Into the Cave - Aftermath

(OC)

New thread to RP out whatever anyone wants to do after exiting the cave (in the camp where everyone is picking up as well as in the landed ships and outside the cave entrance). At this point, we can all assume we're all recovering from our wounds and sorting out events in the cave.

Potential subjects to RP:
-Caz's disconnection, along with how Ma'at and Zyria are dealing with it.
-The Protector trying to convince the team to leave Tam/plotting to disrupt the group
-Kennan and Krakot returning here after the attack on SSI-247 (see The First Move and Krakot's Capture, in that order, for the full story)
-Emerik and Caz recovering from their wounds
-Archelaus' connection with Aurora, feeling her suffering
-Raulch and Dragijh (not sure what Raulch and Verax want to do with these characters, but I figured I'd throw it out here)

I'm also creating this thread for further questions and comments regarding the Into the Cave thread.

((Geez. People were supposed to be posting as of yesterday. I'm literally having roleplay withdrawls. Can people please start posting again? D:))

Sorry... I was in Virginia on vacation with virtually no access to the computer... I'll see what I can do.

But first I'll have to read everything (sigh) lol.

(OFC) And here we go...

(IC)

Glistening glass...
Sadness comes like a flood...
Burning ash... acid that flowed through veins like blood...
The terror of the truth,
The pain of the past, the hopeless future...
Happiness that won't last,
The future, present, past: a blur.

"Terra terra, monsarah... Reilorn, reilorn, monsarah. Etc terra, reilorn, monsarah, Vorn."

A cave of shattered suns, for a body of shattered hearts.
A battle between Light and Shadow, just as his Light and his Shadow were fighting.
A torturous path, just as life always is, that leads to more suffering.
The only reason why we go half a league,
Half a league,
Half a league onward, is because somehow hope rears its mighty hooves and shakes its might mane from just beyond the next hill. In sight, yet distant. Far and growing nearer, yet never was so much distance inbetween life and hope.

"Terra terra, monsarah..."

Hands bent down to the ground, the shining army stands atop the hill,
Grace is extended, on faith dependent, but the darkness comes out to kill.
How does a candle light the night sky?
Life protected by the blood of those who die.
The cycle, the cycle, life snuffed out so quick,
The depths extend fingers to extinguish the wick.
That army on the hill. To fight for light, to die, to be reborn,
To die again, fight again, die once more in scorn.
When does this wheel of ages stop spinning?
When will death stop life from living?
Grace is extended, but hate fills the sky
So waits the shining army on the hill, ready to die.

"Reilorn, Reilorn... monsarah Vorn."

Where is the maiden that we fight for?
Where is that angel for which we face death?
Our bodies given to battle in bone and in gore
We face flaming Tartarus' breath
For our love
This love
That is more than love.
We fight, no, I fight for that maiden above
Above worries and pain, the sickness the flame.
Above the torture of hell,
We fight for you, my angel.

"Ect terra, reilorn, monsarah, Vorn."

I fight for you, my angel.

"Vorn."



A thousand years, a thousand dimensions, a thousand enemies could not break the link between neiedes. They could not stop the link between Archelaus and Aurora.
Aurora had pleaded with him, begged him, implored him to try to ignore the link for as long as possible...
But Archelaus could ignore the link no longer, even if he mentally held it away with all his might... it was a weight, as if he was Atlas and holding the sky above his head. He could not hold it any longer.

If he tried to hold her away, it would do nothing but hurt both of them.
The time for building strength had come, and gone. They had the Lyikos now.
He was hers, and she was his. He was nothing but warmth and protection for her, a place of refuge, of asylum. Archelaus would be as strong as she needed him to be. He had to. His love for her demanded no less.

Even death itself trembled in the face of such a bond.

He would lend her his strength, to show her his love, to let her KNOW beyond all doubt that Love is stronger than Hate, and that Hope is stronger than Despair.
He was The High Druid, and she was his Neiede...!
And so he let Aurora return to him full force to him like a tsunami, a flood, a tidal wave.

