[IC] Torn Across the Rift

[Affili]

Dimitri watched the smaller man amusedly as he began nervously moving from one leg to the other and the monk wasn't sure if the man's shivering was just from the cold, or if his nerves were a complete mess. There was an antidote for nervousness. Inebriation!
"You look like you need a drink my small friend, If only I had my trusty flask!" he patted the spot on his waist that it normally resided.

Dimitri was taken a back slightly at the sudden appearance of the tiny creature from under the other man's collar. It seemed wrong in itself, horribly out of place and he resisted the urge to swat it off of its perch. It seemed curious about the though, tiny bones moving and rippling with every movement as if it were of the flesh. It emanated a series of clicking sounds now and then as it peered at the monk though eyeless sockets. Despite the fact that there were no eyes, Dimitri could feel its gaze on him. Remarkable yet ghastly in its own right. Maybe the shorter man had no idea of his passenger seeming to pay the tiny companion no mind. Perhaps it was just as lost as them right now.
"Are you aware there there is a tiny skeleton seeking refuge under your collar sir?" he queried as the man paused beside him.

This stranger was right though, If there was nothing beyond the dismal bridge but more ice and snow, returning to the castle seemed like their best option. Dimitri could feel his chi draining as it fought against the bitter cold to keep him warm, it's faint glow around his body dimming significantly as time went on.

Although the man was a wreck of nerves, something seemed to be driving him on and Dimitri had learned to respect people like that a long time ago. A person's martial prowess might be little to none, but if there was something driving them forward, that could be enough to turn the tide of battle.

"I think I'll be joining you for now, but fair warning, I've just passed by that room back there and it is a terrible sight. Some kind of horrible sacrifice or something judging by what I've seen. Hell it was gruesome enough to just about sober me up and that's saying something believe me when I tell you!"

He extended a warm hand towards The stranger and nodded "I am Dimitri of the Eastern Ridges. First squad of the Silver Fist Elites. But I doubt that means much to you so for you, I'm just Dimitri!"

[jdh97]

“A drink would still my nerves but do nothing for the cold. Though, something tells me you’d think anyone would need a drink, regardless of their disposition.” He laughed slightly to show he meant no harm in the words. The man’s cordiality was infectious, as Herbert, when he did rarely have human contact, always tried to say as little as possible, and certainly never made light of a situation.

Herbert then cast a cursory glance at the bone creature, barely turning his head. He nodded. “I found it not long after I awoke, it took a liking to me, and I hadn’t the heart to turn it away; it was the only thing not claimed by the ice or fire.” Whilst not entirely true, explaining the real reason Herbert wanted to keep the creature would likely be enough to drive off even a man as jovial as the drunk.

“I shall try to avert my eyes as much as I can then,” Herbert said, gulping unconsciously, but he had steeled himself, and would not be dissuaded by a little blood and gore; he had likely seen, and inflicted, worse.

He looked at the hand for a brief moment, at a loss, as if shocked that it had been offered, but took it up and shook firmly, having the courtesy to meet the man’s eye. “Well met Dimitri, I am Herbert West of Levisham, retired medical practitioner and chemist.” He took his hand back, the residual warmth quickly dissipating.

“Come then, let me see what horrors abound, before I have the mind to flee.” Next to the big man, however, he felt he might have some hope, but that did not stop the sickly sinister feeling, a terrible lurking fear that buried itself deep in his stomach and made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Snow plastered his hair, and the winds snatched the clouds of breath away quickly. It made little sense to remain there, so he began walking, forcing one foot to fall after the other. The indistinctive shapes began to come into repugnant focus.

[Fumari]

The sharp rush of wind was no more fun in open air than it was on top of the tower. Ryann tried greedily to keep the frosty air inside of her lungs, but with every bump and pull, the wind dared to rip it back out of her. One of the faults of flying in such weather, she supposed, though there was little she could do about it while she was currently in free flight. All she could manage was to keep her eyes on the dark silhouette of the castle, and give her best attempts at riding out a path there.

Her dark feathers were currently the only part of her well suited for the cold, and unaffected by the piercing winds. Like an actual sea hawk, Ryann let her wings stretch out as large and as wide as she could, turning them inward just slightly so the wind would fill them. If you were to look at her from the ground, she would probably look like an odd sort of hang-glider, though her wings were much smaller, and her body much less stable. Every now and again, she would hit a bumpier patch of air and get tossed around like a ragged stuffed toy before quickly righting herself again. Her wings would twist and turn behind her, adjusting her flight path slightly whenever needed.

