The Line of Irnini | Tarriq; “Formed in Fire”
While the world around them had completely changed, Tarriq could not shake the feeling that no time had passed. There was the familiar sensation of warmth of the magma flow. It was steady and calm. The lava stood alone as the only light in the cave. Darkened and cool stone coursed through like veins creating dark aberrations in the light. With their closed their eyes, the warmth that washed over them from the magma was almost blinding . Tarriq , for that briefest instance, felt like a creator again standing before the lava, but they could not claim such a title anymore.
Tarriq opened their eyes and turned from the central pit. They turned to face Dirga who even in the darkness stood out like a beacon. She radiated a heat that could match the lava but unlike she had aura of flames. Unfettered and blazing, true to her kind. She sat on the ground , spear at her side, breathing heavily. The flames around her form grew and shrank in intensity with each breath. To Tarriq's eyes each breath looked as though she was breathing fire.
She looked up in their direction. They were surprised how apparently well suited the bird was to the darkness of the cavern but, the lava was fairly bright which no doubt helped. Dirga asked "Was that all of them?"
Tarriq closed their eyes once more and turned towards the caves exits, They ignored Dirga and the lava to their best ability and tried to focus on the area beyond it. It was as difficult as seeing with the sun beaming directly into one's eyes which is to say it was nigh on impossible to distinguish anything beyond searing heat. Tarriq tried and so as far as they could tell there was no movement beyond the cavern.
"Yes ," Tarriq assured. They approached Dirga and continued "We should be alone for some time but, I would dissuade against lingering too long. The overseers will arrive soon and with them warriors." The creators had already fled at Tarriq's behest with all of their creations capable of walking while the guards laid dead on floor scattered around Dirga.
Dirga let out a long groan "Give me a moment, then," she grumbled in the middle of her drawn out sighs. She began to go through the motions of stirring her exhausted body out of inaction. Rolling her shoulders and stretching her arms out over her head.
"If you need I can-" Tarriq began to offer
Dirga interrupted "I am perfectly capable of walking on my own." She raised an accusatory finger towards Tarriq's face and said with added stress "I do not need you to carry me." Tarriq had always offered no matter how wounded Dirga had been. It had become something a running joke between them or at least that was what Tarriq believed it to be. Dirga never seemed especially irate when they brought up the notion but, Tarriq was not about to claim they had any great understanding of Dirga and her emotions. Still, they were fairly certain the laugh that followed meant she thought it was funny.
Chuckling, Tarriq nodded "Of course you don't." They took a step back from Dirga and with crossed arms waited for her to stand up. The last thing Tarriq wanted was for them to encounter anymore warriors. They had killed an overseer along with the guards which meant if they did not report back soon there would be many more blades between the two of them and the surface. The sooner they left the better, but first they had to deal with the bodies of the guards.
"You could get started on your own ,you know," Dirga muttered as she pushed herself up, bracing against the hard stone. Tarriq reached for the spear laying on the ground and offered it to her. She took it up with a thankful nod and began forwards, most of her weight placed on the spear at first before she steadied herself. She went on "It is your ... thing ,anyways."
Tarriq cocked a brow and repeated, "my thing?"
Dirga waved a hand idly towards the lava pits "Your funeral thing. Burial. I don't know what you call it," she elaborated. Tarriq was half inclined to ask what her people did the bodies of their dead but , then they recalled her people didn't die. Not in the same way Tarriq's did. Stab an orc a hundred times they stopped moving. Stab a phoenix a hundred times they stopped moving for a bit, but they would just come back. Tarriq imagined Dirga's people didn't have funerals like they did. What an existence that must have been, not knowing any true death.
Disregarding their curiosity, Tarriq elected to ignore the comment and instead start on the arduous task of tossing each body in to the lava. Tarriq gripped them by their shoulders while Dirga took hold of their lower half. They brought them to the large central pool of lava and tossed the bodies in one by one. Tarriq could see the lava on the surface begin to cool as the bodies made contact with it. At first they remained on the surface but gradually as the orc's stone forms began to melt they sunk downwards.
