Residual (Chapter Twelve)
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015 08:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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mindcrackloveThis chapter is the final part for awhile that is really just about Skullblades- after this we resume the quest to the Wilds to find the mystery woman, the battle against the Hostiles, and just Residual in general.
Chapter list: http://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/382.html
Map of the continent: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Monstrous-Residual-map-526465833
Character status spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yvK6D0XzgjhMNjblFFQaAeJ7JkzdidaLJux1S8qsSUA/edit#gid=1227692709
Chapter Twelve
Ashwatch, Minecraftia. September 18, year 373. Time instance 483Z.
It was almost dusk when Vechs snapped awake. He sat up suddenly, regaining consciousness as he did so.
Aureylian jumped in surprise. “Vechs! You’re awake! Are you okay?” She seemed extremely worried.
Vechs opened his mouth to answer but was struck with a wave of dizziness and had to hold his head in his hands and close his eyes abate it.
“Vechs?”
“…Yeah. I’m okay.” He shuddered and looked up. “What…what happened?”
“You passed out on the floor after touching that carving. We were so worried! Vechs, you didn’t…you…” Aureylian looked to be on the verge of tears as she hugged him tightly. “You didn’t…”
Vechs frowned. “Aureylian? Are you okay? What…what didn’t I…”
“You…you…You didn’t…You didn’t have a pulse.” Aureylian shook. “You didn’t have a pulse for about a minute and oh my god, Vechs, we thought you were dead, we were freaking out, Blame looked like he wanted to stab himself and I was crying, oh my god thank all the creators you’re okay!” Vechs realized that she was actually crying, she had been so worried and now she was relieved that he was okay and it was all spilling out. Slightly stunned, he hugged her in return.
“I’m okay. I’m a little mentally burned but I’m okay.” he assured.
Zisteau poked his head into the tent and grinned widely when he saw Vechs. “I heard voices and came to investigate. It’s good to see you awake, Vechs! We were worried about you for awhile there.”
“How long was I out?”
“All day. It’s almost dusk.”
“Wow. I really got hit hard, huh?”
“Whatever enchantment is on those walls, it’s powerful. Blame was seriously freaking out- he really thought you were dead.”
“We all did.” Aureylian whispered. She seemed content to remain where she was, hugging and being hugged by him, and Vechs wasn’t going to complain.
“You should probably come outside once you feel up to it. The others will want to know you’re okay, and Blame says he can’t be disturbed once he begins his wait for the Bloodshadow.” Zisteau withdrew from the tent.
Vechs didn’t leave the tent until Aureylian eventually let go of him about five minutes later, having composed herself. “Sorry. That was embarrassing.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’d probably react similarly if you almost died.” Vechs admitted, standing. “Come on. Better reassure Blame that I’m not dead.” He smiled at her to reassure her as well, earning a smile in return as she stood beside him.
Aureylian followed him out and they were greeted by clapping from Paul and Pause.
“Congratulations. You’ve survived the touch of ancient magic.” Paul said.
“And only scared us shitless in the process!” Pause added.
Vechs was surprised when Blame walked up to him, glaring slightly, but looking like he was definitely trying to cover up how concerned he was. Vechs half expected him to hug him, but Blame just hit his arm. Vechs rubbed it and pouted.
“Don’t do that.” Blame scolded. “You seriously could have died there. I told you not to touch anything!”
“You didn’t tell me the guy looked just like me! Why is that, Blame?”
The Skullblade crossed his arms. “I don’t know.” he said after a pause. “That doesn’t justify you pawing around on the walls. There’s some really powerful magic in there, a lot of it cast by Vallor’roth himself.” After grumbling for a moment, he went to stand at the edge of camp again, looking in the vague direction of the lake.
“He was really worried, you know.” Paul said quietly. “He was pacing and kicking at things and growling whenever we tried to talk to him.”
Interesting.
“Really?”
“Yeah. He-“
“It’s about dark. I need to go.” Blame announced suddenly. “Do not attempt to interact with me until morning, understand?” He looked at each of them in turn, making sure they understood. “I will be there all night. Don’t try to stop me. Don’t even get close to the lake. Watch from the treeline if you want, but don’t approach the water. I don’t know what will happen if you do and I don’t want any of you hurt.” His eyes rested on Vechs a moment longer before he quickly looked away, turning and walking.
Vechs frowned slightly. What was that all about?
The group followed Blame but stopped at the treeline after passing the ruins of the village. Blame didn’t stop to look at the buildings- he seemed to be intentionally ignoring them. Blame continued along the edge of the water, towards a slight rise on the north side of the lake. His friends trailed along behind, remaining in the trees and stopping a distance away once he paused by the rise.
