A Burning Within [Leo Please]

[Gossamer]

Avin'a stopped short and left the pot of stew on the nearest available surface she could find. The woman turned and looked directly at Leo, her eyes dropping down to his lips and then back up to his eyes. Intense pale blue orbs met his and slowly she nodded. The Konti staggered a little, turned, and found her mother sitting quietly dead at the table... took in the spilled vision water, and the crystalline bowl that was precious to their family.

She took a deep breath, and then another, before she stepped forward and laid a hand on the silky white hair of the dead woman. She whispered something in Kontinese and stroked the limp locks before turning to look back at Leo. "She knew the time was coming, but she wouldn't tell me when... or how. But I can taste the darkness in this room, as easily as I can tell truth spills from your lips." Luminous tears began to fall from Avina's eyes, though she controlled them after a moment and an impatient swipe of the back of her hand. "You know, we expect death. We know it comes, and usually when, but its still never easy. She was the finest of mothers." The woman said, reaching out to take the glyph from between her mother's hands. "What is this?" She asked, looking at it as if for some reason it should mean something or have some importance to her. But before Leo could answer, the strangest look crossed Avin'a's eyes and she reached into her pocket and took forth a large disk-shaped medallion. It had a swirl of three spheres on it all arranged in the triad of Zai's patterning... a disk with the design on one side, almost as big as the bottom of a mug, and on the other was a strange patterning of lines, almost looking like a map. There was a drop of water etched into the center of the pattern on the back. She handed the whole thing to Leo, thick chain and all.

"So you are why I brought this... I had wondered why my sister shoved it into my hands. It belonged to a weaver named Baltio... she was repairing its chain for him when he disappeared and no one's seen him since. She said I would need it today, or rather someone else would. She's strong in foresight. I wonder why she didn't see this?." The girl asked, after handing Leo the medallion. The paper with the glyph on it went back onto the table, on a dry spot, where the vision water wasn't still swirling.

[Leo Varniak]

Leo was prepared to defend himself from accusations, or at the least watch the woman stagger in shock at what had taken place in here. Dealing with the Konti forced him to revisit his expectations completely, though their kind was almost too insightful and perceptive sometimes. The young man stood near the entrance, arms relaxed near the body, calmly taking in the scene and eyeing the charged glyph. This one could not be allowed to run its course anymore.

He respected her tears, and added nothing to his initial statements. He still felt that Kasav'i's death could have been avoided somehow, and it did not feel right that it had occurred in his presence, and indeed because of his presence. Her death made no sense and carried no meaning at all. Leo could not understand it, and it made him hate the perpetrator all the more for it.

Almost about to give a reply to Avin'a, he was silenced by the show of items of incredible significance to his quest. Taken aback, Leo could only stare slightly wide-eyed at the proffered medallion, holding it carefully and giving it a brief inspection as he took in the Konti's words. These Konti women could really take the power of coincidence to impossible levels... Leo was surprised.

Still, the first thing Leo did was walk over to the table and pick up the glyph. "I drew this. I had no idea Kasav'i kept close family." He was no Konti, after all. "I thought she lived alone, so this sigil was going to take care of things, ten... no, seven minutes from now." He drowned the glyph into the vision water, and the locked fire with it.

Leo held himself to the same laws by which he judged others, and as such he could not lie. Not that there was any point in lying to these all-seeing women. "I must ask you not to use your divination when I am nearby, if you can," he began, "because that was how your mother was killed. Something took control... possessed her, spoke through her lips, and then ended her life when it was finished. I do not know what it is, but it hates me enough to kill anyone who might remotely help me."

He was not a sensitive person by any stretch of the word, but even to Leo this particular murder seemed incredibly odious. It had thrown the Konti's life away like a pair of old boots. "Anyway, this may be the reason your sister did not sense the murder... because it was not planned. Then again, neither was my coming here." The Zaital considered the medallion carefully. Could this be the circle of Zai that would lead him to the truth? The front did depict the familiar triad of swirling droplets, and the back could easily be a map.

