Private Tales Fragments of Imagination

[Orion]

The stare that Orion cast down at Wynne was one of confusion, concern and unease. To be shown what he had just shown her and not run for her life? To instead offer her hand, offer her friendship to a man she now knew to be an addled and disturbed killer? Perhaps Orion was not the only one who had lost his mind, after all.

Orion did not allow his gaze to linger upon her for long, his eyes cast down to the space between them as he attempted to give his wayward thoughts time to sort themselves, to grasp even the first inkling of a phrase that could express how her offer troubled him.

"I'm unsure of the wisdom in such a friendship, Miss Oster..." Underneath his robes, Orion's left hand reached over to clutch at his right arm, digging his nails into his flesh, using the stinging pain to remain rooted in reality, to assuage the paranoia that threatened to return to him. "I would go so far as to say the wilderness outside would be a safer refuge than this Academy. If I were to lose control, if I were to lash out..."

He gave a brief shake of his head, refusing to entertain the dark thought of committing another such atrocity.

"If I tell you that you must go, you must heed my warning." He cautioned her, hesitantly letting a hand emerge from his robe to take hers, the cold silver of his rings chilling her fingers as he accepted the gesture. "I will do what I can to ensure your safety so long as you need stay here, but... be wary of me, please."

Wynne Oster

 

[Wynne Oster]

Wynne shook his hand, a touch that was warm but also offering a chill all the same. Perhaps it was the accompaniment of his words that gave it such feeling, but she was unaware of how lost he could become. Not having seen it for herself, only the aftermath and remnants, she let her hand fall to her side.

"I can stay?" Her eyes widened for a moment, a small ray of hope shining through but Wynne kept herself composed all the same. "Here in the school... or the town?" She was unsure of this arrangement, having not explored much of the city. She had been curious, not snooping and figuring out what had happened here.

In time, she would learn it all in time. The illusionist looked up at Orion. "Are you able to tell me how it began for you? Is it an affliction that I may develop too?" Was there an unspoken price to the hallucinations and dreams she could sell?

Orion

 

[Orion]

It was unlike Orion to offer any such sanctuary to wayward travelers finding their way into Trastus. Even as her hand so gently took his own he questioned his own reasonings for such a choice. Perhaps he felt kindred to Wynne, connected by their shared abilities. More likely, he was simply too tired to keep pushing people away forever.

"It matters not." Orion failed to provide an answer to her question, slowly releasing her hand and tucking it once more into his robes. Turning on his heel, he again began to slowly ascend the spiralling staircase. "Though this singular tower is the only one that has been inhabited in some time. I'm doubtful you'll find food or amenities anywhere else. You are welcome to try, if you wish."

Orion did his best to keep the other two Towers tidy, but to maintain the entire city was beyond his power. He'd done enough to stop the crumbling buildings and collected the non-perishable food to keep himself alive, but beyond that his efforts were focused solely on the preservation of the Academy itself.

Stopping a short ways ahead of her, Orion turned and cast another gaze back down to his new acquaintance.

"Come. I can at least provide you with some sustenance, if you wish to speak of such matters."

Wynne Oster

 

[Wynne Oster]

She believed his word when he said the town was scarce of anything short of a substantial meal, for she had witnessed how bare the town had been. But he was still alive after these years, and at his invitation, she moved to follow him.

Wynne was quiet, afraid to ask too many questions at first, until interest piqued her again. "Have there been many others coming here seeking treasures they believed to exist within these walls? The tower and the town?" His illusions were large, powerful, enough to instill the quickest fears in anyone. Had he used them before? The serpents knew their way around the towers, the dragon familiar with the skies above.

Orion

 

[Orion]

"Some." Orion confirmed, turning his head to look back at her as they ascended higher and higher towards the tower's apex. "But they either flee, die, or think better of staying after I confront them." Wynne was not the first to try befriending him, was not the only one who'd earned herself temporary asylum in these walls. Inevitably, they all fled, leaving him alone once more.

Well, save for the child. He did wonder when she'd be back around to visit.

