New Face, Old Story

[jowan]

This is a short story involving Jowan that i will probably continue when i get the details sorted out in my head. Or mabey not. We'l see. Anyway!

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Part 1

The blue cloaked figure sprinted down the narrow hallway, his boots clattering against the metal floor. A chipped wooden staff was slung across his back like a sword and a blue crystal dagger was clutched tightly in his right hand, his left hidden by a blaze of fire. Every few seconds he flicked his hand backwards and threw burning orb at his pursuers, who were briefly illuminated by the flames before the magic caused them to freeze and fall to the ground.

Finally reaching the end of the corridor, he rocketed out into a massive hall dimly lit but filled with throngs of people and elaborate stalls. Extinguishing the fire, he quickly sheathed his dagger and made his way slowly but purposefully through the crowd, blending in masterfully. Behind him came frustrated curses and yells as his pursuers lost sight of him in the bazaar. A small smirk crossed his face and he began to relax. Nothing like a good chase to make life more fun.

Jowan, for of course it was he, reached into the folds of his robe and checked the item he had acquired was still there. The small green crystal, won from the sorcerers chasing him in a game of cards (in which he had cheated), was still safely hidden in his pocket. It was a relatively simple item; he could have purchased a gem infused with the same amount of energy with little fuss from one of the stalls in that very hall if he'd wanted to. But he happened to know that this particular crystal had several enchantments placed around it to allow it to assist in the opening of a Hellgate. Now that simply was not the sort of toy he wanted a band of incompetent wizards to be playing around with. In his hands though, the spells could be unraveled and discoveries could be made.

So wrapped up in his own little victory, he failed to notice the dark figure turn it's head to watch him as he passed a stall. The man, raven haired and dressed in loose fitting clothes did not seem particularly important, certainly not the type to be wrapped in intricate enchantments designed to hide oneself from a magical eye. Ironic.


Later that day, Jowan sat on the bridge of the Voidclaw, the empty ship already becoming personalized to it's new owner. The room was full of items of magical, scholarly, and just plain odd origin, everything from ancient magical texts and energy crystals to puzzle boxes and wood carvings. The items had migrated from Jowan's quarters to the bridge over several weeks, now lying cluttered on tables and unused chairs. Siting in the Captain's chair, the Elfin murmured spells over his latest possession, trying to find out it's secrets, when he was interrupted by a cold voice behind him.
"An interesting place...fitting."

It took Jowan a moment to react. When he did, he slowly spun his chair round to face the one addressing him, though his position remained hunched over the crystal in his hand. Muttering under his breath, he berated himself for not casting counter-spells against the possibility of his extra sense being blocked. Evidently the man heard him, for he replied,
"You should not blame yourself. I regret using such means, only i had to to avoid attracting undue attention in the market."

"I can imagine..." In the time it took the raven haired man to talk, Jowan had cast the spells he needed to and could now clearly see the wings folded over the man's back. Fiery blue wings. "Did Nai'Koth send you? He knows i preffer being left alone. You can bugger off back to the Afterlight whenever you want, i'm a bit busy here."

A small smile from him. "I was not sent. I am sorry if i am disturbing you, only...there is something i would like your help with." The man paused, as though formulating how to explain his thoughts. "You see, you are a subject of great interest to us. My kind wish to know how our presence changes the personality of our host."
Jowan frowned. "Why can't you just....ask yourself? Examine you're own host, surely it would be obvious if there were any changes." Something about the vestigal before him did not seem right, he just wasn't quite sure what....

He was talking to the Vestigal. And it hadn't introduced itself. That was it. Vestigals always greeted another through their host and asked permission to speak, it was just the way they were. Yet this one was speaking to him directly and had not given a name. Why was that?

Something seemed to click for the Vestigal too. Hos tone lowered, became just a little more hostile. "I am afraid that would not work...you're cooperation would be most helpful in this."
Jowan felt a shift in the air behind him and sensed the presence of others...the indigo energy flowed out of them in his mind's eye. He knew without looking that four more Vestigals had materialized and had surrounded him. For the first time in many, many years, he felt the sharp stab of fear.
"Look, whatever it is you want i'm sure i can-"
The rest of his words descended into a cry of pain as he felt a surge of energy barrel into his mind.

[jowan]

Part 2

His mind was a blur of colour, sound, smell, feelings. Memories. Above all, terrible wrenching pain.

The Vestigals had joined their minds so as to batter their way into his mind. Strong willed as he was, he was still mortal and unable to stop an assault from 5 beings that were not just strong, but made of energy. They were in his thoughts now, sifting through ancient memories, looking for something. They seemed particularly interested in memories he did not even recognise; presumably the sensory information gathered while Nai'Koth was controlling his body, hence not received by him.