Before her, the once flurry obscured castle was slowly gaining detail. It looked much more brightly lit against the white landscape and low clinging fire now that she was closer, made of dark stone that matched that of her previous tower perch. Her eyes mostly focused on the halved bridge that she intended to land on, surveying the decaying brick and slick, icy surface for the smartest place to land. The last thing that she needed right now was to break a limb or two because she was distracted. Bone mending on top of fending off the cold would definitely make this adventure less of an adventure. The word floated around in her head for a moment, while she tried to figure out exactly when she began thinking of this event in such a way.

Sure, she was terrified, and rightly so, but that didn’t undermine her natural need for adventure, and in a way, calling it such made it a little less scary in her mind. Yes, she was simply on an adventure, and Roach had simply wandered off on his own again. Those were her thoughts while her wings narrowed slightly, allowing her a quick, but much smoother decent towards the crumbling bridge. The wind bumped and prodded her forward every now and again, but did little to change her now shortening course.

“Easy does it.” She mumbled with a fumbling sort of grin, and her wings carefully responded by folding in and allowing her feet to finally touch ground again. The wind didn’t subside though, now left to blow against her feathered back with all the anger of an abandoned date. She chose to ignore it, for now, and instead avertted her attention to the next stage of her adventure.

The castle, now that she had the chance to give it closer attention, looked old and abandoned just as the tower she’d woken up on had looked. Snow clung to it wherever it could, and small piles collected on the open parts of the bridge. There was fire, she notice at the roof and a few places farther off in the distance, that she knew for sure now was not meant to be there.

Hesitantly, Ryann began to make small steps towards the entrance of the castle. The feeling of fright and anxiety soon returned to her stomach the closer she got, tearing angrily at her insides in much the same manner the wind tore at her outside. It left her feeling sluggish suddenly, like she’d been walking for days and desperately needed a moment to breath. She stopped beside the edge of the bridge and took that moment to properly refill her lungs. The exhaustion could be chalked up to the after effects of adrenaline and nerves, but there was something else mixed in with the waves of anxiety and fright that left her alert—panic? She didn’t know why she would be panicking now, after finally managing to calm herself down. Her eyes grazed the high archway that eventually led inside the castle. It was slightly shadowed, unlike the rest of the bridge, and called forth more panic the further she looked.

What was inside? Her mind supplied the question with more curiosity than fear, though the slow start of panic still lingered in the pit of her stomach, like hot coals. Maybe if she continued forward, she’d catch fire. The thought made her lips curl lightly; humor could get even the most frightened people moving, at times. Again, she began to pad towards the looming entrance. Another several steps, small and tired, and suddenly she’d stopped again, interrupted by a familiar sound on the wind.

Voices? Her senses seemed to narrow themselves at the possibility, and she strained even her sensitive ears to make out and organize the many sounds the wind carried. There was definitely a voice, she was sure now. Something new bubbled in her stomach, though what to call it, she wasn’t sure. An odd mixture of excitement and caution? With maybe just a smidge of that familiar creeping panic, though, she still credited that one to the castle itself.

“Hello?” Ryann spouted towards the entrance then, hoping its large structure would carry her wavering voice much better than the tossing winds. “Is anyone there?” she called further, hoping to encourage whoever—or whatever was inside to answer back.

[Eyeris]

William

The girl opened her eyes. She had bright green-grey eyes and a dazed expression. She looked from the coat on her shoulders to William, then to the snowy landscape around them. She ached, but didn’t flinch as her wounds protested every movement. She finally looked back to Will, shivered, then answered him.

“Yes. I understand you.”

Alex

The man moves, showing signs of his aliveness but no signs of alertness.

Alexander

“I’m not putting down my bow yet.” She scowled at him, stepping out from behind the rock. “If you have a weapon put it down now… slowly… then keep your hands up.” She was dressed in a grey jumpsuit of sorts, but it was patched together as if it were made from several suits sewn up into one. “Are you from the government?”

[Anzu]

"You do? I'm actually a bit surprised, with all this weirdness. That's good of course." He paused, honestly not expecting it to be that easy. He'd been thinking of drawing maps and pictograms in the snow and combining that with speech, dot-digit drawings, maps... realising he could just speak threw off his train of thought.

