Nigel listened to the others, and bowed respectfully upon their introductions. And then he heard Vigil's curiosity for the contents of the chest. Godefray explained it, at least the essential parts of it that most needed to know, but he felt it wasn't sufficient for a being such as Vigil. For some reason he felt him a more inquisitive soul than most, a kind of... hunger for knowledge present behind that stoic expression. It was something in the way he spoke, the way he acted, like an observer. Nigel was something more a bookish type himself.
Nigel reaches over and opens the box, showing vials of blood, as well as a strange feeling, a presence like it were alive. He holds up one of the vials and shows it, sitting it atop a table. It was blood, for sure, yet radiating with energy, and worse, it seemed to move by its own volition even when everything else was still. It showed no signs of coagulation, no drying. It went beyond typical magic, it was pure perpetual life.
"Once within the body it latches not just to your physical being, but your aetheric essence as well. I'm not going to lie to anyone, nor hide away facts, this is by all accounts and purposes the elixir of eternal life, or some form of it... I think they are not incorrect that she was born from the pool of life." He pause for a moment and steps back some. "And this isn't just a random whim that the Exalted came here... my mother... the queen, she drank that pool..."
He takes a moment to sit down, feeling weak in the knees suddenly. "She was part of some fearsome group of bandits long ago before most of us were born, and she lead them, and... Balor... or Schoneke as she was named then... and something caused a fight to break out between." He scratches his head, hardly believing the stuff he's saying himself. "In the end, two of them died, mother ended up eternally young yet cursed to see nothing but emptiness, and Schoneke... well... became Balor. They are not Exalted though, they are not bound to Gabrielle, that girl was only born some time afterwards, and not long ago either. A literal... child, or perhaps a larva form of something bigger. She may very well been born from the blood spilled in that conflict many years ago, and maybe in some creepy way through my mother's blood... my..."
He sighs and takes a moment to rub the bridge of his nose. "And here I thought I might just be a natural prodigy in magic, a slightly larger pool as they say. Funny that," he says to himself in a weary tone. "The only thing that matters now is that Balor is using them towards some goal, some war against gods, unseen enemies... I have a strong feeling she will take us into a war that could destroy... everything, and she must be stopped."
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Balor had walked in to check in on Jonathan, only to find what looked nothing short of a disaster area. Stains on the walls, the ceiling, the floor, caustic burns in the carpeting accompanied by acidic burns in the curtains, one even being somewhat ablaze. What she didn't see, of course, was progress. She stepped forward towards Jonathan, broken vials cracked under her feet. Cracks of anger in her face, feeling that fire within once more, but she stopped, inches from him as the sound of bells enter the air.
"Oh... oh! Are we redecorating? How marvelous," says a strange figure that enters from behind Balor with a twirl. The woman was dressed in elaborate and flamboyant white, gold, and blue flowing robes, ornate with jingling bells, the sleeves of her atire dangle empty and limp. It was Joy, one of the Exalted, and she seemed in a chipper mood, as always. She stops between Balor and Jonathan and glances back and forth between them with her wide green eye then twists around her long neck giving Balor a scolding expression, as much as she can give with her scarred mouth. "Aw, he's tired... you worked him too hard and drained him of all his happiness... he's only human! I mean, humans have to sleep, they can't keep working on and on, and it is kinda drafty in here, what if he catches a coold? Ever thought of that? You really need to think more of the happiness of others, I mean-"
Balor sighs as the girl goes on and on... and on... like some overstimulated child. She finally just cuffs her hand over Joy's mouth and hushes her. "Fine... it is my fail-ure, not his... he came in blind... came in with lit-tle re-source-es... know-ledge... told him to... per-form a mir-a-cle..." She looks to Jonathan, and taps one of her fingers on his forehead. "For-give me... but I am short on... time... and told so lit-tle... truth is, I need to be... strong... for what is to come... tell me... there is... some-thing."