<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/54/81ee9d79685517918b73fae27b4c1ddc.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Name:</strong>The expedition<br/><strong>Location/Date/Time:</strong>Somewhere on the Western Ocean, 8 Resplendent Earth, Early afternoon - Surface team / Upper Ring<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Any<br/><strong>Notes:</strong>None<br/><br/>At the sight of the Solar's caste marks glowing, the spirit dropped to his knees, pressing one fist to the floor, the other clenched across his chest. "Lord, Lady." His voice is reverent, and his head bows low. "They said you were all gone, and our oaths were dust, but we held. We stayed loyal. We fought, and we bled and we died, but we held, until hope was gone and life was gone, and we held still. At the end of it, there were only seven or eight score of us left, Terrestrials and mortals both. The traitors we cast out, their bodies taken by the carrion feeders. We thought it was over. I ... I don't remember how long. Memories ... they fade. But we did not ... we missed ... someone. Something."<br/><br/>The spirit's voice grew ragged as he spoke. "Death stalked the halls. Unseen it passed. One by one ... one by one ... disappeared. Gone. Taken. Never a sound, never a sign of struggle. It had to be someone known. I thought perhaps I knew who. I suspected. But they disappeared and the vanishings continued."<br/><br/>"It waits still, in the darkness, for prey. I know it is there, but I cannot see it. I ... I have failed. Failed to protect those I was responsible for. Failed in my charges. Failed in my oaths. Failed." The spirit began to fade from sight, it's voice growing softer as it spoke the words of regret.