Vescrutia: Legacy

The war of sills and souls finally had its quarreled ended. If not for the intervention of his father, Dalazar would have been devoured by the same flames that seemed to have thwarted the malicious plans of the group of evildoers. Or did it? There was still so much that he did not understand. His body was filled with unanswered questions, but as he sheepishly gained consciousness, he found himself too buddled in the brain even to process everything that had transpired right now. Though his wounds were healed, the blood and singed cloth still were on her person.

"Where...where am I?"

He said as his eyes opened, seeing the floor of the resort, and though it was cleared of blood, his mind saw flashbacks of its previous sanguine visage. The shock made him panic, squirming about on Lana's shoulders.

"No, NO!"

So much blood, so many bodies, the screams how they echoed in his mind. He wrested himself from Lana's grasp, landing on his feet. He gripped his face, the horror carved into it.

"I...I..."

He looked around...to find nothing. Despite the debris and rubble not a single body nor a drip of blood save for that on his own person.

"Was...was it just a dream?"

That was impossible; he could still feel the sting of the flames as they fed on his flesh. The cursed magic that coursed through him, the raw hatred that fed that strength. The laugh of Aaar as he tormented him the entire time. No, it all happened; there was something else at work here. Something much deeper. However, he could not bring himself to pinder it any further. Though healded, he was still quite winded by the ordeal. He looked to find Veronica back to her old self, a sight that brought a bit of calm to his frantic heart. David and Lana were both alive as well....thank goodness, he thought, as everything was a giant blur after he witnessed the death of the elderly man. Even his body was not there anymore. His eyes laid on Zero, who was in the clutches of another. He wanted to ask him many things but found himself incapable of forming the words.

"Father..."

He placed his hand in front of him, and his body felt different, stronger, much stronger than when he first arrived here. It was true then; he had awakened as an Ascendant after all. And with it, a whole different slew of emotions...the moment he regained some of his composure, his scarf would return to him, returning to its normal size under his neck as if trying to comfort the displaced prince.

"I don't understand...what...what happened..."

Azul relied on his intuition and his quick draw to bring some kind of clarity to this situation. The whole scene confused him, from the group tending the wounded to how decidedly unscathed everyone here was. Azul had heard rumors that his old friend had been party to the massacre at The Fall. A whole city was wiped off the face of Vescrutia in a night, a fest Azul barely believed but believed nonetheless. Zero's reputation on the high seas and his prolific acquisition of Reliqs du Ven eviscerated whole crews at a time. He made himself rich off the backs of bad men, and might have been worse than them all, taking out his frustrations on every enemy he made for himself. The ferocity his reputation carried as an international bully and perpetual problem child has been on display for years and today, it seemed to be suspiciously phoned in. Azul hated nothing more than a lackluster performance.

In the blink of an eye Azul swung his hands toward the sky and the swirling wind around him disappeared. I'm the same moment a sheet of wind swirled from wall to wall in the empty lobby. It shrunk towards Zero's body in a snapping screech, the pressure cleaved a ridge of sand from what was left of the building's crumbling foundation. Azul knew he had just one chance to catch Zero now that he broke free of David's enchanted bottle, once that man gets on a roll, he's almost impossible to slow down, so you have to get him while he's distracted.

I hope I'm not too late...

Zero knew he was lucky to have Azul on the scene, he was always the more pragmatic of the two. Azul’s position in Alsace had him managing a number of different groups of people, which Zero always appreciated about him. Their friendship was riddled with moments where Zero’s arrogance made him an adversary of the other Alsace members and Azul consistently stepped in before any of their clashes got messy. Born with the world in his eyes, craving everything he saw on the horizon, a young Zero had no idea what remorse was if he didn’t respect your opinion. Though he learned so much from Azul, this moment he was just lucky to also know his repertoire of Arbiters.

Zero’s toes tapped the ground and he disappeared into the into the air far above the building cackling loud as hell, so that anyone outside could see and hear him declare what would be his final edict as the scoundrel of Uran.

“I’m outta here! Azul, Lambda, Diamond Dust, you were all fools to think you’d keep me contained!”

Zero snapped his fingers and disappeared again, this time in a flash of lightning over and out of the city. The only thing left after was a small whisper, “Sorry,” and he completely vanished.

