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A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Printable Version

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RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Nero - 11-19-2015

They sat in silence for a while longer, the Xaela glancing at the runestone in his hand, though his eyes no longer traced the pattern in contemplation. There was much he had to frame within his head, and it did not feel like a prudent decision to question Roen as to the definition of certain terms or names. And so he pored through her confessions in his mind, putting everything into its place before formulating a response.

Ul’dah sounded like a name. A settlement? A nation? It was a location of sorts. Garlemald was the name of the nation of black ones, the Garleans, who had been engaged in a conflict with the Western continent before, from what she had told him at the armory. And it appeared those who were in positions of authority or affluence refused to grant succor to those seeking refuge. She referred to a man, very likely one of those who had been denied, as wanting to change such things violently. And Roen joined with him, in order to…his head tilted slightly as he stared at the runestone. She wished to change his methods?

Kasrjin did not know the man in question and likely would not understand the man if the latter were explained to him, but he could at least understand Roen's sentiment.

And he was beginning to see from where her regret was stemming from.

The failure to change someone or something. To take a risk, and to be left with nothing. Such was this land. It was difficult to tell if it was drowning or thriving on such turmoil. With that, many of the odd things he witnessed began to come together in their own strange way.

"And you have come in the hopes of laying your burden to rest in this land," he murmured, more to himself than to her. He did not fully understand her concerns, not yet. But Kasrjin felt that at the least, he could come to comprehend it given time and patience.

He could recognize regret, and how she regretted failing to change a man, and to prevent the deaths he was responsible for. That, at least, was a simple enough concept.

"Turn back time, and what course of action would you have taken?" He glanced at her from the corner of his shimmering eyes as her composure revealed its cracks.

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Roen - 11-19-2015

“Does it matter?” the paladin replied immediately, her words sounding sharper than she had intended.

Was that not the question she had asked herself so many times over? If there had ever been anything she could have done differently? And each time she had recounted her steps, she ran into the same forks on the road over and over again and wondered if she would have chosen a different path. It would have meant not hoping that Nero would be a better man, or trusting Crofte, or others whom she had placed her faith in. Knowing what she did now, would she decide differently?

‘I thought I wanted you to join my side.’

Would she still try and convince him there were other ways besides violence that could prevail? Would she still hold steadfast onto her belief that Nero Lazarov was a good man?

‘But what I wanted was to go over to yours.’

Her hand trembled and she reflexively tightened her grip around the earrings she still held within them. She knew in her heart that if she was given one chance to do something different, she knew which moment above all that she would change.

That fateful day, in that warehouse, in Aleport.

Roen curled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, lowering her head upon her knees. She no longer wanted to meet Khadai’s gaze. “I cannot change the past,” she murmured. “I cannot undo what was done.”

She felt herself shiver and it was not from the cold. She hid a quiet sniffle as she buried her face against her legs. “Would that I could tell myself to still hold onto hope. To take that one last leap of faith… despite all the lies.”

She shook her head, her tone morose. “It is too late.”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Nero - 11-19-2015

“To undo errors, yes,” Kasrjin nodded, turning his head to face her. He swept away an emerald lock from his face as he did. “To learn from them...no.”

He did not feel comfortable saying more on the matter, as a part of him understood that despite their differences, foreign as they were to one another, there was nothing he could say that she had not already said to herself regarding her regrets. He shifted his position as a glisten of a tear crept down to her knee where she had placed her head. His gaze lay fixed to the runestone in his hand, and its myriad meanings that it both held and lacked.

Did he regret travelling here here, in a land so far from his own, in a place where isolation’s dark grip clenched his heart every day? Did he regret deeming himself capable of undertaking such a daunting task?

It was one thing to be merely alone. It was another to be surrounded by strangers. Where once there had been brilliant colours--his people, with whom he could connect with--he was surrounded by naught but sleet, snow, and dull, gray hues.

To be in a world where he was not welcome. Where he did not belong. Every day was a choice to remain. Did he regret it? He did not know.

A sigh escaped his face, and sensing that she could not see it, his stoic expression fell for just a moment.

Solitude was a tiresome thing.

“Why do you wish to aid me?” He asked suddenly, tracing the pattern on the runestone again. A part of him yearned for the burst of warmth that the trinket could no longer provide. He could not help but wonder if her aiding him was some expression of her past regret. But if it was, did he care? Should he?

