Flashback Forgotten Ancestry Act I:Wrath meets Prudence I [Eridanus]

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

09th of Spring 506AV

`He's one of the Van, hehe..` it'd seemed that those haunting words echoed briefly in the mind of the male walking through Zeltiva's university, somewhat lost as if a new student there, his stride wasn't shaken by the surroundings around him yet it was the pounding headache that'd brought itself to him, the annoying stares, whispers and daily bustle of it all wasn't new, yet to see it elsewhere brought a sense of unease to him.

Not to look conspicuous in the prying eyes of the occupancy there, Senghor Vilhjalmr shed his all his traveling items before welcoming himself into the embracing bosom of knowledge itself, he'd stashed his duffel bag in the gaping hole that'd become construct behind the learning institution, sliding his longsword under the bag to hide it as well, whence he'd finished hiding his belongings he took stones and rocks and placed them into a intricate obelisk pyramid to cover the gaping hole.

As he walked past beside some newer adept students there, his sinful lust seemed to awaken, he thought of amusing his sensual nature yet quickly shook his head.

'I'm not here to taint virgins...' he told himself as he kept walking, his purpose there was that of a personal matter, it had to be as he'd paid a large sum of expenses to attain the information he now harbored, Sunberth was full of living disease and crime, anarchy was its order but to him it was home, and home held information about his father even if he had to grease palms with Mizas.

The young man inclined his head in disgust as he remembered paying a large greasy informant on what he knew about his father, the unbathed 'man' merely told him to seek a Vanatha by the name Eridanus in Zeltiva. Senghor's right palm closed into a fist as he heard his knuckles cracking from being stiff, veins ran along his arm as he grit his teeth slightly, he also remembered holding his longsword horizontally, putting it along the folds of the man's sweat ridden neck only to be surprised as he pushed him to the wall and watching the blade disappear through his fat.

He'd told him that if he was misinformed, if he'd paid for information conceived from fiction he'd return to make that man forcibly shed his extra pounds, Senghor's face contorted in disgust as he cast his head down, he remembered sliding the blade out the budding behemoth's neck only to be greeted by an assortment of liquids, some truly unrecognized by him before he left.

As he shook his head and looked at the inner body of the university, he saw that the former was foremost split into two wings, west and east and he'd finished one side already, asking around for the man named Eridanus to both attendants and teachers.

"This Eridanus, if he knows anything about father, I'll finally be able to get a lead on where to go..." he said lowly pausing momentarily to look up, he found himself amidst circular group of women chattering away about the studies they did.


"Anyone know a Vantha by the name of Eridanus?" his mature voice slightly lacking the honey coating he grew to have asked as he looked around the group, his hands slid to his sides and fell comfortably into the hearts of his pockets whilst he slouched forward, a sign of being nervous from him.

As the women's lips curled, seductively for some and grimly for the rest, deep scathing chuckles left their cores which only caused Senghor to look aside and scowl, a incoherent growl slipping from his lips. He turned on his heels, and took out his right hand from his pocket, he raised it up and dropped it to shrug off their mocking laughs.

As he took two steadfast steps forward, he felt a lithe palm slide momentarily along his shoulder, another crawl up his waist, tugging swiftly on his shirt and move along his chest, he felt as the feminine fingers pressed down his necklace seductively, a hot breath blew across the back of his ear and was followed by words sultry and sweet.

``In the quarters, down the hall and look for this...`` the words brought warming chills along the body of Senghor, coupled with the palm that'd descent down and after a minute, he felt it move along again and place a folded paper into his pocket.

"Compromising..." were the words that'd left the Vilhjalmr as he felt the looming figure snake away, he stood in place for a moment before turning his head and looking at the receding group disperse from where they stood, their laughter never ceased which made Senghor frown.

Shrugging them off and pacing through the university towards the dormitory caused the desert skinned male to place his hand into his pocket and fish out the piece of paper, he looked at the handwriting and saw a teasing nature in the way each word was spelt.

After a couple minutes, he found himself walking by the living quarters, the sun beat down upon his skin softly as he found the room the paper indicated.

'This must be it..' he said as he closed his palm, raised it and knocked on the wooden structure of the door, and received no reply. He knocked again, and heard movement yet no reply, once again he knocked and there was no reply!

He grit his teeth, as there was someone in there yet there was no reply, he found it rude, he found that it angered him.

"Eridanus!, I know you're in there!!" he bellowed his assumptions, instead of knocking he pounded the door.

"I'm looking for information, on Asad Vilhjalmr!!" he said once more, he heard movement yet no reply. In disgust and rage he moved back and raised his leg, it fell down onto the door

[Eridanus]

Eridanus had been up all night and into the morning the day before, deeply researching and studying with a load of books in one of the magecraft laboratories within the Toadstool Cluster. That was probably why he was still asleep in the afternoon when most kids would be up awake and going for classes. He supposed that was the advantage of being a student-apprentice under an individualized program like his - he did not have to wake up early for class every morning. Instead, his schedule largely depended on the whims of his mentor - Professor Wejerx.

