[Wright Memorial Library] Brat (Evalin)

[Wrenmae]

"Hard to take you seriously in that form, Evalin," Wrenmae said bluntly, raising an eyebrow as he looked down at her, "It must have been easy to play the part of an innocent from place to place, but were you not such a boon to me now..." He smiled, "I'd burn you to ashes...especially if I thought you murdered the child for her body."

There was an easy sort of threat in his words, the kind that he felt no need to act on, but one he wanted to put out there. If this was the sort of nuit that hollowed the bodies of the innocent and budding lives, he'd erase everything that made her what she was...and do it without remorse.

But now...he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.


"A familiar then," he said, gesturing to the amulet around her neck, "Mine's just as trifling at times, but a companion nonetheless. There. We know two secrets of each other. Our lives are tied to our familiars, you'd know that easily enough...and I now know that even the undead can bind their souls to a denizen of that world. Curious."

He turned back to the renewed portal.

"Show me another world, Evalin, and tell me of yourself...what brings a soul such as you to take the mantle of a nuit upon your shoulders?" He turned and frowned, "It is not an enviable one, surely...save for the time it affords you, little else is tempting."

He strengthened the line in one of the designs. "Or do you crave the parasitic borrowing of corpses?"

[Evalin]

"Not as easily as you might think," Evalin replied smoothly, without missing a beat, "And rest assured the child was... a gift of sorts." the slightest hesitation, and a light in those cold red eyes that seemed, if but for a second, like the barest hint of remorse. This was quickly masked once more, and the face of stone was set back in place.

Waving a hand idly, as if to shrug off the veiled threat, Evalin continued, "I more than any know the value that resides in a life's possibilities. Never would I waste such, for it is what I strive to protect."

Still you pine over an unavoidable cost. Mind that your heart does not thaw further, or all that you have strived to achieve will be for naught.

Ever I know this to be true, yet from you I need no reminder.

Evalin would smile at Wrenmae's observations of her necklace, nodding slowly at his words, "Indeed quite insightful of you. Though you might be surprised at the scope of which my kind can do as compared to your own. Though we be deceased, do not take lack of breath for lack of life." A twisted philosophy, but one Evalin enjoyed none the less. Passing her hand over the necklace Evalin whispered, "Be there no reason to hide any longer. Awaken my dear Tsenrika."

The necklace would shimmer for a moment, the slowly melt into Evalin's palm, quickly forming into a solid sphere with perfectly smooth surfaces that reflected the world around it. Once released the familiar would move to float over her left shoulder, bobbing slowly up and down as Evalin leaned on her staff, "Ask you questions that many others have asked before you, yet none have come to understand the reasonings behind the decision."

Pausing the immortal would watch as Wren finished up the circle, her smile fading slightly as she continued, "Time child. I broke free of the cycle for the simple need of time." She chuckled, closing her eyes, "Though even with time what I wish might never be within my grasp at all, yet still I strive for the simple possibility."

For the moment the prospect of a new world was ignored, and Evalin's eyes turned with interest on Wrenmae, "Tell me child, why do you seek such power? What purpose have you in this world?"

[Wrenmae]

Irylid, Zan's voice rose in his head, Filthy ice-bringers

Do I detect a defensiveness about you?

Their kind and mine don't mix...literally. They're so...so...boring. Just watching everything and making vapid observations. They're like talking books. Books about watching walls...or paint drying.

Time to pull the curtain on our little hidden duo. The nuit has been so kind...

And so you reciprocate. Whatever. One of use has to be responsible and I suppose that won't be you this time around.

From his hip, the water flask attached there shattered into a rising, twisting, writhing ball of water that floated over Wren's shoulder, facing the Irylid.

It's looking at me.

Look right back

What do you think I'm doing? We don't have eyes, moron, we see everything. An Irylid is just better at remembering and noticing.

My mistake.

Always.

"What do you want then, Evalin, that you require the life of a nuit to achieve it?" He regarded her over the symbols, bending here and there to straighten the lines. He let her question pass over him at first, making sure the summoning circle was perfect before wielding on her.

