The Price of Trust

[Brynhildr]

Ah. Yes, wonderful, he had no idea whatsoever where they came from or whence they were headed. Exactly what she had wanted to hear. Brynhildr almost considered swearing before recalling that would be severely out of character for her and settling for allowing her smile to grow slightly more rigid for a moment as she considered the possibilities.

...Her wings were too damaged for flight, so scouting out the terrain herself was unlikely to succeed. The valkyrie did not regret putting herself in the way of the gigantic blast of darkness, it had been necessary to ensure the priest's safety, but it would certainly have been... easier to block if she had been able to minimize her profile and use her shield primarily. Still. There was no honor in belaboring the past. And they had... eight mortals to cart from here to wherever the nearest village was, at the very least. Perhaps further. "I agree," she stated simply, rising from her kneel gracefully, staring at the mismatched group of men and women. Two of them were still unconscious; the others were varying levels of conscious but none were in anything resembling good shape.

Turning her attention mostly back to the group, the winged warrior continued gently, less overbearing warrior-maiden and almost motherly. "There you have it. We will see you to safety. Do any of you know where the nearest town is?" Bree certainly hoped so, she didn't have the faintest idea where in Elibe they were aside from somewhere... north-ish, she figured, going by the snow. Though it might be winter, in which case it could be central - bah. No point in trying to figure it out on her own. Instead she unceremoniously lifted the two unconscious bodies like sacks of lumpy potatoes, not quite the most comfortable arrangement for anyone involved but at least a step up from leaving them lying there if nothing else.

[Remus]

The eldest man of the group of people rose shakily. Wizened features emphasized through wrinkled complexion and an almost gnarled look to him. Like a tree who had seen one too many storms. His eyes, partially obscured by great bushy silver eyebrows that resembled more closely to furry caterpillars than human features, drifted to the angelic entity before he slowly pointed to the southern most direction. A series of hills dipped and rose in winding fashion like the multitude of breaking tides along the sea, beyond that a flat of what was normally rolling field now snow covered and lightly encrusted in ice. Beyond that, a small village nestled beyond the opening. Though not visible due to the hills, the road to the town's direction had not fully been obscured by the falling snows. Patches of brown dirt visible inbetween segments of compacted white snow and frigid pale green flora. The man's raspy voice followed a moment after the gesture, as if he had to take that time to compose himself.

"Our home is along that path. We were taken, but know not the fate of it. I fear the worst, given the monster which abducted us."

Others were starting to gather around the man, as they tried to ensure their own were tended in the brief lapse of reprieve. Remus quietly looked to the divine female, concern etched upon his expression as he slowly recovered his stamina from the exertions prior. The healer's hand quietly grasping the staff tighter while he attempted to process what exactly could be implied. Until he thought to the dark being that they had battled. It's conditions of existence unknown, but now him slowly beginning to speculate on prospective "costs", and dreading the day he'd ever learn of the answer to that mystery. He stepped past the people and a bit closer to Bryndhildr.

"Do you um...have any idea what that thing was? I...have never seen its like. Nor heard even tales of such."

Monsters was something. Spirits summoned from the nether, he'd not quite heard of it. Though not uncommon in existence, his fairly sheltered life prior had left him still ignorant to some of the threats of the world.

[Brynhildr]

The wrinkled mortal garnered her attention, and the term elderly came to mind, but she had never quite been comfortable using it, given its human-linked meanings. She had not existed as a whole for long at all, a mere few human years, but an indeterminate time before that as well to the point that time had little meaning to her aside from when she spent it on the face of Elibe. That humans... aged as they still seemed odd to her, but not as odd as measuring others by age.

Nonetheless. At least they had a destination. Brynhildr's own gaze swept the nearly lifeless winter wasteland to locate the village, not enthusiastic about shepherding all these people there but not aware of another alternative. And that, in turn, set the situation into stone. There was no value in further complaint; they simply had to make the journey as best they could. She had already decided, and the celestial spoke simply to air her thoughts. "Then we will investigate, and hope there is aught left of it to provide shelter." No one else seemed to have much idea what to do, and leaving them in the snow and cold would only lead to more pain and eventually death. Thus her speech brooked little dissent, focused more on rallying the remaining mortals and getting them moving rather that pleading with them to do as she said.

Heaving the lumpy sack of person lying over her shoulder to a slightly more comfortable position (for her - his opinion didn't matter), she was distracted somewhat by the priest's question. "An abomination," Brynhildr responded without hesitation, no better versed in the creature's existence than Remus but far more violently opposed to the blasphemy. It had seemed as though a celestial was was imprisoned within it, a notion that did not sit well with her at all. "For an abyssal to think to cage a celestial is sacrilege. The creature paid for its hubris with its life."

