Tragedy Repeated(Tarot Please)

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden shook his head slightly as he looked over the campground, finding nothing that he hadn’t already seen before. There was disappointment in seeing it all play out in his mind, as divots and gouges in the ground left behind a tale of the battle. How both of them moved in their attacks and avoidance of each other, blood splatters showing when attacks were successful. He didn’t see anything that would suggest a third had been present. His eyes then widened when he finally noticed that no tracks were present from the creature arriving into Olevar’s camp. A frown slowly crossed over his features as his jaw clenched, his teeth almost grinding. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Jaeden hissed at himself as his eyes closed for a moment. “I was baited like an amateur.”

The rustling of the bushes then snapped Jaeden’s attention away from the campground as he took a quick step back, gripping his sword tightly. The creature had arrived faster than he had expected, which meant it moved much faster than first letting on, as well as apparently abandoning any further need it had at correcting the random cuts Jaeden had made with his sword, betraying the obsession it had let on earlier. What likely made Jaeden’s heart sink the most, however, was the fact that all of the arrows Jaeden had put into it previously, were now healed with the skin it had just shed. Jaeden had been a fool, doing something that Olevar had always taught him not to. He had underestimated this creature, falling for the act it had put on with slow movements and it’s obsessive behavior. Jaeden felt at that moment, he had been in more danger than in any encounter he had previously had in his life.

Jaeden’s heart then skipped a beat as a voice entered his mind, the creature staring dead into his eyes. He took another cautious step back, his eyes narrowing then. “So, you can communicate.” Jaeden said as the skin under his right eye twitched for a moment out of nerves, the voice in his head seeming like a whisper of insanity. “Who are you?”

Jaeden’s eyes shifted over the area surrounding the camp, looking to see which had the densest coupling of trees. With the creatures filaments, he knew he would need some of them to maneuver around and block the creature’s attacks with when it started. Open confrontation with the creature would be suicide. “I noticed you didn’t leave any tracks coming into the camp, either because you just appeared, or you didn’t want me backtracking your movements beyond this point. Since most things don’t just appear out of nowhere, I’m leaning towards the latter right now.”

Jaeden slowly moved to the side, inching closer towards the tree line he felt most suitable for avoiding and hindering the creatures attacks. “Furthermore, your words that your burrowing into my head? Expectation, desire, more to teach. You knew I would be coming back, didn‘t you? Knew that I would see what you had done to Olevar and follow you.” Jaeden said, keeping his sword up in front of him in a neutral guard. “What is it that you wanted to learn from me, luring me in like this?”

“Furthermore, while I admit to being blinded by grief and rushing into your little test when I first started tracking you,” Jaeden said, almost scoffing at the fact, “you’re wrong to think I’ve exhausted all my potential.”

[Tarot]

