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Character of the Season
Frail in body but dangerously quick of mind, Nikandr is the sort of character who proves that curiosity can be just as perilous as any weapon. A necromancer, inventor, and problem-solver with more ambition than self-preservation, Niki approaches the world like a puzzle box begging to be opened, even when what’s inside has teeth. Blunt, dry-witted, fiercely independent, and carrying a history best left partially buried, he has a knack for making even failure feel fascinating. Whether he’s raising the dead, moving across Caido to King's End, or experiencing a hangover for the first time, Nikandr brings a wonderfully strange spark to Caido, and we can’t wait to see what trouble his brilliant mind wanders into next.
Congratulations, Niki!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
TW: Self harm for a God Quest
Okay, so maybe it wasn't the best place for working on his quest for Ludo, but Tal couldn't help it. Almost as soon as the Peregrine was flying again he'd loaded up the packages from the Kaiholo Courier depot and headed north on the next leg of his route. He was eager to get back to work, sure... and he definitely wasn't running away from that too-vivid nightmare about Starfall. A brief stop at the Climb to drop off some packages for some Ancients had barely slowed him before he braved Halo's Deepfrost in his newly-repaired vessel. She held up beautifully, and within a few days he'd made it to the Citadel once more.
With the parcels delivered he should have gone to visit his sisters at the family home-and-store where he had sent Boreal on ahead, but instead his feet had pulled him to the snowy Shrine once again. This time he wasn't giving thanks in the form of prayers and food, though.
He was making an offering in blood, to a god who enjoyed messing with him way too much.
"Alright, Ludo. I hope you're payin' attention," the courier grumbled as he knelt in front of the altar. He had his Dagger in one hand and the other was clenched into a fist, a golden ring shining on his middle finger. His sleeve on that arm was rolled up above his elbow as he rested his forearm on the cold stone and took a few quick, shallow breaths. "Right. On three. One... two... fuckingfuckityfuckerfuckfucks!" The litany came out in a strangled growl as he brought the blade down onto his arm, stabbing it half an inch into the muscle of his arm before the pain jerked him to a stop and he curled forward, breath turning into a steam-kettle hiss as he bit his lip against the shock of the metal in his flesh.
Clutching her new book close to her chest, Elizabeth hummed softly to herself, more than satisfied with her purchase. It had been a productive day of shopping with the highlight being a lovely conversation with the bookshop owner. They'd fueled her addiction without a second thought, pleased to procure a new regular.
As she thought passingly about which book she needed to read next to shorten her pile, a string of shouted curses sent a shock of electricity through her body. It seemed to have come from the shrine and she quickly shuffled her way in its direction. What she found was a man knelt at the alter (not unusual) - with a knife in his arm (very unusual).
Elizabeth paused for a moment to assess the surroundings for a culprit, but she didn't see anyone else around. Had they escaped? Or...? She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, even as she pushed the thoughts away. It was possible there was another reason, even if his hand was gripping the handle...
Approaching the man with obvious concern, she tried to distract him. "Hey! Take a deep breath. We're gonna get you out of this." Without dislodging the knife, she gently placed her hand over his to provide support and prevent further injury. Meanwhile, she searched for any supplies to dress the wound. She could investigate the preceding situation after. For now, she needed to address the literal knife in his arm.
He wasn't paying attention to anyone else coming into the shrine at the moment on account of the searing pain in his arm. White teeth had latched onto his lower lip in an effort to distract himself from the wound that was already welling up with blood around the place where the blade had gone in, and Tal realized belatedly that as soon as he pulled the knife out it was going to bleed a lot more.
Fuck.
A gentle hand covered his and the courier flinched in surprise, jerking his head just far enough to the side to see a stranger - not a stranger, someone he'd seen before, somewhere - with worried eyes and a kindly face bending over him. "Ah... yeah, I know I just gotta... pull it out," he wheezed through gritted teeth. Now that there was someone watching him he really couldn't afford to cry, even though that was currently at the top of his 'To Do' list.
But, taking her advice, he managed a slightly deeper breath before jerking the blade out in one sharp motion--
And immediately activated his Ring of Mending.
Frey's gift couldn't entirely fix the damage he'd done to himself, but the worst of the sliced muscle knit back together and the bleeding slowed to a persistent ooze as the deep stab wound healed to the size of a nasty cut beneath the pearlescent glow of the magic. "Ah... thanks... Got some bandages in my Bag," he said, still wincing as he dropped the bloody Dagger on the altar and instinctively pulled his wounded arm in close to his chest. "Holy fuck that hurt."
