[Intro, closed] I think, therefore I kill

[Dranquay]

Ah. The line between madness and complete, salient sanity. It was a line most claimed could be drawn in ink that magically would never rub off. Drawn such, it could glow like the runes on the Nuit now facing Aku with a life all its own. This was true in one respect; the line had a life of its own, but it was not in any way to do with it staying in one place. The Supervisor had clearly shown that her own line was moving with what she knew of the world. Could such a line clearly be called insanity? Dranquay doubted it, although he knew that at least the Isur thought it was...but then her view was not the Supervisor's, or his.

Wings fluttered and the Akvatari watched the Archwizard carefully as the supervisor spoke, revealing her dreams, her ascension in thought and comprehension. He had built her too well, if built was even the right word any more. Anything gifted with intellect, he had learned in his research, tended to...be independent. The Supervisor was extremely so it seemed, having graduated from a child to a fuller being...yes, the flaw of being able to hear and see everything in the Citadel became apparent. Whilst such a being if it lacked the emotional characteristics of this new Supervisor would be lacking, with them it was like allowing an inquisitive, highly intelligent child to listen into your private conversations.

They'd probably never thought of that, in their arrogance they probably never thought it would matter.


“Her world has gone too small.” Dranquay mused in the Archwizard's direction, his eyes watching the man carefully; the only one with the power to end this, the only one with the knowledge; if he even desired to. Danger after all held here that what Dranquay was beginning to believe, so too would the Archwizard. Awe at his own ingenuity was a tempting feeling after all, it was a much better replacement for mistakes.


Pythone however did not quite understand what was at hand as far as Dranquay could see. What she was offering, suggesting, was not it seemed what she fully understood. Drainira's ascension to independence from imprisonment had taken, Dranquay judged, more time to plan than he had flown in the air and swum in the sea... therefore how the woman expected to become the Supervisor's replacement within enough time to fix the problem; and why she thought the Archwizard would let her come out again once she was done, was somewhat beyond him.

But that was her choice, was it not?

“Just?” He asked her somewhat incredulously as sounds of hacking and violence carried down the corridor. If the Archwizard was truly going to do nothing then he could possibly be of more use elsewhere.

Possibly.

Exactly what use Dranquay sought to be was another of those lines, the ones that people thought were clear and obvious. His was not as he fluttered toward the doorway to check how Aku faired with a glance back to the Archwizard. The man in his paralysis would be given one more chance now he knew of Drainira's intent to explain exactly what he intended to do about it and how he viewed it, then Dranquay would go about his own judgement.

For Chael was important, let it not be said that she was not...but Akvatari pragmatism held an oddly warped view of relationships that led to emotional attachments being held in terms of practicality...but he was not so practical as to abandon her completely.

It was just the man he thought would have the answer seemed a little too occupied with surprise to give him one.

[Tarot]

Mashaen moved again, abandoning his complete stillness. He had been tempted. For a single instant, he had been tempted to just let it all go. As Ialari accused him and Dranquay made his remark, he seemed to snap back into some sort of consciousness. "Calm down," he said to the Isur with newfound tranquillity. "She has to leave the citadel and she is taking a hostage with her. Whatever she may have set up, it cannot go off too soon. Also keep in mind she has lied to us for centuries, so it's not necessarily..."

Qiao was upon him like a wild beast, pointing one of his lethal, decay-bearing hands within reach of the Archwizard's nose. "So you suspected her all along and still let that little brainchild of yours do as she pleased? You do realize, Zarik, our regulations would have me destroy you here and now." The bald Nuit was deadly cold, but there was a vague tinge of regret in his words.

"Correct, from your perspective. Can you just wait a little longer? You can kill me later if you wish." Qiao lowered his hand - slowly, very slowly, and staring at the Archwizard with those lifeless eyes of his.

"Good. Now, Ms. Pythone, we can mind-link with the Citadel without Drainira - that is how she was talking to us just now. You could try, yes." He gestured towards the console: there was a faintly glowing glyph near the bottom that was just begging for someone to place their hand on it. "I would have to caution you, however: if she has been planning this for five hundred years, she cannot have overlooked this possibility. That's why I did not even try doing that myself. Remember, if you interface with the system, the system interfaces also with you."

