A Shadow's Embrace

Chapter 1


For most people Night time was a time to relax, to sit back and recover from their ordeals of the day but for the Strixlin that was not quite the case and if anything it was flipped on its head.

The Strixlin were a curious people; beautiful and athletic by nature with sharp pointed ears they lived exceptionally long lives and while they were rulers of their land they kept to a fairly simple lifestyle, shaping the trees and stones over time to be their homes instead of carving and breaking. Even their attire was fairly simple and they do their best to maintain a careful harmony with their land with any attempt to disrupt that balance either by damaging locations unnecessarily or over hunting something in a region is harshly punished.

Unfortunately for a particular village of these Nocturnal Elves, things were going to become rather interesting.

Inside one of the larger structures of the Strixlin, the roots of a titanic tree having been raised up and a path made inside where a few dozen people were going round about, discussing things and enjoying their time together before they were to head out for their tasks.

One such Strixlin, a young woman with flowing silver hair and sapphire blue eyes, sat at a stone table staring out through the roots into the night sky as she held a cup filled with some swirling mass of purple liquid.

“Priestess?”

She snapped back to reality and looked over to the source of the voice with surprise.

Standing before her was a large man, rippling muscle and cloth over his shoulder with concern in his eyes.

“Hm? Yes sorry were you saying something?”

“Well you have been staring out for the past ten minutes without really moving, is there something wrong Kela?”

“I’m fine Darius, just have a lot on my mind is all.”

He didn't seem convinced and after glancing around to ensure that the other patrons were all served he went to sit down across from her, sighing softly.

“I know you Kela. What's bothering you?”

She frowned at that and shook her head knowing that she could try and redirect his attention away or try to lie but it was pointless as the man had a very good sense of others and he had a long time to get to know her tells causing her to sigh and shake her head before nodding slightly to the outside. “Look at the stars for me.”

He frowned a bit and went to look outside to watch as she asked yet after a few seconds he shrugged asking what he was looking for which caused her to stand up and raise a finger to point towards a particular star.

“. . .I don’t recognize that one and I've studied the stars for a long time to understand Her will.”

With it pointed out he frowned slightly as he looked over to nearby where a large map of the night sky was hanging. “You’re right… it’s not there but maybe it is a sign of Her will? Perhaps the others at your order have already discovered it and divined its purpose?”

Kela didn’t seem convinced at that but raised a brow slightly as she spotted something.

“Darius. . . It’s. it’s getting bigger.”

“What?”

He wasted no time and rushed outside to stare up but he was not the only one as others spotted it as well at this point and drew more attention in the process.

Indeed the star seemed to be growing larger bit by bit until finally it began to streak across the sky with a trail of baleful red following close behind.

Confusion spread amongst the populace as they watched this star coming down only to vanish behind a hillside but the thunderous boom followed quickly by a bright flash of orange and heat with a rush of air that came over the area resulting in more than a few Strixlin getting knocked back.

As the panic began to spread some of the people in the village sprung to action with the hopes of keeping order, one of the elders began to bark out orders to the others with Darius being told to investigate whatever that explosion was with a handful of other hunters while Kela was told to try and help calm the villagers.

Both of them were quick to jump to their tasks with Kela and a few others going about to those that may have been injured to try and treat them first before moving on to others as they tried their best to keep everyone calm. Meanwhile Darius and the hunters had grabbed some weapons, mostly bows and arrows before rushing off at an impressive pace.

The hunters knew the region surrounding their village quite well so avoiding predators and maneuvering through the terrain was a fairly simple task for them yet as they came closer to the hillside they began to complain of heat despite there having been a cool evening breeze moments before yet Darius was undeterred as he continued on.

Beyond the hillside though they saw something that caused their hearts to turn cold for a moment as the lush forest beyond had been scorched, the great trees that had been tended to over the centuries had been charred or been shattered with a massive swatch of fertile grassland having been completely ripped up and large patches of grass was on fire.

As they stared in horror at the land having been devastated one of the hunters pointed to the distance where they saw some kind of charred black stone scattered across the landscape with smoke trailing up from.

“The trail ends there, perhaps we can find out what it was at the source?”

“Good thinking. Let’s go but stick to cover till we have a better idea as to what this is.”

The other hunters nodded in agreement with Darius before heading off.

It didn’t take them particularly long before they arrived yet when they did two had to back away, raising their hands up for cover as the heat was too much for them yet the others continued on as they had experience in difficult situations with darius making a comment about silver spooned youths causing those that followed to chuckle.

The location itself was a rather bizarre one for them as the formerly lush grassland had been turned into a scorched impact sight with large chunks of some smoking black crystal scattered everywhere that none of them had seen before yet one of the hunters tried to touch a piece only to find it was cold, almost freezing.

As they continued their search they’d hear something nearby that sounded like struggling and something metallic shifting with Darius nodding to the others that he’d take the lead but as they continued forward they encountered what seemed like bones of some kind, large bones of various shapes and forms that none of them recognized, all charred black which only caused them to try and continue forward faster to the source of the noise.

Soon enough the group began to see a trail of Silvery blood with one of the hunters pointing out it looked like their own, regardless the trail seemed to head away from the largest gathering of the crystals with a few of them seeming almost spherical and all of it providing ample cover for them yet as they followed the trail they found something concerning, not only where there more bizarre bones but a lone figure in the distance clearly having fallen down and was still trying to claw its way forward with little success.

