Chapter Text
Recap of the previous chapter #1: "Precarious Moments"
The chapter begins with the high command of Ulthwe wanting to recover a mysterious protective device/artefact from the Imperial world of Merlorian, which is in a feudal state, but is in fact a former Exodite world. Autarch Nuvian and his warhost are ordered to retrieve it. Accompanied by Warlock Belanor and Farseer Eloen, they prepare to depart on the orders of Eldrad Ulthran and his close friend Farseer Elidyr.
Liriel Valdan, the niece of Elidyr and the aspect warrior of the Howling Banshees, joins this warhost with her sisters and her best friend and companion, Arleina.
With all the plans set into motion, they prepare for this endeavor. In the meantime, Niko Armanen, the retired guardsman of the "Kalevan Silver Spears" regiment, is busy with his daily and ordinary life as a "lone wolf" who resides on Merlorian, right in the depths of the woods and near the mountainous region, dwelling in his wooden house. After the initial hunting is done, he decides to rest for the night after a good meal and a little swim in a lake.
The warhost makes a safe and cautious landing at night on Merlorian, after arriving in the system. They manage to find the location of the device/artefact in one of the mountain's caves. Although after discovering the grim realities of what happened in there a long time ago. Thanks to the efforts of Farseer Eloen and her visions of the past, which the warhost was lucky not to witness.
Unbeknownst to them, there was an inner threat looming around. After the Warhost leaves the cave, Belanor manages to recognize the disguised Dark Eldar members wearing the Dire Avenger armor before killing them. Autarch Nuvian realizes the dreadful danger they are in and orders them to move out to their landing shuttles immediately. Ulthran warned them of a foreign presence besides humans, but even he did not know it was going to be the Drukhari.
The Drukhari anticipate the warhost's retreat and ambush them from all sides possible in the valley. Losing many members in the process, Dire Avengers and their exarch, and some banshees alike. Autarch Nuvian, Warlock Belanor, and Farseer Eloen survive the onslaught. Liriel and Arleina avoid the jaws of death as well, but many warriors are lost, although some Dire Avengers manage to survive. The shuttles are under attack by Drukhari forces as the Black Guardians try to hold them off, but the howling banshees led by Exarch Sarya succeed in ambushing them from the rear and slaughtering them all, securing the landing zone, although for a short amount of time.
However, the Howling Banshees are ordered by Autarch Nuvian to slow down the approaching convoy of Drukhari forces whose commander is apparently a Haemonculi, in order to fix the damaged engines of the shuttles. Exarch Sarya detests it, but then agrees to do it, even against her own wishes.
The Banshees ambush the convoy to slow them down and prevent them from reaching the landing zone in the depths of the Merlorian woods. Unfortunately, they lose almost all of their members in the process, except Sarya, Liriel, Arleina and two of the other members of the squad. From the 15 howling banshees, 5 fell during the valley ambush and 6 during the attack on the Drukhari convoy.
Autarch Nuvian orders Exarch Sarya to return as the engines get fixed, and the shuttles are about to take off. Sarya and two members reach the landing zone, but Arleina and Liriel are nowhere to be seen. Sarya refuses to board the shuttles after two members board them, and instead waits for Liriel and Arleina, even against Nuvian's words.
Liriel and Arleina are almost at the landing zone, but then a Drukhari sniper is about to fire at Liriel's back. He makes a single shot and manages to wound Arleina in the shoulder, who pushed her best friend away and saved her by absorbing the shot herself. Liriel, while slightly stunned on the ground, tells Sarya to take Arleina and to depart from the world, as she will deal with the sniper herself. With sheer dread taking over Sarya's heart, she accepts her proposal and takes the wounded and barely conscious Arleina in her arms and boards the shuttle, almost getting struck by the sniper in the process, who got eliminated by the swift actions of Liriel.
The Warhost escapes, and the Haemonculi, in mad rage, orders to return to Commorragh after his plans to secure the device/artefact fails. Liriel realizes that she is now alone and must find a way to survive in the world, let alone find a plan to return to her craftworld due to her promise to Arleina that they will stick together no matter what. The two Drukhair members that chase her give up after they receive the orders of their overseers. At that moment, Liriel runs off in a random direction, not knowing where it will lead her.
Liriel finds a river as the full moon shines in the sky and decides to have a break. That is, until two wandering Drukhari members confront her. Preparing for a fight, it ends badly for her as one paralyzes her with a drug. With all the hope that seemed to be lost, Liriel is left with no option but to watch the perverse Dark Eldar prepare to violate her. Liriel prays to Isha in her mind and begs the great mother for aid. Her prayers are for naught, as she thinks.. But then..
A single shot in the head. And the first Drukhari goes down. Liriel feels the blood splashing against her face, and she is left with a quick instinct to open her eyes and observe her surroundings. What has just happened? That question runs through her mind wildly, and it is then that she realizes something dire.. It was.. Him. It was the young hunter..
It was Niko Armanen himself. As much as her fate was sealed and she was ready to accept it, the human arrived to her rescue and delivered the killing blow to the vile scum, pulling her out of the jaws of doom and violation.
Ravaging them with his personal crossbow "Pilum Imperialis", he personally executes the second Drukhari who was panicking, begging, and trashing around in agonizing pain, but to no avail, as his screams were silenced by the lonely hunter, who brutally killed him. Liriel is left speechless and can only observe the human and his figures in her paralyzed state. But the young man pulls out his laspistol, and prepares to finish Liriel off once and for all. She willingly accepts it.. but..
He refuses. He refuses to pull that trigger. Something just snaps within his heart: He cannot bring himself to execute the xenos he just saved out of nowhere. Instead of appearing as a threat, Niko decides to show peaceful intentions. He washes her face while she thinks that he wants to harm her, but he manages to calm her paralyzed body down. Picking her up in his arms, he carries her and her belongings back to his wooden den in order to guard her from any threats that might come down crashing upon them at any given moment.
Liriel realizes that her fate has been pushed away and that her destiny is now in this unknown human's hands. In a state of severe fatigue and stress, her vision goes black, and she enters the deepest sleep possible while feeling humiliated that a human, out of all.. Has decided to rescue her. What awaits her is yet to be determined.
What actions will Niko take next? Deep down, he knows he has just committed heresy of the highest order. Will he truly allow the prejudice to blind his open mind, or will he decide to stay loyal to his own judgment upon the task he has placed upon himself and finally manage to push back the crippling loneliness that has been stinging his heart for such a long time ever since he decided to reside on Merlorian and stay away from the society? What he is hiding within his heart is yet to be determined. Until the events unfold, this itself remains a mystery.
The questions that run through his mind are overwhelming. From now on, he is responsible for Liriel. Will she be grateful, or bitter, is up to her to decide when she awakens. Niko, however, remains vigilant and cautious. The two individuals have to come to a mutual understanding in order to avoid falling into the pit of doom. Lest they allow their beliefs to cut their ties of common sense..
Chapter 2: The Chain of Sudden Events.
Night time on Merlorian.
Niko's little home, late at night, full moon.
Niko was experiencing one of his nightmares once again, squirming in his sleep as he kept constantly turning left and right, before waking up with his Leuku in his hand, tightly gripping it as he swung it once and let out a scream, breathing heavily afterward.
"Hhhh..hhh..hhuff.. frak.." he said as he wiped his forehead and grabbed his flask from the shelf he crafted himself, taking a few sips of water, before holding his head and rubbing a towel on his face to wipe off all the sweat, same on his body. He threw it away and straightened his eye patch. "Nightmares after nightmares. Cannot ever catch a proper sleep.. Huh?" But the real commotion that forced his attention, was the lightning flashes coming from afar through his specially built windows. He turned completely around and walked towards them to check out what was happening outside.
"What in Terra's sake is happening out there..?" he asked himself, extremely confused at the sudden flashes which happened on the eastern side of his visage, as the full moon shined against the forests, the mountains far ahead, and even his own room. These sudden flashes went and came rapidly and were constant. It did not help the fact that the noises were dull, but they were definitely heard by him as he tried to think of anything reasonable and logical within his mind. "Impossible.. That is not how humans fight." he said and continued his examination.
"No. It cannot be. This is a feudal world and relatively calm out of a million. Population is barely a million.. I can see it's an obvious sign of a battle taking place. The smoke flying into the air proves it, let alone the noises. I better go and investigate if this is a work of the heretics, or the xenos alike." and right there and then, Niko began to quickly prepare.
He put on his clothing back on as quick as possible, making sure to be in a total haste. Next, he attached his laspistol's holster onto his hip with the pistol intact, and put on another holster around his waist, attaching his flask, binoculars, a pouch with few salted meats of the local fauna, and some night vision layer for his binoculars. Afterwards, he quickly grabbed his most favored weaponry of all straight off the wall - his fabulous crossbow, the "Pilum Imperialis" and then a quiver full of arrows he crafted himself, with the steely tips at the end for maximum damage. He decided to leave his cloak hanging as he had no need for it, then dashed outside his house, and stared at the horizon to his east, where the flashes were happening, and took a deep breath.
[~]"Oh God-Emperor. Keep me safe on this endeavor.. and shield me from evil and despair." [~]
Niko then quickly decided to run into the depths of the woods where the possible battle was taking place, choosing his path carefully and assuring himself the safety of his choice. His single eye already got adapted to the darkness due to the nights he spent in the world he inhabited right now. So to some extent, he could see slightly better in the darkness than just pitch blackness, which helped him a lot to navigate through these thick woods with their flora present everywhere possible.
The time did not have the luxury of waiting. Niko himself knew it, and ran as quick as possible through the woods, which he was silently cursing himself for. "Frakkin woods.. Those flashes might've been far more away than I was thinking at the beginning." he cursed under his lips while catching a breath after running a mile without a stop. He halted his run and quickly hid behind a thick tree, observing his surroundings and taking a sip of his water to clear his dry throat, then put it back on his waist belt.
The Kalevan Spear resumed his running spree and concentrated on the task at hand, pushing aside his usual lonely talking. As a hunter, he had a great responsibility to make sure that no harm reaches his turf, as he claimed these woods to be his solemn home.
The young man heard the noises of the battle getting even louder as he approached what seemed to be a path leading somewhere. It was paved quite primitively, but that was expected of a feudal world. There was nothing too advanced here, but the path caught his attention as he saw huge objects within his eye far right ahead. "Hold up.. No. Oh Emperor- Not them.." he quickly muttered out of his lips before grabbing his binoculars and looking through its lenses while proning onto the ground and zooming in, switching to night vision lenses, and zooming for about 1200 meters. What he saw next, burnt a deep waves of hatred within his heart.
"Dark Eldar.. Drukhari bastards. Frakkin hell, what the f*ck have they forgotten on this world?!" he silently told himself while gritting his teeth. Niko was unusually bitter, and looked like he deeply hated this race more than anything, as his heart began to beat faster in mixture of different feelings. There were flashes of different images within his only remaining right eye, as if his mind was playing with him once again. But he quickly shrugged them off and concentrated his gaze at what was happening on the road.
"Concentrate Nicky, concentrate. It looks to be a column stretching vertically. But who is causing them trouble..?" he asked himself that question rather twice, since he could not identify the cause of their disturbance. They were shooting at their flanks with their devilish weaponries and tried to build a defensive line. He switched back to the normal layer of his binoculars, and what he did see, were figures clad in some kind of black armor, and they wore helmets with bright red manes, except one of them had a white mane, possibly their leader. It confused him as he had no idea who or what these things were.
They were incredibly fast and sent shivers down his spine, causing an uncanny valley effect within his brain. They were tall but moved so fluently and fluidly that he barely saw them stopping. He saw a couple of them just run from left flank to the right and hide in the woods after slicing the Drukhari bastards one by one. He quite admired that kind of determination. "Gotta give it to these individuals.. Outnumbered, yet using the woods to their advantage. By the looks of it, it seems to be Eldar units if I am to judge their speed, but.." however, what caught his attention, was the floating haemonculus and his grotesque monstrosities at the front of the column, which split into the rear and the front, and the floating "thing" looked relatively angry. It made him cringe and almost gag.
"Holy frakkin sh*te, that is one disgusting filth.. That race has no boundaries within its degeneracy, curse them all." he spat out. "I should not get any closer. They can definitely see better in the darkness than I do. From what I can determine, it is literally the xenos bashing another xenos. What has the Eldar forgotten on this world, let alone the Drukhari?" he asked himself, but he wanted to ask more and find answers to his questions. But this was not the right time to make such judgements. He sat there, proning, and saw many of the Drukhari lying dead, and it made him satisfied as he grinned. He could barely determine what was going on out there, but from the looks of it, this entire squad of black clad individuals were ambushing the column. However, he wanted to know where exactly the column was heading, and so, decided to quickly investigate his worries.
"Okay, that's enough for the show. They are definitely not alone. I shall follow this path cautiously and use the woods to my own advantage." and with that, he set his plan into motion. He quickly used his Leuku, the famous Kalevan blade, to slice a few thick bushes. He sheathed his big knife, before making a hasty run towards the south, not wanting to be taken by surprise. Furthermore, he took the bushes with him to use them as camouflage-like covers in any case that there can be. "Lucky for me, there are no commissars who would order me to charge like an idiot.." he joked and laughed, but then got serious and quickly ran to where the column's initial destination was.
Niko ran in the woods while following the road, which was quite lengthy. He ran a lot, while occasionally catching some breathing. It was not an easy endeavor. It was in fact arduous and tiring, but he was determined. He held his crossbow tightly within his grip, and the bushes with his other arm. He pushed the plants in front of him aside to make sure he does not hurt himself while running off. But in such difficult terrain, it was never easy. What also made him rather worried, was the fact that there were no local animals to be seen anywhere. It disturbed him since they were so alive during the night, but from the presence of what was happening tonight, it surely made them scatter away and hide somewhere, or run away as far as possible. Niko shrugged that concern away from his mind and continued to run, jumping over a few big rocks on his way and dodging trees with much haste. He saw that the road was in fact leading... nowhere. It was just never ending. So he eased up his running into jogging.
"Hhuuff.. Where in the bloody hell are they heading? This road is going nowhere for Terra's sake. They are going to.. Wait a minute." he quickly halted as his ears caught some kind of weird alien and unknown noises coming from the right side of the path, deep in the woods. He instantly lied down and covered himself with the bushes, only leaving his head peaking, and took his binoculars once more to investigate the source of this weird noise. "What is that.. Noise? Huh." it surely made him puzzled, as he couldn't determine where it was coming from. It sounded like some kind of machinery, but rather with the sound being softer and calmer, as if the wind decided to sing a song. It was at the eastern side from the road, and it forced the young ex-guardsman to grasp his curiosity, and explore the source of that exact sound.
"I have absolutely no idea what kind of trickery this is, but perhaps the Drukhari were going to intercept whatever is behind those trees..? Nevertheless, I should check it out." and with that, he decided to quickly run to the other side of the road and make a hidden infiltration. The sound was coming from about a kilometer or two away from the spot he left, and it constantly ended and started over and over, before he noticed that after about three to four repeats, it began to run constantly without turning off. He made a slow and steady approach while crouching and came up to a steady small hill covered in moss, and saw a plain ground in the shape of an oval circle. He quickly lowered himself against the edge of the hill, covering himself with the bushes, and took his binoculars, zooming in for about 800 meters.
"Woah.. An entire group of Eldari? And- With their shuttles? How long have they been here, I wonder, and why? What the frak have the damned xenos creatures forgotten on this world I ask once more.. Is there never an end to them, never a peaceful world where their taint is not present?!" he whispered in frustration as he saw an entire group of black guardians, dire avengers, a warlock, a farseer and their commander. An Autarch with elegant wings. This was their landing zone, and the noises were nothing else than their alien engines turning on and off. They were building a defensive line around their shuttles that he saw were rather.. Unusual, and looked to be slightly damaged. The defensive line consisted of trees which these xenos have cut down and by the looks of it, the two high ranked Eldari were busy with the ship alongside few guardians.
They were busy with repairs. "What are they trying to do, repair their Emperor damned shuttles and frag off? They truly are mysterious and strange beings.. But I do admire the damage they've done to the Drukhari while being heavily outnumbered." he whispered as he saw the devastation they presumably have left behind. There were many dead Drukharis laying there without a motion, and the majority were dead by melee attacks.
"Those black armor clad individuals.. I wonder, they did this? Must've been a hasty rescue of their infantry soldiers, I suppose.. But let's see if they manage to pull this through. By the guide of the "Imperial Infantryman's uplifting primer" that I may have forgotten a lot about, I know that the Eldar are a psychic xenos race and prefer to use speed and agility, strike out of nowhere and disappear like ghosts in the shadows. I'll have to look into that primer later if I can find it, if not, not a big loss. But their reasons of being here is strange. This is just a feudal world that the Administratum has even forgotten to begin with. However, their goals are always unknown and shrouded in mystery.. Let us see what happens next. I may have to contact the.. Wait."
He sharpened his zooming and saw that the landing zone was getting under attack by more Drukhari forces that came out of the woods from their front, while he was at an angle of 70 degree from their rear, facing the left side of the shuttles since he did not want to be too close to the road he crossed from.
"More of them bastards. But this is a good opportunity to study the way of fighting of the Eldar." he whispered and started to examine each warrior, from mere guardian to the autarch at how they all fought as a single steady unit. The Kalevan silver spear was grinning the entire time, seeing how these two look-alike races were just killing each other. "Every Imperial commander would've loved to see this sight. The xenos killing another xenos. It is good for the Imperium. Varos would be proud if I ever told him how I witnessed all of this." he whispered once more and continued to observe and examine the Eldari, but not the Drukhari. It seemed like he has fought them before, but who knew what he really saw while fighting them. Only he would.
The ex-guardsman continued to watch with his only right eye through the lenses at the ongoing battle. The Eldar were desperately holding off the Drukhari warriors, who were showering their defensive line with a lot of splinter fire. Some of their members were those "crazy bitches" as Niko used to call them - the Wyches from the Commorragh's wych cults. They tried to make a swift approach, but the Eldari warlock and farseer made sure to send them flying backwards with lightning bolts coming out of their hands alone, which forced the young man to open his mouth in awe. "Not even our greatest Primaris psykers can pull off such devastation.. They truly are strange.." he whispered and continued to watch the battle for quite a while. What caught his attention was the fact that every warrior they had was boarding the shuttles one by one, but even when the last one boarded, their commander with the wings, an Autarch as he was called, refused to leave.
He constantly held his throat and, by the understanding of Niko, the commander was talking through some kind of communications device. "Is he talking to those.. Individuals?" he asked himself, before noticing that the commander looked to his right, and forced Niko to do the same. "Huh?" he instantly zoomed in his binoculars once more. He saw that from the right side of the shuttles, straight out of the woods, came the squad members of the black armor clad warriors. Niko saw them from up close now, and it looks like there were only 2 members out of many more that Niko saw back at the ambush site. One of them seemed to be wounded, but made it to the shuttle with great haste. Next, came out the squad leader with the white mane and a power glaive instead of power swords as Niko determined. From the understanding of the shape of their armor and their bodies, these elite melee units were all female.
"Are those.. The Eldar equivalent of the sisters of battle, the Sororitas? These strange black armor clad females.. It seems they suffered casualties and had to retreat. But why are they not leaving, someone's still out there..?" he was really confused. The members of this elite squad made it back, but their squad leader, the one with the glaive and white mane on her helmet, was staring at the Eldari commander and shook her head multiple times. Niko determined that there was still someone of her squad out there perhaps, and he quickly had to look on the right side to see if the rest will arrive from the same direction. And from the same direction, they would.
Niko saw two more members running as fast as they could towards their landing zone, and their squad leader noticed them and constantly waved her hand to reach her quickly. The two female warriors almost made it to their original destination. However, that endeavor was about to be halted. Because straight out of nowhere, the first warrior, while running as fast she could, swiftly threw herself against her teammate, and got struck directly onto her shoulder with a strong projectile that pierced her meat and bone clean.
Creating a big hole in her shoulder, and the sheer power of the weaponry sending her reeling onto the ground and rolling like a carpet a dozen of times, all towards her squad leader's position who pulled her behind the fallen tree to cover her up, while her teammate got pushed harshly to the side of the bushes and left stunned at what just happened. Niko couldn't believe it. These were no selfish bastards like the Drukhari. They took their camaraderie very seriously. It was proven to Niko twice in just a short period of time. Their commander refused to leave without the last member. The warrior just saved her friend and allowed herself to be shot instead. That kind of projectile that pierced her would've killed an ordinary human from the pain shock alone. But he saw that the wounded individual was alive.
"These Eldar are not selfish as I thought. Maybe they do have a strong unity, just like we do. But why do they and the Dark Eldar look alike.. Never mind, let's see if they make it out." he said and kept on watching in pure curiosity. And yet again, this time, the commander was desperate. He pleaded with the squad leader that they had to leave, judging by his hand gestures. But the squad leader obviously did not want to leave without the last individual, who was getting up slowly, alongside lifting her power sword from the ground. "That one is still alive. But if they do not leave right now, they'll be all dead.. Their commander knows this." he whispered while watching over the entire scenery. Something else caught his attention, however. He noticed the sniper far ahead, due to his weaponry flashing some emitting light, and by the looks of it, the Drukhari sniper was reloading and preparing to shoot once more. "He might be targeting the squad leader and the wounded one. Oh this will be interesting."
He said and constantly switched between the sniper, and the squad leader, who was now slowly forced to board the shuttle with the wounded individual on her shoulders. And when Niko looked at the spot where the second one fell, she was nowhere to be seen there anymore. "What the frag- eh?" then he quickly stared at the rustling bushes before adjusting his vision on the running warrior. It seems like this individual had an eagle's eye like he does, and instead of boarding the shuttles, decided to go and take care of the sniper to save her comrades. "An admirable cause for the xenos, but will it manage to kill that fraggin sniper?" he asked in curiosity, and decided to watch where she goes. He saw how she climbed up a tree like a strong magnet, ever so having precise and efficient climbing and with such balance that it was totally unmatched. It made Niko rather nervous, seeing how uncanny it truly was. But even then, he had to watch what she does next.
He watched the aspect warrior throw something towards the sniper in a swift motion of her hand. The sniper received something sharp between its eyes as he made his shot, and the ex-guardsman saw how it missed the squad leader and the warrior's comrade by mere inch. It truly impressed Niko beyond the measure. And he saw that this individual decided to possibly sacrifice herself in order for her team to escape. Admirable cause, truly admirable, he thought, and switched his gaze back at the warrior on top of a tree who now was running towards the north-west, while being chased by two Drukhari warriors.
Niko looked to his left as the shuttles began to float above the ground and were now preparing to leave the planet. He had to seriously admire such determination and fearlessness in front of these sad*stic bastards, which his former commander of the guard, Varos, told him about. The Drukhari took anyone, be it even the Eldar from their mysterious ship worlds, the original term Niko has forgotten for a long while. But he could not just lie down there anymore.
He had a problem to deal with at the moment. "I can only fathom what that xenos warrior is thinking.. Sacrificing itself for the team. But I have an enemy in my woods. Best to follow the alien and see what or who it is and what it will do before I end its existence." he frowned and decided to have another running spree. He noticed that only the two Drukhari warriors ran after her, and no one else. As the bulk of the Dark Eldar forces were busy with their frustration, Niko decided to get far away from them and retreat from the zone of their presence. He ran about a kilometer, and turned to the direction that the Eldari warrior ran off to, running in the woods once more after leaving the bushes behind. He had no need for camouflaging himself anymore.
The running took some of Niko's time away as the Merlorian moon lightened up the surface. He already felt the exertion kicking in within his feet and legs, but he ignored it and kept running and running, without a stop. He did not want to get into the way of the aspect warrior, neither the Drukhari members, as he would not be able to face them face to face. Likewise, he already knew he had no chance, but he was a hunter. And as a hunter, he was always going to make his strike out of nowhere, and that was his plan. "If I am fair to judge, the lone xenos will have to stop somewhere to catch a break. So far, with my knowledge, there is only the river nearby. There is no way this.. Female warrior, or what it even is, will be able to keep running after spending so much energy. I better get closer now and see where this alien went." he proclaimed to himself and decided to run about 500 meters closer to the path which the aspect warrior has taken, followed by two Drukhari members.
The hunter heard the flow of a river nearby, and then reached it as quick as possible. It was the same river he crossed earlier during the day after his hunt. This time, however, he saw no contact of anyone within his visage. He quickly crossed the river, wetting his boots and getting to the other side of the river and hiding deep in the woods, getting approximately closer to the spot from which he expected the xenos to come out of. The moonlight also helped to lighten up the flowing water on the surface, which forced the young man to lie down and pray that the alien did not already get past the river and decided to continue the escape. This time he covered himself with the moss and couple of bushes to hide his presence thoroughly, before essentially waiting, and occasionally pulling his binoculars out to look around the thin, but long flowing river. His breathing was now calmer as he allowed himself to catch a break.
The time was running slowly. He waited, and waited. Ten minutes ran by. Twenty. Thirty. At that point, he already thought that he missed the opportunity to catch the sight of the xenos, and was about to retreat back to his home. As he realized that the target of the Drukhari escaped and that they had possibly nothing else to do in this world but to depart. So he knew that he would proceed to his other tasks at hand. While he got up from his cover to leave, he heard the rustling of the bushes at the front side of his position. Right in the woods at the other side of the river he was facing. And quickly laid down without any loud noises, using his binoculars to take a peak.
"sh*te- thank the Emperor I waited.. Is that the xenos I wonder?" he said as he looked straight ahead and peaked at the rustling bushes in the darkness. His heartbeat got faster, and he was going to be relatively too close to the xenos from now on, and any noise would disturb it, he thought. But all his worries were in vain.
"What.. That's.. That's not a xenos." he said in frustration and disappointment. Out of the bushes came running one of the deer-like animals he hunted earlier during the day. It ran away to the other side of the river and disappeared into the woods. Niko relaxed, but sighed out in anger and lowered his binoculars, face-planting onto the grassy ground. "Ffrrakkin hell.. It looks like I may never really-"
Splash.
"Huh?" the young hunter immediately looked into his binoculars once more, and saw the xenos on a kneeling position near the river, staring onto the river, her power sword sheathed, the helmet still on, but with hands on her knees. The knees were what caused the splashing sound that caught Niko's attention as they were in the layer of the flowing water. "By the golden throne, how did it manage to slip out without any noise, let alone so quickly? True are the words of the priests. Abhor the xenos for they are so abominable that the only thing they deserve is our hate and disgust." he spoke with himself in his mind as he examined the xenos from such close distance.
The armor was black and made from unknown material. Couple of pouches, possibly for throwing knives or for rations. A white loincloth with a mysterious symbol, which to Niko resembled something like an eye with a tear. A sidearm that was utterly alien. The helmet had a long red mane on its back, and another strange symbol right at its forehead. Eye visors were oval-shaped and the mouth part resembled that of an external vocalizer, the purpose of which Niko did not know. He was quite baffled. It did not help the fact that the xenos was frozen and in a meditating state for a little bit. "This xeno is very deadly. And tall, over seven feet tall, I propose. How can they move so fast with that armor on, what am I even saying.. These are xenos and should only be met with a sword at their necks. Wait, is it about to remove its helmet?" he said as he saw the aspect warrior slowly raise her hands to her helmet.
Niko quickly decided to grab his crossbow and load it with one of his arrows after unbuttoning the quiver and pulling out a single arrow, loading it up properly with great haste, without a noise and aim it right towards her forehead while anxious feeling struck within his heart as it began to beat faster and a bit louder. He was about to see what the Eldari really looked like from the close distance. The Banshee removed her helmet cautiously and slowly, and Niko sharpened his eyesight, slowly pressing the trigger, but he froze on the spot after what he saw in the next moment.
The young man did not see no abomination of the ecclesiarchy talks. Neither he saw something resembling the crazy bitches from the Drukhari raiders. His mouth slowly opened up as a tiny droplet of sweat fell down to the ground, baffled and shocked at the realization of what he was seeing within the scope of his crossbow.
His finger on the trigger utterly resisted pushing itself at the exposed head of the xenos. But what truly caught him was her looks. It was probably the most beautiful woman his eye has ever seen. Shiny amber eyes. Pale skin. Little nose, pure red heart shaped lips, and those alien looking knife-ears. And bright, red hair in a ponytail, which she unmade and allowed her silky hair to fall over her shoulders, while staring at the sky and blinking a few times. Niko was truly speechless. He stared at her elegant features and felt how his heart fell into the utmost relaxation, the likes of which he has not felt in a very, very long time. But she was still a xenos. The indoctrinated side of his mind was still battling with his own self.
"...I.. why am I.." he uttered out while his finger shook and trembled at the trigger, his breathing slowly getting deeper. "Why.. Am I.. Not pulling the trigger..? By the Imperial creed, we have to.. Destroy the xenos before they trick us and annihilate. Emperor demands it. The ecclesiarchy demands it. To let the xenos live, is to share the crime of its existence.. But.. should I.." he literally argued with himself and his own principles. The rules were set to him since the childhood. Humanity was perfect. Xenos were vile. But right now, he could see that it was not fully true. The Eldar woman in his scope looked utterly human from such close view, but he knew she was an alien.
