Lore: Destroy all that Binds

Kyosuke · Post by **Kyosuke** » Mon May 15, 2006 9:55 pm

Jhaptal stood outside the cell, observing the weakened form of Soran. He would have continued the torture, but he believe that any more might cause the elf to snap and become a vegetable. The ninja doubted that Reya wanted that, so he left Soran to his own devices, still under the effects of the drug and hallucinating whatever his poison muddled mind forced him to see. The ninja was going to grab a quick meal before finding Reya again to resume his duties as her guard.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Tue May 16, 2006 1:43 pm

(ooc: Muahahaha! After this you rescuers can invade any time you like)

Reya was hard at work in her office. She had been busy all day preparing for the incoming class of new students that was due to enroll to the compound's sorcery school. Finally completing her work, she stood up and stretched. There had been no time to oversee Soran's treatment today, but Jhaptal hadn't reported back yet, so she decided to go down to see them now. She noted with satisfaction that the concept now hardly brought her any alarm; she had hardened herself to his suffering so that it no longer sent her stomach into knots as she walked down to the dungeon and opened the magical lock on the room where Soran was held.

Reya hesitated as she caught sight of Soran. Something was distinctly different about him today. Before now, the elf always sat against the cell wall, silent and still with a stoic glare masking his face. She knew he was in a great deal of pain, but he didn't show it. In fact, she'd heard him speak only once or twice in the entire time he'd been here. But, today, she found him kneeling against the wall, his voice leaking into his gasping breath.

Confused, Reya looked around for Jhaptal. He wasn't there. She felt oddly frightened being in the room alone with Soran, but walked to the edge of his cell and looked in at him. Soran didn't seem aware of her presence. In fact, he seemed trapped in some kind of nightmare he couldn't wake up from. What in the world had Jhaptal done to make him that way? For an instant she wondered if the rogue had somehow broken the seal on his memories, but she quickly dismissed that possibility. There was only one way to do that, and the backlash would have been far worse than this.

"Soran," she spoke to him testingly. The elf's body tensed, but she couldn't tell if he'd really registered her voice. "Soran?" He finally turned his head and looked at her, a few strands of dark hair falling into his handsome face. Reya's breath caught and she took an instinctive step toward the cell as the unmasked agony and alarm in his expression caught her off guard. She almost couldn't believe it. In her eyes, he was almost indestructable.

"Come here," she ordered, frowning. Soran made no move, staring at her with his hard green eyes. Reya wasn't surprised by his unwillingness, and turned to go.

"Wait. Don't leave," his grim voice halted her. She regained herself and moved forward again. "Wait!" he said, louder this time. Reya turned slowly. There had been real desperation in his voice. Against her better judgment, she found herself going back to the door of his cell. Soran pushed himself with great effort to his feet, not taking his eyes off her. He seemed about to collapse. He clearly wanted to move toward her, but she knew he couldn't support his weight away from the wall. Taking a tense mental breath, Reya unlocked the gate to his cell and closed it behind her, walking inside with him. She stood several paces away, not sure why she had come inside.

Soran gathered his strength and left the support of the wall, throwing all his focus into going to her. She was so close... Reya stared at him, unable to move as he straightened and walked to her. When he was almost there, his legs simply refused to work any more, and despite his best efforts to stay up, he felt himself falling. It seemed reasonable; why should what he saw in front of him be obtainable. She wasn't real; he was imagining her, like he'd imagined everything else in the last 8 hours. The elf didn't know what was real anymore. He closed his eyes and awaited his impact with the floor. At least it would prove he existed.

Reya jumped forward and caught his heavy form, regretting it the moment she did so, but it was too late to take the instinctive movement back. She half-dropped and half-lowered him to the ground, panic rising in her as she felt her fingers press into uncovered wounds and dip into his blood. He didn't even cry out; he just released a sharp breath and lay tensely still as she fumbled him onto his chest on the ground, landing ungracefully on her knees next to his left side as she lost her balance.

After a tense silence, Soran brought his right arm up and managed to twist his upper body up on is forearm to face her. She now saw that his pupils seemed to be schizophrenic, dilating and contracting unsteadily as if some lightshow were playing in his face. Drugs, she realized. He was seeing something, and it was fairly certain that it wasn't her. Yet, a moment later she saw his left hand reach up and close gently around hers. She stared at it in surprise, but didn't shake it away. It was warm; feverishly hot, in fact. A pang of guilt went through her as his expression smoothed over, calmed by the contact. Carefully, she reached out to him and brushed his wild hair back out of his face. "Mizuki," he said solemnly, tightening his grip on her hand and wincing faintly at the consequence. She was real, she was right here. He clung to that thought as dizziness overwhelmed him. He didn't want to pass out now, not when he'd found her, but the light faded from his eyes and he fell still beneath Reya's hand.