No, he didn't, at least at the moment. He had offered to hear her out on her crisis of faith because he was interested in gaining some insight to the Western continent’s beliefs.

The confused frown crossed his face.

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Roen - 11-20-2015

When the paladin looked back up at Khadai, her cheeks were flushed with emotion and her eyes glistened with the tears she had shed. She found herself at a loss for an answer, especially when she glimpsed the rare wistful expression on the warrior. She stared at him for a moment longer almost dumbfounded, before she hastily wiped at her face to erase the trail of moisture there.

“Why.... do I wish to aid you?” she repeated hoarsely. “I…”

Roen paused again. Did she know why? She had warned him of the cruelty that existed in this world… because she believed that it would crush his optimism, his belief that people were inherently decent. She knew first hand what that lesson felt like, and she was desperate to spare him of it.

But was that not the realization that should be taught to others? That virtue had no place in this world? Was he not headed down the same path of disappointment and regret if he continued to hold onto his unwavering faith in humanity? If she truly believed it to be so… she should be doing all she could to grant him that understanding. So why was there a part of her that wanted to protect him from it?

“I… see parts of myself in you, Khadai.” She bowed her head, her voice just barely audible over the creaking wooden beams of the cellar. “How I used to be. Driven with hope. Believing others to be fair. Eager to do what I could to help those who were in need. I… do not wish to see you become like me, as I am now. Lost.”

Roen tucked the earrings back under her breastplate, letting out an exhale as she felt the gems come to rest against her chest. Her gaze drifted to the stone grooves on the floor as she spoke. “You said we all learn to leave our path and wander. I have been wandering for sometime now, feeling adrift. I thought that was what I wanted.”

The paladin shook her head. “But all I felt was emptiness. I thought if I pushed everyone all away, then I would feel nothing. I was wrong.” She turned back to Khadai, peering up at the warrior. “It was in coming to your aid that some of that hollow feeling was forgotten.”

She shrugged with a quiet sigh--an almost a helpless gesture. “I... have no purpose of my own. Not… not yet. But perhaps in aiding you… I can start to find my own way.”

Roen regarded him for a moment longer, her expression softening despite the sadness that lingered there. “And you are a foreigner in a land you do not know. You should not go about it alone. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Nero - 11-20-2015

“Purpose,” he repeated softly. The Xaela stared at the runestone for a while longer. As she tucked her bauble back into her breastplate, so too did the runestone vanish into the folds of the ebon black tabard that adorned his armour.

Kasrjin glanced at her directly for the first time in their conversation, his shimmering viridian eyes meeting her grey gaze. It was considerably less steely than before, having softened considerably.

He exhaled in contemplation. Purpose. A reason for being. It was something that seemed so fleeting to so many people here. He had never had cause to question purpose. He was Khadai, one who was called upon to defend. Purpose was never in doubt or question.

Or was it?

That was not always true. There was a time where he was in flux. His place in the world uncertain, his direction lost, his efforts apparently meaningless in the face of doubt. Where purpose was questioned. Why had I been placed in this world?, he had thought. Why this, and not another? Another where such anxiety and incertitude did not have a place.

Purpose. To feel as if one belonged in the world they had been placed in.

It was a doubt that could kill, if one was not careful.

He glanced away.

“I have not always been Khadai,” he murmured, his voice filled with baritone resonance. “Perhaps you think all of my people to be like stone, unwavering against waves. And at times, they may be.” He shifted his legs, lowering one knee and raising the other. “All are called upon to use the greatest of their skills and knowledge. As Khadai are called to defend, so are Erdegai called to create. And Yerenai called to nurture. But it is not infallible. There are lapses in resolve. This becomes uncertainty. Doubt. A feeling of...lacking purpose, for purpose and function are not identical.”

Kasrjin shifted, clearly uncomfortable with his word choice and unsure of whether or not his statements were being received in the way that he intended them. A part of him always disliked talking for this very reason: it was an awkward method of communication filled with nuances and ambiguities. Nonetheless, he pressed on.

“There are times where one wonders why they are placed in this world, and not another. Where they belong, if they belong at all. If one’s nature is not conducive to one’s function, but one’s function can override one’s nature, who is this person? What is their...purpose?”

