Private Tales The Vicar of Suffering

[VigiloConfido]

Luc's devious streak. Making itself known once more. A pleasure to witness its surfacing. And it was endearing, wasn't it? Like a tiny crack in a beautifully sculpted vase. The imperfection which made the thing it tarnished perfect. For she had tiny cracks all her own, didn't she? Yes. A lovely partaking, to be company to those blemishes. The hidden depths of the heart.

And chaos lingered. The potential for such rumors to backfire. The threat of the Dreadlord pursuing them.

The quivering tension of a future uncertain.

Exquisite.

But things now were good. The three of them reunited. Luc beside her. A tenuous calm. But a calm nonetheless.

"You will be followed," Anima said to Nayella. She had been a good guide, and still it would be so.

She stood close to Luc. Fingers lightly gracing his hand.



(((Scene change or a chase from Selene next, I imagine)))

 

[Luc]

His body ached... All. Over.

It was a pain he was familiar with, the trials he faced thanks to his master (former master?) Lady Eneer, and her training regiment. If they weren't hiking the woods, they were training, from the moment the sun rose to the second it set. Despite his mouse like demeanor, Luc was in fact a skilled fighter. Yet one thing he was learning, that despite his training it was the application of what he learned that he was lacking in. He was growing and everything was a lesson for him to take away from. Perhaps one day, he would look fondly of his days spent on the run, nursing wounds, and enjoying the company he kept as the aged adventurer he would eventually become.

That was not the case now, entirely at least, as he rested in his bed roll. As usual, a fire had not been kept as it was the safer option, especially being the fiasco they left behind. Nayella guided them and they ran for what felt like hours, and when they stopped running, they walked, and only when his legs felt like jelly and his chest was burning did the dread witch relent and they were allowed to make camp. Food was eaten, and after going through their wares, did Luc sink into his resting spot.

Like much of their journey so far, the spot chosen was rather unremarkable, as it was much like the same spots they camped out. A minimal clearing, thick in the middle of the woods. If anything, this one location had one remarkable landmark, would would have been the large moss covered stone they camped against.

His mind was whirling as he rested there and he wasn't even aware of the moment his hand crept up to his chest and clutched the pendants worn under. His mind drifted to Susanoo who had gone quiet... The voice with enough power to take control of his body it seemed. The supposed child of Storm Sages who, if Luc was smart enough to convince, could teach him how to better wield his magic... because one thing that was abundantly clear, he still had much to learn.

 

[Nayella]

Nayella stood perched on a small boulder, squatting down and watching passed the trees of the little clearing that they had found.

She had forbid a fire from being lit, weary of being tracked, and thus their meal tonight would be cold provisions gathered from the village by Luc and Anima. It was not a bad dinner, not by a long shot. In her time outside of Elbion she had spent many nights eating naught but rats.

In comparison this was great.

The Blight Witch did not feel the same weariness as Luc and likely Anima did. The Crown helped her with that, but as they had ran through the forest she had used her magics to drain the life around them. It had allowed her to maintain a certain level of energy, though presented it's own dangers.

Glancing at her palm, she frowned at the small lines that had dug into her veins.

Lips thinned, and she cleared her throat. "The Dreadlord."

She addressed Luc.

"How did she fight?" Nayella doubted that she knew the woman, having only run into three Dreadlords out of dozens in her lifetime. Still, it didn't hurt to ask.

 

[VigiloConfido]

The meager light of night. Blanket of stars pinned to the sky by the moon. The shadow receding as it had over the course of their journey upon the moon's surface, the reveal of its fullness coming soon.

Much like her flight from Mother, years ago, their running through the forest and across the landscape. An echo of it. For in a way it was this yet again. A looping of the past back into the present. She ran now as she did then, to escape the fate Mother had deemed for her. To escape the reaching and the grasping of It.

And here, now, rest. Their fireless camp by the mossy rock, Nayella's acute sense of caution heeded. Silvery outlines offered by the moonlight. Anima set up her bedroll next to Luc's own. A luxury, this, offered by their stop in Ared'luin. A small comfort to assuage the aches of their ceaseless running.

