To Die Another Day(Closed)

[Valorae]

10 of Summer, 511 AV---The Deadman’s Swagger, Baroque Bay, Sunberth, noon onward

The last thing I remember…I merely blinked. He was running toward me. It was so warm, but…what happened, it’s dark, it’s cold. “Valorae…” I heard my name echoed throughout my domain. My eyes opened, but I needed to close them again. I saw…clouds, and sun, and sky. Was I…? More vehemently now, “Valorae!” I looked forward and felt the burning in my eyes. I lunged forward to no effect. I felt the cold shock hit me in a wave as an old world crashed into me. My hands grabbed forward at nothing. I was falling. I coughed and bubbles floated away from me. I grabbed for them, I reached and grabbed in failure, the water below me wanting to keep me down, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t breathe. I saw it clearer now and clearer yet, the sky, the sky! A sky I had not seen for…for how long? I broke the surface and…

Gasping, choking, the ethaefal was drowning. She ripped forth from the water’s surface with her surreal form, indescribable…beauty? She gasped for air and soon held her breaths; she floated so long as she did. Her burning eyes looked for something, some place, someone, just something to hold her up. She saw it soon, the shore line, maybe fifty yards away. She swam.

It was moments later that the pier came into sight, and soon Sunberth’s structures in full. Her hand caught something and she turned to it. Screams pierced the air. Her hand had made its way into a floater, the dead man’s mouth wide open and welcoming of her delicate feature. She lost herself and spun around. They were everywhere; she knew it, the ilk of the water, that scent. What was this horrid place to which she fell? She slipped through the water faster for the shoreline.

The slope of the sand dipped and she soon felt her feet in the cold, wet sand before the water. Wave after wave crashed over her, each time she tried to push up to no end. The pull of the tide released her from the ocean’s vice. Her fingers and toes dug at the sand for some sort of hold. The tide retreated again; she coughed and struggled to stay afloat, her feet pushing down only to slip in the sand. Another wave hit. She took a forward tumble a few more feet, within distance enough to kneel above the water, but she was not ready. The water receded, and again she was slammed. She tumbled once more a distance to sit, but she lay in the sand. Her right hand reached for the sun, her left grabbed at her heart.

She laid there for hours looking up, only stopping to blink. Her hands both rested on her bosom now, and soon she began to transform. Her hair dried, her hands slid up and grasped her shoulders. The water was so cold. She reached too for the sand, and rolled herself over. On her side she looked off into the city. It seemed no one could see her so far over. She turned entirely onto her front side and looked down at the sand, kissing the earth a moment, her wet hair dragging through the beach. Another wave, the water reached back at her feet. She shuddered and shivered as she brought herself together.

Under Syna’s warmth, the ethaefal fed, for no rock or man stood over her to cast a shadow. Strength returned to her. Her legs slid under her body and she cuddled together. It was quiet; the chaos of the city was a murmur to her over shadowed by the crashing of wave behind her. Her coughing ceased and she now found it easier to move. She was shaking, but she pushed herself up on hands and knees. She tried to stand, but failed. Her knees slapped back into the damp sand of low tide. It hurt, like hundreds of needles pressing up. She decided to just sit for the time instead. She let a leg loose on the sand, and huddled around the other, knee up for her chin. The ethaefal grabbed at one arm with the other and slug it over her knee. Syna comforted her as best she could, in the heat of the sun the star daughter found comforting warmth. Soon she was warm enough to stop shaking; at least she was spared of that suffering.

She lifted her head from her knee, her neck having strength to hold up her head again. Her body swayed gently as she took her breaths, calmer now. She looked onward to the sun the while.

[Darik]

oocTiki has commanded me, and I shall fulfill.

