P.S.S. "The Legend Of The Primal Keys"::Ch.2 a- The Truth [IC]

[Sutoratosu]

"what the hell are you talking about?" Eric asked, standing up. "I couldn't see anything that could've signified that at all... And of all people, I think I would know. I didn't sit through all those damn anatomy lectures as a child for nothing..."

"He's referring to his eyes, fool," Cesealia interjected a bit curtly. then she turned on Matrim, suspicion on her face. "But just how would you know about that? You don't look like the typical scholar..."

"You can interogate people later, damn it!" the toad croaked. Everyone in the entire group could hear him clear as day. "You have more important things to worry about right now!"

"God..." Aaron said in response. "I swear to god, I must've hit my head or something... The amount of animals that are suddenly beginning to talk is ridiculous... " he rubbed his temples in frustration, taking his glasses off for a moment.

"Alright," he said to Matrim and Ko'Luki. "Please, please, tell me that you two can hear this...this thing...because I think I'm going insane..."

[K_H]

Ko'luki turned to Aaron.

"Aaron, it's either none of us or all of us, because I heard it too."

[Sutoratosu]

"Damn right you heard me!" the Toad croaked snobbishly. "Now stop this dilly dallying! We've got things to do an-" The sentence was cut off as Aaron lashed out with his hand grabbed the little amphibian as it hopped high into the air.

"And just who are you working for?" He demanded, putting a little pressure into his grip. "That little stunt you did, stealing the keys... that honestly was a bit too much on the suspicious side from my liking..."

"I can not tell you who I work for, Sir!" The thing squeked, struggling to breath in the young man's iron hold.

"Well how conveninet then..." Aaron said. wisps of stem began to issue froth from his palm, and the toad began to squirm even harder. "So you don't want to tell us? you're not helping your case, you little wretch. Did that 'Rossephus' guy send you?"

"I can not speak of my orders, nor of who gave them to me!"

"Fine. I'll just have to roast you then." A bright scarlet glow emanated from Aaron's hand's as he spoke. small tendrils of flame began lick around his wrist, slowly making their way to the Toad. The thing looked around at Matrim and Ko'Luki, pleading for help with it's eyes. "You have one last chance!" Aaron barked. "Tell us who the fuck sent you!"

"Mercy, Mercy!" The Toad cried, panicking as the fire got ever closer to it's skin. "Please Sir! I beg of thee, I can not tell!" That was it. Fine. Aaron was done with the little bastard. A tiny scream could be heard as the fire rushed forward over his fist and engulfed the frog, causing the thing to panic and flail, shouting a multitude of unsavory things at everyone... then it gradually stopped as the flame receded. Aaron's hand stopped glowing. The Beast was completely unharmed by the flames.

"what...wha..." he said, truamatized by the event. Aaron brought his hand up to eye level, Glaring at him.

"That was my mercy," He said in a tone that suggested he was more than just annoyed. "you asked for it, and I just gave you it; that was nothing more than an illusion... but I don't have any more mercy to give you, so this truly is your last chance, little toad." The amphibian looked at Cesealia and Eric.

"Help me...?" he pleaded. Neither one of them made a move. "Please?"

"One has to wonder," Cesealia said. "If you have no bad intentions for us, then why are you so persistent in hiding things? how hard is it to just speak up and tell who, if anyone, sent you here?" The toad had no answer to that...nor to Aaron's previous question. The boy had lost all patience with this damn frog.

"What a shame," he said, glancing over at Matrim and Ko'Luki "It seems that our little amphibian here might be working against us... but we can't know unless he says something, now can we? and he wants to keep his lips sealed...now, why is that? if he's a friend, why hide things from us?"

"Because I am soul-bound to secrecy!"

"Horse shit!" Aaron barked. "I sense no contract on you!" The thing slunk back a little, having been caught in the lie. but it didn't say anything more. In the distance, the sound of hooves clicking on the barren ground could be heard...like a pack of wild horses were nearby. But that's not what Aaron was focusing on right now. He dropped his hand down to his side, the toad still held in it, and looked at Ko'Luki. "Do you have any spare Wyrm-fire?" he asked. "I don't want to have to resort to something like this... but he leaves me little choice."

