The Castle - One Month Ago...
"I don't understand," Queen Meliscente said wordlessly, yet she had already begun to slip away. With each second that passed, she grew a little older, a little more worn. A fogginess had developed in her once clear eyes and her mind had started to wither away. "You were like a daughter to me, Esren..." Queen Meliscente said softly. "I loved you..."
"That's just it, isn't it?" Nera mused, sitting at Meliscente's bedside.
"You loved me. Past tense," she said harshly. The emerald stone in her hand, once disguised as a hairpin, began to slow at a lesser rate. The vivid changes in Queen Meliscente's appearance began to slow down in their appearance as well.
"I never was more than a replacement for Valda - the child you only began to value once she was stolen from you." Queen Meliscente attempted to sit up, but Nera forced her back down cruelly. It didn't take much strength to accomplish. Queen Meliscente had become exceedingly advanced in years already. "Although you may be convinced of that, search your feelings, Esren - that isn't true," Queen Meliscente urged, her voice frail and fleeting.
"I have searched my feelings," Nera said.
"Did you not wonder where I had gone when I fled the Castle?" She paused for a moment, noticing Queen Meliscente's silence.
"I thought not. For a while, I wanted nothing but vengeance on you and your house - on this dreadful society that perpetuates pain and suffering...But I forgave you, I truly did." "I once dreamed of poisoning you, learning the art of Physik and disguising myself as your nurse," Nera admitted, brushing Queen Meliscente's hair out of her face.
"But if there is one thing the Badlands taught me - there is only one thing that could truly bring a smile to my face. Your death is not enough to satisfy my anger, my Queen." "No, I will not rest until the entire Castle has fallen into chaos, until brother turns upon brother in deadly combat - until the moat runs scarlet. All I truly desire, my Queen, is a seat from which to watch your world burn - just as you watched mine."
Present Day - The Castle: December 21st, 12,507 - 10:45 AM
@jdh97@BlueSky44@Nallore: Snaera had the gun cocked and aimed at Valda, not moving a muscle. Her eyes turned towards Luna as she spoke, considering her words. The message did not strike Snaera as genuine - just a ploy to lure a member of royalty into a trap. Yet her anger with the Castle and their rulers prevented Snaera from warning Luna. She hardly cared for Valda's pitiful plea of
I didn't do it and to be lectured by a peasant, a witch no less?! It offended Snaera's sensibilities. Peter sighed a bit - she may appear as cool as ice, but Snaera's temper was like fire.
"Execution it is, then," Snaera said coolly. She was aiming for Valda's heart and she pulled the trigger, only for her aim to be a little low and to the left. Her bullet hit Valda in the stomach, yet Snaera let out a gasp and fell backwards, bleeding heavily from her own stomach. "You - you witch!" Snaera cried out. Valda's injury transference had been successful.
@LadyRunic: It just isn't a good day for Rhys'
Magyk. His spells fail, but it truthfully doesn't matter. The protections on Wizard Tower are providing a lovely distraction, along with chatter about the day's festivities. As for Ernie, he doesn't even need to be transfixed, just staring at Rhys with shock. "Did you become a necromancer, Rhys? Did you give someone over to the
Other?" Ernie asked, lowering his voice. Many who dabbled in
Darke Magyk ultimately ended up giving over an innocent soul to the
Other. The poor individual was consumed and the necromancer's power increased tenfold.
@KazAlkemi: "A former apprentice of mine was an ExtraOrdinary Wizard at one time," Pye said wistfully. "I had to share him with that awful woman - Marcia Overstrand. Over
bearing may have been a better surname for her..." he mused, chuckling at his own joke. The ghost looked over at Wizard Tower for another moment, before returning his attention to Cuyler. "But the quarrel between
Alchemie and
Magyk can be set aside for only a seldom few things...The danger that your ExtraOrdinary Wizard will face begins with her apprentice, set in motion by the бесконачни каменци." Marcellus gave Cuyler a cryptic smile, before he slowly faded away and vanished from sight.
