"I suppose you want my answer though. I didn't come here willingly sith. I escaped to here from elseness, of which that witch imprisoned me in. Now give me the chit back."

--------------------

Nothing visible shows itself, but the rash one is quite suddenly sitting on the stone of the floor, shaking his head in wonderment of how he got there.

"I would expect better behavior from a human, especially one to whom we have extended our hospitality by taking you under our care and tendering you medical aid...

"Rather than killing you on the spot. Humans are not usually allowed within the walls of this temple, much less our city or the planet upon which you have seemed to helplessly find yourself."

I pause a moment, cocking my head to one side as I continue to pin the youth with a piercing look. In my hand, the shard seethes warmth and strength.

I tighten my grip upon it yet further.

"Do not behave as a child, but strive to act in a manner that is honorable and worthy of one's respect, whether the other is friend or foe. Now tell me--

"Who is this 'witch' of whom you speak, and how did she place you into that which you called Elseness?

"What do you know of both?"

Of course I am fully aware of who it is, but I wait to see what he is willing to divulge to me.

[ 09-01-2004 09:25 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

--------------------

But at the rate he was going, and his current situation, he might as well speak the truth.

"Elseness is a gods forsaken hell hole of eternity that has no form of entertainment or enjoyment. I got out because some sorta hole opened in it. As for the witch, that's Graysith. She used some sort of thing my mast- I heard was called an All."

He paused, he had nearly revealed Ragorian twice now when he had been forbidden to do so.

"I don't know why you're asking me this, but I'm willing to bet you know the answer to every question already."

--------------------

My smile broadens, then vanishes like fog before the blast of warming sunlight.

"Indeed," is all I reply, and smile further, letting patience now be my guide as I stand in utter and rigid silence, and just...

Wait.

--------------------

"Give it back, now."

--------------------

I smile, knowing the magicks can no longer reach this lad, and finally make reply to him.

"That which is held by this shard belongs to the Sith, not to you, child. No human is worthy of its possession."

--------------------

As the conversation, or, rather, confrontation progressed, Ragorian began to worry what the Sith was going to do with the shard of his vessel. Paying attention to this, he couldn't stop himself from giving a mental cry of alarm when his mental connection to young Rykounagin was suddenly severed. It was there one moment, and then it was gone, cut by the Sith sorceror as easily as Ragorian's blade cut flesh.

As he discovered this, Ragorian suddenly realised he had indeed cryed out mentally, which would have certainly alerted the sorceror to his presence along their faint link. In response to this, Ragorian quickly retreated farther back from the link, attempting to find soem way to reestablish a link with Rykounagin.

But if there was a way, he could not find it.

Resignedly, he tapped into his powers, not gathering them, not using them at all, but simply having them there, comforting in a way, his only defence against whatever the unpredictable Sith sorceror decided to do next. For in this game, the next move was certainly his.

[ 09-02-2004 02:33 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Blade of Chaos ]

--------------------

My fingers move along the slick, warm surface of the shard, almost in a caressing motion. It thrums with hidden currents beneath my touch.

[ 09-02-2004 03:23 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

--------------------

Aelvedaar turned and looked at him as he swung a fist. But inches away from his face, Rykounagins fist stopped. What the?

--------------------

Pausing, he considered the word he had used at first..."was." Why had that slipped out? Though his body was gone, he was certainly still Sith, in mind and spirit.

But then, if that was true, why was he so apprehensive of this Sith, a member of his own race?

Putting these thoughts aside, he spoke again.

I bound with the human because I had little in the way of opportunity, good sir...

He paused in his explanation a minute, then voiced a qustion of his own.
Might I know the name of who I am adressing? For I can sense that you are one of no meager power yourself, and the identity of a Sith of such strength does intrigue me.

Falling silent, he waited patiently for a response.

[ 09-02-2004 03:39 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Blade of Chaos ]

--------------------

A corner of my lip curls up as I sense the confusion of the lad when his fist impacts what must look like solid air. One can arrange the latticework in such a manner that light can pass entirely through it, after all....

"Take care, boy, before you find more than your hand smarting."

Another gentle and invisible shove sends him flying back again, once more to land on the part of a human's anatomy that suits such things best. Now that he is, at least for another moment or two, far enough away to not bother me with his pesky attacks, I turn my focus back to the shard and address Ragorian once again.

"I am Aelvedaar, Dark Lord of the Sorcerers," I say quietly, giving this fellow sorcerer a mental bow of recognition.

"May I inquire as to the circumstances which have placed you in this bit of metal, and afterward binding you over into the trust of a human child?"

[ 09-02-2004 04:23 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

--------------------

He looked about, and took interest in two statues that stood to either side of the entrance. They formed an archway above the doorway, but more important to him was what it depicted.

On one side stood a sith, lunging towards a dark cloaked man with a spear. In response, the man appeared to be swinging a sword. However, the most interesting thing to him, was the fact that these weapons were real rather than stone.

He reached out through the force, and tried to bring them out of their stone grips, but the stone was strong, and he was not sufficantly recovered to acomplish the task, though his prying had shifted the sword slightly.

--------------------

I am in the presence of the Dark Lord himself? he replied, a slight feeling of awe tinging his voice. Forgive my ignorance in this matter, good sir, he added, returning the Dark Lord's mental bow with one of his own, but I have not been among our people for some time.

Your query of how I became imprisoned in this shard? The tale itself is fairly lengthy. Suffice it to say that this imprisonment is a fate I imposed on myself, a hasty choice made to escape imminent death. This choice, however, left me without a body of my own, and unable to move myself. However, I find whenever I come into physical contact with another living being, I am able to bond them to me, and, in most circumstances, control them. The boy is merely the most recent of my...transporters, or hosts, I suppose you could say.