It was difficult to spot out any features as the light from nearby fires did no kindness to their sensitive eyes yet it did help in flickering off of what looked like armor on the figure with most of it seeming intact and only slightly charred but its headpiece seemed terribly scorched with three large holes that seemed akin to claw marks trailing down its side yet what caught his eye was one of its arms, the armor had been badly warped and twisted with blood flowing out of it and the headpiece, there was also what seemed like some kind of an emblem or crest on the left shoulder plate.

Neither he nor any of the other hunters recognized the armor and raised their bows as they tried to aim for gaps in the stranger’s protection while he stepped closer but before he could speak the stranger tried to raise its hand one more time to drag itself away only to drop it, not really moving further.

Cursing softly under his breath he rushed over quickly to try and help this stranger, turning it over onto its back as he reached towards the helmet. “Hay can you hear me? I need to get this stuff off of you or you may bleed out before I can get you proper treatment.”

The lack of response was not encouraging yet he’d grind his teeth and try to reach for the headpiece with the others coming over to lend a hand yet after a bit of struggling with the armor they were able to remove it only to stare in shock at what they saw beneath.

Laying on the ground was a young woman, short black hair with some kind of tribal tattoo on her right cheek but with three deep slash wounds across her left face and one of them having clearly slashed through her eye.

Almost as though feeling the helmet removed she stirred slightly before trying to look over to Darius with her one deep purple eye showing her struggle for coherent thought yet she tried to speak up, barely able to plead for aid before falling back to blissful unconsciousness.

---

Trying this thing here after some encouragement to just give it a shot.unfortunately mostly just some world building and character introduction for now. following posts should have more actual interaction and interesting developments

 

Chapter 2

When Darius and the others returned to the village it was quite the uproar as they carried the stranger over to one of the hunters’ homes to get them treated with the elders and healers coming to try and treat the injuries of the stranger.

Darius and the rest were requested to leave but by the tone of voice used it was clearly less a request and more an order yet it was one that they were happy to follow however as they were leaving Kela was quick to corner him to find out what happened.

“I don’t know what I can tell you till after the elders have treated her alright?”

“Darius, don't give me that, what happened out there? I overheard one of the others saying that the forest has been scorched? Did she do that? Why was she so badly injured and what was she wearing!?”

He rubbed his eyes slightly and let out a soft sigh as he desperately looked for a way out but after seeing none he caved under the pressure.

“We don’t know alright? We found her crawling away from some kind of impact with her arm and face already badly wounded but we found something else.”

He looked around for a bit before reaching to her arm to part guide and shove her over to a corner that was out of the way of the crowd that had gathered around the building after news of the stranger’s arrival had spread; however this caused her to worry and look at him in confusion.

“We found something else as well and I have no idea what it’s from.”

She listened as he spoke of the charred bones and black crystals that dotted the landscape though as he spoke she saw the confusion and hints of fear in him causing her to worry in turn.

“Maybe you should head to the archivists? They might know what those things are?”

“I was thinking the same thing but before I could head there you cornered me and began to question me…”

She frowned at that and nodded a bit as she apologized before stepping to the side only to hear someone asking around for her.

“I should go see what they need.”

“Right. I’ll head to the archivists for some answers in the meantime.”

As she walked away to find out who needed her Darius let out a soft sigh before rubbing his eyes and remembering the impact site, something about those bones was bothering him deeply but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Regardless he took a deep breath and began to walk off towards a different section of the village that was rarely visited.

Kela would soon enough find who was looking for her and was quickly taken inside of the building to try and help the other healers that were treating the stranger despite some minor protests on her end as she was unsure what she could do to try and help. Treating the spirit was quite different from treating the body and she doubted a few words of comfort and encouragement could help stitch wounds closed again..

Regardless of her protests when Kela entered the building she saw a small handful of others going back and forth quickly with various implements and alchemical reagents being mixed together with one of the healers turning towards her as she seemed to be rubbing some kind of alcoholic substance on her hands. “Help the others get that… armor off of her, we can’t treat her properly with it still there.”

She’d nod quickly and went over to lend a hand yet stopped for a moment as she looked over the figure. Despite the grievous wound across her face this stranger seemed rather at peace for the time being and the armor itself had very little bulk to it yet it was clearly some sort of metal which was rare to be seen worn by Strixlin.

Regardless she began to help remove the armor as carefully as she could, most of it was easy to remove and caused quite a bit of confusion as everyone expected some sort of heavy metal yet the material felt extremely light as though it was made from feathers.

They didn’t let it worry them too much at the moment as they had more important matters right in front of them with the worst piece to come.

After some struggling they were able to decide on a way to remove the last piece of armor, the piece that was wrapped and had warped around her arm without needing to just remove the arm entirely.

It took considerable effort and they were all grateful that the stranger was very thoroughly asleep right now as they wrenched her arm slightly in the effort to remove the last armor. Silvery blood dripped down to the floor but eventually they succeeded in unbuckling the armor and prying it free though it was going to need some serious work to ever be wearable again.

