A Lightless Path
The ground beneath Ty Targarius ' bare feet was as solid as smooth cut obsidian and every bit as dark. No light reflected off of the surfaces here. No stars gave life to the sky. Nothing gave form as far out as the horizon stretched. If there was a plane of hell devoted to boring him to death, he found it.
"Come on," he gruffs back to his singular companion. She had been dragging her feet for the past hour. A slow shuffle accompanies her small, sandal clad feet. Her amber eyes remain downcast to the abyss of darkness below them. "Can't we rest?" she asks.
The silver dragonborn turns to his elvish traveling associate. It had been two weeks and nothing had changed for them. No sky. No earth. Endless nothing. "No," he barks back with a guttural growl building in his chest. It had worked before, but today things changed.
Be'lania Eiar shoots a glare up at the man, "Then go on without me." A threat. "Who will conjure food for you then, huh? And water?"
The ultimate step hits the nondescript ground in this prison of darkness as Ty turns to Be'lania. "Who will protect you when a beast of the void comes out of these empty halls?" The two stare at each other. Time has made them weary companions. They were barely more than strangers until they were sent here as casualties of a war neither of them wanted to be a part of.
"Ty-rant," she glares up at him.
"Diva," he retorts back down. In the end a truce was required from both of them. "One hour," Ty says, "and then we march without complaint for four." He feels his tone softening as the memories of his younger sisters find faults in his resolve. The cold fire returns in full force, "Deal?" There are small miracles, after all, thought the girl. The songstress is quick to smile to her victory, "Deal." If they are to survive this ordeal, then they are going to have to learn to survive each other's company. Finding a place to rest is as easy as sitting down. No shelter is offered as the two remain exposed to the starless expanse. A large sword is removed from the soldier's back as he puts it to the stone with a slow grind. It has a certain rhythm to it. A metronome to which the bard tilts her head to either side. Her own tools of her trade are taken out as a pan flute joins to the simple tune of a party. Adventure and wealth do not await them out here, but the fantasy of a different reality where a better life is possible comes from the life breathed into each note. Calmed by the performance, the man makes one last honing strike before returning his stone to its pouch. "What I don't get is where you learned to play the flute." "What do you mean," she says as the instrument lowers from her lips. "Under water there is no air. A flute wouldn't work." "That's true, but I spent as much time above water as below it. Possibly more so. Something felt right about using a pan flute. I think my father favored them." Mention of family causes Ty to close up and go silent once more. Despite this, Be'lania continues on. "He was a good man, Ty, and no one can take that away from me or from him. I," she pauses, "I know that not everyone gets to say that about their father. Do," she pauses again and remembers the purpose of this conversation, "do you want to talk about yours?" "No," the man predictably responds. "Why not?" "Nothing to say about him." "Pfft," scoffs the girl, "what a horrible lie. Your father. The head of a Crystallis Academic House? You want me to believe he is as nondescript as all of this." Her hand elegantly paints the empty landscape. "What is your game here, Be'lania?" the violet eyes shift to the songstress and take read of her. Measure her. "Why the sudden interest in my family?" She scrunches her face up in defiance, "There is no game, Ty! I," she pauses, "I know Despair. I... it..." Flustered her eyes dart around. "This! This is Despair! We are in my aspect made manifest and its going to claim us too if we don't cling to something. Anything! Or we simply stop existing. Half-alive at best and dead walking at worst." The two remain in silence as she bites back tears and he quietly wonders when he became so callous to something so obvious. "My father was a good man, like yours," he starts. "Unlike you, I hated my father. I did not admire him. Though now, I think, I respect him," Ty says as he takes a deep breath. His eyes wander to the darkness as he talks, "The things he did. Why he did them. You cling to this desire to know your father by meeting him, Be'lania, but I saw my father every day when growing up and I never knew the man he was until now." The girl brushes back her green hair, "I never said that meeting him would help me understand him better. Don't put words in my mouth." "Right," Ty replies thoughtlessly. "Sorry," she shakes her head, "its different, you know? I had so many people telling me about my father. This man I never met. How he was a scoundrel and a saint depending on who you asked. I had to see who or what he was with my own eyes. When my mother passed I didn't have much of a choice in the matter." The man looks back to her, "I am sorry for your loss." He even makes the attempt to sound sincere, but the noble in him can't keep it from being more than a rehearsed phrase used in political theater. "I'm sure," the girl jabs back, "but she had a hard life, thanks to me. A half-breed. I wouldn't want to be sad because of that." "What?" Ty says, "If you want to be sad, go be sad, people can go ef off if they have a problem with it." For the first time since they have been in this world, the halls fill with laughter. She laughs. "Hahaha. Oh, no no, lord no. Thats not it. You are so dumb, Ty," she forgets herself, stopping short as she realizes she crossed a line. The dragonborn stares back intensely. Realizing there is no challenge to his authority in the kingdom of nothingness, he shrugs. "Its been said before. Typically by my sisters." He counts. "And my brother." "I'm not sad because my mother poured everything in raising me. She fought for me. She died for me. She lived for me," Be'lania tells Ty with a smile as she remembers there are things worth living for, "She taught me all of that. It gave me strength and..." "... someone exploited it," Ty adds in quickly. He is familiar with this story. It is one youth fall into all too often. "Yes," she quietly admits, "it did. I feel so stupid for letting that happen. Even more stupid for letting me forget why it was important to begin with. Stupid for being used as a pawn in some stupid game." "Yeah, as stupid as me," Ty asks as he raises an eyebrow. And now we have jokes. "No one can be as stupid as you, Ty," Be'lania responds to remind him to leave matters of wit to her skillful wordsmithing. "You would have liked my sister," the man admits, finding so many similarities between then, "its a shame you were on the opposite sides of the conflict." "But my half-brother is still out there with her. So they won. And we are going to get back to them. And get out of this horrible place," she yells into the void. Ty stretches his sizable limbs before standing up. "If you have energy to shout, you have energy to walk. Lets go," he extends a hand for the first time to Be'lania. "I'm not your little sister, Ty, you can't boss me around," she glares up at him, taking the hand all the same. "Don't worry, couldn't boss her around either. Hence me being here." The two laugh and make their own light in a world wholly without.
