Welcome to Gaia! ::

In the town of Anacortes, it was a normal day. The citizens wandered around, going about their daily lives; there were the ever-present imperial soldiers around the place, and the cry of seagulls filled the air.

It was terribly boring.

Eva sighed and walked away from the window she’d been gazing through. Today was just like every other day. Bland, dull… she was beginning to hate it. The novelty of returning home had long since worn off, and the Anacortes Eva knew was a thing of the past. Things were different now that the Empire had the town in it’s grasp. Although Eva wasn’t sure she minded, after all, she had the upper hand as far as class was concerned. At least she got the luxuries of an imperial garrison instead of some shack by the sea.

“Eva… where are you headed?” A voice asked from behind her. It was one of her fellow Artists, Jerome. He was somewhat of a friend of hers, which was rare for someone like Eva. Unlike the majority of the people she knew, he did not think she was contagious.

Eva turned around, “Ah, nothing really. Just walking around. I mean, I’ve finished my report for the day and it’s not like I have to go patrol anytime soon.”

“Well don’t just stand there! We have some soldiers arriving today, you should go help with the preparations or something! Or at least come with some of us to greet them at the city gates. Everyone else is too busy ‘watching for resistance’.” The two of them laughed. They both knew the Inquisition members used that as an excuse to get out of work. Either that or bully the citizens.

“Alright Jerome, I’ll come wait outside for some soldiers. I suppose it would be rude to ignore them.”

An elf, Dalneik thought to himself. Immediately he knew what was about to happen if he made the wrong step.

"Lower your aim, friend... I am not your enemy. My name is Dalneik DuValmir, and I, too, call these woods my home." Dalneik removed the hood of his cloak and turned to face the elf's direction, hoping he would see that he is not a threat.

Aeolin and Helen Bardsted were both hot, uncomfortable, and unhappy. Long forest marches were always real pains, but today it was hot, and they were marching directly under the noon sun. Sure, the woods provided lots of shade, but they were moving rather quickly.

Like the other two they were quite unaware of, although fairly close to, they were headed for Borgerwood. Aeolin wanted to be on the frontline; Helen didn't want to stick around at the back.

"We should really stop, you know," Helen muttered quietly.

"We already went over this, we're not stopping for another hour at lea-" She stopped. Two voices ahead caught her ears. They'd been moving loudly, and probably given themselves away. "Quiet," Aeolin hissed before ducking into the bushes, probably too late.

Dalneik looked in the direction of the sound along with Dastri.

"I wouldn't be worried," he said to the Ranger, "for these woods are not of particular interest to those of ill intent..."

He then put the hood of his brown cloak back over his head and walked towards the noise. He was certain they heard him as well, so he made no efforts to disguise his footsteps. Although he was no threat to them, he didn't wish to even appear to be, so he simply said aloud, "We mean no harm, you need not hide from us. If you'd like to sit for a while, I would be glad to share a moment with you here in the clearing."

Nyysharzi sat alone in his tent in deep meditation, pondering many aspects of the day. He spent most of the day in council. This council consisted of Humans, Wood-Elves, and Dwarfs, the races of the Resistance. They met in the Forest of Lost Souls, home to Elves and new home to the Resistance. Since, the Resistance was in fear of being caught, meetings are held in different locations of the forest in tent cities to be discreet.

However, this specific council meeting asked for the Wizards and Witches of the Realm to attend, though only a few came. Nyysharzi came at the request of the Magister, leader of the magical aspect of Elf life, to accompany him to the council. The Magister is one of the oldest known Elves known in the world. Though he appears only to look like a man of sixty in Human years and wore, gaudy robes tinged in more colors than there were names for in the Elven language. The Magister beckoned him to sit next to him.

The council's main point was how they could incorporate more magic users in to their fight against the Imperials. Nyysharzi is not one to enjoy the aspects of debates, so he drowned out most of the talking. In addition, being an Elementalist user the goings of society plagued him for he would rather be among the elements, in nature. He was shook from his daydreaming when the Magister stood and hastily exited, pulling Nyysharzi in tow.

"I have a special assignment for you, young one. All I ask is follow me with out question. Can you do that?" petitioned the Magister.

Nyysharzi replied with curtly nod and was escorted through the tent city. They arrived at a tent with an Elvish symbol on the tent flaps. Nyysharzi recognized the symbol as that of the Seer. The Magister entered the tent and beckoned Nyysharzi to enter. The tent floor was littered with pillows of varied sizes and colors. In the middle of this collage, sat one of the plainest Elves he had ever seen. She wore but simple garbs in contrast to the color that entombed her. The oddity Nyysharzi noticed was the pigment of her eyes. For the problem was, there was no pigment except for being pure white. He pondered this dilemma a little more until the Magister pulled him down to be seated.

"This," began the Magister, “is the Seer. Yes, apparent by the symbol of the tent's entrance. Nevertheless, that is beside the point. I was asked by her to bring you to her."

Nyysharzi wondered what this Seer could want from him, but the Seer cut him short.

"Not one for talking much are you?" inquired the Seer.

Dryly Nyysharzi replied, "Not one for seeing much are you?"

