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 Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:18 pm
Another morning, another nightmare. It was always the same one, the feeling over and over again. Guelherme was now, more than ever, silently convinced that he was something different. But not something special no. He was something terrible. Something violent.
He hated himself.
Every day now, he was leaving earlier and earlier, and had even left off his prayers every morning. He came home every night, flame almost extinguished, and collapsed into his bed. With a fervor, he was going into the jungle, and eliminating the diabos there. Just to be alone.
Guelmy was afraid he'd always be alone.
"Guelherme!" That voice he'd know anywhere. But what was she doing up so early? Indiamara almost never was out of bed before second-sunrise. "Guelherme, this is unacceptable. You are not to disregard the greatest ones this way. You have not spoken to them. They tell me of this!"
The fat woman reached up, and dragged her charge out of his room into the temple, and forced him down in front of the altar. He would repent, and he would pray, and fast all day.
For Guelherme, the only thing keeping him there were years and ages of training, abuse, and teachings. Women were superior. The gods were the ultimate.
But were they his gods? He couldn't help but wander.
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:21 pm
Jungles... again.
Conrad was slowly growing weary of this. True, Airi had asked him to search... but he was a wanderer at heart, and having all his movements determined by someone else's will was starting to chafe at him. No matter what his feelings were towards the young woman he felt so oddly drawn to, the idea of running about looking for her misplaced sheep forever was repugnant.
And, really... did all these lost children have to live in the middle of nowhere? At least the winged boy had been in a proper city.
So, crankily, Conrad phased through a tangle of lianas, homing in on the faint bright spark that was the magic of yet another Fa'e child.
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:47 am
12 hours. That's how long he had spent before the altar, chanting every prayer he had learned since his childhood. The moral tales, those of Fogohome, of Guizdala, and many others who had displeased the gods, had fallen from his lips. They were empty things to him. Guelherme just couldn't believe that his gods, if he was their gift, would put him in such a situation.
Perhaps that is what the dream god was telling him. He was not of them.
But then, what was he?
At first-sundown, he had been released. Mara wanted to eat, and do whatever it was she did in the evening. Guelmy had no idea, as he rarely came back before most of the village was asleep.
Easier that way.
Even as he reached the edge of the dense ferns that were his jungle, his step was lightening, and his posture straightened. This was where he liked to be, where nobody would bother him, and where he could have his fun in peace.
Or well, relative peace. Diabos were never peaceful things, and more and more he was running into the creatures. And they were getting larger. Perhaps he should at least do his morning prayers. Not belonging to the gods was one thing. Making them angry so he got eaten was another.
And if that wasn't the irony of it all, through the shadows he caught a flicker of light, something that didn't belong, somewhere in front of him. This was all too much for the poor snakeboy, and he almost whimpered at the thought of what his thoughts might be doing!
Nonetheless, he crouched, flames balling between his hands. He would eliminate this one, just like the many before it. No problem.
Right.
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:46 pm
Conrad stopped.
And sighed.
"You're going to set the forest on fire if you do that. You can't touch me, see?" The wanderer deliberately leaned over and put his arm through a liana, waggling it back and forth to make the insubstantiality very clear. However, the fact that the sign of Airi's blood was singing wildly through the flaming apparition before him was good - very good.
"So you can put down the fireballs. I don't mean you any harm. What's your name?" Conrad held one hand out in a hopefully friendly gesture. "I think you're the one I've been looking for."
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:57 pm
"Deuses grandes..." he exhaled. He'd seen many demons, but nothing so insubstantial as this man before him. Especially none that looked as this one did now. Guelherme was reminded of the white outsiders but...no. Not quite. No, not quite.
The fire molded itself over his upper arms as the young man eased out of his crouch, looking a bit warily at the man. At least he was speaking a form of the trader's language he understood. There were a few things that were strange, but he thought he had it.
"Looking for me? Why are you looking for me?" That was the most confusing part. Though he'd been to the Matriarch's Conclave a few times, he was still not actively sought out by any others.
He was for the Priestesses, not the secular.
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:02 pm
Conrad nodded appreciatively at the young Fa'e's control of fire, and doffed his hat, holding it between his hands. "I am fairly sure you're the one I'm looking for. Do you know - what is your name, by the way, I can't keep calling you "you" - where you came from? How you were born? Do you have a mother or father?"
Best to ease into it gradually, he'd found. The blunt immediate approach hadn't worked yet, so he wasn't even going to try.
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:31 pm
Well, at least he recognized the formal gesture, and could return one. Bowing slightly, and sweeping his arm in front of him, Guelherme introduced himself. "I am Guelherme. However, if you find this difficult to pronounce, as some have, Guelmy is proper." His control of this language was extremely formal at best. Which was quite ironic, seeing as the only people that spoke it had a degenerate form.
Somehow, he felt compelled to answer these strange questions. Like something would happen if he did. It wasn't something the boy could have explained, and it wasn't even a compulsion he was aware of. He just did it, almost automatically.
"Father? I have no father. No true mother either, but I am graciously..." he paused here, with a sneer that was extremely common in teenagers, "...she cares for me. The High Priestess Indiamara cares for my upbringing at the temple. I came from the deuses grandes, the great gods of my people. I am their presente precioso, the beloved gift from the gods."
Yes, he'd said this many times since he was a child. It was almost monotone towards the end, something he was tired of. And unhappy with.
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:44 pm
Conrad smiled, and this time, it was very knowing. "Ah... yes... of course. That would be what they would say."
He gave Guelherme a serious, intense look. "Do you want to know the truth of where you came from? Because of what you truly are, you may be hunted... and while you could probably burn them rather nicely with your fireballs, you don't want to take the chance that one would find you while you slept. I've seen what happened to those who... didn't make it." Blasted houses, nothing left. Ashes. Black goo.
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