[Remus]

Cage? The young healer turned his gaze towards the winged woman with another splash of curiosity staining his expression. Perhaps he still didn't fully comprehend the situation but he had to try to keep up. He could piece the words together and what she said prior to process it all. So. Celestial, a thing like her. It' was trying to cage them? Was that what the light had been? She had emit light sure but she wasn't like a light incarnate being or anything. That..actually no when she first arrived, hadn't she been? The priest cognitively tried to process it before speaking. He didn't want to sound as much of a fool as he no doubt would.

"So this thing, this...monster. An, Abyssal you called it? Had something like you, a Celestial, trapped inside? Do you mean literally, or figuratively? As in, it was trapped within or it was trying to steal the power and had that contained within?"

He felt like he wasn't articulating his point well but he hoped she'd get what he was trying to imply? The priest clutched his staff quietly. His very human body was still effected by the cold. Shivers traversed his spine and he felt his lungs burning somewhat from the frigid air. It was..so weird. Breathing cold air could make the lungs burn. That was nature for you though. The priest briefly turned to see the following behind them. The people were definitely following, but now they were slowly shuffling in a closer formation and far closer to Remus and Brynhildr. It seemed that they were very worried about a similar incident. Trauma from such an experience was hardly surprising.

In the distance, as their trail towards the town should've been enveloped in snow, the occasional small foot print like indent of wispy shadows quietly danced upwards. As if a foot-print in the snow through pure shadowy essence. Nothing changed however even as the group approached or passed one of these foot-prints. They simply stood testament that something infused with the nether had passed through that space. The foot-prints spaced out in large enough bursts that it seemed almost akin to great leaps or as if the entity had simply moved from one place to the other without touching the ground.

[Brynhildr]

"So it would seem," Brynhildr stated simply, almost a hint tersely, though she realized the hardened edge to her words almost immediately and was forced to confront them. The anger flowing through her ought not be brought to bear on the innocent, and while it was possible this 'Remus' was lying about his involvement... no, she didn't believe that. Not after their minds had touched as they did. Few dedicated summoners knew of the momentary, almost intimate bond between summoner and summon in the moment of birth or contact; those who did not dedicate themselves to such work definitely would not. But she had felt his mind, as he had hers, even if he did not recognize it as such. And she had not seen a man capable of such things.

No, she realized, as she followed the anger back to the source. It was the all-pervasive wrongness of mingling light and dark, of smothering the Light within shifting shadow, that was bothering her. She knew nothing about how it had happened, but the perversion of justice, of free will, that stuck in her thoughts and fouled her emotions. Brynhildr was... aware of her lack of supremacy of understanding of human tendencies in some ways, as much as she disliked slavery she recognized that it was not something she alone could banish forever, but this - to befoul a fellow celestial, to dim their very light and silence their Song, it her on a more personal level. She was proud of her kind, her race - though not in agreement with all.

"What brought these events to life, I know not," she continued simply, her internal struggle identified and thus defeated. "But I do not believe it was incidental. Someone desired that outcome, and they may attempt it again." Would they? Brynhildr had no way of knowing that the genesis of this tragedy was unlikely to repeat the incident - but neither did she have any way of knowing if he had truly acted alone or simply been the tip of something much worse. The Nether infused trail of steps they seemed to be following, though, suggested that the story might not have reached its ending just yet, and while she did not brandish her blade, the valkyrie was wary nonetheless in case further complications arose.

[Remus]

The air still held a frigid clutch upon the lungs. Each breath capable of limited inhalation while crystalline traces of winter danced through the air upon fragile wings. That fragility did not belittle the rather sharp bite of each gust which quietly sent the most minute of drifts along the blustery snowscape. Remus listened quietly to Brynhildr before gazing ahead in thought. Quietly trying to search the vast emptiness (or so it felt) of his mind to see if he could recall any useful information. Sure he had known the dangers of the wilds, or knew that there would be dangers. He hadn't known however that there would be shadow demons trying to eat angels and people and himself. That..wouldn't have stopped him...but it would've been nice to know. Then again if it was common no doubt they'd have some mention in various texts. This was not the case.

The foot-steps did not increase in interval or number, thankfully. However the residual darkness traveling into the air did bother him the closer they got to the village. Over the further hills in the distance cresting so quietly, the rising tumbling towers of smoke could be seem more prominently. They were numerous. No one larger by any major portion and spread out that signified the buildings ablaze had been so for some time. The fires steady and slow at a smaller size but left unkept and able to grow. Here, the foot steps did not stay such. Marks akin to bestial frenzied claws were prominent along stone wall circling the village and the wooden gate once stood tall had been torn down. The priests gaze as they approached this particular ravaged entrance one of shock, which was slowly blending into horror.

[Brynhildr]

The mortals seemed to be struggling in the weather, the already bedraggled survivors seemingly to slowly solidify as though they were actually freezing. Which was possible, she supposed, and Brynhildr found herself somewhat bothered that she had no answer for the phenomenon. Swords and cutting rays of light were no substitute for warm clothing and a warmer fire, and they had neither in abundance nor in easy reach - it was only in the village that some might be found, and even that was looking to be a less than likely proposition given the footsteps they were following to their destination - the very village that could have been their welcoming salvation.

