Long Travel Home

[Myra]

Myra leaned against the wall, feeling the heat seep out of the wooden door that stood as a barrier between them and the fire Kayne set. "Thanks...? I guess?" She supposed what he said was a compliment, although it felt more like an analysis from an overly critical person. She kept her attention more to the source of life, it didn't move. That wasn't right. Kayne's fire should have suffocated and burned them up.

Once the fire was dying, nothing more than a few embers and tiny flames, she opened the door to peek in. Smoke puffed out of the room, forcing Myra into a cough as she stepped away. A look into the room revealed charred remains of most things, leaving gems and metal items untouched. The room looked empty and normal.

When she smoke was cleared out, Myra stepped back into the room, her nose wrinkling at the scent of burned wood. Brushing over warm ash and kicking aside burning books, the faunus kept looking for something. The room had to have a secret passage. It just wasn't made of wood.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    Kayne simply ducked his head and turned away from her, beginning to walk away. He didn't care about whatever may lay inside. They were ill gotten gains anyways, and held no value to him. If she wanted to wander its halls all over again, she could feel free. Unless the person didn't require oxygen or had some sort of magic to help them breathe, they were going to be fully dead. Many men have tried to hide like cowards and ended up burned alive in their... 'shelter.' 

    Smoke would get through every crack polluting the air as the temperature slowly and surely started to rise. even if they kept their breath in check, the stone walls would be heated up like a skillet and fry their skin if they tried to touch it. He'd seen every way a man could possibly die in those situations, fried, suffocated, crushed, burned against the walls, or just burned in general. 

    It didn't matter how well you secured a room, if the door was heavy wood, metal, or stone, you died all the same when your enemy wasn't in the mood to play your little game. 

    Still, the swordsman was impressed that the structure was still standing. Must have been made sturdy, possibly through magic or some other means. I wonder if this outpost was ill-gotten just like everything else. Kayne thought bitterly. With a sigh, he'd wait for Myra under the arch of the front gate, staying relatively dry as he rested his back against the stone. As he tended to his weapons, cleaning and sharpening their blades', he couldn't help but let his mind wander. 

    I wonder if this was enough. Kayne slowly glided the edge of his short-sword across the whetstone. Enough to redeem myself for my mistake. Kayne's expression hardened as he gripped the hilt tighter. I must try harder. The blade shook in his hand from how hard he was gripping it. I must try harder. Kayne's fist swung back and pounded into the rock wall. The impact let out a sharp, metallic bang as it reverberated off the armor that covered his hand. The aching sensation started deep in his bones and radiated out to encompass the whole point of impact. 
    
    Slowly, he brought it back, unfurling his open fist and staring down at his shaking hand. I must try harder. With a deep breath, the boy closed his fist again and brought it down to rest upon his leg. He simply... leaned forwards and held his head with his free hand, his sword sliding out of his lap and falling to the ground. 
    
    How much longer until I can prove myself worthy? How much more do I have to do? How many lives do I have to take until I can feel something again? How many more victories until I can feel alive once more? Kayne closed his eyes. How much longer until I can redeem myself for all my mistakes?

    Kayne knew the answer. 
    
    He'd never be done. Not until he died. And even then he'd be a failure. Even in death he couldn't escape his bloodline. The swordsman sucked in a breath, and slowly let it out, letting his expression flatten once more. He picked the sword back up and wiped it clean of mud. The black metal showed a dark reflection of himself. A smart man might think it poetic. Kayne just thought it natural. 

    He sheathed the sword and stowed the whetstone. My pack is probably going to be soaked through and through. He looked back towards the entrance into the outpost. Maybe if I hadn't burned the place down, we could have used it for shelter for the night. Kayne returned his face to his hands. Good job, Kayne, you miserable fuck. In your childish tantrum you forgot to think things through. Again. Idiot. 

    Story of your fucking life. 

    Kayne leaned back up against the wall and slid down slightly. His whole life had just been a series of heat of the moment mistakes. He didn't even have the right to call himself a warrior. He was just a dumb, temperamental child with a sword. A miserable failure. That would probably never change. 