He sighed and shook his head to clear the haze from his mind. “All wander,” he repeated. “But to wander and to be lost...they are not one and the same. Lacking purpose only means...one will find it in the future. Regardless of what comes.”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Roen - 11-21-2015

Roen listened carefully, trying to absorb the details that Khadai was sharing about his people. She was beginning to suspect that they were much more than just a utilitarian society, from the insights that the warrior had given about his personal misgivings, the trials of his people, and his own philosophy. And yet, so many more questions rose when he spoke of purpose and function, and how they were not the same.

“What happens… when you are assigned a function and yet there is a different purpose that rings true in your mind?” She canted her head, regarding him earnestly. “You said you dislike violence. And yet you are Khadai, those who are called to defend. Fight. Have you ever had a lapse in your resolve?”

The paladin could see that his stern visage had fallen away a little, and their gaze met and lingered. He always seemed distant before, almost always talking to her while looking elsewhere, or meeting the other’s attention with a severe expression of his own. She had wondered if he did so either due to discomfort or in an effort to keep them away. She was all too well-practiced in the latter, after all. It seemed that this day, they were both willing to meet in the middle, to do more than to just talk to each other, but to also listen.

“You said you were not always Khadai. What were you before?”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Nero - 11-21-2015

He was not completely sure how to respond. In truth, he had never thought about it. What he was before. Before Kasrjin Khadai. There were moments were discussing his past were necessary, but he had never considered it to be him. Who he was in his previous role was another person, living in another time, in another life, so defined by his role was he, and the subject was treated as such. It was like being asked who a stranger was, or to describe a face he'd never seen before.

“What were you before?”

That was what Roen asked.

Kasrjin was not sure.

Was that him? Or was it truly someone else? Did he know? Did it matter?

“His...my...responsibilities were different,” he said evasively, glancing away. How could he even begin to explain it? Would she understand? Could she? Somehow, it was a reminder. That he didn’t belong. In this place, this continent, perhaps this world. There was no place. Not for him.

His tone became clinical, the subject deflecting to her earlier inquiries. “One’s inclinations are considered when it is to be determined what role they shall take,” the Xaela explained, shifting his position again. He felt uncomfortable in his own skin, in this frigid air, in this space. Who was he before? Did that person have a place? Did he? It was a struggle to maintain clarity. “Placing one who does not wish to function within a certain role is inefficient. An artisan who does not wish to create or imagine shall not be an artisan, even if their personal skill places them as one.” A pause. “And one who does not wish to fight, but is willing to despite that wish, is capable of being Khadai.”

“My resolve,” he murmured. “There are times where it is possessed by certainty. And other times by doubt.” Kasrjin looked distracted, the Xaela now glancing off into the upper corner of the cellar as the blizzard continued. “It matters not.”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Roen - 11-22-2015

Roen sensed the shift in his mood, his focus. His eyes diverted away from hers and his tone hardened as if water had frozen to ice. His explanation seemed a cold one.

The paladin canted her head, as if trying to follow his gaze even when he turned his attention elsewhere. He was stepping back, away from the middle ground where they had met and shared their thoughts. She wondered why he was pulling back so. Was there uncertainty about what his purpose was before? He only had briefly touched upon it, but he too had mentioned doubt, lapses in resolve that could happen even amongst his people. Had he also experienced that lost feeling that had plagued her since Aleport?

She watched as his chest rose and fell--the rhythmic breathing that filled the silence between them--as his austere countenance began to fall back into place. Roen wondered if that is how she appeared when she tried regain her own composure in those times that it had faltered. He did not want to fight, but was willing to for the benefit of his people. She was beginning to understand his reluctance in accepting his duty, sacrificing his desires to fulfill a need for the sake of others.

Roen felt a sudden stirring blooming within, an urge that did not want to see him withdraw behind his rigid mask again.

A hand timidly reached out, her pale callused fingers curling around larger, darker hand of the Xaela. She gave it a gentle squeeze.

“It does matter,” the paladin said quietly. “Our doubts and our flaws are also part of who we are… as much as we hate to admit them. It is how we overcome them, that defines us as individuals.”

Their discourse until now had been about purpose, resolve. And it was becoming obvious to her that Khadai identified himself by his function--his role in the world. Neither was what she truly wanted to know.

Her grasp remained upon his hand. She had turned in her seat, her legs now tucked beneath her. She leaned slightly to the side, as if trying to draw his gaze back to her. She curled a small smile in offering. “You say you are Khadai, those called to defend. And there are others… those who create and those who… nurture? All of you are not just labeled by your function, aye? You are each your own person, still.”

