[Ionu's Wager] Cheating Pays (Belaya)

[Belaya Smert]

Belaya could tell he was dreaming, because he could see the lips of the shop owner moving, but no sound was coming out. Whenever he tried to wake up, however, a pain seemed to come from the right side of his lower torso. Belaya supposed that as long as he was trapped within his mind, he might as well make the best of it. He could only really see what was immediately in front of him, anything further than fifteen feet from him disappeared into a grey fog. Stuff in the corner of his sight was fluid, continuously forming and dispersing into various shapes. Despite there being no sound, he could understand everything that the shop keeper was saying.

So I told them to leave, and they said they'd be back later today for their payment. You think you can take them, Saoryu? Belaya didn't know why the shop keep was calling him that, but knew somehow that it referred to him.

I told you, I'm pretty good with a sword. As long as they don't know any magic, I can take them. Just as he finished saying the words, several shadows came out of the fog outside the store and phased through the window, not even touching it. The shop owner seemed to not be surprised about this, so Belaya/Saoryu took out his Wakizashi, "Death", and held it in front of him. Unlike the shining steel it usually was made of, the sword seemed to be a black hole that sucked in the light around it, making it seem to be even darker than a shadow. Snapping out of his fascination with his sword, Belaya swung at the nearest shadow, and when his sword touched it, the shadow was pulled into his blade. Laughing madly at this realization, he barreled into the shades, letting his sword drink in their essences. He finished, barely out of breath, the shades all gone. He was about to put his sword in his sheath, when it twisted out of his grip and stabbed him in the side. He felt the pain come sharply at first, and then fade into a cold numbness as his blood fell out in strangely bright, glowing crimson.

Then everything went dark.

[Ulric]

Ulric strode slowly, somberly down through the winding lanes, cradling the dying wolf against his chest. There was nothing he could do now. There was no way of explaining why he was performing this mercy. The lanes were mostly empty, watched by the sinuous ranks of dwellings that towered to either side, mostly brick and crumbling plaster, shingled roofs, none without their quirks. He walked by a baker, rough apron crusted in flour, and then a pair of boys, both studying him closely, but soon lowering their cynical eyes. There was no way of knowing if the wolf was real, or just another chimera. He could’ve been carrying a basket of apples for all they knew.

Keep up, Ulric frowned, casting a glance at Desank, who was carrying a bundle of the wolf’s gear. Though he didn’t understand why beasts needed things, he knew that he would’ve hated for anybody to poke through his own pack. He wasn’t certain what had prompted this strange empathy, either.
Ionu presently cast smiling eyes over them, for in the lees of an abruptly swirling purple mist, he discerned the rough, topaz-flecked rocks of the Mercy, a slender tower that rose precipitously into the ruddy sky, flat ledges thrusting out at random intervals, each mounted by a rickety shack. He left the wolf sprawled by the iron grate, gave the rusty metal a few, brutal kicks, and walked away, though the sticky blood yet clung to his fingers.

So long, wolf.

[Belaya Smert]

87th of Summer, 511 AV

Belaya woke up, his vision blurry at first as he tried to look around. Blinking the cobwebs from his sight, he came to see that he was in what looked to be a hospital of some kind. He tried to sit up, but gasped in pain as he felt his side twinge. Laying back down into the bed, he saw a nurse come over to his bedside and put a hand on his chest, shaking her head calmly while looking at his bandaged wound. Changing his bandage with the ease of years of practice, she looked at him and said plainly, "If you try to sit up or move around too much, you'll break the blood vessel again, and this time you'll bleed out."

Nodding, Belaya looked up at the ceiling and tried to go back to sleep, hoping he'd heal up soon.

[Macabre]

Thread Complete!
“Unbelievable. You, [subject name here], must be the pride of [subject hometown here].”

Ulric
XP: Gambling 1, Unarmed Combat 2, Running 2, Climbing 2, Acrobatics 1, Medicine 2
Lore: The Irrational Stranger, Cheated out of Cheating, Triage

Belaya Smert
XP: Running 2, Wakizashi 1, Katana 1, Subterfuge 1, Climbing 1, Acrobatics 1, Escape Artist 1
Lore: Alvad Retribution, Brush with Death
-2GRM for leaving them on the guard’s corpse

Notes: Guest grading for Bedlam. Nice thread, very interesting, very bloody. Try to avoid one-liner responses, Belaya! Keep in mind that running around Alvadas, killing guards and maiming strangers will not land you in an easy spot if you plan on being in the public eye any time soon. I cannot award you weapon experience for the dream, as it was just that: a dream. Any questions or concerns, PM me.