Sound returned slowly as Bau and Esone picked their way through the smoking carnage, the spitting of severed wires and the crackle of charred flesh mingling with the howling of a hungry wind. Neither soldier spoke, their weapons still drawn and their movements sluggish, advancing on the point where they estimated the Cain-Trooper had fallen. It had taken them too long to navigate the high-rises and waist-high walls that separated the main deck form the crash site, and neither expected to find the wayward opponent still unconscious. Before they had embarked, Bau had used hand talk to convey that the target was a Sidereal. Esone had no reason to doubt him, and dearly wished they had at least waited for the Commander. His knife and the pistol he'd taken from a Cerberus Dragoon weren't going to do much, and Bau looked too battered to last much longer against another onslaught of kite.<br/><br/>Esone snorted involuntarily, claiming his hand over his mouth to stifle the noise as Bau glared at him. The idea that Sidereals regularly used kites as weapons was hilarious, but from previous intel Esone had to accept that it was true. Most of the Reclamation -himself included- laughed for hours when they first read that section of the Vizier's dossier. Well, helm cam pictures from this fight would be added to the files for future generations.<br/><br/>The Exalts entered the courtyard with weapons drawn, flicking their attentions in every direction before focussing on the crater that dimpled the center. The titanium plating was warped in the shape of a humanoid figure, but the culprit was nowhere to be seen. Esone knelt by the lip, studying it carefully for blood trails, char-mark bootprints, anything he could use to track with. He was sorely disappointed - the rippled metal was wiped clean.<br/><br/>Bau tapped at his shoulder, first a gentle brush then a more rapid, frantic tugging. Esone turned on him, a growl building in the back of his throat.<br/>"What?"<br/>Bau made no reply, merely pointed at the sky above them. Something glistened between the buildings on either side, a lattice of crimson webs that hung and wove from wall to wall. As Esone looked closer, he began to make out words.<br/><br/>"That is not dead which can eternal lie,<br/>And with strange aeons even death may die.<br/>Know then that this world will not end in fire and ice;<br/>I have seen the coming apocalypse - the world shall end in tentacles!"<br/><br/>"What the frak..." Esone muttered, shading his eyes agains the suddenly hateful sun. At the back of his mind, something began to seep back into existence, squirming through the bars of an immaterial cage.<br/><br/>It was only when the rush of Essence returned to him and the stench of Necromantic working turned his stomach that Esone realized that the taught cables above them were woven of blood.