My dream has never died or lived again... Jy 30t GT (closed)

[Ashari]

As in some mystic middle state I lay;
Seeing I saw not, hearing not I heard:
Though, if I saw not, yet they told me all
So often that I speak as having seen.

For so it seemed, or so they said to me,
That all things grew more tragic and more strange;
That when our side was vanquished and my cause
For ever lost, there went up a great cry,
The Prince is slain...*

Inpenatrable, never ending, and complete darkness filled the world of Haikan's mind. His psyche traversed an expanse of great size and depth, with no way to account for space or time. Energies he couldn't sense or make sense of swirled around him in intricate patterns that carried him from the tether to the aether.

How long it lasted was rightly difficult to determine, but it didn't take long for the young adhiel's transient soul to stop, and even that could only be sensed deep within his being. A pin-prick of light danced in the distance of his vision. This small twinkling dot was reminiscent of single star, and the more the object was focused upon, the more it shifted and blurred, until it swiftly began it's approach. Rather, it was Haikan that was speeding toward the beacon, but his mind couldn't comprehend the change due to the weightlessness of his body.

It transformed into a spark, and then engulfing him in radiating and blinding whiteness. The senses that came next to the captain were of extreme pain spread over his entire body. His torso felt like it was on fire, while his left shoulder screamed excruciatingly if he moved it. Each breath was labored, and the vision of his right eye was somewhat blurred. A heaviness overwhelmed him - very unlike that which he'd felt while moving in the void.

Haikan was laying on his back, that much he could easily figure out thanks to the raindrops that fell on his face. He could taste blood on his lips and see dark gray storm clouds overhead. His ears were filled with screams of anguish and the roar of rushing water. Animals made loud sounds, including a defiant whinny from a familiar ugly pony. Nearby, there was a much quieter noise, a woman's voice speaking rapidly in adhiel - repeating the same gibberish over and over.

*Poem piece by Lord Alfred Tennyson from Princess Part VI

[Haikan]

As in some mystic middle state I lay;
Seeing I saw not, hearing not I heard:
Though, if I saw not, yet they told me all
So often that I speak as having seen.

For so it seemed, or so they said to me,
That all things grew more tragic and more strange;
That when our side was vanquished and my cause
For ever lost, there went up a great cry,
The Prince is slain...

Why these words echoed in his mind, he didn't know.

What is happening?

His delirious mind raced and he tried to push the lyric out of his head and focus on his surroundings, but the harder he pushed it away, the louder it grew. The gray clouds overhead dropped rain onto his face, and it forced his eyes to blink rapidly, until he turned his head to the side, still too confused to stand.

Did I fall off my horse?

The world around him swayed as he darted his eyes around, gathering his bearings. The screams sounded like warring peoples, or even animals. The captain lay there, on his back, with no memories of why he was down, and no idea where his soldiers were, or even where he was.

Who is that speaking?

He heard a voice speaking in what sounded like Mikail's mothertongue. That was the language he was meant to have learned, but he was sent away before he was old enough to speak. A pang of longing for his brother, his only family, formed in his mind, as he was nearly oblivious to his surroundings.

Jezara.

At the first sense of familiarity he was reminded of who he was, and of what he was supposed to be doing. There should not be screams of agony, of any nature. Not while he was there to prevent them. Who was hurt? Was there an assault? Who was sick? Questions filled his mind as he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up with his hands.

Something is wrong.

He whipped his feet under him with a small hopping motion and remained crouched to the ground, ready to jump at a sign of danger. Darting his eyes from left to right, and even turning his head, he tried to distinguish where he was, or any familiar faces around him.

[Ashari]

The most subtle movement, that of his attempt at rolling over, was met with a gut-wrenching pain that started below his naval and moved with electric speed over his whole body, with particular interesting sharp sensations in his left shoulder. It gave over finally to the feeling of being lightheaded followed by his mind threatening for him to pass out again. The world dissolved into a gray mist while his vision funneled down to cut off his peripheral, leaving him focused on the adhiel who's soothing chanting voice cut through the visceral sounds of warring. "Laliel Saliu!" The young woman's voice penetrated the haze. "Achlaliel, seodheann aidhanabh nin," she begged, pressing a nimble hand to his chest pleadingly.

