Snippet #2415012

Khrae, Sebastian & Fukayna

"If you consider sword training a type of meditation, sure. If all I need is to concentrate on nothing, then I should be fine.”

Khrae nodded, but then thought for a moment as to what it was he intended to do. Nothing. There was nothing he could do other than explain to the best of his abilities what had happened, but now that he actually stopped, calmed himself and considered what he’d just said, he realized he might have insinuated something beyond what he was capable of. Shaking his head a moment as if the action could reorganize the suddenly cluttered mess of thoughts whirring through his mind, the man clarified.

“Oh, no,” he began, “you won’t need to do any meditating. So long as you understand the premise of what the activity was built upon.” Khrae stopped, trying to judge whether or not Sebastian followed so far, and then to contemplate exactly how to properly articulate his thoughts. Finally having formulated a plan of engagement for the touchy subject, the man wasted no time in diving straight in. He hated beating around the bush, especially on matters such as this. Trivial facts and round-about answers were tedious, and most of the time demanded even more thought to process, let alone fabricate.

“Through a meditation, one achieves a sound mind and body. They become one, harmonize, and it is through that harmony and clarity that some say they can be granted a foresight into many things.. Simple things like life choices, answers to what may be bothering them…” Pausing, the man was a realist, and although he grew up with this life style and didn’t doubt it one bit, he still knew of the skepticism that many held towards the subject. Sebastian seemed fairly open-minded, however, and so Khrae continued. “Some of the great elders can use this heightened state to do spectacular things. Many have documented experiences where they’ve had glimpses into the future and, more astonishingly, into the subconscious of another person altogether. Thoughts, memories, regrets, fears, you name it… All there..”

With a questioning look the swordsman pausing briefly, waiting for some sort of response to tell him that the assassin understood where he was possibly going. It wasn’t that what he said was at all confusing, Khrae always spoke so that he addressed the topic as straightforward and simple as he could and always endeavored to fill in important background information for use as reference to the bigger picture, but rather, it was the fact that many people would check out around this time, finding the notion of such talk blasphemous. Sebastian seemed to keep up, so Khrae continued.

“That being said, I had been meditating in the courtyard earlier when I stumbled upon a most curious… something. A conversation of sorts, but it was one-sided. Not like only one person was talking, I’m assuming that there was another participant, but I never caught any responses of that particular person.” Khrae paused, glancing once to Armen. “What was very much… unsettling… was simply the half of the conversation I seemed to have been stuck with. The voice was ancient and belonged to no person. It was powerful and held within it wisdom and energy beyond any I’ve encountered. ”

Khrae stopped again, deciding that the most effective approach was an outright statement of his hypothesis. If he was wrong, so be it, but he sincerely doubted he could be; all evidence pointed to such a conclusion. “I intercepted only pieces, but I believe Armen may have found his link. I believe he’s found himself a Dragon.”

After a short time to allow the weight of his words, Khrae spoke again, still maintaining the same stoic yet whole-hearted tone, as if he was screaming on the inside the urgency, however his training refused to allow such manners of conduct. “It was about that time when our little elf went cataclysmic again,” Khrae continued, “And when I had attempted to avert the power, it was like looking through a spyglass. What I saw.. It was one of those cloaked men, however he was behind bars. Moreover, he was on the opposite side of the bars behind which hold what I believe was trying to make the connection with Armen… That conversation sounded like it was being spoken underwater, undecipherable, but the image was clear as day.”

Shifting his eyes to one side, Khrae couldn’t see beyond the corner, but he knew she was there nonetheless. He assumed that Sebastian was aware of their eavesdropper’s presence too, so he merely nodded to his left, allowing for the older assassin to deal with those under his jurisdiction. Khrae had no more to say, so at this point he was content to remain quiet until questioned further.


Valentino & Fay

Valentino listened intently to the girl speak, at first maintaining a genuine look of curiosity seeing as he needed to know who he had to contend with for his prize, but eventually having to resort to his magic in order to perpetuate his appearance of intrigue. The man had no idea the girl was aligned with such powerful comrades, certainly it made no sense considering past references for Navile. Talon V’lyn; he was a foul man who commanded swarms of shadow-walkers. Assassins were one of the lowest forms of people in Valentino’s not-too-modest opinion. The man had to conceal first a look of sheer distaste, however that expression barely had enough time to fully crease the man’s lips before turning into that of fear and unbelief. He’d known it was coming, and yet he didn’t expect it.

