A Nightmare’s Requiem – Prologue: Silence before the Storm.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

OOC: apologies. I’ve been a little busy.
BIC:
:Turn. Dark’s voice told her that one of them didn’t wish to speak. She took it to be the Polypedal, whom had bowed her head as if in reverence to the place she was in. Her course veered ever so delicately, and then she halted in front of the Wilder, who watched her with fierce golden eyes under heavy eyelids. Quicksilver flicked back her long, midnight hair and grinned uncharacteristically of her down at the lupine Wilder.
“Greetings, stranger,” she used a formal way of welcoming a Wilder. It was tradition – even if you knew them – to use this, as it gives them a sense of independent identity [don’t as her why, it just does]. Her four-fingered, gloved hand rose to her chest in the sign of a hooked beak.
“You know my kind well?” the Wilder replied, one heavy grey brow raised in question. His hand likewise rose in the sign of a hooked beak, returning the formal greeting.
“I worked with your race once in a while,” she merely replied in a breezy, buoyant fashion, tossing her dark mane to one side. Dark gave a caw and eyed the Wilder with interest.

~~

<Kanaaaauuuull.......> a dark voice hissed into the mage’s mind. The barbarian dark mage’s head snapped up, instantly ready to accept whatever information will be coming. The hissing mindvoice continued, <Come to the darknesssss.. and bring a sacrificssse....... It is time for her to be bornnnnnn.........>

[Myishi]

"Is that so?" Leonidas asked, switching his gaze between the polypedal and her familiar. There seemed more to this person than her attitude belied "Well, i'll have none of that 'stranger' talk, my name's Leonidas...as far as i can discern, it looks like we have been called together for a mission of some kind, so i guess we should aquaint ourselves properly" He extended a paw, quite unconventional considering thier traditional greeting.

"Always a good idea" she replied "since you havent bothered with flamboyant intorductions, ill save the breath; My names Kaila and this is Dark" she said, casually waving a hand over to her raven. She returned the handhsake quite tenatively, quite surpirsed that the Wilder had almost desposed of all tribal traditions, the only vaguely Wilder objects being his ceremonial dagger which flashed from under his cape and the occasional glimpse of a tribal tattoo. "Anyway" She continued " i think youre right about us forming a group, though im kind of vague on the details-" She stopped suddenly, noticing that Leonidas had just gone from quite a casual, upright posture, to almost one about to leap. "Whats wrong?"

"Didnt you jut notice that?"

"notice what?"

"That feeling...i sensed an energy that was vaguely of my late tribe." He whipped his head ninety degrees to the right and out of the farmost corner of his (now bloodshot and tense) eye, could have sworn he saw a shadow flitting around. Sensing the energy leaving the building, he resumed facing his conversation partner, his neck macking a slight 'crick' sound as he returned it from its somewhat extreme rotation. Somewhat startled by this display, Kaila resumed talking to him, Leonidas acting as if nothing had happened...

[Astral Harmony]

Elnalyn opened her eyes just so that she wouldn't slip into slumber again, and realized that a few people looked...alert. Too alert. Something was definitely not right. They were pretending like nothing was wrong, but Elnalyn knew that their shoulders were tense, their eyes straining to focus. Elnalyn frowned. Just what where they so worried about? Could there be someone uninvited attending the gathering here? Elnalyn straightened up and stretched, wishing she had access to the soil so that she could feel out the disturbance in the land, but without the exposure to the ground, she was clueless.

[Stabbed in the Dark]

A sigh of relief, mixed with agitation came from the furball. "Grrrrr..... indeed they are all fightersthey can all sense my energy. Think of what would happen to me when the Dark Lord found out that I was caught..." A cold chill ran down the critter's spine. "I will have to report what I've found so far to my Lord, this valuable information may even win me some reward... hehehe... yessss.... powerrrr....." Now feeling pleased more than frustrated, the furball stood out of hiding, and quickly ran to a shadow nearby, molding itself one with the shadow. "Having this shadow teleport system is really useful, there are connected links to all the shadows in the world allowing me to travel where ever I want. Though it is unfortunate that this system can only carry a limited amount of energy at a time, which means that my Lord will not be able to use this for his power is too great, and will make this system collapse if he did try." Pleased and prepared, the furball awaited his fate as he sped towards the darkness.