Finally the other healers came in to begin treating the injuries of the woman properly yet as they cleaned out the wounds and did their best to close them Kela stumbled back just staring as she waited for any further orders by the others.

The hours rolled by bit by bit with the healers working diligently to treat the injuries of this stranger and by the end of it she was quite the sight to see with half her face bandaged up and her one arm having been sealed in some sort of a cast to ensure that it wouldn’t really move too much. There were other coverings here and there where more wounds were hidden under the armor prior but they seemed confident she would survive though having use of her arm returned to her was up to the goddess.

As the healers began to funnel out of the building one went over to Kela and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you. I apologize for having pulled you into that… Mess.but here is where you come in. when she awakens she may need your help to come back to her senses… If she awakens that is. We will have two of the hunters remain outside in case she tries something.”

She gave a short nod before heading over to the stranger and sitting down at a nearby seat.

Outside of her armor the woman was quite a sight to see, toned abs that would have quite a few men envious with more strange almost tribal tattoo markings across her shoulders and neck yet despite the fearsome appearance Kela felt almost at ease in her presence.

After what felt like the majority of the night Kela asked a question out loud mostly for herself but shortly after the words ‘Who are you?’ had left her lips the stranger groaned softly, shifting in place with her one good eye starting to open and look around lazily.

 

Chapter 3

Kela watched the stranger carefully with one of the hunters mentioned prior having entered the building ready to engage the wounded woman if need be.

The stranger slowly got up from her lying position and sat on the table she had been laid out earlier, her good hand reaching over to her side as she groaned in pain from the effort before she mumbled softly under her breath.

“H, hello?”

Slowly the stranger turned her gaze over to Kela and she frowned a bit as she noticed something and reached up to feel the bandages across half her face.

“How bad is it?”

The priestess frowned at that question as she turned her head down a bit. “We did what we could but I believe they had to remove it. You were in pretty bad shape when they brought you in and we weren’t sure that you’d awake again.”

She cursed under her breath in frustration as she heard that but there was no real strength right now to punch something despite how badly the stranger wanted to right now, instead she chose to just thank the pair for the treatment.

“You’re welcome but.. We have some questions; Who are you for one?”

“You first priestess… I don't recognize this place.how far are we from the border?”

Both Kela and the hunter exchanged confused glances at that before slowly turning back to her. “Border?”

“Yes. what rock have you been hiding under?”

She frowned a bit as she looked between the two of them and saw the confusion persisting causing her to try and subtly reach down to her side only to find her equipment missing.

“Where am I?”

“Y. you’re in the village Shrieth. The hunters found you nearby after a star fell from the heavens.”

“Shrieth? Must be a new one… Look, I need to get back to the border as quickly as possible.”

“What Border are you talking about?”

“The… Border? The frontlines? The war?”

Despite the tone of voice from the stranger making it clear she expected them to just know Kela looked over to the hunter and shrugged unsure how to really proceed which seemed to anger the stranger further.

“Look, I'm Commander Tyraal and I need to get back to the front.”

“Uhm.. Commander? There’s no. war that we are aware of.”

That caused Tyraal to laugh which turned into a painful cough. “You’re. You’re kidding right? This is some kind of a joke.. Right? Okay okay just. A map. Can you give me a map of the area?”

Kela nodded to the hunter to go get one and despite being a bit reluctant in leaving her he eventually accepted before rushing off to find a map.

“Thanks. Maybe I can recognize some landmarks and get back out there.”

“Uhm Of course but as I said we aren’t really aware of any kind of war since the dark times and there is still the matter of how you were found. The hunters spoke of a devastated landscape and smoking crystals? What happened?”

The ‘Commander’ spoke of a daring escape where she had been unwillingly flung through some kind of portal to be saved but the more she spoke the more Kela’s frown deepened in confusion and some degree of disappointment yet before she could really say anything the hunter returned with a map.

“Ah excel…lent… what is this?”

“It’s a map of the region like you asked?”

She looked over the map and shook her head as she pointed towards locations yet said that they weren’t right, fields of grass and stretches of forests on the map she said were gone, burnt to ashes and torn up until finally she landed on the village.

“This.. this can’t.. Be right.”

“What is it?”

“This place is.. Are you sure that this map is correct?”

“Yes I used it just last week to reach a neighboring town for some supplies, why?”

“Your village shouldn't exist.”

Kela chuckled softly. “W. what? I’m sorry I don’t understand.”

Tyraal glanced between them and in a surprise burst of stamina smashed her good shoulder against the hunter with the intention of knocking him aside before rushing for the door, despite her injuries she was able to quite easily force the man aside yet when she got outside and saw the other Strixlin she was shocked and confused.

More than a few of the Strixlin turned to focus on the stranger as she turned to run away from the village yet she stumbled a bit in her efforts as she was trying to deal with her loss of Depth Perception.

Some of the village’s hunters followed after her as well as Kela who told them to be careful as she seemed to be confused and delusional.

Most of the hunters nodded but one of them was rather reckless as he sprinted forward and tried to tackle her to the ground.

While the hunter had succeeded in knocking her to the ground he also undid some of the stitches that had survived her prior bout of stamina, causing her bandages to be stained silver, regardless after having been knocked down she turned to her back to face the hunter and delivered a rather harsh kick towards his shoulder causing a painful ‘crack’ to be heard before she scrambled back to her feet to run further.

