Quest The Longest Road To Nowhere

[Favchean Hronis]

For Favchean everything was dim around him, he took in the scene peripherally but he did so only to note if someone was trying to sneak up on him while his attention was on the swordsman. He barely noted that Rosela's establishment was burning, then was slowly being doused. He noted Riaris' predicament but was far too caught up with the swordsman to be much use for him, except to send a prayer to Wysar to give Riaris the fortitude to survive whatever was happening to him.

No, his pale eyes watch the man with the sword warily. His Lakan drawn mostly as a ruse, a man with a weapon people tend to watch the weapon and forgetting the body behind the weapon. Favchean's body was his chosen weapon, the one that he honed daily, the Lakan could cut, could stab but for Favchean's purposes it was more to distract. Of course Favchean's main goal was to divert the swordsman's attention so that perhaps someone with a ranged weapon could fire off a shot, or a dagger because the reach of a sword almost guaranteed injury.

However, the green male did not fear injury, so when the swordsman leaped at him, he spread his feet so that he could crouch easily because he knew he was going to be dealt a blow. The spacing of his feet provided him a strong foundation, his head moving back with the upper cut, so that when the fist of the man connected it was somewhat softened by the backward motion of Favchean's head. Of course softened does not mean it wasn't painful, and that for a tick Favchean thought he heard a ringing somewhere but the training and sparring he had done had taught him to work through that.

Because he hadn't fallen for the ruse, because he didn't shy away from taking a blow to his face, Favchean's Lakan arm was free to move and avoid the disarming maneuver, but he did not immediately attack with the soul-forged weapon. No he stepped forward and used the crouching position to help add force to his body blow, his free hand coming up palm up to attempt to drive his open hand directly into the sternum, over the heart of the swordsman with all the force of his weight behind it. If successful he hoped that would drive the breath from the swordsman's lungs, buying him time to either disarm or continue the attack before he regained the ability to swing the deadly weapon.

[Riaris Dovukalis]

Riaris raced forward, his body trained for combat roared into action to face his enemy. It seemed that Krysus would be pleased again on this day. The lakan, a weapon as sharp and swift as they came dug into the man's side and Riaris felt himself become just a little lighter. But this was far from over and as a member of the Kuvay'Nas, he had to see it through to the end. The violet Akalak saw the man rip the lakan from his flesh and prepared dive on him to finish the job.

Then something happened..

Riaris watched with surprise as he saw his lakan start to glow green, then suddenly his own body started to glow, a flesh of white light in his eyes just before the horrid burning sensation took over. He grunted, the pain ripping through his body even as he forced himself to take another step forward, then after. Soon the pain became too much and he dropped to his knees, both hands flat on the ground. Riaris eyes narrowed, his vision blurred to the point where he could barely see his hands before him. This isn't happening..I won't go down like this..

He fought the pain with all that he had, but he couldn't push himself to stand again, and was left curled against the ground, teeth grinding against the other and fingers crawling at his own body. Suddenly it all went away, and Riaris was left with a familiar feeling that he'd had after he had been relieved of Krysus curse for a day. The Akalak breathed deeply and slowly pushed himself up. There was fighting all around him, and the smell of smoke in the air from the building that had burned once.

Riaris pushed himself forward, moving towards the man that laid on the ground without motion. His pale blue eyes lowered to his weapon, the lakan that had glowed green at the same time as the pain had struck him. Moving closer, he reached down to reclaim his weapon and something else happened. It was strange and in no way could he explain the feeling, but the constant pressure that he felt from day to day was gone. It was as if Krysus had never touched him, never cursed him with her mark. It was an odd feeling and he was confused, he felt alone and at peace...more peace than he had known in a very long time.

[Rosela]

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Rosela stumbled in surprise as a man seemed to appear from the very flames, and she heaved up the snow distractedly. Was this another enemy? It was a moment before she registered the flames leaping to soak into him, and as she looked up to where her snow should have fallen, she saw only a heap of snow atop charred wood. In her shock, she was unable to even think the question of how it could have happened, and when recognition kicked in, all question of what was going on flew from her mind.

”L-Leo?” Her voice came out quiet and high, exposing her terror and confusion. It had been a full year since she’d seen him last and he was either having a terrible night, or that year had not been kind to him. He looked awful, and the selfish part of her wanted to believe he’d been gallant enough to suffer for the sake of rescuing her shop.

Thanks were forestalled however, as a man stepped around the corner. He was not remarkable in any way, and was plainly – and therefore badly – dressed. As he and Leo exchanged words, Rosela drew in a slow breath and reached out to steady herself on the wall. The air around her felt like cotton, muting the sounds of the fight around the corner and the words being spoken mere feet from her. Anxiety rose with a cold sweat between her palm and the warm handle of the stiletto clutched under her cloak.

Perhaps the shadows could feel her growing panic, for they rushed her and fluttered about her like they had only a handful of times before. Eyes falling on the plain stranger through the flitting shadows, she forced herself not to mouth the word as they whispered it to her. Carvex? Was it a name? Some kind of magic?

The moment the man’s attentions turned to her, the shadows scattered and vanished, and it took a double take to the charred wood above her to realize they were not moving anymore. The night suddenly seemed painfully dark, as though the moon had gone behind a cloud. Had the shadows left her? Had this man somehow chased them away? Was Akajia near and interfering with the gifts her mark had bestowed? The man was speaking to her, and though their eyes met, Rosela did not respond, choosing instead to sink into the wall next to her, as though to turn into it and hide. She felt helpless, and afraid in the dark. Leo stopped the man from moving forward, but what protections did they have? She remembered the litany of marks he’d displayed at last year’s council meeting, and prayed one of them would be of use here.

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[Eosi]

Battles were always chaos. Soon after the first shot had been fired, everything had turned to pandemonium. She watched, calculated as the man fighting Riaris got a lakan in the gut. Recognition flashed in her eyes for a brief moment as she realized that this was Riaris indeed. But there was no time to ponder it further. Surely, he’d be one of the agents Ivak had spoken of.

Her arrow missed and she began to mutter curses under her breath. But for some reason, her target was drawn away, as if the action was elsewhere. It compelled her for a moment to follow, to put an end to the melee. But if she lost focus, she could lose the trail of the item she’d been charged to find and recover. Failing Ivak was not an option. For good or ill, the woman slung her bow temporarily to go shifting through the snow.

She found her quarry. Something was obviously stuck just a few yards away, putting off a light blue aura amidst the sea of white. Eosi went for it, plunging a hand into the pile in the hopes of dislodging the item. Were it to be stuck, she’d pull with all her might, in the hopes it would give and break free. Recovering it was her only thought at this juncture. She’d been given a single task and by the Gods, she’d complete it.

Eosi would pull until she’d gotten the item, whatever it was. It was only then that she’d turn her focus elsewhere. Whatever was going on over toward Rosela’s shop was really none of her concern, but the idea of the eypharian being in danger struck a sour note. She liked her a lot, as much as she could like anyone really. Save Leo, of course. The thought boiled her for a moment before she let it go. She hadn’t so much as a word from him for a year. It was likely he was the reason Ivak hadn’t yet marked her. Why mark the girl if she’d already been deemed unworthy?

The emotion roiled in her heart, but she did her best to ignore it. Wherever he was, he was surely far, far away from there.