“Do you have a name? One that is unique to you?”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Nero - 11-23-2015

He flinched as her hand touched his. For an instant his gaze was drawn to her face, a small smile across her face. What crossed his mind was conflict. His eyes were drawn to her one moment and pulled away the next.

The Xaela glanced away, though he did not pull his hand from hers. Not immediately.

“...it is only to be used for the sake of identifying oneself among other Khadai,” he said, his tone now tired. The blizzard seemed to relent just a tad, as if courteously sensing the mood. “Else, Khadai is who I am.” He did not want to admit it, but for a single second when his attention was pulled towards her, he saw someone else.

Representative. Of a world he did not belong in. He knew the risks, going on this venture. There would be no others with him, for they would be sent across the world. The West. The East. North. South. Others, like him, braving not just dangers and unfamiliar lands, but isolation, loneliness, and...a certain heartache as well. To save those people with whom he felt he belonged, and were now so far away that they may as well be naught but memories, figments of the imagination.

Resolve. Patience. Determination. These were virtues. And with them, he had endured many a long day and solemn nights on the Western continent, this land he did not know. This land he could not partake in.

A different world.

Searching for something he did not know and could not locate. He was certain that it existed, but beyond that? Where it lay? If he could find it within this lifetime? Would it be that his purpose was meaningless, that he was to live out his days in this land, endlessly searching for what would allow him to return to where he felt he belonged?

There was a dark place in his mind, of fear. Fear of forgetting. What it felt like to be in one’s role, certain of one’s place, and to know all others felt that same certainty.

Solidarity.

He pulled his hand away, his gaze fixed to the wall again.

One hand reached up to rest against the crossguard of the blade leaning against his shoulder.

The other clasped the runestone in his tabard.

He closed his eyes, and breathed.

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Roen - 11-24-2015

She closed her fingers when he pulled his hand away, bringing it back to rest upon her lap. He had withdrawn, and his severe, distant demeanor had returned.

Roen remained where she sat for a moment longer, her gaze going to her hands. Heavy oppressive silence fell between them and the middle ground was no more.

“Our ways of coming to an understanding with each other, here in this land, it is clumsy.” The paladin finally broke the silence with that quiet murmur; she was no longer looking at him, her head bowed. “It is not like your people, where we can connect on a more intimate level and no words are needed.”

“To allow for such a thing… it takes a great deal of trust. And that is something that we all struggle with here. Because we lack such a bond with each other. Sometimes it is like a dance of words between people.” A wry snort escaped her nose. “And some of us are still… very much preoccupied with pride, avarice, and self-interest.” She paused for a moment. “And some of us… do not tell the truth in our hearts until it is much too late.”

“So I understand your reluctance to share. To trust.” She inhaled and splayed her fingers over the chainmail that covered her legs. Her voice was kept low throughout her quiet confession. “Sometimes… I too cannot find the words to convey what I feel. And to even try seems like a daunting task. Almost… painful in certain occasions.” She closed her hands again.

“But that does not mean that kinship and faith does not exist amongst my people. I had rejected it for some time now, believing it was what I needed to do. But... even now I am trying to regain what was lost.”

Roen glanced up at the ceiling as well, noting that her hushed tones were carrying further in their silence. The blizzard was calming, and the howling winds were no more. She inhaled deeply, her expression taking a resigned and wistful turn.

“I once said that for a foreigner, your beliefs were not so strange.” She returned her gaze to the Xaela warrior. “I also said that you were not alone in this land for those beliefs.” She rose from her seat, her armor quietly protesting with a few metallic clinks as she did so.

“I will aid you however way I can, Khadai. Because I want to.” She curled a small reassuring smile again even though her voice remained subdued. She looked up to the ceiling as the creaking of the wooden beams had come to a cease.

“It seems the storm may be coming to an end. Perhaps you can be released from this discourse.”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Nero - 11-25-2015

She was right. He glanced up at the ceiling. The gales seemed to calm considerably, such that the floor above no longer rattled and the whistling had ceased seeping through the stone. Though the winds had not fully settled, it would appear that the storm had indeed passed. He remained sitting for some time before standing. He slipped the runestone back into the tabard, patting it briefly as if to make sure it did not vanish. The sword was slipped into its holster, and he pulled the gauntlets onto his hands, fastening the straps and buckles with remarkable speed.

