A world without magic; for a brief moment,
Kiros let his imagination wander. Such a scenario would render him unable to heal or protect; a small sacrifice to make for a such a world that would not require it so.
Elbion would still be standing, and
Dornoch would have been spared that elemental’s wrath. Oh, he couldn't count the number of cost lives he had personally witnessed that might not have met such ends, had it not been for the dangers of the arcane and the deadly consequences they so often brought.
Divine magic too, was historically guilty of inflicting the same tragedies upon
Arethil’s mortal denizens; though Kiros considered disasters brought by divine effect as not disasters at all, but as the gods enforcing their will upon their world.
That was different.
The mage continued on to explain his attitude with a metaphor taken to be ominously worrisome. He implied disregard for consequences, quite eagerly leaning into the other’s comparison to a child mucking about irresponsibly with forces they ought not. Kiros took another draw from his pipe in concern. Lore was rife with accounts of those who sought such power and lived not to enjoy it, but rather expired in cautionary tale to others. While Kiros held interest in history, he had absolutely no desire to make more of it. His own desires carried little weight;
Itra wanted him to be here, and so here he was.
The arrival of another gained his notice, but not his attention. The newcomer clearly needed a moment of respite while the conversation with Seska continued on.
“Kiros Rahnel. And no; I've not the answer, but arrive in possession of the same question.” He introduced himself. He was well aware of what little he knew; given that, he was quite certain her hypothesis was true.
He heard her speak of the prim. It was how Lyssia had referred to her arcane ability; that this one before him did too told them they shared not just the same race, but the same form of magic. An unsurprising facet all
Sidhe shared; but for Kiros, the discovery was fresh. She was correct in her assumptions; that the nature of magic had been amiss entirely escaped his notice. Unlike the others, his magic was confined by far more limits – enough so that the divine mage hardly had use of them in much of his daily life. For the past week and then some, the only magic he had used was his incantation of insight. Which had been unreliable lately, not that Kiros gave any notice to it; the spell often was. An eyebrow raised slightly in curiosity as he digested this information; yet another tidbit to add to the growing pile in his attempt to determine what Itra wanted of him this time. Given Itra’s nature, it made sense that such a matter would be of great import – yet both befuddling and maddening that She informed him not of it.
Despite his reluctance he was, of course, here for much the same reasons as they; and now purpose was beginning to take shape. Magic played an important part of Her domain; and any peril thereof would matter a great deal to Her. He could only guess why She had refused to make explicit mention of it. Likely out of pride, he mused. It was mere guess; about the only thing he truly understood about Her in all these years was just how difficult understanding Her was.
Such thoughts were given interruption by the sudden and unexpected sound of a twig snapping beneath the presence of another, some distance yonder. Attention snapped towards the disturbance immediately, with his staff brought closer to his body in reflexive preparation for spellcasting. There was only one incantation that came to mind – the same spell of insight that had been all he had used in days as of late. He was hesitant to cast it, cautious about revealing their position to the creature. A caution not shared by the mage, whose overt response made such concerns redundant. With an inward sight and a softly spoken prayer, Kiros let the spell loose upon whatever unknown being had been watching them.
The one beside you wields arcane power
The result of his arcane inquiry was useless; revealing information about Seska rather than the true target of his spell. Kiros had learned absolutely nothing. Under normal circumstances it would have at least revealed whether the entity was arcane or not, but misfire made it fail to give answer to even that basic question. Rather, his scrying had revealed information both useless and redundant.
That which casts magic is arcane, yes. And that which burns is hot.
Perhaps the mage might see more value in this spell, he mused in disappointment at his own failure in scrying for answers.
