The air was very tense outside the grim manor. The ombre glow of frenzy had dulled, though it was likely to be centuries before its corrupted freed itself entirely from all afflicted, if ever. Yet, the tension was the matched stares of the two warriors.
Tall, even in his coal grey shroud with a bandage covering his right synthetic eye, Messmer was still a striking figure of regality in the shabbier garb of common folk. Rellana stood beside him, watching the two stare each other down.
Nahul stared back silently, clothes still covered in fresh sears from the prior battle. Her nose was flaring occassionally as the smell of Messmer's curse struck her nose with an offensive bite, but it also cooled her own rage to see much of what she sensed was not his choice.
"You are just like me." He spoke first, his face's tension soon fading at the same pace as Nahul's.
"...Ya. Weapons."
"I was cursed, and then I was abandoned for succeeding at my task."
"Crafted, then deemed a failure for having a will of my own."
"We have common ground. I am Messmer, son of Marika, former guard of these lands. Sadly, an invasion has rendered this title moot."
"...Lunaria Penelope Miras Voidure Evaresia." Fia looked at her. "Future Wife of Marika, wife to many, and Death herself of all things across time and space."
There was a heavy silence as Fia seemed to change her gaze from quiet and nervous to bordering in religiosity. Her fixated gaze was on Luna, and it was intensely filled with reverence. Death itself, the guardian of the dead, had been her traveling companion.
"You boast a rather high title, yet... You speak ernestly. How is it you are Death when Maliketh is?" Messmer's eyes watched Luna's intensely for any hint of deception. His tone held just a hint of the bitterness for his mother's name, though. "Why are you so... Weak?"
It was a sincere question given Nahul did seem rather diminuitive compared to the cosmic grandness of Death as a concept. "I am our mortal self, working in this lands. I can't interfere in individual worlds as a god, but I can as a mortal. Maliketh wielded your world's fragment of our family flame, but he was a great warrior, a carrier, a protector, and a loyal shadow. He was no god, but there was not a finer reaper." She spoke with an ancient authority, differentiating the two very ideas of a reaper and Death itself. "A reaper acts for the balance of a world, influenced by its culture, and wielding a gift of my family. Be it through giving or stealing."
"Then I propose an alliance." Nahul quirked a brow at Messmer. "We act together as a group. A squad, even." A hint of military training peeking through brought a little smile to Nahul's lips. "In exchange... I am allowed ten minutes alone with my mother with the promise I shall not kill her." Nahul stared hard for a minute.
Messmer and Rellana clearly deserved to join, and the hateful knight struggled to find a good reason she wouldn't want their help or their extensive skills and knowledge. Rellana was a visibly talented sorcereress that practically had mana exuding out of her, while Messmer walked like a hardened warrior and likely fought twice as well as any. Still, the risk to her beloved was a heavy ask. "In exchange, I expect honesty." This made Rellana a bit surprised to nor just hear Loyalty. "When I ask something, or you see something, tell me. I don't care much for the secrets of royals. Tell me and always tell me, and we have a deal. Don't, and I add your skull to my mantle." There was a darker air in her voice that made Fia shudder inside.
"....Deal."