Quest The Price of Return

[Callisto]

"Lets." She cooed with a smile, looking the man up and down. He had the sort of gaze that might afflict a wall. The kind of wall that was pensively weighing his options and the choices ahead, knowing full well that a human enchantress would likely be without the tools necessary to perform this magic. Not only that, the human oriented view of mortality often prevented the most common of their kind from taking up practices that might to their death. Chrys was not common, but even Gods could share commonalities with fleas if they looked hard enough.​

​

Outstretching her hand, neon bands of blue trailed up her forearm and into her wrist. Veins bulged outward, as if she had been dehydrating for days, and her muscles moved spasmodically. In an instant, the stone was pulverized in her grip. Fumes, matching the crystals color, wafted to her and she breathed deeply of the magic.​

​

"Saov va ert, saov n'te cáemm aen..." She uttered, holding out the hand. Magic goes out, it doesn't come in. An aura of purple extended from her finger tips, cascading down and upwards. Growing with painfully slow speed, the aura pulsated and seemed to breath with its own presence.​

​

"Stay behind this shield. You can cast from within it but other magics will not come through." She paused. "I hope you're okay with touching." Because if any magic were to press against this shield, it would be absorbed into her. She was already primed and any more could cause her to pass out or...her arteries to explode. The best bet was to pass the buck. ​

 

[Nasir]

Nasir only grunted in response.

From the small of his back he drew out a long-knife. The blade was made of an etched steel as black as the Drows own skin. It seemed to reflect the odd light that hung within the Abyss around them, catching it and casting it to the floor.

Without a word he drew the blade across his pal. Blood seeped from the wound. It pulled onto the blade as if caught by something, sticking to its edges and drawing over the etched steel. The knife moved away from the wound, those odd purple black flames drawing over his carved skin and sealing it.

The Drow hesitated a moment, then looked to the Witch. "Do what you must."

He left unsaid the limitations of that.

The two of them needed one another, for now. Without this portal she would be stuck, and without her Nasir would find himself only able to walk the tracks this tower wanted. He wondered what fate would be worse.

His head shook as he dismissed the thought, then his index slowly wound its way down the blade of his long-knife. As he touched it the blood that had collected upon the etched steel lit into the same flames that had healed his wounds. It seemed to draw over the edge of the knife, and then slide down until it eventually dripped into his palm.

The fire seemed to stay there for a moment, pooling as it danced over his flesh.

Then he cast it out beyond the shield.

Only an instance passed before the Tower struck. Like a Hammer it's blow would strike the shield, a thunderous clap as it tried desperately to stop Nasir's Magic before it could even begin to take shape.

 

[Callisto]

Doing what she must was all she ever did. She was a self acknowledged self-centered individual and to do anything that didn't benefit her, in the short or long term, would have been entirely out of character.​

​

And as it were, she might very well have been trapped in this place without the Drow and his spontaneity.​

​

The fire, leaping out of the Drow's palm like a beast having just found the opportune moment for pouncing, smacked against an invisible array of deflection points that were, up until this point, entirely invisible to the Enchantress. Just as the attack began, a counter attack ensued from what Chrys assumed was the autonomic reflexes of the tower. ​

​

The attacks were numerous, coming from multiple points, as it buffeted the shield with electric and kinetic barrages. Blasts of invisible energy dimpled the shield, arcs of green energy trailed around the shield and bounced across the perimeter like a metal spring stumbling down an infinite flight of stairs.​

​

She had been cocky enough to start this defense with just one hand held out, empowering the shield but mocking the efforts of the tower. That insult quickly dissipated as she held her second hand forward, clasping wrist to wrist, as the energy funneled out from her and fed the shield. Her muscles roiled against her arms, collecting like eels beneath her skin, as her eyes took on the color of a burning sun.​

​

Letting out a gasp, she began to breath heavy and released not a single word of complaint from her parted lips. Instead, she grinned. "Is that...it?"​

 

[Nasir]

Nasir stood there motionless.

If his own assault was taxing, the Drow did not show it. He only watched as the barrier controlled by the Witch flexed and moved, the tower pressing and pushing as it tried to force its way towards the two attackers.

