The Magi's Society

Kalesi and Naazir made their way down the vast steps rising behind them to the Education Forum. Before her small pupil was out of sight, Kalesi stole one last look towards the tiny thing. Unsure exactly what will happen at the Forum, and not sure how she will be treated due to her status, only sure that she would be safer there than with her mentor. The two figures walked in silence halfway down the steps, Naazir watching Kalesi carefully.

Kalesi hadn’t interacted often with Naazir, or really any other Neophytes for that matter, but the grinning man was a strange cut of cloth from the Magi’s followers. Despite being a Legionary, and subsequently in charge of training several waves of new followers into cold-blooded killers who enforce their Magi’s will, he was still a mostly pleasant person to be around. Never affected by what goes on around him, or how much dread might fill the air. Kalesi had only had the pleasure to work with him a few times, and every event had ended in blood in one way or another despite a Legionary being known as a ‘peacekeeper’. Still, he was reliable enough, if he called for Kalesi’s assistance she would answer. The man seemed to finish his appraisal of Kalesi, his grin ever plastered on his chiseled features, Naazir spoke up as if wanting to debate her decision, “So. Why not bring the kid? It would be a good first experience.”

Kalesi sighed, one thing she disliked was his dense bluntness, Naazir didn’t seem to understand other people much despite his outwardly pleasant appearance, “Whatever it is we are tasked with, it would be too much for her to handle. Simple as that.”

Naazir seemed to think for a moment, “I don’t think so.”

Kalesi was genuinely baffled, “What do you mean? Lord Magi Falcier’s aid sent the request, and we will be facing dissidents. She is much too frail for that sort of encounter, not even considering her mental fortitude seems to need improvement.”

Naazir seemed firm in his appraisal, “I don’t think so.”

Kalesi didn’t want to argue with the brick wall that was his personality. Despite how pleasant and cordial he looked on the outside, Kalesi quickly learned it was feigned to put others at ease. Naazir was incredibly stubborn, dense, and often even dumb, at least as far as Kalesi could judge him. Whatever made him see the girl’s ability to deal with dissidents, Kalesi didn’t understand it. She was strong, in some ways, the reading from the Scryier told Kalesi she had suffered extreme mental and physical trauma in her past. Yet it also showed her body’s response was to attempt and block all memory and ability to process those scars, she seemed a glass moments from breaking. If she had to be immersed in potential violence or a less ‘utopian’ perspective of their world, Kalesi was sure the girl would break. She cast her own judgemental glance at Naazir, who was now focusing on the upcoming road ahead instead of looking at her.

The two reached the bottom of the long set of stairs, delving into the throng of the city. Their destination was clear; Lord Falcier’s outer territories, in the Pipes. The walk was long, making them lurk in dark and twisting alleyways, but the two knew the area well enough. After only a few hours' journey the two reached the edge of their destination. The Pipes was a sector in a deep part of the city, where buildings were erected above and inside the massive blood vessels of the Barge. The huge section of area had become exposed to the city’s surface during a past expansion, or at least that was what Kalesi had heard. As far as anyone alive was concerned, the Pipes were always there and more often than not the preferred center of villainous scum.

As the two began exiting the last marble-concrete road from stable civilization, the expanding space before them opened up as if a massive pit was suddenly carved where a city should have been. Many meters down, maybe fifty or more, the first hint of a road could be reached. The largest of pipes were used as stable foundation, allowing the strange rusty dwellings to expand and hang in odd and precarious places. Intertwining pipes, bigger than most buildings, curved and wrapped around each other into an infinite mess of golden rust. Gaps between the pipes, and exposed innards of the Barge, allowed access lower into the superstructure for additional colonization and the denizens of the Pipes expanded as far down as they could fall. The Pipes was vast, covering many kilometers of the Barge’s exposed organs, it was likely the most densely populated section of the Barge due to their ability to reach exponentially farther down than any tower could dare to climb upwards.

By Naazir’s thoughtful glances, darting crimson eyes, and studying of the edges of the Pipes, Kalesi understood they must descend. Kalesi maintained an element of preparedness whenever she could spare, keeping various tools in her small backpack attached to her own white and rose robes. Taking her backpack off, she produced her modified Intellecoder Engram and began scanning for the strongest structural anchor. After finding her desired target, Kalesi used a small device that allowed the printing of basic plastoid materials to create a makeshift rope for descent. As the rope was fastened and ready, Kalesi noticed Naazir already making his own way down. Already about two or three meters down, Naazir was slowly wall climbing down the exposed wiring, cables, and broken supports. The muscle-bound man jumped from ledge to ledge and grappled with whatever loose hand-hold he could find. Kalesi sighed to herself, of course he wouldn't wait for a safer method when ‘It is climbable’ she imitated in her own head.