This is where the leader of the Ashenhorns would stand, Blame knew. He was intending to stand next to the rise when it struck him.
He was the leader of the Ashenhorns.
By process of elimination, Blame was one of the three clan lords.
The thought sickened him as he moved to the top of the rise, just as the last streaks of light were fading from the sky. He turned to the south and waited for a few minutes before doing a very odd thing- although not one unexpected.
He drew his sword- Veltarkon, Discipline in Dranonic- and stuck it an inch or so into the ground, wrapping both hands around the hilt. He stood completely straight and unmoving as the final rays of light were gone from the sky, leaving only the faintest of lights in the west. Blame’s eyes were locked straight ahead, towards the south where the mountains broke and only the hills separated Ashwatch from the rest of the world, thus providing the lowest horizon. The only movement about him was his cloak as the slight breeze that always seemed to be blowing toyed with it, pushing and pulling and prodding at it.
Vechs, Aureylian, Pause, Paul, and Zisteau found themselves keeping quiet, like it would be a crime to make a noise in the eerie silence that enveloped Ashwatch. It was a quiet, lonely place, and even the few sounds that could be heard were silent now. It felt especially lonely due to there only being one form at the lakeside, one form standing vigil in the night to await the first touch of the Bloodshadow.
Vechs’s eyes kept darting to the southern horizon, but mainly they were locked on Blame. How could he remain completely still, unmoving entirely? They remained like this for a length of time that was impossible to measure other than with the movement of the sky, which no one but Blame was really focusing on.
About an hour.
A quiet hum was audible, and Vechs realized that he wasn’t aware of when it started as it had begun so quietly and grown in volume. It seemed to emanate from the center of the lake, and the waters shimmered faintly with silver and purple.
The hum suddenly jumped in volume minutes later and Vechs found his eyes drawn to the southern horizon. He gasped quietly, seeing something he hadn’t quite expected.
The name of the Bloodshadow was quite literal. A red tinge had peeked up over the southern horizon, the blot the size of the moon. It didn’t fully come over the horizon- it appeared at the western edge of the southern horizon, pulled itself up somewhat as it skirted along the edge of vision, then dipped back below in the east only five minutes or so after it had risen.
However, during those five minutes, something interesting happened.
When the Bloodshadow had reached the center of the horizon, the shimmering in the waters condensed towards the center and formed into a solid figure.
The island from the carving.
An island shimmered into existence in the middle of the lake. A carefully crafted nest as big as a small hut was placed in the middle of the island. A single dark egg was nestled within the nest and it shimmered slightly, the hum clearly coming from it.
A minute after the island had appeared, it shimmered away, its colors fading back into the still waters of the lake.
The Bloodshadow fell slowly below the horizon, its red tinge and glow fading. The shimmer in the water faded and the hum quieted to nothing.
Fourteen heartbeats.
That’s how long it took for a second hum to start.
The second hum came from Blame, and unlike the previous hum, it wasn’t monotone. It rose and fell in some kind of ancient harmony, one that the five knew they could never understand and were never meant to witness.
Vechs was hollowly aware that the hum they could barely hear from Blame was pitiful and quiet in comparison to what it should be- what it could be. An entire clan of Skullblades should stand here, around the waters of this lake. An entire clan of Skullblades should guard the shimmering island and its precious egg. An entire clan of Skullblades should be humming their harmony, here, around the final brood of Vallor’roth.
A single Ashenhorn Skullblade stood before the still waters of the lake. A single Ashenhorn Skullblade stood vigil through the night.
Five outsiders watched on, feeling like intruders on a sacred ritual.
At midnight, the wind picked up, causing Blame’s cloak to billow out behind him. His humming picked up noticeably, still barely audible to his friends.
His lonely humming sounded less like an ancient rite and more like a mourning song, a song mourning his people and how they had been wiped out in a single set of twenty-four hours, a song mourning his people that had been burned into nothing by his best and only friend.
As the first rays of sun peeked up over the eastern horizon, Blame held the final note for several seconds before falling silent.
Vechs realized that he had been caught halfway in a trance here all night. It hadn’t felt like it, but it was dawn on September nineteenth. He glanced at his friends and noticed that they didn’t seem tired either- just awed and slightly shocked by how quickly time had flown and what they had witnessed.
He looked back at Blame as his friend pulled his blade out of the ground and sheathed it. He took a breath and sighed before descending the rise. He knelt by the waves and peered into them briefly. He stood and turned back towards where his friends were still watching from the treeline.
