Trouble Magnetizm
The two of them didn't stay for much longer. There simply wasn't anything left for them to pick through, other than ash, bones, and the recovering greenery pushing through the wound made in nature.
Wolf gave no arguments; she didn't want any more confirmation on what happened. There was an attack, but it happened long enough ago that almost all evidence of who did it was erased. It might as well be a ghost town, now. She's not in the mood to defile any more graves, either.
After spending the night (camping out in old ruins was uncomfortable, but reliable), they found an abandoned road that leads further south, vegetation slowly reclaiming what was rightfully theirs. It was about time she hit the road. Slowly, as she followed down the road, the scar on the land turns back into healthy forest. It's a shame that Ghost can't pull out her sparrow; if it wasn't for the Warmind at work on this planet, she would be cruising down this road faster than a jog.
Listening to music and not keeping an ear out becomes more and more tempting by the hour. But she doesn't want to put too much work on Ghost, as much as her attention span slowly thins. Good thing talking is still on the menu.
"So, any idea what the new species on the block looks like?" Wolf says aloud. Her helmet keeps her voice from leaving her immediate area; benefits of adaptable soundproofing. Really helps, if you can't help but make pained noises and need to hide for a moment long enough for a Ghost to heal you.
"Hm? Oh- right, sorry, I was trying to get a read on the... I don't know what to call it, yet. The Mist? Fog?"
"Stuff that messes with little Ghosts?"
"Don't call me little." She can feel the sigh in his voice. "Whatever, let's put a pin on naming the 'anomalous, possibly acausal energy' surrounding us. What was it?"
"The weird people, back there. I was wondering what they would look like when, you know, they're not charred corpses. Didn't really have time to know much about biology, much less alien biology."
"Right, and that thing with Eido-"
"Ghost, shut the- look, we agreed to not talk about that, please don't bring it up." Wolf, somehow, resists the urge to rub her temples. "It's not even what you're implying."
"Well I'm a romantic at heart, and I'm happy that my Guardian is getting out of her shell. Even if she is still an absolute mess."
Wolf doesn't deign that with a response. She doesn't trust herself to somehow end up digging herself into a hole.
"To answer your question: I do. From what was left of them, they look like some form of carnivore, resembling close to the canid family. Well, probably not exactly that, seeing how we're dealing with the extraterrestrial here."
"Are we, though? I mean, a couple of days ago we ran into a badger of some kind. Hell, some of the birds look similar to what you'd find near the comsodrome." Wolf swings her offhand to the forest around her. "This place is basically Earth 2.0."
"...point." Ghost mutters. "But instead of theorizing, how about we find one. I can get a better scan on one if it isn't close to a decade dead. Stay put for a minute." The hunter does so, and Ghost exits their link to fly straight up.
She watches as her Ghost stops somewhere above the treeline, a projection of light showing him scanning the environment. After keeping an eye off the trail for any signs of danger, he comes back down.
"What was that for?" Ghost answers her in the form of turning to look at the space in front of them, and then... projects a hologram of the surroundings.
This... could have made things easier on her. Wolf says as much to him, and he stays suspiciously silent for a while. "Ghost."
"Yes?"
"You could've done this earlier, when we crashed, right?"
"...yes." His voice is small. "But to be fair, you didn't think about that either, so who's fault is it really?"
"...touché." Wolf pulls a face, but with the helmet on there's nobody able to see it. Turning back to the holo-map, she looks it over.
For the few miles visible, they have a lot of forest. Like, a ridiculous amount of trees from where they stand and the horizon. There really isn't many breaks in it, seeing how the road they're traveling is mostly abandoned. What's notable is a mountain range, hidden from her ground view, a bit farther to the east. Back up north is the dark patch of burned-up village, cupping the lake they first visited. There appears to be more, smaller lakes to the west, but it's a lot farther than the mountains are. She'd put it at about two and a half days, if she legs it and lets Ghost carry most of her equipment.
One other thing caught her interest. Based on the trail they're following, it might connect to what seems like another one, this one much less overgrown. It curves in from around north-west, then slithering down to the south.
"Oh hey," The Hunter points to the line. "Road."
"No." Ghost gasps dramatically.
She can't help but chuckle. When did her Ghost become such a goof? Or maybe he always was, and she's now realizing that. Maybe he's like this with everyone else, and Wolf is only starting to realize this because she's talking to him. If only...
He interrupts her thoughts before she could finish that sentence. "But seriously, that's pretty useful. Also, depending on what it is made of, it might lead to somewhere."
"Pretty sure that's what roads are for, Ghost." She feels a grin pulling at the corner of her mouth.
Ghost turns of the map and turns to look at her. "I won't say anything, seeing how I just did the same to you. Now come on," The little drone vanishes into their link. "We have some walking ahead of us."
