Flashback True Identity

[Malefic]

Why did being dead make him scary? What could a dead body do to harm them? By definition, a dead body won't do anything. It would do the exact opposite: nothing. Nothing at all. So why was a walking dead person such a "horrific" experience? Malefic himself hadn't even done anything here yet, there was no reason to regard him as dangerous or threatening. Perhaps a bit over-obsessed with books and knowing things but that wasn't really anything to be afraid about. Why? This was what was on his mind, and this was exactly what he said to Sari. "It doesn't make sense..." After heaving a sigh, he shrugged nonchalantly. "I'd say the matriarch sounds scarier. Meh..." "The Dandelion Web, huh?" he said quietly to himself. He stared up at the young symenestra as she spoke about her Matriarch, chuckling at her description of the "fools" running the city. "Out of curiosity... what would it take to meet Alesanya Hyacinth? She may be able to help me find someone with a gnosis capable of finding my past. Also, a conversation with a ruler is never a bland one..." A small snicker escaped his rotten throat. "Overgive?" He made a mental note to look that up. "Suspicious of things they don't know..." For some reason, he couldn't stop thinking about that. "Suspicious... of what they don't know?"Mal forced himself to think of something else. "Well, everything that you can use for bad can also be used for good, right? A knife can cut flesh just as well as it can cut bread." The nuit sighed audibly. Why must everyone be so illogical? The bookkeeper didn't like him. He could tell rather easily. She assumed him a truly evil person attempting to ascend into godhood, her tone sung it to Malefic. In order to quell her suspicion and wariness he simply didn't respond. I don't think it's even worth it... Another question came upon her explanation of an Alvina. He'd look that up, too. Silence. What can you say upon hearing about the death of a close friend? Is there anything that one could really say to defuse such a situation? If there was, Malefic knew nothing about it. So he simply remained silent and bowed his head, frowning. After a chime or two, he mumbled sympathetically the words "I'm sorry to hear about your loss. May he rest in peace. " Once the situation tempered down he sat down at the nearest desk and immediatly began to read whatever he could make out. Starting with the book about gods, because that was what interested him most at the moment.

[Poison]

„Yes, the Dandelion Web. We Symenestra name ourselves after flowers“, Sari explained. „As for meeting Alesanya …“ She paused and furrowed her brow. She had never really talked to the ruler of the city. She had only seen her from afar, during the Harvest Festival or the Morning of the Moths. „She doesn’t want to be bothered with mundane issues, but if it is important and halfway interesting, she will probably talk to you.“

„I suppose finding somebody with a gnosis mark is important“, she added.

„I’m not sure what exactly overgiving is“, Sari admitted and blushed a little. She was embarrassed at her lack of knowledge in this regard. „It’s something that happens when you use too much magic, and it is very unpleasant, but I’m not sure what exactly it entails.“

„I suppose“, she murmurred as he said that everything that you could use for bad could also be used for good. „People don’t see it this way though. They rarely think that far.“

„It’s not my loss“, Sari replied. „He was a teacher, somebody I admired, but his wife probably misses him much more. She hasn’t married again yet because she still mourns his death.“

She followed him to the desk where she sat down opposite of him. „Do you still need me?“ she wanted to know. „Shall I stay in case you have more questions about Kalinor?“

She was getting braver and braver now that she had realized that the Nuit talked and acted like a normal person and wouldn’t hurt her or do something extremely unpleasant to her.

[Malefic]

