A Strange Guest

[The Illusionist]

She moved like a shade, slipping through trees and brush alike as she moved northeast through the thick Dryad Woods. Her eyes burned with a brilliant purple, glowing as she seemed to float across the thick forest, unaffected by the dense foliage. Soon, she was on the Dryad borders, and her form flickered out of Existence altogether, appearing instead where she once was a bizarre looking horse.

It was a large, snow-white colored beast, muscles thick and ripping with power. The main and tail were a vibrant purple color that seemed to blow wickedly and unnaturally in a wind that didn’t really seem to Exist. The horse’s eyes glowed with the same color of purple fire, burning like torches. A large, twisting deep purple horn twisted upwards from the center of the creature’s forehead as it bucked upwards into the air.

Upon landing, the strange horse exploded off, massive hooves thundering against the ground as it started off towards a small building on the horizon. With powerful legs and unnatural speed, the horse arrived at its destination, the Red Dragon Inn. Slowing, the horse galloped up to the Inn, walking around the property before moving to the lake the Inn sat on to catch it’s breath and take a drink.

The sides of the powerful horse surged outwards as it took large gulps of water from the crystalline lake, breaking heavily through its nostrils. The horse shook and then turned back towards the Inn, walking around it several more times before it turned towards the north, once more galloping at ridiculous speeds off into the horizon.

Gold flickered and flashed brightly as the rays of the setting sun in the west reflected off the golden bracelets that slid up and down the horse’s front left leg. The Arc of Life captured and almost seemed to hold onto the sunlight a second longer than usual as the horse ran north; making it seem like the white and purple haired unicorn was being followed by a trail of sun.

[Malkate Rose Sedi]

The flash of red had her to her home; to the image of a large white beast that was drinking from the lake. At first there was nothing that struck her as odd, why would her wards warn her of a creature that was simply there to feed? Then her eyes took a second look, a closer look at the beast and her sight shimmered, and the Nectrite part of her blood went screaming through her head – and she realized that the form of the creature wasn’t right at all. It wasn’t a true form, so to say, and it was a Sedi by birth. Her hands clenched into fists and she reached out to grab at the beast but even as her fingers seemingly closed around the reins, the leather wasn’t even there as she saw nothing, than the creature father away as if somehow the world had hiccupped around her.

Malkate closed her eyes, trying to find a grasp, and was shocked to find she couldn’t. It wasn’t the area simply around her home – it wasn’t some cruel joke but the actual element of it was failing. Her body shuddered, and she almost returned to Lasius before the flash of power that filled her at the glistening off the horses hide caught her attention. Red eyes flickered as she started to run, chasing after the beast with her own long strides – using magic to enhance her speed. Something powerful, and one of the Arcs. She didn’t know what it was because she was not of this world in essence, and these things were alien to her – but the Nectrite, the power of the Familiar in this place let her recognize the power when it was near. Even as she moved forward she knew somehow she’d have to stop this creature – and she wasn’t entirely sure that it would welcome the disruption.

However with the hunt now to find the Arc of Life before the world as they all knew it ended. She could world travel but without rest she wasn’t sure how many she could take, and if the others would be protected as Lomes’ life seemed to hang more than simply this world in its power – it was possibly the power over all Sedi. As a creature older than she Malkate knew that even trying to heal the damage to the woman’s body was far beyond her power – even with all the time put into learning things she’d never thought she’d have to study this. She was close to it, a world walker, destroyer, but she was no God. Not of this kind, she was more built for destruction than creation at this point. So even as she ran and her lungs burned, she finally bent into the time warp of the world and appeared before the large beast, her red hair tousled and staff in hand.

“Wait! Stop!”

[The Illusionist]

The words of the red mage were like water to the horse, which is exactly what it would feel like as the huge form of the white and purple horse appeared to splash right through Malkate. She’d feel as though a large bucket of cold water was just tossed at her, but would find that she wasn’t wet. The horse didn’t so much as look back, head lowered slightly, purple horn pointed into the wind as if cutting down on wind resistance.

