viera. Somewhere where nobody knew her, where she could have time to figure things out, where she could hide. That's all she wanted to do.

"I don't know what I'm doing. All of that," she said, raising her hands up in front of her face, "is new to me. I feel dangerous, and I hate it."

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

Azarni watched all of it unfold from a distance in a wide eyed state of wonder terror as the trees crashed toward Viera rather than splitting she and Shiara apart. If the girl who'd fought for her was killed-

Lathilos, the great brutish looking man who'd been chasing her was suddenly there, hacking his hammer against the tops of trees and was joined by none other than Viera's friend. Together the two of them stopped the falling logs when only moments ago they'd been at each other's throats. Dumbfounded, baffled, she continued to watch in awe as the men squared off again only to lower their guard and weapons with a promise to fight another day.

Her bright eyes, teary from an onslaught of emotions and the sweat that dripped into them, trailed after Lathilos and Isoltos as they left, disappearing back into the trees. Her thoughts lingered on the girl's silent cry, craving answers. This wasn't what she expected, not at all. Not after the stories she'd heard repeatedly, the rumors that circled the town every time she walked down the street as townsfolk pointed and looked at her with uncertainty.

Perhaps this was for the best.

Frowning, she gave a last glance toward her hands as the glittering tendrils snaked across her fingertips and dissipated. Heaving a sigh, she looked up when Marlowe called to her, sort of shrugging her shoulders up to her cheeks and biting down on her lip until-

"Are you okay?"

"I-I'm so sorry," she replied, taking a few steps toward them with a shakey hand stretched toward Viera. "I don't- I didn't mean for that to happen," she tries to explain, recoiling the hand to cup it against her chest. "Thank you. Thank you both, so much."

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

As Viera and Shiara met head on, Aza found herself pressing further away from the fight. The other two orderlings hadn't emerged, and neither had 'Marlowe.' Where any of them were was anyone's guess, but now that they were out of the cover of the trees there was little she could do in the way of hiding.

Azarni's eyes darted around, scanning the edge of the trees, the surrounding swamp, and then down as she lifted a hand to stare into the dusky light created by the sun reflecting off of almost tangible waves of raw psionic energy that continued to dance around her. She had to do something. She could do something, if she could just retain control over herself, over her mind.

Her mind drifted back to the stone throwing incident. How all she'd had to do was think. To command it to stop. She took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, steadying herself but straining under the pressure and concentration it took to focus. They weren't far from the tree line and Shiara was facing them, she could manage this. She had to manage this.

Stretching out a hand, she reached for the forest.

Seems like this forest is hazardous for one’s health.

Her head felt like it might explode and she used her other hand to clutch at the side of it, her face going an ill stark white as she fought to keep from passing out.

Pivoting, she jerked her hand back to her side and with that movement, a series of thunderous, ear-splitting cracks rang out across the boglands and back into the woods. All of them would hear it, and Viera would see it as three towering pines split around the entire base and then fell. Tipping slowly at first and then falling down toward the two that had been fighting.

Half of her hoped Shiara would move in time. Distance was what they needed, and that's what she intended to achieve.

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

As they came to a halt and Viera took up stance in front of her, Aza folded, holding herself up with her hands on her knees as she gasped for air. They hadn't even gotten very far, but she felt like she'd been running for an eternity. Sweat beaded up on her brow and rolled down her face.

When Viera drew her sword and made an attempt at warning their pursuer, she grimaced, reaching for Viera but not quite grasping her. Her eyes peered out from behind the cyan haired woman, locking onto Shiara again. Azarni groaned again. She wanted to vomit. Even if they got away now, how long would it be before they found them again? 'Marlowe' and his friend here were obviously well known nuisances to the Order's cause, and there was no way she could turn back and return home now.

Everything seemed so damn bleak and hopeless right now, there were less and less options for her as each second passed. The heat of the battle, the frantic emotions of those around her, and the terror of being chased were catching up with her. The psionic energy was still surging very much alive within and around her, making her head pound.

Should she make another attempt at running? Leave Viera behind when she'd put her neck out for her, or risk getting tagged herself? "Please.." she huffed, exhausted.

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

Azarni flinched as the unspoken plea boomed into her mind, a hand shooting up to clutch at the side of her head. It was deafening.

She'd always been a well known empath. Starting at an early age, people remarked to her mother about how in tune she seemed to be with the emotions of others. They didn't have to say a word for her to know- from trying to contain an exciting surprise to having a bad day. Azarni was always there ready to share in the joy or offer a shoulder to cry on.

Her heart hurt. She wanted to reach for the girl, to hold and comfort her.

Aza recovered just in time to see Shiara make her leap. She wasn't a fighter, she'd never had to throw a punch in her life, on the outside there was nothing about her even remotely dangerous. When Shiara made her move though, there was a last pleading look in Azarni's eyes before she squeezed them shut. Tears that had been building up in her eyes fell down her cheeks and there was a sound in her throat that built up into a loud pained wail- and the shimmering orbs that had been bubbling on the skin of her hands ruptured into a wave of energy around her so quickly it sucked the air around them up like a vacuum.

“I don’t want to do this.”

Then it exploded. Detonating like a bomb, several booms and cracks were heard as the force of the psionic blast burst out of her and collided with and snapped branches right off the trees.

She told them. She'd pleaded with them, but they wouldn't listen.

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

Azarni took a few steps back, shaking her head and balling her hands into fists. As Shiara landed closer she might be able to pick up on the soft reverberations traveling through the ground, the epicenter being where her target's feet met the earth. It was slow at first, like a steady heartbeat. The distortion in the air lingered, the masses wavering out of the palms of her hands at an unsteady rate, drifting up like the shadow of heat to kiss her shoulders.