"You mean I have some walking ahead of me. All you do is just sit around and wait for me to mess up, somehow."
Ghost just hums pleasantly. Doesn't even try to deny it, the little bugger. She takes in another breath of startling fresh air, because she has never breathed in nature this untainted, and sets forth down the road.
"But if we do meet any of the locals, we should probably stay hidden. If there aren't any humans around, it might spook them."
"Oh. Yeah. That would... uh, be smart. Yup."
"...you were planning on just walking up to one and saying hi, were you not?"
Wolf stays quiet. It tells Ghost everything.
He sighs. "What am I going to do with you?"
"I'm telling you, it has to be around here somewhere!"
"Dear brother of mine, we've been chasing a rock for three days; there's no way someone else hasn't found it yet." Zen, despite the mounting frustration Natani can hear in his voice, still swings his head around to help search. "If it wasn't for the fact this was our usual part of the forest to squat in, we'd be lost."
Natani scoffs. "Even if it wasn't, I'd be able to get us back on a trail. Someone has to be the better tracker, and it sure isn't you." He laughs when he glances behind him and dodges a stick thrown towards him. "Better at aiming, too."
"Sleep with one eye open, Nat." His brother holds up a fist. "I'm warning you."
"Noted." Soon, he goes back to their search.
More like his search. Not because he claimed the idea to go for a grab at the meteor was his, which it was, but Zen didn't really have his heart in it. He felt it, for a moment, last night while he heard Zen muttering something under his breath. It was too quiet to hear, but he let slip a large bit of frustration through their link. He immediately smothered it, then had to pretend not to feel it as he checked to see if his brother knew. It was hard, but he's been hiding the little things for years now, so it's not impossible. Just a simple feign of whether he was paying attention or not. Today, his brother's thoughts are kept a lot more closed off, now.
"Well," Natani starts, casting a glance over his shoulder. "If it's the thought of someone else finding it first that has you worried, we are skilled at things like stealth. We could nick it off of them, it's not like they have a particular need for a rock that size."
"It's too big, there might be more than some lucky dog out there. Especially if you-know-who is involved."
Oh. Right. Him. That almost plummets his mood right then and there. The last thing he wants to do is get involved with anything related to the infamous Prince. Once was enough, and he still can't get the thought of that damn playboy toying with them.
Funny, how that is the one thing that he can remember all too well. Last time he tries to get in dept to the rich.
"..." Natani turns around fully, facing Zen. "If it's anyone we recognize that normally deals with him, or the group is too large... then fine, we'll leave the stupid rock alone."
Zen, try as he might, still lets a bit of relief spill through the link. Out loud, however, is more placating. "Okay. But hey, who knows; maybe we get to be the first ones there, grab the 'stupid rock' and sell it for as much as we can-"
"Which we won't be able to do if we keep slacking, now come on."
They banter and bicker for a while longer, but eventually continue the search. It should have been easier, seeing how all they had to do was catch a scent on the wind of something recently burned. Not many fires are started in wolf territory, so it should be easy to scent it out. Not too late in autumn for fires, either, so they wouldn't run into any others out and about. And if there are any, it just might be someone on the way to where they themselves are heading. It wouldn't hurt to do a bit of competitive sabotage.
And, after another hour of searching, they caught something. A trace of burning, a bit oily like a lantern, but they never caught a fresh fallen rock from the sky itself, so who knows? Then, as they marched on closer, and they finally passed a seared, exploded tree from what looks and smells from a couple days prior, they find-
-a large, long crater. From the looks of it, the rock slammed into the trees and just kept going until it lodged itself into the earth. Said surrounding look like someone went wild with a fire spell of some kind, and then put it out before it got out of hand.
Oh, and the impact area is empty.
...
What? No, there's no way they're too late. This thing dropped in the middle of nowhere- there hadn't been enough time for someone to just take the whole thing, already. Judging from the size of the impact, the thing was more like a boulder, how did they drag that thing out of here?!
Investigating the scene only made it worse.
"Hey Natani?" Zen asks. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
"You're telling me; I feel like we got robbed before we had a chance to even rob in the first place."
"No, I mean..." He takes a quick sniff of a fallen over, burned log and gags. "Something seems off. More than usual." He waves his arm around the burnt crater. "Like how there's no drag marks, or even any signs of carts to pull the stone. This has him written all over it."
"...damnit." Natani puts a hand to his head. "Another good opportunity, ruined by some rich sleaze."
He really can't catch a break, can he? Here was a chance to just... live. Not survive out in the woods and deal with yet another cold winter outside. The past few have been getting colder, too, and from what they heard a few weeks back it's only going to get worse.
...fine. It's not like their lot in life can live normally, anyways. Not a snowballs chance in-
His nose twitches.
Something coppery covered in all of the smoke. Oily, now that he stopped lamenting their loss and thinks. He makes his way from the charred surrounding of the impact, which looks like the sky-rock skipped once or twice, and went to where his nose picked up that smell.
