Flashback Lost regrets (Fallon)

[Vick]

34 Winter 510 av

Vick looked up as he heard a knock along his door. His dead eyes just glanced at the door as his voice spoke out loud. “Enter.” It was a simple word but a command nonetheless to the person or persons behind his door.

His eyes moved back down to his work as he picked up the dog skull in front of him. It had already been clean and soaked for a few days to soften up the bones. They were from a Bozderon Shadow Dog breed which was common within the area for a few mizas Vick was told.

This was not the first time he had worked with dog bones as he wiped the skull dry with a cloth. He wished he had the blood of the dog but he did not this time around but he just had to push that thought away as he the thoughts away as he set to focus on the new task.

This dog breed he knew had two special abilities which he was going to try to focus the power of. The abilities were that they could blend into shadows and have Infravision two things Vick wanted to bring out.

However he only had one skull so he would have to either get it right the first time or work around that. Normally he would just try to get it right the first time around but this time he had a better idea as he took a simple pencil and slowly drew the circles he needed along the outer part of the top of the skull.

The circles were done lightly upon the skull. First a outside circle, than a circle right inside that circle and a third. Normally he would leave it at that however this time he was going to take a branch out of the summoning branch of magic and try a more complex circle from that page in hopes to try to make a more focused circle for malediction since they shared the same roots or at least that was the theory.

First however he wrote down ‘Blend into shadows’ on the top inside circle and on the bottom he wrote down ‘Infravision’. He then drew a rounded ‘rectangle linking the top word and bottom word together. Afterwards he made a circle around the top words and another one at the bottoms before making a new circle in the middle of the two words.

Inside the center circle of the two words he wrote ‘Join together’ and made two more circles. One linking the top word to the center and the bottom word to it as well.

It was a simple task in the end or at least he would say but it was helping him open up new ideas within his field since he never linked so many circles in this fashion. He was about to cut his finger until his unblinking eyes turned and saw a figure inside his office.

“Can I help you?”

His soft childlike voice left his dark purple undead lips as his glazed eyes looked at the figure in question.

Image :

[Fallon]

Fallon inhaled deeply, her fingers tightly holding onto the strap of her bag, the other crumpled around a note with a series of instructions upon it. Be an assistant to a Mister Vick and aid him in the research of Malediction items. It sounded easy enough, and the research could also help in producing a better understanding to the magic, however whatever else the task entailed was a mystery. To be honest she was not sure what to expect beyond the door, other than the Nuit that she had been instructed to work with. Otherwise, all was a mystery. So she simply knocked upon it and received the child like voice to enter. When she did, her eyes laid upon the boy and his work, a dog skull being carefully held in his hands. She would have spoken but the boy seemed too absorbed, and distracting him seemed like a bad idea.

Fallon closed the door and took slow careful steps towards the boy, keeping a safe distance as the small hands begun to draw upon it. She had never really watched the process of Malediction before, so the drawing of the circles and the creation of words provided a fascination for her. But then her eyes turned round to the rest of the room, to the room with the quiet scratching of the tip against the skull. She did not know what the boy was trying to create, though in time it would reveal all. Her eyes briefly drifted around his office looking at the various tools and furniture that existed there, from the bones of creatures to the books upon the shelf.
What have I walked into? she gave a small frown as her eyes traced the shapes, I seriously hope this won’t be the death of me.

The boy spoke, and her attention was grabbed and dragged to him. She would have easily looked double his age, but the whispering voices in the back of her mind suggested that this was far from the case. Sahova was home of the Nuits, those strange cold, unbreathing beings that hopped from body to body. Besides, this boy looked dead, for how long was a mystery for the little that she did know about Nuits told her that they did try to look after their bodies, with embalming… or something else, she could not remember exactly. Fallon’s back straightened.
“I was told to help you as an assistant uh…” she quickly raised the crumpled note to read it once more “Mister Vick practitioner of Malediction?”
Her brow creased and she gave an awkward smile, awaiting an instruction from the boy whilst her thoughts simply shouted at her to behave and obey.

[Vick]

The young child just looked at the young woman who spoke to him. He did not say anything for awhile. The seconds ticked by and slowly turned into minutes until at last he spoke to her.

“Why would I need someone? What is it that you can offer me?”

His cold dead unblinking eyes glared at her. It was a glare that held weight that time could not give meaning to. It was showing the years of the what magic was done to him while being with the island and gave a depth of age that could surpass any meaning.