They name their families based on flowers? That's very intriguing. Why? "Is there a reason for that? A reason you name your families after flowers? Or is it simply a passed down tradition?" Thinking. "Interesting? Interesting. I can do that, I think. How do I go about meeting her?" More thinking. How should I go about this? What would interest the leader of these people? First I must learn the culture and ideas of this race in order to understand their minds. Malefic glanced over at Sariya. She should be able to inform of well enough. I'll ask a bit later. So overgiving is using too much magical power? I see. What causes overgiving? Yet another mental note added to the legion of others. Mal acknowledged her statement with an ample nod. He exhaled sharply. "Hmm... I'm intrigued by the mind of the public as a whole. Need to study that too..." Malefic glanced over at librarian. From that glance she would probably be able to guess what he was thinking. "Could I get a book on that, too?" "That is unfortunate." Malefic didn't say anything else. Better to leave the subject than to dwell on it. As he popped open the volume closest to him on the table he was politely interupted by Sari. "Ah! I suppose ...I should start with that first." Standing, he looked longingly back to the pile of books that lie on the table. Should familiarize myself with the culture of this place. Wouldn't want to horribly offend someone and end up kicked out of the city or... killed? In the end, this benefits my study. Yes. Yes it does. After sufficiently convincing himself, he was prepared to absorb her knowledge. "So, Miss Dandelion, tell me about the culture of your home. What should I do? What shouldn't I do? Proper etiquette? Hmm... actually, now that I think of it, why don't I simply accompany you in one day of your life? I'll obviously give you your privacy. You'll be like my mentor!" Maybe she would say yes, maybe no. He didn't know, but he wanted to. Also he noted as a side thought, I should get a mentor for some of these subjects. Getting information isn't always as easy as grabbing a book from a shelf. Sometimes... Sometimes one must take it. Oh, what fun will I have soon? What challenges?

[Poison]

„I don’t know if there is a reason for our names“, Sari admitted. „They might have something to do with the fact that we lived on the surface before the Valterrian. We lived in a city in the trees, in the middle of a jungle.“ Like most Symenestra she thought of that time with a hint of melancholy. Before the Valterrian, their women hadn’t died, and there had been no need for surrogates. Before the Valterrian they hadn’t been hated and feared, and their skin hadn’t been as pale.

„You just go to her residence“, she replied as Malefic asked her how he should go about meeting the ruler of Kalinor. „And ask if she’s willing to see you.“ Sari had no idea what the ruler of Kalinor thought of a Nuit and if she would really be willing to see him. She might be intriguded or she might hate him. But she didn’t tell him that.

The librarian was rather annoyed at this point, but she brought Malefic another book on magic. Most of it had been written by the doctos of the Purging. Mages that had overgiven were usually brought there – if they didn’t die first. The side effects of magic ranged from insanity over blindness to deformities, but at least in Kalinor no other people had been harmed.

Magic wasn’t very common in Kalinor and was mostly practiced in secret. There were no magic schools.

„There is no proper etiquette“, Sari said. She had no idea what exactly etiquette meant. To her it was equal to good manners. „Just be polite, respect us and our culture, and don’t insult our god Viratas.“ As he suggested accompagnying her and that she would be his mentor, she suddenly started stammering again. Her shyness and insecurity were back full force. „I … I … I’m only a waitress. I don’t know how to mentor somebody. You are of course welcome to come with me, but …“

By Viratas, what would her parents say if she showed up with a Nuit in tow? Her mother would have a heart attack! Nuit had just a bad a reputation as Symenestra! Her father though might be intrigued. Symenestra didn’t only abduct women, they regularly brought guests with them from the surface to learn from them.

This would be like her gleaning, only that she had never had to travel above ground! She doubted anybody had brought a Nuit to Kalinor recently!

[Malefic]

"I think it's unique, the way you name yourselves after flowers. You seem like you love the surface, why not live there? Why do you all live underground in this dark cavern?" Of course, he wouldn't really know if it was unique or not. He remembered nearly nothing from his past experiences with other races, so the most he could do is make an educated guess. The dead one blinked a time or two. "That sounds fairly simple." He glanced upwards for a few moments, stroking his chin."Shall we go there now? Or rather, in a bit once I'm done maneuvering these books around..." Malefic grumbled a bit. After dealing with the books and placing them on the table, he stood and approached her again. "Alright. Ready to go. Lead the way?" Then they started on their way. "So, Miss Dandelion, tell me about the culture..." He listened to her response intensely, however simple or shallow it was. "Are you sure that's it," he asked while walking alongside her, "How is one supposed to be "polite" here? Is there any specific method of being so?" She's stuttering again. Hesitation? So she doesn't like the idea, perhaps I should stop or suggest a different method of learning about the culture? Malefic gave a few curt nods to her. "I see...I don't mind your position, even the lowest of society has a part in it as a whole. I'm sure there are many things I can learn from you, Sari."

[Poison]

„I’m not sure“, Sari replied as Malefic asked her why they all lived underground. „We came here after the Valterrian, but I’m not sure why we are still here. I’m not sure if we would be welcome on the surface either. I mean, can you imagine Symenestra and humans coexisting peacefully?“ Sari was not a historian nor any other kind of scholar, and thus such questions were almost too much for her. She didn’t know why her people hadn’t returned to their city in the trees after the worst had been over.

