As the sun just begins to hit the trees of Jastrey and warm the beards and wings of many, a young boy crawls towards the small town. He carries a pale complexion full of scars and dirt, matted blonde hair, bright blue eyes and wears tattered bloody rags with only a belt to keep them from ripping off from rips. As the boy is just about to reach the small town, he collapses onto the road unconcious. As the sun peaks over the trees, the light shows he is not a boy, yet a young man, around the age of 19 or 20, and is quite muscular for his age.
Belemrys had grown tired of the tavern's chatter and walked out the door in the direction of his cabin.
Thump...thump...thump...
First the staff then heavy, tired footsteps. His time in Jastrey had been full of running and hazards that left him tired.
On the road he noticed a blonde young man unconcious. He seemed to be human. Belemrys hasted his gait in a rush to be by the young mans side.
As he approached he noticed a dark shade come out from the trees and kneel next ot the young man...he just stood there and observed.
Seeing the young man starting to regain conciousness, Belemrys walked up to the pair and took out a bottle of water attached to his belt and said, "Some water to wash down the dirt?"
The ixifar looks to the dark shade, he could not discern much in the shadows of the morning light...A slight man? A woman? Deciding to be gender neutral and not be offensive he merely nods his head in the rescuers direction and whispers hoarsely "Well met"
The dark figure remained bent over the blonde boy, and put up a slender feminine hand towards the newcomer as of asking for a moment's pause. As the ixifar approached he would hear whispers continuing to issue forth from the woman's lips, a steady yet slight stream of dusky light leaking between her finger tips and palm to seep into the unconscious boy, seeking to knit any wounds together he had yet suffered. (heal 4 several times over.) Finally she knelt back, features still hidden save for red lips and pale flesh of her chin peeking out from her hood. "Who are you..." The woman asked, seemingly directed at the concious ixifar, though the addressed person was still left to question.
Belemrys stopped in his tracks when he saw the hand come up. He could see the magic course through what seemed to him like a womans arm. There was power in her movement, a confidence that didn't make him question her motives or actions.
Startled by her sudden speech Belemrys took a second to gather his wits..."I am nobody really...new in Jastrey...I have some skill theurgy and thought it best to come help. I can see you have skill in healing also....
Seeing that she was Uordeq he was startled that she would even bother in helping a random person...
"Do you know him? Is he new in town also? Every face is unfamiliar to me here. I dare say I have yet to see your face, surely I would remember it...my name is Belemrys, may I know yours'?"
The red lips curled into almost a sad smirk, the rising light catching the pale features of the woman, her face cast slightly upwards as she remained resting back on her heels. Half her face remained still hidden, as she had not yet looked towards the man addressing her. "Belemrys...." She lets the name roll from her tongue, as if weighing both its weight and cadence. She smiled a bit.
"And what is a name? It can be a mask, a chariot...or a burden. Hmn...funny thing that. You're lucky in being a 'nobody' Belemrys, for as such you have choice to form the meaning of that name, regardless of what ever it meant before."
She glanced down at the boy, brushing a few of his golden locks gently from his brow with two slender, delicate fingers. "As for mine...well...I fear it is too far known. Perhaps first you should know the woman before knowing the name?" Her lips smiled again, her tone soft.
The young boy suddenly jumped up startled, gasping for air. He quickly turned and could see the black figure by his side, and quickly got on his feat backing away, eyes wide. He attempted to speak, but no words came out, and he swayed, about to fall to the ground once more.
Belemrys in a cotemplative trance is quickly awakened...barely able to really chew on what this woman had told him.
In a swift motion he extends the bottle of water and says, "Here drink this, it will help...you are safe now...just sit and take a few deep breaths...there are too few chances in this world to do so..."
The ixifar gives a sidelong look at the Uordeq woman and softly enunciates his words, "I would not worry too much of what people think...and would gladly discuss the merits of being unaccomplished...I know them well...but maybe later over a glass of warm apple spice mead"
Belemrys in runs up to the blonde boy and puts his head under the boys arm as to prop him up....
"You should really drink this water...and let me help you to the tavern...I hope you arent ticklish..."
