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Pounding down the upper hallways, the sounds of padding feet grew steadily.

The closer Sunstrike moved into the room, the more harder the very feeling of death seemed to warp about him. All the bodies had been cruelly cut down, the same claw marks that had adorned the walls, were etched deeply into the thick hides of the surrounding lizards.

Several tails were seen turning a corner, descending ever lower within Hollow.

Ahead of Sunstrike, the room seemed to contain an altar of some sorts. While looking all about the room, he would see the same depictions that he had first discovered within the room under the ruins. Winged beings were shown, fallen from grace and forced to crawl on their own bellies.

The sounds of the incoming troupe grew louder, as more bodies were discovered along the way.

Behind the altar itself, was the largest depiction of all; that of the world itself. And centered in the wall was a body.

"Y-Yo....u...." The voice was barely audible by normal levels, and the sadness welling from him was frightful. Several lengths of chain binded him to the wall, keeping both his arms spread apart-- effectively crucifing him to the wall.

The chains bit deelply into his already marred body, several gashes and clawed marks besmirking any noble appaearence he might have had.

Pinned to the wall by what appeared to be twin swords, each one jammed straight through his palms, his entire head and snout was chained so that he couldn't even turn his head, staring out with his only one good eye.

His blood stained the mural he was chained against, a macabre painting.

if you are lost in your way
deep in an awesome story
don't be in doubt and stray
cling to your lonesome folly

A steady cry tore itself from a ruined throat, as the sword was removed, his body taken down from the wall, and the pressure releasing off his body. The elder's body spasmed once, before settling along the altar top.

"It is heartening, after all these years, to finally see you..."

As he swallowed back down the blood threatening to spill out form his throat, his features are illuminated by the fire-lit glow of the chamber. This is not the barbariic creature depicted by many - The Elder is darkly beautiful, and radiates a sense of priestly detachment, and long-suffering patience. He appears to recognize Sunstrike, but regards him with pity.

"My child, what.... have they done to you?"

The Elder speaks haltingly, as though not sure where to begin.

"For thousands of years, I have waited... alone here, losing faith... At the
time of the selection, nine races were called to serve the Heavens. And we
was summoned as the tenth race - the keeper of the Lore, the key of
our salvation. Over time, our race dwindled. Until only we remained... as well as I....sustained only by my obligation to my duty, and by my guardianship."

The chief gazed towards the ceiling pensively as he recounts past memories, a fit of coughing forcing him to hack up more blood.

"As our race dwindled, the humans prospered. I have watched, over the
centuries, as our two races intermingled, and for a time began to prosper. However....in the end, we are all just mere mortal men. With many flaws... and foolish actions." A lone cry of pain as well as regret ripped itself from his throat.

"The Heavens chose their guardians from birth, Dearc- and humans have long since forgotten this. This is the crux of our dilemma. And this is the terrible irony
- with this foolish war, the members of the Council have assaulted the very guardians that are sworn to protect them. They have embarked on a
treacherous path. With every lizard they kill, the humans are slitting their
own throats."

now you're too close to the pain
let all the rain go further
come back and kiss me in vain
mother oh do not bother

"They have this foolish notion that destroying me will somehow topple our entire bloodline. Thankfully, we're not that fragile...." Staring upwards at Sunstrike with that single lidless eye, he reached his hand up, talons spreading out over the face cautiously and slowly...

"They fear what they don't understand; and they despise what they fear. But you must not hate them.....They don't understand what they're doing. They are simply unenlightened and vulnerable to manipulation."

The elder leaned his head back, the limit to holding back his own deep injuries nearing it's limit. "After all I have told you, you must think of yourself as some sort of unholy messiah....Unholy? -no. Messiah...perhaps."

The very words echoed out his maw smelled of martyrdom, but the elder knew better.

"Dearc, your role in this world's destiny is more crucial - and more
benevolent - than you've allowed yourself to believe. Your journey will not
be easy - dark powers are allied against you."

The elder paused, considering Sunstrike's ragged appearance. "But I think you already know this... you appear to have been cruelly tested."

hear the chorus of pain
taking you back to proper ways
it's so easy to find
if you could remind me

At once, from the hallway comes the unmistakable sound of armored soldiers
rapidly approaching. With sudden, sick recognition, the elder knows his time has finally come. He appears dismayed, but oddly resigned.