A bit of searching had him calling Zen over. One look at it had his brother tilting his head in confusion.
Blood. Well, blood and a mix of what happens when you inhale a bit too much smoke and cough up that mucus in your lungs, but still.
He can almost feel Zen shrug. "Now we know someone was here. Probably was around and got too much smoke in their lungs."
Something else snatches his attention. He can barely see it, but the earth around it looks like someone was dragged up to this point, digging their digits into the dirt around the blood stain. Then he sees the tracks around the area, like some huge sword cut through the land and left gashes larger than himself.
A bit of dread creeps up Natani's spine.
Zen turns to him with a worried look. "What's wrong?"
"I..." He takes another look around the area, and now that he's looking for it he can see similar cuts in the turf. The drag marks come from somewhere similar. "Zen, what's huge and just so happens to have a tendency to set things on fire?"
Now he feels Zen's dread pile on his. "Oh." He looks at the surroundings with a new outlook. "Oh, damnit- we're leaving, now."
He was so, so inclined to agree with his brother. It's been a few years since they last dealt with him, but the last time had involved one of those overgrown lizards and it lead to a chaotic night that branded itself into his mind. Which was pretty bad, because it was fairly embarrassing.
Then, as they were leaving, he notices the scent isn't leaving. With a furrow of his brow, he looks down to try and find the source of it-
There. Left in the ashes of a completely incinerated tree is a set of fresh boot prints. It's heading is south, which is only slightly off-course from where they were leaving.
...wait.
Boot prints? What's a human doing here?
"I don't think..." He pauses. "Hey Zen, do you remember any humans working with princey?"
"No? Why would he work with a human of all things: thought he has some standards." Zen looks to where Natani is staring. "...guess I'm wrong?"
"Smells a little older than a day, maybe a bit more. Means they got to here quick and..." His finger trails the prints further into the greenery. "Left just as fast. Meaning..."
Zen's eyes widen, a grin starting to take over his face. "They must have first grabs at it before it got taken away."
Well, what do you know: every wolf does get their day, and his just keep getting better and better. He almost feels bad for the poor human they're about to rob blind. Almost.
It started to rain. Lightly at first, and as the time went it turn from a drizzle to a steady shower. Her time on Titan led her to being cautious of the rain, seeing how one wrong step almost led her to falling into the methane drink. It should say something that she has a bit more fear in falling into the ocean of Titan than the Hive that infested the rigs of the Arcology. Mostly because there's no coming back from that unless Ghost can get the Manus down fast enough to pick her up, partially because, well, she can't swim. Never needed to know, and so that's one problem of hers.
Regardless, there's no ocean nearby, so no fear of falling into it. Hooray for the little things.
After another night of hiding herself behind the brush off the road and another tasteless ration down, she finds herself at where the trail is supposed to intersect with the more well-defined one Ghost spotted. After passing some young saplings that sprouted up, she takes a look at her destination:
A dead end.
"Hm." Wolf looked over the line of wood. "We took a wrong turn, didn't we?"
"What? No, we should be on track. It's probably right through those trees."
"O-kay..." She sneaks a glance behind her and, upon not seeing any other turns off from the main path, marches onwards. Weird, but it's not the first time she saw something strange without an explanation. Tends to pop up a lot when anything pertaining to the Collapse gets brought up. This planet, being one.
"Strange..." Ghost mutters 'aloud'.
"Hm?"
"The 'fog' is fluctuating ever so slightly. It's like someone just struck a cord and..."
She stops right before the treeline at his silence. "Why'd you go quiet on me?"
"Is..." Another bit of silence, then "Are those trees real?"
"What kind of question is that?" Wolf peers at the tree not five paces from her. "Looks real to me."
"Hit it with something."
"...uh, Ghost? You sure you didn't get hit on the way down, or something?" She gestures to the trunk. "It's a tree. Made of wood. What's it gonna do, fall on me?"
"Just hit it with a knife. Please."
With a sigh of slight frustration - and a pinch of guilt for making her Ghost beg oh no - she takes hold of a knife on her hip and, with a very exaggerated flourish, throws the knife at the tree right next to her.
It lands with a satisfying crack of bark splitting. Wolf looks around. "Well now I just feel bad. You made me assault a tree."
"Hold on for a minute-" Ghost starts.
"A poor, defenseless tree, Ghost. It couldn't even run away, rooted to the ground as it was."
She could almost feel the irritation from him. "Oh Traveler, don't-"
"We should've leafed it alone, but throwing shade is a step too far for them, wasn't it?"
Now she can feel him practically fuming. "Wolf, if you don't stop right now-"
"I mean, it was all bark and no bite, you should've known better-"
A flash of faint blue and a bump to the back of her helmet made her stop, if only to start laughing instead. A groan of pure annoyance has her looking at a narrowed green eye.