It was a simple question but one that held so much weight and so much meaning. The fact was she meant nothing to him as of now. Even if she was told to help, that help could have just been standing or even cutting off her own skin for his research. How far would she give her aid to him and what was the real reason behind it?

He just turned away from her, picked the dog skull up and placed it on his desk before picking another bone from the right barrel of water that held a range of bones. This time it was a right hand.

This is a bone he knew well, he was given the story and a small amount of blood from it as it was a pluser from the island. They attacked a nuit and was tortured and was broken before killed. They were not a mage but they were skilled in living in the wild.

With a iron sharp carving pick, he slowly started craving into the bone, scratching along it with hands showing skill that had been doing this trade for so very long. Within the many circles of the hand he told a story within the picture.

The story along his landscape told a story of a person bowing down to a dead child. Hiding within the wild and living off the land within the cold winter nights. The person in the story stood besides the dead child who was above them like a god.

The circles and story were around the phalanges and the metacarpal yet not on the near the joints of the fingers. Taking a surgical blade from his desk he slowly and carefully sliced into the Collateral ligaments between the interphalangeal joints and the proximal interphalangeal joints.

Afterwards he took a long blood red string from a box under his desk which held common based items for his work. He wrapped the string along the top parts of the Metacarpals and Phalange bones, tying a knot on each one letting them hang along the string as he made a necklace out of it with the long string before placing it on the desk.

This was very slow work. Slower than the skull as it took close to two bells. If Fallon spoke he would not answer her but he would listen even if it would not seem so. He would go back down, cut his finger with a sharp blade as his ichor dripped along his skin as he smeared it along the new necklace and the dog skull. His life giving the dead a new meaning and letting new artifacts of power being born into the world as he just placed it over a lit candle on the edge of the desk burning the skin. He felt the pain but it did not show as if she looked close along his hands she would have seen many scars both from burns and stitches.

“Put this necklace on...and tell me what you feel.”

He said as he saw the inner pathways of his djed, or at least what he saw them as in his head. He was black, a white outline along his body with colorful pathways going along his body. A white pool laid within the center as he saw and pushed it upwards his spine as and into his eyes as his Auristics came to life as he looked hard at Fallon and the necklace.

No smile came upon his blank face as he kept the secrets that he knew and waited for her resolve to show itself one way or the other. A test that she could pass or fail which could have meant so many things.

[Fallon]

Fallon met those unblinking eyes that were full of age and wisdom, a moment of questioning filling them. A question that Fallon would have to tread carefully around, for the wrong word could send her down a completely different route. She watched Vick quietly work, her mind racing through the reasons what it was she could offer him other than being a simple object to perform tests upon.
“I was told to assist you in your research,” she cleared her throat and lowered her bag to the ground “Be it as simple tester or pulser for you to order about.”

She paused and quietly went over to him, pulling off her gloves and flexing her fingers as she felt her extremities click and warm. Looking upon the skeletal right hand unnerved her, it was obviously human and it was upon this bone that he began to carve. What was a mystery, so carefully Fallon leaned in to get a closer look. She watched the iron carve into it, strange shapes covering it. It set her imagination alight, if anything on wondering on what the Nuit was trying to achieve. She pulled a face as the joints were snapped, her face wincing slightly as the cracks sounded out. For the most part she was patient, observing how he worked and the manner in which he wrapped himself in silence.
Is all malediction like this?
“Of course,” she continued as she eyed the bone carefully “Assisting whilst maintaining as many limbs as possible.”
She gave an awkward laugh, but all it met was silence. So the young woman tried a different tact “Of course, I can also help you find out things with Eyris’ help. And uh, projection, though I’m not sure how that will help out with your research and experiments. Either way if you need something done, I can try and do it though I might need you to guide me through it first.”

But then the Nuit spoke, after what seemed an age of working, a simple instruction escaping his lips. She fell silent immediately, her eyes glancing down at the bone necklace that bore his ichor. She was not sure what it represented, but no doubt in time she would find an answer in time. Carefully Fallon lifted the necklace, studying all the bones, her mind narrowing down upon it. She felt her gnosis mark flare as she studied it carefully, her mind trying to clear itself as she felt the broken joints between her fingers, an attempt to get a fleeting impression of what it was other than a simple skeletal hand. For a moment the world stilled, her thoughts picking up the residue djed that was left, the small contributions that existed there. But the only thing she could grasp upon, if any was that he was human, otherwise all else had escaped her.
“You want me to put this on?” she glanced at Vick and raised an eyebrow.
The blank face was the answer to her question, those dead eyes burrowing into hers. So she swallowed, clearing her thoughts one last time before raising the necklace over her head and letting it drop so it rested around her neck.

