The Innkeeper's Wife

[HoudiniDerek]

Kerodi gingerly climbed off the small girl and brushed off his robes. "It is easier if you wait until someone gets off your back, you know." Kerodi grinned and turned to Silvarn, who still looked panicked beneath his calm exterior.

"Now we know that this Mirror fellow can't travel during the day...that he possesses people and animals. We need to know some more about him. We can talk about him on the way to the inn. For example, can he take over people that are aware he is there? Do we have to worry about each other? We need to know his powers in the other realm so we can see how limited they are in this realm."

Kerodi had been pacing back and forth by the small stream, staring at a constantly moving space six feet in front of him. He looked up and beckoned back towards the village, which would be about an hour's walk away. "Why don't you tell us more about this....thing....on our walk back?"

[jada]

"Yeah I know that now, but to be honest you are the first person to ever ride on me." Lyndi laughed.

She listened to Kerodi list some questions she had been wanting to ask herself. But he didn't mention one question that she couldn't help but think about. "Kerodi, I think you left out one VERY important question. Why did he want a Shaoeshifter in the first place?"

It puzzeled Lyndi, and even frightened her a bit. What would have happened to her if he had gotten a hold of her? What would have happened if Marisol and her husband secceeded? What would he have done to her? What would he use her for?

[HoudiniDerek]

Kerodi looked over patiently at the troubled Lyndi. She was still very young and now she was very frightened....maybe it was the first time in her life she had been this scared. Kerodi didn't know, but he knew it would be best to try and allay her fears.

"I hadn't forgotten that, Lyndi." Kerodi smiled politely and continued. "We know that a shapeshifter is a target as well as Silvarn. Silvarn we can guess the reason why. A shapeshifter would make sense to use as a spy, but would that work effectively? Plus, was it specifically YOU he was after? I don't think so...I think you just got unlucky to be the one with Silvarn."

Kerodi looked over at Silvarn now. "And that luck might be turned in our favor. We just need to know more about the situation first." Kerodi gave a head nod towards Silvarn. "After you." He gestured down the path, smiling.

[Silvarn]

Silvarn returned Kerodi's gesture with a mock glare. "As to your plethra of questions, allow me a moment to wade through them." Silvarn trodded along for a few moments, his brow stitched with concentration.

"Your question first, Lyndi, as it is the easiest to answer. He wanted a Shifter for the same reason I did. It is better not to ask about it, so do not bother. We both wanted to know if the Shifter's ability to change forms was physical, magical, or, as we had hoped, interplanar. As I found with the aid of a willing companion, the Shifter's powers are indeed magical, not interplanar. Navras may or may not know that but now, but I do, and that is one less option to consider.

"Now, to your questions, Kerodi. I am living proof of Navras' power of possession. I was totally aware of his existence and he slowly claimed my mind.

"I would know the instant one of you became possessed by not only Navras, but anything. Scorcahr would go off like so many church bells, my tetth would start ringing. Nothing to fear. In that department, anyway.

"His powers in Creation were very similar to mine. His title, Twisted Mirror, should give some insight as to why that was. I opened his tome, he took on a perverted form similar to mine. His greatest power is converting his victim's weakness into a strength, then using it against them.

"Oh, and one last thing," Silvarn added with a sinister undertone, "keep a look out for eye insignias. The bastard is obsessed with them."

[jada]

Lyndi lightened up when she thought that the twisted mirrior guy only wanted to know what Silvarn had learned.

"Can we call him something other then Twiested mirror? I don't really think of that as a name. Didn't he say his name was Romiror? I think we should stick with that, it's kindof a weird name." Lyndi had to laugh at herself now. His name was really stupid. She kept that part to herself.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kerodi nodded as Silvarn spoke, forming secondary questions in his mind as his long strides slowly ate up the path before him. Once Silvarn was done and Lyndi had asked her question about giving him a name, Kerodi spoke.

"How are you able to be possessed two at a time? To me, the demon would seem to be similar in nature. As well, how will WE be able to tell if we are being possessed...or to make sure that you are not possessed. If it happened once, it might happen again."