Therefore, Senghor's voice and noise went largely ignored not because he was purposeful doing so, but because he was far too fatigued for his body to register external disturbances. He was usually a light sleeper, but having heavy days (and nights) consecutively tended to take a toll on his body, and even on one with an iron constitution and fit body like his the exhaustion was still enough to leave him in a log-like slumber.

The Sunberthian's strength was, as usual, unhindered and it reflected in the slamming of the weak wooden door that was not meant to withstand damage. It was thus not surprising when Seng's foot slammed down on the door, and his foot's trajectory continued along with the door towards the ground.

The loud, jarring noise of a door being separated from its hinge and slamming dissonantly on the ground was enough to send a spike of migraine into the sleeping vantha's head, and he opened an eye blearily, looking around to see what happened.

That was when he registered the broken down door. In his room. With a noticeably well-built man before it who was ostensibly the one who broke down said door. His fatigued state slowed down the mental registration of danger for a moment, but decades of near-death experiences and win-or-die combat stirred in the form of his mental reflexes, and he instantly narrowed his eyes, directing them to make eye contact with the intruder. His sleeping form was still largely unchanged, but subtlety and subconsciously altered to provide the optimal muscle tensions to spring into action.

"Who are you, and why in Lhex did you break my door?" He demanded, obviously oblivious to the man's questions since he slept through them so peacefully moments before.

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

A low and deep, continuous breath kept slipping from the grit teeth of the desert skinned man, his fists clenched unknowingly as he looked at the vantha, he narrowed his eyes as his chest kept heaving, he tucked in his stomach and let his muscles tight with each breath.

At a acute view of his silhouetted figure, one would say he was a akalak due to his tall figure, with his hands at his side outstretched but barely another would say he was a myrian, untamed and filled with bloodlust.

"Asad, do you know the name!?" he asked with a rising voice, each word seemed untrustworthy, his rage was beginning to take a toll on him and that'd brought him to bring his hands to the sides of the dorms door frame, a quiver from the shaking wall made specks of debris fall down slightly as his eyes kept a steady gaze the man that might have known his father.

Yet, Senghor's father once had told him that he trusted marginally few people, Asad was an alternate persona who'd project himself amongst those people. Only a rare or dead few knew his name, hence this man was one of that rare few, maybe he was just another soul who knew that name not the person.

Senghor began to doubt his decision of why he'd came there, his palms closed along the door frame he obstructed if the man was to try and escape, his nails dug into the wall as his hatred for his own stupidity began to consume him, it was as if a aura was welling up around him in the form of embers.

'Why did I come!?' he asked himself as he awaited his reply, consciously he felt that the man knew nothing about his father, yet subconsciously he felt the words of deceit and instinct tell him that there was something about the figure before that wasn't right....

[Eridanus]

Asad.

Asad.

Asad.

That name was enough to jolt Eridanus fully from his bleary state, his eyes widened a little, but he closed down on his expression quickly. Perhaps too quickly and he began to stare at the man with suspicion.

A name from long ago, a name from a dark past, and the man who was... someone else. Asad the desert wanderer. Asad of the flashing scimitars. Asad the berserker. Oh yes, of course he knew this "Asad" very much. But the brutal warrior Asad was not known by Eridanus, no. He was known by "Redeemer" instead. Only in that one moment, when Asad no longer became Asad to the ethaefal, was when Redeemer became Eridanus to that man.

But that was a past that no longer mattered. That still mattered, actually, but not one that the vantha wanted to matter to him. He had done deeds, terrible deeds. And there was nothing else he wanted more than for the past to not catch up with him. With the hope that time would wash away his mistakes, and that the time spent in meditation and reflection in Mura would cleanse his soul.

"What are you talking about? Find the citizen's register or the Lord of Council's office if you wish information about population census. I am but a student in the University!" The scholar rebutted a bit too abruptly, perhaps in a bid to say it out loud to deny the man of the truth. To deny himself of the truth.

That it had never happened.

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

Senghor may have been born under the name of Vilhjalmr yet his name, and he was no fool, his eyes narrowed hence his vision was clear enough to see that the name sparked a memory, a thought or ideal about the name Asad!

His hands slipped off the frame of the door as he looked at the vantha speak some nonsense about some registry and census, nay Asad was his father, dead as he may be his fathers blood flowed through his veins hence his lineage was in his heart, soul and loins.

"Asad is my father!" he bellowed as he stepped forward, each step he took echoed in the room with a resounding quiver, a shudder of earth and metal, of man's construct, yet maybe that was all in his head.

