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 Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 5:54 pm
Lin looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.
"How about, how you came into service to the General?" she suggested, "So we can get an idea where you also fit into all of this."
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 6:10 pm
Maravel nodded slowly. "Very well," he agreed. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, and then he began.
"When I was young, the Ruavia family was still ruling the country. It was a time of peace and prosperity for everyone. Even the poorest were well off. I grew up here in the city. My father was a member of the king's council, well respected by all. Then came that fateful night when everything changed. The royal family was assassinated, and by the next morning things were already under the General's control. He had his own banners and flags up, and suddenly only his men were armed. I think most of the people loyal to the Ruavia household were also either murdered or imprisoned that night - and there was no warning to prevent any of this."
His eyes grew dark. "Within the next week, most of the men of the city were also rounded up and imprisoned. My father was one of the ones to be killed. My mother tried to fight against the soldiers and was also killed. I was young, only fifteen years old, and I had no training in fighting, so I couldn't fight against them. Nevertheless, I was also arrested and put in prison in retribution for the actions of my parents."
He fidgeted uncomfortably. "Seeing what has happened to others in prison since that time, I feel like I have no right to complain, but ... the conditions were terrible. Food was scarce. There was no care for any of us. There were dozens of us in a single cell. When we were given food, it was barely enough for a handful of people. Many were killed fighting for meager portions, and others starved.
"It was during this time that I began to see visions," he went on, pushing aside the dark memories. "I'm not sure ... are you aware of the difference between a Seer and a Sage?"
He looked to the others for their answer.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 6:24 pm
Lin shook her head, "I'm familiar with the Gift of Sight, but I'm not familiar with the difference between a Seer and Sage to be honest."
She had never heard of the reference before, there were talks about the Sight running in the Aldrich line, but they hadn't ever called themselves Seers or Sages as far as she could remember.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 6:31 pm
Maravel nodded. "Both Sages and Seers have the ability to See things in their mind - some of which have already taken place, some of which are happening in the present, some of which will happen in the future, and some of which may never come to pass. What a Seer sees is more likely to come to pass, while a Sage sees more ... possibilities. In addition, a Seer is able to control their Gift and See what they wish to See, when they wish to See it. A Sage has no such control. A vision may come to a Sage at any time. It may or may not be clear. It may be a certainty, it may be a possibility. It may give direction, it may give warning. There is simply no way to know for certain."
He put his hand to his chest. "I am a Sage," he explained. "I do not know why I have the Gift, but it began to manifest when I was in prison. It helped me to survive. I had a better knowledge of when food would be brought, and I saved my energy between times and when the food arrived I made sure I was already near the door. Unfortunately, it did not warn me of what may possibly have been even more important - the asphinx that awaited me when I returned to my corner one evening."
Lancaeriel sucked in her breath sharply, but Andarien simply looked confused. He had never heard of an asphinx before. Shiro had spoken occasionally of sphinxes, something from the world of Gaia, but he had a feeling this would be something different.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 7:59 pm
Neither had Lin, but it wasn't like she studied animals all that closely. Though it was Miyuki who asked, as she didn't know what it was neither.
"What is it? An asphinx I mean," she asked.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:05 pm
Maravel looked a bit ill at the thought of describing the creature, so Lancaeriel took it upon herself to explain instead.
"An asphinx is a serpent," she explained quietly. "Very poisonous. They live in cold, dark, wet places ... that one would be in a prison does not surprise me. They are extremely territorial, though they bite only as a last resort. If they bite, then they, and whatever they bite, turn to stone."
Maravel nodded slowly and gestured towards his missing arm. "I was bitten on the wrist," he murmured. "My screams alerted a guard, he fetched the General, and the General severed my arm - by that time it had turned to stone almost all the way to my shoulder. The amputation slowed the poison, though it took every bit of skill and magic the General had among his people to stop it entirely."
He reached over and pulled back the short sleeve of his tunic and showed them his shoulder. It had not been a neat amputation, and the stub of his arm was a cold gray in colour.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:21 pm
Miyuki grimaced at that, that certainly did not look pleasant and wondered if it caused Maravel any pain. Though she wasn't going to ask that question!
"What happened then?" LIn tore her eyes away from the sight, "The General came to deal with it himself..."
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:39 pm
Lancaeriel looked doubtful. "The General doesn't strike me as the type of man to do something like that unless there's something in it for him," she commented.