Eventually they were able to catch up to her but mostly because she had stopped at a hill top and was staring at the village in shocked silence.

“It was.. Right here. The gate was here.”

Kela and the others looked at her in confusion as they came closer bit by bit.

“What Gate?”

“Their gate. Your village is where it was.. How? This entire area was ashen. Their influence had the earth flow like water here so how is there a flourishing Forest Village here?”

The woman began to ramble, seemingly lost in whatever nightmare she believed was to be where their home was yet didn’t particularly resist and Kela came over to try and offer some support. Eventually she was able to convince this Tyraal to follow them back to the village and get patched back up, she was clearly in dire need of aid to break free from whatever nightmare she believed herself to be living in.

Of course the hunters kept a close eye on this woman with the belief that this was all an act to get out of trouble.

 

Chapter 4

While Kela and the others dealt with Tyraal Darius had arrived at the archives, a vast underground cavern beneath the village that had been carefully maintained and turned into a vast repository of knowledge for the Strixlin here.

Despite its importance to the Strixlin people at this village it had a bit of a reputation of causing unease to its inhabitants with only the archivists themselves having endured the creeping dark to do their duties.

As he stared at the entrance leading down Darius could feel an eerie chill run up his spine for some reason but steeled himself and went down into the dark below to try and find some answers.

Being a Strixlin had its gifts as the people were able to see in the darkest abyss with relative ease though needed time to readjust to more lit up areas and they had a particular difficulty seeing in sunlight but Darius didn’t expect a surprise beam of sunlight all the way down here as he continued on forward.

As he continued forward the hunter felt extremely uneasy. He had been in underground locations before but something about this place was just able to upset him on a primal level as it felt like the walls were Breathing; moving closer and retreating bit by bit in a steady rhythm despite knowing that wasn't possible.

It got worse the deeper he went as he felt like he was being watched even though it was a long singular corridor leading down for now; he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was there with him lingering just out of sight and hearing, slowly creeping closer and closer and closer to reach a hand towards the back of his neck.

That sensation immediately caused him to turn around to try and confront whatever it was but there was only darkness and as the seconds turned to minutes Darius slowly let the breath he was holding subconsciously before turning only to come face to face to an elderly man wearing simple robes. To say that the hunter almost jumped out of his skin wouldn’t be too far-fetched.

After having spent a few seconds cursing out loud he was able to recover his wits. “Are you Trying to give me a heart attack?”

“My apologies young one but you were standing there in silence for a few minutes now and I came to check up on you, is everything alright?”

He nodded a bit though realized afterwards the comment on being there for a few minutes but decided to not push it as he wanted to get out of the archives as soon as possible.

“Hmm… Well what brings you down here today?”

“Well earlier tonight I came across some strange things and was hoping you could help me find out what they were?”

“Ah Very well please tell me what you found?”

Darius decided to first describe the bones that they found though the man slowly shook his head. “I’m sorry I have no idea what that is but perhaps the others would know? I can go and ask them or take you to the study hall and bring you any relevant books we may have? Was there something else perhaps?”

He frowned a bit but nodded slightly and began to describe the stranger’s armor that he saw prior which did seem to spark something in the elder’s expression.

“Ah. you’re looking into some very ancient things. Come.”

He let out a relieved sigh and nodded as he followed the elder closely and at least the second presence seemed to push back whatever it was that unnerved him prior.

After having walked down several halls and corridors they arrived at a large room filled with various ancient relics with some of them restored to some degree but most of them were irreparably damaged in some fashion.

What caught Darius’s eye though was a set of armor nearby on a stand that matched the armor of Tyraal almost perfectly with this set being undamaged aside from the ravages of time on the straps themselves.

“An eye for the past is a rare thing in the younger generations and you have a particularly Old eye to be looking for this.”

“What is it?”

The question caught the elder off guard a bit but he just took it for ignorance of the actual origin while Darius reached forward to the armor.

“That is a particularly Ancient set of armor worn by our most capable warriors during the dark ages to help safeguard our people from those that were a threat while we were still developing as a people. The stories of their use are often associated in some fashion to the fanciful tales of Commander Tyraal.”

Darius took his hand off the armor and turned back to the elder with a raised brow. “I’ve. never heard those tales before.”

“I’m not particularly surprised, they are of our oldest tales and mostly have been forgotten to more… modern tales to inspire the young or produce new boogiemen to scare children into behaving.”

Darius tapped his chin slightly in thought as he remembered those strange charred bones and the determination of the stranger to crawl away from whatever that impact was. “Would you be willing to retell one of those tales?”

The man was taken aback by the request and shrugged a bit. “I. don’t see why not but I remind you these are just children’s stories from ages long past.”

“I know. I’d like to hear it nonetheless.”

He sighed a bit but nodded as he glanced over to the armor behind Darius before retelling the story of a woman that had been risen from the ashes of a destroyed village and pursued a monstrous enemy across the land, learning from others and inspiring those around her till she finally found her foe and exacting her revenge by chasing them into their blazing hole never to be seen again but those that followed her stood guard over the home of the beasts to ensure they would never threaten the land once more.