A map of what, though? The water drop in the middle could mean an actual water source, like the Suvan Sea... or more likely Baltio's own version of 'X marks the spot'. He needed to figure out the general location of this place. He gave the contours a closer look in hopes of something ringing a bell, though he had never been outside of Sylira and he had only gone through the introduction of Wright's "Account on the circumnavigation of Mizahar" before returning the book to the shop. There was seriously too much water in that book.

[Gossamer]

Avin'a nodded. She was something of a truth seer, and though her eyes were bright with tears, she wasn't as upset as perhaps a normal human would be. Konti were incredible faithful people, they had to be by the very nature of their existence, so strange things happened to them and crossed their pathways. Leo's presence, the dead konti in the room, and the sinister warning the young human had given her were not so strange. "Thank you. We will... take her home to Mura though. It is the way of our people." Avin'a said softly. "Sometimes things are meant to happen, and sometimes things happen anyhow. I know that. She knew that. But whatever it is that is making your life so difficult, sir, I do not envy you. A force that can kill a Konti just by speaking through her lips is at the very least an Alvina if not one of the gods themselves... and someone who does not revere life. I would be exceedingly careful if I were you." She said softly, then moved over to the other dead woman and began to carefully stroke her hair back before gently picking up the body - which was a bit of a strain - and carrying it to the bed in the other room.

Leo knew a dismissal when he heard one, but also there was no rejection - no closed slammed door. The Konti women here were a rare sort, but one he could ask again if he needed help in the future. Avin'a absolutely left him with that impression.

He turned the medallion over in his hands, studied the back, and noticed all the lines ethed in its surface. The drop of water most likely wasn't the Suvan Sea because it was far to small in relation to the etched lines. upon closer inspection, he could see the outline of the castle which he stood within, and the courtyards between its enormous arms of each wing of Stormhold. The lines were most likely streets, and certainly he could follow the winding path that lead from the main gate of the castle, following the roads (though he remembered there might be a lot more than there were actually etched on the medallion itself) and attempt to locate the drop of water. It was centered in a small crossroad so it very well could be a fountain of some sort. From there, it looked simple to follow the pathway through just a few turns to where another symbol marked what looked like a building.

He could ask Alvin'a if he wanted to, though she looked engrossed through the doorway with what she was doing... gently cleaning the water from her fellow fallen Konti and weeping softly without sound. Or he could strike out and try to find it on his own... and discover what the water source itself was.

[Leo Varniak]

Somehow, Leo did not feel like laughing at the idea of war anymore. Whatever glee had been inside him was now dead as Avin'a carried her mother's lifeless body to the other room. For many long years he'd been in the mindset of catching and burning small-time criminals. This, he realized now, was different and he had lost the first battle already. "If it was born, it can die. Simple as that." He said so, possibly to renew his motivation, but even he did not fully believe his words. It wasn't simple as that.

He needed to find his focus, his voice again. He wondered if the revelation about Lina had done this to him, and if she had any role in this as Kasav'i had suspected. He had no idea, but he was starting to believe it. It would explain why she had felt the need to hide herself and her truth from the world.

That was it. He just had no words of sympathy left in him, none that he could share with Avin'a. He was sure the Konti would understand if he left the place in silence, which was exactly what he did. He thought he had figured out the medallion to a degree, enough to try and follow the map anyways. That and he had no wish to drag the Konti into a task that had claimed her mother's life. Frowning, he realized he had forgotten his shopping basket but felt he would draw too much attention if he were to enter the fortune teller's shop for the third time.

"You are all I have left, Baltio. Do not fail me." Ironically, the disciples of fire had used water as the landmark on the map. Leo was very familiar with Syliras, and perhaps for the first time in his life he was glad for it. He started his search from the castle's main gate, trying to identify the relevant streets on the map. A fountain was indeed a possibility, and the most straightforward one, but it could also imply a connection with the sewers or something. Not to mention that several years had passed since Baltio had had the medallion forged, and there was no telling how the city may have changed in that time.

