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Kaede Lythronax

"Life was born a sick and violent thing."

0 · 286 views · located in The Horat-verse

a character in “The Great Guild Fortune (2014)”, originally authored by Iye Khara, as played by RolePlayGateway

So begins...

Kaede Lythronax's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Nee Me-Hyung Character Portrait: Amanhã Tiamat Character Portrait: Kaede Lythronax
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Gridiron's brow furrowed. It was quite the quandary that Nee had put forth-- on one hand, horses would certainly have proven a benefaction, an invaluable tool for ushering them unto their destination with alacrity far greater than that afforded by their own five pairs of feet. But on the other hand... she couldn't be sure Menia even played host to a stable at all, much less one that bore an Ashura Thoroughbred. If it came about that they rerouted to Menia in hopes of a brief moment's rest and the hope of a stable only to find the digression had been for naught, that there was no stable and no horses to hasten their journey, then it would simply have been that much more a pointless diversion-- that much more time wasted in which the slavers bearing Turas made it only farther and farther away.

Of course, she needed to get Turas back-- he was one of her crew, and Gridiron absolutely wouldn't stand to let one of her own fall victim to the very fate they had dedicated their lives to fighting against. And yes... perhaps, there was a more selfish dimension to her intent-- that Gridiron needed (or perhaps, simply strongly yearned for) the sense of stability and normalcy that a person like Turas provided, but then, was it so selfish of her to ask just that much in life? But... that aside, even if Menia did indeed accommodate a stable, it was unlikely that stable would host an Ashura Thoroughbred, and Gridiron refused to cast her sister aside for the sake of convenience. It was a benediction of nigh miraculous magnitude that Amanhã yet lingered with her-- that she hadn't decided it would have served her purposes much better to forsake her half-sister and strike out on her own once again. Gridiron wanted to speak to her sister more on the subject of her continued presence with Gridiron and her crew-- to what end that association would extend, what she had in store for the foreseeable future, where she was going. Gridiron wanted to... well, 'help' was probably a term Amanhã would have found deeply objectionable, but there was no two ways about it. The turmoil she had unveiled in Amanhã was not an adversary she suspected her half-sister would find as conquerable as she had found every other challenge in her life.

But that was not an immediate concern. Her immediate concern right now was to guarantee that an individual who had committed every fibre of their existence to helping her beat down slavery at every chance did not succumb to that very same reprehensible destiny.

"I don't want to risk any delays," Gridiron murmured, shaking her head and turning back toward the road leading out from the caves. "From here to that bridge, we will not suffer anything but ceaseless progress. No stopping, no rest, just forward." She cast a glance around at her companions-- the three faceless ones, Amanhã and the twins, seemed largely unfatigued, and she herself was perfectly able to force herself to keep up the pace as long as she had to, but she couldn't necessarily speak for Nee, to whom she turned and tentatively remarked, "If you get tired, just... let me know." Hopefully, Amanhã would be willing to carry the small girl on her broad shoulders-- if... uh, if Gridiron asked nicely enough...

... wow, I must've taken some serious brain damage back in those caves without realising it to have somehow ended up on that line of thinking.






And so it was that the Faceless Five, three of them literally so and the other two figuratively in manners which were totally not bullshitted by their respective RPers to make the 'Faceless Five' moniker work, continued on their way.

Lestari and Wu, as ever, walked side by side and all but step by step. Amanhã, straying along just behind them, trudging heavily along the dirt road leading from the mountains to the Leiya Bridge, found the two irritatingly odd specimens, and not only because the larger one was totally cramping her style what with the whole 'huge person covered in armour' thing they had going. Amanhã was anything but a... uh, what did they call them? A people person. She was as much the antithesis of that as chi was the antithesis of real strength, or Suiken was the antithesis of young, slender, and heterosexual. And yet, nevertheless, Amanhã suspected somehow that there was some quality about these two hooded imbeciles that was lost on most other people. Though an abject silence had befallen the less than enthused constituents of the Faceless Five, Amanhã felt somehow that there was a veritable uproar of communion between the two that fell upon no ears but their own-- silent, sightless, wordless, animated converse that would never be known to anybody but themselves. Perhaps it was because Amanhã was simply adjusted to paying heed to the minuscule tics, the all but imperceptible tell-tale omens buried in another person's body language, instrumental to anticipating and responding to an impending attack-- she saw the slight shoulders of the smaller one shuddering somewhat, or the larger give the merest of nods of affirmation, imperceptibly vague, infinitesimally faint in their expression.