Darius listened carefully yet as he listened something caught his eye; behind the man one of the walls had a strange marking on it that was glowing a very slight orange yet after the story was told and he pointed it out the light was gone from the mark.

The elder shook his head and refocused before informing the young hunter he would be back with some materials on exotic creatures that had been studied after having talked with some of the elders to try and get an idea as to what the beast bones might be that were described.

After the elder left Darius turned back to the armor, frowning a bit as he looked it over carefully and found it was still exactly like that of the stranger’s just without the damage.

As he stared though he’d spot a reflection on the armor plates; two bright red eyes yet when he turned around there was nothing there.

“I need to seriously get out of here as soon as I can…”

 

Chapter 5

It didn’t take long for Darius to find out what happened after he had returned to the village though when he had arrived he was not pleased with the news.

Kela however didn’t particularly pay much attention to him as her focus was on Tyraal; the stranger had fallen silent on the way back despite her eyes darting back and forth taking in every detail clearly ready to jump into action if something were to happen.

After they were safely back inside of a building one of the healers came back to treat the torn stitches and replace bandages, all the while scolding the woman for her actions but it clearly didn’t bother Tyraal as even the pain barely made her flinch.

Kela waited for after the healer had finished and took her leave to try and talk with her, starting with trying to ask where she came from, Darius meanwhile had arrived at the same building but stayed just outside as Kela flashed him a glare to stay back.

“Where did I come from? You mean which village?”

“Yes. maybe if we can find out that we can start from there alright?”

Tyraal stared at her for a while before shaking her head. “Taldavar. It was a nice little backwater village to relax near the oceans before those… Bastards burned it to ashes.”

Darius’s brow rose slightly as he heard that but said nothing for the time being While Kela frowned slightly. “It must have been further away than my last pilgrimage. I’m sorry for your loss Tyraal though do you remember what brought you Here? To Shrieth?”

“I’ve already told you that. I’m not someone who enjoys repeating themself priestess.”

“I see.. My apologies but I'm merely trying to help, will you be alright here for a few minutes? I can get you something to eat and drink?”

“I could use something to drink. Thank you.”

Kela gave a short nod before standing up and leaving the building to join Darius though he waited till they were well outside of earshot of the woman.

“She’s either insane or lying.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well what I found out in the archives tells me that much… and what I just overheard makes me believe she is insane over just lying.”

Kela’s frown grew and she flinched away slightly from the horizon as the first vestiges of morning light started to show up though she continued forward to the markets, knowing that some of the others worked through the day for the others that stayed up to ensure that the local predators didn’t try their luck, hunters like Darius.

“For one that village? Taldavar? It was a seaside village that was struck with an illness from the depths. Some kind of fish that they were able to catch had poisoned the people and their thoughts to the point they hunted and killed each other. The devastation they were causing caught the wrong kind of attention.”

Kela’s expression turned grim for a moment as she arrived at a still open stall with the strixlin manning it looking at them in surprise but didn't say much as he let them browse the goods.

“... it was burned down to prevent them from spreading that chaos and sickness wasn’t it?”

“Everything.. Boat building and person, all of it turned to ashes and hunted down… She must have been a little girl when it happened but I’m not sure how she would’ve survived. We know that the Guard are…. Thorough.”

Kela reached towards a fruit with her frown ever persistent, the Twilight Guard were a ruthless and uncaring group of elite Strixlin that rarely got involved in most matters outside of disciplining actions to devastated the environment.

“I’m surprised that they haven’t shown up here yet asking around about that blast site.”

“Let’s not summon them to our doorstep Kela. I don’t have any desire to deal with them.”

“Agreed… Alright so let’s say that you’re right and she is a survivor of her village having been massacred after they were driven insane.. Actually that would make quite a bit of sense with what she told us already about monsters and beasts.”

“Yeah though I don’t think Tyraal is her real name.”

She questioned him as to why only for him to retell some of the tale that he was told in the archive.

“A child’s mind clinging to whatever familiarity that it could, though if she has been lost in that nightmare since she was young it will be incredibly difficult to separate the story from reality for her…”

“Should we leave her to the nightmare then? Believing she has monsters and beasts to hunt down?” Darius shifted his gaze over to her curiously as the question slipped past his lips which caused her to sigh and shake her head slightly. “Let’s… let’s see how things go alright? If we can bring her out of the fantasy and have her come to her senses then she could be a very productive member of society with her physical prowess.”

“What about her arm? I saw that cast.. Do you think she’ll be able to recover fully?”

Kela frowned as she slowly shook her head in doubt.

 

Chapter 6

Morning had come and gone in the village with Day slowly passing through with little trouble yet as the first vestiges of evening started to show life sprung back up in the quiet little home of the Strixlin and Kela had decided to check up on the strange woman calling herself Tyraal.

When she arrived though she found Darius nearby shaking his head clearly annoyed at something.

“Hay? What’s wrong?”

“Head in there and see for yourself…”

Almost immediately she sighed and mentally prepared to walk into some kind of argument though what she saw had left her conflicted.

Tyraal had somehow managed to get her feet into the roots of the ceiling and was currently lifting herself up in some kind of upside down crunches with some bandages lying nearby.