Maravel nodded miserably. "The visions always come to me when I need them most. As I was being bitten, I saw a vision of the General's adviser stealing from his treasury. I used this information to save my life. The General severed my arm and bandaged it up, but I was left in prison until he confirmed what I had told him. At that point, I was taken from the prison and nursed back to health, but from that moment on, I was the General's slave, though he called me his new adviser."
He passed his hand over his face, then ran his fingers over his smooth scalp.
"He made very clear to me exactly what would happen if I should prove disloyal to him," he said, his voice shaking again. "The head of my predecessor was preserved and remains to this day in my chambers. I do not know how he was killed, but the look on his face is ... rather unpleasant."
He swallowed hard and looked back at the others again. "And so I began working for the General."
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:18 pm
Lin nodded slowly, she could completely understand why he followed the General.
"He hoped to see that ability of yours," Lin stated, more than it was question.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:22 pm
Maravel nodded, and again he looked miserable.
"He made very good use of it, I'm afraid," he said quietly. "I did the best I could ... kept what I dared from him ... but ... my visions ... my explanations to him ... they have resulted in some actions taken that I can never forgive myself for."
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:34 pm
Lin could only imagine, though it was obvious that the General hadn't managed to squash out the rebellion completely. The fact he never found the Princess was also a good sign, but that might have been because Maravel never had a vision.
"What happened during your time with the General?" she finally asked.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:41 pm
Maravel lowered his eyes in shame. "I had a vision after being with the General for only a few days," he said quietly. "A vision that showed the end of his tyranny. But it was not set in stone. Only one person would be able to bring about the end of the General's rule, and there was only way for him to be born. His mother had not yet been born, and his grandparents had not even met. There was no guarantee that they would. Yet even a mere three years after the General took over the country, I knew that it was necessary for this man to be born."
Lancaeriel was frowning deeply. "That doesn't make any sense," she said, sounding confused. "Clearly you are talking about Coriander - Cael, I suppose he is called now - but he hadn't yet even died by that point. He was still alive. In his previous life, I mean."
Maravel shrugged. "As I said, Sages' visions are strange things. They show only possibilities. I had no idea he was alive - I had no idea that he would be a rebirth. All I knew was that there was only one way to end the suffering. Certain people had to meet, and encouraged to marry and have children."
He rose, agitated, and began to pace the floor. "Even now, knowing how happy they were with each other ... knowing that they truly did love each other ... I can't forgive myself for manipulating their relationships. Everyone should be allowed to choose freely whom to love."
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:46 pm
"But of course, you don't know if they would have done so naturally if given time and as long as none of them died during his rule," Miyuki spoke up thoughtfully, "After all, how do you know they wouldn't find each other naturally? Of course, there's a lot no one will ever know, it's always hard to tell how much is just meant to happen and how much is stuff we do, I heard visions are really tricky things."
Divination wasn't something she had been interested in, but she heard of it enough to know the future was a very tricky thing. Like time, you never knew quite what came first.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:53 pm
"Visions can indeed be tricky," the sage agreed, "and perhaps they would have met on their own. But you know what the General was like. What his rule was like. I could not risk them not meeting. As it was it took nearly two hundred years for my vision to come to pass. Tsara was already a widow, Gaelin little more than a skeleton in the depths of the prison. Had I not convinced the General to set Gaelin free, he would have died long before being released. And Arphenion was a soldier here in the palace, a prison guard. How would he and Dae'er have met, had the General not brought them together at my insistence?"
He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "If only he had gone about it differently. To imprison Dae'er the way he did ... five years she was in there, and she nearly died. Starvation, cold ... she simply gave up on life. And it was my fault."
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Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:30 am
Lin looked thoughtful, while she wouldn't condone for anyone to manipulate others, she doubted there was much Maravel could do. The General was crazy, and no doubt his rule would have ended eventually but not without bringing the kingdom to ruin first.
"But he did listen to you in other matters yes?" Lin asked, "From what little I know of the General, he wasn't really a leader, this kingdom really couldn't have lasted for as long as it did without someone convincing him to take a somewhat softer hand when possible."
She was amazed actually it had lasted for more than one generation, and even more so that there had been a younger generation to even grow up. As society like this would not have encouraged children all that much, never mind the many other problems with the way the General ruled.
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