Drakes, lunch, and running away...

continued from previous session-

Lo seemed to consider the options. "Well, if we are lucky, though im usually not, this one isnt fully grown." Lo let the idea that this could be considered a small one to sink in. "The ones that arent mature can usually be killed by just severing their wing joints from below....but ell have to be really really carefull if that wasnt obvious. If we arent lucky..." the drake had managed to turn arounds and was now spiraling towards them.

Eric nodded curtly and braced himself as the creature came spiraling towards them. He smirked and gripped the blades in his hands until his knuckles were white. He was going to play a little game of chicken with this thing and he didn't count on making it out without bruises at the very least. When the drake was close enough, Eric dropped a few feet very suddenly, the remaining six blades behind him all rolling forward like a circular saw and carving two rows of deep gashes into the Drake's underbelly. He hadn't hit its wing joints, but he had caused enough damage for the thing to wobble in the air and let out a deafening screech of pain. Eric tumbled backwards, falling from his previous stance until his blades caught up with him. He cast a sideways glance at Lo, who was a little ways away by now.
"It's unstable, hit it now!" he shouted. It was pretty apparent that Lo could handle himself in battle and that he knew where the most vulnerable points of the wing joints were, so Eric hoped that he had slowed the Drake enough to make Lo's job a great deal easier.
There was a second deafening roar as the other Drake barreled towards Eric, who turned around just in time to notice this and flail himself out of the way.
"Ah shit..." He readied himself to do it all over again...

Lo grinned, Eric caught on fast. With a swooping dive, Lo baited the drake into following, and then, with its slight wobbling flight, lo spun around in midair, floating mere feet under its gaping jaws, the world seemed to slow down for him as he took aim, and then, as though to make up for lost time, the spear of pure metal that had just pierced the nerve cluster under the wing joint, of the drakes shoulder had sent it spiraling down, screeching its pain and fury.

Lo allowed himself a brief moment of self-satisfaction, before turning to eric, who, he saw, had drake problems of it's own. "Uh oh." he muttered. This one, though not fully grown, had grown its hard underscales...it looked like it was going to take pinpoint accuracy to get through... Lo withdrew the razor sharp point of metal back into his arm, as he flew cautiously behind and above the drake, aware that if it turned its attention from eric, it would have no issue snapping him up like a small, and very crunchy, bird.

Eric, having dropped below the Drake, looked up at it's well-guarded underbelly and cursed under his breath. Tiny, tiny little slivers of space separated the scales and Eric had a feeling that unless he could get through those he wasn't going to win this battle any time soon. As the beast made a wide turn and came back at him he straightened himself out and growled. The idea forming in his mind was extremely stupid and extremely dangerous, but he didn't have the time to think it through anyway. "Oh fuck it..." He muttered, charging head-first towards the Drake.

The events following this action unfolded so rapidly that Eric wasn't really sure what he had done when it was over. Just before he hit the beast he shot up just enough to glide over its back and cling to it. The beast immediately began to writhe in the air, trying to throw him off. Eric's blades had seemingly abandoned him, but with a quiet whisper that couldn't be heard, they flew upwards from below, 5 out of the 8 blades digging into the spaces between's the Drake's scales. As the beast lurched violently in mid-air, Eric lost his grip. The beast lashed out, one razor-sharp talon slicing cleanly across Eric's torso, starting at his right shoulder and ending at his left hip. He let out a little yelp and began an extremely terrifying fall. "KILL IT!" he yelled up to Lo as he fell. The 3 blades that hadn't been stuck into the beast's belly plummeted down after him, catching him just before he crashed into the jungle canopy.

Lo paused as he looked down with concern at Eric's predicament, but almost immediately, he decided that he would have to deal with it after he had gotten rid of the giant feral lizard trying to kill them both. Gritting his teeth, he dived.

The drake noticed him a moment before he smashed into it's back, driving two spears before him. The hard metal bent like taffy on impact, Lo cursed. Expected, but still discouraging. The beast roared at him twisting its flexible neck back to snap at him. It was what he was counting on. It was still going to hurt.

The drake wouldnt understand the concept of metal, after all, it was a bit of a rarity on Zix, where things were fasioned out of ironwood and the various volcanic stones of the burn. This was important for two reasons. First, it would mean that should it encounter metal, the drake would pause to figure out what it was, and second, it meant that the drake was used to having living things crunch nicely in its mouth. As it bit Lo, he did not crunch nicely in it's mouth. The teeth sank in, and lo let out a stream of cursewords from languages both in use, and mind meltingly old, and then, jammed his arm straight up it's nose.

