NationStates Jolt Archive

"Don't say I never gave you anything!"

Drai'lee and Khat just ignored Marvel, joining the others and readying themselves for the rest of the tour. Though Khat resolved to leave Marvel a hairball at some point, just to make sure the demon knew what he thought of him.

This was getting boring in a hurry, and Marvel knew that, if he did the normal boredom thing, he'd soon have everybody patting him on the head with blunt instruments and telling him what a good boy he was. So he decided to keep everybody busy with a little bit of barding practice. Using his illusion magic, he summoned an artificial ukulele and softly began to strum. The illusion played like a charm, and, after the turned demon was warmed up a little, he broke into song.


Ohhhhhhhh...

A man sat alone at the end of the bar
An' a woman came up to him, whorin'.
She told him for three hundred dollars so far
That she would do anything for 'im.

He smiled the smile of a man in the shade.
He tucked three small bills in her blouse.
"There goes your money," he said to the maid,
"Tomorrow you're paintin' me house."

Hey diddle diddle, oh cai yippie oh,
Higgledy piggledy pantage
The devil ain't made the bad place to go
That a man can't turn to his advantage.

By now, the room had gone silent except for Marvel. As he continued, he used his power of illusion to illustrate his next one-verse vignette. Colorful, translucent, cartoon-like shapes danced behind him as he sang the next installment.

Oh an ant she was making the rounds one fine day--
You know how those ants always go-ohhh---
And as she was quietly making her way
She stepped on and elephant's toe.

The elephant reared up in pain now she ran,
And elephant tears filled her eyes.
"You terrible, horrible beast," she began,
"Go pick on someone your own size!"

Hey diddle diddle oh cai yippie yeams,
Higgledy piggledy pew.
Nothing is ever the way that it seems,
Depending on your point of view.

--------------

OOC: If anyone's interested in hearing the melody, I'll record it and post a .wav on the internet. It's an original. Disclaimer: I'm not going to be trying out for "American Idol" any time soon, so you're stuck with my voice.

Uneasy about his ring and even more uneasy about his room -- when he'd noticed the desk looked too new, it had obligingly developed scratches and stains -- Ruari had made his way back to the meeting place. The chancellor guy had been standing there waiting for the others, all alone.

If I go over there I'll have to talk to him. And then he'll know my name. It's never good when teachers learn your name early.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, Ruari was heading away from the golden shaft, looking for somewhere to lurk until a nice, concealing crowd came out.

He'd been trying to work up a serious interest in what proved to be a cupboard when a distant BOOM! sent him into its depths. He waited for sirens, descending masonry, screams or other appropriate noises, but when no drama followed, he poked a cautious nose out of his retreat.

The rising sound of chattering reassured him. Apparently nothing too dire had happened, and some of the other -- students? faculty? whatever -- were gathering to begin the tour.

Cautiously he eased his way back to the meeting place and was about to attach himself to a clump of folk introducing themselves when a dragon started singing.

When a dragon started singing ...

Ruari was no mean chorister himself, but this was astonishing. He was so intrigued by the under- and over-tones he could ... sort of, almost ... hear, he didn't pay attention to the words.

Not until a cartoon elephant asked him for a dance, anyway.

OOC:

Marvel isn't a dragon, he's a Modified Red Gargoyle Demon. Man-like, but with red skin, wings, tail, horns on the head...you know the drill...stands six foot three.

------------------

IC:

Marvel sawed away, and, as he played a short solo, the ant picked up a bass guitar (another of his illusions) and started backing him up. There were guffaws from the crowd.

The devil went up to scotland, you see,
He was looking to raise some hell.
He came to a farmer and in-stant-ly
Poisoned the poor man's well.

He went to the man and said that he'd
Fix it all for a night with his daughter.
But the farmer didn't pay him heed--
He already had city water.

Hey diddle diddle oh cai yippie yolk,
Higgledy piggledy pire.
Whenever you go to play a joke
Be sure that it doesn't backfire.

By now, there were all manner of illusions running, flying, what have you, around the room. The farmer and his daughter were dancing with the other students, and fairies flew around the devil, laughing him back into his dark old cave. A rhumba line had formed up behind the elephant, and, behind Marvel, a band of weasels dressed up as beatnicks had joined the ant with the bass guitar.

But he could see from the look in his eye that Galvenor was growing restless, so he decided to call it quits.


Ohhhh
I know that you think this tune song is great
And the words are cute and clever,
And if you could you'd shut the gate
And make me play forever,

But low becomes the heat, my friend,
And late becomes the hour,
So now we need the song to end
'Cause we're takin' a tour of the tower.

Hey diddle diddle, cai yippie yaffs,
Higgledy piggledy punny.
Please don't ask for autographs,
JUST THROW MONEY.


The illusions faded as the music did. Marvel spread his arms, now empty, took a bow and hoped he wouldn't get booed out of the school.

So many new concepts were, despite her brilliance, getting too complicated for Yelena's mind to take on. She was still pondering on the strange concepts Lerim has told her about some implausible sort physics or about some sort of religion she has never heard about before. That world seemed to be very strange, and there was only one thing she could remember about, the history of the events surrounding the transfer of her nation from Russia to its new land. Looking at Eldrad, Yelena wondered about which sort of culture had humans which remained skinny on purpose and mutilated their own ears to make them look pointy. The possibility that Eldrad was not human could not pass through her mind for some reason. Ignoring those thoughts, she looked at him to reply to his question.

"I hope you do not mind Eldrad, but I would rather explain more of what I have seen, read and listened before replying to your question. My father told me he and all of his friends lived in a place called Russia before, then suddenly they simply saw all surrounding lands twisting around. Almost as if our entire nation has been teleported to another planet, and more than you could imagine: entire cities, their infrastructure, roads, houses, farms, personal belongings. I would say that probably there would be only a massive crater or alike where it came from. In Russia, or in Earth for the matter, there was no magic at all besides some occultism groups who only believed they could manipulate the world through their will, but as soon as my relatives unwillingly came through such new world, some of them began to manifest involuntary magical proclivities. It was difficult for us. Most have demonstrated both surprise and fear, but before they knew their enemies, it was somewhat tolerated. I guess my family had a natural predisposition to magic, but as our existence was before in a world devoid of magic, it was impossible to manifest.

I cannot understand our enemies, on why they, instead of having exotic, unknown cultures and languages, are basically different cultural facets of our own people, despite being in an entirely different world from Russia. The kingdom of Yaga is nothing more than a sort of paganized Tzarist Russia without an Orthodox Church. In fact, my father said once her mother told him about the Baba Yaga, but it was nothing more than a fairy-tale in Earth. It seems almost like as if the world we came to is made of beliefs rather than matter. In fact, the closer you get to the heart of the skeptic Soviet Steam people and their cities, more magic become fickle, until becoming nonexistent, and the more closer you get to the center of the continent, more magic becomes powerful. The Theocracy of Perun on the other hand is nothing but a clear manifestation of the feudal remains of our nation culture, yet there is no sense. Their inhabitants, are like us, speak like us, but we are in a permanent war, for ideas and beliefs, superficially between revolution and reaction, progress and conservatism, tradition and innovation, faith and skepticism. That is our reality, and so far, magic has been mostly an enemy of our nation rather than an ally"

Taking a deep breath, Yelena somehow have had some sort of idea brewing in her mind from all she spoke, and almost immediately continued explaining:

"I believe my people live beyond the realm of mere flesh... somehow, perhaps we have all died but cannot remember, although that would be a bit weird. We live in a world which existence is deeply linked with beliefs, our beliefs. Things that would never work in Earth work there. Except for their intolerance on magic, the Republic is excellent. It is a place without starvation or misery, without injustice and privilege. Exactly because of that they disdain magic, for they consider it a privilege, for in my world, only few can develop magic, as there is no means of using magic there besides awakened innate capabilities."

Perhaps it made sense. The major reform, the restoration of freedom to the people, the abolition of Gulags, the democratization of the Soviets. All happened right after they entered such new land. It has brought many problems to the Socialist Republic, but somehow this new world have turned Soviet Steam away from the path of eventually becoming a failed utopia. Now it was time to reply the answer:

"I think I know seven dimensions. They are length, width, height, time, ideas, antithesis and synthesis. I find it confusing how could there be ten dimensions. Antithesis is the dimension of opposition to all dimensions, from physical to mental dimensions, while synthesis is a single line, which bends all dimensions, thesis and antithesis, into a new one. Hegel has understood how such process happens with ideas in his dialectic, however, it is valid not only with ideas, but with physical dimensions as well, where thesis and antithesis form the synthesis, and eventually everything merges into a single line we cannot perceive. Neither of these are on our direct reach, unless perhaps through magical means. Now which are the other three dimensions?"

Laughing slightly, but not unkindly, Eldrad listened carefully to what was being said to him. The description of being transplanted from Russia, which he knew to be located on what the Mon'Keigh called 'Holy Terra', to this other world sounded suspiciously like an event he had read of that had occured in the early twentieth century, by the human dating system. Tunguska Event... could it be?

When the speech had finished, he shook his head, "I do not know the dimensions... that is the element of the theory. It speaks of the creation of the universe... that at that time, all ten dimensions were in balance. However, something unbalanced them, and thus led to the creation of the universe. We can see length, width, height and time as either real or speculative, depending on the context. These four are visible to almost any sentient being. The other six, meanwhile, are dependent on culture. You say ideas are a dimension... an intriguing possibility, but not one I have come across before."

"However, your original question still remains unanswered... are time and space related? Most certainley... this is a fact of the universe. It is at the core of all physics. And thus, they are not beyond a measure of control... if you can control one, you may control the other."

Yelena had a simple question, and it seemed that the answer was as obvious as a friendly kiss between male friends. Smiling quaintly, she looked at the elder Eldrad, and gently offered him something she has forgotten to, a simple, casual handshake, followed by her reply. She did not put much faith in such theory however, and was only agreeing on the fact that space and time were related.

"Eldrad, let me be honest, I do not believe there are ten dimensions, in fact I believe in nothing but in what I stand for in this world. I have seen many things, but nothing that could disprove my staunch conviction that while I have been born with magic, it has given me only doubts, and never answers. Science on the other hand, no matter how I still dislike it, has solid, substantial answers that I put more faith on than on the answers provided by magic, mysticism or religion.

However, it is a logical fact that space and time are related. I hope that my beliefs, or lack of them, will not make any problem here. Now, before I attempt to understand how time can be touched, I would first seek to understand how the essential positioning of my own body could be disrupted sufficiently for me to vanish, or to... become many. I have never tried it before, because I fear that any mistake will bring death, for whenever you split a body through magical means, joining it back is a delicate thing, and one mistake is enough for some real problems.

Could you guide me to someone who could... help me on this?"

Khat had stayed at the rear of the group and ignored the illsuions that Marvel had conjured. He knew they were such as they had not core, and no scent among other lacks.

Drai'lee had let herself join in the fun and danced for a bit with one of the illusions for a bit. She sighed when he stopped, though she knew that it had been terribly rude of him to interupt the tour thusly. Her mom would have turned him into a toad for a bit.

The talk between Yelena and Eldrad had her listening closely though for while some of it was completely alien to her. some of it she understood.

Galvenor waited patiently for the students to finish before continuing. After the music and singing was over, he began to speak again.

“I see you like your quarters. It looks like you are all comfortable enough with them to interact so freely. Now that everyone is finished and gathered, we can continue the tour.”

There was no sarcasm or any other negative inflections in his voice. He was completely sincere. With a thought, he caused the entire group to levitate to the next floor. There was a large double door seemingly shaped out of some sort of wood. The door smelled of cinnamon and opened easily with a light touch. Beyond the open doors was a large room that took the shape of half the tower. To the right and left were double doors that swung back and forth upon their hinges although right now they were stationary. Overhear the ceiling was covered by an illusion or mural of the sky above the tower, leading to the impression there was nothing above them. A light breeze seemed to flow through the room and the sounds of birds could be heard if one listened close enough.

“This is the eatery. You will take your meals here and I prefer you don’t remove them from this room unless you are going to the dome. I do not mean snacks and other stuff, just the meals because the Imps will only clean up those two locations. Any plates left elsewhere is the sole responsibility of those who left them.”

“All the food served here is real food, it is only prepared magically. One cannot survive long on magically created food because the nutrients and vitamins will disappear sooner than later. It is like eating crushed ice to trick yourself you are not hungry only to have it melt in your stomach. You only end up hungry and you will have a full bladder later on.”

“There will be three meals served here daily: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A menu will be posted a week in advance and any student is allowed to submit a couple recipes to be added to the menu. Nothing harmful will be served nor will sentients be placed upon the menu. There are limits, just use good sense.”

“The kitchens are through the swinging doors on either side of the main entrance. The Imps will be using them to access the kitchens, bringing the food out to you just like a restaurant.”

Galvenor could see there were questions about to be asked and he could tell what the first one would be.

“No, you do not have to pay for your lunches but in return do not indulge in gluttony. I would like to think my students are more polite than that. Is there any questions? One at a time now.”

"I rather like this concept." Mali commented to Joshua. He grinned and nodded in return.

"I hate to trouble you, but, are them menus going to have a braile section?" Hoyrel asked. The reason was quite obvious, he was blind.

Marvel eased over to Hoyrel. This was the other bard in the group, and, though they had very different styles, Marvel could see that the man was every bit as good a musician as he was, maybe even better.

"An' where do you put in menu requests?" he asked their guide. Already, he could see what the standard fare was going to be, and was willing to bet that it would be bland as could be. Fortunately, he didn't have to sit around and whine about it. He had a recipe for "Nine Alarm Chile" that would (heh heh) take care of things.

While he was waiting for an answer, he looked at Hoyrel. "By the way, dude," he said under his breath, "you're good with the tunes. Maybe we can jam together sometime."

"Perhaps. I do know many styles, and instruments besides the Koto. I wonder if they'll accept an old recipe for Liquid Distortion." Hoyrel mused idly.

"Ooooooo," Marvel replied, "Liquid Distortion. Sounds like a great party drink, dependin' on how it distorts 'em. I think I like it already."

"It's a drink the Magi-masters themselves originally concocted way back when they were just common mages starting out in their very first lives. It completly distorts your perception of reality, and is more addictive than crack. Like PCP it can come back and sneak attack you with another round of distortions at anytime in your life. If you don't have a strong mind, your going to have a really bad trip. That was the original recipe, for obvious reasons, it was destroyed and banned.

My Recipe is completly non-addictive, and the effects are lessened to a more tolerable level." Hoyrel said.

Galvenor looked at him and simply smiled.

"I don't think that would be condusive to anything that would be useful to a learning enviroment. Also, like I said, the food is not magical and detramental stuff like that will have to be gotten when you are visiting your homes and not brought back. This is a school and not a place to get high. or wacked out. Magic is too dangerous for me to permit anyone endangering the other students."

"If he only knew I have a full vial with me, tucked right where he'd never find it, at the bottom of my Koto case." Hoyrel thought not knowing Galvenor could read minds, not knowing what galvenor really was. All he know of him was a mysterious disembodied voice, so far.

"Yeah," Marvel said, continuing Galvenor's statement, completely oblivious to Hoyrel's thoughts--he, for one, did NOT read minds. "Sounds too much like a Potion of Confusion. Not such a rare commodity."

Now THAT'S an idea! the demon thought. Get a Potion of Confusion and slip a few drops into ol' Melvinor's tea when he's not looking. Of course, he knew even then that he'd never do such a thing--but it was fun for him to think about. Old habits die hard, especially for a demon.

Yelena had a simple question, and it seemed that the answer was as obvious as a friendly kiss between male friends. Smiling quaintly, she looked at the elder Eldrad, and gently offered him something she has forgotten to, a simple, casual handshake, followed by her reply. She did not put much faith in such theory however, and was only agreeing on the fact that space and time were related.

"Eldrad, let me be honest, I do not believe there are ten dimensions, in fact I believe in nothing but in what I stand for in this world. I have seen many things, but nothing that could disprove my staunch conviction that while I have been born with magic, it has given me only doubts, and never answers. Science on the other hand, no matter how I still dislike it, has solid, substantial answers that I put more faith on than on the answers provided by magic, mysticism or religion.

However, it is a logical fact that space and time are related. I hope that my beliefs, or lack of them, will not make any problem here. Now, before I attempt to understand how time can be touched, I would first seek to understand how the essential positioning of my own body could be disrupted sufficiently for me to vanish, or to... become many. I have never tried it before, because I fear that any mistake will bring death, for whenever you split a body through magical means, joining it back is a delicate thing, and one mistake is enough for some real problems.

Could you guide me to someone who could... help me on this?"

"I can teach you to do so... observe."

Eldrad waved his hand slightly, and seemed to vanish from her view. It was if he had stepped through a door, and shut it behind him. His disembodied voice came at her, "It is a simple movement. Belief is not truly necessary - all are entitled to their own views, and we must respect them. I can help you to learn your power."

He reappeared before her once again, "Of course, you are correct in what you say - splitting a body into many is exceptionally dangerous if performed by the under-prepared. Getting that way is one thing... maintaining control, and rebuilding yourself, is another matter entirely. If you are willing, and patient, then I can help you. But I ask you to understand this, Yelena, the path you choose is a difficult one. Even the most simple actions can become lethal... I will be patient with you, and I ask that you be patient with me. The understanding between teacher and student is important."

He extended his hand to her, to shake on it, "I believe it is Human custom to shake hands when a deal is struck?"

Yelena seemed slightly amazed by the trick that Eldrad performed, and also somewhat annoyed, although not openly demonstrating it, as she looked at the hand-less sleeve of her clothing hanging from what remained of her left arm. It seemed all so easy and simple, trivial in the manner that such man did it, just like in the magic of fairy tales, in a mere thought. Unlike in her land, where magic was scarce and people had to work hard to achieve certain things, all seemed simple, trivial and easy, at least superficially, in such new location.

She simply looked at the pointy-eared elder, and as she listened to him mentioning it, she reminded of some things, eventually he offered her a hand shake, asking for her whether she was ready for it or not. As she shaked his hand, she asked him almost immediately, pondering on his affirmations:

"Standardized human customs? There are certain places in the world my ancestors came from where such gesture has an entirely different meaning. Also, aren't you an human with different traits of a different race and culture I wasn't aware of before? Because you are not that different from an human of my ethnicity to be of another species, no offense intended.

I know how patience is important, for once I had to stay focused almost an entire day to lift a hair from the ground, because I could barely focus it, and most of the magics I made were done unconsciously, until I found a coven in a forest I teleported to without any conscious will where a group of refugees taught me how to develop my art. That was roughly... twenty years ago I think. Funny, it all began when I teleported a beam of light, while I was still a children, and as far as I remember, was in a very good mood. Those were the good days I miss.

Also, I have been into worser paths, and it would be a trouble if the risk of death of these practices is as big as the risks I had in a place dominated by chaotic magic, I am sure nothing bad could happen further, else I would need to find someone to check if I have any curse of bad luck", she added, as she glanced her eyes towards the stump that remained of her arm, and awaited for what Eldrad had to say or explain to her, pondering for a bit and saying as well.

"If I could manipulate a point of space to make it become multiple spreaded points instead of my own body mass, then I could reach what I want to. Of course such action is logically, and scientifically impossible, but... logic and science do not work here", she said with a brief smile.

"With all due respect," Marvel said, coming up behind Yellena, "I think that would be a mistake right now. I mean, it sounds to me like you've never had a systematic assessment of your abilities. One thing that I've learned is that every mage is a little different--does some things well and others poorly. Do you know what is easy for you and what isn't? Are you into space control spells, or is divination more your thing--it takes both in combination to do the kind of spell that Galvenor just did--and, quite frankly, I'm still wondering how he pulled it off."

He reached out his hand and felt the magic coming from the elderly wizard. "Huh," he said, "you're just an avatar, aren't you? The real you is in some other dimension. I can feel the power of your being coming through from somewhere else. THAT'S how you pull these things off. Wow. You're on a whole other level."

Scared by the surprise, and immediately turning to Marvel, Yelena, visibly annoyed due to his meddling, replied in a mildly aggressive manner after he spoke, for he broke all the attention she was paying to Eldrad:

"First, I do not need an assessment of what I can and cannot do like a child. Second, Marvel... you are paying too much attention on the means. There are always more than one mean of achieving the same end result, and specially for something not restrained by natural laws, this adage holds even truer. I am neither a diviner, nor I am one with the fires of the false god Perun, but this does not mean a flame could not appear at my hand at this moment."

Extending her right hand, suddenly, with no sort of warning, no form of spoken word or hand wave, nor any detectable focus of magic preceding, a small flame similar to that of a candle began to float above the palm of her hand, to quickly vanish like a speck.

"I could make all fancier, but that would be immature, stupid and unnecessary to demonstrate this point, and I need to save my energies for useful things, Marvel. That flame was created through manipulation of the laws of space and movement by my hands, not through an elemental source of fire. Never assume the means that are used to achieve the end. I can either gradually teleport up, force a gust of wind to push me, or deny gravity to float for example. Or I could use the air magics, if I was skilled with them."

"Third", she added, "Where did you get your head into Marvel? I am with Eldrad here, not with Galvenor, there is no divination necessary to displace matter, only for you to understand what I speak, or to understand the dead as well, although divination with the dead is rarely well seen."

"And lastly, I have no idea on what exactly is an avatar, for I never heard of anything like it before. I suppose it is a manifestation of someone in one space into another space?"

Galvenor watched the students in the cafeteria as one of them took a menu and discovered that by touching the picture of the food, you could suddenly smell and taste it and a description of the item would play through their mind as if there was a waiter telling them about the entre beside the table. The desserts were extremely popular but the main menu containing stuff like steak, cheesy mashed potatoes, and soups were also tried frequently.

“There is you answer, with a menu like this, you don’t need Braille version. They will not work outside this room, the magic behind them being tied to the cafeteria itself. The sensations are not preprogrammed but the actual ones from the kitchen. You will be able to tell if your meal would be burnt if you order it through a complex set of divinations and other spells. If you want to be surprised, you can avoid touching the picture and just order it by sight although for some of you I am aware that is not an option but as you get favorites you will not need the menu to order. If you wish to try something, just express your desire to order something and one of my Imps will be there shortly.”

Eventually one of the students wished to try something and an Imp appeared to take their order. Minutes later the dish was sitting before them on the table as others would be trying theirs too.

"You know what I've never had and wanted to try, Lasagnua." Hoyrel said, taking a seat at a nearby table.

"Sirloin, Vegitarian, Sausage, I had no idea there were so many. I think I'll have the three meat five cheese special." Hoyrel said. It was about lunch time to him anyway.

"Top that off with a Vanilla cherry lemon lime Chocolate Root beer, and for desert, so fresh hot fudge." Hoyrel said.

Seconds later, it was before him. He whistled a bit inbetween each bite, though why was uncertain. However, remarkable, he did not make a mess despite being unable to see. Perhaps there was potential in that whistling for a new ability...

"Galvenor, it's fantastic." Hoyrel said with complete sincerity.

Scared by the surprise, and immediately turning to Marvel, Yelena, visibly annoyed due to his meddling, replied in a mildly aggressive manner after he spoke, for he broke all the attention she was paying to Eldrad:

"First, I do not need an assessment of what I can and cannot do like a child. Second, Marvel... you are paying too much attention on the means. There are always more than one mean of achieving the same end result, and specially for something not restrained by natural laws, this adage holds even truer. I am neither a diviner, nor I am one with the fires of the false god Perun, but this does not mean a flame could not appear at my hand at this moment."

