A Nexus of Mystery
Closed Starter - @personanoxia
The young knight leans forward, peering past the gloomy entrance and into the Nexus' second floor. Compared to the first floor of the Nexus, well-lit and lived in, this place was dark and lonely.
Squint as he might, he could only make out the first few pillars lining the curved wall as shadow obscured any other details. Perhaps it was only natural, but the grim atmosphere sent a chill down his spine.
"Dear me…" The knight mutters and glances down at the note clenched tightly in his hand.
He found it an hour or two ago, resting on his usual perch under a paperweight. A thin piece of parchment with a simple message scrawled by a hurried hand.
Pushing up his visor, he unfolds the note and looks it over once more.
“My friend Ostrava. When next you return to the Nexus, meet with me on the second floor. There is an urgent matter to discuss.”
A tense sigh passes his lips. He didn't recognize the penmanship, which ruled out Biorr, and Mei never left notes. There weren't many others in the Nexus who bothered to speak with him, and he hadn't noticed any break from their usual routines to head up to the second floor.
So who could the mystery penman be? Only one possibility had come to mind; Esther.
Who else would ask to meet in such a shadowy place after all?
Feeling only slightly reassured by his reasoning, the knight not so bravely ventures a few steps further. His Augite of Souls held now in his hand to better direct its light.
Each step sounded louder than it ought to, the air felt uncomfortably chilly, and he couldn't help but notice how the shadows slunk along the walls in a serpentine movement. It must be all in his mind, but he wished his peculiar friend would have asked to meet somewhere less eerie. Even so, imagination was no reason to turn tail and flee. Not in the Nexus.
Again he steps further, gathering the courage to call into the pitch black, “Esther?”
Straining against the dark, he waits for a response.
But not a shadow shifted, not a sound was made.
An uneasy feeling settles in his gut, but again he calls, this time with a slight waver to his voice, “Esther! It's me, Ostrava. Are you there?”
He frowns, looking about for, well, any sign of another person at this point-
Just then, there is a rush from the side!
Ostrava yelps, flailing his arm in a defensive reflex and drops his crystal. Metal grates across metal with a sharp ringing. A blade glances off his pauldron, flashing in the light of the fallen crystal.
"Wh-!?" Ostrava sputters and fumbles for his weapon but too slowly.
With a loud clatter, he is checked backwards against a pillar. His head smashes hard against the stone.
Bright colours burst through his vision from the impact, leaving him dazed and unable to register the blade angling towards his neck!
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