Below the Storm [Solo]

[Lirael]

Timestamp: 4th Spring 512 AV

Lirael winced in pain as she was stepped on once again as somebody moved across the cavern. She was tucked up in the corner, knees to her chest so as to take up as little space as possible, yet still, being bumped into and stepped on was unavoidable. It had been only a week since she last felt the warmth of daylight touching her skin, and she was already going half mad. Lirael rocked back and forth as her lavender eyes flitted around the room nervously. She had never seen so many people in such a small place before now. She certainly wouldn’t have thought of the complications that arose because of the cramped confinement. Lirael couldn’t lie down to sleep without putting her feet in somebody else’s lap. It was also virtually impossible to move from one side of the room to the other without receiving groans of complaint or insults from those who were trampled on in the process. Relieving ones bladder was an even more strenuous task, but at least there was a separate room for privacy purposes. But the stench of unwashed bodies combined with waste was simply overwhelming.

Lirael didn’t complain about her measly rations however, knowing full well that everybody else was in the same situation. But some people wanted more than they were given. Some people were willing to hurt others for an extra chunk of bread. And hurt they did. In Lirael’s own cavern there was such an event. A burly man had initiated a dispute with a shorter, scrawnier man. He stated that since the scrawnier man weighed less than himself, he deserved a larger ration. This quickly led to a heated argument in which both men exchanged multiple blows before it was broken up by a knight standing outside the cavern. Both men were put in their place and forced to apologize before the knight left muttering something about being stuck down in this lank place instead of being able to assist the city from above.

Later that day, Lirael heard another commotion from outside the cavern. The sound of people angrily shouting, screaming and heavy footsteps travelled down the passage way. These were also followed by the sounds of swords being drawn which resulted in shouts of panic and screams in agony. Lirael had closed her eyes tightly and tried not to think about what occurred. Oh what confinement did to people! But how glad she was to be safe in the confines of the bunker as opposed to being exposed to the djed storm that had swept across the land. She could only imagine the horrors that would occur as a result of such a vast expanse of wild djed. Lirael only prayed that her home, Mura, would remain safe. Surely it couldn’t be touched, being on the outskirts of the mainland. The seers in Mura had foreseen the event before it occurred, giving many cities around Mizahar time to prepare for the storms to come. They would have had plenty of time to organize the island. She clung to this hope as she continued to rock back and forth, clenching her hands into fists around her legs and squeezing her eyes shut.

[Lirael]

That was when the coughing began. One woman, further to Lirael’s right, seemed to have suddenly developed a rasping cough out of nowhere. As it went on, people began to draw further away from her, but it was so cramped that there were very few places that they could go. Lirael had opened her eyes by now, and was looking at the old woman intently. The woman kept apologizing every time she had a coughing fit, but people still glared at her with contempt.

“Cut it out! We’re like sardines in here lady! If you keep that up we’ll all be endin’ up on our death beds before the week is out!” A middle aged man said roughly.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, ” the woman croaked, “I can’t stop it.”

“Well you better bloody well try or you’ll be the one responsible for all our murders, lady.” The man said with venom in his voice.

“I can’t help it!” The woman gasped and coughed again.

“Who do you think-” the man was suddenly interrupted as a voice was carried across the room.

“Wait!” Whose voice was that? That surely couldn’t be Lirael’s voice, it was so loud. But she realised that the sound had indeed come from her mouth because all the pairs of eyes in the room seemed to gravitate towards her as if she was a large planet and their eyes were her many moons. They were all staring at her. She hated being stared at.

“Well?” the man questioned. Lirael realised that they were waiting for her to follow up on her words. Whatever strange confidence that had possessed her to draw attention to herself had faded away almost as quickly as it came.

“I…. I think I can help,” Lirael murmured weakly.

“What was that?” The man cupped his hand to his ear, “I didn’t catch what you said.”

