Author: elusivephantom, Posted: Tue Mar 3, 2020 11:25 AM, Post Subject: The Pasts that Haunt [solo/one-off]

Khoisan was a place of fascination for the Fallen from another world; the city itself was ancient and crafted of lost technology beyond anything found even in the modern world. Magics and technology both new and old at once, strange and in some ways familiar. The entire city had been raised from the ground in a time before even stories could hope to reach. This place was a fortress in the sky; an airship built beneath the city of marvel and wonder the likes of which were rivaled by a very few in the modern world. As Kale could best recall, the list included his own airship and that of one of Angela’s spawns, if the rumors were true.

This city had proven such a fascination that Kale went out of his way to prove a value to the city beyond any suspicion that could be rallied against him. Recovering ancient relics and artifacts of pure myth and tales on behalf of the city facilitated his application for citizenship.

Kale had just delivered an artifact to one of the smiths in the trade district, a hammer that had once been rumored to have forged great weapons of renown by the smith’s ancestor. Neither he nor the smith had truly expected the relic to be found, but by some miracle it had once been enchanted in a manner that prevented its decay. The smith had actually paid with an exchange; a strange bracelet made back in Parvpora that had found its way into Khoisan’s market. Allegedly, if one dripped their blood on the gems it could cure minor wounds… Which made it utterly useless to Kale as his body violently rejected healing magic of any sort. Still, it was payment and he’d accepted it graciously.

With the job done, he took to wandering about the marketplace looking for anything that might catch his eye. There were, of course, the many pieces of jewelry adorned with gemstones of every gaudy fashion one could imagine. There were weapons and armors, trinkets and baubles, clothes and other such finery. These things held Kale’s amusement for a few moments, pausing longer to look at the strange weapons on display and making note of their function, but what held his interest more than the others were the mere trinkets and baubles that sat on shelves. Some of these were bare and plain but others had been adorned with gemstones of varying sizes, though none seemed terribly of import.

He froze as he caught sight of one relatively sizable stone set into what looked like a jewelry box carved from pearlwood as pure white as the airships making up this city’s foundation. The stone inlaid into the lid was a ruby of blood red and shaped like a four-pointed star; too impossibly perfect to have been crafted by even magical means. Kale’s face went momentarily pale as his eyes fell upon it and recognition struck him. This stone was one he’d thought lost to the seas when his airship had crashed and broken upon arrival. Without care of cost and without a moment’s hesitation, he bought the box.

In a bewildered daze, he sat upon one of the wooden benches nearby and stared at the gemstone. The stone, by some miracle, had found its way back to him. This stone, this impossible ruby, was something he’d killed for; someone he’d killed for so very long ago.

 A voice, that of his sister Alairia Grenich, whispered out from beside his shoulder, “It’s her, isn’t it,” the voice asked. “Yeah, Ria,” Kale answered with a lump in his throat, “Yeah, it’s her. She's home again.”