They ate in mostly an atmosphere of silence, such was the craving for rest and sustenance after so hard a day. And their efforts were worth it, weren't they? Closer now, yes, than before. To Elbion. To outrunning the past.

After the main meal, Anima reached into her own pack and felt for the box of cherries. Found it. Other opportunities might come later but this one had come now. And so she would seize upon it. Even if Nayella had asked Luc a question and he therefore might be a touch distracted.

Still, Anima scooted close to Luc as he sat and nudged him. Opened the box and presented it to him, the faded light of the moon barely sufficient to discern form. She plucked one of the cherries from the box and ate it and chewed and smiled as she did and discarded the stem.

A gift. Hers to give. That he might partake in it too, the sharing of the particular taste.

Of what it meant.

 

[Luc]

Nayella grabbed his attention, asking over the mage he battled against. Well, perhaps battle was to strong a word to describe the encounter. Survived seemed a better choice. He was about to answer when Anima stole his focus. He looked to her as she nudged him, aware of how close she was. Thought of sharing in her company the night before cause his cheeks to rose over but he tried to contain himself.

Blue eyes would find the box and he spied it's contents. A unusual find, a box filled with cherries, and it would taken him a second to realize she was in fact offering. Chancing Nayella's wraith, he still didn't answer as he plucked a small delectable up and popped it into his mouth. An explosion of taste welcomed him and he instantly melted, remembering the pleasures that living in Elbion afforded him, at least when he spent time with Lady Eneer. His eyes closed as he savored the taste, plucking the stem and tossing it aside before the fruits pit was spat to the side. So delicious it was.

"She's a master... Her ability to respond in adapt was far faster then I was accustom to... She didn't anticipate my reactions but her answer to them was remarkable... Terrifying... And quick... I knew full well as if, I couldn't be able to contend... Not with out knowing more about her at least..." He puffed his chest out just a little. He had to be confident in himself and not dwell on how much he had to learn still.

"Even when I thought I escaped..." He mumbled next, realizing he had not told them in detail as to what happen. And so, he did, recalling the events that took place hours earlier.

 

[Nayella]

"You did well enough." It was a backhanded complement, but one rare enough from the likes of her.

Nayella sat back for a moment, rocking on her heels in consideration.

From what Luc said the Blight Witch guessed that this woman was likely more than an Initiate. Like a third or second level Dreadlord. If she'd been of the First things would likely have turned out vastly different. Luc had been outmatched, but not to the degree that he had died instantly.

That told her something. "Remember."

She began quietly.

"These people are not regular mages." She mused quietly. "They are weapons of war. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You survived against someone who has likely been taught to kill since they were six or seven." It was an achievement, in it's own twisted way.

 

[VigiloConfido]

Anima listened to Luc and Nayella speak of the Dreadlord. Plucking another cherry from the box and eating it. Content with the mere sitting next to him and the sharing of her gift. Another closeness, another dissolving of a barrier between them. For she knew of the abnormality of her tongue, that others did not at all--let alone so strongly--associate emotion with certain tastes.

And now, whether Luc knew so explicitly or not, a tiny imparting of her experience to him. A merging and a melding there, however slight. Intimacy. Likeness.

He recounted his ordeal with the Dreadlord, and her chewing of cherries slowed. The quiver in her heart. She knew that love brought joy but also pain. The intense familiarity of such with Mother. And here with Luc it was the same in general but different in kind. Joy and pain. Expressed and felt in a way unique, in a way experienced only through others before during a Masquerade.

The pain gripping her heart. The Watcher called Worry. An invigoration in the suffering, that she should be so lucky to even have it. Before a void, now a wonderful agony.

But despite his encounter Luc was here. Beside her. Chaos had not claimed him yet.

Anima leaned her head down onto her shoulder. Reached across his back and gripped his arm opposite her and gave a squeeze. A gentle trailing, up and down, of her hand on his opposite arm.

"You are here," she said. "And you are glad, aren't you?"

The tinge of worry offset. Just so.

 

[Luc]

Praise and comfort... He yearned for both though he never dared voice such thoughts to anyone. Yet there was, aching and in need of sleep though fighting to take in the moment. Her words had been a doubled edge sword but Luc gladly took away what he wanted from them. He had in fact survived against a dangerous opponent, a feat otherwise might not be able to say. The alone was amazing, a testament to his own worth.