((Murdoc, Super, if either of you wanna intervene here and speak up, feel free to))

***

Meanwhile, while Aaron was conducting his little interrogation on the Godly magic toad, Blackjack and what was left of his Pack made their way through the thickets along the road and emerged back into the area of Ko'Luki's hut, coming from around the back and circling out before Trystane and Octavia. Black jack walked up to the young hunter, glancing curiously at the commotion over yonder with flaming frogs and shouting voices. The rest of his pack, some 7 strong not counting himself and his brother, trotted around the area cautiously, scanning the tree line... as if they were watching for something.

"What in the hell is going on here?" he asked Trystane. "Where did you people find a flaming frog?" then the fire died down. "Never mind... look, are you people ready? whatever hit our pack is still around this place and it picked off even more of them just a short while ago."

***

GILWYN AND CO.

"This way!" Gilwyn shouted down the corridor to the others. The air was heavy with the scent of smoke, fire, and blood. Guards littered the way behind him, having stood no chance against the ancient magic he had finally decided to resort to. The others trailed behind him as quick as they could, stepping over the bodies as he pressed forward, using the ring of keys he'd stolen off Earl's corpse to unlock the door leading up. What greeted him was a contingency of guards armed with fusils and spears... at least twenty of them.

"Halt!! Stay where you a-" the warden couldn't even finish his sentence. Gilwyn had slammed the door shut and ran off in the opposite direction down the hall, signalling for the others to do the same. Unfortunately... what greeted them at the end of this way was forty armored guards wielding long swords and tower shields. Needless to say, the sorcerer hunter was forced to stop in his tracks... as was Atton and everyone else.

"Surrender and come quietly back to your cells!" one of the armored men ordered. Gilwyn couldn't help but raise an eyebrow to that... What the hell? I didn't peg his men to be the kind to offer the choice of surrender... Regardless though, that wasn't an option to them either way. Gilwyn knew what had to be done. He was a little rusty at it, but he focused himself for a minute and traced the closest leyline to him, sensing it a little over a mile away... rather far away from where it had been last time, but then again, the five of them had covered a lot of ground since he'd Strangled that damn hipee and sprung them all from their cells. "You have a ten count!" the man continued to shout at them. his comrades were beginning to form a phalanx, prepared to run down the small group if they didn't comply. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two...one!"

"Rifnea!" Gilwyn roared as a circle of energy emerged around his feet, an eight sided star blazing within it's boundaries with eight smaller circles at each of it's points. He hadn't been able to draw as much energy as he'd wanted from this distance... but this wasn't too powerful a spell... hopefully it would be enough. Nothing happened for a moment though. the guards all looked around, confused as the magic circle around his feet faded away.

"What did that bloke just call us?" one of them asked. another guard answered.

"I think he said something like 'Rifnea', though I mig-" The poor fool couldn't even finish the sentence. right at the moment he said 'Rifnea', a miniature sphere of electricity materialized above the crowd of guards, bursting in a shower of light and sending shots of crimson lightning raining down upon their heads. They all shouted panicedly as they found themselves having lost the motor skills in their arms, forced to drop their weapons and their shields because they could no longer even ball their hands into fist in order to hold them.

"What sorcery is this!?" the commander yelled at Gilwyn. The CW commander simply pushed his spectacles up his nose, walking right by the man, free of any threat of being stopped now. all the guards could do was stand there and glare at him.

"This is no sorcery," he said smugly. "It's perfectly legal by Old Law... I should know better than anyone about that." with that said he planted a firm round house to the chest plate of the enemy leader, sending him toppling to the ground in his heavy set armor, taking down the men behind him as well. In fact, they all fell down in quick succession...kinda like dominoes. it was kinda funny, though no one dared stop to laugh in this situation. They all followed Gilwyn as he pressed onwards...only to be stopped by an unexpected someone...

"And just where the fuck do you five think you're going?"

