[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/P7Vw9Fz.png[/img][/center]

[i][colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]Report.[/b]
Divine beings are in transit to the nearest Tounic rovaick tribe. Safety from other forces shall be found there until pick-up.
[b]Do they trust you?[/b]
Dwarf Cinead is suspicious. I am still building rapport. Dwarf Inga does not trust me. Both follow me willingly.
[b]And your condition?[/b]
Nominal.[/colour][/i]

[hr]
Cinead laid awake, staring at the yellowing morning sky. Inga's breathing rose and lowered gently beside him. It was not her he was waiting for. Inga still needed to rest her broken wing -- she should not be disturbed.

The rustling of the other nearby bedroll drew Cinead's attention. Their guide Mira was already standing up in her plain white and red uniform and stretching her arms. The end of her tongue curled in her mouth as she drew in a silent yawn.

"Hey, Mira," Cinead said, scrambling to stand up as well. "If you're going gathering again, I'd like to join you. I want to learn how to survive out in this place." He peered around the green grass of the glade around them. This world far-north was still so alien.

Mira looked back with a soft smile. "Of course," she said. "If you're up for it, that is. It won't take as long with two people but if your headaches...?"

Cinead rubbed his head where the bandages used to be. "To be honest, I've been feeling fine since yesterday. I've been healing faster than I thought."

Mira nodded. The two walked together.

"So, did you sleep well?" Mira asked.

Cinead glanced back, surprised. "Actually, I..." He hesitated. He had intended to be the one asking questions. "Not the past few nights, no. I keep hearing this strange sound. It's like chains rattling. With someone or something humming music that I don't recognise."

Mira's ear turned. "Odd. I don't know any wildlife that would make sounds like that."

"Have you been hearing it, too?"

She stuck out her bottom lip and shook her head. "You were probably just dreaming. You have been through much, Cinead."

[hr]
"You know," Cinead murmured. "You never explained how you managed to set Inga's broken wing. She's stronger than she looks."

Mira put a finger to her lips to hush Cinead. From within their hiding spot in the scrub, they had a commanding view of a nearby pond. Mira knew such places where they could catch animals to eat.

"It was not so bad," Mira whispered. "I'm not sure how much Inga remembers but she was delirious with blood loss. I think she may have tried to resist but was too weak."

Cinead took his eyes off the pond. "Really? I saw her tear a dagon's head off. I don't think she would have-"

"Shh!" Mira pointed out a rabbit padding towards the water. It dipped its snout in to drink.

"I can catch it." Cinead leapt out of the bushes at a dead sprint. He barely heard Mira protest behind him and the rushing air. The rabbit bolted at a speed he did not anticipate.

As the rabbit approached a small hole in the ground, Cinead dove for it with his hands outstretched. Even with his supernatural speed, the rabbit was about to escape.

A snap of tiny bones. The rabbit barreled over sideways, out of Cinead's reach as he slid to a stop in the dirt.

"That is not how you catch a rabbit, Cinead."

Cinead closed his hands and slacked on the ground in futility. The calm and unnaturally graceful steps of Mira stopped and spun to look down at him. He looked back. In one hand held to her hip was the rabbit held limp by the ears. In the other, she tossed a hefty stone up and down in her fingers.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yes. Yes, I am."

"There's still time to catch more if your aim is good enough." Mira's soft smile never ended. She turned her head slightly, looking at him. "While we wait, perhaps you had some other questions?"

Cinead pushed up from the ground, stood, and dusted himself off. "I suppose. Maybe you could tell me more about that Xerxes place?"

[hr]
This alien world up north was not the only thing with surprises in store for Cinead. Their new guide Mira proved herself an expert survivalist, even with her clean uniform. She knew just where to find food and water and could navigate as if it were second nature to her. Cinead absorbed as much knowledge as he could.

