Gerard never knew he would come to hate sand so much in such a short amount of time. "Gods, this place is blistering." The nokken grumbled, covering his face partially with his jacket. The only time this much sand was acceptable would be within the proximity of a large body of water. He wasn't fond of deserts, and this wasn't improving his opinion of them. Really the only reason why he was here out of his element was because Talise was with him. She had told him of the discovery of ancient seeds found in the corpse-infested acropolis of Aysut which were still viable, meaning they could possibly revive an ancient cultivar of a crop once grown by the people who lived here prior to being cursed into its current state. Hearing the history behind what was now the Harena Desert, he thought it was a pity that a fertile land had been reduced to a barren pile of sand–all because somebody didn't want to die for a god. He didn't blame the woman for running when she had the chance though.

Well that god was long gone, so frankly the deity's thoughts and views didn't matter anymore. As expected, Talise's mother was working hard at what she did best in the outpost of Aestas. It was more like a shantytown built out of a set of re-purposed abandoned settlement, but at least it offered protection from the dry heat. Literally anything would desiccate in this climate within hours, and water was precious. This made someone with strong ties to water, like him, to be more cross than ever. Forget freezing Itjivut; give him that over this any day. With the sun beating down from above, he was forced into wearing lighter colors as his typical all-black ensemble would guarantee heatstroke. Using water to cool down wasn't much of a solution either, as it would simply evaporate. Ice only held up for a few more minutes longer than that. Now if only there wasn't so much blasted sand everywhere, getting into everything. Every few meters he walked he swore there was a handful of gravel that would make its way into his boots.

Talise had grown in the desert for the most part. It didn’t bother her and it showed by how the fey easily walked the desert sands. Her bare feet hit the sand and she stared up at the sky with ease. “At least the sun isn’t as hot as it normally is.” She took out a canteen and drank from it a bit before offering it up to Gerard. “You especially need to keep water in you my Nokken.” She winked at him softly. “I’ve never seen you this far from water before.”

She got a cloth and floated up to wipe his forehead lovingly. “I’m sure that we’ll get this over with sooner or later but we should probably also map out the pyramid as we go so we can understand where we have been.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek before floating down. She was in a light dress as always with a soft sheer blue shawl around her shoulders. “Do you want my shawl?” She knew that it had a calming effect. “It doesn’t make the area any hotter.”

She saw some mummies making their way up to them and she held out a seafoam green fan decorated with various pearls that Gerard had gotten her. With one swipe she watched as the mummies were quite literally blown away. “Honestly, mummies have to be the dumbest creatures on the planet.” She could see the City of Death ahead. “We’re almost there Gerard… Then it is get in, get the seeds, and go the fuck home.” Talise grumbled softly. The half-fey had rare blue roses decorating her hair today, a gift from her mother to match her blue outfits.

He took the canteen thankfully, and took a mouthful. Returning it to her, he felt his irritation go down after re-hydrating. "Having the sun less of a desiccating fiery orb does help…though thanks to this undead upstart the desert is becoming too crowded." Thank the Nyella that Talise was here to make this bearable. He had a cotton dress shirt on and dark brown slacks, carrying only the bare essentials in the form of his sitar. If he brought his violin here the aridity would wreak havoc on the wood, and a sitar would give him more flexibility than the former. "I'll tough it out, love. Can't let myself get too soft over some dead man's doing." Speaking of the dead, even if the necromancer was no longer alive Gerard had half a mind to send his regards via an ice spear through the cranium. It was his fault that they were dragged into this, and that others were getting dragged into it too.

To the fey's remark on the lack of intelligence of wrapped desiccated corpses, he had to agree. "They don't have any heart or brains, that's to be expected." He joked dryly. "Not to mention being gutless." The sprawling necropolis was growing closer and the red granite pillars stretched up against the backdrop of a green-tinted sky. "Of all the colors to dye the heavens, why green? I've got a container for the seeds with me. Hopefully this will be over quickly." 

They both were doing their best to not complain about everything each passing second, begrudgingly having come for this purpose alone. Looking at her outfit, he was curious about the flowers in her hair today. "Blue roses. Now where did those come from? I've never seen them in that color without the use of coloring and paint." Those would be a good addition to the garden back in Feeorin, and he was curious as to how rose hip jelly made from them would look like. 