The hand she pulled away was covered in blood, his blood, and there was much of it across the adhiel's tan tunic. From this perspective he could see only her face. It was comely in the typical adhiel fashion. She had narrow features and soft pink rose colored lips with tanned skin proving she was an outdoorsy type. Light auburn hair and sparkling green eyes, flecked oddly enough with hints of amber, finished off what he could see of her, though those eyes were stained with tears, and droplets clung to her eyelashes making them more pronounced. "Ta di theil..." she implored him. "Anabh nin seodhanabh salach. Ir ta lara?"

[Haikan]

He set his head back down, and just looked the adhiel woman in the eyes.

He found himself to be immobile. He hated feeling helpless. There was nothing worse than being unable to help somebody, let alone himself. This woman, she speaks so beautifully... If only I could understand... It didn't take a perceptive mastermind to figure that he was hurt, and he deduced that she was probably trying to help him. I'm dying... No! I'm not! I can't die! Not yet, there is so much I have yet to do! Father... Mother... Mikail.. What of my real father? He's never even seen my face... I can't die, if I do, they will too. Mikail... I won't let our family starve! I... He argued with himself like he had only once before, when he took the life of Terrance Finch. This is death...

His heart burned and his mind raced. He was focusing on surviving. There were so many reasons that he had to. That he would. He longed to see Mikail, or Anistis, or any familiar face. A tear rolled down his cheek as his mind was filled with the fear that he would commit the Ultimate failure. There were so many dreams and goals that would never be fulfilled. How could he continue his dreams, how could he put them in to words for someone else to pursue? Even if he could speak, it would take an eternity to convey all the dreams and ambitions he had. How could he express the love he had in his heart? The love that he wanted to share with the people of the Western Kingdom, was going to die with him.

Can't I even... Say goodbye..? He felt sick, and his bottom lip trembled as a larger stream of tears forced itself out of his eyes. He tried to speak, softly, weakly, if he even could. "Mother..."

[Ashari]

"C-common?" The adhiel's eyes shifted from the terrible wound that wrecked his shoulder (and nearly severed his arm from his body) to catch his gaze as he whispered. There was a swelling of hope in the young woman's heart that her hero might come through this. "Still," she said. "Stay still... you are terribly hurt," she placed one soft hand on the side of his face, but she maintained a stoic visage. Her people were, by their nature (and furthered by nurture), calm and able to keep cool under pressure, and this happened to be one of those moments when it was particularly important to keep up that appearance at least.

Laliel Saliu, please... give him strength. Save him. Help. She'd been praying while he was out cold, and even continued now in her deeper thoughts. "Thank you." Her eyes kept his, for it was her purpose to keep him awake and alive. There would have to be a healer among his caravan... perhaps they survived? Her heart raced beneath her breast, and her fingers burned for purpose - a way to help him. "What is your name, stranger?"

Tormented screams ripped through the air. It was the crackling voice of a young woman. There was no indication of what she was trying to communicate aside from pain, and it ended with desperate sobbing. The nameless adhiel woman that hovered above him looked in the direction of the noise and grimaced visibly. She looked back down at Haikan and wiped away the torrent of fresh tears and stared vacantly at the gore that covered his torso.

[Haikan]

"Haikan..." Should I tell her my real name? Or that of my human father...? She is an adhiel, perhaps she would recognize my true name. I need all the help I can get, and it wouldn't hurt to have her wishing to assist me. "Haikan... Verida... That is my name..." He decided to tell her his elven name. That of his birth father and mother. The adhiel talked slow, for he didn't want to overwork himself and speed his death along. Who is this woman? And why is she so concerned for me? I, I'm confused. How I long for a familiar face.

"Where... What's going on? Why am I like this? And where is Mikail?" He tried to look around with his periphery, but he didn't expect to see much. "What, what is your name?" He looked at the woman with gentle, helpless eyes, which shielded the world from the burning resolve that it took to stay conscious.

