[Ruins of Nial] Treasures lost (Jaeden)

[Dusk]

Evening, 70th of Spring, 502 AV Jaeden was on his own. It was just beginning to set in that Olevar wasn't around, wouldn't appear as if by magic to save him if he got into trouble, wasn't waiting at a campsite nearby or just ahead scouting a trail. Jaeden Kincade was truly and completely on his own. His travels took him through the southern Syliras, and as Syna began her descent from the sky and shadows lengthened beneath the trees, Jaeden found himself staring at dilapidated stone columns. The trees had long since engulfed it, vines and climbing shrubbery doing its best to reclaim what man had built. It didn't look so much as if a building had once stood there - instead, it looked as if this might have been some rooftop garden, with turrets quartering off the corners and stairways leading down into the soil. Here stood the Ruins of Nial, a city devoured by the earth itself during the Valterrian. All that was left above ground was the towers of the buildings that once stood, only the highest peeks showing now. The rest lay buried deep underground, and man could not hope to lay claim to it once again. As the sun dipped behind the treetops, darkness descended in the sudden way of the woods. Wildlife quieted down to a background hum, the occasional frog's song interrupting the soft drone of crickets. When Jaeden proceeds forward, the uneven terrain betrays him and there's a snap! of a branch beneath him. The birds who'd been calling out to Leth went silent, and another voice called out instead. "Hello?" Tentative at first, a woman's voice, and then harsh and desperate, someone who'd never expected to see another person and more than half-believed herself to be hallucinating it. "Hello?! Is anybody out there? Please, please!"

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden had, for some time, felt directionless. Olevar had ran his little test, had seen just how far Jaeden had come under his guidance over the course of twelve years, and he was ultimately satisfied with the results. Jaeden had been sent off to live on his own. He had known it was coming, but at the same time, he still didn’t feel prepared for it. Doubts crept up in his mind. Could he handle what this world had to throw at him without Olevar there? His mind had wondered so much on the matter that he barely paid attention to where he was walking. He hadn’t even really eaten anything more than field rations that day, his mind too preoccupied with “Where do I go from here?” to hunt or trap some food for himself.

As his gaze finally rose up from the ground that’s when Jaeden finally noticed the stone, it’s surface worn with age but carve with an intricacy that revealed it to be part of something much greater in a whole. Jaeden had remembered traveling around the ruins once before, curious as to what the place held, but Olevar was always insistent in leaving it be. Claimed that remnants of the past only served to remind people of how they petched up most often. As well, one could never be too sure as to what would be lurking about. A city had been buried was normally buried for a reason, wither intentionally or due to fate, and was better left alone.

His curiosity was tickled a little, however, and Jaeden stood in place for the longest moment, observing the surrounding area. His gaze traveled to the stone ruins and the foliage that climbed up along it’s surface, making it less of a blight in Caiyha’s eyes. He looked over the grounds around him, observing what tracks had been present. Most animals he would recognize, and human boot prints as well. If someone or something that didn’t fly had been moving about here shortly before him, it would be good to know. He took a slight sniff of the air as a gentle breeze licked at his face, trying to discern any smells that were familiar or ones that would cause him to pause and think for a moment. Finally, his gaze moved to the horizon, noting Syna’s departure from the skies as what little light she continued to grace the lands with was lingering. “I should make camp, explore more in the morning.” Jaeden said to himself in a light mutter before looking around the area one more time for a suitable place.

His hand reached over his shoulder, his fingers fumbling with a light strap along the side until a Woodsman’s Axe was pulled free. He began looking for long branches and thick foliage. In his course of wondering and getting his thoughts straitened on what he would do with his life, Jaeden had neglected to head into the nearest city and purchase a tent as Olevar had suggested. So with the previous couple of nights, he would once again be building himself a make shift shelter, and sleeping underneath it again. As his foot fell along a branch, causing it’s snap to echo out, Jaeden’s mind traveled immediately to the though of using it for the campfire as he bent over to pick it up.