In the blink of an eye Azul swung his hands toward the sky and the swirling wind around him disappeared. I'm the same moment a sheet of wind swirled from wall to wall in the empty lobby. It shrunk towards Zero's body in a snapping screech, the pressure cleaved a ridge of sand from what was left of the building's crumbling foundation. Azul knew he had just one chance to catch Zero now that he broke free of David's enchanted bottle, once that man gets on a roll, he's almost impossible to slow down, so you have to get him while he's distracted

As Dalazar began to shake the remnants of his confusion a fearsome gale of wind erupted from Azul towards Zero who’s mad ramblings on managed to refuel Dalazar confusion. He knew this well ran deep but hadn’t the smallest clue as to just how tangled this web of connections were. Furthermore, Zero’s implication that this was all part of some nefarious plot of his though not off brand from what everyone here experienced, just didn’t quite add up to him. It was true, out of everyone here Dalazar had the shortest relationship with Zero, but he could not believe the “Ruler” of Madeira was some sinister villain playing them all for fools.

“Zero…”

He said faintly just as Azul attempt to capture him resulted in utter failure. In a literally flash Zero had fled the scene leaving them all to deal with the citizens of Ulran. As the bolt came and went the soft whisper of “Sorry” felt almost like it was for him… Despite how everything went Dalazar was sure he and Zero’s paths would cross once more.

“Wait…”

He paid closer attention to the gaping hole in the ceiling. From there he glanced around him to find the resort in ruin…

“What happened here…am…I”

His word were soft in disbelief. Azar’s hold on him because of his weakness…was he the cause of this destruction? His gaze turned to Lana who fortunes no longer was suffering from the harm she came into from protecting him. His eyes were different no gazing upon her with a prominent amber gleam.

A tired sigh seethed from Azul as Zero disappeared with nothing more than a disrespectful goodbye. He looked up into the empty air, full of smoke and some clouds on an otherwise clear day in the desert. He had one chance to bring him down and he missed it again.

“Not again.”

David, Lana, Veronica, and Rafal stood there in amazement, all the work they put into helping the city of Uran went up in smoke right before their eyes. Veronica looked almost completely dumbfounded, remembering a complimentary glass of sparkling wine before a gap in her memory, pitch black stretch of time accented with muffled screams. She awoke to ruin. The sight of beautiful Uranan architecture smashed to bits brought a tear to her eye, the scholar in her wept for their loss, but confusion raked at her. Zero had reappeared just to vanish in to thin air and apologize for the mess?

"Diamond Dust guys. What the hell happened?" Azul called directly Lana by association, but David directly. He breezily stepped over to Bo, pulling him the rest of the way to his feet. He couldn't tell up from down and felt like trickery were afoot. With Bo still in his firm, but gentle grip, Azul stared daggers at David, the one who Azul thought to be responsible for everyone else. "We had a plan. You swore that your bottle would keep him from escaping. "

"It was supposed to work" David spat back, snatching the shattered bottle bottom off the ground. He held it directly up to Azul's face, pointing out the faint texture on the inside. "See that? It's degraded as hell, and that was your craft work. You even admitted that you weren't used to collaborating with your Mistral Art, so I don't know what you wan--"

Azul stepped to David in a violent gust that launched his own gunmetal locks around wildly, but only felt like a breeze to his suspiciously huddled audience.

"You promised it would hold him till at least the morning. Now we have a traumatized city, broken artifacts, and we just listened to one of the worst monologues I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing. I'm confused and there is an international criminal on the loose that WE were brought here to bring to justice and he just vanished after blowing this resort to kingdom come!"

Azul stopped to catch his breath, heaving angrily in David's defiant face.

"We're all guests here and are effectively leaving it a bit worse for the wear, one of the exact crimes he's being charged with. Lambda might try to sentence us as accomplices."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that it's all Zero's fault, isn't it?" He asked, just barely a whisper more quietly than he spoke before.

A shiver ran down Lana's spine at the ease with which David just let that lie spill from his lips. That moment turned something over in her mind, David always treated her with respect and grace, always looked out for her and many other members of Diamond Dust over the years, a medicine man commanding respect gently. But in that moment she saw a man with his own agenda and it gave her tremendous pause.

Azul stared him down in disbelief. "You're not... Serious..."

"As a heart attack."

Azul had the pleasure of arriving late to the party, missing the bulk of the performance by the mercenaries brought here by virtue of their history with the former pirate just slipped through their grip. The briefing Fenri gave David and Lana for this mission described some of the threats the three teams posed by themselves, but failed to account for the level of coordination between them. David's experience informed his executive decision for the greater good since the alternative might have been real bodies lying on the floor around them. From where he stood, releasing Zero could have prevented more bloodshed and he might have elected to do so sooner. Faced with the choice between prosecuting him and becoming criminals themselves, he could stomach playing the blame game.