Bel looks at the feathers on his shoulders up against the boy's arm pit and shakes his head in a slow manner as a sardonic smile spreads accross his head...
Belemrys pats his ruffled feathers...mumbling under his breath "Youth...it seems so remote now..." He turns around and looks at the Cat and the uordeq woman. Interested in understanding what sort person she was he walks up slowing so as to not alarm the cat.
"Do you know the fierce cat?"
Akon let her hand gently stroke along the coarse fur of the feline now nudging against her side as she slowly rose with a sigh, watching the boy depart. "And sometimes...not even a name is needed....but merely birth into a particular race....." She said as the boy cowered away, face still hidden by the black cowl which hung over her features. With a gentle flick of her wrist, she opened her palm towards the shuffling man, yet another tendril of dusky light leaking from the center of her palm to wrap into the boy once more, a soothing energy of healing attempting to wash over him.
It was more apparent now what armorments she wore. Her leather breastplate was well worn with age, various bobbles and bones hanging from her tassets. Two blades hung polished at her side, all darkened and smoothing in with the lines of her robes. She merely watched silently as the boy departed and then fell. "Perhaps you would be better suited at aiding him than I..now that his concious eyes will feed his prejudices." She sighed, then pushed her voice to reach the fallen boy. "The town ahead is not a welcoming one. You're better off seeking aid by those which won't slit your throat....dangerous and lurking as I may seem, I am not one of 'them' less you refer to my race..which can't be helped. It was I which brough you back conciousness. I will not approach you, but aid you'll have. There are those within that town which will readily aid you...but there are also though which would just as easily rob you. I'd suggest you gather a bit more strength before throwing yourself at them....I won't harm you, lad." She said gently, her shoulders sagging with yet another sigh, feeling her words would fall upon deaf ears. 'Hmhn.." She grumbled slightly, letting her fingers tease the hairs between the saber's ears.
The young man turned, eyes locked on the dark figure. He slowly walks over to her and stands, toes touching, at the woman.
He stared into her hood at the dark void, distant memories swimming in his mind. He opens his lips to speak and bursts into a rough cough. After a minuite of coughing, he looks back up at the dark void, and with a barely audible tone, speaks:
"Where am I?"
After saying the simple sentence, he begins coughing once more.
Akon watched him calmly as the young man thrashed about, not moving, still gently letting her fingers run along the soft fur based at the sides of the saber's ears to keep the massive cat calm. "Hmn...he must have run through a span without realizing it....do you remember any strange whispers, lad? Any murmuring in your mind....like a maddening wind?"
The tall ixifar leans on his staff and takes a big breath...
"Well I am Belemrys, a traveler from away who like you turned up unexpectedly in Jastrey. It seems this Shard attracts all wayward travelers who want to be anywhere but here. I too have just met our lady of shadows who wishes to break all racial paradigms..."
Akon watched him pace with her cool, red gaze, her features unchanging and holding their placid demeanor. "Likely a span or portal of some sort, a bridge between the shards. This place calls who it wants to come, not the otherway around. All I can say to you lad is that you're ment to be here, like it or not. I can make you a portal to your beloved Glesmyr, but I wouldn't be suprised if you didn't end right back up here if I did. My advice would be to make the best of what you have here, for you are called for a reason."
"Yes, there is...I had just invited our mysterious Uordeq to some mead while you were out cold...how about you join us? Not that she accepted..."
Bel looked over at the slender woman who looks completely serene and confident with the world around her. The corner of his mouth can not help but twinge into a small smile. It had been a long time since he felt that confident at the world around him...he missed the desert.
"Would you join us for a bite to eat and some mead? Maybe you can orient us both...you seem at home in Jastrey...as much as anyone else I have met here."
Akon finally let her red gaze shift towards the Ixifar, settling upon him directly as she answering gently. "The tavern isn't often a place I frequent...too much noise and rabble for my taste. But if you would like for me to share a cup spiced mead over a small fire in the woods, I would be inclined to accept." She answered with the same cool monotony in tone.
Belemrys takes pause and assess the possible risks. In the end if she wanted them dead she could have done it easily enough on the road. He starts rumaging through his pack and pulls out a large flask with apple mead.
