The dead and living masters

[Vick]

1st of Winter, 517


The young child somehow found himself looking at a rather unique building. The large glass windows loomed above him as he peered inside with his dead eyes. Never once blinking as the djed pulled and weaved from the depths of his soul into his eyes.

The cold world turning from a snowy winter bleak grey world to a winter wonderland of colors. The once normal building into what it looked like in the eyes of his Auristics as he saw just death fill his eyes.

Yet he was use to death. He grew up around it and missed it greatly. MAybe that is why he found himself here. One dead being who worked with dark magic finding a home so to speak.

The magic holding fast in his eyes as he moved inside the building. The cold winter wind blowing along his flesh but he paid no mind due to different perks of being dead.

The door closing behind him as he looked around. Small objects lined the walls that looked like good luck charms and random tidbits yet his magic told him the truth. It was the same objects Vick himself has made in the past. Malediction.

This is why he knew he was home but who made them he had to wonder? Could he find a place to work here Vick had to wonder? He had to find out as he looked about for another soul.

The young child was only the height of what a normal 8 year old male would be. However his worn out out grey tunic seem to cling on to his frail body. The black leather belt was worn from age but held fast to his brown pants that had different holes and patch work done to patch them up.

Yet past that one would see different amounts of items along his body. On his right arm was a bone strapped to his arm. This bone was in two parts yet tied to his arm encasing it. If one looked closely they would see it was filled with different circles and symbols and if they knew bones and different races they would see it was a Jamoura bone. If one knew the effects of his craft or able to see magic they would see or one day witness it gave a Flux effect.

If one looked near his chest they would see a necklace from a rabbit skull. Was made by a skilled hand in the age but the page of the bone has made it very pale white yet once more different symbols were eteched along it. Yet this one also had a magical aura around it but it heled increase the scent of smell to whoever used it along with a couple of other traits.

Yet one had to wonder what was in the large patched up brown leather pack that was along the back. It was clearly carrying different objects as it weighed him down but Vick paid it no mind either as he looked about the shop. However if one could see the magical auras they would see the bag would give off so many different forms of magic due to he had many more objects set inside.

If one looked past the objects Vick was wearing they would see his fingertips would have a dark blue shade, his eyes sunken in and looking glazed over with giving a dull blue shade. His black hair still messy as a kids but his lips stood out as a darker color as spots of dried blood seem to be about. Either one would see he was a sick child or what he really was. Either way the child did not seem to care one bit.

*Credit goes to Tanith Sitai

[Chameleon]

The dead and living masters

It had been, like the majority of days, quiet for the proprietor of the Divine Legacy. Few people came to the shop, because few people had something that the city deemed fascinating enough to bring them there in the first place. Perhaps Karash should have been satisfied with the sheltered position he had in the city. If more people frequented the store, the nature of the things he sold would quickly be called into question. That wasn't something he would aim for in any city, and Alvadas was no exception. Magic of his form was abided, just about. But if it was called out as actual magic...

Still, the lack of business annoyed the Eypharian. He had plenty of things to distract himself with, but that wasn't the issue. It was a matter of principle, and, of course, money.

So when the door opened for the first time in the last few days, his interest peaked immediately. At first glance, it was a child, which only brought the Eypharian's gaze closer towards the figure. No regular child would enter his store, or would be brought there in the first place. It wasn't a place for the young.

"You're not young though, are you?" Karash finished his thoughts out loud, watching for a reaction. A more observant, skilled aurist would be able to tell that he wasn't just watching with his ordinary sight. Inspecting the aura, Karash was searching warily. "In my line of work, it's not hard to recognise the dead."

The tell-tale signs were all there. The strange body. The appearance of decay. The stench of death that clung to him, both physically, and in the aura. Karash was a scholar, well-educated, knowledgable about a vast variety of things. And a nuit was one of them.

But there was more. This ancient child carried death with him, too. Death infused with magic. Karash narrowed his eyes as he found the items. This built up both his distrust and curiosity. Why was he bringing these items here? Had he been searching for this place first, or was it a coincidence?

