Searching for Something Forgotten (OPEN)

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien thought about the being immortal thing. It was an interesting concept, being able to be stabbed through the heart and still possibly live. Of course, he had no intention of actually going out and being stabbed. That would just be dumb, even if he would live. And probably quite painful.

When she fell asleep, he settled himself against a tree and slouched down, though with no intention of sleeping. Sleeping when you were being hunted was never a good idea. And he wasn't tired in the least.

He looked towards the town, barely visible through the trees, the people milling about their business, minding their own worries as the shadows grew long. It might have been more comfortable for Aneira if they had gotten a room at an inn.
It seemed that neither of them could be like that, just going about their daily lives.

He glanced over at Aneira with a bit of fascination. He had known her less than a day, and yet, she knew more about him than anybody else alive. Honestly, that kind of scared him. He hadn't quite figured out why yet, just that it was slightly intimidating. He wondered to himself why he was so willing to tell her things - especially since most of the things he was telling her were things people frowned upon, and she held his life in her hands. If she didn't like something he said, he could be a goner. And yet, that didn't bother him.

A crack in the woods somewhere behind him had him up on his feet in a second, though he'd risen without making any sound at all as to let Aneira sleep. He took a cautious step towards where the noise came form, but nothing more was out of the ordinary.
Damn, He thought. Just nerves . . . and he sat again, just as silently, though this time he stayed in a crouched position with a smaller knife in his hand. He let himself relax while staying on his guard, and let his mind wander off, though remaining focused on the situation at hand as well, wondering about Aneira and himself and his sister and the poison, all at once.

[Lujayn]

The world may have been peaceful, but Aneira's dreams were not. Usually, her dreams were a mishmash of things she'd seen before, nonsensical and usually forgotten. This one, however, was different. She was stuck in a strange, dark world, with a path leading forward, that disappeared once walked passed, so her only choice was to keep on moving forward.

She frowned. Was this prophetic? She continued onward, looking around, but seeing nothing but darkness and the white path stretching on forever ahead of her. "I wonder..." she said to herself, "What would happen if I stepped off the path?"

Just as those words left her mouth, the path disappeared, and fell into nothingness. The wind whistled in her ears as she fell, and strange apparitions appeared around, screaming things with wide, gaping mouths, that she couldn't understand or couldn't hear, because of the wind. The further she fell, the more frantic they became, until one flew at her, and a solitary word came through:

"Discedo!"

Aneira jerked upright, eyes wide in the aftermath of that terror, trembling. She muttered a spell that guarded against malevolent spirits and looked around. Everything appeared to be alright, the sun starting to set, a slight breeze blowing through the trees. She could hear the waves of the lake splashing on the shore, and nothing else. She frowned. Was it merely a dream, and not a warning?

She shivered. It had felt so real, and she felt that she could still dimly hear that wraith's final, screaming word... what was it?

"Discedo..." she murmured, "Go away... why would it tell me that?"

She was forgetting something. She frowned, then turned, remembering Damien as she saw him. "Oh. Right. You." She said simply. "Forgot."

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien settled into a more comfortable position, relaxed but alert. Nothing had happened yet, to his relief.

He had been watching nothing in particular - animals, the shadows shifting, people - when Aneira jerked upright, wide eyed and shaking. Immediately Damien rolled to the balls of his feet, hand on the ground, tensed to rise if need be. She said something to herself that he didn't catch, something about going away, then turned to him, very matter - of - factly remembering he was present.

He again leaned back against the tree. It seemed to just be a dream, nothing more - at least, that's what he was getting out of it.

"Yes, me. Are you all right?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "That must have been a hell of a dream to get that kind of reaction." He usually didn't remember his dreams. Or nightmares. He was somewhat thankful for that - the ones he did remember weren't exactly dreams you'd want to remember.

