[Amethyst Baths] Past the Misty Veil (Paragon)

by **Nashira** on February 8th, 2012, 9:01 pm

"I suppose you wish to see," Nashira whispered, her voice a low menacing hiss, as she took another small step forward. Her eyes bore into Adarin's head, as her mind blocked out all sound. All sights, everything but him. Her irises seemed to simmer as she took another calculated step forward, her body straightening. Seeming to grow with each adjustment, as Adarin seemed to shrink away. "Fool of a human," Nashira whispered, her words lost in the water's vapors, as she imagined the over-powering chime of a clock. An incessant tick, in the recesses of her mind.

"Dare to challenge one of Syna's daughters?" Nashira growled, as her hands came up. Drifting away from her sides, and towards the water's surface. Gliding silently across it. Rocking with the water's sway. Riding the rippling current as though they were a pair of boats, lost at sea. "That's right," the magic hissed, the first of its words spilling from the Ethaefal's mouth, just loud enough for Adarin to hear, but few of the others. The spectators. "Back away human," the magic insisted, as she watched Adarin take a step away. It's time to learn your place.

Nashira's right hand left the water. Dripping with moisture, with disdain, as she held it out to him. Her fingers splaying, reaching for him, if somewhat reluctantly. Although, her pulsing muscles, seemed not to give this away. "Back up. Shrink into the shadows. The place Syna's light does not touch. Fall back. Back. Further yet..."

The magic fell away for a moment, as the coals in Nashira's pupils were turned, sparkling with rekindled life. With a new fire; a new heat and intensity. With renewed confidence in her abilities, Nashira stepped forward, willing the human back. She wanted his back to press firmly against the stone walls which encased the bath. Not because she wanted him to have a sense of renewed hope. A sense that he was not alone, with something so solid firmly planted behind him. Instead, she wanted to instill fear in his heart. The knowledge that he had come to the end of the line, and there was no where left to turn. No where left to run. For he was hers. Time was hers.

"Into the darkness. Into the shadows. Into the wall," Nashira hissed. "When there is no where left, look ahead. At me. Only me. For there is no one left that matters. Only that which you hate. You are to have eyes only for that. For me, and in so doing come to understand. Come to learn, your place." Nashira paused a moment, as her heart sped up, as water trailed down the length of her hand, towards the center of her arm. The dip, towards the elbow, where it slid away, into oblivion. Back into the pool which circled her, hungrily. Waiting to devour her flesh in its warmth.

"You will hear only me. This single voice. This sound," Nashira continued, allowing her words to wash over Adarin a moment, before she continued. "You are no better. You are weak, and you will fall to my will. You will listen to me, and only me." The magic ceased as Nashira took another step closer and then stopped. She wanted to be close enough where he could see the fire in her eyes. Feel her breath on his neck. See her close up, as she extended her forked tongue, and whispered in his ears. Such tempting words.

For a long time, the magic remained silent, as Nashira simply stood, watching the man. Her entire body seemingly on fire, a cold flame, reaching for the sky. For its source. Waiting to be lit anew, or perhaps, welcomed into the whole.

You are mine.

by **Paragon** on February 9th, 2012, 10:31 am

The Ethaefal had the better of him, but he could not sink willingly into the water. His shame was only increased, as she forced him back across the pool. More eyes watched them, seemingly seeing this more as entertainment than crisis.

Her eyes were from another world. Light and darkness, marbled into untameable chaos. And still she pushed, guiding him further and further back until he rested against the stone walls of the bath.

He could not speak. He could not will his own escape. As she projected her vicious words into his head, he was forced to comply, eyes locked firmly on her body. On her face: a countenance that spoke of tempests and storms, of great rises and falls.

You are mine. she instructed.

His heart and mind crashed, all rage intensifying yet failing to release. His hatred of the other, of outsiders... well that was only rekindled like a burning furnace. His utter disdain crystallised in his thoughts.

But for now. He was at the woman's mercy.

by **Nashira** on February 10th, 2012, 11:21 pm

"Good," the magic whispered as Nashira took another small step forward. The single word seemed to glide over her lips; a coo, a giggle. Happiness drawn from another small victory, laced into words meant to further destroy the man who had so hoped to destroy her. To shame her. "Now that you have been pushed back, with no where else to go; now that you are mine, for I have you captive, right where I want you, I think it time to begin your lesson." The Ethaefal paused a moment as she loomed even closer, her eyes fixated on the dark circle of Adarin's eye patch. If only she could set the ends on fire, this would be a true victory for her, and her kind.

