The Broken and the Forgotten

[Varija]

[Inspired from Angels Carrying Savage Weapons I am taking a pretty big leap here from my norm, and I was not sure if this should really go inside the Angels thread, its like its own little creation]

The Broken and the Forgotten

On every populated world, in every populated galaxy there are places where the trappings of mankind do not go. Places misunderstood, looked upon with scorn, disdain and seemingly lacking in value. A dumping ground for all things monstrous and evil. No one really wants to go there, few ever do, of those even fewer ever return. Vile closets in a perfect world, locked away and hidden from the outside and in. Exactly what it is that they hide is the true mystery..

Never ending subterranean darkness abruptly gave way to the blinding light of two scorching suns. A small squat yuttos descended slowly and gingerly from a cave opening. His pace was methodical, ever so slowly marching down a steep embankment. A thin wispy haze seemed to swirl about him. Occasionally rays of sunlight refracted and bent around the haze producing an eerie illusion of small faces swirling around in the mist. On his back was a wicker basket which seemed often to be the source of mist swirling about him. In his arms a small limp figure struggled for life wrapped in a notum threaded blanket with its feet dangling out.

Reaching the bottom of a small gorge he continued marching southward to the shore of a large delta where two rivers met. Never stopping or looking backward he continued marching south. He marched right over the top of the water's surface. No water would splash him just as no creature or swamp denizen would impede him. The yuttos continued on its southward trek into a dusty bowl of broken lands and sand. He looked horrifying demons and other creatures of nightmares in the eye on his march and nothing stood in his way.

When two suns had begun to fade in the sky, and a red dusk and sandy twilight was upon the horizon when the yuttos arrived at a simple rock shrine surrounded by sand dunes. He tenderly laid down the small person onto the alter of the shrine. He uncovered the head from its protective notum threaded blanket, and peered into the face of his charge. He had known her for many years and he had come to her aid on several occasions. Though she may probably never know or understand him he waited for her become conscience again for one last glimpse into her eyes. He had broken the laws of the ancients, interfering on her behalf, risked the wrath of his elders. He did not care anymore. Nothing mattered now, they all had failed. What mattered to him now was that this one survived. He did not know why, he just felt.. He loved this one for reasons he did not understand and did not believe he would ever understand.

For two full days the Medusa queen watched the yuttos sitting at the alter. She did not understand what he was waiting for though she could not bring herself to interrupt him. She knew who he was, and she understood that this was his honor, so she waited.

Two suns began to rise weakly over the horizon and a blue dawn roused the yuttos. He looked again into the burned face of his charge, she was still unconscious. A light rain began to fall from the heavens, and he gingerly grasped her hand and held it while he watched her face. Her eyes stirred when her face felt the first drop of rain. Her brown pupils became visible as the eyelids slowly opened. Both sets of eyes met each other. For a brief moment the woman saw the familiar face of an Atrox friend, then the yuttos broke with tradition and pulled his hood down. Painfully her eyes widened in awknowledgement. She finally saw her guardian friend for who he really was, the One Who Would Not Concede.

The yuttos leaned down and kissed his charge on the cheek, a tear ran down his face onto hers. She grasped firm onto his hand as he rose to his feet. There eyes met one last time, a final passage of communication in silence. The solitus woman fell unconcious again and her eyes slowly faded shut. The yuttos heart sank as he released her hand. He pulled his basket off his back and reached inside of it. He withdrew a shimmering shroud which mist and apparitions seemed swirl about. He tenderly wrapped the fallen woman in the shroud. He turned and marched silently away to join the exodus with the rest of his kind.

The queen observed the whole thing from a secure distance. When the yuttos had left the horizon's edge, she alone came down off her throne, descended the beautiful spirals, left the halls of her capital. She went to stone alter alone. She examined the young solitus intently. Badly burned, battered, and with many broken bones the one foretold of had been delivered at their door step. The queen could feel the ancient spirits swirling about the woman. When she reached forth to pick the lady up, the spirits seemed to assault her mind. The empath struggled for a moment with the spirits and then they washed through her mind and seemed to pick through intentions. The solitus carried the mark and all the signs had been correct, the astrologers had predicted correctly.

One borne by the love of a yuttos, bearing the mark of focus, to the temple of damned...

