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 Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:23 pm
"So, there would be no way to bring you back if your body was destroyed..." Her words took a moment to sink in, so much so that he had to repeat them out loud to allow their meaning to fully encompass his thoughts. Xol was so used to having outs to every situation, in fact he could be called a master at it. There was always a way, always. Phia, however was telling him in no uncertain terms there wasn't one when it came to her. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. He needed something to distract him from something he had never experienced before... finality. And of course, just like always, there was an out for him. A presence at his Keep.
"Hm. I wonder who that that is... an unknown signature..." He finished off his drink and set it down, looking to Phia. "Shall we greet our new guest?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:28 pm
"None..." She confirmed as if that were the last word, that sealed the deal. She sighed and looked to him. "I won' be leav'n anytime soon Xol....I 'ope." She said softly, She kissed him then picked up on the presence. She too was grateful for the ditraction. "Aye...Le's go see this one."
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:33 pm
Xol came out from behind the bar and helped Phia off her seat, guiding her over to the shadows because he had not yet mastered the ability to shadow walk yet. "After you my love." He smiled, holding her hand and letting her lead them both forward.
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:29 pm
She gently took his hand in hers and stepped through the shadows appearing in the shadows just outside of the keep, she saw the figure and her eyes were curious. How did he find this place and what was it he desired of Xol. She would assume he was here for her lover because few knew of her new residence here.
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:47 am
When they breached The Keep Bayne was standing with his back to them, his eyes staring down into the incomprehensible vastness of space that hung below and around him. He was sitting now, in the center of the rocky outcropping, the sudden vertigo of his violent arrival in Divanon filling him with nausea.
He heard their footsteps like a pin dropping in the dead silence of a tomb, and his body spun and shifted to face them. His legs pushed him up and away from the ground, his hands clamped over Justice's leather bound grip. His eyes darted between the two of them, narrowed and fearless but extremely uncertain. Were they illusions? Hallucinations? He still had not grasped where he was, and whther this was all an arcane game or something more sinister.
Despite his anxiety and the fury that still coursed through his veins Bayne held his ground, speaking with an authority he had no right to maintain. He was an impostor in this foreign world. In time he would come to learn his place. Perhaps. Or he would die a nameless vagabond.
"Who are you? Be you friends of Arvahel, or friends of Arthox?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:16 am
He followed through with Phia and ended up by her side, looking at the mans back as he apparently looked down off the edge of his Keep. Odd, just like before, he did not remember ever feeling this mans life signature before. When he spun around and gripped his weapon, Xol took that as a very hostile action.
"Neither. And chose what you do next very carefully stranger... you have not only stumbled into and are trespassing upon our domain, but take seemingly hostile actions towards us as well." He spoke and his eyes narrowed before he unsheathed the Black Rose and made a wide arc. The blade cut a clean swath through the ground only inches in front of his and Phia's feet. The jagged rock that now only the stranger stood on would shift uneasily. "Now you have but two choices. One, steady your hand and divulge who you are and to where you are from... or two, make another hostile move and trust your fate to the ground below." Xol sheathed the Black Rose, it's resonating pulse of dark power instantly calmed.
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:14 pm
"Calm yerselves..." Phia said, her hand encircling Xol's wrist that held the sword. She sent her lover a warning glance before stepping foreward one pace, putting herself closer to the stranger. "I believe 'e is just confused and frightened." She said calmly. The two men would feel the subtle press of energy keeping them in their places and apart from killing one another. She turned her violet gaze to foreign man. "But you should listen to him, This is our home you are intruding on....per'aps you should dis-spell yer aggression...an' we may be able to 'elp ye...." She had a soothing voice, though to the untrained ear her accent would be a trick to understand. "I am Phia Olean...and this is Xol Solaris.....who migh' ye be?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 4:09 pm
White noise. Static. Pinned in place on the precipice of the abyss and cornered by these two creatures (be they real or mere illusions), Bayne opened his mind to his Gods, craving to hear the divine songs resonating through the grand ethereal halls of Ramuh, and the endless toil and fire of Sheoth. He heard nothing. Nothing at all -his divine sending fell into a vast and empty chasm, never to be heard by any immortal ears.
