The Battle Against Dust (Ihnar)

[Eridanus]

Day 45, Winter of 511 AV
Around Midday
Somewhere around Alvadas

Eridanus stopped by the huge burned down husk that was Avain Manor. The government had given the sunberth group housing, and though the twenty by twenty room was much smaller than the huge mansion that sprawled in front of him it was by far way better than how he slummed his days out back in the lawless city. At least there was a general form of law and order that allowed him to sleep much more peacefully and it was with conviction that he told himself that he did not want to return to such a state. He honestly hoped that he would not have to leave Alvadas again, for the city of illusions had stolen his heart in a way that no other city could. Not even Sahova.

His little friend had insisted on shifting over to Miro's ancestral house though, and even though it was bigger than their allocated accommodations the dilapidated building made Eri think twice about coming along. It seemed that the walls and ceilings might collapse any time, and honestly he would pick his perfectly clean and well-built room over this burned-out shell any time.

They still made time to catch up though, even after the crazy shenanigans they went through together while the city was in crisis when they first arrived. This was one of those days, and they had made an appointment to walk around the city, maybe grab a bite and catch up on what they have been up to.

The ethaefal was clothed casually, a nondescript cloth tunic with commonly coloured tan leather boots. He generally felt naked without his weapons though, and his characteristic weapon harness was in place along with both his blades laying side-by-side on his back. The crossbow was absent though, for he left it along with the quiver of bolts back at the room. He had not expected any trouble, for the enforcers in Alvadas generally kept the city peace, and he mostly carried his weapons out of habit.

Clanging on the gate, he called out for the pycon that he met in Sunberth under quite interesting circumstances. "Ihnar! You there?"

[Ihnar]

All appered to be quiet on the manors front garden. The wind was blowing gently, rustling some leaves and causing some sand to attempt to fly like a lazy pigeon.
Then there it was, the silence was broken barely, by a silent rustle as something moved.

That something was Ihnar, who emerged from behind a bush, like a scared rabbit, his eyes wide. Having been so caught up with his business, Eridanus had given him quite a fright. The man hadn't told the pycon he would be arriving to.. check up on Ihnar..? Honestly, what was he doing here? Perhaps he had come to grab Ihnar off and march him back to where-ever Eri lived nowadays. In his mind, Ihnar still thought of Eri living in a library, it would have been strange to assume he would have changed that habit. It never crossed his mind that this might just be his own imagination.

Taking his time he waved at Eri from behind the bush. He had to do some things before meeting with his master. Some very important things. He scanned the pile of objects he had found from the lawn today. Feathers! It had been a good day. Feathers were always his number one priority. A few acorns. He would leave those for the squirrels. A red button, that had possibly dropped off of some ones shirt. He wondered would anyone want it back.. It did look awfully nice. The pycon blissfully stuffed the button and the feathers in his pocket.

It had been a good idea to buy this broom... it was so wonderfully good at finding stuff. Not to mention he was really proud of this broom. It was one of the rare items he owned. It was also beautiful, in a very simple way. Made from oak, with little mismatched twigs as brushes. He wondered would a wood smith be able to make some carvings on it. That would look so much prettier, and would be worthy for such a good broom.

Ihnar grabbed his broom and walked away from the bush, heading to the gate. He kept the broom which was taller than himself against his shoulder. It also made a handy walking stick, if it would rain. Less falling, more walking.

Skillfully Ihnar used his broom to open the gate, which was far too tall for him to open easily with his own arms. Stepping out with his hat bobbing cheerfully he looked up at Eri. Yes, he was still the same man since the odd happenings in Alvadas. Being in the presence of his master did make him stiffen up a bit. He hoped this wouldn't be another one of the vanthas ramblings about Ihnar needing to stop following him. He just couldn't stop doing it, it was like a strange obsession for the pycon.

'Hello E-eri... W-what are you.. doing here?' He squirmed a bit and turned to look at Eris boots, his eyes quickly picked up a wet leaf, glued to the mans boots. As if doing nothing out of the ordinary he bent over and picked the leaf off, also rubbing Eris shoes gently. It was a rather pretty leaf, but sadly leaves tend to crumble within a few days, so they couldn't be collected.