However, his lonely heart told him not to pull the trigger, to let her live, but he still battled as he closed his eye and stared at the ground, breathing calmly, but deeply. "Come on Niko, frakkin hell.. Get yourself together, Armanen.. She is an abomination and perversion of humanity's beauty. Kill her and be done with it..!" his mind told him, and pressured him over and over, as he quickly took another look and tried to pull the trigger, but to no avail. The Eldar woman acted too human, washing her face, taking sips from the river water, then munching on her rations while she took time with her break.
Niko bit his lip, and gritted his teeth as he tried to force himself to pull that trigger and end her existence. She was vulnerable and busy, but he did not do it. He simply could not bring himself to do it. This was no Drukhari, no monstrosity of the Imperial cult's constant preaching. Far away from anything resembling these vile beings. She was utterly beautiful to his eye, but he still battled with himself, unable to do anything but to contemplate with his decision. "What I am doing is heretical.. Kill her, Niko. Just.. Close your eye and pull it." he said, then faltered once again after taking his aim as she was now staring at the water, giving out a soft warm smile, which unusually warmed up Niko's heart as he felt the heat of his fast beating heart rush through his veins, shaking his head once more and faceplanting onto the ground.
"Aaghh.. They look, similar to us, yet at the same time.." he told himself in such disturbing moment he was in right now. He simply could not live with an image of seeing her dead, with an arrow in her skull and her utterly beautiful and eye-catching features ruined. "What do I do then, I can't just-" a sudden noise of something clashing together was heard at where the howling banshee knelt at, and Niko took an aim with his crossbow once more. "Drukhari?!" he asked himself, seeing how one of those bastards tried to strike the Eldar woman from behind. But she anticipated it and blocked off his attack.
They exchanged something within their language, which Niko could not even comprehend or understand to begin with. And so, he watched the scene unfold. The Drukhari was maniacally laughing and probably mocking the banshee, whilst provoking her further and frustrating her. Niko understood it. She was all alone, her comrades had to leave her behind to escape this world, and now she was stuck. The bastard used it to his advantage. Niko stayed silent and watched through his crossbow's scope at the ensuring fight that was going to unfold. But he noticed another Drukhari coming out from behind the banshee about 20 meters away. He quickly shot something towards her as she leapt towards the first Drukhari in order to cut him with her power sword. But she froze in place as the tip of her blade got mere inches away from his throat. Niko quickly came into a shocking realization after he heard the laughing, and saw the banshee's sword drop as she fell onto the ground, completely paralyzed.
"Tranquilizer! Or a drug.. I think that's what he shot at her. What do I do.. And why am i even concerned about this xenos? I should just let them deal with her." he told himself in whispers and allowed his xenophobia to take control of him, before his own open-minded heart took the spot and forced him to turn his crouching position around and take another look. His eye widened up instantly. "Fragging.. Bastards!"
His chest felt burning as he suddenly got angry beyond the measure. What he saw, was that one of those bastards played with her like a toy. Running his finger across her terrified face since she could control her eyeballs. They were widened, and the tears were obviously building up, and it only made Niko grow ever more furious as the Drukhari rolled his disgusting tongue across her beautiful, fresh and pale cheek, and after a minute of talking with his comrade, the young hunter realized what the second one was about to do to her. "That's... it.." he whispered, and took his aim towards the standing Drukhari who removed his armor from the groin area, thinking that he would let his sad*stic and disgusting urges to be unleashed. That was not going to happen.
Niko unleashed his first shot straight at the backside of the Drukhari's head, and made a bullseye. These idiots were helmetless, and it helped him a lot. The first Drukhari's head got pierced by his arrow and he fell down slowly to the side. Niko already finished loading his second arrow by the time the second idiot processed what just happened.
He decided to walk towards him and the banshee slowly. Bit by bit. Shooting his arrow straight at the Drukhari's leg, loading a third arrow swiftly, and shoot the second leg. "No you frakking don't." he said a bit loudly and unleashed his fourth arrow at the hand of the Drukhari who tried to grab his weaponry from the ground. By the time he desperately pulled his sidearm, the hunter already sent a fifth arrow flying at his hand, which pierced his splinter pistol into two and struck him straight through the palm of his hand. He crawled on his belly towards the banshee, not knowing who to turn to in panic and despair, but the ex-guardsman already had his Leuku pulled out as he crossed the river, and made his deadly approach.
"This is for the 64th and the 122nd.. Scumbags."
Sunny day on Merlorian.
Niko's home, bedroom, hours later after the events at the river.
Liriel saw many images crossing her mind within her dream she was seeing. Her point of view was flying across the mountains and into the stars high above, before she saw the side of a galaxy covered in nebula of different colors. It was a beautiful sight to witness. As if swimming across the galactic oceans. She was crossing some sector of the space before the colors changed into a light blue colored dust. Essentially, she ended up seeing her own home within the craftworld of Ulthwe in the next phase of images flashing. There, she recognized many faces minding their own business. The gardens which she used to visit was the place that pulled her like a magnet.
There was a figure standing tall, which Liriel recognized as her uncle. The aged Farseer Elidyr of Ulthwe. Liriel felt her feet touching the grassy ground about five meters away from the Farseer as his back was facing her. She wanted to speak in such confusion, but she could not.
"You live." His voice to her was echoing, and full of sadness. She realized how he felt. He could not reach for her and get her home at the moment, and she was his only family. "You evaded your doom."
"Why? Was I not supposed to fall, uncle? Why do I still live? What kind of tricks the laughing god Cegorach himself has pulled on me? Am I not the warrior of Khaine, not worthy of his spirit? My fate had to be sealed.." none of their lips moved from their talks. Everything was done telepathically as Farseer turned to face her.
"It is not that, Liriel. The fate is predetermined for every living being in this universe. But the destiny is paved by the current actions we take. Flowing through oceans of our lives. You are not ready to embrace your soul stone." he softly explained, while holding his staff and wearing his white, eye-catching robe with black markings of Ulthwe. "Your fate was denied to you by a human."
Liriel looked away in a frowny facial expression, then stared towards him. "The Mon'keigh.. Is the fate laughing at me or cursing? Rescued by a barbarian.. What good has this given me, uncle? I wanted to fall in battle. I was already contempt with my fate, as all warriors of Ulthwe face day by day." she noted and continued. "A primitive who I cannot even understand, its like interacting with a wild animal."
Elidyr approached her and looked down at her, as he was indeed taller than most Farseers of Ulthwe. "Child. This mon'keigh that you speak of is not like the others. Sure, we despise them for their prideful ignorance and zealotry, but that is because the majority of them are indoctrinated into their barbaric cult. Which their Corpse of a seer, their Emperor.. Tried to prevent. They are blind and lost. But at the moment, we need them to keep the Archenemy busy. I do not sense ill intentions within this human. And I may not know what he has done, or will do. But know this, Liriel Valdan of Ulthwe." he slowly raised his hand and put it on her shoulder.
"You are alive thanks to him. For there has not been a single case in our history ever since we sang the songs of lament, that a single, simple and ordinary human pulled an Aeldari soul out of the jaws of inevitable doom, set up by the fate alone. He is not a usual mon'keigh." Liriel was baffled. Hearing such words from her uncle Elidyr caused her to get nervous and full of confusion. "Farseer Elidyr.. What.. Are you saying? I can find a way to return home. I will get rid of this primitive, for they all see us as nothing but vermin for stomping. And I will not tolerate such a disgrace and humiliation." she proclaimed to him while feeling the pride of an aspect warrior taking over her.
"You fail to see the bigger picture at hand, my dear niece. I taught you how the Mon'Keigh are blind, ignorant and foolish. I taught you a lot about them. But I never told you that some of them are able to see reason. For during their first footsteps through the stars, when they were at their zenith, they were more open-minded for peace and good negotiations with our ancient domain. But they had their own fall, just like us. Now our fates are bound together. We can continue killing each other, but it will only doom us and aid the Chaos. We must always be vigilante to not trust them, and use them for our causes. While, at the same time, aiding them."
He explained, letting her process his words. She was still detesting, however. "Even if.. " She gritted her teeth for a second, closing her eyes, before opening them and looking straight into his eyes. "Even if all of this is true..this mon'keigh may have rescued me, but there is no way I will trust him and heed any of his reasons. I can barely understand what he spoke. Just.. I do not even know if Arleina is fine." she said, with slight sadness in her voice being heard clearly.
"If it reassures you, she will live. She is a strong warrior. And if not for her, you would have died. The fate determined all of this. But the human-" Liriel instantly cut him off, forgetting about the human who saved her. "I will find a quick way home. I must see her, uncle. She and I.. Our bond of sisterhood is strong. She can be reckless and will not feel any sense of peace until she has found me, or even my soul stone if she thinks I am dead. I am afraid that she will do something unimaginable to just get back in here.. I must survive and find a way back home." she explained while Elidyr simply stared, without a single blink, just a cold, calm and calculated stare.
Liriel was obviously worried. Reassured she was, but her worries were way stronger. She made a promise. And she would keep it, no matter what. He closed his eyes before letting go of her shoulder, turn around, and slowly start to float off the ground. Liriel was caught off guard, and stared at his back. "Uncle?" she asked once more and tried to approach him, but she felt her feet frozen to the ground and her sight getting blurry and hearing getting worse, as if losing it. She fell onto her knees and looked up at him while reaching her hand towards him. He merely turned his head and said a few words loud enough for her to hear.
"Do not kill the young human. Understand him better. For he will be your only salvation. Unless you are to doom yourself and to never see me, and your aspect sister ever again.."
Elidyr vanished from her sight as the darkness struck her eyes, before a sudden flash appeared, and she was forced to open up her eyes widely while breathing heavily. The feeling, that she felt at that moment, was that her body was lying on something relatively soft and comfortable, with her head laid on a soft material. Her eyes froze straight at the wooden ceiling, which she saw as she was catching her breathing. She examined her surroundings by slowly unfreezing her eyes from the ceiling, looking left and right, and slowly and carefully taking in the details of this habitation that she was in right now.
"Hhhaa..hhaaa...haaa... By.. Isha.. Where am I?" she asked within her mind. She noticed that this was some kind of wooden dwelling, and she was lying on a bed. Liriel was confused. There were windows that let the sunlight through, which lightened up the room she was in. Couple of shelves, a door, and some kind of device that resembled a primitive-looking oil lamp. She saw that her helmet, and her power sword were miraculously lying on the wooden table near the window, which earned her a deep sigh of relief.
"Praise be the goddess.. Wait..Why can't I move." she asked once more as she tried to move her limbs. She was really relieved to know that the drug the Drukhari struck her with already withdrew, but she felt her wrists and ankles tied together. The ends of the ropes were tied to both sides of the bed, the rear and the front, as if denying her the way to wiggle off and possibly drop her blades from the table to cut her ties off. "...This.. Human is smarter than I thought.. Giving him too much credit makes me sick." she admitted to her disgust, scowling and taking in more of the details of this mon'keigh's dwelling. The smell of humanity. It truly made her sick as she tried to ignore it with her stronger senses.
"This must be his home. He does not trust me as much as I do not trust him. That might explain why he tied me up.. But Khaine give him salvation when I break free and end his barbaric existence. If his perversions have taken over ever since last night, I will break his bones one by one. That I swear on all the dignity I have after this humiliation.." she told herself in a whispering manner, while trying to calm down and meditate. She wanted to push these thoughts aside.
The thoughts of possible things this human may have done to her when she was unconscious. It disgusted her obviously, but the meditating helped as she was calmly breathing and having her eyes closed. But something came up to her mind. "That, dream... What did he mean, do not kill him, the salvation, I do not understand.." she quickly shook her head and concentrated on important tasks at hand. "Never mind. I must find anything that gives me a chance to contact my craftworld. This human will not stop me. If he thinks I will be kept in captivity like a dog, then he better reconsider what he has. For I will not be held here by a mon'keigh beast. Doubt I'll even understand what he says, but by Isha's grace, I will find a way back to Arleina and my uncle." she swore once more, before switching to other thoughts that fogged her mind.
"And yet even then.. My armor. It is not defiled. Why did this human save me? Any other human in his shoes would've allowed those.." she cringed in disgust before continuing "Monstrosities to violate me, yet.. He saved me from such evil deeds. Was Elidyr speaking the truth when he said to understand him? I have no knowledge or clear understanding of his words.. But the time, shall tell." she said and began to meditate once more, and partially being glad that she evaded the terror which she would've felt if not for the human last night. But in the other part of her mind, she was saved by a foe of her people, the mon'keigh. The primitive and lesser being. She was as xenophobic as a human could be. But she did her best to try to come to the true realization and to understand his motives. Right now, she waited.
Niko finished his scouting endeavor and decided to turn back towards his home. He nevertheless was tired as he didn't manage to continue his sleep ever since the events last night, just before the morning. But he knew he was going to be busy. He did not manage to find any other presence of the Drukhari, except the carnage that was left. He did not go far away from his place of dwelling. He was just making sure that those bastards left his world, in order not to battle once again. But the grimmer thoughts began to settle within his mind.
"I may have been lucky this time, but the Imperial authorities, especially from the Inquisition, may sniff out that something happened here. They'll search the entire world to find what they need. What will I tell them if they find me and.. The xenos, I wonder?" he asked himself. "That I faltered to shoot the alien? that I did not report anything to the authorities? I'll be deemed as a heretic.. Frakking hell. I do not want to think about it." He wiped his forehead, shrugged off those thoughts, and concentrated on the main task at hand. He had to return home and see how the xenos woman was doing.
He reached his little house while not thinking about anything but the task at hand. Furthermore, he opened his simple wooden door, while having his gear on him, and slowly walked towards the bedroom's door. Next, he was about to touch the handle and open it up, but even here, he faltered and stepped back a couple of steps.
"Okay. This is not something I was ever taught, let alone fathom to be doing. The Emperor is probably frowning upon me." he contemplated and held his head, walking around the living room instead. "Why do I attract a major problem to my dwelling? Have I grown so lonely that I spare an enemy.. An enemy. Of the Imperium. An enemy that thinks of us as nothing more than dumb apes? I do not even know why I've done this. But if this is the destined path, it better be worth it." he said and slowly walked to the door, which he slowly opened up and decided to enter.
Liriel was already aware of his presence thanks to the noises he made with his footsteps and the entrance door. She had a mask of distrust written all over her face, staring directly into the soul of the young hunter. Niko, in exchange, froze in the spot, as if being locked by the intense stare of her fiery amber eyes. She was obviously showing hostility towards him. And he understood it. His mouth opened up slightly, not knowing what to say, and he immediately shut it with a gulp of his saliva.
"Go-.. Good... Morning, xeno." he said, anxious and rather nervous. Who could really blame him when he was stuck in peace for so long, but at the cost of cutting any contact, and living in constant loneliness, with the past traumas he carried within his heart.
Liriel raised her eyebrow, then lowered it. "Is he that stupid not to realize that I do not speak his vile language? I barely know "Low Gothic" as Elidyr described it." she said within her mind and continued to stare at him. Niko, in exchange, diverted his gaze away from her before taking a deep breath. He decided to remove his cloak and hang it on the wall, same with his quiver and crossbow.
He still carried the holster around his waist, which consisted of some kind of blade and the Imperial laspistol, as Liriel noted to herself. The young man still, from time to time, eyed her direction, and quickly diverted his gaze every time, due to how she was still staring at him like a moth to a lamp. It was annoying to him, but he endured. Liriel examined him and came to the conclusion that he was showing signs of shyness, anxiety and worry as he did his tasks. It did not help the fact that he looked rather young for human standards. "The way he acts is like looking at a child who does not know how to act in front of an adult. Clearly, he is young, but adult, nevertheless. Do I scare him?" she asked herself, while continuing to look at him with hostility.
Niko pulled off his sweater, and underneath it, he wore his own munitorum issued standard green t-shirt. It looked to be worn, but he wore it with pride. He sat down on a wooden stool afterward and looked at her, finally having the guts to face a tall and elegant, but utterly alien female. "Sooo... Uh. I guess you really do not understand what I am saying, do you?" he asked her, to which she raised her eyebrow again, indicating that she truly did not understand him. He sighed and tried a more appropriate approach. "Okay. So." he pointed at himself. "Niko. Niko Armanen." afterward, he pointed at her and raised his eyebrow.
"Niko, Armahnien, Armanan.. Armanen? Is this foolish Mon'Keigh telling me what his name is? Guess I will have to communicate with him however I can. The faster I follow his pattern, the better the chances are for me to escape." she said and leaned up, with her hands still tied behind her back, and her ankles tied together as well. She looked at him once more, now a bit calmer, as she knew she was dealing with a lost child, as she thought.
"Liriel. Liriel.. Valdan." she told him with her own voice, all while Niko's jaw dropped slightly as he blinked a few times.
"By the Emperor.. Her voice.." he whispered. For Niko's ears, it was purely elegant. Soft, and feminine, but with the spirit of a warrior. The voice of seriousness, determination and sheer frakking will, Niko thought. He closed his mouth once again and essentially lit up a light smile. It was truly the first moment in such a long time he actually communicated with someone, be it even the xenos which he decided to save for reasons being unknown. He did not understand it himself.
His smile faded quickly as he looked at the floor, frowning. "I am consorting with a xenos.. The execution would be my only fate after such a thing. But.. It feels, good to, talk to someone, even if its.. An Eldar." he admitted and then rubbed the back of his neck while staring away. "What even is in his mind. Does his faith tremble? Why he hasn't called his authorities to capture me is beyond my understanding.. He is strange. Weird acting for a mon'keigh." she noted and kept staring as she noticed him talking with himself. "How long has he been alone without any contact in these woods, or world in particular? Talking with himself like I can't hear his blabber."
She examined him further, taking in his facial features. Eye patch on the left eye. Green right eye. Almost analogous face to a young Eldari male, and he was over 6 feet tall. His scar on his left side of the cheek running down to his chin was also caught by her. "I can only fathom what caused that scar on a young human like him. His face, however.." she did not want to admit it, and it surely made her cringe at such thoughts. But it was not to be denied - the human looked pretty handsome and innocent despite the scars. But she quickly threw these weird thoughts aside and regained her hostile stare. "Nevertheless, he is an alien as much as I am to him. Best to see what his actions will be." she said in her mind once more, and kept staring.
The young hunter stared at her and spoke out. "Look. I do not trust you. Neither will you probably understand what I am saying, miss.. Liriel. You are a xenos. An enemy. I tied you for a reason. And as much as I like us to understand each other better, for the greatness of it all..Emperor damn me...Eldar are deceitful and untrustworthy. So, I will have to, leave you like this, for a little bit at least." he explained calmly. Liriel in exchange, got even more confused. "...Bad." Niko quickly widened his right eye. "Bad..." she wiggled and stared at her ropes, then at him. "Bad.. No. No good." she was speaking some of the low gothic. Niko was surprised and gob smacked.
"You speak Low Gothic?" He asked her, and Liriel saw the face of a curious being in front of her. The young man was smiling lightly once more. It made her rather nervous and unpleasant. She hated the fact that this human smiled while she was tied. "You do not speak much, but you still try. That's already a progress!" he proclaimed, chuckling silently. It infuriated Liriel, and he heard a hiss from the banshee, which forced him to shut up and regain his anxious face. "Uh, sorry, sorry, apologies.." he said, looking away. "It's just, I have not talked with someone for a very.. Long time, but to a xenos? Commissar Artan would strangle me for this." The corner of his eye looked at her, and she still remained hostile, not understanding him fully. "Right.. Obviously you won't know what I am saying unless I point it out. But I cannot free you under present circ*mstances." he explained and frowned lightly, shaking his head and contemplating what he is supposed to do right now.
"Either way. I would really like to find out what on Malcador's teeth you have forgotten here, on this world out of countless others." He said, holding his chin while sitting and staring at the ground, leaving the aspect warrior puzzled in her own thoughts. "There is no understanding of the Eldar, for trusting them is like stepping into the edge of the abyss before you fall down onto it. Let us see what you pack." he noted, before essentially moving to check out her gear at the table. Liriel at the side got rather concerned and nervous, hissing towards him and saying something in the Aeldari lexicon. Obviously, he did not understand what she was saying, so he decided to ignore her for the time being and inspect her helmet first.
"Does this human's depravity lack any boundaries?! He sullied my helmet with his filthy hands, how dare he.." she growled. Niko, meanwhile, just showed no concern as he checked the textures of the helmet. The material was extremely soft to touch, but it was extremely hard. "This stuff is probably harder than adamantium, let alone her armor." he said. Then, he gently stroked the silky, soft red mane on the back of the helmet and was surprised to realize how thin each hair was. "I swear. The local pub lady in my village would kill to get something this soft and firm.." he uttered out, before placing the helmet back on its spot.
"Not my sword!" Too late. Niko already held it up and checked its blade and the handle, gripping it tightly before making a slash to the air. "Relatively easy to handle, yet at the same time, it is literally too alien for me to understand. The blade is not made of any alloys that are known to humanity. It must be their own xenos tech as usual. I do not know much about her kind. But she must be like a lightning bolt with this sword. I've seen what her compatriots did.." He said as he placed the sword down and looked at her.
"One can only shudder at the length of this Eldar's training. How much do they train? I can only wonder and guess." He shook his head and then checked her pouches, pulling out two pieces of golden yellow bread biscuits, while ignoring the scowls and growls of the howling banshee, unable to understand her. But he knew what she was saying without even understanding it. She did not like her stuff touched, but it was his home. His home - his rules.
He sniffed the breads and realized that they were of the highest quality. Something like these, he thought, would be served to top-ranking individuals across the Imperium. Yet even these warriors were well-fed than them. Truly, they were not too wrong to be arrogant and consider everyone else as lesser being. But he detested it and shrugged it off. He wanted to take a bite, but changed his mind after realizing that it would be considered rude and inappropriate, even for an Eldari, a freaking xenos, he thought. "This is not appropriate. I'm making a fool out of myself right now, but I'm glad I at least observed her belongings.." he said, putting her rations back carefully and closing the pouch just as he opened it at first. But something caught Niko's attention. A sound of stomach growling.
Niko looked at Liriel and saw her looking away, with the streams of her red, silky hair covering her eyes. And he noticed a hint of pinkness on her cheek. Niko slowly lit up with a light smile. "The xenos is hungry?" She immediately looked at him with a frown, and Niko's smile faded as he sighed once more, and pointed at her pouch, then at his mouth, then at her. "Food. You, eat. Good?" He really felt like a foolish dork who couldn't properly communicate with this beautiful creature. Nevertheless, Liriel understood what he meant and gave him no heed or any signs. She looked away once more, and Niko rolled his eye. "You might be a xenos lass, but even you have to eat like all living beings." he said, pulling out her biscuits before approaching her and leaning one to her mouth. She moved her mouth away by turning her head to the other side, and Niko looked away, then back at her. "Listen lassie. Enough acting like a child! Eat your Emperor damned food." he detested.
Liriel yet again refused to be handled by a mon'keigh. A primitive. An enemy and a barbarian. "The audacity of this primitive! I will feed myself once I get out of these grudges you put me in, worthless animal.." she told him, already knowing that he wouldn't understand.
The young hunter got relatively sick of these attempts, and then shrugged before slowly leaning the biscuit to his lips while maintaining eye contact with the howling banshee. She raised her eyebrow and then scowled at him. "Hey- Hey! Do not even dare! These are grown from the wheat of our craftworld gardens, you fool!" She was rather fuming, but Niko just teased her further by slipping his tongue out and getting the biscuit near the tongue itself.
Liriel was seriously put in a position of total embarrassment. This Mon'Keigh was determined to make a huge fool out of her. "Curse you, Cegorach for putting me through this horror.." She whispered, and then decided to stay silent. It did not help the fact that all the energy spent was now taking its toll. She needed some food. Niko smiled and let out a little chuckle before leaning the biscuit to her mouth, and she hesitantly took it from his hand like feeding some wild lion. It forced Niko to jump a little bit backwards and fall on his rear. He rubbed his head and was now pouting, staring at the grinning and snickering banshee who was chewing her treat.
"Oh, that's how it is now, huh?" he stated while standing up and dusting himself off, pointing at her next. "You may not know this. But we of the Kalevan silver spears do not take such insults from anyone. Especially, not of the xenos!" he proudly stated. The banshee, however, did not pay it any heed. She simply stared at him as if watching over a wild ape who's blabbering his usual gestures and kept chewing the small biscuit while shaking her head, as if telling him that he is dumb and stupid. Niko gritted his teeth and let out another annoyed sigh before facepalming in the process. "God-Emperor almighty, give me patience with this xeno." He said while rubbing his eye and then hearing his own stomach starting to growl. "sh*te. I need to eat." he said, and then noticed the banshee's eyes closed with very calm breathing. "Huh. Some kind of meditative state? No idea how these xenos work." he shrugged and went off to the kitchen, where there was a cauldron for stews and soups.
Niko began to fill it with the rainwater he collected into wooden buckets, then threw in some firewood to lighten up the fire. As the water was slowly succumbing to boiling, he went outside to the little hut he kept as storage for salted meat and other of his belongings, and came back with a few hanging pieces of meat. Next, he pulled open a little cabinet and dug out some MRE packs he had collected ever since his journey to this world. There were many variants. Grox in spicy sauce. Urian bean stew. Ambull casserole. And many more. But he only needed one out of many - the vegetable medley. "Bingo! I don't remember tasting this one before." he said with a grin.
But as soon as he opened it, it disappeared into nothing more than a gag after he sniffed the contents. "Eugh! Who in the great spear's name thought this would be a good idea?! They are barely edible in such a state.. Oh well. Let's MAKE it edible then." he told himself before pouring the contents into the already boiling water. Next, he chopped up the chunks of meat into tiny pieces with his Kalevan blade, and threw them into the pot with the vegetables, cleaning his Leuku in the process from fat. Afterward, he pulled out a tiny pack of salt and pepper, and added them in, grabbing the big wooden spoon from the wall and beginning the stirring. The awful yet bizarre smell quickly disappeared as the veggies got soft from their solidified state, and the meat took its color as he continued to mix. His stomach was growling again. But he lightly punched it. "Shut it. Be patient.." he said, and began to whistle some songs while waiting for the decent meal.
Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Liriel was busy with meditation. She couldn't believe it. While she understood the cautiousness of the mon'keigh, she did not expect him to act rather neutral. Let alone, the fact that she was alive, was a miracle. The human clearly showed a sense of honor and care. He forced her to eat, even when she clearly hesitated. Then he carried her to safety to his dwelling. He could've just thrown her to the ground, or the corner, but he did not. This human, for her, was rather way too weird and mysterious. Every human she met was always hostile. Be it a space marine, or a guardsman. This individual contradicted everything she was taught about humans. And everything she saw from them, was nothing but pure hatred and hostility.
She could examine him with a mere stare. He had only one eye, but there was no hatred within it. Rather, curiosity and cautiousness. "I cannot believe it.. by the great-mother, how did I end up in this situation?" she asked herself while meditating. "I am practically stuck here with a human that contradicts everything I've ever been taught. However, he is indeed foolish. What are his motives and the true reason for saving me in the first place? Ransom me to the authorities? No.. He would've treated me harsher. Then what is the truth? One does not evade fate so easily, and yet.. Here I am." Many questions raced within the aspect warrior's mind, and she knew that there were no answers for them. She simply laid there in peace, and heard the door slowly open up.
"Still haven't moved an inch, xeno?" The human stood at the door and held something in his hand, wearing his gloves on both of them. It was a bowl that radiated some steam, and she could smell it from the distance with her stronger senses, since Eldari had way better senses of smell, hearing, vision and emotions that they controlled. It made her slightly cringe, but she quickly forced it away as the human approached her, and pulled his stool closer to the edge of the bed, and began to stir the contents of the bowl with a little wooden spoon. "This is what they cook and fill their bodies with? Khaine, give me strength.." she said, staring into his single eye with the same facial expression of mistrust and cautious hostility.
But Niko had been slowly getting used to it ever since she woke up. He took the spoon of soup and leaned it to her mouth, which forced the xenos to push her head back and turn her nose away while showing clear signs of disgust. "Oh come on, xeno. Surely this can't be that bad!" he said and put a spoon in his own mouth, which forced his face to freeze as his eye began to twitch while he chewed it up and swallowed against his own will. "...Why does this galaxy give me the worst possible sustenance?! Why?!" he thought. However, this was a source of energy, and he'd have to cook something better next time, but this would suffice.
"Xeno, I may not blame you for thinking that we are indeed crazy if we feed our populace this garbage. But this will give you some energy and help you recover." he said while taking another spoon and leaning it closer to her mouth. She turned her face away yet again. "This primitive thinks I'll be manhandled like a child! Never in a thousand nights.." However, as she was about to finish her sentence, she felt her own stomach twisting as a sign that her body was lacking the needed energy.
The weirdness of this human increased with every action in Liriel's eyes. He then looked away from her and kept the spoon where it was. She noticed it, and only then did Niko feel the spoon being touched by her firm red lips, and oh boy, did she regret taking that spoon. "...My, poor tastebuds.. Cegorach, why do you jest over me like this? I can barely breathe with this in my mouth!" she thought while slowly chewing the disgusting mess that was in her mouth called "human food". It had needed spices, but the vegetables were truly nasty. The meat, however, was decent, but the veggies still ruined it. She gagged and then forced herself to swallow the sustenance, before Niko slowly looked at her, and she looked away instantly.
