Last Day of Summer

by **Meville Brightshade** on August 29th, 2013, 6:02 pm

The ninety-first day of Summer, A.V. 513

Mail wasn't usually something Meville received. The main reason for his lack of reciprocated correspondence was due to his extreme lack of both individuals to send to and letters ever written. Thus, when the knock on his door revealed there was a letter addressed to him, Meville found the whole thing very unusual. Exciting, yes, but the oddity of the whole situation instilled an easy wariness that only increased the longer he sat and stared at the thick, weather stained envelope.

The return address was missing, or rather it had never been written down at all. The only words on the letter's casing described his place of residence. Not even his own name had been written on the delivery line, though he supposed that wasn't nearly as odd and him receiving something in the first place. He chewed upon his lower lip, lost in speculation over who might have sent it, what it could contain, and why it had been delivered on the fateful final day of summer. It was a bit poetic, really, for him to receive and mysterious message from some farway land; perhaps filled with lost knowledge, a declaration of love, long lost relatives sending him inordinate amounts of Mizas or money of the like... Alternatively, the thing could have just been addressed to the wrong place, making his nervous musings a waste of time and energy.

Still, though a myriad of possibilities flew through his mind with each passing tick, Meville remained inert in his cross-legged position upon the floor of his living area. Once the seal was broken, the letter would no longer contain all the possibilities of his imaginings. It would simple be whatever it was. After a long bout of silence, Meville finally took the envelop up into his hands and glared down and the neat, swooping scrawl before him. The handwriting was as familiar as receiving mail. With a deep breath, Meville turned it over and quickly slit the fold open with a sharp movement of his hand across it. The paper made a satisfying tearing noise, declaring it had, indeed, yielded to his assault.

With delicate handling, Meville's fingers gently pulled free the several pages of once more neatly scrawled writing. They were held together by twine at the top left corner, tied into a tidy little bow. Upon first glance, it seemed he'd received an anonymous declaration of love, but the very first sentence tore a deep, irreparable hole into that hypothesis.

Common | Vani

by **Meville Brightshade** on October 28th, 2013, 3:54 am

My dearest Tomas,
It has been some time since was last spoke. I fear my affections for you have only grown since you left rather than fade and wither as you had promised they would. I think of you daily. Not a sun sets nor moon rises when my heart is not rent asunder as not the fiery Syna nor chilly Leth looks down upon me, but your own, wondrous visage. I cannot bear it any longer. While I write this, tears stream down my face, for I know you would not have me do so as I am doing now, yet I must. I must pen both my heart and my mind onto this parchment that you may receive my wishes and do with them as you will.

It has been many years since your timely departure, Tomas. Despite the passing time, nothing has changed. The unseen world of magic is as volatile to these people as it ever was. You were right to flee, but you were wrong to leave me behind. That slut you took with you in my stead, she will be your undoing. I have seen it in visions. She stands above you, blood running down her face as she tears at your dying flesh with those horribly, impossibly white teeth. She is a parasite, a monster most cunning who stole you from me and would do so once more with your own life. I could not protect you then, but I can warn you at the very least now. She is dangerous.

However, I digress. My jealousy - for that is the ugly truth of my innermost musings - is of no concern to you, but my warning still stands true. You of all should know my sight is not to be trifled with. There is more I have seen. These things trouble me even more than your own death, a possibility I would have never even been able to fathom had I not experienced it myself. You, yourself, are this great danger. I do not understand it myself, but you have become a hazard to yourself. Have you bent to the powers that you once wielded with such proficiency? I cannot imagine this to be the case, yet it is the only explanation I have been able to glean from my meditations.

I warn you now, breaking my vow of ignorance, that you might survive this darkness and rise triumphant over it.

by **Meville Brightshade** on October 28th, 2013, 4:16 am

Upon finishing the first page, Meville's face had fallen into a deep frown. The author's words were truly ominous in nature, especially when they were reinforced by the fact his father truly had perished by his own flesh and blood. Whatever the case, the writer seemed to have a gift of foresight, something Meville had never really stopped to consider if it was even possible. Perhaps the author knew the truth of what had happened, or perhaps it had all been guesses, uneasy feelings, and restless dreams. In any case, it was more than enough to set his heart beating at an agitated rate, sending the blood coursing through his veins, whipping through the narrow passageways like tongues of flame. It was even possible the one who had penned the letter knew the truth of what had happened.

Gritting his teeth, Meville dropped the page to his side, letting the glide down upon the chilly air of his cabin until coming to rest with a quiet bush against the floor. His blue eyes bored holes into the the remaining pages he'd already freed from the connection of the twine. There were three more letters left. From what he could tell without reading them, the paper had a different quality to it with each one, presumably written at different times, gathered together, and sent as one. His hand had tensed so much that it now clenched the papers, crinkling them in the corner upon which his grip held dominion over. Inhaling a quick breath in an attempt to calm himself, Meville forced his hand to relax somewhat, letting the paper crinkle back into a form closer to what it had started in.