But it meant nothing to the apathetic bounty hunter, and she remained ignorant of it all in its true depth. The hollow, hopeless laughter. The thin, forlorn jests, repeated time and time again until they lost meaning, ventured simply to fill the thick, musky, empty air with words of some form. Lest they forgot what those words meant-- lest they failed one day to recall the sound of laughter. But it was becoming less and less potent. More and more futile. The distance was expanding, and they could feel it in every excruciatingly numb fibre of their insubstantial being. And someday, that distance...

But the prospects of that bleak, desolate fate yet evoked dread-- real, burning, gut-wrenching dread-- and they sought to avoid contemplation of that inevitability. It lay on a fatalistic horizon that faded off into a despondent blackness, and they knew already what awaited them if they yet lingered in this cold place of anguish-- if they did not achieve that vague, virtually unavailing hope. To dwell any longer on that inescapable destiny of true and irrevocable isolation did no good but to wound them only all the deeper, crush underfoot those last lingering vestiges of optimism. It served them naught to look to the inexorable maws of the unavoidable fate that awaited them-- only to seek in desperation what far-flung, futile possibilities would deliver them from its eternal jaws.

As long as they had each other, however, it would... be tolerable. The pain of absolute numbness diluted-- the torturous silence alleviated by another voice, however clouded, however murky and faint it grew as it struggled to pierce the dense musk. Without free will, without sensation, without form, silently looking to an inevitable fate of agony, they had one another.

And perhaps that would be enough.

The two hooded figures shared a brief glance, and then Lestari arched their arm out to Wu. The slighter of the twins clambered onto the steadfast platform of the larger's arm gratefully, seating themself upon the metal surface-- one black-gloved hand grasping Lestari's arm, the other resting reliantly upon their pauldron-clad shoulder. And there was an almost imperceptible spring to the armoured twin's step as they silently bore their companion along, trudging through the dirt and muck-- some paltry spark of liveliness, of hope, amidst the pale tenebrity of inevitability.








So this was it.

It wasn't much. Silent. Distant from the wretched depravity of the city situated not far away. Devoid of the vomitous sickness of life. Torches along the cave walls. Pale flickering light. Illuminating nothing. Carcasses scattered along the stone floor. Vessels for dark arts. Necromancy. The fruits of her very own kind-- dispersed across the land by avid practitioners of other races. Seeking their own ambitions within those forbidden disciplines.

The vaguest of smirks pulling at Kaede Lythronax's cold azure lips-- betraying through the veil of impenetrable apathy to all things a hint of amusement. The very prospect. That she could feel any affinity with the ashura-- that they could be called her 'kind'. She watched the disgust bubble up within her body, felt it as one would perceive the sensation of heat in another vessel detached from oneself. Because the ashura meant nothing to her. No more than did any other vile, crawling mass of flesh and organs-- any other race of indistinguishable wretches.

Speaking of vile, crawling masses of flesh and organs.

Kaede, sitting cross-legged at the very end of the cave, lingering behind the massive pit at the heart of the body silently, heard it coming. Heard it enter. Knew who and what it was immediately. Her immense arms were laid out upon her crossed legs, her wrists laid over one another. Her bare face, the one region of her form unclad in armour. She beheld herself, a motionless, impassive visage of virulent loathing. Silent and alone. Awaiting the approach of the one who made use of this domain of death.

He came into vision, and Kaede met his gaze indifferently. A bizarre mask obscured his features now. That was new. But he was otherwise unmistakable. The magnitude of chi he exhibited, perceptible even to her, that explicit stench given off by all life. This cave, betrayed to her as his realm of the manipulation of the dead. The violet hair, too, for what it was worth.

And so she wasted no time. No unnecessary talk. No inanities. The words left her lips softly, almost faintly, and yet inexorable in their intent, as she stared at her former comrade.

"Where is Fortune?"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Lo-muna Vanhi Character Portrait: Suiken Character Portrait: Yamato Hibiki Character Portrait: Terra Himene Character Portrait: Rune Iyora Character Portrait: Kaede Lythronax
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The icy voice from behind actually surprised Phecda, and he immediately wrenched one of his rings from the others, raising it above his head to throw it...wait, who was that? An Ashura wearing faded yet very ornate armor, it seemed...lowering the rings, Phecda realized he recognized the Ashura, and sighed, putting his rings away.

