"Well, I have other business than that... but freedom and seeing the stars again is a long-fleeting dream. Doesn't mean I'm going to give up though." Arkhan spoke in a wistful tone, closing her eyes for a moment while she walked, recalling a time centuries ago when she did just lay on the cool desert sand staring up at the stars.
"...You have fun with that. At this point, I'm sure the stars and the outside are the least of anyone's concerns.."
"I know it is. But eventually... someone is going to have to step up to free the world. But that is a long way and a lot of power that is probably not worth it out from now."
"And how right ya are to think that miss." Nimah's tone shifted as addressed Kurai, her voice almost cloyingly flattering.
(Appreciate it, mate.)
He pulled his hand away, looking a little disappointed at her aggression. “Uh, Sorry about that, guess I got caught up in the mood….” Lucian shuffled away quickly, starting to follow along with the rest of the group.
“I’m so glad you asked!” He shouted, instantly gaining back his splendor. “Thanks to her greatness, I am able to harness thy power of the sun, and strike my foes with it!”
"Listen, we haven't even known eachother for an hour and people I've known much longer than that have tried to betray me for inoffensive choices. I'm not a trusting person, and you'll have to fight alongside me for that trust to even begin to be made..." Arkhan gave a chuckle as dry as the sands surrounding them "Of course, look at me now, bringing the dead back because I'm not the most competent fighter on my own and have been doing so since soon after all this started."
"....." Nimah cocked her head, her grin shifting into an almost ghoulish smirk.
"...Yeah, right. Because I'm sure you know everything..." The woman murmurs and grunts, pulling out her map once again. She glances at it for a few moments while walking, shifting her direction to the right.
“THAT THING IS A FLAGRANT MOCKERY! A HERETICAL, DISGUSTING-“ Lucian stopped himself from going any further, taking a deep breathe, and composing himself once more. “No, it is not that….thing sitting in the sky. I mean the TRUE sun! The one of our forefathers that illuminated their day, and brought life to this planet in the times of old!”
Lucian contemplated what she said for a second, as his eyes began to widen. “You….you were here before that wretched machine ruined the Earth? Fascinating! I have only heard but stories and tales of what it was like!” He seemed ecstatic, even for his usual self, but slowly shifted to a look of suspicion. “Wait, wouldn’t that make you many centuries old? How can one even live that long, even disregarding this hellscape?”
"Doesn't help that you have five more with you." Arkhan commented
"...You really remind me how old I am to have seen the sun, y'know? Or the other stars in the sky. Horus once moved alongside them you know..." Arkhan grinned as Lucian continued
"People who access their authorities don't really age anymore. That's why I look like I'm in my 20s, since I was 24 when I found Anubis. Might be something about old humans however, since evolution has taken it's course."
"Just stick near me so I don't have to keep any of them back to defend myself in a potential melee. I can handle myself, but swordplay isn't something I'm some god at. Not like Anhur at any rate!"
"Let's go then. We need those things, and can't survive on just bone marrow... usually." Arkhan whispered back immediately
"Don't worry, a Necromancer always has her tricks." Arkhan winked, and waited for Kurai to lead them to the farmhouse
"I'll join the Frontline." Akarui replied.
"Hey, uhhh, I didn't expect we'd be fighting soon...." Gwen just tried to hide herself behind Nimah if she even could. "But, errr, I'll just stay away from trouble. Try.... at least..."
Hiding behind Nimah proved...difficult, due to the woman's gaunt stature. It was much akin to trying to hide behind a pole.
Nimah examined the farmhouse, her eyes slowly tracing the aged exterior.
“Huh…interesting! I’ll have to inform the elders about this incredible discovery! Then we wouldn’t have to….n-nevermind that, it can wait." Lucian muttered to himself, an odd difference in his usual loud and jovial demeanor. Nevertheless, he snapped back to his normal persona, and followed along.
"Great idea! I'm simply famished after that trek!" His body started glowing a light yellow, as that same electricity-like energy from before began crackling, walking to the front of the group with Arkhan and Akurai. “I also wouldn’t mind showing some foul monsters the true power of the sun! Hahahaha!”
"If you say it that way, it seems like I'm not attractive enough!" Gwen pouted, "But, haaaa... guess it's fine if they don't notice me. Bet those things don't have any taste for women like me...."
Gwen was behind Nimah, a little scared, but also curious and wanted to help rather than hearing out Kurai's comment...
...which was definitely a sigh-giver given the circumstances.
The engine and internal machinery was mostly wrecked, though perhaps salvageable if the vines and gory growths that were strewn about the inside were removed. The growths writhed and throbbed as they laid eyes on Nimah, the many eyes tracking her.
There didn't seem to be anything living in the farmhouse. Not anything monstrous, at least. Barring the harmless growths and vines strewn about the broken structure, there were old long decomposed skeletons along with some rusted tractor and truck parts. In the far corner of the structure there were sacks and boxes, presumably filled with some kind of food, though it was difficult to tell whether or not it had gone bad.
In another life, the sight would have repulsed Nimah. Would have sent a shiver down her spine, her very body to quake in disgust and fear. But Nimah had not had such a blessed life as to be shaken by the everyday horrors of the Citadel. Thus...she barely blinked as she deftly slid the dagger from her sleeve, carefully cleaving through the gory growths like an explorer cutting through jungle vine.
"They're even alive.... What's sustaining these things for... so long...." Gwen asked out in wonder, not sure on what to do with her strings. She would be a little dejected putting her hands to work and examine it first-hand, but having someone like Nimah to be capable of doing just that, there was little that she'd have to worry about.
They took steps closer and sniff out anything strange with their nose, hearing the conversation of Kurai and Nimah as they picked up the truck parts, shimmying anything off if there's anything unusually growing from it. "I found some parts here. Could be useful." they called out, making sure even something little doesn't go unnoticed.
"Ya learn a thing or two when ya start collectin' old world relics. It'll be rickety, but it should run well enough." Nimah said absently, cleaving away at the rest of the organic matter. She extended two fingers of her free hand, tightening her finger joints until they could serve as something akin to a makeshift wrench.
"Hopefully they ain't eatin' the gasoline. Make my job a helluva lot harder..." Nimah murmured.
"Do plants even eat oil? That's... really weird... saying allat...." Gwen jest.
"...That so?" Kurai murmurs, "...Anyways, I've got food and a pot for boiling water. If you can get this thing running soon, we can spend the night in that house and have a little dinner, and then drive tomorrow. Fox girl says she found some parts in the house, so... talk to her, I guess."
There was nothing relating to the occult on the upper floors, barring the monstrous growths that seemed to have taken root in the house, but those could be cut out... if anything could be considered "occult", it was the strange way decomposed corpses were scattered across the floor, arranged in a way that didn't seem random.