Eventually the guardian spirits released the queen and she was allowed to touch the woman. As the queen picked the small solitus up to carry her back to the capital she probed the unconscious mind. When she touched the pain of the patient the queen shuddered and  let out a ripple of agony which touched the collective conscience of every medusa on Ka.

The next day the Medusa queen marched with an army of medusii, beasts, and monsters through the subterranean caves into the ruined remains of Tir County. They occupied Tir County and Tir proper, killed all looters and pillagers, buried those victims whose bodies had not been recovered. When it was observed that someone was lighting a lantern in the city, the order was given that any who should interfere with the Bearer of the Lantern shall be put to death, and from this day forth none shall bear the passage into Tir County or Tir proper with an impure heart. Neither mercy nor quarter shall ever be given to those who committed this atrocity or to those would be treasure hunters and grave robbers who might descret this hollowed land of the brave.

[Varija]

[made some minor mods to it, sorry never do anything at 3am, whole sentances forgotton and so on and so forth.]

[Varija]

"My Lady," the astrologer honored her master, "the winds from the west carry rumors of small bands of solitus, and opifex pilgrims moving out into the sea of many sands."

Sita Yama lifted her badly scarred face from the official correspondence she was reading from the House of Ch'ax and leveled her brown eyes intently at the gaze of the medusa astrologer, "an interesting reading I see and what do the stars reveal to us of these events?"

"My Lady," she never dropped the formal tone, "you have led us some three decades now, never once have you asked such a question, please do not humor me now with your coy deception, you will ultimately choose what you feel is right and we will follow."

"Human pilgrims heading to the west into the outlands, what makes you think I have an interest in this, noble counselor of the fates?" Sita replied complimenting her company.

"My Lady, the desert has many ears, many ears hear many insignificant things, but one ear heard the name Assembly." The astrologer watched Sita's eyes for reaction.

The name stung deeply into Sita Yama's conscience. Her eyes remained unchanged but she could not mask the feeling inside. Empathically she was linked to the medusii and while they could not read each others minds per se they could feel what their sisters felt and communicate through feeling. It was almost impossible to hide things from them, not that she had anything to hide anymore she had lived with them for almost forty years and led them for the past thirty. Sita gave up on any attempted rouse. She responded honestly, "Such a whisper does interest me greatly. Let us call to the Rhinos for a quiet pilgrimage."

Knowing without asking further that her Lady would be accompanying the pilgrimage the medusa excused herself, and left her queen in the privacy of her chambers.




"Lady Ch'ax, has the house made all the proper arrangements for our passage?", Sita Yama inquired of her Chief Astrologer.

Lady Ch'ax, "Yes my queen the arrangements have been taken care of." The Astrologer probed gently into the queen's mind and turned to face Sita Yama with a puzzled look.

Sita Yama responded to the probing, "Yes, Lady Ch'ax the question was a rouse, I know you have made the proper arrangements for the trek. What lies before us is whether the House of Ch'ax has made proper ascension arrangements for my passing?"

Lady Ch'ax startled by the cold blunt tone, and the queen's thousand yard stare into her face, stood quiet and motionless for several minutes. The queen pressed on, "Lady Ch'ax certainly you did not think me to live forever did you?" she let out a light chuckle.

"Your chuckle on such a dark topic..." the Astrologer stumbled on her words.

The queen took charge of the conversation, "My mind wanders into the nether. Astrologer, I have lived a long enough life, with many names, sorrows, and joys. I have fulfilled my duties as queen, the Medusii and Rhinos are strong and healthy civilizations. It is time for someone else to take charge, and I choose you, Lady Ch'ax."

The queen's brown eyes burned into the medusa like nothing Lady Ch'ax ever experienced. Lady Ch'ax searched the collective for answers but none could be found. Solitus such a simple race...such complexity.

Sita Yama laid a hand on the medusa's shoulder, "Do not burn too many gears up dear Lady, there is one last something I have to accomplish on this trek. I do not intend to return with you, you are ready."

The finality of the queen's words sunk in and Lady Ch'ax nodded and excused herself from the queen's chambers to make final preparations.