The sight was quite a lovely one and took Kela by surprise as a smile threatened to rise as she saw that finely sculpted body and rippling muscles though she quickly shook her head to refocus.

“What do you think you’re doing!?”

Despite the outburst Tyraal continued. “Working out. Why?”

“Do you understand that you should be trying to REST and RECOVER?”

“I did that and when morning comes I'll do so again but for now i need to stay in shape.”

She turned to Darius who just shook his head as he raised his hand in a shrug unsure what to really do.

“Right Look if y-”

Tyraal dropped down from above onto her feet and turned towards Kela a bit slowly as she was clearly still trying to deal with the loss of her one eye. “Look, priestess, I'm Fine. I don’t need sleep, what I need is something to do.”

“Is that so? Well then I’m sure that Darius and the others could use someone of your skill in their hunt.”

While Darius was shocked at that and Kela expected her to back down to listen to what she had to say, Tyraal looked over and nodded. “Alright I’ll lend a hand.”

“Th. that won't be necessary. We don’t have any hunts planned for tonight.”

“Hmph that is a shame. Maybe next time?”

He gave an unsure nod to Tyraal before she moved past him and kela outside into the cool evening breeze.

“What were you thinking?”

“Look she got under my skin alright… this isn’t exactly something we are trained for you know…”

“Right, sorry but what’s the plan?”

“Well I’m not sure but as long as she is around we may as well see if we can’t get her to help around while we try and get some answers as to where she came from and if the hunters don’t need her right now maybe she could help one of the others?”

He tapped his chin slightly in thought and nodded as he considered who could use the assistance of someone like her but he fell short on anyone aside from the hunters.

“Well I'm sure we can think of something though maybe we should ask around and see who could use her strength though I am still worried about her eyesight.”

“Yeah she may be tough but she will still need some more time to readjust to that loss, maybe I can try to do some practice with her to try and overcome it?”

Kela nodded slightly in appreciation before glancing over to Tyraal who seemed to be walking around in the market looking at the various stalls but was clearly uneasy with the situation she was in.

“How long do you think she’s been alone?”

“I don’t know… what I do want to know though is where she was able to obtain the armor she carried as according to the archivists that stuff isn’t made anymore and I’m inclined to believe him on that.”

“I don’t think that we can have it repaired either. She won’t be pleased by that.”

“Well she’ll have to just accept that and move on. Getting angry about it will help no one and she should be glad we were there at all to rescue her.”

Kela chuckled softly and nodded a bit. “I think she is but she just doesn’t really know how to express her thanks properly. Something about stubborn pride.”

Darius chuckled softly and just rolled his eyes at the thought before looking back at Tyraal. “Someone should keep an eye on her just in case.”

“By someone you mean me…”

“Well if you’re willing then it would be appreciated.”

She grumbled softly at having fallen into that trap so easily causing the hunter to laugh in amusement before shaking his head. “I should go check in with the others in case there is an emergency hunt planned before heading back to the inn.”

“Right right. I’ll head over to her before she starts something.”

Darius chuckled as she grumbled further while walking away before shifting his gaze to Tyraal with a frown clear as day.

 

Chapter 7

The following few days were curious to the people of Shrieth; the stranger that had joined them did her best to lend a hand where she could while trying to gather supplies for some peculiar reason with Darius suspecting it was in preparation to leave.

Despite this she was welcomed more as her efforts to assist bore fruit mostly with most of her efforts focused around using her almost unnatural physical prowess unfortunately though she still struggled from time to time with her lack of a second eye and her arm did not seem to be recovering all too well.

Sitting in the inn with Darius and Kela as the two watched her intently, the supposed commander slowly reached forward to a cup that they had placed down for her with her bad arm, the duo’s eyes betrayed the concern as they saw their new friend’s hand shaking harshly as she struggled to move it forward.

“Just.. take it easy. You’ve got this.”

She nodded slightly at Darius as she was able to get to the cup, they had filled it with some water but it was only half full to not strain her too much however after her fingers had wrapped around the cup she tried to raise it up and couldn’t move her hand.

Kela glanced over to Darius and even a few others that were watching from their seats fell quiet with two holding their breath in anticipation.

Tyraal’s face scrunched up slightly as she struggled but eventually with much effort the cup started to rise up but it didn’t last long before she was forced to push it back down with Darius reaching over to her shoulder. “That’s enough. Just try to relax alright? You’re doing really well.”

There were some soft impressed mutterings as the people continued their discussions with each other though Tyraal was not pleased as she stared furiously at her arm.

“This is taking too long.”

“Too long? Tyraal you’re lucky to even be able to Move your arm. We thought you were never going to recover any function in it at all.”

She shook her head, using her other hand to help guide her arm back into the sling that she had as she muttered about needing both her arms to fight back.

The hunter let out a soft sigh of frustration as she mentioned that as he had tried and failed a few times to try and help break her out of the fantasy she seemed to believe herself wrapped up in but what bothered him the most was that whenever he tried to challenge her for information she had answers.

He had tried to challenge her memory of what had happened to her and she had an answer for that, challenging her knowledge of the monsters and she had that information down to the smallest detail that even seemed to fit with the bones that he had found. He even tried to challenge her on the tale that Tyraal was said to have vanished after having chased the beasts back into their hole yet she told him without any doubt or conflicting statement about their home.