It was like being caught between colliding suns.

Instantly, Archelaus was crushed between the weight of the battle raging inside Aurora. It was so horrendous that Archelaus could physically feel the pain, as if he could hold it in his hands. Fear so intense that it started forming barely perceptible clouds around Archelaus. Suffering so complete that every sense was overloaded into the mind, which twisted and twisted like hemp into a rope, until it was nearly impossible to distinguish person from emotion.
It was a battle that his beloved was not winning. There were no objectives to capture in this war, no resources to defend, no hostages to free. It was water against dust, positive against negative... Love against Hate.


It was more pain than any being could hope to survive, but Archelaus felt a pain deeper than the parasite could ever summon from the depths of terror. A pain that his beloved was being hurt, that she was in pain.
No. Never.
Archelaus would never let Hate win. Not while the Narushah shined, and he still drew breath.


So he strode into battle, ad-mist the crippling tides of emotions, the ripping and tearing of sanity, the winds of war.
Aurora had been waiting for him, crouched away and prone to the ground. At his arrival, she flung herself into his waiting and open arms, away from the terrors and horrors of the evil inside her, that threatened to suffocate her at any second.

But Archelaus could only do so much.
He held her, held her dearly, like a drowning man to rock in the sea, like a father holds his daughter, like the destroyed man clings to hope.
He held her for love, letting all the torrents of evil flow down his back, as he kept her turned away from the evil. He stroked her hair away from her eyes, her beautiful eyes, as the universe crashed upon him. He would hold it. He would hold her away from it.
But the acid burned through him, and he only had moments with her until she would be plunged again into the darkness.

"I love you..." he spoke, softly and gently.

Despite the rage and the fury that surrounded both of them, for just those few moments she was away from the pain, and he was with her.
He shed tears to match hers, the rivulets of moisture evaporating in the heat of the fires they were inside... he watched the vapor float away, as his precious moments came to an end.

Archelaus held her, and waited for her response. For her to say something. For her to know that even though he was dimensions away, he would fight for her.
She was his angel.
Vorn...

Archelaus prayed, pleaded, begged, implored, he SCREAMED at the sky, at Narushah, at anyone and anything that could help him:
"Please."

But he was no match for the continued assault of the parasite, and indeed, the parasite had already succeeded in gaining control of some of her mind.
He was a bulwark of Strength and of Control, or Focus and of Love, he was an Army in Shining Armor, another sun rising above the clouds, but the fog descended anyway.

There was nothing he could do, despite that every fiber of his being was bent on protecting her from the pits of sin.

They had to get to Crenel, Now.

"Robless, we're leaving."

[[Best single post so far. Nice job.]]

[[ I tried! =D Thanks! ]]

Destination reached. Autopilot disengaging.

Kennan, his squad, and Krakot warped into low-orbit in their stealth fighter transport. "What now? Anyone know how to fly this thing?"

Nobody had a chance to respond before the shuttle plummeted downwards, towards the surface of Mars. Moments later they crash-landed into the red sands, the shuttle kicking up dirt and tearing up the earth before cartwheeling into a camp's pre-fabricated fence, breaking through the cheap material and landing in a smoldering wreck near the Leviathan. Kennan looked around and, to his relief, found everyone mostly unharmed. The simple action caused the damaged harness to break free.

The rear door opened. Kennan drew his pistol and aimed it at the hatch. One Initiative rescue crew member poked his head in and was nearly shot before Kennan realized that it was an ally. Seeing a fellow soldier was yet another relieving moment for Kennan. The thoughts came rushing back and fit the pieces together. They had landed at Robless' encampment.

-~-

Robless emerged from his command tent to the noise of an explosion and crashing metal. Archelaus was right, however, and they needed to move. No gunfire sounded and he gathered the team together, directing them to the Leviathan's waiting drop troop bay. He whispered a silent prayer and continued towards the ship.

Crenel was next. It was a place where spirits, hopes, and dreams crumbled to ash. All those hundreds of years ago, he fought the Thel-ghan'che in there, alone. It was only fitting that he finish it off where he started.

