"Well? What do you think, apprentice?" Sellen questioned, expectantly waiting for his response.
Onyx looked back down to the, to put it mildly, rough drawing in his hand. It was some kind of building, he could tell that much, but the details were lost on him, just about everything other than the general shape lost in translation. What were the lines coming from it supposed to represent? And all the half done scribblings looked more like personal notes than anything he was met to understand.
"Have you seen a blueprint before?" Onyx asked.
"Of course I have. The study of glintstone is quite varied as you'll find out. More than once I've had to put together my own tools."
"Then you know this looks more like a child's drawing, right?"
"Yes, well artistic pursuits have never been my strong suit. Nor is that the point." Sellen said, arms crossed and brow raised. "Can you build it?"
On the paper, beside the childishly blocky depiction of a building, was a more detailed drawing. It retained the same rough style, but he was certain it was some kind of heating system. Not exactly a traditional fireplace that made use of wood or required a chimney of some kind, but it certainly shared the same purpose. There were quite a few small scribbles beside it referencing materials with their own rough drawings to go with them.
The winds were already a problem for most with the winds of Limgrave, but Ranni's frost had likely been what spurred her on to preparing this request.
"You know where we can get the materials?"
"Certainly." She said, nodding. "You're already acquainted with the Agheel lake at the center of Limgrave. Many tunnels run through the cliffs that shape the valleys the lake fills, some which acted as or were slated to become mines. Assuming they have not been stripped clean during my imprisonment, retrieving the required materials from them should be an easy enough task."
The Agheel lake.
The place that Yura, that katana wielder, warned to be the territory of a dragon.
"Alright." Onyx said, rolling up the drawing. "Ready to head out?"
"Right this very moment? Good to see you share my eagerness for this. I'll gather what I need." Sellen gave him a nod before heading off towards her tent.
Onyx decided to do the same, heading into his cabin.
The scattered lanterns were already alight, Melina seated on the edge of her bed. She held her unique dagger in hand, silently studying it.
After her failed meeting with Marika, whether it be during the walks she liked to take around the island or at any point in the day really, she'd become even more pensive than usual. Like everything else she might've felt, it didn't much show on her face but rather in her actions, the whole thing having left her both confused and disappointed.
What she was faced with wasn't something that would be sorted out overnight.
"Headed out with Sellen to grab some things." Onyx said as he pulled open the dresser near the door. Pouches, crafting kit, those bloodied daggers, and the Grafted Blade. Aside from a few different tools and food he wouldn't be taking much else along.
Melina was already on her feet, cloak slipped over her shoulders as she joined him.
"You know you don't have to come, right?" Onyx asked, glancing over his shoulder. If she stayed, Torrent would have to do the same. Depending on how much of the materials Sellen had in mind that they retrieved it might be a little inconvenient to bring back but they'd manage.
"I will." Melina stated without a moment's pause. "I…I am grateful for the consideration that you show me, but should you find yourself in a difficult battle I should be there."
"Alright." Onyx said, turning his attention back to the dresser. Its not like he wanted to tell her what to do or encourage her in any specific direction for that matter. Melina, as he learned, just didn't really acknowledge alternative courses of action unless it was thrown in her face.
He just wanted to be sure she knew there was a choice to be made.
They could very well find themselves in that difficult battle today. In fact, he was hoping for it. If there was anything he knew for sure that could put him in just the right conditions for this body's mana capacity to grow by leaps and bounds, it was a dragon.
And if the corpse in the island's ruins were anything to go off of, the dragons of this world would be quite the sight.
XOXO
"Come now, Torrent, there's no need to be so defensive. I only want a look at it."
A loud neigh left Torrent, he shifting his course to put more distance between he and Sellen despite Melina loosely guiding him forward by the reins. Water splashed and rippled around their steps, tall walls of stone on either side of them as they made their way through the shallow waterbed of the Agheel Lake.