Then things flickered, and like she was in a loop, the words of Malkate filled her ears again, and once more, the massive horse smashed through the red mage like a bucket of water, only this time after traveling through Malkate, no horse appeared on the other side. It was as if the bucket of water that was thrown at Malkate simply vanished into the very earth the horse was running on.

The air directly behind Malkate then shimmered, tiny flashes of dark purple blinking in the air as the form of a huge black raven faded into view. The large bird stood about as tall as Malkate’s legs and it looked up at the red mage for a second, deep purple eyes observing the woman.

The raven then turned, and with massive black wings beating the earth, the bird took off into the skies, the faint gold glitter of the Arc of Life glinting as the light hit it in just the right spots.

[Malkate Rose Sedi]

Malkate didn’t like games played with her, not when the horse disappeared and reappeared, not when time and the world shimmered around her and she felt wet. It was perhaps an old peeve, but one nonetheless that stuck with her throughout the years besides the periods of no emotion. The aggravation sat plain upon her face as she realized in her blood this was no normal being – even with the failing of elements this was something that surpassed the earth’s failings, and settled into something more of an actual basis in the persons element. Of course, mention of the Existence and Time Sedi were never given to her, for when she was married to Lasius they were thought long since dead and forgotten, and Sever never re-taught her the knowledge only went with that which she had – so her confusion at what this being was that was also Sedi confused and added to her aggravation.

As the Raven appeared Malkate turned, her red eyes locking with the purples before the bird took off, and in her sight she saw that this was not a creature at all, not exactly what it was before. It had no shape and yet it did – for at one point it had to have been born a Sedi, even if it’s shape never had a real solid change. Her hand fisted as the magic called to her palms, her emotions heightening the reserves she’d never tapped into, and it almost drained away as her eyes caught sight of the thing they were looking for and knowledge rushed through her. She almost cried, and then a desperation seized her like no other. She reached down that long cord that tied her to Lasius, an old thing that she’d never touched upon since the time that he freakishly possessed her at one point – and she sent the message to him like a whisper of sound in his skull that was all her.

Lasius! I found it! I found the Arc of Life! I’m outside my Inn, near the lake… it’s a Sedi like I’ve never understood, and more than this time this thing is… it’s almost like it’s blinking in and out and it’s not keeping one shape… I’m going after it but it’s here Las, I found it…

With it came the tag of the mental image of what she saw, as if he had a birds eye view. Of course, shape shifting was Childs play for a Mage, especially one who’d had centuries to perfect her art. Her arms seemed to shimmer as her body simply slid like a liquid into the shape of the larger bird, an almost hawk-like being only the same size relatively as the bird that had flown off. Large wings pushed her airborne and she clutched her staff within the large claws as she chased after the bird, though she wasn’t going to play games now. Desperation was allowing her to move, and she pulled this time the energy from the Arc of Magik, and the blood of the Nectrite, she started ripping the world around the creature that was flying, and in essence, weaving a cage around it that was it’s own plane with a barrier to keep what was in from coming out.

It was exceedingly painful, and drained almost all of her energy but she kept herself airborn as she stared at the creature, sweat pouring between the feathers as she was not truly feathered, but mortal, and the creation of the cage at an accelerated rate drained almost all of what was left of her magic. She had one shot and she silently prayed that at this point Lasius and the others would come to her aide in gaining this lost item.

I said stop, you have the Arc of Life, and if you wish to live, if any of us wish to live, we need to use it now to heal the Rod of Souls.

[The Illusionist]

Her eyes flared with rage as she felt a sudden stop to her upwards movement. The air around her body shimmered and flashed, and then panic swept through her entire body. The air once more shimmered and flashed, and soon the inside of the cage the formerly large black raven was snared in looked like millions of fireworks exploding. She kept changing her form, flashing into things far larger than the large raven’s body she had initially been trapped in.