"There are certain injustices in this world that the weak cannot solve. There are certain ideas on Mizahar that has contributed to the lack of movement since three hundred years after the Valterrian. Mizahar is content to remain in its closed city states, pandering to the weak, and the strong and their message is ever diluted. One day..."

He paused, considering his words, "One day I will become more than human, as Xhyvas is my witness I will rise beyond my mortal seeming and spin the gods to action."

Letting the words quiet in the room, puddle away to nothing, he spoke again, quieter.

"I have come a long way through much adversity. I do not seek a return to the Valterrian, only an enlightenment as it was before that event ever took place."

[Evalin]

Loathsome creature. Its kind is best left to wander aimlessly about for what little good they give to those they meet.

Evalin looked up a bit surprised at Tsenrika, What is this? Never have you talked of another as thus. Does your kind not fair well together?

Evalin could almost envision a look of disgust crossing the Irylid's face as it spoke, tone tripping with its deepest feelings, Those watery creatures are the lowest of creatures found upon my planet. Lazy, simplistic and quite bothersome. They have no true use but to be entertained, and when not done so they become quite the nuisance.

Evalin looked at Zan, raising an eyebrow at Wren, This boy seems to find him quite suitable for his needs. I wonder if your words stem from some deeper seated feud among your races.

Matter it not for the likes of my kind would not dignify their existence with the honor of feuding. Useless to convince a beast to change its ways when it has not the intelligence to speak itself.

Pulling her mind from her familiars annoyance Evalin returned her attention in full to Wrenmae. Pulling at a stray strand of hair she would speak slowly, tilting her head, "What you ask be my reasons? Well my dear boy, if we would continue as we are perhaps one day I might enlighten you to my grand design. For now, however," She straighted, walking to stand closer to Wrenmae as he finished the circle, "Mine goals shall remain in my own confidence."

Letting him continue Evalin would quietly ponder the man's own future goals, but of course this quickly drew the question, "Tell me then, for what reason do you believe that you are to be this bringer of change? I know of several who would say their purpose was similar, yet they might in fact be of greater right to claim this destiny. Why is it you believe yourself to be this Daeq-Dala, one to shape this change?"

[Wrenmae]

She spoke as he worked, shoring up the uneven edges, recreating the exact circle design she had shown him. He was frowning, ever so slightly, when he finished and straightened. He looked up where he expected her to be, checking himself and looking down at the misleading child-form she wore. “Just as your goals are obscured, so thus are my claims to this role you’ve defined…this Daek-Dala. Nader Canoch, yes?” He stepped out of the circle, elevati ng himself up onto the desk. “I’m not expert in the language, but I can recognize it, even speak a little when necessary.” He crossed his arms, looking almost forlorn at the circle he’d created. “There are too many who would bend information given freely to an advantage.” Nodding at her, he allowed a rueful grin to steal across his face. It was a flash of something beneath the arrogant Waveguard, something capricious and gleeful…something bound. “You would be no different, I expect. So instead I’ll simply say that I have the power necessary to make my dreams a reality. I am not to be trifled with as aren’t you…I imagine.”



He indicated the circle, “Now,” he said, staring into the simple chalk lines, “Let’s contact another world.” There had been an edge to him though, something lurking even beneath the playfulness that had surfaced only briefly. If Evalin was keen enough, she might spot the reservoir of hatred, as deep and boundless as the sea itself, lurking in his core...a putrid corruption that tainted his insides into a hollow, destructive, pyre...even if Wrenmae himself did not seem to be aware.

[Evalin]

"I will grant you that I see truth in your words, and perhaps wisdom can be found in them as well." Evalin looked over the circle, absently twisting her staff in her hands. Over her shoulder Tsenrika bobbed, floating close to her ear as he said, Power and Youth... rarely a combination for the betterment of any.

Certainly I see this my dear Tsenrika, yet... Her eyes of red looked over Wrenmae and his own familiar, and she smiled a grim smile, What care I for the betterment of any?

Straightening Evalin walked over into the middle of the circle, eyeing its edges with a practiced eye. Looking at Wrenmae she chuckled, a strange noise coming from a child's lips, "So persistent I see... Yet i might indulge you. Perhaps I will show you a bit of my own power and influence." Her eyes found Wrenmae's, "Just a taste of course."