Arya Rincewind
Location: Outside Wizard Tower
Arya patiently waited for Atkin to finish his small rant, though with each point he raised, she had an argument to counter it by. She often had to remind herself that her apprentice was new to
Magyk and the customs of wizards - many things that she thought of without explanation were entirely foreign to him. And while her father had been a failure of a Sub-Wizard, she still had been raised in the culture of
Magyk.
"The Queste was not intended to be such a fearsome fate. Hotep-Ra was betrayed by his best friend, a wizard known as Tertius Fume, who would Cause apprentices to Draw and embark on the Queste. They would be escorted away by the Questing Guard and in the process, be drained of their Magyk and then killed," Arya explained with a grimace.
"Yet it was a binding
Magykal contract and no one knew that Fume had been
Causing apprentices to meet such a gruesome end until Septimus Heap returned from the
Queste alive," Rowland explained wearily. Even though none of his apprentices had been at risk for the
Draw, the
Queste still filled his heart with dread.
Arya then gave Atkin a bit of a smile.
"Once Valda has been crowned Queen of the Castle, I will return here and see what can be done about the Questing Pot. But for now, please do exercise reasonable precaution, Atkin. The Draw is only done by tradition once the apprenticeship has been completed - and I fear that since the pot has been replenished, a Gathering will be called shortly." "Now, as Atkin so eloquently mentioned, we have to be at the Palace shortly. Rowland, if you could do us the honor of joining us, I am sure Princess Valda would be delighted," Arya offered.
Rowland chuckled a bit. "I am not sure it is Princess Valda who wants me there," he said, his eyes twinkling. Arya rolled her eyes at the old man, before beckoning to Rowland and Atkin to follow her out of Wizard Tower. Yule could handle things in their absence - she was confident of that.
Nera Hawthorn
Location: Port Witch Coven House
"Да ли желиш, Медеа?" Marya asked her twin, speaking her native tongue to the other silver haired girl. It had once bothered Nera that the Magniskys insisted on speaking that language, but she had come to understand it after a time. It was their ancestral tongue, a language their family had been speaking for centuries - and as the Magniskys claimed, before the Castle had even been founded.
"Bilo bi zabavno. Mogli bismo dobiti novu knjigu ili dva dok smo izašli," Medea replied softly. Marya nodded before turning to Nera. "We're in," she said with a large grin.
"Excellent," Nera replied.
"Now, go and get changed. Meet us at the entrance in five minutes. Oh, and girls - do try to not show off. Today is about blending in until the opportune moment," Nera advised. The twins nodded almost simultaneously and in the blink of an eye, there was a gust of wind and they were gone. They had a rare talent, even as witches went - one that Nera knew could be used to their advantage if needed.
With this task sorted, she went upstairs and withdrew to her own room, changing into a
soft lilac gown she had picked up on her travels.
Myrus Silvers
Location: the Crypt - The Palace
"You have a gifted eye," Emperor Taj commented softly, gazing at the treasure Lyra had found. "Not many would spot a dragon egg," he explained, giving her a bit of a smile. Yet the brief bit of merriment faded away as he returned to more serious subjects. "You said that you had felt this before - if I may ask, under what circumstances?" he asked.
Asha continued to rub Myrus' back soothingly. He was barely holding it together, trembling on the ground and sobbing. He hated talk of his mother's death for precisely this reason - the dread that someone may have taken her life before it was her time. Had it been natural, that would be one matter - yet this only raised more questions and pain, possibilities that he did not wish to contemplate at such a young age. He would have rather been married for political alliance than have to deal with the reality that his mother had been murdered.
"We do not speak that tongue either, Prince Myrus," Asha said with a small grin. "You see, many fortnights ago, we found a strange visitor to our country - a woman with fiery hair and eyes that screamed madness," Asha began.
"Why are you telling me this?" Myrus asked.
"What does this have to do with my mother?!" he snapped, his temper flaring.
"We believe that your mother was killed by the Тиме Стоне - an ancient power that may predate existence itself," Emperor Taj said, kneeling down next to the prince. "From what we understand, it has the power to alter what we call Време простор - a concept where time and space are one entity in themselves," he explained. "It pulled the stranger through time to our country - and we believe somehow caused your mother to die before it was her time."
There was silence for a moment.
"Why her?" Myrus finally asked, his voice small and broken.
