The Heart of the Storm (Faircroft)

[Yisanareysin]

The snake will
always bite
back

.



13th of Winter, 516 AV

For the last couple of days, Rey's house had been very politely settled in the blissful warmth of fake Ahnatep. Or Alvnatep, as some of the locals had taken to calling it. The sun, the sand, the beautiful buildings. Rey even had to grudgingly admit that he quite liked having those extra arms, even if it was a little confusing at first.

Today, though. Today Rey woke to find his house had turned a pure, shimmering, blinding white. He blinked, then squinted, eyes already aching. Oh joy. Shifting back, he was distressed to find that his naturally pale skin and hair had been leeched of all remaining colour.

Outside was no better, and Rey sighed, shifting his pack where it sat on his back. Everything was white and bright and gleaming and he hated it. Picking a direction at random, Rey set off at a brisk pace, trying to get out of this bright disaster as soon as he could. Maybe tomorrow his house would go somewhere sensible, somewhere with warmth and shadows and colour.

Eventually, the white faded away, melting into a neighborhood that was altogether darker. The illusions seemed more prevalent here. Or perhaps they stuck out more, without even the slightest pretence of thematic consistency.

Now, where on Mizahar was this? Rey had his suspicions, from the type of illusions that were appearing. But it wasn't until he came to a stop in front of a large, presumably illusory bonfire that he knew for certain.

"Ah, ssunberth." He hissed to himself, pulling his journal from his pack. "How I've missed you."

Snake Toungue : Common : Arumenic

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


Quite literally falling out of his bed in the Cabacious inn. Alex stared bleary eyed out the window, the cold morning he’d expected never fully biting him. Instead it almost felt like the late fall days. Soft and rolling but enough for him to wonder and worry. The blankets tugged closely against his bare skin as he sat propped up against the bed drilling things over in his mind. What in the heck was he going to do? What was he going to do… He was free of a structured regime after a year almost of being bound to its yolk. Pulling his clothes on, he strapped his baldes around his waist and the wrist crossbow too, loaded and prepped if he needed it. A dagger slipped into each boot and his own reverse curved knife strapped across his back before he slipped his long coat over top if it keeping his blades concealed and his body warm. Or at least warmer.

Stepping free from his room he gave a soft almost crest fallen but still empty smile to the proprietor of the place. Before stepping out into the streets. A sort step through the mismatched streets and Alex found himself face to face with something that explained the reasons behind the lack of frigidity. Morwen herself had not taken up the mantle of winter this year. Reading on further it appeared there was a hit on almost all of the “Vantha”, or rather those called Morwen’s children, not to mention all those who bore her mark. Subconsciously Alex felt his hand clench at his side fingers digging into the palm and the leather of the gloves straining with the pressure.
Cowards. Provoking the parent by hunting the children? Where’s the honour in that…And hired assassins…With that Alex almost ripped the notice from its moorings feeling a flare of deep seeded anger welling within him.

What’s the point of “Claiming balance” When you’re willing to commit genocide to achieve that goal? Alex spun on his heel turning off to walk with no particular aim now. Just wanting to be away from the thing that was drawing the bile from his belly to the fore front.

Though his feet hadn’t failed him the city Wrapped him up in it’s tight lipped little game and as his eyes opened to see where he was he nearly recoiled in horror. Hand reaching to the dagger behind him out of sheer instinct. There was no city on the face of Mizahar that gave him the same feeling of hatred and disgust that this place did. And he wasn’t like to forget it. Sunberth. Despite his actions and want to lash out at the city itself he had a series of sounds catch his ear. Not unlike those he’d heard before tumble from the lips of his now long time absent friend, Lynn.

A subtle series of hisses that sounded closer to actual snakes than speech. Keeping low and slow Alex crept up through the slow crackle of the burning flames. Illusory or real he didn’t care he simply used the noise to mask his foot falls as he crept up on the source of the sound. Silver hair and blue, striking blue eyes. Staying marred by the darkness and the illumination of the flames Alex peered over the edge of his hiding spot his eyes bursting into colour as he spotted something akin to a coiuled rope take the place of the man before him. And not a simple shape either, it was closer to a hangman’s noose but with a deep purple colour. Whatever it meant was lost on him as he snapped his vision back to normal and shook his head with the head pain that was beginning to form.