Looking at the woman he smirks and says "You provide the fire, I provide the mead and you my friend (looking at the blonde man) will surely provide quite a story."
Bel loosens his fine green cloak and wraps the blonde man in it. "It is cold and your clothing is not fit for this weather. Lead the way gentle Uordeq, maybe by days end I will not need a name to know you; across a fire with warm mead a persons character is revealed, and if not at least you're warmer and hopefully wiser."
Akon nodded, and without another word began padding down the woodland pathways skirting the edges of Jastrey. She wound past the cabins, views of the lake and graveyard in the distance, but she stopped at neither. She finally settled at an already established fire pit, going about placing the stocked wood in the proper fasion to bring flame to life. She then knelt and began setting it aflame, pouring a bit of oil upon the small kindling she had set at the base before striking flint to it.
She knelt then, breathing slow and steady to nurse the sparks to fire. Once caught, she would ease herself back, her red gaze reflecting the glowing flames as her thoughts wandered across her gaze just as the flickering reflections danced across her features. The sunlight was starting to take hold now through the treetops, and the flame seemed dull in compairson.
Turning from the fire, she settled herself down upon one of the stumps made stool around it, lowering her elbows to her knees to hunch towards the flame in the cooler morning, drawing her hood a bit more snuggly to protect her eyes from the daystars growing rays.
The young man sat, removing the cloak and handing it to the generous Ixifar with a small smile to his face. "I thank you friend, but I was born in weather chilled enough to freeze your piss before it hit the ground." He gracefully accepted a mug of mead from the Ixifar and sat back, his blue eyes reflecting the fires glow. He patted his hands together and let out a sigh of relief.
"First things first, my dear friends. My name is Vorkaan Yauxmith from the Shard of Glesmyr. My father is the Chief of a tribe of warriors, the best warriors in all of Glesmyr, known as the Black Wolves. The tribe consists of only 9 men, though they were renown as the best of the best in melee combat. When I was born, I was the first in our entire generation to make the Black Wolf tribe a group of 10, and many thought I was breaking tradition when I was born. Speaking of which, I was born on one of our clans Wolfships, a long narrow ship with a mast allowing you to sail directly into the wind with 10 knots, with the crew rowing with long oars on the top deck. When I turned 7, my father took my on our first raid. I stood there by his side watching the entire tribe, my only family, slaughter the innocent villagers that consisted of little children and elders. I saw them laughing vigorously drinking their mead and eating their food, filling the wolfships coffers with all of their jewellry and gold. That moment in time changed me, but it only got worse. When I became 10, my father put me into the Trials, as our tradition always has done, where I must go through a series of challenges to claim my armor and weapon. I dreaded this, for it was the one time I had to kill like the rest of my tribe. Allthough I hated it, I knew I would be killed if I didn't obey, so I proceeded and was gifted the dark leather armor, helmet, and battleaxe of my tribe. After that, we continued to raid the villages in Glesmyr, though I would always refuse, and when I did, my father wouldn't give me food for a week and would strip me down naked to lay in the freezing cold wilderness. That's all I truly remember for sure. However, I do remember the tribe surrounding a large purple glow, and then... Then we walked into it and... That's all I can remember so far."
Vorkaan folded his hands looking down into his mug of mead and took his final drink, emptying it, and layed it down by the fire.
Xristo is sitting a short distance from the fire pit against a tree. Hood over his face and mask on. "Bloody hell. Is it day light already?" he says to no one in particular as he hears the sounds of others approaching.Weapons at the ready for what ever approaches as last gather showed it's best be safe than dead. He blends into the shadows of the near by trees and waits for his guest. [hide]
Akon listened, bringing her own flask up from her hip, though is smelled of nothing alcoholic, nor had any real smell at that. She took a sip, eyes mostly watching the fire, though occassionally scanning the woodline around them. "Forced paths are never ones worth dedication." She said gently once the story was finished. "Perhaps that is why you were called here..."
She continued on, "Glesmyr is quite cold...and it sounds as though you came across a teleportation chamber or crystal of some sort. Odd though, that only you appeared were that the case...."