[Vick]

Vick did not let her wear it for long as he moved from his chair, his hand grabbing onto your right hand as he pulled her away. His cold little dead hand felt so odd compared to her warm smooth hand as he led her out of the room, dragging her if need be.

“Come, let’s play a game.” Vick said as he pulled her willing or not with him. Within two or three chimes should would have felt a greater power from his arm and hand as if he became far stronger even if he was a dead child.

It was due to the magic items on his arms that he kept under his black robes, a flux bone that gave him just enough of an edge but far from the real thing. It took power from his other arm or legs that was why he was not skipping away. If he learned that she came willing he would not use as much force to drag her.

He did not tell her where they were going if she questioned it. He did not even ask her what she felt with the necklace as she wore it bravely. Not even most testers would wear it without a thought he knew but he did not bring it up. Twist and turns they took as he made his way into the courtyard once again. The same courtyard Fallon had to pass alone on her way inside to see Vick.

Vick made the ghosts no mind as he moved along the walkway. The fog that never lifted did not even touch the edges of his heart or mind of fear as he grew up around it. This was fun for him as his mind was warped long ago from the influence of the island but even he did not know just how much for change was funny like that.

However once the doors were pushed open at last, as he took a left from the courtyard into a building, the tone of the courtyard was almost peaceful.

Soft moans and cries of pain were heard as the doors closed behind them. Dark stone walls lined the tunnel with dark stains along the walls and floors. Torches of flame lie the corridors but they did so very little for the shadows never did seem to grow smaller.

They were inside the dungeons. A place few wanted to enter and fewer left it in the same state of mind. It was divided into five layers, two above and two under with one level even with the courtyard. The path spitted into many areas as they moved deeper inside.

Vick held a hum along his lips as he pushed a door open that was stained with dark blood from years of people touching and bleeding over it. Inside the room was just a small space all in all. Different grotesque and horrid tools lined the walls and a few tables near a simple stone table that held leather bindings along it with steel chains on the ground.

Vick pushed Fallon inside if she would fought at the sight that was before her and he closed the door behind her.

"Remove what you have and lay on the table. We are going to play a game unless you fight and I can use magic. It's been awhile since I have had a fun game so do listen to the rules."

Vick said as a smile brushed along his dark dead purple lips looking at her. He gave her a choice of doing this willing but was it a choice in the end?

[Fallon]

Fallon was lead along before she had a chance to answer his question and on what this strange necklace and any possible affects. The only thing that did alert her however was the sudden gaining speed of her heart, of the trembling nerves that called out to her as she was pulled forward by Vick the Nuit child. His hold was surprisingly strong, she had a feeling it would be weaker. But this was Sahova the island of wizards and their artefacts.
“Where are we going?” She asked him only to receive silence once more as an answer.
The only clue she had to rely on now was his last statement, the talk of playing a game. Yet gut instinct gave her the feeling that it was far from that. She was lead across the courtyard, the same one where the ever watching eyes of the golems stared down at them, ever watching and never blinking. She felt a chill travel through her, the judging gaze of those that wandered the world lost and confused stared at her, the whispers in the fog as she as lead ever on into the gate of a hell.

It was the cries of pain the shrills of torture that Fallon heard. She pulled back, her body freezing up as her mind began to scream at her. It shouted to run, to escape the hold of this little boy that held on to her so tightly as he dragged her through the dungeons.
Run! Escape! Doesn’t matter how!
She gave a squirm as the boy lead her deeper, leading her through the hallways, between the begs and cries. A gurgle shot through the air, and the mortal tensed, her eyes widening as her mind raced. But just as quickly as she thought she was free, did she receive a shove into the gloom of a room.

She staggered forwards, her eyes darting about. It did not take her long to register what she was in, but her mind refused to believe it. This was a dungeon, a room designed for torture and judging by the nature of those who lived in Sahova it would no doubt also be a room for experimentation. She felt the wave of decay hit her, the smell of blood, of the cold steel that hung around the room. She heard Vick snap the door shut behind them. Her eyes darted about, looking for an escape, searching for a way out a direction she could run to if need be. But then she heard the voice of the nuit, that ever child like tone reaching out and grasping her. She swallowed and stared back at him as she stopped herself from shaking.

