“I was wondering when you’d remember to carve the runes.” Gaeldir grinned, hammering a sword billet into shape in the heat of his workshop. Every breath of his seemed to warm up the room even more so than the furnace could. “The weapon is attuned now, carving runes into it is monumentally more difficult now that it will resist with it’s own vitality.”
“So.. can you do it?” Ryke peaked his head around to properly watch the Runesmith work, trying his best to analyse and remember every little trick he saw, even if he saw very little. Every moment was a learning moment for him.
Gaeldir took the cooling billet from the anvil and quenched it in the still unknown oil, taking the moment to look at Ryke and use a moment to think. A few seconds later he finally nodded his head. “Sure. But you owe me a favour.”
“Agreed!”
“What runes do you want?”
“Sharpness, Durability, Resonance!”
“Resonance?” Gaeldir raised a brow and took the sword billet from the oil barrel, grabbing a cloth and wiping it down. “Why resonance?”
“Thunder is sound, right? Can’t sounds resonate?”
“I suppose so.” Gaeldir rolled his eyes with a shrug. In reality it was rather easy for him to do, as his Vitae easily overpowered a Runic Sword yet to earn even its First Exalt. Ryke didn’t need to know that though, and he quickly took the Runic Sword from Ryke’s hands.
Taking a mere moment to identify where the vertices were, the man grabbed a chisel from his belt and his hands began to glow a soft ice blue. The colour slowly flowed into the metal edge of the chisel, before he hunched over the sword and brought his chisel down on its surface. Calmly, he began to carve a rune into the first vertex.
Quickly, Ryke dedicated himself to seeing how Gaeldir’s Vitae interacted with the weapon's vitality. He wanted to see how the chisel effectively carved the pathways within the weapon into a shape. Seeing this wouldn’t turn him into a master by any means, but any chance to improve his skills was appreciated.
Nearly an hour later all three runes were carved into the weapon and Ryke returned it to it’s rightful owner, not too upset that he didn’t understand anything new by watching the process. He’d have the chance to practise multiple times in the next few months, considering no one knew when they’d be brought out of Aenebra.
When Ryke asked if Lycus wanted to name the sword, the other boy stood speechless for a moment. He had thought about it prior but it had been merely half a day since he saw the sword in the morning and now it was complete. He felt Ryke’s efficiency was truly terrifying sometimes, albeit Ryke never quite agreed.
“You said it’s sharpness, durability, and resonance?”
“Yup! I’m not sure why, but my gut feeling said resonance.”
Lycus stood still for a moment, nodded his head and then held the sword high. He saw his reflection in the blade and the glinting light off it’s edge. A wide smile crept across his face before he looked back at Ryke. “How about Eternal Melody?”
----------------------------------------
“Keep your heads up!” Ryke lead the party through the stone forests. Their combat strength overall was too weak to hold any important combat missions. Instead, they were left to perform reconnaissance ever since the incident at the Angicor Den. Pulling his glaive out from the head of a strange badger looking Fera, he looked around. The group had warded off the attack by these Badger Fera easily enough, though Maximus received a cut to his thigh while defending Drisnae, their new cartographer.
“How much of the map is left?
“Just another mile or so. I’ll focus more on details on the return trip.” The twin spoke solemnly, rolling up the parchment and carefully stowing it away. Ryke could only sigh as he noticed the darkness in her eyes.. Giving his fellow Candidates a moment to rest, they were marching onwards soon.
Sigmar’s orders for them this time was to investigate a small mountain side pond, reportedly the den of a new type of Fera that hadn’t been seen before. The Stone Lotus Guard who discovered the clearing prior had only briefly stopped by during their retreat from a larger battle but feared the leader of the den would grow too strong to casually remove later. His instructor's strange expression while assigning them the mission made Ryke feel there was more to it than that, but he wasn’t sure why.
“Ryke.”
As he walked, he kept feeling something was strange about it all. Why didn’t the Stone Lotus Guard just clear the den themselves? Why send them out? Training? Couldn’t they send someone to supervise? It confused him-
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“Ryke!”
“What? Yes?”
Caius’ shout brought him out of his own thoughts and the golden eyed boy finally registered what was in front of him. The stone forest slowly opened up into a small valley that ended in a waterfall, it’s navy blue waters cascading into a small pond. The hole the waterfall came from was one of dozens that littered the mountain side, though it was the only one flowing with Aenebra’s waters.
The beautiful scenery, however, was ruined.