“I think I can help her,” Lirael said a little louder. The man still looked puzzled until somebody close to Lirael repeated her words across the crowd.

[Lirael]

Murmurs and whispers could be heard as Lirael slowly got to her feet. Much to her surprise, the people in cavern made an effort to move out of her way as she made her way through the multitude of people with her bag of possessions strung across her shoulder. Still, she placed each foot carefully in front of the other so as to avoid stepping on any stray limbs. As she passed, she heard people speaking in low voices. Fragments of their whispers reached Lirael’s ears. She heard people asking each other if she was indeed a Konti, and people murmuring remarks about her youth. Lirael even heard whispers of magic and sorcery. But Lirael paid no heed to these disturbances as she was too focused on the woman that sat before her.

She lowered herself to the stone floor carefully and rested on her knees. Taking the woman’s bony hand in hers, Lirael looked up at her face. The human woman looked to be over 60 years of age, but Lirael could not be certain as she did not have much experience with the way human’s aged. From the lines on her face and her straggly grey hair, Lirael could tell that she was in her later years of life. The woman’s grey eyes betrayed a glimmer of wisdom as she gazed at the Konti. Their gaze was quickly broken however, when the woman turned her head and coughed into her other hand.

“What is your name?” Lirael asked her softly, still keeping a hold of the woman’s right hand.

The woman pondered on the question for a moment before replying in a hoarse voice, “My name is June. June, daughter of Samuel.”

“Hello, June. My name is Lirael.” Lirael said smoothly as she held the woman’s gaze. When the woman did not reply, Lirael continued. “I have been blessed by the goddess of healing, Rak’keli.” With this statement, Lirael held out her right palm for the woman to see the spiralling design of her healing gnosis mark. “If I may have your permission, may I try to cure you of your sickness?” Lirael said as she watched the woman closely. The woman gazed curiously at the blue opal design of Lirael’s gnosis mark for many moments before meeting Lirael’s gaze and saying as clearly as she could, “I would be honoured, Konti.”

Lirael gave a slight nod, brushing her hair behind her ears before moving her marked hand to the woman’s forehead. Her skin felt warm to touch, and was leathery until Lirael’s hand. The room had fallen completely silent, though Lirael wouldn’t have known because of her intense concentration. Once the woman had closed her eyes, Lirael focused on Rak’keli, crying out to her silently and willing her essence to flow through her. She felt the familiar warm sensation envelope her body as she concentrated her entire being into her task. Her palm and glowed with an azure light for a brief moment and June shivered as the power took effect. When the glow had completely faded, Lirael released her contact with the woman and placed her hands in her lap.

[Lirael]

June opened her eyes slowly, keeping them fixed on Lirael. She breathed in deeply and exhaled. After a few moments, a smiled tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Thank you, good Konti,” she nodded her appreciation to Lirael. Lirael instantly turned bright red a murmured something incoherent whilst jumping quickly to her feet. She apologized profusely when she bumped into multiple people behind her. Keeping her head down, she moved as quickly as possible back to her corner, apologizing the whole way as she knocked into others. In her corner she resumed her position, clutching her knees to her chest whilst hoping that she wasn’t receiving too many stares. To calm herself, Lirael closed her eyes and when she opened them again she gazed upon the auras of those around her.

Although she could only focus on a couple of auras at a time, by removing her focus from previous auras to new auras she could sustain the ability fairly easily. She had used her Auristics often in the past week, but the information that people’s auras fed back to her always seemed to be the same. They were all of dark and dull shades, which Lirael took to mean that the people around her were feeling gloomy emotions. She picked up hints of hunger among the auras, along with sparks of fear. These were a little more difficult to pinpoint, but over the past week Lirael became more certain of their meaning. Interestingly enough, fear had a metallic scent to it and was often accompanied by dark smoke-like tendrils that curled around a person’s body. The stronger the fear, the more metallic the smell and, more obvious the tendrils. Hunger however, was a warmer colour. Often taking the colour of yellow or orange, Lirael saw hunger everywhere. The most prominent colour, shape, smell and feel of an aura often depended on what a person felt most strongly at the time. When the rations came around each day, Lirael noticed an increase in the yellow and orange wisps of the auras in the air as people were reminded of their hunger. These would often be accompanied by other colours that Lirael couldn’t make out, but assumed that some must be feelings such as impatience, longing and excitement.

