Utaia Forums

like most things in this world, the need to resolve things came ussually with an expedient resolution. prolonging a struggle ment more burnt calories in a world that seldom rewarded the same. it ment greater risk to injury, somthing that would put down a creature both basic or intellient in equal measure. that were the reason why Xrysis feigned injury were so tempting to a worm, who funtioned on instinct. the lesser risk ussualy ment survival. however that were not the case this day.

as Cain landing from his leap from the worm, a impact of sand puffed out around him, landing in a crouch with both hands in the sand he didnt move untill he was sure the worm was in its final moments and could rest easy to allow the worm to loose its death rattle. Xrysis was on the other side of the worm whose attention went to Seri as she emurged. Cains vision was shared by Xrysis and Xrysis shared in Cains vision, it was something the other people of the land would never be able to contimplate on how that were possible or how it may appear in ones head. the duel vision was handy, it made the feats performed by the duo possible.

the worm rolled in odd ways as it fell over and rolled down the dune, the warning of Demkii came to mind, he stood slowly from his crouch and looked over his shoulder. "Xrysis, sweep the area" the hound turned and ran off with a spray of sand behind him. Cains attention turned to Digger as he walked towards Seri to check on her. "why dont you go help..." looking to Seri for approval, he wasnt Diggers partner, he didnt have true right to ask him or her of that.

looking Seri over for a moment. "you okay?" the snap of his hand claws retracting popped in the air as his hand came to a rest on her shoulder. head leaned side to side a bit to check for himself a moment before turning and looking towards the dunes falling edge and where the worm was now laying without motion but still in the process of dieing. it jerked again after a moment to show it was still trying to fight the enevitable. 

Xrysis' ears were flipping back and forth as he ran silently across the sand, turning suddenly to begin a large arc around Cain whom were the center of the circle. ahead were a ridge to where he slowed and trotted up to the edge of. below were several dead Demkii, there purpose for being dead in the sand was unknown. Xrysis turned his attention down the ridge, he was looking for a tunnel opening. nostrils flareing as he looked, his eyes casting a glow as they caught the moonlight.

some hundred meters away from where the dead Demkii lay, shadows cast across the sand from what appears to be exposed ruins. It was not an uncommon sight to see such pieces of the past appear suddenly, and just as quickly disappear....swallowed back beneath the sands.

What was not so common were the sounds and voices coming from beyond the walls of the weathered and decaying buildings, certainly not at this hour. Few would dare to brave such relics in the darkness, it was difficult enough in the daylight hours to enter what typically seems to end up Demkii domains.

"Lala! careful with that! I may can use it...so don't break anything this time!" a clearly feminine voice squeaks out to scold the other who calls out "Yes Mistress...sorry Mistress!" in a much more meek and almost monotone voice. With that said, the duo could be heard rummaging throughout the ruins. Clacking rocks and the occasional clang of metal was like unto a beacon of their location.

"Over here, Mistress!" Lala called out, " Is this what you are looking for?". It was evident that there was method in the madness of their moonlight search, but just what was it they were searching for? As for Cain, Seri and their hounds, for now at least it seemed their presence and the ruckus with the ta'ba worm had gone unnoticed.

At Cain's invitation Digger let out a low grunt and loped off to cheerfully join Xrysis. Open to Cain's suggestions he would gladly follow orders as long as they didn't conflict with his devotion to Seri. Upon seeing Cain approach and then with the reassuring touch of his hand upon her shoulder a look of relief rolled across her face though no living soul could witness that feat through the stark mask she chose to wear.

“I'm fine.” she muttered and shifted from behind the rocks to scan her body for the inevitable rips and tears. Her cloak protected her from much of the harsh scrapings of the rock but she looked her left arm over carefully noting pain radiating from the upper part. Sliding her now ripped cloak from her shoulder she noted the fresh blood and sighed. Bending to her pack she withdrew some salve and a bandage and quickly patched it up. She fretted just a bit hoping no infection would ensue. Looking towards the Taba worm she began to wonder what she could salvage from the immense beast when another thought hit her forcefully and knew Cain would be having that same thought piercing his mind as well. The hounds found something, someone.