"You are awful. Tree puns? They're centuries old, older than me. They are not original and therefore not worth the breath to speak them."
"Alright, alright, I give." She walks up to the tree and yanks the knife out. It sank a good bit into it, showing the insides to be... well, wood colored. It still has a bit of green right beneath the bark, the smell faintly sap-like. She misses syrup, or, well, stuff you put syrup on. When was the last time she had some pancakes, anyways? Must've been right around... yeah, right after Xol.
Now that was a wild time. She was running with a few others, ones that she tends to team with anytime the Darkness and Hive come up. There were handheld warheads and entire buildings getting crushed by a worm bigger than them, with a climax of the other Hunter just throwing herself and the Valkerie at Xol with a beautiful explosion.
That Hunter isn't around anymore, not since...
She almost expects a whisper to slink its way into her ear. To taunt her of how she couldn't stop what she did, or what she failed to do. A searing brand of a voice imprinting on her subconsciousness to agitate her once more. But all she hears is the rain on the ground behind her and the leaves above her.
Great. Now she's hungry for pancakes and sad. Got to love the depth of human emotions.
She crams the thought to the back of her mind and her knife back where it belongs. "So, what's with the trees?"
Here, Ghost seems to realize that he left their link, but stays out to do a scan of the tree she stabbed. "Right, that. I've been monitoring the anomaly while we were moving. I cannot understand yet what purpose it serves, but it has the side effect of dulling any signal I push out. It has been fluctuating, though it didn't seem important until these,"
He stops scanning and does a quick shift of his shell. "Popped up from seemingly nowhere." He flashes back into their link. "And I am somewhat correct: these trees' growth have been accelerated. That, or there never is a winter here, which there shouldn't be based on the orbit of Lupi d and its tilt."
"Huh." She certainly never heard that one before. Sounds about right, when it comes to the Golden Age and its leftover experiments. "Weird. Doesn't really make sense, seeing how we passed by a village that looked like it belonged in the Dark Ages. Maybe they had their own mini-collapse, all the humans turned into dog-people, then had some sort of, I dunno, religious significance with terraforming tech."
"Strange theory, but I wouldn't put it past it to happen. Humans can find a way to make something logical, fanatical."
Wolf continues onward, after re-orientating herself back south and a quick check of her surroundings. "Pretty sure that's an everybody sort of thing, Ghost."
Ghost gave a hum of acknowledgement, then set himself back to - probably - monitoring the 'mist' or whatever they were calling it today. Wolf herself looked down at her rifle, extremely glad that 'works when wet' is a thing most of her arsenal is capable of doing.
And so, she marched on.
It became apparent what this sudden forest was used for.
They happened upon the road after a few hours of careful stalking (she hates to admit it, but the constant lack of civilization is getting on her nerves. Too much like the Red War, and getting to be just as cold, too.) While they were debating on heading further south, where it looks like the road will take them closer to the mountain eage now peaking out above the treetops, or head westwards to a more flat area where the rain came from, the hunter spotted a small incline with some stone going up it in a line.
A cobblestone trail. She hadn't seen one in months; the feeling of seeing signs of intelligent life that isn't scorched or a bloody dirt road (more like mud, now) made her mood soar.
When she points it out to Ghost, he gives it a wary look. "I don't know... It's strange how we haven't seen anyone else around. People don't just abandon a good placement that village was on for no reason. If we're about to see a lot more," He dissipates, a warm feeling now resting within her. "Then lets be cautious."
Wolf reaffirms her grip on her Khvostov. "Alright. Keep an eye on the motion sensor, that's still working alright, right?"
"Yes, I'll watch your six."
The path itself is a bit weathered, but after a bit of walking it she realizes that it's more placed in a way to not disturb the ground it's placed over. The placement is almost natural, even.
Someone was dedicated to their art, that's for certain.
"Gah, not again." Ghost suddenly mutters. "The thing is bending again."
"I'll keep an eye out for weirdly normal trees, then." She can't help but say with a faint smirk.
"Well it shouldn't be too hard; it's a lot more noticeable. It's almost... denser?"
"A big tree, then." She joked.
Then she turned around a bend, with Ghost going on about how his instruments are playing hell on his processing and how this isn't helping them any, and they both collectively shut up at the sight before them.
The cobblestone path soon spreads out from the entrance and suddenly drops in stone count, only having the odd one or two every meter or so. Beyond that is... a grove? Yeah, there specifically no underbrush, and if there was any it was expertly removed to make it seem like it always was like this. There are a few trees here and there, but what really caught her attention is the one dead-center of it all: a huge tree, with bark that splits in some places to allow a faint, almost blue-green glow flow through it like veins. It slowly shifts, almost like a tiny aurora polaris, as if the tree just got shoved full of light and wants to show off how alive it is.