Most questions Cinead had were answered. Everything from what the city of Xerxes was, why it was full of beasts and ashes, to its feud with Alefpria. However, Mira could not answer why [i]he[/i] had appeared in Xerxes and why he had his new power. Nevertheless, mistrusting Mira was difficult; she did not seem secretive about much of anything and her friendliness was never insincere.

After their day of hunting and conversation -- only the third night of their journey -- Cinead was finally comfortable in her presence. He sat in front of their campfire, watching the flames. Opposite him sat Mira, turning a pair of skinned rabbits. Inga laid on her front on the ground up beside Cinead. She was dozing after finishing her own much larger share of the hunt that afternoon.

With his fingers weaved, Cinead looked over the flames curiously. "You know, Mira, I've never heard of any dwarf settlements this far north. How exactly did you learn to take care of yourself up here?"

Mira held her small smile. "I have been travelling all sorts of places. You have to make most of it up as you go along but I pick up a thing or two from the locals."

"Alone?"

Mira glanced up. "Not always. I have my twin with me sometimes."

Cinead narrowed one eye. They still had not seen Mira's gryphon. "Right. What was his mission, exactly?"

Mira shot a fleeting glance. "Don't know. It's a secret."

"A secret?" Cinead repeated incredulously. "You're twins. How can you keep secrets from one another?"

"Orders," Mira said with a high brow. "We're good at different things, he and I. We range far. Our superiors only put us on missions together when we don't have to work alone. And he has to work alone for this one." She frowned.

Cinead tensed the corner of his mouth. He could hear by Mira's tone that he had stepped on a nerve. He leaned back and rested the back of his head on his hands. "Sorry."

"It's okay. It is unusual, I know."

They listened to the rabbits roasting. Dripping hissed on the hot coals.

Cinead mulled over something to say. Mira beat him to it. 

"Hey. Cheer up, you." She smiled. "I am just some ranger. You don't have to know about me."

With a grin, Cinead lifted his head up to look at her. "Are you joking? Inga and I would be dead without your help. I want to know more about you." He sat up. "Can you at least tell me your family name?"

She averted her eyes. "...Snowhands."

"Snowhands. There, I'll remember that."

Cinead laid back again drawing a deep breath that siphoned the tension from his shoulders. "What about your brother's name?"

Mira hesitated again. For longer this time. "Magnon."

A strange name. "...Do you miss him?"

"Yes, but...we're never very far apart, really." Mira stopped to cough and clear her throat. "But I do not mind being separated sometimes. He can be a little...dense, I guess you could say?"

By way of reminding the two of her presence, Inga grumbled something that drew a look from Cinead.

"Hey, careful who you call dull, clam sack," Cinead retorted.

Inga snorted. Some dirt pushed aside in front of her snout.

Cinead showed half a grin to Mira. "She said she sympathises with you."

Mira was smiling wide, though she quirked an eyebrow. "I gathered that. But...'clam sack'?"

Cinead laughed quietly and ran a hand over his ear. "Well, when we were children, Inga wanted to get the last few clams out of the bottom of a sack the fisherdwarves brought in." He turned knowingly to her half-asleep sister. "Thing is, she couldn't get it off when she stuck her head in too far. She wandered around with the stinking bag stuck on her head for about ten minutes until me and our parents found her again..."

Mira covered her open mouth, surprised.

"...She kept trying to sneeze the smell out for the rest of the day."

Inga groaned in protest.

Cinead laughed. "You think I'm going to let you live that down, Inga? You were like a little poltergeist with little gryphon legs and a tail sticking out. You wreaked havoc bumping over things."

Then was the first time Cinead heard Mira laugh. Her hand curled back from her grinning mouth. The way she giggled drew her cheeks up and closed her eyes. Her ears pointed up in her mirth.

It was a sound that drew Cinead's eyes. He smiled.

"Aww, that's such a cute picture, I..." She stopped when she noticed Cinead staring. A second passed, she closed her mouth as she stared back. She stifled another chuckle and reached for the spit. Cinead could just see her ears flush. "I think dinner is ready."