"I fear...I can no longer remain in this world....."

With this, the door crashes open, and a squad of Lizard warriors burst into
the room. Their leader is armed with a cruel-looking weapon, and an odd broken mask upon his face.

"Chief Chusi!!" The leader exclaimed, stepping forward immediately. "What happened?! What happened here!?"

"You must save yourself, Dearc....as well as do what I could not..." Chusi laid his hands upon Sunstrike, his eye staring into Sunstrike's own, for the last time. "Engel.....my son has finally returned to me....please...take care of him....."

now you are lost in your way
deep in an awesome story
so I will find you again
kiss you for lonesome folly

And Chusin spoke no more.

As our young hybrid takes off in the skies, he sees the vasity of the great plains of grain and heat. His eyes scoping out radiating waves of temperatures and the sun was beaming hot on him. The heat didn't seem to have the odd effects it would on others who aren't adapt to high body temperatures. Though he keeps flying around for some reason, his pet just panting heavily as she waves an imaginative fan to her face. Julio smiles at the little carbunkle. "heh..easy there carbie we're almost there."He remarks.

Sunstrike had protested, somewhat violently, to being kept in the chamber until Engel's return. But he was really in no condition to do much damage, besides, he didn't want to seriously hurt any of these people anyway.

He still regretted not being able to go hunt down the killer...knowing that even if he'd found the person responsible it would probably be the end of him. So he let himself be kept in the room, and tried to occupy his mind by sifting through the old runes and murals. Studying the art/history with a growing sinking sensation.

The sun design caught his attention. Even when he'd changed, they still showed up, on his back, one of his wings, a shoulder blade, the inside of his hip, though as an almost mural like design, made up of the midnight scales that consisted of his skin. He'd have another if he ever managed to change back...they were marks of the change, marks that he'd lost control...

Before reaching the wall, however, Engel's presence was recognized and Sunstrike turned around, looking critically at the masked lizard.

"Matches the rrrrace I'm meant to save, as it stands..." Came the smart reply.

Sunstrike didn't flinch away, honestly, he'd just been through too much at the moment. But his wings did snap out in irritation, fresh blood mixing with the old as it spattered across the stone of the hall, making him a little darker and more imposing to this masked person that stepped into his personal space so casually.

"You want an honest answer, Engel? Both. Had I had my way, however, I would have come without the sacrifice of your elder..." The lights within the strange eyes dimmed as his eyes narrowed. "And if you want more honesty then that, I can provide it, though it might be easier on your mind if you leave it to simply what your leader left you with."

That's when he got even closer then Engel had, his head running parallel up to the other lizards mask and an unusual eye glaring straight into the eyehole. The whispered words were angry and suspicious, but unthreatening. He didn't want a fight, he wanted some answers.

"When my friend told me that I was coming here, he told me to search out, Engel. But he never mentioned that said lizard would hide himself so conspicuously behind a mask fashioned by magic and lies. So you tell me truthfully, Engel...Accusing me of probabilty, how much of a catalyst are you?"

"My origins? Putrid depths? Are you so blind that you think anything out of these walls you've made for yourselves underground is darkness and evil itself? And yes, clearly not human...yet I've lived among them for a good while now, at least by their standards. And lizard? No I'm something other then that as well...I belong to three plains, not just one, though I'm no demon either."

Sunstrike sniffed and then sneezed violently. "Though with the stench of it all over I'm not surprised that anyone would be mistaken for one." The arms spread in a human gesture of defeat suddenly. He was tired, bleeding, and had had enough.

"My purpose, believe it or not, and my intentions, are both pure, looking to stop you all from killing each other like animals...and no...there is no coincidence. Someone's trying to kill you all...and I've just been dropped on smack in the middle of it. My name...at least to humans, is Sunstrike...though it is true that I'm also Dearc, that part.... ....isn't so easy to explain." Despair flooded him and was pushed down. Was there anything of that small one left? Maybe...maybe later he'd try and go digging through his mind...

