A Friend in Need [Torin]

The Jewel of the Northlands

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Kala Leukos
Posts: 671
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:21 pm
Title: Lady
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=933
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=934

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Kilvin's Forge, Kalzasi
70th of Frost, Year 121 Steel


Kala had come that morning to relieve Torin's lover, having been through an initiation to the Rune of Semblance herself. Her own hadn't had many a hitch, but Torin seemed not to be handling it well. The exhausted redhead had gone to sleep in another room and was going to seek other friends of Torin to help him through, which seemed wise to her. She had brought food, which was packed to keep warm and resting nearby in case he woke up hungry. In the meantime, she was sitting at his bedside, reading from a book. It was an adventure story, purely for pleasure. She spent so much time reading texts and ledgers that this was a relief. He likely couldn't hear her well enough to understand, but she hoped the calm sound of a familiar voice would at least keep his anxieties from spiking while asleep.

She was a bit weary herself. The previous night's party had been a success, though, so she didn't mind being a bit slower than normal. Kaus was keeping an eye on Timon, and she would let him know when she returned home whether it was safe for him to come back to his home. The boy was worried, which was wise; magic could be dangerous. The boy also seemed to trust Torin's lover and the twins, though he had chafed a bit at not being allowed to tend to his master, a loyalty she found endearing.

The young Avialae had her own Semblance activated, both to gauge Torin's state and to shield him from her own Runes, which might confuse his burgeoning new senses. In his sleep, he seemed stable, though there were strange warps to his pattern, as though there had been a cascade of chaos that was only just beginning to correct itself. Apparently, something had upset him; she hoped that when he woke, it would have passed.

"Hm," she murmured thoughtfully as she took a sip of water. Perhaps she ought to try to communicate with the ghost while she was here, the better to prevent another strange phenomenon from upsetting the runesmith.
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word count: 378
I tell you: one must still have chaos within oneself,
to give birth to a dancing star.

*
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Torin Kilvin
Posts: 750
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:54 am
Title: Runesmith
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1062
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=4448

Nothing made sense. But then, he Dreamed.

Rarely did things make sense in dreams. Just because they were now Dreams did not change that. Being aware that he dreamed, that was new. His perspective being split, that also.

In one side of his awareness was his bedroom, but made all of shadow and light. The light had a source and that source was sitting nearby, reading, he thought. She moved only rarely, liquid and shimmering, but when she did it sent cascades of reflection in every direction. The Smith had seen a prism once, and it was like that, except all the colors were silver, as the lady was. The Silver Lady.

The name skipped in his head, tried to catch on, but everything was molten and slick and it rolled away.

In the other side, he was wandering, endless so it felt, not knowing his goal, though very sure there was one. Now he was in a library, huge and empty except for the books because there was no room for anything else. The books knew things, things The Smith needed but was so afraid of that each time he stepped near to touching one he shrank back. Rustling echoed each time, like laughter. The laughter of books.

The Silver Lady could make the books behave, she Knew them, but how could he ask her when his voice had stepped off on its own?

His hand, resting on a coverlet, fidgeted restlessly. If he could touch her... But no, he could not; she was made of light and of herself, not for the roughness of his hand.

A sound came from him and his lips felt broken; like glass that still thinks of itself as sand, shifting but not useful.

"Kala," They said. His voice could touch her even if he could not. But it didn't seem to know how to help either, because it didn't say anymore. Perhaps it was merely awed and reached out to worship.
word count: 338
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Kala Leukos
Posts: 671
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:21 pm
Title: Lady
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=933
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=934

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A part of Torin was there, and a part was somewhere else. She was still learning how to use her Rune of Semblance, so she couldn't rightly say where the part of him that was missing had gone. There were legends about souls wandering the Aetherium until their threshold sickness passed, as if the Rune were so powerful it could send one there before the form of it fully crystallized. She didn't know if that was true, only what she had been told: that something had caused him great upset and then everything had gone downhill.

She could sense the ghost, not quite crystallized enough to throw things around at the moment.

She could sense more of Torin come clawing back, and her eyes rose to his face even as his mouth formed her name, though it sounded like some orison to a Goddess on his lips.

Immediately, she was perched on the side of his bed, her hands holding his.

"Torin, I'm here," she said. "Something frightened you, but everything is all right. You are just a little lost. I am here to anchor you, though."

She didn't know how long he would remain lucid; if it lasted, she might add details about Timon, about his slumbering lover, about what else she surmised about his state. If things didn't improve with time, she would simply find Talon Novalys and ask him to bring Torin back from the Aetherium. It was a good thing to know demigods sometimes.

"Will you drink some water?" she asked.