Pulling it out was the last thing she would have recommended, considering all the blood being contained by the blade. Yet the man seemed prepared as he removed the knife and activated his ring to close the majority of the laceration. Elizabeth felt confirmed in her suspicions and looked to his face to see the thinly veiled pain there. If he knew there would be so much pain, why did he do it? Was it a form of self-punishment? And why did he look so familiar?
Placing the thoughts in the back of her mind, she found his bag. She would deal with the details after she confirmed he wasn't going to die of blood loss or get an infection. Rifling through produced a roll of gauze. Just more evidence that this was premeditated. Gently holding his hand, she encouraged him to extend his arm, giving her enough access to dress the injury.
His curse was met with only a small level of sympathy and a moderately concealed level of sarcasm. "Yeah. Well, stabbing yourself in the arm is supposed to hurt." She let the statement hang between them to give him an opportunity to contradict her, but Elizabeth kept her head down to allow him some privacy to make the decision. It wouldn't help to appear accusing and sometimes people found it easier to confess when they didn't think anyone was paying attention. So Elizabeth kept her eyes trained on the wound as she securely wrapped the bandage around to apply pressure.
Normally Tal hated other people rifling through his stuff, but he was the idiot who hadn't pulled everything out in advance so he had to suck it up and ask someone else to do it, adding insult to injury. The fact that he'd done the injury to himself didn't escape the courier, but it did make him even grumpier than the pain alone would account for.
He let the woman - he'd seen her recently, he just knew it, but where? - tug his hand out to where she could start wrapping his arm. He scowled down at the slowly bleeding cut as her words hit, and he didn't miss the sarcasm there.
Hail, he understood it completely.
"Funny, Ludo said pretty much th'same thing when I asked about it," he admitted with the glum resignation of someone who didn't dare get mad at a whole-ass god. Especially not one he was asking for favors from! "Somethin' about knowin' what it felt like t'be sure it was workin' right, if I wanted it t'make my Dagger stronger." Well, the poison on the dagger, at least. But potayto, potahto.
"Hey, uh... thanks for... this. Helpin' me out. Hope I'm not ruinin' your prayer," he added with gruff sheepishness, the tips of his ears turning pink as he realized that he was kind of making a mess of the public shrine. Oops.
Unaware of any poison, Elizabeth continued to wrap the gauze tightly, staunching the blood flow and listening to his explanation. She supposed that was one way to test a dagger. Shrugging her shoulders, she secured the bandage with a small bow. "I can't fault Ludo's logic, but it's still a cruel thing to ask." The herald had a reputation for pulling stunts like this.
Not having been here to pray, Elizabeth laughed. "Eh. It's fine. The gods don't really like me anyways." She flashed him a playful smile, taking a moment to use an extra bandage to wipe the blood away regardless.
Sitting back on her heels, she looked again at his face, a recent memory came to mind of aimlessly floating and dark figures. Shivering slightly at the uncomfortable night, she considered her words carefully. With her hands busy cleaning the shrine, she cautiously asked, "Have you seen anything strange recently?" If she was wrong, Elizabeth didn't want to scare the man off with talk of 'dreams' or 'visions.' But she had to know.
"Y'can say that again," Tal agreed fervently with the kind stranger's opinion of Ludo's task. He winced as the bandage was secured and then pulled his arm back to coddle it protectively against his chest again. He looked up as she laughed, and again he was caught by that twinge of almost-not-quite knowing, but he tried to shake it off as she gave him a smile.
It only took him a couple of seconds before he blinked. "Oooooh, 'cause you've got magic, right?" He nodded in vague understanding. "My sister's Abandoned, too." Well, so was Sah, and Ru had been, but the gods were pretty pleased with them so maybe it was just divine whim at this point.
He retrieved his Dagger with another grimace and tore some extra gauze to clean the blade as the woman sat back. Her words drew a furrow to the courier's brow and he glanced over at her with his nose wrinkled up oddly. "I mean... s'Caido. I just fought a giant blob o' Void with way too many eyes an' tentacles back in Torchline. You're gonna have t'be a li'l more specific. D'you mean somethin' strange in Halo?" The dream fluttered at the edges of his memory, an uneasy recollection of nightmare and vision but...
At least the man recognized the stupidity of stabbing himself. It always frustrated her when the gods put people up to things like this. "Ludo didn't ask you to do anything else, did they?" If this was just the beginning, she'd hate to see what other tasks he'd been asked to complete.
