Rena continued walking along the edge of the crater, staying quiet.
Virky had begun her trip back to the capital, not really paying attention to Athena. Meanwhile Azure sighed at Athena’s remark. Following Gladius motioning Athena to do the same.
“You do realise that I only tried to hit some sense into her. Just because you have a different skull doesn’t mean that she has to look at you like at one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.”
Ghabix was running. Running for his life. For niw nobody caught up with him, but he could see torches approaching. His hut was right in front of him. He should be safe there.
Gadlius ignored Athena’s comment towards Azure. To retort would be to dignify intelligence low enough to make the Collected actually look collected.
Instead, he turned to Hitora as he walked. “I Don’t believe we’ll encounter much resistence with receiving information from the people there, but at the same time it might be wise for one of our party to scout around while the rest engages in conversation with the people there. Do you have any recommendations?”
Eventually Ekimu would come across a very obvious trail of broken tree limbs and treaded-upon plants, some of which were far too large for an Okotan to simply crush underneath them. Hopefully the Storm had made his escapade through the mountains slightly more stealthy.
In fact, if Ekimu was at the mountaintops by now, he could possibly see his lumbering form awkwardly contorting his ankles in the distant skyline, trying to remain upright.
The Lord of the Undying Storm lumbered along, scanning the range ahead for a good way down the slopes. It seemed that there was a good path a little ways ahead, but he couldn’t take it for granted. He needed a break.
Even with the strength increase early on, it was far from the whirlwind of energy who laid waste to a small part of the City of Mask Makers. He plopped down on the peak, sending a small echo to travel down the slopes, with the setting sun golden on his back. “I thought,” He panted. “Ekimu was supposed to come with me. Although I don’t know if that would make this any better. Probably not.”
“…Why in thunder can’t the crater be somewhere colder.” He glanced down the high slopes of the mountain range. “That looks like sand down there to me.”
Rena’s party (aside from Dakron), if they decided to glance towards the setting sun on the peaks, would see the clearly-defined outline of a figure… Was it sitting or standing? Was it someone they knew, or some kind of phantom of the wastes? Maybe it was some odd rock formation, but…
Icar seems to be in a stupor.
Blaze kept quiet but was looking pretty jumpy, it made sense due to his unease about the Black Crater.
“I’ve never been one for conversation. I can do it.” Hitora tells Gladius.
Vladin sighed and offered to lead Icar to his house.
Athena listened silently to Gladius’ and Hitora’s conversation.
Rena didn’t observe the Lord in the distance, so she continued walking across the edge of the crater with Dakron behind her. At this point they were probably halfway through.
Ghabix jumped the old fence of his house. Finally! He could hear revolted screams a few streets away. He had to pack everything he had and to get to Mark. He was his only hope.
Ghabix opens the door of his house, but suddenly somebody punches him in the face. He fells down as said somebody dragged him inside the hut.
Gladius nods. “The rest of us will engage with the guards and see if we can’t come across something useful.” He motioned for the rest of the party to approach the building with him, as he scanned for anyone who might serve as some form of guard to it.
Hitora nods, then goes to start scouting around.
Athena followed him closely.
@Ghid
Ghabix opened his eyes in fear. He soon realised that he wasn’t even inside his hut, but on top of it. He looked at the figure that was having its claws around his neck. He was having a black cape and a torch in his other hand.
“Nooo…” Ghabix whispered. “N-not yoy!”
“Missed me, brother?”
“H-how did you found me?” Ghabix continued, whispering.
“You’re not particulaly hard to find.”
“Y-you are the one who killed those two! You intentinoally turned the whole village against me!”
Alterion chuckled as the villagers approached the hut.
“I was just having fun. I had no idea that this would happen. Tho I know what will happen next.”
Alterion let the torch fall off his hand and onto the roof. The hut quickly started burning, as what had to be the entire population of the village crowdee around it, yelling. Some of them were cursing him and throwing more tirches on the hut, some others were throwing rocks at him.
Ghabix tried to find his way out of this dituation, when the roof suddenly collapsed. He yelled as he was approaching the former sandy floor of the hut, now fully covered in flames. Suddenly, a cloud of shadows covered him, before dissapearing in the burning flames.
Vladin lead Icar towards his house.
@BlackBeltGamer98
“So what do you do for a living?”
Rena asked Dakron.
@meepinater
Dakron paused to think.
He scribbled in the ground his response, that he often did artwork for other’s stories. It wasn’t very well-paying, but it was enough to get by.
“Wait, really?”
Ghabix slowly opened his eyes. He soon realised that he was in a cage. Alterion was starring at him from the other side.
“You awake, brother?”
“Alterion… Please…”
“Please… What?”
“Please… You know! Don’t kill me and such?”
“Why would I kill you?”
Ghabix frowned.
“You hid from me in one of the last places that I would respect of, you completely abandoned your life out of the fear of me, and you don’t even kniw why I would want to kill you.”
“But… You almost did! Did is why I am so patched.”
“Yeah yeah, that’s true, but then I learned something, something I am sure you already knew.”
Dakron chuckled and nodded in confirmation.
“Athena was making a book. I remember her having problems with the ilustrations.”
“You knew it.”
“I knew what?”
“You knew that I am half Hunter! You knew that your parents found me, a hybrid of Okotoan and Hunter, and rose me! You ALL treated me as a puny Okotoans! You told me that the came helped me teleport, but it was actually I. You knew this all this time! And Rena, and Athena and you ALL!”
“Alterion… They didn’t know.”
“They did! And for this I will not kill you.” Alterion said, presding his head into the bars of the prison. “I will keep you closed in cages like rats. I will give you all the opportunity to see your plan of subjugating me failed. And then I might kill you.”
“Alterion… What do you want to do?”
Alterion rose a piece of paper with a lot of names on it.
“I will kill every single member of the original Okotoan Afventurers except for the one related to me. I will kill everybody who will oppose me, and then I will conquer EVERY single village of this island. The Okotoan society will crumble. The Hunters will rule again, and I will be their saviour!”
He then stormed away.
“Goodbye, brother.” Alterion said disappearing.
Dakron nods understandingly.
“If she needs help, then let her know I would be willing to help.” he wrote.
Rena sighed.
“Haven’t really talked to her in a while.”
@meepinater
Vladin opened the door and led Icar inside. He had a grim look on his face. After Icar’s silence, he had the vague sensation that he was the one who had to tell Kora the bad news.
@BlackBeltGamer98
“Vladin,” Icar said, “Go home; you’ve had a busy day.” He would tell his wife what happened.
“Yeah… The thing is that I was living at Blaze’s place for the time being…” he said, looking at the floor.
Icar took a deep breath, “You can sleep on the couch, if you wish.” He offered.
“Thank you…”