PM to join A ghost from the past

[Vick]

[Timestamp: Leaving to Thomas]

The young child just stood and watched from a distance at the fountain. He heard the rumours and really saw the effects it had given people but he would not dare mess with powers like that. For he may have looked young but he was far older and thought a bit wiser compared to the other children in the city.

His outfit was still simple as could be however and almost stood out compared to the fashion of others near him. Brown shirt with black pants and a robe over it. His black hair parted just a bit from his eyes as his dull faded blue eyes just looked about without ever blinking. Something he forgot to do after being around his own kind for so long.

He still was not sure what made him leave the island. He had become a master of his craft and yet he started to find himself just going in the same steps as the other older nuits. It was at that point he had to force himself to get up and leave his home behind before he took the risk of wasting away.

His black fingertips were touching his dark blue lips as he thought about his life until now. He always told himself he would become the Master of the island but yet here he was in a land lost to him. He had very little in terms of money and still had no place to go besides an inn. He hated to tell himself but he was homesick on some level. How he missed the waters of Sahova and the sounds of the dead.

He took his tools, projects that he worked on and just left. Even now he had everything in a simple bag in the inn he was staying at but he felt so alone and so very wounded right now. Even being 206 years old he never did master his feelings of his soul. Countless nights he found himself doubting even his most basic thoughts as he would just lay under water having debates in his head.

Was it due to he missed being human? Could it have been due to he never did get the companionship he wanted when he lived at the island? Maybe it was due to just a simple need for something he could not even place his fingers on. The words and tainted promises of power made him into who he was today. Would he change anything at all? No it was a silly question he told himself. He may have left the island but he was still himself. Maybe.

He had to focus. He had to take control of what he was doing and what he would do. He was not a simple minded child in the end of the day. His unblinking eyes looked about. He could still make a plan and do what he was best at in this new land. He just had to try to find what he could use. After all bones could be found almost anywhere but besides that he could focus his other talents.

At least that was the plan until his eyes caught a figure he thought he would never see in this lifetime or the next again. If he had a heart it would skip a beat as his dark blue lips twisted into a smile. Let’s play a game he thought as he stood still as the grave. Waiting.

[Thomas Cosa]

34th of Spring

He came to stare at the fountain, as he'd done the past several days.

Thomas had heard rumors of other people, less fortunate than himself, struck with random oddities, no magic per say, but certainly the result of something preternatural. People who glided instead of walked, that glowed with a cheapened pattern of the night sky. The Towers too, had apparently taken in those who'd been exposed to whatever inspired these changes, at least those who'd shown new talent in their magical specialities. The later were significantly luckier than Thomas, whose new magic, still unknown, wasn't encouraged or taught by anyone he'd met.

He'd heard other rumors too, ones that placed the blame or the blessing on the fountain before him. Thomas hadn't believed it at first, not wanting to belive he'd be so stupid as to fall prey for something that played with a population he considered sub at best. Still, he came, he cast his magic like a net, and waited and observed for anything. The first day, he'd seen nothing. The second day he saw nothing, and the same on the third and the fourth and the fifth, and every day since. Still, everyday he came, and stared. She, the woman whose features were carved delicately and permantely into marble, had at first seemed like any other statue he'd seen before; boring, pretty, and entirely useless.

Then, his opinion changed.

The more he visited, the more she began to seem like someone. The way she'd been carved, the sheer impressive volume of the project, the attention to detail, the way her smile seemed to change in certain light, how sometimes she seemed to start back at him, almost daring him to do something, anything; all of it reminded him of the statues that had decorated the Vestibule back on the Citadel. This rembrance, more than any rumor, brought him back.

Again Thomas found himself staring obviously, and without care to anyone else, at the fountain. His magic was cast and thrown, waiting as patiently as he could for her to miscalculate, to error, to show herself for anything but the mundane statue she appeared.

