[Festival of Illusions] Visionaries (Order of Transcendence)

by **Anishna** on July 5th, 2012, 5:57 am

Anishna watched Alric leave, closely. She wondered at it, at his affiliations with "Speakers". She kept her curiousity to herself, perhaps in the mind that she actually could find answers about people she hadn't heard of previously.

Suddenly, Kuvarakh addressed her, and she looked at him sharply. Her eyes danced between colours, settling somewhere between yellow and red. She tried not to sneer at him, succeeding in only frowning. What? Did he think he knew what she was thinking?

"I feel like this scenario is too far fetched to be a natural coincidence, but it is not fate." She shot a look at Nira'lia, one that said the Konti was plainly crazy for thinking the future was preordained. "Am I the only one that sees the harm a group of wizards can conjure?" This time, her glare shot at Eridanus, with a hint of ice to the fire in her eyes. "He says he is a hypnotist and an alchemist. Am I the only one that knows that they are bad, or is it just that you are all hypnotists to some degree?"

She eyed Kuvarakh again, with greater distrust. She didn't know much about Alchemy, to be honest, but she had heard enough of Hypnotism to justify pegging him as a dangerous man.

As she stood there, and listened, everything began to tumble by too fast, far too fast. They were choosing names for themselves, going through words that didn't exactly fit into the Vantha's vocabulary. Before she knew it, she was trailing behind, and not being in the loop irked her childish personality. She ignored the big words, with all their multisyllabic meaningless cadences, and settled on what she could understand of it. She felt tired, and worn down, and irritated with the whole thing, yet she fought for clarity of mind. If these people were going to go crazy and flail their magic around at one another, then she could join along for the ride and do her best to keep up, and keep them away from the unknowing patronage of Alvadas.

It could be fun, anyway.

"I'll join your little group," she said stiffly, but the hint of a smile peeked at the corner of her lips as the barest tinge of violet turned in her eyes. She addressed Eridanus, for in all this, he seemed the one most included and addressed. "The Order of Illumination sounds the best to me, but I suppose this is natural of Vantha, to want to make a show of ourselves. Just think, Illumination could say so much about us. We give light to those seeking wisdom, pierce the clouds of cloaked secrets, and guide the knowing to greater heights." She didn't say she didn't know what "transcendence" meant, for the sake of not coming off stupid or unlearned. Common, a difficult language already, had books of words the Vantha didn't understand. She was sure of it.

Even as she was musing on the meaning of the word, the name for the group of crazy little wizards had been chosen, and a petulant look crossed her face. She could only hope "transcendence" didn't mean something bad, and think to herself that her choice was still better than some stuffy old Common word that meant Morwen knows what.

"Name sounds good," she said shortly, crossing her arms at a fake chill and holding the feather tight between her fingers as she looked back to the musicians. They seemed so lively still, dancing their legs away and laughing at jokes she couldn't hear. Curiousity nagged at her, but went largely ignored. There were crazy people to manage, and she had better things to do anyway.

by **Eridanus** on July 16th, 2012, 4:39 am

Eridanus nodded slowly, taking in Kuvarakh's enthusiasm and Anishna's reluctance. It seemed that this group would stay together in the end after all, willingly or unwillingly. Truth be told, he was not excited at all in having a member such as Anishna in their group, and normally he would have rejected such an unpassionate member. However, things were different this time. She held a Feather of Ionu, and perhaps it might mean something. Words from divinity should not be ignored for it might just be folly to do so.

"It is settled then," Eridanus intoned, making eye contact with everyone as he swivelled his gaze around the group, grasping a feeling of acceptance and agreement from each one before moving on to the next.

"I will settle the mundane details tomorrow, my friends. You will be summoned when the time comes. For now, enjoy this last day of the Festival, and lose yourselves in the reverie."

With that, he gestured for the rest to take their leave, or join him and Nira'lia if they wanted to, in walking through the streets and enjoying the magnificent shows on display.