The woman spoke, Nasir's head cocking slightly as a touch of amusement quirked the edge of his lip.

Bright blue eyes shifted focus, peering outside of the barrier to watch the flame that he had thrown. The purple and black fire seemed to hang within the air, a ball of power that expanded and contracted. Magic pulsed around it, the Tower attempting to swallow Nasir's craft before it had a chance to act.

A grimace flickered across his features, and without a word Nasir opened his palm flat. A mark at the crux of his thumb flashed, and then fire spread from his hand once again.

It trailed out of the shield, touching the ball of flame and invigorating with life.

Almost as soon as the two flames touched Nasir felt his own soul warp. It did not consume itself, but shifted, as if a contest of wills was taking place. He pressed, features growing dark until the Ball of flame suddenly bean to expand outward.

From the fire a rift was born, the center of the flame slowly dying out as a doorway was carved into the very reality they stood in.

 

[Callisto]

Drip...​

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Drip...​

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The torrent of air, gusting across the surface of her shield, was boisterous and overwhelming. The snap and hiss of electric arcs, sizzling as it deflected from the shield to the ground, left her hands feeling numb and tingling. But it was the drip...drop...that caught her attention.​

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The warmth of blood flowed softly from her nose, collecting across the vermillion border and once cresting the brow, plummeted rhythmically to the stone floor from her pursed lips. It wasn't distracting. Quite the contrary, the sound allowed her to focus - like a musician tapping their feet to the metronome. She was far from spent and the energy was still raging from the broken crystal. But the human body had its limits.​

​

Her eye sight honed as the sulfuric gaze turned to a slit. She caught the movements of the Drow as he cut energy with his hands, spilled it out from the shield, and the purple and black fire filled the void between the edges of her shield and inclement attacks. It was all confined to her peripheries.​

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Breathing shallow, as if willing the very resolve into herself, she turned to look at the growing void. "Maybe..." She took another breath. "Your stone is in there."​

​

She wasn't shocked and if she was, she didn't show it. Instead, her voice was laced subtly with growing impatience. Preventing pain and damage was never her preference.​

 

[Nasir]

The portal within the abyss continued to grow, burning through the air and cutting a hole to somewhere yet unseen.

Nasir turned his head as the Witch spoke, frowning for just a brief moment as he watched the blood drip down her nose and across her face. Lips thinned, and then he regarded the portal etching it's way into reality. It was the size of a small man now, but what lay beyond was still unclear.

The Drow's fingers tightened.

He watched the shield bend and arc, the Tower desperately attempting to protect itself as it renewed it's attack.

Nasir scowled, his gaze falling on the portal itself as he took in a deep breath. A weight had begun to form on his shoulders. It sat there, etching onto his flesh and pressing down with a pressure almost impossible to describe.

He knew the feeling, the tower attempting to press back against the flame.

"We shall see." Nasir said as he suddenly reached out and grabbed the Witch. Without waiting for her to rebuke him the Drow picked her up and simply threw her through the portal. In an instant the shield around him collapse, the Tower baring down.

Before it could strike however the Drow tossed himself through the flames, following behind the witch just as a thunderous clap of power ripped apart the space where they had both been standing.

 

[Callisto]

It was a fortunate thing the Drow had not waited for a rebuke, because a rebuke is exactly what he would have received. Instead, the Enchantress and her meager frame were tossed in to the ad hoc portal, spinning and flailing.​

​

Upon perceived attack, the howling wind, and roar of fire, and the snap of electricity all overwhelmed the initial entrance room. But as Chrys fluttered and stumbled, levitated and floated effortlessly in the transition, it was silence that gave her pause. It was not unlike the portal stones of their world, old and ancient. Though it had often been said that each person experienced this passage differently, she found it to remain consistent upon each individual. That is to say that an Enchantress that sees stars upon her initial voyage will always see stars. A Sorcerer that feels compelled to vomit will always feel compelled to vomit, to the end of his days.​

​

This wasn't any different. For Chrys, it was noiseless and without dimensions, like a world draped in pitch black tarpaulin and removed of all physical and acoustic depth. And as quickly as it had come, she was whisked off and found herself rushing towards a dot. A dot that grew and grew and wasn't really a dot, it was the other end of the tunnel. A tower of carved stone, showered in a blue aura that sprang out from the spire like a breathing parasol.​

