From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
Roana herself wasn't particularly sure about this call on Ronin's part either. She wasn't convinced that any of the tunnels necessarily connected, but Captain's orders she supposed. With a curt nod to him she watched which way Remi went before picking a route that neither him nor Jigano had gone.
As the tunnel grew increasingly dark, she lit the light ring Ronin had given her once upon a time, holding her hand up as if she carried a lantern by which to see. This entire place was seriously a labyrinth unto itself, but instead of shifting hedges it was dark, damp stone that weaved nonsensically. "Emmett?" she called out, looking around for any signs of him as she carefully picked her way through the dilapidated tunnel.
07-19-2019, 07:42 PM (This post was last modified: 07-19-2019, 07:43 PM by Ronin.)
So focused was Ronin on his work with Deimos, it was a long while before he realised that none of them had... actually taken any rope to use as a guide. Hissing a curse after he noticed, the guildmaster hurriedly tied one end of the rope to a stake he hammered into the earth, nodding to Deimos. "Keep it up," he said. "I'll try to get them back."
And thus was the rest of the afternoon spent in search of his group - luckily, astral projection meant that he could be in literally two places at once. With the help of the rope, he would try to gather them all in their starting spot again - Snakegano included, Ronin having guessed that the pale serpent was his Attuned friend.
By that point, the rockslide would have mostly been cleared... but there was no sign of Emmett behind it. "It's a start, I suppose..." Ronin said, deflated.
(In order to keep with the timescale in Emmett's death post, I'm going to OOC say that a couple of days pass, during which the group's search becomes increasingly frantic.)
***
They had enough rope now, probably, to stretch full across the Settlement. Ronin gazed deeply down the tunnel they had been heading down, the guildmaster visibly stressed. "Keep together," he murmured, "I think this is a new route." He nodded at a small branch through the underground system.
I hear you The alchemist called back to Jigano. It was strange to mentally yell. For the most part it was difficult to think in a louder volume and took considerable concentration to try and project. But for Emmett, Remi would. I do not hear Emmett...I do not even feel anything. The alchemist continued, not bothering at all to try and hide his rising panic.
Emmett was crafty and wirey and had lived here his whole life. But Emmett had also not yet lived a full year without his family, had just broken up with Phoebe, and was being ruled by a tyrant. Remi would not let himself think that his disappearance was intentional but...accidents did happen.
***
As Ronin called the group back together, Remi had all but started climbing the walls with nervous energy. His leonine tail flicked with agitation as his shattered gaze scanned the darkness, his nose pulling in and immediately discarding all smells that were not of the farmer. At Ronin's instruction (this one he did follow), the lion trotted down the path. Remi tried to be careful, not wanting to halt the group should he trip or stumble, but after all these hours, he hardly cared a thing for his own well-being.
EMMETT He called loudly, his echoing only in his own mind.
if you're coming the long way
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
They believe nothing can reach us
And pull us out of the boundless gloom
As he worked along the rocks, back and forth, back and forth, consistency and strength despite the ongoing measures, and he didn’t notice his rope hadn’t been taken until he came down off the diminishing towers of rocks and noticed the artifact still on the ground. His brow arched, uncertain as to why they wouldn’t have grabbed it, anchored it along, ensuring they could get back without making their tribulations that much tougher; narrowing his eyes as Ronin noticed too, adhering to the task on his own, tying the strands to a stake and racing off to grab the rest. The beast shook his head, a rise of ire and vexation because now they were wasting time tracking down individuals who surely could’ve managed hanging onto a line on their own – but stewing in his silence, he continued his efforts until they’d all returned.
And still, no Emmett behind the carved away wall of rubble.
At least, upon the next day, the rope was back into play, Ronin’s warning of keep together in his ears, maneuvering forward with the rest at the branch off of the underground.
A sense of unease had gathered its way back into his mind: because wouldn’t the boy have screamed by now? Wouldn’t he have unleashed some sort of outcry, hoping to be rescued and liberated? The patchwork of silence threading its way through the warren was telling; but he wasn’t going to be the one to voice it. Perhaps the youth was merely lost, deeper and deeper, where no one could hear his torrents and tempests – and they’d find him, no worse for wear.
07-20-2019, 06:12 PM (This post was last modified: 07-20-2019, 06:15 PM by Jigano.)
