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After what seems like an extraordinarily long time languishing in the horrific pit, a somewhat lethargic Kai hears a sound from above -- a very slight scuffling.
Kai stands slowly, leans back against the wall, and gazes up.
It's hard to make out exactly what's going on above, but it would appear that someone in a dark cloak is standing above. In a hoarse whisper, a voice calls down, "Are you shackled? Can you move?"
Kai: She peers up in silence for a moment before whispering, "I am bound, yes."
The figure's cloak blows a little in the cruel black wind, and there's a pause. "Hold on," Kai hears. The figure leans over and places something on the ground. It's hard to make out what it is, but it skitters and moves in an insectoid fashion down the waves of iron centipedes that make up the walls of the pit.
After a few moments, Kai hears some soft chittering and clinking; then, a moment later, a metallic snap as one of her shackles falls away.
Kai rubs her wrists in the darkness. "Who are you, then, coming to my aid?"
There's a silence again for a moment. Then the voice speaks again. "Your friends are journeying here to aid you. You should be able to find them if you walk southwest from here." It points helpfully since the cardinal directions are not tremendously obvious at the moment. "You should hurry."
Kai begins her careful attempt to climb the strange walls, mutting "This is far too much trouble ot go through just to get a knife in my back..."
The climb is somewhat unpleasant and moderately challenging as the centipedes writhe and squirm as she grabs them, but with some effort Kai reaches the top. The cloak-clad person -- Kai can make out its greenish tint now -- is standing some distance away. As Kai crests the top, he speaks again.
"You should recover your blade, but it may take some time to accomplish. You might want to use that, in the meantime." He points at a narrow blade, with a blue hilt and a golden blood channel, stuck carefully into the ground near Kai's feet.
Kai bends down toward the blade, then stops. Half crouched, she looks up at her rescuer. "What do I owe you?"
"If you are true to what I know of you, a favor that will align with your own goals. If not... perhaps something less pleasant." A brief pause. "You should make haste." With that, the figure turns and begins to run, in what would be "northeast."
Kai: After one more tense moment, she picks up the strange weapon. "Thank you." she says, then takes off in the opposite direction.
Kai runs through the landscape, seeing the strange, unknowable pillars of rock jut out of the sand over and over. A great building with a tower at one corner is visible in the distance.
Kai: As she runs, she occassionally bats up a loose stone off the ground, studying the weight and balance of the new blade.
With a few motes fed into its handle, the blade swings gently and with grace. It's lighter than the Daybreaker, but swifter too, and it glints a pleasant, calming color even in the cruel light of this realm.
Kai: "Hm," she mutters to herself, "Maybe I'll keep you around."
Kai encounters little opposition as she continues to move towards the tower. The cold wind is unpleasant but doesn't seem to bring her any weakness.
As she approaches, she can see a commotion has arisen near the foot of the building. Swarms of flying metal insects from the walls of the tower have spun off to attack something, and a few others -- God Exalts, most likely -- have joined the battle. Kai is not far from the fighting, now.
Kai attempts to quietly circle around and see exactly who's in the melee.
After a few minutes of stealthily darting from pillar to pillar, Kai can get a good look -- and it's hard to misrecognize Amika, the great scorpion that Lucent calls friend.
Kai: She slips down toward the battle, corssing to Amika as swiftly as possibly, slaying insects where she must.
Charging across the desert plain, Kai swings into action, surprising the God-Exalts thoroughly and briefly opening a hole in the overwhelming force.
Kai: As she reaches the great beast, she slows her pace, approaching with a little caution, since Luc doesn't appear to be about. "Hello, Amika. Good, uhm, good girl. You remember me, right?" Offhandedly, she skewers a god-exalt who strays too close.
Tags: (:tags Isles of Ash, Mysterious Figure, Eventide :)
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