[Chevaleresse]

Matrim was nearing the end of his considerable patience. "Aaron, you damn blind fool, don't act like a child!" He angrily drew the axe hanging at his belt and shook it at the other man, the blade bobbing inches away from Aaron's face. "If you would stop lashing out at the slightest provocation, we could explain things, but instead you give potential allies death threats! As if there hasn't been enough death already! This toad somehow took ordinary weapons and transformed them into works of art, like this." Realizing he was a sneeze away from removing Aaron's nose, he took a step back, though he continued to gesture with the weapon. "This toad may well have done the same thing with the Keys, somehow, though I know nothing of the nature of either. However, incinerating the one being we know of that does won't solve that problem!" Matrim turned about, speaking to the heavens aloud. "Why would you entrust this kind of power to someone like this? Surely, there is someone better. . ." The bard returned his direct attention to Aaron. "Do you really think that magic is the only way to seal a bond? Do you know nothing of honor, of loyalty? Who knows what promises this toad has made, and to whom?"

[Supernovae]

Maximus brushed his hands. He'd just got done covering the hole he'd dug back up, hopefully removing keeping the group safe from whatever it was that lived in that hatch.

He'd noticed while he was covering the hole that some frog had been hopping around doing something to everyone's weapons, but he had decided to stay out of it. The frog had left himself and his own lance alone and as such he'd decided to let the others deal with it. But, now it seemed as though Matrim was yelling at Aaron though for what reason, Maximus couldn't be sure. However, Maximus knew he'd enjoy watching Aaron get called out so he decided to make his way over to the rest of the group to see what the commotion was all about.

[Snap Crackle Pop]

Not wanting to interfere with Aaron interrogating the toad to see what all was going on, Octavia decided to just hang back and watch. The others would likely keep Aaron in check if he was being unreasonable, so there was no point in her joining in as well. She was tempted though, she really liked that toad because of what it did to their weapons- she didn't want to see it get killed. Octavia shifted her gaze from the toad to the horses that returned, she tried not to let it show, but she was still somewhat daunted by the fact that they could talk. Well, it seemed that there really was a lot she didn't know and it wouldn't make sense trying to cling to her original idea of how things are when they clearly were not that way to begin with. Still, it was going to take some getting used to.

__

(Just making a post because I hadn't done so for a while, updating what's going on with Octavia I'm regretting that hasty name decision. I'll leave answering the question to Chim since the question was directed to him)

[Chim]

Trystane was admiring the new spear. He was impressed with the frog’s work and really didn’t want Aaron to kill it. He saw how Matrim handled the situation and decided not to interfere when the Pack of impressive horses showed up again.

"What in the hell is going on here?" he asked Trystane. "Where did you people find a flaming frog?" then the fire died down. "Never mind... look, are you people ready? whatever hit our pack is still around this place and it picked off even more of them just a short while ago."

“Hard to explain; I only know that frog changed our weapons,” he answered the leader. “And yes, we are ready. I’ll go call them.” He walked over to Aaron’s group. “Hey guys, the horses are ready, let’s go. We don’t have much time left.”

He then turned back without wasting time. He was more curious about the horses than what was happening with the frog. “By the way, what’s your name?” he asked Blackjack.

((He wants Blackjack as his new temporary horse, just saying xD))

[Sutoratosu]

AARON???

Aaron??? took a few tentative steps back when Matrim started hefting his axe around a little too haphazardly for comfort, not even hearing when Trystane came over to tell them the horses were ready. Damn it... He thought to himself. This should be easy, why the hell do I keep messing up with these people?

"Do you want to know why?" a boy's voice chimed in his head.

"God...not you again..." Aaron??? snarled mentally. "Why can't you just stay in your damn place, boy? Why must you make my job harder?"

***

???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_KyEdYx8Hg

Aaron stood up defiantly from where he had been sitting in the inky blackness of his own subconscious, gazing up at the tiny port of color far above his head; displaying all that the usurper of his body saw through his eyes. He'd been kept here for a while now; the last thing he remembered experiencing was his conversation with his father back in the tower... and then nothing until the city gates. But he hadn't even been in control during the latter... he had been relegated to mere spectator within his own body; hostage to whoever the hell had taken over and was impersonating him, and doing a rather shitty job of it at that. He was still scathing over the amount of bitching the impostor had done using his mouth.

