Glayp'neir (Arc 1)

Sharpe sighs heavily and closes his eyes. Jian's really lost it, hasn't he? After what he honestly tried, it didn't work. He didn't use Airgetlam as a mental shield. He used her as maybe another variable, perhaps one he'd listen to. He knew of the aura she exerted around people. But he guesses that maybe, Jian's too pained for that. He's crossed the moral event horizon. So Sharpe is going to have to resort to something that makes his blood scream.

He takes his pistol and flips the safety back on, then throws it off to the side. He tosses the straight silver knife he carries to the same place. Finally, he removes his sword and places it in front of him, and he kneels, extending his hands, relaxed, out ward, palms up.

"I'm sorry, Jian. Know though I am not here to kill you. I don't even know who the emperor is. I just wander from place to place, looking for some purpose for myself. I am ronin. A masterless warrior. In a sense, I am simultaneously free and imprisoned. I am free because nobody can tell me what to do. I am imprisoned because I don't know what to do with myself anymore but make money to keep myself afloat. I manage, but I long for a raison d'etre. I feel like maybe now, I have one, but I am honestly not sure. It's all like a dream."

He breathes in deeply.

"I shall sit here. Your decision is your decision."

His entire body is screaming to him, Pick up your sword! PICK UP YOUR FUCKING SWORD YOU FUCK-WIT! YOU'VE TRAINED FOR THIS! YOU'RE TRAINED TO FUCKING KILL PEOPLE!

Yes, but I'm trained to protect people too. I'm trying to protect a lot of people right now. Jian and that woman are two of them.

He calms himself and looks Jian in the eye, then closes his own eyes.

Dr. Atrium walks over to the lady and unbinds her hands. He found another sister, he is so happy he could cry. He takes the rope and throws it on the floor. He leaves the quill and charm with her. He turns and looks at Jack.

"Jack i need you right now. This lady is one of the very last of my family, I need you to guard her for the moment. I need to check in on Sharpe and Jian. Don't touch her and let her sleep."

He leaves the room and walks into Jian's room. He looks down at Sharpe kneeling on the floor with is weapons cast aside. He then looks up and sees Jian in an attack stance.

"Woo Jian! What are you doing man? Why are you striking down on your friend? Please, calm down. Let us talk this out please!"

"Hmph, well isn't this a bizarre situation here. One of my acquaintances accuses you of mass slaughter of his entire clan while the other claims your his kin. I choose not to make any rush to judgement considering I don't know much about you other than how charming your face looks, darling"

Jack sat down, pulled out a little sack of fennel seeds and chewed. The unfortunate is that sitting there, talking to a mute girl, tied up against her will was the most peace he's had all day and the most he's probably going to have through the night. He put the sack back in his coat pocket and began looking at the lady's belongings.

"I hope you wouldn't mind me taking a look here"

there was a very flirty tone in Jack's voice

Oh Jack ol' boy, just be honest with yourself, your falling for the damn dame. Last time I was in love was with a lovely flower shop girl. She was very nice, til the day that the pagans sent her head to me in a box. That's the real reason I went into hiding. Normally, I wouldn't tell you such a thing, but your reading my mind and could find this all out anyways, so it really doesn't matter I guess. Oh well well, judging by the weaponry, this lady is quite capable of self defense it seems. She did say she was an impostor of the real general if I'm reading her writing right."

The doc coming in, throwing Jian off track.

"Weren't you busy healing the emperor's pet? Or should I say... the ruler over the emperor? Tch. Regardless of which way it went. What were you thinking? Are you all playing some kind of mind-game against me? Why would you even take her in to help her instead of ridding out a potential threat? It all seems to me like you're all fighting against me. Just fooling me to stab my back or cut my throat. Did he toss his weapons to win trust, just that you come in, talk me into calming down, then taking me down? Just be honest with me damnit, I'd rather know instead of undergoing a mental mess!"

His stance is getting a bit uneasy, his blade trembling due to him being deeply confused. Not sure what to believe anymore he's on the verge of either taking down both or just stopping himself by drifting it into his leg. Why would people work against him for a good cause? It doesn't seem to light up any sense inside, she killed thousands of fellow members, they know it, they help her regardles. Pure madness to Jian.

Sharpe breaths in deeply again.

"I tried Doc. I tried. He's not going to listen to me, even if I tell him otherwise. and I sorta used up my only chance. Unless Air magically walks into the room right now, but I'm certain that won't happen."

He turns and looks up at Doc.