[Gossamer]

Leo's logic was infallible. However, not everything at war was born. Some things were created and others were so tied up in the past that they could not ever hope to get free of it let alone pause long enough to find themselves killed. And then there were wars that recruited people as soldiers whether they liked it or not. Alahea and Suvan had once fought such a war, and it was one that was so elaborately plotted that even the Gods got drawn in and took sides. And for creatures that were long-lived like the divine, those battles never ceased. There were momentary lulls and periods that passed over the face of the world like the eyes of hurricanes brought peace in the most violent of storms. But they never truly lasted. Nor did they really matter. In the end, it was who started the battle on their feet and who finished it standing as well.

And Leo Varniak found himself born in the eye of the hurricane unaware that it was a false peace and a lull in the greater plans of all.

But there were folks like Baltio that understood, for they had seen the beginning and hoped for the ending. They dared to try and change things. They knew it wouldn't all happen at once, but it would happen. Hence the medallion, the map, and the water source marked on it with the location of a secret ... something... not far off of it. Leo held the map, carefully, starting at the castles main gates, and as soon as he did, the realization hit him.

Kova's Well.

The water on the map was the infamous Syliras landmark. Oddly enough, no one ever really could prove the stones from the well came from Suva, nor where the red flecks on it her actual blood - though the stories abounded. Leo didn't even really need to follow the map to get there. He knew the way. Kova's well was as much a part of Syliras' history as the Stormhold Castle itself was.

[Leo Varniak]

To gaze upon familiar things in an unfamiliar light was said to bring forth the uncanny. Leo could see why. Kova's wishing well was something of which he was as aware as the next Syliran - for he was Syliran no matter how badly he loathed the place - but it never occurred to him that it might be a landmark of some significance to him. Sure, Kova had been Ivak's lover; a controversial figure in pre-Valterrian history, to be sure. She had been the Queen of the End. Her objective role in the cataclysm was known, yet it was superficial knowledge, the color of legends. No-one really tried to understand her past the layer of being Ivak's trigger, a passive, divine prod.

Few people of old had left a mark in the new world, and most of those were powerful wizards or quasi-immortal beings. Kova was seemingly neither, one of those souls risen to fame for the simple fact of having died; and here he was, in front of her modest memorial. Something of hers had survived after all.

He leaned over the edge of the well, a passing curiosity getting the best of him. Leo always felt uneasy around water, an element he considered hostile to him. He found himself fishing a Miza out of his pocket, much to his surprise. He must have got truly desperate to consider doing this. He studied the gemcoin in his hand for a long moment, then looked down the well. He took a breath, hummed and stored the coin again in his pocket.

He started to walk away, and then stopped. He grasped the coin once more and threw it behind his back and into the well.

"Let me kill that bastard."

He pulled some facial muscles in a resemblance of a grin and consulted the map to decide on his next stop.

[Gossamer]

The square the well was placed in was unpretentious. It gave off an aura of innocence with its cobbled floor and its plain wooden door frames. There were a few simple window boxes here and there, as well as a matching wooden bench or two. A noted lack of trash, which was indicative of Syliras in general, further emphasized that the little square Kova's Well was in was somehow looked after by some sort of caretaker. The businesses around Kova's Well were all operations that didn't require a lot of foot traffic. One was a stationary place, where paper was made and ink pressed and manufactured. Sometimes it gave off acrid odors that were only covered up by the smell of mint that came from a neighboring business that made mint and other exotically scented candles for aromatherapy and seduction. There was also a set of offices for a merchant family across the square that only seemed to get busy when one of their ships were inbound or outbound still tied up at the docks. Otherwise, the street was clear and there was really nothing else going on in the square. No one was in sight and the square was somewhat deserted in the normally busy Syliras day.

Leo was quick to orient his map in a way he could tell where he was going by a side street leading off in a direction he knew was straight into the heart of the ceramics district in Syliras, including the old Varniak place. In fact, now that he knew what he was looking at, he knew exactly where the medallion's map - if it was indeed a map - would lead him. Fortunately it wasn't towards his dead father's factory. Though it wasn't far from it. There was a brick maker, the type that provided kiln bricks, that dwelled just about where the map indicated. It was a big facility, multistory, with what he suspected was a basement as well.

