Kadezna startles at the voice, jumping nervously. Immediately, his heart leaps up into his throat. Ashnix couldn't have caught him that fast, could he? Whipping around to face his accuser, Kadezna realizes that the voice does not belong to the white cloak, but rather his own master.
Immediately regaining his composure, Kash asks levelly, "I could ask you the same of you, Vara."
Vara raises an eyebrow, unimpressed by Kash's show. "I'm following my apprentice, trying to make sure that he doesn't do something stupid. For instance, swipe Ashnix's key-card and steal from the Order's restricted armory."
Vara's spirit leans out from behind her and enforces her statement with a low woof. The wolf never seems ruffled and it is a feat indeed to get even one hair on his immaculate coat out of place. Kadezna scowls at him.
"You always take her side," Kash mutters at the wolf. Desha shakes his massive mane and replies, woof.
"So, Apprentice, what exactly are you doing?" Vara challenges, pulling Kash's attention back to her.
"Seeing as you literally just said exactly what I'm doing, I think you know," Kash replies softly, feeling defeated. The anger is once again gone, so shockingly fast it surprises him. It is kind enough to take his determination with it. Apparently, he is more emotional then he believed this morning. He pulls the card from his pocket, expecting his master to want to take it from him. Well, there goes that idea. There goes that hope of being alive at the end of the day. It was good while it lasted.
No, it wasn't. It was stupid.
"So you are actually going to steal from the Order," Vara observes. Then, after another moment of silence in which Kadezna slowly starts to contemplate turning the Assessment down and living to see another day, Vara says, "Good. If they're going to play dirty, you might as well do so also."
Shock slams into Kadezna, making him blink at his master in silence for a moment. Vara just... went along with his plan? She didn't shut it down, she's supporting him. Determination starts leaking back in. With a weapon from that vault, maybe even the sword he saw in his memory, he will have a chance. A chance is all he needs.
You're going to die, his self-preservation sighs.
Kadezna shakes his head, before asking Vara, "Wait. You agree with me?"
"Yes. The White Cloaks just sent you to your death. If something in that private armory of theirs will give you a chance at surviving, then you need to take it. The benefit outweighs the risk. You, consequently, are not only my apprentice but my friend. Meaning that you are more important to me than the sensibilities of the white cloaks," Vara tells him. Desha murmurs a woof in agreement. Warmth bubbles in Kash's heart, and he suppresses the goofy smile that comes to his face. It means a lot that someone would choose him over the Order. So far, no one has been willing to do that for him. Besides maybe Ashnix. However, Ashnix's recent betrayal, apology or not, has hurt Kadezna and the trust between the two.
Turning from his mentor, Kash focuses back on the mission at hand. They need to get into this armory as fast as possible. The longer they stand out here exchanging kind words, the more likely they are to get caught. Carefully inserting and swiping the card, Kadezna smiles slightly as the door opens with a soft click. Kash pushes the door open, surprised by the weight of the heavy oak, and slips inside. Vara and Desha are seconds behind him. With everyone inside, Kash then slides the door shut again and turns to the armory's interior.
When Kadezna imagined the private armory, even from the first mention he got of it from Ashnix, he imagined a brightly lit, museum-like interior, with ancient weapons placed pleasingly on pedestals and behind glass cases. What he is greeted with is a dusty room, so dark he cannot see beyond the soft glow of Desha's fur. Their entry to the room stirs up enough dust to set them both coughing.
Waving a hand in front of his face, Kadezna gasps through coughs, "Where's the light switch?"
"Let me look. It should be right around here," Vara replies, and after a moment, the lights flick on. The lights consist of two single bulbs hanging from the ceiling in close proximity. Outside of their little circle of light, the room stretches away into darkness. The walls are clearly made of old stone with moss growing on its interior. Weapons lay in piles, leaned up against the wall. In some places, enough care was given to them to be properly hung. Overall, the experience is underwhelming.
"Jeez," Kash mutters, gazing around at the pitiful room. "This place is older than I am."
Vara gives him a grin in return for the small joke and moves to the middle of the room. Desha keeps his place by the door, sneezing at the dust kicked up by her movement.
"Obviously," she says, swiping a cobweb off a rusty blade, "this place is a hotspot for white cloak activity."
"At least they won't miss whatever I take," Kash responds, prowling forward into the stacks of weapons. The blades, edges, spikes, and chains are all unique and interesting but badly taken care of. Every weapon Kash lays eyes on is rusty, nicked, or literally falling apart. "I don't see what's so special about these weapons," Kash mutters, touching a mace hanging above the others on the wall. With a snap, the holder breaks and the mace goes careening into a pile of weapons by Kash's feet. The result is a resounding and echoing series of deafeningly loud clangs.
Vara snorts in laughter, before telling him, "Many of these weapons are supposedly from the spirit realm. They're infused with spirit energy, meaning that they have special abilities. I've heard of a lance that could summon lightning."
"That's cool in all," Kadezna returns, crouching down next to the disturbed pile of weapons and touching the blade of a nearby sword. Running his finger down the length of the sword, Kadezna swipes the dust off its surface. Underneath is a very badly rusted steel blade. "But I don't think these weapons are going to be summoning anything."