“Sorry but I couldn’t help overhear that.” Alex spoke with his usual soft and airy tones almost lost amongst the flickering crackle of the flames. “But I have to ask you to identify yourself if you don’t want to end up with a very bad case of blacking out.” There was a sound that was closer to understanding of where he stood but his voice was so light it carried and seemed to come from every direction at once. With no real root in sight.

[Yisanareysin]

The snake
sees
all

.



By the light of the illusory fire, Rey began to make notes. By all accounts, the rough geographic divisions of Alvadas were apparently fairly stable, as were several important locations. But the rest of the city, including Rey's own house, were as susceptible to Ionu's whims as they ever were. It was just easier to tell now if you'd moved, or if everyone else had.

So, the white place was next to Sunberth, and he'd established yesterday Sunberth was next to Zeltiva, which was next to Syliras. He'd have to do a little more investigating to see if they were all in a straight line though. He was fairly certain they weren't based off of what he remembered of his own journey between those three cities.

Sunberth and Zeltiva had both been near the ocean, but Zeltiva had been in a bay? So maybe those three were in a straight line. But then where was the white place? Further down the coast, maybe, in Cyphrus? Rey chewed his lip, flipping back to the rough copy of a map on the first page of his journal.

He needed to go back to the sunken conundrum to find another map. And just where was the Conundrum, anyways? He needed better notes. There didn't seem to be any relevant buildings around Sunberth... Wait. No, there.

An empty space. Conspicuously empty, in fact. Perhaps... As he watched, some poor fool walked right into the empty space, and staggered back, clutching his knee. The temple was here, it seemed. Rey noted that down, frowning at his writing. He needed to work on that some more. Perhaps when he found the-

The voice startled Rey out of his thoughts, and he paused. Rey had no doubt the words were directed at him. There was no one else in the immediate vicinity, and only Rey had spoken any time recently. The voice was soft, almost a whisper, quiet enough that Rey couldn't pin down a source. The tone seemed polite enough, but the words seemed to be a threat. And following right after a mention of overhearing Rey, it seemed this mystery person had identified him as a Dhani.

Hmm. Troublesome. Most Alvads had no issue with his kind, not when they knew they might wake up as one any day, but visitors often needed a period of adjustment.

Focusing, Rey let magic flood through his senses, adding a new dimension to them, and then extended his sense, searching for his hidden interrogator. He kept his magical probing deliberately superficial, not wanting to overtax himself, and stuck to physical shapes and properties. House. House. House. Fire with an illusory undertaste. Box. House. The temple of Ionu, also with an illusory undertaste. There. A living figure, hidden just beyond the firelight's range.

Rey delved deeper, tasting and scenting this stranger. Human, so far as Rey could tell. Young, male, fairly tall. Emotions were mixed. No hate, at least on the surface. Some concentration, presumably on keeping hidden. Anger, too, but that seemed muted. Like a residue, rather than something he was feeling right now.

Didn't seem like an immediate danger, at least. And he had said blacking out, instead of dying. He was probably safe. No point being coy then. Time to introduce himself to the visitor.

Rey stood, and strolled over to where the man was hiding, slow enough that he wasn't threatening, and keeping his hands out of his coat pockets where the human could see them. When he made it to him, Rey stuck out his hand. "Reysssin. Mosst Alvadss don't like people ssneaking around, you know. Unlesss iss for a prank. Sso who would you be, missster prankster?"

Snake Toungue : Common : Arumenic

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


Alex clung to the outcropping of stone and shroud of light cast shadow. Though it became abundantly clear when the figure turned to stare almost directly at him that it was rather useless hiding. Either this man was a lot better at sussing things out than Alex had given him credit for. Or he had a helping hand somewhere. Alex stepped out from behind the thick brickwork the light now illuminating the stark green of his eyes and the blonde of his hair, and thin beard. Alex carried himself now less with that crouched and compacted smallness rather with the swagger and vigour of a man with import. Or at least that was the image he wished to project.

