Realistic or Modern The Masked Truth (Private, Luna&Lunar)

[Heda]

lunarflowers Here we go, also please excuse how short this is for right now, I start work in about 30 mins but wanted to get it up, my posts will likely lengthen and shorten depending on the scene but will always try a minimum of two paragraphs!

Spoiler: Elias Bell

name |Elias Bell
nickname | Eli
age |23

father | Prof. Toni Bell​

Elias could barely breathe. Each intake of the crisp night air stung his lungs and burned his eyes. The tips of his fingers were numb and red, icy to the touch. He'd been running for hours and felt his legs buckle beneath him as he stumbled through the forest that never seemed to end. Where the *hell* had they taken him and who they hell were they? Elias was a healthy twenty-three year-old but he was no fitness freak and he knew he was nearing the end of his ability to keep moving. If he stopped now, he feared to fall asleep for the next few days, and just where in the world would that land him? The people that were chasing him were highly trained and highly skilled. He knew it as a feeble attempt to try and outrun them but he couldn't be apart of whatever was going on inside that facility. He couldn't let them use his father like that, he just needed to find a town or a road or someone to call the authorities for him.

He stumbled forward in the now dark forest. He had no idea where he even was, he just knew he had to keep moving. Had to keep placing one foot in front of the other,. At least that was the plan but he wasn't expecting the dip to suddenly appear before him. His poor eyesight didn't help as Elias lost his footing in the damp dirt, slipping into the ditch. He rolled over and over and over. Throwing his arms out to stop his tumble out of instinct and immediately regretted that decision. Sharp, intense pain shot up his arm and he gritted his teeth as he came to a stop at the bottom of the leaf-littered hole. He didn't bother standing up, he was fair too exhausted to move anymore and he didn't even know if he would be able to climb out of this ditch. Elias held his arm to his chest and closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them again, this would prove to be a bad dream.

 

[lunarflowers]

Name: Crow Medicine, or "Crow" for short. No surname.

Race: Kishari

Age: 32 years old

Spoiler: Photo Reference

Crow Medicine clicked his tongue at the coming of the forest. It was a familiar place to him, easily distinguishable from the fringes. Long ago, his people affectionately christened it the Moon Lattice. The name alone was an attestation of how the forest tightly cast a net in the sky. A network of woven branches twisted and curved, offering no demonstration of a proper walking path. In their stagnancy, the trees caught fragments of shimmer from the moon. It was a lonely place to reflect upon one's wrongdoings—or to ask for forgiveness in peace. Slivers of light would shepherd a worthy contester to the exit.

It was also no place for horses; it was far too dense. He put out his hand. The soldiers among him came to a roaring halt, each of their eyebrows pinching in confusion as to why they had stopped in front of an inconspicuous tree-line. Crow Medicine, with little acknowledgment to their feelings, glided down from his mare. With his heels planted on the ground, he spoke as calmly as an arrow. "We must walk now. The boy isn't far ahead." With that message, the Kishari passed the reigns into the hands of the next person , and gestured for her to stay with the horses. The others trudged ahead in their white and yellow emblems. The Samas Empire. There were four of them, lightly robed and armed with scimitars. They surfaced the cold, wet blackness of the forest, following closely behind Crow Medicine's lead.

Even in these conditions, the Kishari was nimble. With every unhurried forward movement, he stayed low to the ground. With the observation of a caracal, he followed the unobtrusive flickers of moonlight to the Moon Lattice's breast. He hesitated only when they arrived at a fork in the trees. The Samasians began to stir. His bronzed hands swept at the damp earth, searching for something of need. A man with a particularly sharp nose came forward, almost crushing Crow Medicine's fingers with the flat of his boot. Serion. His tone of voice oozed with entitled as he spoke. "The Great Shah has entrusted you with this mission, dirtwalker. Do not disappoint her divine presence."