"So, if these weapons are just as useless as a regular weapon against a southern spirit, then what's the point of taking one?" Vara asks, gesturing at the badly neglected weapons. "I mean, I could try and stab a spirit with a regular blade and probably do more damage than with one of these."
Kash grins slightly at his mentor's statement. Spirits are itheral, meaning that they cannot be affected by the physical world unless they actively use their powers to interact with the Physical Plane. A person or a physical object could not hurt a spirit unless that spirit wished to be hurt. That is why, when fighting a spirit, it is necessary to have another spirit to interact with it on the Itheral Plane. Another spirit, that is, or a weapon infused with spirit energy that can affect both Planes at once.
"Maybe, maybe not. The blade doesn't have to look fancy or spew rainbows to work," Kadezna replies, rising from his crouch and dusting off his hands on his pants.
"True enough, I suppose. So, my apprentice, how are you going to pick which one of these lovely weapons you're going to use?" Vara responds.
Kash shrugs, glancing over the piles once again. Truthfully, he does not have the faintest clue where to start, or if all of these are even infused with energies or not. The weapons, he has learned from his studies in the library's books, were discontinued for safety reasons. The weapons were used mostly to kill rogue spirits, and when the Order started capturing spirits instead, there was no more need to use the weapons. So they were abandoned, locked away for safekeeping. Obviously, their keeping has not been very safe at all.
"I dunno," Kash replies to Vara. "I guess I'll just wander around until I find one that... calls to me, I guess."
"Need I remind you that you only have until sundown?" Vara asks.
"No, you don't," Kash mutters. She is right, however, and suddenly a crushing sense of urgency strikes the apprentice. Clapping his hands together, he says, "Alright. Time to get to work!"
For the next half an hour, Kadezna spends his time digging through the misshapen piles. Nothing he picks up seems... right. Everything feels wrong in his hand. Off balanced, too heavy, too light, too flimsy, too solid: In one way or another, every single one of the weapons he has touched have been incorrect. He can't seem to find the right one. But he continues to look, forcing himself to be patient despite the rising panic in the back of his mind. At an hour and a half, Vara joins the search, pulling out daggers and swords, bows and maces. Again, nothing seems right.
Finally, once two hours have passed, Vara calls, "Hey Kash! Look at this one!"
Kash turns from his inspecting a mace and is in time to watch as Vara plucks a sword out of a corner. The sword is still in its sheath, which is ordained by a golden design resembling a raging fire. The pommel is fit for a one-handed sword, a fire emblem carved out of ebony placed in its top. Immediately, even upon looking upon it, something clicks. Deep within Kadezna, something seems to settle. It's like a missing part of him was returned.
Kash reaches out and takes the weapon from Vara silently, handling it like it is made of glass. The sword, in his grip, feels not right but... alive. It seems to purr at his touch. This sword is mine. A soft voice says deep in his mind. This sword is mine, has always been mine, has served me well, and will always continue to do so. It is mine. It is a part of me. Moving slowly and carefully, mind almost in a trance-like state, staring and staring at this sword, Kadezna wraps his hand around the pommel.
As soon as his skin touches the worn leather, a spark of electricity snaps up his arm to his chest. His eyes go dark, his vision filling with black. Then, before him, a fire rages, burning hot and golden through the brush. It rushes through the dry branches, quickly consuming everything in its path. Left in its wake are ashes, the smoke curling out of them resembling the very fire that gave them life. Beyond this smoke, somewhere in the distance, a voice calls out through the carnage. The words are indistinguishable but urgent. Kadezna strains to hear them, wondering what the voice is trying to say. Is it talking to him, or to something else? If so, what is it talking to?
"Are you going to draw the sword or just stare at it?" Vara's impatient voice cuts through the vision, shattering it before his eyes. He jerks back to reality, heart pounding hard and fast in his chest. What was that? A vision, obviously. But why? And what was the point?
Blinking himself back to the room and steadying his eyes on the sword once more, Kadezna mutters, "Sorry."
Reaffirming his grip, Kadezna slides the sword out of its sheath. The blade is made completely of a milky blue metal, swirled with white in places. Beautiful, but in a humble sort of way. It is the sword from his memory. That seems a little too coincidental to be... well, coincidence. The weapon is perfect in his grasp; balanced, light, and humming at his touch. It is like the sword knows him. Recognizes him. It is almost as if the blade was awaiting his arrival.
Quickly, Kash sheathes the sword once again and smiles at his mentor. "I think we found the one," he murmurs.
"Good. We need to get you in gear and get on the road. I am allowed to bring you to the location, but that is where my influence stops. If I help you any further, it'll get you expelled from the Order," Vara tells him. "But I'll drive you out there."
"Seeing as I don't know how to drive, I believe this to be a good idea," Kash laughs softly. With the sword in his grasp, he feels much more secure. Perhaps this sword, once he defeats the spirit, will help him unlock more of his past.
If you defeat the spirit, not once, his logic warns, and he takes a deep breath. Arguing with himself is only serving to aggravate the sense of panic starting at the base of his skull. Time to do and not think.
Turning to his master, he asks, "You wouldn't possibly have a set of magical gear hanging around would you?"