TSC - Chapter 7: Shattered (4) - Confusion

The balcony she now found herself on overlooked the city. The spires were starting to cast their shadows as the sun began to set. She had hoped there was nobody out here but unfortunately for her, one of the cooks was outside smoking. It was the same woman who had brought in the guards food earlier but seemed utterly disinterested in Chloe. She, on the other hand was more than interested in this woman, who in-between the puffs of smoke was humming the same song Chloe had heard a little earlier.  The woman's face was so familiar yet out of place, her voice comforted her yet the words scorned her. In no uncertain terms the woman told Chloe to leave before she would get caught. The said that there was a staircase that would lead her out around the bend of the balcony. Chloe wanted more answers but footsteps coming from inside and heated arguing, stopped her from asking. She ran as quick as she could, the woman's face still in her mind. Why had she helped her? what reason did she have?As she turned the corner, a confusing realisation dawned on her. The moments before Chloe was imprisoned, she had been attacked by an unknown man, and was saved by her handmaiden. Both died in the process and Chloe was blamed for their deaths. The woman was her handmaiden, she had to be. She had cooked her meal, hummed her song and made sure she escaped. Chloe looked back, desperately hoping the woman would be there to embrace her but she had gone. Chloe dried her eyes and left.

The searing pain inside Chloe's head, that of the crystal voice reappeared. It questioned why Chloe was now able to transmute more than just amethyst. Her explanation pained her, her emotions still raw but it pleased the voice. It told her that it could fix her broken physical form, if she so desired. She hastily agreed. It told her to follow the chiming noise that it could hear, and slowly through the dissipating evening crowds she could hear it to. However the sound was marred by that of Valma to the point she no longer heard the chime and instead followed its voice down to the bottom of the city.

***

Night had fallen. Chloe's search for Valma had lead her back down near the Undercroft. It was dim down here now, only the market had had any real light. Valma's voice was not carried on the wind, it was almost as if it was a vibration within her, a recording only she could play. Chloe stopped for a moment to gather herself. The rubbish pit she stood over at bottom of the city could overpower the senses and being this close to it, was making her nauseous. She steadied herself on a wall only to be knocked into by a man running. As she and the man collided, he dropped what he was carrying, a severed head of a Neave clone. His grumbled apology was in a familiar tone, Styenbeck. It was possible he had given her over to the Aeon Priests. Confused and angry, she tried  to stop him. She fired a bolt of amethyst at the ground in front of him, causing the platform to give way. Instead of stopping, he stumbled and fell into the refuse. Styenbeck shouted for help but it fell on deaf ears. His garbled screams were the last things he would ever say. Chloe peered into the hole she had made and where Styenbeck had been pulled under. It wasn't what she had intended but she had never fully trusted him, and what he was carrying to her, gave him a death sentence regardless of the truth.

She picked up the head and walked back in the direction Styenbeck had come from. He had been running for a reason and she wanted to know why. The way he had come from was a dead end, jutting out into the debris. Just below the wooden walkway was presumably the body to go with the severed head of the Neave she was holding. It was at that point she saw two men in the distance shouting at her. Their voices and words were not clear but they seemed angry and in the dark she couldn't tell who they were. There was the distinct possibility they were Aeon Priests coming to get her  and so she ran.

She passed a few drunks applauding a contortionist who was putting on an elaborate display, utilising all she could in the now empty market place. Chloe's blind running had taken her to the Pale Spine and she didn't hesitate to run through. As she made her way out the back, she was hemmed in by the patrons observing a fight that had spilled out into the back alley. There were shouts from the inside, whoever was after he was getting close. Panicked, she looked around but her small stature made it impossible in the crowd. The only thing she could easily make out was a crate on the floor above and without hesitation jumped up in hope of landing on it.  In her panic, the jump was clumsy  and, as she lost her footing, she crashed into crate she had wanted to get to.

She had torn the Priest's robe as she landed but to her relief a roll of material that had been on top of the crate had now masked her escape. She lay as still as possible, listening to the unhappy shouts of the revellers below. She could hear a grappling hook whistle in the air as it latched onto the floor above her. Her breaths became shallow as she scrunched her eyes. As she waited for her fate, she could hear Valma but not in her head. It's voice was coming from below her, not only Valma's but also Xera's. She let out a sigh of relief, she peered down to see Xera and Valma aside from the crowd. She jumped down with haste and to Xera's surprise, she thanked him for finding her. She asked if they had chased the Aeon Priests off and asked if they too had been captured by whatever had taken her. Xera was a little confused and looked towards Eryn who had descended  from above.  Both were out of breath, with Eryn hunched with his hands on his thighs. She asked again if the Aeon Priests were gone and Eryn gestured to Xera to nod, while putting a finger to his lips.