Crow Medicine vaguely reacted. He flounced his hands in the opposite direction and swept up a palmful of earth. He brought it to his nose, let it crumble between his fingers, and breathed in the fresh, clean scent. "Osme..." he uttered in a low whisper. As the word rolled off his tongue like a prayer, his eyes rolled backwards, revealing the whites for a moment. He seemed to be paralyzed in this state, searching inwards for seconds on end, scanning the dirt for the memories it held. When he came to the answers, he gasped deeply and regained mobility of his sight. His expression softened, and with that softening, he brushed his hands together and lengthened his body into a standing posture.

"We're close. This way."

With confidence, he steered the Samasians to the left. Serion grit his teeth and watched as the young Kishari took lead of yellow and white troops again. Crow Medicine gestured them through a grove of pines before stopping at their key destination: a pit in the forest floor, narrowly illuminated by the moon. He put up his hand, signaling for the Samasians to hold back as he approached this pit alone. Curled inside of it was a panting figure, likely injured. Crow Medicine gazed down into the pit, his expression unmoving as he assessed the person beneath him. He stayed like that for several seconds, silence brewing in the space between them. Eventually, he extended his arm down, as if he were offering his hand. He felt an anger inside of him as he thrummed the words, "Grab on."

The soldiers watched in anticipation, unsheathing their weapons. Four sharp scimitars glinted in the light of the moon.

 

[Heda]

Elias had been listening to the sounds of the night time forest around him. He knew there were stories about these woods. Stories he had been told to warn him away from entering but he had seen it as his only choice. Insects buzzed and flew around him. Disturbed by his fall down the harsh slope of the earth. He could have sworn they were crawling all over him but when he opened his eyes to check, it become clear that was only his imagination playing into his fears. The young man's stomach churned with fear. If he listened close enough, he could have sworn they were getting closer, the group chasing him or perhaps he was now just hearing things? Regardless, Elias began mouthing a prayer... to who, the young man had no idea. He was not religious. He believed in science, just like his father but if there was something out there, he was begging whatever entity people believed in to keep him unnoticable. Please don't find me, please don't find me.

The cool air began to seep through his skin and settle into his bones as he lay motionless in the dirt. Elias didn't dare to move, from fear they would hear him rustling about in the bed of fallen leaves and twigs. Pain throbbed up his arm, radiating through his shoulder, up his neck and into his head. His whole body hurt, when he really thought about it. His heart was racing and the sound of blood rushing through his ears drowned out the footfalls on the damp earth at the top of the ditch above him.

Elias was too focused on buzzing and clicking of insects around him, and the sound of them crawling through the leaf litter by his head. The voice cut through the darkness and true fear settled into him. He clamped the hand of his good arm over his mouth, trying to muffle the ragged breathing from the panic shooting through his viens. I'm not here, you don't see me. Turn around and walk away. He willed whoever his figure was that stood tall and imposing at the top of the pit. Little did Elias know, he had clearly been found.

Dread caused his stomach to sink further at the sound of weapons being drawn behind the silhouetted figure. Could they feel his trembling through the earth that seperated them? The moment seemed to last forever, time moving at a snails pace and Elias could almost trick himself into thinking there was no one else around for miles. He forced his eyes open. Nope. The figure was still there, holding out a hand to help him up.

Elias shook his head and scarmbled backward, away from the offered help out of the pit, toward the other side of the slope he had no hope of climbing by himself. Not with his injured arm. His fear screamed at him to get up and run again but his limbs were heavy and exhausted, and his brain told him there was no hope for escape now. Elias was the prey and the predator had found him, tired and wounded, and would go in for the final strike. "Stay away from me." The tired, young man managed to croak out, his voice small and quiet; sounding weak, even to him.

