Those Time Set Aside [Cethin]

[Fallacy]

Spring 90 512 AV Alvadas, there was nothing quite like it. No, nothing could quite compare to the splendor that could be held within, nor could anyone question the unreality of the place. It was a great place to get away from reality, but for some, it was a place of distrust, murder, and other shady acts. For some it wasnt Ionus paradise, but a place filled to the brim with mysteries that one never could solve, or better yet, mysteries that are better left unsloved. Sometimes there is a reason for things going missing, a reason for legend, a reason for secrets, but then there is always those who stick their nose in a little too far. They sniff out secrets and information like they live off it, and it is those nosy people who ususally uncover something better left forgotten. It is a shame that Alvadas has one too many of these people, and the city has one too many secrets. The city of illusions, ha, should be renamed the city of secrets. Secrets unresolved call out for attention, and attention is just what this nuit was going to give them. Summer was on its way and the chilly air was leaving the city. The sun poured down rays of heat and light as it reached its peak in the sky, looking down on the people below... The city seemed to shift quite frequently as the nuit walked the streets, going from one storefront to another, to another, but then he found himself in a forest. Boy was the city playful today, but the shifting seemed to stop as the nuit walked forward following the dirt trail which was now present. It was learned a long time ago that the city can present itself in any way that it wants, the forest was just another representation of the complex being that was Alvadas. The walk was peaceful and uninterrupted by anyone. He was alone, but not for long. The city seemed to have placed him just where it wanted him to be. Sometimes Alvadas does that, placing people to meet. Its more than coincidence. Its the intertwining of fates between two people orchestrated by the city itself. The nuit didnt have to walk run before he ran into something, something unseen, and the force of it made him stumble backwards and the sound of someone falling could be heard. There was an imprint on the ground where the invisible thing landed, handprints, a buttprint, and it seemed to be shocked. Stammered words came from the mouth, "S...S..Sorry mister" the voice was softspoken and feminine. With that it picked itself up and went on its way, not noticing that it dropped something. Closer examination would reveal it to be a letter of sorts, sealed. What could it be, and who does it belong to? It was unmarked, only a wax seal in the shape of a skull could be seen when the letter was flipped. A voice called out, coming from a distance, calling for whoever or whatever it was to come back there. When they came into the sight it was revealed a pair were chasing the invisible thing. Their apparel is azure, Ionu’s color, and their back is decorated with their sigil—the inverted triangle, covered with a finger raised in hushing; those who keep the silence of Alvadas. It seemed they were looking for something by obvious deduction.

[Cethin]

Time had brought him to Alvadas. Cethin had been wandering for so long. Longer than he could remember. Longer than mortals even lived. As he walked, the streets changed around him. The City of Illusions -- a dynamic tapestry, whose pattern was rewritten with every passing moment. It seemed time held no dominion here. He considered that, a ring of azure glowing within his eyes as he looked around. His face was shadowed by the hood he always wore up. The flesh of this body was starting to decay, though he had begun to master the art of hiding such destruction of the flesh from others. Buildings of stone made way to verdant foliage, his feet walking along a dirt path, winding into a dense forest seemingly somewhere central in the city. For just a moment, a crooked smile crossed his face. And then he crashed into the unseen force. He fell backwards slightly, and watched in brow-knitted confusion as something, or someone, thudded onto the floor in front of him. A feminine apology came from the air in front of him, and then footprints scurried off down the dirt path. Cethin regained his balance and noted the letter that had fallen to the floor. Life was full of odd occurrences -- and yet, he always seemed to be a part of them. He picked it up, ancient eyes falling upon the waxen seal. A skull. How intriguing, he thought dryly. All of a sudden, two figures came running and shouting past him, and it quickly became clear they were looking for whoever Cethin had just bumped into. He hurriedly secreted the scroll in his robe so that he could unfurl its contents later, and stood dumbfounded as they passed.

