A Heart Gone Cold [9/1] Eshmun's Heart Dev 0

[04:26] Ardith Hirai says, "Hfff..."
[04:26] Ardith Hirai says, "Kay."
[04:26] Adar exclaims, "K-Keitaro...!"
[04:26] Ardith Hirai says, "Good, you're back."
[04:26] Ardith Hirai asks, "Where's Esh?"
[04:26] Adar listlessly waved at the drakanite, then peered around for the rest.
(Adar)
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[04:26] Ashalle says, "..."
[04:26] Seishi Oshikawa says, "..."
[04:27] Seishi didn't feel like listening to this again instead, he leaves to head to his home where he could meet with his family.
(Seishi Oshikawa)
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[04:29] The drakanite returns from expedition, caked in blood of all kinds, including his own; despite the injuries he has upon his own body, despite clear signs of struggle, going as far as resembling blasts of Arcane and burns of Death Magic upon him, he walks steady.

What Ardith certainly doesn't expect is the fact he carries something in his hands, alongside ordinary soldiers that help him- it seems like a frozen body, but clearly frozen not to damage it, but to preserve it. Instead...

At a closer look, it's Eshmun's body.

"...I'm sorry, Ardith." A pause. The man was his own friend too, after all. "He has fallen in battle."
(Keitaro Tennouji)
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[04:31] Ashalle whispers something.
[04:31] Ashalle whispers something.
[04:31] Keitaro Tennouji whispers something.
[04:31] Keitaro Tennouji whispers something.
[04:35] He stared at the body for a few moments, his heart feeling as if it had dropped into his stomach, and then he closed his eyes, sighing. It seemed that his prayers had gone... unanswered.

He didn't bother with looking over at Ardith. He could guess what her reaction would be like. All he could do was lament. It wasn't as if he and Eshmun had been friends - hell, they hadn't even been acquaintances, really. Yet.. to see this, after watching the man in question's wife so worriedly waiting for his return?

He'd have to be a robot to feel nothing. So, stepping off to the side, he allowed them some space.
(Tojo Yamaguchi)
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[04:38] Oh. Shit.

That's bad.


Those are the approximate thoughts going through Lam's head as the news goes down. She did NOT know Eshmun well, whatsoever, but that's REALLY, REALLY bad. So, naturally, she just... slides up to the fence, observes, and visibly dreads.
(Lam)
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[04:43] Ardith sits up straighter as a familiar face returns to the square. Her fidgeting with the hem of her cloak stops. Finally, finally they're back. Now she can go home and get some quiet rest. Another triumph, another-

The Accursed's face falls. It goes completely slack and pallid.

She knows that face anywhere. She knows that body, even coated in ice.

It's the body of the only man she could, with complete and entire certainty, claim that she loved. Without doubt, question, hesitation.

Dead.

In that moment something inside her head shatters. She stammers, she struggles, and lurches up to her hooves. Each step forward is like she's wading through a mire.

The Accursed reaches out with her good hand. To touch him, to wake him. Surely. Surely he's asleep. That had to be it. Yet he doesn't stir or rise. He lies motionless in the Shenlong's arms.

Her mind struggles to make sense of what she's seeing, scrabbling for purchase in reason like claws against slate. They find none. None whatsoever. Ardith only stares in shock as the weight of reality comes crashing down on her with full typhoon force.

"E...Esh?"

She barely chokes out his name. It's all she can manage.
(Ardith Hirai)
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[04:43] She landed upon Elyon's shoulder. As she did.
(Siofra)
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[04:45] "He's.....

It happened so quick...a swipe, and his heart was gone... There isn't much to do aside for an identical heart to his own... But even then. This may be time to make good with what we have left."

The Shaman would wear a remorseful look to Ardith.. Her being in pain was something he still didn't wish to see, something he'd rather have the opposite outcome of, and yet here we were. Her husband had paid the ultimate price for this expedition..

He would not attempt to sugarcoat his unsuredness of the man's chances...without a heart, the needle he'd seen bring Cordelia back would simply not work and his cells were decaying each second under such a deep magical freeze.

