Private Tales The First Thread

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
There was an obvious answer, one that both of them would understand. If what she had said was true, if she truly was a mage, then perhaps she might even be allowed a glimpse into something far beyond the understanding of those upon this world.

"Magic." He said with a wicked smile.

"A great, and terrifying sort of magic." Slowly the Drow reached out. His touch was not soft, not gentle. He grasped Kami's bound hands, tore them away from herself and pulled her palm towards himself.

He forced her to press her palm against his chest. "It is' Lleth's will that keeps me alive."

Nyros remarked.

"But." He mused. "I do not quite yet know why."

As her palm rested against his chest, she would feel no heartbeat. No steady thrum. Nothing.
 
Of course it was fucking magic. Kami could have figured that much out but this magic was more. Great and terrifying were accurate words to describe it from just this little talk. It shouldn’t possible for him to be alive right now. Period. End of discussion.

Nyros grabbed her hands and forced her to touch his chest. Every fiber of her being wanted to recoil from him but he was stronger. Her palm rested on his chest and she narrowed her eyes.

There was really no heart in his chest. No heartbeat, no telltale thump thump as it moved the blood through the body.

“Impossible,” Kami said quietly and then looked up at his face. “Fascinating…”
 
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"Nothing is impossible with the blessings of a god." There was no mockery within his tone as he said the words.

The way that he looked at her. The way that his eyes settled upon Kami, it was more than clear that every word which spilled from his mouth was more than truth. He utterly believed in what he said. No force capable of convincing him or changing his mind.

Fingers drew away from her wrist, letting her palm linger. "Lleth has offered me life beyond life."

The Drow said.

"I intend to find out why." A hand reached out, caressing her cheek. "And why it has lead me to you."

Fingers unfurled, reaching, grasping around her throat. "Because I am sure you're meant as more than just another corpse."
 
Kami left her palm flat against his chest even after he let go of her wrists. She was still in awe at this magic that was keeping him alive. She had to admit that she wanted to know why as well. If a god had led Nyros to her then she was meant to be useful.

Such was the way of a believer. Lleth was not her god but she believed in the divine and that the gods had plans in which they (mortals, immortals, humans, elves) were subject to.

Kami didn’t pull away from his hand on her cheek. She wanted to but she didn’t. She was a statue as he stroked her face and then Nyros grabbed her by the throat.

There was a startled protest from her as he spoke to her still. “Then you should treat me better,” she said to Nyros in a venom laced tone.
 
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Nyros scoffed. "I've treated you better than most."

A hard truth, really.

He was of a world where violence and strength marked where you stood. There was no softness in the Underrealm. No gentle touches or soft coaxing. His own parents had beaten him. His mentors cut and brutalized, all in claiming that it would prepare him. Ready him for the world they lived in.

That was what they needed. To be strong. To rise.

"You're alive, aren't you?" He said with a smile, then gently gestured with his knife to her hands. "Plus, you still have all your fingers."

Not to mention toes.
 
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Kami continued to glare at Nyros. His condescending mockery just making her more angry.

"I've treated you better than most."

"Yes, kidnapping is such great treatment," she retorted.

"You're alive, aren't you?"


Kami still glowered at him and she refused to offer an answer since it was obvious. Yes...she was still alive.

Her eyes moved to the knife as it moved.

"Plus, you still have all your fingers."

"Fuck you!" She spat out at him.

Things Kami should have learned in her life: how to not make people who are in a position to kill you mad. Things that Kami has not learned in her life: how to not make people who are in a position to kill you mad.

Because this was not the first time that Kameron Taladren had been kidnapped and her body still bore those scars after fifty years.
 
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Nyros shook his head. ”A poetic defiance, but won’t really do you much good.”

The knife fell to the floor. Sticking into the wood between the two of them. Fingers still fisted in her hair, holding her in place as his milky white eyes drew up and down her slender form. The gaze was not lecherous nor leering, not even close.

He looked at her as one might a statue. Something heavy that would be difficult or annoying to carry. As though he were already playing over in his head how he could most easily transport her.

”What I would give for a thrall right now.” Nyros mused to himself.

Then shrugged his shoulders.

A moment later Kami would feel his forehead slam into her face. The blow strong enough to once again knock her into unconsciousness.
 
Kami sneered at him even as he held her hair painfully in his fist. His eyes traveling over her body did not elicit the old feelings of disgust she had before when men looked her up and down. No, he was methodical and there was no spark of desire in his eyes. She thanked the gods for that small mercy at least.

She saw Nyros move and she saw his forehead coming at her face but there was no time to protest and she couldn’t get free of him.

