Jordenova

Ven

The golden man leaves and his enchanting mist follows. I'm not surprised he left. I cast my thoughts out to Mus as his spell fades from my mind.

It would be far more interesting if he had stayed, yes.

I frown, pulling the tray of food towards myself. But I fear I have delayed my exit from this place in revealing myself... His presence dulls me.

Again, yes. We must find a way to mend this

Gal'rik

"Father! What a surprise" Gal'ash exclaims, running to embrace me. My once hesitant smile blossoms as I hug her back. As she pulls away she finally notices my companion, and I notice the lack of hers. "So, what brings you here?"

I clear my throat. "Oh, yes, um. This is Azuya-" I gesture accordingly. "-and she requires the assistance of someone with knowledge of power-suppressing brands. We were told we could, um, find such a person here."

Az

She looks at me, her unwavering smile matching my unwavering stone face. "Hi, I'm Gal'ash." She holds out a hand that I shake. "So, power-suppressing brand? Can I see?" I hesitate before lifting up my shirt on the right side, showing the small, circular brand right on my right hip. The thick outline encompasses thinner flames, and the entire mark is raised like a scar. She leans in closer to look at it. "Hmm, djinn, correct?" I nod. "He's dealt with this type before, I believe. Let me get him." She quickly stands and runs back into her room, and I look up to Gal'rik. I shrug at him, and he seems to share my trepidation.

Ethelona

“You want to know the truth about me? Very well, I shall satisfy your curiosity.” I laid my accent on thick, making it abundantly clear to anyone with even some worldly knowledge that, no, I was not Romanian. “True. My name is Ethelona. I am a senior at NYU. I do study Astrophysics, and I did come to this country with everything you say I did. However,” I paused, “Romania is not my country of origin, nor is any other country that can be found in this world. And you are exceedingly right about one thing; there is something that makes me special. Would you like to see it?”

That changed his demeanor. Eyebrows angled in rage and mouth set in a grim line, he aimed true, gun directly pointed straight at me head.
“Do not move.” He growled. He thought he was prepared for me, the poor soul.

I looked across the lot at my own body, left limp in a deep state of meditation. I began to speak again, in a voice that not my own, and yet was intrinsically familiar to me.
“Your name is Louis DeVernes. Aged 36 years. Born in the New Hampshire countryside, where you lived until the age of seven, until your father died of pancreatic cancer and your mother moved you into the city to be closer to her job. You joined the military at the age of 20, and served as a member of the marines for five years, when you were honorably discharged due to an injury. The government then drafted you into one of their top secret projects. You’ve never married, and have no children, due to your current job and the secrecy it requires. And despite this very impressive resume you’ve built up for yourself, you yet carry a large amount of guilt inside you. And I can see why. You didn’t know what the secret government project you were oh so lucky to be apart of would require you to do. You didn’t know that when you brought in five year old Caroline, who had been so excited to show you how she could light candles and fireplaces with only her hands, that they would lock her in an oven to see just how hot she could go.” I could hear the wails and screams of terror, see bright blue eyes that welled up and went dull. “You were just as shocked as the rest of them to find out only her hands were fireproof. And yet you stayed, and you brought back the next case, and the next case, and the case after that. You even convinced yourself that these people were monsters. That they needed to be locked up.”
The rage welled up inside me.These….these were my people. Long descended and blood heavily diluted, but still of Jordenova. It was my fury that allowed me to continue, spitting out the rest of the knowledge in his brain.
“I can’t say I’m shocked. You humans have such an obsession with perfection, it drives you to force the mysticism from your lives and base everything in concrete fact and understanding. And that which you cannot understand, you either must learn….or it must be destroyed. And your destruction has spread far and wide, has it not Louis? How many children have you rounded up against their will, forced from their homes, so that they could be maimed and murdered in your experiments hmm? How many Louis? Hundreds? Thousands? You think you are guilty. Oh I should say you are.”

I softened now, taking on a more meditative quality, as though trying to soothe a frightened animal. “But there now. It is alright. There’s a place of peace, where that horrible guilt can’t torment you anymore, where it won’t encourage you to greater cruelties. Everything will be perfect, just like you want. And the best part is….you won’t have to do anything to make it so.”

A smile tugged at my lips, sweet and full of promise.
“Wouldn’t you like to see it Louis?”

I put the gun against his temple and pulled the trigger.

Gal'rik

Azuya and I stand in awkward silence as Gal'ash goes to retrieve this new mage from her- from her room. I inhale a deep breath to calm my nerves and stare at the now open door in nervous anticipation.

