Lune Alpenglow
Luné sat quietly, trying to figure herself out. Hypocrite. I’m a hypocrite aren’t I, she thought to herself. After a few minutes, she stood up from the bed, and began walking out of the room. She needed to get stronger. Both in mind and body, but even more so in level. She exited the house, a sad but determined look on her face. She began to walk, heading for the edge of Codex, planning on going out to train on her own. She was ready to restart. She would begin her training, clear her mind, and resolve herself to be the person she’s supposed to be.
Kaede
Standing slowly, and helping the young man to his feet, Kaede smiled, then glared over at Grolit, who was standing with a worried yet happy expression. Seeing her glare, he was startled, but didn’t move from his spot, letting her glare at him. As Kaede began to guide the young man away from the unconscious Nobles, Grolit spoke, “Ya did tha righ’ thin’, Lass. Ya’ve go’ more balls than mos’ Dwarves.” Kaede continues her glare, answering, “Are you simply saying that because you do not wish to make an enemy? Or are those your true thoughts? For the moment I find it to not be your true thoughts, you will find me at your doorstep, burning everything you love to the ground. Prove you are an ally at your next opportunity. Emancipate them.”
Grolit is silent, and his head lowers. It was clear he was thinking hard on the situation, and the problems ahead. But Kaede hears him speak instead, “I mean it, Lass. Ne’er did like slavery. Ne’er like’ tha Kings. Ne’er like’ tha Nobles. Ne’er though’ o’ change. I’m no revolutionary, Lass. I’m jus’ a blacksmith.” Kaede prepares to cast an illusion to make the young man look far better, listening to Grolit as she does. When she casts the spell, she answers, “In Codex, our Blacksmith is the second strongest of us all. Above myself, and especially above my Lady. Be proud of who you are, Grolit, because you know what is wrong with this World. So raise your head, and witness what a World free of oppression can look like. One where all peoples are equal in rights, and no race is enslaved.” Grolit looks up, seeing the illusion finish, causing the young man to look far healthier and cleaner than he is.
The young man now looked like a Noble Adventurer, or at least what passed for most Noble Adventurers in Kaede’s World. He was in nice clothes, with armor over top. He looked tough, and he certainly wasn’t a pushover. The young man looked at his hand, and body, confused and grateful, but he clearly knew that it wasn’t a true set of clothes. All three knew he was the same as he had been just a second ago, and that he just looked different now. Kaede spoke, “Let's get you out of here, young man.” He looks at her and nods, smiling happily, his tears still staining his cheeks. Kaede wipes away the tears from his cheeks, and begins to walk, looking at Grolit, “Will you join us? Join us in this new world that Codex shall usher?”
Jazak Forgeson
Jazak walked quietly to the gate, the two ragged and grime-covered children following, with the Orc and Elf behind them. As Jazak neared the gate, the Guards that could be seen nodded to him, but were clearly unwelcoming despite this. Their glares were mostly aimed at the Orc and Elf, but would turn to the children, changing to disdain. As Jazak exits the gate, into the open world beyond, he speaks, “A’ight. Ge’ goin’. Yer ou’ an’ I’m no’ yer Papa.” The kids look concerned and confused, perhaps even scared. But with some encouragement from Jazak, in the form of posturing threateningly at them, they run off into the rolling hills. Jazak turns around, and returns to walking into the city. He can see the Elf and Orc both looking upset at him, causing him to answer their stares with an annoyed “Wha’?”
Alais speaks, “Why? Why do all that? It didn’t even matter, they are just weak, aren’t they supposed to be in chains? Working to serve their betters?” The Orc speaks, startling both of them, his thick north-eastern accent rumbling, “They are just children, they did nothing wrong and did not deserve such a fate.” Jazak scoffs at them, annoyed by them, “Firs’, I don’ give a shite. Slaves make people feel superior, an’ I’d rather ‘em feel superior ‘cause it's earned. Secon’, they’d die ‘ere in tha city. May be slaves, bu’ they still deser’e ta live.” He passes by them, uncaring of if they follow him or not. The two begin following him again, the Orc’s face slackening back to a neutral look, while the Elf begins to ponder his words.
Jazak silently wishes they would leave, but at this point, it would be nice to have someone to join him in his work for the day, and perhaps even create a new party. One that will not be disbanded after a year. He continued his walk to Nurud’s shop, and it would be silent between the three until they arrived. Jazak arrived at Nurud’s shop to find it in the same state he had left it, aside from a few nearby groups of gang members. He enters, and speaks, “Nurud, I’m back. Go’ tha slip, an’ two ta’ alon’s.” Nurud was nowhere to be seen, as usual, but a Gnome could be seen standing at the counter, a bottle in her hand. She looks back to Jazak, and begins to stare in admiration, as Nurud calls out, “Aye! One second! Finishin’ a potion for the Lass up front!”
Jazak looks at her and frowns annoyedly, before looking back at the Orc and Alais, to say, “A’ight. No goin’ be’ind tha coun’er.” He begins walking to the counter, and then around it, leaving the two to stay in the main room. He enters the back, finding Nurud bottling the liquid in his cauldron. Nurud puts a stopper into the bottle, then cleans the red liquid off the side of the heart bottle. He then starts heading for the front, as he says, “Keep an eye on the second cauldron, once it starts boiling, turn off the heat.” Jazak walks over to the two cauldrons, and looks into the one Nurud had not been messing with, watching over it silently. It was going to be a long day.