The drake looked mildly shocked for a moment, even a bit offended, then with a look of mild unhappyness, its head exploded, as a large construct of metal had pushed open its cranium, quite effectively braining it.

Lo felt the drakes body begin to fall. He stayed suspended in midair, trying resolutely to ignore the rows of two inch deep punture marks across his body. He reflected for a moment that if there were a prise for stupidest idea to actually work, he would have won it several times over.

He gave the thumbs up to Eric, while internally screaming loudly in pain.

The remaining blades returned to Eric as the drake plummeted. He rose slowly, shrugging off the tattered remains of his coat and shirt to assess the damage. There was a massive gash cutting across his body, exposing a small piece of ribcage and leaving his right shoulder only 3/4 of the way attached to his body. Frowning, he began to wrap his shoulder with the remains of his shirt. Eric drifted over to Lo and glanced up at him with a weak smile.
"Well, we win the stupidity contest, eh?" He noticed the bite marks on Lo and sighed. "So we're both pretty fucked up and you're trying not to scream. Go ahead, that looks painful and I already did my violent profanity-filled screaming on my way down." He smirked, then winced as he moved his shoulder a little.

Neither of them were in any condition to travel now, but he had a feeling that heavy bleeding + standing still + Zix = Death on many levels. With his good arm he rooted around in his satchel for a bit before pulling out a needle, some thread, disinfectant and some gauze.
"So what's our game plan now? Hobble to the Pile and try not to die before we reach relative safety?" He asked before threading the needle and beginning the painful process of sewing up his wounds.

Lo nodded "Yeah, he said weakly, thats pretty much it. I know a guy in the city who will patch us up....actually, hes the reason we started by coming here to zix. Anyway." Lo finished his sentence, then let out his long stream of pained noises, before settling down. He was breathing hard, but it was obvious that the punctures in his chest were more like dents than wounds. As the two flew onwards (avoiding any more possible drake spots, under Lo's carefull eye) the dents began to slowly pull themselves back into shape, though the metal still looked ragged.

Soon they were at the city gates. They were, to say the least, rather large, with trebouche every few meters, likely to discourage any hungry drakes...and whatever else would like to have a citizen snack.

Lo touched down, a little harder than intended, on the stone walk up to the gigantic porticullus. He waved to the guards, speaking as he did.

"Friends, we have just arrived on city grounds, and are now seeking entrance for medical care." he said...it was half true anyway.

The guard on the left raised an eyebrow. "Well you dont say." he quipped sarcastically. "You may enter, but stir up any trouble and well throw you to the drakes." he said, jerking his thumb at the gate, which began opening.

"Thank you, but we just came from there." Lo said tiredly, and walked on.

Eric was deeply involved in the process of stitching his wounds as best he could while flying and when Lo stopped at the gates he didn't notice immediately. He was holding the sewing needle in his teeth and fumbling with a line of thread when he heard Lo speak. Upon looking up he nearly swallowed the needle and dropped the thread he was holding. In the Falls there were some impressive buildings and architectural designs, but he'd never seen a gate quite this massive. He gathered up the thread quickly and pulled the sewing needle (which he had narrowly avoided actually swallowing) free from his tongue, spitting out blood and profanity as he did so. The gates opened and Eric glanced up nervously at each of the guards, who were looking at him with raised eyebrows, as he followed Lo into the Pile.

With his wounds loosely stitched shut and a piece of ace bandage holding his shoulder in place, Eric entered the Pile and was absolutely sure he had made the right decision when he decided to follow Lo.

If there are worlds out there just as diverse and strange as this...I've been missing out on the best of life for way too long!

As the two strode into the city, Lo stopped for a moment, and smiled in satisfaction. He had always liked the pile, it's gigantic, multicolored walls reminded him of home. He sighed. not that he could go home as it was, he reflected. Shrugging to himself, which probably looked a bit wierd to eric, lo pointed to a high stone building in the distance, which seemed to glimmer, with its bright emerald coloring.

"That's where we are headed." Lo said. "Now the only thing you are going to have to remember here, is that most people are friendly, but if you see anyone dressed in bright red, or all black, get out of their way." he said.