There was a glass of water on the side table, as well as a mug of tea and a bowl of soup. The latter two, she instantly heated to steaming with coils of Fire. Whatever had been weighing upon him of late had boiled away at his baby fat, and she was worried that he wasn't eating while he was unconscious, though he wasn't burning through fuel at his forge either. Whatever harm she could mitigate, she would, but mostly she was just glad to see him cognizant of his surroundings, and she found her eyes stinging as a little of her worry abated at the sound of his voice and a convulsive squeeze of his strong hand on hers.
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word count: 382
I tell you: one must still have chaos within oneself,
to give birth to a dancing star.

*
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Torin Kilvin
Posts: 750
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:54 am
Title: Runesmith
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1062
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=4448

"The books..." The Smith could hear his voice, reaching out on his behalf, and silently willed in on,

"They won't let me see..."

Swallowing, his throat was as much sand as his lips, but he feared the water. Lucid memories of the deep water he had fallen into when first he'd slipped inside rose in him, and with them came fear as vast as the creatures that had inhabited it. He tried to shake his head, tried to be polite. He was supposed to be polite. The Silver Lady deserved his deference.

"Please," His voice rasped, achingly courteous even as it cracked, "Tell them to let me see."

Where he stood it was growing late, tendrils of shadow, like vines, reaching and stretching through the tall windows of The Library. Soon it would not matter if the books behaved themselves, there would not be light enough to read from their reluctant pages. The stone floor under his feet, still bare, still damp from the water that would not dry and sliced by the crystals of the cave, grew cold. Night was drawing near. It was hunting. Not for him, he did not think, for he would be easy to find should Night decide he was wanted. Even so, he should be gone before it arrived and he could not leave until the books submitted.

His voice had skipped away again, perhaps afraid of coming Night, and he could only hope his pleas had been heard. The Silver Lady had always been kind to him in the past. He could trust her. If she had heard him, she would help him. If she had not heard him then he would fall into darkness and pray to whatever was listening that he could climb his way back out before he was swallowed whole.
word count: 310
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Kala Leukos
Posts: 671
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:21 pm
Title: Lady
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=933
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=934

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It didn't take her training in the Tranquil Gardens to know that getting him to drink water was imperative if he was going to be largely comatose between bouts of waking madness, but if he was lost in the Aetherium as legends spoke of, then what he was saying sent a spike of ice down her spine. There were two problems, but she thought she could handle both. Her Rune masked by Semblance so as not to overwhelm him with more unknowns, she focused on manifesting Water in his mouth—not so much that he would even notice, really, but enough to force him to occasionally swallow what he might register as spit. If she could keep it up, she ought to be able to get a bit into him until he fell back into whatever quiescent form of consciousness was now the norm for him.

The other problem—her eyes narrowed.

"Torin, it sounds like you have found the home of the Lord of Mysteries," she said, trying to balance calm and urgency. Lyren's Apocrypha was said to be the home of many works of forgotten knowledge as well as many secrets that would break the mind of a mere mortal. How much of this was fable and how much was fact, she couldn't say. There were countless things she didn't know and even now she was operating on educated guesswork.

"I need you to turn away from the books. These are not the books you need. Come back to me. Your man is nearby sleeping. Timon is worried. You need to come home."
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word count: 269
I tell you: one must still have chaos within oneself,
to give birth to a dancing star.

*
User avatar
Torin Kilvin
Posts: 750
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:54 am
Title: Runesmith
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1062
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=4448

The Silver Lady spoke. She said his name, sending it echoing down The Library corridor, sending the books rustling and fluttering. Whispering to each other of her in languages too paper-sharp to allow into his mind. The Smith closed his ears to their voices and concentrated on hers.

"I have to get out. They know the way." The form reached out. It felt feeble. A moment ago The Smith would have said it was him that was weak, that the form was strong, had always been strong. But now it was a mountain to lift his hand, to reach for her in pleading.

The books had settled after her voice had run through them like wind; a silent anticipation broken only by the occasional susurrus murmur.

When she spoke again it did not move through the space, and the darkness grew ever closer. The Smith thought he might cry, though he might already be crying, except that the feel of wet wasn't in his eyes, but his mouth. Swallowing he said,

"I want to come home. I don't know the way. They know." The form dropped his hand back to the bedspread and his head slowly turned to one side.

In The Library he began to slowly back away from the empty, gash-like windows through which crept the searching fingers of Night. The Library only got darker further back, but it was a simple darkness that could be filled with things, not the consuming darkness reaching in. The Smith stepped back, eyes trying to see everything, even as he also tried to close them not to see. He could see too much, but not the way.

"Tell them." His voice murmured, swallowing again as the wrong orifice continued to weep.
word count: 301
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Kala Leukos
Posts: 671
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:21 pm
Title: Lady
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=933
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=934

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It was difficult to ascertain whether he was hallucinating or truly walking the Aetherium in that moment, but regardless, her response must be the same. If he was delusional, she had to speak to him as though it wasn't or he would only get more upset; if he was not delusional, then he needed all the more help to escape the Apocrypha with his soul and his sanity intact.