It wasn't uncommon for his magic to brush against the familiar, a silent blush of warmth that signaled some student, another professor or resident of the Dusk Tower, or even an odd stranger that had interested him enough to cast a spell. He'd grown use to these occurrences and, given his own nature, adept at ignoring the majority of these auras. The scent and feel of creeping death, the thick permanence of a Nuit's unseating aura was however, unusual. Realizing he recognized the Nuit in question, was enough to throw him, and his Auristics into a panic.

His magic reacted quicker than his body, freezing in his shock before buzzing in a panic, dancing around and in the aura, unable to decide whether it wanted to examine or flee. Thomas was still frozen, his hands, clinging to the point of blooding his fingers with light scratches, stuck to the wooden bench he'd sat on. The wizard would, unfortunately, always and forever remember the mulled yellow of Vick's aura, the pronounced smell of death and youth mixed together.

Closing his magic on the Nuit, he pressed forward, determinded to not show fear, at least outwardly. A million and one scenarios screamed in his head, each one more than the last. The only thing that kept him moving forward, closer and closer to the dead child, was the fact that he'd been brought here by Ald'gare, and that foolishly or not, he trusted the Dusk Tower to protect their interests.

"I would have hoped, that once I left the Citadel, I wouldn't have the misfortune to see you ever again, Master Vick," his voice played heavily on the word 'master', placing all his disgust, his hatred, on one single word, the rest of the sentence almost sounding polite. "But I suppose I wouldn't be so lucky. Life and Fate seem almost determined to make me miserable," he added, his usual self-importance not leaving him even in his panic.

"I do wonder, though, what brings the Master of Bones so Far East?" Thomas asked, his magic covering the dead body with a clinging obsession. This creature was far older than he, and an obvious threat, even if is current body didn't seem it. He was not so much a fool as to knowingly allow Vick to walk around Lhavit without at least attempting to figure out why.

Not that he could do much about it. Nuits, especially Sahovan masters, tended to do what they wanted.

[Vick]

It would look like such an odd sight Vick thought if one would look at the two figures from the outside of their past. Vick just a little boy in a robe as if it was a toy due to the longer sleeves but it clinged to his thin body like a cover if he was in bed. Yet compared to the figure in front of him, Thomas, it was an odd sight due to he was at least 6 feet tall even if he was more lanky and starved looking. His eyes still held the same tired look but at the same time as Vick thought as he looked at him he looked better compared to his time on the island.

How many times did Vick and Thomas meet on the island of nightmares? He could not remember but he did remember the feelings they held towards each other. If they were on the island Vick would just pass him by and give an idle, or less of an idle, threat and move on but they were far from that time and place.

It had been a few years since he saw Thomas. He could be a danger now and he had the upper hand now. Was his toys nearby? Did he create something new and more of a danger compared to Vick’s creations? So many questions moved in his mind as Thomas spoke.

If Vick held the same passion and drive overtime in the island he would at least be skilled enough just to send the human and the area into the void but he fell into the trap of time and was not skilled with Voiding magic to that point yet. At least not without help, If Vick held his suit of armour he would not be worried but at that point Thomas would not risk getting close to him. Options were not high as his thoughts moved between everything.

“Thomas. It would seem no matter where we go the gods would want us to have our dance.”

His voice was soft and breaking at times as if he did not speak for a very long time. The words however were not in the common tongue but of the Ancient tongue that Vick grew up with.

Vick was careful not to draw forth his Djed and fuel his magic like he would in the past. He had to be careful as he knew his next few steps of this dance would mean a lot. He was not sure if Thomas would risk attacking him or not but the more worrying thought was that Vick was not sure if he would win if a fight would break out. Not here. Not now. He would have to be careful and think as if he was a new member and not a Master of the island.

“Now. No one knows of who I am here. I rather that the past was kept in the past for I am not the Master of Bones here. Away from my home and away from the rules of our land.”

The little child stood very stood. Not even showing signs of breathing or blinking his eyes as his light blue looked at Thomas’s black eyes. He had to wonder if the saying was true, eyes were the windows to the soul, what their souls would be. Vick was far from innocent after all.

“I am not here to hurt you. I am not here to hurt anyone really. As for why I am here...I am not sure. I just had to leave and try to start over.”

