Shadows in the Mirror (Serrif)

by **Archelon** on April 2nd, 2012, 5:56 pm

For the longest time Serrif would have no answer to his words, only the feeling that some great force was weighing him on a set of scales beyond his imagining. He had been right that he was worthless of her time... and he had been wrong. Rak'keli aided all those in need of healing, whether the scars be physical, mental, or of the sort that would resonate in the individual's soul.

But that did not mean she had to reveal the specific reasons for why she did what she did. All those would come in time, and time was the one gift that had been given to this man since the days he had washed up upon the isle's shores.

Upon his skin a mark materialized, coming into the fore by the will of another being beyond his normal understanding to contemplate. It burned on his skin in gentle warmth as the rest of her powers healed his shattered frame. The bones broken over many a time as a slave were healed, his arms, his ribs... but for some reason the scars on his skin would remain. A reminder of the past he would fight to protect others against as it warred within him. The duality of a protector merged with a healer instead of a shallow callous killer. "Remember your words today man, for I surely will and will be watching. I give you a chance to prove yourself child... do not lose this chance."

With that strange bit of warning, for whatever unfathomable reasons. Rak'keli Idly reached up her hand to gently touch Serrif on the forehead . A wave of warmth washed over his senses, clearing the madness vision water brought and he would gain a glimpse that he wasn't just inside the first floor of the tower, but at the top. About him the protective snakes of the goddess were poised to strike. A knife lay upon the stones, and Ildin was in a nearby alcove being tended to by her fellow sisters of the isle. His senses brought the last bit of her words as confusion set in. There were so many things he did not realize, so many bits that had failed to pierce the veil of sluggish thought.

There was pressure upon his chest, and he looked down to notice a snake was wrapped around a hand that had once held a knife. A knife pointed at the eye of a goddes. Even the guardian snakes had gashes, as if they had been injured trying to restrain someone... What did it mean? How far had his fever dreams fallen that he would bear a weapon inside the goddess' own chambers? At the very top of her tower, and not the entrance like he had thought himself to be?

"Now, Serrif. You must rest. Healing is one thing, weariness is another. " the gentle timbre of words whispered in his ears as they rang in his head, echoing with the force of a heavy klaxon being beat upon by the drummer's tune as his lapsed into blessed unconsciousness.

When he awoke it would be three days later, and he would become conscious in one of the Opal Orders many infirmaries. His eyes would awake to see an opal order healer resting by his bed. He was chained down as the healer took notice of his stirrings. A straw of water would be held to his lips and he would drink.

Drink for this was the first refreshment his parched throat had possessed in many a days. Over time, as more healers came in to check upon him the bindings would become undone and like the patient he was tended to until he could be moved to a nice padded chair on a balcony overlooking the shoreline. Where the gentle lapping of waves would helpe soothe any soul. The female healer stayed with him the entire time , letting the man collect his thoughts before speaking the inevitable question, "Serrif, do you know what happened to you?"

by **Serrif Von Chatlyn** on April 3rd, 2012, 12:26 am

Nothing really made sense to him, not now. Not aver how vivid and exact the visions had been. Not after how intense they had been blurring quite well the lien between reality and dreams. Between fevered states of vivid hallucinations and what was reality; what actually was. He didn’t know how horrible his inner self was. How destructive it was until now. Until it came out as a vivid horrible alter ego of sorts. HE would never do what his alter self had done. No, he wouldn’t. But he had. And still after all this no matter what had or hadn’t happened Rak’keli still laid a mark on his body…or had she? Still confused he drifted off and was carried away. He had no way of gauging reality now. Not after he had faced the many lies of vivid hallucination.

He was going insane! He had to be! He would drink when the straw hit his lips but he wouldn’t say anything. Not to anyone; no he needed to digest what had happened to him. He had a few new scars that matched up with the burn wounds he had received from the building. Or had they been from something else? He also had a few bruises from the snakes where they had coiled themselves around him. But he had no way of knowing what had been real…no his body told him. He could still smell smoke, or was he making that up as well.

Days passed as his sanity came back and the gravity of what had just happened nearly overcame him. He couldn’t talk…he didn’t know if there were words to display the ocean of emotion that washed over him. He was eerily silent all the time. Focused inwardly on the battle of confusion that if unchecked would overwhelm him entirely. Every bit of his energy was focused on trying to piece together the pieces. The details made no sense to him, nor did what had happened overall. The pieces…they just didn’t fit together…not easily.

For the first time in his life since his escape he was afraid. But not of some external force he couldn’t control. He was afraid instead of himself; of what he had done what he could do. He was silent, humbled but at the same time very very weary. No idea what had happened, but he knew he was obviously a danger. Sanity was waning at best. Without a clue to what had happened. He only knew several key facts that he tried with all his power to try and piece together.

He had been hallucinating, but now it was a matter of deciding what had and had not happened. He knew he had injured Ildin, and yet carried her to Rak’keli…or so he thought. He believed he had fought through a fire to save children, his burns told him that much even if they were healed. But as far as everything else…he wasn’t sure. Even as he looked down on his forearm and saw the twisting serpents he still doubted if it was real. The shimmering opalescent color told him Rak’keli had marked him…his bones felt new. He remembered her healing them…or he thought she had.