A procession marched westward into the heart of the jagged outlands. Twenty-five trekkers and four beasts of burden plodded their way through the sand. Six rhinomen scouts lead the way, followed by a circle of thirteen dark figures, then two rhinomen trainers with four large frothing sabertooth cats, and finally four more rhinomen guarding the rear. The caravan plodded onward into the hot dry and howling easterly winds of the broken landscape.

The rhinos dressed in fine cured leather armors and carried bows and melee weapons of master hand craftsmanship. Their four sabertooth beasts were disciplined, obedient, and  outfitted with many packs and gourds. All of them seasoned tribal warriors, well trained, equipped, and well feed by typical rhino standards. They moved through the desert with skill, ease, and precision.

The twelve dark figures were dressed in long flowing hooded black robes. From a distance they certainly looked normal enough. From all appearances they carried no weapons. On closer inspection however, two extra appendages, tentacles, could be seen at the shoulders and underneath those two normal arms with hands. Their faces were well covered by the deep hood of the flowing robes. Occasionally a small serpent like tentacle or two could be seen slipping from the hood almost as if to catch some fresh air and then tucked itself back into the hood when the sands picked up. The figures themselves seemed to hover rather than walk over the hot sands it was uncertain if they had feet for they never seemed to touch the sand while moving. They maintained an oval shaped formation. In the center of the formation, barely remarkable from a distance, was a figure dressed in a different colored robe.

Save for the saffron colored robe, the figure barely stood out as different at all until one closed into a stones throw away from the group. It was a short figure, significantly smaller in stature than the rest, dressed in a long flowing hooded robe of a deep saffron color. The figure was human from outward appearances. The figure's face never left the confines of the hood. It did hover like the rest but occasionally it could be seen walking with the fringe of its robes touching the sand.





The sands whipped across Sita Yama's face slashing at her exposed skin. The wind nearly toppled her fragile frame. Sensing their queen's physical struggle against the elements, the circle of twelve medusii reached out and lifted Sita's body. Their collective will suspended the queen approximately twelve inches off the ground, and propelled her forward maintaining the pace and movement into the outlands.

Sita rested during the levitation, a particular aspect which she absolutely did not like of the whole affair. It left her with nothing to do, nothing to focus on, her mind wandered into the past. There was little choice, in her former days such a trek would have been nothing at all to her. But the past had been brutally cruel to her, and the body was broken and shattered. She could stand and walk on her own though not for very long. Her wounds had not healed well, the toll it took on her was dear... Over a quarter of her body had burned and blistered hideously. Every symbiant and artificial implant had been systematically removed from her body. Their presence inside her agitated her condition. The burns, broken limbs, projectile punctures were nothing but they were a simple temporary affair which time had healed. The worst was not detected until fifteen years after the escape from Tir.

Sometimes it is best to die, but death never comes easy to a survivor. Muscular dystrophy advanced upon her body and laid waste to the temple that was once young, strong, and vivacious. For several years no one understood her condition. It was through sheer dumb luck that a medusa herbalist came across a supplement that seemed to halt the advance of the disease. Halt the disease it did, so long as she kept taking it, but the damage already done was irreparable.



A former clan guard spotted an odd procession approach the mountain pass.  Eight rhinomen, twelve dark robed figures, one saffron robed figure, and four beasts of burden. The procession stopped at the mouth of the pass and camped in the open. The guards observed the encampment that evening. The next morning the captain and several other guards made their way down from their mountain perches and approached the procession as it was breaking up camp.

The guards halted several hundred meters from the group and their captain walked forward alone, carrying a shotgun. He stopped fifty meters from the group and called forth, "This passage is closed to men, and women.."

His voice trailed off, as he clearly made out the rhinos and medusii from his close proximity. The rhinomen called to each other in their own tongue and the medusii parted their circle and a small figure in a saffron robe floated to greet the guard.

"The passage is closed to men and women...is that so.." Sita Yama replied to him in a salty tone, "..well then I guess my entourage is cleared entrance, but what does an aging Solitus, medusii queen such as myself do in the desert with her entourage?"

The captain still uncertain of odd company before remained silent. Sita continued, "we are pilgrims we have no interest in you, your mountain passage, or any secret hideaways you maybe guarding, we only seek unhindered passage."

"Why? For what purpose do you trek this desert, and follow upon our footsteps?" the guard demanded.

"We, well rather I am seeking those named Assembly, specifically Cherelle Clay." Sita Yama responded.