It wasn't hard for Leo to figure out, because Leo's mind worked in an odd way. Some would call it a sort of genius, though most would consider it a curse. He failed to live in the now, not like others did who simply moved from pleasure to pleasure. Instead he existed fluidly, forwards and backwards in time - surprisingly Tanroa hadn't marked him yet for that very reason - living one second in the past, the next in the future, rarely conscious of the now. And it was because of that thinking, that way of living, that he almost surprised himself when he flicked his coin and heard it bounce of the stone, and plop into water far below. And because his back was turned to it, he didn't see the well suddenly glow, an light that wasn't quite djed and wasn't quite gnosis crackle across the stones like the way a brief storm of centralized sheet lightening lit up the sky without touching the ground. The light was a pure blue, white-hot, like the center of a kilns flame when it had been tuned to a quick hot firing.

The energy knew him, recognized him, and sang with joy at his being even as it licked upwards, and arched out forming the shape of a person.

The force of the light brightened, flared, until a woman stood there beside the well. Leo's back would be the only witness to her unusual appearance and the way the light shone through her even as she solidified. Her beauty was breathtaking and there could be no mistaking the regal appearance. She stepped forward, stretching an arm out, and touched Leo's retreating back. Her hand should have passed straight through him as the light passed through it, but instead it connected solidly....

And the world disappeared.

Leo felt the touch, the soft inhalation of her ghostly breath, as the world reformed around him. He was in an incredibly elegant bedroom that was filled with the smell of blood and a woman's sweat. It was a strange silent moment, and he seemed to be standing off to one side. Leo was all about the details, so it struck him immediately that something was off about the room. Lights glittered beautifully in a soft unnatural way with no source of flame. The room was warm even though he could tell snow was falling through an open curtain out a window across from a bed where a shadowy form was resting. A woman, her lovely hair tangled with sweat, lay sleeping as if she'd just produced the effort of her life...

And it hit him.... a silver earn of bloodied sheets and what appeared to be a gown was being carried out by a servant who paid Leo no notice. Another servant was... drawing the shades open, and doing something odd with the window that seemed to air the room out without letting the cold in. A man... sat in a large corner chair, his head forward bent over an newly born infant that mewed quietly kitten-like as the man whispered to the babe. His long hair fell forward, cut just past his shoulders, and blocked his face from view. The servants did not look at him and gave him a wide berth, all of them save one, who stared on as Leo himself stared, a small cruel smile playing across the young girls face. Though her features where perhaps that of a twelve or fourteen year old, her eyes were cold, dark, and cruel. Leo could see how the girl failed to guard her nature, failed to care if anyone saw, safe in the knowledge that her mistress was exhausted and her master was distracted. But there was something in her eyes... something that reminded Leo of the voice he heard...

Even as the man looked up, a smile of joy in his unearthly molten eyes, even as he lifted up the babe to plant a soft kiss on its brow. The child laughed and opened his eyes, eyes as molten as his father's own. Then Ivak, for it could be no other, laughed gently. "Kova, my dear... He has my eyes and burns hotter than a normal babe should which explains why you were always getting too warm... but he has your silk skin and your smile. Your beautiful smile...." The immortal said, rising from the chair to pace over to the bedside to check on the woman's sleep. She shifted but did not wake, pale and exhausted from her recent labor. Ivak kept his voice low, though there was an echo of a rumble in it, even as he muted himself. And then the immortal laughed as the swaddling cloth of finest linen burst into flame, making the newborn coo with laughter. The flame didn't seem to hurt the child even as his father shook his head and grinned like a man struck dumb with joy, letting the linen burn for a few minutes because the infant seemed to take such joy reaching out and playing with the flames.

