[1:07 PM] onokawK: "S-sh-Shimi-e...Este-i!"
After an hour of shambling through the ruins of the Angrim prison, Sula is summoned to a large cell by the fell cries of his star-crossed mount. With painfully-wide eyes and a shocked stare, Sula blasts the cell door open, startling the fuzzy foal behind Shimi.
"I am back...Sula-e is here...."
The Dwabi throws his arms around the falicorn, filling the cracked cell with dry sobs. Shimi, in turn, (her hooves sore from beating against the cell walls for hours) joins in with an equine scream that reverberates through the prison walls.
"Forgive me, Shimi-e..oh, forgive me. Never again." Regaining some sense of composure, the defeated Dwabi takes some humble bandaging from his robe and tends to the wound on her belly...the one Sula himself had inflicted, in the hopes of sparing her from this madness.
But they were bound by fate, just as much now as they had been 8 years ago. And though the reunion comforts Sula, it brings with it the slightest echo of terror.
[1:14 PM] bREWlager: Leodin had also been worried about Shimi. As she was his family's falicorn, he too felt an attachment to her, albeit not nearly as much as Sula. He heard her cries and made his way to her cell a few seconds after her rider had. He stood and watched to two reuniting.
The masked man smiled and thought about how Sula must have missed her, and how much the two had been through together.
After some time had passed, Leodin spoke up. "I see we had the same idea."(edited)
[1:20 PM] onokawK: "...Leo-a. You survived..." Sula hadn't seen Leodin during the escape attempt, and the sight of the boy brings a loose grin to his weary face.
"..Kwemo, my boy." Sula waves a gold-sleeved arm slowly to the side in a flashy salute, almost as if to beckon him into an embrace.
[1:24 PM] bREWlager: Leodin grins and continues over to Sula and Shimi and hugs his friend. "I'm glad you made it out."
[1:29 PM] onokawK: Sula stifles a shiver at the touch of the vigilante's armor, cold as death. The Dwabi's empty eyes dance across him, knowing that all it would have taken to keep Lady Satomi's trust was to hand over her son. His hold loosens, disgusted at the thought...and yet...
"...The room with the buttons..."
...that thought might have become an action. Leodin might have been the one Sula sacrificed for his survival. Would he ever know?
"..let's get out of here."
[1:33 PM] bREWlager: Leodin disregarded the first comment as just Sula remembering something.
"Agreed."
Before they leave, Leodin wraps his arms around Shimi and closes his eyes, grateful to see her again.
[1:37 PM] onokawK: As they make their way out, Sula leads Este and entrusts the falcon to Leodin. Although Shimi is quite ornery with the young nobleman, making the trip a tiring ordeal, Sula is glad to see that she is at least somewhat cooperative with him.
Este, meanwhile, is terrified, having spent too long trapped in this cavernous complex. Their pace isn't much faster than Leodin and Shimi's.
[1:42 PM] bREWlager: Leodin and Shimi follow the other two out of the prison, leaving the way they came in.
"It's despicable how poorly the nobles treat these people..." he thinks out loud as they walk the halls.
[1:46 PM] onokawK: "It's....unforgivable."
There was no need - no way - to say any more about the horrors in Kranhai. Leodin had likely lost as many comrades there as Sula - his own countrymen - and had given up on the nobility long before they butchered an entire city with unspeakable magic. Sula's exhausted expression betrays just a fraction of this rage, looking back at Leodin with sympathetic fury as his muscles stiffen.
"I never imagined, they would go so far. Even with the power to see the future, it is...no, there are no words."(edited)
[1:49 PM] bREWlager: "...I imagined it, but I never thought they'd actually do anything like that. The nobility will reap what they sow."
[1:51 PM] onokawK: "..gods!"
Even his sudden outburst is feeble, parched for passion. Sula's eyes squint as they exit, coming out the bright light of the Khlinese sun. The temporary stables weren't much further.
[1:57 PM] bREWlager: Leodin stares out towards the mountain range for a few seconds.
"I had almost forgotten how beautiful the Angrim Mountains looked... Probably because of how desolate the rest of the land is."
[2:01 PM] onokawK: Sula gives a hollow laugh, looking out at the frigid mountaintops.
"This was where I first learned the ways of the kingdom...my first home in Khlin. When we had enough time, Shimi-e and I would practice flying around here.