Eric looked up to where Lo was pointing and nodded. The building was a blindingly bright emerald color and the longer Eric stared at it the brighter it seemed to become. It glistened in the daylight, sending little tendrils of reflected green light dancing over the rest of the city. The building reminded Eric of the Crystal Palace in a sense...Something about the way it demanded everyone's attention and flaunted its superiority in the form of a colorful display. He tuned in to what Lo was saying around the point of "anyone dressed in bright red or all black, get out of their way".

"Uh-huh." He said absentmindedly, nodding and following Lo deeper into the city. He had certainly heard what Lo said, but the emerald centerpiece of the city was pushing most other thoughts out of his mind. It was shiny, a beautiful color, and as far as he could see it was well-constructed. Eric was busy re-modelling and improving the building in his mind's eyes and wasn't at all paying attention to the world around him.

Lo suspected that he was being partialy ignored, he also had to aknowledge that he didnt care quite as much as he probably should have. He figured that as long as Eric had heard him about not pissing off the Elite Guard or the noble houses, he should be fine. As it was, he was also being distracted by his wounds, which, much to his chagrin, were still quite ragged...

"Ive been like this too long..." He murmured to himself.

He sighed and continued walking. All around, the streets has a nearly surreal quality to them, as even the road below seemed as though it was a patchwork of mismatched, but somehow beautifully blending parts, the cobblestone desighn composed of myriad colors that wound around eachother like serpants. It was all Lo could do to avoid just looking around and enjoying the sights. He predicted that Lo was not trying as hard, and so, was subtly guiding him away from figures that were likely to be unhappy with him for getting in their way.

The blue tower in the distance was getting ever-closer.

Eric had expanded greatly upon the tower in his mind and he figured that he should stop doing so before he unintentionally changed it in reality. He became hyper-aware of surroundings very suddenly and although this could potentially have sent him into a panic he settled for tucking his blades closer to his body and actually paying some amount of attention to where he was going.

"Yes," He turned very suddenly to Lo, navigating the crowd backwards and with surprising accuracy. "you have been like that for an awfully long time. My stitches are just starting to dissolve. I'm easy like that. Unfortunately my shoulder is going to require stitching as well so next time we stop..." He paused. He turned around again and stared up at the massive building before him. "Lo, where in the name of the Eternal Fall are we?"

Lo chuckled ruefully. "Well, I usually dont have much of an issue with healing...but....well, anyway, we're in Zix. It's a plane semi paralel to yours...though, quite a bit different. Main thing to know about zix is that everything is an extreme. Theres no warm or cool here, only searing and icy, theres no middle ground...so watch it." he said with a shrug.

He twitched slightly, and for a split second his wounds rippled and sparked as though something was trying to assume a different shape before Lo quickly took a breath and the reaction ceased. He looked around for a moment, before seeming to satify himself that no one had seen.

"In any case." Lo said hastily "This building is the tower of a friend of mine. A zix native. Hes a little...uh...abrasive, but he'll help us with some supplies and healing, so that's a good thing.

Straight ahead the tower in all its splendor seemed to stretch up into the clouds, though, having been up high themselves, lo and Eric could confirm that this was just an optical illusion. Nonetheless, the pearlescent marvel of architechture seemed to be almost drawing the two in.

Eric eyed Lo suspiciously. He was hiding something. He had been from the start and Eric knew it.

"Can we go to the extremely cold extremely sterile side?" He said jokingly. He knew there probably WAS a part of Zix like that, but regardless. He paused and tilted his head slowly as Lo's body did weird things. "Are you okay? I could-" Lo cut him off. Eric glared at him indignantly.

He turned and looked up at the tower. He was a little nervous about meeting Lo's "abrasive" friend, but he figured this was another part of adventure. Eric knew to a certain degree that being naive would kill him one day.

"Shall we?"

As Eric joked about a cold sterile side he let out a short laugh. "No...no...let's definetely not." He said. "Anyway..." With that one word, he knocked on the great doors twice. It was almost disturbing how quickly the doors opened. In the doorframe, a huge man in a shockingly green pinstripe suit and silver beard and hair stood. "LO!" he said jovialy, at a volume that made lo's head throb worse than it already did.

"HOW ARE YOU MY FRIEND?!" Lo grinned, whilst still wincing through the head pain. "Hi there Lortz." He said, adressing the nearly ten foot tall man before them. He seemed fairly normal looking apart from his size, and the fact that his eyes seemed to be made of glittering, perfectly smooth orbs of green emerald. "HELLO YOURSELF!" the man said with a grin, showing his slightly sharp teeth. "WHO'S YOUR FRIEND?" He asked, in what it was quickly becoming apparent, was his normal volume.