His concentration would be broken from such things, however, as the voice of a female echoed out in reply to sound. Jaeden’s hand immediately shot out, grasping at the hilt of his longsword. It almost became an instinctive reaction when he was faced with the voice of someone other than Olevar’s at first. Jaeden began moving towards the direction the voice came from, his feet stepping lightly along the ground. Even if it was a woman’s voice, Jaeden knew little of the ruins, and Olevar’s hesitance to travel through it made him cautious in the end. “Hello?” Jaeden then simply echoed out to cause the woman to call out again. He would attempt to move around, silently. To hopefully get a view of who had called out to him initially, and of anyone else that may have been laying in wait, before he would make himself visible to the woman.

[Dusk]

A rough, hysterical laugh echoed out in response to Jaeden's careful reply. "Thank all the petching gods," came the strained voice, ending on a sob. As Jaeden investigated, he would catch the cold smell of metal, acrid as if just recently fired. The slight scent of frankincense shifted on the wind as he approached one of the turrets, and the faintest scent of human sweat. When he rounded the corner, the sight before him would likely be one of the more confusing things he'd ever confronted. A clearing had been stripped of all the vines and plantlife, leaving only the rich brown topsoil. In the center, about twenty feet in diameter, an intricately-made circle of iron laid the boundaries of the clearing. The metal stood only about three inches high and perhaps two wide, but seemed to have been welded together on the spot to form a continuous shape. More iron formed a design within it as well, and there were symbols and glyphs painted along the edge of the circle in what looked like dried blood. And, at the exact center of the circle, a six-foot high pole stood towering over the lot of it, with a girl tied to it who couldn't be any older than Jaeden himself. She was thin, the way one gets when they've spent a lifetime without proper nutrition. Dirty brown hair hung heavy around her shoulders, and her face and arms - and the shapeless linen dress she wore - were smudged with grime and more blood, interrupted only by the tracks of her tears as they coursed down her pale cheeks. Symbols were drawn on her flesh with what seemed to be ashes, and she looked as if she'd been stuck there for at least the length of the day. Despite her ragged appearance, her eyes caught his: beautiful, limpid pools of bister like scorched wood, lit from within and almost mad. "Please, you've gotta get me out of this," she pleaded, straining against her bonds - and now Jaeden could see the rope binding her hands to the top of the pole. "I didn't do nothing, I swear, just please get me outta here. I don't wanna die," she said, her face crumpling as she pulled harshly at her bonds again, and the coppery scent of blood filled the air as the raw wounds encircling her wrists began to bleed once more.

[Jaeden Kincade]

A frown formed over Jaeden’s face at the sight that greeted him. The constructed iron circle, the sight of the blood drawn glyphs, the dirty, yet very sexy, unwilling sacrifice tied to a post. Jaeden quickly gazed around the area, searching for signs of tracks that lead away and possibly brought into view anyone who would have been laying in wait to ambush. “What in the name of Caiyha’s Sweet Tits is going on here?” Jaeden muttered under his breath, still searching around for a moment.

Jaeden pulled his longsword out from it’s sheath, taking a step into the clearing as he gazed around, still not saying anything to the woman for a moment. He raised his finger to his mouth, making a shushing signal to her so her sounds wouldn’t mask the movement of anyone else in the area. “Okay. Looks like a trap, sort of smells like a trap.” Jaeden thought to himself as he took another step forward. “I’ve no idea what all this metal crap and blood stuff along the ground is about, but for some reason I find it hard to believe that someone would go to all this trouble in setting it up and just abandon it suddenly.”

Jaeden paused in his forward movement, taking a quick look over his shoulder then as he stepped over the iron borders of the circle before a gaze, likely unsuccessfully covered up as leering, fell back to the tied woman as it lingered on the ash covered, yet smooth looking, skin of her legs and exposed areas of her body. “However, she may be very, very grateful to me, so it’s worth the risk.” Jaeden then thought to himself as he stepped a little quicker, stopping right in front of the woman.

“Keep silent for now,” Jaeden advised in a soft whisper, “whoever is responsible for tying you to this thing may still be in the area and I don’t want to alert them. Save any story or explanation for when we’ve gotten you out of here.”

