Fate

"Fate" is a BOTGD 2 thread written on [IRL DATE].
== Summary ==
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== Full Text ==
Faysal/Sol: “I think I’ll always appreciate trees. There’s just so much life in a forest, where you found me felt too dead. Those arid plateaus were just a graveyard but for the earth.”
Sol- dha’s wind chime laugh tinkled through the air. “Listen to you, sounding so reflective. You might have been a philosopher or a scholar in your past life.” A tint of read rose up in his cheeks. The two of them had made a habit of trying to guess who he might have been. Usually the guess was a warrior or hunter, he could run faster and farther than most of his kind, tirelessly track creatures that had moved on weeks in the past, and the few times they ran into any factions of the shattered Central they were easily dispatched. But, he liked the thought of being a philosopher, it had a nice ring to it. 
The two of them had only been traveling a few hours since meeting Chief Grey, but with the springtime hours it was beginning to fall to dusk. Faysal settled in to a makeshift camp, setting out a bedroll while Sol started on a small fire pit. Before the fire had started the demon bobbed up from the pile of tinder with a sudden air of alertness.
“Faysal, be prepared, someone is near.” 
Yun Milae: A few feet off in the trees, a heavily-cloaked figure stood stone-still, crouched on a fallen tree in the blue darkness. He had not moved for a very, very long time. It was questionable whether he had ever actually arrived at the spot, or if he had always been there. His long, felted ears swiveled back and forth under his hood as he heard Sol rustle about to gather twigs and tinder with her drifting ribbons, and he slowly lowered the thick fabric to his shoulders so as to hear the pair better as they quipped at each other, preparing for rest. His lips were twitching slightly and his glassy goat eyes focused on the ground, listening intently to…something.
Faysal, some…someone is here. Faysal, look ou–! Faysal, eyes up, s-s-someone is coming. Faysal, no! FAYSAL!
He twitched and looked up as Sol spoke aloud.
“Faysal, be prepared, someone is near.” 
He sighed in relief, and got to his feet. He couldn’t hear them coming…yet.
“Faysal?” he called out, approaching the man in the darkness.
Faysal/Sol: Faysal whipped about to face whatever had spoke to him. His eyes narrowed and shoulders squared up before he brought his fists up, arcs of blue lightning traced down his forearms.
“Who goes there?” Sol spoke as she glided behind Faysal, Her aura cast a faint cyan over the scene, contrasting the motes of orange from the setting sun reaching through the trees. A strong tension held the moment for what felt like an eternity for the two of them.
Yun Milae: “Please…do not do that.” Milae approached more cautiously, his face becoming visible in the flickering light, raising his hands in front of him, which were an odd hybrid of cloven hooves and fingers. His eyes were trained on Faysal’s sparking blue fists, and they flicked up to meet his gaze. He continued to slowly walk forward. “Those hurt, very much. I mean no harm to you or Sol.” 
Faysal/Sol: The glow of his fists softened while his shoulders relaxed, Faysal had no intention of being the first to strike. “You never answered her, who are you?” He studied the horizontal slits for eyes of the creature before him. The fact that he knew his made up name was more unnerving than him knowing Sol’s: her history was much longer than he could fathom.
Yun Milae: “I am someone you need to trust for the next hour,” Milae said quietly, but firmly. “Will you do that?” Looking into Faysal’s eyes as he regarded Milae suspiciously made him faintly lightheaded with triumph for making it this far.
He raised his hands higher. “I know you may be quite suspicious of me. You will understand…” He tilted his head to the side, pausing. “Soon. Very soon.”
Faysal/Sol: Faysal glanced to his right shoulder to look at the vessel containing Sol, she bobbed forward slightly reassuring him. “What comes next, then, stranger?” His eyes resumed burrowing into the goat man’s eyes.
I’m by your side, Judge. Whatever this is we can survive, even if this one’s intents aren’t with our own. 
Yun Milae: There was a far-off howl in the fading dusk, followed by another, and had Milae had exposed skin, it would have visibly paled. He pointed a hoofed finger up towards the thick canopy above them and said, “Climb, and be silent.”
And then he took his own advice, backing up and using a low fork in the tree behind him as leverage to hop to the lowest branch and began scaling upwards, his cloak swaying around him as he went.
Faysal/Sol: Faysal took a small sprint to another nearby tree, pushing off the ground and climbing as swiftly as he could muster. Sol slipped into her pocket in his satchel and the two of them waited, watching the ground below through the foliage.
Yun Milae: A chorus of savage growls slowly filled the forest as, below the two hiding figures, a pack of mismatched animals began filing through the trees. From a distance, they looked like wolves, but they were of varying breeds and sizes and proportions. The only similarity between most of them was that they were skin and bone, and their eyes were…hollow. They were gone, and filled with a dim red light instead. Many of them were covered in what seemed to be devastating wounds and scars. They wandered through the brush, sniffing Faysal’s camping gear, and lifting their heads to the air, noses twitching.