The Eypharian emerged from the shadows where he had been stood, analysing the Nuit closely. "My name is Karash Divine, and this is my shop. Are you here to browse, or are you looking for something more specific?"

His words felt flawless as he spoke them, adjusting the glasses that perched on his nose. They were thick and heavy, and partially designed by himself, and they did the job better than most would suspect.

The man knew the arrival of the Nuit wasn't simply as a customer. No customer already carried the things he was looking to by. But the Eypharian chose to appear ignorant, although a good look at his aura would suggest he knew more than he was letting on. Of course, it was up to Vick to decide why. Was it a test, or simple a precaution?

[Vick]

Vick looked at the young man. His dead eyes never blinking nor his chest moving as the undead being looked at the one who greeted him. The power of his magic peering at him trying to probe further into him but without much effect Vick shut off the flow of that magic and looked at him without the power of magic.

“I am as young as I deem. However that does not seem to be the issue at hand...Such a strange city it seems to bring you where you want to be or find in the depths of the back of your mind.”

Vick said yet it was not in full common like most. It was out of the ancient tongue and mixed with a couple of words here and there of common as if forgot that people did not speak that language in day to day.

Yet why was Vick here again? He wanted to find work but how did he find this building again? He could not recall as he did not know anyone in the city yet somehow this building made him recall of home.

“I am here to shop...I wanted to sale a few of my old items but also was looking for work...Yet I do not know this city and somehow found this place...My name is Vick…” This time he spoke softly and carefully with each word as he focused just on the common language for him just in case of a language barrier.

Vick said as he moved his bag off his back and shuffled around inside before pulling out a human looking hand. The bones themselves now aged yellow of age along with the detailed carvings along it. Vick held it with a white cloth as he placed it on the counter.

It was over 100 years old if one was to judge it from time. Vick had made it long ago around 412 AV he thought as he looked upon it. If one was to use it the hand would grip upon a host and amplifies djed and any emotions. It would not let go unless it deemed ready and if forced it would just grow tighter. Vick once got it priced to be sold around 50 gold coins but was not sure what it would be now.

“Not sure if you would be willing to buy this but a rather old item I created awhile ago. However more than that I can see the items around here and I know what they are. Might by chance would the one who made them be willing to have help and help a poor young child out with a paying job?”

*Credit goes to Tanith Sitai

[Chameleon]

The dead and living masters

"You say it brings you where you want to be." Karash gave a chuckle to himself and began to busy himself with the things behind him. Polishing it off, shifting items on shelves. Menial tasks he didn't need to be doing but that gave the Nuit space to express himself a little more truly. His auristics could see, even if his eyes can't. "Have you not been in the city long?"

The words were spoken in a magic Ancient Tongue - different intonations and accent applied to the words, but enough to prove himself as someone who was experienced with the scholarly language.

"No, of course you haven't." Suddenly, he snapped back to Common, letting it grate against his tongue. "I don't do business with those who don't understand how this city works." The way he spoke, emphasising that it was in Common, was there to demonstrate to the child-like figure that even using the other language was proof that he didn't know much about Alvadas. Perhaps the language wouldn't draw much attention in the streets, but it was the things implied by it that would.

As Vick spoke, Karash played the disinterested shop-keeper, and not for any reason. The thought of another maledictor, with well worked items on him, and an interest for work, but who didn't understand the strange situation with magic in the city wasn't something he wanted to involve himself with. Not unless he knew to be careful.

He only spoke once the hand was put on his counter.

"Who wants to buy a hand? I don't care what it does." The man sniffled a little, letting his eyes focus on it. While he tried to feign disinterest, it was clear he was attempting to study it with auristics, figure out the skill behind it more than what it did. "Tell me. How young do you deem yourself? In my line of trade, I don't want children running around the shop. Unless your version of young is different to mine."

With a sharp tut-tut noise, he turned again, rearranging the ink on the shelves behind the counter. Some caught the light and threw it in strange patterns, others swallowed it almost entirely. At the current moment, they were all mundane, but magic lingered on the shelf itself more than anything.

