Deposition

[Shay Cormac]

Skipping the fact that Shay almost got a heatstroke at least twice in the multiple hours he had been traveling, not to mention his sudden inability to feel his feet at the moment, Shay did reassure himself that the traveling to Nippur on foot a second time was much easier than the first. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the man dragged his feet up the familiar dune that Shay had walked on many weeks ago to get a good view of the golden city now in ruins.

Emphasis on the ruins part, Shay could already see smoke rising from the general direction of Nippur. A knot tied in his stomach, and Shay, finding a sudden surge of energy, quickly jogged up the dune in question. Almost tripped a few times getting there, though eventually, he got to the top. Looking onward, the city itself wasn't exactly what he remembered. It was still intact however, and that gave the Templar some room to breathe. Victor was beyond right though, Shay really shouldn't have let this city loose.

Hopefully Gilgamesh wouldn't have minded the absence, since Shay knew he couldn't have done much alone at the time, especially in the state he was in, but... now, Shay felt he had to do something now.

The hot sun of the Endless Dunes only seemed to get hotter the closer Shay got to the city gates. The guards, still standing ever so valiantly, seemed to be in the middle of conversation, pointing at the Templar running towards the borders of Gilgamesh's province. They knew it was a member of New Babylon, but... something concerned them.

Shay gulped, or at least, tried to with his mouth so parched and dry.

The Templar slowed, and he could smell ash in the air. It wasn't much, but it was enough to put the man on edge. The guards, patiently opened the large, hulking gates on one of the sides of Nippur, but... Shay had to make his presence clearer. Putting his hand on one of the guards' heavy pauldrons, Shay spoke for the first time in about a day.

"I couldn't find her. What's happened since I was gone?" Shay asked, looking intensely at the halberd-toting guardsman.

"We..." the man began to reply, his voice slightly shaky. He looked over at the others stationed at his post, continuing.

"It hasn't been the best," he eventually finished, "but we haven't been holding up so well. I know your orders to maintain some level of authority here when you left for all that time was clear, but not all of us know where exactly to start. A lot of thieves, delinquents and all sorts of fun-loving creatures have sprang up to commit acts of petty annoyances or borderline actions of terror."

Shay looked at him for a good moment, looking back and scratching at his somewhat rough chin.

"I don't know how exactly you all are ranked, but is your ranking of decent standing, soldier?" Shay replied, folding his arms and keeping his chest puffed out to put emphasis on this authority.

"Yes sir, I--" the guardsman began, before Shay grasped as his shoulder. Before he knew it, the both of them were walking into the city of Nippur.

"Good. Tell your higher-ups that I, Shay Patrick Cormac, will be filling out renovation orders soon. For now, keep more men in the city than outside of the gates. I was almost scared that you all were bandits that stole some fancy armor."

The guardsman stopped. He thought for a second, knowing he couldn't refuse, and he didn't want to, but...

"How do you know they'll listen to me?"

Shay chuckled lightly, looking over at the man with his eyebrow raised.

"Tell them I have Gilgamesh's word that he trusts me. And for the time being, I trust you, sir...?"

The guard nodded, about to dash out of Shay's grasp, before realizing what was asked of him. A name, ah yes, his name.

"Alfonso, sir Cormac, at your service," he answered; Alfonso bowing soon after.

"Good, then go."

Shay let go of the armored man's shoulder, before looking forward. He had only walked a few feet within Nippur's borders, but Shay already saw quite the welcoming party for him.

A few civilians, however scattered this time, seemed to have taken notice of him a good distance away. The Templar remembered how many civilians there were in comparison to the last time he was in this exact spot; it was scarily underwhelming for a city of this nature. Sighing, Shay looked onto Gilgamesh's towering palace in the distance, shielding his eyes from the scalding hot sun above him. He began walking even further this time, only a few seconds later, a memory popping into his head.

Yes, Victor would need to know about this, wouldn't he? A smug grin spread across the Templar's face as he pulled out his Dataverse communicator. His fingers were much quicker on the device this time.

But... for a moment, he slowed.

Nippur. What a beautiful sight it really was, even now. Shay didn't realize it until now, but... As terribly uncomfortable as it was to be here, it was at the very least interesting, and the closest place the man could call home in this strange realm of existence. Though, it did look really ugly now, no offense to Gilgamesh. Thankfully Shay knew a thing or two about real estate business.

Either way, first thing's first; get the civilians back in shape, get morale up, and of course, get the rest of New Babylon back into their territory.