There had to be a way that he could get better. He needed to be on his feet, to find Mikail, to make sure he was safe, and he needed to make sure that his friends and his soldiers were okay. Why had this happened, and why he could not remember these circumstances escaped him, but the one thing he tried the hardest at was pushing fear out of his mind. I've got to pull through this, somehow. My friends, I'll be with you soon!

[Ashari]

Haikan's body felt heavy, and breathing was becoming more labored and difficult. It wasn't so much a sharp pain, as if his lungs or diaphragm were injured, but more a lack of energy for the action. His words tumbled out at somewhat irregular intervals, but the adhiel understood, and nodded as he got out his name. It sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place where. In his current state, she didn't want to ask him details, but she did find it curious that he didn't understand their native tongue.

"Then Haikan Verida, I owe to you my life and will speak of your valor to the Tarien herself, but you need to stay awake for me."

What came next were a serious of questions from the young adhiel, and to them, her brows knitted in confusion herself. He was hit in the head, he's forgotten... "You saved me," she said quite simply, her voice still holding an even tone that somehow drowned out the background noises. "We were attacked... the monsters are gone, we're safe now. I'm safe now..." She was mildly choked up as she said the last bit, her large amber flecked eyes shimmering as she maintained the fascade of indifference. In fact, the shaper was surprised by the emotions she felt, which made her all the more afraid. "I.. I don't know this Mikail," she continued. "But I am called Kyraii."

There was another female tormented scream from somewhere beyond his vision. Things were becoming clearer, now, and if he focused he could look around him. There were jutting pieces of wood scattered around them, as well as torn pieces of white cloth and fine blue silk. "Stay here.. I'm going to get something to soak up this blood... just, here. Stay," the last bit was said with some finality as she rose.

Her green outer tunic with it's hood had already been placed to staunch the bleeding in his midsection, but the wound at his shoulder is what troubled her now. Kyraii moved away from him, and as she did, the world started to become a darker place, where the cold rain beat down on him with increasing regularity, bringing a chill to his whole body.

[Haikan]

"Kyraii..." He resounded her name, and savored her acquaintance. It may be the last he'd ever learn. Evidently he'd done as he hoped he would. He did the right thing and helped these people, he'd acted as a hero, as himself. But, what manner of deed was it that he did? He knew so little, and why she did not know of Mikail was a question that scared him. Did I leave Mikail? Is he not here? No, I never would have abandoned my family! He must have left. Or... He shuddered at the thought of his brother deceasing and he put the idea out of his mind. Instead he focused on staying awake. The cold rain would not allow him to enter his slumber of eternity. At least, that's what he was counting on. Almost immediately he was distracted from his mortal focus once more by his troubled inner questions.

Kyraii... I saved you? It seems now that I'm the one who needs saving. And I don't even know what it was that I'd done. Was it right? Are my soldiers okay? The adhiel's mind was preoccupied with his worries of finite troubles. He didn't even worry for a flicker what awaited him on the other side of his final scene on Tazlure. Kyraii, hurry back. Don't let me die... Not yet.

[Ashari]

"Child, it's alright... you'll be safe soon," Kyraii's voice could be heard somewhere close as she tended to another injured person while searching out a good piece of fabric. She knelt by her side, and examined her body. It was even worse than Haikan. Anna's frame had been wrecked and her bones turned to impossible angles. She'd been thrown against something, and it'd crushed much of her insides, leaving her writhing in agony. The girl begged for death in whimpering mewls, and Kyraii granted her wish with a swift turn of her small blade. She offered a prayer of passage of her soul to the Mother Goddess, and then gathered a length of linen to bring back to Haikan.

Rolling it into a coil she pressed the first bit of fabric against his disjointed shoulder. It screamed. He screamed - uncontrollably - and Kyraii's jaw set as she pressed down on him so he wouldn't buck. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry..." She placed another roll of cloth onto his wound. "I don't know how many of your friends are alive, Verida," she said and wiped at a stray piece of her auburn hair behind one of her pointed ears. It left it caked in his blood, but at least it would say in place. I have to move him. He has to get out of this rain... She couldn't see how she would manage it on her own.

