[Flashback] (The Slums) Woe unto Old Acquaintances (Solo)

by **Eryss Waldu** on June 28th, 2011, 5:40 pm

21st Day of Summer, 508

[Eryss Waldu looked like a beggar walking the streets of Sunberth. He was dressed in the tattered remnants of a cloak and walked slightly stooped over. People milling around him didn’t often take notice to what appeared to be a fragile figure. Bumping into him as he tried to move through the masses Eryss would stumble in one direction and then the other before regaining his balance and continuing on his way. When one man, who hadn’t been watching where he was going, bumped into him the Wizard feigned ignorance and bowed his head while the man shouted at him to watch where he was going and stay out of the way in the future unless he wanted to get hurt. Outstretching his hands Eryss would mutter out in a laboured voice...

“Mercy my Lord. Mercy. Have pity on a poor beggar.”

...and then he would continue on his way when the man showed disinterest in beating him. It so happened that today Eryss had a specific destination in mind as he went off to visit someone who might be considered an old acquaintance of his.]

[Sunberth was a noisy place, its streets crowded and difficult to navigate, especially now during the early afternoon when business was in full swing. It was such though that the crowds began to thin and Eryss, moving along the street, would find himself in the section of Sunberth known as the Slums. He was not unfamiliar with this place, a reputed cess pool, the worst row of housing in all of Sunberth depending on who you asked and one of the worst no matter who you asked. However on the streets of the Slums Eryss, eyes alight with malevolence, would seem much more at home then he was anywhere else almost as though he belonged here.]

[Indeed to watch Eryss in the slums, still wearing the tattered robes and stooped over as he moved, one would see that he could blend in with many of the other inhabitants of this part of Sunberth. While he was here he had far less need to conceal himself or what he was but he did so anyways. No one recognized him, the lower half of his face concealed with what appeared to be a cowl that was woven back around behind his head as well, and aside from a few linger gazes he moved unmolested through the streets knowing where he had to go.]

[Eryss was moving for quite awhile, his destination linear at the moment, walking down the streets and further into the Slums until the inevitable occurred. Having expected this the only surprise the Wizard suffered was that it did not happen to him sooner seeing as how he could feel the eyes on him ever since he entered the area. After all a man of his stature and appearance made an easy target for the ruffian inhabitants here. Walking ahead three bodies stepped out in front of Eryss to obstruct his passage, they came from an alley or around the side of a building, and stopping he would look up to see all of them. They were teenagers, not one of them older than sixteen, and all of them were grimy and caked with mud and foul smell, two of them with clubs and the third with a knife, the leader moved ahead to address Eryss...

“Your coin or your life old man.”, the youth proceeded to say while poking the knife in his direction.

“Please young master. I am just a poor beggar. I have nothing to give you.”, Eryss would intercede as though trying to dissuade the boy and his friends at first.

“This section of the street belongs to us. Everyone who comes through here pays a toll. If you don’t have money we’ll take your clothes.”, the boy said obviously trying to intimidate Eryss who kept up the charade now, feigning his own helplessness.

“No, please, not my clothes. They’re all I have! Mercy!”, he moaned out piteously as though further trying to dissuade the youth though it was difficult for him, the Wizard had a notably heinous sense of humour, and he chuckled once underneath his cowl.

“Are you laughing at me old man!?!? You’ll pay for that!”, apparently the boy didn’t take Eryss amusement well and signalling his friends he’d begin to move forward with his knife at the ready while the other two boys flanked him. By the way they walked it was easy to tell that they were cocky and quite sure of themselves.

When Eryss saw the boy advance he decided he’d had enough and, with his right hand raising palm open and aimed towards the lead boy, he suddenly straightened himself somewhat and mused pointedly...”You’re so observant my boy. Why yes, I was laughing at you and the rats that you have following you.”...it was then, as he finished speaking that his eyes began to glow brighter and with a fiery brilliance inside of them. Before the Boy could react Eryss hand had begun to glow, its palm crackling a faint red as it began to emit a noticeable amount of heat, and stopped in his tracks he would startle and stumble backwards, tripping over his own feet.

“Cripes he’s a Wizard! No! Please! I didn’t mean it.”...the boy was stammering while his friends ran away. He’d dropped the knife and was crawling backwards, dragging himself across the ground while Eryss advanced looking as though he might burn him for his impudence.

“Of course you didn’t. Go now. I don’t kill wastes of flesh like you boy. A few more years though and I will burn you.”...he told the teenager who was climbing to his feet and running away to catch up with his friends while Eryss withdrew his hand and smothered the heat he had been producing, his hand returning to its normal hue as he did this. Minor tricks and magic were always effective against the young and the ignorant. Were it not broad daylight, and if he hadn’t a prior engagement, Eryss might have killed the boy and his friends but he was busy right now.]