When he reached the laying man, his tall figure loomed over his as he folded his arms and looked down on him with a stern condescending glare, he growled as he looked down the vantha.

"Asad is my father, and I've been informed that you might know something about him..." Senghor said lowly, his golden brown hair mimicking the texture of his fine strands, his chest heaved as he took low deep breaths.

The desert skinned man saw it in the man's eyes, they spelled truth and all its horrific splendor. As his eyes narrowed and he looked at Eridanus, he felt he knew the look he was making, it was the exact glare his father had whenever he was contemplating something of importance, or whenever he was angered by a moment that only he knew.

The eyes of a rage that he seemed to inherit, the eyes that'd make the rivers run red with blade from the enemies that'd dared steer wrongly in the path of his blade(s). A sigh left the lips of the young man as he looked aside and saw the damage he had done, it wasn't guilt that'd raised within his conscious, it was lust.

Not lust for blood, or lust for flesh it was something else, a lust fueled by a need to know. A need to know whom his father was, who his very own mother was, it was strange he told himself... A child never sought out his parents origins, yet here he was and this man before him might be harboring a piece, a large important speck of information that would steer him in the right path.

Senghor Vilhjalmr was never one to turn his back on his beliefs, he turned back to the man and tightened his jaw in anticipation, the wait was grating at his nerves and gnawing at the beast residing within...

[Eridanus]

Imagine that you were happily sleeping away the fatigue that plagued you for the past few days. Imagine that said sleep was rudely interrupted by a random man who claimed to be a son from a history that you would not care less to remember. Imagine said man knocking down your door and behaving in a generally uncivilized, barbaric behavior.

There was evident that it would rouse any person, and this irritation showed quite clearly in the vantha in the form of his swirling violet eyes. He did little to hide his annoyance at this man's persistence.

"Well, whatever you were told was wrong! I have no idea what you're talking about, and I don't care who's son yu are!" He retorted in a snappy manner, eager to get rid of this shadow as soon as possible. Eager to put a lid back on a past that was meant to be forgotten and to continue living his new life, as a reborn man.

The vantha stirred from his bed, drawing himself up to his full height and stood directly before the stranger, his back upright and stern. While he did not match up to the stranger's height physically, he did not bother to compensate by drawing on the ferocity of his warrior's aura. No, he was a civilized student, in a civilized world. Instead, he mustered up consternation and affronted civiliy in his being, an incredulous sputter merely seconds away but held in with a hint of contempt, and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Now see here, Mister... whoever you are. One does not simply knock down doors and demand things from strangers who are sleeping. The Zeltivan waveguards can charge you with trespassing, damaging public property and disruption to the public peace. I'm pretty sure criminal disruption of sleep should be somewhere in there too."

Pointing a finger out of his room, he demanded in as scholarly a manner as he could, as if he were a professor scolding a student for not handing in his homework on time, "Now will you leave or must I call the authorities?"

Already, the chatter of the crowd was beginning to make up the bulk of the environmental noise as students gathered in the corridor outside Eri's room in curiosity, first drawn by the loud noise of the door being broken down. The sight of the destroyed door and the jarring arguments from the student and the stranger soon raised the crowd's curiosity further, and more of them gathered to catch a glimpse of what would happen.

Excellent. Witnesses.

The vantha's eyes turned a confident yellow at this realization of legal might being in his favor, and he stared the stranger down, as if challenging him to break the law in front of so many witnesses, at the same time urging him to get out of here.

To get out of his life.

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

A smug look seemed to play on the features of the young man as his head slowly inclined towards the shadows outstretched on the floor, moving towards the frame of the door in shades of silhouette.

His head jerked towards the vantha and saw as its eyes shift in form, he narrowed his eyes and looked clearly to see that the man wasn't hiding his eyes, he remembered his father telling him that an opponent became easily predictable if its eyes aren't hidden away.

He looked at him with a steadfast stern gaze and watched as he relaxed in recognition, relief, his look sifted about the room as he turned on his heels momentarily only to let his voice slip sternly through his vocals, he spoke with a aggression that'd seemed to roll from everyone of his words.

"A man with many secrets dies a lonely death... My father taught me that" he said as he looked at the shadows of the growing crowd shift and move about outside. His father had given the concept of a boy as soon as he'd met Senghor's mother, his blood was his sons blood, their voices were intertwined and would be heard, the man before him would hear the words of the fallen, they would heed the words wisely if he wished not to stir the beasts dwelling within.

He felt as they gnawed angrily at his conscious, their howls of bloodlust were avid to him as he heard his heart in his ears, the thunderous drumbeat of hatred and rage mating with war itself, to him the feeling was normal yet at that moment there was a tainted need for lust, the lust of blood when he wasn't given what he wanted.

The beasts of rage beat down onto his conscious, seeping lovingly into his subconscious and becoming one with the a treacherous vendetta, vigorously the cages shook as veins ran along his arm causing him to clench and unclench his palms into fists, venomous was his fervently beautiful rage.

