Chapter Text
The snow drifted lightly through the air, scattered flakes floating down from the patchy clouds to settle gently on the white ground. The sunlit peaks in the distance seemed to glow in the daylight, white snowcaps and dark stone contrasting sharply with each other to create a truly picturesque backdrop to the scene, one several Ardoni were taking their rest time to admire. Thalleous saw Anderon Mendoris sitting against a rock with a charcoal stick and paper in hand, sketching out an impressively detailed render of a split-peaked mountain off on the horizon.
It had been over a week now since they had set out in search of the Voltaris, and beyond the remains of the unfortunate traders and their wagon, there had been no sign of the culprits they sought. Only wildlife had crossed their path, only terrain and the snowstorm a few days back had hindered them. It made sense, unfortunately; the attacked traders had been long missing by the time word reached the Ardoni, there would have been plenty of time for their assailants to flee into the distant peaks with the spoils of their attack. The trail had been cold when they started, and by this point it had probably been buried by an avalanche and left to freeze solid. Several people in the strike team knew that already, though Thaleous knew that others would want to keep pushing regardless, hungry for battle against the cruel bandits that menaced these lands.
One person in particular was especially impatient for a fight– though Thalleous wasn’t sure calling that entity a “person” was strictly accurate. The Aggressium Prime, manifested in Thalleous’s consciousness as a red wolflike creature, was gnawing on Aran Nestoris’s neck, growling to itself in an echo of the jagged static that echoed inside the cubic shell when it lay unclaimed. Meanwhile Aran just kept organizing the set of rations, blissfully oblivious– the Primes’ manifestations only appeared to Thalleous.
As Thalleous watched, Aran closed his bag and stood up. The Aggroprime fell back, lowering its head in disappointment. It sensed Thalleous’s gaze and turned to face him, staring with eyes glowing white like a Song’s core.
“Let me kill something,” it pleaded.
Thalleous just sighed. Aggressium’s thirst for homicide had become very apparent from the moment he stepped off the shrine at the arena.
He looked away, seeking out the other three Primes. Well, the other two. He hadn’t seen Mobilium for a few days, ever since it had sprinted off to bound from wall to wall of a canyon they’d passed. Thalleous wondered if he should feel concerned or guilty about leaving it behind, but he was technically still connected to the Song regardless, and besides– it had shown up again after wandering off the time before. It would probably be fine.
Protiseum had apparently found something new to get possessive over during this stop– it had found a rock with a strange white vein running through it, and was now sitting with the rock between glowing blue paws, staring at nearby Ardoni suspiciously. Thalleous wondered if the Prime would insist he bring the rock with them when they moved on. Aran walked past and Protiseum bared its teeth, growling at him. “Mine!”
A streak of yellow in the edge of his vision made Thalleous whip his head around, just as Mobilium reappeared. The wolf-specter came charging down the scree slope at top speed, then spun and skidded to a stop that would’ve sprayed a wide arc of snow if it’d actually had physical form. It flopped down into the snow, tail wagging happily, then rolled back to its feet and trotted off to investigate where Emlais and her sister were looking over a map. It put its forepaws on her shoulder to lean over the map, then dropped back down and started wandering among the resting Ardoni.
“Where were you?!”
Aaand there was Supporium. The green wolf-creature lept in front of Mobilium, causing the yellow Song to skid to a stop.
“Exploring!” Mobilium said cheerfully.
“You disappeared for two days! Stop running off!”
Thalleous was thankfully distracted from the bickering of the impulsive Prime and the controlling one by the crunch of footsteps on snow– actual footsteps, meaning it wasn’t one of the Prime Songs approaching for want of attention. He looked up to see Saros walking up to him, a faint but all-too-devious smile on his face.
“Hello, Thalleous,” Saros said conversationally. “Gosh, it’s been a while since we’ve talked.”
Thalleous gave the older Sendaris a deadpan look. “I wonder why. It couldn’t possibly be because you were avoiding me on this mission.”
Saros shrugged. “Eh, sue me.” He looked around the area. “So, how’re things with your new invisible friends?”
“You didn’t tell me it would be like this ,” Thalleous accused. Nearby, Aggressium perked up, looking at Saros interestedly.
Saros gave him an innocent look. “You knew you would need to be guiding the Primes’ energy towards your goals. We all told you that.”
“Are we killing him?” Aggressium asked, loping over to Thalleous. “Can I kill him?”
“Nothing you said gave the remotest warning that the Primes were alive, ” Thalleous retorted. “You neglected to mention that I would be herding cats on this mission on top of everything else.”
“Yeah…” Saros at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed, if only momentarily. “It’s a rite of passage, really. I wasn’t warned about that either.”
“Kill him?” Aggressium asked again, circling around the pair and staring up at Saros as though he were holding a tasty bone. “Please? Kill him?”
Thalleous didn’t bother to wonder how the Prime was holding a knife without any opposable thumbs on its paws. “You could have told me. ”
Saros shrugged. “Rite of passage?”
“Kill him?”
Thalleous took a deep breath, staring at Saros. “I hate you.”
Saros arched a brow. “Is that you taking, or the Primes?”
“Me,” Thalleous deadpanned. “Aggressium is begging to kill you.”
Saros laughed. “Yeah, that sounds about right!” He looked down by Thalleous’s side, completely wrong about where the Prime actually was. “What, no softness for an old friend?”
Thalleous groaned. “I’m never doing this again.”