Eight Intertwined

92 - Heal

Therion wasn't entirely certain where he was going at first, if he was being honest. Ever since hearing that the group was going to be lingering in Quarrycrest for an extra day than they initially expected, Therion had an urge to go out and see what the rest of the city had to offer. He had been to Quarrycrest a few times in the past, but something about this visit felt different. His body felt like it was moving of its own accord with Therion's mind only along for the ride. 

Contrary to what he would have expected though, Therion wasn't setting his sights on Aeber's shrine at all. Therion couldn't tell if he was more ready or nervous to go back and talk to Aeber after all that had happened, but there was a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach that both guided him onward and kept him as far as he could get from his target. Instead, Therion opted to head for the edges of town, staring out over the winding path that led back to Morlock's mansion.

Therion had been to Quarrycrest before, yes, but he hadn't ever stuck around for too long. He just felt like an asshole even thinking of stealing from people who had already suffered so much under the heel of an apathetic authority figure, and Therion didn't want to get close to Morlock either. As it turned out, that had been a good idea from the outset. Therion didn't know what would have happened if he had gone off to fight the man, but the idea made his stomach churn. 

As things currently stood, Therion wanted to fight Morlock. Destroying the stability of Quarrycrest was probably far from being the best move the travelers could have made, and while they didn't have an idea for what to do when they did manage to defeat Morlock, that didn't matter much. The people there were struggling to get by, and their suffering was clear as could be. They couldn't just turn around and pretend they had seen nothing even though they were determined to maintain their own safety. When the blatant concerns of life and death were combined with everything Bartolo had told Ophilia back in Saintsbridge, Therion knew exactly what they were going to do. The least he could do was try to scope out the area near the mansion before the fight inevitably broke out. 

The path that wound up to the manse's entrance was desolate and free of even a soul. A few guards were stationed outside the building, but Therion could already tell that they were far from being trained soldiers. Morlock still didn't have professional fighters on his side even after losing the war against Saintsbridge so thoroughly fifteen years prior. To be more accurate, there weren't many people in Quarrycrest who could fight, and those who could at least had enough pride to stay as far away from the leader of the village as they possibly could. 

Therion's fingers tightened in their grip against the crags of the Cliftlands. He did his best to not look down even though he knew he was fine. There were no empty holes along the way to Morlock's mansion since the man was enough of a greedy bastard to ensure his own safety even if it came at the cost of the rest of Quarrycrest's occupants. Sure enough, there was nothing there for Therion to fear falling into, but he swallowed anxiously regardless. No matter how much he told himself that he was fine, he couldn't quite bring himself to believe it. 

At the end of the day, this was a distraction. If the travelers were going to fight Morlock, it wouldn't be until the following day, but there was something Therion could have taken care of then and there that he was simply choosing to procrastinate on. He should have been heading out for Aeber's shrine so that he could hear the truth from the god even though he already knew exactly where that conversation was going to end. Instead, he stood there with procrastination and dread on his mind as he watched the guards exchange shifts outside of Morlock's mansion. 

Therion was almost desperate to go through the rest of the motions of being in Quarrycrest so that he could get the hell out of there. He hated being in the Cliftlands even though that was the region he had been raised in. Bolderfall was his favorite settlement within the continent of red bluffs, but Therion still preferred other locales across the continent. Being in the Cliftlands only ever seemed to make his anxiety run high, and as long as thoughts of Aeber were constantly breathing down his neck, that was the last thing Therion needed.