Now that Ghost mentions it, she's starting to feel a sort of brushing sensation from whatever energy the tree is giving off and her Light. Like she was some boat that's ever-so-slighty rocking from some errant waves.
She doesn't like it. The tree is kinda pretty, though.
Carefully, she moves through the clearing, walking to about twenty paces from the big glowing tree. Now that she's closer, she can see that there's little discolorations in the bark. Where there's mostly a dark brown, here and there is little scars marked onto the wood, but not scratches. It's like the tree grew said patterns onto itself. It's almost uniform, but the shapes are different here and there.
...well. It looks almost like-
"Paying your respects?" A soft voice says from right beside her.
"Holy shit-" Both Wolf and Ghost yell at the same time. The Hunter rolls away from the voice, almost expecting a strike of some sort to hit her back.
When she doesn't feel one, nor feels any sharp his of an object passing through the air or the bark of gunfire, she completes her roll and puts the target in her sights.
Who hasn't moved at all.
Some things come to her attention in pieces. One is that the figure is in a hooded robe, humanoid in shape if a bit hunched, and that they have a walking stick with a decorated, glowing crystal about the same color as the glowing from the tree.
After that, she notices that the figure spoke a language she is both aware of and is a decently used one, back in the City: Mandarin Chinese. She knows this because it's one of the two languages she knew upon being ressed. Why it's all the way out here is beyond her.
...and they still haven't moved, even after she just had those thoughts and pointed a gun at them for a solid five seconds.
"Ghost, why didn't-" She starts to tell Ghost through their bond.
"I think being that close to the tree jammed up the motion radar. I didn't sense them approaching."
The figure tilts their head in her direction, the hood still masking their face. "Oh, my apologies, I didn't mean to scare ya." Their voice has an odd quality to it, almost like it's chuffed in a way. Aged. It almost reminds her of a hunter who still had their accent from the far east on Earth, but had been with a hunter pack for a while and picked up on their gruffness.
In other words, it's decidedly... human.
A human. Alive. On a planet lightyears away from Earth.
She hides her excitement behind the frustration of someone getting the drop on her. Again. "That was a really bad idea, by the way. I'm armed." She says aloud, Ghost letting her voice through her helmet's speakers.
"Hm." They - or he, they sound like some neighborhood grandfatherly figure - hummed. "Sorry. My eyes aren't what they used to be. Just saw some pup staring at the monument and felt like saying hi."
Pup? Weird, didn't know that was going to follow her here, but maybe it's a local thing? These humans have been stuck here for a few centuries, so some things might've changed. She stands up and makes no move to get closer. "So, uh, hey. What's up? I'm... uh, new around these parts."
When he just nods his head, Wolf continues. "Right." She looks at the tree, thinking back on his words. "You said this was a monument: is it for that village up north here."
He nods his head again. Really liking that, doesn't he? "Correct. It was grown to share the same name as the home that was lost to us so many seasons ago: Bitharm. I, myself, help grew it, along with my surviving son and a few others who contributed to it's growth."
Well, at least that lets her know people survived it. She asks Ghost if he can take her helmet, and he does so quietly, her hood falling onto her head to keep the rain out. She stares at the tree with the stranger, specifically at the strange markings.
No, no, not markings. She can see it, now that she's spoken the language aloud for a bit. Names. Names of those who fell.
She walks up to the tree, feeling her Light slide against the gentle thrumming of the tree. She trances the names of those specters she passed through on her way here.
"What happened?" She asks.
At this, the man's voice turns surprised. "You don't know? I thought it was-" He stops himself. She can see him sag slightly, leaning on his strange staff. She can feel something coming from it, too. Not as strong as the tree, but it's there. "You must be young, if you haven't heard 'bout what happened."
Well, it's not entirely untrue. She hasn't been a guardian for even a decade, yet.
"Yeah, that and I was, uh, focused for a while. Didn't have the time to sit around and chat."
He nods his head and- yup, it's definitely a tic he has. Lots of noding from this guy. "It's important to know the history behind all o' this. To be quick about it, it was the slavers."
The whole uneasiness she felt makes a vicious comeback, crawling it's way up her spine. Slavers? On a relic of a Golden Age world? Weren't Golden Age humans kinder towards each other, overall; there really shouldn't be something like that.
She needs to get her answers. Now. "Sorry, need to cut this short, but you have a way to contact any nearby settlements? I'm in a rush and a pick-up would be nice."
"What, like a courier? Do I look young enough to run letters to villages to you?"
The feeling tightens. "No, like a radio; long-range communication."
"Hm..." He tilts his head, long hood flopping slightly. "...I'm afraid I can't weave a spell that complicated, I don't know anything so esoteric." He scoffs. "Pups these days, calling it a 'radio' or what-have-you."