[Myra]

Myra kept exploring. The fire seemed to damage most of the outpost, but there was still a sign of life in there and that was what bothered her. She went back into the room, careful to not disturb the ash so that she wasn't suffocating. There was less in the way, that was good at least. Now she could actually look around. The bookshelf was charred with bits of embers glowing. A light tap with her bow and it just crumbled into a pile. Nope, nothing there. She looked around at the desk. It was similar to the bookshelf, easy to break. None of the walls really felt fake. She kept looking though. There had to be something she was missing. Myra kicked the ashen chair away, no point sitting in that. The walls didn't have any buttons or chains to pull. So perhaps the floor? Or maybe another room with a path that twined around.

She kept checking though, certain it was this particular room. She moved rubble around, kicking aside wood and looking for anything that would give it away. She paced around the room, whatever the trigger was was still well hidden. She eventually stopped at the desk again, pretending the chair was still there. As there wasn't anything on the walls or in the shelf, it had to be the floor. She stepped where the chair was, the spokes that were its legs leaving a faint set of marks sparing the stone it sat on. Oddly enough the stone itself was large enough for the chair to be on. She went to stand on the stone, her weight forcing it to sink and letting out a series of clicks like gears moving somewhere. Behind her, a wall opened up, earth moving aside into a cavity and revealing a path down.

Myra could call for Kayne, but that would not only waste time now and let the target potentially escape, but also alert them that someone was there if the door opening wasn't hint enough. She started to walk down the path, slightly wondering if Kayne would eventually rejoin to take this last guy down, whoever he was. Either way, it was just Myra for now. The path itself seemed to have loose gravel which made downhill slopes a little slippery and noisy. Not only that but there was a cool breeze, something that blew the smoke and ash out and kept the air clean and fresh. A tripwire trap stayed at the end of the downhill slope. A quick look around showed it was a rock trap, something that would fall and offset balance and hurt a lot. She stepped over it and kept going. Unlike the outpost, this was fairly linear. She walked past what looked like prison cells, skeletons and days old corpses in some of them, the sight making her cringe a little. She stopped when she felt the breeze grow warm. Fire. There was a fire nearby. She kept to the wall and listened for if the person knew she was there.

It didn't seem like it. They were singing a little tune to themselves, only pausing to probably take a swig or two before continuing their song. The soul itself didn't seem to be alert, keeping stationary whilst this was happening. Myra took a quiet breath in and snuck around until she was close to the entrance of the room, only pausing to see runes lining around it like it was the work of a madman. She could set off these runes, but that would alert him that she was close by.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    Kayne finished cleaning and tending to his blades, sheathing both of them and giving a small huff as he pushed himself up to his feet. While it was... odd that the girl hadn't come back out in a bit, he simply chalked it up to the amount of loot left behind and rooms they neglected to explore. It wasn't like they were in a rush anyways, though soon enough darkness would fall upon them. Kayne had hoped that they would gain a bit more ground towards the next location, but at the same time, she probably didn't look forward to walking in the rain.
    
    Not everyone gave as little fucks about the weather as he did, but he did admit that there might not be anymore shelter along the route they could use, and if they weren't careful, one of them could come down with something. 

    The swordsman huffed, and after looking back towards the door, he turned and made the trip back up the hill to gather the pack that held his sleeping bag. It was... not looking pretty. The bag was made to last in the rain but it was far from waterproof, and sitting in a puddle under a downpour for... what, an hour or so like it had been. There was no doubt that the contents were soaked through and through and would need to be dried off before he could use them. 

    Kayne slung the bag over his shoulder and trekked back to the outpost. The fire had long since died down into embers, and the temperature had fallen to bearable levels. Most of the traps had been set off by the flames and were now completely useless. 