And then the attention Anima provided. The warmth. The stinging pain when she cuddled into him and the way he force it down. No complaint would leave his lips regarding her being close. Besides, the taste of cherries lingered on his mind and he began to wonder if her lips would taste any different. And now he was blushing.

"Would she be willing to chase us further north?" He said after a moments thought. "She was capable.. More then just that... I wonder if me escaping would leave her feeling a particular way however... In my experience in the college, a mage often does not like being bested... I'm sure my crashing through the house and escaping out the front door has been spoken about in detail... so she knows I live..."

And with that, his jaw tighten. Their risky venture into the town had gifted them supplies.. And perhaps another person added to the list looking for them. Luc the Unlucky was at it again it seemed.

 

[Nayella]

Nayella shrugged, there was unfortunately no true way of telling.

"The Dreadlord's are weapons of war...but Vel Anir has no war." For now anyway. From what she knew of the city they hopped from one conflict to another. The classes she'd been forced to take in Elbion had all but called them warmongers.

She had no idea if it was actually true, but from what she'd seen of the city itself...she would not have said it was too far off from the truth.

"Most of them have free will in these times." She'd learned that from a runaway apprentice. "She could be on a mission in the Village, or there of her own accord."

It was difficult to say. "You may have caught her interest, or she may use this opportunity to gain favor."

Politics were a favorite of theirs.

 

[Selene Avar]

Selene sat upon her horse, expression blank, two Anirian Guardsmen flanking her. They, along with the three others she had sent out to scout ahead, had been dragged from the Taverns of Ared'luin.

None of them were pleased to have been pulled from their place, but all of them had come without question.

The decision had been a good one. Selene had hardly been in the mood to argue with anyone after her discussion with the village council about magic and malpractice. It had taken some convincing to bring the fools to the idea that whatever runaway mage she'd fought had been responsible for the damage to the windmill.

Eventually they had seen things properly, but it had taken hours. "Anything?"

Selene asked as one of the scouts returned on his horse.

"Prints to west of here, headed North."​

A satisfied smile touched Selene's lips. She had never been good at tracking, at least not as good as some of the other Dreadlord's trained in hunting rogues. It was why she had needed the soldiers.

"Lets go." She commanded, no hesitation in her voice.

 

[VigiloConfido]

Anima listened. Gaining a measure of insight on this Dreadlord and what she was and what she might be like. Still she rested her head on Luc's shoulder.

And she said, "Weapons of war."

A clicking of her tongue against the roof of her mouth.

"She will pursue you, Luc. This Dreadlord. All know the pull of desire. The inescapable grasping. And it is inescapable, isn't it? For it is in you, and it has always been in you. Patiently does it wait."

Anima turned her head just so to look at Nayella. "And these...Dreadlords. They desire war. And she has found one, hasn't she? Thus will the Dreadlord be pulled. Until another war is found."

Yes. These mages of Vel Anir. These Dreadlords. Proof of darkness propagating. The institutionalization of the surrendering of the soul. The giving in en masse. The torturing of children, who would not be so blessed with death but instead cursed with life. Their innocence shattered even before they truly had the capacity to understand what they had forever lost.

Mother was right. Mother was always right.

This Dreadlord. She who pursued. Once she had been that girl. That girl of six or seven, as Nayella said. That girl who had never once taken a life. That girl who had all the potential to resist. All the potential for the good and the light.

And that girl was now dead.

And the Dreadlord lived. Fallen down. Joined Anima.

Together in the dark.

 

[Luc]

"She will be mounted no doubt... She will want to save her strength and move quickly no doubt... If we stick to the brush however, we can travel where she cannot... But we will be entering open land soon... She will have the advantage once we emerge from the safety of these trees..." He sleepily replied, the added weight of Anima's head against his shoulder comforting him.

"Right now... I might look like a prize to her... So.. What if we offer a bigger prize." Came his suggestion. If this Dreadlord wanted a fight, he suppose there was no choice. But if he could avoid it, he would look to other means to save their skin.

