𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒓: 𝑬𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕 (𝑹𝑬𝑾𝑹𝑰𝑻𝑬)

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝟏𝟑- 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓

The journey to the Vault was very...tedious. After only taking a few breaks along the way, they were met with Vault guards. Fun, enjoyable. They could sneak around, but the only bridge was on the side with all the guards , of course. "Well this is quite the...situation. We can make a bridge, it's fine." Apexis joked. "I can tell you are joking, but where would we get supplied anyway?" Tygren asked." Two words: Ardoni. Bridge. We make a bridge out of each other. I'm kidding." Apexis clarified after seeing Azulis' expression.

"We could get a strong ass stick and pole vault," Tygren suggested, "but that wouldn't work..."

"Did you ever bind with Thalleous' Mobilluim Song?" Azulis asked him. "I did. Could that really get me all the way across the ravine, though?"

"No, probably not."

"Simple idea of ​​mine- murder everyone."

"Tygren, we don't need to resort to violence immediately. For my 'brother', you and I are very different in terms of jumping to conclusions. I don't think murdering everyone is a good plan."

"Sure it is, you're just sensitive. Besides, the Vault guards are known to be rather...worthless." Tygren shrugged. "Hmph. I'm not helping you, but go ahead." Apexis waved him off, Sitting down with Azulis. Tygren strolled off towards the bridge, leaving the two in silence.

"Where do you think Ingressus will go first?" Apexis wondered. "I mean, he has no idea where they are," She muttered. "He'll guess the Vault, that's an easy assumption. Being what it is, the Vault has the important thing he needs," Azulis replied, fiddling with his hair. "Hm. You're probably right."

Apexis turned her attention to where the guards would be. "I think Tygren took care of them." She stood up, helping the other Voltaris to do so as well. They walked across the bridge, to find Tygren, who was indeed waiting for them. "Did you get your violent energy out?" Apexis asked as she shook some human blood off her shoe. Tygren was covered with an ample amount of blood. "Somewhat, but they weren't even a challenge so it wasn't very fun." He frowned.

"Oh, boo-hoo...come on, we can go inside now." Apexis stepped inside the Vault. Right away she spotted the Supporium Prime, picking it up. "Alright, that's two out of four. In the meantime, we can probably relax and pin the locations of the others out," Apexis announced. "So you were thinking Northwind?" Tygren turned to her.

"Yeah. It's a pretty good hiding place."

"Due to that, it will be difficult to find," Azulis added. "Hm. We can go ahead and check Ataraxia for one- other than that I'm not sure of where the last one could be," Apexis muttered. "Ataraxia? The safe haven for Ardoni? You're kidding, right? Thalleous would want every Ardoni to join the war. Him having a good relationship with that idea would be unrealistic. Besides, it'd make the two Prime Songs too close to each other since it's not far from here." Tygren pointed out simply, taking the Prime Song from Apexis, who blinked.

"Well, how do you know that?" She asked, kind of offended. "He played a very, very important role in the first Great War- he was against the whole Ataraxia idea in the first place since he fought that all Ardoni should've fought in the war unless they weren't physically able. As for mentally, he couldn't give less of a shit. I'm sure you're thinking that 'oh, but Thalleous was so gentle and nice to those he cared for.'. With age, wisdom has come to his senses, but he still holds great prejudice against any species or clan he doesn't like. Keywords- he doesn't like. Those such as children he tells stories to don't know what his job is because it's disgraceful. Yes, that was a rant."

Azulis nodded while Apexis had spaced out for the entire thing. "Huh?" She snapped out of it. 

"I'm not explaining again."

"Okay. So, are we heading to Northwind or resting for a few days?" Azulis asked. "We can rest near that river," Apexis added. Tygren thought for a moment. "It's not that hard to decide if we should-" She was cut off by him. "No, it's certainly not hard to make that decision, but I'm planning." He shushed her before she could argue. She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Ingressus is most likely headed to the Vault as we speak, since it's an obvious location for a Prime Song. Considering that he seems to move pretty fast from place to place, he's not far. We can rest for one night. One, NO negotiations, objections, or arguing." Tygren looked Apexis in the eyes for the last part. "What?" She shot back defensively. "Nothing, you just like to annoy me sometimes." He shrugged.

Apexis took offense, arms falling to her sides. "Excuse me-"

Tygren slapped a hand over her mouth, not willing to put up with any more of her bullshit today. They walked to the river, starting a small campfire for warmth and light. When Tygren wasn't looking, Apexis quite literally threw him in the river. "PAYBACK!" She shouted, a deranged smile on her face. Tygren crawled out of the river, spitting water out of his mouth.

In return, he stuck Apexis' head in the water. She flailed around as Tygren held her head under the water for a bit before he let go and she shot up, gasping for air. "Thanks, asshole," She panted. Tygren was unamused, crossing his arms. "You're very welcome."

Azulis stood in the background, confused as well as concerned. "Uhh...I'll just sit down for now," He muttered, walking over to the campfire. The other two Voltaris sat down after a little argument, still drenched in water. Apexis was wet from the neck up, and Tygren's entire body was wet. He took off the cloak that all of them wore, since it had absorbed a lot of water and it was freezing cold outside. "Can we put this behind us?" Azulis asked quietly. Tygren shot him a look and he fell silent.

In the morning, they were both dry. Tygren put his cloak back on and the group consulted where to go next. "Do you think we can get Ingressus to find the Aggressium Prime and then steal it from him?" Azulis asked, thoughtful. "That's the one Prime he never got during the war, so he's going to bind to it immediately to avoid it being stolen. Though I appreciate the idea." Tygren shrugged. Azulis smiled slightly at the last comment.

Apexis on the other hand, frowned. "You act like you know everything about Ingressus," She argued, somewhat bothered. "I know more than you. Besides, you shouldn't have a hard time taking my word for it. I mean, do you want to solve this with trivia questions?"

"Fine! Azulis, you ask questions. We'll take turns."(He's in bold, She's in italics)

"Uhh...okay. Who were the kings of the Nether and End at the time of the war?"

"Rendor and Chronos."

"Correct. What clan did Ingressus infiltrate the tournament as?"

"Nestoris."

"Correct. How long ago was the war?"

"One hundred and fifty-four years ago."

"Correct."

This went on for a while, and Tygren came out victorious. "Dear god, I never knew you were such a history suck up," She sighed, to which Tygren frowned. "I'm no such suck up- you're just below average due to your...incident those years back." His frown quickly became a sly smile. That goddamn smile was half the reason Apexis hated Tygren. It was so arrogant. "If you don't wipe that smile off of your face I'll use you to mop the floor, you smug son of a-" Apexis stopped mid-insult to notice that her banter was only making his grin wider.

"Fuck you," She spat, crossing her arms with an annoyed huff. Azulis blankly zoned out, snapping back at Apexis' foul language. "Apexis, Tygren, let's refrain from insulting each other. It will get us nowhere, you know." He put a hand on each of their shoulders. Tygren instinctively went to slap his hand, but caught himself since Apexis would get even more angry at him for hurting her dear, beloved Azulis.

Though it may not seem it, Tygren had some sense of self control when it came to injuring others.

"Thank you," He sighed calmly. Azulis posed as the glue holding the trio together and the barrier between Tygren and Apexis. If he wasn't there, they'd have either mutilated each other or split up since they were both insufferable. "We can settle this through other ways. Apexis, Tygren is somewhat smarter than you, and we both know it. Tygren, violence is not a good way to solve anything other than more violence. Are we okay now? Thank you."