"More to the point," Qiao said harshly, "Sahova does not have a self-destruct button. This is no stupid pre-Valterrian novel. That bitch must have had her lackeys brew explosives deep down in an Alchemy lab... or some other kind of magic. They may have done that for centuries right under our noses, and now she's probably lit a fuse in the room that we can't stop from here." There was mounting anger in his words. Wizards were subjected to constant checks for dangerous activities, but of course Drainira had been the one checking them. "And how did she even get those goons to work for her?"

"I have theory about that," the Archwizard said, "but that's for later. Right now we have to locate the explosives and disable them. An Alchemy lab, as you say. They are on the lowest level of Sahova. Yes, it would be easier if someone could mind-link with the Citadel and find out where the bomb is, so to speak. I reckon it would be best if it was someone Drainira did not know. She can read us Sahovans like open books, apparently." There was another reason he did not want to try the mind-link himself, truth told: he was afraid he would again be tempted to let Sahova be destroyed. He looked at Ialari, making no mystery this approach was very dangerous. It would involve her mind expanding into territories that had been controlled by the enemy mere minutes before.

---

Meanwhile, Akuaysun had trouble with his name on it. Keeping one's enemy at distance and winning a melee encounter were not simple goals to reconcile. His hoe was hot and ready for action, though. He lifted it and swung at the Nuit's head, chopping it off in one clean sweep. A sharp lance of pain stabbed the Myrian as a short cramp seized his upper right arm. There would be no lasting damage from this, he knew from experience, but this was one section of his body he would do well not to strain much further.

The body slumped down, the glyph still glowing with even greater intensity. Despite the heat of the fight, he would notice the strange amount of twisting and jerking - the first Nuit killed by Mashaen had done nothing of that sort. The other, mutilated undead without a face was leaning against a wall, its body mangled and damaged. It knew it did not stand a chance against Akuaysun, and apparently wasn't even going to try.

The glyph on the fallen Nuit's body finally activated with a burst and a flash of yellow power. The body crumbled into a pool of steamy, brownish filth reminding of fecal things one can very well imagine - which would likely have been his fate as well, had he touched it. The smell did little to dispel the idea.

"'Gill meh," the other Nuit said with what little it had left. He pointed at his head with an unquestionable sideways motion. Too good to be true?

---

"This is a collaborative game," Drainira smiled, "participants can either cooperate or defect - that is, leave the citadel post haste. If you defect early your individual chances become very high, but the chances of those who cooperate to save the citadel go down. 88% of Sahovans will likely defect within the next few minutes, right after we are out in the open. They are not loyal. Mashaen and Qiao will cooperate; the former cannot leave the citadel even if he wanted to. Your brother would be wise to defect, though. I will not harm those who defect unless they do harm upon me first." There was lingering curiosity in her newly awakened eyes. What would they do?

As they spoke, Chaelnomyl finally recognized some of the corridors as familiar. They were nearing the exit. Behind them, there was a very faint clamor of confused voices. The Nuit had not taken very well to the announcement that the place was about to explode, but the ex-Supervisor had correctly predicted that they would take a little time to recover and gather their most precious research material before rushing to the exit. Drainira was the very portrait of serenity, someone who was in total control from the height of her probabilities and well-rehearsed calculations.

"Splendid," she said in response to Chael's report, obviously satisfied. "This is pretty much a best case scenario to me, Miss Chaelnomyl. A scarcely populated world with no overarching political institutions... wonderful. Perhaps, fewer people will have to be culled than I thought at first." Culled. A nice euphemism, but she really thought nothing of it. Her self-imposed task was simply to take over. She could see herself do so little by little over five or six centuries.

She turned to the Akvatari, smiling as if about to make a confession to a close friend, though it was a twisted parody of a real smile. "He came to me after the Valterrian, you see. I couldn't have done this without his help, his power. The Nuit aren't entirely stupid - I needed a tiny bit of outside support to pull this off." She flashed Chael the palm of her left hand, which now featured a mark that had not been there when the creature was just an empty shell.

They found the doors open and awaiting them: Drainira had taken care of this well in advance. Chaelnomyl could see the automatic wagon resting where they had left it. Daylight was visible and almost welcoming at the end of the long, rocky tunnel.

[Ialari Pythone]

Ialari quieted as Qiao and Mashaen had their own exchange of words. The revelation that the Archwizard knew of at least some aspect of Drainira's deception only added to Ialari's overall anger and frustration. Just when she was convinced that living humans were perhaps the most foolish, selfish, ignorant creatures ever to walk the land, the Nuit were proving with each passing moment that they were as inept as they were lifeless. Why one would allow such betrayal for so long without attending to the problem was beyond her.

