The journey was quite quick due to the Guldspar monks. They,
like their brothers, have access to most restricted or private crossings or
lifts; so he journey in the dank assailed two floors without much effort and across what seemed like a
third of the city across with ease. They arrived at a cluster of towers , to
which they were brought through a crudely welded metal port caulis into the
courtyard of the Narrkonis Atrium. On all sides the collection of outer spires
were all adored with sturdy metal pipes, some only a fingernail in size, all
the way up to double a man's girth. Alongside these rusted metal pipes were
also thin, string like pipes adorned with dirty silks and other cloths. These
led up towards the rooftops, to which one, stooping down from the third floor,
showed the array of metal plates, wires, metallic poles and various inlaid
crystals and mirrors. Shroud felt a sense of familiarity with this engineering.
It felt homely, if that was any capable distinction. As he wandered off he
traced his fingers along the cloths, along the intricate designs lovingly
printed or embroidered. He could feel a
sense of energy tingling in his fingers. He was lost thought.
Chloe was immediately taken off by a non-descript, middle
aged couple. She was still unconscious when they laid her on their bench. They neatened
her clothes, and placed metallic rings, the widths of quills on her ankles.
They brought out candles, and incense. They wiped her brow and her nose of
blood and combed her hair. After a few minutes of chanting they sat themselves
in the bare, windowless room, clutching their arms together with their heads
held low. Outside Eryn waited patiently, still unsure whether if she died, the bracelet
they shared would kill him as well. He was also accosted by an Aeon priest
while waiting. He offered to fix the broken Eryn had on him and if permitted, to see the
medical applications of the fire resistant mist spray he also had. Of course
Eryn not knowing better agreed. He would have lost the fire retardant spray
either way, any Numenera with medical applications were seized under the
authority of the Amber Pope, well at least in this city.
Slowly coming around,the girl felt sick and groggy from the intensity of the incense the couple had used. She screamed, then apologised for her outburst and she noticed something in the woman's eyes. Sadness, not for herself. Within minutes Chloe could be heard wailing, her fate laid bare by the woman. The un-tethering is permanent, the god Guldspar has deemed those afflicted unfit for this world and so he will until them from the earth. There are legends of a tower in the city which holds an ancient Calova; who has control over fist sized metallic arachnids that spin webs of metal. He or she lays incredibly, at the top of the tower. It's spire has bare windowless floors, each with a hatch in the middle. It is said that the men, women and children, those who are to be un-tethered, or already dead, are floated or eventually directed up through the hatches. Once they have reached the top their weightless bodies are caught in metallic webbing and a casket of sorts is slowly spun around them. As time passes the bodies eventually, with the weight of the webbing, fall back down after some time on one of the many floors and is given back to the people of Auspar. Legends give hope, and for Chloe, the tale of a spider helping her cross into another life sent crawling shivers over her skin. She tried to move off the bed but found the anklets she was wearing to be impossibly heavy. The woman apologised, her wrinkles balling under her brow. She had felt sorry for the girl and had given her these as a way to tie her to the earth as long as the god deemed it. It was a supplication of mercy. She was reintroduced to Eryn, her hug intense and longer than he had expected. He could tell from the couple's faces and Chloe's reaction that it wasn't good. He let her take as long as she wanted.
Shroud's absence from the world, wasn't pierced by Chloe's
scream, or her cry. He had to be physically jolted out by one of the servants.
This wasn't just a dutiful enquiry as to how they could help, it was in fact
just a message. Cairn wishes to speak
with you. His peaked his interest. She had been a long lost lover, many,
many years ago. They did not leave on amicable terms, nor in fact did she know
he had left until after he had gone. The servant brought him over to a group of
Aeon priests. The young men, one browbeating the other over the history of the
Steadfast while a greying old woman sat in a chair, reading a leather bound
book. He approached the old woman. Her
eyes, under her hair were deep blue, almost unfathomable, but the rest of her
was fading, her clothes were dusty, her hair curled tightly, yet still
frizzing. She was hunched and wrinkled with her bony fingers curled around her
tome. Shroud looked at her in the eyes and kissed her. The two other Aeon
priest, noticing this young, dashing vagrant assaulting their fellow guild member,
poised themselves to jump on him. The kiss was quick, a peck, and the old woman
waved her hand and they went back to arguing, however now giving the occasional
glance over.
She held his hand and told
him of how youthful he looked, and how time had betrayed her. How she regretted
him leaving, and the reasons why. Shroud could only watch and listen, she still
had that captivating charm, that way with words that held you on her breath. He
though all the while that if she revealed herself to him there was a reason, something
that she needed him for. It was after the pleasantries were dispatched that she
pointed over at a young man and woman, obviously twins, dressed luxuriously in
metal accessories, a hoodless cape and fur lined trims. Both of them clean and
well kept. They were however arguing to the point of distraction. Cairn asked
Shroud to fix their argument, so that she could continue reading, and perhaps
their conversation. He kissed her on her hand and she smiled an old smile and
he leapt up to the couple. He turned back, one last glimpse, but she had
gone. His heart sank, but it left a
sickly taste in the back of his throat. If she knew he was here, then everyone
else did, if the friendly reaper of time and circumstance hadn't claimed them
first.
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