Extending her right hand, suddenly, with no sort of warning, no form of spoken word or hand wave, nor any detectable focus of magic preceding, a small flame similar to that of a candle began to float above the palm of her hand, to quickly vanish like a speck.

"I could make all fancier, but that would be immature, stupid and unnecessary to demonstrate this point, and I need to save my energies for useful things, Marvel. That flame was created through manipulation of the laws of space and movement by my hands, not through an elemental source of fire. Never assume the means that are used to achieve the end. I can either gradually teleport up, force a gust of wind to push me, or deny gravity to float for example. Or I could use the air magics, if I was skilled with them."

"Third", she added, "Where did you get your head into Marvel? I am with Eldrad here, not with Galvenor, there is no divination necessary to displace matter, only for you to understand what I speak, or to understand the dead as well, although divination with the dead is rarely well seen."

"And lastly, I have no idea on what exactly is an avatar, for I never heard of anything like it before. I suppose it is a manifestation of someone in one space into another space?"

"Wow," Marvel said, his friendly grin not leaving his face, "you like it rough, don't you? Wish I could remember all you said, but, here goes..."

"First and foremost, there ARE 'natural laws,' for lack of a better term, for magic. That's what I learned from Yendor. They're incredibly complex, and even more incredibly elegant, but they're there. For example, gravity is just warped space--so, if I can do space manipulation spells, I can do gravity spells. Fireballs are energy transfer spells--you use the energy around you to burn the air. Please don't ask me to cast a fireball, though--I hate 'em. And I don't care who the so-called god of fire is.

"Figuring out what you're good at isn't just for children, though--and it carries with it an important benefit. You yourself have said that there are many magical means to accomplishing your ends. Knowing what you're good at allows you to better determine which means to use to accomplish your ends.

"And finally," he said, putting his hands on his hips in a fun imitation of her temper, still smiling his friendly smile, "an avatar is sort of a representative. It can be a projection, and interface with its master intelligence, but it exists independently. If it is somehow disconnected from its master, it will still be able to function, albeit on a more limited basis. And I already KNOW that I'm bad with names--so there!"

He wiggled his hips back and forth a little and shushed his tail to press the point.

OOC: Yay! Access to my favorites on my now working iMac lets me post again.

IC: Zena whistled at Marvel's speech. "From your actions, one wouldn't peg your for an intellectual if it weren't for that mini monologue. I do want to point out though that with some elemental spells, fireballs to use your example, you don't have to just use the energy around you. Depending on how good you are at managing your own energy, that can be an abundant source as well. For example," she braved a small fireball in her hand. "This is drawing on my energy alone. But this." the ball grew larger, but more controlled. "Draws on my energy for a main source and outside energy for more control and more power." The fireball shrank and vanished in a puff of smoke.
"He's right about the second part of his speech though. If I had tried working magic without music, it wouldn't work too well. The last time I did magic without music, Zena was trying to teach me water manipulation. We ended up with an ice rink instead of a pool and Joshua was swimming at the time." Mali told her story as Joshua shuddered from the memory.
"So would that make Zena's astral projections a type of Avatars then?" Joshua inquired. "And as far as dropping names goes, join the club." Cone shaped hats that read "Official Name Dropper" appeared on both Marvel and Joshua's heads. "Not funny Z." Joshua swatted at the hat and and it vanished as Mali and Zena started giggling.

Khat chose to sample the luncheon fare while Drai'lee listened to the Yelena and the others talk. She knew herself that there were natual laws to majic, and that they could be both bent and broken but only at ones peril. There were also indeed elimental sources of the Four, Earth Air Fire and Water, and one who could tap into those elements and bend them to will could do much, both beneficial and harmful.

But she didn't say anything, just continued to listen.

(OOC: Sorry for the dragon mix-up, Marionetonia -- my mind had wandered to the Strangers' Bar.)

Snaffling a chair that seemed sound in all four legs -- not an easy thing to do at any other school eatery he'd attended -- Ruari parked himself near the woman with the Khat. No, he reminded himself, not the Khat, just Khat.

"A hamburger, please, but no pickle thingies," he said politely to the air. "And could I have some chips, too, please? And an orange drink?"

The arrival of the usually-forbidden goodies occupied him for some time, but even as he ate he was scanning the walls.

To his astonishment there seemed to be no roster pinned up anywhere. At Findhorn Abbey everyone, from Mother Mirrim to the youngest child, did their share of housework, and the roster was the most noticeable object in the Refectory.

Ruari had liked it when he and his family stayed at the Abbey for Sabbats. You got to know people when they were elbow-deep in suds or sweeping corridors. It was all part of the fun, seeing the high-ups looking grumpy over burnt saucepans.

"Do you think having Imps to do things lets us out of any jobs?" he finally asked the woman near him. He'd noticed she was just sitting quietly, too; perhaps he wasn't the only one feeling a bit overwhelmed by all these gaudy displays of power.

Drai'lle looked over at Ruari as he asked his question

"Do you think having Imps to do things lets us out of any jobs?"

She looked about, noting the imps taking care of every aspect "I think it lets us out of all jobs, save maybe keeping out own rooms cleaned. They seem pretty set here in that aspect. I know back home if I tried to do any of the servants jobs they'd have made an utter fuss." She laughed a little then felt suddenly half shy 'Hi, I'm Drai'lee and this is Khat. I don't think we got introduced earlier."

Khat half dipped his head - he was always shy, but twitched his whiskers and ears forward in a friendly enough manner. He'd ordered a bacon cheese burger, hold the pickle and the lettuce. He'd lived out of fast food dumpsters in his time.

OOC: Right, due to my being away through exams, I’m going to have to take into account all the posts around this conversation. So, if you get a bit lost, drop me a TG and I’ll explain it.

IC:
Eldrad smiled slightly at the question posed to him regarding his ethnicity. Yelena had already said enough for him to be able to glean that she and her people had no true concept of aliens. Deciding it best not to entirely challenge that view, he replied, “Like I said, a standard human custom… I am not entirely human, by your understanding anyway.”

When Marvel arrived and started spouting his own knowledge, the youthful yet ancient man could not help but be impressed. The words displayed a far wider knowledge than he would have given this trickster credit for. However, there were some, from Eldrad’s point of view, areas in which the young man remained woefully ignorant. Wide, sweeping assumptions were one of these… and also, assuming that space control and divination seemed to be the same thing. Still, one who is without ignorance is an impossibility. Forgiveness of ignorance, Eldrad, will lead you to understand this one better.

He decided to respond to Marvel’s assumption of him being an avatar, “Young man, I am far from an avatar. My power is drawn from an alternate realm, this much is true. But I am as real as the grass beneath our feet.”

Finally, with this done, he looked back at Yelena, “We shall proceed at your own pace. Teleportation and self-replication – what you think of as separating your being into other, identical bodies – are difficult skills. Like you say, the risks are great, and thus the learning process must take time. I think I shall utilise the training method of one of my counterparts from another nation.”

He reached into the tree above him, and plucked what seemed to be an apple from the branches, “The actual object here is immaterial – it does not matter what we use, rather that you understand the principle behind the act. Come, be seated.”

Declining to sit on the benches, he settled into place on the grass, setting the apple onto a flat rock. Gesturing to Yelena to sit, and also making it clear that Marvel was welcome to stay if he so wished, “Once you are ready, we’ll begin… like I said… it shall take time, and patience.”

Yelena slightly smiled as Eldrad corrected Marvel about his assumptions regarding magic, however she was more interested into getting on with the learning of such new capability rather than discussing further with the devil. She sat down as instructed and looked at the apple, wondering about what the man meant by saying it was immaterial despite the appearances.

"Yes, I am prepared for all of this, but Eldrad, before we start, could you answer me a question: are you a solipsist?", she asked, and then patiently awaited for him to explain how exactly she could distort the logical principle that something cannot exist simultaneously in two different places. For her, the idea that there were laws restricting magic other than the natural limits of willpower and stamina was pure nonsense.

The demon pulled the hat off his head and read what it said. He chuckled.

About then another message arrived in his devious little mind. This one came from his stomach.

"Ummm...thanks. Really wish I could stay--would love the lesson...but the fuel tank just hit 'empty,' so, unless you want the rest of the apples in that tree to start disappearing, I think I'd better get to the ol' filling station."

"Thanks again," he said to no one in particular as he made his way to the cafeteria.

--------------------

He should've asked for vegetable soup in an urn. That way, he could just drop his tongue in and slurp it all out and no one would see anything...and if he had happened to puke up some digestive juices during the process to make it go down a little easier, well, that would just be his little secret.

Instead, he got himself an antipasto with Italian dressing and a little salt to wake up those chloride ions...and ate it like a human would...but a little faster. No one seemed to notice. And no one seemed to notice, either, that he managed to sneak a six-pack of beer into his bottomless, magic satchel. All the better. It would be there in the fridge later when the party started.

All in all, it turned out to be a VERY satisfying meal.

Joshua, Mali, and Zena picked a table for lunch. Joshua had fish and chips, Mali requested spaghetti, and Zena almost inhaled a chef salad, all the while discussing the events so far. Joshua would have to remember to pick out a bedroom once he got back down there, not that it would be hard to go back and forth from his house and the school. During lunch, Chaz reappeared and enjoyed the gift of the last few bits of fish from Josh's plate. Once finished, they gathered up their plates like they'd been taught at the Sylvonian Magic Institute and placed them at the edge of the table for an imp to collect. Joshua picked up Chaz and Mali her flute and they headed back to Galvenor.

The purple robed man had followed the others to the cafeteria as silently and inconspicously as ever. He had chosen to stand around rather than sit, and had positioned himself close to a wall so as to not obstruct traffic, silently waiting for the tour to continue. Unlike most others, he hadn't ordered anything, nor was he ordering anything. Not even something to drink. He seemed perfectly content with this choice - he showed no signs discontent caused by hunger or thirst of any kind.

His little show earlier had apparently not aroused anyone's curiosity, and that, he thought, was a good thing. Probably those who had been present had simply not understood or just cared as to what it would mean - whatever was the case, it didn't really matter.

"So," Marvel said to his newfound purple-robed friend on the way out of the cafeteria, "you're undead, huh? Had dealings with a few back in the old country. What do you like to eat?" He looked left and right as if making sure no one was paying attention, and, mischievous grin still on his face, whispered to the man, "For lack of a better term..."

--------------

OOC:

>:-P >:-) >:-P

The man grinned wryly momentarily at the remark.

"You are as right as you are wrong, demon," the man responded quietly, "And as to answer your question... I do not feed on anything."

That, however, did not mean that he couldn't eat - he just chose not to as he had no need to do so.

((OOC: Yay for mini-posts for extra clutterage!))

'Hi, I'm Drai'lee and this is Khat. I don't think we got introduced earlier."

"I'm sure I'd have remembered if we had been," Ruari said, then kicked himself mentally for such a cheesy reply. But the pair before him were not easily forgotten, and he'd meant it truthfully. "I'm Ruari Dhurigh," he added. "I think I'm here as a student, though maybe it's just a good place to park an embarrassment for a while."

He wondered whether to start calling her "Drai'lee". It was how she'd introduced herself, and Findhornians were notoriously informal, so it would have been natural to call her that. But there was so much high-and-mightiness going on, it might be best to wait for some more clues on her status. At least he had no problems introducing himself to Khat.

"May I?" he asked, beginning to extend his hand slowly, palm down, towards the other's nose. It was how Bast had taught him to greet the Ardchoille Cats -- "Not that we can't smell you and see you miles off, but it shows us you're willing to exchange information," the diplomat had explained.

"And wait till we say yes," he'd added testily, seconds later, as Ruari had sucked aggrievedly at a series of shallow scratches on the back of his hand. "It's not just a meaningless gesture, you know."

Bast had been a very ... memorable ... teacher.

"Actually" Khat said in his soft, gravelly voice "We do it something more like this" And proceedeed to do a complicated rap, tap, slap, and knuckle bump - done as lightly, fastly and fleetingly as possible. He grinned "But don't mind me. While I wasn't born in a barn, I was raised on the streets."

"Pleased to meetcha Ruari....and yes I am a sucker for ear scritching, but don't let that go beyond this table" He winked as Drai'lee giggled.

"Oh I doubt they just 'parked' you here. When I'm an embarrassment I get sent to my rooms." Drai'lee looked sympathetically at him. "I had to run away to come here. Mom would have had dragons if she knew I wanted to learn human majick." She explained as she finished off the huge salad she had been quietly devouring.

OOC: Oh, come now, dude. When you posted that your character was keeping a low profile, you knew that everybody's favorite(?) pain in the butt would be visiting him sooner or later! It didn't have to be a big post. It just had to let ol' purple-robes know that he was busted. :) :) :)

Speaking of which...

IC:

"'Scuse me a moment," Marvel said. He turned his head and, softly but directly, smile never fading, said, "I heard that, Khat. Now the question is what it's worth to you to keep other people from hearing it." Khat was one of the few in the room with hearing as good as Marvel's, so he had no doubts that his message got through. He was only joking, so he winked at Khat and the fae babe. She was a cute one. Too bad she didn't like farting.

"I hate to split hairs, dude," Marvel said, returning to the previous conversation, "but I didn't ask what you eat, I asked what you like to eat. There's a difference." He had a good mind to ask if being half-undead was like being half-slow (and half-fast), but he didn't know whether the dude would take offense at the pun, so he thought better of it.

"And from my reply you should have found your answer," said the man with a distinct coldness in his voice, "But I see that you cannot find it. Very well. Let me state it more obviously: I do not like to eat. There is nothing I would enjoy eating."

The demon seemed, from his point of view, to be as dull witted as any other of the kind he had met and dealt with during the years. But at least this one did not seem to be under the control of the lords of the Inferno - it did not pose any threat.

And that was good.

((OOC: And he knows he should be "busted" due to what he did before. He did it on purpose. Thing is, no one caring about it (which is how things seemed to be before your guy said hai) would've worked just as fine as the opposite.))

"Fine," Marvel said, smiling and raising his arms in a gesture of "whatever." Presumption was one thing, but when one expected others to presume upon one's actions, it was a bit much. No more hanging out with this one. In a place full of wierdos--and Marvel was one of 'em--this guy was wierd.

So Marvel pondered whether to mosey back to Yellsatya and Oldbag or slink back into the cafeteria and try to be sociable with Fae Babe and Khad. He decided on the latter. Even though it would be staying in the same room with Royal Pain, and Fae Babe was inventing excuses to put him in the dog house, Yellsatya was really earning the title of late.

"So..." he said, slinking as slinkily as he could over to the table, "when do I get to scritch your ear?"

Khat had just given Marvel a fang filled grin and a wink earlier, having not realised that the deomsn hearing what That good.

Drai'lee looked up at Marvels slinking arrival, and frowned slightly wondering what had put him so in the dog house that he felt the need to slink.

"when do I get to scritch your ear?"

That brought a smile to her lips and she replied cheerily, hopeing to bring some to him. He seemed very nice despite his propensity for the behavior of an adolescent male. Perhaps they mature late she thought to herself.

"Oh Marvel, I never allow scritchings on the first date. And you haven't even taken me on a first date." She fluttered her lashes at him and patted the bench section next to her "Here come sit next to me, and have some lunch."

Somebody hadn't been watching, Marvel thought, a bemused grin spreading over his features. "Again?" he asked. "But I just finished a couple of minutes ago." He thought of pulling out the beer and offering to help the folks at the table wash down their fare, but, looking at Fae Babe (he had to come up with a better name than that--he was losing his touch!), he decided that it wasn't highfalutin' enough for her. Maybe he could get one of the imps to part with a good, sweet plum table wine...

He had no sooner completed the thought than a huge, burly imp came out of the kitchen and stood glowering over the table, its big, muscular chest heaving as it breathed heavily. It was dressed in the white coat and pants, black shoes and billowing hat of a chef, and carried a towel draped over its arm. It also sounded almost like a steam engine when it breathed, and its eyes glowed white under a heavy brow line.

"Parrrrdon mmme, sirrr," it said, in the best imitation it could make of servility with that deep, husky, growly voice it had, "but could thisss perhapssss be the itemmm that you werrrre about to inquirrre after?"

In its huge, clawed hands was a rather large, cobalt-blue bottle of wine wrapped in a towel--or, rather, it would have been large if it wasn't so completely covered in the imp chef's huge, clawed hand.

Marvel was impressed. He knew the brand. "Why, this stuff is Japanese," he said, "and sold only to the finest restaurants--delicate with a sweet taste and a hint of floral. The importation taxes alone make it as disgustingly exclusive as it is delicious. It would be...perfect!"

"Why, thannnnnk you, ssssir," the imp said, closing its glowing eyes for a moment as it brought its big, wide head forward in a bow of supplication. As it did, wine glasses floated in on the air behind it and landed on the table, one for each customer. "Alwayss happy to be of servicccce," it finished as the bottle floated in the air and dished a small portion to each occupant.

"I was looking for something to help the things you're eating," he said, turning to the folks at the table. "I had no idea that he'd--." By the time he turned his head back, the big imp chef had already vanished. "Please, try this with my complements."

It was true. Drai'lee hadn't noticed Marvel eating. Sometimes she just got so lost in her thoughts she wouldn't notice a demon if it came and kissed her on the nose...but she really did try not to let her thoughts wander that far afield.

She blushed and apologised "I guess I was day dreaming"

She took the offered glass, sniffed it, as she'd seen her mother do, then sipped it carefull. drawing her breath in in a gasp of pleased surprize. "Oh Marvel that is delicious!" She finished it quickly. Then abruptly she stood, looking toawards her room. "You all just stay right here. I heard Rosh calling me." She kissed Marvel on the cheek "Thank you that was a wonderful finish!" and hurried out.

She was certain she heard Rosh call...but while she didn't realise it herself, she was absolutely plastered - her body was treating the wime as if she were still Fae sized...but no one coulde tell this outwardly...Fae normally acted a bit tipsy.

Khat sipped his slowly, humming under his breath. "She's right, this is simply Maaavelllous!" He twitched his whiskers at Marvel "She'll be back soon enough, she just worries about Rosh, him beiong a baby and all. He was nearly dead when he showed up and it took her forever to nurse him back to health." The feliniid explained further.

"Like, Khat, you'd better watch after her," Marvel said. "It doesn't look like she can hold her liquor.

"I, on the other hand..." He extended his hollow tongue into his glass and slurped up its contents in two surging gulps, then retracted the appendage back into his mouth. It was all very quick. "Ahhhhhhh," he said, "never out of season."

Come out, come out, wherever you are, Little Girl ...

*****

Ember woke to the sounds of shouting. Screams. Fear. Her eyes flew open, and she jumped from her bed. She pulled her red overdress over her chemise and tied it with the lacing. She pulled her boots on, and ran across the large tent to unfasten Chula's teathers from her holdings. Chula took off, trailing the leather strip behind her. This way! Run!

Ember didn't wait for an explination. She grabbed her cloak from the hook by the door and ran after her familliar. The bird led her into the woods, and Ember did her best to keep up. What the devil is happening? she cursed, looking back and seeing smoke.

He came was the only phrase she got out of Chula. They ran until her muscles were on fire. But the flight to safety came to an abrupt hault when a dark figure appeared in front of them. Chula screeched, her fear thick. Ember stopped, her long hair flying about before falling back into place. She saw the figure step into the light, and gaspt. His skin was dark, and his eyes were black as coal. There were three long fashes across his face, fresh and bleeding still. He looked at her, a wicked smile in his eye.

"My Lady, its been a long time ..." he said, stepping closer. Emberlea stepped back. He stopped, but continued to smirk as he spoke. "My name is Marcoz. I have been searching for you for a very long time. Now that you have been found alive and well, I have the most unfortunate pleasure of keeping you with me. I hope you will not give me any trouble."

"Quite the opposite, good sir. If you intend to remove me from this place, I intend to give you a whole new definition of the term." She said, stepping back once again. "I think you should leave."

"Now, now ... lets not be too hasty, Miss. I would not want to be hurting you, in any case."

Chula swooped low and landed on Ember's shoulder. The link between them was strong, but a block preventing magic had been placed. Chula was beyond listening, for fear of what would come next. She used her abilities as a familliar to force knowledge of the one way of escape into Emberlea's mind. Plane travel.

It hit her like bricks. Ember soaked in the knowledge, and by the time it hit Marcoz what the hawk was doing, Ember said the encantation that made her dissappear. She was gone. From the clearing, the town on fire, even from the entire planet.

She found herself shaking. When she was collected enough to move, she found herself in a rainforrest.

*****

Months of the persuit passed like days. Ember and Chula were never in one place longer than a few days. Marcoz would follow, she knew. It frightened Ember.

She was in a busy town in Renaissance France, her once new red overdress stained and dirty, tearing almost as fast as she could mend it. She worked for a day's worth of food from different artisans, never stealing.

That night, as she was settling into sleep in the barn someone had offered, a hand covered her mouth, and a blade at her throat.

"Why my little Neena, I never thought I could catch up."

She struggled as he pulled her to her feet and pushed her gruffly against a wall, her skin turning to ice as he looked her over. Besides the chase, she sensed him becoming hungry. For what, she did not know. A tear fell from her eye. This had been the last place she'd known. She knew no others. She closed her eyes, trying to block the man from her sight.

"I think, before we go in, you can help me with a more personal problem that you alone have created ..." as he leaned in to smell her hair, she ducked and kicked his kneecap, making him stumble. Marcoz slapped her across the face, and tore the sholder to her dress with one hand, the other at her throat, lifting her off the ground. She kicked again, this time Ember's boot connected with his groin, and he dropped her. She ran from the barn, her dress' other repaired seams loosening.

Chula caught up with her, and flooded her mind of a place that was safe. A high, white tower. Ember concentrated and began the spell just as Marcoz caught up and gripped the hem of her ragged gown.

They landed hard, Chula flying ahead to find help. Ember jumped up and ran to the gates. Marcoz stood, raised his hands, and began muttering a spell. It hit as Ember was crossing the gate.

At that moment, her ring glowed hot. Combined with a force Ember could only assume came from the school, a darkness encased the area. It became black as pitch. Her screams seemed to be amplified as pain racked her body. She fell on the ground, inside the barrier. Her mind locked with the spell's effects, and while she remained aware of her surroundings, her body was completely unresponsive. It appeared to be unconcious, while her mind was fighting to regain control. The force of the spell made a wind all around her, the tattered remains of her dress whipping about in the gusts. Cuts from the struggle and the fall bled, making her look worse.

Chula flew through the sky with the urgency of desperation, knowing that if the school's barrier would not hold, her lady would need help. People in one room, where food was, semed to have noticed the darkness that encased them, and were moving to the window. She went to the glass, and used her sharp beak to etch "Help" in the glass, backwards so the people could read it.

Marcoz, furious to be locked out of an open gate, cursed. He called, "I will be waiting, Emberlea ... Come out, come out, wherever you are, Little Girl ..." before he dissappeared.

Joshua looked out the window. "Um, that doesn't look good." he said as Chaz perched himself on Josh's shoulders.
"Galvenor, you might want to take a look, there's someone out there I think." Zena too looked out the window.
"Josh, you can get us down there the fastest, go check it out." Mali said, cleaning her glasses.
"Oh fine then." he said, handing Chaz to Zena. "See you in a bit." he vanished within a circle of runes and reappeared with a flash on the grounds. "Oh my..." he ran to the girl and began to take vitals. "Can you hear me?" he asked in panic. Seeing her lack of clothing and response, he touched the remains of her shirt and repaired the garb.
How is it? Zena asked, reading a response.
Not good, clear a spot up there, I'm bringing her up. Came his reply. "Help me clear a spot for her Mali." Zena said and they pushed a few tables out of the way just in time for Joshua to arrive with another flash, Jax in his arms. He set her down gently and took her vitals again. "She's in a coma." he pronounced.