Poof after poof of brilliantly colored light, and soon it was as if some stage magician was performing, brightly colored explosions filling the stage in distraction. But soon, the shimmering and flashing of colors and light stopped as the raven once more appeared, slumping against one of the sides of the cage the Existence Sedi was caged in.

The black bird glared down at the red mage, purple eyes narrowed almost unnaturally for a bird. The Arc of Life seemed to glow dully as the raven remained hovering in the air, bound to the Ether while she remained trapped in the vile cage.

[Malkate Rose Sedi]

Malkate watched almost fascinated as the creature flicked and smashed unsuccessfully against its trappings, and she knew that her idea had been right – the creature could easily hop worlds like she. The large bird shifted again, yet the winds shifted around the human form of Malkate as she held her staff in fingers. The winds if one could see were swirling beneath her feet in jagged motions, the torrents keeping her air born. Long red tendrils of hair swirled behind her, drying on the breezes as she narrowed her red eyes right back at the creature. Nothing would give up it’s arc willingly, and she was running out of time. Every minute that passed they were closer to oblivion, and it would seem from the feedback that she was feeling from the other side of the link suggested that she was one of the few in the right mind to comprehend that there was more at stake than personal vendettas – but only the tired weariness from Lasius suggested to her all she needed to know.

Her fingers went to the arc she held – the small dagger style Arc of Magik. Her fingers gripped it and easily removed it from the outer thigh sheath she had it in, and twirled it. This was the balancing Arc, but Malkate knew little of it. She knew it fed her power, her magic and strengthened it but she also was running out of time and even thus the idea of thievery didn’t sit too well on her.

“You understand me, don’t you?”

She waited for a response, before she pointed her finger at the golden gauntlet.

“I can tell you know the fate of everything in this existence rests within your hands and that I need to attain it to stop everything from falling into nothingness. I thus, offer you a trade. One Arc for the other – fair and square. Once the Arcs have been traded if you agree, I’ll set you free and we never have to cross paths again if you do not wish it so.”

She took a deep breath, but she was not so foolish as to offer out the Arc yet. She would wait until the Arc of Life was within her hands before she did anything.

“What say you?”

[The Illusionist]

As Malkate spoke, it seemed as though the mage would be yelling into a canyon, her own words echoing back ten times as loud. The now tiny black raven inside the floating trap continued to glare down at the mage. Everything Malkate said was booming back at the mage seconds after she spoke. At first, it was just the loud echo, but eventually the echoes seemed to distort, as if being spoken under water. Then it shifted again and the sounds twisted as though they were transcending every Plane of Existence at once.

“Understand?!”

The echoes of Malkate’s voice suddenly stopped as the Illusionists voice would rock the mage’s ears. Of course it was not her real voice – even she didn’t know what that sounded like anymore – but it was different from the mage’s. It was almost like a bolt of lightning would have struck Malkate as the raven continued to glare down.

“You want my toys?!”

Her voice shifted again, and now it sounded more like a child. The wining bane of a toddler who wasn’t getting what she wanted. Of course, ultimately, the Illusionist had no say in the matter. The mage below was crafty and quick, never before had the Illusionist been trapped like this. It was almost humorous to her, but at the same time it was a mistake she would never let happen again.

“No one gets my toys.”

The Illusionist knew full wealth what Malkate held in her hand, she also know full wealth that the Arc of Life was resting around her left talon. As old as the Illusionist was, she had never taken the time to study the other Sedian Elements. She never felt any need too. She was an Existence Sedi, one of the few left, a bastardization of all that walked the lands of Terra Centilina. Her form shifted constantly, her mind fragmented and jumbled, scattered and broken.

“But I can play.”

Once more her form flashed, and the raven was all but gone. In its place stood a miniature form of the Existence Sedi. Her long white hair hung around her body, half of it covered in strange, thick, black, tribal tattoos. She barely wore any clothing and her eyes seemed like a whirlpool of swirling purple as she continued to stare down at Malkate.

[Malkate Rose Sedi]

-TBC Sethia "reporting back"-