A Light in the Darkness

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IamLEAM1983
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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Nereus smirked, his set of car keys jingling in his hand. "You look wonderful," he said, "as ever."

They headed for the vehicle Nereus had created a while back, the Squid taking the wheel. "It's in moments like these that the concept of the Darkhallow really strikes me," he mused. "Just think: in a few centuries, if we play our cards right, we'll be doing something very similar to this all over again. It makes me wonder in what way things will be different, honestly. Not to mention, will we even be able to affect surprise, once we do meet these people for the first time?"

He scoffed lightly. "Oh, don't mind me, mister Kuhn, I'm only entirely nonplussed because I've had the opportunity to replay the conversation we're about to have a solid ten times per night for the past two weeks."

The Augur rolled his eyes. "I suppose that counts as another source for Dalarath's superiority complex, when everyone else has to actually think before they leap and undertake important personal changes."

At the favor of a red light, he gave Meris a thoughtful look. "Now that I think about it, I never had prophecies about you. I''m glad for this oversight; it means you'll always find ways to surprise me."
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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The cantor scoffed softly. "In some ways, I'm relieved I don't know what events will take place for me to become the person I am here in the Darkhallow. There may be a great many dark events that I will have to live through before we come to this point in the future," she stated, her thoughts turning somewhat grim. "I mean, if I end up actually becoming an archmage, that means I will have to die in order to come back to the living. Even after studying all the schools of magic, that's the final threshold for mages. I don't exactly look forward to the day I'll die, after all. As a practitioner of seraphic magic, the arcane energies will allow me to age slower, but I'll hopefully be an old woman before I cross that particular bridge," she commented.

She tilted her head slightly and looked out the passenger window, resting her head against the window frame of the door. "Being a mage sometimes means hardship and suffering, suffice to say. It's an honor to be one, but I'm not eager to experience the harsher parts of it, Nereus. Though, I'll have to."
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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The Augur gave her an understanding smile. "Just as I've never asked to be the Augur, Meris. It took me years to learn to distinguish my own thoughts from the Others', once They really got to screaming me awake in the middle of the night. All that anger, all that aimless hunger and lust? Either you channel these impulses and direct them into something constructive, like the mages do with via, or, well, you die. The body tears itself apart trying to obey every contradictory whim They express, and the mind shuts down once it's finally lashed to pieces. Some of my predecessors never even got to pass through gibbering insanity; they transitioned from being somewhat sane to running around the palace while clutching their head and screaming."

A finger drummed on the steering wheel. "That's partly why some of the palace walls have so many old cracks. Previous Chamberlains sometimes couldn't take the pressure and just - banged their heads on the walls until their skulls ruptured."

In a bit of facial gymnastics that was no small feat for a Squid, Nereus produced what might have to be the most convincing tentacled picture of silent disgust ever conceived.
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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Meris offered a small, grateful smile to the Void Weaver. "You're right. Thank you, dear," she replied, patting his free hand. She scoffed at herself. "I'm very happy to have someone like you to give me a different perspective. In some ways, I still feel like a young child, even at nineteen. Then I see this world, and I feel completely mature and competent. It's a rather odd dichotomy."

She shook her head at her musings and scoffed. "Enough navel-gazing. Time to go and impress Mr. Kuhn with our project!"
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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Thanks to a well-timed gear shift, Nereus laid a hand on Meris' left one while driving. "That's because you are mature," he reassured her. "I know my people don't have the best track record when it comes to choosing their mates at reasonable ages, but what I fell for inside you is older than the count of your years."

He then shrugged. "Not that I let our age gap get in the way; how many energetic tri-centennial beings have you met before, hm? If we keep this up, I'll only have more pep to spare by the time your first expression wrinkles show up!"

* * *

Wyvern Holdings, as it would eventually be in the future, looked deceptively austere. The spire's tones of black and charcoal underlined the logo's crimson tone, the various lobbies they'd pass while inside somehow managing to look vaguely funereal while packing an exuberant amount of life. The faces weren't entirely precise, as usual, but the place didn't quite look as severe as it could have. The people who worked there had a kind of professionally stubborn look to them, the kind of craven dedication to their work that might remind Meris of some mages - or maybe of her childhood's neighbouring monks. They'd been hungry for new interpretations of the Scriptures, and had considered wracking their brains over deeply metaphysical questions as being an inherently nurturing experience.

They soon reached the penthouse floor, the elevator doors opening to something that contemporary Orcadians already knew well.

Dùn Island's most illustrious occupant had the makings of a cautionary tale being told to young pups before tucking them into bed. The Black Dog of Orkneyjar's silhouette had sometimes marked the far reaches of her shoreline's horizon, a black scar on the sky, something too big to be a bird gliding across the empty expanse, shrinking and growing as it turned and looked as though it were looking for prey. The catch was that it wasn't.

Meris would never have seen Aldergard Kuhn in person before. She'd always seen him from afar, or heard his distant roars, meant more as an aerial greeting to local hunting parties returning from the forests. The sea sometimes carried the sound of his swooping down and clutching the cliffs he called home with his batlike wings. Other clans or neighbouring groups with Pictish roots had called him Odin. Some people in her family had wondered why the Olfather bothered to appear as a dragon, if he had his crow-driven chariot to use. Elders sometimes recounted the stories of the Black Dog's defense of the Orkneys, something that the selkies tended to consider as being almost unbelievable. One of their most fearsome predators, a species known for its self-serving ends and relentless greed, choosing to protect someone else? Not only that, but to have chosen to do it out of personal convictions?