The funny thing - or grotesque, if you will - was that the creature actually seemed to listen to Jaeden's words. At least, its head was turned his way and it did not move a muscle throughout his speech. The deadly strands were at rest. It did not blink, nor could Jaeden see its chest heave in between breaths. It could have passed for dead, if not for the fact that Jaeden knew it wasn't. Maybe it was learning, even now. Whatever the reason, there was no immediate reaction from the thing after he finished speaking. It just stood there for the longest time, sending forth no further communication that Jaeden could pick up. Then, it slowly extended its gangly arm in his direction. It wasn't attacking, though, but trying to get a message across. It was indicating the number three with its fingers up to the middle. Then, that finger curled into the creature's fist and there were only two. An opportunity offered and lost - a life spared. Two remained. This thing wasn't killing out of hatred, hunger or even bloodlust. Killing was just a side effect, and it was in no hurry to get it done. The questions ignored altogether, as if they had no place with this being, it turned and walked over to the point where Olevar had been killed. It gave the place a long stare, and then was off. What made its departure out of the ordinary was that it was walking exactly over the first set of tracks it had left. Step after step after step, each motion playing out just like the first time down to the most insignificant detail. The same careless gait, the same fake shambling. It soon disappeared into the woods, implying that it was repeating the same route as before and leaving Jaeden alone with his thoughts and desperate quest. Or maybe not as alone as he thought. Hardly a moment had passed, when he heard a humming sound, a female voice coming from the vicinities of the camp site - from the point where Jaeden had first seen Woodland Wrath crumble. A woman was kneeling there, a slim brunette only clad in a dress of woven leaves. She was pretty, though not overwhelmingly beautiful, and was shaking her head as she held a darkened stub that had once been part of Olevar's bow. "Oh, sorry," she smiled at Jaeden, "don't mind me at all. I didn't mean to distract you from whatever it is you're doing. People have the strangest rites going through their heads when they're about to die. Me, I was just picking up what's left of my gift. That stubborn fool didn't want to leave this place, even when he started to see those scrapings on the bow." The woman twirled the tiny shard of wood in her fingers and stood up, leaning against the nearest tree. "Every third night the Journeyman would come and make a tiny incision on Wrath. Oh, the marvelous traps Olevar set up to catch it in the act. But none worked. He just wilted like a flower, its purpose fulfilled, its sap exhausted." She gave him a smile that contrasted sharply with the dire situation he was in. "Well, unless you have business with me, I believe I must be off. I hope you have lived your life to the fullest, young cub."

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden’s brow scrunched up slightly, forming a frown as he observed the reaction the Journeyman had to his line of question. When the creature finally raised it’s hand, extending three fingers only curl one back down into it’s palm. Jaeden lowered his sword a little, still keeping his grip tight along it. “Yeah, I get it.” Jaeden said before the Journeyman turned and began his first walk all over again.

When the Journeyman had finally disappeared into the forest, resuming the same path it had before, Jaeden finally released a full breath, his body relaxing for a moment as he lowered his sword. Jaeden’s mind began to race as he stared to the path. He needed something more than arrows, something more than his sword. He thought back to his years of lessons under Olevar, his mind thinking fully on it as his disciplinary voice began to echo in his head in reminiscing. “If your prey is too big to bring down by conventional means, find other prey. If you can’t find other prey, find unconventional ways. Plan: Know how your prey moves, how it reacts, what it’s capable of. Prepare: Try to find it‘s weakness‘ and nullify it‘s strengths, and use things the forest provides. If it flies, use a net. If it’s strong, weaken it. If it’s fast, slow it down. The very lands provide a solution for most everything. You just got to know how to use them. Not every confrontation, whether in a hunt or otherwise, will be about who’s stronger or more skilled. Sometimes just thinking ahead will bring you the results you want.”

His train of thought was then stopped, squashed by the sound of movement as feel trailed across the earth, announcing the presence of another visitor. Jaeden spun around towards the sound his sword drawn back for a moment. His face took on an expression of surprise then over the sight of the woman who was kneeled in the distance before him, his sword soon dropping lazily to his side. She had a beauty to her, one that Jaeden saw frequently in the landscapes of the forests he traveled. As she looked up to him, finally beginning to speak, Jaeden’s mind raced at her words, her voice, feeling something more there than what was simply before his eyes. There was almost a divinity to her voice, and she had a commanding presence. What she said and the foliage that seemed to grow up from the earth and bend towards her revealed who she was all to well to Jaeden. Olevar only spoke of her once, but his story of her stuck in Jaeden’s mind, and he suddenly felt overwhelmed by every event that befell him this day. “A death, a devil with a seemingly impossible task and a Goddess who expresses dismal chances.” Jaeden replied to her in an almost tired voice as he body slumped along a nearby tree. “It all seems like it’s too much to take in.”

Jaeden released a sigh, looking back towards the Journeyman’s retaken path. “Though your indifference to the Journeyman surprises me. What with all the waste it leaves in it’s path.” Jaeden then said before looking back to Caiyha. “Eggs, animals caught unaware, Olevar himself. I get the feeling he knew too, which is why he sent me on that hunt. He knew what it was and what it did. Knew it would be back and knew that with his current age, he wouldn’t be able to beat it. Hell, he was likely hoping that it would have killed him before I came for my visit.”