The Protector growled as it continued to search through its mind and through the world for cures or solutions that it could give Robless and his team, still finding nothing. It'd been digging through all the knowledge of the world for hours, and still had found nothing. It stood, frustrated and strode over to where Robless was headed for the ship.

"I have found nothing. I still retain that you must not infuse Eris-Tam with the Lyikos. The results will be less than desirable for all involved. You can still leave her there... at this point she's too far gone to return to any sort of functioning capacity. You have to leave her, there are no other acceptable options." The Protector sighed heavily.

Krakot shook himself off as he stood up. He pushed his way past several of Kennan's crew and burst out of the ship.

"I appologize, but I must see Robless." He said in his human-synthetic mix voice. "You must understand." Without waiting for a reply he strode off, kicking up clouds of red dust as he moved. Is.... is this right? I..... I have to help. But what should I do? Who would trust me. It has been a matter of hours since I invaded the 10th, and now I'm helping them? ...No. Must complete mission. Whatever the cost. I have offered my help. They have taken it. Trust is a lower matter. The Dreadlor-.... Verax... cannot have his way.

He kept wrapped up in his thoughts until he literally ran into Commander Robless. Regaining composure quickly, he muttered an appology and saluted. "Commaned Robless. New Stalker Intiative. Previous Tyrant. I am Krakot. We seek to assist."

Robless saluted Krakot back and looked up at the strange being. "One of Verax's generals? Heard the news from the head scientist up at Meridia before I lost contact with him. Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment..."

He turned to the Fels and looked into the Protector's eyes. "Well, this is my last option, and I will use the Lyikos if you do not find a good alternative. If you are uncooperative and I am forced to end you, so be it. Fels would understand."

Another man in team leader's armor ran up behind Krakot and saluted Robless. He returned the favor. "Lieutenant Kennan, 1st Black Legion Special Forces, sir!" Robless nodded to Kennan and faced the general again.

"I appreciate any help you can offer, Krakot. Verax is a dangerous and cruel man, but he is knowledgeable, and that's why we need people like you and Luna. Come with us, we have more to discuss on the ride to Crenel."

And so Robless stepped off and led the group forward once more, towards the Leviathan's hulking figure, keeping a wary eye on the Protector. Fels seemed to take over for a moment and look at Robless with worrisome eyes before the Protector assumed control again. Robless felt a tingling sensation in his spine. Whoever the "Protector" was, this could only end badly.

Krakot hung his head. "I apologize for the harm I inflicted upon your already severed army. I understand fully if you feel the need to keep me under surveillance or not allow me full access to materials and information. I don't even really trust myself any more..... but that is besides the point. Commander Robless, I can tell you Verax's normal strategy is simply to overwhelm the enemy with superior numbers and firepower." He paused.

"I would recommend before trying to take Verax head-on, you attempt to reunify the New Stalker Initiative, and the Separatists. You will need every ship you can to face the Voyager, as Lurinia is upgrading not only it's armor, but it's weapons and ships. Speaking of the Separatists.... I believe Vabin was assigned to the Interdimension to assault them." He once again paused. He hoped he was helping as the two walked.

"I.... I don't know what else to offer. Please, feel free to ask me anything if you have a question." And so they continued to walk in silence.

The Protector sighed in dismay. Robless refused to understand that it was only trying to help him and his friends, Eris-Tam included. The consequences would come, if Robless continued to defy the Protector's wishes, and ignore its intentions. Why did everyone fail to see that it had their best interests at heart? Only more destruction would come of Eris-Tam's "rescue." Only greater villians to face, more evils to overcome, more despair to follow. And yet... Robless would not give up. He would not accept the fact that there really was nothing he could do to save her in the end. He seemed to... feel the need to save her. Like it was his responsibility. After all, he was partially responsible for Eris-Tam's situation. But still... it was not his fault that he became infected in the first place. Eris-Tam knew the risks of trying to take Robless' burden away, and she did know what might happen. Robless needed to give up, that's what he needed to do. It was only logical, and the Protector was a logical creature. Emotions did not cloud its judgement, so it could not understand why Robless would feel required to do so much for Eris-Tam. Yes, he owed her much, including an apology for everything he did to her while under the parasite's influence, but still... he refused to believe that leaving her there would be best for her and for everyone.