[Fallacy]

OOCI really like the purple theme! The two figures with the Azure clothing ran past the nuit, too busy in their pursuit of the invisible lady to really pay any attention neither to the nuit nor to the letter which was quickly pocketed. Could they see or somehow track this fleeing person? The nuit would continue on his way to… where ever he was going. If no destination was in mind then Cethin would find himself walking in these lovely woods. Just another face of Alvadas. As time ticked by Cethin could feel the letter getting heavier in his robe. It was gaining weight that was for sure. How odd. If it was taken out and examined he could see the area around the seal had strange markings which were not there before, and they grew, multiplied, the ink slowly growing over the card in the nuits hand, and then… he could see the ink spreading from the card onto his arm. If he would drop the letter the ink would float up and continue crawling under the nuits robes. The touch of the ink burned on his skin, and no matter how far he distanced himself from the letter, or if he didn’t drop it at all, the ink would continue marking him. The feeling of snakes crawling through his skin, itching, burning, creeping could be felt. All this would go on for several chimes, and even when it ‘stopped’, a slight slithering feeling could be felt under his robes where the ink was still moving. What, what just happened? What would he do next? If the nuit checked himself he could see the ink was moving, which was the cause of the slight slithering feeling that he got. The ink looked like writing, but none that he was familiar with at first glance… but, if he looked even close he could see that it was Ancient Tongue. Though the words shifted and rearranged in such a way that he could only pick out a word here and there, but one more commonly seen would be ‘Randjaq‘. What was happening to him? What is this letter?

[Cethin]

OOCThank you -- purple and black mesh well! The azure-clad guards rushed past, completely missing him in their pursuit. Cethin sighed, turning from the chase, and walked in the opposite direction. Alvadas decided he would stay in the forest for a little while longer. He was intrigued, of course, but he would not follow them on their chase. Where Ionu's city was involved -- sometimes it was best to stay out of intrigue, even if it went against his better nature. As he walked he noticed something peculiar. The scroll seemed to get heavier in his robes, visibly dragging the fabric down in a sunken wave. He stopped in a clearing, surrounded by a copse of tall trees, forced to pull the deadweight scroll he had pilfered from his robe. When he looked upon it, the seal seemed to grow outwards, lines of ink crawling across the paper. It quickly became clear this was no normal scroll. It was magical -- he could feel it pulsing in his hand. The ink marched on. Recoiling, Cethin dropped the scroll, but to his horror the ink sidled through the air, burrowing beneath his skin and writhing up his arm. It burned. By the Gods, his rotting flesh scorched. Cethin had never moved so much in his life. As the ink explored the channels of ichor beneath his borrowed flesh, it seared its own path, and he danced to its painful tune. He cried out, scowling, moving, swatting. Anything to waylay the sensation. As it settled, the ink seemed to form into letters, into words. Ancient Tongue. A language he understood in a fragmentary sense. Randjaq. And others. Amalgamating along his arms. Finally, his Treaver eyes fell upon the scroll, widening somewhat. Whatever secrets it had held had now been passed to him. He was a walking message of unknown proportions, the ink the beast that now ravaged his soul.

[Fallacy]

OOCJust so you understand, nuits don’t breathe. They are just animated dead bodies. They are dead. I know if I didn’t point it out, it would bug me xD So, Im telling you now that they do what every other dead body does ‘function’ wise. A magical aura would flare about him as the words settled onto his skin, moving, shifting, just like the city of Alvadas. Cethin would be half right in his assumption that the message moved onto him. The scroll was still sealed by the ink, nothing had changed, and in fact after the ordeal was over the letter was as light as it once was. Though he would find his body got just a tad heavier. The weight of words? Slowly they would start to disappear on his skin, but in their stead he could hear whispers, a thin voice sayings words long lost. A voice that demanded attention and got more intense as the markings disappeared. It started out soft, and gentle, but grew as the words sunk in more and the spell, curse, whatever this was took its effects. ”Roza Recha. Randjaq Djas. Dala Randjud Nadar Kasai. Yomi Yaq Sutla Daeq… Korad, Pond Pechi Djed. Djunn kasai…” the more intense the voice got the faster the ancient tongue was spouted out until the nuit was hearing maybe every other word, ”Glig… Capos Cha… Hea Adra…” soon it morphed again, the words were spoken so fast that it just sounded like noise in his head. He couldn’t recognize it, could no longer draw meaning from the voice. The scene would change around him, the forest moving, and suddenly he found himself in front of the Azure pair, the guards from before. They seemed to have caught the invisible person, reviled to be a small girl about fourteen or fifteen. Her hair a long dark brown mass, and her eyes were just as dark. Pinned to the tree her face bore a grin as if she wasn’t afraid of them. Her eyes seemed to be plotting, waiting for an opening as she was held against a tree. Spying the nuit she desperately called out, yelling for help, thrashing against the human restraints holding her.

