by Gossamer on January 9th, 2010, 7:46 pm
Glav looked thoughtful, stroked his chin, then gestured for the trio to take a seat by the fire. Where there was two wing back chairs there was now a double set of them totaling four with a small table between the pairs. A tea set rested on the dark wood, ready to be poured.. Everyone could have swore there was but two in front of the fire when they joined him in the little sitting room.
The priest nodded to Sondra and smiled slightly. "Give the Naryn a little time and your body will adjust. It is not a cat, trust me, though its illusionism is so perfect that it fools all your senses into thinking so. Once your body realizes its not actually reacting to fact, it will calm down and your nose will not run. Either that or make friends with it so it changes its illusion." He said, pulling forth a lace kerchief and handing it to the grubby urchin with all the dignity he'd normally reserve for a lady of true status.
"It is a pleasure to meet you all." Glav said gently, then settled into his chair, looking thoughtful.
"I am rarely at a loss for words, but what I have to tell you has no true beginning and no true ending - yet - so its difficult to decide where to begin." The man inhaled, exhaled, and looked thoughtful. "Your lives are in danger just by associating with Leo Varniak. That is the first and most important thing you should understand. There are agents loose in this city that seek his death, because they are placed here specifically to make sure no triad gets reformed. And while, young lady, I can tell you are not one of Ivak's own, if you associate with these men much longer, and he finds you useful, that will change drastically. So each of you better think intently whether or not you want to hear what I have to say. If you do not, you should leave now, because if you don't - you won't be able to unlearn what you will know after you walk out those doors." He said, glancing at the doorway that lead to the main temple. The double doors were now closed. There had been no sound or indication of them doing so.
He paused, giving any of them time to rise and leave before he continued. It was their choice. But he wanted them to know there was no turning back.
"First I should tell you about your enemies. Later, it will be very clear why they are your enemies. But trust me now when I say it is so. There is one very powerful one here. It is called a Druvin. Rhysol infuses mortals, normally humans, with his blood and makes them somewhat more than mortal. The ritual they undergo augments their strength and lifespan, so they can live hundreds of years and have double, sometimes triple or quadruple the strength of what they once had. I suspect the Druvin he has here is female, though I am not certain. And it has several high ranking members of its faith with it. They are equally dangerous. I dare not get close because if she discovers my presence here, a great deal of effort could be lost. It is one of the reasons I am... hiding in plain sight, so to speak." He said, then leaned forward, casually pouring tea for everyone. He let that sink in for a few minutes before he continued. "You will know the Druvin by their eyes. Normally they loose their pigmentation and they look as if they only have whites without pupils. If you run across such an individual, do not confront them. Get away from them as fast as possible. Because they wield a powerful gnosis... called Chaon."
Cups were passed out and he indicated they'd be free to partake of the tray that held cookies and small shortbread squares that hadn't been there before.
Glav began to speak again, then, lowering his voice and catching each one's glance subsequently. "Chaon is a powerful force. It is the ultimate ability to corrupt. It willingly seeks out a faint fear, a doubt, and twists it into something bigger, something more forceful until your whole entire outlook has changed. It magnifies doubts horrifically, and twists them into living things deep inside you until you go slightly insane with it. And the power creeps up so unexpectedly, building upon itself repeatedly. If you think, for example, your body is weak. It will start on that thought and twist it until you actually look at yourself and see yourself as wasting away until nothing is left but skin and bones. In reality though, you might be gaining weight until your grotesquely fat because you've been eating so much to compensate for what you thought was a wasting disease." He said, shaking his head.
"Ivak's gnosis can counter this slightly. The Zaital especially, though other families can as well, 'release' this emotion within people - this chaos - and free it from them which renders Rhysol's Chaon a bit useless. It has to be identified first, however, before it can be released. That makes you dangerous to the Druvin here. That is why the other triad perished." Glav said thoughtfully.
"Now, there's another reason a triad is needed here. You might not understand it, especially at first, but hopefully if you look to the broader picture, you will understand." Glav said, picking up his teacup and sipping it thoughtfully.
"I need protection, because I am often distracted protecting something else that is here."
He let the words sink in then set down his teacup.
"I am the last surviving Alvina Sylir spawned. Sylir, however, didn't exactly perish in the Valterrian as everyone suspected. But his mere death did upset the balance of things giving Rhysol a tighter hold over that which he already owned and solidified his bid to expand his territory. Sylir fragmented, and his largest fragment is here. As you might have guessed, its the Windoak. And unlike most fragments, this one is highly special. Each seed pod it drops, each leaf it grows, each taproot it sends down... is an infusion of my father's power. Because the Windoak is here and so much of Syilr remains within it, I can ascend to Godhood and take his place as the balance of Peace and Civilization on Mizahar." He paused, nodded, and continued.
"Rhysol doesn't know. His minions spread out across the world gathering artifacts and reabsorbing their power to grow stronger themselves. If he did know about the Windoak, he'd throw everything he had at Syliras to acquire it. If he knew about me, he'd perhaps send The Voice herself, his wife, to dispatch me. She might perhaps succeed. The Druvin is no match, at least not now, but there are issues.... for one, I am ready to ascend. I need to ascend because my power is such that I've gathered too much too quickly and my half-mortal body is not designed to contain it. But I cannot... not now... not yet." He said, studying the trio thoughtfully.
"I cannot ascend while Ivak is still imprisoned. I need him released in all his full force to perform the ritual. I cannot leave the Windoak unguarded to see too Ivak's release. I have the keys to release Ivak because it was my father's sacrifice that imprisoned him. I cannot leave myself unguarded to find Ivak in order to see about his release in order to ascend." He said, chuckling slightly at the complexity. "I can however help form up, train, and empower a triad of Azenth to clean out the Druvin and Rhysol taints here in Syliras. I can indeed help them become strong enough so they can use their links to Ivak to find Ivak's prison. And once the Druvin is dead, her minions sent back to whatever pit they crawled out of, it will be safer for the Windoak and decidedly safer for me to help you three free Ivak and thus ascend." He said, realizing it was complicated, but yet very very important.
"I realize asking you three to help make me a God is about the last thing you might consider selfless. But Mizahar's chaos partially exists because there is a void and a vacuum in power. With peace and civilization gone from the world, humans and others like the konti do struggle, needlessly. And its not something the world can tolerate well for long." He concluded, then sat back and let them digest what he had to say.
