The Lamplight Reveals The Truth (Toryuki Awakening/ Investigation)

Slipping away from the crowds of the slums, the Dystoran warrior moved amongst the back allies of the slums. It bothered her in a way how much she'd grown used to these slums, even though there were features of it that tended to change due to the nature of Junction itself.

That was why she walked. Junction... What was this place? She could gather little tid bits of information here or there, but so far, all she knew were about individual residents. The mystery. The way back to her home... Her war. And did time work differently here? The whole thing... She couldn't just forget her own home world. She threw it into a large war. To forget would be to disgrace.

Letting out a long exhale, Toryuki moved past a sleeping alien. Judging from its position, it was probably drunk, but that didn't matter to her. What interested her more was the alley behind it. Matters to attend, she stepped over a piece of stone rubble, before moving into the somewhat damaged alleyway. Whether it arrived in Junction damaged or not didn't matter to Toryuki. Could something be hidden beneath the rubble? Whether it related to Junction or not wasn't important. Any information would be pleasing. Anything. Those thoughts in mind, the Dystoran began to search among the rubble, crouching cautiously as she carefully and slowly moved the rubble to the side to look around.

The sound of movement caused the Dystoran to turn on a dime, facing the drunken humanoid. This... Was different. And the appearance was unlike one of a cultural difference. To Toryuki, it smelled of pure malice, and dangerous intent. The fact that it began to move towards her in such a hurry only emphasised this.

Turning back around, the Dystoran put her legs to use, hurdling over a piece of what she had been inspecting before turning and kicking it towards the stranger. "Cease and explain your intent, or I will use force and retaliate!" She declared, legs shifting to a defensive stance as her arms emerged from beneath her cloak, which shifted with her every breath and movement.

In the many things she'd seen in Junction, this was certainly a first. A black liquid, auditory horror clichés. The options in Toryuki's mind were telling her that this was no ordinary citizen of Junction. For now, distance would be a good idea. Turning on her non-existent heels, the Dystoran moved further down the alley, before once more checking to ensure any distance had been made from this stranger that she at first had thought drunk. "I said halt! Explain your intentions, and speak! What do you mean by void? Answer me now, as I do not wish to enact needless conflict!"

Should the creature keep moving forwards with words undiscernible, the fighter clenched her fists and slammed it on the nearby wall in an attempt to intimidate with a loud thud, mint green blood leaking from a split in her scaly skin. If the creature stopped, Toryuki herself would also stop, preparing to listen.

Hearing the sounds of the wall at her side splintering and cracking, Toryuki realised that what she had thought was a proper wall, was instead a structural failure of architecture. As much as she was interested in how something could be built so weak, now was not the time. Leaping backwards away from the still advancing void mutterer, the Dystoran turned once more, this time deciding that for now, the only way was further ahead.

Not knowing how far she'd have to run in order to get away however, that was a problem. Not to mention this... Feeling. The whole thing was so surreal that she couldn't help but feel her body desire to run. It was only her instinct as a warrior that supressed this desire to flee, as Toryuki instead gave herself a short burst of running to get away from the falling rubble, before slowing down to a fast jog, every now and again pausing to determine the distance between her and her pursuer. This was not how she felt today would go.

A split path, and from what little she knew of foreign worlds, this was similar to what they would call a catacomb, the home of the valued dead being said to descend downwards. While normally she'd have loved to have paused and investigated, this was not a situation where such was a luxury. Not missing a beat or pausing from her fast paced jog, the Dystoran opted to go further down into the catacombs. Worst case scenario, below ground would be a good place to make a last stand. Best case scenario, the descended area would allow her to lose her unkind pursuer.

At no point did she turn back, using her natural height and size as her advantage by taking long strides, eyes darting back and forth ahead of her, intent on making sure her footing was steady enough. She would not die this day.

Slowing down to a walk as her sense of urgency was dissipated and her sense of pace required to slow due to the narrow halls, the Dystoran looked around her at the strange catacombs around her. The way the lighting worked was unique, and certainly intriguing. Was there an unseen sensor that activated the lights upon having something in the sensor? If so... Then the technology truly belied the supposed age of the ruins.

Traversing ever deeper, Toryuki looked into the bright chamber, stepping cautiously into the expansive room as darkness enveloped the way which she had come from. The light breathing around her didn't make this the most enjoyable experience, yet none of this was what she would particularly classify as normality. All she could do was press on. Moving forwards, Toryuki approached the far end, keeping herself alert as she made her slow approach to investigate and inspect what appeared on the wall.

A wall of bones, an increase in varying sounds, and two opposing paths. The bones at the end were intriguing, clearly not Dystoran in nature, but from one of those... Humanoid races? The smell and mustiness of the area emphasised that these bones were the real deal, although Toryuki wasn't familiar enough with the subject to date them. It intrigued her however, far more than it did disgust or horrify her. What sort of race or culture would create buildings out of bone? After all, such a material was only brittle usually. Unless the bones were hardier than they appeared. With the rubble that fell before however, the Dystoran knew not to knock on the bones to test her theory. Instead, it was time to choose which path to take.

Letting out a light growl of frustration at the sound of static, Toryuki opted to take the right most path, making sure each of her steps were light footed, and slow, first testing for if light would occur in the corridor before proceeding. This was an incredibly intriguing experience to her, and one that Toryuki was being careful to remember every detail about for study at a later date. There was a device named the C.W.I.S system, right? Perhaps there she could discover answers to any questions she had that would not be answered by delving deeper.

Stepping into the room and investigating the surroundings would normally have been something Toryuki would have spent her time doing, not wishing to rush. Yet instead, before her caught her current attention for a time, eyes darting between the two strangers. Quickly, her eyes transfixed on the corpse that began to speak however, as words emanated into her mind from the two conflicting sounds that wracked at her mind, so loud now that her eyes were sharp and small, pupils shrunken from the pain.

Very little of her took the words in, yet there was something she understood. The power to resist corruption... Did that mean that such a situation was something to do with corruption? The one in the cloak? The one with the black liquid? To hell with that. Resist corruption? With power like that... Perhaps she could finally kill the Emperor of Dystor. Her hands grasped to her skull, as if physically holding in the voice and sounds, before the Dystoran looked forth once more, muttering beneath her words.

"Let the transmission begin, and tell me who I must fight for now, voice of Nyarlathotep."