The Hypnotism of Quicksilver.

[Albireo]

Winter 72, 511 AV Far from signs of civilization the night was as dark as the blind eye of death. One directed one’s gaze towards mountains or forests, the same darkness swallowed it all. Only through tilting one’s head one received consolation from stars and moon – if the weather was generous. Light breathing and the occasional whisper of fabric and dreams stayed behind and cries of nameless creatures cut freezing air ahead into pieces. Pale fingers wrapped around her upper body and tugged at the cloak. As blue as the night, it melted into the background, yet silvery white hair was dancing after her as if to mock all camouflage, giving way to black horns sprouting from her temples. Following the pointed ends, she tilted her head to the sky as the delicate form settled on hard and cold rock. Only thin patches of moss cushioned the surface. As words formed and culminated in her head, the reality of her whereabouts sank into the background. My Lord, I’m grateful for the protection Your light grants us tonight. The sickle above was shedding not even enough to cast a shadow. Still, no clouds had taken its beauty from the mortal world which burned in her mind as a lucky circumstance. As always, the words wandered through the air as if climbing an invisible rope towards the sky – and by extension, heaven. Even though the journey has been pleasant so far, I can’t deny that doubt is growing in me like a fatal illness. My companions know not of my problems, not the worst of them, so I talk to You in hopes that You will hear, understand and – if You wish – answer. A sigh fell from bloodless lips and dropped to the ground. Two years since the fall, two years of silence and what ifs. The night is thick with unknown dangers, even though I should be happy to see You. The shadows tremble with grimaces and I sometimes bite my lip to stifle a scream... Flashes of the metallic taste flooded her memory. Cobalt eyes darkened to the color of her environment. With each chime staring fear into the face she saw more. At least I can hold on to Your presence. My thoughts are with You always. You are my savior and that helps me to forget the seal on Your lips when I speak. Still, her thoughts were cursed with the past ... Ears stiffened, her body froze. A noise? A noise! No animal, no. What else? Bits and pieces of daytime conversations invaded her mind. Lightning in the darkness: stories, ripe with tragedy. Paralyzed, she sat, stared and listened, prey of a snake pinned to where she was by its hypnotic gaze.

[Videli Datura]

