|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 2:48 am
Luthe's eyes widened in surprise. How the Hell had he- 'But of course', the demon scolded himself, 'that nervous look back just now was more than enough to tell him.'
"What do you know?" he asked, his eyes slightly narrowing. He had seen that kind of smile before... "This is not a chance encounter, is it?"
Whatever it was that had been following him around, was inching closer now, but still escaping his senses in a strange way, very much like one of his own kind would.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:35 am
"Quite a bit really," Athan replied smoothly, "I suppose you could call it fate if you really wanted, but you're not the one I was originally after." He resisted the urge to smirk broadly and motioned over the boy's shoulder towards the small, purple colored gem that was peeking just around a corner not too far away.
He sighed and felt out towards the bond that connected him to the Fiend in an effort to coax it forward. "Now what I'm curious about.. is how you came about such a gem," he murmured quietly as he squinted down at Luthe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:04 pm
Luthe recognized the gem instantly and stared at it in disbelief. Sure, he had sensed the soul within, but from his experience it shouldn't be able to hover and follow him around on it's own. And those wisps of darkness surounding it - they certainly hadn't been there when he left.
"Trying to sneak up on a natural hunter, eh?" he murmured. The next moment he had already leapt forward and closed his hands around the little troublemaker. He could feel it wiggle underneath his fingers, and some of the wispy darkness made it outside and tried pulling his fingers away. No, not really 'darkness' he realized. Shadows. So that was why it had been so hard for him to sense that thing.
"Sorry," he said with a slightly guilty look to Athan, "but that just had to be." Carefully he opened his hands to get a better look at the gem, half expecting it to zip away instantly. But to his surprise it just kept hovering an inch or two over his palms and continued to try and pull on his fingers.
"I found it in the house of a mage called Cornelius Cromwell," Luthe said after clearing his throat. "You may have heard about him, he was quite famous before he went insane. And died. A friend and I have been checking out his place for, uhm, valuables a while ago, but we had to retreat because it was quite well protected. Luckily it seems that my friend broke most of the spells when we escaped, or I wouldn't have been able to get into the house today." He grimaced. That escape back then had been more than close, he and Aislin had been quite lucky to make it out of there alive.
"Earlier this day I came across one of his books by chance, something he must have copied from a much older work. I was hoping to maybe find the original in his study, but," he shrugged, "no luck."
He looked up at Athan, raising a brow. "Your turn now. What do you know about this... little stalker?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:58 pm
"Mm.. the name is definately familiar. What he was doing with a Shadow Fiend is beyond my knowledge, though.. not entirely shocking," he mused quietly as he watched Luthe toy with the small wisp. "I know about these creatures because I am the one who awakens them.. usually. Some take on minds of their own when it comes to choosing their guardian."
"That would be the shorter version of one very long story about what," he paused to point at the wisp almost accusingly,"that is... and I'm afraid you're now stuck with it." He felt the urge to snicker faintly at that remark but he kept his composure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 4:52 pm
"Cromwell's been using it for his studies, I guess. From what I've heard he's been studying soul magic and necromancy ever since his daughter died, searching for a way to revive her. From what I've seen in his mansion, I'm inclined to believe those rumors. This little stalker here," he poked softly at the small gem, "was in a box full of gems. Most of them look like that crazy old mage tried to repeat the spell that created this one." He shrugged. "I actually found the spell in that book - would never have worked though, he got some of the details all wrong."
A vague suspicion began to surface in the back of his mind. Since that man seemed to know quite abit about those, whatdidhecallthem - Shadow Fiends?, could he possibly have a connection to that book as well?
He decided to think about it later, because that last sentence... "What do you mean, I'm 'now stuck with it'?" he asked alarmed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:39 pm
Athan chuckled quietly as he offered the boy a faint smile. "It chose you as its guardian," he clarified, "There's really not much I can do to reverse the bond I'm afraid. It would result in the creature's death."
He dug through one sleeve of his robes and pulled out a small business card that was covered in an elaborate design. The lettering glowed softly, alternating between silver ink and a faint green. The name 'Twilight Designs' was written out in the design with the subtitle of 'fine jewelry and rare gems.' The address was neatly scrawled on the back in tidy handwriting along with a phone number.
"Here," he murmured as he offered the card to the boy, "Twilight Designs is the shop I own. It's run by a woman named Reyna. There are more creatures like the one that is now bonded to you. It might prove helpful if you were to meet others who have Fiends as well."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:38 pm
Luthe looked at the Wisp which bopped up and down over his left palm, apparently trying to pull his signet ring off the finger right now. It seemed to be rather happy there. Oh well, why not? A Shadow Fiend for a Shadow Demon to take care of, that was rather fitting. Not that he seemed to have a choice in this matter anyway...
Curiously he accepted the business card that was offered to him and read through it. "Gaia again," he murmured, not entirely surprised. Lately circumstances seemed to bring him to that world again and again, and he was beginning to suspect there might be more to it than chance. Carefully he put the card away into one of the pockets of his jacket.
