Maleen Vin Ra sat perched on the ledge of a stone bridge, the blue glow from the algae that seemed to coat the city illuminating her surroundings. She tucked her wings close to her, large round eyes taking in everything that lay before her.
She had her team set camp here at what appeared to be the edge of the city. A hundred-foot wall at their backs and a long narrow street the only obvious entrance. There were of course other ways to get to her team through the buildings, but she had thoroughly guarded those, laying counter measures with her [Descent of the Mind] skill. The illusions wouldn’t last for long, not without her constantly supplying them with Primordial Energy, but she had supplied each with enough to give her team enough of a warning to either flee or respond.
Maleen rotated her head, her eyes fixed like even those unevolved of her species. Owls, as the humans called them. She secretly wished she could have been alive for the peaceful days, when the Allied Kingdoms and Eldari co-existed, though she would never admit it to anyone other than her parents. Still, she had to play her part, even as distasteful as it was. The others wouldn’t follow her if they knew of her sympathies, of her wish to put the ceaseless killing behind her people.
She had never felt the hatred for the humans, elves or dwarfs as the others did. The primitive response that seemed to be engrained into the minds of the Eldari. There were only a few of her clan that felt the same as her, at least that she was aware of. Maleen had been taught to hide this side of her from a young age. The few of their clan still following the teachings of Minerva, who had been a humans partner long before the fall. The histories themselves were forbidden, and her entire clan would have been eradicated just for holding a few of the teachings.
She would do her best to stay out of the way of the humans as much as possible, but it didn’t help that she had been forced to bring that fool, Anu with them. All because he came from the great Pharoah line. He had been coddled his whole life, waited on hand and foot without the slightest guidance from his elders. She felt bad for him really, but she couldn’t help but want to trap him in an illusion just to get him out of the way.
Of course, the fool had run off as soon as they got here, sputtering about ending the humans before the others could claim his glory. Maleen had been forced to send Vellious after him. She wasn’t particularly fond of the blood thirsty croc, but he was far and away their strongest party member. Hopefully he could at least keep Anu in line.
She flew to the ground beneath where Kilwin rested by a fire, a small pool having formed around him from one of his abilities. He lay on his back floating in the water, eyes closed and hands crossed over his stomach. The healer was notoriously lazy, almost to the point of gross negligence, but Maleen couldn’t argue that he wasn’t the best when he put his mind to it. The hippo truly was a prodigy, it was just getting him to contribute. She would have to find a way to motivate him, one way or another.
She activated her domain ability, [The All Seeing Eye], and analyzed the small pool. It wasn’t actually water, but Primordial Energy manifested physical into a pool of pure restorative energy. Her ability granted her knowledge of the ability as if it was her own. In fact, there wasn’t much of anything inside her domain that could be hidden from her, unless it was from a being that was at least at the rank of Viscount.
[Pool of Rejuvenation]
Summon a pool of pure Primordial Energy, healing all ailments, removing status affects, and rejuvenating Primordial Energy stores far faster than on their own. Size and amount of restoration supplied by the pool correlated to Primordial Energy investment.
It was a remarkable ability. One that could heal multiple allies at a time, remove all status affects, and restore Primordial Energy at an increased rate was truly valuable, depending on if Kilwin would be willing to put out the energy to help his teammates.
“Any sign of Vellious and Anu?” Maleen asked. Knowing the hippo had no intention of watching for them. If anyone would be aware of their return it would be her, but she wasn’t one to sit in an awkward silence.
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It seemed Kilwin didn’t mind, however, and didn’t even bother to open one of his eyes. He snorted, but that was the only response he gave Meleen.
“Do you mind telling me about your ability. As we are on a team, and I am the leader of said team, it would be prudent to be aware of all abilities in case the need arises.” Maleen continued, hoping for some semblance of interaction from Kilwin.
Kilwin still didn’t open his eyes. A few moments passed in silence with Maleen standing awkwardly by his pool while Kilwin floated seemingly unbothered. “Can you please stop with your incessant staring and all the idiotic questions.” He said eventually. “You know what all our abilities are already. I felt you use that domain ability of yours. Besides, you owls are a fastidious group. Your elders wouldn’t have sent you here without that knowledge. So, spare me the energy and yourself the embarrassment and let us enjoy the silence while we still can.”