The cold continued to wear away at Will, diminished only slightly by standing next to the flames. A faint twin diamond pattern of tanned skin was marked onto his face around his eyes, from where he goggles let through the light, day after day on the exploration mission. Holding a hand up as a poor substitute for the goggles, he was dearly missing all of his arctic gear.

“You know I have a whole introduction thing ready for this, kinda why I’m out here, but I think I will leave that to later. My name is Will, what’s yours? Can you walk, or at least with assistance? If we get inside the castle we’ve probably got a better chance in this storm. You don’t have the crazed, frostbitten look of a Fall-Barbarian, so I think you’re not gonna go for my marrow.”

[Venku]

Alexander:

"If I had a weapon I wouldn't be worried about you pointing that bow at me. About being from the government yes I am the prince of my home kingdom and a leader of a multi-planetary union. Though I am probably not from whatever government you are referring to." Alexander says. "I'm definitely not here by my own will. Also you didn't answer my second question."

Xavier:

~Well he doesn't seem to know where we are, perhaps he was somehow brought here as well. He definitely isn't a xelan of any kind otherwise he would know how to warm himself with the power of fire.~

"I can help warm you but you will have to trust me, otherwise this technique may harm us both." Xavier said.

He was planning to use the power of fire to warm him using a simple resonation technique, but causing Vata's energy to resonate with his own would be dangerous if Vata had any belief he intended to cause him harm. If Vata were to think he meant harm his power would automatically become disturbed, which could lead to a clash of energy which would drain them both.

"I have a friend to the north and I think we should go to where he is; he will be able to warm you with less risk, though it comes at the cost of being slower and a bit less effective." Xavier suggested, "Also have you seen a crystal that seems to have a storm within it on a black metal necklace, it is very important to me and my friend."

Alex:

"Hmm, he is still unconscious maybe lending him some energy will help." Alex says as he puts his hand on the mans forehead and sits in a way that suggests he is meditating with his legs crossed and eyes closed.

~Hopefully the other two have had luck locating Crena~

[pomme de terre]

Gemma was just as surprised as Zesiro at Twain’s abrupt change of plans. Her arm burned and her head pounded as she piled napkins on the table to mop up the mess. There was no doubt that something out of the ordinary was happening just north (northeast?) of town. The site couldn’t be far at all, definitely within driving distance, but they had a mission, didn’t they? No matter how big this whole… situation ended up being, MOON came first.

But the feeling burned bright, fading slowly, if at all. This was big. She flexed her hand and focused on the magnetic field, really trying to determine where the feeling was coming from. It wasn’t terribly important; the place held steady like true north, but she’d been putting off figuring out her compass. Now was as good a time as any.

Once she had, and the mess had been mopped up with plenty of apologizing on her part (she hoped they understood; she didn’t speak a word of Russian), they left the place, heading for the van. Icarus followed closely behind Gemma, but she was feeling better—at least, until she stepped outside, where the brightness stung her eyes and aggravated her headache. The wind buffeted her and froze every inch of her exposed skin and she cursed the Russian weather.

Once in the van, she gave Twain a direction and they were off. Maybe he thought that this could have some connection to MOON’s disappearance. She couldn’t imagine what made him think that, but she trusted him to know what he was doing. The man was rife with hidden talents, and something as simple as intuition could mean the difference between success and failure in a seemingly dead-end mission like this one.

It felt dead-end, anyway. All they had were photographs of the team and a goal—every step in between was still a mystery. “So why Russia?” Gemma asked, when she got Helena’s picture. The girl was from an English-speaking country, if her diploma was anything to go by. “What was a girl like her doing here? Was she running?” Running from TRIDENT would be unlikely; Gemma herself had never even heard about the organization when they approached her. They had had a file on her, too. “Or did she disappear?”

A pulse of something dark made her skin crawl, and Gemma looked out the window. Smoke was rising from a mountain not too far into the distance, thick, black smoke that stood stark against the white sky and the snow. That was the source. Her stomach sank. Like a white hole, the place was vomiting particles and energy, sitting on the edge of her attention. “That’s the place,” she said. They’d be there soon, at the pace that Twain was going.

She looked back at the picture of Helena, and then at the four pictures of the members of MOON, all piled up on the center console in front of her. She never liked trusting her intuition—she was a scientist, after all—but something about this whole situation begged for a connection. Inexplicable, paranormal events like the things TRIDENT studied were few and far between, after all, and to have three (if you counted Helena’s likely disappearance) events happening in just as many months in the same city was nigh unheard of. Unless there was a connection.

