"Alight, burn bright, illuminate our sight!" Lilac called out with a voice filled with exuberance, channeling the energy of nature around her, power gifted this world by the gods themselves filling her body and flowing out through her hands:

To ignite a small candle a few feet away. As Eve sat on the grassy floor of their currently shared tent, watching with presumed mild curiosity. Gaze trailing as the candle is picked up and moved to be placed in front of her, and subsequently blown out. Flickering electrical violet eyes then rising, drawn by the sound of a single clap.

"Now it's your turn!" Lilac exclaimed with an exaggerated gesture to the stick of wax, earning only a continuation of the blank stare Eve directed at the standing follower. "I know I know, I think it's pretty early too. Char didn't start teaching me magic until I was here for two years. But you've got your death touch down to only your hands and feet after just a month, and I'm guessing that's difficult, especially on the move and all. So…"

Eve's eyes, buzzing within with a light yellow, began to wander as Lilac prattled on. Desperately searching for any other reasoning for the teaching she finds dreadfully boring, other than the fact of being tasked to do so as part of training the Foci. Such going on for a solid two minutes straight until a pause for air is necessary.

"Anyway- Eve! Just repeat what I said and point at the candle, picture it lit in your head, and do that a couple dozen times until it is. Pretty simple really." she explained after a deep inhale, a nostalgic look as she recalled the closer to a hundred times she herself required for her first result. Attention barely paid as Eve's attention was brought back to her, and then the task at hand.

"Most important part is not to get discouraged. Keep at it and one day you'll probably even be able to do it by just saying Light, like Char can. Or even without a word to focus with at all, in a hundred years maybe." Lilac laughed at the idea, thinking of the mages in old stories who could will the world around them with only the most minor of hand motions. Such feats near unheard of in the modern day.

The laughter continuing even as Eve silently pointed at the candle, a spark emitting from her bolt, running down her body via her veins, along her arm, before finally jumping from her fingertip to the candlewick, igniting it. The entire process taking only a second. Two seconds more of laughter until silence descended upon the tent.

It became Lilac's turn to stare blankly in surprise, before scratching her cheek thoughtfully, saying after a moment: "Huh… Does that count?" and eliciting only a small tilt of the head in response from the briefly backlit blue, now pale violet again eyed girl.

Before she had the opportunity to ponder technicalities further, a burst of activity was heard outside the tent. Sudden movement to and fro in a great hurry. Lilac barely having the time to stand before a red-haired head poked inside.

"Hey! You could've asked if we were decent first." Lilac's frustrated exclamation, replaced quickly with a brow raise of confusion. Expecting an annoyed rise out of Blaze that never came, instead occupied with a brief scan of the tent's interior, lingering on Eve.

"What is it? We're just moving again ri-" Lilac began.

"There's trouble." Blaze interrupted, cutting in with tense features conveying the seriousness of the situation.

"Oh." Lilac finished shortly, setting aside any bickering and straightening up. Hearing Eve slowly climb to her feet beside her, no rush or care at all to be seen in its demeanour.

"J-just keep her here, out of sight. And if you hear…" Blaze stops himself with a sigh, steadying himself with a breath, as he remembered that they both are Storm Followers. They are prepared for exactly this kind of situation. "If anything happens, you know what to do."

He then proceeded to step out quickly, not waiting to watch Lilac steel herself for the task of guarding the followers' most precious treasure. Nor seeing said treasure tilt her head in apparent confusion as to what was occurring.

- - -

Twenty eight Storm Followers gathered in the centre of the camp, hoods and cloaks obscuring the tension carried in the air. One stood at the front, flanked by a pair on either side only a step behind, five total. All watching as a cloud of dust is kicked up in the distance, by fifteen riders approaching in the light of the rising sun.

"As planned, I will talk. The rest of you, knives hidden and exits memorised. Most importantly of all, don't, panic." the familiar voice of Char spoke, with a voice full of grit, a momentary glance spared to her immediate right at the frozen frame of Blaze. Heavy nervous breathing stifled by an elbow from the individual to his right in turn, the guard allocated to the scholar's protection.

