A Harvest of Madness (Marcus/Nayru)

[Marcus]

If the effect of the monster plague was most evident anywhere in the cities of Lycia, it was, without a doubt, in their markets. In other countries, they would be centers of commerce filled to the brim with customers. The marketplace in Laus barely contained enough people to fill a tavern. Not that there was much to shop for either. What produce there was in the market less than desirable, a side effect of farmers trying to clear their land before monsters could destroy their crops. It was a pitiful state to see. Marcus had seen Laus undergo its fair share of famines in the past, but this? This was an entirely different beast. Behind the desperation in the eyes of Laus’s citizens lay a primal fear. A fear of the things that lurk in the dark. Monsters that couldn’t be reasoned or bartered with. An unnatural force that could wash over them any day and wipe out everything they held dear. Marcus had yet to witness the threat for himself yet, but from the mood in Laus, and what information he had gleaned from Mila on their trip to the city, he knew the threat was real.

His focus was inward, however, not on monsters. His chance meeting with Mila and the journey that followed was serving as an excellent distraction. She was an interesting sort, highly academic, and she made for quite the foil to his own wild man aesthetic. She had made a few attempts at lecturing him on the finer aspects of magic, but Marcus simply wasn’t suited for scholarly pursuits. As such, the novelty of their first encounter had begun to wear thin, and he found his mind once again turning to darker thoughts. He had once again taken to following someone else’s lead, and the somber nihilist in him was counting the days until he would lose interest and abandon Mila for another bought of aimless wandering. It was bound to happen, right?

Marcus had just moved on to a couple of fruit stalls to examine a bushel of bruised apples, when a strange feeling on the wind caught his attention. The air felt strange, as if a storm was about to blow in, but that couldn’t be. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it hadn’t rained in at least three days. Then, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He knew this feeling. There was no storm coming, at least, not a natural storm. No, there was a powerful individual approaching, and for all he knew, they were coming for him. Marcus began nervously casting his gaze about the market, searching for the source of the disturbance.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Nayru was in a fairly good mood all things considered despite the relative gloom of the marketplace. She wasn't blind to the people there by any means - she wasn't necessarily the best people person, but centuries spent watching people had made her quite observant indeed, when she wanted to be, and having spent so much time in Lycia lately she was quite aware of how things were going. But having seen attempts to fight back recently - successful ones - and coming off a bit of a hunt of her own, she was... optimistic, so to speak. Riding the rush of turning a small pack of Mauthe Doogs to burnt and bloody smears. It wasn't anything particularly impressive overall, as feats went. A couple of teenagers with swords could have managed it if they were cautious. Certainly nothing a dragon would go bragging about.

But all that was irrelevant. What mattered is that a small village didn't have to worry about them now. Being thanked in so heart-felt a manner was more valuable than any reward she could have dreamed of. It made her feel - well, good. Like she could make a difference. Without needing to turn into a big angry dragon, without really even needing to use that much draconic essence at all. Though... if she was going to be entirely up front with herself... yeah, she had been a little disappointed they had put up so little fight. Memories of the Gwyllgi from her adventures with Shara had spoiled her to a degree, the hope of a real challenge from an intelligent creature that could easily have killed her in a moment of weakness, and in fact nearly had. So she had gotten a little bit too hyped up and been, well, less than impressed. Which left her with quite a bit of energy to burn.

It didn't stop her from absentmindedly scanning the crowd... if one could call it a crowd. It certainly wasn't much compared to some she'd seen. But the fewer people, the easier it was to make each one out, and well, Nayru had a long running hobby of people watching. ...Not in a stalker-ey way. But just seeing people go through their lives. Recognizing them not as cogs in a machine, or minor characters in a story. But... people. Humans. Individuals with their own thoughts, beliefs, goals, stories. Something worth protecting. A reminder of why she fought.

...That blonde looked kind of familiar for some reason. Far enough away and wearing clothing she didn't recognize that she couldn't say for sure, and facing away from her. But... mmm... ah, what the hell good was an eidetic memory if you still had to pull up the damn information like everyone else? She mentally shuffled through the files, trying to connect it to anything meaningful. Names, faces, events. Narrowing the search. Not from Arcadia, not women, short hair, kinda scraggly looking... ah. He didn't look exceptionally as she had remembered him, but at least she knew who she had been reminded of; Marcus! That dragon (or manakete - had she asked?) in his cute little witch's cottage! About eighty years ago. Good times. Ah, what the hell.

