#sajessia

The hylek village proved to be a good place to rest up at, despite the lack of pillows and blankets. Very few krait had made attempts to attack the village while they were there (for Dorty had mostly shattered their forces), which left the two with a mostly peaceful stay. The only mildly annoying part of it was the stench of certain potions the frogs made, which made Sajessia cough and have to hold her nose to block it out.

Most of what they had to eat there was stew and salads, rarely did they get something actually delicious like boar meat. That only came every third day that came. Falling asleep was somehow easier, probably due to the frogs croaking day and night. Dorty's wound healed quickly thanks to the alchemy the hylek used, and it even helped rejuvenate Sajessia.

Overall, the time they spent there wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst either. All they needed was a place to rest up and restock supplies at, and this did a good enough job at that. Once they had outfitted themselves with new packs to carry around, and once they had been filled, they set out a few days later southward towards Orr.

Before Orr, however, was Mount Maelstrom, a region boasting a massive volcano at the eastern side of the region. On the opposite side of the region were Inquest who worked at the Infinite Coil Reactor, but they weren't going that way. They were going to go towards and past the volcano, through a valley that was basically a straight route to Orr. As far as they knew, all there was to worry about were earth elementals, and speckles of Risen near the swamp that led to the Straits of Devastation.

Right now, they had just came into the region and were starting to travel down the trail. Larger trees were definetly more common here than the cold Shiverpeaks, but this was going to be a short comfort before they reached Orr. The ground was more moist here as well, but was going to get wetter as they went.

Of course, nothing was easy in terms of the journey they were on. They had only just walked across a small bridge when a loud growl echoed around them. Both asura perked their ears instinctively to figure out where it came from, but Dorty figured it out first, drawing his sword and pointing it towards the source.

A warg was padding out from the undergrowth, and by the looks of its snarl and its blood-red eyes, it was hungry. They were carnivorous as usual, and if anything was a tasty morsel for a warg, it was a bite-sized asura.

Dorty went from mildly afraid to just plain unamused. "Really?" He sighed, lowering his sword.

After a few more moments of continuous growling, the warg lunged towards him, barring teeth and biting at the air as it rushed Dorty. Right when it reached him however, Dorty punched the giant dog in the snout. It whimpered as it staggered back, then lunged again to bite the asura around the arm.

Dorty just seemed a little awkward as he watched it gnaw on his hand, feeling shards of his hand break of into the beasts mouth. "You know, chewing is just gonna make it worse, right?" He asked, knowing full well it couldn't understand him.

While Sajessia beheld this strange exchange, two more wargs had begun to sneak up behind her, but she quickly took notice. She whipped around with her glaive extending out, but before she could take a swing at them, the first warg went soaring over her head into the second one, making them both tumble away down the hill.

The third warg, distracted by watching the other two roll away, didn't have enough time to react before she lashed out, cutting its leg. She held her weapon so that it was pointing at the beast, and as much as it wanted to lunge at her and rip her throat to shreds, there was no way it was going to go near her while she had that pointy thing that could slice it up. That being noted, it made the only sane choice it could come up with; running away and hoping the two asura would let their guard down and stay around. So with that, it turned and ran after the other two wargs it was with.

Both watched the trio of dogs run off for safety, Dorty shaking his hands out to rid himself of the loose bits of crystal that had come off. Sajessia plucked a few pieces of grass from the ground to clean her blade off with, before retracting it back into the handheld state.

"You know," Dorty began, "if that's stainless steel, I don't think you need to worry too much about getting it dirty, right?"

"I dunno." She shrugged, slipping it back into the little sheath she had on her side. "Trytamer made it, not me, so I don't know what he used. Probably better to keep it clean than see if it gets rusty."

He simply nodded, brushing off the last few bits that were loose on his hands.

After catching their breath, the two proceeded down the trail that cut through the region. They didn't even get a quarter of the way before they came across a sylvari camp that was set up. They took another quick break to grab a snack before progressing once more.

The earth elementals were unusually docile, so they walked right by them further down the path. Once they were past yet another outpost, this time one belonging to the Pact, they were entering territory where risen were local. However, they were right when they assumed the Pact had dealt with most of the dragon minions, as there were almost no risen on the path whatsoever. It was nice to finally walk without interruptions.

"To be honest here," Sajessia spoke, "this place kind of does have its own sense of beauty."

"Maybe," Dorty replied, "but I'm not gonna be here when the volcano blows."

"Will it erupt soon?"

"Heck if I know, but I think it's the most active one on the continent. If anything, it's probably already done that at least fifty times over."

"So, keep moving then?"

"Keep moving and nobody melts in a river of lava." He snickered. "Okay, maybe not nobody, but definitely not you or me."

"Right, good point." She replied, almost going into a skip as they were passing through a forested area. Ahead of them was a bridge that gapped over the swamp, and down below were some risen who patrolled the area, still lusting for carnage even after their masters death.

"This almost feels..." Dorty exclaimed while he perked his ears up, sniffing the air, "...a little too easy. That or it's just me."

"How so?" Sajessia stopped to lean on a pole of the bridge they had just reached.