TSC - Chapter 7: Shattered (3) - Let's Pretend

Her immediate thoughts were to run as nothing good had come from her upbringing, especially the years in prison. The only way to run was to pass the guards and the thauman but how? She hoped there was some way for her to disguise herself in some fashion to get past, as dressed the way she was, the amethyst would more than likely land her back in the cell. She tiptoed back into the room with the guard and removed his priestly robes. She was thankful that he was already dead Although they didn't fit her the way she would have wanted, the bulk of the fabric covered the amethyst parts of her. She had no idea if this plan would work but anything was better than waiting for her brain to be removed from her body. As she entered the room, the guards were still playing cards although the painting had now changed its tune. The thauman perked up and wagged its tail but all became distracted when a maid burst into the room. Chloe could see the food she had brought in very similar to the food she had as a child and for a split second wanted sit down and eat but there was something about the maid that swayed her. She reminded her of someone, someone she had long forgot and still could not remember. Chloe swore she could see the woman wink at her and with a sly gesture, urged her out the room on the other side.

With the guards and the thauman now tucking into the food and talking to the maid, Chloe excited by the door opposite her. There was no sign of the symbol on the stairwell she had now found herself in but there was a way up. There was no going back now and no way down from here so she hoped that this would get her out. The top of the stairs was lit by dying candles which cast shadows on the heavy wooden door that barred her way. There were mumblings from behind it, what seemed to be an older gentleman but what he was saying was not entirely clear. She looked through the keyhole in hopes of seeing daylight but instead she saw what might become of her. An Aeon Priest paced the room, eyeing over what decorated it. Behind him were two giant glass cylinders filled with bubbling liquid, large enough to fit a human inside. A pale light was cast from the bottom, changing hues from white to cyan and back again. On what she could see of the desk, there was a statue of a bald head with markings and scripture on it, as though it was a map. There were also a variety of glass slides and and vials with contents she couldn't clearly see. To the left on the priest she could see a man with his back to the door but nothing more. Only his armed moved and she was not sure if he was wearing a hat of sorts, of if shadowers were cast over him but she couldn't make out the top of his head. This Priest was more animated, which surprised her for his apparent age. He seemed important, possibly a leader, and therefore had keys of some sort in the room to get her out. All she needed to do was to get him away.

She knocked politely and the door swung open. Although he did not look at her, her made sure he barred the view from the door to the other man in the room. The priest addressed her as if talking to a servant and it took all her willpower not to prove him wrong. She apologised for the intrusion and told the priest that the girl they had captured had escaped from her cell somehow. His demeanour changed instantly. For a man of greying stature, he seemed perfectly capable of a young man's fighting spirit and ordered her to get the guards that were meant to be looking after her cell, to find her immediately. This was not what she wanted but obeyed to keep her cover. Now she had to try and persuade the guards that not only was she one of them but of their master's intent. She gingerly went back down and readied herself. The order she gave was believed in an instant to her disbelief. She did not know whether it was her ability to deceive, or if it was the order from the priest upstairs that compelled them. She went back to report but the man had gone, although he had not passed her.

The other gentleman, the one that had faced away from the door seemed ignorant of her presence. She gingerly walked over to him and tried to get his attention. What she had mistaken for a shadow when she had peered in from the keyhole was in fact something far worse.  The man was missing the crown of his head and it had been replaced by a flat metal plate. His eyes had glazed over, his breathing shallow, and his face expressionless . In his hands was a quill and letter. He seemed to be a scribe of some sorts but incapable of any other action. She scanned the note, We have the child, although from the reports of her initial capture her mental state may be more shattered than we first thought. She may prove to be a valuable but dangerous specimen. Due to her mental state and her current crystalline mutations, she will be therefore known to us as the Shattered Child. I hope the joke pleases you. In her mind she was a child no more and certainly not a joke. She would not be experimented on, in fact the 'mutations' they referred to made no reference to her heritage at all. She was proud of her crystals to some degree and hated the fact they believed she was not in control of them regardless of how true it was. She tried to grab the letter from the scribe's hand but his grip would not loosen. She tried to reason with him, to which she got no response. She could not let the letter fall into anyone else's hands and so her blade caressed the scribes neck till his own ink spilled on the page.