At this remark, the Magister began to object, but the Seer held up her and said, “I see the elements have weather your humor too. That is good for I have a mission for you." Nyysharzi looked awkwardly at but before he could form a question, the Seer interrupted. "I have seen you destiny and it is interlaced with that of on called the Hooded One. You are to seek this person and help however, you can. I know this sounds sudden and demanding, but for in order to win this war, you are need to accompany this person to whatever ends. However, the choice falls to you. I will not mandate you to do anything for it is not Elves to do so. But if you chose so, the Hooded One is heading for the Human town of Borgerwood. I will leave you to meditate on this. Either way, good fortunes to you."

Nyysharzi woke from his meditation and found his purpose. He collected his things sought after the Hooded One. As he exited his tent, a brilliantly white owl landed on his shoulder.

"Ahh.., I wondered when you would come back friend Wit. We have journey ahead of us, would you accompany?" asked Nyysharzi. The only reply he got was a couple of hoots from Wit.
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A week passed in the forest when he came upon a duo in the middle of dense cropping of trees. One is an Elf Ranger by the attire and the other obviously a man by stature. The man had a cloak on with the hood down. Then a pair of Elves appeared out of the woods into the cropping. At the mention of the Resistance, Nyysharzi took this chance to come to the group.

"Actually the apologies should be mine. However, I give applause to the Ranger, for he knew of me before I knew it. My name is Nyysharzi and you must be the Hooded One," he pointed at the man. "Sorry for my rashness, but I am destined to meet and help you."

(( I just realized I forgot to give Jerome a last name! Well, it's not that important, so I guess I'll think of one later.))

"So then I ended up telling the guy that he was going to die after that. You should have seen the look on his face! I was only joking, but-"

Jerome sighed in annoyance. He was beginning to get tired of Eva's stories. What was supposed to be an urgent walk had turned into little more than a casual stroll. In fact, he wasn't even sure they were heading for the gates any more. No, he was positive this wasn't the way. Eva was leading him back to her room!

"Why are we going to your room? The soldiers are sure to be here by now! We don't want them thinking we're nothing but a bunch of slackers!"

Eva pulled out a key ring from her robe, it jingled as she sorted through the keys on it. "They'll get here when they get here. A little waiting won't kill them. Besides, I'm thirsty. Ah, here it is." She stuck a small silver key into the door's keyhole. "I have a bottle of water in here. Nice stuff, too." She had some difficulty opening the heavy wooden door, but managed to push it open before Jerome could offer his assistance. He chose to wait by the door as Eva disappeared inside; who knew what kind of germ-filled horrors were in that room.

In a few moments she returned, holding a metal rod in her hand. "Why are you bringing that? Ah, never mind. Let's just go, we have to hurry." Without checking to see if Eva had followed, Jerome turned and started walking back from the way they had came. Eventually they reached the front of the Garrison, but the only one there to greet was the guard, who saluted the two when he saw them.

"I told you they wouldn't be here yet."Eva said smugly. Jerome glared at her, but said nothing about it. He was just going to adjust his hat when the guard spoke to them.

"Actually, Ma'am, Captain Tonas just passed by not too long ago. Said to tell you they were heading to, uh, Deepwater Tavern." Now it was Jerome's turn to offer a smug smile, although it was hidden by his scarf. He never went outside without his precious scarf.

"What? Why didn't anyone inform me? Never mind! Jerome, let's hurry! I hope we aren't too late." She gave a fierce glare at the guard as she went ahead of Jerome and walked out the door. Jerome merely followed along silently, and after a short walk, the two came to Deepwater Tavern. As Eva stormed through the door, Jerome couldn't help but cringe. The place seemed... unsanitary.

Eva quietly walked up to Captain Tonash, who had been relaxing with some soldiers of his at the bar. She recalled a few vauge meetings with the man before, but wasn't quite sure what to make of him. He seemed friendly enough with that smile of his, but Eva had learned long ago not to judge by appearances. For the time being it didn't matter though, so Eva only listened to his news.

And what wonderful news it was! A smile broke out onto her face at the captain's offer, "Why I would gladly join the march!" She calmed herself down, "I mean, I would be honored to assist the empire. In fact, I'm sure many of my fellow Artists would be happy to come, right Jerome?"

"Hmph." He crossed his arms, "Borgerwood? Who knows what kinds of diseases are there. I heard you can get possessed just by breathing in such filthy air." As if to emphasize his point, Jerome raised a gloved hand and tightened the scarf around his face.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I think a little illness would do you some good." Eva turned her attention back to Tonash, "Like I was saying, we would gladly join the squadron. Regardless what some of us might say. Now is there anything else we should know about this march? And, when do you plan on leaving?" Despite her best efforts to remain nonchalant, a tiny bit of excitement crept into Eva's voice.

Dastri took in everything that he heard and digested it quietly for a moment, wondering if he could really trust these people. These strangers who appeared from nowhere, they seemed to be trustworthy, but Dastri's natural instincts kept him wary. But at the mention of the Empire, he felt an anger inside of him boil and a keen itching in his hands, the urge to do battle. Nodding at Dalneik, Dastri did something rare for a proud Elf such as himself.

He knelt in front of Dalneik.

"Sir DuValmir, I would be honored to accompany you to your destination. I owe the Empire a debt of blood and the cries of the people ring in my ears, even as I lay so far from the cities of normal men. Allow me to join you and you shall have the fastest and surest blades on your side."