"I won't stay in my place because it's my fucking body!" he shouted up at the blot of colors, knowing that whoever was at the wheel now could hear him. "You're the one who came in here, invaded my sanctity as a human being, not me!" He took a few steps forward in the darkness, gaining gusto in his reprimand of the mysterious intruder. "And just to let you know; The reason you're failing is because you know nothing about me! You're trying to be someone else, but your completely ignorant as to who they are as a person!" There was a moment of silence. then from the intruder:

"I know everything about you, boy, where you were born, how your parents are, when you were conceived, where you were raised, all the experiences you've ever had, I know of them as if they were my own."

"And yet you fail to hold up your own argument with physical evidence!" Aaron shouted in retort. "You've completely botched your little identity theft! Hell, by now, I'm sure Eric's observed everything you've done and is more than certain something's off!" Again there was nothing in response for a few minutes. Then:

"What is it that I am doing wrong, pray tell?"

"What is it?" Aaron laughed. "What is it? More like what is it that you've done right so far! because I'll tell you, you've royally fucked up with everything!"

"Care to be specific, little boy?"

"Call me 'little boy again', and I'll find a way to cast you out just so that I can kick your ass." Aaron said, his voice hard as steel. "And fine; let's start at the beginning. All that bitching that you did earlier? that's your first mistake."

"How so?"

"How so? you know how fucking long I was confined to that damn chair!? You know how long I was just sitting there wishing for something to happen where I could prove myself to the world, where I could be a hero!? Where I could fucking prove that I'm more than just a poor little man who can't use his legs!? I would've taken that proposition in a heart beat had I have had control of my own damn mouth! I wouldn't have cared whether or not anyone had explained it to me yet; I would've just been happy with the chance to actually do something for once! But you go and you act like it's some burden, that you're actually scared of this! You made me look like a fucking coward!"

"Go on..."

"Second thing was what you did to those...those things. You're a fool, you know that right? no one can control a Nix, no matter who you are or what power you might have, they'll only ever be killing machines hell bent on tearing you apart! And where the hell did you actually learn how to Soul Bind with something, let alone force your own will onto and overpower it? I don't even know how many damn hours I've spent scouring the entire Great Library, trying to find any text at all that would give an actual explanation of the practice."

"Hmmmm... anything else you'd like to get out?" this time the response was mocking him. Aaron began to grind his teeth... God, how he wanted to find a way out of here and beat whoever was doing this... but he couldn't quite do that, now could he? nope... he'd already tried a multitude of times to find some exit... and it certainly didn't help that the magic he had learned over these past five years had all stopped working for some reason... or at least, stopped working in here. the Identity thief seemed to have no issue. But you know what? there was something else that Aaron wanted to say...something that made him smirk just by thinking of it.

"There is, actually," he began. "Look behind you... I was completely right about Eric taking note of things."

"What are you...?" then the veiw point changed and Aaron could see that the Intruder was now seeing what he had. Eric was rushing towards him in what looked to be an absolute rage... and he was moving far too fast for him to get out of the way at this point. "Oh...Orphont damn it..."

****

ERIC

​Eric stood there as Aaron??? continued to interrogate the toad, knowing the moment that he cast the Fire Illusion that something was indeed not right about this. He'd been suspicious of such since earlier on with all that complaining...and then even more during the soul binding incident... and now this? No damn it. Whoever this person was, they were not the kid that Eric had known for the past five years... he was sure of it beyond a doubt now. He drew his gold bladed Scythe, rushing forward the second that Trystane had gotten out of the way by leaving to go back to the horses.

"ENOUGH DAMNIT!" He Roared. "I HAVE SEEN FUCKING ENOUGH! THIS WILL NOT STAND WHILE I'M AROUND!" He came in low, swiping his weapon around in a low arc and knocking the strange key right out of Aaron???'s, sending the thing flying through the air with so much velocity that it lodged itself deep into the exterior wall of Ko'Luki's home. He kept pressing onward, getting face to face with the boy and seizing his wrist, giving him a sharp jab to the pressure point that forced him to open his palm and release the toad, who then promptly hopped away and hid behind Cesealia's leg in hurry. Aaron was absolutely speechless as to what to happen... and that was fine, because Eric wasn't going to allow him to talk anyway.