His voice sounded so distant as he locked his eyes with Thomas. Distant and alone as if layers over his soul were coming undone slightly. Thomas knew what it was like. Yet could he understand what it meant to go to that place so young and so naive? How it would twist and mold someone with ease. Did it even matter right now?


“Tell me Thomas. Why are you here of all places?”

He wanted to ask him what now but he would hold off on trying to figure out what they would do. With luck no one would die today and a fight would not break out. Would this place even understand what a Sahovan Master could do with time? At least would anyone understand that besides Thomas?

[Thomas Cosa]

His magic weaved deeper into Vick's aura, cross-crossing and patching over. He was desperate as he directing his magic, him a needle and his spell the thread. Thomas was focused, torn between quietly listening to the Nuit speak his piece and conducting his Auristics, knowing more than ever he couldn't error. Not here, not with the child-corpse. A mistake, something as simple as an oversight, could see him dead or worse.

He winced at the Nuit's tongue, the ancient language no longer sounding as sweet and innocuous as it once had. It represented everything he'd left, everything he'd suffered. Still, it was a reminder of everything he'd lost. The resources unspent and golems unbuilt. It was entirely unpleasant hearing the dead language again.

But he could speak it. For Vick he would, he would stumble through, but he would managed. Thomas refused to be seen as anything lesser, his pride, even so far from the Citadel, demanded it.

"I should believe you? That you intend to do me no harm?" He laughed softly, a sweet hiss that promised an entirety of disbelief. It was funny, how he'd one discounted the Master for less than him. It'd been his body, the boy he worn like a sleeve, that'd tricked him. Wide-eyed and dead, Thomas had only seen naïveté. He'd seen apparent youth. He'd been fooled, and mercilessly punished for his idiocy. Whatever Vick promised now, he wouldn't be the fool again. "You wish that I believe you left everything, just like that? So easily?," he paused, his questions pointed, thrown like daggers. His magic scoured the aura for anything that would prove the Nuit a liar, any smoke that would signal the danger. Nothing, yet. "You must forgive me, Master Vick. Sahova only values the strong and able. Aren't you only a product of that? And something changed so much in you that you simply left?" His disbelief was palpable, thickening the air with his panic and stress. Thomas was never one to hide his emotions, and that quality was only magnified once he left Sahova. No longer was he forced to play diplomacy with the dead, and so he didn't.

They had tried to silence him, his emotions, his colors, and for a time it worked. Now, so far away, he refused any idea of silence. Anything he felt now was louder than before, than ever.

"I never choose to leave, like you apparently," Thomas sneered, daring to show his anger. There were too many witnesses for him to feel truly scared. Let the boy-Nuit kill him, so Lhavit would try and tear Vick to shreads. This city, despite it's faults, would at least promise him justice. "I upset people, enough people or powerful people enough to where even Mashaen couldn't protect me. They couldn't allow me to study in silence, they couldn't even grant me the dignity to choose to leave on my own," he hissed, his hands balled up tightly, his nails digging into his skin, "I was expelled. I barely made it here, after rumors of a supposed Utopia," he allowed himself a smile, quite proud with his lie so far. Yes, he'd been expelled, and while it believed it to be because of his open alliance and admiration on Mashaen, Qiao be damned, he knew it was in part because of his lack of contribution to Sahova. His time had simply been up. And further, he lied about the why he'd been brought to Lhavit. No need for the dead to know his secrets.

"Lhavit isn't a Utopia. But I can practice here, freely. Not like on Sahova, but still," he shrugged, still glaring right into the ice blue of the Nuit's eyes. What a scandal, even after all these years, to see such an old creature locked up in a child's body.

"Have you heard about the fountain?" Thomas asked, after several ticks of silence. He might be able to get an answer or two out of Vick before he left, alerting everyone to his presence. "What it does to people?" he hinted, his eyes briefly lit by curiosity. Perhaps, perhaps should be so lucky, he might get an answer about his new magic from Vick. If anyone knew what he was manifesting, why reality decided to split so suddenly around him, it would be a Sahova master.