Uncertainty had crept its way into every crevice of his mind over the days. He would wake and close his eyes staying silent trying to fit this nonsense together in some way. Rak’keli’s words were the only ones that made any sense to him at all. He was granted this chance to prove himself something besides what his alter self was. He had anger, revenge, and destruction woven into him. His scars attested to this and much more. But he also had compassion, love, and redemption. Now more than ever he felt the need for redemption.

Overlooking the ocean the question was posed. Did he knew what happened to him? Did he really need to know? What was important to him was he had overcome his other self. He had come out victorious in a battle against himself…and more. A more that he wasn’t even aware of yet. Did he knew what happened to him.

“I found out who I really am.” The answer simple, but the only one he could manage.

by **Archelon** on April 3rd, 2012, 2:51 am

"Perhaps you found yourself, perhaps you only found part of it or nothing at all." The nurse said as she started to speak. "It is not for me to say the answer to something only you can discover for yourself. But I'll tell you what I know: after drinking from the waters to bring upon you the gifts of Sight. Your mind fell ill. You were cared for here, in the opal order's Clinic, but during your treatments your mind fell to the chaos within. You were sickened with Fever, wracked with the pain as your mind shackled itself. You went Mad.

Several times you fought against those who wish to aid you, even when they bathed you in cold water to cool your body temperature: But you did not kill any of them. In fact it seemed you struggled to stop yourself when you could have done more harm."

The nurse sighed and continued: [color=skyblue]"When you escaped the custody of your stewards you stumbled into the children's ward, knocking over a candle which soon set light to a flame, scaring the children there and ultimately growing to threaten their lives: But then you seemed to stop yourself again, not only that but you beat at the fires with your hands, trying to smother it. Turning over a bed to extinquish the main source as smaller fires scorched the walls and fabric. You then brought the children out and fled from the nurses. They were delayed to put the rest of the flames out as you fled again with Ildrin running after you."

Taking a moment to compose herself the nurse shed a tear as she remembered, but then straightened up to continue. "In your haste to get away, to escape with random cries of 'Slavers' and telling others to stay back, you bumped into a nurse carrying a tray. On that tray was knife they had just removed from a patient. The tray flipped over, and the knife entered her side and tore through her flesh, wounding her grievously: But somehow in your delusional state you sensed the woman's state of shock and plight after your hand grasped upon the already bloody knife. You sought to aid her, bringing her to someone to heal. You brought her to Ildrin, who pressed upon the wound as you fled again. She in turn passed the woman onto a healer who arrived in time to save her life before she followed you."

Looking towards the window the nurse stopped to bring a drink of water to Serrif's patting down his brow with a damp cloth before she sat back to continue, "You made your way, through the temple dashing like mad, and shouting Ildrin's name , and finally made your way to the steps of the South Tower and began to climb. On the stairs, near the top, where our Lady stays in her rest Ildrin caught up with you. Trying to drag you down, You fought Ildrin. Screaming and cursing about slavers and their deathmatches. 'Two shall enter , and only one shall leave.' is what is spoken to have been said. Yet still Ildrin in her care for you still struggled, the sounds of the struggle brought the attention of Rak'keli's guardian snakes who encircled you just as you seemed to realize who it was you were attacking. You still had the knife at this point. And then something continued to change in you. Something came back and you cast the knife away in the end. This was a good thing."

For a long time, Serrif was silent, and then asked the single most important question of his life. "So what happens now?"

The nurse will be silent, instead she will turn a mirror towards Serrif to show him his face just as any other day save now there was a rather haggard man staring back at him. Even with his healing his days enfeebled would have him in good need of some warm soup. However, one thing in the refection was clear as it moved to survey the breadth of his visage. The mark of Rakkeli was there. "You have been granted leave to remain on the isle, though It will be some time for you to prove yourself capable of taming your inner demons, but the Opal order shall be watching Serrif. Indeed whatever happens I think a rough road lies ahead of you. You were once a slave. That much is known as fact. Yet, even though you are not a slave you have still yet to master thyself. That will take time, and most of all forgiveness."

"Forgiveness?" the man would ask.

"Tomorrow since the fever has left you, you will be free to go. Your mistress still requires your training and perhaps over the next week take only soups and broth until you have regained your strength. Now, take a tonic that has been prepared for you and rest."

At the nurse's bidding , he would take the tonic and sleep would soon come to the man and so would another day of rest. Just like the many other days of rest and recovery he had been given upon the shores of the isle. The mirror would stay at the bedside, its reflection staying with him, a constant reminder of the shadows within as he slept peacefully.

Soon though, the man would be told of a time he would have to leave to prove himself. To do some service to the Order. But the nurse was too kind to tell him that right away but soon enough his mistress would tell him of that decisions as well. But there was a second thing which hadn't been disclosed to him. When he bore the knife... something had been felt in the room there with him. Something which had been attracted to him and had only wanted to spread murderous pain.

For this reason, if not this reason alone, the opal order would take great care with this man to see if he could settle the demons within. A trip to Riverfall had already been decided, so long as they knew he was prepared to go...

~Fin.

by **Archelon** on April 3rd, 2012, 3:01 am

Thread Award

"Stop in the name of Turtles everywhere... just think of the children D: , The children!"

And the Results!!!!:

Serrif :

Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? :