Advent of Chaos

4

Soft shuffling could be heard from the cockpit as a woman got out of her seat. Uriel only scanned his surroundings, the Dead Orbit symbol spray painted black against the white of the metal walls. The air was soft here, somehow more clear and calming than the suffocatingly hot weather of Mars. He immediately assumed they were still in orbit, due to the fact that he felt much lighter here, and there were no unusual sounds coming from the outside. With slow, unhurried movements, a woman emerged from behind the wall-- the door of the cockpit sliding shut in response to her ingress. Uriel immediately recognized the woman-- the messy, short black hair that covered her forehead, and her bright caramel-gold eyes that shone in the soft light of her spaceship. For a moment, she didn't say anything to him, she only watched his movements as he carefully removed his helmet-- revealing the man he was beneath the stains of darkness. The smears vanished as soon as Uriel's ghost appeared, cleaning his armor piece in a single flash. Still studying him, and his red and black ghost-- the Warlock crossed her arms, her eyes darkening as she lowered her head. Only then did Uriel smile at her, his brown hair shifting as he tilted his head to the side and greeted her.

"Now there's a face I can't forget."

~

Lotus hovered at her shoulder, scanning Uriel for any dangers-- found none-- and left the two guardians to chat. Mora only smiled back at him, the smile still not quite meeting her eyes.

"So, Uriel..." Mora slid her finger along a low glass table, where two metal-tight closed cups rested-- perhaps waiting for one of them to acquire the thirst for its contents. Then, she continued, "You look rather tired. What exactly happened.. On Mars?" Her tone went from welcoming to concerned quickly, like a river changes paths due to a shift in the earth. She'd been monitoring her friend's progress for a while now, waiting for something to happen. Since Lotus had began searching the system for more traces of the relkan's strange energy, the last place they'd been discovered was Mars. Exactly where Uriel had been in those moments before she warped him into her ship through his own ghost.

Uriel's features flickered with some form of pain, and Mora grabbed one of the containers, tossing it to him from across the room before grabbing her own and taking a seat at the ovular table. Her black cloak draped over the back of the stool, and she braced her elbows on the cool surface of the table-- perhaps awaiting a response she knew she wouldn't receive. In silence, he took the seat across the table from her, unscrewed his container, looked at the contents, and then back at her.

"What is this?" His voice was deep, but calm as he locked icy blue eyes with gold.
"I call it Liquid Light. Just drink it."
"Dunno if I should trust your concoctions after what happened last time." She scoffed, ignoring him as she downed the silver liquid, and allowed the warmth to soothe the aching in her bones. In her mind. Uriel reluctantly downed his drink, sniffing the cup for any poison, maybe. It would have insulted her, were it not for her mood now-- the utter urgency in her tone, and understanding lingering where logic should have taken over.

"You think I'd kill you?" She cooed.
"I'm just messing with you, Mor."
"How much alcohol would it take to get you to start calling me something more serious?"
"Gallons." Mora threw her hand up in a vulgar gesture, another way of easing the tension in the room. She knew what he encountered, knew the warped sounds the relkan made when they emerged from that portal. Knew the feeling of reality being torn from her, as she knew Uriel felt the same things in the presence of those beasts.

"From the look on your face, one would assume you knew exactly what I was doing." He swirled a small bit of his drink in the cup, watching its effervescence dance along the interior.

"Bounty hunting again, friend?"
"Mars. Dust Palace, Sh'Karr and his Legionaries." Uriel nodded his confirmation while speaking.
"Did he get away?"

Uriel went silent, staring into her face-- examining her features for any flicker of emotion. She snapped up her mental shields, watching as he attempted to read her. And found nothing.
"Mora.. Why did you bring me here? And just in time.." Mora watched him swallow hard, his throat bobbing-- and she could feel his confusion, and suspicion.

"They call themselves the Relkan." Mora made herself straighten her back, and remove herself from her seat. She walked to the centre of the room-- and the front. A monitor was turned on, and a large holographic map was displayed across the wall-- the Dead Orbit symbol now hidden beneath light. She expanded the image, and a cluster of small red dots peppered various planets. Some on Earth, a faded red-- some on Mars, and those were faded too. But the planet that was beaming with these blinking dots, was Venus. She tapped the planet, expanding it further to reveal the territories and the overall layout of Venus-- the accessible areas of it. There were some red dots trailing off of the map, and many clustered in a single area-- far North.

"..and they're spreading fast, I don't have time to explain." Mora finished with hurried words, pointing to the area where a larger red dot was blinking rapidly, as if preparing to combust. Though it was clear that this one was the source of the power. All of it.

"What the hell is that?" Uriel stood from his seat, feeling the urgency wash over the entire room like gas pouring in through the vents.

"Their leader." Her voice was grave as she slammed her fist against a button below a black glass pane. It opened slowly to reveal her golden-winged helmet, the black visor glistening in the light of her spaceship. Mora lifted her helmet over her head, not wasting time as she put it on, locking it in place. There was no sign of that warm, welcoming smile from beneath it.

"Lotus, take us to Venus." She closed the panes, heading to the cockpit without even glancing over in Uriel's direction again. He knew better than to question her.