"I know. Trust me, I frakking know." he said with a deep sigh and took another spoon, repeating the same process of looking away until he felt the spoon being contacted. This was a slow process, however. Yet he did not blame her for it. The bowl was finished only in about twenty minutes straight of arduous task while Niko sat looking away. "She really does not want me to see her eat. Frankly, I do not blame her. Who would enjoy seeing someone that they consider a mere ape, feeding and manhandling them like a child? But I have to admit.. This is hilarious." he chuckled for a bit before Liriel turned the corner of her eye towards him. "She might be alien, but she is no different from acting like any of us in the same situation." he thought to himself before standing up and putting the bowl on the table, yawning deeply afterward as his eye showed clear signs of fatigue.
"... Bad." Niko heard behind himself, which prompted him to turn around and face her eyes closed, again in meditating state. "Bad... eat. Bad." he raised his eyebrow and then understood it. "Never would I think that I'd hear from a literal xenos that my food is sh*te. The universe is vast indeed." he said and just smiled a bit. "I know. No good. Bad eat. No good eat. But you might want to consider studying Low Gothic further, xeno." he said, before taking something from his own pouch. This time, Liriel paid attention. She saw the human pull out something that resembled a thick notebook. Next, he pulled out what resembled a writing object, in black color. It was a coal chalk in the shape of a pen. "That must be his personal diary of some sort.. Is he a writer by any chance?" she asked herself and got rather curious.
The young hunter clearly took his time to write and showed no signs of rush. He hummed and kept staring at the table as he sat at it, and continued to write. "I conclude, with full seriousness, that this human is indeed bizarre. Was he born here? I must try to find out more once I'm out of the current situation." she told herself while staring at him, continuing the observation and make her own assumptions with questions and guesses. "Clearly he did not like the food either.. But then looked away, as if reading my mind. Who truly is he.." the curiosity about this human slowly settled in within Liriel's heart. The banshee was filled with confusion and bafflement without it ever going down. And not like she was blamed for it.
The young man was too concentrated on his writing at the moment. His back faced the aspect warrior, but the hunter kept himself busy for the time being. He quickly finished his writing while the curious banshee kept her gaze upon him, studying and speculating him further. "His eye, and the scar.. I wonder how he lost it and what beast gave him that much damage." she asked herself.
"An outcast perhaps, or a deserter, I may not know. I still do not understand what he says. But it's best to act neutral until he gains some trust that I pose no threat to him. Perhaps then, I may end his misery." she thought. "I have to return to my craftworld as soon as possible. They must have a port on this world where their ships land. I might have to find a way towards it and try my best to contact them. It will be difficult, but staying here is already a humiliation. What would others think, especially Arleina.. She'd probably have a laughter." she contemplated and instantly began to plan ahead on her endeavor, not wanting to waste more time, which was already in deficit.
After finishing writing within his personal diary, he let out a long yawn and slowly turned his head around. He saw a glimpse of the xenos woman staring at him once more, but quickly diverted her head to the other side to hide her curiosity. "It looks like she's as curious as I am. Even if I'm a primitive in her eyes." he said softly before putting his diary into his pocket and pointing at the window. "You know, I would not recommend you to get out into those woods if you think about escaping this captivity. I may be doing you a favor here. If you don't want to get lost, hopefully you will understand my gestures. These woods go by hundreds of kilometers." he said, and she slowly looked at him in a total lack of understanding, shrugging and unable to grasp his words.
"For the last time. I do not understand you, primitive. If what you said is advice of high importance, then spare me any details. I will not heed the words of your kind!" she spat out in the Aeldari lexicon, and Niko was forced to just calmly stare with his single eye at the bitter and resisting xeno. He simply made a gesture with his hand, which indicated a sign of "Bla bla bla". The banshee frowned at him in response. "Is he mocking my language by making a gesture of silence?!" she thought, and that's when Niko had to seriously frown himself after losing some of his patience with the xenos woman, who clearly could at least show some sort of understanding, but decided to resist instead.
"So you're not willing to listen, are you?" he said, pulling his chair towards himself, before taking a seat and staring at her afterward. "Do not be stupid. See that?" He pointed once more at the windows, which still shined some sunlight within his bedroom. "You." he pointed at her, then at the window. "Bad. Don't. Bad.. Drukhari. They kill you."
Liriel's eyes suddenly widened up at the word for the Dark Eldar which he knew. "He knows about the Druchii?! How informed is this young human.. I think he is trying to tell me that it is seriously dangerous out there. And that I shouldn't think about doing anything foolish. Smart for a.. Primitive. Naive mon'keigh if he thinks this is going to stop me from going home. For now, I will fool him with more success." she simply gave out a light nod, which earned Niko a light smile on his lips. He then stood up and went outside to relieve himself. That nasty meal left him much more to desire, and Liriel was left alone once more as the door closed up.
"I know not of why he is not looking at me with disgust and abhor. Nevertheless, I am thankful to Isha for being alive and not breaking her promise to Arleina. As soon as I break loose, I will have him beg for these actions before his life is cut short. He has not shown any of the mon'keigh barbarism with total destruction and lustful intentions. He saved me. In exchange, I will grant him a quick and painless death. He deserves it. For he has nothing to lose if he has not made any effort to get to his loved ones. If he even has any left. This, I swear by Ulthwe's honor." she said in a whispering motion and continued to meditate.
Niko meanwhile took his personal time in an outhouse and got back into his house soon enough. His fatigue was already kicking in. But he has not finished his tasks for today. He went to his kitchen and pulled a cabinet wide open. There, he found a small sack and shook it between his fingers before sniffing the contents. "Ahh, Some good old, Kalevan tea leaves. Reserved to sharing with the first human I meet in these parts.. But, I guess even the xeno will find the warm welcome of Kaleva rather appealing." and with that, he set to grab a smaller pot and heat it up next to the cauldron of stew.
He pulled it away and set about fueling the fire with wood. The water was beginning to boil after some time. And he had nothing else to do but grab his metallic cup with a handle. He poured some leaves into it, before pouring in the hot water and filling it up. The color changed itself to a bright brown, and he stirred his cup with a wooden spoon for a short amount of time, before taking a sip of the steamy drink. He felt his body almost forcing his eye to close and fall asleep on the floor. It was intensively relaxing and filled his body with warmth and positive energy. "Mm, by the Emperor, I left this untouched for so long. Let me just.." he simply took about three more sips, due to how tasty the tea was. But he stopped himself from taking the fourth. "It would be rude of me and my Kalevan spirit to not be able to share this marvelous piece of Kalevan culture with another person... That person being a xenos woman." and then, he went straight into the bedroom while holding his steamy drink in his hands.
The aspect warrior's eyes opened up as she stopped her meditation while being uncomfortably tied by her ankles and hands, and to the bed itself in order not to wiggle out of it. "Huh.. What is that essential he is holding?" she asked herself, before the young hunter made his calm approach and pulled his chair closer to the edge of the bed and immediately sat down, smiling lightly in the process.
"Welp, Xeno- Miss Liriel. I would like to share with you this marvelous piece of Kaleva, my home world. This tea grows in the most beautiful of our fertile lands, and every guardsman is issued a few sacks for their journey across the stars. I saved these for a better occasion, and would be honored if you would taste it." he said, and Liriel saw that he was shining with pride. She understood the fact that he wanted to share this weird drink with her, and with her own understanding, this was very important to him.
She neared her mouth to the edge of the cup, but stopped and stared at him with a suspicious look. Niko noticed this, raised his eyebrow and came to the full conclusion that she thinks he added something to it. "Oh? Spare me the trouble, lassie. I'm not trying to poison you." he said, taking a sip himself with a smile on his face. Only then was she no longer hesitant. She leaned her mouth against the cup and took a sip of the steamy drink. The Kalevan spear noticed her eyes slowly widen as she finished taking her sip, and began to taste the tea on her tongue, before gulping it down with a surprised expression. Niko's smile only grew wider as he noticed that she perhaps liked it. "Tasty, isn't it?"
The aspect warrior did not expect such a gesture. This was probably his most prized possession, yet he shared it with her. "Tasty.." she said while eyeing the cup. "Unusually tasty. My taste buds are forcing me to long for my home every time I take a single sip. He keeps repeating "Kaleva". Probably his home world? Perhaps, but I have to say, for a primitive kind, I am surprised they have something so fragrant.. This Mon'Keigh's bucket of surprises never ceases to amaze me." she said in her mind before forgetting her xenophobic tendencies as she drank the tea sip by sip. It warmed her up with each sip, and removed that disgusting taste from the stew she was fed earlier. The hunter noticed her lips widen slowly into a light smile, which forced his eye to widen and look away quickly, due to how her elegant features from a smile caused him to experience a weird feeling in his chest.
"What is even causing me this weird feeling from just looking at her.. She looks relatively human when showing her emotions, even though she is a xeno. It's obvious from the shape of her eyes, and ears. God-Emperor, do not judge your servant so harshly." he told himself. However, he felt that the vibration on the cup had ended. He looked back at her, and she was already staring away. The cup was half full now, and she had a blank expression with a slight frown. It made him slightly nervous. "But.. You liked this marvelous drink just a minute ago. Come on now, it's disrespectful to not finish a drink offered by Kalevan spear." He leaned the cup to her mouth once more, but she moved her mouth away.
"I am foolish for being so forgetful. He is a Mon'Keigh and an enemy of the Eldar, even with all the aid we give them, they remain as enemies when our cause has no requirements of them. All his caring is just to make me drop my guard.. By Khaine's bloody hand, mon'keigh, you will not break through." she told herself as her xenophobic tendencies struck once more. Niko obviously did not like this reaction one bit. It was relatively anxious. How she went from a smiling individual to a dead-looking person so swiftly. He gulped his saliva down, and offered her his tea once more. "Listen. I am not your enemy. We may headbutt each other on the battlefield, but you are in my house under my protection. You are tied up for my own safety, for I have to trust you first. Come on." he leaned the cup once more. "Do not deny yourse-" but he was cut short rather quickly.
Liriel took the sip and spat it directly at his face when he closed up to give her the drink, and now she looked hostile once more as she let out a hiss and made an indication for him to back off. Niko now had his face covered with liquid, which streamed down his cheeks. He had no need to get any explanation from her actions alone, for he understood how she's maybe feeling right now. He took a towel from the wall and dried his face up, before hanging it back and looking at the cup he held while standing still. "I probably would act similarly if I were in your boots." he said loudly enough that even banshee heard him. He raised his cup afterward while looking at her without any signs of malice or hatred. "Kippis!" and after saying his cheers, he drank the tea down in one go, putting the cup aside next and taking his diary out once more.
Liriel, meanwhile, was in total confusion. "What- how is he- hey, primitive!" she spat out while she felt herself fuming with anger. "Why are you not showing your true intentions?! Where is your hate that your barbaric religion teaches you?!" she said loudly while he turned his head and looked at her in bafflement. "Forgive my lack of understanding, Miss Liriel. But I have absolutely no idea what you're saying. Especially when you're angry like this." he said, shrugging with his innocent, shining face. Liriel frowned with a scowl. "Why is this human treating me like this.. Without any malicious intentions. Where is the torture? He does not look like he belongs to accursed Chaos. Renegade? I doubt it. He still has Imperial clothes, let alone their sidearm. I will find out who you truly are, human." she said silently and kept staring at him, having failed to provoke him and force him to show his true colors.
Niko wrote more in his diary as the day was going smoothly without any commotion. He placed his diary in his pocket after he finished writing, before pulling out his Leuku from its sheath, and then forcing a tiny button on the butt of the blade to open up. There was a tiny oval-shaped frame within it. The frame had a vintage-looking picture of Niko's companion from the guard. He calmly stared at it, ever-so lightly smiling from time to time. "Alexis. You'd be surprised to know how I ended up in the current situation, right?" he said while laughing softly. "I would be deemed heretical by anybody, but not you. You always told me that if my heart tells me what is right, I should always choose the right path, and not allow my mind to lead me to the dead end. Welp, right now, as you may notice, I am simply, just, I don't know.. I do not know if what I am doing is right, Al."
The confused aspect warrior did not even understand what she was seeing. The human was talking to his own blade. "Has he... Lost his mind? Who is he talking to, what is within the butt of his blade?" She asked herself before continuing the initial staring.
"I have a xenos who I've taken into my home. I- by everything we have been taught, I should've just shot her straight to the head. But I didn't.. I am too afraid to say why. Has this loneliness finally taken its effect on me? Has the Emperor abandoned me ever since I left the life of the Militarum? Has my faith crumbled? Too many questions, but I cannot bring myself to harm her. There is a difference between our kinds, but the way she acted was too human. Something happens in my chest, whenever I see her face. And.. No. Do not call me a xenos lover. I see an elegant and innocent being who was about to be.. Who almost had a very bad thing happen to her. I could not allow it. Every time I took the aim, my finger refused to pull that trigger. What kind of test is this that our Emperor bestowed upon me?" He stopped before having a sadder expression build up on his face.
"I lived alone without having to get back into the nightmares that I managed to escape from. It has been a few years, and I lived the peaceful life of a hunter. But, Liriel Valdan?"
The xeno for a second, pulled all her attention to his next words after hearing her name.
"You even have an elegant name. It sounds ancient, yet beautiful. I do not trust you so quickly. And I think you understand. We do not understand each other's languages, but I hope that will improve in the upcoming time. For now at least." he said, lighting with a smile while staring into the frame. Liriel, however, noticed his mood changing to positivity and kept watching him in confusion.
"Either the teachings of the ecclesiarchy have rusted within me, or I have totally been lost in loneliness, or that she.. She just.. May the Emperor rest your soul, Al." His eye had a little tear going down his cheek. He quickly wiped it and closed the button of his knife on the butt, before sheathing his blade and getting out of the bedroom, leaving Liriel baffled and confused.
"What was he saying, and who was he talking to.. Was there a drawn picture of someone he knew, a mate? A family member?" She asked as the questions kept rising up. "He cries? Like my kin.. How far do our differences go? It clearly made him sad and show his emotions openly. But I have to admit.. He looks innocent, yet I can feel the battle within his heart. How much his short life has revealed and shown him? Too many questions in one day will cause me a headache.. Yet, I have to say. I kind of feel bad for ruining his drink." she noted, and perhaps would try to understand him better now.
"Being lonely for as long as he did. I do not know how much strength is required to keep yourself without going mad in this time frame. But he's.. A mon'keigh. His existence does not mean anything to anyone. He is only a temporary use for me. Why am I even caring?!" she shook her head quickly while pouting at herself. "He's a liability in front of my path towards home. I should not concern myself with what he does or how he acts.. He will taste my blade for even touching me." she said once more, as the hatred kicked in.
The door opened up once more as Niko entered the bedroom, carrying some animal hide blankets he sewed together and rolled into a loaf. He took his Leuku and decided to cut off the ropes from the front and from the rear, leaving only her ankles and hands tied up. He did it in order for her to move around the bed. Afterward, he covered her with the made-up blankets while the xeno stared at him in a frowny expression, nevertheless, which Niko ignored by having a calm and quite innocent-looking stare from his only available eye. "This will make you feel more cozy and provide you with much-needed heat, xeno named Liriel." he said, giving her a thumbs up before retreating to the table.
The warrior of Khaine did not expect yet another gesture like this. She realized that it was his only covering and thought about what he would use to cover himself with, or why he would even do this from the beginning. But the bigger surprise was the fact that he cut the ropes holding her tightly on the bed without the ability to wiggle out of it. "What is he.. Doing? Blankets?" she took a look at him while being covered by the black hide. "Mon'Keigh! Keep your covers to yourself! Why would I need your belongings?" He listened to her and then shrugged calmly.
"Can your primitive brain process even one word I am saying?" She gritted her teeth and let out a deep sigh, but got into an anxious feeling in a couple of seconds. "Hey! Where are you taking my belongings?!" she said in total anger. Niko, without saying a word, carried her helmet, sword, pouches and especially the throwing knife away from the room and went to store them in a hidden place that only he knew about, before coming back to see her trying to wiggle out of the bed.
"You may move on the bed to make yourself more comfortable, but I cannot cut your ropes until you have completely calmed down your hatred and bitterness, xeno." he said with a light frown. "You're clearly hostile, and while I do not fully know why, except for you taking me as a lowly scum, I am concerned for my own safety here. I mean you no harm. I want to understand you. But you're not letting me. How much different are you from the zealous parts of mankind? Not so different after all. I was like you once. But then I realized that life has more open options for better outcomes. I took the initiative, and yet, here I am. Try doing the same, will you?" He explained to her, and she stayed there on her side for a few seconds while staring at him, then resumed her attempt at wiggling out of bed. Niko let out a deep sigh and caught her just the moment her head almost struck the ground, face flat. He forced her back on the bed and covered her in blankets for the second time. "Do. Not." he said, and retreated back to his stool.
Liriel was furious. She did not want to be handled like this. Entirely, this day has been nothing but mental torture for her. A Mon'Keigh as she thought, was mocking her and putting her in the position of a worthless beast in her own self-perception. For Niko, it was obviously not the case, but for her, it was. "Handled like a bird without its wings. You just wait, barbarian. You will weep while kneeling in front of me and beg for mercy. You will be shown NONE of it." she told him and hissed, to which Niko shook his head slowly. "It will be hard to teach you some Kalevan manners if the time allows. But I will give it a long shot. I am already exhausted beyond belief. But this is.. A lot better than living in total loneliness, I suppose." he admitted to himself and then just stared at the banshee until she would remove that angry frown from her face.
He only smiled at her, which made her even angrier. Niko knew that this way she'd be forced to turn to her other side, and force her back to face him. Which happened in a relatively short amount of time. "I have to find a way to escape.. But how. It is extremely hard to even attempt to fake a trust to this human. A Mon'Keigh out of everyone. No matter, I will try harder. Elidyr taught me to always look for better ways, even in the direst situations. This won't be an exception."
In the meantime, Niko's eye sack was already showing the signs of fatigue. He took his cloak from the wall and lied down on the floor, neatly covering himself with it and curling up in a comfortable position while laying on his side, closing his eye, and resting on the floor, to which, the surprised banshee took notice. "Why has he not thrown me to the ground and taken his bed? I do not understand.." she quickly shook her head and looked at him.
"Hey. Mon'Keigh! Enough treating me like a defenseless child. Come and take your bed. What are you doing?!" she hissed and growled at him, to which he opened his eye and looked at her in slight confusion. "Mmh.. Hm? What's the matter?" he asked, while trying to understand what she's trying to say. She instantly turned to her side and stared at the floor. ".. Bad. Me, sleep.. On that." She looked at the floor after looking at him. Niko realized that she was hesitant to rest on his bed and probably told him to let her rest on the floor. He simply chuckled and shook his head.
"Sorry, xeno named Liriel. But Kalevan manners are kept in high regard within the heart of every silver spear. You are a guest in my home. We give our guests the much-needed welcome no matter how many times they insist. Therefor, calm down and do not insist." he said and gave her a thumbs up, a gesture which she did not understand, but realized that he insisted himself on sleeping on the bed and would rather choose the cold wooden floor on the ground. Afterward, the young hunter laid back on the floor to rest once again, all against the infuriated banshee who tried to force him to show his true intentions and colors. But to no avail. The human was still treating her like a guest in his dwelling and nothing more.
"By the grace of Isha! Where is your hate, mon'keigh?! Why are you treating me like this?! Your kind are barbaric, murderous, zealous and unforgiving! Show your true colors and stop playing these mind games. You will not get anything out of me by treating me like this. Your perversions cannot be hidden from my eyes. Waiting until I close my eyes, fall asleep, and then unable to hold the beast within you? Is that what you.." she was about to continue her sentence, but then noticed the young human standing up and holding his ears while his eye was barely keeping itself open.
He was tired, yet the aspect warrior did not keep her mouth shut. He just had to endure. Niko walked to the windows and pulled the curtains, closing the windows completely from any light as the room got dark, but not before being lit up with the light from an oil lamp. He walked to the door slowly, but not before tripping by the chair he forgot to move. He fell clumsily, much to the joy of the aspect warrior, who laughed in the silence. "Pffp-fft.. You humans are so clumsy and fragile. I cannot even watch your step." She noted, grinning while he was slowly standing up. He hasn't gotten any proper sleep. After all, he was an ordinary human.
Niko dusted himself off, but not before holding his shoulder and exiting the room, laying down right next to it and closing his eye once more while grumbling. "Can she ever shut up for the Emperor's sake and let me rest?! Holy Terra.. At least now I can enjoy some silence." he told himself, drifting off to peaceful sleep that he wanted so badly.
In the meantime, the dweller in the bedroom was silent. Liriel did not expect him to retreat so quickly from her banter. She was not so much surprised and kept chuckling at his clumsiness. "He backed off so quickly.. now I am certainly aware of how easy it is for me to fool him and make him do exactly what I want. It will not be difficult to escape the moment I am cut loose." she noted, then changed her position by turning to her other side, slightly frowning at her own assumptions. "Still, he left me to rest, without raising his hand against me, even though I irritated him. Is he so lonely that he does not see me as an enemy? If so, what would any other Eldar do in my position? Maybe mocking him as he got hurt was rather harsh, but.. tss. He's a human. A mon'keigh who I will use for my own gain, and he can serve his purpose. Then all I will have to do is dispose of him when his usefulness depletes. Unless.. No. I have to stay true to my path as a warrior. Why would I even care?"
She now began to seriously battle her beliefs. Maybe it was due to the fact that every human she met was always hostile and blind to any open-minded ways, or perhaps this human who kept her just needed someone to talk to, no matter if he was taught that her kind deserved extermination and extinction. He clearly had no hatred in his single eye. She just refused to accept that. To accept that there was any human who would even dare to help what they considered an abomination. He clearly did not think like that. And it was torturing her mind.
She praised Isha for being here alone without any other Eldar having to look at her state, let alone allowing a mon'keigh to help her and keep her like a helpless child. She began to slowly drift to rest further, as her head was already aching with frustration, confusion and the battle within her own mind. It was exhausting, but she withstood it. She decided to concentrate on her important matters later because, for now, she knew that her captor was sleeping, and would not bother her for a while. And with that, her eyes closed as she prayed to Isha and Khaine to give her a clear path and strength to withstand the challenges ahead. The hourglass was flipped.
The craftworld of Ulthwe. Ten hours after the departure from Merlorian. The docks.
There was a great disturbance within the great halls of Ulthwe. The warhost led by Autarch Nuvian has returned with the artefacts, but at what cost? That was the question of which many seers asked. Those who were against this original idea were speaking out amongst themselves, due to how skeptical some of them looked at the retrieved artefacts. It would cost a lot of resources and time to decipher the instructions on how to use these ancient objects. Let alone, if anything goes wrong, the cost would be high in theory. But none of that matched the crowd of Eldar civilians that were staring at the badly beaten warhost.
Over 80% of the warhost's warriors perished. All, for these artefacts, that were deemed important, but they were not even completely aware that they had to find out how they worked to begin with. Most families who lost their loved ones wept in public, being comforted by their friends and ordinary citizens alike. Nuvian was firm and Stoic, but even his heart could not bear to see his people react in such a way. These families put all their trust in him to protect their loved ones. But they knew that he could not protect all of them at once. Yet again, they did not blame him. Not everyone at least.
"He looked upon you as a father figure! How could you not protect him?!" Yelled one of the Eldari women, who tried to run up to him in anger, but was stopped by what seemed to be her friend.
"Laria, enough! This will not bring him back.." she tried to reason with her friend, who did not see her brother amongst the helmetless Dire Avengers, who all looked devastated. She pushed her friend and ran up to Autarch who was cold, calm and emotionless in his facial expression, yet scarred within his heart. The woman began to smack his chestplate with her fists while cursing him and scolding him for his failure to protect her family member. "Your brother fought well, child. His fate was sealed for the survival of our home and kin.. Hate me, curse me, for I've lost too many in my service to Ulthwe. May Isha bless his sacrifice and keep him safe from the grasps of she-who thirsts." He said, while she was in disarray. Her friend grabbed her and pulled her into a hug while taking her away from the path of the warhost.
Many family members were helping their wounded loved ones, but the majority kept weeping from the loss. Autarch ordered them to be delivered to the healers of Ulthwe in a great haste. Exarch Sarya carried Arleina into the medical rooms with the rest of her members, while Farseer Ulthran took the artefacts into his possession. Farseer Elidyr had a calm look on his face, despite the fact of how quickly he realized that his niece was amongst those who did not return. Next, Belanor and Eloen approached him.
"We have returned, Elidyr. But at great cost." Eloen said, while shaking her head at the hard challenge that they faced today. "Many of Ulthwe's children have been lost. Yet, at what cost, do I ask? We do not even know if these objects will work, or they are in any way faulty. Yet I can see pain in your eyes. You do not see her amongst us, do you?"
Farseer Elidyr looked at her while holding his staff. His elegant, long silver hair was hanging on his shoulders while he stayed silent for a while, watching the wounded and battered warriors, their families and the families of those who lost their loved ones. "I grieve greatly today.. For the strings of fate wiggle to their own tunes. And yet, yes. I do not see Liriel amongst you." he said in his calm and wisdom-filled voice. "We have what we needed for our home, yet, a farseer must not grieve for too long. For we have to protect our home. How did she.."
"She bought time for her sisters and her exarch to reach our shuttles, Farseer." intervened Belanor. "Without her, there would be a greater loss. But we do not know whether she lives or whether her soul already inhabits her soul stone. I saw her disappearing deep into the woods. There is a chance, based on my knowledge, that she might have found her way to survival. I see the pain in your eyes, Elidyr. I do not blame you." he said while looking down.
"Do not lose hope, my old friend." Eloen said while placing her hand on his shoulder. "I watched Liriel grow up under your guidance and wisdom. And I watched Sarya train her. She is a living warrior. She will find her way out. By Isha's blessing." she said, before retrieving her hand, while Elidyr looked down at the floor, his face emotionless, yet to Eloen and Belanor it was obvious that he was hurt.
"Forgive me, Belanor, Eloen. Tend the wounded and.. I will be in my chambers. I shall return when the next council calls for my presence. We have our home to shield as quick as possible."
And so, Elidyr returned to his chambers while the farseer and the warlock decided to help out the warriors that followed Autarch Nuvian's lead on the mission. Farseer reached his chambers and then sat down on his bed, before staring down at the floor once more, and casting runes to float above his hand while closing his eyes, while his lips recited something that only Farseers could grasp. The runes began to lighten up in front of him while he shed a single tear that ran down his cheek. He was a man of iron will, but he was not heartless.
"My dear niece. Right now, I have to dangle by the string of fate alone. Wherever you are, do not make the wrong choices. Make them out of your heart alone. For the mind is where the seeds of corruption settle before digging into the heart like a needle in hay. Use your mind to guide your heart without making a single mistake. For I cannot know whether you live or have left this life. But.. I have hope." he whispered to himself. Before the mission even began, Elidyr foresaw how Liriel would not return. However, he saw two fates. One was going to be her death, other, her salvation. He could not predict which one she would take, but he had to pray that she would take the right one. He decided to meditate and seek through the void of fate to find his niece's presence. It would be an arduous and long task, but he was not going to live without knowing what happened to her. That, he swore to himself.
Meanwhile, in the medical bay, the healers were tending the wounded with great and efficient haste. The remaining aspect sisters and Exarch were watching over Arleina, who was the most wounded out of them. The healers used their psychic force to regenerate her scorched hole with flesh and bone, while soothing her soul with calmness and relaxation. It was not long before she decided to open up her weak eyes and look around herself.
"L..Liri.. Where.. Is sh...She..?" she weakly asked, before Sarya put her hand on her forehead to prevent her from lifting herself up.
"Easy, child.. Easy." she said while staring at her. "You need to rest and allow your soul and body to heal from the poison." she told her, while Arleina was looking around once more, and she could not see her dearest companion anywhere. At that point, her eyes widened, and she tried to lean up once more.
"No.. NO.. Liriel! Where is she?!" She said, despite her weakened state. Sarya detested once more. "No! Where is she? She promised!" She now seriously started to wiggle and struggle her way out of the healers who held her down forcefully by ankles and arms, until she kicked one of them away and pushed the other with her martial prowess. It was then that Sarya grabbed her by the head and shoved her back against the bed, staring at her with a cold and steely frown. Sarya was as angry as she was. She never showed sadness, but she could feel it, even for a tiny bit.
"Without her, me and you would be lying dead! She stayed there to buy us time, Arleina.. And she knew what she was doing. I cannot say if she is alive, or dead. But if she survived, she will always find her way out of situations where most of us tremble at! I am grieving for everybody we lost today, but heed my call when I tell you to stop hurting yourself. I do not want to lose another of my sisters I taught!" she raised her voice and confronted the now crying banshee.
"Exarch.. i.. Liriel.. The rest of us, our sisters.." she whimpered.
"Child.. I know what you feel.. I know it. By Khaine almighty I know it." she said while her anger vanished, and she was merely frowning. "This is.. Our way." she embraced Arleina, who embraced her back with a desperate cry of a loss. They made a promise together to return home. After so many even more dangerous missions, they were still together. This time, however, the fate decided to be harsh and deprave her from the companion that meant a lot to her. Sarya rubbed her back while keeping her in embrace. The surviving banshees could not do much but to grieve in unison at what happened today.
While she embraced her exarch, Sarya nodded to the healer behind Arleina softly before he nodded back, and then injected a sleeping substance into her neck in a way that she could not feel it. Arleina stopped weeping before her eyes closed, and Sarya gently laid her back on the bed, before rubbing her forehead. "Rest now, child.. You will have to move on, just the way I did.." she said with a light frown and then returned to her other sisters.
