Completed Blood red omen

[Raeyn]

82nd of Summer 518AV

The misty peaks had their name for a reason but the kind of fog that had been plaguing the city of Lhavit for the past season had been something else entirely. An air of fear still hung over the city. The kind of fear that even the respected and capable Shinya could not protect the citizens from, for a foe one cannot see is the worst one of them all.

Shacked up in their houses by permanent darkness, the citizens grew restless. Some took to prayers, others to kept busy in the best ways they could. Some would visit neighbours or family close by in desperation to avoid solitude in this time of need. Raeyn was not one to find comfort in the arms of another, however. To him true peace of mind hid between pages of a good book.

Whether it was fearlesness or stupidity that pulled the Inarta from his home that day was uncertain, for the outcome was the same in any case. Armed with a torch and counting on the sharpness of his memory, Raeyn made his way though the black streets of the Skyglass city.

There was not a star in the sky to light his way. Oh so very slowly he clung to the side of the streets where the torch illuminated walls of buildings, unable to see farther than an arm's length in front of him. Soon enough the task of navigating in this fog proved far too laborious for the end result to be worth it. By the time Rayen realised this, however, he could hear the crash of thunder in the distance. A drop of rain fell onto his nose. It seemed even the god of storms wished for him to turn back and go home and stew in boredom.

It seemed Raeyn could not walk fast enough. The more steps he took, the faster the weather caught up to him and soon his hair and his cloak was soaked. Deprived of sight and disoriented he followed the cobbles where they took him until he realised that he should have been feeling the familiar wood of his front door a long time ago. Truly he was lost and the storm was only getting closer.

[Narifa]

82nd Summer 518 AV

Storms in Wind Reach were terrifying in their ferocity. The Summer rains flew in from the northwest, fickle and frightening, painting the sky an often dark and ominous purple. Beneath the mountain, however, the rains could not reach them. Thunder would rumble, lightning would kiss the earth, but still the people knew without a doubt that they were safe among Mt. Skyinarta's caves. Narifa had never been afraid of storms.

The clouds blocking out the moonlight on this particular night, however, were different. Black and dense, they seemed to descend from the sky, pulled to the ground by the weight of a million raindrops. It was as if one could reach out and touch the immaterial substance.

The bright-eyed Inarta was hurrying back from a lovely evening of music and warm conversation. Despite how long she'd been in Lhavit, there were still so many stories to discover, so many aspects to life that she'd never known. It made her wish she could spend the rest of her life simply conversing with others. But alas, that was an impossible dream, and the closer she became to her little apartment, the faster the thought dissipated.

Her quiet musings were suddenly interrupted when the clouds finally let loose. Fat droplets smacked her once, twice, then came down in torrents, making her figure into a canal. The water was rapidly seeping through her outerwear and brought with it a chill deep enough to touch her bones. Thunder echoed overhead. Stupidly, Narifa hadn't thought to bring a torch, and as she quickened her pace to outrun the rain, she found that the once familiar pathway home had distorted into something foreign.

Not one for running, the young women stopped to catch her breath under the canopy of a closed shop - momentarily sheltered. Narifa cast her eyes around the area. There were empty lanterns, blacked out windows, and looming doorways, but she didn't recognize any of it. A shiver racked her frame. She strained her ears to see if she could hear any noise that would point her in the right direction. All she picked up were her own wet pants. She tried once more.

There. Underneath the pitter-patter of the rain. The familiar smack of feet on cobblestone, steadily increasing in volume. Blue-grey eyes narrowed, attempting to pierce through the gloom. When they landed on a shapeless and growing silhouette, Narifa pushed herself out from under the canopy and threw her arms about, waving for its attention.

"Hey! Hello! Could you help me? I'm a bit lost!"

[Raeyn]

A voice, muffled by the downpour, came from the darkness as he struggled to get his bearings. "Hello?" he called out in turn, wandering if perhaps the fog was playing tricks on him. But then from the corner of his eye he spotted her, first a hint of movement in the black, smoggy air. But as he came closer, the silhouette of a girl just as drenched and pitiful looking as himself, appeared in view.

This time he was lucky, for beneath the canvas canopy the two strangers found a momentary break from the downpour that was coming at them like the wrath of gods. With each moment however the thunderous roar came closer and closer and veins of white light shattered the sky.

"By the gods, seems I'm not the only fool to leave their house in this horrid weather." he said, wrapping his arms around himself, his teeth chattering uncontrollably. "The gods have forsaken us. What other explanation could there be?"

One could never accuse Raeyn of being good company at best of times. Certainly at a time like this the girl could not have found a worse person to be stranded with.

Although in the darkness he couldn't quite make out the colour of her hair, he did see the girl to be quite beautiful. With hair in dreads and quite the lovely face, perhaps in any other circumstances he could have made a better firs impression. Whatever this plague of fog and rain, that descended upon them, had in store however, it was likely not good first impressions.

