KEMAL

Fifty-three Storm Wardens came with us Turns ago. Twenty-three Storm Wardens are missing. Thirty of us are left. And of those thirty... Kemal ran his hand down the records Neven painstakingly took of every name which passed through the Asairai Lodge and put under his command. Neven Lotayrin, Kemal Tyronai, Aine Visern, Julis Yunnan, Tyber Graylon, Loto Izua. Six of us were sent specifically to hunt the cult due to our skills, abilities and history. Fifty-three names recorded. Twenty-three missing in action... safer to be presumed dead. He lifted his head from his paperwork to Neven across from him, whose quill scratched on parchment, withdrawing further out of reach with his obsessive amount of caution to match with his research on the Obscura Text. His finger brushed against his eyes, and Kemal frowned at his Oathbound and the heavy bags under his eyes. But how long until caution hurts more than it helps... if only we had some sort of explanation. Some sort of lead. In their bunker where no one else knew of their work to keep information from slipping out into the wrong hands, Kemal looked over between the two maps, where he had left his little flags of interest — bloody battlefields.

And compared to Orkaena, from what I've read, Elvkana hasn't seen a lot of violence. Though it could be my information is off. All I know for certain is the missing villages... it has to be pointing to something. He studied Neven for another moment, but he gave no attention to him when he got up to run a finger over the lines he drew between the flags. What are we missing? Questions weighed on his tongue, but he looked over the immediate area, with no more reports of missing villages outside of Asairai's boundary. His stomach roiled at the eerie silence. And how do those ruins play into this? Or those carvings in the cove? He tapped the flags with the tip of his finger, looking back at the map of Orkaena and its multiple flags. Not disappearing... massacres of some form. The territorial conflict between Dyrin and Naveera. The massacre of Azahama. The Hanekan Civil War. The Cleansing March which created the Burning Abyss. He wandered over, causing Neven to lift his head with a frown. And if we go on a smaller scale... Irimount. Sungrove. And the constant pressure put on the southern wall...

Neven left his chair. "What are you thinking, Kemal?"

Jolted out of his thoughts, Kemal tilted his head to him with a shake of his head. "Nothing yet, Nev... I still feel like we're missing something—and no, I don't need you to take a peek into the book. We're close, we just need to figure out what we're missing," Kemal clipped the idea in the bud before it bloomed in Neven's features when he opened his mouth. "We're going to have to go past the cove and ruins—"

"No."

"Nev." Kemal faced him with a raised eyebrow, while his friend's feathers fluffed out. "Sitting on our arse won't be getting the job done. It leaves us as sitting ducks for this cult. Not only that, but us sitting here doesn't stop them." Once his feathers smoothed out and his fangs slipped over his lips, Kemal sighed. "I know those names are weighing on you, but we knew what we were getting into when we took our Oaths. We knew the risk of what might happen. You have to see that sitting here will make their sacrifice truly worthless." He stepped past Neven, who peered at him with beaded sapphires. "If you want to fight me on this, I will win. You're still recovering." Back to the two maps, he considered his options. "We could also send patrols along the east coast, try and find a flank around and see if we can't set up some sort of pincer..."

"Kem."

"Nev." Kemal twisted his heel to him. "We have to find this cult before—"

A two-toned knock sounded on the bookcase which hid the entrance. It scrunched against the stone with its opening, and he straightened himself out when Julis appeared, features ashen when he held up an unfurled letter. "It's from Euros, I think you two should see this first," he said as Neven raced for him to take it out of his hands. Kemal approached when Neven released a low, distressed chirp and pushed it into his hands. "It's a new report concerning cult activity." Julis took in a long breath. "King Reyn Kolis and Warden Fenrer Pyren were attacked, they're alive, recovering it seems, but..." His gaze lowered. "That's two kings—"

"Three," Kemal dragged through his teeth. "It's kings blood they're after, Julis, and Pyren was once a king of Haneka, and Fenrer carries his bloodline magick." He checked on Neven when he bit deep into his lip before checking over the entirety of the report for himself. "...they were attacked in Sungrove?" How much bloodshed can one little area see? He took the report with him to the map of Orkaena, adding another little flag to the named heartland of Haneka, while Neven's shoulders slumped. "Report also mentioned they plan on delivering another Cleansing March to the Burning Abyss to destroy the Goliath that's been sitting there for a hundred Turns..." Another flag planted ahead of time, he stared at it for a long time, trying to trace all the lines.