Flying, running, in fact, it is one as the terrifying darkness Lord flashed accross desolated terrain. "What was the Darkness thinking? Hmph..." Kanaul's mouth curled into a sneer, "sacrifice... and with the breath of life as well... hmph..... the conquered territory of the Dark has no life in it. I must go to enemy territory to find that sacrifice." A diabolic smile spread accross his scarred face. "perhaps I may even have some fun." With every step where his foot thumps, that land smells of dark and hisses of acid. His cloak fluttering behind him, matching a pair of black leather wings, gives his bulky body the grace of a cat. Eyes focusing as the Dark Lord Kanaul reaches the land of life, with no sign of of darkness at all. A twinkle in his eye, "Aha! I've found you!" Kanaul quickly makes a forty-five degree turn, his tri-blade drawn out and and thrusted into the creature. with supreme accuracy, he caught the four-legged creature by its front two legs. Caught in the tri-blade, the creature squirmed about, but saw that the more it squirmed, the deeper the blade ran into its flesh. That same smile ran down Kanaul's face as a demonic roar was thundered into the atmosphere. His deep voice rippling out in waves, as everything living is caught paralysed at this hideous sound. "I suppose you are what the living call, a deer huh? I am terribly sorry, but you will not be the one accepting the glory of bringing out the one to be summoned by the Darkness." Kanaul laughed, "Yet you will do as a delicacy to my own pleasure." Fangs shimmering under the sunlight, the scent of blood poured, as was the fear and terror of the creature absorbed into the Darkness Lord.

[Aeria]

Aeria was standing still, watching that man out of the corner of her eye. She was content to watch him brush up against and 'accidently' crash into people for the time, but she had never in this world been allowed to be content. While she was waiting, someone came up to talk to her. It looked like a little girl, but in this world you could never tell. It appeared to be mostly, if not all, human.

"Hi!" said the girl, "Isn't this exciting? So many adventurers and mercenaries in one place, I can't wait to find out what this is about. I could explode from all this tension, couldn't you?!" Obviously this girl had seen enough of the stonework.
"No," was all that Aeria replied.
Unphased, the girl continued, "My name's Anetta, what's yours?"
"Aeria," came the monotone response.
"Just Aeria? No last name?" the girl asked.
"No, no last name." Not once did Aeria actually turn to look at the girl, and her eyes still followed the 'clumsy' man.
"Oh come now, everyone has a last name. Mine's Pantea." The girl's questions continued.
"You're better off not knowing my last name," replied Aeria. Her voice was completely void of emotion.
"So aren'tcha wondering what I can do? What kinda powers I have and all that? I know I don't really look it, but I am really a powerful Anthromorph! See, I even have a tail that's alot like yours!"
"No, I do not care." replied Aeria. Some of the others were giving the two strange looks.
"Aw, you're no fun, I'm gonna go talk to someone more interesting, maybe someone who will play a game of 'King's Cross'" said Anetta, as she skipped away.
"Wait," said Aeria, as her eyes flashed, "No... Nevermind..." Her eyes returned to their normal dark glaze, and she had completely forgotten about both the man and the little girl. She continued to wait.

In the eyes of the others though, at least the ones who had ceased looking at the architecture, Aeria had been talking to herself.

[Arhra]

Sharak seems to see Elnalyn by herself in the corner and walks over to her. He opens with a comment about the halls they stand in, "Breathtaking isn't it? I couldn't help but notice you were over here all by your own. I thought you might like some company. You can call me Sharak by the way. What name do you go by?" He already knew her name but the verisimiltude of unfamiliarity was important. Taking her hand in greeting, he uses the contact to search for signs of the Darkness as he had for the others. He takes her hand, carefully avoiding seeming overbearing. Like the others he sensed no sign of taint. He had one more to do but he should be able to do that in the actual meeting. It was highly unlikely that the wilder would be corrupted in any case. As he waits for Elnalyn to reply he sends a mental message to the other Council members that the meeting could begin.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

OOC: ENTER THE COUNCIL!
BIC:
Quicksilver had noticed the flash of an unusual shadow somewhere in the corner of her eye. Dark had noticed it too, and was keeping one fierce eye on the suspicious movement while the hybrid unicentaur continued a chain-gun rattle of words and chatter, leaving Leonidas little room for a voice.
All the while, she extended an Alchemist’s probe outwards to check for any unusual densities around the place. .... There! she felt the denser lump of a shivering critter. Then it was suddenly... gone. Quicksilver realised that her emotion of surprise and suspicion was evident on her face when Leonidas’ golden eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly. Quicksilver smiled, relaxing her features into the pleasant look.
“Forgive me, I am still new to the Council’s hall. I was merely probing around and exploring the full physical capacities of the hall.”
“... did you find anything interesting?” Leonidas asked.
“Nothing really. That’s what made me a little surprised,” she added when another one of the lupine Wilder’s eyebrows rose, “I expected more than the normal inanimate structures. But this place, apart from us, is devoid of anything… alive,” she found the word hard to express, as the ceiling began to distract her again.