„N … n … now?“ She stared at him wide eyed. „But I can’t see the ruler of Kalinor in this here!“ She pointed at her rather plain dress. She wanted to at least wear something with a bit of embroidery and brush her hair! Seeing that he wouldn’t give in though, she let out a sigh and said, „Let’s go then.“

She gestured for him to follow her. Seeing that they were leaving, the librarian breathed a sigh of relief and immediately started to clean the desk where Malefic had been sitting. She thought that she could smell dead people. And wasn’t there a bit of dirt in one of the corners?

„Well …“ Sari murmurred as they made their way to Alesanya’s residence. „There are certain words that you can use if you want to be especially polite. For example you would call your superior ‚Dovna‘. And ‚Mabdra‘ is a respectful term for an older woman. Is that what you wanted to know?“

„Be careful …“ She reminded him as they walked across the thick ropes that were the streets of Kalinor. Sari moved with ease, but the Nuit with his human body would have trouble maintaining his balance. „There’s nothing under us. Can you see that large building over there, near the gathering hall?“ She pointed to a golden, pear shaped building that hung from the ceiling. „That’s our destination. Are you sure you want to do this?“

„Shall … shall I go in first and talk to them? Maybe Alesanya will be more inclined to talk to you if I vouch for you and say that you are in Kalinor as my guest!“

[Malefic]

"Ah... I see..." After thinking contemplating for a moment or two, and listening to Sari, he came up with another question. "Why wouldn't it be possible to coexist peacefully with humans? What about the Symenestra is so bad? You seem like a nice people to me!" Malefic didn't remember anything about the Symenestra and their culture. No about the harvests or anything else for that matter. They just seemed like a good and unique people. Blinked a time or two, Malefic retorted. "What's wrong with what you're wearing? It's fine! Knowledge awaits! Clothing means nothing in the face of knowledge and wisdom!" The nuit chuckled snickered for a bit. Mal eyed the books he left on the table. The librarian was picking them up and moving them. Noo! You're making it hard to find when I come back! Immediately he stopped and turned to the librarian. "No! Leave them there! I don't want to waste time finding them, the time that I could spend studying!" Knowledge is key! Knowledge is what controls this world! Every bit of knowledge would help, and he wanted to know as much as possible as fast as possible. Perhaps this simple and naive librarian didn't understand how it all worked? She needs to study more, indeed. It took a few moments for Malefic to regain his composure. "Excuse me." With that, he followed in Sari's footsteps. "I see... 'dovna'." His fingers stroked his chin for a second or two. "I don't suppose I'll be able to use 'mabdra'," he said with an accompanying chuckle. The walking corpse peered down into the jet black depths. Though he wasn't quite scared, it made him nervous. However, he was able to stifle such feelings with the reminder that he was about to learn who he was. "Yes, I'd agree..." He did, however, wobble a bit while crossing. Well... maybe more than "a bit". "Yes. Yes, I am sure. I will not stop in the face of wisdom. I need to know this as well as much more..." The closest thing to a god to Malefic was knowledge. He would worship it should it have been one. That is, it was a god. It's just that Malefic knew nothing of Eyris... yet. "Are you sure that you want to do that? The ruler may associate you with me, a nuit. Perhaps I should go by myself..."

[Poison]

As Malefic asked her what was so bad about the Symenestra, Sari looked at him incredulously. „You mean you don’t know about the Harvest? Everybody hates us and fears us because of it even though we don’t have a choice and the only alternative is the extinction of our race. We ab …“ She broke off abruptly and begged him, „Promise me that you won’t be mad! We kind of do the same thing as your people. We take other people to ensure our continued existence. If we didn’t regularly take human women, there would be no more Symenestra in a couple of generations.“

Sari herself planned on getting a surrogate from the surface when the time came. If the decision was between her death and some human’s, she would pick the human every time. Better they than her people!

