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A day ago this city once thrived with inphernals, to the busiest of streets to the most calm. It captivated most who wander along its busy streets, native or not. It was a sight to behold by anyone. But now, it was only a shallow husk of its formal glory. Buildings which once hosted life, toppled over onto each other, littering debris all about the streets of the Lost Temple city. All while fire danced around the crumpled streets, as it roared angrily, threatening anyone near to burn for all eternity. It was such a horrific sight to bear witness to, unnecessary carnage and destruction for what purpose was unclear.
This level of destruction is something you'd expect from Windforce, but Firebrand? It raised a whole new set of questions, but none that could be answered in due time.
The best Venomshank could do at the moment was salvage the already decrepit and destroyed city for any signs that could possibly point to reason; Even, if it resulted in nothing, it was all they had at the moment, because Firebrand’s whereabouts were completely unknown.
While Venomshank moved quickly through the rubble, or as quickly as he could with all the rubble blocking his path. Sisyphus flew above, being an extra pair of eyes for the deity. But with most roads being blocked off by rubble, Venomshank had to resort to taking a long and treacherous pathway just to make it anywhere in this dead husk of a city. While he strided through and past rubble, he inhaled sharp breaths of hot air that felt like pin needles stabbing at his lungs. He pondered for a moment if Sisyphus had any better luck finding anything with all this smoke in the air.
To any normal inphernal the smoke inhalation alone would be a death sentence, he could probably name twenty different ways this city could kill anyone. So, that checks off finding anyone to answer his questions, not here at least.
Even though this might’ve been a waste of time, it still gave Venomshank more of a valuable understanding on Lost Temple's current predicament with its largest city. Even though he wasn’t the most talkative or present deity there was still some underlying care he felt, maybe not as much as Firebrand (if that statement is still true anymore) But there was something.
For a moment he paused amongst the flaming rumble to take a quick look at his pocket watch. It showed the time had struck four in the afternoon. How peculiar, he spent three and half-ish hours mindlessly searching for any clues; It was certainly more time than he meant to spend searching, he must've gotten caught up in his own thoughts about the situation to even notice the passage of time.
He grumbled to himself, putting the pocket watch away and getting ready to recall Sisyphus. But then he heard faint cawing. Which means something must’ve been spotted by her, maybe it could've been a mortal.
It took him a moment. With all that smoke in the air to probably pinpoint Sisyphus, but one large gust of wind blew just enough smoke out of the way so he could see Sisyphus. He began to move quickly towards her, while every so often looking up to make sure he was headed in the right direction. While the path he took while being faster, was generally a risky one. But he had calculated this was the quickest pathway. Watching the rubble around him to avoid any of it falling upon him.
As he approached the area his steps began to slow down as he could hear Sisyphus's caw ring out above him. He was now more focused on trying to find what or who Sisyphus saw while up in the air. But nothing much stood out to the deity until he heard the faintest sound of choked sob.
It was faint, but it was near.
Venomshank turned on his heel, directing his gaze toward the sound. There, tucked behind fallen debris was a young inphernal, tightly curled in on themselves. If it wasn't for the vibrant red of the younglings horns, venomshank would've missed them all together. He examined the kid closely, the feathers that seemed to line their arms were missing a few patches of feathers. They must've been plucked by them, he reasoned. Which didn't help with the sorrowful feeling that seemed to brew inside Venomshank. poor thing. Nothing this young should have to suffer through such destruction like this, he was keen on that belief.
After being successful in finding the point of interest, he whistled for Sisyphus to return to his side. She let out a final caw as she dived below the thick smoke. Reopening her wings once she was close enough to Venomshank, hovering around him until she perched once again on his shoulder once again.
But it seemed with all the commotion, the kid became very aware of the deity's presence. The poor thing looked frightened half to death, he could tell from the way they puffed out their feathers, and their shift to move even further behind the fallen debris. Venomshank didn’t look the most welcoming appearance wise, plus,he doubted the thick smoke surrounding the area was making him look any more friendly. so the young inphernal’s reaction wasn’t too uncalled for.