((sorry for the late post - I have been ridiculously busy the past few days. No time to myself ))

[Lujayn]

Aneira took in a few breaths, relaxing her still-jittering nerves. That dream had been more than a little realistic, and it left her feeling cold inside. "It was so... weird," she murmured, "I was walking along... and then I was falling... and wraiths were screaming incomprehensible words at me, until one rushed at me and I caught one word..." She shivered again, remembering the terrifying look of that wraith. "It said 'discedo'... it means 'go away'." She frowned. "I'm really not sure why it would choose that phrase... as far as I know this isn't any sort of haunted place... I would be able to feel the spirits even now."

Aneira seemed inconsistent with what she called them- first wraiths, now spirits. Either she was more rattled than she appeared or she wasn't very good at keeping track of her terms.

She rubbed at her eyes. She still felt tired, but it was a lot more bearable after some food and rest, even if that rest had been interrupted by... whatever that was. Her cough had abated, too. She smiled, and said, "Although I do feel much better now." To the casual observer, she didn't look much better. "Would you like to look for this person who might have a cure, now? Or do you have something else in mind?"

Anything to get away from there. There was nothing concrete, but she felt as if it wasn't safe to hang around this place much longer. Whether they were in danger from wraiths, or if that dream had been a warning of physical foes, she couldn't tell, but either way, it had said to go away, and she decided she would heed that advice- just in case.

[WolfEnchantress]

Aneira was obviously very shaken by whatever it was she had dreamed about, and being told to 'go away.' He could tell that she wanted to heed the warning, so he stood, sliding the small knife back into it's boot sheath and fastening his cloak again.

"Sure," He said in response to her next question. "I suppose that would be the best approach." Honestly, seeing his sister was not something he was looking forewords to. But, she was the only person he could think of at the moment that could even begin to help him. He looked around before remembering which direction she lived and set off to the other side of the lake.

He walked for a while before he stopped, frowning. He knew it was around here somewhere
. . . it was just a question of where. She had gone to great lengths to hide it from the casual observer, and if one wasn't looking for it, htey would probsbly not see it until they ran into it.

There - he spotted it, covered in a tangle of vines and shrubs. It looked like a part of the tree cove it was set in. He walked over to the door and raised a hand to knock, then hesitated.

"Just a word of warning," He said, keeping his voice quiet as to not alert her of his presence before it had to be done. "She's a very . . . trying person, and knows exactly how to get at people. She won't trust you, and will probably make it obvious. and whatever you do, don't say anything negative about the stuff she does, which is stuff with magicks."

He glanced over to Aneira. "Is it alright if she knows how I am still alive?" He asked, referring to Aneira being a Necromancer. "I don't think she would care. It would make it easier, but If you don't want her to know, it can probably be left out," He added. It wouldn't be too hard to twist the story up a bit.

[Lujayn]

As they moved away from the dreaded spot, Aneira felt a strange tingling at the back of her neck, and paused to look behind her. There was nothing to be seen, not even by looking at death flowing around the trees. More spirits, or her being paranoid? She hurried after Damien, deciding she didn’t want to be left on her own for now.

Her curiosity grew when she noted that, whoever this person was, had taken care to hide themselves. Usually people only did that if they did not desire company, or they were being sought after. Were they like Damien, then? Curious.

At his warning, she smiled a little. “Damien, I’m a necromancer, I have had more than my fair share of insults, from necromancers and normal people alike. I can put up with anything she may say. And, really, you don’t have to tell me to stay away from negative talk. I know what it’s like.”

She chewed her lip at his second question. “I’m not sure... it’s possible that it might have to come out anyways, so that she knows the situation... but can you allow me to decide if and when to tell her? She might not care, as you say, but I want to be careful. I haven’t lived to 21 by being careless, you know.” Not that she looked that age, of course. Most thought she was lying. “Also, another precaution...” she pulled out from one of the pockets in her pants a small charm, and activated it with a small surge of magic. “A small warding, just in case she takes too much offence to by presence,” she explained dryly.