“You have witnessed an event that only occurs once every six to twelve centuries. Count yourselves among the fortunate.” Blame spoke quietly, but it still broke the silence. His friends came out of the trees and approached.
“I don’t know what to say.” Aureylian admitted, also quiet. “That was…that was like nothing else I’ve ever seen.”
The others agreed with her and Blame nodded. “It’s a unique event that no one has ever witnessed twice.” His voice was melancholy, and Vechs realized that Blame had noticed how forlorn and mournful his humming must have sounded, how solitary his unmoving nightlong vigil had been.
“Are you tired?” Vechs asked him.
“No. Are you?”
“…No. It felt like that entire night went by in a short amount of time, and yet…it felt like it went on forever.”
Blame nodded swiftly. “We should get moving. We need to get to the Wilds.”
“You don’t want to stay?”
“No. There are too many memories here. My instincts tell me that I must stay to protect the valk’vanor, but I feel…I feel like it will be okay. There’s a magic surrounding this place, one stronger than what was here before. It’ll keep the egg safe. I am needed elsewhere- with the Mindcrackers.” Blame nodded swiftly, as if agreeing with himself. “Yes. That’s it. Although…I am bothered by something. I have no idea when it’s hatching. I don’t know how to read the star charts- but if I did, I could figure it out. I know where the Bloodshadow rose.”
“I do know who is good with starcharts.” Zisteau said mildly. Blame looked curiously at him. Vechs caught on and shot a look at Zisteau before they spoke together.
“Kurt!”
Blame broke out in a grin. “Paul, do you still have that camera?”
“Yes. Why?”
“You and I are going to take some pictures of the starcharts- the charts, and nothing else- and take them to Kurt after we go on Vechs’s field trip to the Vicious Wilds.”
Chapter list: http://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/382.html
Map of the continent: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Monstrous-Residual-map-526465833
Character status spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yvK6D0XzgjhMNjblFFQaAeJ7JkzdidaLJux1S8qsSUA/edit#gid=1227692709
Chapter Twelve
Ashwatch, Minecraftia. September 18, year 373. Time instance 483Z.
It was almost dusk when Vechs snapped awake. He sat up suddenly, regaining consciousness as he did so.
Aureylian jumped in surprise. “Vechs! You’re awake! Are you okay?” She seemed extremely worried.
Vechs opened his mouth to answer but was struck with a wave of dizziness and had to hold his head in his hands and close his eyes abate it.
“Vechs?”
“…Yeah. I’m okay.” He shuddered and looked up. “What…what happened?”
“You passed out on the floor after touching that carving. We were so worried! Vechs, you didn’t…you…” Aureylian looked to be on the verge of tears as she hugged him tightly. “You didn’t…”
Vechs frowned. “Aureylian? Are you okay? What…what didn’t I…”
“You…you…You didn’t…You didn’t have a pulse.” Aureylian shook. “You didn’t have a pulse for about a minute and oh my god, Vechs, we thought you were dead, we were freaking out, Blame looked like he wanted to stab himself and I was crying, oh my god thank all the creators you’re okay!” Vechs realized that she was actually crying, she had been so worried and now she was relieved that he was okay and it was all spilling out. Slightly stunned, he hugged her in return.
“I’m okay. I’m a little mentally burned but I’m okay.” he assured.
Zisteau poked his head into the tent and grinned widely when he saw Vechs. “I heard voices and came to investigate. It’s good to see you awake, Vechs! We were worried about you for awhile there.”
“How long was I out?”
“All day. It’s almost dusk.”
“Wow. I really got hit hard, huh?”
“Whatever enchantment is on those walls, it’s powerful. Blame was seriously freaking out- he really thought you were dead.”
“We all did.” Aureylian whispered. She seemed content to remain where she was, hugging and being hugged by him, and Vechs wasn’t going to complain.
“You should probably come outside once you feel up to it. The others will want to know you’re okay, and Blame says he can’t be disturbed once he begins his wait for the Bloodshadow.” Zisteau withdrew from the tent.
Vechs didn’t leave the tent until Aureylian eventually let go of him about five minutes later, having composed herself. “Sorry. That was embarrassing.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’d probably react similarly if you almost died.” Vechs admitted, standing. “Come on. Better reassure Blame that I’m not dead.” He smiled at her to reassure her as well, earning a smile in return as she stood beside him.
Aureylian followed him out and they were greeted by clapping from Paul and Pause.
“Congratulations. You’ve survived the touch of ancient magic.” Paul said.
“And only scared us shitless in the process!” Pause added.