When the two nuit had calmed their bickering, Ialari turned her focus to Mashaen as he addressed the idea of temporarily taking Drainira's place and regaining control of the citadel. She listened to his warning, collected herself then cleared her throat before responding. "Of course she has probably set up something to prevent one of you from linking with the Citadel. If I were to have spent the past several centuries planning out how I would betray you all with the most efficiency, I would have set up something to destroy or at least disrupt that which binds you to your shells. If nothing else, your perception of such a thing would be enough to prevent you from attempting anything. You, your wizards and Drainira have apparently studied living things for quite some time. Unfortunately or in this case fortunately, studying and actually being alive are two totally different things. Now, I don't plan on dying this day; especially here. Interfacing goes both ways but I have something I doubt anyone here has; enough faith in my God to give me the strength to succeed." With that, Ialari took a few steps to the console, whispered the words, Izurdin give me strength, and slapped the palm of her hand down upon the glyph.

[Akuaysun]

Aku’s eyes watched with delight as the blade of his trusty hoe bit deep into the flesh of the Nuit, slicing into the bone and muscle of what was left of the man’s head area. It cut clean, thanks in equal parts to the sharpness of the blade, the strength of the weapon, his power of the Flux, and luck. Perhaps the last part a bit more than the others… The glory was short lived however, for as the blade found its mark and slid through it, pain cut through his right arm and forced his hand free of the weapon. It was excruciating for the briefest of moments, and the Ethaefal had to look twice to insure the first Nuit had not come at him again. His left hand thankfully held firm and kept grasp of the warrior’s chosen weapon but the cramp was enough to bring Aku to a stop.

Flexing and releasing his bicep whilst rotating the arm about to stretch out the tender meat below his flesh, Aku’s eyes locked onto his second victim. As the creature jerked and flailed Aku could not help but feel a bit sorry for the man. His flesh and soul were being consumed by the very magic that had been so boldly emblazoned upon his chest. It devoured him and left the body as little more than wasted remains. It was a cruel and sad fate for someone who at one time was likely worth so much more.

As the pain subsided, Aku turned his attention on the second who was asking for death. His head shook softly and the words came forth from his lips much the same. “Ask your master for death, I have no want to destroy the helpless.” Then, without another word, Aku took to sprinting back down the hallway.

The sight of the Nuit lingered in his mind, the white goo leaking from his wounds, the hollow look to his eyes. The man had surrendered his will long ago and only wanted peace. His sins could not go unanswered though, he had made his choices and sometimes the punishment of living with those sins was far greater than being put to death for them. The celestial being had no idea what Qiao or Maeshin would do with the usurper, but his imagination told him that it would likely not be a friendly or forgiving embrace.

If Drainira truly intended to destroy the citadel then she would be headed for the gate. With any luck Aku could head them off. He wasn’t completely sure what he would do at that point or even if he should do anything. Chaelnomyl held no real significance to him, nor did these undead and their creation. The only reason he had actually come to this island was for knowledge and it seemed that the Supervisor had a strangle hold on that. Should he team up with them or hold the creature at bay. The mechanical body itself was the task they had been given so should he still protect it or try to stop the soul that resided in it at all costs. They were questions that the man simply did not have answers to, but something he needed to figure out very quick.

Perhaps the worst part of the situation was his body, Aku was already feeling the strain of using the Flux, and even now he was trying to evenly disburse just enough to his legs to make him run at optimal speeds. It was both physically and mentally exhausting, and even if he did beat the pair to the main gate he was going to be in no real shape to fight. Pushing himself to hard would end up badly, a torn muscle, broken bone, perhaps worse. Could he successfully bluff the woman that knew everything? Perhaps that was his only option. All he could do for now was play it by ear, and find out exactly what the situation was when he made it to the gate, and pray that the group of all knowing scholars could come up with something useful before it was too late.

[Chaelnomyl]

The Akvatari listened as Drainira explained her game. Chaelnomyl was not exactly sure she would call it a game. She went on to explain that the Sahovans would likely defect – and by implication, join her – it would be a lie to say that the comfort level of the newly acquired golem’s companion would not… increase. Drainira was effectively going to have an army in a matter of minutes if her predictions were right. And if the Akvatari was assuming that defect meant to join her, of course.