Pain shattered through her head a split second before everything went dark again.
 
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The next time Kami woke she would find herself in a forest.

A vast expanse of green surrounded her, a small shack laying just a few feet in front of the elf. The hut seemed to have seen better days. It's door hung off it's hinges, both windows were long boarded up, and the roof was half collapsed in.

Birds sang soft songs all around her, the sound of nature echoing out.

Then the sound of a boot against ancient wooden floors. "It will do, I suppose."

Nyros said, appearing in the doorway of the abandoned building. Over his shoulder was slung an animal of some sort, blood from it's corpse seeping into his clothing. The skull mask on his face was smeared slightly, but he seemed not to take notice.

As the Drow stepped out of the house, he wandered towards Kami.

"Ah, you're awake again." He mused. "I thought I'd hit a bit too hard this time."
 
Kami had a terrible headache and she had no idea how long she had been out for but at least she was alive. Was that a good thing at this point?

“I have been hurt worse,” Kami retorted as she struggled to sit up with her wrists still bound together.

She cursed and fell back onto her side. “Will you please undo my hands? I have no idea where we are and you are obviously stronger than me.”
 
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Nyros seemed to consider the request for a brief moment, head lulling back and forth.

"Stronger, yes." There was no denying that. Whether a touch of their differing species or gender, he could not have said the reason. "But."

A finger extended. "I've been kissed by those sparks of yours."

The pain had been exquisite, wonderful even, but too much to bear twice. "I am not eager for a second time."

The Drow said as he stepped towards her.

"Understand?" Nyros said, stepping in front of her.
 
She watched his feet get closer to her since she was on her side still. She would appreciate her hands being untied so she would agree not to use that trick on his again.

"Yes, I understand," Kami said through clenched teeth.

"I was sure you had liked my little spark,"
she said with a slightly wicked smile.
 
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"Oh there was a joy to it." Like greeting an old friend. Offering a hand to something that you had missed out on.

A smile touched Nyros' lips. The unhinged expression drew over his face, as though once again he knew something that he was denying her. It was true of course, Kami knew nothing of the world from whence he came.

"Pain is a delight." He told her."But I prefer to choose when I feel it."

He told her simply. "I've spent too long in places where it was not a choice."

His eyes seemed to grow distant for a moment, as if he were looking at something far away.
 
“I’ve never been given a choice,” Kami said softly. Sadly.

She could feel every scar on her body in that moment. She had been carved up and healed multiple times before they finally got tired of her attitude. It was a cruel joke on her cruel life. All these years later and she still remembered every cut.

Kami looked back up at Nyros and lifted her arms to brandish her bound wrists. “Please let me out of these, they’re quite irritating!”
 
Nyros smiled for a brief moment at her words. They were some which he was more than familiar with. Most of his life he'd not thought he had a choice.

His parents had wanted him to join the Priesthood. The devoted had wanted him to take up their cause. Always there had been a path for him, never had it been his choice. He had learned long ago that such was an illusion. A mask placed over the eyes.

"There is always a choice." A blade seemed to conjure up from nothing.

The steel was black, laced with tendrils of red.

It flickered forward, then slipped between Kami. "You just...have to be willing to take it."

With a quick swipe he cut the bonds. "And then suffer the consequences."
 
Kami removed the rest of the bonds from her wrists and rubbed them.

"Yes, I suppose I did make my choice many years ago," she slowly stood up and looked up at Nyros' face.

"But I can promise you that nothing you do to me will be worse than the consequences I had to suffer," Kami looked around the area before her eyes settled on the dilapidated building and curled her upper lift.

"Did you pick the shittest place you could find?"

Kami - the girl who never learned - sneered at Nyros before motioning at the dead animal. "Dinner or just for fun? You seem like the just for fun type."
 
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Nyros just smiled.

An easy, calm sort of smile. One that split the black and white paint on his face. One that did not seem to touch his eyes in the very least. "I suppose we'll find out."

He said simply.

There were pains, consequences, that mortals could scarce comprehend. Nyros knew that, because he had suffered through them himself. Hurts and pains that had seemed an echo of truth. Tortures which at the time had nearly broken him.

Perhaps had broken him.

"I chose a place where it would be quiet." He remarked. "No crying children. No driveling priests. Just silence."

His head turned towards the dead beast. "Dinner, as disgusting as it may seem."

As all beasts did in the overworld.
 
If only he knew the scars that she wore on her body. If only he knew what she had been through at the hands of men. He still wouldn't give a shit but he would know.

She just shook her head at his comment about the quiet.