Tens of Fera corpses littered the small patch of purple grass that lay beside the navy pond. Creatures reminiscent of horses with odd light red hide and purple eyes. Their hooves and manes were an ashen grey colour. Their legs and heads lay scattered around the field while their bodies lay split into halves, thirds, or hundreds of tiny little pieces. Even Maximus felt his blood run cold at the sight.
Two outliers remained among the bodies, lying in the vast pool of crimson dried blood. A single male corpse covered in black tar and a strange man with grey skin lying opposite him, pitch black eyes and silvery hair. If not for the strange colouration, Ryke would almost believe he was human. The issue being, they had no idea what he was at all.
“Watch your steps, avoid black tar hidden within the blood. Lycus, make sure the Devil and its tar is dead. Caius, do the same with the other corpse. Everyone else look for traces of others amidst the carnage. Watch out for survivors.” Ryke ordered and everyone got to work. Flipping over pieces and corpses to make sure nothing hid beneath.
Lycus rolled the devil corpse over slightly while Caius pierced the strange corpse in the head from afar. Neither moved. Ryke crouched down to check some of the dead Fera and didn’t like what he saw. Several of them were approaching their Second Ring and none of the hooves showed signs of damage or blood. Not a single one of the horse creatures landed a blow.
Not to mention that the beasts had several types of wounds. Claw marks made up the most of them, slash like wounds from a bladed weapon made up the rest. It was evident what killed a large majority was the devil. Whatever the grey man was, he wasn’t sure if he used a weapon or not as they couldn’t find one.
“The devil had already been checked. Someone made sure the black tar within was dead. The grey man was killed normally, bled out apparently.. Based on how much tar was on the Devil, we assume it was a Second Ring.” Lycus stepped up and quickly briefed Ryke. Everyone else started looting what they could off the Fera while Drisnae started finishing up the map. This could be a potential strategic location after all.
“Can’t tell how strong the grey-skin was?” Ryke turned slightly, seeing the corpse in the corner of his eye. Something about it felt uncanny. It was just human enough, but something was missing. Shaking his head, he called Maximus and Ofrir over to help him investigate the mountain-side caves while telling Caius to ready the two corpses. They’d bring them back to people who knew better.
Once Ryke entered the caves with Ofrir and Maximus they immediately felt empty. The floor was littered with pale violet grass and small bones. Dead foals laid in the corners of the cave; this was true for every one they checked. The beasts used this small valley as their den to raise their young and hoard food. They could have even been used as mounts for the Centurions. Decay was all that remained now. With a shake of his head, he stifled the feelings of pity in his chest and returned to the opening with the other two.
Returning to the Bastion, no one noticed the small amount of blood missing from the badger clearing, nor did they notice the eyes staring at them from the dark. Caius couldn’t resist stoking the flames of Ryke’s curiosity. “Why do you think they were there?”
“The devil and the grey-thing?”
“Mhm.”
“To fight.”
“Well, yeah, but why?”
“Maybe some hidden resource at the pond? How would I know?”
“Well you wouldn’t, but you can guess.”
Ryke rolled his eyes. He had no idea what one of the dead even was, yet he was supposed to guess what they were doing? Absurd. They were let through the gates of the Bastion easy enough even as the grey corpse received strange looks from a few on the streets. No one even had to notify Sigmar of their return, as one of the Centurions guarding the Ludus immediately darted inside to do it for them. Ryke did not like the look on his face when Sigmar noticed the corpses.
“Where’d you find him?” Sigmar took the grey corpse from Caius and tossed it haphazardly onto a table in the medical ward. Ryke swore he heard something crack.
“The clearing at the end of our route today.” He stated clearly, doing his best to stand at attention. “He was found opposite a dead Devil within a pile of dead Horse Fera dubbed Cinequos. Horses of Ash. None of the Fera even landed a hit and even their foals were dead.”
“Did you discern how many combatants total?”
“Minimum three. Most wounds were from claws while some were from a blade, yet we found no weapons. A survivor escaped.”
“Did you check how long ago the battle was?” Sigmar grinned at him, causing Ryke to freeze up. His instructor's smile only grew even wider when the boy mumbled out a quiet ‘no’ in response. “You almost did everything as you should, but you forgot the most important part. Tsk.”
“Why is that the most important?”
“Figure it out yourself. Leave, all of you. Rest for the day.” Sigmar gestured them all out. A few moments later, Silex entered through another door after the Candidates left. His gaze was grim as he stared at both the grey-skinned corpse and the devil placed to the side.
“They only find the one?” The Praetorian stepped up to the corpses and checked their eyes and nails while Sigmar nodded off to the side. Sighing, Silex finally looked at Sigmar. “Which camp do you think the survivor belonged to?”
“Both, now.”