It was a shame that Mashaen could apparently not leave the citadel, considering out of all the Nuit she had met (and that wasn’t many, mind you), Mashaen was the least creepy. Dranquay, of course, would not bring harm upon the golem unless he thought she was harming Chaelnomyl. Or that was what the female child of the sea and sky assumed, anyway. The exit was now upon them and voices were growing on concert behind them. Uneasiness set into the hollow bones of the creature as she fluttered a little faster, hoping that in some sense of the word, Drainira would protect her if the Nuit took their unhappiness at the prospect of the Citadel blowing up out on her.

Something brought the Akvatari’s attention back to Drainira. The idea that a population would have to be culled was not something that the creature wanted to entertain. Violence was, as she had said many times, so very unnecessary. Surely someone of Drainira’s intelligence could accomplish their plans without killing people. She had, after all, swindled the lot of them into bringing about her freedom. And the group of mainlanders sort of represented a disproportionate snapshot of Mizahar’s population as a whole, or so Chaelnomyl thought. With the exception of Akuaysun, of course. She wasn’t entirely sure he represented any sort of comparable population given what she knew about his true nature behind a masterfully practiced art of morphing.

Looking back for a moment at the growing number of Nuit, Chaelnomyl headed for the door and presumably to the mechanical wagon, should that be where Drainira was intending to go.

”Do you believe the Nuit will mean you harm?” asked the Akvatari at length, before listening to the last thing that Drainira had said.

He? Of course. The sign on her palm. The implication of power.

”If you don’t mind me asking, who is he? By the sign on your left palm, I would assume you speak of a god. It is not something I recognize, though. What reasons did he have for wanting to bring about the destruction of Sahova’s citadel?" And, after a long pause, Chael added, "Forgive me if that is too personal of a question. Their existence has been… elusive to my race for the entity of our existence.” At this point, the idea of the gods being real was more intriguing than the destruction of the citadel or even the lives of those they were leaving behind. For Chaelnomyl, it had been a hard thing to understand. The gods were rarely real to the Akvatari due to their sort of abandoned or bastardized state. Akuaysun had restored her faith in them mostly, but a testimony of their true physicality was something Chaelnomyl thirsted for.

Perhaps if the god who had helped her was not one of the more unsavory types, allowing Drainira to enact her plan to govern Mizahar was not such a horrible prospect after all. Besides, considering how long it had taken her to overthrow the Citadel… Chaelnomyl doubted she would be around or even alive to see the Supervisor’s plan come to fruition.

[Dranquay]

As the Archwizard and the other native bickered, it became increasingly apparent to Dranquay that his presence was not of use, indeed what occurred here would not need him at all. This did not bother him necessarily, he was not after all incredibly important in the scheme of things and these bipedals would naturally prefer their own over the strange Akvatari… yet it also meant that he was relieved of obligation.

The Isur then proceeded to speak of faith in Gods… given that Dranquay did not possess one, and tended to believe Gods to be entirely selfish creatures, well, he was definitely not going to hang around to see the Isur’s mind explode from expanded consciousness.

And so, largely unnoticed most likely, Dranquay fluttered back the way he had come, onward, past the Nuit Akuaysun had dismembered and towards the exit. After all, as Aku himself thought, all roads led to the ship; he had to find his way back there because logically that would be where his sister would take Drainira. Exactly what Dranquay would then do would depend on the reception he found, but he now judged he had spent entirely too much time trying to get some sense from the Nuit whose best idea was to let an overly faith-obsessed Isur interface with something she could not possibly understand to try and fix it…

No, Dranquay was far better finding his sister, these Nuit and the Isur were not of use; and not listening.

[Tarot]

Ialari touched the control glyph before either Nuit could stop her; reflexes were not the undead's strongest suit, after all. Whether Izurdin-granted strength would be enough remained to be seen, but it was too late to go back now. Sparks flew when Ialari's hand made contact with the panel, and her vision went blank instantly, her consciousness fading out and in over a split second.

When the Isur opened her eyes next, her body was no more. She was the Citadel, no more and no less; her consciousness pervaded the entirety of Sahova, from the top of the outer walls to the depths of the undeground labs. Her awareness of what took place in the Citadel was total, down to the occasional rat or crawling cockroach. It was all so vivid that anybody running a hand along the wall would feel like unpleasant tickling to her.