Trespassing? Bayne knew that, and he was proud of the title. This place was once the final chamber of Arthox's castle... to trespass there was an honor he had long hungered for. Yet this place was not the same. The air, the sky, the earth was different... a sinister illusion. He remembered hearing a noise before his sword struck the rock of this ledge. The Man in Black, speaking. His words made no sense to Bayne, scratches of gibberish and arcane garble. Now he was here. It was all connected... but how would he escape?
All the while these two figures continued talking, then a line was drawn. The sudden shift in the ledge's weight caused Bayne to stumble, his feet sliding over the rock until he was balanced and solid. He listened to the man's threats, then to the woman's words. Dispell his aggression... he was standing on a jutting rock that was probably moments away from collapsing into the darkness. So he was supposed to be passive? His fingers tightened over Justice's grip, keeping the blade as his lead before him. Yet, despite his wish to fight and not stop until he found the door back to the castle, his deeper instincts took him.
What choice did he have?
He did not sheath his sword but he did lower the blade until its tip kissed the dirt. He took a long breath, and the effort to relax his grim and angry expression.
"...I am Bayne. Leader of The Sons of Arvahel, and The Avatar of Justice. I do not know where I am, or why I am here. You, Solaris, hold my life in your hands. If you are friends of King Arthox then I cannot say I will do you no harm, but I will bow my blade until we part ways.... Tell me where I am."
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:42 pm
Xol scoffed. Confused and frightened? Lesser men get confused, animals get frightened... this warrior had a blade in had, and he was neither. Phia was Phia though and that was why he loved her so deeply. Unfortunately what she had in compassion, he sorely lacked.
"King Arthox? I hold allegiance to no man. King or higher." His lips parted in a sneer as he let go of his blade and crossed his arms at his chest. So far the man had not posed a threat so for the time being he would let his guard fall slightly. "As to where you are... well, aside from the obvious, being at the outside of my Keep, you're in a part of the world which houses the Black Company. Originally a mercenary guild, many of the members have split off into their own little corners of the region. I'm not quite sure how you got here, but you are most definately not in a place that houses any sort of Kingdom."
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:07 pm
"Kingdoms 'ave long since fall'n an' past 'ere I'm afraid...." She said calmly. The energy that parted the two men still had not dispelled, she wasn't going to let them go just yet. "So it seems your journey is at a stop....eith'r ye've been lost in time or ye've 'ad the same predicament I did...an' ye got trans-plant'd to this plane of existance..." She said with a shrug. "But can we 'elp ye in anyway?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:33 pm
Their words hit him harder than any physical blow could manage. Were it not for his own resolve and devotion to his kindred, wherever they might be, he might have collapsed then and there to roll off the ledge and into oblivion. However, he did not. He stared levelly at Xol and Phia, his heart racing without restraint all the while.
Displaced in time? He knew nothing of magic. Such cantrips were lost on the mind of this warrior. He was a creature of lethal finesse when it came to the sword but to him magic was an inexplicable phenomena. A surreal abomination of reality that could only be tamed the most insane men... if wizards could be called that. There were no "white mages" in Arvahel. The only arcane arts that existed in his land were those of pain and devastation. They were synonymous with Demons.
It was at that moment that a wave of nausea passed over him, causing Justice to kiss the earth with greater passion. An illusion. It is but an illusion. The man Walter has pulled a second reality over your eyes. You can dismiss it through your will alone. As he thought it he knew it was not true. Arthox's mages and his guards would have been upon him by now, and he would begin to be cut apart by his invisible foes. Yet there were no foes to be had here...
The tension in his lungs was suffocating. Bayne fought to take a calming breath, his eyes constantly in limbo between the ground, Xol, Phia, and Justice. If this woman Phia's words held any truth, then...
"The battle rages on." He found that breath and it steadied him, drawing his shoulders back and arching his spine to expand his chest to its full adorned shape. The calm he wore was forced -there was no doubt of that- and in the blues eyes of that blood spattered face burned a single flame that was slowly consuming both his hope and his faith.
"When I arrived here the battle was far from over. Arvahel's warriors were beginning to storm the gates. They fell man for man, and so long as Arthox's heart beats so does his legion's. Lady Phia, you must send me back. You are wise in the ways of magic, and I am not. I cannot forsake my people in this vital moment."
