The Silver Flames of Edyn ~:Haru|AE:~

[Haruchai]

Heat. Heat and sand. A throbbing headache. These were the first things that Seth felt as he began to regain consciousness. The way his head felt he dared not open his eyes. Not yet. He could tell he was outside even without the use of sight. The arid desert air swirled around him, and he could feel the sun beating down. It was bright. Far too bright to be inside the tower. The Tower. That was the last thing he remembered. He and the others had entered one of the Faranthi Towers. The one closest to Land's Edge. They'd set out from Bara'cor and entered the Tower. Full of piss and vinegar really. It hadn't taken too long to figure out they were overmatched by the Tower. But by then it had been too late. That... thing. It was monstrous. Seth had held his ground as some of the others tried to run. Maybe that was why. Maybe that was why he'd been spared.

Finally rolling over, a hand over his eye, Seth groaned in pain. It didn't feel swollen but it hurt. Keeping that eye closed he managed to look around. The Tower was right there, and he was now outside. That was... interesting. Like he'd been ejected from it somehow. His legs were a little wobbly but he pushed himself up to his feet, and breathed an audible sigh of relief when he saw his sword laying in the sand a few yards distant. Staggering to it he bent to pick it up and felt a sudden rush of light-headedness. Steadying himself he picked up the blade and sheathed it. He seemed all in one piece, if shaken and sore. Pulling his hand away from his eye he could see it was red with blood, dried by now. Slowly things were coming back in more detail.

That thing, that monstrosity. It had used tactics. It wasn't a dumb beast. It had cut him over the eye on purpose. To make him bleed, to blind him as he shut his eye from the blood. As he'd struggled to find his target it had turned on his comrades. It wasn't quite factual to call them friends. Seth had only known them perhaps a week before they'd set out for the Tower. Seth had known their names, they'd planned for a few days, gathering supplies and the like. Kade had been the de facto leader - a former Koorvan soldier and thus a fellow countryman to Seth. Quite a bit older than Seth's twenty-seven years, Kade had been at this a long time. Then there was Nosha - a healer and cleric of the gods. Her and Kade had been a thing. Maybe. Seth was horrible at that sort of thing. Being able to tell. Then there was Senia - a young woman that Seth hadn't quite been able to peg. She knew at least a little magic, he could tell that much. She was quick and quick witted as well. Despite himself Seth had felt attracted to her. Last was Brin - a local man who was supposed to have been their guide. He wasn't really part of the little group they'd put together, but one didn't try the Towers without some sort of local.

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Edyn wasn't a friendly place. That wasn't to say it was too terribly different from many of the other worlds out there. Or at least that was what the sages would have you believe. Some said it was the only place like it in all of existence. Others said there had to be other places out there, other worlds. Seth? Well, he didn't know. All he knew was that something had come from somewhere and had impacted their world. It had happened long before he had been born of course, but now they had the Altan Wastes. Named for the first explorer that had been brave enough to venture out into the sands to try and discover what had happened. All Seth knew was that it had been nothing good and the Faranthi Towers had appeared. Not that he believed a word of that, sort of. If something had fallen from the sky and changed the world in the blink of an eye, then the Towers had appeared, well, it meant something. Didn't it?

The Towers had been attracting adventurers for years. They were said to be full of riches, and tales told of those who had managed to enter them and survive. Rich men. Powerful men. And women. Of course others had tried to glean knowledge from these people, but they held tight their secrets. That or they simply could not tell. Whatever the case, many people still tried. The Wastes and the Towers drew people like moths to a flame. Some got burned, others did not. This had been going on for fare longer than Seth had been alive. There wasn't anyone around now that could remember when it had all began.

​

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Shielding his eyes from the sun, and feeling his strength return by the moment, Seth looked around. Was he the only one of their group that had made it out alive? He didn't see anyone else right away. Maybe the others were just on the other side of the Tower. Each Tower was actually a trio of monolithic-like structures that rose well over a hundred feet into the sky, each connected to the other. The exact height was unknown, but the base of each tower was very well known. Seven hundred and sixty four feet to each of the three sides. So it was certainly possible that his companions were just out of sight. Seth kept his one good eye open, keenly aware as he began to walk the circumference of the Tower.

