[Flashback] Morals of the sinful compass

[Voreasos Alisier]

He felt the pain in his shoulder, the muscles burning with to much weight but he just bit down harder and pushed each limb to keep climbing. If he failed this then she would die and that would never leave him alone. He was all she had right now and he had to do everything he could even if it meant some pain for awhile for that pain would fade into just a memory before long.

Something clicked deep down in his body, he knew others from his race would call him names, hurt him even maybe to torture him but he did not care as long as Jenelle lived and found her family. One life he could save would mean more then his sad life and what would come even when faced with Viratas. Yet even in his teachings Vor would be fine he hoped.

Why was he doing this? All his young life he saw people living and being killed in births and fighting yet why did this one life mean so much to him? It was not right to kill just out of being mad or wasting a life due to pointless reasons. Maybe he was born in the wrong race and body but he worked with what he had and would do what it would take even if his life would end soon.

[Colombina]

Sweat poured into Voreasos's eyes, blinding him and making his pallid skin slick. There was a layered tearing sound and a deep pain throbbing outward from beneath his scapula. It spread into his neck and arm like fire.
Temporary relief followed as Jenelle's weight slipped from him. Her dismount was more accidental, as her grip could no longer hold. She hit the ground with a solid thud, wincing as she tried to recover. Her drop looked to be about eight feet.

While she struggled to stand, Jenelle's breathing was panicked. The darkness had grown and she could see so very little. Her bruised and cut hands were swung blindly from side to side, scanning for threats in the dark.

Vor's shoulder was still radiating pain, enough to make him dizzy as he slid to the cavern floor.

"Vor," Jenelle whispered, "Vor, where are you?" Her fear was palpable. "It is so dark down here. Darker than the pools and the nest."

They were far from the lambent glow of opalgloam and torches that spread through the dim city of Kalinor. This was the wild dark. The blackness that had been here before the Symenestra came and would remain when they left. But Symenestra were suited to this. Vor's eyes were adjusting, sharpening the murk into a shaded scene.

[Voreasos Alisier]

"It's all right..I am here Jen just relax all right? Welcome to the wild dark. A void that came long before we have and will stay long after we are all dead. I have never been in here but nothing lives down here other then death and bones." He said as he stood up.

His ankles felt sprained, his shoulders and arms still flaming in pain from her weight. They were close but now they were far from home. Not even this place the Symenestra's called home and none traveled here. It was a graveyard in a sense.

If he fell like she did he would had been dead, maybe the gods were watching over them. He thought as he walked towards her, his soft hands catching her hands hands and holding on to them before along her arms to her waist hugging her softly. "I know you can't see a thing, even our eye sight is not prefect here but just relax all right? Always darkest before dawn I think the human saying is right?" He asked as he moved from the semi small hug.

"I will be right here but I need to look over your body in detail. Tell me if anything hurts and keep the voice down in case others come looking above us. They will not come down here just take the wild guess to look above. Yet they might hear us." He said as he knelled down, his hands touching her feet and slowly rubbing and moving upwards to see what was in pain and what fate they were in. Even now that he was in pain he was still making sure she was fine first. A trait that was rare in his race.

[Colombina]

Jenelle's agitation and staccato breathing lessened as she found Vor's hands. Her skin was cold and her limbs were trembling. The longer she had contact with Voreasos, the stiller she became. Remembering her little brothers she wrapped her arms around the Symenestra's shoulders and cradled the back of his head.

"It is like floating in the sea, this darkness. I don't know from where danger might come."

As the boy began to look for wounds, Jenelle gently brushed his hands away. Though he may have meant well, her legs had borne enough intimate touching from clawed fingers. The sensation made her sick.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. It is only my wrists that hurt."

She drew away, but fumbled for his hand. His elbow was found, so she blindly followed it to his fingers. The claws painfully pricked her a little.
"Humans are made of sturdy stuff. My siblings and I would jump off barn roofs that high for fun when we were smaller."

Jenelle was holding his hand, relying on his eyes.
"Are you alright Vor? Can you lead me out of here?"

