Solo Fulfilling Promises And Breaking Curses II

[Kelski]

Timestamp: 22nd of Fall, 518 A.V.

Continued From: Fulfilling Promises and Breaking Curses I

“It’s not such a long story, Kelvic.” The man said, with his head bowed forward, the yards and yards of silver chain gathered up in his hands. He’d taken a seat at a table in a low chair with a certain grace that Kelski would be hard pressed to have any comparison too. The Sea Eagle sat her backpack down, started unpacking her tools and laid them all out carefully. Gilthas watched in a way a person did who wouldn’t directly interfere or stare. He watched her with his violet eyes from their corners concealed in thick lashes, noting each step she took, each move she made as if there were a certain surreal quality to her very presence. He was cautious, but hopeful, watching as she worked.

“In those days, people lived faster.” He started off, as if uncertain where to find the beginning to start the tale. “We were surviving in caverns below what would become Sylira one day. Most were from a place called Lisnar. Lisnar, to hear tales, was a beautiful city… a true gem on the eastern coast. It was old too, older than any can remember and it even predated the mighty Treval, the capital of the Alahean Empire. The old folks – the very few we had – would oft tell tales of the place and of its beauty. And of Alahea. When I came into being, the Empire was long gone. So too were its enemies. But the people still remembered. The children would gather around and listen, asking fantastical questions which would sometimes make the old folk laugh and sometimes their eyes fill with tears. People lived faster because the world was harder than it had ever been. There was much fighting, in those times…” He said softly, glancing up at her even as he watched her pull the bandana free of her forehead which revealed the third eye on her forehead.

She blinked, watching him, then moved closer. He could feel her breath on his neck as he bent forward, letting his words trail off as she touched the collar.

“Don’t stop.” Kelski said softly, running her fingers over the gemstones set into the metal. “I would hear it, if you would tell it, as I work.” She said quietly, not wanting to startle him, for he seemed somehow frail. Her gaze on the collar was intent, and with the addition of the extra orb she could see pathways between the gemstones that formed a sort of energetic grid. The grid looked like a sort of web of Djed, if such a thing ever existed. And it took the Kelvic long moments to trace its path around Gilthas’ neck and find that indeed it had a starting stone and an ending stone.

Half of her work was done with skill and half with intuition. Lately, Kelski had been finding special stones among her raw material. As soon as she’d hit what she’d judged as her Mastery, she’d started noticing the difference between an opal and an opal with something… extra. The stones seemingly set into Gils collar randomly indeed held a pattern and every single stone she touched felt special somehow. They were incredibly powerful, not individually, but set up this way. And they sang to her, in a way she could never describe to someone who wasn’t a jeweler. But they absolutely felt alive and vivid under her touch.

Kelski was slow with her magic, but she wasn't beyond checking the grid she could see with her three eyes via auristics. It was just a precaution, but she wanted to know what the aura of the magic she was dealing with looked like. The Kelvic concentrated, focused, and pulled at the core of her magic, dragging just a bit up to fill her vision. The gems began to blow with added light, their auras flaring into existence. She studied them carefully, looking both at the grid and the collar, then at each individual stone. It actually flooded her senses with more information, valuable information, so she could begin.

When the auras of the stone faded, her use of her own djed super conservative, she was ready to begin.

She ran her hands around the collar, slid it so the ‘first’ stone faced her, and immediately decided on a course of action. She had to dismantle the grid to open the collar… to open the collar she had to get to the puzzle ring… and to dismantle the grid, she’d have to unset all the gems in the correct order they were set to remove the energy web. That would allow her to work the puzzle ring and get the thing off his neck. It would be bells of work, but Kelski wasn’t about to leave Gilthas here imprisoned.

[Kelski]

She knew what it was like to be a slave. One hand reached for her tools, automatically lighting the alcohol torch she’d need to soften the metal enough to loosen each stone. And she’d need the thick wool she could wet and tuck under the collar to keep his neck from burning. It was a good thing – though it looked horrible – that he was so emaciated. She could slide a great deal of protection under the collar and that indeed would help.

As she pulled the wool out, got out her waterskin to soak it, and slipped it up under his collar, Gilthas continued with his tale.

Kelski tapped at her core again, drew another thread of djed up into her tripled vision, and began watching the Eth surreptitiously as he spoke. She wanted to see his emotions in his aura as he told the tale. Half of her wanted to make sure he was being truthful. The other half wanted to know if he felt the actual emotion he was putting into his voice. She wasn't sure what Gils emotions looked like as his story progressed, but by watching him she'd know after. It gave her something to do as well, since unseating gemstones to a jeweler of her caliber was something she could do in her sleep. His aura was night-dark and the flares of color it in reminded her of stars.

