Labyrinthine was the river the men followed, flanked by steep cliffs. Virathus lost himself for many moments as he took in what he saw, soon recognizing the men he marched with; Hengest Harhold, Reddulf Ruyter - all men dressed in the Bastion black and white. They followed Charles Montagaard and Johann Eschevard, who rode ahead of the men slowly as they conversed. As they carried on, the Krupp wondered if this was a dreamscape - he became confused at the sight of his dead mentors.
Tendrils of darkness seems to form from the mist, making it difficult to see ahead of his Undercrown and Kommandant. Suddenly, their easy march became lockstep, and they moved quickly up the stream. Each man bore a tortured expression, their manners growing more eccentric and anxious. Some would fall over, their backs littered with arrows, prompting Virathus to turn about. Before him, hundred of Skagger tribesmen and levies stood, charging forward with great resolve, and he readied his shield.
Suddenly, an order was called out - but what it meant was not discernable audibly. It was almost like a drone, and the Bastion men stepped forward in their testudo formation. They parted to allow Charles through, as he made long and calm strides towards the oncoming men. Believing his eyes were deceiving him, Virathus double took, and before him stood a great grey bastion that stretched all the way up to the peaks. At the portcullis, the painted faces of the skagger men were filled with agony much like his Bastion brothers before, reaching out to the Admiral as he approached slowly. Holding a sword, he readied to strike the men as a burly blond fellow waved an axe at him.
Raising his arm to strike though, he finally recognized the fellow; it was Bangsi, his most trusted Companion from Drixagh. Offering the axe to Virathus, he smiled broadly as it was taken - the side of it had the Eschevard sun on it, but its colours were inverted. Looking back to the skaggers though, they all laid dead. Arrows felled them all, and as the man stumbled away from the gate, arrows littered the landscape all around him. He looked up to the Bastion battlements, and to his horror, he saw they were manned by Nelfin in his very own Companion colours. Turning, he raced up the river, catching up to Johann.
Before them both though stood a Nenya, ships broken in the river beside it, bodies strewn everywhere. All men who had served in Songaskia - all men meant to defeat the Magic Covenant. The tendrils seemed to have been choking the light from the sun. Whence all finally faded to black, and ember could be seen where Johann was. What was an ember soon became a great flame, the sun on his tabard illuminating the entire river valley again.
Virathus may have hesitated, but his Kommandant did not, spurring his horse on and lowering his lance. Like a calm knight in a tourney, he glew only brighter as the gap between them closed, combusting into a blinding light as he made impact.
______
Flagships were often tranquil, but whence the men aboard the Grand Armada's flagship entered their Captain's quarters, they bore witness to the most ludicrous scene. His eyes were wide and wild, his pupils dilated and sporting no shirt or shoes. Stepping about quietly, Virathus observed things timidly for a few moments before turning to the next inanimate object. The men called his name, and suddenly he offered himself postured and responsive.
Their Admiral had picked up a habit from Drixagh, of taking mushrooms associated with the Staagir traditions of old. Though he claimed they provided him clarity, he took more and more at the end of each week, and he found himself now having visions. Though wary of his more zealous Unionist Companions, he would quietly request an audience with a Staagir, or any Oldt Fayth priest or priestess that may make sense of what he saw.
Doom plagued his thoughts initially, but the more he reflected on the visions, the more he believed that they symbolised something more. Believing that spirits may be trying to guide him now, but he kept himself reserved after the embarrassing display - wondering if perhaps, heresy forbid, he was a living Heron or something.
As they sailed to the lands of the Magic Covenent, Virathus Krupp looked out with a greater sense of purpose, of determination. What he could discern of them - the potential for treachery among his new non-Ailor Companions, recognizing Nelfin as the true danger, and the Skaggers as kin - was all too clear. Thankful was he for the revelations, as he waited anxiously to consult the mushrooms again.