He was barely conscious throughout this process, all he was really aware of was the pain of his mind being systematically torn apart, brutally but efficiently. The thoughts they were stealing flashed past too fast for him to make much out of them. What he did feel though, were the thoughts of the intruders. The interest and even excitement as they searched what he knew. What was worrying though, was that the only voices present were from the Vestigals. His was right to be afraid- these creatures had broken their race's most important law and obliterated the minds of their hosts, leaving a shell through which they could explore the universe.

Finally, blissfully, the pain stopped. The voices left. It took Jowan a moment to realise he was alone once more in his thoughts. Slowly returning to his senses, he found himself lying on the floor where he had previously stood, curled tightly in a ball. He found himself eerily reminded of when he had first woken after joining with Nai'Koth. Looking up, he saw that only one of the Vestigals remained, the one who had spoken before and was apparently their leader. He was kneeling over him, an odd mix of curiosity and contempt in his eyes. He looked refreshed, flushed with energy from the pain he had inflicted.
"That would have been easier for you if you had co-operated...the results will be the same."
Jowan tried to answer but all the came out of his mouth was a croaking groan. He found it disconcerting to be this helpless. It was something that rarely happened to him. His companion gave a small, mocking smile.
"I do not understand what Nai'Koth sees in your kind. Physical beings are fragile , particularly those without immortality."
He reached into the folds of Jowan's robe and extracted the gem he had previously been inspecting. He held it up to his eyes for a moment then closed his fist around it, dropping it a second later. It had now lost all colour and lustre, drained of it's energy. A large chip broke off when it struck the floor.
"I suppose you will go running to him now. I doubt he will be able to help. Still, it will be amusing to see him try."
With that he simply disappeared, leaving Jowan alone. He spat out a globule of blood, realising he had bit his tongue while in pain. Forcing himself upright, he dragged himself into the pilot's chair of the ship and began running his fingers clumsily over the controls. It bothered him that the ship responded- the Vestigal could easily have drained the entire ship as he did the crystal, could even have drained Jowan himself of energy since he clearly did not care about his own kind's laws. Why then, had he left him alive?

|It was with this thought heavy in his mind that he activated a signal that he had designed himself, with one specific purpose. To find Nai'Koth, and bring him.

[sundavar]

Meanwhile, in the Ilis galaxy, Sundavar made his way through an underground bunker. It was suspected that the site was in the control of a sorcerer's cult and he had been sent to scout it. Upon arrival, he quickly realised this was true, but more than that; something seemed deeply wrong.

It was not something he could explain. It seemed too much of a cliche to say that it had been too easy, yet that had instantly put him on guard. He had encountered a single guard outside the bunker; he had been easy to kill without detection, giving Sunny time to read his mind beforehand- it had felt far too structured and ordered for normal thought, almost as though the man had been consciously choosing what to think. It was a difficult technique to master but one that could make it near impossible for a telepath to learn anything useful.

It couldn't stop an empath sensing emotion though, and there was plenty of that. Fear. Lots and lots of fear.

He had chosen to explore the facility then, afraid that the cultists were trying to summon powerful daemons. And so now he crept through the darkened corridors as stealthily as he could, wondering why a building in use would have so little lighting. He couldn't even use his abilities to scan for other minds, which troubled him greatly as it would take a series of very powerful spells to block him entirely.

Presently he noticed a dim blue glow coming from the end of the corridor. Something about the situation put him on edge so he slowed to a crawl and drew two daggers, coloured black to prevent light from flashing off them. He knew he was deep into the facility by this stage, having past the near empty barracks some time ago. Whatever the cultists were doing was likely to be in this room. He pressed himself against the wall and looked around the corner- and immediately wished he was somewhere else.

Clustered in the centre of the room, a rough circle of glowing lights hovered motionless in the air. In their current state, the orbs had no distinguishing features apart from their varying shades of blue but that alone was enough to make him want to run. There was no doubting they were Vestigals, and if they were working with Sorcerers the situation was far worse than he had thought.

Cursing silently, he turned and started to sprint down the hall. It was hard to count how many of them there were because of the light, but he knew there were more than enough to kill him if they attacked together. He also knew that they wouldn't be alerted by sound but my emotion, meaning his stealth up till now had been completely unnecessary; it probably put him at risk since the slower progress gave them more time to detect him. They might have identified him already-

No sooner than the thought had crossed his mind, he felt a crushing weight as the Vestigals forced their thoughts int his. It was accompanied by a screeching spike of pain, tearing through his mind with enough force to kill a mortal outright. He had a greater resistance than most to pain thanks to his near constant contact with it but even he couldn't fight it for longer than a few seconds. Blackness edged his vision as he staggered to the ground, knocking him out before he had the chance to alert Dragos.