"You are, however, the first I've met who shares in my abilities. For better or worse." Orion had led her to the very top of the staircase, a small wooden door perched on the uppermost landing now swinging open before him. He gestured her to follow with a hand, and stepped inside.

It was easy to forget one was in a Tower built for teaching magic once crossing through the door into the quaint little living quarters on the other side. Indeed, Orion's home was built much like a modest cabin on the countryside, rather than the extravagant chamber of a powerful mage. The hardwood floor creaked under his boots, clean save for strange black markings seemingly burned into the floorboards near the middle of the room. The only furniture consisted of a large, cushioned chair, a furnace, some cabinets, and a dresser.

Another door by the furnace appeared to lead to a dimly lit bedroom, with a bath and sink, and another made of glass seemed to open out into the balcony that Wynne had seen Orion perched on when she arrived.

"Sit. I'll find you something to eat."

Wynne Oster

 

[Wynne Oster]

She did not expect his quarters to be as cosy as it presented, but her eyes peered about as if there were trinkets and keepsakes to look over. It was bare, but with all the stone and harshness she had seen of the town and towers, this room was a warmth and comfort.

Wynne turned before the cushioned chair and lowered herself, feeling at ease as this had been the first comfort she had felt since her own cot when she had woken the previous day. She now had the opportunity to watch Orion moved about his home, promising to look for food for her.

"Do you grow your own food or anything out here?" She recalled not seeing any fruit trees or gardens in the town. How did he keep himself fed in the aftermath of what had happened here?

Orion

 

[Orion]

Orion pulled open the cabinet beside the small furnace built into the wall beside the door they'd entered through. It was difficult to see inside, past the broad-shouldered mage rummaging through it, but the top shelf seemed to be lined with jars and cans, preserved goods that would last far longer than most perishable foods.

As he sorted through his options, he snapped a finger with one hand and pointed to the furnace. A small bolt of flame shot from his fingertip and ignited the inside, bringing heat to the stove as he pulled out a wrapped container of potatoes and another round, red vegetable.

"There's a small botanical lab in one of the other towers." He mumbled in response, drawing a knife from his robe and peeling the vegetables one by one over an old bin next to the cabinet. "It's enough. I'm still not out of preserved foods from before the city was abandoned, so I've little concern." Not that Orion was too worried about starving to death anyways. It could be considered a small mercy.

Once he had the sliced veggies on the stove, sizzling alongside a slab of meat he kept on ice in a small, strange-looking chest on the opposite end of the cabinet, he turned to her and wiped his hands. She looked to be making herself at home, and the sight of her splayed out as if this weren't some worrisome place to be almost made him smirk.

Almost.

"My turn." He declared. "How long have you had these powers? When did they manifest?"

Wynne Oster

 

[Wynne Oster]

Wynne widened her eyes in question as he asked her some interrogations himself.

"I... remember being quite young. My mother would try her best to help teach me it's control and never dulled my inspirations. In fact, she encouraged me to be imaginative and creative. I was ten when she passed, and I stayed with the troupe she performed with."

She had played with a loose curl of her hair, winding the lock around a finger as she first spoke of her mother. The fact she missed her presence for the way it provided her with company was often a mourning thought.

"To me, it is natural to weave these illusions. Spectacles to draw the crowd. I... I liked that I can tell a story and bring it to life around them."

To be a performer, born for the role, she had lived a life of routine. Here, was the first time she set off on her own, even years after the troupe and family had begged her to seek other means to life.

Orion

 

[Orion]

Orion's eyes slid shut as he listened to Wynne's words. How many tales had he heard? How many stories had crossed his ears over the many years he'd been living within these walls? Hundreds, at least. Maybe thousands at this point. Before his mind had began to slip, he'd categorized them all, filed them into neat little piles in the corners of his thoughts.

He'd forgotten them all now. Wynne's was as though it was the first, and the feelings it brought to him were the first pure and untainted emotions he could recall in so very long.