"The only thing we had to deal with here was a dumb pack of wargs and damp ground. I mean, even when we first got to the Shiverpeaks the cold was more of an issue than anything."

All she replied with was a shrug before they resumed walking to over the structure. She walked close to the side, dragging her wing along the railing, stretching the other one. "Well, it's Orr we're going to, so from here on out it's going to be much harder, so I hope it makes you feel better." She folded her wings around herself, then started fanning them out while they kept moving.

"Not much time to get to actually use those?" He asked, watching her behavior.

"Maybe a little obvious." She replied while she kept stretching, probably relieving sore muscles connected with her wings.

"You could always give your legs a break and try flying all the way, no?"

"Been there, tried it, and unfortunately my wings just aren't big enough. Almost, but not quite."

"You can at least glide though."

"Mhmm..."

"-not to mention you were carrying me while you were doing that, so hey, if you can carry me while gliding, surely you can fly."

Sajessia giggled, "Give me a little more time and maybe I'll try it."

"Just don't fall off a cliff trying to do that."

She rolled her eyes and laughed a little, hopping off the last plank of the bridge onto the ground on the other side.

The path ahead was rather short due to the small Pact outpost that was straight ahead. A few members were on duty keeping it free of risen, and behind the outpost was a tunnel that was essentially the last route they needed to take to reach Orr. The smell of the sea was already noticeable amongst the thick air of the swamp. A few risen and spider corpses lay dead around the outside, one still twitching as if it was killed only recently.

To prevent said corpse from possibly getting back up, Dorty walked up to it and stabbed the head, before slicing the twitching body part off. "Stay down, stupid dead guy." He mumbled.

Sajessia ran up to the nearest person on duty, who glared back at her, or was it her wings they were glaring at? "'Scuse me, may we go through here to get to Orr?" She asked.

The person on duty was a tall, bulky asura, seemingly even taller than her companion. His face was showing a few scars around his cheeks, and one of his eyes covered up with some magitech. "Do asura have wings?" He replied, a bit of sternness in his tone of voice.

Sajessia glanced over to the left at the other Pact members on duty, before answering "No?"

"There's your answer." He said bluntly, "Get lost."

"Wait, was that a trick question?" She asked, fanning her wings out. "Cause if I said yes then that would mean we could go through, and I -do- have wings so-"

"No." He spoke again, same response, same level of bluntness.

"Well you know what?" Dorty suddenly interrupted, "You're basically just a guy whose job is to keep eyes peeled for baddies, so it's not like we're them, am I right?"

Sajessia nodded at him.

"Right, so in that case there, me and my friend will go ahead and waltz on through your little tunnel, okay?"

"How about no?" They replied, now moving to stand between them and their destination. "My job is simple, really. Unless you're a Pact agent I am not allowed to let anything through here."

"Did it say anything about anyone?"

"Well no-"

"Then we might as well get going then, right through here."

"Make me move, I dare you."

Dorty sighed, giving a look of annoyance at the latter. He pulled his sword out from the sheath to show them. "See this? We're armed, we're good to go."

The Pact agent merely snorted, not even fazed by the fact the thing was made of crystals. "Does it look like I care?"

"Oh, you don't care about us?" He asked in a mildly sarcastic tone. "Well then, might as well go right on through. C'mon Sej."

"Nope, you aren't going through here."

Dorty lifted a finger and was about to respond, but sudden cry of annoyance rang through the air as a charr dashed over to the determined asura, punting the poor fellow a dozen or so feet through the air into the other side of the checkpoint.

"I've had it with you, you stupid sharkrat!" They yelled at the asura, grabbing him by his hand and holding him up to eye-level. "All you do is complain, bicker, and smart-talk us all day every day of our shift. Don't you have anything better to do?"

"W-we're risking civilian lives here, look at them, they clearly aren't prepared to-"

"They look armed, they look somewhat dangerous. That's good enough for me." The charr turned to face Dorty and Sajessia, "You two go on through, I'm going to have a long talk with this guy here."

Dorty gave them a thumbs-up, "No offence taken, by the way."

"Hmm?" They snorted.

"Sharkrat. I'm not offended. I've been called worse things, trust me."

Dorty motioned for Sajessia to follow as he started down the tunnel, while she took one last glance back at the two Pact agents arguing before running to catch up to him.

- - -

Surprisingly, Orr was not the first thing they saw when the two asura reached the other side of the tunnel. Then again, they had never even been this far south, so it was a whole new experience for them. A massive fort, guarded by many Pact members and blue and grey brambles, stood before them, probably the 'Fort Trinity' they had heard of. Something about the fort itself felt welcoming, almost as though something were radiating from it.

Unlike the first person who was rude in letting them go through, the rest of the Pact left the doors open for anyone to go through, so they walked right in. Most of everyone there was either resting for the day or planning their next strike on the Risen. The part of the fort they were in was mostly ground or air troops, judging by the conversations they overheard at least.

To the western side of the base were the docks, where most of the Pact's navy was. Most of the boats that should have been there were gone, most likely taken out with troops to assist with the battles on the shoreline. Heavy artillery turrets were set up here, to guard the docks from enemy attacks, because somehow even undead with little to no intelligence could ride in on a boat.