[2:04 PM] bREWlager: "I remember you leaving once or twice to go fly Shimi..."
He gazes at the landscape around him.
"Maybe once this is all over, I can take her out for a flight around the mountains."
[2:07 PM] onokawK: "..."
Sula's head looks further up, to the sky past the mountains. Just across the ocean from them, was Dwabi. Both lands he had called home...both lands he had betrayed.
"Of course. O-gyana, Este-i!"
He finally gets the foal back to the convoy with the rest of the mounts, while some of their allies ran back and forth in a frenzy, grabbing unused weapons almost at random.
[2:16 PM] bREWlager: Leodin pays no attention to his friends running around the convoy, and just leads Shimi over to Sula.
[2:18 PM] onokawK: "Actually.."
Sula walks grimly to them, with a temperate smile. His posture heightens just a little more.
"..Why don't we fly now? We may not get another chance...for a long time, I mean, hha ha ha..."(edited)
[3:00 PM] bREWlager: He thinks for a moment.
"Actually, that sounds like a great idea. Why not?"
[3:04 PM] onokawK: "You're dressed right for the weather, ha...Come!"
Sula mounts Shimi at once, extending a hand to Leodin.
[3:05 PM] bREWlager: Leodin grabs Sula's hand and pulls himself up.
"It's been too long since we've done this."
[3:10 PM] onokawK: Sula nods.
"Dyo-a...Ba!"
The falcon takes off, flying confidently over Angrim at a brisk pace.
"And you've grown so much, since then...To be true, I would never have let Shimi near you back then! But, Kwemo that we could meet again...that I could see you were truly ready to stand on your own."
[3:26 PM] bREWlager: "...My time on my own helped me grow a lot. And I'm glad that I got to see you again."
[3:35 PM] onokawK: "Even from the time we left Amaterasu....it has changed you, Leo-e. You are finally living up to the legends of The Bold, and more."
[3:39 PM] bREWlager: "I have lived up to no legends, Sula... My uncle started a decades long revolution. I've done nothing to deserve that kind of recognition."
[3:54 PM] onokawK: "I did not have...Honor, of knowing your uncle..."
Shimi glides down towards a snowy plateau, at the top of a winding hiking trail.
"But I know he would be proud of you. All this fighting, all this trouble, and you have still not lost yourself....I pray that it stays, this way..."
A thick cover of clouds shades much of this mountaintop, and snowflakes tickle Shimi's wings with a dazzling contrast.
[3:56 PM] bREWlager: "As do I."
Leodin waits as they land before dismounting.
[4:03 PM] onokawK: Long, thin blades of grass poke up from the snow, which Shimi wastes no time searching through for bugs. Apart from some meager, barren trees, the only other feature of note was an old wooden bridge, stretching across to the next mountain over and a new trail.
Leaving her to her "grazing", Sula looks over the edge, back down towards the wrecked prison and the bustling convoy. It all seemed so small, and manageable...to the eyes, at least.
"...Leo-a. I have said it before, but you are a far greater man than I."
[4:11 PM] bREWlager: "And yet, I would never have gotten where I am today without you."
Leodin walks over to the edge and puts his hand on Sula's shoulder.
[4:15 PM] onokawK: "Perhaps, yes..."
Sula looks up to the taller man.
"And so I must ask you to help me, now...to do what I cannot."
[4:16 PM] bREWlager: Leo looks at his friend questioningly.
"Anything..."
[4:17 PM] onokawK: Forgive me, everyone...
Sula averts his gaze, looking down to his feet. His serpentine tattoos did little to warm him, in the midst of all this snow.
"Report to the rebellion. Tell them...Sula the Blackwing is dead."
[4:20 PM] bREWlager: He lowers his hand and idly stares at Sula.
"I hope you do not intend to kill youself, Sula..."(edited)
[4:24 PM] onokawK: "I cannot."
His response was sharp, and sudden. Automatic.
"Tell them what you like, but..I cannot stay in this war any longer, either. This old man has seen enough Nanyo for ten lifetimes, Leo--"
Sula's limbs shiver visibly in the cold.
"I'm leaving the army."(edited)
[4:24 PM] bREWlager: "But... Vivianna. Have you even told her?"