"I'm...sorry."
(Kabu)
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[04:47] With a mouth agape, Adar's wide, drifting gaze lost all focus. It didn't seem real. There were no signs of mana coming from the frozen corpse - Eshmun laid lifeless within the block of ice.

"... no." He muttered, staring at their fallen comrade, then bouncing both eyes in the direction of Keitaro. He shook his head, then bit on his bottom lip. Looking for an answer, any one.

What was this bizarre feeling of discontent? The pressure, unabashedly splatting down on his chest. The constant lack of air within his lungs. The dreadful drive of self-loathing, the guilt.

This was grief.

He could only snap out of it to bring his focus to the widowed accursed to his right. Emoting was made impossible, no words could've been adequate.

The scholar swallowed hard, fighting off his whim of aching. This wasn't his time to mourn. Yet - once more, he'd remain useless. Infuriatingly inoperant, as always.

It was only then that his eyes met with the shenlong's once more. Something clicked. Adar grimaced, actually straining to speak.

"You've preserved him." He observed, quirking a brow towards the returned. "We still have a chance, don't we?" In a gurgle-like timber, the scholar nearly groaned. Reaching behind his cape once more, he'd bring out the frozen core. A stone-like gem. The temperature around them had seemed to violently dropped as soon as it was flashed.

Slowly pacing forward, Adar approached the suspended casualty of the expedition, peering at his chest.

"... We'll give him a heart, Kabu."
(Adar)
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[04:47] Kabu says, "It cannot be, just any heart."
[04:48] Kabu says, "---that's...."
[04:48] Kabu says, "................................."
[04:48] Ah, fuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Yeah, this is - this is bad.

Lam, very unfortunately, does not have enough experience to know how to properly respond to this. But... regardless, she hops the fence. Slides up, judging distance...

"I'm, uh... I'm sorry. I wish I could have helped, somehow." It's the most she can say, looking up to Ardith as the Accursed stands transfixed, paralyzed by what seems to be more surprise than sorrow thus far. She slides close, but...

Lam doesn't enter what she considers personal space, or push past just saying that much. It's all she can do to exist in the general area and wait.
(Lam)
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[04:48] Battered, beaten, and injured in more ways than one, but his features remain exhausted, completely blank as he'd take those slow, small steps towards the square all the while. When the Chieftain would glance back up, his mouth is just slightly ajar, ocean gaze focused upon Ardith now-- Keitaro already delivered the news, it seemed.

Even then, he didn't really say anything... just what could he add?

The Hirai allows Keitaro and others to explain it further... the entire condition, and everything, all while his own eyes divert over to the side, staring at nothing in particular. Quiet, silent.
(Elyon Hirai)
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[04:48] Adar silently lingered, expecting their observations. Stone in hand.
(Adar)
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[04:48] Kabu says, ". . . . . . "
[04:49] He had to be strong for his people.

While the shaman's heart was breaking at the sight of this, there's something that was needed at time like this- the strength to do what's necessary, to either represent Gehenna's interests while Elyon was grieving.. or to offer solace and solution to the wife of the man he called his friend.

And when her hand explores his body, even if it's frozen like this, he can't help but purse his lips, his gaze considerably darkening. It's as if he failed him, as if he couldn't protect him. It's funny, isn't it? When he claims that he would be defending his friends - but they're the ones who end up taking the blow. Instead.. he gathers that strength, and speaks.

"...Ardith. I want you to listen, and listen carefully." It comes as a sudden interception. They may call him rough around the edges for just addressing such thing immediately.. but they would thank him later.

"There is still hope. Calael Kang can still bring him back - and it wouldn't be Necromancy. It would be living, real Eshmun."

"For that, however, we only have about a year. Beyond that, it will no longer be possible. The issue is that we're lacking heart. We need a similar heart to replace his own." A human heart, more than likely. Or an artificial device.. so long as it could function as one.

"Of all people... you and Elyon have to be the ones to hold onto his.." He almost says his body. "... hold onto him." Because he doesn't want to think as if he's dead already.

"Do you hear me, Ardith?"

"Find a heart. Get to Calael Kang as soon as possible. This isn't over."