That caught her off guard. Ghost's voice speaks up from their bond, with a nervous evergy matching hers. "O-kay, so either we met some crazy old coot in the middle of nowhere, or-"
"He's telling the truth." Wolf finishes. "Well, except that 'spell' part. Maybe. Might have something to do with the disturbance we're getting?"
"He has to be crazy. Nobody from the Golden Age would go out and call this stuff magic, they would say something along the lines of 'malleable acausal energy signature' or something close."
"Well, he is the first living..." She was about to say 'human', but when she looks back at the the tree, the names come across as... odd. Most are not-eastern sounding, but that could be a thing they developed while isolated. Nobody from the Golden Age would still be alive, after all, unless they were a very, very well tended Exo.
The things she saw in that scorched village were not human.
"I didn't put you off, now did I?" The old man - is it really human was she being played again oh nonono - sounded concerned.
"Helmet, now." With a flash, her helmet is placed back on. Her heart is pumping blood hard enough to hammer her ears, and even though she doesn't feel like she's about to fight it doesn't stop her from getting antsy. Aloud, she says "A bit, but it's not a problem. Although..." She trails off, and with Ghost's help she looks to the robed figure. "You might've mistaken me for a local."
"Hm..." It's barely noticeable, but she can see the long sleeves of the robes covering the person's hands tighten. "What are you doing in territory so far out of the way, then, stranger? Where you come from." The last sentence was spoken like a command, almost barked out. Saladin would've killed to have this guy's voice.
Focus. She shrugs, gesturing vaguely to the west. "Sailed in from out west. Didn't think there was an entire land out here, much less a people."
"Not from Mekkan, eh?" She files the word away as he shifts to face Wolf-
And a literal talking wolf growls out the next words. "Then what manner of creature are ye, 'cause you smell just like a human."
...
Wolf opens her mouth, closes it, licks her lips, then whispers "What-"
And then there was a shadow crossing over them both, a quick glance showed a vaguely gray shape barreling towards them, she pounces towards the wolf-person dragging forth the Void while the thing shrieks-
And he's tossed to the ground, his stomach twisting at the strange purple sensation that coated the two of them for but an instant. No, not the ground, but the memorial-tree his back lays against. His sense of balance is thrown askew, from whatever the stranger just did.
A shrill roar from around the memorial pulls him back to the present. Standing in front of him is the strange cloaked human, an arm keeping him from actually hitting the floor. Did they just teleport the two of them. That quickly? This human has to be some powerful mage to do that with seemingly no incantation.
But why save him from the wyvern?
"Stand back!" The strange humans voice sounded sharp, and that weird thing it pointed at him with earlier was then pointed to the direction of the lizard-beast. "The hell is that?!"
"I-It's a-" He coughs. His body is getting old, and a bit too old to get thrown about, even if it keeps him alive for a bit longer. "A wyvern. By the Masks, why're they so far from their nests?"
The beast snarls as it charges from around the bend. It's almost twice the size of a horse, with a thick dark gray hide covering deceptively lean muscles. They have nests somewhere far north and to the west in the mountains, but it being here makes no sense!
He can see the humans shoulders tense as the wyvern locks eyes with them. "Wha-" Then says something that's sounds like a clicking hiss as they propell themselves to the side, bringing the object in their arms to bear and-
Thunder, rapid as a stampede and magnitudes louder, roars from their hands. The wyvern screams, it's sudden fury turned onto the human with shallow bleeding holes pock-marked around it. It lunges, neck snaking around to dig fangs into the human, which the human dances out of the way and suddenly makes a throwing motion. Out of their hand is a glowing knife, with a fiery blast hitting the side of it.
The human is an amazing warrior, but is using all the wrong weapons. He's heard of them being fireproof beyond belief, and their hides are prized for some of the best armors around- strong and light. But he is no useless bystander, even if his ally is human.
...they did save his life...
"I'll hold it still! Try to cut it with something, most magics won't work on it!" He walks to the side, staff holding him up even as he draws forth the mana stored within the crystal atop it.
As he recalls the words and pattern he needs to weave, the human keeps fighting the beast. It's... honestly surprising, how they're still alive. While it's obvious they never fought something like this, they last much longer than most would. At one point, the wyvern manages to barrel it's wing into the human, throwing it into the trunk of the memorial. What would've been a death sentence to most was just an inconvenience to them, as with a flash of light (more strange magic?) the object is replaced with a different one, this one with a curved spike at the bottom of the front end. They stand back up, and just dodge out of the way of another clamp of the wyverns maw.
He refocuses on the spell he's about to cast, and with a pattern drawn into the air with the mana crystal and an incantation muttered, he slams the staff into the ground and watches as blue lights drag a root about as large as the beast itself from the earth, then with a twist of his staff the lights thrum with power, coiling around the lizard like a viper.