The two began their slow travel down the face of the jagged cliff. Naazir only a few moments ahead, Kalesi caught up and overtook the man quickly with her cleverly placed rope. Reaching the bottom, a particularly massive rusted-gold pipe that would direct them into the outer edges of the Pipes. Naazir quickly rejoined his companion, who was scouting the direct vicinity for any signs of trouble or danger. The denizens of the Edge, and of the Pipes, were dangerous and often sought to attack, kill, or rob any individuals that got too close from the city proper.

The pair stood on the wide structure, like a curved highway it led directly to the epicenter of the Pipes. It seems the people of the Edge would leave them alone, at least on their trip down. The two began walking across the partially rusted highway. The once-important pipework being eaten away by a strange dark blue material that was unique to the Barge as far as Kalesi’s travels have taken her. The material acts in all ways like rust, but eroding against materials that shouldn’t disintegrate like common metals, even eating away at stone, plastoid, and cloth if one had too long exposure. The name of the material changes from ‘The Rust’, ‘Magi’s Death’, or ‘Bluespore’ and any other random name a local thinks up on the spot. Kalesi never saw it as a threat, and neither do most people with access to water solutions and cleaning supplies. Yet in the Pipes, this rust devours entire segments of cities if they can’t maintain certain amounts of Magi technology to protect themselves.

The two journeyed away from the watchful eyes of the towering cities behind them, the city’s light unable to fully penetrate the smoke, smog, and dust that collected in the air of the Pipes. The condition of the area becomes worse as they progress into the inevitable warzone below. A thick mist of dusty smoke everpresent once you reach past where the Magi-Blessed air purifiers can reach with their current. The two emissaries of their Magi lords covered their faces with what cloth could be torn from their own long robes, Kalesi silently promising to pack masks as a permanent edition to her toolkit. Naazir covered his own face, but seemed mostly unfazed by the billowing dust clouds around them, the material soaking into their clothes and turning any whites a pale, sickly, gray.

The walk in the undesirable conditions is long, an hour at least, as the two had to fight against the perplexing wind that almost seemed to try pushing them back where they came. A natural barrier of intolerable smoke. Regardless, Kalesi was officially sequestered to the Legionary’s task, but what she even came here for was still unknown beyond the obvious involvement of Lord Magi Falcier’s displeasement with someone. If the ‘someone’ the Magi was displeased with was Kalesi, this was a sure way to teach her a lesson of some kind. While curious of what her task should be, she knew better than to ask questions around a Legionary. The enforcers of the Magi had memory monitoring devices implanted into them, allowing the Magi to review and chronicle all of their day’s events. Asking what a Magi or their representative wanted was a sort of taboo, depending on how it was phrased. Their intentions to be kept secret, and as little of their disability spread outside their own ranks as possible.

The two suddenly stopped, Naazir halting their progress with a hand in front of Kalesi’s steps. The man removed his make-shift mask and began scanning the area around them with his keen eyes. Naazir made as few movements as possible, what few he made were short and quiet. Shifting his head back and forth, lowering himself to the ground, as if a wolf hunting for its prey. A yell from Kalesi’s right, off the side of the pipe, a shrill screech echoing in the virulent winds of dust. Kalesi’s instincts kicked in and she went into a defensive posture, keeping her guard around her head. Before Kalesi could even react to the stimuli of the echoing cry, a dark figure was already approaching her wielding a large cleaver. In the same moment Kalesi noticed the figure, their cruel hatchet cleaving the wind to strike her a vicious blow, Naazir was already beside her.

In the same moment the figure raised their weapon and began to strike, Naazir closed the distance and struck his fist against the figure’s skull. The moment his strike connected Naazir activated some device in his hand, and a golden shimmering blade of energy pulsed into life and pierced the bandit’s head. The body slumped to the ground dead, and as it hit the pipe’s surface Naazir ignited his other fist to produce another golden blade. Wielding two fists, with protruding blades of energy, the man made himself ready to fight.

Kalesi was used to violence by this point, especially if she was assigned with Naazir whose lack of hesitation executed many. She rotated her back to guard Naazir’s rear, producing two silver cuffs that pulsed with blue light as they activated. Two small shields exploded into life, covering up to Kalesi’s elbows with a thin barrier of blue energy. The two of them had their own fighting styles, but seemed to complement each other as much as Kalesi disliked the pairing.

The two figures, exotic weapons at the ready, stood in the billowing dust as other dark figures began approaching. Three, four, five, and six Kalesi counted to herself. Six figures, wielding strange blades or blunt instruments. The foes had likely been stalking along the bottom of the pipe waiting for the thickest of dust clouds to cover their prey’s senses. The attackers seemed to size up their prey, outnumbering the two and so bolstering their confidence. They moved to attack, lunging at the pair from all sides.