    Sheltered from the rain now, Kayne found a spot that had escaped the blaze due to lack of tinder and cleared an area to lay the bag's contents. They left puddle in the first spot he dropped them, and with a grunt he lifted them and rung them out the best he could, before dropping them in a new spot for the time being. He'd need to figure out a way to hang them up. Hmph. Maybe I could use Myra's horns. He mused. Of course, that was a joke, but given his deadpan demeanor, even thinking that felt odd to him. 

    He simply shook his head and set back to work trying to figure out a way to dry the bedding while he waited for Myra to finish up her... adventure... looting run? Exploration. Finish her exploration and return. Hopefully she won't mind bedding down here for the night, or at least until the rain stops.

[Myra]

Myra waited for a few minutes to see if Kayne would eventually have followed her. But he hasn’t. She figured he might have gone off on his own or something. Well, there was no point sitting here any longer. She got her bow out and dipped an arrow in poison. She rested it along the bow, clipping it on the string and then grabbing a rock to throw on the fire runed to detonate them.

She immediately drew her bow the moment the rune erupted into flames that shot upwards, alerting the man. “Ahahah! There you are!” The man ran out and Myra immediately let an arrow fly. She got him in the shoulder, making him stop in his stride and gather strength to keep going. His arms were lit with flames and he threw his uninjured one in her direction to unleash flames to her.

Myra tumbled to the side, fire catching and singeing her on the hock. She channeled her magic into the ground, forcing spikes of earth out of the ground to give herself cover. She peeked out to see the many gaining, leaping off the spikes and closing the gap between her and him. “Come on now sweetheart, don’t be shy!” She immediately forced another spike to shoot out the wall and hit the man in the side and instead spearing him in the shoulder. The man let out a yell in pain, probably loud enough to tip Kayne off that someone was there still.

Three more spikes sprouted out of the ground and Myra stood before the man, aiming an arrow as his exposed face. She released an arrow aimed at his face while he was a moment too late to be threatening and breathe fire out of his mouth. Myra stumbled back from the flame breath but it stopped short as she landed a kill shot through his eye. “Sweet maker that was terrifying.”, she breathed to herself.

SPOILER: Click to show

All bandits killed, outpost free to loot and rest in

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    Kayne shot up to his feet as the building rumbled and an explosion echoed out. did we miss a trap? Kayne started to move down the halls at a dead sprint. As he closed in on the former study, he heard the shout of pain and the sounds of a scuffle. It appears Myra had found the hidden room, though instead of just a room, it was a particularly large chamber. 
    
    Kayne cursed his foolishness and bolted down, letting loose a flurry of muttered insults as he realized that no matter how long the fire burned, this chamber had still maintained relative safety. How Myra had known, he wouldn't know. But then again, she somehow knew the chamber had been there in the first place. Life sense? You damn fool, you left her alone when there was still an enemy around. 

    The young man's heart hammered in his ears as he rushed to find Myra, biting back the instinct to shout for her name. Already the young warrior's mind went to the worst as he rounded the bend into the prison chamber. But relief soon washed over him as he watched Myra deal the finishing blow. 
    
    He let out a breath as he bent over, panting. For a moment, there was a break in his expression as worry and relief clashed in his mind, but when Kayne realized it, his expression fell almost immediately. The boy straightened up and approached Myra and the fresh corpse, staring down at it, then at the chamber that held all the skeletons, and then finally to Myra. He... hesitated for a moment, then looked away.

    "I'm sorry." He felt nothing but guilt for leaving her to do this all by herself. "I... shouldn't have lowered my guard, I had no... no, no excuses... I should have been more thorough, I failed my duties. I'm glad you're ok. You handled him well."

    Kayne stepped away from Myra, not saying anything else, but internally berating himself for his stupidity. To try and... at least ease his mind, he took solace in the fact that the bandit leader had left them a dry and intact room they could take shelter in, out of the rain and away from the ash. Kayne slipped into it and looked around, just getting his bearings on this... safe room of sorts that the leader had been holed away in. 