In the cafeteria, Marvel flinched.

"Ouch!" he said. "Someone just ran into a barrier spell around this school! And there was a mind-control spell of some kind--a curse--but it hit so quickly and was gone so fast that I didn't get a good whiff of it.

"Maybe we should think about...looking for...an evil mage."

Drai'lee noticed none of this. Gliding happily along just certain she could get back to her rooms she noticed a wide baded ring on the floor. "Oh some ones dropped their pretty" she mumbled to herself, and with a drunks careful grace picked it up. It didn't seem to have any markings on the outside, but she could see fine writing on the inde as she looked it over.

"Oh so thats who's it is! It looks far to big for them, but I could be wrong" she giggled tipsily and began to follow the directions to return it. Though she did notice how dark it suddenly was, but that made no matter to her, the Fae saw perfectly well in the dark.

Once she reached her destination she smiled brightly, it was just where any Fae would think it a wonderful place to put things. It was so in tune with their natures, as well as the one who'd lost the ring...

But as she began to place it in...

she suddenly found herself somewhere else, a dimly lit, cold cube...

The ring fell, blank both inside and out now...

Yelena slightly smiled as Eldrad corrected Marvel about his assumptions regarding magic, however she was more interested into getting on with the learning of such new capability rather than discussing further with the devil. She sat down as instructed and looked at the apple, wondering about what the man meant by saying it was immaterial despite the appearances.

"Yes, I am prepared for all of this, but Eldrad, before we start, could you answer me a question: are you a solipsist?", she asked, and then patiently awaited for him to explain how exactly she could distort the logical principle that something cannot exist simultaneously in two different places. For her, the idea that there were laws restricting magic other than the natural limits of willpower and stamina was pure nonsense.

"No, I am not. When I say the apple is immaterial, I simply mean it merely exists as an example... you can use any object for what I am about to show you, and attempt to teach you."

He waved a hand gently over the apple, the blue sparks from his fingers sinking into the apple. For a moment, nothing happened, and then all of a sudden the apple seemed to split itself in two. Both held a blue hue for a second, nothing more, and then they returned to normal, "These are the same apple you saw a moment before."

He gestured again, and the second apple merged with the first seemlessly, "Now, they are one again."

Using his fingernail, he carved a sliver of the pure green skin of the apple, placing it on the table. He then gestured at the apple once more, which shimmered and then vanished. A sudden weight would manifest itself inside a pocket, or similar, of Yelena's clothing, "Take that item, and place it on the table. Tell me... is it the same apple?"

Yelena wondered if all the demonstration was only a way of making the manner of teaching such capabilities fancier, although she did not express it, for it seemed to be probably just some sort of test to see if it would not be dangerous to teach something like this to her, a test of patience.

Putting her right into one of her pockets, she took an apple out of it, and placed it on her own hands, looking at it and inspecting it to check. The exact spot where the sliver of its skin was carved was there, and thus it was obvious what have been done.

"Maybe, she replied. I am not sure of which means you used to do this Eldrad. You could have duplicated it and erased its original self, having this as a perfect copy of the former apple, or you could have bended the all the space surrounding it to change its position, or only the space it occupies."

It was not much of what she really liked to do. It was beginning to look like those dull practical classes of engineering, but only with a different subject, where the teachers always delayed the basic point of the lesson, and anything closely resembling them wasn't very pleasant to Yelena. Although she never openly said that the manner the lesson was being given was becoming to bother her and she was also becoming hungry, and suddenly the apple vanished from her hand, and she seemed quite surprised by it, unaware that it was yet another example of her subconscious and feelings triggering magic.

"Now, what is the point of making it teleport again Eldrad?", she asked him immediately, when suddenly an the remains of an apple that was eaten popped on the table with no warning, however, it seemed as its edges were still connected to an invisible part of the apple and there were no signs of cuts or bites on it, for it was perfectly rounded. Opening her eyes wider, she asked, even more surprised:

"Is this a joke of sorts to test my patience?"

It seemed no joke when suddenly she felt something popping inside her stomach, and after a small sensation of uneasiness got used to it. Most strange however was how he remain of the apple began to dissolve, or more exactly, be digested, as a vile acid coated it, and in a few minutes it simply became a sort of liquid mass splattered into the table which was not very pleasant to the eyes or nostrils.

Frowning, Yelena looked at Eldrad and finally let it out:

"First, this was starting to look like an uncreative engineering class, and now how do you dare to use my own body to test your magic? If that is how it works behind all the shiny white, then I am going out right now."

Apparently she was really completely oblivious to the fact it was she who did it involuntarily, and that it was for an ironic coincidence exactly what she wished to learn, consciously. But for some reason, it seemed that either she would have some trouble to listen, or maybe their methods were not adequate for the very peculiar manner she delved into magic.

Marvel flinched again. Then, he sat bolt straight up. This time, it wasn't what was there, it was what was missing.

Marvel could feel magic, and every magical being has an aura about them--even the demon himself. He could tell when particularly magical beings were nearby just by their auras--and now, after a flash of magical energy, Fae Babe's aura had gone out.

"Khat," he said, looking at his new friend, his face strangely stern, "let's go find your other half. Something strange is going on here."

There was also a newcomer on the premesis--but this one felt raw and unsure of its powers. It definitely wasn't Drai'lee.

Whatever that spell was, it was already starting to close. Marvel knew that, if he was going to track it down, he'd have to start right then.

He stood up.

"let's go find your other half. Something strange is going on here."

Khat looked about, his ears going flat against his head as he too - though his way of senseing was different form Marvels - could no longer sense Drai'lee's presence. He bounded to his feet and with a quick paw motion to Marvel bounded out of the room, trolling for Drai'lee's scent.

Though just outside their room he came to a halt and looked around bewhilderedly.

"Her scent stops here" He said frowning.. then, flemhing, he took in a long pull of the air "New scent here though, familiar but not..." He darted into the room, only to come back with drooping whikers and eawrs, shaking his head negatively.

Marvel went with Khat. Marvel stopped with Khat. Khat went away; Marvel stayed.

"Dude," Marvel said when Khat returned, "there's a spell scar here. It's a teleport of somekind--but it's seriously messed up. You go get Galvenor. I'm going to pop it open and see what happens."

He threw his satchel to Khat. "Keep this," he said. "If I get lost in this thing, you can use it to find me."

Waiting to make sure Khat was out of range, Marvel lifted his hand and extended his fingers. Popping a teleport was tricky business, and he wasn't the best of mages. He didn't want anyone else around if he pushed instead of popping.

As he felt his way through the spell, the air in front of him burst into light. Soon, a veritable shower of magic energy was coming out of the thing, in all the hues of the rainbow. The walls glowed slightly in a subdued shade of red as the energy levels triggered school's defensive spells--but the portal wasn't threatening anyone, and it wasn't doing anything against anyone's will, so they held back their payload. They were going to allow Marvel to succeed at what he was trying--or fail spectacularly.

And then, rather unexpectedly, the demon found himself...in Fae Ba--hey, wait a minute! Make that DRA'GON LADEE--'s room* (Yesssssss!)...in front of ANOTHER portal scar.

"Ever have one of THOSE days?" he mused to himself.

He spread his fingers again.

-----------------------

OOC: tell me that this isn't where you got that name from, dude. Make me believe!

It was cold and dark when she came to. Ember's soul was trapped inside her own head. But it felt all wrong-all foriegn to her. As if it was an entirely new existance, and she was sent to the wrong body.

Then, she was blank.

It wasn't long before she felt a small opening from her cell. She didn't know why, but she tried to open it. Her physical body trembled, turning about. She turned clammy and sweaty as her movements became violent. She fought her spell inside and out.

This continued for only a few short minutes. As the second being entered the ring, the spell was completely obliterated. She stopped completely, opened her eyes, and gasped.

Her breathing was heavy and labored. She brought a hand to her brow to touch one of her cuts, and pulled it away to see red stains to match the pain. She sat up slowly, surveying the faces of those around her.

"Where am I?" she asked, too afraid to ask the question on her mind ... Who am I?

OOC: Honestly I did not have that consciously in mind at all - tho. my subconscious often moves me in mysterious ways - and Drai'lee is only her self given nickname - LOL maybe she came up with it, trying to sound tougher and more dangerous than she is...her majic, right now, doesn't have much offensive use, its involved with nature and plants - trees and such

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drai'lee frowned as she suddently realized that she was back to Fae sized, her human cloths hiding her all but foot tall figure. Exasperated she struggled out of their entrapment. The blank walled cube seemed to have just enough room for them and her. The corners seemed to be seamless, and from all she could see at the moment there was no door.

"Hey, let me out! Let me out now, or I'll Pix you good!" She shouted as loud as she could but there was no response. Standing she went over - just a small step really - to the nearest wall and pounded on it. Hoping that ...hoping a lot of incoherent things, but mostly that she could get out quick. It felt so very wrong in here..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Khat caught the satchel that Marvel tossed to him and when the demon told him to go find Galvenor he hustled to do just that. He headed at top speed bak to the dining room, the last place he had seen Galvenor

"Galvenor...Galvenooooooooorrrr" He screeched at the top of his lungs...

Josh smiled above her. "You're safe in the White Tower, a school for magic."
Zena looked at the cuts. "And you need some medical help. Josh here fixed your clothes, but I'm afraid he's not good with living things."
Mali, glad she had her flute, put it to her lips and played a short melody. The spell should cure any cuts and bruises on anyone that heard it, but broken bones were another story. "That should help." she said. "Now, let's get you up." She handed Zena the flute and Josh and Mali offered their hands to help the new comer up.

She took the offered arms, confusing people and faces and names. She stood, shakily, and almost fell.

"What happened?" she asked, again avoiding the question.

"You were attacked." Joshua said simply. "I went down to the grounds once we saw you and brought you back here."
"Did you want to sit down?" Zena asked, gesturing to an open seat near a table upon seeing her shaking.
"You're not hungry are you?" Mali asked. "We are in the cafeteria after all."

Food ... sit ... attacked ...

She closed her eyes, fighting tears of fear and frustration. It was very difficult ... she had no idea if she was hungry. She didn't know if she wanted food. She let them move her to a chair, and she sighed.

"Marcoz is gone?"

As she sat down, Mali noticed a tattoo on her lower back. "That's quite the tattoo you've got there." she commented. "Do you know what Jax is for? It's written underneath."
"If that's his name, yes. He was deflected by the shields of the place. Quite a site actually." said Joshua.

Jax? Jax. An escape.

"Jax is my name. And is he going to get in?

An edge of panic rose in her voice, as she took a closer look at her surroundings, noting possible exits.

"Jax, huh?" Zena mused. "That's an interesting name. Lovely and interesting. I'm Zena." She held out a hand to shake Jax's. "And my two friends here are Mali and Joshua." she pointed at each respectively.
"No, he shouldn't get in." Joshua assured. "He was kept out when he hit the barrier and if he does come back, I'll make sure he won't want to try again."

She shook Zenas hand, then Malis, then Joshuas, mentally noting their faces. She smiled tentitively at Joshua's reassurances to keep him away. She wasn't sure she felt safe, but she did feel better than she had since she went on the run.

"Is there a place I could sleep?" she asked, quietly.

"Certainly there is." Said Zena. "Josh, this would be a good time for you to get a room too, why don't you show her the way."
"I could do that, Chaz looks like he needs a nap anyway." he replied, taking the nearly sleeping cat from Zena. "Well Jax, follow me to the dorm floor."

Jax nodded, slowly stood, and followed Josh through the door and to the hall, keeping a step behind as she viewed the strange walls and trying to memorize the patterns of the halls in case she needs to know for an escape.

"I ..." she began quietly. "I have no money ..."

Joshua listened as he got to the amber light. "And you think Mali and Zena do? I got almost a free ride to school and then got a job that lets me pay for the three of us. Of course, I got Zena employed under me so we pay for Mali to go to school as well as stay with us. Anyway, get in here and we'll head to the dorms."

Jax took a step back, giving Joshua a funny and confuzed look.

"What the blazes is that? And why do I need to get in it?"

Behind the mask, she was afraid, but she didn't let it show.

Joshua chuckled. "It's like an elevator, but magical."

Jax' eyes widened, nearly in fright, but mostly in indignation. She took another step back.

"There is no way in the coldest depths of hell. There must be some other way."

"Well, I could try teleporting again. Of course, that tends to lead to blindness by my passengers and I don't think you want that. Besides, it's harmless." he picked her up and walked back to the light, going down to the dorms. "See, not that bad."

Normally, Jax would have slapped the guy. Struggled. Put up a fight. Her body tried to do all of these things. But her mind shot the instincts down.

Instead, she pressed her face into him and wrapped her arms around him to block it out.

"Tell me when its done ..." she said, closing her eyes as tight as they would go.

He stepped in, and she felt her stomache rise as they moved, to where she didn't know.

Joshua stepped out. "You can relax now." they were on the dorm floor. "The chosen rooms are pretty obvious, so find and empty room and make yourself at home. I'll check on you in a minute, ok?" he set her down, walked to a room to the right of Zena's, and entered it.
The walls became a dark green and the curtains were maroon. They tied in with the bed set that was a four color block pattern of green, maroon, gold, and violet. A homemade quilt unrolled itself from nowhere as a wardrobe landed in a corner and filled itself with his clothes. An elegant desk of dark oak rose between the wardrobe and the door while book upon book of every subject imaginable found a spot along the bookshelves covering the remaining walls. A stationary set manifested on the desk along with a number of pens. A wax sealer popped up next to the stationary and a few photo albums made their home along the bottom shelf with piles of research papers. "Not bad, but I think we're missing something." a nightstand rose next to the bed with a radio engraved with runes resting on top. "That should do it." he left his room and walked to Jax's.

Yelena wondered if all the demonstration was only a way of making the manner of teaching such capabilities fancier, although she did not express it, for it seemed to be probably just some sort of test to see if it would not be dangerous to teach something like this to her, a test of patience.

Putting her right into one of her pockets, she took an apple out of it, and placed it on her own hands, looking at it and inspecting it to check. The exact spot where the sliver of its skin was carved was there, and thus it was obvious what have been done.

"Maybe, she replied. I am not sure of which means you used to do this Eldrad. You could have duplicated it and erased its original self, having this as a perfect copy of the former apple, or you could have bended the all the space surrounding it to change its position, or only the space it occupies."

It was not much of what she really liked to do. It was beginning to look like those dull practical classes of engineering, but only with a different subject, where the teachers always delayed the basic point of the lesson, and anything closely resembling them wasn't very pleasant to Yelena. Although she never openly said that the manner the lesson was being given was becoming to bother her and she was also becoming hungry, and suddenly the apple vanished from her hand, and she seemed quite surprised by it, unaware that it was yet another example of her subconscious and feelings triggering magic.

"Now, what is the point of making it teleport again Eldrad?", she asked him immediately, when suddenly an the remains of an apple that was eaten popped on the table with no warning, however, it seemed as its edges were still connected to an invisible part of the apple and there were no signs of cuts or bites on it, for it was perfectly rounded. Opening her eyes wider, she asked, even more surprised:

"Is this a joke of sorts to test my patience?"

It seemed no joke when suddenly she felt something popping inside her stomach, and after a small sensation of uneasiness got used to it. Most strange however was how he remain of the apple began to dissolve, or more exactly, be digested, as a vile acid coated it, and in a few minutes it simply became a sort of liquid mass splattered into the table which was not very pleasant to the eyes or nostrils.

Frowning, Yelena looked at Eldrad and finally let it out:

"First, this was starting to look like an uncreative engineering class, and now how do you dare to use my own body to test your magic? If that is how it works behind all the shiny white, then I am going out right now."

Apparently she was really completely oblivious to the fact it was she who did it involuntarily, and that it was for an ironic coincidence exactly what she wished to learn, consciously. But for some reason, it seemed that either she would have some trouble to listen, or maybe their methods were not adequate for the very peculiar manner she delved into magic.

The accusation stunned Eldrad, who had until this point not fully grasped how far Yelena could not comprehend magick of this sort, at least not without referring to science and cold logic. It angered him to be accused... anger... an emotion he had not felt for some time. A flash of annoyance also streaked across his synapses, making him question the point of trying to teach one so... childish. Childish enough to believe that he, the greatest Farseer of Ulthwe, indeed of the Eldar, would stoop so low as to test a simple teleportation 'spell' on her. But he reprimanded himself instantly- it was not her fault that the society in which she had been born had almost no concept of magick, nor was it her fault that she could not take credit for what she had just done, or accept he was not human.

All of these things happened before she even finished speaking, and he could see the annoyance in her own eyes. Sighing softly, he waved a hand and disintegrated the remainder of the apple, "The demonstration was to show you what can be done, if one is focused on the task at hand. I have been doing this magick for long enough that I no longer require the focus that a beginner might, which is why it appears to be so... easy. And you believe that I test my magick on you... Yelena, what could I hope to gain from such actions? I am here to help you, to guide you. It was not I who caused the apple to dissolve - it was you. Until you accept this singular fact, you will not progress. It may not have come about through conscious thought, but I am certain that you do have great potential in this field."

"As for the idea that this is merely a practical class, where I show and you repeat, that is incorrect. I have shown you my method... and I will attempt to guide you. But the key idea behind all of this is that your method is as unique to you as anything else. I can only show you the basics, and help you to understand the nature of the interaction between the magick and the object. After that, how you proceed is a choice that only you can make, and for yourself alone. If you do not wish to try and learn such magick, then you are free to go, and study for yourself. But if you do so, I can assure you that accidents, more likely than not fatal, will occur."

Yelena seemed to be even more stunned as the man claimed that she was the one responsible for what just has happened, and her first reaction was to simply refuse to believe that she could have done something of such nature. However, the man seemed brutally honest, and equally offended by the manner she addressed him, and after all, if it was what actually happened, it would not have been the first time, for the first contact of her with magic was an unconscious will, and equally her first teleport was. As she realized what she has spoken, an unsettling feeling began to overcome her. A feeling of disdaining someone who was apparently helping her while demanding nothing in return, and she was now demonstrating rather than frustration, some mild signs of shame for her behavior.

"I am sorry for what I said Eldrad, but sometimes things like this happen with me, and I cannot even sense that such type of magic was originated from my own self rather than from others. It was something like this that got me into trouble for the first time, and that led me to a place where I could develop my abilities that have been suppressed before. Also, I will be honest: I have waited for so many things to happen in more than worse situations before that I am not that patient, but I can handle this. I always were more of a self-learner, but I do not want to take risks, not after all that happened thus far. What would be the next step, now that I have observed how it works?"

OOC: When you know how sarcastic I can get when I'm joking, I'll start usin' the ol' "likely story" stuff on you. Too bad you might take it seriously now...

Oh...did I neglect to mention that I'M GOING TO GET YOU for walking in on Marvel's little self-test a while back? Heh heh heh. ;)

IC:

With a thundrous crack, the portal pushed open--and this time, Marvel had been careful enough not to get sucked through. Unfortunately, he had been so careful that nothing else was going through, either.

In truth, it was a monster of a spell. How it worked at all was anybody's guess. Normally, a portal spell was all but silent and all but invisible. Not this time. It wheezed and groaned, and spat out multicolored lights like a little star. Almost enough to make Marvel want to give up drinking--almost.

It was little more than a pinhole--far to small for him to get through--but he could just barely see Dra'gon Ladee moving around on the other side. She was quite small now, and her clothes had fallen by the wayside

OOC: Just how is it that her clothes fit in that teeny, tiny little cube, anyway?

IC:

but her tiny little wings showed through. Marvel decided to put the teasing leer on hold until she was safe.

"Drai'lee!" he called. "Can you hear me?"

She turned to look at him, and, as a look of recognition came over her features, what was left of the portal started to close.

Instantly, Marvel PUSHED. The surge almost broke the spell! It wasn't going to last much longer--Marvel had only a few seconds to get something through that portal that would allow him to make contact later. What did he have that was personally his that would fit through a hole that small?

OOC:

;) HEH HEH HEH!!!!!!!!! ;)

IC:

Gritting his teeth, he squeeeeeezed as hard as he possibly could while still keeping the portal open. He was rewarded for his efforts by a thunderous flatulance, that quickly spread through the whole room--and Marvel could tell from the aroma that this one would be the gift that keeps on giving. Quickly, before Dra'gon Ladee could figure out what he was doing, he wafted some through the portal and into her little cube. Then, the spell just gave up and died, closing the portal behind him.

OOC: :eek: :eek: :eek:

IC:


She's gonna kill me for that, he thought, but at least I'll be able to find her now.

OOC: Sweet mother of pearl I hope Drai'lee can't smell!

Jax walked down the hall slowly, to the end. There was a large door to the left that opened slightly as she passed, and it made her stop, and turn. She pushed the heavy wood in, and stepped into a large white blank room. Like the canvases the Masters of Art bring to town! she thought, moving to the middle and sitting, crossing her legs and sitting. Nothing happened.

After a few seconds of boredom, she was mildly sad to not see an immediate effect. No magic began to transform it into her ideal room. She closed her eyes, half from impatience, and half through exhaustion.

She imagined the room the way she'd want it if she got to choose. A large wooden, Gothic style poster board bed, made of dark wood, centered on the wall in front of her. The top would be wooden, and the curtains a deep dark purple. The bedding was the colors of the forrest, greens and tans and reds, set in dark tones to match the rest of the room. There were many pillows.

The walls would be painted tan, with sponges of dark brown nearly covering it but letting some paint show through for layers. The floors would be wood, and coveredby a large rug. The rug would be dark brown as well, plush and soft.

To the left, a desk that matched her bed filled with books and paper. Next to that, a large store cubbord filled with potion ingredients of all sorts.

On the other wall, an armoire filled with new chemises, dresses, underclothing, some robes, and even a black cloak. A small mirror would stand next to the door, and a table with a caddy for her. brush and a wash bowl and pitcher for grooming.

She opened her eyes and gaspt pleasently as she saw her thoughts had made it so. She felt a presence behind her, and she turned to see Joshua.

"That was a miracle!"

Joshua smiled. "That was magic." he said with his cloak not even having time to stop swishing from his walking. "Did you still want to sleep or do you want to continue the tour we were having? We took a lunch break so if you want something, now would be the time."

Jax turned from him, shooting the bed a regretful look. She wanted nothing more than to curl up for a long rest. But she turned back to Josh anyway.

"I will go on this tour thing." She said, standing slowly. "But do we have to take the amber light?"

Joshua laughed. "The only way to get over your fears is to face them. We've all been taking it for the tour, but if you absolutely can't take it, we can teleport." he extended his hand to help her get up as runes began to appear on the floor.

Instead of her stomache fighting her, the runes and teleporting made her feel warm. Comfortable. It was strange. She wondered if others had similar reactions. She closed her eyes out of habit. They landed, and she opened her eyes to see the cafeteria.

"So this is where we eat? I wonder if there's any ..."

Before she finished her thought, an Imp came up and placed a bowl of red seedless grapes on the table. "Oh, thank you!" she said, smiling and picking a firm juicy grape, popping it in her mouth.

