[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/jvSJcsv.png[/img][/center] [hr] [i][b]Post-battle report[/b][/i] [@YummyYummy] [hr] [color=C78A2C]“Got something for this?”[/color] Zarina held out one of her gore stained blades while looking expectantly at Yalen. He slowly nodded and wrapped his fingers around the hilt just above hers, prompting her to release the weapon. The samshir was unexpectedly weighty despite how light the curved blade appeared to be. The gentle monk was not prepared for it and nearly let the sword slide out of his fingers. [color=#FD5E53]“With your permission.”[/color] Yalen reached into his shoulder bag and produced a clean handkerchief. He wiped the blood and tissue away as best he could, at least so that Zarina would be able to put it back in its scabbard. Despite his reluctance to do harm, Yalen was far from hemophobic. He had watched his brothers perform surgery numerous times, and he regularly found himself knuckle deep in an open wound during training. The combat high was wearing off now. He could already feel his hands trembling from the exhaustion and fear. Once he finished cleaning, Yalen let the wind carry the handkerchief away. Even if he tried washing it, the smell of iron and fat would continue to linger. [color=#FD5E53]“Here.”[/color] Yalen extended the samshir to Zarina. [color=C78A2C]“Much appreciated.”[/color] The flighty swordfighter graciously accepted the blade, then shuffled off to shower Ayla with her unique brand of affection. Yalen approached the fast cooling corpse of the Halassa that Zarina had slain. There wasn’t much of a head left on it now. Her kinetic blast had caused quite a mess. He knelt down and placed a hand on the beast’s shell. It was worn and gritty from years of exposure to the desert wind. This one had lived a long life. [color=#FD5E53][i]Why did it have to turn out this way? They didn’t do anything wrong.[/i][/color] There was a sour taste in the back of Yalen’s throat, which he quickly swallowed down. He closed his eyes and silently mourned for the dead. The moment of reverence ended when a metal cup floated towards him. Yalen caught it before the magic carrying it wore off. There wasn’t much in it, but the smell of ground coffee beans was unmistakable. The small show of hospitality brought a smile out of him. Perhaps Zarina wasn’t as high handed as she appeared to be. [hr] [i][b]Intermission in the desert[/b][/i] [@Ti][@Force and Fury] [hr] As one might assume, the march to the refuge was a difficult experience for Yalen, but he was able to keep up as long as the others didn’t take off running without him. The grains of sand coalescing around his feet lent some surety to his footsteps. It was mainly a lack of exercise that was holding him back. Running for your health was difficult when you kept tripping on nothing. Not being able to feel your toes was quite the inconvenience. A bit further ahead, Jocasta was humming an unfamiliar tune. Once in a while she would look back towards Yalen and smile at him encouragingly. One would not think such an innocent girl had the strength to send a giant Halassa flying. Although she was strong, Yalen felt uneasy about her being a part of this. [color=#FD5E53][i]Why can’t I remember seeing her before? She would stand out quite a bit in that chair of hers. I suppose the campus is quite large. It’s not impossible for us to have just missed each other. She might also be from another academy.[/i][/color] Yalen was interested in finding out more about her. Jocasta was the first student that he’d met who shared his disease. As the blonde cleric pondered over various things, his thoughts started to return to the previous battle. The way he handled the second Halassa was sloppy. If Ayla’s magic faltered, or if his little trick didn’t work quickly enough, there could have been trouble. It came as no surprise that Zarina was a bit frustrated with them. [color=#FD5E53]“Ayla.”[/color] Yalen abruptly addressed the flutist next to him. [color=#FD5E53]“I’m sorry about how I handled things earlier. I should have finished the beast quicker. Causing harm is… not easy for me.”[/color] She acknowledged his apology with a nod, but did not slow her pace. [color=7ea7d8]“We have a saying for Halassa in Torraganese. Lento pero seguro; Slow but safe. These… aberrations defy their base nature.”