His observation about her magic had Elizabeth smiling and she paused her cleaning. Nodding her head, she thought about the subtle electricity that sat just beneath the surface. It couldn't do much damage other than a little shock, but she hoped to develop it further to make it useful for treatments. "Really? That's awesome! I haven't met many other Abandoned. I met Deimos, but I hear he's a Hybrid." Sometimes giving information unprompted helped to build rapport and further open conversation, so maybe it would make their other topic a little easier...
Tilting her head at his perfect summation of Caido's recent insanity and his apparent involvement, she said, "Not exactly... Although, I would definitely categorize that as strange. It's probably just me, but you seem familiar and I know we've never met before." She rarely forgot a face, apparently even those she'd seen in dreams. Perhaps it was just a premonition? But then what did the other images mean?
The courier's pale eyes slid away from hers as he cleared his throat. "Um. Well. There's usually at least three or four tasks with quests from th'gods..." he mumbled. Sheathing the now-clean Dagger he instead reached across to rub the ring on the finger of his injured hand. The magic activated again, sending healing warmth through him, though all that would be visible through the bandage was that the blood had stopped. The lines of his face relaxed, however, with the cessation of pain and he met her eyes briefly--
Until she mentioned the Warden.
Tal winced again and looked away, his expression closing down immediately. "Oh. Uh. That's... nice." If the words were reluctant at least his tone was carefully neutral. He pushed himself to his feet and headed for the door of the shrine, but he wasn't leaving just yet. He scooped up a couple handfuls of snow and came back to help her scrub the blood off the altar as she asked about strange goings-on but then--
"You too, huh? It's been drivin' me crazy since I saw you," he admitted, nose wrinkling in consternation. "Like a memory from a dream or somethin'..." As he said the words he trailed off, eyes widening as it all fell into place and he stopped scrubbing to turn and stare at her. "Wait, what were y'doin' in my nightmare??"
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the implication that there would be more injuries but restrained herself from commenting. He was a grown man who obviously knew what he was doing. It was his choice to complete the quest or not. She had only just met him after all. And gods wouldn't stop requiring absurd things just because one man refused. They would find another gullible person to do their bidding or produce their entertainment.
His reaction to her mention of the Warden surprised her though. Sure, Deimos hadn't been the friendliest person, but she didn't expect for him to be disliked. Perhaps it was his abrasive attitude or exterior colder than Halo in Deepfrost that had put this man against him. Either way, his unenthusiastic response had her holding her tongue. If he wanted to talk about it some time, her ears would be open.
For the moment, she was more interested in this odd familiarity. Elizabeth almost laughed at his shocked expression, even as she shared a similar sentiment. She'd never heard of people sharing dreams before, but how else were they supposed to explain this? Obviously, he'd had a unexplainable experience as well. But this was no laughing matter. If they had actually seen the same thing, then there was something really wrong. Shaking her head, she stood from the floor, beginning to pace and trying to recall the notes she'd written after the events. "I'm not sure. But what did you see? Was there a Void Crystal? Figures?" Had they seen different images? Or were they just a few of the people who had been shown the same information? There were so many questions that she wanted answered.
In the gods' defense, Tal made for an easy target. In Tal's defense... well, he'd made worse choices in his life? Yup. Worse than stabbing himself with a poisoned dagger. It was a long story.
But at least she didn't push the issue of Halo's current Warden any further and Tal breathed an internal sigh of relief before he was thoroughly distracted by memory and recognition. He stayed sitting by the altar as she stood up and began to pace, cocking his head to the side in a decidedly canine mannerism. He started to chew his lip, but at the mention of a Void Crystal he winced and nodded. "Um. Yeah... wait, hold on a minute." He tugged the Goggles that hung around his neck - originally meant to protect against snow blindness, back in a time when Halo had only one season and was still connected to the continent - and peered intently at the woman. A little star-shaped charm dangled from the side of the eyewear, an unsettling purple in color.
After a few moments he sighed again and sat back. "Okay, can't be too careful, y'know? Anyways, I saw the island in Torchline, Starfall, an' then... inside it was that crystal. An' people in it? Or... somethin' people-shaped. An' then somethin' a whole lot worse in its center." His jaw snapped shut against the shiver that chased down his spine. "Uh. An' then faces. Most of 'em were familiar, 'cept you. But I thought it was just a nightmare after fightin' th'Horror." He shrugged uncomfortably and slowly pushed himself to his feet. "What about you? What'd you see?"