 

[AlluringEnigma]

Everything hurts. That was the first though that came into her head. The second was Ow, the sun is bright. The third was What trhe fuck happened? Senia Taylor pushed her arms against the sand, though she barely had the strength to do anything but flop over onto the other side of the hot sand so that she was now staring directly up at the sun. Things had gone from peachy to shit in a matter of seconds and it was the kind of regrettable memory that usually occurred after one too many drinks. The bastard leading the group had charged at the thing - and had immediately been sent flying into the wall of the tower. Senia had thought he might go through it entirely, but whatever the damn towers were made of was stronger than flesh and bone and significant force. The crunching sound had been - unsettling.

Though, honestly, she didn't remember a single name from the group. She had joined at the last second, called by the adventure of doing something no one else had managed to do before. They had gotten so damn close too - nearly to the top as far as they could tell. She scowled - until she realized that scowling hurt too. "Fuck!" she shouted to no one in particular. A few moments passed. You need to get up. "Yea, I fucking know," she replied to no one in particular.

She took a deep breath. And another. And one more. Get the fuck up. "Fucking fine! Fuck you!" she swung her upper body up in one motion, yanking her head with her and letting out a loud groan as her entire body protested in pain. Senia gritted her teeth and rose to her feet. She looked around with squinted eyes - nobody and nothing but sand. Fucking great. She walked forward. Might as well try and see if anyone else had made it out before returning to their staging point.

Every step was pained. She didn't have any injury in particular - just a whole bunch of them that added up to make her body writhe in pain. There was nothing more Senia wanted than to just collapse and be done with this. Fuck that. No fucking tower is getting the best of me. And then she saw a figure. As she rounded the tower, she saw a lone figure stumbling through the sand. She had no idea who it was - even if it was someone from her party she barely remembered what they looked like. One of her hands extended to wave over her head - to signal him and get his attention. The other went behind her back, gripping the dagger. Adrenaline started coursing through her, blocking out a good chunk of the pain as her gait straightened and her walk became more normal.

No weakness. "Who the hell is there?" she shouted, continuing to walk towards him. She was now fully coiled - ready for a fight.

 

[Haruchai]

​

Feeling lucky that he still was at least clothed, and had a weapon, Seth kept looking up at the structure. It really was a marvel, and oddly he couldn't even remember just how they had gotten inside. He'd been watching their backs while the guide, Brin, had been busy doing, well, something. Seth sighed, wishing he'd paid more attention. As far as he could tell the exterior of the tower was devoid of any doors.

Then he could hear yelling, and as his hand slipped to the hilt of the sword on his back he shielded his eyes with the other. Looking around he finally spotted a figure. Certainly looked human, and sounded like it was shouting. Slowly the words made it to him over the distance, broken up, though he got the gist. He lifted the hand that was free, leaving the other on the sword, and he waved. "Hey! It's me! Seth!" he called. It definitely sounded female, so if he was lucky then it would be Senia, or Nosha.

Quickening his pace he moved toward them, still on the alert, though at least it had been someone who had hailed him. Monsters usually weren't so polite. As he drew closer he did recognize Senia. Mainly by her hair. It was a strange color for a person, almost gray. It reminded him of a wolf. Sort of.

"Senia!" he called out as he closed the distance. "It's me, Seth! You made it out alive too!" he exclaimed as he was now rather sure it was her. Was she the only other one? What had happened? She might know more than he did, and as he closed within about ten to fifteen yards of her he slowed to a walk. Still slightly wary.

"That is you, isn't it Senia?" he asked, already kicking himself for his naivete. He was just so excited to see someone out here in this gods-forsaken place.

 

[AlluringEnigma]

Seth, right that lost puppy. How had he managed to survive this long? Senai's grip loosened on the dagger. Unless this was a trick of the tower, which seemed unlikely, she wasn't in any danger around Seth. At least, intentional danger. She walked towards him with the same, cocky stride she had used when she had first met the party. "Hello, Seth. It is me, unless you know any other thieves with hair like mine." She rolled her eyes and walked up to him, collapsing to the sand when she verified that it was indeed her compatriot. Or hell, if the tower's magic was that strong she was probably fucked anyway.