[Vick]

Memories rushed back to him of the encounters with Thomas in the halls of the dead. Thomas did discredit Vick by sight but so many people did it would seem or at least at the start of his life in Sahova. When Thomas had met Vick he had been in the island for so long.

It was when Vick had met Rayage that changed everything. Vick had worked with the other master and Thomas but at the end Vick and Thomas fought. Vick would just say it was a test of his new item but Thomas most likely saw it as something else. Would Vick say he did not enjoy the rush of power and being in control? No he did enjoy it. It was a drug and when the undead could not take most drugs he would take the rush where he could get it. It was one of the reasons he thought why nuits turned out to be cruel or maybe it was just him.

Yet even with all his faults, his broken soul and lost innocents he always held to one truth and that was not to lie. Be it to other Masters or even Plusers he would always tell them the truth of the matter even if that was something they did not want to hear. In Sahova Vick would use people as toys and toss them to the side but he always told them that before the fact and at the time when it came to that point.

“I have..never lied to you Thomas nor do I plan to break one of my traits and start to lie. I have my Zapatl items in this city I will give that but I do not have them on me. If I wanted to hurt you why would I not even have one of my items of creation at all times?”

It was a simple question but more so of a statement. Even on the island Vick was known to have something on him even if that something was in the making still. It did not matter his status or even the golems as they both knew the rules of Sahova were different behind the walls. What was a simple wizard even someone like Vick to get out of the way? Simple fire blast or a void would finish him off and none would be the wiser or even care.

Yet Thomas and Vick knew nothing of each others past. Maybe Vick would share later if they could come to something of terms where they would not kill each other but that bridge may have been burnt long ago. It was not like Vick could just have a cold drink in a bar with him.

“I have seen it and what it does...Granted I have not been able to really do any type of research into it or the history of this city but if I would to start I would want to see how it reacts to different forms of magic. Maybe have someone examine the water in more depth or see if it has the same impact on animals. That would let me know if the the powers has an impact on the soul or the body.”

If Vick was good at one thing it was magical information. He spent his time having to research so much about the magical side of life even formed his own books about his craft and theories of people learning more than one magic.

“If it just impacts the body I would think people would lose the powers overtime but the problem is if it impacts the soul. When you learn any form of magic it scars you on some level. That scar you won’t notice at first or even in your lifetime but it marks you forever on some level. It’s why it’s so hard to make a wizard forget or stop using magic. Yet like I said it’s just an idea so far without researching it. I have more but I am sure I will start to bore you.”

When he talked this time since Thomas’s outrage Vick did something different. He spoke in the common tongue even if it was using more simple terms and a bit slower but his eyes almost lit up as he talked about what could be going on. It was almost clear as day he wanted to research the reason and the source why this was taking place but he did not for clear reasons of it being a new city and he would not be sure how the city would take to a wizard wanting to do live research.

It also was clear on his face he was forming new ideas as he looked upon it. Yet the question was to be if he would share his ideas fully? Only time would tell it would seem.

[Thomas Cosa]

His magic swirled around the corpse-child, tentative as it breached into it's yellow, sour depths. Thomas was nervous, wary of Vick, and his magic reflected that; it danced, flitting in and out, only daring to risk the clammy cold of Vick's aura for only the brightest and most pronounced colors. He was desperately curious, though, about Vick's sudden appearance, about Sahova, and more importantly, what Vick thought about the mystery of the fountain.

"I've become much more able with Auristics since I left Sahova," Thomas started, still carefully watching the Nuit's aura. "I would have seen your legacies if you carried them on you a mile away," his voice was static, serious. There was no self indulgence, no time or reason to prove himself. Vick knew exactly where he stood, and Thomas could only prove he could defend himself, "And while I may not neccesarily believe you, you seem to anyway," Thomas concluded, his words slipping into a conceding sigh. He was confident Vick could hurt him, kill him, even without his creations. Magic or not, you don't simply get to become a Master of Sahova. Amaryllis herself hadn't any magic, not that Thomas knew of anyway, and she'd managed enough influence and sway to make herself a dangerous threat. Only an idiot would think Vick harmless.