In the times of despair,
strength is necessary,
and he would be beacon of it if he must.
(Keitaro Tennouji)
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[04:53] Adar had seemed to lose himself in a furious, sage-like state of meditation. Only his body would euphorically spaz out every few mouthed words.

Like dozens, hundreds, thousands of scenarios were being recounted at the same time. Chances weighed, ideas conversed.

"Eiphraem." He mouthed, stopping himself.

"Eiphraem. I'll talk to Eiphraem." Adar illustrated, turning to Ardith, awaiting her reaction.
(Adar)
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[04:56] Siofra says, "I am sorry for your brother, friend Elyon...."
[04:59] As she stares at his body several thoughts flash through her mind, accompanying the bone-deep ache that starts to mount in her own living heart.

Love had taken her by surprise. Unawares. She doesn't know when Eshmun precisely had become such a part of her, her raison d'être beyond the charge forward for progress, for advancement, an ideal he'd shared.

Now it's her undoing. Just as she'd been warned. Her tenuous hold on her wits starts to unravel. The Accursed's eyes well with tears that won't stop. The shock gives way to the truth. She reaches out with trembling hands to take the frozen body.

God help anyone that keeps her from holding him, even in death.

She barely hears Keitaro or registers the presence of the gemstone to her left.

"I...I..."

The distraught demon woman can't even manage another syllable. His message isn't lost on her, but all she can think to do now is weep and wail ungracefully.
(Ardith Hirai)
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[05:01] Adar fights back sighing in wholehearted defeat. He needed to be strong, he couldn't have simply broken down. Keitaro would surely scold him for it. Things were grim. Morale was bizarrely low. His pulse failed him, yet - he did not waver.
(Adar)
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[05:03] Being a Fae in a mournful Gehenna was not ideal. Her seat upon Elyon's shoulder brought much pain to her, and she crossed her arms in front of her, frowning.

"... This is..." She murmured softly, wings fluttering. Her empathy was on overdrive at this point. She felt Ardith's pain, she felt Keitaro's pain, Elyon's pain - everyone's pain. And it hurt.

"Not good...."
(Siofra)
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[05:05] He knows why she's feeling this way.

In truth, back there on expedition.. it was a very real possibility that he would be losing everything too, just like she did. It's a terrifying thought when he realizes just how close he was to actually losing everything.

To dying,
and having his second half die too.

But he would not forgive himself if this message is lost. She had to hear it. Through tears, through this pain, through suffering.. he may come off as rough, but he knows that she would be thankful for this later on. This is the last chance to reverse this inevitable sadness.

"..Ardith. Please do not forget."

"A replacement heart. Find Calael Kang afterward. Eshmun's life depends on it." And her own happiness too. For she is present with an option of seeing her husband back.. and on its own, it's a luxury.

Those that lost their loved ones usually never have an option to have them back.

"I have to get my wounds treated. I'm on the brink of collapse, and I'll make a poor guardian for him." The body is given to Ardith without hesitation. Of all things, he was certain she would do the right thing eventually.. perhaps, after the initial shock passes. For now? He would not interrupt the woman from her grieving.

"...Forget it not. This is our hope." And her hope too.
(Keitaro Tennouji)
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[05:05] There's really not much she knows to offer. And so...

Pushing the core aside, Lam moves closer to Ardith, a light, pleasant warmth emitting from her form. She stays out of touching range, obviously, but stays within range of presence. Though Ardith is likely to be stuck in her sorrow, regardless, should she come to notice Lam -

"Hey, uh... I'm here. If you need it."

Her voice isn't all too confident. Just a small, feminine voice to the side - unnecessary and failing to stand out. A subtle presence, all things considered, and entirely uncharacteristic.

"I'm sorry."
(Lam)
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[05:06] Keitaro is actually still heavily covered in blood and was wounded - and so, he goes to get treated before he collapses or something.
(Keitaro Tennouji)
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[05:07] Adar nods towards the drakanite's general direction, agreeing with it. "We cannot lose hope yet, Ardie. Eshmun needs us."
(Adar)
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[05:08] For a moment there, he feels the need to take a step closer, to console, to comfort perhaps the only other person who felt a pain similar to his own, yet-- that movement never particularly follows suit. Instead, keeping the blankness which continues to lace him, all while that gaze softly drifts back and forth between the frosted corpse of his brother, and Ardith, before he simply turns around.

