Xilanada - The Four Fold Dissonance/Part 8

Crawling out of a river like a drowned rat was no way for a Prince of the Earth to make an entrance. Crawling out of the Yellow River was a disgusting foulness no man should ever have to endure, given the sheer volume of pollutants and waste Nexus dumped into it. Given the circumstances, Tepet Ajalat Sen only gritted his teeth and dragged his sore body onto the dock.

Spitting out water, he clambered to his feet and warned away the few on the docks with a look. His clothes were still of sufficient finery, clearly Dynastic, to accomplish that much. Sen brushed at his soaked jacket and paused only to make certain that Crimson Laughter was still safely sheathed under his sleeve.

He took in the quiet of the streets and frowned.

What happened to the riot? He hadn't been in the water that long, had he? Perhaps he had blacked out for a moment out there but there was no one fighting, at all. Only that strange light in the night sky, as if the moon was descending through the night-time clouds to peek out and wink at the fair city of Nexus.

As he watched the light, the clouds writhed in torment and tore apart as the truth of the brightening revealed itself. A colossal stone hurled itself down through the air. Where had that come from? The Tower of the Council suddenly shone with a green light, so surprising that an Oath to Hesiesh, the Elemental Dragon of Fire, escaped his lips. By His Holy Name, where was all of this coming from?

Whatever it was, it wasn't enough.

The meteor slammed into the Tower. The green light went from brilliant to blinding within a second and at last gave way. The meteor finished its path...by smashing into the Council's Tower.

The shockwave lifted half the roofs of the homes in Nexus right off and Sen himself was thrown back into the water.

Cursing again, he dragged himself back onto the dock and looked through a cloud of debris and dust. It looked like quite a mess out there. Thankfully, the site of the Tower was some distance away from the Big and Little Markets, or he would be more concerned for Xilanada. As it was...he still had to contend with that strange pale woman and her demons. Only this time, he would be ready for them.

Sen made his way through empty streets and ignored the fearful stares of those who peered out from homes, shops and other structures. The riot was over and that meteor had expended itself against the Tower. There seemed to be no other present danger, and he couldn't leave Xilanada at risk any longer out of fearful speculation of further trouble.

It was as he was turning corners that he finally got a clear sight again of the Tower...and he gasped.

The Tower had survived the blow...but would never stand straight again. Instead, the entire First Age structure, though imperishable, was bent to the side. Sen shook his head at the thought of what it must have been like for anyone actually in the Tower when it landed.

That couldn't be an accident, could it? But who would be foolish enough to strike at the Council of Entities? Then he reconsidered. Who would have the power to call down a meteor out of the very Heavens? What power could do that? Was a new order to rise over the City of Nexus?

He silently considered how such a change might complicate Father’s plans.

The spectacle of the Tower continued to distract him for a few moments until he looked down the road and saw distantly two figures down the street. They were far enough away to be difficult to see, but given that they were the first brave enough to venture outdoors, they were worth speaking to.

Sen's pace took him down the street. As he walked briskly, rain began to sprinkle down from the night-time clouds. The drizzle became a pour within a few seconds until it became such a torrential cascade of water that it seemed improbably natural. Might it be related to that Skystone that struck the Tower? Caused by it in some way? Or perhaps part of some ongoing magic...

Even through the thick waves of rain, Sen was able to track the two figures, as one lifted the other off the ground and began walking away. Sen picked up his pace and was rewarded by overtaking them at last, several minutes later.

That reward turned to horror in an instant, as he realized the woman he trailed was none other than the pale demonologist who had thrown him into the river, this time with a Daiklave tucked behind her back. And though he couldn't make out the woman draped in her arms, swaths of gold fabric trailing limply behind unmistakably marked the one she carried.

Sen's breath caught at the realization. Even as his hand went for Crimson Laughter, though, the white woman turned and transfixed him with a look of roiling emotion too strong to stand against.

"You're a slow learner, 'Prince'," she sneered, making the honorific seem anything but. Beneath her bravado was a shroud of sadness and it cooled Sen's anger, even as her words tried to raise it. "I found her and I will take care of her. This is none of your business."

"That's Xilanada and she's a dear friend of mine, whoever you are," he retorted. "Don't fool yourself into thinking you're the only one who...cares for her." Realization dawned even as he spoke. He had spent far too much time spying people out, searching for the truth of their feelings not to recognize what he was seeing, improbable as it was.

This woman...was in love with Xilanada.

But how did she even know her?

"I don't care what you feel for her!" Her green snake-eyes shimmered with pent up fury, desperately looking for an outlet. "I will take her, and I will take care of her! She's mine to protect, by Luna, and I will do my duty by her!" Long fangs glistened over her lower lip and she reminded him more than anything of a deadly serpent. So she really was an Anathema. That hardly surprised him at this point. After the meteor, he wasn't sure what would.

Her stance and the situation reminded Sen of his wilderness survival training of so long ago. This woman was acting like a cornered animal, ready to strike whatever threatened it. As it was, they would come to blows if they kept up like this and that wouldn't be healthy for poor unconscious Xilanada. Or for him, for that matter, not by himself against an Anathema.

"Fine. Then I'm coming with you."

As he suspected, the change in direction caught her off-balance.

"But you don't know who I am. Or where I would take her."

"Doesn't matter. Where she goes, I want to go. I promised her that I would give her an enjoyable dinner and that I would take her home. I keep my promises and I can't do that if I'm not there."

The white woman looked about the drenched streets of Nexus as if she didn't know where she was. Then she looked down at Xilanada, seeming to study her quite carefully. At last, she sighed and met his eyes.

"Where is her home?" she asked at last, scrutinizing him in the downpour.

"The School of the Six Poses of Lightning. It's the best school of magics in Nexus, over in the Bastion District. She has her own room there, where she would be safely out of the streets. Where she could be tended to properly."

"Fine. We'll take her home. Lead the way and I'll follow." Sen opened his mouth and she silenced him before he could speak further. "And no, I don't need you to carry her for me. She's too light as it is, and hardly a burden for me. Go on! I don't know where your School is so you're going to have to show me."

Perfect. Alone, he doubted his chances against her, especially with those demons. He could summon one but he'd barely done more than learn the basic wards and binds beyond that. Dematerialized entities were something else he was less adept at, leaving the Gods to his sister Seya.

But now they were going to what might be the single greatest concentration of Exalts and those with power in all of Nexus. If there was a chance of getting his date away from the monster that had her, it would be there. And, if they were cunning enough about it, maybe she could be captured.

They walked, the two of them, in the drowning world of darkness. Sen wiped his face against the onslaught as he thought about the night's implications. This Anathema knew Xilanada. This was the first person with whom the petite teacher had an evident history with. What might the white woman reveal about the Mysterious Teacher With No Past?

After a time, the Anathema spoke again.

"My name's Solitary Coil."

"I'm Tepet Ajalat Sen," he answered.