Speaking of boats, there was still one boat left, but it was left untouched by everyone for a reason; it wasn't like anyone was going to use a little, dinky rowboat to reach Or, and yet someone decided to put it there. Despite the fact rowing would be a slow trip to Orr, the boat itself seemed fairly stable and durable, enough to take blows from below without so much as a care in the world. Same with the oars, which might even make a nice makeshift weapon should the opportunity rise.

There was a small group of Pact soldiers crowded around the tiny vessel, who were probably too late in trying to catch one of the larger ships, and were thus left with the last option available, but clearly not wanting to use it.

Seeing no other options to take to reach the shore, Dorty and Sajessia approached the group around the rowboat. A few eyes turned their way, and after a few moments, all eyes were on them as Dorty looked over the small thin that floated casually in the water.

"Are you guys gonna use this?" He asked, looking up at the much taller folk around them.

A few of them looked like they wanted to respond, but were not sure. They just stood there awkwardly with their mouths hanging open slightly. The norn of the group, by the looks of things the leader, spoke up. "We don't need a lousy boat like this, it can hardly fit four of us. You can take the stupid thing."

The squad leader motioned for his group to follow as they headed for the southern gate, leaving the two asura alone and with a boat.

"Woo." Dorty muttered sarcastically, throwing his hands in the air. "Free boat."

Sajessia stepped over to the edge, before hopping into the boat, which wobbled on the water upon landing, throwing off her balance and causing her to face-plant into the middle, proofing stardust out from her upon impact.

"You okay?" He asked, leaning over to check on her.

"Yeah." She mumbled, before flipping back over to sit in the middle.

Dorty hopped down into the boat on the side opposite of her, grabbing the oars and pushing off with his foot from the dock. The boat rocked side-to-side against the small waves splashing against the hull. It took him a moment to position the things correctly into the water before he started rowing, destination being straight ahead. It became easy once he got the hang of it, just repetitive.

After some time had passed while they were rowing, Sajessia finally spoke up. "So..."

"Hmm?" He looked up, he didn't stop rowing, but he slowed down so he could listen instead of straining himself.

"We're gonna just be rowing for a while now, aren't we?"

"Yup." He sighed.

"So, we might as well talk a little, right? Not like we have anything better to do."

"I'm open for that. Don't wanna stop rowing though, the sooner we get to the shore, the better for us."

"Want me to try rowing?"

"You sure?" He wondered, "Ya might hurt your arms doing it."

"Who said I was going to use my arms?"

Dorty blurred out laughing, then nodding midway his laughing stock, walking over to sit next to her.

Sajessia grabbed the oars from a small distance with her magic, taking a moment to just feel how she could move them like this. After flailing the oars around a little, she finally started rowing with them, moving her hand in time with the strokes. Slowly, she began using less and less movement to make them move, until she was just moving her finger around in little circles. "So, somewhere along the coastline here is... something."

"As usual you aren't quite sure what we're looking for, but hey!" He admitted, "At least we don't need to go too far into this stupid un-sunken island! That's good!"

"Mhmm." She nodded. While Dorty slouched over suddenly, she scooted over to him, wrapping a wing around him and pulling herself close.

"This again?" He asked.

"Problem?" She replied.

"Not at all." He sighed again, leaning his head onto hers lightly.

Sajessia made very little attempt in stopping his head from squishing her. All she needed to do was move her head up against his, effectively letting him rest his head on top of hers.

"To be honest here, and this is probably gonna be factual," Dorty explained, "we're probably going to be joking at this when we get back, no?"

She smiled, "Probably."

"Yeah, something kinda has me a little confused though."

"Hmm?"

"I mean, hey, we've been through a lot, all of us. Even though so far this trip has been a pain in the butt, it's felt better than all the other things we've done as a group."

"We've had some fun, you can't deny that."

"Heh, okay maybe a little."

"One way or another." She reached up and booped Dorty on the nose. "Boop."

Dorty's eyes widened as he was booped, the he snickered. "Boop to you too," He retaliated by booping her on the nose, "boop."

Sajessia flapped her wings in response to this exchange.

"I mean though, like," He wasn't sure how to word his sentences, taking his time in saying them, "something about this trip together. I can't come up with a reason I'm enjoying it."

"Now that you mention it, it is kind of unusual." She tucked her knees under her chin. "Might as well figure out what it is."

"Right then." He agreed, taking his head off of hers, taking a quick breath before making his first guess, "The scenery?"

"Mmmm, it's nice, but I just don't feel like that's it. She paused, taking a moment to come up with her own idea, "The fact we're traveling around Tyria to places he haven't been, and looking at different cultures?"

"I've seen one settlement, I've seen them all." He rolled his eyes, leaning on the side of the boat.

"The party we had in Hoelbrak?"

"Nah, what about the random things we've done on this trip?"

Sajessia laughed a little, still twirling her finger to make the boat row towards their destination. At this point they were getting near the shores. "Like when you started talking to a rabbit?"

"Hey, that was a one-time thing, okay? Those lil' guys are overestimated."

"Maybe, but they're soooo cuuuuute!" She squeed, folding her wings inward.

"They don't grant extra luck, though, so don't go around killing any unless you're hungry."