It might actually be Darik’s lucky day. A girl, no a women, was alone on the beach huddled into a ball. Her face was in a formation of utter confusion, but that didn’t detract from her beauty. Her luscious blonde curls and perfectly sculpted body made her very desirable to a human lad, like Darik. There was only one problem with her appearance, and sadly it was a big one. She had horns. Big honkin tonkin sun-bleached horns. Without the horns she was a prospect, but with the horns not so much. So there was only one thing Darik could do. Give her to the slave market. Ehh… I mean, the only thing Darik could do is help her on her way. If you think he’s going to bring her to the slave market, you’re just silly. The situation that followed from the sighting may have seemed odd to the women. A person, younger than an adult, but older than a child, approached her. His sackcloth’s hung loose as they billowed in the wind. He didn’t find it weird, at least he wasn’t completely naked like some of the inhabitants of Sunberth. Also he was one of the better inhabitants of the city. If a man older than him would have seen the young girl, they would have ran to her then forced her. All Darik wanted to do is “talk”. When he was within talking distance of the girl he hesitated. She looked blessed, almost heavenly so to speak. He could be violating some ancient oath muttered by wizards that made her inaccessible to any living creature. Who was he, a brown haired, brown eyed human, to test the limits of the ancient wizards? He dismissed the oath idea, superstition wasn’t his strong suit. Either was thinking he was worthless. Something that messed with cognitive function must have been in the air, usually Darik is much more assertive. He reassured himself by repeating a line in his mind. "Our meeting is pure chance, nothing more nothing less." “Umm…hi.” Yes, Darik doesn’t have any experience talking with women. “Why are you here?” Poorly worded for a lad even of Darik’s education. “I mean why are you sitting on a beach alone, wearing nothing? Not to sound rude or anything.” Darik didn’t want to insult the girl, for all he knew she was a devious demon who tempted men. He may have ruled out the ancient wizard option, but devils were much more abundant. “It’s just in Sunberth, women just don’t appear on the sand. Unless of course your just sitting here because your enjoying the view of the ocean than you’ve been here the whole time. Which would make…” Darik closed his mouth right when he realized he was rambling. Rambling isn’t what a skilled practitioner in the speaking arts would do. He was acting just like a novice speaker. What was wrong with him? It was just another job, no big deal.

[Valorae]

There was laughter, and warmth…giggling…children, no, innocence. We were having fun? Uhh, the sun, so damn bright and glaring, no, Syna! Syna forgive me. Forgive, you’ve abandoned me haven’t you? My what big teeth you have? Oh, good boy. Yield! What, no, I didn’t. V’lorae… Who’s there? No, get away. Spare me, I beg you! Oh you all look so handsome; are you ready for the hunt?! Syna... Help me, help me please… Help me! Syna… What’s going on? Rise my children, rise to a new age, our age! V’lorae… Stop, please stop! The tigers roar! You promise? Lend me your hand, and all is forgiven. It’s so…beautiful. It burns! It burns! What is that, in the shadows…? Don’t leave me! Syna! Valorae!

The body rested in total stillness a moment before she took a silent gasp. Her loose hung jaw came together, and she blinked away from the sun. The crown on her head dipped forward and she bowed to the sky, now fixated on the sand and her body. She let go of herself and reached to the sand. She took some in hand and slid it around in her fingers… What of the boy-man? Oh, his words didn’t seem to catch her attention. That look of calm turned into a spur of confusion as her face began to twist. Distress. Pain… Anger? Hatred… Still, her body remained calm toying with the sand, her gaze dumbly examining the earth.

Laughter, why are you laughing? You laugh sounds so mean and cruel… Would you stop? ‘Umm…hi.’ Hello? What, no stop it. Stop it! No I didn’t, I just… What? Speak up, stop mumbling… ‘Why are you here?’ Why am I here? Why am I here… Syna? Syna can you hear me? There’s no one here to save you, little girl. Hahahahaha… ‘I mean … sitting on a beach alone…’ Do I look pretty, mommy? Horrible, horrible sounds… ‘It’s just in Sunberth…’ Sunberth? No, this is… This is the end for you, my dear! Well, you gave us a run, but we have you now… “…view of the ocean…” That horrid ocean, they’re dead…all dead! And when you die, your spirit rises up to… ‘Which would make…’

”Which would make,” she began, her voice seeming hurt and choked up, but she never finished. She closed her eyes a moment, open, but nothing. She closed them again and reopened. She began blinking a bit, her eyes scurrying over the frame of sand available to her. Her hands ground the sand in her palm more. Her body moved a bit greater a distance as it inhaled, and exhaled, inhaled, and exhaled, all so stable and disturbing in its nature. She stopped. “Which would make me mortal…”The words rolled off with that sensation of pain. She seemed to calm a bit. Her motions stopped, seemingly, though it would have taken keep observation to notice her hands now full. She looked with her eyes up from the sand into the ocean before her. The waves rolled in so gently, the tide seeming as still as the corpses it held. She brought her teeth together and sat there in wait. She was back on Mizahar once more.

