Private Tales Pandora's box

[Aristeia Darke]

Aris was not sure if his question was meant for her to answer, but she pondered on the thought for a moment. In this world, what did she need? What was needed in order to better her experience in the Waking Realm? Her brows wrinkled as they knitted together, stuck on an answer.

"Tedious or not, I am afraid I cannot think of something for myself. That is where the one wanting to strike a deal should think of something the other does not realise they need." Aristeia turned to look at him, eyes drifting upwards in thought before falling back to the tiefling.

"What is it you think I am in need of?"

 

[Raziel]

"If only I could see into your dreams? But that would take all fun from the game," Raziel declared, shifting as far as his confines would allow.

A game of death. The right offer and she might set him free, but every other possibility condemned him to the gallows.

Raziel's eyes positively shone with glee.

"Would you like to see what nightmares I can weave and create in someone's mind?" asked the illusionist.

"Or would you like to see the labyrinth of my own dreams and see if you could navigate your way out?" asked the devil.

 

[Aristeia Darke]

The Dreamwalker perked a brow, a smile pulling at one corner of her lips as her gaze stayed forward, towards the falling sun. The shadows began to grow longer as the day was coming to an end, and Aristeia knew they were only a few hours away from the execution.

"Interesting, is it not, that I cannot be a dreamer? That when I fall asleep, I am simply awakened into the dreams of others." And yet his offer to create nightmares tugged at her sense of duty, the very instinct built into her kind. Nightmares originated past the Corrupted Barrier, and some creatures took root in dreams and festered into a plague, dipping into the dreamlands of many from the Waking Realm.

The tiefling was not a creature from that realm, she had to remind herself.

"Is your offer to watch you weave nightmares a test on my ability to put a stop to it?"


Raziel

 

[Raziel]

He was missing the mark. The noose grew taut around his neck.

He was flailing around in the dark for something that might offer a way out.

"But nightmares are merely a...facet of our fears. You can understand someone by the fears just as much as you can by their hopes.

"Is that what you do? She-who-cannot-dream? Step into the night time worlds of others and weave them something comforting to wake up from?

"I am afraid I am just a trickster, an illusionist. It would be interesting to see how our magics would conflict."

Raziel was too honest. A lie and he could perhaps have been out of this cage.

To him, lying came as easily as breathing. Here, he had set himself a life or death challenge.

It was counter intuitive, but he invented his own rules to make the game a real challenge with the highest stakes.

That was how the tiefling lived. Awake, alive and always terrified of that existence becoming mundane.

 

[Aristeia Darke]

"I do not offer comfort." How could she when she never was shown what comfort was. The very being tasked with shielding and guiding her through life had hindered her eyesight for the rest of her existence. "Though I must agree what a curiosity our individual gifts would bring together."

"No need to listen to that one's prattling, girl!" Someone had shouted from behind. Aristeia moved her head, glancing at the mercenary walking behind them several feet back.

"Then you should be appalled by the lack of stimulating conversation on your part. Let the tiefling have his last conversation. Your gods will take care of the rest when the time comes."

Here, Aristeia hid a smile meant for the tiefling only to see. "Unfortunate that I do not have faith in any god."

Raziel

 

[Raziel]

"I would be disappointed if you did. Why have faith when you have the power to change the world yourself. No one gives away anything for free. If there were gods, I expect they would be even less inclined to do so."

Raziel looked at the lock on the cage. Locks. They had not messed around. Iron was naturally quite resistant to most magics and they had chosen a series of heavy, dependable locks to make this cage a permanent containment.

If he had been them, he would have had the keys sent on a different route with other riders for added safety. Someone was in a hurry to see Raziel suffer his last moments.

"I don't suppose you are good at picking locks or stealing keys are you?" he asked, just in case she was thinking about letting him out.

