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 Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:18 pm
Tien's outburst caused one feather-like eyebrow to rise. That was strange, had sounded familiar and yet at the same time it was not. Still, it was Glyph's question that managed to more or less catch the dragon's attention again. "Yes."
Very, very strange, but in one piece. Better than the alternative, certainly.
"Looks like everyone's in one piece... Thanks to Ankou." And that the gem was close. Really, that he was eager to be out of here was quite an understatement, and a few irritated tail flicks - that passed right through Glyph's legs - carried that point across nicely.
He had no idea the Spirit Guide could even do that... He certainly had not with the sand storm. Maybe it was a new thing ? Still, this was all rather... well, it did not hurt, but it felt really strange, and weightless. Walking seemed to take a little thought, as if he might fall through the floor otherwise. Or maybe that was just an effect of the weightlessness.
"The ceiling caved in." Well, that was the obvious part, really. The hole left behind was... impressive, to say the least, with the sun starting to filter through the debris as the dust settled around them. Ankou was indeed a little amused by the wide spans of reactions, but now certainly was not the time to show it.
For now he kept them all in this state, uncertain if more debris was going to fall down on them or not.
"That room, yes." Which hopefully would be more solid than this one... Because they had to get the gem out of there, which could not quite be done like this.
He made it to the now crumbled door quickly, and nodded. Yes, this was the room, he recognized it. The ceilling raising up in wide arches, the pushed aside bookshelves... The masses of bodies laying there. And the feel of the gem... He could actually feel her now, without having to struggle to look for it. When everyone had entered the room, he let his power fade away - through his mana remained easily felt and tense, showing that he kept himself ready to do it again should it be needed.
"She was... Back there." He pointed, then looked back. "Can you feel her ?" He could, but would anyone else ? To be honest... Call him paranoid, but he would rather not handle the gem at all, being so aligned toward death... Would it affect the already weak goddess ?
No, he would rather Glyph or Xun Jiang did hold her. Life aspects might actually give her back some strength... Or not. To be honest, he had never even handled a gem himself - had no idea how it worked and if a deity still slumbering in one could be affected, be it positively or negatively, from the influences nearby.
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:05 pm
 Tien returned Xun's quizzical look, wondering why he was looking at her like that. She shrugged when his attention turned to Glyph. If it was truly important he would ask her later. She flexed her fingers as they continued on their way, not liking the feeling that her limbs seemed to be asleep. She drifted back toward the rear of the group, falling into pace with the Spirit Guide and Numbers. "Thank you for that, Ankou." She was no fool, had that ceiling hit them it was quite likely at least she and Xun would have died or suffered serious injury.
"I definitely feel something here that is not us." Trickery had never really been around a gem without a host, at least not when she could sense anything, so she had no idea what to look for. Morgan had seen a few but she had felt nothing from them since she was only a mortal. This power felt different a host would; it seemed more muted, to her at least.
She was grateful once Ankou's power retreated and she could better feel her limbs again.
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:30 pm
 Glyph looked very relieved when Xun said he was okay and flexed his own hands, the tingling sensation reminding him of Winter's chill. It was a bizarre sensation.
Moving was tricky and it gave him the distinct feeling of floating and a wave of nausea washed over him. Groaning, he ended up walking on tip-toe towards the door, bobbing through solid rock and debris until they arrived at the door and the chamber... when the familiar weight of his body returned.Leaning against the wall he was standing by, Glyph seemed to take a moment to recover himself - at least until he pushed his senses out into the room.
He felt the thrum of a gem - it was weak but it was there - and it wasn't hidden or a false signal either. Just like Plant, Knowledge, Fail... there was a spark of the divine here. It was unmistakeable to him. "She's here." The words were spoken with relief and with intense concentration as he tried to pick up her exact location.
Ignoring the bout of vertigo, he meandered forward, stepping around the bodies. They were lined up neatly, blankets over each, their arms crossed over their chests. Whomever had been left to tend the dying had gone to great pains to give them dignity in their last moments.
It was much further into the room, near the end of a row by a dry cistern that Glyph paused, cocking his head to the side. The pulse was strongest here.... the host had been canine... crouching, Forest began to remove the blankets of the dead to look over their bones. Three proved to be incorrect guesses. His fourth try, however, and he spotted the glint of the bright gem resting on the mat at the bottom of the rib cage. “Found her!” He exclaimed, reaching in to pluck the gem from the bones. It seemed to pulse at the touch of another god and he grinned, standing up to show the gem to his fellows, “At last! Forge is returned to us.”
After everything they’d been through… they’d finally found her. He inhaled deeply and smiled at his friends, proud of their accomplishment. The gem was weak, yes, weaker than the other gems he’d handled, but there was a very definite spark within. It reminded him yet again that they were not infallible despite their tendency to think so… something so simple as mortal frailty could take so much from them. Looking at Xun, he wondered how the other felt about the gem and its twice over failure when he himself had lost so much with one failure. Perhaps they would speak on it more when they got a chance…
“If no one objects, I will hold on to Forge. The Council needs to decide what to do with her and we will need to find her proper, destined host. Thank-you, each of you, your help has been invaluable.” He pursed his lips as he looked about the room, “Now we’ll just have to search for a way out….”
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 3:09 am
The feeling of life rushing back into limbs was certainly a strange one. Cosine released Ankou's hand and flexed hers, then her wings and glanced up to the hole in the roof. A very lucky escape indeed.