"How do you know such individuals made passage this way?" the Captain demanded again.

"Because if I was one of them and I was once, I would have came this way also." the irritation in Sita's voice became shrill. She stepped down from her perch above the sand, and walked painfully through the sand and closed the distance to the captain within six inches. Then she slowly and painfully lowered the hood covering her head revealing, a beautiful face on one side, and ashen, burned and scarred on the other, her hair was done up in long dark dreadlocks resembling the serpents of a medusa. Sita whispered to the captain. "You know the legends of Tir, and Old Tir County, do you boy? Yes the Omni slaughter of the Clans, and then the monstrous slaughter of the Omni by creatures from children's nightmares. Who do you think it was that avenged your fallen? It was my people the Rhinomen, and Medusii."

Sita allowed everything to sink into the young man's brain a moment, "We seek passage, because I seek Cherelle Clay and or her descendants. Allow us, or don't allow us, the choice is yours to make, but one is certainly easier than the other."

The guard muttered to himself for a moment, "We will allow it, but you must be blinded folded."

Sita covered her face once again with the hood, and let out a cackle, "captain, I would love to see you try and blind a Rhinoman, that would turn out to be very entertaining."

With that the Queen turned back to her entourage, began levitating again, the medusii encircled her and the procession pressed onward through the passage ignoring the captain and his guards.



Cherelle Clay lay fitfully sleeping, her body tossed and turned, her mind race through names and faces of old... A voice came to her head, her body calmed down, and she sunk into a deep dream... "Cher, hey lets go shopping" Vari's voice broke through on Cher's comlink. Ultra topsecret swimclub events popped back for a revisit. Long hours of trekking in the Penumbra tundra or chatting on the Assembly lawn...

Sai knelt beside her sleeping mother, gently wiped a tear from her mother's dreaming face. Cherelle awoke to Sai's gentle shaking of her shoulder. "Mother, there is something or someone strange here to see you." Cherelle Clay dressed silently in an ornamental oriental red gown, that morning, Sai prepared her mothers red and silver hair. The two proceeded outside to the meeting.

Outside Cherelle and Sai waited for a few moments, Cherelle's thoughts were still lost in the dreams of the previous evenings. Several minutes passed by and a strange group of rhinomen and dark hooded figures entered the common area. The group stopped a distance before them and the dark figures parted somewhat. A small figure dressed in a saffron robe slowly walked from their center toward the two opifex ladies.

Cherelle thought she recognized the gate of the figure but something was different. This individual clearly walked in pain, the face was yet unrecognizable beyond the saffron hood. Cherelle began to step forward toward the figure but Sai held her hand. "Mother, please we do not know this strange company, I am uncertain of their intentions." Sai tried to hold her mother back.

"oh but Sai my dear, I do believe I know this person" Cherelle responded. Sai cut her off, "who is it mother?" Cherelle lifted Sai's hand to her lips and kissed it confidently and whispered to her, "it will be ok dear...it is an old friend from.." a tear ran down Cher's cheek and she released Sai's hand and left her standing there and stepped forward to meet the figure alone.

Cherelle closed the distance to the robed figure. Sita Yama slowly closed her distance as well. A tear ran down her cheek as well, she wanted so badly to run to her old best friend but her palsy would not permit it. When the two came within arms reach, Cherelle recognized the scarred face as Varija. Varija tried to raise her hands to lower her hood however the palsy and emotion of the meeting would not allow her arms to go anywhere except into an embrace with Cher.

The two long lost friends held their embrace silently for several minutes. Cherelle lowered Varija's hood, and looked her best friend in the eyes. "I thought you were dead, Vari" Cher whispered. Arlyne Augustyn, Sita Yama, Queen of the Medusii, stumbled over own words and choked upon her tears. "...I am sorry Cher...I could not save..."

Cher placed a gentle finger on Varija's lips, and whispered, "shh...it is ok dear...I know..." The two continued to hold the embrace. Varija dropped her hands from the embraced and slowly pulled a small silken pouch from a hidden pocket in saffron robes. Varija's jittering hands raised the pouch to Cher and placed it in her hands.

Cher opened the pouch and found the sensitive cybernetic fingertips, which her beloved Kotras had given her so many years before....

[Xeenah]

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