All eyes on Nero

The Halls of the Abysium were long and winding, but Nero managed to get through them all the same. He had forgotten when he had last eaten and longed for the swollen satisfaction of a full meal.

Many of the Nomads kept watchful eyes glued on Nero, as Griffin of blades carefully walked beside them through the sandstone halls, torch-flame shining against her silver helm.

Nero breathed relief as the tight tunnels erupted into a grand chamber, made of dark sandstone and huge spiralling kaleidoscopic pipes that stretched in every possible direction. It was here that the Abysium made their homes, stacked against the colossal iron pipping, with warped wooden houses hoisted in the air and great stone huts with burning cooking fires dancing with beautiful smells.

Many women and even children lingered here, all draped in their trademark nomadic ribbons and robes...

Some were dancing as he entered, and some played and sang or wrote on stained parchment with sharpened pieces of what looked like charcoal. But all halted at the sight of this horned male, escorted by a silver Mysteria in a moment of silent suspicion.

Griff and the warriors in Pugio's brigade shoved him through the slowly parting crowds.

Nero bumped past the women who hadn't parted at the guard women's behest. Some were sharp-eared with the scarification Nero had seen before... but others were not.

He bumped into one woman who made him stop in his tracks. She grunted at the contact on her skin, which was... azure blue as summer skies. Her eyes lacked whites, the pitch-black orbs staring at him with contempt as the thin antennae on her head shimmered "P-Pardon." She muttered.

Nero fixed his eyes on her, even as he was pulled away. He feasted on the sight of these strange creatures, gawking at her shaggy brown hair and plump red lips, Griff gently shook his attention away "One thing at a time." Griff whispered, aware of how enamoured he was by this new alien sight.

Forcing his eyes away, Nero was led to a greater chamber decorated with great black banners and a wide field of onyx rugs, softening the ground beneath his feet. It seemed that here the Abysium partook in their prize: the Waters.

Hundreds of Women danced in man-made fountains, splashing in little clothing throughout the vast space. They drank deeply from the dark pools, swimming and playing; their breasts swaying with laughter in their voices. He noticed that no water source, even that of the Litchen springs, were as clean or as pure as that of the Father tree whose sap had given him a taste of enlightenment.

At the head of this strange place was a tall throne, with three seats.

Pugio had him pulled up the steps, his feet scraping along the stone where her congregation sat. Surrounded by old wizened crones with sour, scarred faces, The dark-haired commander took a long look at Nero.

She gestured for her people to place him down, but he shrugged free. He was met with muskets almost immediately.

A small smirk formed on his dark lips "What? you gonna shoot a man for wanting to sit down on his own?"

The Metal-helmed guard next to him whispered venomously "I've shot your kind for a lot less, "

"Enough, stand down." Pugio barked making her gunwoman stand down.
She dipped down very purposefully, patting the spot beside her. Her palm slapped a large soft cushion among the crones which encircled them all.

Griff sauntered over, lounging carelessly of course, as she always did.... absolutely anywhere no matter the place, time or circumstance apparently "Quah, I've been walking around those bloody pipes for hours, honestly, Gio, I have no idea how you lot skulk down here."

"Our presence here is penance, Ghost. You know that well enough." Pugio answered swiftly, she never looked away from Nero however. "Sit, Half-breed, an honoured seat with the elder sisters is more than any other male has been gifted before."

Nero stepped over and knelt down, resting on the wide cushion next to Pugio.

"The Mother would speak! gather!" Many cried and screamed as they saw Pugio sit with the crones.

"Sisters of the Abysium..." She started "Let us give our thanks to the great empty that has served as a shield to our kin for time memorial."

The Crones around them, the women crowding in to watch the circle which sat around Nero, and even all others gathered to join their hands; crosshatching them together so that the hundreds that had assembled in this hall of pipes and warped huts were conjoined as one.

Griff offered him a hand which he took readily, while Pugio... although hesitant, intertwined her fingers in his, speaking in a booming voice that echoed all around them.

"Here we remain, in penitent silence
Free from The Scarlet's **** and ****.
...A sisterhood, bound by shadow and blood
We are born from the void and return to the flood.
Our eternal purpose is small, yet grand:
an abyss that hides us beneath the sand.
Together we submerge, beneath the flood
Out fates intertwined by Shadow and Blood."

Pugio raised her voice when the prayer ended for all to hear "Sisters, young ones. We gather here at the Iron gardens tonight for clarification, doubtless, the whispers of our three guests have reached your ears and so we must congregate to discuss their fates." She gestured to Griff, who stood for all to see "Griffin of Blades our long-missed friend has returned." Whispers erupted through the vast crowd of women, not all were favourable.

"Craven!" one woman shouted. "Traitor!" another cried. Nero watched Pugio's face swell with fury, she stalked in her black garb with her ribbons trailing behind her. light like silk so it followed through the air behind her.