"We need to get her to believe that letting us go would work in her favor... I can not for Elbion... I believe we all feel the same way. I'm sure she feels that way. We need to get her to believe what we aim to do will benefit her far greater then claiming me... Or any us would..." He finished up his thoughts, providing a surprisingly sharp point.

 

[Nayella]

Nayella sat quietly in consideration.

Truth be told they were making quite a few assumptions. It was all they could do by rights, but that was still what they were. None of them knew this woman, her motivations, or even what she wanted. For all they knew she had some connection to Elbion.

It was unlikely, but possible. Still, it seemed Luc's plan would at leave give them a shot. "It will be what we have to do."

The Blight Witch agreed quietly.

"There are hunters still after me." Always were. "Perhaps we set them against her."

(no Selene post, just assume shes moving closer)

 

[VigiloConfido]

Anima set down the box of cherries on one of her legs and and took from the box another cherry and ate it as she listened. Yes. The Dreadlord would be coming. The question not if but when. Only some unknown fortune, some distant circumstance arising to which none of them would have knowledge of but that regardless might draw away the Dreadlord from her pursuit, would change this.

That. Or careful deception. Misdirection. As Luc and Nayella discussed.

Both Luc and Nayella were far more versed in the ways of Elbion. Anima's own time there far too long ago, and being too young of age to truly grasp and understand anything that would be of use now. Yes. A relying upon them. For she had naught but two spells of varying degrees of usefulness.

And time bled away, didn't it? As the moon above revealed itself ever more with each passing night. A necessity. That they succeed in evading the Dreadlord by whatever means they could muster. For the Dreadlord merely menaced their bodies. But the blackmail promised deeper scars. Things irrevocable.

And Anima took the pit of the cherry from her mouth and tossed it and the stem away.

Perhaps the night would veil them.

Perhaps not.

The clutching of sleep at her eyes. What blissful comfort, that warmth and closeness. The sharing thereof.

 

[Luc]

"Then.. We sleep?" He asked wanting nothing more then to continue their talk but knowing his mind was in now shape or form to actually come up with anything that might work.

Hell, he didn't even realize he was reaching for another cherry until he was stretching across Anima's lap. A shy smile would be given to get as a cherry was plucked from the ornate box and he pulled back, movement stiff on account of everything he put him through. He smiled faintly, a show to her that everything was well, and moved back to sitting upright. The cherry was then popped into his mouth as he attempted to think about the current situation. His mind would stray though, thinking back to the voice that added him. Should he tell them? Could he tell them? Was it even real? He had realized the voice itself went silent, leaving him with the impression the entity was just as tired... The alternative would mean he dreamed it all.. Or rather hallucinated... That alone was a scary thought.

He lost his master, his home... Last thing he wanted to lose would be his sanity.

 

[Selene Avar]

"They're close." The words resounded through the crisp night air to the two Guardsmen who sat with her upon their mounts.

By now the four men she had taken at her side were more than sure in their goal, or rather, their confidence had grown in Selene herself enough that they followed without even a second guess. It was the benefit of being a Dreadlord, one with at least a small reputation in the Guard itself.

These men knew who she was, knew what she could do.

In their minds this must have been important.

"Tie the horses up." Selene said as she slowly slipped from her mount and fell to the earth. Her two scouts would return soon. She'd sent one out to the east and one to the far north. To the west there was a river, and they themselves were south of course.

She had wanted to make sure she understood all avenues of escape her query might have.

"Make sure to muffle your armor." She motioned to the plate they wore. "Rags between the sections."

They nodded and quickly set about muting themselves.

 

[VigiloConfido]

She could have fallen asleep right there. Head rested on Luc's shoulder. Sitting there with the taste of cherries lingering and all the world condensed to a small sphere enclosing them. It would have been easy. Just let go.

The blackmail. The weight of the bygone day. The need for fulfilling rest. The journey ahead.

Yes. And they were close, weren't they? The casting off of the burden. Their part in the deal done. The pendants delivered. And then neither she nor Luc would have to worry. Here a freedom.

Anima slowly lifted her head from Luc's shoulders and drew her hand across his back in the other direction and closed the box of cherries and scooted back moreso onto her bedroll and put the box of cherries into her pack. She lay down on the bedroll.

"Good night, Luc. Good night, Nayella."

Eyes back to Luc.