Zena look toward the source of the light. "I was wondering what was taking so long."
"Sorry, she hates the amber elevator thing. I guess part of it is that I'm used to you making me float around so it's not a big deal for me." Joshua replied. "And what happened to that bird that carved help on the window? I lost track of it."
"So did I." commented Mali. "I was more focused on making sure Jax was alright."

"Bird?" she asked, looking confused. "What bird?"

She had no memories of a bird ... but was it connected? She made a mental note to find it alone later.

"Yes, a red tailed hawk came a scratched help into the window, see?" Mali pointed at the window, still bearing the scratch marks.

Dari'lee cried out as she saw Marvel break open one wall, and she fought to climb over her clothes to get there - there just wasn't enough room to fly. But she couldn't seem to reach the opening, with every move it go further aways it seemed. Then small cube filled quickly with a monsterous stench and Drai'lee cried out as the rent snapped shut. She choked for a moment, her eyes watering barely able to breathe then abruptly the smell was gone, transformed into a tiny hard cube.

She kicked at it petutalantly, then hopped about on one foot rubbing the now aching big toe. The cube seemed to be heavier than it's size would account for.

"Damn you Stinky Butt, how could you do that and not get me out of here!!!!! Get me out of here !!!!!" She screamed. pounding on the bare walls some more, far more frantically now. She was too busy to notice that the small hard cube had simply vanished.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OOC: I'm just following the instructions given me...:p

Marvel sat in the center of Dra'gon Ladee's room, and began to think. Whoever had done this must have been an absolute master of teleportation magic. He'd opened a portal from the main hall into the Fae Babe's pad, and it was so good that even a popper could still get through it after it closed. All of this should have been impossible.

A guy like that would probably be able to tell if someone else was messing with his portals...which meant that Marvel was probably already busted. He didn't know it for sure, but he had a funny feeling that his Portal Pop had surprised the guy, and that it wouldn't be so easy next time. Funny that the guy would be surprised by something as simple as a Portal Popper, though. It wasn't as if it was the hardest spell in the world to cast.

Either way, Marvel had no time to waste. If the guy hadn't figured out what the demon had done, he soon would. It was time to figure out where this guy was hiding--if possible.

Spreading his fingers, Marvel began to search for the magic of his being. First, he freed himself of the shackles of his surroundings--his essence soared out of the room and into the void between the spaces. Then, he looked for anything that might remind him of...something that he had almost left behind...something that was once a part of him...

...and, for a moment, he found it...but it was already weakened...in a spell itself...a container spell...

...and then it was gone. Marvel could feel it just teleport to...nowhere. With it, Marvel's hope of tracing the portal route ended.

Mildly vexed, the demon opened his eyes. He was back in the Fae Babe's room. Mr. Magic had struck out again.

Where's Melvinor when ya need 'im?

----------------------------------

OOC: By whom?

OOC: Thats just it, I can't tell you:eek:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The small cube of solidified flatulence appeared in mid air, just outside of the perfect hiding place and fell to land next to the ring.

In side the bare, dank cube Drai'lee was pacing in circles, trying not to get any more upset than she alreay was...and it wsa getting colder, or so it seemed...Eventually she was shivvering too had to keep walking and she thought to bury herself in her human sized clothes, but her wings kept snagging on the lace, and the leather wasn't very warm or flexible, and the silk scanties just weren't...

Soon she was in tears.

OOC: Well, whoever he is, he should TG me so--and so should you--so we can work this thing out before Marvel tries to do things that he's not capable of.

--------------------------------

By now, the jacket--and the shirt, and the shoes--had come off. Marvel was sitting, wings spread, eyes closed, meditating before a candle. Fortunately, the ripper hadn't ignited--but it was still there to let him know that he had tried.

Where was everybody? Drai'lee was pretty well-liked. Why was he the only one there looking for her? It didn't make sense. Hell's bells, Marvel wasn't a diviner! And his divination had been broken! He'd been busted! What would happen if the guy on the other end of this caught him again?

No matter. If no one else was going to do this, Marvel was. She was his friend and that was that. If he couldn't find himself, he'd have to go looking for her. This was her room. It shouldn't be hard to find something that was close enough to her that he could use the emotional connection to forge a physical connection. All he had to do was figure out what...

...and then the choice was made for him. Rosh the Rash came slinking out from under the bed, where he'd been all along. He must have been sleeping, and just awakened to find...his favorite scratching post. Sure enough, it wasn't ten seconds before he was butting Marvel's hands so that he could Get Some.

And what he got was a telepathic communication spell--with the obligatory scratch on the chin.

I need your help, big guy. I think Drai'lee's in trouble and I think you can help get her out of it. And please don't knock the candle over.

Jax listened with mild interest. She looked to the window and saw the scratches, noting the jaggad gashes in the glass. She stood and moved over slowly as the other three began talking about something else.

She was intrigued. There was something odd about the scratches, even though they weren't by a person. A bird ... knowing spelling and how to write backwards so they would be read from the other side ... Why would a bird call for help?

She didn't know what drove her, but Jax slowly lifted a hand to the window. She began to trace the letters with her finger. H-E-L-P ... P-L...

She remained standing as her eyes rolled back into her head. She saw clearly the part of the battle with Gypsies and Marcoz' men. It was as if she was watching the carnage from the air above.the women and children fled through the forrest. They were guarded by the younger soldiers and the elderly ones, the escape plan that felt familliar to her. She should be with them ...

But she saw the demons fighting the men. One died, then another. But soon, the demons simply vanished. They had followed Marcoz. Her vision vanished with them ...

She came to, still standing there, her finger white and purple from pressing against the window pane. She pulled back, and wiped the sweat from her brow, breathing deeply.

She turned back and walked quickly to the others, too distracted to really focus on anything. Jax made a mental note to find the bird. Soon.

And someone to help her remember her past.

Alright, enough already! I give up!

It hadn't taken long for the Demon to come down with a headache from hell. Never try to work with an immature dragon!

This was no use. So far, he had managed to divine the locations of four pizzas, twelve field mice and--of course--a vault full of gold...but no Drai'lee! That dragon's attention span lasted about one and a half seconds. After that, poof! No more divination spell.

It wasn't getting any earlier, either. Marvel was getting tired. The candle was almost burned out. Even his fart was starting to dissipate!

There was one trick left in his arsenal: a peelback spell. Using it, he could look back through time and see what had happened in a place. There was just one drawback: you could only use it once, and you couldn't use it in conjunction with a memory spell. You had to remember everything you saw the first time.

Maybe, if he could peel it back just right, he could find out who did this--and how. Then, all he'd have to do is retrace the spell.

Of course, all of this would have to be done after the Petting of the Dragon. When the Dragon wants to be petted, YOU PET THE DRAGON...OR ELSE.

-----------------

OOC: Any time Mel--er--Galvenor wants to come along, he's perfectly welcome. Thought Khat was looking for him. Wonder what Khat thinks happened to Marvel. He didn't actually see the demon pop into Drai'lee's room--he just saw him pop out of the hallway.

Khat burst into the dining hall, still screaming for Galvenor at the top of his not inconsiderable lungs. He stopped short when he saw all eyes on him and then drew another breath.

"Dari'lee's been Fae Napped. We have to find her! Where's Galvenor?" the short Felinid bellowed, looking about frantically.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rash had tried he reallly had, but Dari'lee had not returned to her room since she'd snuggled him down to sleep. And he couldn't feel her anywhere - he tried telling the demon that but he wasn't sure it got through. She'd come back, she always had, to his mind there was no other possibility, and thus no reason to worry.

Now pettings? Pettings were always to be garnered whenever and however possible.

Now, he was going to smell like Dragon for the next week!

Sometimes, Marvel just hated the way that he had with animals. He had been snuggled...and body-rubbed...and tail-wrapped...and just about everything else that a Dragon does when it likes you.

...and, quite fortunately, he had not been eaten...and the little reptile was finally getting tired and going back to sleep.

In the meantime, Marvel had decided that, if he was going to run a peelback spell, he wanted to have other witnesses to compare notes with.

And then, it just hit him--a vision of the poor dear laying curled up in the confines of her hugely over sized clothing and sobbing her poor little heart out. It saddened him. He had let a friend down once before, and he didn't want it to happen again.

Drai'lee! he thought. I'm NOT going to give up! I'm COMING, and whoever did this to you is going to PAY!

Whether it got through or not, however, was anybody's guess.

Drai'lee sobbed for some time, but the memory of Marvel almost finding her made her hiccup and sniffle, the tears ending on their own..."He'll find me, he has too!...Then she found herself getting dizzy, a wave passing over her..odd and cold a darkness descending...

she toppled over on her side, forced into the arms of Morpheus.

As Marvel reached for the handle to Drai'lee's door, something made him stop. Perhaps it was the last vestiges of his last divination attempt, perhaps it was something else, but something told him to try again right then.

So he did. With all the yearning that his heart had oh please don't have me let another one down.

And, right at that moment, he caught sight of her. She was in the arms of a rather hard-to-see fellow whose name Marvel could somehow tell was Morpheus, unconscious. But that was OK, because Morpheus was just fine, and Marvel had a nice little line of communication opened.

There were defensive spells all around the place, and Marvel could feel that it was a small miracle that he hadn't set any of them off. He could also feel that it would not bode well for him if he did...but he just couldn't resist giving the guy something to think about as he had his way with his kidnapped Fae.

Hello, Schmuck. Bet you thought I wouldn't get here, didn't you? Well, news flash, trailer trash: you're busted. I'll be back, and I won't be alone, and I'm not going to be looking for that girl any more. I'm going to be looking for you.

And with that, he left a little calling card. He triggered one of the defensive spells on his way out and hit it with a bounceback charm, guaranteed to send its affects straight back to the fool who cast it. At the time, Marvel really didn't care who that was.

Then, he opened his eyes and marked the way that Morpheus felt in his mind with a memory spell. Whenever Melvinor bothered to show up, there was going to be a little party, and Melvinor was going to be the Master of Ceremonies.

Yelena seemed to be even more stunned as the man claimed that she was the one responsible for what just has happened, and her first reaction was to simply refuse to believe that she could have done something of such nature. However, the man seemed brutally honest, and equally offended by the manner she addressed him, and after all, if it was what actually happened, it would not have been the first time, for the first contact of her with magic was an unconscious will, and equally her first teleport was. As she realized what she has spoken, an unsettling feeling began to overcome her. A feeling of disdaining someone who was apparently helping her while demanding nothing in return, and she was now demonstrating rather than frustration, some mild signs of shame for her behavior.

"I am sorry for what I said Eldrad, but sometimes things like this happen with me, and I cannot even sense that such type of magic was originated from my own self rather than from others. It was something like this that got me into trouble for the first time, and that led me to a place where I could develop my abilities that have been suppressed before. Also, I will be honest: I have waited for so many things to happen in more than worse situations before that I am not that patient, but I can handle this. I always were more of a self-learner, but I do not want to take risks, not after all that happened thus far. What would be the next step, now that I have observed how it works?"

"It may have got you into trouble before, but here, it is accepted that not all will be able to actively control their magick.. at last, not at first. You say you prefer to study yourself, which I encourage - one cannot grow if they merely copy what their teacher does, they simply become a mirror image. Would you like to continue to learn how to teleport items, whatever they may be?"

Drai'lle stirred and snuggled up to her much loved and equally tattered blankee...only to find that she couldn't. She awoke then, groggy and disoriented, finding herself completely unable to move, cold, stiff, and sore all over. Tight bands held her spread eagled on a cold metal table. Her wings were trapped under her and they hurt abominably.

Some one was talking to her. She couldn't understand the words at first but when she could they didn't make any sense. The voice sounded sickening overly sweetly female, but among the Fae, some men affected such voices.

"Sorry for kidnapping you...all for the good of the people...experimenting... must be..."

Oh that sounded way to much like something out of one of the forbidden mangas she had hidden in her treehouse, or worse the hentai rags she'd caught her mother's secretary sneaking peeks at.

It was evident that Eldrad was little aware, or perhaps challenging her patience again, on the fact that Yelena already knew how to teleport objects for a long time, for what she was attempting now was to split an object into different pieces without physically cutting it, in a manner that, after the distortion of physics was gone, the object would again become a whole. She also owed him a better explanation, that would clear all the doubts of him regarding the manner she learned the Art. Combing her hair with her own hands, Yelena looked back at Eldrad and answered him:

"Eldrad, I already know how to teleport objects, what I do not know is how to separate the space an object occupies into multiple pieces without cutting the object apart. All that I learned so far seemed to come naturally with time, but required some feeling to be initiated. All came involuntarily, and eventually, as I willed for it to happen, it happened, but honestly, some times it only happened when I was in trouble, something that is unlikely as I am not a fool who runs into the first dark hole around looking for treasure" she explained, reminding of everything that has happened so far regarding such subject, adding after a pause:

"I am afraid that you already "taught" me it, now only time and the right occasion is necessary before it can flourish. That was always how it went, Maybe... Eldrad, what is there nearby, beyond the Tower? Maybe I could take a walk and know. Provided the risks are not too large. My magic always was driven by the will to power, and I doubt I can will much staying only in the same place"

Jax' thoughts dissipated as the cat-like creature swooped in, opening the doors loudly and yelling.

"Dari'lee's been Fae Napped. We have to find her! Where's Galvenor?"

Jax's mouth fell open at the sight of a non-human, or one so different. She was confused at why a cat could yell at all. Where she was from, Animals did not talk.

But she remembered she was in a Magical place, and this would probably make her look inexperienced.

"Perhaps ..." she stopped, then started again, "Perhaps I could do a potion to help find her."

Jax mentally thought of how she knew two potions that may work. A scrying potion (worked by showing where the object of identification is), and a location identifying potion (worked by creating a trail to the said obect using fields of energy, visual, or smell, depending on potion ingredients).

"Khat, slow down!" Joshua commanded. "Do you have any ideas on who, where, or why? Zena, start scrying if you don't mind."
Zena nodded and before she could open her mouth, a bowl of water was brought to her by an imp. Focusing on Drai'lle, the water rippled a bit, though she merely caught a glimpse of her before being directed to Marvel, who was doing his own thing. Marvel, are you getting anywhere? she inquired. She looked from the water and the image vanished, "I caught a glimpse of her, but I didn't see too many details. If I try again, I might see more. Does anyone have a way of identifying a location?"

Jax spoke up quietly.

"If scrying your way doesn't work, I can try a scrying potion. Its a bit stronger, relying on the essence of ingrediants other than power. We can try that. But it will take some time ... And ill need help."

"No, it works, but maybe combining my scrying with that potion could do something. We still need to have a way of identifying the location though." Zena said. "Do you have the ingredients you need to brew the potion?"

"I will need a mirror, and a picture of her, or something she likes to wear, and a map ..." she said, moving towards the door, ready to brave the light. "I need to see what's in my room."

"Khat, could you get either of those?" Joshua asked of him while Zena hurried after Jax.
"If you can't find something, chances are Joshua could make it. He's great at that." Zena said, catching up with her.

Jax nodded, smiling towards Zena nervously. "Thank you. I would be glad of all your help."

They reached the amber light, and Jax froze. She took a deep breath, and turned to Zena, her companion. "You first?"

Zena smiled. "If you insist." Zena took the first step and shoved Jax into the light. "Gotta face your fears hun." she said, stepping into the light as they began to move down to the dorms.

Jax didn't have time to yell out, they began moving. She reached out, and nearly fell as they reached the floor. She felt sick, like she would lose the little she ate.

"Thank you," She said, keeping her tone careful but obviously distressed. She kept her hands over her stomach as they walked to her room.

She opened the door for them, and first went to the shelves of robes, and pulled out a clean set of clothes, a simple sea green set with a dark tan belt. She didn't care that she had company, moving out of her dress (dirty with obvious repairs) and putting on the clean set of clothes.

She smiled with a comfortable grace as she moved to the shelves of ingredients, noting that a large black culdron had been placed there. She pulled out some bottles.

~rosewater
~powdered sage
~gold dust
~bloodroot
~fireflies (dried)

She took the gallon-sized bottle of rosewater and handed it to Zena, while taking a cutting board, jar of fireflies, and an athame to the desk.

"Can you pour all of that into the culdron, and get some more, please?" her careful tone gone, and a respectful tone instead. Magic was not for the emotional.

Zena did as instructed getting a second gallon from where the first was found. "How much of this do you need? And do you need a fire or anything?" Zena walked to Jax with the bottle seemed to be opening itself.

"Hmmm ... its hard to tell the two bottles should be plenty. But if no picture can be found and we use clothes, a third may need be added. And a fire is needed, but not till all ingredients are ready."

She opened the jar and took out a few fireflies, butting the backs off, crushing the hard shell, and collecting the power into a small bowl, while discarding the rest.

"Guys!" Marvel broke in, knocking on the door. "Someone took Drai'lee! He's an expert with teleports, and his name is 'Morpheus!'" Barfeous is more like it! "And I can't find Mel--er--Galvenor anywhere!."

Why am I doing this? he thought. Oldbag and Yellsatya are just downstairs. I should go get them!

"I know." Zena said. "We're working on scrying for her now. Joshua's talking to Khat now about getting things for this."

Jax nodded, continuing to cut and selvage the powder. It would give light to what they were searching for. While Holy Water was excellent at searching out mortals, the Khat creature had said "Fae-napped." So rose water was her alternate choice.

Jax regretted right then pondering too much. The thought of not knowing how she knew already what she was doing frightened her.

"This is the hardest part. Once enough powder has been collected, it needs to be sifted through to remove the impurities. The last thing we need is an extra, unwanted ingredient."

Yelena had a strange sensation, a sensation that somewhere around and nearby, some sort of commotion was happening. She was not sure about such gut feeling, but her will pushed her to do something about it. Looking at Eldrad, the woman simply said:

"I think I should go now"

And vanished...

Even herself was surprised, for it seemed a semi-conscious teleport of sorts, as her eyes began to scan not anymore the elderly and elegant Eldrad, but the face of Marvel, which seemed very worried about something. Before he could say anything, likely surprised that she came right at his front, Yelena asked away in a surprised manner:

"What happened here while I was trying to awaken a new will?"

"What happened is that Drai'lle has fae-napped." Zena said while making each piece of powder float into the air. "No big breathing." she stated. "This should make it easier though Jax."

The teleportation of the powder momentarilly startled her, but Jax smiled. A telekenetic ability had many advantages in the making of potions.

"That does help, thank you. You can grab a small bowl from the shelf and place the pure powder there, to keep it from being breathed in and to help me keep track of the ammount we've collected."

She pointed, needlessly, to the shelf that had measuring bowls on the end.

A bowl flew to the powder field as it began to separate into groups. "I don't know what you're looking for so I'm just collecting like bits." Zena said as her eyes glowed a bit brighter then normal telekinetic usage.

"I need the shell bits taken out. The powder is the part that makes them glow at night." She explained. "It is the representitive for knowledge and illumination in many kinds of potions. We are looking for someone, so it is probably helpful."

Instantly the required parts flew into the measuring cup. "Do you know what you're doing or are you making this up as you go?" Zena asked, looking at the amount collected as the waste flew into a trash bin.

"Potion making isn't an exact art, and depends on the purpose. To begin, you first choose the desired result. With scrying, you want to identify the person and seek at the same time. The map is establishing a location is desired. The powder will show our intent to know and understand. All of the pieces will come together, like a puzzle."

Jax wasn't much of a teacher, and struggled with the explination, trying to make something she took years to understand make sense.

"When making potions, its a trial and error process to learn. And I tend to lean on the side to have more of the ingredients than needed, as a precaution. When we add them all, I will show you how I read the potion to see what ammounts are needed. And please, ask if you have a question."

Zena chuckled. "So you make it up as you go along, nice." the bowl moved over to Jax. "Is that enough?" she inquired, hoping to learn a bit more about Jax's brand of potion making.

Jax examined the bowl, and frowned. "Not yet." She said, as she continued cutting and seperating. "I wouldn't say make it up as much as examine the specific situation and choose the ingredients that suit the end result. It takes many years of practice to be proficiant."

As Jax cut, Zena pulled out the pieces they needed and stuck them with the rest. "I get it. What else are we going to need for this?"

Jax sat down the athame and sighed with anxiety. "The map, picture, and mirror. Where could Khat be? And a wooden ladel would be nice."

"Any old mirror will work, right?" Zena asked, pulling a small make-up mirror from her pocket as she looked through the cupboard for a spoon or a ladle.

Jax took the small mirror, surrounded in metal decorations. The mirror was small, but would suit the purpose well enough. She looked up to Zena. "I need the mirror only. If you wish to keep it, we should find a less-delicate object. I wouldn't want you to part with something you would miss."

"That old thing? It was an early attempt of Josh's to fashion metal into something ornate. He was going to trash it before I stopped him, I don't think he even knows I still have it." Zena focused and the mirror popped out of it's housing. "There you be. And besides, I can always get a new mirror to put in there."

Jax, amazed at how casually people displayed magic here when she had always been instructed to hide it, took the mirror carefully and set it in the bottom of the culdron, shiny side down. "Thank you. Once we have our other ingredients, we can begin."

"I think we'll need Galvenor for the map and Khat will have the picture or clothes." she looked to Marvel. "Unless you have something of the sort."

Khat had indeed been able to provide them with a small drawing of Drai'lee.

But he was all a droop... whiskers, ears, and tail.

Upon returning to the room to fetch the drawing - the Fae didn't photograph well - he'd discovered that Marvel had not been able to locate her. He could tell that the red demon had tried exhaustively- he seemed exhausted but still very determined.

"I couldn't find Galvenor" Khat had explained. "But some of the other students think a spell they know might work" He'd looked hopeful for a moment, but then he drooped as he gathered up the drawing.

Joshua nodded as runes appeared on the floor and they reappeared just outside Jax's door. "Let's get her the picture. And they should try, though I'm sure they'll do that on their own. We still need a map though and I can't craft a map about a place I know nothing about. For all we know she isn't even still in the school." Josh pushed open the door to reveal the group. "Khat found a drawing, would that work?"

"Guys! Guys! I divined the guy! I have a memory impression of him! Like I said, his name is Morpheus. He's got all kinds of defensive magics around Drai'lee, and he's real good with teleports. I popped one from the hall into Drai'lee's room. He got there without setting off the defensive spells--and so did I. What does that tell you--besides the fact that scrying again would be a waste of energy? And you're right, Joshua, wherever she is, she's definitely not in the school any more."

"Do you have a memory impression of where he is too?" Zena inquired. "If you do, we could just alter the potion a bit so that we're make a location identifying potion rather than a scrying one."
"Zena may be on to something. Do we know anything else about the guy other than that he's uber powerful?" Joshua asked.

Jax wasn't sure how it happened, but soon, she was overwhelmed with the emotions in her room. She put down her athame, and rubbing her temples, she turned from the desk.

"We can alter the potion. But I need you to decide. This is ... difficult."

"Are you alright Jax?" Zena asked.
"And Marvel seems to be saying no scrying, so we need to find a way to go for location identifying. The problem is that we don't have a picture of the place, the only possible way is Marvel's memory. Now I could have Zena copy it so I could make it a physical thing, or Zena could copy it to Mali, she's a great artist. If we get the memory to Mali, we would end up with a physical picture, though it might not lad us where we need to be or it could screw things up." Joshua was pacing like mad, thinking and probably adding to the stress in the room.

When Joshua paced by her chair, Jax reached out and grabbed his arm gently, stopping him. She needed to think. She needed ... to think.