OOCComing back into the world from the spiritual runway can be pretty messed up, please enjoy the random ramblings of thought in Valorae's head as her past lives and memories cross in some of her more significant moments and one liners. Boy...the things that she will know when she makes sense of it all...

[Darik]

oocI think you just wanted to ramble on. Great read Btw, once I figured out what you were doing.

Well the woman was positively insane. Her face spazs and her irregular breathing were just a few signs of her mental disorder. ”Umm… ya, you’re mortal. Were all mortal you see. It’s kind of the definition of living.” This women was definitely off her bonkers. Now Darik was faced with another problem, he didn’t know how to handle insane people. People that are insane usually end up dieing quite fast in Sunberth. He couldn’t let that girl fall to that fate! Until he got his money of course. The girl obviously wasn’t going to listen to any Darik’s of words. She seemed to have glossed over them, hearing nothing. It wasn’t worth the breath to talk more. All those perfectly politically correct words wasted! Such a shame. Actions must mean more than words to this woman. At least he hoped so. "Come with me, you need help. Okay not a little help, a lot of help." He added on the last part because he figured she wouldn’t hear him. Its always fun insulting things that can’t reply. It was odd, the situation and the women. A woman, a beauty no less, is seen on the shore naked and has horns. She didn’t have wings though so she couldn’t be a demon. Then the location a beach. That is one of the oddest places to be seen bye. It smelled, and most burials took place there. Wasn’t there any kind of information that would clue Darik in on why this woman was on the beach? Nothing he learned in school. Well nothing he learned in school was practical. That’s why he had left a earlier age than most, its important to have a self sustaining lifestyle. Look at Darik now, a strapping young boy who thieves on the streets of Sunberth. Okay, maybe Darik kind of degressed but that isn’t the point! He’s alive and not mortally maimed or anything so he’s doing fine. Darik held out his hand to the distressed women. If she took it, it would be a sign of friendship and companionship. In a symbolistic way, not a literal way. Darik wasn’t actually going to uphold those higher causes. Who do you think he is, a knight? No sir re bob! He just hoped the women didn’t ask him to do anything because otherwise he would be forced to do it. No self respecting man could resist her face.

[Valorae]

Reach into the past, my dear child. Remember who you once were, remember me… Remember you? Ha, no, for I hold the true key to salvation. Enough, leave me alone, leave her alone… Burn, I will see them all burn. Who is that boy…scrawny little pup! He looks so delicious, ha ha ha… He’s a squealer, I see it, I see it in his eyes! He just wants to help. I don’t like the looks of this one! Syna, why have you forsaken me here?! Enough, get a hold of yourself, child… old of myself, I don’t know where I am!

Her solemn look turned to the boy intentionally. She looked deep into his eyes with her own. Burning, burning would be an accurate description of the emotion locked with. With what desire and pain remained unknown for the time being. When the moment seemed right, and an understanding was reached, she looked down to his hand with the utterance of the word help giving her hope. Hope to what you may ask? Hope for anything, really. If she was long for this world once more then she would do her best to remember it, and discover why…just why she was brought back so.
And so began her motion. The delicacy of her body remained so deceiving even in this form. She let the sand slip for the nearest hand and reached for his own to help her up. Hopefully the boy could hold them both as she lunged up. There would be the great contrast in texture, the soft skin versus the rough of stray sand. At least that observation could be made, especially considering how she was found. Before her total rise, she pushed off the ground with her free hand, a palm of sand in her grasp. She took a stance with his hand in hers…some awful grip for a woman. She kept the surprise behind her hip and looked at him in the eyes again. If the eyes truly are the portal to one’s soul, he might have been staring into a face of Hell, though her affliction dampened.

In that instant he aged a day, his hand at least, but still he remained mentally locked in that instant with her. She stared at him blankly, still coming to her senses. If he got any ideas, it was sure a fist full of sand would go for his eyes, and then what else…who knows?

[Darik]

oocRemember to make sure he isn’t around when she turns Myrian. She scary.