"Your mother was very wise." Orion hummed, with a smile that twisted the twinge of sadness in his tone. "I am sorry, that you did not get to spend more time with her. It's a shame. But I believe she saw your potential, and helped it to flourish." He had never been blessed with a child of his own, but Orion believed such a thing would be the ultimate goal of any father or mother. To nourish and help thrive.

It was all he said, the sizzle of the food cooking behind him filling the silence as he lowered his head to think. About Wynne's story? Perhaps, or perhaps more about how it had made him feel. Either way, Orion eventually turned and took the pan off of the heat, quickly dumping the contents onto a plate and arranging them with a fork.

"We all have different callings, even if our talents are shared." He mused on, as he split the meal into two portions. "I've often wondered if a noble enough calling can perhaps make any suffering we endure worth it. Perhaps, those I taught in my time have grown to better this world? I do not know." Orion holds out her meal, a glimmer of sanity in his eye, a color to his face that had eluded him until then.

"But I have seen you work, to some extent. I am certain you made somebody very happy."

Wynne Oster

 

[Wynne Oster]

"In my trade, anyone that throws a coin into the box is a happy customer." She grinned, both hands taking the offered plate after she got out from her seat. "I usually was the last to perform. To be able to mesmerise an entire crowd with story and vision... well, I told a different story each time. It kept crowds returning to our shows night after night." Captivated, and in awe, Wynne had proven to be quite the story teller... of other adventures she heard other speak of.

This was the first time she was experiencing something of her own.

"This looks delicious." Mild surprise, she began grinning. "Shall we sit at a table?"

Wynne crossed over to the small table, delicately placing her plate down on the wooden surface.

Orion

 

[Orion]

Orion followed Wynne with his gaze as she slipped over to the small table to seat herself, but then his eyes traveled further, wandering off in a haphazard path along the wall as his mind drifted, painting chaotic images to match the words she spoke. For as wise as he'd once claimed to be, he'd never attended such a spectacle as the one she described.

What struck him the most, however, was the realization that he'd also never considered the art of illusion to be something that could be used for entertainment. That such a great power could bring about smiles and happiness of the simplest and purest form... the man he once was would have written it off as nonsense.

If he were capable of any more than he already held, Orion would have been ashamed of himself.

"When I was younger, sound of mind... I was considered a pioneer in this field. Capable of things none before me were." Orion muttered as he sat across from her, his hair hanging down over his face as he stared down at his meal. "I never thought to use my gifts practically. Instead, I just kept pushing the boundaries, trying to set new bars. My students idolized me for it, but my peers..."

Powerful though he was, that status had come with a label.

"...I was losing myself long before my mind failed me."

Wynne Oster

 

[Wynne Oster]

Respectfully and well mannered, she took tentative bites to taste. Upon enjoying the flavours upon her tongue, a smile lifted at the corners of her lips, cheeks moving upwards in the same motion and made her eyes glimmer with delight. "An excellent meal." She complimented, taking another bite to savour as his words began to settle between them.

"I always worked on being good enough to paint such vivid illusions... making it look and feel real enough that it confused reality. It was always easy to do it before their eyes, you know... watching their faces go through many emotions... but I always found it hardest to convince one's mind if I show them an illusion in their consciousness... or even a dream manipulated by me." Wynne, a delightful woman growing up, found it hard to make connection. It was what she believed hindered many aspects of her trying to achieve satisfactory illusions in the mind.

Orion

 

[Orion]

Orion didn't consider himself much of a gourmet, but that he could still make something remotely edible was at least somewhat a testament to his resilience. Gods knew he remembered not the recipes and dishes he once did. Mimicking her, Orion took a tentative bite at his own creation before deeming it a success and popping a third of the meat into his mouth at once, betraying how empty his stomach had truly been.

"Of course, that's the hardest." Orion spoke around his food as if it were obvious. "While we can weave a great many wonders, we do not truly have the ability to bend free will. To do so violates the laws of magic at their basest level." He smiles weakly, lazily pointing his fork in her direction. "We can nudge. And that is what makes an Illusionist great; Knowing when and how much to nudge to get the reaction they want."

