Fated (Chapter Seventy-Four)
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Chapter Seventy-Four
Ruins of Dalania, Minecraftia. November 14, year 573. Time instance 483Z.
Baltbee was pretty sure that this was one of the stupidest things he had ever done.
Walking through the mountains of Dalania into a closed area filled with Hostiles in an attempt to talk to the eldest daughter of the creator Iilthrid wasn’t exactly safe no matter who was doing it, but he was a sheepman who only had his horns to fight with and a few friends who were probably off their fucking rockers.
Everyone had their weapons out as they walked through the passage, expecting resistance, but none came. Eventually they reached the end, where the passage opened up into valley-like area devoid of life. There were clear signs that creatures had been there- charred areas, footprints in the ash and dirt, and marks on the ground indicating wingbeats.
“They’re not here.” Tarsen said helpfully. “Where…”
“Gone.” Samuel whispered. “Either they got what they wanted, or…”
An unfamiliar and inhuman sigh could be heard. “I suppose that I can’t be the one getting what I want, hmm?”
Baltbee’s ears twitched and he looked towards the sound of the voice, but only saw a smooth rock face. The voice he heard was rough and sounded perpetually annoyed, kind of like the voice of a Hostile- inhuman, angry, and definitely not on their side. The very air seemed to shiver as it spoke, thrown off by the power that the speaker possessed.
“Kaepravah?” Shred called, not sounding too hopeful.
“Yes, you incompetent skullface, I’m here.” The voice once more came from the rock face and Baltbee narrowed his eyes.
“You’re a cliff?”
Kaepravah sighed dramatically. “At least the Hostiles were somewhat intelligent.” As Baltbee watched, she stepped forward and out of the cliff into full view, pausing to let them look her over.
Kaepravah was eight or nine feet tall and had a humanoid build. She had darker skin than anyone in the group, but it was also tinged faintly red, similar to her hair- it was black but it had a red sheen in the light. Her eyes were icy blue with a ring of purple around her reptilian pupils. Dark red dragonlike wings were folded against her back, the same color as the claws that tipped every finger and toe. Two short, straight horns stuck up from her head, reaching about six inches in length before stopping. They were the same color as her claws and reminiscent of monstrous Vechs’ horns, although Baltbee didn’t make that final connection. She radiated an immense amount of power, making Baltbee wonder how they hadn’t felt it before.
One of the oldest and most powerful beings in the world, enough to take on even entire clans of worldbuilders.
Kaepravah crossed her arms. “A bunch of mortals. Lovely. Let me guess, you’re the descendants the Hostiles were going on and on about? Destined to stop them or whatever?”
“Yes. We-”
Shred was interrupted by Kaepravah’s eyes widening and one of her claws rising to point. “What is that?” She demanded.
Shred growled quietly and stepped between Kaepravah and Mira. “A baby dragon. Leave her alone.”
“Is that a valk’vanor?”
“Will you help us if I say yes?”
“Perhaps.”
“Then yes.”
Kaepravah nodded, more to herself than anyone. “So you are the Caretaker of the new valk’vanor… It’s interesting that you are tied up in not only the hopes and dreams of the Skullblade clans, but of the entire world.” Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t mess this up.”
“I don’t intend to.” Shred growled. “In any case, we’re here to ask you not to help the Hostiles. They-”
“I know who they are and what they’ve done. Spare me the details.” Kaepravah paused, eyes passing over each member of the group in turn. Baltbee shivered when her gaze settled on him momentarily before returning to Shred. “You have arrived too late, however. I have given them the Heart of Pain- in a way.”
“Dammit!” Shred growled, kicking at a rock. Samuel, however, caught her final phrase.
“In a way?” He tilted his head curiously.
Kaepravah smirked, revealing sharp teeth. Baltbee couldn’t say he was surprised- why wouldn’t the ultra-powerful death lady have sharp teeth?
“The moment anything or anyone touches the Heart of Pain, it will explode, destroying them and anyone else in the area. It’s only a matter of time before one of those idiots blunders into it and blows themselves to bits. Unfortunately, I think that mage- Paw’zelta, I believe- saw through my ruse and is aware that I’ve done something to it to make using it difficult.” Kaepravah shrugged. “They can still use it as long as they don’t touch it, though. You can try to get it back, if you’d like.”
A low growl rose in Adrian’s throat. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? They’re going to destroy the world with that thing! The Hostiles are ruthless killing and corruption machines! Are you too stupid to see that?”
Kaepravah snarled, the sound reverberating in Baltbee’s head and making his ears ring. Her wings spread and she glowed faintly. “Don’t test me, whelp.” She growled. “I know what I’m doing and I am not stupid. You don’t survive as long as I have being an idiot, unlike you, you miserable little disgrace!”