The woman wasn’t exactly on the strong side. When she touched Darik’s hand, she put almost no weight into the gesture. Also a slight shock of electric went between them, but that could have just been his imagination. Darik hulled the woman up into standing position. When she came up she stared into his eyes. It was almost unnerving, so Darik turned his head around. He wasn’t one to chicken out, but looking at a woman too long is considered rude. He had been raised better than that! With the woman’s hand in his grip he led her away from the sand. The docks may actually be one of the roughest places of Mizhar, no place for women. Sailors weren’t exactly the best companions for girls, the rough sea deprived them of certain pleasures they could provide. He was doing her a favor by moving her to Sunberth’s streets. Just not as big as I am making it out, the whole city of Sunberth is dangerous. The streets of Sunbeth, ahh home to thieves. A few buildings here and there in complete disarray. Then those were the good ones! All the others were in the final stage of rot. This state included these big fat maggots that were pests. It also didn’t help that Sunberth was incredible hot in the middle of the day. Even though the heat warranted a display of the body, the inhabitants still looked at the woman with googly eyes. They stated but didn’t intervene. There was something about her that radiated a do not touch appearance. It seemed hidden or masked by something. Darik knew it was there but he knew there was risks involved. After walking through the streets for awhile he found what he was looking for, the warehouses. Some luxurious other not. All of them had guards, woe to the man who didn’t have men protecting his stock. Darik navigated the crowd looking for a particular sign. He needed a problem solved and there was only a few ways to solve it. One solution was by one of the most high quality warehouses. When it came into Darik’s sight he whispered a warning to the girl. “Please, do not say anything. Just pretend you agree with everything I saw. Otherwise this could end bad.” He hoped she would follow his advice. Just in case he tightened his grip a little. Not tight enough to cause her to scamper but just to show her this was serious. He walked up to the merchant , a man in his middle age that was obviously doing well. In a voice worthy of a female singer the man introduced. “Hayo, what do you folks like?” His stupid lisp set Darik on edge. It just didn’t sound natural. “Ohh, umm I need some clothes here for my kelvic friend here.” That was the closet assumption to what she was. She did have horns after all, a mark of a kelvic. Probably an albino stag or a deer. “Doesn’t look like a Kelvic to me, you young ones are always so confused nowadays. What’s your budget? Young? At least he didn’t sound like a girl! Man this was a weird question. Dark had never really bought nice clothes for anyone. He went almost to his maximum because he figured he would make a lot of money from the girl. The nicer she looked, the more she would make. ”Five Gold Mizas.” Ahh, how cute! You like your lady friend! I just love love love to see love!” The obnoxious man walked back into the warehouse and his muttering could be heard from Darik’s position. ”Well let’s see… I think I know were this is going so sadly we can’t play dress up. Need to pick out something worth working with. Simpler is better in this case. People always like simple. They just don’t see the allure like I do.” He came back with a robe of some sorts. Silk perhaps. This is in your price range honey, its five gold mizas.”

oocAlso sorry if I progressed it to fast for you. Also ya I know, buying clothes for your character. 0_o Someone needs to snap Darik out of his idioticy.

[Valorae]

She was up and…they’re off! She resisted at first, not like she really could have done much, but she tried. Eventually she gave into his pull. By the time they reached the streets she became very overwhelmed. What a mess, the chaos of this city with all the crowds and mess, it was just awful. The looks they gave her, vile and wicked, made her sick. The closing air around her from the city buildings suffocated her. Worst of all, there were, at moments, spots of time of utter despair as Syna’s warmth was blotted out from the skyline. She kept consciousness, however, as she was pushed along by something…rather pulled along by a boy. What a spectacular sight that must have been: a young street rat of a boy dragging along a soul fallen from the Ukalas. No one seemed to know that of course, or their brains were just stuffed to the brim with such vulgar thoughts that the facts didn’t sink in.

”Please, don’t say anything. Just pretend you agree…I saw…up bad.”