Clothes probably didn’t matter as much to a walking corpse, but Sari was very self conscious in her simple waitress clothes. Still, she decided not to argue with him, but shrugged her shoulders. The librarian on the other hand did almost argue with him and glared at him. „I will leave the books here one day. If you aren’t back by tomorrow, they will go back to their shelves. I hate chaos! And now leave! I have work to do!“

~~~~

„Hmmm“, Sari made as they stood in front of the residence of the ruler. Come to think of it, maybe talking to Alesanya about her Nuit guest wouldn’t be such a good idea. Maybe Alesanya didn’t like Nuit and would decide not to like her either because she associated with one!

„Maybe you should go in alone“, she agreed. „I’ll wait here though so that you can tell me how it went! Good luck!“

[Malefic]

This was the first time that Malefic had seen Sari this way. She was nervous, maybe even panicking. Desperate. His eyes widened a bit, not at what she was saying, but how she was acting. Mal responded. "It's completely fine, Sariya. I may not fully understand this yet, but so far everything you say has been logical. You would perish if you didn't, right? This is the most logical way of going about it." The nuit breathed a sigh and scratched his neck, continuing by changing the subject. "So how do you construct the buildings here? They seem rather difficult to get to, so it's probably even more so difficult to create in the first place. How do the Symenestra manage to do it?" I'll approach this subject later, when I've earned more of her trust and have considered a logical path of action. " 'Hate chaos'?" Malefic blinked. "But I haven't done anything..." The dead one raised a confused eyebrow. It's just another instance or racism, I assume... "Alright, then, I will come back by tommorow." A curt nod to Sari, and he began to hobble across the wobbly bridge, one foot at a time. The bottom of his cloak brushed against the wooden bridge, a bit of it hanging off into the perilous depths. Mal looked down for half a second before returning his never-blinking gaze back up to his destination. Keep your composure... this is for knowledge... there is nothing to fear in the face of knowledge... keep walking, one step at a time. Eventually, he managed to make his way all the way to the end of the dangling bridge. A single cracking of the neck, and then he strode to the door, knocking on it with a firm and steady hand. What was to come? Who was to come? Here it was, a solid lead on the path to knowledge. First, he needed to understand himself. Then he planned on obtaining the knowledge to that he was directly involved in. Next up was the entire world! Here I come...

[Poison]

Sari had expected Malefic to want to know more about the Harvest, she had expected him to be at least a little shocked, so when he asked her how they constructed the buildings in Kalinor, she just stared at him incredulously for a few moments. She definitely hadn’t expected that question!

„Ummm …“ she made. „I don’t know. Nobody has built a new house here in my lifetime. The population of Kalinor has been decreasing for a long time. Most of the houses are at least a few decades old. You need to ask somebody else. Maybe somebody in Alesanya’s house knows?“

~~~

Sari watched Malefic from the distance as he made his way to the door of Alesanya’s residence. As he knocked, and the door was opened a few moments later, she held her breath.

She was still a little uncomfortable around him, but she hoped things went well for him nevertheless, and Alesanya didn’t just order to have him put into the Sac.

Malefic found himself facing two male Symenestra dressed in the traditional exoskeleton armor that protected their fragile bodies. Cloaks made of dark red silk were draped across their backs. Both men had snow white hair and ruby red eyes. Alesanya was nowhere to be seen.

Of course the woman that ruled Kalinor didn’t answer the door herself.

„What do you want, Nuit?“ one of the men asked, while his colleague wondered, „Are you aware that this is the residence of the ruler of Kalinor?“ It wasn’t the warmest welcome, but Alesanya’s guards – or whatever they were – seemed at least willing to listen to him.

Behind the two men Malefic could see part of the house. The entrance room was tiny and completely barren apart from the opalogems that had been attached to the ceiling and filled it with light. The walls were covered with golden silk curtains.

At the end of the room a narrow staircase led downwards. It was so steep that Malefic could easily break an arm or a leg if he wasn’t careful.

From the other end of the staircase Malefic could hear a sound. Apparently the guards weren’t the only one that had noticed his arrival. A woman ascended the stairs, stopped at the second to last step and looked at him curiously.

She was in her mid-thirties, tall and thin as they all were and lacking the curves of human women. Her eyes were golden, while the hair that fell over her shoulders was black.

She was dressed in a gown of precious white silk that was decorated with tiny jewels that shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow when the light touched them. Her feet were bare.

Shoes hindered her when she was climbing.

„I am quite certain that he is aware of that fact“, she told the guard. „He doesn’t look like he has gotten lost and stumbled upon my residence by accident.“ She turned to Malefic. „I don’t remember seeing a Nuit in our city before. Kalinor has little to offer to your kind. Why have you come here? Why do you need to see me?“