Might as well find out the easy way. If he didn't react it probably wasn't him, and if he did, well, surely he'd be happy to see his old buddy Nayru again, right? After all, they had talked for like, an entire thirty minutes! They were basically best friends now.

Her voice raised, carrying clearly across the quiet marketplace with a clarion call. Almost a shout, with little concern for those it might discomfit.

"Marcus!"

[Marcus]

Marcus was busying himself, examining an apple he knew that he didn’t have the gold to purchase, when the “storm of magic” blew into the marketplace. Every hair on Marcus’s body stood on end as an incredibly powerful individual approached unseen. His thoughts raced and screamed at him to run, to get out of the city and make for the wilderness, to find a cave and forget civilization in its entirety. Stop. Breath. Reason took over, calming the anxiety. I’m sure it’s nothing. Mila was probably doing an experiment and it’s latent energy from that. I think I saw a mage college around here too. There’s no reason to p-

“MARCUS!”

Any chance Marcus had of stilling his nerves died when the stranger called his name. The dragon’s head snapped in the direction of the voice, eyes wide with panic. A woman he had never seen before was moving quickly in his direction and he knew in an instant that she was the source of the power. There was no time for thinking. Instinct took over and Marcus bolted, knocking over the apple cart as he turned. Later, he would feel regret for overturning the man’s cart, but right now, he needed to put as many obstacles between himself and the woman. The power she radiated was far stronger than anything he possessed and if she caught him, it was over.

Marcus didn’t run far before ducking into a nearby alley. Before he could get five paces between the two buildings, he found himself regretting his decision. The alley went for another twenty paces before ending in a solid brick wall. The woman had a clear advantage here. Marcus had no knowledge of the layout of Laus and was running blind through the city, whereas all she had to do was follow where he went. He paused for only a moment, the animal in him considering every option.

Up. Get a vantage. Go. NOW.

Marcus wheeled towards the wall of one of the buildings and tapped the power of his dragonstone. His hands shifted into claws and he leaped into the air. His claws found purchase in the brick and mortar as one hand went over the next. In a matter of seconds, he was three stories up on the rooftop, madly surveying the city. There were several routes that stood out to him, but one in particular seemed best; a winding and sloping path of rooftops, leading up to a cathedral that ascended far above the others. If he could climb the spire, he might be able to summon his wings and fly from the city unseen. If he made it that far, he could double back around to the city, gather up Mila and Joule, and vanish in the night. But first, he’d need navigate the rooftops, and that would take no small amount of skill. Marcus took one last breath, and broke out into a sprint, leaping from one roof to the next.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Oh hey, that did kinda look like Marcu-

....Wait, why was he running?

Nayru stood there in momentary confusion as the guy she thought she had recognized as her friend(ish) took off and BOOKED it the instant she called his name, feeling more than a little hurt and confused by his reaction. She was pretty sure she wasn't coated in anyone's blood or wearing a necklace of bandit viscera as a fashion statement, so what the hell was his problem?

It didn't take long for the hurt to turn to frustration though, especially the way he'd booked it like she was a god damn monster. And for better or worse, while she wasn't great at deciding on matters of self, she did have quite a bit of experience in making snap decisions. So while the maybe-Marcus individual did definitely get a head start with his unexpected actions, the female dragon wasn't too far behind, hopping over the overturned apple cart with a vague "SORRY" to the swearing shopkeep - though with more distance to cover and the moment of hesitation, she definitely didn't catch up before he was already clambering up the walls like a bloody monkey.

...Well, he definitely had claws now, she she was pretty sure that was Marcus. Which made all of this... even more confusing. And frustrating. "Get BACK here!" Unfortunately, her words did not rip the ascending manakete from his perch and send him falling to the earth below, and he was... actually booking it at a pretty good pace, so without wasting much time the dragon planned her own ascent. She didn't want to risk halfshifting like he had, things tended to get pretty... electrical, so she settled for just reinforcement - flooding her body with draconic essence, feeling the rush of phenomenal cosmic power flow through her, and bullrushed the nearest stairs a few at a time, up to the landing on the second story. Unfortunately they ended there and she didn't see any further stairs or ladders to climb, so she had to wing it, using her momentum to jump up and pushing off the brick wall to jump across, up to a window ledge she managed to catch. It turned out to be a little harder to keep going from there, but repeating the general process and catching onto the opposing roof, flipping up, and jumping across at least got her to the side Marcus had ascended - though the slippery son of a bitch was already well on his way to the next roof.