She could feel it too. A life, well, something akin to a life, energy. Cosine stepped carefully over the rubble, following after the tree god. Silently she stepped down the aisles of the dead. If people ever returned to this place this would be an ideal tomb for the fallen. A monument of rememberance. That though brought a slight smile to her lips. She really spent far too much time with the Underworld influenced gods.
In silence she watched Glyph pluck the gem from the body and nodded to his statement.
"I think that would be best." She agreed, a thought coming to her. "May I?" She asked, holding up an open hand. Perhaps there was something small she might do to aid the god within.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 1:48 pm
Glyph seemed to sense something and took off nearly immediately, just as Ti Lung had been moving to support him as he recovered, and so the Dragon King was not far behind.
And then, there it was. It simply had not taken long for Glyph to home onto her, so to speak, and to pull a small, rust-colored orb from the remains of a canine-looking body. This was it - what they had been looking for all this time. It looked so small, so frail... as if it might shatter if someone dropped it.
He had never actually seen a gem from this close, before. Where they all so frail ? So fragile ? Had Harmodius felt this... this ache when Lindita had returned his gem to him ? He could feel the life within the gem, but she felt so small, so fragile...
Hopefully the others were too busy being glad for the finding to keep attention on him... But Glyph would know better. At least, the shining of barely-unshed tears would make sense to him.
This had been him, once. Not that far gone, no... But that had been him. A gem, reduced to the bare pulse of life, held carefully. It was odd, to be faced so directly with that, with what has once been his fate. It was one thing to know it, but to see it was a wholly different beast.
But he had grown beyond that, had recovered from such a state. And Forge would, too, he decided, even if he had to make it happen.
Ankou's relief that Glyph had homed on the gem so quickly was nearly tangible, even if he was, by all appearances, trying hard not to show it. He took a step back subconsciously when Glyph rose with the gem in hand, clearly content with being as far back as possible. He had a good idea what Cosine might try to do, and well, he could not see that harming matters at all.
Himself, on the other hand...
Well, when Glyph openly wondered about how to go back... Well, that was certainly enough distraction. He figured walking all the way back to the Door was not in the plans... He might have been able to get them there easily, but with the other's reaction to his power... Well, he figured at least 2 out of the 4 would lose their lunch long before that.
"I can handle that." He nodded. Send the souls very quickly - they certainly had waited enough - and then... "Just give me a few minutes."
Well, hopefully he had a plan, because he vanished without even giving it another thought.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 4:05 pm
Glyph would get no argument from her. Hopefully it would not take long for them to find a suitable host for her. Maybe that would help Forge find a greater sense of strength again- she certainly deserved as much after so long alone. Tien was glad that she did not know what it felt like to have her chosen host die. It must have been terrible.
She did however make a mental note to let Tajnevaki know at some point that they had indeed recovered Forge. The goddess would likely be invaluable to their effort of crafting life imbued weapons, once she was able to offer her services again.
Then there was the question of how to get out of here and back to the Pantheon. "Hn..." Trickery looked around, trying to come up with ideas when she saw Ankou's vanishing act from the corner of her eye. Perhaps he had a plan, then?
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Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 6:16 pm
He nodded at Cosine's request and held the gem out to her then stepped closer to Xun as he caught that look lingering in Lifewater's expression. He brushed his fingers over the other's hand and offered a tentative smile, hoping to remind Xun that he was here, with Forest, not a gem with an uncertain future.
Ankou chimed in on the return trip and Glyph opened his mouth to speak but the Spirit Guide was already gone. "Hmm.... I guess that means we wait. I just hope this area's more structurally sound then the other...." Concerned, he looked up at the ceiling and the pillars as if looking alone might speak of their integrity.
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 2:41 am
Cosine took the gem carefully and was a little surprised by the feelings she experienced as she touched the gem. Being a goddess whose powers focused on the emotions it was those that came through strongest. The helplessness and fear. Like Xun she wondered if they had all felt that way before a suitable host had been found, even moreso for those that had been rejected.
She closed her small hands around the gem and sent a feeling of joy to the goddess within. They had found her, they would make sure that she was not abandoned again, that a strong host took her on.
"You will be whole again." She said softly. When she felt what had been a weak pulse grown stronger she opened her hands and held the gem back to Glyph.
"A little optimism goes a long way." She smiled.
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:31 pm
The physical contact brought him back to the here and now - the dragon tensed in surprise, at first, but then closed his fingers around his lover's hand. He would be fine... He simply needed time to process it all.
This was hitting all too close to home, really, no matter how much he tried not to think about it.
Forest's worries would prove to thankfully be unjustified. Cosine had only just finished invoking her power that one of the doors at the back suddenly came to life - and Ankou peered near-nonchalantly out of it. "Well ? Are you all coming ?"
Well, that was one way to solve a problem.
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 7:15 pm
"Hn?" Tien turned and quirked an eyebrow. Well, damn. It seemed Ankou did have a solution to the problem after all. "Definitely, assuming everyone else is ready to get out of here?"
Trickery was glad that they had been able to accomplish their goal, but she would certainly be more than happy to get away from the death, decay and endless sand. First on the list of things to do when they got back for her would certainly be a bath. It would be nice to finally be rid of all the sand, mud and who knew what else was clinging to her by now.
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 7:26 pm
(Fin~~
Thanks everybody! =D)
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