[As though nothing had occurred he then stooped over once again, resuming his previous appearance, and began to move off in the direction that he had previously been heading. Turning down a street and walking further into the Slums not long afterwards.]

by **Eryss Waldu** on June 28th, 2011, 7:43 pm

[Walking down the street Eryss would round the corner and continue on his way. Already forgetting about the youths that had attempted to accost him and failed miserably, he wouldn’t have been surprised if they were dead before reaching their twentieth year, it had amused him briefly though when it happened. He still had some time before reaching his destination and when he was there Eryss would need to wait for the man he meant to converse with.]

[On the way Eryss was sidetracked by memories assaulting him though, he paused in the street after walking awhile longer, when he looked over to one side he saw a child in his mind’s eye and seemed to focus on him as though he were remembering. Anyone else in the vicinity would be dumbfounded to know that the Wizard was staring at something they could not see but he would remain obvious to them. This being Sunberth though anyone who was a passerby ignored Eryss and continued on their way believing him only to be a beggar according to his attire and he was left to explore whatever memories had been dredged up.]

[He saw children playing. They looked happy to him, all of them together having a good time, he thought one of them might have been him but he couldn’t remember now. It was all so long ago and like he was watching through a window. He could smell fish as well, raw fish from the docks of Sunberth, a beggar had been given the charity of fish heads for the day and thrown one to the children who, in their exuberant adolescent, played a game with it. Then a bell was heard and all of the children, almost hesitating with dread, began to move away from the corner of the street where they had been playing and moved back home.]

[Shaking his head Eryss pushed the vision out of his head, the children vanished, and he was on the streets of Sunberth again in the Slums where he turned and began moving in the direction that he had followed since rounding one of the corners and turning onto the street. He would be walking awhile longer, almost half a bell, before he finally found what he was looking for. It was a house. Across the street from where he stood Eryss would look at it, he’d never actually seen this house before, it was not in good condition at all. The exterior was chipped and falling apart, though it was made of wood it looked as though mud and refuse had been used to pack several holes and cracks throughout the building and the roof was definitely leaky, something that would have been a bane to anyone living in this area, but someone lived there.]

[Eryss didn’t approach the house right away, he wanted to watch it for awhile, he moved backwards until he could stand just inside the confines of another alley between two buildings. Not far but enough so that anyone coming and going wouldn’t see him unless they were looking closely, the Wizard didn’t hide himself often so he wasn’t talented at it but to the untrained eye this might as well have been passable, standing close to the wall on his left side he watched. Observantly the Wizard did nothing but stand for as long as it took, he straightened now that he was out of casual view as well, watching as different residents of Sunberth came and went all the while focusing on the house that had drawn so much of his attention. His eyes had narrowed as he waited and he let one elongated finger scratch against the wall where stood closely.]

[Watching, paying attention to the different people and honing in on specific details such as what they were wearing and their features, Eryss would eventually be rewarded as a man approached the housing carrying a sack and went inside. He only saw him for a moment or two but Eryss recognized him, the last time he saw him was several years ago and the man was younger but to Eryss it was like yesterday, his narrowed and he began to move out of the alley where he’d concealed himself.]

[Approaching the house Eryss walked across the street until he came upon the door and lifting his hand began to rap on it several times before waiting. On the other side of the door he heard someone yelling and then footsteps approach before the door opened and a man stood there, the same one Eryss had seen, he was tall and moderately muscled but the years had added several pounds around his midsection and lines that crossed over his face. When he saw Eryss, still appearing much like a beggar he gave a snort and said...”No charity here beggar. Get out of here before I bash you.”

“Oh but don’t you remember me Karl? Its been so long since we’ve seen each other.”, was how Eryss had answered him before looking up at the larger man while his eyes filled with an intense amount of hatred for the individual. This was a long time or so Eryss had promised himself.

“What!?!? That voice! You!?!”, was all Karl had managed to get out before he stumbled back and into his house leaving the door open, his eyes alive with fear, he recognized the voice and suddenly knew who the man standing before him was and that didn’t seem to bode entirely well for him.]

[Eryss followed Karl into the house after he had begun to stumble backwards and reaching behind himself would close the door so that the both of them could talk in private while the Wizard chided...”Now that we had some time together we can catch up. It will be like old times.”...and then he moved closer to the frightened man. Memories of how he had antagonized him as a child flooding back to him because you see Eryss was an orphan and Karl was one of the men responsible for him when he was younger.]

by **Eryss Waldu** on June 28th, 2011, 11:57 pm

[Inside the house it was easy to see just how poor Karl really was, the floor was dirt and the dwelling had only one main room that was maybe five hundred feet at most, there was a bed of straw in the back right corner of the house and a hearth with a large iron pot for cooking and heat in the back left corner while a table and three chairs rounded out most everything else near the center of the hovel. While Eryss stepped, closing the door behind him, Karl was still moving backwards and quickly looking for an escape route but there was none and he was trapped with the Wizard with only the doorway into the small house as an exit. Karl might have tried to overpower Eryss, maybe force his past him, but Eryss would have none of that and was already making ready to subdue the man.]