The insects, crabs, and octopi that populated it, all things that didn't hesitate to attack once they crossed a certain size, gave them a wide berth. Big and small crabs alike buried themselves in the loose dirt below the body of water. The octopi led their young way, opting to hunt easier targets. The insects zipped and darted high above.
No dragon though.
"Torrent isn't afraid to use those horns of his." Onyx said, turning his gaze down from the somewhat clouded skies.
"Yes, I've seen his attempts to trample you." Sellen gave up on a direct approach for now, drawing closer to his side.
Despite Irina offering her boots, Sellen had been adamant in her denial of them, opting to walk the island with only bandages wrapped around her feet. Too restrictive according to her. She did take up the offer for this journey, however, the shin deep water soaking the old material. Despite them being cleaned and patched up by both Irina and Boc she'd also forgone her robes, keeping in the casual clothing Irina shared with her.
She said there was no need to announce her former associations to the world.
"Surely you share in my curiosity about this bell. Something that can bind spirits, even if temporarily, would make for quite the tool. Why not take it out so that we can examine it?" Sellen asked.
"You're on your own with that."
"Hmmm, a shame but I'll have to leave it be then." Sellen, for now, gave up on it, cupping her chin. "I'm more interested in the sorceress that handed it over, anyhow. You may not know this apprentice, but those practiced in frost sorceries are rare and far between. Even before my imprisonment I'd only ever heard legends of a wizened practitioner somewhere in Liurnia. Quite curious that one would pop up in these times. And to hand something so powerful over to you specifically, at that."
He hummed in agreement though for far different reasons. He couldn't say it with complete certainty, but he was pretty sure he knew exactly who Torrent's previous master was.
"Tell me-" Sellen said with a mirthful smile. "-do I have to worry about some mysterious stranger poaching my apprentice from me?" Despite the many questions Sellen had when she'd woken, she hadn't and still didn't seem particularly bothered by being so soundly subdued by another sorceress. Knowledge and curiosity truly was the name of the game when it came to her.
"Competition can be a good thing." Onyx said with a shrug.
"You are bold apprentice, perhaps too bold. That said, I would not give up the opportunity to learn such things either." Sellen admitted with a chuckle.
Other than the splashes that accompanied their steps, they continued forward in relative silence, Torrent still maintaining a significant distance from Sellen. As the valley they strolled down began to narrow they soon stepped beyond water and onto loose but dry dirt.
An entrance of mined stone, held up by woodened posts, both splintered and rotting yet holding up to the test of time, sat before them.
Sellen stepped forward, pulling staff from waist as Melina dismounted from Torrent. "I ask that you and Melina handle lighting our way. Should we encounter any aggression, I'll see to it myself. I'd like the chance to truly test my sorcery."
Who was he to deny her such a thing, especially when he wanted to see what she was capable of in battle himself?
XOXO
Bluish green joined the light of their torches, Sellen's quick cast, a simple glintstone shard, speeding into the hardened head of one of the miners still within the old place. Like all others before him, he crumbled to the ground as the projectile shattered upon him, dead before hitting the ground.
This one, unlike the others, carried a basket full of odd spherical black stones with faintly glowing centers, a few rolling to their feet.
"Ha, finally, just the thing I was hoping we'd find." Sellen said, kneeling down to pick one up off the craggy stone around them.
"What is it?" Onyx questioned as he did the same. It released a persistent warmth, no doubt able to keep a small room heated when gathered in abundance, but that and her scribbles along those childish drawings weren't the most insightful pieces of information.
"Tools used for more destructive mining." Sellen said while tossing the thing up and down. She caught it one final time before chucking it at one of the distant walls within the expansive chamber they were in. An explosion of flames engulfed the spot before quickly dissipating, nothing around for it to burn. "Rather aptly named, exploding stones."
"I'm going to guess that they aren't a common way to heat a building."
