Meadhold

Kylin was frozen in place, staring at the spot where Kaldon had just stood the feeling of his lips still fresh in his mind. Speechless, again fir the second time in just one night Kaldon had managed to take him completely off guard. Kylin refused to face Pike and Ro-an until the heat in his face cooled down from the temperature of the sun, but there was no hiding his breathlessness. 'Fuck....get a hold of yourself...' he thought, coldly. He clenched his fists, then let them go, lost as to how he ought to properly react. A shamefully large portion of him was tempted to burst into the back room and interrupt his dressing. He had never felt less sure of his actions before.

Ro-an was furious. He felt immediately the moment Kaldon took hold of Kylin's shawl a mistake had been made in leading them all there. "No." He growled

"They're going to tear each other apart." He stated, for Pike to hear. He turned and left the tree, unable to bear the stench anymore. Ro-an might have been a noble soul but even he was a mere therian man subject to jealousy.

Kylin finally snapped out of his shock and he knocked on the back room door. "So....what is your...grand plan, since you're so sure of all of us. Why are you dressing, its past midnight and we don't have an oracle."

Kaldon laughed at Kylin’s question. “Sheesh one kiss and you’re set on keeping me in my underwear. What kind of boy do you think I am?” He opened the door, wearing a different set of armor than before, a lighter set that fit more like normal clothing. He smiled at the obvious look of frustration on Kylin’s face. “My plan is simple really. It’s clear that this is the hilt to the oblivion blade, I think we’ve established that without the help of an oracle. What isn’t clear is how many other pieces are left of the shard and who is looking for them. You say you know a lot about magic-infused weaponry, well here’s your chance to prove it. I’m assuming you can use the hilt to track the other pieces of the blade, so I figure you can prepare for that here, and I’ll go out and get any supplies you need in order to do so. After we track down the pieces, we’ll figure out a way to destroy it then. Simple right?”

Pike followed Ro-an out of the tree. He could see the pain on his face. “You care about him don’t ya?” He asked as he came up next to him. “Sorry to be so thoughtless back there. My big mouth works faster than my brain sometimes." He turned to look the tiger in the face. “Does he know that you care about him? I get that your relationship with him is complicated, that’s the only kind he knows how to have. But keep in mind that Kaldon kissed him, not the other way around. His relationship with Kylin may be new, but it doesn’t negate anything that you two have.”

Kylin's ears went red, again but he decided to ignore the comment. He thought on Kaldon's words, it seemed like a decent plan actually. His brain instantly began filing through his knowledge in search of creating the best spell that would allow them to find the other pieces. It was going to be interesting. He blinked, "Alright..."

Avians largely were not known for being magical creatures, however there were many ways to utilize magic without creating it yourself. It was a taxing business requiring endless patience and intelligence, researching a ritual that actually worked and performing it in a way that is useful for the specific task at hand, Kylin had done so much experimentation and meddling on his own that it became like a hobby of sorting out near impossible jigsaws or completing complex calculus equations. His specialty was of course weapons and armor being that his family had always been elbow deep in the embers of a forge.

Kylin was then pacing around the hollow tree rolling the hilt between his bare palms, examining it as it sent its visions jetting through him. He needed to understand it in order to locate the other parts of it. Who created it? What magic did they use. He could almost feel it tingling against his fingertips, it was as unique as a fingerprint. Every once in a while he paused and listed a multitude of strange items, sounding off as if he intended to make some obscure potion. "I'll need three sprigs of ivy, a fist full of those bloodroot seeds, do you have a fire pit? The fireplace will do just fine. You'll need to stop by the book store and get me the oldest tome they have on the ledgends of this thing. I need to see the stories. If we do this right the hilt will tell us itself."

Ro-an's shoulders slumped slightly as he stared out into the pitch black, he watched a rabbit peer out at him before dashing off into the foliage.

"Of course he knows....He knew more about me than I knew about myself the moment he robbed me." The way his voice broke off was telling, the poor cat was lost to Kylin the moment he set eyes on him. He looked to Pike. "You....me...Victor....we're predictable. He has me exactly where he wants me to be...right beside him and three steps behind. It doesn't take a genius to see that surprise is what gets him fired up."

"But you're right...no man is as loyal as I. I will stand with him....regardless."

Kaldon thought about the herbs Kylin had instructed him to find. He hadn’t been in this forest for years, but, provided there had been no major land development in that time, he was pretty certain he could find them. The ivy was growing on the side of the tree and was no big deal, but bloodroot seeds were harder to find. Bloodroot was actually a large fern that was known to grow around graveyards, the roots of it were a deep crimson red. It was often believed that the blood of the dead was leeched out, giving them their morbid name.