Secret :

by **Kuvarakh** on July 16th, 2012, 7:54 am

Kuvarakh worried that his enthusiasm may be coming on too strong. But this was the first week in 80 years where he didn't feel the need to perform his attitude adjusting meditations to maintain a positive outlook and he hesitated to impose a dampening of it.

The motivation that had driven him prior to this was gone, but instead of feeling deflated, this venture had injected itself into the newly created void and, frankly, he wanted to celebrate!

'Well, why not?' he asked himself, 'There's a celebration going on and I nearly missed it.' He had a job to go to. Maybe he would just spend all night enjoying the extended scenic route. He chuckled, 'As if ANY route could be less than scenic in THIS town!'

He gave a smile and a bow to Nira'lia and Eridanus as they paired up, turning to leave. He turned to Anishna and half expected her to recoil as if rejecting some unspoken obligation to pair up with him. Somehow, this brought an even wider smile from him as he bowed, backing away from her, arms extended as a peace gesture.

Several parting shots flashed through his head. He decided on "I apologize for whatever it is you think I should be apologizing for. If I may, consider this; you seem greatly disturbed by this event, yet you joined. Perhaps it is your ROLE to be the one that advises caution. Every successful group has one." He smiled, nodded a bow and turned to pick a direction at random, whistling.

by **Nira'lia** on July 16th, 2012, 12:01 pm

The initial planning was done. In a way, Nira’lia felt different from them – she didn’t practice magic, and as such she couldn’t relate on that aspect. She just hoped she could contribute with what she could. Nira’lia still didn’t know why she was part of this, but she didn’t mind. She was the type of person that allowed fate to dictate her path for her. There was always a reason for everything, and she would find the reason for her participation soon enough.

‘But, Mother Avalis… if you could shed some light for me, I would be grateful,’ thought Nira’lia.

The Konti enthusiastically waved at Kuvarakh and Anishna. A silly grin was plastered on her face as she did so. As soon as they said their respective farewells, Nira’lia left with Eridanus.

“I don’t think Anishna likes me very much,” she muttered to Eridanus. Nira’lia felt wary of the Vantha woman. The Konti had not missed the looks Anishna had given her, and she didn’t know how to feel about it. However, the troublesome thoughts were soon swept away as she lost herself to the city’s festivities.

by **Anishna** on July 16th, 2012, 8:50 pm

She saw the looks they gave her, yes she did. They didn't like her, and she didn't like them, and it would have been fine to walk away and never see them again, but she had to make sure they weren't a danger to the city, she felt the need to protect Alvadas... and them. And then, the feather. The shimmer of the edges that melded from colour to colour, like theirs, said she was bound to them somehow. She might not believe in fate, but she did have to admit that it meant something.

Eridanus said his bit, but the set of his mouth said he regretted it when it came to her. She didn't feel so stung about that feeling. He wasn't her friend, but the small bit of respect she had gained for him during the storm was still present and accounted for. She should make it up to him, her attitude.

Nira'lia and Kuvarakh, they were different matters altogether. Strangers with strange faces and strange words. The girl had scales and gills and webbing between her slender fingers. The man spoke funny, believed in predestiny, and was too overbearing for the usually overbearing girl. She didn't like the competition, and by extension, didn't like or trust him, so when he said his farewell, she did recoil and she scowled darkly in warning. She had a good punch, in her opinion, and would not have felt bothered if she had to punch him.

His words brought her pause, and so while they all parted ways, she remained stationary. Her dog whined when she didn't move for a few ticks, but she only dropped a hand down to pet his head.

She was thinking that perhaps Kuvarakh was correct, to some extent.

Finally, she looked down at the dog and scratched along his neck fondly before returning to the musicians and taking up her chair. Her mandolin was sat upon her lap where it was comfortable the most and she began to play again, fingers stumbling until she took up the rhythm of the current song. She didn't even know what notes she was playing, just that it sounded nice when combined to the cacophony around her.

by **Mirage** on August 4th, 2012, 9:07 pm

The Truth Within the Reality

Alric :

Eridanus :

Kuvarakh :

Nira’lia :

The Truth Hidden by a Mirage :