"Maybe it's all the luck we've had for the trip? I mean, getting away from Metaveil and Jukkerbaut had some luck involved."

"-but did we enjoy it? Heck no. If Metaveil wants to try and butcher everyone, he's still a failure and is wasting his time. It's just us yaknow, he could get more satisfaction killing T.K if he was able to, which he isn't."

"Just us?" Her ears started to slowly perk up.

"I mean, hey, we're two asura just trying to get something done together, what's the problem with that?"

Sajessia just kind of stared at him, though it wasn't the annoyed or unamused kind, more like the calm kind of stare when one can't get their eyes off of something.

Dorty exchanged the look with her, unsure if he said something wrong or if something was behind him, though it definitely wasn't the latter. Suddenly his eyes widened in realization of what he said, and his ears perked up too.

Sajessia giggled watching his reaction, mostly from the fact of how long it took. She couldn't help but smile back at him, and watched as he did the same, although more nervously, before averting his gaze away from her. A few moments later, she did the same, simply looking towards the coastline in sight.

"...okay, that just happened..." Dorty muttered, even blushing a little.

"It... kind of makes sense, if you think about it."

"Yeah, I am, and boy does it make sense, but..."

"Hmm?"

"Are you like, okay with this?"

"I'm fine! You're someone I really care about, so..." She paused, coming up with something else to say, then saying the first thing that came to mind, "...I don't think we deserve to see each other sad, or down in any way."

"Here's the hard truth, Sej." He sighed, frowning a little. "It's gonna happen, maybe even a lot, I mean I am kind of a draconic caravan-wreck." After saying that though, he smiled a little, then looked back over at her. "Though, I'll admit this, it feels a lot better when you're around. A lot less bad I mean."

Sajessia was starting to turn a little red, just a little. "I guess I... never really realized we care for each other this much." She laughed a little, then nuzzled him on the cheek.

Dorty made no attempt to stop her, letting her do as she pleased for a few moments. Afterward, he put a hand on the back of her head to tilt it up so they were eye-level with each other, just to admire each other for a little.

He almost felt like trying something he never really truly tried before, but before he fully considered this, a small 'pop' was heard by both of them. They turned towards the source of the sound, looking over the side of the boat. Another pop, just from an air bubble reaching the surface.

After that, they relaxed a little, assuming they were safe. Before they could lay back, however, more bubbles began to come to the surface, and more bubbles, and even more bubbles.

"...uhh, Sej?" He murmured.

"...yes?" She squeaked, about as sure what he was sure about as to what was going on.

"Drive- I mean row, uhm, swim? No don't swim just- oh what the heck I just do not want to be here right now we just gotta get of here!" He made a jump for the oars, getting a good grip on them before furiously attempting to row away from the impending danger.

Sajessia let her magic off of the oars so he could row, and instead focused it on the entire boat, trying to move it in the direction he was trying to go for.

Unfortunately, they weren't fast enough. Before either of them realized what was happening, something absolutely massive breached from the depths below to the surface, right underneath them. If they had the chance to look behind them, they would probably see the front of a giant boat made of the skull of some kind of creature, but that was the least of the issues now as it surged out of the water.

Their boat was suddenly jolted into the air by the mast and 'flag' of the ship, and went sailing into the air with the two asura clinging to the boat for dear life. Once the bone-ship had launched itself almost entirely out of the water straight upward, it lurched forward so that it was able to float on the surface, but as it did, the mast hit their little boat again, this time throwing them towards the shoreline, sailing through the air.

Part of Dorty wished they would hit the water, but then again considering the damage the boat just took, they would probably sink and be left vulnerable from below. Meanwhile, Sajessia tried with all her power to keep what was left of the boat suspended in mid-air as they went soaring. They kept flying for what felt like a full minute, until they realized that at the trajectory the bone-ship launched them, as well as with Sajessia's magic, that they were now going over the coast of Orr. At this time, however, she had become too exhausted to hold it up any longer, and so they plummeted downward towards the ground,

Unfortunately, for a few Risen, they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. As the boat came crashing down from above, it crushed a small group of them whilst bouncing and splintering off the rocks. Both asura were jolted out of it while it fell into a crevice, as they finally hit the ground, rolling and tumbling as they braced themselves for the worst.

Maybe Dorty was right about luck though, as after a few moments, they finally stopped rolling out of control, stopping next to a stair case that led up to a little fountain. Sure, they were badly bruised, who wouldn't when they're thrown out of a boat and going some thirty miles an hour? Other than that, however, they were fine, and most of the Risen assumed they went with the boat.

Sajessia winced as she got up, clutching her abdomen in discomfort. She looked over at her friend, who sat up on his bottom, staring forward for a few moments before throwing his hands in the air.

"Woo!" He cheered. "That was... okay to be honest I don't want to do it again but it was pretty awesome I have to admit. Hey, you alright Sej?"

"...yeah, just let me..." She got back up on her feet, brushing off some sea critters which had long dried up, moaning as she found one that had lightly been lodged in her side, thankfully no deeper than one or two centimeters. She pulled it out with surprisingly little pain inflicted, despite minor bleeding. She simply kept her hand over that spot to slow the bleeding.