But it was not the delicate art that drew her attention. Those that were captivated, then released by the art’s spell, looked once again upwards.
What appeared to be like a hair-line crack appeared through the middle of the entire domed ceiling. The winged creatures flitting to either side of the crack and seeming to take a hold onto the black line and pull.
The crack widened, and then, with an extremely loud rumble, the roof ripped wide open, to reveal the Council of Twelve – one of their members absent – standing upon a separate hover-disc of pure light.
Brilliantly coloured robes billowing in a non-existent breeze, the members descended in splendour, their discs making soft, melodious humming noise.
A human council member flashed a dazzling smile as he stepped off the disc that dissipated as soon as he lost contact with it, his piercing grey eyes surveying the milling, awestruck individuals of all races before him.
“Apologies,” the human swept a courteous bow, his robes brushing the floor and making a pleasant rustling noise, “we are missing a number. Our other ran into some trouble on the way,” he rose and completed his sentence. An owl anthromorph ruffled her silent, mottle-brown wings and blinked at them.
“The meeting will start now,” she announced in a strong, eerie voice.

Conjured by a triggered wave of the hand, chairs – black pine, of all sorts to fit all sorts of creatures – materialised and thumped into place. The owl anthromorph stretched out her arms and made a welcoming curtsey. Her wide eyes passed briefly across the ones that had answered their call, not even pausing for any longer moment upon Sharak’s face. To her, at the moment, he was another stranger that has answered their plea. Her beaked mouth widened into a pleasant smile.
“Please, take a seat.”

[Astral Harmony]

At the words "take a seat", Elnalyn finally got nervous about all this. She almost physically didn't know how to take a seat in a chair, but it looked big enough for her so it shouldn't be so difficult.

In Elnalyn's defense, it should have been said that she tried. Her failure was exceptionally loud as the chair slid out from under Elnalyn and rolled across the floor. Elnalyn flattened on the ground. Embarrassment didn't begin to cover it.

Quick, get up and act like nothing happened, her mind scolded, and Elnalyn climbed back up, pulling the chair close, but just left it behind her, grinning with as much innocense as she could muster.

"Ah, my apologies, esteemed and honorable Council. My kind just wasn't meant to use some tools." She said, wincing, and used her tentacles to push herself off the ground to some extent, appearing tall and prominent.

[Aeria]

Aeria had looked up with all of the others, not expecting such an entrance from the council members. At the first sign of the roof opening, she wordlessly drew her sword and prepared for the worst. As the council members decended, and it was apparent that there was no threat, she lowered her weapon, but did not put it away, she merely leaned on it. It was a large sword, and with its tip touching the ground she could comfortably rest both arms on its hilt.

When the chairs were summoned, Aeria ignored them. She had no desire to sit. However, when the young plant polyped seemed to have trouble sitting and had given up trying, Aeria went over to her. Without asking if she needed assistance, Aeria lifted her onto her chair, then returned to where she had been standing, and again leaned on her sword waiting for the council to explain the situation.

[Myishi]

Leonidas calmlly stood as the council entered, smiling at one of his companion's reaction, which was to draw their sword. He, however, could sense no mailice behind these people. 400 years of travel tended to give one a 'sixth sense' in that regard. He calmly accepted a seat as the furniture was summoned, simply taking a seat in a comfortable 'dining' chair at the table. The mirth continued when a young child had to be assisted into a chair.

Although they seemed of good intention, the way everything worked together perfectly was sumewhat...unnerving for this wilder. it was almost too unreal, too 'fake'. Their entry, the way the furniture appeared; unlike his calm exterior, his stomach was turning somersaults when he thought about the magnitude of the situation. The incident earlier with the 'shadow' didnt help either. there was something niggling when he sensed it, something was almost reminded him of a time long past...