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Post by Neo on Nov 30, 2014 1:12:31 GMT -6
The Realm of Austur, outside Gorgath, at the foot of the Jorkun Mountains...
Vincent knelt on the wet ground, his knees sinking into the soft snow. The air was cold, but not biting, and the Sun was just beginning to rise. It was still lightly snowing, though only barely. Patches of grass peeked through the snow here and there, and as the first beams of sunlight passed over the frozen trees, the falling snowflakes and wet grass seemed to sparkle with a golden hue. It was a truly beautiful scene.
Vincent sat back on his knees, and inhaled deeply. He didn't usually get up this early... In fact, he usually slept on his throne until midday. It was something his student still gave him grief about, even after almost six months of studying under him. But this was a special occasion... Today, he would measure just how much his student had learned. He wanted to see if she truly understood yet...
And the first part of her test, would be finding him. After all, a keen eye is always useful...
A great wave of darkness suddenly enveloped the entire area, turning dawn to dusk and day into night, and almost completely blotting out the Sun. Then, he vanished.
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Post by GX1997 on Nov 30, 2014 21:00:13 GMT -6
What's going on? He's actually awake already, and he isn't inside the palace at all... Whatever he's planning is probably going to be even more annoying than my usual lessons, if I can even call all that cryptic stuff lessons...
After waking up that morning, Elia had left her room in the East Wing of the palace, and walked out on the balcony as usual. The odd thing about that day was that Vincent wasn't sitting on his throne, fast asleep, as she expected. The sudden change in his normal routine was puzzling, and provided a sense of foreboding, but Elia did her best to take it in stride. She returned to her room and dressed for the day, wearing a loose, sleeveless tunic and leggings, both being neutral colors. Her shoes were lightweight, and would not slow her down. Then, she pulled out a blue coat, which was long and fairly heavy, and put it in before she left the palace, knowing how cold it would be once outside in Gorgath.
After finding no signs of her teacher's presence in the surrounding city, she ascended the staircase to the city's exit. How long ago it seemed that she had almost left, quit the training. She had been nearly at the top of the staircase, her few belongings in her hands, before some whim made her look back at the city. Though mostly in ruins, she was briefly mesmerized by the constrast formed by the stone buildings' plain exteriors mixed in among the glittering ones of silver, and the other buildings of mythril as well. She tore her gaze away, but that momentary distraction was all it took for her to realize that she couldn't leave. It was not the ancient city itself, but something inside of it, that she sensed and drew her to the city. Elia was unsure of what it was, but it didn't matter, something there she found absolutely captivating, and she could not leave until she knew what it was!
Despite the many times she had jokingly said or thought that she made the wrong decision that day, she was actually quite fortunate for the opportunities staying brought her. So as she recahed the balcony overlooking the city and then marched up the last set of stairs, ignoring the snow that had blown in, she couldn't help but smile and relfect on what she had learned, until she looked up and saw a startling sight... The door that no outsider could possibly know of, was wide open.
No... Vincent would normally never wake up this early, and he would never leave Gorgath unguarded. Something may be horribly wrong...!
Elia kept going, albeit cautiously, and carefully noted her surroundings. On one of the last steps, a layer of snow had developed, which she could tell was fresh, because in it were footprints that were still quite recent, as they had just began to be filled in by more snow that was drifting in from outside. But it was only one set.
If he's gone on a rampage again, it will be hard to find him... But he couldn't have gone far in so little time! I've got to hurry.
Elia began to run towards the door, and didn't realize until it was too late that there wasn't enough light coming from outside. The moment she did, it was when she saw it... A desolate landscape, shrouded in darkness, where the grass and trees had withered and died, and the sun was not shining...
This can't be his real power! It just can't... No...
She took a deep breath, and she did not allow herself to panic. Using what she had been taught, she began to watch carefully. Something was wrong that she had not seen in her initial shock, but she knew that once she found it things would start to unravel. If she could make sense of one thing, she could then make sense of others. It only took finding one thing, and using logic.
Her instincts told her to look toward the ground. There was dead grass as far as the eye could see, yet...no snow. And there was none falling either. And then she noticed how stale it seemed, with no wind blowing at all! It all contradicted the fresh snow on the staircase. It was nearly impossible for things to have changed so much, and so quickly, so she arrived at the most logical conclusion.
"It's all just a trick, an illusion, a game. You won't fool me, not now, so just come out from wherever you're hiding or make yourself visible. Face me and explain the meaning of this charade!"
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Post by Neo on Nov 30, 2014 22:23:42 GMT -6
The illusion immediately began to fade, and the landscape returned to that beautiful winter morning, revealing Vincent in a nearby tree, reclining casually on a branch several feet above the ground with his arms crossed, and his coat hanging over the branch. Despite having just materialized such a powerful illusion on such a massive scale, he appeared none the worse for wear. In fact, he was smiling slightly. It was a rare smile of approval, a proud smile, one that he very rarely showed. Perhaps even scarier than the illusion itself, was the fact that it was a genuine smile.
"Good. That only took you a few seconds. I'm proud of you, Elia. But your test has only just begun."
A fierce aura of darkness abruptly exploded outward from him, and his appearance changed. His long black hair turned a stark, pure white, and his eyes began to glow a deep, ominous red. Tidal waves of power rolled off him in gargantuan swells, producing gale force winds, and summoning a storm of darkness unlike any other. The storm quieted, and Vincent leaped from the tree. He landed on the ground below with a titanic impact, producing a shockwave that bent the very trees, and knocked his student off her feet.
"Show me what you've learned, Elia. Surpass me, or fall to the wayside. What will you choose?"
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