“Remove?” she questioned the word, the signs of a tremor forming in the back of her voice “As in… everything? To the flesh?”
It seemed perverse to her, a twisted request. More so from the fact it was coming from that of a child, a boy who looked easily half her age when he died. But it was that fact that got her. Vick was dead, or at least his flesh was, even if those lips managed to curl into a smile. He was dead and this was wrong.
“A game?” she then swallowed, an attempt to muster up some courage from her depths “Perhaps you could tell me the rules before we begin playing then? I mean you do want this to be uh…” she paused before shrugging “fun right?”
She took in a deep breath her fists clenching slightly as she found herself backing into the wall behind with her options of escape narrowing. Her mind cursed at herself, knowing too late that coming to Sahova was most definitely a bad idea.

[Vick]

She told him no. He did not like that. She might not have said the words no to him but he still heard it like that. An dark void filled his heart as the lonely feeling filled his body as he looked upon the girl. She was young, so very young and she did not know the rules of his games. The child became very still even if he did not breathe or blink at her. No hums left his dark purple lips and no emotion touched his dead eyes as he looked upon her as he saw nothing but a person who told him one thing he hated. Being told no.

His unblinking eyes looked upon her soft face. It did not take magic to tell just how scared she was with how her body moved and her voice breaking. Yet this did not stop him from being mad at her. She, a mere human dared to question him, a wizard of status within the walls of Sahova.

His mind felt empty along with his heart. Save for the deep dark emotions that pooled into his very soul as just inches away from her face, within her eye shot, flared a dark spark of light. One after another as if someone was striking flint and steel together until at last the very air itself ripped open and the darkest black anyone could imagine could be seen.

What she saw was something few people knew about and fewer even dared to control. For it was nothing in the end. It was the void itself, the plane of nightmares Vick would say. Cold darkness was all that it was but the portal only lasted a few seconds before it closed upon itself. However Vick knew it so very well for he had used it more times than he cared to come to terms with.

“Next time you tell me no, I will open that portal along your body and send parts of you into the Void. The rules are simple, don’t defy me. Clearly already you are breaking the rules to this game and I am going to have to find ways to punish you. Yet maybe it’s due to you are just not that smart and think you are the oldest one in this room. Maybe you think you have seen more in life compared to me. Maybe you don’t fear the true power behind magic and even call yourself a person who knows it all.”

Vick said softly to her. His words were soft and even as he looked upon her with his unblinking eyes. A rage of sorts could be seen behind his face as years of anger slowly came to the surface as he looked upon her.

He might have been in a childs body and she might have been an adult yet that did not stop Vick from trying to scare her with his own magic and using the setting to help push under her skin. She had too much will to help him and he was trying to break her down. Was it working he had to wonder?

[Fallon]

Fallon swallowed, and slunk back into the wall. Eyes wide, her mind having simply ceased in its working. She could not think, she could barely react as the magic was revealed to her. This dark desolate void sparked out of nothing, and was from what seemed stimulated from nothing. She did not understand what caused him to unleash such torment, had she said something? Had she insulted the boy nuit? All she had done was ask a simple question, to rules to his game, she was not about to go willingly into something without knowing. Had such a thing truly upset him.

Fallon felt her legs give as she slid down against the wall, her eyes staring wide at the nuit boy. She heard his words, but she could not summon herself to speak. Her courage had simply been consumed by a deep and resounding fear. There was one thing however that was true. This nuit presumed too much. Fallon came to Sahova to learn, to assist the wizards there for a brief while. She did not see herself as wise, she did not see herself as a person who knew all. If anything she would be the one to say she was ignorant and unknowing, with very little in terms of magic to back her up. She managed to swallow. And by swallowing she allowed thought to slowly creep back. She reached into her depths and grasped at what little she could. She had to steel herself, she had to protect herself. Somehow she just had to do it.

Fallon simply closed her eyes, drawing in the musky, dead air. Her nostrils flared as she tried to calm her shaking limbs. Deeper she reached into herself, drawing out what she could cling onto, from thought to emotion she grasped onto it tightly. Perhaps what were mere chimes in the outside world was an age in the mind of Fallon. She sought composure and calm, a state in which to cling onto and get her through this situation and the damage from what the game was going to bring. Her jaw tensed allowing a brief release from the pressure that was growing inside. She had to find something.

She exhaled, and looked once more upon the nuit boy. There was still fear present; there was still worry and signs of stress within her. But she had managed to cling onto something, though barely. A sudden wrong move would indeed send her spiralling down again, for the mind of Fallon was balanced upon a knife edge. His actions and words however were indeed working. If it was obedience he looked for, then it was what he would get.
“I understand,” she spoke in a mumble, a force to get her voice out.