 

[lunarflowers]

Serion stepped forward, looming tall behind the young Kishari. "We don't have all night," he prodded with impatience. Crow Medicine was without comments as usual, as he gauged the panicked-stiff figure below him. To no surprise, the enemy shrunk away from his rather tolerant advances, making his job slightly more complicated. He exhaled his frustrations through his nose. Yet, his facial expression did not waver. A look of relaxed concentration accompanied him with every breath, even as the young man crawled to the opposite side of the hole. He had no choice now but to join him in the leaves.

With control, he leaned forward with his heels and slipped down to the belly of the gutter. Very quickly, he assimilated that it was not a nice place to be. Large winged insects buzzed around his head, and each time a new wave of flyers surfaced, he would shoo them off with an annoyed tsk. With no time, he came toe-to-toe to the croaking, shattered person in front of him. To lay a hand on him in this state hardly felt fair, but those were his orders. He kept his eyes sharp, and clasped his hand over the weak shoulder which had been easily identified in the enemy's feeble act. Through the fingers of the trees, the moon beamed down over half of Elias' face. Crow Medicine pulled him up to standing, glaring deeply into his eyes. The face looking back at him was frightened, wide-eyed, and laced with confusion.

In a coincidental way, this situation was almost funny to him. Of course the enemy would run to the hollows of a sacred place, as if the Divine Mother herself was delivering a message. Fate would have it no other way that they would meet in the Moon Lattice. But, enough thinking. Crow Medicine directed his attention back to the mission. "And what exactly are we going to do to him?" he asked the Samasians, sonorously. He posed this question by design, knowing that an answer would lessen the immediate fears of the person in front of him.

As expected, the response came from Serion. "That is for the Great Shah to decide. Tonight, we make camp."

Ah, just as Crow Medicine thought. The coldness in his eyes softened, if only for a flicker of a second. "Then collect some kindling while we're here. I have the prisoner," he articulated over his shoulder, still holding Elias' gaze.

Serion's eyebrows furrowed as his men slowly sheathed their weapons. Crow Medicine's ears itched at the sound of metal on metal. He began pulling Elias up the slope, directing him higher by placing pressure on the sprained side of his body. When they reached the lip of the pit, he tossed him to the earth and pressed his weight onto the small of his spine. Shifting around on one knee, some fumbling with his hands ensued, but without fail, Crow Medicine knotted the man's wrists behind his back. A thick cord now braceleted his hands together. He ushered him back up to standing.

Serion slow-clapped from the sidelines. "Well done, brother. Kisharius would be pleased with your efforts tonight." This hardly felt like a victory. Crow Medicine's jaw tightened at the mention of his fallen homeland. He fought the urge to ask the Samasian general just what he thought knew about Kisharius. Instead, his energy went to tracing the cavalry's footprints, pressed in the dirt, back to their point of entry.

 

[Heda]

At least this tall figure wasn't toying with him. Elias knew that by the way he expertly slid down into the pitched with the young man. There was no slow advance that suggested he would enjoy playing around with his target before dragging him out. For this, Elias was grateful but his eyes flicked wildly between the Kishari man and the one still standing at the top of the pit. Elias swallowed thickly at the sight of the moonlight dancing along drawn blades. Surely they wouldn't... kill him? The Samasians wanted him alive, to use as leverage against Elias' father. So he felt confident in the fact this man wouldn't kill him but the fear grew tenfolded when he reached out and clasped the shoulder belonging to the wounded arm. Elias flinched but didn't fight and struggle against the Kishari when he hoisted Elias to his feet. Through the glimmering moonlight, Elias was able to see the dangerous glint in the eyes of his captor.

With each movement, pain lanced up his arm again and his shoulder dipped under the weight of Crow Medicines grip. Elias could feel the blood throbbing in his viens and his arm was burning up, as if he'd held it too close to an open flame and his skin began to boil and blistered. When he glanced down, however, that was not the case and again, simply his imagination running wild. It was no doubt swelling as he held it against his stomach.