[Haikan]

Anna! No! His mind cried in agony, and merciless pain consumed him as he saw her soul leave her body. Anna... She was so alive last I saw her. This can't, this can't be real. It just can't! "Mikail!" He cried in delirium. "Bring me my brother! I can't die before seeing him! DAMMIT I need to see him now!" He tried his hardest to scream, but he was physically unable. What instead came out were incredibly desperate cries of unfathomable torment.

"Kyraii. Please tell me he's alive. Tell me they are alive. I need to hear it. I will die here and now if I have failed my friends. I-" Again, a mingling of hot tears and cold rain stained his cheeks, and the green flames of soulful ambition in his eyes were now dull and fading. "Kyraii, I beg you to give me a cloth to bite, for at this rate my teeth will surely shatter." He cried softly through clenched teeth, that flexed his physical pain, which was diminishing as his spiritual pain took over in his mind.

"My life... I don't deserve it any more than Anna did hers... This-" He could no longer speak. The physical pain was nonexistant due to the usurpation that took place with his endlessly shattered soul. "Urgh..." Was all he could now get out as the tears kept coming.

He did manage to scream as she wrapped his arm, the shooting pain reminding him of his physicality, something he'd almost forgotten in his incomparable lamenting. As he was brought back to his senses by the traumatic pain, he managed to mutter. "Mikail... My brother...."

[Ashari]

Kyraii could feel the torment that he felt as he screamed things she couldn't understand. It was gut-wrenching, but she suppressed her own feelings in favor of consoling him. "Shh, it is alright, my hero." Her sparkling green and gold eyes flicked around them, trying to see someone who might be his brother. No one was standing. Those who'd survived had done so by hiding or fleeing - not by protecting innocent lives, and they had remained hidden even now.

"Be calm, cousin. Tell me of him. I will find him for you," as he spoke she continued to work on his extensive wounds by way of applying constant pressure. The beautiful adhiel woman listened to him, but she also scanned the area for a board or something which she might put him on so that she could more easily drag his body. Perhaps one of the lengths of fabric, she thought to herself, though her mind whirred. Within sight there was something that could be used, but she didn't want to leave him yet. Not like this, not with his delirious wailing and need. Once more she put a hand to his cheek. "To look for him I will need to leave you," she said. "But I have promised to keep you safe now, so I cannot until you are." He might not like that, but it was the way of it.

Kyraii tugged on a piece of linen from a caravan's protective covering. She laid it out next to him, like a sheet. "I need to move you, Verida. It will hurt, so you must prepare yourself." She folded him a piece of cloth for his mouth as he'd requested, and she placed it between his teeth if he'd open up for it.

[Haikan]

"He looks similar to me, with paler eyes. He is half-human, and he can speak the native tongue of our people. His hair is red like mine, and if ever he is feeling something, he will hide it behind the mask of his scarf." He started. As he spoke of all his brother's qualities he grew more and more delirious, the sadness too much for him to focus on his transport. It was probably good that she led him to talk about something he felt passionately about. The possibility of never seeing his brother again was enough to keep his mind partially off of the physical pain, which would make him much easier to work with.

"He's vehemently opposed to any sort of bigotry, but is comically bigoted against Dominicans because of their bigotry... He is a cynic, but he is good. Righteous causes drive his actions, and he was- is an honorable person indeed. I couldn't have asked for-" He sobbed again, trying not to get carried away, but the circumstances and loss of blood were causing his emotions to flail about uncontrollably. "...A better brother." I have only known him as my brother for half a yahren, and yet he is so important to me. I'd never had any close friends, and I haven't had anyone to call family for many yahren... I can't be alone again... He can't have left, for his own sake. He himself had so much left to accomplish...