"Right. Dad, Azuya, this is Dar-Jei Nagseene, our resident expert on magical markings, tattoos, and brands." She smiles as she introduces him, the color in her cheeks deepening slightly. I manage to maintain a straight face- that is until a Basilysk walks out of her room.

Azuya

Out comes a green, dragon-snake like person. He smiles. I try not to think about...other things when I see Gal'ash blush. He asks the same question everyone has been asking me, and I answer the same way. I show the brand again, and I see the two talk. I can vaguely understand the meaning of each individual word, but not what their saying at all.

Ethie

I’ve never truly died in another persons body before. It’s a little uncomfortable. Instead of the peaceful transfer I usually go through to sink back into my own consciousness, I’m forcefully thrown back into myself. I can already feel a headache coming on.
But now isn’t the time to worry about that. I hear people running, and suddenly they’re there. All around me. All around us. Voices hushed. Several on phones.
Someone’s hands are on me, pulling me up. Holding me.....
“He just....just....shot himself.” I began, forcing my voice to tremble with fake shock.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. It’s okay.” I realize a security guard is the one behind me. Suddenly it hits me that, there are cameras here. I look around, catching one not too far away from us. Not close enough to accurately pick up sound, but enough where it could see everything that happened.

The guilt hits me then. What have I done?

Riley
Busting into the security room had been easier than I thought. There was only one person in there. One! Well, now there was still one, but it wasn’t that guy. He was outside taking a forcefully convinced nap on the floor. And I, well I was hitting random buttons. I wasn’t really sure what they were doing, but most of them were red....and you’re not supposed to press the big red button right?

Gal'rik

He's not an orc. That realization should have been obvious, I suppose given orc mages are incredibly uncommon. He was never going to be an orc, and yet I can't seem to ignore that fact. He's a basilysk, not an orc.

Third Person Bit (Cuz Gal'rik is a bit preoccupied...)

"-and unfortunately Djinn brands are rarely just superficial, so we can't just cut it off. I was thinking some sort of extraction ritual, but I'm not sure which one."

Dar-Jei nods in agreement with Gal'ash's preliminary assessment, then takes a step towards Azuya to examine her brand again. "Hm, these markings seem Sa'alin. You are Si'lat, yes?" Azuya nods, wide-eyed. Dar-Jei's thin, yellow eyes narrow. "The Sa'alin are an incredibly intelligent sect of the Djinn, crafty and clever."

He stands upright and turns to Gal'ash. "I need to do some research- the preserved arabic texts from Solomon's era should yield some answers."

Az

We go to the library, large and old. I sit in the wood chairs lining the tables. Gal'ash and Dar-Jei go through texts, reading quickly and discarding, moving all over, and sometimes coming over to me in order to look at my brand again.

Zeph

"This is urgent. I need you here before the end of tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah, thanks." After ending the magic connection, I spend the rest of my morning teaching the young ones dances and techniques and how to flirt and how to say no without saying no. During one break, I realize who else is missing. Not that it matters, he gets special training, but he should watch. I go to his room first, and don't immediately find him...until I look under the bed.

Awww, poor thing. I lay flat on the floor. "Hey..."

Ro

So I pressed the big red button. This action was immediately followed by blaring sirens and flashing lights, the screens in front of me showing exactly what was going on. Several doors swung open, and the people inside became to tip toe out slowly. Some embraced this new freedom very quickly and made a break for it. Others were still too stunned to do anything. Yes! This was the out! I began to look for the other buttons, the others that opened more doors. More red buttons more re-

I felt a sudden pain in my side. I turned around to stare down the barrel of a gun. Wow. Twice in one day.

Bang.

Gaelen

Sorry. Sorry sorry sorry. I couldn’t. She scared me. She was bad. She was here. She was bad. Don’t leave me. I’m frightened. I want to go home. I want kora. I want outside. I don’t want here.

Gal'rik

At this point we've been sitting- more so loitering, it would seem- in this library for a fair amount of time, and Gal'ash and Dar-Jei seem no closer to finding a solution to Azuya's problem. Or at least as far as I can tell. I watch them flip through ancient texts and unroll scrolls, muttering to themselves. Every once and a while one of them will let out some excited realization filled with magical jargon I can't even begin to understand and the two will rush together to look at the subject of this realization.