Elias felt somewhat put at ease by the notion they would be making camp and he wouldn't be dragged back that night. He wasn't sure his legs would walk all that distance again. In fact, he couldn't be sure to do it anytime soon, Elias wasn't built to survive this wild land he made his escape into. He sucked in a ragged breath when the Kishari man made to push Elias out of the ditch. His legs began shaking, shivering either from the cold or shock or fear, he did not know but the young man managed to find some flicker of strength enough to drag himself up the slope with the help of the man behind him.

His breath was knocked from his lungs when he practically face-planted the dirt and felt a weight holding him to the ground. A fresh wave of pain surged up his arm and along his shoulders, dancing its way down his spine and Elias barely managed to choke out the words: "You don't have to be so rough." His voice was barely a whisper and only Crow Medicine would hear it. A weak groan escaped Elias when his arms were pulled and fastened behind his back and he somehow found himself standing once again. His brain felt numb from the pain and he took a small step to steady himself, wide eyes flicking around wildly as the men accompanying the one holding him turned away and walked back the directing they had all come.

He could try to run again but he had the feeling he wouldn't get more than a few steps before he found himself stumbling to the dirt again. Elias didn't want to endure another fall, especially knowing how easily he seemed to find fissures in the earth. "You could have just led them somewhere else," Elias commented quietly to the man who held onto him. "Why are you working with them?" Elias knew little about the Kishari but he did know they were once a proud people who lived alongside nature. It was the likes of Elias' father and the advancement of people like the Samas Empire that decimated their people. Elias didn't expect an answer as he struggled to keep his feet moving in the soft, damp dirt, trailing after the others.

 

[lunarflowers]

Now that they were both up and moving, Crow Medicine pushed his prisoner around less aggressively. This was not play; this was business. He had no intention of exerting more energy than what was needed to finish the job. If the Samasians wanted to make camp for the night, that was their business. Still, he looked down his nose at the young captive. To think that after all these years, this was one of the pathetic faces behind the carnage of his people. Kisharius now lay in ruins. After what they did, after what they all did, his homeland withered away into an ashen desert. That was seven years ago. To this day, it was incapable of sustaining even a single blade of grass. Crow Medicine vowed to make them pay for the loss of his father, his brothers, the people he had circulated with every day until the exact evening the bomb dropped. The images he returned to over the hill still haunted him. No shaman could circumvent his trauma. No person could warm his bedside. And besides, he never stayed in one place too long, preferring to disappear so that maybe he could relate to his people. Divine Mother bless them. They belonged to the stars now.

This person, this nondurable, weak person, filled his heart with sadness and rage. The kind of hatred he harbored for this man didn't even make him feel strong for his people. It just disappointed him the longer they walked through the black labyrinth. He brooded in silence. He wasn't the type to chit-chat to his prisoners, and his prisoner wasn't the type to deserve any answers. However, the small question Elias whispered was responsible for one small victory, as Crow Medicine reflected upon how he loathed the Samasians. When the weapon hit, they were the first to pillage Kisharius' wounded innocents. They mined and destroyed the earth prana that used to proliferate the land. The Kishari's eyes drifted over to stare at Serion's back, who had taken the lead. Reminded of his mission, he puffed a long wind of an exhalation out his nose, jaws clenched in their usual, stoic form.

As a patronage of that mission, he offered one statement to the brunet: "Because the only good scientist is a dead one." After all, after witnessing the biological weapon with his own eyes, he believed those words to be as true as air. Humanity depended on this.

They drudged onwards for some time until arriving back to the horses. Crow Medicine propped Elias in front of him on horseback, and the party began to fare the night. Cold smoke tumbled from everyone's breath. They were in high country now, and it was high time to build a fire. The men got to unpacking their supplies, bed rolls and tents.

 

[Heda]

Elias swallowed hard once more. Cold, tired and his lungs burned with each intake of breath. What he'd give in order to moisten his parched throat. He licked his dry lips as they walked behind the grouped Samasians or more like he was stumbling behind them, his arms tied together behind his back. Between the cold air and awkward angle of his arms, Elias no longer felt the pain in it he once had but this caused the young man little concern; at least it meant the bone wasn't broken. Perhaps a simple fracture or a sprain then?