[4:32 PM] onokawK: "She's coming with me." Sula walks idly through the snow. "It was wrong to bring her into this nightmare...and so I will find her somewhere safe to live. Somewhere to rest."
[4:34 PM] bREWlager: "I..." Leo looks down at the snow beneath his feet.
"I think it's only fair that you go and start a family...away from all of this death and destruction."
"But why must the rebellion believe that you're dead?"
[4:38 PM] onokawK: "Ha ha ha! It would be good to be remembered as a great hero, huu? .....No, perhaps they should know the truth, just this once."
Sula turns back, finally facing Leodin.
"Sula-o, holds no more loyalty to the rebels, than he does for Satomi....Nanyo fools, every one. Even your eyes must see, that this land's fate is to tear itself apart...and I will not help in that any longer."(edited)
[4:39 PM] bREWlager: Leodin stays silent for a long time...
"So you're just going to leave like this never happened? Like you don't want to help save the people of Khlin?"
[4:42 PM] onokawK: "It does not matter anymore!--" Sula coughs. "Kranhai is gone. The rebels are moving. Frey-zen wagons moving everywhere, throwing weapons everywhere...I tried to stop it. But it's here. The future has come."
[4:49 PM] bREWlager: "But this is the future that we need! We finally have the nobles cornered and you want to leave? What about all of the progress we've made?"
[4:52 PM] onokawK: "That is the progress, I tried to stop!" Sula's hand clenches into a fuming fist, but he stops.
"...Nothing else will make you understand, I see. Nothing else can stop that mask from blinding you..."
Sula hums meditatively, for a surprisingly long time. Then, with shut eyes...(edited)
[4:53 PM] onokawK: "...Nothing, but your sister."
[4:54 PM] bREWlager: He stares at Sula.
"I have no sister Sula... It's a tradition that the Stormblades only have one child."
[4:55 PM] onokawK: "And how many did they have, when you left the Stormblades?"
Sula's eyes slide open, with a spark of clarity.
"What choice did Satomi have, without an heir?"
[4:57 PM] bREWlager: "But...why have you not told me this sooner?!"
[4:58 PM] onokawK: "What good would it do you, boy? You chose your path - to offer her up, as the cost for your revenge. A brother like that...is better off not knowing."
[4:59 PM] bREWlager: He stands there unmoving.
"A brother should know when he has a sister! I would never attack Intetsu if I knew she was there!"(edited)
[5:04 PM] onokawK: "That is why!" Sula takes a step closer to him, his feet nearly numb from the snow.
"You would throw away your honor, your quest, your uncle's legacy...all for one child. Yet, how many more will die, from this attack?!"
[5:09 PM] bREWlager: "And how many more will die if we don't attack, hm!? I'm sure the nobility will be fine with slaughtering children to stop rebellious groups!"
He takes a step forward. "The attack is happening with or without me. But I won't let my own sister die due to my inaction."
[5:14 PM] onokawK: "Then you truly are no different from them! All of you! Only I can--"
Leodin's step forward silences Sula, and his response takes the breath out of him.
"...ha, ha. so you can be of some help after all." His shoulders float up a few inches, as if a great weight was lifted from his whole body. "Then I haven't failed everything..ha."(edited)
[5:19 PM] bREWlager: At Leodin's right side, a flicker of red electricity courses through Morderrand's blade. The man's left hand twitches slightly.
He glares at Sula as he towers over him, the mask and armor making him all the more menacing.
"Don't be so quick to assume that."
[5:23 PM] onokawK: "Leo-i, what are you doing?"
Sula gives a concerned expression.
"Nadi-a needs you...I cannot protect her anymore."
[5:26 PM] bREWlager: "You could never protect anyone! I'll save her on my own if you truly don't care!"
[5:28 PM] onokawK: "And you begged the princess for this madness..." Sula points down at the war preperations below. "You worked for Nadia's death, and you say I don't care?! Everything I have done, Leo-a, has been for her!"(edited)
[5:31 PM] bREWlager: "If you cared so much about her, then you would have told me about her!"
He unsheathes Morderrand and points it at Sula's chest.
"You say I worked for her death, when in reality, you telling me could have saved her much sooner."
[5:33 PM] onokawK: "She has had enough of the Stormblades' wrath...Telling you would do nothing but bring her more pain."
