Advent of Chaos

16

Mora jolted up at the sound of grunting, her eyes immediately locking with those of Toryn, who had his arms crossed, and his armor on.

"Don't you have a room?" He asked, rather annoyed by her presence here. She realized soon that she'd fallen asleep on the couch, still in nothing but a t-shirt and leggings.

"It was late. I was thirsty." She said-- it wasn't entirely a lie.

"You have a mini-fridge in your roo- You know what? I don't care." He scoffed and dismissed the conversation before she had the chance to retort again.

Behind him, Ankou emerged from his chambers, fully armoured with his weapons sheathed in their respective holsters. Mora narrowed her eyes at him, trying to read his tired face. She hadn't really paid much attention to him since the incident, she realised as she took in the hardened shape of his jaw, and his beard only now coming in and forming something faintly attractive. Something about the way he carried himself, standing here before her, seemed off. He was stiff and uneasy, she could tell from his gloves fidgeting at the belt of his outfit.

Mora only tightened her lips together, blinking over him casually as if she never intended to assess him to begin with. Then she spoke.

"Where are you planning on going?" She asked, the first words she'd ever really given him since they fought. He looked as if he staggered at her voice.
Reluctantly, he responded. "I...erm... Did some peeping into your studies while you were asleep here." He admitted sheepishly.

Mora felt panic jolt through her, but he continued before she got too heated. "Look, I know we're not exactly getting along here, but I saw something on that map of yours.." He flinched as she stepped towards him, but he didn't dare avert his eyes as she met them with her own.
"I saw them. On the moon. There were...." An array of light simmered into his eyes, and she froze. His face was heated, she could tell, as he willed himself not to cry. Something about being around her, this close to her, really damaged him. And she felt it too.

"The heat signatures and hotspots that you had pinned before were completely gone. The whole moon was bright orange. There was no territory untouched. Even the places we're forbidden from going into.." Even Dorn came out, as Mora assumed he was eavesdropping before he decided this was too serious to hide from.

Mora looked around her, the shocked faces of Toryn, Dorn, and even the Exo prisoner, Iris, and her companion, Imogen, were locked on her and Ankou.

Though the prisoners looked as if they could care less about Mora and her fireteam, they at least looked slightly curious.
"Then we need to go." She said finally, growing anxious from all of the eyes assessing her, looking to her for answers. Because she was the only one who could really give them. Though she never knew how to explain these things.

"This could be our last chance. Any chance could be our last. The Relkan are the most unpredictable beasts I've ever laid eyes on. I've only just started to piece together just what these things came for." She spoke the last words especially softly, realising what she really meant. She remembered each time Cassain looked at her, remembered the very first day she'd unknowingly released him, and his kind, on this universe. Her chest tightened up.

"I know what they want." Mora declared, and meant it. The very thing they infected, the very thing that they spared, and depended on. Mora thought of ants, and thought of a colony. She thought of the wisp. The white light lingered and stained her existence as if it were always a part of her. But she knew that was just an effect of Cassain's grasp on her. Her eyes flared in response to the thought.

"Everyone get ready." Toryn said, as he approached Mora and Ankou. Ankou only looked at Mora, as if he knew what she meant when she said her last words. She leaned in to press her forehead against his leather robes, and then pulled away.

"Mora, are you sure about this?" Ankou whispered, leaning his head down to meet his lips with her ear. She shuddered at the question, pulling even further away from him before nodding slowly.

Then Mora blinked around the room, counting the guardians that disbanded back to their rooms. Uriel was nowhere to be seen.
Panic once again rushed into her blood as she ran into his chambers, finding nothing but the remnants of his discarded clothes and a piece of paper folded neatly on his disordered bedsheets.

She fumbled to open the note, her false smile faltering as she read it with her lips.

Mor,
To the moon. I'm ending this once and for all. I'm tired of you getting yourself into shit you can't handle on your own.

Uriel

Mora threw herself into his bedsheets, sobbing as the stress finally overcame her. She curled inward as her emotions were distorted in a blur of Chaos. Always, it was always taking hold of her when she couldn't contain her emotions. It was like an overcharged barrel of Light, blinding emotionally, and physically, damaging her very core as they exploded in an array.

Uriel had no idea what he was getting himself into. He was going to walk in there and throw his life away to Cassain, or whichever beast was the hungriest enough to drag him down to whatever depths of the moon that they could. Or maybe that was what the Relkan wanted, to draw her in. Maybe they would do everything in their power to keep him alive and writhing while she screamed for her friend.

Every thought, every terror, another pathetic sob and ache in her chest. Mora hadn't let herself cry like this in a while, she realised. But she didn't care. It had been too long, she'd been too strong. She had almost forgotten what it was like to be a human being. Guardian or not, pain was an inescapable thing.