[Eryss had begun to kneel down when Karl started becoming braver, maybe out of desperation, and rushed towards him. Keeping his composure though Eryss would lay a hand on the dirt floor and channel his res through himself so that as Karl started to come towards him the earth itself would rise up and engulf him around the legs. Holding him like a vice that rooted him into the ground the earth itself ensured that there was no escape for Karl and that he would never reach Eryss while the Wizard rose back up onto his feet and straightened himself. Eyes alight with a deep hatred for the man that he now had at his mercy Eryss would move forward, almost within arms reach of the man, before saying...

“Now don’t look so frightened Karl. We’re only talking right now.”

...despite the apparent unthreatening nature of the comment the way that Eryss had uttered it made a chill run through Karl’s body as he watched the Wizard with eyes that were darting back and forth, looking for anything that he might have been able to use to better his situation.]

[With Karl incapacitated and unable to move Eryss began walking the length of the house. He circled around Karl and moved further inside before craning his head backwards when he noticed that the ground was damp and looking up to see that there was a hole in the thatch of the roof where rain could enter. After giving a –tsk- Eryss moved on towards the hearth where he could smell food cooking in the iron pot over a small fire that had been built. Looking into the pot Eryss could see some fish and various vegetables that had likely been purchased today and thrown together inside the pot when Karl returned home, it didn’t small bad but Eryss wasn’t hungry and moving away he continued to explore.]

[Only the sounds of Karl when he finally said...”What do you want!? Please don’t kill me!”...broke Eryss from his reverie and caused him to return to Karl, rounding the man whose legs had been enveloped up to the knee in solid earth rooting him in place, where he would stand and observe his captive through narrowed eyes quietly.

“Why Karl you’re sweating. Don’t pretend you don’t know why I’ve come here.”...Eryss began before continuing after a brief pause...”We have so much history together you and I.”

“No! Please I was only doing my job. You boys were my responsibility.”...the man began to protest though it was clear he had some idea of what Eryss was talking about, beads of sweat lined his brow and one rolled down over his cheek while he stammered out his last reply.

“That’s right Karl. We were your boys at the orphanage. You were so attentive. I understand, I learn about patience from you. Do you remember this?”...Eryss asked as he drew the sleeve covering his right arm backwards. Underneath his clothing the skin on his left arm looked as though it had been almost entirely cut away before, scars criss crossed his flesh, and it retained a mangled appearance. “You took such fine care of us Karl. Pimping some of us out. Rich men must love young boys. Lucky for me I only had run your errands.”...he concluded while his eyes started to flash brighter, signalling that the sheer hatred Eryss had for this man was quite great.

“It wasn’t my fault! She made me do it! It was her not me!”...Karl would say loudly, proclaiming his innocence but Eryss didn’t seem likely to be swayed and so Karl continued...”I didn’t want to cut you like that but she said I had to teach you a lesson. She wanted me to punish you for messing things up.”...he had said while reaching down, locking his hands around one leg and pulling at it to try and free himself from the earth that had captured his leg in an unrelenting hold.

“Funny, I had a similar conversation with your Brother two days ago and he blamed what happened on you. Interesting how in this case it seems as though the trail of guilt goes uphill.”...Eryss had remarked before moving closer to Karl and raising his hand, palm facing towards the man, while saying...”Of course you realize I need to ensure you haven’t lied to me. Pain seems to be the best method to ensure whether or not you have.”...his hand had started to exude a thin layer of res while he said that which then oozed higher to concentrate around his index finger.

Karl didn’t seem to have much else to say and it wouldn’t have mattered anyways.]

[Igniting the res that had enveloped his finger Eryss transformed its tip into a small sliver of fire which he then extended outwards across the several feet of distance between himself and Karl, it almost had the look of extremely fragile lance. Using the magnified flame he pressed it ahead into Karl’s forehead before the fire started to burn a thin line across his skin just beneath his hairline. Blood began to pour down and Karl started to scream but these were the slums and this was Sunberth, no one really cared what was happening to him. He’d scream for a long time too while his skin started to blacken and his bubble around the thin line of flame that burned into him. It wasn’t over yet.]

by **Eryss Waldu** on June 29th, 2011, 1:28 am

[Eryss only stopped burning the man when he was sure of the truth and seeing as how Karl continued to profess what he initially told him the Wizard was eventually satisfied with the information that he had and smothered the fire he had been using to burn the man. As Eryss had eluded the guilt seemed to go all the way to the top and if the woman, referred to only as –she- in their conversation was at fault for the wrongs that he had perceived that made her the next target he would need to visit. Of course none of this absolved Karl of the part he played and Eryss would remind him of that soon but for now he walked away again, circling around the house leisurely as though he had all the time in the world.]