Lo smiled wanly. "This is eric." He said.

"WELL IT'S LOVELY TO MEETCHYA!" the giant man said, drawing eric into an almost certainly unwanted one armed hug, with enough streangth to give him whiplash. Luckily, the man seemed to be aware of his strength, and so, didnt crush Eric, instead just sort of trapping him for a moment before letting him go. "RIGHT THEN, WHERE ARE MY MANNERS?!" Lortz said, smacking himself in the forehead. "COME IN! COME IN!"

The giant's very appearance was startling enough to knock Eric out of the air. His blades clattered to the ground and he landed flat on his back with a loud yelp. Eric felt as though his head was going to explode as the enormous man spoke. Suddenly it seemed to dawn on him that he was in direct contact with the ground. His face went impossibly pale and he sat up slowly. His lip was curled up in disgust and he looked as though he was going to be ill. Anyone watching would have been terribly confused. The man had fallen on the ground, why was he freaking out so bad? Eric's hands were shaking and his eyes were shut tight. He seemed seconds away from a total breakdown.

It was in that moment that the giant, now known as Lortz, seized Eric into a most definitely unwanted hug. Eric let out a strangled cry of despair and flailed, struggling against the man's embrace. As Lortz released him he fell to the ground again. Eric curled his knees against his chest in the fetal position, his face expressionless save for a faint glimmer in his eyes that reflected just how traumatized he was. He lay still for a moment before drawing his blades towards his body. They encircled him as he returned to his normal hovering state. His face remained blank.

"Lo. If I pass out, don't touch me." He hissed, gliding over to float beside him. He followed them inside and as the door slammed shut behind them, he was knocked out of the air again. This time he caught himself just in time to avoid the mental breakdown that would have most certainly followed his being dumped on the floor again. "Please for the love of God do not DO that!" he pleaded, digging around in his bag for something. He produced hand sanitizer and a spray bottle labeled "emergency disinfectant" and began the lengthy process of "sanitizing" himself.

Right. This is why I never leave my house. Because dirt.

Lo snickered as Eric floated in after him. "I tried to warn you." Lo said softly. The giant, Lortz seemed utterly oblivious to Eric's freakout, instead showing the two around his (admittedly absolutely stunning) Home. Soaring archways and pillars complimented art showing the fires and ice floes of zix in all their natural splendor. The swirling designs oj the wals seemed to only bring out the colors that shone through the stained glass windows.

It was enough to distract even from Lortz's booming voice.

Eric, although still stewing over his recent trauma, had to admit that the tower was beautiful. Architecturally it was a masterpiece. He doubted that he could have built it any better himself. The windows allowed in a rainbow of colors, which only accented the gorgeous paintings on the walls. Eric found it hard to hold on to his foul mood in the midst of such beauty. He felt a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. In the presence of art, he felt truly at home.

"Who built this place?" he said suddenly. Lortz's booming voice had become background noise to him as he lost himself in the cascade of color. He glanced over at the massive man timidly, realizing that he may have interrupted. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. Pretend that didn't happen, it was nothing important anyway. I don't NEED to know, but this kind of beauty makes my work seem...rough." He realized he was babbling and looked away sheepishly. He lowered himself so that he was almost touching the ground as a gesture of apology and humbleness.

Really Eric? You're going to stoop so low as to almost stand on your own two feet as an apology?

Lortz stopped suddenly, causing lo to bounce off him and land in a heap. The giant man turned towards the two. Lo picked himself off the floor like nothing had happened. "WHAT...LO DIDN'T TELL YA? HE ASKED CURIOUSLY, HE'S THE-" Lo suddenly shook his head nearly imperceptibly. Lortz paused for a moment. "HES THE ONE WHO INTRODUCED ME TO THE BUILDER." the giant man continued, slightly sheepishly. "A MAN BY THE NAME OF LOCUS VALITEX." he said. "YOU...PROBABLY WOULD'NT KNOW HIM." the giant man said. "ANYHOW, LET'S SIT DOWN A SPELL AND TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE BEEN UP TO MY FRIEND." Lortz boomed.

With this, he led the two into a quite huge living room, just as entrancingly designed as the rest, with what looked to be fountains, flowing with...liquid metal perhaps?