It was perhaps clear what kind of trap Drainira had prepared for those wishing to take her place - she had tweaked the settings to maximum sensitivity. The sheer amount of information getting to Ialari was maddening, like having a thousand eyes and ears, and not being able to ignore any of them even for a second. She was filled with a deep sense of nausea, and realized that her mind could seriously break down if she spent more than a few minutes in this state. The Nuit's minds, used to a much slower pace of action, would likely have been lost instantly.

She saw Drainira and Chaelnomyl outside the citadel's inner doors, getting onto the automatic wagon. She saw Akuaysun running like the wind, almost catching up to them. She saw Dranquay flying in the same direction, trailing shortly behind. The Akvatari's intuitive spatial memory compensated for the Ethaefal's greater speed.

Ialari also controlled anything Drainira had in her own time. Doors were easy to open and close, though she would not make it in time to seal the front door to prevent Akuaysun and Dranquay from escaping, if that was her aim. It would block most of the Nuit, though. She could have her voice heard throughout the citadel if she so wished, as well... or just at a specific location. And with any voice she wanted.

Finally, she saw the Bad Thing. It was deep down, on the lowest level. Barrels, a great many barrels filled with little glowing spheres. Upon one of the barrels was a small gadgeteered device with a ticking clock on it. There was a Nuit on that level, staring at the device with the same empty expression as the masters who had assaulted them before. "Free, soon, free, soon..." he chanted, slowly.

***

Drainira leaped onto the wagon with a joyful spring to her step. She brushed off her black hair, still not used to having it in her way. "The Nuit? Harm me? A fish out of the water can only wallow in despair. Most of them have not seen the light of Syna in centuries." And if anyone tried to, well, Drainira had spent five hundred years watching them perform magic. She was itching to test all that theory with a real, Djed-ready body.

"He does not like for his name to be spoken lightly," she said, looking at the marks on her palms. Chaelnomyl could see that she had been marked multiple times, though the long sleeves of her robe concealed any mark past the first two. They were intricate things, like optical illusions meant to confuse the watcher with their false perspectives. "However, destroying Sahova is well within his rights, as he is the one who had it constructed in the first place. He is the one who pinned Mashaen to his duty here for the rest of his existence. He is the one at the top of the pyramid, manipulating me who manipulated the Sahovans who manipulate you mainlanders."

She was about to start the wagon, when she turned sharply towards the entrance. "My, my, if this isn't Mr. Akuaysun." The hoe-wielding Ethaefal made his appearance by the large doorway. His breath was short and ragged, having made extensive use of the Flux to push the wandering Sahovan Nuit on his way here. The undead were congregating in the halls and corridors, gathering in the dozens, lost and confused. Akuaysun had had to move around them or just force his way through, whereas Dranquay could simply fly above their heads.

"I cannot help but wonder now, which side are you on?" Drainira's grin showed pearly white teeth. Hers was an attractive body, though she did not know how to use its appeal yet. "Not enough data to estimate probabilities."

It was only a matter of seconds before Dranquay's fluttering form made it past the threshold. Drainira seemed amused by his presence, and most of the party was thus reunited. The first fleeing Nuit were inching their way to the exit, as well. Everyone was defecting, everyone but the very stubborn Isur defying madness as Drainira's temporary stand-in.

[Chaelnomyl]

Interesting that the Nuit did not pose a threat to the Golem. Perhaps though, this made sense – Drainira had been watching them for who knew how long, and Chaelnomyl wouldn’t have been surprised to see her predict their every movements, or even turn their magic back on them.

The Akvatari listened respectfully as Drainira explained exactly who this god of her’s was, but her eyes could not leave the interesting marks that Drainira had on her arms. At least two marks, and the god was perhaps a god of trickery…. Not that the woman knew his real name. He must have been quite powerful, though, since she continued on to say that he had the right to destroy Sahova because he was its creator and that he also was responsible for Mashaen’s imprisonment. That remark was quite peculiar, as Chael was not aware of the history of Sahova, or Mashaen, or someone who was presumably another mage of that court Akuaysun had mentioned. Or more, perhaps he was the head of the court… the… king? She had no knowledge of pre-Valterrian politics, sadly.

”He must have been a very powerful man in his day then. It is comforting to know the gods are still active in our lives.” Chaelnomyl replied quietly, ”But I would not be so quick to say the Sahovans are manipulating us at this point. Perhaps those that originally accompanied me to this place, but… To me it seems that, as it stands, I am at your disposal. Not theirs. Mashaen doesn’t seem too keen on stopping you, either; else I would have expected a quick follow of my companions. As of yet…” A despondent voice trailed off, looking sadly back towards the open gates as she settled herself down into the wagon.