​

She crashed into the stone courtyard, mounted atop the spire, with a dull thud and groan. Breathing heavy and trembling, she wiped blood from her nose with a knuckle and smeared the red stain across her sharp cheeks. Lifting her ochre gaze, she spied a sorcerer at a distance. He was still, like a statue, and held his hands outstretched towards the village. She couldn't see it over the stone balustrade, but she knew that was where she was.​

​

Oddly enough, the man held a perfect double that stood towards the center of the courtyard. So perfect a double that Chrys was convinced she was seeing double from the blood loss or rush of magics. ​

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"Interesting...interesting!" The man cooed. "I didn't expect you to make it."​

 

[Nasir]

Nasir stepped through the portal almost calmly.

For him the travel had been all together different. The doorways crafted within his home were more simple than what he had created, but when he'd thrown himself through his portal Nasir had found himself upon a platform within a stark abyss.

The portal had closed almost instantly behind him, and then another had appeared directly at it's opposite end.

If Callisto shared her version of what happened Nasir might have created a theory as to why their experience had been so different, but as it was the Drow simply believed that was what had happened for the both of them.

"You human conjurers and your cheap tricks." Nasir spat as he gazed towards the wizard.

He never thought that his companion was also one of those human conjurers.

The man's eyebrows seemed to raise as he looked at Nasir, apparently shocked by the Drow's appearance. Lips pursed, and an amused grin parted them as he gazed at the Night Elf.

"Oh my oh my. I've never seen one of your kind before."

Nasir scowled. "Nor will you again."

 

[Callisto]

"Dark, brooding, and cocky. Delicious. Wonderfully delicious." The man murmured as he proceeded with a silent appraisal of the two magic wielders. ​

He didn't have the standard appearance of a well kept Sorcerer or Wizard. It was common for Enchantresses to evade the process of aging so vehemently, that many who approached centuries of age often gave off a nubile or adolescent appearance. There was power in the attractive properties and bosoms were far more provocative when they didn't drag against ones knees. For Sorcerers, however, there was a certain esteem and power held in a figure who approached a mature age. Graying of the hair, crows feet, and something approaching fifty was not uncommon.​

But this man, he seemed to prefer the more feminine route to power and coercion. His skin was tanned as if he was born and bred in the Savannah. His raven black hair was shoulder length and slicked back, giving him an imperial if not almost regal appearance. He donned a scant bit of facial hair, though it looked more like a ring of coal around his mouth and chin than the likely intended goatee.​

And he wore a even mixture of alchemist clothing and plate armor. Several rings were adorning his fingers, gleaming in the blue aura as the hand wrapped around a sword suspended from a loosely knotted leather belt. He looked more like a fighter than a wizard. And an attractive one at that.​

"Careful..." Chrys uttered as she stood up, stepping in a quarter circle around the unnamed magician. Fingers were already reaching deep vin the satchel, clutching another stone. "This...dandy seems to have taken a liking to you." She was speaking to the Dark Elf but her eyes were fixed on the man in front of them.​

"I must admit." He uttered in riposte preparation. "He interests me far more than a...run of the mill Enchantress, hopped up on panax and reeking of stolen power."​

"Mandrake, actually." She returned with a sneer.​

"Of course, of course. We are not peasants, after all."​

She was clearly stalling and distracting, hoping to catch the man off guard and provide an opening for the Drow. Whether it would work remained to be seen. ​

 

[Nasir]

Nasir stood in silence, his gaze seemingly fixed on the man before him.

The Sorcerer seemed to wander back and forth as he bantered with Callisto, his voice laced with ego and delight as the two of them spoke. His attention was on her, though every now and again Nasir watched as his eyes flickered towards him.

She was right, he was far more interested in the Drow. Yet that interest was always focused directly on what was in front of him; and not behind.

Callisto would see it before the Sorcerer.

A small spark of flame that came into being not directly behind the man, instead at the back of his still half frozen clone. The fire was silent, it's purple shadow burning further and brighter as blackened skin seemed to be born of it. As though coming into being from the fire itself, a second Nasir came into place.