Trust? Was that his concern? No. It was simply...difficult to consider his own loneliness. To speak of it. It was a new sensation. He had never been in such a circumstance that forced him to reconsider his place. What he was expected to do.

He let forth a breath, having relaxed considerably since being able to stand. Kasrjin glanced at Roen again, a small smile creasing her face. Though their discussion had been treading on unknown territory before, his own expression ceased in its austerity and became...neutral. Comfortable.

Despite this, they seem to have come to an understanding.

“Then you have found a purpose,” he murmured in observation. “And some of your resolve.”

He glanced at the ceiling again. “This land...it is odd. It is another world. In such a setting, it is difficult to keep hold of one’s resolve, surrounded by what they do not know.” The Xaela regarded the paladin again, emerald eyes sharp in examining her. “Find the familiar, and you may find determination to see the next sun.” He returned her grin with a very small, slight one of his own, cracking through his usual severity like a ray of light filtering through a broken window.

He adjusted his armour and the position of the sword on his back, as if checking that everything was in its place. Following this was a series of stretches to work out the kinks in his joints from having been immobile for an unknown amount of time. His eyes flashed towards the stairway to the ground floor before he looked at Roen again. “Do you require assistance in your endeavour?” The Xaela raised a hand upward to the stables where the chocobos were resting, their warbling having calmed in the aftermath of the storm. “The storm alters the terrain. An extra sword may not go unused.”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Roen - 11-26-2015

“If you are inclined to lend your aid,” Roen gave Khadai a nod, her expression relaxing. “It would be appreciated.”

The paladin donned her gauntlets and swung her shield over her shoulder, following Khadai’s example in checking her armor. Her own movements were rather business-like as well, but she found her spirit to have lifted from before the storm. She gave the Xaela warrior a sidelong glance as she clasped her sword on her belt; he too seemed to have lost his unease. The sightings of the rare smiles that grew on his visage usually took her by surprise, although it always seemed to give her a measure of comfort as well.

Had she found a purpose beyond helping Khadai? It seemed such a simple goal, at least in concept, even though he already confessed that he knew not where to even start looking for this object he was after. He also had no idea as to what it was. But at least from his demonstration earlier, Roen could see that there was a link between him and this thing that allowed him to sense it. Or know its presence. Even if he could not discern where or how far.

The edges of her mind also tugged at her thoughts with other worries. One of her brother. The Au Ra killed at the stake. Edda and her engagement to Taeros. The Brume. Mister North. Crofte. Delial. Kage.

Roen paused, taking a deep breath in and exhaling. One thing at a time, she told herself. She was just starting to try and find her path again, and to feel so many things pulling at her all at once, she could feel a part of her turning rigid with apprehension. It was easy to want to fall back into her usual habits, to try and shut out all the troublesome thoughts from her mind by diving into series of onerous tasks.

“Find the familiar, and you may find determination to see the next sun.”

Roen gathered the maps strewn about the table and tucked it away in her satchel, hooking it over her shoulder. The familiar. What was it? Perhaps she would discover her own familiar thing in time.

She gave Khadai one more glance, then tilted her head toward the stairs. “You have been surveying the land for many suns. I can show you some of the landmarks on the map, and you can show me how you have come to know the landscape without them.” She gave him an arch of the brow that hinted at a challenge, then headed up to the ground floor.

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Nero - 11-26-2015

He returned her challenge with a somewhat confused tilt of his head, before checking over his equipment once more and heading up the stairs in long strides. Kasrjin wasn’t sure of how long had passed since they had first retreated into this building for respite from the storm. The Xaela breathed deeply of the frigid air as he pushed open the double doors that had served as an aegis from the blizzard.

There was still a slight wind--stronger than a breeze but not quite the howling gales that had battered the area during the storm--but the snowfall had settled and, as expected, the landscape had been altered, though not drastically. Snowdrifts had visibly congregated but not enough to fully mask familiar trails, and one advantage of the storms is that it drove all but dragons and the hardiest of beasts into shelters, and they would be slow to emerge, at least for a time.

Kasrjin’s black tabard rippled with the wind across his brass-coloured armour, eyes shimmering as they surveyed the landscape. Their discussion lay in the back of his mind, perhaps distractingly so. For some reason, Roen’s hand on his came to mind.