 

[Aristeia Darke]

Aristeia could not help but let the corners of her mouth twitch upwards. It was not at the expense of his desperation to be free from his confinement, but the hopeful tone to his voice that accompanied the words he had asked of her. The Dreamwalker then glanced to the lock, shrugging as her wrist rested on the pommel of her sword, fingers lightly rapping against the hilt.

"No, I never needed to rely on learning how to disarm such mechanics... but I could make this whole company fall into a deep slumber and search for the key. Sadly... your arrival at the destination will be noticed. There is to be a checkpoint ahead, where many more will join us. We have made such good time, they will be expecting us at a predetermined time." She had gleaned this information by simply listening in to conversations being had without the care of who may be listening in. Aristeia lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. "I would rather not have any cause for concern before we arrive to where you will be executed."

Raziel

 

[Raziel]

"Oh that is deeply unfortunate," Raziel replied.

This time, he meant it. This did not seem as if it was leading to a path that got him free of the cage. It was still an amusing distraction.

His time to find another method of escape was now cut in half. As much as he took confidence in his own abilities, he was tired and beaten and going to be dragged out of this cage by a very large group of well armed men and dragged to his death.

"I would at least hope to put on a show should you stick around to watch me hang, but as I said: I suspect they will want to break me long before the noose."

"You don't have a waterskin on you?" he asked politely.

 

[Aristeia Darke]

Without another thought, she untied the water skin from her belt, tossing it towards him flawlessly through the gaps of his cage.

"And what would you do with your freedom if you were graced with it?" She was curious, turning to lock eyes with the tiefling and watch their reaction. "No one is to know of my involvement."

It was a risk, but Aristeia wondered if the tiefling would be of help to her. It was a curious dead end in Dornoch, but perhaps travelling to another place could be of help.

 

[Raziel]

"I don't even know, specifically, what I might do with my freedom," Raziel replied.

"Without any specific business to attend to - beyond the obvious task of getting far from here in one piece - I suppose I must search for work. A challenge that excites me."

"But do you really want to know what you're letting out and into the world?" he asked. He took a long swig of water. His throat was beyond parched.

He leaned forwards to offer it back.

 

[Aristeia Darke]

Taking back the water, she snorted at his question. It was true that she was not aware of what the tiefling was capable of, or that they would not cause her harm either once freedom was obtained.

Aristeia simply shrugged, still looking at the caged one. "If you are concerned about your nature, then perhaps I will withdraw my offer." Perhaps it was the disconnection she had for this world. The Waking Realm had always been reached through the dreams of those residing here, and Aristeia was born to take over a mass of land amd people in the Dreamlands. The inevitable fall of the Corrupted Barrier would mean uncertainty, a first priority.

Even as this Realm had (somewhat) welcomed her, she held no loyalty for this place.

"But say the words and I will help you. There is a perfect time to enact the plan but it must be on that stage, moments before your execution."

Raziel

 

[Raziel]

"Oh I am not concerned about my behaviour," Raziel remarked.

She had so little fear, reaching forward to take the waterskin. If he had been stronger, he could have scratched her skin with a nail and drawn power from her blood. He could have simply used his tail to grab her wrist and reached for her neck.

"On the stage, after the torture but before the execution?" Raziel asked.

It should have terrified him.

"Escaping in full sight of them all and embarrassing those who would dare do me harm. Of course I will say the words.

"Do it."

 

[Aristeia Darke]

Aristeia chanced a small smirk, delighted that he too saw the opportunity and flair the correct timing would require. It was the safest option, and perhaps her favourite ruse of making one believe they held all the cards until she brought her knife out from under the table.

"Well... if I am to succeed in this, I need to go cozy up with the right people and figure out where each person will be stationed. Do not drive yourself mad out here alone in my absence, I beg of you." The silver haired woman grinned for only a moment, a brief flash to the infamy she held in her homelands. Aristeia Darke was always given obligations others could not stomach, could not fathom of enacting.

She was good at thinking on her feet, and the prospect of using her sliver of power here in the Waking Realm only made the anticipation greater.