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien raised an eyebrow when she said she was 21, but said nothing. She didn't look the part, but then again, she didn't look the part of someone who could control death either.

"All right then," He said simply, and knocked three times, loudly. For a long while there was no response, and he was about to raise his hand to knock again, when the door flung open. His sister stood in the doorway, black hair somewhat of a mess, green eyes curious. Recognition flashed across her face and she drew her hand back, slamming it into his face. He staggered back a few steps and didn't raise a hand, though he could have, to block the second blow that knocked him to the ground. She glared down with a look of disgust and hatred.

Slowly, Damien stood, this time catching her hand before it hit him. He'd forgotten how strong she was. Or maybe it was just because he was weaker still.
"I may have deserved those," He said, "But if you hit me again, I will hit back." His voice was calm, almost like he spoke to a small child. "Now, are you going to let us in?" She jerked her head up for the first time looking at Aneira, as though she just noticed her. She stared for a few moments, eyes narrow, before Damien motioned for her to follow and shoved his way past her into the house.

"What do you want?" Hally asked, anger edging her words.
"I need help," He said. "I was poisoned, and I need the cure." She laughed.
"Oh, so you need me to cure you? You seem fine to me. Leave." Damien didn't move.
"It's a poison that takes four days to work. Then it kills. It's in the form of a golden colored oil," He said.
"Vallenwood extract," Halley mused. "Very deadly." She looked at him. "Why aren't you dead yet?" She growled. Damien said nothing. "And why should I help you? So you can go out and kill more innocent people?"
"Halley - " He said, a touch of warning seeping into his otherwise controlled voice.
"So you can go out and ruin lives? Break families?"
"Halley, be quiet," He said.
"You don't deserve to be cured. You should meet the same fate as the ones you go kill," She said, raising her voice. "After all, if it wasn't for you, Mother wouldn't be -"
"Halley! Shut up and Listen to me!" He shouted, for the first time since meeting Aneira letting his temper get the best of him. His hands shook, and he clenched his fists. "If I die, you will die too," He growled, his voice a bit uneven from anger. "So will Aneira, so will the whole town. There is an evil man around here, Halley. You need to trust me." Halley laughed at the idea, then fell silent, studying him. Abruptly, she looked over at Aneira again, completely changing the subject.

"And who is this?" She strode over to a few feet in front of Aneira, looking her up and down. "Your maid? Your apprentice? Your lover, perhaps?" Slowly Damien turned to face her.
"This is Aneira," He said, glaring at the person who was unfortunately related to him and getting ahold of himself. "She is none of those."
"Shut up. Let her answer the question," Halley said and crossed her arms, staring at Aneira expectantly.

[Lujayn]

Aneira watched with more than a little shock when Damien got hit and sent to the ground. Clearly, there were things going on between these two, mostly animosity. She was beginning to wonder if this was going to be a good idea at all.

She followed him inside, and was treated to even more of their animosity towards each other, and her annoyance was beginning to show. She crossed her arms, eyes flat and emotionless. She gave Damien a look- one that clearly said “why didn’t you tell me about this?- before facing Halley. “I am not any of those, although even if I was, it wouldn’t be any of your business, would it?” she said sweetly. “What I am is the sole reason that he-” gesturing to Damien “- is alive. I am essentially carrying on the burden of his life until some form of cure, whether it be magical or otherwise, is found and applied. You do not need to know the details of how I manage that, you must merely accept the fact that I do.”

She didn’t give her any time to say anything before she continued. “It’s clearly evident that there is something between you two that is causing this animosity. I do not care. What he has or hasn’t done is not really any of my concern. Everyone has their secrets and are entitled to keep them. I have my own. If it makes you feel any better, you can think of this as helping me, and not him, as keeping him alive is rather draining and it would be much better if I can let him live on his own.” The fact she always looked rather helped this point. “I can’t, of course, just let him die, so I need him cured first.”