"I see," Neven whispered, glum. "I'm glad to hear they're recovering at least." His melody drained out of his ears the longer the lines untangled in his mind and drove deeper into his questions, squeezing out answers and providing so much more. He looked over his shoulder to the map of Elvkana. In his peripheral vision, Julis spoke without sound, but he switched his attention back to the map of Orkaena, flitting through the unseen of the continent. Continents. Back and forth to paint half of a picture to fill in the blanks. He turned his back on the two to get more of a view on the two halves of the known world.

It started to slip over the veil.

He traced the lines again, before creating a glyph over the recently attacked Sungrove. It extended so the flags over the Burning Abyss and the single one over Azahama joined in the focal lines of power. He tore the glyph off the map, then refused to turn around when he sent it down its path to latch onto the other map, causing Neven and Julis to jolt at the ripple in the air. Questions raised in their quiet voices, but beneath his own an answer rested. Attached to the first glyph, the second glyph encompassed Asairai, with the villages that once disappeared following lines. His gaze trailed over the incomplete visage. He swiped another flag to stick it over to where the Dark Sea split the world in half.

"Kem?" Neven asked when he reached his side, looking down his glyphic path.

Horror sank his heart deeper into the pits of the Obscura Hells when he started to repeat the patterns over and over. Areas within the glyph of power, but unaffected, and in the middle, an empty, uncharted area surrounded by thick words, cliffs, and mountains. Kemal pressed his finger against it, tapping it a couple times before sweeping his gaze in a circle on both maps. Horror turned into disbelief when he dismissed both glyphs, rushing forward to grab a couple pieces of paper.

"Kem!" Neven snapped.

"We're looking in the wrong place, you have to stay here, Neven. Send a report back to Euros," he snapped as he pulled at Julis for him to follow. "I'm leaving Aine under your command, but we need reinforcements, now!"

"Kemal, what is going on?" Neven demanded when he climbed up the staircase, opening the hidden door once again to rush out of the treehouse. Neven rushed past him to stop his advance. "You can't keep me in the dark. Tell me what's happening."

"They're creating a circle."

Neven furrowed his brow.

"A circle. A glyph."

"But..." Realization dawned on Neven from the way his brow furrowed, and he snapped forward to stop him again. "You can't seriously mean to take your team out there? Kemal, what if something goes wrong?"

"It probably will." Kemal pushed him aside. "But that's what we're here for. Neven, you're the captain of this posting. Gods willing, we will be back with answers, but if not, you're going to get answers anyway."

"I can come."

"No," Kemal barked, causing some nearby Wardens to twist to them in curiosity. He scowled, then nudged Neven away from him. "We need you here to send messages. I'll try to send some as I go further out, but I just ask that you trust me." He nodded at Julis, who smacked his hand against his chest then rushed over to the Lodge to gather his team. "We don't have the numbers for more than an extended scouting mission."

Neven bared his teeth with wide eyes. "Kemal—"

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Nev. You have to send your reports in," he said with another push of the stubborn Avaerilian, who puffed out his feathers. "If we both go and something happens, what then?" Another push, and Neven backed off with a quiet hiss. "We can communicate in a way others can't, Nev, but I know what I signed up for. Got that? Get that through your thick skull. You don't want people to die, to disappear? What were we taught when we were in training?" He advanced on Neven in return when he stood his ground. "Every single one of us will probably die in battle as Storm Wardens. I can accept that if that means we stop this before it spreads its contagion. I'm trusting you to do what needs to be done, so trust me. If something happens, you'll be the first to know and you won't even have to wait for a letter."