Looking at the Wyrm that stood before her, his features rearranged for his currently bipedal posture, Meris would remember both the bedtime boogeyman - and the oft-unmentioned hero.

He'd seemingly planted himself in front of the elevator, his upper spine slightly bent forwards and his right hand clutching a black straight cane. Its pommel was strangely ornate, requiring a few moments before you'd recognize it as being a shrunken double-bladed axe's business end. His chosen sartorial tones mirrored those his face presented, smoothing a generally cruel and torturous expanse of scales and horn-like protrusions at the back of his head and along his jawline. His starkly projected face looked lean and decidedly mean, his inset eyes gleaming under the hood of thickly scaled eyebrows. This was a face made for gloating at struggling knights or for sneering at the sight of burning manses, a face made for steepling your fingers and laughing in her and Nereus' ideals - a fact made even more obvious once the ragged slash across his left eye was considered. He'd covered it with an eyepatch, his one remaining eye mistakenly looking like it was always carrying some sort of slow-burning anger.

The Wyrm slowly grinned. Old, partially fossilized teeth became visible, only furthering the apparent picture of wickedness he presented. Nereus, particularly, looked stunned. He simply stood there, tentacles lolling and eyes wide, until the elevator dinged and the doors began to close. Aldergard lifted his right arm and lightly bopped his cane against one of the two closing panels.

"I apologize," the Wyrm said, speaking in modern English, but lacing the words with a thick Slavic accent. "but my arresting looks do not stop elevator doors. "Have tried threats, eating door's children, perhaps - but the door will not listen."

Kuhn's shoulders silently shook, but he then deeply bowed, or at least as deeply as his seemingly arthritic spine allowed. He then shifted to a perfect reproduction of Meris' native selkie dialect.

"I bid ye welcome, Meris of the Orcades, to my home. May ye leave this old fool with some of the wisdom you bring. Enter as an ally, and leave as a friend."
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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Upon seeing the Wyrm, the corners of the selkie's lips curled upward. An expression of momentary wonder appeared on her face. "Odin," she murmured with childlike reverence.

Of course, when Aldegard addressed her, the bard cleared her throat and chuckled lightly. She offered her hand and smiled. "Thank ye for having us. I am honored to be in your presence, All-Father," she greeted in her native selkie dialect, some of the awestruck admiration still hanging in her tone. Even though this was a projection of the future, it felt like a small slice of home had just stepped in front of her. And while Oberon also shared the name of the legendary god, the stern, old dragon was really the inspiration behind the figure to her.
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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Kuhn shook her hand in return, nodding. "The honor is mine," he started in selkie, "and please - do not call me All-Father or Olfather or nothing, here. I am mister Kuhn to you, or perhaps simply Aldergard. Old men have no need for titles. Titles are foolish."

He then looked over to Nereus, who'd barely done more than walk out of the elevator. "Someone has stolen this squid's beak, methinks... Is your friend always this silent? I believed Void Weavers could kill with a whisper!
- We can," replied Nereus, "but we're also capable of some measure of awe and respect. If I may be so bold, mister Kuhn, you're my first dragon. Ever."

Aldergard's eyebrows went up. "Ah? Then I shall try not to disappoint guests. Must sign all contracts with acid mucus, hrmmm... Note to self."

Nereus went back to simply staring. Aldergard grunted.

"Is joke," he said. "My humor needs work, so Katherine tells me. Wyrm do not joke easily."
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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"Relax, dear, " Meris said, gently patting him on the shoulder. She smiled. "Dragons joke just like you do, just as they do everything else like us."

Reading the subtext, she then attempted to move the conversation along. "Katherine is your partner, I take it? "
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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Aldergard began a retreat towards a conference table that occupied the central space. His steps were fairly slow, indicating they could still keep conversing.

"Aye," he agreed. "She is mine. Good woman, she is. Strong. Like you," he said, smiling at Meris.

Nereus made the effort to overcome his initial displeasure after a quick swallowing motion. "How can you tell?" he asked.

Kuhn seemed to manage a silent scoff. "I am old, friend Nereus. Very old. I have seen many eyes in my time. I know strength when I see it. In you... I see hope. Fear, as well. Some doubts, too. They all hang in your scent. Your poise. Meris has... some fears of her own, that much I can see; but also more strength than you do."

Nereus managed a nervous scoff. "And is everyone as nervous as I am on their first meeting?
- My face takes some getting used to," admitted Aldergard. "I live with the fact that these plates and scales do not show kindness or respect. I have made my peace with the fact that few people can remain... pleased when I am at my happiest.
- Why is that?"

Aldergard sat down with a grunt and looked to Meris. "I will let your mate respond. You have met Picts before, yes? What of Vikings? If so, do you know of their mead halls?"

Something in those last few words made the black dragon's eye gleam in an almost impish manner.
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Re: A Light in the Darkness

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"The Picts and Vikings were a little before my time, but I know of selkie clans with such blood. And I have tasted mead, so I can imagine what the mead halls were like, " Meris commented, catching his meaning. She scoffed in amusement and laughed.
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