[Myra]

Myra hopped back onto her feet, twisting around when Kayne spoke. "Oh n-no! It's okay, really!", she asid, waving her hands in a motion that was trying to show it wasn't anything to worry about. She lifted a leg to feel the singed area of her hock, rubbing off the burned fur and deciding she wasn't injured too badly if at all. "Nothing broken! Well, for me anyways, not sure about him...", she said, gesturing at the body. "Honestly, I'm glad he wasn't a necromancer. That might have gone worse."

The faunus stepped closer to Kayne, slinging her bow on her back. "I don't know what all you mean by your 'duties', but I'm not using you as a bodyguard or hired muscle, you know.", she said, looking at him quizzically. "Can't a girl just have a companion for the road?"

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    "I didn't mean as a bodyguard." Kayne said, moving some things around in the abandoned room to make more space. "I meant as me. As who I am. I... should have been more thorough, I was an idiot to think that it was over so easily. I have to try harder."

    Kayne sighed and stopped clearing the room, just staring off into nothing. How many more mistakes are you going to make? You'd be better off dead. The swordsman turned away from the room and went to the corpse of the bandit leader, quietly grabbing hold of it and dragging it away. If they were to sleep down here, it would be best they weren't around a rotting corpse. The smell didn't bother Kayne personally, but what it brought with it did. 
    
    Flies, rodents, scavengers that came to feast off the rotting flesh. Not to mention the diseases and parasites that came with them. Sleeping next to that would be more of a hazard than the man was while he was alive. 

    As darkness started to fall, Kayne gathered up all the corpses in one of the already burnt out rooms, along with whatever tinder he could gather. He set the pile alight, and returned to the hidden chamber as it burned, far away from the smell of burning flesh. It was more of a precaution than anything. Ashen corpses are better than rotting flesh.

    Kayne did his best to make the place comfortable for him and his compatriot, setting up a small place for them to sit, rest, and eat. The swordsman didn't know what type of diet the Faunus had, so he simply rolled out a cloth and laid out everything he had- dried meats, nuts, berries, a few fruits and wild vegetables he had harvested along the way that were safe to eat. Kayne allowed her to pick first, leaving her to roll out his sleeping bag, now fully dried (if not just slightly damp still) after being rung out and strung up for a time.

    "what made you wish to be a beast tamer?" Kayne's voice broke the silence as he smoothed out the animal skin. Only once he was done did his eyes return to look towards the young woman, a slight curiosity breaking the otherwise empty blue gaze.

[Myra]

While Kayne was off doing his own thing and setting up the area, Myra stepped around where that one fire mage came from, finding a fireplace with a cauldron and barrels near it. She went over to the fire, seeing it was still quite lively and tossed a couple more logs in to keep it going a bit longer. She sifted around the barrels, plucking out some potions and gold and pocketing them as well as going over the food stores that weren't harmed by the fire.

She went over to the cauldron, finding it was already brewing with some lackluster stew. One taste and she could already tell it was just hot water with potato and carrots. "Eugh." Quickly, Myra went over and got some onions and dug around to find some pheasants that were already plucked and salted, stored in a crate with magic ice that didn't melt naturally. "Oh perfect, there is meat!" She closed the crate after picking up two of the pheasants and bringing out her own dagger to slice the bird to pieces.

It was about the time Kayne came back and was setting up a blanket with fruits and nuts that a pleasant aroma of stewed pheasant wafted in the air. The faunus trotted over, plucking a couple of bowls and scooping stew into it, making sure that there was at least a leg or a wing in both and brought both bowls over to the cloth. "Lucky us right? The outpost still had some goods in this uhh.... Would you consider this a dungeon or a basement?"

She picked up a nut and a few berries, nibbling on them while thinking of Kayne's question. "As I've said earlier, it's to be more in tune with the Life Goddess' work. Understanding the nature of things and melding with it. But on a more personal level..." Her eyes began to sparkle with a child's awe. "Don't you think it would be soooooooo cool to have many beasts aiding you in battles? To be able to communicate with them so well that you don't even have to use words and also being surrounded by what the wilderness brought you at all times?"

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    "Dungeon." Kayne stated. To emphasize his point, he jerked his thumb back towards the cells that held skeletons within. "Though, I'd personally call it a safe chamber of sorts, given the more comfortable looking room over there." 