[Vick]

“I am glad you understand. You know human I don’t even know your name. What shall I call you while we play this game? I might as well tell you about this game.” Vick said slowly as he moved to the smaller table near the center table with the leather straps. Along the smaller table laid different tools ranging from knives, thin blades, picks and saws even.

“Legacy, a word of power yet tell me little one what do you know of power or even Legacy? Legacy has another name which is Malediction but they are one in the same, Names do change as time passes but I i digress for you see what really this game will play has a large link to Legacy. I take the dead, harness the djed within the bones and I channel the power into something useful such as that necklace which you should remove soon little one.”

His hands traced along the different tools along the table, his back turned along Fallon showing a mild form of trust as he would show a little faith for her to do as he had commanded to her beforehand which she said she had understood but Vick would bide his time as he let her understand the words he was speaking and the meaning behind the game.

“Yet I can do more than just bones and the dead. I can even work with the living you see. Anyone that knows of Legacy can however I am sure you think like the rest and think I am just a simple child who does not understand. Why would you think otherwise? Yet once more you are making me ramble off topic. This game is more than just a simple game to us both for we each have a part to play in this. You are helping me push forward my goals and I will help you with gifting you my greatest item that will come after this game.”

His little fingers wrapping around a thin blade holding it in his hand. He never was much of a fighter but tools like this he had used before but he could just count the times on his fingers as at last he turned to Fallon, his unblinking eyes looking upon her yet he just turned his face away once more.

“This game will make it so we will see if the djed in a persons soul can be molded before death. Death is not the goal for this for I need you alive however if you force my hand which makes your death then I will come to terms to that. Can the djed in a persons soul be harness and given a new goal for my magical gifts? So little one do you understand this yet? Do you understand what is at stake for us both?”

His head moving back towards Fallon and watching her once more. At last his eyes blinking just a few times before becoming open once more. Vick knew he was not intimidating due to his figure and his childish actions. He really did not even find himself that odd yet he never was trying to show off being intimidating as that was just for flair and this was not the time for flair.


It was like Vick was wanting her to disagree with him or even agree. He did not even care if she understood just the depth of what he was asking her. He had shown one of his magical arts but she did not know if he had any more cards on the table however he was not sure if she had anything as well besides what she told him. Yet would she still lay along the table or would her faith shatter like a glass ball hitting the cold hard ground that was below her. Could she make it out alive or even be the same person that she was now when it was time for her to leave the island of the dead? Or would the island become apart of part of her and leave lingering traces deep within her soul like seeds.

Vick had to wonder if he was the same child that came upon the island so many years ago. Could he look into the reflection of the soul and see the same child like face he once had or would he see something that was different compared to his idea of his self identity or would it be just like the void, empty and cold?

“So little one...Shall we start this game at last?”

[Fallon]

She gave a tremble as the words of Vick reached her ears, the intention of the maldictor seeping in. Eyes stared at his back, fingers trembling as his own drifted over the various tools that existed there. She obeyed his previous command, leaping into action. With little time to let out a tremble, she made herself move and answered the Nuit.

“Yes… yes just a moment,” Finger fumbled at the necklace and she pulled it off, letting out a gasp as she did. She was glad to be rid of it, the piece made her uncomfortable to say the least. She placed it down, and proceeded to work on everything else Vick had requested of her, “People refer to me as Fallon if that’s what you want to call me by.” Of course, at this moment in time Fallon would no doubt buckle to whatever he chose to name her as. Swallowing she watched those dead eyes fall upon her, and quickly averted her gaze. She did not completely understand what he was on about; she knew nothing of this legacy or this world magic.

But Djed? She knew about that. Keeping her head low she listened, key words ringing out here and there. Soul, change, moulded, death. She gave a swallow to the mention of that. With the thin blade in his hand he made his approach, the glint of polished metal in the dulled light. Hairs rose, the skin prickled. Her consciousness was momentarily torn between fleeing for the door and obeying without a second word. What was his intention? What was he going to do? To her?

Lips twitched, eyes widening slightly as the distinct feeling of becoming prey consumed her. Her throat tightened, the buzzing mind growing blank and silent as she simply stared. Even the question posed by him could only be answered by a weak nod. She could not think no matter how much she willed it. What had on Mizahar had she walked into?

“I… I… no I don’t under…stand?” her eyes winced slightly as she looked at him and then the table beyond, “Game…?” A finger pointed to the table and then at herself, before finally letting out a swallow, “T… There right? Yes, yes... there.” With unease the girl made herself stand, her hands pressed against the wall behind her. She had to move, she did not fancy the idea of making him angry.
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