Thankfully for her, Dorty didn't realize she was in some pain, at least not yet, so he didn't have to worry about her as far as he knew. "Well uhh, I guess in that case we might as well get going then? Don't wanna be undead brunch."

"Right, because we're asura and not hotdogs for Risen." She took a few breaths to reassure herself, trying her best to keep a straight face from under the discomfort. She tucked her wing under her arm and applied pressure with her wing instead, so she could still use her other arm for other things.

Dorty wandered over to her, picking up her glaive from the ground following the wreck, tossing it back to her. They simply stood there for a few moments before he asked "So, where to now on this forsaken death continent?"

She pointed towards a path close by that went westward along the shoreline, "That way. We don't need to go too far, thankfully."

"Good, the sooner we're finished here, the sooner we can leave. The only good thing I can say about this place-" He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, "-is the sea smell. Honestly better than the smells of rotting corpses running around, magic fire, blood, and gunpowder." He smiled, thinking about maybe spending more time in Lion’s Arch for the sea faring, though after he took another whiff of the air, he frowned a little, looking over at her suddenly. "Hey wait, are you bleeding?"

"No?" She exclaimed, though she was obviously lying. She sighed and pulled her shirt up so he could see the small wound in her side. "It's just a little, nothing too bad."

Dorty raised an eyebrow at her, then looked down at the wound. It was pretty small, and wasn't very concerning, though seeing how well she was handling it kept him calm. "Eh, alright. Just try and keep that covered up, don't want to get it infected with... something, I dunno."

"I won't turn into a Risen, will I?"

Dorty snorted a few laughs, shaking his head. "Zhaitan's dead, okay? So long as that good-for-nothing undead dragon is dead, no more Risen are coming into existenc, meaning you're gonna be fine. I was more referring to something like, I dunno, fever?"

She nodded, pulling her shirt back down, taking a few steps in the direction they needed to go. "Let's get going then?"

"Yeah, let's get going before any Risen figure out we're not down there with the boat."

Meanwhile, most of the Risen had made it down to the boat, and did indeed figure out the two victims weren't there. Unfortunately for them, by the time they would get back to the top of the crevice, the asura would be long gone from the area, and too far away to have a good idea where they went.

- - -

The part of Orr known as Malchlor's Leap was what might have been used to be a countryside, long before Orr was sunk and resurfaced. It got its name from the sculpture who killed himself after chiseling the perfect image of the human god, Dwayna. Now, the place was just as desolate as the rest of Orr, if not, just a little less. The ruins of homes long destroyed littered the landscape, leaving plenty of rubble for possible use, such as cover.

Before they even got to the first Pact checkpoint in the region, Sajessia steered them north suddenly. Dorty questioned why she was doing this, but decided not to ask before he realized they were going straight for their destination, closer than he could even have an idea for.

They finally stopped at another Pact camp, off the route of the troop movement. Here, it was much more docile, thanks to the defenses set up around the perimeter. The only sounds of fighting came from inside, where two aggravated soldiers kept dueling each other to keep their combat prowlness up. Scattered around the camp were multiple documents, not relating to missions or anything, but rather what appeared to be the history of Orr, which somehow survived getting sunk.

Since they were finally back with allies, Sajessia took the chance to get her wound bandaged up and rest up for a bit. Meanwhile, Dorty sat outside the camp, knowing full well he was allowed to enter, but he was keeping himself preoccupied while he waited for her to return. For that time, all he did was look at the scenery around him, which despite being mostly dead, still had a tinge of beauty left in it.

"Are you alright?" She asked as she found him when she came back outside.

"Just waiting for you, that's all." He looked back to the rest of the environment around them.

"Well, good news, we just go north of here, and then we can leave as soon as possible, just after I do what I need to do." She beamed at him.

"Finally, I'm done with this pla-" He stopped mid-sentence as his eyes widened whilst he looked below them. "Hey, is that a cow?"

Looking down the ledge they sat on, there was indeed what appeared to be a cow, or at least what was left of one, since Zhaitan's magic had warped it into yet another one of its minions. However, unlike the rest of the Risen they had seen so far, this one was doing... traditional cow things. It grazed on the bits of plant life that somehow stuck out from the earth, letting out a snort now and then. Nearby was another Risen, except this one was a farmer, towing away uselessly at the ground in a vain attempt at trying to get it ready for farming.

"That's... kind of sad." She mumbled, watching the Risen fail miserably at what they were trying to do.

"Endlessly toiling away at something that will never work?" Dorty asked.

"Yeah, sad watching this."

"Well, thankfully they're all gonna die out sooner or later, so they won't be left farming forever!" He snickered, shaking his head.

"Well..." She sighed, grabbing for her glaive, extending it out to full length, "...want to, I dunno, end it quickly for them?"

"You're feeling pity for a bunch of mindless zombies?" He asked, implying he didn't really care for them, though shortly after asking, he nodded, grasping his sword. "Yeah, they didn't deserve any of this. Might as well!"

She nodded, and began channeling her magic for a swift end to the things beneath them. Light began concentrating around her arm as she focused it to her palm and fingertips, holding it there while she waited for her friend to make his move.