[/color] After hearing what Ayla had to say, Yalen bowed his head and continued marching. It was true that he wanted to apologize for his blundering, but deep down he was also looking for some reassurance. Perhaps it was wrong to try and find solace in his peers. For a while he trudged through the sand in silence. He listened to his fellow students as they paired up and talked amongst themselves. Despite all the chatter, the others didn’t seem too interested in Jocasta at first. Seeing it as a chance to satisfy his curiosity about her, Yalen quickened his steps so he could catch up to the chairbound girl. She was going a bit slower now, enraptured by the clear night sky. After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Yalen decided it was better to begin with an ice breaker before going into more personal questions. Leaning heavily on his walking cane, he came nearer to Jocasta so that they were walking, or in her case rolling, side by side. [color=#FD5E53]“You know, when I was a child I used to believe that falling stars were the souls of the dead. When the guilty have served their sentence in the afterlife, Dami allows their souls to fall to the earth to be reborn.”[/color] After pausing for a moment, Yalen smiled and continued. [color=#FD5E53]“What a surprise it was when they were proven to be nothing more than falling rocks! Years of superstition, dispelled by a temporal mage with a telescope and a chip on his shoulder.”[/color] He peered towards Jocasta, attempting to gauge her receptiveness to his awkward rambling. [color=#FD5E53]“And yet, no matter how much knowledge we accumulate, we still find ourselves fascinated by the stars. Why do you suppose that is?”[/color] [color=ffdead]“Hmmm.”[/color] Jocasta began to mull over his question. With a sigh, she met his eyes and gave her answer. [color=ffdead]“Because no matter how many disgruntled mages with telescopes there are, we cannot know the truth of the stars for certain. They are so far out of reach that we accept it. They intrique without frustrating us.”[/color] Yalen thought about her answer for a few seconds. There wasn’t actually a correct response to the question. He merely wanted to understand her way of thinking. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and picked up the conversation. [color=#FD5E53]“That is certainly one way of looking at it.”[/color] Yalen tugged at his sleeve which had become slightly sticky from perspiration. [color=#FD5E53]“Me? I think it is because we are afraid. We are afraid of accepting how small we are, where our place in the universe is. What power must lie at the heart of a star, what worlds must lie beyond our own! If we were to discover those worlds, harness the power of stars, we might even become equal to the gods themselves!”[/color] He shook his head. [color=#FD5E53]“It’s a foolish idea, but one that many indulge in.”[/color] Yalen vacantly looked up at the sky. [color=#FD5E53]“No matter how much we discover or how much we create, we will never be able to touch the very fabric of our existence. How can a painting tear its own canvas? That is the difference between a human and a god.”[/color] A strange silence occupied the air, and Yalen suddenly realized how long he’d been going on for. He rubbed the back of his head appearing embarrassed and shrugged. [color=#FD5E53]“I forget myself. You’re free to dismiss my babbling. I have nothing to substantiate my words after all. Such is the nature of faith…”[/color] Jocasta blushed and glanced down at her lap. [color=ffdead]“I… I fear you’re right. Sorry, I just… don’t like to think about impermanence.”[/color] She let out a long sigh. Ayla started to play her flute while attempting a coarse rendition of Jocasta’s humming. [color=7ea7d8]“I’m attempting to follow the tune of your humming. Is this a tune of your homeland?”[/color] [color=ffdead]“I think it is.”[/color] Jocasta admitted. [color=ffdead]“Though I… I don’t really know. It was from my childhood but… I don’t remember it. They er-erase you when you arrive at the refuge. They say it’s so you won’t miss the family that left you there.”[/color] [color=#FD5E53]“Erased!?”[/color] Yalen uttered the word as if he had bitten into a rotten lemon. [color=#FD5E53]“Erase your memories? You lead me to believe that the refuge is actually a prison!”[/color] He could feel the blood rushing to his head, causing his face to become hot. As someone who grew up with the tethering outside the system, he’d been raised with the same belief that everyone else had about the tethered refuges. They were supposed to be like resorts for the infirm. A place to spend one’s short life in peace. The revelation that people were being brainwashed there was like a slap to the face. An uncharacteristically bitter tone entered Jocasta’s voice. [color=ffdead]“Is it really so hard to believe? Didn’t your… your own parents abandon you? Mine sure did, whoever they were.”[/color] The blunt remark made Yalen turn his head away. A flood of emotions rose up unbidden. Empathy towards Jocasta. A longing to go home and hug his dad. He held his hand over his mouth in order to regain some measure of composure. [color=#FD5E53]“Of course they abandoned me, but I never-”[/color] Yalen stopped himself, unsure of how to continue. Unlike the other orphans in the monastery, the young monk had never felt the need to contemplate his circumstances. He felt loved by the priesthood, by the Pentad, and above all by the abbot who adopted him and gave him a real family. He had nearly forgotten what the reality was for people like Jocasta, who had no-one to prop them up like the Abbot Castel did for him. [color=#FD5E53]“I-I don’t know what to say.”