"You were in there, did you find anything that might drive him out of his rage? She tell you anything?"

A small, calm smile is on Sharpe's face, but the rest of it betrays his anxiety.

C'mon, Doc. Work me some magic here. Jian listens to you more than he does me. He thinks to himself.

This isn't good, looks like Sharpe told Jian about who we found. There is no way that lady could of done what ever has Jian in a tizzy over. She can't talk and how she is on the bedroom, she isn't a fighter. I have to be careful here. If I am not, Jian could do something he will regret later on. I have never been good at these sort of things...


Dr. Atrium thinks to himself. He holds his hands up and slowly walks over to him while talking.

"Jian, we are on your side. Sharpe trained you, I healed you. If we weren't would we of done those things? I need to tell you things you aren't going to like or believe, but it is the truth and that is what you want. The lady n the next room can't be who you think it is. For one thing, she is a mute. Don't think she is going to be giving orders when one can't talk. Secondly, she isn't a fighter. Whole I was healing her, it was very clear that she wasn't used to battling and taking the damage and pain that goes with it. And finally, she is one of the last members of my guild...my family."

He stops in front of him, his hands still in the air.

"You may not like it but that lady could not do what you think. She isn't a murder. She..."

He is cut off when he feels a pain in his chest. He looks down to see Jian's knife there. He looks back up at Jain who is telling him that he is a lier. He looks like someone has just turned his world upside down. He falls to his knees.

"It's been a long time since I was last stabbed...Jian, I could remove this knife and just heal the damage you did...but I'm not going to. If you realize that what I have said has any chance of being true, the n you can pull the knife out of me and have Sharpe stitch me up..."

His vision starts to blur a bit, he sees Hitomi looking scared like when he first saw her.

"I-it's ok Hitomi....don't be scared...."

He coughs up some blood. That's not good. He looks up at Jian struggling to talk now.

"If you....if you let me live....in my coat pocket....a potion....help heal me..."

He falls on is back.

"I-I can't stop this.....Maxwell..."

With that, he passes out.


 

The blade penetrates the flesh of the doc, being coloured red by the blood coming out of it. Jian let's go of the blade, stepping back, more and more until he hits the wall. The doc tumbling back and falling onto the ground leaves him in a sudden shock. He slides down the wall, sitting down, leaving the room in a very tense silence. His mind's completely lost now, he falls forward, carefully crawling up the doc on his knees, pulling out the blade. He looks at the family marking being covered in blood as it runs down, then looking back at the doc. He slides back to the wall, silently looking at the blade and the doc. He looks completely gone, not aware of anything anymore, then looking down. Inside he's completely losing it, there's still way too much rage to just let it remain at this. Suddenly, a loud yell comes from him and he flips the blade around, pistoning up and down once, slamming it into his left leg, followed by another yell. As the pain overwhelms him, he seems to at least calm down a bit, not being focused on Sharpe anymore. He's breathing heavily, sweat running down his face, he keeps the blade inside his leg, just leaning at the wall looking down. It was the only way to stop himself, maybe he even completely lost it now.

"Jian seemed so enraged when I left. It forces me to wonder, what if I was in his situation and it was the pagans instead of this lady? I guess the trauma they've caused me is nowhere near as bad as whats happened to the bloke. I wouldn't forgive them and bake a cake for them or some bullocks like that, but I can understand why Jian is probably more frustrated than I am. He could've kicked the door down and stabbed her right this instant, but he hasn't so far. His patience and restraint is remarkable."

"Oh where are my manners, I never caught your name. I don't even know large amount about who are disguised as."

Sharpe's eyes go wide as Jian goes into a bid of insanity and Doc falls to the floor. He jumps up with more energy that is typical of him and he starts searching Doc's pockets for the mentioned potion. The first coat pocket yields nothing, but the second pocket gives a red flask. Sharpe pulls it out and rips the top off, looking inside at a clear liquid. He shifts his posture and looks between the flask and Doc confusedly.

"Do I just put it in his mouth or do I pour it on the wound!?!? God damn it Doc! I don't know how you heal! All I know is first aid!"

He resolves to pouring a small bit on the wound and a large potion of the liquid in his mouth, which isn't that hard to open. A small bit of it is left, and he rushes over to Jian and does the same with his leg wound, a dab over it and a drink.

He takes his coat off and rips a bit of his shirt off, enough for two wraps. The first he applies to Jian's leg, putting the knife here Jian can't get it, and he rushes back over to Doc, doing the same with his chest wound.