The great halls of Ulthwe.
In the meantime, Ulthran presented the artefacts to the council of seers, and they began to think together about how to use it, activate it, and check it for any errors. They placed it in the center and mumbled to each other before Ulthran decided to speak out.
"Humble seers. The artefact appears to be in full tact. But it is nothing like that with which I have ever had a chance to work with. It is very complex and I am not even sure about how efficient its true usage is. These glyphs appear to be those of our most ancient language. Deciphering, will be hard, but worthy of our times. However." he said while tapping his staff on the ground and staring at each farseer in their eyes. "This artefact is single, but as you can see, two parts have to be connected into one. Then activated. But there is a chance that our enemies will sniff out this artefact and try to possess it. This we must not allow at all costs. The sheer power within this artefact is terrifying to comprehend if used maliciously and not with its original design."
"Does it have any faults, Eldrad?" one of the farseers asked.
"We will not find out until we inspect every detail of it, Renurin." he answered. "Therefore, humble seers, gather around and make your own assumptions. Let us speak of our minds freely and find out where to begin." And with that, every seer approached the artefact and began their arduous work of finding out how to use and harness its power.
Farseer Eloen arrived in the hall after a short amount of time. She looked around herself amidst the progress of the examination of artefacts, but even with such important matters, Elidyr was nowhere to be seen.
"There are no words to express the way of how miserably our exodite kin met their deaths. And I would ask you kindly not to force me to remember the details of it, Elidyr." He simply nodded and gestured to continue. "I followed the caves our dire avengers found. I used my understandings of the glyphs, signs and visions to feel the essences of our exodite spirits and, met their settlement deep in the caves. It was their last stronghold. A village, yet so well hidden. They had a door going further down, which the chieftain used to escape. The great hall was what met our eyes. There, we realized where they met their hungry deaths. And we retrieved the artefacts from the pyramid-like structure in the center of the hall. Afterward..After we got to the surface, Belanor shot two of our avengers, who were in fact disguised as Drukhari." She frowned at that word in disgust, before Elidyr's eyes were full of disturbance. She continued.
"We knew we would be ambushed. With such extreme tenacity and brutality.. And the reason as to how they knew, and why they would require the artefacts? Even I am baffled. There was a sudden ambush, and we got into a bad situation. But we escaped from the valley and reached our shuttles. Exarch Sarya destroyed the attacking forces with her sisters, but then we knew their reinforcements were coming. Nuvian sent Sarya and her banshees as shock troops to stop their convoys, but they took heavy losses. At the end, your niece saw a danger facing her exarch and her best friend Arleina while we were boarding the shuttles. And then she just simply vanished into the woods to take care of the problem. That is from the words of Autarch in the shuttles. That is... All I can say." she finished, before Elidyr's eyes slowly closed.
Not the Drukhari, he thought. What would they do to his niece, his only family member left? He did not want to fathom even thinking about that. Instead, he decided to continue with the tiny amount of hope that clung to his soul. "I appreciate your time, Eloen. I am sorry you had to experience something so sinister and brutal happening to our kin. However, we give everything we have in service to our craftworld."
She stood up and approached him slowly. "You are in pain, Elidyr. So much, in pain, and fatigue. You are the shining star of Ulthwe, and yet.." she wanted to continue, but he intervened. "I am a son of Asuryan, just like all of you. I may have more wisdom, but all I did and do is for Ulthwe and our people. Nothing else. I am growing old, yet the cries of Isha's children continue to pull me to them. I cannot let them down. I must.. I must fight." he said, while gripping his staff and staring at the floor.
"The sorrow is still hanging by your heart, my old friend. I can see it from here. I highly advise you to take your runes and try to find a glimpse of the one you care about. The one I watched you raise." she said with a light smile, which forced his eyes to look into hers. "I will.. Take your advice. Slowly, but surely. Thank you, again.. Eloen." he said before they both bowed to each other, and the farseer retreated to his chambers. Leaving the aged eldar lady to herself, before she went to the windows. "Isha.. Show your kindness and mercy to one of your greatest sons. Let him never lose hope. Let him never tremble. Allow him always lead us.. And guard Liriel, if her soul is still breathing." with those words, she pulled her own runes and began the meditation to try and forget the memories that haunted her from Merlorian. The craftworld had an important object at their disposal, but the concerns for the powers of she-who-thirsts still loomed above them, and they would have to be even more vigilant from now on.
Sector Vurassa. Segmentum [REDACTED]. Inquisitorial Cruiser "Shadowy Mist."
The blackness of space was no friend to anyone. Ever so when it came to the well-being of humanity from whatever lie beneath the stars that surrounded the worlds of the human race. No such force was more sinister and deadly behind the frontlines than the Holy Inquisition itself. A force to be reckoned with.
It was the time for the newly appointed Inquisitor Kaidan Oleos from the Ordo Xenos to battle the alien threat wherever it was found. But the inquisitor instead had more rational ideas in his mind. While against the original rules of the inquisition, he was open-minded instead and willing to experiment with their technology to improve the chances for mankind's survival. While a naive idea for everybody else, for him, it was found to be necessary.
"Magos Quintus. Do my eyes deceive me?" he asked while inspecting the hologram that was presented to him in the main room of his ship. "Eldar presence in this forgotten sector? Are your calculations accurate enough?"
Magos merely scowled at such an assumption and mistrust of his calculations. "Inquisitor. Never doubt the grace of the Omnissiah. These calculations cannot be falsified under any circ*mstances. The xenos essence radiated in one of the star systems of this sector alone. Presumably that is where their enormous ship known as the abominable craftworld has been before the sudden disappearance." he notified the inquisitor, who held his chin while sinking in his mind to process the words of the Magos.
"Hm. I do not doubt your words, Magos Quintus. The teachings of our Ordo say that the sudden appearance of the Eldari usually comes with a battle with the world they decide to land on. However, even here, there are no distress signals. There are no signs of a battle, so to speak. It is highly unlikely that they decided to make a sudden strike and disappear. Something's not right here.. I need to investigate." he said before Magos looked at him. "Tread carefully, inquisitor. It can also be a trap for all we know." he said, shaking him off. "No need for that, Magos." and immediately pushed the communications button.
"All those on board! Prepare for a warp jump!" he ordered, before contacting his navigator and giving him the details to navigate through the immaterium safely. The members on board were all prepared for the entrance to the warp as all the windows were closed entirely. Inquisitor retreated to his chair, as did his personal servo skull, who presented him with the details that magos wrote down about the sudden appearance and disappearance of a massive ship on this random world, which had nothing of value. It was more feudal, anyway. Yet it served some purpose for the Eldar. He was eager to launch an investigation.
"According to my calculations and accurate description, the estimated time to traverse through the warp is, less than a day. In the meantime, the reflection in materium will be approximately the same or a little bit more, since we have a stable route. Tread it by the Omnissiah's light." Magos told him, to which Kaidan nodded. "Understood Magos. You are free to go for now."
"May the Omnissiah's blessing be upon us all, Inquisitor." he said, leaving the Inquisitor's office before disappearing to do his work and appease the machine spirit of the ship. One of Kaidan's acolytes, who stood near his chair during the counseling, was looking rather curious.
"Adrian. You look troubled." said the inquisitor, who stared down at the scripts, which he began to read. "This all sounds too good to be true, Inquisitor. The vile xenos appeared, and disappeared under the world of mankind. And no one else than a treacherous Eldari out of many." he said, while cringing at how easily they can come and go as they please. It infuriated him. But Kaidan shook his head at such an assumption. "Knowledge has its pluses and minuses. One of the minuses is the path to fury, which is set up by blind hatred towards the unknown. Let it be a lesson deemed worthy of you, my acolyte. Do not be quick to make judgements. First, research. Then, action." he calmly explained, to which Adrian took a sharp notice while standing tall and straight with his hands behind his back.
"Your words carry great wisdom, my inquisitor. I will take great notice of them. Still.. You must agree with me. This is highly unusual of the treacherous xenos."
Oleos gave out a light nod while examining the scriptures. "That I undoubtedly agree with you, Adrian. That is why we shall explore these chains of events, and eventually find the truth." he told him, before lighting up his cigar and taking a deep puff while leaning back against his chair. "Our work is to fight an alien threat, as our Ordo demands. Yet, even I realize that we face a foe so mysterious and ancient that it makes our job harder than it seems to be. It does not matter to us. From one corner of the galaxy to the other, the fire of humanity will strike any alien threat. As it has been done for millennia. And more to come."
"And yet, my Inquisitor, we take their help." he frowned before continuing. "We have investigated their new faction. The "Ynnari." I do not trust them."
"I don't expect you to, Adrian." said Inquisitor while taking another puff.
"They are all treacherous knife-eared bastards in my eyes, inquisitor. We just wait at the end to see who shall stab each other in the back first after the alliance has ended."
"You are not wrong. But there are things that might be deemed necessary actions. A young warrior like yourself has a lot to learn. But I do not doubt you. I merely encourage you to look at the brighter picture at hand."
"My apologies, Inquisitor."
"It is fine. Just know when to follow, and when to commit to swift action."
"As you will, my lord." he finished, and remained silent for now, letting his Inquisitor do his job. And yet, the thought still remained in his mind as he whispered it to himself.
"..Were they looking for something valuable..?"
Merlorian. Niko's house in the early evening.
The nature of the beautiful world of Merlorian was truly astonishing. With its calm life continuing in accordance with nature's will. The world itself looked like a natural paradise, with everything in abundance of sustenance. The evening has arrived, and it did not take too long for Niko to replenish his energy through sleeping as he began to wake up on a hard wooden floor next to the door to his bedroom.
"Uuughnhn.." he yawned. "Aaaaohhh.. How long has it been since I had a calm sleep without waking up to nightmares..?" He asked himself, because it was indeed bizarre for him. He was ready to wake up from another striking nightmare, but none of that happened.
"Bizarre.. I'd usually wake up feeling drowsier." he told himself once more. Maybe this time was a special occasion, or maybe it's because he quickly came to his senses and realized that he's not alone in his own house? It mattered not right now. He felt great, but unfortunately, the hours were not enough for a full, proper sleep. Either way, as he thought, this would do. He stood up slowly while pulling the cloak off and dusting himself. "It seems I've slept past the day and into the early evening. Let's check how that xeno woman is doing.."
Niko cracked his knuckles and rubbed his forehead before gripping the door's handle. He was hesitant at first, but brushed that thought aside and slowly opened his door to check on the aspect warrior. "Easy, Niko, it's just a xenos woman. You can't go wrong here.. I think." And with that, he entered the room, and was immediately met by the predatory gaze of the amber-eyed howling banshee, which creeped Niko out as he swallowed his saliva and felt quite uneasy.
"Uhhhh... Hello..?" he said after a minute of awkward silent staring at each other. The banshee didn't seem to be concerned, rather calmly staring at him as if digging into his soul. It made him shiver with quite uneasiness. "Good to see that at least I'm not met with constant banter of yours, Lady Liriel."
The aspect warrior had many thoughts crossing her mind, but none of them really mattered at the moment. It was that curious look on the human's face that caught her attention. "He looks at me like he has never seen me before. Is this usual for his species? Despite knowing that I do not understand him, he continues to mumble in his stupid language. By Khaine do I grow tired of it.. But nothing I can do to stop him." she told herself. "In fact, this mon'keigh at best seems to have been driven insane by the loneliness he had to endure. That might explain his strange behavior." she once again noted, as the young human made his approach towards her.
"You know." He said while sitting next to her feet, which forced her to wiggle away from him and curl up in a ball. He sighed and stared at her, nevertheless. "I have absolutely no frakking clue how you sleep or function in general. Despite looking relatively human, you are clearly an alien. But if there's one thing we have in common? It's that we both need to sleep. It would be best for you to consider that out of many things for Emperor's sake." He finished his talking before shaking his head and staring at the floor to dig into his own thoughts.
"No idea what he said.. This human, by Isha, is insanely weird. I can only fathom where is all his hatred that he, much like the rest of his species, is taught about?" she said before he stared back at her. His gaze was as accurate as always through his single eye. Afterward, he leaned closer to inspect the symbol of Ulthwe on her groin cloth. It really intrigued him. "It looks like an eye of some sort, with a tear running down, huh." Afterward, he took out his little notebook from his other pouch and used his specifically created coal pen to draw the symbol on the notebook itself while Liriel watched him, baffled.
As much as the thoughts began to sink into the banshee's mind, she noticed what caught his attention. "The eye of Isha. Ulthwe's sacred symbol. He seems to be showing fascination. Is he just a lost child? Definitely young, but clearly stupid and foolish to trust what his kind considers an enemy." She said, shaking her head while he finished his drawing and showed it to her afterwards with a light and cheerful smile. "Look, pretty identical, isn't it?" he asked, to which the banshee leaned in a bit closer and stared at him, before lightly nodding a few times, to which Niko reacted quite cheerfully. "Yes! Finally, someone appreciates my ability to draw." he said, laughing at himself before he continued to draw something else on the next page.
Liriel however had to give him a credit. "An Artisan? How delightful. This human not only is foolish, but thinks of himself as a painter.." she frowned at herself for such judgement. "He is a warrior of the past. That I am sure about. But he can draw. Cook foods, and live away from war.. But we cannot afford such luxury. Although I wish our kin had that ability. Sometimes I hate the thought of how free willing the humans are. But all their potential is wasted on hatred and brutality. Even at this age where we give them hope through Ynnari.. What is he drawing, I wonder."
It did not take Niko long enough to finish his next drawing, to which he showed Liriel in an instant. As she leaned a bit closer to take a better look, her eyes suddenly widened up before retreating back and looking away. "O-Oh. Did I miss a spot?" He said before examining his drawing, while Liriel was pouting with some brightness within her cheeks. "Why in Isha's name did he draw me..?!" She asked herself, while Niko clearly got confused.
The picture was a portrait of her staring at a side, drawn like a perfect, natural sketch with his coal pen. In the long times of loneliness, Niko had to resort to occupy himself with hobbies, and drawing was one of them. He felt a sudden kick from Liriel who was staring at him with a facial expression of a flustered being, to which he gulped his saliva down his throat. "Did uh.. Did you like it..?" He asked, showing his drawing once more, to which she looked at it, then looked away, before giving a single nod as approval. It surely earned Niko a sigh of relief and a smile. "I am glad that the expectations were not a failure. I usually never got to draw a xeno, but.. Who cares? It's my drawing." He said while chuckling.
"Never have I ever thought that i'd have someone draw me.. Let alone, a mon'keigh out of everyone I ever knew. His style is not bad, although it lacks colors, but details are something our artisans would definitely enjoy.. Still, why is he so friendly with me, I do not understand why hasn't he already killed me, just- shown his true colors.. Am I blind to the truth, or zealotry, as most of his kin are? This is unbelievable.." She contemplated while staring at the wall, before feeling a slight touch from the hunter himself. "Listen, lady Liriel. You probably miss home?" She looked at him in confusion once more as he tried his best to explain himself.
"You know.. Home..?" he pointed at the ceiling, to which she still just looked at him as if he was an idiot. In her opinion, he kind of, well, was. He sighed and walked to the window, pointing at the sky. "You surely have home. I heard you have these, huge, moon sized ships, forgot the name of them.. That you use as homes? So, it's kind of, fascinating to travel through the stars and live in space, in my opinion at least.. But surely do you not have your home world?"
The aspect warrior still shook her head, not understanding him at all. Even then, how could she? Two different species, who could only communicate through gestures at best. Niko realized this too, but did not let it blind his way of finally making sure she understands. "Alright, let me make it clear." he said, and took his notebook out before creating a simple drawing of a little home with stick figures within, before showing it to her. Pointing his pen at the drawing, then at her, and raise his eyebrow.
The banshee took her time to understand him, however. She stared at the drawing and made her own conclusion. "A square, a triangle, a slim figure inside.. Is he asking me where my home is?" She said before staring away slowly, frowning with a little sign of sadness being visible to Niko. He quickly regretted asking her such a question after seeing how she reacted to it. "Ah.. Sorry if it's too much. Obviously you'll miss your home." He muttered out before quickly hiding his notebook aside and instead concentrate on the brighter things in front of him. Liriel however, still longed for her home. She was far away from it. Tied up and locked in a bedroom of a mon'keigh. A literal primitive and barbarian in the Aeldari's eyes, unworthy of anything good. But partially, once again, she was glad to be here rather than in the slave camps of Commorragh or dead in the woods. "This "Niko" is just curious. I don't see a problem with that.. Isha.. How I miss my craftworld.. Elidyr.. Arleina.."
The silver spear then took out his knife, the Kalevan "Leuku", and then turned the aspect warrior around on her stomach, much to her horror as she struggled around. But Niko tightly held her down nevertheless. She gave up rather quickly on her resistance. "No.. This cannot be my end, slaughtered like a wounded animal..By a mon'keigh.. He is finally showing his true colors! At last.. I am to embrace my soulstone.. I knew that all of them are the same.." She closed her eyes and prepared for the inevitable...Which never came.
In the next moment, Liriel felt how the ropes around her feet and hands got loose, and she was able to move them at her own free will. The young hunter quickly retreated backwards without saying a word, and deeply stared at her, while Liriel couldn't believe her own eyes. ".. What... " she examined her hands, which were healthy and intact. Then moved her feet around before staring at them as much as her hands once more, clenching her fingers. "Why did he not kill me.. Is he trying to trick me? This.. Mon'keigh.. This.. Cursed being..!?" she said before slowly looking at him with a pissed off expression, to which Niko reacted by simply gulping down his saliva with a nervous stare.
His nervousness was obvious. "I.. Do not know if what I just did was the right choice, but I do not want to see her tied up. Thousands of things are probably lurking in her mind and- Oh- Frak..!" his eye widened up as he gulped once more. The banshee literally stood up from the bed with such an uncanny vibe, that it sent shivers down Niko's spine. She stood up high, and from up close, was incredibly tall for a human standard. Over 7 feet tall as Niko noted to which his jaw dropped with his eye wide open from such elegant creature being so dangerous at the same time.
Her amber eyes were burning with fiery hatred and for a moment Niko thought that she would simply tear him apart with even that creepy stare alone. She slowly walked towards him with all her prowess while staring down at him, finally having the chance to walk and move her limbs freely, before giving a harsh slap across Niko's face which stung and forced him to grunt while standing still. Immediately, he got grabbed from his wrists and forced down against the floor by the silent yet dangerous looking Eldar warrior. He maintained eye contact despite a quick gasp as he realized how strong the Eldar warriors truly are. The banshees were no joke.
However, as much as shocked Niko was, he was fearing less than he was fascinated about the Eldar lady and her quick movements. She stared into his eye, while he stared back. But he remained determined and had a calm facial expression after a minute of being in awe of her. It was clear that he possibly expected such an outcome as this. But he clearly underestimated the strength of the xeno. "... Uh... I guess I deserved that slap but.. Uh-!" he got quickly silenced, as with a swift and fluid motion, she pulled out his own Leuku from its sheath and put it against his throat while pulling both his arms above his head, and obviously, telling him to shut up to which he complied to while the banshee examined him, before speaking to herself within her mind as always and as usual.
"That human look. Look of uncertainty, confusion, and fear. I have seen it on their faces during the battles when they knew they were doomed.. But all he shows is curiosity. By Khaine how this mon'keigh annoys me. One quick slice of his jugular vein.. It will be painless, I promise. This will be for your fair treatment of your prisoner of war. Despite not expecting any signs of honor and well-taught manners, you surprised me with the opposite." She said while frowning down at him, to which he simply stared at her with a slow blinking of his eye. But she saw that he had no signs of regret in his facial expression. It was something else that even the banshee herself did not understand. Hence why - she was trembling to commit to her act.
That look on his young face was clinging to Liriel harsher than anything her body ever had to endure. To her, it felt as if there was a great deal of hesitation holding onto her soul. Which was true, of course. Even in the face of certain death, the human had no hatred within his eye, no hostility, no regret, just a curious look with a hint of judgement. As if asking her "Why?". She hated the situation she was in. Since this was unusual. She had the human under her own power and will, and even then, the hesitation clung like a magnet. The human's action of freeing her only proved to her that, truly, he was already enduring enough torture from his personal issues, such as nightmares that only he could feel. And that he had nothing left to lose. All that remained of his cheerful nature was his expression of curiosity. Not even sadness. She wanted him to scream and get angry. To show any sign of hostility at his last moment. Yet none of that ever came to happen.
"Why do I... why do I hesitate.. By Isha, what is this..?!" She tightened her grip on his knife and pushed the edge ever tighter against his throat, to which he only shivered in response. "Even as I have his own blade against his throat, he still does not show me either disgust nor hatred.. I want to know why.. Khaine's bloody hand, just..!" she said as anger began to take a hold as she spoke directly to him afterward, while gritting her teeth.
"Show me your hatred, human! Do not act like this.. Stop it. Stop trying to convince me that you are different than the rest of your barbaric species! What kind of mon'keigh even are you, when your own kind would flay you alive for even being near me to begin with? Do you not have any fear or common sense your race is so brutally trying to cling on?!" She angrily yelled at him, to which he did not react since he couldn't understand her. But he realized that she was truly angry. As to why, he couldn't understand.
"Liriel..?" he softly said, forcing her to stop her vent for a split second. This was the first time he spoke with such smoothness and softness within his young voice. But she resumed her own xenophobia rather quickly. "Silence.." she pushed the edge even further against his throat, scowling. "Do not dare to soil my name from your lips, mon'keigh. You do not deserve to even write it! Who are you to-"
"Liriel Valdan."He said once again, as if playing with her emotions. She stared at him like a deer in the headlights. It was obvious that the more he talked, the more hesitant the aspect warrior felt. He was simply trying to reason with her and to listen. At this very moment, if there was one thing Niko hated more than anything, it was the lack of communication that barely had time to develop between the two. He wanted to talk. To understand. To communicate. And he tried his best to show himself in the best way possible as an open-minded individual.
Liriel's hands began to tremble as she could not bring herself to kill him. Maybe the war mask was truly loosened up. Her angry face slowly turned into a simple frown as she closed her eyes, lifted his knife and slammed it right next to his ear with a loud clank, to which he slightly shuddered due to the incredible speed of the banshee. She got off of him, stood up while not diverting her gaze from him, and retreated back to the bed to sit down and look away with her hands on her knees. "By Khaine, I hate him.. I hate him more than anything. Not because he is an enemy of my race. But because he contradicts everything, what his race truly practices. Brutal ignorance, hatred and extermination of everything that does not look like them. And yet, he shows that he is no threat and is open-minded.. I.." she said while looking at her own hands.
"Hesitated to kill.. Never in my life have I ever done such an outrageous thing.. I spared my enemy. A Mon'Keigh on top of that." she clenched her hands into fists. "I do not.. know why. Something about him sets me far away. But if I am to get home, I will not be able to get out of here without his help. He knows these lands way better than me. Perhaps in the meantime I should try to understand him. But the main focus is to get home. The more I spend time with this human, the more I feel the dread taking over."
The young hunter slowly leaned back up while rubbing his throat and sheathing his dagger back into its place. "By the Emperor. She is insanely precise and fast.. I barely had time to think what happened. But how I wish we could understand each other through languages so I could understand what she was saying.." he told himself before slowly approaching the sitting banshee, who was clearly mumbling something to herself. He slowly leaned his hand forward to place it on her shoulder, hesitating for a few seconds as he froze his hand in midair, before swallowing his saliva and placing his hand either way on her shoulder, which pulled her out of her daydreaming state. He forced her gaze to fall upon him as he spoke out. Smiling lightly in the process. That smile of his? Liriel hated it. No matter how hard her attempts at provoking him were, they were all futile and for naught as he continued to show his kind nature.
"You probably want to kill me, since my kind is your enemy. But I only wish for us to find a mutual ground here. Rather than letting the mistrust turn us into enemies, which I do not see you as.. If you'd only allow me to-" she smacked his hand away from her shoulder before rubbing it and hissing at him, to which he raised both his arms and retreated a few steps back. "Okay, okay, I understand. I set you free in order for you to realize that at the end of the day, I am not, your, enemy. It is always best to stick together if we are to survive. Sooner or later, I'm always cautious that something might happen." He explained, while already being aware that she won't understand what he's saying.
The amber eyed elegant xeno lady however shook her head and pointed at the door, before looking at him. "... Me.. One, one here." she said in low gothic, which took Niko yet again by surprise. His heart skipped a beat. Every time she spoke, that weird feeling struck him in the chest like lightning. As if her elegant features weren't enough, so was that voice of hers. It took him half a minute to understand what she meant by that. She wanted to be left alone. And so, Niko complied by giving a light nod and left the room calmly, before going outside the house and leaving the banshee to be alone as she wished.
Liriel felt defeated as she immediately gripped her head and looked down at the floor. Closing her eyes and trying not to lose herself to madness. She had the perfect opportunity on her hands. Yet she allowed it to slip out of her grasp. She did not understand how and why. "By the almighty Khaine!" came out of her lips in a loud tone. "I never hesitated to make a killing blow on anyone I've faced. And yet this mon'keigh defeated me by mere words.. Was my dream a prophecy?" she asked herself, remembering how she saw her uncle Elidyr warning her about "salvation" through the "human".
"Did he mean him.. oh Isha's tears. I truly have no way out of this situation." she said while looking at her hands again, sinking in her own mind like nothing else mattered. "I need to focus.. If this is the way it should be, then it is best to follow the words of Elidyr from my dream. Although it is hard to call it a dream at this point.. Never mind. I must focus like I said." She said while beginning to meditate in order to relax her stressed mind and to settle her thoughts together. For a few minutes she kept herself completely motionless with the calmest breathing possible. And then, opened her eyes to make a new plan.
"He may have surprised me a lot than I could have ever imagined. But the task gets more complicated.. The mon'keigh is needed. I will use him for my goals nevertheless. Then, we will path our ways. Or one of us will be destined to die. I do not plan to be the latter. Now that he has freed me, I have more liberty on my actions. He, however, is already a lost soul. Judging by how he acts, he has been just like the rest of them. What forced him to change, however, is something I would be curious to find out about. If only we could understand each other, that is. I do not know how long I will be stuck in here." she thought, then continued.
"Knowing the mon'keigh societies, their communication stations should be in the major cities. So far, I doubt there are any nearby.. Unless I find a map. There, I must somehow infiltrate it and send a morse code to outer space so my craftworld can intercept it. Then await for a rescue. My place is next to my sisters and at the guard of Ulthwe. Not here.. With a mon'keigh as my savior. No. I refuse to accept that as my fate. The quicker I get home, the faster all of this will stay behind. In the meantime.. I should learn how to properly communicate with him. And pull information out of him that I might need and use. Lest I am to be a laughing stock in the concerts of Cegorach.."
She finished her planning and then decided to meditate, due to how much headache was already kicking in as she failed to not only kill the human, but failed to even intimidate him with her prowess and greater stature. The only thing she ever saw within his only eye intact, was curiosity and pity. Something she did not expect, but would refuse to accept. But nevertheless, there were greater things to worry about.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the young hunter sat down while writing in his tiny diary about the events that occurred after he woke up from his slumber. In fact, he was silent, but nobody could deny that he was smiling while he took his time to write down a few things while the pot was brewing its contents in the shape of nutritious food and the other pot was boiling water in order to make tea. The young man was surely energetic as he finished his writing and put his little book into his pocket once more. He stirred the pot with the salted and dried meat with another pack of MRE veggies being added. This time he was lucky, however, as the veggies were in the period of getting stale. The last pack that he fed himself and the banshee was quite rancid. But this time, he believed it would work better than the last.
"Unbelievable.. Things can change so drastically in a short amount of time. You're at the brink of death at one moment, and then the death itself slips away from you by some emperor's miracle alone. Perhaps this is a test, I wonder? Although.." he frowned. "Testing my initial faith or my own drastic choices? I do not know, honestly. Gah, Kalevan devils, what am I saying? I'm not alone anymore, and that's all that matters. I could not bring myself to live in the towns with all those weird folks. How funny is that?" He asked himself.
"You fight for so long and once you get out of the battlefield, your sacrifices are forgotten as if they did not matter. All your hopes and dreams, where do they go? All your friends, companions, your brothers and sisters in arms.. Eh. There is no place for folks like me in the society. Especially when humanity's worst enemy is the human itself. I wonder, does the xeno feel the same way? Though I do not know fraggin thing about her kind except that they're dangerous, tall, deadly and live in some kind of moon sized spaceships. Oh, and they despise us. But man, would that be a wonder to see those ships. Though I doubt they'd allow what they consider a primitive on board, hah!" He laughed after longing for certain things within his heart and slowly went from a smile to a saddened expression while stirring the cauldron.
"I miss my home.. But I cannot return without being judged as a deserter. I hope that the Emperor's protection is bestowed upon Kaleva, and she remains safe. I lived here alone, and it made me feel at peace. But the cost of that peace comes with a heavy price. You essentially start to lose yourself in this hellish loneliness when there is no one that is willing to understand you. Frankly speaking, the pretty xeno was an unexpected occurrence. What kind of devil forced me to save her is still a question I keep asking myself. But I do not feel any regrets. It's frankly funny situation when you can't understand each other, yet somehow the hints are obvious remarks about the mutual means of communication." He chuckled and kept talking with himself.