She watched with intrigue as the man pulled his goggles down to peer intently at her. What could he be looking for? And how would the goggles help him see it? Did it have anything to do with the suspiciously purple charm dangling from the side? Pausing her pacing, she simply asked, "What was that for?"
As she absorbed each word and fact he shared, Elizabeth regretted not bringing her notebook with her. She needed to make that less of a habit. So instead, she pictured her own notes, comparing his description in her mind and finding no contradictions. Nodding her head in agreement, she resumed her pacing, placing her hand on her chin in thought. "I see... it would appear that we saw the same thing. And I'm assuming you felt that the figure inside was being..." She tried to think of the word that had resonated in her mind that night. "...incubated?" Her hand moved in emphasis. "Like a higher being of some kind?" Starting to get lost in her own pondering of figures and Void stuffs, Elizabeth had to stop herself from rambling into theories and conspiracies. She barely knew this man. If he was already having nightmares about some 'Horror' he'd experienced, it wouldn't be helpful to dredge up other concerns or discomforts.
Turning abruptly to him, she clasped her hands behind her back. "My apologies. In the whirlwind of violence and nightmares, I forgot my manners. I'm Elizabeth. Elizabeth Fraiser." Dipping her head in respectful greeting, she smiled politely. "I have a place just down the road if you'd like to come by. I have more wound supplies and sustenance. And we can further discuss this... vision, if you're interested." It felt wrong calling it a dream if so many others had experienced the same thing. Dreams were for fantasies. This felt like anything but.
Tal cleared his throat self-consciously, giving her a nervous flicker of an attempt at a smile. "Oh, uh, just... checkin'. T'make sure you're not. Um. Void-touched?" His voice rose on the last word, realizing too late how rude it was, but given the topic, well...
Better embarrassed than sorry.
He watched her pacing in the small room and it made him twitchy. His fingers began to drum an uneasy, syncopated rhythm against his thigh as the woman spoke. Hearing that they'd shared the dream didn't make him feel any better about it; if anything, it opened up a fresh pit of dread and anxiety in his stomach. If it wasn't just a nightmare it was probably a... a vision. That meant something.
Luckily several of the faces that he'd seen at the end belonged to various leader-types, making it their problem.
At least until the kind stranger offered a hypothesis for what had been in the heart of the crystal and fresh dread washed through the courier.
"Uh... I mean... it kinda maybe... yeah. Incubated is a good word. Like some kind o'... god egg?" And not a small god, either. Maybe not Dygra-level, but definitely Vi or Rae level!
He flinched as she turned back to him all of a sudden and without warning, but the introduction had him wincing and reaching up to rub at the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ah, fuck, sorry, me too." He bobbed his head cautiously. "I'm Tal. Talyson Seawright. An' sure, if y'think talkin' about it will do any good..." At the moment he didn't have the faintest clue what to do about it, but that was the point of talking about it, right? "Lead th'way, I guess." He fell in beside her, somewhat bemused but willing to follow. "So, are you like... a nurse or a doctor or somethin'?"
Elizabeth widened her eyes at the implication, not offended, just surprised. She didn't think anything she'd said had been in line with the Void agenda, but she supposed one couldn't be too careful during these times. Shrugging her shoulders in acceptance, she said, "Understandable. Have you found many Void-touched?" It made her wonder if the goggles even worked or if it was a comfort thing.
Her spine crawled at the term 'god egg' and she gave a grimaced smile. If it was true, they could be in big trouble. Although that depended on the motive of whatever grew inside. Laughing uncomfortable at the thought, she paused her pacing. "I guess that's something we could call it. Although maybe 'chrysalis' would be a better description with its unique shape and texture." Even thinking about the shadowed figure shifting inside made it feel like the temperature had dropped. It made her all the more eager to return to the burning fireplace within her home.
She accepted Tal's introduction with a smile and began to leave the shrine, letting him follow behind. "Similar line of work. I'm a therapist. I deal in mental, physical, and electrical therapies to help people heal and optimize the lives they've been given." It was the simplest way to describe her efforts to aid others in being happy in their own skin and mind. Elizabeth just hoped the word 'therapist' didn't scare him off like some people.
Looking to the Accepted, she returned the question. "What do you do for work?" By this point, she was leading him down the street towards her place. The walk was cold, but the streets were empty and the distance short. They should be next to the cozy fire within a few minutes.
