second rune; death; video

[deadelfwalking]

 [When the feed starts, the netbook's camera shows you a view of the forest floor.  A deer carcass lies among the grass and twigs, and it's obvious that the poor thing did not have a clean death.  It's in the advanced stages of decomposition, even though the blood around its body is red and fresh.  The camera does not linger on this image for more than a few seconds; it pans upward, to show Koltira's face.

 He's standing over the deer, holding the device in one hand, holding Byfrost with the other.  Agony creases his expression: his jaw is clenched, his eyes narrowed, every muscle in his pale, sallow face is taut with pain.  The guttural growl of his voice occasionally rises in octave as he talks, as though something is beating the shit out of him from the inside.]

Were we brought here to fight for something, or to waste time reliving the past?  Send.  Us.  On.  A mission.

[He stabs the tree next to him with Byfrost, and the sword glows sickly green; the tree bark begins to decay rapidly, as though it's practically melting.  Diseased fumes pour out of the bark, forming a nasty miasma around Koltira's body.]

I need a battle. [he hisses, and blood trickles from the corner of his mouth as he bites down on the inside of his cheek.]  Now.

Comments

[Video]

[hornedomen]

Why?

[He asked with resentment. There were more questions he wanted to follow with. Too many questions that cluttered his thoughts and that he could not articulate.]

[deadelfwalking]

[IS EVERYONE GOING TO TAKE A SHOT AT HIM TODAY? Is that how this is gonna go. He groans.]

Why what. The deer? I have been hunting them from time to time--[his voice catches as he chokes on another pain-blast. Man, this is getting old.]--though I usually do not use Byfrost to do it.

[hornedomen]

Not the deer! You…

[He faltered as Koltira was obviously in pain. It was not that he was losing confidence; it was because he could not find a way to word out all his thoughts.

Still, he tried.] Why do you do that? The girl and the battles, why? Why do you need to fight?

[deadelfwalking]

[Ah, the girl.]

As I said to you when we first spoke--I was controlled, for many years. That was a memory of those times, when I was a puppet of the Scourge. [his voice is tight as he speaks, as though doing so requires a significant effort on his part.]

[hornedomen]

[He did remember that but he remained suspicious. However, he decided that it should wait for later when Koltira was not in grievous pain.]

How did you get hurt?

[deadelfwalking]

[hhnnnh. Wincing.] What-- are you talking about? This is my bloody body. Nothing is hurting me--except the curse of undeath itself.

[hornedomen]

What? But you’re not always like this.

[The video moved around in a restless manner. Ico wanted to help but he was still unsure about what Koltira’s intentions were. He saw the blood from his mouth but he had seen him with worse wounds before.]

How do you get it to stop?

[deadelfwalking]

In fact--I am always like this--but the pain is not usually this intense. [a wracking pain stabs through him, and he clutches his stomach, falling to his knees.] Hnnhh ... don't--worry about it.

[hornedomen]

[That did not convince him to stop worrying. However, Ico concluded that this was not a trap.]

Where are you? I’ll bring you medicine.

[deadelfwalking]

No--no! Stay where you are, Ico. Stay where you are safe.

[hornedomen]

Safe? Are you in danger?

[deadelfwalking]

I--will be fine. Do not concern yourself with me, Ico.

[hornedomen]

[He hesitated and wondered how else he could help. There were not many options now, but there had to be some way to help him in the future.]

Don’t give up, Koltira, okay?

[The feed ended.]