Maleen blinked, startled by the brash reply. A spark of rage lit in her stomach. If she had ever spoken to someone of higher station than her that way, she would have been plucked clean and removed from her clan. She had a half a mind to drop the hippo into a nightmarish illusion right then and there. She exhaled deeply instead and decided to let the matter slide.
She calmed a moment later, feeling the heat inside her dissipate as quickly as it had come on. It was a failing her of people. The temper that so often accompanied the Eldari despite if they carried the affliction or not.
She knew the others of her team carried it. Especially that croc, but it wouldn’t do to make them aware. If anything, it would see her dead and possibly have repercussions for her clan. Her grandmother had been in seclusion for centuries, only to emerge a few years ago with the startling proclamation that the Great Afflicter was back, and a Kingdom Rising was eminent.
Of course, she had only shared the knowledge with a select few, and only those with absolute confidence that were free of the affliction. Still, Maleen couldn’t help but wonder what it meant. She hadn’t known her grandmother, only heard tales of the mind manipulation she was capable of, so meeting her for the first time was… nerve racking.
Maleen felt a trap she had laid on the street leading to her camp trigger, pulling her from her thoughts. She was an overthinker and dwelling on what she didn’t understand would only prove to drive her into madness.
The trap was a simple illusion, and one she had informed her team of. It wouldn’t fool the croc if he knew what to look for and it gave Maleen time to warn Kilwin and fly to her perch. She looked down the street, pupils dilating as she stared into the dark corners of the narrow street. She breathed out in relief as she saw the croc march angrily down the street, but her eyes narrowed when she saw he was alone.
Maleen flew down to join Kilwin by the fire once more – her clawed feet digging into the stone in anxious anticipation. Vellious stomped toward them, his perpetual scowl unchanged from when she asked him to go after Anu.
Maleen was about to speak but the Vellious cut her off. “The fool prince got himself killed.” He snorted as he settled into Kilwins pool of restorative water. The hippo looked like he was about to protest before Vellious shot him a glare that could freeze water.
Maleen was taken aback for a second, but relief quickly replaced the shock of hearing of his demise. “Well,” she said, “that certainly comes as a surprise. I assume you were able to dispose of his killer?”
Vellious snorted. “Don’t act like it is a tragedy. We all know we’re better off without him and he won’t be missed by any back home.” Vellious winced as a long cut over the right side of his snout closed over. “Unfortuantely the human scum got away.”
“Got away? Or bested you and you fled?” Kilwin said.
Vellious burst toward Kilwin, sharp claws slashing toward his chest. A transluscent blue shield appeared around Kilwin and the attack glanced harmlessly off as the pool of water disappeared. Everyone was well aware of Vellious’s temper and Maleen had a feeling that Kilwin was just bating him as a pretense to drop his healing ability.
“Now, now.” Kilwin said. “You wouldn’t want to harm the only one capable of healing you.”
Vellious growled and stared Kilwin down but turned away from him a moment later. “There were two humans.” He said after a second. “One acted like a clueless hatchling. The other as formidable as any I have ever seen.”
Vellious gave them a recapping of what had happened. Finding Anu barely holding onto life with his skull caved in and the strange human sitting beside him. As he neared the end of the retelling, Vellious turned more solemn, more so than Maleen had ever seen him.
“I could not use the siphon on the human.” Vellious said. The statement caused Kilwin to look up with interest. “I pressed him about it, and he seemed genuinely confused. Confessing as much that it was a soul skill.”
Kilwin flicked his hand in the air. “Bah. He was lying to stall.” He said dismissively. “There is no chance a human as pathetic as what you described could have a soul skill.”
Vellious narrowed his yellow eyes at the hippo. “You think me a fool who would fall for a humans petty deceptions? I know what I heard and saw.”
Maleens mind turned as the implications became apparent. The emergence of a soul skill was not just a rare occurrence, but a cosmos changing event. If true, there was far more at stake in this Kingdom Rising than anything her clan could have ever imagined. Her heart hammered in her chest as she thought over the consequences of such an appearance while Vellious and Kilwin argued.
“This human.” She said. “Did you tag him.”
Vellious looked at her, startled. “How did you…”
“Ohh hush, Vellious.” Kilwin said. “She knows what all our abilities are. I doubt you could even hide that you had to use the bathroom from that one.”
Vellious looked troubled at the realization but didn’t press the matter. “Of course I tagged him. I’ll be able to sense his location for another few days.”