Looking down at the white lines that were drawn, Evalin took her staff in both hands. In her mind she called forth a picture she knew all to well, the diagram she had invented just a short time ago. She saw the picture of the four lined circle that Wrenmae had drawn himself, and over it she now placed another circle, but this one held a triangular shape at its center that overlapped with the four lines in the current one. She overlayed the three lined circle over the four, the outer and inner circles, along with the 16 smaller circles used for coordinates, layed over the other so that they matched nearly perfectly. Within the 16 perimeter circles Evalin placed the coordinates: 1069002583582104. From the edges of the triangles she drew lines that converged on a place to the edge of the innermost circle in the drawing, and this picture she held firmly in her minds eye as she let her djed flow into the staff, imprinting what she wished to be created in its very being.

Glancing at Wrenmae, her smile growing, Evalin slammed her staff on the ground, fire leaping from the tip to form the shape invisioned by the Immortal witch. As the fire faded in its place there was a drawing created in black scorch marks upon the ground, the circle Evalin had created in her mind brought to life in just a few ticks. Stepping to the edge of the circle Evalin cut her thump upon a sharp edge of her staff, waving her staff at Wrenmae, "Step you back from the portal."

Extending her hand she allowed a single drop of black ichor fall upon the edge, and a sound like a thousand water falls filled the small room. A flood of energy began from the edges of the portal, flowing inward until it became a whirlpool of flashing lights and energy. Once the flow reached the center of the circle it dipped downward into the floor, blackness filling the space. Suddenly from the portal a hand appeared, a large, monstrous hand at grasped at the edge of the portal. Following close after the first a second hand came forth, clawing at the flowing energy as it pulled itself up against the current. If Wrenmae looked closely he would notice that one hand of the creature only had three fingers. Slowly the figure began to extract itself further, its shoulders appearing, and a head. Over its entire form flowed the twisting energy, and the creature, a Diverse, looked as if he were pulling himself up from beneath water. Djed flowed over him, and as he finally stood fulling in the center of the circle the waves finally subsided, and his form could be seen. He stood close to 6'5, his shoulders large and deformed with knotted muscles that looked far to large for his frame coursing down his arms and the rest of his body. His right arm hung lower than his left, and his lopsided facial features and bald head did little to add to his appear. The creature blinked slowly, looking about the room in a dazed way, as if it was not quite sure where it was.

Stepping back from the circle Evalin leaned upon her staff, "What think you of my discipline now boy?"

[Wrenmae]

She spoke with a lavish arrogance, the kind afforded by the fortunate in Alvadas or the Gated in Sunberth. It was a purchased arrogance, one that had not been marred, scarred, even scratched. Had Evalin ever been backed against the wall? Was her life ever threatened to the point of scarring that fragile facade?

He could not imagine hurting her, not now. His mind rebuked the injury of a child, although he knew that the owner of that body was long dead. Instead he was content to stand away from the tiny sorceress as she prepared another portal. This time a different number appeared on the ground, coordinates to a plane he had not yet seen. As the power swirled, coalesced, leaped, Wrenmae followed it. He'd need to replicate this process one day and so each method was watched with diligence.

He was especially drawn to her staff, as the lines that were traced in fire appeared on the ground. Another magical staff. Certainly, if he had not been convinced before that she was someone to at least mark with caution, he certainly did now.

He started away from the Diverse, a horrifying mess of muscles and mismatched features that pulled from the nothing and stood within the circle, blinking dully at the world around it.

Instinctively, Wren's hand found his blade, but he did not draw it. Instead his gaze flickered from the sorceress to the summoned and back again.

"Remarkable," he allowed himself to say, "A passage to transgress on alien soil...certainly a fine talent to possess." He paused, measuring his words carefully,

"Your eyes...they glow." He was not looking at her, but at the beast still in the room. "I have known a few nuits in my time but none of them shared your unique gaze." He caught her in his vision for a moment before returning defensively to the Diverse.

"Is there a secret there?"