Jaeden then raised his sword up to her bindings, the longsword making for an awkward weapon considering the positioning. He paused for a moment, looking around again as his ears twitched, listening for any sound.

[Dusk]

"Oh, he ain't nowhere near here, I promise you that," she replied, trying to keep her voice down, but the hysteria couldn't quite make it a whisper. "Lit out as soon as the runes were laid, he did, and didn't look too keen on ever coming back," she said, tilting her chin towards the direction the man had taken off in, and there was indeed a trail that indicated someone had gone running full-speed away from the clearing. She flinched away from him as he approached, eyes suddenly glued to the incredibly long blade he pointed at her. "Whoa now," she said, twisting to try and put the pole between her and Jaeden - taking note of how his eyes wandered over her body - but the ropes were too tight, and all she did was give him a brief glimpse of her backside before the tension forced her to spin back to face him. "I done told you, I ain't done nothing wrong..." But his whisper to keep quiet, and his move towards her bindings, seemed to reassure her. She simply watched him with dinner-plate eyes and trembling hands as he crossed the circle, stepping over the lines that cross-sected it as he got closer to her. No sound met his ears as he looked around, one hand on her wrists - and they were as soft as he'd predicted. When he touched the blade of the sword to the ropes, everything exploded. The girl let out a loud shriek of pain that was cut off almost instantly. Jaeden saw only a flash of white light, then he was catapulted backwards and out of the circle as if some monster had picked him up and thrown him. He slammed against a tree just outside the clearing, and somehow managed to stay conscious through all of that. If he glanced up, he would see one of the glyphs that had been drawn upon the metal circle disappear into a puff of smoke as the magic it'd been focusing was released. The girl slumped and hung limply from the pole as blood dribbled from a gash where her head had slammed against the pole.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden hadn’t yet before been greeted with the sensation of flying through the air, but when he suddenly found himself hurtling backwards, as if thrown by some unseen hand, he had decidedly come to the conclusion that he didn’t like it. He was doubly sure of his dislike as his body’s momentum through the air was suddenly stopped by the loving embrace of one of Caiyha’s trees. His body had been no stranger to pain through his years. He had been battered, bruised and beaten on several occasions through his training and experiences that Olevar and the Wilderness had provided. This was the first time his entire body had been wracked with pain however as his back and head hit squarely along the tree, his arms and legs almost wrapping backwards around it before the force of his impact bounced back, tossing him to a heavy thud along the ground. He had fortunately been able to keep hold of his longsword throughout the flying and the impact, but as he fell to the ground, it had finally flung from his hand, landing several feet away from him.

Jaeden groaned in pain, laying there motionless for well over a chime. He would have liked to have blamed the dancing stars that crossed his blurred vision on the flash of light before he was thrown, but he would have been lying to himself. “What the petching petch?” Jaeden grumbled, as he slowly planted his hand along the ground. A grunt was released at the now throbbing pain that ran through his whole body as he pushed himself off the ground into a kneeling position, remaining there as he worked on remembering how to properly breath once again.

His gaze then finally rose up to the clearing, a frown crossing his features in confusion as he noted the missing glyph and rising smoke that had replaced it. “Okay, totally not understanding what happened here.” Jaeden muttered out as he began to slowly stand.

His feet dragged along the ground, his body stumbling as he still recovered from his, how he would later describe it, fall. He slowly crouched down, picking up his longsword as he gave another groan of pain before once again approached the circle. He eventually stopped at the edge, looking down over what remained within suspiciously before looking back up to the woman. “Say something if you’re awake.” Jaeden called out before his gaze fell to the edge of the circle again. Then, as if testing the waters of a hot spring, Jaeden’s foot slowly slid forward, the tip of his boot slowly poking inside of the circle itself as he braced himself for another impact just in case.

