Completed Three Riders

[Edreina]

16th Bell
18th Day of Fall, 513 AV

"It's good to be away from the caravan," Manny groaned, dropping his reins long enough to lean back in a luxuriating stretch.

"Being away doesn't mean we ain't workin'," was the response he got from the older sellsword. Seb's old eyes were hawkish as he scanned the surrounding forest. "We's suppos' t'be scoutin', afterall. So get yer reins and keep scouting."

Riding, point, Edreina was able to grin in full at the antics of the two she had asked to join her when given the command to scout for a good place to make camp. Seb was a decent horseman and had experience with caravans, so she trusted his opinion. Manny... well, he was about her age and just as vivacious. Probably not the best reason for one to choose a flank-mate, but it made the monotony of the woods pass more easily.

The constant rock of Jorven's lithe trot threatened to lull her into a stupor, but something always managed to catch her attention for the instant she needed to stay alert: a bright red bird's breast here, a skulking shadow sprinting away over there. She had to admit, the land's 'scapes were more varied than any she could reach beneath the waves, but they held not the beauty of the azure Suvan.

Imitating their masters, Seb and Manny's horses whinnied in annoyance and barred their teeth at one another, causing Jorven to snort and roll his blue eyes. Somehow, over all that noise, a sound caught Edreina's ears. Her hand tightened on the reins, pulling back just enough that the silver gelding would halt. Without pause, the other two did the same, eyes moving constantly and ears straining for whatever the Svefra had heard.

A red head cocked beneath her blue hood, eyes narrowing as she attempted to see through the gentle haze of green that obscured anything too far away. The sound came again but... Edreina did not recognize it. Never in her life had she heard such a sound, but somehow it registered in her soul and sent chills up her spine.

"Seb, do you recognize that sound?" Edreina's voice was surprisingly strong despite the adrenaline leaping into her veins, waking the little fire in her chest. It had been days since she first used Hypnotism, so she was still unsure as to how it worked... But best be ready. Her heart, her instinct told her to run - all the way back to the Anchorage - as it did each time a new terror found her upon land. But, as was becoming easier, the Svefra suffocated the urge.

The sellswords answered by pulling free their weapons, a short-sword in Manny's case and a spear in Seb's; his war ax would be no use here. Nodding to herself, Edreina freed her whip from the loop on her saddle, fighting a smile as it tinkled merrily to the ground. "Be prepared to dismount," she whispered, blue eyes straining in an attempt to see what she had heard.

[Radiant]

10 Chimes earlier...

In the afternoon light of Syna, two figures were observing the three riders from a nearby hill. One figure wore a cloak that hide her features, and the other one was a literal white cobra coiling around the former's shoulder.

"*Sigh*..." The woman exhaled.

"Sissster, I told you to let it go." The cobra replied to her, speaking in a language only understood by the Dhanis.

"....."

"Heh, what'sss wrong with you? You usssually don't act thisss way, *Gasp!* don't tell me... you love her? Sssehehehehe~"

"I do."

"Oh? That wasss quick for you to admit."

"And it's time for me to finally let it go, brother"

"Hmmm~ I'm lissstening~"

Currently...

As the three riders faced the woods, they could see nothing at first. Then suddenly, a white elk appeared from the trees. Its body shining with comforting white light, giving it an ethereal and mysterious aura. It voiced its distinctive cry, but it held an echoing quality to it. Its body was surrounded by wispy mists, furthering revealing that it was not a normal animal. The elk seemed to gaze at the riders, before suddenly turning back and trotted deeper into the forest.

"Woah... what in the gods' name was that?" Manny voiced his astonishment, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

"An elk, big un', hmmm... might not find sumtin' like that again. Want to hunt it?" The old sellsword's eyes gleamed with delight, an animal like that would worth thousands of mizas. Not everyday you could find a glowing, misty, pure white elk. "Whaddya think?" He directed the question to Edreina, she was kind of the leader of their little group. A little hunt for some extra cash wouldn't hurt anyone.

[Edreina]

"No... Not hunt it," Edreina said quietly, already tapping her heels to Jorven's ribs as she set out to follow the creature. Something about the creature had a supernatural feel to Edreina, left her feeling oddly at ease. She knew that even in the Suvan, white creatures did not last long and for this one to have reached maturity... it meant there was something special about it.

The novice rider kept one hand on her saddle's horn, legs tight against Jorven so that she moved with him where a more skilled rider would be able to hold himself independent. In the dense green wood, the creature's shining white form stood out as they moved deeper. The duo's horses had a bit of trouble keeping up with Jorven's brisk trot, but they kept up with their leader anyway. Looking over her shoulder - groaning when her hair got into her mouth and eyes - Edreina was not surprised to see that Manny had drawn his bow regardless of her decision.