Alex folded his arms across his chest knowing now that at least in the back of his mind this man wasn’t part of the…Ever churning storm that was Sunberth. Even if it was only illusory it was enough to make his skin crawl. His voice rolled out again like a soft mist settling over the space between them. The lining to the words distinctly Syliran, but with a much less aggravated tone if a little edged.
“I apologize for my candid manner there. It’s simply the part of me that lived within the dark walls of this city that drove me to be cautious.” His hands in plain view as well but not open rather in fact they were tight to his chest folded across them. He was still guarded but less from the smaller man before him rather the mire and dark oppression the city brought with it.

“Reysin was it?” Alex cut past the lisp, a season almost of listening to Lynn’s own had numbed his ears to the elongated s’ . “What is a man of your…Stature doing standing so brazenly and openly within a recreation of this…dark corner of the world?” His voice was slow and measured like he wasn’t going to step on any toes at least not at the moment. However his eyes did take note of one further thing. The bursts of colour that lingered within Rey’s eyes. He’d initially passed it off as simply a reflection of the firelight, however in this proximity only a few feet between them he could see the colours were unmoving unchanging and the bright yellow contrasted the blue rather starkly.

Alex shifted his footing slightly as he changed his body language not to square off with Rey but to hold him at a distance and in the same action swing his weary and wary eyes over the scope of the city of terror that haunted his dark dreams.

[Yisanareysin]

The snake
lies

.




His instincts had led him true, it seemed. Rather than pounce, the man stepped out, straightening to his full height. He was tall, even for a human, and held himself high. Confident man, it seemed. Good looking too. Not quite Rey's type, but close. If he were a little closer to Rey's height, if he were a little less closed off, perhaps. This one, his arms were folded tight before him, a clear barrier between him and the world.

The accent was very distinctly not Alvadan. It sounded vaguely familiar, but Rey couldn't quite place it. Not sunberthian, though, he knew that much. The words, more than Rey was used to. His common was much improved from when he'd first come to the city, but even still it took a moment to puzzle out the human's meaning.

Not a native sunberthian, but from the sound of it, he'd had quite a bad experience in this city. Unfortunate, but that was the way of things there. Hurt or be hurt. All very refreshingly straightforwards, really. Which one were you, Rey wondered, looking on the man. Victim, or victimizer? His distaste for the city seemed to indicate that he'd been powerless in the city.

The proud stance he took, though, the wiry musculature Rey could see now that he was closer, didn't seem to point to him having been one of the many Sunberthian unfortunates. At the very least, serious malnutrition didn't get someone to that hight.

A curiosity. And it hadn't escaped the spy that this one had neatly sidestepped giving out his name. Almost on a whim, Rey slipped into an easy lie, hoping to pull more information from this mysterious human. "Dark corner? To tell truth, am not ssure where I am, exxactly." He shrugged. "Iss true of mosst of thesse 'cities'. I know Ahnatep, and Alvadass, and sseveral otherss only in passsing. Ssoundss like you do not like thiss 'city'. Where iss thiss? Iss your home?"

Mostly true. The only lie here was that Rey didn't know where this place was, but for the most part, his inquiry was genuine. An explanation would help clear up the man's attitude towards sunberth, and it had the added bonus of Rey avoiding having to pretend he hadn't loved every moment he'd been in sunberth.

Snake Toungue : Common : Arumenic

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


Alex found himself smirking. A hollow empty one that he practiced. Amusement chief amongst the things he didn’t partake in. Looking the smaller man over it was clear just how far apart they were in height just from this distance. Though Alex had slightly hoped that by keeping his arms folded the man hadn’t noticed the fact that his left arm had the wrist bolt trained on him. A precautionary measure he’d long since picked up when dealing with anyone from this gods-forsaken place.

Not sure where he was? Alex could almost smell something fishy from those words. If that was the case then he’d have done like Alex did and take it slow and steady being here. No rather he was stood boldly and openly in the middle of the street in this place. Nice try buddy but that’s as clear as crystal you know where this place is.

Alvadas and Ahnatep. Alex knew of the former, after all they were at least as far as he knew, still there. However it was the latter he’d not heard of as of yet. He knew of Ahnatep and it’s lurking within the desert sands of ekytol. And that was as far as his knowledge extended. Then the probe came. Was this his home city? But he got one thing right he hated this place with a passion he didn’t know he could hold.

