The Journey to Mortega (Fabrith Territory)

[Aeric Ecrai]

"Thank you for the offer, but it'd be best if we stuck together. If someone were to take you by surprise you wouldn't have anyone to help you out."

Putting a hand on his scabbard, he glanced in the direction Nephir had pointed. Strange, two people in the Woods of Agrebach. Strange, indeed.

"I say we check it out. This is out of the ordinary. Just standing around, talking? Very strange..."

[Willow]

Nephir didn't totally agree, but he didn't argue either. With a shrug, he fell into another shift, this time in the shape of a lithe snow leopard. His silver-white coat made him nearly invisible against the snow, and his brown spots looks like mere brush in the ground. He let out a low growl and slipped noiselessly through the brush, tail flicking.

Aliara drew a long knife that Nephir had given her shortly before leaving, wondering how much use she could be. She was relying merely on the faint glow that Faust emitted for travel, and she almost fell over a rock. Aliara quickly resheathed the knife. No point in having it if she was more likely to spear herself than someone else. Nephir could be heard chuckling in a gravely way from somewhere in the bushes.

"Shut up," she mumbled, looking around blindly.

[Aeric Ecrai]

Faust chuckled as well.

"Don't stab yourself," he said with a grin, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "I know you're able to see, but only a little. Let me guide you."

Catching up to Nephir, he paused beside him, and gazed at the stop Nephir apparently had seen some travelers.

"I don't see anyone." Wondering about Aliara's sight, he asked, "You see glows, right? What color am I glowing? I may have half an explanation for this."

[Willow]

"Red," Aliara said immediately, staring fixedly at the crimson blur that was so close. They followed Nephir rather slowly, even with Faust guiding her, and Aliara looked in vain for a glow that would distinct Nephir from the ground.

"I'm not seeing things," the druidok said shortly, having returned to human shape. The constant shifting was tiring him, and it was steadily becoming visible. "Just a little further in." He pointed impatiently in the correct direction, and glanced at his charge, as well as the man who seemed to have set himself as temporary guardian. Nephir no longer looked all emo and depressed, but irriation wasn't quite a flattering expression on his face either.

"No one said that," Aliara said quickly, surprised to hear herself defending Faust. Nephir threw her a sharp glance that she didn't see and moved further into the brush.

[Aeric Ecrai]

"Well, as for seeing a red glow, my Magii Spark is Red. So...perhaps you can see Magii Sparks?" Faust said, running his hand through his hair. "I don't know, but that sounds logical."

Maybe the Druidok had been seeing things, he thought. No travellers yet, in any case. He didn't want to go too deep into the forest, but his curiousity would not be dimmed so easily. He felt the wind pick up, and all the leaves began to rustle. It was near spring, yet the forest was very cold. He wondered if the rumors that were told about the place were true...

[Willow]

Nephir came to a stop, staring blankly ahead. "But. I saw someone. They were right there!" He shifted once more, this time into the form of a dark wolf, eyes of ebon glowing softly. His lip curled, and he looked up at Aliara, who was looking in the direction of his voice.

"He smells something," she reported, looking curiously forward. The blind girl released herself from his grip and took a few steps, then threw up her arms to hide her eyes. If she had been unlady-like, she would have sworn. But before the madness of her life, she had been raised as a lady. And ladies don't swear.

"Okay. You know how you glow? Well...whoever is over there, they look like the sun," she mumbled, squinting, which was weird. For her. Nephir growled low in his throat and looked at her in concern. He didn't like how things were changing. "It's really bright."

[Aeric Ecrai]

Having second thoughts, Faust pulled Aliara back. "The sun? And I'm only a faint glow? If you can see Sparks, then they..." he trailed off as the two came into sight. Praising the bushes, trees, and overall noise of the wind, he pulled Aliara and Nephir down, then the trio strained their ears to hear what the two were doing.

"...was twice this green last year. The trees seem to be less vigorous as well. Nicodemus, you don't suppose something is reacting with the Magii of the planet, do you?"

As they came into sight, Faust could see the two. The one who spoke was clad in silver and green armor, had two thin, scimitar-like swords crossed behind his back and was clearly an Aeron. The other was a normal looking man, probably in his forties, in a long white jacket. The only other noticeable piece of clothing was a black and green shaded headband he wore on his head.

"I'm not sure. I think if there was, the Vanguard would have gotten gist of it. In any case, I can't tell my brother. His Inquisition has been after me for a long time."

The man's eyes narrowed, and his gaze passed right over where the three were. Putting a single hand on his hip, he turned and looked again at the Aeron.

"I must go. I have heard rumors of Necromancers, and you know as well as I do that when those spring up something is amiss. Goodbye Centis, my friend." A glowing circle appeared around his feet, and in a flash, he was gone. As soon as he had disappeared, the Aeron looked once more to where the three were hiding, then shot into the air.

"Wow." Faust breathed. He couldn't believe they hadn't been caught. They had even looked their way once or twice. Maybe they had seen them...

[Willow]

"Who was that?" Aliara asked quietly the moment they were gone. Nephir was lounging on the ground near her feet, looking bored with a hint of nervousness in his dark eyes. No, he didn't like it all. When the Aeron took off he resisted the wolven urge to jump up and bark loudly, instead keeping to the ground.

Aliara looked with perplexment at her companion, then down at Nephir. The fur along his spine was sticking up. Well.