He hauls Doc onto Jian's bed and lays him down, making sure he'll be comfortable when he awakes. He puts his index and middle finger to Doc's neck, and finds a stable pulse. Looks like he was lucky, he didn't go into shock. Still, he'd think that Doc wouldn't pass out from that, unless it hit something vital. He's confident that the potion will do it's work, but he can't be sure as he has no knowledge of those. When he was handed one last, he was told he should drink it, but ended up not needing it, so he doesn't recall if pouring it onto a wound would help either.

He gathers up his sword, gun, and the knives and is thankful that he came out of the ordeal unscathed. He sighs. This is what he was afraid of. He was afraid Jian would snap and go off the deep end, and it happened. Still for now, their magician is out of commission, and Jian looks too scared shitless to do anything. For now, Sharpe and Jack are the only ones with any capability, and to his knowledge Jack's only proficient with firearms.

He looks at Hitomi and beckons her for a moment.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, sweetie. Don't hurt Jian, and don't try to wake up Doc. They both need some time to rest. In the meantime, Uncle Sharpe'll keep you safe."

Hitomi hisses at sharpe and then climbs on to the bed, sitting besides doctor Atrium. She looks across the room, her eyes shifting colour and shape, a warning to potential predators. She then seems to calm down a bit and looks at the doc curiously.

Moments pass and the group is left with a tense atmosphere. Everyone realizes by now that it is late and the tension and distrust are easily felt throughout the room. Little Hitomi fell asleep on guard, lying curled up next to the doctor who is still out cold and most likely will remain that way for the rest of the night. Natural healing takes much longer than magical healing. It's just another reason why magic was invented, to speed up natural processes like healing or growing, or in other cases prohibit it, like diseases or flowers and pets. And so it is the body must take its time to regenerate.

Meanwhile in the other room, Jack is caught up in his conversation with the sleeping woman, oblivious to the ironic events that transpired in the other room. The woman lays there, in the bed, her visage peaceful and without worry. The quill and charm still by her side, they begin to sketch out her dreams on a piece of paper...

The image of the wonderful sea appears on the paper, waves sway back and forth. A ship makes port in a harbor of a busy city, bustling with people.  Cargo is lifted off the ship but within seconds the image alters. A lone sapling in the darkness. It flourishes and builds into a forest. A big and powerful forest, the soft sunlight piercing through the thicket. Lastly, the night sky appears, its starts glistening and the moon bright, casting faint outlines on a little village below.

Jack observes for a moment, then realizing the sudden tiredness of a busy day.

With no one to hear Jack's voice, the room fell silent. Jack eyes grew heavy until he fell asleep. In his dream, he constructed metal wings and began to fly. He soared high into the sky, closer and closer to the sun when he suddenly spotted an army of shadows below him. The shadows launched flaming arrows towards jack. The flames melted his wings and he plummeted back towards the earth. He woke before he could crash, as if a jolt was sent through his body. He did what he could to shrug it off, pondered on the lady's dream for a couple of minutes, and fell back to sleep.

Sharpe retracts his hand from Hitomi's hiss. He guesses that they're not close enough yet. He sighs and feels his eyes getting heavier, but he's not about to fall asleep. He's conditioned himself to stay awake for hours, long past normal operation time. Just comes from having to wait, the insufferable wait to which became so accustomed to. He re-equips his weapons to their respective places. He looks over at Hitomi sitting so innocently by Doc.

"I'm glad there's at least one person you trust. I don't know if you'll be able to trust Jian anymore. I hope I can. At this point, he might not even trust me anymore. I tried to use what I could to calm him down. He called it a 'mental shield'. I don't see it as that, but I definitely saw it as a last resort."

He looks back to Hitomi, to her ever-changing eyes.

"You know, I saved you back at that woodland house. I helped you out, brought you in there. Whatever was chasing you seemed intent on scoring a meal. And even though you may hiss back at me, even though you may cover, and even though you can't understand what we say to you, I like to think the empathy is there. That you sense how we feel and what we intend. If at least that, know that I have no intent on pushing you out. I intend to keep you safe. I want to see you grow with us actually. The kid of the party. How about that, does that sound nice. Hitomi?" He smiles a small, warm grin. He has to keep himself up, he'll be the only one awake.  If there's nobody awake, then they'll all be in danger. Or something, his mind's a bit out-there right now.

He begins reflecting on what Doc said, and would continue to ponder so for the time being. So, this woman was part of Doc's adoptive family? She was a doppelganger? Interesting topics to consider for the next few hours until he ultimately drifts off.

