Ruvastion

Oh General, greatest of all demigods and hero amongst thy kind, though art finally arrived. Power is thy name, and kindness the knife which bore itself into mine own soul. Only one of thine ilk might bear the glory of holy covenant.

He had seen the great deeds of the Red Lion and felt the warmth of his presence, even in passing. Kind and firm, there was none other that could possibly fulfill his purpose, yet for all the sweet words bestowed upon his consort to be, each of them fell on deft ears.

Oh soul tethered to me in name but not deed, let us be joined that the world may know of my great peace. Words of sincerity too common to thine ears might never have swayed thy will, but one fault still remains in thine eyes, and to it, I must hold tight.

The steed that he held so dearly, a poor beast laden heavy with the burden of age, could not so easily be swayed from its natural weekness entirely. Even demigods slept, and no matter how light that slumber might be for one of Rahdan’s prowess, destiny could not be restrained forever. Once the posion had been slipped under its skin, he was only left to wait for realization before presenting a timely salvation.

Oh, scourge of the heavens, guide to the stars and warden of fate, thou now lie broken on a mound of comrades, but for them thou cannot even weep. Why hast thou forsaken thy promise in such cruel fashion? I weep for this of all betrayals, but still, my design shall not be lost.

A plan, perfect in all facets but one. A crack that even he could not have foreseen in all of his resplendent visions. His actions laid bare under the vitriol of an unexpected witness. How would she have known to tell him? How could he have halted the stars to prevent his own approaching destiny?

Oh plagued consort, did my sisters blades crash against thine armor only to be cast aside like the breeze. In truth, as thou have learned, her blades are not of steel alone, and even in false triumph, her task was well completed. Sorrow now pours from thy body even as the rot tears at thy mind unable to break the fortress of your flesh. It was mine own design, and I found it to be more pleasing than I could have hoped.

With the great rune clouding his mind, what hope did he have of truely escaping? Still until the very last, he held onto the stars, kept them at bay until such a time as the tarnished proved useful to him. Red Lion torn from valor, laid low by such a being, it all proved well to his purpose in the end.

Oh husk of thyself, why dust thou mourn? In life, fire was thy soul, but only emptiness remains in place of that flame. Thy purpose to finally be fulfilled, and yet even as my arms laced around thy ashen skin, it still remains cold despite a beating heart. Still, I shall prevail in retrieving that part of you, which has been lost to me. Then, in keeping of my own purpose, thy will shall be rendered to smoldering embers.

Dante flipped through one of Entrati’s manuscripts with quiet fascination. For whatever else he thought of the Orokin’s character, he was undeniably brilliant. Roars from frustrated Murmur sounded around him as they tried in vain to break through the fortified door of the study. Not his favorite nose to read to, but unless they became too loud he had planned to ignore them as always. What was notably less easy to ignore, was the sudden sound of static clicking that was quickly followed by a barrage of books being jarred loose from their shelves as the room shook under the repeated weight of heavy blows to the gilded floor.

Closing his book and slowly straightening out his form, Dante let out a frustrated sigh and released the security measures keeping the door sealed. It took half a minute to initiate, but it gave him enough time to at least straighten up the mess of books. When the metal door finally began to move, radiation spilled into the room and the clicking static of a familiar geiger counter sounded above the dying cries of the Murmur. Orbs of coagulated blood and resources pooled where they fell and among them all stood the towering form of Entrati’s guardian. Dante was at least glad he’d managed to clean up most of the mess because, it seemed that unlike his own mood, this warframe wasn’t in an amicable state of being.

“Why are you down here?” His voice was as stone cold as the pillars that he conjured, but it was a valid enough inquiry given the time in which he’d been found. Valid enough at least to daine a response, even if he had no real obligation to the guardian’s master. With the Murmur more desperate than usual and in such swollen numbers, any appearance of a warframe in such a passive light would undoubtedly be more of a frustration than relief for the guardian.

“Reading. Your maker had quite the fount of information and it would be both disrespectful and shameful to leave it unattended for so long.” He could hear a growl emanating from the guardian’s core at that and he raised his hands in surrender, letting the furls of his cloak to expose whatever pockets might have been hidden before.

“I merely came to observe, not extract. Though if the deep becomes anymore unstable, I cannot promise that my intentions will remain as subdued.” “The laboratories shall be maintained, even if others do not answer the call, it will not fall under my watch.” Dante waved dismissively letting his robes fall back into place. They all knew that the cracks were forming, and it wasn’t just from the child that had begun showing her face on the Larunda relay. While Qorvex was being stubborn, Dante wasn’t about to deny that he did get results, and it was undeniable that the others did not favor the laboratories as much as they should.

“You can’t hold them forever even if it is your function, and I doubt that you have rested since I came in so you’re definitely due for some maintenance in any case.” If it was possible for tons of concrete and radiation to flinch, then Dante was sure that was what had just happened, though the sudden seizure of the segmented pieces that made up the warframe’s whole couldn’t simply be referred to as a flinch.

“How long have you been down here exactly?” Dante shrugged as Drusus was the only one he needed to explain that particular statistic too. “One doesn’t keep track of time in the pursuit of knowledge, especially when in possession of an immortal frame, but it has been a fairly substantial chunk of time” The guardian paused, finally lowering his stance to a less hostile one. “The bird probably saw you enter though?” Sighing, Dante pressed his fingers to his forehead in mock exasperation.

“You won’t bury your need for maintenance by pursuing such trivialities, or would you like me to drag the Tenno into this matter?” He didn’t back down at the provocation, but they both knew that a momentary lapse in protection that would come with his maintenance was far more manageable then what would happen if either the Drifter or Lua forbid the Operator became aware of his negligence.

“I can’t go until after this tide has been suppressed, but it shouldn’t have much more energy left to waste.” Indeed, even as they had been speaking, most of the stragglers had been dealt with by the pulsing waves of radiation that continued to fill the hall.