"RIFNEARO!" he shouted, thrusting his outstreched palm against Aaron's chest and grabbing him by the shirt. A circle appeared around his feet, glowing white hot as he traced the closest leyline and gathered the power he needed. The six sided star within the boundaries of the shape erupted with light as a Burst of electricity erupted from his palm, right into Aaron???'s chest. The boy was send sprawling to the ground, uninjured...though at the same time, he found that he also couldn't get back up... or move at all. "Stop struggling, damn it!" Eric snarled. "The more you fight this restraint, the worse the feeling will become." he went still after hearing that. Eric walked over and retrieved the key from the side of the wall, heading back immediately afterwards and looking at Ko'Luki and the other two men standing there.

"All of us need to talk about this damn arrangement." he said, gesturing with his scythe towards the wood line. "Whoever this person is, he's not Aaron Nall, I'm absolutely certain of it. We may damn well have been infiltrated and not even know it." Then he turned to Octavia and Cesealia and Trystane.

"All of us, including you three too, need to go have a discussion on things around here! Over by the damn wood line!" With that he slung his scythe over his shoulder and walked off towards the area he had been pointing towards...

"Wait," Aaron??? called after him. "What about-"

"No, you just stay there and don't say anything!" he barked. "This is fucking ridiculous that I have to do this, but it seems someone needs to fucking step up and seize total control before this goes any further! you'll Just sit there quietly until we're done! So help me god... I hear even one word out of you..." he didn't bother to finish, simply kept walking away. Cesealia glanced at Matrim and Ko'Luki, an uneasy look on her face as she slowly walked behind him.

Honestly, the smart decision for the group seemed to be to just comply... after how the young man had so easily neutralized and restrained Aaron like that... God knows what he might be able to do...

((Seriously, don't even bother trying to fight him. He has the advantage of Magic on his side, and you all will straight up lose because of that. Just do as the guy says))

[K_H]

Ko'luki was stunned into silence as the Key whizzed past his face, partially embedding itself in the wall of his home, nearly taking off his nose as it did so. After Eric spoke, Ko'luki walked alongside Eric, heading towards the Wood Line.

Edited October 8, 2014 by K_H

[Chevaleresse]

"Well, that's good to know," Matrim said caustically, his normally jovial manner spoiled by the childishness of Aaron - or whoever that was.

[Chim]

Trystane sighed. He had no idea what was going on and was actually looking forward to getting to know Blackjack and his pack. “I guess introductions have to wait,” Trystane said to the horse before walking off to the wood line.

“What’s the problem?” he asked Eric.

[Snap Crackle Pop]

Raising an eyebrow what what just took place, Octavia gave a nod to the Blackjack and his gang seeing at how she was unsure what else to say. The apothecary left and headed over to the designated location by the edge of the woods.

[Sutoratosu]

"The issue is that the boy on the ground over there," Eric answered Trystane, pointing his scythe at Aaron. "Is not Aaron Nall. He has the same body, same voice, but it's someone else in control, not him. I've been watching since that nice little bit of bitching he did at the city gates, and after what I've seen from him, I'm damn sure he's possessed by something or someone. For all we know, we've been infiltrated and haven't even known until now." His sight drifted over to the horses as he spoke, trying to figure out what to do about this whole fiasco that's been going on since they left the goddamned Nix Gate.

"So let's just take away his sight and hearing and deal with it later," Cesealia said simply. "We honestly have more pressing matters at the moment, given that...oh, about half our people have been kidnapped by a cannibalistic Daemon that crawled straight out of the farthest reaches of hell."

"It's not that simple," Eric said. "If this whole bullshit about 'primal keys' and whatnot is true, than..."

"Just keep it out of his possession then," the young magistrate said. there was honest disappointment in her voice. "Honestly, Eric, was it? this isn't all that hard an issue to solve. If he's under someone else's mental influence, restrain him, gag him, put cork in his ears and blindfold him. Keep any weapons out of his reach, and once we get to the others, that Chimera White who was with us should know how to break the possession and preform an exorcism."

Eric looked at the six of them sheepishly. "I guess it really is simple then..." He looked to Trystane, sheathing his weapon. "Alright, you there, Trystin, was it? I was watching some of that conversation you and the impostor had with the black horse earlier. so what's the situation with those steeds? Have you worked out some agreement with them, or did you two just piss them off and now they're here to stampede us all?"