She looked up at him "You see any of the others? With whatever is left of your eyes?" She exhaled deeply and felt a shiver of pain course through her. "Whoever put this together was far stupider than I thought. Whatever bit of brains was left in that boy's head were probably smashed once he hit that wall," she remarked casually. At this point, she was just venting to deal with the pain. She chuckled softly to herself, "You ever hear a crunch like that before, kid?"

She took a deep breath and sighed loudly, before struggling to her feet. "We might want to clear out, before the tower decides to finish the job," she gestured back at the massive thing. "Which way is....." she paused "Well anything, really. Where the fuck are we?" Geography was one of her many weaknesses.

 

[Haruchai]

​

Smiling as the figure approached, that sassy walk with the switch of hips, Seth was genuinely glad to see the woman. "Good to see you! And I don't know anyone with hair like yours." he confessed. The woman sunk to the sand and Seth sat down across from her, several feet separating them.

The questions she asked and how she asked them told him she thought he was just a pup with no experience, but really, that didn't bother him much. It was easy enough to prove her wrong. He nodded. "I've heard worse than that, and my eye's not so bad. Now anyway. The blood's dried. But that thing, whatever it was, was smart. It blinded me on purpose." he said, and he started to jab back at her, but just gave her a smirk instead. The 'boy' she was talking about was likely older than her by two decades, by the looks of her, and her attitude told him all he needed to know about her attitudes about men. Great.

As she got to her feet Seth did the same and a glance upward gave him an idea of where they were, and which way they needed to go. "Bara'cor is that way. Probably the closest bit of civilization." he said, and instinctively began to head that way. "Two days walk. Or if we walk through the night we could be there in a day I would think." he mused. The both of them weren't in the best condition, sore and already a bit tired. Not to mention that they'd lost the provisions they'd come with. Making it to that city was going to be difficult.

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For the first hour or so Seth constantly looked over to check on Senia, not only to make sure she was alright, but that she was keeping up. Finally he spoke. "You ever see a beast like that one in the Tower?" he asked. "I wonder what it was...?" he asked, not sure if she had any ideas. He'd heard of, and seen, a fair few monsters. Nothing like what some of the old-timer adventurers had seen of course, but more than a mere handful. He was gently probing to see what knowledge Senia had.

 

[AlluringEnigma]

"Oh, I'm sure you have been through worse," she mused, completely uninterested in hearing his stories of robbing a farm or wrestling pigs, or whatever counted as adventure in his little village he had inevitably grown up in. She had met enough of the types - foolhardy farmhands who though their farm strength was one-of-a-kind and that real adventurers would be bawled over by their strength and gusto. She had nothing against them, but they had stopped impressing her ages ago.

"It blinded you on purpose? I doubt that," she quipped offhandedly as she set stretched her back, her entire body alight with pain from the motion. This only furthered her suspicion - everyone was apt to attribute intelligence to a monster that could manhandle an adventuring party. The truth was far from that - it had lashed out for the first thing it had seen, in her mind at least. It just happened to be his eye.

"We better walk, then, I suppose," she sighed and headed out without waiting for him, occasionally grabbing her right side in pain as she walked through the desert.

~~
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If he asks me one more time how I'm doing, I'm going to blind him and leave him in the desert. It was harsh, but damn if he wasn't getting on her nerves. Why couldn't one of the less talky adventurers had survived? They, at least, would have shut the fuck up and made the walk a silent one. She turned to glare at him as he spoke, though it quickly melted when she finally heard an actual question of substance. "I've seen smaller forms of that creature before, yes. I forget the local name for them. I couldn't actually give less of a fuck what they're called, come to think of it. I aim for the eyes and that's good enough for me. Though, it's much easier when they aren't that fucking big," she quipped. Senia pulled a dagger from her belt and mumbled a few words under her breath sending it hovering in front of them. It hovered a few feet in front of them, matching their pace as they talked, "Unfortunately, the stupid cleric was too busy seeing to her boyfriend or lover or fuck-stick to actually blind it like I told her to. Two seconds in and, half the party was useless."

