Chapter 77: The Various Attempts At Entry
The landscape of Alastaia’s moon was a lifeless grey. Naught but rocks, dust and the distant flitting of herds of soul-devouring monsters were visible. A shame, considering what this barren husk had once been.
Orodan had a thought, kept closely guarded, that one day he wanted to give back to Zaessythra for everything she’d done for him. He idly filed it away for a later time.
“A rather bland and desolate place, the decor could use some work, and the gray color scheme is a tad overdone.”
“I apologize that the Alastaia’s barren moon isn’t to your liking, your royal wandering majesty,” Orodan sarcastically spat. “This used to be a sprawling world once, rife with its own cities, history… and even a ruler.”
“I suppose the ruins beneath my legs might be a worthy endeavor for exploration and choice bits of looting,” Talricto said.
“Long as you avoid the many construct guardians and the various soul-devouring beasts braying for anything which looks edible,” Orodan said.
“I’ve traversed far harsher locales, my foolish student,” Talricto reminded. “The various planes of the elemental spirits, the burning layers of the hells and even brief forays into isolated places between galaxies where naught but death awaits. Even the most hazardous of these locations still had a deadly beauty about them. This place is just dispiriting.”
“That tends to be the case when a world’s core is destroyed and the life dies out over a few hundred-thousand years. Nothing left here but soul-sucking things which are in a state of perpetual starvation,” Orodan remarked. “Kept away only by the threat of guaranteed death which I pose to them.”
“Which is why I set foot onto this desolate waste only at your behest,” Talricto said. “I’ve plundered the vaults of the dwarves and pilfered holy relics of those sanctimonious fools from the Conclave. I’m used to being surrounded by splendorous treasure and a landscape of art and refinement.”