Gemma tossed the photo she was holding onto the console to sit with the rest of them. Hopefully Twain would have an answer. If not, the only thing to do would be to wait until they could take a look at whatever they’d be facing on the mountaintop.

[Eyeris]

William

The girl nodded. “I can.” She pushed herself to her feet. She was not very tall, she was swimming in the coat she had borrowed. The sleeves extended far past he hands. She looked toward the castle, and began to walk in that direction. The hem of the coat dragged in the snow behind her.

“I am Dzel.” She said. “I am not a barbarian.” She smiled a little bit at the suggestion, as if Will had made a joke. “I am Dame Dzel.”

As they walked toward the castle it would loom far overhead. They were on a plateau of land below the plateau of land the castle stood upon. There was a rough craggy rock face. Would they need to climb it in order to reach the castle?

Will, after some searching, would find a hole in the cliff-face. There had been a crack and the rock had fallen away to reveal a tunnel or hall of some sort. Inside were rusting bars of tempered iron that ran parallel to stairs carved into the stone. The hall led up and into the bowels of the rock.

Which way was the safer? Did the tunnel lead anywhere at all? Or would it collapse as they traveled through it.

Was the cliff too slippery to traverse? Would the wind pick them off the cliff?

Will had a choice…

Alexander

The girl scowled, drawing back the string on her bow, her face filled with rage. “I don’t answer to you anymore! There is only one government. You're all rotten and you've crossed the line. My family… My friends… Glenn… Pierre… ” For a moment a deep sadness crossed her face, interrupting her scowl. “... I don’t know what you’ve done and I don’t care. Fuck you!”

There was a twang, and a woosh.

She let the arrow fly.
Alex

The man flinched as the hands imbued with fire energy touched him. They burned his pale skin. The man threw his shoulder, violently turning away from Alex. He shuddered for a moment on the ground. Then, he began to crawl.

Gemma

They were soon out of the city, passing by empty countryside on their way to the foot of the mountain. It seemed to get colder as they approached, yet, with what Gemma was sensing it would feel more and more uncomfortable.

“Why not Russia?” Twain shook his head. “I don’t have a good answer to that one, kid. MOON is a pretty independent team, they don’t report back often. They have excuses to skip reports and miss important meetings… like… they don’t want some rat on the inside compromising their investigations or some crap…. They are forgiven, because they always get results. They are good, Gem. They never get caught....”

The hum of the engine was the only sound for miles, they were entering no-man's land. “Guess not anymore…”

“Twain! They weren’t good they were stuck-up.” Zesiro looked up from his handheld-gaming-device to comment. “Overconfident. Probably weren’t careful enough.They fucked up and got themselves stranded. Now we’ve got to go chasing after their ghosts and clean up their mess. Sucks.”

“Don’t say that Zes. They might not be dead.”

“Wanna bet?”

Twain said nothing in return and kept driving.

[Venku]

Alexander:
~I didn't want to use my powers as I have limited energy but she forced my hand~ He thinks as she lets the arrow fly.

He does this he ducks and rolls diagonally in the girls general direction. Using the power of the wind to make his body lighter he moves much quicker than normal. Luckily, even if the arrow was magically or technologically enhanced in a way that would prevent his dodge from being effective, this was just a clone body.

Alex:
~That wasn't supposed to happen. Well it woke him up at least.~

"Sorry, I meant you no harm I intended to help you but it seems my technique failed. I am Alexavier, let me help you off the ground." he says.

He remains in a seated position as to not startle the man anymore than he already was.

[Affili]

"Pleasure to meet you Herbert!" he answered with a smile as he shook hands. He then extended a finger towards to the boney skeleton "and a pleasure to meet you my tiny skeleton friend" he added with a chuckle. "Say, would you like a name?" he questioned into the skeleton's eye sockets before chuckling once again " what shall we call him? bony skeleton seems too long a name to use all the time wouldn't you agree? Oh and trust me Herbert, I could brew you a concotion that would start a fire in your belly spreading warmth to your head and all the way to your loins" he said with a laugh.

Dimitri followed a few steps behind but paused as he heard a faint voice trailing the wind behind them. Another something or someone had moved towards them during their conversation. Dimitri hoped to himself that it would indeed be another someone as opposed to a something.