As Senghor turned his head back to the comfortable vantha, his eyes never lost their enraged flare his words would strike one way or another, his mind kept telling him that if he didn't leave soon the authorities would come, and him and the authorities weren't the best of friends.

He knew that if they came, blood on both sides would be shed and there was no need for that prior to the situation at hand.

Senghor decided turn on his heels and take steps towards the door, being slightly devoured light that'd beamed into the room whilst incoherently murmuring something before raising his arm, his outstretched hand which he closed the palm, his index and middle finger the only ones remaining as he let an unorthodox salute slip from him, his boot kicked aside a article of clothing left to rot abruptly as he spoke.

The last of his words were his own, they were a manifestation of feigned confidence "And my name, is Senghor Vilhjalmr... Get it right, Eridanus!" he lowly said before putting down his hand and walking into the light of day.

Like a figure conceived as a black shadow, a manifestation of death and rage in the womb of the earth. As the young man stepped out into the light, the crowd before him slightly dispersed as he snarled, their disgusted looks bemused him and enraged him slightly as he spoke to them shortly after leaving the dorm room.

"Move..." he said as he turned his head to the occupants there, at the corner of his eyes he saw some figures open way whilst the rest feigned ignorance and innocence. 'Idiots...' he told himself as he walked down the narrow pathway they made, he turned a sharp corner after walking for a copious amount of minutes and seemed to wither away in a silhouetted figure.

His stride was towards his belongings yet his thoughts were towards the vantha he'd met, 'Eridanus... I'll be watching you...' he told himself as he looked down at his necklace's outline in a premier of words, he felt connected to his mother through it, and his father vaguely...

After a couple of minutes of walking, he found where he'd placed his items, kneeling down and digging them out, after strapping on his belongings and walking out the university as inconspicuously as he'd walked in. In time he'd find the truth, no matter how joyous or dark it may be he'd find it.

In time...

[Eridanus]

The vantha watched the stranger go through a range of emotions, though mostly bordering on anger. He could read the man's thoughts as bright as day, every facial twitch, every muscle clench all hinted at future actions. Yet, he had the decency to control himself, and inwardly Eridanus was delighted at having a peaceful 'resolution' even if his demeanor remained stern.

"A man with many secrets dies a lonely death," That man had stated in response.

---

I do not wish to stop my journey now. But if Fate demands it, at least I don't want to be alone. The faith that you have shown-

Stop talking nonsense-

A man with many secrets dies a lonely death, Redeemer.

And so do each of us bear secrets, and everyone dies alone. There will be no comfort when Dira's shadow is cast upon us, and no companionship during the journey to Lhex.

Yet we keep our friends alive within ourselves. These memories are what define our companionship, and if we remember then we are not alone.

You're rambling, Asad, do not talk much further and just focus on resting until-

-Is it not the Great Equalizer? When all things become clear to you at that one moment? That moment is upon me now, and it is clear that I owe you one point of honesty.

Asad-

We have been through enough together to already know this, Redeemer. This is just our moment, and do know that from now - to me - you are no longer Redeemer. You are...

... Eridanus, fallen but proud son of Leth.

And to you I am not Asad. I am-

---

Eridanus glanced up to see the man finally leaving the room, and with a declaration of his name and a thinly veiled threat he finally left. The crowd tittered curiously around, waiting to see any more further developments, and when the vantha simply gave them a weary "oh, please" look they gradually dispersed on their own.

Senghor Vilhjalmr.

Vilhjalmr.

That name, the phrases and the behavior, it was all too familiar. Honestly, he was surprised that that person would finally settle down. If his alleged son was here then it only meant two things. Firstly, he had returned to Lhex. Secondly, he had kept his son in the dark, which resulted in Senghor seeking answers.

However, every solution pointed to feigning ignorance, and keeping history, well, history. He was a reasonable man despite his berserker tendencies, and if he did not tell things to even his own child then there must be a reason. If this was a fake attempt to dig up information, there was no reason for Eridanus to reveal anything. If this was real, there was an even bigger reason to honor his wishes and to maintain the veil that he started. He must protect himself, his memories, and more importantly, the legacy that was his son, from the truth. It was all for his sake.

Things that were hidden were meant to stay hidden, and the rest will be washed away by the sands of time.

To be continued...

[Paragon]

Senghor Vilhjalmr

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Brawling	1
Intimidation	2

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Location: University of Zeltiva
•	Breaking Down a Door
•	Seeking One's Father

Eridanus

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Interrogation	1
Philosophy	1

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Awakened by the Past
•	A Resonant Name: Asad Vilhjalmr
•	History Rather Forgotten

Legend Becomes Reality

Not much to award, but very intriguing indeed... If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can work from there.