A long stare from those cold, piercing eyes. “Will you help, or have you just wasted my time?” Aneira could be surprisingly aggressive and cold, when it suited her, such a difference from the sweet, warm personality she normally had.

[WolfEnchantress]

Halley listened with mild interest at the explanation given by Aneira, her expression unchanging. Damien shot her - Aneira, not Halley - a look of apology. Even he hadn't seen this kind of attitude coming - it was worse than it usually was. He was expecting a few rude remarks, and that would be the end of it. Apparently, time had not been kind to their relationship.

Damien smirked as Halley looked momentarily taken aback - she was not used to being spoken to with any kind of authority. She regained her composure and put a thoughtful hand on her chin.

"Well, if it would be helping you...You seem like a nice girl," She said with a sweetness that was just a bit overdone. Damien rolled his eyes. "I suppose I could see what I can dig up." She trotted into a back room, where a lot of clanking about ensued.

"See what I mean by 'my siblings hate me?' Damien said under his breath. "Usually she isn't this . . . bad," He said, for lack of a better word. "I wasn't expecting that kind of reaction." there was a loud crash and the sound of glass breaking, and Halley exited the room holding a small glass bottle.

"I have half of the cure," She said, holding up the bottle, which contained a flat, greenish liquid. "This is also Vallenwood extract, only it's from a younger tree, and so it's not poison. Rather, it is the cure." She glanced between the two. "The other half is what I can't do - it takes skills I don't have. You need to find someone who can take the poison from your body," She said, "For just this isn't enough to combat it. You need to find someone who can..." She hesitated, lost for words. "I don't really know how to explain it. Clean your soul? Vallenwood poison doesn't only affect your body, it affect your spirit, your soul, too, so that after you die your spirit is forever being tortured in darkness." She shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it better than that, but if you only take this, your body will be cured but your...soul? spirit? will die and you'll become something that you don't even want to think about."

Damien glanced over at Aneira. Was this her line of skills, or was it something altogether different?

"One more thing," She added, a wicked gleam in her eyes. "You have to stop whatever it is you are doing to keep him alive, and let him return to the state he was in before that, or it won't work." Damien made a face - that was an experience he was not looking foreword to again.

Halley walked back over to Aneira.
"I don't know how, or why, for that matter, you saved Damien," She said, then leaned in so he couldn't hear what she said. "Do you really want to cure him? He might kill you when you do." She said. "He does have a thing for that, as I'm sure you've noticed. Plus, I'm sure he'd make a pretty good servant. After all, with you in control of his life, he has to do what you say, right?" She took a few steps back, then said to both of them - "You'll want to wait until midnight to do it. I don't know why, but it seems to work better then - otherwise, there's a 40% survival rate. At midnight it raises to about 75%."

She crossed her arms again, looking between the two. "Now, before I kick you out - or in Aneira's case, escort you to the door - any questions?"

[Lujayn]

Aneira listened to the explanation, and frowned. They would need some sort cleric for this “soul cleansing”. It was beyond her abilities; beyond the abilities of any necromancer, for that matter. They tainted, rather than cleansed, and even they admitted to it. It was one of the few rumours that held truth. This would be a problem, and not a small one. Clerics hated necromancers, for they operated on far ends of the spectrum. Clerics were healers working under God- or Gods, in some cases. Necromancers were defilers who believed in nothing but the Death Flow, and disrupted the natural order of things. True, there were other healers that sometimes rivalled the Clerics in power, but they were few and far between and nearly impossible to find, if one was lucky enough to live in an era that they existed.

When Haley spoke to Aneira, she had no idea how close she was to having Aneira strike her. While Aneira was a nice person overall, she did have her limits, and having someone she considered a friend- even if she hadn’t known him for that long, and he might even leave once she was no longer of use- talked about in such a way nearly pushed past those limits. She grit her teeth and dug her nails into her palms, to keep herself calm. There would be no use in upsetting this woman unduly, as much as she may have disliked her. To condemn your own flesh and blood like she did...

