chapter five ♔ it'll be a day like this one when the sky falls down

[eldritchweaver]

the blues - switchfoot

WHO || The Knights
WHAT || Failboat returns from the disaster in LA as the Knighthood goes on lockdown
WHERE || The castle, London
WHEN || Directly after this, Fall 2017
HOW || Actionspam

Hasmed's announcement does not brook any rebuttal: all Knights are recalled to the Castle, where they must remain until the Section Heads and Jack Chessing have spoken about the events in Los Angeles that have left the Knighthood without their usual leader.  

The entire Los Angeles area is now covered with a dark miasma that has interfered with any signals that might be sent out from phones, etc., leaving the whole world wondering what exactly is happening down there.  Final images showed horrendous monsters, a panic of citizens, looting and violence from humans and Shadowkind alike.  

Hasmed has warned of extra magical wards on the castle, and anyone arriving will immediately take notice of one very prominent one: above the entire roof of the excessively large building hovers a black and red sigil in the air, a pentagram in a circle surrounded by runes or words in an unknown language, stretching for miles.  

[ This is the social log for post-LA lockdown.  Failboat must complete the top log before being allowed to tag outside of it. ]

Comments

[untethered]

[ belle is waiting for him in the library after the announcement, staring quietly and troubled at her phone. ]

There you are. Have you seen...?

[undealt]

[He closes his book and picks his own phone off the table to make certain that she's referring to the announcement and not some other horrible piece of news.] If you're referring to that announcement, yes. I can't say I'm surprised that's the way it's turned out.

[untethered]

Can't say you're surprised? You expected us to be without Wynn? Without any Dragon's Claws?

[undealt]

Oh no, not that, exactly, but given the circumstances, I did expect that sooner or later, this whole ordeal with Keijen Blade would come to a head and Wynn's single-minded obsession would put us in jeopardy somehow.

Had he stayed behind, he might still be with us.

[untethered]

Maybe he thought that no one else was capable of handling it. The others likely couldn't have held a god at bay. They might all be dead.

[undealt]

Perhaps. [He sighs.] It's no matter, either way. He isn't here, and Hasmed has been concerned about this escalating out of Wynn's control for awhile now.

[untethered]

Do you think that the Section Heads will be able to handle it any better?

[undealt]

Oh, I doubt it, but this is no time to stage a coup, simply because Hasmed is far from a strategist. We're just going to have to make our own judgment calls in the field to minimize casualty. Beyond that, there's simply just not much we can do beyond maintain order.

[untethered]

I imagine they'll leave most of the military strategy to Dovan and Lan.

[undealt]

But they can't be everywhere, now can they? [He's going somewhere with this.] Inside these walls, I know everything will work out, because it has to. We need a place that remains safe through all of this.

However, I know precisely what I'm protecting when I leave these walls. There's a solution to this problem, I'm certain, but it won't mean anything to me if those I care about don't come through this. [He reaches for her hand.] That is my fight.

[untethered]

[ slowly, she takes his hand in return ] I hope you're not going to ask me to stay out of anything.

[undealt]

On the contrary, I'm well aware that would be a futile fight. I just hope that due to Hasmed and I having an understanding, he'll know better than to send you somewhere I can't follow.

[untethered]

I didn't mean that I would go without you.

[undealt]

I'm glad to hear that. [He lifts her hand to his lips to kiss it.] Whatever we're about to face, my dear, we're going to do it together.

[a beat. a sigh. which inevitably means he's about to ruin it.] Though there's something I need to show you...

[untethered]

What is it? [ she picks up on that sigh, mister ]

[undealt]

[He starts guiding her towards the more restricted areas of the library. It is not for library sex.]

I had believed that perhaps I was done with surprises about my... condition [let's go with that] . But unfortunately...

[He stops once they've found a private corner and begins to remove his suitcase. No really. It's not library sex.] Please don't be alarmed. He would not look this unhappy if it were.]

[untethered]

Auric, what... [ no rly this is bizarre ]

man i fucked up some html in there because of library sex

[undealt]

[Rather than just explain, he rolls his shoulders, and...

well.

wings happen.]

[untethered]

[ one hand rises gently in front of her mouth to suppress a gasp, her already large eyes growing even larger in shock, but not with horror. ] What-- [ the word drops breathlessly from her lips, and then she lowers the hand, eyes sweeping across those wings, before she tentatively takes a step forward ] How?

[undealt]

[Gold looks so pathetically dumbfounded by the whole thing that it's almost funny. Just wakes up with wings one day like WHHHY.] I'm not sure. It was as if they grew in overnight.

[He dismisses them, lest someone walk in on them.]

[untethered]

And you think it... has something to do with your magic?

[undealt]

Something of the Dark One coming back, perhaps. [It's not like he knows anything about what the "Dark One" really was.] And I've exhausted all my resources- by all intents and purposes, there is no such thing as "The Dark One." My magic isn't tainted as far as anyone has been able to recognize- I imagine I would have heard from someone by now if it was.

I didn't want to have to start looking again. I wanted to be at peace with the knowledge that I've left that in some other world with all my memories of it.

[untethered]

[ she shakes her head ] Maybe knowing the truth is the only thing that will bring you real peace. I... I want to help. Maybe together we can find something.

[undealt]

Are you certain? [He hesitates.] There's a chance the truth is a very ugly thing. Nothing we've learned so far has been pleasant, to say the least.

[untethered]

No... but we've dealt with it so far, and we'll deal with whatever else comes.