They crashed through the underbrush, but, the elk seemed to be unperturbed by the fact they were slowly catching up on it. If anything, it felt to Edreina as if it was leading them somewhere... but where?

[Radiant]

As the group followed the misty white elk, the animal acted as if they didn't exist, elegantly trotting around as it moved deeper into the forest. Manny was getting agitated, he really wanted to display its beautiful horns and skin its alabaster pelt, while Seb was interested in the money they could bring in selling such a creature.

"Psst... can I shoot it?" Manny notched an arrow and was already aiming even though Edri told him to not do so. Seb shook his head "No, let's wait a bit... something... is not right..." The experienced sellsword's instinct decided to kick in, he realized that this creature might hold some kind of power, maybe it was a herald of Caiyha and decided to test their greed.

Suddenly, the elk turned around. Its glowing yellowish eyes boring deep into the three riders. Manny was startled and released his arrow out of reflex, it sang through the air and pierced the elk's neck. However, instead of falling down and bleeding like a normal animal, the elk exploded in a wave of mists instead, obscuring everything around the party.

"S-shyke! Manny, you fool!!" Seb shouted, he couldn't contain his frustration.

"W-w-wait! S-sorry! I-I didn't mean t-"

"Save your words for later, boy!! For now..." The senior mercenary readied his weapon, they needed to defend themselves. Manny just swallowed his words and readied his bow once more.

The horses were getting agitated, they whined and trembled, except for Jorven for the windrunner recognized these mists... it was similar to the work of that little snake-like two-legs. Did she decide to come back?

As the mist slowly cleared, the party found themselves to be in a graveyard. Black scorched ground, dead creepy trees, numerous tombstones, and wispy mists floating around. Even the cool forest air suddenly changed to the somber, heavy, stale atmosphere of a tomb.

"S-s-shyyyke!!" Manny's horse decided to panic and ran away from the location, but bony hands burst out from the ground and grabbed the horse's legs, sending it falling down to the ground. The sellsword obviously fell along with his horse and trapped beneath its body "G-gaaaah!"

Living skeletons burst out from the the tombstones all around the party. They clawed themselves out of the ground much like a Yukman. Some of them even carried rusted swords and spears.

"B-by the Gods!" Seb stabbed a skeleton's hollow eye-socket with his spear, crushing its skull and sending it laying motionless, they looked weak, but a horde of them was closing in on the party. "Edreina, what should we do?!" The leader needed to act.

[Edreina]

When it came right down to it, fear and adrenaline were different sides of the same beast sometimes. As the world around her shifted with the disappearance of the Elk, the Sea Maiden's hand flew to her whip, unbuckling it from the saddle with a flurry of freckled fingers. Deep down, she knew that this pseudo-reality had been created by another. But, as she saw Manny fall from his horse, a primal sort of fear seized her, pumping adrenaline through her veins.

"Keep your seat, Seb, I'm going to help Manny!" Surprising even to herself, the redhead's voice did not quake with fear as she fell from the saddle, landing on her knees. Another hand grasped from the ground but she had the mind to sidestep its pale bone digits, sprinting over to where Manny had fallen. His horse was still atop him, thrashing and white-eyed as the skeleton kept hold of its leg. Its bleached skull was visible now and, without pause, Edreina slammed the spike at the rear of her whip into the side of its, head, causing bone to splinter and fragment. "Up," she commanded, seizing the horse by the reins and forcing it to stand.

"My leg," Manny gasped, face as white as the skeletons assailing them. It was not bent at an odd angle and, as such, Edreina refused to believe it was broken. The weight of the horse had surely just bruised it severely.

Whip in hand, the leader of this misfortunate party put herself under the young man's arm and helped him to stand, all but pushing him into the saddle. "Keep calm and keep your-" Heatless fingers closed about her arm and, with a sharp cry, Edreina turned, burying the three-sided spike in the wrist-joint. She twisted savagely so that the bones snapped and the hand fell from her arm. Seb shouted something, but her ears were filled with pounding blood.