Common | Vani

by **Meville Brightshade** on October 28th, 2013, 4:31 am

My dearest Tomas,
Gods forgive me, I could not send my letter! I had meant to warn you, prepare you for what was to come, prevent it even, yet I faltered. By Oath, I am bound lest the consequence of my disobedience be realized, yet I find myself struggling ever more with my need to contact you. You cannot even begin to imagine the agony I feel each night in my dreams. Your death is the only thing I can see, over and over again it replays in my head such that I feel as though my mind is shattering before the sheer weight of the scene.

Perhaps I am too late. My inaction has led me to allow that which I had most hoped to be a falsity to become a truth.

No. No I cannot think such things as these, lest my heart burst into a thousands miserable pieces. I believe you do yet live on. These foreboding thoughts are temptations to break the promise I gave you so long ago. Long did I waver between sending my previous letter, but I could not allow myself to divulge the location of your retreat. Tomas! Tomas I no longer know what to do! Every night my slumber is interrupted by your dying screams, by that strange darkness that emanates from within you. I write and a scream right along with you, for I am as helpless to come to your aid as a babe. And like a babe, I can only cry and suck upon my thumb in hopes you might save yourself.

They came. I thought you should know. I do not know why I did not tell you before, but I am sure you knew. That was why you left without me, was it not? You thought me a traitor. I cannot blame you. Your intuition was correct, at least in the sense that I had indeed been visited and questioned. Even then, even before the Oath, I would not have divulged a single vestige of what they might have wanted to know. While I do not hold this against you, I thought you should know they returned today. Why for, I cannot say. I honestly do not remember most of it as it was during the middle of the night, and I was too disoriented to properly gauge what was happening. They were looking for your old things, I'm sure. But why now? What could they possible hope to find?

I shall send this, and the latter letter to you in the morning. May they find you in good health and better spirits than I.

by **Meville Brightshade** on November 19th, 2013, 10:17 pm

The handwriting was slightly more loopy, as if the writer had trouble keeping the characters tight together as they had been in the last. The message itself was far less ominous, though just as filled with the writer's pain and confusion. Meville could only frown with disgust at the words slanted across the second page of parchment. The woman - or, doubtfully, man - was completely and utterly infatuated with his father, far more fanatical than Alira had been in her own personal writings. It should have been a terrifying sort of affection, but Meville had little room in his heart for fear when it came to his father or anything that professed a love of him.

Still, there was the mysterious "they" and "them" the writer spoke of. His father had left her behind, and if he believed her to be a traitor... Yet she refused to admit actually committing the act, though not the chance to do so. It was highly unlikely the author would have done such a thing, but Meville had never known his father to much of a rational thinker. If he believed he had been betrayed for whatever reason, he would have wasted little time in dealing with the act of impudence. But "they" had returned recently? The letter could not have been written entirely too long ago, which meant the were investigating years after Tomas had fled his previous life.

Now that he thought about it, Meville had no idea why his father had left his homeland. There was little indication of it in Alira's journal, likely because she had no idea the true reason they had so quickly eloped to Avanthal. Still, Meville's curiosity was growing, despite his distaste for the author's choice of vocabulary when it came to personal suffering and infatuation. Perhaps there would be more if he read on.

Letting the second letter fall to join the first on the floor, his eyes started onto the next, chewing softly on his bottom lip as he began.

Common | Vani

by **Meville Brightshade** on November 19th, 2013, 10:26 pm

DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM ALL!

Those monsters, Tomas. They are all monsters. I have tried so hard and for so long, yet all my efforts are for naught. What I have believed to be true has been a lie this entire time. My whole life, nay my whole existence, is nothing more than a fading light in a sea of darkness. That darkness. Their darkness. Gods, I should have seen through this fallacy, this charade. I have been played the fool, but understand you me, I will not passively whither to nothing. No, quite the opposite. What they have taken from me I shall return them in full force.

They know about you too, you know. They have found you, though how I cannot even being to imagine. They have told me you are dead, wasted away in the wilderness that had once been your escape, but I do not believe them. I can feel you better than I can feel myself. Your soul is more mine than anything I might possess in this plane or any other. They are lying about your death, of this I am certain. Yet I cannot shake the ominous feeling that they truly do know your location. Not only that, but they know your past. I have heard them repeat it to me, their twisting smiles grinding on every nerve in my being. I cannot refute their claims, but I swear to you I have neither verified them. They are at a standstill. They can do nothing unless I confess in your stead to the actions you have taken, which will never happen. Never.

But I am tired. I have slept little these past months. I was finally able to send my last letters. I hope they found you safely, but I cannot send this one for some time. They are watching me closely.