    The swordsman quietly listened to Myra as she spoke, chewing on a bit of the dried meat he'd presented. He was a bit more hesitant on the stew, but if Myra didn't end up dead in the next ten minutes, he'd probably give it a chance as well. The real reason why Kayne had asked again was more for clarification. She had experience in taking a life, something he didn't expect from a young beast tamer such as herself. Not because of who she was, but because for a normal person, taking a life was more than a little difficult. 

    Perhaps because she was a faunus and they were humans she could depersonalize taking a life from them. Or maybe her using ranged weaponry made it easier. Draw, aim, release, done. Instead of being up close and in a person's face, ripping them apart bit by bit and struggling with them.

    He sighed as he saw her go starry eyed, focusing more on his food than her expression now. Her words still reached him, but the meaning didn't click. It was something he couldn't relate to or understand. He knew that it was important to her and close to her heart, but the swordsman couldn't empathize, no matter how hard he tried. Though, he understood that it came down to who he was, instead of what her beliefs were. He simply shook his head in response. Something else was on his mind that took importance.

    The boys eyes flicked over towards Myra, dissecting her like he'd done earlier, but this time seeing it all in a new light. His eyes were... harder than before. Not angry, not cruel, but they still felt... chilling. She speaks and acts innocent, idealistic. the type of person you'd find as far away from battle as possible, or the very least bearing the mindset of a rookie. Yet, she holds her own just as well as any other blooded warrior. After chewing silently for a time, finishing his little bit of jerky, he sat up straight and spoke.

    "How old were you when you made your first kill? When you first took the life of another person?"

[Myra]

Myra was happily working on her own bowl of stew while Kayne was going into thought again. She paused a little when she felt him staring into her and lowered the bowl slightly. The stew wasn't bad, definitely lacking in spice, but the salted pheasant meat gave it something. She swallowed her mouthful of food before speaking. "How old was I?" She set the bowl down and thought about it for a bit, finger curled around her chin. "My first hunt kill was maybe when I was 8? No wait, 9. But my first person kill..." She thought on it a little more. "Probably when I was 12? Bandits were passing by and decided to cause trouble to any village and town they passed. They broke into our house and my parents were out helping others. All I had was a knife and holed myself up somewhere until a bandit found my hiding spot." She shivered. "I value life, but I also know to respect death and give it in cases where I absolutely need to defend myself. It doesn't matter who they are, I'll defend myself and my pack with my life."

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    "Hmph. My... mentor was a strict man. Hard to please. When I was a child, he made me slaughter, gut, and carve animals on my own, just to get me used to the smell of blood, the sight of organs. I was four when I killed my first pig. He wounded it so it couldn't run, it just sat on the ground squealing helplessly. Once I'd killed it, he had my older brother teach me how to butcher it. By the time I was seven I no longer had any reservations about it. It was as natural to me as breathing. But still my mentor barely ever looked at me."

    "I was nine when I first took someone's life. It was a sparring match between me and a fellow classmate. My mentor had come to oversee it, and watching his disapproving gaze, something in me snapped." Kayne readjusted, getting into a comfortable position as he picked up the bowl of soup, finally. It was... sub-par, likely didn't have much nutritional value, but he ate it anyways. "I beat my opponent to death with my bare hands. And I thought nothing of it."

    Kayne set down the bowl and picked up another piece of dried meat, inspecting it with cold eyes before biting down and tearing off a piece. He chewed it quietly for a time, his body language... relaxed, and barely a glimmer of emotion in him as he retold his story. The most he gave was caution at how much he should let on, not wanting to... frighten his companion.

    "My classmate had been a year younger then me, and I know we spent many days together but the only thing I remember of him is the sound of his skull cracking beneath my fist. The feeling of victory that filled my being... and the look of pride in my mentors face." Kayne finished off the piece of jerky before speaking again. "That was the first and only time he ever had shown pride in my abilities. After that, I was banned from the training class, so he trained me himself." 

