From Ashes

[Allan]

Allan studied because... he had no good answer for it. Learning had been his passion before... He'd tried to live his life with another. Tried and failed. He was now the man he was because of it. And now he was given a gift of a second chance. Was it studying he wanted? "Seeing the underworld would be an experience I'd like to have. But until this moment it hadn't occurred to me it was even possible. Much less that it existed. I'd never had thought mosters of myths and legends were real."

Allan chuckled. "I never I thought I could weild magic either." Allan nodded the direction they had come from, to the boy Atharim. "He's just a kid, and he's entrenched in a life no knows exists. And now he's hunted by those same people. I'm grateful that he was there to save your life, but why would you ever agree to go into a closed dark space you don't know with him.?" Allan frowned, "I'm sorry I'm being bold and questioning your decisions. It's not my place. But he's a channeler, and from what I understand a skilled one, and he can probably could kill you without a thought." Allan stammered. "Not that it's that simple. You aren't easy to kill, but it could be just a ploy by the Atharim to get close to you. It wouldn't be the first time."

[Ascendancy]

Allan was not shy to confrontation of rhethoric, but this was the first time he questioned Nik personally. He looked at Allan with a small measure of pride. “How old are you, Allan?” He asked.

“I’m twenty-six,” he responded.

Nik nodded. “You’re both ‘kids’,” he said with a small sense of derision for the word. With a glance, Nik appeared not much older than his companion. He saw age in himself, though. When he looked in the mirror, the eyes of the man who looked back were not those of any kid.

“You ask an important question. Why not delegate the risk to less important men? Expendable men? I am a god. I am powerful. The most powerful god alive, and even a king must join the battle sometimes. If this threat isn’t contained now, we won’t be able to undo the damage that follows, and if I can’t stop it, nobody can.”

He seized hold of the power, letting it fill him only a fraction of his potential. As threads of Firmament flowed through him, they curled all along the tunnel’s walls like a net painting a rocky mural. The stone shone under their touch, rippled and hardened to something smooth and strong. “I am at my strongest underground,” he said to himself as much as to Allan. Even now, awe filled his voice while his gaze drank in the sight. 
“I can seal a tomb that nothing can escape, if necessary. Not even the Atharim hunter, Nox can do what I can do,” he said, releasing the powerful demonstration. Nox may betray him, but Nikolai didn't think he would, but that was why he wasn't going alone.

“You have an interest in this stuff. I encourage you to follow Nox where he will allow. Learn from him if you can. Later tonight, come to my quarters and I will show you something you can read on your own.”



((OOC: Allan written with permission))

[Allan]

Allan supposed The Ascendancy was right. He was a man capable of the most wonderous things. There were delusions of granduer but Allan wouldn't ever say it out loud. A god...

Power arced out and the walls vibrated with it. He was powerful -- Allan was full of awe and wondered why the Ascendancy just didn't collapse the entire network below. If it was such a cause for concern then the loss of life would be warranted. It was that great an evil then surely casualties were to be expected.

He was given permission to question and learn from the young Atharim. But Allan had sown his own doubt in the necessity of it. Books could tell him the same. A boy what could he offer. But he would go on this hunt to see for himself the world under the ground. And later he would seek out the man again for more guidance, perhaps a talk on more thoughtful things. Allan smiled. "I look forward to tonight. Was there something you wished to tell me of this place? Other than what it connects to. I find that the idea of a place for men like us -- but not reliable -- a unique perspective on what the depraved would do if they even glimpsed a fraction of your power. If I had been another man. Had enjoyed the events that brought me to this world now." There was sorrow in his voice. He didn't like thinking about the things he did, but it was all part of who he was.

[Ascendancy]

Nik nodded, but he did not respond to Allan’s comments about guilt. The young man at his side was blissfully unaware of the movements in the world wrought by Nikolai’s hand. The things he orchestrated were written in biographies a plenty, but the acts undertaken in the night, those were the things to take to the grave. None would ever know. None would ever prove. None would ever realize. It wasn’t the hand of a god that reshaped the planet, the masses did that themselves. His was nothing but a nudge toward the inevitable.

“Sometimes it is good to check on progress,” he said by way of explanation about the tunnel. With that, he clapped Allan on the shoulder and said he looked forward to seeing him that night.