“Disgrace? What is that supposed to mean?” Adrian demanded.
“You’re what they call Davion, yes?” Kaepravah spat on the ground, leaving what appeared to be some kind of molten substance to eat through the rock. “You’re not a true Davion. Davions are what the children of Iilthrid are called- I am a Davion.” Her wings rose and she flexed her claws. “One of my dear, wonderful brothers chose to breed with a mortal, a human, corrupting our line with human blood. You and your cousin have only drops of Davion blood, while I am the first and, currently, the last true Davion alive! I am old enough to have helped the continents divide, I am old enough to have witnessed the fall of Vallor’roth, I am old enough to have seen Serthias transform into Neltharaku and old enough to have watched my father fall to the same corruption! So don’t attempt to lecture me on what I am doing or what I have done!”
As she spoke, Kaepravah’s voice rose in volume, and it seemed to scratch painfully at Baltbee’s ears and mind, like knives through wherever his brain processed sound.
Kaepravah- ‘pain voice’ in Dranonic. She was known as the Voice of Pain for a very good reason.
She paused and watched as Adrian growled at her, shaking as his monstrous blood began to awaken further than it already had. Baltbee was pretty sure it had been eating at him for days, and had chosen to manifest itself now. He was tense, but Kaepravah only rolled her eyes and made a flicking motion at him.
“Skip it, junior.” As Baltbee watched, Adrian seemed to calm, staring at his hands as if they had transformed into snakes.
“What…how…”
Kaepravah ignored him and turned back to Shred, voice once more normal and no longer painful. “As I was saying previously, you can try to stop the Hostiles if you’d like. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t actually want them to have the Heart. I just like messing with people.”
“How are we supposed to return it to you if we can’t touch it?” Tarsen asked her, frowning.
Kaepravah raised an eyebrow at him. “Kill every Hostile guarding it. I’ll take care of the rest. Do have fun, and try not to die. That’s messy, inconvenient, and lowers your chances of actually winning against the Hostiles. I’d like that corruption removed from existence- then my father would be free and perhaps I wouldn’t have to sit in a cave all day staring at a power source that could easily kill us all in the wrong hands, which it happens to be in right now.” She made a vague shooing motion. “Get going. They went south.”
“South.” Tarsen repeated. “Well, that’s specific.”
“It doesn’t need to be specific. They left only last night.” Kaepravah shot back. “If you dawdle, they’ll probably change directions. Get going. And Adrian?”
The boy with the monstrous blood looked up at her, confused. “Yes?”
“Two things. One, you’ll find yourself less likely to go around murdering your friends now. Two, do give Paw’zelta my regards when she’s destroyed. Smug bitch.” With that, Kaepravah turned and strolled back into the solid rocky face of the cliff, vanishing completely.
-~-
Vechs was glad he hadn’t actually gone to sleep like Aureylian had wanted him to. Instead, he had met up with Nebris and the both of them had managed to convince Blame to hide with them in a side room so they could look through the Skullblade’s orb.
Sure, it was probably a good idea to sleep, but he wasn’t going to sleep through any sort of Hostile battle that occurred when they went into the mountains. While there was no battle (to his relief), he did get to see Kaepravah, and that was something that sent chills down his spine.
So this was a child of Iilthrid. This was a true Davion. This was one of the oldest, most powerful creatures in the world.
Vechs wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
As the descendants left her, he shakily got to his feet. “I…I think I’m going to go to bed now. Aurey will kick my butt if I don’t and…yeah.”
Blame nodded while Nebris continued to watch the orb, perhaps not entirely awake, himself. “You get some rest, Vechs. It’ll take a few hours at least for anything interesting to happen.”
Vechs was pretty sure Blame knew how shaken he was after seeing Kaepravah, but the Skullblade didn’t mention it, which Vechs was grateful for. He wasn’t sure how he felt about seeing one of Iilthrid’s children like that, but he was certain that she terrified him.
She terrified him almost as much as the Hostiles terrified him. She could kill them all without even thinking, and that scared him.
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Date: Monday, January 11th, 2016 11:12 pm (UTC)G.C. (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
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Date: Thursday, January 14th, 2016 02:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, January 11th, 2016 11:28 pm (UTC)-Anon Cami
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Date: Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 12:54 am (UTC)-Observing Anon
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Date: Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 06:59 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 11:54 am (UTC)such truth
wow
many constructives
a lot praise
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Date: Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 12:19 pm (UTC)(Don't kill me!)
-Anon Cami
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Date: Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, January 13th, 2016 06:53 am (UTC)-Anon Cami
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Date: Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 06:58 am (UTC)(::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)
-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 07:45 am (UTC)Etho's will kill him.... Right?