I heard him, but I hadn’t a clue what he was saying. Everything was so blurred and busy, I just couldn’t make sense of it all. He dragged me away more, but why him? Why haven’t you come for me yet Syna? Do you not see me in this broken light, hidden in a crowd? Ugh, what is that – ”Hayo, what do you folks like?” What do I like, what? What is this…unnatural sound? Well it must be natural, it’s here! Here, where is here? Where, where am I?! Valorae… Ah! Ah… No, this is a dream…it must be a dream. Who’s talking? Mizas? What’s a Miza? Miza…wait. All is calm, all is well, and this is the gods’ design. No, all is not calm, and nothing is well you ignorant wench! Let me go, let me out! Let me out!!!

She stared blankly the whole while of their conversation. She seemed responsive to the word kelvic, or was it merely the mentioning to her. After that she could have flat lined. The grace of her face was marred by the distraught look, and the confusion. The blurred man came back to them and spoke. She might have been seeing demons her face twisted in such a way. She looked around and back, finally resting her eyes on the dress. She looked down and glowed more, red. The white of her horns thrashed in the air a bit as she looked down and all over to examine herself. She grabbed the dress from Darik, pulled away, and shoved it on as fast as she could. Tough love.

After it was finally on she wrapped her arms around her bosom, oh the humility!

Sunberth. I’ve been here before, I think, but it looks so…different. That doesn’t look familiar at all, and who are these people? At an angle I saw ziggurats flash before my eyes and vanish. Talboa rang throughout my head. Myrian cannibals, that’s laughable. I need to get out of here. I need to go…west, west is away from the shore, right, so I need to go left, or right, right? I need to get away, I need to get out. That boy…damn I’ve dropped it.

Her fingers touched each end with the feel of nails, nothing sharp and pointed, but she could give that top layer scratch, hopefully. She was looking away from Darik and the shop keeper into the crowd. If she wanted to get away, she’d best do it while they were busy. She looked back into the warehouse, as if to look through both boys talking about money of all things, and looked a bit. She pointed, if they were available, at a pair of shoes for her feet. Not that they’d fit, but it’d get the job she wanted done. She looked down at her feet and then back to the shoes longingly, but not a word was spoken. She looked to Darik with those eyes, so full of something or another. At first chance that they turned their heads, even if for a second to distract them, she slid off into the crowd, ducking low and trying not to rush or cause a problem. Of course, even in her attempt to blend, it doesn’t help to be an Ethaefal in a silk dress walking the streets of Sunberth after all the looks she’d received. Syna, help her…

OOC"Well don't just stand there! Go get her!" Valorae's flash back to Sunberth is still under development, but it can easily be tied back to the male personality father figure hinted at in early thoughts, noted by the word "child." Talboa's momumental buildings flash into her mind purely from aslignment against the sun, the silouette causing her great confusion. However, this brief flash is the start to unleashing a beast within, the most recent of lives reaching out to her. Being young again never felt so good, and she had unfinished business...

[Darik]

The girl was certainly excited about getting dressed. She ripped the robe from the man’s hands. To avoid the oddness of the situation Darik quickly forked over five mizas. He had gotten them out of his dagger earlier. Showing were your money was a stupid thing everywhere, especially Sunberth.Also his money wasn’t in the most protectable space. All his money was concentrated in the shaft of his dagger. It made the dagger heaver but he had no other place to hide it. That’s why Darik never threw it, there was a chance of losing the precious contents inside. Now stabbing people with it, that was a different story. Okay, maybe Darik is a little gullible. He has been deprived of truly gorgeous women in his life. Most women in Sunberth were cheap and slutty. This woman had class. So that’s why when she stared at a shoe with such a pathetic look it tugged his very soul. He wasn’t sure whether or not it was worth it. Her bright eyes told him it would be. He turned around slowly with regret. He pointed at the shoe and the man walked over to it. Next thing he knew, his hand felt light. He looked back and saw the girl running through the crowd. “She isn’t a Kelvic. You should know that by now.” He put back the shoes looking at them longingly. Awkward. “Tell me quickly and tell me only the facts. I don’t have much time.” He really didn’t, even though she stuck out like a sore thumb, if she disappeared into the distance he would never find her. Sunberth was as big as it was complicated. “Well she’s am Ethaefal meaning she’s a fallen angle of Leth and…” “I wanted facts not make believe tales of Gods. Pah, you’re just like the rest of the populace, stuck in your own little world.” Darik turned around and didn’t even look at the man as he left. It wasn’t worth it,, he was as deranged as everyone else in this forsaken city. Just like the girl. Crap, he needed to go get the girl. He had already invested so much, he didn’t want to lose that! His pace was fast and furious no need for distance now. She was also going through unknown territory while Darik knew the Sunberth streets. Should be an easy catch the odds were stacked with him for once. The world always has a reason to make it stack against him though. The occasional bystander always seemed to step in Darik’s way making him lose precise speed by avoiding. They seemed to get a hoot out of their chase letting wild cheers and yelling crude remarks. You would think with all the action, the Sunberthian’s would be bored by now. They weren’t. All the watchers were nuisances. But they could cost him the girl. At least he could still see her in front of him, her silk dress flapping wildly.