Dorty slid down the ledge, landing silently a few yards away from the cow, which either hadn't noticed him or just didn't care. He carefully inched towards the creature, which kept grazing on plants around itself. Slowly, he began to bring his sword up and over his head, poised to decapitate it.

He was pretty surprised when it suddenly, but slowly, turned to face him. He froze up, expecting the thing to grunt and charge him at any moment.

"Hi." He smiled awkwardly.

Yet, it did nothing. All it did was stare at him, like he wasn't even there. On the other hand, maybe it did see him there and just didn't care. In reality, it very much wanted to trample him over and over again, but at the same time its hunger was still calling for it, so that needed to be taken care of first. It slowly lumbered over to him, walking to the side of him over to another batch of plants he didn't take much notice of, where it continued to eat.

His sword was still overhead, so after a few moments to relax a little, he stepped forward towards it while it was distracted. Once he was finally close enough, he leapt into the air, up to the height of the cows head, and brought the blade down on its neck, only to find it didn't go all the way through. What was worse was the cow was now very much angry, and turned to face him, but with another chop of his blade the head was off, and the cow was dead, for real this time since technically it was already dead.

The farmer, who had heard the noise, turned to face Dorty, letting out a shrill cry before running at him with the farming tool in tow. They didn't get very far before a beam of light pierced through them, cutting their body in half, the tool they had falling to the side as it finally fell.

The glow from Sajessia's hand quickly began to fade as her magic re-dispersed throughout herself. She spread her wings out, and hopped off the ledge, floating down to her friend, folding her wings back behind herself upon landing. "I guess that's that?"

"Yup." He said bluntly, but then again there wasn't much else to say. "So, let's get going now?"

"Yeah, let's go, and we just need to-" She turned to look northward for a few moments, before smiling and pointing, "-right over there!"

Following her gaze, there was what appeared to be some kind of petrified forest, which glimmered in the light from above, coming from a giant glowing orb floating in the center, high above everything else on the little peninsula. What was better was the lack of Risen that was there, instead being elementals which were formed from the ground around them.

"So, just go over to the big floating star thing and we can get out of here?" He asked.

"Uhhh... sort of." She shrugged, going into a jog towards the strange orb.

Following her up the hill, Dorty noticed that parts of the environment around them shimmered like it was gold, but it definitely wasn't because of the marks left in it not being shiny. He couldn't remember the name of what it was, but it wasn't like he cared at the moment. Once they had got right below the glowing orb, he kept watch while Sajessia centered herself right below it.

"This'll only take a second." She answered, before he had a chance to ask his question.

"How'd you know what I was going to ask?" He tilted his head to the side, puzzled.

"Well, you asked it last time and the time before, no?" She snickered.

"Oh, right." He laughed a little himself, rolling his eyes.

Sajessia pulled out the medallion she had tucked under her shirt, which still hung around her neck by the ribbon. She held it up over her head, standing on her toes just for that little extra height that may or may not have helped, and relaxed, closing her eyes, but not going into a meditation this time.

Bits of light from the orb swirled down in little strands to her, being pulled to the medallion in her hands. Each one that touched it was absorbed into it, lighting it up with a warm, bright glow. After some light was taken in, enough to cover the metal part entirely in light, it began to spread down the ribbon part, a little slower than the first part. She felt the thing changing in her hands, at least in terms of texture and material.

Once it was entirely lit up, she knew she was done with it, but there was still some strands of light left over going into it. Before she realized where it was going, the excess light starting leaking out from the part of the ribbon around her neck, going up onto her head. It felt like she was getting part of her head dipped into a pool that, although wasn't boiling or too hot, was much too warm for comfort. The light that went up to her hair melded with the bits of stardust she always had in it, lighting most of it up in a golden glow, but leaving some specks of purple left.

Two more strands of light danced around on her face, leaving a warm feeling there. She noticed that as they lingered, they were getting ever slightly closer to where her eyes were, at least from the feel of it. For the moment, she kept them closed, and lowered her hands down from over her head, though before long she felt the warmth sitting very close to, if not on top of her eyelids. Taking a breath, she opened her eyes very slowly, at the point to where she was squinting.

She wasn't able to close them in time before the strands of magic light on her eyes went -into- them, blinding her vision. Even though she closed them, she still felt the immense warmth in them, matched only by the brightness in her vision. She winced, trying to keep her eyes closed in a vain attempt to reduce the strain in her eyes, though that suddenly changed as she relaxed again, going into another vision.

A frigid snowstorm battered a mountainside, somewhere in the Shiverpeaks. High up on a mountain, there was a small cave, blocked off by a stone door with an imprint of the same medallion she had in it. Going through, she saw a chamber with crude rocks acting as stairs up to an elevated altar platform, with a hole in the ceiling that let light come down from outside, with some snow falling down and covering it in a white blanket.

Standing in the center of it was a creature of some kind, which although was so translucent it was near invisible, she knew who it was. They looked back at her calmly, almost looking through her with their piercing gaze. They waved a wing across her entire field of vision, and...