"I am a free man. And free to make my own choices. "Only in death does the duty end" are bold words. The duty is a necessary act to fight the humanity's enemies. But if I stepped aside from it, only the God Emperor shall be my judge, even when I sacrificed what I possessed to his cause. Nobody else.. I still remain the Kalevan silver spear. I will return home one day. But that day has not yet approached. I forge my own destiny here. The fate shall not pull its strings upon me. Humanity within me is not lost. And.. Okay. Enough blabbering with myself like an idiot." He finished his little talk and rolled his eye after noticing that he's yet again talking with himself. He finished stirring the food in his cauldron and then took the second pot out, pouring leaves in two cups and then add the boiling water before stirring them both. He grabbed two bowls, filled them with the stew, and placed all of them on the wooden table. "Welp. Now that does it!" He proclaimed proudly while putting his fists on his sides, before staring at the door.
"Okay. I'll seriously have to disturb her. Take it easy, Nicky, take it easy.." he said, taking a deep breath before approaching the door. Touching the handle after a few knocks. "Its just a xen-ooOAAGHH!" But then, he slightly gasped and stepped back as he opened it up, and he was met with the tall standing figure of the howling banshee staring at him with a facial expression of annoyance. As if asking him "Who disturbs my peace?" Before her eyebrow raised up, she met up with the gaze of the young human who stared at her with a few blinks of his eye and then regained his composure, rubbing the back of his neck as the awkward silence kicked in between the two. But the hunter was quick to break it.
"..Uh..." he still thought of how to explain his intentions. But pointed towards the kitchen instead as the banshee's gaze diverted to where he pointed, then back at him as he pointed towards his mouth, then at his belly before rubbing it in circles and patting it gently. He gestured for her to follow him. To which she sighed and decided to do so while staring at his back. The facial expression of Niko was priceless. But banshee gave it no heed. "Probably is inviting me to a meal.. Welcoming mon'keigh indeed." She whispered to herself before the young human got her into his kitchen and sat down on one of the chairs.
The aspect warrior followed his movements and sat down in the opposite direction. The hunter was staring down at his bowl of stew while his hands rested on the table as he tapped his fingers on it. He was clearly anxious to look at her. Not only was she an elegant creature in his eye, but her capabilities told him one thing for sure: "Piss her off, do something wrong, even the slightest wrong movement, and you'll be collecting your teeth from the ground." kind of vibes. He wiped his forehead slowly from the accumulating sweat that appeared on it and gulped loud enough for the staring banshee to hear.
There was a long, awkward silence and only the tapping of Niko's fingers on the table was heard before he finally stopped it. In the next moment, he slowly grabbed the spoon, and with the corner of his eye, he noticed the banshee following his movements while looking at him without a single flinch. Grabbing the spoon just like him. The hunter then proceeded to dig into the stew as he took a spoonful and put it into his mouth, with the xeno about to do the same.
But she stopped and looked at him instead. He looked back at her, realizing that she thinks he's trying to poison her. He simply took a spoonful from her bowl and took his second bite before she finally made sure it was safe to eat and decided to dig in with him. Surprisingly, the food was decent enough, but it still tasted like crap, as Niko cringed. This time, however, the banshee did not show any disgust. Niko thought that she knew it was rancid, but decided not to show him that emotion. He wondered why. After chewing his food thoroughly, he continued to take more spoonfuls. He sipped the hot tea occasionally as he watched the banshee imitate his every movement.
Niko did not like the atmosphere of this moment. He wanted to say something. But he kept battling with his own mind. "Do these Aeldari xenos eat in silence.. Do I break the rules if I start a conversation? Can't know if we can't try now, can we?" And with that, he slowly lifted his gaze from the bowl, and stared directly up at her since she was taller. "You know.. I've never dined with an Eldar woman before. Especially someone as tall as you. So this is, heh, kind of.. Intimidating.. I guess.. Kind of.." he said while chuckling nervously, to which the banshee's facial expression did not change. Niko truly felt that he was being judged, and maybe his behavior was not the best example.
"Whatever this human says stings my ears beyond reckoning. He really does not know how to keep his mouth shut.. If not for the current circ*mstances, I would nail it shut. It would make my life so much easier. But lucky you, mon'keigh, that I feel reasonable at the moment." She spoke in her mind while taking a sip of the Kalevan tea, to which Liriel stared directly into the cup. "Although, this strange beverage is purely refreshing. I feel all the aromas and sweetness on my tongue alone." She praised the tea precisely for its great and refreshing taste. But the food left much to be desired. "This sloppy mess, however.. How do these humans even get this disgusting mess near their mouths? I was taught to never waste food. But By Isha. Not even in a million years would I ever call this stuff edible. But I will need every ounce of energy." She said, hesitantly taking the spoonful, while washing it down with the tea, as that aftertaste of the nasty slop disappeared with every sip.
Liriel got distracted with her own thoughts, and did not even notice the staring human, who immediately diverted his gaze down at the bowl. Her eyebrow rose up, and she immediately leaned her head back a little bit after she saw him rubbing his own ear and staring down at his bowl. She immediately frowned at him in a flustered manner. "Did.. Did he just stare at my ears..?!" and with that, the redness appeared on her cheeks once more while she covered both her ears and saw the anxious human continue his meal while a smile appeared on his face, much to the frustration of the howling banshee.
"I always wondered how those knife ears felt like. But I'd be risking having my limbs torn apart if I even dared to approach them with my hands. Let alone, it would be utterly heretical.. But what I already did would be deemed extremely heretical, so who cares?" He said to himself in a whisper and laughed silently with his eye closed, before nervously freezing within his laughing expression. The eye opened up as the radiating aura of frustration from the banshee pulled his gaze towards her. She looked at him like a wild predator after he heard a crack. The crack was the wooden spoon that she broke with just her fingers alone. He immediately gulped with his eye wide enough and quickly continued to eat his meal without daring to look at her. "S..Sorry. I did not mean anything offensive, Miss Liriel." he calmly said.
The banshee stared at her broken spoon and gritted her teeth. Cursing at herself for the frustration that allowed the essential in her hand to crack. "Brilliant. The Mon'Keigh's curiosity wins yet again. But who would truly judge me for reacting this way? He looks at me like I'm an artisan's sculpture or a painting. But that's not going to be problematic.. For now." Said the black wraithbone armor clad warrior before rolling her eyes. However, the human surprisingly gave her another spoon from his little cabinet without saying a word and just sat back down. The banshee merely nodded to him, to which he nodded back and quickly looked down at his bowl before she grabbed the new spoon and kept eating her meal bit by bit, slowly and calmly.
"Man. This is freaking awkward. I feel like I'm dining with a Lord General who just happened to know about my shenanigans and is surely disappointed. Eugh.. I have to collect myself and stand firmly at my point. Fair and square. Nothing in between. But I can't deny one thing, though.. She's kind of cute when she's frustrated." He said, laughing at himself while covering his face with one hand and then moving it aside before continuing the meal. He took a deep breath, and stared directly towards her, to which she stared right back after taking a sip of tea and placing the cup down.
"Sooooo..." He put his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. "Ahem. We may not understand each other. But I kind of want to show you certain things, if you're interested." He said, to which Liriel simply stared at him blankly. That honestly made him slightly irritated as he let out a deep sigh. "Also. I really have to teach you Low Gothic when the time is right. You're way more advanced than us. Surely learning capabilities are also higher and obviously sufficiently built within you knife eared ones. Right?" he asked. But the banshee blinked a few times with her amber eyes shining through as she simply shrugged and looked down at her bowl to continue eating her stew, which she bit like an innocent creature. Niko obviously facepalmed as he realized the hardships of communicating with an alien woman like this would be insanely difficult.
"Holy Emperor. How do I make sure that she understands what I am saying?" he asked himself while holding the cup and staring at the empty bottom with only a few droplets left. He swallowed them and then wiped his mouth clean before grabbing his Leuku. And then, as he was about to clean his teeth, he decided to rather not do such a thing. Because he was notAlone. Anymore, at least.
The banshee already finished her meal and tea and was just blankly staring at him like how a servitor would do if one approaches the buying stand in a bazaar. Niko turned his gaze and saw her staring, to which he simply blinked a few times and saw that she finished her meal, even if it was barely edible. He really did not like the intense staring from the tall figure. He felt like being stuck in a cage with a Kalevan snowy leopard, who in a wrong movement would tear him apart if he irritated it. He gulped and did not want to think about it, since he had yet to understand the behavior of this xeno. But Niko always had a cheerful quality, no matter how many times the traumas tried to destroy him mentally. Even this time, he decided to show it as he slowly stood up, and saw the banshee doing the same.
"She follows my movements, I see.. Hmmm." he stood there while rubbing the back of his neck and then divert his eye to random directions. He really wanted to get busy. To do something to avoid that gaze that loomed over him like iron chains around his body. It was that strong. He already felt a hidden ounce of dread and hatred coming from her. It was obvious that she did not trust him. But neither did Niko in reality. She was not a human being. She was anAlien. A xeno. Unpredictable. Unknown. Mysterious.
He knew there was much time to be spent to learn about her, and the same was for her to learn about him. He was as alien to her as she was to him. Despite the fact that she possessed enough information about the humans, Niko was something new and too unknown. He wasn't just a human. He was a human who was extremely open-minded, and it forced all her beliefs about his race to be turned upside down as if they never existed. However, who wouldn't be surprised? She began to slightly daydream while staring into the abyss before the young hunter tapped the table with the spoon, and she quickly shook her head and looked at him.
"Waky waky, Miss Liriel." he said and gestured her to follow him outside, to which she did. As he walked outside, the aspect warrior stood at the porch and took in a few deep breaths of fresh windy air that blew against her face. Niko was about to say something, but couldn't help himself to be in awe of such a fancy picture. The calm wind blew against Liriel's face, and she untied her silky red hair from her formed ponytail to allow the wind to touch her hair and face. Niko, however, felt slight warmth in both his cheeks due to how utterly beautiful and humane she looked while she stood still and stared at the sky with her eyes closed.
The long hair that reached down her shoulders was then occasionally raised up and down with the wind blowing against it. He had his jaw slowly dropped as he wanted to utter words out. But decided to instead watch in astonishment. "God Emperor on the holy throne.." He whispered instead, allowing the banshee to assess herself as she spread out her arms and was in a state of meditation. "She.. Looks to value the beauty of nature and its powers. How are they so beautifully elegant yet deadly at the same time..?" Asked Niko, while the banshee's eyes slowly opened up, and she lowered her head to stare down at him.
She did not say a word. She just stared at him after taking in the fresh air of this lush, paradise-looking world before tying her hair back into a ponytail. His gaze automatically was already looking to opposite direction. Niko looked down at the ground, and slowly lifted his head upwards before getting jumpscared. "OH FRAK!" he said while stumbling back and almost tripping. The banshee was right in front of him, and she was not too happy. But neither was he. "How the frak did I not hear her footsteps? How quick are these Aeldari..?! True are the words.. The Eldar are a random force that will break your reality." He said with a look of disturbance as he held his chest and then saw the xenos woman go from a frown into a proud grin. "Oh, is that supposed to intimidate me, huh?" he said while crossing his arms.
"You are quite a clumsy mon'keigh, Niko Arumemen!" she said in her lexicon as she also crossed her arms.
"For the last time, xeno. Its ARMANEN!" he raised his voice and detested in Low Gothic.
"Aramanyen?" she asked with a calm rose of her eyebrow which infuriated the young hunter further. She was literally trolling and provoking him.
The young hunter cracked his knuckles and pointed towards her, then at himself, before smacking his fist against his palm. "You. Me. Right here, right now."
"The puny human challenges me to a fight? How bold for a primitive." asked Liriel before putting her left hand on her left hip and keeping her other one free, before shoving her hand forward, and signaling him to come at her with her index finger.
"Oh now it's on, xeno. I ought to teach you Kalevan manners."
The duel was about to begin. And it was Niko who made the first move. He charged at her to wrestle her down once and for all. She easily dodged his charge and instead struck his rear with the heel of her boot. "Ogh, what in the Emperor's name?!" He turned around to see her standing still in the same position and signaled him to come at her once more. This time, however, the frowning young hunter pulled his sleeves up and instead decided to circle around her. To which she made a swift, tornado-like-backflip, which forced Niko into bafflement at how flexible and agile she was. However, he was determined. The banshee circled alongside him while keeping eye contact. The hunter and the huntress were going to go at it fully.
The first movement was done by Niko. Instead of charging straight ahead, he decided to strafe in a zigzag formation which the banshee anticipated and jumped highly over his head. But the hunter then surprised her. As soon as he saw her trying to jump over him, he immediately knelt down, and tripped her by sliding his foot against the grass and at a 90-degree angle as soon as she landed behind him. Forcing the banshee to fall down, before she instantly got back and stared at him in quite a bafflement. The hunter stood up and grinned at her. "You thought I wouldn't use your agility against you? Hah!" This time, however, it was his turn to smirk. The aspect warrior hated to admit it, but he was quite smart for his age and experience. However, she was not going to go easy on him this time, as she saw him signaling her with his index finger. "Come at me, milady!" he gestured and got into his stance.
The banshee rubbed her fist and walked towards him. Slowly speeding up in the process. She made a leap by jumping forward. As he dodged her charge, he looked behind him, and she was nowhere to be seen. "Eh?! What the-" He looked around himself to try and find her whereabouts. It did not take Niko long enough to stare upwards, and see her landing directly at him with a kick towards his face. "I got you now!" she proclaimed. His eye widened up as he quickly reacted by forcing himself to fall to the ground in order to avoid her boot flying towards his head, before rolling over to the left side as a punch landed on the grass from the tall warrior.
He rolled over once more to the right as the second punch flew, and this time, as the third one flew, he attached both his arms together in an "X" shape and blocked the initial punch from the warrior, before grabbing the banshee's arm, placing his own boot on her stomach, and throwing her over him as she elegantly landed on her feet with a backflip. Which gave Niko enough time to get up onto his feet. And once again, he was surprised by how fast and precise she was. As for the xeno, she was surprised by how careful and coordinated he was for a human.
"I swear on everything I possess. No one would believe me if I told them that a mon'keigh avoided my attacks so carefully. He truly is a natural hunter." She muttered out in silence while staring into his eye.
"By the mighty Silver spear. How I still stand on my feet at the moment is truly God-Emperor's miracle. She might be a xeno, but I'll be cursed if I did not say that she's truly a natural huntress." Said Niko within his mind while keeping the eye contact before they both lunged at each other once more. However, they both heard rustling bushes and stopped at mere few meters away from each other. Then, they stared directly at the bushes to see who disrupted their fight. The banshee and the ex guardsman looked at each other for a brief moment, before returning their gazes to the rustling bushes. They both simultaneously approached it, and moved them aside.And they surely wished they had not done it.
It was a pair of those deer-like creatures. And they were caught in the middle of a mating process. The human and the eldar both reacted accordingly. By simply stepping away while cringing at what the hell they just witnessed.
"Eugh by God-Emperor! These beasts and their endeavors.." Said Niko while shaking his head.
"The nature is insanely bizarre with its methods. Isha preserve me." said Liriel while facing the opposite direction.
Even IN the little confusion, they both realized that they had discontinued their initial fighting and instead stared at each other simultaneously. Niko froze after stopping his forehead-rubbing session. As for the aspect warrior, she placed her hand behind her head, the other one at her hip, as they both began to laugh at the same time for allowing such a foolish act from two animals distract them from initially mauling each other.
"I can't believe we allowed ourselves to be distracted like this, xeno. Either way, I think we should call this a draw?" He asked her, while she stared back at him as in questioning once again what the hell he was saying. "In short, a draw, you know? Like.." Instead of proceeding further, he merely offered a firm handshake with a light smile while staring at her. Liriel looked at it but did not understand what was the meaning behind it. But sooner or later, she hesitantly leaned her hand forward before Niko proceeded to shake it gently.
"Is.. This the human form of formal greeting or showing gratitude?" She asked while she shook his hand just as much as he did. Before letting go of it as Niko turned around to stare into the beautiful horizon with the sun slowly setting down. He sat down on the ground to watch it while not speaking a word, but smiling instead. The banshee sat down next to him, to which with the corner of his eye, the young hunter took a notice of her elegant features once more from up close. He couldn't help but notice that from her looks alone, she was definitely older than him by age, as he heard the rumors of the long life span of the Aeldari.
That they live long and are good at what they do. But from her looks alone, in human standards, she would be probably a few or more years older than him at best. The wind blew against her facial features as she blinked only once and continued to stare with a calm and spiritual expression. She untied her hair from the ponytail and allowed it to drop wide on her shoulders and down her back. It seems she liked the wind, Niko thought. But he was fascinated by the beauty of the alien woman.
It was mesmerizing, as he did not notice that he automatically had his head turned towards her in full awe. Those fiery amber eyes were full of determination, but secret hatred that would be provoked by even the slightest mistake. Those knife ears that attracted the ex-guardsman's curiosity. The temptation to just touch them was growing, but he knew better where to keep his hands. He wondered, however. Was her hair natural? It looked extremely silky from his point of view as he took a notice. But nevertheless, the creature in front of him was fascinating. Partially he enjoyed it, but in the other part, he was seriously questioning his moral standards.
"I usually never knew that they were this elegant. But I cannot really deny the obvious to my eyes. She is astonishingly beautiful for an alien.. Frakkin hell. This is something so heretical that I cannot bring myself to admit it fully. Let alone if I had the chance to tell her that. However, I am free to make my own assumptions." He said, before slowly turning his head towards the ground where he was sitting on.
Liriel enjoyed the wind blowing against her face, and she felt the relaxation of being free and having time of her own. Far away from the battles. She meditated as usual and thought about her home with her own emotions. But she couldn't help but notice how the ex-guardsman was daydreaming in an expression of doubt, as she understood. "What is he thinking, I wonder.. Longing for his homeworld? The Mon'Keigh usually come from many worlds. And this world is definitely not his home. He is a former Imperial soldier, as I have determined. Why he is here, is a mystery yet to be unpuzzled. He can express his emotions, while we have to battle against it.. In order for she-who-thirsts to keep her vile hands away from us. My people once could express themselves the same way as him. Without the fear of losing themselves." After her assumption, she continued to stare at the horizon where the wind was blowing against her. The young hunter was the first to speak.
"You know, Miss Liriel." Her gaze immediately diverted to him because she heard her own name. The ex-guardsman stared forward. "When I look at the horizon, there is something beautiful about the sun setting down as the night kicks in. I cannot help but be fascinated. Its even funny.. I imagined doing this with anyone but you. Even a friend. But its quite bizarre that I'm experiencing this with a xeno like you. The universe is full of surprises, besides the constant war that covers the entire Imperium.. And hey. I still did not feel intimidated when you tried to show your prowess. Just so you know!" He said cheekily with a grin before letting out a soft laugh. What she did to him in reality forced his anxiousness and heartbeat to increase, as he indeed felt quite intimidated. But he hid it very well from her and only got lucky to stop her on time. That moment was in his mind, and it was quite hilarious, as he thought. She merely watched with a blank expression before speaking herself.
"Human. It would be the best course of action if you would remain silent. For I do not understand what you're saying. Do you feel how I feel when I talk in a language you cannot understand?" She asked him in her lexicon, to which Niko's jaw slowly dropped as he wanted to utter a word. But then he let out a laugh instead, which confused Liriel even further and forced her to frown. "What are you laughing at, Mon'Keigh?!" She asked.
"Even if I do not understand what you're saying, I'm going pretend I just heard a joke and laugh it out because, well, there's not much we can communicate on." He said, before the frowning banshee looked away. "This human is slowly becoming an annoyance. If he did not pose usefulness to me, I would've already finished him off and ran away from here in all directions. But I still have to gain his trust and understand him better. I cannot survive in an unknown world all alone. I do not know the terrain. Neither where the mon'keigh towns are. I have to survive.. But first, I must make sure he trusts me enough to reveal to me where he keeps my belongings, specifically my power sword. I feel too vulnerable without my blade. Now I'll just have to tolerate this young human's annoyance as if Cegorach himself is sending this curse upon me.. Eugh." she assumed, and it sank in her mind.
The human continued to blabber and talk, despite the banshee's pleas. She concentrated on meditation, as the majority of the Eldar would in their free time. However, it was not easy when there was a primitive nearby whose mouth did not shut, no matter what. She clenched her hands into fists on her knees, and held herself together in order not to punch him unconscious. But the temptation was growing. She closed her eyes and continued the meditation, nevertheless.
The young man finally decided to be silent, as he probably began to notice that the Eldar woman was not in the right mood to tolerate his mumbling. "Frakkin hell.. While it certainly feels better to talk like this, I cannot help but be a tad disappointed. We still can barely understand each other as it is.. oh well. Nothing one can't fix." afterwards, Niko lied down with hands behind his head. Enjoying the softness of the grass before humming and whistling to himself in the midst of the sunset. The young man was chilling, while the banshee was meditating. They were just sinking into their own minds without saying a word. Each of them, having their own time and assumptions to make.
The two individuals sat like that for a short while before the human broke the silence and stood up to face her. "Anyway, xeno." he said as she turned to face him, standing up. "I think we've had enough fresh air for now. Come after me, I'll show you around my place." He gestured for her to follow him afterward. To which she obliged while taking a look at her surroundings and examining the wooden house and what seemed to be a little shed for storage that Niko used.
The hunter moved the covers and entered the shed. It had some of the meats hanging on the wall and drying up, since they were salted. There were some tools and an oil lamp he turned on to lighten it all up. She looked around, then back at him in confusion. "Is this where he keeps his food stuffs? How primitive.. For a primitive." she said while he showed her whatever he had in possession. Next, he left the shed, and did not mention the tiny wooden shed ten meters away, which was... Built for obvious reasons. Afterwards, he walked back towards his house, stood on the porch, and gestured her to follow.
"Next, I will show you my basem*nt." he said, turning his head towards her as he climbed the few stairs of the porch. "It is the most important asset that I- FRAK!" he tripped and was about to fall. But the xeno was quick to grab his arm and pull him backwards with a stern look. "Clumsy mon'keigh. Watch your step.." She said while Niko laughed and thanked her. "Woah thanks for that, lass! I assume what you said was a scolding. But I am no child!" he proclaimed proudly while giving her a thumbs up. He headed back to his little house afterwards. The banshee rolled her eyes and scoffed. "By isha! He is literally like a child!" She said to herself and followed him into the house.
Niko was quite cheerful. He Smiled all the way as he showed around his little spot of dwelling. He went to the corner, and then pulled a rope with a metallic handle. Opening the trapdoor to his basem*nt. He grabbed an oil lamp from the wall, and walked downstairs while gesturing the banshee to follow him. Giving him a light nod and doing as he asked. They both went down the stairs, and Niko went to 4 different spots to turn on the oil lamps since he had no other source of light to use. The basem*nt lightened up, and Niko proudly grinned at the sight that the aspect warrior took huge notice of. There was a wooden stand right at the end of the basem*nt. It had the flak armor issued to every guardsman. Plus a lasgun that the young hunter hung up on the wall.
"My good old armor..." said Niko, and stared at it. It had a painting of white and light blue with a symbol of the Kalevan silver spears regiment. Behind it, was the banner of the regiment that he really held close to his heart. The flag itself was dark blue. For the symbol, there were two silver spears in the shape of an X, and a golden eagle in the middle holding the handles of the spears with a green-colored civic crown on top of its head and the Roman numerical of LXIV, which was the number 64. Niko's own regiment.
And two long scrolls, with the one above writing "Percutimus Sicut Fulmenus." which meant "We strike like thunderbolts.". As for the one below the eagle, it wrote "Timete Iaculis." which meant "Fear our spears." The banner had burnt marks and was ripped in some places with a couple of holes. But other than that, it was intact. A reminder for Niko of his origins, and his home. "The banner of my regiment." He said, while placing his hand on the banner and then clenching it into his fist, which he placed on the left side of his chest. He muttered something to himself while the banshee watched him carefully.
"Must be his homeworld banner.. Probably a good reminder of home?" She asked herself as the young hunter sank into his thoughts as he sat on the table in the middle of the basem*nt. "What is he thinking about again.. He probably keeps all his most precious belongings down here." The banshee watched him while eyeing his basem*nt. "This is impressive. But where has he hidden my sword and helm?" She thought as always before she looked in his direction. He was nowhere to be seen. The banshee threw glances in different directions before hearing the human clearing his throat behind her. "Ahem. Miss Liriel."
She turned around instantly and saw him staring at her while holding her power sword with the sheath and her helm, alongside the pouches. All in his hands, which he slowly lifted. It baffled the aspect warrior as to how he just got past her while she sank in her thoughts. However, that wasn't important. She slowly lifted her hands and took her belongings from the ex-guardsman, who was lightly smiling in response to the gleeful expression she had on her face. He probably realized, that she felt empty without these two items, much like he would feel empty without his Leuku. Therefore, in his mind, it was wrong to deprive the xeno of her means of self-defense. Although he realized that the first seeds of trust were already set and that she would not survive without his help. Naive, he thought, but he had nothing really left to lose. He knew the land. The world.Thecrucial information.
The aspect warrior, however, was relieved to have her belongings retrieved. She attached the pouch to her waist belt alongside the throwing knife, and stared at her helmet. She stroked the red mane that it had while sighing in relief, and cleared the lenses while checking the vox caster-like device. Then, she took her sword and stepped aside to do a few tricks with it as the young hunter watched in awe. Her movement, even in such little space, was fluid and precise. As if the wind itself were controlling her movement. Liriel felt proud of herself as she stood on one heel, and lifted the second knee upwards to her chest while holding her sword in the air before making a swift spin with the sword's particles following her movement.
She stopped to look at him, and gave him a light nod, to which he, in response, gave a nod and a thumbs up. "You did not defile my belongings, human. For that, you shall have my thanks.. But don't get too excited." She told him, to which he raised his eyebrow, and nodded while she merely rolled her eyes as he began to chuckle in silence, before the banshee literally forgot about everything else and then walked out of the basem*nt, going outside to practice her training in a way more open space. She left the house, and resumed the practice while the hunter followed her outside. Sitting on a tree stump nearby.
"I am surprised he was so sure to give me my sword back. But I guess he wants me to be able to defend myself against every possible danger. He does not lack honor.. This mon'keigh is bizarre. My first step is done, however. I could simply run away from here without any fuss, and he wouldn't even notice.. Lest he wants to meet death from my blade if he tries to stop me. But I'm afraid I will get lost easily. No.. I'll have to somehow convince this.. "Niko" human to give me the information I require in order to escape from this world without causing any alarm after making contact with my craftworld. I cannot rush with this endeavor. But I shall be careful."
With the banshee having finished with her thoughts, the training continued. The entire show was quite incredible in Niko's eye. He never saw anyone being so precise with their art. He thought that maybe this is how Aeldari are superior. They're fast and agile, and they're pretty much the masters of technology. However, that was not what caught his eye. It was the precise and highly accurate movements of the Eldar in front of him that forced shivers to run down his spine. The movements were quite instantaneous and fluid and lacked any clumsiness. It was like she was as light as a feather can be and as precise as a straight flying bullet.
She spun around with a quick slice to the left, then backflipped and made a quick slice to the right, before standing on one foot and sending her other one straight upwards, and then slam down against the floor with enough force to probably crush a skull had there been one under her boot. That thought made Niko slightly uncomfortable, but he brushed it aside. Next, the aspect warrior shoved the sword forward, before spinning once with the sword slicing through to imitate the disembowelment of an enemy and then a quick kick to the head. This was done so fast that Niko barely processed what just occurred. He did find it fascinating, however.
He watched the training of the black-armor clad banshee with all interest. With many thoughts slipping his mind. "By the Emperor. She is a unit.. tall, elegant, and is probably built very well under that armor. And yet, the speed, and the weight.. It's like as fast as a wind, as light as a feather. This puts me quite in shame honestly. But perhaps I could practice with her? Not like there is much to do at the moment. Especially seeing how she is probably thinking about how to get back to her home. Everyone in her place would feel the dread while only thinking about that topic alone, I would say. Let's distract her from that with some entertainment. Round two!" He stood up from the stump before pulling his Leuku from its sheath, and then coughed a few times. Resulting in the aspect warrior stopping on her tracks before she turned her head around and stared at him.
Liriel was, in all honesty, astonished at what she was seeing. The human was literally calling her for a duel. "What- has this mon'keigh lost his mind?" She asked herself before the human pointed his knife towards her, grinning while getting into his stance of attack. She just stood there and looked at him as if he were completely mad. But Niko felt it. He knew he couldn't possibly best the experienced warrior. However, he had all the time in his life to practice the skills with his knife and wanted to make sure he had not rusted away. Plus, this was a good opportunity. It would help her mind getting distracted. "That sword surely looks deadly. But will it best the Kalevan steel?" he asked her, to which the banshee stared at her power sword, before sighing deeply.
Instead, she shoved it into its sheath, before unbelting it from her waist and dropping it on the ground. Next, she cracked her knuckles. That took the young ex-guardsman off guard as he got confused for a split second. "Hey.. Wait just a minute. That ain't fair! Pick it up!" he said loud enough, but in exchange, the banshee felt doubt radiating off of him. She grinned and signaled for him to attack her with her index finger alone. Niko gulped his saliva, frowned, and began to circle her carefully. Something the banshee did as well. "You challenge me with your puny blade, Mon'keigh. And you expect me to face you with my sword, as if our previous duel was not enough? You're no match for my kind, primitive." she told him, and Niko felt that he's being mocked. He frowned even further, and was not willing to accept this kind of insult. "Ugh, Kalevan devils.. I am not stepping out of this one. But so be it, Eldar! Don't blame me for cutting you, however."
