The Grey Wars

[antiaircraft]

Ah, so you're finally awake. Orel said. That is good. Your snoring alone could have brought the Turn'stalé ariüne down on us. Orel stood up and walked up to a small crack in the wall beside them. He peered through to check that the dragons were still searching some distance away from their hiding place. I have carried out extensive repairs to Orikan's nervous system, and he should wake up in a few hours when his body has finished the job to a sufficient extent. After that he should be able to rapidly heal himself until he is fit to travel. I suggest you avoid talking, and instead use the mind link I have opened between us to communicate - Turn'stalé have sensitive hearing.

[The Original Luna]

(Sorry for not much posting)

Rathunta and her group stopped twenty leagues short of the city. The horses were nervous and sensed something strange in the land. They had continuosly been travelling towards the city. The road had deteriorated badly, and they were rapidly approaching what appeared to be water. They tried to ride forward, but the mire from the water slowed the horses down. Knowing they would sink if they rode on, they would soon sink down. They jumped off and helped their horses through the mire. However, at the end of the mire was a giant sleeping dragon. They tried to slip past it, but one of the horses panicked, braying noisily. The Eyes flicked open, and a loud hiss emenated from the dragon. He moved like quicksilver, however, Rathunta was mentally paralized. Her mother was calling to her.

[Crusher]

(Same here. The temperature here has been averaging 3 degrees in my room and there's only 1 small heater in the corner. I've been trying to avoid staying online too long, it's freezing!)

 

Orikan looked around him. He could now see his body, the ground, the walls that held him, even the rather low ceiling. But he could see no way out. "Something has changed," he thought. "Why is everything now visable?" He absent-midedly waved his arm in the air, and was delighted to see a trail of smoke forming behind it. "My magic, it works!. This must be Orel's doing. Now, all I have to do is let my body rest, and wait for this to pass." He tried to establish a tracking image of his friend, but he coudn't connect with him. It was as though some unseen force haad control of his brain. He looked around him. The entire room was bleach white, almost painful to the eyes and extremely intrusive. Not exactly a cozy place to be trapped. Orikan sighed, and lay down on the floor.

 

Crusher

[antiaircraft]

((That's fine, as long as the roleplay keeps going I'm happy.))

 

Orel felt Orikan fade back into consciousness, and turned to face him. If you can hear me now, then you're well on your way to recovery. I believe one of the dragons cast a basic inhibition spell to contain your magic's effects within your body, so you should still be able to heal yourself until you are strong enough to neutralize the spell. If I am right, then you should be up in a few hours and we should be able to escape before the Turn'stalé ariüne find us. If not, then I owe you a drink when we reach paradise. Rest well, I will conceal us as you recover.

[Midtime]

Jisparienterae gave a start. He could have sworn that, for a moment, he'd seen a dragon towering over a human in that puddle of water.

It was probably the reflection, he thought.

 

((Since Jisparienterae has just woken up, and is in a half-awake, trance-like state, for a moment he scried.))

[Crusher]

Orikan woke with a start. His ears were ringing, he'd sworn he had heard a loud bang. "I'm...back. What did I miss?"

 

Crusher

[Midtime]

Jisparienterae gave a start when Orikan jolted upright, but not because he was surprised. He was used to seeing other slaves do it, waking up from a shallow, troubled sleep to the harsh, unrelenting reality of a new day, another heavy quota to meet, another trip down into the claustrophobic confines of the dark mine. This flashback, this painfully familiar scene, was what made him jolt back.

His arms still felt unusually light, but the same restless, hunted feeling, the dark stone walls, the wounds, the pain of being alive, were enough to trigger a flashback.

 

Orikan's speech yanked him back to reality.

[antiaircraft]

Ah, welcome to the world of the living Orikan. Orel said. You did not miss anything too significant, we are merely surrounded by about fifty Turn'stalé ariüne who happen to be actively hunting for us.

 

((Sarcasm is impossible to distinguish by tone when telepathised))

[The Original Luna]

Rathunta felt the presence of her mother in her mind.

'Rathunta.'

'Why are you doing this?'

'I must tell you.'

'tell me what?'

The group around copied Rathunta's example and the dragon lost interest.

Rathunta felt something tear her mother's presence out of her mind.

'Mother, what's happening.'

Her mother's fading voice echoed, 'Rhyfelwr. Beware of Rhyfelwr.'

Rathunta was pulled back into the here and now.

Why did my mother do that?

She noticed the patient dragon and her group. The horses had fled many minutes ago.

"Rathunta, what do we do?" whispered Nasunari through clenched teeth.

Rathunta thought quickly, What would her elder brother have done?

Warden suggested, "Run very quickly?"

Rathunta hissed sharply. "No. Sit down and don't move a lot. It works with dogs so it should work with Dragons."

They all sat down and they waited for the dragon to move away or lose interest.

However, next to Warden, was his greatest fear. An Adder. He squirmed silently, trying to keep still and silent. The dragon was slowly losing interest. It would be a long time for this dragon to move away.

[Crusher]

(I finally remembered how to spell Jisparienterae without using copy-paste <_<)

 

"Oh, how wonderful of our friends to come and party with us. Well, it sounds like we're stuffed. So, I see congratulations are in order, Jisparienterae. You managed to escape and save me, I owe you my life. Thank you, my friend. Take this magical artifact, in case you ever fall into trouble like that again." He handed Jisparienterae the amulet, an exact copy of the one given to Orel. "It grants many abilities, you should find it useful." The amulet was a dark blue, made from several geometric shapes including triangles and spheres. It glowed brightly as it passed into Jisparienterae's hand, seemingly sensing its new owner. "I will attempt to take care of the dragons, however I will be lucky to survive. I do not wish to be helped, I have a personal hatrid towards their leader. As the one they betrayed, I shall slay them or die trying." He stood, and levitated into the air. A gap in the roof formed, apparently of Orikan's doing. "I will not fail you." And then he was gone, the roof once again whole, the room once again still.

