Quest II. The night the towers cried [open]

[Hadrian]

"Nilkayn?" It took but a moment to put the face from Syliras to a name, and so if this was some trick of the Ebonstryfe or the work of some illusionist, it was quite convincing. Unless Nilkayn had trailed them to Ravok, which seemed unlikely as his company had included two sharp-sensed Kelvics, a wolf and a bearded eagle. "This is strange," he noted, though he began to wonder if it might not be some work of Nysel's people. He had been trapped in dreams before, too.

[Annassena]

It was painful, at first. Annassena didn't know what had happened. First, her eyes had watched in awe as light flared from the tall structure in the distance, lighting up the sky and sending her shadows into a frenzy that even she, the one gifted to understand them, could not catch a single word in their darkling magic. Her eyes watered, and she trembled. If anyone would have dared to ask if she trembled with fear, she would have stuck a bolt into their hearts. As it was, she was on the roof of a house in Sunberth and couldn't be bothered by little two-leggeds below. That was where she was struck.

The first discernible thing her lurid green eyes alit on were the marking on the floor. And her shadows wheezed laughter, mocking her stupidity, and informed her oh so kindly that those were markings for Aquiras, a God her kind had all but forgotten. Aquiras was not important to snake-people. Siku and Caiyha were their Goddesses. And, to Annassena herself there was Akajia, the one of Darkness and Shadows, and who gave her the talent to see past the darkness. Even so, whenever Annassena chanced a glance up, she felt pathetic and lost. The darkness above could not be pierced by her green eyes, and she didn't like it. The shadows that were her own fell silent, subdued, and she crouched to appear even smaller, her crossbow clutched close to her body. Strange things buzzed in the air.

"I don't like this." Annassena whispered to her shadows as people began murmuring and speaking around her. And she didn't. To her, she was isolated and in unfamiliar territory. Her ears caught on to words in unfamiliar tongues, voices speaking them alien and foreign. She didn't understand what this was, or why she was there. Was she going to die? Had she been called here by Akajia with others of her mark?

A cursory glance around told her that, if anyone else here was marked, they weren't near, so it couldn't be Akajia.

"Look around for me, my loves... I wish to know what this is, and I know you do too..." As they fled, to obey or to explore, she rose and ran a hand through her long white-blonde hair, adjusting her bow in her grip. The heavy bastard felt ungodly in her current form. Yet, she didn't mutter anything about it, instead she began to wander carelessly through the overstuffed crowd, her eyes narrowed as they flicked from face to face. Beauty and disgrace flashed out at her. The sick and the whole. The weak and the strong. She'd eat good here if she weren't so alone.

[Nil'kayn]

Kayn nodded slowly glancing back down at the globe of Mizahar. He tried to lift his mood, "Well I have a feeling this is going to be fun!" He smiled and laughed a booming sound that would be quite loud. After he finished laughing he smiled, and shrugged, "Its obviously not by mortal design we have been summoned by a god. Which God yet remains to be seen. Hopefully its one of the nicer ones. I actually don't know much about the gods, how about you Hadrian?" To most he would look light hearted friendly, and actually very relaxed, but his mind was whirling trying to piece everything together, but in truth he knew very little about the gods. They had not ever shown an interest in him before, so he had not seen the need, but now...now he thought it would have been a good idea to study a bit.

[Riki Stormheart]

Riki was confused and worried but he knew standing around in confusion was not going to help. He did not see anyone he knew so he could not be at the Sanctuary. Off, a bit away from him he saw a man with green skin. An Akalak! Maybe he knew something! Riki had come to this unknown place from Riverfall, the Akalak's city. Maybe he even know the man from Riverfall or the Sanctuary. The Drykas walked toward the Akalak, running the words he wanted to say over in his head. "Hello, I'm Riki of the Stormheart Pavillion. Do you know where we are?" He had no problem speaking in Pavi, being it was his native tongue but he found he got a bit nervous when he had to speak in common. When Riki found himself beside the Akalak he noticed him speaking to man to seemed to be a few years younger than him. "Hello, I'm Riki of the Stormheart Pavilion of Endrykas. Do you know where we are?" He spoke to both the Akalak and the man he was talking to, hoping that someone would know the answer. "I was at the Sanctuary in Riverfall one moment and now I'm here." His green eyes looked to them both for answers although he had a feeling if he had been whisked away from his home the others might have been as well."

[Zlakalia]

Zlakalia was upset by the storm. More by the fact it was ruining her business than anything else. 'I mean, who the petch wants to buy protection scrolls if the world is going to end?' She had left the market after the non-existent sales of that day, dragging that bulky sword behind her as she ran through the streets of Alvadas, intent on getting back home. The city itself was being particularly cruel; twice now she had seen her house in an alley only to have the scenery change as she ran towards it. And the sky kept lighting the streets in colors, just adding to her annoyance. Her rage was boiling and Zlakalia screamed out, "The towers are clearly malfunctioning, why are people petching out?!?" As she finished her scream a flash of light enveloped her, leaving the sword on the ground behind her. Zlakalia was standing on a wide square with some random image on it. Many of the ones around contained glyphs that looked like openings; hers was clearly different. Zlakalia sighed aloud, thinking the city had played another joke on her, before she realized she was surrounded with other people. Not only that, there were no buildings and a starry sky seemed to stretch beyond the horizon. 'Maybe I'm not in Alvadas anymore.' The rage from before was still present, but mixed in with pure confusion. Zlakalia simply muttered with concern only for herself, "Shyke. Where am I?"