"Silence!" her voice boomed through the immense hall, not a single word was utter. Nero was astounded by how sharply they obeyed their leader's command "It is not the place of the Abysium to cast doubt before judgment, we owe our survival and more to the Ghost of the Gate. Even should we judge her guilty of betrayal, she will be given a fair trial like all else. The Void demands that we sacrifice, we are unseen and so must first see events clearly."

Taking that as her cue, Griffin slid up smoothly to her feet. Her movements were slow and exaggerated, almost catlike in her purposeful walk over to the land of the steps, where the crowd parted, looking on at her with great anticipation, whether that was good or bad, Nero couldn't tell.

"You all know me, and I all know you. I was there when the first of your nomads took descent into the pipeline, worshipping nothing and no one as opposed to a life of servitude. I was there when the great Mother Andromeda spat on the scarlet ministry and became penitent in the shadow... I was there when she birthed Gladius and Malleus, screaming in the dark as they kicked into life as so many of you have. Since time before your limited memory, I have been a friend of the Abysium.

My efforts have helped you when you wanted fall, and rise again, as it has pleased you.

I have asked you for help only twice in my long life, the first time you all know well enough. But when I asked Mothers Gladius and Malleus to help me do what has never been done before, to steal right from under the Empresses nose, I envisioned them striding behind me as we escaped -"

"Then why is it that they didn't, I wonder?" A crone with thick spirals carved into her face stood from the circle, curling her slashed, wrinkled lips with suspicion."

Griffin did not turn to address her, remaining still and gleaming like a silver owl waiting patiently for a threat.

"You swore that the heist would be seamless, that the loss of life would be minimal!" A cloaked nomad cried from the crowd.

"Minimal and loss of life, have little in common when defying the scarlet empire. Your Twin mothers knew this most of all."

"Are we to believe this blatant hogwash sisters!?" One of the Marksman spoke loudly.

Nero shifted, he had pivoted his head to look at new speakers so much that his neck started to ache "They are a whole lot more unified than the Litchen, it seems that anyone is allowed to speak when matters like this come up... Griff, what have you gotten us into?"

Griff made a small gesture, she merely lifted her shoulders making the many blades under her long cloak gleam under the many torch lights and lanterns. The Abysium collectively flinched, the crowd scooting back and the elders tensed. Griffin of Blades cast a cold voice out to them all "Be warned, dark sisters, I will not suffer petty insults. Nor will I endure these foolish suspicions. Your Twin Mothers were among my closed allies... and it broke my heart to leave them at the brass gate, when the Iron Belfry tolled. They stayed to protect my flank as the doom song rung from the sky, that was the last time I saw them alive."

Murmurs travelled through the crowd, they were clearly still suspicious.

Pugio stepped forward "And what of the spoils of the Heist, Ghost? if what you say is true then the twin mothers died for your task. Tell us, did you find the Iris Keys?" The Abysium leader cast her eyes over to Nero momentarily, looking on with an insidious curiosity.

The tension was palpable, drawn out by Griffin's long silence. "Yes. But the terms were set. I get the keys, and you get the glory of defying the Empress, I will say no more on the matter."

"This is ridiculous!" The same Markswoman cried "She thinks she can just barge in here with no proof and get away with her prize scot-free?"

"Here-Here!" Several others agreed.

"The Ghost cannot be charged without fair trail!" One of the crones screamed over the others, a handful of others yelled agreement. Yells and shrieks of conflict grew among the Nomads, until a symphony of womanly cries echoed in every direction.

"This could get ugly."

Nero was overly aware of the empty space where the black sword had once been at his side.

The crowd rustled, some seemed fit to burst while others tried to quell the wrath of their sisters... it all came to an abrupt end as Griff simply pushed back her cloak, exposing the many small razor sharp blades strapped to her arms, legs and torso. Nero felt a power stir in the air, making the blades shimmer with Mysterian energy.

Everybody froze, Pugio included. Nero went to stand, but felt the bayonette behind him press into his back "Don't even think about it, Man-filth." A voice warned from behind.

Griff's head tilted back, Nero knew she had done so to peer at him and the barrel stuck between his shoulder blades. "Enough of this. All these years, I had hoped to return as a friend, but if you are all so stubborn as to doubt me, then perhaps we shall allow the void to decide our fates?"

Everyone seemed to know what she meant, save for Nero of course.

"Trail by combat, the winner claims their truth as absolute; the loser goes to the pipeline to become one with your formless god of nothing." Griffin proclaimed.

They were petrified of her, that much became clear "To face the Griffin of blades is no fair trail, it will end only in our deaths." A Nomad cried with poorly hidden fear.

"Any sacrifice to the great abyss is worth dying for!" Another argued

"Here here!" another called.

Rubbing the sharp beak of her mask with her gauntleted fingers, Griff hummed in thought "Perhaps you are right. It is true that I am tired and unrested, maybe you could kill me, but not without losing hundreds..." Griffin agreed almost a little mockingly, but Nero frowned, even with her helm obscuring her face he knew that little lightbulb smile of hers was painted on the face within. her arm raised in Nero's direction "So you shall face My Champion, in my stead."

As if being out of the loop wasn't bad enough. All eyes on Nero.