Sula stares down the point of the blade.(edited)
[5:36 PM] bREWlager: "Letting her live in safety away from my parents would bring her pain?"
Electricity started dancing up and down the blade nonstop, wrapping around Leodin's hand.
"YOU Are the one keeping her in pain!" His voice strained, he can't hold in his anger.
[5:40 PM] onokawK: "For five years you were a ghost! A vigilante, who ran away from his duty! Nadi-e had no one else to turn to, but me!"
Sula opens his palms out at the swordsman, shaking his head in irritation.
"..so prove your worth, then. Prove that you can put down the sword...that you're more than a Stormblade."
[5:42 PM] bREWlager: "Nadia would not exist without me," he says simply, not lowering the sword.
[5:43 PM] onokawK: "Then go!" Sula waves an arm out to the eastern plains. "Do your duty to her, then. There is nothing more I can do for any of you."
[5:45 PM] bREWlager: Leodin steps forward, putting the blade to Sula's throat.
"Then you care nothing for me or my sister?"
[5:47 PM] onokawK: "Kss..."
Sula snarled at the crackling blade.
"I am Aishatu, boy. I do not fear you."
[5:51 PM] bREWlager: "I don't care."
He kicks Sula down into the snow, keeping the blade pointing at him.
[5:52 PM] onokawK: Sula chuckles madly, without getting up.
"And you won't kill me, either."
[5:53 PM] bREWlager: "If I desire, I can make you wish I had."
[5:54 PM] onokawK: "Ha! And what will you tell Vivian-na?"
[5:55 PM] bREWlager: "Why tell her anything?"
The blade gets closer and closer to Sula's neck.
[6:01 PM] onokawK: "..Satomi wouldn't tell. She'd keep it a secret from even her own child, for fourteen years..."
Sula smirks furiously, gazing into the dark mask.
"...and you still say you can do better than her?"
[6:05 PM] bREWlager: "I will never be my mother! You know how evil she is!"
[6:07 PM] onokawK: "Satomi is human! And Stormblade!" Sula's brow furrows. "And she saw a young noble, who she thought could save her from her family...They say the two of them fell in love, in the middle of the war."
[6:08 PM] bREWlager: "Stop! You'll take this no further"
The tip of the blade touches Sula's neck, cutting it slightly.
[6:13 PM] onokawK: "But you will?" Blood trickles down Sula's motionless neck, interescting his ashen tattoos. Yet he continues on.
"This is the way of Khlin. The Nanyo, that Godfried the Bold swore he would change!"(edited)
[6:15 PM] bREWlager: "Nanyo...Hah... I am not the one who kept secrets, and told lies to their friend!"
[6:17 PM] onokawK: "Then, if I am to be your first secret..." Sula's hand flies up, grabbing at Leodin's armored arm.
"...Promise me, that you will take them far away from this."
[6:18 PM] bREWlager: He stares blankly at Sula for what seemed like hours, thinking, before he removed the blade from his neck.
"No... No secrets."
[6:31 PM] onokawK: "Hah..."
Sula stands up slowly, clutching his neck at last.
"Perhaps there is some humanity left in your blood, after all."
[6:32 PM] bREWlager: "Yet it seems there's none in yours..."
[6:35 PM] onokawK: "No, no...nothing but lies."
Sula sways a little as he stands.
"And a nation of fools, all around..."
He shuffles weakly towards Shimi.(edited)
[6:45 PM] bREWlager: Leodin follows Sula with his gaze, not moving his head. He sheaths Morderrand and continues to stand there.
[6:47 PM] onokawK: As he finally mounts her, Sula extends a single palm toward him, warning him not to approach.
"..Nanyo, Stormblade. This is where our paths turn away."(edited)
[6:53 PM] bREWlager: Leodin turns, gazing down the mountainside. He doesn't even think about how he will get back, unable to get Nadia off of his mind.
[7:01 PM] onokawK: And the dark creatures took off for the convoy, leaving Leodin behind at the top of the trail. It felt like a crime to leave the boy to fend for himself...but it was a crime he had to get used to, now.
Voices of women echo in his head, warning him that he cannot serve two masters. That he cannot care for two families at once. And though he truly cared for the forsaken nobility of Khlin, in his heart, Sula knew who he had to choose.
Vivianna. And their son, Paris. He would save them from this madness, no matter what.
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