In the other Drow's hands rested the long-knife, it's hilt cradled in loose fingers. He glanced briefly towards the Sorcerer still fixed on what was before them, then regarded the doppelganger standing with outstretched hands towards the chanting crowd.

Without a word it turned, and then sunk the long-knife through the doppelgangers back. Impaling it in an instant.

The Sorcerer suddenly whirled around, his face a mix of fear and panic.

"NO!"​

It was already too late. The second Nasir kicked the doppelganger forward, drawing his blade free from the corpse and sending it flying off the towers edge. Cracks of light seemed to form in the doppelganger, and as it was forced over the edge the thing exploded in a wild rent of magic and power.

A surging wave seemed to erupt over the tower, and the odd blue field that had hung over the tower suddenly ripped itself asunder as a conduit was broken.

The Sorcerer was half thrown to his feet, Nasir himself struggling to keep himself standing as his own double was entirely eradicated by the wave of the blast.

Ears rung for a moment, the Drow pulling himself up. Magic prickled against his skin, and he jerked his head towards the Sorcerer who had crawled to his feet faster than one might have thought possible. In one hand was his sword, in another a small cyrstal. "You'll pay for that."

The man growled, and then three thin lines of fire erupted from the crystal and shot towards Nasir.

 

[Callisto]

She watched with anticipation, feeling the inflection of the arcane course across the tower courtyard. There was a heady and foreboding way about the atmosphere, as if it had grown thick with some suppressive aura or mist. The very world and crystalline power had prophetically reacted to the Drow's movement and in turn, had done nothing to stop the doppelgangers demise. ​

​

The aura dissipated like a soap bubble popped on bath water, receding into an omniscient aperture zenith above the towers spire. It wobbled and blinked, judging the efforts of the Dark Elf as admittedly profound. Though, at the end of the day, it must have been fruitless. Because with one final shimmer in the sky, it disappeared entirely.​

​

The noise of chants and prostration, the sharp words and cracks of knees against cobblestone, disappeared almost instantly as the doppelganger vanished on the periphery of the towers height. The blast from the action coursed over the tower and while it had thrown the Sorcerer and even impacted the Drow, the Enchantress was seemingly unphased beyond the fluttering of her shawl and black skirt.​

​

They were both magic oriented, these men that were presently set to fighting. There was no duplicity to be had, even in an invisible shield erected around her.​

​

Just as the Sorcerer made his proclamation, Chrys held her hand forward towards the Drow. As if her wrist was powered by a loaded metallic spring, he whole hand whipped upwards in an accelerated dismissive gesture. Another twist of her hand and a downward flick would be all that was needed to complete the act.​

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One stream of fire deflected upwards, shooting out towards the sky. Another crashed into the stone balustrade, blowing it outward and sending rubble down to the world below. And the final stream went directly back to where it came from, hitting the ground at the Sorcerers feet and sending him flying into a currently unbroken granite banister. ​

​

"No, I don't think so." She uttered, clutching a stone in her free hand. The satchel was nowhere to be seen but she was not without her conduits and connectors. Feeling the magic flood her arteries, the hand reached out and gripped the Sorcerer metaphysically, as he bounced back away from balustrade and landed motionless on ground. But he was not silent, not by a long shot. Groans began to escape his lips as Chrys gripped the very cords of his soul, strangling it as if it were a serpent caught between a vice. ​

 

[Nasir]

Stone and rock on top of the tower sundered as fire splashed against it, Nasir righting himself just in time to catch a few of the fragments pelting against his skin.

Lips curled in disgust.

His gaze wandered to his palm, noting the small cut that still remained. It should have closed, but creating the portal had taken far more from him than he had anticipated. His eyes wandered across the platform, watching as the Sorcerer writhes in Callisto's grasp.

Fingers flittered open, and the Drow slowly moved towards the center of the platform. He reached out with his magics, gently probing the crystal that sat perched upon the small dais. Lips thinned, and he looked again to the sorcerer. "Take what you want from him."

The Drow said as he picked up the crystal.

"It's just a trinket." Nasir understood things better now. From atop the tower he could see the broken illusion, one held together by the field. None of this had been about an artifact, none of it had been about ordinary people.

