Egress - Order 1

B: The dim and damp caverns, or the lush forests, neither were too interesting to Jack. Her solo adventure had its ups and downs, but now it seemed like she wasn’t to continue all by herself. Looking back as the Keepers slinked back, leaving her and a stranger. The speckled pale runner seemed like trouble in the making, but she didn’t have much of a choice, when they were surrounded just as quickly as they were left alone. 

F: “Do you walk in the shadow of Oris?”

Somos eyed the haedians before him. Their iron chains, faces hard despite the wrinkles and sagging, their grave tones, the way the normally peaceable Keepers became nervous as they approached Order territory. They whispered words of encouragement to him, then whisked Stranger, Dani and Reon away before they could say goodbye.

This was not a clan he wanted to mess around with.

Would they see through him if he tried to play along?

He glanced at the other reosean that the Keepers escorted alongside him, Jack VanDeizel. Her coat, like smoldering red embers, matched that of their new company. She regarded them with the same hard look. For once, Somos hoped there wouldn’t be any trouble between them. The air in this territory was heavy with malice. Any tomfoolery would be severely punished, this he was sure. 

“My family has served Oris for generations. I walk in his shadow.” He lied easily and met each of their hard glares. He hoped the simple statement would be enough to convince them. 

B: Jack’s ear twitched at Somos’ blatant lie. A useful ruse, but the delivery was lacking and it showed in the watery eyes of the elders. Feeling the tension on her skin, Jack gave Somos a disgruntled glance. Her birth was considered to be touched by Oris, with darkness bending to her will- and her coat like fiery rubies. What Somos knew of the God of Chaos and the Void, Jack wouldn’t assume to be much at all. Not that she was that religious either in her older years.
She perked up her head. “I do,” she replied plainly, but with challenging confidence, the elders further scowled at. They seemed to be seething at the mere sight of them, their old bones aching for a physical confrontation. Their coats were marred with past conflicts, and Jack wasn’t keen to become another.

F: A few beats of silence passed then one of the elders stepped forward. He narrowed his slitted eyes at Somos, his lips pulled back over his teeth in a sneer. It was a look he suddenly recognized. One old Renados wore when Somos and Jin would slink around her shop. She was a follower of Oris too, always muttering something under her breath. It was tradition that the biggest and toughest kids get as close as they could to her hut without getting cursed.

“Recite the First Prayer.” The elder’s voice shook as he spoke but his eyes burned into Somos, a clear challenge to his obvious lie. 

When he first came to Torme, Somos had gotten into trouble with some older kids and as punishment, they dragged him Renados’s hut and locked him in one of her closets. Hours had passed before Jin was able to get him out. He heard a lot of chanting in that time and one in particular was recited so many times, it was burned into his brain. 

“Now, boy! We haven’t all day!”

He had no idea what the First Prayer was but his first guess was as good as any. Somos began reciting the words—he was surprised by how much he remembered— with as much confidence as he could. When he was done he met each elder’s gaze. 

“That was not the First Prayer!” One blurted with such ferocity that Somos cringed back. 

“There is no such thing as the First Prayer!” Another seethed. 

“He is a liar! How dare you lie in the presence of Oris! Salt of the earth!” That haedian spat on the ground by his paws.

Somos groaned inwardly. The thought never occurred to him that the test could’ve been a trick. Somos shrugged as the insults kept coming. He leaned over to Jackie. “I hope you actually know more about Oris. These guys are about ready to tear my head off.” He muttered. 

B: Jackie watched with wary intrigue as the Elders seethed and argued not only amongst each other, but all the while spitting whatever insults came to mind at Somos. When the runner leaned to her, she felt her lip curl.
With an amused huff, she leaned her head in. “Well don’t make the idea come any easier to them.”
Seeming to have spotted the two vayrons talking, the head of the old Haedians stomped his hand to the ground with a clatter of his chains. “Enough!” he roared, raspy and dry. His eyes settled somewhere on Somos, before shifting to Jackie, squinting. For a moment his attention turned elsewhere and he hummed, sneering and contemplating. “We will see the truth about you both soon enough,” he said vaguely, yet both Jackie and Somos felt something stirring in the dark.