After many hours of rest, Dr. Atrium wake up and quickly sits upright. He winces in pain, is stab wound hurts like hell, but it is better then being dead. He thought Jian would stab him the way he was, what he didn't count on, was him stabbing him in the lung. If he hadn't gotten the potion in him, we would be dead right now. He breathes heavily and starts to get up when he feels something laying next to him. He looks over and smiles. Looks like Hitomi was protecting him as he slept. Hopefully she didn't harm Jian. Oh how he wished to know what she was thinking or wanting to say. He slowly gets out of bed and looks out into the day light. From now until the moon rises again, he will have to depend on his skills as an assassin once again to kill Marcus. He looks over at Sharp sleeping in a chair. He is glad that he wasn't harmed ether. Doc then looks over and sees Jian. Why is his leg bandaged? Sharped didn't have to attack him did he? He walks back over to the bed where he sees Hitomi sitting up and watching him. He smiles as her and sits next to her.

"Sorry to have worried you little on. I hope you slept well."

He says in a low voice to not wake anyone up. He rubs her back for a moment then looks back outside.

"Wounder were my cat ever ended up. She was with you when she came in here...I hope she is fine."

He sighs.

"You hungry Hitomi?"

As everyone is asleep Hitomi is sitting next to Doc on the bed. She cocks her head, trying to get a general idea of what he is saying. She's listened to them talk enough to understand their body language and reactions. She nods carefully even manages to bring up somewhat of a smile, trying to imitate the way the humans work.

In sharpe's room, the woman awakes, lying in bed still, where Jack has fallen asleep. She rights herself up and looks across the room recalling yesterdays event.

"GAH"

"Nightmare after bloody nightmare, damn my paranoia"

Jack turns his drowsy head to the lady on the bed. His voice sounded more relaxed than normal, some what cockney.

"Mornin. I can only imagine you slept better than me. If you need a recap of whats been goin on: Jian thinks your the women your disguised as and is pissed cuz he think you killed his clan, the docta is your kin, I think, and I would really like to buy you a drink or somethin when all this madness is over. I'm gonna check up on the others. You should probably stay here for a couple of minutes cuz of Jian."

Before entering the other room, Jack woke himself up almost as if he was splashed with ice cold water. Opening the door revealed a wounded doctor and Jian. After everything that has happened so far, Jack was somewhat unphased by the thought that they were attacked considering that they survived.

"What happened here?"

Jian's arm twitches. He hears muffled voices. His vision is very blurry. His head pulsates in a very painful manner. He can't open his eyes well and feels very week. To his right he sees someting with a brown and red colour to it. The vision only gets clearer very slowly. He tries to move but a very sharp pain stops him from doing so. The only thing that he can do to supress that sudden pain is to whimper silently. His whole system seems to weakened, that moving and talking are merely possible. So is seeing. He can't even really tell what's going on, his mind is completely blank. He barely manages to recall a series of tragic events, without any detail to it. His arm slowly reaches to the brown and red coloured object, which just causes him to cut himself in his fingers. He realises it's his blade, which is covered in blood. He can't really think any deeper into why it is red. Slowly pulling up the head, he sees somebody in the doorframe, he reaches out his hand in hope for somebody to understand his gesture. Shortly after, he rolls over, not moving much. Something took a toll on him, maybe this place slowly takes his mind apart, just making him unable to think clearer more and more.

Sharpe hears voices, a low, whispered one and a general-volume one. A finds he is slouched in a chair with his arms crossed, and his vision is blurry. He was having a faint dream of having another woman in the party, but he knows they only have Airgetlam. He yawns and stretches his back, then shifts upward in the chair, trying to look civil. He turns his head and sees Jack looking onward, confused. He sees Doc's sort of up, and Jian is starting to come around.

"Oh, hey man." He says sleepily to Jack. "Sleep ok? I sleep decent, can't say the same for these two."

He puts his fingers out lazily towards Jian and points.

"He lost it and started thinking I was there to kill him even though I chose to be completely honest, feeling I could regain some trust with him. Promptly was accused to being a traitor to him." He moves his hand to Doc.

"He got stabbed in the chest, probably his lung by the looks of it. I used a potion Doc had and healed them both. The main concern Jian had was killing the woman in the other room because he thinks she's responsible for killing his clan. Apparently that isn't so."

He looks back up at Jack.

"So my night and morning was pleasant, how was yours?" he snarks.