She quickly searched the room for either a way out or keys to locks that would possibly bar her exit but she could find neither. In retaliation for the indignity of calling her anything less than who she was, she stole what she could. A few specimen slides of what she presumed to be slices of brain, a vial or two and some notes were stuffed in her robe before she returned to the empty guard room downstairs. The painting had stopped singing which allowed her to hear the grumbling voices and clattering pots and pans of the room next to her . She knew the servants would never be allowed to use exits deemed for their employers so they must have a separate way out. She crouched down low, holding her robes an inch from the floor. The room she entered was a kitchen of sorts, cramped into two short galley ways with a handful of cooks arguing and absorbed in their work with another door on the other side. She needed a distraction. Although untested on heat, she believed the plating process would not react well so covered the bottom of one of the pots  that was over a fire in amethyst. It started to rumble before it crashed to the floor, spilling its contents and burning the left foot of one of the cooks.  Chloe smiled. His pained screams were only matched by the shouts of concern for the food that had been wasted. They rushed over to salvage what they could leaving little room for the man to recover from his injury.The distraction left one of the gangways open and Chloe bolted to  the door on the other side and out. 

TSC - Chapter 7: Shattered (2) - Childhood

Chloe awoke disorientated and angry. She had no idea how she had gotten from Mezzo's to where she was now but in all likelihood she was either betrayed or stolen. Her frustrations were taken out on the room she was in. Shards of amethyst became embedded in the yielding metal of her cell. The stamping of her feet left a soft indent and then returned to its original form, even the doors had the same quality. No matter what she did, no matter how angry she got, the room she was in would not break, only bend. Her outbursts garnered no reaction from anyone outside, in fact all she could hear were the cries of men and women, tortured and desperate. There was only one place she had feared in Auspar, the Asylum of the Aeon Priests. She shouted for attention, for someone to recognise her nobility and birthright in a desperate attempt to escape. She was met with the heavy footsteps of what sounded like man, he grunted at her while he passed gruel through the slot in the bottom of the door. She tried to reason with him, tried to get him to let her go but he refused to talk to any madmen and refused to lose a possible cure to the King. He told her his solemn duty was to create peace throughout  the Steadfast and for that to happen in Thaemor, the King needed to be cured.

She poked at the dish she had been served as his echoed footsteps fell  into silence. Whatever she had been given was lukewarm and  in a wooden bowl. In frustration she transmuted it so she could see it shatter but a searing pain flowed from the stump of her wrist to the hand she was holding the bowl. It did not turn into amethyst as she had hoped but another crystal altogether. She had heard stories told to her by her handmaiden when she was young, about her family being able to do more than just a singular substance but they had to know not only vein of the material they could initially transmute to, but also variations of the same matter, metal for metal, ceramic for ceramic. A chain transmuted into gold could also be changed into iron, or copper. The bowl now entirely clear with a hint of yellow, was unrecognisable to her and therefore to her, an impossibility. This fact only proved the bowl to be more mysterious as it became unstable and then shattered onto the floor as she held it.

The transmutation had distracted her from the light footsteps on the approach outside her cell. She needed to think fast. To her surprise another bowl of gruel was given to her. She quickly blocked the closing door and tried to argue her point. The only voice she heard was from the cell next to hers, crying out that the food was poisoned and he was to be assassinated when the candle was to be lit. The slot door rammed against her foot multiple times before a pommel slammed into her foot. In anger she turned to the new bowl and ready to throw it against the wall, noticed its contents was turning a pale green. She thought that perhaps the madman next door was right and threw it against the wall. The chink of metal on metal alerted her that there was something more. She fished out a key from the puddle and opened her cell door.

In her mind she did not question what had just happened, the fact that she was free was enough for her. The man in the next cell refused her help, yelling at her to get away from his door. The opposite cell on the other side was filled with silence. The hallway had no windows, only dripping candles that cast a pitiful light. As she ventured down the passage the screams became more varied and louder while the gates that should have barred her way were already open. The last gate opened out into a small chamber big enough for two doors and a desk. A guard was slumped face down in his bowl of gruel. She checked if he was still alive, not because she was concerned, but because she wanted to take his dagger and he had no keys to help her escape. She appraised the blade, an in her opinion could be improved so she tested her ability. The handle turned to emerald while the blade became   diamond. From here there were two doors both near duplicates, both leading to a similar hallway. Unsure of where to go now she looked down at the open window, seeing the sheer drop below her, but no city. Jumping out was not a possibility. She turned back to the doors and looked down at them more carefully, opening the wrong door at the end of either one could result in what she had seen at Neave's. The handle on the right door was uncomfortable in her hand and she didn't know why. 