It became awfully clear he wasn't gonna receive any answers from the kid, but at the same time he couldn't abandon them here. Based on an obvious guess, the smoke probably wasn’t doing great for the kid's lungs. Venomshank was actually rather impressed with how far they've seemed to pull through without toppling over from smoke inhalation. I mean this amount of smoke could make any inphernal pass out from smoke inhalation.
He adjusted himself as he began to kneel down onto one knee, this seemed to put the kid at some sort of ease, even if only slightly.
“It intrigues me how someone of your size was able to survive out here; though, hiding behind that rubble won't protect you forever. I can help if you come out.” he hummed pointing to the large piece of rubble that shielded the young inphernal. Like clockwork, they looked at the rubble they were hiding behind, then back at the deity, then back at it again. As if debating within themselves to flee from cover or retreat farther behind it.
Venomshank took this as a sign to continue talking to encourage them to come out. “You know, without the keen eyes of my friend here.” He gestured to the bird perched on his shoulder. “I probably would have never been able to find your hiding spot,” he stopped briefly, watching them slowly shuffle out from behind the debris before continuing.
“She aids me greatly, by being my eyes in the sky, seeing areas I would’ve normally missed on the ground.” Sisyphus cooed happily at the praise. While Venomshank put forth a less gravely voice than his usual speaking tone, an attempt to appear less threatening than his appearance suggested.
Venomshank’s talking must've put the young one at ease, as they slowly shifted out from their cover and made a few steps towards the deity. Though notably still equally parts anxious, as they were greatly hunched over on themselves and held their arms so close to their chest as they fidgeted with their fingers.
Despite that, he took the cue to continue talking. “If you wouldn't mind me asking, what's your name?” It took a few genuine moments for the kid to reply, he worried about dwelling too much time in an area like this. Too much exposure to smoke inhalation could result in reversible damage to the kid’s lungs.
But eventually their voice broke through the silence “I'm.. sword.” they replied shifting in their stance. Ah, so that's what the kid's name was, and by extension Venomshank could make a very educated guess on what their gear was.
“Well, it seems only fair to introduce myself, doesn't it? My name is Venomshank, and this here is my companion Sisyphus." Sisyphus puffed out her chest, in a seemingly proud and comfortable stance as Venomshank introduced her, raising the shoulder rested on as he did. A slight goofy smile accompanied sword’s face as he reached out towards Sisyphus with one hand, stepping even closer to the two, and like clockwork Venomshank held out his arm further out as Sisyphus stepped down from his shoulder and onto his elbow.
This allowed sword to reach up and behind Sisyphus’s neck, and give her a few good scratches. Which made his smile widen even more. The sweet moment was quickly interrupted as they began wheezing and coughing again, this time even worse.
Right, their current situation didn't allow for sitting around, he quickly reminded himself. As he brought his arm back towards him, while Sisyphus stepped back up onto her original position on his shoulder.
“Would you like to come with me for the time being?” He spoke up, as their coughing fit began to die down. “ I cannot guarantee a permanent roof over your head, but it's probably a lot safer than your current predicament.” He finished, letting his decision sink in. His decision bring the kid along with him was a rather dumb one on his end, he didn’t even know a lick of what to do when it came to raising a young inphernal. But leaving them here wasn’t a wise idea either.
Venomshank reasoned with himself that this was just gonna be a temporary arrangement, once he found sword a permit home he wouldn’t need to about looking after them anymore.. right?
But no time to dwell on what wouldn’t be for a while, snapping himself back into reality. He peered once again towards sword, seems like he wasn’t the only one caught up in thought, hm? As Sword seemed to stare thoughtfully at the ground. Once they made up their mind, they looked upwards to face Venomshank and nodded to the question.
He took this invention to slowly extend his hand out towards sword, and while they seemed hesitant at first. They placed their own on top of his and with that venomshank began to stand, not fully to his exact height. More hunched over, that way the kid wasn’t practically tipping toeing tryna reach his hand.
Slowly Venomshank began to slowly lead Sword out of the blazing rumble and somewhere more safe. But one thought seemed to pester its way into Venomshank's mind.
What now?