She was getting a worried feeling from Digger because he was not identifying the life form they could feel and hear. Stashing her gear once more in her pack she stood and withdrew her long wicked hunting knife from her belt. Looking to Cain she whispered....”Demkii...dead...and an other?” she didn't worry overmuch about the Demkii, though more than one dead left on the sands bothered her, Demkii would remove any trace of their presence, the other bothered her because Digger could identify most anything and the unknown in the Desert was always dangerous. She waited for Cain to take the lead because in unknown situations he was their best chance of surviving. Her grip tightened on her knife in anticipation.

turning when Seri began to tend to her wound, he looked down the slope of sand and the dead worm, when the life of a ta'ba finanly did extingish, a little known fact was that the worm visably deflated a bit as all the muslces and blood pressure flattend and the beast laid odd in ones eyes. slideing down the slope in the dark his feet came to rest at the base and he looked up at the mass of flesh,bone, and pain. his hands reached out to the spines that helped it to traverse the under world and he climbed atop the beast and pulled free from it his hatchet that he had drove so deep to sever its life from the now husk. his attention went now to the spear, sticking from the jaws and he lept down to stand in front of the massive dark hole of daggered teeth, the stench was bad, but hardly noticable under the emotionless mask that kept Cains face hidden.

reaching out he took hold of the spear and pulled it free, bringing the spear down to inspect the quality and the make, the glint of poisen reflected well, now dry, but just as deadly. a wide swing gave off a sickly sound as the hatchet buried itself into the jaw, an even more sickly sound came as bone and tissue was ripped free as the hatchet acted as a lever to pry the bone free untill a line of jaw bone and several teeth were pulled free in one chunk. turning his attention to Seri atop the hill as he waited for Xrysis to report more...this may not concern their attention.

Xrysis skulked around, the hounds movement muted by the cold night sand. though talking came to ear and they lifted up and flipped about to localize it. nearing the edge of the next dune and to a flat area of the desert, the large armored beast came across a mistress and her slave. or so he assumed based on the conversation. Xrysis eyes were shared by Cains who said nothing as they both watched the two people in the desert at night. Xrysis backed up slowly and ensured he was still alone with the exception of Digger. quietly he trotted off untill far enough away to go into a run and return to Cain.

Cain was walking up the sands with the spear and peice of the creatures jaw, looking to Seri with that metal face. "what do you think? this far from a city and theyre out like this isnt a dangerous land...seems....off" pulling on his soft armor and pulling the hood up over his metal face, he secured the spear and the jaw to the back of his pack and hoisted them to his back. the worm was a good source of water but he had little need to weigh himself down with water that would only make him thirsty through the effort of carrying it in the first place.

Cain's suspicions and caution were well grounded. Only a fool would be out scavenging through ruins at such an hour, which in this case would turn out partially true. No one in their right mind would venture out so far into the Saname Desert ill prepared. To do so would mean certain death, and to take anyone or anything at face value could acertain the same outcome.

"Hmmm....no No NO! This will not do!" Mirette voiced her displeasure, stamping her right foot upon the floor which caused the decomposing structure of the building to rumble and moan. At the unnerving sound, Lala looked to the floor beneath their feet, and to the crumbling walls. "Mistress, please.....it will do us no good if we bring the building down." she says in a calm and level tone.

Mirette looks to a container she held and sighs in discontent before turning her gaze upon Lala. " No place to go now but down." she replies with a wide grin. " Should be a way near the middle or back...". Lala nods in agreement and begins to search for a way to the lower levels of the ruins, stepping around what appears to be equipment of some sort. It looked like it may have been important ages ago, made worthless through time and decay...save for scraps of salvagable metals.

Walking away to join Lala, Mirette tosses the container she had been examining, glass shattering as it landed upon the floor. The contents within scattered in what appeared as crystalline shards, each one faintly glowing a soft blue once exposed to the air. The only clue, as to what the shards are or were, is a labeled lid to the shattered container which reads ' Tissue Sample - X13'. She knew what she was looking for, and it would unlikely be an easy task to find.