[Valorae]

Valorae wasn’t having an easy time getting through either. These damn people kept bumping into her while making faces. She checked back and saw her plan fall apart with that boy chasing her again. If she wanted to get out of this she’d have to…well, there’s nothing she could do actually. The fallen soul seemed to lose herself more and more as time ticked away and Syna moved farther from her. Her current turmoil became too much. She wasn’t getting ahead any either. She saw the closest building and shoved her way through to it.

On the side of the building she collapsed to her knees and turned over. Back against the wall, she curled up and looked into the sky. The sun was blocked from her, but the light looked so tempting. She was left in this shaded form scrambling to curl and comfort her to no end. By the time Darik got through to her, she was entirely wrapped up and bowing. Her arms crossed over her huddled knees and her face fell in them. Her hair slid over the front, the starting ends of which bobbed lightly with her head as she sobbed.
OOCPardon a lacking of personal dialogue; she’s just experiencing a mental break down and all… Fun playing with word for Ethaefal, though Syna technically represents the sun and is moving further' away from her as time goes by, Valorae is starting to lose faith and grow 'farther' from their relationship. Ain’t that jus’ the darned cleverest thing y’all saw?

[Darik]

oocof course!

Darik searched valiantly for the girl. He was going as fast as physically possible looking for the escapee. His arms literally flew in the air, the farthest down they went was his shoulders. They were also swinging as fast as possible, the more you swing the faster you run. A fast tempo and high power movement made Darik fast. Of course, both of those wouldn’t mater if his feet were just standing still. Luckily they were in movement. They were short and choppy, they gave him more power even though they tired him out quicker. Darik’s wait between breaths were starting to get shorter. Sweat from his hair started to drip in his eyes, obscuring some of his vision. He couldn’t keep up this pace for long. Actually, he couldn’t keep it up for any longer. He slowed from a jog to a walk to a complete stop. He bent over and started heaving. The humid air made it hard to take a good clean breath of oxygen filled air. Also Darik wasn’t helping bending over panting up a storm. Realizing that dieing wouldn’t do him any good he started to walk back. He was crestfallen, he couldn’t believe he had let the girl escape. He wiped the sweat away from his eyes as he gave up. His steps were stiff and slow as he walked back the way he came. Wait, did he hear crying ahead of him? He ramped it up to a jog, his steps far and few in-between. He was trying to relax, his mind may have been messing with him. The sound was getting closer though. Darik turned his head when he passed an alley. There she was sitting there sobbing into her legs. It was almost exactly like the situation he had met her! They both had water and a girl sitting on a loose object. The first time Darik had tried to comfort the women. That didn’t work. So being a man of logic Darik would never do the same mistake twice. No, this time he would comfort her till she was completely happy! You don’t think this is going to work do you? Darik feet slid across the ground as he went to the woman. When he was close enough to touch her he knelt down. He slowly lifted her head away from her legs. He made it so the women’s head was buried by his neck. He used his powerful hind legs to gently lift them both above the dust ridden ground. To lead them away from the alley he hooked his other arm around her body just a little above the waste. She seemed too distressed to notice so Darik thought he could get away with it. He was about to lead her from a new life to a new one. From a life of freedom and pleasure to hard work almost every second of a day. But was it right? Was it right for Darik to benefit from someone else’s pain? It should, but Darik didn’t feel like that right now. He almost felt guilty about what he was going to do. So, did Darik’s conscience get the better of him? Nope, because he started to walk the direction of the slave market.

oocIf you want we can end the thread after your post! Then we can get a modded thread with Levi at the slave market.