I don't hear him either... or smell him down these tunnels, Jigano admitted in return, his own voice far fainter than the lion's. He had resisted learning the Attuned mental speech for so long, and even after he had begun to practice it, it had mostly been in order to learn to shield his thoughts, not to reach out with them. He struggled just to connect with Remi, a mind he was at least familiar with, and was afraid that he wouldn't be able to reach the farmer at all. The only reason he was even trying was because of the alchemist's own calling through the Attuned link; that was the only hint he had that Emmett was Attuned as well, and might respond mentally even if he was too wounded or far away to reply verbally.
The snake continued to slip through the tunnels until Ronin called them back. It was a simple matter to assure the star-touched man that he was fine, and to go find the others, before he shifted to his slender fox form and used his nose to follow his own reptilian scent-trail back at a quick trot, shifting to his human form while he was still in the darkness and stepping out with a nod to rejoin the others.
It had been too many days. The bard's heart had grown heavier with each one, and his usual verbosity had subdued to near-silence unless asked a direct question as the search continued fruitlessly, and hope had slipped further away with each sunset. Though he did not voice his fears aloud, he was afraid the mission had become one of recovery and closure, rather than rescue. Still he arrived each morning, willing to put his animal senses to the test so he and Remi could explore twice as many tunnels as they could have done with only one Attuned. He worked on a map in the evenings, tracing the routes he had taken and transcribing what the others had found as well so they could try and avoid repeating areas that had already been searched. He was not the fine artist that Remi was, but when it came to simple lines he was competent enough, and the alchemist was distressed enough by fear for his friend that Jigano didn't want to put the finicky work on him.
Now he followed towards the back of the group as they explored together, trusting to the lion's nose to pick up stray scents. Whenever they passed intersecting tunnels he would pause to make a notation in his journal before hurrying to catch up with the others once more.
07-22-2019, 03:16 PM (This post was last modified: 07-22-2019, 03:16 PM by Roana.)
ROANA
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
It had been too long, far too long, with no signs of anything from the farm boy. She kept it to herself, but deep down Roana knew this was no longer a hunt for a living man, but his body so it could be properly lain to rest. Frankly, she didn’t hold out a ton of hope for that either, with hungry ROUS in the Underground, surely ready for an easy meal if they could find it.
She gave a quiet nod to Ronin’s order, keeping in near the group. The former Captain tried to position herself near the front, her hand held high with her light ring. The glow wasn’t much but it was something at least. In silence, blue eyes focusing in on every dark corner and crevice, she searched for the young man.
In the ghoulish light of the ring he had gifted to Roana, in the flickering of a torch, they took a turn down an offshoot of one of the pathways. This place was as of yet unexplored, and Ronin was careful to thread rope behind them where they walked. He heard the whisper of their breath in the cave system, the echo of their steps... and then a sudden splash. Ronin paused a second, directing them away from what turned out to be a pool of dark, murky water. He glanced up and away from it-- and spotted him.
"Emmett." He spoke the boy's name with an air of finality; the body slumped against the wall in the dark. Cold, still, silent. Passing the rope to whoever would have it (he didn't care who), Ronin stepped forward, approaching and kneeling beside Emmett. His eyes prickled as he touched a finger to pale and clammy skin, glancing to the wall beside the body where the words were etched.
There was something heavy clenching in Ronin's chest, but it was something he positively could not let out right now. "We were too late," he said, loud enough for it to ring true through the caves.
"Remi... would you be able to make something for us to carry him out with?" he asked. "Deimos, Roana, if you would help to lift him onto it. Jigano, can you take the torch and lead the way out? We ought to get him home."
The lion could smell the decay almost instantly. While the water had helped preserve some aspects of the boy's decomposition, death and rot were more than familiar smells to the lion's sense. Falling to a halt, something in Remi shivered and seemed to click off. Something that wouldn't listen to reason or believe what his senses were telling him.
I will cross over the barrier Emmett. You can laugh at how long it took me. Maybe we can play tag and run over it a thousand times.. The lion thought, watching as Ronin half-heartedly checked Emmett's vitals.
Shifting silently, his teeth threatening to clack together and not because of the cold, Remi just stared at Ronin's back and the vague shape of Emmett beyond it. "I.." He mumbled, hastily drawing in air but not really breathing it. ..I do not want to. was the rest of that sentence. Not wanting to believe it was real, for a long moment the alchemist just let tears well up in his eyes as his shoulders fell and his heart sank.
Closing his eyes, Remi held out his hands. The combination of earth and creation magic made for an easy stretcher: thick boughs for the frame and canvas laid between. After a moment, a blanket appeared over the top, to cover Emmett with. It was decorated roughly with frolicking donkeys, which hurt Remi's heart all the more. That his animal shift was all that the alchemist could come up with the commemorate his friend seemed like a slap in the face.