Reya took a deep, tense breath. This shouldn't be happening. She had been almost completely calloused toward him, and now she found herself wanting to protect him from the very wounds she had ordered made upon him. On top of that, she was...jealous. Incredibly jealous of the woman that was able to represent hope to this man instead of doom, though she knew she had no right to be. She stood up with a dark frown and returned to her bedroom to rinse away the elf's blood, leaving the elf alone again in the dark cell.

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Tue May 16, 2006 3:43 pm

Two weeks of hard travel paid off. Their supplies had dimmed and their clothes-Rai's and Mizuki's- had some tears in them, but it was bearable. They had easily crossed the mountains, and the river brought almost no fight, but it was the desert they had just entered that proved most difficult. It was hot, the horses pace slowed so much that Mizuki had considered just leaving them behind, they'd be faster on foot. But it was Rai's crying over leaving the horses behind and Siren's firm belief that even that wouldn't be a good idea, did Mizuki keep the horses.

At the river they had stocked up a considerable amount of water for the desert, Mizuki was thankful for her experience on the sea. Fresh water was hard to come by on salt water. Now, they sat camped just ouside of the great mountain's base. The tents provided little shade, but no releif from the daytime heat could be found. Mizuki feared for a moment that Rai would collapse in the heat--having not been exposed to desert like surroundings before. But they were there, and the relief in Mizuki's heart matched her anxiety of what to do next.

She tried to connect to Soran's mind, but it seemed immpossible to find him. She pictured him in her mind and all she got was a jumble of frantic thoughts and then nothing. 'Did they break his mind?' she thought worriedly while starring at the mountain. Rai was watering the horses, Mizuki could hear their heavy, relief-filled sighs as they drank.

"Soran..." she whispered into the hot breeze that blew by and whipped her hair about her shoulders.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:28 pm

It was so hot to Rai that she thought it was sucking her air away. It drained her of energy and everything. A small child such as herself should never be exposed to heat as this if they had not been born into it and used to it.

She patted her ponies head as he lapped up the water. "Are we there yet?" she asked softly. "I'm so tired of being hot and I miss Soran..."

Rai fell back onto the hard cracked earth that held no grass at all. No grass for miles and miles and miles... She took a deep breath, trying to suck in some air. "Stupid heat steals me air... Its got a whole world to steal air from and it wants mine...." she said in a panting breath.

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Tue May 16, 2006 9:20 pm

"Are we there yet?" she asked softly. "I'm so tired of being hot and I miss Soran..."

"We are here... but not yet to Soran." Mizuki replied softly, still staring out at the mountain. She could hear Rai's weariness.

"Stupid heat steals me air... Its got a whole world to steal air from and it wants mine...." Mizuki jerked her head over towards Rai. The poor child was flush. Mizuki moved from her place and went over to the girl with a canteen.

"Drink this. Try to regulate your breathing to a slower pace." Mizuki instructed her calmly. "Stay hydrated. We have enough water." She looked over to see how Siren was fairing. She worried that if the Dark Angel was just as weak in this intense heat like Rai, they wouldn't stand a chance if they stayed much longer. Mizuki thought quickly, coming to the conclusion that staking out the mountain wouldn't work in the heat, they would have to find a way inside.

Kyosuke · Post by **Kyosuke** » Wed May 17, 2006 4:08 am

Jhaptal slipped back into his secret passageways and made his way around the facility. He had expected to find Reya in her office, but had noticed the sound of running water coming from the bedroom adjacent to the office. That was where he headed upon slipping out of the secret path. There he found Reya, washing off blood from her hands. He had a slight idea whose blood it was also, after all, she had been overseeing his torture of Soran every day until today, it was logical to conclude that she had stopped in after he had left, and had come in contact with the elf.

It would also describe the tenseness in her body language. "Something's bothering you now, isn't it?" he asked, not making his presence known until he spoke.

Siren · Post by **Siren** » Thu May 18, 2006 8:31 pm

Siren wiped an arm across her face, wet finally from fresh water instead of swet. The desert wind was hot and dry to the point she had almost wondered if her wings could get blisters, and the sand blown up in the occasional slight breeze stung. The steady undercurrent of hot air had actually helped ease the flight, but there was no elevation to protect her from the sun's heat. Her dark wings felt like they were on fire.

"I definately prefer the cold back by the Border to this. I'm sweting in places I didn't even think it was possible to swet in!"

She looked up the mountain, where she knew instinctively the air would be cooler.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Thu May 18, 2006 10:39 pm

Rai took a drink of water and sighed. She looked at the mountain, wondering how in the Heirot they were going to get up there.