Perhaps it was the fact that she normally used the now dismembered hand . She looked down at the brass handle, there was an almost indistinguishable indent. The shape, although worn, was the symbol of her house. She didn't know whether to trust her own eyes, she was, for all intents and purposes insane, and to her this might actually be proof she was imagining things. She pressed onwards through that corridor into another open room. This one however as noisy, five guards and a thauman set around a table drinking and playing cards while a painting on the wall sang some of the more smuttier tavern songs. She dared not approach for the thauman's nose started to twitch, its eyebrows furrowed and its lips curled inwards and she had only moved a few steps closer. There was no way down, and no way out back the way she came, she had to cross this room without getting caught. From one of the rooms adjacent she could smell something familiar. The initial smell of freshly baked bread through the open window was replaced with something from her childhood. This brought up uncomfortable memories of her past, especially as she could now start to hear something or someone singing a song that reminded her of home underneath that of the painting. 

TSC - Chapter 7: Shattered (1) - Acquisitions

The conversation was abruptly cut short as Dehart was called for from the floor above. Eryn was a little confused by what Xera had meant by growing another laboratory but he had heard of far stranger things and was still recovering from the encounter with the violent flower beasts. He grabbed Xera and walked off without looking back, pushing his way through the now swelling crowd. The market was quiet now, only those that were on the other side when the fire broke out were still trying to hawk their wares to the few shoppers still left. To Eryn, the easiest way of collecting the hopefully deceased copies of Neave , was to barrel them under the cover of night, giving them a few hours in-between. The only problem was that Eryn had neither the barrels in question to put the bodies in, nor a way to transport them once they had been sealed for safety. The only point of reference he had apart from both sites he had incinerated and the Market was the place where he had been when he was ejected from his own execution: The Pale Spine. Although Dehart now had all of his coins it was possible the barkeep could be reasoned with, especially now as Eryn was officiated with the Palm and in turn, the proprietor. He offered for Xera to accompany him but he was declined. He was told that although most of the equipment could be grown a few things needed to be sourced as well as needing a way to create a sleeping draught for his darts. Xera asked Eryn if he know of any Narrkonis Atriums in the local area. His laboratory had be previously furnished by what he could take from his official position within Lyathra but knew that most of the equipment was designed and sold by house Narrkonis.

The memory of what lay underneath the city made Eryn shudder a little. He tried to point Xera in the right direction of the one he had visited when Chloe had begun the process of Untethering. Xera thanked him before parting ways. The walk back to the Pale Spine was littered with dead ends and whispers. He wished he had never had to come back down here. The window Maw had been thrown out of had been boarded up and by the looks of it, seen a few more caught swindlers. He entered as confidently as he could, lighting a cigarette as he braced himself for the almost choking atmosphere. His reception this time was a marked change from the first. The air was still thick with smoke and liquor but the patrons parted ways and scattered. They were as scared as they had been when Televaraen had extended a single claw. The men that had tried to proposition Chloe were back, drinking comfortably, well apart from one. They retreated back into the smoke by the fireplace as far away from the bar as possible. 

Before Eryn could sit down he was offered a drink with a request not to cause trouble. This threw many possibilities at Eryn but only one turned out to be the reason why. The barkeep presented a large parchment poster noting that Eryn was now part of the Hawk-Eyes. Eryn recognised the artistry and the signature, Arden. The poster itself however gave no real context as to why everyone seemed so afraid. The barkeep quickly qualified his terms, that for the free drink, nobody on the Hawk-Eyes bounty list was to be taken. Eryn's ears perked up a little, the Hawk-Eyes were not just big game hunters, they were also apparently bounty hunters. Another drink was followed by another clarification, his patrons had done nothing wrong that last time he was here and the Hawk-Eyes jurisdiction was out in the Steadfast and not the city. They didn't fear the Grapnel coming down here but the Hawk-Eyes did not care for the trappings of wealth. The fear of the Hawk-Eyes was self evident. Eryn had only mentioned in passing about barrels and transporting them, when moments later the three men by the fireplace had dashed out the back and returned with thankfully blank, casks and two trolleys that compacted themselves into small pocket sized cubes.  He walked out with his offerings without looking back. As long as they belived he was in the Hawk-Eyes, he could use it to his advantage.

