Ris Coltur's Story

The edge of the Veil was calm. Small rabbits hopped happily along the outer edge of the Veil, not daring to enter the darkness. However, there was more than just bunnies at the Veil's edge.

A group of twenty men, 18 of which were no older than 21, while the two who were obviously in the lead were about thirty to forty. Everyone but the leaders seemed to be hyped up to "do some good for the lands." Little did they know that the stories of demonic peoples was false, but the stories of hydras and centaurs and minotaurs were all but false. The only ones who knew anything of the lands were the leaders, their stern and emotionless faces giving hint to them knowing the lies that have been told. Still they considered the endarkened to be a blight.

Through the first and second layers of the Veil, no real challenge presented itself, excluding navigation. The group was looking for a small endarkened town that, if taken, could provide quite the launching point for attacks on the rest of the Veil.

Nearly as soon as they hit the wall of darker darkness, they were met with one of the legends of which they heard. A hydra slowly emerged from a lake just beyond their view. They could only see it when it began shooting fire at them. Well, the left head at least. From the right head dribbled what one could only take as being some form of highly acidic poison, with the middle head controlling the body.

As the battle raged, one man died attacking the left head. His torch had touched the area that he had removed the head from, cauterizing it just enough that only one head emerged. This is when the two youngest realized the trick to killing the beast, but by that point, they were the only ones left.

To keep it short, they succeeded in killing the hydra, but took some wounds that, left untreated, would kill them. When they woke up, they were in a small wooden building, tied into the beds. At the corner of the room, and the edge of the darkness, they could see a cloaked figure. For a good few minutes, the room was in complete silence, the figure never moving.

"Where are we?" Asked one of the two.
"Cirsum." Replied the gravelly voice of the figure, obviously trying not to use his real voice.
"Why would you keep us alive?" Asked the other man.
"Because you can still see the truth." Spoke the figure.

Calling all who dare enter the Veil! The time to enter is now!

As Aislinn followed the cloaked being, she would be slowly led to the small, endarkened town of Cirsum. The town had two large wooden buildings, both with hanging signs in a runic language. They sat at opposite ends of the town, the one to the east being where the cloaked man disappeared to.

All the other buildings had signs that were in the common language. Most were shops for the local farming community which existed in a large clearing nearby. At the south of the village, opposite the Seasonal and Sun Lands, sat a church of an expected size for such a community. In the center of the town was a circular stone building with a single tower soaring into the sky, taller than any buildings seen outside the Veil.

From said tower came many cloaked inhabitants, going to the various shops to pick things up. However, the cloaks of these people were not the same color of the cloak of the man who pulled the two knights into the eastern building. The cloaks of the people from the tower were a dark green with different colors that formed a unique pattern on each person's cloak. To someone with experience analyzing group dynamics, the color of the pattern seemed to denote status.

Placing her bow on her shoulder Aislinn looked at the city in awe. Looking down at her clothes she noticed that she stood out. As if her height wouldn't be noticable. Sighing to herself Aislinn ventured further still following the cloaked man. She had no idea where she was going so why not follow the mystery man till she got her bearings.

As Aislinn followed the cloaked man, she would end up seeing the scenario of post 1.

The building was an outpost for some kind of group, judging by the fact that many of the men, and an occasional woman, were wearing a similar leather armor, resembling the color and texture of the man's cloak.

The man had walked his way throughout the building after initially treating the wounds of the young knights. Downstairs was a prison guessing by the barred cells, some filled with endarkened, others with outsiders. However, the outsiders did not look like very likeable people.

The main floor seemed to be an entrance way with a storage and a couple of meeting rooms with chalk boards, one of which now holds the knights. The second floor was a library filled with books and scrolls, and was also the tallest of the floors. Here, one could sense almost as much magic as near the tower, except it was constant instead of sporadic. The top and fourth floor held an armory, in which a few of the weapons let off magic that was good while some let off magic that was bad, and the bed rooms.

The book that Aislinn picked up was call "Strikes from the Unseen" and had a drawing of a bow and a hand, the common symbol of magic or control in this world.