“I think I can find all that stuff, but as for the books, I think I have something better than some old stories.” Kaldon smiled. Though it seemed like he was getting ready for a suicide mission, he couldn’t help but smile knowing that nearly everything he did that was unexpected got Kylin a little more flustered and frustrated and that seemed to be when he was the most himself and the only time his guard was down. He went to an old oil painting on the wall and took it off the wall. There was a small keypad. He entered a short sequence of numbers and pulled open the small door. There were a number of small valuable items in the safe, but he took out a thick book before closing the door again. It had a faded red leather cover and the pages were a sepia tone. It was something that was common among avian families. It was known by many different names, but the most common was the family tome. The book was passed down from one generation to the next and the most important events of that generation would be recorded from the point of view of the owner of the book. The Voidwing tome had been passed down over the course of three eras and nearly nine hundred generations. The book was the tenth volume and the other nine were in is house back in Fogmarch.

“Here.” He said as he set the book down on the table. “I think it’s Jalmor Voidwing’s story.” He thumbed through the book until he got to the second person’s story and it was that of Jalmor. “Here it is, he wasn’t the most noble branch in my family tree, but he did keep good records of everything. I believe he called the whole ordeal the Vile Negation. He was a servant to the vile mage of necromancy. It’s all there in the book, tells the whole story of how all the evil mages had trust issues and destroyed their own creation.” He gave Kylin a pat on the shoulder. “I’m gonna go get the other ingredients. Hope this helps.” He then went out the door and flew off in the direction of the nearest graveyard.

Kylin's expression actually softened when his gaze fell on the book. He gently took it from the table feeling the weight of Kaldon's ancestors in his arms. There was something incredibly beautiful about it, all that history that belonged completely to Kaldon. Kylin's family tome was lost to him, he didn't even recall seeing it among his brother's possessions and his parents...well they'd died a long time ago. He sat crosslegged and ran his fingertips gently over the book's pages. Kaldon seemed to have an uncanny way of cutting through his veil, setting out sides of him he'd taken great care about keeping tucked away especially from strangers like himself. His impulse driven rage, he'd acted without planning properly, without noticing important things, his competitive nature set him on a march to his doorstep and now they were there he was there helping him. What got to him worse was the fact that he didn't know at all if he could trust Kaldon. He was clever, read him like a book, and physically stronger than all three of his precious men, Pike included.

Kylin tensed slightly when Kaldon touched his shoulder, unsure what to expect anymore, but once he left he placed the book back on the table in order to scour the kitchen. "Ro! Come in here I need you."

Ro-an came as he was called,

"Get to your bike, call Victor tell him to bring my coal, some of that Naril dust I have it in a jar in my pack. The incense I got from east Sunrage. I also need him to bring his sword." He paused and glanced around the tree. "Oh and candles. Just grab the whole herb pack I have in the side packet its a little zipper pouch stuffed full, smells like Morrinweed root."

Kylin dumped the rest of the tea from the kettle and set about starting the fire in the fireplace. Ro-an stayed by his side for a moment.

"Kylin-...."

"Ro-an..." Kylin looked up at him, knowing full well what thoughts swam behind his big amber eyes. "I trust you know that I can handle myself, correct?"

"O-...of course I do..."

Kylin got to his feet and looked Ro-an straight in the eyes, his arms crossed across his chest. "You've been with me longer than anyone else has. Pike...knew me before but....you...you understand how I work better than Victor even...You know what my needs are, a challenge like this....Ro-an I have to trust that you can be as strong and as loyal as you've ever been for me. No one can do the things you do."

Ro-an's whiskers twitched but he voiced no response, simply nodding before turning to complete Kylin's request.