Xera had kept to himself on the way to the Atrium, the people around him made him a little uncomfortable. He was worried for his safety and with good reason. If someone  was to even mention what he was he doing, the words would most likely fall upon someone with a connection to Lyathra and his life would be in danger on two fronts. He had been using Styenbeck as a sort of shield against what Lyathra could do to him but now they had parted ways, he was  unnerved and unsure. As he caught the first glimpses of the Atrium, the glow of the city was caught on  the thick cables and reflective dishes that adorned the sides and the roof of the building. Inside was no different, a palace of scientific endeavours. As he took in his surroundings he bumped into  a set of twins, one male, one female, dressed what Xera presumed to be religious robes but could not place the denomination. 

They were arguing about a set of experimental earrings that had been stolen by a girl with purple eyes and two men. The woman blamed herself while the man blamed himself for letting them leave with it. Xera enquired as to their distress but they shrugged him off as not important. He asked if he could get supplies but they refused him as it was a trivial matter. The thought then occurred to him that perhaps a gentle nudge using Silas' name could way them. Their eyes widened in panic before they shouted his name out so everyone could hear. Within what seemed to Xera to be a few moments he was nearly laden down with masks, equipment, even the sleeping draught he had casually mentioned. The last item they gave as a present to Uncle Silas, a matt grey cylinder that sprayed a coating of something they couldn't identify. It's supposed rarity and incomprehensible use would prove more than an adequate gift. Although the items he requested and more were given he thought that perhaps purple eyed girl may be Chloe. If they wanted those earrings back desperately, perhaps the jewellery could be used as leverage, if they could be prised off Chloe first.

TSC - Chapter 6: Reactions (8) - Up in Smoke

Betrayal became the last thing on Eryn's mind as Xera's panicked shout brought him back from his concentric thoughts. One of the lifeless bodies had now grabbed onto Xera's ankle and refused to let go. Eryn remembered how Shroud referred to Neave's strength as disconcerting and indomitable. He knew that her grip would not be loosened by conventional means. Without thinking his actions through, he told Xera to brace himself while he flung a fiery orb at the Neave on the floor. His attack was successful, her hand withdrew but only due to the fact that her body and the wooden floor beneath her were now on fire. In a moment of panic Eryn reached for his fireproofing spray he had been given as a terrified gift in the wake of another accidental incineration years before his incarceration . However his grasp fell through the open air, he had never recovered it from the Narrkonis Atrium.  He realised now that the spread of the fire could not be stopped by his command. The damage that had already been done by the flaming of the Jesanthum spores  had created more kindling for the flames to take hold of.  It's intensity was superseded by its speed, consuming everything in its path towards the open door of Xera's laboratory. The loss of knowledge, the time spent, the money invested spurred Xera into questionable action.

 Eryn tried to stop him from running  into the fire but the flames that burned in front of him, were not under his control.  They were a result of his actions and burnt him before he could grab hold of Xera.  Xera could see the fire starting to lick at the storage for the Black Sunshine and could see the glass vials that contained it were slowly cracking and warping under the heat. He grabbed what little he could, a few vials of the drug, some research notes and few seedlings to replant his lab at a later date. The unmarked vials used to create the drug  started to explode;  showering glass into the flames that burnt in brilliant hues. Liquids hissed and  floorboards groaned as Xera only now realised that the floor above him was occupied, and most likely now also on fire. There were shouts and screams from above as the dripping of doused flames reached his forehead. Hopefully whoever lived above him would survive the fire while the vast majority of Black Sunshine would not. He ran out and fell to his knees, coughing and spluttering. He turned his head back to see his work consumed. The remaining  vials of Black Sunshine finally broke and exploded violently into  a pale blue cloud that drifted with the black  that now curled around the spire and drifted off across the city.

Xera lay defeated in a heap, clutching the only remaining vials of Black Sunshine . He watched as a few inquisitive merchants and shoppers from the Undercroft splintered from their daily routines to either gawp or try to help put out the fire. One of those that tried to help collared Eryn and pushed him to one side. Dehart stood with intent, his shoulders broad and his brows furrowed. A tirade of abuse and  anger streamed from his bristled features. His eyes widening and narrowing, as though he was having an ocular heart attack. Eryn tried to calm Dehart down but he refused, blaming him for the loss of both the area outside Neave's in the poorest part of the city, and now the brazen destruction so close to the Market.  Eryn gingerly offered his help but Dehart wanted nothing more than to watch Eryn burn with his disaster, although he had been demoted to this part of the city he refused to let it fall under his watch. That was, until Eryn produced a small bag he had supposedly acquired in amicable circumstances. Eryn jostled the bag and the clink of coin dropped Dehart's shoulders and stung him behind his right temple. He forced a mild pleasantry from gritted teeth and waited for Eryn's request.

