Bloodline

Help - part 13

Moving through plains of grassland and forests, the party make their way through many environments, each having their own sign of the dark army's siege toward the kingdom. As they move past a large lake they spot a man fishing in the middle of it, and wave to get their attention. The fisherman only faces the other way when catching his fish, almost in disgust when he sees them. "Jeez, how rude even when we just got here, wonder what ticked him off..." Maralyne remarks as she stares at the fisherman, everyone else looking around. "There's many destroyed buildings and burnt forest around and yet this man is calmly fishing, and was disturbed by our presence when he saw us..." Zircon thinks out loud as he observes a patch of ashen trees, a purple spark seen burning out as it has nothing more to feed on.

They move more into the abandoned areas, destroyed towns and fallen walls seen almost everywhere, only few times did they encounter some people, and fewer times they encountered soldiers from the east. Moving more to the east, even more destruction is seen, dead animals and people strewn around the road, near villages, lakes red with limbs floating above the surface, and what seem to be posts set up with masked people, arrows all over the rotting bodies as they remain tied to it. As they pass by this, they stop and look at the slaughter, cutting the bodies down and laying them down after they remove the arrows one body at a time. Zircon begins cutting the ropes off a body near the last post, when it all of a sudden twitches, making him jump back. The others see this, and look at him, "What the hell was that!?" Zircon says as he draws a knife, the body twitching more. The body groans, and looks up, the mask covering its face covered in blood. "P-Please...k-kill me..." The body says as everyone gathers around it. Damian looks desperately at Tesath, "Is there anything you can do to fix him? Even for a little?" She looks back at him, "I'm not sure, especially with all those arrows in his body, it would be too risky removing them, and I wont be able to provide effective healing with them still in him..." The body looks up towards the sound of Damian's voice, "Y-You...you're the k-kings son...?" He kneels next to the body, holding it so it doesnt fall onto the ground with the arrows in it.

"Y-You shouldn't have...come h-here..." Damian removes the mask from the body, and nearly gags at the sight. "T-They're already here..." The body says, just when it then leans back, lifeless. Confused, Damian looks around, everyone else brandishes their weapons and stands in a defensive circle, looking carefully at the environment. "What did he mean, 'they're here?',who is...?" Everyone stands still, almost not breathing. Silence fills the air, and the environment seems to stop, nothing happens...

"Is...is there nothing after all...?" Maralyne says, as she relaxes the tension on her bowstring. Suddenly, a blur rushes by them, and a mask all of a sudden is seen on the floor in front of them. "Wh-What was that!?" Tesath says, holding her spear close, looking at the mask set down in front of them. Zircon moves out of the circle, and picks up the mask, examining it. "I dont recognize it...wait...!" Zircon looks around, and jumps back just as a dagger almost goes through his neck, cutting through the air at unbelievable speed, stopping for a second midair before being brought back into the hands of a masked man, the mask the same as the one in Zircon's hands. The man laughs, the mask almost laughing as well, its shadowed color only revealing a small white gem in the middle of the mask, it having a almost corrupted shine to it. Zircon backs up, almost backing into Lutol just as he gets back into a defensive stance. "What are you doing here..!?" He shouts at the man, them only holding their dagger close to their face as they laugh more. "Long time no see Zircon, how's living life in the east?" The others gasp in surprise, the man extending his arms out, "It's been way too long, you better show me a good time after leaving us..." Zircon looks at the masked assassin angrily, holding his own dagger with a murderous intent. "Why would you side with them Opal!? Why would you do this to innocent civilians!?" Everyone stands still, and watches them both, each almost waiting for the other to do something. "Well how about you introduce me to your friends there? I wouldn't want to kill them without them knowing who I am." Zircon grits his teeth, saying aloud, "Guys, this is the scum of my life and the dick that bullied me almost my whole childhood, Opal of the Crimson Wind."