Two of them began approaching the tree Faysal was crouched in, and they growled lowly, searching for the source of his scent. Milae did a brief wave in the fading light to get the man’s attention, and he silently pointed at Faysal, banged his fists together twice and then crossed his arms in an X-shape, shaking his head.
Faysal/Sol: Faysal had the build of a man with much less restraint than he actually had. He had no plans to throw himself into a horde of enemies without being at least somewhat confident he could make it out the other side. With those thoughts floating about his head he gave a curt nod to MIlae.
Sol pressed a tendril of her essence out of the satchel to observe the pair directly below them. One was squat with dark fur, barrel chested and massive. The other more sleekly built, like the dog of a trapper, with mottled grey fur splaying in all directions.
Yun Milae: Milae sagged in relief, sighing quietly.
Suddenly, he gasped as his tree shook violently, his loosened grip slipping on the branch next to him, as a thickly-furred black-and-white dog missing half its face slammed its paws into the tree, barking loudly. The half-breed’s hooves scrabbled for a hold on the branch, but he was made for climbing walls, not trees; he fell about two yards below him and managed to catch a lower branch as it slammed into his chest. He gritted his teeth and struggled to get his footing, but he was too far away from the trunk. The dogs and wolves circled below him, drooling and yapping, and they began to try to lunge for his kicking hooves.
This wasn’t part of the plan.
“Don’t…come down here!” he strained to yell at Faysal, panic seizing him.
Faysal/Sol: Faysal didn’t respond, instead opting to swing onto a branch and propel himself forward and into the air above the pack of Hel hounds. As his momentum carried him downward the arcs of lightning in his hands reappeared, this time traveling up above his elbows. The glow quickly became the brightest thing in the evening gloom of the forest, a bright white and cyan as Faysal crashed down into the center of the hounds. Lightning splayed out from the epicenter of where he crashed into the ground below where Milae hung precariously. The smell of burning flesh and fur wafted into the air and the dogs nearest him when he landed were tossed away like rag dolls.
The rest of the pack rushed him, encircling and flanking him to try to bring him down. Faysal swung his right fist into the skull of the first one to leap at him, a loud crack of bones caving in and a flash of lightning shortly followed. A second hound lunged at his back as the first fell, but was repelled by a blast of blue energy as Sol pushed her aura into it. Another five hounds were dispatched in a similar manner, lightning arcing through the air as Faysal fists connected with them. The hounds unable to land a bite or slash on him as Sol repelled any that got too close. 
Eleven corpses were scattered among the detritus of the forest floor before what remained of the pack retreated. Faysal offered a hand to Milae, still hanging from the branches above. 
Yun Milae: Breathing hard, the half-breed stared down at him with eyes shining in the last few flickers of lightning that arced over the Helhounds’ corpses. There wasn’t a scratch on Faysal that he could see. He was in awe.
Swinging his legs, he shimmied closer to the tree trunk and used Faysal’s hand to help him propel himself back down to the ground, landing with a thud on the forest floor. Milae straightened and surveyed the carnage, his expression a little hard to read. He took the chance to also look closely at Sol, as this was the nearest he’d been to her in a while.
“I told you to stay,” he said nonchalantly.
Faysal/Sol: “We would have stayed, had you not threatened to die in front of us.” Sol hovered closer to Milae. “Why do I get the feeling I know you?”
Yun Milae: Milae simply looked at her, but his ears pricked up to face forward and then flicked backwards again. “I can assure you, you don’t. Follow me, it’s not safe here.” He began to trot off eastward into the forest, towards the area of the woods where the ground sloped sharply upwards into several steep stone cliffs covered with trees, not looking to see if Faysal was following.
Faysal/Sol: Faysal gave a look of feigned confusion and muttered “I guess you don’t,” with a mocking tone to Sol. Sol made a motion that resembled a head shake with her vessel before motioning to continue following the being. Faysal quickly gathered his bedroll and shouldered his light pack before pursuing Milae uphill.
Yun Milae: They followed a series of difficult switchbacks uphill, rising a few hundred feet above the treetops, before they came to a cleft in the cliffside, which Milae slipped into easily. The crack continued for a few uncomfortable feet before opening up into a little crevice lit by a lantern nailed into the wall, next to a door-like opening with a cobbled-together wooden awning above it. There was a few hooks nailed into the wall under the wooden planks, where two other capes were hung up–one was a half-length cowl, the other was a thickly-furred winter cloak. Milae removed his dark navy cloak and hung it up next to the others.
Inside, there was not much. There appeared to be a main cave that was furnished like a very simple house, and a back room that was sectioned off by a hanging swath of fabric. There was a table low to the ground with a few cushions on the ground, beside a fireplace carved into the wall, which was only full of dark red embers. Milae paced over and began to stoke the fire, adding a few logs to feed the old warmth into something bigger. “Please, make yourself at home. You should rest here before continuing on your journey tomorrow.” His heart was thudding but his voice was calm.
Faysal/Sol: “What is this place… and again, who are you?” Faysal moved to Milae’s side, watching him keenly. 