Her legs shook slightly as she ran back to a whickering Jorven, watching as the placid horse rolled his eyes and stomped on anything that scurried too close. His silvered coat flickered and gleamed like the armor of a knight in battle. It took a tick, but he stilled at her approach just long enough for the Svefra to pull herself clumsily into the saddle. "Ride!" She shouted, kicking her heels into the gelding's ribs so that, languorous as his mind was, he would react instantly, throwing himself into a powerful charge. She heard the sounds of her companions' horses lunging forward as well, breath coming hot and ragged through their wide nostrils as they were forced to plunge onward instead of dancing away from the terrors that surrounded them. A blue cloak and red hair whipped from the Svefra as she fled, clinging desperately to the saddle as Jorven eased up from a steady trot into a full canter. This was supposed to be a simple scouting trip!

[Radiant]

"Y-yeah! Go go go go go!!" Manny panicked, commanding his horse to bolt from the hellhole, it was more than willing to oblige as his horse kicked every skeleton that approached it in a frantic manner. Seb swung his spear, knocking another skeleton to pieces, he felt a hand grabbed at his feet but quickly jerked it away. "Foul creatures! Go! Ride!" At Edreina's command, he followed suit.

The three riders charged forward, crashing through skeletons and moving away from the ones chasing them, they came from every directions, from the front, the sides, and the flank, but due to their slow movements and weak form, the riders could plow them through; however, they needed to think of something, it was only a matter of time before the horse got tired and they would be forced to hold their ground. Seeing at the endless horde, it would not be a good option.

The graveyard kept going on and on, it was like they were stuck in an another world entirely... however in the distance, a large structure could be seen. As the party approached, they could see it was a ruined castle, black mosses creeping over the structure, the walls were chipped away, and not a soul could be seen. The skeletons kept giving chase, slowly but surely... ever relentless in their approach.

At the right side of the party was also another noticeable structure, a stone hut acting as the entrance to a catacomb, a large complex of underground burial site with dark tunnels. Both of those structures curiously didn't have any living bones sprouting from them... giving the image that some other power was indeed controlling the bony version of Yukmen.

[Edreina]

"Quick! In there!" Seb shouted, motioning towards the castle, and Edreina was in no mood to disagree. The graveyard had little meaning to a woman of the open oceans, and so only the air of the situation bothered her, not the location. In fact, she found herself absently wondering what the large stones sticking from the earth meant. But, the castle was a building and buildings tended to be safe, right?

There was a large hole in the wall where part of it had crumbled and fallen away in eons past, and it was towards that which Edreina led the ill-fated trio. Manny and Seb had no trouble clearing the remains of the wall upon their white-eyed horses, but the Svefra found herself unseated when Jorven landed his jump. She rolled sideways in the saddle and was overcome by a nauseating sense of vertigo. It took everything she had to hold onto the gelding's silvery neck as he charged onwards across the castle's courtyard. His breath was harsh and loud in her ear, nearly drowning out the sound of his hooves.

Finally, they came upon the castle itself and all three horses slid to a stop. But, motionless they did not remain. Seb's stallion saw fit to buck wildly, angry that his flight had been stopped and lost in a feeling of being cornered. Manny's horse started to pace quickly, as if looking to escape, only to be reined in by the rider. Indeed, Jorven seemed the most at ease though his ears were pressed flat and his head swung back and forth in a worried manner.

With a huff, Edreina fell to the ground. Seb's mouth opened to ask... something... but he was quickly drowned out by the harsh creaking and groaning of wood, metal and stone as an enormous door started to swing open. If nothing came out to meet them, Edreina would take hold of Jorven's reins and lead the group inside, figuring that the shelter of stone walls would be favorable to treading upon a land in which the dead rose and walked with a vengeance.

[Radiant]

The bony horde stopped when they arrived at the edge of the wall, seemingly unwilling to enter the ominous castle. As the party approached closer to the smaller version of the Stormhold Citadel, the dark sky gradually turned crimson with the red mockery of Leth hanging on the blood-splotched sky.

The courtyard was filled with dead remnants of plants and flowers, showing the party that it was once a beautiful garden before some kind of plague struck it. The dilapidated massive doors of the castle opened by itself as if straight out of a horror story told by parents that evil wizards would kidnap bad children and take them to their castle. As the party entered, Seb was half-expecting for the doors to close by themselves, but they didn't... it just stood there with their maw wide open.

Inside the fortress was filled with what once lavish furnitures worthy of the Pressorah of Ahnatep, only filled with cobwebs and cracks here and there. Old ruined paintings, candle lamps, and rugs decorated the gloomy lobby. The three riders and their horses looked to be the only living beings inside the abandoned building... it was true to an extent as a ghostly maid accompanied by about ten suits of living armor appeared from the corner of their eyes.

The metallic automatons all wielded various kind of weapons, swords, shields, spears, and halberds. Manny yelped in panic and quickly released an arrow at one of the armor. It struck harmlessly. Sebastian cursed under his breath, these abomination of knights were obviously stronger than those puny skeletons.