Kaldon had flown a good ten miles to the nearest graveyard. He could see the sun beginning to rise on the Eastern horizon as he gently touched down in the graveyard. He didn’t want to come to this specific cemetery, but it was the closest one and time seemed to be a factor at the moment. He looked around the outer edges by the fences searching for any sign of the bloodroot fern. He finally found a small fern in the corner near a mausoleum. He grabbed the leaves and scraped the seeds from underneath into a small leather pouch.
“There you go again, trying to save the world.” Kaldon heard a familiar voice behind him. Kaldon stood up sharply and slowly turned around to see a non-caporal, glowing vapor in the form of Dylex.
“I’m doing what I can.” Kaldon replied. “I wish I could have saved you.”
“There was nothing you could have done, babe. The thugs took us by surprise.” He said as his form began to shimmer out a little bit.
“I miss you. Are you in a better place?”
“It’s amazing, but I can’t rest if you’re holding yourself back because of me. I know you just met him tonight, but it’s clear you like this Kylin guy. The last person to steel from you lost an arm, but this guy got a kiss.”
“He does rile my blood.” Kaldon blushed.
“Look I don’t have a lot of time here, I just want you to know that I don’t blame you for my death and I don’t want you to be so hung up on me that you don’t move on with your life. I’ll always love you and I know a part of you will always love me, but share your love if you find the right person. However, you might not want to move too fast, some guys get scared off by that.” And with that his form faded away.
“I love you.” Kaldon whispered.
He took to the skies once again and flew back toward the tree. The sun was at his back filtered through the trees as he landed in the forest at his treehouse. Pike was still standing guard outside as Kylin hadn’t given him any orders. He grabbed a few sprigs of ivy off the tree as walked into the house to find Kylin still nose-deep in his family tome.
“I got the stuff you asked for.” He said as he put the pouch on the table. “So, where’d you learn all this stuff about enchanting? Avians are usually more attuned to technology than magic. The only magic I know is all the stuff related to alloys and minerals. I couldn’t enchant a sword to save my life, but I could tell you what minerals to use to create a sleeping powder or what metal to make your sword out of to conduct different types of magic.” He chuckled.

"Mmh well...I know how to do that as well but....this is involves a lot less sweating and folding and banging things into shapes." Kylin said simply, glancing up at Kaldon from his work. He took the pouch and set about using one of Kaldon's bowls to crush the bloodroot into using the back of his ice dagger as a makeshift pestle. He added a slight bit of water to it until it offered the exact shade and consistency of human blood. "Its the same ritual magic though, chanting, symbol inscriptions and infusion techniques. The stuff I do isn't nearly as potent as what's infused in that hilt though."

While Kaldon was gone he'd cleared a large space for him to work in and using a piece of charcoal he'd found in one of his pouches marked out on the floor where he was to place certain items. Kylin scraped the blood red solution into the kettle he'd emptied and set it over the fire to heat it a bit. They'd need to wait a bit before Ro-an came back with the rest of his supplies, he decided to use this chance to explain what he was doing.

"The magic infused in that hilt is powerful, beyond any kind of battle stuff that most people use, even beyond normal curses including the really old ones. They made this to be something that could overcome anything, and when magic gets that powerful it....sort of develops a character of its own. It wants to be put back together again, all we have to do is channel what's already in there to do it, give it a little direction. Unfortunately someone's going to have to channel all that since the only communication we have with the hilt is through its visions."

Kylin smiled brightly. "Now, I've seen what highly powerful magic infused weapons can do, you've seen Victor right? He was under the influence of a cursed sword and...well... I'm not channeling this thing, so you, Pike and the other two can draw straws on who gets their mind yanked into the past for a bit. I hate to single you out specifically but I will note that the fact that your blood relative helped make this thing might make this process go smoother.....or...cause things to go terribly wrong..."

Kylin murmured the last bit, his gaze drifting away from Kaldon. It really did depend on the hilt, he wasn't sure if it was inherently....dark and therefor malevolent or if the makers of the weapon merely feared whomever wielded it. It would be terribly unfortunate if Kaldon lost his mind and became exactly what the makers of the weapon had feared. Kylin was fairly certain that the magic in the weapon wasn't that sort, however.

Kaldon was no more than apprentice level when it came to magic and enchantments, but he did know the basics. He knew that bloodlines were like the roots of a tree. Even a leaf that had little to no magic experience received minimal amounts of magic just by being a part of a magical tree. He knew that Kylin was right and that, because of his bloodline, he would be best suited to connect with the hilt and find the other pieces. He also knew there was risk involved. He felt the vile evil of those who had created it every time he picked it up. However, if Kylin was able to get it to show him a vision of its creation rather than a possible future it might reveal a weakness in the pieces or even how the blade was fractured in the first place so that it might be completely destroyed.

“I’ll do it.” Kaldon finally said after a few moments of silently weighing his options. “I’ll channel the magic of the hilt. There’s no point in having the others try to do it when I have the best chance of connecting to it.” He looked down at the hilt on the table and then to all the magical preparations on the floor. “But if something does go wrong, if I become evil or possessed by the magic of the hilt, please do everything you can to remind me of who I am. If you have to, lock me up while you destroy it. But please don’t kill me unless it’s a last resort type of thing.”