Kelski smiled slightly, watching him openly now, quite pleased she'd opted to listen with her magic as well.

“In those days the world was full of widows and orphans and people who would do just about anything for a crust of bread. No one had two good arms, two good legs, and smooth scar free skin. What marauders hadn’t taken, wild djed had. If someone occupied a cavern that was better than another, there might be outright warfare involved to control it. Water sources were fought over, and so too were access points to the topside and any sort of food we could find. People lived fast, loved harder, and traditions such as marriage and courtship were often not on the table. It was fine with me. I wasn’t here to have a family or build a career. I was only involved in defenses because it helped me get a place to live that was safe. I was a scientist. I occupied my time breeding food animals that would grow to large sizes fast, slaughter easily, and feed people on very little food. It was important work. I’d like to think I fell for that very reason… voluntarily.” He said softly.

Kelski wasn’t sure what ‘fell’ meant, but she held her tongue, not wanting to interrupt his story. She would ask questions later. She pushed his head gently to one side so he was leaning away from the stone she was working on, when she hit it with the alcohol torch multiple times, slowly and carefully heating up the metal. When it was hot enough, she gently pried the first stone loose and set it aside. The energetic barrier immediately rearranged itself, and she blinked all three eyes in shock when she realized it wasn’t going to follow the pattern it had laid out for her. The pattern rearranged itself, making a seemingly random stone on the collar the new first. She adjusted the wet wool barrier, hit the metal with a torch again, and began softening the setting surrounding that stone.

Gilthas continued.

“It was during that work I met her. She visited once, then returned, always asking questions and wanting to know more of what I was doing. I took her interest in my work at face value and started to teach her how I was doing things. For in science, its always better to have multiple minds on one project. That’s the way to get a better hypothesis, that is to say to get a better working model faster and come to more accurate conclusions in the end.” He supplied, looking wistful.

“And I needed help with the animals. There were always cages to clean, exercise to perform, and healing to be done. That kind of work took me away from the work on the other end of the scale, the sort of work that would feed everyone through the winter Djed storms. Working a farm is one thing, but working a lab full of animals beneath the ground is completely another. She worked hard, picked up the lessons quickly, and I began to rely on her more and more. With her presence, I could expand my work, focus on the future and think long term.” He said, offering her a slight smile with the corner of his mouth.

[Kelski]

“And she was so very good with them, the animals I mean. She reminded me of the Earth itself, of Semele, for her skin was a deep brown, her hair a lustrous mass of shadows, and her eyes were the rare topaz of some of the Alahean Royals. The animals were calm around her and she was focused around them. I loved watching her with them. And sometimes she’d come to me when I was at my workbench and wrap her arms around me and sooth me as she soothed them, for often than naught the inferior conditions of living beneath the ground and even working took its toll. We became lovers. It was a natural thing in those times… no commitment, no vows… just quick trysts in the dark to bring a little light into our lives. I didn’t take it seriously, for all that I appreciated her help… my kind live a long long time and she was only human.” He said, sorrow tinging his words.

Kelski had worked her way a quarter around the collar. She’d removed carefully, gemstone after gemstone, keeping them in perfect order in a neat row on the table Gils sat at. As tired as she was from her hike, she couldn’t help but listen to the story and wonder where it was all going. What Gils was describing was peaceful sounding, a lovely setup she herself would love to have as life progressed.

Curious, Kelski drew up more djed from her core, getting better at not yanking huge quantities but instead pulling it with the thinnest of efforts, trying for control rather than rapidity. She wanted to watch her own aura this time, as she worked the collar at Gilthas' throat and as she listened to his tale. She found if she concentrated, she could tune out his own colors even though he was a breath away from her, and instead could focus on her own colors, watching the vibrant hues pass by as Gilthas talked and she listened.

Hearing personal tales like his, Kelski found she absorbed the tale more than heard it, becoming somehow part of it, even if it happened long before she arrived. And her own aura floated in the colors, following Gilthas' words with the colors of Kelski's attention... and she found the world pleasant with the added rainbow drifting through the air around her.


“This continued for some time. I don’t know if it was just a season or five or ten years. I don’t remember her aging, so it must have been shorter than longer. But when she was not with me, she was often out doing work for Semele. I knew she was multiple marked from The Goddess, but it wasn’t something we talked often about in those days. I was still very bitter at Leth… and somewhat blamed the Gods for the Valterrian and the conditions we were in. But she was a skilled Reimancer and since she was marked by Semele, her abilities were augmented." He said quietly, still laying out the story for Kelski.