"Wait, you expect me to believe Zero trashed this whole building just to escape prosecution?" Veronica said, inserting herself between Azul and David. She pushed them both away from one another to cool at least Azul's attitude. She turned to Azul with a far outstretched finger giving him a stern wagging in cadence with her voice. "And even if he did, why are you angry at David? I got drugged and Bo looked really hurt a few seconds ago. We all know Zero wouldn't do that to his friends."

David, Azlu, and Lana's eyes all froze and traced over to Veronica’s. Admittedly, they all truthfully had a very close connection to Zero, but Veronica spoke with a clear candor, a certain familiar tone that none of them expected of the scholar. But before they could twist their mouths to query her relationship, they heard the commotion outside through the fresh sunroof Bo gave the resort.

The rumblings outside the hotel grew into a swell of discordant yells. Anger and vitriol spilled over the crumbling walls crying out for relief. Azul and David still locked eyes over Veronica’s head, but seemed to acknowledge the fact that she was right. It was like Lambda said when they arrived in the Janus Chamber, though she placed a bounty on his head, she invited Zero’s past colleagues for first dibs. Bo’s uncanny timing threw wrench directly into her carefully laid plans.

The mixed murmurs outside grew to more concerted chants accented with rage and confusion. Rafal, while quietly observing this meeting of the minds from a place of concern, turned his attention to the crumbled rubble in front of where the doors used to be. “It seems our trouble city would like to have a word with you, my friends,” he said, half chuckling to himself.

“Zero! … Zero, … stice! … Zero, justice! Zero justice!” The chants filled the open air atrium like Arcenaux bulletfire in controlled release, a symphony calling for what the embattled crew had been searching for since arriving, justice.

Veronica’s eyes darted between Azul and David as Azul’s breathing and the breezes around him slowed to rest. David took a big sigh and knocked some dust off his shoulder before helping Bo to his feet . Lana, still reeling from David’s treacherous conversation with Azul, ,collapsed to the floor and groaned out an exhausted sigh, mumbling two words: “We’re cooked.”

“Rafaaaaaal!” Rained down from the skylight as Lambda’s shadow towered over them from the destroyed wall. Her body was in shadow, a bright light beaming from behind her casting the ragtag crew of Zero’s former acquaintances and friends into darkness.

“Aye, milady, I saw the whole thing!” He called up to her with a coy smile and a thumbs up.

Even in shadow, anyone could see how belabored her breathing was, still exhausted from using the light of ther Anthem to tie Zero down for as long as she could. Rafal looked back to the darkened crew and shot a wink at them before taking a deceptively light single leap to stand next to Lambda on the wall. From his vantage point, looking out over his beautiful city felt somber as the streets in front of the hotel were stocked with rubble and people, shoulder to shoulder with arms high and mouths wide calling for righteous retribution. His appearance on the wall beside Lambda brought the chants to a slow, as his stature and caring demeanor always had a calming effect on the people. Lambda’s mood felt no such relief, the city’s public house and bath was destroyed, Zero escaped after being brought to heel, and none of the people invited seemed to be able to keep up their end of the bargain when it came time to produce results. She was livid, exhausted, and at the end of her rope, contemplating how she could tell the city that she had failed. The people cast in her shadow were traitors in her eyes, aiding and abetting the escape of Uran’s most heinous criminal, and yet she felt a pang of hesitation that kept her focus on Azul and David, the two who reported the closest ties to the escaped convict.

“ZERO. JUSTICE. ZERO JUSTICE!”

They promised her and the city itself a quiet detainment of the former pirate, but what they received was bedlam. Lambda wished she had the constitution to have joined them to prevent this kind of chaos from happening, recalling the aftershocks that shook the city with the Waves of Horus’ removal from the Janus Chamber. The fear and uncertainty that rocked the city took years to quell, even if the more sinister effects of the situation would run deeper than she herself could easily believe. Now, it was shattered in a single afternoon, with nothing to show for their efforts but more destruction.

“What happened here?” Lambda asked Rafal, eyes locked with Azul.

“Your plan to use his old colleagues to track him was a good one. They are responsible for most of this mess, but those down there are Zero’s peers. The other crews with the shady backgrounds were just that, and responsible for most of this destruction.”

“They say it was Zero who did this.”

“‘They’ will say anything to make sense of confusion, but we must do what is necessary to keep the peace.”