"Vorkaan, that is a tragic tale indeed. Worth of more mead." Bel fills another cup and passes it to the blonde man. "What are you going to do now that you are in Jastrey? Surely on that boat you had dreams of doing something other than raiding villages. Who is Vorkaan and what brings him joy? These are questions you should consider. Ironically we ((he gestures towards the woman)) were just speaking about the merit in having no expectations attached to ones name. It is a thrilling predicament according to our very somber friend."
Belemrys pours a cup of mead and looks at his two companions. He noticed that the Uordeq woman drinking from her own hip flask. "Would you like some mead or is it too early in the day?"
Xristo reveals himself and stows his weapons seeing they ain't no real threat. well 2 out of the 3 members pose no harm anyways. X yawns as he rounds the trees *My lay Akon what brings you and the feathered 1 around this early?" He notices the bloody youngling. *And brought all for a better observation a youngling whose seen better days"
Akon did hear her name issue from the other Uordeq's lips...yet is wasn't unexpected. She let out a soft sigh, before offering a slight, subdued smile fall weightedly across her lips. "Mn...so it is. I would only hope you had some glimpse of the woman, before the name brought its own judgement." She turned to face Belemrys at that.
Belemrys locked eyes with Akon. The red eyes did not phase him. He saw a complicated being that could not be all of the things he had been told without a lot more juxtaposed on top of the horrors.
"You will find that I do not judge so simply."
Bel extends the cup with mead in it towards Akon.
A swishing and hacking is heard outside the fire, and Zwey wielding a hatchet in one hand, and his longsword in the other bursts through the foliage. He does not have his pack on, rather, his armor. Upon noticing the gathered, he drops his axe into its holster and slides his sword across his back. With a final look behind him, he settles and sit round the fire, "Hello all, who is our new guest?" Zwey leans over and offers and hand, "Zwey Gurkha, at your service"
Vorkaan, mostly enjoying the unfolding of the events, shakes the mans hand with a frim grip. "Names Vorkaan, I hail from the Shard of Glesmyr. Only got here a bit earlier."
Vorkaan glances at the man with the name of Xristo but denies him any attention from his use of the word 'youngling.
Akon seemed to study the offered cup a moment, different matters being weighed quietly in her mind before nodding and reaching for it. She nodded her head and tipped the cup towards him. "If that is the case, then well met indeed Belemrys." At which she toasted a light sip of the offered drink, returning her attention to the others as she let the flask rest in hand. "Not much." She replied to Xristo, "Beyond my usual nightly, vigil."
"Yes it is odd to see you around and about at such and hour. I myself should be up and about but i have spent most of the night training. I am out to end these games that my so called brother is playing once and for all. I just might head back to my place and recover. Death comes to those who are not prepared."
Vorkaan nods to Zwey and looks at the group around him.
"My friends it has been a loveley time, one of the first in my whole life. Because of this, I believe if it isn't too much to ask for, I would like to take residence here. My homeland is a hard past and I wish to move on to a better life. Are there any places for sale? I do not have the coin, but I could gladly hunt down expensive rare game for the landlord."
"My friend sorry for the comment but that was what I was taught to call the younger. But my place is available as I will only use it but a short while longer as I am on a journey to deal with "family" matters. Just be careful of the back room. It's full of explosive chemicals. No payment is required. Just make sure it's still standing in 1 piece when I return."
Akon watches as more gather and the daystar's rays began licking her cowl's edge. She squinted towards the light source, and after another quite moment rose from her place. She extended the offered flask back to Belemrys with a light nod. "The hour grows long, and I feel it is time I retire. Much preparations remains for what must come in the near days. If you will excuse me." She gave a slight bow.
It was not often a messenger or traveler approached in such a manner. Akon's ever watchful eyes had spotted the young man staggering along the path in the fading night as it gave way to the light of day. Gently she approached, each foot fall quiet and soft, her robes swaying about her ankles as she stopped over the collapsed boy. Then she knelt over him, and with delicate grasp would turn his form to face her, cocking her head curiously to see of she could recognize any of his features. She rose a brow then looking upon him and words softly whispered from her lips. "Shadows favor you this day." Her hand rested upon his chest as a few dusky whisps of light would filter into the mans flesh to provide him some rejuvenation. (Heal 4)