"One of her main jobs was to build waterways into some of the better caverns to supply drinking water and water for washing, bathing, and the animals everyone had with them. The animals were important in those days because everything above ground was changing, mutating by the djed, and all that we had below was the only kind that provided steady food. And to do that they needed a steady supply of water. Zaraka provided that. She inspired folks, worked tirelessly, and then when she was done with her work, she'd come help me with mine. I took her presence for granted. I was narrow minded and selfish in my pursuits, always looking to my needs first and foremost. And in those days, I had a big appetite. Food? Drink? Sex? I loved it all and didn’t even realize how much I was hurting her.” He said softly.

“One day I took it too far. I’d delivered some chickens to one of the indoor market to sell off. They’d slowed their laying and I didn’t want to feed them anymore. There were new people in the place, people willing to trade. There was a set of twins… lovely and rare. Young, beautiful, and starving. Their skin hung on their bones and they offered to trade me some service for one or two of the chickens. I gladly agreed and took them home. Zaraka dropped by. And I was in bed with both the lovely lasses being thoroughly entertained. Her reaction was…. astonishing. I had no idea that she considered us a couple. I’d taken her to bed no more or less than others. And I had somehow missed the fact she considered us a pair. He shook his head. “I should have saw it. I should have had more care of her heart.” He said thoughtfully, mournfully, and glanced at Kelski. “My double dipping tore her to pieces.” He admitted, his expression hard, but Kelski could tell it was anger at himself.

[Kelski]

Kelski said nothing. What did she know of love? What could she say? The Kelvic removed another gemstone adding to the growing pile and then waited for the energy web to reform. When it did, she re-wet the wool, readjusted it, and then kept working. She was getting quite the collection of bright gemstones scattered across the table.

And her curiosity towards them was getting the better of her. Kelski refocused her gaze, felt for the pool of djed deep inside her, and summoned it. The magic did as she bade it, surging into her visual cortex and flooding her triple eyesight with power. She then turned that perceptive power onto the row of gemstones and let their auras flood her sight. As a master jewelcrafter, she'd seen lots of gemstones and was very familiar with the aura of each. But these... these were different, something wholly unique and special. Their normal mundane little auras were wrapped in dark cords of power that seemed natural to the gemstones themselves. It wasn't added power. Kelski could see with her triple vision that it was augmented power. These gemstones had been cut and cultivated to maximize their potential.

The new knowledge left her a lot to think about... even as Gilthas continued with his story. No, story was the wrong word. His history....

“Now, as I’ve said… times were rough. There was danger everywhere… and we had raiders. While I was in bed destroying any semblance of ethics I might have once possessed for the price of two chickens, our water supply was being destroyed. Now normally that wouldn’t be a problem and we’d just rebuild it. But our water supply in that moment was a vast secondary cavern we’d dammed up to form a natural lake. Raiders figured they could clean out the cavern by blowing the dam and flooding the main cavern. The waters would eventually go down, everyone would be dead, and they could rebuild the dam and own the city.

The only reason they were only partially successful with their plan was Zaraka. She’d fled from what she’d seen at my place and had stormed into what served in those days for a Headquarters for the Waterworks. Being a reimancer, she was skilled and one of the first to take up arms. There was a pitched battle. The Raiders had really gathered a superior force that won their way through the city and actually made it to the dam. They set charges of Djed bombs and retreated to the safety of the deep caverns, which ran all over the underground. They set the charges, and like cowards ran. The only reason Zaraka knew about them was she’d managed to capture one alive before his other fellows had started their sorte towards the dam.” He took a deep breath and studied the Kelvic who was patiently dis-assembling his collar.

“She dropped what she was doing and charged towards the dam. Everyone who saw her could tell you first hand how magnificent she was. Arms out flung, she caught the blast full on with her magic, absorbed it, and sent the Djed back towards the dam, using her Earth Reimancy to reinforce it and keep it from failing. No one had ever seen power like that. The djed bombs actually exploded. The dam came down, the waters burst forth…. and she held them back. With just her hands up flung, she cried to Semele to give her strength and held the floodwaters back. Other reimancers had gotten there by then and were repairing the dam to make it safe again. And all the while she stood there and gave everything she had and everything Semele would grant her to hold the water. She burned through her djed and every bit of power she could pull from The Goddess. And she used so much she burned out.” He said softly. Kelski knew he was talking about overgiving, but some of the rest of the things Gils said made no sense.

[Kelski]

“She saved five thousand people that day. And she lost her life doing it. And I never saw that kind of strength in her while she was with me. I never realized what a gift she was…” He said softly, shaking his head. “I’ve missed her every day of my life since. Every moment I just want a single chime to apologize to her and tell her how sorry I was for treating her the way I did. But she took her heart, her enormous heart, and gave it so that others could live. I had that and I let it go.” He shook his head gently and closed his eyes.