[Aeric Ecrai]

A perplexed look on his face, Faust answered, "I'm not entirely sure about the Aeron, but the man's name was Nicodemus, and he said something about the Inquisition..." Faust sighed, the noise being carried away by the wind. "If I had to guess, I'd have to say he's the Nicodemus who's name is on every Wanted Poster in every city I've been in. The Dawn Inquisition has it out for him..."

Faust kept the rest to himself. He didn't like talking about the Inquisition, ever since his brother...
Memories best kept to himself, he decided. But what was this talk of a Vanguard, and the Magii of the planet? And even more pressing was Aliara's newfound ability to see Sparks. If those two had glown so brightly in her eyes...

He didn't want to cross them, ever.

"Come on, let's move..." he muttered, still thinking to himself.

[Willow]

Aliara glanced sideways at Faust, at the steady glow he emitted. It was strange, that Nephir didn't have one, and a bit frustrating. She would have liked to see what he looked like....

The druidok rose to his feet and started walking, ears pressed to his skull. He wasn't happy. The air smelled funny, and the sensation under his skin...It felt like old magii or something. Really old. Some druidoks smelled old, because no one was sure when a druidok really died because of the shape-shifting, but this was different. First of all, it was mostly normal. It just smelled weird.

"What about the Inquistion?" Aliara asked, starting to move again. The small amount of sight didn't really...work. With everything else. She was likely to fall, but then Nephir was beside her. Constant companion.

[Aeric Ecrai]

"What about them as in who are they, or are you concerned about the group in general? Did you forget my description of them already...?"

"The Inquisition, aside from serving as the Commandant's personal bodyguard, is sworn to hunt down misusers of their Magii Spark. Anyone who exerts their Spark in an unholy or perverse way attracts the immediant attention of the Inquisition. There are only seventy-five Inquisitors, seperated evenly throughout their three divisions. They tend to hunt down those that meddle with the darkness or the dead too much. As you know, a Spark is the essence of life. To mix this with something dead, to try and infuse it with them is just...wrong."

Faust's eyes shifted to Nephir. He was moving differently, more cautiously. Ironically, like a cat sensing danger. The forest had grown more ominous, and the wind had stopped blowing. Faust still couldn't shake that eerie feeling that this forest was haunted - even though it was near summer, the air was frigid. There was no doubt about it. Something terrible had happened in this forest... (see The Man in the Woods: Prelude to a Lost World to understand this sort of flashback comment.)

"Nephir, what do you sense?" Faust breathed, eyeing their surroundings. It was not superstition that had caused him to ask, but a growing sense of danger, a dark knot in his chest. Something just wasn't right here...

[Willow]

"More than just those two," the Druidok murmured once he had returned to human shape, black eyes flicking to the treetops and around them as they walk. "I don't like it. Smells like bad intentions."

Well, what's that supposed to mean? Aliara thought, stepping over a log as Nephir guided her. It would probably mean more to Faust than it did to her. Everything else seemed to. He knew alot of things Aliara hadn't even heard of, but then again, Nephir didn't like to travel. Being blind, Aliara didn't much care for it either. So they had stayed in one town until too many people got uneasy with Nephir, and then they moved again.

"Do you think they'll come back?" Nephir said, looking skyward, as if he expected them to drop from the clouds and land infront of them, to explain everything. No secrets would be nice, but Nephir wasn't comfortable enough for that yet. Faust might ask questions Aliara hadn't yet.

Then, he drew up short, and Aliara took a few steps before coming to a dead stop. "Old magii, Faust," he said, repeating his earlier statement. "I don't like it."

[Aeric Ecrai]

"I didn't know Druidok could sense magii." Faust said, still a little uneasy. Nothing could be gained by standing still though, especially in this dark forest. Attempting to change the subject, he continued,"The only thing we can do right now is continue on to Mortega."

Putting one hand on the grip of his sword, he continued on through the woods, the temperature still as eerie and cold as it had been earlier. He would be glad when they were finally out of this place.

[Willow]

"Smell it, more. It smells like....burnt stuff. Mostly. Depends on the magii," Nephir mumbled, walking along. Aliara turned her head in his direction again, puzzled, but said nothing.

"Alright," Nephir said. He took a few steps in the snow, the white stuff crunching under his feet. "Let's go."

Aliara nodded, watching blindly. She following the blank direction of Nephir, watching Faust's constant magii glow from the corner of the eye. This could be interesting, maybe.

[Aeric Ecrai]

Well, that was interesting, at least. Faust knew little of the Druidok; only that they were near extinct and people were prejudiced towards them. Thankfully they hadn't shared the fate of the Dragoon yet. His eyes scanned the forest, and he noticed that a majority of the trees looked as if a few branches had withered away and died.

He thought he saw the air shimmer further down in the forest. He passed it off as a swaying branch, or perhaps a leaf in his peripheral vision.

"Alright you two, we're getting close to the center of the forest. Stay on your guard, for bandits and other..." he cleared his throat "...things like to lurk around here. The temperature should drop considerably, so keep your cloaks on. Or at least, you can, Aliara. Nephir, feel free to shift into whatever you want."

His hand found its way to the pommel of his sword as the light started to dim and the canopy of grees grew dense.

((Moving RP to the Woods of Agrebach. First post to you, Willow.))