.

[Narifa]

82nd Summer 518 AV

Narifa thanked every divine being she knew when she heard an answering call. The masculine voice was followed by a man shivering just as much as she, and she waited as he changed his trajectory to move towards the canopy. A loud clap of thunder rang through the sky and she couldn't stop herself from flinching the slightest bit. The air seemed to vibrate with its force.

The man finally stopped next to her, his pale skin and previously shapeless features illuminated for the shortest of moments by another fork of white hot lightning. The scene might have been considered serene, a peaceful silence between strangers thrown together in unfortunate circumstance, if not for the sound of cold teeth rising into the space around them. Narifa watched as he hugged himself and proceeded to mumble about gods and fools. Beautiful

"The gods are certainly capricious beings. Never ones for leaving well enough alone." The girl replied. She related to that restlessness all too well, "By any chance, do you know where we are? I seem to have gotten turned around a ways back."

The rain was still coming down in buckets, and her cloak was nowhere near dry. The fog had decided now was the time to thicken, until she was unable to see even the shop sign that had been hanging across the street. Her feet, bare and tentatively used to Lhavit's chill, were growing numb. Rubbing them wasn't bringing any warmth, and in the back of her mind she regretted leaving her sandals in the apartment. They couldn't stay under this canopy forever. She was at risk of losing a few toes.

"Or perhaps you would know of an inn? Someplace with a fire, to dry off? Although, that doesn't seem terribly likely..."

[Raeyn]

Regrettably Raeyn shook his head at her entuiery. "I was almost certain this was the way back to my house. Turns out almost isn't good enough. Do you?"

Looking into her eyes however he soon learned this was just wishful thinking. Whether he was frustrated with himself for leaving the warm and comfort of his apartment, or with fate for throwing him into such unfortunate circumstances, wasn't quite obvious. Angrily, Raeyn slammed his fist on the door of the shop. "Anyone there? Let us in!" But no answer came. Defeated he slumped on the floor, hoping that perhaps if they staid there the storm could pass them by. Another flash of lightning lip up his face, the white mark beneath his eyes, the tuft of white in his hair that was now plastered to his cheek with rain water. He must have looked truly pitiful, looking up at her in hope that perhaps she had some idea.

It was then that everything before his eyes slowly turned from black to red. At first he thought it a fault of his vision but panicked blinking did not banish the red hue. Raeyn's heartbeat quickened. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief but that didn't seem to fix the problem either. If there was any doubt in his mind that the gods had it in for him, that doubt was all but gone now.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" his voice shook partly from the cold partly from fear. At this point he cared very little for introductions or name or anything of the sort. She could have been anybody but at least he wasn't alone as the skies wept and thunder hollered above their heads.

[Narifa]

82nd Summer 518 AV

All the Inartan could do was shake her head in despair. They were well and truly lost. Stupid, stupid girl! Should have taken up that woman's offer of a round of drinks and stayed the night. Or at least grabbed a torch. The cold continued to drag its fingers under her skin.

Narifa flinched again when the abrupt smack of the man's fist against the door coincided with another clap of thunder. She had never been afraid of storms, true, but dread was quickly sneaking up on her. Something was going to happen. Something bad. The air was too ominous, pregnant with foreboding, and Narifa's pulse sped up. The man before her slumped to the floor. Hurriedly she followed suite, placing her knees on the driest patch of stone she could find and turning to face him.

"It'll be alright. We just need to-" Her words of comfort caught in her throat when his head began to swivel wildly. His hands fruitlessly rubbed at his eyes, voice shaking with confusion and panic. Alarmed, Narifa fell back on her elbows. What was he seeing? Her vision was the same as it was before. Black sky, black street, black rain, white light. His unease was palpable. It sucked her in, made her want to run for the comfort of Wind Reach's cliffs, and its infinite warmth. Never before had she been so afraid, and she could only imagine what he was feeling.

Determined to help, Narifa pushed back onto her knees and made to pull his arms away from his face, "Listen. Concentrate on me, on my voice. Maybe if we walk the way I came, we can find the restaurant I was leaving from. We can't stay here, not if you're...seeing things."

[Raeyn]

Reluctantly he listened, looking at her face peering from blood red fog. The woman didn't really need to do much more convincing than that for at that exact moment the weather seemed to do it for her. As another roar of thunder pounded on their eardrums, there was a creak in the poles and the weight of the rain brought the canopy down onto them. That was all the convincing Raeyn needed.

Swearing loudly the alchemist scrambled to his feet and looked for her hand beneath the fallen canvas and shards of wood. "Are you alright?" he asked, attempting to her her to her feet if she needed it. "Do you... do you know the way back? Let's go. Let's not stay out in the rain a minute longer."

