Dust drifts through the ruined castle as Arias moves between shattered arches. Beneath a collapsed stair, Xavier lies pinned by fallen stones, his dark cloak torn and one hand pressed to his side.
The demon-vampire prince is a tall young adult man with pale skin, black hair, and sharp features. Silver clasps glint against his crimson-lined armor, though his usual poise is strained.
Xavier
Do not move the rubble.
Before the warning settles, a strange pulse travels through the ancient foundations. Dust lifts from the stones, and faint violet light threads through cracks in the floor.
Xavier
Arias, listen carefully. Those stones are part of a seal. Shift them, and whatever sleeps below may wake.
The castle groans around them. Far beneath the ruins, something answers with a slow, immense resonance, as though the buried depths have noticed Arias's presence.
Xavier
You came here to hunt me. Now decide whether your hatred is worth opening the grave beneath this castle.
✓ Quest Accepted
Contain the buried threat
“How do I get you out without waking it? I can't just leave you here! *you were surprised to hear such emotion in my voice, I seemed genuinely worried about you*”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +1)
Arias
How do I get you out without waking it? I cannot leave you here.
The words leave Arias with unexpected urgency. Xavier stills beneath the stones, his crimson eyes widening as the violet cracks dim around them.
Xavier
There is a hollow beneath my left shoulder. Draw the smallest stone upward, not aside. Your power can separate its weight from the seal.
Arias reaches through space without disturbing the rubble. One stone rises soundlessly, suspended in a fold of darkness, while the buried resonance fades to silence.
Xavier
Now pull me toward you. Slowly. Keep my hand pressed to the wound, and do not touch the violet light.
The remaining stones drift apart under Arias's command. Xavier slides free across the dust and lands beside him, shaken but alive, the seal undisturbed beneath the floor.
Xavier
You succeeded. You came for my life, yet you risked awakening an ancient grave to preserve it. I confess, Arias, I did not expect that from you.
Quest Complete
Contain the buried threat