Sol floated around the room, inspecting it and passing her aura around Milae. She could not shake the feeling that she knew this being, but she wouldn’t dare probe his mind. If he wanted to keep his business his own, then so be it. She had learned to have that sentiment over the last several millennia. 
Yun Milae: Milae took a heavy iron kettle from the table and peered inside of it, sniffing and walking over to a metal bucket on the ground next to the fireplace, where above it protruded a hollowed-out reed sticking out of the wall. A slow stream of water droplets fell into the bucket, and he dipped the kettle inside, filling it to the brim before walking over and hanging it above the slowly-growing fire. “This is my home.” In the soft orange light, and without his heavy cloak, Faysal could see an odd pattern on his furry forearms, several lines of oddly deep scars that criss-crossed all the way up to his elbows. “And I am Milae. I am here to help.”
Faysal/Sol: “Milae…” Faysal smiled, “Thank you for your help. Without your warning about the hounds we may not have fared as well as we did.” Sol made her way back to Faysal and settled her vessel onto the crook of his shoulder. “Actual shelter from the elements isn’t something we’ve commonly found on our journey, this is a much welcomed reprieve Milae. You are quite a curious one.”
Yun Milae: The half-breed dropped to his knees at the table, resting on one of the flat cushions, and rested his cloven hands together. “I know.” And it wasn’t at all clear on what, of Faysal and Sol had said, that he knew. The kettle continued to warm quietly over the fire.
Faysal/Sol: Faysal settled into a cushion in the corner, his eyelids grew heavy from a combination of the warmth of the fire and the strain of his short battle. He tried as hard as he could to stay awake and listen to Milae and Sol speak. Sol glided over to Milae. You’re not much for conversation, are you?
Yun Milae: Milae tilted his head to the side. “That only depends on what you want to make conversation about.”
Faysal/Sol: Sol settled directly in front of Milae, as though to make eye contact. “How’s this, then? We are on our way to track down my sister Nalaagura. Do we find her?”
Yun Milae: Milae paused. He had reached up to itch at his long neck, and his scarred arm froze in midair.
Slowly lowering it down to the table again, he looked at Sol with new eyes, full of a deeper expression than he had allowed them to show before. Something…unnameable. Desperate, curious, maybe sad. They flicked over to Faysal and back again.
“You…haven’t asked that,” he murmured, almost to himself. The water audibly began to boil in the kettle.
Faysal/Sol: “I’m asking now, Milae. Do we find her?” The ribbons floating around Sol hovered entirely still, suspended as though in time.
Yun Milae: He tapped his hooves together thoughtfully. Click. Click. Click.
“I don’t know.”
The kettle whistled, but Milae did not rise from the table. He was fixated on Sol.
Faysal/Sol: Sol cursed in her head, before asking a new question, “Milae, what is Nalaagura doing right now?”
Yun Milae: Click click click click. He took a deep breath and looked to the side.
“Traveling…across…the Sea of Dust.” He clammed up and stood from the table, quickly trotting to the fireplace to remove his kettle. He slid three iron teacups across the table and filled them, one after another.
Faysal/Sol: Sol glowed a bit brighter after that. “Milae, what are you? Do you understand what your power is?”
Yun Milae: “I–”
The kettle trembled, the lid clattering underneath his hand, and suddenly thudded down onto the table as he set it down with more force than necessary. A few droplets of steaming water splashed across the table. His breathing was quick and fast, and he stared wildly, unseeing, down at the teacup in front of him, which was sloshing slightly with his sudden, harsh movement.
“I should go,” he said shallowly under his breath, “I should go, I should go, I should go…”
Faysal/Sol: “Milae…. calm.” Faysal stirred as the kettle hit the table. His eyes popped open, blinking a few times to clear away his fatigue. He didn’t get up, choosing instead to observe Sol hover before the goat man.
“Milae… you helped us, I’m a friend. I’m only trying to understand. Calm.” Her aura widened and cast more soft cyan over the room as she spoke in an attempt to help suppress his panic.
Yun Milae: “You’re not…supposed…to ask me,” he said in a harsh whisper. Milae’s gaze, which looked like a cornered wild animal’s, lifted to fixate on the floating sphere before him. His heart was pounding as though he were being chased by predators. His hands curled into fists–as well as they could, given their shape–and lifted halfway into the air, bending towards his shoulders…and then stopped.
You can’t. Don’t run. Not this time.
He sat down heavily on the ground again, looking over at Faysal. His eyes drooped back down to the wood grain of the table. “Please don’t,” he said miserably.
Faysal/Sol: “Alright Milae. I won’t ask you that.” Sol floated back down from Milae’s face, her ribbons began drifting lazily again. “I only have one more question for you. Will we see you again after tonight? 
Yun Milae: Milae reached into a satchel on his belt and sprinkled a few pungent leaves into each teacup, resting his hands on the table once more. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. “I hope so.”
Category:Events
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Faysal
Category:The Matriarch
Category:Yun Milae
Category:Act I