Jaeden shook his head slowly, his eyes slamming shut as he began to fight back his grief and sorrow as they rose up once again. “I would go to seek aid from Syliras, but I’ve the feeling I would only endanger more. And at the same time, I can let it go as well. It killed Olevar, the man who raised me. He was my mentor, my second family in this life after my first had been taken from me, and while he would say revenge is pointless, I can‘t let the Journeyman go, knowing it was responsible.” Jaeden said as his eyes opened up, dropping a couple of tears to the ground, looking to Caiyha. “Could you? If someone had killed one of your children for nothing more than simple curiosity and study of them, could you let it go?”

Jaeden then almost laughed at her question of business, a twinge of desperation pulling at his gut. “I would doubt you would fight this battle for me.” Jaeden said jokingly, as he motioned with his empty hand towards the path the Journeyman had taken. “As well, I don’t think I would want you to as well. Though I certainly won’t turn away any knowledge or suggestions on the Journeyman you may have for me.”

[Tarot]

The woman turned her head, still half-motioning to leave, but not quite. The shadow of a knowing smile lingered on her lips as Jaeden spoke, but she waited for him to finish first. "I see now, why Nikali marked you. You are such a silver tongued rascal! It feels like someone just finished reading a treatise on me and hired a writer to draft a plea. That was most impressive, though really unnecessary with me. One question was all it could have taken you…" Caiyha's hand caressed the bark of the tree she was leaning against, and slowly began pulling the wood out. The trunk bent out of shape as the mass gathered, drawn to the goddess' hand. Within moments, a long piece of gnarled wood had separated from the tree and was now firmly in the woman's grasp. The string connecting its two ends left no doubt as to its intended function. "… and that question was, 'have you got a spare Woodland's Wrath lying around?' Lo and behold, here's a trinket for you, if you will have it." She held the bow up for Jaeden to see. It looked slightly larger and thicker than Olevar's version, but otherwise was the same, unassuming twisted branch of a tree. "It does have a few differences, though. Olevar's version was good for hunting game. He was a simple soul, it fit him just fine. I might just mark him in his next life… but that is neither here nor there. You need a stronger bow to take down a Journeyman. This will literally do wonders against creatures that are alien to this world. They barge in and disrupt our environment. It gets quite irksome at times. More so when they do not have mouths to feed, such as in your case. Had it been a predator, you can be sure I would have wished you luck, and then turned my back." She smiled, meaning no offense, but showing no great care for the individual man standing in front of her. "One arrow will suffice, if you aim it true," said the goddess. "And I dare say it better suffice. Each arrow from this bow will cost you one year of your lifespan." It was too good to be true.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden’s eyes widened for a moment as Caiyha spoke her word, her hand reaching out to the bark of the tree as wood twisted and reshaped, subtle creaks echoing out. It held the familiar shape and resembled that item Olevar so coveted in his living years. She held the bow out to him, explaining the differences from it and Olevar’s own. A newly formed Woodland Wrath, one powerful enough to fell a creature as strong as the Journeyman. Jaeden’s heart raced over the possibility, the lure of it all. The means of avenging Olevar’s death, as well as protecting others further from the Journeyman was there, right in front of him, offered to him.

Jaeden’s hand slowly stretched out for the bow, inching towards it as it rested in Caiyha’s hands, like a beacon of hope or instrument of deliverance. His memory flashed images in his mind, of Olevar holding his own bow, of slowly drawing an arrow from the very bow itself as the string was drawn. Of loosing an arrow from the Goddess crafted weapon, unleashing a power that was enough to knock a fully grown bear through the air, of tearing limbs from the slavers that had almost captured him. All with a single shot. The one offered to Jaeden, was even stronger.