“I have no questions,” Aneira said. “There’s no need to escort me out, I wouldn’t want to... impose.” The underlying impression of those words was that she didn’t want to be near this woman any longer. “Damien, if you have anything you wish to say to her, I’ll just be outside...”

She turned and left without a backward glance, in case one final look upon Haley would break her fragile grip on reason... and necromancers in general weren’t the sanest of people, Aneira being no exception. She didn’t stop once she reached the outside, either, but kept on walking until she was a few metres away. She’d have liked to have kept walking, but if she got too far the bond keeping Damien alive would break and he would die then and there.

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien listened to what she said about needing to do it at midnight. That was fine by him - the time of day didn't matter.

He didn't hear what she whispered to Aneira, but he saw her reaction, which was one of intense anger. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Aneira left after that, obviously irate by Halley. He didn't blame her.

"Halley, what did you tell her?" He asked in a once again controlled voice.
"Oh, nothing that you need to hear," She replied with a slight lilt to her voice. "Otherwise I would have told you too, wouldn't I?"

One final question for her. "How is the rest of the family?" He asked with a hint of remorse. She laughed out loud.

"Why don't you go visit them and find out?" She sneered, knowing full well that would be a stupid idea. He scowled and, turning on heel, walked briskly out, slamming the door behind him. Outwardly, he appeared calm, but his eyes burned with anger.

"Let's go," He said once he caught up with Aneira, his voice flat and emotionless. He was silent until they reached the area they had made the fire, then leaned back against a tree, looking up at the sky.
"I'm sorry you had to meet her," He said finally, and shook his head. She'd always been the nice one - he didn't want to even think about going to see the rest of his family. "Really - that should have been a last resort. Stupid me to think she might be nice to me when she has another guest." Or at all, for that matter.

"Anyways. Where in hell are we going to find someone to 'cleanse my soul?'" he wondered aloud. "That might be a difficult task." He looked over at Aneira and gave her a rare grin, one that actually showed in his eyes, the anger shining in them dissipating. "Guess you're stuck with me for a while yet." His smile faded a bit. "I'm sorry if it really is so draining. Really - it must get annoying, keeping me alive. I wish I could do something to help, but..." He shrugged a bit helplessly. As far as he knew, there was nothing.

[Lujayn]

Aneira sighed. "It's... fine. Really, just take that and escalate it a few notches and you'll get what I deal with every time I meet up with other Necromancers. It's just..." She made an annoyed sound. "It really shouldn't have affected me all that much, but to treat your own sibling in such a way... I don't know, it just... irked me.

"It's not... that terribly draining. I was just trying to get my point across to... that woman," she explained, refusing to use her name. "It really just means I get faster than I normally do, so our progress will be slow, wherever we end up going..." She sent him an apologetic smile. "And I may drain on your purse a bit. I did find the bag that contained my charm-making tools, though, so that might help, a little."

She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hands, leaning against a tree. "And then we emerge upon the true problem. Necromancers cannot cleanse souls. Quite the opposite in fact, our magic taints them. Just being tied to me now isn't doing much good for you, to be honest... although since we mostly don't believe in any sort of "God" or anything, we usually don't consider that much of a problem, unless you get too tainted, in which your chances of becoming a Shade- a dark, malevolent spirit- are quite high."

She looked up at the sky. "The only ones who can cleanse souls, barring a very, very select few healers, are Clerics. And that's the problem. They hate necromancers, and most likely the moment they see me they'll recognise what I am, and then I will die, and you along with me." Aneira groaned. "I have nearly no experience with them since I stay out of major cities, so I wouldn't even be able to tell if someone is one, unless they're high-ranking and in uniform." A long, long sigh. "Oh, dear, this is going to be quite the predicament..."

