A man stood in a large, circular room, illuminated harshly with an eye-aching, vermillion light. The man wore a white robe with pointed shoulders and long flowing sleeves. He was decorated with gold chains that ended in sharp, wicked-designed ornaments among other brutish bits and baubles. A deep purple sash was tied around his waist that fell down his whole lower body. But most curiously he wore a metallic visor that covered his whole upper face from his nose all the way to the back of his neck. Protruding from the top of this helmet was a large, semicircular, plate-like object that radiated out across the middle of his, lined up with his shoulders. The plate was thick and inscribed with runic designs all around its metal surface.
All around the room, all manner of grotesque and crudely constructed mechanical instruments and modules were attached along the walls, humming and whirring, their parts shuddering and breathing with ghastly life, spewing steam and smoke. They surrounded the entirety of the room, crawling up the walls and the ceiling, emitting harsh red rays of light from various bulbs and lamps. All the machines were connected to a central place in the room by a variety of thick and thin vein-like wires. The room as a whole seemed to live and breathe through the heartbeat of the unrefined machinations that coughed and wheezed sick life into the area.
All the wires attached to a large stone panel situated in the middle of the room, with more runic symbols inscribed on it, similar to the ones on the man's head ornament. Several golden magical seals floated in front of the stone as the man stood before them, his hands raised towards them, his fingers manipulating the circles of light to spin and jut forwards and back. Three shadowy figures watched his work: one standing tall, towering over the man, double his height. One wide, bulky shadow sat against one of the buzzing machines, also incredibly large, and the other, smaller one leaned against the wall.
"Let me see... these coordinates should match the ones from before... if I reconnect the subspace leylines from... here... yes..." The man murmured to himself.
"How long is this going to take?" The sitting figure growled from the shadows with a deep, menacing voice that reverberated through the room. "All these senseless machines- the old ways were faster!"
The man working at the magic seals grinned devilishly. "I'm sorry you feel that way." His tone was light and playful despite what seemed like complex work in front of him. "Respectfully, if you have some manner of quickly retrieving solid matter from ethereal space-time with your massive ax, I implore you to educate me in your mysterious and, I'm sure, elegant ways."
The sitting figure stood up; though he didn't reach up as high as the tallest onlooker, he still dwarfed the busy man in sheer beefy musculature. He reached from behind him to unsheathe an enormous ax with a long curvy handle. The blade caught the sheen of the blood-red lighting, exemplifying its wickedly sharp arc. "How about I split you in two, so you can get twice as much work done, you imp?" he taunted with a low, threatening groan.
"Your logic never ceases to astonish me with its absolutely graceful prose, Lord Dukhar."
"Oh, I'll make sure the splattering of your blood on these infernal contraptions will be nothing but a work of art." The hulking figure marched forward, revealing himself in the harsh scarlet light. He had a supremely muscular humanoid form that was hunched over, his spine bent at nearly a right angle leading to his head, causing his neck and face to jut forward as he walked, his shoulders and arms primed upwards, reminiscent of some kind of mutated dinosaur-human hybrid. His skin was glistening a madly pinkish hue as veins ran up and down his brawny figure. His jaw thrust out, revealing jagged fangs that extended upward, yet he still spoke fluently and discernibly, despite his neanderthal-esque frame. He brandished his large ax towards the man.
"Enough, Dukhar," the tallest figure spoke up with a calm, yet commanding tone. Dukhar stopped his place, but not without huffing out air from his large nostrils. "Allow Pollux to continue his work. And Pollux, I do not imagine it wise to incur the wrath of the Inner Circle's Berserker, now would you?"
"No, my lord," Pollux answered seriously, though the cheeky grin failed to leave his face. Finally, after minutes of Pollux working at the magical seals, a bright violet spark burst from the back of the room, far behind the panel. Dukhar shifted himself to look behind the stone panel for a better look, and the third figure leaning against the wall finally walked forward to witness what was happening. Soon, the space around the spark began to distort and swirl. The wheezing machines about the room began to rattled and buzz with more fervor, sending an ear-drumming echo of clanking metal and rushing smoke throughout the room.
"Got it!" Pollux shouted with glee. The space finally tore open to reveal a twisting black vortex, whose booming, howling force dominated the constant mechanical hum.
"Finally," Dukhar complained.
The vortex spat out two bodies, then instantly shut, taking its powerful wailing wind with it, leaving only the monotonous whirring of the room's machines. One was holding the other under an arm, as it gently floated out, gracefully landing on the ground.
"Elrin, status report," the tall figure commanded without a single moment's notice.
"It seems Valdrina had gone off on her own, as usual," Elrin said in a gentle tone, speaking matter-of-factly towards her superior.
"What's new?" Dukhar chimed in with a cheerful grunt. "Off mating with humans again, I see?"
Valdrina's limp and charred body jerked up at the sound of Dukhar's taunting from under Elrin's arm. "I'll rip your tongue out you gutless mongrel..." she panted out with a hoarse, raspy whisper. Elrin proceeded forward towards the onlookers, presenting the weakened Valdrina to the tall figure. Pollux eyed Valdrina's drooping frame from afar, another fiendish smile cracking along his face.
Elrin started. "I apologize, Lord Astorius, had I kept a closer eye-"
"There is no need for an apology from you, Elrin. Only Valdrina has committed the crime of misusing our warp points. And what self-assigned mission did she take herself on?"
"Seems like more random acts of violence, my lord. Perhaps another outrage designed to-"
"Astorius, she is covering for her sister," Dukhar chimed in with a smirk.
"I'm well aware." Astorius stepped forward, revealing his towering body clad in an obsidian armor plated with elegantly curved, pitch-black metal pieces, trim with sharp silver accents on his chest, gauntlet, and greaves. He wore a helmet that covered only the upper half of his head, with a grated visor that shielded his eyes, which were obscured by darkness. On either side of his helmet was a large, sleek, crescent horn. His frame was overall thin, but his chest was broad and made even more imposing by his massive black, pointed shoulder pauldrons whose sharp ends curved to match his horns. His long arms hung to his sides, reaching all the way down past his knees, ending in his clawed hands.
"I know not of the reason you hide the true nature of Valdrina's venture. But I assure you it will not save her from punishment."
"I understand, my lord." Elrin bowed her head.
"The truth shall be revealed soon enough-"
Valdrina perked up once more from her limp position. "The descendant... I've found him..."
Dukhar suddenly turned towards Valdrina. "What?" Even Pollux's smirk was wiped away by this revelation.
Astorius was unphased. "A worthless venture. Such pursuits do not aid us in our ultimate mission. Such intrusions into the world of humans only seek to reveal our existence to the human race-"
"And we... stay hidden here... afraid... when the key to our salvation... is locked away within the pathetic flesh of some human..."
Even the quiet figure leaning on the wall had grown interested enough to walk forward to listen closer.
"And you were defeated by this power in turn, it seems. A witch? Justicar?"
Valdrina continued. "Some little witch bitch and her little pet-"
Dukhar burst out in laughter. "The great Valdrina, defeated by a single witch and some human rat!"
"A sorry state indeed-" Pollux commented with a grin that was less wicked than usual.
"Hold your tongue, Pollux." Astorius quickly commanded. "Though Valdrina has erred, she is still your superior."
"Yes, my lord." Pollux stood by silently, though his curiosity still piqued.
Dukhar interjected once more. "If I may interrupt, Astorius, would it not be Pollux that would have helped Valdrina in this little escapade?"
"This is true, Pollux. What do you say in your defense?"
"My lord, she forced me!" Pollux defended.