[Cethin]

Gazing deadpan, the markings began to fade from his borrowed flesh, and as they did so he heard whispers. It was the Ancient Tongue, but the words were spoken too fast for him to gather what they meant. As the ink vanished, he noted the scroll was still in tact, but swatted at his mottled ears as the voice grew more intense. It seemed to blot everything out, refusing to leave. Never before had he heard something so intense. Suddenly, the scene was changing again. He was beginning to get disorientated by this constant change of environment, but that was Alvadas all over. Showing, concealing. Making things obvious, then hiding them just out of reach. The guards in blue appeared before him again, their faces strenuous. He glanced between them, and saw a girl there, held tightly by them. She looked a mess, which was something coming from a nuit, and something burned in her eyes, as if she was planning her escape. She was young -- at least, she looked young by human standards. When she saw him, she began to writhe, and called out for him. Cethin instinctively moved a hand towards the scroll in his robes. She assumed he would help -- that he was some kind of hero. Well he wasn't. He looked away, indifferent, wondering if he should have even picked up the scroll in the first place. There was something though. Something mysterious and complex was occurring in the city. He looked to her, ignoring the guards that still held her up against a tree. "What is it you want, child?"

[Fallacy]

The girl trashed some more trying to shake off the people. It seemed that the guards wanted something, something that the girl presumable had. Though they couldn’t yet search her due to her trashing. Legs kicking in the air intolerable of the people before her, she called again, and then the nuit answered her. The voice surprised the two holding her to the tree, and distracted them for just a moment. Taking that chance a foot swung in the air, nailing one of them squarely between the legs. The shock, surprise, and pain set in and he yelled out releasing his grip on the child. With one arm free the rest happened in a flash, a glint of steel shined in the light, and the other one holding onto her let go, stumbling over holding his new wound. It was followed up by three or four similar flashes, and in but a moment a life was taken. Four hilts of daggers sticking out of his chest, he fell over coughing up blood, chocking on it. The other one was still on the ground, unrecovered from the blow he received. The girl loomed over him and in a quick movement a dagger went into the back of his neck, severing his spine, killing him also. Wiping her dagger clean on the now dead mans back, the dagger returned to its original resting place. ”Please, move on in peace” the girl said and bowed her head over the body before going over to the second body and repeating the procedure, cleaning her daggers, and then saying a short prayer for the time being. ”Two more…” she said, sounding scared by the prospect. Though it was as if her thought was cut off, it looked like she was going to continue, but stopped and turned towards the nuit. Bowing to him, a sign of respect, she then raised her head and looked at him, smiling, ”Thank you.” she said, ”If it were not for you Ionu knows what would have happened.” she said her voice barely a whisper, forcing the nuit to really listen to her if he wanted to catch everything she said, ”They have been coming more frequently.” she said, looking at the nuit, but not talking to him. Someone else. Would he catch it? If Cethin would observe the girl more closely, it would seem that she had a faint light about her, an almost visible aura. ”How should I know? He has been gone for days.” she pleaded, sounding like she was justifying herself to someone, ”I had to leave the shop.” she said sounding a little defeated. It was then she realized that she must have sounded a bit crazy, and blushed looking at the nuit. ”Im sorry,” she said, her eye contact with the dead man unshifting, ”thank you for saving me.” with that she went on her way, turning and just walking like nothing happened. The bodies of the men would no longer be there, disappeared out of sight, but were they out of mind?

[Cethin]

The guards turned at his words, and the girl seized the opportunity with a vicious kick. Cethin almost smiled. The situation quickly escalated as the girl brandished a blade, and within moments the two men were dead. His suspicions had been correct - there was more to this girl than her bratty actions displayed. She slashed one of the guard's spines, severing his life. Those were the movements of a trained killer. Cethin was not afraid, but he watched her carefully. She could sooner turn on him and take his own endless life. Sickeningly, she made ritual prayers to the bodies. Did she think she could excuse her murders like this? Cethin was curious. People were odd - very odd. The girl turned and spoke to him. He raised an eyebrow, shaking his hands in denial. "I did not speak out to protect you girl." She seemed to speak through him for a moment. He tilted his head, so that perhaps she would catch sight of that strange eye he watched through, touched by Tanroa. "And who might they be? You're talking nonsense, child. Who? What shop? Why are you even talking to me?" The girl seemed to blaze, as if a light poured forth from her body. He stepped a little closer, hoping to study it somewhat. But she turned and left. When he looked round, the bodies had gone too. Cethin was not one for snap decisions, but he hurriedly followed her. "Do not walk away from me when I ask questions of you?" he demanded of the distance between.

