The Serpent Rears Its Head


Screams. Blood. Chaos.

The whole world stopped in an instant for Meredith. What was happening- How, where, and why? She could see her friends, lying on the cold stone floor of the cathedral, bleeding out, dying. She could see the angry, betrayed faces of her Azure comrades, comrades who were horrified with her revelation of her loyalty to The Lady of the Song, to Cora, to the Arken. In fact, she felt their anger, for she had nearly perished in the hands of one such Erwald Ravenstad, Sentinel Supremus. And just hours ago, they had engaged in mere banter, light hearted banter. Now, she stood with her partner in her hands, listening to the Shendar cry her name, crying for help, for relief. She was hurt, quite possibly dying in her arms. Yet in her mind was the deafening roar of music. Drowning out all her thoughts, her doubts, her very reasoning. She only served Cora, truly - all else came second. And when the spectral, skeletal hand beckoned her away, away she went. With one last look, the Silven laid her Shendar companion down and left, the desperate cries of her fallen friend haunting her as she made her way out of the Cathedral and back into the city.

Away she cast her tattered Azure robes, leaving them folded away in her Regalian home for someone to find, and hopefully take away. Meredith knew she had few options; She was essentially, a Judas now. A betrayer, a backstabber. A snake.

And now, like a snake, it was time to burrow.
 
"Meredith! M-Meredith-- Help me! Help me! Don't leave me!"
Her pleading cries and shrieks echoed within the cathedral, joining in harmony with the other screams.