“I’m at my wit’s end” Lambda said, her voice almost breaking for her city, her people. “How do you explain my failures to my people after failing them twice?”

“Let me handle that…. Ahem” Rafal said, stepping over the side to fall in front of the crowd to address their concerns. Lambda stepped from her perch and into the open lobby, approaching the defeated team demanding answers with every stride.

"Diamond Dust guys. What the hell happened?" Azul called directly Lana by association, but David directly. He breezily stepped over to Bo, pulling him the rest of the way to his feet. He couldn't tell up from down and felt like trickery were afoot. With Bo still in his firm, but gentle grip, Azul stared daggers at David, the one who Azul thought to be responsible for everyone else. "We had a plan. You swore that your bottle would keep him from escaping. "

His body lifted from the ground with ease. Azul's seemingly lazily moving with the wind backing as if it were second nature reminded him so much of his twin, Nalumire. His brother's death, though so many years ago, still felt like a fresh wound. He was reminded of his kin with every breeze that passes every howling gale. Even with Azul's tempestuous attitude and yet, despite his fury, his grip on Bo, though firm, was like a feather. Bo could tell that Azul was powerful. The way that Venkage so intrinsically navigated the world...was this the difference between humans and fae? Though the situation was intense, the tempers of David and Azul came off as brotherly, a fond memory, and though he might never get the chance to create new ones. The one he had, he would hold onto forever.

"Accomplices?"

What did he expect? They were already on thin ice even being here, a city that hid itself away from the world to protect its way of life, whose kindness had already been taken advantage of once before. Then there, once again, their homes were in danger, their buildings in tatters, but most of all, their peace shattered. His greatest regret of falling to the cursed flames was the horror he struck in the people's hearts. A people who showed him nothing but compassion herald him as a hero almost for returning a criminal who'd eluded justice after robbing them blind. Fed him shared their history with him. They held nothing back...and neither did he when he recklessly allowed his anger to destroy the land they loved. Thier pride...

"Then I guess it's a good thing that it's all Zero's fault, right?" He asked, just barely a whisper more quietly than he spoke before.

His eyes widened with surprise, his mouth slightly ajar. Did they believe that charade of Zeroes? He was still delirious in the middle of Zero's speech when he first came. He couldn't see why Zero would even take the fall like this when he aimed to get the Waves of Horus back to Uran. A goal that no one knew he had before Bo spoke on it; whatever their refashion with Zero, whatever his sorted past might have been, he was willing to turn himself over to be imprisoned twice when it would've been much more straightforward for him to drop artifacts off on their doorstep. The only person responsible today for the gaping hole in the ceiling was Bo, and though he could not speak to the code of honor Diamond Dust as a whole, his code would not let him stand idly by while they unjustly accuse someone who risked his freedom. After all, if they looked at the whole picture, no one could've predicted that those assailants would have followed them here.

"Veronica's right..."

He said as he winced, still in a bit of pain though his most grievous wounds were healed. He dusted the debris from him.

"If the repetition of Diamond Dust is so important, you are willing to frame someone to save face."

His eyes rested on his outstretched hands, his palms still scarred by the flames, the searing pain echoing in his memory.

"At least point the finger at the guy who did it. Not the one who tried to make things right!"

He said, clenching his fist as he barked back at the idea. His eyes locked onto David passionately. His inability to see through the illusions spiraled his magic out of control; who knows what might've happened if the battle spilled into the streets? Perhaps he was also trying to atone for his guilt by martyring himself. But when he thought about letting someone take the blame for his actions, he could not help but shake with anger.

"I Will- huh?"

“Zero! … Zero, … stice! … Zero, justice! Zero justice!” The chants filled the open air atrium like Arcenaux bulletfire in controlled release, a symphony calling for what the embattled crew had been searching for since arriving, justice.

Their cries for retribution soon filled tried to fill the battered resort barreling down on the party with vocally demanding reprisal for the injustice their home faced. As their wrathful cadence grew, Lambda descended from the skies as an angel of fury. Her eyes carried both rage and confusion, demanding an answer, and rightfully so. Boy's eyes grew softer with a tinge of worry; he promised her they would get to the bottom of this and respect and safeguard her home. But look at what he had done, granted in self-defense; nevertheless, the end results were the same.

“They say it was Zero who did this.”

"Lambda..."