He turned into the wind and took a few steps towards the new voice calling to them over the roar of wind that was buffeting his face and whipping his robes to and fro. "Hello there strange new voice!" he answered back squinting into the snow again "We are here! Though exactly where has yet to be decided!" he added waving his arms in hopes that the new comer would see them through the endless blizzard.

[Viridity]

Vata blinked in surprise when the man told him that he could warm him up, but that it would require Vata to trust him. Otherwise, it could harm them in some way. Was this man a Shaper too? He pushed the thought from his head, now was not the time for questions. Idle chatter would only serve to put himself at greater risk of freezing to death.

"I have no reason not to trust you. If you wished me dead, or harmed in some way, you would have already done so. Once you...do whatever it is that will warm me up, we can go visit your friend. As for that crystal, I haven't seen it."

Vata took a moment to look around him. He couldn't see far due to the snow, but he saw his bag poking out of a drift a few steps away. He pulled it out of the snow, and turned back to Xavier.

"Right, you have my trust. Once you do...whatever you're going to do to keep me from shaking myself apart, we can go see your friend."

[jdh97]

Herbert blinked twice. “Does it need a name?” There was no small amount of venom in his voice as he practically hissed at Dimitri. The creature was his hope; if bones could be reanimated, then a fresh corpse should be no trouble, given he could figure out the method. The last thing he needed was anyone to become attached to it. A name was the first step in that direction, a gateway, to humanisation and a sense of identity. It was out of necessity that Herbert had to remain cold, for he knew not yet what had to be done.

Realising how this might offend the brewer after shows of hospitality, Herbert coughed and studied the ground by his feet rather too meticulously before speaking. White mottled the black leather and one shoelace had come undone, but Herbert doubted he had enough control over his fingers to retie it.

“Sorry.” Was all he could manage; he had no feasible excuse prepared for the way he acted, and just hoped it was totted up to the stress of the current situation. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, then rubbed the same hand down his face. Sincerity, that’s what he needed to muster, so he tried again, even forcing a thin smile upon his face. However, he could not bring himself to make eye contact. “Sorry, my nerves are frayed, call it what you will, I am sure it is open to suggestions.”

Heavy flakes fell onto his eyelashes as he turned back to the castle, and chills ran down his spine. The drink was sounding too good to be true. Some of Herbert’s spirits returned after his embarrassment, but his voice was noticeably quieter, and flatter: morose. “Maybe we could enjoy it together sometime.” Not wanting to question the man, who seemed adamant of the potency of his brews, Herbert allowed himself to envision a drink with such properties.

After only a few brief steps forward, Herbert whirled when the larger man began calling out. Clearly, he thought someone was there, and must have had greater hearing than Herbert, or a less occupied mind, as he had thought it to be merely the wind; it was far too tremulous of a sound. With folded arms, Herbert waited, tapping his foot, whilst the bone creature poked its head out, as if looking for the newcomer. Falling sheets of snow lashed into frenzy by the wind meant that vision was rather limited, but there was a tiny shape approaching. Whilst not visible imposing, Herbert grew tense, and was prepared to run and abandon the drunk if it turned towards the worst.

[Venku]

Xavier:

~Good he has agreed now I just have to be careful to match his energy before I pass any energy~

"This may give you a feeling of temporary numbness. If it hurts in any way draw back immediately as that means I made a mistake." Xavier said as he put his hand on Vata's shoulder. Concentrating on Vata's energy flow he was a little surprised at the sheer amount inside of him.

~There must be something special about him.~

He began to match the Vata's energy flow and finally matched it. He then sent a tiny bit of fire energy to Vata and to his surprise Vata's energy quickly copied his own much faster than was normal. Removing his hand he waited for Vata's reaction.

[Anzu]

Will did a double-take at the word 'Dame'. He continued walking towards the castle, but asked "A Dame, in an official sense? Can I ask which country?”

He hid his confusion and reservations at the idea, thinking to himself ‘I’m pretty sure only a handful of countries haven’t abolished or taken the French route with their Inheritory Bourgeoisie, and those that do don’t use the European terms. Maybe she’s from a very new state, somethng post Cremation? If their rulers call themselves with those names… Would be a shame if that was our first contact with an actual state.’

As they approached the cliff face, whatever conversation was cut short by the immediate problem. Will searched around, but even the most flattering description of the cliff ahead called it slippery, jagged, cold, rocky and deadly. Will was no rock climber, let alone a scary-rocks-in-a-blizzard climber.