Eric turned and fixed his eyes on Lortz, searching for the true meaning behind his cryptic and dismissive response. In his gut, he felt that there was some truth in his words. But he knew that it was only a half-truth. In a culture where there was no need for lies, deceit stuck out like red ink on a white wall. Just under the blank surface of Eric's eyes, what appeared to be the outline of an iris and pupil shimmered faintly. An almost dangerous side of him seemed to be surfacing. A serious side.

As they drifted into the living room, Eric's eyes swiveled over to the fountain. He froze. The rest of the room was lost to him. If anything was being said, he wasn't hearing it. Something about the water in the fountain was...wrong. It dawned upon him slowly that it wasn't water. It was something else. Something almost...metallic.

This...This is real. I'm really doing this. I'm following a metal madman into the unknown.

Reality seemed to be setting in. He shifted uncomfortably in his air, forcing himself to look away from the fountain. His blades rearranged themselves into a chair-like formation, and he sat down and leaned back, crossing his legs and folding his hands in his lap. The shimmer of an iris was still visible beneath the cloudy surface of his eyes. The more he began to understand about the situation, the crisper and more pronounced it seemed to become. He produced a cup of tea from his bag, although how he did so was a complete mystery to all but him.

"Yes, Lo. What have you been up to?" He asked, fixing him with an accusatory stare as he took a sip of his tea. "And what will we be up to after this?"

As Lo turned from Lortz, who had agreed to help patch the two travellers up, he blinked at Eric's question. He sighed. "You arent stupid, so im not going to pretend that nothing is going on, but all that i can tell you for the moment is mostly what you already know... Im being chased...chased by some extremely powerfull people. I...have something they want, but believe me, it's better if they dont get it." He said, taking a seat on a chair he drew up across from eric.

"As for what we'll be doing... well...were going to do exactly what i told you to begin with. We're going to see all the wonders the planes can bring us...and once we have seen all we wish to...then we can part ways if it is what you want...and...life goes on." he said, with a shrug. "I'm sorry i cant be more straightforeward...but...sometimes there are things that have to stay in the past." Lo said, seeming to almost speak more to himself. "Words we cant speak...words that can only make history repeat itself..." Lo seemed to sink momentarily into a dark mood before he took a breath, shook his head and looked up at eric. "Anyway. I guess a shorter answer to your second question would be... whatever you want... Once lortz supplies us, we can choose our destination." he said with a grin.

Eric felt a tiny bit terrible about getting so worked up. He sighed quietly, placing his tea on the arm of his blade-chair. He didn't like being lied to but he understood what Lo meant about things that shouldn't be talked about. He glanced over at Lortz sheepishly, feeling slightly embarrassed about his behavior up to that point. He wasn't used to this whole social interaction thing at all. In fact, he hadn't been in the company of friends since Elliot had been exiled all those years ago. Eric felt a stab of loneliness as the memory of his former best friend surfaced. He swallowed hard, working up the courage to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Lo. It's just that, well, I've never been outside of the Falls, and now that I am there's a certain sense of...exposed-ness? A certain sense of safety lost." He turned to Lortz. "And I apologize to you as well, sir. I've been the worst possible guest, I'm sure. I haven't been a guest to anyone in over 50 years. Lo, whoever's chasing you, I'm on your side. Whatever you're protecting, which is what I assume you're doing based on what you've said thus far, I'm on your side. Partially because I wouldn't know any better even if it was a terrible cause." He wished he was joking. "And there is no way in hell that I'm parting ways with you. I have no home to go back to, remember? You'll have to kill me to be rid of me."

Eric sincerely hoped that he had covered all of his bases on apology. His eyes had changed completely. Rather than being plain white, he had gained smokey gray irises that were laced with stripes of black. He knew they were there. Everything seemed to be in HD now.

It's official, then? I'm an exile? No longer blind to every flaw?

-------------------

"HE WHAT?!" Elliot stared at his brother in complete disbelief.
"He got exiled, apparently. He went off towards a gate a while ago carrying some shiny dude. Crashed right through it."
"The motherFUCK did he DO?" He ran a hand through his messy hair and let out a long breath. "Which gate? Which gate did he go through?"
"Er...I think it was one of the Zix gates."
"Oh for fuck's sake...That germaphobe? Wandering Zix? He'll faint." Elliot facepalmed and spun on his heels, his blades following behind him in a black and red blur, and set off towards one of the Zix gates.
"Where do you think you're going, El?" His brother called out behind him.
"To find Eric, where else would I be going? I haven't seen him in over 50 years, and he's finally decided to break some rules. I'm almost proud of him."
"This is a terrible idea and you won't have me at your back."
Elliot stopped, hands in his pockets, and looked over his shoulder. "Since when has that stopped me?"
He ignored his brother's hurt protests, eyes fixed on the nearest gate.

