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 Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:32 am
He gave a begrudging last glance behind him, towards where the open road lay, and at least as clear a sky as he could hope to ever see.
"So then--- why is it someone as distinguished as her would want to meet me?" He picked his way forward, following Reiyvian along and giving up on memorizing more or less where he was going.
It was paining his head just to try and remember the twists, forks and what not's.
"Your not just bringing in for a personal chiding are you? I have better things to do than get yelled at by some old hag."
Stopping suddenly, as he nearly ran right into the healer, he stared down at her, hearing the edge in her voice.
"Left...behind?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:10 am
'Old hag eh? Bet Asai will love to hear that---' Reiyvian chuckled to herself at the mental image running through her head of Vahn calling the millennium old dragon a hag. Oh yeah... he'd crispy in the blink of an eye.
"She will show you why she has summoned you..."
Reiyvian raised her hand to the wall and pressed her palm to it's rough surface, fingers spread wide. A glowing purple light traced the outline of her hand and as she drew her hand away, the outline transformed into an ancient glyph. The light spread outwards further from the center point branching off and forming four smaller glyphs of power at the top, bottom, left and right... much like the points of a compass.
Flicking her wrist and waving her hand to the left, the stone panel receded to the side and a hidden passageway opened before them. Here the walls were lit by magelight and a stairway lead down into a lit cavern chamber.
Gathering her skirts and dismissing her own ball of magelight, she descended the stairs into the mountain room. The ground was buried beneath lush furs and rugs. Elevated braziers in the corners kept the cave well warmed and magelight on the walls kept it well lit. There was a low table to one side with seating cushions scattered around it. And two doorways which lead to other similar rooms.
An ebony haired woman appeared in the doorway. She wore strange robes that both seemed somewhat ceremonial and yet tribal. Like Sierra, she was dressed in black, red and gold. Two elegant horns crowned her head and her crimson eyes glittered at him from across the room. Her black hair was piled atop her head in a sort of loose, messy bun, the rest of her hair cascading down her back in a midnight cascade of silk.
Reiyvian bowed gracefully to the woman.
"This is Vahn Fah, Lady Asai. The Scion of Efreet and the human Avatar of Fire."
Asai looked at Vahn consideringly. She had an exotic beauty that was comprised of some unpolished wildness about her, a roughness that would never be smoothed... a savageness that would never be tamed. Yet she was beautiful. It was as if the wilderness had been given a human shape.
Smiling she bowed in turn,
"Be welcome in my home and at my heartyh, Lord Fah."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:48 am
He wasn't quite sure what he had been expecting--- and all the secrecy involved was beginning to unnerve him slightly. It always just made him more curious as to what the hell was about to happen-- and a certain type of helplessness at not being able to do anything fast enough if something undesirable should happen.
But for the moment, he waited and watched.
"--- Ah."
And what he found was quite the surprise.
It was odd...having such a woman apparently sealed away here...she reminded him of the women from his own land... and Mitsuyo came into his mind as well.
"You can call me Vahn, formalities are wasted on me."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:05 am
"Vahn it is then..."
She smiled softly and gestured at the table and surrounding seating cushions.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable. I will be right with you."
She disappeared into the left hand side room and returned with a steaming pot of tea and cups, and a loaf of twisted honey bread and butter cream for spreading on it. Laying them out on the table with a knife and dessert plates she set out a tray of honey crystals for sweetening the tea with.
"I'll be back... there's something I want to check on."
Reiyvian left him to seat himself as she enetered the right hand entryway. Asai nodded and seating herself gracefully, she settles her eyes on Vahn as she pours the tea.
"So you are the human vessel of flame... May I ask... what is your relationship with Efreet like?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:30 am
He squared his jaw slightly, as he stood there. He was a bit impatient at the moment... since apparently everyone was fine with taking their time except for him.
Great... now I have to play house with the cave lady...
But if Reiyvian had said this had to be done, then it probably needed doing.
"Relationship? I don't quite follow..."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:54 am
The woman narrowed her eyes slightly as if searching his face for a sign of something... and whatever she was looking for, she didn't find it.
"Your relationship... your understanding of the power you embody and the being you channel and even house within yourself."
Adding two honey crystals to her Autumn Gold tea, she adds.
"Every elemental force has a sort of hierarchy. Over every element reigns a god or goddess, sometimes more than one. Beneath them art a sort of demi-god or avatar of their power that rules over the respective element on earth. Many of these ancient avatars have survived by being reborn or joining with a mortal vessel. Like a human... or even an elf, for while the elves are long lived, they are not truly immortal... but that is of no consequence at the moment."
Asai thought back to years long gone where she had tutored Sierra in her responsibilities as the elven avatar... Teaching her the ways of the deity's she was born to serve and the elements that she was born of...
"The elemental powers respond to different races in their own unique way. Some races are more adept at synchronizing with such forces while others are nearly incapable of it. Thus each race generally worships deity's under different names personifying them in a way most easily understood by their culture. And because of the differences, there are different avatars born to each race to fill the various needs of those peoples and maintain the balance of their race and land..."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:05 am
He blinked, seating himself down and just shaking his head, shorn locks coming to rest on either side of his head.
"Look--- you lost me before you even started filling your cup."
He grunted a bit, settling into the chair.