"So this is how you greet me, eh? By breaking and entering my beloved atelier?" The annoyed edge in his voice was equally menacing, but it was really just a front--to be honest, he was actually somewhat glad to see her, one of his former comrades, alive and well. "And, long time no see, by the way. Shall I get you something to drink?"

He was only making idle banter now, but he knew he should answer her question quickly. So as he pulled off his mask, poured some water for himself and grabbed a tea bag (it would be better to not ask where he got the tea, for it was actually a fairly expensive brand), he let out another sigh. This one was more regretful than anything.

"And, I'm sorry to say...Fortune is beyond our reach. He is far at sea, with another one of our real friends. Sir Hoodiekins, I believe some of the others jokingly called him? Anyway, their current companions don't exactly seem to be going on a cruise, so I doubt it's wise to go after him now."

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Terra's hands whipped around once again; she had no intent of stopping her assault. Two more lightning bolts flew from her hands before the golden light in her eye faded, and she staggered, realizing how much Chi she had expended. It was probably an incredibly reckless use as well, but that didn't matter to her. As her foot stamped on the ground, the stones underneath their feet rose, and Terra was ready to hurl them at the other team--

Wait a minute. This wasn't right at all. What was she even doing?! Despite not liking the members such as Jakkar, she had joined the competition with a (presumably) different goal in mind. Though she wasn't sure how Muna would act on this, Terra had decided to win the competition, physically get to the treasure first...and use the map to lead both guilds out. Neither of the guilds, she had been sure, would have done this; even Muna probably wasn't that nice. But now, despite hating the idea of the competition because it would cause the losers to essentially be killed, she was trying to kill them herself...

B-but...they cheated! I had every right to attack them! No matter how hard she tried to convince herself, however, Terra couldn't bring herself to accept her own actions. Her hands slowly began to lower, and the stones clattered to the ground. Suddenly, she found herself extremely exhausted again, and toppled over onto the floor. If the other team was going to try anything else, she'd kill herself trying to stop it.

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The tiles were honestly getting more and more maddening to Umi. Repeatedly he found himself slipping and barely managing to cheat death by grabbing something at the last second. His arms and legs were getting fatigued quickly; he had to put so much effort into balancing and...argh. Just argh.

Kicking off from the tile he was standing on, he launched himself at another tile, and tried bouncing off it. Then the water he was carrying spiraled out and shot upwards under his foot, sending him flying up the last meter. His hands grasped onto the ledge of the doorway on the other side of the room. He had made it!

"...I do...not want to do that again," the boy grumbled as he pulled himself up and returned the contents of his waterskin to their rightful place. "Oh well, wonder what horrors I'll be seeing next?"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Lo-muna Vanhi Character Portrait: Suiken Character Portrait: Yamato Hibiki Character Portrait: Terra Himene Character Portrait: Rune Iyora Character Portrait: Kaede Lythronax
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Phecda let out a "tch!" sound of rekindled fury. "Trust me, my friend, if I had my way, I would be the one causing his demise. Just as I tried to do last night, as a matter of a fact. But, even if I use the shadows to travel or fly, reaching Fortune, who is several hundred miles away, is impossible. Unless you have a plan for crossing the distance?"

Filling another cup with water, he tossed it in her direction, fully prepared to catch it with air chi in the unlikely (at least, if he remembered correctly, it was unlikely) event that she failed to catch it herself. "So, what kind of tea would you like, while I'm at it? Apologies, but even I forget peoples' food tastes. Ah, if I knew I had guests..." He sipped from his own cup, tasting a rich strawberry flavor as he did so.

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No sooner had one bit of madness ended, than another one started. Flames suddenly danced wildly inside the dome, and despite being mostly confined to the place where the combatants were, the flames were still slowly starting to spread. And eating up all the air in the room as well...

Still lying on the floor, Terra was finding it harder and harder to breathe as well. Her throat felt tight, but not just with terror; she knew they'd be dying in a few minutes if this continued.

"S-Suiken," she gasped weakly, trying to get the Snow Oni's attention. "I-I don't care about keeping t-things fair anymore...j-just find a way to stop this! W-we don't have...m-much time before it's all-" But her words abruptly halted when she saw Muna embracing the other guild's man/beast man. W-WHAAAAAAT?!