Soon enough though, the God snuffed the fire, unwound the newborn from his swaddling cloths, dumping them into the fire. The man tucked the naked babe into his own clothing against his skin, and went back to muttering softly to the babe. The sounds of a soft joyful lecture filled Leo's ears... something about not playing with fire until he was older least he scare his mother silly. And as he did so, the God reached down, one-handed and touched the exhausted woman. A glow covered her a moment, red as if it was kissed with fire, and then faded as Ivak smiled with satisfaction. He whispered again almost apologetically to the babe as he did so. "It's not as if I do not trust you... but if you love fire as I do, you will not be able to help yourself and I do not want you hurting your mother... She is dear to us both..." The immortal said with a chuckle.

Kova woke then... for it could be no other than Alahea's last and most infamous queen. She lifted her head, smiled weakly and reached her hand out of the covers first to touch the God then to touch the babe held protectively against his skin. Her smile lit the room, as weak as it was, while her blue eyes glowed with unearthly joy. "He... I'm glad he will always have you. Him... his children... their children... Ivak... he's so beautiful. Thank you for him." She said softly before she closed her eyes again to rest.

And then, something touched Leo, something preternatural as its coldness washed over him. It was then, and only then, that he became aware of the ghostly form beside him. It was the same woman as the one laying in the bed... only she was translucent and ethereal as if she wasn't quite real. She opened her mouth, a smile playing across her lips, and began to speak. "I brought you here to witness the beginning... the truth before it was tainted.... I brought you here to...."

Her words were cut off abruptly as the servant girl came back in. She passed by the pair on her way to take a fresh pitcher of water to replace the spent one on the basin near the bed. But as she passed by, carrying the pitcher, she looked up and her eyes grew wide with shock that turned to a rage that was so completely unnatural for a child her age. She passed her hand across the water, and it started to bubble and steam. She curled her lip, hissed a word, and flung the pitcher at the pair uttering the words 'No. Not him. Not now. Not here. He will be kept ignorant." It wasn't a girls voice. It was a mans voice... the same voice that spoke through the Konti woman's lips.

The water from the pitcher washed over their forms, burning like acid, causing the worst pain Leo had ever felt to course through him, melting him out of existence. The spirit at his side screamed in agony, then the room bled out of his vision as if it were only watercolor paint on paper washed away with the water of the pitcher. That was the only way to describe the sensation... it was death without dying, and birth without wonderment. Leo lost his entire grip on who or what he was... where he was became completely irrelevant as he screamed out of existence.

Leo found himself sprawled on the cobbles beside the well, facing away from it. His skin felt like it was on fire, which was a think that should never have happened in his world. And even as he groaned back into consciousness, a voice... Kova's voice came out of the darkness, firm, yet so entirely sad. It whispered into his mind, even though she did not materialize beside him as before. And even before the words were uttered, he could feel her fading, wounded somehow in a way he couldn't explain.

"He is in all things and owns a great many people. You cannot kill something such as he... though bastard is an accurate description. Beware, Leo Varniak. You are alone. You are unprepared. Don't go into battle until you know what you face and how to face it... please... you are the last of them... the last of my sons. If he gets you, he might as well deal Ivak a death blow and maybe the world as well, for he will not come back from his grief this time, like he did last time, especially not if his mortal line cease to exist. He knows that... and he'll use it. You are in so much danger, my son.... so very much danger."

And then the voice faded, as exhausted as the woman had been, the one that had lain in the bed in the room that reeked of blood and sweat but held so much joy. Leo was left cold on the cobbles and sprawled out as if for a sacrifice.

[Leo Varniak]

Leo Varniak was not a big believer in folklore. He had heard the rumors of Kova's ghost supposedly haunting the well, the tales of the beautiful woman appearing from time to time to those who graced her with a coin and a wish. He had never believed them, or more precisely he had never believed they were about Queen Kova. In his mind, there was literally no reason why the Queen of Alahea would want to be in Syliras, assuming she had even stayed on in the afterlife. He had entertained a few hypotheses of his own, for example that the Knights might be fueling the rumors to raise some additional Mizas through a 'Kova tax' of sorts (for he held the Knights in such high regard).

Skeptical as he was, he surprised himself by throwing that coin down the well, but thought nothing of the consequences. He did not think there would be any. He just felt like doing it, for no particular reason at all. If pressed, he might have admitted to wanting to dispel the clouds weighing down on him with an act of whim. That there might be a follow-up to the coin tossing did not even touch his mind until it happened.