The second duel was inevitable to happen, and both Niko and Liriel were prepared. Niko, even this time, made the first move. He immediately lashed directly towards her with his knife intact. He had only one thing to do right now, since she refused to use her power sword for a little sparring and instead prompted him to be serious. He had to put the knife against her throat. Or even put her in a lock in order for her to accept her defeat. It was never going to be an easy task. Fortunately, he was determined, and had a glimmer of hope in his sleeve, as he believed. The night was going approach sooner or later.
He had to be quick this time. But the banshee also knew this. She anticipated his strike as she strafed backwards from his attack, before Niko sent a flying kick towards her, which she managed to block with her hand, and in response, she kicked him straight in the chest, rough enough to force him to reel back while catching his breath before coughing twice. He punched himself on the chest with a fist to stabilize his breathing. She stood still and signaled him once more. Niko, however, was pissed. He knew that she was trying to provoke him to attack her blindly without concentration. He, however, kept a serious face and circled around her once more. This time, it was Liriel's turn to act.
She leaped forth with a high frontal flip, which sent Niko to step back rapidly and then dodge her as she tried to kick his knife away from the grip of his hand. Niko blocked her with his arm and clenched his teeth with a grunt due to how much power such a fragile-looking creature such as her had, while her foot smacked against his arm, causing him quite a bruising. But he was not going to waste time on naught. He decided to act quickly.
With his slim distraction, she took the advantage and swung her foot upwards to his chin, which he managed to dodge at the last second by bending his head backwards. He immediately retreated a few steps back and quickly noticed that she was keen on using her legs as a proper means of kicking his ass. Literally. He had to somehow try to deprive her of that ability. "Frak.. Almost got me. But how am I supposed to frakking pierce that xenos armor of hers?!" He frustratingly asked himself, while keeping the eye contact with the grinning aspect warrior. She already knew that he was struggling to even find out how to damage her while only using her feet against him. And yet, he knew that she was going way too easy on him, while he was all dead serious.
He had to quickly think before she would get bored and just put him down by getting dead serious herself. In an instant, he made a quick dash forward. He swung left, which she dodged. Then, he sliced right, before she dodged again, and he was forced to smack her chestplate with his fist, resulting in him twitching his eye before gritting his teeth and letting out a grunt. "Frak!" He shook his hand before noticing how his base knuckle reddened.
He had to remember not to do that again, as that armour of hers was tougher than expected. But little did he have time to react before the banshee became rather serious for a split second. As he got distracted, she sent her right fist directly to his chest. His rib cage felt a slight crack as the previous strike to his chest was more gentle, but this one was rather harsher. He stepped backwards while taking a breathing, coughing a few times. "Weakling of a Mon'Keigh. You do not give up, do you?" She asked him. Niko felt the mockery growing above his head with such belittlement.
His anger only grew before he smacked his own chest once more, and ran towards her again. Doing his slicing attacks with his Leuku as the banshee dodged at ease. He did manage to throw a stab at her armor, and then at her arm, thinking he got the lucky shot, but his blade merely bounced away as he could not pierce her armor no matter what he tried. This gave the banshee a perfect timing to grab his arm and then lift him over herself. Bodyslamming him down to the ground. The young hunter growled and felt his body aching from a brutal slam. Unfortunately, that was not the end of it. Oh no. It was just the beginning. They both forgot about their fragile alliance and were now acting more like proper enemies. Losing themselves in the duel.
The knife flew a few meters away from Niko. As he tried to get up, Liriel pushed her boot against his chest to hold him down to the ground, before placing it against his throat with a serious smirk. "You lost." She began to push her boot against his throat to choke him into defeat. He tried to punch desperately against it, but he felt his vision becoming blurry while the banshee kept talking. "Accept your defeat, Human!" She said as she was forcing him to lose his consciousness.
But Niko was not willing to give up. As he mustered all the strength he had, he turned his head to the left. There, he saw the knife lying on the ground. And reached out for it with all the energy his body could handle. He desperately wiggled his arm over and over, before the glimmer of hope was bestowed upon him, and he managed to grab Leuku's handle, before flipping the knife over as he knew he couldn't pierce her armored body but only her exposed flesh. The banshee saw what he was about to do after she broke her distraction, wanting to make the Mon'Keigh give up and accept her superiority over him. However, she reacted by quickly kicking the knife away from him after removing her boot from his throat, since she knew that the knife would be sent flying towards her exposed face.
However, as soon as she did that, Niko let out a maddening roar and tripped the aspect warrior by doing a single leg takedown, getting on top of her in a swift moment. His face was truly that of an angry young man, as he was indeed, furious. The banshee was surprised before letting out a gasp as soon as she fell. She couldn't believe at how lucky this human was. "Bested by a human! Where is all that prideful arrogance?!" He yelled to her, to which she merely frowned, but kept her disciplined expression and focus on her opponent. She rolled him over and then tried to punch him, before he threw a fist full of dirt at her face, to which she quickly blocked with her arm. It gave Niko enough time to roll her over, and put her into an armlock. Now it was his time to shine. He put his leg over her throat while locking her arm with both of his own, and proceeded to add pressure while he felt his nose already bleeding from the rush of adrenaline from the duel.
Liriel felt herself trapped and helpless as she felt the pressure growing in her arm, while the pain grew second by second the more the hunter continued to seriously put some weight on her entire arm. She did not want to give up, however. But then again, the young hunter kept his leg tightly against the ground, with the underside of his knee forced hard into her throat. Her breathing was slowly getting weaker and weaker while she grunted in pain. Unfortunately.. Niko forgot that the aspect warrior, was an extremely flexible being. As Niko believed that he was about to best her, she rolled to her right side and sent her right foot straight against his head as if her bones were made out of rubber, which seriously hurt the young hunter as he was forced to break the arm lock and hold his head, which seemed to have quite an effect on the hunter.
The banshee quickly held her arm and got up from the ground before stretching it, and then, punching the hunter straight in the face as he tried to get up, even after being struck in the head. Niko was sent down to the ground immediately. He opened his eye while panting heavily, and saw the tip of her power sword already at his throat, and the grim look of Liriel just piercing his soul with her fiery amber eyes. Niko already knew that he had lost the duel. He tried. But he lost, which did not surprise him. But little did he know that, for an exception, he totally surprised the howling banshee with how much resilience and determination he showed.
The duel was at its end, and Niko had no choice but to slowly lift his hand, and tap the ground twice, indicating his defeat. It was then that the banshee's fiery aura cooled off, and she once again smirked towards him before sheathing her power sword and offering him a hand, to which the surprised human accepted and got off the ground with her help. He wiped his face from the blood while dusting himself off, and rather stayed silent for a while as the banshee noticed his blade on the ground, with the butt of the handle having its cap opened.
She got curious and picked it up to give it back to him, but not before she stared at the picture hidden beneath the cap. "Huh? Who-" She did not even have proper time to process as Niko swiftly retrieved his blade from banshee's hand and closed the cap at the butt of the handle, looking rather unhappy that the banshee dared to look at it. She wanted to say something, but the ex-guardsman stopped her by lifting his hand to his shoulder "None of your business, xeno. Don't." he said while putting it back into its sheath on his waist, before the banshee's mouth closed with a frowning expression. The slightly wounded guardsman retreated back into his house, and left the banshee alone to contemplate.
"Who was.. That? It seems.. That, he holds a dear importance to his blade." She said, looking at the sky that was slowly but surely setting into darkness. "Never would have I expected him to hold out this much against me. The resilience and determination of this mon'keigh is something that I thought was a child's play, but he surely surprised me. By Khaine, if he were an Eldar, he'd make a great warrior. But I'm afraid that if I got fully serious, he would've already been lying dead on the ground. One thing from this has been revealed to me, however. He will not give up so easily in the face of doom. A strange creature like him, is an extreme rarity." She picked up her helmet, and then stared at the woods surrounding her.
"But my home. My loved ones. Why should I not take the risk?" There was a huge eagerness and desire to just run away. To just go in all directions. She wanted to do it, really badly, but the dangers of getting lost were too big. She just really did not want to waste more time. What would she lose anyway? The more time spent in this world, the more dreadful the situation became. She thought that Arleina was already mourning her death, and it began to hurt her. She imagined her uncle Elidyr singing the songs of lamenting in her honor, thinking she was long gone already. She felt the urge growing. The urge to somehow contact her craftworld and get home to reunite with her kin. Most importantly, Elidyr and Arleina.
She took one step forward, but then, automatically turned her head towards the house of the human who took her in and showed her his harmless nature, proper care, and saved her from one of the worst possible fates. And as much as she hated to admit it, the feeling of sticking together was still the better option, as it increased the chance of survival. And with a little bit of more time, she would get the needed information from him and settle into her journey. But the time would have to be wasted. "I, I have to." She turned her head back towards the horizon as her eagerness got the upper hand once more. She took another step forward, ever so hungry to take the risk, and just run away from here. Furthermore, she took a few, slow steps forward, getting ready to run off into the wilderness..
"Liriel?"
But that was not going to be the case. She stopped her tracks, and turned around swiftly to meet the confused human who pulled her out of that dire idea, holding a nice cup of that same Kalevan tea in his hand and looking at her rather suspiciously, even as he began to lightly smile. Thatsmile.How Liriel felt annoyed at the positivity in his facial expressions as she looked at him with a frown. "I admit, good fight we pulled there. Even if I am alive by sheer luck, I cannot say that I do not respect your prowess." he said while taking a sip of the tea, before offering it to her. "This... Human.. Why does he make me so annoyed and irritated?" She asked herself.
Deep down, she did not even know the true answer to her question. He was harmless and kind towards her, but she refused to believe it, due to her own zealotry and xenophobia against the human race, which forced her kind to suffer enough in the past thousands of years of conflicts due to their own hatred of anything non-human. But nevertheless, she dropped the idea of running away immediately, and took the cup with both hands, before taking a few deep sips. It forced her body to completely relax and warm up while she stared directly at the surface of the liquid and saw her own expression within it. "I almost killed him. Yet he treats me the same.." she told herself, and looked at him. "Mon'ke- Niko." She tried her best to get any low gothic words she could muster. "You... Mm, why. You, no." she gestured to her throat before running her index finger horizontally against it. "Me?"
Niko realized rather quickly what she meant by that kind of gesture, yet again glad, to hear her speak his language. But.. Definitely not like this. His smile disappeared, however, as he did not know how to answer that question properly. "Well..." he rubbed the back of his neck before looking away. "You probably mean, why I did not-" He took his knife, pointed at it, made stabbing gestures, and pointed at her, raising his eyebrow in a questioning way. She gave one small nod, and he sheathed his knife back. "Why I did not kill you? Well.. Why would I? You were fighting against your more evil people, the Drukhari." Her eyebrows raised at the last word.
"I cannot, say for sure of why the exact reason, but, I could not.." He gestured to his groin, before shaking his head quickly. "You. Drukhari. Bad. Do bad." he told her, to which the banshee possibly understood what he meant. "I could not watch a helpless creature about to get, violated like that. I just.. You won't understand what I am saying. But know that I simply could not bring myself to see you having that treatment. Especially when you broke all my beliefs that you are all ugly, vile, and evil monsters, which we have been fed since our childhoods. I knew that those were the Drukhari. But the Aeldari?" She leaned a bit forward after his last word, which prompted him to pause for a second, before continuing.
"You do not look too different from us except the way you.. Well, move, and, knife ears, and the eyes. However.. It's all the matter of fact that I am just full of joy to finally be able to remove the loneliness from my soul. Other than that, you look way too stunning for a xeno. Possibly that, hah." He chuckled for a second before shrugging and smiling once more.
Liriel in the meanwhile, tried to understand what he meant. "He saved me.. Because I was about to be assaulted by the Druchii? This human is way more noble than I thought. And has the honor to challenge me fairly. To trust me my gear. But more importantly.. He shows no hatred. I do not sense it. Neither feel it." she told herself, before nodding a few times towards him and handing him the half-empty cup back, to which he took it back gently without much of a fuss. At this point, however, it did not matter for a good while. "I may have overexaggerated a bit, but I shouldn't really forget that I am in his debt for saving me from possibly one of the worst fates out there." She said, looking away while he took sips of the sweet Kalevan tea, grunting slightly due to some damage the aspect warrior did to him.
It may have looked like child's play to the Eldar, but for a human, it surely left a sting. He ignored it. "You know. You probably miss your home? Because if I were you, I'd do the same. Considering that, you may as well be social creatures like us, humans. But, look. I understand. I don't even know why I keep talking as if you can understand me.. Just a newly grown habit. But look, I have only a limited source of information. This, is way more complicated than you can imagine, Miss Liriel." he said now firmly, while her attention diverted towards him as he gestured her to follow him into the house while taking steps towards it.
She was reluctant, but decided to listen. "He looked rather nervous. What did he truly say.." she asked herself as always, before he went to the kitchen, took an oil lamp, placed it down on the table alongside his cup of tea, and gestured her to sit down, to which she quickly did so. He sat down in the opposite direction and placed a piece of his Diary's blank paper in the center of the table, horizontally, before pulling out his coal pen.
"So. This is Merlorian." Her ears peaked up slightly after she recognized the name of the world they were inhabiting right now. Next, Niko drew a circle, and drew continents of the world since he did not really have any maps within his possession, but he remembered the geography quite well. "We are located, right here." He drew a little circle over the northern mountainous regions, approximately drawing it where he thought they were at. "There are towns in this world. To my knowledge, the closest one is hundreds of kilometers from here. Somewhere right here." He drew a straight line towards the east, since the western side was mostly oceans.
He put a dot there and drew a construction, to which, by Liriel's inspection, she understood that it was a town. "But the only spot, with a spaceport, is the capital. No ships come and go anywhere else in here. It's located here, on the south-east side. Lengthy, but what can you really do?" He asked her, drawing some spaceships. Liriel tried to process this information through the drawing on his paper in the meantime. "That must be the capital of the mon'keigh. In addition, it means that it's the only place where there's a spaceport. "Oh Isha.. It is way too far away from here. But I do not even know in which side from here is the correct path. Is he done?" She thought, closing in to see a better picture.
"Even if you are so crazy to even try to escape out of here, you'd have to pass by the local arbitrators of the Adeptus Arbites, and possible local defense militia. They literally guard the port like they're guarding their most beloved ones and things like that. It's their only way out of here and their only way in here, you see. You will not be able to handle such force all alone unless you're extremely stealthy." He said, then continued.
"But the moment you're caught, the ports will have an emergency shut down, and the entire mob of zealous fools will truly want your head on a pike. By the God-Emperor.. Brutal, but this is the way things are." He explained, although probably in naught while drawing miniature arbitrators and militants, trying to make sure she understood it. "Huh, that's a long explanation for something I cannot understand.. But perhaps, he's trying to tell me that it is heavily guarded and that it's a suicidal endeavor? Not unless I become a ghost in the shadows. This makes things difficult no matter what." She said and frowned deeply, to which Niko noticed, but understood her and did not blame her.
The aspect warrior was left puzzled as she stared at his pictures, especially the explanation that he drew, and it took her about 5 minutes to make her own assumptions and a guessing. "By the Ynnead. This mon'keighs primitive ways of communication are seriously giving me a headache.." She said while trying to think it out properly. But to no avail. Niko sighed out deeply and was about to seriously forget about this, but she was quick to say a word. "Niko." She pointed at the spaceport, then at herself, then at the ceiling. "Me.. Go? home?" His mouth slightly opened as it froze for a few seconds before he facepalmed himself, much to the annoyance of the banshee, who tapped her finger harder on the spaceport as he continued to talk.
"How do I make you understand it? You do not know which direction to take from here. Neither manage to breach into one of the ships and take off without a bunch of others following you to intercept if you get caught and manage to slip into one of these ships or even shuttles to begin with." He explained before drawing a single ship being followed by many others, and drew some torpedoes and projectiles chasing after the singular ship, before he tapped his finger on that exact drawing spot. "See?" She shook her head instead. "Human. I cannot waste time! I only need to call for my craftworld, and they will surely give me aid. I may not even require your clumsy ships or shuttles." She detested, much to his own frustration, while he barely understood what her Eldar language consisted of.
Niko was feeling Liriel's stubbornness growing further and further. It seems that she really did not care about the risks due to her own understanding of this endeavor. But nevertheless, he was a cautious individual and was not willing to let her be captured and tortured in the most unimaginable ways possible. "Eldar. Whatever you say, understand. You. Will. DIE. If you do this blindly and without a plan. You cannot even make a proper contact with our engineering since you don't know anything about it. I cannot help you while you spit at the risks and misfortunes that await you. Stand. DOWN!" He slammed his palm against the table and shook his head as quick as possible, to which Liriel reacted by scowling and standing up, trying to intimidate him with a serious stare.
But Niko yet again surprised her by stepping onto his chair with one leg, and the second on the table, putting his arm on his kneecap, and making a dead serious face towards her. "Stand. Down. Liriel." He ordered. And no one would admit it, but she felt a tiny fraction of chills down her spine while her frowning facial expression remained. Niko saw the most obvious sign within her amber eyes =Doubt.
They stared at each other for less than a minute, and during all that meaningful time, not once did Niko blink, and the banshee had no other option than to just sit back down and stare down at the table. Frustrated at her misfortune. Niko got off his position afterwards, and sat back down on his chair, staring at her with calmer expression. To Liriel, this was an obvious sign of her own stupidity. No matter how much she hated the situation, she faced the facts. The human was right. "Again, he breaks my determination.. But he is not wrong. I am walking into a literal slaughterhouse... Isha.. What.. Do I do? Is asking to return to my home so much to wish for?" She asked herself.
For Niko, however, it was more personal. He did not want her to get hurt, let alone worse, be captured and interrogated through brutal means necessary by the thugs at the capital. That would make him regret a lot of things. However, he thought that she was missing her home and that these Eldari probably really cherished those world sized ships of theirs, despite the reality being that not everyone does, but she certainly did. He thought, and he thought a lot. But at the end, he let out a deep sigh after about 10 minutes of silence and continued the talk.
"Listen, xeno. I get it. I understand what you're trying to do. But this is a dangerous endeavor where you have absolutely no chance of succeeding. It is literally suicide. There is no way in hell I'm going to just allow you to blindly go in and screw yourself up, big time. If you want to do this, then you have to do it properly. We are not even prepared. Understand. Even when you do not comprehend what I'm saying. Watch my hands." He explained before gesturing towards the capital, then at himself, then at her, then shaking both hands before making a slice in his throat with his finger.
Liriel, however, was wise enough to understand what he meant. She would be dead long before she could succeed. It forced her to stare back at the table, with an angry frown. Niko, however, did not really blame her for such a reaction, but he continued the talking. "Good, you are grasping the reality.. But worry not." He said before standing up and circling around the kitchen while crossing his arms and holding his chin with one hand. All while, Liriel looked at him, as he was thinking about what to do in this situation. She just kept herself silent and was tempted to just run away, but she knew better, again.
"Miss Liriel." she instantly stared at him, before he drew a proper planning by drawing the spaceport and the units he remembered guarding it. She instantly leaned closer and took notice of the details. Niko drew the port, the thugs that guard it, and different paths to infiltrate it. "Here is the main entrance." He said, tapping it with the pen. "Obviously, you're not going to go that way, lest you are to face your death. But this here? This is an emergency exit that I saw some of these thugs take. It's pretty much far away.. From the views of the masses, I would say." The hunter said, before sighing and continuing.
"But I do not know about the interior. But luckily enough, you may reach the surface at the top and snap a ship or shuttle to take off into space." He finished, and Liriel nodded at him, understanding the concept that she should take this tiny, secret passage. Out of nowhere, he shoved his hand forward to stop her from doing or saying anything. "This endeavor should not be taken so lightly. You'll have to be patient." He explained. Liriel however, merely raised her eyebrow, not fully grasping the meaning of his unknown words. He sighed and then drew a picture, which indicated the same concepts of days via the moon and sun. Then, he drew a long line from their spot towards the capital, and two figures. Pointing at figure number one, then at himself, then point at the second figure, then at her. "This is us. It might take us a week of constant marching to reach it through a straight path that has nothing blocking us, you hear me?"
"I, I go. Here?" she said after standing up and pointing at the capital before looking at him, as he nodded. Then he pointed at himself. "I will guide you. Since it's clear to me how badly you want to get out of here and return to your home." He said, letting out a soft smile, and finishing his explanation before taking his drawings and putting them away. Liriel sighed and sat back down, crossing her arms and looking away. "You have a lot to contemplate, as I see. But don't lose yourself to the blind rage, xen- Liriel. We both are warriors of our own merit. But we should know our limits." He said while staring at her, to which she refused to stare back, frowning while frustrated.
"Obviously, he's cautious.. As much as this is painful to bear down with, I have to survive, and return to my kin. I made a promise.. And this human, this human.. He is sincere and advises caution, but my promise, is higher than anything that matters to me at the moment. I have to follow what I know is right." She told herself in a whisper. "Hm? What are you mumbling, xeno?" Asked Niko, who was making another stew at the fireplace.
"Do not intervene in my contemplation, mon'keigh." She hissed at him, to which he simply shrugged and continued to concentrate on the stew. "No need to be rude, lady." She, meanwhile, inspected her power sword while occasionally changing her gaze from the sword towards the human. It was obvious to her that he would not let her escape. He was an obstacle, even a necessary one.
However, the temptation was growing in these circ*mstances. "Why is he so persistent and willing to help? Does he not care that he is betraying his beliefs by offering me aid? He clearly is not afraid of me. All his stares.. As if looking at the fascination of an artisan." She scoffed and kept her gaze on her sword, all while the hunter began to whistle some tunes to keep off the boredom and all that silencing aura. Before resorting to singing while stirring the contents of his cauldron. That surely forced the eldar woman to be distracted from her task of contemplating and processing some of the information that he had given her so far. She tried to ignore the noise, but to no avail. He kept whistling and humming musical tunes that were beginning to piss her off.
"By the Aeldari gods, my patience is running thin with this mon'keigh. If I tell him to be silent, he'll only make it worse.. He knows that I cannot harm him. As I feel my discipline crumble, I cannot help but.. Wait." she touched her soulstone, and then got into total confusion for a few seconds. "I do not feel its pull whenever I am mad.. Or upset. What happened to it?" She wondered. The soulstones were essentially where the souls of the Eldar, who wielded them, would be transferred to after their physical deaths.
It also gave them a sense of protection against showing emotions that might attract the attention of she-who-thirsts by feeling a pull within their chests. But for some odd reason, the pull was not felt. Liriel found it alarming and only just realized that she could freely express her emotions without the initial pull. She could only do anything like this within her craftworld where it was relatively safer to do so to a certain extent, but the aura in this world somewhat made sure to suppress that feeling for her. She immediately decided to shrug it off, calling it as possibly the effects of the artefacts they rescued, or a simple luck that she-who-thirsts hasn't noticed her.
"Weird.. I should not be feeling it while outside my craftworld, and yet I do. Why, I do not know. But it does help me feel more.. Free." She said while rubbing her soulstone and closing her eyes, to meditate calmly, not willing to be distracted by anything, not even the whistling of the mon'keigh. This new feeling, was unexpected, and it was mysterious. She remembers her words thoroughly. This world once belonged to her exodite kin. They lived in peace. Had a protection against the malevolent entity that wanted to devour their souls, the horrifying prince of pleasure. Before being exterminated by the members of the same race who saved her and was treating her better than she could comprehend.
Many, way too many thoughts, were crossing her mind. She tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. And it appeared to have been a very much needed asset, which would bring her to what she seeks at the moment... If not the annoyance from themon'keigh, which only grew to the skies as he got up and made some loud noise, forcing her entire meditation to dissipate.
Her eyes opened up, and she was quite frustrated. "Can I not have any silence in the presence of this fool?!" She yelled out loud enough for him to hear, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Huh? Where did he go?" She stood up immediately and looked around, before hearing more rumbling noises underneath her feet, which forced her gaze to look at the floor. "The basem*nt?" She asked, and immediately went back towards the trapdoor, which was opened. She was ready to get inside, but Niko's head popped out with a smile, and he waved at her, much to her sudden surprise. "G'day to you too, xeno!" He greeted the alien, which forced Liriel's eyes to roll in annoyance.
"Sorry if it was too sudden. My father always told me to occupy yourself with something while waiting for anything, no matter what, unless it was a guard duty.. Hey, check this out!" he explained, and then, all of a sudden, he pulled out what resembled a guitar, which he bought from one of the merchants in the bazaar in the capital a long time ago. "A little instrument of mine, hah. The merchant showed me how to play it and gave me a few notes to practice. I believe it's good time to have some music, don't you think?" He cheekily said while holding it and getting out of the basem*nt, shutting the trapdoor down while Liriel's confused stare attracted his attention. "What is that.. String-instrument? Looks.. Rather primitive compared to ours. I am surprised at how many similarities our races share at this point." She thought, while raising her eyebrow before him.
"You. Song?" she barely remembers any words at this point, but Niko understood perfectly what she meant, and he gave out a little head shaking. "Oh I am far from singing, Miss Liriel. Average at best.. But I can play this instrument, obviously" He shrugged and then walked back to the kitchen, sitting near the cauldron and fixing the strings to play however he desired them to sound. Liriel sat down at the table, and polished her sword while staring at him.
The young hunter took a few deep breaths, and began to play the instrument.
Liriel in the meantime, stopped polishing her sword, and instead, decided to watch him play the instrument and hear the notes. She never ever thought that she'd be witnessing a human playing a musical instrument, but this was the reality. The music was smooth, with a hint of a lushness that expressed happiness. "He puts his heart, and soul into his song.. Are they truly too different from us?" Liriel thought. It was yet again surprising how Niko's eye closed, and he looked like he was passing his mind straight into this music alone. Expressing it in front of the aspect warrior, whose curiosity was so great, that she had to admit the obvious. "Ulthwe's tear.. This young man has a few talents that would make our artisans consider their options." She said, leaning a bit forward on her table, staring at him as he played his music. Smoothly caressing the strings of the instrument.
The music changed from the lush notes to more saddened ones. And the tune slowly sped up, as if there was a battle taking place. The facial expressions of the human were a clear sign that the music, which he played, was a mixture of everything a warrior does. Because she saw him having a happy facial expression, then a saddened one, then a hating one, and at the end, a neutral one as the notes continued to pour out into her ears. The way he played the guitar-like instrument, was extraordinary. It forced her to think of all the moments she had experienced in her life. From good to bad, and vice versa. While staring at the table, she couldn't help but to look at her hands and have a few images flashing in front of her eyes. Those images, being the positive moments from childhood to adulthood. She understood the meaning of the song.
"It seems that the song he plays is the expression of a warrior's life. The warrior loves. Loses.. Hates, kills.. And, at the end, meets the finale. For that, I have to say that he plays very beautifully. For his song, is something that should be played in their and our warriors lives." She thought philosophically as he continued to play it as the notes kept changing constantly, until slowing down as he was reaching the end. She looked at him with a calm facial expression, and noticed his eyes slowly open up as he pulled the last strings of his musical instrument, before stopping. He put his two fingers on his lips, and then put them at the guitar's center. Showing appreciation for the instrument.
Niko leaned his head up and gazed towards Liriel. "I hope you liked it, at least." He cheerfully claimed before the banshee looked at him, her face just firm, with just a simple, calm gaze towards him. "You, song. Song good. Give that." She said in Low Gothic as much as she could muster. Niko realized she was asking for his instrument. He raised his eyebrow, stood up, and walked over to her to give it to her. "Are you sure you can play on i-" She snatched it from him and stared with a little frown, to which he retreated back to his seat near the cauldron. "Woah, alright hey, alright." He said and then crossed his arms, staring at her while she sighed and put the instrument straight on her lap, trying it out while the young hunter watched her carefully handling it, pulling some strings, changing their tunes to fit herself, and using it more like a harp than its original design as Niko noticed the little detail, but did not detest it. In fact, he just let it be.
Afterwards, Liriel made sure to tune it up to her own liking, so the noises were close to resembling a harp. "I have no idea how the mon'keigh will react to my singing. But if he expressed himself through his music, I shall express myself more openly. Most of our songs are full of emotions, but they are a reminder of who we are.. So be it." she said to herself and took in some deep breathing, before playing Niko's instrument by pulling certain strings as smoothly and fluidly as possible. Not even ten seconds passed by as Niko's eye widened up at the way she picked out the musical tunes, and turned such a wild instrument into a piece of art. Then, she began to sing, which took Niko by surprise as her voice was now loud and way clearer than usual.