Standing up, he turned to look at Eri again, cocking his head a bit like a confused dog. He whispered a silent sorry, gesturing at Eris shoes. Who knew, maybe the vantha had put it there on purpose.
Waiting for a response, he stood there rather confused, ready to follow the man if he was to start walking.

[Eridanus]

Eridanus watched with amusement as he saw his little friend use the broomstick to open the latch of the gate. He recalled the days of Ihnar having to painstakingly pile up books in order to use as a stand to reach the handle of the door back in Sunberth. This was most definitely an improvement. Ihnar was his usual confused self, timidly removing the leaf from Eri's boots. It almost made him laugh. The pycon had not changed one bit.

"Take a look around the city, Ihnar. Want a ride?" He was not sure if Ihnar had overcome his fear of being touched, or if their familiarity and bond built through various instances of danger would make Eri the exception to this rule. If Ihnar agreed he would gently pick up the pycon to ride on his right shoulder, and Ihnar could grab the hilts of both blades sticking out from the back of his right shoulder for stability.

As they walked, Eri asked the pycon in a conversational tone. "So how's life been treating you? This Miro fellow treating you well?" He did not know much about this strange person who seemed to want Ihnar in his mansion and even went as far as to offer free lodging. It was true that such good people may exist, but his years experiencing what evil humans can really do made him a generally cynical person. This Miro might have some hidden agenda in doing so. Or he could really just be over-thinking things.

They passed by a bakery, and Eri found his eyes drawn to a tavern that was after the bakery. The Suns and Stars... it seemed like an interesting place to check out. It looked new too, for he did not recall every seeing this tavern the last time he was in Alvadas. The placement of the shops was completely random of course, for the shop locations often depended on the city's mood or whatever whims and fancy Ionu had at that moment.

As they passed by the bakery, a man suddenly stepped in front of the pair. He was a middle-aged man, wearing a neat pressed suit that distinguished him as not only a merchant, but a formal and professional businessman. His hair was short, neat and black, but somehow his eyes seemed to change colors like the vantha. It was an interesting contradiction, for if he were vantha his hair should not be just black. Eri himself was proof of that.

"Welcome good sir, would my goods interest you?" The businessman said, gesturing to the left and Eri suddenly realized that there was a shop in between the bakery and the tavern. It was nondescript but it was a pretty large shop that spoke of huge initial capital investment. The man realized that there was a pycon holding a broom with the vantha and as he changed his gaze, he seemed to stop for a moment. It was as if his face was frozen in expression and his eyes suddenly changed to a deep crimson color. Suddenly, as if he was an automaton that was pressed on, he smiled delightfully and addressed the duo again.

"I see your friend there has a broom, good sir! Ridley & Jenkins will provide, and I am John Ridley at your service. We offer the finest brooms and might I say, your friend's broom there looks pretty worn-out! We have the highest quality and one can even say, " the man waggled his eyebrows, "our brooms generally last you a life-time! Oh yes, we treat our customers very seriously."

"Come in, take a look, have a browse around. It's fine if you don't buy anything, but let us have the chance to convince you otherwise!" The business man concluded, his voice cheery and his manner confident as he completed his piece.

Eridanus was not in a rush that day, and had intended to take a leisurely stroll around the city. He also did not recall this shop when he was last in the city and was intrigued to discover what merchandise it sold. The businessman's cheery tone felt like a ray of sunshine to the ethaefal, and he shrugged, beckoning Ihnar to come along with him. (Or if Ihnar was already perched on his shoulder he would whisper to Ihnar "Let's just check this place out.")

Entering the shop, they found themselves John Ridley's only customer, and the entire place was in a spartan but pristine condition. There was no cashier and no other staff, just the three of them. Ridley followed Eri's eyes and he hurriedly added, "We just opened for business, sirs. You have the opportunity of being able to preview our goods! Just for you two, I humbly offer a twenty percent discount. Treat it as a... ah... early bird discount if you will."