It was just so... irritating.

The Protector followed Robless onto the ship, and began pacing back and forth across the ship's bridge. It was worried. It was worried about the consequences that would arise from what these people were foolishly about to do. Why couldn't they just listen? The Protector sighed.

The harsh white lights of the Leviathan left Robless disoriented after being outside and in the darkness for so long. Nevertheless, he navigated to the bridge with ease on the relatively small ship, which was still huge to any onlookers on the ground.

The heavy bulkhead that opened into the bridge and control room whirred to life and slid smoothly out of the way; the sign of a new, well-maintained ship. Crewmen looked up from the ship's start-up routine for a moment, saluted, and returned to their jobs quietly. Robless picked out the navigator and walked towards him on the smooth, glinting metal floor.

He seemed quite young, but the look in his eyes said he was a veteran crew member.

"Good morning, sir. Is there anything you need?"

"Soldier, take us to the Interdimension, fast and quiet. They'll need forward warning of Vabian's attack if they're going to survive. The Separatists may have been our enemies, but there's a more dangerous foe now; we need to re-unite the Stalkers under one flag, and that won't happen if we're all dead. Got it?"

"Yes, sir, will do. The start-up procedures are almost complete. We'll take off in ten minutes."

Robless gave the navigator an officer's salute and turned around. The others were in the cargo bay, save for the Protector, who came to the bridge with him. He motioned to him and they left the bridge silently.

The black-purple hologram of Luna beamed up in front Robless, as she was merely a shadow, it was impossible to see that her face looked concerned. She had considerable time to go over everything she had been taught, and was finally convinced she knew what was going on. And she didn't like it.

"Commander," She began, "Did the Protector tell you it doesn't want Eris-Tam saved? If it did, did it say why?" The concern in her voice was unmistakable. It had taken a lot of Krakot's power, and a lot of time to piece together what, at least what Luna thought without a doubt, Verax was doing by sending his generals on these assaults and particularly why he sent Vabin here to the Cave. It made sense, if her intuitions were true, but she needed to ask some questions. She hoped she was wrong.

"It...The Protector claims that it cannot tell us, only that bad things will come from it," Robless responded to Luna's first question. "Is there something wrong? Does it have to do with Ver-"

The realization came down on Robless like a hammer. Krakot's assault on the Tenth Dimension, Vabin's mysterious appearance in the Lyikos Den, and even the addition of the Protector; they were all connected, weren't they?

"My God, Luna, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Things were looking worse by the minute. The Protector caught wind of their plans and, if Robless' speculations were right, would have informed the Dreadlord of their actions.

Doubt clouded the Commander's mind again, and maybe he was completely wrong. The Protector could have been...No, that was not right. Leaving Eris-Tam to die was not right at all. The Protector was wrong, Robless was sure of it. Its true intentions stayed hidden in the mist, waiting to strike.

Then again, he could be wrong. It was only human.

The hologram shook her head. "Humans are so difficult to discern. If you are assuming that the Protector serves Verax, than you are wrong. But... do you remember what Verax spoke of when you first encountered him on Mars?" She paused, still piecing it together. She thought over her next words for a while.

"Balance..... I don't know much about it, but as Vabin said that all forces seek to exist in balance, I believe that is what all these..... Guardians..... seek. Balance between each and every force."

"What Verax said was right. The universe is unbalanced, Order and Light are in surplus, while Chaos and Darkness are diminished. Every time Verax attacks fail, we see him grow more and more unsteady, more erratic, unhinged. But also more powerful." She shivered. This was tormenting her, and it could only get worse.