It was not all misfortune, was it? The blackmail. For in it had been the drawing together.

A deep cherishing.

Anima smiled.

And closed her eyes.

 

[Luc]

His goodnight was given in the form of a wide smile. Despite his predisposition for terrible luck often which reared it's head with the opportunity of happiness dare approach him, he felt no such need to worry about Anima. She was to be the charm that broke his luck. Nayella.... Well she was to be the charm which scold and wished bad things upon him when ever he faulted.

These were the thoughts which played in his mind as he spat the cherry pit and bid the Blight Witch a good night. He moments away from cuddling down into Anima, a open display of affection thanks to his tired state which removed any fear of judgement for himself when a cord struck in his mind.

A sharp note played in the silence of his mind, a powerful intro to a song which played of danger. "Should we have a watch?" He blurted out loud. If that was a invitation to be first watch was neither here nor there, as he realized all three going to sleep could end in a rather dire situation for the fledgling party.

If only he knew..

 

[Selene Avar]

Fire exploded from the tree tops.

The inferno was so sudden and instantaneous that a loud boom echoed through the clearing which the trio had chosen as their resting place. The concussive shockwave did not touch them, instead it rocked the trees above them in a thunderous cord of dissonance.

A blaze illuminated the open space, bursting the night into sudden day as the flames began to slowly crawl their way towards the forest floor.

Among the pyre to towards the South Stood Selene.

Her expression was not all that different than it had been back in the village. The only change was the slight quirk of her lip into a smug, self satisfied smile. Almond eyes peered down into the clearing, her perch on a small rock allowing her an overview of the figure.

"Well." She spoke, her voice somehow ringing out over the flames. "Isn't this a surprise."

 

[VigiloConfido]

The peace did not last. Chaos found them.

Anima opened her eyes and sat up and immediately squinted and covered them, blinded in that moment by the sudden firelight above. Vicious afterimages. The intense sound, a thunder reverberating in her bones.

A voice. And there, as Anima could afford to open her strained eyes yet again, stood the woman with the red hair. Anima stood as she regarded her. The Dreadlord in question.

And her face broke into an amicable grin. Anima laughed with no small amount of joy and shot her arms out wide to her sides, an open embrace. So caught was she in the moment that she did not consider running or the blackmail or anything other than the beautiful fire above and the strands and tethers thereof descending down to remind the ground of what calamity had occurred. The glorious sound, the thudding boom of the abrupt explosion, the audible dispelling of order.

"Sister!" Anima called out. And still more elated laughs came.

No thought of Elbion or Luc or Mother or the man from before or Nayella or running as surely she ought to have or the pack loaded with supplies or any clinging remnants of a broken order. Yes. The sudden and immediate chaos so piqued her excitement and interest. The sweeping away of thoughts rational. The overcoming by desires primal.

For this Dreadlord had found them. And she had given in long ago, hadn't she? And here her dark desire for war had brought her, as it was said. There she stood before a fellow sister in the dark.

And they did bear witness together, didn't they?

Yes.

Such lovely company.

 

[Luc]

Confusion, pure and unforgiving. It was a cruel joke as if fate waited for him to suggest performing an act that could have spared them only to have chaos rain down upon them. it was not fate at work but rather his run of ill blessed luck... For when things became sour, Luc knew in his heart that it was his bad luck which was the cause.

He watched with wide frightful eyes as the world above them was consumed with flames and struggled to comprehend what was happening.It was so sudden, so terrifyingly powerful that it could have only been one person capable of such a feat. The Dreadlord.

Panicked, he looked to first Nayella and then to his dearest Anima, who to his surprise seemed to welcome the attack, calling out to their foe by way of calling her sister. Had he not known her for her confusing way of speaking, he'd taken her serious at this proclamation. One thing for sure however, there would not be any clever get away this time time.

And so he sprung up upon weaken legs, swaying as he did so under the threat of falling over and willing the water underneath them to come deep from below all the while. Blue power gathered in his palms and his aura burned brightly as the geyser of water erupted from the ground to rush up to the fires above. He could not ensure the flames would go out, but he could at least make sure they would not burn. Perhaps this could give them the moment or so they needed to at least try and talk. Otherwise, him being sore would be the least of his worries.