Finally, he spoke again. Choosing his words careful, he allowed the question to linger as he hoped for the right answer to it. "Tell me... what do you think my trade is, exactly?"

[Vick]

This game of cat and mouse was something Vick use too due to his time living in Sahova. The Masters of the Isle acted like this and worse when Vick came to them when he first became a Nuit.

His own master Boss put him through pain and torment when he started to learn his craft and learn the rules of the island. So this little exchange was just another day it felt like. Only thing that really mattered at the end of the day was results and good results.

Vick did not blink his undead eyes as he looked at the man. His chest no longer moving as he focused upon the words that left his lips to only speak common to him but it was slower and more thought into each word he used.

"I was born in the year 310 AV. While I take this body of a child do not let that fool you. Rather take the form of a child for my own reasons."

He spoke very carefully as he did not move his eyes off the shopkeep. He saw the ink vials and how the light moved about. The question lingered in the air as Vick thought about it as he moved his chest up as he took a breath smelling the air before letting it go.

"Legacy is what calls to me or in your words Malediction however that is just a faint of the call in this room. However magic may be more common but this type is not it seems. Yet Sahova did not hide in the shadows but still good at keeping secrets from others."

Vick threw out the reply slowly as he waited now. What would take place now he had to wonder? Was Vick somehow wrong in this or would this now push towards the goals he wanted or in this case needed. Vick needed a lot of things and one was a stable source of income, a new body as his was falling apart and a place to stay but income would fix that a bit.

*Credit goes to Tanith Sitai

[Chameleon]

There was something unnerving about the Nuit. Perhaps it was simply his aura. Or the fact he never blinked. The stillness to his body, lacking all the normal movements indicating life. Perhaps the Eypharian couldn't pin it down, but he knew that the dead boy was unnerving. And that he would be to others, too. Perhaps that was why he planned on keeping him in this shop for longer. Because the Nuit had no chance out there. But then again, there were a millions things to learn from someone who claimed to be two hundred years old. Karash wasn't one to turn that down either.

Still, he was suspicious and cautious and was not ready to take someone on who considered this another Sahova.

"There is no magic in this room." The statement was firm, as if he knew nothing else and was ensuring Vick of that exactly. But there was a glint in his eyes and of course the whole place stunk of magic to the trained wizard. His lies were not for them, but for the world that lay outside - for the world beyond the shadows they stood in. "If there is anything to suggest that - if the items cause any bother - it is not to do with magic. This shop is simply cursed. Why would I jeopardise my trade by tinkering with something dangerous?"

Karash smirked, slowly making his way towards the child's body. "But we are looking to hire. I could use an assistant's help around the shop. Organise the shelves, tend to the objects. Perhaps even deal with customers, if we sort you out a bit." He cast a judgemental gaze across the rotting body. "I have ways to maintain you."

Of course, he was referring to the crematorium he hid under the shop. This man new to Alvadas couldn't know it, he assumed, but it was the easiest way for a Nuit to get along. There would be issues, of course, but if he had enough reason to help him...

"Perhaps then, once you've learnt that there is no magic here, we can start looking at your own goods?" Karash nodded towards the arm, "But trust me. Step one toe over the line and I'll reconsider everything. Understand, my dear child?"

It was a harsh sentence. Clearly, the Nuit knew what he was doing with his magic. His skill at it was clear - it was possible the boy would surpass him very quickly. But skill with magic had no power here, giving Karash little to worry about in terms of competition. No, the only thing that gave you an upper hand in Alvadas was knowing how it worked and the Eypharian had little to worry about there.

Apart from Vick blowing his cover and destroying everything he had worked for. Which was why he was only willing to entrust him with menial tasks for now. They were suitable for an incompetent fool, not a master at his work. But for now, it was the safest place to put him, without letting him run off into the city and disappear from his knowledge.

"You can start tomorrow?"

There would be no arguing. If Vick didn't agree with the Eypharian's plan? He'd find it very hard to get anywhere at all.