He opened his mouth and clamped down on the cloth, continuing to mumble unintelligibly about his friends. Then there is Anistis, Geoffrey, Matiel, Sando.... Everyone. They all... Oh please, let them be alive still.

[Ashari]

"Brace yourself," it was the only warning she could give as she positioned herself behind him and lifted him. She was strong, but his body was heavy. It took her a burn to wrestle him onto the wood-flanked sheet, but she managed well enough, only giving over to adhiel curses for one flicker of frustration as she lifted him. From this point, he could see much further around him, toward the destruction of the caravans. Most were knocked over and wholly destroyed. The still body of Anna wasn't far off, and beyond it Haikan could see a familiar green scarf that was draped over a dislodged wheel from one of the carts. Jezara stood just to the left of the pile of rubble, snuffing at something which Haikan couldn't see.

Almost as soon as he'd been lifted he was laying flat on his back. "He sounds honorable indeed," Kyraii said with a soothing tone, and moved from his head end to his foot end to lift his legs and put them on the sheet as well. She grunted lightly, but managed to move him without any effort on his part, though each time she touched him the pain became worse. Once he was settled on her make-shift mover she came back over to his torso and checked the matted bandages, which were already saturated with his blood. Worry flashes across her eyes, this time she couldn't fight it. She was losing the battle of his health.

[Haikan]

This monstrosity... How did this happen? Could it have been the orcs of the North? He'd heard many rumors of nomadic orcish tribes that centered near Brie and Pax, despite their defeat the yahren prior. I thought we were prepared... But this... This destruction... "Augh!"

The captain grunted as he was hoisted up. We could have handled this, I know it. I failed, and his eyes widened as he saw Jezara sniffing at Mikail's green scarf. The fire in those eyes was temporarily rekindled with a glimmer of hope. It's him! My brother! He's over there! He tried to shout, but what came out was muffled by the scarf, and probably unintelligible. "Mih fhim! Gny gruvah! Che's ogher vere!" And almost as soon as he'd caught a glimpse of the scarf, he was returned to his back. He tried to wriggle free of his mortal limitations, but he couldn't. He tried to close his wounds with sheer determination alone, but he couldn't. All he wanted was to get up and walk over to his brother and know that he was okay. To talk to him, to know that he still had something left in this world undestroyed.

Obediently, he lay still and awaited Kyraii's next decision. His continuous river of salty anguish betrayed his sadness, but he tried his best to stay still, and not die.

[Ashari]

"Achlaliel, seodheann aidhanabh nin!" She said reproachfully as she slipped back into adhiel thanks to her own worry. "Eh--Stay still!" Kyraii corrected, and laid him back on the sheet. Once he was still she removed the bit from his mouth. "You are alright now. I am going to try to pull you toward the inn. They closed up during the fight, but they will open for me." Kyraii had every intention of breaking the door down if necessary, and she grabbed one end of the sheet and started to drag him along the gravel road - toward Jezara and Mikail's green scarf.

Pressing her booted feet to the ground, Haikan was given more of a chance to see the rest of Kyraii's body. She was somewhat tall for a female elf, but likely still shorter than he was. How much so was difficult to tell from this unusual angle, as he didn't spend his time laying on the ground looking up at people trying to gauge their height. Her auburn hair was pulled back with a series of knots behind her ears, then to a single braid at the nape of her neck which trailed far down her back. Her shoulders (bare because of the sleeveless and plain under tunic she wore) shifted and displayed her long lean adhiel muscles. That beige under tunic she wore was stained with blood, and somewhat tucked into her pants, which were then tucked into her boots.

The adhiel pulled him behind her, and after ten paces or so, they caught up with the scarf, and the crumpled form of Mikail, twitching and giving over to spasms. Half of his face was crushed, but it was thankfully obscured by his trademark scarf. His un-ruined sea-green eye stared vacantly forward, while a hand protectively clutched to what appeared to be a large chunk bitten from his upper arm, leaving white bone gleaming through the mass of red. Kyraii instinctively turned away and gave out a shuddered gasp.