He looked down at Xera and back towards the now smouldering ruins and asked Dehart what it would take to replace what had been lost. Xera's ears perked up and shot Eryn down. The loss of his lab and his research was of little importance. He knew most of it and, after producing the seeds, told Eryn the lab could be grown again. Xera showed Dehart the list of ingredients that had been used to create the poison that had now become dangerous to even know about.  His reaction was what Xera expected. Cautious, paranoid but easily bought. With a smirk now curling Dehart's lips, he opened his palm towards Eryn and gestured for him to place a coin onto it. He complied but Dehart was not satisfied and continued the gesture in smiling silence. In total five coins were handed over emptying the bag. Eryn couldn't tell if the information they were about to receive was worth these five coins, but he knew Dehart had pleasure in taking them from him.

Dehart turned to face Xera, the smell of smoke and of freshly baked bread twitched his nose and upper lip. He told him in a whisper, purposefully leaving Eryn out of the conversation, that although most of the ingredients on here were common, there were a couple that they were procuring. The most valuable, and the most dangerous to transport was given to two clients. One was to the Aeon Priests and the other, were Xera's employers,  House Lyathra. With the amount of coins he had been given there was certainly more he could do but he had other concerns, nodding to what Eryn had done. He mentioned that there were people under his command that had nothing to live for, mainly those suffering from the initial stages of Untethering. They would be willing to assist on the suicide mission, if Xera wished to get the ingredient. He nodded, the weight of what was to happen lay heavy on his chest. If he was to die it would be by his hand, not by the Rings of Melch.  Dehart's attention then turned to Eryn. With a wicked grin and an almost delighted tone he suggested that if Eryn wanted any of the coins back, he would have to start collecting the bodies that were now littering his domain.

TSC - Chapter 6: Reactions (7) - Jesanthums

Eryn already knew why there were here. He had expected as much from the moment Chloe started causing trouble in public. They were here for her mind and the body that came with it. There would be no use in arguing her sanity; the priests would do anything to cure the King and create peace in the Steadfast.  If Chloe's madness could help cure him, nothing would stand in their way.

Eryn now thought back to the fact that she had threatened him while in a fit of lunacy and wanting to finish what he had started without hindrance, handed her over. The priests never said a word, however the leader smiled as he took hold of Chloe and passed her on to his followers. They left without confrontation or conflict. As Eryn turned around he bumped into the Grapnel guard who had purposefully blocked their way. To Eryn it would seem the priests were expecting a fight, or at least an initial rejection. The Grapnel quickly parted ways as the Aeon priests turned into the main walkway. Xera, although relieved that she had gone, now also questioned Eryn and how easily he handed her over, knowing what possible fate she would have.

An hour later they arrived at the Undercroft Market. Xera showed Eryn the way to his makeshift laboratory. It being located in the foundations made sure of two things; nothing of value could be kept overnight but also nobody would question what he was doing. As they arrived there were a couple of men, dressed more like poachers than city thieves. They were lowering down creates, with air holes that bled soil when knocked. The boxes were swinging violently, although no possible wind could rock them. Eryn questioned to what was in the crates, specifically the two that dangled from the floors above. Xera replied that they were an ingredient of sorts, volatile if untrained from infancy. Eryn was not satisfied, Xera was evading the question. He was about to peek through one of the crates that was on the floor when he heard a familiar voice. Styenbeck bounded out of the building with authority and a demanding tone. He commanded the poachers to carefully lower the specimens. One of the men became distracted by his shouting and in doing so, allowed the crate to swing to the floor. In a sudden sweep, Styenbeck was knocked off of his feet and was pinned to the wall, his only saviour was the barrier he had constantly surrounding him. His paranoid fears at least this time, saved him from being crushed to death. However the case had smashed open and the creature inside had now mounted a few crates to the side to get a height advantage.

It was dog like, although definitely not a domesticated animal. Its skin was made of thick bark and its head was that of giant flower with a serpents tongue for the stamen. The petals were a pale purple and green with black dots that blinked on its surface. It's claws, or perhaps roots dug into the crate below it before it lunged for an attack. It tried to pounce at Eryn who deflected the creature with fire hoping that its plant like nature would easily burn, he was wrong . Instead it retaliated by spewing a cloud of orange spores that enveloped the group. It was at that point Lily tumbled across the crate that pinned Styenbeck, suddenly appearing from his jacket pocket and rolling to the floor. A little dazed she stood up into the cloud and reacted violently, squinting her eyes and coughing wildly. Xera sent a dart into the creatures skin but it only seemed lodged. It lashed out at Eryn and was sent flying. Its landing was hindered by the other dangling crate it smashed into, freeing two more of its kind.