“Aye, normally the desert is a peaceful place with a tiny amount of death… Now it is a moron filled graveyard filled with annoyance.” Talise was still getting used to the words of affection that the two of them shared now. It was hard to go so many centuries being alone to being with someone every day like they had. They made a life together so easily compared to humans. “If you got too soft I don’t think you would be Gerard anymore.” She chuckled as she referred to their tender moments alone when they weren’t getting interrupted.

“No hearts or brains is a big problem… Dealing with Lorelei is enough in the brains department.” From what she heard about the mermaid it was enough to make her chuckle. “The gutless thing just reminds me of fey hunters.” Which pissed her off a bit. “Green… to remind me why I hate that color.” There was something about green. She shrugged a bit, “If you need another refresher I could always poke you in the rear again.” She chuckled a bit as she thought about how they met.

She pulled her white hair over and looked at the blue roses. “Sularia grows them up by the Oracle houses but my mother was the one who made them. They are special only to Arri. We could get some for the farm if you would like… They would look pretty growing by the front door.” She knew what was on his mind once in a while when he was asking questions. He particularly liked the color blue or rare and interesting things. “I want to get some seafoam green fairy grass for around the pathway to the house… I think it would look pretty paired with some white peony. The blue roses would add a final touch to it.”

She took his arm and held it close as they found the entrance to the city. Wandering in she took an unsettling gulp as she looked at the high pyramid visibly sucking souls in. “That is a tad unsettling. I knew it was bad but this… This is too unnatural. Dalanesca must be pissed about this.” She could see the unsettling red light from the gem her mother told them about. “Let’s get the seeds and get out of here. Leave it to someone else to destroy that thing.”

She had her fan ready to go for attacking as she held it up. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be…”

Ah yes, Lorelei. He had Talise well-informed of the mermaid's capacity for folly, and it was a contributing factor in the safeguards around their new home. He hadn't heard from the blonde for a while, which either was very good or very bad. He gave her a smirk as she brought up their first meeting. It was funny how things went, a simple coincidence ended up turning into one of the best things that happened to him. Her mother did give them the initial push, but they had taken the steps to create their relationship. Couldn't let the goddess take all the credit.

Speaking of the Mother, he wasn't surprised that she was involved in creating the blue roses. That was something he did respect about her. The world would be a less colorful place otherwise. "That would be a wonderful arrangement…the fairy grass would contrast against the forest's purple and the white would make the blue and seafoam green stand out better. Adding some of the red trees from the Virens and the golden grass from Jasumin would make a perfect Venti wreath or garland." Gerard had been thinking of adding plants that would change colors with the seasons to create new landscapes all year round. As rewarding gardening and planting was, he didn't want to put in something only to be forced to tear it out or replace it when it no longer matched. 

The entrance to Aysut was unwelcoming, stark red and white stone structures abandoned for millennia were a grim reminder of a past the world mostly had forgotten. Seeing souls struggling against the snares of the necromancer within the pyramid as they were dragged to continue his dark work was chilling. It reminded him of the circles of Infernos, but without any higher purpose. He had learned Dalanesca was the goddess of death back when Adeluna had descended into madness. "I wouldn't blame her if she was. No deity takes kindly to having their property stolen." 

In situations like this keeping their attackers at bay was the best option, so he had his sitar ready. When Talise voice her desire to speed things along he agreed. "Just what I was thinking. This isn't something we should be dealing with. I'd love to see the Reaper give the soul-thief a piece of her mind. …Though preferably from a distance." Glancing up at the blood-red gem shining with a sinister light, he thought this would be over faster if somebody blew the top off this pyramid.

“Nope, I remember how pissed Mother was when Dalanesca was accidentally killing people… Gods don’t take kindly to those who tread on their toes… Especially the older ones. I wonder how Xunatar is handling an old chaos god being back…” Couldn’t be going overly well but then again Talise didn’t know him that well now did she?

Talise nodded to her lover when he agreed and they made their way to the pyramid blasting away as many of the undead as they had to. The old stagnate air of the pyramid made Talise cover her nose at first as she coughed. It was truly a historic place and it was choking her to death. She took a swing of water and held it up to him. “Hopefully you are handling this better than I am.” She waved the wind fan and caused the musty smells to go further into the pyramid giving them a breath of fresh air for the moment.

