Understanding }{ [HD & Silvarn] Open to Requests

[Silvarn]

"What do you make of it?" the man in grey robes asked.

"Your dream is unique. Very vivid." the soothsayer mused, playing with her large hoop earring. "Repeat that last part to me."

The man sighed in impatience, but complied, "I stood before two doors, one marked by Wisdom, the other Understanding. I knew that my deepest desires laid behind the door of Wisdom, and yet I passed through the door of Understanding. So, again, I ask you: What do you make of it?"

"Wisdom and understanding are powerful tools, sir." the soothsayer said in her best cryptic tone, "You need both to unlock the secrets of life and the world."

"Nothing that is new to me." he nearly growled. "Tell me, why did I pass on the opportunity to find my desires?"

"Because you feel as through you do not deserve them." the soothsayer said frankly.

The man's stony face cracked with shock, quickly replaced by anger. He thought to strike down the arrogant soothsayer here and now, but thought better of it. A reedy voice in the back of his mind cautioned against such acts of violence, even as it desired bloodshed.

"Read my fortune." the man said, extending his palm.

"For a price, sir." the soothsayer warned.

The man indulged her price of five silver coins, such trivial things. The soothsayer pored over the lines of his palms, her expression growing more and more worried, "Much pain behind and before you. And much more mystery. Never quite having a place in the world."

"Again, more that I already know."

"Then I shall have to contact the spirits if you want something more--well, more." the soothsayer said, placing her hands on the crystal ball upon the table. Silver and white mists swirled within it. "I see...a lake. A woman who loves you. A foe from your past." Pain flashed across her face, yet she continued, "I see...your eyes." Her own eyes flashed open to lock with the man's. She saw the dead eternities within them and trembled, "Grey-Eyes. Silvarn Grey-Eyes." she stammered, panic seeping into her bones.

Silvarn gave her a nasty smile, then indicated the crystal ball, wishing her continue.

But her body went rigid. Soundless pain fired through her entire body, then she spoke a soft, malevolent voice, [black]"I will find you, Grey-Eyes. You cannot hide."[/black] At that, she collapsed.

But Silvarn was already out of the tent. He had recognized the voice all too well. A voice that still sent him running with panic. The crowded traveling circus was too much for a sprinter, though. After only a moment of haste, he tripped over a tent stake and went headlong onto the ground. He picked himself up, brushed himself off, and began walking quickly.

"Scorcahr." he said to no one.

I know. The Twisted Mirror. said the reedy voice in his head.

"Scan the crowd. I want to leave here alive. It might have been just an attempt to scare us, but I want to be cautious about it." he said. Someone walking alongside him gave him an odd look. He felt the voice blip from his mind.

The Twisted Mirror had contacted him through a soothsayer. Not the worst method he had used--not even close--but it had been so long, Silvarn had begun to hope that the Twisted Mirror was permanently spent after their last encounter years ago. Not so, evidently. He needed something to take his mind off of the subject, or at least help him focus. He went over to the cooks' tent to purchase an exotic delicacy. He sat on a nearby log and munched on it quietly, his mind working furiously.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara Severn trudged through the small hamlet, looking warily at the breed of folk out. Kimara was rarely troubled by people and did not interact with many, but it seemed different today. The people had a quality that was unnerving...something that made it seem like they were all figments of imagination.

Kimara walked past a small food stand, smelling the grotesque aromas and nearly vomited. The feeling persisted here as well and could not be shaken. Finally, Kimara went towards the edge of the marketplace and saw a man sitting on a stump, eating something. The closer Kimara got to the man, the less the feeling of doom persisted.

Kimara walked over to the man and sat down beside him. The feeling passed and Kimara could see the hamlet was normal like most of them. People were going about their business and did not seem a threat. Even the smells were back to normal.

Kimara turned to the man sitting on the log and felt a different presence. Something internal to the man. Kimara looked closer, eyes squinting in concentration. Suddenly, Kimara spilled over backwards off the log, eyes glazed over from the attack.

[Silvarn]

Silvarn looked up from his meal, having heard something near him. His eyes darted around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. As he set back into his food, he noticed a man sprawled out over the log, as if someone had pushed him over it.

"Oh." he mused, "That is the one who just tried to poke around in my mind?"

Yes. Scorcahr affirmed with sadistic glee. Silvarn received a flash of a mouth with far too many, far too sharp teeth.

"I could have handled it." Silvarn dismissed, taking a bite of the delicacy.

A simple 'thank you' would have sufficed. the demon whined.

"Did you have to be so--vicious?"

Yes.

"So much for being subtle. First tearing out of the soothsayer's tent, then tripping over a tent stake, and now people being struck unconscious. People are going to see me as even more of a bearer of ill omens." He rose then and purchased another two helpings of the delicacy.

? Ah, how I miss having a stomach.

"Not for two more." Silvarn answered, setting one of the two on the log between himself and the stranger.

Surprising kindness for someone who tried to read your mind.

"Exactly. I want to know why."

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara's eyes opened and the maze of trees above were the first sight. There were birds in the trees, but Kimara could not make out the type or the number. Kimara struggled to a sitting position and saw the man he had been regarding staring back at the prone figure.