A massive creature almost twice kalesi’s own size swung a proportionally sized blunt mallet at the shielded woman. Kalesi didn’t bother trying to block the heavy blow, instead ducking while moving to parry the blow with her left shield above her head, in the same moment Kalesi punched with her right hand into the creature’s gut. The large behemoth was struck by both Kalesi’s hard fist and the jagged edge of the energy shield. Wet ichor spilled over Kalesi’s fist, but as she pulled back another figure moved to the side of the giant. The figure took Kalesi’s opening and tried to strike at her open back, but Naazir was protecting her openings, and the figure was quickly engaged with the strong man. The attacker wielded a long metallic pipe, like a common thug, the thug batted away one of Naazir’s fists only to be struck in the neck by his other, pierced by the blade and crushed by the following fist.

The giant stumbled, and a thug was slain, there were only five left as the two defenders reassembled their guard. The remaining assailants realized individual attacks would result in death, so they prepared to assault all at once. Kalesi blocked fast blows, one man striking with some kind of sword on her right and a woman attempting to punch Kalesi on her left. Both were held off by the glowing energy around Kalesi’s arms. As the two tried to push her to the ground Kalesi fell with the blows, allowing to parry them clanging into the ground and following with a double kick, propped up by her now fallen arms. The woman was Kalesi’s target, two quick heels slammed into the chin of the stunned woman and she was thrown slightly into the air. Scrambling to right herself, but missing any hand-holds in the flailing, the woman screamed as they fell off the large pipe after sliding down the curved edge.

Kalesi turned to her other opponents, and saw behind them Naazir engaged with the other two fighters. The powerful strikes Naazir enforced were in direct contrast with his agile movements to dodge blows and slashes. Flawlessly parrying and moving to strike his attacker, in a few short moments Naazir dispatched a dark figure who was now a head shorter. Before Kalesi could congratulate the Legionary, she remembered her own two opponents.

The giant creature had regained themselves in the short moments it took Kalesi to evacuate their female compatriot from the pipe’s surface. The giant began swinging wildly at Kalesi, who dodged or parried the massive mallet. As she focused on avoiding being struck by a truck’s worth of force, the other foe attempted to strike from behind. Kalesi dodged the man’s attempt to stab her with his crude sword, and instead used his momentum to throw him into the giant’s powerful swipe. Like the woman, the man was launched from the pipe’s ledge and tumbled screaming down into the endless below.

Naazir had somehow been disarmed, or had deactivated one of his blades, regardless the man seemed to be dueling his opponent. Kalesi couldn’t watch their flourishes long before her own foe redoubled its efforts to defeat its enemy. The attacks came faster and faster, but Kalesi was luring the monster into a rage. As the giant enemy rose its mallet high, in an attempt to squash Kalesi, she saw her opening. As the mallet came down, she dodged out of the way, a large dent in the platform formed where the mallet struck and the weapon was thoroughly stuck. The giant was staggering from the powerful impact, likely breaking some of its bones from hitting the solid metallic platform so hard, and Kalesi used the opening to dive at her opponent. She struck where she had already drawn blood, causing a new puncture to form and red ichor to spurt from the old wound. She struck again, again, and again a flurry of blows against this beast’s gut. The repeated lacerations against its stomach, and the heavy fists from Kalesi, caused the beastial form to stumble and fall onto their back. The rearrangement of their organs by precise strikes causing the giant creature to fall unconscious while bleeding internally.

Kalesi looked up from her own victory to see Naazir duck, then grab his opponent’s wrist, and pierce his remaining blade into the figure’s chest only to have it exit out the poor creature’s nape. The two stood triumphant, and Kalesi walked over to Naazir who was moderately less soaked than she was. Any who entered the Pipes should expect an ambush or two, but to Kalesi’s experience the force was rather small. A roaming band of outcasts maybe? Regardless, her Legionary companion seemed to calm and collect himself as if the danger was past. She learned that a Legionary’s senses about danger were usually correct, and if her companion was relaxed she had no reason to stay on guard.

The two turned back onto their winding path along the pipe highway, the corpses left to be eaten by the Rust or scavengers after they slid from the rounded surface. Their destination laid before them, the Pipes settlements. A collection of loosely strewn villages, huts, and collapsed buildings. Run by the strongest or most influential of outlaws, a place where fighting would almost certainly ensue. The pair fixed their weaponry and delved into the crude ‘city’ built from the corpses of long-fallen towers and infrastructure. Their goal still a mystery to Kalesi, but her duty to assist and protect Naazir clear.