"Show him the safest path home," she said, her voice ringing with authority. She might not be the Lady of Starfall, but she was a lady of Starfall. "Show him the path back to me, to his lover, to his body." Then, more tenderly, "Come back, Torin. That place is not for you; this one is."

Her finger traced pictographs upon his work-roughened hand, and she poured aether into them, although she had no idea if they would work. They were more prayers than anything: desires given shape and form, filled with energy and intention. Return. Anchor. Home. Safety. Sanity. Clarity. Vision. She lit up ideograms even as she tried to will him back, though this was out of her experience. She reached up to brush hair away from his brow, tender as a mother.

Kala could feel Kaus through their core bond, even at a distance. She thought she would feel him even were she lost in the Aetherium. If only she could throw a lifeline into the abyss, into the Mistlord's vasty library to pull Torin to safety, but all she could think for him to do was fight just as any patient struggling in the Tranquil Gardens must—fight to survive.
.
word count: 276
I tell you: one must still have chaos within oneself,
to give birth to a dancing star.

*
User avatar
Torin Kilvin
Posts: 750
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:54 am
Title: Runesmith
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1062
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=4448

As The Silver Lady's voice rang like a bell through The Library, books shuffled. Not as loudly as they had as they had when they mocked The Smith; they were whispering among themselves, discussing. The Smith did not know their language, though it almost felt like he did, sometimes, like some of the words worked their way into his mind while others skipped beyond its reach.

After a time that felt both long and tense, the books settled, like hens deciding they were safe and nesting down, dignified as queens. One book pushed out from a shelf a few feet from The Smith. Falling to the ground open, it flipped through itself briefly before it too settled and was still.

Stepping forward with reverent care, whispering a prayer of thanks to The Lady, he went to one knee and read the words offered by the open book. The words leapt through his eyes, bypassed his mind and into his instinctive understanding of that place. Standing again, The Smith understood. Without waiting for his mind to catch up he drew in a deep breath and ran forward, away from waiting Night, onward towards the Day.

Far away, the form smiled, a wavering little thing, but enough, swallowed what it was given, and drifted again towards The Smith.

"Kala." It whispered, sounding of both gratitude and prayer.
word count: 233
User avatar
Kala Leukos
Posts: 671
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:21 pm
Title: Lady
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=933
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=934

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"Torin," she replied, squeezing his hand in hers. His brow ceased to furrow and he calmed. His aether even seemed calmer, so she hoped that the turbulent patch was past them. She hadn't done anything, really, but if he was in the Aetherium, then it was likely his will was the only weapon and shield he had. If he believed in her power to help him, then it could help him—at least in theory, at least if he didn't run into the Mistlord in Whose dwelling a part of him traveled.

She set his hand back down upon his chest and gave it a pat. Then she put her hand on the linens, pleased to find that he hadn't soiled them. From what she understood, he spoke in a sort of madness, but could be persuaded to eat a little and eliminate where appropriate. But he was so thin, she perched upon the bed and began to feed him manually. She gently pried his teeth apart and spooned soup into his mouth, massaging his throat and ensuring his reflexes took over and he didn't choke. She didn't know how long this was going to last, but he was going to need his strength. The body supported the mind and soul; she would feed the latter now that her voice had guided the latter.

Later, when she was assured that he was sleeping properly, she dared to drink a vial of her ghostwine. She didn't think the ghost was malicious, but the last thing they needed while he was loosed from his soul's moorings was for a confused spirit to try to take the warm flesh that was partially vacant.

The ghost seemed to be dormant, sort of asleep. This was good. Kala spent the time allotted by her necromantic potion to sing a ghostly lullaby to keep the ghost soothed. It was all she could think to do until something changed.

fin.
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word count: 330
I tell you: one must still have chaos within oneself,
to give birth to a dancing star.

*
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Rune
Posts: 682
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2022 4:04 pm
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=3831


R E V I E W


Lore:

Kala:
Surgery:
Spelling Another
Keeping an Unconscious Patient Hydrated
Checking Vital Signs
Calming a Patient in Distress
Using Elementalism to Heal

Semblance:
Observing Threshold Sickness
Shielding One's Runes
Noticing Changes in Familiar Auras
Observing Someone Half Way Between Worlds
Leading Someone Back into Reality

Torin:
Torin:
Semblance:
Processing Alternate Reality
Recognizing A Person By Their Aura Alone
Kala Luekos' Aura
Seeing A Person's True Self
Duel Awareness
Understanding the Difference Between Essense and Form
Surviving The Library of The Lord of Mysteries
Reading Information from the Essense of Books

Points: 10 each, either may use for Semblance

Injuries/Ailments:
Torin is still undergoing his intense threshold sickness, he is growing weaker.

Loot:
Knowledge?

Notes:

word count: 144
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