[Challenge] The Inequities of Life VI

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Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]

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[Challenge] The Inequities of Life VI

Postby Alric Lysane on October 30th, 2022, 9:23 pm

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26th Fall 522 AV – Mathias’ Place

“Nymkarta”

“Good morning Jade…you know my name is Alric right?”

“Yes”

“Don’t want to use my name? I mean I don’t call you ‘Gasvik’” he said, rolling onto his back and looking up at the emerald shine of the creature’s skin.

“Your name is not who you are”

“Ah…as direct and transparent as ever I see”

“Are you well? Mathias wants to see you. It is an important day”

“Yes…actually yes…I feel very well. Better than I have in some time I think”

“Have you been drinking? It is early” there was a hint of disapproval in Jade’s tone, just a small one"

“No…no I haven’t. I just…let’s just say I feel lighter than I have for a while. Some burdens should have been shrugged off some time ago”

“Finally. Mathias waits, I will tell him you are coming”

Alric took some time to look up at the sky, watching the colours change as Syna’s rays grew brighter and reached further. His head ached but there was a lightness to his spirit despite the mild hangover, something he had not felt in some time. Things weren’t perfect, not by a long shot, but he felt as if there were ways of moving forwards now. Possibilities…Xhyvas had ironically given him some more, even if he temporarily crippled him in some ways. Turning that around in his mind he briefly wondered whether the god had done so on purpose, seeing that he’d not stay on the ‘right’ path unless he had made sure of it.

I suppose I’ll never know…bastards. I still like Ionu better…Croix…mischievous bugger. I should really start channelling my inner part of him, he was fun in a dangerous kind of way. And Eyris…when was the last time I spoke to you, shared my thoughts and sought for wisdoms? There is much to change I think he mused to himself, letting the relaxation of the morning seep into him along with the warmth of Syna before levering himself up and to his feet.

It was a short walk to Mathias’s place and by now he knew it without having to look, instead keeping his eyes closed as a test, snorting to himself with amusement when the tip of his boots tapped the first step on the way up to the decking. Raking his fingers back through his hair he cradled the back of his head with both hands and sighed, looking up the stairs for a few moments before taking the first step up. The annoying bird was there already, of course, and Alric threw him some bait from the box to shrieks of delight. Then, for his own amusement, he conjured a rough duplicate of the bird by tapping into Ionu’s mark, watching as the bird suddenly started hopping round it, trying to figure it out, then fly away startled after passing right through it.

“You know you needn’t poke fun at them, they can’t help how they are made,” Mathias said from behind him, stepping up to stand beside him and watch the bird fly away, “though that one is quite annoying I grant you. Thank you for coming, I wanted to talk to you today, show you a few things”

“How to fish” Alric said with a small smile.

“Yes, how did you know?”

“I’m a god, we know these things”

“Is that so?” Mathias asked with raised eyebrows.

“I must be, I’m pretty sure I’ve lived half a lifetime in this one day. Well…maybe not that much, but if this carries on I might as well be immortal”

“You know if you don’t want to fish you don’t have to feign madness”

“Mathias…this is going to be a long story. Do you mind if we sit inside and maybe have a drink of something stiff and warm whilst I tell it? And promise not to just dismiss it out of hand?”

“This should be interesting. Very well, I’ll grab something spiced but not alcoholic, it is too early for hard stuff. Come on in”


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Alric Lysane
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[Challenge] The Inequities of Life VI

Postby Alric Lysane on November 1st, 2022, 6:38 am

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Mathias’ home was a delightful place, the Gasvik zipping around their heads or perching on their shoulders notwithstanding, and always put Alric at ease. It was comfortable yet not overly opulent, tidy but just cluttered enough to feel lived in. And it always had something interesting to look at every time he visited, something new being revealed on each occasion. This time he took a few chimes to gaze upon the Founder’s bookshelf whilst he fetched whatever he had in mind for sharing their time together. It was a collection of various tomes of knowledge, rolled up parchment and assorted items. Most of the items were being used to prop up the books – clearly the more valued items, at least at first glance. A strange cube caught his eye for a while, followed by some sort of bundle of feathers, a dagger and a candlestick that looked far more interesting than its role suggested.

“Find anything worth reading?”

“Everything is worth reading, though I was looking at the book stands really, you have an interesting collection”

“Things have a way of finding themselves here, where they are safe and sound until their time to return to the world comes. Same was for your blade. I like to think I’m just a keeper of sorts. Anyway, what was it you wanted to tell me then?”

“This will be quite unbelievable, and I still think you’ll not believe, but all I ask is that you toy with the idea with me for a time” Alric said, taking some cups from a side table and pouring a drink for them both from the bottle Mathias passed to him – it turned out to be some deliciously spiced fruity concoction, no doubt of Stu’s creation.

He took his time with the tale, trying to remember as many details about the days he had experienced as he could but no doubt forgetting many – he couldn’t even remember how many days there had been at this point. The main encounters, the ones that had left a mark or had seemed to help guide him, he included in their proper place and with the proper respect though. The sun had gone well past midday by the time he had finished talking, and the bottle was half empty, both of their pipes still smoking but refilled many times, and the Founder was quiet for a while as he puzzled upon what he had been told.