 

[Nayella]

The flames seared her eyes.

They burnt into her flesh and lashed at something not physical. A scream echoed from her lips, eyes bulging in pain as she clutched at her chest. She could feel her heart quicken, her head turning and her fingers crushing into a fist.

She had to get out.

Panic set into her heart, the maddened laugh of Anima erupting out from the side of her nearly causing the Witch to bolt.

Fire.

It was one thing to twist it to her purposes, one thing to use it for her own designs, but this? It reminded her of the night she had ran, the night she'd managed her escape from Elbion. The flames surrounding her, the hunters rushing in an attempt to cut her off.

A sickly green glow erupted from around her hand.

Magic coursed through her, but she knew that the rot would do little for her here. Any vines she grew, any trees she sent falling, they would be burned to a cinder before they could even get close.

 

[Selene Avar]

The fire burned above them upon the tree tops, flames touched by the geysers of water only where they could reach.

What Luc had summoned poured onto the ground, stopping the creeping heat from reaching the party in the clearing and ensuring they would not be immolated before they could even speak. The Dreadlord did not seem to care though, her eyes flickering from the water to the high up flames.

Beyond the clearing she spotted two of the Guardsmen she had sent forward, then to her left another, and then to her right seemingly nothing.

A smile touched her lips. "Madness can often be found in the flames."

Selene commented from her bouldered perch, her hands raising for a moment. The flames in the flames in the trees grew, reaching the canopy and illuminating their surroundings with the light of false day.

Her gaze wandered to Nayella, then to Anima, and finally to Luc.

She gave the former two and curious glance, eyes focusing on them as she took them in for the first time. Her finger quirked upward, and then a heavy grunt erupted behind the group. Chains clattered to the ground, thrown by two of the guardsmen into the clearing.

Their weight splashed into the water Luc had summoned.

"Do not make this difficult." Her tone was ice. "You may yet survive this."

 

[VigiloConfido]

The hiss and the steam of water meeting flame. Luc's magic. Droplets of water which fell short of the flame and survived raining back down. A light splashing of them on Anima. A centering and a reminding, made physical.

Luc was here. Yes. And the Dreadlord had come for him. Seeking to win the newly found battle of the war of her own making.

A splashing. Anima ignited an orb of black and white bale fire in her right palm, the dark flame hovering above it. A glance back revealed two armored men, they having thrown chains down in the collected water, but making no further move.

Still, they might.

Anima maneuvered herself to be back-to-back with Luc. The pressing of her body against his. The knowledge of his presence through touch alone. She watched the armored men behind them, bale fire at the ready, and Luc had the pleasure of facing his nemesis.

It would be seen, wouldn't it? Here and now. The prowess and extent of Luc's guile. His devious streak. His lovely, lovely devious streak. Could he with mere words convince the Dreadlord of a better war?

Anima eyed the two armored men who had revealed themselves, raking her teeth across her bottom lip in excited anticipation. If not, then they would have a delightful time resisting, Luc and Nayella and her. They could fall together. Walk hand-in-hand into that final midnight. There in the infinite the sweet embrace of those loved forever with you.

Yes.

They could fight and they might die.

It was merely the death of the body.

And they would have so much time together if it came to pass. Luc and her.

So much time.

Yes.

So much time.

 

[Luc]

"Aye... We look to survive... We look to treat with you as well... I've spoken with my companions and my folly earlier... Our folly earlier, may pave a way of greatness to use to your benefit... Might we have a word Great and Powerful Dreadlord?" He called out to her on the top of his lungs not skipping a beat.

By now, Nayella had fell victim to the power at her, her gathered magic frightening but carrying upon it a stink of fear. When Anima at his back, Luc felt a level of confidence he didn't know existed up until then. He was sure they could speak to the fire mage.. And if not.... He would try his damnedest to survive.

Still, he knew words alone would not win the day, and so he dropped his magic and then urged the others to do the same. "Follow my lead." He whispered and held his hands up.

It might not have been their best option.. It very well was the only one presently though.

And so, his magic vanished and the water sprout he called forth retreated back into the ground with a dying gurgle. Now, all they had to do was hope she would listen... because if not, well they were in for a world of trouble.