"Krakot and I think that each time that what you and the other leaders stand for triumphs over him, that somehow the universe feeds him more power to try to compensate for the loss of Chaos and Darkness. But what happens when he becomes corrupted and consumed by Chaos? What happens if you all keep beating him to the point where he becomes only Chaos and power?" She hung her head and put a hand to her forehead.

"Sorry, just.... I'm still thinking about it. But eventually, I think you'll have to make a choice. If I'm right, that is. I could be wrong and this could all be coincidental, or if this whole balance thing is real and it works like karma but like blowing up one of your ships to compensate, but if I am right, eventually you'll have to choose between giving into The Dreadlord and watch as his plan -which Krakot and I have no idea of- .... or welcome a being that can only be described as destruction, darkness, endless and infinite oblivion given form." She looked up, trying to let it all sink in. It was still wild speculation, but it was possible, and if it was true.......

Well, better to think of that when it comes.

"Luna, are you all right?"

Something was awry. It was if something was clawing the back of her mind and urging her to stop. Robless saw the look of concern on Luna's face despite her best attempts to hide it. There was something disturbing her, he could tell. She straightened up and returned to normal at Robless' question, as if she was concealing something again.

The Protector had been standing nearby during the whole conversation, possibly unnoticed by Robless and Krakot, and Luna. The Protector understood the problem they saw, and in fact it was a large part of why the Guardian saw it neccessary to stop them. Their first speculation- that it was serving Verax- was, in fact, false. However... if Robless continued to refuse cooperation it might be a good idea to take that course of action. Luna was right- Verax would only grow more powerful the more times they defeated him. It would restore the balance, but... despite the Protector's purpose to protect that balance, it still leaned towards the side of light. It still wanted light to prevail, in the end. But it could be only barely. If there was too much an imbalance the Universe would step in to correct it.

The Protector stepped forward, joining the conversation.

"You are correct in many things. I do not serve the Dreadlord, or his interests. I do serve the light, whether you choose to see it or not. I am a being of good, and I would prefer to see you come out on top." The Protector paused, looking to each person, then continued, "I am not supposed to reveal the nature of things to... neutral components, as we would refer to you, however... I feel it is neccessary to do so in order to prove that I am not out to harm or destroy you." The Protector took a deep breath.

"You are correct. We seek to uphold the balance. You, and Verax, are also correct that Light and Good have too much hold over the balance. The Universally ideal state would be a fifty-fifty, perfectly equal control. However, as I am a being of Light, I still... prefer that Goodness have a slightly stronger hold on things than Darkness and Chaos. But... as you have concluded, things cannot become too unbalanced. If that happens..." The Protector shudders, and turns away slightly, "Then other forces will step in. The Universe will forcibly correct the balance back to a completely equal state. And I fear what will happen to the forces of Light when it does."

There. The Protector had said it. There was no going back. Not now. And at this point, it had done everything it could possibly do to convince Robless and the others that leaving Tam was the best course of action. Now... if they still failed to recognize that it was right... then the Protector would have only one option left- and that was one they had already recognized. As much as the Protector hated the idea...

It might be forced to go to the Dreadlord, and aid the forces of Chaos.

"Are you sure thats a good idea? BALANCE, SHMALLANCE! NEHEHEHEHEHAAAA!" Zero laughed as he danced his way in. "Well what have we here, a tyrant, a robot, an A.I. too? Soldiers and schemers and schematics, oh my! Your differences divide you, and thats while you'll die!" He vanished, and when he reappeared he was leaning on the Protector.

"But really, you and Vabin and the other balance obsessed people, balance is like a seal, it's purpose is needed, but what happens if it breaks? If the universe goes out of balance, then the defiler is destroyed, the balance would be in the hands of the people and life to make it right, right? Also, the Dreadlord's plan is foolproof. His failure to destroy you, Vabin's failure, all of that were done to make Verax increase in power! You either give in and let him take the world, or you resist until he's too powerful to stop! You listening, no not you people, YES YOU, LOOKING AT THE MONITOR, how this could be a Xhantos Gambit? Good! Then I'm done here, also, if you don't get a move on, I'm going to TOW this ship to Crenel! JOY OH JOY!" He danced around a bit more and pulled out a cake on the end of his silver harpoon-like 2-yard long rifle. It fired, spraying cake everywhere.