And do not worry. They did not ascertain your location from the letters I sent. I sent them in the advised way.

by **Meville Brightshade** on November 19th, 2013, 10:29 pm

Again, the author alluded to his father's past. The superfluous reiterations of devotion and undying love were peeled away through analysis like a scab, allowing Meville to focus his attention upon the more pertinent facts he could glean. There was, of course, the mysterious "they" the writer referred to. The letter gave little hint as to what "they" might be, other than the mysterious "darkness" that was certainly either metaphor or code for something less abstract. The author had also been tricked - "played the fool" -, though what exactly that entailed, again, was too ambiguous to discern given the information made available to him. There was, however, the uncomfortable warning "they" knew where Tomas - and Meville by association - resided. It seemed the fanatical author wasn't about to give "them" the information needed for action, but Meville had doubts as to the writer's ability to stand firm to whatever code he or she followed.

Grimacing slightly at the final piece of parchment that held the last message intended for Tomas' eyes, Meville let out a slow breath, gathering himself. If the author's increasingly manic trend continued, he could only assume the final letter was going to be least pleasant to read. Whatever the author was struggling with was certainly going to be found in climax, and he wasn't looking forward to it. Yet, after having read the prior letters, it seemed the only possible way to get any kind of answer to all of his questions was to be found in the last note.

Grimacing, Meville took it up in his hands, letting his bright, blue eyes begin the slow decent across the block of text.

Common | Vani

by **Meville Brightshade** on December 1st, 2013, 10:09 am

DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM ALL!

You petching demon.

You did not truly believe I would never come to learn the truth of what was done here, did you? You were always the most intelligent man out of anyone here, so I cannot imagine you did not foresee my finding you out. Still, it took me longer than it should have. I am ashamed, but not so that I will not act to rectify this situation.

Who could have imagined it was you who killed those children. The animals were also your doing, I would wager. That poor man. You pushed all the blame onto him so effortlessly, to the point where everyone believed him to be the killer. How you must have gloated at your own slimy triumph that day he was burned. Gods, I can see you now, smiling up at that twisted, screaming wretch as his flesh was seared by those unfeeling waves of flame.

You think yourself safe in Avanthal, do you not? You think no man would venture that far from home to right a wrong done so long ago. You are correct in that. I told them everything once they finally divulged their information to me. Gods, Tomas, a creature of darkness is all that you are, nothing more. Even when I confessed in your stead to the atrocities you and I committed against humanity (mine unknowing but just as wrong), they took out their frustrations upon me, but only me. They did not wish to find you, punish you.

I will not be so lenient. It has been many years since I last wrote the other letters. I found them, you should know, in the appointed spot. Gods. How foolish I am. I was. I was foolish, but no longer.

I am coming for you, Tomas Brightshade, with a wrath that burns brighter and hotter than Syna's blaring face. You will pay for what you have done. You and that bitch will die by my hand, and my hand alone.

In case my name has escaped you,
With love,
Amelia Dodge

by **Meville Brightshade** on December 1st, 2013, 10:23 am

The final letter was nothing like Meville had expected. He stood silent and brooding, the paper gently pressed between his thumb and forefinger as the grinding cogs and gears of his thoughts filled the empty room with their noiseless business. Amelia Dodge, for one, was not a name he knew. It was as familiar as the sands of the south or the lake city of Ravok, or less even, as he'd heard of those places before. His mind had immediately switched focus onto the name, letting the other details fade slightly as he let himself filter through the various names of faces of all those he could recall. Not a single one had even a hint of the name in question.

She was coming to kill him.

A frustrated roar erupted from Meville as he slammed his fists down upon the wall behind him, tearing the note in the process. "Gods, woman! What could my father possibly have done to make you want to do something as irrational as killing his entire family?!" Another irritated shout. "What sort of demented she-beast even are you?! First you profess nothing but love and pathetic feelings of that nature for him, then you wish to kill him and his kin in cold blood? Madness! Madness!" Meville ran his hands through his hair in a nervous fashion, the letter having long ago fallen to the wooden floor.

"I don't even know when these blasted letters were even sent. She could already be here... She could-" His face immediately brightened. "She could have already come and gone. That's it. She's left already. The letters she maybe sent as an after thought?" Shaking slightly, Meville leaned against the wall once more, frowning. "No... That wouldn't make sense..." He stopped for a beat, trying to calm down some. "It was intended as a warning. She's probably not even here at the moment, en route most likely. I have time."

Grimacing at the strangely morbid sound of his words, Meville glared back at the letters. However long he had until Amelia arrived was uncertain, but when she came, he was going to have to be prepared. How, exactly, he wasn't sure, but for the time being he decided it was best to continue living his life as he would usually. There was no sense in getting worked up about something that was an eventuality regardless. Amelia would be looking for his father, which gave him the natural advantage. If he could identify her before she could him, then everything would go over just peachy. If not... Well.

Common | Vani

by **Una Tanta** on December 19th, 2013, 8:29 pm

~CONGRATULATIONS~

Meville :

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade please feel free to send me PM.

Solo Last Day of Summer