"Here." He whispered, offering the stretcher to Deimos and Roana, who would apparently need to the bear the weight of the dead boy.
if you're coming the long way
Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
He was the last to step into the damp little cavern, tucking his map away as he did so, and by then it was already clear what Remi and Ronin had found in the dark. Though he had barely known the farmer, still Jigano bowed his head gravely. The body was not unexpected, but there had still been a spark of hope that Emmett, resourceful and enduring, might have found a way to survive until he could be found. That spark was now extinguished, and now there would be one more farm lying fallow in the Outskirts for the harvest.
Remi looked far more affected, and Jigano waited until the alchemist was focused on his magic to step forward, nodding solemnly to the others of the rescue-turned-funeral party. He knelt down to close the farmer's eyes with gentle fingers before pressing his hands together with a bowed head. "Ludo, if you have not already, please guide his soul home to Mort," he prayed, his heavy heart roughening his voice. "Safrin, please light his way from Vi's halls. Frey, please help us find beauty even in his loss, that Rae may bring new life for us to remember him by." Prayers gathered from the Naturals, from Amalia, as he sought to honor the ways of his new home.
Then he stood, taking the torch in a steady hand that held it overly tight as he raised his head, face grim in mourning. In the other hand he lifted the rope and waited for the shell of the man who had faced Zariah with dignity and courage, who had fought the decline of his land caused by the barrier and fed his family and friends from the fruits of his labors, to be prepared for its return to the light before it would be placed in the final resting place designated by what remained of his family. When all behind were ready he led the way back through the coiling caverns and silent tunnels so that they could bring Emmett home one last time.
Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
She may have anticipated it. She may have known through logic alone that this was going to be the outcome. She may have seen such a thing hundreds of times before. All that still could not prepare a person for seeing someone they had known in such a state. Roana’s jaw tightened, and her lips frowned, bright blue eyes looking haunted, as only someone who had seen such scenes a few too many times could look. She nodded stiffly to Ronin’s command, giving him a small clap on the shoulder. She understood how he felt – losing someone you led was always a personal loss.
Roana took her end of the stretcher, laying it out with Deimos’ aid. Then she went to Emmett’s side, carefully propping up his shoulders and head with her hands and torso. The movement was well practiced, too practiced. ”On a three count. 1…2…3…” she said, lifting the young man’s corpse in time with Deimos to carry him to the stretcher so he could be carried out of the tunnels with ease.
They believe nothing can reach us
And pull us out of the boundless gloom
So it went – dark, water from a mire, and a form in the shadows, unmoving and still, all of their actions too little, too late. He’d seen it before, just never in quite the same way, known faces blurring familiarity, recognizing figures when they were standing, when they were breathing, when they were alive, maneuvering things gesturing, in action, in eloquence. The boy had spear-headed fire and vitriol, and it seemed odd to witness him as he was in those feral, silent moments, shades of pale, his words etched into the wall, a bitter, rancorous edge to their existence – had they been there sooner, had they been there faster.
It didn’t matter. Ronin’s proclamation was enough for him to hang his head, saying and signifying nothing. He’d buried enough comrades to understand what came next – the anguish, the despair, the drum beats of nothingness contorting at their frayed ends, a descent into either abyss or funeral pyres. He bore silence and adhered to Ronin’s requests, eyes lingering on Remi as he created, a stretcher cast and canvas melded between boughs, making their job easier for an effort that was never simple. Barely a whisper passed in between, but he took to his role seriously, listening to Roana’s directions, lifting on the last, gaze shifting back and forth from the hollowed passages and to the world up ahead; listening to Jigano’s prayers, beacons that could reach gods or flicker off of the walls.
Words and gestures and silence; they worked however they worked, and Ronin helped coordinate as best he could without getting too much in the way. Once Emmett was upon the stretcher he covered him over with the sheet Remi had made - they were lucky that they had made it before the ROUS, and even then he wasn't so sure. Still, they were here to bear him home, and so that was what they would do.
He walked behind the group, keeping watch for anything that might sneak up on their exposed backs, Emmett's axe in hand. Well, not Emmett's. Not any more. Ronin's hand tightened around the handle of the weapon; he vowed to use it in the boy's stead.
Soon they emerged from the Underground, their fallen comrade with them at last. Such a simple mark, a simple task... and it had all gone so remarkably wrong. The light fell upon them, and life continued onwards.
For them, at least. Not for Emmett.
Thanks for participating, folks. <3 Everyone gets PQ credit, and Emmett can now be buried/burnt/whatever Lam would like.
