Wayfare to an Uncertain Asylum

Prelude

Arkanian gritted his teeth in pleasure as he watched the body of the beautiful young Terrestrial Exalt fall limp at his feet; however, his emotions betrayed him as he looked again to his companions smoldering body. Shaking his head he moved across the room, drawing Mugenjin, his soulsteel blade from it's sheath. She was nothing to him...just as this child was nothing to him. The souls trapped within the cold steel cried out as it plunged into the heart of the peasant child, ending her life and any hope of entering the cycle of lithe in a single thrust. Arkanian wiped his blade clean before sliding it back into its sheath, looking back to the motionless body of his former companion for a moment before footsteps in the hall brought him back to the present, he could not stay here. He immediately moved to the window in the room, breaking the glass with the hilt of his weapon before nimbly sliding through it; coattails of his cloak vanishing from view just as Lazarus entered the room.

Chapter I - Escaping the Spotlight

Whisper left town quickly, he could smell the blood of the town people on the air which meant this place would be crawling with hungry ghosts by nightfall, which was drawing near. He pulled a small black leather box from his belt, creaking open the box to look at the compass within; he already knew where it would point, it was even conveniently on his path, but somehow he had hoped that the bone needle would point another way. He needed a new place to lay low, Great Forks was drawing too much attention with three Deathlord agents working in the area, even The Cult of the Illuminated could not protect him from the storm he had brought upon himself. He wasn't even sure they would want to after what he'd just done, and he couldn't blame them.

As Whisper entered into the shadowland the seven deranged gods had created he somehow felt at home, he cursed his former master for that unwanted feeling. He set up camp in the calmest area of the shadowland, playing a soft melody upon his lyre to pass away the lonely hours of the evening. As nightfall settled into the haunted woods he passed into sleep, setting his sole traveling companion "Boko" the monkey to watch over the camp. He awoke at sunrise, eating a meager breakfast before setting off, he headed west leaving the haunted forest,the city of Great Forks, and his companions behind him.

Whisper kept off the roads and common paths, choosing to avoid the possibility of an unwanted encounter, besides it was difficult to get lost without a destination. All that he knew for now was that he would continue to head west on foot, slowly moving out of the woods and into the rolling hills and plains of the Marukan Alliance, and he had the Yellow River to his north to ever guide his way. He spent the first day moving at a leisurely pace as he was deep in thought; bothered by his past as much as by his future. As soon as possible he would need to contact Voresyl, he knew the Sidereals had trouble finding him but nonetheless he did not need another organization hunting him down. He wondered what had become of those he left behind, perhaps he should have killed the others so that all ties would be cut, he could have faked his death and thrown many of his pursuers off his trail. But no... for as much as he hated his companions he respected them; The Solar for his combat prowess would not have fallen easily, and The Lunar he respected because he reminded him of himself, so very long ago. One day his world would come crashing down around him just as it had done to Whisper, Kit Magnar too... they would be harshly awakened from their dream world, they would learn there were things much worse than he that crawl up from the depths of the underworld.

By midday he had continually gone over a number of possibilities but decided that few of them would have changed the situation he was in now. Hunger brought him back to the present and he was left slightly disappointed after finishing what little salted meat and dried bread he had left, he would need to hunt for dinner.

Whisper traveled through the afternoon, picking up his pace slightly so that he would reach the end of this stretch of forest by evening, allowing him to hunt in a grassland he knew was popular with grazing animals. Perched in a tree at the edge of the forest he patiently waited until the animals came to feed upon the grass, drawing back his bow he brought down an elk with a single shot. The rest of the pack scattered back to the safety of the forest immediately, meanwhile Whisper dropped from the tree and started to approach his kill. Boko who had been quietly resting upon his shoulder started to grow excited at the sight of fresh meat, leaping from his shoulder the monkey bound towards his meal biting into the raw flesh with a snarl. After his pet finished his meal Whisper prepared the rest of the meat over an open fire, something he would not be able to chance for a while as he drew nearer to Walker's Realm.

Continue Down The Road

• Chapter II - Return to the Unwelcome Beyond
• Chapter III - Theatre of Tragedy
• Chapter IV - Flight for Freedom
• Chapter V - Refuge in the Heart
• Chapter VI - Even In Death