“Ah, a tunnel. I’m down for some shelter and a path upwards that isn’t an Olympic-level challenge. Rusty bars, the whole thing seems pretty ominous, but I think this is the best way. If I’m not desperate enough to risk it now, I think I will be once I’ve stayed out here another few minutes or tried to climb up.”
If Dzel agrees, they will go into the tunnel. Will has boldly chosen that he would rather be crushed to death in a tunnel than dashed against a cliff face. Some say he might even get up to the castle.

[Viridity]

Vata tried to stay as still as he possibly could through the shivers when Xavier placed his hand on his shoulder. A moment later, Xavier seemed to concentrate on deeply on Vata, and then he felt something. It felt much like he did when Shaping, but there was something unfamiliar about it. The feeling vanished an instant later, and was replaced by a blessed feeling of warmth. Assuming this wasn't just his body being fooled somehow, perhaps he wouldn't spend his last moments freezing to death.

Xavier removed his hand from Vata's shoulder, and Vata quickly gave him a surprised glance. What did he just do to me? He quickly pushed the thought to the side, answers could come later, once they were in somewhere safe, and hopefully warm.

"Much appreciated, Xavier. Now that I probably won't be freezing to death anytime soon, could you lead me to this friend of yours?"

[Venku]

Xavier:
~Good, good it worked I was worried that it might not~

"Yes, I suppose we should. A bit of a warning, my friend is identical in looks to me. I would explain why now, but it will be easier to explain when we get to him. Hopefully he is unharmed, I have a feeling that we are not the only ones here." Xavier says as he turns to head north.

~Judging by my luck Alexander has probably also found someone. Hopefully he didn't say something to piss them off~

Xavier begins walking in the general direction of Alex priming his senses to any unusual or familiar energies.

"Also I suggest keeping your eyes peeled for any movements, there could be dangers around. And knowing my luck it is more likely than not that there are." He says to Vata over his shoulder.

[pomme de terre]

The silence was heavy, and not only because of what Zesiro had said. Maybe MOON was dead, maybe they weren’t. It didn’t really matter, because now they was chasing after their shadow, and whatever MOON had gone up against that had made them lose contact for so long was MERCY's responsibility now too. They could very well be chasing after their deaths.

Gemma shook her head; that was pessimistic talk. They’d be fine. If there was a connection between whatever was happening up on this mountain and what had happened to MOON, they would find out soon enough. They were actually climbing it now, keeping a good pace. She watched the sparse countryside sink below them.

The dark feeling was growing, pulsing, dread thickening and rising from her stomach to her heart. What she felt defied words and explanation on a good day—this feeling was so far from normal that she was pretty sure that the hurt in her head wasn’t just from whatever particles she’d been hit with. She felt like anxiety and black bile and wood smoke.

“It’s getting stronger,” she said, casually as she could. “Do you think the road leads straight to the source?”

[Eyeris]

Gemma

“Dunno.” Twain answered Gemma. "Zesiro, call up TIGER. I’d like to have them on standby. Make sure they know not to move in until I say so.”

“You call TIGER.” Zesiro frowned and reached into his pack for his radio. It was odd that with access to such advanced technology that they chose to use something old fashioned.

“You have one job.”

“That’s not true.”

“You are the communications officer. Communicate.”

Zesiro had the radio out, a curling black cord connected the piece he held in his hand to his backpack. He played with a few knobs before he began the broadcast…

“Awe, Den Mother. Gonna need you on standby…”

After a moment. “Heard. Ready to---” There was a noise, as if someone on the other end of the line grabbed the radio. There was then a string of indescribable Spanish coming through the radio.

“Learn English.” Zesiro rolled his eyes.

“Learn Spanish. What kind of communications officer only speaks one language?” This was the Spanish speaker now speaking English. A woman’s voice. Deep and velvety. “That is not my code name.”

“Dunno. I thought it was clever.” Zesiro typed a few buttons in his pack. “Here is our approximate locale. Sending you coordinates.”

“Russia? What project are you on?”

“Tell her it’s class---.” Twain tried to cut in but Zesiro had already opened his mouth and revealed...

“We are chasing MOON.”

“--iffied.”

There was a moment of silence.

“I’ll be there.” She said.

“No no no… On standby.” Twain winced.

“I’d tell her that but she hung up.” Zesiro feigned a look of defeat and put away his radio.