Nasir felt disgusted with himself.

Fingers curled, and he crushed the crystal in his fist.

 

[Callisto]

She had her suspicions around this particular bauble. As a practitioner of crystalline based magics, often spending days and even weeks augmenting stones to her own benefit, it seemed a bit far fetched that such an engine had existed and she had never heard of it.​

​

It was vindicating to have her suspicions confirmed but it was a double edged sword. It seemed this adventure, at least for the Drow, had been all but pointless.​

​

"I don't need your permission for that..." She offered a riposte, directing her ochre gaze at the Dark Elf. It was, in its own way, a playful rebuttal. But not one that was without weight. She was not here to be told what she could and couldn't take, no matter how powerful the Dark Elf had made himself out to be.​

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"You fucking imbecile..." The wizard came up from his knees, crouching as he struggled against the arcane force exerted against him. Chrys lifted an eyebrow, feigning some sense of surprise. She was as sporting as any fisherman, enjoying the catch far more when it struggled against the reel. The wizard let out a groan, eyes fluttering into the back of his head, as he writhed motionless in pain. ​

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Chrys lifted her hand and a stone levitated above her, pulsating with sudden energy. "A fraction of your soul..." Her voice was different now. Metallic and smooth, like polished steel. "Now who's delicious?" She ran her tongue across her white teeth, slicking across her lips.​

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"If...if...you take everything. I-I-I can't tell you where the real stone is. Where my Master...keeps it."​

"I've give two shits about your supposed master and his stone." She bit back sharply, steel turned to a razors edge.​

​

Of course, she didn't believe him. But he had turned out far weaker than anticipated. Perhaps there was some merit to this narrative.​

 

[Nasir]

Master?

The Drow's head turned slightly, lips thinning as he gazed over towards the Witch. The words had the echo of a lie, truth being fleeting in situations like this. A man on the edge of death would say anything to cling to life.

Something he'd learned about humanity. Still, the prospect was at least worth investigating, and slowly Nasir made his way over towards where the Witch held the Sorcerer. "Truth is not the way of your kind."

He said as he crouched besides the Wizard.

"I-I swear."​

The man groaned in pain as Callisto ripped the edges of the man's soul and began to tear at it. Nasir could not see the magic, the lines of it escaping his gaze, but he knew what was going on. Lips thinned as he watched the man, and slowly he turned towards the Witch.

How much pressure could be placed before the man snapped?

"A-a-a dozen miles from here. A cavern...he k-keeps it all there. I'm just a pawn! A thing for him to use! He was supposed to teach me b-"​

Nasir looked over towards his companion. It smelled of lies, of another trap, but there could be some truth to it.

 

[Callisto]

Her lips pulled back and thinned, revealing her teeth. But the expression was not particularly pleasant or happy, quite the opposite. She was suddenly furious over the prospect of this individual trying to turn evidence at the last moment, to save his own skin.​

​

Her glowing gaze, now throbbing sulfur, moved from the man to the Drow. It wasn't like her to find insult in commentary, particularly when it was in comparison to people of her kind. But this man wasn't her kind and neither was anyone else. Taking a deep breath, she looked back towards the wizard.​

​

Another stone appeared above her. Like two baoding balls intent on inner focus, they moved around one another. She didn't need to, but she mimed the gestures of moving the stones with her fingers. It helped her to think. And, coincidentally, it also helped to give form for the consequences of this mans actions and taciturnity.​

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Her offending hand clamped into a fist as she approached, lifting the mans from the ground and levitating him in the vice grip. The siphoning of power was not only being reserved in the stone; the excess was pouring into her. The energy was given form in strands and tethers, spiraling in azure and vermillion across the dark sky.​

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"Careful now...pawn. Heed your own words. You give too much away and we shall have no more use of you." She paused, lingering on the Drow once more. "Tell us about this cave. Wards, protections, general direction, et cetera."​

​

"I...I can't! You'll kill me." He curled up as he floated, setting himself to spin.​

"I promise I won't." That was the truth, for now. "But if you don't speak I will." She leveled her gaze back towards him. "And I will drag it out for an eternity."​

 

[Nasir]

The man looked like he was about to soil himself. It was a stark contrast to ten minutes ago when he had been talking about ripping out Nasir's soul.