Elias was not surprised by how the Samasian soldiers would hunt him down like an animal and drag him back like a prized catch. But when it had to do with his father and the work the man did, Elias knew he would only survive long enough for his scientist father to finish his work. His captors words came as a surprise. The hatred laced within his tone had the hairs on the back of the boys neck. He dared not utter another word to the Kishari man out of fear he might respond with violence rather than words this time. Elias was well aware of the history between two peoples and what men like his father had created to destroy their lands.

This was not the first time he had been on horseback but it certainly was not a favourite mode of transport. He prefered the technologies of his own people; the Akkadians. Unfortunetely for Elias, he had never seen the lands of his heritage or he just couldn't remember them he was so young when his family left. He had only heard stories of his homeland and seen sketches of the metal horses they travel on.

When they arrived to the place they would make camp for the night, Elias stood close to the cluster of horses, trying to keep warm while a fire was started and tents erected. His shoulders ached and the young Akkadians eyes never left Crow Medicine or the others while they mulled about.

 

[lunarflowers]

The night was rolling to an end. Crow Medicine, too, was growing weary as the Samasians settled into their simple traveler's tents and rugs crafted from the finest furs. For an empire known for its trade routes and wealth, his eyebrows arched at the sight of their surprisingly condensed supplies. From a distance, he counted enough food for the next couple of days or so. They must have planned for the date for quite some time, working out every minute detail till the exact moment they would find their prisoner. That, or their "Great Shah," a name that he almost scoffed at when he thought of it in his head, didn't care so much if these ones lost their way. Anything could happen in the mountains. Pack of wolves. Bandits. Cannibals. Betrayal. They were decently unprepared for an emergency. Crow Medicine, as usual, kept his pack separate from the rest. He was hired not as their fool, but to be their guide.

At camp, he never strayed far from the prisoner. Though, at times, he would occasionally turn his back to him. Nobody was expecting this one to run—not even him. As the young man huddled near the horses, the Kishari stoked the fire. He sat, poised on a log. Serion joined him briefly, speaking in low, hushed tones so that the prisoner would not overhear their conversation. It was in regards to the father. Crow Medicine didn't know all the details, but he was certain one thing: technology was evil. Another biological weapon was imminent, and quite frankly he knew that somebody had to put an end to this... this... forbidden knowledge. Magic, or as his people liked to called it prana, was meant to be performed: not understood. As soon as humans came to understood something, they always destroyed something important in the acquisition of that knowing. His people had seen it time and time again, and then he too witnessed the disparities caused by technology. Seven years after Kisharius, the Samasians were finally levelling with him. Their Great Shah was no goddess in his eyes, but she inherited the most powerful empire in the lands, and was now using that power for good, unlike her predecessors. She would banish the weapon, forbid the science, and equalize the people of their world.

Serion retired to bed after his usual, general-like spiels. Another uniform left to patrol their surroundings. With the last awake person amiss, Crow Medicine's eyes then flickered over to Elias, through the flames that were now burning bright. Embers floated up as he placed another piece of wood in the fire. "You're not an animal. Come over to the fire." he said in a detached tone, nodding Elias away from the horses with a flick of his chin. His hands swept the ground next to him, where he produced a copper kettle. There was not much hot water left, but it would do. He began to fill a cup. He would offer a drink to his captive, but nothing more than that.

 

[Heda]

Elias remained where he was, near the steaming warmth of the horses, although they did not do much to chase away the chilling bite of the cold air, it was better than standing alone or over there with the people who had hunted him down. Why not just let the wilderness take him. Surely they knew Elias would not survive very long out here alone, he knew that and the more the thought about it, they more than likely did too. He leaned against the shoulder of one of the beasts, eyes fixed on the huddle forms of Serion and Crow Medicine. He had no chance of catching their hushed whispers and wasn't even sure he wanted to know what they could be talking about.