Cinead took in a small breath. "Right." He looked to the rabbits and felt a rush over his skull.

Inga shut one spying eye.

[hr]
Cinead never remembered waking up in his dreams. Or, at least, he rarely remembers in a dream how he got to the locations he dreams of.

Cinead was on watch when he perceived the familiar melody. When he cast his eyes to the moonlit surroundings he was exactly where he remembered sitting to keep a lookout.

Inga and Mira were each curled up separately, sleeping without a care. He was quite awake.

Chains rattled and rang in the distance. The music continued.

It hummed as if played through wide brass pipes. And yet still it had a living voice. Perfectly tuned. Uncannily so. The haunting song was no dream, Cinead decided. He stood and crept towards it.

The chains, he realised, lent a rhythm to the music. They rang every time the singer tried to ascend in volume. It had a longing to it.

Cinead followed the sound around a rocky outcropping. The chains grew louder. He saw through a copse of trees a large, glassy pond. Grot's footprints, Mira had explained dotted the entire area with such reservoirs.

A white shape glided over the water.

Cinead gasped and hid behind a tree. His heart pounded against his chest.

But his curiosity had let him this far. He leant to peek through the copse.

The white shape continued its glide. It was a long-limbed humanoid shape. Not a human. It had plates of elegant glossy white covering it like a decorative armour. Pure, smooth, milky glass. Its head was not hair and face, but a helmet matching the rest of the all-covering armour.  The only interruption to the white was a marking of red circles on its chest.

It spun in its glide and white chains leading from its wrists to the water rang out. It was dancing above the surface of the pond as if by grace alone. The chains followed its movements in helices and spirals, always rooted to the water. The shape turned, floating, hovering as a ghost might.

Cinead remembered to breathe. He was transfixed on the sight. The music came from the ghost as well; he could tell by the way the trees distorted it. It was humming and dancing. Nothing Cinead had ever seen before expressed such fluidity of movement. Nothing had as much emotion. Like a thing of jealously guarded beauty held against its own will.

Cinead's eyelids burned. He did not realise he was weeping until he sniffed his tears from his nose. He kept watching from the dark.

Its dance never seemed to end. It never repeated but perfectly when the music required.

And then the ghost stopped. Its music ceased in the middle of a bar. It floated still for a reality-questioning moment. Its middle spasmed. It doubled over above the water. With a start, it pushed up the visor of its helmet and a flood of dark red, pulpy, wretched slurry poured forth from the opening. The slurry splashed into the water with sickening smacks and splats. Cinead could not see into the ghost's visor from this angle.

The slurry stopped. The ghost remained bent over. It wretched and released another load of the red mix. It was in pain.

Cinead stepped out from behind his tree. He stepped up to the pond and wiped his eyes clear. He breathed in to call out to the creature, but it noticed him.

The visor slammed shut on its own. The ghost jerked into a stiff posture facing him. It lifted its arms up, taking the chains up in a wave that surged faster than his eyes could follow. He blinked as a reflex.

Water wet his legs. He opened his eyes. He looked around. The ghost was gone.

"Wh..." Cinead stepped around to look for it. "Where'd you go? I won't hurt you. Are you alright?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"I am here."[/i][/colour]

That same voice that was humming its song spoke. Cinead twisted and looked up. His eyes halted at a shadow in a tree above him. Chains lazily rattled like they were swinging back and forth.

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"You saw me dance."[/i][/colour]

Cinead breathed to calm down. He looked aside and at the dark shape again. "I did, yes. But...then you stopped. Something came out of you. What happened? Are you okay?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"I am beyond your help. Do not worry yourself."[/i][/colour]

"I...fine, okay." Cinead tried to accept his lack of understanding of this creature. He resumed slowly. "You've been following us, haven't you? I heard your songs from our camp. Are you some kind of djinni?"