As the leader of the Storm Follower's words halted, so too did the riders' charge. Or at the very least twelve of them stopped, adopting a battle-ready formation, tall lances and large bows visible even from a distance. Resting, but ready. A tactical decision which earned a frustrated click of Char's tongue, preferring all to be lured into close quarters. Though she had little opportunity to consider alternative counters, as the remaining three charging at rapid pace caught her attention when they came into clearer view.

All were clad in heavy plate armour with cavalry sabres sheathed at their sides. A surcoat worn over steel bore the insignia of the nation of Jorn, a pair of hands beneath a sun, symbolizing raising it up in respect and adoration. As distinct as the trio was, its lead stood out further due to the large military hackle attached to their head, whipping in the wind, and the incredibly large horse on which they were astride, nearly double the size of those flanking its rear.

In less than a minute, the knights had arrived. A sharp tug on the reins slowing down their mounts to a trot. The officer, identified by their helm's plume, directed their stallion to stop only a few feet away from the head of the cloaked gathering. The pitch black steed's burning red eyes, large teeth as sharp as blades revealed by heavy breaths, and imposing muscular size quickly identified it as a Dire Cheval. Distant descendants of the union of horses with more equine-esque monsters, significantly more powerful and aggressive than the average steed, but still capable of being tamed, albeit with great difficulty.

Distracted by the creature's glare, digging a sizable hole with a single scrape of its hoof against the ground as a clear gesture of intimidation, it took a moment for Char to notice the officer had removed their helm. Revealing a pompous-looking man with an exceedingly wide handlebar moustache, currently in the process of making it presentable after the time spent constrained.

Char's nerves, set on edge by the clear threat of the monster-blooded beast, were calmed a tad by the sight of its rider. Replaced instead by disappointment, taking all her composure not to sigh, and instead draw herself up to hail the unwanted visitors. "Good da-"

"Shh." receiving a prompt shushing from the officer who continued to fix his moustache to no avail for the next thirty seconds, blatantly ignoring the group he towers before, eventually turning to face the pair behind him. "How do I look?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Truly perfect sir!" the feminine voice on the right side blatantly lied.

"Absolutely magnificent sir!" the masculine voice on the left, also boldly fibbed.

"Excellent!" the balding officer grinned, none the wiser, before putting on a faux-serious expression as he turned back to the waiting Storm Followers, hailing them in an attempt at a professional manner. "Ahem. You are speaking to Officer Charles Ewart de Jorn, acting on behalf of the Shining Sabreurs!"

Upon the announcement, the pair behind him, and by extension even the twelve in the distance from what can be discerned, drew the sabres from their hips and raised them skyward, exclaiming: "While the sun may set, its glory never will!" which caused their blades to briefly emit a blinding gleam.

When vision returned, Char and the rest of the followers saw Officer Charles with a hand across his chest, beneath his heart, with its palm turned up. Nodding in approval as he praises them. "Well said, well said. Now then, state who you are and what your business here is. Chop chop."

Char, who had put her hands together so that her sleeves could obscure the nail-digging grip they clenched with from irritation, bowed her head deeply as a surface-level gesture of respect at the chance to speak. Keeping her gaze tilted downward even as her head rose up again, to hide her face and watch for any sudden movements from the Dire Cheval. "Of course Officer, we are the Explorers of the Empty, servants of the Void, passing through your lands on our pilgrimage."

Charles raised a hand after the name Void processed in his mind, cutting in right after. "Void, god of night and darkness, worshiped by our sworn enemies the Noit?" he inquires, expression contorted to one of immense disgust, spitting on the ground beside him. The pair behind also spitting judging by the slight splatting sounds beneath their face-covering helms, and the flailing rising of hands in panic upon realising at the wet sensations now stuck there within.

"... That would be Nox. Void is the god of absence. A common mistake, given how night is merely the absence of the glorious sun, after all." Char pandered, biting back the venom that wishes to drip out with her every word. Especially as Charles' disgust was replaced by a cheerful smile from her pleasing statement.

"Ah, of course, of course! A very easy mistake to make, do forgive. So you have nothing to do at all with those disgusting, despicable, ne'er-do-wells, the Noit?"

"Not at all Mr Ewar-"

"Officer!"