‘Oceans of fire and lakes of blistering liquid earth flowing like water, the air thick with a ghastly smog that scorched the throat and burned the eyes of those that breathed it in as colossal monuments of black and red stone rose in endless expanses of charred stone.’

Darius had tried to tackle her on the matter various times, sometimes in the early morning when she was exhausted and other times during a task while she was distracted yet every time the information was the same. Every Time there was boiling rage directed at those beasts in her mind. She was so passionate that even he started to wonder if maybe she was more than just a. Mad woman.

It didn’t help that after he found her camp on the edge of the village by accident Darius saw her experiencing a dayterror, when he tried to wake her back then she nearly took his head off before apologizing as she realized who he was; apparently she had been dreaming of what they had done to a close friend of hers after they were cornered in the lair of the beasts.

Kela had also noticed her friend growing closer to Tyraal and found it somewhat amusing but decided not to really say anything as she tried to just focus on supporting Tyraal.

As the trio sat together with Kela and Darius mostly talking, Tyraal turned her head slowly to the side and squinted her eyes at something as she looked around, though that caught their attention causing them to fall silent.

“... Ty?”

She didn’t say anything as she slowly stood up and took the cup with her before heading outside of the building to look outside for something though the two followed her with concern.

“Tyraal what is it? What did you see?”

“I’m not sure. Whatever it was though… it was not friendly.”

Darius shook his head and turned to look over to a nearby hunter to whistle over, luckily it didn’t take particularly long and after arriving he told him to spread the word to the others that there may be an unwelcome visitor around.

The Hunter raised a brow and glanced around carefully before nodding. “If there’s something here we’ll find it.”

“Good lad.My friend may just be a little paranoid but I’d rather play it safe.”

“Yeah, probably best to play it safe.”

The hunter quickly headed off to spread the news and Darius noticed some of the others looking around subtly for any sign of trouble, the man was one of them so he knew how they operated after all.

“Tyraal what was-”

Before he could finish the question he and more than a few of the other Strixlin shivered a bit as they all felt that same almost oppressive atmosphere that was in the Archives. It was only for a split second but it had an unnerving effect on the locals as they looked around in confusion and some in fear though he spotted something in particular for only a fraction of a moment as his eyes glanced over that spot.

A single hooded figure stepping behind a building with its head turned towards him as two glowing red eyes stared with deadly intent.

When he looked back to that spot there was nothing and he even went towards the location only to find no one around but that image there and as much as he would’ve liked to shake it off as just Tyraal’s stories getting under his skin the amount of raw Malice in those eyes hit some primal fear in him.

 

Chapter 8

“Shouldn't we wait for the hunters to find whatever it was first?”

“Your Hunters won’t survive its first strike if it is what I fear.”

Kela looked over to Darius for some support on this but he just shook his head as he remembered those hate filled eyes.

The trio continued their exploration with Tyraal leading the way in silent determination as her eyes scanned over every corner they came across yet as they turned one corner in particular she was sent crashing to the ground with incredible force.

As Tyraal tried to get back to her feet they all glared at the attacker with only the one who had taken the blow earlier to her jaw not flinching back in fright.

Standing alone in a dark alley was some kind of female creature; she seemed like a Strixlin yet she had a skin of scale with two horns protruding from her head curling down its sides.

She smiled sweetly as she stared at Tyraal with bright orange eyes. “I have been waiting to do that for a long time… you should have stayed in your time wench.”

The commander reached towards her jaw and moved it around slightly before spitting out a glob of silvery blood. “Well I hadn’t expected to find a Gresh but now I’m in a really good mood.”

Darius looked between the two unsure and slowly reached towards a blade at his side with one hand as he noticed his other hand was starting to shake which caught his attention in confusion.

Kela meanwhile squinted slightly as she looked at the ‘Gresh’ before noticing something that caused her to step back. “Tesh? By the goddess, what happened to you?”

She turned her head slightly and smirked at the priestess with an abundance of arrogant pride in her eyes.

“I’ve been given a gift by a Real power. You have no idea what this feels like Kela, it's incredible. I feel so.. So strong. Everything is so clear. Come. Join me in her service.”

Tyraal tried to intervene by moving in to deliver a firm fist towards Tesh’s gut causing her to hunch over from the impact as the commander pulled her hand back to grab her head and push her into the rising knee that went to connect with her nose.

Tesh stumbled back after her nose was broken from the strike but after she reached over to wipe the blood away she glared at the one that had struck her.

“Shut your mouth Traitor. You turned your back on your own kin to embrace those Bastards.”

“She warned me you were going to be defiant till the end. A shame that you have no real chance to beat me.” as she said that Tesh’s broken nose seemed to forcibly reset itself with any sign of having been broken in the first place fading away at an alarming rate.

Darius quickly moved forward himself to slash at the Gresh to try and force her back but Tesh only raised her arms to take the strike with her wounds healing in front of them.

“Uh… Ty? This isn’t working.”

“Yeah i’ve noticed. Duck!”

While Darius had been keeping her occupied Tyraal had grabbed a nearby large branch and swung with all her might, the hunter immediately dropped forward to avoid the strike as the primitive bludgeon smashed into the side of Tesh’s head, splintering the branch on impact and knocking her onto her ass.