Then, more images began to flash before his eyes. Of Olevar, and how he was when he had first found Jaeden. A man barely into his thirties, smiling and helpful. Then a man in his forties, training him as a teenager, still strong and energetic, despite the wears of age beginning to show. A man in his sixties, congratulating him upon tracking him down and eventually setting Jaeden out into the world to live on his own, to make his own path. And with each passing visit, of each passing year, he would appear older, and older still, until Jaeden had found the man who appeared to be in his eighties this very morning.

Jaeden’s hand suddenly drew back, his eyes still on the bow that Caiyha was offering him. A sudden gasp of air was suddenly taken as Jaeden felt his knees buckle and his body drop. He collapsed to the forest floor, on his knees as his hands rested limp along his thighs, his head hanging slightly. “A simple man.” Jaeden whispered out to the goddess before him, almost giving a small laugh. “I never saw him as such myself, though. He was so much more than simple to me, but that simple life he led I now envy so much. My life seems to have been dictated by my losses now it would seem. Had my family not been killed, I likely would be a simple farmer right now, tending crops on my family’s farm. Instead, they were burned alive and I came to be raised by Olevar.”

Jaeden’s head slowly lifted, looking up to Caiyha as though a great weight was being placed along his shoulders. “Now, Olevar is slain, and my task to avenge him brings me into a level I never even thought of, facing creatures I can not fathom.” Jaeden said before he took a large swallow as his nerves began to rise. “When Nikali marked me, it was said that I had some higher calling in store for me.” Jaeden shook his head as his gaze lowered to the ground once again. “I can’t say that dispatching these aliens is it, but whatever that calling is, it has cost me so much now it seems, and the life of a simple man seems so much more appealing as a result.”

Jaeden rose his gaze to Caiyha once again, his jaw clenching slightly as he almost felt a sense of desperation over his situation, over the choices he had to make. It all seemed to large for him. “I’ve never prayed all that much, this I’m sure you know.” Jaeden said as he almost bore a look of regret for such. “Olevar raised me to follow your way, and I always gave thanks to the many things your realm of influence offered. Now you offer me something so grand in Woodland Wrath, but it seems too much. Too much power in the hands of one man. It’s drawback, true enough, balances it out, but still it seems like it is too much.”

Jaeden shook his head slightly, feeling a sense of vulnerability he had rarely felt in his life. “I may have never asked such in the past, but right now, I need your guidance, Great Mother.” Jaeden finally said. “Faced with this situation, with the choices I have before me, do I have any chance without Woodland Wrath?”

[Tarot]

The goddess frowned ever so slightly at Jaeden's hesitation, and stared at him intently throughout his speech, patient like an immortal with plenty of time, but still puzzled at why it was taking him so long. Olevar had been quicker to accept her gift. And now he weighed the pro's and the con's and the up's and the down's right to her face. Other gods would have found it quite rude, if the truth be told. Either accept it, or refuse it, but just don't ask if the choice is going to do you any good. Caiyha didn't truly care for etiquette, not like some younger gods would, but she could not see his angle. "Listen, Jaeden," she said when he was done talking, "this is not a matter of calling. It is not even a matter of revenge or justice, as you seem to think. None of those things fall under my domain. I leave them to those who can claim better knowledge of this bizarre thing you call civilization. Trust me; when you are in a forest, hunted by a Journeyman, none of that matters." She worded the sentence slowly, as if to make it easier to come across. "This is about survival, sheer and simple living to see the next day. Which I like to believe falls squarely under my domain. Jaeden, I credit you with enough intelligence to know what is best for you; in fact, I credit you with the intelligence that has let you survive thus far in the world. I am sure you can make the choice with your own resources. I have offered you a gift, and was honest enough to tell you of its ill effects well in advance; I assure you, I was under no obligation to do so, and in fact, some other gods would have let you discover the truth in your aging bones as you went." She smiled a little and waved the Woodland Wrath in front of Jaeden. "You like to think you are just a simple guy, but you are anything but simple. And even if you are now, you will either evolve, or find your death. It really doesn't take a lot of explaining. Best part about being in charge of nature - it's self-explanatory. Now, are you taking the damn bow or not?" She snorted, half-serious. This was Jaeden's life, but not that big of a business to the goddess. Humans were not yet on the brink of extinction anyway.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden’s head dropped, his gaze singing to the forest grounds once more. He had fallen silent for another chime before a half hearted chuckle escaped his lips. “You teach like he did,” Jaeden the said, finally looking back up to Caiyha, “strait and to the point. No coddling or sugar coating it, just right between the eyes.”