 One started its assault on Eyn, impaling its barb from its tongue into his shoulder, the tip of which could be seen from his shoulder blade. Lily was still reacting to the spores and now tried to find open air. Xera, refusing to give up tried to force one of the creatures into immobility, however the lithe target dodged easily. Eryn's coat of flames finally managed to sear off the creature from its impalement but now had no idea how the two of them would defeat their foes without Lily's assistance. Through the orange spores that had surrounded Lily, she was able to fire off a bolt of bone to one of the creatures, sending it back up against the wall. However, she immediately started cough after and retuned to look for air.

The three creatures were now circling them, tongues lashing. Styenbeck tried to berate Eryn and Xera, to get them to continue the fight, only to receive an impolite gesture from Eryn. The three now pumped spores into the atmosphere into a thick toxic cloud. It impaired vision and Eryn knew they would left defenceless if he did not do something. As he looked up and around he noticed the halo of fire above his head had burned away the spores around it. This gave him a dangerous idea. He shouted for everyone to get down to the floor and focused his energies to his fingertips and plunged them into his halo. He then made gestures as if he was trying to pull it apart from the inside of the ring. Fire spread from his tips in a circular fashion and ignited the cloud in a fireball. The creatures unfortunately breathed in their ignited spores and died on contact burning from the inside out. Xera was a little shocked and disappointed, the Jesanthums he needed were dead, he however did not let Eryn know of his distress, only their name.

Lily, finally able to see and breathe easy again gave a brief nod to Eryn before moving the crate out of Styenbeck's way and demanding answers on 'The Harvest'. He pushed past her towards Eryn and offered him a cigarette as thanks. It was gratefully received and instantly lit. A smile crept on Styenbeck's face as Eryn tasted his favourite food, although  he could not quite picture what it was. Xera stepped in before he could take another puff and yanked it from him, stamping it out on the ground. He explained that he and Styenbeck had been working on a personal project, the creation of Black Sunshine, a highly addictive additive that created sensations of your favourite food, when inhaled.  A way to to supplement some of the more expensive ingredients in the cigarettes while still being addictive. Eryn grumbled and tried to search to for a cigarette on his own person before realising Chloe still had nearly all of Styenbeck's stolen stock but luckily found a packet.

Before the conversation could continue, Lily grabbed Styenbeck by the collar and dragged him away. She wanted answers and loudly vocal. This raised a question for Eryn and so he too tried to follow up on 'The Harvest'. Styenbeck protested at both of them, but especially Lily. He accused her of being Silas' new favourite and that he had known of the plan but nobody had told him when it was going to happen, expressing that he was always the last to know. Eryn's barrage of questions were dodged with only one plea, for him and Lily to leave as quick as possible, to which she agreed readily. Now left alone with Eryn, Xera asked who that woman was, and where she had come from. He had no good answers for him, only ones that lead down darker paths. Overhead he could hear screaming as he saw two bodies fall. One was in the direction of Lily, whose screams he heard with the possibility the body had most likely fallen on her. The second fell next to Xera, and then more followed suit. Some had obvious signs of injury from the fall. Blood spilled onto the walkway, and as Eryn knelt down to see who the dead were and he recognised a face and the mercury that trickled from her eyes, and the corner of her lips. It was Neave, well a clone. He inspected the other bodies and they too were a facsimile of Neave. Now very concerned for his Neave's welfare and to a much lesser extent Shroud, he thumbed over the obsidian disk he had been given and Neaves voice rang his ears.

Without allowing him to speak, Neave asked if he had found out where her children were. He replied they were possibly taken by house Lyathra. She laughed and in a joyful tone shouted out loud, We can now extract his memories, we have received the information we needed. She thanked him politely with no tone of familiarity or past acquaintance. As she abruptly cut the connection while a man's disturbing screams echoed in Eryn's head. What had he just done?

