Snippet #2365159

The snow had settled in the forest and all the plants were asleep. If you knew where to look, there was life all around, as dormant as it was. It was quiet, the only noises being the slightest breeze through the sleeping branches of the trees, the gentle rough rustling of their dry, cold extremities, and slowly, along a path so beaten down some that the snow had packed into ice, were the soft boot falls of Vercingetorix Máedóc with his walking staff. He felt the cold on his face as he let his hood down, the noises of the world all but absent from this place. "Something... Something is going on that you don't want me to know about."

"We've talked about this. I don't keep anything from you. If something were going on and I knew about it, I would tell you. Though, there is an odd smell in the air."

Maedoc stopped and took in his surroundings a little more. The direction the air was blowing had shifted and there was an odd feeling about. He turned, looking in the different directions. "I... I know something about it." He held his head. "I asked for them to find someone..." His head was in pain as he tried to remember something that seemed to be blocked from him.

"What was that noise?" Bries made a sound in Maedoc's mind like a twig snapping in the distance.

"Who's there?" Maedoc gripped his staff and turned towards the sound. He felt this was someplace safe, came here often and so did not bring anything else with him.

Silence.

"You, Bries. It's you again, playing tricks on my mind."

"You need to keep your guard. You never know what might happen out here. The forest doesn't grant the cover it normally does, right now. We can't climb a tree and hide from anyone following us. You brought no real weapons, just your staff which you handle like a fool. At least I can fight. If we're ever in real trouble, you'll have to let me in. I have the instinct for it. I can move your body faster than you knew it could move."

"If I let you in, I would never regain control. Or if I did, at great sacrifice, I'm sure. It's enough to keep you at bay when you don't have the full powers of form. You'd twist me, make me dark and before I knew it there would be nothing left of me. Just vile darkness as a Demonic. I would rather die."

"And if you died? What would stop me from using the last of your magic to heal your body and take it myself? I just don't know what I'd do with all the ROOM! Do you know how cramped I feel, stuffed up in here with you?"

"I may have some idea."

"You don't know the half of it. You were born into this body, you belong here. I feel comfortable anywhere, as long as I can rule. You know, there's a special place where I would put you. We know of a small emptiness in everyone where, if you squish them down enough, they all fit into while we take over. If I were in charge, I'd push you down in there and not let you see the light for months. Too bad you don't know how to do that to me."

"And that is why you never will be in charge. I... We..." His head started to hurt again as he began to recall their joining, but again a noise distracted him. "It won't work. I don't know what you're trying to block out, but I will find it. I'll remember h..."

"SHUT UP! That wasn't me."

The sounds of someone else walking down the path on the snow that was almost ice continued to get closer. Maedoc readied himself. He turned to see who was coming to him. "I'm busy. What are you doing here?"