She took several more swigs of water, but had this unconcious thought of them running out. She didn't drink very much for that fact. Because wouldn't they need water for the trech back?

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Fri May 19, 2006 12:02 pm

Mizuki sighed and stayed by Rai. "I perfer the mountains as well." Mizuki said softly.The Dark Angel, though suffering from the heat, looked like she would be ok. Mizuki cringed at Siren's black wings, they must be ridiculously hot from the sun. If she had dared to bring Blade along, the baby probably would've died.

"I want to try to get into the building soon," Mizuki said, pointing to the mountain and the building that looked carved into it. "But how, is the question.."

Siren · Post by **Siren** » Fri May 19, 2006 12:24 pm

Siren looked at the fortress critically.

"I don't suppose your visions told you anything about what's inside this place? Anythying could be guarding it. Although from the looks of it, manpower alone didn't make this thing.

I suppose we could try the traditional method, fling a rope up the side and have you climb up. It would be a lot easier if we knew what we were up against."

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Fri May 19, 2006 3:40 pm

Mizuki sighed and turned back to the forboding fortress. "I had no visions of what's inside..." Mizuki said, thinking hard. "But we already know that Jhaptal is in there with whoever gave him the order's to attack us and take Soran." She thought for a moment, examining that building and what Siren said about it.

"...We're deffinatly dealing with someone in the arts of Sorcery... I believe."

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Sun May 21, 2006 11:53 pm

"Something's bothering you now, isn't it?" Jhaptal had asked her.

Reya returned the question with a tight-lipped frown. "Your perceptions are correct, as usual. Give me a moment to consider the situation," she said thoughtfully, sitting down and running her fingers along a lock of her hair tensely.

Kyosuke · Post by **Kyosuke** » Mon May 22, 2006 12:00 am

Jhaptal just watched as Reya fixed a lock of hair and awaited a response to the question. Judging from her behavior ever since the blunder in the creation of Zaraxi, and the subsequent order to track down Soran, as well as her behavior ever since said elf arrived, he had deduced that there was some sort of history between Reya and the elf. If his guess was right, she was trying to rid herself of the emotions she still held for the elf. However, these were just speculations and he would need confirmation from the sorceress to prove them, so he awaited her response.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Mon May 22, 2006 12:26 am

Reya's thoughts grew more and more grim as she sat in her chair, still able to feel the warmth of Soran's body against her and resenting it more with each second. Why had she gone into his cell? The more she thought about it, the more clear it seemed that the current situation alone would not be enough to help her meet her goal. She was still too attached to him. Frustration, compassion and anger fought within her. No...there could be no confusion about it. She hated him. It was only natural to hate the one thing holding her back from her dreams, tying her to useless memories that would bring her nothing. If she could rid herself of him, it would finally be over. She'd put it off too long already, and now it was impossible to hesitate any longer.

After several minutes, her eyes rose back to where Jhaptal was patiently awaiting her response. "You've probably guessed that I was acquainted with Soran in the past. It would be a safe estimation to call him the one real weakness hindering me, and the sole reason the demonic weapon experiment went awry. Though it may all seem inexplicable, I assure you that there is a rationale behind everything I've asked you to do in the past few weeks. Soon we will be able to move on to more meaningful work, as soon as I overcome this."

She hesitated, almost imperceptibly, before continuing, pushing the hair she'd been indecisively fiddling with back over her shoulder. "I want you to get the elf cleaned up. Not healed, not bandaged. Just make him presentable. Then tie his arms over his head, away from the wall, so he can't make himself any worse." Part of her was concerned that the elf might attempt to injure himself when he awoke to the realization that the last hallucination he'd seen had been false. The thought of him meeting his end that way was oddly intolerable to her. "Tomorrow, I will bring this situation to a close."

Kyosuke · Post by **Kyosuke** » Mon May 22, 2006 12:39 am

Jhaptal nodded. "Very well," he replied. He turned and left the room. Looking around, he grabbed the first two servants he came across, both male, and ordered them to grab some soap and shampoo, then to report to the dungeon when they had done so.

He himself headed down to the dungeon and awaited the two servants. They were prompt, as they should be, and he ordered them both to clean up the bloodied and wounded Soran. The ninja stood on watch in case the rogue awoke and decided to attack.

Jhaptal stood, unaffected even when the servants stripped off the elf's pants to wash him further. It didn't take very long before they finished washing him, and put his pants back on before they stepped out of the cell. Jhaptal then stepped in and tied a length of rope he had around Soran's wrists, then lifted him up and secured the other length of the rope to the ceiling. There he stood in the middle of the cell, facing the entrance of the dungeons. There was just enough room for him to stand, but not do much else save for lifting his legs up and swinging.