[Dusk]

Nothing else happened, so apparently entering the circle was allowed. The girl gave a low moan, and stirred a little as she regained consciousness. She managed to get her feet under her once more, but it took her a few moments before she got her eyes to focus on Jaeden as he approached. "What the petch?" she echoed, groaning again as she pressed her face to her upraised arm to wipe away some of the blood. The gash on her head was bleeding quite a lot, but head wounds were known for such and she seemed to be okay other than that. She blinked some of the blood out of her eyes and looked back at him, a frown pulling at her lips. "Must be the petching glyphs. I hate magicians," she growled, straightening up a little more. "Stupid jackasses playing with shyke they don't understand." She glanced up at the trees around them - and seemed to realize that several minutes had passed between when Jaeden first arrived and now. Her eyes widened substantially. "Hey, look, you gotta hurry," she pleaded. "Sunset, he said it'd all be over by sunset, which means whatever he's summoning's gonna show up as soon as Syna dips the horizon, and then I'm as good as trail rations. Or at least just stab me or something so the bastard doesn't get his sacrifice and the whatever-it-is goes looking for him," she added desperately. "Because whatever it is needs a girl prob'ly ain't gonna be satisfied with just eatin' me, and I'd rather take a length of steel, thanks."

[Jaeden Kincade]

“Heh, you said ‘take a length’. That’s so naughty.” Jaeden said as he crossed the barrier, giving a turning gaze towards the still rising smoke of the glyph as he approached her once again. “So, it’s magic then? I've never witnessed any that I can recall aside from Reimancy. Oh, and what is your name, anyhow? In my being hurtled back some upteen yards, I recalled that I failed to get such from you.”

Jaeden circled around the woman, taking a look at her bindings to see if a knot was accessible for him to loosen and free her from. “Considering you said the shyke didn’t know what he was dealing with, is that to say that you do?” Jaeden the inquired as he reached around his back with his left hand, pulling out his hunting knife. “Last time my sword touched your ropes, you shrieked in pain, got your noggin knocked and I was tossed into a tree. You think that was in reaction to the rope being threatened? Oh, and what happens if I screw up or alter the circle before the sun sets?”

Jaeden then reached up, slipping the hunting knife into the woman’s grasp. “In case I can’t get these knots undone or cut you loose in time.” Jaeden then instructed. “If something appears before then, I’ll do what I can to hold it off so you can finish cutting yourself free.”

Perhaps it was a possible concussion, or the fact that Jaeden could see down the front of the woman's dress, but in the end he seemed less concerned with the time constraints that they were under. Point in fact, he didn't even ask what would be coming out. Such might have lead one to believe that ignorance, was indeed, bliss.

[Dusk]

The girl gripped the dagger in her fist, rolling her eyes at Jaeden's comment about naughtiness. "I'm Djoli, and I was an apprentice in Zeltiva for a few years so yeah, I know a bit about magic - enough to make me say petch it, I don't want no part of nothin' that insane." She twisted a little and looked around, staring more keenly at the circle. "He welded the damned thing, which means you can't really mess with the circle itself. But you've got the right idea. Look, the glyphs, like, store magic to be released at a specific trigger. So the one that went off was probably set to do it if someone tried to cut my bonds. You can ruin 'em by petching up the markings. I dunno know what all of 'em do, though," she said, staring around her at the twenty or so glyphs that were drawn on the iron boundary of the summoning circle. There was no way he'd have time to disturb all of them before the sun set, though.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden gave a slow nod as he lowered his sword, looking over each glyph and taking a quick note of any similarities. “Right then you work on cutting your bonds, I see what I can do to screw up the glyphs. I‘m Jaeden by the way.” Jaeden said as he moved over to the ones that had the least similarities between them, figuring multiple glyphs that were the same would be deterrents against messing with the circle itself. “Just watch your head.”

Jaeden then drove his foot into the first Glyph as he began to drag his food and grind his heel along it, his body bracing as he anticipated another violent reaction. If there was none, he would then move on to the next and so on until Djoli managed to free herself or something else appeared. Jaeden figured if something appear, any further glyphs protecting Djoli’s bonds would be gone, and he could cut them that instant, allowing her to escape.