The cavern was silent save for the sounds of the lava bubbling up. Neither Dirga nor Tarriq dared to speak. Tarriq's mind was too fraught with conflict to muster any sort of conversation. It felt wrong killing their own kin, but they left them with no choice. Dirga was all too aware of this fact and Tarriq knew that. Being the one held the spear that struck each one of them down there was guilt to be found in her as much as it was to be found in Tarriq.
Tarriq liked to believe they had gotten somewhat adept at reading Dirga in the time they had known her. Dirga seldom spoke her true feelings which made matters confusing to say the least but, there was something they were certain of when it came to her. Dirga always had something to say even if it wasn't always true so whenever Dirga was silent she was undoubtedly struggling with something. That was the conclusion Tarriq had arrived to at any rate. Tarriq could've been wrong ,but they had a feeling they were correct in this instance.
When they had finished both of them looked into the pool of lava and let out a long and tired sigh. Aside from the emotional and mental toll ,tossing ten orcs into lava was a difficult task physically. Both of them enjoyed feigning that they were stronger than the other but, there was no hiding the exhaustion now as they were hunched over and practically gasping for air.
Dirga let her head sink down into arms "I ever mention I absolutely loathe you," she said, muffled by her own deep breathes.
Tarriq cracked a smile. They were somewhat less tired than Dirga seeing as they had no actually fought any of the guards. Tarriq had only guided Dirga here while Dirga trekked through the caves , single-handedly killed the guards, and then helped Tarriq with their disposal. "Every day," they said with a hint of amusement.
"Then it doesn't matter if you hear it again," Dirga sneered in equal parts irritation and humour " I fucking hate you."
The orc was prepared to return with a quip of their own when movement from within the lava caught their eye. Their eyes widened in sudden terror. Tarriq looked closer and watched as something moved within the lava. It cause the lave to shift and bubble upwards. A molten hand ,half formed with only two fingers, began to grasp upwards. Tarriq reached out towards it and took a firm grasp on solid form beneath the lava and pulled it upwards
As it rose from the molten brink, Tarriq saw the beginnings of a face formed into the lava. Eye sockets and a nose stuck out along a smooth stretch of lava that still dripped at the chin and along the jaw line. A thick neck connected it to a set of well sculpted shoulders and the arms the Tarriq had gripped. It reached out towards Tarriq. The lava fell from its arms like rain. Within moments the arms began to collapse under its own weight ,forcing Tarriq to push its arms back down before it lost them entirely.
Dirga in the meanwhile had been burnt when the arms dripped lava out over her resting head. She shot up and stumbled backwards in utter shock. She didn't necessarily scream in terror but she definitely let out some manner of loud noise. Tarriq glanced back towards her as she stood several paces back. A spew of curses came in the stead of proper sentences
" It's an orc," Tarriq said. They weren't entirely sure what would have calmed Dirga so they said the only thing they knew to be true. Tarriq imagined that might have calmed them if they were put in the same position.
It however did not calm Dirga. It seemed to do the exact opposite in fact "I know it's a fucking orc! What exactly are you doing with it? " Dirga gestured empathetically at the entirety of the molten orc with a look of absolute disdain "Why is it even here? They don't just climb out of lava! They aren't supposed to do that!"
Tarriq rubbed their chin and looked to the orc. Dirga was not necessarily wrong. It was true they did not simply climb out of lava fully formed . They were built and sculpted from it which meant someone had began to create this orc and was interrupted. It was not soon after that thought that it dawned on Tarriq they were probably the reason the orc sat here unfinished. In the chaos of the fight, this orcs creator must've let their creation sink away.
"I will finish them," Tarriq said before they put any thought to their words. It was their instinct to create. Tarriq had been made to form and nurture life . To leave this orc to return to the lava wrong when they were just beginning life.
Dirga was silent for a moment. She stared at Tarriq long enough to make the orc feel somewhat ill at ease with their decision. Her shoulders fell slack as she closed her eyes and shook her head as if she could not believe what she had just heard. Beneath her breath she muttered words Tarriq could not quite make out. She looked at them with a look of utter exhaustion and spoke in a tone to match "You can't be fucking serious."
