The Outer Lord

Chapter 7 - Raya Lucaria

Lunar Princess Ranni was nothing if not patient. For uncounted years, she'd planned and waited, only acting when both time and circumstance were aligned. It was such unwavering patience that had allowed her to get this far, to become what she had. From the decades she spent plotting the Night of Black Knives, which required precise timing and staggering sacrifice, to awaiting the day the stars moved once more. That required the death of her brother, the mighty and afflicted Starscourge. For that, she required a Tarnished of singular prowess. Alas, such an individual had yet to surface. That was, however, until she encountered Talos.

This Tarnished was unassuming at a glance. His armour was blackened and streaked with ash and grime. His cloak was torn and stained with blood. There was no pretence in his mannerisms or boastfulness in his words. Yet Ranni's sense for all things sorcerous and her own preternatural awareness of the world as an Empyrean informed her that Talos was anything but ordinary. Upon their first meeting, she felt his presence before she'd even laid eyes on him. Like a titanic ocean wave, it loomed, growing more and more daunting as he drew closer. The weight of the air around him steadily grew until it was thick and leaden, awash with the power he was no doubt keeping bottled within. Just to look at him was to look at what could be mistaken for a god. Though invisible to most, power rippled around Talos' form like heat haze. And his shadow... His shadow was enlarged unnaturally in the light. It was like the form he presented to the world was a falsehood. A lie created to hide what lay within. It was only because she was so attuned to the mystic aspects of the world that she could begin to see through the cracks in that facade.

Yet that wasn't what had made her invite him to her lands, though it was a factor. He had questioned her judgement, asking her if it were wise gifting a tool as powerful as the Spirit Calling Bell to a stranger, one whose motives were unknown. It was true that he could be an agent of chaos, a bringer of destruction with no care for the Golden Order or anything else besides. He then asked her for her own motives, her vision for the world, and that was the hook that had secured her interest. This was an opportunity. One that had never arisen, and would likely never present itself again. She needed to open a doorway, one that Talos could step into but on Ranni's own terms. From there, she could determine his goals while explaining her own.

While he had questioned her decision to gift him the bell, what Talos didn't know as that she was far more aware of the goings on in the Lands Between than he believed. Sorcery carried whispers on the wind, and a major indicator of Talos' temperament was the news of Greyoll's return.

Adula had been overjoyed when her mother's cyclopean shadow was cast over the rise. Heeding some unheard call, the Devourer of Sorcerers took wing and followed the Mother of Dragons. After some time, she returned with a different mood entirely. As one of the rare individuals who could commune with dragons, she learned all about the generous act performed by the mysterious Tarnished wanderer. More interestingly, Adula had relayed that Greyoll determined Talos to be a gentle soul, evidenced by his own words. He had grown sick of killing without due cause, and wished to cease mindless bloodshed. That was what made Ranni comfortable handing him the bell and inviting him to speak with her. She didn't need a pacifist, but she didn't need a mindless beast either.

And so, she waited. Nothing moved, nor had moved for a long time. She waited. And waited. And waited. She fiddled with her hands, twisting the ring on one of her twenty fingers. Ranni felt anxious. Apprehensive. She shifted in her heavily padded seat. How would she approach this? Did she go with her usual speech? While Blaidd and Iji had been her constant companions since childhood, others had come and gone from her service, most of... unsavoury character. The most immediate person was Seluvis, the Preceptor from the academy. He needed little in the way of convincing. If anything, he seemed to serve her for another purpose, but he did his work and didn't get in her way, so she allowed him his freedom.