 

Crusher

[antiaircraft]

Orel frowned. Orikan's mind felt strange, and unstable. Additionally, if he was going to fight the Turn'stalé ariüne, it wasn't like him not to have cast an extremely large (and equally destructive) spell by now. And Orikan knew very well that he was only a match for one dragon, maybe three or four with the artifact Orel had given him.

 

Orel was not surprised or in the least startled by these symptoms. Telepaths had been trained to guard against the type of spiritual possession that was occurring now from birth. Using techniques he had perfected ages ago, Orel draped himself around Orikan's clouded mind, and whispered one word to himself to help him focus his abilities. Purify. This was going to be painful for all three parties involved.

 

((Purification of possessive spirits is to telepaths as calling the emergency services is to us))

[Midtime]

((Yeah, thanks. So that's why you still called me Jispar. :) Sorry for picking such a long name.))

Jisparienterae, having received the necklace and put it on, watched as Orikan rose out of the temple. He turned around to talk to Orel, and was surprised to find that he had sunken into a deep trance. With nothing else to do, he toyed with the necklace's functions, familiarizing himself with it.

 

((Jisparienterae doesn't know that much about Orikan, so doesn't know what is wrong.))

[antiaircraft]

Orel, too focused to notice Jispar at this point, seeped his consciousness into the cracks of Orikan's mind, and slowly began to push, and pull, and push, and pull, and push, and pull. He continued this motion for several minutes, until the spirit that possessed Orikan's mind was drawn out to enough of an extent for Orel to determine it's identity. That was what shocked him.

[Crusher]

(I think you guys should decide who the identity of the spirit is, I don't have any good ideas, and I don't want to spoil the plot.)

 

Crusher

[antiaircraft]

((I'll wait for you to post, since you're the one who's being purified, but the spirit is an alternate version of Orel.

 

I will briefly explain possessive spirits: when somebody dies, their spirit goes off to heaven or paradise or whatever afterlife there happens to be, but since the spirit was originally attached to a mind, it will find itself inexorably drawn towards any mind in the vicinity. Normally they will just 'bounce' harmlessly off and continue on their journey, but if the mind is in an open, vulnerable state then they will end up possessing it and taking it over (with no memory of their death or past life so it's not really their fault). Telepaths are often affected by this, since their minds are almost always in an open state, but the other races are much harder to possess. Orikan was affected because he was in a coma, an open state of mind.

 

Therefore, this means that some part of Orel died when he knocked out the rogue dragons. At the moment I'm just throwing ideas around, but I think it will have something to do with the telepath version of puberty.))

[The Original Luna]

The snake, an adder, moved over to Warden, he squirmed then slowly picked it up, and flung it in the air. The snake cast a sorry look at them as it landed on the dragon. The dragon, did not react. After it slipt off, they assumed it was either asleep or had died of boredom from waiting. They tiptoed past it, slowly then after that, they ran on. The dragon's eyes snapped open, it scuttled after them like lightning. It bayed down on Rathunta, and as the dragon was about to snap it's neck down to catch her, Warden pushed her out the way.

Warden's body caught in the dragon's teeth, and the group kept on running into the county of The Griffin's Marquessies, Nasuanari payed for bed and board in The Empty Wineskin, inside their room, they sat on their own beds.

"I can't believe Old Warden did that. He always seemed so...." reflected Nasuanari.

"Stoical." interrupted Reynard.

"No. He was so distant and seemed unaffected by everything. Anyway, He wasn't always like that... His death has protected us from, well... being eaten."

"To Warden!"

Then the lights mysteriously blew themselves out, and the group slept for the night.

[Midtime]

Jisparienterae stared as he realised Orel was not peacefully meditating. His ((Orel's)) forehead wrinkled, and he began to tremble slightly.

Jisparienterae had never seen the telepath ever show any sign of empathy before, so he knew this meant that Orel was in terrible pain.

 

He stood there, torn between two choices.

 

Should he try to help, try to bring Orel out of his trance? Or perhaps he was being ignorant, and this was some phase of a normal process.

 

Help, or watch?

 

Help, or watch?

[antiaircraft]

Sensing Jispar's discomfort through his concentration, Orel touched his mind. Stay put for the moment, but keep an eye out for the Turn'stalé ariüne. We need an advance warning if they find us. Tightening his mental grip, Orel began to pull on the possessive spectre of himself, drawing it out of Orikan.

[Boomer]

Leon woke up from a sleep "Ugh what happened" he said noticing Orel standing near him.

[Midtime]

Jisparienterae did not question Orel's instructions. He had been taught not to question any instructions unless he was told to by a higher command.

Still, he worried. He paced back and forth, wishing that there was something to do to pass the time.

He saw the other telepath - Leron - get up and ask what was going on. He quickly recounted what had just happened.

 

He was just about to try to engage in conversation when, suddenly, he heard the call of a dragon. Close.

 

Very close.

 

They were coming.

[The Original Luna]

*Rathunta had wandered out into the meadows beyond the town. She would remember the brave Warden by the way her mother had instructed her to do when she was younger. She went close to the woods, the two males of her group staying close behind. She went into the nearby forest to remember him. As she was deep in memory, she did not notice a large shadow appear next to her. She was taken unconscious and knew nothing after that point*