[Cilaes]

Though we may be in a land Leth frequents this is not my lord's doing... Cilaes couldn't have explained the thought to anyone who asked, but it had risen up in him, clear and certain, out of foggy recollections of a brighter place. The shimmering Ethaefal knelt to the ground by the edge of the great disc, passing his fingers over the weary stones. Dirt filled the grooves of his fingertips, mingling with the fine grains of dust that covered the ancient inscriptions. They seem so familiar, if I could only remember these symbols things would begin to make more sense. But it escaped him, like so many other things he felt he should know, and Cilaes stood again with a frown. Suddenly a Pycon appeared at his feet, swearing violently. "I'm afraid very few of us know the answer to that, Miss. But it doesn't seem to be a dangerous place, at least not yet. We must hope we're here on the Gods' favor and not their ill-will."

[Darik]

Darik was doing perfectly fine till he was hit by lightning. It was a befitting death, being smited by the very forces of nature. He didn’t die though, he just disappeared. Were did he go? He teleported to a place were he was crowned king of the world. Okay, maybe the crowning part is a bit exaggerated, but he really was above the world. With lots of other things. Some were humans, some were not. But that didn’t matter, Darik had been about to perform his biggest heist ever. And whoever snatched him away had foiled it. When he found the man in charge, he was going to give him a piece of his mind. There was none however, just masses of disorganized people. Darik navigated the crowd looking for someone to dominate. He picked a Akalack((Nilk)) that had foolishly talked about a god. Ohh great, he was with mad people that believed in the gods. The green man had sounded convinced though. Better hide his tattoo just in case. He slipped his right hand into his pocket as he walked up to him. ”There ain’t no gods”. He said trying to make his opinion the truth. If you don’t believe in what Darik believes, it isn’t true. ”Probably just a magician who’s gone insane and is on his deathbed right now from who knows what. Maybe were like his long lost kid or something.” Now that’s a situation Darik would want to be involved with.

[Nil'kayn]

Before Hadrian could react, a man had walked up and started conversing with him. He was slightly disappointed, but that washed away as he was excited. "Names Nilkayn, call me Kayn. This is Hadrian." He gestured to Hadrian and continued, "No clue where we are, but as I was just saying to Hadrian. It has to be a God or Goddess that summoned us. It might even be more than one-" He was cut off by another man walking up, his eyes traced over the new comer, his eyebrows becoming thunderclouds over the emeralds that where his eyes. "The Gods are real. Only a petching idiot would believe otherwise." He was about to turn his back to the man and ignore him, when he thought about it. Whirling around he pointed Hadrian, "Hadrian, you know something about magic. Do you know any magic that can do this?"

[Zlakalia]

Zlakalia looked around for anyone else she knew, but was disappointed. 'Let's see what this is all about.' The man behind her then spoke boldly, yet polite. Something about his words just made Zlakalia angry though. "Why must we hope for that? What gift could the gods possibly have for ending the world and bringing us before it? Is it for us to watch as they tear it apart, I wonder? Seems like something they'd do, show off their 'powers'." She practically spat out the last part, glaring up at Cilaes. Her hair was moving and seemed to be trying to fight each other, attempting to strangle the other strands.

[Annassena]

The most beautiful creature here was a man.

Annassena felt laughter bubble up in her throat, but wisely held it back. Now was not the time for hysterics, and she didn't wish to play the part of the hysterical woman. That was the weakest role any female could play. It was a demeaning position.

She was directing her path threw a maze of bodies when she saw an Akalak. An Akalak in a group of men. She decided to add some prettiness to their group, as the sight of one of Akajia's sons was enough to warrant her full attention. Her darkness would find her in this group, and as she approached she recognized a member of it. Darik. A runt human she'd encountered a few times but never felt like eating. He seemed to have caused the Akalak some grief, and now the green giant was asking someone he knew -Hadrian?- if he knew of a magic to do this.

"Sooo you sssussspect a God brought you here, brother Akalak." She said softly as she approached, her words hissing like a million serpents. She stepped within a foot of their group, and her serpentine eyes flashed and shimmered as they flicked face to face, identifying all people in this party. "But if a God hasss brought usss here, then do you have one of their Marksss? If ssso, do you recognize anyone elssse sharing your mark? For myssself, I do not." Her tongue ran across her lips slowly before they closed in a pleasant smile at this 'Hadrian'. He was better looking than the others in this lot, and she was always looking to satisfy one, if not all, of her many hungers. "Do you and thisss brother Akalak come from the sssame city, Human?" She asked him quietly. "Me and thisss sssenssselessss brat come from Sssunberth," She gestured to Darik.