They had been three and now they were two, but they had been that before and would be again as they made their slow, painful way up the steps of the Spire. Jigano leaned on Rory, and let Rory lean on him as they coughed and paused for rests as often as either (or both) needed, after the onslaught of the poisoned air below. The bard was made of sturdy stuff, but his expression was still grim as he continued to cough, eyes and nose running and placing him in a state he didn't really want to think about. Ludo's mask seemed like a better and better alternative to arriving with himself in such a state...
But he had Rory to support him, making sure he didn't jostle his injured shoulder, and eventually they reached the top of the Spire, which so many others had breached before them.Samuel was there, and Jigano breathed a prayer of thanks as he saw the red-haired Ascended looking... well. Not much better than he was, but whole and alive. Then he looked past to the rest, and he knew them all, he realized with weary amusement. Some friends, some enemies, many merely acquaintances... but he raised the hand that wasn't in a sling to wave to Kalt with a ghost of a wry grin. He could really use the help of his adventuring companion, and the medical skills the man had learned in a far-off world.
But eventually he let himself gaze upon the centerpiece of the room, a woman who had abandoned her humanity to step beyond it and into...
It wasn't exactly godhood after all, was it? But it was certainly beyond the merely mortal. He had seen worse displays in his travels, and though he winced but briefly at the way the wires pierced her and her chest was open to the world, it was the voice in his head that made him flinch back into Rory's grip, his expression turning stony and blank at the mental intrusion from someone who was most certainly not a friend, whatever her true history was.
But he had Rory to support him, making sure he didn't jostle his injured shoulder, and eventually they reached the top of the Spire, which so many others had breached before them.
But eventually he let himself gaze upon the centerpiece of the room, a woman who had abandoned her humanity to step beyond it and into...
It wasn't exactly godhood after all, was it? But it was certainly beyond the merely mortal. He had seen worse displays in his travels, and though he winced but briefly at the way the wires pierced her and her chest was open to the world, it was the voice in his head that made him flinch back into Rory's grip, his expression turning stony and blank at the mental intrusion from someone who was most certainly not a friend, whatever her true history was.