[ Song: Forest Elves - Lullaby from a Distant Land ]
~ hön'marën kena-uva kala.. ~
~ indönya ullumeá.. ~
~ nör'ande sëra mi lorien.. ~
~ îm'eri ratö naya.. ~
~ Ooooouuuooo... uuu.. ooooouuoooo..uuu.. ~
Niko, was beyondSpeechless.He felt a deep sense of relaxation taking his heart, and soul, in a blanket of warmth with each string she pulled, with each word she sang. His mouth was slightly open, as he did not know how to react to something like this. The song was soft. It was deep, and it sounded like either a lament or a lullaby. Her voice, however.. It was so fascinating to him. The way he looked at an elegant creature in front of him, who sang with heart and soul beyond anyone he has seen or heard, with such deep passion, that his heart was skipping a beat faster than he could muster. He felt them. He felt how his eye was slowly getting filled with tears as she continued to sing, being deeply touched by her beautiful voice. He was feeling this weird, and odd sensation growing within him while he watched this pure, red-haired, beautiful alien woman singing her soul out. The first seeds were already planting themselves in his heart..Attachment and attraction.
~ larya nîn mëlissè.. ~
~ le sinte îma sinomë.. ~
~ ána sama lemî oloorë.. ~
~ le ar'uunèr ana kaurë.. ~
~ uur'anor wannëa.. ~
~ isilme va'arya.. ~
~ telume siila tere.. ~
~ na'are utumno wanya.. ~
~ erüma, helkàda.. ~
~ raanè ressè.. ~
~ lörna à'kuilä.. ~
~ Vàrna mi'olör.. ~
~ türma ei ràumo.. ~
~ Sinomëëëëë.. ~
Liriel finished up her singing, closing her eyes as a single, shiny and pure-like crystal tear flowed down her cheek before it dropped onto her hand and disappeared in an instant. She knew that she was free to express her emotions on this world ever since finding out that bizarre situation with her soul stone, not feeling any pulls that would attract the attention of she who thirsts. As much as she did not want the human to see her like this, the song was dearest to her heart. It was something that only her mother would sing to her ever since her infancy.
And so, she was safe to do even a little thing as to sing with passion, and trusted the human enough after his treatment towards her. Her eyes slowly opened up, and she saw something that utterly shocked her to the core. The human.. Was emotional, and was tearing up. A tear ran down his cheek while he stared at her in complete awe of her unbelievable performance. He did not say anything, just looked to be very touched, and it got the Eldar rather concerned for the human. Despite all her negativity towards him, she could not watch him go from his always-used to cheerfulness into this saddened state. She did not have her war mask on either way. And her race had tremendous amounts of capacity towards compassion, even those that follow the path and have not lost themselves to it.
"He.. He is crying..? Like us, he feels connection to the song? I did not.. Expect, this.. Those are tears of his heart, not of revulsion.." Liriel looked worried and did not expect the human to show a similarity that only her kind was keen on doing. Her singing touched him and this was one way to express it, she thought. Yet she was right. The young hunter rubbed his forearm against his eye, and stared at her with his eye as he tried to compose himself, but the effect was strong. He was just in complete awe and expressed his emotions. "W..Wow.. Miss, Liriel.. Just... Wow.." is all he could muster while sniffling and trying to clear his eye.
"He does not need to hide his emotions like we do. I envy that ability, but seeing a human be touched by the song of my race is.. Unique. I thought they were all the same, and this human, keeps destroying that belief within me. By Isha, he is the only mon'keigh that truly has found freedom." she whispered to herself while inspecting his behavior, and the spark of her hatred towards him disappeared just by seeing him show his emotions freely. "They are not emotionless, after all."
She carefully stood up and so did he. She handed him his instrument back with a calm expression, to which he looked up at her. "I am completely, speechless, Miss Liriel. Your voice.. Your singing. I have never heard anything more utterly beautiful in my life. And forgive me for getting a bit emotional here. This is how it feels for us humans to be touched by beautiful music." He closed his eye and chuckled while composing himself, trying to be apologetic for his behavior. But Liriel nodded and lightly smiled just as he was not watching, glad that his joyful and cheering behavior did not disappear after all, and more comfortable knowing that he was free to show his emotions.
The young human regained himself, and continued the talk. "I usually never get so touched by songs, but you have a voice of an angel, I have to say.. Surprised as to why you did not become a singer back in your home, but became a warrior instead. Nevertheless, Liriel.. I think I should stop calling you Miss at this point. Anyway. Thank you.. For expressing yourself, and.. For this sweet song. I truly appreciate it, beautiful, beyond.. Anything I have ever heard, seriously." He said and tapped her shoulder before going past her, while the banshee turned around and followed him with her gaze, surprised that she did not break his arm the moment he touched her. But he was just showing gratitude in his own way.
The young man placed the guitar like instrument against the wall near the entrance to the kitchen, and Liriel sat back down to polish her helmet the next, while Niko returned to tend his stew which was slightly boiling. He got the cauldron off from the fireplace, smiling the entire time as he did so. He was young, but not naive.. or so he thought he was not. No matter how many times he would deny it, right now, it was surely something that he would have to admit. He was beginning to like her. Her singing, truly struck him, and he felt himself slowly getting attached to the Eldar woman, but it worried him as to why. It really seems that his faith crumbled before her beauty, both inner and out. He however kept these thoughts to himself and tried his best not to show them, as he knew that the xeno lady still thought of him as a literal ape, but he hoped that it would change, and she would see him as someone who's equal in a certain way. Pretty much too naive as he thought, but better than nothing.
The night was already set upon the world, but the thought from Niko's mind refused to go away. He did not even fully grasp or understand what just happened. It has been a very long time since he had been so deeply touched by anything, that he had no way to push away the urge to get emotional. "Frakkin hell.. Her singing, was just.." He really had a lot to comprehend. And why his heart began to feel such.. Heretical tendencies as an attraction towards a xeno.
"Abhor the xenos, they said. What is there to abhor about her when she is just as much a proud warrior of her people? Yet has a voice of an angel, and looks utterly stunning to the naked eye? I refuse to be judged by anyone, except the god-emperor himself. I have humanity.. And I showed it towards someone who is not human. I believe that is a right thing to do, seeing how many of my race have already lost theirs, even towards each other. I guess this life of a loner completely made me forget my oath, but it matters not anymore. I am finally doing something which only I have my destiny paved with. So if I could not help myself.. At least I will help her." he said while stirring the stew and grabbing clean bowls, pouring the contents into both and placing them on the table, with two wooden spoons as always.
He sat down in the opposite direction of the Eldar, and then looked at her. "Hey. Redhead. The slop is going to get cold if you don't eat it on time." He said cheekily while the banshee stared at him, then placed her helmet aside and began to dig in as soon as he did. Yet even this time, they both only stared at the table and nowhere else. Liriel had her own thoughts, and Niko had his own. She was silent, but the hunter however continued to be a talkative individual in order to break this dreadful silence. "Y'know, Liriel, I noticed you have that gemstone on your chestplate. It has a pretty color of violet. Decoration I suppose?" He asked as he got quite curious while munching the food, to which Liriel looked at him pointing at his own chest, making a circle with his index finger.
She looked at her chestplate, and understood what he meant. "My soulstone?" She touched it, then looked at him. "When die, this, home." She said in low gothic, and it looks like she was slowly remembering her lessons about the mon'keigh language. Niko however, raised his eyebrow and only showed confusion, but was glad that she was speaking the language he could understand. "Uhhh..?" She let out a soft sigh as it was clear he did not grasp it, and then, she tried her best to remember the words of his language. "When.. die? soul, go." she pointed at her spirit stone, and it was only then that the guardsman understood the concept behind it. "Is she literally telling me that they use these gemstones as homes for their souls..? But why? Do all of them have these? That's fascinating I have to say." He told himself while he gave out a light nod, and continued to dig in, while she did the same.
"I have to be honest. We did a lot of things in just a single day. Tried to build a mutual ground, communicated, had a fighting duel, twice. I played the song from my homeworld, you sang a song of your kinsmen. I call this a mutual exchange of beneficial cause and a little step to building a trust. If only our races would be willing to do the same, we would be less hostile towards each other, right?" he asked with a little tapping of his finger on the table while the banshee looked at him again.
"Mon'Keigh. You are really giving me no peace with your mumbling." she said, and the hunter rolled his eyes. "Moon-Kaih, Moon-Kaih, Moon-Kaih, what even is that word you're calling me? I assume it means human?" He asked, while the banshee slammed the table with the palm of her hand. "I have no idea what you're saying, mon'keigh. Let me enjoy the silence!" She detested loudly, while the hunter grinned and pressed on. "Aweeeee..Someone's little maaaad?" He made a little gesture of imitating sobbing while using both of his fists near his eye and the eye patch. "Wuaaaaa a human is teasing me!" Then burst out laughing, all to the teeth clenching aspect warrior's frustration.
"You DARE?!" she leaped onto the table, much to his shock, and sent herself flying towards him, knocking him out of the chair as they both went rolling onto the wooden floor. "OH sh*tE!" he yelled and was taken down nevertheless, and both of them ended up in quite awkward position. Liriel was on top of Niko, and his face was buried underneath her bosoms as he tried to breathe. It took Liriel a few seconds to process the awkwardness of the position, and she felt how her knee was pressing against his groin between his legs, while he had his right hand placed on her rear.
She gasped, much to her own horror and quickly jumped back as Niko's expression was lacking the breathing as he inhaled deeply, looking away from her as the banshee had a deepened blush and flustered expression, holding her chest and her rear with a deep pout. "This primitive!" she screamed in her soul, while Niko took in some breathing as he blushed, raising his head to stare at her in silence, both of them frowning now. "Xeno, you almost sent me to the God-Emperor! What's wrong with you?!" He asked her, and they had a deep minute of long, and silent staring contest, which was broken by Niko who stood up and cleared his throat.
"Alright, I apologize for teasing you." And then lowered his head and leaned it back up as a little gesture of apologies. Liriel however brushed it off with a simple act of dusting herself and nodding, before pointing at him. "Your apologies are accepted, human. But touch me again, and you'll be left without limbs." She said by punching her own palm of her hand, which forced Niko to gulp, and nod multiple times. "Damn! Alright, alright hey, you jumped on me first." He said, to which the banshee walked past him towards the bedroom, but not before punching him straight in the cheek. "EUGh!" Niko turned his head and rubbed his cheek, while the banshee felt proud and walked towards the bedroom. "Oh yeah?! Refusing to accept that it's your own fault? I will not toler-" The door was shut loud, and Niko grumbled loud enough for the banshee to grin behind the door. "Aaargh, I'll get you on the next duel!" He said and banged the door once, pouting and going to the kitchen to handle the leftovers and to clean off his belongings.
Liriel sat down and began to contemplate once more on the events that occurred today. One thing disturbed her. And it was surely showing its own signs. "Khaine almighty.. It has barely been just a day, and he is still unchanged. I acted friendly. Waited for him to finally show his colors, and yet.. Nothing." She sighed and then let out a deepened sigh while standing up and staring through the window. "I am tired. Tired of trying. It's pointless.. He is not like the rest, I am afraid. It makes things difficult for me. I would have been more comfortable if he was just hostile. He's not bad. Just young, stupid, naive, and foolish.. A literal kid. I was probably training on my path when he was just born. By Isha is this arduous and annoying.." She shook her head as the moonlight shined up the bedroom where she resided.
Liriel might have hated it, but she had literal dozens of ways to make him suffer, to kill him, to try to pull information out of him by force. But she understood that he was not going to say anything if she decided to be brutal. He was generous enough to give her some info, but the time to commit to them was far away at the moment. "Best way I can find, is to play by his own rule. I must remain patient and use him to the last bit. He is my only way out of here. Mon'Keigh like him are easiest to manipulate.. Always at the verge of being broken from loneliness. Why he teared up like many of us after I sang, I will never know.. Maybe he's sensitive to it, maybe not. Dear gods.. This mon'keigh. How do I leave him to his own misery, and turn my back so I don't have to witness his death?" She talked with herself and then stared at the sky from the window.
"I will be home, soon, aspect sisters.. Elidyr, do not mourn me, I live. Ironically thanks to a mon'keigh." She said with a little chuckle at her bad fortune, even if it guaranteed her to keep her dignity and her life from the claws of the Drukhari. "At the end of my endeavor, this, Niko mon'keigh, will have his own reward for his aid. A swift death, for he will not have to suffer any longer." She told herself and then began to remove her armor piece by piece. The black leather-like material was what she wore underneath her armor pieces, like a tight suit that covered her from neck to her feet. Flexible and comfortable. The pieces of armor were neatly placed onto the table, alongside her sword and the helmet, before she freed her hair from its ponytail.
Afterward, Liriel laid down the bed, and began to shiver slightly as the nights of the autumn of this world came with its own chills as it seemed. Even after she initially pulled the blanket over herself, it barely helped. The warmth was what she was longing for at the moment, but she decided to try her best to ignore it. "Ulthwe preserve me.. How does he sleep here when it gets this cold in the night?" she thought, and began to roll around constantly while tightly wrapping up in a surrounding blanket, and curl up in a ball. Still, did not help much at all.
Liriel continued to shiver in the nightly coldness of Merlorian, and tried her best to force herself into slumber. But out of a sudden, her peace was disturbed by nothing else than the presence of the lone hunter, who knocked on the door, much to the grumbling of the banshee. "Him again? Isha grant me patience.." she said with slight frustration as she tried to contain her anger. The door opened wide, and Niko met the towering figure, who had some unhappy expression on her face. "What do you want, mon'keigh?! Disturbing my peace is not the right option that you want to always be able to break.." She scowled and stared down at him, in a judging way. But her anger cooled off when she saw what he was holding = a load of wooden logs. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you, Liriel, but it gets cold in here at nights and I brought some logs to heat up the room." He calmly said as a reply to her almost throwing a fit. Liriel felt slightly stupid, but brushed that feeling aside, and stepped away from his path.
Niko stepped inside the room while not uttering a word, probably already realizing that she feels annoyance when he talks too much. He knelt down at the fireplace, and stocked up the wooden logs into a neat pile, before he lit up a tiny piece of wood by smacking stones together, blowing against the smokey piece, before it lit up with fire, and began to burn off the logs one by one, smiling at his success. "Hah, there we go.." he said and watched the fire grow and grow, heating up the entire bedroom as the chills on Liriel's body disappeared instantly. "He disturbed me, just to warm up the room with wood? Oh.." she felt awkward for going at him like that, and began to feel bad.
Something she instantly regretted and pushed away. "Why am I feeling bad for a literal mon'keigh? Unacceptable." She said with her arms crossed, frowning towards him as he looked behind himself straight towards her, and yet, his smile remained there as always. Niko stood up and gave her a thumbs up. What Liriel found strange is that he never expected a little sign of gratitude from his treatment towards her. He simply did what he thought was right, and just proceeded onto his next task, without ever asking anything in return. Even a little thank you. He, simply, did everything according to his own heart, not his mind that could be twisted so much that his kind was responsible for fueling chaos with alarming speeds.
"Wait, where- where is he planning to stay?" The young man was about to leave, and Liriel wondered to herself where will he rest. The coldness of the nights were not so easy to endure, and she knew it. The logs that he cut were fresh and not stale like in his little shed where he kept some of his essentials and the salted meats with other tools. Niko turned his back, and was about to seriously leave the room. It was then that the banshee's hand neatly gripped his shoulder, to which Niko surprisingly looked at, then diverted his eye towards her. "No. Cold, no warm. No warm you." Niko turned around fully, and then smiled once more while shaking his hands left and right.
"No no no I am completely fine. You're a guest after all in my... My...Uh.." He began to smile nervously now, noticing the frowning expression of the towering aspect warrior who had a death stare literally looking straight into his soul. It forced him to drop his excuses, and to listen to her, since she was serious. "Uh.. Alright, alright.. I give up." He said, before the banshee shut the door loudly and pointed towards the bed, to which his jaw dropped by surprise. "What?! I'm not- taking your place and you do not have to treat me like a... Gah.." However, her death stare forced Niko to once again abandon his excuses. She pulled the chair nearby, and took a seat at the fireplace, pointing at Niko and uttering a few words in Low Gothic. "Sleep. Niko rest, me watch."
The young man was baffled. He did not expect this kind of gesture from the aspect warrior, but he thought she was simply repaying for his treatment of her. He did not even have any choice to detest her actions, as he just let out a little gulp, and nodded towards her. The room was already warmed up, and the banshee watched the fire, while warming up her own hands, rubbing them together, then warm them up further. Niko however had no other choice but to try his best to rest. "It, seems she's trying to repay.. For the treatment I gave her? Not that I complain but, she didn't have to.. But then again.." He yawned out of a sudden.
"I missed my bed.. But I am not an emperor damned child to be treated.. Like.. This and the more I.. Kn..Hhn..Hhnn.." He was already falling into the stage of deep sleep. Before he knew it, he was already sleeping in the fortress of dreams, under the watch of Liriel who decided to be reasonable towards him at least this time. "This will be my way of repaying you, Niko Armanen.. But do not forget that this makes us no friends. Or.. Eh?!" Her eyes widened up at that last hidden thought as she cringed and gagged slightly. "Isha preserve! Why did I even dare to think about such.. Disgusting possibility? And I still feel no pull from my soulstone.. What is this world truly? Never mind. Concentrate Liriel, concentrate.." she inhaled deeply a few times, and decided to meditate on the floor after getting off of her chair.
The howling banshee was not rushing to rest, but she felt that the urge to do so has already alarmed her brain to take a good rest. She finished her meditation, and slowly stood up from the floor while eyeing the fireplace. Ever since Niko fell asleep, it has been barely one and a half hour. But the strangest scenario did not happen until one moment.
The moment included her instantly turning around to the grunts of the young man in his sleep, who was experiencing one of his nightmares. For Niko, it was rather normal situation as they would not simply vanish within an instant appearance of the new guest in his home. He knew he needed time. "What's wrong with him..?" She asked while approaching the young man, who had himself stripped off of his boots, and wore nothing else than his pants and a white tank top. His grunts and mumbling sessions were only growing deeper, and deeper. And Liriel had no other choice but to check up on him. She neatly placed her hand on his forehead. "He's not too warm.. It cannot be fever. Definitely, a nightmare.." She told herself, while the human in front of her was seeing something serious in the worlds of dream and nightmares. She, however, did not know how to act on the presented situation. "I think he may need some help." she said and then slowly approached him.
"Hhhhnnnhgg...nno..nnnoooh..." the aura that radiated off of him caused her to stop the approach and freeze on the spot, disturbed with the way he was acting. She did not just know if this was an ordinary behavior or was caused by his past. But it was definitely a nightmare, as she thought. "I do not know what he has been through, but it surely took a heavy toll on him. What do I do..." She resumed her approach, and then, simply turned him over to his side before his grunting ended in a relatively short amount of time. This caused Niko to change his sleeping expression to more of a calmer state of mind as his breathing stabilized.
Liriel was happy with her action, and lightly smiled. "That seemed to have stopped it. He.." She suddenly silenced herself as the light from the fireplace, forced her gaze to land directly on his back. There were scars at the lower part of his back since the tank top was slightly lifted. "Are those.. Scars?" the curious xeno woman thought to herself that this was inappropriate. The human was sleeping, and she still had to fight off the tendencies of her own xenophobia and hatred. But the curiosity won and did not kill the cat, as the saying goes. She slowly lifted his tank top, and through the light of the fireplace, saw that his back was covered in deep scars, which were definitely caused by flogging.
Liriel got quite disturbed and swallowed her saliva. His pale skin was soft to touch, but she never expected to make such a discovery. "Isha preserve.. What did such a joyful creature such as him do to deserve this kind of treatment?" She asked herself, and then softly ran two fingers across his scars. They were already hardened, and she quickly retreated her fingers back to herself before lowering his tank top. "Not appropriate. He is a mon'keigh. His race is keen on harming each other by every passing moment of time. And yet, why do I pity him? It is obvious that this is not his homeworld. Why has he not returned?" She kept on and on with the questions that lacked any answers. There were too many of them to comprehend. Liriel did not have time to solve this gigantic puzzle, and had to concentrate on the upcoming plans.
She stood up from the bed and covered Niko in blankets, allowing him to have a well needed rest as she was relieved that the grunts did not continue, indicating that the nightmare passed off. "Sleep well, mon'keigh. You are lucky.. Had I been blinded by hatred, I would've slit your throat in your sleep as a mercy kill. Silent, and painless. I will have pity on you this time.. Even though it is utterly low for me to do so." Again, her xenophobic tendencies were overwhelming her reasonable side of her mind.
She brushed these thoughts aside and sat back down at the fireplace. Her eyes were already tiring out from the relaxation and the warmth that covered the entire room. Luckily, the smokes from the bricky fireplace dissipated through the chimney before they even managed to reach high up in the sky, and the tall trees offered great protection. They were safe. For the time being, at least. Liriel felt the drowsiness kick in as she rubbed her eyes, and then lied down on the floor on her side, closing her eyes and settling in to rest for the night.
"""THHNNCCHK"""
The sudden noise quickly pulled Liriel's attention and forced her out of her path of slumber. Niko however did not hear it as he was already in a deep state of sleep. She leaned up and rubbed her forehead before standing up, looking around herself. "What in Khaine's name was that..?" She noticed that the curtains were unclosed, and the fireplace of the house would attract unneeded attention. "Curtains! Damn you human.." She swiftly went and closed them up, before quickly putting her armor back on, grab her helmet, the sword, and get out as the noise came definitely from outside. She slowly walked out of the house, while the visors of her helmet were good at checking the surroundings, and had a proper night vision installed into them. She unsheathed her sword, and then looked around herself to investigate where the noise possibly came from.
"""TUUUUHHH"""
"Got you!" She quickly turned towards the wooden shed, and ran straight into it. Her discovery, however, left much to be desired. There was nothing there. It was empty. But she noticed a few droplets of dark red liquid on the floor, which was unusual. "Huh? What is this?" She knelt down and inspected the liquid. It was thick and looked slightly like blood. "Something definitely slipped here.. Although what it is, is not something to be avoided." And then, the sudden commotion occurred inside Niko's house in the shape of some loud squeaking of the wooden floor, as Liriel's right ear twitched due to that noise. She suddenly got alarmed, realizing that Niko was there all alone and defenseless against whatever disturbed their peace and dwelling.
Within a sudden haste, she jumped out of the shed and noticed that the entrance door to the house was open. The trace of the strange liquid had its trails going from the shed to the door, although from behind the storage shed itself. There was an intruder, as Liriel thought. And it was very sneaky. "Curses be upon me if I fail to find this being!" She cursed at herself and ran back into the house, and noticed the door to Niko's bedroom was opened up, before she quickly ran towards it. There, she found her target, much to her shock as she unsheathed her power sword, and really wished that she had her shuriken pistol with her, but it was lost. "What.. In Khaine's name is that.. Beast?!" She said as the fireplace began to lighten up the figure that stood on top of Niko. The creature looked like it was going to bite off Niko's throat clean.
The beast resembled a canine of ancient Terran times, and looked almost identical to the Fenrisian wolf of the infamous space marine chapter of the Space Wolves. It was smaller however, and not enormous. Its right leg was the source of the trails of the liquid. Apparently, as Liriel realized, this beast was wounded, and was bleeding. She examined it thoroughly, but did not want to waste time until it eventually kills him.
The canine's ears suddenly twitched, and it turned its head around, which made Liriel shudder slightly as it had those fiery amber eyes just like her, the fur being entirely white. It had a red vertical line going from its forehead to its nose as if some sort of symbol. Its eyes stared directly into her visors with the predatory aura and gaze, and the beast showed its sharp canine teeth and began to growl, showing hostility. "This beast is going to kill him if I don't act. How did it even manage to sneak here.. You're not going to harm him!" and with that, she ran towards it, before it let out a howl and dashed towards her, while Niko was not bothered by the noise at all. He was in a deep and extreme sleep.
The aspect warrior tried to simply slice the beast into two, but realized that it was very clever. It simply fell on its stomach to avoid the slice and used its leg paws to leap towards her, and shove its teeth into Liriel's arm which held the sword. The armor protected her, but the pressure and the bite force felt like a blunt object just struck her arm like a lightning bolt. The beast was not only smart, but extremely fast. She grunted and did not think about saying anything as the canine's tight jaws kept biting onto her arm, not letting it go as she was forced to retreat to the living room while punching the beast's face, which was in naught as it was a tough bastard. "Curse you!" and as much as luck had it, even in a wounded state, it kept showing its ferocity and fearlessness. Liriel was surprised at how tough the canine was, but did not think about giving up.
She gripped its neck and slammed it against the wall, resulting in a little howl from the white furred canine, who fell on the floor, but then got up on its paws swiftly while Liriel gripped her arm and stared at it, which the canine stared back. "How ferocious is he?!" They both began to circle around each other, as Liriel had to make a proper planning to defeat this intruder once and for all.
The beast, despite bleeding from its leg, still remained determined. To Liriel however, it did not make much difference. It was a creature who was a nuisance and hostile. She had to get rid of it. The canine beast circled around her as she did the same, trying to anticipate its movements as the beast did the same. Both of them were predators of their own prime. And had to best each other with all they had.
Liriel, in a great haste, charged against the beast. She sent her leg facing towards the ceiling and then stomped it down the floor, trying to smash the beast's head before it dodged the move and tried to bite into Liriel's leg. However, the aspect warrior simply made a split in the air as the beast jumped with its jaws wide open, missing her leg by inches, until kicking the beast into its right side as it unleashed a whimper and was sent flying to the wall, loud enough to crack a bone. But it did not break the beast. It growled and jumped once more.
Liriel understood and anticipated the beast's pattern, as she made sure to use her feet as full weaponries against the beast and was not willing to allow the beast to win. "Tough as a wraithbone.." she whispered and charged again, dodging the beast's attack by putting her foot on the wall and jump straight to the ceiling before making a flip, but not before the canine jumped after her and managed to bite onto her left calf. "Arghh!" she said as she fell on the floor and the beast got on top of her, trying to bite her neck which was slightly exposed. Liriel held the beast back by pushing against its body, pushing her forearm against its mouth to block all that breathing which blurred her visors and prevent it from reaching her neck.
"By Khaine the blood handed! I will not be your prey!" she said and clenched her teeth as the beast bit onto her forearm and began to seriously put pressure on it. It did not care that she had her armor on. While it did protect her from its jaws, the pressure that the beast managed to put into her arm felt like it was being crushed between two closing walls, and she began to grunt while punching the beast's head. It refused to let go. Liriel was truly surprised. This canine was not willing to give up, and all that blood loss from its leg barely weakened it. She, however, was going to go all hundred percent on fighting it as she tried to think of a plan to defeat it, until she and the beast heard a familiar voice coming from the bedroom's entrance.
"AKILA! STOP IT!"
Niko yelled while he looked at the entire scenery in front of him, which was shocking to be precise. "Akila! Let go!" he ordered while frowning and approaching the canine and the Eldar guest. Liriel however, noticing the distracted beast who let go of her arm and who stared at Niko, quickly putting the beast down on the ground with her knee, and prepared to break the canine's neck while it was obeying Niko's orders. "Face your death, foul beast!" and immediately, Niko charged towards Liriel and pushed her far away before shoving his hand forward as the beast now lied on its side. Only now it began to show its state of weakness after seeing Niko.
Liriel however got up and was angered, removing her helmet and showing a furious expression. "What is the meaning of this, mon'keigh?!" She yelled. "I understand your anger, but it is not an enemy! Stand down, Liriel!" He yelled, and the beast weakly got up to rub its snout against Niko's hand, who turned around and got very worried. "Akila.. What happened, my friend? You are hurt- Your leg.. Shh, don't, don't get up.." He softly said and lowered its head to the floor before picking up the canine and bring him to the bedroom. Liriel however, was confused as to what was happening.
"What.. Just happened? Is that beast his pet? They know each other?" She asked herself while carrying her helmet under her arm and then going to the bedroom, picking up her dropped sword, and noticing Niko's trembling hands as he quickly began to treat the canine's wounds. "Frakkin hell.. How did this even happen?" He said, and continued to treat the canine's leg. It whimpered slightly but looked to be weakened. Niko bandaged him up with whatever of the medpack he had in stock, as Liriel eagerly watched him treat this beast like it was someone he truly cherished. "Drukhari splinter.." He whispered, noticing a tiny piece of the splinter he retrieved from the leg of the canine as he looked down at him.
"By the Emperor.. What happened? Where is your little family?" He asked as the canine stared at him, with its eyes watery, as Niko slowly lowered its head and shook it while putting his hand on Akila's back. "I'm sorry, Akila.. " Niko said before punching the bed. "Frakking Drukhari!" He yelled and then sat down next to what seemed to be his "Man's best friend" as the ancient Terran saying went. He rubbed the canine's back before it slowly got up.
It showed ferocity when seeing a stranger, and its weakness to the one the canine trusted -Niko. He sat on his lap as Niko began to pet him. "You are alive.. At least. Thank the Emperor." He said, while Liriel was watching and making her own judgement. "What is this.. A human custom? Or that beast is truly his pet?" She asked, and then rubbed both of her arms that were still stinging from the beast's bites. Niko pulled out a water canteen and poured water on his hands to clean them from Akila's blood. Afterwards, he looked at the aspect warrior in front of him, who still didn't know what was going on.
"His name is Akila. He is a Merlorian wolf, native to this world. I knew him for a long while, but he very rarely visited me since he had to stay with his pack and his family. However, it is thanks to him that i did not go insane from all the loneliness i had to endure.. now it seems that the Drukhari encountered his pack and slaughtered it. At least he managed to escape, thankfully.." he explained while Liriel tilted her head, as always, not understanding his blabbering. Niko, in the meanwhile, gave the wolf some petting while looking genuinely saddened. Liriel in the meanwhile felt a bit odd about this. She understood that having pets was something enjoyable, but did not know that humans are accustomed to doing the same. "Isha preserve.. it seems it thought I was there to harm the human. Not himself, but the human. Protective and loyal creature. Admirable.." She whispered and stood there, watching.