[Fallacy]

When the nuit would take a closer look at the visible aura around the girl, wisps of what looked like smoke could be seen if observed closely. Vague features overlapping the girls, like a second person, but transparent. Barely seen before the girl started to walk away and the aura became more obscure and less obvious. The girl would walk a few more feet before stopping and turning when he demanded that she not walk away when he asked her questions. Looking him in the eyes she answered, ”Do you believe in Fate, mister?” she asked, ”Fate… No matter how many illusions Ionu makes of this city everything will still be bound to happen. Like this meeting, everything is not chance, but subject to Fate. Just as their death was no mistake, your being here is no coincidence. If you were not here, then those people wouldn’t have been distracted by your voice, and I wouldn’t have been freed.” she stated. ”Even the city of illusions is bound by fate. Nothing can escape the master plan.” she nodded. ”So, tell me… What is your purpose?” she asked pointing at him, Alvadas shifting as she finished the sentence, and now in the distance there could be seen a rather large shop. Huge windows displayed the dark products, dulled a little by the apparent age and dust. Sandwiched between two windows stood a red door, this was Divine Legacy. She then walked towards the shop, ”This is the shop.” she explained, ”Divine Legacy is where I work and live. Lately strange people have been coming into the store and wreaking the place… Looking for something.” she said looking down, ”It seemed they were after a letter that arrived for Master Karash not a few days ago. However, Karash has been out on business and has yet to return.” She went up to the shop and placed a hand on the handle of the door, opening it slightly before turning back around to face the nuit, ”I tried to protect what was Karashes and took the letter for myself.” she said, ”They, the people showing up at the shop, followed me.” she shrugged, stepping into the place, ”Now, it seems Fate has directed you my way. I ask you, why are you talking to me?” she asked, holding the door open. ”Come in.” she invited him into the shop, ”Karash says that Divine Legacy only appears to those who have a purpose here. It’s a mystical, but cursed shop.” she warned, ”Everything here has a personality of its own.” she said with a smile, leaving the door open, walking further into the shop. All sorts of knick nacks could be found, from jewelry to charms, bracelets, clothing, hats and helmets, dolls and various other toys such as tops to things like swords and armor… it seemed to have a little of everything scattered around the shelves of the store, in no particular order. Was it like that for a reason? Of course… Going over to the front desk the girl picked up a doll that had an odd resemblance to herself. It had the same hair color, same length, and downright same clothing. Picking it up in her hands, there was an almost visible relaxing wave that went through her, and she turned around a changed person. Giving a shy smile she seemed to turn transparent herself.

[Cethin]

"Do I believe in fate?" Cethin almost laughed. Marked by the Lady of Time herself. Time was fluid. Moveable. There was no fixed future. "My purpose...? Answers. To find answers. I have work to do." He heard Tanroa's voice in the back of his head. While he spoke, the scene shifted again, until his eyes fell upon a not so distant establishment. Large windows revealed curious of all kinds, of foul and dark machinations. He followed the girl towards it as she spoke more nonsense. He truly had no clue what she was talking about, except for the letter. The letter he had picked up and taken. "I spoke to you because you spoke to me. I do not integrate with insolent children for the fun of it," Cethin spat. Despite his retort, he followed her into Divine Legacy. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps he had a purpose here. He had partially given up on trying to understand the will of the illusory city. As he walked in, the Nuit's eyes were pulled in all directions. There was so much... stuff. For that's what it was. Bits of everything. Curious of all kinds. So much to understand. He watched the girl lift up what could only be described as a doll. Faced away from him, he saw that aura pulse. He was not skilled in auristics, but her aura had a life of its own. It was not normal. When she turned, she was changed. He could see through her, and she seemed coy, calmer than before. "I wonder if you plan to tell me just what's going on...?"