Eri noticed that Ihnar had been pretty attached to his broom, and he remembered what the merchant said earlier about brooms, and so he said, "What about your brooms? The ones that can last a lifetime? Show us your best." He probably had no intention to buy it of course, and honestly he could not see the fuss behind broom quality. Brooms were there to sweep dust. Honestly, brooms were just, well, brooms. He wanted to see what kind of merchandise the merchant had that could live up to the expectations he created earlier with his speech.

"Ah... those... are not really opened to the public yet," Ridley admitted, but as he caught Eri's disappointed expression that spoke of his intention to leave, he hurriedly added, "But like I said, you two are my valued customers. Here, follow me for a little preview."

Beckoning to the two, he brought them to the far end of the shop, opening a door that looked like it was part of the wall, if not for the quaint little doorknob. Ushering them into a tiny room, he opened a trapdoor that revealed stairs and explained, "It's a little dusty downstairs, but this is where we keep the goods that are not placed outside, a storage of sorts. We haven't taken out our brooms yet, and do not have the necessary manpower to clean up the entire place too, so if you don't mind a little dust good sirs, please follow me."

Eri was quite intrigued by now, and he followed the man to the shop's basement. Although it was underground, it was as bright as day though the lights seemed to come from nowhere in particular. In any other situation Eri would be quite curious as to how the phenomena came about, but as he was in Alvadas it was pretty normal. Weird was normal in Alvadas.

The underground storage was a huge room the was insanely vast. It probably spanned several of Alvadas' Colosseum and there were rows of cupboards, wardrobes and various junk scattered throughout.

"Pardon the mess, we just moved in and haven't had the time to tidy things up," The merchant remarked apologetically as he led the two to a large cupboard near the stairs. Opening the cupboard with a flourish, he proudly swept his hand to display an impressive row of brooms in the cupboard. "Our finest quality," He said, smiling triumphantly.

The brooms were vast in their strangeness and variety, but even as a non-discerning customer Eri could appreciate the quality and hard-work that went into their creation. His senses tingled as he marveled at the excellent craftsmanship of the brooms. There was one made of mahogany and was obsidian black, but somehow he could still see the intricate designs glowing a soft light blue out of it. There was another one made of red oak that simply pulsed with intensity, and Eri suddenly had a ridiculous notion that this was a broom that the Gods used to clean Ukalas, if Ukalas even had dust.

He did not know how long he and Ihnar stood there, their mouths open gaping as they studied the array of brooms in front of them, but he suddenly remembered that he should probably be courteous and turned to face RIdley. Perhaps to ask for the price or origins of the brooms.

Turning around, he faced... nothing. Ridley was not there. And neither were the stairs that led them underground. Behind them was simply... a white wall. Turning again to look at Ihnar with a disbelieving glance, he brought his friend's attention to the new circumstance they were in. It was probably not time to panic. Alvadas was notorious for pranking its citizens. Perhaps the merchant was somewhere else or wondering where the two of them went. Stepping away from the broom cupboard, the ethaefal grimly surveyed the huge warehouse.

oocFeel free to describe the other brooms in the cupboard. Unleash your creativity and do crazy descriptions like I did xD

[Ihnar]

Agreeing with Eri's offer the pycon seated himself on his human friends shoulder, gripping one sword tightly while trying to find a good position to balance the broom on. He had never really been familiar to swords, this must have been his first time touching one. Curiously he fiddled with the swords, carefully as if he was afraid of breaking them. He really didn't want to upset Eri by destroying these weapons... was it even possible to break them, he had no idea.

The pycon watched as the city moved before his eyes. The speed wasn't exactly as fast as lightning, but is sure was faster than a pycons walking pace. Bigger legs, meant longer steps. Ihnar was slightly jealous of this. Also the view was great on Eri's shoulders. It was such a change of perspective to be tall. He could see peoples faces! Normally he would see feet and have to look up if he wanted to see more of the creature, making it awkward for both parties.

The vanthas words brought Ihnar's mind away from Eris feet. Miro was mentioned. Ihnar didn't really know Miro all that well, and had not formed an opinion on him yet... but free housing was such a great offer... and then there was that girl. Iliana, who danced. Still in his mind Ihnar called her a princess. She had been so kind to him when they had met... and he lived at the manor too. Surely Miro wasn't a bad person if he housed an innocent girl like her over there.