“You’re right, I’m not sure I’d believe that tale,” Mathias said eventually, Alric chuckling at that, “still…let’s assume it was true. Why do you think it is happening to you?”

“The gods have a sense of humour when it comes to my life?”

“You really believe that?”

“No…I am not so important really. I don’t know is the answer, I never really thought that there might be a point to it, things just seem to happen these days it seems”

“Think about it for me, make the assumption that there could be a point. What could it be?”

“Interesting…” Alric muttered around the stem of his pipe, frowning slightly as he began to think.

It was difficult, there didn’t seem to be a direct cause of the thing – if it were a god or a priest then they were absent. Which left him purely with his own experiences to think over, which he did as Mathias rarely asked him to do something like he had unless he saw something himself to show. What exactly had he done? The days repeated and no effects were felt on anything or anyone else from the previous days. The only thing that was changed was himself – for better or worse depending upon what had happened. Was that what Mathias saw something in?


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Alric Lysane
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[Challenge] The Inequities of Life VI

Postby Alric Lysane on November 2nd, 2022, 1:20 pm

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If that were the case, and he made that assumption, then the whole thing was a philosophical nightmare of questions – what were perception, time and experience? Could you really say you had free will when it had no impact that lasted beyond the day’s light? Was this whole thing pre-ordained. The days themselves that seemed different and chosen still merely pre-written for his needs…whatever they were? It made his head hurt despite the fact he enjoyed mental puzzles, and he pinched his brow to ease the headache he suspected would arrive before the end of this day.

“I did many things Mathias, most of them I don’t truly remember as it all bleeds into one after a certain point”

“You remember some of the days though?”

“They stand out more than the others, sure”

“Why do you think that is?” the Founder’s tone had started to get that lacing through of patience Alric recognised when the man was trying to coax someone somewhere they didn’t yet see, a pathway unknown but possible.

He mused anew and cast his memory back upon the days he did remember – the first one’s being the most vivid to begin with, fresh and not immediately tainted with the revelations of the cosmic joke at play. After that…it was a mess really. A lot of the days were similar, if not exactly the same. Repeated conversations with Randal had happened and the man had taught Alric much, yet the day that stood out emblazoned in his memory was the one where they went out and he was shown the Cheenga Ruins, where the man had made his passionate points and snuck through Alric’s usually stubborn mental walls.

His conversations with Jade in the mornings he remembered most of – the Gasvik could be meaningfully annoying when he wanted to be, but Alric had to admit he did see his as family by now really, and he had a way of making Alric laugh even in the hardest times, his strangeness brushing up against Alric’s own. Moments with Lys where he had taken time out of trying to figure out anything and simply be were high on the scale of remembrance also. Buraga’s conversations were largely all the same, though the day where he had actually knocked Alric out stood tall and still amused him, even if it made him want to beat the old Ranger one day. And Stu…Stu had only one day, but one had been enough and it would be remembered until his last breath.

So…the important parts basically. Little islands where choices were made, possibilities opened or explored and people imprinting themselves upon me…changing my path, perhaps? Though technically that hasn’t happened yet as the damned day never end. Or has it? Am I the same as when these days started? Truly? he thought, the smoke in his pipe being consumed completely by the end of his quiet ruminations and Mathias waiting patiently, gleefully finishing off the rest of the bottle they shared whilst Alric was otherwise occupied.

“You know…given what’s happened and what I do remember…I’m starting to think your Xhyvas might be showing himself again”

“Don’t dodge the question, tell me what you think these...days…have done to you” Mathias said, offering no hint one way or the other in that frustrating way he did, impossible to be angry at with his eyes twinkling like what Alric imagined a grandfather must look like.

“Fine…they’ve taught me much…but the real thing they’ve done is show me what is important to me. And given me the chance – without having to spend seasons of effort – to start healing from the past, and think about a future”

“But you have lived that time, have you not? If we’re assuming your story is accurate? Just because others don’t remember doesn’t mean you don’t. Maybe it is a gift of life, of time. You are no older physically as far as I can see, yet your spirit you might argue has aged and grown. The chance to do so without getting grey and long in the tooth is something old men like myself wish could have happened to us when we were your age”

“Perhaps…I can see your point though I’m not sure you’d feel the same after actually living it”

“Maybe, maybe not. Yet here you are, in this situation you claim to be in. Why not try to see the lighter parts of it? Sunberth showed you how to embrace the negative…it kept you alive. Here you must learn to do the opposite, which from the sounds of it you have started to learn to do. How many people did you get to know in these cycles of yours?”

“I don’t know…most of them. Some of them more than others”

“So you tried to integrate…interesting. Even if they don’t remember it will help you form those bonds when things return to normal”

“Assuming they do”

“They always do eventually. It’s just…a matter of time” Mathias said, grinning around the stem of his pipe at Alric, the joke a terrible one being so on the nose.
They both burst out laughing anyway.


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Alric Lysane
Carry On My Wayward Son
 
Posts: 763
Words: 1010203
Joined roleplay: October 29th, 2021, 5:41 pm
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