Why did she enact such a gesture? What was the intention, the message behind such a thing? Perhaps he was merely overthinking, but the Xaela could tell that his presence was helping her find her faith. And resolve. Though he himself may waver on those things at times, and though he may not fully understand why it was that she found such….comfort in cooperating with him, it was encouraging to see her spirits lifted.

Exactly why, he could not say.

He stepped back inside the building as the paladin had begun to prepare the warbling chocobos for travel. “We can navigate,” Kasrjin spoke softly. “If we depart early, we may take advantage of clear lands before the beasts return to their prowl.” Two gauntleted fingers rested on his chin in thought--a gesture he had picked up from the denizens of the Western continent. Admittedly, the Xaela felt somewhat ridiculous mirroring the gesture, and so he ceased it quickly in a manner one could almost call sheepish. “What is the destination?”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Roen - 11-27-2015

Roen heaved the harness onto the back of the brown colored chocobo, fastening the buckles and running her fingers between the leather straps and the feathers to check the fitting. She gave the bird a small scratch behind the tuft of its cheek feathers to sooth it, and was rewarded with a pleased kweh. The bird in the next stall answered with another cheerful trill; both birds seemed restless and eager for some activity after hiding out from the blizzard for bells.

That quiet warble turned to a spritely chirp upon Khadai’s return, either in greeting or fear she could not tell. Roen nearly chuckled aloud though when she saw his almost-usual pensive look, which was followed by his immediate cessation of it. The towering form of the Xaela did not seem quite so intimidating when caught in such moments. She managed to hide her amusement with a lopsided purse of her lips.

“The supplies on the wagon outside are to be delivered to the Convictory,” the paladin replied as she began to lead the chocobos by the reins outside of the stall and through the double doors. The birds fanned their wings and craned their necks as they were both greeted by the cold, and Roen sighed quietly in relief to see that the tarp that was secured over the wagon and its contents had held through the blizzard. She began to hitch the birds to the caravan, speaking to warrior without looking his way.

“You need not accompany me if you have other pressing matters, Khadai.” She pulled on the metal hinges to test it, her breaths coming in puffs of white steam as she did so. “I know… you sensed… your objective. You need not delay your search for it on my account.” She walked around the caravan to look over the condition of the wheels. She glanced back to the Xaela from the other side. “Although after this delivery, I am not expected back in the city proper for another sun or two.”

Roen took the reins in her hand, but paused before climbing onto the wagon. Even as the cold was already starting to bring a rosy hue to her cheeks, her mood remained placid. “Perhaps we can work together to try and figure out what the next step may be for you.”

RE: A Vision of Fog【Closed】 - Nero - 11-29-2015

“If you require my company, I shall grant it.” Though his expression was his typical taciturn mask that belied one who was unburdened by complexities, his tone was just barely lighter than his usually severe rumbling. One might almost have called it teasing...though given his deadpan expression, only the Xaela could say for certain.

Once more, he checked the straps and buckles of his armour, and with that done, stepped towards a part of the abandoned house where a section of the roof was lower towards the frozen ground. Clearing some of the snow from his path, the Xaela stepped back some before breaking into a loping run, leaping onto the edge of the roof with surprising coeurl-like grace and pulling himself atop the creaking shingles with a grunt. He was careful in his step as he climbed as high onto the roof as he could, freezing in his tracks whenever a particularly ominous creak shadowed his steps as the metal sabatons clanked against the worn ceramics. There was no fog or any other inclement weather hindering his vision, thus his view from atop the house on the hill gave him an advantageous vista of the area.

The view made him think. Kasrjin did know that his objective existed, this much was true. However, all other aspects of it were totally unknown to him, save for its relevance to the Correspondence. He did not know what it was or where he might find it or even what it would do once he returned with it. It was meant to prevent some sort of decay within Kaarad-El, and deny such a process from occurring once again. How it would do this, he could not say. Was it a form of energy? An object? Information? Both? None? Perhaps it was visible right now, just beyond his sight, buried in the snow...but he simply could not identify it.

That was a disheartening thought.

He shook his head, thumbing the hilt of the sword strapped to his back, as if checking that his bladed companion was still present. Those would be questions that would be answered on their own, on factors outside of his control.

“I am not familiar with the name of our destination. The ‘Convictory’. Describe it.” Luckily, the sun had not managed to pierce through the veil of clouds above, and so he did not have to worry about the glare off of the snow. Emerald eyes scanned the horizon.