Time passed and it was all the boy could do to stop his teeth from chattering. It seemed the horses were also cooling off and with it, any warmth they had once offered was now gone. Elias' eyes snapped open when the voice beckoned him over and he had half the mind to refuse the offer but the fire was all too alluring, as was the cup the Kishari man offered.

The Akkadian shuffled over and sunk to the ground, settling into the somewhat warm dirt next to the fire Crow Medicine tended too. Elias stared over at the man through the flickering flames. His mind was brimming with questions as to why Crow Medicine was helping the empire that destroyed most of their lands but when he looked back at his own countries history, he guessed he could understand why. Akkadia still stood, it had not been destroyed as Crow's had but is was oppressed by the empire, its scientists coerced into researching new discoveries and creating weapons of destruction. Akkadia is and always had been a peaceful place, full of learning and rich history but no longer.

"Thank you," Elias murmured, biting his lip and wondered if he could get some answers out of this man. "I know you don't like me, the way you look at me and yet you don't even know me." Elias spoke softly, so he could only just be heard over the quiet crackling of the fire between them. He wished to much to hold his hands out and thaw his freezing fingers by the fire but his binds would not budge. "Do you even know why they are out here looking for me? It's so my father doesn't have to create anymore weapons for them. I escaped so I couldn't be used as leverage." Elias wasn't even sure if this man cared enough. Perhaps the Samasians were paying him not to care.

 

[lunarflowers]

It was a fair point. Crow Medicine did not know the brunet personally, but he resented everything he stood for. He broadly resented the Akkadians' passion for technology and scientific exploration. He hated how each new discovery put a bounty on the Divine Mother's head, for nothing in the world could be created without something else being destroyed in its making. He had watched the earth fritter away all his life. He had seen the tree-lines burn, the mystical creatures of their era vanish, the prana-energy that once sustained Kisharius fade to a lifeless gloom. It had happened once before; the shattered remains of ancient civilizations still graced the lands, old as dirt. To those who paid attention to their pictorial warnings, these ruins served as a valuable reminder: a reminder that the harnesser of forbidden knowledge will always perish in the end, that technology would temporarily provide humanly comforts before plaguing the elements that are essential to all earthly existences. Yet, history was being deafened by dominion and greed once more. Life came second to power and economy.

Crow Medicine hated every last one of them. Even so, he found himself blowing the mouth-scalding heat off the cup of water, and tilting that cup towards Elias' lips. He was strong-willed, but he was no brute. He knew how to end a life, but he had never tried it before: not a fish, not a hare, not any earthly mammal that crossed his path. He was no torturer, not even to someone he hated. Besides, he knew that when they arrived at Samas City, the appropriate measures would be taken on the Akkadian and his family. That was enough for him.

He observed as the young man drank. Though he did look ragged from fleeing for his life, the flatness in the Akkadians' skin bore no indication of an old scar or of lines from stress and woes of life. "You've never been treated like this before." he commented, plainly.

Mercifully, the crackling of the flames disguised Elias' words from the drowsing forms behind them. 'It's so my father doesn't have to create anymore weapons for them.' With this line in particular, Crow Medicine looked at him as if he was speaking in a foreign language. His forehead creased with skepticism and waning confidence as he slowly lowered the cup back down to the ground. "Your father is warring against Samas. His science puts the empire and our delicate lands in danger. They want him dead before everyone suffers like..." his voice diminished, "Kisharius." With the utterance of that name, every muscle in his body tensed. He finished his speech in a growl. "Your father does not work for them."

