Quest Never Enough (Savio, Sayren)

[Balderdash]

70th of Summer, 513AV One bell before midnight. Ah, night time in Nyka. The brawling ends, the shouting fades away, and everywhere people can tuck into their nice, cozy beds. Of course, night time in Nyka was never quite that simple. While things went bump in the night everywhere, in Nyka said things tended to be real more often than not. So when two not dissimilar students heard a rapping at their windows, it was prudent to see what was there. What lay beyond the glass however wasn't the street outside. It was a strange place where the floor was a solid, shimmering grey, and the walls pulsed like flesh in muddied primary colors. They were staring at a corner. As they watched, the frame of a large man stumbled into view, and the floor gave under him like jelly. He was clutching his side, and blood oozed from between his fingers. The man collapsed against the wall and turned his face towards the window. It was Ximal's face, bruised and bloodied. Savio and Sayren saw this simultaneously. Both knew they had to act quickly.

[Sayren WindDancer]

Sayren was fast asleep. However, it was a restless sleep. She was tossing and turning. Before her sleep, she was thinking heavily about her master, Ximal. He had said he would return from the Aperture in about three days. It's been four days now. Though everyone else had told her that he was fine, her worry for him grew. Sure he was the strongest man she has yet to meet, but even he had limits. That much he showed when he had trained Savio and her a week before.

A tapping on the window had woken her up. She glanced up at the window, she hadn't seen the streets that would normally be outside her window. She rubbed her eyes as she placed her bare feet on the ground, taking a better look through the window. The walls and floor were a strange color on the other side. They even had a pulse, as if the floor had a heart and the walls atop it were breathing. She had narrowed her eyes when she caught the glimpse of a large framed man, struggling towards the window. He glanced up at Sayren with a battered and beaten face. Her eyes widen with shock as she realized who the man was. Ximal! Her master.

The man was severely injured and had trouble standing on his own feet. She knew something was wrong! It was in her gut this whole time, and now there he was. Outside her window. Broken almost to the point of death. Logic was pushed aside. She didn't wake Revy who had slept beside her that night. She didn't think to cry out Ximal's name. Just opened the window, and sprung forward. Not even giving time to second guess what was going on.

[Savio]

Savio snored softly as the Leth’s light shimmered in through his bedroom window. The day before had been long and hard with not only his work but also training afterwards. Revy and Bones were really pushing him hard now that Ximal was away on his expedition into the Aperture. In his waking bells, Savio silently wondered how the Master was doing. Surely he was fine… Right? Savio never vocalized his worries, since the others seemed to have enough on their minds as it was. Ximal was invincible. Or at least, that was what Savio kept telling himself. It was the light tapping at his window that roused Savio from his sleep. The young man frowned groggily as he looked up and out the window, wondering what the petch had awakened him. His jaw dropped at what he saw. He sprung from his bed and rushed to the window to get a better look at the strange scene that had taken place of the normal scenery that was outside his window. Savio could see little in the dark, but what he did see made his stomach drop. There, was the beast of a man that Savio had thought to be unconquerable from the moment he had met him. Ximal lain on the ground, bleeding out his life’s blood onto the ground, and his face beaten and contorted in pain. It was a frightening sight. But one thing was sure. Ximal needed help, or he was going to die. Savio tore himself from the window and rushed to his dresser to pull on his clothes: a pair of cotton pants, a white shirt, and his green over tunic. He yanked on his well-worn knee high leather boots, and then strapped on his belt that held his dagger. He then grabbed his messenger bag and stuffed it with first aid items, his hemp rope, some rations, and he also included his water pack. He tossed the satchel over his shoulder and took off running out of the school and into the Nykan night, heading towards the Aperture as fast as his legs could carry him.

[Balderdash]

The window swung open, letting Sayren step valiantly into... The street outside. If she looked back at the glass of the window, it was transparent again. If she closed it, the ordinary view greeted her. There wasn't the slightest hint that she had seen anything out of the ordinary. Well, except for the loud slam of a door and the bang of footsteps. That was probably rather telling. If she didn't head Savio off inside the school, she'd be able to see the poor fellow racing towards the enormous rift in the ground from her window.

[Sayren WindDancer]

Sayren blinked her eyes. What was going on with her? She glanced around and saw nothing but the ordinary streets once again. She closed the window from the outside to glimpse through the glass and saw that everything was normal once more. She was peeking into her own room. Was the vision of Ximal just a figure of her imagination? A mental conjuration of her growing worry for the man. She gave a small sigh and before she opened the window once more, she saw a slim figure of a man running in the window. She narrowed her eyes as she turned around to see Savio.

Where could he be running off to so late into the night? Hasn't he forgotten how dangerous the streets were at night? Knowing the man was much faster than her, she followed after him. Not minding that she was barefoot and only clad in a simple tan tunic and black tights. Whatever it was that had Savio running in such urgency. She knew it couldn't be anything good. Especially since she noticed, he was getting close...to The Aperture.