...the vision ended. She felt herself back standing in the exact same spot as before. Though she had little idea what was in store for her, she definitely knew she was almost done. Feeling over the medallion, she noticed the metal part had turned golden, real gold, unlike the rest of the environment around them, and the ribbon had morphed into a stronger type.

"-aaaaAAAAAAA!!"

She suddenly opened her eyes just in time to see another asura flying towards her, ducking just in time for them to sail over her head, tumbling down the hill. Looking back at them, she noticed the coloration of their clothes and jumped to a quick but correct conclusion.

A lot had happened in the some thirty seconds in which she was preoccupied with imbuing the trinket. For whatever reason, the Inquest were just as interested in the orb as anyone else was. Seeing her as she seemingly was sapping energy out of it had made them angry and wanting to either stop her in any way necessary, or kill her, or worse; take her hostage. They weren't aware of her friend as he kept guard, and as soon as he caught a glimpse of them, he was already on top of them.

The small group of asura was very little match for Dorty. Within seconds, one of them had already dropped dead, taking all the focus away from Sajessia and onto himself. He parried multiple attacks back at them, waiting to single another out as he kept an eye on her. Once one had started running in fear, he dashed over to them, grabbing them by the foot, and swinging them around before throwing them, accidentally towards Sajessia, but thankfully at that moment she woke up and ducked in time.

At the current moment now, he was engaged against the better fighter of the group, who was armed with twin daggers and a golem arm. Despite having the smaller weapons, she was surprisingly good at blocking his attacks. Judging by the green tips, it was safe to assume they were poisoned, but despite the resistances to venom he had built up, he had no idea what kind this was, so he was better safe than sorry in terms of playing it safe.

Eventually, the female asura got her courage up to try and take him down with a well-placed attack. She swung both her daggers toward him when she was close enough, making him dodge back in response. When he did that, she threw one of her daggers at him through the air, expecting it to stab him with the deadly homemade poison.

Instead, he swung his blade upwards, striking the blade of the dagger mid-flight, briefly spinning stationary in mid-air, but that would only last for a moment. As the owner of the dagger ran towards him, he threw a kick at the spinning dagger to send it flying back at her, only to miss as it went sailing off a short distance.

She swung overhead, and he swung to the side. Both blades locked upon collision with each other, and now both asura were pushing to try and force the weapons into the other.

The struggle was suddenly interrupted by a grunt, a sound of shifting gravel, and a rocky shape suddenly appearing in the edge of their vision. Both stopped fighting for a brief moment to gaze up awkwardly at the pyrite elemental that had walked up to them. Lodged into its torso was the dagger Dorty had kicked a few seconds earlier, which despite missing its initial target, had still managed to hit something. He exchanged a quick, awkward glance with the other asura, before looking back up at the elemental.

"She did it." He quickly exclaimed, pointing at the other asura, who looked back at him, baffled. Before they could retaliate, he gave a swift kick to her abdomen, turning and running away.

"Get back he-" She started after him, but the hand of the elemental was already down on her, grasping her. It held her up level to its head, before winding up and chucking her across the ridge, down into the water below, though she hit a rock on the way down.

Two asura were left, and by the time Dorty had caught up with them, they were already locked in combat with Sajessia. She kept her distance from them with her glaive, close enough to swing at them, but far enough away so they couldn't do the same; it was the advantage of her weapon of choice. One of the attackers bore the rank of a higher-up, wielding a hefty greatsword, although they weren't so fit enough to use it well enough, while the other seemed to just be a recent recruit, keeping back with his mace.

When the higher-up threw another, pitifully slow swing with his blade, Sajessia countered it easily with a swing from her weapon, before jabbing at them. They were -just- out of reach, but they backed away regardless, in fear of being stabbed. A sudden rush of adrenaline let them swing their blade much faster, but that was going to be their downfall, as when she countered it yet again, this time with the blade imbued with her magic, it cut right through the blade of the greatsword, leaving a small chunk of it left, reducing its use down to very clumsy shanking.

They cried out in rage, throwing it aside and charming at her. She lowered her glaive so the blade was level to their chest, expecting them to have the sanity to stop, lest they hurt themselves, but apparently they didn't. He rammed himself into the blade, going down to the base of it, gasping for breath at this point, yet still trying to swing at her with his arms. Mildly grossed out, she swung her blade sideways to throw them off down the hill, where they rolled until they hit a pointed rock, most likely dying.

Only one asura was left now: the recruit. He grasped his mace with both arms, shaking with fear for his life. He didn't care for the other asura in his party, but he just wanted to live. He had no idea why there was what might have been genetically spliced asura here, or what they wanted, but he didn't want to die to them.

When he approached, she swung her glaive back over, so that it was mere inches away from his face. He practically squeaked as he tried to bash the weapon with his mace, which did little to no good. She swung her weapon again to cut off the blunt part of his mace, leaving him near defenseless.

Just to finish off the fight, she turned the glaive around, so the blunt end of it was facing him instead. She thrusted it into his face, making him stagger backward, where Dorty turned him around to punch him. Delivering a kick between their legs (which resulted in more of a squeak than a cry of pain), Dorty pushed them back over to her, where she bonked them with the blunt end again. With them briefly stunned, she smacked him with the blunt end again, pushing him down to the ground with it, before spinning her glaive back around again, bringing the sharp end down towards their throat.

