Tollidian: The Axiom

[Emperor of shadows]

Tollidian: The Axiom

The Axiom--the rotating ‘Child of Solis’, The Axiom is a small, yet unorthodox island home to dozens of strange creatures said to be gifts of the Gods. This place, rich in Sun Stones, also is a target of greed, as it rumors to hold seeds from the tree of life. If these seeds, if discovered can be the key to perfect immortality, and create a definite peril for all of Eternum.  

[Emperor of shadows]

“That dirty-- arrogant son of a—AUGH!” Amareth screamed into the empty air of the forest, stomping along the path with enough fury to shatter a hole in Lucian’s name. She clenched her jaw and bit her tongue to prevent any further curses to escape her lips. If her anger was enough to light her dark crimson hair into flame, her scalp would be black with soot, and she would still be smoldering.
Lucian, that b*****d!
Amareth gave an imperious frown and wildly scanned the path around her. The image of Lucian stayed obnoxiously in her head. She attempted to rid it by closing her eyes, by shaking her head, and by—
Amarath gave a frustrated and ragged scream as her last attempt to dispel his name failed. She sunk to her knees and let her magic flow from her heart and violently out into the world around her.
Silence cascaded into the forest, all the more making the sound of sudden flames more startling. The nearest tree exploded into an inferno of dark red and black essences, cracking with an extreme heat, but almost devouring the light in the air, rather then emitting it.
She jerked her head towards the sound, before realizing that she was the one who conjured the violent apparition. Amareth gave a weak smile.
She stood and took in a deep breath, and in an instant, the flames were extinguished, not even leaving any smoke upon the tree.
“Listen, Amareth. You control over your own emotions. Don’t’ let Lucian make that a problem. Present or absent.” The cooler words of her rationality pushed away the wrath into the far-reaches of her mind, and allowed her think clearly.
Amareth stood up and blinked away the wetness which kissed her eyes in her moment of passion. She gave a hoarse chuckle.
There really wasn’t a need burn things. Yet.
She nodded at the thought, and walked, slightly more freely on the path once again. Although still shaken, she had nothing to scream over.
However, she wasn’t always in such a maniacal state. Once upon a time (a few weeks ago) Amareth was content with where she was standing with Lucian-- Right beside him.
True, the two had their secrets, but it was only a measure of time before they would share them between themselves.
So in the meantime, they used the shared knowledge to—generally tamper with and conquer the ignorant peoples of Aeternum.
It was simply too easy, and it must have bored Lucian. He must have wanted more from Amareth. If the sex wasn’t enough, he had to go and take—
She growled and thought of something else, very quickly. She was beginning to quite like the trees, and would rather have them stay the same state of being.
She flicked the extra strands hair away from her eyes and adjusted her robes for probably the hundredth time that day.
Even the habit in itself annoyed her. Vanity was a sin. What would she care if she looked good? The idiots of The Axiom may enjoy the dark-scarlet hair, the structured face, the curves, and maybe even the luscious lips, but they would care not for her sophistication, and even if they did, she wouldn’t mingle with the likes of them.
She glared crossly ahead of her and let thoughts of Lucian fade away.
The city was ahead, and if she were lucky, she could purchase a decent sword to fight off the mal-hygiened bandits who were rumored to prowl at night in these woods. She certainly couldn’t be depending solely on her magic, and it surely wouldn’t take Luc—That man—to discover that his secrets were stolen from him as well.
She was beginning to frown at the thought of his name, but once she remembered how she got back at him, a smug smirk curled on her cherry lips.
He could have taken everything from her, but she would always have the secret of immortality under her belt from that moment on.  

[Emperor of shadows]

Amareth understood that immortality was close, it was lurking somewhere in the Axiom, and if she could find those accursed seeds, she would be able to continue her own longevity.
The red haired woman marched from the final paces out of the forest to the single city in the Axiom.
She looked upon the towers and domes of the city with an air of wonder and disgust.
“This place needs to be destroyed, and remade.” She paused, taking in the sights. It was a quiet city, huge trees lined it's cobbled roads, the citizens were a scattered mix of varying races, sentient animals of all shapes and sizes, human and elf alike. What disturbed Amareth the most, however was not the race, but the lack of current magical apparatus.
“Where's the Heliosphere?” As a woman from the United Emissaries, the most progressive country in Aeternum, she expected certain amenities to be met. “...The Solareum?”
She continued on her way, through the streets until she saw what appeared to be a small cat, similarly making it's way towards the city epicenter, with a stride of it's own, a volition that gave it certain intelligence.
Amareth was intrigued. She trained her yellow eyes on the cat until she could see it just a few strides away.
For the conniving witch that Amareth was, she did have her soft sides. Cats was one of these sides.  

