The First Seal (Liandri)

The western mountains, home to the dwarves of Aurela stretched for miles to the noth and the south bordering with the high elves, wood elves and even human some of the southern most human realms. Many secrets were hidden among the winding mountain paths, including old human villages and other settlements that in times gone by, before the division among the races had been bustling centers of trade and commerce between those who lived on the borders. Now of course these towns were little more than ruins, and amongst those ruins was the ancient human-dwarf fortress of Val Shareth.

This fortress was built to be flanked by the mountains which formed natural walls, with its outer wall facing eastward which provided the only access to the fortress without using the ancient dwarven paths that ran beneath the mountains. The flat lands which the fortress overlooked had once been occupied by the humans and at one time likely made good farmland, but now it was a dark and broken land which nothing lived on, some ancient battle had taken place there and dark magics had rendered the land spoiled and unlikely to recover.

This was a fitting place for the first seal. Well, the second, but the first was currently unattainable without the aid of a unified Aurelan army or the full marshal might of Midnight, because the first sat deep in the bowels of Noth’s stronghold where even a god could not tread alone. The wind howled across the planes and the few leafless trees that remained, long since dead and their bark blackened rustled a little in the eerie silence. The abandoned village that the fortress overlooked was all the eerier, particularly with the remains of its stone church which had been a place of worship for the humans who lived there, though to what deities they prayed was a mystery.

Isaan pulled the cloak about himself more as he walked through the landscape with his sole companion, nobody in the contingent of Midnight who had accompanied them to Aurela knew their true purpose for being there, nobody anywhere knew his motives in fact. Nobody that was but the girl who accompanied him of course, Liandri was the only person who Isaan trusted with his secret goals, not because he didn’t trust his family or others in Midnight but because he knew that knowing could put them in genuine danger from forces they could not face down like they could some demon.

“This place chills me to my core.” He said, looking troubled by the fact he could feel the chill as his immortal constitution and endurance normally rendered him immune to such and the same would be true for Liandri and yet this place just felt wrong. “The records of this place claim that many texts were abandoned in the church when the fortress fell, we should check there first for a clue as to the full details of what took place here.”

Truthfully he was concerned, the sensation he felt could be attributed to the strange beings that Baelze could command on Aurela, the ones that a thousand years ago had hounded he and Sona through the forests and wilderness of the dream world. As they stepped into the remnants of the village, Isaan’s eyes scanned the immediate area, there were shadows moving within the shadows but he couldn’t quite place them. Were they nameless? Normally he would be able to tell, but it felt like his senses were being interfered with. He placed a hand on Liandri’s shoulder to get her attention.

“There might be nameless here,” he said quietly, his voice quiet and his lips almost completely unmoving to not catch attention. “Don’t step out of the light, the shadows could tear us both apart.”

That was the real danger of the nameless, they came in all forms and you never knew if one could be as simple as a mortal, or as powerful as a god. The capacity to lose your sense of self was universal to both mortals and immortals, and the nameless came made up of a mixture of both and even the mortal ones could only be harmed by strong light, like that of an angel or a powerful UV torch of some description. Isaan proceeded to walk along the main path of the village, headed toward the church while his eyes kept an eye on the swirling shadows, though he had warned of nameless he still couldn’t quite tell if they were indeed nameless at all.

Liandri felt a chill sweep down her back as they continued walking, she shivered slightly and moved closer to Isaan to slip her small hands up his sleeves to keep them warm, she beamed up at him and smiled.

"Why do they always leave the books when fleeing Isaan-sama?"

She said this jokingly, but it was a valid question, the texts were always the most important factor, in fact each time she has had to retrieve some element of power in the past, it always started with an elusive ancient scripture.

"I'm sure we can handle it anyway, nothing has been able to best the both of us yet."

Her eyes remained focused on the path ahead that they were to walk through, attempting to block out the looming threats that seemed to have their eyes on the two.

“I’ve never really thought about it before,” he admitted, shrugging in a noncommittal manner.

The pair would proceed through the village, treading carefully to keep away from the strange shadows that Isaan kept his keen eyes on the entire time, not wanting to be caught by surprise. He didn’t make her remove her hands from up his sleeves, though it made it hard for him to reach for his weapon when he wanted to, his soft spot for Liandri wouldn’t let her hands go cold and so he closed his hands around hers to keep them warm. He consciously knew she was much older than she let on, and recent events at the Underworld ball were fresh in his mind, but in her child form he couldn’t help but treat her like a child in all ways but keeping her from battle.

“Don’t get cocky,” he said, though he was grinning. “Though our track record is heavily in our favour, because let’s face it, we are awesome.”

The church was still standing, though its stained glass windows were smashed and the interior was filled with broken pues and a smashed altar. He retracted one of his hands from hers to raise it and cause a bright orb of light to form in the middle of the church, casting away the shadows so that they could enter safely. He still wasn’t totally convinced they were nameless, but he wasn’t going to take any chances just in case.

Inside there were old tomes on shelves, dusty and in disrepair but at least dry, protected by the church’s roof from the rains that might have fallen outside. He let go of her other hand and began to go over the shelves, pulling out books and going through them at speeds unnatural for a normal person. Just one bonus of being an immortal, speed reading was a very literal thing for them, although it did make you bored when you could finish a whole library in a few hours. But that was why they had the great library in the divine city, right?

“Some of these are history books,” he explained, bringing a small pile over to one of the still upright pues and placing them on it. “We might be able to find some details on the seal here, they won’t know what it was exactly, so just look for anything that sounds out of place in the area.”

Outside, the skies were starting to rumble with thunder, but there were no lightning flashes yet and the sound was faint meaning the storm was still a way off. But the shadows were also still swirling, watching the pair intently, waiting for a chance to pounce.