"... Officer, Ewart. In fact we have taken steps to bless the ground we traverse, so that those of the nation of Noit, and all who would dare ally themselves with them, would find no security in solitude in your lands." Char elucidated in her smoothest, most elegant tone. A corner of her mind thankful for the burning equine eyes burrowing into her soul, preventing her from acting irrationally. At least so far.

The pair allocated to guard Charles finally figure out to remove their helms at this point, revealing what look to be twins, with hair as blue as the sky on a clear beautiful day, contrasting the few strands of brown Charles' own head has left. The latter coughing to draw attention from the embarrassing display of their wiping their helms' interiors with their surcoats.

"Ahem. Yes… Pray tell, was the fate of Costa due to one of your blessings then?" Charles asked, overtly faking innocent curiosity, despite the mood in the air chilling as he did so. The blue-haired trading serious glances before the helms were donned once more.

"... Costa?" the change in atmosphere not going unnoticed, Char bristled. Immediately sensing the change in those around her as well, Blaze starting to sweat, his guard tensing, and her own two protectors on her other side bracing for the worst.

"You don't know it? The loveliest little hamlet this side of Jorn. And with the tower beside it, it couldn't be missed. Until that dreadful light cylinder at least. Now it's nothing more than soil and scraps. A tragedy, wouldn't you agree?" he rhetorically asked, though nonetheless awaited an answer, as his hand casually shifted to rest on his sabre's hilt.

"I see. It truly is, Officer. Though I'm afraid we wouldn't know anything about that." she confessed, truth in her words, though Char still felt the urge to grind her teeth, already sensing what was going to be said next. Despite the steps taken to prevent it.

"And yet there was a trail from the site of destruction leading right to you, reminiscent of the damage Costa itself had suffered. You see my dear, nothing escapes my sight." Ewart stated, brimming with arrogance.

"It was me actually! Good ol' papa taught me how to track with the best of 'em."

"He tried to teach me first, but told me one day he caught moles with better eyes. Hurtful! But he wasn't wrong."

The feminine twin chimed in from the back, backed up by her brother. Eliciting their commanding officer to repeat himself in a curt fashion: "As my subordinates, your sight is mine. So as I said, nothing escapes my sight."

"Nothing does, as you say Officer Ewart. We had visited the location you described, drawn by the very light you mentioned. I'm afraid it was destroyed by the time we arrived though. And our efforts to find survivors… Were rewarded only by one of our number, receiving a curse." she explained, with difficulty. Even with the petty act of insubordination buying Char time, she still had to pause to reach for an excuse. Internally hoping that the silence was interpreted as distress instead.

Silence fell for a moment, as Charles stared dubiously at the so-called pilgrim. Gaze then shifting back to the masculine twin. "A curse?"

"Well, naturally occurring curses aren't completely unheard of sir. Get an area filled with magic and negative emotions and they can happen. Usually catch them from battlefields, but desolate as Costa was, it's entirely possible. Uh, sir!" the subordinate saluted with the same under heart, palm up gesture as Ewart demonstrated before.

"I see. Bring them out then, l want to see this curse for myself." he pompously ordered as he returned his pale green eyes to the claimed Void worshiper.

"I wouldn't advise that Officer. We have been keeping it isolated to prevent the curse from spreading."

"It?"

"... Is not a pretty sight right now." Char claimed, actually biting her tongue at this point. Earning only a soul-piercing stare.

"... Hm. And there were no survivors? Not a single one?" he asked simply. He would've preferred to have the pilgrim remove her hood to gauge her reaction better, but such practices were often part of worship, and incredibly taboo to trifle with. Never wise to insult the gods by intruding upon their servants without sufficient cause.

"None, I'm afraid." Char answered, lying as naturally as she breathed. Causing a much longer silence to fall upon the gathering, lasting over a minute. Before a sabre was drawn.

And pointed to the south, Charles announcing: "Very well then. You have three days to take that curse from our glorious nation, Empty Explorers. But know this, should you have chosen to deceive under the light of the glorious sun, then no empty corner of this world shall hide you from Officer Charles Ewart de Jor-"

Before he had the opportunity to finish, the Officer spotted something strange. Two figures walking over from a different part of the camp, one cloaked and hooded like the rest, though the hood was stretched unusually wide, the other a girl with pale violet hair trailing after, trying and failing to stop them.