I lost track of him recently in Graysith's extradimensional prison, however, and only recently found him to be in your palace, dark Lord Aelve-

Ragorian suddenly ceased speaking. The name...Aelvedaar...surely he had heard it somewhere before? Taking a moment to delve into his centuries of memory, he searched for the source of the spark of recognition the name had caused.

When he found it, his mind reeled in surprise for a moment as the impossibility of the situation hit him. Realising he had been ignoring Aelvedaar for several minutes, he spoke to him again, his tone quizzical now.

Aelvedaar? Dark Lord of the Sorcerors? This is a name I have heard...the same name of a Dark Lord of the Sorcerors nearly four thousand years ago. Pausing for a moment, Ragorian affirmed again that this fact was true, at least to his memory.

But...you cannot be he. You would surely have died of old age by now...unless you discovered magicks that would allow you to live forever. But...that is impossible.

He stopped, then continued tenatively.

Isn't it?

--------------------

Suddenly he realized. Could he be speaking with ragorian? Would master give his presence away so swiftly? Rykounagin frankly didn't know, and began to wonder what his master was plotting.

Rykounagin turned back towards the arch way, and leaped up to the sword statue. He physically pried the sword from the statue, but to his dismay, broke off part of the hand in doing so. Not like it was important, or at least I hope not.

The sword appeared to be built as a small weapon for a sith, though in turn it was fairly large for himself. Rykounagin waved it around a bit, and familiarized himself with it. He had to admit it was well built, probably by a master craftsmen. Well, I've got a weapon. But I can't leave without Ragorian, so what am I to do? I could attack this sith, but he keeps blocking me somehow.

Rykounagin sighed and sat down, then winced, and thought to himself that he should have waited to be fully healed before he left.

He took off his upper layer of mesh and looked at a long black burn mark that ran only where his runes did not trace, seeming to skip over them. Strange.

--------------------

And so, regarding both of the pair, I once again wait.

--------------------

How far do I trust this Aelvedaar? he thought quietly in his own chamber of his mind, carefully staying away from their mental connection. How much do I tell him? True, he could, with his magick prowess, be a powerful ally to me, but he could be an even more powerful enemy if conversations go sour. And as it is, I already have enough enemies. I'd best ware my words for now.

Turning his attention back to his mental conversation with Aelvedaar, he spoke again

This shard is not all that I am, Lord Aelvedaar. It is simply a piece of my vessel, sent so that I could watch over and assist this boy. Little damage would be done to me if it was destroyed, for very little resides within it.

Quickly ragorian quieted himself, having gone on longer than he intended. He truly was lettign the silence get to him...his thirst for conversation was almost insatible. But as he considered his speech before, he began to wonder if he should have cut it short sooner. It had been relatively short, true. But to a cunning Sith sorceror like Aelvedaar, even that speech could have revealed too much..

--------------------

"Why should kith fear kin, Ragorian? Have you truly something to hide?"

[ 09-10-2004 02:29 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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Something to hide? he asked quizzically. No, not at all...

I suppose you are right in detecting fear, Lord Aelvedaar, he continued, but this fear is simply a wariness, if you will, against others who could, perhaps, threaten my existance. This wariness is what has kept me alive these years. Sadly, though it makes me immediately wary and mistrustful of any being with considerable power that I meet...

Even one such as myself. I cannot even bring myself, at first, at least to trust a Sith.

Reflecting on this fact, Ragorian relised it was all too true. He heaved a small mental sigh.

My apolgies if I have offended you, Lord Aelvedaar, but this is simply who...or what...I am now. I cannot do anything about it.

Falling silent, he waited for the Dark Lord's next query.

--------------------

"This is who and where you are."

[ 09-16-2004 02:53 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

--------------------

As Aelvedaar seemed to consult the object, Ragorian attempted to also make contact with it, to look into its depths and know the limit of its powers. But for all his striving, he only garnered confusion, a jumble of mismatched images and colors that only served to further befuddle Ragorian. He desired to ask about the object, but decided to wait until his...host...was finished communing with it.

As Aelvedaar broke away, Ragorian was about to speak, but was startled when Aelvedaar spoke first. Even more startled was he when the question revealed that Aelvedaar had somehow learned the truth behind his vessel and its location. Apparently this artifact had provided the Dark Lord with this information, which only served to highten
Ragorian's interst about the item.

As to his location, though, Ragorian knew there was no hiding it.

Yes, he said. That is the location of my spirit.

Turning his attention elsewhere, he voiced a question to the Dark Lord. But...this objec...Dark Lord Aelvedaar, what is it? What is its purpose? For it is obviously magickal...

--------------------

...and that his living spirit is on K'eel Doba, even now being approached by the daughter of my Chosen One.

--------------------

Rykounagin stood. I intend to find out what it is. Rykounagin left the room, and went to the nearest sith. "Who here has left recently?"

--------------------

She gasped, turning brightly colored eyes upon him, working hard to steady herself.

"S-sir," she finally managed in a politely toned voice, realizing from his stance and the way he had so obviously just exited from Aelvedaar's chambers that he was a guest of some high standing.

"I do not understand your meaning. There are none prisoned here; people come and go as they please, and many have left the temple to go about their business within the city.

He waited for the siths response.

--------------------

"I am sorry, Sir, but I have seen none other like you this night," she finally said, blinking her lashes.

"Other than one cloaked in dark of whom I only caught the barest of glances. He was fleeing in that direction."

Beginning to point with the cumbersome tray, she suddenly realized that she was standing there in front of a guest and rudely witholding refreshment.