Funny, how humans could fall so quickly.

The Drow shifted, squatting down besides the man and looking him in the eye. His expression did not change, nor did he cast any sort of spell. He simply allowed Callisto to speaking, listening to the words as the man protested.

His head slowly shook as the Sorcerer offered another denial, the action alone combined with the Witches words seemingly forcing the man to stutter out an answer.

Slowly, almost painfully so, he offered up an answer to every question that The Witch had asked. The Cavern was a wyrm den, with wards of protection and traps laid throughout. He spoke of danger, and monsters his master himself had spawned.

The Drow glanced to Callisto as the man broke into begging once more.

"T-tha-thats all, I swear. Now please let me go. I did everything you asked!"​

 

[Callisto]

"You did, dear Magician. I am quite pleased with your cooperation. As promised, I won't kill you. And neither will this one here, with the angry eyes."​

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She loosened up her grip, though the man remained in the air. A sense of relief poured over his face, like the very clouds had opened up to reveal an orange sun on the horizon. "T-h-hank you, you won't regret it..."​

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Suddenly there were not two, but five stones hovering above her hand. Two were glowing, the other three were dormant. "Oh I'm sure I'm won't."​

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The magician let out a yelp as Chrys clamped her hand and with a single moments passage, the energy blasted outward like a shockwave. The crystals rattled and shook, turning vibrant shades of blue. Azure, teal, corn flower, and even one that looked as dark as purple. With a hum, that either escaped her lips or resounded from the vibrating stones, she released the man from her grip. He fell to the ground but remained upright.​

​

His expression was changed. His eyes, once steel, were now dull and lifeless. His skin, once a tanned and beautifully attractive tone, was pale and ashen. The color from his hair had receded and even his lips seemed to brighten and turn from ruddy to rose.​

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"See. Promise kept. I haven't killed you."​

​

The magician didn't respond. Instead, he turned. Fondling the balustrade, he felt around with shaking but sure hands. Propping one leg over, he flung himself off and a moment later, a thud could be heard. Chrys approached and looked over the edge. It was a sea of cemeteries, decorated indiscriminately with varying stones and holy symbols made from wood and twine. The magician landed just atop a kurgan and had rolled awkwardly down one side.​

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"At least he was considerate enough not to break anything..."​

 

[Nasir]

With the magic now broken it was more than clear that the tower too had been under some sort of spell.

Gleaming white marble and beautifully etched lines had turned to crumpled cobble and broken brick. The once outrageously gorgeous tower had faded into a specter of itself, left only as a crumbling monument of what it had once been forced to be. Nasir looked around the cracked stones, shaking his head.

All of it had been a ploy.

Was the master as well? There was a good chance at that, though by the amount of fear the man had shown he doubted it. Humans often pretended to be brave, and when they could no longer pretend, they broke. It was something he'd seen in them time and time again.

That wondrous snap where you could watch the life drain from their eyes. He missed seeing it. "I suspect this was all created by his Master. He was little more than a watchmen."

Perhaps he had been a catalyst himself, unwittingly used as fuel by the man who was supposed to teach him.

Nasir shook his head at the ignorance, then began to walk towards the small notch in the floor that indicated a place for the stairs. There was another sorcerer to hunt.

 

[Callisto]

Chrys cleared her throat as the Drow moved towards the exit from the tower. It had not been there previously but as the facade dissipated, so too did all the hidden nooks and crannies. The place was far less impressive than she had expected, even in the vein of understanding that it was an illusion. Perhaps that was simply the most efficacious route. Coral lipstick and a waving dress on a pig, as it were.​

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"If your intent is to go to where this magician..." The word came out with a bit of venom as she was now convinced the man was nothing more than a street performer, given far too many baubles. "Described...and your expectation is that I will simply go along with it, on his word, than you have miscalculated."​

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Her hand flexed and the five suspended rocks came together in a bundle, slowly moving to the now visible satchel on her side. "So far, this job has been an entirely neutral exchange for me. And now, without the prostrated, I have very little desire to track miles in a random direction on the off chance that this one..." She gestured off the side of the tower, towards the graveyard. "Wasn't just bleating in fear of the shearing."​

​

She crossed her hands over her chest, inspecting the figure with a weighty dose of scrutiny. "And even if he were telling the truth, what value would entice me towards this expedition?" ​

 

[Nasir]

Nasir stopped on the first step, looking back towards the Witch. "You humans..."