[Savio]

Perhaps running about outside, in the middle of the night in Nyka was not the wisest decision Savio had ever made but he couldn’t just stand by when he had reason to believe Ximal was in trouble. In the short time Savio had trained under the man, he had grown quite fond of Ximal. One could even say that Savio looked up to Ximal (both literally and metaphorically) but Savio would never admit it out loud. Perhaps Ximal was a bit crude, and slightly arrogant. But he had the knowledge and the brawn to back it up and he also had some sense of honor. Savio admired that. The night air had a crisp chill in it as it whipped at Savio’s hair and skin. He was glad that he had thought to wear his tunic. The city was eerily quiet and empty. As Savio ran, he did not see a single person. Surely monks would be on patrol, right? It didn’t take long for Savio to run from the school, through the shadowy streets of the Northern Quarter, and finally reaching the Bridge of the Dead. It looked much more forlorn at night than it did in the day time. As Savio reached the bridge, his breathing was still pretty even since he was used to constantly running. He looked around and frowned. There had to be a ladder leading down into the aperture somewhere. He remembered seeing one or two on the bridges during the daytime. Had they all been pulled up for the night? Savio gnawed on his lower lip in thought, trying his best to ignore the increasing paranoia within him. If only he had some clue as to where Ximal was within the aperture, but he could be anywhere and Savio didn’t have the time, skills, or strength necessary to go looking blindly.

[Sayren WindDancer]

Savio's sprints were spread out and well paced. So much so that Sayren was having trouble keeping up. The acrobat was avoiding obstacles with little issue and managed to keep his rhythm and speed all the same. While Sayren struggled to catch up. While she was running, she had noticed that the streets were so bare. Not a soul was out. Not even a single patrol of monks were out. She knew the people of Nyka feared the streets at night. But she figured even the Monks would be out and about. And yet, here she was, running after the only other person she could see on the streets. Savio-

Bump. She smacked right into the back of Savio. She didn't mean to. She was so distracted by seeing how empty the streets were that she lost focus of Savio. After rubbing her forehead, she helped Savio back onto his feet, "You okay? What are you doing out here?" She didn't want to ask if he had seen the vision about Ximal. Last thing she needed was for him to think she was insane now for waking up in the middle of the night worrying about their teacher. But...she couldn't help but wonder why Savio was out here for. Did he see the same thing she did? Best to wait and see what all he had to say first. Then they'll see what to do from there...being so close to The Aperture......it was not a pleasing feeling.

[Savio]

Saying that Savio nearly jumped out of his skin would have been an understatement. When he felt something slam into his back, knock him over, and then land on him… He kinda…maybe… Screamed like a little girl. When he felt whatever had landed on him get up, he spun around to see a small feminine figure. Upon closer inspection he was able to deduce who it was. “Holy Petch, Sayren! I thought you were… You know what, never mind. Why are you out here in the middle of the night? You need to get back to the school now, it’s dangerous out here!” he then said with a quivering voice once he was able to force his pounding heart back down where it belonged. He took her offered hand and stood back up. Once back on his feet, and somewhat calmed he gave her a stern look before she asked him what he was doing out here. Well… This proved to be awkward question. “Erm… I… I think Ximal is in trouble. I thought that maybe… I don't know… Maybe I could help him?” It wasn’t until he spoke his plan out loud that he realized how flawed it was. How was he going to find Ximal? And if he found the giant of a man, how was he going to get him back up the ladder? And should he face whatever horrors that lurk down there… How? With his mighty dagger and his novice skills? Hardly. Savio took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his messy hair. How was this going to work out?

[Balderdash]

"What are you doing there?!" a man's voice called out. A monk of Xannos was at the end of the bridge, bow in hand. "You shouldn't be here!" They had to make a decision quickly. Another pair of monks had emerged from behind an alley and were advancing towards the other side of the bridge. From the distance, Sayren could see the glint of an arrowhead on the scion of Xannos' bow. Out of the corner of his eye, Savio noticed what seemed to be a rope just a yard away. They could descend with it...

[Sayren WindDancer]

Sayren couldn't help but laugh when Savio screamed like a woman. Then Savio said he believed Ximal was in trouble. She blinked in thought. Could it have been possible that Savio may have seen what she saw? Why else would he be out here and if didn't so terribly believe that something dreadful had happened to their master? But before she had time to ask him. A monk had yelled out towards them.

He had a bow drawn and others were approaching them quickly. Sayren had her fists up. She honestly wasn't sure what good that would do. Considering one of them was an archer. The arrowhead glinted in the dark night. She was shaking in fear. She had never dealt with the monks herself and seeing that archer was only making her more uneasy. "Savio...this really isn't good..." Why were they out here anyways? No one walks the streets at night...maybe...maybe they heard her laughing echoing through the empty streets and came to investigate. Which meant they're presence could only be blamed on by Sayren. "What do we do now?" She said with her back to him. Her eyes focused on the archer who was several meters away.