"Diva," he retorts back down. In the end a truce was required from both of them. "One hour," Ty says, "and then we march without complaint for four." He feels his tone softening as the memories of his younger sisters find faults in his resolve. The cold fire returns in full force, "Deal?" There are small miracles, after all, thought the girl. The songstress is quick to smile to her victory, "Deal." If they are to survive this ordeal, then they are going to have to learn to survive each other's company. Finding a place to rest is as easy as sitting down. No shelter is offered as the two remain exposed to the starless expanse. A large sword is removed from the soldier's back as he puts it to the stone with a slow grind. It has a certain rhythm to it. A metronome to which the bard tilts her head to either side. Her own tools of her trade are taken out as a pan flute joins to the simple tune of a party. Adventure and wealth do not await them out here, but the fantasy of a different reality where a better life is possible comes from the life breathed into each note. Calmed by the performance, the man makes one last honing strike before returning his stone to its pouch. "What I don't get is where you learned to play the flute." "What do you mean," she says as the instrument lowers from her lips. "Under water there is no air. A flute wouldn't work." "That's true, but I spent as much time above water as below it. Possibly more so. Something felt right about using a pan flute. I think my father favored them." Mention of family causes Ty to close up and go silent once more. Despite this, Be'lania continues on. "He was a good man, Ty, and no one can take that away from me or from him. I," she pauses, "I know that not everyone gets to say that about their father. Do," she pauses again and remembers the purpose of this conversation, "do you want to talk about yours?" "No," the man predictably responds. "Why not?" "Nothing to say about him." "Pfft," scoffs the girl, "what a horrible lie. Your father. The head of a Crystallis Academic House? You want me to believe he is as nondescript as all of this." Her hand elegantly paints the empty landscape. "What is your game here, Be'lania?" the violet eyes shift to the songstress and take read of her. Measure her. "Why the sudden interest in my family?" She scrunches her face up in defiance, "There is no game, Ty! I," she pauses, "I know Despair. I... it..." Flustered her eyes dart around. "This! This is Despair! We are in my aspect made manifest and its going to claim us too if we don't cling to something. Anything! Or we simply stop existing. Half-alive at best and dead walking at worst." The two remain in silence as she bites back tears and he quietly wonders when he became so callous to something so obvious. "My father was a good man, like yours," he starts. "Unlike you, I hated my father. I did not admire him. Though now, I think, I respect him," Ty says as he takes a deep breath. His eyes wander to the darkness as he talks, "The things he did. Why he did them. You cling to this desire to know your father by meeting him, Be'lania, but I saw my father every day when growing up and I never knew the man he was until now." The girl brushes back her green hair, "I never said that meeting him would help me understand him better. Don't put words in my mouth." "Right," Ty replies thoughtlessly. "Sorry," she shakes her head, "its different, you know? I had so many people telling me about my father. This man I never met. How he was a scoundrel and a saint depending on who you asked. I had to see who or what he was with my own eyes. When my mother passed I didn't have much of a choice in the matter." The man looks back to her, "I am sorry for your loss." He even makes the attempt to sound sincere, but the noble in him can't keep it from being more than a rehearsed phrase used in political theater. "I'm sure," the girl jabs back, "but she had a hard life, thanks to me. A half-breed. I wouldn't want to be sad because of that." "What?" Ty says, "If you want to be sad, go be sad, people can go ef off if they have a problem with it." For the first time since they have been in this world, the halls fill with laughter. She laughs. "Hahaha. Oh, no no, lord no. Thats not it. You are so dumb, Ty," she forgets herself, stopping short as she realizes she crossed a line. The dragonborn stares back intensely. Realizing there is no challenge to his authority in the kingdom of nothingness, he shrugs. "Its been said before. Typically by my sisters." He counts. "And my brother." "I'm not sad because my mother poured everything in raising me. She fought for me. She died for me. She lived for me," Be'lania tells Ty with a smile as she remembers there are things worth living for, "She taught me all of that. It gave me strength and..." "... someone exploited it," Ty adds in quickly. He is familiar with this story. It is one youth fall into all too often. "Yes," she quietly admits, "it did. I feel so stupid for letting that happen. Even more stupid for letting me forget why it was important to begin with. Stupid for being used as a pawn in some stupid game." "Yeah, as stupid as me," Ty asks as he raises an eyebrow. And now we have jokes. "No one can be as stupid as you, Ty," Be'lania responds to remind him to leave matters of wit to her skillful wordsmithing. "You would have liked my sister," the man admits, finding so many similarities between then, "its a shame you were on the opposite sides of the conflict." "But my half-brother is still out there with her. So they won. And we are going to get back to them. And get out of this horrible place," she yells into the void. Ty stretches his sizable limbs before standing up. "If you have energy to shout, you have energy to walk. Lets go," he extends a hand for the first time to Be'lania. "I'm not your little sister, Ty, you can't boss me around," she glares up at him, taking the hand all the same. "Don't worry, couldn't boss her around either. Hence me being here." The two laugh and make their own light in a world wholly without.
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