He shook his head, clicking his tongue loudly.

"Everything is always talk of reward and profit." It was a disappointing fact of their species. Perhaps born of their short life spans. His own people could live for thousands of years given the right conditions. Patience was born into them from the first day.

It was different for humanity. They did not have the longevity that the fairer species had been blessed with. They lived short lives, always clawing and grasping at whatever little pleasure they could find. Wealth, lovers, power.

Cravings they couldn't deny themselves.

"This little nit could not have conjured the power here." He gestured to the tower, the graves. "He could barely hold himself upright, much less stop me...us."

Nasir corrected himself, deciding the Witch deserved some of the credit. "There is a Master who created this little trap."

The Drow was sure of that at least.

The magic that had overtaken this town had been powerful. The field, the dimension within the tower, even the illusion of the village itself. All of it would have taken quite significant work, not to mention knowledge. The blabbering corpse couldn't have done it.

"Think of the knowledge such a man might hold." He could recognize the value of Human magics. They were most often stolen from higher species, thus always useful. "I for one, wish to find out."

 

[Callisto]

"Ah yes, of course..." She smiled, sneering at the figure. A figure who had wrongfully assumed that she was, in fact, anything remotely resembling human. It would have been the same as calling an lobster an ant or comparing a redwood to that of a sprouting spruce. Purely statements that reeked of ignorance and arrogance, intended to bruise her. "The decrepit Drow has availed me of some responsibility. You flatter me."​

It wasn't flattery. It was stepping down from his ivory tower.​

"You, of course, came here not of your gain. Not for profit or for reward. Your starry gaze was fixed only upon the sky above, the reflection of celestial bodies and the murmurs of a man on a tower. It had nothing to do with crystals and trinkets." She needn't gesticulate towards the shattered crystal, laying in a pile of shards ever so often moved by the gentle breeze.​

She didn't need knowledge of what this man held because discovery was part of the process. A connection was all that would need muster, access to the ether, and she could conjure a similar contraption. But the idea of why, that did particularly appeal to her. Something that could be torn from the master magician, like skin pulled from the bone.​

"Tell me." She approached, dropping her arms. "Tell me why you wanted that stone. Tell me what it would have done for you. Have you grown bored with your life? Would the crushed up powder serve as an opiate...or perhaps an aphrodisiac? We humans fuck so often it's a wonder we search for oysters in the sea bed and slump our asses along the hill to dig up ginseng. All it really takes for us is a proper mood. But I've read of your kind and their rarity. A fair word for a far more prevailing concern. Boredom. When you've done everything, everything becomes banal."​

She stopped, glaring at the figure. Though admittedly, a little back and forth accusation could give her a second breath of life. "Power, maybe?" ​

 

[Nasir]

"Power?" Nasir echoed the words, scowling as he turned back towards the Witch. Was she really as simple as the rest of them? Did she not understand or was she simply trying to goad him into action?

The Drow would not put either of those possibilities passed the witch. Lips thinned and his fingers flicked open, but a deep breath filled his chest.

"Did you not hear me?" Blue eyes met hers. "Profit and rewards do not interest me, nor does power."

She was partly right. He had walked this earth for so long, endured it's pleasures and experienced much of what most could only dream of. It had all paled in comparison to home. It had all felt empty and shallow, as though he had been peering at life through a broken window with too many cracks.

Everything he did, everything he had done, it was all an empty experience.

All because he could not go home. All because he knew that while he was gallivanting around the world his people were being ruined by the same superstitions that made Humanity so very weak.

The thought disgusted him, and with more bile than he meant he bit at the Witch. "I seek only a path home."