Shivering violently he would follow her, trusting that at this point she was likely his best hope for making it out with all his extremities still attached.

[Narifa]

82nd Summer 518 AV

The combination of blood and thunder rushing in her ears hid the creaking of the canopy overhead. She knew the man was listening to her, had watched his eyes change from panic-filled to only anxious. Happy that her words worked, Narifa moved to stand up and pull him along. She should have known hallucinations weren't going to be the end of it.

A deafening snap crashed over every other sound filtering through her eardrums, and almost immediately she was covered in canvas. The hit had forced her back down to the earth, elbows skinned, fingers scrabbling to find a hold, wooden splinters in her hair. Her hands curled desperately, searching for the man just as vigorously as he searched for her. When his cold and slippery grasp pulled her from the wreckage, she could only gasp in answer to his inquiry. Her ribs were most certainly bruised.

But she would not hold them back. She could not hold them back. They needed to find shelter , and they needed to find it fast, "I'm alright, I'm alright. I just need to...go slow. Slow and steady wins the race, right?"

She laughed weakly.

"Thank you, for not leaving me there. I came from the left of a fork about 20 feet back. Come on."

She placed her hand on his much taller, much broader shoulder, trusting that he would match her pace, and that he wouldn't mind the touch. The Inarta never did care for personal space.

[Raeyn]

It was remarkable to him how even in this fog, with rain crashing down upon them like tiny blades and clear aches from the fall, she still found it in herself to laugh. Was she mad, or simply coped with uncertainty far far better than he ever could fathom. Raeyn admired that.

"Don't be silly. You wouldn't have left me either" he smiled, although truthfully he couldn't really be certain of such. "We'll go as slow as you like."

Now Raeyn was certainly one for personal space. In fact he held it quite sacred, this personal bubbled of his. Few, were welcome past the barrier between him and the rest of the world and had the circumstances been different, the slightest uninvited touch would have held dire consequences. Not this time, however. For in the confusion, the panic and disorientation of the evening her presence was perhaps the only certainty he could hold onto.

Without much second though, Raeyn unbuttoned his cloak and threw it over both of their heads. It wouldn't have done much to protect them from the wetness for it was entirely soaked though already. It might, however dull the force of doplets on their heads. A strong arm wound around her shoulders to keep her close. He wasn't about to let them get separated for fear of never being able to find each other again.

They walked in the direction which they believed was 'back'. But it was only until they came so close to a familiar sign post that they could reach out and touch it that the direction was truly confirmed. Once again Raeyn counted his blessings. The cobbles directed their feet, granted that on more than one occasion they almost walked into abandoned businesses, locked homes and city structures. Eventually some of the bends in the road started to look familiar to the Inarta alchemist and some of the walls, which he walked as close as possible to, bore signs he'd seen quite recently before.

"Have you any guesses if we're close?" he asked although over the roar of rain and thunder his voice sounded more like desperate yelling. "Which way next?"

[Narifa]

82nd Summer 518 AV

Of course she wouldn't have left him out in this miserable storm. The thought never even crossed her mind. If anything, this would have been perfect exploring weather, and this man perfectly acceptable exploring company, if not for the black smog obscuring everything beyond her outstretched fingertips. He even acquiesced to her request to go slow. Although, she wasn't yet sure if that was out of consideration for her person, or out of a desire to not get any more lost than they already were. It was a morose thought, and one she immediately shut down.

Narifa's previous fears were shoved even further down when he tossed his cloak above them, foregoing that tiniest bit more of warmth in order to keep the rain away. While an end to her clattering teeth and aching bones didn't seem to be in sight, the addition of his tight grip on her shoulders brought a lovely respite. He was warm. Despite the cold, the fact that she could now see her breath entering and exiting her lungs, the dampness that was causing her skin to wrinkle, he was still warm. She burrowed into his side a little more, relishing the heat.

One foot after the other, Narifa and the kind man advanced through the labyrinthine city streets. Any door they came across seemed perpetually locked, a barrier preventing them being safe. Her head had lolled downwards a few bends back, and the cobblestones had started to blur together. A dull pang made itself known in her stomach, adding to the growing number of miseries she was experiencing. She didn't think anything of it, had in fact consumed a dinner larger than what she was used to. Hunger was the last thing on her mind. The stupor gradually intruding her thoughts lessened slightly when the man broke the silence.

She hadn't truly been paying attention to where it was they were walking, and at his desperate questions, Narifa shook herself and analyzed the street they'd stumbled upon. Once again, nothing looked familiar to her. As she turned to inform him of this fact, a light flickered in her peripheral vision. The Inartan whipped her head around, making herself dizzy but forcing her eyes to focus, and spotted a rapidly dousing torch.

"There! A light!" Her numb fingers tried to pull on her companion's sleeve, "Someone must be up. Maybe they'll let us in!"