They wandered around for a while looking for a way down before Talise noticed something skittering. “Gerard…” She tapped him on the shoulder and after a few moments, she breathed heavily. “RUN!” Thousands of scarab beetles were now after them. She pushed him as they began to run as fast as they could through corridors and triggering traps. Both of them were nimble as ever. Talise got hit with a spear but luckily it only grazed her arm. She collapsed on her hands and knees as they triggered the door to seal them into a room. “Fuck..” She flopped and cupped her arm as blood got all over her hand.

The air was terribly stale inside, like powdered books that had been mildewed for ages left to rot in a locked room. In fact, this was exactly why it smelled like this. While Talise sent the undead back with gusts of wind, he would smack any that got too close with his sitar. When she started to cough from how awful the air quality was, she asked him how he was holding up. With a grimace he answered, "I'm currently breathing through my mouth. I can't stand this stagnant smell either." The heat abated, the chambers were lit in a sickly green light. In a way it reminded him of of the ghost lights that followed the arrival of banshees back in the Highlands, and this place felt claustrophobic.

"Gerard…" Talise tapped him on the shoulder with urgency. Turning to look at her he saw worry written all over it, and beetles crawling out of the stonework. "RUN!" She shouted, and they bolted as fast as they could when an entire swarm of scarabs were coming after them. It was a mad race against the encroaching horde of crawling, flesh-eating pests. Dodging and ducking as fast as he could, things were getting triggered all over the place. His mind couldn't keep up with them, but thankfully his body covered that part with instinct. A clang rang out behind him and he heard a yelp of pain from behind him, and his heart went straight to his throat. "Talise?!" He looked back to see her fall to the ground as the walls closed up behind them–sealing them in. The only silver lining was the scarabs were locked out.

Rushing over to her he saw the cut on her arm and that she was bleeding. The adrenaline in his system, the shock of seeing her hurt, and the blood all over her hand caused the room's temperature to drop several degrees, coating all the stone surfaces with a thin layer of frost. The bleeding, he had to stop the bleeding! Fumbling through his bag he searched for anything and only came up with a bottled potion. "–Here, take this." Handing the healing potion to her he began to rip off the bottom hem of his shirt as a makeshift bandage for her. He was cursing himself in his thoughts for not having any healing spells or medicine on hand.

She was in pain but his shriek wasn’t something she didn’t hear. Her eyes went up to his almost too calmly, probably from the shawl she had on herself. The room was coated in a thin layer of frost and she knew from his panic that it was him. She could feel him all around her and before long she put the shawl around him. She let the calming effects of the shawl have at him. “Only one of us can panic.”

It was her right now as she took heavy heaves in and out. The pain was overwhelming and it showed on her face as she shakily took the potion and drank it. She was doing a good job keeping her whimpering to a minimum. Taking his bandage she wrapped it around her arm several times before having him tie it. She looked down at the blood on hands and for a moment got dizzy before getting up. She hastily took the water and washed it off her hands in a panic. She did not like her own blood.

Once she took a few hard breaths she got up and lunged herself at him. Burying her head deep into his chest she was trying to calm herself down. Her arms wrapped around his waist and frowned deeply. “I’m sorry… I just don’t like the sight of my own blood.” She turned his chest to look around and her eyes got wide. Her mind distracted herself due to a number of glittering objects in the room. “Gerard…” This time astonishment left her lips. “Gold…”

He was holding onto her, and the sudden chill was slowly dissipating. "It's fine, as long as you're alright." It was obvious he was more scared at seeing her injured than she was, to where he didn't even realize the glittering treasures around them. "Gerard… Gold…" Talise said softly. Gold? About to ask, he turned where she was looking and saw them–piles of treasure lost to time when Aysut was buried. He was silent for a while, taking it all in. "This is incredible…" They must have been incredibly lucky to find this place instead of another of the other rooms. 