Jennifer Live…

She may as well be the queen of mages. If there was anyone out there who played worse mine-games than himself, anyone even more insidious, devious and all-around insane and chaos-inducing, it was her. Valentino had to suppress entirely his urge to shutter and recoil at the name, because Jennifer’s reputation put himself to shame. Her magic surpassed most anyone’s in all possible ways, and she of all people would know who he was as well, and just his own presence, he was sure, she would be able to see directly through his ploy and break any and all hopes he had of capturing his prey. There was no way he could continue his endeavor with such a force to be reckoned with stymieing him. Worse yet, even if Valentino did have the courage to steal away the girl and combat Jennifer, aside from being obliterated, he’d be obliterated after having been pinned to a tree by a series of throwing knives. Talon would be backing his lovely devil a hundred and ten percent…

Valentino was lost in thought for much of the remainder of the time that Fay was talking. Only one other piece of information caught the man’s attention again and momentarily pulled him from his momentary block.

Then there's Dante. He's quite handsome as well. He's a bit on the playful side, doesn't take things very seriously, but... I think... I think I... might like him?"

Once more, Valentino received a full-on slap in the face. Broadsided entirely, the man knew he’d have to work for this particular prize, but he never thought he’d have to hurdle so many obstacles. His magic was wearing, he hadn’t recharged and so he couldn’t maintain the same powerful doses he always did. To get to his prize, he’d have to work her away from the bonds she’d already made. Talon and Jennifer were the biggest stumbling blocks, but then there was this boy… Phoenix tribe? What in the hell was a Phoenix tribe? Valentino knew of the mythical bird, but he knew they didn’t exist as well. Unless these people were some strange hybrid human-bird that doesn’t die; Valentino was scaring himself now. That would be terrible. This boy, whoever he was who had captured the attention of his beloved energy source must be something indeed, especially if he’d caught the eyes of…

"But... there's this woman. Her name is Capella. Well, she's not really a woman, a dragon in a girls body.”

…

…

…What?

W-was that even possible?

Valentino simply took on a look of being completely dumbfounded. But then again, just a moment ago he was imagining a man with fiery feathered wings and a beak… But that was simply his imagination… Fay had to be pulling his leg now, his magic must really be wearing. Even full he was no match for what awaited him, but running on reserves… Valentino was stuck now, unsure of how he could possibly continue on with his nefarious plots.

"But enough of my babbling, really it's not very polite, now is it? I do apologize. Let's eat and get back as quickly as we can, shall we?"

The man blinked several times, his mouth opening and closing like a fish without water. “Uh-er.. E-h…heh… S..” Valentino rubbed the back of his head, overwhelmed suddenly. Talon, an entire guild of assassins and Jennifer… Some flaming man-bird that doesn’t die, and a dragon girl? Valentino almost felt as if he himself were under another powerful mages’ spell. This girl was beyond words, and her story was even more farfetched than that. Either someone was messing with him, or he was being punished by a greater power he never acknowledged.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, and then standing quickly, Valentino tried hard to maintain his smile, but just couldn’t manage. “Yes, well. Uh, actually, well whaddya know! Look at that, I have to go. I-er… Well, I mean…. Oh, casserole! Yes, oven… Spells and such. Uhm, are you sure you wouldn’t want to come back home with myself?” Smiling, Valentino thought only after he spoke. What if they came looking for her? Damnit. He’d have to find a better way to engage this particular battle. First and foremost, however, he needed to leave before he came into contact with Talon or Jennifer and get up to full strength. Perhaps he could distract her long enough to take the girl and run? He’d do it now if he had the strength…

“Damnit,” Valentino huffed. “S-sorry.. I,” Valentino finally just threw his hands up and began backing up in the other direction. “I gotta go!” he said, then turned and made a fast escape. He would return, he would make sure of that, but once he had bettered his odds. Leaving with a parting gift, the man hoped that his mark in the girl’s mind would be enough to keep her somewhat under his trace, if not make it at least easier for him to reclaim her when the time came.