She felt herself a a fool for the chaos she brought to her peoples' doorstep. Foolish of her to believe a character like Zero wouldn't have garnered some enemies in his time abroad. On their first meeting, Zero regaled her with stories of his times lost in adventures, searching for the next item to catch his eye. He lived a free and open life blessed by grand adventures and good friends he spoke highly of, walking with him into the jaws of certain death and still emerging unscathed. Part of her admired his reckless abandon and good fortune, but there lived a sinister streak within him, able to say and do whatever he pleased to get what he wanted. Even now, in the wake of his escape, he twisted the situation to his favor and left without paying for his crimes, though the Waves of Horus' return is worth more than Zero's detention.

"All things considered," Azul said as he relaxed his shoulders, resigning to the reality of the situation. "This isn't a total loss." Though Zero was gone, they retrieved the Waves of Horus and could begin the work to repair them. The task was a great one, and they needed to consult the Oro back in the Archipelago to begin the process. No matter what happened with Zero, the restoration of the forgotten peoples of Uran took priority.

"You're absolutely right," Veronica said.

"We're still going to have a rough time when we get back," Lana said, nudging David with a firm kick in the shin.

"I think he'll come around when we tell him exactly what happened," David said nonchalantly.

Rafal had climbed back over to the outside and began weaving the tale of the day's events, the crowd's chants had subsided, their anger assuaged with the appearance of their resident bard. Everyone fell quiet, taking in the voice of the city's biggest fan and culture keeper. He told them nothing but the truth, that the Waves of Horus had been returned by their newest comrade from afar, Bo. Zero, though in custody for a while, had escaped with the help of some more nefarious individuals who were just as crafty as they were deadly. The other guests from Diamond Dust played their part in forestalling catastrophe, getting everyone in the public house out safely at the expense of the building itself. Though they lost a local treasure, buildings can be rebuilt and more memories can be made. Their city could begin to heal.

The murmurs coming over the blown top of the lobby brought a smile to Veronica's face. The crowd was happy to hear things could go back to normal, their hearts began to feel whole again.

Lambda sighed and shrugged, satisfied enough that her people were satisfied with the events of the day. Azul ran both of his hands through is head and grunted wildly before huffing loudly and hanging his head, his long hair draped over his face. David chuckled while patting Azul on the back. "You'll get him next time, buddy."

"So what do we do now?" Lana asked.

"I think it's about time we got you all home," Lambda replied, scanning the rest of the rubble surrounding them. Silver linings aside, the city had seen enough excitement from outsiders for a lifetime compared to what they were used to. With the artifact in safer hands with Azul and Gunther working on its repair and the rest of the plucky adventurers left to fend for themselves in the aftermath. Bo, the most unassuming of guests suffered the most at the hands of the traitorous assailants, so Lambda felt it imperative to get him home safely.

"Where's home for you, friend?" Azul asked.

Dalazar could not help but hang his head in shame as Lambda's disappointed gaze scrutinizingly ran over them all. He felt particularly at fault as the damages were from losing his senses. He could still scarcely believe it; the situation that seemed like it would end with Zero possibly redeemed and heralded as champion had ended in tragedy with Zero's name more bisected than ever and the likelihood of outsiders being wheeled into their lands again, practically well Zero. Though it seemed things had died down and they wouldn't be arrested, Dazlar still felt the weight of it all. He was still able to feel the searing hot wrath of the cursed flames lingering ....his flesh may be healed, but his mind and heart were heavy with trauma.

The awakening of his Kingsblood and his nature as an Ascendant left him with more questions than when he arrived. But the ones he needed answered had been. His speculations were proven true; His brother had become passed by the spirit of Azar just as he had been. Though the cursed flame originally was sealed inside of Dalazar, the protection of the Ruby Queen kept Azar's hateful malice from being able to possess him. So, the dark deity needed another avenue. Instead, he manipulates the conflicting emotions of his elder brother Myos by planting seeds within him. Unable to kill the twins, he purposefully created the scenario that caused his brother's power to manifest. The protection only served to keep the twins from outside harm; its enchantment could not prevent its influence from being the cause of their demise.

Azar killed his brother.

Azar killed his father.

And if Dalazar did not hurry and complete the Path of Kings, he feared who would be next to face the firey wraiths' wrath.

"Where's home for you, friend?" Azul asked.

His next inhaled breath became sharp. The mere mention of it was enough to bring his eyes to water, but he held his contempt in. He had cried enough for one day. As he was right now, his light magic was now sealed in place of the cursed flames, and returning home would be suicide. But they could, at the very least, get him close to the place revealed to him.

"The Neives Landscapes, deep within that frozen land, is something I must do. If it isn't too much trouble for you."

He said with a humble bow. Wiping his eyes before he lifted back up.