"We could try the image. I do not know who would draw best, but we need it as accurite as possible. And soon."

Joshua nodded, stopped and a circle of runes brought Mali to them. "We need a drawing and Marvel's permission. The permission needs to come first obviously."
Mali shrugged. "I could do it, but I don't have my tools."
"I've got some though." Zena said. "They're under my bed."

"That's doing it the hard way," Marvel said. He looked back at Yellsatya, who had joined the party, and wished he had time to answer all her questions.

"I need a knife and a candle," he said, "and some parchment."

Within minutes, he was holding his hand over the parchment, and using the knife to slice a small hole in the fleshy lobe at the bottom as he held his thumb facing upward. A few drops of his dark, black blood seeped lazily onto the parchment. Then, he brought his hand to the candle. As it cauterized the wound, his face contorted in pain...and he chanted a spell that was old when the earth was young. Though Marvel wasn't generally the best mage there was, he had been required to learn this one when he worked as a diplomat in the underworld. It helped him to spy. There were those who claimed that the pain was a necessary part of the spell, and that this made it evil. Marvel knew better. It was the contortions of his throat that the pain caused that enabled him to chant the words as they should be. And that made all the difference.

Within another minute, the blood had spread out over the entire parchment, leaving not a stain but an image. It was a small, lithe figure, completely covered in a dark, hooded robe. Behind him was a swirl of magic, indicating that he had defensive spells of his own. At the bottom of the image was the word "Morpheus"--but, ironically, it was impossible to tell from looking at it even whether Morpheus was a man or a woman.

"There," Marvel said, picking up the picture. "This is better than an image. It's got a piece of the moment in it--a piece of me."

Joshua took the image and Mali looked over his shoulder. "Better than I could do." Mali remarked.
"Well now, it seems we've discovered another way to turn a memory into a physical thing." Joshua said. "Jax, this should work, right?"

Yelena frowned as Marvel just ran past her, for being treated like a nobody seemed to smear down on her pride. But soon she realized how he seemed to be desperate on something. Regardless, it was not respectful to leave her in the dark about what the hell was going on. Expectingly, her mind went on simply following Marvel through his way, past to a strange sort of ritualistic preparation was done, spotting Joshua and Mali, who she has met earlier, and a new acquaintance she had no idea of.

Bearing witness of the bizarre sort of ritual Marvel performed with is own blood, she kept her eyes wide open and observed as a figure emerged into the blood-soaked parchment, and could almost share the pain, in a much greater intensity, when the demon simply cauterized the self-inflicted wound with a candle. In fact, if someone was noticing her, she winced and touched the stump where her left arm was like if in pain at such moment.

The strange voice Marvel used only served to further make such ritual even more sinister, reminiscent of old Orthodox Church tales about supposed black mass and devils that were told clandestinely to children in her land. She observed the image that appeared, and the words with its name. Tapping Marvel's back, Yelena then asked, hoping for an explanation as she reminded of the meaning of the word:

"Why are you looking after Morpheus, the man-invented god of dreams of the Greeks?"

"Simple Yelena." Zena stated. "Because he's kidnapped Drai'lle. I caught a glimpse of the two of them and Marvel here divined a vision of him. Oh, and while we're at it," she gestured to the resident potion maker. "This is Jax. She was attacked and landed here, now she wishes to learn. She's helping us look for Drai'lle."

Yelena nodded, and glanced at Jax, trying to get an impression about her. She could not tell, but she felt something about her that seemed to push her to immediately declare friendship, a feeling that somehow, Jax would be much closer to understand much of her personal plight than any other. But it was nothing more than an impression, and when the lady seemed to look back at Yelena, she quickly replied, with a smile in her face, despite her obvious lack of one of the arms:

"Yelena Praskovya, I hope we can find time to know ourselves Jax. I have not met you yet."

She simply looked back at Zena to add her thoughts to the subject. In all honesty, she cared little about Drai'lle, which seemed to be too distant and strange from her reality, a reality where humans were the only sentient beings of flesh, and seemed too far away from an human for her to empathize with. Yelena did not intend to tell the truth about her feelings, but perhaps, something could come from helping them, as long as such aid would not involve risking her own skin. And thus, her reply came, with a look of surprise:

"Zena, Morpheus is a fraud invented by old men who had nothing better to do than to create a false religion. This thing, it is only something using the guise of Morpheus, whatever it is." she explained, pondering further on the subject.

"Perhaps some insane Greek mage who thinks he is Morpheus, or perhaps something else. I think that if it is directly related to Morpheus, you are looking for the least effective manners to reach it. Is there anyone who actually manages to dream of magic and can shape rather than be passive under your dreams?", she asked, omitting of course the fact she would fit perfectly in such question, for not only she could control them, but also her capabilities were much greater in her dreams than in reality.

Hopefully Marvel would have never witnessed her own dreams, or if he did, hopefully the same would have forgotten. Yelena did not want to lose her remaining arm in a real nightmare, or worse, and there would be likely nothing that would convince her to do so.

"This Morpheus isn't a god, Yellena," Marvel said, "he's a mage who took the name. Talk of legends is a non-sequitir right now. The thing that matters is that this shmuck has Drai'lee, and he's not fattening her up with muffins and soda pop. He's crazy. He's going to hurt her, and he thinks it's all for the better good."

Now, it was starting to hit him. Pain in the rump that dragon may have been, it had no idea what was going on. If she didn't come back, the pain that it would go through...it would be like losing its only parent. Marvel didn't want to think about it. He decided not to tell the others. They'd probably figure it out soon enough anyway.

"And let me know the minute you find anything," he concluded. "I've got a little unfinished business with him now."

"Marvel's right. This is a fraud. An unusually powerful fraud, but still a fraud. We need to find him before he can do something to Drai'lle." Joshua said as if it were the only truth in the world.

"Hopefully the picture will shed more light on things though." Mali said, examining it more closely. "This is an amazing technique though, it's almost like a photograph."

Shrugging, Yelena decided to explain properly her point, for it was not about finding Morpheus through physical contact, and she hoped that now Marvel would understand the point:

"Dreams are unlimited, and I... I mean, it is possible for someone to project a presence into a completely different space and time while dreaming. It is completely possible thus, to locate this Morpheus during sleep, and perhaps it is worth a try."

"Are you volunteering?" Zena asked. "I know a number of ways to induce sleep and Mali's good with lullabies. At any rate, I understand the idea of projecting something into another plane of existence." An astral projecting hovered behind Yelena and continued.
"It's a lot like this, but more complex in that you can't limit yourself to the ideas that bind this world together." The projection vanished.
"Now, do you know how to project yourself to Morpheus if you're asleep? I don't because I've been trained to go into a meditative lock while sleeping."

She immediately took three steps back when Zena asked if she would volunteer herself to get another arm or maybe one of her legs mutilated, or to meet legions of frightening spiders and nightmares. She was definitively not going to, and hoped that they would not induce her to sleep and disrespect her will. Quickly, she gave an answer to the question in a somewhat nervous tone, as seemingly a different Yelena has been unleashed by the question, one who surprisingly was full of pessimism and hopelessness:

"Yes, I will volunteer myself to ensure that I will not end like Drai'lle! The last time someone asked me for help, this, having to stand real nightmares I still suffer with even now, and almost dying of starvation was everything I have won!", pointing to her missing left arm she tried to defend her cowardice.

"I do not want to risk being a test subject of the theory that dreams can affect us physically. Face it: sometimes trying to save someone will bring worser results than accepting the fact there is no hope. We should only make sure no one here is threatened by this Morpheus, rather than getting into fool's errand toward tombstones with our own names written in them, or worse!"

Jax opened her mouth to offer an introduction to Yelena, but shut it again when she realized she had nothing to introduce. She hadn't even known Jax was her name until she had been called that. So when the conversation continued, she gladly listened.

The thought of testing a theory untried was interesting. But she wasn't like them, really. She knew potions. Practicing magic had been punishable by death-so she had no idea to tell if she even could ...

Jax sighed quietly, wishing she could be of better help.

"In other words, you're willing to let her die just to avoid risk to yourself?" Mali asked. It was a loaded question and she knew it.
"Mali's got a point." Zena said. "Sometimes you need to take risks because the benefits outweigh the consequences of not taking it."
Joshua shook his head. "If we never tested any theories for fear that we could get hurt or killed, we wouldn't be here today."

Yelena began to have the unsettling sensation that her moral worth was being judged by those around her as she finally went to reveal the truth regarding the fact she never intended to be a hero. It was like if by refusing to get into yet another nightmare, she was being "evil". Bothered deeply by the accusations Mali threw, Yelena became red not of shame, but of anger, and sighed hardly, replying back in a very aggressive tone:

"Have you ever been hunted like an animal because of what you possess but cannot control, mutilated by the creature you fear most, tortured to the point you can never forget again, threw to near starvation and dehydration while being about to collapse, shot, and to add, almost turned into a brainless slave?", she asked while nerves jumped from her neck, continuing:

"Yes you haven't, you are just another young girl full of dreams. I pity you more than me, because sooner or later reality will come to all of you, and then you will perceive how powerless we are, and that in the end, the best thing to do is to ensure our own survival."

And not satisfied she added, while a mild whirlwind began to turn around her as her anger intensified, but it was not strong enough to be harmful. And somehow, such anger made her forget to hide certain opinions of hers that could be, harmful to her reputation.

"So I am not going to throw my remaining hand or my head into a blender because of someone that is not even human. Because there is a thin line that separates heroism from idiocy, and I don't want to get into neither of them. She is dead. So what? I have witnessed millions that have died in an war, but I recognized I was powerless to save them. What makes her more important than the brave human soldier who risks his skin for what he believes in? Nothing!", she shouted in a very unnerving tone

"I am sick of this, you have no right to push me into a suicidal run! You know why I am here? I am only here because I have nowhere better to go, because of this damn magic that I had no choice because I was born with! So do not tell me what to do. And do not go there to waste your lives away! This is the reality! This is how heroes end!", she shouted, wavering the stump of her mutilated left arm around, and shaking of anger, fear and frustration.

There were certain things that could really upset Yelena, and one of them have just happened.

Jax began to sweat. The combined emotions seemed to be having an effect on her. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand, and stood from the chair.

"I am not very good at this, so I will just lay it out. I have no way to check my abilities. But I have been able to move through time and space. If this is an indication that I may have abilities, teach me what to do and I will do it. I cannot stand to have someone die if something can be done about it."

"So now because Drai'lle isn't human, her life is worth less than yours, Mali's, Zena's, Jax's, and every other human here? Does the same then apply for Marvel, Khat, Galvenor, and myself because we're not human?" Joshua asked. "I know each and every one of those things you rattled off. I lived the life of a slave before those around me started going insane, and myself with them. I was left for dead after my arm was torn from my body by someone I thought an ally. My luck just happened to change after that, just as you coming here will change whatever bad luck you've had around." He simply couldn't understand how someone who might make a difference could sit idly by and do nothing.
"If you're not going to do anything to help, please don't try to hinder those that are trying to." Mali asked, being more polite that Joshua as he began to lose his temper. "We're just trying to save someone's life here, if you don't want to help, we won't force you to."
Zena meanwhile turned to Jax. "I don't know everything we need, but I think I can give you enough knowledge to get through it if you're willing to learn."

Her wish to ensure her own survival would soon suffer the interference of a new factor, a factor which could easily overwhelm any cowardice, in the form of a single thought. Yelena calmed down, and the whirlwind around her vanished, however, the unsettling feeling continued, and she felt voiceless to defend herself. Something was coming up in her mind, about the advantages of taking such unimaginable risk.

Something called ego told her that she would become an outcast in such tower if she continued to act in such manner, that all would despise and treat her as an worthless coward and old crone to be stomped and humiliated. It insisted on how all the appearances were lies, and on how behind the facades, there was an upmanship contest. It said that glory would come, that pride would be justifiable, and that Yelena would be respected for what she deserves.

Thinking strongly about the issue, a new thought came to her. That maybe such was an excellent moment to make a simple question. Feeling a bit ashamed of herself, Yelena looked at Joshua, and extended her right hand as if offering and asking for something:

"Nevermind, I speak too much silly things when I am nervous. I... I am still afraid, but should I agree to help you, would you or some of you be able to use magic to bail me out of trouble in dreamland if the worst comes? I... I am just not used to... nevermind. I can help, but I would feel reassured if I could be retrieved from a nightmare by one of you"

Joshua smiled and shook Yelena's hand. "We're all nervous. We're going into uncharted territory here and we don't know how it will turn out. Your idea was brilliant and an outstanding way to approach this."
"I can monitor you if you want." Zena offered. "I might even be able to come with you if I enter your mind before you enter the dream. If we go that route, I'll be able to tether us both to here." she explained all this while Mali did a mini cheer in the background that they had more help in saving Drai'lle's life.

Jax tuned out the others, giving herself leave to compose her own feelings and seperate them from the emotions of others. She really had no purpose beyond potions, so her arena wasn't here.

She debated standing and walking out, but she didn't want to disrupt the thoughts of the others, so she settled on studying the books on her shelves. They were full of herbology books, and gardening of all things. But one caught her eye ...

A diary.

She reached slowly, as to not draw attention to herself, and pulled it from the shelves. She put it in her lap and opened to the first page. It was blank, except for a crude picture of a young teen who looked like her but younger. A sibling?

And there was a name: Emberlea Jax.

The book itself was small, able to fit inside a pocket. Bound in brown leather and secured with a strap, it was sturdy, yet showed signs of wear. The pages had stains on the sides, as if it had been held a lot.

She turned the page. The entry was short, and began on the left page.

16 August, 1582

Today, Mother Veri gave me this lovely new book for my birthday to fill with my own records, as the old one is filled with my thoughts and secrets.

My name is Emberlea Jax. I am aged 12 years old, and born this day in the year 1570. My brother, Lucas, is my senior by 8 years. We live with the gypsies, because our parents have gone away.

Today we travel. Chula and I raced alongside the wagons, earning stern looks from Lucas. He says we should stay inside with Mother Veri, but I find making wart tonic dull and void of joy. Chula flew above the trees, and came back warmed from the sun. I miss the warm rays, you cannot think of the ammount!

As bedtime draws, we are setting out corn to dry, and preparing for another long day. How I love days on the road, where we are not made to bathe! I cannot wait to start tomorrow!

Ember

On the right side, a crude picture of a wagon stood, with a girl chasing the bird next to the horse pulling it. Jax smiled, wondering just who this child belonged to.

Yelena decided to go with the crowd rather than against it, but this time, there was something she would rather not agree with. Even if it would mean an additional risk to her into such new attempt. All she hoped is that nothing could really affect her in dreams. This time, definitively nothing would convince her to let others looking into the sanctity and privacy of her own mind, something she did not waste time to express:

"Look Zena, I know it is to help me, but I would rather that nobody entered into my mind, even if... something bad could happen because of it. It is just, that once inside, there is no way that you could avoid seeing much of my inner self, and this idea frightens me more than the idea of getting through a dream to reach such Morpheus. I know you have good intentions, but I cannot allow you to do it."

Sighing, Yelena thought much about what she was about to say. Something insisted on telling her that she was simply signing her death sentence, but her ego intervened to tell her that all would be proud of her if she did it. In the end, it seemed very simple to decide, that for a change, she would take some severe risks. She did not admit it, but there was much of a glory hound in her nature. For nothing else would explain her persistence after all that she went through.

"I know I am going to regret this later, but I am ready. I just am not tired enough for it to happen naturally. But I consent into being put to sleep, as long as it does not involve having my head clubbed."

"Well there goes option one." Mali joked, stashing her flute behind her.
"Mali." Zena scolded. "I can do that, but how do I know then if you need help? It would work best if I came along with you because I don't have any other ideas on how to know if you're in trouble."

Yelena never thought of an opportunity to give an adequate reply than now. In her mind, there was a thought that maybe it could work, and now it was the time to say something she had been waiting for since they disdained her for her initial refusal to risk her own skin:

"Nevermind, I would rather die with my the privacy of my thoughts respected. And if it comes to that, I am sure I will be able to commit suicide in my own dream, so at least it will not be much painful. After all, I am throwing my life away at the moment. Maybe it will not happen, maybe it will. That is not important anymore. I am just going to try. Time is important, so I think we should not waste it with further discussion"

Jax turned the page slowly. There was no picture this time.

18 August 1582

The last two days have passed with such speed that I hardly have time to sit and record them at all!

We arrived at a shanty town, where some gypsies have actually built themselves a settlement of buildings! It is most odd. The mark of our race is our freedom to go about as we please. But all opinions aside, they welcomed us as if we were the King of England himself.

We parked and traded with them. Before I was permitted to take my leave there, though, pots of water were heated for a proper bath. My streak of days without one had sadly ended a week short of a new record! Almost two fortnights! Can you imagine such a waste? Chula is lucky that no one commands her to bathe. She would just as soon pluck the fingers of the tresspassers than submit to open torture.

Vera traded some plants for a new dress. My other was rather tattered, and the new one fits much better. There is no tightness, and the length is more right for a girl of twelve.

I learned to cure the Crupe, with a mixture remedy of teas and a cream to rub on the chest. Vera and I worked on the cure all through the night, as this town is plagued with it. She shared our goods, and the people fed us the most delicious fruit! I had actual strawberries, fresh! Not the preserves! What a treat!

There was a death amung us, though. Father Elam died, from the bite of a snake he kept hidden until it was too late. I thought it rather dangerous, a grown man not warning the others of a snake and letting himself perish in hiw own wagon. But Mother Vera and Lucas shushed my concerns. Their faces were grim, and it made me think of secrets. I bet they are keeping the truth behind his death from Chula and I.

I thought it strange, that no one cried for him.

Ember

The last of the reply from Yelena caught her attention, and she closed the book. Looking up, Jax caught her eye. She seemed like a sensible person. Jax hoped she would see her logic.

Jax knew she was different from the people here. She had no known potential, and had instead been punished for showing it. So why waste what was precious on an attempt?

"I do not think it is in our best interest, then, to sacrifice options in the interest of time. Teach me what needs to be done, and I will do it. If the worst should happen, I will not be missed, and you will know better for the second try. It is a no-lose option." She said, placing the book on the desk and standing.

"Although real for you, it's still a dream for this world. Killing yourself should cause you to wake up just before you actually die." Zena said, thinking of her own dreams. "Think about it, have you ever had a dream where you died? No. You always awoke before you did so."
"Jax, I think they have this covered, you should work on a location identifying potion though, it might help with Marvel's picture." Mali said.

"Not if this is truely a dream. Potions do not work in the intangible sense." She said, picking up the book with one hand and moving towards the bed, leaning against it. "If what we seek is not on this world, then potions are useless. And if potions are useless, as am I."

She walked out, not feeling the least bit sorry. It hurt more to feel powerless, useless. Willing to learn, and not having the instruction. She had no emotional connection to the Fae, and yet she felt like she wanted to see her safe. It was all foriegn to her. Hell, everything was strange and unknown now.

She took the amber light to the bottom of the tower, and saw the door to the outside. She walked just outside, and sat, leaning against the building, pondering on everything and feeling rather alone in the world. A single tear, followed by more, fell down her cheeks as she rested her head on her knees.

"Zena, watch things here, let me know if you need help." Joshua whispered. He vanished and searched out for Jax to reappear. "Hey, everything alright?" he asked. "Did you need anything?"

Jax saw the ruins appearing, and wiped her eyes. But the redness of them and the blotches on her face gave her away.

"I'm fine," she said thickly, her voice husky and distant. "Just so tired. I can't leave here. I can't be useful here. I don't even know where to go ..." she trailed off, feeling like she revealed too much, then decided she didn't care because it was hard to understand, even for her, and they were her own thoughts. "You should go back. They may need you."

Josh shook his head. "No, you need me more right now. Besides, Zena will let me know if they need me. This is something Yelena needs to do. She was revolted just a few minutes ago at the thought of saving Drai'lle, this is to help her realize that species doesn't matter, life is sacred. My background just helps me with that. Besides, Zena's the psychic, she'll be of more use right now than I would. Now we won't know for sure if your potions will work or not until we try them right? Marvel went through all that pain to get your picture, and you're going to let that be for naught if you don't try to use it."
He put his arm over Jax's shoulder. "Besides, your book is up there, rather hard to read when you're down here." he smiled. "Now come on, pouting out here won't help Drai'lle but trying your potions could be the thing that gets the rest of us to her to save her. But we won't know until we try."

OOC: my gift before really going to bed ... lol!

IC:
Jax put her head back in her arms and knees, hiding it while shutting her eyes.

"It can't work, though. Potions are an actual physical compound, but their are limits. I cannot affect another world, or even another plane, without ingredients from there. It would be absolutely useless."

She felt herself become angry. A new emotion.

"And even if the potion could work, what would it accomplish? We do not even know if they were in the dream world, or another world... We can't see beyond our being. Its been tried. Wasting time will not help her. And neither will you, sitting here. When I am composed and fit for company, I will return."

She felt a new realization come to her. She was mimicking the emotions of those around her. Marvel had been sad, and Yelena mad. Or maybe she was just crazy ... the thought of just getting up and running passed her mind, too ...

Yelena simply acknowledged when Zena explained her on the subject of dreams, but the departure of Jax seemed to have affected her. That young woman was psychologically worser than her during the misery that was her adventure, or more exactly nightmare, in Latvia. She could feel her plight, as if it was her own. Another person seemingly rejected, who no longer gave value to her own life, who openly wished to die, just like her a few years ago. She simply walked towards the exit of the tower, saying to Zena:

"I... cannot let Jax alone, I am sorry, but could you wait a minute? It is because... nevermind."

Perhaps the place was too much loaded with magic, but Yelena intention was to simply walk on foot towards her destination, something canceled by another completely unconscious warp right to where Jax was located. Her mind reminded of the moments right after she lost her arm. Her feeling of having became an useless cripple, the despair only boosted by the fact it all happened because of spiders, creatures that which fear she never managed overcome since even worser experiences involving such creatures, in times magic was little more than a distant childhood fantasy, times when she openly wished to die.

Yelena's face seemed to be a bit down when all made her remember of such bad memories, and she still looked at Jax, feeling something she refused to acknowledge, like if that young woman was closer to her than she could ever imagine in some way, but coming from completely different eras seemed to counter such sensation of having so much in common. She simply spoke to Jax, not knowing exactly what to say, a simple sentence:

"I know how it is to feel what you are feeling Jax. I feel myself... useless to further a cause I truly believe in"

Strangely, Yelena seemed to have become as distant as Jax, like if pondering about her own existence and its relevance.

Joshua looked to Yelena. "Nobody is truly useless if they put their mind to it. Jax can use her potions to attempt to locate Morpheus and you Yelena can go into the dream world and send a projection to him, which will further our looking for him and if you can find Drai'lle, you can let her know we're looking for her, something that will give her much comfort."

Joshua would never understand what was useful in her mind. He probably would consider completely foreign the beliefs of Yelena, of her sense of duty to the revolution and for the proletariat, to which she was indeed useless due to, ironically, the same reason why she was currently there: the curse of magic. For her, Drai'lle was completely irrelevant, for her true goal was not there, but in her own world, something beyond her grasp due to the intolerance that her own people acquired against her. She would not openly admit either, that she did not care about the strange being, for her only reason to help was pride and social pressure, but all was useless to what she believed in. Yelena was prompt to reply him about the matter:

"Joshua, you do not know my beliefs, and I doubt you would understand them completely, for they are inherent of another time and age, of the late ninetieth century. Only those who witnessed the industrial age would truly understand it, and most of what I know about it came from my parents and from witnessing Novaya Russia.", she said, interrupting her speech with a sigh.