"You'd be right of course. Most would say it's too dangerous but they're convenient and there's no noticeable decline in their potency over time. The perfect thing to heat up some old ruins without the need of wood or effort." Sellen explained. "It may seem dangerous at first glance but there isn't much to be concerned about. Unless they're gathered in large amounts, far more than we'll need for any single room, their explosive power is rather lacking. It's the flames we'll need to concern ourselves with, hence the other materials we're gathering."
Like she said, flame show aside, the explosion hadn't left behind a crack or knocked anything loose beside dust. Those drawings of hers made a lot more sense now.
Onyx headed over to the fallen miner, picking the corpse up to undo the straps of the basket. Melina quietly came over to help.
The man's skin felt exactly like it looked. Stony.
So far, they'd encountered corpses and these hard skinned people aimlessly working. Unfortunately, the former had nothing to say and the latter showed nothing but crazed aggression beyond their routine work. They might as well have been shambling corpses even if their hardened skin did not allow them to rot.
More of The Lost Edgar spoke of, he assumed.
They made for easy targets but weren't really giving Sellen any practice beyond her aim, unable to stand against the power of her most basic sorceries.
A bit disappointing but they were getting what they were after.
XOXO
Blood.
Onyx caught the scent almost as quickly as he picked up on the foreign presence ahead. Someone, quite similar in nature to the one he'd taken the bloody daggers from, awaited them outside the old mine.
"Ready yourself apprentice." Sellen warned as the lift they rode up began to slow, she and Melina glancing his way, having picked up on it as well. Anything would be hard pressed to catch their group off guard.
As they stepped off the lift, Onyx slung the basketful of materials off his back and onto the stony ground just in case. Sellen already had her staff at the ready while Melina shifted her cloaked form, hand settling on her dagger as she tossed her torch. He abandoned his as well and took the lead.
Their steps were near silent, Sellen's faint ones the most audible. That didn't prove to be a problem, the entrance reached without issue.
A single figure stood a good distance ahead in the water, back to the mine and head craned to look up at the skies. Their once all white robes and hood was dirtied by travel like anyone else. For a moment it seemed as though the figure carried no weapon with them, the steel mace at their hip far from a traditional one in shape, its many reddened ends making it easy to mistake the thing for banquet of flowers.
Honestly, seeing someone walk around with nothing but something like that would've been more interesting than any weapon.
As they stepped out of the mine Onyx's foot splashing into water where he stopped, the figure turned.
"Ah, a fellow tarnished. I caught sight of you from a distance but didn't dare hope to run into another of our kind." A measured voice, with words just as deliberate, left the man. A white mask, dirtied like the rest of his clothes, concealed his face, the plain thing detailed only with eyes and lips curved into the faintest of grins. Both worked in conjunction to keep any from being able to read too deeply beyond anything he wanted them to see.
Unlike that bloody finger Yura beheaded this one's bloodlust was restrained. Tempered. And that made it all the more dangerous.
"And you have a fair maiden at your side." Like a blade that tempered bloodlust struck Melina. This wasn't some wild thirst for the blood of all those around him or even women or natives specifically, Sellen spared from it. This was aimed and directed, some reason or root cause behind it.
This man wanted Melina dead.
"How fortunate it must be. Few of us tarnished are so lucky to be in such company." The man finished as he rubbed his clasped hands together, attention turned back to Onyx but all that bloodlust still present. The man's guile was certainly something. Few could hold such malicious intent yet let none of it show in their voice.
Not even the faint bits of blood on his gloves and mask would've stood out in times like these. Especially for someone claiming to be a tarnished.
"Kill him." The order was spoken with rage so forceful Onyx had to fight off a wince, Marika's rage crashing into his mind. It was tempting to heed it as well. All that boiling rage mingled with his own. While it hadn't been nearly as intense as Marika's, realizing that the man would attempt to harm Melina given the chance did conjure some up.
"Greetings." Onyx said with a slight nod.