' Several hours before nightfall ' His second hunt, only his second goddamned hunt, and Videli has already been thrown in the deep end of the lake to see if he'll swim or drown...They hadn't even been roaming The Unforgiving for a day when Dorian raised his fist as he froze in position. Slowly crouching down to the grassy soil, the others of the hunting party followed his example without hesitation. Not a sound was made, not a movement was wasted. Now the 3 veterans and the apprentice, Videli, remained skulking close to the ground. Breathing remained controlled and for quite a while the 3 veterans scanned the area around them. Dorian remained silent as he let his eyes take in all that he saw in front of them. Levato did the same, to the left of the group. As did Vol, with the area right of them. Videli...Being at the back, in order to minimize errors caused and potential dangers, noticed the party moving as a seamless union and realized that they were making sure they weren't in immediate peril. But the fact that one side, his side, hadn't been checked yet, didn't occur to him. The veterans didn't say anything at the time, it wasn't the time to reprimand and teach, but Videli would later realize his careless mistake. Vol had taken it upon himself to teach Videli as much as he could during this hunt, a skilled Hunter and tactician, Vol was a great teacher to have. Patient and realizing Videli was still a novice Hunter, no matter what Videli said about his so-called skills, he explained later what Videli had done wrong and that they were a four-man cell during this particular hunt, and as such the tactics and methods being used, were adjusted accordingly. Either way, Dorian suddenly motioned with his thumb to their leftside, it would position them behind even denser shrubbery, Videli waited for the veterans to move first. Which was the right thing to do, he was nowhere near skilled enough to take the lead and he shouldn't change position during a situation like this anyway. In a diamond-formation they quickly moved towards the shrubs, while keeping their bodies and head low and bows firmly in hand. Videli still had no clue what exactly was going on and he couldn't read a damn thing off the faces of the veterans, no fear or worry could be seen, only thing he was damn certain of was that all of them were focused and concentrated beyond what Videli had ever seen. Heart racing, adrenaline rushing and head throbbing, Videli was excited yet slightly scared aswell. Then the veterans started to speak. Dorian: " Outsiders! Two caravans, each having two people at the reigns, aswell as two humans on horses. They're following a path...Traders most likely. " Levato: " Trading caravans going to, or coming from, Kalinor are never to be harmed...Shame, I'm running out of funds, I could use some free goods. Vol: You're both right but that path leads further into Kalea, they've already passed Kalinor...They are traders alright, but not allied with Kalinor! I say we strike at night, steal some goods and then retreat. Eventhough they're not trading with Kalinor, traders are still not to be killed, as says The Aconitum. After some debating on whether or not to just plain kill them all or not, so they would have more time to pick out the valuable goods, they finally came to an accord. They would strike this nightfall, armed. Just in case something goes wrong during the heist. Otherwise they were not to kill any of the traders, said Vol, who seemed to be the most experienced of the three, because when he started to show impatience and anger, the others were quick to accept his terms. Videli tried to 'contribute' to the debate by stating they were only traders, so they would probably be easy targets. Vol smirked and asked Videli if he had ever even seen a caravan or had any knowledge of how they worked? Videli was forced to reveal, ashamed, that he in fact had never seen or learned about caravans. Vol smiled and explained to him that caravan-traders not only arm themselves and are usually fairly skilled combatants, but that they hire guards to boot. And from the looks of it there were 2 traders, one for each caravan, and four guards aswell. Two on horses and two seated next to the traders. But Vol had overlooked something, he didn't know what was inside the caravans. This negligence and error in planning their heist, would prove hazardous for all of them... ' After nightfall ' The Symenestra Hunters had stalked the travelling merchants and their guards until they set up camp for the night, Once darkness had crept over the area and covered the Hunters in a dark shroud, they approached as near as they could until they reached the treeline. Dorian and Levato effortlessly and silently climbed two trees and readied their bows with arrows, once they were in position, they gave Vol and Videli the sign. Vol: " Remember what I said, keep your eyes and ears open and go for the easily reachable and light loot. We can always come back for more, but if we get caught once...It's all over. Also, you have your weapons...Use them when necessary! Ok...Lets move! " Vol and Videli snuck up to the leftside of the caravan, Vol proceeded to enter the caravan while Videli snuck underneath it and kept his eyes and ears open for any guards or the like. Then he saw something, someone...A whitehaired 'goddess' with black horns... He had never seen an Ethaefal and was stunned by her beauty. Enthralled he wanted to see her more clearly, foolishly he moved his body without noticing the branch beneath him. A loud crack resonated through the night and the camp, for a split second...time had frozen...Then Videli could hear sounds, footsteps, approach the caravan where Vol had snuck into. It was one of the guards, Videli could see a well used blade in the guard's hands and as his mind and heart raced, he waited for the opportune moment to ... He had no idea what to do ....

[Albireo]

Only movement from the other side, a breeze passing by, sent a shiver through her stiff body and kicked it back to life with a screech. A sturdy man, not too tall and blade in hand, shot a brief look back. Her eyes shone with affirmation, being alright, so he went to tear apart the shadows. Meanwhile the ‘white-haired goddess’ glided towards the caravan, coat fluttering behind in a sort of surreal glory. Twin tents marked the center of their night camp, orange light and silhouettes of luxury against leather walls. The more coin, the safer the travel. Hesitating outside, she fiddled around for a moment or two and cleared her throat: discreet translation of a knock. A young face split the material into two – a face usually seen with books, quills and a thoughtful frown wrinkling otherwise smooth skin. The assistant, with eyes blackened by sleep. “Something is circling us outside, stalking as if we were its next prey. It’s dangerous. Panack is chasing it in the south.” Biting her lip, she trailed off, surprised at the clarity of her words. In such a cold night, the moon sharpened thoughts until they were crystal clear. Eyes widened and her opponent barely nodded before disappearing back into the tent, comfort inside. Took Panack’s fate with him. The Ethaefal remained under the bare sky and cast a glance upwards. Lord, is this really...? But doubt was still etching at her heart and danger gripped it with chrome force. Then bright features crossed her mind, a shock of honey-colored hair and distant laughter. Hasty steps returned her to the outskirts, the tent shared with Carnelian. What lay beyond had changed, ripe with ugly possibilities now; every move sent adrenaline through her body. Strong enough to almost faint from it. Gods, even fingertips were humming with tension! And the wind carried more noises towards unwilling ears.