The translucent young woman in elegant servant clothes approached the group, her feet floating a few inches above the ground and her long blonde hair waving up and down in non-existent wind. Light blue eyes oddly focusing on Edreina alone. "Edreina. My master wants to see you..."

Before the two men got any chance to protest, the maid continued "...alone." She didn't give any notion about telling them how to leave this Divine-forsaken place, only that her 'master' wanted to see the Svefra.

"Edri, this is obviously a trap." The experienced sellsword whispered, but he also realized they got no other way unless they wanted to fight through ten suits of living steel armor armed to the teeth.

If Edri obeyed, the maid would lead her into a large door at the end of the lobby while the steel knights kept surrounding the rest of the pary.

[Edreina]

Immediately, Edreina knew the strange woman to be a ghost. Even with a singular entity to base her knowledge off of, the Svefra was sure that the woman before her was not of this plane of existence. When her name left its ghostly lips, a chill crept up her spine, setting her flaming hair on end. Alone. Every fiber in the young woman's body screamed for her to run, to face the demons she knew rather than take such a risk.

But... there were others to think of. If somehow she could save their lives by following the ghost, she had a duty to try. Though her pale fingers trembled, she squared her slim shoulders and nodded, turning to Jorven's saddle. From around the saddle she removed the looping length of her whip, and from the bag itself she produced a small, innocent looking leather pouch containing the Balicani necklace and the strange ring she had found after battling the Yukmen. As strange as their situation was, she felt comforted by the power in her hands, even if the ring could easily be a fake.

Turning to Seb, she spoke low and quick, as if words with such weight could not be contained by ephemeral ears. "If anything seems awry, leave this place and ride until your horses fall or the danger is behind you. Then find your way to the the caravan. Tell Razkar-" her voice was strangled by their hard-earned ruse. "Tell my master that there is no saving me. Don't let him ride back here."

"How'n the hell are we supposed to keep Master Razkar from coming here if he chooses? He's a bloody Myrian for the gods' sakes!" A hysterical Manny cried, throwing his hands into the air.

Blue eyes hardened at his words, silently begging him to hush. Luckily, Seb had the fortitude of though to reach over and cease the young man's ramblings. "We will do as you've asked," he said simply, wise old eyes shining with a sort of solemnity.

"Good." With that, Edreina turned from them and back to the ghost. "I will see your master." It took everything in her to keep from bolting, from running until she came to what she knew and what was safe. Duty over self... The words rang in her mind, reminding her that as easily as this could be a trap, it could be far less heinous. But why would they use such drastic events to bring me here, thought Edreina as she followed the ghostly maiden, just to kill me? There has to be a greater purpose...

[Radiant]

The translucent maid kept silent as she lead Edreina into the large door, Sebby and Manny watched in worry while Jorven snorted, somehow rolling his eyes at his master's gullibility. As they got nearer to the door, Edreina could see the reality around her seemed to be rather distorted, incomplete, walls and windows tear here and there, lightening in the room behaving unnaturally such as certain objects didn't have shadows on them.

When they got to the door, what openned was not the door but a void-like portal heading into the unknown. It didn't wait for the both of them to approach, but charged forward to envelop both Edri and the maid. Inside was another place entirely, a throne room with beautiful architectures that utterly defeated the plain stone corridors and hallways of Syliras. In the far distance, a throne could be seen along with giant clockwork machines ticking on the wall behind the throne.

The maid led Edreina to approach the throne along the red carpet, strange magical orb of lights contained in clear glass decorating their way. Walking up the stairs and as they got nearer, the Svefra could see an little girl was sitting on the lavish chair, giving the image of strange princess indeed owned the castle.

"Master, I bring her...." The maid spoke with a placid tone to the little girl with long red hair and... blue eyes with features that looked like she was the ten years old version of Edreina herself. She wore expensive and elegant white dress that reminded of a rich nobleman's daughter. "Ehehe~" The girl giggled, her voice would remind the Svefra of her own when she was small, but not exactly the same. "Okay, Ophelia, you can go now~" She waved a hand and the maid bowed politely before disappearing in a puff of mist.

"So..." The girl got up from the throne, putting her hands behind her back as she approached Edreina while swaying her body from side to side. "What do you think? I have an amazing castle right! My name is Edreina!" A mischievous glint flashed from her ocean blue eyes and the girl leaned forward as if wanting to whisper something.

"You must be wondering why you are all here, well, Big sis, what do you think? Hehe~"