To assume she had that power was all he could do. Being trapped was not an option. It simply wasn't. To be imprisoned in this place without knowledge of victory or defeat would be a torment greater than death. Once more, he reached out to the stars of this alien realm, desperately seeking counsel with her Pantheon. He heard nothing.
Nothing at all.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 1:10 pm
Xol turned his gaze to Phia before speaking. "We could always just open up a portal and push him in. Not only would it be fun, but there is the smallest of chances he'd end up in his own... time, plane, or whatever..." He shrugged, growing tired of the man in front of him. There was no place for soldier types in these lands anymore, especially not those as one dimensional as Bayne. Sure, he himself had at one time served in the same vein, but he had learned there was more to dying for some fools absolute vision.
"Basically Bayne..." Xol started, clearing his throat slightly before continuing, "Unless my love Phia here knows of a different way, it would be almost impossible to send you back to the exact same moment in time where you left off... especially if you can't explain to us such things as your time, world, s**t... dimension." He turned his gaze upward, the gentle breeze licking at his body as he thought. Hmph. There was a way, but it would take many months to build such a device with such an exact purpose. And right now Xol had much more important things to be doing that worrying about some stranger who wanted to get home.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:48 pm
Phia sighed and looked to Xol, sending him a warning glance suggesting he should be more cordial.
"I'm 'fraid tha only plane I could send you to is Earth's plane...I do not believe it is tha one ye seek..." She said. "It's not magic tha'll get ye to tha' plane. But if ye want to travel anoth'r plane I should oth'rs can 'elp...Draeken Aakarshan or Mastema come to mind. Draeken will be easier to find and certainly more will'n to 'elp.... 'Is residence is to tha east..." Her arm raised and she pointed in the directon accordingly, there was almost a bit of sadness at that in her eyes, she was thinking of her children in that moment. She moved on however. "Mastema's Citadel is far south on this continent. It will be much 'arder to get in but I 'ave a suggestion if you should try...don't be 'ostile."
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:47 pm
Earth. He had heard of no such place. Then again though he had never truly thought on the concept of other worlds it made sense... the Pantheon of Arvahel was timeless and without equal. Perhaps they resided here somewhere... he would have to find them. A hole in planes just big enough for him to extend his voice. By Valaar, the war... He tried to push the thoughts of his battling kinsmen out of his head but could not, for he knew that attempting such apathy would make him no better than Arthox. He would not pretend he was unworried... Bayne would simply stand strong.
His mind, however, was not so resilient. Bright and shining as his soul was the knowledge that his world was completely foreign to them had slain any hope he had of return, and he was mere minutes into his time on this world...
No. Enough toil. It was time to move on, and find a way.
"I do not know of Earth. It is not my home... If you would be kind, and offer me a way to the ground below I would be grateful."
As many questions as he had, he could tell that he was clearly unwelcome. It was not his custom to keep the company of impatience, and so he would take his leave, assuming he was not requested to stay.
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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:00 pm
"Very well..." Was his reply to Bayne's request, and almost instantly the ledge which he was already so precariously situated on would completely crack off. Of course it didn't have the desired effect Xol would have liked, falling fast and crushing Bayne under it's enormous weight... it instead floated momentarily. "I'm not really fond of strangers and you are most definately unknown to me. However. If for some reason the aforementioned two people can't help you, come back and I will try my best to send you back from whence you came." This was obviously meant to please Phia as she had sent him a look which translated into "be nice".
"One last parting note Bayne... I don't know how advanced the culture is where you're from, but you're currently in a place that has a lot of very nasty and powerful beings. Even though Phia suggests Mastema, use that as a very last ditch effort to get home. He'd more likely use you for his own means and kill you afterwards. And don't be mistaken on me presuming you're weak, he has a vast mechanical army and is himself a sort of... well it has to be seen. I've gotten the better of him on a few occasions, but have yet to end his existence." Xol moved behind Phia and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck before tilting his head and looking to Bayne once again. "If you're not too proud, just say my name and I will be there to assist you. Good luck and may your Gods protect you..."
The ground Bayne stood on would slowly begin lowering him to the ground, when it met with the forest floor it would gently stop and allow him to get off and continue his journey... wherever that may lead him. "I never did like that thing just jutting out of nowhere. It looked ugly." He chuckled, nibbling Phia's ear like that b*****d he was.
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