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Lo-muna Vanhi Character Portrait: Sunaarashi Character Portrait: Ann'Razul Character Portrait: Suiken Character Portrait: Yamato Hibiki Character Portrait: Terra Himene
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Was she really like this back in the old guild? Phecda's memory was starting to fail him now. "Well...you seem rather optimistic that he won't get lost at sea," he commented with a lopsided grin. "Ah well, if you really wish, I will be keeping tabs on wherever Fortune is going. But it's hard to say his new...companions...won't be intending the worst for him."

Suddenly, when he spoke of monitoring on Fortune's location, he remembered something else. "Hold that thought for a moment..." he muttered, turning around, draining his cup of sweet-tasting tea, and setting it down. Placing his mask back upon his face, he began sensing for, not Fortune, but Hyuna. And it seemed she was going towards the Gangamai Desert...

...but what was this? Terra and the rest of Fortune's new Guild had just emerged in an underground city at the edge of the desert. Interesting. He'd at least have something to do, if Kaede was planning to wait until Fortune got back to the mainland. "So, what will you do next, my friend? Even though I don't technically have a job, I've still got quite some work on my hands."

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As Terra's eyes fluttered open, the first thing she noticed was that, while the pain was still there, all her injuries from the past two days were completely gone. But immediately after that, she noticed something else: They weren't in the desert temple anymore. Instead, small sandstone houses stood around them, illuminated by torchlight and the desert's afternoon sun piercing through...holes in the sky?! But she quickly realized that they were underground a few moments later. So...they got here while she was sleeping. Ugh, why can't I ever have the slightest clue where I'm going these days?

Pulling herself to her feet, she landed directly next to the beast-girl who had joined them just that previous night...it took her a bit to remember the wolf girl's name, though. Rune, was it? "M-morning...or whatever time it is, Rune," Terra greeted, still a little bit bashful. "W-where are we now?"

However, as she walked, suddenly someone slammed into her from the side--Terra let out a scream as she was roughly knocked back a few inches, directly in front of the wolf girl that she had been talking to. "H-hey! Watch where you're going!" she began to say. But when she saw the face of the person who ran into her, her voice faultered. Was that really him?! Why was he here?!

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Umi had been in such a hurry to get away from the area in which that woman screamed for the guards to arrive, that he hadn't paid much attention to where he was going. Before he knew it, he smashed into a very small girl while he was turning a corner. Just as the girl began to reprimand him, and Umi was already preparing some sort of sarcastic apology out of habit...the girl's voice suddenly stopped. Confused, Umi took a better look at the girl...

When he realized who she was--despite her having grown slightly taller, her face hadn't really changed--the response he had suddenly evaporated from his mind. She was right here. Terra was alive and well. And he had finally found her.

"...U-Umi?" Terra finally stammered. "I-is that really you? B-but...h-how did you find me?"

Then, Umi finally found his own voice. "Y-yeah, i-it's me, Terra! I...well, I came back from Onium...j-just a few days ago. But, well, when I got b-back to Lindas...um, well, you had already left...for the Yune Empire. A-and, I-I was worried about what happened to you, so...well, I, uh, I went looking for you. I-it took me a lot of searching, b-but...yeah, I-I'm here now!" God dammit, what the hell am I doing?! I usually...don't, uh...stumble on my words like this...geez, now it's happening to my thoughts, too! Ugh... Despite all the thoughts racing around in his head at the moment, though, he had a broad smile on his face, glad to have finally found her...

But the same expression wasn't really replicated upon Terra's face. "Y-you s-seriously c-came all this way...j-just for...m-me, of all p-people?" The words were said with...much less joy than Umi's words had carried, even in their jumbled state. "I-I...w-well, um...t-thanks, I guess." Wait, what was with those words? They sounded so half-hearted to the boy's ears.

"H-hey..." Umi leaned so that his face was in Terra's field of view, for she had turned her head away from him when she thanked him. "I-is something wrong? Y-you didn't get hurt by someone, right? I-I mean..."