His thoughts were elsewhere now. He had just come to realize where his golden map was leading him, and it was a place he knew all too well. It would forever be etched in his mind. He had spent his childhood in that quarter of Syliras, and was certainly not eager to return, even for a short time. He could remember everything in vivid detail, and although there would have been a few changes in the past few years, it would only be minor things. To think the secret of his heritage lay so close to his childhood prison... Leo could only wonder if it was a coincidence... or more.

The prospect of stepping back in the ceramic district made him uneasy, as if ghosts from the past were lying in wait, ready to ambush him. Irrational, he chastised himself. It was no more dangerous than the rest of this cesspool of a city.

He froze as a hand connected with him from behind, a hand he had not seen or heard coming. He barely had enough time to feel a certain familiarity with the force pushing him, knowing it was not entirely foreign touch, before the world went blank.

His eyes next opened on to a dream-like scene. He started at first, but stranger things had happened today, and he just took the vision at face value, trying to capture its significance. Something important, something crucial had taken place here, or he would not have been granted this vision. Something world-changing. While Leo had never had a sibling - his mother seemed to have had trouble with her pregnancy and there had never been another - he could instantly tell a baby had been born here. He felt like a voyeur at first, interloping on a private scene, but soon realized no-one here could see him, or if they did, they were not acknowledging him.

Kova and Ivak. Strangely, he did not have to make a conscious effort to identify the couple; he just knew who they were, and had to give it to the Syliran Knights that they had not invented the story of the well to raise tax money. He watched Ivak cuddle the baby while the mother slept, exhausted from her labor. It was not easy for Leo to name the feeling in his chest, as he had never experienced it before, but there was a longing... and yes, they probably called it envy.

He pushed it back as it occurred to him that someone else was watching, a maid most likely. He thought it strange, for none of the other servants dared spy on the masters. It was the kind of offense that could get you kicked out and demoted to shoveling manure or peeling potatoes, but the girl was unafraid. Her smile had something dark to it that looked out of place on a face so young. Leo frowned and kept her in the corner of his eye as he studied Ivak and his child. It was almost as if the god were talking to him, and Leo had to make an effort to keep the two things separate.

He recalled his notions of pre-Valterrian history. No mention of Kova giving birth to a son, was there? No, he was pretty sure of that. Then what fate had befallen the baby?

He turned, sensing the cold touch again, and saw the ghostly reflection of Kova by his side. She was beautiful, but Leo did not view her that way. Suddenly he wanted to know, all the more because he felt this concerned him personally. He was not eavesdropping on strangers. This was... kin? But the terrible girl would not have it. He crossed her gaze, remembering the fury in Kasav'i's eyes and seeing it all over again.

He fumbled for his powers with a desperation that was unlike him. He knew he had to burn the girl, strip her charred flesh, melt the bones and vaporize her until only a dark stain on the floor remained of her. The fact she looked like a young girl did not impede him - the appearance of things never stopped him from doing what he thought was right. This was no girl - it was a throbbing mass of malice, something that should not exist. But his powers did not answer his call.

And so, Leo screamed as the bubbling water splashed all over him and he felt his consciousness dissolving like an ice cube in the desert. Next thing he knew, he was lying on the rather uncomfortable cobblestone near the well, feeling totally wasted. Kova's voice found a way into him, but it was a wounded thing, leaking its strength with every word. She worried about him, the last of her sons (flash of the baby lighting the cloth aflame). And then she was gone.

His gaze was lost, up into the stormy sky, still dumbfounded by her words. He felt he was the butt of a gigantic, cosmic joke. The day had seen him waltz from one surprise to another, each more enormous and unlikely than the last. At this rate, there would be another Valterrian before supper. It was a joke, and a moderately funny one at that. As Kova's descendant, he could lay claim to Alahea - no, didn't her marriage to Galifer Odalah and the subsequent merger with Suvan make Leo the most legitimate pretender to the whole of Mizahar? He chuckled tiredly from his sprawled position, noting it would make a good tavern tale if he ever got drunk.