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Sebastia Rin
Sebastia reached back and touched the wings, realizing they were truly there as well. A halo and wings, was she dead? Was she ascending to the heavens? But then Clover would have lied about her not dying. It wasn’t true she was dead. She could feel the wind, she could hear the sounds, and she could feel the world around her. The only weird thing was that her wings and halo let her armor pass through them. She looked up the hill to the Etherling, who stared down at her from the crest. The Etherling called out again, “Move it! You had best flap those wings, I want to see you in the sky before the sun begins heading for the ground!” Sebastia begins trying to learn her new limbs, flexing as many muscles as she can, to attempt learning how to fly. When that doesn’t work, she begins to imagine the wings on her back, closing her eyes she begins trying to flap, starting from how she thinks she is supposed to in her mind. After an unpleasant forty minutes of attempts, she feels something move against her back, and she feels the wings for the first time. She looks back to find the wings in the same spot as normal. Frowning, she realizes it will be a long while until she can properly begin her flight.
Etherling
She watched quietly, giving no instructions. She isn’t an expert on teaching people how to use wings, she just knew how to do it ever since birth. She begins to smile slightly, remembering her Mother and all the shit she put her through, only for the warmth of a family to suddenly be given to her after her Brightening. She begins to wonder how her sister is, after all, they were twins, and she was curious if her identical sibling was still identical. She looks at Sebastia again, only to realize that the newly reborn Angel was already starting to hover, with her eyes closed. With a quick moment of panic, she was about to call out, only to see Sebastia drop back down and look behind herself at her wings. The Etherling stares in shock, not expecting Sebastia to be such a fast learner.
Kaede
Kaede watched silently, waiting for Grolit’s answer. The Head Blacksmith raised his head, a determined expression on his face, as he spoke, “Aye, Lass. We’ll free tha worl’ o’ its preju’ice.” Kaede smiles, answering with a calm tone, “Good. I will return this young man to his nation, and then we will continue.” Grolit nods in response, ready for them to disappear, and Kaede does, leaving the Human in the Human Kingdom, near the town of Woodshade, and by extension Codex. She returns, and stands in front of Grolit, as she says, “Shall we?” Grolit nods, and begins to walk again.
Kaede speaks as they walk, “How shall we deal with the Dwarven Kingdoms, and their allowance of slavery?” Grolit answers her quickly, a little uncertain still, “I don’ know, Lass. Feels wron’ ta say somethin’ so treasonous.” Kaede smirks, “Yes, but it is a necessity. Instead of such a grand scale, why not start with something small, this city alone. I will take out key infrastructure, and force the hand of the Mayor.” Grolit freezes and looks at her, startled and confused. She continues to speak, “I have no intention of harming the people, just forcing their hands.” Grolit is silent, clearly wondering if he’s just pledged to work with a terrorist. Kaede speaks in a calm and serious tone, “First order of business, I need the location of all slave rings, and one important infrastructure building.” Grolit is silent, thinking to himself. Kaede watches him silently, her staff tapping the floor as she walks with him. He soon answers her, “I’ll ge’ ya some spo’s. Firs’ll be on our walk.” She nods in response, prepared.
Jazak Forgeson
Jazak heard Nurud calling his name, so he wandered to the front after doing as instructed, and turning off the heat anyway. In the front, he finds Alais and the Orc still standing about. Nurud holds out a hand, “Slip.” Jazak hands over the paper he had gotten from the blacksmiths. Nurud looks it over, then nods, smiling, “Thank you, Jazak. Now let's move on to the next bit I need. I’ll write a few places, I just need you to go to these people, and tell them to pay back their debts.” Jazak frowns, being reminded about Nurud’s habit of lending out money with rather high interest rates.
He exits the building with the list, and his two unwanted companions. He begins to walk, as Alais speaks, her tone questioning, “Why do you care about two slave children? They’re nothing important.” Jazak answers calmly and quickly, “They’re people too.” Alais frowns and responds in a cold tone, “They’re weak. The weak serve the strong. They can’t even protect themselves.” Jazak is silent, knowing this is true, but he also knows it is not a point against his reasoning, after all, people come in all shapes and sizes. One may be strong, while another is weak, but they still are people. Children don’t deserve such fates. After all, they don’t know any better, or they at the very least deserve a calm and happy life. Alais is silent, having expected him to answer, but hearing no answer, she remains silent.
Sebastia Rin
Sebastia feels her wings move again, and this time realizes that she had left the ground for a small second. Opening her eyes slowly, while concentrating on keeping what she’s doing, she notices she’s floating above the ground. With this, she has a revelation, and she stops her wings, remaining floating. She smirks, sending herself higher and higher. Slowly gaining altitude. She sees the Etherling is startled, and begins flying as well, going higher and faster than Sebastia. This pushes Sebastia to reach, and launch forward, spreading her wings as she does. Higher and higher into the sky, she follows the Etherling, a smile and grin forming on her face.
The Freeborne does a flip in the sky, and comes to a stop, making Sebastia slow, and come to a stop only a few feet higher, and at a distance. She hears the Etherling speak, “Well done. Faster than I expected, almost as if you are a Freeborne yourself. Just be happy you will never go through a Brightening or Darkening. Your next step is to learn how to fight in the air.” She draws her shortsword, “So come at me.” Sebastia draws her longsword, and readies it. With a burst of speed, the Freeborne was already nearing her. With a block, Sebastia realizes it is much harder to fight in the air, as the attack can come from any direction, and she was not experienced with keeping herself floating while defending herself. This would be a rough training session.