The thought of Agnès crossed Shay's mind again. He felt much worse ever so suddenly, but he couldn't let that get to him. Not when he was already here. That, and, these people don't deserve to be abandoned and left to fend for themselves so far from their homelands. That all being said however, as much as Shay knew how to manage a crew, he'd need a little bit of help to manage a city.

And, looking down at the little buttons he pecked with his fingertips forming a message to be sent to Victor Wolfe, wherever he was; Shay would get that help soon enough.

[Shay Cormac]

The Templar couldn't help but groan as soon as the palace doors closed behind him. He never noticed it before, but Shay already found himself lost in the redundantly large building. Taking a few steps forward, Shay felt unnerved being here again. Almost every time he was, he was too tired to notice anything, or in some sort of grave danger. Looking around, Shay sighed. Guards were everywhere. Things were decently calm, though still a bit frantic. Nothing to worry about.

Not yet, at least.

Walking over, Shay inched over to one of the guardsman standing post beside a hallway branching off to another part of the palace. Not having much time to talk, Shay quickly gave a short nod, meaning to bow, but in too much of a hurry to do so.

"Is there any place here that acts as a sort of command center? Some place I'd be able to fill out papers at least?" Shay uttered, the plates on the guardsman's armor gently clashing as the man turned to answer.

"Ah," the guard began, "near the throne room, to the right I believe. I'm not allowed to go there myself, but... I'm certain you remember where that is, Sir Cormac."

Both of them nodding, Shay already began to storm off before the man stationed at his post got the chance to bow. Sweat trickled down the Templar's brow. Though he considered himself proficient at the subject, staring down piles of renovation orders with nothing but a quill and some ink had to have been the most frustrating moments of his life. A hyperbole, of course, but only slightly. The captain tried to reassure himself, not knowing at all if he had the resources necessary to complete such a task, but...

Well, if it came to it, Shay could use his Omnilium. Then again, there wouldn't be much of a point in filling out papers when he could just strain his temples for a few hours and stack bricks onto each other. After realizing his seeming weakness to extreme heat however, Shay wasn't exactly in the mood to start summoning buildings as if he were some sort of warlock.

Shay swerved and weaved around every corner of the elegant palace, not wanting to tell himself he forgot where the throne of Gilgamesh was. There was a bit of beauty in the art of the place, just enough to ease Shay's mind when he looked onto the awe-inspiring details on the walls and doors, still intact and beautiful as ever. It was eerily silent however, with the occasional sounds of footsteps and guardsmen whispering to one another as Shay passed each and every crevice of the building.

A few minutes pass, and eventually the Templar got to the throne room, which was still largely overwhelming to be inside of. The echo of Shay's footsteps froze the man for a second, before he remembered what he was even there for. It didn't take long for the captain to figure out where this room he was looking for was in the first place. Looking only slightly to the right, Shay saw a large wooden door finished with gold details at the far right of the overbearing royal seat, covered in the darkness of the pillars lining the carpet leading the king to his seat, if he was there.

Walking over, Shay finally opened the door, the wood screeching loud enough to take Shay aback. This place must have been older than he thought. Then again, it's not exactly Nippur was in anything above a state that wasn't "barely standing" for the past month or so.

The man saw nothing but unsorted stacks of paper in the midst of a golden room finished with elegant wood curvatures acting as furniture. Somebody must've been interrupted when they were here, whomever it was. Shay had hoped Gilgamesh wouldn't mind him sorting and filling out these papers that were supposedly his, but then again, the king would probably be much more intensely livid if Shay hadn't have taken responsibility to do this.

Either way, Shay pulled the seat from under the table, and began working with his quill pen at his side.

[Shay Cormac]

A few hours in, and Shay's hand already ached like hell. A pile of papers on his right and left, Shay could feel himself growing stiff all over, bored out of his mind as well. Looking down, Shay could already tell the sun was setting. Deciding he'd have enough of this pen and paper thing for the day, Shay got himself up, pushing the chair out from under him. The man could hear a few bones crackling when he got up. Not painful, but slightly worrying.

"Damn," Shay groaned silently, barely pushing the door open enough for him to leave. He made his way back to the palace's front gates, the guardsman all around him noticing the man's seeming exhaustion. Unfortunately for Shay, the first thing he'd want to do right now is sleep, yet he felt no need to. It was already growing chill, looking up now at the darkened night sky of the Dunes.

Shay began to wander the streets of Nippur, almost looking lost. The Templar never noticed before, but... Nippur at night was eerily quiet in comparison to it's day. Back in the British colonies, city life was at the very least active until a few hours into the night, but this was strange.

Well, it would be strange, had Shay not remembered what Victor told him in that email sent to him only an hour or so ago.