"Your demon could be a little less forceful," Kimara said, managing to heave the old and brittle bones to a sitting position on the log once again. Noticing the food on the log, Kimara reached tentatively, testing it mentally to see if it had the same odor as the village had recently had on it. Sensing nothing, Kimara picked up the food, nodded, and began to eat.

"My name is Kimara Severn."

[Silvarn]

He--I--you--how?! Scorcahr sputtered.

"Well, if he has mindreading abilities, I would assume he would be capable of identifying entities invading his mind, would you not?" Silvarn asked the old man's food. His cold, ageless grey eyes suddenly snapped back into focus and he spoke directly to the elderly man, "Rather friendly for a man who just tried to pry into my mind and failed. And just what, Kimara Severn, were you hoping to find in there?"

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara Severn wiped the edges of the wrinkled mouth, swallowing the food before speaking. "I was not intent on prying into your mind, young man," Kimara said, giving Silvarn a knowing stare. "There is a feeling of evil around this place...a feeling of evil magic."

Kimara took another bite and methodically chewed before continuing on. "I felt it all around this hamlet, but not around you at first. There was something that seemed to block the feeling and I was curious. I was not trying to read you mind...I was trying to determine if you were real or a figment of my imagination."

Kimara reached within the old robes and pulled out a flask. Saluting to Silvarn, Kimara drank. Clearing phlegm from the throat, Kimara spoke again. "Can't you feel the evil that's around this place? Even though it comes and goes, you or your demon should be able to feel it."

[Silvarn]

Feel it? Scorcahr sneered We are being hunted by it.

Silvarn ignored the demon and focused on the older man, "I have been called many things, but 'young' is new one." he observed, though his voice lacked amusement, "And I assure you, I am very real."

You are avoiding the topic. said Scorcahr

"I know." Silvarn said to a tent stake. He looked back up at Kimara and said, after a moment's hesitation, "Yes. I feel it, too. I wanted to ignore it, but after I mistakenly indulged in a palm-reading, I cannot. But what of it?" Silvarn inquired.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara stared at Silvarn hard for a second, wondering if he was an idiot or merely another trick on the road to evil. Evil was never done trying to confuse and Kimara had suffered some hard times for the inability to perceive the twists in the road.

"It matters because evil is always prevalent," Kimara said, closing the milky white and grey eyes and rocking back on the log, assuming more of a pedantic tone. "Evil has inroads throughout Valear because no society can be borne by the good of heart alone. As most man-like species choose mates of opposites, so too do good and evil work in conjunction...a mating if you will."

Kimara opened the eyes and found Silvarn's again. "Evil follows us all...even you and your little friend. Although, I think in this case your demon might be wrong. An evil that hunts you is very unlikely to be so prevalent to others, even those of magical abilities. After all, it might come up against something it is not prepared to stand against."

Kimara stood and removed a small bag from a waist pouch. The gnarled hand reached in and Kimara withdrew a handful of dust, the color of a light blue sky. Cupping the hand to hold the sand so it would not leak, Kimara brought it close to the cracked lips and whispered something. The sand began to glow.

"Evil wears many disguises. However, masks can be undone and evil uncovered if you know where to look." Kimara winked at Silvarn and stepped in front of him. Kimara's hand drew back and shot forward again, scattering the dust in an arc over the hamlet. Reaching its zenith, the sand shot out and formed a bubble over the township, glowing like an eel in the ocean. Suddenly, the light exploded outward silently, causing a need to shield the eyes. Moments later, it and the town were gone.

[Silvarn]

Silvarn nearly scoffed at the old man's lecture. His astonishment that he would take such a condescending tone with him overrode his usual dismissing sarcasm, causing him to sit and stare, his blood boiling silently.

He regained his head around the time the old man paused to extract some powder from a satchel. He opened his mouth to speak, but the old man spoke first. Normally, Silvarn would have simply spoken over the other, but he was rather curious just how far this lecture would go. How deeply he could mock the old man for presuming that he, Silvarn, did not know as much as him.

But then the old man did something surprising. In a brilliant flash, he made the town vanish. By no means a small feat. Silvarn sprang to his feet, wisps of grey mist coiling between his fingers. "No more games, old man." he said, his voice grim, "Who are you?"

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara looked over at Silvarn who had grey mist coiled in the fingers. "Put that away," Kimara said gently. "You won't be needing that against me."

Kimara sat back down on the log, rubbing the aching back. The magic was taking more these days, even the simplest of them. It would not be long before it would cease to function at all. Of course, Kimara hoped to be dead before that happened.

"I told you that my name was Kimara Severn. Like you, I have an affinity for attracting magic, most of it bad apparently. There are no games being played here of mine." Kimara reached into another pouch and pulled out a small flask and drank from it. Putting it away, Kimara looked back at Silvarn.

"Why don't you tell me why are so untrusting? And how you have such an odd traveling companion."

[Silvarn]

At Kimara's request, Silvarn's mouth immediately slammed shut like a great ocean clam. On the one hand, he hated telling things about himself. On the other hand, he really hated talking about that particular aspect of himself--his past.