Her eyes flickered, her expression almost stunned as Shiara was better revealed to her. A young woman, maybe even a girl, was who she faced. Aza's sky colored pools, confused and torn, locked with the deep violet orbs of her newfound enemy. "W-Why..?"

She'd seen them coming, so to speak, but never had she dreamed she'd be running from someone like this. Someone so small, so normal looking. The figures from her nightmares taunted and hunted her endlessly. They were threatening, scary. The men, somewhere behind her- that was who she often envisioned. Perhaps it was this girl though, that frightened her the most. The fact that the Order, known for leaving death and despair in its wake, had managed to pull someone so familiar and similar to herself into their midst. It was true Azarni didn't have a clue as to what they were here for, what their goals were, but she knew she was right to flee. That nothing good was going to come out of her listening to a word of what they had to say. The Order was murdering people, tearing down anyone that stood in their way. Fathers, mothers, children. They were ripping families apart. No reason or excuse was good enough to justify the sins they'd committed.

"Please stop this. You don't have to do anything, please just let me go."

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

She heard Delios's call but kept moving. He was occupied with a more head on problem at the moment. Azarni kept running, stumbling and tripping over her own feet and the long grass. She'd nearly forgotten about the third one by this time, but even as foolish as she was in doing that, she was still paying attention enough to see a tree falling down in front of her and she came to an abrupt halt, hands planting against the trunk just as it crashed to the ground, kicking up dirt and debris.

She should have known it wasn't going to be that easy. "I don't want to hear it, I don't want anything you have to offer!" Aza yelped back up at the girl. "I just want to go back home, I want my friends back! I said stay away from me!" Her shrieking demand rang out and echoed against the trees and what may have seemed like a simple angry emphasis, bringing up her arms and then swinging them back down against the log, turned into a crackling explosion. Before her hands had time to connect with the wood it cratered and then split in two, erupting into a flurry of giant splinters that shot off in all directions.

Taken aback by her own desperate fury and being pelted with chunks of wood, Aza stumbled back, her chest heaving.

"If you don't leave me alone I might hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone else!" Poor, sweet, naive girl.

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

Azarnite's head jerked in Marlowe's direction when he appeared out of no where, scared out of her wits. Another one? No? The two gentlemen with her seemed less surprised and more angry at his showing. A savior? The two orderlings looked to know him well, so perhaps he was a part of the resistance she'd heard of here and there. The heat and her dizzying panic made her vision blur. What was going to happen to her?

It was just another normal day. Warm, the sun casting down its dwindling rays in the evening hours. Aza sat outside watching some of the children running about with a smile on her face. Motherly and kind, with no kids of her own, it was a common occurrence for many of the residents to bring their's to her when they had errands to run. Azarni always graciously accepted. Up until recently she had been valued and trusted, cherished even by some of the older townsfolk.

There was always judgement when you fell out of the norm, however, and the petite lady had, unintentionally, done just that.

While she leaned against a beam supporting the front of her house, looking out as one kid tagged another, her ear twitched some- the sound of mumbling voices. When she tore her blue eyes from the street to turn her head she found three of the less favored men in the town standing on the corner of her yard casting her their angry glares while they whispered among themselves. Drunks, troublemakers. Anger always stemmed from something you didn't understand, from a fear of the unknown. Confusion.

Ms. Weaver never judged them. Never blamed them. She was just as confused and frightened as the rest of them. However, when she caught sight of one the young men's hands bouncing a decent sized stone up into the air and down again, her brow furrowed and she slowly rose up the post to retreat back inside. Before she could do so, before she really understood what was happening, the stone came hurdling toward her. It was a simple thing, really. One she could have avoided by stepping out of the way. All she did was think.

Stop.

It did. Right before it tore back across the yard and struck the man and shattered his cheek.

She never stopped scooting around the tree, picking up the pace some as Lathilos and Delios's attention was moved elsewhere. Hiding on the opposite side, she looked left and right, wondering what the safest route would be, if there was one to begin with. Her legs were shaking, threatening to give out from underneath her. Was there even an option in running?

Another quake shifted the ground below her feet and she groaned. She could feel it, that energy, humming in her veins- feeding off of her fear and threatening to breach the surface.

Azarni took off, using the distraction as a loose opportunity to, at the very least, put some distance between herself and the three. Weaving through trees and bushes, hopefully giving the gun wielder something else to shoot at should he choose to turn on her again.

The Order Saga: The Mind's Eye

She gasped as she was cut off, stuck between the two of them now, her head jerked from left to right to look between the two of them. Taken off guard by the taller man appearing in the way of her escape. "You're lying!" she cried when her wide frightened eyes finally settled on him. "I know who you are, and I know the things your people do!" She continued to back up, through the middle of them, but she was well aware there was little to no chance of her escaping them when they were practically on top of her.

"You're the reason everyone is so afraid of having me around now. Everything I've ever known, gone because of their fear." Jutting a finger out, she pointed in gesture back toward the town in an accusing way. Whether they noticed or not, the ground below their feet gave a subtle reverberation as she did.

Her eyes scanned back over to Delios, at the barrel of the rifle aimed more or less in her direction. "I said stay away from me. I mean it." Where she longed to sound anything resembling threatening, her voice came out very meek and shakey as she backed up against a tree, and whether they noticed or not, the ground below their feet gave a subtle reverberation as she did- her hands folded back behind her to press up against the trunk to feel her way, still moving back slowly around the left side of it.