“Sadly no. This is not my place of birth nor residence at least not for long.” Alex shifted the accent twinging his voice to be clearly Sunberthian. Enough time and he’d picked it up. “However that doesn’t mean I don’t know how this place works. As for you Rey, seems as if you’re well-adjusted to places like this. I don’t know many people who’d brazenly stand out in the middle of a dagger hand owned street.”

Alex embellished that last little tid-bit. After all hje knew clearly this wasn’t a dagger hand street no this was owned by the night eyes. A damned good replica as well to give credit where it was due. If Rey was indeed from this city as Alex had surmised then he’d know that and he’d see a distinct shift within him. “As for if I like this city… I’d rather not be here any longer if I could. That make it abundantly clear how I feel about this place?” Alex finished his words with a small smile, reassuring and even but completely empty behind the practiced veneer.

A nice coat of polish could help even the most destitute wood shine like it was a gem from some long forgotten place. And by slipping in the minor inflections upon his words and hiding his true origins and whispered tip to his voice he was hoping to sell the well-travelled angle.

[Yisanareysin]

The snake will
always bite
back

.



The accent shifted, and Rey frowned internally. Now, it was a sunberthian accent, just as the man denied having spent much time here. A sign he was lying? Or a deliberate manoeuvre? Something to keep in mind moving forward. As for the rest of his words.

Rey shrugged, brushing off the Daggerhand comment. Rey hadn't checked, and this fake Rey who'd never been to sunberth wouldn't know who they were. "You've not been in Alvadass long, then. We are nothing if not brazen. What you ssay- This placcce iss dangerouss, I take it?"

It was clear enough this man had had a bad experience in this city. A former gang member? Most didn't survive leaving one of the three main gangs, but there were always exceptions. The sunberthian accent seemed to support....

Syliran. That was the accent he'd been using earlier. And now that he'd identified it, Rey could hear an undertone of it, even with the human attempting to disguise his voice. Curiouser and curiouser. A Syliran, who'd had bad experiences in Sunberth. Which had he recently come from? The emptiness in his expression, the closed off demeanor, and the plethora of weapons the man seemed to have on him seemed to point towards him having recently escaped Sunberth, but not definitively.

Rey shrugged his shoulders, and grinned cheerfully at the human. This one was a tough nut to crack, but no matter. Perhaps he'd respond well to friendliness. That, Rey barely even had to fake. "Well, whatever it iss in thiss place you are fearing, it probably issn't here. Thiss iss Alvadass, after all, and Ionu would never be sso boring asss to ssimply copy a ccity. Have you ssseen Ahnatep? The ccity proper would never allow sso many sandsstorms and mirrors. But if it botherss you sso, Zeltiva should be..."

Rey paused, thinking for a moment. Glancing up at the sun, Rey tried to orient himself, and then pointed in a vaguely westish direction. "That way? Assuming Ionu hass not moved the ssun again. Or Ssyliras that way. Would ssuggest we not go north. Placce there isss all sso bright and colourlesss." Rey shuddered. "Not ssure what iss down ssouth, actually. Sshould find out."

Snake Toungue : Common : Arumenic

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


Alex spoke with a small chuckle to his tone as Rey spoke about him not being in the city long.
“I suppose you’ve got me there. This is day three of me being in this… Lovely place. As for brazen, if that’s how you’re reacting to this place you could have fooled me.” Alex spoke relaxing his shoulders a little. It seemed at the very least that his being tense was for naught after all this was just an illusion. He wasn’t back in the city, which haunted the little corners of his nightmares. As for if the place was dangerous.
“The real place… Depends on who you are… And what you do.” Alex even now visibly more relaxed still kept that angle not as a display of coldness but as a step of uncertainty. That and to keep that crossbow trained on him just out of sight.

Though the sudden cheery shift in demeanour brought with it another host of questions, perhaps he’d been probing to see if Alex was real as well. “There’s nothing I Fear in this place any more… Rather I don’t fear the things in the city, but rather I dread what the city represents. A show of the worst in all of us...” Though Rey spoke with a calm manner now lined with that cheery tone Alex let his arms droop, against his better judgement. “And you’re right it seems were still in Alvadas, not Sunberth. As for whether or not it’s simply a copy that doesn’t really worry me too much. It’s simply what the copy represents that worries me. As for Ahnatep, sadly I haven’t seen the real place nor the illusion yous peak of so I’ve, little comparison there.”