"I never wanted to be born with this... curse, because it is exactly what makes me useless. I have tried once to forward my beliefs, but it was a disaster for myself, for such beliefs are only fit for worlds where science is an almost unbreakable law."

She pondered for seconds on whether she should explain it properly or not about the matter, and decided to try, hoping that she would not be further put as an outcast because of a mindset that was much ahead of the average time of that location, based on ideas that only emerged in the modern age she is a part of.

"I believe in a society without classes, without misery or exploitation, and all of this only hindered my attempts to promote it. Magic has been an obstacle, an enemy of what I truly believe in. It is a both a privilege and a curse. And one I still cannot fully accept, even now.", and then finally she came to tell someone the reason of all that happened to her:

"They fear that the fact a few have it while most do not would lead to the creation of a new upper class of those born with magic. They refuse to even consider the fact that people like me exist.", continued Yelena, increasingly frustrated.

"But there are people like Ivan, who was here a while ago, who put a bad reputation to all who were born with the curse. That is why I hate him. He makes of the claim magic is privilege a fact, as the conman he is. But I never used it to enrich myself, or to have power over others. I simply have to suffer because of those pigs who use magic for such reasons"

Sighing, she finally finished:

"There is little that is worser than being hunted by those who were your comrades, to be an outcast in your own nation and among those who share the same beliefs than you, because of something you cannot even control or choose to not have."

"Therefore I am useless for my people, for what I stand for, and for my family, who had to endure much of what I have suffered as well. Honestly, I personally find all of this useless, but I do not want to let a bad mood breed here."

While Joshua and Yelena talked, Jax felt her eyes, while closed, roll back in her head ... another vision coming on. She was unaware of it, but her head leaned into Joshua's shoulder, the arm around her supporting her from falling completely.

She saw a girl, and a bird. The same girl from the diary. A bright light, then shouts. A man came and pulled her from the bird, took out a whip, and beat her on the front. There was blood everywhere. He dropped the whip and began kicking the girl, until the tall younger man came, and pulled him off of her.

The girl was sobbing, bleeding. Jax felt pain. It seemed that she had only just leaned into Joshua when her eyes flew open and she sat up, blinking. She felt the sting. Touching her shoulder, she felt the faint tug of skin scarred together. She must have been from this era, and knew she had been likewise punnished for magic. It made her that much more greatful for Yelena to be opening up to her.

"I feel as you do. This cause, the protecting of those with magic, is what I think is right. But I do not even know if I am one. I apologize, I should have not been thinking of what is beyond my control. The potion will not work, but I will try, if you think it best. For that is all I can do."

Khat listened to the talk swirling about the group as they tried to decide what to do. He could see that they were trying, but they were tired and indescisive....

'Erm..ah.. I have...I can do something that might help." He said, his voice back to it's normal shy tones.

"I'm an anchor. People can ..ah.. how do you say it..." Human langues were not his forte and he searched for better words "they can hold on to me and use me to bring them back. Some friends had to go to hell and used me to find their way home whne they were through." He explained, hopeing they understood what he meant.

Mali looked to Khat. "That makes sense. People can leave this world, and through you, they are allowed to return."
Zena meanwhile snapped her fingers. "Khat, you're brilliant. While you anchor people to this world, Chaz can move through worlds like a fish through water. I wonder if we could send him to Yelena in the Dreamwolrd once she's there. He would be able to travel between there and here and deliver messages using the two of you as reference points. Chaz is capable of bringing someone along for the ride too, so he might be able to pull her out and back to you."

Joshua meanwhile sighed. "Yelena, you're truly confusing. You claim that all magic is useless, but you've come to a school to learn more about it. I get that magic is sometimes ridiculed, but that's done by people who think it evil or don't understand that it can be good. And I mean no offense by this, but your negative attitude that magic is useless and will get you nowhere is breeding a bad mood. Try for once to be open minded that maybe magic can help. Don't repress your powers, but let them blossom into something you control, but is powerful. If they can't accept you for who they are, that's their problem. If people could just open their minds to the possibility that good may come from the unknown, every world would be a better place. I agree with your ideas of a world without classes, misery and exploitation, but if you want that to happen, you can't let a single stone block your path."

There was nothing else to say, for Yelena simply began to walk back to the main hall of the white tower, trying to think on a manner how such action could benefit her personal goals and beliefs. When she finally went inside, she gave up on trying to find an obvious manner, and simply looked at Zena and at Khat, pondering about what such talking felines were doing there.

"Zena, I am ready to get into this. I do not know what I will face, but I am prepared for this. But one more thing. I have never tried to actively use a dream for such purposes, and I have no idea on what might happen, but I feel that I can do it. I cannot explain, it simply is an intuition."

Chaz appeared in Zena's arms. "Good timing, we figured out a way to get you back. Khat is an Anchor and Chaz is a Messenger. Basically, we'll send Chaz after you once you're asleep and he can send messages back and forth from you and us and even bring you back if need be. Did you want to do this in your own room?"

"That is not necessary, this floor is comfortable compared to some of the places I had to sleep at", Yelena answered with a contemptuous tone as she laid her back on the floor. It was certainly going to be something complicated, for she expected that her personal dreams would be mixed with the actual search for such Morpheus.

"Like I said, I am ready. Anyway, I am getting truly tired, but a push would be welcome"

Jax felt as if noone had heard her, so she figured neither Joshua or Yelena would care if she went back to acting as a singular being. She stood, shaking off Joshua's arm, and followed Yelena to her room.

"Feel free to use my bed ... And please, return safely. I have the feeling you and I will have much to discuss when this nightmare is over." Jax sighed, realizing she would more than likely be ignored again, but saying it made her feel better all the same.

She had questions for Yelena.

"Alright then, let me know when you're comfortable and I can put you to sleep. It does require me going into your mind, but rather than reading a thought, I alter thought patterns and brain chemistry to cause you to sleep." Zena said, handing Yelena a pillow from Jax's bed.

Yelena looked at Jax from her laid back stance and replied with a simple smile, thinking about how it seemed that centuries of progress were not enough to end the ignorance of the Dark Ages. It was always ironic on how those who despised so strongly religion and monarchy took the same steps of their representatives regarding magic.

"Emberlea, I think we might have much to learn from each other, The first thing I will do will be to talk to you after this is over, provided I get back alive, of course. I wish you well Jax."

And with a twist of her head, she now faced Zena, with the pillow bending to her, and immediately decided to finish her anxiety about the matter, speaking in a manner which seriousness could not be assured, specially when she smiled in a somewhat inconclusive manner:

"I have always been talented with logical reasoning Zena, but that does not make me wiser, so I ask you put me to sleep before I realize how stupid is this I am about to do."

Zena barked out a laugh. "No pillow then, alright. Jax, help me catch her please." Zena closed her eyes and followed through with her plan, Yelena should be asleep within seconds.

Emberlea. The name in the book. Yelena had called her that. Was it possible ...

It was then that Jax had a breakthrough. She couldn't explain why, but a random thought occured to her. What if, instead of scrying for Morpheus or Drai'lee, she tried to locate the power masking her dissappearance? She could combine the motive of finding her and the emmense loosening of power. If she could locate it, she could go there. And intercept, if she were strong enough.

"You had best come back, Yelena. For now, my questions are multiplying too fast for my own memory. I will have a list before you return." And you will, one way or another ... This last thought was only meant for her mind. She helped Zena catch Yelena as she began to sleep before genious took over.

She ran back to the ingredients on the desk, and searched on the floor till she found it. A stray hair from the Khat creature, whom she assumed had a connection with the Fae. And, aside from Marvel, had the most motive for finding her.

She pushed away the bloodroot, the glass jar falling to the ground without her noticing. She pushed a stray hair back behind her ear, out of her eyes. They had a slight golden glow now.

"Joshua, I need parchment. And some charcoal. Where can I find it?"

Joshua blinked. "I can make some." he tapped the desk which promptly produced the required materials while Zena caught Yelena, who should be sleeping by now. "May I ask what you're planning?" he asked Jax.

Jax shushed him with a look, and motioned Joshua closer, where she could whisper and the work of the others would not be interrupted. "I have you to thank for finally thinking of this. I will find the kidnapping, by scrying the energy shift. Auras are naught but a person's energy. So if I can track hers, I can go back in time and try to stop it."

"I know what auras are." Joshua said. "How do you think I see? I don't know how to see the energy shift like that though. It's back in time and I didn't witness it. But what do you mean I thought of it?"

"You kept telling me to go after Marius, but he is not in this world. So I will go after what in this world he changed. We know where it happened, but not WHEN!" Jax felt the thrill of the discovery in her system. She took the charcoal, but before she began to draw, she turned back to him, confused. "Wait ... If you only see auras, how do you see ..." She was about to ask how he saw her without one, but shook her head. He would probably think she was unintellegent for needing to ask. It made her face redden slightly.

For once, Marvel kept his big mouth shut. The things that Yellena had said made sense for everyone except him, and she should have known it.

He had been hunted by his own comrades. He'd come out of the underworld through the gullet of an eater demon that they were trying to feed him to.

He had been in her mind--and he'd brushed away a few of the cobwebs (and a spider or two) while he was at it.

He wasn't human, either. He was stronger, longer lived and could fly--and no one was ever going to take the skies away from him. In fact, he seriously wondered why she was so xenocentric.

But he kept his mouth shut. He'd been a diplomat in the underworld, and he had learned to judge...sentients. He knew that a wishy-washy coward like Yellsatya could be frightened into doing something just as easily as she was frightened out of it--and that's what had happened.

But now that things had taken care of themselves, there was one small thing that he had to open his mouth about...and make sure that everyone in the room heard.

"When this is done, we need to take it all up with Galvenor and Eldrad. They told us we'd be safe here. This guy popped into the tower, teleported right through the defensive spells, into Drai'lee's room and left behind a trap for her. If that's safety, I'd sure hate to see insecurity."

Aww, heck...I'm gonna pay for this, but it's just too much fun to resist askin'...and she NEEDED to have her bluff called, anyway, especially after she insulted him the way she had.

"And Yellena, honey, just so this poor, stupid non-human will know...if this guy can spirit someone away from here, just where is it that you think you can run from him?" And he smiled while he asked it, even though he knew it was a moot point. Like trying to tell her that the word is "worse," and that there's no such word as "worser."

"How do I see you?" Joshua finished. "Everyone has an aura. It's their mood, their memories, their personality, something unique to just them. You're aura is strong, and right now, with that new confidence, it's stronger than most I've seen. I'd ask you to tone it down, but most people can't. It took Mali and Zena years to learn how." He touched the desk. "But through this, I can see you. You're beautiful face, bright eyes, vibrant smile, and delicate features." He removed his hand from the desk. "But now I can't see anything but the auras and energies in the room." He then turned to Marvel. "The security here in general needs an overhaul. Mali, Zena, and my self all teleported in here, myself right into the castle, with a simple spell."

Jax blushed full on, this time not worried he would see. Compliments were foriegn. But the thought of seeing THROUGH things ... She was lost completely. But before she could ask, Marvel spoke.

True, she still felt intmidated when he was in the room. She had felt there was something beyond the human appearance. The idea of a non-harmful demon, though, was a lot easier to understand than Auras.

"Not all humans are so easily understood, Marvel ..." she whispered. "And sometimes, even non-humans have to grasp the concept of not being completely safe anywhere."

She turned back to Joshua.

"I can reduce it with practice, I am sure. But for now, it is going to help me find what I am looking for ..."

Marvel smiled again and spread his wings a little--not enough to bump into anybody, but enough so that Quax could see them. Human form? I ain't even usin' it. Babe, you have no idea.

Then, he used his illusion magic to completely blot out his aura, as if he wasn't there.

"Yeah," he said, mischievous grin never leaving his face, "I guess I've got a lot to learn. Huh, Josh?"

"Actually, yes." Joshua said. "I can't see your aura, but your magic is quite visible. Nice work too, repressive, but expressive all at once." he walked over and seemed to be examining Marvel. "Interesting way to repress an aura if you ask me."

"Oh, dude," the demon said, rolling his eyes. "It ain't like I'm actually tryin' to hide from you. This is for you, dude, not against you. You're the one who was whinin' about how other folks' auras hurt his eyes."

"Actually, I said bright, not painful. On the other hand, it can get hurt when someone just goes nuts with their emotions." Joshua said, still looking at Marvel. "Just for giggles, can you hide your magic too?"

"Yes, can you hide it?" Jax asked, a strange tone in her voice, as she mentally pictured punching the cocky demon in his nose as he tried.

A torrent of rain fell heavily over the horizon, a crimson horizon feature by a distant castle, and a heavy cloak weighed over her. Yelena simply walked forward with heavy footsteps into some sort of muddy grass, and looked down. For her surprise, a strange black smog covered all the ground and came to her knees, hiding it and dangers that could come. She gave no thought to simply run when the unforgettable clicking of a spider came from behind.

Yelena sprinted through the black smog and grasslands towards the distant sight while the thumping noise of several large legs came to her ears from behind. She was freezing of fear and despair, and did not dare to look back. However, the noises were becoming closer each minute, and she was beginning to feel exhaustion while fear drove her to continue running despite the sharp ache of her muscles.

Until she tripped off one of the traps hidden by the smog, probably a large branch, and felt, knocking her face against the mud while the sounds of the beast signaled its approach. Shaking of fear, Yelena became incapable of getting up again, while having only one arm was not very helpful to get up again while soaked and frightened. She simply began to crawl back with her legs, and looked behind to contemplate her own end.

There were no visible spider legs, but the noise was still there like before. Something came up on her mind, and the fear immediately passed, with Yelena breathing in alleviation. Getting up, the most strange fact was that there was nothing at all besides the sounds of a spider. Apparently someone decided to trick her for a reason. Thinking about it and laughing to herself, she continued on her way through the castle. The remainder of the path was very peaceful, and whoever used such trick to scare her seemed to have realized she discovered it, for the spider noises vanished. But the castle still was a sinister visage by itself approaching. Entirely dark and built of obsidian, the strange building soon would show its large gates right ahead of her. With no wait, Yelena muttered in her own language:

"Open, for death and life are irrelevant to our strife."

Two massive black gates opened, revealing the courtyard, a dead set of stones, except for several electrical devices, gears and machines running inside the same. The large doors of the castle itself also opened as she was right through them, revealing a darkened hall through which she walked. There was very little in the castle, but at least no spiderwebs. Yelena just walked through stone and stairs until the top of a tower, spotting nothing but dark, empty and lifeless rooms.

In the tower chamber, there was a large counter was filled with human skulls, and a robed figure attentiously messing with such skulls, like if they were nothing besides fake skulls built for university studies.

"You know why I am here", Yelena replied.

"Yes... another seeker of eternity, why else would you be here?" a surprisingly young voice said. It sounded slightly disturbing, like if it was the result of air coming through a corpse.

"I seek eternal life, Jovanov. I am only here to understand. I have witnessed the scientific path, and now I bear witness to the magical path to such goal."

Turning back to her, a pale and male figure came from cloak, which despite its cadaveric look, still seemed very young and wrinkle-less, and despite the whiteness, he had signs of being alife.

"I pity you, if you still have delusions about it. This you are seeing is the only way, and I know why you came all your way through here. The superstitious tales state clearly that I was an atheist when I was alive."

"Are you still one?", she asked trying to divert a bit from the subject.

"Oh yes, this is nothing more than a faulty magic that came from one of the earliest attempts to achieve immortality I rediscovered. Ironically, it rejuvenates everything of my body, except for one thing, and I am dead sure you know which."

"It does not rejuvenate the blood", she replied.

"Yes, the blood, not only that, but it actually accelerates its decay, that is why I need to recover all the blood loss from this flaw, and why I look so pale. Perhaps you could give me an aid, it is difficult to find donors, you know", the man replied, while taking a seemingly clean syringe from one of his pockets.

"I thought vampires sucked blood with fangs?", she said, looking curious at the man, who grinned, showing he had no fangs.

"And who said I became this way because a vampire bit me? It is another history, and I am not an undead, it is just that I have a magically induced chronic anemia, but I am damn well alive."

"Then why all this sinister decoration and lack of light?", Yelena added

"How do you think that I manage to attract fools self-entitled vampire hunters here to become involuntary blood donors? Would it work if I just had a fancy house? Well, take a look around, this room is quite well lit and clean, the rest is just facade to scare off curious and draw the fool."

"Blood donors? Are you a murder?" Yelena asked him with her eyes open of worry, and a sense of alertness.

"Not really, I just have some tranquilizer darts, and take a small sip of their blood with syringes like this before dumping them back to the outside and injecting this new blood in my own veins, nothing that would make them die. That fog is also a little trick of mine to call attention. If you want I can turn you in a less than perfect immortal, but you will be chronically anemic."

"No thanks, I still have a long time left before I die of old age, I will find something else. Call me back when you find a cure to your health problem. But before I leave, I am curious: Was you the responsible for the spider noise trick? You scared me there!", she asked, pondering why such eccentric individual would do something like that.

"Spider noise? I have nothing to do with that, and if you suspect, I am no mind reader, so I could have never guessed you are afraid of spiders. Now, could you borrow me a little of your blood? It will only sting a little."

"And what do I get into return?", again she came asking

"You will not wake up in the middle of nowhere with an horrible headache if you comply"

"But that is just wrong!", she ranted nervously.

"I am sorry, miss Praskovya, but I have no other way to ensure my survival. And I do not want to test whether I am wrong or not about the lack of any afterlife.", he answered back, quickly grabbing a tranquilizer gun and firing at her.

The dart simply stopped in its way to her, and not satisfied, Yelena smiled when it came back to Jovanov, who immediately fell down and began to speak weakly.

"Please... I do not want to die Yelena, please donate me some of your blood"

Sighing, she pondered about the situation when the pale man fell unconscious. She could save his life, no matter if it was not exactly natural, and perhaps he could be more useful. Sighing, she searched around for medical resources and was soon plunging the needle into her vein and pulling the syringe to draw some of her blood, slowly. As the syringe became again filled with the red liquid, she putted a gaze on her arm, and headed to the unconscious man. She had no idea on how he did not die due to blood transmitted diseases or alike, but would rather not ask. Pressing the syringe, soon some of her blood came to him, as she realized morbidly what she just has done. The man seemed to almost immediately have become less pale, and she simply left, saying:

"You could have just asked nicely, Jovanov. I will not give up on this. One lifetime alone is never enough to fulfill what I dream about, but I do not see what is the point of being immortal just to live like you. I would rather just die than end like you, to be honest."

Now something came to her mind, the real identity of whoever scared her off with those spider noises. Somehow she could not remember being followed, to add to the strange nature of the event. When she returned to the attention-called facade of a castle designed to be sinister for the mere purpose of drawing "involuntary blood donors", Yelena again came with her ankles beneath a thick layer of black smog, and began to walk away, unaware that all was part of another of her strange dreams, most of which she would easily forget after waking up. Unless someone told her it was not reality, it was unlikely she would get it by herself.

Just for giggles...Marvel used his Total Invisibility Protocol Spell (or T.I.P.S. for short), that he'd developed after a little run-in with some techno-mages who had Anomaly Goggles that could see through normal invisibility illusions. Actually, this would be a good test for it. If Josh could see through it, Marvel could probably use his input to make the TIPS work even better.

While he was at it, he took a little step to the side, just for show.

Joshua was taken aback. "Hmm, much better than before, but not perfect. There's a center for magic in your chest, at least I think it's your chest, that's still visible. I think that's where the source of the spell is at. You need to hide that too."

Zena meanwhile looked to Chaz. "Alright little guy, go visit Yelena." Chaz nodded and vanished, appearing on Yelena's shoulders. Yelena, why are we here? The voice was in her head, from Chaz. It sounded like a teenage tennor was speaking softly, knowing his voice would come from everywhere.

"What?", Yelena shouted after she backed off of fear, with such a frighten that she let herself fall over again, splashing against a patch of muddy grass, but at least she fell on her back, when she disappeared beneath the dark smog covering all the ground. Seems like someone was really wanting to scare her for some fun in that place, and someone who knew how sometime a large spider fell over on her shoulder.

Sighing from beneath the layer of smog, Yelena said to the Chaz:

"You really scared me. Who are you? How do you know my name? And specially, how can you talk?"

Chaz seemed to grin. I'm Chaz, Zena's cat. I'm here to bring you back if anything goes wrong. And it's not hard to figure out someone's name if you pay attention. You haven't forgotten why you're here have you? Chaz walked over to Yelena, tail straight up in the air. If you have, that means I'll have to remind you and things will be that much more complicated.

Yelena got up again, with her cloak and much of her brown hair soaked with mud, and looked at Chaz to reply on his question. She had no idea on what the hell was happening, although the name Zena seemed to be somewhat familiar, but she could not remember of when or where.

"Of course I know why I am here. I came here, to the depths of the Badlands, to see if the rumors about Jovanov the Immortal were true, because so far I only found means of rejuvenating to an extent, not of stopping the inevitable cycle of life and death. Now, this name, Zena, if you are her cat, it actually looks familiar, but I do not remember where I met her. Zena..."

Pondering, she quickly reminded of an old passage of her through a magical realm, where she met a lady named Zena Montello.

"Yes... I met Zena fifteen years ago, back when I took refuge on a place called the White Tower because I had serious problems because I could not control my magic by then. How did you find me here, in the Badlands to the west of Soviet Steam in Pangaea? I never expected to meet Zena or you Chaz... also no offense intended, but I forgot about you Chaz. Are you needing of me for something?"

This isn't 15 years from then, it's right then. he shook his head. Oh my sisters would have fun with you. Anyway, you agreed to try an experiment, to see if we could find Drai'lle. Remember now? She was kidnapped and we are trying to see if we can reach her through the dreamworld. You need to remember, but not wake up or we won't be able to find her. The cat reappeared on Yelena's shoulders and brought her a mental flash of Zena's vision, of Yelena propped up against the bed in Jax's room, asleep while they worked on how to find Drai'lle.

Seemed like an interesting memory. It was like the first time she has did something really helpful, and she smiled as the cat demonstrated it again. Unfortunately, she could not remember how she found Drai'lle, who was her or the details of such search.

"Ah, you mean my first adventure that was not an utter failure? That was a long time ago, I knew it went right but I cannot not remember how I found her. Chaz, we are not trying to do that. We have already succeeded on that! Fifteen years ago! It was really important for me, something that changed my life. But it is over now. Unless... do you want me to go back to the past so..."

Suddenly a flashing revelation came to her, and she quickly replied him about something that seemed very strange:

"I remember now! I finally remembered one of my dreams, thank you Chaz! I was dreaming of what is happening here and now, this same place, in the same manner events unfolded. I do not understand, but now it all makes sense, I can see the future in my dreams, but every time I peeked through it, I forgot what happened. Now... I remember that you came to me, just like now, and said that... I was dreaming, then I was a bit reluctant, thinking you were actually just joking, then I accepted it and began to search for clues", and suddenly her memory failed to get further details.

"Now this is really strange, when you are here again, saying I am dreaming, just like I remembered that happened fifteen years ago. I have a feeling this is not the first time. But I cannot be dreaming again, time flows, it could not have been locked for me in that specific event, nor I could have been dreaming of fifteen years of my future, unless I really got into a serious comatose state. But, supposing you are right, how would I find Drai'lle in the first place? Unfortunately I cannot remember the solution I had for it fifteen years ago"

Small problem: Marvel couldn't feel what Josh was talking about.

