Ascencion Chamber

Yakruff was someone who got things done, he had been in the business of handling demons for several decades at this point, and it was not uncommon for him to come across scenes like he was seeing in front of him. he had long since admitted that going into the Ascension plains was becoming too dangerous for him, especially with being so close to seeing his own demise one too many times at the hands of Sentinel beasts.

This job, in itself, should not have been any different from any of the others, a couple of PlainsWalkers, with a child, had fallen afoul of one such Sentinel beast, and both had been killed in the process. the case seemed like a sorry one. the child’s mother had long been dead, so it fell to the child’s father, and his brother to look after the small girl.

He arrived at the scene to assess the damage, seeing no sign of how these PlainsWalkers had found themselves this far out without transport, nor how they could have even got here. any semblance of Civilisation a good day’s trek in any direction. the whole place was a mess, it was amazing that they could make out it was a pair of PlainsWalkers’ given the state of the bodies, but there was just enough of the armour to make it out. Yakruff made his way back to his vehicle and pulled out his phone, calling the job handler.

“Karel, remind me to never take these death jobs again will you?” Yakruff sighed into his phone, “Because each one seems weirder than the last, like, seriously, I’m standing here, being threatened by a five-year-old holding a dagger, a dagger, Karel.” he paused listening to what Karel was muttering about on the other end.“No, I’m not going to take it off the Kid Karel, in all honest, I’m not sure how I’m to get this kid from here.” he hung up his mobile and crouched down. “Hey, Kid, you got a name?” he asked, offering a hand for the kid to pounce on him.

“Grimdog” they screeched as they went for Yakruff, startling him from where he was crouched, dagger managing to catch him on both his outstretched arm and on his chest in a couple places. Yakruff was able to grab the kid by the scruff of her shirt in one hand, getting the dagger off of them with the other, dropping it, and pulling out his phone.

“Karel I’m going to need some help bringing this kid back, they got me good and I’m not willing to try and get back myself, yes Karel, the kid got one up on me, no, I’m not sure how just get someone out here to help me out alright, this kid may be useful to us in the future. People are coming? Good, how long will I need to wait? ten minutes? good” Yakruff sighed and shifted how he was holding Grimdog, they ended up flopped over his uninjured arm, arms and legs dangling, screeching at him. he turned away back from those whom he had earlier figured to be the Kids father and uncle. I’m pretty certain this kid going to be pretty messed up after this, I don’t know how long they’ve been here with their dead relatives. he thought to himself, but that’s clearly having an effect even now. he looked to his right, a beat pickup truck was approaching, and was slowing down.

“Yo, Yakruff, what the fuck dude? this the kid?” one of the three asked as they were stepping out of the pickup.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure the kids fairly messed up, dunno how long they’ve been sat here with their dead parents, and I did our normal thing with kids, and yeah, you can see what happened.” one of the men took the kid off of Yakruff.

“Kid got a name?” the same guy asked, for the kid to screech Grimdog again.

“That’s the only thing the kids said Phaethon,” Yakruff said, “I’m guessing that’s what they’re going to have to go by until we think of something more suitable,” he said, before inhaling sharply as one of the other men started cleaning the wound on his arm.

“These are likely to scar dude, if we can get this kid to be less, well, feral, we might be able to make a PlainsWalker outta them.” a second man spoke up, while the third, set about moving the dead parents to the flatbed of the pickup, along with the dagger.

“That was my hope, but the only issue is, I’m not sure how the citizens of Xythain will take to a female PlainsWalker after this long, you know their prophecies right?” Yakruff said through a clenched jaw.

“Well, let’s just hope the prophecy is wrong, because we could use more PlainsWalkers, and it shouldn’t matter their gender, as long as they’re good with a weapon, which this kid clearly is at this age.” the second man said. “I’d be interested to know how much better they can get over time, given the right training.”

“As would I,” Yakruff said, watching the kid putting up a fight with the guy who’d taken her off of Yakruff, hissing as the guy cleaning his wounds moved to the ones on his chest.

Several years had passed, and Yakruff was amazed by the transformation of Grimdog from a feral child to their youngest PlainsWalker, having been able to do more in six months than some of her counterparts had done in six years. “I still think Thirteen is too young for a PlainsWalker, but I seem to be in the minority here,” he commented to some of his fellow ranked PlainsWalkers.

“While I do agree with Yakruff, Grimdog shows a skill that’s beyond her years, and as much as any of us hate to admit it, She’s definitely part of the Prophecy, we need to give her chance to actually do some good before we lose her to it.” Phaethon replied, “Besides, she’s done more this past month since completion of her trials than many of us here have done since she was found seven years ago. I mean you can technically be left out of this Yakruff as you’ve spent this time training her so you weren’t exactly slacking.” Phaethon said. “Besides, i think she’s got an elite soldier partner too, X-13, Xerxes i think the kids name is, same age as her, only just became an elite soldier, While he may not be able to access the ascension plains, he’ll be able to back her up from the chamber, and work with her on the plains here, some kind of agreement between us and the Royal Echelon I believe. Something about wanting to improve relations between PlainsWalkers and the Elite Soldiers.” he paused. “I’ve got a feeling its because she’s a female PlainsWalker and they don’t want her left exposed, even though she’s excellent at defending herself.”

“Hmph, I expected as much when I heard the news myself,” Yakruff said. “Why they couldn’t have let us deal with it I don’t know, but I suppose its better than any of us being considered something we aren’t.”

“It’s probably that as well Yakruff, they don’t want normal citizens misconstruing anything that we do.” Phaethon replied. “That kid’s gonna go far, probably because he’s partnered with Grimdog.”

“Most likely,lets just make sure neither of them kill themselves before we get chance to see them grow into their roles.” Yarkruff, “I know X-13 is an elite soldier, but we should look out for him as much as we do Grimdog.”

“That we do”