The caverns were second nature to most Symenestra, at least within a distance of Kalinor. They had not gone so far as to enter the labyrinth of constricting tunnels and pools that absorbed careless men.
No, they were just on the dark ground in an adjacent cavern. Vor would recall a way out, as the tunnel almost mirrored the main entrance to Kalinor. This way was the side-door to their civilization. Knowing the way did not remove the danger, though. Things other than Symenestra loved the dark and the damp.

[Voreasos Alisier]

"My body feels like crap but I will live. I think I can, we know the layout however there is more danger down here yet in a way its our only choice. I am not going to leave you down here alone and I can see rather well. We are in a cavern that is rather open but I need to know if you can swim and listen to every word I say even if it won't make sense. I will be your eyes and ears and get us out or try my best. There are things down here that form our horror stories." He said softly as he held on to her hand, his claws trying not to cut her in anyway.

He was a bit scared but knew that fear would not help them, he was all she had and right now her life was in his small hands. Such a burden it felt like for a being so young. A age where only a person should had thoughts of what game they wanted and stress free lives. Not this life yet he was handling it best he could. In sense that is what anyone could handle. Do what they could and do there best.

He held on to her hand, slowly walking, his mind remembering the layout of the caves. It might had been a mirror to Kalinor yet he had to walk slowly and pay close mind to the floor, around them and above them. He would fill the air with words yet his mind was only on the idea of getting out alive. A idea that they both shared but he knew he would not be done even if they made it out. He would take her to the watch tower that laid miles away and make make sure she was back in her city before coming back. A task that would take weeks or longer but he was going to make sure no matter what.

[Colombina]

"Swim?" Jenelle echoed, "Yes, I can. Not very well, but enough to keep my head up."

Voreasos's tender shoulder continued to radiate an acute pain from deep within the muscle tissue. He had to use his other arm as the guiding limb between he and Jenelle as she fumbled through the cave. Her steps were reluctant or stumbling as she passed over ridges in the ground or was maneuvered through tiny forests of stalagmites.
The only darkness Voreasos could recall was when he closed or covered his eyes. It must be strange to be trying so desperately to see but face nothingness.
As they climbed and wove through the cavern, her warm hand was ever in his. When they successfully passed through an uneven terrain she gently squeezed his fingers in a comforting sort of appreciation.

The trek to the outside was painfully slow, as Jenelle doubted every step. They reached a pool cutting across the breadth of the floor. Symenestra usually paid no mind to it as they could easily crawl along the side of the wall, but the sound of moving water made Jenelle halt.

"I hear water." She whispered. "Will I have to swim?" A more upsetting thought came to her, "Does anything live in the water?"
A question Voreasos, had likely not given much thought to. He never had to worry about it.

When they reached the shore, Jenelle began to timidly enter the water. Her ragged clothing floated on the surface opening around her like a flower. Suddenly the ground dropped sharply. Her next step plummeted her into the water, her steady grip on Voreasos slipped as her head vanished below the surface. Fabric and girl alike were sucked into the deep.

Dreadful seconds later, her head popped up from the water. She was sucking in air and swimming in feverish strokes as if something was chasing her. Perhaps all that lurked beneath her feet was her own fears, but it didn't matter. Every slick stone or strong eddy was something alien. After furious splashing, she reached the other side, scrambling onto the wet stone on all fours.

The process had made her cleaner, but it brought a new paleness to her skin and a dew to her eyes.
"Vor?" her head pivoted, "Vor!"

She began to cry, shaken from her passage through black water. Jenelle was a sturdy human though, she wiped her face with the back of her dripping hand, and held it to her mouth to smother the sound.

The exit was only two twists away. In moments they would find sunlight and Jenelle would see the features of her savior clearly for the first time.

[Voreasos Alisier]

He feared the water, it was a abyss that cut there inhuman abilities down for they were not a water race and worse yet the slime that rocks laid near stopped there talents of climbing. Water and Symenestra just never mixed well. He never heard of any swimmers from his race, they might be great swimmers if they just got over there fear of the water but for now he was still fearful.