[Emperor of shadows]

Amareth watched the cat slip into an alley, it's sly form slinking between any oblivious passerby, and into the dark, secret shadows.
Amareth continued her gaze-- and stride, as she made her way towards the same alleyway that the cat went into, only to discover that it disappeared.
A girl exited, but no cat remained.

For a moment, Amareth looked dejected, but this quickly passed when she realized that there was something amiss.
She could feel the magical energies around her-- a flare of the energy came from the alleyway and drifted back out into the street.
Her yellow eyes followed this trail-- it led into the nearest Inn. “The Hunter's Moon?” Amareth's voice quivered with an unmistakable laugh, she found the names of any building to be irony in itself. “Just a bundle of rotting wood.”

With more curio than ambition, however, the kindred woman followed the trail into the building to see the same girl from earlier purchase a room. She realized at this point, the cat's identity most likely belonged to the girl.
She would pursue no longer however, Amareth turned away from the Inn, ignoring a helpful Innkeeper's “May I help you?”
“Hmph.” Amareth had more important things to do, and it would start by finding those seeds.
Seeds, she remembered as coming from the Tree of Life. The witch made a mixture between a laugh and a growl, stomping off with more ardor than ever.  

[Emperor of shadows]

“Ridiculous,” Glowered the woman, her footstep bringing her to a high hill of the city. Here she could see it's entire surfaces, a small town of infinite insignificance.
Amarteth stared down at it in disdain, feeling a pit of hopelessness rise in her, the most horrid feeling in the world.

She could see in it's streets, a sort of layout that did not seem intended, the streets curving and curling like some ancient rune, a twisting circular pattern...

The woman stared at it for a moment longer then realized with a short laugh-- a sound that sounded like the jab of a dagger-- that the pattern really /was/ some type of clue, it was all very clear to her now.

In Post-Shattering descriptions of the rune, it represented the symbol of vision, but the slightly altered curl at the end of the city streets gave the rune a different, and more relevant meaning-- the rune of staring beneath.

/Staring beneath--/
Amareth's mind was aflame, connecting all the points in her memory to draw the conclusion, “I have to look underneath the city!”

She exclaimed this aloud, with a grin white with unnatural beauty. Stolen beauty, at that. The witch smirked, a paradoxical image on her face, then trotted back down to the city with more conviction than ever.

*~*~*~*

Back in the town, she walked the cobblestone streets with more grace, searching for some clue as to where one would be entered underground.

After a few hearty minutes of the, particularly infuriating search, she slunk to the beach that lay some two-hundred step from the main square. As she left the main square she realized with a cold certainty that she passed the feline child she had spotted earlier, the girl reminding her of a softness she held in her heart for her childhood, the love of cats.
She felt silly thinking about it, dismissing it, but not without casting a pointed look at the girl, a look that silently asked her to follow her.
Amarteth, feeling again perplexed by her own niceties, huffed and turned away, back to the beach.

It was when she arrived did she realize that her answers were all here, for down the golden sands was an old drain pipe, about the height of the woman.
Amareth smiled again, trotting forward to stare within it's rusted surface. It was blocked off, but this was no matter for the witch.

Raising her palms at it, she could feel fire from somewhere in her chest explode into her palms, a familiar black and red essence that devoured the light of the sea and the metal before it.

It seconds, the metal was reduced to a smoldering ash, she pushed the bars away with ease.

Stepping within the tunnel, Amareth realized that the sun did not reach yet into it's surfaces-- she illuminated the room with a flame she carried in her hand, and walked forward, her feet stepping into ancient puddles of black.

She continued walking, where the tunnel began to diverge, and twist, much like the runic paths of the street above.
However, as she continued, and garnered a mental image of the tunnels, she realized that it was beginning to spell out a completely different word, a term of woe: “Abyss & Entrapment.”

Amareth paused for maybe a half second before dismissing the thought of turning back. With the seeds so potentially close, she couldn't imagine turning back just for a misplaced rune. The fools would have to have some form of dissuasion, she figured.

It would not be to the witch's benefit however, to dismiss the claims in these ways, for the dangers beyond were more than she could have imagined.