“Now what was it you said? ‘No real chance to beat me?’ if I had a coin every time someone tried to tell me that I could buy the countryside…”

Tesh slowly tried to get back up to her feet but her world was spinning somewhat making it considerably difficult while Darius moved back to look at her in surprise.

“How did you know that would work?”

“She’s Gresh… the traitor can heal from being cut open like it was just a scratch but she is still part elf and doesn't have all of Their resilience-” as she talked Tyraal delivered a harsh kick to Tesh’s side to force her back to the ground. “- Keep them off balance.. Go after their head and they die like anyone else.”

“You got. Got lucky. It won’t happen. Happen again.”

The commander nodded slowly as she moved over to Tesh and kneeled down slightly to stare at her. “Luck. had nothing to do with it… I’ve been killing those above you for a long time. You’re several decades too early to try and come after me or did your Mistress forget to tell you that?”

Those bright orange eyes stared with a growing abundance of fear into Tyraal’s own deep purple as she saw the calm hate that made her intentions clear as she reached towards Darius’s blade with her good hand.

“N. No!”

Tesh was able to roll away from Ty and get back to her feet to sprint away or try to at least as she still seemed to be recovering from the concussive strike to her head earlier.

Ty waited a few moments and smirked softly as she took hold of Darius’s blade.

“Shouldn’t we go after her?”

“Give it a moment.”

Kela frowned slightly as she glanced over to the pair. “... You want her Mistress, that’s why you stared her down.”

Ty just smiled before finally beginning to walk after her prey. “Lead me to your Den…”

 

Chapter 9

Bit by bit Ty began to pick up the pace as she followed after her prey with the Gresh running in blind panic away from her.

Eventually though she sprinted into the Archives which had the trio frowning in suspicion.

While Tyraal didn’t particularly care too much and marched forward into the eerie depths below the village the others weren’t so willing to follow, causing her to turn and stare at them. “If you two are too scared to see this through then you can stay out here…”

“How much… damage. Are you going to cause?”

“As much as is necessary to Kill it and whatever other Vermin are waiting down there with it.”

“There could be more?”

“They never act alone.”

While Tyraal and Kela spoke Darius stared into the depths below with a frown as a prickling feeling came to the back of his neck. “I’ll do it.”

They shifted their gaze over to him with surprise but he just shrugged slightly. “I mean I'll help. You can’t use one of your arms after all and that… thing was able to knock you to the ground with one blow so you’ll need the help you can get.”

While Tyraal just nodded in approval and headed towards the entrance Kela went over to Darius to stare him down. “You can’t be serious. This is well beyond us Darius, we should get the others to help with this.”

“Then go get the help before that thing finds another way out of the tunnels.”

She wanted to argue but bit her lip and went off knowing that there wasn’t a lot of time though as he caught up with Tyraal the commander glanced over to him for a moment. “We both know there isn't another way out of here… Why did you do that?”

“Do you want her hovering about when things become problematic? She’s a priestess and we’re going to kill a traitor by the sounds of things though I have a bad feeling that the archivists are going to get in the way.”

“If they stand in my path they will be cut down as aids to the Gresh and its mistress.”

“. . . that’s pretty cold.”

“You don’t know what it is like to hunt these damned things… if you try to keep things in maybes and possibles and potentialities they will grow and subvert and corrupt. There’s only Them and Us.”

He frowned heavily at that but gave a slow nod. “I see. Do what we must to survive.”

“Preci-”

She fell silent and turned towards a corner as they heard movement with both of them quickly ducking for cover.

They were just in time at least as a group of archivists walked down the hall towards a different one though they didn’t seem to be looking for them.

“Can we at least Try to avoid them till they prove hostile?”

“You’re going to make it considerably harder.”

“I’m not in the habit of killing my own kind on the suspicion of corruption…”

She shook her head before sighing and surrendering. “Fine.”

“Thank you..”
Darius let out a soft sigh of relief as he continued onward but after they entered a rather large chamber one of the walls lit up with bizarre orange runes.

“What th-”

She immediately went to shove him out of the way as the floor he stood on erupted in bright red flame with the hellish roaring deafening their attempts to talk to each other.

Eventually after what felt like too long already Ty grit her teeth and continued on down a separate path but she was quickly cornered by two archivists staring at her in shock. “What did you do!?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Is that nothing!?”

One of the archivists tried to rush over with a bucket of water to put out the flames but the splash of cool liquid quickly turned into a cloud of hot steam on contact.

“Explain yourself Immediately.”

She stared at him for a bit before just chuckling as she shook her head and tried to walk past the one blocking her, he tried to place a hand on her shoulder to stop her but it didn’t end well as she just grabbed his wrist and twisted in a particular fashion that quickly forced him to the ground.

“Don’t touch me.”

Tyraal released him after before continuing her search, leaving the archivists to try and fight the flames on their own.

As she walked forward, marching down one dark hallway into another she wondered about that wall of flame. It wasn’t something that could be easily set up so whoever was in control here had definitely been here for quite some time so was the trap to kill them or stop them?

She barely had time to notice one of the nearby arches light up similarly and dive out of the way as a bright red flame wall erupted to life.

“Damn it what are you hiding…”