Taliesin: Raven Event

Taliesin had spent most of the morning with the priests and other ket worshippers of The Beaked Devil, preparing for his return, it was today, the wars main event, the final battle, the fate of not just Norwich was in all their hands today.

It must’ve been a weird sight to everyone who didn’t truly know him, to see Tal patiently sit down and pray, to actually listen to the priests and scholars and take part in what they were doing, but those who did know him and where he came from left he be, they knew how important this was to him. 

Even Omen hadn’t made an appearance, his almost life long companion sat idle in the back of his mind, a constant but pleasant hum, she was there if he needed her but right now he did not, instead wanting to be left alone to do his tasks, even if he knew both Omen and Avarice were near, keeping an eye on him. 

Taliesin was currently mending his long coat, throughout the years he’d had this he’d added sigils, symbols and runes, the coat a story, The Beaked Devils story. The black flames at the bottom were akin to the chains holding the Devil down in the depths, the runes and sigils documenting his pain and sorrow, how the once golden god turned to the same darkness that consumed him in the depths and then the stars and constellations and clouds above with the moon on one sleeve and sun on another, a sad reminder of a sight he hadn’t seen in years. Over the years Taliesin had personally added to the coat, mended it and kept it in the perfect condition you see today, with a little help from the rune witch to keep it from falling apart in battle of course. 

“I always loved your coat, I remember the last time you let me feel the embroidery” Avarices voice was gently as he sat down next to Taliesin, jerking him out of his thoughts, how long had he been sitting here just preparing? 

“A true labour of love” Tal grinned as he decided he’d really done enough with this a long time ago now, he was just avoiding the inevitable. 

“C’mon, I brought war paint, lemme do yours and you can do mine, I promise not to paint a dick on your forehead” The dephx snickered which caused Tal to burst out laughing. 

“I’m not letting a blind Dephx paint my face!” He said between laughter as he took the paints out of the satchel Avarice wore as of late, they’d made use of Dephx’s blindness and used them to help transport important documents between leaders, a clever tactic since the messengers couldn’t read the important information.

“That’s a fair point actually, I could be painting you one minute, the next you’ve sat some poor sod in front of me who’s too scared to speak up” The Dephx snickered. 

“Oh could you imagine! I just knock out Hux and strap him down, imagine washing off all that paint-“

“I heard that and will end you both” Hux just so happened to walk past at the moment with a group of heavily armoured Aphex, the red eyed Aphex glared at them but you could see a small smirk just under the lip of his helm even as he walked by. 

“What a spoil sport, now come on we need to get you ready” Avarice gave him a light pat on his arm.

It didn’t take too long for all the preparations to be made, Tal had outfitted Avarice in armour to help protect him from any attacks he wouldn’t be able to sense coming whilst also decorating the Dephx with the war paint he brung, Avarice had tried to say it was for Tal himself but the purple Aphex was having none of it. 

To his own surprise Tal was on the front lines, it was parcular when throughout all of this he’d been involved with The Devils priests and scholars but then again he was admitedly one of the strongest Aphex’s in the world in terms of magic, not having him on the front lines would’ve been a stupid move. 

“You’ll know when to act” Raven had spoken before they’d gotten to the front lines, “you’ll know, trust me”

Taliesin could see Raven now, sitting upon his Draconic goat like mount, watching the opposing side from across the battlefield, waiting to see who would charge who first, it was an odd and eerie kind of stalemate, that was until the earth began to shake. 

It was like nothing he’d ever seen before, nothing he’d ever felt before, the ground was alive with magic, it almost felt as if trembled in fear of what was approaching, all eyes turned to the sea beyond Raven as something as black as night eclipsed the sun, letting out a deathening cry as it broke the surface.

The Beaked Devil.

He was glorious, his sized matched that of mountains, the once white fur that covered him had been tainted to pitch black, so black it was almost void of any light, the once gold insides now turned a deep and familiar purple to Taliesin as he smiled proudly, he could see his same purple coloured ore he too sported in his back from his own scars within the devil himself. And the scream, no the battle cry the god let out was as deafening as it was empowering, Taliesin could feel his magic coming to life not just within him but all around him.

It manifested in the shadows around him, circling up his body like snakes as the darkness engulfed him, leaving him looking like a shadowy version of himself with the ends of his head almost smoke like before it dispersed. He’d gotten the devils token long ago as a reward from the god and now it was time to put it to use, the odd maw that now was on his face opened as he pulled out his sword, a beautiful black and purple blade, a dedication to the god now before him as he turned to the battle field. 

This was what they’d been waiting for, their sign to charge. 

And so they did.