"While you are being taught you are to do your best not to move. Hardly blink, for if you bother to see every small detail, the words will sink in all the more. The memory of this day; of this very moment," Nashira instructed, her voice fairly neutral, although, a cold edge still made its way into the recesses. "Perk your ears, so you pick up every word. Miss naught; waste naught. For this time is mine as well as yours, and it is not fit to lose so much as a fraction of a chime. You are mine, human, to do with as I see fit. To bend to my will." There was a slight pause as a sinister smile spread across Nashira's lips. "Now stand there. Silent, and still, head hung in defeat. For it is time. Your first lesson has begun. Pray then, that you learn it quickly, so it may end. But not in your head, where your friends will be unable to hear. Say it loud, so that all of them will know; so that I will know, just how dreadful you find this moment."

As the words left her lips, Nashira could feel her head pounding all the more. Close to her temples, as her heart beat faster and faster, pounding like a drum, just out of tune with Adarin's own. Tentatively, the Ethaefal took one last step forward, and raised her right hand a little higher, as she let the left drop onto the surface of the water. Sending angry ripples ricocheting off their bare chests. Keep your hands at your sides, and remember, not to move, the magic hissed as Nashira reached for him, her fingers furling into her palm; save for one, the index. With this finger, Nashira began to scrawl a neat cursive in the Denvali tongue, across Adarin's chest:

I am a failure,
for I have lost to that which I hate most,
I have lost to the aliens,
making me less than a man.

I am not a true man.

The words rose slowly, as Nashira's finger crept across Adarin's flesh. Her nail digging delicately into his skin, producing a slightly raised line. Nearly unnoticeable with the rippling of the water. The many blemishes which seemed to line his skin. At times, she thought she could sense him wincing inside, more from the pain of her actions, what she wrote, than the pain caused by her nails dragging across his skin. The slight raise in it, the rounded slope, which only grew with the heat of the bath. The rising steam.

When she had finished the final letter in her words, Nashira's smile widened. Her eyes sparkled as she pulled her hand away, and twirled her finger around in a small circle. "Turn around," the Ethaefal insisted, her tone betraying just how much she was enjoying herself. "Display your back to me, and then halt. Don't move again until you're told. You are scarcely allowed to breath, so you can take in the full magnitude of this lesson," the magic hissed, as Nashira raised her hand and forced herself to smile through the throbbing in her temples. Slowly, her hand inched closer to the man's back. Until the nail was touching his left shoulder blade. From there, she scrawled the rest of the words:

I am a shame,
I should know only shame,
ridicule me,
I deserve it all.

The final letter seemed to drip down the length of Adarin's back. A blinding, blood red. Smiling to herself, at her ability to work quickly, Nashira backed several steps away. "Now move," Nashira hissed. "Show them all just what you are. The lesson that has been scrawled across your skin. Make sure they all see it, just as you do. Make sure each word is burned into your mind. Into their minds." Nashira paused a moment, allowing her latest set of demands to settle in. "Show them all that you are no better than me, and when you are done, let them each decide your fate." As the final word left the Ethaefal's lips, the fire in her eyes seemed to simmer down. But the intensity of her voice seemed to linger in the air. To make it ring.

Nashira was waiting.

by **Paragon** on February 12th, 2012, 1:18 am

Adarin felt oblivion crash around him. Humiliation, shame, failure. Her spell, her drive, scarred him in more ways than one, and through it all, she kept reminding him of his failures - and her total dominion.

Yet here he stood, pureblood, and she an alien from who knew where.

As her spell finally broke, he ignored the gasps, the questions, and the stares. He waded out of the water, the woman's eyes boring into his bones, and he slunk out of the Baths with his towel and bundle of clothes.

His fist shook at his side. His chest and back stang with the words of defeat.

But this was not over. This was far from over.

Nashira would celebrate her hollow victory, unaware of what she had just unleashed. In the coming weeks Adarin would continue his plans, his anger and hatred twisted and stoked more than ever before. The burning desire had turned into something more malicious, more evil than simply revenge.

And come Spring Denval would know true terror.

Nashira :

Wonderful; full marks for hypnotism for working against Adarin on this one with some beautiful writing. I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you did too. Denval has lots of fun coming its way Spring. Thanks for making Adarin even more twisted!