Big breaths, girl. Don't think too much about punching him in the gonads for dragging her through this. Nayru grimaced anyways and set off in pursuit, quite comfortable in her enhanced state but even less knowledge than Marcus about the structure of rooftops and running along them.

[Marcus]

Hop the ledge. Spot your landing. Now tuck and roll. Anticipate the landing. Good. Back to your feet. Don’t stop now. Keep moving. Faster.

Marcus moved from one rooftop to the next, barely stopping to consider the next move before throwing his body in the direction of freedom. Of escape. The animal was in charge now. Any semblance of reasoned, rational thought laid broken and shattered back in the marketplace. It was fight or flight now, and Marcus had clearly chosen flight. He ascended the sharp angle of a particularly steep roof, desperately clawing at the roofing tiles. At its apex, he paused for only a brief moment to catch a deep breath. He gave a glance over his shoulder to see if anyone was following him. Sure enough, there she was, the mysterious woman. She was still a several rooftops behind him, but she was definitely pursuing him. At the very least, she was alone. It was a small comfort that the commotion he had caused in the market hadn’t drawn any further attention. However, he was far from safe yet. Allowing the pent up breath to escape, Marcus let go of the rooftop and began to slide down the other side.

He let his momentum carry him down the opposite side, tensing his muscles as he neared the lip of the roof. Reaching the edge, he kicked off and launched himself to the next roof. Marcus landed poorly on the flat roof, stumbling awkwardly and barely managing to stay on his feet.

Shake it off. Don’t stop. Look at the path. Those five rooves. Seems fine. Go. Now!

Fortune seemed to be in his favor. A series of five flat rooftops stretched out in front of him, leading in the direction of the cathedral. There was very little change in elevation between them and, as far as he could tell they were close enough to one another that he could easily jump between them. Marcus regained his composure and took off again. Once again, he was flying across the tops of buildings, gaining speed and using his momentum to put some space between him and his pursuer.

Wait. No. Stop. Stop! STOP-

He had made a mistake. From higher up, the gap between the fourth and fifth house was a lot further than it appeared, and as Marcus leaped from the ledge, he found himself falling painfully short. Rather than bringing him safely onto the next roof, his trajectory was carrying him directly into the third story window. There was no time to adjust. He simply have to make the landing as safe as possible. Drawing on the power of his dragonstone, he hardened the skin on his arms and legs into scales and bunched up into a ball, covering his face with his hands. He crashed through the window frame, sending shattered glass and wood splinters into the building. Marcus rolled to a stop in the middle of the room, scraped up but mostly unharmed. He rose to his, brushing the ruined window off of his clothing and found himself face to face with a shocked and increasingly angry woman.

“BURGLAR!” she shrieked, backing away from Marcus.

“No, wait! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“THERE’S A BURGLAR IN MY HOUSE!”

“No, seriously! I’m not here to-”

Before he could protest anymore, the woman was through a nearby doorway, screaming all the way down the stairwell. Marcus made to go after her, but a quick glance out the ruined window sent chills down his spine. The mysterious woman was standing at the edge of the rooftop he had jumped from, peering menacingly down at him.

Dammit. Forget the other one. Get out. Now. GO!

There was no time to think. All he could do was act. Hardening his skin into scales once more, he took three quick steps across the room to the opposite window and dived through it. As bad as he had felt about smashing the apple cart, he felt even worse now about the sheer amount of property damage he had wrought on this woman’s house. He would have gladly taken another option if he could, but it was do or die. He collided with the wall of the next building over, denting the brickwork. Marcus barely had time to dig his claws in as he began to fall. His momentum slowed enough to make the fall only hurt him, rather than cripple him. With the sheer amount of adrenaline flowing in his body, he barely felt it. Back on the ground once more, Marcus took off down the alleyway and further into the city.