The wolf peacefully slept on Niko's lap while he continued to pet him. He was whispering something into its ear, which to Liriel looked like the words of comfort. And yet, she could not believe it. It was bleeding, and she expected it to be in a weakened state. But as soon as he saw what seemed to be a threat, he immediately pushed his weakness aside, and resumed his ferocity to protect Niko while thinking that she was an enemy. Liriel found that to be fascinating, and she had to give credit to the creature. "It deserves respect. For even our gyrinx are loyal and as ferocious, and so is this animal. The mon'keigh seems to hold him in a very high regard." she told herself before Niko looked at her and gestured her to come closer, to which she did.
"He.. Good?" she asked, before he nodded lightly. "He is a friend.. Now give me your hand." He pointed at her arm, to which she raised her eyebrow once more and leaned her arm forward, before Niko took it and placed it on top of Akila's head, which made Liriel shudder for a split second, but did not detest it. She felt how soft the creature's fur was, and the urge to pet the creature kicked in within her heart, and she began to pet it without hesitation. "What is.. This weird feeling in my chest?" She thought. "It just, makes me.. Want to do more of.. This.." She said while Niko was lightly smiling from the banshee's reaction despite the sadness. She looked rather nervous, but when petting the wolf, she couldn't help but feel positive. It was quite adorable to be precise as Niko realized that it was the cuteness overload that banshee was feeling for the first time, probably.
"Hah.. See?" he said with his fabulous and charming smile. "He's a good boy.. Forgive him for attacking you. He probably thought that you were a hostile. I am happy to see him again.. It's been five months. Although I can only fathom how much strength he pulled to try and fight you after running from imminent death.. Poor thing." He uttered while rubbing his eyes that were slightly watery from all the emotions that invaded his mind. Liriel felt the oozing aura of his love towards this creature, and it genuinely made her even more distressed, but she understood that Niko was just worried for his pet that she met unexpectedly.
"He really loves this beast. And yet.. It, stings, to see him like this. I have to aid him." It was then that Liriel placed her hand on his shoulder, and made a serious facial expression before patting him on the shoulder, pointing at the wolf, and nodding. "He.. He live. He, no died." She said in Low Gothic, which Niko found as surprising. The eldar woman was trying to comfort him for the first time, and it was something he truly needed as he instantly brightened up, and pushed the worries aside, believing the words of the elegant xeno. However, it did not push away his thoughts about how did the Drukhari managed to encounter Akila and his pack.
After Liriel finished petting the poor wounded wolf, she made sure to inspect the object which Niko retrieved from its leg while he kept whispering into its ear. A tiny piece of what seemed to be a piece of a splinter projectile. "A long range projectile. This can only mean that it was wounded not so long ago.. How? The Druchii do not stay for too long if their mission is over and just, disappear immediately. Although they are easy to scatter due to so much treachery.. Are there any left out there?" She began to seriously feel like they were not alone in the long range of their place of staying.
And rather, they needed to be more vigilant and alerted. "Liri?" her head quickly turned towards the human. "You look concerned. What is the matter? It is Drukhari weaponry that got him, as i can se- wait.." His mind quickly thought of something disturbing. He instantly realized that the wound was fresh on Akila's leg. At best, it has been an hour or two ever since. It made him gulp down his saliva and have a serious, nervous expression on his face, which Liriel shared with him as they both stared at each other before Niko pointed at the window.
"Let's not talk too loudly.. The blood traces might attract unneeded attention if they gave in for a chase." he said before putting the wolf's head on the bed, and then slowly get up to put his boots back on, then the sweater issued by militarum in his serving time. Next, he picked up his laspistol from under the pillow, and then his crossbow from the wall with the quiver of arrows, getting himself prepared as he washed his face from the water in a bucket at the corner, taking few sips from his canteen before seeing the banshee already peaking from the curtains towards the horizon with her helmet on, so that the night vision from the visors would be used sufficiently.
"I see you're not losing the sense of vigilance, Liriel. Good work." he said and then joined her at the opposite side. The oil lamp and the fireplace kept the light in the room relatively dim, and not bright enough to be seen through the curtains. But both of them knew that they had to do this. They had to keep a strict eye on their surroundings. The Drukhari were unpredictable. And hostile. Very hostile.
Both the eldar and the human had their backs against the wall, one of their knees raised, their arm placed on top of them, and then all sorts of thoughts kicking in for both. Liriel removed her helmet and, just like Niko, stared at the floor. "Liriel Valdan.. How did you even end up in all of this random chain of events that happened in such a short while?" Liriel thought. "This human not only is open-minded but also compassionate towards such ferocious and dangerous creature such as.. What was his name, Akila? And Khaine slay me twice if I had died from a primal beast of this world..." She told herself.
"Losing a pet can be very painful and at the moment he is lucky that the mon'keigh woke up on time.. I believe this, Akila, will be very helpful. Isha only knows when we can head to the capital.. But now, we must survive." She finished and instead began to meditate, which Niko rolled his eyes after noticing it. "Man. What is it with her and that meditative stature.. So keen on spirituality that I'm getting lost here. Welp! That's for later.. Too many things happening in less than a day. Saving a xeno lady.. And having my old furred friend wounded, just to find out there might still be these fiends in my woods.. MY woods. Outrageous, to be precise. Man, if I only had the same abilities just to battle them.. But I am a human. Humanity within me, is enough." He thought, and just laid there against the wall, staring at his sleeping canine friend. "They will pay dearly for wounding you. That.. I promise on my soul." He swore, and decided to flip his Leuku he kept with himself all the time, while distracting his mind elsewhere.
Ever since the two fighters decided to keep their vigilance on the depth of the woods outside their place of dwelling, only an hour passed by. And the fatigue was slowly kicking into Niko. The banshee, however, was more resilient and with the way their bodies worked, she could handle staying awake perfectly. His eyes were slowly shutting down one by one, but not before the banshee kept constantly waking him up about the third time.
He thanked her every time, but he could see that annoyed expression on her face as she gestured him to keep his guard on full efficiency. Niko however, was just a young man. A mere human, but even he understood that he had to show himself to be capable of handling his job. And so he did, constantly staying awake through any means necessary. "Uuggh man, maybe this wasn't such a bright idea. But it's best to at least be drowsy when you have someone with you, than to wake up fully well rested, but alone. Life truly is bizarre sometimes." He yawned and then decided to pull his diary out and draw instead, while Liriel tried to meditate in silence, only concentrating on keeping herself well aware of the situation as they both occasionally decided to check the view from the window.
But then, out of nowhere, as Niko suddenly looked directly at his bed, he saw the laying wolf, with his eyes opened up and staring at him. It made him gulp in slight nervousness as to how deep and fierce his furred friend's eyes were. Amber, shining like two fiery sparks. But at the same time, he felt softness in his heart, because Akila trusted Niko and would never dare to hurt him. Despite rarely seeing each other in his time on the world, Akila grew fond of the young man, and in the future, would prove to be an outstanding companion.
Akila, quickly diverted his eyes towards the window, and his pupils grew wider before his facial expression, went from calm to pure anger. He began to growl, and Liriel watched him, just like Niko did. They both looked at each other, and both decided to take a peak. There was.. Nothing. Just a huge, dark forest. "There's, literally, nothing in the vicinity. Do you see anything?" He asked and looked at Liriel, who ignored him and continued to watch before Niko looked at his returned canine friend, who began to growl even further, but still had his leg in a healing process. He was clearly ignoring his own leg pain as he got up onto his paws. Niko, now distressed, got up and tried to approach him to calm him down. "Akila, hey, Akila! There is nothing there buddy, by Kalevan devils what has gotten into-"
"MON'KEIGH!"
Liriel shouted and quickly dropped against him, taking him down onto the floor as a long distant splinter projectile pierced through his window, and shoved itself against one of the walls. Niko barely had time to process the banshee's reaction due to how swiftly and just plainly fast she was to save his life. "Foolish human! Does it have to be me who pulls you from the hands of death?!" She yelled at him as he was confused as to what just happened. For over ten seconds, his panicked eye looked left and right before the banshee slapped him across his face and forced him to wake up.
The banshee simply got herself off from him, and pulled her sword out of its sheath before laying down and head to the bedroom's door, rushing out of it. "Wait!" He yelled as two more projectiles got shot through the window, shattering the glass everywhere as Niko dropped onto his stomach after he tried to get up, and instead, crawled to the door while Akila did the same, despite the pressure in his leg which he ignored with all his resilience. "Akila! Do not! Revenge will not return them!" He said as he reached the door, taking his crossbow from his belt at his back, and look at his canine friend, who only shook his head and ran next to Liriel who looked outside from the kitchen's window, trying to find out where their enemies were. The Drukhari were at his doorstep, and would not leave without their prey.
"They did not leave this world?! By Khaine, how much more can their depravity go at this point?!" she angrily uttered. Just in the horizon, two figures stood out, and behind them, was the third figurine, holding what seemed to look like the Drukhari's equivalent of a sniper rifle. All three figures, burst out in a maniacal laugh, which forced Niko to cringe in disgust but at the same time have some flashbacks He held his ears, hating their taunting, but then clenched his teeth and crawled next to Akila and Liriel."Emperor protects.. Emperor protects... Emperor protects.."he whispered and crawled forward while chanting the same sentence, which helped him to ease his fears and anxiety.
He hated the Drukhari more than anything. He despised them. He wished them to feel what they inflicted upon others a thousand times worse. But more importantly, he wished to kill them all by any means necessary, and this time was not going to be an exception. He had his reason for it. Afterwards, he approached his xeno and furred friend, looked through the window, and saw the 3 tall and dark horrendous armor clad proud figures about 20 meters away from their spot, who still laughed, before the third figure spoke up.
"Frrresshh prey! We know you are out there, mon'keigh! I assume one from the pack of creatures we slaughtered found refuge inside your spot.. How unfortunate. Nevertheless! Please dooo come outtttt, that way you won't have to endure the worst pain we have in stock for you. We just want to take you for a nice trip to Commorragh like the cattle you are. Be honored! I can sense your puny heart beating so fast when the predator approaches you. You have nowhere to go! Surrender if you do not want to end up on the tables of our great haemonculi! hm-hm-hmmmmm..~" Niko literally felt the bile coming up to his throat from the early meals, which he was forced to swallow back down into his stomach.
Their voices, their aura, all of it made him truly sick. He clenched his teeth and was already feeling the fury overtaking him. "Go to hell, Drukhari scum! May the Emperor's fury fall upon you and your entire degenerate race! Stick your proposal up your arse, xenos filth! The Kalevan spear never rests.. Come closer so I can show you what I mean!" Niko furiously yelled out from his hiding spot, preparing his laspistol, his Leuku and his crossbow for a serious action, while Liriel remained rather silent and just facepalmed. She did not want to ruin the element of surprise, as she understood that they thought he was there all alone. Perfect opportunity as she thought, but whatever Niko yelled out in anger was unnecessary in her eyes.
The Drukhari however, stopped their maniacal laughing and clenched their hands on their weaponries. "You, DARE, cattle?! Then feel the unending torment that you shall be bestowed upon!" And the salvos were sent flying towards their position, piercing a few spots through the wooden walls of Niko's house. He quickly dodged the shots alongside Liriel and Akila as the three figures sent volley after volley of shots towards the house, and then heard two of the kabalite warriors running towards their position.
The two Kabalites were swift, and very precise with their way. They quickly managed to enter the house in less than 3 seconds after they began to run as the first one jumped through the window, breaking it, and the second one followed him. They both aimed their rifles at where the human was supposed to be, but there was nothing there to be seen. "What?! Where are they! Azdral, they are not here!" He reported. "What do you mean not there?! Search the entire place!" He ordered his subordinates, and they began to flip the entire place upside down, and they did it swiftly while their squad leader, the one who definitely wounded Akila, was on a clear watch, aiming his rifle around the entire house in case they decided to quickly flee.
Meanwhile, Niko, Liriel and wounded Akila stayed behind the house outside, while Niko was catching his breath as silently as possible, trying not to make too much noise as Liriel gestured him to stay calm and concentrated. "Fragile creature you are, human.. Your Khaine's damned pet allowed them to find this place to begin with. I must find out how to deal with them.." She thought and peaked from the backside window, seeing how the kitchen was becoming a total mess as the second kabalite warrior was literally ravaging the entire place to find any traces of where Niko ran off to, but he said something which seemed to be a very angry cussing instead, forcing Liriel to cringe in disgust.
"Depraved fiends.. Sorry excuse of cousins." She said in a silent whisper while making up a proper plan to strike. Niko, however, was getting tired of running. He held his laspistol tight, but his crossbow even tighter. "Niko." He stopped mumbling to himself and then looked at the xeno next to him. She pointed at his crossbow, then at the second kabalite who now was ruining the living room. "Got it." He said with a nod, before locking a steel-tip arrow, and then, take a slow aim towards him without showing much of himself from the window. He looked through the aiming sights, and waited until the bastard stopped moving.
Liriel in the meantime, silently walked to the other side behind the house, as she still had to hide due to how their squad leader was keeping his eyes on the horizon. If any movement appeared from the left or the right side of the house, he would shoot. She clearly knew he was far away, but none of them instead knew there was an Eldar here. Just on the right side of the house was the window to the bedroom, where the first kabalite warrior was flipping the bed and other furniture to find out where Niko was.
She couldn't run and break the window on time as the sniper rifle wielding squad leader was keeping a strict eye on the horizon, and she would make herself an easy target for the warrior's fast reflexes. The situation looked rather unfavorable for the Eldar and the human, and their furred companion. They both realized that the bastard will order his two scum to simultaneously check the left and the right side of the house, and if there were more of them somewhere around, he would alert the rest of his kin as soon as he heard no contact from his comrades or if he saw them disappear out of sight. The situation, was dire.
"Khaine damn you Druchii.. I cannot slip in and kill him without getting shot by that vermin. We need.. Huh?" She looked at her feet and saw limping Akila staring at her, which she stared back. "Begone, beast. We are not in a good situation and-" he bumped his head against her leg and frowned before he ran towards the woods even in a state of limping, clearly annoyed at the ignorance of the howling banshee, to which she just confusingly stared at him disappear into the woods. "Perfect. Loyal creature indeed, but runs off in the direst of situations. Pathetic.." She scoffed and shook her head in disbelief. Niko also saw this, but instead, he grinned while resuming his aim on the bastard. Liriel, who noticed this, got even more confused."...What..?"
For her own surprise, not even one minute passed by until she heard a loud growling and some screaming far away from their place of hiding. Under the full moon light that made the landscapes bright enough, she quickly took a peak, and noticed through her visors that Akila took down the squad leader and was in such state of fury, that she felt Akila's majestic aura oozing from him as he constantly bit the vulnerable spots of the squad leader. His fingers were bitten off, his shoulder had a chunk bitten off as well, and his jaw expanded wide enough to bite down on the top of his head.
He tried to punch the wolf with his fingerless hands despite the injuries, but to no avail. The pressure that Akila put into his helmet was so severe that it was cracking, alongside his skull. This all left Liriel speechless to be precise, but she had little time to act as the first kabalite warrior already rushed outside and was taking an aim to shoot the wolf. "Azdral!" he yelled. "Get this thing off of me you worm!" his comm device screamed alongside the growling and roaring of the canine that kept moving his upper body around, by keeping a strong and a firm bite on his helm. The kabalite was about to shoot, but he literally felt that he could not do it as his rifle dropped, and he was forced to look down at his arms, just to find them chopped off all the way to the elbow.
As his brain processed this, he had nothing else left to do than to scream as blood gushed out of his tendons and he dropped onto his knees, in pure shock and terror. He turned around, and saw the towering figure of a howling banshee clad in a black armor, the loincloth with the symbol of Ulthwe, with her power sword coated with his blood, staring at him silently like he was the most despicable creature.
"WH-What?! Aeldari of Ulthwe!?" he yelled with all strength he had while screaming from the pain, before taking off her helm, and gazing down at him with her fiery amber eyes. Next, she sent her foot flying straight against the kabalite warrior's jaw, and sent him flying three meters away while his teeth completely broke away from his skull since Druchii and Eldar had them fused with their skulls. "Meran.. Meran! Whefrer arrwfe yuourhg!" he yelled as his blurry vision, caught the approaching banshee, and next to him, the one eyed human who carried the Kabalite's comrade, the second warrior, out of his house with an arrow sticking out of his skull as the human pulled it out and then walked next to the howling banshee.
The kabalite warrior, was speechless despite his injuries, and could not believe it. "Ggggrrh.. mon'khheeiighg.. Eldurhh.. togguther?!" he screamed. "May you rot in the grasps of she-who-thirsts for every pain you have caused my kin, vermin." said Liriel, in the same Aeldari lexicon, before shoving the tip of her sword straight into his throat, making his eyes roll up to his forehead and force his head to fall sideways, dying instantly, before pulling her sword's tip out. "I do not wish such fate upon anyone.. But your wickedness has already defeated that purpose." she finished and then, noticed Niko walk past her towards the third figure who was still struggling against Akila.
He made a slow approach, without saying a single word, until he was close enough to him. "Akila. Back." he calmly said, his hands shaking as he put his crossbow at his back, while Akila, reluctantly, obeyed him. "What is he.. Doing?" Liriel asked. This was relatively odd behavior from the human. He acted cold, but rather determined. She slowly approached him, and then, as soon as Akila stepped aside, Niko in an instant gripped the Drukhari's helmet and removed it from his head before grabbing him by the throat and begin to maul the Dark Eldar, who's scalp was bleeding from the pressure Akila put on his helm and in exchange, on his skull.
It was not your ordinary human anger that Niko expressed. It was blatant fury and wrath combined. He continued to punch the Drukhari warrior over and over, again and again, until his face was nothing but a bloody pulp, and even then, Niko did not stop the mauling process. He was restless, and Liriel for the first time saw her human companion show his state of total anger. "By Isha what has gotten into him?" she asked while witnessing the brutal mauling from the young human, who did not utter a single word, but as soon as Liriel walked over to his side, she saw his face. And it made her shudder. It was a face of unimaginable anger.
Niko was boiling, and his entire face was red from it. The Drukhari's teeth. His nose. And his cheekbones were completely annihilated by his angry mauling, and he clearly had no strength to resist him. Liriel then could not watch this scenery unfolding further. "Mon'keigh, stop. Enough.. Enough!" she sheathed her sword and harshly pulled him away from the Drukhari, who kept choking on his own blood, gurgling it rapidly. Even THEN, Niko was restless and growled as he tried to forcefully resume his mauling of the bastard, but Liriel kept her grip firmly before she has had enough and decided to put him down on the ground, force her kneecap against his chest and hold his arms down the ground as well.
"Mon'keigh! Niko! Wake up to your senses!" she yelled now harshly, and the panting human locked his single eye with her fiery ones that were not messing around. He kept breathing heavily, before gulping, closing his eye, and slowly open it while he gave her two light nods, to which the banshee was sure of his return to his normal consciousness. Akila walked over to him to give him some comfort, to which he sat down on his lap and Niko decided to pet his furry friend with his blood soaked hands. She turned her attention back to the mauled Drukhari, while Niko leaned up and took his time to breathe with Akila by his side. She unsheathed her sword, and put her boot directly on the Drukhari's chest, frowning while holding her helmet under her arm. "How many more of you are out there? Use words wisely, and I shall grant you a quick and merciful death, fiend."
Drukhari however, spat directly at her boot and instead laughed without saying a word. A laugh so disgusting that it made Liriel cringe as she clenched her teeth and then sliced off his right ear, which made him scream loudly due to how Eldar's knife ears, much like Drukhari's, were essentially sensitive and had quite a lot of erogenous zones, so it kind of, well, felt to him like having part of his groin sliced. The Drukhari turned his head left and right, and Liriel tapped her heel against his chest once more. "Speak, creature! Or you will taste what you inflict upon others."
The Drukhari, now bleeding completely, managed to utter out few comprehensible words. "HHhhcchhh-Hngnh- MMmanyy..will..cchhome.. forhggh yyoouuffh... Ullttwhee..warriorrghh.. the gazzee.. offh Cmmoorrgaagghh.. will.. ssswaloww youhh-" he was denied his last words as Liriel swiftly sliced his head off from his shoulder, with the blood gushing straight out of his throat like a miniature fountain. She leaned down, and cleaned her sword with the now deceased Drukhari warrior's loincloth. "We are not going to be safe here anymore. We must depart towards the capital immediately.. I must get out of this world swiftly. It will not be a long time until the rest of his vermin show up here when these filthy creatures do not return to them." she proclaimed, and turned her attention back towards the human, who was now calm, and smiling lightly while playing with Akila.
"The.. human Niko however.. Although, his fury against the Drukhari was justified, it was rather strange.. I do not know what is the history between the dark kin and himself, but I can tell it is extremely bitter, beyond my understanding. It is the first time I have seen him like this. Unnerving, but fixable, I hope.. Either way, I should inform him." She said in a whisper, and then approached him with a concerned look. "Mon- Niko. Druchii. We.." she tried to remember the exact words as he stood up instantly and was listening to her. "Druchii, come. Come, kill, more come. Out. Must get out." She annoyingly said until his eye widened up. "What- more of them are coming? Feeckk.." He frowned and spat at the ground before nodding towards her.
"I must go to the basem*nt, and grab all the gear I will need. And, whatever else we may require.. Not that it would have made any difference had I been alone without your help. They'd still find me eventually, but I'd be dead if not you. Anyway, wait here." He gestured to his home, then clenched his fists next to his shoulder, imitating a backpack, and then gestured her to stay outside on a watch, before she nodded as she understood that he was going after all the supplies they will require. Akila stayed next to the Eldar woman, who sat down at the porch stairs, with him sitting next to her, while Niko ran back into the house.
She stared at the wolf, who stared back at her, and couldn't help but have a proud smile while petting him. "Forgive me for being harsh, bea- Akila. I underestimated your intelligence and majesty. Good work." she said and smiled further, fascinating by this creature in front of her. He, in exchange, simply licked her on the cheek to which she widened her eyes and leaned her head back a little. "Hey, watch it!" She frowned and in exchange, the wolf howled as if he was laughing, but it was not loud, just a quick one, and Liriel slightly chuckled afterwards, petting him again and keeping her gaze upon the horizon.
In the meantime, Niko looked at how the entire interior of his house was literally flipped upside down. It enraged him, but not as much as it enraged him to find his musical string instrument broken to pieces. "Curse you, xeno freaks!" he was about to vent, but he had no luxury of time to do that. "Frak it.. No time to spend my nerves." He rolled his eye and quickly opened the trapdoor to his basem*nt. There, he went to the stand where his flak armor was, and immediately began to put it on himself.
He began from head to feet, neatly placing each piece on his body. "By the Emperor's golden throne, it has been forever since I've put my armor on. Never would have I thought that I would have to become a guardsman that I once was.. Again." He said while staring at the floor and tightening his helmet on his head. The munitorum issued flak armor of Kalevan variant was rather unique. The chestplate, arm plates all the way to the shoulder, and knee pads on top of that. All in a sweet color of white and light blue. "All done. Now.." He turned around, and stared at his banner.
"My oath may not be relevant anymore, but I will not abandon you." He whispered before grabbing the munitorum issued backpack from the corner, remove the banner, and shove it into the backpack alone. Next, he grabbed extra clothing, and placed it neatly into his backpack. "This will do for now at least. However, there are way more things we will require." Next, he snatched a medpack, a flashlight, a cooking pot, an old compass, and some cloth covers before shoving them into his backpack. "I must keep my mobility high. Nothing heavy. Besides.. My weapon." He turned around, and looked at his old lasgun that he left on the wall for quite a long time.
He carefully grabbed it while the dust fell off from it, and loaded it with a single mag, with two battery cell mags on his waist's pouch. It weighed just 3 kilograms. However, he did not give a damn. "Ooff. Guess I have to get used to carrying this baby just like at the beginning of my training." He laughed softly and then ran out of the basem*nt to quickly snatch some of those rations packs that in all honesty he was really beginning to despise, but he had no choice. "Eugh by the Emperor.. Can we ever have something tasty for once?" He uttered before shoving about a dozen of different packages into his backpack. "Oh and, let us not forget." His eye was always keen on the Kalevan tea that he kept in a sack, and so, that was also sent straight into the backpack.
The wolf, and the aspect warrior, patiently waited for Niko to finish up. It was taking him a while, as the banshee thought. "What is taking him so long.. Clumsy mon'keigh, hurry up.."She said with a deep frown while Akila sat on his legs and stayed motionless, just blinking while looking around as he had to stay focused while his leg was quickly healing to Liriel's surprise as she did not see more blood loss on its bandages. Then, Liriel heard footsteps behind herself and was forced to stand up. Turning around. "What took you so long, clumsy fool?" she told him as he got out of the house. Fully clad in his flak armor, with his las pistol at his hip, Leuku sheathed at the waist belt, and a pouch for two magazines for his lasgun, alongside the crossbow, and the arrow quiver.
He wiped his sweaty forehead and looked at her. "Well excuse me lassie, but this ain't an easy task! I'm not going to have an arduous march without being suppl-" She shushed him up immediately by waving her hand. "Enough of your talk, human! We must go!" She detested in her lexicon before he sighed and walked past her. "I am not frakking done. Stop being such an impatient bitch.." he told her while walking by, and heading into the shed by running. There, he quickly sliced some chunks of the hanging salted meat, before wrapping the pieces in some cloth, and shove them into the backpack which was already becoming full.
Suddenly, as he was about to turn around, he felt Liriel's hand grabbing him by the neck and harshly push him out of the shed before he even had time to process her action. "Ayh what in the devilish warp?!" He said in a pissed off tone while Liriel approached him, towering as always, and poked him in the chest. "Your waste of time is making my blood boil, mon'keigh! Move!" She pointed at the forest behind them. He was, in fact, fatigued. He did not get too much sleep, but it would do for now. "Understand. I am not as enhanced as you, Eldar. I barely had any PROPER rest. Your bitching will not help me move any faster." He detested while showing a clear sign of displeasure, which Liriel noticed.
She sighed, and then resumed her calm facial expression to exploit his weakness, to which, by the look on his face, he felt sober and instantly brightened up. "Must.. Go, Niko." She said as calm as possible, and noticed, that this was the only way he would be willing to listen. Being in a world where your emotions were not chased down by she-who-thirsts, and she had a free will to express them, was overwhelming to her, but she still remained disciplined. "I will have to protect you from any dangers. Otherwise, I'll get lost, and be doomed." She told herself.
The young hunter in exchange, after seeing her stare at him in silence with a calm facial expression, simply gulped, took out the compass from his backpack before whistling to call Akila next to him, and then proceeded to use the moonlight on the compass to find the direct route to the east. They had to get as far away from this place as possible, and the banshee followed behind him, putting her helmet on and having her sword ready. He knew that if he tried to abandon her or if he tried to fool her after obvious convincing periods, she would not hesitate to cut him down. But he wanted to help. He saved her life, and she saved his. The first seeds of trust were already settled, and would require time and actions to start blooming.
As Niko led the expedition consisting of himself, a tall xenos woman and a young majestic Merlorian wolf, he could not help but feel slight amounts of sorrow. He walked forward, and looked behind himself, abandoning the place that gave him shelter for a long time. "Goodbye, my little house. You served me well as a safe haven.. But I will not forget you." He whispered and looked forward, entering the depths of the woods and hiding his compass since the depths were extremely dark. But he has long ever since gotten used to the darkness. It would not be that big of a problem for him anymore.
His direction laid directly to the south-east, thanks to the compass's direction. Then, just as the fate would allow it, they would be able to avoid the scattered Drukhari forces altogether and reach the capital on time, if there were any Druchii forces left in that matter. But there was just one thought, and one thought alone, that began to settle into Niko's mind and drill itself ever harder by the passing second.
"If we succeed on this endeavor, I feel as if it will be two things only.. Either the eternal loneliness once more, or a stab in the back from her. They are a very treacherous kind.. But I am not safe anymore, not from them, or my own kind. However, I won't go down, without a fight. May the Emperor forgive me for making decisions based on my own morals, let alone conspiring with a xenos.. Snd not through the teachings of the priests. But, every second with her, is.. Eorth it." Je told himself and calmed down his mind from worrying thoughts. This was just not the right time.
The banshee and the young human were now tied together. Liriel had to protect him, as she needed him to get her goal over. Niko needed Liriel to keep him safe from any major threats, as if not for her, the Drukhari would be having fun hanging him with iron hooks in the Commorragh's theaters. As for Akila, both of them agreed that he was a useful and a great companion, as he managed to sniff out the disgusting fiends from afar and way earlier than they or the two individuals expected them to arrive. They both were hopeful of their grand endeavor and this little journey they were about to have.
But unbeknownst to them, far up in the sky, a warp wormhole opened up. And a lonely ship came out of it. The ship with just a singular symbol and authority of the Imperial agency. The ship that would carry the nuisance, which the journeying individuals did not know about. The ship which was, slowly, but surely, turning towards the direction of Merlorian..
]I[ The Inquisition has arrived. And they were not planning to leave anytime soon. ]I[