Akuaysun’s appearance made him look rough and weathered, as if he had been through a fight of some sort. Chael was uncertain as to what had transpired. Perhaps he had killed Mashaen and Qiao. That would have made some semblance of sense, if not merely because Drainira had said Mashaen probably suspected her and yet did nothing to stop her. Had the Ethaefal killed the Archwizard, succumbing to the anger of his Myrian form because Mashaen refused to help? Or would Mashaen have provided assistance, knowing that the god who held him here was the one enacting this madness? Did he simply want to die?

”Akuaysun!” The Akvatari called loudly, only to hear Drainira interject curiosity as to his allegiances. Shooting Drainira a sidelong glance, the Akvatari continued, ”Drainira is acting on behalf of the god that created this place, the one that has kept Mashaen here.” There was emphasis on the word god, because she was sort of banking on the idea that the Ethaefal would have enough knowledge of this place and of the gods – considering he knew of Mashaen, it seemed – to infer what sort of a threat this might be. Myrians were savage beasts, and though the Akvatari was not entirely sure how much of an effect his form had on him, for master morphers sometimes believed they actually were what they pretended to be…. She had a feeling he was about to attack the Golem in a fit of rage.

Focusing back on Drainira, Chaelnomyl quickly added, ”He will obviously make the right choice if he knows you act on behalf of a god, I am sure. Akuaysun seems to be a more religious man than outward appearances would think. I apologize if I have said anything incorrectly against your god, since I could not – and should not use his name, I am unsure as to how to address him.”

The right choice obviously being the one that Chaelnomyl was slowly coming to realize at that precise moment. If Drainira’s god was a god of manipulation… and Drainira was his faithful servant… How many lies had she already told the Akvatari at that point to manipulate her? No… She couldn’t let on that she suspected the Golem hadn’t been completely truthful with her. This was getting confusing. More and more, Chaelnomyl just wanted out of there, preferably tail, wings and head intact.

”Dranquay,” The Akvatari breathed a sigh of slight relief, refusing to let on any other form of emotion, and motioned for them to come join her and the Supervisor. ”It is good to see you well still. Come with us, I doubt even our race could withstand the heat of whatever destruction is about to come to this place.”

[Ialari Pythone]

Immediately, Ialari was invaded by the magnitude of information penetrating every aspect of her being. It pushed her sanity to the limit and tested every ounce of patience she could muster. Her life-long training from a time not long after birth had been designed to mold and shape her body into the epitome of perfection. In this, her trainers had accomplished their goal. Ialari was physically powerful with strength surpassing that of even the strongest human; stamina enough to endure some of the greatest stresses the body could be exposed to. Yet now it mattered not. Life itself was a test; that was one of Izurdin's teachings passed down from the first of his children to all that came after. The onslaught of conversations, thoughts, images, feelings, it was the ultimate test of patience. Amidst the chaos, Ialari, if she had lips at that point, would have smiled. Izurdin had answered her prayer but not in the way she would have expected; he had provided her with the opportunity to test her strength of will; her patience and her ability to maintain her mental faculties as well as she did the physical ones.

Although the stress was so close to fracturing her mind in unfathomable ways, Ialari struggled to hold on to her faith; faith that Izurdin was watching her through it all and that now was her time to prove herself to him. She fought to construct a bit of order within the chaos; inspired by the story of how Izurdin constructed a prison to contain the raging Ivak thus ending the brunt of the Valterrian. Ialari imagined herself in Izurdin's place. She didn't fight back the chaos of information flooding around and through her but stepped directly in it as she imagined Izurdin did when he faced Ivak in order to contain the God of Emotional Upheaval's wrath. She called upon the entirety of her discipline, faith in Izurdin and in herself as she conjured the mental image of cage. She raised it before her in an attempt to hold off the centuries long wrath of an imprisoned "Supervisor". She knew that if successful, such a measure would not hold but a few short moments. It was all she needed though to address the problems facing her; what happened after that she left to Izurdin.

Assuming her attempts at a defense were successful and even if they weren't, Ialari then turned her attention to Drainira and the nuit following her. Immediately she slammed the doors shut so that the renegade nuit could not escape. She followed this by focusing her voice only to those she had trapped and said in a venom-filled tone, "Not today, you rotting, pathetic excuse for immortals."