She stopped short just a centimeter away from his flesh. She knew if she cut their throat, they would die, but they didn't want to fight them, so why have him pay for the choices of the other members of his group? She lifted her glaive up just a little, enough to give them some breathing room. She motioned for Dorty to do the honors.

"Hey, can I make a suggestion?" He loomed over the pinned asura, beaming almost, before frowning and raising his fist down to their face. "Leave the Inquest." He delivered a quick punch to their face, knocking them out cold.

Sajessia lightly prodded them with her glaive, just to make sure they were knocked out, before retracting it back to its sword-state, sliding it back to its original location on her.

"Okay, can we get going now?" Dorty asked, giving a little kick to the sleeping asura. "Yaknow, before more of them show up?"

"Yeah, we're done here." She responded, turning to run down the hill from where they came from earlier.

Dorty ran after her, giving one last kick to the asura he threw earlier, who was still alive, but was to preoccupied with the pain they were in to pay attention to where they were going.

Once they had made it back to the Pact camp, they went inside and rested up, just enough so they could calm down. Following the encounter with the Inquest, Dorty's adrenaline was still a little high, so he took a bit longer to calm down than her.

"Okay, since I'm pretty sure you said we're done here..." He stuttered.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"-where to now?"

Sajessia shrugged her shoulders, taking a few breaths before answering, "Back to the Shiverpeaks. I hope we can get another coat for me when we go."

"Oh, and just when I thought we were done with the cold." He sighed, slouching over.

"Well, it's going to be a lot colder where we're going, so maybe even you will need something better to wear."

"Nah, I'll be fine. Pretty sure dragon-corrupted minions can't really feel extreme temperatures."

"Explain why they freak out then when they get lit on fire."

"Point taken."

"Hey, excuse me?" She got up and jogged over to a charr who had just got there a few minutes ago. "What's the quickest way off Orr right now?"

"I just got here from LA, squirt." He replied as he was placing boxes down. "All I want for my birthday is a boat, not some stupid submarine."

"-the heck is a submarine?" Dorty asked, once he too ran over to them.

"Wouldn't -YOU- know?" He growled.

"Ehhh... ironically not."

"Well, think of an airship, only instead of flying through the air it flies through the water."

"Oh, that's uhh.... huh..." Dorty went silent for a moment just to process that information, before asking "-and you came from Lion's Arch in one?"

"Yup, and I'll be going back in one, and repeat until either the Pact is done here or I die." He grumbled.

"...would it be a problem if we hitched a ride in yours, you know, back to LA?" Sajessia asked.

The charr grumbled again, leaning over to get a better look at the two asura. "Normally, I'd say no, but you two look small enough to cram into the back. I'll allow it, just don't complain about getting wet."

"Yadayada, we won't." Dorty spoke.

"Good, cause if you complain I'm kicking you out of the sub, even if we're in the middle of the water, under the surface. I leave in the morning, so you better be up by then, else you're stuck here until I'm back, got it?"

"Mmhmm!" Sajessia nodded.

With that, the charr turned around and left, probably to get back to the submarine to finish unpacking supplies.

"Alright then." Dorty clasped his hands together, taking a breath. "Might as well get sleeping."

Sajessia watched him trod over to the corner of the camp, behind some of the pillars of the stone house the camp was build next to. He kicked the ground a few times to clear away the rocks and such that were there.

"Nighty." He shrugged, before flopping over on his side with a thud, instantly snoring.

She wasn't going to fall for it though, she could tell he was faking it. She snuck over to where he was resting, standing up to the side of him. After a moment, she hopped upwards and down on Dorty, glomping him.

Dorty jolted upright as soon as she landed on him. Sure, she weighed almost nothing, but the sudden contact startled him. He looked over to see her cuddling up on top of him. "Really?"

"Yup!" She squeaked, getting comfortable. Her legs hung off to his side, both wings covering both of them up, and her arms over her head on his torso. "Nighty." She laughed quietly, then closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep.

"Okay, you know what?" He threw his arms up in the air. "Fine, see if I care if you sleep on me or not. I can take it. Not like it's annoying me or messing up my nap."

He looked down again to see her already fast asleep on top of him. Either all of that meditation she did helped her fall asleep near instantaneously, or she was way too tired.

After Path of Fire released, I decided to try giving a certain celestial being a makeover she really needed. Turns out at least two of the skins are great for replacing, but then I found one that tied everything together...

Here’s a line-up of pretty much all of my characters (minus two because one has been missing for a while now, and the other doesn’t exist in canon yet)

From top to bottom: T.K, Dorty, Trytamer and Drakus, Sajessia, Dyeeaka, Lord Metaveil, Jukkerbaut MK II, Zaxaxx, L3SSA, and Wholly Charrmoth.

Help me I went overboard.

So I decided to draw out a scene that could have happened on their actual first date. They ended up getting a cup with two straws, and Dorty was just awkwardly questioning that silently, while Sej is just left wondering if she’s making things more awkward than they already are.

Did I mention they’re both clueless on dates on the most part?

Oh, yeah, here’s a Metaveil.

IT’S A SEJ!