[Haikan]

"Very well..." he said, and he begrudgingly remained unmoving while she carried him toward the inn. He respected her determination, and he wished he'd known her, for he was certain that if he had, they would be best of friends. In this cruel reality however, Haikan was quickly losing the ability to love himself enough to take part in a friendship. His only concern was for...

His eyes met with Mikail's and his flare completely disappeared. There was nothing left. He couldn't even blink anymore, for he was dead. His body was alive, but his spirit was empty.

My fingers... Are numb.
My eyes... Are burning.
My mouth... Is dry.
My heart... Won't beat.
My lungs... Are empty.
My spirit is vacant, and I cannot live anymore.

All that I have disappears as one life is ended,
And with this, they who are most important to me.

You have taken everything from this world, in one person.
He can never smile again,
He can never shout or cry,
His voice is gone forever,
And he's left me here to die.

Nothingness replaces where there was once something within me.

All I have, is death.

His mind burned with the image of his brother looking him in the eyes. There was no soul behind those eyes, and if there was, the torment was unspeakable. I'm alone... Again. I was not meant to ever be happy. After a mark of staring that was in actuality only several flickers, he blinked and out of his burning eyes a mass of tears was forced, and suddenly, the rain stopped to him.

He could no longer feel the earth moving under him, and he could no longer feel the rain falling on his face. The pain of his arm had subsided, and all he saw was the last of his known family, staring a cruel and untimely death in the face.

He didn't protest, he couldn't muster the cognition upon the ultimate trauma meeting him in the sickest of forms, a gaze right in the eyes. His eyes slowly migrated up towards Kyraii. Should I die too? I want to. How dearly I wish to die now. Could I? Would he want me to? I want to be with him in the aether, then I could see mother, father. Why is everything I love taken from me!? He cathartically tore himself limb from limb mentally, and he wondered if life was worth living. They wouldn't want me to die... But...

[Ashari]

Kyraii's gaze moved from the dying, shuddering form of Mikail toward the eyes of his barely living half-brother, Haikan. She had a mind to think that this was him, what wit the scarf and hair, but it was the confirmation in Haikan's expression that twisted up her insides. "Is this him, cousin?"

She felt as though she shouldn't ask, but the Mother Goddess taught of the cycle of life - and that all things must end if only to begin again. Her insides tightened. "Do you wish me to end his suffering?" Kyraii moved between Haikan and Mikail so that she blocked his line of vision - hopefully bringing him toward the reality of the moment, and that he still needed to fight. "It will be quicker this way, and painless, I promise you," she said. The amber in her eyes sparkled. "Otherwise we must keep moving - say your prayers for him, we cannot stay here where we aren't protected." Kyraii was making up for her earlier faults. She'd been weak and terrified in the face of combat, and because of it he'd come to her aid. Still, she waited for his command before acting. It was his decision to make, it was his kin. There was no doubt in her mind what her action would be under the same circumstances.

[Haikan]

"Wait," the captain decided. Mikail, I let you down, but we'll be laughing about this later, I swear it! He was aware that he was in denial. There was no way in Tazlure that she could take both him and Mikail back to be healed- or wherever they were going, and the adhiel's brow furrowed with resolve as he made up his mind regarding his answer.

"Take him instead."

He let the words echo in his head with everything else that whirled in his delirium, and he awaited her response. He knew the morbidity of this decision, and he knew that if he was left here he would die. But, he failed everyone else, and he was not going to fail Mikail.

"Please. Wherever you were planning on taking me, take him instead. Living is pointless if I know that I let everyone down... And... He's the only person who could fulfill my dreams and his own." He looked her in the eyes with the look of a depraved madman. One whose brain was going into shock, and whose spirit had taken just too much damage.

"I don't expect you to understand, dear Kyraii... But he's..." He choked. He hadn't realized Mikail was still alive. His hope for his own life was dwindling swiftly, and his last wish was so.

"If there is any chance you can save him, then take him, and leave me."