The scowl on the terrible face canceled the hilarity of the moment. Leo had seen evil people before, had burned them before with remarkable lack of remorse and sometimes with outright cruelty. Still, there was a difference between evil people and evil evil. A name began to form in the back of his mind, the only one capable of unsettling a hardened killer such as Leo. The more he thought about it, the more inevitable the conclusion.

Normally, he would not have taken advice very seriously. Kova's words did ring somewhere in his heart, however, maybe because she reminded him of his mother. He rolled towards the well and climbed back to his feet with its wall as a support. He felt dizzy and weak, and wondered if the Konti seer had felt like this, too.

This was a lot worse than he thought. Suddenly he knew how dire things were. The sons of Ivak had been all but wiped out, and among them had been stronger people than Leo to be sure. Better men had tried. He supported himself against the well, his stomach upside down, feeling alone for the very first time in his life. Suddenly the terrible girl was everywhere, spying on him through half-shut windows, peering around the next corner, crawling on the cobblestone just past his field of vision.

He swallowed and commanded himself to take back control. There had been far better opportunities to kill him. Leo Varniak took a deep breath and straightened himself. His black eyes flared with judgement once more. He would heed Kova's advice. He knew what he needed before confronting this evil.

He needed a priest. A good one.

Quickly, he took a detour from his intended destination, fire in his step. He would go there later, but the ceramic district could wait a little longer. While he had never met the man personally, he had heard good things about the priest at the temple of all gods. Leo could do little about his being alone, but at least he could prepare himself for the battle of his life.

[Gossamer]

Every city needs a religious center. If Syliras had to choose, they'd worship a dead God. But since Sylir's death, and the discovery of the Windoak, faith in Syliras hasn't yet stabilized into one firm religion. In fact, all faiths are welcomed so long as the laws of Syliras are obeyed. And to that end, only one church has been built in Syliras since its founding. The church, a gift of the Dyres family to the denizens of the city - is an elegant building crafted of native stone with lofty ceilings and wonderful stonework. Enormous pews made of giant sorrow oak fill the place, seating quite a few individuals. The temple, while having great services, still remains a place of meditation and reflection. It's stained glass windows reflect pools of colored light over the muted grays of stone and the gleam of polished wood. The doors are always unlocked, and not once in Sylira's short history has the temple been stole from or valdalized. NPC : Glav Navik Glav has for the whole of his life been a student of religion. Having taken it upon himself to intensely study the Gods and their interactions with the world and each other, Glav is a bastion of knowledge in a somewhat chaotic life. He holds services every five days, and maintains the Temple of All Gods where folks can come, meditate, pray or even strike up a discussion with him. Glav has one enormous secret, and it is the reason he seems so wise and at peace with himself and the others who come to see him seeking answers and spiritual advice. Though virtually unknown, even among the Gods, Glav has connections that run deep to the city of Syliras, and could be considered one of its greatest protectors. Skill List: Gnosis Marks - Multiple first marks Lore of Multiple Gods Writing: 87 pts Calligraphy: 75 pts Researching: 52 pts

It was a divergence of course that the enemy wouldn't have foreseen. All of the sudden, because of a dead queens influence, Leo found himself off on a completely different direction in his life. Before this crossroads he'd been unknown, untouchable, not meriting a second glance by the powers that had a vested interest in seeing Ivak's sons dead. But because of dead konti's vision, a flash back to the past, and a lightening awareness that now filled him - Leo was in grave danger.

And he was in danger from forces he couldn't control or hope to understand.

It was natural for someone to flee to The Temple of All Gods, even though they might not know it. Glav Navik worked hard to create a sanctuary that gave off just such an aura as well as a sort of quiet appeal to those who might be in need... there was a promised help, a taste of sanctuary, and something within that was building a quiet cautious force to back - by atmosphere - the peace the Syliran Knights had established by force.

