[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Svvasvb.png[/img][/center] [hider=For every action, there is an equal and opposite summareaction] Toun oversees construction on Cornerstone, honing his control over the increasing numbers of slave hain and levelling up. Toun picks up Lazarus' broadcast. It seems strangely similar to Vulamera's due to the closeness of Lazarus and Vulamera's portfolios and styles. Curious, he investigates. Toun arrived after Lazarus' cocoon had been extracted, though he found no trace of Vulamera. This was strange as such an occurrence would have surely attracted her attention. Toun orders Minus to stalk Lazarus from the shadows, covering its trail and hiding from godly senses. [i](Minus has actually been watching over him for a while and I let WrongEnd know through PM waaaay before making this post. I'll be documenting what Minus has been looking at in other posts, but in the meantime, I have told WrongEnd to contact me if Lazarus finds out about Minus and wants to act on it.)[/i] With one loose end being tied, Toun goes looking for Vulamera and comes across where she was eaten by the codex. Vowzra's residual trail implicates the god of time in her death. [i]Might Accounting: NOTE: This may be subject to time paradox if might is used in Stand, part 4. I promise not to retcon these expenditures based on what comes out of that collab. Toun will remain level 4 for the duration of that fight and will not spend more than 16 might -- if that. Goodness.[/i] Before: Toun - L4 - 32 MP - 1 FP - 4C/4D -6 MP: Level up to 5 -10 MP: Level up to 6 After: Toun - L6 - 16 MP - 1 FP - 6C/6D [/hider] [center][i]Set after the clash with Violence[/i][/center] The seclusion of Cornerstone left little distraction for Toun's machinations. The whispers of those who bore his mark amongst the rovaick were perhaps the only break to the patterns of the day, night, time, and tide around him. Their prayers were inconsequential for the most part. What was important was that there were more of them every day. Upon the great plain of white tiles, in the centre of which Toun stood, slave hain had been occupying their time with more than simply guarding and reproducing. They were building. Kaolokineticists wove their hands in great sweeping motions, edging upward solid structures from the shining white clay below. It started with short spires that curled towards one another until they fused. These arches, just like the slave hain willing them forth, were laid out in a repeating formation such that they formed rows that bent with the broad curvature of the tile layout beneath them. Day and night, day and night, the sun flashed over the sky, casting swinging shadows over the growing white stalks. The arches, once united, began to sprout subbranches that reached out for other arches, again uniting when they touched. Onwards this went, apparently forming a vast, roofless, gleaming cathedral of concentric circles. Toun was getting finer with his orders by the month, adapting to the slough-sculpted brain of his servants. Toun was barely doing anything beyond conveying instructions to the slave hain by the time there was an interruption. All the hain froze in place. Only their eyes and breathing chests continued moving, becoming distressed by the interruption. Toun's own blue eye shot wide open. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b][i]What was that?[/i][/b][/color] It was some kind of burst of power or broadcast. Likely both. It was unseen but to gods like himself. Toun rotated his head to the direction that the pulse came from. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]Who [i]was that?[/i][/b][/color] No one he knew of, Toun was certain. In spite of its familiarity, it was foreign. It was a seeker, like Vulamera. But Vulamera was the only seeker. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b][i]Was this her doing?[/i][/b][/color] It was unlike her to be so primal. This would require a closer look if something so drastic happened as to cause such a cosmic shout. Toun carefully stepped to turn his bare white feet around, apparently prompting the hain to continue their work and bringing noise back to the tiles. With that, Toun took a step. An unnatural step. He found himself in a silent and empty cavern. There was nothing left to find, save for mere footprints and traces of divine energy. There were trails about -- more than he expected, and from more foreign sources -- but none were left by the goddess of knowledge. Only that seeker. It was a deceptively similar trail to hers, though fundamentally different. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b][i]Why is something so similar to you here, sister?[/i][/b][/color] If he found her, Toun might get answers from Vulamera herself. It would be a fair trade if he had information of his own. Tracking this new interloper in her domain -- this seeker -- might be a start. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Minus,"[/b][/color] Toun intoned. His avatars had been idle for a time. Gathering dust in Cornerstone was no good use for them. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Track this being's scent. Hide from whatever it is. Be my eyes, while my other one looks elsewhere."[/b][/color] There was not a question back from Minus. It was already flying over the oceans to this very cavern to begin its investigation. However, Toun had instilled a curiosity into it upon its creation. He knew it was still there, so he decided to indulge for now. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Vulamera may guard her secrets, but if they have been stolen, our goals will be impeded."[/b][/color] Toun stepped again. This time, the step was so long that it shot around all sorts of nooks and crannies throughout Galbar. His search was just thorough enough his needs. He was glad to have this planet as a reference point, knowing that Vulamera would continue studying it. Searching the entirety of creation would be infeasible. Of course, Toun didn't pay heed to whatever he silently passed -- he only kept his senses open for the familiar trail of Vulamera herself. He found it and stopped. It was faded, but he could follow it. Another step took Toun meandering in the direction of the fresher trail. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b][i]Sister, why have you moved so erratically? Are you being chased? Were you looking for something?[/i][/b][/color] Something of a worried ache found its way to Toun's abdomen. A number of things caused it. He knew that Vulamera could take care of herself, but her trail explained nothing that made sense. Something was happening to her. It made Toun anxious. Toun could not know how long he spent wandering before the trail reached its end. To any mortal eyes, the cool steppe seemed an undisturbed natural scene. Rain and wind had washed away all purely physical signs of what went on here. That much, however, was not hidden to Toun. His head began to shiver as he scanned the ground around him. His blue eye was stretched tense with fear, darting in small flicks to take in every detail. The soft breeze brushed over the tufts of grass that broke up the orange dirt, giving an odd peace that rebelled against the true nature of the place. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b][i]It cannot be...[/i][/b][/color] The drab, sandy scene did not have a drop of blood, but it may as well have been painted with it. What could have elicited the same reaction would be ground bones and viscera thrown liberally over the dirt and dripping from the tufts of thin grass. If only it had similarly abstracted what happened to Vulamera's essence. Her trail was scattered in every direction at once, fading into stunted smears that curled back to a singular point. She did not transport herself elsewhere. She did not even spread herself deliberately. She was ground apart in the space of an instant and sucked away. Toun had to blink back his own grief. His sister was gone. Pulverised and eaten. It made little sense at first. Toun's first blame went to Vestec, perhaps trying to consume Vulamera to feed whatever produced the giggling in his throat. It could have been Zephyrion, having been offended by some uncomfortable revelation Vulamera tried to convey. Even Jvan might have taken her atrocious vivisections to divine flesh. What Toun noticed instead was a trail that he had not seen in aeons. Toun clenched his fists and narrowed his eye in pure anger. As if his face was a veil obscuring something more human, the bridge of Toun's flat nose contracted into an enraged wrinkle. On one hand, the appearance of a seeker godling was explained by Vulamera's consumption. The world had a way of balancing such forces, he knew. On the other hand, what Toun feared when looking for Vulamera manifested in a worse situation than even he expected. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b][i]This changes things,[/i][/b][/color] his bitter thoughts said.