[Ashari]

If this day had not been bewildering enough, Kyraii stared at him dumbfoundedly. "No," she said with determination and she stood up and walked back to the foot of the sheet and picked up the hem so that she might drag him again. He could feel each and every rock beneath the thin fabric as he was pulled achingly slowly passed the destroyed body of his brother. The reason she'd turned him down was more clear as he came to see the rest of Mikail's gutted midsection. His own stomach turned in revulsion at the spilled intestines that were intertwined with splintered wood that had been thrust clean through him.

His body was in shock. His spine had been severed somewhere in his lower back, so that his legs remained limp and motionless even as his upper body shifted and shook. Mikail's mangled arm had stopped bleeding, for he had so little blood left inside of him, the rest had sank into the hard packed dirt road to stain the area around him. His mouth, too, was stained red and overflowing his achadhiel lips.

Kyraii, not able to stand the decision she was making for Haikan, moved forward autonomously as tears flowed from her green eyes. If he requested it, she would still stop to end his life, but it would only be these words that would keep her from her forward pursuit toward the small inn that served the Downs-Brie bridge crossing. Just keep going forward.

[Haikan]

"Grugh..." He couldn't think of any way to argue with her. His brother was dead. Once again, he was without family, and he'd let somebody die. The cold thing to do would be to get over it and move on, but it's no so easily done. And what of Anistis, and Matiel? Is everyone I know dead?

The pain that comes with mortality...
It is a necessary evil...
All that begins must end...
And those who move on...
Leave us to die.

But what are we supposed to do?
What about our pain?
We who are left behind have nothing but anguish.


He would obediently but with great remorse follow her, not trusting his own judgment. Deeper into insanity his lonliness caused him to plunge. He needed to hear a familiar voice, just for one person to be spared. That's all he needed to survive. He wanted to bring Mikail back, but she wouldn't allow it. If I let this happen, I don't have the right to make my own decisions anyway... As he was pulled away, he raised his right hand as if reaching out for his brother, and another tear streamed down his cheek. Brother...

[Ashari]

"I am sorry, Verida," she said over her shoulder, but forward Kyraii pressed. Once stepping onto the grass on the side of the road there were flowers that bloomed at her feet. The adhiel gathered her energies. "OPEN YOUR DOOR!" Her voice carried with authority while Haikan drifted between worlds. Everywhere she moved became lush with life in direct paradox with the death that surrounded them. Small purple flowers gave off the heavenly scent of lavender when crushed underfoot while vines from the building they stood in front of snaked and grew with intensity. Kyraii dropped the end of the linen and jogged up the small stone walk and steps to pound on the doors. "Please! Open your doors!" Her fists slammed against it fruitlessly. No one answered, no one stirred.

"Arhg... please..." Her fists turned into flat palms that rested on the worn wood. Letting out another frustrated grunt she returned to Haikan where she collapsed to her knees. "You are going to die," she said, putting her hand on his. "I am sorry." Kyraii squeezes his unmangled right hand, while her own tears flowed, though she refused to give in to outright sobbing. Not now, not while he was still alive. Her bright green eyes, alight with their amber accents, shifted between his and she brushed a lock of his hair out of his face. "I wish I could heal you... but I do not know how," she bit her bottom lip hard. "Your brother... he is not yet dead, w-" her voice caught in her throat. "Would you like me to take you back to him?" They hadn't gone far - only twenty paces, but Kyraii's whole body ached. Her shoulders slumped, and looking at her, one could see the trials of this day's massacre.

[Haikan]

"Could you?" He whimpered. Well, at least I'm going to die alongside my kin... He wasn't opposed to death. It was all he had left, but just then, his spark rekindled. Haikan! What the hell is wrong with you? ~ I am going to die. There is nothing left for me here. ~ You can't think like that! You've never been such a quitter in the past! ~ What can I do, I'm dying, Mikail's dying, everyone else is probably dead- ~ Think! There's got to be a way! Be the tenacious boy I've always known you to be!