Meanwhile, Pike was feeling restless. He hadn’t been given anything to do and he knew very little about the magic of land dwellers. He had heard the legends of the Oblivion Blade, but he didn’t know any more than what Kaldon did and his family tome had filled in the rest it seemed. He felt like he was in the way so he went outside to get some air. He knew that Kylin had his reasons for keeping him there, but he also knew that, now that Kaldon had convinced him it was evil, Kylin would stop at nothing to destroy the hilt. He knew that arguing would be pointless and ultimately it was for the best, but he couldn’t help but mourn the loss of all the money he could have made from the hilt and any other shards that they found later.

Kylin eyed Kaldon for a moment, wonder on his mind. How is it that he can do this without even weighing argument with the other boys. Kylin wasn't about to risk his wellbeing to destroy the hilt, not like this and not right away not when he was the only one who could possibly get anyone back out of it. It was partially an excuse as well even if their roles were reversed Kylin was sure he didn't trust Kaldon enough to make such a risk. Somehow...Kaldon trusted him... That or he was truly selfless enough for his mistrust not to matter which purplexed Kylin.

Kylin decided not to question it out loud, not currently anways.

A few miles away Ro-an had already arrived back at the hotel and had jostled Victor awake in order to get him moving.

"Kylin needs us, get up, grab your sword." Victor squinted up at the tiger as he bent next to Kylin's bed and tugged out his travel bag and unzipped the front pocket.

"What're we doing?" He asked drowsily. "Kylin got us a job? Is it to do with robo-wings with the cyber bits?"

"We're going to trace the parts to a very valuable magic weapon. The avian's helping, so is Pike." Victor propped his head up onto his elbow and studied Ro-an as he brought a pouch to his nose and sniffed it before tugging open the zipper. He grunted and the bridge of his nose wrinkled in disgust. "Augh...that's it..."

"Something happened didn't it..." Victor said his tone more serious. Victor didn't need a verbal response Ro-an's annoyed glance told him all he needed to know.

"Get dressed and let's go."

Victor had settled back into his sullen nature, his grayish face drawn as he had himself a quick shower, dressed, packed the things he might've needed for the day and took up his sword, holding it within its sheath as they made their way down and back onto his bike. Several minutes later the pair appeared from the thick of the foliage. Ro-an put a hand on Pike's shoulder, "I don't know what he intends to do but if this winds up like the ordeal with him did we'll be needing you" He jerked his thumb back at Vic.

"Took you two long enough." Kylin sighed as he took his spot near the fire, facing the markings on the floor They were arranged in a broken circle, words scrawled in an ancient runic script derived from old elvish.

Ro-an entered the tree and crouched outside the charcoal markings he'd made. He unzipped his backpack and tossed Kylin the pouch, then immediately began tugging out a small pile of old hand-written books, piling them on both sides of Kylin. Kylin placed the pouch beside him and took up one of his book, flipping pages and looking up symbols he had scribbled down a long time ago. He muttered to himself and nodded. "Yep, I was right, bloodroot, Ivy..."

He took up a piece of chalk and stepped inside the circle, scribbling down another set of words to close the circle. Ro-an handed him small candles and he gestured for Kaldon to sit where he was standing. "Sit there. I need to put down your marks. Your full name, what is it, you don't have any third names do you?"

He waited and placed the hilt in front of where Kaldon was to sit. "Crosslegged, hands resting on your legs. Relax, like you're the only one in the room, you and the hilt. When I tell you to pick it up do so, do it carefully as if it's unbroken and place it across your lap, it'll feel like the whole weapon is there if...if I did it right. Just watch for what it shows you, it will probably be the past but if we're lucky we'll get future locations to work with...Even so if we just knew where they originally took the shards it will be a start."

Kylin hesitated and looked to Kaldon, his lips pursed, a thought at the edge of his tongue before he banished it and sat down in his spot. "Pike, Ro-an if something happens hold him down and tie him up until I can figure out what to do, Victor you will have to take the hilt and give him your sword instead, it might help to calm him since it's warded to bleach out curse effects...sort of like a lozenge for a sore throat. It may or may not work for magic like this..."