[/color] Yalen managed to force out in a weak voice. [color=ffdead]“I’m… Ipte, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”[/color] Jocasta gave him a pained look. [color=ffdead]“Truly. It’s… a very sensitive subject for me. I grew up in a place like this one. It doesn’t look like it, but it’s wretched. We’re… not p-people there and, if you’re smart, you’ll p-peer beyond the veil.”[/color] Yalen’s head was spinning. [i][color=#FD5E53]This is outrageous.[/color][/i] He thought to himself. People with the disease had precious little time to live as it is. What was the point of making them suffer any more? [color=#FD5E53][i]To reduce a girl like Jocasta close to tears… what else is she not telling us about this place?[/i][/color] [hr] [i][b]An unseen threat emerges[/b][/i] [i][b]New location: Refuge[/b][/i] [hr] Yalen could feel the sanctuary before he could see it. When it came into physical view, its towering stone walls made it look more like a fortress than a refuge. In his mind’s eye, he could sense the dozens of refugees sheltered within. When the party finally spotted the garrison, or more accurately the caretakers, Yalen felt something was off. When he first detected them he thought there were four healthy individuals, but now one of them was carrying a body. [color=#FD5E53][i]Oraff keep us, that person is-[/i][/color] [color=darkorange]“Arena! Arena Malvada!”[/color] The caretakers were shouting in Torragonese, something Yalen did not understand. Jocasta clearly did, because when she heard them shout she started screaming at the top of her lungs. [color=ffdead]“Sand Wyrm! It’s east of here and coming in fast!”[/color] East. Yalen directed his mind’s eye in the stated direction, searching for any sign of life that might be a threat to those stranded outside the refuge. There was nothing on the ground nor in the sky, save for a flight of Froabases that was going in the complete opposite direction. [color=#FD5E53][i]If it’s not up here then…[/i][/color] Underground. Yalen reached out once more, and when his mind touched the behemoth, he was filled with an existential dread. For something that massive to be capable of such speed… it was simply unthinkable. The group had perhaps a minute before their lives were forfeit. Jocasta was floating now. Maybe she was planning to use her magic to save herself. He wouldn’t hold it against her. It was the smart thing to do. Yalen almost suggested that they leave him behind and make a run for it on their own, but then Ayla was shouting at everyone in Torragonese. It seemed she too knew about the sand wyrm, and by some miracle had stumbled upon a plan to deal with it. Ayla produced a tuning fork from her handbag and held it up in front of Kaspar and Ysilla. [color=7ea7d8]“Binding magic. Kaspar, Ysilla, we need this at least 100 times bigger. Right now. Use everything.”[/color] By her command, the two proceeded to draw upon a spot in the sand, rearranging the constituent particles within to create a jumbo sized version of Ayla’s acoustic tool. Creating that much new matter on short notice must have been difficult for them. Kaspar was sweating profusely once the task was finished. Only a fraction of the work was complete however. [color=7ea7d8]“Yalen, this has to be red hot.”[/color] Ayla gestured for him to work his arcane magic on their newly constructed tuning fork. Not knowing anything about the monstrosity approaching, Yalen blindly followed her instructions and began gathering energy from whatever source he could find. Any plan was fine as long as it was calculated. The night grew deeper, and much of the heat underground had been exhausted by Yalen and Jocasta’s previous siphoning. To get the metal red hot he would need a more abundant source. [color=#FD5E53][i]And I think I have one.[/i][/color] The resourceful priest opened his inner eye and probed his way towards what felt like a giant 20 meter long earthworm. Whatever this wyrm was, it had Manas to spare. His attempts to draw straight from its body were resisted by a much greater strength than his own. That was fine, he didn’t expect that to work. There were other sources, like the limitless kinetic energy being produced by its muscles as it vibrated through the sand. The conversion process of turning kinetic energy into thermal energy was not instantaneous, but Yalen finished preparing himself after a moment’s pause. Metal was an excellent conductor of heat, so even with his average energy capacity it didn’t take more than one draw to fill the tuning fork with sufficient heat. [color=#FD5E53]“If this gets any hotter it will start to warp! What’s next?”[/color]