'G-good. Nice place... t-that.. manor..' Ihnar felt a bit awkward.
'M-Miro is... n-nice... and.. there is this k-kind girl over t-there.. and and..' He was getting slightly excited now. His joy was a childish one, but he didn't care.
'LOADS of floors.. and.. and.. feathers... buttons...' His list went on for a short moment, going through all sorts of stuff he had found on his treasure hunting trips. With each item his voice changed slightly, depending on how much he had liked the mentioned treasure. When he liked something really much it shoved as excitement, even causing the pycon to tremble a bit. Average finds weren't greeted with such a reaction though.

As his list came to a stop so did Eri. Shamefully Ihnar lost control of his broom with the sudden halt, and ended up bonking Eri on the head with the tip of the broom. He felt like fainting. He had hit his master on his head with a broom! He was in trouble now. What cruel punishment would come from this embarrassing mistake?! Ihnar whispered out a silent sorry in Eris ear and turned his attention to the man blocking their path.

The sudden change of colour in the mans eyes creeped Ihnar out. It reminded him of some sort of a monster from a fairytale, eyes like blood. Without realizing it, Ihnar gripped on to his broom tighter. He felt slightly insulted at someone calling his dear broom worn out. It was as new as could be! He had bought it from a merchant... and the merchant had said it was new. Why would he have told otherwise..? Ihnar inspected his broom. Sure there were a few bumps on it... and a rather nasty burn. Ihnar didn't recall being near fire. He was afraid of fire. How come the broom still had a burned part on it? Unless...

He had been ripped off.

This wasn't a new broom at all! The pycon felt betrayed. Maybe he could find that man who had sold this one to him and get his money back... As reality kicked in, he realized the person was most likely long gone to rip off other innocent creatures interested in brooms.

Ihnar nodded slightly at Eri's whisper as he stepped in to the shop. Immediately his clay eyes began to seek out any brooms. To his disappointment there were none, just some pretty average looking stuff scattered around the room. The lack of people was disturbing.. this was the first time the timid pycon wished there were more people in there. It would at least seem less like a death trap.

As Eri mentioned the brooms Ihnar could see the man change a bit. Perhaps Eri had just done something to make the man seem so hurried. After all, the pycon didn't have a way to see Eris facial expression. The man lead them to a wall, which made Ihnar silently question the mans sanity. It was a wall. An ordinary wall made of stone, with some silly little knob on it. Possibly the knob was a place to hang clothes. Ihnar felt brightened as the man somehow made a door appear out of the wall. A part of his mind screamed for this door to be torn down, like all his previous door related foes. Doors didn't mean good things. Nothing good had ever come from doors, and it made him feel more suspicious about this place. Jerking Eri's shirt a bit he tried to catch his attention.

'I-I... d-don't.. like.. th-this.' He stuttered silently enough for only Eri to hear. Who knew what the shopkeeper would do if he felt insulted.

And now there was a second door... but in the floor...and Eri went in, leaving Ihnar no choice but to ride there too on his shoulders. The space they entered was huge. Not just huge. A huge space that was huge. He couldn't see the end of it, even if he was on Eri's shoulders... and Eri was tall! Being in a space like that made the pycon feel even smaller than before.

And then there were the brooms. All sorts of brooms in a row. Strange ones and common ones. His eyes found one that had such a thin frame it looked like you could snap it in two, yet somehow it still oozed the feeling that it was hard enough to be mauled by a bear.... or to maul a bear. Then his eyes shifted to the brushes. Ihnar nearly let out a squeal as he saw that they were made of a combination of feathers and small twigs. Also it had some pretty woodwork on it, little flowers and leaves carved on it.

Next to it he saw a broom that was the same shade as his own eyes, though it seemed to be swirling like the oceans. Someone had taken the time to glue seashells on it too... and the brushes were.. seaweed. It seemed slimy, even from a distance.

But none of the brooms matched up to the thin, feathery one. In his dreams that broom could fly. He wished he could take it with him, but that would be stealing, and stealing wasn't nice. It took a while for Ihnar to register that he was not staring at the brooms any more. Eri seemed.. somewhat sad.. or perhaps it was fear... or both. These feelings came crashing on the pycon as he discovered the door was gone, like the man. Tightening his grip on the broom he climbed down from Eri's shoulders, landing with a soft thud. He rushed to the wall, trying to find any seams in it with his hands.