It bothered her that Digger couldn't identify the 'other' and she stashed away her things then rose to join Cain. “I am concerned Cain.” Pointing to the worm she said “While you are without a doubt a matchless fighter, that worm went down far too easily.” Then she shifted her body and pointed to the dead Demkii strewn upon the sand a distance away. “And explain that.....” The grip she held on her knife did not abate as she moved towards him, moonlight casting odd shadows about her and Cain as it rose higher in the night sky.

Digger mirrored Xrysis's moves and once a safe distance from the others he too ran back to his human companion, shaking his large head as if to make sense of what he had observed.

As she moved towards him she shifted her pack relieving pressure on her injured arm, it felt like it was on fire and she knew in that moment she would have to do a deep healing. She could not do one on the go as it required her to go into deep meditation. She would just grit her teeth and bear with it until the had made a more secure camp. Again her vision took in the dead Demkii and frowned. The injuries were not shredded and torn as if by a large worm but small and precise as if by weapons of some nature. Dead by worm was messy and these bodies were not torn apart. A cold shiver of apprehension rippled up her spine and again she turned her attention to Cain.

She now stood next to him and said “I think we need to go towards those ruins, at least investigate enough to assure us that whatever happened here will not visit us anytime soon.” Digger bumped his large armored head on her leg almost gently and snuffled. “Of course it wouldn't be bad to look into the ruins if they have been newly uncovered.” an event that would happen sometimes when worms were in the area. “We might find something of value there.” she added with honest hope and maybe a small amount of greed.

"agreed, i wont pretend to know the worms case...the poisen on the spear didnt seem to have enough time to fully disolve into the worms wound, it seemed like i only delt the finishing blow, perhaps it was trying to flee when it happened on you." coming over the next dune which put them just on the other side from where the demkii and the ruins had been located below the rocky ridge up ahead. "i can take time to inspect the demkii if you'd feel more comfortable with knowing more about how they died" he didnt seem keen on the idea, they both knew booby trapping bodies was a known tactic of pirates..and they were still very much in that sort of territory.

"i have to say though, since The Rift, ive felt uneasy...like were being watched" he looked over his shoulder at the sands. "those 'people' we met moved like a shadow when they wanted to...i worry about leading them to the great meet" looking back forward he lowered himself to his hands and knees and crawled slowly towards the edge of the rocky ledge to look over the drop and down to the scean below. his words now but a wisper as he surveyed the scean from on high. "but...Xrysis nor myself can detect any sort of entity following us...above, on, or below the sands. we cannot smell them, my mask isnt picking up anything out of the ordinary" he fell silent for a moment as he bobbed his head a bit as if trying to get a veiw on the bodies from some different angle. "just a feeling...in truth i worry on the caravan we left behind as well"

he changed topics without much notice, his words before had been offhand, like talking while ones mind was elsewhere, it was probably the cause of being so free with his concerns, though now he seemed more in his thoughts as he spoke about the area below. a clawed hand pointed a bit but not so much as to give them away. "tracks look like the Demkii broke surface and caused the sands to fall into the ruins, probably in a rush to get away from the worm." finger moveing along the path he saw. "the worm broke surface there, then....then" brows furrowed as his eyes tried to pull apart what the sand was telling him, trying to read its grains. "the demkii died i suppose, the worm took damage and fled, how and why it came over surface and didnt go back down under..." a chill ran down his spine and his lips went dry.

"---unless the worm and the demkii were running away from something worse" he felt sick and he began to stand up without much care if he was spotted. "Seri...have you ever heard about The Howler?"

It was not long before the pair had found what they were searching for, deep into the recesses of decay and shadow of the ancient structure. "Stairs Mistress....", Lala said softly as she looked down into the dark abyss below. It was always difficult to tell just how deep ruins may run below the sands, but one thing was certain...shining a light into the darkness was never a good idea. Too many things were drawn to light, there were far worse things than Demkii that sometimes lurked in the underground.