[Chim]

“It’s Trystane,” the young hunter replied. “And the horses have a problem. Something attacked them and their numbers are going down fast. In order to survive they are willing to take us to wherever we want if we can protect them from harm.” He looked at the fake Aaron before turning his attention back to the group. “That’s the proposal. I was about to accept it and get to know them when all of this happened.”

[Sutoratosu]

"Speaking of which," Blackjack interjected, sneaking up behind Trystane's back. He sounded quite miffed at this ridiculous wait. "You have a good two or so minutes before I say 'fuck the deal' and just leave with my pack. My brother can barely keep the other's controlled with how on edge they are, and this childish nonsense you humans seem so damn dead set to indulge in is certainly not helping things."

"Everyone pick a mount then," Eric said to the group without even looking at the horse. He turned his back and started walking towards Aaron, another circle appearing at his feet. "We're leaving, now. enough time has already been wasted on this childish bullshit tonight..."

The moment the words had left Eric's mouth, all the Shadow steeds flocked over to the travelers, led by a Horse who looked identical to Blackjack, albeit with rings of white coloring the coat of the lower parts of his legs.

"You heard him then," Blackjack nodded at his brother and his fellow pack members. "Find someone to get friendly with and mount up; There's nine of us and seven or so of you, more than enough, so yay, no one has to share a ride... and on a related note: please, don't go giving us nicknames... all of us already have something we're known by that our mothers gave us... and they're generally much better names than the hogwash you humans commonly come up with..."

[K_H]

Ko'luki walked over to one of the taller Shadow Steeds, and spoke.

"What is your name?"

[Sutoratosu]

K_H

"I am called Wind Tracer," The steed answered the middle-aged alchemist, circling around him and examining the man. "So...you think you can handle my speed, tall man? I highly doubt this..."

[K_H]

Ko'luki smiled bemusedly, then responded to Wind Tracer.

"I see that you have a sense of humor as well. I think the question is more along the lines of 'Can you handle loud noises', Wind Tracer. It's because my main weapon is this."

Ko'luki then took out a HED, loaded Hilda, aimed the Crossbow away from the group, and then Fired. A small, hiss-like snap could be heard as the Bottled Lightning that was part of Hilda activated, lighting the HED's wick as it was sent flying a safe distance away. Ko'luki then spoke to the group.

"You might want to be prepared for a loud noise, guys."

Ko'luki then covered his ears. A few seconds later, the HED exploded with a loud 'BANG!'.

((OOC: Yes, Ko'luki uses the small-scale Bottled Lightning as the method of lighting the HEDs. It's why he got several Bottled Lightning Vials when he was in his Underground Laboratory.))

Edited October 15, 2014 by K_H

[Chevaleresse]

Matrim looked around, trying to spot one of the older horses. He walked over to one that looked like he fit the bill and introduced himself. "I am Matrim, and I'm a bard. What would be your name?" He felt a little absurd talking to a horse, if he was honest with himself, but, well, a toad ate his axe and turned it into a piece of fine art, so he had temporarily given up on logic. Besides, if they were actually intelligent, then there was no reason to feel odd about it.

[Chim]

Trystane felt like a kid in a candy shop when he finally got the chance to ride one of those mysterious steeds. He turned to Blackjack behind him. “How about we team up?” he asked with a big grin. “I’m not sure if you caught my name but it’s Trystane, what’s yours?”

[Sutoratosu]

K_H

"Hmm, No speed... but you can make quite a bit of noise, eh?" Wind Tracer stopped circling around the man, puffing out his pridefully. "Very well then... I think this may still work. Yes, I can see it now; the two of us scaring the living shit right out of our enemies as we ride into battle. My glorious, glorious speed and your sudden and random explosions rocking the air and shaking the very earth itself, giving my approach the sound of a thousand cavaliers charging... yes, I believe it's enough to strike fear into any heart foolish enough to face one already as magnificent as me." he nodded to Ko'Luki approvingly, his eyes blazing with imagined glory."Tall man, I shall accept you as my rider!"