With a snap of her fingers, the dagger flew straight at Seth, tip-first. Then, with a slight wave of her fingers, it diverted just to his left and dropped from the air into her palm, snickering at the little action. "You've only ever fought hay bales, I imagine, so I don't blame you for not being able to take it on. And our guide, well, may he rest in peace. I haven't been in the towers before, as I hadn't had a death wish 'till now, it seems," she said with a smirk, pushing through the pain.

She looked at the sun above, and the desert plain ahead of them. "We aren't going to be able to walk through the night," she stated plainly.

 

[Haruchai]

​

She was condescending, that was certain, but Seth couldn't deny that walking behind her at least had a nice view. Unaware that his chatter was wearing her patience thin, the young swordsman spoke to keep not only her, but himself, company. He'd run across all manner of beasts, but that thing... that thing had been an utter abomination. He couldn't stop replaying the battle in his mind, over and over, the tentacles of the beast flailing, the eyes - those eyes.

His attention was grabbed by Senia as she spoke, finally, but only to try to shoot down his theory. But he knew what it had done, and in a way it was insulting. It hadn't seen him as enough of a threat to even kill, but to simply disable and move on to other prey. Seth fell quiet for awhile, not wanting to argue in the heat of the day, as tempers were already frayed. But then...

Senia gave what she felt was an honest opinion of him, fighting hay bales. Save for when he'd traveled with Owen, he'd never even really been on a farm. So that was what she thought, eh? Inwardly he smiled. He could use that to his advantage. If she thought he was some kind of bumpkin, then all the better. When she was proven wrong it would be all the more sweet. The dagger she had floated upward and as it streaked toward him he drew his dagger as it then floated back down to her hand. What was she playing at?

Sheathing his dagger he looked upward. "You're probably right. I doubt we'll find any shelter out here though, so stopping for the night's not going to be very comfortable." he said. They'd been expelled without all the gear they'd brought except what they had on their person. When he'd walked around the tower he'd seen no sign of the wagon and pack animal they'd brought, so he had to chalk it all up to being lost. "You have a plan for shelter or heat or anything?" he asked.

 

[AlluringEnigma]

She looked around at the desert. It was flat as hell. And in the distance, at the very end of the horizon, was even more flatland. There wasn't a structure to be seen for miles. That complicated things a bit - though no one was foolish enough to have a tavern in such a desolate and isolated corner of the world. She stopped walking and turned to face him, "It's a desert. And I didn't bring a tent. The nights are cold, but not unbearably so."

She pulled a wool blanket from her pack as well as a small trench shovel. Senia also pulled out a smaller wool mat. She dropped the mat on the ground, and began to dig a trench around it. Every shovelful elicited a grunt. "I didn't bring two," she ramrked offhandedly as she worked her away around the mat. "If you want a fire, you're on your own. It's a desert, I didn't bring firewood and I don't feel like scrounging for scraps for a mild bit of comfort in the night," she added, finishing up the trench.

She sat down on the mat and pulled the blanket over her lap. Finally, from it she pulled a dried scrap of meat and began gnawing away at it. "I did bring enough to share of this, though I'm not sure i Like you enough yet," she added with a twinkle of sarcasm in her eye.

 

[Haruchai]

​

Casting his eyes skyward, the sun now well on its' descent, Seth grunted in agreement with Senia, bratty as she was being. "Probably best I suppose. A fire might attract predators." he said. The desert was well known to have a variety of denizens, and most of them weren't very friendly. Looking back at the woman as she made a shallow moat around her bedspace, Seth chuckled. What was the purpose? It wasn't going to be wide enough to keep anything out, not with the way the sands shifted, and if she rolled over the wrong way she'd just fall into a hole. Ah well.

As she took a seat on her blanket and made her quip about sharing, Seth snorted in amusement. "I'm not sure I'd want to share my meat with you either." he shot back with a grin, and began to undo the buckles of his baldric, the harness falling away, along with the greatsword on his back, and the smaller blades and handaxe on his hips and thigh. He then undid the breastplate that was on under his cloak, the garment beneath soaked through with sweat, and he knew he'd have to let it dry a bit before donning it again as the air cooled.

All of his gear had been left behind, disappeared with the wagon and the like, but luckily his person still held the waterskin. He wasn't sure if Senia had any so he held it up. "Need any water?" he asked.