Mirette joined Lala, who was busy focusing her goggles which allowed her to see through the darkness. Her Mistress, oddly enough, never had required such a device to aid her vision. “Ooo…nice nice.” Mirette replied in a hushed tone as she stepped lightly down the first flight. It seemed reasonably stable, though she and Lala were rather light compared to many. The duo skipped past the first three landings, opting to start a deeper search as often the upper levels tended to be picked clean by the less adventurous of scavengers….and they could always search them on the way back out.

One thing was certain, they would have to search the structure as quickly as possible. The shifting sands of the desert were unpredictable. There was no way to know just how long the ruins would stay exposed, and Mirette had no desire for such a place to become her tomb.

“The Howler?” she questioned her voice falling into hushed tones. Even though it was still warm from the day's sun, she felt a cold spike of ice shiver race down her spine. She could only imagine what new horror Cain was about to revel her with terrible detail. Digger let out a low growl in response to her chilling fear. She mentally shook herself and took a better grip on her weapon and pack. “Lets go” she ordered in her usual terse manner of few words. It wasn't an order, one did not order Cain around, ever, unless they were a clan chief and she was far from that. It was just her way of letting him know she was ready.

Digger leapt from a sitting position and bounded forward to join the ever restless Xrysis. She took comfort in her hound, and his uncanny ability to sense others. Of course right now he was edgy knowing there were others about and he, Digger, could not identify them. As they moved he had to keep mentally calling him back so he didn't race so far ahead she couldn't help him if he got into trouble, and he always got into trouble.

Not long into their search she stopped her heart beating a bit erratically and Digger put up an eerie howl. She felt a sudden weakness flow through her body and she sank to her feet. Desperately she looked about her and her eyes set upon what she could only name an apparition. On the crest of a dune west of where they were heading stood a figure and it was clear it was female for this apparition stood nearly nude. Fabric so fine you could nearly see through it floated about her body, her long white blonde hair billowing behind her. She could here Xrysis growling, a fierce warning sound and she looked from the figure to Cain to see if he was seeing her as well. When she looked back the figure seemed to grown in height and thin, soon dissolving into an almost mist and disappearing before her very eyes.

“Am I seeing things?” she questioned and again looked to Cain. “What is wrong with this desert? Is it haunted?” she really didn't believe in ghosts but really so many strange things happened within the vastness of the desert she couldn't discount ghosts. She wondered why she had felt so weak and her heart bounded so hard when the vision had appeared and she wondered if Cain reacted to her as well. She felt almost like she should know this apparition but then she felt foolish for such insane thoughts. “Cain, there is more going on then we know. We must be very careful.”

Even Xrysis didnt seem to recall a 'Howler' the hound seemed confused, how was it cain knew something that he didnt not share in its knowledge? the mental link between them flexed in its way and Xrysis could feel Cains lack of desire to share anything about the phrase 'Howler' this caused the hound to lay his ears back and move off a bit jilted by the only person he would trust with his life. 

when Seri gave notice she was ready he nodded. "lets stay on the surface, untill im satisfied at least" he pulled off his soft armor and secured it too his pack, this left him capable to drop his pack and act on a seconds notice if nessassary, even resting a hand on the head of his hatchets, there was a noted unease about him as they began to move, he seemed intent on staying away from the corpses now. his eyes beneth the mask were looking for anything out of place. 

so suffice to say when seri stopped his attention went to the figure on the dunes right about the same time Xrysis growled. ready for anything at this point, he was taken aback when the figure just dissapered. keeping his eyes on the dune, Xrysis kept an eye on the area behind them now. "no, i saw her too" motioning with his hand. "come on, lets get up that ridge and see if there is anything up there." looking over at her. "could have been ancient tech...isnt Nuasis run by something like that?" the prospect of handing the Cryptarch an VI or an AI was now plenty of reward for risk...something only discovered in functioning order once to his knowledge.

but he was getting ahead of himself, for now he needed to focus, moving now for the dune and the crest from which the figure had been at. Xrysis trotted toward the area from along the dunes crest itself to meet with cain but with a different vantage point to ensure no surprizes were in wait

-End of Thread- continue to 'Vault of Wispers' thread-