Lo nodded. "Im glad to hear it." Lo said with a small smile. "And i can assure you... The sense of lost safety will lessen with time....or at least will be overwhelmed by exhileration." he said.

Lortz laughed, nearly spilling the drinks he had brought (in somewhat overly large glasses) "HEH....YOUR NOTHING CLOSE TO WHAT I WOULD CONSIDER A BAD GUEST! HELL YOU'VE YET TO MELT ANY OF MY FLOORS, HAVEN'T EVEN KNOCKED ANYTHING OVER!" the huge man said, sidling over and plonking a drink in front of each of the two travelers.

"NOW THEN." Lortz said. "LET'S TAKE CARE OF THOSE INJURIES."

Whatever Eric had expected from there, be it more physichal contact, or some sort of first aid kit, he would almost certainly be unready for what really did happen. What happened was that Lortz held out a hand, palm up, and bit by bit, all the aches, pains, cuts and bruises, and....in Lo's case, dents, on both the travelers bodies, began to heal at a massive rate. A deep red pulsing energy was slowly flowing off them into Lortz's open palm, where an orb of the stuff was growing. After about forty seconds, the giant of a man closed his hand, sat back contentedly, and picked up a very large pipe sitting on a side table.

"FEELING BETTER?" he asked with a smile.

Eric closed his eyes tightly and tensed up, bracing himself for further physical contact as Lortz spoke of healing their wounds. But instead he was met with a strange sensation. He opened one eye warily. His wounds were floating away in a pulse of red. He let out a breathy laugh of relief and disbelief. It was the little things in life, like avoiding physical contact, that made him truly happy.

"Immensely so." He said in response to Lortz's question. "Thank you. Huh. That's an interesting talent." Eric mused, wondering if there was a Tongue he could pick up that would have the same type of healing effects.

------------

Elliot shoulder-checked the gate, ignoring the looks of surprise from passerby as he passed through the shattered portal. He felt the sensation of falling slightly, as he always did when passing between planes via gateway, and found himself a moment later in the Tangle. He breathed deeply, smiling as the fresh air filled his lungs. He had always liked the Tangle, despite the bugs and creatures and poisonous plants and Drakes. He took a step forward, not bothering to look down, and let out a string of expletives as he tumbled off of the corpse of a young Drake. Elliot sat up slowly, rubbing his head where it had connected with a tree trunk. It took him a moment to register the scene entirely. The evidence of Glassborn blade wounds started to paint a picture in his mind.

"Did he...He fucking....Oh god why?" His blades settled around him in a protective circle formation as he rubbed his temples, trying to drive away the headache. The mental image of Eric, the borderline flighty man he had practically adopted, locked in combat with a Drake, was so unrealistic. "Did the kid go full psychopath on me?" Elliot mumbled, picking himself up. He jumped up impossibly high, followed by his blades, and hovered above the treetops for a few moments. In the distance he could see a bright emerald tower. Just the sort of thing Eric would be drawn to. He set out towards the city at an impossible speed, leaving a rippling red-black smudge behind him as he went.

Lo let out a short laugh. "No." he said "I can tell what you are thinking there, and no you cant do that...hell i ca-" Lo cut himself off. "Right....anyway...i should explain. Lortz is a primordial avatar. One of the embodyments of Zix itself." He said.

Lortz nodded jovialy. "AVATAR OF SUFFERING, THAT'S ME." he said appreciatively. "AND RATHER DAMNED NICE DESPITE IT." he continued, giving Lo a wink.

Lo rolled his eyes but nodded. "Yeah, we're in one of the safest places in the entirety of Zix at the moment. The home of an avatar is by its nature a place where no one that isnt invited can go...unless they happen to be stronger than a demigod, which is usually not a thing that happens." Lo explained.

Lortz nodded appreciatively. "YEAH PLUS, THE...UH...BUILDER PUT IN A FEW SUPRISES FOR ANY UNWELCOME GUESTS THAT DO FIND SOME WAY TO GET IN." he said.

------------------------

As eliot sped through the skies of zix, the view, familiar though it might be, was quite amazing. Ahead the great spawling city was layed out, and farther still, the roiling raw beuty of the flaming wastes. Even the Vast expance of unbroken waters far to his right was beautifull in it's way...smooth and unrippling, like the mirrored sky of his home.