His pace remains slow, yet heavy, chin slightly tilted downward all the same. No words escape him, no attention paid to his own injuries, and the Chieftain merely makes his way over, towards the Shengese structure by Dreadwoods.

The expeditions over, but... the day had been far too much. Simply far too taxing, even if a glimmer of hope still remained.
(Elyon Hirai)
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[05:09] Siofra whispers something.
[05:09] Elyon Hirai whispers something.
[05:09] It was so familiar, in a sense.

Saba.

Declan.

His brothers had fallen and this reminded him of that far too deeply... But he wasn't offered this chance in a million, no grace of angels, no weeping wives. He'd come home to abandoning, and pranks, desolate crippling sadness and seclusion.

Those runes of him couldn't help but stop dimming out, as his eyes viewed the scene with that same sense of being that took over him when he finally received his apology. His characteristic compassion he'd just shown slowly drained from him as the panther thought this deja vu.

He was sullen, and outwardly still morose, but he had a different -feeling- now. A swift saunter would send the man home to what he'd gained amidst the maelstroms of dulled senses, unfeeling nights of torment.

Magdalen, and Aliah made him surely thankful, dragging him back from that starless abyss he was prone to fall into when emotionsoverwhelmed him.

They'd actually done it...

Regardless of what they'd lost..the mission was all that mattered anyways...

Right?

A wave of that elden emotion would hit him halfway through his walk, stopping on the cobblestone to look over his shoulder at Ardith with familiarly soften golden eyes... eyes he had not looked with for years since his depression.

She deserved better...

Pain was such a burden.
(Kabu)
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[05:09] Elyon Hirai whispers something.
[05:10] She nodded, lifting up from her comfortable and familiar perch upon his shoulder, wings taking her into the air,

"Be well, friend Elyon… I am here to speak with, if needed, yes yes?" She asked quietly, "Am just a Fae - but..." Her hand falls onto her chest, "I feel what you feel."
(Siofra)
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[05:11] Elyon offers just the slowest of nods, but no verbal response as he continues to trek westward.
(Elyon Hirai)
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[05:12] These men before him had walked the thin line between life and death and returned home safely - in some ways, this was a time to celebrate. Yet, it was impossible to find the energy to do such a thing. The weight of the deaths far outstripped the happiness brought by their expedition's success.

Looking to the hopeful, determined form of Adar.. he couldn't help but grow angry. Who was it that had told the woman before them that her husband was fine? That it was only a matter of time until his safe return?

Who was it that had implanted such false hope within her heart?

He made to step forwards, made to move towards Adar - for what, not even he knew. Perhaps he'd yell at him? Tell him that he should shut his mouth before he brings even more grief upon Ardith? Yet, something in him stopped him - not only was this.. not the time, but he couldn't truly blame the man either.

It wasn't exactly his fault thatany of this had happened. No, it was none of their faults. None but the one who had done the deed.

So, frowning, he shook his head and returned to his earlier position.

Glancing towards Ardith's grieving form, he knelt down - it almost felt like he was reliving that situation, watching his mother scream out as the unbearable pain of losing her lover invaded her heart.

He wanted to reach out, to pat her on the back, to tell her that they'd find him a heart and everything would be fine. Yet, he couldn't find it in himself to do so. What if they couldn't? What if he only gave her more false hope? He doubted she'd even care for his condolences in their current situation. So, staring sadly, all he could muster was a meek..

I'm so sorry...
(Tojo Yamaguchi)
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[05:15] Ardith already had a burden to bear. Now, as the corpse of her husband is passed into her waiting arms, it's two fold. Still she can't find the words. Probably because there are none. She cradles the body close to her; instead of his comforting warmth there's the chill of ice and death.

She looks up through tears...

To find so many gone. All had gone their separate ways. Comrades. Tribesmen. They have all departed. The Accursed can barely see Elyon disappearing somewhere down the road. On her left and right are two relative, innocent young strangers.

Why they have decided to share in her sorrow she has no clue, but she gazes at each of them forlornly.
(Ardith Hirai)
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