Ales stepped back a little but not away from Rey rather away from the houses that stood in front of him. “Don’t worry about me being bothered, to be honest it’s nice to see someone within this churning mass who isn’t made of smoke and mirrors. And I apologise for the stringency of my actions, as well as not giving my name It’s Alex.” Shifting his tones back to the syliran he smiled again. That similar charade.

“If you wouldn’t mind I’d like to get whatever little bearings I can within this mess. So if you’re going to check out the city, I’d be willing to accompany.” Alex offered both ands openly towards Rey, a gesture to show he was both being sincere and had no ulterior motives. When infect he had a myriad of them but bone malicious in intent.

[Yisanareysin]

The snake will
always bite
back

.



Success! Sort of. The man, Alex, at least made a show of dropping his guard, at least minutely. Rey doubted the man actually was relaxing, at least not this fast, but this was good enough for him.

He didn't think this one was dangerous, truthfully. Deadly, certainly, but that wasn't much of an achievement. Plenty of things and people could kill Rey, at least in this form. The trick was making sure they didn't have the opportunity, or motivation to do so.

Though that certainly was a lot of weapons. Rey hadn't spotted the wrist crossbow yet, but he'd certainly noticed the blades at his hip. Paranoid, well prepared, or a mercenary? All at once? A fun mystery for the day.

So, where to? There was a part of Rey that did want to go south, see what was there. From his past journey, he vaguely remembered vast plains lying between the desert and Sylira, but they hadn't stopped at any city along the way. Assuming there were cities there.

Perhaps more familiar ground would loosen his tongue? And besides...

"Have heard ssome interessting thingss about Alvadass." Rey mused. "Not thiss Alvadass, the little Alvadass. Er.. you undersstand my meaning. Sssome are ssaying there iss no ccity there. Ssomething elsse instead. "

And Alvadas was right across the Suvan from Syliras. Well, that was as good a plan as any. Checking the sun's position again, Rey set off in what he hoped was a westish direction, leading them out of Sunberth (Alvaberth, Rey mentally named it. He was starting to like this silly naming convention. Maybe Sunvadas?). "What bringss you to Alvadass, then? Ssearching for something, or someone? Sseeking Ionu'ss favour?" Rey patted the invisible Temple of Ionu as they passed. "Sseemss the temple hass made it'ss home here for now, if that iss sso. Cadmuss iss friendly enough. Alwaysss willing to talk."

Snake Toungue : Common : Arumenic

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


Little Alvadas… OH the cities self-representation. Alex shifted his position to glance towards Rey as he placed a hand rather evidently on the hilt that clearly poked from his jacket. “I get your meaning Rey. It’s easy to trip over a language. Especially when you’re not that familiar with it.” Less of a jab at Rey and more of him speaking from experience. “However if there is no city there then perhaps we should go and investigate what exactly lurks within its place." Letting Rey take the lead on this excursion Alex simply let his hands rest upon the blades at his sides, the hilts a firm enough resting place.

What brought him to Alvadas? Wasn’t that the question. “Private matter. To be totally honest. I’m just looking to find out who I am. Perhaps I came here to be tested by Ionu?” Alex spoke with a calm tone that belied the fact that he was simply talking out of his rear. He was testing the waters as much as he was trying to keep up the steel wall around himself. With a shift of his weight he watched Rey run his hand along something out of sight. His fingers pressed against the stone work as they both passed the temple Alex almost banging his right shoulder into it as he motioned. Cadmus, friendly and willing to talk. Perhaps this would be a good enough person to speak about the things he saw?

The duo walked for a good couple of chimes barely a word passed between them before Alex broke the stunned silence once again. “Zeltiva, Syliras, Sunberth, Ravok, Ahnatep. That’’s a fairly vast array of places that this city has deigned to take into itself.” Alex spoke as they rounded a corner and were met with a loud sound of whistling winds. Nothing in view yet, however the sound of sucking wind was evident even at this distance. “Rey You hear that?”