[Evalin]

If only this child really knew. If only he could have seen what she had done, what she had suffered to stand where she was now. Arrogance... It wasn't arrogance for the sake of her own power, it was arrogance that had become like a mask to hide what was truly in the darkness of that hood. It was her solace, her protection. It was what she portrayed for the sake of others, at the very least she told herself that.

Tsenrika slowly circled Evalin's head, bobbing slowly up and down, Your mind grows distant. Forget you not the contract we have made.

Evalin glanced up from the swirling energies, eyes locking on the familiar as her mask of fake emotions fell away for a moment, Matter it not my Dear Tsenrika. Be you to your place now, and play the silent role once more.

Evalin fixed that smile upon her lips once more, though this time it seemed much more difficult to keep it in place, "This art of mine is one truly worthy of study. Though you be limited in your time, perhaps it might suit you as well."

Looking up at the diverse Evalin raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Invisible chains that only she could see without auristics shimmered into view, glowing and wrapping tightly about the creatures shoulders, waste and arms, slowly dragging it down into the coursing waters until it completely disappeared into the portal once more. The flowing energy soon began to slow, pulling back to close the opening, leaving behind a smeared drawing upon the floor once more.

Leaning upon her staff Evalin's hand moved to touch just below her left eye as she looked at Wren, "If I were to say that they are but a consequence of my existence would you take my words for truth?" She gave a sly smile and chuckled. Of course he wouldn't. This boy was far to curious, too quick witted and filled with potential to be satisfied with such an answer, "Then I tell you they are a price... a symbol of my existence."

Turning to face him wholly, Evalin tilted her head, the posture making her look very child like as she raised an eyebrow, "Do I call forth your curiosity?"

[Wrenmae]

Chains, bright siphoning restraints of energy sizzled into existence, pulling the ugly creature back into the pool of energy that was the summoning circle. Now the true nature of summoning itself was laid bare for the hypnotist, enough practical knowledge that he knew the shapes his djed should take. There was the gateway and the chains, and that which crawled from the gateway would always do so in the chains of Djed that bound its obedience. There was no other way to do it and otherwise, the beast called would rampage...if it was indeed within its nature.

So he barely heard Evalin as he watched the Diverse disperse back into its native world. The magic ended, Djed crackled and snapped, dissipating as reality closed in on itself and held firm again...smearing the blasphemy of their assault on its tenants.


It was only then that he looked on her again.

Evalin postured in the cruel parody of child-like taunt, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Her red eyes glared in the natural gloom of the classroom, ghostlights glistening within her skull...embers choked and guttered behind dead and glassy eyes. Yes, her condition did call to his curiosity...as morphing would be a pointless expenditure of Djed to keep it. Had she overgiven then? Was this the result of too much magic, some mark to forever label one as an abuser of the craft?

Or was this something else...some spit of the divine?

He knew nothing, but wondered much.

"You have my attention," he said to her with a nod, "Curiosity bids me seek closer, ask more, but you are as careful with your secrets as you are your magic...perhaps we can organize a trade of information. Give me but the nature of your eyes and I will find some piece of information to offer up in trade."

He grinned, his own brown eyes flashing with an inner light of their own.

"I am a man of my word."

[Evalin]

"I have no doubt that you are..." Evalin smiled, eyes glittering with one thought or another, though whether they were of a pleasant nature or not could not be seen. Turning Evalin walked over to the desk, and with a hop she sat upon its surface, crossing her legs in a very womanly way as she leaned her staff against her knees. Folding her hands around the neck of the staff she nodded to Wrenmae, "Very well. If you can offer me but one bit of information or knowledge of which I would find interest I shall give you what you seek..."

She thought for a moment, and she grinned, "Teach me of that magic you used. That magic that can change the appearance at will. I find myself rather intrigued by it." leaning forward she continued, "Do this and I shall offer you one of my greatest secrets in exchange."

Tsenrika slowly bobbed over her right shoulder, and slowly it spoke to Evalin's mind, To offer secrets so freely is to offer the knife pressed against your throat...

Be that as it may, nothing worth obtaining in this world is obtained without risk. This boy may yet be useful to me, and think it but a fitting price to lay before him the source of my advantage in an effort to gain a new one.