“No, it’s just Kaldon Voidwing.” He replied before Kylin wrote it down in ancient elvish rune script. He sat as instructed and closed his eyes allowing his mind to go blank and waiting for Kylin to tell him to pick up the blade. Kylin finally told him to do so and he reached out with his organic hand and picked up the hilt without opening his eyes. It felt as though it was whole again just as Kylin had said it would. He set it across his lap. In an instant he was no longer in the room. He was at a very old altar on the top of a mountain He was able to see, hear, smell and feel everything, but at the same time he was not in control of the body he was in. He realized that he was experiencing everything through the body of Jalmor, his ancestor. He focused on the group of people at the altar. They were arguing about the Oblivion blade that was on the altar. Each of them insisting that they were the only one worthy of wielding such power. The arguments escalated until the mages began to fight each other. There were bolts of magic of all types being thrown, though Kaldon couldn’t identify them, zombies and skeletons rose out of the ground, wolves, trolls and bears began to attack and even elemental golems manifested themselves to fight. It was clear that Jalmor had been observing from a distance as he stayed out of the battle. As the battle raged Kaldon tried to keep focused on the blade and soon he saw several bolts of magic collide above the altar before combining and blasting straight down striking the blade. At first the blade seemed to absorb the magic but then it started glowing as if it had just been pulled from the forge and then the blade exploded sending shards flying and killing every one of the mages. The vision faded out briefly as Kaldon felt Jalmor flee in terror. Kaldon was now a free floating spirit in the past, no longer tethered to his relative. The vision flashed forward to several days later. He was hovering above the altar and he saw a group about five elves all dressed in grey robes coming up the path. He watched as they all silently collected the shards and the hilt of the blade. “This is truly the darkest of all magic.” The leader spoke. “As the last of the neutral elves, it is our duty to ensure that these blades be secured away from each other and anyone who would wish to use them. They have been infected with the vile magic and infused with the blood of the evil wizards they killed and should they become whole again, the bade could tear apart the very fabric of this plane and open a portal to something far worse. Go now and hide them in the most inhospitable locations, that none may find them, and tell no one of their existence.” The vision began to fade again before he got several brief flashes. He saw a volcano, a hunk of metal deep under water, a crown with a shard as a jewel on a corpse, a small island he had never seen before that was covered in ice and snow, an old man spying on a snow elf and a blonde female warrior, a cave with a giant spider, and a meteorite deep under water.
Kaldon slowly felt himself returning to his own body in his own time. He opened his eyes, everyone in the room was staring at him. He had no idea how long he had been gone, but it only felt like it had been a few minutes. Kaldon tried to stand up but found himself too weak to stand and quickly lost his balance and sat back down on the floor. “I saw it. I saw the blade shattered, I saw where the shards are, well sort of. I only recognized a couple places.” He said before grabbing a piece of paper and a pen to write down what he saw before he forgot it. As he wrote he noticed the palm of his hand was branded with the design of the hilt. He quickly felt his face and neck for any sign of physical changes and found none. “These are the places we need to go.” He handed the paper to Kylin and then fainted with exhaustion.

During the event Kylin sat across from Kaldon, his eyes closed as he chanted in whispered tones words that hadn't been used in centuries upon centuries. The firelight flickered and dimmed to a dull ember glow and smoke seemed to be drawn back into the room in order to settle inside the circle and swirl slowly. Kylin swayed as if he himself were about to pass out as magic he had no place having inside his body flowed through him and into the circle entwining around Kaldon's hand and triggering the hilt's abilities. Ro-an tensed like a black and orange statue while Victor looked as drawn and sickly as ever, sagging in his stance as half formed memories and sensations drew to him.

The moment it all broke and Kaldon came back to his senses it was as if a small glass film had shattered before everyone's eyes and they were all brought back to some form of physical control. Kaldon attempted to stand before resigning to scrawl what he knew on paper and it wasn't until he passed out that Kylin managed to force words past his parched throat.

"Ro-an take him to the bed, I'll see to him..." He gasped. "Pike, please look at that map tell me if there is anything you are familiar with we need to make our travel plans...tools...provisions..."

Kylin got to his feet shakily as Ro-an picked Kaldon up in both arms and took him to his own room. Kylin checked his temperature for a fever, opened his shirt to feel his chest then inspected the brand on his hand with worry. He washed the open burn, carefully then rubbed ground herbs into it and wrapped it into a gauze on which he wrote a few ward symbols. For the moment he seemed alright, the procedure seemed to draw from his energy twice as much as his own which he hadn't accounted for.

"You should be fine..." He muttered. Kylin sighed and sank to sit on the floor next to the bed. "Pike, come here I can't bring myself to get up anymore."