"In hindsight, I probably should have left the safety on and set it to NOT have that random fire on it's own thingy. Oh well, cake for ALL the people! COLON D." And he sprung up and shoved his face in Robless's, before asking the entire crew, "Now, do you all have any questions, or can I go bother Ky- I mean Zyria and Dreston and all those people?"

The Protector just sighed, shaking its head in disdain.

Most of the crew stared up at Zero blankly before wiping cake off their consoles and continuing to work as if nothing had happened. Robless told Zero he had no questions for him, and secretly hoped that he would go bother Zyria and Dreston.

"Heart rate is slow, but consistent!" A group of medics rush Caz into the medbay, hurrying him over to a bed. The lay him in the bed, then begin furiously working to stop whatever bleeding continued to bleed, whatever pain continued to hurt. They rush, believing the wounds to be much worse than they really are.

Zyria follows behind them. She doesn't rush, though; in fact, quite the contrary, she moves sluggishly, watching as the medics work over Caz, fixing wounds that are dangerous to him, but not fatal, as they think. She feels like joining, helping to busy crew, but she leaves them to do what they were meant to do. Instead, she walks over to Caz's bed, and sits in a chair next to it, as silent as can be.

The crew is becoming frantic. "He's not conscious, at least, I don't think he is. His heart rate is so slow, there's no way he can still be conscious. We should be able to wake him, though, and nothing's working!"

Zyria looks over at the upset doctor, and leans over toward the poor man. "You won't be able to wake him. Don't worry about his heart rate, or his consciousness, just please mend the physical wounds, that's the best you can do. Please." The doctor looks at her, obviously feeling helpless, and nods, barking orders at the others to stitch up the deeper wounds. Zyria leans back in the chair, laying her head back, but her eyes still glued to Caz.

Why--What--I-I don't even know what to think. Too much happened at once. Caz met his Neiede, and broke the link. That's a painfully simple way of putting it, I suppose. I'm just glad that the others are handling getting us to Tam, because SOMEONE needs to think this through. Wherever Caz's Neiede went, I hope he's safe. -sigh- Caz, poor Caz. He damaged us badly, so I can't even fathom how much he's hurt himself in doing so.

[[Someone that isn't needed in the other conversation can jump in anytime. If no one does, I can manifest up another post]]

Three men rushed into the med-bay with an over-sized stretcher. Ma'at lay on his back, uninjured but still fuming at Drel-Caz, struggling against his restraints when he saw Zyria standing up. He was wheeled to the opposite end of the room, out of sight and behind a screen from Zyria and Caz.

The two stretcher bearers left while the third man remained to watch Ma'at. A medic came out of the back room and approached him.

"Who is this?"

"One of the expedition members. Cassus informed me by radio that one of the search teams found him and subdued him. As you can see, he is quite angry right now, and Cassus gave me orders to keep him away from Zyria and the Kazesqui across the room."

"Leaving no one behind, I see. Good work. You are dismissed, soldier."

-~-

"Pilot, get us off this planet."

The chief navigator received a green light and a thumbs-up from the pilot, and the engines roared to life in a timely fashion.

Outside, a miniature dust storm raged in the wake of the Leviathan's six main thrusters and eight booster engines. The numerous maneuvering thrusters located around the hull flared to life and brought the ship to a hover above the red sands. Moments later, the sound from the engines rose in pitch and they were accelerating over the ground and into the sky at a breakneck pace.

"We are airborne. Adjusting to orbit."

The reddish skies disappeared behind and the black expanse of space surrounded the Leviathan. This was Stalker territory, and most of the crewmen had lived in space most of their lives.

"Warp drives engaging. We're going home. Interdimension, here we come."

A blue light blinked in front of the ship, opening a small blue tear in space that took them through the wormhole and into the next world.

Locking thread and moving to Unveiling the Storm.