Unbroken

[Kyrinn the Black]

Continued from New Life


It was midmorning when the rickety coach from Freeport first caught sight of Neriak. The only part of the city that was visible on the surface was the enormous entrance gate carved into the side of a mountain. It seemed to be a giant wound in the heart of the forest, as if the very land itself was cringing in pain. The scene dredged up old memories, and old feelings from a different lifetime. How long had it been anyway, 12 years, 15 years? The Teir’dal were a long-lived race, but that didn’t make the passage seem any faster.

The coach came to rest amongst a small cluster of tents at the base of Neriak’s entrance ramp. It paused long enough to deposit a single occupant before creaking away to the North. Nothing out of the oridinary.

Nobody even took much notice of the newcomer. He was of average height and build, dressed in loose fitting blue robes. The sleeves were cut a little too long but when the wind blew his left arm flapped in the breeze as if his arm were missing altogether. His blond hair had been pulled up and tied back to keep it out of his face. He wore a thin bladed katana belted tightly against his midsection, but aside from the missing arm, there was nothing about him that was out of the ordinary for a male Teir’dal. Without a word to anybody he started up the entrance ramp.

Nobody knew that on that seemingly average day; Kyrinn L’Celare of the Twilight Empire had come home.

[Kyrinn the Black]

The walk down into the bowels of Neriak was longer than Kyrinn remembered. The ramp he traveled down on emptied into a landing midway into his descent. The area was little more than a cluster of covered shop stalls. This was as far as most visitors dared venture into the Teir’dal city. There were only two guards stationed here. They seemed to be low ranking members of the Indigo Brotherhood. The Indigo Brotherhood were the Warriors of Neriak and it was they who were entrusted as house guards to the various powers of the City.

The ramp turned downward to the left and ended at an underground river. Kyrinn followed the stone path around the waters edge. It was more than a little surprising to find Spiritmaster Friey still stationed here after all these years. She was as beautiful as the day Kyrinn first seen her, wearing a low cut white robe with shiny black leather boots. The sneer on her face told Kyrinn not to waste his breath getting his spirit bound.

Kyrinn pressed on across the Bridge of Sacrifice and into the true entrance of Neriak. From here the path branched to the left and right. There were a few places in Neriak that one could get a drink but only one that offered lodging as well. The Double Daggers Inn, the path to the right eventually would lead there. The Inn was actually very near the old site of House L’Celare; the renegade House that Kyrinn had once belonged too. The last time he had seen the place it was in ruins but that was nearly a decade ago. It was more than enough time for a new House to rebuild and move onto the old territory. Before inquiring about a room Kyrinn walked towards the stone building that now inhabited the land that had once been the L’Celare manor.