All the while, Elias looked completely honest. His honesty was almost infectious, with the way that it bled out of him. Crow Medicine was no stupid man. He knew people, knew how to read them, knew how to discern when they were swindling him... And yet, he seemed to doubt his own judgment as he dusted some grains of dirt into the palm of his hand for a spell. "Your lies won't go far." He folded his fingers over the dirt, leading his closed palm up to his chin. "Emet..." the Kishari whispered into his hand. Then, with a heavy puff, he blew the tiny flecks into the flames, where they sizzled and popped. Nothing about the fire seemed to change: not the color, not the intensity, not even the heat. He inhaled deeply, feeling the warmth of it on his face. A small bead of sweat rolled down from his temple.

Hesitantly, the man began to extend his arm into the flames... A slight grimace twisted his face as the hand grew nearer and nearer to the burning stripes of fire, but he did not close his eyes. He watched as his hand dipped into the red zone. Followed by his hand was his forearm, moving inwards with good faith now. His wince evaporated entirely. There was no pain as he rotated his arm in the pit. The fire did not catch hold of his flesh nor of his sleeve. In fact, his body seemed to move through the flame the more that he played in it. "You're telling the truth..." he said, partially in disbelief.

He withdrew his arm with a swift motion, wiping away the sweat and tucking it in close with his torso. Had this been a ruse, he knew he would have burned himself. But he didn't. His eyes narrowed to scan Elias' hunched and bound form. "But not all truths are alike. You believe something to be true. That does not make it indiscriminately accurate." With that statement, he waited for a response on the edge of his seat.

 

[Heda]

He couldn't necessarily see it in Crow Medicines face or eyes but rather Elias could feel the hatred for him wafting from this man in waves. The boy could understand why. He knew the histories between all these countries, they were all aware of the stories, the destruction and death of more than just people, but of the earth itself. Sure, Elias came from a culture that valued the science and inovation of discovery and knowledge but the boy could also appreciate the beauty of nature when he saw it. He might not understand it like the Kishari but he could try to understand. He doubted voicing this to the man would change anything or help his case. They were all out here to do a job and Elias' was to get himself good and lost, so his father could refuse the work he was being forced to do.

It broke Elias to run away and abandon the only family he had left but he knew the older man understood why he ran. Crow Medicine's comment about never being treated like this brought the Akkadians gaze to meet his once more and the young man shook his head. "I've never been in a position to be treated like this before. Believe it or not, my people do not want a war nor to cause the destruction of the world around us." He could go on to say more and defend his country, what was left of it anyway but Elias doubted he could make this Kishari understand. They were of two different peoples that believed in different things.

Elias accepted the steaming cup of water gladly. Even as it burned his throat a little, the liquid was welcome as he wrapped his lips over the rim of the offered cup. He had to lean forward at an akward angle that caused his arm to jerk as pain shot through it but it was not overbearing. When he could not stand the heat of the water anymore, Elias pulled away but remained greatful for this small kindness. Who knew if he would have found water in those woods. He could have wondered for days and perished from exposure to the elements before he ever found water or food to sustain him. Perhaps being hunted down and captured was not a bad thing. At least, for this moment, he was still alive.

Crow Medicines nest words brought Elias back to the conversation and the young Akkadian shook his head. "My father does not want to work for them, he tried refusing and that's when they found me to try and use his love for his child against him. M-my father is not an evil man..." Elias trailed off as the Kishari sprinkle some dirt into his palm, muttered a work and blew the contents of his hand into the flames. Elias stared wide-eyed as he sent his arm into the flames and it did not burn his flesh away from the bone underneath. Magic.

"Of... of course I'm telling the truth." Elias whispered, watching as the arm was pulled from the flames without a mark; untouched, unburned. He knew magic and spells were out there in the world but never before had he bore witness to such a thing. His mouth opened and closed, again and again but no sound came out. "You can... How did you..." Elias couldn't get the question out so he clamped his mouth shut and tried to calm his thoughts, bringing the conversation back to what was more important. Perhaps if he could get this man to see Elias and his father weren't the bad people here, maybe he would let the boy go? "Why would I have any reason to lie to you, you aren't my enemy."