Vechs was surprised when Blame walked up to him, glaring slightly, but looking like he was definitely trying to cover up how concerned he was. Vechs half expected him to hug him, but Blame just hit his arm. Vechs rubbed it and pouted.
“Don’t do that.” Blame scolded. “You seriously could have died there. I told you not to touch anything!”
“You didn’t tell me the guy looked just like me! Why is that, Blame?”
The Skullblade crossed his arms. “I don’t know.” he said after a pause. “That doesn’t justify you pawing around on the walls. There’s some really powerful magic in there, a lot of it cast by Vallor’roth himself.” After grumbling for a moment, he went to stand at the edge of camp again, looking in the vague direction of the lake.
“He was really worried, you know.” Paul said quietly. “He was pacing and kicking at things and growling whenever we tried to talk to him.”
Interesting.
“Really?”
“Yeah. He-“
“It’s about dark. I need to go.” Blame announced suddenly. “Do not attempt to interact with me until morning, understand?” He looked at each of them in turn, making sure they understood. “I will be there all night. Don’t try to stop me. Don’t even get close to the lake. Watch from the treeline if you want, but don’t approach the water. I don’t know what will happen if you do and I don’t want any of you hurt.” His eyes rested on Vechs a moment longer before he quickly looked away, turning and walking.
Vechs frowned slightly. What was that all about?
The group followed Blame but stopped at the treeline after passing the ruins of the village. Blame didn’t stop to look at the buildings- he seemed to be intentionally ignoring them. Blame continued along the edge of the water, towards a slight rise on the north side of the lake. His friends trailed along behind, remaining in the trees and stopping a distance away once he paused by the rise.
This is where the leader of the Ashenhorns would stand, Blame knew. He was intending to stand next to the rise when it struck him.
He was the leader of the Ashenhorns.
By process of elimination, Blame was one of the three clan lords.
The thought sickened him as he moved to the top of the rise, just as the last streaks of light were fading from the sky. He turned to the south and waited for a few minutes before doing a very odd thing- although not one unexpected.
He drew his sword- Veltarkon, Discipline in Dranonic- and stuck it an inch or so into the ground, wrapping both hands around the hilt. He stood completely straight and unmoving as the final rays of light were gone from the sky, leaving only the faintest of lights in the west. Blame’s eyes were locked straight ahead, towards the south where the mountains broke and only the hills separated Ashwatch from the rest of the world, thus providing the lowest horizon. The only movement about him was his cloak as the slight breeze that always seemed to be blowing toyed with it, pushing and pulling and prodding at it.
Vechs, Aureylian, Pause, Paul, and Zisteau found themselves keeping quiet, like it would be a crime to make a noise in the eerie silence that enveloped Ashwatch. It was a quiet, lonely place, and even the few sounds that could be heard were silent now. It felt especially lonely due to there only being one form at the lakeside, one form standing vigil in the night to await the first touch of the Bloodshadow.
Vechs’s eyes kept darting to the southern horizon, but mainly they were locked on Blame. How could he remain completely still, unmoving entirely? They remained like this for a length of time that was impossible to measure other than with the movement of the sky, which no one but Blame was really focusing on.
About an hour.
A quiet hum was audible, and Vechs realized that he wasn’t aware of when it started as it had begun so quietly and grown in volume. It seemed to emanate from the center of the lake, and the waters shimmered faintly with silver and purple.
The hum suddenly jumped in volume minutes later and Vechs found his eyes drawn to the southern horizon. He gasped quietly, seeing something he hadn’t quite expected.
The name of the Bloodshadow was quite literal. A red tinge had peeked up over the southern horizon, the blot the size of the moon. It didn’t fully come over the horizon- it appeared at the western edge of the southern horizon, pulled itself up somewhat as it skirted along the edge of vision, then dipped back below in the east only five minutes or so after it had risen.
However, during those five minutes, something interesting happened.
When the Bloodshadow had reached the center of the horizon, the shimmering in the waters condensed towards the center and formed into a solid figure.
The island from the carving.
An island shimmered into existence in the middle of the lake. A carefully crafted nest as big as a small hut was placed in the middle of the island. A single dark egg was nestled within the nest and it shimmered slightly, the hum clearly coming from it.
A minute after the island had appeared, it shimmered away, its colors fading back into the still waters of the lake.
The Bloodshadow fell slowly below the horizon, its red tinge and glow fading. The shimmer in the water faded and the hum quieted to nothing.
Fourteen heartbeats.
That’s how long it took for a second hum to start.