"If you wanted quiet, you kidnapped the wrong woman," she said as she walked over to the animal and looked down on it. She liked her food already cooked but she had survived in the forest for some months before she got to Elbion so she knew how to skin, gut, and prepare meat.

"Do you have a knife I can borrow or are you going to prepare the meat?" Kami put her hands on her hips and gave him a well look.

If she was stuck with him then she was going to make him miserable until he killed her. Starting with not prepping the meat correctly so hopefully he got sick.
 
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Nyros offered Kami the first look that was not incessant insanity. Instead he peered at her with a slight hint of curiosity.

Few imprisoned would have the gall to ask for a knife.

He had done it himself a dozen times over. Wallowing away within the darkness there had been few things to think about but the death of his captors. He would have done it with anything, knives, fists, whatever he could get his hands on. "Oh you mistake me."

Nyros said as he pulled a knife free from somewhere in his robes.

"This food is for you."

The blade sank into the ground before her. "I have no intent to poison myself with the fruits of this world."

No, the Lleth would keep him alive, as long as he continued down the path. As long as he figured out why the goddess had lead him to Kami.
 
"Well aren't you special," Kami groused as she bent down and yanked the knife out of the ground.

Kami studied the doe laying on the ground. She appreciated him getting her some meat but she did not necessarily trust him and she didn't know how long it had been dead for. It did not seem like too long based on the amount of blood. Nyros seemed to need her alive for whatever reason so she doubted he would poison her.

It took about an hour or so to skin and dress the deer. She had more meat than she could eat today and she felt bad that it was going to be wasted. She would cook what she would eat now and then cook some extra to carry. It would last a day or so that way. The rest would become food for the wildlife.

After the meet was ready, she built a fire and started it with her magic. It was not long before she had some of the deer roasting over the flames.

"Thank you," she said with no small amount of petulance in her words.
 
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As Kami dressed her meal, Nyros seemed to pace around the clearing around the shack.

At first his steps would seem erratic, random, but a trained eyed would be able to tell the pattern. Every move he made seemed planned out. Every step he took carefully placed with an odd level of precision. As he walked a small chant slipped from his lips, a quiet murmur impossible to hear.

The language sinister enough to hold one heart still.

As she came to her end, so did he, and slowly he stepped up towards her. A series of footprints now carved around the cavern. Nyros offered no explanation to his purpose, no word to what he was doing.

"You're a mage, yes?" He asked, no recognition of her thanks on his tongue.

"Tell me." The Drow continued. "Of what school? Where did you learn?"

He would need to know Lleth's purpose eventually. Why he had taken her. The Goddess would not answer him, he knew that, but perhaps Kami would.

Even if it took some...convincing.
 
Kami had listened to Nyros has she worked on the deer but she did not comment on it. She had no doubt that he would make the significance known at some point.

She continued to watch the meet cook until Nyros spoke to her directly again.

"You're a mage, yes?"


A nod.

To his second question, she debated telling him the truth or not. Honestly, she was not sure if it mattered since neither of them knew why she was here.

"Elbion," she said finally looking back over at the drow.
 
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Elbion.

In truth, Nyros knew precious little about anything in the overworld. It had never really seemed all that important in the past.

Scraps of information, pieces and bits of knowledge always found their way into the depths below. It was a fact of life, how things worked, but Nyros had always been too focused on his own goals. The knowledge of the Old Gods and what came with them. "I see."

He mused.

"I know precious little." The Drow admitted. "In my world we have no schools."

Not really. "But I have heard of Elbion."

Only as myth and legend. No real truths.
 
"So you know that my magic is nothing special," Kami said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

They were both in the dark about what his god wanted with her. It was quite frustrating to say the least. At least normal people that got kidnapped knew the reason why.

"I am nothing special. I do not understand why you took me," her tone was growing angry now.

She uncrossed her arms and went to check the meat. It still needed a bit but she did turn it over.

"And I am guessing that your god is not going to make it easy to figure out either..."
 
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A shrug rolled over Nyros' shoulders. "Lleth does not speak to me."

He had thought that he'd heard her voice once. That echoing hiss that reached him within the great Abyss. That voice was who had told him where to find his heart, the piece of himself that now thundered quietly in his chest.

"But." He smiled. "She has ways of guiding my hand."

For a moment he stayed quiet, studying her.

"It was she that stayed my palm this time. The last I took, I killed. Consuming their heart." He'd thought that was required of him. The ritual was a powerful one, and common enough in the old days. A way of gaining the magics of the victim.

It had not worked though. Not as it should have.

Nyros slowly sat himself down, crossing his legs. "We travel for another three days more along the river, then turn south."

He mused a moment. "There we will find something."

Though he was not sure what.