SHADOWHEART RP BLOG

The moment his hand was taken he pulled the mer back towards himself, the two almost colliding had he not managed to step aside. There were no words then, only the silent panting as Sulkan tapped out the corners of a triangle above his heart.

Thanks were met with a curt nod before the Dunmer began stepping out onto the next set the tiles. He’d tap his metal boot against the plates, gaze sweeping the floor and the walls and even the ceiling. His eyes lingered on oddities. On small holes a bit too perfect to be wear, on grooves to be too smooth to be anything but ancient.

The question earned a hum in response, muffled by the dark cloth of his scarf. Sulkan pulled it down before he spoke,

“These will go down deep, I doubt we’re any farther than half way… Once we’re down far enough it may even open up into a cave system— then you’ll have multiple ruins converging into one central space. But that all depends on the condition of the ruins, if there’s been collapses we won’t be able to push any further.”

It was quiet again until he hit ground he could confidently call sturdy, waiting a moment for Shadowheart to join him before beginning to walk again. Slower this time, and his gaze found the other mer from the corner of his eyes.

🌑 . . . ╰──╮    Well... He'd come too far to turn back now & so, they descended further into the darkness...

ㅤㅤㅤShadowheart drove his spear through the chest of the last falmer in front of a door he never would have noticed, let alone opened, without Sulkan's expertise. Beyond it lay a vast chamber, skeletons strewn across the stone tiles. Centuries old, by the look of them. Adventurers from another age, perhaps… or others who had come seeking Namira's artifact & never returned?

❝It seems no one has entered this place for a very long time…❞ he mused aloud, the metallic clinking of his armored boots echoing in the silence as he carefully stepped inside.

Then the mer's eyes landed upon a dagger still clutched in the bony hands of a skeleton slumped against the wall.

The moment he saw it, his breath caught. A strange pull gripped him instantly, recognition flooding through him. He KNEW. With absolute certainty.

❝That's it,❞ he breathed, ❝That's what I've been searching for!!❞

He moved forward eagerly, kneeling beside the skeleton to claim his prize. Finally! The dagger was breathtaking : immaculate craftsmanship, the golden metal unmarred despite the centuries & it seemed to catch and hold what little light existed in the chamber.

But his enthusiuam faltered very quickly, replaced by CONFUSION.

The crossguard was fashioned into a golden sun ; unmistakably the symbol of Auri-El.

❝This doesn't make sense... This weapon… it belongs to Auri-El... I..I don't understand...❞ He murmured to himself before he trailed off, brow furrowing as he tried to make sense of it. Why would Namira send him to retrieve an artifact of Auri-El?? Had he been mistaken??

Even touching it felt like blasphemy!

For a moment, Shadowheart simply stared at the dagger before finally forcing himself to take hold of it and.... Nothing happened. No aedra or deadra smite him. Even so, carrying such a relic made him feel deeply uneasy & he certainly wouldn't use it.

Carefully, he secured the dagger at his belt without another word & finally looked back toward Sulkan. He'd figure out what this meant once they were safely above ground.

❝Come. We've lingered here long enough already———❞

Just as another, far warmer and more familiar voice was...

Osian blinked in the vision and opened his eyes to see a blurred version of a tent - and faces hovering over him. He had awoken with a start - his body aching more than it had ever done, and he was still frightfully cold. But as he gasped for deeper breaths - as if he had been underwater - he was certainly alive.

"Wh-What happened?" Osian muttered weakly as his friends faces began to gain detail in his vision. "A slither of shadow weave almost took you from us," Gale sighed with relief. Despite his threat of berating the other wizard for his actions, it seemed Gale was more interested in seeing his friend well again. "But we caught it in time."

🌑 . . . ╰──╮    OSIAN'S VOICE sent a wave of relief through him & a shaky breath slipped from his lips when the crushing dread that had gripped him loosened at last.

His gaze shifted toward Gale, offering a breif nod of acknowledgment. ❝Thank you…❞ Shadowheart's voice was barely above a whisper. He wasn't one for emotional displays, but the gratitude in his eyes spoke volumes. If it hadn't been for Gale....

His attention returned to Osian, a smile corssing his features as his fingers carded gently through the wizard's ginger hair.

❝Rest now,❞ he murmured. ❝You need to recover.❞

Tender as his expression was, it never truly reached his eyes ; beneath it lingered grief & conflict because Shadowheart would have to do what was necessary.

🌑 . . . ╰──╮    SHADOWHEART WASN'T FOND OF needless acts of evil, but watching a follower of Stendarr torn apart by trolls?? That certainly didn't count. By Namira's covenant, it was his duty to end these hypocrites himself whenever possible.

But circumstance hadn't permitted it this time, or so he told himself when he'd stepped in to save the priest. Pragmatism demanded another set of eyes in these dangerous lands & he could only hope Namira would forgive him for bending the rules in order to see his mission through.

' we haven't met before, have we? ' 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤThe raven-haired Altmer had been stoking the flames with his magic in the abandoned Forsworn camp they'd found when Kaaldra broke the silence   ( Shadowheart hadn't been particularly talkative thus far — he'd revealed only that he had urgent business in Winterhold  ) .

