Tartaru

Familiars: Deepmine Aardvark, Peacevine Aardvark, Blue Dragon Snail, Crimson Reef Snail, Ancient Fungus, Dwarf Truffle,

Need to find:



I belong to onemessyperson


Trigger warning: Mild threat of execution.

No one escaped the Underworld. Depending on where on the spectrum of The Chase you were this sentiment could either be a mocking jest or a dark promise. For Tartaru, it had always been the former more than the latter. The very latest in a long line of Enforcers, he knew that the majority of his no-nonsense forebears would scoff at the half-hearted way in which he performed his tasks. It wasn't that he was poorly trained, or unskilled, or lacked pride in his duties. The blame instead lay on his assignations. Gone were the days of prey who fought back. Who were cunning and wily or who had great prowess in strength-of-arms. He had grown up listening to stories of Modrig Sun-Mane who had cleaved a mountain in two in a fight with the Enforcer who pursued him or Sisyphos who stood as the only one in the long centuries to escape his punishment for a time. Those were the type of prey that he wanted not these snivelling cowards that wet themselves the moment his shadow fell upon them. How could he bring glory to their home if these were sort rabble he was tasked to hunt down?

His father, and really, most of the Elders if he thought about it liked to say that the fault was on the surface and its steady decline. With their petty squabbles and flimsy hold on the Beastclans that harried their territories, the Underworld had been forgotten passing into nothing by legend and rumour. The Kings and Conquerers who had come on bended knee to beg for a boon from their store of precious metals had given way to merchants and then inconsequential commoners who had somehow managed to stumble into their vast subterrane. The Underworld was generous. They had ores and other precious minerals in access that even their denizens were marked in gleaming gold across their scales and wings. They stood ready to grant any wish, but this kindness came with a price that few could pay. The monarchs of old, when the surface had been thriving, could not do it. These stupid miners and explorers had no chance. Despite all this Tartaru still had hope. One day his name and the story of his hunt would be carved in shining runes in their annals. One day his chance would come.

It did, and it made him promptly wish that the scroll had gotten lost in the twisting dark tunnels.

"This lack of candor is ill-suited to you Veritas." He mocks, putting an emphasis in her name even as he spits it out of his mouth. Her pearl is clutched in his claws throwing off a pale, almost frantic glow in the gloom. There hanging above him is his prey. Cunningly she had given him the runaround for the better part of the moon's cycle, and the gashes on his neck and chest were testament that had she had given him the fight of his life. He would have savoured all of this had the one fighting so fiercely against him had not been a dear friend.

"Why didn't you tell me of your schemes!"

"You wouldn't have believed me." Her wings like gold stained glass twitch weakly in their binding. "I felt...I'm feeling a pull-"

"Are you suddenly a Guardian?! You-"

"Fool! You say you wanted to know my schemes now shut your snout!" She wheezes painfully, and he was tempted to hurl her pearl away into the darkness in fustration.

"I'm bringing you home Veritas. You know that the surface is not meant for you. Perhaps there will be mercy if you explained -"

"There won't be, and you know it! Father will follow the laws." Her body shudders, and she goes limp. This is the first time he has seen her give up so utterly. "This is not something that I can control. I don't know what it is, only that it is calling me. I must find it. But if you won't let me go, I'd rather expire at your hands then during the farce spectacle of an execution."

Proud Veritas. The daughter of one of the oldest houses of the Underworld. She would have had no reason to leave unless it was dire.

"Tart, please. It hurts."

His knives flash out, and he catches her before she could hit the ground. Together this followed this Call to the Viridian Labyrinth.