The masked lizards reprisal over no friends, therefore, left him at a bit of a loss. "No?...I...I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have lied to me...called you a good being, fought with you..." Doubt began to etch the strange features as he looked at the older lizard, trying to work out if this were the Engel that his friend meant. Could I have heard him wrong? That mask...this...this feeling.... Everything was so off here...so backwards....

The figure of Sunstrike began to fall forwards, even before the train of thought finished. He'd lost too much blood, too much magic...the strain of pulling the old one from the wall, the arguing with Engel...it was too much...

Vahn... Blackness consumed him.

He swam in darkness, it filled ever pore of his body.

...Dearc...

"Dearc!"

A yellow, slitted eye opened and focused, to see his father leaning over him, concern etched over his scaled features. To see his son actually wake up and focus on him, brought nothing but relief to Chusi. His voice was harsh with worry, though, as the black scaled young lizard rose up in the infirmary nest, blinking blearily around.

"You collapsed again...they've been getting more frequent lately, haven't they?" A black spiked head shook in swift denial to his fathers observation. The truth was quite the opposite. His fits were growing worse, becoming almost daily occurances now. Dearc would be walking along, perfectly normal one moment, and then the other he was on the floor, clutching his head and heart til the pain made him pass out.

He saw things in the pain...things that made the bliss of unconsciousness a blessing.

The smallest of Chusi's first clutch, the "runt" of the family, no one was really surprised with all the difficulty over Dearc. Had he not been a leaders son, he probably would have been left in the desert to meet a quick end. But the sacred wings on his back, and the obsidian black scales that covered him, had made him safe from the harsh Darwinistic culture that raised him, but just barely.

Strangely enough Chusi had taken to his youngest son in the same way that any father, of any race, dotes on the smallest of his family, with a kind of gentle regard and a worry that if he got too close, he'd end up breaking some fragile bone unknowingly. It was usually the Elder himself that gently took the shaking body of his son to the hospital to be treated until he woke.

The truth was, Dearc had been on a steady decline since the day he was born. Most laid odds on the fact that he wouldn't last the year, whether through the strange sickness that captured him, or by his own hand from the sheer pain.

But Dearc didn't want to die, he clung to life in a way that left most breathless with sadness. He tried, silently, to do everything his older brothers and sisters could. Of course the physical activities usually did him in, but the spiritual ones....

His ability to do magic far exceeded any that most of the Eldars could do, proving without doubt that he was his fathers son. And in doing so securing his place within the society that had made him.

"I have someone for you to meet today, Dearc. He's a human mage, from what I gather...do you feel up to it?" The young lizard brightened considerably at this, and the eyes widened as someone stepped from the shadows behind his father. Deep blue eyes stared cheerfully into his own. The strange scent of licorice filled his senses.

"Good evening, Dearc...I'm Henry. I hear that maybe you can help me with something, and that I can help you...what do you think?

The door shut on these words as Chusi left his son with the mage. Having no tear ducts all he could do was mourn in his heart. The doctors had said Dearc wouldn't last the night...Henry was his last hope to see his son...at least once more in his lifetime...

~~~


Sunstrike awoke in darkness with a start, panting. Squinting, he could see that he was in a room, not a jailcell...which he'd half been suspecting. The bed he lay in...couldn't have really been called a bed in human terms...nest, might have been a better description of how the comfortable circle of stuffed material was placed.

He got up onto his hindlegs and stretched, wincing over bruises. He noticed that his wounds had been bound, and a sniff told him that they'd been cleaned with some kind of herb as well. Everything here smelled of cinnamon, so it was hard to distinguish other scents unless you got right up close.

Carefully he walked to the door, and turned the knob, pleased to find it unlocked, peeking out to see the situation outside of the door.

Sunstrike had winced when the weapons came down, but at all the sounds coming from down the hall he craned his neck out, not leaving the doorway as silently ordered, but having a good look to see what was going on.

He mumbled a few cursewords softly to himself in irritation at only being able to half hear what was going on, and ducked back in, just as Engel was moving his way down the hall.

He sighed softly and looked around at the room, snapping his teeth in irritation at being kept here.