What would happen if you did? Scorcahr whined, He would know for a world-slaying monster, I your warped conscious, and then he would wither and die. I mean, look at him. He cannot have that many years left on his thread.

Still, Silvarn kept his lips pursued, refusing to indulge the old man's curiosity.

I know, I know. You do not want to give him anymore information about yourself than you have to because you believe it gives him power over you. Or something. So have him to tell you something about himself. Keep the battlefield even, as it were.

"Fine." Silvarn growled to both old man and demon, "But first," he said, he eyes now focusing on Kimara, "tell me what happened to the bustling town we were just in. There is the log, but where is the rest?"

As he waited for Kimara's response, he realized wisps of grey mist still coiled around his fingers. With a flex of his hand, he banished them. Maybe appearing not hostile would encourage the old man to cooperate.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara looked up at Silvarn as the other was battling internally about what to tell or not tell. Kimara had seen this type of thing before, especially among powerful people. Kimara nodded as Silvarn wanted to know what happened to the town, but waited to tell it until Silvarn had banished the grey mist from his fingertips.

"The town was never really there," Kimara started. "As with all illusions, it takes what the beholder expects to see and enhances that illusion. In this case, the illusion was more lifelike because of the magic associated with it. It was not sleight-of-hand, but a more potent and tangible form of magic."

Kimara stood and kicked at the log where they had both sat. Kimara kicked right through it!

"As you can see, we both expected this log to be real and real as we perceive it. However, we have both been deceived. Mine is an ancient magic and I should have realized this from the beginning. Had you not been here, I might have." Kimara gave Silvarn a knowing glance before continuing on with the story.

"We both expected a clearing this large to have a town...otherwise, why the clearing? Our minds filled in the details. It was not until I discovered that you were normal that I realized the town could not exist. It never existed." Kimara pointed to a scrap of food on the ground.

"Even the food we ate was not real. It does not sustain and now that we know the truth, we are again." Saying that, the morsel vanished from sight.

"Magic coats this entire clearing, but it is not born of you or me. It is something else, but not something I have come across before...and that in itself intrigues me...as do you," Kimara said, glancing at Silvarn again.

With no place left to sit, Kimara walked to a nearby tree, confirmed it was real, and sat. "I believe you were going to tell me about yourself."

[Silvarn]

Silvarn brooded in contemplation of Kimara's explanation. How could he have been so blinded? How could he have not seen through this illusion? Such would require either a very powerful mage, or a very specialized one. Then again, who would create a clearing of illusions, and for what purpose?

"You seem rather calm for a man who was just hoodwinked." Silvarn said, looking disapprovingly at Kimara. "I, for one, would rather investigate who created this phantom town and why, than sit here and talk."

Brilliant diversion. He will completely forget that you did not reveal a single iota about yourself. Well, except that you are antisocial.

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara stretched and laughed at Silvarn. "I'm old. I have been hoodwinked before and it will happen again. If I was angry every time someone bested me, I would have been mad the majority of my life." Kimara nodded and smiled, looking away into the forest.

"As for hunting down the proprietor of the magic, I'm not sure I'm inclined to do that either. This is a very special and specific magic. Who knows how long it had been here or was it triggered to react to a presence coming this way?" Kimara looked knowingly once again at Silvarn.

"I have a feeling we could sit here and wait for someone to come. A magic that special has to have a trigger, warning someone that it has been enacted. Even if something else triggered the magic, you can bet the fact that the magic has now been canceled is cause enough to concern the wielder."

Kimara stretched again and took another swig from the flask within the robes. "I know you are not a trusting soul and your internal companion probably will not help that much. But, it's time to face the fact that were we enemies, we would have been fighting already. Why don't you sit and relax and we can get to know each other better?"

Kimara smiled slightly and said, "Who knows? We may need each other in the next few hours or days. I have a feeling we are tied together in this now."

[Silvarn]

"So we wait for the spider to come investigate the disturbance in its web?" Silvarn mused metaphorically.

How poetic. Scorcahr cackled.

Silvarn chose to ignore the demon's observation, instead sitting stiffly by the same tree, a quarter of its circumference away. If pressed, he would explain it as keeping a better watch.

You are not actually going to tell him about us, are you? A real enemy would throw us off their trail, just as this old codger has done. The Twisted Mirror is a subtle fiend. Scorcahr whined.

"And on the off chance that he is not trying to kill us?"

Then if he was captured by the Twisted Mirror, he would divulge information.

"There is nothing the Twisted Mirror could extract from him that it does not already know."

Fine. But if this lands us in trouble, do not expect any help from me. Scorcahr whined.

Silvarn felt the demon's presence in his mind blip out of existence. A squirrel suddenly dropped bodily out of the tree, scrambled to its feet, then bared its teeth at Silvarn before scampering into the forest.

"That would be Scorcahr, my odd traveling companion, as you put it. He and I served under the same master, but a massive fluctuation in magical energies caused his mind to be torn from his body and bound to my own mind. He has been useful in a few, rare instances, but for the most part is a tedious burden."