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Wardens are souls, who no longer have their own souls.
Once protectors of great cities and peoples, they’re now drained and hollowed out shells of who they used to be
With no other memory than a faint reminder of their past purpose to defend their city.
But if removed from their city-
A warden becomes purposeless.
An even emptier shell of even the monster they became- docile and useless
Easy prey for the greedy souls up above.
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When Scar was a young allay he ran away from home.
Not because there was anything all that terrible about it, but there was nothing exciting or fun to do there-
And the concept of parents wasn’t really applicable to a species that could duplicate themselves.
Scar was technically just a clone of another allay, but his spirit?
That was all his-
And his spirit told his to adventure-
So he did.
Traversing plains and deserts, mountain scapes and mesa, Scar adored the diverse landscapes- he loved how each environment followed its own little rules of structure and whimsy.
But unfortunately, hidden within these beautiful landscapes resided creatures of greed and selfishness.
Creatures that built manors in lush forests and twisted pure souls for the sake of never ending life.
Creatures that saw a small little allay wandering all alone in this vast world, with no one who would miss him at all.
And that is how Scar ended up in the clutches of the pillagers and trapped in a room full of cages with no chance of escape.
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Scar couldn’t help his wings from fluttering anxiously and softly humming a sad tune.
He had always heard stories of pillagers-
How they tortured allays until they were hollowed out and changed to creatures called Vex-
How their souls became golden totems of undying.
How once captured there was no chance of escape.
He didn’t want this!
He didn’t want to be here any more!
His distressed warbles must’ve caught the attention of another creature in a nearby cage, much much bigger than Scar’s.
Because a low comforting hum resounded from inside.
Scar’s emerald green eyes flicked up to find the source of the song, Finding a massive looming figure with blackish blue skin and a hollowed out chest that held a dim blue glow.
“H-hello?” Scar’s voice warbled with fear but not because of the creature before him
But because if the Pillagers really captured a beast like him-
Then Scar was truly doomed
The creature didn’t respond verbally, instead humming a curious note, and softly sniffing the air.
“My name is Scar- what’s yours?”
The creature responded with a saddened low note
“Can you speak-?”
Another low note.
“Was that a no?”
This time a happier version of the same note.
“Oh so you speak in music- I can understand that.”
A curious toned warbled was returned to him.
“Oh what am I doing here?”
Affirmative happy tones were hummed.
“Oh- the bad guys caught me…. They want to hollow me out for my soul….” Scar forced tears back as he said the words-
Reality fulling settling over him.
“It’s going to really hurt..”
The Creature shifted, before its low rumbling humming turned into a deep simmering growl.
“Don’t be mad big guy- it’s not like we could escape anyway…. I’m…. Learning to accept it.”
The large creature growled again, dismissing Scar’s words .
“It’s not like I want it to happen- but it’s not worth us both getting to hurt, you need to be quieter-“
The creature ignored Scars protests once more and began punching the bars in front of it with reckless abandonment.
The noise was loud, and getting louder-
And Scar’s own panic rushed through his veins
Surely they would be coming,
Surely they would bring pain with them.
And most definitely they did.
A small group of three sickly grey skinned men came charging in holding up their crossbows with poison laced arrows. Before firing them at Scar’s friend
{Friend? When had they become friends? Boy did he get attacked quickly}
The creature cried out in pain, but still ruthlessly attacked the bars-
Those same bars began to buckle and bend under the pressure.
Scar’s heart fluttered with hope
Maybe escape was possible!
That same hope was dashed almost instantly, as the pillagers said something to each other in their clipped non musical language.
And one split off from its attacks against the larger creature only to pick up Scar’s cage and carry him out of the room and through the twisting halls of the manor-
Scar cried out with a warble of panic, his songs growing more and more frantic. As he could no longer hear the beast that was now his friend.
The pillager kept winding through the red carpeted halls until bringing Scar into a dark room that filled his chest with dread.
Runes and glowing symbols etched the walls and floors, lit candles levitated in the air and a darkly cloaked figure stood in the middle of the room, his eyes glowing purple.
And Scar knew.
This was going to be it.
He was going to turn into a vex.
His soul robbed from him.
It was over.
The pillager who carried Scar all this way to his doom left the room and shut the door behind him just as The figure in the centre of the room began to chant in his stupid language at still couldn’t hold any musical cadence to it if it tried.
Scar felt the pain first in his fingers.
Then his toes…
And then his wings- then everything began to hurt, Scar cried out in one last desperate song one final plea to the universe to spare him from the pain.
Only to be surprised when the universe answered him.
A resounding roar Interrupted the cloaked pillager’s chant and the pain in Scar body lessened.
Panicked shouts could be heard from the pillagers outside of the door, alongside the newly familiar vocalizations of the beast.
The panic outside stirred the cloaked figured back into his chanting, only faster this time and pain flooded Scar’s body once more.
He could feel his soul being ripped out of his body, stitch by stitch the pain grew and grew-
This was it-
He couldn’t… hold on… any-
Then the wall broke open and warm light spilled in and there stood the creature, his friend, and now his hope-
Within seconds his friend crossed the room, grabbed the cloaked figure and chucked him against the nearest wall.
Ungracefully and without ceremony, Scar’s tormentor was dead.
And judging by the now lack of sound.
So were the rest of his captors.
The creature was slow to approach Scar’s cage before humming softly in question.
Scar weakly tried to harmonize, but his body felt drained and painfully sore.
The creature understood- carefully ripping the top off of Scar’s cage like it was a freshly baked loaf of bread.
Scar tried to flutter his wings, to fly out of his prison- to leave it behind, but still he was too weak.
His friend hummed softly, almost hesitantly in question.
“I-…. Can’t fly… too… tired…”
His friend hummed a determined note before slowly tilting the cage and gently dropping Scar into his awaiting palm.
Despite the dangerously sharp claws and now surrounded Scar, he wasn’t afraid-
In fact, he almost felt-
Recharged?
Almost like he was gaining energy from his friend-
And judging from the bright blue glow in the centre of the creature’s chest Perhaps he felt the same way,
Like a perfect yin and yang of each other
“S-sc-Scar” a low voice spoke
Scar looked up sharply, that voice! It was-
His eyes locked onto his Friend’s face, needing to see the confirmation.
“Sc-ar… okay?”
It was him! Speaking slowly and softly.
“Yeah! Yeah I’m okay, you CAN talk, this is great!!” Scar spoke excitedly despite his exhaustion “I have so many questions like, what’s your name? Or why did you help me? Are we friends now? I would really like to be friends.”
His friend didn’t have eyes, but Scar assumed if he did he would be staring at him blankly. Which was fair-
Scar had a tendency to get ahead of himself most of the time, he was just about to apologize- but his friend spoke first.
“Cub…. My name… was Cub..”
Scar blinked a few times, before grinning.
“It’s nice to meet you Cub- want to be friends?”
Cub was silent for a couple more seconds before nodding his head “yes…”
“Awesome!… now… do you think we could get out of this place?”
“Yes.”
And with That the Warden carried his new charge out of the manor, even letting his new small friend ride on his shoulder for a better view.
What Scar didn’t understand, was the moment they met Cub came back to life.
He was no longer just a hollow shell of the warrior he used to be.
The Allay’s pure warm soul, along side his kindness rekindled the hearth inside of the Warden.
Reminded him of why he fought and why he needed to protect.
And because of that
Cub vowed to never leave Scar’s side.