There were trinkets everywhere, glowing. Aysut had been prosperous in its day, as nowhere else had he seen this much gold in its purest form wrought into jewelry. There were ceremonial vessels, pins shaped like animals, even statuettes with gems inlaid for eyes. Heavy pendants and bracelets dangled from gilded staves and swords. It was almost dizzying. Approaching carefully, he looked at the gleaming relics. Most of the items were incredibly weighty for the amount of pure gold used. If it weren't for that, he would've taken a few cups and pitchers to bring back home. Inspecting the myriad piles of precious stones and rings, his eyes fell on one that stood out from the rest. It was the large violet-blue diamond that caught his eye. Beside the large stone were two star sapphires, all set onto a platinum band. He was sure it wasn't silver, as it would've tarnished after so long. 

Talise would love this. That was his first thought as soon as he set eyes on it. The color matched her favorite dress and the band complemented her hair. Cupping his hands around it, he scooped it up. Going over to where Talise was surveying the golden hoard, he hid the ring in his hand behind his back. His mind was still racing from that close call a few minutes ago, and his thoughts had him taking slow, deep breaths. He was nervous.

"…Talise, look." When he had her attention he would pull his hand from behind himself and present her the blue diamond ring. "I saw it in a pile of gold necklaces over there. I thought you'd like it." His heart was pounding, and that anxiety he was feeling had ratcheted up a notch. "Back there when we were running from the beetles, when I heard that trap go off I was afraid to turn around. I was scared, seeing you bleeding and not having a clue of what to do. I–" His words were coming faster than he could think, and it felt like he couldn't breathe. "–I was afraid of losing you, of not being able to do anything." He breathed in, putting one hand over his left eye as he tried to hold himself together.

Meanwhile from behind, stone panels were retracting into the ground, revealing stone sarcophagi. As he struggled to express what he was trying to convey, the red jewels on the lids began to glow and something was coming out of them. A shriveled, bandaged hand began grasping at the edges, pushing them open. At this point Gerard felt like his heart was going to burst. "Talise, what I really want to say is…" Mummies began to shuffle forward as he gathered his resolve and as he was about to say it–the undead began to let out a groan. 

Whipping his head to face the walking corpses he shouted "GODDAMN IT CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO DO SOMETHING?!!" With a swift motion, he materialized a large icicle in his hand and proceeded to nail the nearest one in the head. The force of the thrown spike of ice pinned it to the wall, leaving its body to writhe in an attempt to reach them. The next few seconds were punctuated by the sound of the rest being nailed to the walls of the stone chamber. 

There was silence as he regained his composure. The moment had been soured, thanks to those blasted undead. Turning back to face Talise, it took him a few moments to pick where he had been so rudely interrupted. Holding out the ring to her again, he said: "…Talise, will you marry me?"

“It’s almost too beautiful… for me to comprehend…” She had never seen this much raw gold even in Sularia… The sparkling from the dim lights made it look like golden starlight. Talise was distracted so she didn’t see what Gerard was up to. She was going around looking at the piles of gold and admiring the different things she was finding. The pearls, platinum, silver, and other things stuck out to her the most.

Once he told her to look her attention snapped back to him and she walked over to him tilting her head. When she saw the ring she was enthralled. He was pouring out his heart to her and she could hear her own up in her throat. Her mouth became dry as she anticipated what he was going to say. She had been to many outings and had heard these words and watched couples from afar. She knew where he was going with this as her purple eyes lingered in his.

She was so distracted that she didn’t hear the mummy until it made a noise. “GOD DAMN IT CAN’T YOU SEE WE ARE BUSY,” Talise screamed as she took the fan in her hand and slammed it with a mighty force. The wind propelled the icicles in such a force that was incredibly scary. Why did people always want to disrupt their special moments!

It took a few heavy breaths but she was back in the moment as he held out the ring to her and she started to shake just a bit. “Of course I will…” She took the ring and slid it onto her finger. It was odd that it was the perfect size, meant to be. She only lingered for a moment as she jumped onto him and kissed him fiercely. “I would never say no to you… But promise me something.” She paused but for a moment. “The next asshole who interrupts us dies one hell of a painful death…” She smirked at him. “Happens way too much for everyone’s own good.”

Looking over she noticed that they had put a hole in the wall from their combined force. "Found the way out of this room… by the way." She kissed him again and smirked.