There were none.

As fast as he could, he rushed to Eri in a panic. Clinging to his leg in a desperate attempt to keep at least Eri from disappearing.
'M-master E-eri.. I w-want.. o-out...' His voice asked, begging that the human would have a solution to make everything okay again.

[Eridanus]

Ihnar had realized their current predicament and the pycon quite endearingly rushed to cling on the vantha's leg. Eri looked down to find his clay friend quite terrified and he bent down to pat the pycon's head gently. "We'll get out Ihnar. Just stay close to me, alright?" He reassured the pycon in a soothing tone, but his mind was whirling quickly as he thought of the next few things they should do.

They should probably explore the room and find an alternate exit, and so he stood up again, walking into the vast expanse of the underground warehouse. There were various boxes and crates around, even a huge bookshelf containing a bunch of dusty tomes in the far end of the room. It was very intriguing and the curious ethaefal would love to just inspect and check out all the random trinkets around the warehouse. Well, he would if they were not in this current predicament.

He knew that they had to find a way out first before he could satisfy his curiosity and so he continued walking forward. There was a sort of deathly silence that reminded him of the inner sanctums of the Acumen Asylum, and the only sound that could be heard was the footsteps of an adult-sized vantha and a tiny pycon.

It took quite a while of walking before the end of the room came into view. It seemed pretty far away, and the insane largeness of the room began to dawn on Eri. It was so vast that he could not even begin to estimate how big the room was. There was simply no basis for comparison.

Suddenly, there was a whistling in the air that sounded like what a strong wind would sound like before a storm. The actual lack of any wind and the silent room they were in amplified the strangeness of the sound and Eri began looking around warily, his muscles going into a partial state of tenseness. His subconscious recognized an unfamiliarity with the situation that might just equate to danger and so reacted accordingly.

Around the two of them the dust and cobwebs hanging around the various objects and trinkets began to fly and gather around them, as if they had some will of their own. They kept a clear distance from the duo, but swirled in a circle fast enough to discourage Eri from jumping out of the circle. There was magic involved, and who knew what it was capable of?

A low booming sound resonated throughout the room that sounded like it came from a bass horn, and the dust and various debris stopped swirling, slowly forming into a general humanoid shape. Around them hovered four figures made from moving dust and random small pieces of something. They were humanoid only from the torso up, having a mini cyclone replacing their legs (oocThink disney genie) and their faces - if one could call it that - had two smaller holes at the top and a bigger hole at the bottom that vaguely represented eyes and a mouth.

Eri pinched himself to make sure that he was really awake, and he stared at the figures in disbelief. He had never encountered such things before, and he had never heard of them before on any of his travels. He heard of age-old stories of elementals that wielded the power of the elements. Were these dust elementals?

It was absurd, but the entire situation was absurd.

Eri looked around quickly again, calculating his chances. He had to get Ihnar out of the way first, and he spotted a huge, ancient-looking table clattered with a variety of dinnerware around nearby. Whispering to Ihnar, "Apologies that I have to do this, but brace yourself," he would firmly grip the pycon and toss him over the heads of the dust figures, hopefully landing on the table.

He would not be able to know if he managed to throw Ihnar accurately, for upon his sudden movement the hovering figures began to close in. It was fortunate that the circle they formed around them was quite large, and this meant that there was still a sizable space between the four of them.

He could not allow them to approach further and continue standing there for that will cut off his exit route, and he dashed in the direction of where he threw the pycon, aiming at the space between the nearest two dust elementals. He hurled himself in a streamlined missile shape, narrowly dodging one of the elemental's attempt to swipe his head - or where his head should be if he were to simply walk past - and he tumbled when he cleared the circle, cushioning his fall and quickly turning around to face their unknown assailants.

"Ihnar? You alright? Where are you?" He said, eyes darting quickly around him to search for his friend. He kept his gaze firmly on the magical figures though, only allowing him split-second glances to search for the pycon.