The second hum came from Blame, and unlike the previous hum, it wasn’t monotone. It rose and fell in some kind of ancient harmony, one that the five knew they could never understand and were never meant to witness.
Vechs was hollowly aware that the hum they could barely hear from Blame was pitiful and quiet in comparison to what it should be- what it could be. An entire clan of Skullblades should stand here, around the waters of this lake. An entire clan of Skullblades should guard the shimmering island and its precious egg. An entire clan of Skullblades should be humming their harmony, here, around the final brood of Vallor’roth.
A single Ashenhorn Skullblade stood before the still waters of the lake. A single Ashenhorn Skullblade stood vigil through the night.
Five outsiders watched on, feeling like intruders on a sacred ritual.
At midnight, the wind picked up, causing Blame’s cloak to billow out behind him. His humming picked up noticeably, still barely audible to his friends.
His lonely humming sounded less like an ancient rite and more like a mourning song, a song mourning his people and how they had been wiped out in a single set of twenty-four hours, a song mourning his people that had been burned into nothing by his best and only friend.
As the first rays of sun peeked up over the eastern horizon, Blame held the final note for several seconds before falling silent.
Vechs realized that he had been caught halfway in a trance here all night. It hadn’t felt like it, but it was dawn on September nineteenth. He glanced at his friends and noticed that they didn’t seem tired either- just awed and slightly shocked by how quickly time had flown and what they had witnessed.
He looked back at Blame as his friend pulled his blade out of the ground and sheathed it. He took a breath and sighed before descending the rise. He knelt by the waves and peered into them briefly. He stood and turned back towards where his friends were still watching from the treeline.
“You have witnessed an event that only occurs once every six to twelve centuries. Count yourselves among the fortunate.” Blame spoke quietly, but it still broke the silence. His friends came out of the trees and approached.
“I don’t know what to say.” Aureylian admitted, also quiet. “That was…that was like nothing else I’ve ever seen.”
The others agreed with her and Blame nodded. “It’s a unique event that no one has ever witnessed twice.” His voice was melancholy, and Vechs realized that Blame had noticed how forlorn and mournful his humming must have sounded, how solitary his unmoving nightlong vigil had been.
“Are you tired?” Vechs asked him.
“No. Are you?”
“…No. It felt like that entire night went by in a short amount of time, and yet…it felt like it went on forever.”
Blame nodded swiftly. “We should get moving. We need to get to the Wilds.”
“You don’t want to stay?”
“No. There are too many memories here. My instincts tell me that I must stay to protect the valk’vanor, but I feel…I feel like it will be okay. There’s a magic surrounding this place, one stronger than what was here before. It’ll keep the egg safe. I am needed elsewhere- with the Mindcrackers.” Blame nodded swiftly, as if agreeing with himself. “Yes. That’s it. Although…I am bothered by something. I have no idea when it’s hatching. I don’t know how to read the star charts- but if I did, I could figure it out. I know where the Bloodshadow rose.”
“I do know who is good with starcharts.” Zisteau said mildly. Blame looked curiously at him. Vechs caught on and shot a look at Zisteau before they spoke together.
“Kurt!”
Blame broke out in a grin. “Paul, do you still have that camera?”
“Yes. Why?”
“You and I are going to take some pictures of the starcharts- the charts, and nothing else- and take them to Kurt after we go on Vechs’s field trip to the Vicious Wilds.”
no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 01:33 am (UTC)G.C. (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 01:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 02:39 am (UTC)And yay Kurt :3
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Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 02:51 am (UTC)And zi totally did not squeel a little wnen thischapter came out. Not a little.
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Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 02:55 am (UTC)And :O
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Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 02:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 07:32 am (UTC)i always read this when im supposed to be doing something
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Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 07:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 10:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 12:37 pm (UTC)although kind of melancholy. Beautiful chapter though <3
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Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 01:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, April 24th, 2015 02:22 pm (UTC)"She seemed content to remain where he was, hugging and being hugged by him, and Vechs wasn’t going to complain."
I'm fairly sure that 'he' should be 'she'.
It's rare for me to see a typo in one of these, so I thought I should point it out.
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Date: Friday, April 24th, 2015 03:42 pm (UTC)Yes it is supposed to be 'she'. The only typos that appear in this are when I screw up and type the wrong word and don't notice, as Word doesn't see fit to correct me. (although it does see fit to correct me when I say that "it was almost dusk" because 'dusk' is apparently only an adjective and not a noun. The green squiggly lines LIE.)
Thank you for pointing that out. I'll correct that.
no subject
Date: Wednesday, April 29th, 2015 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, April 29th, 2015 12:42 am (UTC)