The masked man returned it. "Greetings. If you don't mind my asking, do you, perhaps, perceive the Guidance of Grace? Golden rays of light said to lead tarnished on the path they are meant to follow."
"Can't say that I ever have."
"How unfortunate. It seems even among the few still accompanied by the Finger Maidens, such tarnished are a rarity." The man said, a sigh of disappointment escaping, or rather, deliberately let loose from him. "Luckily for you, however, there exists one shinning ray of hope for even those without Grace's guidance. Me. Varre."
"Take care to listen. I can direct you to that which Grace bids us to pursue. The Great Runes."
"I'm good." Onyx said.
A prolonged pause in the otherwise very methodical introduction was all that indicated his surprise, but even that didn't last long enough for anyone not already eyeing this Varre with suspicion to pick up on.
"I see. Truly a shame it is when a tarnished abandons the purpose for which Grace brought them back to these lands." Varre said with another sigh. "But who could blame you. Decrepit as they may be, a demigod is still a demigod."
"Odd that a Finger Maiden would continue to travel alongside such a tarnished, however." He added, a slight shift in his neck, signaling the turn on his attention on Melina. A silent stare was all he got from her. "Perhaps you cling to hope that he shall change his mind and steel his resolve? Yes, it would be a shame if that brute strength were wasted."
Onyx shifted the Grafted Blade against his shoulder, unrelenting rage calling for him to swing it.
"I bid you safe travels then." Varre said with a slight tilt of the head before he turned.
"Hold on." Onyx called out. "You got a problem with Finger Maidens or something?"
Varre stopped, water splashing around his half-step. Another pause gave away surprise, but it lasted even shorter this time. "You're quite sharp, aren't you?" He questioned as he turned, the faintest bit of curiosity in his composed voice. "That's a personal matter. Not something to be discussed with strangers. You understand."
Rather than trying some hastily thrown together denial, Varre went with the flow, easily deflecting any further questioning into the matter from anyone with basic decency.
"Fair enough." Onyx said. He wasn't interested enough in the reasoning behind the malice to press for more information. Yura's explanation on the Bloody Fingers had been brief but they were clearly working against the Golden Order. The bloodlust had some basis there if he had to guess.
"If you follow us, I will kill you." Onyx stated bluntly, no room allowed for misunderstanding.
Varre held his stare but said nothing, quietly leaving.
"Quite the violent way to end a conversation." Sellen said.
"I didn't like the way he looked at Melina."
"Oh? No reservations about jumping to a different teacher but not willing to let our dear maiden here follow another? Quite the double standard you've got there, my gluttonous apprentice." Despite her teasing, Sellen's eyes remained glued to Varre's fleeting back, her staff readied. "But I agree. There's something off about that Varre character. I'm not certain what it is but he is not the sort I would turn my back to."
"Are you certain it is wise to let him leave?" Melina questioned lowly. "I believe he is a member of the Bloody Fingers."
Onyx glanced towards her.
Marika appeared over her, looking down at him. "The little one understands." She stated, tone far more tame yet still full of fury. "Curious as thou are, you wouldst not align yourself with such a group. That marks thee as their enemy. See to the problem now just as thee did to the other degenerate."
He glanced down from Marika's pale golden eyes and to Melina's, very deliberate in the motion. "Someone wants him dead, I know that." Onyx said. Varre could offer another view on these Bloody Fingers if they happened to cross paths and the man was more forthcoming. That alone made him a slight person of interest. "If you want to do something about it, that's your choice. I doubt you'll need the help, but I'll back you up if it comes to that."
At the end of the day, however, Melina was a hell of a lot more interesting. That and he liked her.
Leaving her with that choice, he headed back inside the mine to get the basket. Whatever Melina did, they had plenty of daylight and according to Sellen a few more know mines in the area.
He didn't intend on stopping until they had everything they needed in bulk or got to see that dragon.