Kerodi continued walking down the path, thinking through the different concepts of what might work against possession. While there were some ancient spells that would forestall it, he was not sure he could remember any that would make it impossible.

"Silvarn, is it just any eye that we have to watch out for or does he a special insignia that he uses?"

[Silvarn]

"Romrir is naught but a pseudonym. You may call him as you like, but I shall call him by his real name, Navras." He flashed a glare at the young Shifter. "And there is nothing funny about that name. Do you know what it means?" He stopped suddenly to tower over the Shifter. "Do you?" he said with a harsh tone.

When the Shifter answered in the negative, his eyes became cold and hostile. "It stems from 'nava,' meaning nine, and 'rasa,' meaning emotions or sensations. His true full name is Coreh-Ydus Zhed'Navarasa, Dark-Eyed Destroyer of the Nine Emotions. Are you certain you would want to meet him in a darkened alley?"

The mage took one, long, deep breath and let it out again with the same pace. "Scorcahr does not possess me, Kerodi. He is bound to my mind and my will until I release him. I, therefore, possess him.

"I would know if I were being possessed. It is an unpleasant feeling, though it can be easily dismissed as a bad headache. I know the symptoms and would be able to act against it. You, on the other hand, probably would not. Scorcahr, then, would alert be instantly and I would banish the presence from your mind.

"Navras prefers to be discreet when it comes to spying. Strange-shaped eyes, especially blue ones, are his trademark. But, he is also one for the classics, so you will see the classic eye shape most of the type. But blue is the color you need to watch out for.

Silvarn looked at the two with a confused scowl. "Do we not have someplace to be? Come, let us continue." He abruptly turned on his heel and strode away.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kerodi watched Silvarn storm away and Kerodi turned to Lyndi, who looked a little put out by Silvarn's abrupt tone. He leaned into her and whispered jokingly, "Easy to see which emotions were destroyed in him isn't it?" Kerodi winked and resumed walking after Silvarn.

"Scorcahr, you can feel the presence of Navras? If that is so, how was he able to possess Silvarn in the first place...or was that before you met him?" Kerodi continued his thinking about the subject because some other ideas were starting to form in his mind. However, he didn't think them to Scorcahr because he wanted to flesh out the logic a little better first.

"You comin', Lyndi?" Kerodi called back to the young shapeshifter. He waited for a moment to see if she was coming and then turned and began walking back down the path once more, Silvarn at his side.

[jada]

Lyndi didn't want Silvarn mad at her. She really didn't know his name would mean so much. She felt so small and helpless when Silvarn had towered over her and snapped at her. She was a little hurt but she would get over it.

Lyndi stifled a laughed when Kerodi told a joke. It died in her throaght and she smiled. Kerodi was very kind, a peace maker you could say. Silvarn was more like a big brother who could be mean at times but he was always there to keep you safe. She was glad to know them both.

She ran to catch up with them. She stood next to Kerodi since he was more on the happy side.

[HoudiniDerek]

"There's something else that bothers me," Kerodi said aloud, hoping Scorcahr would get back to him on the other matter before too long. "How can you easily banish him? You always seem so...unsure of yourself when you speak of him and scared...and yet, you claim you can banish him?" Kerodi stopped walking and turned to face the silent Silvarn. "We need to know what we are walking into Silvarn. We don't have time for any more secrets....on any side."

[Silvarn]

Silvarn remained silent for a long while, his face contorted with concentration, thinking of how best to answer this demand.

"Scorcahr's presence in this world is only his mind. Therefore, he is particularly sensitive to other 'unnatural' influences on my mind and those of whom I so choose to investigate. Scorcahr and I had spent nearly two years together before I encountered Navras.

"I do not know if Navras traveled to other planes like myself, but during my travels, I have grown stronger. In a plane called Alchara, I gained to power to absolutely banish dark thoughts of the minds of others, whether the thoughts were theirs or not."