"What if I could offer you a test subject?" he asked, a thought bubbling into his consciousness. It was a risk, but this new magic, whatever it was, was just as much a threat to him as Vick was, perhaps even more. At least Vick didn't follow him around the whole city, threatening to rip open reality at a whim. "I know someone, who's been affected," Thomas started, deciding opening with a question might be a smarter thing, "I don't recognize their magic, something with portals? Black holes that show some kind of oblivion?"

As much as he hated to admit it, the Nuit had a point. Observation hadn't helped him at all, so maybe experimentation would.

[Vick]

e


Vick was trying to turn a new leaf and yet Thomas was already offering him test subjects. It like giving a drug addict more drugs when they were trying to become clean. Yet in the end he would give in the lure of having a test subject if it meant learning more about what was going on and he had a feeling Thomas knew that otherwise he would not offer it up. Or Thomas was very worried and had no one else to turn to. Either way it placed Vick in an odd position but one that he would look into.

When Thomas spoke of the magic Vick’s eyes lit up. He knew of the magic for a few reasons. One being the island, one study, another seeing it in action and the biggest was that he could perform the magic himself but it would seem either Thomas or the test subject had no clue what it was.

“Where is the test subject? I would be willing to look into it and help however I would need more information. A lot more and you and the test subject would have to trust in what I try and do.”

His eyes turned to meet his. Vick normally holds the tone of a child or singsong type voice yet this type his voice held a solid edge that made him feel far older but Vick was not joking or playing any games with what was going on. This type of magical issue was a rather large deal to the nuit and he was very worried about it. Vick could not just tell Thomas just how corcen he was due to their past but Vick knew his aura and voice would tell everything he would need to know.

“That magic does ring a bell. Back in the year, 310 AV I had forced myself to learn what the island had to offer. In doing so my task in the day was research and I had to learn and understand all forms of magic. Yet like I said while that magic on how you explain it before I help I want your promise that you will not attack me or have the city attack me. Along with the test subject.”

For the first time Vick gave a hint just on how old he was with that date. Vick never shared that detail with anyone before for he kept his age a hidden secret along with the depth of his skills. It was just another sign of him being worried with the situation at hand.

It was now for Thomas to either agree to the terms or do something else but Vick had to understand more and a part of him knew Thomas had to understand more as well before the city was filled with rogue mages that could not control magic.







e

[Thomas Cosa]

Thomas guessed that Vick wouldn't refuse him, and the sudden glimmer in his sickly off-yellow aura only embolden him. It was a risk offering himself as a test subject, but Lhavit offered him a protection that Sahova hadn't; utopia, illusion or not, guaranteed he wouldn't die, or that at least, if Vick killed him, Vick would die, too. It was unnatural to trust people, at least individually, but Thomas had long since discovered how suffocatingly people cling to their ideals and supposed truths. Lhavit, above all, loved justice and equality. These ideals protected him better than any spell could, at least against something like a Sahova Nuit.

"It's me. Or I'm me. I mean, I have the magic," he confessed, his words suddenly clumsy, too eager for answers. Thomas couldn't pretend any longer, he refused to chance his own survival because of his own suspicion. Vick could be lying, it could be a trap, he could be enslaved, or killed. This new magic could kill him too, for all he knew. At least Vick promised information, which is more than Thomas had found on his own.

"I won't harm you, obviously," Thomas almost laughed, although the idea wasn't that ludiacris. Had he been better prepared, he would have risked it. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do much against Vick other than physically into the fountain, and giving the Nuit more magic wasn't something he thought particularly wise. "And you flatter me, suggesting I have enough sway in this city to suggest that it harm, or protect you. I can't promise you that," he watched, his magic engulfing the child-corpse's aura, sucking at it's aura, wanting to be more than aware. Auristics was the only way he could protect himself, at least now.

"So, how about it? Will you help me?"

[Vick]

It was a cruel joke. It just had to be Vick thought as he heard who the test subject was. He would have wanted anyone besides Thomas as it would mean they would either have to build something of trust or kill each other later.