Before the beast becomes entwined with the thick root, the human charges forwards. Before he could shout - less a warning and more of a question of 'what are you thinking' - they bring up the new weapon and a quick flash of fire blasts from the end of it, a noticeable dent being put into the wyvern with a crack of thunder. And the beast, with a snarl of it's knife-long fangs, suddenly shoots out and clamps down on the human. They didn't let out a scream, as they tried to take a simple knife to the creature, but a sickening crunch and a vicious shaking of the creature's head made them go limp.
The beast tossed the corpse of his sudden savior aside, the now corpse rolling across the ground and slamming against the monument. With renewed vigor and blood coating it's fangs, they try and tear into the wood keeping it still.
He tries to keep the root moving to bind it, but he knows it's only going to hold it for so long. He can already feel the strain in his bones; time wasn't kind with him, the sting of manaburn already seeping into his muscles. He could try for another spell, but it was already such a sudden and powerful spell he used. Anything else wouldn't be enough to get through it's hide. He might've been able to make one accurate enough to hit one of the openings made by the now-dead human, but his eyesight wasn't what it used to be.
His arms and legs start shaking, and he can't tell if it's because of the manaburn setting in or the fear of becoming a meal for the lizard digging its claws into his mind.
...well.
He sighs, and it surprises him how steady it sounds. With a twist of his staff, he pulls back his control of the spell, and it doesn't surprise him how quickly the wyvern tears through the root like a rotten twig. He starts casting a bolt of pure mana, less powerful than anything else in his repertoire but it's about the only thing he has time for.
He barely pays attention, however. His mind is stuck within itself, and with a flash of light he swears he can see his son, sword in hand like the guard he always wanted to be. He has a snarl on his face like some fierce warrior, a mantle on his shoulders twisting behind him as-
-a golden arc slices through the wyverns neck.
What drops to the ground in a feral stance of pure wrath, at the same time the head of the beast slams to the ground, is the human, whole once more and flaming sword burning golden right in front of him. The sword, close as it is, has a depiction of a howling wolf head. The rest of the body comes crashing down, sliding right beside them. The stump left behind is seared perfectly shut, the smell of burnt flesh pushing its way into his nostrils.
"I-" The human starts, before coughing slightly, their stance breaking as they hold their chest. It's still slick with blood, but doesn't seem to be caved in like he saw before. Wasn't it crushed like they were made of paper? "Oh Traveler, that was new..."
"You saved my life." He can't help but breathe out. A human. A human. Saving his life from a wyvern of all things! Which begs the question... "Why?"
The flames on their sword goes out and they hold it off to the side, looking around. "Is there going to be more of those things? I think I got enough Light to take care of them if there is."
It might have been the shock of surviving a near-death experience, but he says hollowly, "No, they're solitary creatures, them wyverns. They're not supposed to be around here, though, so I can't help ya there." He looks back at the wyvern, giving it a once-over. Going by the patterns of the wings, and it's size... "Could've been a young mother. They tend to hunt to feed their young, but I've never heard of them getting so vicious over food. The only time they do something like that is if something disturbs their nest, high up in mountains."
"Oh." They say dumbly. "Well, if there isn't any more, don't need you right now." They placed the extinguished sword on their back, and some strange force keeps it there. Magic, perhaps? They certainly like to use fire, if their past actions mean anything. They finally look back to them, and seem to flinch. "Whoa. Still not used to that..."
"Used to what?" He tilts his head.
The human seems to go and say something, but stops, shakes their head, then continues. "Uh, right. You called me a human, right?"
He gives the human a flat look. "No, I called you a frog."
The human lets out something between a laugh and a huff. "Ho...kay. Sarcasm, that's good. Good to know that hasn't died off. Cool."
The silence that stretches between them is thick, him with a death-grip on his staff and his hackles raised still and the human with a lax aura around them.
"Why?" He asks again.
"...'why' what?"
"Stop being so difficult, human! Why did you..." He can't bring himself to say the words again. It's a human, there's no way that it would-
"Help you?" The human accidentally finishes for him. "Why not? Didn't look like it came over for tea, now did it?"
He's starting to get a headache, being around this human. "'Why not?' You're a human, that's why!"
"I thought you said I was a frog?" He's getting the feeling there's a smug grin under its strange helmet. "But yeah, I saved your life. Would say it's no biggie, but it's your life and all so, uh, yeah." Now their head tilts to the side. "And I was more surprised you know what a human even is. I wasn't kidding when I said I was a foreigner. I'm from..." They look up, then behind them slightly. "Out. Really far out. Like, 'I'm really lost' sort of far out."
He pauses. "Are... you not from the Human Territories, then? To the east?"
They're quiet for a bit, head positioned a bit as if listening to something. Probably still spooked from the wyvern; he still is, after all! "...no, I'm from Sol. Ever heard of it?"