Zesiro turned to Gemma with an explanation. “That was Rozalind. She used to be on our team, on MERCY. Her and Twain didn’t get along. So she got ‘promoted’ and is heading up TIGER now.”

Twain put some music through the vans speaker system.

~~~

It took 24 hours to reach the site. The van was packed with winter gear and climbing equipment. It was standard procedure to pack for whatever wilderness might be nearby. The things they hunted often hid in the untamed territory…

They had to leave the road, as it seemed to wind around the mountain rather than up it. They would pack up, gear up, and head into the snow.

The feeling, unlike anything Gemma had sensed before, would grow stronger as they neared. Icarus would help the girl if she felt weak, or over particularly treacherous obstacles. They would stop and rest every so often. Zesiro scratched his head over a map of the area or played on his game-boy during the breaks. Twain would chat with Gemma, ask her how she was feeling and other questions about what she was sensing. Icarus was quiet.

They followed the plume of smoke.
Eventually, they saw ruins ahead. An old castle on a cliff face.

“This isn’t on the map.” Said Zesiro.

“Of course not! It is a secret lair of evil!” Twain joked. “Lets split. I’ll go East, Zesiro, you and the boys go West. Icarus...”

Icarus was already gone. So quickly and quietly did he disappear, one might wonder if he hadn’t gone invisible.

“Yeah, that. Gemma… ah… um… Why don’t you wait here.”

Alexander

The girl scowl as her arrow missed the agile man. “Cold fingers.” She cursed and began reeling back looking for the shelter of her He rolled toward her, he seemed to move faster than a man should be able to…

'I can’t let this bastard get the best of me. Not now...' She only had only been able to find three arrows. However… he didn’t know that. She drew her second arrow as she took a long leap up onto the rock she had previously been hiding behind, and took aim…

Alex

The man stopped at the sound of his voice. He stopped crawling away, and turned an eye upon the young prince. It was desperate, and venomous… like an animal in pain. With a shaking hand he grabbed the hem of his coat, he turned away and tried to cover his face.

Will

“Avalon.” Dzel answered as she followed Will into the tunnel. "Where are you from?"

It seemed a bit warmer inside, but perhaps that was only because they were sheltered from the biting wind. There was a set of craggy stairs to climb. Then they would reach a landing, and come to a wide room.

Inside the castle was protected by most of the erosion that had eaten away the outside of the castle. Evidence of the castle's grandeur remained in this room. Winding lines carved into the rock. There were even tapestries still on the walls.

On the floor, and certainly not ancient, there was an awful lot of stuff.

Black backpacks and boots. 12 sets of each.

Dimitri, Herbert, Ryann

IF They were to search, they would find a stairwell in the corner under the roof. It would lead down several flights then come to a landing which led to a room. Inside the castle was protected by most of the erosion that had eaten away the outside of the castle. Evidence of the castle's grandeur remained in this room. Winding lines carved into the rock. There were even tapestries still on the walls.

On the floor, and certainly not ancient, there was an awful lot of stuff.

Black backpacks and boots. 12 sets of each.

And two people. Will and Dzel.

[Anzu]

Will talked and walked as he answered “I’m from the S.P.A.R., stands for the Sakhalin Provisional Authority Region. I’m actually out here as part of an exploration team sent by them, we’re meant to contact surviving enclaves, map the changes that have happened from the destruction and nuclear winter-” he glanced over at Dzel as he clarified with “rivers changing course, settlements being destroyed or abandoned, bridges gone, that sort of thing-” before turning back to look forward, and continuing “and destroy any barbarians and bandits we find along the way that we can take on. Mark the rest for later on the map. The whole team is 15 people. We’re all generalists with some added speciality- 3 pathfinders, 2 linguist-diplomats, 5 soldiers, 2 sled-dog handlers, 2 medical people, and me, the engineer and geological surveyor. I basically make sure everything keeps working, I try to identify good places for us to set up extraction, and I check out what abandoned industrial and mining facilities we pass to see if they’re of any use. Make things we need if we don’t have it with us too, sometimes, huge makeshift mortars to take out bandit strongholds or rigging cars to drive forward at a target and set to explode…”

His answer tapered off, the last word lingering. “There was meant to be another person, same job as me but without the surveying, they got unlucky when we were trying to salvage parts from a Slavic Union APC. I reckon a faulty shell got knocked onto the floor and fired, only reason I can think for all the ammo to cook off and blow the thing up.”

Will shrugged, and after a pause added “It’s nothing to talk about.”

