Before Azel could question further a familiar voice called from behind Colwyn, "There you are! I was starting to think you'd gotten yourself lost for good."
Azel turned to see Lyra emerging from the trees, a mix of annoyance and relief on her face. She strode over, her eyes scanning him for any signs of injury.
"I had to go through a bit of an ordeal, but I'm fine," Azel said, trying to reassure her.
Lyra looked at Colwyn questioningly, who was now sitting against a tree. "What exactly did you do to him?"
Colwyn ignored the question and presumably gave a lazy grin under his helmet. "You see, Azel? Lyra worries about you."
Lyra shot him a glare. "You're the one who is so insistent on his value to the Chasers. It's only right I make sure an asset isn't damaged,"
It was almost comical watching the two act out this performance; Azel knew that Lyra was looking for a reason to get Colwyn taken out the picture for this "Rio" women, In turn Colwyn was trying to shake Lyra off of his tail and probably strike back against them... And of course Azel was a bloodthirsty zombie trusted by no one.
In a strange way, Azel felt a genuine sense of camaraderie with his mis matched group now, all three of them disliked the other two! Azel wondered if Colwyn was having similar thoughts, after all he too knew that pretty much every interaction between the three was full of lies.
Probably not though. The last time Azel tried putting himself in Colwyn's shoes and suggested killing Lyra he found out how much the knight and him differed... After all Colwyn's plan to deal with her was rather exhausting, no matter the suspicion that would have been drawn through her death it had to have been easier.
And to be honest, Azel had no real interest in understanding Colwyn because, quite frankly, trying to become human wasn't something Azel was interested in. What he needed was power, both physical and political, so he could carry out his whims. If that meant becoming a Sunchaser then so be it. Azel would exploit anything for his goal.
Because he was an undead, A monster.
Discarding such thoughts, Azel turned back to Colwyn "I thought we would end up in the Enclave, Why are we in this forest?"
"Well, technically this is part of the Enclave, just on the outskirts of the city." Colwyn pushed himself off the tree, stretching lazily. "We can't risk hostiles teleporting in right at the centre of the city so most gate keys will take us to a nearby spot,"
Azel nodded, it made sense, but he had been under the impression that the enclave was a smallish island. If it had whole ecosystems in its territory then he had underestimated the scale by a pretty substantial amount.
"Anyway, Azel, We're going to have to do something about those eyes of yours." Said Colwyn, his helmet tilting in thought, "Maybe I should just cut them out, And then it's permanently solved?"
"Rejected," Responded Azel quickly, unsure if Colwyn was joking or not. "Do you two have any other ideas?"
Lyra glanced at Colwyn, who shrugged nonchalantly. "We could use some lenses or an illusion spell. Something subtle enough to not draw attention but effective enough to hide your undead nature."
Colwyn nodded. "There's a clerk in the city who owes me a favour. We can pay him a visit. He should be able to whip something up for you."
And like that the trio begun walking, again.
It wasn't much of a surprise, after all, Colwyn and Lyra were a part of the seeker division. It was their job to explore the world and recover artifacts. Unfortunately, that naturally meant a lot of walking, and Azel was growing tired of it all.
Of course the other options weren't much better...
Division one of the sun chasers were the Archivists, they were pretty much the desk jockeys of the Sun Chasers. They would sort and organise information as well as assign tasks to the the other divisions.
Honestly, if Azel wanted to live a quite and peaceful life he would of applied here. Their initiation exam was by far the easiest of all five divisions, so even Azel who knows next to nothing about the world would get in.
Division two were the Guardians. As per their name they acted as main security force and were probably the strongest division in terms of raw power. Each member has to reach a certain level of strength to even get in, once again Azel could have probably gotten in if he wanted.
Unlike the other divisions ranking system which were based on experience the Guardians have a strict hierarchy based on strength. According to Lyra there was a Templar in the second division who was only nineteen.
Division three were the Artificers. This division was responsible for crafting and maintaining the various magical artifacts, weapons, and tools that the Sun Chasers used. They were the inventors and engineers, always tinkering with new ideas and refining existing ones. While it sounded interesting, Azel was fairly sure his talents didn't lie in crafting or invention.
Finally the fourth and technically last division was the seekers, the smallest group of individuals are responsible for recovering artifacts and exterminating monsters. They were the group that had the most freedom and were therefore Azel's best bet to reaching those southern monks.
"Oh, look we can see the city!" Exclaimed Colwyn, his solid helmet making Azel doubt if he could see anything at all.
But Colwyn didn't lie. They three had just climbed a particularly large hill and could now see the city.
Beautiful white spires pierced the clouds as the taller buildings overlooked the territory. In the centre of the city lay a fortress of some kind, no doubt the main base of the Sunchaser's.
Seeing the city now made Azel finally aware of just how powerful the organisation is. Not only did a whole group of quality individuals work for them but the quantity of civilians acting as a support was remarkable as well.
And Azel was going to infiltrate them. somehow.