[Barely conscious Karl let his head fall forward as soon as the touch of flame, burning across his forehead just beneath the hairline and filling the vicinity with the stench of cooked flesh, halted leaving him with a momentary reprieve. He hadn’t even noticed that Eryss had moved around him again. His head slumping forward along with his body as the hold Eryss had over the earth finally diminished Karl hit the dirt floor with a thud, breathing heavily where he lay, and seemed as though he might pass out entirely. It’s to bad for him that he couldn’t have been that lucky, Karl might want to lose all sense of his surroundings and just die but he wouldn’t, blood from the cooked, boiled and blistered flesh of his head had leaked down into his eyes and blinded him but he couldn’t even muster the strength to wipe them clean.]

[Over near the hearth Eryss was checking on the soup of fish and vegetables that Karl had been making just when he arrived and finding a large wooden spoon would stir the contents before ladling himself out a spoonful of it. Pulling his cowl down underneath his chin Eryss raised the spoon until it was closer and tasted for himself, swallowing once he deemed it adequate, then he would discard the large wooden spoon back into the iron pot and look back towards Karl...

“Not bad Karl. You learned to be decent at something. It’s to bad it all happened late in life for you. I’m sure you agree.”

...Eryss would say and then turn to begin moving back towards the fallen man, he didn’t have much fight in him so Eryss wasn’t altogether worried. Times had certainly changed. When Eryss was a boy Karl was a large and powerful man to him but now that the tables were turned Eryss saw this formerly intimidating figure for what he was; weak and a waste of skin. Pathetic.]

[Kneeling down beside him Eryss was surprised when Karl reached up, suddenly, and locked a meaty hand around the front of the cloak that the Wizard was wearing but instead of trying to avoid his grasp Eryss had decided to let him take one last shot at him. Before he could do much Eryss had driven his right hand, balled into a fist, into the mans face and sent him moaning back into the dirt floor, his hand coming free and dropping down as well. Hissing Eryss, who wasn’t much of a physical confrontationist, looked at his knuckles and glowered; hitting someone hurt when you weren’t used to it.]

[Reaching out with his right hand after shaking it a few more times Eryss latch onto Karl’s hair, digging his fingers into it until they were pressing against his scalp and go on to reef his head off the floor so that he could leave him with a few parting words...

“When we were children you used to tell us that you would stop as soon as one of the Gods appeared to answer our prayers. Well I’m going to make the same deal with you Karl; I’ll stop the fire from burning you if anyone appears to answer your prayers.”

...and just like that Eryss was standing back onto his feet again, Karl tried reaching for him one more time but unlike the last his fingertips only brushed his cloak as he moved backwards and stood a few feet away from the man.]

[When he was just out of arms reach Eryss had stopped before extending his hand. Emitting res that he shaped into a translucent orb hovering just inches above his hand Eryss would watch it quietly for awhile and then cause it to shoot down towards Karl where it ignited as a ball of flame that set the man on fire in a brilliant inferno that washed over him. Whatever life was still in the man came back to him then as his body began to thrash and roll wildly, Karl was screaming in response before his skin had suffered the worst of the burns to come, his agony would not be short lived. Inside himself Eryss watching as this man, a tormentor of his, burned alive on the floor with flesh blistering and bubbling in response to the heat that washed over and enveloped him and soon he would be dead and gone. Leaving only a smoking corpse behind.]

[Anything that belonged to Karl was left as it was, nothing was taken, and Eryss left the small house minutes after the dead was done. He relished in the act and his eyes blazed with a sickening satisfaction at what had been done here today while he moved out onto the streets of Sunberth again. Now that he had finished here that was one more person for him to see but she could wait, Eryss had quite a bit of time on his hands and knowing that he held the power over the people he was hunting made him content.]

[It would likely be several days until anyone discovered the body of Karl which would be charred black and huddled in the fetal position on the floor. Likely no one would care and the house would have a new resident before the week was out.]

-Fin-

by **Archelon** on August 25th, 2011, 2:58 am

Thread Award

“Thank you for following all safety regulations with fire and fuel-- wait... what's that in your hands... gasoline?!?!?! !_! Keep away.Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!"

And the Results!!!!:

Eryss :

Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? :