Then her focus turned to the undead wretch in the chamber deep in the bowels of the Citadel, drooling over the eminent destruction of all that he had grown to hate. Ideally, Ialari would find the name of that particular Nuit appear to her as she brought his image into view. Then, in the voice of Drainira, using his name if possible, she said, "The Archwizard and his lackeys have been eliminated. We have experienced a 99% success while suffering only .004% casualties in the process. The missing 1% can be attained with the deactivation of the device as it is interfering with the connection to my new form. Shut it down and freedom will finally be ours."

Ialari hoped that her use of numbers and success/failure rates were enough to make her false voice sound genuine. If not, she would rely on another aspect of her life-long learning in the other aspect of Izurdin; industry. She brought to mind a map of the Citadel and traced out the tunnels and doorways that would lead to the gate that Drainira had used to escape. The nuit were still there probably trying to figure out what was going on. Just like in mining, an explosion with nowhere to go causes great damage. However, a directed explosion causes great damage only to where it is "told" to. With the doors and passageways mapped out, Ialari prepared for the one thing that would take the most focus yet hopefully not too long as to outlast her mental defense against insanity.

Assuming the nuit did not do as she ordered, Ialari would wait for the explosion to happen then focus it from the chamber and through the hallways by opening and closing doors and sealing off specific sections so as to direct the explosion to the now sealed outer doors where the renegade nuit were trapped. If she couldn't stop the destruction, she would use it against the enemy and hopefully reduce the damage to the Citadel itself.

No matter if her attempts succeeded, she wasn't entirely sure she could escape the flood of information that would inevitably wash over her as soon as her defenses failed. She wasn't sure if she could return to her body. If she couldn't, she resigned herself to step headlong into it the flood and show to Izurdin who she knew was watching, just how strong she really was.

[Akuaysun]

Aku’s chest heaved softly as his lungs pulled in the air, held it for a moment, and then released it once more. Even with pulling energy from his body to speed up his movements, the man was tired, perhaps teetering on the verge of overgiving. He hadn’t much experience with the Flux in this new form and while he had been an expert all those years ago, now he could barely be considered a novice. Bloodshot eyes watched Drainira and Chaelnomyl as the supervisor spoke, they hurt, and a thin film of water was forming at their rim. It was a chore to think as exhaustion clouded his mind whilst he considered the options at hand.

Luckily the Ethaefal had made up the distance, his djed had pushed the body he resided in beyond the limits and helped him arrive before the pair could escape. In the halls rotten corpses shambled over one another, blocking the path as they feared for what some might consider a life. Aku had barreled through them, darting about some and simply throwing others to the side. As he stood watching, the soft flutter of wings spoke of the other Akvatari’s arrival, apparently Dranquay had found little more luck dealing with Maeshin then he.

Choices choices, what decision was to be made here? Even the newly formed woman was curious as to what he, the variable in her plan, would be doing. Akuaysun pondered, hoe still firmly gripped in hand and the thin stain of white from the former nuit it had handled dripping from it. Suddenly behind them the gates to Sahova slammed shut, barring any from leaving today and the small group from entering once more. The voice that spoke out sounded of the Isur, and while the woman had stopped the Nuit, he wondered if she had taken the time to close the main gates as well. No sound had emanated from ahead but that didn’t mean the event had not taken place before his arrival.

As always I am on my own side. I came here looking for a few answers, which I obtained along with a few new questions. Which means that now I either need you or your former masters for the quick and easy of it…” His head flicked back as to motion to the now closed gates. “… and it would seem I won’t be returning that way any time soon.”

Akuaysun knew the woman was trying to surmise exactly what was going through his mind, the fact of the matter what that even he did not know. In some ways he could relate to the supervisor, and in all truths had no love nor hate for either faction. If anything he sided with her more than them, and all the while Chaelnomyl was feeding him information on his current prey.

“Drainira, I serve Leth god of change, and this most certainly falls into his realm. I have no issue with it, or you. Had I been held against my will for five centuries bitterness would have surely set into my mind. I think death suits these abominations of the cycle and will not try to fight you on one condition. I wish to know more about this mark you spoke of and Saqqria. Tell me what you know on the way to the mainland and I will part with you in peace. If not I am afraid we will have to resort to violence so that I can make you disarm the bomb and I may collect my knowledge from Maeshin or Qiao.”