    The swordsman returned to the soup, downing a bit more silently. He remembered the moment of his first kill clear as day. The lifeless eyes looking up at him, the smell of iron. And he felt nothing but cold indifference towards it. The simple fact had been that he had won, and they had lost. He lived. They died. To the best of his knowledge, all other classmates in that training school who went into a combat career were either dead or mangled, unable to continue fighting. 

    Maybe he traumatized them by making those not used to it witness death in its purest form. Maybe they were just weak. 

    "When I said that i had failed my duties, it wasn't an underhanded insult towards you. I was simply stating a fact." Kayne stated, setting the empty bowl down on the cloth. "After all my training, all my experience, I lowered my guard and in return I was given nothing but failure. That's all there is to it, and all there ever will be." 

[Myra]

So that was it, he was a Warforged. It made sense of how he acted, his cold and distant looks and harsh analytical sense. Myra stayed quiet, listening to his tale. She wondered if she was actually okay resting around this person. On the one hand, he hadn't shown signs of trying to murder her, but that could easily just be a front to lessen her guard. On the other, it sounded like his father was trying to raise him to be a murderer, a war machine.

The faunus avoided eye contact with him, pulling out her bow and staring at it as if she was inspecting its details instead of seeming aimless. Her bow was an ivory antler one, matching her own, implying they were her own sheds that was crafted into a bow. "No one can expect you to carry everyone in a group. On your own, you'd realise it sooner, but when you're in a team, you should allow others to help at some point. An extra pair of eyes to be thorough, an extra bow or blade that has your back." She slung her bow on her back and then brought out a bandage and a container that contained an ointment for burns. "You're probably wondering how I knew there was still someone down there, right? As a mage of life, I learned a spell that lets me detect souls nearby." She rubbed the ointment on her hock, taking the bandage and wrapping it a few times.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    "I assumed as much." Kayne watched as the woman tended to her wounds and a flicker of guilt crossed his expression. He quickly looked away and instead focused on wrapping up his food to store it instead. "My burden is my own, though. I wouldn't wish to put that weight on anyone else if I can help it. I do fine on my own." 

    No one can expect you to carry everyone in a group, hm? It's a pity she never met my father. I doubt that belief would have held up for long. Kayne stowed his supplied away in the now dried duffel bag, then stood up to wander to his bed roll. He'd positioned it out in the dungeon area, though, still relatively close to the entrance of the other room to try and sap up heat from its fire. 
    
    "You should get some rest. We still have a long way to go, and we'll be waking early." Kayne set everything down, but this time he didn't undress before climbing under the animal skin covers. No, he'd rather not risk anything being seen. Still, it would be troublesome trying to wake up this time around. He'd have to trust his internal clock, given they don't have the sun way down here. Before laying down fully, the young man let out a sigh.

    "I'm sorry for being so bothersome. I'm not... normally good with people. Hopefully I'll be out of your hair come tomorrow." With that, Kayne slid under the covers and buried himself in them, only his hair poking out from under them. He couldn't wait to be on his own again, not having to ruin other peoples lives or put them at risk. He was better by himself, alone, but never causing anyone any trouble. It was how it should be. 

    

[Myra]

"You're not as bad a person you think you are, Kayne.", was the last thing Myra would say so he could rest. She shuffled over to get another helping of stew, might as well have another serving instead of letting it go to waste and attack trouble. The pheasant meat was well done, so there was no risk in getting sick. She tried to be as quiet as possible, tending to the fire to keep it going more.

She was still restless, walking around and looking to see if there was anything to look at or read or loot. She picked up what looked like a logbook and flipped through it. It had numbers she guessed were accounting marks but couldn't really understand it. She looked at the last memo written, a splatter of blood obscuring the rest of the page. So that much have been when the bandits took over. Well, at least they were dealt with. She'd probably mention it to the next town so they can fix the outpost and station new guards or alert whoever had control of that outpost.

After a while, Myra settled down, sitting against a wall and holding onto her bow, in a position where she can draw and shoot if there was anything to appear.