 

[lunarflowers]

"Kisharius was a special place." Crow Medicine sighed. He didn't know why he felt compelled to tell the prisoner this. Perhaps it was to keep the vision of his homeland alive. "My ancestors were born connected to the earth prana. Outlanders like to call it 'magic...'" He scooped another dusting of dirt and ash into his hand, watching as it seeped through the cracks of his fingers. "I suppose it is like a form of earth magic. Nurturing seeds and vegetables were the earliest practices of my people. Ancient Kishari openly shared agriculture with all humankind. It is the most common, underappreciated, and imperative form of magic." He briefly made eye contact with the Akkadian man beside him, to see how he was handling this information. It was no surprise to him if this was the first time Elias had learned such a thing. Most people were ignorant, as the race kept much of their earthly secrets hidden from the outside world and procured no written history. "Nobody calls agriculture 'magic' today, but that is unequivocally what it is. All of what you see is earth prana. We expounded upon it for generations, never taking too much at one time. Knowing that it could be perverted by humans who lacked a sacred relationship to the earth Mother, we hid it from the likes of..." he paused to search for an unobtrusive description, but his words still came out sharp-tongued in the end, "your people. For long as long as we could. Kisharius became a holy land, out of bounds to the world's most ignorant creatures: travelers, merchants, nations, and scientists." Nearing the finale of his history lesson, Crow Medicine huffed unfavorably at the young man below him.

Then, his eyes focused on someone lumbering towards the camp. He peered through the flames at the approaching silhouette of a man, recognizing it to be the Samasian soldier who left for patrol earlier that night. The Kishari swiftly rose to his feet and pulled Elias up by his shoulder. This time, he went for the non-injured shoulder, but still grasped tightly onto the muscle. "It's about time. Did you get lost or something?" he gruffed to the yellow-robe over the fire, his voice wrapped in a dominant, self-assured tone. The soldier looked between Elias and Crow Medicine before plodding over. "Have you seen the stars?" the Samasian asked in awe. Behind the thick cowl that swathed the soldier's face, Crow Medicine saw a sparkle in his eyes. In response to this behavior, he made an amused hum with his lips and began nudging Elias towards the edge of the camp. "Nature calls for the prisoner. Keep the fire going while we're gone. And don't look up at the sky too much. We need you to stay alert."

"I've never seen so many of them..." the Samasian gasped with wonder, but seemed to respond well to the lines of instruction. He eventually retired to a log by the fire, turning his back on the two men for a moment as he reached for the empty kettle. Crow Medicine took this opportunity to privately lift his rucksack off the ground, and to hoist it over his shoulder. Then, he quietly disappeared into the woods with Elias. He had not taken the truth spell lightly. As much as he harbored resentment for the past, there was some truth in the Akkadian's words that even he could not gloss over. If the brunet was indiscriminately accurate about his father's objectives, Crow Medicine did not want to be responsible for the detainment and death of two innocent people. That was not the code of conduct he lived by.

And so, as he pushed his captive along the undergrowth, he unsheathed his humble dagger and held it to the sore bindings that braceleted Elias' wrists. "Much of what you have said confuses me," he admitted as the blade popped through the beginning of the fibrous cord. "I'm going to free you under two conditions. 1) You will show me the whole truth. 2) You and your father will become allies of Kisharius..."—he mumbled this part through his teeth, battling with some sort of inner resistance towards this part of the plan—"and rid the world of technological warfare. If you fail step one, I will find and kill you. It will be a death so painful that you will beg for your own quelling." With the gravity of those words, he sawed through the final layer of rope and gave Elias a stiff, sideways shove away from him. "Do not make me do it." To Crow Medicine, there was a fine line between acts of mercy of being taken advantage of. He would not soften up to this person over the course of one night, especially not without getting all the facts straight between the Akkadian's science and the Samasians greed.