"Stop." He held up his hand and he looked toward the area where Mikail was. "You may not know how to heal, but he does. He probably can't do it right now because of his condition but, if you used his reagents, I'm sure you could do it!" His mind raced, his determination was burning once more. "He has this potion that he's been working on, you see he's an alchemist... I don't know the how or why of it, but there is a red potion that he tested a few days ago.... It, it makes the blood clot and it forms new flesh cells, which can slowly close wounds and replace lost blood, even reform organs if enough is administered!" He hoped against hope that she could understand his every word. "If you can find it amongst his belongings, pour it into his mouth and on his wounds. You'll know which it is because it's red and greasy. Please, do this for me."

If she can bring Mikail back to consciousness, he'll know what to do... or at least she could bring him back to a salvagable condition... His ultimate concern was clear. Preservation of his loved ones.

[Ashari]

Kyraii closed her eyes briefly to collect herself at Haikan's request for her to search the still shuddering form of his dying brother. His wounds were horrific, and though she'd offered to end his life, that had been all. She gritted her small teeth together, and nodded to Haikan. Pushing off the ground she released his hand and half jogged half ran toward Mikail.

Once there, she fell to her knees and searched Mikail's seizing body. By the gods, I wish I could end your misery.. but he'll never forgive me, Kyraii thought to herself while her fingers slipped over his wrecked chest to check the pockets of his jacket which was sopped with blood. He expelled a lung full of air and with it came a spray of blood that left her arm covered in droplets. "Ow," she withdrew her hand after cutting her finger on a broken bottle in his coat. As soon as it'd happened the wound started to close. Her eyes widened.

Pulling the knife from her pocket she cut at the jacket until the pocket was more accessible and then she tried to dump the contents over his wounds - though there wasn't nearly enough. Mikail continued to shudder. Kyraii's head hung, but her fingers were still wet with the cloth, so she returned to Haikan. "It's not working, Verida," she smoothed some of the liquid over his shoulder wound and it started to clot faster.

[Haikan]

"No... Not at all? Were you at least able to bring him into a recoverable position?" He knew he didn't want to know the answer to that question. "Wait, before you tell me, Kyraii. Please." He held up his right hand and he looked at his clotting shoulder. "I think that I'm going to live, at least for a while longer. Tell me what it was that I'd done. Please inform me how this happened, I must know." As he spoke his eyes were dry, as he'd exhausted his glands of any tears from his unending stream of saline despair. There were shadows underneath them depicting his misery.

Haikan was a poet at heart. He was a man of ideals and ambitions, who was driven by cause. He needed some sort of emotional footing before he could even try to think about what he was supposed to do now. The ember in his heart needed fuel, and he needed to hear exactly what it was that he was fighting for. Upholding good and love was his soul's source of power, and right now, it didn't seem like he had anything to work with. For all he knew he'd carelessly sent all of his men to their deaths, and if that was the case, he would remorse. But, if there was a noble cause behind it, or lives were saved, he could maybe just find the strength to live, and hopefully save his brother.

[Ashari]

As he asked about Mikail's condition she shook her head gravely, but held her tongue for his benefit. The wound that she spread the remnants of the red fluid on began to tingle, but the sensation was at the edges of the world for Haikan. It was a small bit of good - like an umbrella in a hurricane, and it just wasn't doing enough. Kyraii knelt next to Haikan. Each and every movement he did caused for extreme pain to rip through his body, and she could see it even if he wasn't crying any longer.

"The monsters... I do not know what it is in your language..." Kyraii was unphased by her lack of knowledge, and continued. "They came out of the swamps I think.. I don't know, perhaps the woods. Thirty of them, forty of them. It was all so sudden," cold rain continued to fall on the pair. Haikan's body gave over to shivers while his wounds threatened to end his life. "I've been Shaping the woods of Taquar - trying to bring them back, but we came for a day of rest in the inn. Such a mistake. I shouldn't have listened to my men. We shouldn't have left." It would seem that he wasn't the only one torn by his decisions as a leader.

Darkness started to leak into Haikan's mind. He didn't have long now, and his heartbeats slowed as they ran out of blood to pump through him. It was a death of emptiness, and he was starting to feel dry and wasted.