The man responsible for the condition of temple was no ordinary soul anyhow. He gathered and kept secrets like a florist gathered flowers. Some were small things, but most were monumental, as too many people looked to him for help. Had he been simply mortal, it would not have worked and the weight of Glav's burden would have been too much. But Glav was something more, something else, something that was the whole reason for him being in Syliras and wishing the city to succeed.

Leo would find the doors open, and the main temple all but deserted except for a man who was setting out new candles and taking the old ones - charred and melted stumps - away to be reused in new wax at the Illuminations shop. He whistled as he worked, dressed in a simple pair of trews and a loose tunic made of fine linen. He had a plain face, an honest one, that had something inherently peaceful about it. Glav would be easily approachable, for certain, and would note Leo's entrance immediately.

[Leo Varniak]

Desperate times call for desperate measures, he reflected, hesitating before the front door of the temple. He had never been here before, and everything looked novel to him. For some reason he had not felt the need to find solace from his troubled childhood in religion. Instead, he had come up with a justification for the reason why it had been troubled, resolving to eradicate all the evil people and give them a death neither quick nor painless.

It was something of a riddle for him to stand in front of a temple right now of all times. It wasn't just that the enemy was stronger now. Something else had changed, but he could not tell what exactly. He had faced deadly danger in the past - the confrontation with his fake father, sure, but there had been worse. He recalled that one time, a couple years after the great fire, when he had spent over ten days in the wilderness, hunting a fellow through the last vestiges of summer.

It was a deviant from Sunberth - a place that ought to be ashes. He had raped a woman not far from the gates of Syliras. Leo had been training his skills nearby, and had chanced upon the crying woman an hour or so after the deed. Without a second thought to his personal safety, he had chased the fugitive down the road to Zeltiva with just the few rations he had brought with him and the clothes on his back. Soon the monster had left the road, where chances were high that the Knights would find him. But Leo had never lost his tracks. Going on willpower alone, he knew little of the wilderness and how to survive in it. By the time he cornered the man, he had grown weak, hungry and tired.

Halfway through the confrontation, there had been a short early autumn shower. A light rain. Any heavier and he would have died. He remembered the feeling of conjuring a bolt of flame and only seeing its parody, a match instead of a pyre. He had a scar on his upper left arm, a memento of that day. And yet he had not been afraid to face the crazed man from Sunberth, with his yellow teeth and bulging eyes and rusty knife. It had been a game of chess in slow motion. If he lunges, I sidestep. If he steps back, I put more Djed into the flame. If's and then's. He had played his opponent and won. He had left the man lying in the mud with smoke rising from his burned eyeballs - it wasn't how large the fire, but where you started it. It was a miracle Leo found his way back to Syliras, but he thought he had worn a big grin throughout the return trip.

He had been within an inch of his life before, always regarding the thing with intellectual interest, often with amusement, sometimes with eagerness, but never with apprehension. This time was no different.

Then why this lingering fear, this oppression? Was is just the scale of the battle or something else? Could it be that for the first time he actually had something to lose? It had started with Kasav'i's death, he remembered, but Kova's vision had made the unease bloom into actual fear.

Leo knew that until he figured this out he would stand no chance against his foe. He had no idea if said chances would improve with this self-discovery, but right now he himself was a part of the problem. He hoped the priest could help him understand, among other things. Priests were supposedly good at that.

He stepped into the Temple, taking in the small details speaking of the caretaker's passion and dedication to his duty. The building could turn grand or cozy with its visitors' needs. Right now it seemed the latter, and thankfully there was no-one around that could keep Leo waiting. The smell of burning wax soothed him, and he felt the childish temptation to light all the candles at the same time. The sight of the priest chased it back, and he made himself known.

"Excuse me, father," he said, very serious. People conversing with Leo found him very stern, often unsympathetic with his cutting logic, and never beating around the bush. Today, the bags under his eyes were deeper and darker than usual. "My name is Leo Varniak and I think I am in need of spiritual assistance. I am afraid an immortal wants me dead, an immortal of great evil that came to me in the guise of a black, laughing hand."

There, he had said it. Not an opening line the father got to hear every day, he guessed.