The voice took a moment. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"No."[/i][/colour]

"Why are you following us?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"I am not following. I am leading."[/i][/colour]

Cinead lowered his brow. "What do you mean?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"You watched my dance for a time. Did you see anything in it?"[/i][/colour]

A riddle. Cinead lowered his head to think. The answer did not make immediate sense in his head. "I saw..." He stopped to try and think. He knew he noticed a pain in it. "I saw a struggle. You danced beautifully but with those chains, it looked like you were constrained. You were working against them. Being held back. There was a desire in the music as well. A sadness. Like you could be like a bird in the sky but are trapped. Held down."

The shape did not respond.

"That is what I saw." Cinead looked up again and shook his head. "Is there meant to be some other meaning to it? I don't know how it explains why you are foll-...or leading us, rather."

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"It does not. You are correct."[/i][/colour]

"That ending wasn't part of it, was it? That horrible purging you did?" Cinead asked. "What was coming out of you?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"Corruption, distilled."[/i][/colour]

Cinead narrowed his eyes.

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"I lost purity. I am malfunctioning, Cinead."[/i][/colour]

His eyes lit up. It knew his name.

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"The corruption is catalysing locked passages. Those locks will soon put me to sleep to keep their secrets."[/i][/colour]

Cinead shook his head. "I don't understand. Are you following us to be healed by the rovaick, too? Is there some way to help?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"No. When I sleep, I will be taken to father. He will rebuild me. I will forget everything."[/i][/colour]

"That still doesn't explain why you're here. What are you, anyway?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"That is inconsequential."[/i][/colour] The chains lurched and flew out from the tree. The two white lengths were ended with barbed weights. They wrapped violently around Cinead until he couldn't move. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"Go to sleep, Cinead."[/i][/colour]

Cinead was gagged to silence. The chains tightened. A black curtain overtook his vision.

[hider=Mira and Cinead sitting in a tree, giving each other eyes very awk-ward-ly]
Cinead, Inga, and Mira finally continue their journey!

While they journey to the rovaick to cure whatever dagon sickness Mira says they have, Inga's injuries mean that Cinead and Mira have some time to scope one another out. Cinead, in particular, tries to learn more about the world, about Xerxes, and about how to stay alive in this environment they're travelling through.

Along the way, Mira demonstrates her skills at survival while they hunt together. Even Cinead's new powers don't quite give him the edge. They catch rabbits together.

That night, Cinead ask Mira more about her personal details. She reveals her last name is Snowhands and her unseen twin gryphon brother is called 'Magnon.' Cinead remains blissfully unaware of the context.

Through their connecting, Cinead recounts a story about child Inga that makes Mira laugh for the first time. He gives her the eyes. She kawaiis a bit and the scene ends. Inga noticed.

Later that night while Cinead is on lookout duty, he hears music and chains. He has been hearing it the last few nights as well and Mira did not know what it was, so he goes to investigate. 

Cinead follows the music to one of Grot's footprint lakes. He spots Minus floating in a dance on the water. It's so beautiful and sad that it makes him cry.

But Minus stops suddenly and chunders out something red, fleshy, and gross. Cinead steps forward and Minus goes into stealth mode.

Cinead calls out. Minus hides up a tree and talks to him.

Minus talks in a cryptic fashion, answering Cinead's questions with either 'nope,' 'how about you give me your opinion instead,' or 'mysterious nonanswer that may have relevance as context develops lol!' Minus reveals that it is malfunctioning. Something has triggered in it that shouldn't have. Now it has become impure and corruption is overtaking, which is why it is puking. But soon its 'father' (Toun) will eventually realise that it's borked, wipe its memory, rebuild it, and will not remember a thing.

Cinead, still not knowing the 101 on Minus, tries to double back and learn more.

Minus decides it has talked enough and gently KO's Cinead with its chains.
[/hider]