Neven's fluffed out feathers smoothed out and slumped when his fury died into the same fear when he held onto the bridge over the abyss for dear life. He took one final step back, all he needed as he turned his back on Neven and rushed up the Lodge steps. "Aine," he said to them. "Watch Neven for me. We're going farther out." He unfurled the small map he swiped from downstairs. "We're going into the ruins first since I don't know a way into the woods beyond, but I'm willing to bet there might be a way there." He motioned at them, and Aine rushed off. Julis, Loto and Ty came closer to investigate the map. "I'll explain more once we're out of here. Gather supplies, we're going to be out there for a while."

"Are you sure about this?" Julis whispered.

"You better hope I am," Kemal said, the lines tracing themselves in the back of his mind, a beckoning call to ask more questions, to get closer to the truth until it was nothing more than a paper thin edge. "Because if I'm not, we're going to have bigger problems than a cult giving us the runaround." He looked back to the treehouse, where Neven stood on the bridge with wide-eyes, out of reach of his hand to pull him to the other side. You're just going to have to walk the rest of the way on your own — just not in this direction. Kemal waved at him, and expected nothing in return. Neven lowered his head, his pale-blonde locks casting a shadow across his face as Aine rushed up to him, their hand smacking against their chest, reporting for their endless duty. Better than sitting around doing nothing, even you must see that. You can take action here too. Give the cult a taste of their own two front medicine. He led his team towards the gate, which opened the way for them.

Each step cracked the undergrowth below.

Leaves trembled the boughs, and the noise from the town disappeared from his ears, replaced with nature's gift. Birds cooed high in the branches, the best sign to hope for. They walked until the ruins came into view. "Stick close together," he ordered. "Keep your blades close." Underneath the ruined arches of etched Elvkin carvings, they gathered in the heart of the ruins, the ceiling caved in, the first encounter with a Corruptor. Except Neven is vehement that it wasn't... so... what was it then? He sweeped the area, before returning to the center to await the others.

"Nothing, Captain," Loto said when he left another corridor. "Just a bunch of ruins."

Julis and Ty returned from their own sweep. "If it helps... I'm still sensing something, I just can't pick it out," Julis told him. "It's similar to the cove, but I just don't know where it is. There might be some latent magicks suppressing the energies here."

This won't do. These ruins weren't here when we first arrived at this posting, so where did they come from? It had to have come from somewhere. Things don't just appear out of nowhere. It comes from something. Everything comes from something. Kemal stared down at the cracked marble beneath his feet. Aqueducts dug into a pattern, and he mumbled, "Maybe you're not sensing anything because it's not here."

"What?" Julis asked.

Kemal pointed downwards. "Try and clear the debris." He moved fallen boulders without leverage, though the others used glyphs to push parts out of the way. One more sweep, and the dust coiled off of it. He smirked. The floor wasn't cracked after all. We should really learn to look where we're stepping sometimes. A rune of power, unfilled, half of the answer. He motioned for them to step back, before slipping a phial of essence out of his pocket, before letting it drip into the old aqueducts. From small drops, the entire rune filled. It sparkled with the cyan colors, but nothing happened. Kemal thought for another moment with time ticking in his ear.

"I haven't seen a rune like this before," Loto muttered.

"Did that help any, Julis?" Kemal questioned.

Julis gave a slow shake of his head. "Not really, although, now that I think about it..."

Sunlight started to stream through the broken skylight above their heads. Kemal stiffened when the entire ruin shook. Dust fell off the shattered rafters, but he took another step back when the essence, fed by the sun, lit up further until it filled the room with resplendent light. Overflowed, the rune disappeared deeper into the ground, and the essence turned into a reflection. Once it quieted, Kemal took a peek inside. It was himself, his team, the reflection of the area around them. "Well... that's not quite what I was expecting."

"What is this?" Loto asked.

Kemal thought for a moment, but straightened himself out when Julis took in a small gasp. Blue swirls drove deeper into his pupils until they disappeared into opal flames the longer he stared into the mirror. "Julis?" he asked, putting a hand on him to anchor his Auric Trance. "Julis, what are you sensing?"

Julis squeezed his brow, then shook himself out of the trance, "Captain, I think we—"

The resplendent light started to screech when the sun slipped into its highest point above their heads. It sparked against the ruins, and Kemal flinched when it burned into his eyes, bringing up his arms to shield himself from the searing pain.

Until there was nothing left but silver ash.