"I am, " Tarriq replied. They turned from Dirga and began to sculpt the orcs face beginning with the shape of its face which had become deformed from the heat below the surface of the lava. They heard Dirga's hard footsteps against the stone and the clank of metal as she sat down on the thick stone wall that held the lava pool. Most of all they could feel Dirga's eyes boring into the side of their head.
She leaned in, putting her face into Tarriq's peripheral vision as though she did not want to directly get in their way, but still wished to make it known she disapproved. "What about the warriors and the overseers that will be coming?"
"I work fast," they assured. "This will give you time to rest as well."
"How am I meant to relax while I'm watching you just--" Tarriq saw in the corner of their eye Dirga making a vague motion towards them and the orc they were working on. Tarriq could see how Dirga might be moderately off put by the whole thing but , there was nothing Tarriq could do to fix that.
"Tarriq, you know people discuss things like this," she paused a moment allowing her tone to level out under the guise she was calm before then continued "I know the idea of courtesy is a bit foreign, but you do not... just do something as big as this as if it's nothing. What do you exactly think we are going to do with a newly created orc? How do you foresee this going?"
Tarriq looked up from their work and gave Dirga a hard look. They weren't sure where to begin with that. Everything about her concern seemed earnest and genuine which made it all the more baffling " Are you actually advising caution and thinking ahead?"
Dirga grimaced at herself. "Strange, I know, but my point remains."
"I do not know, if I'm being honest," Tarriq admitted "I do know I cannot in good faith leave them like this when I am more than capable of doing something. I don't suggest we unleash it upon the wild but we cannot leave them here either."
"So, what then? You want to raise an orc as your own child or something, " she questioned.
The orc hummed a non-committal answer as they saw to the task of sculpting eyes into the empty sockets. Once they began work it was difficult to stir any decent conversation out of most orcs and Tarriq was no exception. The best they could muster was "Or something," whilst they carved away the form of the face.
Dirga murmured just loud enough for Tarriq to hear "Well, I can't see how this could possibly go wrong." She laid back on the stone . It was more than wide enough for her to lay back comfortably as it was intended for creators to stand on once their creations reached great heights. She mused to herself "I suppose it might be interesting to see how an orc would fare raised out of all of this... if we are able to get out of here with them ,that is."
Tarriq replied with another quiet hum . Their hands were too preoccupied for them to speak but, their mind was filled with the possibilities. An orc with no knowledge of the caste and order of their society. No expectations to fight and die in war they had no stake in. One who would see someone like Dirga as... the exact word for it escaped Tarriq at that moment but it was concept that was beyond orcs, including Tarriq.
Of course, with the possibilities came worries. Could they do more than just survive? Would they thrive in an environment like the world above? They would have to live alone with only Tarriq and Dirga as neither her kin or theirs would welcome them. Tarriq could say a great deal about their upbringing but, the last thing they would ever call it was lonely and, that is exactly what this orc would be. Those thoughts plagued every stroke. As they lingered longer in Tarriq's mind, the more unsure they became as to whether or not this was indeed the right decision. They had already formed much of their body and their face. At this point they couldn't go back.
As Tarriq lingered over the finer details of the face ,Dirga leaned in close to examine their work. "You have any idea what you are going make them look like?" In that remark Dirga pinpointed the exact reason Tarriq paused. They weren't sure how to make them look exactly. Overseers had always dictated how the new batch should look down to how thick the limbs should be and the exact size each tooth should be . Tarriq never had the choice in how to make any of their creations look. That creative freedom was quite frankly a little daunting.
" I don't know, " Tarriq admitted.
"Well I'd prefer something not absolutely horrifying," Dirga laughed. " You could make them look like yourself or... you could go a little more ancient."
Tarriq glanced at her out of the corner of their eye. They were curious as to how a phoenix several centuries younger than them would know how Tarriq's ancestors looked. "And how exactly does ancient look?"
"You know, we have stories." Dirga shrugged nonchalantly. "It was said that orcs before the sundering were rather similar to us. Made out of stone obviously, but there were less razor sharp fangs and misshapen heads. Beautiful, even. If storytellers are to be believed my ancestors saw yours and in a clever attempt at mimicry took a form similar" Dirga paused with dramatic effect and tossed out her arms "And that is how you have people who look like me."