Brows arched.    ❝. . . I highly doubt it.❞     In truth, Shadowheart didn't REMEMBER. Most of his memories had been stripped away to protect his coven when he'd been sent to retrieve the artifact.

❝No offense, but you are not exactly the sort of company I would normally keep~❞  he added with a teasing lilt to his voice   &  a smile he knew they couldn't see. 

So now they sat there, trying to work through their own thoughts. Something about the stranger felt familiar to them. Sure, they couldn't physically see the features of others but Kaaldra had learned that there was a certain air around people whether that person knew it or not. And what they could just barely see was not entirely new.

A small frown appeared as he answered, not quite getting the answer they were looking for. "Are you sure? Now that the dust has settled, you seem familiar." Kaaldra mused as they shifted to pull knees to chest.

An amused hum managed to sneak its way out as he teased, the smile unseen though. "Oh really? And why is that?" Their head tilted in the direction of the fire and eventually rested on the tops of their knees.

🌑 . . . ╰──╮    SHADOWHEART STUDIED the priest, watching the firelight shift across their face & searched for any trace of a familiar memory. Nothing came. If Kaaldra had trully crossed his path before, that memory had been taken from him...

❝Yes, I'm sure. Let's just say we'd likely disagree on quite a few philosophical matters~❞ he replied lightly. Oh, if only they knew who they were sharing the campfire with tonight...

❝You serve an order that isn't exactly known for it's open-mindeness. The Vigil tends to see a deeply complex world in black and white, good and evil, with nothing in between. It makes for terribly dull conversation, you understand.❞

He heard the portal open behind him, turning his head enough to glance sidelong over his shoulder. Shadowheart and Cal, just as he'd hoped. All Rolan could answer with was a wry and nonplussed, "Do they ever?" The chafe of their argument still felt a little too raw, not helped by the cleric's seeming nonchalance.

Even so, he helped guide an unconscious Cal down next to him, cushioning the back of his brother's head with one hand. When the other tiefling groaned and winced at the movement, Rolan quietly shushed him, murmuring reassurances he doubted Cal was awake enough to hear.

Then Rolan let out a sharper wince of his own at the frigid burst of magic from his core through his body to every finger, toe, and the tip of his tail. Afterward, however, he could take full breaths and every battered ache had ebbed at last. And he looked up in time to catch that small smile, the gentle timbre echoing in his mind's ear. Rolan didn't feel on steady ground with Shadowheart yet, but this, at least... it didn't remind him of Lorroakan. It bled a bit of strength back into him. That counted for something.

🌑 . . . ╰──╮    SHADOWHEART HELPED Rolan to his feet & once Rolan was upright, he drew a dagger from his belt, offering it to the tiefling. ❝Would you like to do the honors~? I imagine you have quite a bit of anger that needs expressing...❞

The cleric smiled. Call him sadistic, but he knew that revenge, properly administered, was its own form of healing. ❝Just don't kill him. The shadow curse needs a living soul to take root.❞

Lorroakan wanted to hurl vicious insults at Rolan, but he went still instead as the raven-haired's words penetrated through the fog & when understanding finally hit, his eyes went wide with FEAR.

❝What——— T-this… this is madness…!!❞ PANIC bled through his slurred speech as he desperately tried to force himself upright again, his mind reeling to come up with some sort thrat, leverage, anything that would end this... this nightmare. Part of him still couldn't believe this was real. ❝Y..you cannot do this to me! The... the Blackstaff will hear of this!! Yes! Th..they will hunt you both to the ends of Tori...l!❞

Rynaris was quiet, letting the other get through everything that he wanted to say. He was a patient man even in moments like this. And he was willing to risk the violent reaction he could get in return.

“Perhaps I don’t know everything you do or the why behind it. But your reaction tells me that I am not wrong in my accusation. If it wasn’t true, you wouldn’t be defending yourself so harshly.” His voice was calm but his expression did not hide the concern that he felt. Maybe he was too caring for his own good and needed to work on letting that go. “I’m well aware of the fact that I cannot change your mind. I am not a naive fool."

🌑 . . . ╰──╮ ❝Harshly?❞    His brows lifted.    ❝If I were being harsh, we wouldn't still be having this conversation right now.❞ 

He scoffed, caught somewhere between disbelief, annoyance   &   amusement at the other mer's persistence. For a moment, Shadowheart simply regarded him in silence, carefully weighing his choice of words. Rynaris clearly knew something   &   outright denial would only make him more suspicious.

Shadowheart's mind circled back to solving the problem permanently before this might become a threat to him or his coven... But first, he needed answers about what had tipped him off.

❝. . . Fine, then. Since you have apparently pieced together that I'm not among the mindless sheep worshipping the Aedra — yes.❞    There was unmistakable smugness in his tone ; oh, he was PROUD to be among the few who saw the truth!    ❝I turned my back on those self-serving false gods long ago.❞ 

That was all Rynaris was getting from him (which was already too much).

A mocking smile tugged at his lips.