His face finally met the slightly taller Kerodi's. "Why am I so scared of him, you ask? Anyone who faces his inner darkness is naturally afraid of what he sees, and Navras was particularly attuned to mine."

[jada]

The three of them had made it to the Inn. It was silent, since the inn keepers where gone there were no guests.

"Are you sure we should be here? He was useing those people, what if he has other ties to this place. I think we should search it for any signs of him being here, especially before it gets dark." Lyndi suggested.

Before they could awnser Lyndi began searching the Inn for anysigns of the eye symbol Silvarn had discribed earlier. "Since you know Navras the best Silvarn, would you say his sybol would be put somwhere obvious of somewhere hiden?"

[HoudiniDerek]

Kerodi knew what it was to have inner fears. To have them stoked and prodded to the surface would probably frighten any man. Silvarn was any such man...and had reacted as such. However, if he could absolutely banish any presence in the mind of the two of them, why was he still worried? That did not make any sense. Also, Silvarn had said nothing about being able to banish Navras from his own mind...only from others.

Lyndi had begun rooting around the inn for signs of the eye and asking questions about it. Silvarn and Kerodi stood there, eyeing each other in the growing darkness. Kerodi nodded in thought as his eyes took in Silvarn again from head to toe.

"How do you keep him from coming back to you? If Scorcahr is only here in spirit and you are strong enough to banish him from us, how come you cannot banish him from yourself? And if you can, why are you scared of him at all? I understand why you were afraid originally and maintain a healthy level of respect for his powers, but why are you still scared? Are there other ways he can get to you...and thus, to us?"

[Silvarn]

"Why am I scared of him?" Silvarn reiterated with a slight snort. "He is not dead, but he should be. If his making me planeswalk was not a cruel final joke on me, then he had a purpose for making me travel to all those different realities. That means he still holds power over me. A small trace of my former bondage to him remains, untouchable, unremovable. That tie binds me to him, allows him to follow me through the planes. He still holds power over me. That puts you both in danger.

"I may think myself stronger, but that is not so. I am nothing compared to Navras. Nothing but his slave, to do his bidding, to do harm to those who a once loved, when once I wanted to help them. I can save you from him, but I have no power to keep him from me. I am...inadequate."

In Creation, millinia before Silvarn's time, a terrible curse had been laid upon the Solars by the Primordials. They were beings who once controlled Creation, but lost it when a coalition of the Celestial Incarnae, the Exalted, and mortals stood against them. The curse warped a Solar's greatest virtue into a perversion of itself. A valorous Solar might become blindly arrogant, a compassionate one go on a bloody rampage. The virtue a thousandfold or the spectral opposite. In Silvarn's case, facing his own inadequacies invoked this curse. Given enough time, his self-pity would consume and he would forsake the world and become totally reclusive.

"What can I do against such power?" he asked, collapsing to the ground in a wretched heap.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kerodi listened to Silvarn describe his own tie to the thing that had sent him on this odyssey...and heard the defeat in his voice. However, he was surprised when Silvarn showed the defeat by sagging to the ground. He had thought Silvarn more scared than he cared to admit, but he had not thought he was so sure of his own defeat. Of course, Kerodi did not know the other planes at all and Silvarn did. This could be trouble...especially since there was no way to keep the bond between Silvarn and Navras from going.

"Scorcahr," Kerodi thought loudly. "Can you let me know when Silvarn is under the influence of Navras? It might not be much, but a little warning might suffice if we can find some magic in time. We might save him in this plane of existence yet."

Kerodi turned for a moment and watched Lyndi searching around the bar for signs of the eye. She had asked a good question about whether or not it was any eye sign or a particular kind of sign...as well as if it tended to be obvious or not.

"It's been a long couple of days. We should probably lock the inn up tight and get some rest. Tomorrow, we can determine what to do and where to go from here." With that suggestion, Kerodi nodded to them both and headed up the stairs to an empty room. He closed the door and locked it. He went over to the bed and lay down, fully clothed. Minutes later, his eyes closed and he was fitfully asleep.