Jaeden slowly rose to his feet, letting out a slow exhale as his hands hung lazily at his sides. “It’s something I needed.” Jaeden then slowly reached out, grasping Woodland Wrath in his hand before holding it up in front of him. “I apologize if my hesitation in a decision offended you Caiyha. I guess I just felt a little overwhelmed, this has not been one of my better days. Still, Olevar once told me that when a God or Goddess offers you a gift, you don’t question it. You just accept it.”

Jaeden then felt a surge in his body happen as he held on to Woodland Wrath, an overwhelming sense of connection in a way. It was almost like the bond with a Kelvic, only there was no feelings being shared, no thoughts being tossed back and forth between him and the bow, only a sense that his life was linked to it, and it to him, as if he and the bow were one. It was a weird sensation, both enlightening and frightening at the same time. Slowly, vines began to slowly grow out from the surface of Woodland Wrath where Jaeden gripped it. They circled around Jaeden’s hand, slithering up his wrist and forearm, securing the bow to his gripped hand and forming a wrist guard that archers often wore to prevent welts when firing a bow. Jaeden’s gaze then fell to Caiyha once more as he lowered Woodland Wrath to his side. “So, any last words of advice for me before I set out after the alien? Aside from, “Don‘t miss“ of course.” Jaeden then said, tilting his head slightly, a little of his light hearted nature surfacing, if only for a moment. “I don’t suppose I have any bargaining room to petition for your Mark as a result of that intelligence and surviving up to this point?”

[Tarot]

Caiyha pondered Jaeden's questions for a moment after he finally took the bow. "Keep it in your line of sight at all times. It possesses a shard of divinity that will let it cheat reality when unseen, as you have witnessed. Also, do not let it damage Woodland Wrath. I think you know the reason why." The goddess listened, half-incredulous, as the man mentioned gnosis marks and petitioned to her for one. He probably wasn't entirely serious about it, but still, he was collecting gaffes with the pantheon like other men would collect stamps or pottery. She nodded firmly. "Actually, yes. I might just as well mark you while I am at it." She extended her hand and touched him on the back of the hand, making it tingle with the power of her proximity. She looked at him in the eyes, intently. "You did not specify which type you wished to receive, so I took the liberty of giving you a negative mark." She turned around and started walking away. She turned her head after three steps. "Just kidding," she said with a perfectly straight face. Indeed, there was no mark on Jaeden's hand, though the tingling would remain for a few seconds still. "For this once, at least." And so, she walked away, quickly disappearing behind the nearest tree. Here was a goddess with a peculiar, and slightly unsettling, sense of the dramatic and the humorous. Before Jaeden could even realize it, silence had fallen upon what had been Olevar's old camp. He was alone again, the Journeyman retracing its steps and walking on its own footprints once more. The man knew where he was going to find it, so he had the advantage in a way, though it was an edge given to him by his opponent's own nature. How much of an advantage it would be remained to be seen. Of course, he could try and escape too - or carry out any sort of plan he might devise. It was just him and the Journeyman, and one of them would not survive this.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden felt the tingle along his skin where the goddess had touched him, and as she spoke the words, those words of being given a cursing mark by the Goddess, he would have been lying had he said that his heart didn’t skip a beat at that moment. A soft exhale escaped him then as his eyes closed and his head lowered in relief after Caiyha had mentioned that she had been kidding. Jaeden took a soft lean along the tree, finally looking back up at her. “A sense of humor, that’s good to know.” Jaeden said as he pushed himself off of his lean. “I guess this is a valuable lesson in not pushing my luck.”