Murdoc

"I am called Elybis," The stout male answered Matrim. His shoulders and back were rippled with muscle under his pitch black coat, his legs looking powerful enough to jump a chasm at least twelve men across if he had to. His face and body were covered with various scars, apparently from countless past battles to protect his pack members. Little did the Bard know he had chosen right on the money... Elybis was obviously a defender of sorts, and a rather old timer to have accrued so many battle wounds.

"How interesting..." He circled around Matrim, examining the man much like Wind Tracer had with Ko'Luki, though the older horse took a noticeably calmer gait, far more reserved than the youngster's. He stopped after a few times, looking the Bard square in the eyes."You say you are a bard...but yet I see a cold fire within you. This fire does not belong to one who spends his days merely playing music; but to a fighter who has lost much and gained little to make up for it...It is the fire of one who has been charged to protect others, but has failed that duty in the past." If the man looked back into Elybis' stare, he would probably notice a fire that well fit the description there. The mount's eyes were wary and tired, holding a deep seated sadness, as if he still mourned for those he had failed in battle. And yet they also held a quiet determination, a fury even, simply waiting for the appropriate moment... for the moment that he could redeem himself for his past shortcomings by stopping any more precious lives from being stolen. He broke off eye contact and resumed circling.

"Tell me, bard, if you will... I have seen countless Shadow Steeds under my protection slain and eaten by predators over these long years... even my dearest and oldest friend. But ...What have you lost in order to ignite this fire I see? It must have been truly great to yield such intensity..."

Chimchain

"My name is Blackjack," Blackjack said in a hostile tone. "And you and I will most certainly not be 'teaming up'. Quite frankly, I am deeply offended by the way you continued to patronize me even after my speech became completely understandable to you... like I'm some common, inbred donkey who can't tell earth from sky or bird from fish. So, you sir, may go and find someone else to get friendly with; because you'll find no hospitality from me personally."

[Chevaleresse]

Matrim looked down for a moment. "My family," he finally said. "I considered myself a scholar and an intelligent man, but one couldn't be more foolish than myself. You could say I dug too deep, though it wasn't gold I was digging for. The Church thought I was a sorcerer, a practitioner of the forbidden arts; or, at least, that's the explanation that was given to me." He sighed, and gathered his emotions to himself once more before continuing. "I returned home from the library one day to find my home a burned ruin, with what remained of my dear wife and beloved children within, cast aside like refuse. I should have died then, and I can't say that I'm happy I didn't. It's almost worse what happened next." The older man looked back up into the horse's eyes. "I'm a bard, an entertainer, meant to bring joy and wonder to people's lives. The Church made me a wanted criminal, and I couldn't find a living like a decent man. Instead of doing the right thing and offering up my own head, I refused to die and resorted to robbing travelers on the roads. Death and misery were all that I ever brought, though I tried to avoid killing anyone." He laughed, but it was a bitter, pained laugh, full of suffering, a sharp contrast to his usual self. "You know what the worst part is? I met the man that killed them, and he was honorable and kind. Taking his life would have accomplished nothing; no evil would have gone from the world, and so I didn't. That is my loss; my entire life was stolen from me; not even my own principles have remained intact. I can only hope that I can do some good before I am gone entirely."

[K_H]

Ko'luki smiled when Wind Tracer spoke his approval.

"Then it's settled, my Steed. We shall Embark on our Quest when everyone else is ready."

Edited October 17, 2014 by K_H

[Sutoratosu]

Murdoc

Elybis stopped his pacing as the old bard finished his story, now behind the man. "Yes...this. This would be something capable of igniting your fire..." he circled around to look the highway man in the eye once again, that same blaze from before still in his iron gaze. It seems Matrim's story confirmed exactly what he had been suspecting. "Matrim," Elybis began. "we walk the same paths then, you and I. We have both lost children and mates, failed to seek out and destroy those who posed serious threats to our families' safety before they could act. It is a darkened path, one in which we can only hope that there will be light at the end... but even if there is no light for us, even if all that awaits the end of the journey is the Pit of Darkness, let us walk it together. Let us seek redemption for those we have failed in the past... as rider and steed."

[Chevaleresse]

Matrim nodded gravely. "Let us," he echoed back at Elybis. He walked a few steps to stand behind the horse, waiting for the rest of the party to prepare themselves.