A quiet night was rare in Arcadia, the world thrumming with action and noise in the daytime as people bustled from one place to the next. The city was one of the last remaining hubs for human life, though it teetered on the break of revolution day in and day out. Shadows whispered about the faction called 'Phoenix', a rebel organization threatening to overthrow the group of soldiers that claimed that their main cause was peace. They gave out food rations, checked for signs of infection in the land... This place had a strange mix of magic and technology, the former all but lost to the chokehold modern advances had given to it, but there was magic nonetheless in the earth. Phoenix hoped to revive that magic, to bring this earth back to its former glory. But magic was wild, untamed, and unpredictable. And so the government fought to keep it controlled, to restrict its uses.
That was where they came in. It had been believed that they were to help bring the magic back to this land, to make it whole again, lively and thriving.
But, as usual, their group of travelers are divided. Perhaps it would be better to kill Phoenix's leader? Perhaps the true fix would be to ensure the government stays in power? The answer is never so clear cut.
Still, every day is a struggle to survive. Lurkers - animals, plants, and humans infected with too much magic - come out at night and in the shadows, looking for more energy to feed upon. They are remnants of an old age, corrupted by the disease in the earth, and vengeful. No one is safe, not without precautions. They've found refuge in the abandoned subway, first with a group of others - the poor - who live down here, and then further down in other tunnels and up above, in the overrun nooks and crannies that make up the old inner subway system.
It is here that Neria can be found, igniting a fire with her magic in one of the old trash cans in an attempt for both warmth and light. She's sitting in the dark, awake at too early an hour because of those awful nightmares that have plagued her since her journey as a Warden began. They're getting worse, she must concede. The things she's witnessed are traumatic and have taken a steady toll; dreams wrought with dragons and the Taint are now full of dead friends and faceless enemies, memories lost, people disappearing. It's difficult.
But she manages. She always has. It just gets harder with every passing day.
A sound alerts her to someone's arrival and she lifts her head, surprised to see a familiar face in the shadows. "Robb?" No more 'ser', no more 'lord'. They're on closer terms now after so long. "My apologies-- Did I wake you?"
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That was where they came in. It had been believed that they were to help bring the magic back to this land, to make it whole again, lively and thriving.
But, as usual, their group of travelers are divided. Perhaps it would be better to kill Phoenix's leader? Perhaps the true fix would be to ensure the government stays in power? The answer is never so clear cut.
Still, every day is a struggle to survive. Lurkers - animals, plants, and humans infected with too much magic - come out at night and in the shadows, looking for more energy to feed upon. They are remnants of an old age, corrupted by the disease in the earth, and vengeful. No one is safe, not without precautions. They've found refuge in the abandoned subway, first with a group of others - the poor - who live down here, and then further down in other tunnels and up above, in the overrun nooks and crannies that make up the old inner subway system.
It is here that Neria can be found, igniting a fire with her magic in one of the old trash cans in an attempt for both warmth and light. She's sitting in the dark, awake at too early an hour because of those awful nightmares that have plagued her since her journey as a Warden began. They're getting worse, she must concede. The things she's witnessed are traumatic and have taken a steady toll; dreams wrought with dragons and the Taint are now full of dead friends and faceless enemies, memories lost, people disappearing. It's difficult.
But she manages. She always has. It just gets harder with every passing day.
A sound alerts her to someone's arrival and she lifts her head, surprised to see a familiar face in the shadows. "Robb?" No more 'ser', no more 'lord'. They're on closer terms now after so long. "My apologies-- Did I wake you?"