[WolfEnchantress]

He shrugged.
"I’m not exactly the fastest traveler anyways" He told her. "So speed of travel isn't an issue." Usually he took his time, taking a bit longer to absorb everything. It often came in handy. As for the purse - draining; well, being good at what he did, he got paid fairly well.

He groaned at the next bit.
"Where the hell are we supposed to find someone who can do that?" He said. "I don't even think I've met a cleric. Sounds like our chances of meeting one, let alone one who can help me, are pretty slim." He sighed and sat down, looking over at her. "I'm in the same position - I don't even know how we would go about spotting one. They must not exactly stick out from the crowd..."

He ran a hand through his hair. What would a cleric even look like? And even if they found one, how could they convince him or her to help?

"I don't even know a good place to start this whole mess." He mumbled. "Kill anroth, find the whatever-it-is, find a Cleric. So many things to do, and it's not exactly like one taked improtance over any others." He scowled. "This won't be easy..."


He looked up again.
"Any idea on a good place to start?" He asked. "I suppose if we just kill the bastard we don't have to worry about the Sahkar...But, then again, last time I tried that we both know how it ended up. And I don't exactly know where he is." Funny how a man could successfully hidea an army. It somewhat baffled him. "But if I try to find a Cleric, I might take too long..." He made an irritated noise, not quite knowing how to proceed, and not liking it - it was something he wasn't exactly used to.

((if there are pelling errors, sorry - spell check isn't working ))

[Lujayn]

Aneira smiled ruefully. "I have a tendency to dawdle. I spend as long as I can in towns and villages, since I can pretend for a while that I'm normal..." She was a tiny bit sad that way. She was almost like a stalker in the way she watched people.

"The easiest way to find a Cleric would be to march up to one of their Churches, I suppose... however, as strong as my wardings are, I don't think it could stand up to over 100 clerics and their leaders." If only people could just leave Necromancers to their own business, they wouldn't be having this problem. "What we end up doing next is up to you, though. I'm just keeping you alive; outside of that, most of your business doesn't really involve me all too much... I haven't even heard of this Anroth person. Who is he, exactly? And why are you so hell-bent on killing him?"

You'd think she'd know more, having to travel so much because of her occupation, but she appeared to know surprisingly little outside of her own craft. Given, she had once lived in a completely other country until a few years ago, but she should still be able to pick up on current events.

Aneira glanced at the sky. It was going to be dark soon. "Well, you can tell me once we've picked a place to settle... travelling in the dark isn't something I like to do."

[WolfEnchantress]

"One of their churches..." He said with a distasteful air. "I'll go to one if I must. If we can find one." He sighed. It might not be too hard to get their attention...He was fairly good at slipping into different roles, finding one to interest a cleric shouldn't be difficult. It was keeping one's attention that would be difficult. Finding out he was associating with a necromancer might get them both killed.

He stood, motioning for her to follow, intending to find a place to room. He didn't hesitate as he'd done before to tell her who he was - she'd a right to know, and she'd asked now.
"Anroth is the commander of an army. One that no one knows about. Don't ask how he's managing to hide an army, I have absolutely no idea." He thought about what he had seen - people being practically brainwashed, fed lies to the point that they hung on Anroth's word like a beaten, stray puppy follows around one who feeds it.

"He is amassing his numbers. Rumor has it that he's even got a dragon on his side though I never saw it. Anyways. He is looking for this stone thing because it grants - supposedly - unimaginable power to it's wielder. So I was hired to do away with him. I slipped in as one with 'useful information' and was offered dinner." He shrugged. "We both know how that turned out."

Damien approached a building with lights shining out from the inside and paid the innkeeper for rooms. He retrieved the key and went upstairs to the given room. It was fairly large, with two beds and a washroom.

"Sorry for the single room," He said. "I wasn't sure exactly how far we can be apart before I die, and thought it unwise to discuss it in front of anyone else."

((sorry for the delayed reply. Weekends I'm at dads house and he has no internet. I try to use the neighbors but it's very awkward...)