This might take a little bit of time--and, actually, it was a distraction from the real business.

"This is going to be too tough for now," he said, bringing things back--slowly, so that Josh could get used to it. "We can try again later, when the situation is a little less urgent."

------

OOC: Turning in for the night. Gotta go to work tomorrow.

You were going to try and find Morpheus. Chaz said. And I can't travel through time, you're asleep right now in our world, you need to direct your dream towards finding Drai'lle. This is the dream world, it doesn't control you, you control it, now find Drai'lle and Morpheus.
He turned his thoughts to Zena. I need you to look at Yelena, she doesn't believe this is a dream. Once Zena had done that, Chaz again gave Yelena a vision of what Zena was looking at and hearing. Mali was saying "I wonder how long she'll be asleep." and then Chaz released Yelena from the vision. See? A dream, and we need you to direct it toward Drai'lle.

Joshua nodded. "Agreed, but right now there's not much we can do. Jax has an idea and she's working on it and Chaz is working with Yelena. I can't teleport at random either, I need a specific location that isn't to a person, but an actual place." He began pacing, something he always did when at a loss of what to do. "Wait, has anyone actually searched the castle and grounds?"

OOC: Dans le Noir 2 asked me to post this for her because she can't get it to go on her phone.

her post:
Jax sighed, turning from the boys and refocusing on her task. She closed her eyes, and imagined the school. She began to draw the hass as she remembered, from the cafeteria to the dorms. When she felt the picture was right, she placed the photo of the captor under the mirror, the mirror face down, and the map on top. The rosewater sopped the parchment, making a smelly mush at the bottom ... Demon blood ... yelch! Jax thought.

She added the other ingredients, and instead of using fire, she used will. Using will was a lesser practiced form of magic. It took more concentration than heat. She focused, training herself to see the energy moving about the school, looking for the flicker where it dissappeared altogether ...

... and she felt it, the moments before Drai'lee dissappeared. She turned in on herself, moving through time and dissappearing from her room completely. She came to in a a dark hall too far North to be the dorms area. She saw Drai'lee walking ... Jax ran, and stopped with a cry as she saw the Fae put on an object and dissappear. As it fell, she dove down and scooped up the ring as she moved back ...

What seemed like moments had taken about three minutes. She reappeared, in a heap on the floor by the desk, her skin cold as ice from the energy being sucked from her body. She clenched the ring, shaking with chills. Her breath was visable, her body so cold she chilled the air around her.

OOC: And now I'll follow that up with my post.

IC: Joshua rushed to Jax. "What in blazes name were you thinking?!" he demanded, picking her up and moving her to her bed. Zena pulled back the covers and Joshua placed her gingerly on the bed. Once under the covers, Mali began to play her flute, a comforting song that should warm Jax and heal any injuries she might have had. Zena gave her a quick physical with her mind and Joshua stood touched the bed to warm it up without making it burst into flames.

Yelena simply sighed when the answer came, for the more she thought, more distant the possibility became, and it seemed a futile idea to attempt something like that. However, as soon as Chaz finally convinced her all was a dream, all of it vanished, and they were now back to the White Tower, except for one thing, for Yelena founded it strange to look at her own body in slumber, pondering what has happened. She did not want to think about it for now, and simply said:

"Maybe I can find something this way, but I cannot promise anything. I have never done something like this before"

Even more strange was the fact that there was little more than an ethereal shadow of herself for those who looked at such strange phenomena, but Yelena was little aware of it. She quickly teleported to the main hall of the foyer, right ahead of Zena, emanating a very strong light of red and purple hues that only Joshua could notice.

It was not exactly to speak what she thought she was doing, although she felt to be simply speaking. Yelena actually was communicating directly with them minds of those she addressed at such strange state, where thoughts could come clearer.

"I do not understand this, I am still dreaming, but of reality itself. Now, I remember, this was not something done by an outsider. No way it could have been, for it would have triggered some alert of the magic of this place. Whoever did it... was here somewhere. There is at least an accomplice, and whoever this one is, this accomplice is inside this Tower"

She attempted to sense anything, trying to feel clues that could help with the situation at hand.

"And if everything fails, I could risk a teleport to someone rather than to somewhere, I have never tried it, but it is possible, and it seems even more likely in this way."

The shadow flickered as four faint projections of it began to spread to its side, vanishing again when it became clearer.

Chaz shook his head as Joshua followed the mysterious light. "Who's there?" He asked.
It's just Yelena. Chaz said from Joshua's feet.
"Well that's kinda disturbing." He remarked. "Yelena, direct your dream to finding Drai'lle and Morpheus. I think I'm going to have Kaht and Marvel help me search the tower the non-magical way."

OOC: Again, posting for Dans le Noir.
As the energy flowed into her, Jax' body warmed to a much more reasonable temperature. She stopped shivering, and sat up, bringing her knees in front of her and wrapping her arms around them. Normally, the feeling of being ill that followed time travel was expected. It was why she hated the amber light. It made her feel the same ...

But this time, the effect was from failure. She quickly focused her sadness on anger. And it worked. She kept emotion at bay.

"It did not work. I couldn't stop the actions set in place. However, she dissappeared with the help of this ring."

She held it in her open hand.

and my IC post: Joshua reentered the room. "What's that?" he asked, looking at the ring.
"It's what Drai'lle held when she was captured." Mali said, picking it up. "Why isn't it repeating it's spell I wonder."
"It was probably a one time only thing." Zena said. "But I don't know if this will help us."
Joshua meanwhile turned to Marvel and Khat. "I'd like your help. I want to cover the entire school and search it without magic. We've been going about this as if it were a powerful mage doing this, so magic will probably be blocked. But a physical search, that might turn something up."

How foolish they seemed to insist into pushing her to such fool's errand with no clue. They have no realized how simple it was, the primary reason why Yelena has done what she did. They seemed to think she was all-seeing, from they way they insisted for her to do a miracle, and a voice echoed through their heads:

"Do you think I am a goddess or a listing with all locations of all worlds? I am not, and I have no damn clue about what happened other than the fact someone, supposedly this Morpheus, got Drai'lle."

The voice became louder then, but not actually annoying:

"What happened with Jax? Maybe that could be a great clue."

The projection vanished, but the voice continued:

"Cold... ring... this is very familiar. And there is only one explanation now. Someone dropped such ring on purpose. Why ignore the possibility that the guilty is right here? This cold... it is reminiscent of only one thing."

The voice stopped again, but soon Zena, Jax, Mali and Joshua would listen to her words:

"This cannot be the work of a living being. This smells like an undead's ploy, and it is very convenient that there is someone who seems to be missing for a long time. But the dead cannot dream, and thus, I doubt I could find the location, but perhaps... you could investigate this. I am no diviner or mind reader, thus this is as far as I can get"

"Now, if we cannot find the trap, the trap will find us. But that would be only a last resort, you should try to find clue, interrogate some suspicious types who got into this Tower, and if nothing works, then hook, line, and sinker"

It was strange, and Yelena's mind was having self-contradicting thoughts, which further added to the erratic behavior of such self.

"Or maybe this is completely futile and we all are wasting time with something beyond our grasp. Yes, it could be. Or could not. So far this is looking like a foolishness, for there are clear suspects and nobody to ask them and reveal one of them as at least an accomplice! Lets continue this fool's errand then!"

She was watching the same dark corner where Drai'lle vanished, trying to spot a ring there, although whoever did this would not be foolish enough to let such an obvious clue, and thus she simply warped again, this time to the top of the tower.

´"If I could only call the Policija... they would investigate this better than all of us"´, her mind pondered, as she looked at the visible shield that flawlessly covered the entire tower, when a possibility sparked to her.

"Zena, does the shield of the Tower also covers against threats coming from underground? I hope so, because if not then I can easily say that this will be as easy as finding a needle in Venus"

"Also, this is all, now I should wake up. Because I will be more useful then"

And suddenly all vanished. She opened her eyes and got up, taking her way to find Jax and the others. Yelena looked at the blank ring and said:

"Let me see it"

OOC: I'm working with DLN to get her posts up cause she can't post.

IC: Jax stood, a determined look on her face, leaving her bed with a look of regret, once again. "I am helping."
"I'd sure hope you're helping." Mali joked. "It'd be sad if you were hindering this operation."
Zena rolled her eyes. "Mali's right, if sarcastic. Anyway, maybe we should help Joshua, Marvel, and Khat look over the castle. And Yelena, I don't know. It might, but it might not." she finished as Mali handed over the ring.

Yelena simply took the ring from Mali's hands and watched its blank nature. There was nothing, at least physically, that made it unique or different from the usual ring. There was one thing in her mind. Maybe it was not exactly an one use ring developed for that specific magic, but for her it was difficult to ponder about it, for the sole reason that in Pangaea, only living being could be enchanted with magic, and inanimate objects could in no way store magic, except for the magic stones that the Badlands were rich with.

"I cannot promise anything, because I have no experience with enchantments over things that are not alive, but maybe as it is about conveyance, I can discover something", she explained in her slippery way of speaking English.

Releasing her grasp over the ring, she allowed it to float for a while, while it began to approach her index finger. Quickly it flew and came to it. What would happen with such mysterious ring in her finger was yet to be seen.

Marvel was just about to leave the room when Yellsatya delivered another one of her little rants. She was really starting to get annoying. "Either this is so or it is not so." WOW! BRILLIANT OBSERVATION, SHERLOCK!

"Jax, can you take me to where Drai'lee was teleported away? And Yellena, could you let me have that ring if she can? I've already pushed two of this guy's portals. Maybe I can push the third. Then, we can get through."

"Absolutely." Jax answered Marvel, whom she wasn't sure if she could stand or if she simply hated his attitude and sarcasm. She began moving through the halls quickly, as her drawing with the coal had shown her. It was the trail of energy.

Jax rounded the last corner, and stopped. It was dark, and being here gave her a scary feeling. Like a child who knows that one more step could make them fall off the bridge. So she waited until the others pushed past her softly.

"It was right there, next to that piece of rubbish." she said, pointing for Marvel.

When Yelena putted the ring on her own finger, at the moment it slid through it, she could feel it. There was still something left on that ring, and now all was clear to her on how someone forgot to erase an important evidence.

"I can feel the residues of magic, I will open the gate for everyone, after I am aware of where it warped... Marvel," she said in a less than friendly tone, staring at Marvel. It was clear on how he grew to despise her, and that was something she was not very happy with. She ignored Marvel and looked at Jax, while it seemed she was failing more and more with her Engrish:

"I am owing this one, and I will open this portal for everyone and keep it open. I know I have been a bit... exacerbated with the fact I still not being used to seeing other beings other than humans talking".

She followed Jax as she headed to the corner, with Marvel behind her, and explained:

"Let me try first, like I said, I owe you one this of. And I want to keep this ring as a reminder of this incident"

Yelena stepped exactly in the point that Jax indicated, and could feel something unexplainable, like if her touch with everything around became slightly distant. The rants of Marvel, the curious look of Emberlea on her, and the surroundings of that floor of the tower became blurred senses. She grinned to Marvel, but refused to make any childish gesture, instead she began to speak some words of her own language:

"Postav'te tochki, teper' vy linija, linija, teper' vy kvadratno, kvadrat, teper' vy kubik, zerkalo, teper' vy ne otrazite nichego."

"Dlja rodiny! Dlja ljudejj!"

They seemed to not be related to what she was trying to do, but perhaps to something else, nonetheless, right when she spoke the last sentences, a red hue surrounded her, for this time it seemed to be fancier than her usual grade of magic. This red hue began to fade out, revealing a large cube of an opaque and crystalline surface which seemed to swirl through like if a liquid, with Yelena standing right to its left, with her eyes closed and sweat coming from her eyebrows. She struggled to keep it open, for apparently there was a great force trying to force it shut.

"If I leave, this portal will close. I hit it! Now go!", she said, with a clear struggling voice to come out, and seemed to be under a heavy strain while the strange cubic portal continued to have its crystalline surface swirling.

Joshua nodded. "Come Chaz." The cat appeared in his arms and they walked through the portal, anxious to see what was on the other side.
Mali meanwhile, pulled out her flute, "I'm staying with you." The bardess said before she began to play a strong melody. If done right, it should keep Yelena's strength up.

This was one of those times where Jax would love to know what to do. To stand by, and support Yelena, or to follow Joshua. On one hand, she would be guarenteed the next five minutes. On the other, she would have a first hand view of her headache and the thing that was violating the integrity of the structure offering her safety from Marcoz.

Mali's response was enough. With her to support Yelena, she would follow. She turned to Yelena and whispered, "May the peace of the Gods be with you, and my own personal wrath if you are not here and in good condition when I return, my friend." This was said in a light tone, a half-jest, but wholly serious.

Jax didn't turn back, as she followed Joshua.

"You start with points, now you form a line. From a line, now you expand--a square, now a cube; a mirror, now you do not reflect anything."

"For the homeland! For Ljudejj!"

-----------------------

OOC:

I'm fluent in Russian! I really am! ;)

http://translation2.paralink.com/

:) :) :)

------------------------

IC:

So...it was a geometric construct. Smashmouth had used them as holding pens for kidnap victims back in the underworld. He'd never let Marvel watch one being constructed, though. The wily warlord had feared what someone in his Diplomatic Corps would do with the knowledge.

This was powerful magic. A geometric construct was borderline universe manipulation. It existed within a world, yet independent of it. Standard laws of physics did not apply within one. Inside one, you could be right next to something and impossibly far away from it at the same time.

And Marvel realized that he would never be able to get into one by simply pushing a portal. It would change "size" to keep him out. Yellena had gone one step further, though. The original had collapsed, and she had actually reconstructed this one from its echo. This would mean that there was a chance that Morpheus wouldn't know that the new one was there--and that they might be able to control the internal dimensions from their end.

Seeing Yellena start to push her physical limits, Marvel walked over to her and placed his hand on her good shoulder. In a moment, he was feeding her his own mojo--a sort of reverse operation from something that he had learned to do long ago.

"Keep the door open, babe," he said. "The space inside that thing is variable, but, as its originator, you should have some control over it. Try to stabilize the space--but make it big enough so it doesn't crush the folks inside."

There was no way she could understand the sensations. It was something that could never be described what Yelena was suffering to maintain such strange portal open, however, it still was not anywhere as close to when she had to face her greatest fear, while starved, dehydrated, physically and mentally exhausted while feeling the cold touch of death calling her. Yelena was almost getting used to be the pariah, the one who ended in the gutter whenever something dangerous happened, but at least this time, she was not alone.

The strange construct had its crystalline surface expanded, and when its size finally became stable, she gave up on trying to hold herself on foot. The only thing that avoided her from falling on the ground now was Marvel's grasp over her right shoulder, yet she gave no signs of giving up. She could feel the rapid beats of her heart, and a growing headache that seemed to got worser every minute. The pain seemed to numb further her touch with reality, and her half-open eyes could no longer distinguish many of the shadows of that room, in fact not even Marvel's grasp over her. The only thing she was still hearing was the music, which avoided her from letting her body wishes overcome the need of such sacrifice, for without it, it would not be much longer before her collapse, or worse. The strange energy Marvel passed to her, something also beyond her grasp of reality, perhaps could also be attributed to why she has not collapsed yet.

Yelena would rather not say anything, for it was harsh to keep such portal open at such a cost, for she knew that once the magic energy was gone, there would be only one thing that would keep the magic active, and she would rather not resort to it. She remembered saying she would rather not test whether dreams could hurt her in reality or not, but now another possibility was at a test. She could remember clearly the histories and rumors about those who went too far with magic in Pangaea, and whose brains literally melted. She never gave much faith to such tales, which were more than likely some sort of folk-styled propaganda against magic, but her head was burning with pain, and she was sweating in an unnaturally heavy manner in her forehead. Hopefully it would not get past from a very bad fever.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and could feel her legs suspended on the floor like if they were not alive. Her body was completely relaxed, for Yelena directed all her mind to keep the portal open, dismissing much of the control over her own body for such. Her eyelids got away from each other again, revealing weary blue eyes, unfocused and away from the physical reality. She felt an urge to speak to Marvel, but even that was getting beyond her control. Like a limp puppet, her body bended to the slightest movement Marvel did while holding her.

They would better finish it quick. She could not know how many minutes she would be able to stand, although, it was still far enough from worser situations she got herself into before. Indeed, she was the right individual for the situation, for Yelena was experienced at getting close to the limits of her physical and mental stamina, and to struggling, even when being in proximity of death. Nonetheless, she would not stand it for too long, and it would rather not be long enough to verify if her brain could really melt from overexercising magic like legends of her land claimed.

The mojo wasn't enough. Wow, it took power to keep that thing going--and Yellena was running out. Marvel could feel her getting weaker by the second--and, after the day he'd had, he wasn't exactly feeling no pain either.

He was going to have to warn someone.

"Guys!" he called out. "We can't keep this thing stable much longer! Get out while you can!"

Then, he reached down into himself and helped Yellena to a little bit of his life force. He was going to have a headache for a week--and he wasn't going to let anybody forget it.

Zena too grabbed Yelena and began to channel her energy into her while hoping with all her heart that Mali's spell was at least doing something to help. Josh, Jax, Chaz, you guys need to get out of there now. We can't keep this open much longer and it's taking more than just Yelena to keep it open.

"I swear on my wings when I get loose you all are so going to fry. You don't just kidnap peopope for your twisted fun and games. I don't care if it's for the good all and you all are as poor as church mice and can't afford to pay for help. ..Hey..Owwwww..oowww ahhhhhhh!" Drai'lee rant becme a scream of pain.

She'd been moved while she had been in the forced slumber, she could tell that now, the air alive with that hint of eternal snows that she always associated with mountain tops, but as to why her captors would be dwelling htere ws beyond her, it cretainly wasn't their natural homes.

Footsteps echoed around them. They were muffled though, as if made by a soft shoe, and a soft footfall. Infact, only one with really sharp ears could hear them.

An old man walked upon the group, though how exactly he got there was anyone's guess. His robes were as white as the driven snow, as were his gloves. His hood was drawn over his face to obscure his face. He removed his left glove and held it in his right hand. He was so powerful, that one could see the patterns in which magic moved in his body, so long had they done so that they permanetly etched into his skin glowing arcane tattoos made entirely of his own magic.

He walked over silently, putting a hand on Yelena as well, seeming to know exactly what was going on.
The influx was as a lightning bolt, yet not so great as to be overwhelming. the others could feel his great power by proxy of their touching Yelena.

He looked at the others.
"I was sent by, well, no matter. I am here to assist, but not overly so. I will only enable you to rescue the lost fae yourselves, such were the limitations set upon me by, well, it doesn't matter. If you need a name, call me, call me Pondera, it is Latin for Balance. It is not my real name of course, but it shall suffice for your needs." the venerable magi said,

With so many people helping, it seemed unlikely that Yelena would experience the same torment of before, and she could feel fickle signs of life in her limbs and voice, sufficient for her to say a few words without breaking such gateway open. She would not exhaust, nor have to drain away her own life to keep such thing open. However, something has not changed, and the new surge of energy went almost unnoticed by her due to her focus onto the portal, and due to the growingly intense ache her head was suffering, to the point that her forehead was becoming reddish.

Sometimes, she felt a strong urge to give up, and forsake all those who entered through the gateway to their own or to a probable death. However, there was something in her, that pressed her to continue. The portal never seemed to lose its stability, but Yelena was closer and closer to the blink of a collapse.

She could not even notice when her small and upturned nose became reddish as well, while small drops of blood came out of her nose, and suddenly stopped. She was becoming closer to a limp corpse, and hanged completely on the hands and shoulders of those who held her. Each minute worsened her health, and no matter how much energy she got, it helped nothing with the manner her head burned intensely of pain and fever.

"Pondora," Marvel said between gritted teeth, "thanks, but we're not really helping. I should've noticed earlier. The problem isn't lack of power. Yellena is a new mage. Her body isn't used to magic. It can't handle all the power that's going through her. If someone else doesn't take over the spell, it could kill her.

"Do you trust me, Yellena? Then take my other hand and let me have this spell before..."

Zena nodded to Marvel. "You're probably right. Yelena, give Marvel the spell or at least let me move the information he needs to take it over from your mind. Either way, your body can't cope with a spell this powerful even if your mind is ready." Zena routed the energy she was giving Yelena into the spell itself. That should reduce the strain on Yelena by making it more independant of the caster.
While all this was taking place, Mali switched from the strengthening spell she was using to a healing spell, hopefully enough to keep some minor injuries away long enough to keep the big ones from forming. If she could keep Yelena's minor problems at bay, hopefully she could get the spell to Marvel soon enough to prevent any major damage.

There was no power coming through her. Yelena was too weak to explain them that such power was coming from her, and being drastically amplified and transformed by magic, for she was not channeling magic, it was magic that was channeling and boosting a power of her inner self, and neither willpower nor the very specific way of magic of her could be transferred, specially because she was wearing the ring with the vestiges of the magic.

Should anyone replace her, the portal would immediately close, condemning all inside to an unknown fate. She wanted to but lacked forces to explain everything to Marvel, that what she was suffering was a result of overexercising her mind rather than of having more than what she could bear, for magic was a mind-intensive activity, for despite having managed to keep with the portal in the first five minutes without any signs of major weariness, after all those minutes, her mind was becoming extremely tired.

Another inconvenient of being born with the curse rather than learning real and direct manipulation of magic through words, gestures or thoughts like most. However, she was not going to give up yet. With her last remaining control not directed over maintaining the portal open, she slowly turned her right thumb down, after a struggle that made such simple gesture seem to be as hard as lifting a boulder. Hopefully Marvel would get the message and not disrupt everything.

"Yelena, if you can't speak, permit me to read the topmost thoughts of your mind and speak them for you." Zena urged, seeing the thumb. "I know you're scared of that, but I promise to stay out of anything you don't want me to see."

Yelena could no longer make any gesture to indicate an answer. All of her mind was completely focused on maintaining the rift through the unknown that could hopefully lead to Drai'lle, or at least to real clues about what happened to her and where she was taken to. In fact, she could barely think anymore, and the exhaustion and aches were numbing, for somehow, all her mind concentrated into a single goal. Her eyes finally closed, although she was clearly conscious, or otherwise the portal would have been broken away. She could no longer hear the voices of those around her, feel the touch of those holding the limping body that was all that remained, nor feel the raspy dryness of her throat or the pain all over in her head.

Completely isolated from everything, Yelena last memory was for a request of Zena to allow her to read her mind. She could not reply anymore, not even with a gesture, and although there was a wish to sigh, such wish did not reflect the reaction of her body. All that she managed to come with was a simple thought, something that would not disrupt everything.