They continued on up the stairs in silence for a brief time, before Will started speaking again, this time asking how Dzel came to be covered in wounds and injuries. After whatever conversation came from that, they soon emerged into the landing and hall. Will glanced around as he moved forward, extremely surprised to be seeing tapestries and a general medieval aesthetic. Then, the boots and backpacks caught his eye.

Will motioned for Dzel to be quiet and to follow, as Will moved back to the entrance quickly and quietly. His mind raced, making the judgement that this can't be a trap because such a huge bait for basically nobody every appearing wouldn't make sense. So it is probably someone's home base, or was until recently, the complete lack of activity and the general destruction indicated unpleasantness.

Scanning the surroundings, he waited and listened, hearing nothing over the howling wind in the corridors. He moved forward again, taking one of the backpacks and scurrying back to the entrance to the hall. Looking inside, he made note of whatever he sees in there and leaves it for later with the rest. The pair headed upstairs, trying to be stealthy at first but soon downgraded it from moving 'sneakily' to 'warily'. Simply put it seemed like nobody was here anymore, and the howling wind and snow, even inside, did all the steath for them.

Moving on, a powerful feeling of dread began to claw at them, feeling like a weight, almost physical, pushing them down and trying to eradicate them. Will said nothing, the urge to speak being overpowered by the fear that if he mentioned it, Dzel would say she felt the dread too, confirming it as a new horrifying aspect of this situation.

They turned a corner, and heard a crunch as Dzel's shoe stepped on something like cartilige. Two pairs of eyes snapped to where the shoe had landed, transfixing on the scrap of unidentifiable gore. Unrecognisable red matter, bits of gristle, singed flesh and white flecks of bone all entered their field of vision. Will's gaze moved forward, dragged towards the center of the room by the vague tale told by the gore. An agonisingly drawn out fraction of a second passed, and he was staring at the blood eagle in the center of the room.

The requisite moment of silence passed. Will took a step forward, half-thought ideas of helping the person or stopping whatever happened bubbling up in the instants it took before common sense and reason shouted those down. This act has already happened and this person cannot be helped. The supernatural feeling of dread only became stronger, and the world seemed to narrow and fall towards the altar. His mind turned back to the question of where his friends were, with the new information that some mundane act of extreme brutality had occured and some sort of supernaturally bad act was mixed in. He tried to scream, to yell in anger and fear but his throat had closed up.

Some of the shock and terror wore off, but very little. Will started walking backwards, not daring to take his eyes off of the corpse. Once he was on the outer edge of the gore, he turned around, facing Dzel. He had a look of desperate panic, and was clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Where are they? What bullshit happened here?"

He turned away, walking unsteadily out of the chamber through a different exit. He stopped and leant against a wall, struggling to calm down. He exhaled deeply, and nodded. "Its okay, we've got this. Gotta re-exert control." he said, whispering to himself.

He turned his head back to look at the body, grimacing slightly. He walked over, stopping a few meters out to avoid exposing himself to the worst of the dread-field.

Addressing Dzel, he spoke loudly and clearly albiet with a small waver in his voice "You know if I had another coat I'd cover this one up. We have to bury her before we leave. Put her ribs back in place first if we can."

"I say we get out of here for now- that's not exactly a radical idea-, head that way," he pointed over his shoulder, at the entrance they hadn't entered by, "see what else we can find. Should be all up from here, can't be worse."

[Fumari]

Ryann couldn’t stop a smile from gracing her lips after hearing the humorous response carried back by the wind. Whoever it was, they sounded friendly enough for her to relax a bit and pick up the pace. Very soon, her eyes could begin to make out the familiar silhouettes of people farther along the bridge—there were two of them, one moving its limbs, and the other standing much more still. Now close enough to make out details, Ryann gives each other the individuals a quick but careful glance. Neither of them looked like they were very threatening, the closest looking quite friendly in fact. She noted further that neither of the two looked dressed for this sort of weather.

“H-Hello.” Ryann greets through jittering teeth and her best attempt at a smile, while her numb legs came to a halt a few feet behind the individuals. Relief almost washes all of her anxiety away, but the knot inside of her stomach refused to let itself be undone. “Trying to escape the cold as well?” she asks with a hint of humor on her frozen tongue. Her eyes briefly leave the two to recapture a glimpse of the castle again, and she hopes in the back of her head that it's much warmer inside.