Terra, however, quickly turned her head in a different direction again. "N-no...I-I'm well, t-thank you. Th-there were some...um...n-nice people that h-have been taking care of me f-for the past few days, s-so..." A pause, and then she swallowed hard. "B-but...Umi...I-I, um...did I really m-matter that much t-to you? S-so much t-that...a-after coming back, f-fighting so hard for Gwan, y-you'd just throw yourself out there just for s-some girl y-you trained a few years ago?"

This took Umi aback, so much that he actually stopped smiling. "I...uh-what do you mean by that? O-of course you'd matter to me! I-I mean, I didn't have very many chances to write home...i-in fact, not a chance at all for the l-last 3 months...s-so...I..."

But he couldn't really finish what he was saying. After a long pause, Terra finally responded. "...w-well, I missed you too, b-but...Umi, e-even if you really liked me t-that much...t-to me, it just d-doesn't make sense you'd follow me here! N-not even for my sake, I mean..." At this point, her voice dropped to a whisper, as though she were afraid to say the words. "...I-I don't mean t-to hurt you by saying this...but, it seems more to me...like you went after me, into the Yune Empire...more for yourself than for me."

These quiet words had the effect of lightning on Umi's mind. At first, he tried to deny it, but the more he tried thinking about it, any arguments he could think of seemed silly and unworkable. Then, just why did he come here?

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It seemed as though the last few words she said were causing Umi to actually stagger in what seemed like pain. Part of Terra wanted to rush up to him, hug her old friend, and deny she meant what she said...but, the way she saw Umi now, she couldn't tell if it'd make things even worse. And also, doing that just felt downright wrong.

"...but now that we're here, Saaklemore, I'll accept working with you on one condition." The two suddenly were aware of Sunaarashi speaking to an unfamiliar man who seemed to be their guide. The bald member of Fortune, however, was speaking in cold, almost bloodthirsty tones. "Every slaver in this town dies."

The girl in the ruined green kimono stared at him in shock. "S-Sunaarashi...a-are you serious?!" Her mind was already strained from her conversation with Umi, but this was sending her into panic mode at the worst possible time. "W-we can't take on e-every slaveholder a-at once!" And yet, the guide agreed to this idea. What the-?! "E-everyone, p-please, this is just suicidal!" Terra pleaded, trying to reason with them. "I-I know, slavery is terrible, b-but-" But no one seemed to listen to her...

"...if we do have to fight them...what will you do?" The weary voice of the boy in the long blue jacket came from behind her once again, as though it had lost all of its strength.

Once again, Terra wondered if she should support him or something, but something was still telling her not to. It was really strange... "I-I...well, if w-we really have to, t-then...I-I really don't know, Umi. W-whatever plan they've got, it probably won't work...right?"

"...y-you just said yourself, that slavery is wrong." As he said this, Umi started to pull himself up straighter. It seemed as though a dying fire burned in his expression...but a fire nonetheless. "I'm sure a lot of us think it's wrong, too. And if that's the case...I think we should take action, just like your bald friend. We just need a plan."

After staring at him as though he had turned into a pegasus (which, to her knowledge, doesn't even exist) or something, Terra sighed, figuring she probably was outvoted on this issue. "Alright...I guess, then, both of us will go along with it. Umi...I, um..." Her voice faultered once again as she tried to get out the last words. "...t-thank you for helping us with this," she finally managed, giving a weak smile.

Silence fell between the two, before Umi gave his own weak smile. "Hope I can be of use in this crazy plan," he replied.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Lo-muna Vanhi Character Portrait: Sunaarashi Character Portrait: Ann'Razul Character Portrait: Suiken Character Portrait: Yamato Hibiki Character Portrait: Terra Himene
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Kill everyone? Rumelis had thought, for a while, that the bald one-- Sunaarashi-- was a step above most of the guild members, but it seemed he was as indifferent to killing as the others. Was it really the only option? Not that slavers were harmless brigands, but still... a life should be a difficult thing to snuff.

"I know slavery's wrong and all that-- hell, there are probably lots of beast-men like me enslaved here-- but still, kill all the slavers? At the very least, wouldn't that be incredibly difficult? It's not like these people walk about the streets with no guards..."

He'd done things slightly against his morals before, but this was rather dire. At the same time, it wasn't like Rumelis was going to single-handedly hold them back, so there wasn't much he could do.

"Well, anyway, if you're set on it, then go for it-- but don't expect me to help in the killing. I'll free slaves and incapacitate guards, sure, but I won't kill them in cold blood. It doesn't sit well with me."