TSC - Chapter 6: Reactions (6) - Catching Insanity

The aftermath of Chloe's sudden and incomprehensible action and of Eryn's torture had left the Xera and Saifu a little stunned. They had failed to notice that the hand that Chloe had cut off, had also been the hand that had been manacled from when she was released from execution. The manacle had, for a few seconds, stayed attached to the wrist, but during the interrogation it had snaked its way over to Chloe as she was unconscious. After a couple of minutes she finally woke up in a stupor. She passed her hand over what had now attached itself around her ankle  but did not seem to be paying any attention. When she had looked up from crying, all she could look at was the hand she once had, which lay on the floor across the room. She felt disappointment and failure although she had no idea why. Eryn cautiously went over to her and helped her up with an outstretched hand. She stood up quickly, her clothing now masking the manacle.

Sheba had now moved from the hand print on the window to the newly created pool of blood from Chloe's hand. It had only fed for a few moments before it started to make sudden clicks and chirps in what seemed like dismay. The Aeon Priest's eyes glazed over for a second before panic set in. He looked wildly around the room before his gaze fell upon Chloe. He backed himself out of the room, his eyes constantly fixed on her. As he turned out the door, Sheba followed him, and his pounding footsteps of him running were heard as left. Xera was now obviously confused and distraught, his compatriot in the research and an ally in its threats, had just left. In the wake of the madness, Xera was not as phased and watched on with a curious eye. Eryn kept a watch on the door as he walked Chloe over to the seat and got her to sit down.

He was interrupted by Valma who was very distraught at the fact that everyone was 'dying  again'. This was, to Eryn, another obvious rant by the child-like creature. Perhaps it was  a problem with whatever that linked its memories together. However Valma was not talking to Eryn, in fact it addressed Chloe but not in name. Chloe had seemingly passed out again, possibly due to exhaustion. Her lips however parted, and a voice scratched out of her vocal cords replied. The initial steps have been taken my child. Do not worry. They are of little use. Xera, not wanting to really interrupt, was becoming more and more uncomfortable around Chloe's presence. Eryn had taken a step back. He was now considering taking the threat Chloe had issued while she was in a fit of madness as a real possibility. She may or may not be in control of her own actions. Regardless, she was a threat now, but he still did not understand the relationship between the two manacles. and could not leave her there. Xera quickly changed the subject as the voice that came from Chloe fell silent. He told Eryn that he needed to head down to the Undercroft Market. He had some equipment there he could use to analyse whatever the nature of the poison was. There was also a quality in the air that had helped develop hardy plants, to which he either had grown parts of his equipment from, or were using the plants themselves as vessels and analytical apparatus. 

A breeze entered the room, more a wall of wind than a simple gust. Valma started to spark violently as she spun, ultimately tumbling to the floor asleep. The rasping voice returned only to describe a dark sphere, swallowed by the earth. There might be another way. The voice retreated back into Chloe and she regained her consciousness, with no memory of what had just happened.   She stared down at where her hand used to be and smiled at Eryn as she weakly but proudly presented the lack of a manacle. He was astounded to find that she had not caused herself any harm from doing so apart from the obvious and for a moment considered doing the same. He however wanted to study whatever the manacle was and searched the floor for where her's would it have fallen.  To his dismay he could not find it, none of them were able to. Eryn quickly came to the conclusion that the Aeon Priest had used the distraction of his pet to take the artifact. Angry and embittered, Eryn decided they should leave right now, rather than wait for anything else to happen. As they left, Margret too had disappeared on them, leaving only piles of parchment and a sizeable amount of rejected designs in her wake.

Chloe was slowly phasing in and out of consciousness. At times she could walk perfectly and others were nearly catastrophic falls. She was not an easy girl to contain, especially as her fleets of awareness were a little disconcerting to the people they passed. Xera was keeping very much to himself, observing Chloe's every movements.  Eryn was quickly realising a feeling that he had had before. He turned his head sharply and scanned the crowd behind him. There didn't seem to be anyone out the ordinary. A few shopkeepers, a mass of customers, a Guldspar or two and a three Aeon Priests.  He wasn't happy that he couldn't see the person following him, like he had with Lily's spy. He revelled for a moment in that particular event, reliving how proud he was to have spotted her informant and couldn't wait to parade that fact in front of her. If he was to try and distinguish who was following then, if anyone at all, then he need to get off of the main thoroughfare. He motioned to Xera to follow him. Eryn struggled with Chloe's unconscious body as he turned into an alley way, Xera outright refused to touch her in case he caught her mental state. The walkway was flanked by spires that reached up to the sky yet had no windows looking out towards then on this floor. The darkness would have been a perfect place to hide, if hadn't been for two Grapnel Guards at the other end chatting. Eryn turned, in hopes he had time to get into a better position but it was too late, his entrance had been blocked by the three Aeon Priests.