[Videli Datura]

Being left in oblivious ignorance whether or not Vol was aware of the guard approaching, it was up to Videli to take action and ensure the safety of his kinsman. He knew he'd be placed with the blame for the failure of this mission, but it'd be rightfully so and he'd be damned if he'd let his 'brother' die because of his failure. He silently moved his lefthand to his lowerback and made sure that his chakram was tied firmly to his body so that he'd be able to roll to a better position for combat or retreat, depending on how the events turned out to be. After having reassured himself that he wouldn't cut himself on his chakram by rolling, he took hold of his shortbow and withdrew an arrow from his quiver, making more sound than needed. It was the best he could do in the current situation, he didn't have the luxury to take his time right now. He noticed the alerted guard stopped in his tracks with each sound made that came from the proximity of the caravan. Videli's wrecked state of mind and soul finally saw light at the end of the tunnel. He knew what to do now, he knew what would ensure the safety of Vol. Lining up the arrow on his bow, he prepared his shot and aimed at the guard's closest ankle. The guard had approached the caravan a great deal by now and was only a few yards away and eventhough the Symenestra could see well in the dark, Videli was still too inexperienced to ensure a hit on a moving target under these stressed circumstances. So, after observing the behaviour of the target, he knocked hard on the bottom of the caravan and swiftly re-aimed at his target. Who was now, as expected, standing still for a moment after hearing the sound. Pulling the string of the bow back as much as he could in the position he was in, Videli held his breath a few moments before he fired off his shot. At first only a very brief swish'ing sound could be heard through the campfire-illuminated night, followed by an intense and surprised shrieking coming from the guard. No doubt alarming the other, dormant, guards. The guard who had been hit by the arrow toppled over to the ground before trying to crawl away to safety. Videli had little compassion with the human who was about to attempt a lethal attack on one of his brethren. But he felt a strange satisfaction when he saw the fear in his prey's eyes as he was scared of what was about to come. Videli had almost lost himself in thoughts when another gurgled shriek could be heard from behind Videli. There had been another guard awake, and he had circled the camp's perimeter to ambush its assailants, but before he had been able to reach Vol and Videli's position, he had been perforated by the two other Symenestra Hunters keeping an eye out for this kind of scenario. Suddenly finding himself in the middle of a battlefield, Videli was shook awake and without a clue what to do, he rolled out from underneath the caravan and was about to run away, into the night and out of the encampment.

[Albireo]

Danger was humming all around, jumping into the moonface from all directions. Screams and shouts cut moments into tiny pieces. Her eyes were dark and darker, yet didn’t amount to the night pouring into them the color of ink. The campfire’s dancing light slowly sank from the path her feet followed like muted drum rolls. No matter how wide they grew, piercing secrets that weren’t meant for her was far from possible. Around a tent she scrambled, between two others, over a bush, rustling cloak, crossing the path, switching between camp and wilderness and... Thud. Next thing she was lying on the ground, grass in hair and horns and the sky in her gaze. Getting up almost brought her down again, gravity blowing out milky glass. Opposite were white fabrics, thin limbs twitching like a spider’s legs. Their nets wrapped around hands and arms and... A scream wormed its way up her throat, but out of parted lips came only hot air. Symenestra. Why? While guards were shouting, commanding behind, the question resonated in the air, while their words stamped wild images and shrill colors into her head, the question remained. Why, why? White hands, moonlight skin covering her head, tousling lavender strands, eyes tight shut to make it disappear like dust in the wind, holing herself up in an opalescent body shell. “Why why why why.”

[Whimsy]

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Experience Award

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Albireo

Exp
+3 Observation
+1 Running

Lores
Prayers to Leth
Recognising Symenestra

Comments
This thread was exciting to read: budding with tension. I'm sorry it ended. If Videli comes back, he can PM me for his grade. PM me if you have any questions or concerns.