He rolls the name around his tongue for a bit. "Sol? Can't say I've ever heard of it."
"What about Earth? Mars, Venus?" He shakes his head at each name. "I'm guessing Braytech means nothing to you, either."
"I'm not much into learning the names of places, human. You won't find out from this wolf."
They seem to focus in on that last part. "Is that... what you are, then?"
...what? "Do you... not know what a keidran is?" He can feel a bit of anger grow in him, now that the sudden attack has been gone for a while. "Is this some sort of trick? Trying to mock me before you put a collar on me?"
The anger only seems to push the human back, like they're... afraid? "No no, I'm serious. Look," They go for their own neck, and some latches that he didn't notice before were unclasped as the human takes their helmet off, letting out long brown hair matted slightly with sweat, pale skin with red eyes, and... a female face? Right, humans have a knack for using their women to fight. "How about we associate some names to some faces, here. Then we can decide if we still want to talk, okay? Deal?"
After a while, with him scrutinizing the human's face (which looks much too earnest, must've been right about her being in her youth) and her expression steadily becoming more nervous, he lets out a quick growl. "Fine. Call me Klein."
The human doesn't even try to hide her relief. "Okay. Klein- you look very much like a Klein, good name." She brushes the hair out of her face and musters up a small smile. "You can call me the Young Wolf, but Wolf is fine."
...
His headache is about to get much, much worse.
So it's been a while. Again.
So, fun fact: I had this written up for almost a month, now, but I rewrote the ending so many times to make it feel right, that it took my up until this point to finish. To help with that little block there, I wrote a little bit for something around the usual time Crimson Days starts, as a little lament to doubles seemingly never coming back.
So, here's a little something, for me writing so slowly.
untitled log (Alt title: Who needs marriage when you got sweet, sweet loot?)
So I was told by a certain little light that I should have a log of what I'm thinking about. Said it should help with reacclimating my speaking skills to say my thoughts out loud.
So. Hey. I just realized that I sound weird from the outside. And that it's normal to think that, a certain spooky Ghost told me. Why is that? No, Ghost, I don't want an explanation of why, I'm just-
...
Yeah, I'm stalling.
I shouldn't. But what the hell am I supposed to talk about, because putting my feelings in a recording is too close to a diary for my tastes. I'm a bloody Guardian, not some confused little tween.
...why would I talk about that? I just said I wasn't some child, why would I gush about the Days?
Oh. That? Yeah, that was a whole thing, wasn't it?
...okay. So, future me, hello, how do you do, and all that jazz. Remember the Vow? It was a pretty sweet bow, and we really, really wanted it. It was pretty crowded, and loud, so not hearing Lord Shaxx over all the other people shouting was a thing for once. There was some rose petals in my helmet's visor, too, so that made seeing exactly what was going on a bit hard. But that bow was just so sleek. And it had an interesting looking sight that I might have wanted to dismantle, then shove onto something else at the time, but that's neither here nor there.
The point being: I've never been in the crucible, before. Heard of it, definitely, but never participated, myself. Had other things on my mind, at the time. But, as it turns out, I'm a natural. Had good instincts, and all that.
Met Jax for the first time, since he was my partner in the doubles. He wasn't much of a crucible player, either, but his fireteam wanted him and I to go for it, and Chrys wanted me to meet other Guardians and work with them.
We. Killed. It. Shaxx was yelling his head off in ecstacy, there was shell casings covering the floor, and we've might've gotten a camaraderie going on, Jax and I. He was very put off by my lack of speaking, but Ghost did a good job of doing the talking for me.
He hadn't named his Ghost, too, so that was a bit funny.
In the end, we did really, really good. We got to the end, and he said he wanted to opt out of the bow, and I was all like "Alright, more for me!" and went to take it, right in the middle of Shaxx giving some speech. Went to walk away, too, if it wasn't for the impossible to happen.
He suddenly went quiet. It took me a solid few seconds to stop and realize that. Turned around, and found that both him and everyone was staring right at me. The fact that I was silent, too, had me and Lord Shaxx in a standoff of sorts.
Then he explained to me that the bow was meant to be a proposal in marriage. I looked down at the bow, looked back up at him, and had Ghost ask him if I can return it for something of equal value, because I wasn't aware of that little tidbit until then.
He said yes, and asked what would equal it. Right then, I asked if his hand in marriage would barter to see his face, because of course I didn't know all the hub bub about his face. And of course, he said no.
So I ripped off the sight from the Vow, handed it back into his suddenly flabberghasted arms, and walked right off. Met Chrys talking with some hunter that knew Jax, and they were both laughing their asses off at what I pulled.
Moral of the story? My bow now has some kickass sights on it, and it was worth divorcing over it.
Alright, now how do I turn this- oh, here we go-
END LOG #1
...I miss doubles.