When Lirael focused on the auras now, she noticed that most auras were gravitating towards her. Wisps of sky blues and deep greens, violets and silvers, all seemed to reach out in her direction. She couldn’t identify many, but there was that familiar wisp of light green curiosity, and the swirls of confusion. She could also smell the faint metallic smell of fear from a few people. But they all had something in common. They were either stretching towards Lirael, or the woman Lirael had healed.

Lirael blinked twice and the strange smells and colours disappeared in an instant. They were instead replaced with many sets of gazing eyes and a constant whispering and murmuring. Lirael felt a wave of emotions and words she wanted to say roll over her, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was a small hiccup. She instantly turned bright red for the second time in two minutes. Lirael slammed her hand to her mouth in hope it would prevent more hiccups from rising to the surface.

[Lirael]

“Hey girl, what was that?” A young man close by nudged her with his elbow. Lirael was taken aback by the question, but slowly removed her hand from her mouth. Why did he want to know about the strange noise that came out of her mouth? “I…. hiccupped..” Lirael said sheepishly, averting his gaze. Lirael flinched as he burst out laughing, the last thing that she had expected to happen. “I’m sorry, I-” The man stifled another round of laughter as he continued, gesturing towards the other side of the room. “I meant what you did to that old woman over there.” If the redness from her face had faded, it was sure to become brighter than ever when Lirael realised her mistake. “Oh, that. Forgive me, I thought everybody knew. That was the gift of Rak’keli’s gnosis,” Lirael raised her right hand so he could see the swirls that traced her palm. “With this I am able to heal basic illnesses and such.” Lirael averted his gaze.

“May I?” The man asked, gesturing at Lirael’s outstretched palm. Lirael hesitated for a moment and decided that before assenting to his request, she would take a peek at his aura. Shifting her eyes to focus on the colours before her, she briefly examined the light green tendrils that reached out and touched her own dark green aura. Not wishing to dig any deeper than the surface of his curious aura, Lirael nodded her consent as she did not sense that he wished her direct hostility. The man carefully took her palm in his and examined it more closely. With his index finger, he traced the swirls on her palm ever so lightly. Lirael couldn’t help but shiver at his touch. Much to Lirael’s relief, he did not seem to react. After a moment, the man smiled widely and released her hand. “That’s one special gift you’ve got there, Miss.”

“Thank you,” Lirael returned his smile politely and reverted to her solitude in the corner. She closed her eyes in hope that the others in the room would eventually cease their constant glances and murmurs. Without meaning to, Lirael’s mind began to wonder. She wondered about what would become of her lovely horse and the city. She wondered about the welfare of her home and family. She wondered about what life would be like after the storm. From the little knowledge she had on djed, Lirael knew of what consequences would occur because of the storm Ivak unleashed on the world. After many minutes, Lirael achieved the impossible by drifted to sleep with her head resting against the stone wall. Lirael’s fitful sleep was plagued with dreams that it was she who had become a hurricane of wild djed and she was ravaging across the land, destroying everything in her path.

[Emblem]

Congratulations! You Get Glorious Experience! Lirael Skills Auristics- 3 XP Leadership- 3 XP Rhetoric- 2 XP Lores Cramped Quarters A Stranger's Kind Words Healing a Basic Cough The Auras of the Mass Comments : I really enjoyed this threads! Good work! I did what I could for all the XP but I didn't feel there was enough use to warrant the full 5 XP points. However, if you feel I am wrong go ahead and PM me!