Kelski kept listening and kept working, concentrating on the djed within her, focusing it on her three eyes, letting it augment her eyesight so she was not only seeing what she was doing, but working within the emotion both that Gilthas felt and what she felt in respect to what he said. She'd never looked at a mage or anyone at all for that matter as they were experiencing intense emotions, and this was a new experience for her. Color, vibrant and strong, washed through his aura and she knew immediately what respect, admiration, and indeed regret looked like via auristics.

Kelski was more than halfway around his collar unseating the gems. Her loose pile of gemstones was growing, and so too was her appreciation of whomever had created the collar itself. It was a beautiful thing, and one she loved working on. But in its beauty was the deception. It caged freedom… it didn’t represent it. And coupled with Gilthas' tale, Kelski wasn't sure she could hear much more.

Yet Gilthas continued. “It turns out Zakara was Semele’s Champion. She’d been hiding among the people, looking for answers to help heal Semele at her rawest form. I never thought a Goddess' Champion would be so normal. I can't tell you how many times I saw her cleaning up animal waste, or changing some creature's water. And since the Valterrian had so damaged Semele that she fell in ranking… wounded and all but an Alvina… it was dire for Semele to have Zakara looking for ways to speed her healing and reclaim her place at her throne.” He murmured.

"When Zakara’s light snuffed out, Semele immediately knew why that happened. She came directly to me." There was guilt all over his face. “Even then I was arrogant. I was as frantic to be understood as I was to understand someone like Semele. I said things I shouldn’t have. I raged. The guilt was eating me alive…. causing my tongue to loosen and any common sense I might have had to fly out an ear. But I wasn’t… grief stricken. I hadn’t loved her… for all that she was magnificent. I had just used her… in the worst sort of way.” He said softly, shaking his head.

“Semele’s curse was swift, furious, and indisputable. When the world tamed and people rose to the surface… I remained below. I’ve been here since…. slowly starving in the way of an immortal. It took me a long time to realize what I’d lost. It took me a long time to understand my selfishness for what it was. One might think what I lost was my freedom… but that wasn’t it. I’d lost an opportunity for something far more precious…” He said gently and shook his head.

"You lost an opportunity to love." The Kelvic whispered. Gilthas said nothing.

Kelski nodded. She knew what he’d lost too. And as he’d said the final words to his story, to the core of it, she’d pulled the final gemstone from his collar, and watched as the web of energy disposed of itself, spreading and expanding until it floated off into the universe.

Gods. His tale was astonishing. Some people existed. And some people truly lived. She understood so much more now. And in a way it haunted her. The Kelvic truly knew what that meant now and that she'd heard his tale, she didn't know what exactly to say to it.

Silver eyes glanced over and met his violet gaze. Understanding passed between them and so she said nothing. He knew... he knew what he was doing was affecting her.... deeply. He knew because she kept working, not once changing her mind or hesitating.

“Now just this is left…. just the puzzle ring.” She said softly, running her hand over the collar to lay lightly at the buckle that was no buckle at all, but a messy nest of interwoven wire. With her other hand she stroked his neck, like she'd sooth a wild creature in need of comfort. Giving him a final touch, another sympathetic sentient creature's understanding.... she whispered. “Hold still, while I get a better look at it.” She said, rising and fetching a jeweler’s loupe from the table. She slipped it into her eye, and began examining the mechanism.

“Oh… I see the trick of it.” She said softly with a smile. Gilthas didn't comment. He couldn't even risk the hope. Instead, he continued softly talking while Kelski studied the puzzle ring with her mercurial gaze concentrated through the loop's lense.

She'd come to far to be defeated, though the final puzzle ring seemed complex beyond measure.

Continued In: Fulfilling Promises and Breaking Curses III

[Kelski]

G R A D E S

Kelski

Jewelcrafting +1, History +5, Logic +1, Aurisitcs +5, Arcanology +1

Gilthas: Appearance and Mannerisms, Gilthas: Basic History, History: Treval, Alahean Capital, Underground: People Lived Faster/Times Harder, Jewelcrafting: Deconstructing A Magical Collar Made By Weaving Power Through Gemstones, History: Many People Had Horrific Wounds, Gilthas: Was A Scientist, Gilthas: Bred Food Animals Larger To Feed More People, Eth: Their Falls, Zaraka: Gilthas’ True Love – Champion of Semele, Gilthas: Shallow – Loved Food, Drink, Sex – Cared For Little Else, Zakara: Sacrificed Her Life Out Of Heartbreak, Arcanology: Djed Bombs Exist, Zaraka: Saved Five Thousand People, Zaraka: Humble, Cleaned Animal Waste Even Though She Was A Champion, Gilthas: Cursed By Semele’s Rage, Gilthas: Threw Away An Opportunity For Love