Nor did the human priest seem immune to the ravages of wind and sky. Rather than simply walk idly on though, content to rest fate in the hands of another, his eyes still moved and his mind still appeared to whirl with thought and feeling - at least as far as she could tell, Bree wasn't a mindreader or crazy good at reading people, but she also wasn't blind, and he LOOKED like he was paying attention at least. So she preferred to give him the benefit of the doubt even if he didn't seem to be particularly talkative now, likely as a result of the cold and exhaustion. While the cold never bothered her anyways, the discomfort and exhaustion was something she was no stranger to, least of all now. Even with them retracted she could still feel the simultaneously sharp and dull aches in her wings, or perhaps more accurately the discordance of her Song in the wake of the damage to her being.

But she strode on nonetheless, never one to balk in the face of discomfort. Not to salvation, but to apocalypse; as they reached the village Brynhildr's fears became manifest, the savaged village baring its deathly injuries for all to see in fire and brimstone. Horror had been visited upon this place, and while the flickering flames might bring some solace to those who had suffered under the freezing temperatures, the celestial felt another kind of cold entirely coursing through her own body.

"...Stay on guard," she stated simply for Remus's benefit, keeping an eye on the remaining villagers but recognizing that there was little they could do in the event of trouble. "Whatever did this may still lurk nearby."

[Remus]

The healer nodded his head quietly. He was still somewhat shell-shocked from the events that led them to this moment. However he spoke in a somewhat raspy tone as they moved closer to the village. Remus hesitantly passing through the gate-way after extending a palm with weary limb hoisting his staff higher. The dancing puddles of inky darkness let out an ever so faint hiss. A lingering whisper like noise that persisted. Between the multitudes both littered through out the alley floor's, and the ones seemingly birthed along the sides of some of the initial buildings, it added an eerie sense of tension to the healer's mental state as he tried to glance around.


The priest expected some dark abomination to lunge from the darkness within the puddles and attempt to disembowel him. When this did not transpire, his pulse quickened further despite the more steadfast mindset he slowly tried to include. The fires atop the roof of each building crackled and popped as they writhed. The orange shade darkening as the fires dimmed. Though it seemed safe the priest couldn't be entirely sure. Remus pressed a palm to the heated wood of a small cabin resting at the corner of a street. Eyes quietly noticing traces of wisp like darkened shadows twisting around the side of the building's other wall, which was otherwise mostly obscured by the buildings facing sides. His tone hushed, Remus turned to briefly gaze at the angelic female who had saved his life while quietly pointing to the alley-way.

"I will check there further briefly..if you'd be okay keeping an eye out for the villagers? I Just want to ensure nothing lies hidden in wait to ambush them."

[Brynhildr]

The guts of the village were no more beautiful than her first impressions; where there had been fire was now simply darkness, pools and puddles of inky shadow that writhed and bubbled in agonized hisses. Dripping down the sides of crumbling buildings as though it were their life's blood... a morbid notion, the celestial could not help but think in a momentary realization tinged by amusement, but there was little to laugh about here. The whole village stank of the Nether, a cloying, disgusting scent that sand and danced through her spirit. It was disgusting. A cacophony that played at the edges of her Song, threatening to pollute perfection with impurity. The kind of pervasive wrongness that made her want to fight - to cut through it, to obliterate all trace of its origins - but there was nothing to fight, no enemy upon which to draw her sword.

Only ruin.

The armored celestial lightly ran her fingers across the wooden shack nearest her, leaving slight furrows in the weakened wood with armored gauntlets, hardly noticing the slight resistance. Towards and through a rivulet of drooling Nether, brow narrowing slightly as she felt the skittering drool flow over her fingers, flowing around the temporary obstruction. Disgusting. She did not... hate those of the Nether, exactly, but Brynhildr held little fondness nor trust for the notion in general, and the events that had happened here did little to cure her of her natural bias on the subject. And Remus wanted to go in alone. She considered slapping HIM around a bit, it was a surprisingly tempting proposition, but in truth the errant valkyrie did not particularly want to deal with the village further than absolutely necessary so despite momentary misgivings she simply nodded affirmation to his plan. Not cowardice exactly. But in some way taking the easy way out. It would have been more efficient, safer, for her to investigate while he stayed in the open. She was better equipped for close quarters combat after all. But her distaste took precedence in that moment.

So she just sighed instead, too damaged from the earlier fight and too ill at ease to argue the subject. "As you wish. I will defend them with my life." She wasn't any happier about this than she had been the rest of her village adventure, but Brynhildr began to walk back towards the group regardless. It mattered not what she wanted to do, only that she do it well.