"I guess he expects me to just gloss over the psychotic episode of our colleague. fine then"

"I had trouble gettin sleep. Uh, by the way, I've been thinking. If we don't find Hitomi's parents, would we have to serve as her guardians. Obviously, the doctor is her father figure, and I would be the best qualified to be her mentor, but the possibility as a whole seems like it would be quite bizarre"

Dr. Atrium laughs at what Sharpe says, when holds his wound in pain.

"Hahaha. ow! it hurts to laugh. well, that is the best way to put it. as for Hitomi, what she does is up to her. she isn't human so our rules don't apply for her. I want her to stay but in the end I can not force her."

He looks at Hitomi and smiles at her and pets her head. He then gets up and slowly walks over to Jian.

"How you doing bud? you willing to hear me out now? do you remember last night?"

He hears a voice speaking, it's all unclear. Why does he feel so extremely weak? He can't really make out too much and he doesn't even know why! He rolls over into a sitting position again, looking at the doc. His vision is a bit better now so he can actually make out better what his surroundings are. He just nods dismissively to what the doc says though, not hearing it too well anyhow. Not sure how to make his senses gather faster he raises his hand he cut a few minutes ago, just looking at it, then turning it towards the doc. He just hopes that somebody will help him to knock him out of this state.

He glances over at Hitomi, raising an eyebrow.

"I defer to Doc's decision. What makes you think you'll be the mentor figure though? She chooses who she wants, and thus far only Doc seems to have any luck with her, maybe Jian. As for Jian, I think we should move him onto the bed, so he's not so uncomfortable there on the floor. Only reason I left him there was because no beds were available and I didn't want to move him, just in case."

He walks over and lends his hand out to Jian.

"Come now, man, you look weak, might have an infection. If that's the case, Doc should see if he has any anti-bacterial and anti-viral." He nods to Doc and tries to pull Jian up with only his own power. Sharpe's lucky Jian isn't as lean and heavy as he is. He lets the man get his bearings and slowly walks him over to the bed, letting him make himself comfortable by himself.

"By the way, I'm sorry for pulling Air on you, I figured maybe mentioning her would talk some sense into you since you weren't about to listen to me. I guess I'm the second-least trustworthy person here." He says, chuckling a little as well.

"I'm going to go check on that woman. I want to confirm what I heard from Doc. She might have some info as well and maybe someone of military background can do better, no offense to Jack of course."

With that being said, Sharpe exits the room and finds that the stench is gone, at least not to detectable by him. He hasn't properly woken yet, but he doesn't need something to drink to wake up. Just some good conversation. He walks across the hall and opens up his room, walking inside and sits on the chair. The woman is actually quite beautiful, and doesn't seem nearly as threatening as the version with the dreadlocks.

"I'm sorry about all that, even if it isn't really my fault. My friends also can get a bit... emotional. If I may introduce myself, you may call me Sharpe. I am a former soldier, and I now wander as a Ronin. I was from Teyness, but I got sick of the bull. I wanted to clear up what I've heard... you mentioned you were an imposter and Doc seems to think you and him share a connection. Care to elaborate? Take as much time as you need also, no rush. Get as detailed as you need to, and you needn't tell me things you think are too classified. I simply need help because we are investigating a kidnapping on our own, and a few members of the party are fugitives." He reasons to her. He sees she has a sort of charm on her head and a quill on a piece of parchment already there. It looks rather full, so he grabs a few more pieces of paper for her to write on, since she must be too weak to talk.

Dr. Atrium watches as Sharpe leaves the room. He is worried about his sister he as just found, but he trusts Sharpe enough to leave him alone in the room with her. He walks over to Jian and feels his forehead with the back of his hand. He is rather shocked when he feels he is burning up. He then puts is ring and middle finger together and checks on his pulse to see how that is going. After a minute he lets go and shakes his head.

"The boys got a fever alright. He is burning up and his pulse is a bit faster then it normally is. This could explain why he acted so out of character last night....but I don't think that is the case. I think this the after math of whatever happened to him. Someone could of easily slipped something in the food or water we were eating and drinking. I will be back in a second, I have a shot for him that will help calm his fever a bit. I just need to get it out of my room."