Jaeden then looked away, his gaze falling along the path of the Journeyman for a moment, remembering Caiyha’s instruction about that spark of divinity. “Suppose it’s watching us right n..” Jaeden then was halted in his sentence when he looked back to find Caiyha gone. “Well, guess that concludes discussions.”

Jaeden then simply began to move down that same path, his feet carrying him a little quicker. This time, as he traveled, he would pause ever couple of hundred yards. His slid Woodland Wrath between his back and the pack, Small vines began to grow out from the shaft of the divine bow, wrapping around Jaeden and securing itself to him. Already the pair seemed to be so intertwined, the bow simply reacting to Jaeden’s motions. now

Jaeden took this time around the area to create his first trap, a lifting snare. It meant using most of his rope, and pulling a heavy limb of the tree down as the lifter. The whole thing was a little sloppy, taking only about ten chimes to complete. It would be easily seen, but having it concealed wasn’t entirely the point. Chances were, if Jaeden failed to fell the Journeyman with his first shot, he would be back stepping then, keeping himself at a comfortable distance while keeping his eyes on the Journeyman. It took longer to fire a shot from Woodland Wrath itself, so in the event he wasn’t being watched by the Journeyman now, he hoped that the traps would slow the Journeyman down enough for him to get in another shot.

Two more where built along the way before Jaeden finally reached over his shoulder, pulling Woodland Wrath free once again. The vines grew out, encircling his wrist and hand, wrapping themselves completely around until his wrist was entirely covered and guarded. A slow exhale was then taken as Jaeden began walking forward, his gaze flowing down to the ground, checking the tracks to make sure that the Journeyman was still indeed following the same path. His heart began to race a little, his nerves rattled just a bit. He had the weapon to take this creature down, but he began to question whether he was good enough shot to complete the task on the first try.

His feet carried him a little quicker, and he began to wonder why. Was it the need to survive? The urge to make sure that no one else would fall victim to the Journeyman? Or was it purely simple revenge? Even Jaeden wasn‘t sure at that point. His best prospect in this encounter was that he would lose a year of his life minimum, and he wasn‘t sure what drove him to sacrifice that year so readily now. In the end, however, he knew this was an inevitable conflict that would need resolution.

[Tarot]

There was no need for Jaeden to predict where the Journeyman had gone, or even read its tracks. There was no need because this was playing out exactly like the first time, and the creature was walking on its own footprints with no deviation whatsoever. Difficult to say what drove the monster to act the way it did, and what it hoped to achieve by replaying the encounter from scratch. Then again, its mindset was as far removed from that of a Mizaharian as it could possibly be. Jaeden would most likely never receive an explanation. Who knew what Olevar had gone through that he'd never shared with his pupil? What mattered was the monster was very powerful, but quirky. Its idiosyncrasies may very well be the one thing on the man's side. The traps were set up hastily but still with a degree of competence. They looked good enough to be relied upon in times of need, and Jaeden moved on. As he traveled across the woods, he felt like the entire ecosystem of the forest was cheering him on to vanquish the intruder from another world. Maybe it was the touch of Woodland Wrath, maybe his imagination. He probably knew full well where he'd find the Journeyman. In keeping with the general sense of dejà vu, he caught up to the monster just as the woods thinned out and broke into the large glade from before. He himself was standing very close to where he'd been the first time when he'd fired his arrow at the creature. This time, however, it turned around in advance, before Jaeden could line his shot. Something had changed, after all. Separated by no more than a few dozen yards, the hunter and the prey - whoever was what - faced each other in a memorable standoff. The skin on the monster's face began to crack and fall, revealing another visage underneath. Still mouthless, pupilless and grey… but unmistakeable in its features. It was Olevar's face that the monster had stolen in the ultimate act of taunting. Filaments waving lazily in the breeze, the creature stood motionless staring at the human. The quiet before the storm.