"I am not sure, but the water can be rather deep so be careful. umm I can't swim so be careful I will take the walls. You will be fine all right? I believe in you." He said as she went into the water, everything looked like it was going good until she met one of the deep pools which he tried to warn her about. He was already on the cavern walls, his arm still not being used right as the pain still flared, a pain that would not ease for awhile it seemed but he was scared for her as she moved around, he saw no blood other then the cuts on her hands but he sighed a happy sound as she got to the other side.

He reached the other side, his shoulder flaring in pain once more, it was a throbbing sense like daggers poking him. He would need to see a doctor at this rate as he heard her cry out his name. She was going though hell he knew, he would feel the same way if he was in her shoes and his sight was taken from him in a deadly world of a game she had no part in.

"It's all right, I am here and you are fine." He said as he moved hugging her from behind. It was not much but he knew it would help her relax and breath better. His own breathing was getting more heavy as he felt the toll of his body taking beatings but he would not sit around and let that beat his mind. He would still get her out of her hell and back to her family as best as he could. "We are almost there, come on." He said as his hand moved to interlace with her's once more. He was taking more care not to hurt her with his claws this time around, there time spent together he was keeping more and more with her in mind. He was taking more care to take note of the ground and warn her of the soft ridges and any higher that would make her trip. It was a slow task but a task he hoped she would fine better off.

He knew they were almost out, few more turns and handful of steps, it was a long journey yet his was not over with. He still had to deal with the wild and knew the watch tower was close at hand, the problem was not the outside world but his own little word.

Soon they both saw the fragments of daylight, his eyes easily altering to take in the sunlight as she covered her face with her soft cut up hands. "We are free from that prison at last, the watch tower is close by." He said as he walked forward yet with a sharp gasp of air and her not moving he knew she saw him for the first time.

His form was normal height for a seven year old, human or spider like. His skin was a pale grey white, veins could be seen along his skin. His silver hair more of a mess then before, red eyes peering at her. His white cloak that was a bit to large for him covered his body, wrappings were around his thighs to his hips, small white feet with black claws that were cut up and bruised helped his stand. If his shoulder was looked at, it would be a dark blue color from the bruise. He was overall what his race looked like and what fear she had in her eyes and mind when she thought of them. It was easy to give a new body and face to a person who you rarely saw but once that image was broken it was hard. Yet he was still the same Voreasos that risked everything to get her out alive, the same child that was the same age as her sister and the same child that stood for what he believed in.

"I am not the white knight like you thought huh." He said as a soft smile formed on his lips, his spider like fangs showing a bit. "I am still the same person just another image it seems that you had in your head. We are almost done and you will be able to forget even me in a few months. Your home is waiting." He said as he pulled her a bit and led the way to the watch tower. It was just a half a days walk, there were trees that held fruit both could eat on the way, apples and such which would help them both. Maybe some food and talk in the sunlight would help them both. Just maybe it was all worth it in the end.

[Colombina]

Jenelle smiled sadly, as Voreasos easily read the dismay on her face. She had grown used to observing monstrous hearts in sinister bodies, but this little dose of comfort she had softened in her mind. The dim of Kalinor was kind to Symenestran features.

Perhaps she hoped there would be some resemblance to Jameth. Instead she was met with a pale, creeping thing, better built for hidden places than the bright and open world. He was the color of cobwebs and mottled with cuts and ghastly bruises, complete with hooked claws and fangs. Even at a little above four feet, he was not something one wanted to find in a closet.

His little speech was more of an apology for being born a certain way. It moved her. To his family he was probably a sweet looking thing even though he would make humans falter.

They were moving again before she could answer. He was overwhelmed with the idea of dashing off in the rescue of the girl. When the mouth to the caverns was out of sight and the path was enveloped in dark green shade, Jenelle began to slow.

"A moment, Vor," she asked.

Jenelle took the brief calm to adjust her sandals and catch her breath. She tried to wring water from her hair and clothes. Soon she was ready to move again. This time she took his hand not for guidance, but in a kindly way. Some thinking had made her tongue a little wiser.