It was clear, from what little he'd seen, that Wynne had been practicing for some time. Perhaps it was a projection to assume all who wielded magic of his nature were doomed. Maybe it was his own weakness that had brought about his destruction.

Orion wasn't sure.

"What will you do?" He asked, "When you leave this graveyard of a School? With your freedom, and your mind... I envy the choices you have."

Wynne Oster

 

[Wynne Oster]

Wynne pierced a morsel of meat she had cut from the rest, thinking on his words. "The laws of magic?" She questioned, lifting her inquisitive gaze meeting his once again. "What may that be?"

She popped the meat into her mouth and chewed slowly, waiting for her new friend to begin a lesson she did think to ask for. But when all she had known was what her mother taught her. There was no doubt that Wynne would have benefited from the likes of an institution for magic, but even as they dined here in the forgotten bones of a school, she wondered if the call for teaching had ever left Orion.

"I should know that before I am to go off into the world, no?"

Orion

 

[Orion]

If he'd listened to himself speak, he would balk at how quickly he seemed to forget his own lapsed sanity at the first chance to return to the guise of an instructor. Orion did not even look up from his food, smiling in that knowing manner of a teacher having expected the very question being asked.

"Well... They are not so much laws as they are guidelines. Rules, that are set in place to stop us from permanently harming the world around us, or pushing magic to a limit that we cannot return from." Orion cut his remaining meat as he spoke, dividing it into five portions and spreading them on his place. "There are five, officially." He listed them off as he turned each strip over one by one.

"All magic has a cost. Magic does not last forever. Time cannot be altered. Immortality is unachievable. And teleportation is a feat of fantasy." At the last piece of meat, he stabs it with his fork and eats it, leaning back and meeting her eyes again, a bit of color returned to his face. "These are the Laws of Magic, although there are more, unwritten rules, most of which deal less with the impossible, and more with the morally reprehensible."

Orion seemed to mull over his thoughts, in attempt to recall these other, unwritten guidelines.

"These additional guidelines are where the taboos of Necromancy, Blood Magic, Transfiguration of the flesh, and subjugation of the mind are mentioned. While these feats are possible, they are outlawed in nearly every civilization, and once you venture down said paths, you are alone to meet the fate waiting at the end of them."

Wynne Oster

 

[Wynne Oster]

Wynne's eyes widened slightly listening to him speak. Of what he spoke, most made sense to her. What stuck out was the cost to magic. Her brows furrowed now, wonderment and thought racing as she tried to pin point what it was that costed her. Her gaze drifted to stare at her plate, now obsessed with identifying what it took for her to create the illusions she did.

"How does one know what the cost is?" It was obvious by his history what Orion's cost had been, but never had Wynne thought of anything of a price to pay to construct the false realities she could conjure.

She inhaled, exhaling shortly before lifting her light scowling gaze to Orion's face. "Am I using too little power?"

Orion

 

[Orion]

It was as though that simple question had put a quick and sudden end to Orion's font of knowledge. His lips tightened and his eyes narrowed, slowly lowering his hands back down to the table to rest upon the old and chipped wooden surface between them.

Frustration. It was all too familiar, as grating as the dry, splintering wood rubbing against his palms and fingertips. For all that he knew, all the wisdom he'd cultivated in his life... that question was the one that had led him here, alone and cast aside.

"With enough study, you can deduce the cost for some simple magics..." The weathered mage murmured, "To summon fire might expend your body heat, for example." Even then, it didn't work so simply for everybody. Orion's fingers drummed against the table as he felt his teeth bite down on his tongue for a second. "But the nature of magic, and the toll it takes on us, is not fully understood. Some say it drains the soul, others that it merely exhausts the body. Obviously, my mind was the victim..."

"Am I using too little power?"

A hand slid across the table, large and ringed fingers resting over hers as he sought her frustrated stare with an urgency to his tired eyes that had not been present in so many months.

"No."

It was a plea.

"To use too little... is far preferable to using too much..."

Wynne Oster