They stared deadpan , unsure exactly what to make of the tale. If that were the case why didn't Dirga's kin have pointed ears or tusks. Why were they various shadows of dull brown rather than metallic in colour? Why did they have so much hair? There were so many questions ,but Tarriq restrained themself. "So, you want something that looks like you."
"No--... well actually that would be nice if somewhat odd. All I am saying is that it's an option. I don't know how your people decide these things so you can ignore me. " Dirga reached out towards the face of the half-sculpted orc with a thoughtful look. "I'm not even sure why it changed honestly. Why this," she said, gesturing towards her own face. She continued "...became that," and gestured towards Tarriq's face.
Tarriq let out a huff and shrugged their shoulders "Intimidation I would imagine."
"If I were one of your creators I'd have stuck to the old look. Hell, even try to make them resemble us more." She continued in an even and somber tone uncharacteristic of her."Killing something that looks exactly like you is a lot more difficult than killing something monstrous. There's reason why Eridu have no pause about killing orcs while they hesitate with the Kadingir."
" Ideally they shouldn't have to fight at all."
She scoffed at that "That's a foolish dream and you know it."
"I know," Tarriq sighed "I can hope can't I?"
Tarriq could feel Dirga's gaze on the side of their face. It was not necessarily a harsh glare but they could feel that pity. Maybe it wasn't pity . Sympathy perhaps. Regardless, Tarriq could tell Dirga's demeanor had softened with her words "You have to be somewhat realistic, Tarriq."
The conversation began to lull as Tarriq focus more intently upon the finer details. It was at that point Tarriq took up tools for more precise sculpting so as to avoid mark of their fingers across the surface of the orcs skin. It was delicate work that required Tarriq's undivided attention. They did not have anything in mind for the orc's features but they did their best to care into every motion. Whatever one could say about this orcs appearance no one could dare call Tarriq lazy. Their precision was one honed with centuries and, this was one of the first chances Tarriq was able to put so much attention into their work.
As time went on the orc come to life before their very eyes. Hapless motions turned into deliberate movement. They flexed and stretched their newfound limbs There was attentiveness in the eyes as Tarriq carefully sculpted away at their brow ridge and their cheekbones. For the novice seeing their own work move beneath their tools might have been alarming, but Tarriq had grown used to their creations gaining life midway through.
That being said, Tarriq's past creations had never been quite as active as the orc they worked on now. Their eyes in particular followed Tarriq's every movement and darted off towards Dirga every so often when she happened to move. Most orcs were blind upon creation but this one seemed to recognize and understand to some extent what was going on. They moved little, save for breathing, so Tarriq had an easier time working. When prompted they held their limbs up without need of additional support. Astounding feats for an orc still molten.
Tarriq took a step back from their work which now sat on the ledge of the pool. They were mostly solid but the lava still dripped in places."Dirga, could you grab me a pail of water. We need to cool them down." Dirga nodded and retrieved a bucket of water. Normally, great care would be taken with this step but seeing as they were pressed for time Tarriq would have to be a bit quicker about this. Too much water at once caused temperature shock to potentially disastrous results.
Tarriq held their breath as they took the bucket and gingerly poured out portions over the orc. Steam spiraled up in thick columns. Immediately. the bright orange surface darkened. Slowly Tarriq went over the entirety of orc until it appeared for the most part solid. Undoubtedly the insides were still liquid but so long as they didn't crack open they would be fine.
Dirga exchanged looks between the two of them before finally asking "Are we done?"
Tarriq nodded "We're done," they answered.
"Do they have a name," she asked. Tarriq pondered the notion as it was the first time that had ever crossed their mind. They were far too worried about what their future would look like to fret over a name. So without a proper answer to give her, Tarriq stood there completely silent as if a name would suddenly come to them at that very moment. No such luck left Dirga with only one option. She said "Well , we can think about it later. Right now we need to get out. We've lingered too long as is." With that final statement she took her spear ,grasped the newly created orc around the waist ,and started for the cavern's exit.