[Flashback] Madman Animator

by **Syara Skyglow** on October 30th, 2011, 11:39 pm

34th Fall 504 AV

Fire crackled in the fireplace, flicking a warm glow onto the table. There, a delicious dinner was laid out. Fish, some meat, and a couple bottles of wine were spread out across the wooden surface. Around the table sat Syara and her family, accompanied by a visitor. The visitor was a strange human, with a tall, slim figure and a mysterious air about him. His face was long, with dark eyes and cracked, dry lips. His head was bald, and his skin was very fair, although it was becoming more flushed with every glass of wine. When the man had first arrived, he seemed tense, as though he didn't feel comfortable being in someone else's home, but he gradually relaxed as the wine bottles emptied. His name was Partin Darfron. Young Syara, who was positioned at the other end of the table, observed him excitedly, curious about this mysterious new being.

Stories were exchanged, jokes were told and laughter thundered through the night. This laughter became louder as the night went on, not worrying about keeping the rest of the hold awake. Even Partin was taking part, telling intriguing stories of his own. Each one was wilder than the last, with tales of magic and adventure. Syara's eyes grew wide as she listened to his raspy voice, turning a mixture of brilliant colours as the stories changed. Although the children didn't notice, but the adults did, the man's eyes had started to cloud, and his words had become more slurred than before. It was clear that the man was drunk, and horribly so.
"Now, children, it's getting a bit late," proposed a worried Svari "Isn't it about time you all went to bed?". As expected, the children groaned and protested, and Partin joined in as well. "Come on, just a couple more minutes. I want to show you all something." Svari bit her lip, hesitating. She glanced at the other adults. "Fine, I'm sure just a couple more minutes wouldn't hurt..."

by **Syara Skyglow** on November 2nd, 2011, 1:02 pm

"I have a secret, you know?" slurred Partin, standing up from the table and wobbling across the room. "And I'll tell you all what it is..." He turned around wildly, smiling. "I'm a wizard!" A hushed, alarmed reaction swept through the room as he made his way to an empty space in the room. "I know quite a bit of magic, don't I? I know a bit of Auristics... oh, and Animation too! Do you want to see?" He seemed to have lost his mind to Syara, who was hidden behind her father. She gazed at the man with her inquisitive eyes, half excited, half scared, as he pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket and crouched down onto the ground. She had once been told that magic was something that was dangerous and would never be used for a party trick, while here she was, witnessing just that. She didn't know why, but this man must have gone mad!

Partin began to drag the stumpy piece of chalk along the wooden floor, the crowd too terrified to protest. Most of them knew the dangers of magic, and those who didn't could piece together from everyone else's reaction that it wasn't good news. Syara stayed quiet, as an eerie silence had fallen upon the group of people and she didn't wish to break it. The drunk man had started to draw two large, wobbly circles on the floorboards, oblivious to the change in atmosphere. A line was drawn between the circles, and Partin's eyes swooped across the room, falling on a puppet-like wooden doll that had been carved for one of the children of the hold. He scooped up the doll and placed in inside one of the circles. "Perfect!" He turned to the crowd at the table yet again. "I'll show you all something wonderful!"

Syara was almost shocked at this man's huge change in character. He went from cold and antisocial to loud and confident in a matter of hours. It was clearly worrying. She had heard of one of the types of magic he had mention - Auristics - but not the other one. He was speaking in Common mostly, so she had to try her best to understand him, although she wasn't too bad with the translations. "Animation" was what he had said. Perhaps it's just like it sounds -- putting life into an inanimate object? She couldn't know for sure, but she was too scared at the moment to ask the mad man.

by **Syara Skyglow** on November 5th, 2011, 6:47 pm

One man cleared his throat. He cautiously raised hiss voice. "How about we put an end to the party and go to bed? You must be exhausted from your travels." But Partin looked at him coldly. "Are you trying to ruin my fun?" The man's eyes widened. "No! Not at all! I was just trying to say that we should all take a rest. It's getting late." He raised his hands up slightly in his defence. Partin wasn't having any of it. He turned his back to the table and stood over the first circle. He started speaking as though the interruption had never even happened. "I'm going to go into this circle, because I'm going to be the Life Principle. Do you know what a Life Principle is? It's the soul that you put into the object... but it's a fake one! I'm going to put some bits of my soul into this object, you see."

Partin raised a shaky hand and pointed towards a knife on the table. "Could somebody hand me that?" A shocked splash of colour appeared in the Vantha's eyes, displaying their fear. Syara's eyes turned a concentrated bright green. "W-We can't do that..." stuttered one of the Vantha. "Why not?" Without waiting for their reply, the man bit his right thumb and dropped some of the red liquid onto the circles. He plopped himself down into the empty circle. "What do I do now? Oh, yes, I make a Persona, don't I?" He spoke to nobody in particular.

He looked in the crowd's general direction. "I'll teach you all something. Now, I... make a Persona. I..." Partin's eyes looked cloudier than before. He fell over, his head and shoulders falling out of the circle. A couple of silent seconds passed and one brave Vantha crept forward. Syara peered down at the wizard from a safe distance as the Vantha slowly bent over and checked the man to make sure that he was unconsious. "He's breathing, but he's knocked out." He was gently lifted and put into one of the Hold's spare rooms.

by **Syara Skyglow** on November 12th, 2011, 5:35 pm

All of the children were sent to bed, while some adults stayed up to ensure that the wizard was definitely unconscious. They had considered contacting some members of the Icewatch, but decided against it. Partin wasn't in his right mind, and it was over now. Syara snuggled down into her bed, shaken by the event that had just occurred.

35th Fall 504 AV

Syara lay in her comfortable bed, tossing and turning. It was early in the morning, but she hadn't slept at all, terrified that she would be assaulted by nightmares; images from the night before still swirled around in her mind. The scary-looking man that was silent and awkward one moment and yelling and outgoing the second had grinned at her before ordering his doll to attack her, forcing her to snap awake with a start. She had clutched at her blanket, looking to her parent's bed for comfort. Her mother lay there asleep, her father's side of the bed empty. He was probably still awake with the others. Her mother looked peaceful, and so Syara's gaze drifted to her siblings. She resisted the urge to climb into bed with one of them. She slowly lay back, burying her head into her pillow and closing her eyes. She thought about the wonderful stories that Partin had told much earlier. She focused on them, blanking out the incident that had happened just hours - maybe even minutes - afterwards. She drifted into a dreamy state, and fell into a much needed sleep.

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