Vick moved his dead chest up and down as he started to push air inside his body as he started to breath. His unblinking eyes looking upon Thomas. This would not be fun or fair to any of them Vick thought as he focused upon the depths of his soul as he started to channel his Djed.

“I will but first I need you to understand. Over the years, I have learned different forms of magic but beyond that I have studied magic in detail as much as I could without having to force myself to learn it. What you have is simple even if it can kill you, others or even cities down the road by mistake.”

As he spoke he felt that spark of life and pull of magic. It was not secret that he preferred to use his hands and craft artifacts by hand to give people magical effects but this was far different. This was cold and without mercy. The Void would take all and what it did not kill would keep trapped forever.

A small spark flared in the air between them. It just took a bit as that spark grew into a dark black fist-sized tear in the air forming what looked like a portal. Clearly out of place in the world but this is what magic was in the end. Vick felt the tug of his djed pooling into the portal to give it fuel as he looked at the human.

“This. This is called Voiding. It forces a tear for you to send or summon thing from the void. It can either be trash or creations you can’t kill.”

Vick said as he cut the flow of magic to the portal as it closed in a blink of an eye. He felt the drain on himself but he knew now of all times he would have to learn more of this magic himself both to help and to gain the upper hand when it came to Thomas.

“One of my first ideas I had with this power was to trap my office back on the island. Send everything to the void if I could not save it. Even if it meant my death as while I can live in the void I would not be able to get out as easy. Few things manage that.”

His tone of voice was plain almost as he did his best to hide his emotions from Thomas. Even if he knew that would be pointless since he could assume he was being watched by him in a different manner.

Vick turned and moved to the fountain as he looked back to make sure Thomas was coming with him. It would look like such an odd sight to see a small child walk next to the tall human but Vick had no issue with looking like an odd sight.

“Has any research been done by the city to understand this magic? When did you get the power of the void? When does it trigger? Does it trigger when you are sleeping or only when you are awake?”

Vick had so many questions but it would just be time before he understood more about what was taking place. Would Vick dare to drink from it to understand it more? At first, he told himself he would not but maybe now would be a different story.

*Credit goes to Tanith Sitai

[Thomas Cosa]

Thomas felt sick.

A rush of cold swamped him, settling into his bones as he watched Vick cast. The Nuit's magic crawled, pushing everything away from some seemingly random spot. It pushed in small waves, at first, almost stable in it's rhythm. Steady ripples bloomed, black and empty, pulsing with a sudden injection of emptiness. The wizard already knew what was happening, his soul well familiar with the spell that was splitting reality down the middle.

He sucked in his breath in shock and panic as the portal sprouted from VIck's will.

Voiding. The name felt right, and suddenly, a spark of hunger caught him, reaching out into his river of fear. His own spell had broken, the world settling back to how it seemed, but he was still frozen in his spot. When VIck ended the spell, a sudden feeling of victory, of finality overcame him; he had a name now, for whatever he did, now he could protect himself.

"Not that I know of, you'll find this city's approach to magic more spiritual than Sahova," he sputtered, slowly collecting his mind. Vick, once again, was in the more favorable position. The corpse was his only hope to learn to control whatever was happening to him. "I would have been surprised if anyone had bothered -- most people seem satisfied to pray for answers," he snorted, believing the gods would offer help to those who worked for it. Avalis may have marked him, and guided him, but Thomas thought she allowed him full control over his own destiny. She wasn't going to carry him towards greatness, anymore than Vick would. "The magic first manifested bells after I drank from the fountain, the supposed source of everything going wrong in this city. It manifest whenever, sleeping or awake. It seems to cast itself more readily when I'm using personal magic, which I've tended to avoid - had I not met you, I wouldn't have risked it, you understand," he added a small shrug. He doubted the Nuit would blame him, all things considering. Vick had lived on the CItadel longer than I.

"I would ask more about the magic, but my main concern is control. Learning how to manifest it at will, as well as to dismiss the portal. Do you think you can help me with that? I will, obviously, do what you think best. You have more expertise in personal magic than I," he admitted, praying he wasn't making a mistake.