"You are rather white," she laughed softly. "And you are my knight. So the title fits."
Jenelle stopped to face the Symenestra in the path and leaned forward to kiss his forehead like any lady would her knight. Jenelle smiled and returned to the cadence of before.

They followed the half overgrown path to mirror valley, pausing as Jenelle picked large reddish berries and stuffed them in her pockets. Instead of eating one, she broke its skin and said, "Here, a little trick my father taught me."
Jenelle rubbed the juice on the underside of her forearm.
"If it bothers my skin, I know it's poisonous. If it doesn't I will try a very small bit and see how I feel."

She was quiet for a while longer, worn to the bone with her emotions ground to powder by overuse.
"Voreasos." She pronounced it carefully, "It is a long name. What does it mean?"

[Voreasos Alisier]

"It means Flower. Heh I am sure if looked into it would be a type of flower but overall that is what it means." He said as he watched her take the berries using them along her skin. It was a neat idea and rather smart along with something he would never think of but then again his poison would fight other types of ill foods one would think.

He just smiled as he waited for her, his eyes telling a sad tale within his head as he thought of what he should do after she left. He really had no place to go due to he broke his word with two Webs and deep down feared what would take place with the other Webs when it was told he not only let her free but helped her to be free. It would be a crime almost if not worse then a crime. If they wanted to they could ask for his own hands and feet.

Maybe he would share his views with her or maybe not. Once she was safe in her city and home then he would worry of his own life. His eyes scanning the area around them as they stood there for he did not know what could be watching or seeing them as food.

"So how is the skin and berry?" He asked turning his head and red eyes back on her. His voice was soft yet no sign of what was within his head. What was done was in the past and if given the chance he would do it again.

[Colombina]

Jenelle was staring down the path when Voreasos spoke again. She looked down at her arm where the purple juice made a line.
"It seems fine."

A berry was plucked from her pocket, dusted off and nibbled carefully. She wiped her lips and threw the uneaten bit into the forest.
"Now Tanroa will have to give the final verdict."

They trudged a while through the undergrowth and layers of fallen leaves, Jenelle still holding the Symenestra's hand. Sunlight dappled them and they moved sympatico, like two siblings on the way home.
As they delved deeper in, the human startled at birds and the broad creaking of the trees. Her vigilance only lowered after an hour further into the trek.

When enough time had passed, Jenelle made a ripple in the companionable silence.
"I feel well, so I think they're safe."

She had been famished but forced herself to eat slowly. Jenelle remembered the pain when she devoured what the spiders had given her after depriving her for so long. They kept her weak on the journey to Kalinor, only enough to keep breathing, not enough to fight or walk. She remembered moving beyond hunger pangs into a delirious numbness.

Jenelle colored when she offered some to Voreasos. She didn't know if he could eat what she proffered as they walked.
"Maybe the juice, at least."
Not wanting to hear the gory details, she gave the little Symenestra a handful and looked away. Her attention was on the green and gold light filtering into the path ahead. Bared Symenestran fangs still upset her.
Only when she sensed he had either disposed of or eaten the food would Jenelle glance at her companion again.

After hours of resting and walking, the space between trees grew wider and the ground was brighter and softer. Spongy thyme and secretive clusters of flowers were spreading underfoot until the trees ceased and gave way to mirror valley.

The gate loomed before them, neglected with moss over its arch and a nest in its cleft.
"I have never travelled by gate before."
Jenelle was holding her breath before she went on.
"Dangerous things."

She was breathing deeply again, trying to build courage. She shook her free hand, making blood flow to her cold fingers. A nervous smile.
"But I am so close to what I thought I would never see."

Suddenly, Jenelle's eyes began to water. She pivoted to her knees and threw her arms around Voreasos.
"Oh Vor, what will happen to you when they know I am happy and free?"
She leaned back, putting her hands on the Symenestra's shoulders. She looked fully into his strangely colored eyes.
"Come with me. You don't belong there. They will make you less kind."
She sniffed and wiped her cheeks with the back of her thin hand. Then she smiled though her troubled brow remained.
"I will take care of you in my home. I will learn what I must to do so. We can keep this compassion. I promise."
And she meant it.