The first time the pair rushed together I felt a wave of heat rush up my neck, my larynx constricting. But with each subsequent joining I can't help but notice the pure compatibility of their actions, the seamless communication of thoughts and idea. I am by no means pleased with situation, but I suppose... It could be worse.

"I think it's our best bet right now- You want the brand nullified as fast as possible, right?" Gal'ash turns suddenly to Azuya. Dar-Jei seems to be in agreement, though he's still flipping through the yellowing pages of an old, leather-bound book.

Az

I look up from my own research. "Absolutely. Once I'm back to full strength, I might be more of assistance in matters such as these."

Zeph

He isn't coming out, and he looks so scared. The space under the bed is small, but I manage to squeeze my upper body underneath. I reach out my hand as an offering of comfort. "She did it to me too, I understand."

Will

I start to come to as alarms and chaotic workers make my head pound. Someone grabs me, pushing me out of the door and into a waiting car. I hear words like "escaped", "evacuate", and "custody", but nothing else is coming in clear. All I know is something bad happened. It's not going to end well for some people. Maybe even me.

Gae

Soft. He sounds soft. And he’s close. He doesn’t smell bad. Or wrong. He smells good. Strange. But good. I begin to squeeze out a little bit. Cautious. She could be anywhere.

Ethie

The police station was bustling with activity. Not a shock really, this was New York City. Crime was rampant in cities, especially large hubs like this. That’s a fact of life anywhere you go.

They had placed me in a small room. White walls. A blue carpet. And table in the middle. Everything the tv shows made it out to be. Several officers had come in through out the evening, asking questions and supplying comfort. One gentle women had even given me a blanket.
“It’ll help with the shaking.” She explained as she draped it over my shoulders.
Again and again I had recounted my story, the security tape they collected from the campus backing my claims. Everything I said was true, the man had pointed a gun at me, before turning it on himself.
Except he didn’t turn it on himself. He did, technically, but he didn’t. I did. And while no one could possible know that, it ate away at me inside.
But I couldn’t confess, even if I did, humans did not believe in my magic. They would not hear truth, just the ramblings of a poor young girl stunned from shock of watching another person die in front of her.
But despite me guilt, I still couldn’t help but feel like I had done the right thing. He had threatened me, he had threatened countless before me. He had taken the lives of so many. Was I really do wrong? So evil? I obliterated a monster.
But yet.....that wasn’t the way of things. Chaos and ruin were the way of things. This mans murder would change nothing. It would restore no balance. The universe always filled the gap.

The door swung open, revealing Officer Tavss, a tall man in his mid fourties somewhere. He placed the case file on the table, dropping down into the chair opposite.

“Well ethelona. You’re free to go. Sorry about keeping you here a majority of the night, but you understand rules and regulations require we be completely thorough.” He explained leaning his head against his finger tips. I have a small nod, standing up to collect my things. He followed me up and over to the door, opening it and putting his hand out for a shake.

“I’m truly sorry about this, kid. That’s a gruesome thing to have seen. Call back if you need anything.”
I took his hand before muttering a quiet thank you and rushing out the door. I was tired. I needed sleep.

Zeph

"That's it buddy, good job." We work like this for a little while, me moving back and him moving forward. I eventually get out from under the bed, and I sit back on my knees, beckoning him to follow one more time.

Gae

I’m out now. One more step. Just a little forward. I can do that. She’s not here. I can go one more step.

Zeph

I can't help it. He's so wide-eyed and confused and hurt...I find myself slowly wrapping my arms around his neck, rubbing his fur down the length of his body. "It's okay, it's okay."

Gae
Light is happy. Light is happy. I wag my tail.
“Happy?”

It sounds weird from my throat. High and scratchy. But it’s mine. Kora taught me that one.

Gal'rik

Dar-Jei and Gal'ash lock eyes at Azuya's statement, and then nod in agreement. This time it's the basilysk who speaks, looking up from his book. "What do you know of the Seventh Pentacle of the Sun?"

Azuya

I scrunch my face, trying to think back to my limited education. After a minute, I give up, shaking my head. "Nothing. What is it?"

Zeph

The scratchy, higher pitched voice almost scared me. I pull back, looking at the wolf in front of me, tail wagging quickly. "Did you just...talk?" I start to get excited. "Did you say something?" My smile stretches painfully. "Yes, happy. This is happy." I motion to my face.

Gae

“Happy.”

Not a question. No. This is happy. Light is happy. “Happy.”

Zeph

I hug the wolf again. This was a great step forward, a giant step forward. "Happy."