"Zena... if you only knew everything. I cannot explain, but sometimes I see things, possible futures for myself, but I have forgotten most of these visions, except for one. I never wanted magic, but sometimes, it seems like it is my feelings and thoughts that are transformed into magic, and not magic that is activated through them. My mind is now better, but I had to shut down all but its most vital functions linked to my body. I am not a magician Zena, and conventional ways of teaching magic never work with me. I do not know what is this, all I know is that it exists even in the most devoid of magic locations, and thus it cannot be simply magic. It is personal, from myself, I have opened this portal with my mind, and I cannot lend my own mind to others. How foolish I am to think on this, for I lack any forces to speak it, but I have to, for I could become insane if this stands for too much time. Human mind was not made for having no senses and focusing literally on a single task"

"But if I stop, everything will be over for those who stepped in, this portal will close. It cannot be taken over from my mind, for it is my mind itself which is creating it. Magic cannot occur just because of feelings, or because of the subconscious. But it occurs and has occurred with me. The way I deal with magic, it is a way that only those who are born with the curse in my land share. It is a manifestation of my will, something coming from me, and not a mere order to manipulate external forces. It is will to power, a natural principle that everything around us possess. But which rarely subdues the Laws. The best that can be done would be to not let my body fall on the floor. I am not sick as well, my body is only becoming tired, not sick."

Then all thoughts vanished, as Yelena consciousness could not distract from keeping such gateway. Little she knew that such thoughts of her were heard by Zena, despite the fact Zena never attempted to read her mind. Also, despite the fact Yelena thought on a natural manner with her language, it came to Zena as fully comprehensible in her own language.

"Marvel, I can't read her mind. She's shut out all thoughts. But she says that her magic isn't magic, it's willpower. It sounds the same as how I use my magic though, by willing something to happen. There's a few exceptions obviously, but right now, Yelena here is down to basic functions." Zena explained, still fueling the portal itself. "Wait, Marvel, she said her magic is her will. What would happen if I bridged your mind with hers? Couldn't she will her magic through you to keep the portal open? It would relieve the strain on her body if done right."

"Bridge it with mine, for even if the strain became so great that I died, it would be insuffecient cause for worry. Death is not a new land to me, it is as an old friend. Even if I die before the hour is out, I will still return, as I have before. Such a portal like this, it cannot be assumed by another, or I would have assumed it myself by now. But the strain it is having on her physical body, it is killing her. Before she dies, bridge our willpower, enable her to use my own resources, lest she die from the over use of her own. Such a thing, it is as giving food to the hungry, giving water to the thirsty. It is relief to the tired, and the injured. It will kill me help her, to give her my own willpower, my own strength, It's only a question of when. But as I said before, that is insuffecient cause for worry." Pondera said.

Zena blinked in shock at Pondora's speech. "I didn't know we had an orator in our midst." she said as her eyes began to glow. Sorry Yelena. she thought as she entered both Yelena's and Pondora's minds to share their resources. "This is uncharted territory for me." Zena said. "I'm hoping it works rather than fuses your minds together."

As Pondera's and Yelena's minds were bridged, Yelena would discover profound depths to her strength where there had only been the end of all that she could do. Pondera's mind was as an open book but briefly, and she almost discovered his real name.

Pondera sat down on a box that appeared out of nowhere. He wasn't straining in the slightest, but eventually he would be.

Don't worry, I am a friend, here to help you, I will not hurt you, nor will harm come to you, use my strength, use my power, my will, my lifeforce. One so young should not yet die.

The words floated gently accross her mind. The man had a grandfatherly presence.

"You successfully bridged our minds, you did not fuse them. I know many psions who would be proud. Tell me, is that where your abilities lie, in Psionics, the magic of the mind? You certainly have the aptitude for it." the old man said.

Zena grinned. "Yes, but I don't know how to directly connect your minds, basically, I'm a cable for the two of you." She considered not sharing her elemental abilities, but decided it was better to let him know now rather than after an explosion or something. "But psionics is only a part of my abilities I can craft elements too, though things don't work so well when I do that. Usually fireballs explode, water drenches me instead of the target, I'm known to be a lightning rod in a storm, and I can't move rocks, but I'll split the earth like a hot knife through butter."

Jax first noticed the darkness, utter and complete, that happened as she took her first step after Joshua into the portal. The air was chilly, but not with the temperature. There was magic about, she was almost sure of it. And although the land of magic was something not permitted until just recently, her handle of comprehention had grown slightly. She knew that, and hoped it would aid her. She followed the footsteps, not able to see Joshua, but they soon faded. Frustrated and half-scared, she kept quickening her pace to match his. But the sound eventually left her.

Jax had no idea what happened, but soon she felt very frightened. Worse than she had felt in nearly a day. Something here wasn't right. The hairs on her arms stood at end, and she forced her breathing to slow in an attempt to quiet it. Her heart, though, was racing so loud she was frightened that it would jump from her very chest!

She felt the preditor, and although her suspicions were strong, they were not certain.

"Joshua?" She called out, her voice much lower than a whisper. But that was enough for the pointed ears and harsh face that flooded her nightmares, and her blood turned to ice as she heard his malicious laughter.

Her gasp was loud enough to wake the dead. From the corner of her eyes, she saw a flash of pointy hands and long black hair, the skin on the hands white enough to reflect the glare from his eyes. Marcoz.

She ran, hoping that she could find the entrance to the portal and simply run out. Figuring that she had spent about two minutes walking, she should run easily back into the safety of the school. Where HE couldn't touch her.

She felt the cold hands on her throat moments before they gripped her hard, and jerked her whole frame up from the ground and pulled her gruffly back into his chest, which was hard as marble. Her feet still hung limply from her suspended body, her fingernails digging into his skin as she gaspt for air, and freedom.

"Joshua? He led you to me, I take it. But my child, we are all alone. And, as I recall, we have unfinnished business."

His breath on the nape of her neck made the panic amplify, and she tried to call out. But it was of no use. She had to think ...

Joshua turned around to see Jax struggling with an invisible foe. "Jax, I'm right here, can't you hear me? Hello?" he waved his hand in front of her face, but to no effect. "Chaz, this is... hey, where'd you go? Chaz?" he looked around, but saw no trace of the cat. All he was was black except for the aura of Jax fighting her foe. "Oh this is bad." he heard voices all around him, voices he hadn't heard in nearly a decade.
"I'm not looking for trouble, I just want to find my friend." he had no clue what was going on. He heard the voices of his former slave comrades, he could smell them and feel one pulling on his pants leg, but he didn't see their auras like normal. Reaching down to touch the floor for normal vision, he found a chain and traced it back to his leg. He was shackled in a group and he couldn't break or modify the chain.

"You and young Lerim must be related, man suffers catastrophic spell failure more than anyone else I know." the old man said.

"No matter. I think an event like this is going to cause quite a stir among the staff. Things like this haven't happend since the days of old when Dark Gods stirred accross the land and sought the power in this tower for their own, or as in one particular infamous case, destroy it. So it makes since that with time the old protections have gone lax. Why, I remember a case once where a demon tried to come to learn and was promptly banished from the grounds. Good thing our friend here didn't try then. They had a strick anti-historically evil creature policy then." the old man said mentioning Marvel.

It was unsettling. So many foreign thoughts coming through her mind, the clear presence of a link. Sometimes Yelena could sense blurry glimpses of foreign memories and thoughts, adding to the fear that her intimacy and most deep secrets were also being surveyed. She simply ignored such fact, for the more she thought about it, it was likely that more she would give away. However, it was still something she would not simply consent to in silence, for she never gave them formal permission to perform such action.

Even more troublesome was a strange feeling she was having about what lies on the other end of the portal, she could not ascertain it, but there was something wrong, perhaps disastrous happening on the other side, and if confirmed, all such effort would be in vain, if not also serving for others to put the blame on her for the failure. The strange conversations between Zena and the mysterious individual made no sense for her, for many of the words they spoke were beyond her knowledge, even now.

She could communicate with them, even at her current predicament. The portal seemed to become less troublesome to maintain, almost like if there was something wanting for such portal to remain open, and such possibility scared her thoughts, for if something came out of such gateway other than those who came in, a new nightmare could start for her.

"I do not know what to think about this, but I do not like it. I can feel my mind being scanned, even if not purportedly, and it does not comfort me in any way, while I am feeling something seriously out of place about this. They could not have taken so long to gather a few clues or rescue her."

"I can listen to your talk, which adds further questions: I have no idea of what is a psion, or that this place was stormed by false 'gods' before, and these facts do not comfort me"

Jax struggled as she felt her limbs weaken. Her brain was screaming for air, and it wasn't made easier by knowing Marcoz didn't simply want to snap her neck. In fact, quite the opposite. He needed her. Alive.

She twisted, gambling that he would be paying attention to her health and not let her kill herself. He was, and loosened his grip just enough to let her move without strangulation. And that was just the push she needed.

She reached out and elbowed his grion. He dropped her and vanished, and Jax fell, coughing and sputtering, her neck in a lot of pain. She looked to her right, and saw a flicker of light.

"Joshua? We need to get the hell out of here!"

As she spoke, Marcoz' image kicked her hard in the ribs, sending her rolling as the wind left her lungs.

Joshua meanwhile was busy fighting off the invisible attackers. The slaves were now fighting amongst each other and a pair had gotten their hands on Josh. His right arm was laying on the ground somewhere while his legs and remaining arms were being pulled in opposite directions. He kept looking around, expecting to see an aura, but not even Jax's was visible now. All was black.
Then a thought hit him. The darkenss. He wasn't blindfolded or anything, and everyone has an aura. So why couldn't he see any of the 50 or so people milling about fighting tooth and nail? An illusion. Something must have gone wrong with the spell causing this to happen. "This isn't real." he muttered to himself. "Jax!" he was yelling at the top of his lungs. "It's an illusion!" like a ripple effect, he fell to the ground, the voices vanished and so did the smell.
He felt around for his arm and reattatched it, and fought back a scream as his nerves reconnected with the fake arm. After a minute, he could see something, a light blue glow. It was the cube Drai'lle had been in, not that he could know that. He felt a weight on his shoulder as Chaz returned. "Chaz, deliver a message for me."

The cat appeared in front of the portal and it opened it's mouth. It spoke in Joshua's voice. "We're safe, mostly. I think something went wrong with the spell causing illusions like I've never seen before. Jax is still fighting hers, but I'm trying to help her." Chaz's tail drooped with worry. It's bad, but he doesn't want you to know. It was the same voice that had spoken to Yelena earlier speaking to all present now.
"Pondora, I've never heard of Lerim before today, but I think we've got bigger problems to deal with."

Jax had been physically tortured. Her body ached. If this was an illusion as she assumed, why was she being affected in body? Was Marcoz real? She knew he wasn't human, from her past memories. And she knew he wanted her. And that she should run.

He reappeared by her side, as the girl's spirit neared the breaking point. She was sprawled on her stomache, legs tangled and arms flung about on either side of her body. Jax couldn't move, and was trying to regain the ability to function. Marcoz scoffed at her, and crouched down.

"Little Emberlea. Why do you run from me? You know I am your only future." He reached down, and pushed her hair from her face in an almost tender gesture. Jax shuddered. He stopped as he pushed the hair behind her ear, and traced the shape of the point. "It is who you are."

"I do not want it. Any of it ..."

At this, Marcoz only smirked and removed his hand from her. "You do not have the final say. That was decided long ago. A condition of your birth, as I recall."

"But not a condition of my free will. You are not real, Marcoz. You are not real."

She saw a flicker, this time she heard Joshua calling to her. She looked at Marcoz, slowly sitting up. "You aren't real."

Marvel was tempted to ask Reama to join the three of them together...but, even though he didn't completely trust Pondbreatha, and had been in Yellsatya's mind before, he knew intuitively that it would make things worse. So he disengaged from the group and, ignoring his pounding head, reached his fingers out to the cube-shaped magic chamber.

"I don't believe it. There's a door in that thing! Yellena, if you can hear me, open the door on the far side of the cube. Let the others out the far end. Then we can end the spell and set up a portal."

"I do not know what to think about this, but I do not like it. I can feel my mind being scanned, even if not purportedly, and it does not comfort me in any way, while I am feeling something seriously out of place about this. They could not have taken so long to gather a few clues or rescue her."

"I can listen to your talk, which adds further questions: I have no idea of what is a psion, or that this place was stormed by false 'gods' before, and these facts do not comfort me"

"It is not I who is scanning your mind, your personal thoughts are none of my business. As for Psions, they deal exclsuivly with the mind and it's powers, though it is known that they can also manipulate elements to a point with their thoughts. That's why their powers are said to be from the school of thought. If you've ever seen an Aquamarinian, you've seen a Psion. Galvenor infact is a Psion, a very powerful and very old Psion, and could probably tell you at great length as to what a Psion is. His species is so old, and so powerful, they they long since evolved out of the physical. But, it is not my place to tell his story, or that of his people. It ios however a descent overview.

As for this place being stormed before, well, Balance is a very well known subject. You cannot have day, without night, you cannot have life, without death, nor law, without Chaos, Good, without Evil, or Existence, without Non-existence. Each defines it's opposite, by defining itself. To truely understand life, a good knowledge of Death and the afterlife is not that far-fetched. After all, how can one truely say where The ocean meets the land, if one has never been to the coastline and observed the ocean at length? There are times of strife, true, but there are times of peace, and during one such time, two occupants of this tower actually married.

If there was no strife and dischord, there would be no such thing as peace, for it would be an unneccessary concept. Then learning would also become unneccessary, and society largely would not have happened. If your needs are met, why should you bother to learn? I'm hungry, and have fruits well at hand, vegetables a plenty, and enough creatures for meat. They are well managed. What more do I need to know? Thus we find, that such dark times as to be attacked, are more benefical than they are harmful. For instance, you have gained a chance to test your limits. Those who went through the portal, they have a chance to test their mettle. The two in here with us, they have a chance to see how well they can assist in a multitude of ways. This is as much a learning experience as it is strife and dischord. After a time, you will discover Classroom learning is not as memorable and beneficial as learning through experience. Though certainly I admit there are things which should be learned in a classroom instead of through experience.

As for how long they've been in the portal, I am fine well enough, and we can manage for quite awhile longer. Perhaps The two with us could venture through and assist those beyond the portal. However if we do have a chance to set up a regular less-lethal portal, perhaps we should do so." Pondera said.

"Dude," Marvel said, "this ain't a practical exam. We gotta get those folks out of there before Yellena gets her ticket punched."

He raised his hand toward the portal. His fingers shook as he intoned...

Vampires, spiders, all that sucks,
Bring 'em back like electrolux.

And the recall spell was on its way.

"I may just be a representation of Marcoz to you, but you should know that he is waiting. And the longer you stray from the protections of the magical halls that host you, the easier you are to track. Just give up, child ..."

He stopped speaking and stood, laughing.

"Your friends call you. I will see you very soon, child."

And with that, the vision vanished.

Jax saw Jacob. She wiped the tears of fright from her eyes and began the slow process of pulling herself up. The lines of red on her neck matched Marcoz' hands, and her throat and sides burned as she breathed.

"What happened?" she asked quietly, not able to speak much above a whisper.

"Appearently demon, you've never sat through this school's practical Examinations before. Death is a trival matter with the right knowledge and power." The old man said with a smile.

He cracked his knuckles and simply sat there.

There was the soft padding of paws, getting just that little bit louder as whatever kidnapped Drai'lee approached.

A female voice spoke to her... "Welcome to my lair, sorry for the manner in which I brought you here but I need you." She spoke as she started ascending onto a platform finally visible to the captured Fae... It was a mouse, approximately scaled to the same size as the Fae.

"I didn't want anyone to interfere, this Lair is protected by an invisible shell generated to block anything magical from entering or leaving, a cruder less powerful version I had for that cube I constructed. Here let me get you some food and water, you must be thirsty and Hungry, oh and where are my manners, My name is June RoverMouse."

She reached into her fur and pulled out some bread and water, loosening the ties that bound her arms and legs she started heading off the platform and down onto the floor of what must of been a cave, a crack in the floor ran across the middle of the cave, along it's width.

"Appearently demon, you've never sat through this school's practical Examinations before. Death is a trival matter with the right knowledge and power." The old man said with a smile.

He cracked his knuckles and simply sat there.

So...someone else wanted to swap barbs with a demon.

"Fine," Marvel retorted. "Go ahead and kill yourself, then." And that broke his concentration...and the recall spell recoiled on him.

"Ohshi--." BOOM!

And there he was, flat on his back, no better than he had started out, and in a nasty little mood to boot. And speaking of boots, he was about ready to take one to ol' Pondbreatha while he was at it. That guy was a real jerk. He'd been a mage for so long that he'd forgotten what it was like to be normal--well...

------------------

OOC @ Warhaven: Boo! ;)

There was something strange about it. After all those voices coming through her mind, there was not a single answer from her, not even an acknowledgment or simple yes or no. Yelena was strangely silent in the mind, and her corpse, for there was no better way to describe it, was strangely immobile, yet the portal was still functioning. If a closer examination was done, it would be trivial for Marvel to notice that her heart was no longer beating, neither any air came from her nostrils. It was both unbelievable and tragic, unbelievable in the way that despite being a corpse literally, somehow Yelena was still there, keeping such gateway open, tragic for it was no doubt that somehow, the reaper has taken his toll today, finally ending the unfortunate life of someone born in the wrong place and wrong time, and who has came to places analogous to that where she was born beyond what one could account.

It was difficult to determine the critical moment when her life ended. All were too occupied with the cubical rift to notice when she grew cold and lifeless, and it was in at most two or four minutes ago. Yet, when everyone noticed which was her fate, the portal would finally close like Marvel wished to, while a strange magical force would pull back all those who came through it. Nothing would change now, it was already too late when Marvel said for her to stop it, her last moments were extremely blurry, like if her last seconds of sentience could not distinguish whether she was dead or alive.

"Bat'ko!", echoed an infantile voice of a very young girl. There was a field of pines, and in the ground there were lichen and moss, with the green coming all the way, much away from the vaunted smog of the major cities, and of any sign of civilization.

"Yelena!", was the return of such cry, which seemed to be distant and muffled, like if somehow, there was some barrier isolating both. The girl knew it was her father, and she began to run, stepping through the cold green fields, calling back with the same word as before, in a struggle with her young voice to loud the answer.

"Yelena!", reverberated the call, even more distant, despite of how fast the young girl ran to reach the man behind it. She knew from her heart such voice, it was her father. Shouting again, she sprinted, straining some still developing muscles, with a hope to encounter him. No answer came, and she ran faster and faster, ignoring the ache in her legs, calling every second for him. Until she fell, with her little heart not standing the solitude and struggle. It was over, as that was what she witnessed in her last seconds of life. A sad final vision, of despair and forsake, preparing her for the fate she always believed in: her consciousness was now cast into oblivion, making it finally evident that her soul was not eternal.

And perhaps, her death was completely useless and foolish as well, fitting for someone whose life unraveled into a listing of near every possible misfortune a single person could be tormented with. A requiem for a cursed one came with the closure of the portal after everyone returned, which began to twist into several different shapes, including a circle, until vanishing from sight.

"Oh no you don't " and with that a frankly furious fae, formally the Demoiselle Tiger Lilly Ki'tora -Ryu du Fae, daughter and heir of Her Majesty Queen Aurora Khalida du Fae, managed to stand and with three running steps tackled the mouse.

She didn't feel any pain at the moment, righteous indigination and liberating anger held her stiffness and aches at bay.

She fully intended to pummle the mouse into so much mouse jam, and if that didn't work, well Fae were majick made manifest, and while the opening of the cave might be blocked by majic, the cave itself was in a mountain, part of the bones of earth, and she might easily be able to summon up an earth elemental through the mountain itself.

But right now she would be content to just beat the fae napping mouse to a pulp.

Yelena's death shockwaved through the bridge and caused Pondera to die as well.

"Why, Marvel, no one ever said anything about killing themselves. If you actually listen and follow directions, their the safest things in the world. But, as I said before, helping her would kill me, and so it has." Pondera said.

He stood, and as he did, he the robes and beard vanished. The man beneath the robes was a full twelve foot tall, bossessed of great red hair, red eyes, and presently, black leather clothes. His skin was smooth and milky white with no runes or symbols.

"Tell Eldrad and Galvenor, Warfare said hello." the man said. He turned, and walked towards the wall. As he did, he faded and disappeared, but on his last step, he partially turned, and winked at Marvel, then turned, and was gone, completly.

Marvel didn't know which felt stronger; his relief that the power-drunk, testosterone-poisoned jerk who'd been showing off an ego that was even taller than he was had finally left or the shock he felt when he noticed that Yellena was...gone!

Nope. None of the above. Looking around him, feeling the shakes that wracked his tired body and the headache that was trying to make his eyes explode, Marvel decided that he was just plain mad. He knew he shouldn't have trusted that jerk! It was all just too doggone convenient! And now, he'd lost one of the few people around here whom he had something in common with while trying to keep from losing someone he liked.

It was time to get completely, totally, arrantly, &#*ing serious.

The demon got up off the ground, clenched his fist and drew all the mojo he had left into it. Spreading his fingers, he set up another spell.

"Reconstruct! You're a point. Add more. You burst forth to become a line, then a square, then a cube--all in the form that last occupied the space before me!"

He wasn't capable of Yellena's subtlety, but he had a much sturdier body, and could handle the brute force that it would take to put this one up. The cube reformed before him. He walked in. Along the way, he picked up Yellena's body and carried it along with him.

"Open the eubance!"

His head felt like it was going to explode, and his hands felt like they were going to burn away at any moment, but he didn't care. A little door opened on the far side of the cube. Marvel didn't care about that, either. He had control of the dimensionality of the thing. He made it all the way across in one small stride, and then the door resized to fit him.

He pitched Yellena's remains through first. As he had anticipated, there was a binding spell of some kind on the far side of the cube. It grabbed her body and shuffled it off...somewhere.

Well, the thing might have been able to hold an unsuspecting Fae or a dead body, but Marvel was none of those things. He growled and reached into the tap of energy that was his temper. His eyes flared red as he held out his free arm.

"Shaldon!" he said, and the Shaldon Shield formed around him. Though useless against anything material, it completely warded its wielder from any magic that was brought to bear against him. And that was the state that he was in when he stepped through the newly-formed portal.

The world swirled around him, seemed to grab and tear at him, to spin him around. It didn't bother him. He just kept his limbs in tight and waited to get where it was taking him and his little warding spell. As this happened, his contact with the cube was broken and, without his mojo to support it, it collapsed again.

There was a tiny explosion between his shoulder blades as he came to rest, and it wasn't hard for him to figure out why. As he looked around him, he noticed that everything there was in miniature--except him. He was on a small cart--so small, in fact, that the magic bonds placed on the cart were simply overwhelmed by his mere size. He was in an underground lab of some kind--and his unorthodox use of the lab rat's magic had meant that he had damaged a lot of the equipment there--he'd just expanded out it crushed under his weight. Good. The payback was already starting.

The mage had miscalculated. Marvel could feel all kinds of warding spells around him. The guy had all but sealed the place to portal or scrying. Marvel had chanced upon just about the only way to get in--to use the mage's own spells. They alone were allowed through the warding.

His next task was t rescale himself to fit in this room. He'd never tried a spell like that before. Didn't matter. He was so mad that he just forced himself down to size. The cart tried to rebind him while he was on his way down. He smashed spell and cart alike. Then, he found a door--a wooden door.

A concussion spell blasted it off its hinges, and Marvel walked through at a regal, almost arrogant pace. The door opened into a larger subterranean chamber, which in turn had doorways to other places--a nice little hive, or, Marvel realized as he looked at its occupants, perhaps 'rathole' was a better description.

There in front of him, about twenty paces ahead, lie Drai'llee and an overgrown, robe-clad mouse. She had obviously just knocked it to the floor as he arrived. At last, a target. Eyes still blazing, Marvel brought up a fireball like he'd never brought up before and held it, ready and rarin' to go, in his right hand.

"Drai'llee," he said, "step away from the criminal mage."