"Sure, I''ll stop by." A shy smile crept across the boy''s face. "Probably soon, I''ve got a friend over there. Until then... Is there anything I need to know to take care of the little one here? Like, polish it every morning, feed it, or something?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 7:24 pm
Athan smirked faintly. "No.. they're quite.. self-sufficent. They need nothing but to remain bonded to someone to remain alive. Though they're not too keen on being directly in any form of light. They're created from shadow, after all."
He fell silent as he quietly examined the wisp that was floating above Luthe's palm. "Oh.. and.. just to warn you. They're quite mischievous. Keep a close eye on him."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 8:22 pm
"I prefer to avoid the light myself, so the littel one has nothing to fear... And I can deal with it being mischievous, the last few days were a good practice for me." He chuckled when he thought about how much havoc the Sprockets had been wreaking since bought them. "The friend I live with, is a different matter though..."
He looked at the Wisp, raising a warning finger. "You better behave when she's around, or you'll regret it." But there was a mischievous glint within the demon's eyes, hinting he wasn't too serious about it.
"Anyhow, I've got to get going now. I promised to keep watch over my friend's shop at night, so I can't stay away from there too long." The Wisp seemed to have understood those words, for it left his hand and settled in Luthe's shadow where it was barely visible. The demon wondered how long it would take him to get used to being stalked by a living gem, and how much trouble such a little thing could possibly cause. More than enough, he suspected.
He politely bowed to Athan. "Good bye. I'll stop by your shop as soon as I can." And with that, he turned back to the way he had come from.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 8:34 pm
Athan nodded and turned to leave the way he had came once the boy said goodbye. He'd been expecting to find utter chaos in the wake of the loose Fiend. For once he was quite thankful he'd been wrong, though it did worry him somewhat that the wisp had awakened without his being there. It was something that seemed to be happening a bit more frequently as of late.
He shook his head and sighed. He'd worry about it later. At the moment he was much more concerned with getting back to his studies than with trying to determine how Sugilite had come to be.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:37 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:13 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:17 pm
:: OF DREAMS ::When she finally left the bathroom, breakfast was ready. Her long dreads always took quite some time to be taken care of and dried, so that left Luthenep with plenty of time to prepare everything. Still not fully awake the woman squinted at the table with a frown. "I thought we were going to have pancakes this morning?"
"You locked the Sprockets into the kitchen yesterday evening, remember?"
"Oh."
"They made it into the fridge."
"Oh darn..." she muttered. "Next time I'll have to empty the safe and lock them in there."
"However. Eggs are gone, milk's gone, so you'll have to settle for toast with jam. Cleaning up the kitchen and the fridge took most of the night so I wasn't to keen on going out and search for a market this morning." Luthenep filled the largest mug he had been able to find with coffee and put it right in front of Aislin. With a delighted 'Hmmmmm...' she inhaled the steam, her facial expression one of pure bliss. Luthenep chuckled, slowly shaking his head in disbelief. Aislin's obsession with coffee was really something.
"Looks like you had a bad night - were we too loud?"
"Nah," Aislin run a hand through her dreads and leaned back on her chair to take a look at her room's door. A familiar looking magic diagram was drawn onto it. "I see you spelled my door... Looks familiar, but I can't put my finger on it � what is that?" She took a big gulp of her coffee. Ah, now she was slowly starting to feel human...
"Variation on a deflection spell. It's designed to deflect sound waves." Coming up with something like that had become a necessity with the Sprockets around.
"Hm. Just don't forget to wipe it off later, k?" She took another gulp of her coffee. "I don't know what's up with my sleep lately... I keep having those really weird dreams."
Luthe suppressed the urge to say 'I know'. "What kind of dreams?" he asked cautiously instead, while pouring himself a small cup of coffee. He didn't really like the stuff, but sharing a cup of coffee with Aislin in the morning was a ritual he had come to enjoy.
"Oh, it's like I'm walking through a huge dungeon like thing," she said gesturing and spilling some of her coffee on the floor in the process. "It just gets deeper and deeper, and creepier and creepier. And every time I wake up from one of those dreams I'm absolutely disorientiz-, erh, disoriented." She made a grimace. "It feels like I�m only dreaming that I wake up, and in reality I'm still down there... The odd thing is, it's a continuous dream. Every time it picks up at the spot I stopped dreaming the last time. Weird, huh?"
"I wouldn't know," Luthe said, trying to not let it show that he already knew about it. "You know that I rarely sleep. That place you are dreaming of, does it seem familiar somehow?"
Aislin shook her head. "No, not at all."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 2:58 pm
:: A NEW FELLOW LODGER ::
Reserved for introduction of Azel to Aislin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 3:30 pm
:: THE GUILD ::
Reserved for Luthe's visit to the "Appraiser's Guild".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
