THE TIES THAT BIND ||| THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA

The Pale Elf

More shrill cackling pierced his skull as the boy took to his feet, pushing the chair straight to the floor as he made for his escape, running as fast as he possibly could for freedom, yet it wasn't enough as a single arm gripped around his throat and forced him to the floor. Once more, in the blink of an eye he found himself in the forest alongside his sister, with a bow wielding rider pulling their mount to a stop mere meters behind them. Watching helplessly, the boy fell to the floor as three arrows pierced his sisters back, leaving her unmoving on the grass below. Although, just before the rider could reach the broken down boy, an unearthly black smoke trailed toward engulfing his panting form and finally ending the horrific nightmare.

In an instant, Percy's dulled eyes shot open as he bolted upright in his bed waking up to the land of the living, breathing shakily as he reached for the scar laying just beneath his sharpened jaw, all while a peaceful moonlight blinked through the window overlooking his bed inside their newly awarded keep. A deathly silence filled the musty air as he finally took hold of his unsteady breath, turning to glance at the dark plague doctors mask hanging eye level by a small hook. Composing himself fully with a heavy sigh, Percy emerged his thinly sheeted covering and stood to his feet, gliding toward the heavy oaken door and opening it's rusted hinges as quietly as could be.

Gracefully, he shut the unlocked door behind him as he silently marched with clenched fists past two more rooms, one of which was completely unoccupied. Stopping dead in his tracks, the first door closest his own opened as Vex emerged from within, dressed in a simple white and blue robe. "Bad dream?" she questioned, folding one arm across the other and leaning against the door frame expectantly, awaiting the Noble's answer.

"Is there any other kind?" Percy uttered as he continued along on his way, all while Vex stared sympathetically at the fleeing man's back, knowing full well such a thing was a nightly occurrence. Yet she understood, that when the time was right, the White haired human would eventually speak when he had gathered enough courage. Watching as he descended into the unlit darkness of the Keep's interior the Half-Elf unleashed a dreary sigh as she turned on her heel and entered right back into her room. However, just as she too lay back onto her bed, with Trinket of course huddled at it's foot, through her own pained window she caught sight of a small, yet brightly burning firepit at the foot of the tallest of three trees within their walled courtyard.

In and instant she knew whom had set it, knowing within the next room over Ragnvaldr and Moonless had both been suspisously silent. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she caught sight of the faint darkened outline of Moonless's large form stretched across the grass as well as the Oldegårdian, illuminated in the campfire's natural glow as he sat with his back pressed against one of the trees large bases. Wasting no time, she turned lightly stepping around her sleeping animal friend and left to pay a visit to Vox Machina's newest, most reluctant member.

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Pushing open the main entrance of the stone worked, rather modestly sized yet poorly maintained keep Vex slipped her athletic form through the thin gap now present between both heavy reinforced doors. Instantly, the cold moonlit air brushed against her few slithers of exposed skin making her shiver ever so slightly and pull her robe tight for some much needed warmth. Traipsing forward across the grass and moss covered ground of the courtyard, the cold slowly began to fade as the roaring flames of the fire grew closer with every soft step of her bare feet.

The She-Elf wandered through the obscuring darkness toward the beacon of light ahead, finally observing Ragnvaldr up close. The human sat, apple in one hand and an iron knife from the kitchen in the other staring idly down at the succulent fruit. Slowly carving a small eighth from it's unevenly round surface, balancing the slice on the flattened edge of his utensils blade and popping it in his mouth. All while he whistled an echoing melody Vex had never once heard before, until his pursed lips parted as, rather strangely, the stoic man began to utter its words.