 

[Callisto]

"Claiming the desire for power and profit as a human attribute does not free you of its constraints or imply that it simply doesn't interest you! Perhaps before claiming I didn't hear you correctly, you recall the words you spoke. Your thickheadedness is preventing even your own words from penetration."​

​

She was disappointed. She wanted to hear that this was all over something trivial. Like the way a king chases the one maid in court; the one that seems unattainable. Or the way the drunkard counts down the days to his name day, hoping the exhausted wife at home offers up a bit of something exotic when the children fall to sleep. Though she still wasn't convinced that this wasn't over a case of willful celibacy, feeling the pressure from not getting the one thing both the spirit and body needs. Whether that celibacy was erotic or otherwise, it remained to be seen.​

She lifted her hand, as if rebutting her own comment. "That's a petty retort. Obviously you meant something so I won't languish myself on minutia or semantics. This isn't theater nor is it linguistics one-oh-one. But..." ​

She dropped her hands, approaching the Drow as she pressed the tips of her fingers together. It wasn't an outright saunter, because she knew such a thing would likely have no affect on someone like this. The Dark Elf was clamped down so hard, she couldn't tell if he were a living thing or a grape press. But a woman's swagger, an affliction of displaying charms when charms were there for seeing, was a weakness she couldn't stifle entirely.​

"Tell me how the stone is your path home...tell me that secret." She ticked her tongue, lifting her right hand and flashing nails of carmine. "And as a bonus, the magic's master will die not by accident or happenstance. But through explicit and excruciating, slow and churning, effort." ​

She had sensed the way he mourned the missed moment, the way death passed by in an instance. Like hearing the echo of a mournful song on the wind, but never laying eyes upon the dryad that sang it. His expressions were stone but certain dispositions, such as regret for missed opportunities, were difficult things to hide.

 

[Nasir]

The Drow watched expressionless as Callisto made her way to him, his gaze set hard as he peered down at her. "I am an Exile."

Nasir had never kept that a secret to those who asked. His people were not well known, and their home even less so. There was no danger to being honest, not with this anyway. Few folk had ever asked him the purpose of his wanderings.

Most only cared about what he was after, never why.

It was perhaps because of their own shortsightedness, or perhaps simply because Nasir himself had never been particularly forthcoming with anything else.

"My own people deny me a path home." That was the simplest way of putting it. Reaching the city of Drow's was not a simple task, and right now the way was closed.

"The stone, whatever magic this master might hold." He glanced towards the direction the mage had told them. "It may be the bridge I seek."

Nasir did not tell her how, and thus did not answer her question. Yet what he had given her were the pieces to figure it out on her own. Nasir did not think the stone was necessarily the secret, nor did he think the Masters magic would be.

There was just a chance. A chance that he would take.

 

[Callisto]

She nodded, almost imperceptibly, as pieces began to fall into place. And not just pieces regarding this story and motives, but also towards his character and the enigma of his logic. By all rights, what he sought was both for power and profit. Power in that the stone could have held unattainable power for the Dark Elf, a power that could lead to a certain profitable outcome. The profit wasn't strictly from the sense of currency. Such a tether between two different words reeked of errable humanity.​

​

Were this conversation between two normal, cordial, and civilized individuals, which they were not, it would have inevitably led to one question following the other. Why was he banished, for starters? What did he do to wound his people in such a way? Where did this bridge lead to, was this another world? A parallel world perhaps, or maybe a world within a world? Like a snowglobe or crystal ball, filled with crystals and playful caverns? But in this respect, she imagined this world that they now inhabited would be the one in the globe, not the other way around.​

​

"Well..." She sighed, arms akimbo, as she studied the Drow. "That's not exactly on the mark as far as answers go. But I suppose a deal is a deal. And if spirits and demons could keep them, I imagine I should too. But..." Her gaze narrowed, sulfuric slits studying the tall figure. "Once we have given this master his due, I think a bit of elucidation on this bridge and your excommunication might help the medicine go down."​

​

For her, maybe for the Magician as well. Grease the wheels, as it were.​

​

Pulling up the scarlet hood of her shaw with a surprisingly scrupulous pace, her gaze lingered a bit on his dark complexion and icy gaze. "Come on then, Olath'uss." Dark One. ​

​

She turned towards the exit and began making her way towards the stairs.​