The book detailed the Unseen, which is the endarkened form of protection from invaders. The book goes over their favored weapons, the crossbow, the short-sword, and spacial magics. It further details a few systems of rating that they use, and how they are quite rare. It also noted that identifying one was incredibly difficult as they often seemed like a more mysterious form of military when around towns.

The book also details that near a town named Cirsum lies their main base, describing it as across town from the town hall, and a shrine to the god that they follow, Giridon the god of lawful darkness, and how it holds the series of test that one is required to pass to join. At one point, the book gives a few techniques for those who have never used a crossbow before, and how to preform a phasing spell, the first spell that any Unseen learns.

In the back of the book, it names three books as the handbooks to different parts of the Unseen way, all of which cannot be obtained outside the Unseen:
The Call of Giridon - The Bible and book of magic for the Unseen
The Shouldered Bow - An instruction guide on the advanced inner workings of a crossbow, shooting tips, and how to build your own.
Sharpened Metal - A guide of short-sword fighting tactics, how to forge one, and how to choose the materials for it.

Allonious, who had been taking a momentary break from the Library of which he'd practically made his home, spotted something very peculiar and was miffed by the fact that no one else took notice. If it were so easy for one little elf from outside the veil to slip right in unnoticed, what did that say for their chances at winning this war they were forced into. His blood pressure boiled and rose when he discovered how she actual found the place with what he could guess was absolute zero idea how to navigate the Veil. She had followed Ris Coltur right into their main base of course. Not only had he saved the lives of two young knight who intruded upon their homeland with ill intent, he had lead yet another outsider into base, knowingly or not. Knowing Ris he probably knew she had been tailing him for quite sometime with some wild intentions for her, even so he did not approve. He decided right then that he would make himself apart of whatever plans Ris had intentions of concocting. He pulled the top half of his cloak from around his waste and back over his body, hood and all and followed the elf, as she followed Ris.

The " tour " ended quickly as she seemed to loose Ris around the entrance to the Library. How convenient. He remained in a corner at the end of the hall to put a little time between her entrance and his as she would no doubt want to look around first, and know the inquisitive nature of elves her head would be buried in one of the many books very quickly. He waited about 10 minutes before he pulled the large hood over his head and face and proceeded down the hall, slipping into the library without making a peep. The doors were old and they do creak horrendously, for most people, but this place was his second home and he knew exactly how to pull and push to avoid the horrible noise. Sure enough there she was, seated in the corner with her nose in a book that he could he knew just from a glance which book it is. He crossed the room silently as he entered, and with her so deep into the literature she would not take notice of him until the massive shadow his looming figure cast over her small frame impeded on her ability to read comfortably. When she looked up she would see a man like a tower to her, draped in cloaks as well, only they were noticeably different even though they were the same color. They were thicker, and the material's texture would resemble a hoarse's hair

" So, what knowledge could possibly bring an outsider into the Veil at such a troubled time "

His voice was deep, but smooth, and probably unnerving for someone of her size and probably very little knowledge of the Endarkened other than the propaganda being spread by the Knights.

Ris left the room with the two knights in it, after cutting them free and saying, in the same fashion a guard would, "Don't cause any trouble." He made his way over to the library.

Walking into the room, while the magic from his weapons was more than easily noticeable to Aislinn, a key seemed to shoot from under his wrist. It went into the keyhole of a locked room within the library and opened the door, just long enough for a book covered in runes to come out. The door then closed, the key locked it, and then returned to its owner.

To Allonious, the book would be unmistakeable. The Call of Giridon, probably the most well guarded book that any of the Unseen have read. Even more so than the Temple of the Dark hides the Bible of Giridon that was given to them by said god. Ris then proceeded to plop himself down into the nearest chair. The book, never having actually touched him, began to flip through the pages on its own, at least to the naked eye. Aislinn would note a severe change in the flow of magical energies in the room from the moment the key shot from Ris's wrist.

Feeling a tingling sensastion course through her body Aislinn looked away from hooded man and scanned the library. She could feel someone here besides her and the man in front of her. Slowly she glanced back to the said man, "Who is that?"

Biting her lip she glanced away, "If you don't mind me asking..."

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