He walks out of Jian's room and into his own. He braces himself to the horrible smell and is quite happy when he doesn't smell it. He walks over to the bed where the servant disintegrated and sighs sadly. He takes his bag and walks back into Jians room. He walks to the bed and pulls out his syringe and pulls out two vials. He sticks the needle into the vile that has a very light lime green color into it and empties the syringe of the liquid. He keeps the needle inside of the vial and pulls another needle, this one in air tight bag. He opens it and puts the new needle on the syringe and fulls it with the clear liquid and walks over to Jian. He pulls Jians arm out from under the covers and turns it around to he can see the vain in his arm. He taps the vain a few times then gives him the shot. Once done, he takes the dirty needle off and throws it in the trash. He walks back to his puts the old needle back on the syringe and refills it with the light lime green liquid. Once done, he puts the syringe back in the slot it goes into on his belt and puts the vials away. He then looks up and sees that Jack has been watching his every movement very closely. He chuckles then winces in pain.

"Didn't think I knew how to heal and help others without the use of my magic?"

"How did he know about how I felt about his magic? Have I been too stiff around him. I guess he's had to deal with ridicule for his practice. I'm not like those kinds of people, hell no. Afraid of things merely because they don't understand it, blunt, close minded bastards. I feel that we shouldn't be dependent on it. Come to think about it, I actually have new found respect for the doctor"

"I'm not sure what your talking about, but yes, good work doctor. And I hate to keep bringing this up, but I disagree about Hitomi. Your right that shes a fairy and too few people know much about their species, but what I do know is that shes a child.

Jack's tone grew slightly harsher

"monster, thieves, bandits, cults, plagues, famine, wars! THIS IS NOT A WORLD SAFE FOR A CHILD, AND DAMN THE GODS FOR MAKING IT SO!"

"bullocks, didn't mean to say that last part out loud"

"I just don't want her to growing up the same way I did. Everyone I cared about died as I've told Jian"

"Uh, I-I should probably switch to another topic"

"As for whether I'm qualified to teach her, of course I am. I studied at a fine school and I am quite versatile at all subjects. No offense but what is Sharpe supposed to teach her other than marksmanship and swordplay?"

The needle penetrates his skin, a rather silent whimper comes from Jian. Not sure what it is all about, but knowing that it's the doc by the appearance leaves him with a calm feeling. The yells from Jack, which are very surpressed by his senses not working the way they should make him feel a bit uncomfortable though. He can barely hear what it's about, just making out a few scraps of it.

His view shifts over to Hitomi due to him being able to hear her name. He streches his hand out towards her, trying to get a reaction from her. He's wanting to make sure that - at least what he remembers - didn't get to her. His hand streched out, he hopes for an either good or bad reaction. He knows that she doesn't seem to understand the language, gestures seem appropriate though, as she reacted fairly accurate to them.

Maybe he messed up hard. Too hard. At least the doc didn't break him down more than he is already. His memories fade in slowly thinking about it.

The woman begins to write as sharpe reads along to what she has to explain. She explains that she was part of a guild that was put to ruins by marcus. Most of them broke up, some of them forming new and different guilds. She was asked to investigate the kidnappings herself and was given information that a group of foreigners from another continent may be behind it. She began shadowing them as one of their own and realized that these people were after something entirely different.

"The made away with the woman, making sure she wouldn't be showing up anytime soon." She writes, "And took her place amongst them. The woman never talked much, and only much later, after I had sent her on a mad goose chase back to her homeland, I realized she was only a double herself. A spy, a doll, you could say, controlled by its master somewhere far off."

The woman leans back against the wall and continues focusing, looking a lot less tired than she did before. "They were after a man who they believed to be in posession of an artifact of sorts that may bring ruin to their imperium but they were simply led astray. The reasons why I don't know, and didn't much care for. My job was done so I split ways with them. As I was about to end my guise and return home empty handed Marcus appeared before me and tried acting all charming. When I couldn't reply, as I am a mute, he offered me to fix my voice if I were to meet him up at his castle and helped him finish his study. I've known this man well enough to know he held no such kindness nor skill in his heart. He only desires power and won't stop at anything to get it. Ontop of that, the castle had never appeared on any map daying back a good hundred years untill now, so its existance was a mystery if not a mere fake. I put one and one together and found myself traveling up to the castle. I didn't leave my disguise untill yesterday night. You see, I'm an illusionist. My protraction lets me alter the flow of my life energy to appear differently from what I really am, though yesterdays incident distracted me past keeping up the illusion and so here we are."

The woman looks up from the paper and towards the man. Was it a good idea to share so much information? It was never a wise thing but sometimes it could lead to a truce at the least, if not a partnership. She sighs softly and rests her hands on her lap, waiting.