"From what... I've been told..." If you could call how Walter decided to tell me as being told... "..And from what I've seen..." Memories of his visit to the long forgotten southern jungle island after Walter had ejected him from the Shadow Realm.
"Efreet...was a very real thing. I... fought it and killed it... I think and had it placed into me for safe keeping. Although that didn't turn out so well, since I ended up corrupting it just as badly as it had been in the past... What I am isn't natural... or chosen..or whatever. I'm a freak accident, and I've just been trudging along the path ever since because there was no other way to get done what I need to do."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:33 am
"I'm sorry, I'm used to teaching elves... and from a young age at that. But yes.... the avatars' existences are quite real. I am an elemental guardian. An elemental being, in service to an avatar... Ra'kar'shei'lian."
She let the name register a moment before continuing, completely by-passing the debate of destiny and fate for another time.
"I'm a dragon. I am bound to the avatar and through the avatar I am a birthright of sorts... Sierra's Birthright. She is the elven vessel for the Avatar Ra'kar'shei'lian. Ra'kar is the avatar of Fire and Darkness. While Efreet was sealed within you upon his defeat... and that is how he will survive another generation, his power living on through you... Ra'kar is reincarnated... born anew within Sierra and through her, her power lives."
Asai shifts, leaning her back against the wall and taking a breath before continuing. She felt bad... she was pretty much dumping years of teachings onto him with a few sloppy summaries. But Vahn needed an understanding of what it was he was facing... and she needed an understanding of him.
"Different avatars bond in different ways... some are subtle and grant knowledge and or power. Others are dominant and take over their vessel utterly... and some find a balance sharing the body between two souls. Ra'kar and Sierra have always held a precarious balance... They are evenly matched in spirit and so neither one was able to gain dominance and absorb the other... or so it had always been. Ra'kar however... Has desired utter control for more years than you have existed.... She would absorb Sierra if she had her way, and Sierra would cease to exist... Your brother did something that tipped the balance and made Ra'kar stronger. Not strong enough to conquer her host... but strong enough to begin to unravel her."
Her eyes flicked to his arm...
"Surely you too have battled Efreets power? Felt that ancient force that threatens to conquer any who cannot resist or who are too weak to withstand the strain?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:42 pm
He could feel his heart beat through his flesh, the blood running cold in his veins as he listened to the words she spoke.
In some ways, most of this he already knew.. if not on a level of true understanding, then at least on a primal level; an instinctual understanding of what can overcome you-- or threatens your very existence.
Were these what the avatars were then? Forces of primal nature apt to destruction or creation depending on their mere whims...? Or the people who would dare to use them.... or be used.
He still remembered the vial Walter had given him... the journey that had taken place within his very own psyche, in which he finally overthrew the final vestiges that the Draeger tainted Efreet had placed deep within his core.
The wounds from that fight had never truly healed...marks that were more than flesh deep. They marred his very existence, forcing him to realize just how many mistakes he had made in his life so far.
"Normal people were never meant to meddle in the affairs of things too large for us to really comprehend. My father paid the ultimate price when he decided to force Efreet to submit to him. I paid my own price for being foolish enough to think I could carry and hold what was left for the remainder of my life... and now it seems I have to pay for the mistakes of my family...
I don't know what I'm becoming--- what I'm meant to be doing--- it seems all I'm ever doing is cleaning up the messes that my family makes! I never asked for any of this--- and...and.."
He sighed and palmed his face.
"I know what happened to Sierra is my fault... not just Victor's... I have to save her... and end this bloodline of mine for good."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:34 pm
Asai averted her eyes as if steeling herself, she took a steadying breath and locked crimson eyes with his golden ones.
"That, Vahn-- Could be more complicated than you think..."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:57 pm
"Well, I'm guessing that's why I'm here."
He leaned back now, stretching and draping his arms about the arms of the seat, yellowed eyes staring back dully.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:12 pm
"..."
She stared at him impassively for a moment and then rose to her feet. Bowing slightly she spoke as if she'd just made a decision from which there was no turning back from.
"Indeed it is. I see that there is no delicate way to proceed in this matter, our situation being what it is. There is something that you must see for yourself... Please wait here a moment Vahn."
Asai disappeared through the same door Reiyvian had. After a few moments she returned. A bundle of black fur in each arm. She came and knelt in front of him, revealing two pudgy sleeping faces. A girl with ebony hair and tanned skin sucking her thumb, and a boy with hair the colour of incarnadine and flesh as pale as the moon, his fists clenched beneath his chin. The twins were only a few months old but there was no denying the parents whom they so closely resembled.
Asai said nothing, merely watching the Scion's face.
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:25 am
"Uh...."
He stared, not quite knowing what to expect.
This surely wasn't it.
At all.
Surely.
I think.
"Those are babies."
Yea.
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:33 am
"..."
"......."
".................."
He stared... and stared... aaaaand stared.... Asai waited patiently for him to speak, finally it seemed he had gathered himself and the dragoness looked to him expectantly. But when he finally spoke--
"How erm... perceptive of you Vahn."
She blinked at him as he continued to stare.
Dense. He couldn't POSSIBLY this dense.
... could he?
"These aren't just ANY babies Vahn... these twin flames were kindled in a bed of flame. Their lives were given spark by two great fires. Children born of not one... but TWO avatars.... these are your children Vahn...."
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