Shay doubted this was coincidence. Well, perhaps it was coincidence, and Victor is simply getting paranoid, but Shay didn't want to count on that. Taking a sharp right, Shay walked up to a building next to the street, feeling the cold brick with his gloved hands.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Shay mouthed to himself, a slight smirk on his face as he grasped at the nearest ledge he could put his hands onto, which happened to be a windowsill nearby. In only a few good seconds, Shay had already scaled the decently small building. Turning back over the ledge, he felt the cold night's winds blow in his face, watching as a few more guardsman switch their posts.

His fingers still ached a bit, but... Adjusting his gloves a bit, Shay thought of how refreshing it was to be on his feet again. Unfortunately, climbing this rickety old building was a bit harder than it used to be. Shaking his head, the captain assured himself he's only remembering how it was like to be physically active again. Looking up, Shay walked over to the other side of the roof, looking over the walls bordering Nippur. Nothing yet.

Turning back around, Shay stopped for a moment. Tiny, blurry specks had moved at the corner of Shay's eye. He felt something again. In his stomach, this time. His muscles tensed, and he quickly turned back around. Something was there, alright. On the walls. Moving. From this distance, he couldn't quite make it out, so far away from the palace, and he could barely see in between the buildings, but Shay assumed the worst. 

He felt at the ledge of the building, leaning in and squinting to focus his vision. A few seconds passed, and the blurry figures kept rising up the walls, no shiny metal-clad guardsman in the vicinity to see anything but him.

At that moment, the realization of what was happening hit him. Victor was onto something, or someone, in fact. He had to have been. Those were people going up those walls, trying to leave discreetly, right as the guards were switching posts when it was the easiest to do so.

Shay's fists clenched. This definitely was not anything good.

Stepping up, Shay leaped off of the ledge he was previously leaning on only a single second ago, not even having to grab at the next building closest. The provinces in Nippur were so close, Shay might as well have jogged to the walls on foot and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Or, at least, it wouldn't have if he needed to question those strange figures trying to sneak past the city walls.

The Templar got into his mood as he jumped and sprinted across Nippur, lost in his own thought as he almost instinctively ran his heart out towards the city borders. Were they thieves, perhaps? Spies would have been more likely, and worse. Maybe it was L.A.W. again, or worse yet, the Empire trying to take back what they claim was "theirs?"

In the heat of the moment, Shay was almost shocked to see the defensive walls of Nippur so close already. Only a few buildings away, and by the time he'd have finished asking himself who those possible threats were, Shay was already there. Unfortunately, looking up, the only glimpse of the people trying to escape Nippur was a very short and blurry one, despite how close he was. They were definitely wearing some sort of cloak, however. Shay grumbled to himself, before a hefty grunt escaped his lips as he bounded for the only tiny crevice he could put his hands on within the towering stacks of bricks before him.

Gritting his teeth, the captain felt himself pulling way too many muscles than he felt comfortable with leaping up towards any tiny slips within the architecture of the defenses. These would definitely need to be fixed later on, but... Shay had more important things to deal with at the moment, surely. Rising up the edge of the wall itself, Shay pulled himself up, before running to the other side, and looking down... Now he could see clearly. A smug smile widened across his face.

Whoever was running down there, they certainly were wearing cloaks. Shay could see two of them wearing the same old rags as clothes.  The hooded types, the ones you might see cultists from a fantasy book wearing, Shay thought. A grey-blue color, to be exact. They'd more than likely rip those bags off of their bodies as soon as they were out of sight however, so... The Templar hesitated not to immediately vault over the slight cover on the ends of the wall, climbing down, and dropping himself to the dusty sands below as soon as it was safe.

God, did it hurt though. Shay didn't have much time to think about the possible sprained ankle he just got, or to never underestimate his falling distance onto sand ever again, he simply ran. The hooded figures, already trying to stride up a steep dune, kept trudging on, thinking they were safe. Shay sprinted full-speed to not lose sight of them and perhaps get a jump on them. Keep it civil, if possible, but...

One of them turned around. Shay could barely see it, his heart rate increasing, but there was definitely a face under there. One that he could barely see, but a face nonetheless. Either way, they quickly nudged at their buddy beside them, and started running just as, if not faster than Shay himself. The Templar's fists clenched harder, himself running up the dune right after they got over it. He was closing in, but Shay was definitely afraid he'd lose them.

As soon as he got up said dune, however, Shay's heart stopped for a single moment realizing where they were going due to what he saw before him. The train tracks, the lone bandit city way off on the horizon, the short and tiny dead brushes and shrubs...

The gates.

Breathing heavily, Shay couldn't help but curse to himself as he continued to chase down the mysterious figures in the distance.

"Shite."