Runesight

30 - Why

--- Netun ---

It was a lovely day beyond the reaches of humanity.

The sun was high above, there was just enough cloud cover to prevent heatstroke on the warm summer day, and he hadn't met any other travelers all morning. Truly the stars had blessed him.

It was hot and stuffy in his twelve layers of fabric, but he wasn't taking any chances with the sun, his pale complexion and paler hair agreed with him. Netun was glad his eyes were working today, if only because he could see the beautiful formations of the silverside cliffs in the distance, he could hear the steady beat of ocean waves and he could smell the slightest scent of poison in the air.

Truly, it was a great day.

He stopped beside a nondescript beach, breathing in the sandfrost and examining the old growth of the fungus that seemed to have halted a few months ago. That could mean two things, one of them was very good and the other was very bad.

Netun tried to find the soul anyway, he wasn't sure who it was, but this soul had been separated from everyone and everything, set upon a secluded beach that rarely even saw visitors, he would be surprised if they were even particularly sane. Stars, Netun hadn't even been particularly sane.

He could see the slightest signs of a beast having been nearby, but he couldn't smell anything particularly aggressive about the lingering odor. It had an undertone of sandfrost to it, but Netun couldn't tell if it was simply exposure to the mushrooms or something more. Perhaps a mutation? That would be interesting.

In any case the beast was gone, whatever soul had been in the sandfrost was nowhere to be found. The old growth was completely severed and would die out without making new spores.

Netun shook his head sadly and dismissed the entire area from his senses. To his surprise there was a slightly weaker sandfrost signal to the south, it seemed to be near that city he'd seen at the edge of the silverside cliffs. That was also the same direction he'd felt that awakening from... He'd lost the signal several times, but that kindred soul he'd felt was likely in that city.

With a shrug, Netun made his way southward, finding a weak path that seemed to be right.

He wasn't a seer, but he didn't have to be to know that fates would align soon.

--

The guard stood outside the gate, watching him approach with a hostile expression. Netun had come to expect these from most mortals, since they tended to judge based on appearance.

His layered clothing and covered face spoke of someone with a disease, or someone from so far south that to them it seemed cold. It didn't help that he wore a wide brimmed hat, shading his face from almost any light.

Finally the man spoke once Netun was close enough to hear clearly. "We aren't letting people in unless it's important right now, the wall guard is busy keeping the peace."

Netun paused, tilting his head, when he spoke it was with a slight slur, his tongue was quite a bit slower than his thoughts today and sometimes it refused to move in the way he expected. "I'm jussst...looking for an old friend." Stars, he probably sounded drunk. Too bad he couldn't get drunk anymore, he'd like to see what that would be like to his current body.

The guard's face hardened further and any hesitations he'd had would have flown out the window. "Great, come back in a week once this whole thing has blown over."

"My friend might be...a bit viooolent. Gotta...find him."

"Is that a threat?"

"No."